##VIDEO ID:Tb8Psv9Lgv0## good evening everyone may I call the meeting of the pany CH HS Board of Education to order on Tuesday January 7th 2025 welcome to the ppan Troy Hills Board of Education organization meeting in compliance with chapter 231 Public Law 1975 entitled open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as specified in the act in the following manner a meeting notice was published in the Daily Record and on the district website on January 17th 2024 a meeting notice was posted in all buildings the website and town hall on December 20th 2024 in addition notice of the meeting date was posted in the municipal building a copy of the notice filed with the Township Clerk and transmitted to other newspapers The Daily Record The Star Ledger pany Focus tap into Pary patch and the district website this regular public board meeting is being video recorded as per bylaw 0168 the recordings of these meetings will be available on our district website and on our video on the- Go YouTube channel we ask that you please refrain from using student or staff names in your statement professionalism is expected at all times please stand for the pledge to the flag pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and republ for stands one nation God indivisible withy and justice for all we are now going to review the election results for membership to the Board of Education three full year terms Matt deito received 8,689 votes Judy mayor 7,996 votes she Abraham 7,413 votes the board attorney Katherine gilin will now administer the oath of office to the duly elected members will Mrs Abraham Mr Deo and Mrs mayor join Mrs gilin in front of the board tables please good evening and congratulations uh tonight you're going to take the oath I'm going to read it as as it was originally um written certainly feel to swear or affirm according to your rules I state your name do solemnly swear do solemly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the contition of United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constition of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government EST in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state under the authority of the people and in this state under the authority of the people so help me God me God I state your name youly swear do Solly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law that I possess the qualifications prescribed by la for the office of member of a board of education for the office of member ofed am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 4-1 am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to R and am not disqualified to serve due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 and am not disqualified to serve due to Commission of a crime or off and that I will Faithfully and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability and that I faithfully impartially and perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so be God so be God congratulations AG congratulations board members I am now going to call the role of the attendance of the board members Mrs Abraham here Mr baros here Mrs kogan here Mr Chaka here Mr Dita here Mrs mayor here Mr Rea here Mrs Chappelle here Dr Ron here we will now have the election of officers starting with the president are there any nominations for president of the board of buet Mrs mayor thank you tonight I am pleased and honored to nominate Alison kogan for the office of President Allison has demonstrated a true commitment to the parity Troy Hill School District she constantly seeks ways to improve her Effectiveness as a board member by attending numerous workshops legislative committee meetings and delegate assemblies and then turn Keen the information she has achieved certified Bard member status Master board member status and certified board leader true desire to be an asset to our board and District she demonstrated her capability to handle the office when she was appointed by the county superintendent please accept this nomination which I make with absolutely no reservations and join me in supporting her for this position are there any other nominations for president of the Board of Education Mrs Abraham thank you I would like to nominate Mr Matthew deito for the role of President thank you are there any other nominations for the board president hearing no more I will close the nominations and take a vote for the nomination of Allison kogan for president Mrs Abraham no Mr baros no Mrs kogan yes Mr Chapo yes Mr deito no Mrs mayor yes Mr Rea no Mrs Chappelle yes Dr Wright yes motion carries motion carries congratulations the president takes the chair okay so now we will take nominations for vice president of the Board of Education are there nominations Jack I'd like to nominate uh Matt Deo for Vice President are there other nominations she I would like to nominate Mr Andrew Choo for vice president thank you there any other nominations okay so I will hearing no more I will now fose the nominations and take a vote for the nomination for Matt Deo for vice president oh I guess Mrs Tesco will take the Mrs Abraham yes Mr baros yes Mr chaa no Mrs kogan no Mr Deo yes Mrs mayor no Mr Rea yes Mrs Chappelle no Dr rght no motion fails go to the next Nom okay the next nominee is um Andrew Choo for vice president Mrs Tesco Mrs Abraham yes Mr baros no Mr Choo yes Mrs kogan yes Mr DeVito no Mrs mayor yes Mr Rea no Mrs Chappelle yes Dr W yes carries and now we will have our student committee reports looks like only one of you there I'm EV Gonzales from parin high school and I'm so excited to share this week's past events with you this Friday we have our red hawk way day students have the opportunity to sign up for workshops on life skills about business community service opportunities and a service do project it's a great day for our students to connect with their social emotional learning and learn different skills that they would not experience on a typical day specifically on this Friday we have a representative from Valley National Bank to talk about different informational programs and accounts that they offer if you are 17 or older you can open a bank account with them there with a $25 opening fee and your driver dri license or student ID a lot of our students are so grateful for this opportunity our student council has been preparing for our winter conference at TCNJ this year our PHS student council is hosting two Workshop sessions sessions for other school members together we created an escape room about time management