yes right answer we have just just continue yeah I'll just say my superintendence report all right congratulations to all the recipients tonight that was really wonderful um really nice presentation in the in the gym cafeteria okay um we are now open to the public limited to action items on the agenda okay uh for correspondence we had an email from FC regarding transfer and an email from as uh regarding recognition uh next can I get a motion to adopt one point should I ask if we have anyone online I'm sorry there's nobody online okay great thank you uh can I get a motion uh to adopt 1.01 to 1.02 so move back Carolyn second car right um roll call please this dependo yes M Fury yes Mr loes yes Mr Peach yes M bu yes M Ryan Yes m w yes yes moving on to the approval of minutes we get a motion to adopt 2.01 to 2.02 Second Carolyn OT call please M dep yes M fi yes Mr Lo yes Mr Peach yes M bori yes M Ryan Yes M wolf yes yes moving on to finance and Facilities can we get a motion to adopt 3.01 to 3.10 we'll do that right after I think the motion motion okay and we do have a committee report thank you Mr um committee met on Friday May 10th at 8:30 a.m. the first item we discussed was the potential referendum and expiring Deb presentation um from Anthony suine attorney at w Goldman and Spitzer Anthony sine provided a summary of the referendum process since our district has debt of approximately $2 million per year that will be that will expire in 2025 we may want to consider a potential referendum to present to the voters next year we will continue to discuss this over the next several months suggested timelines if proceeds is now through December 2024 compile construction projects for inclusion and referendum item two was January through February 2025 architect drafts required paperwork for State submittal March through August 2025 architect and financial advisers prepare back in paperwork for referendum public campaign for vote and September of 2025 or December January uary March and November referendum will be on the ballot preschool expansion Rod Grant the committee agreed to pay to apply for the rod regular operating District Grant to support preschool expansion we would be eligible to apply for approximately $500,000 which could possibly help fund upgrades at District Preschool locations the third item we discussed was summer 2024 capital projects um 2023 2024 Rod Grant was for the hbac installation scheduled for RMS gym and this will be completed the end of June uh for the RMS main office the roof initial kickoff meeting was held recurring construction meetings will be bi-weekly in June General construction HVAC um savings above all sets begin at the end of school year Furniture Design meetings with main office staff ongoing budget finalized Logistics moves preparation for September 2024 being implemented and we discussed the communications plan uh RMS LED classroom lighting work scheduled will also be completed at the end of the school year it switch and access point project bid approved 40% reimbursed by federal funds scheduled um for upgrade equipment first responder radio enhancement equipment ordered by vendor kickoff meeting soon Private Preschool providers new classrooms a total of seven the purchase orders were created and work was scheduled thir uh the fourth item we discussed was the 2024 2025 rates substitutes and surrounding area the committee agreed to keep substitute rate the same as last year at $125 per day the benefits waiting period will be 90 days instead of 60 days non-staff tuition rate um of $4,200 in 2023 2024 will increase to 4500 in 2024 2025 preschool rate will stay the same as non-staff tuition rate this will be for an employees child to attend our preschool as a tuition student uh we discussed the prescriptions transition update that was tabled Finance agenda items and Bill list the preschool expansion a transfers Transportation agreements those donation child assault prevention Grant which was uh $3,500 rtaa sidebar the new assistant principal for RMS construction project vendor resolutions if any and the uh semi COI for June 11th sustainable Jersey Auction and Disposal next meeting is planned for July 18th at 9:30 a.m. and the August date is um was August 29th right we decided on August 29th at 8:30 a.m. tenative topics will be solar referendum and capital projects thank you Mr any questions or comments at all regarding those notes okay can we get a roll call please M dep yes m f yes Mr Rose yes Mr Peach yes M borski yes M Ryan Yes M wolf yes yes moving on to education technology can we get a motion to adopt 4.01 to 4.10 so move back second Carn um we do not have a committee report this time so does anyone have any questions about anything on the agenda okay um can we get a roll call please M dto yes M Fury yes Mr Lo yes Mr Peach yes M vori yes M ran yes M yes yes yes moving on to Personnel can we get a motion to adopt 5.01 to 5.11 so Jennifer second Caroline and not a committee report as well um does anyone have any questions regarding what's on the agenda's okay can we get a roll call please M dto yes M Fury yes yes Beach yes M borski yes Ryan Yes Yes C yes Dr C before we move on to communication I make one announcement to the board please so tonight what I would like to do is introduce Mrs Jennifer money as the new assistant principal of Readington Middle School this is Mrs money she's due to start July 1st 2024 Mrs money comes to us as a current preschool teacher at White House school but prior to her arrival here this past January she taught fifth grade in intervention in the Clifton Public Schools as the board may know the assistant principal search involves a process with a round of screening interviews followed by a more in-depth interview with an advisory committee made up of teachers administrators and parents and then after the advisory the process included a presentation along with a few interview questions from a small group including um the a board member the superintendent and rs principal it was during this step in the process that Jen really stood out we asked her to prepare a presentation where she would introduce herself to the community and her first slide said she is three words passionate approachable and dependable when I think back to the surveys that we administer to parents and the staff about they they like to see an administrator these words come up consistently throughout the process Jen demonstrated that she embodies the three these three characteristics and more she's dedicated and thoughtful educator who will certainly excuse me contribute greatly to the administrative theme tonight we welcome Jen and her family who live here in Readington as we appoint just appointed you just moments ago as the assistant principal of AR congratulations J Dr J speaks you steal the show every every time hello brought Jen into the district I am losing her as my prol person however I am so so happy to be working with you in a different capacity but please not I brought her in I will now sit down I I think not to be out not to be out I am so thrilled to have Jen as the newest Viking here at we are so honored that you're going to be part of the Readington Middle School family thank you oh thank you um I just want to say thank you I am so excited Dr Hart Mr Charon the Board of Education you know and this isle getting there it's okay if you were J you know I came to Readington um and I just knew that I had to work here so I started in preschool and you know what it's been amazing but sorry Stacy I am so looking forward to moving on to be with the middle schoolers that's where my heart truly is um I knew instantly upon moving here and and only the few short months that I've been working here that I found my home so I look forward to this journey and I can't wait to work with Mr Charleston and meet the rest of the staff and students I'm really looking forward to it thank you congratulations Jen you're also welcome to stay everybody's welcome to stay um but congratul thank you great congratulations as well thank you welcome uh moving on to communication uh can I get can we get a motion to adopt 6.01 move that second Carolyn and we have a committee report yes um the committee met on May 7th we began with a uh Q&A session with shuss Esme um and this is the firm that advises the districts District on policies s m Castro and Pete salano Esme and they gave us background about how they track new legislation and change changes in administrative code and then right policies for school districts that are impacted by the changes on the subject of pronouns Mr mccastro stay that for the last two years the state has