##VIDEO ID:NugfBC9WgEs## e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay do we have power yes we do e e okay pursuant to the New Jersey open public meetings at njsa 10 4-10 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by advertising such notice in the home loose Tribune the Asbury Park Press the board office the schools and on cable vision channel 118 and uh channel 24 and filing such notice with the township CL this meeting was scheduled for Tuesday January 7 2025 the board will take action on formal action thank you the overd Township Board of Education acknowledges that the law of the state establishes that members of the public including members of the board have the right to record public board meetings using audio or video recording devices provided that the active recording does not interfere with the business of this public board meeting therefore the board makes it known that any such recording is to be considered the private recording of the individual and in no manner represents the official record of this board the board therefore takes no responsibility for such private recording and completely dis disavows any future use thank you Mr W roll call Polie Dan tuno present Francisco here jordano here jri lent mark maone here SL here solowski here we have a COR thank you would everybody please rise for the pledge thank you Mr White at this time I'll be reading the top three vote Getters from the November 5th 2024 election as follows for a three-year term Richard Dunn 15,795 votes Kieran venet 9,702 votes and Jay Slade 9,340 votes congratulations at this time I'll be moving over to the podium and invite each candidate as listed to be sworn into the Oldbridge Board of Education up first we're going to have Richard dun I Richard dun do Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear truth faith and uh allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and the state under the authority of the people so help me God I richer done to solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of Board of Education that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to lore and disqualified for membership due to conviction of any crime or offense as listed by law and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of the office according to the best of my ability so help me godat thank you next up we have Karen venon hi Kiran do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same unto the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I Kiran pesan do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education that I am not dis qualified as a voter pursuant to law or disqualified from membership due to conviction of any crime or offense as listed by law and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God M Mr vason you're usually we have a picture with you and your family too and M Mr Dunn didn't have his family with him but if you'd like to go up there with your family for the picture as well they're the one making the real sacrifice on the stage or over here get me or not it's okay and you good okay thank you congratulations thank and last but not least Jay Slade i j slay do solemly swear that I support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the united sta in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me guide i j slay do solemly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of a board of education and they have not disqualified as a voter pursuant to law or disqualified for membership due to conviction of any crime or offense as listed by law and I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best ability so help me guide conat thank you sir picture you take a picture you want a picture you get up get up but you got dress for the occasion come on get her from the waist up from the waist up what your mom's going mom hold on told me to get up right right wasn't few would but I wouldn't be here thank you okay at this time prior to roll call I'm going to open the floor to any current or newly elected board members who would like to have any send any message yeah I would like to make a small speech good evening everyone I'm deeply honored to stand before you today I'm sitting but yeah standing as a newly elected member of the Oldbridge Board of Education your support and Faith have brought us to this moment and I'm truly humbled by the opportunity to serve our community as we embark on this journey together I would like to share my vision and goals for our school district my mission is to create an inclusive and supportive educational environment where every student has opportunity to thrive this means fostering a culture of excellence and innovation in our schools where both academic achievement and personal growth are celebrated just a key objectives a few key objectives would be enhancing the academic Excellence I will advocate for Innovative teaching methods and support professional development opportunities for our Educators to ensure they have the tools and knowledge to inspire and engage our students by fostering a love for Learning and encouraging curiosity I aim to raise academic standards and outcomes for all students promoting inclusivity and diversity our schools should be a reflection of our diverse Community I will work to create an inclusive environment where every student feels valued and respected regardless of their background or abilities this includes supporting programs that celebrate cultural diversity and promote understanding and AC acceptance supporting special needs education I will prioritize the needs of students with special needs by advocating for tailored support and resources this includes hiring any special specialized staff offering individualized education plans and ensuring that our facilities are accessible to all students fostering social emotional learning I recognize the importance of social emotional