we plan to have students go around the room and answer questions with prizes for first second and third place winners after they complete the escape room we will give them a brief recap presentation on time management we are so excited this year we also have a student running for the student council state executive board Zena jongar we are so excited to be cheering her on and we wish her the best of luck lamies have been scheduled for our school on January 17th and we are so excited for everyone to get involved we hope to have a great turnout to support our senior class our ski and snowboarding Club is starting their preparations they had a meeting just the other day to discuss the preparations needed for the club this year we had a handful of our f members qualify for the state competition we're so excited and we wish them all luck our drama club is amped up their preparations for our School Musical Guys and Dolls as of right now they're taking Orchestra auditions recently we just started our RMS reading budy program and we are so excited to work with little kids and their reading skills so many students signed up so we are excited to make a difference within our community the program basically consists of going to Rockway Meadows Elementary School and working on oneon-one with children that are struggling with their reading skills through vowel shapes site words and more we plan to work with all great levels since our school started just a couple days ago there's not a lot happening on their wise Club wise but we're so happy that everybody enjoyed their winter break for our pran high school sports we have our boys wrestling team has a home against boen wrestling match today at 6 p.m. and we wish them the best of luck our pany high school girls basketball team had a home game against Milburn yesterday with the 3719 win and we're so proud they have a game against Morris Hills at 7 and tomorrow and um a game on Friday at 400 p.m. at BO high school yesterday our swim team also had a meet at Madison YMCA our girls wrestling team has a match at Ramy today at 6 p.m. and they have a match on Thursday at Mor Hills at 6 p.m. and we will be sure to show show our support our parity Regional hockey team has a game today at 800 p.m. versus Rocksberry at men and Arena so be sure to support them and lastly our boys basketball team has their blackout game home versus botin at 700 p.m. our school will be sure to show our pride and support So Tanish will not be here to give his report I'll be giving the hills report as well so I'm pretending to be him so um let's get started with this month's Viking report starting off with the cenal student council Updates this Wednesday January 8th at the phhs student council will attend the njs AC winter conference event for fostering leadership and collaboration among student leaders Statewide we are proud to announce that one of our own student council members is running for the prestigious state board president position this is an incredible opportunity to represent phhs on a larger scale and we wish him the best of luck with the with the election additionally phhs student council will be hosting a workshop at the conference the topic of our Workshop is how to increase Community engagement via school events in this presentation will use our event Halloween at the hills as a key case study to talk about the approaches we Implement for the best turnup we will also discuss some issues we ran into and what Solutions we came up with to overcome them this information will be vital to other student councils experiment with their new events and experiences in terms of current student council events we are currently in the midst of receiving student input via Google form votes for our next event for our Hills senior stand the first round of nominating students has been completed next we will present the senior class with the top six nominated students for each category so that they can pick their winners here are some highlights uh from events and initiatives happening throughout phhs phhs Deca will be attending the NJ Deca Regional competition on Tuesday January 14th from 7:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Ropo College of New Jersey we wish them the best of luck with their role plays Ski Club will also be going on their first ship of the season on Wednesday January 8th after school the Jewish Culture Club recently celebrated Hanukkah with the fested Party featuring traditional fried foods like donuts Lively drle games oh Lively Dr games and a creative competition to build the best candle display out of the swim team had a fundraiser on Friday December 27th at 11:00 a.m. uh to close at Buffalo Wild the class of 2025 will be a fundraiser with Chipotle for Project Graduation today on January 7th from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. the partner Chipotle branch is located on state rout 10 moris ples there is a FSA reminder that senior families are encouraged to begin their application process if they haven't already completing this form is a graduation requirement for the class of 2025 our senior internship program is seeking businesses in moris County to partner with us for our program which runs from May 12th to Jun June 19th interested parties can reach out for more details everyone wants to stay updated on Vikings sports scores achievements and events they should follow the par Hills Sports Instagram page at and the app is par Hills Athletics so with the upcoming biking years there's the girls basketball will face Mor snows high school at 400 p.m. on January 8th boys basketball will face Morris Hills High School at 700 p.m. on January 10th and boys and girls swimming have a meet scheduled at Morris at 1:30 p.m. on January 11th this concludes this month's phhs report thank you thank you for giving both of them are there any questions thank you now this time there's going to be a break to congratulate our newly elected board members but before we take that break I need to call for a motion to go into to close session um to say that now uh for purp the break close session for purposes of discussing student hi matters which are confidential in nature action in the hi matters is anticipated to be taken during this evening's public session personal information pertaining to the individuals involved in these matters shall be redacted from the minutes of the executive session and shall remain confidential until after the time that the board determines the need of confid confidentiality no longer exists in the matter