##VIDEO ID:Q3x7f_XM_X8## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay okay we're going to call the meeting the work session meeting of November 14th work session to order I have a roll call please miss Ahern Miss here Mr saglia Mr cantino here Mr Krauss here miss pet here Dr Ross here Mr Sweeney here Mr Zimmerman here we have a quorum okay is recommended that the board enter into close session for the purposes of discussing legal personnel and student matters may have a motion please so move move by Mr cantino second second by Mr Zimmerman all in favor okay we are Clos session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e call recommend that the board return to a public session may I have a motion please so move move by Mr Kraft second second by Miss pellet all in favor we are in open and Mr slam may have a roll call please miss Ahern Miss Brock here Mr samaga here Mr cantino here Mr Krauss here miss pallet here Dr Ross here Mr Sweeny here Mr Zimmerman he is here he'll be here shortly we have a okay uh sorry yes we have a quum and please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America and to the for stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you Mr slam a reading of the meeting notices please the New Jersey open public meetings law was kn to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the ACT Vernon Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published an adequate notice has been provided and notice this meeting has been properly posted in accordance to the New Jersey open public meeting law uh just a quick note the next public board meeting is next Thursday November 21st 2024 thank you now uh this is a very important matter item d uh uh Mr Rogers do you want to take over here yes we're gonna have uh Mr gag officer we're going to do a lottery draw for the spots at our preschool uh we have quite a few spots uh he's GNA take a random generator on the computer with a Tim stamp hit a number all the preschool students have assigned a certain number so when he when he randomly generates us shortly it'll be the list of the order in which people will be called for preschool tomorrow we will reach out to every single one on the list and have a conversation with them that do you have anything to add Mr gag asro uh no so right now what we're going to do is we're putting it up on the screen that way everyone can see what's happening uh we'll record uh the list and ranking of numbers I'll read them all out loud as well so that we have the rank that way and then I will save it as a PDF and it will be posted on vtsd.com so that everyone can reference it over the next week or so uh once we pick our numbers and we call everyone tomorrow who made it uh into all the spots they'll have one week uh so by the 22nd to decide yes we'll accept the seat or no we'd rather not accept it if anyone declines we will go to the next person on the waiting list so everyone who registered will be assigned a rank that way we can go down through the waiting list um how many people did we get how many applicants right now we have a 129 and we have how many seats 100 so are you is the thing going randomiz are going to show the numbers right now show it will show the numbers uh but we have well over 200 numbers because again students who uh families that qualified for free and reduced lunch got four numbers each to give priority uh per the state so you'll see that it's well over 200 uh so tomorrow one of the things we're going to do also is go through the list and any duplicate numbers that are assigned to the same family will remove and call the next person on the list so you know if you see that you're beyond the 100 Mark don't be discouraged there are probably duplicate numbers there so we will definitely call everyone either way tomorrow and let them know whether they got in or not made 216 numbers in the generator all 216 are here all right now we'll print this form we have a hard copy what PF and I'll Now read out the order of the numbers 33 114 42 12 57 210 163 85 202 15 47 180 55 158 135 205 104 49 1 8 165 143 2 187 179 146 67 128 127 91 97 154 99 36 215 73 10099 75 60 22 140 120 58 177 115 205 167 71 45 23 16 48 166 118 31 185 21 107 182 93 125 80 207 39 151 54 65 98 103 94 32 61 108 148 116 19636 37 17 56 206 44 129 14 113 83 82 191 77 112 212 14738 193 72 62 188 7 110 79 192 69 38 139 181 190 168 126 153 11 160 172 one uh 76 27 209 78 144 105 66 92 152 41 43 208 198 101 204 40 130 29 95 6 200 70 159 195 9 41 13 194 132 213 133 53 18 156 88 81 145 86 111 90 203 35 164 4 161 96 28 51 122 175 211 52 34 46 24 84 183 173 25 24 26 162 123 197 150 102 117 119 87 106 189 184 171 170 169 50 89 68 216 142 2 3 64 157 109 59 5 134 74 63 10 19 124 121 186 17449 137 201 30 131 178 176 so again uh there are duplicate numbers in there for families so tomorrow we will remove all those duplicates and contact each family regardless to let them know if they got in or not and uh this people who did get in and were offered a seat will have one week from tomorrow the 22nd to affirm that yes we actually want the seat or uh if they do not anything else no we will be posting this on the website as well for reference for everyone it'll be a lot longer for them to make those phone calls tomorrow than it was for them to read out those numbers today be patient but he he they willon reach out to everyone well I think Yolanda Vega's position is safe but thank you very much vny thank you um moving on to item D public comment and open the meeting for a public comment any uh items on the agenda please identify yourself and please uh State what the municipality you reside and the meeting is open to the public you'll have five minutes nobody in public anybody online don't raise hands online okay so then move on to item f riew a public meeting agenda everybody has the public meeting agenda for next week any comments or questions about it one of the things that I mentioned I think at the one of the board meetings is where it has board report summary which is item Jay on the draft if we don't have a uh a meeting on the from the previous board meeting we should just not even include like for example did we have an absenteeism ad hoc committee meeting there is one coming up yeah oh okay yeah when was the last cell phone ad hoc committee meeting are we having one so we we don't have to put that on there there's no partnership meeting till February so we we don't have to have that on there so we'll pick a few of those off um Charles did you say something about a curriculum policy um for for the meeting next week there is on agenda 511 policy 5111 yes uh we didn't discuss in our last meeting so I'm open if it's something urgent we could have a policy committee meeting fire to uh may we can get everybody together on next Monday or something talk about that one policy or I would say maybe postpone it to the following Workshop is there something changing on it do you Russ or R yeah I I have time to look at it myself either what was it number five 5111 it's it's item h on the uh draft give tomorrow we'll I'll follow up with that okay I if something minor maybe we'll just I know it says M afterwards so it says it's mandatory but yeah I know that that's yeah okay anybody have anything else on the nobody okay Mr Rogers item f g uh information and discussion items I'm going to uh moving forward from the last meeting I'm going to