pursuant to I'm sorry hello I get like right down to business so thanks to everybody for being here this afternoon or this evening um and we're we have a very long meeting so I'm just going to get I'm going to get right into it um pursuant to the open public meeting Z Public notice of this meeting has been given by the board Secret in the following manner posting written notice on the official bulletin board at the Vorhees Township Public Schools administrative building on August 17 2023 sending written notice to The Courier Post on August 17 2023 filing written notice with the clerk of warhe Township on August 17th 2023 and posting on the Vorhees Township website on August 17 2023 please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance flag of the United States of America the repu for it stands one nation God indivisible withy and justice for all board secretary will you call the role Please Mr Bryce here Miss K over here Mr Rosen here Mr Rosner here Mrs Rudder here Mrs Stewart here Mrs ster here miss birdie here Mrs Watson here so we're going to go a little out of order we're going to start with um the public hearing on the 2024 2025 budget do okay I'm joking we're gonna do the kids first then we're gon to move to the public hearing on the 2024 2025 budget and then we will do the RFP for the solicitor okay thank you very much good evening everyone I'd like to invite our director of special services Dr alagria forward so she can introduce um her staff and our student presentation and board members we can go down so we can see this presentation thank you okay so good evening Dr Hackett president Watson vice president Kover all of our Board of Education members and Community as a director of special services I always love to brag about the great things happening in our department and within the district tonight I'd like to Showcase a club that we have at the middle school which brings both general education student mentors and special education students together in a facilitated and collaborative manner sport which stands for special programs and organized recreational team is a program that we have at the middle school so while this program has been around for a few years it continues to grow each year and I really felt as though it was a group that more people should be aware of that exists at the middle school I do want to say a little Shameless plug on June 8th we have our second annual buddy Day program so that brings together our Elementary School classrooms that have buddy teams and then also the middle school which includes the sport program so if anybody is available please come it's at the middle school from 10 to 12 but without further delay I do want to turn this over to two of our teachers who are here today Mrs steinach and Miss Messa who are two of our exceptional teachers at the middle school who have overseen and worked to grow this program they've brought some very amazing students with them and so I'd like to turn that over to them now thank you mention so we run aam is an after scho Al [Music] movement obstacle so again our kids and our [Music] [Music] so every year just they come in they come in want I kind of wor really [Music] um so I do have to bra [Music] okay [Music] made and like ice cream the sport club [Music] also [Music] I like my father my this is my mother [Music] iost please meet work now [Music] Dr [Music] head can we please give them another round of applause they were absolutely wonderful thank you very much to the students the parents the teachers that was truly amazing and we now know about this wonderful program thank you so much now we are moving to the public hearing on the 2024 2025 budget um can I have a motion to open the public he ing on the 2024 2025 budget so moved second online voting is open I can just do a verbal for you motion unanimously passes I have to okay good evening every everyone tonight we'll go over the budget the the budget that was approved by the county and also that was voted on in March to submit to the county um we have a timeline of the budget process and the way the timeline is written is that it starts with the board and ends with the board so the board adopts District educational philosophy and goals and ensures that they are met during the year uh the next step in the process is ongoing throughout the year and um we have a modified site based management where each School administrator and Department director manages their facility budget and attains District goals uh the business office begins meeting with directors and principles in January regarding their budget for the next year uh we Implement flat budgeting providing the appropriate resources to each facility to attain District goals while functioning within the state imposed Financial parameters state aid is released um two days after the budget address from the governor so it's U I think it was the 29th of February this year um the board finance committee met on March 6 to go over the budget we create a budget binder that we give to the committee we meet with them and go over it and then we distribute the binders to the full board the next day uh then um the board met on March 13th to approve the budget for submission to the county the county reviews it we got approval from the county on April 11th that our budget passed then we have to advertise the budget that was in the paper on April 24th and then the vote on the budget is tonight so our the timeline is right there on the screen right now so it's really just an overview of the whole process um the next page is budget fact and the budget facts kind of mirror the next page which is also called budget fact sheet so um if you want to look at both of those at the same time that would be fine um the budget the general fund state aid this year as we talked about back in March it was our Aid was decreased by a, 52,900 and that really was based on the state formula and Equalization Aid is where it went down so our total state aid is5 million 28,40 um the general fund budget this year if you look at the budget fact sheet you'll see I start out with the general fund amount of 67 m657 48 and then I back off capital reserve because each year there's different capital projects that are done so in order to compare apples to apples we're taking the capital projects out so you can see if we look at the general fund from year to year it went up 2.1 2.16 million and that is an increase of 3.51% um those in it's and the hard part about balancing a budget is that one of 3.51% but you have a CPI of 5.81% that certain contracts can go up on like our transportation contracts can go up 5.81 um if we're renewing them our health insurance and prescription went up 10% and then we have we have various contracts that have percentages that are higher than the amount we can raise tax levy by so uh it's really not that bad that it went up 3.51 we were kind of proud of that fact that we were able to keep it at that level um but the budget itself is 63 million the next thing is tax levy you can increase your tax levy by 2% so that for us is a milon $28,000 so you have the revenue side of the budget and the expense side of the budget and you're trying to make both of those Balance so the tax levy went up a million the state aid is five million and then the rest you have to find out you know where you should how that come from um again the TA we we could raise the taxes higher than 2% but we we don't want to do that so we keep it at the 2% um then we calculate out what that means to the average tax average homeowner and because ratables went up this past year by 0.12% the 2% increase for the average taxpayer is 1.84% because ratables have increased so on the um the tax rate on the average home would be the increase would be $766 or $6.39 a month for the average house that's assessed at $263,800 about state aid the rest of it is coming from capital reserve to fund our capital projects of $4,200 and maintenance reserve of 1.7 million emergency reserve of 186,000 and fund balance 1.3 and also another million from fund balance so that's the revenue side of the budget um for the last few years we've had the benefit of having Esser grants from covid that ends in September of 24 so certain programs that we talk about we we were doing because of eser and we could do some Capital Improvements because of but that'll be over in September but the one thing about this budget is we did not we this budget maintains all existing programs student services and it stays within the 2% cap so that's a really great thing too the separate budget is our preschool expansion because that's fully F that's funded by the preschool expansion Aid so that budget is 7,827 1884 we budgeted for 400 students so the state aid that we receive is a little over6 million and we have to transfer $1.2 million into that to cover um the inclusion students because that's just how the budgeting works so that comes from our general fund into that and we have carryover from last year of 26214 so basically I went over the fact sheet and the fact spreadsheet but U the fact spreadsheet just shows you know the increases