matter discussed can be disclosed um so is there a Rec motion Mr gito in a second Mr and then roll call please Mrs Abraham yes Mr baros yes Mr dito yes Mrs mayor yes Mr Rea yes Mrs Chappelle yes Dr rri yes Mr chaa yes Mrs kogan yes I may I call the meeting public meeting back to order at this time I'm going to suspend tonight's regular agenda to allow for the following presentation Dr morone for Federal grant Awards [Music] just testing out the clicker guys we get start it's not clicking nothing yet should I just point in you know what statistics prove then when you turn it off when you turn the clicker on you're going to get a lot of better results clickers on false alarm yeah keep on your toes um we're talk about um Federal grant award utilization before I do I do want to um thank Colleen and Robin for for their support in these Endeavors um it's a lot of um decisions to be made and and uh funds to be allocated and working with them has been great we're able to be really efficient and make smart decisions with with their help so thank you guys very much um and then the non uh Federal grant related topic I do want to thank the board and the superintendent and um and the rest of central office for uh their support in a in a recent uh difficult family situation so per is a great place to work and I we always preach to our administrators and teachers make human decisions and it's it's nice to see that coming from the top down uh you guys are all right I take back everything I I said previously so from now from now on you guys are all right all right so we're going to talk about um our federal grants and how we use them and you'll see there's three different areas um there's e funds there are title funds and then idea funds so let's start with CIS um CIS is a Fed they're Federal program funds I'll try not to read off the slides too much um but they help a school with significantly disproportional significant disproportionality allows us provide um coordinated coordinated early intervening services to serve children um in that category but not necessarily only those children so we have some flexibility to use those funds um using it solely for those children would would just be difficult to to implement things um entirely so on the next slide you'll see uh five of the ways we use these These funds the first one is for an after school math tutoring program for middle and high school students those tutors are our middle and high school teachers that we uh pay through the funds um second are um each Elementary School receive $5,000 for parent nights they're going to put together a li Arts parent night and a math parent night they have the uh free them to do that any way they choose based on their community and and their staff uh but the idea is to get parents and kids in the building to talk about the programs R do to get them speaking the same language and supporting the curriculum um at home which is always helpful um we are paying for four waivers for English and math teacher at PHS and phhs uh they'll be working with at risk students in are math and English classes um like for example Algebra 2 is is always a tough one uh that's probably the the math class that we see kids repeating the most um we have seniors who were part part of the portfolio process they can help them support them for the preparation of that process as well and the goals of get ISS to to June with the diploma in their hands and these four um waivers will help us do that more effectively at the buildings uh number four we're going to uh we've been spending money on math and lar supplies at the K to 5 level um class books teacher resources Etc uh number five is an exciting one we're still um working on this one but as we look at artificial intelligence now we can use it in the classroom uh you know you look at it first from you know the teacher perspective how can it makes make teachers lives easier um to prep to plan to teach students to assess students and then the second which is which I think is a lot more nuanced is how can students use this in a way that um helps them learn without stopping them from thinking you know so we have our AI committee that we're meeting and working on our an enhanced AI policy which you'll be getting drafts of soon uh but the one step that we're taking is looking at Amigo which is an AI chatbot which um guides students through learning it doesn't give the answer per se but it's going to point them in the right direction um and we're excited to to to try these things and to Pilot them and and get in our students hands next slide um we're going to have in District we bring in in District Consultants um we've had PD on interventions a small group instruction uh focusing on our English class trict at the high school level and PD with the living literacy Network as well we pay for out of District conferences and workshops for teachers through this and we've also purchased um various educational software um three in the area of math include Mobi ma or four mobimax success maker Alex andl I can elaborate on those um at the end if you'd like um and then Learning Ally which are audio books for um English classes we've done this one book one school program which we approved earlier in the year it's a graphic novel of high interest and we we got those books brought in through CIS funds story works by Scholastic and RTI software is paid for as well um in the in the vein ofal a lot of these ones particularly in math are um it's software that um assesses students so to provide them um assessments um based on the results of that assessment and then modifies um you know their instruction based on that so when we've got kids at remedial levels or trying to bring them up and catch them up with their classmates you give them a lot of practice that's going to keep uh adjusting to to bring them up to that level and uh we're excited to have these opportunities all right turning the page to title funds did you know there were four title funds four different types awesome if you didn't I'm going to tell you about it right now um Title One um who's giggling over there oh Joanie Joan's an Joan's an easy one to make that so Title One a federal program that provides effective supplemental programs services and activities to address the needs of academically at risk students that's the key thing there title one is for atrisk kids we use Title One funds to pay for our elementary interventionists there are two teachers for four Title One schools that's newwood Lake highwa Troy Hills and Rockway Meadow