##VIDEO ID:DK1rIvJ7qzY## it is Thursday January 2nd 2025 and it is now 6:36 p.m. welcome to the reorganization meeting of the South Orange Maplewood Board of Education adequate written notice of this meeting has been provided in the following manner that written notice was sent from the office of the secretary of the board at 2:30 p.m. on January 5th 2024 that said notice was sent via email to Maplewood and South Orange Township Clerks and the editors of the news record star lger The Village Green and tap into Soma please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance States thank you first I will review the uh election results and then proceed to administer the oath of office for our new newly elected board members election results the results of the November 2024 election for the South Orange Maplewood Board of Education as reported by the Essex County Board of Elections are as follows the three individuals elected to serve three-year terms are Jeff Bennett dearer Brown and Bal Kapaa jef Bennett received 9,562 votes Dej Brown received 10,251 votes and Bimal kapadia received 8,587 votes so now I'll proceed to the O of oath of office uh and swearing in of each of the new board members we're going to do is take that action here in the middle and first I'll call Jeff Bennett you're a t kid turn okay sorry about this hold on I'm just looking for the there we go okay apologies for that are you ready all right what I'm going to do is I'm going to ask you to repeat after me right I'm going to start with i state your name I Jeffrey Bennett do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States do you solemnly swear that I will support the 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 then I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the governments established in the United States and this state in the United States and this state under the secretary under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that should help you move it forward I state your name I Jeffrey Bennett do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear that I do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of a board of education that I possess a qualifications prescribed by law for the office a member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 colon 4-1 am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 colon 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense nor disqualified by conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 listed in njs 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all of the duties and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all duties that the office according to the best of my ability of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God all right congratulations welcome newly elected [Music] Bo and next I will call dearer Brown all right dear I'm going to give you your items first you can follow along so if you wouldn't mind repeating after me I state your name i d Brown do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm 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 that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I state your name I dear der Brown do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education for the office of member of Board of Education and that I am not disqualified as a voter and that I not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 colon 4-1 pursuant to rs19 colon 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense nor disqualified due to conviction from a crime or offense list listed in njs 18a 12-1 listed in njs 18a colon 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations thank you welcome to the board and thank you and now I'd like to call Bal Kapaa you are and much is the same before I'll ask that you repeat after me I state your name I deml kapadia do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm 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 this United States and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I state your name I the mapia do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education for the office of member of board of the education and that I am not disqualified as a voter and I'm not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 colon 4-1 voter pursuant to rs19 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense nor disqualified from membership on the or due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a Colon 12-1 listed in njs 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform and I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all of the duties of that office all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me guide congratulations welcome to the [Applause] voice here you are um here this is for you uh and this is for you sure Mr Ben sh e e e okay thank you everyone I will now take a roll call of the full board board member Jeff Bennett here you can just press the button for here okay board member dearra Brown here board member Elizabeth Callahan here board member Nubia dval Wilson here board member Regina eert here board member bill giord here board member Bal capadia here board member will Meyer here here board member Shaya sakic Gable here student Representatives ASA glasman Oliver nessen no okay okay now uh we'll proceed to the election of the president of the board I'll now give a brief summary of the procedures associated with that election first uh I will ask for nominations nominations do not require seconds nominations are not debatable I will ask for further nominations after that and after hearing none declare nominations to be closed at that point I will call a roll and record the vote now elections require a majority of the members present providing there is a quorum if a majority is not obtained at by any of the N nominees a second election shall be conducted between the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes so at this point I'd like to ask for any nominations I'd like to nominate Nubia Duval Wilson for president thank you are there any other nominations last call for nominations so nominations are now closed I'd like to call a roll and record the vote board member Bennett yes board member Brown yes board member Callahan yes board member Duval Wilson yes board member eert yes board member gford yes board member Kapaa yes board member Meyer yes and board member sacki Gable yes all right uh motion carries 9 to Zer congratulations we have a newly elected president president Nubian Bal Wilson