been making an effort to eliminate gender pronouns and statute regulations he specifically mentioned that the regulations for managing for equity in education are intended to eliminate gender pronouns in response to questioning Mr mcer not he he did not think he did not think districts were prevented from having gendered pronouns in their policies or that they would face any legal exposure if they did not eliminate gendered pronouns for the code at the same time he he recommended that to be on the safe side districts should fully align themselves with any changes to the code um next we discussed um the alert from stuss Esme um on managing equity and education um there are two policies that were held over from the last meeting the first is policy 1530 equal employment opportunities and there was a discussion about the portion of the policy which states that the district can use hiring practices which correct or prevent imbalances based on race or other protected categories the second policy held over is policy 2260 equity in school and classroom practices and here there was a discussion about the provisions which use the term quote all Sexes unquote in place of both genders unquote St ese mention that the state's use of the phrase all sexes in place of both genders was intentional as the word gender is not a protected category under the law against discrimination which instead uses the categories sex and gender expression or identity St es me also mentioned that while they recommended that we align our policies closely with the code they did not think there would be any legal exposure if the vard changed this to read both sexes instead of all Sexes ultimately no consensus was reached by the committee on these issues and it was instead agreed that these two policies would be brought to the full board for discussion um next we discussed uh six other policies that are going to be brought up they're on the agenda tonight for first reading and uh the main reason for the revisions to these policies is that they remove the list of protected categories and replace it with the expanded list as defined in the code the first policy 5570 sport sportmanship and it's been updated to align with the rules and bylaws of the New Jersey state nurse Scholastic Athletic Association including Provisions for determining unsportsman life conduct next policy uh 5841 addresses secret societies and these are organizations that are not open to all students and they're actually prohibited by Statue and so it's recommended that we have a policy next policy 542 4 I'm sorry 5842 equal access to of student organizations this has been revised to address the degree of participation that staff can have with student organizations under recent US Supreme Court decision um next policy regulation 7610 having to do with vandalism this has been updated per statute including requiring students committing acts of graffiti to pay rest institution reform community service remove the graffiti it also makes parents of any minor damaging school property liable for damages uh policy uh 9323 notification of juvenile offender case disposition and this has been updated to align with statutes which govern how schools gain access to Juvenile Justice proceedings when necessary um next we uh discussed abolishing policy 5755 um which can be um abolished we no longer have a need for this policy once the other policies are passed uh next we discuss the uh RMS main office on Communications plan uh there's going to be a main office renovation which will take place this summer and continue into the at R RMS there will be Communications from Dr Hart about the project in addition Mr Charleston will send out a more detailed letter including day-to-day impact on students and Mr bom mentioned that there will be no major impact on students as construction will be sealed off and most of the heavy construction work will take place in the summer uh next we discussed advocacy um for a preschool special ed uh the committee discussed this has to do with the the discrepancy in funding for special ed students in our preschool program um the district is prohibited from using the state's preschool funding on special ed students and forcing us to use our own budget instead so the district is advocating discussing this with State officials to to address the discrepancy and also for advocacy um on qac process the committee discussed what would likely be revisions to the qac process and that County superintendant are working with the state on this issue um so the agenda items on tonight are policies 5570 5841 5842 7610 and 9323 and we scheduled our next meeting I think we've changed this right June now it's going to be June 19th at 4M thank you thank you Mr Beach does anyone have any excuse me questions or comments regarding what's the these minutes quick question for the abolished policy 5755 we don't have that on our agenda tonight is that can it be held for a later meeting um that's being held because that policy the policies 1523 and 2260 which are the policies that we held and did not put on the agenda tonight would replace that policy so I don't want to abolish a policy until we have an appropriate replacement I would recommend that thank you wel so I had a question for number one um I had looked up the code and I don't see anything on there that discusses gendered pronoun so is it that the code hasn't been updated I don't know what was fully discussed he he said that um the gentleman from stra S toate I understood they said it was the the regulations for managing for equity and education and this is um it's chapter six chapter seven njac 6A Cole and S and that was the one that they said I guess led to the elimination of pronouns I asked a follow-up question of them I haven't heard back yet because I I didn't see it it was in the um if you took a look at the attachment that I put in the documents there was a comment period when code is updated there's a comment period that the public can comment and ask questions about updates to administrative code and in the comment period the public notice that gender pronouns were removed and non-gendered pronouns were placed there and some of the questions when when code is being updated some of the questions have revolved around the change and use of those pronouns so when code is being updated they are changing from gender pronouns to non-gender pronouns from he she to they when we adopt policy policy ultimately comes from code hence the updates and policy okay but the code doesn't discuss this code specifically that's mentioned in the minutes doesn't discuss anything about gender pronouns so that's where I'm kind of confused I don't know if anybody looked up that code but it it doesn't I've asked the question he you know you can correct me if I'm wrong I took it as being the state was pushing for it for the last couple years um you know generally I I haven't been able to find anything that says this is what we're doing and this is what you have to do and I'd asked them I thought I might get a response before tonight I'd asked them I do have a response I just haven't reviewed it that's why I haven't presented it I haven't reviewed in any level of detail but I do have it I don't know if you want to have a discussion now on this or wait till yeah you want to wait until you okay so hold on let me look at a document here so the what I have is what I shared with the committee was njac 6A colon 7 there are specific parts of that subsections like 1.1a uh yeah 1.1a specifically um where revisions to the code that has happened and gender pronouns are removed and non gender non-binary or they is put in place when the code was the document that Strauss gave us was when the code was changed the removal of those pronouns received questions from the public and then what I put in the document was the answers to the question so when code is updated now administrative code is updated now they're removing he she and putting they in code our policy is dictated by code so changes in code mean changes in policy so then when stra goes to update our policy they're following the same pattern that is happening in the code so they're moving from he she and replacing it with they so when we are presented with policies in the policy committee we're seeing a strike through of he she and the replacement of they them does that answer your question Justina it's not I think you're right it's not specifically in that code but in other code as it gets changed that's where we see the revision okay I'll try to I'm going to try to find a specific example for you okay because I have the codee I'm looking at it