and we're in the process of hiring um High a high school and middle school interventionist that's going to travel between the two schools to work with our adverse students um in that vein as well title two is about uh professional development preparing teachers training teachers recruiting teachers so we use this money for gravity gravity Goldberg teacher PD and sub coverage we could pull teachers from class to to um engage in the PD we pay for conferences and workshops um resources and text for teachers and educational software all through title two I'm going to skip title three move to title four title four is our favorite one because it's really open-ended uh and and I like that there's a lot of key words in this one talks about increasing the capacity of schools to provide all students with an access to well-rounded education improve School conditions for student learning and improve the use of technology so we we've got a lot of different ways we can interpret this we've used used this to pay for assemblies to uh supplement or to um to fund family stem nights uh as PD for artificial intelligence um P so we have a teacher on staff who's like this is her passion she's a teacher at berkon does an amazing job so um we're we're hoping to to get her in a position where she can start to share some of the things that she doing compensate her for that because she's just got a wealth of knowledge and uh she's been our on our AI committee and is really crushing it um we also pay for reflex math through title four next slide is title three which is all about English language Learners so uh Mrs Santana oversees These funds um and it pays for a ton of stuff and things that you've definitely heard about in the past um I our ESL summer school our student summer workbooks our ESL homework club which runs year long uh the two family community outreach of leaon on one each side of town who work with parents and the library in town and different organizations to help parents um adjust you know to Life as a as a parent of a of a child in America in in school uh family literacy nights adult I love this one adult English classes for parents and guardians of ESS and ESL El students um curricul curricular and instructional supplies PD for ESL staff educ ational software Transportation costs on field trips so this this money really goes a good use to support and um help us develop and catch up our ESL students finally we have Ida funds um and these are this comes from the individuals with disabilities Education Act these are all our special education programs and I spoke to Mr Courtright and he shared all the different ways we put these funds to use and the first one is out of District tuition okay the second our stiens for our behaviorist liaison CST liaison and presentations of parents through CAC uh we're using this to buy instructional supplies to support life skills instruction uh things that we uh buy shop right for quicking activities real real life Hands-On activities that we have our have for our students our CBI trips um mostly but not exclusively for students in the star program these include karate yoga bowling a minor league baseball game um and these are super rewarding activities for our students uh we also payer in District professional professional development and on the next page registrations for conferences and workshops computer software including motivity and autism helper um classroom items such as flexible seating additional dividers and mats if you've ever toured our elementary schools you definitely you know see that that um those funds that use and our Unified sports which is just amazingly uh rewarding a beautiful program uh that our kids are involved in so those are our three kind of buckets of federal funds CIS the title funds and idea and the various ways that we put them to use uh with the help of our business department and our amazing supervisors and teachers so you have any questions please let me know at this time questions Dr W I have so many questions really yeah thank you so much um I'm really interested in this and I really appreciate all the work you're doing um and when um I have a few questions just about like the grant structure itself and then some about the programming um so one um these are all entitlement grants um right uh versus discretionary like we fit the criteria okay yes um how is access to these initi initiated so like this exists we know we can access this money who's the one who's like oh we need to start that paperwork I know you thanked This Crew sure what's that process look like sure you guys could jump in as well if you want but I mean these guys are the Robin and K are the experts and very familiar with this so there's an application process that we do every year application comes out maybe May June you'll see it on the board like on my secretary's report that we're going to apply for the money um we apply for the money over the summer for Ida for Esa which is all the title grants CIS is part of the Ida application um and then we're you know we actually did this year meet with all of our stakeholders meaning our supervisor and Dennis and also with Keith to go over all of the things that they needed to have in the grants and we pretty much just put the application together with their help and it gets submitted through our office M's taking it over now and the timeline when is it submitted it's submitted over the summer and we'll you know once you submit it it's like substantially approved so you can start using the money but you get your final approval like I think we just got youca it was returned to us for some changes that we made with carrier funds but it's fully approved by now so in the fall it gets fully approved and we start using it in September well sometimes in the summer depending okay um it do we happen to know just like federally um like this is this will be on this year's budget because there's we're anticipating pretty significant changes to some of these Federal programs um I'm just wondering when that will hit us um I don't know yet we haven't got any guidance on that usually they tell us when we're doing the budget to um budget either 15 or 20% less than the allocation that we received the year before so you'll get some notification from the agencies well you don't get it from the agencies you usually get it from your county office they'll tell you that that this is what's coming down the pike we have not heard that yet for this budget year 25 26 I would I would say too we'll see less programs next year due