thank you and now the president will assume the chair and continue the meeting and proceed to voting for first and second vice president thank you Mr Moody I have very brief words um before we proceed I want to thank you uh to my board colleagues for voting me as this year's president it's an honor to serve you our district in this amazing School Community when I decided to run for the Board of Education in 2022 I was inspired by the opportunity to join a group of volunteers who are passionate about education I aspire to contribute to the collective effort to help our school district Thrive but this isn't just about about me it's about all of us as a team I want to shout out this amazing group of board members who are going to continue to be a great support system for our superintendent and the district we are strong and I want to remind the community why an ABC order of first name so Bill our Soma historian who was born and raised here and ran for the bue as a high school senior at CHS before we were running mates We Were Strangers who unknowingly chose to run with a shared Vision your expertise in renewable energy and construction is invaluable and I know I know it will positively impact our oversight in fft and the long range facility plan bimel your optim your optimism and drive as an entrepreneur and Communications professional are great additions to the board you've already contributed to your community positively through volunteerism and sports and being vocal about the importance of the Arts being on the board is a natural progression in your advocacy for children dear drug when I read your professional title I knew you were destined for the board I quote assistant director at the US government accountability office a nonpartisan Congressional agency that makes fact-based policy recommendations policy work is one of our most important jobs you will keep us accountable and I can't wait to see you in action Elizabeth AKA Liz I never thought I would meet another person who loves thorough note taking as much as I do but seriously your background in Social and Behavioral Science plus social emotional learning has great greatly contributed to your work as a special services committee chair and it deserves praise your efforts exemplify your passion for helping students next is our data Wiz and FactFinder Jeff as the 2023 fft chair I quickly realized that I was going to be getting many long form emails about Transportation data from you I look forward to having your analytical brain power contribute to our efforts this year Regina what would we do without your eagle eyes and ability to keep track of all the things you are a hard worker who deserves deserves public praise from being a great leader on personnel as chair to consistently being a busy worker be behind the scenes you do a great job tracking progress on our goals and holding us all accountable Shaina you drump you jumped right into the cni chair role effortlessly and have done a wonderful job I love how you pair your experience as a former District teacher with the oversight role of a board member always contributing curiosity and insight balanced with camaraderie and last but not least will who many did not doubt would one day get on the board with his ongoing Presence at all the meetings you kept the policies rolling as policy chair and added more communication measures to further explain State mandated changes to fellow Boe members your background in law and special education bring great insight into much of our work thank you and keep it up again thank you all it is going to be a productive year and I look forward to working with all of you to get the work done okay so now I will read the president's statement right that I feel like we all could like memorize um the school board meeting is a business meeting in public and not a meeting with the public oftentimes it may appear to members of our audience that the Board of Education takes action with very little comment and in many cases a unanimous vote before a matter is placed on the the agenda at a public meeting the Administration has thoroughly reviewed the matter with the superintendent of schools that the superintendent of schools is satisfied that the matter is ready to be presented to the Board of Education it is then referred to the appropriate board committee the members of the board committee work with the administration and the superintendent to to assure that members fully understand the matter after the committee discusses the matter it is then shared with other board members for consideration only then is it placed on the agenda for a board discussion and action at a public meeting next would be hearing of individuals if we have any actually oh sorry sorry I totally forgot about the other nominations yes yes yes yes so next we have VP nomination yes first VP do we have a nomination I'd like to nominate board member will Meyer for first vice president any other nominations last call for nominations all right uh with that I will call a full roll call Board member sacket Gable yes board member Meyer yes board member Kapaa yes board member gford yes board member eert sorry yes board member Duval Wilson still on yes board member Callahan yes board member Brown yes and board member Bennett yes motion carries 9 to zero congratulations we have a new newly elected first vice president okay next is nomination for second VP um I uh nominate board member eer for for that any other nominations last call for nominations all right we'll take a full vote on uh board member eert for second vice president board member Bennett yes board member Brown yes board member Callahan yes board President dval Wilson yes board member eert yes board M gford yes board member Kapaa yes board member first vice president Meyer yes board member sacket Gable yes all right the motion carries 9 to zero congratulations and now to the hearing of okay I will skip the board president statement again and then the next thing would be hearing of individual delegates do we have um there's none online okay great okay so let me read this okay so thank you for coming in person and dialing in by phone although there aren't any right now this evening the South Orange Maplewood Board of Education certainly respects that you've taken the time out of your busy day to address the board at tonight's meeting we value public involvement in our school district and we are eager to hear what you have to say the board does have time limits by policy and it will be enforced and it will be enforcing those to