yeah um okay so that's still under discussion for with the committee correct that policy well we're bringing it to the board we couldn't reach a consensus on it um and I think the question before the board is are we going to be consistent with code and adopt the recommendations from Strauss or do we what would would the board like to see some other revision of the policies happen does anyone does anyone have any thoughts or comments I think someone has a question I can't read from I'm supposed to read this sorry let me say a couple things um look this is a divisive issue you know we we've spending probably more time on it than we should but I I don't quite understand why the state's pushing it um I think you know I think we should treat everyone with with respect I think any transgender children or nonbinary children in our district they should be given support they should be treated with respect you know any child struggling with gender dysphoria and I said I have no problem you know with with teachers or administrators you know calling students students by you know using whatever names they want or calling them using whatever pronouns I don't have any problem with that you know I'll call people what they want to be called um but I have to say I just think it's extreme to just change all of our policies and you know forbid the use of any gender language or gender pronouns um you know I was looking through the one policy that we held over um on equity you know page um you look on page three of the 2260 equity in school you know they they take out the phrase male male and female students you know um and you as Dr Hart mentioned that they're taking out you know you're not allowed to say he and she and her and him um and I I just think it's extreme I think you can I think you can treat everyone respectfully individually without having to you know basically forbid the use of gender language for you know for students that have to be less than 1% or a tenth of a percent of the population and it just I think it's divisive I think it just and it upsets families that don't you know that want to have the gendered pr now they're just kind of sort of pitting people against each other um and I I don't like you know I've said they make changes that are then grammatically incorrect and we're told okay we're just going to do away with the rules of grammar because you know because an advocacy group is telling the state this is what they have to do I I haven't seen anything I to to um um justina's comment I haven't seen anything in the code you know for the source of it who is there an expert saying it is it an organization or what's driving it and I just think the um I just think it's wrong for the Department of aded to be to be doing this those are my comments thank you um sorry does anyone else have any comment they'd like to add to this at all I don't know if we need um so being part of the policy U discussion with the attorneys I think was really helpful because um you know we've been discussing this over several months in policy and how to address this and the attorneys who we pay to write policy for us you know basically said we take statute we put it into an exact policy regardless of their personal opinions you know they they said they write policy for over 500 districts in the state of New Jersey it's written to completely align with what the state wants to see and you know the the safest their recommendation and the safest thing to do for a liability standpoint for our district is to follow their recommendation and adopt it with the language that they provide that comes directly from the state so just wanted to provide that perspective thank you appreciate that anyone else want to add anything I guess I'm just looking at it from like a consistency standpoint you know we're not seeing the changes throughout the district um in our curriculum in the classrooms in the buildings um in our you know and then to then have it in our policies that's where you know I'm looking at it from where I just think it should be consistent um my understanding is that it's not in the code but it's the way that they're writing the language and that we should mirror their language so there's nothing saying you have to do this they're just saying this is how we're writing it now and you should mirror this so you know I think that's where the confusion is coming in like it's not written where we have to do this it's they're telling us we're writing it this way you should write you know just accept it and and write it this way which to me it's inconsistent with us as a district so that's where I'm looking at it from thank you Mr anyone else I have a couple comments I'd like to end couple things first of all I apologize um honestly Randy I appreciate I appreciate you know your position on that and I know you guys have given it a lot of thought in policy but a couple of things one um stra ese is is is the number one place where the like you mentioned I didn't know there was 500 doesn't surpris me out of a little over 600 districts in the state over 500 of them use Strauss estimate so this is something that's not new to them and to go against them I think would be would be the wrong decision for a couple of reasons one uh it just takes like one person to object and then now we have more legal fees that we're going to have to incur for whatever reason but as far as um I agree with you but it doesn't mean that we eliminate he her she you know him it doesn't mean we're eliminating that when we talk about inclusion we're talking about this umbrella so we're opening it up to people and I do believe you when you say that you're welcoming to everyone I think that's the way we all and I believe that that's in everybody's heart so I don't think that's the issue I think the issue is people feel that it's going to move in a direction that is going to narrow things when in fact it's actually going to open things up uh but it's not going to eliminate someone if they want to be called she her him that's not going to stop and there's nothing wrong with that so uh I think it's the best decision because you don't know there might even one student in the district who feels comfortable with that that but that doesn't mean all the other ones aren't going to you know don't have to be refer to a pronoun that they're comfortable with you know me personally I have my personal opinion about it too I have a hard time between plural and singular because I'm still I'm so literal that's just me but uh but to whoever that it's important to that person I feel that they should have it's the option it's having the option and and again if that's the direction we're going in I think it's the right thing to do to um to go along with stress esic because they are the number one in the entire State that's not changing anytime soon and and I and I do believe that there might come a student who or the parent who might feel that you know their child is is you know not feeling as comfortable as they could be for whatever reason um so I would support whatever I would take the recommendation of assessment and it does not limit things it only expands things Justina thank you yes so I guess my question was similar to what Ellen was asking is that we change it in the policy not for what reason but what is the next step like what does that help within the district I mean we're we're presenting test results comparing males and females I mean are we no longer is that something that we no longer can do but we do present it that way and now we're changing all our policies to say he and she so we're not consistent so that's where I kind of have a little bit of that disconnect um I just I don't see the the reason I guess as to why we have to change the policy okay I appreciate that again it's I think it's it's moving in the direction of this inclusion um whether or not we're going to now look at test scores and and include something besides he and she I don't no I honestly can't answer that know can I just add one more thing that um these policies are just changing on a rolling basis they're not being changed just for the gendered language or non-gendered language it's there's other content that's being changed in there so the I guess stra sm's approach is as we're already updating these we're going to include this language so um the other thing that the attorneys had mentioned were you know they recommend taking um their recommended policy language so that down the road as they update other policies the superintendent can kind of keep track of and I don't know exactly how this process works but um then you would already you're