to the carryover yeah so this year we were able to kind of Swing for the fences a little more based on that carryover so we'll have to you know make some decisions moving forward um should be a should be a fun year in the Department of Education um then uh my other question so uh about the title three um all of the programming provided by the title free funds those are beyond the central elll curriculum right so we essentially we are educating the students in the core sense of it and this is uh providing like Beyond additional so I just want make sure and um that um uh this is there's a ton of amazing professional development happening um do we have any kind of systematic or non you know even like popup uh ways that like through assessments or Reflections or just ways folks are sharing out like after they've had the opportunity to implement try it out they turn keying to departments and the super do a great job of using the the department meeting time to have people turn key you know and particularly um think the gravity Goldberg one for example we spent a lot of time that we we cycled a lot of teachers through so there was less of Need for T King because it became really just the fabric of what they were doing um but those uh Department is definitely a time for people to share what they what they've learned at a conference what they learned at an IND District PD so not just what they learned but like me like sometime later like I learned this and then I did this yeah this this is how the the benefit of that conference I I think so I I think that's definitely part of it I I think that's probably a little more effective than maybe reporting out the day you get back from a conference right as opposed to this is me doing this for a month to see how it worked out so cool thank you no worries anybody else no thank you so much guys appreciate thank you Dr thank you thank you thank you Dennis now we're going to have the board attorney review the code of ethics that all board members have in front of them for Signature good evening board members um so in front of you is all not only the presentation but also your code of ethics that you need to execute um at the conclusion of tonight and turn that into Joanie uh this constitutes your annual training as required by code um we generally just go over briefly what the code um and the statute require um the school ethics act has been based on the uh presumption that the representative form of government is essential to the conduct of members of local Boards of Education um and and school administrators to hold the respect and confidence of the people uh as such the officials must avoid conflict which is in violation of the public trust or which creates a justifiable impression among the public that that trust has been violated and as you know through the statute there's a lot of prohibited acts which it um tend to address uh board members and school administrators personal and Financial interests and ensuring that those interests do not cross within the uh Board of Education um I provided you with the code Provisions um in case you want to go look at it so who to whom does it apply all the board members employees at a or officers at a certain level so your your District administrators your building administrators your central off office um administrators are also Bound by the the uh code of eics um I'm sorry they're Bound by the prohibition not the code of ethics the code of ethics only applies to you guys tonight we're just going to talk about the the code of ethics that's what it requires um again there's the prohibited acts and then there's the code of ethics after that the ethics Provisions require that uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and all court orders pertaining to the school we may not like the laws that Trenton passes we may not appreciate um the way in which the department Ed has implemented some of those regulations or laws but as board members your job is to ensure that you follow those laws and should you wish to change them um advocate for those changes in the appropriate forms I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed color sex or social standing you just heard a wonderful presentation by Dr Mal roone um in terms of making sure that all of our students are receiving the benefit of the education that you folks uh help fund I will confine my board action to policymaking planning and appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them this is one of the most difficult Provisions for board members generally and I would not include this board me this board but generally to follow because it's uh you do have the responsibility to oversee that that District but as um non-educators it is the responsibility of your officials your superintendent your assistant superintendent to follow up and administer those schools if you want to change uh in board policy that's certainly up to this board if you want to have a you can certainly let them know what directions you want to go in but the day-today um information is within the administrator's um perview I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools we just went over that one um um to prove violations um there's specific Provisions now um this the school ethics commission got pretty tired of getting very Bland um General complaints in um from folks they as you know anybody can file that complaint the allegations have been um very broad they don't allege any facts so the school ethics commission came out and has provided in code uh specific factual elements that have to be demonstrated on the face of the complaint before they'll accept it for consideration I will recognize that Authority rests with the Board of Education and make no personal promises nor take any private action that compromises the board this is where we deal with our Facebook situations um also uh you know presenting yourselves out in the public um and speaking upon topics that impact uh the board I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interests or partisan Pol political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or the gain of friends we all know that we hold all of the information that is provided to you in a confidential manner confidentially I will votee to point the best qualified Personnel available for consideration at the recommendation of your superintended that does not mean a rubber stamp that does mean um taking those considerations and those recommendations um very seriously I will support and protect School Personnel