discuss old business I wanted to be as clear as possible a clip of me from the um October 28th board meeting is circulating around social media and I'd like to clarify the clip shared shown only a small portion of my response I was simply repeating what the original question was a member of the public asked several question questions at the um October 18th board meeting they asked how will questions be answered will this be a forever policy even though the board did not vote on this does that mean you will never answer questions from any of the public I answered that board meetings would be run according to Robert's Rules and that these were the answers to the questions instead of restating the full question does that mean you will never answer questions from any member of the public I summarize the question as we will never answer questions from every member of the public question mark again to clarify we will answer questions from the public as appropriate following Roberts rules as I did on October 28th so if I could put my two cents in we I went to the school board's convention in the end of October and there were a lot of seminars about you know meetings in public and public comment and so forth and the discussion was that you should not be answering questions you know in public from the B I mean you can but if the public has questions it's best to go back research them provide the proper answer the full answer not off the cuff so that's our intention is to give the the right answer with a little bit of research and soon as if a question is asked at a meeting we will not give the an answer that at that meeting at the next meeting will give the answer fully uh researched and responded to appropriately that's our intention I mean there can be some back and forth It's not recommended by by all the Schoolboard experts yeah so um that's that okay anybody have any comment about that so we're making sure every time we receive a question it will be answered we just always want to make sure appropriate questions appropriate questions are answered but we always want to make sure that the information we're providing is accurate and it's coming from a reliable source and we're thinking before we speak we are the reliable source it's coming from us of course it's reliable no we're trying to get the best answer but obviously we care about questions from the public we just always want to make sure that what we are giving out is thought about before we say it you know right I just Joe I just think Charles um that we just have to be careful what we doing and be consistent because I feel like even know we have good intentions sometimes we know the answer right away it's a very easy question we can give the answer it it gives the impression that we're not answering some question so if we're going to do this I think we really have to try our hardest not to answer um almost all questions until the following right yeah it's really hard it answer the ones you know and but then it looks bad when you can't answer all of them so that's why we just don't answer any of them right is that that's the the guidance the intent that's the intent guidance of the Nutri school boards but it is hard I think that's what you guys I'm sorry no no no you still have the floor and and I think that's what you guys have been do trying to do at least with the old business right we I don't know if you call it that but I think Russ or you have been trying to answer those questions well that's the thing when the when we have the next meeting and there are answers to the questions that we have to we give we're going to give it under old business Carolyn Dr Russ Russ you said appropriate questions can you just clarify what you mean by appropriate questions there's certain things legally we can't answer Personnel um student student matter student matters Personnel so so I I just don't want we can't answer all questions legally we're we're we're required not to answer certain questions to protect uh students in the district or just anything that would have to remain confidential right and obviously if anyone go ahead trying to make it an orderly meeting yes I'm sorry oh we're practicing the Roberts rules thing we're doing it we're trying I'm trying I'm sorry no it's okay my apologies um obviously if someone submits a question through email they will always get a response right that never CH has never changed really emails are online anybody has a question they can email the superintendent business administrator anybody body and we'll see what we can do to get the answers to the questions thank you Carl anybody else okay Russ sorry to interrupt g1b harassment intimidation and bullying random drug testing the school safety reports are an attachment ws1 g1c the enrollment report attachment WS2 and G1 d uh we it was asked to discuss policy 01 67 public participation board meetings I asked Russ to put this on the agenda because it was asked of me to put it on the agenda so this is the uh policy does everybody have a copy of it yeah it's at the back of the agenda it's I think it's in our good yeah and it's public participation in board meetings and this agend this uh this policy was last revised September of 21 and at that time um the the third paragraph down it says members of the public may not May participate in public participation portion of the meeting electronically being via zoom and that's and the the intention is to remove or to add members of the public may not participate in the public participation portion of the meeting electronically via Zoom that's the change and I'm adamantly against that change do you have the floor J I'm so sorry yeah M pet I'm adamantly against that change I I really I've said it before and I'll just keep saying it I think we want members of the public to participate I think we want to engage with the public I think we want to make it easy for the public to engage with us and um and I think also when you're a school district in particular you have families with young children who may or may not struggle to get here who may have one parent at home with the kids and unable to come to a meeting and so you're just cutting off that person's ability to speak to us and for us to have their engagement in our meetings so for all of those reasons I think that we should um maintain it um so somebody else want to Mr Krauss I think this was something that we we extended to the public during covid we never had that before for and to to get back to you what you what you just said is that anybody can ask and if they have a comment they can email us you know anytime there are very few Boards of Education if any left that do online public commenting I think it it it takes away from it and we still are going to record the meetings people can watch the meetings but if they want to make public comment I believe that they should be here and come here and face us face to face to make the comments we have to wait till other people Jen Charles um well first I think I would would like maybe we take this back to the committee to talk about too but besides that we're talking it's on the table right now and we can talk about it I would like to say um you know I I think a democracy thrives when you can when the the population can participate the more often and at times I feel like as a school district or government agencies we don't always keep up