it is 7:01 p.m. and I will now call this reorganization and public meeting of the Ridgewood Board of Education to order if you would uh please join me for the flag salute pursuant to the open public meetings act advanced notice of this evening's meeting has been given to the Ridgewood news the record and the clerk of the village of rwood Ridgewood in addition notices have been posted in the office of the board secretary in an all School building an election was held on November 8th 2023 resulting in the two following candidates winning board seats each for a three-year term Miss Mary M and Mr sarab Donnie at this time I will s in each member Miss M if you'd like to go first according to Sor we we stay here if you would raise your right hand I Mary mccali do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I Mary mcau do somly swear that I possess the qualif qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs9 colon 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a col 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations Mr Donnie please raise your right hand I Sor Don I Sor Don do solemly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will bear true true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state and the governments established in the United States and the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I Sani I SD do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of a board of education for the office of member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter and that I'm not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS pursuant to RS 19 colon 4-1 19 4-1 nor disqualified due to the conviction of a crime nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs or offense listed in njs s 18a colon 12-1 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations now I know there are a lot of people audience I if you would like to take some pictures at this time that would be that would be wonderful I want to make time for that yes and I will now take the rule call of the newly seated board Miss Brogan here Mr Donnie here miss quack here Mr Mahmud here m mcll at this time I will now accept nominations for board president I nominate Muhammad Mahmud it's not lost on me that this well on all of us I hope that this month is Muslim heritage month we have never had a Muslim American in the 125 years plus history of this board I think the time is now there is no place for islamophobia anti-Semitism anything of that kind and how powerful and compelling will it be to have someone of his the mahmud's caliber representing the rid Public Schools he is experienced he is professional I believe in rotation and it is his time I hope the board can join me in recognizing this thank you are there any other nominations for board president yes I would like to nominate Sheila Brogan for board president and appreciate the nomination from Miss Quack and all the the kind words I do also believe in rotation uh but I would have to decline my nomination because I believe Sheila has been serving for a long time as on as board member and has a lot of experience uh and I think due to rotation as well I think it's time for her okay so you know how I am I'm always like when there's a motion on the floor let's vote because you're assuming that we don't you don't have the support or whatever and that couldn't be further from the truth I hope so I think we should vote you can decide once the vote happens but I still believe that this is the time for you sure thank you appreciate are there any other nominations for board president seeing none can I please have a motion to close nominations motion to close I make a mo I make a move to motion I make a motion to close the nominations can I get a second please second so since I have Mr G the audience if uh a nominee has declined uh the nomination should I still take a vote on that he does not want to be considered you would not take a vote okay thank you I will now take a vote for Sheila Brogan as board president miss Brogan yes Mr Donnie no Miss quack no Mr mmud yes Miss mcll yes uh Miss bro Madam President congratulations I will now turn the meeting over to you and Miss chair evening everyone um thank you I look forward to working with everyone um we have a lot of uh a lot to accomplish I know Mark has many things on the agenda so um we'll go to uh nominations for vice president and and I would like to nominate um Muhammad Mau for uh vice president do I do the um roll call or I I'm no no oh I'm sorry are there any other nominations excuse me no okay uh so I then you would uh take a motion to close Okay because usually um we don't do this until the until the vice president is so so um motion to close the nominations then make a move to close the nominations for vice president thank you uh second second um and a roll call then um I just go to the table Mary mcau yes Sani yes hanuk quak yes Mohamed yes and yes from M Shield congratulations congratulations yes I look forward to all right um our next uh piece of business um will be for um introducing Matt Jacobi our um lawyer our Council and um you're going to be doing a pres um a training on ethics tonight okay great thank you uh you know what's more comfortable for you is it more is it better here where everybody can see you or okay so we're just passing around an outline Mark asked me to keep this on the short side so I'll try to get it done within two hours so and there'll be a quiz afterwards like a regular meeting yeah it's good so what what's being handed out right now is um an outline and I'm not going to go through this page by page because we would be here for two hours what we have done and we update this all the time this is a um an overview of the school ethics act we have each of the uh different sections of it we have cases that are tied into each of the sections um we tell you what has occurred uh as a result of it um and so this is just a good overview for you the second thing and probably the most important page for you is on um page four and five this is the the the area that um the school ethics commission has handed out guidance on when board members need to recuse themselves uh if you have a family member that's employed by the district um the the next issue the next page is uh all the different relatives so let me just explain to you what happened under the school ethics act and everyone should understand the school ethics commission is part of the Department of Education it sits within the Department of Education so if there is an Ethics case that is filed against a board member with the school ethics commission they determine the case and whatever their determination is it goes up to the commissioner of Education who then adopts and accept reject or modify that decision and from there you can go to the Appel division so it is basically a state agency it's within a state agency which is the Department of Education um and their sole job is to oversee the school ethics act and really the conduct of board members and so what I what I tell um Boards of education is a board of education uh the way the legislature codified the laws for Boards of Education are a little bit different than say a municipality um and one of the reasons they codified a little different differently is most board members or many board members have family members who are students so they want to make sure that Fords of Ed when you're elected it's your job to make sure that the district is well-run you don't run the day-to-day operations that's very very different than if you were um say the the mayor of a town they have a lot more interaction it depends on the form of government but they're much more involved in the day-to-day operations more Akin almost to your superintendent in the world of fors of Education you are a um you've got awesome responsibilities you have by far the biggest budget in this town you have the greatest impact on the taxpayers and frankly you have the greatest impact on the property values of Ridgewood people come to Ridgewood because I mean I don't want to denigrate the mayor and Council people come to Ridgewood because of schools this is they are top top schools and it's your job to make sure that they're well run and I try to use an analogy you hired the superintendent wordss of Ed you only hire one person and you only evaluate one person and that's the person sitting to the left of the president Dr Mark Schwarz that's who you evaluate it's very similar to you know the analogy of a football team think of this is that you guys are in the Press Box and you're sitting in those really nice chairs and you're eating probably really good food and you fund the team you're watching and you're seeing it and the head coach that's Dr Mark Schwarz and Dr Mark Schwarz has surrounded himself with other really good coaches offensive coaches defensive coaches quarterback coaches and then they have really good players and and if things aren't going well and you don't have a winning season there's somebody that the owners of the football team hold accountable and that's the head coach and that's very similar to you you have hired your head coach to lead Ridgewood to yet another winning season and you guys excel in lots of different areas and so the person that you hold accountable is your superintendent and it's his job to hold all the people below him accountable because they're part of his team that's going to bring you guys to you know the Super Bowl um and so I think people have to remember that that your job is to make sure that the district is well run one of the most important ways of doing that is through policies you are a body that creates policies and what are policies policies for districts are like ordinances are for the towns they're the laws that run this school you set forth the laws this is how the schools run this is how we treat our facilities if you want to use one of our facilities these are our rules uh this is how we treat kids if we're going to discipline them this is how we treat kids for HIV this is how what we expect of our staff this is what we expect staff to do if they're using the internet or they're using any of our our facilities you set forth the policies you update the policies and then that policy book and those regulations that accompany them the Dr Schwarz and his team have to implement that that's the Playbook and you as a board can go through and update the policies correct the policies modify the policies that's your job as a board the other frankly awesome responsibility that boards have is the passenger the budget as I said when I started this you have when you look at a a a tax chart and you break down you know what does a taxpayer on R pay they pay three their property taxes fund three different governments they fund the Board of Ed they fund your municipality which is your police and DPW Etc and the county and when you break that down you look at the percentages the Board of Ed is generally 60% of the overall budget more than half of the taxpayers dollars are funding this this operation and the reason it is is that this is a people person business we're not making widgets we're not creating anything you're you're you're educating the kids the future of the country the future of Bridgewood and so you're hiring staff to help educate the kids and so it's it's an expensive business because the people who are delivering the product are teachers power professionals administrators then you have custodians you have uh you know maintenance professionals and that whole team of people which is part of Dr schwarz's uh you know star football team they are the team that comes together to deliver the education to your youngest Learners all the way up to your seniors and all of your special ed students um um and so it's your job as a board member to make sure that that Dr Schwarz is doing his job you want to make sure that the school is well run and um there's lots of different um things that board members just have to be cognizant of and what I tell folks is there's really nothing that any of us do because unless you're like a brain surgeon or you're working trauma in in a Ridgewood emergency room there's nothing that we do that's really emergent sometimes we think it is but it really isn't and so what I tell folks is if you have a question if you think something that you're going to do may be unethical talk to Dr Schwarz he'll reach out to me and we'll give you guidance that's important for what and I'll tell you the reason why that's important the reason it's important is is that that goes along way with the school ethics commission is if you had the foresight to seek guidance on whether or not something is ethical or unethical or if you should recuse yourself the other reason that it's important is that the school ethics commission besides adjudicating whether or not a board member violated the the ethics act the school ethics commission will issue advisory opinions now importantly the school ethics commission will not issue an advisory opinion if you already voted them so they won't give you the old G free from jail card but if you have a situation which is unique and generally a lot of the stuff out there there's a lot of advisory opinions uh and we can give you guidance on that but if it's a really unique situation we have the ability to write with that board member's permission for an advisory opinion and the school ethics commission within usually four weeks because they meet once a month Le you would advise your opinion is whether or not you can vote so I'll give you an example I represent a board of education and one of the board members was a Collegiate athlete gymnast and and she had taught and she then left the teaching profession but she still wanted to be involved in uh gymnastics so she became a um an Umpire referee I don't know what you call it a gymnast but she she was dealing with high schools and she never did anything in the high school where she was a Boardman but then uh she thought about it and she said you know I was asked to to uh score the county meets and you know as you know just like wrestling all they go to County meets and state meets and I was asked to do state meets because she was a div division one gymnast and she say I'm a little concerned because what happens if a student from the board that I serve on is in that meet is that unethical for me to refere it well I can tell you there's no ethics decision advisor opinion on that one so we wrote and within four weeks we got a decision and they said not not a problem that's just happen stance you can absolutely coach and it's not a problem uh another one that I did was we had this is a number of years ago we had a board member who was the PTA president of a very active ptaa and wanted to remain uh as the president of the ptaa and the question was can I remain as the president of the PTA answer from the board and the answer ultimately they said yes you can but if PTA business comes before the board you need to refuse yourself and I'll talk about refusals in one second so when I tell folks there's nothing that urgent you you get the agenda ahead of time if there's something on the agenda that you're concerned with you say that might be a problem ask a question we can give you guidance on whether or not it would be an Ethics violation and if it's something very unique we would ask that you we can then get an advisory pin the one thing that I can tell you is that now I just mentioned the word recusal so what what is recusal this comes up more often the board members can vote Yes they can vote no they can abstain saying I'm not voting and by the way an exstension counts as nothing it's not a yes vote it's not a no vote it doesn't count just so you know that that I I just actually litigated that case and I shared that with Miss cot for a another District uh actually where my kids went up in Ramapo Indian Hills and so the issue was what is an exstension that's been a an ongoing debate for years Do's an exstension count as a no vote is a yes vote and so we had that case up in Ridgewood uh not rwood sorry rampo indan heals so what happens is recusal is very very important if you have a conflict let's hypothetically say that um you know on um under consideration the company that you work for is going to be appointed to to some contract you need recuse yourself if you have a direct or indirect pecuniary benefit you need to recuse yourself what's very very important is a recusal means total recusal it's not acceptable to sit up on the de have a conversation take part in the dialogue about a certain appointment and then when the vote comes say I'm recusing myself because the courts of New Jersey have said that's not a recusal that's actually you have now infected the the rest of the body so if you need to recuse yourself from something you need to actually my recommendation is you step off the deis and step away don't engage in the conversation same thing happens as if you have a conflict and you're going into close executive session you're going to close executive session and something on that uh item another example let's say um uh your child uh is involved in an HIV matter that could happen if you're a boort member well if your child trials involved in an Hib method whether they're the accuser or the accused you need to recuse yourself and that means you cannot be in that room when that discussion occurs so just understand that recusal means you're completely separate you can't involve yourself at any step of the process um and that's important and again those are types of questions that if you have a concern I've had questions saying um I had it recently where a board member said oh I know that family this is an HIV appeal I know the family we're not you know close but they're the same grade as my child you don't need to refuse yourself but if it's your you know closest closest friend you would need to recuse yourself um and I can tell you that the school ethics commission they look for people to to act reasonably it's it's really a reasonable standard did what you did was it reasonable or not reasonable and what I said to you before is if you reach out and involve the attorney and say is this something that would present a problem from an ethic sto that goes a long way when the school ethics commission looks at the situation did you did you have the foresight to seek legal counsel as a whether or not you could be involved most of the time um when you're dealing with the school ethics commission um and the school ethics act um most of the rules are are pretty clear if you're going to benefit from it fin finally you need to recuse yourself that's an easy one where it gets a little bit dicey is um there's rules about um you know if you have family member who works for the district can you be involved in negotiations can you vote on a collective negotiations agreement can you be involved in the uh evaluation of the superintendent or assistant superintendent if you have a family member that works for the district the answer is you can't you can't be involved you got to be completely uh recuse from all those different aspects give you an example we had a situation where it was a five member board um very very difficult negotiations somebody who's a big proponent of the teachers um his spouse had signed up to be a lunch monitor like one hour a day to work in the lunchroom guess what total accusal we got we got an advisor opinion can't be involved at can't vote so now we had all a sudden now we had a 2 two board it got got a little bit dicey but that gives