##VIDEO ID:1dXox2r-3bE## the only time is if you retire before the5 then you geten number two good evening everybody and welcome to the January 7th 2025 Board of Education meeting will everyone please stand for the flag II to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stand indice okay the announcements of results of the election results of the annual election held on November 5th 2024 certified by the Somerset County Clerk determined the following candidates were elected for threeyear terms Stephanie Dale 3,3 72 votes Jamie crasa 2,534 votes Amanda Sherwin 3,25 votes at this point I would like to ad Minister the oath of office to newly elected board members I would like to begin with Mrs Dale Mrs Dale would you please join me at the podium raise your right hand repeat after name I state your name I Stephanie Bale you solemnly swear you 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 faith and aliance to and to the governments established in United States and this state and to the governments established in United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the people so help me God I state your name I step do solemly swear do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for office of member of Board of Education that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I am disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 col 4-1 and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 4-1 nor disqualify due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations you please join me can you please raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name I gy crossa do solemnly 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 faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in United States and State and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the people so help me God I st jine I jie crosa do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 4-1 and then I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 4-1 nor disqualify due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 nor disqualify due conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a colon 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me die according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations you pleas Jo can you please raise your right hand and repeat after me I sine I Amanda Sherwin do solemnly 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 faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this St and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the people so help me God I state your name I Amanda do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for office of member of a board of education that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I will that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 4-1 and that I'm not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 col 4-1 nor disqualify due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in NJ s 18a 12-1 nor disqualify due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office 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 according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations okay can you please raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name I the do solemnly 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 I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state and to the governments established in the United States in this state under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the people so help me God I state your name I the do solemnly swear do solemly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant the RS 19 4-1 and that I am not disqualified as a vote as a voter pursuant to rs19 4-1 nor disqualify due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a colum 12-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 and that I will Faithfully and justly perform all the duties of that office and I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations okay at this time I'd like to call a roll call of members Mrs Van Horn here Mr Serio present Sir Mr Jess here Mr Carlson is absent tonight Mrs Sherwin here Mrs crasa here Mrs Dale here Mr kimik here Mr Garcia here Mr Shaw here okay public notice adequate notice of this meeting in compliance with chapters 231 of the public laws of 1975 entitled the open public meetings act has been provided by action of the board of education at its regular meeting on January 3rd 2024 notices to The Courier News and Star Ledger circulated in the school district and a posted notice to this effect on a board of education website and bu building bulletin board administrative headquarters 51 West Cliff Street Somerville New Jersey okay at this time I would like to seek nominations for Board of Education president president M I'd like to recommend William Kimi for the role of president of the summeral Board of Education 2025 do I have a second second are there any other nominations seeing none I have a motion to close nominations for Board of Education second Mr Serio and Mr Jess so I'm G to take roll call on that Mrs Van Horn yes Mr seril yes Mr Jess yes Mrs Sherwin yes Mrs crasa yes Mrs Dale yes yes Mr kimik yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs Shaw yes okay resolve that the Board of Education elects Mr William kimik as president of the Board of Education effective immediately until the next organization meeting as prescribed by law Mrs Van Horn yes Mr seril absolutely yes Mr Jess yes Mrs Sherwin yes Mrs crin yes yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimick yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs Shaw yes congratulations Mr K forgot your name plate congratulations Mr Bo that's yours all right thank you Mr Boyce uh thank you everybody um I'll hold any comments until we that on my name okay until we um get to that point the agenda at this point I would like to uh seek nominations for Board of Education vice president um so at this point are there motions for nominations for the office of vice president