with the times there was no media before to participate via Zoom or or electronically you can call up but we all know how conference calls work with with phone calls we're all old enough to know that right and um so this is new and we need to come up with times catch up to what's happening out there I think like Jen's bringing up a good point I see I see your point too John but I I think I like Jen's point where we can reach out to the more people it's hard enough that we don't have have a huge audience here and it's hard enough I'm looking at the zoom here we have one person but if we take that away now we we're down one person and normally I would say there's about four or five people so we take four or five that's half of our popul half of our audience is watching and could participate and I think that's very important that we let them have that right and that freedom to do it and I think it just makes us better I think we do need to look at the policy though and if if we're going to accommodate more people we have to you know maybe five minutes is not good enough or maybe cut it down or maybe we limit how how long you can you can't come up again or and and just make sure that's in there so everyone has a a point because I've seen in meetings we've had where few people have dominated not recently but like in past years where they have dominated in almost a half an hour goes by and people have actually left so those voices weren't heard so we have to manage it a little better and I I think we just look look at what we're looking at and and fix that but I think we have to still leave it open for the everyone to participate in the part of it thank you Charles Carl personally after knowing that the Town Council removed this option I believe it was last year right there's no Zoom public participation October or I mean uh in the summertime I think yeah in the summer and I know that high point was the last District other than us that was still allowing Zoom public participation um can some that's correct the only District in the state no the only District area County and I know that a lot of districts outside of susex County are allowing Zoom viewership which we have always had since I believe 2015 we've been live streaming our meetings and personally what I've noticed is when we have a really big issue like when we had the revised budget or the budget that we did the second meeting I was here there was a news team here and there was the whole audience was full people come out when they want to speak whether it be on Zoom or in person and I feel that a lot of districts have moved away from Zoom public comment because the comment gets so long and it becomes so hard to control and also we are living in an ERA with artificial intelligence where anyone can be anyone they want online and a lot of people speak and we don't see their face and I don't think it's correct to ask them to show their face if they're going to speak on Zoom but we have no way of verifying that these people actually are who they're saying they are we can't ask people to show ID before they give public comment and I know that technically anyone can come to a meeting and speak but you do have to state your name and you are there in person there's validity to the person speaking I feel a lot of districts have moved away from this in the past few years we're one of the few in Sussex County if not the last that still does it my gut tells me to move away from it because I've noticed fewer people are using it and when people want to speak they come to the meeting in person also if you have a question if you want to ask a question you can always email the district there's so many ways to reach the district and get an answer to your question without coming to a meeting and speaking and I feel in the modern era it's more easy than ever to speak with your school board to speak with the administration of your district and I think that the zoom has served its purpose that's my opinion on it right that's that's what we're here to discuss anybody else have okay I would just like to say about it I do hear people can't get here or it's Troublesome but I've been in Veron since 20 or4 all year round Vernon has never been shy about tur out for an issue you know Maple gra Park Town Hall was mobbed we've seen it here I only came up here a few times as a coach of the hockey team but a couple times there was an issue totally opposite of hockey and the place was mobbed you know to me Vernon nights come out when they want to come out they come here to speak their minds they're not a shy group of people in general and you know the online I don't see that online I think some degree people stay home and don't come and for me personally somebody here talking about something means a lot more to me than something online because that to me just by showing up means they care more about whatever the topic is that's on their mind so I think you know we might get some more compet participation online but it means more to me people that show up because they really care about what they're talking about and to me the argument people can't come I've seen Veron many times in my 20s something years here turn out all sorts of things snow removal on a sidewalk Maple gra Park budgets they come out so I do not believe that people don't come out you know because of the zoom or no Zoom so that's my feeling thank you Jen so um what I was told is the reason that the districts that uh removed the zoom got rid of the zoom wasn't was purely Financial there was a cost invol and so as soon as you know the the pressing need went away they didn't want to pay the extra cost but I don't think our since we're zooming anyway I don't know that that's in a major savings for us it's not a savings it's not a savings for us so we don't have that reason that a lot of districts cut it for that cost reason I disagree completely with this burnning people come out yeah they do come out you know you're when you have a lay bus went away FR got it room filled up right but I I was a parent of young children who husband traveled for work it was it would have been fabulous for me to be able to zoom into meetings because I I couldn't there was no other way there was no way I would have been able to go and so I think back to that time of my life when I had small children at home and my husband was in Omaha like once a month for a week um I just wouldn't have been able to participate and I don't see a downside to allowing people to participate and frankly guys the downside that I've been told was that one person was you know too difficult to deal with and I don't think think you take something away from the entire town because you don't want to deal with one person also at that time we were not following the proper protocol for the meeting so we were allowing people to go on and on and on and I think before you decide that something's a problem you implement the fixes that we've implemented uh you do the time limits you do the you know the directing people to speak to the president um uh you know all the things that we're putting in place now and then you see if you still have a problem and then if you have a problem and there is a real upside to taking something away from the entire public uh uh you know of Vernon then maybe you consider doing it but to do it for no real reason other than you think people will still come