learning in the overall development of our students I will support programs that teach empathy the sil and effective communication skills engaging the community I believe that collaboration with parents teachers and community members is essential for the success of our schools I will establish open lines of communication and create opportunities for Community involvement in decision making processes together we can address challenges and celebrate successes as a United Community I have an initial draft of some goals and objectives as a proposal which I'll be sharing with the fellow board members and School administration to collaborate and share with the community once we finalize in closing I want to reiterate my gratitude to each and every one of you for your support and for allowing me the honor of serving on the board of education I'm excited about the future and positive impact we can make together let's work hand in hand to create the best possible educational experience for our children and ensure that they are prepared to reach their fullest potential thank you anyone else yes sir thank you David first I want to sincerely thank uh all the voters uh who came out and voted this past November for the three members of the Board of Education who have been seated here tonight it's not an easy Endeavor um to run for office and to be seated and to work with a board to ensure the greatest and finest education for our students so I want to sincerely congratulate Karen and also Jay for being elected uh this term and I look forward to working with both you and the other uh six sitting board members for the betterment of the school district we do have a lot of work ahead of us and one thing I have to say is that uh I've come in with an agenda that I will work on very tirelessly over the next three years to ensure it gets enacted um you know I have the institutional knowledge I sat on this sport for 11 years previously so I have a lot of knowledge and uh information that I can share with my board members here to make us a more cohesive and a more unified uh group that's very important to get things done when you work together you find common goals it's not about one person it's about nine people working together for the betterment of our students in our school district with that said uh I have 10 or 11 items that I'm going to pledge tonight that I will personally work on and ensure that the Board of Education considers addresses and possibly implements over the next three years first civility theorum and professionalism of the board is extremely important we need to work together UN in a uniform manner we need to work together we need to respect one another and we must show our school district our school district of character that the Board of Education can work together and find common ground for the betterment of this District very very important it's a lesson that we can teach our students which we do right now very well in our schools by having our schools being a national school character uh also I would like to uh promote Financial stability and responsibility which is very very important we are the stewards of the taxpayers money and we need to work tirelessly to ensure that uh we find the best Avenues to spend the money and to get the finance education third I believe in Fair and equable education enrichment for all children all children and we can't forget that we have different degrees of children in this district from uh you know from from from the special services that we provide up to um the the um Advanced uh cost or offerings that we have and then we have in the middle the industrial Arts so we need to work fairly and ensure that all children are uh treated equally and correctly uh also I'm going to work as number four abolishment of political parties from the Board of Education with the election being moved to back to April uh it's very important that we start moving away from political parties and working together as a group not worrying about the peripheral issues that affect our schools we have to worry about education and nuts and bolts of our district and by eliminating the November election and going back to an April election that will give us the ability to stay uh bipartisan and stay away from politics so I'm going to propose that we move the elections back to April it will allow us to do that we have the power to do that and I'm going to push for that because I believe that will enhance the educational abilities of this District third I want the return of late buses I'm going to work with everyone here on the board to find the money to determine how we're going to bring back the late buses and to ensure that all children have every opportunity possible uh for for further learning and uh for uh Services enhanced special services for our most vulnerable very very important I've always been an advocate and I can tell you unequivocally that the majority of the board up here believes in our special services believes in giving the services that are necessary to all our children to be successful funding full funding of play unified very very important children who are um who require additional Services who have social skills issues who have issues which need extra fering and extra companionship and also socially adapted uh events will make them more um give them the ability to to acclimate themselves and be able to be successful students I also believe in redist reding of the school district school improvements building enhancements and possible School consolidation based upon new buildings coming online this is something that I fought for for 11 years we were getting close to doing certain things I want to reimplement that idea also fight for Equitable shared services with the township that's something which I campaigned on and I'm going to fight for fair and Equitable shared services not one side benefiting from