president Kim I I nominate former president Mr D for the role of Vice President of theal Board of Education calendar year 2025 thank you Mr s is there a second second baby second okay are there any other nominations so do we need to vote on that first no no you can just close and then we can vote on closing the nomin thank you are there any other nominations okay seeing none may have a motion a close nominations for Board of Education vice president um Miss Van Horn first and Mr shadil second Mr boy can do a roll call please yes Mrs Van Horn yes Mr seril absolutely yes Mr Jess yes Mrs Sherwin yes Mrs krasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimik yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs Shaw yes okay thank you Mr Boyce um resolved at the Board of Education elects d ER Jess as vice president of the Board of Education effective immediately until the next organization meeting as prescribed by law Mr Boyce roll call please yes Mrs Van Horn yes Mr seral yes Mr Jess yes Mrs Sherwin yes Mrs cren yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimick yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs Shaw yes okay congratulations all right thank you everybody uh moving on to the next item on the agenda this is the hearing of the public regarding agenda items and non-agenda items as a reminder this is the only time during the meeting that public comment uh can be made at this time comment is invited on any matter related to the school district when permitted public participation shall be governed by the following rules under bylaw 9322 a participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement of his or her name place of residence and any other group affiliation if appropriate each statement made by the participant shall be limited to 3 minutes duration no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on a topic have been heard all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer no participant May address the question or question board members individually and a providing officer May interrupt warn a terminate participant in statement when the statement is too lengthy abusive obste or irrelevant request any individual to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable deorum request the assistant of law enforcement if necessary call for a recess or an adjournment to another time if necessary and weigh these rules when necessary as well so at this time and I will not read that every meeting because that is a really long statement so I just wanted to get it done on um are there any uh comments by the public at this time please thank you hi my name is Sharon mck live at 548 Carlton Street in Brook New Jersey I teach at the high school here at Somerville and I am the sea president um of our Union so I wanted to say um a very uh hearty congratulations to our new president and vice president of the board well deserved and earned and um a happy welcome to our ladies here Amanda after a Hiatus but um Stephanie and Jamie were very happy to have you as part of our Board of Education um and as I mentioned um to bont over break um that I'm just so grateful for the collaborative and supportive nature of our Board of Education um he was very pivotal in changing the tone of the board um and I know that my leadership has helped with that as well so I'm just I'm grateful for the opportunities that we have now as collaboratively together to um Inspire the next generation of Staff um and Educators but also to provide exceptional education to the students of Somerville and brur at the high school as well so thank you for everything you continue to do for us and for the staff and um congratulations and welcome back thank you you are there any other members of the public who would like to address the board okay seeing none could I have a motion to close public comment Please Mr Jaz a second second um M Sherwin um all in favor I all oppos thank you Mr s um abstentions okay public no uh public comment is now closed um at this point this is a a first off thank you for your comments um you know I I think um the relationship that has been forged over a number of years now between the board and the association is something that is important to the board as well so we look forward to continuing to work with you and continue to work with teachers and just hopefully moving everything along in in a positive direction I also want to just take a moment I was going to do this during present marks but I want to congratulate our three returning board members on your election and just you're swearing in and the Very fact that you were able to get through um I think the oath of office is just Testament to your you know diligence and your your perseverance because that is a mouthful when you say it and to B do as well thank you um and we look forward to working with all of you as well and it's great to have an experience board you know this is one of the things that I think is a real treasure in this community is is just um you know the the commitment that people have to the board but also again the idea that there's stability on the board and and there are people that enjoy working together and work well together and you know there's a relationship that's forged there that's important also to the community to the staff and and to the administration as well so I want to thank everybody for that as well this meeting is one of two meetings during the year what we do a lot of reorganization uh types of items so there's two parts to our agenda the first part is the reor portions of that and then the second part are the business meeting portions of that uh one part of the reorg is our annual ethics training that uh takes place every year uh this is something that um Mr Phil Stern Esquire is going to provide and he just walked out of the room and now he's walking back into room so I'm going to turn it over to Mr Stern thank you good evening congratulations go to the podium all the go to the podium yes okay um let me just pass this out first this is all yours there you go put your sticker on it your