out you think people can come out there are disabled people there are people with one car that they're sharing there are people with small children who need to be you know fed and put to bed so I I just I don't buy it I think it's a cop out and I think it's cowardly frankly John I don't think it's cowardly in the least everybody still has the opportunity to watch the meetings and comment on the meetings through an email it's not some you know I oh I have a question about that let me get to the superintendent it'll take him five seconds and it goes right to so I don't see I don't see I don't see it it's being cowardly either I think that's not a nice thing to say Charles I I I I still agree with what John saying and and and and I'll give you two examples um I I work it um my customers most most of them are in Florida I got some in Carolina I have some dtas all over the country um I could not do my job not because I don't want to participate in those meetings I definitely want to participate in a meeting but I can't do my job flying to Florida I can't do my job flying to Maryland every single day I don't even have enough time plus the funds to do that right and so there are reasons and a good another example is you know where you it's you know the opportunity to make participate in something that's very important to the district to this the community um it should be open to everyone regardless if they can drive or they can't drive um I I see there's um we we part some we have our meetings sometimes in committees I know all my committee meetings are are be um Google meets um I wouldn't be able to participate and do my job um if sometimes we didn't have it I have soccer I have pick up my kids from the high school I have and I have to make dinner my wife sometime my wife works in education as well so has her meetings sometimes the same days we have committee meetings I would not be able to somebody has to be home with the kids um so I feel and I understand that there are parents out there at home besides the ones that can't drive or can't make it because of what whatever the conditions are you have those who want to make it but they don't have the luxury of being able to leave the house they have to put food on the table and and if you write an email to the superintendent yes that's good and I know Russ is pretty good pretty good with the uh I'm not going to spend for administration but I I think they're pretty good at answering getting back to everyone with an email and it's nice but there's a difference when you bring it up in in the meeting and that's why we have a public section comment section because when you present something to a whole board it gives people time to think about it and you know what we don't always have to make take action on it but sometimes we may think well you know what we have our our our board participation at the end right I think it's stag staggered there or put there on purpose so we can say you know that that brings up a good point what happened with this can we can we address that issue maybe we don't have the answer here at the table Hey Russ can you would you do us a favor and look into that Russ can how how can we be more organized whatever the reason is but that it's different when that's send only to us or only to you Joe or only to me when they're able to participate and tell the whole board and the board can maybe take an action on it afterwards and you're taken that away by saying you're at home can't do it Carl I'm sorry wait did I anybody have any other comments because Carl has already said okay okay sorry I can I I appreciate listening to all of you I do think this is one of those issues where reasonable people can disagree about how to approach it and I think that's what's happening here um I am genuinely super conflicted about this Charles your point about democracy thriving um I is like my go-to I think that that's 100% accurate the thing that I I don't think online engagement is always like our healthiest form of democracy engagement um and that's one of the things I wonder about like is there a cost I don't know if there's a cost to like the health of the type of Engagement and the type of discussion that we end up having and what what topics we end up taking up with giving more time to all that stuff there might be a cost there that's sort of invisible but it's compelling to me to sort of air on the side of caution to increase access to people and to take sort of the stance that we would never want to limit access and so if we're afraid of that being the outcome to sort of air on the side of caution that way but I I do I am conflicted the same that's I've been sitting here listening to everybody else speak because what Jen said kind of hits home I'm also a mother um my husband is not always home in the evening so if I was not here and he was not at home like would I have access would I have an opportunity to speak and to be heard and what Charles was saying as well about the interaction action that this the zoom opens you up to you have the attention of the full board and we can sit back and have a reasonable discussion even if we do disagree on points we can all have input into that discussion whereas if we do limit access to Simply emailing the superintendent there is no benefit of all the minds coming together to view different points of and and and to really have a discussion so that being said I I do understand as well what you just brought up um in the other concerns with technology AI whether or not it is completely healthy to indic you know open that up and have folks who are going to sometimes sit at home and maybe say things that they wouldn't normally say because they are behind a screen where do we get into what Carl was bringing up can we force somebody to put a camera on um I just did all my classes for my graduate degree via zoom and the school could not make you turn your camera on and for good reason right you don't need to invade people's personal space but I'll be very ver ifying identity how do we know who we're speaking to those are legitimate concerns um so as Carolyn said I think conflicted is the best way that I can say that I'm describing it right now um I think it's a discussion maybe we could either continue to have or maybe bring into policy um I'm not really sure where to go from here but yes I'm I I think all the points are well taken but I am also kind of conflicted about what's the best force of action so that was one of the items that I discussed with people at school boards and they they were uh concerned about the future of AI who knows how it's going to go but it's a concern I believe the Town Council also mentioned that in their uh decisionmaking process so we can we can move on we can put send it to the committee to Hash it out U obviously we are not of one mind um what do you want to do put it to a vote put it to a no policy committee can uh I think you should go to the policy committee for don't we have to is it is it on a table do we have to there's nothing okay yeah are each side of the issue let's say represented in the committee that would be my only concern the Committees not all one because these guys and then us so yeah so thank you for being open and Frank about it uh appreciate it appreciate everybody's honesty and their opinions and there everybody's opinion is worth it no matter how wrong that you guys are