you how broad it is if you have a family member and the lunch monitors they were not members of the collective negotiations agreement but because they were employed even for an hour a day for I don't know $15 an hour that caused the total recusal and it also caused a recusal that board member could not evaluate the superintendent the assistant superintendent Etc so it's very very Broad refusal can you talk about um the definition of family member or is it here well so I'll get in it so the definition of family member it is in here um if you look at page five the school ethics commission just put this out recently because there was so much confusion as to what is a family member now we can all understand your child family member your spouse family member your parents family member your brother sister family member but then it got into this dice area of like well what's a cousin what about and so the school ethics commission put out this list here and so we've included it here for you so you can go through and it talks about nephew niece nephew spouse and you say oh this doesn't happen it happens all the time I literally we actually wrote for an advisory opinion on a nephew's spouse in the school ethics commission said well look at this old casee we said that old case doesn't help you and then they came out with this thing and this is actually very very helpful because you can go through it and say oh you know what the spouse of my Ants is is a no I can be involved but where it says yes that means that that is a relative and if it was here on this list that triggers an inquiry um so former spouse former this is all current relationships correct so what if it's a situation where you have a former spouse um a former spouse well the the problem it again would be very very fact specific if you had a former spouse it matters what it's involved if it's a former spouse and you were divorced many many years ago and that person all of a sudden got hired by the district that in of itself would not present present a uh an Ethics thing however it might because let's hypothetically say that um you're paying Alma as a former spouse so you're going to you're going to have a direct or indirect pecuniary benefit if your former spouse gets employed by the ridgwood Board of Education your Alon payment might go down that would be an ethical conflict so it's very fact specific but I would say that in that instance you we'd have to know all those facts to make sure that there was not any pecuniary benefit that's going to inorder to you because I can tell you if you're paying alimony and somebody's unemployed and all of a sudden they get a job and they're employed and you help them get that job you will definitely have a reduction in your Alon um so the the other thing that that that's very very important in the school ethics act and this is the one area that that I kind of want to end on then I'll ask answer any your questions the school ethics commission they rarely rarely remove quers very rare but they will in the areas that I see them either long-term suspension or removal of a board member involve violations of confidential information you as a board deal with lots of confidential information what's the confidential information you deal with student matters you deal with Personnel matters of course you deal with contract negotiations and attorney client privilege but when you deal with student matters and personnal matters the the confidentiality that you as a board member are required to afford the students and your staff because remember as a board member you're an employer you have lots of people that are working for the Board of Education and since you're a representative you are an employer so you have a duty to protect the confidentially of the staff members and the only person who can wave that confidentiality is the staff member his or herself they get a rights notification saying that there's going to be discussion about their employment that could adversely affect their employment it'll take place in close session it's got to take place in close session unless the staff member says I wave my right to privacy I want you to discuss it public they're the only people who can can make that decision to wave the right to privacy and the board members who have gotten in trouble the serious trouble removal or suspension from the board are folks who don't abide by the confidentiality that's mandated you're dealing with very very sensitive things medical issues involving kids discipline involving kids these are these are impacts can have an impact on on somebody for forever same with staff members you're dealing with medical leads um you know it might be a situation where a staff member has an addiction issue and it's being disclosed to you that they need a long-term lead very confidential or even discipline so the school ethics commission that's where they have zero tolerance when people violate the confidentiality of the students or staff or attorney client privilege Communications and that's when you'll see board members get removed um now there's a couple things that that are important you don't give up your First Amendment right to speak people you everyone has a First Amendment right to speak I tell everybody you go ahead and exercise it but just make sure that you're prepared to suffer the conse defenses from exercising because what I learned I wasn't too good in physics in high school but I do remember one thing for every action there's an equal opposite reaction so well you could exercise your First Amendment right of free speech what the school ethics commission mandates is that if you're going to post things or write used to be letters to the editor you have to prominently disclaim that you are writing it as yourself and not on behalf of the rid Board of Education they don't want anybody to be writing something because you're all elected officials and so if somebody I read a letter to the editor from board member col I might say oh wow that's the position of the ridgwood Board of Education they want a clear and prominent disclaimer which is I am writing this letter to the editor on my own behalf not on behalf of the r board board of education this is my own opinion and that's fine and the reason that that's fine is you there might be an issue in town that you're opposed to maybe there's a development maybe they're uh they're going to to uh you know go with a full-time paid fire department and it's going to cost taxpayers a lot of money you want to take position you're entitled to take that position but you have to disclaim it yourself I was just involved in a case that I got the decision last week um where um a law professor and I was defending her in a schol etics case is a member of Board of Education she's a very prominent law professor she is is she writes on islamophobia she publishes Etc very well regarded knows a lot knows you know a wealth of information about you know what's happening in the Middle East and all over a group filed a a resident filed an Ethics complaint against her uh but that person was really backed by a group that comes out of Harvard called the dbor project and that ethics complaint said that the postings that that this law professor was making at her law school on her law school Twitter Facebook were unethical conduct because it it was it could be perceived as anti-semitic It ultimately the schols commission took my position which is she's a law professor she's allowed to WR scholarship she has a First Amendment right and none of it touched on her role as a board member whatsoever it was completely separate and apart the school ethics commission said in that instance that's not an Ethics violation whatsoever but where you got to be careful is is when you're writing things if you're a resident in town people get passionate about different things it could be passionate about the fort of Ed it could be passionate about the um thing in the township you don't give up for your first amount right but just remember you have to write the disclaimer M now if you're writing let's hypothetically say that you work for Chase Bank and you're going to be speaking at a national conference and you're putting things out you wouldn't need to do the disclaimer there because has nothing to do with Ridgewood bard of bed it's really could people in the town of Ridgewood perceive that what you're writing about is being adopted by the Board of Ed importantly we've been involved in a couple cases and I I'll end it here that that's that are important if people a lot of times get trouble um with social media board members employees I can't tell you how many times we've been in that situation and it's interesting we we we prevailed in the case in hack the city of hackin where were the City attorney uh a colleague of mine a friend of mine who was the uh attorney in Glenrock did not Prevail um he's now a superior court judge but he did not Prevail what what am I talking about these are things were board members there was not board members but it was uh council members open up Facebook posts Pages while they're running so matchie Kobe for for ofet and vote for me and they and they start getting a big following and the following they have a lot of followers on it so then when you're successful and you're on the board of ed you don't want to give that Facebook post up you have all these followers it's a good vehicle for you to communicate well the the former president Donald Trump did the same thing and what happens is you now if you continue to use it as a board member you've created a limited public forum and if somebody criticizes you on that because this is exactly what president Trump did people were criticizing him he blocked them that's what happened in glenro they blocked them you can't now what how we prevailed with Harens sack is they opened up their Facebook page to run and when the election was over they sto they Ed a separate Facebook page so they could shut that one down because it was pure separate and political but most people don't um have you know usually what I've seen is it's a a Facebook page that started for when you're running for office and then it how kind of evolves into you know board member Facebook page or elected official Facebook page and if somebody gets on it and starts criticizing you you can't block it that is a violation of the First Amendment and you know the one thing is you want to make sure the board is well run that's important and one of the things to make sure that board is well run is you want to try to avoid litigation so that's something where somebody could sue the board for you violating the person Rate My ultimate goal is I don't recommend that that elected officials use their own Facebook page their own Twitter you guys have a board social media presence everything should funnel through that board and the debates that you as a board have on different issues it doesn't help the public if it's happening over Facebook or in letters to the editor that debate should happen in this room where where it's televised where people can come and participate and see the debate and so my strong suggestion is that people should confine themselves to only use your official email one reason is because of the open public records act and I won't get into that but miss cot can search one area to find your records stay away from utilizing text messages why because those are operable um and you want to make sure that you're conducting yourself in a way whenever you're out in the public that you're taking a position that that position is one on on behalf of the board doesn't mean you always have to agree on things but what is not appropriate is let's type you say that the the a vote on a particular item is 32 you're not supposed to go out and write a letter to the editor and say this was a crummy vote I can't believe the other three did this that debate should take place here and you should share your position or your feelings with your fellow board members so that that the vote that takes place is done with the full knowledge it doesn't help writing letters to the editor after the fact and I've had situations where that's happened more it happens more often with city councils than it does with fors but again if you have any questions on ethics talk to Mark he'll pick up the phone I'll gladly get on the phone with you and give you guidance so that you guys don't misstep in terms of of the ethics act I if there's any questions or I have a question okay um so can you um for people to understand what are the penalties that are um assessed by the school ethics the school ethics commission um can and I I I don't know uh the difference there's they can reprimand you they can censure you um they can suspend you or they can remove you um suspensions can be different lengths of time um removals permanent um so I've I've had a couple cases and and for example just so you guys are all clear you have to do your training you absolutely have to do your training your mandatory training I had a situation where one board member it was in Bergen County didn't do his training and nobody was staying on top of him and all of a sudden he got a order to show College from the school ethics commission saying you can't go to the board you can't appear at the board you're restrained from being on the board until you complete your training and that person got a 30-day suspension from the board because they hadn't completed their mandatory training that's one example um I've had other situations where interestingly um a board president was going after the Union uh president on a Blog brutally going after the person and uh had the disclaimer it's my first right I can say whatever I want permission said no you can't you're suspended for six months off the board you're not allowed to say that about one of you're an employer I mean at the end of the day you you have a huge budget multi-million dollar budget and lots of employees you're probably the biggest employer in the city in ridgwood right maybe the hospital I'm not sure but you're one of the biggest employers and so you know you have that responsibility School ethics commission said you you're not allow to say stuff like that about your employee inappropriate I don't care if she's the union president you're off the board um that's why I told you before that's when they have little tolerance when you go after staff or you go after students or you fail to protect them so is there um escalation meaning um does the school ethics commission look at penalty assessment differently if you a had more than one or if you're sitting on the board or not on the board do they just is it you know once someone leaves the board does a case still persist and are those why you know they're no longer the board so would removal isn't an option yes they do persist I actually had uh a case that uh we prevailed in a little over a year ago the person had been on by the time we got to the actual trial because what happens is the school ethics commission if there's issues of fact they'll transmit it to an administrative law judge administrative law judge will conduct the trial we'll have a recommended decision it will go back to the school ethics commission the school ethics commission can accept reject or modify whatever they do it gets transmitted to the commissioner of Education who can accept reject or modify um and then from there if you don't like it you can appeal to the Appel division that case the board member had been off for almost two full years and the judge the judge ruled uh in favor of the board so even if you're not on the board if it occurred while you on the board it can it can go on I'm in the middle of another case right now where the board members been on for several years the the board itself in the law um indemnifies you if you're acting in the scope of your Authority as a board member and somebody F this ethics case against you you got you the board um have a indemnify one another and you also have insurance that provides coverage for the for the indemnification what's the threshold isn't it like 25,000 or I don't know what your self-insure retention is I don't know that that varies from board to board and carrier to carrier some I've had some that are 5,000 some are 10,000 um but you know that's but the law mandates so if you had no insurance you still have to identify a board member if they're sued it's no different than if an employee because if you guys get sued let's say there's a wrongful termination case the attorney that's representing the employee they're going to sue all of you and Mark Schwarz and everybody else on the son you're indemnified because if you weren't who in the right mind would be on a board of education and you're not doing this for the pay so you know you know you have to indemnify folks who are serving their community and you're in a position where there is litigation that does that does come about so Matt I have a few uh points um thank you for uh it was very detailed and very good um on the advisory opinion um I in my my scenarios I think sometimes they have taken up to eight or nine weeks because if you just miss their meeting and then send them a request so it takes them four weeks to schedule their next meeting and then they would issue it memorialize it at the next monthly meeting right so I don't know for attorney you they may be sending it right after the meeting but when I requested an opinion they took they sent it to me after the next meeting when they actually memorize the minutes from the previous meeting so it took me eight weeks eight weeks yeah to n weeks it's been a couple years but I i' I've gotten them fairly quickly I think a lot of it's the timing of and maybe they are sending to attorney they may send it earlier like right after I don't know if they said it earlier I just I think they might maybe they expedite it through the process I don't know right in my case they said okay so it was like early August I requested so end of August had they had the meeting and then September 29th that year they memorialized it and then they sent it to back and a lot of times I mean unfortunately if you if you do it at an August meeting they may not have a quorum right so a lot of it comes down to just do they have a quum to meet so you have to have enough time for for those 8 to 10 weeks but most of the time we we can give you guidance right off the fat there's usually not too many cases that you know the the the gym referee that was a little unique gym ntic referee but most of these cases there's already an advisory opinion on it and the advisory opinion that they had about relatives was not clear and that's why they came out with this very detailed list right and then you mentioned for um the confidential information you mentioned about the Personnel matter or um like a teacher matter or student but I think anything from the closed session should not be shared right nothing should be shared from Clos session if there there are any parameters for negotiations or any absolutely anything that should not be uh leaking from the close session nothing should you you you guys are you just took the both of you just took the oath of office will support the Constitution United States Constitution New Jersey one of the laws is the confidentiality of posession and you know what I'm telling you is there are certain things that you guys discussing for session so for example we're going to be embarking on negotiations with your teacher Union so there'll be discussions in close session about parameters of negotiations Etc