already in alignment with all the St SME policies in a in a sort of sense so there wouldn't be an you know steps to go back and adjust so it's sort of like a it's been this way for a long time we we get the mandated language or mandated policies from sh Esme with the recommended language and we pass them as is and then they sort of keep everything in their roles if that's a good way to explain it estimate I mean you know they're being safe their attorneys are saying I mean they make every single change I mean there's policies where the revision is like to capitalize policy capitalize the PE and policy that'll a revision because they notice the code is doing it um I just and I I sort of agree with Justina about how I think it's kind of a it's a step to the next thing and you know because once once they change the you know the language and you know stop you from using you know stop you from like for example using gender in a binary way then that's going to lead down the road I think to um you know changes I don't think the state's going to stop with this I just think it should be common sense I mean I remember back when we were um discussing the the sex ed the new sex ed curriculum um because I was on a committee and the original the original curriculum I mean it was referring to students we couldn't use boys and girls it was referring to like you know student you know persons um or students with a uterus versus you know students with a penis and you know wiser heads prevailed and just we went back to using boys and girls um I just think you can be polite to people without you know without CH you know changing the language of you know and again I think it's not inclusive if because you're someone's always going to complain but if you're going to get complaints from people you're going have this pleasure from people who are you know religious families who don't they don't want their son or daughter referred to as a they what do you do about them I just think the state is just they're just creating a divisive issue for no no reason that I can even understand thank you thank you clarify question yeah you have sorry when we get the policies from stra sesme do we just like cut and paste and become our policies and if we don't take their revisions that include the non-gender language does that mean we have to go in and rewrite all the policies how how does it you know are we causing ourselves more work by not going along with the policy that's written by The Firm that we're paying a lot of money to to write our policies and then you know do that make sense then why do we keep stra Esme if we don't use the policies that they're right so the the process looks like this for me um so one STS May plays an important role because they monitor codee and statute and even Federal Regulation updates when that happens they look to see if there's a corresponding policy that speaks to those updates and then they'll send out those alerts I I you know I talk to talk about them as alerts I don't monitor legal activity that happens in the state on a DA basis you know that's what we pay them for that's their job because that's just not something that I do on a regular basis so the trigger to me that there's been a change in a law somewhere is O Strauss came out with a new policy um this really helped inform one of our more recent examples inform some of our practice in the area um ESL even you know how we how we uh service our students are multilingual Learners right Strauss new laws came out Strauss updated policy we looked at the new policy and said we have to update practices when it comes to how we service our multil learners so that's the path right law update policy update practice update um and I'll give Mrs beagle tell you she she knows I'll give the stacks of policies to administrators Jason as well um and say review this see if we're compliant or if we need to change practice sometimes stess offers options in those non-mandated policies you know the district can choose from a b or c what I generally do then is I'll go back to what we currently have and some members of the policy committee have heard me say well we have this policy we've selected option C so I maintained option C unless the board wishes to change a different option to answer your question though to the point is yes if we the more customization of policy that we do the more we decide to that the board or the superintendent edits policy the more work it makes administratively at some point let's hope 20 years from now I'm not going to be here many of you probably won't be here and some superintendent is going to be like what in the world was that superintendent thinking when they customize this policy because it's going to be really difficult to track so the more we customize the more difficult it makes to track when Strauss gives me the updates they will literally bold and strike through the changes from the most recent revision if policy 5570 was part of a revision in alert 200 they'll refer back to that alert and that adoption date and then they'll update from there so they do all of the tracking for us so it would logistically do I think that's a reason to we're not change policy it's really up to the board there are things that we should customize we should make work for Readington I firmly believe that we have um most of the policy committee knows that I highlight things in blue when I that's my signal that I'm like customizing something I think the question here and and I I wish I had a better uh explanation to Justina and Ellen in terms of like consistency around the district I guess the only thing I can say is when it comes to you know addressing students in a developmentally appropriate way when I go into a kindergarten classroom I tend to use the words boys and girls because that's appropriate for six year olds I just believe that and I think that our curriculum reflects that I think it gets a little bit more complicated when I walk into an eighth grade classroom I think that I might be a little bit more deliberate with my language in an eighth grade classroom and I understand understand that that's there's some dissonance there and I wish I had a better explanation I really did or really do um because I understand the inconsistency part and I think that I would like to ask the board to consider that this is a really complex issue that teachers and administrators and staff deal with on a day-to-day basis and they do their best we are not perfect but everybody does their best to deal with it in the most respectful way possible and I think finally too my my recommendation would be in order to make this in order to do this in the most respectful way possible for our community and to know that students that maybe don't identify he or she would be to adopt policies because policies apply to all children and all people in our community that use the non-gender pronouns I think it's a statement to our community that we we are at least making the attempt we may still get complaints Randy I know that we're not going to be perfect and we may not make someone happy but at least it's the attempt to say we're taking the affirmative action forward to be consistent with code but also adopt inclusive language I think an act that says we're going to customize our policies to use gendered pronouns which I don't have a problem with doing because we're not eliminating he or she we're just including others who may not fall into the he or she bucket I don't know if that's helpful yes that makes sense to me because again that's that was my point is that we're not saying if student wants to be called HEI and if that parent that religious parent wants them your child referred to as HEI that's not changing that's the whole idea is that you can be called the pronoun you want to be called it's not that everyone's going to be called they so it's just again expanding this this possibility it might only apply to one or two students but it's the direction in terms of inclusion and I think it's the right thing to do for the district because once again we're open us up to we're opening ourselves up to potential unne Neary lawsuit that could happen I also don't know if there will come a day where when we report state test scores we may have three categories it might be male female other it might happen um I I feel for the student who has to bubble in that test for and pick one if they even have two to choose from and honestly the the the district test Coordinator would know better than I would how that's categorized but I think that you know when students when we fill out a form to get our passport whatever we're