all let's move on G2 recommendations it is recommended that the board approve permitting the following student to attend Veron Township Public Schools according to Board of Education policy 5111 student child of employee in the district be permitted to attend Len meow middle school as an eighth grader for the remainder of the 2024 25 school year effective the soon as possible B it is recommended that the following job description be approved director of curriculum and instruction residency uh may I have this in form of a motion please so so move move by Mr Krauss second by Miss pellet discussion very long job description particularly like this last other duties that may be assigned nothing all right roll call please Mr slam Miss Brock yes Mr smaga yes Mr cantino yes Mr Krauss yes Miss pellet yes Dr Ross yes Mr Sweeney yes Mr zimin yes motion carries slam I just have a informational item tonight uh if you look at the attachments you'll see the initial budget calendar uh one thing I want to knowe is you'll see uh certain dates a to be determined um so those are not yet known based off of things like uh the the New Year election calendar for the new year uh so there's going to have dates that will dictate what those dates on our budget calendar will be um and then also one of the other big variables is always when the governor's speech will be because that dictates when State dat information will be released to the public um so wanted to share that so people have a general kind of outline of um how we be proceeding with the budget just as we very similar to how we did last year um knowing that dates will be filled in as some of those um documents and information become available to us and then item two oh just one other item I want to mention so uh we will be having our audit presentation at the uh the next uh board meeting uh Thursday U Mr sarin our auditor will be coming in for that uh number two recommendations it is recommended that the board approve the preschool education program contract Discovery years for the 2024 2025 school year and that's attachment ws4 um may I have a motion please miss pellet seconded by Miss Brock um questions comments just Russ I just wanted to Jo can I question yes um Discovery years uh I just want I think we talked about this over again I just want to make sure clear the even though it's an outside agents school that will be hosting preschool for us they it's still under the guidance of our principal and our Administration what they do with that that's correct uh they have to follow um our curriculum uh our school hours our school days um and they do fall under um you basically the the principal of the preschool program that will also be providing them assistance with um the required preschool instructional coaches as well so that we other supports would providing them along the way and there's just there no sorry that's okay John had his hand up but you go ahead Miss pellet oh sorry John um I was just going to ask do they have certificate like is there a person needing the same certification PRS that we would have for our people uh yes that's one of the requirements of the preschool program uh they'll have to have the same certifications the kuss transportation to and from there is going to be like the same here now is there transportation for the after school program if they so choose to do or do parents have to pick them up by after school do you mean after care yeah the after care thing I think that the P was do or something uh so the parents would have to pick up for for after care so we would just do two and from school uh during Norm normal school hours okay Miss Brock uh in the event that there's a conflict between say sick policies at the daycare versus sick policies at the school district which prevails uh so they would have to follow District policies um yeah so they have to follow District policies I guess no days just thinking that followup question if there is an accident or an injury that requires medical assistance very nurse like how I feel like somebody might have mentioned this before um so uh for the preschool program there is a requirement for a nurse so that's one of the positions we be providing to them as support so the nurse would respond to the location like she would be at the preschool and then if something happened at Discovery year she would mobilize and go to the preschool or I I think it would depend on the situation right because I don't depending on the situation you want to necessar want to wait right you know you want to get attention there as quickly as possible so I'm just thinking I mean out of school a long time but I'm just thinking you have a kid that vomits let's say needs to go to the nurse and the parent needs to be called what would happen if it's not our if it's in the satellite location it's the daycare who's where they get sent to wait for the parents to come pick them up right that's a good question I haven't thought that far into it yet um but we that's that's something that we'll discuss I would I would think it would be the school nurse but we have to discuss it just just to be sure because I know there's a the requirement is a certain number of students you require I think a school nurse for a certain number of students and then want you go p that number which I don't know off the top of my head you then need to hire additional nurse miss pet oh I'm just confused to do so is there a nurse a designated nurse for the preschool like they all the time yes that's the same question yeah but they don't have that at Discovery they'll be sharing that person sort of is that what you're saying yeah it's one of the supports that we be providing and they'll be doing the screenings that are required as well and we've already got that those we've got that nurse already or are we hiring oh we already have that nurse okay so so that's someone that um for example their salary was budgeted but now it'll be covered by by pre preschool where was that person before were they already preschool okay Charles I'm just so if if discovery years has their own policy for how they handle a situation when the like you said the kid vomits or has maybe has a temperature or and it and it's different than ours for the school district what what prevails how how do my thinking I I don't know all right but they they are under our pea so if the children are in that class here think we're we're gonna call in the uh the expert I'm the numbers guy so we're gonna call the paa other side of the house expert we'll take answers instead of numbers right now Vinnie fail they go uh based on our policies for that District classroom so if they have you know say four classrooms there one is District that District classroom falls under our policies the other three are under whatever their policies are yeah so if a student got sick say they you know which unfortunately lately I'm a little too close to that with you you know the student would go you know to the area that they have because you know this happens at all daycare so they most likely go to their office and the parent would be called to pick them up if it's something serious you know they would call 911 you know if it was a significant emergency if it was something where a child got hurt and they're not sure then you know you look into seeing if our nurse go over and just check on the student and you know one of