in the proper performance of their duties factual and and I did set out the factual allegations that need to be pled in order to bring this type of action you have to demonstrate a violation of um uh evidence that the board member took deliberate action which resulted in undermining opposing compromising um or harming School Personnel in the proper performance of their duties we've seen this in a couple of our fellow school districts where the board members have taken to Facebook um and discussed uh School Personnel or how teacher was um running their classroom refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer we talk all the time about the chain of command however if you are approached by a board uh by member of the public your reference is to um Dr Suter or uh the superintendent we know any person can file a complaint the Board of Education cannot file a complaint um but individual members may do so there's a 6-month statute of limitations and the SEC is the only entity that can determine whether or not a school official's conduct violated the ACT a number of years ago in Roxbury there was a I'm dating myself it's probably about 10 or 12 years ago now uh a board member in Roxbury where the board censured the um the individual board member the SEC came back and said that's not appropriate that is not their outside of your jurisdiction any school official May request an advisory opinion from the school ethics uh commission about your own conduct or about the conduct of another individual on the board provided that you have told or alerted that board member um to the to the question that's not been a problem for us um recently all I will tell you is it's great to give the advisory opinion what the school ethics commission says is that great you get the advisory opinion but if it's wrong that's on you here are your four um sanctions for violations of the ACT um I have not seen a removal in um at least 18 years in doing this here's your disclaimer language um you want to make sure that that is on your Facebook pages your Tik toks your um whatever other social media you may be in um and as well as if you are presenting information uh in out in in the public additional uh board member training requirements uh again for our newly return uh returning board members um you also have to continue to do your board train um it gives you the date and you can get that information through Miss beno's office you have to file that information with u Miss Tesco um that is an advanced uh training program for you folks all right personal and relative Financial disclosures again please make sure that you fill those out those have to be um to miss Tesco before April 30th uh she adds your name to the list that list eventually goes to Trenton they kind of cross reference uh information um it also applies to school administrators um those are public records and they are um approved by the ECS so you may get a kickback if they think that there's something incorrect about it um but that information needs to be to uh Miss Tesco and that's quite frankly very helpful for for us in in the administrative role to make sure that you're not voting on anything that you should not be you try to make sure that you're alerted to that that beforehand um I we we take credit for this chart that the um SEC uh put out in 2023 Paran has been doing this for about 253 years um so they've decided to expand that um so it really lists kind of the relationships that exist out there in the world and whether or not that individual can participate in negotiations um or be involved in the superintendent um actions which would be hiring um determination evaluation anything of that nature so if you're looking um specifically for information on your reg uh on your school ethics regulations they are found in 68 colon 28-1 that really lays out what the penalties are what the process is um what has to be pled um what the withdrawal and settlement of complaints looks like if a um if the commission has decided that they're going to take a complaint they may not let the complaintant withdraw they may go ahead and take that on their own um so you have to be kind of vigilant about what time the timing is that you're going to withdraw those complaints and it also talks about the appeals process um in terms of what um if you wanted to object to your um your your censure or your reprimand anything of that nature that eventually gets up to the appet division um so that's where you would be I am happy to take any questions but if you do not uh please make sure you sign your ethics forms and return those to miss bunos are there any questions I I have one sorry is there a limit on this disclaimer like you can say this disclaimer but then if you go ahead and say XYZ is that disclaimer void or once you put that out there that's your disclaimer the SEC has had a case where they did reprimand uh the board member who did make the disclaimer but everything after the disclaimer was about the board the board the board the board um I do believe that that individual was an officer of the board um and they said that the actions that they took despite the disclaimer was sufficient to find a violation um so I would just say yes you can put your disclaimer on but it's not a free pass thank you we are up to correspondence is there any correspondence that come before the board no there's not no there's not unfinished business Mr Rea um we worked on this over the last two weeks this is um a statement that we are going to make to the New Jersey Department of Education uh it'll be tomorrow so you all receive a copy of this and if you have any questions or any comments be happy to hear um but I think we got a a pretty good document apparently we have three minutes to speak so when I say we I'm I guess it's me so uh um so I will cram this into 3 minutes and and uh we'll see how it goes Mr Cho yeah I would just like to thank you and Allison put putting this together it is important to raise to the level um of the state and people who have responsibility for these funding uh decisions to recognize that 2% cap is an issue especially in a period of high inflation the funding formula needs to be fixed and I think that was very eloquent and a direct statement does anybody else have any questions froma is there any other unfinished business I don't know UNF bu microphone sorry since we're not doing any committee reports I just wanted to say that over the weekend can I do this now okay I was at Mount Taber school um one of my former not Mount Taber school at