doing right I think that there's now a third bubble and I think that this is just an attempt of stra s to say we recognize that there's a third bubble now on that sheet this is inclusive language you are the policymaking body I I just I ask you to consider that consider the recommendation when everybody said I just need guidance moving forward in terms of just logistically what what we need to to moving forward policies okay so anyone else any comments I just want to mention at prior committee meetings there was also an attempt to use more proper nouns to get to the same place of consensus um and I think that recently more of the policies have had more changes and that was no longer a viable option in terms of being being grammatically correct so I just wanted to share that that was another option that was explored in addition to the sort of two that we're discussing today and I'm happy to keep that as an option I'll customize as much as possible um and I think several policies I went I've G to customized with proper nouns and grammatically correct language as well so that we still kept the uh inclusive language but we also ensure that was grammatically correct right because we want to we want to be correct we want our policies to read well thank you um so at this point do we do I don't I honestly don't know if you if we're supposed to make a decision I'm just you know I don't know if we're supposed to make a decision tonight or you're supposed to do show hands in terms of I have a wish this is my wish this is my wish and hope for all of you yeah I I don't necessarily feel like I don't I don't know if we will come to a decision but we have to we will have to adopt policy right we have to do that um um I I think that I need the guidance from the board of keeping the inclusive pronouns the they them with the customization making sure that grammatically correct or something some other alternative that the board wishes to see in the interest of keeping us moving forward because we have to adopt policies and they will inevitably have pronoun changes where's the consensus of the majority of the board in moving forward you talked about it you have my recommendation what would you be like to do okay so should we um again I'm just suggesting this should we put a motion to um to either accept St this is again just suggestion to accept the stuss asme suggestions or not is that or Randy do you have a sest I don't formal motion I think it just needs to be Dr Hart perspective P here's the perspective of the when you go to look at policies that's I just I need a perspective of the board though right so go ahead I mean I just would like somehow for it to be inclusive of all you know those parents that are religious that prefer to have he she those that fall into that third bubble like somehow if we can rewrite it to be inclusive for all and respect all that that would be my ideal and goal thank you I I appreciate that um and I I think that's it's trying to do I think that's what they're trying to do is be inclusive that's my understanding Ellen did you have something yeah no it sounds like we all can compromise where it's you know as long as it's grammatically correct I think that's a compromise I think where I think you know the all Sexes was something that I was having trouble agreeing with because it didn't read right to me they were asking us to cross out both genders and replace it with all Sexes which to me again again with consistency with what we're teaching our students in the science classrooms and in the health classrooms so that was the one I think that was the one main point that we got hung up on and the rest of it we were willing you know we were agreeable to compromise we I didn't see much issue there um because a lot of it was the superintendent you know they were removing like superintendent um like his or her designate like it was like exhaustive anyway to remove that and you know have it read smoother was okay to me and then it was just that one part where it where it got to where it was replacing both genders with all Sexes is where I was questioning the why and it didn't read right or make sense to me and I think Randy had suggested a a good compromise would be to say I think you said regardless of sex for that sentence and I thought that read right was grammatically right and you know was okay but for some reason it didn't pass so you know we that's when we said let's bring this to the board so I think if we all you know again the state but the state to say all Sexes instead of just both sexes I mean when not even talking about gender which I understands a different concept I get the argument that there's more than one gender right now the state's putting these policies there's more than one biological sex we can't say both sexes which to me it's just I'm sorry it's just crazy you know where does that lead know we Tred to do the I would have been on board the compromise where we just don't use pronouns at all and just say just put everything in the plural or use you know use use them use the they but make the make the subject plural that seemed to fall out and then haven't been doing it you know the state could very easily do that St Esme could very easily do that but that's not the point they want to make it so that that singular person is called a they and the policies I don't know how that's inclusive if you're not you're not a they should we do it he she they SL he slash she she slash they why don't we put that in every policy you know that's it makes it very awkward to read and the policies have already become very very awkward to read I think because it's hard to write using pronouns I just wanted to say something real quick I agree with Randy being inclusive means everybody not having he she can offend a lot more people than than not there's got to be a way where we can say we accept everybody for who you are what you are what you identify without these changes in the policy or like the wording I agree with wording just they should still have she he they them there's got to be a way we can compromise is that is that an option to do he she they I I I don't know anything is an option you're just going to be customizing that's all it's just a matter of reading and and rewriting that's all and it's fine how how many pages of policy are there that would need to be Rewritten I would not do them all at once but but eventually the idea would be they would all be done and how many pages is there it depends it really depends on the alert and I can't answer that question hundreds thousands I probably read and we adopt almost a thousand pages of policy if not more a year I I don't know how to answer that question no I I I can do it I'll do it it's fine I'll customize it but no I'm just asking we have them yeah we have them it's I I've been doing my best to try to keep up with the previous discussion that Jen talked about with making sure that everything is grammatically correct so as we do policies I'll just look when I when I review policies I'll just look for these things and I will do my best to customize if that's what we'd like to do I I have no problem that um well if that's doable I don't know does anyone have any thoughts about that I will tell you if it becomes not doable how that let me just try it want to try that yeah are we okay with that everyone yes no yes should we go around the table let's just get a yes or or no if we're okay with customizing or is that the way again I'm just trying to I'm just trying to get everyone on board honestly if um if we should move in this direction I just wonder instead of customizing could Dr Hart's time be used in something else like something that really makes a difference to the educational achievement to the students rather than spending a lot of time with words we just don't make the change at all process May gives us make every change except for the pronouns that's even easier that's that's not what happened this month right right that's still going to mean that's still going to mean a deliberate revision I have to I have to go back and undo the change that they made in the policy the easy thing would be to take what they write we're paying a lot of money take what they write and mov it into policy except for those areas where there's something specific that you know that we want to deal with but not take every single policy and we heard thousands of pages eventually will'll have to be Rewritten so that we don't use the words that the BL firm that we're relying on provides we we have to change them it just seems like such a waste of time and money I I I would rather be talking about