those in between injuries where you're not sure you know thank you thank you problem okay anything else roll call please Mr smaga yes Mr cantino yes Mr Krauss yes Miss pellet Dr Ross yes Mr Sweeney yes Mr Zimmerman yes Miss Brock yes motion carries than and thank you uh board members I'm trying to control making Robert's Rules so I'm not mad at anybody it's we're all learning this so thank you for being understanding about being rude okay item I public comment anybody in the public would like to comment please identify yourself and the municipality in which you resign have five minutes good evening PR I live in Highland Lakes I have two children in the buron school system uh I just wanted to weigh in on the zoom issue and U you know listening to what everybody was saying the first thing I want to say is what other towns are doing shouldn't affect how we do it at all we shouldn't be judging ourselves on other towns it should be what we do as far as um the zoom comment itself I think I mentioned this at a meeting I actually put up a poll on a couple of the Facebook pages it was either 92 or 94% of the people who responded it was it was like 120 people responded were against ending Zoom participation so you need to take the public uh into account now one thing that people mentioned and I put the poll on a couple of opposing Facebook sites you guys know what I'm talking about in the comments people on both sides kept saying the same thing it's all about one person all right I heard it here one of you said it just to understand the framers of the Constitution didn't put the first amendment in place to protect the majority they didn't put the first amendment in place to protect a vocal minority they put the first amendment in place to protect that one person to protect the person whose voice we least want to hear to protect the person with the most unpopular views to protect the person who might even say things that people find offensive right you're protecting that person they have an equal right to speak so if you're doing this for one person if you're afraid of one person's comments this is all wrong all right we need to protect those minority voices right that's what the first amendment is all about as far as this thought about emailing I have emailed the entire board on one occasion it was about two years ago I wanted to know why what the rules are regarding delayed openings out of the nine board members only one miss pellet answered me all right so so don't talk about you have email as an option when in my experience it hasn't worked right as far as Robert rules one of the things that Robert's Rules says is that it gives citizens a voice in the proceedings of their governing body right you're taking that voice away it was mentioned here that we have people who can't make these meetings for various reasons senior citizens are taxpayers they have a right to participate all right people with disabilities people with small children we heard all the different reasons if there's a hundred people here and one person online that's reason to keep Zoom open and my last one AI are we having a problem with AI interfering with meetings I I think that one's uh a little fake but that's my piece thank you anybody else hello L I just have a question and forgive me if I came a little late though I may have missed it but when is this director of curriculum and instruction in new position completely a new position director of curriculum instruction the job posting that yeah sorry getting clarification I'm sorry I didn't hear what you said I trying to get clarification what on the agenda director of curriculum and instruction res on the agenda everyone voted for the director curriculum and instruction residency what's the question um it is a Russ would you like to answer this sorry no no it's all right I want to make sure that you get the correct answer it used to be the director of curriculum instruction principal W Ridge and it's changed to director of curriculum instruction class residency and it's had uh many different responsibilities added to it than it had before all right thank you well maybe if it's replacing a position description that exists right now so not getting someone new we're just just making some changes to what it that's not for you that I forgot to turn it off okay all right so okay thank you did you get your answer okay thank you jam Bon I just want to point out the the questional question thing is obviously G to be very very tough I understand why you answered it it was a simple easy one to answer we saw it but you just got to work on it because thank you you guys know how it'll go time agree with you you know maybe change it now so if it's something simple or it just has to be know Al together s for yourselves down the road well that's a good point I appreciate your comments also with the zoom thing personally again there is nobody on right so if it's important to people they'll come I work full-time my wife works all time two little kids somebody has something to say they'll be here they'll find a way I I agree I think people hide behind the computer whether it's social media or Zoom it just makes it too easy so somebody want to say something they'll be here thank you thank you nobody else in the public there is is it true that there's nobody online have zero attendees C how many are actually viewing 25 people but Zoom attendees would be if they wanted to participate right zero on Zoom thank you Angela all right we're going to close the meeting to the public and move on to item J open board member Forum anybody have items that they Jen Miss pellet please um so yeah I do think we need to be consistent with that question thing because we just said we weren't going to answer any questions and then we answered the question but okay so that's one thank you for pointing that out shortcoming it's okay it's just gonna make it harder later um and then the other thing I wanted to just say is that I think we're all aware that we're like most districts struggling with vaping in our schools um and so I just wanted to mention to the board that there the next I think Russ mentioned this earlier but the next um meeting of the Sussex County SBA executive committee is going to have a u discussion on The Vaping issue in our schools so that's Monday December 2nd that yeah me too and I just wanted to urge everyone to please come because we are really struggling um we have a lot of kids who are falling prey to this and if we can learn anything that might work that would be really helpful and I'd like all to be on board with whatever we and there's free food and it's at the seccc I was doing it online okay well if you wanted to go and no free food for me no free fooden snacks it's available onl it AV yes yeah which is great right yeah although I will tell you I attended one online and it was very spotty but maybe they've gotten better it was like the video kept going out it's not good you stu no that was all I have Charles I have some I have some since this is the workshop it's for us right right and I I thought that um couple of uh of all things technology things that we can do as a board um first because it's driving me nuts tonight is my Chromebook here is not I I know these are secondhand thirdhand probably somebody graduated 10 years ago got these but to be efficient at our job I think we we we should look in investing