Mount Taber Library one of my former students attends Pratt in New York and she had an art show and it was great because so many times we don't see what our kids do after they leave here a lot of times they just kind of like out there in the world so the art show was great she was there and she was talking about you know what she does she was in Italy she she really it was so exciting um the art show is still available this was what the artist was there but the art show is still available at the tab Library when they're open I mean it was worth going it was really her art was very interesting great thank you and I told her she can credit her second grade teacher for her success um as this is the first meeting with this new board please review the committee list that will be coming around and and fill out the index card with the Committees that you would prefer to be on for this coming year and return it to miss benos as soon as possible you know tomorrow if you haven't already thought about this all of us have been on the board before so I'm pretty sure you all knew this was coming um yes please pass that direction thank you uh now we are up to the approval of minutes for the regular and executive sessions of December 19th 2024 can I have a motion for the approval Mr Chao and a second Miss mayor is there any discussion on the minutes okay roll call please Mrs Abraham yes Mr baros yes Mr VTO abstain Mrs mayor yes Mr Rea yes Mrs Chappelle yes Dr Wright yes Mr cha yes Mrs kogan yes and now to superintendent's bulletin number 10 Dr Suter thank you Miss kogan good evening everyone before we begin I would like to welcome Dr Steve Forte he's the superintendent of the Denville schools with us today I hope he's not on a recruiting trip but uh it's great to see you Steve um welcome back everyone I hope every had a pleasant holiday season with their family and friends January is Muslim heritage month and as such the district will take some time to honor and celebrate Muslim Heritage History and contributions with our students the coordinating supervisor of K12 social studies has provided a link to the New Jersey Department of education's Professional development series titled more than just a month which includes a free webinar on Muslim American history District uh congratulations to our new president Mrs kogan I look forward to working with you throughout the remainder of my time in the district tonight for your approval we have superintendent bulletin items 1 through 39 with the denim items 40 through 49 are there any questions on the superintendent's bulletin seeing now none we'll move to the secretary's report Mrs Tesco hi everyone on tonight's secretary's report we have our regular business motion including the 2025 organization motions for the calendar year and the new board are any questions on the secretary's report all right new business I don't believe there's any new business so we're up to the hearing of the public at this time oh sorry new business yes have a brief statement thank you Mr K uh I would first like to thank the voters of rany who voted for me again vice versa by a significant margin it says they wanted to be returned to serve on this board I'd also like to thank Mrs Abraham Mr Dara Mrs chel and Dr Wright were speaking with me individually this past week to talk about their concerns and ideas or what thoughts they're going on what their thoughts are going on for this year they represent the future of this board as they are they're all in their first and second terms to me that is important moving forward for we for we should remember not to forget the past but to learn from what has happened and use that experience to look ahead to the Future I'm I'm kind of thought of a quote by um Teddy Roosevelt it's probably many you probably heard it before because it's not the critic who counts not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of Deeds could have done better the credit belongs to the man who's actually in the arena so you know all of us here at this or table are considered elected officials I wouldn't I wouldn't characterize us as politicians so you know we're all it's all the nonpartisan you know way when we get elected so you know what I my actions tonight wanting to be president that's fine I understand how the board wants to do this look forward to working with Mrs kogan and Mr Chao going forward uh congratulations to both of you thank you thank you Mr Deo at this time if there is anyone who would like to address the board please come up sign your name and address in the book at the lectur and state your name for the record and please address the chair each person will have three minutes to speak to the board it would be helpful if you would like to address the board to please come up now and sign the book so that you're ready when the first speaker is finished as a reminder we are video recording this meeting if you are a student who wishes to speak we ask that you not provide your home address but rather give only the name of the municipality in which you live if you're a parent wishing to discuss a specific matter pertaining to your child during this portion of the meeting you may request that the board temporarily suspend the video recording alternatively please consider speaking privately about the matter to the superintendent after the meeting speakers should refrain from using specific student or staff names in their comments and are referred to bylaw 168 for further information regarding the videotaping of our meetings if you if you want to talk you can come up to here hello so this is our first time to this meeting so to a for like this so if we do make a mistake please just help us out start with your name beel sha and uh we're here to because we're concerned parents from brookln middle school as we know um there have been some allegations made against the principal at procan Middle School um our concerns are um a few to uh to begin with one is the lack of transparency uh because allegations surfaced somewhere in um September of 2023 yet none of the parent Community or none of the uh stakeholders for brookl Middle School were informed of what was going on uh we learned our children learned about it from social media and let the parents know which is very upsetting so that's concern number one and number two is we understand allegations are allegations until proven otherwise however in light of the allegations what is the board doing to protect our children at brookln middle school we will answer you when the public is done talking