the majority of the monies so we have to work together and find a fair solution because right now it's not Equitable it's not fair so that's something which I'm going to push and I'm going to fight for and last but not least we need to find um cohesiveness and come together to figure out what we're going to do with our super intendent uh everyone knows that I'm very fond of Mr citadino and his years of service here and uh even though I am conflicted as most people know but that does not preclude me from speaking my mind and pushing for someone who I believe will benefit our school district so those are my agendas uh and my items that I'm going to be working for and collaborating and working tirelessly with everyone on this board to make happen over the next three years thank you so much I got to follow those two that's that's long um I would just like to humbly thank everybody for the reelection um I had a great three years I had a lot of fun very productive um part of my campaigning was I'm going to use the last three years as my resume of what I'm capable of doing I'm always willing to learn even more um but I'm excited about the opportunity again for another three years um as I've done I've supported all students St have I work well with the administration again I want to work well work well with the board as well collaboration is key um and I'm excited for another three years so thank you again for your votes and your support thank you any other current board members I was just going to congratulate welcome kieren welcome back rich and Jay um looking forward to the share thank you anyone else or we're good good I will now do a roll call of our newly elected Oldbridge Board of Education danant tuno yes dun present Francisco here Jano here yes jri here maone here Slade here solowski here and V here we have a quorum at at this time I will now open the meeting to the public on agenda items only hearing of the residents for agenda items only seeing none oh hold on e okay I'll do one more call for hearing of the residents agenda items only seeing none that portion of the meeting is closed at this time I will be reviewing the process taken upon the board for election of both a president and vice president in accordance with District policy bylaw 0152 the Board of Education shall organize by electing one of its members as president and another as vice president this election shall take place at the annual reorganization meeting prent to njsa 18a colon 15-1 the procedures for the election of board officers shall be as follows board president at the annual reorganization meeting the board secretary serving as interm chair shall call for nominations for board president any member May place a a member's name in nomination a second is not required for the nomination of a candidate for president a member who has nominated May decline the nomination the board secretary and board attorney shall record the names of all nominees for board president when board presidents have been given an opportunity to make nominations for board president the board secretary shall close the nominations the board secretary then shall then conduct a roll call vote on nominees in order in the order in which they were nominated nom who have declined nomination shall not be included in the roll call a board member may only vote in support of one candidate the first candidate to receive votes from a single from a simple majority of the board members present will be elected to office and the board president election shall process shall conclude with no further roll calls in the event of a tie between two or more nominees a second runoff election shall be conducted between the candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the event of such a tie the board secretary shall conduct the runoff election via roll call in which each board member may only vote in favor of one of the remaining candidates board vice president after the president is elected and assumes chairmanship of the meeting the president shall call for nominations for vice president any member May place a member's name in nomination a second is not required for the nomination of a candidate for vice president a member who has been nominated May decline the nomination the board secretary and board attorney shall record the names of all nominees for vice president when board members have been given an opportunity to make nominations for vice president the board president shall close the nominations the board president shall then conduct a roll call vote on nominees in the order in which they were nominated nominees who have declined nomination shall not be included in the roll call a board member may not may only vote in support of one candidate the first candidate to receive votes from a simple majority of the board members president will be elected to office and the board vice president election shall process shall conclude with no further roll calls in the event the event of a tie between two or more nominees a second runoff election shall be conducted between the candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the event of a such a tie the board secretary shall conduct the runoff election via roll call in which each board member may only vote in favor of one of the remaining candidates officers Shall Serve for one year and until the respective successors are elected and shall qualify but if the board shall fail to hold the reorganization meeting or to elect board officers as prescribed in njsa 18a Colon 15-1 the executive County Superintendent shall appoint from among the members of the board a president and or vice president a president or vice president who refuses to perform the duties imposed upon him or her by law and by the bylaws of the Oldbridge Board of Education may be removed by a majority vote of all the members of the board in the event the office of president or vice