in something for for the board members not to keep but be controlled by the district um that we can easily yeah pass out and that you can easily scroll through things um I don't I I'm really it's I've been holding holding my tongue for a long time with these binders you guys do a great job putting the binders it's very appreciative because of what the tech technology that we're using but we can get rid of these binders we can have um like a tablet that we can scroll on goes back and forth between um PDFs and make it easier I couldn't even open a PDF here on Chrome which is I don't know why but it doesn't it's not working I ran out of room I couldn't download the agenda for next week not it's not it's not up to letting me do my job um that's something I think we should maybe think about for next year and you know just throwing us out there the next thing is um I would like to see if uh we can get Russ um his uh it Department to work with us I I I sort of had a discussion and um I think they're willing to help us but um supposedly we have a a board drive and but it's not really being utilized by any of us and and um I would like if we restructured it a board Drive going straight down and and we start keeping all our stuff there we so we start with the board up top everyone has read read access only then we have each committee folder in the committee folders you have whoever's in that committee has rewrite access so they can make comments do stuff and actually in policy Russ as one of the ones who started this we he would put the the the policies in there so we can make make comments on it but don't we have a Google driver I'm in it now I don't understand well no we we don't have a we have a it should be a Shar Drive where're was no no you have a Google Drive for yourself and then so I'll give an example there's somebody in the administrative office that shared their Google drive with me right to to to share the policy that's not the correct way to do it it should actually be a drive itself there a dedicated Drive inad of a Shar drive so when I leave or somebody in this group leaves all the information retains there it stays with the board not with the person Google Drives are personal I get it yeah so and then committees should be only committees to have rewrite and everyone else in the board could have Reed access so we can see what the other committees are looking at then we could also have another folder with meeting notes where and that sounds good curriculum in technology oh shoot yeah might be something all right John I think we would need the the you know if you work with the U the district I me the administration think they I think I'm pretty sure they're Administration do this and not me because I got to tell you it's going to be a very messy drive it's genda do it and I don't mind helping we could even invite someone to the uh policy committee meeting okay and we could have this discussion about how you want to set up policy meeting and I think we'll be able to transfer that over to the curriculum committee meeting okay that's good and then get the expert involved yes the last one is also I would like the I think we should rely on the expert that we we we employ here um and I'm ring myself at I wanted to be more organized with the policy committee I'm using software called Trello um I did run it by Russ um and I told him hey I'm GNA about an hour before the meeting yeah yeah I got mine yeah I open it up it was an hour before the meeting Charles right true I kind of Blindsided him and I and I threw it out there and and I gave him very Invitational oh just click here use your Google ID the login so he probably didn't even notice I could have been fishing and and then I I have old credentials at home but um no but real seriously um did I do the right thing I don't think I I personally as an IT person no I didn't do the right thing that's that's what they the shadowing right and and and uh I looked in our policies and I didn't I couldn't find something specific to them but this should be a District's policy because there's stuff for the staff there's stuff for everyone else but there's nothing guiding us we really should it should be controlled by whoever's in charge of the it in in the district should be the one saying yes you're allowed to use that or no you cannot use it I mean Russ you you're the supervisor you you control the district I would take you're okay too but I think it really you should hand it off your expert where they can say oh make sure I invite them to the next policy meeting Charles all right you very good point yeah last year I I wanted to send out a congratulatory or have a very happy New Year to the entire staff I'm not low so I'm just gonna right so I was able to get this Chromebook to work today mine so I'm not sure I certainly most of everything else you said went right up my head but you know like the binder but I guess if we have to move on we move on but I'd like to take notes not a bad idea yeah but do remember everything is over right and that's I'm I'm and part of it is I would love to use my own technology and I think some of us here would but I think you didn't know maybe we're afraid of something happening it's really not the right thing as an IT person is not the right thing for the the district should control right anything we use also everything here is orable so you brought your own technology here they could take anything it's your personal out of that Melissa yeah that's why I had my hand up was to agree with what you saying I find myself and I'm sure you do and some of us as well I have a binder open I usually have the Chromebook open today this I can't get to work I want to pull out my phone we attach things but not always all the attachments it's hundreds and hundreds of pages I need to see what's going on um so I'm down with keeping the binders if we want to keep doing it that way you want to use paper that's fantastic but I would be in full support of like put everything on a Google Drive I have to like I'm not I'm not at your level right but I'm also not computer illiterate and I have trouble constantly finding these policies finding this and that I shouldn't have trouble with that I know how to navigate like right technology but I am finding myself having a difficult time with that so I agree like maybe from somewhere in the top down we need to kind of restructure that to make everything accessible and like you said make it seamless so when new members come in and out we're going to have a couple new members coming in there there there's no learning C for me I'm still learning like how do I access this where do I find this I going have to spend any time doing that it should be a lot more seamless and we have the ability to do that so I'm 100% And support of that that's all I wanted to say about that um there are boards that have or full orientation you know packages and programs we we don't but maybe we should even you say full orientation packages binders okay you know when new new members come on here and then let's and they have like orientation meeting it's called onboarding right boards that's what they do too now we're like less binders we want I just heard I got the green link to do a budget orientation for everybody I've been waiting yes for months yeah it's been too long Dr Ross occasionally people do email the whole board with issues um and