in the budget the tax levy the ratables and shows that the 2% is an effective rate of 1.84% on the taxpayer if you look at the next page we have two pie charts and it's just a nice VIs visual to see like our Revenue sources the the biggest part of our Revenue really is the local tax levy and then after that you see the 15.9% which is state aid and then to a much lesser degree other resources and federal aid the next pie chart is our operating budget and the bulk of our budget is regular and special education instruction that's what we are here for for for education and so bulk of our budget is that and you see the other components of it list as well employee benefits Capital outlay operations and maintenance and insurance that leads us to the advertised budget so as I stated the whole budget process is really prescribed by law and you have to do certain things by certain dates and so after having the budget approved by the county we have to put it in the newspaper and it has to be by a certain time period before your public hearing which is what we're doing right now so this advertised budget is laid out in various sections and then after the budget is approved we will put the userfriendly budget on our website which is similar to this but slightly different but again all this is prescribed by law so I'm going to quickly go through these Pages um but the first page shows our enrollment the first two columns represent our actual enrollment the third column is a projected enrollment um and then after that we have the advertised revenues and it's detailed by all the line items in the budget and then it goes into the detail of of the advertised Appropriations approp so you'll see there's various funds we have fund 10 fund 20 fund 30 fund 40 fund 10 is our general fund fund 20 is our special Revenue fund or grants and also preschool fund third well fund 30 is not on here fund 30 is a side fund where we track all of our capital projects and it's really an informational type of fund and fund 40 is Debt Service which we don't have any because we don't have any debt which is also a great thing we're able at this point we've been able to fund our capital projects with capital reserve money so even the preschool building that we purchased and the renovations of the preschool building is coming from capital reserve and also a grant that we obtained for $6 million uh for preschool facilities expansion all right so then there's a recap of balances page and that basically shows our fund balance and our reserves there's an advertise per pupil cost calculation a lot of times people will say oh how much does it cost uh educate a a child and so this is what this this shows all the different categories of what it is per pupil and every year we have a midyear budget review with the county and all of the all the different levels that they look at were we in good shape like we are in the favorable position versus being overspending in any of these categories so we're all proud of that um the last page of this advertised budget shows our capital projects so if you have a withdrawal from capital reserve which we have a withdrawal four $4,200 you need to detail what the categories are that we're using that for in both a chart and in writing so you'll see the top of that page shows the chart and then the other part is it in writing so the different categories here we repeat a lot of these categories every year so we have refurbished bathrooms replacement of interior doors replacement of Windows we do that throughout the district every year re asphalt parking lot we kind of rotate that by each each location we're still working on converting this building over to Municipal sewer um carpet replacing carpet with hard surface flooring that's been going on uh since 2019 so each year we have that in here uh renovating the vestibule at VMS that that's going to be a new entrance area to where people you know enter now will be coming out a little bit more more enclosed more security um HVAC every year we do HVAC Renovations and the preschool expansion you see a million here and that's really just the final piece of it because last year we withdrew 11 million this year 1 million and then the Six Million is a grant that we received so all that money is put into fund 30 in order to renovate the building if it doesn't get spent it goes back into capital reserve and then the very last piece is not part of the presentation but the item on the agenda to vote on the budget is right after this presentation um it shows the different categories that I was talking about it first of all it talks about the dates that I mentioned about when the budget was approved for the county when the county approved it bless you when the advertisement went in and tonight when the public hearing happens it has the different funds that are listed the general funds the special Revenue fund the total budget the tax levy it goes into the withdrawal from the reserves the capital reserve withdrawal of four 4 million 20,000 and again you see that same writing the same narrative then there's the maintenance withdrawal of 1.7 the emergency withdrawal you can only take money out of the emergency reserve for security items and if Healthcare is above 4% which ours is our Healthcare went up 10% so we took the rest of the emergency withdrawal out for that so we took 186,000 that doesn't account for the whole amount of the increase but it does help and then we always have to disclose travel regulations and what that really is it's not travel like you would think it's more professional development and that's for staff so that is the entire of the budget presentation um it's now open for questions from the board and then we open it for questions uh of the public should I say here or should I go back to my seat okay whichever I wasn't sure what direction okay so okay I leave this one the we'll now open for public comment related to the budget the 2024 2025 budget good evening and my name is Eric simin I'm a resident for Hees um the other day when I got home there was a letter in a mail discussing and asking for us to open up our doors to our home for a tax assessment and two weeks before that the New Jersey legislature voted to increase the school tax cap from 2% to 99.95% are we to anticipate any increases to the 2% cap in vhe is a question and the $4 million that we spent at Cresent I know that came from the reserves but it appears that we're replacing that with a kindergarten building in prek and I know how hard I have to work to live in Vorhees and all residents do and we enjoy living here as do I and we just want to ensure that there's fiscal accountability and transparency on every line of this budget and I would appreciate letting us know what to anticipate in the year and years coming ahead as far as our tax increases that we should expect or not expect and why thank you for the opportunity well we is true that you can raise the taxes higher than 2% that is not something that we want to do there's something called um banked cap and we are eligible to use banked cap um and and you're right the legislation changed it because so many people were cut with their state aid they I think they increase the amount you could raise your taxes by we don't want to do that we kept it at the 2% we felt that that was sufficient so we do not plan on going above the 2% um I guess every year we have to look at it but we have not done that before and it's not really our goal to do that so we would like to stay within the 2% um the $4 million for crescent did it did come from capital reserve that is true and each year we're able to replenish capital reserve to some effect there was a very large capital reserve that had been built over many years so uh there were projects that were listed in our long range facilities plan that could be done we started to do them and that's what we've been using the capital reserve money for um that particular building was not in the long range facilities plan originally but what when we went to full day kindergarten and we were expanding that's what it was originally going to be used for and then it got changed over to preschool and we didn't even know about the preschool expansion Grant yet at that point but the building just as it was opening we it opened in September of 22 in July of 22 is when we were eligible to apply for the preschool expansion or preschool education Aid and we were approved so right away we were at capacity at Crescent so the Crescent Edition became kindergarten and partially preschool which we had moved over there but then it opened up a whole new realm of preschool so we have providers that we use and we needed more space to uh reach our universe which just calculated a 500 students um you can't use preschool education aid for building you would most people most districts would go out for a referendum to build because we still had a sizable capital reserve we used that money for it plus the great thing is we applied for the preschool facilities expansion Grant so we were awarded $6 million for that um so that was really a big help too because originally we