president shall become vacant the board shall within 30 days thereafter fill the vacancy for the unexpired term if the board fails to fill the vacancy within such time the executive County Superintendent shall fill the vacancy for the unexpired term in the event of a vacancy in the position of board president the vice president shall act in the capacity of President until a new president is duly elected by full membership of the board or appointed by the executive County Superintendent as set forth above the vice president shall not have an automatic right of succession in the event of a vacancy in the office of board president at this time I would like to take nominations for board president I would like to n uh Jen duno she's done a great job as vice president I would like to nominate her for the for the office of President I would like to nominate Elena Francisco for president any other nominations once twice closed we will now conduct a roll call this roll call be for first nomination for president of Jennifer duno roll call duno yes dun yes Francisco no Giordano yes jri yes maon no sled yes solowski no V T no we have a total count of five yes and four no we we still have to do a roll call no you're good okay all right the new board president Jennifer danuna will assume the chair I can do it from here that's fine for this meeting so at this time I'd like to open the nomination for vice president I would like to nominate Elena as vice president I would like to nominate Jay slate anyone else at this time nominations are closed do I do roll call or he does David can you please do a roll call on Francisco yes roll call for Elena Francisco as Vice President Dan tuno no dun no Francisco yes Jano yes J no mazone yes sled no solowski yes thanka T yes we have five votes yes four votes no for Francisco as vice president your new board vice president is Elena Francisco congratulations Elena um on Finance reading just discussing okay I need a motion for finance Mo uh one through one and two Jano motion this says one and two on here there's four there are four items oh I'm skipping Pages I'm sorry that's it I failed already what uh to accept a motion on uh one through four yes your down a motion Miss second any discussion roll call please dun yes Francisco yes gordano yes JRE yes mazone yes Slade yes solowski yes thanas yes and danant tuno yes resolutions 1 through four for finance passes on supplies equipment and services resolutions one and two a motion please M motion D will second any discussion roll call please D yes Francisco yes Gano yes jri yes maone yes Slade yes solowski yes Vena T yes danant tuno yes resolutions one through two for supplies equipment and services passes board secretary and board business resolution one and two missal motion before we do that I do uh it is our annual practice that I read all of the uh the code of ethics over for the board of education so item number one is move the board and also if there's any questions I was told to please refer them to legal council Mr Parton based on uh every video we I've watched on reorgs on line so this time move the board acknowledges receipt of the code of ethics by each school board members the reading therefore thereof by the acting school business administrator and subsequent discussion thereof in accordance with njsa 18a col 12- 24.1 every board member will abide by the following code of ethics the board member will one uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to the schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures two make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing three confine his or her board action to policym planning and appraisal and help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them four carry out his or her responsibility not to administer the schools but together with fellow board members ensure they are well run five recognize the that Authority rests with the Board of Education and make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board six refuse to surrender his or her independent judgment to special interests or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of Friends Seven hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters he or she will provide accurate information and in concert with fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its School eight vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel avail aailable after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrator officer nine support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties 10 refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution I believe a copy of this is in everyone's packet please sign and return to me at the conclusion of this meeting thank you thank you can we have a motion to approve one and two M own motion Francisco we second any discussion roll call please done yes Francisco yes gardano yes jod yes mazone yes Slade yes solowski yes van T yes and danant tuno yes resolutions one and two for board secretary and board business passes hearing of the residents on any school district issue is there anyone that would like to speak Mr wdel do we still have the binder to be signed I got it but you're good Andrew Lewis Oba uh I just want to congratulate the three members who were sworn in today as well as uh Miss dantono and Mr Francisco becoming President and Vice President I look forward to working with all nine of you this year thank you anyone else okay at this time we'll close uh the hearing of the residents uh I want to make uh one comment about a topic can I do it now or yeah okay comes to new business okay okay so is there any old business any old business okay any new business yeah so apparently one of the parents uh whose kids are twins going to high school he was supposed to be here he couldn't make it due to a family situation um I'm already working with Dr Tui about this