stickers on the floor put your sticker on you're welcome there you go hello happy New Year do you want would you like no no I'm talking oh no she does not all right because she I'll be addressing her because she's the closest person here to my maturity level so I think it would be how are you all right thank you thank you my pleasure congratulations and here we go all right and this all right so I I uh continue to have the privilege of uh providing legal support for the Somerville Board of Education and it is indeed a privilege to address you all tonight on the annual requirement to take a look at the um School ethics act uh that was passed by the legislature I believe back about 1993 um and every year we have that pause and just take a moment to just make clear that um not only the board but probably more importantly our community understands that the school ethics Act is geared to promote trust and security that our Board of Education understands all of its ethical obligations and so that's what that's what this exercise is hey there um I will start with the fact that Somerville is unique in that the uh the um the requirement for any uh persons who identify as males whether it be an employee a board member uh or an attorney is to have facial hair and so if you look at the uh at the men around this table you'll notice that we are again fulfilling our ethical obligation to have that facial hair I I had shaved before but I got the memo so it looks like everybody else did as well the next thing I want to say in in all seriousness is that this could not be a more exciting time to be on a board of education and our community should look forward to our Board of Education embracing the fact that anything and everything that you consider to be important about public education is on the table is on the table and so the the the parameters for what what your board what your superintendent what your staff uh will be doing this year year those parameters have never been wider have never been more uh begging for creativity for anything that the good people here in Somerville wish for their school district because going forward everything's going to be talked about everything is going to be on the table so this um little packet here uh this is a three-part packet number one the first part is telling you all that our New Jersey Department of Education tells us that each year we have to look at our ethical obligations and just by way somebody I heard the word Civics uh before and so just by way of civics everything that your board of education does is well almost everything that your board of education does is governed by a a statute a law that is found in title 18a so for those of you who want to know anything there is to know about public private and higher education in New Jersey This Is The Place To Go 18a social studies question if this is a book of stat statutes which branch of the New Jersey government wrote These you just we we know we know that there that there are three branches right no well hold on hold on hold hold on we know that there are three branches of government right that's that's the check and balance on our system so in in the in our federal system system the article one branch is called the legislative that's article one that consists of Congress and in New Jersey it's the state senate and the State Assembly right what does the legislative branch do what verb great excellent excellent the legisl Branch creates the laws who created these laws legislative legislative branch excellent so title 18a is our legislative branch telling us what they expect us to do in public education so these are the statutes but there's another book this book is called title 6A and this book is a book of how to do everything that the legislative branch told us to do and this came from the Department of Education these are called regulations now this is this is going from from 101 this is this is a little more advanced so try to follow me if the legislature passed these laws in title 18a to tell us what we're supposed to do which branch would these regulations be that were promulgated by the Department of Education what I'm sorry what's your name Deana Deana SI Sienna Sienna you look like which branch executive wow that is not an easy question because most people believe that the legislative branch does this 18a and this 6A it takes incredible intelligence to understand that it is not just the legislative branch that does this but it's the executive branch what verb do we use about the executive branch what do they do enforce it enforces the laws so this is all about how this is all supposed to happen right okay so in your packet you'll notice that page two is the executive branch telling us that we've got to talk about about these ethics um uh once a year uh and it it also tells you about uh that you have to sign an acknowledgement Etc and I I think most importantly it's important for everyone here to to understand that if you look at page three Somerville must have a policy regarding its oblig its ethical obligations in December the Somerville Board of Education switched its policy service from the New Jersey school boards Association to um Strauss Esme okay who are the two I I think they're arguably the biggest two the only two the only two in the state okay so we are in the process of um uh transer all of our policies from the school board's policies to the St SME policies what you have in front of you on page three is by law which is a policy of the board 0142 which is all about qualifications of board members prohibited acts and code of ethics this policy number 0142 is in fact Strauss esme's policy that will be on our website it is not corre currently on our website we still have the New Jersey school boards and we're just in the process of catching up and getting that in they both say the same thing because they're both reiterating everything that we have to reiterate and you'll notice here um that everything that you just heard about your board members being sworn in the first page uh the of Page Three tells you everything that