were saying we could probably only renovate one floor at a time because we just didn't we didn't want to deplete our capital reserve for one project but it worked out that we got $6 million so that will be good too um we're very conscious about depleting the capital reserve we don't want to um there's other projects that are in there we'd like to do in the future and we try to manage the budget in such a way that we can uh deposit money each June into it um and you asked about the pre the new prek building we are we are supposed to house 500 students one way or another whether it's in our buildings or at providers so we have provider private providers that we work with uh they are they get money from that preschool expansion Aid that we pass on to them and we have contracts on this agenda for it um but whatever the case we are using the money I was just mentioning for that building for purchasing it and between the capital reserve and the grant money we're using for that building does that answer your questions thank you any other questions from the public open for board comments I think we said it at our last meeting um I have a comment I have a question sorry um I'm speaking I will recognize you in a second um I think we said it at our last meeting that you did an extraordinary job given the difficulties of the budget cuts and I want to reiterate it now again um this is exceptional and we are incredibly appreciative I think we've been incredibly lucky to have a board that is fiscally responsible but being led by a board secretary and your team that care so deeply about ensuring that we keep a strong capital reserve but also meet all of our budgetary needs is incredibly important Miss stuper um I have a question Helen I know I read in one of the newsletters that the state was considering making up for the loss of money we got from the state so are we eligible for any of that or I think there I think there's an application process we haven't received any of the information but typically it would be a hardship like you would have to present a hardship situation which we don't we're not really in that category so at this point we had the cut the million and we're kind of happy with happy with what we got okay I wasn't sure because I was just curious like if everything I've read I everything I've read about it there are criteria for it I haven't seen how people are supposed to get it what I did see in the instructions for some of the districts that were cut severely is you would anticipate it in your revenue and you just kind of like plug that hole of what you think and then you just move forward because people had to move forward it was such a late time but um I guess that's what those districts did we did not put a plug number I don't want to call it plug we didn't put a number in there like a placeholder for more Aid because the the formula was run it that's how it calculated out for us we don't want to raise the taxes up to a higher percentage we're we're we're staying where we are okay thank you um my other question is I know you said we're supposed to grow you have the pupil number 2806 but from October to October I mean we're not we're not anticipating being opened in October for preschool so so where's that growth coming from is more being able to is preschool because what happens is as we're doing the budget you have to project what you think you're going to have for that year um so we anticipated everything has to match up so when we submitted our projections for preschool back in November of last year we projected for a larger capacity right and everything that we've submitted so far reflects that larger capacity because we're hoping during that year that we will have that so that's reflected in here otherwise our our enrollment otherwise is relatively flat and the only increase we've really seen was the year that we went to full day kindergarten and that's one of our larger classes I can see it moving through the through the through the different grades and it hasn't been as large since we took full Lake kindergarten but um the increase is mostly in the special ed area and in preschool and then I see the per the budgetary per people cost goes down next year just by a little bit but why is that I'm sorry can you say ask that again budgetary for people what it's on this page the budgetary comparative per pup cost yes why does that go down next year well what you see there is there's different columns so the the ones that say actual the 2122 22 23 that's actual and it's audited those are our final numbers and that's where it comes out when you look at the original budget for 23 24 oh right are it's higher because we budget in such a way that we try to Encompass everything that could happen and in the end it may not happen you know so goes down right so then it'll come down so it it has most of them are going down if you look at the actual it's usually less than the budgeted you always anticipate more then yes and then my one final question I know I've seen it the last few years of of doing the administration building I'm putting it on the sewer system why does that keep I that's chunk of money you have sitting there that and it doesn't actually it looks like it's sitting there but it's really not it keeps rolling back in no I know I I understand that I'm just like I don't know if people wonder why well here's what happened um we had a hard time actually getting it off the ground and now it is off the ground and in fact I really wish I could have done this but I was contacted by our architect on Monday with a timeline and he wanted to go out to bid like this week and I said I can't put it on the agenda because we have an agenda cut off of five days before the meeting so I would have been able because I didn't author I didn't ask to be authorized to go out to bid and you have to do that so I didn't want to add something to the agenda last minute because I thought it would raise too many questions in that aspect for that topic and we can wait because we have a lot of summer projects and so I talked to Clark about it and I said and I talked to Dr hacket about it too like is this something that we need to put on this or can we wait till August or actually June so on June we'll have on the agenda to authorize me to go out to bid and then we would award the bid in August and we actually have enough things going on all summer that we're okay putting it off um but yeah this is on septic here and it's been on septic you know forever so it took a while to get to this point um our Architects had Engineers design it I mean do we need to I mean can we stay on septic or we definitely need it okay because we pump our septic out like once a month um so we definitely need it it just wasn't happening um the engineers drew the whole thing we they did all the paper work for us to apply for it and now we're ready to go out to bid um to me I thought it was something that we didn't have to bid for I thought we would be going through the township but it turns out no we have to go out to bid so I didn't know that piece of it so um yeah we're we're at that stage where we're ready to go so in June you'll see a motion that says authorize business administrator to advertise we'll advertise and we'll award it hopefully in August okay that'll be finally off that'll be yeah it'll be off because I think it's been on there for three years yeah I think so yeah you're right thank you thank you and you know we looked into putting water here too but that was cost prohibitive so we're fine with the water we need the sewer thank you okay closing public hearing can I get a motion to close the public hearing on the 2024 2025 budget so moved second little slow here online voting is open the motion unanimously passes can I again motion to adopt the final budget for the 2024 2025 school year and the resolution as shown on 5.6 so moved second online voting is open the motion unanimously passes closing the voting thank you you move to the interviews we're going to move to the interviews for the board solicitor um I think the best way for this to um occur is each of you can do your presentations then we'll have all but one step out um we do have a couple of questions we're gonna ask the same questions of every Law Firm um that have come from the board collectively and then you'll each be able to answer and then we're going to go executive session to discuss and we'll come out and award the contract does that make sense awesome um sure sure will you call them oh yes yes okay we're going to do this alphabetically so if we could have the comegno law firm come up to present please thank you no they'll leave when we ask questions good evening good evening yeah sorry uh my name is Taylor rova I'm a shareholder with the kagal group I'm joined by my partner Jeff CES yes ma'am sorry about that normally I don't have a hard time being Hur but um uh just a bit about myself um I am a disappointment to my parents um both my parents were career Educators teachers uh administrators in the state of New Jersey um they wanted me to be a teacher they wanted me to work in education uh