when the negotiations is all over that's no longer confidential so if somebody wanted to see the minutes of what was discussed after that contract's ratified they could the one thing that never ever ever weighs cont attorney client privileged student matters Personnel matters so you could talk about a student matter 10 years ago and if I do an opr request I want to see the minutes of you know when matchi Kobe was a student in Ridgewood what did they say in close session the answer is you can't have it because th because those are it's at a heightened level of confidentiality but you're absolutely right anything that's discussed in Clos session it stays in that parameter and the reason is is you're representing Bo those discussions could have tremendous impacts you're talking about property Acquisitions you're you're talking about Stu school safety you're talking about contract negotiations I mean your teacher contractor you're the rea the regu Education Association that one contract that's worth tens of millions of dollars so those discussions could you know have huge financial impacts on the district and your budget and I bring that up because we we call them executive sessions but they are really close sessions correct they're not just executive sessions and you go into and pursue the open public meeting act right and then um for personal email use we have a policy that prohibits using personal email so not just the opra request it's we also have a policy that prohibits uh use of personal emails for great for board business um you mentioned that um during for recusal um it's ideal to leave the Das and during the discussion but there was an email that came out on January 3rd from Carl and um the New Jersey School Board Association who's the the attorney of the the day um so he wrote a column and he says that conflicting members should not have access to close session materials pertaining to the conflict and should not be present when such items are discussed um they should abstain uh and they should actually leave the room and then you should not be in the room when a vote is taken so for for this setup for this room how do we really practically like leave the room is that enough that somebody goes and I think I you can't be in the closed session ahead of time to discuss it that's you can't be in that room right if you're here what you do is you get up you refuse yourself and you walk away and if you walk away where you're not GNA be talking or motioning to people that's sufficient as long as you're in audience that's fine yeah okay then um Can board members participate or as a best best practice should board members participate in interview interview process for staff well you should participate in the interview process for the chief School administrator and I can tell you what the practic is if it's a teacher or power professional or something like that absolutely not you shouldn't be involved in that at all um I at many many districts when you are um when when the superintendent is because remember every other hire requires a superintendent recommendation I can tell you that many district when the superintendent is making a recommendation to say hire a business administrator or uh a new high school principal some high-profile position very often the superintendent said I want to bring the person that I will be recommending I want to bring to the board so that you can meet him or her that that is typical uh because just because a superintendent recommends a person doesn't mean you have to vote Yes but uh you cannot you know on a day-to-day type of thing you should not be involved in the interview process so uh should the board members participate in scholarship committees to when it's a matter of students like when high school students are being picked for different scholarships or Awards should board members be on those nominating committe or selection committees or I what the board doesn't give out scholarships this I don't understand who like so if if the high school is giving out scholarships or if High School is picking there are 10 applicants and High School is picking one of those 10 students as a the best student for something recog some s of recognition and there's a committee of five people or four people should board members I I I don't think that that my feeling is I don't think a board member probably should be involved at that level okay um and you got to remember there's a whole thing in here that I talked about volunteerism you can volunteer but School ethics commission doesn't want you to over volunteer because let's hypothetically say that you keep on going into one building all your kids are there uh and you're you you you know you're the the the class parent and you're the PTA president of that building you get very involved you know employees of the district realize who you are and that they could be very intimidated by that and how about the uh similarly on for Teacher rewards if teachers are being picked for some sort of rewards and there is a committee to pick who's the best te the top of my head I I just I think that's probably getting too too involved in in in day-to-day operations um you know I mean the words I've seen situations where like the um you know the American Legion gives out like a scholarship you know if you were a member of the American Legion and you were picking somebody for like boy State I think you probably should recuse yourself at that level because it's it's impacting the district we could look at that on an individual basis so so we have some U special programs in high school like spe like uh special program for health education or specialized stack for but um the their Pathways in healthcare those type academies and then an interview process there also so should board members participate in those interview process students can go in pmies no the board should not be involved in that that should be that that should be staffed okay absolutely not and can board members meet with staff members one-on-one uh to understand their perspective on some matters if the board is going to vote for some some aot is coming up can the board member like it's not a quorum but can one board member meet with another staff member just to understand what their perspective is on those matters not without superintendent's permission okay and superintendent say you could absolutely me with them that's fine but again you know you go through the superintendent um because staff member might be very very intimidated board member wants to meet with you you know you're you're five people I don't know if I was a young staff that' be a little intimidating but what if the board what if the staff member has a relationship and they want to meet with a board member that hey you're award is coming up and I just want you to understand so I think what what I would suggest for the board member to do is say let me CH talk to the superintendent let him know okay um In fairness that you remember whenever you look at your agenda it's on the recommendation of super on the recommendation super you got to go back to you know the coach from my analogy and say hey this is what the person's saying um because people could take different positions or advocate for different things you want you might not know the full story the B the superintendent knows more than than you do you're hearing from one staff member maybe there's a another group of Staff members that feel very differently about something so I think the the bottom line is think of it is is almost like um you know a wheel and Mark is the Hub so everything's got to go to mark so that it can operate properly and um just I have two more scenarios one is how about um two or like three members of the board uh talking offline uh about board members or texting offline board members that be absolutely fine if you were nine member board but since you're a five member board three members is a quorum okay and and I can tell you that it's very very dangerous that's why I said texting don't text or meeting for texting uh heck I don't know how to really do it I'm not too good with the cell phone but I think I can you know I know you can have a three-way call three board members can't have that's a quarum and if you violate the open public meeting act it's not the school ethics commission that overlooks that it's called the County prosecutor so you definitely don't want to violate it so you know when you're when you're emailing just be cognizant when you're emailing I I don't not recommend texting because that is an open public record people can do open requests for your text messages um can find it to the the your board email only and make sure that you're never communicating with more than two board members and the superintendent you have three you you have a you have a form and the last one I have is you mentioned about the financial benefit or like relative benefit but how about Goodwill can the board member use their position for Goodwill or Goodwill is also considered one of the benefits I I don't think just just Goodwill if you're doing something that's um you know popular in the community that's not an Ethics violation but sometimes you'll be vote taking votes that are not so popular in the community but if you use your position to get generate Goodwill or use your board me as a board you're never supposed to use your board position you're you're you were elected to serve the public and your your interest should be what is in the best interest of the rigual Board of Education its staff and its students that should be your guiding principle so if you're TR doing something to try to get a benefit whether it's Goodwill uh direct or indirect it's going to make you more popular it's going to help you in any way um that's not appropriate you should be voting your votes and your conduct should be really governed by what's in the best interest of the board when I see the board it's the board it's staff it's the students um and that's really should be your guiding principle and then if you have a specific question and I don't know really what by goodwi but you know there's people who um you know the public sees how people vote and the public you know well I I had one case where somebody abstained on every conf controversial thing abstain on everything they didn't get reelected because I the public said wait you're not making the tough decisions we didn't H we didn't elect you to just you know make the easy decisions you guys have to make lots of tough decisions and when you have a 2% tax levy cap every year you're making public decisions thank you yeah quick one for you is a recusal and abstain Vote or or do you need to say I recuse myself you should recuse yourself of view of a conflict so a recusal is you're not involved at all right it it it's actually even greater than an abstention an exstension is you're you're up on the thing give me a perfect example let's hypothetically say tonight you're going to vote on MS and uh Miss McKelly is a new board member she might say I I wasn't at the December meeting I'm not comfortable in voting I'm G to stain from voting on the minutes of a board that I wasn't part of that would be so that's my question like does she need to say I recuse myself that those words or can she just saying I abstained from vo no that's an abstention recusal is if you have a conflict got it if you have a conflict it's your family member your business um you know that's a recusal you know clearest example is your employer is being voted on for you know they let's say you work for an engineering firm right or a contractor and they're being voted on they're the lowest responsible bidder you see it say oh my goodness my the construction company I work for is going to get this well you have to recuse yourself but when it comes to vote can you just say I abstain I abstain yeah so you don't need to use those words I recuse myself no no no if it's a conflict you have to recuse and you have to step off the day you not you shouldn't be sitting on the DAT and say abstain during the during the discussions also they right and in some scenarios I think abstain is um silent uh agreement with the majority that that well that's the Roberts Rules of Order but there's there's a case where there's an older case that said an exstension is the equivalent of a noo um so it's all over the place I the whole the the world of abstentions what I'm telling you is my opinion and I just prevailed in this in a in a case is it doesn't count it's an absence of a vote it's not a yes it's not a no you have the right as a board member to abstain usually people don't abstain when they have a conflict usually the exstension is they don't have enough information they're not comfortable or let's hypothetically say it involves you know somebody that your kids are friendly with it's not a conflict but you just you know I'm gonna abstain I'm just not not comfortably involved that's a that's we often have Matt um bills where we have a we we vote on a bill uh all of us vote on the bills and bills can be two or three pages long bill and we just uh recuse from one line from that y so for that that we can sit here and just say okay we are just recusing from one line absolutely that when you can say we're just just I'm accusing myself on Bill number you know whatever that it's generally because you went to a workshop or something that so for those we don't have to get out of yeah you don't have to get out of that because that's just on a bill list it's I'm really talking about substan of discussions where you should Rec yourself so just to be clear when I asked that question about ex-spouse on another page there is something that says yes that there's a conflict with the ex-spouse and also on mared cohabiting partner and spouse and brother and so there there's a different oh yeah there's all different on but I'm saying it's just there's so many facts my my feeling is an ex spouse is likely we create a conflict because generally ex spouses there's still a lot of uh in in interwoven things between kids and aloney Etc but that should be it should be covered in here and if there's a question that you guys have I'm glad to answer if you go through this and there's something that you um you know have another uh question about feel free to reach out to Mark and then Mark can reach out to me but it seems from the document there's two separate issues there one is employment by the district one is participation in negotiations correct right so two separate lists almost yeah Matt just um on the uh sorry uh just on couple of follow-ups um uh from sarab's questions oh um as a board usually we do have a participation in the um within with a group with both our teachers and administrators um on the Ashby award which would be award that we give to it's a recognition of outstanding work in the district and once a year that's um given at convocation um but that's a board award it is a district award that the um and it's a committee so there's usually one board member and some teachers administrators um and and run by Personnel okay and and the rest of the board knows the board members yeah that that would is it a board award or well it's a district award but do you know it is I would say that's a district Award right um for outstanding uh work right yeah is it who's it giv to the student or we give it to a teacher or well no a staff member oh staff member yeah so I think in that instance if the rest of the board knows I misunderstood you I thought we were talking about is you were just you know on a committee to to award a scholarship or something but if it's again you guys are a team you're a board and so if you know the board says hey we want um you know uh board member clock to be on this ashb thing that would be fine as long as the board knows okay and then and then on the scholarships we have about um me see there's a Somerville craft Cur I maybe six or seven scholarships that have come um you know from residents or uh who've given this money to the district and so a board member us sits on that with others soest board so there's a corpus of money and then you guys yeah that would be fine again but the board it itself would say okay this this individual you know Miss Quark will be the design for the representative of the board and then they come back yeah and advise how does a board member um like do the board members have uh qualification to evaluate students for scholarship board members are not really checking I don't know enough about the bequest that you're talking about but generally when you have bequests and I can tell you that I deal with this as a municipal attorney um where uh in in Two Towns where people who passed made large requests and one of the issues is they wanted some of their money to go to help out uh families in the community that were in Need For You Know catastrophic situations and so that in that instance the members of the governing body get together and evaluate does that qualify as uh you know meeting the threshold of the request so a lot of it depends on the person who gave the money so so you guys are um I guess the money is probably somewh in the district right well it's in the scholarship SCH and it could only be used for those that thing so you that would be you would have a board member involved in it um do I think a board member should you know I don't know enough about the specifics if you guys have a board member because you're the ones actually overseeing the no you're not no the money though isn't the bequest you I don't think it's part of our budget it comes from well not part of the budget but the if you look at our if you look at the audit you'll see the different scholarships um because they're funded by some by a gift that was given to the yeah they're restricted funds that are monitored by my office yeah but but the restricted funds because of request from a we and so you have to look at the parameters of the will but you might say that the board has to oversee it I don't know all I don't think that a board member should be evaluating saying well I think that kid's better than this kid but that's what's yeah that's what's happening that there are there are the applications come in from students and then for the final selection committee the board members go with a St couple of Staff members and then they pick okay out of these four better or which student deserves but again it might be like you know who had a better essay I it's difficult for me to just on something all facts I think as long as the board as a whole knows of this they've authorized this board member these board members to be part of the committee that would be acceptable you're not the only voice you're and I wasn't aware that the the actual monies were a restricted funds in your board office which were part of a bequest so basically somebody who passed said I'm going to give a corpus of you know $300,000 to the board invested appropriately and you know what and I'd like you to give out $10,000 your scholarships until the the Corpus is gone and and usually when they do that they they're specific parameters that have to be met right when you're doing that so I would imagine that whatever you guys are doing is probably following the the donor's um guidance in terms of how you D out that money it's their money and you're you're do out their money pass after they've passed yes so you and their criteria that you are evaluating the the but I'm sure the criteria is also probably set forth Quest yes yeah do they have community service were they good you know Scholars