board members have to be to be qualified for office and then it goes on from Pages four through page five these are all what's known as prohibited acts things you're not supposed to do and it all starts almost all of them start with the word no well I don't think that's a great word to start with with regard to a newly organized Bo like this one so we will do what the statute says which is go right to the uh Pro the code of ethics which is what board me members will the real bottom line here is just as Sienna was very correctly describing the system of checks and balances that we have between and among the executive judicial legislative branches we have a check and balance right here right in front of you your board of education is the check and balance on the person who is entrusted with running the school district that is one person and that person is known as your superintendent of schools Mr Lis and the job of the board at the end of the day is to see to it that the school district is well-run it is not the job of the board to run the school district that is 100% only the job of superintendent as long as Boards of Education respect and act upon that very bright line between seeing to it that the district is well run and allowing the superintendent of schools to run the district you will have and continue to have a wonderful District I would like to point out one last thing about this uh this code of ethics um and you're you know these are all for you I urge you to read through them um all the board members have read through them many times before if you would like me to recite them I will um but what I'd like to point out is would you all please look at page nine um you'll notice the first thing it's says on page nine is each board member shall uh swear or affirm under Ro that's what we just did that's what you just heard okay but anybody have any idea what's what's all that stuff under um duties of the office of board member what what is njsa 18a what is all that what is it it's the law it's the law governing everything that went into that policy okay so that when Strauss Esme sends us laws more times than not they are I'm sorry when Strauss s may send us policies they are doing so after the New Jersey legislature has said something either under 18a maybe the federal government has said something federal government is going to say a lot of things in this next year about public education which is again one of the really exciting aspects of what's going to be happening I mean we're we're like we're in for a ride all of us in terms of potential changes potential ideas and you know all I'm saying is that this board has an opportunity to embrace possibilities for that change the reason I'm pointing out the law LA on on the bottom of page nine is that there are policies that some boards have that have no law or no Authority underneath it and those policies are ones that a board has has uh created for any legislature has acted by way of example we now have many cell phone policies around the state of New Jersey and in fact Strauss May um helps school districts stme has a a cell phone policy for Cherryville school district and if you look at the bottom of that policy there's no legal Authority and why would that be the case that would be the case because the legislature has not acted upon cell phone usage policy yet but the Cherry Hill Board of Education said to Strauss Esme this is what we want to do we want you to help us do this and let's write it up all that to say that Boards of Education are free to originate policies if they so choose in I to taking care of polies the last page is a very important page about the fact that all the board members that you see have retained and the administrators have retained all of their constitutional rights as board members including and especially the First Amendment to the Constitution and so if you ever see which is what what what do we know about speech religion press assembly excellent and and uh with regard to what You' studied with that are you familiar with the different um uh phrases of the First Amendment like the the section I mean you said them basically well you said it speech religion redress assembly right board members have not in any way waved their freedom of speech and any one of your board members have an absolute right to speak about whatever they want to speak about where whever they want to say it whenever they want to see it say it except board members may not allow our public to confuse their individual points of view with the board's point of view and so when our board members speak privately they have to say something about the fact that these are my private thoughts and these are not represented by the board and you even have a little BL there that you can use if you want to any questions well it's been a pleasure and I'm so excited for this year thank you thank you all right uh moving on with our agenda we are moving forward with our organization meeting action items uh just to make it clear to the public what's happening here at this point um there's a few things on here one is that school board recognition month so there's a resolution just uh basically acknowledging the work that goes into being a board member and the efforts that the board makes on behalf of the community I won't read the whole resolution because it's very lengthy but I think it's important just to acknowledge again and recognize um the commitment and time the commitment and effort uh the commitment I think in just uh giving something back to the community that serving on a board of education uh entails and means for people and and I want to thank every member of our board and other boards around state for the work that they do with that and and the time that they volunteer for that effort uh the other thing that is on here uh is Code of Ethics uh so we will be approving that as a board we also have uh the statement of open public meetings and establish our meeting times and dates I do want to make note uh there is an adjustment to the starting times of our meetings which will