I pushed back and that wasn't necessarily what I wanted to do I wanted to become an attorney uh but I've compromised in my entire career of spend in education law uh with uh the kagal Law Group um so uh my parents still do speak with me um but uh we're we're really pleased to be here on behalf of our firm um we are one of the largest uh education firms uh within the region um as a next week we will have a dozen attorneys um focusing our practice and our firm really exclusively on representing school districts uh we represent over 85 school districts um uh Public Schools private schools Charter Schools uh primarily within the state of New Jersey um but also into Pennsylvania as well our office is located in mortown just down a few minutes down 73 from here um we uh we have a unique approach uh from our perspective to how we work with public school districts um and that is to really take a holistic approach um not just be reactive not just be combative or or uh litigious um with our representation of school districts but looking at things um from a variety of angles um whether it be uh from uh helping develop best practices uh for individual school districts taking a lead really uh within the state in terms of helping to develop best practices in numerous areas uh whether it be from uh how school districts adapted to the covid-19 crisis to our ongoing work uh dealing with um special education and 504 programming with some of our colleagues um who lecture nationally on the on a regular basis um so improving school districts improving the supports for staff um working to do what we can to um help districts improve efficiency um you know as as you all know here from hearing your budget presentation uh although the governor claims uh that uh schools are fully funded under their formula we all know the formula is broken um they're using a formula that existed prior to any caps in terms of Revenue increases um they won't even tell us how the formula Works um there components of that formula um that uh the Department of Education and the governor's office have refused to explain how they were to the point where there were even opal requests and lawsuits filed and the response we got from the state was oh that's proprietary we can't tell you um but knowing that we work within that scheme that we work with so many different districts across the state of varying sizes from uh literally one building schools that are K to6 or k to8 all the way up to to the some of the largest regional um districts within the state um we have experience in working um with the unique needs that may face individual schools um across a gamut of options um from uh construction labor law special education student issues governance for the board those sort of things uh unfortunately increasingly we've we've really uh assumed a role of helping school districts with public relations um because school districts have come under attack um or different uh things may go around online and people panic about them and helping school districts with messaging um to really communicate what schools are doing what we're here for rep prioritizing and refocusing folks on what all you guys are here for as board members you're not here for the large salaries you're here because you're dedicated uh volun ters trying to make education better uh for our kids um so again we approach things from a holistic perspective not just everything is litigation or that everything is aggressive or that we only respond when something happens but trying to get out ahead of the curve um so generally that's the way we approach all aspects of what we do whether it be uh you know again construction or contract issues special education or labor issues Jeff you want to adding some things I'll stand behind you so folks can see every time every single time um so he Taylor pretty much covered what our firm does our philosophy I just want to tell you a little bit about myself I've been practicing for over 20 years um started out as a deputy attorney general uh handling insurance fraud cases handling uh labor and employment cases um switched to a a private sector firm and I've been with this firm for the last uh 11 years uh strictly handling School law um my practice is uh like I said School law I do a lot of labor and employment as well uh uh but I think Taylor is is right in saying um we try to partner with the school districts um to to assist you we're not here to to honestly to run up bills um we have that isn't our goal our goal is to give you efficient uh prompt respon to uh put you in in the best positions to succeed and the students in the best positions to succeed um that that's our goal that's I know that I do that um when I am speaking with clients when I'm working with clients uh it's to move you guys forward to help and assist you guys uh it's it's not just to like Taylor said to be litigious or to push some agenda that is not what we do um um but we're happy to answer any questions when that time comes thank you thank you thank you do you want us just step out now or wait section you can probably wait until we do that section sounds good thank thank you the next firm is Gman dellaa and Morlock bring that down every time I follow Taylor I have to do that so good evening everybody it's nice to see everyone thank you for taking the time on what I know is a busy and heavy agenda to uh to allow us to tell you a little bit about ourselves for those of you I've never met my name is Alicia denella I am a partner with Gorman denella Morlock I'm here with my partner Bill Morlock um I had the privilege of working with many of you when I was at my former firm um and then some of you may know in January we uh we split off and we started our own firm and um I won't reiterate our credentials that we put in The Proposal I will just say that Although our firm is Young we are not um we have all been practicing for uh you know 15 years as practicing attorneys the vast majority of which representing public education and for myself personally many of those years was with the two gentlemen I'll say good friends of mine from uh from my time Mna who I had the privilege of working with for many years um so like I said we're not going to reiterate our credentials i' just like to share a little bit about our philosophy and the commitments that we make to our clients when we represent Boards of Education um the first thing that we like to say is is one of our North Stars here is the respect for the work that you do and the importance of public education that is The Guiding Light in everything that we do our job is to move things out of the way so that your administrators the board and your teachers can get to the work of educating students we do not lose sight of the fact that public education is the original Equity measure before it became invogue to talk about that the work that you folks do every day and that your staff does every day is the work of equity and educating children and the importance of that to your community and Beyond can't be understated and we do not lose sight of that it gives us a great deal of satisfaction in our work and in our careers and I know that there's enough lawyers up here on the Das to know that that is not always easy to find in your uh in your legal career um the second commitment that we make to our clients is responsiveness and what that means to us is not just that you can reach us 24 hours a day although can because I can tell you when I get calls from folks like Dr hacket or Helen off hours it's because something real is happening these folks know what they're doing they don't call with easy questions they call with complicated problems and representing public school districts is an exercise in problem solving we might not have the answer off the bat but when my clients hang up the phone they have a next step they know the next right thing to do and we take it one step at a time because every day in this realm and one of the things that's fascinating about it are the novel issues that come up every day there are new problems new laws new regulations and we're here to help you through them but part of what we do is we make sure that when you get off the phone with us your administrators your board president your staff they will know the next thing to do and finally and I don't think that the importance of this can be understated representing Boards of education is not a one-size fits-all proposition I'm not here to tell you the kind of lawyer that you need I'm here to be the kind of lawyer that you tell me the board meets every board of education is as unique as the community that it serves and the children that it educates and it's our job to get to know you to help you articulate the goals of your district and of this particular board whether it's your board Norms your aspirations for the district any of that we're here to help you articulate it and we're here to serve that purpose there's so many regulations involving school districts we want to clear obstacles out of the way and we want to help you get where you want to be and and make sure that you're continuing to communicate