okay anything else we can pick it up then you answer this question you have three minutes now to talk and then you will have one minute after to talk oh okay yeah so just the can you give us your name too please yes absolutely I'm Arna um again a concerned parent from brookl long um one of my the apart from the two points that B has raised another concern is that Mout is in a position of power right and she is a role model as educator she is a role model for the kids so I we just want to we concerned about a the position of power uh that she has and yes allegations are allegations but still um she has she is in position of power and also just in terms of our kids right what example are we setting and you know kids know about this kids are living with uh you talking about this so just concerned about the example that we are setting for our kids yeah we we don't want to be casual about it yeah we definitely don't want to be casual and and it was really really really disappointing that the kids were talking about it for a week or two and then the parents got to know about it again from a few of the kids and then we had to kind of you know confirm things amongst ourselves right so that the lack of transparency was definitely uh very underwhelming uh to say the least um else yeah I would like to follow up um I know uh background checks are done um but when was the last background check done for the principal of brookl middle school and in light of the allocations has the DCF been informed by the board that these allegations are outstanding and and the last thing uh your time is up I'm sorry your time is up time's up can I just take 30 seconds finish finish your sentence and then your okay um if at all you need a count right like a strength from the parents to say that okay if we get say 100 200 parents to kind of step up and say that maybe temporarily the principal uh is working remotely or whatever right like we can we definitely have that kind of support from the parents community so that is something that we'd like to discuss as well thank you mhm okay is there anybody else from the public that would like to speak well can I talk about a different cons I had minutes so we we need to listen to everyone and then you can come back yes hi Nicole lelli excuse my voice I C the Jersey CT um I am Nico RI I not from this community but I'm strong community in our do where I live um and one thing I have to say I'm here to represent These Fine men back here because there's a problem when you have contracts not being signed from last year's fiscal year of the men and women who take care of your grounds and your buildings being clean for these children since Co we don't have to go there but I will say it's pretty disrespectful when you have on a piece of paper that this new person is taken six figures and we can't take care of the people who he has to run since July 1 and there's still nothing it's a problem it's very disrespectful to these men and it's not fair and I just think it's the problem and everyone there apparently these people aren bards who don't even work in this this state and that's crazy how much they make and I just think it's really fair to the small people who keep everything running and we remember that through Co and I think everyone should really understand that especially parents who don't know about it speaking of transparency your hard eared money in taxes helps these men and it's not going to the right place thank you thank you if you'd like to come back up you have another minute to speak no no I'm Arna again um I just want to Echo uh the previous uh uh parents concern but definitely um you know the contracts for the school support Prof uh staff is a concern and and I completely agree with u her that you know we it's a disrespect right if at all people are not getting paid we are not renewing contct contracts and all of that so that certainly u i urge the board to kind of take that seriously thank you all right so we're GNA close the public session Dr Suter would you like sure the district is aware of certain 20-year-old civil allegations against one of its staff members the district has been in contact with our attorney as well as the prosecutor's office we wish to assure Ure the public that the district has not received any information or evidence that suggests that there is any threat to our students the district engages in a thorough screening and onboarding process including adherence to the background check requirements set forth by the New Jersey Department of Education in sum the New Jersey Department of Education requires teachers administrators to pass a background check the office of student protection unit conducts the background checks in collaboration with the New Jersey State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigations moreover the district Works closely with the parsipany Troy Hills Police Department as well as the Mars County prosecutor's office in investigating any claim which would adversely impact our school Community finally the district has safeguards in place to ensure that safety of all students which is the district's Paramount concern further than that we cannot comment on personel matters we invite anyone with any questions or concerns relative to their child's safety to contact act my office again thank you for bringing your concern forward with regards to negotiations we value our employees here and we have been in contact with the negotiations chair on numerous occasions it is not for a lack of effort on the board's part we are waiting to hear back from local 32 when we hear back from them we will certainly continue to engage in negotiations thank you and can I just confirm that they're being paid on their prior contract correct correct thank you very insufficient um so now we're up to the superintendent's bulletin number 10 items number 1 through 39 with addendum items number 4 through 49 and readings can I have a motion for the superintendent Mrs mayor and second Mrs Abraham all right roll call Mrs Abraham yes Mr baros yes Mr DeVito yes Mrs mayor yes Mr Rea yes Mrs Chappelle yes Dr RoR yes Mr chaa yes Mrs kogan yes oh sorry hold on for me is Michelle on the phone um I have to abstain from number 39 because I was not part of the Clos session discussion thank you m m Chapel we got that y all right there being no further business I would like a motion to adjourn the meeting Mrs mayor second Mr Deo R all in favor I I meeting adjourned thank you yes oh yes yes uh no but hav't seen it a times myself yes big rush on