I never have felt that I could just respond is this a silly question what do what are we supposed to do if someone emails the whole board you can acknowledge that you reive received it but you're really not supposed to give an opinion I shouldn't speak for right but you can at least I always just say thank you for your you know something to say that I received it because otherwise it's just like emailing into a document so who is supposed to we are if we are saying someone can email the board with a question will they receive a response well maybe if you get the question I'm sorry we can just forward it over to to Joe and say can we get an answer to us so Joe can respond I usually just send it to this guy I but when I get that if I can respond I will respond I see I mean if it depends upon what the subject matter is if it's you know anything related to the operating schools I give it to Russ soon or personel matters I can't respond do we um Jen's point about uh acknowledging receipt is help is I was told Schoolboard that you can do that and then and you you know you could there are things that you actually are able to respond to if you so choose but you definitely clear to say I've you know I received your email I'm forwarding it to the superintendent trying to find an answer for you right yeah I mean it makes sense to me that you wouldn't we don't all just respond with our own little opinions about whatever the question is without talking discussing as a board but also it makes sense to me that people might wonder you know did anyone hear me is anyone I asked a question that kind of thing I know a lot of the questions could be operations based where they may have a question like an informational question or things like that and then would makees sense to direct them to theate administ the person in the administration that makes sense we get a million emails about the late bus like and I'm not a million but we got a lot of emails and I just you know wrote back to each person like thank you for you know sharing your concerns and I will forward this on to you know if they're usually copied anyway to Russ but if it's not that's I just feel like that's a Coury but yeah okay thank you that's helpful um from my understanding as board members we provide oversight but not Administration so we are volunteers we're not professionals whenever I get an email from the public usually I'm CCD on it and I know it went to the board president and the superintendent who from my understanding and from the training that I got the board president's the only person who can speak on behalf of the entire board right so it goes hand inand with how we have to conduct ourselves on social media where we are a part of anent larger than ourselves if we speak that could be taken as us speaking on behalf of the entire board which is incorrect none of us other than the president who we elect have the authority to do that when it comes to an email about day-to-day operations of the district in my head training I got the only person who should respond is the superintendent or maybe the board president so when I get emails from the public and I'm not cced on anything I respond and I say I'm happy to forward this to the super intendent and board president and obviously I share your concern but I don't want to misspeak and I don't want to say something out of line or give you an answer that later will be proven wrong down the line because again I'm a volunteer you know I we're providing oversight of administration it's not our responsibility and it's improper for us to speak as if we run the district and you never want to be in a position where you're doing that that's my two so that is true that you can't speak as if you're running the district or about operations but email communication is not any different from any other form of communication so if a person comes up to you at Acme and starts talking to you about something you can share things you know verbally and and the reason that people tell you to be careful with emails because it's written so it's permanent and so it's legally problematic if you misspeak whereas talking in act me is not as much so but but you know you should be able to engage with the public you can't speak for the board and you can't speak for R you know but but don't feel like you can't talk to people because you do want to hear your Public's concerns these people voted for you and they're your constituents so I I think it's you know it's just that you have to be very you know conscious of your role like Carl was saying you know you're not an administrator and you're you're not speaking for the full board when you're by yourself at ask writing at your I totally agree the I actually the reason I'm speaking about this is because I took a whole training session on this school boards convention it was very interesting um when you're speaking at acne when you're speaking with someone you know personally it's not considered public so what what you're saying it's it's you speaking as a private citizen as an individual if I'm talking to someone who I know at you know an event or at my in my backyard or I'm talking with my fiance or I'm talking with my mother it's not public but when you speak online when you put something in an email it's public so you could be interpreted as speaking for the whole board and I know most of us on this board in our first few years probably made a mistake or two like this but I took a whole training session on it because I want to make sure and it it's just if you respond to an email from the public obviously you want anyone reaching out to you to feel heard but if it's about day-to-day operations of the district I just don't think it's appropriate for one of us to respond should always go to the mouthpiece of the board the president or to the superintendent the person that we hire and oversee to administer the district that's just my two cents Charles I just wanted actually like the way you phrase that there because I'm sorry I had to read your name for a second but uh no but actually I think it's it's like letterhead we in the days right when we everybody if I wrote if somebody asked me a question and I took a piece of paper from the front office with the school leather head on it that actually now makes it official like it's coming from the school and it's the same thing car was saying is when you have an email that's a school email it's vtsd it's public that is the difference that was a good point anybody else anything Rogers I always speak kindly of all board members and their service to the district and I wanted to thank you for that we had an election process last week I thank everyone for the service that they've had for the district and for people for running for office uh and and serving on the board as well and I look forward to working for all people that volunteer their time and running for the Board of Education and I and I appreciate your service and I think when you uh when a lot of people get on here they they they get a bigger picture of everything that we're doing as a board of education and I look forward for everyone that that that one last week working with them in the future and those that I've worked with uh this these last years anybody else anything before we close motion to adjourn so moved Mr cantino second second by Mr zerman all in favor hi we are closed thank you