to your community the Excellence that happens in this District every single day um I'm here with my colleague Bill I'm gonna let him introduce himself and then of course we're happy to answer any questions good evening everyone thank you for having us um I want to really focus on my specialty and what I would bring to the board Alicia has reviewed what we do as a firm my specialty as uh unfortunately Dr Hackett knows from other employment is litigation right if you need a litigator I'm your guy uh I also focus on special education which is really a two-parts process part one is being an advisor uh and a resource for the district pre- litigation and that's the old lifeguard idea that right if they're drowning it's too late we have to monitor stuff pre-litigation to make sure it doesn't go to litigation step two is litigation when I become an aggressive advocate so talking about step one that's where I'll attend IEP meetings where parents have counsil I might review independent evaluations and offer general advice on the idea 504 Ada really anything in that special education realm for Vorhees in particular I know from Alicia and my partner Brett Warman that Dr alria is very competent knows what she's doing so here in Vorhees might just be providing really specific uh legal opinions on difficult issues Vorhees is large district and it's diverse so part of what my job is is to make sure you guys are bringing equity and special education and I have to be an advocate for your in District programming you have a lot of special education programming and it's important that if it is appropriate for our students that they're sent there and that's because if I'm not thinking about the budget which you guys dealt with tonight when we're talking about special education placement I'm not doing my job um a single student who goes in out District placement with transportation and supports it could very well and will likely cost over a million dollars for that student over the course of their time and B Hees of course if that student has to be sent there absolutely that's fine we're going to do it but if we make it a policy and we don't consider finances things can go south very quickly when we have a budget hearing like we did tonight moving on to litigation especially for special education but really anything that do in litigation that's when I become a fighter my sole job is to win and to win for the district obviously if the chance comes that we can resolve a case for something that makes sense for everybody in this room we'll do that um but it's a very different person when we get to litigation um along with special education I also litigate things such as residency cases homelessness matters uh e defend ethics complaints deal with tenure charges uh those s of things I want to thank everybody for their time and I look forward to answering any questions you might have thank you thank you everybody thank you next firm is Parker McKay good evening everyone my name is Amy Garren as I hope you know since I am currently your solicitor and I sit up there with you um and I am an attorney of Parker McKay um Parker M has been your solicitor for a few years now so I know you know about the firm I know you know that we have uh many attorneys with many Specialties that can serve you in many different ways I want to tell you a little bit about myself um and it also point out some of the things that we have been through together in our short time since I became your regular solicitor I am a firm believer in that I need my work to speak for itself so in just the fast past few months let me remind you that we have been through a few tumultuous meetings we've had to with some unwanted press we've had to deal with some surprise resignations we've had to deal with conflicts these are all actual problems that we have worked through together as a team and solved in just the past few months my background is uh diverse but very heavy in education I am actually this month marks my 19th year in the practice of law uh and almost that entire time has been spent working with school district and school boards uh when I was in private practice in Pennsylvania I actually sat on a board of education in the state of New Jersey it was Burlington Township I will tell you that was during the Christi Administration when all the funding was frozen and cut midy year I understand what it is like to sit in your seat and have to have difficult conversations about school resources and how to meet our legal obligations to students uh in difficult situations I did it it was very unpleasant um rewarding ultimately but not a place where we like to be so I appreciate the work that you do in my prior life while I was working my way through law school I actually work for the school district Philadelphia both as a spokesperson dealing with problems on a day-to-day basis um which is I think is some experience you've already drawn upon in the past couple of months and as a policy director uh policy director for what was then known as a School Reform Commission which is essentially was a state takeover of the school district so I understand and appreciate the polic process and the way you approach your work it is my job as your attorney to facilitate that conversation your goals are my goals I want to help to find you options to get you where it is you need to be I see that as my job now I don't manufacture Solutions I think you have seen in my time with you that I am firm but professional and very honest about what your options are and what you can do and maybe what you can't do um but that is my Approach so that was just not a a full view of everything we have been through together in the last couple of months but just a reminder that um the work is getting done and the work I believe is getting done well so I also told you about my background let me talk about some of the bigger work that we do make no mistake about it the board is the client I work for the board but the reality of my day today is that I also work with your District Helen Haley and Dr hacket are task Masters we have made it a practice to have weekly telephone calls actually weekly video conferences where we walk through every legal issue that well the majority of legal issues at the school district is going through and problem solving how it is we are going to fix them it is everything from your labor problems to your um uh ironing out disagreements with your Education Association um of course with the assistance of Frank cavalo who works as your labor Council to um talking about uh individual student issues interactive process meetings contemplating discipl it it my time in Vorhees has run the gamut um Helen has already taken advantage of the depth of experience that Parker McKay brings you beyond the school Law Department and just the past months I can name Alexis Smith Matthew Arnold Rick hunt Young Gun and Jeff winitzki five attorneys L and George moris six attorneys in our practice with Specialties that have been serving Vorhees names that you probably have never even heard of that's our public finance department that's our construction Department that's our procurement Department that's our Statewide Oprah expert and that is our expert that deals with planning boards when you have Parker McKay you have access to all of those resources resources and I don't pretend to know all the answers when Helen or Dr hacket come to me I'm able to lean on those resources to bring you the best legal advice possible but I do bring my own elements I do have something to share and I think uh that plays out when I come to these board meetings and I work closely with your board president um and increasingly um your vice president uh to work through your day-to-day issues of governance um because I I want you to succeed and like to see myself as part of your team to help you get where it is you want to be um I am grateful uh for the opportunity to speak tonight and happy to answer any questions you may have thank you you excellent um thank you all for three very um thoughtful uh and informative presentations uh we greatly appreciate the time and energy that it took to to put those together um we're going to go in the order I'm going to do we have someone that will show them okay perfect um so Trisha is going to show you Mrs Mady will show you to um another room and we will have um the first set of questions um we will call you in one at a time thank you so much oh I should pull up my questions okay I think we can start okay the this is collectively from the entire board um but to try and streamline the process and be as efficient as possible I'm just going to ask all of the questions um first please define who your client is specifically as it relates to board members superintendent and other administrators how do you manage conflicts that arise between those entities including the control the control and flow of information when such a conflict is present sorry it's a compound question but I was going to object actually I know um if I may sorry um conflicts do arise we we recognize that um conflicts sometimes arise between the