enable as many people to speak as possible this evening each individual will be given three minutes to speak please do your best to stay within the time afforded to you the first public comment period is usually limited to 1 hour and the second public comment period may be limited to 30 minutes all input shared with the board of education is taken very seriously and will inform future deliberations and work by the Board of Education and its committees okay so we have one signed up and it is Miss Rosio Lopez thank you hello Rosio Lopez author in uh Maplewood resident um Columbia High School teacher and sua president and I I am here today to congratulate the new members of the board um Jeff congratulations drra and beo uh it's nice to see you guys here H you run a very strong campaign and I suppose you got what you deserve so congratulations and we hope that you work you know closely with everyone in the district and you help us as much as we can to do South AR chable the best District that we can again so thank you so much to the rest of the board members this is not our first Ro sha how are you will Bill Regina uh Nia congratulations in your presidency uh Le by the way I love your haircut I had to say it um I just wanted to wish you all happy New Year and you know I wouldn't be me if I wouldn't say this but I just want to remind you that around 750 people that works for you they don't have a contract and it's a little bit overdue so I hope uh that this board takes very seriously trying to get together and make it happen so we can all move forward and finally be happy and work in the district that we deserve with the pay that we deserve I think we are the only people in South orangen Maple around 200 of us that didn't get races for a year and a half so we will appreciate if we sit down at the table you know hopefully and we get it done and look I'm smiling don't ask me why every year I'm like a little kid it's like a new school year so every Bo is a new opportunity so I hope we can make it happen and thank you so much for all the work that you put thank [Applause] you do you want to move on the action items can I have a motion to approve the action items so motion to go to the action portion of the meeting for 4709 and 4710 um motion to have discussion yeah do we have second Okay g thank you board member eer okay so we'll do a uh full roll call to approve the action items um uh Mr Moody first we should have discussion sure yeah um is there any discussion of those action items so one thing I want to um share for our new board members just a reminder that 4709 um are appointments with the district to handle specific tasks for and some are that the superintendent has to appoint for for our policies and some are administrative um and such as paying bills um from our board secretary Mr Moody and our assistant board secretary Andrew Zaba and then also reopt our code of ethics bylaws and policies um I do want to shout out um the teamwork for the liaison chart um that you're being presented with with today Regina will and I worked together we surveyed the board um to receive feedback um and some things are a little different this year so for example we have abolished the data committee it was very much needed in the past the district didn't have a lot of processes in place to track data to receive data but we're in a very different position now um and the district has purchased data software we have dashboards to support numerous Data Tracking um initiatives and evaluations and we've been communicating and talking about the those data points in committees already and so that will continue in the new year and then also our ruter implementation committee meeting will not be a committee of the whole it will be um a smaller a smaller committee and thank you for everyone's feedback on these on these changes um so like I said we'll have a smaller committee it will enable more frequent conversations with SLT and then we will still have full board presentations um to continue to give comprehensive updates to the public as well as the full board thank you deerra for stepping up to to chair that committee and I also want to highlight that um I was very intentional and um about trying to maintain chairs um for our standing committees um and that would be personel policy special services and cni I wanted to I think it's important to have some continuity for SLT for our superintendent and the chairs have been doing a great job and so let's keep it going and thank you for those who have also stepped up from the new class and Bill um for chairing um the other committees that's it any further discussion sever please old s okay so I'll move forward with the roll call vote board member Saka Gable yes board member Meyer yes board member Kapaa yes board member gford yes board member eert yes board member board President dval Wilson yes board member Callahan yes board member Brown yes board member Bennett yes okay 90 motion carries okay well per our agenda we're supposed to have a second hearing of individuals but we don't have any so um so then I would like to make a motion to close the meeting okay thank you board member U board member Callahan for seconding okay um so then I will make the following motion about our future meetings the Board of Education will meet in public session on Thursday January 30th 2025 at 6:30 p.m. in the district meeting room 525 Academy Street Maplewood New Jersey immediately following the opening of the public session the board will move to go into a closed session in the superintendent's office as well as is using an online video conference platform to discuss Personnel Personnel matters within the attorney client privilege legal negotiations and other matters that may arise and require discussion to be announced at a later date immediately following the Clos session the Board of Education will meet in public session estimated to be at 7:30 p.m. in the district meeting room in person utilizing online video conference platform which will include hearing of individuals the community can view the meeting by the following steps which will be listed on the agenda may I have a second thank you board member Callahan all in favor great Mr Moody I would now like to make a motion to adjourn this meeting on Thursday January 2nd at 7:08 p.m. okay meeting adjourned those is the earliest me you've ever had I thought you had already given me the motion in second eard seconded that so we use fine actually yes yourself and calan gotcha okay great all right meeting a Jour thank you everyone