be at 6 o'cl uh we did try this a few years ago uh we'll monitor this and see how it goes and see if it creates any problems with um having a quorum or anything like that but uh you know for at this point in time we're going to move for the six o'clock starting point and then we will make adjustments if we need be at that point we had the adoption of our curriculum guides and textbooks and E textbooks that takes place a couple times each year adoption of our bylaws and policies and regulations and really what we're doing is we're just saying for this calendar year uh we are we are adopting all of those in place and there's no new ones uh that that take place there's also some items in terms of uh appointing our special councils and our school Auditors which are all things that are critical to the function of the district the appointment of our board attorney and um that is it for the reorganization items so at this point uh upon recommendation of superintendent schools uh items 1 through eight be moved upon um by the board uh can I have a motion for that sir okay Miss Van Horn a second second Sir Mr sigil any discussion okay Mr Boyce you do a roll call please yes Mrs Van yes Mr seril yes Mr Jess yes Mrs Sherwin yes Mrs crasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimick yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs Shaw yes okay thank you uh Mr Boyce uh the next item on the agenda is the board president's uh report um so as I said before I just want to wish um everybody a great year serving on a board I also want to extend a happy New Year and um you know just well wishes to everybody in the community to our staff to the administration uh just really to just the Brer Community as a whole I I believe Somerville is a very special place to live a very special place to send your children to school um many of you know I had three children that went through the Somerville School my last one graduated last year um and it's still something that um I think is important to the community it's important that we all uh continue to focus on that and continue to to really do the best job that we can for the school system itself um I also just want to extend appreciation to Mr Jess and Mr Van Horn for their efforts over the past year as president and vice president of the board um this role is one that um can be challenging at times and and you know it is something that does require an additional uh allotment of time in terms of just the commitment that you make and and it's something again I know that uh dereck's wife will be very happy to not have him be president for a year um and it's one of those things that um you learn a lot while you do it so again I want to thank everybody for your confidence in me in terms of uh taking over the torch on that um one of the things that we have on here is just the uh appointments to our committees uh this is available to members of the public if you look you can see there are a number of board of committees uh every committee has a chairperson and every committee has at least three or four members on that um you know these committees meet multiple times across the year when we we only have one meeting a month but the idea with that is that we have committee meetings that are taking place in the other weeks uh one of the things I think as a board that uh is important for us as as we move forward with our work this year is just tightening up our committee process our reporting process on that so people feel well important about that so I know we're going to be having a discussion about board goals and that may be one of the things that we want to focus on as um as a board goal moving forward as well uh some more to come on committees but um I want to thank everybody for the efforts now that you're going to be making across the year all right um moving forward we have some other items in terms of appointments that do require um board approval and these are motions to approve items 1 through 4 uh upon a recommendation of schools and just for members of the public again these are delegates that basically are serving with New Jersey school boards Association uh serving on our County School boards Association serving with our uh Educational Services Commission and uh actually being a on to uh the library as well and to the local community so um can I have a motion to approve items one through four so move Miss Van Horn a second please second sir uh Miss Sherwin and M boy can you do a roll call please yes Mrs Van Horn yes Mr seril yes Mr Jess yes Mrs Sherwin yes Mrs crasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimmick yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs Shaw yes okay thank you Mr Bo passes uh next item is approval of our minutes uh so I please have a motion or resolve that the Board of Education approved the minutes for the Board of Education meeting meeting as follows December 17 2024 regular meeting is there a motion M vanor second Mr suil okay Mr boy can do a discussion okay okay all in favor I I I we have two extensions okay have that report Mr Bo yes I do okay thank you okay the next item on the agenda is our report of board items and committee reports um I do want to point out as we move forward into this year we have been doing consent agendas for the past number of agenda items uh I think for this meeting we will go through just because we have um secondary items that are uh Branch for eligible and we have K8 items I think as we go forward into next month we will go back to a consent agenda but we'll reorganize the agenda somewhat so it's more clear what's K8 and um also what's 912 so uh very quickly Mr Carlson is not here so I will make the motion to approve or ask for a motion to approve items one through five upon a recommendation to schools in the finance and security section is there a motion Sir Mr seril second second Mr Garcia any discussion Mr boy can do a motion there please uh yes Mrs vanor yes Mr Serio yes Mr Jess yes Mrs Sherwin I've seen Mrs crasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimick yes Mr Garcia yes okay