what athletes they donate to right right yeah so in the scenarios when four students meet that criteria then the committee is picking one out of those four well it seems to me that that because the money is ultimately you the board have been um you've accepted the request you have it you're going to be part of that decision I mean ultimately does the board vote on this some point no but the board is aware that the person whoever's on it was appointed to be on this committee it it's done in a in a committee where the um Guidance the vice principal and the principls are there they they know the students they also um know need um and and so you're guided usually by by your professional staff but I'm saying that the board member who's serving on this committee the other board members are aware of it it's not like some board members just the list go out yeah okay that's fine thanks on okay oh anything else it's ethics Shephard you can ask me anything thank you Matt thank you thank you Matt do you want to ask something I do s all right I just did want to ask one question and it's very specific to me so if it's you know if you think that we need to discuss it later that's fine but um with regard to uh recusal um you know the facts are clear that I was endorsed by the union prior you know as part of the election as a result of that I am prohibited from engaging in any discussion or vote on the terms and conditions of the employment of anyone in the union for one year right so I know that means total recusal from any discussions regarding the contract any Personnel matters I assume Y and just as I was sitting here looking at the agenda and there was a discussion about um you know abstaining from on bills I saw payroll transfers and I thought you vote on payroll okay that that's what I want to know because that's just gonna come up it's gonna be my turn that's an operational uh thing it's like you voting on um paying this the school employee health benefits fund you could vote on that what they don't want you to do is to really what they don't want you to do is they don't want the njaa or any of its Affiliates to back people and then all you get on the board say oh good I'm on the negotiations committee let me tell you what we're gonna do that's the one year B right exactly exactly you can absolutely vote on Bill lists payroll those are operational costs some on the district okay and you have't set the terms of conditions that are generating that payroll the the whoever negotiates the contract and ratifies the terms of the contract that is what they're talking about because that sets forth the terms and conditions upon which the payroll then flose okay so you're fine okay okay and with regard to everything else it's get up don't attend the closed session don't attend the closed session even if and if there are multiple items in the Clos session obviously I suggest that you guys do uh for for you is that if there's going to be discussion about um contract negotiations because you're embarking on that that should either probably do you do it at the very beginning of the Clos session and then you just know to you know not come in till you stay outside and they'll they tell you to come on in okay you don't want to do it in the middle of it we have to come and go and that doesn't make any sense that's what they do they say we'll do it at the beginning and then you come in and there's no discussion about that until there's a vote on whether to ratify the you know the eventual agreement and at that point I stand up I go in the back of the room and I have nothing to say or do until that's finished that's corre okay I just wanted to be very very clear there's only one time it'll be in public after the ratification you and then Clos session you know usually there's a discussion towards the beginning now that you guys have reformed you'll pick your uh the president will select the negotiation committee you'll get some parameters from the board when they discuss the parameters you should recuse yourself from that got it clst session and then when there's a memorandum agreement we'll come before the board and you know hopefully you know in a month or two okay thank you very much I appreciate your help you could have one more if we we'll save a phone call later uh so just following up on on U Mrs Mall's circumstance because I want to be able to advise correctly as well one thing this is very disconcerting I see how bald I really am really I said the same thing the first time I sat there first time I sat there full head of hair um so uh and I would assume that that M because this the circumstances that Mrs mall and I have not been in before either so um so with respect to um certainly negotiations matters I wonder would that concern extend to other employee matters impact that could potentially lead to valuative or disciplinary action with respect to a member of local Association and probably so let's hypothetically say that you're um you're making a recommendation to discipline yeah somebody in the association uh or there's going to be let's say there's a grievance hearing um you know because often like if there's grievances they ultimately can get to the board level if you those are things that you should recuse yourself ofine R hearings um but like payroll that's already set forth in the collective negotiations agreement hiring would be fine I'm assuming yeah hiring new appointment hiring a new teacher that's that's not terms and conditions of appointment you've made the decision you've made the offer you're was voting on Hing a your teacher that's fine um I think even if a teacher get gets uh for example they're they have a bachelor's and they get their master's degree and they're going to move horizontally on the guide that's fine that's already been said in the collective negotiations agreement that's a term and condition you have no impact on you're just voting on somebody receiving what they're legally entitled to it sounds like in areas where there is some sort of discretionary interpretation required of board members yeah I think I think it's it's really it's really contract negotiations is the big one and and if you think about grievances that is challenging you know a a contract or provision of the contract saying that you violated it that would be where somebody could influence that would be refusal or if you're going to discipline employee but if you're going to discipline employee and it's in post session yes who's going to be there representatives of the Rea will be there defending the employee Matt how about uh sidebar negotiations or um same thing that that negotiations is negotiations cybar negotiations or the collective negotiation or like the other benefits that are governed by policy not by main neg main contract like the uh the percent uh out of District percent yeah that that that's a term and condition of employment so I would say that that's one that you should refuse yourself on okay if you're going to like set the how much of of the tuition they have to pay yeah that would be that's really a Kinto negotiations okay okay thank you and to be you if you're ever a little comfortable my advice is I'm going to refuse myself I'm playing it safe not worth it and and this is for a period of one calendar year One calendar year so one year from uh January 8th yeah thank you so much Mr jacobe all right good luck with the uh weather yes thank you okay um thank you Matt M um we'll go uh the reorganization resolutions um adoption of NJ SBA code of ethics we normally read it is that something you'd like to do again this year yeah yes yes so um hre would you like to start one and we'll just go around that way is that good yep I okay do you want me to read the first part adoption of the njsba code of ethics resolved that the Ridgewood Board of Education adopts and agrees to abide by the New Jersey school boards Association board member code of ethics as set forth in njsa 18a Colon 12- 24.1 a I will uphold and enforce all rule all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures 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 sex or social standing 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 insulted those who will be affected by them I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well-run I will recognize that Authority rests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use a schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed with needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its school I will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer I will support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution be it further resolved that each board member signed a document that he she received a copy of the code of ethics and has read and understood it do we have the um members should have this form at their table if you could sign those and send them my way I will retain them does anybody else need another copy you just sign and date uh yes please that would be great you want it on the top apparently there is a line up here for the signature I didn't create the document but that's what I was told thank you great thank you right all right um all right the the next is approval of the open public meeting uh meetings act and board meeting date so um did anybody have a conflict with those dates as you see now um I have a question or concern about um budget presentation dates because I see there's only one meeting in February that's February 12th um because budget the tentative budget adoption is March 18 I'm guessing we will not be ready by February 12th so will we have initial presentation on March 4th or will we have some separate meeting for Budget presentation um like are we going to change this March 4 to regular public meeting and budget presentation or are we going to add something else for Budget presentation I just want to give members of the public some time to uh understand what we are presenting and react or make public comments before we vote on the adoption so my recommendation regarding the singular February meeting pertains to the anticipation that we're going to be having robust committee meetings relating to the budget in February so for the board members that's certainly the point of focus um of our timeline so I would like all the board members to have a very strong understanding as to where we are with respect to the budget in the coming year um going into early March uh with respect to the tentative uh adoption of the budget am I understanding your suggestion are you suggesting that we would have uh a preliminary presentation of what our budget priorities are before uh in a meeting before the the the sensitive adoption of the budget so what I have seen earlier with since Co and zoom and our meetings like earlier we used to have vote and now it's changed so things have changed around a little bit but preo when we had budget vote we always had two presentations one at uh each Middle School of the of the budget right so now we don't have the budget vote but I think we should still give inform and so can back and ask questions so it can be part of and coffee it can be on Zoom it doesn't have to and and you're and you're requesting that we would have some U some Community presentations regarding the budget in advance of the final budget adoption or in advance in advance tentative because what the the only changes between in any budget fund the funding or or state aid or any of those scenarios it really should be based on what the county because once we adopt the tenative budget gets sent to the county they come back with feedback and as well with any up to- date funding formulas that get released so for the most part if you have wild swings between tenative and final then that's a problem so I think that if we could have a public meeting a robust discussion um involving also some Community feedback in advance of the tentative public adoption that would be helpful and just so you know it's also because in the past not that you know it needs to be followed forever and ever but um before um these the budgets used to be presented at various uh school buildings um daytime as well as evening times so that public had a really um comfortable understanding of where we were headed so I would advocate for that if possible Right but that can be replaced with uh because now we have zoom and uh YouTube and all that so one presentation can be viewed by multiple people that's true I'm saying but the in the sequencing before the tenative budget there should be another time dedicated for the budget whether that's February 12th I think is the question or are you saying you know by February 12 the anticipation that we as a board would really understand but in terms of the Public Presentation is it sometime between February 12th and March 4th I know there's present's day week you know there's a lot going on right or March 4th yeah but will it be ready by March 4 that's I thought in the past that we would do that after after the tenative budget was discussed with the board um at that public meeting and that you know if we agreed to move forward and it has to go to the county superintendent so um and you know sequencing again it's yes so my concern with that is if we are if we are being given a presentation and we are voting on the same day we are not really open to public input or any changes at that point right public yeah may may I uh yeah please may I share my thinking so there's we're talking about several different issues at the same time so I'm going to break them up a little bit so the first issue is um which we're I think we're all agreeing with I think but but I just want to articulate it for the members of the public and for everyone just to be sure that we're clear is there isn't much opportunity to change things from the tentative to the final budget so the it's a little bit of a it's a little bit misleading how we call them the tentative in the final budget because the the tentative budget is what sets the tax levy and then we have to immediately advertise that budget and if we're going to make any changes to the final in by the final budget we have to make them at the table and then uh and then that's a complicated process involving having to read vertise the budget which is not something that we want to do so in terms of what we what what we want what our intentions are what my intentions are and I'll let Miss kot know she's very eer to share some her thoughts on this that she is the she is the business official um my thoughts are very much that we would make sure that we are all and again again I I I'm all for the public needs to feel very communicated with and needs to feel that we're transparent but you are the elected Trustees of the public so my first priority is making sure that you are all comfortable with where we're arriving as a budget priority in terms of budget priorities so by that March 4th date that is the T that is the period of time in which I would like all of you to become be quite comfortable with where our budget is heading um and then I think with the question is would there be some sort of Public Presentation know where we are before we vote on it some concerns that I have there are just that I wouldn't want to present this to the public before we present it to the board right so that would mean if there's a if there's a need if there's an interest in having a space in time then we could have a presentation on March 4th the problem is that we won't have if I'm that we're always the and Miss cot I'm gonna hand it off to you we're always I we tried to do this in my last district and the problem is that things are very tensive at the in early March because we don't have the state's budget figure this the state state aid figures really fleshed out yet so miss cot did you want to provide some flesh to that skeleton I provided there I just I maybe clarify a few things um I understand all the desires I just want to manage the expectations being that I came in August 28th um we do have some uh Staffing concerns in my office and we will work as quickly as possible uh to get things together um I'm sure in a subsequent year I would feel more confident about telling you that we could present things earlier I don't have that confidence yet um and in terms I just wanted to make one correction about what Dr schore said was once the tentative budget is approved it must be given to the county office by March 20th they do have a large number of uh schools over 70 districts in Bergen County that they need to work through um they do it as quickly as possible after they have uh gotten back to me and uh as Miss qua mentioned if there are any questions or changes that are needed then and only then do they give us permission to advertise the budget uh the budget is only advertised once so based on the advertised budget that is what people will see we would show up at the meeting uh the final budget hearing and I would have to set forth any and all changes and and I've done sometimes a very elaborate um presentation of of the exact line changes which are required by the county office um to really flush out what has changed from advertised but we do not advertise twice I just want to go can I can I ask a question then on that so the the first time that the public sees the the tenative budget is on March 18 that's not considered advertising the budget and then you go through the process that you described and then we need we need to basically have permission from the county to then formally advertise advertis it is that correct 100% okay yes okay so then those budget presentations and I understand that you were not here when but there would be uh it would be presented at the board of ed meeting and then you know usually at Federated and and at schools or whatever it is are those considered advertising or that would be something then that would happen after you've gotten permission you understand what I'm saying it would happen I would say based on what we can accomplish in a particular time frame fair enough um so the tent and I have to be honest there are many districts that do not give a proper and full presentation of the tent of the budget some have have talking points some do a short PowerPoint presentation some do a very full PowerPoint presentation um it is my desire and I believe Dr schwarz's desire to do a a very full uh PowerPoint presentation um the ability to pull something together much sooner than that uh would be difficult I would think that the March 4th meeting would be more talking points um about flushing out um where what where we've gotten so far in terms of the many discussions we've had with department heads and their proposed budgets and how we've um you know tailored that to fit into the overall budget perspective we may talk about some staffing issues um and um uh items such as health benefits and where we see those projections going um and we would discuss any and all uh waivers or adjustments that you're entitled to um whether or not you wish to take them but we could have those those types of discussion so I think we could have a very good discussion on March 4th um but again given these time constraints and and my arriving late and starting fresh um I would not uh anticipate I would be able to put together a PowerPoint by March 4th that would be the kind of presentation we want to give so can we can we have um the talking points or some discussion on March 4th on where we are headed and for March 18th meeting can we have the presentation posted with the agenda on Friday evening um 15th for