educational achievement I would rather be too believe but the state doing this why is the state we can't stop them so we can either what is there a reason for it who who says we should use them who I mean where does this come from they haven't even told us just so this is what we're doing well again if you're trying for someone who wants to be called that that that's the reason we're doing it for that inclusion piece that's why we're doing it so I would support going with Strauss ese whatever they suggest I think we should take and um that would be my position I think it is I agree with you Caroline I think it's a waste of your time um to go through all these policies to just you know be I think it's a slippery slope you know what are we going what are we going to try to change next you know either we accept them or or we or we don't it does not mean that we still can't use the pronouns that everyone is comfortable with that's that's the whole idea of this it's not really changing what already exists it's adding to it that's all that's all it's doing well it is changing it because we're changing it today and you need the comment that that you know you're concerned about any legal ramifications if we don't include they but are we not concerned about the reverse I mean some now we lose he she you can have a parent that's upset about that we're not losing he she that's the whole point but isn't that what we're doing in the policy yeah he or she's taken out exactly place with gender ter a person can be called he a person if they want to be called he they can be called he just like person not policy anymore can be called so your your comment was that if we don't write they in the policy we could potentially be faced with a legal situation correct yes so but you don't think that we could possibly have a legal issue if we no longer have he or she in the policy no I think that people if they want to be called he or she that's not changing but you're not that's not that's not what my question is my question is that it will no longer read in the policy so could we potentially have some sort of a legal issue with that with somebody in the district I think did we just say that we site the code in the statute where it came from could that not be the explanation at the very least right didn't think we have a issue either way with this right we didn't see saying I mean they're being cautious and saying just do what we say it's easier just to do everything in the code but they specifically say because we talked about it you're not we don't see any any legal exposure for this yeah I'm bringing their notes they basically just say to be on the safe side doesn't say we have to do it there there is no have to and they made it very clear that there is no have to it is their recommendation that's their recommendation it seems like there is a compromise on the table though like where it says where it can Encompass he or she where it does you know where it's plural but where it's singular then is that where we would do he she they because in the singular sounds like what's proposed here okay yeah I I would never suggest eliminating he and she in in any language at all a lot of people want to be called he or she okay so should we move in that direction or just you know take it as is in the policy can we take it policy at a time as it as a Comm in and because otherwise why do we have a policy committee if we're just going to take Strauss ese like why do we even have meet as a policy committee if it's just they're giving us stuff and we're plopping in a manual like a you know what I mean like I feel like it should be one policy at a time we revise it and we make sure it reads right we make sure that it makes sense and we make sure that it's inclusive of everybody I think those are good rules to have as a board and and there are times I just want to make sure that there are times that you all know that like we do have options with policies right we have mandated policies we have recommended we have suggested we have different like there are times where we are provided options and we discuss those options we review those options I go back and look to see what options we've included before you know there are some policies that have some level of custom customization to them just because of the nature of the policy right you can select different options the he pronoun usage is not being presented and St as an option it's being presented as day just to be clear okay um so do we have to go back and change all the existing policies I'm not doing that no right okay we're talking about I want be clear yeah yeah right okay right okay so we're talking about want make sure that would yeah we're talking that would be a lot more fun yes we're talking about the Pol current policies and moving forward is that correct with alerts that's what it sounds like right like as we move forward yeah um anyone else have any thoughts no okay well I I mean I think it's reasonable it's not reasonable for have some to change it but um you know it's difficult this is very difficult because if we're going to do this for all kinds of policies uh could create issues um however I think think that saying he she they is kind of everyone seems to agree on that is that right he she they we makees sense yeah is that right we're okay with that yes so so that seems inclusive at this point can we agree on that I might be minority opinion I'm not okay with that I prefer to adopt exact language from just so I think they're making a deliberate effort to change language and so obviously if that's the minority if I'm that's fine but I'm not okay with that okay um all right should we have a show of hands as to who's okay with it and who's not okay with it you want to try that let's do that all right so I guess it's either we're going to keep it the way it is or we're going to go into you know consider this he she they is that a fair is that a fair option that we're giving to the board I'm just trying to be fair does that make sense sure keep it as keep keep it as it is meaning except accept stra of recommendation or for policy moving forward we do the he so is that is that an appropriate way to approach this just to show a hands this is just me thinking yeah I that would I that would give me a path forward it sounds like okay if that was the question on the table yes unless it's 44 okay all right so why don't we um do a show of hands if you want to um keep it I'm sorry you want to say something first go ahe I just I think we appreciate the full board's input as a member of the policy because you see the Dilemma that we've been having because it's not even a this or that there's so many different options and ways to find ways to be inclusive be grammatically correct and take the recommendations from Strauss which by the way are not always consistent like there's different approaches and different policies um so I just want to comment I don't think that helps us get into a faster better Direction but just to acknowledge that it it's really it's not not as simple as it sounds because we're not guaranteed to be getting that recommendation every time in every sentence and then there's other changes to Mr depo's point where things change in other language Jen is right we have not tackled the equity policy in terms of hiring practices and we haven't talked about the word Sexes and all sexes so I have a path for pronouns I have no consensus about the other issues brought right and I think as a policy committee part of the job of the committee members is to read every policy and come forth with recommendations to the full board so also like nothing is set in stone it's just that we're looking for additional input because it's been ongoing discussion so would like to get a broader perspective to see if we can directionally have a recommendation M be a dead horse so to me it seems like he she they is a good compromise sure is there any thought that we can go back to Strauss Ese and say maybe they can adopt it so that because I I really really would like to use what they give us so we can reting everything it just seems like a big waste of time but I do think he answers a lot of the issues people have um and it seems very it seems to to be very much in line with the way you know when you fill into driver's license now a lot of times is you're you know he you know male female other heu May um so maybe they would be willing to adopt that if enough people suggested it and then we wouldn't have to change everything they're doing I don't know if anybody's brought it back to them or if that seems like a reasonable suggestion I