thank you Mr Boyce okay and moving on and that portion of the agenda um we please have a motion to approve items 6 through eight upon recommendation of superintendent of schools move horn second Mr sadil and these are Branch for G Mr boy no um disc Mr K discussion I'm sorry um so I would like to discuss number seven the Laura Bishop Communications I know this was um approved to take the money from Capital funds if needed last this last um board meeting but I wanted to ask a few questions about this um this is a large amount of money and I am curious as to how this video number one will not be biased and number two how this will inform the public better than other forms of communication such as meetings with the public um you know face-to-face conversations I I'm just curious as to um how this is going to be the better option okay do you have a comment on sure absolutely I all right uh thank you for your question and a couple things so during old business I do have an update to give on where we are with communicating out to the public we had talked about this um a few meetings back and I'll give a full rundown of what we're doing there but in terms of your specific question uh we did speak um to get a little bit more specific as to um how effective and how often it's used so most districts do use the videos nowadays in the past 6 months um L Bishop's group uh has had 90 % of their districts um using them they think that it's more uh effective and critical uh in these times because of the way that people consume media um this is the way people interact and and gather information they're on their phones or they're on their computers uh and they're Gathering a lot of information that way uh they think that uh using reliable sources in those videos uh you know whether it's people from the community or people from the administration uh really gives it credibility and helps people to better understand the information they're receiving about that referendum is accurate and and uh would can also be included there Graphics uh to show you what the numbers might be um for uh the you know the fiscal expenditures but also um you know what what it's going to take and what the next steps are so there's a lot of Graphics that can be included in that communication um and so for the cost of it you really have to think about it in the big picture and the cost of the overall referendum this is a very small percentage of that if the referendum were to be approved um and that the price could end up being lower if not all the hours to use so this is the maximum uh that uh we would anticipate spending on something like this so there is a cost for the videographer and then from that point it's an hourly fee based upon how many hours are needed um they uh have used mostly a three-minute video with some shorter ones but we would have that determination to make as what we think would be most effective for our community um and uh scripts would be provided um there would be uh someone here on campus that would be directing Us in in uh you know uh tapping into the resources we have here to to make these videos that would then be put on all of our social media access points on our website and put out to the public so they have this information readily uh those videos could be different there could be one that's like I said a three minute one which is tackling the entirety of the referendum and all the different components of it and then you could have shorter ones that are cut out providing people with Snippets uh depending on what their questions are so when we talked to Laura that was really why uh this is so effective nowadays and use so readily because of the way that people are consuming information and the way that it can be um you know organized uh to provide that information to the public uh so this won't be taking place though of the face to face because the just watching a video I feel like the the community might not get all the information and get their answers question or their questions answered and it like the transparency will be lost if it's just like the video going out and they by no means that's just one component of the entire because it is a lot of money for a video sure it's for multiple videos it could be for multiple depending on how we wanted to organize it yes do I miss anything no I don't think so um The Proposal laid out what's included and I don't think I would have anything to add to what you said um thank you for the the response to that um if we could go back to my first question um how can we ensure that this will not be biased and that all information will be given in a way where it will not sway voters one way or another sure so our understanding from lur is that it is an informational video that's providing people with uh you know the specifics of the referendum itself um it's not looking to um you know have testimonials as to why you should vote one way or the other it might talk of the benefits that it would provide School District don't let me just add that component but yeah not a persuasive video in nature I just want to add I think you know the communications around the referendum would live with the board Communications committee so like that group of board members that are assigned to that committee would be responsible also for providing input on behalf of the board for you know really kind of being the board's arm I think of that process so it's something again that you know when these things are discussed you know there is an opportunity for board members to be able to give input and you know the rest of the board then can be actually kept the bre of what's happening there in the communications report to the board uh I think that speaks to the importance of kind of tightening up also like our board communication process among committees just so people feel like they have that information and you know have that ahead of a board meeting when it's taking place that type of thing you know before it takes place so people are informed about that as G mentioned it is a lot of money so I ask that the board