the public we will certainly have it available for the board at that at that time in Prior so that would be up to the finance committee's wishes and the board president's wishes as to what we would post but um Miss Scott do you have any thoughts about that I didn't I didn't understand um the question that you asked so question is March 4th we would not have complete tentative uh presentation it would be more discussion and parameters and where we are headed but March 15th we will be releasing the agenda yeah right so with the agenda I think the agenda would have tax levy as one of the resolutions so that would be listed there that that so if we are listing the tax levy then just blindly just listing tax levy can we also add that supporting document or the presentation as part of the agenda addendum that okay this is the agenda presentation that will be presented on Monday evening so that at least the public has two days to review that before they come in on uh for the Monday meeting and they can ask their questions and uh I would just point out that when we've had very substantial information displayed like that um we have had comments where it's very difficult to see on the board and this is very critical information with a lot of financial implications that I think the public would appreciate having that information and being able to digest it in advance and um in a clearer format for them so I think that's where the March 15th desire yeah so if if the presentation is available two days before on the the website then when they are following the meeting from home or even here it's it's just easy to follow that presentation so just two days before the vote so that way if they have any feedback if somebody cannot come to the meeting they can email us at least we have the opportunity to hear resident comments before we vote I think it's certainly something reasonable to strive for and then just set the expectation I just wanted to confirm that January 27th the auditor will be presenting that would be the Bas line for the the past year audited numbers right is that are we still on for that yes we are perfect okay and I do have hard copies for some folks today I'll make sure get you before the end when we end the meeting thank you and just to confirm I know we talked about it before but uh hopefully the plan is still for all of us to be aligned in one or two person meetings uh um that is par for both and just to clarify to Miss K and Mr Schwarz a lot of these questions are nothing to do with you all just a an experience previously that I think didn't run very smoothly and so we're trying yeah as as Miss quack said that we were like if you're are discussing a table that is displayed here and if public does not have it before the meeting and if there are two Zoom windows it's very difficult to understand or follow what's happening so it's always good if they have it so are you you're proposing then adding another meeting no I'm just proposing no so I'm proposing March 4th uh regular public meeting we have an agenda item to discuss the parameters of the budget yeah so that way we are uh broadcasting what direction we are going or what are the uh Salient points of the budget yeah anything that Dr schs and mcot think that that's finalized and for March 15th uh agenda email that goes out yeah that email will also include the presentation oh okay so just the presentation you're not you're not asking for a meeting and and discussion no because Dr schart said that he doesn't want to give a presentation to the public before a presentation is given to the board right so the presentation will just be available the same presentation that's G be that's going to be given to the board will be available to the public the PowerPoint basically so I have just two uh two dates that are issues for me I'll bring it up now and up to you if we want to change them or leave them deal with it later uh definitely February 12th I have to be traveling that week for work so that will not work for me and then 90% uh September 16th will not work for me uh they also probably have to be traveling that week for work are you um you would not be available through Zoom you don't think uh for both no because I'll probably be on the on planes actually September 16th September 16th 90% won't work for me um we have a conference in San Francisco that we and then February 12th definitely will not work for mes have to travel that week um maybe uh we could look at a um a calendar and see if there can be an adjustment and then U you have uh we do have some time to I see see copy how many within seven days so um within seven days we have to have this calendar of of all the meeting um done or is there a leeway that we can bring it back to the next board meeting to um finalize the dates I have never heard of the 7-Day rule I will be honest with you I see this written here but I don't know if it references statute or a code um I have been in a district that struggled to put a um calendar together in the past and I'm sure we went over the seven day uh that is listed here I'm sure this is um aspirational okay so why don't we bring back um any you know the see if we can adjust just looking at the the calendar is that okay but I think you'll at least have to advertise the January 22nd meeting right oh yes yeah so January 22nd meeting has to be advertised all others can be advertised later after January yes um the other question um request don't request suggestion maybe is that in the summer I just understand that um I'm talking about June 24th uh July 22nd and August 26 they start at 5:00 p.m. and I will tell you for people who are working it's been really difficult to get here by 5 and to have any kind of meaningful participation by the public even if it's through Zoom so I you know if there's any way that if if people could consider going back to 7 p.m. or even 6 p.m 5:00 p.m is really tight I don't know if I'm the only one with that kind of but 5:00 p.m. is very very tight for me I don't have summer hours okay so it's 6 p.m 7 P.M I'm putting it out there I don't know if we need to vote on it now but I would think it would be that that was just something we rolled over from our prior year I know it's it's just always been like that and it's every time it's just I'm running so so I mean if if the would like a 6:30 meeting be would that be an improvement or do you want move it to seven what would what's your I I think about the staff in the summertime yeah so but I mean six 6:30 is I just think five is really tough yeah but between 6:30 and 7 I would keep it keep it consistent I confuse people also just keep it seven unless you're doing it 6 yes 6:30 or 7 would be yeah six is I'm just saying five is really bad six to six six to six yeah that would be great so why don't we try six and then see what the feedback is how about that thank you so on those three dates June July and August we'll do start if I may ask um Mr mmud the February 12th conflict is there an opportunity to have it another day that week I know we are Monday schedule people but I don't you we I usually don't to travel for that long but that's like I have the whole week I'll be gone so you'll just Al miss that meeting there's no yeah yeah so up to you guys just keep it and I'll miss it um or if you want to shift a week before a week after well let's take a look at the calendar before we make a decision and see what other if what other conflicts there are and then bring it back but we'll make sure that the January 22nd is broadcast which it will be and um but I think we can make that decision about and we can vote on that to um move the the summer meetings till six o'clock um and so we will put that in uh when as we vote um adoption of Robert Rules of Order adoption of board policy regulations and bylaws and designation of official newspapers are there any questions on that otherwise we'll get a motion um and go ahead and vote on those I just throw one thing I added to uh just going back to the the scheduled meetings again um again I'm not making this recommendation but I would just ask that the board members consider as we go through this year and we think about future years um I've worked with some different boards with meetings on different days and I know I put this out there as board members I didn't really hear anything one way or the other from anyone you yes I did I said no Wednesdays please you said not Wednesdays because of uh because of the accounts some people like you know like it just would be too and I'm not sure the television would be available so you need to look at the that's true so so so so so the but the reason I bring it up is not again it's a kind of was kind of a last minute thing so I'm not trying to push the issue here but I bring it up because you know this board will perpetuate for a pretty long time and something that I've already observed is that the Monday turnaround is very hard um it's hard on board members it's hard on the members of the public it's hard on the administrative team because really all the time that every all the information goes out then it's a weekend so and it's very hard for obviously administrators to be responsive over the weekend and we certainly strive to be as responsive as possible so I would just think if there if if as we go through this year to stay mindful of the of how it feels with the timelines and getting everything on the at the end of week and then immediately coming into a meeting on Monday I know it's Legacy here and I don't want to  I don't want to rock the boat but um but I I I I'm inclined to say that it that it might the board might feel more prepared and the community might feel more prepared for our meetings um if they were even just Tuesday uh but certainly later in the week if they were Tuesday we would still receive all the information by Friday I just don't want to shift back because then it's then now we still have Saturday and Sunday like everything gets shifted back no if it was Tuesday I would I would I would still have the information sharing on Friday if it was on Thursday uh I would probably share the draft of to the board on that pre previous Friday and then we would post the public agenda on Tuesday because then uh that would be 48 hours we could even or we could post it on Monday but the idea would be that that would go public and uh and we would all be here we would all be in session you as board members you wouldd have days before before it goes out to the public where we would all be here for a full day to be able to answer your questions so you would process so the idea is board members would if it was say on um let's say it was Thursday board members could get the agenda the draft agenda on Friday you have the we whole weekend Friday and Monday to respond then we could have a chance to engage with you and have some deliberation between Monday and Tuesday and then we could post the agenda at the afternoon on Tuesday and that would be 48 hours in advance in the meeting on Thursday we really have to look at what conflicts there might be on other days yeah it's been so long that this has been on Monday so some of the other uh committee work absolutely and Lea on it's it's it's not it's not a simple shift which is why I'm not recommending it right now but just as we go through Surly look at what our responsibilities are and what dates yeah yeah if you just all keep it in back of your mind over the course of the year that would be that' be great we just think about it yeah okay um then may I have a motion unless there was anything else may I have a motion for um this first section which was administrative I move a I have a second are we moving all of a or a all of a the dates including but knowing that we are going to revisit the two dates that had a conflict and we're moving the um start times to start time to 6m summer so do you want me to make a motion to need a separate motion you think okay so I'll make a motion to not not on the DAT we have to decide it but on the time I make a motion to amend the start times for the June 24th the July 22nd the and the August 26th meeting from 5:00 P P.M to 6: PM Eastern Standard Time second so should we just vote on that particular motion voice on the motion to amend the start times Mr Donnie yes Miss qua yes Miss Miss MC yes Mr mmud yes Miss broga yes motion passes so we'll go ahead and move a which you did uh with a second understanding that um those two dates may change correct three yes um I'm sorry a motion by Miss qua and I don't know if I heard a second did you second I'll second Miss Brogan oh I'm sorry that's okay yes Mr Mr Donnie yes Miss quack yes Miss mcau Mr M yes thank you motion pass from missen no I did I accidentally called her first we had alphabetical today that's fine um okay um Dr Schwarz I guess annual you want to recommend the annual appointments yes so these are these annual appointments are just standard appointments that have to be made every year so we're making them based on the positions that people in are in uh these are almost all of these are uh required by the state either through statute or regulation that we identify um toward the end uh there is we do uh as a just in advance of uh of potentially needing her we have uh Miss Murphy being recommended as board secretary protm and for some reason um uh Miss cot can't be with us I notic that uh would someone like to move those I move B thank you second I'll second Mr Donnie yes Miss quack yes Miss M yes Mr mmud yes Miss Broan yes motion passed annual authorizations nothing short so there are a couple authorizations here that we have is U that really are things that are necessary but we haven't necessarily had as resolutions before um from time to time uh there are matters that are generally pretty small where we have uh accounts and payments that need to be made between meetings um they are you they're generally almost always cursory um this gives uh the board secretary the opportunity to approve these types of transfers and payments between meetings and it avoids the uh the the risk of potentially being late on a payment um or running out of funds in an account uh there are other regulations just so the board members know and the public knows there are many regulations that govern uh account transfers and um and uh such as an account cannot have more than 10% of its original budgeted value transferred without commissioner approval so all of those protections are still in place additionally if a board member if the board were ultimately to disapprove of a transfer uh then that that would have to be corrected then by the administration this just grants mcot the authority to ensure that accounts are funded properly um and payments are made promptly to protect the board's uh reputation and financial position someone like to move annual authorizations see is there any discussion questions okay yes Miss quar yes Miss mcy yes Mr mmud yes Miss Brogan yes pass so that concludes the reorganization meeting and now we're going to go into the regular public meeting um and I thank the public for being patient uh through all of that um and we'll start with comments from the public please give your name and address and adhere to the 4 minute limit and welcome good evening uh Jacqueline hone I just wanted to follow up on an email that was sent to the superintendent and the full board on October 5th I had sent over an email I had called in and uh given a public comment and I had also sent in an email following up on the agreement to update the 2006 Village of Ridgewood comprehensive Parks facilities and Recreation plan and and I had forwarded something a document by the name of DePalma cmx report that was then put on the district goals and I wanted to know if there was a followup on what was happening with that particularly at the end of that comment I had also said that um in regards to these the plan the plan also discussed the recreation plan the facilities and the comprehensive Park that it included all the fields and because of the um tur Fields being a risk to health um if it was possible that the board would look into any health and um implications regarding the health I was wondering if that was done I know that on October 3rd there was an email sent to the board and full board members and the superintendent I have a copy of the email here it's a letter from Mount siai um Public Health specifically children's Environmental Health Center and it strongly discourages the installation of artificial turf Playing Fields it goes on to talk about studies to assess the safety of artificial turf on on are ongoing and inconclusive questions remain about the safety of alternatives to rubber crumb undisclosed chemicals of concern are present in plastic grass blades and turf pads and matting a recent study identified a class more than 5,000 chemicals linked to numerous health problems including cancer nervous system toxicity immune dysfunction thyroid cardiovascular disease in the plastic brass blades and backing used on artificial turf fields and in the adjacent bodies of water which brings me to my next point which is the flooding that these fields have um recently had it goes on to say that these findings rais concern about posos groundwater and environmental contamination from the turf field runoff and emphasize the need for further examination of exposures that may occur from Turf components other than infill it also says that children are uniquely vulnerable to harmful exposures from artificial tur Turf surfaces because of their unique physiological behaviors physiology and behaviors rapidly developing organ systems and immature detoxification mechanisms children are at great great risks and it went on to give uh different examples there's also a lot of uh information that you could use in links to other sites medical professionals chemical hazards escape from artificial turf surfaces to the enir environment It also says that these Turf materials are then transported home I think this is extremely serious it's not just the people that play on these fields but this is carrying all the way to our water and our home and I wanted to know specifically the question was asked would this board involve medical experts was this information that was provided to you provided to the board of ed physician um I know that we are in the process five days ago there was a post from The Ridgewood Public Schools saying that they had met about um the post of the village of Ridgewood and Ridgewood Public Schools administration met with the Army Corp of Engineers to discuss Fields flooding and possibilities for the long and shortterm solutions these Solutions have to include before anything before laying down any more Blades of grass artificial or not um medical professionals have to be weigh in public health and safety and lives are trusting that you will do the right thing and please follow up with these medical um experts thank you that's fine sure um if you wanted to give it to Mrs C or or not thank you good evening Ann loving 342 South Irving Street I always enjoy the reorganization meetings and I'd like to extend my congratulations to trusty mcau and to trusty Donnie on your election and your reelection and thank you so much for running I do have to say I feel like I'm in some sort of a twilight zone or maybe a really bad episode of Saturday Night Live that a trustee with an Ethics violation has been elected president and that three of you saw fit to vote for this person to serve as president of our Ridgewood Board of Education it's just embarrassing we have um comments from the um yeah hello