think and I'm not them I think that their answer to that would be that this is what's in code the word they is in code they are cutting and pasting from the code putting it in the policy and when they see the change from he she to they they are going to adopt the code language I I think that would be at least based off our conversation with them I believe that would be what they would say they are not going to make a recommendation that is not written in code like the black and white of code they're not going to issue that recommendation because they're responsible for 500 school districts but if you as a board want to customize where you want to make a change you could that that's me just speculating based off of the conversation we had with them I think that's what they would say it's in code that's why they adopted the way it is can I just clarify my point that the my reasoning my rationale for this for going exactly with the stme language is in consideration of your time Dr Hart I would prefer to see you oversee academic achievement and everything else about running the district and I do feel like it is a waste of your time and your intelligence to be doing this so that's why I don't even think the he she they while I understand it's a compromise I still think it's a waste of time I appreciate you overestimating my intelligence okay um um and I'm just concerned about a slippery slope uh because you know kids going to be called but they're going to be called because that's what they want to be called and who reads who even knows policy I mean ask any parent how many times they read I don't know they don't know much policy and they don't spend their time reading it I don't think I don't think I don't think most people really care we're making an issue of it because for the language it's kind of ironic in a way but in any event um here we are and I do appreciate you know this is a struggle I I do believe that everyone is trying to be inclusive and we're getting hung up on language and I'm not you know pointing fingers anybody it's just it's unfortunate uh I think we all want to land at the same place but um I'm just you know I'm just personally concerned um about this direction and was keeping it simple and again I I couldn't agree with Beth Moore how Dr Hart should be spending his time really because it's it's um it's not what we hired him to do and we've hired stra Esme to do this um or not you know and um I don't understand what the time what's the time issue because a lot of these policies they make all these revisions and then there'll be like one change from it'll cross out his or her and put in that all we have to do is say well we're not either we're not going to accept that change leave it or if we want to compromise he she that I'm not sure we're not like talking about sitting down writing rewriting like 6,000 policies this is just one policy at a time M yeah no you're right we're adopting a bunch of policies tonight that are they they there's just they're all changed there's a couple of them that it's they cross out the his his and her put we all we have to do is take that out or customize it I don't know I'm not sure why that's a lot of time to do that no I I don't disagree with you Randy I'm just thinking that if we start questioning this organization that has done policy and they're following code I think that's a that's a bad direction to go in general I don't disagree with the um you know you want to say he she they think that's a bad idea you know they seemed fine with it they seemed like it wasn't a big deal at the me very you're fine to do this you're you know what the work is on our side they're fine with you know they they to me I didn't get any feeling like they were like concerned that we would be making bad decisions and that we would be putting anything at risk they pretty much they pretty much gave us permission to you know compromise come up with a compromise and it would be okay that if they did not see us opening ourselves up to legal issues so and that's what I got I don't know if you picked up on that but that's I didn't District in you know way okay I I I do want to clarify because there then caveat after that I don't see any legal exposure at the moment was that down the road they can see the state enforcing the language changes so um that in the we could potentially be in the clear now if we however we decided to do the pronoun use but uh our comprehensive Equity plan may require language changes and our qac report may require language changes and then that is where work comes in so policies that were changed now that are no longer in compliance to qac in three years will then have to be reupdated with the correct language to comply with the state so that is what I'm saying where the work comes in if we're always in compliance with with what strap's SMA because they are just copy and pasted from the state then it just makes that heart J much easier all right anything else any other comments so should we try to show our hands again just to try just to do that no I don't see why we need a show hands I'm just I'm fine with it but like we have now the discussion with the board and I think we should take it as it comes in the policy committee policy at a time making sure that okay is everyone comfortable with the way this reads these are our suggestions and we have rules I think to follow as far as making sure the language is all inclusive that everyone feels comfortable that it does include everybody you know what I mean and then it does follow the code like I I feel like we have we've discussed it and we have you know kind of like a guideline for us in a policy committee do do you feel I'm comfortable you're comfortable I'm I'm fine you don't need to St po good okay okay all right thank you everyone and we'll move on so these two policies I just go back again yeah yes there yes but they they don't don't have pronouns in them they have other issues so I will I will take to Ellen's point I will take what seems to be the guiding consensus and incorporate in the policy bring it to the committee who now all understands the same guiding consensus to bring it to the full board okay great thank you everyone I appreciate that and I do appreciate and it's it's not this is not easy you know so so thank you for your for your consideration um that's any other conversation regarding this um policies at all there with comments on the board I would just wait yeah does that come that comes yeah that's open comment at the end yeah thank you anyone else here would like to okay all right um maybe we got a roll call please mrto yes M Fury yes Mr L yes Mr Peach yes M bski yes M Ryan yes yes yes okay moving on to unfinished business um do we have any unfinished business that anyone would like to discuss all right moving on to new business from the board uh we did have a green committee meeting so and we do have a a committee report about um yes so the green committee met yesterday which is why I didn't get minutes out till very late today um the first thing that we discussed was the Strategic Focus action plan this is a plan that was U put together for the 2324 school year um and basically the the um committee identified priority areas that they wanted to work on and focus on for the year um so uh Mr bow presented a slideshow of the accomplishments that were achieved um during this year um the green committee focuses on three areas pillar one which is reduce environmental impact and costs and the goals that were associated with that pillar one were energy which uh the solar Expansion Project uh is ongoing and electric school bus and vehicle charging grants are also ongoing um the other goal that was under pillar one is food waste and we've had several challenges over the years so that will also continue into uh the next year if the committee decides that that's going to be a priority um for the 2425 school year uh pillar two is improve the health and wellness of schools students and staff the 23 24 goals were nature U and nature encompasses the importance of experiencing nature and being outside uh for the school Community um I have a whole list here of the activities that were accomplished and I I I mean it's a long exhaustive list it's fantastic um basically there are projects and activities in every school outdoor classrooms uh created um nature hikes reflection and mindfulness activities we've had Partnerships with Rucker Master Gardeners we house school um I mean the list goes on and on in achievements in the area of green initiatives and it's really amazing um amazing accomplishments for the district um the under also