consider that I just want to say that I appreciate the questions because it shows that not only are you concerned about the finances but you're also concerned about how information gets out to the public and that we're just providing information to the public and we're not trying to sway vote which is not our job our job is to be transparent so I truly appreciate that um Jamie and I had a conversation where she had asked my opinion on how many districts that I knew of that have done this before and my answer was I don't know because I I haven't um I had a conversation with Laura and Laura said over the past two years of all the districts that she's worked with she's had 90% of them go through and utilize a video for their um referendums as well so um but I also think to Mr kimi's comment about having the communications committee have this funnel through that not only is that important but I also think that this board will see everything as well prior to it going out so it's not going to be hey we're done it's going out and nobody knows about it everybody on the board will have the opportunity to see it and to critique it and then give Laura feedback as well so that we can be sure if it passes that we're that it's going the way it should be and we're not skewing it towards one or the other I just want to make sure that the information is coming out to the community that they know everything and that they're having all the information CU is already talk around the community and you can tell that there's a lot of misinformation they're talking about stuff that we were talking about in September and it was first coming out so I just want to make sure that we're not putting all our eggs in one basket and hoping this video like solves the problem because it's not going my opinion it won't and I agree and the concern is about concern I agree with you I mean I think the idea also that this would supplement any kinds of other Communications that are taking place not replace it um you know I do think you know the idea of having open discussions with the community about why things are in the referendum the way they are why they're kind of organized the way they are why those are the priority items that the board established so many meetings went into that and so many discussions went into that so I think being very transparent about that but giving people the opportunity to ask those questions is going to be important I think the video kind of brings it to life in a way that you know um maybe we can't otherwise um so it should only supplement that it shouldn't replace that U I could see the video being used in those discussions to say like show a video and then provide the opportunity for that open for to take place um it could be closed in other ways too but it certainly can't replace all that so I I agree you know with the concern and and and you know agree that that we have to make sure that that's not the case there any other comments I think Miss man I was just going to say that it definitely is to supplement the face to face but it also will reach more people will be available to more people and especially with the time constraints put on people today I was part as at a community member part of the 2004 referendum and there were meetings and meetings and meetings and everyone's time is is so valuable that of course we still have to have those face-to-face meetings but you need to be able to reach the people that can't make those meetings too well to that point I think Jamie brought up a really good one and that is that there's some misinformation based upon people either looking at a newspaper article or an old board meeting and what this can do is is try to um bring that information to a Level Playing Field right so if you attended the meeting and you did a face to face you're going to get the information in an accurate way but if you we unable to and you're only hearing it second or third hand this can help get people that information accurately so that's one of the advantages when we talk to Laura that this really provides and it might not be the full $20,000 it just depends on it how much how many hours that she were build to her honest answer was that it's going to it's going to depend on how many edits and how many times you have to go through this right so if you're pretty efficient in those uh filming sessions it's going to be and and how many edits are needed versus you know needing a million ch es or if you want a more robust set of of videos right so all those are into consideration so and maybe this is a great time for me to just catch up on on what I was saying before and that's you know March 11th we have a really critical vote coming up uh for the community and um over the next two months it's important for us to get out the information about this referendum in a transparent way that gets everyone the same information and I understand that um it took us a bit of time to deliberate over what it was going to look like and right before break is when we decided what it was going to look like and that's why now is when we're going to go out and form that referendum Communications committee consisting not only of the communications committee from the board but folks from the community um so we needed the department of vet approval um that was confirmed at 17 7.3 million in state a uh if the referendum passes Board of Education um finalizes the projects in the ballot language and that was just in December so with that said the referendum uh website is going to launch very soon that'll be housed at our you know Somerville schools.org it'll you know we'll put it out to as many places as we can but it's going to include things like project details tax impact voter deadlines poll locations FAQs project renderings uh and a dedicated email for questions so let's say you can't go to those information sessions here's an email that you can uh send directly to Brian and I so we can get that answer for you in real time um we also have the refer referendum Communications committee that's going to be you know kind of a cross of