Dr Tu is very much aware and probably you also Mr St know but just want to bring that light to the community on what's going on uh these two kids were in Edison Township they moved here to Old Bridge like last year and they have been part of of something called as uh Osa Osa is the global student Le organization recognized by the US Department of Education more to build professional career uh carers shape or you know build them more into Health Professions right so this is more of a club actually which the students uh these two kids uh you know were in Edison they did won an award and stuff like that so they want to uh continue that momentum in our district while they mve to our district and uh I know Dr T is already about it uh I'm just talking on behalf of the parent who told me about this so we are all aware of it thank you yes so I'll just uh add at that we and we have our leadership meeting every Monday this week it was Tuesday um and it was a topic that you had brought up it's called Uh HOSA which is the Health occupation Student Association of America and it's kind of like U uh FBLA which is gives students the access and experience working in the business organizations as they leave the high school and have that um those experiences and uh Dr Tu is you know working as an advocate for it as well this would give students um that kind of similar experiences working in in Futures in healthcare we know the future of healthcare is going to be very rich and strong in the United States as it always is because it's not something you can Outsource so excellent we're looking into it and we're working on itk yes um so during my Christmas visit at the high school um um those conversations about reversing block scheduling a lot of teachers want to see their students every day as they think it's a better comparison compared to double the amount of time every two days they compare it to sports that meet every day clubs meet every day so if we could like pull the staff at the high school to see what they think before we make any changes of course you know I I just want to see you know what the staff thinks and good luck to the 2025 board thank you would that be a discussion for curriculum yeah I'd say we'd start that in curriculum have some conversation get some data and you know make a direction going forward okay um I have a question for the fellow board members I think many of us don't care for this seating arrangement because nobody can see anybody um is any opinions any opposition to changing it back to the I like the old way better Madam president yes I'm a traditionalist and I think maybe many of the board members up here are as well I would like to propose to go back to the original format um with having the superintendent uh and the um attorney sitting next to the uh President and Vice President and going back to the original format that was instituted for many many years and and it always worked uh in our benefit and I would also propose alphabetical order so that uh you know we are consistent with previous boards and that uh you know there is um Civility and also there is uh regimented positioning based upon alphabetical order by last name thank you I have a question for you what do you mean by um what it used to so going yes so basically the way it was done years ago was that it was in this positioning uh for the most part but the superintend attendant and attorney were in the middle and the board would be facing forward there would be no board members sitting on the angle uh and it would be done based upon alphabetical order uh I know that Mr Tui uh Dr Tui is a new member up here at the uh Podium so I'm not sure if there will be room but that's something which we can to discuss um but it's it's the privilege of the board to determine uh the the seating arrangement and how we move forward with it yeah it was very similar guests there was an added desk up here at some point within the last year thank you U Madam president yeah you see I can't even see you right now I want to fix this let's fix this anything you know that's makes us eye contact I think that's more important and crucial thank you so maybe it's something we can discuss I I agree that you know it can be different but I don't know if going back to the way that it was with the Staggering is better because then we have board members backs to other board members and then in order to see them you have to turn around so I don't love that either um just throwing that out there yeah the left side of my neck doesn't like this so I can't see what's going on down there okay there's no budget to purchase new equipment dve David's all right so then that's maybe something we can work out with Administration to not have it this way but try and work out way everyone comfortable with that what was that I said we talk with the administration and try and figure something out for next week so it's not this way but we're trying to do the most professional and appropriate way that there there is plenty of video out there from previous years and going back three years ago the setup always worked and it was like that for a very long time and we never had issues with seeing and watching and being able to participate this way it's it's it's very floored where it's very difficult to see eye contact and as a board member it's important that we make on contact so that we continue having a a a a civil discussion when there's no eye contact then things can get silly so I would like going to go back into the u- shape and there's previous videos that you could see that worked over the years for a very long time okay we'll work on it all right any other conversations and we don't have executive session so okay so um at this time we'll close the meeting well I need a motion to adjourn motion Joe deal second all in favor I all right so we will see everyone at same time next week thank you very much