can you hear me thank you yeah hello there uh my name is uh Anand Hegde uh I am I live at uh on 19 John Street um my question uh to the board and uh um to the school basically is this you know this is regarding the flooding of that High School High School playground so I am interested to know since last 10 years how many times the the ground has been flooded how much money has been spent on the cleaning contracts so is the cleaning who is doing the cleaning how much you are spending is it included in in in what kind of contract is it included is it included in the so-called like a glob contract um um you know to clean up everything or is this specifically on a Case by case basis on on a on on call basis so who is responsible for maintaining these things you know because there is there is a stream next to it who is responsible maintaining the stream is it the town which is supposed to maintain it or is that the school who has to maintain this and and uh uh you know if it is a town case have you have you uh talked to the town what they can do to prevent these kind of things have they asked for have you or anybody has asked for any kind of a grants to fix this problem um you know have you consulted any any engineering consultant has been done to prevent the flooding you know so this is absolutely ridiculous that year after year you know day after day year after year this this playground uh you know gets gets it's it's shameful that that you know the board board or town I don't know who that who is responsible for this is nobody has done anything so I need to know an answer you know I'm tired of paying my tax money going down the drain you know uh for this for this cleaning purpose uh uh I need I need an answer who is going to answer my question please and when I can get the answer [Music] I I think um when the superintendent has his report he might be able to address it but we can also get back to you with um answers to your questions okay I'm going to send I'm going to send this you know email this specific questions I need answer to each and every one of these it is not just me I'm you know I'm I'm this is the first time at least you know maybe the second time I'm attending the attending the meeting unfortunately we can see it hardly any people attend these things you know it it it looks like I mean this is this is not right I mean the school is there since ages you know it's it's a 100 years old school nothing has been done I mean let me ask directly a question to the superintendent superintendent have you looked into it what exactly is your answer can you tell me please yeah we'll if you send the email we'll get answers to your questions but I want to make it public you know it has to be a public record right I want everybody to know and how much money you are spending on this thing please yeah you know can can the superintendent answer this at least one question how much how many has right after we finish public comment our super will have a report and he'll have some answers for you if you email those questions we can also get you answers all right okay thank you so much I think we had another hand rais Christina M hi this is Christa Millian can you hear me yes thank you perfect thank you um I just wanted to discuss a few short items tonight um you know every quarter we're reminded by Ridgewood water in Public Notices that the water we're drinking is extremely bad due to the high levels of posos or what's known as forever chemicals and you know I attended the Ridgewood Waters open house this past October I thought it was great that they held that um but they also confirmed there that the schools in Ridgewood do not have water filtration systems and when we asked them about getting water filtration into our schools they said that's up to the Boe and this aligns with the same feedback that I received um last September from our superintendent there are no water filtration systems for our children njd recently passed a law that states New Jersey residents have a right to clean water clean air and a clean and healthy environment and yet our children in Ridgewood currently do not have access to clean water in our schools and so I wanted to kindly ask that the Boe please explore um water filtration systems in the September 12th correspondence I was told by the superintendent that quote we will explore water filtration options so that schools may have at least one thoroughly filtered water source we will consider options as part of the 2024 202 25 budget process and so I just wanted to follow up to see is this being explored this year and just to remind everyone that obviously the health and safety of our kids are Paramount um secondly on the topic of turf this is one that I'm very passionate about I was actually the one who circulated Dr Sarah Evans who's from Mount Si um I circulated her letter on October 3rd of 2023 to the to the Boe at the time I just want to be clear that she stated the children's Environmental Health Center at The Icon school of medicine at Mount Si strong L discourages the installation of artificial turf playing surfaces and Fields due to the uncertainty uncertainty surrounding the safety of these products and the potential for Dangerous heat and chemical exposure um and so I know that the board had has discussed and and made public statements that you make evidence-based decision-making and I just wanted to say that I hope this continues and that data and science will be applied to both water filtration and turf decisions and just really quickly I also wanted to flag on the topic of fields that the fields facilities committee meeting um that takes place the first Tuesday of every month is at 7: am and I wanted to ask if the Boe would start to post these agendas or if they're subject to opma um and the reason I ask is because the dial-in number is never public and the time of these meetings makes it impossible for working parents to participate and so I just like to ask that the time changes for these meetings so that it's inclusive to everyone in this town thank you thank you another hand raised yes thanks um phone number ending in 445 good evening hello uh this is uh roric haly uh one Franklin Avenue here in Ridgewood and I want to tell you how delighted I am that Sheila Broan is now president and that we have uh Muhammad mmud as vice president and Mary M as the new elected Board of headed member hopefully the ridiculous circus we had in the last four years this horrible era is over and now we have a board that will concentrate on looking after the interests of the students and not grandstanding and show boting which is what we had happen in the last few years uh I've lived in rwood my wife and I for 55 years almost our two sons have gone through the regid school system uh the last one graduated in 85 so the question becomes why in the world should I have any interest in the uh Board of Ed in the school system well many people have heard me say this uh Al realistically a the an investment in our public school system is the best investment that America can make in its future secondly very selfishly the terrific school system we have in Ridgewood is what drives our home prices or attracts people to the town if you will so it is imperative we have a first class uh school system continuing now uh one thing I should say is to remind you first and foremost your biggest priority is the interest of the students making sure they get the best education they can have I know what I'm saying sounds Rous but some sometimes it's good to State the obvious uh secondly take good care of the staff and the teachers and uh this is because they're the people who really make it happen if you will anyway Sheila congratulations on your election as as uh as president of of the board and any mention of Ethics violations just absolutely ignore it you are a person of the highest integrity and and knowing where these ridiculous charges have come from uh I would say I would take that that that violation whatever it is uh put on a big smiley face and send it out to your friends and neighbors it's just ridiculous you're a person of highest integrity and I know you'll do a fantastic job as you will Muhammad and as you will Mary thank you very much take care bye-bye Peter molt hi Peter Molton 294 West End Avenue um congratulations to the reelection of new board member um it's always great to see uh realignment and and fresh blood um I I was just calling I I wasn't going to call but somebody called in about water so I had to um the it's something I I think been bringing up for about a year um I I I've been on the superintendent coffees and I know Dr Schwarz is working on this for and he's mentioned it here that working on this for next year um it's it's just yeah it's getting to the point where it unless something happens um you this summer we're going to work we're going to be in on two years where this is um been known um rwood water has been sending out the notifications where children have not had um accept acceptable water in the school and so um I I just wanted to put out there if there if there was any uh if there were any funds to again get any type of units in as soon as possible or if it is something that's in the budget making sure it's a priority to make to occur this summer um you that that that was all I wanted to say tonight thank you thank you I'll close public comment then and move on to um superintendent report Dr schores thank you so much and um congratulations Mrs Mcall and joining us here it's wonderful to have you um congratulations to miss Brogan and Mr Mr mmud and it's well great to have everyone back this year um so a couple of items first of all uh Miss Brogan thank you for uh giving me the opportunity just speak to some of our public comments concerns um first of all uh Mrs Mrs hone who uh or Miss hone who spoke before about the cmx report we do have a copy of that report thank you for sending that to us I'm sorry it seems I got a couple emails with that report along the way and I'm sorry I did not give you a response I apologize about that uh we I have read that whole report um it's a little bit dated at this point in time that I know there's so I kind of I need some crosswalking because I'm pretty new to the community I think it was 2010 that thing is that sound about right um oh it's okay it's okay we we we'll have it but um but no we we definitely have that report right now and I think we're in need of another up of a we've been talking as the board about the need to get some um a more recent analysis um of our facilities but but that was that certainly some good history there that I appreciate very much uh the theme of the night seems to be flooding concerns or at least one of the themes is flooding concerns and particularly the impact on our turf field so just to speak to everyone in general um I'm I'm a little appalled at the challenge that we have ahead of us here uh depending on what happens with the storm that's coming tomorrow we might be facing three floods of these fields within a six months period less less than six months um which is just absolutely remarkable um I understand that weather weather patterns um the weather pattern seems to be changing um and uh it seems as though whether this is a cycle whether this is El Nino whatever it is this is a very real issue that we're facing um it does involve uh our field our our those artificial fields Stadium Field and at Stevens Field being pretty significantly damaged uh involves uh the turf itself being being moved around quite a bit particularly the and the fill of the turf as well um yes they are uh they are assets they or they are our they are our property they are resources that are paid for by taxpayer dollars we do have some offsetting with respect to some insurance claims and we have a emergency declaration in place for tomorrow um so that that may provide us with some cover but um it definitely is a cost to the district to continually have these fields repaired there's also been concern expressed about the chemicals that are associated with many of these fields as we are evaluating the current situation that we're facing we are examining we're looking really at all options um we're talking about alternative Bill options for artificial surfaces there are some alternative products available now which in some circumstances can um well which I'm just going to say we're learning more about but I understand that there are some some materials that do not have the same kind of concerning content um and some that even drain better um that said though I think just having the fields in these spaces is concerning because even if they were grass fields and we didn't have these concerns about the fill they would still be uh receiving large silt deposits every every time we have one of these storms that would be depositing contaminated silt and we say contaminated because this water is inclusive of everything that's being washed off of people's properties septic systems and dra and and sewer systems and all that so there's definitely a lot of concerns there um we will be we've been reporting on this we do have I want to thank Keith kasmar The Village manager who has uh who has um been really a spear a spearhead and a great partner in getting us connected with the Army core of engineers want to thank congressman gimer who was whose office really helped helped make that connection uh we did have a site visit from them it was our second visit we've also been uh in communication with the D to understand what the implications are of anything that we do with these fields so we do have quite a bit of movement here considering the fact that uh that our team who is leading a lot of this work including M Mr kasmar with the Village um we are all new to Ridgewood in terms of our official capacities but we are we are we're doing everything that we can to to try to come up with a real and permanent solution that both protects our children's areas of of play but also the taxpayers uh resources that they've invested in our facilities as well um I can certainly provide some more detailed responses to those concerns but another one that came up was posos specifically and posos in our water supply um I did it was referenced that I made a comment about um giving consideration for filtration systems at some of our schools um that is accurate uh that is and that is something that we are including in our 2425 budget considerations um we we've uh had there's been some conversations around what type of filtration system would effectively filter out pil we don't want to rush to any conclusions we also have to examine the feasibility of actually having uh these types of systems in place um hang on one second Mr Amore I'm getting some feedback in my microphone wonder if maybe some board members if your microphones wrong maybe you could turn them off is that better great thanks so much um so so we are examining that um it's not it's not clear exactly the extent to which uh that would represent across the district and again I I have to be mindful that um we will look at the possibility of providing multiple fil filtration uh filtered water areas in each school but um I think we want to be mindful that at a minimum goal are we would aim to at least have one filtered water source school for bottle filling uh but of course if it is financially feasible we would strive for more than that um there was some conversation initially about reverse osmosis then there was a follow-up conversations with some experts uh in the field some recommendations were made to me about um kind of advanced I believe it was charcoal filtration system so we do want to I do need some confirmation regarding uh what those best systems are I believe we've commissioned um it was Mr Mr Smith we have doing some some Outreach for us on that as well I know Mr Mr Donnie you were a part of some conversation around that as well correct right so um I talked to rwood water on that and um they they said usually they do not recommend um their U the consumers what type of filtration should be used but so by 2026 they will be Implement they will be implementing those new um P Force filtration throughout the rwood water system and the they said when our school system systems are schools are in uh session during those time it's not the summer months so water usage is typically low so um they try to Route water from those Wells which are already treated so the risk is lower in winter months compared to summer months but still they recommend that even after they do um clean all or they Implement their past filtration systems throughout the the system all the plants they would still be putting chlorine right to uh to kill the bacteria and it would be helpful if we have some sort of filtration uh in schools at least to remove that chlorine so and so I think one of the recommendations um is what you mentioned the charcoal system so GAC based U filtration and those filtration GSA filtration at the point of use instead of point of Supply because if we try to put one filter big filtration per building then we have to make sure that all the pipes that are going from that filter to the T are all clean and we also have some old pipes so it's the best to just or most cost effective and efficient to provide point of use GSC based filters and they are not very expensive so we should be able to like depending on what where the budget is so that's one of the recommendations thank you so much Mr Dan I appreciate that um so so it is on on our radar that's my point is that is that is that going through um facilities um that discussion correct yeah yeah right um in so far as the rest of my superintendent report is concerned I did want to comment on the weather I want to thank everyone for their uh flexibility and their um uh and their their their work over the weekend uh this the the sidewalks and everything seemed pretty clear really appreciated everybody putting the time in I want to thank the village for their work on the streets and also our team did a lot of work over the weekend to make sure that our facilities were open so there were a couple of small snapo but for the most part we were able to clean pretty well over the weekend uh we have a significant storm coming in starting tomorrow when the governor has announced the state of emergency uh where I saw it last it was for five o'clock depending on the timing of this storm we are definitely going to have uh we're definitely not going to want to keep any of our evening events uh open in in a in a severe situation so um although we've not made the official announcement yet uh any evening events at our schools tomorrow night should be mindful including after school events should be mindful that we may need to reschedule those events so we'll be putting out Communications regarding that tomorrow additionally um Wednesday morning we're anticipating that the worst of the storm is going to come overnight and it's not really going toate until almost the time that people would start to make their way out uh to into their their workday so there's a high likelihood that we would need to adapt our schedule on Wednesday morning again this is not an official announcement but if the storm plays out the way that it sounds like it's going to we would almost certainly be having a delayed opening given our prior experience I also did some analysis to look at the December 28th storm um and at least the the figures that I was seeing had this storm basically comparable to the to the December 18th storm except that we also have a significant amount of snow on the