board and the superintendent and that's a very difficult position for us I mean it is obviously our regular contact is with superintendent um that's just a fact just what happens um but our clients the board and we always remind Administration the public whomever it is the board is our client um so at the end of the day we have to do what's in the best interest of the board and and the board as a whole not just board members but the board as a whole in fact when there are board member specific issues we have to remind the board members we represent the board not them individually and I think that's an important distinction because sometimes that gets lost um you know ethics charges may happen um it could happen for a reason or for no good reason but they may happen uh and there are times that we have to make decisions on whether there are conflicts or not that's that's Our obligation that's our ethical obligation to make decisions on who we can represent and how we can represent them uh and we take that very seriously I mean uh we're not look at the end of the day I tell people I'm not putting my license at risk it's it's just not going to happen but it it is it is a balancing act sometimes um so we do but we keep in mind at all times the board is our client and and one more thing to dub tail into that um in dealing with um interactions with Administration with board members with individual board members with board members of the whole we actually have a lot of guidance here in the state of New Jersey uh whether we like it or not um you have the school ethics act which defines what the roles are of the administration of the board um and the different powers and authorities that are divided amongst them um we also have the unique resource that the board or any individual member of the board can ask if there is something that's unclear can ask for guidance from the school ethics commission you can get an advisory opinion so not only can you look at what the law is you have the 10 tenants of the school ethics act that I'm sure our veteran board members can probably recite by heart uh from all your annual train trainings on it um and your review of it but there's a lot of decisions that interpret that and there are always novel issues that come up and in those areas where things may not be clear is there a conflict is there not we can get affirmative guidance um directly from the school ethics commission to help clear any of those things up thank you given your definition of client how do you approach and correct board members who violate the ethics act or breach confidential or abuse their power and scope as a board member so it really depends on what the situation is there's uh there's never a situation like this that's always the same um and we approach this type of situation as we would with with many other things that may come up and treat it as its own unique situation um we always try to gently guide our boards we don't want to be too aggressive with an individual member or a board as a whole but remind folks of their ethical responsibilities of their ethical obligations um if uh you know if things start to become more difficult or strained there are Avenues to deal with that and we've been through uh you know Jeff and I ourselves our firm as a whole for many years in working with Boards of all different types and shapes and makeups we have boards where everybody gets along and the meeting is over in 10 minutes we have boards that will argue with with each other for two hours at every single meeting um and it really depends on how things come up and where they come up um certainly things like that can come up at public meetings and it's our job to monitor risk and make sure the board is compliant our client is compliant so if something like that comes up we'll remind the board as a whole we may remind an individual board member of their responsibilities their their their ethical obligations we also provide trainings um to the majority of our school districts um uh that ask for it um certainly um but we make it available to all of our school districts uh on a yearly basis here is what the school ethics Act is and then we color that in by giving them guidance here's with some of the situations that have come up here's where you know there's been issues where board members got into trouble or boards as a whole got into trouble or there was conflict between Administration and the board and how was handled so there's a variety of different ways we can respond to it but again it's always sort of reminding our clients in any sort of situation what's compliant and where your risks are and trying to navigate through that yeah if I could just add to that quickly that was and Taylor gave a a very great answer um I'm gonna be a little more specific when we in dealing with this some of these circumstances when there is an ethical issue that arises the first thing we do is we will inform the board president that there is a concern and take our lead from the board president if we reach out to that board member regardless we're going to put something in writing to the board president um to explain this is the situation uh do you want us to how do you want us to handle do you want us to speak to the board member do you want us to address with the board member do you want to forward this to the board member however you you you want to approach it uh but we are going to give you that guidance so you are aware this is the situation U but our Our advice is always going to be to tell that board member that this is an ethical issue and address that issue so you can avoid ethics charges thank you um what do you believe the main duties are of a board solicitor and please describe the scope of your role I I think one of the major uh components of what we do for any of our school clients is to identify risk and advise on how to handle that risk and move forward and that risk can come in all sorts of different forms um whether it is uh new regulations or new legislation has been passed um how to deal with that um how to make sure that we're compliant here's areas where there might be risk of us not being compliant um whether that's going to be in a special education situation um where you know a director um uh of special services may call us and say look we have this situation developing what should we do and it's to identify the risk and figure out what the plan is to address it whether it is to make some changes or recommend some things to move things towards compliance um or whether it is to say you know what no we are righteous here um what we're doing is the right thing um we are compliant and we're going to push back um but but again as as as Jeff stressed we serve at the pleasure of of the board we serve at the pleasure of the district so our job is to say here's here's what the law is here's what your risks are here's what your strengths are here's some recommendations we give you that information you tell us the direction you want to go in and then we take that direction from the board from the working with the administration and we follow through with that whether that is working on things from a policy angle whether that's working on things um uh with the public whether that ultimately goes to litigation um uh and you know zealously representing the board whether it be on the defensive or at times when we need to go on the offense where the Board needs to assert claims um where the district needs to assert its rights and point out um what we're doing is right defend our staff defend our board defend our district and make sure that everybody's eyes wide open to the entire process I may um I agree with everything Taylor said uh I would just say a large chunk of what we do I wouldn't say it's everything we do but we are problem solvers whether that is proactively or reactively I mean sometimes we're going to get calls and we're gonna have to be reactive ideally we would be proactive but generally the the questions that we're getting the the the services we're providing uh is is solving problems uh whether that's even even with litigation that litigation is an issue that arises that it's a problem that has to be addressed there there's some disagreement somewhere our job is to represent you to solve that problem whether that's following through a litigation or saying you know what you should settle this case um it it can be a variety of of ways to deal with things um and and being creative and and coming with Solutions is a big part of that and I do think we do a very good job of being creative uh in that space But I would say a large chunk of what we do is just doing that problem solving um what is an emerging legal Trend that you uh feel will impact the school education in the next few years and how are you educating and preparing School boards in advance why don't you take this one so you don't have to come in afterwards oh that's a good question um I I I mean look I I I I do think um well I just saw from a labor perspective I don't know where it's going to go um but apparently uh federal government is said non-competes are no longer a