the community like I said not only uh you know folks from the board but we need to get parents you know as young as preschool or not even in the schools yet uh to senior citizens uh so we get that really that cross-section of the community um there's going to be information sessions both in person and online um as we get closer to the date we want to have that opportunity to answer questions in person and talk to people and engage them that way and then you have obviously the vote on the 11th um so this will allow us to continue to provide our students with the best educational opportunities provide them with the facilities they need to Excel and and uh you know you know make us proud so uh you know those are the kind of things that are coming and I know that we had originally asked uh intended it for it to all roll out in December before break but we couldn't because the questions were still being determined and that's why uh the time's now um but we are in a good place to make that happen um and get that rolling and that's what we're going to do so really our our question now is whether will include the video or not right and that's what we have there for your vote So to that end I would like to amend the motion to add the words not to exceed so resolve that the Board of Education approve the attach proposal from L Communications in the amount not to exceed $20,000 to produce the video because then that sets the limit and that means that we won't go over it but we can also come under it you have that got that all right there any are there any other points I want be made about that or discussion that's an important topic and I appreciate everybody's um you know contributions to that discussion you need a second on the amended motion before have a first and a second so we just need call the amended motion do we have to do anything yeah we we need a second on the amended Mo second so we had a second who said that Amanda Amanda thank you so we have a first and a second um all in favor do we have to do a roll on that do we have to do a roll on that for an amendment to motion no I think voice is is sufficient all in favor and that's a vote just to amend the motion that's not a vote on the actual of the EXP okay so we have an amended motion so there's no more discussion all right moving back to motion to approve items 6 through eight upon recommendation of superintendent schools there's do we already have a motion for that and a second and a second okay and we did discussion Mr boy can you do a roll call please yes Mrs vanor yes Mr seril yes Mr Jess uh yes on six and eight and abstain on item seven okay Mrs Sherwin I'm going to abstain because tonight's my first night okay Mrs crasa uh yes yes sorry so you're full yes oh in her to turmoil but yes okay Mrs Dale no for number seven yes for six and eight Mr kimick yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs Shaw yes okay um see motion passes okay thank you for the discussion thank you Mr Boyce okay moving on to technology curriculum instruction I don't believe we have a report so we'll just make a motion to approve item one to be moved upon recommendation of superintendent of schools is there a motion move horn second second Jess Mr Boyce can you do a roll call please yes Mrs Van Horn yes Mr seril yes Mr Jess yes Mrs Sherwin Mrs kka yes Mrs Dale yes Mr Kim yes Mr Garcia yes okay moving on motion to approve items two and three be moved upon by the recommendation of superintendent of schools can I have a motion Please Mr steel second second M Van Horn any discussion yes Mrs vanor yes Mr Serio yes Mr Jess yes Mrs shwin I've Mrs krasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimik yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs Shaw yes okay thank you Mr boys um I do want to acknowledge in our um Personnel section we have a retirement of I know dear's first name I can never say her last name though or jappy uh you know and again somebody who's been with the district for 23 years so I want to thank her for service and and just everything she's contributed I know I had some of my children who worked with her as well so um uh it's just somebody that um a lot of experience there and somebody who made a lot of contributions to the community so thanking her for that as well um so at this point we'll make a motion to approve items one through five be moved upon a recommendation of superintendent of schools and Sour's contention upon verified documentation is there a motion there please don't Mo M Van Horn second second Mr Jess any discussion Mr Boyce yes Mrs Van Horn yes Mr seral Mr Jess yep Mrs Sherwin Mrs crasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kennet yes Mr Garcia yes and the last set of items for approval a motion to approve items 6 through 12 uh be moved upon the recomendation superintendent schools deoy and stion upon verified documentation uh can I have a motion please so Mo vanan horn second Mr J Mr seril any discussion Mr Boyce yes Mrs Van Horn yes Mr s yes Mr Jess yes Mrs Sherwin Mrs crasa yes Mrs Dale yes Mr kimick yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs Shaw yes okay thank you all right we are moving on to the old business section of the agenda are there any old business items at the board would like to bring Court okay seeing none can I have a motion to close Old business Mr Jess second second Mr Garcia any discussion all in favor I all opposed extensions sorry you can vote on Old business okay you're doing great you're doing great I the old businesses so I'm not sure all right uh we're moving out to new business any new business items to bring forward okay seeing none can I have a motion to close new business move Mr Jess second second M Van Horn any discussion okay all in favor I all opposed extensions good job okay all right and we've reached that point of adjournment can I have a motion to adjourn please miss Van Horn second second Mr Jess any discussion all in favor I all opposed all right congratulations everybody have a wonderful New Year we look forward to working with everybody in the new year take care