ground and I'm also hearing from some other uh from some other folks um although I haven't heard this confirmed from the office of emergency management that there's a chance that this storm could could significantly uh what could could realistically and possibly pretty uh dramatically outpace even the December 18th storm so there's a range of possibilities of course but I do think that we should be prepared that we may see our Fields flooded again uh road closures due to flooding is is probably likely uh and of course the ground is going to be is already wet from the snowfall it's going to be further uh Satur ated and then we're going to experience some very high winds pushing upwards of 50 m an hour at least that's the latest I heard maybe maybe even more so uh so if the worst case scenario comes through we'll see trees coming down and we'll see power lines down yet again so we certainly don't want our kids and our faculty and our our our our employees out in that kind of a mess so we'll do our best we're not going to do we're not going to make the decisions willy-nilly we know that delayed openings uh really impact Working Families especially hard so we'll be mindful of that but if it's about safety we'll certainly make that call and we'll do it as soon as we can we also and if it to add to the fun of an El Nino year we also seem to have a another snow system brewing for next week so it's going to be we're gonna be have a lot of communications Miss corus is is gonna be very busy sending out messages uh keeping everybody up to speed we also I know stylistically this is my my first winter with Ridgewood Public Schools I do tend to prefer to overc communicate somewhat so uh Miss corus and I are working uh to to kind of figure out what exactly the right Cadence is but I do like to give people some advanced notice where possible and also let them know when we are monitoring something um I don't want to truly overcommunication to the point that people you know buzzing people's phones all the time but uh but we do like to give status updates as things are unfolding you know just um from this weekend and the and the correspondents that you know you were monitoring events um I I think that set a tone that um unlike our the last storm where it it sort of Came Upon Us and I think at this point I think it was a um a very positive message that you were monitoring the situation and would get back to families and make sure they knew the status of opening or closing so um I don't know if others felt that way but I I thought that was positive yeah I appreciate that feedback thank you course I've got I've got just two other um so then um I just wanted to share that uh something that we had been discussing I'm sorry I don't remember who with who exactly maybe it was at the table here but um we've been discussing have setting a calendar for our board presentations the presentation that we'll give to the board in the coming calendar year so I just wanted to just uh we have to set that but in the meantime I just we want to reiterate it was already mentioned here but the auditor is going to come for presentation on the 22nd and I also uh would like to present give a like kind of a a status update regarding our district goal efforts to the board of ed um we've had each of our goal committees had made some progress and at this point we're we're down the road far enough where we're really would like to hear some feedback from board members regarding what some of our efforts have been and also to make sure that you're fully up to speed as a board I know as individual members of different committees you you have a strong sense of the some of the directions that we're going in but we'd like to really uh publicly share some of that information and then we've already talked really about our budget process I want to commend uh uh Miss kot who has been working uh really diligently and and making sure that her office is appropriately staffed and getting us on track with respect to our budget process um the board should know that um we have placed a freeze on discretionary purchases in the uh budget for the time being so that does it's not a dramatic like there's something wrong kind of freeze um but it is a it is a freeze that's designed to give us the opportunity to evaluate how many UNS what kind of unspent funds are left in the budget um to kind of determine if it hasn't been spent at this point in time does it need to be spent so that way we can ensure uh in this year that is somewhat uncertain regarding our budget process uh we can establish uh the ability to establish some certainty in our position but I just want to be very clear it's not a it is is a freeze on discretionary per purchases so um if there's any talk about that I don't want you to be alarmed that that was anything other than us being fiscally prudent actually is going to go into effect on January 15 I gave everyone uh at least two weeks notice so that they can uh get get uh through any purchasing that they think they still need Miss B I think I think your microphone can you hear me now yeah can you just say that again please so I was going to say um um it's January 15th but the communication has been um sent out to um the district so they understand that January 15 this January 15th this discretionary spending will be frozen but I just want to provide some context that I think that's very fair because in the past I think one year we froze it in November so I you know that just give you some some context that I think January 15th is a much more re you know it's a reasonable time frame to freeze that and that concludes my report Mr Donnie I'm sorry did you have a question yeah sure uh so Dr Schwarz um I think you you addressed the there was a question about flooding at High School playground and frequency and money spent so you addressed that you are working with um The Village manager on that and U uh there are a few things that you address at the last meeting but I just want to reiterate those so you are working with Army Core of Engineers uh to evaluate um what are the options to Route this water somewhere else or raise the field or all all the long-term uh plans are you are working with the village manager to evaluate those and uh the current Village manager and the current superintendent they both are new in that role and they have teamed up and started to evaluate this so yes it has been a problem for several years but both of these team members are new and they have taken an initiative to start working towards that so I just wanted to point that out that work for a long-term solution the work is uh at least the dis Discovery phase is started on that that what should be the long-term phase and as you mentioned whether the field should even be there or should we be utilizing different fields at different schools where we have uh bigger Fields already available and they are not and flood zone so what all these those options are being explored I think there um and then um there was one question on that that can we disclose in last few years how much money have we spent that would anyway be an Oprah able um like this is a public information if somebody opra so if a member of public is asking at a public meeting can we consider that as equivalent to OA and release that information that what was the money spent thanks that question so so yes and I'm sorry I didn't mention that based on the the caller's comments but um that's that's needs to be a part of our analysis in terms of long-term what we're going to be doing okay so uh because we have to we have if this is going to be a regular occurrence then we have to budget for this as a c of doing business at minimum um all other concerns aside so we need to have a sense as to how much this has cost us in real time and overtime and then that will be used to provide a rational basis to determine whether or not it's more feasible to either relocate that field or to make some improvement to that field that's rather dramatic so one conversation has been um there's a group of community members um who are interested in trying to um come up with big picture Solutions such as possibly raising the field um and uh and creating a Spillway underneath it that way we're not violating D guidance but still protecting the investment of the field so um some some folks are are looking to fund raise uh to help the board by just funding some feasibility work because we're in a difficult I've explained we're in a difficult financial position right now and I'm hesitant to commit large uh large amounts of funds um that are discretionary at this time being um so it's in order to facilitate a faster assessment um some folks are are attempting to raise some funds to fund a feasibility study for something like that so we're really trying to exhaust all options um but the reality is that there is not a clear I think the reason why the reason why we're here is because there is no clear path forward we don't have a lot of property and there's there are costs associated there's there's pros and cons of every decision so what I'm trying to do right now is frame this issue as effectively as possible and we're in a we're in a we're in a a window of time here where we don't have we have have a winter season where that field our outdoor fields are not used in the same way so we have a bit of a window but come the spring there's going to be an increased expectation and demand for these fields so um speaking about this latest flood Miss cot and Mr cook and I were all talking Mr cook our athletic director and uh Miss cop pointed out right away oh I'm I'm hesitant spend any money in case this flood happen in case there's another flood God forbid we spend out all this money to fix the field and then something else comes through and of course you must have had your Crystal law that day because a week later here we are so uh so so we are we are being mindful we are paying attention we're looking at weather path Trends we're looking at spending trends we're looking at our at our at our available how to utilize our various properties and we're looking at uh spending allocating funds to commit whether by fund fundraised by community members or some District funds as well to develop real actual solutions that take into account concerns about the environment concerns about health and concerns about protecting our investments for the taxpayers top priority for the board for sure this is on all of our minds and we're working uh to make sure we find those Solutions um and and the second is just to remind the public right that we're not dealing with a curriculum issue or a management issue that we can fix pretty quickly we are literally dealing with a mother nature issue right this is a creek uh Brook stream whatever you want to call it that is designed to flood and collect water in a very large part of New Jersey and drain it out right and and the surrounding areas are all natural flood zones and designated as flood zones and so we just have a situation where that's been getting worse over the last few years we have our fields in those zones and we don't have an abundance of empty fields that we can just move the field around uh so definitely I would ask the public for patience as we get through this because it is not an easy one we are trying to figure out uh but definitely top priority for for all of us in the districts and and Dr SCH there was a comment about field committee agenda and I think at the December meeting the board agreed that uh maybe we can post that agenda at the zoom link publicly because it's a joint meeting between board and the um Council and most of the council meeting are public so uh would we be able to post that link going forward yeah I would just ask Miss corus maybe you can follow up on just where that where they post that link and how we could possibly do that okay okay all right so we're on that perfect and and the last one was one of the comment so we have received this report that's from Mount Shai um and we have a designated uh Board of fed Physicians so would we be able to get an opinion from the school physician with regard to this report that what is our Physician's opinion certainly yeah I think we may have already done that but um but that is something I have a note to follow up with okay thank sure and you said you were you said you were going to try to see if you could get more current information on that from Mount sinai's letters from no no I was talking about I talking about the cmx report oh CM oh that one yeah yeah yeah no the mount siai report is from the current year Mount siai is September 15th and and one thing I would like to note is Mount siai works very closely almost like two sister hospitals with our own Valley hospital so they are academically a lot of Valley Physicians are professors at Mount siai and U vice versa listing faculty so uh I think this is this is for us it's a local report basically But but so we should get our physicians opinion on that that what does our physician think about this report yes and to be clear we we are including in our um we are including in our feasibility for how to repair these fields um the quotes came in quite high and given the higher price range of those quotes we're considering other options such as possibly changing out the nature of the bill material as well so again I don't have numbers on these things so I don't know if it's all going to come down to what's financially feasible for right now also if we're making a c if we end up making a claim through FEMA or claim through our insurance there could be implications there as well in terms of what we're how we are allowed to restore or repair it but um again all options are on the table so just one thing on that that comment about the fill material so when it floods that fill material goes in the creek in the system right so we'll have to be uh are environmentally responsible on what materials we are picking just if something costs less but it's more toxic we should not just pick lower price material yeah so it should not be driven just by the cost correct is that evaluation something that will um be be addressed by which committee or is it facilities committee for sure thank you anything else no thank you so much for that that's it thanks everyone okay um uh Dr Schwarz consent items regular and routine yes so I'm sorry that I uh didn't have oh so we're talking about you want to do all of consent items at the same time well I think we'll do a Administration yep um is would someone like to move a move a second Mr Donnie yes Miss qua yes Ms mcau I think I need to abstain from this one Mr mmud yes Miss Brogan yes motion passing and for human resources I'm really pleased pleas to announce that we have a really uh we're really blessed to invite uh a very experienced and professional educator who is a no stranger to Bergen County her name is Dr Lauren shown uh she has played a variety of roles as a principal and superintendent um she is uh she's now retired she and she primarily plays interim roles uh she was selected as our finalist to recommend to the board as the inim principal of George Washington Middle School uh we are recommending her to the board of of Education through the current year that will give us uh time to advertise for a permanent uh vacancy and uh which that process really has already started has already begun um we would be recommend we anticipate recommending a permanent candidate to the board um within uh by the May time frame so that way they can start first thing in the summer and um I'm going to turn it over to Miss Murphy who's been our director of Human Resources who's been overseeing this process and can share with us a little bit about um ifications and of of Dr Shon and the process that we use I also just want to clarify before I do that and speaking with Dr Shon she very much wanted to be here tonight uh she had a prior commitment that precluded her from being here but she was very eager to thank the board uh and say hello oh we have her on she is all right so Dr Shon is here so thank you so much for joining us Dr Shan um but she has been uh she's we had an opportunity as part of the uh this the process both for her to evaluate whether we're the right choice for her and for us to evaluate whether she's the right choice for us we did a site visit on Friday and we had her um uh come to George Washington and the middle school and have a chance to meet some of the GW teachers and the administration and uh and it was it was a really really nice event uh Miss Murphy sure Dr Schwarz you actually shared a lot of the information but um so just to to give some additional background we did a review a list of interims that were ailable at this time um and reviewed their credentials Dr Shon comes strongly recommended uh by a variety of sources she has served um most recently as in West Orange and Fort Lee as an interim superintendent previous to that she was a longtime superintendent from Mawa Public Schools remap po Indian Hills Rosell Park and various other districts in Bergen County um and she started her teaching career um in Bergen County um at the beginning of her career as an elementary school teacher so she has many years of experience and she will be bringing to the district um and mentorship for the assistant principals that she'll be working with um so we are going to add to the resolution that will add her name as Dr C period Lauren shown and replace the tpd for salary at $700 per DM thank you Miss Murphy appreciate that so I move a mo to amend 3B 1 um as per the detail provided by Miss Murphy someone like to second that second any any other nope take vot yes and welcome Dr yes yes yes yes and I think we all can welcome her welcome Dr Sean uh to Ridgewood yeah and she start oh tomorrow yeah January 9th great and we and just to be clear we do have some Communications going out tonight to the community uh Miss corus is sending them right now so just announcing her name um we've uh We've made a preliminary sort of subtle announcement without using her name to stop so they know that she's going to be there and she has some nice activities planned to welcome everybody first thing in the morning tomorrow right well I'm glad tomorrow is not our delayed opening because but we'll that was sort of wel by fire right actually I just want to clarify Mr Donnie were you making a motion to amend it or to move it to move the amended motion I don't want to miss this yeah so I made a motion to amend it to amend it so now we need to vote on the amended I don't want to miss that thank you so much thank you for catching so now um a motion to yes I move uh be human resources as amended as amended ased right second thank you Mr Donnie yes Miss qua yes Miss mcll yes Mr uh Mr mmud yes and Miss Brogan yes motion passes now it's official yes um approval of bills I did um I I did review the bills um and I will move them as they are listed on the agenda will someone second them second thank you Mr Donnie yes Miss quack yes Miss Melly yes Mr mammood yes Miss Brogan yes motion passes a board member announcements are we really maybe do we have any announcements I I just I think you all received this today it's about Martin uh Martin Luther King um I think you got maybe everybody got an email but if you didn't this is a wonderful weekend uh celebration of um Martin Luther King it starts um it's just crept up so quickly uh this year it starts Friday with um a movie juneth faith and freedom at the rwood public library with a speaker and that's at 7 o'clock on Saturday they're doing our students um some student