thing um I'm sure some of you have seen that I don't know how that's constitutional but that would uh certainly have some impact going forward um you know one of the uh the trends that that I'm seeing and then it's going to impactful one I'm going to stick with labor for a second um and I'm trying to guide folks in this respect is going to be health benefits uh uh health benefits because the last um how many years now uh since chapter 44 uh we haven't really been able to negotiate health benefits I'm we're seeing that now as going in January 1st of 2028 we're going to be able to do that so we're preparing for that now um we're preparing to deal with that um because it's going to be ways for school districts uh to partner with the associations and and both sides save some money um and and do something that is beneficial to both groups so I think that's something you're going to see in the next couple years uh that that I think people are kind of losing sight of even though it's right there in front of them um that's going to be a big issue in a couple years I think you know one one overarching thing that all school districts in the state of New Jersey are faced with regarding regardless of however the the funding formulas treated them is being asked to do more with less consistently being asked to do more with less and um that can come in many different forms um but we work with districts um uh every day on coming up with Solutions whether it's looking to program development whether it's looking to to trying to reduce special education costs by bringing ATA District students back or limiting exposure um whether it is uh you know supporting our teachers with um professional development and better programming and those sort of things to be ahead of the curve um making sure that the board is aware of issues that may come um monitoring legislation um monitoring Trends you know within social media unfortunately um just looking at all those sort of things that school districts are now expected to Pivot and respond to and who knows what the next legislation session is going to come up with um you know is there going to be something that's the new HIV that comes along that somebody in Trenton thought was a great idea perhaps but being able to assist districts to Pivot with that sort of thing but also being mindful of you're not getting all sorts of increases in state aid there's not magic money that's coming to any school district whether they're quote fully funded or not um so also working with schools to maximize efficiency from our perspective as working as as board attorneys we're also very mindful of our costs um so we very regularly um partner with our school districts to to support events within the district and even coming down to our monthly bills looking at our bills um making sure that we are offering discounts that we are offering courtesy discounts that we are looking at things where we may have to go to trial and have two attorneys but making sure that the board is not paying for that that the board is not paying for double representation even though you're getting it so being mindful of what our role is within that do more with less is also an important function can I just jump in one more sorry I apologize you can cut him off yeah and I like to go last um um and I can't believe I didn't mention this but it also falls into the labor realm it's going to be attracting teachers um that is a a huge issue right now it's something that we're dealing with uh we've been creative in certain districts with a trying to attract student teachers through some sort of stien program um and and things of that nature um which has um a pretty novel idea that we've not going wood we we I think we in in these districts of being pretty successful with it's it's it's kind of an exciting proposition but that's going to be one of the things especially when you're I say labor because that's what we're seeing is having a contract having a salary guide quite honestly in place that's going to attract teachers um you're in competition now it wasn't like it was five years ago go um where you had just tons and tons of res resumes you have to find ways to attract um and and we do try to work with school districts to find those ways obviously uh in conjunction with the association sry two more questions um maybe we'll try and con have concise answers okay how do you perceive the role of elected school board members in oversight governance and policy Generation Um so again you can look to the ethics act for guidance on Hollow all of that works but generally um the board is the policy-making um uh and governing body of the district and by working at that policy level that's how the board can um really move the district in different directions um so working at that level and then making sure that you have um uh good working relationships with your Administration who are the boots on the ground to implement that because school school board members you're not allowed to go into the building and make sure this is happening or that's happening but working with administrators that you can trust um to take your policy vision and your policy directives and um the input that you provide to your Administration and make that a reality with boots on the ground I wasn't sure sure um last question what is one specific characteristic that sets your firm apart from your competitors you had the benefit of hearing their presentations why do you think that you're unique um we're unique in terms of our uh yeah we are I I am probably the tallest School lawyer um but aside from that um it's really our depth of experience um our firm has uh and individuals within our firm um we have been working with school districts um some School District relationships we have stretched back 30 years um and by that depth of experience um the number of professionals that we have as I said we have one of the largest education focused firms um but full gamut of services anywhere in the region um we're able to bring that collective experience that we have um to all of our clients um so not everything is Reinventing the wheel um there's always going to be novel issues and novel situations that come up but by virtue of the fact that we work with such a diverse client base of schools um we have developed ways to work with problems analyze problems or we may have just seen that same exact problem two weeks ago in a school district down the road and have already done the the the leg work there and then can provide that experience and and um that depth of knowledge to the school district client so it's really it's our our professionalism our professionals and our depth of experience thank you so much thank you very much we're head out this uh yes you're gonna swap out yes that would be great I think Trisha is also grabbing her yeah no yeah for three [Music] days yes please everyone hello okay we have a a couple of questions um I we will ask that you give brief answers um unless everybody wants to be here until 10 um okay so I'll jump right in these are the collective board's questions I'm just to streamline the process I'm answer I'm asking all of the questions um but they come from all of the board members uh please define who your client is specifically as it relates to board members super attendant and other administrators how do you manage conflicts that arise between those entities including the control and flow of information when such a conflict is present not all of them are that compound but we'll start so I think IET Bill said it but um our client legally is the Board of Education now the superintendent is a statutory member of the Board of Education and practically speaking the administrators run the district so it's pretty clear who our client is right we don't personally represent any individual board member or any individual uh any individual administrator the board of education is the only legal entity right the district's not a legal entity we represent the board so it's clear to us who our client is now obviously right there's some Nuance in that because the superintendent runs the district is responsible for the data operations and I would say at least 50% if not more of the the daily legal needs and the questions come through the high level administrators whether it's your director your superintendent or your business administrator with respect to the flow of information you know a lot of that is what the board's expectations are and what board Norms you guys have established for yourself or are trying to establish for yourself I think the board always needs the information the underlying information to make a decision and we always encourage board members to ask themselves when they're seeking additional information what question are you being asked or what decision are you or do you have to make that that requires this information right and you guys have heard me talk about ethics before it's not a bright line in terms of when you bleed over into Administration and what's what's in the board's purview so to the extent that communication can be open and consistent we think that's