under pillow to was the goal to look at the wellness policies or any policies related to uh health and wellness of the schools the board did approve the cell phone usage resolution which is you know uh social emotional health so that was included as an accomplishment uh for this year and the other policy the wellness policy which was reviewed once in the policy uh green committee now looked at the wellness policy and would like to include some language um from sustainable Jersey for schools and then I assume it'll be kicked back over to policy um and we should see that come before the board probably in the fall the pillar three is provide Environmental Education the 2324 goals were natural world learning sustainable Jersey policy review and the green coordinator um the natural world learning included activities like I had mentioned the nature hikes field trips um TRX Furniture which was encouraging recycling in the schools the Eco ambassadors put together so many programs and projects for refuges and recycling for their peers they also did many courses for the elementary schools um there were read alouds There was curriculum focusing on geology and local community impact wildlife habitat certification at White House School different Partnerships with the township with the open space committee um and the water watch committee the board approved the we reapproved the sustainability curriculum and climate education and these are U embedding activities into student programs there was the Taiwan delegation which was a huge wonderful um accomplishment and and opportunity for our students to have international um members come to brington schools uh Civic students are are doing so many environmental projects we had solar eclipse we had a monitoring station for NASA we had Eco ambassadors at the middle school that were collecting data for NASA um these are just some amazing Environmental Education accomplishments the other uh goals under pillar three sustainable Jersey certification next year is a certification year for the district so there will be a lot of um things coming before the board potential policies to update uh to to show our commitment to Green initiatives uh the policies goal which was covered in pillar two and then the green coordinator position um that has been vacant for the entirety of this school year the uh job description was revised in December to align with green committee goals so um that is something I guess uh we'll look to continue find somebody for uh the 24 25 school year especially for certification to help us write the grant um then the committee had brainstorming and ideas an open kind of discussion with members um there there was a suggestion to look at the action steps from sustainable Jersey for schools for potential uh goals for next year the committee members had other suggestions such as reducing mode areas of schools if possible um continuing partnering with the green team in the township and the water watch committees and then a suggestion was made for better communication to the community about green initiatives which we know that we're working on the um commun uh communication u in general and then uh we next we talked about the solar array expansion uh Mr bone gave us an update uh currently the uh town planning board approved the first Sol solic first solicitation had failed which we all know the second solicitation is due May 21st so we should uh and we'll review that in in that ad hoc Finance green committee um when those bids come in the next steps the proposals will be scored by that committee the winning vendor will be board approved in the summer of 24 and then the construction would begin in 2025 um and then after solar array we had an update um Mrs betterman had given an update on the charge EVC NJ study which um was a study on electric bus charging feasibility and how to help districts acquire electric buses and infrastructure um additionally there are resources through EV driven program by go hunon who is hosting a webinar on May 23rd uh for those interested um we talked about the local food for schools supplemental funding and I think if you remember um during our Earth Day celebration last year we were able to provide um goods from local farms and uh that was part of that local food for schools funding um because we were involved in the program from the beginning we were invited to continue to partner uh with Zone 7 which is 100 County farm so there are more very good exciting things to come for the district with that partnership next Neil Hendrickson reported on the environmental resource inventory um this is a town initiative it's active on the town's website teachers and stud students and the community are all invited to explore this extensive database of all the natural resources in Readington uh Miss Atari and Miss Freeman so they are both incorporating this inventory into their lessons and they are encouraging encouraging other teachers to do so also um lastly we talked about uh the Holland Brook water watch committee partnership Miss pouch and Miss adari are redesigning a fourth grade field trip for next year and this is in conjunction with writing to Township's water watchat committee the new field trip will utilize um open space in town and will align with the fourth grade science curriculum um and then the next Green committee will be strategic planning for the board members on the green committee and the District administration that happens over the summer and then the general green committee will meet again in the fall and that's what we have wow thank you you guys are busy yes but you only meet once every three months right four times a year thank you very much does anyone um have any questions all right um thank you uh any other new business that we need to go over I just want to mention one thing and Camille I'm sorry I was going to tell you I meant to put this on the agenda last week uh we attended the Hun County School boards Association U meeting where gari an aari uh was recognized for her achievement as the Hun County teacher of the year um but it was also a really great meeting because both Beth and Jen received their awards from the school boards Association as well certified board member certified board member and certified new certified new board member right because still still because you're you're three years in um it was a great event with the exception of the traffic that I think prevented people from getting there there was an accident 78 or something like that like a major accident it was a really nice event um it was nice to see G get recognized as well as J recognized you got some pictures I think I put them in the but I just wanted to mention that so congratulations I don't know if anybody was G to mention that I thought I would because it was nice thank you and congratulations okay any other new business on the board at all all right um we are now open to the public for anything on or off the [Music] agenda Curtis might have station I just wanted to commend the board on the fact you guys were dealing with I guess what could be considered a controversial issue and you're able to come to a compromise so very good thank you Mr anyone else no now we go to comments there's a couple comments um first from Corin Christensen why would we move backwards by changing the language from all genders to both genders what is the argument for this and then a second comment by her language is a leading indicator of inclusivity changing this language not only uh complies with attorney recommendations but also indicates to everyone in our district that we include and welcome all and then there's a comment from Joy cagon it's not about what's easiest it should be all inclusive to be respectful to everyone people should be able to be referred to as he or she or they if it needs to be customized it should be and that's that's all thank you [Music] any anything else or any other comments all right okay um can I get a motion to move to Executive session this motion is to adopt the following resolution uh it's resolved to adjourn to Executive session in accordance with the Sunshine Law to discuss a h legal matters and superintendent's evaluation for approximately 60 Minutes at which time the board expects to return to public session where action will not be taken the matters discussed will be made public if and when the circumstances requiring confidentiality no longer exist however it is not presently known when such circumstances will exist can we get a motion so move B second Carolyn roll call please M depto yes M fi yes Mr yes M Peach yes is bori yes is R yes yes yes thank [Music]