volunteer ambassadors uh will be on site to accept donation drop off for the for their Pantry at ridgerest which is our um senior building in uh Ridgewood and then on Sunday there's expression of inspiration from 5:30 to 8 um and they um we can join in the um celebrating the event is we explore artistically involved reflection of the work of Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr and then on Monday is the um service and and speaker at the United Methodist Church this is an annual event on Monday 10 a.m. um and usually so wonderful with song and um speeches and uh very uplifting and important so if you didn't um receive the flyer I'll just leave it here for anybody who would like that if there are no other announcements uh board committee reports I I I doubt if we've had any committees I I will uh tomorrow send out an email for you to give me feedback on uh the committee assignments that you'd be interested in um you know you're all doing a great job so um we'll try to just move that forward without uh too many issues um on the the uh discussion items I I believe that in November we we listed our um board goals but that we never finalized that and so um I'll just this I'm not for discussion tonight but just to I had asked Lucy um because I couldn't find it I don't know maybe you could find it more easily but here they are are what we discussed in November and um we can put that on the agenda for the next meeting on the 22nd so uh feedback and thought and this will be new to you Mary um but um whether this is where we want to go if all of these things want to we want to work on or not and then what is the activities and and the um you know what who will do what so um this is just food for thought tonight um I don't think we need it to discuss yet we'll do that on the 22nd okay do you want to um say what they are for now so oh I can sure sure um so uh on in no nober and I'm not sure I think it was the first meeting in November probably um the board would strive to meet the following goals during the 2023 24 school year and I know we are halfway through it so but uh complete a reorganization of the committee structure not sure what that really would look like obtain a flood mitigation assessment we we're um already understand that's in the works schedule and attend board training to understand the roles and responsibilities of board trustees re review the feasibility of inal intral sports districtwide ensure annual School Board elections are reestablishing uh are reestablished starting with the November 2024 election and um Dr Schwarz did send an email out um was it this weekend I think it was on Saturday or Monday or Friday maybe but it was about the um fact that the um that um Mr Jovi had um filed filed right filed a uh filed with the courts to um to have us be able to have a in November of 2024 have one seat um for one year and then two seats for three years that would be a one-time adjustment and then in 2025 that one-year seat would would roll over to a three-year seat and then we would hopefully go back to a 221 rotation or 212 I'm you know but so that each year there would be an election Dr since we'll be discussing it next at the next meeting if you can provide your input on number two and number four um because it says board goals but it's basically two and four will fall on you to provide a lot of information so if you are capable or not for June 30th date then that would help in the discussion I disagree I think this is we we never actually agreed on the board goals so I think this is just draft for us right so that's what I'm saying to so at the next meeting if you'll be discussing that whether this should be a goal or not I want to First understand with Dr Schwarz that with all everything else that's on the district goals these are basically indirect District goals should they be on here right should they even be here update on the situation that's a big yeah whether he'll be comfortable in because these are like a I agree roundabout District goals right exactly I don't yeah I agree with you yeah and then just glaring at me is financial budget that should be on here for possible so with one of them which is the feasibility of inter mural Sports districtwide I wonder if it if this became a board goal that would be one of the parameters that would help guide and shape perhaps the development of the 2425 budget right so having it this a goal right but that that that is part of the budget development process so I'm saying that if this became board goal it doesn't mean we're going to do it but it's the idea like this would put some imperative in terms of finally getting some information that's necessary to come to any kind of decision and so um it it will be it's not an easy topic to tackle there's a lot of scheduling Financial implication Staffing whatever have you but I would say for that one um having it as a as a board goal just gives us uh one of the discussion points for a budget development cycle okay and if you have something that you see is missing you know bring that bring that forward then um so that we can have a good discussion on that so if you have something that you think is glare glaring let me know we'll add it so that it becomes for the it becomes part of the discussion okay and whether we all you know want to do it or not will be part of that discussion okay yeah and just I would just keep in mind that five is already a big big number yeah big number so you know as more ideas come in that if it could be circulated in advance so that we can just have some absolutely mindset of like which which can we prioritize and maybe shift that to next year if we decide that it cannot you know we're going to be beholden to it that we can't really satisfy when you get it to we'll get that to we can get that out before our meeting absolutely I know we want to we'll discuss this in more detail but it's up to me I would slash the first four it should not be board goals in my opinion remember board goals is like high level what do we want to establish as a board I would rather put budget the health of the budget as one of those because that's what a board's role is supposed to be right Financial feasibility uh hiring evaluating the superintendent right ensuring we're compliance with laws Etc so I think the fifth one kind of fits within a board's description so I think and that's already in progress I would really strongly debate if the first for our board goals or more District goals personally right we can discuss more next next meeting okay oh um I just have a a question maybe for clarification of to think about it so um the schedule and attend board training to understand that's we're talking about something that was beyond the mandated training that most everyone here except for me has done and I will have actually have completed phase one by the 22nd anyway but um so we're talking about something larger correct um or more comprehensive or maybe that that's my question it could be um you know there is such a thing as having um New Jersey school boards coming in and um training the whole board and then the board really gets certified we did that years ago there's FX somewhere maybe still in the room um and that would be up to the board whether they wanted to invest that time there is it's a time commitment um but it could be part of a it could be part of a meeting you know part of your meeting do they charge extra or is that part of the ad you know I we'd have to find out I thought it was not extra but I don't know currently whether that's the case yeah if they charge extra then we all had our paining yeah um the other thing is to you know to they're having New Jersey school boards the um Bergen County it's early February I don't have that date right there February 6 okay um and so to go to those or to now they do have hybd which makes it a little bit easier um and for the board to make a commitment uh to do those is is is great too I think when um when when this came up um one of the things that we had done in the past was to have Matt Le who is our New Jersey Schoolboard Association field rep come yes and he did give a you know he gave a presentation to the whole board and you know maybe that could fit under that if time permits if if if our meeting agendas permit and that would be outside of the mandated training right there is um a listing that they have of different training TR so what I could do is I could um ask Matt to send me the list and if there's anything that you know jumps out at the board um we could we could go from there okay if you like I just wanted to clarify that it was an enhancement as opposed to you know the basics that we need to learn okay great and then in terms of the um the board the entire board being certified from what I remember some of the boards that did that they went on like Retreats like you know it's really intensive to get that board certification it's not just having matle come and speak like they went you know they really went on a retreat with their field rep so I'm just warning you that if that's a path that we want to take get your calendars ready we're GNA yeah maybe it's changed that was not the case we just did all the training right here in this room it's a whole new thing with maybe different carpeting at the time uh but I'll ask M Matt for um a list of uh of training that they that they do and then we'll work on goals and get them to you before the uh next meeting so one of the um uh since it's kind of dovetails into the board goal um I know it's going to be up for discussion about um uh reorganization of the committee structure this is not for resolution now but I'm just raising a question um that when it comes to um one of the Committees with negotiations would it make sense given that one person will be recused and given the significance and the weight of it that it be a committee of the whole and that when there's meetings whoever can attend should attend um we do other significant items also as committee of the whole like the superintendent um selection which is you know it's a it's a significant um decision as well so that just food for thought right yeah okay um why don't we check with um Matt to see how that would work um and the the time commitment and that kind of stuff um when I first joined the board that was how we did it we should do um and then it came down to a committee so um I would just want to to check with Matt to see if there' been if there were any changes in in that the maybe the pros and cons of it um if there are any cons I don't know okay yeah okay um okay acceptance of minutes this is from um December 4th um we've now all all seen the edits um in writing so that was helpful thank you for that would someone like to make a motion I'll make a motion to accept the minutes as revised yes second now usually we do all in favor um do you feel there's a need to vote individually well Sheila I'm gonna have to abstain from this because I wasn't present at that meeting so I think you probably need to do an individual vote then okay Julie if you could then Mr Donnie yes Miss qua yes Miss MC Mr mmud yes Miss Brogan yes motion pass okay um any other business he will um go to com comments from the public then our second comment period please uh state your name and address and um adhere to the four minutes please Jacqueline hone Mr Schwarz thank Schwarz thank you for your respon respon I would just like to ask you had mentioned that the physician did weigh in um when Mr Donnie asked if the Board of Education position had weighed in on the turf is that correct I can't recall if that we did or not I'm saying I we they may have already they may have already and if they do any of that information you also said there was a group of other people that were looking into Solutions how is that information is it available to to the rest of the public how would I be able to get a copy if it was um already reviewed and a decision made so as far as just public comment generally speaking we're supposed to I'm not supposed to be responding directly to folks but what I can say is if you if you'd like I can make give you a phone call tomorrow we can catch up or or you can make your comments and then I can provide a response afterward okay um your comment also included financially feasible Alternatives uh fill Alternatives um and I just wanted to read from the letter because you're confirming that you received all of this but from the comments it's like what was received isn't being applied or hasn't been applied and I correct me if I'm wrong um but the the letter and and all the links along in the letter uh specifically go into alternatives to crumb Rubber and it's extremely few Studies have examined the composition and safety of alternative fills including those claiming to be natural recent studies found the presence of known carcinogens and neurotoxins including polycyclic or arom Aroma something it's their phas for short lead lead zinc and black carbon in almost all alternative infill materials exam um if you're working jointly with the village of Ridgewood on this matter they had a few suppliers V Turf vendors and those T Turf vendors would not put in their contract that it was safe because they couldn't make that claim there is no data out there saying that the alternative so-called natural is safe so again if we can somehow the public before these Blades of grass plastic alternative are laid down again causing more pollution and harm to the public health and safety can we please have someone come in with actual data um the decision has to be data driven as a matter of fact it's not if Turf has chemical cancer causing chemicals present in it it does a class of more than 5,000 chemicals the letter says which are all linked to numerous health problems including including cancer so please read the letter in detail this is very very very serious um I don't think any more Turf should be laid down unless you can get a Turf vendor that provides data and in the contract includes that it is 100% safe and they would be liable otherwise and I don't think you'll be able to find one I think there should be another physician as well I mean you have a good 15 um Physicians here and scientists and a pretty reputable Health Center that studies environmental and public health saying that there is no other op option the only alternative safe alternative is called natural grass and until someone can prove otherwise I really don't think there is another option I don't see why Turf is artificial turf is being explored any further because there is no data that can back that it is safe and there's definitely no vendor out there that would put it in their contract that it is safe the only one that can is natural grass so I plead that any moving forward be incorporating natural grass thank you thank you lost our time let's see we do is there any uh the we have a hand raised we do Mr yeah hi there uh this is Anand again um you know uh from 19 John Street Anand Hegde uh yeah I thank you uh superintendent you know you mentioned some things about uh you know the the the field um I am uh really hoping that you and the board will uh seriously look into this matter and uh and take an action to prevent the future spending of wasting the money on the field and you know it is so kind of a laughable thing that recently uh I think that the word that field was changed to whatever this new kind of field I mean it's so surprising that nobody no soul has basically thought about okay what if you know this school is there since last 100 years or whatever you know number of years and that stream is there since the you know same thing hundreds of years and and nobody has even looked at what could be the solution you know how can we fix it you know this is this is really a shame you know to tell you honestly but going forward I truly hope that the board and you will take U uh real action on it and uh and on top of that as the lady was saying you know this is this artificial you know there is some kind of a thing going on there you may have to rip it off again and put the grass back or something you know can you imagine the waste of money and on top of that you're saying that you know you don't have money to spend on other things so so you have a great task ahead of you you know as you said I think you you are you are uh uh new superintendent and you know you're assuming your position recently so um again you know I'm going to be on top of this from now on you know I'm really sick and tired of these things you know I I go I walk by every day along that thing and in then and you know it is so terrible that when I look at the field it shouldn't be like that you know it never it should shouldn't be like that at all so uh and as I said you know I'm going to send U uh you know I have like 10 10 to 12 questions and um uh and and I would like to get the answer in a reasonable amount of time I don't want want to wait for months and months and things like that you know I want it within you know whatever you know a week's time and uh and uh and again you know I am willing to help if you need any kind of a help from me I'm willing to help so please call me so um um I'm I'm I'm okay with it you know I will send you the email you know we want to find a solution thank you thank you I think that was the I could just uh just as I said I was going to give a response although uh our speaker is no longer here um yeah just to reiterate I think we all share those frustrations um so we are actively working towards solutions for these these items um I don't I'm not knowledgeable enough about turf fields to be able to say that there are are not s safe Alternatives but we're looking at all of our options with a very critical eye so um there is no we are in process regarding our evaluation of our field situation so there is no no information to report at this time because we are in fact in the process of analyzing it we will consistently as we have been through the superintendent coffees and through the board presentation the board meetings provide updates and actually if just for anyone who's listening who feels passionate about it we have been providing regular updates at every superintendent coffee in addition of the board meetings on this specific topic so this is this this topic has never lost been off the radar for the board or the administration in the last few months that this has been occurring uh and and I agree uh however for however many hundreds however many decades uh we've had the high school where it is and we've had the brook where it is um yeah it's it's uh I don't know the rationale uh to putting the fields where they are or any of that backstory um and that is a bit lost the time I'm sure we can answer some of those questions but I think what matters most is what we do prospectively so that's what we were trying to figure out the best path forward at this time and I know everyone wants it fixed immediately I'd rather it take a little bit longer but have it be exactly the right solution and the best solution for all of us and to rush to something that would end up wasting money Mr Stevens he donated right sold it 1919 um different different time different weather systems um not saying it didn't plug but I don't think it was as frequ at that point in any case um we don't have an exective session um so I will move to adjourn the meeting do I have a second no one wants to home second because we could just stay here um second okay all right okay do I have to do this again all right I move to adjourn the meeting second all in favor thank you and good night