important because it makes it easier for you guys to do your job but there's always going to be some stuff some of the nitty-gritty that is not necess that isn't necessary for the high level decisions that you guys have to make or for confidentiality reasons you're not always going to get all the nitty-gritty thank you um given your definition of client how do you approach and correct board members who violate the code of ethics or the ethics act breach confidentiality or abuse their power in scope as a board member I'll I'll let Bill answer in a second but I I feel strongly about this one um so listen I think that obviously access to council is primarily through the superintendent the board President right and and administrators however I think sometimes access to council is in and of itself professional development and again you guys have heard me talk about ethics I don't think that the code of ethics which defines your roles as as a board member is necessarily intuitive it's inherently situational and there it's legislated it's telling you what your role is there are things that you can do in all good faith that don't that might seem that that absolutely are done in good faith that might cross the line so your obligation is to ask yourself questions and if you're not sure to then ask someone to get you in touch with Council so to the extent that there are issues with board members what I generally recommend is giving them an opportunity to speak to councel we don't publicly humiliate people we don't call people out publicly you know this is we we take everyone at their word that they're here in good faith and trying to do the best that they can that they believe they're doing for their community so in that you know we do our best to view these as to to view those situations as opportunities for professional development not only on what your role is but the consequences for stepping outside of that um just so I'm not stepping up Bill just is there anything you want to add I'll wait for another one okay I'll give him all right thank you um what do you believe uh are the main duties I'm sorry what do you believe the main duties are of a board solicitor and please describe the scope of your role I don't think we have a main duty or or I think our scope is is large I think it's anything that a board or an administrator or a district needs from an attorney it's our job to either give it to you or point you in the right direction and set you up with the folks that you need to get that answer um I think between all the presentations you heard right uh there's a lot of things that attorneys do for boards whether it's attend a board meeting um litigate right answer Oprah questions sue the state over your budget um our job is to do all of that and like Alicia said in the initial presentation our job is to be who you need us to be on that day on your board in in every moment um because different situations arise where you need a fierce litigator or you need somebody that can massage a situation thank you what is an emerging legal Trend that will impact school education in the next few years and how are you educating or preparing school boards in advance that's a great question do you have anything in particular you want to jump in or you want me to you go okay special ed stop I do you want to talk about because I know that there's special ed Stu so well go you uh I think coming out of the pandemic I was very fearful that school boards would see a huge increase in litigation uh there was legislation that there was a time period where pretty much anybody can could go back and uh ask for comp compensatory education I have an eight-year-old um who was in school during the pandemic while preschool so I know as well as you all do if you have kids or kids in the family um it wasn't perfect for everybody I think we all know that I thought we were going to see a million lawsuits we didn't I'm very thankful about that uh we are seeing an uptick in special ed litigation um and I think that it's really important that uh we're reviewing um everything in terms of IEPs what we're offering what we're doing so that we can avoid getting litigation I mean that the oal is is busier than it's ever been and I'll just add my my response would be similar to that I think coming out of the pandemic what we're seeing is a a vacuum in resilience both in students and in staff in parents and people generally and the legal Trend that flows from that is is Myriad you know whether it's an increase in special education whether it's staff shortages you know lack of pipeline of Educators um particularly you know Educators that represent your community that has always been difficult but just finding just filling positions in in certain subjects is difficult right now I think that that's a direct um a direct result it was building before the pandemic but early retirements and all of that I think are contributing to that increase in discipline referrals the ways that we have to um we have to approach situations with parents and students um you know and so the way that we counsel the way that that that we counsel clients on that is is given that landscape our approach is deescalation is this the hill to Dion is this the fight to fight right how do we offer Grace how do we keep things from sucking all the air out of the room when we know that there is this larger problem driving it and what are we doing to treat that underlying problem because the legal ramifications are a symptom you um two more how do you perceive the role of elect school board members in oversight governance and policy generation I I think that the within the question lies the answer um and it sounds like this board who I have not worked with prior like Alicia understands that based upon the question so um General governance policy that is your role day-to-day operations are for Dr Hackett and her team um and a lot of what we do in our ethics training and a lot of what I do in ethics litigation when I defend ethics matter is Define that role for boards um and so really the an is in the question it's it's General governance uh large policy things like setting the budget and then you leave it in their hands of your very capable administrators to get the job done yeah and one thing I would add that is I have you board members as a resource right you guys are reflective of the community you know what the community wants so you're a conduit right you help the administrators whether or not they live in the community you know sort of take the temperature understand the temperature of the community and um you know obviously there are limits to the role but as a resource it's also important to use it wisely and and what I always say is once you step over that role once you step over into Administration that's not the best use of this resource there's a lot you guys can do as a board without stepping over into the the jobs that you pay very capable people to do thank you um you had the benefit of hearing the other propos proposals what is one specific characteristic that sets your firm your firm apart from your competitors so I'll I'll take this because I've had the privilege of working for both of those firms so um I I worked with the folks at comegno for seven and a half years I I worked at Parker maycay for two and a half years there this is a small this is a small area of practice it's very Niche we know each other you know what I mean there's no bad blood you know there's no there's no ill will um what I think sets us apart you know I've had the Ben benefit of learning from those folks right I've learned from Taylor's office was next to mine when I first started you know I talked to Jeff regularly he's a good friend I learned from Frank I worked with Amy so you know we all know the black and white what sets us apart is how we deal with everything else which is more than 50% of what you guys do it's the way that you do it right how responsive are you do you take the time to know what your client needs you take the time to listen right or do you immediately start to answer questions before they're asked um and I'll say it again I love this practice area Bill Brett and I we are super enthusiastic about this and about the mission that you guys have here educating students we never lose sight of that everything you do is in service to that our job is to move things out of your way so that you can focus on the mission um everyone has a different approach I I said to every board is as different as the students as the community not every lawyer is for every board you need to find someone who articulates things the way that you're in a way that you can understand that I think we all aspired I'll say personally I aspired to articulate the law the way Helen articulates the budget um you know in a in a very understandable intelligent way without sounding too technical so um we're all working on that that's what we all aspire to do but you need someone who you who you can trust you need someone who understands and meets your needs and not just you know the needs of school boards generally thank you appreciate it um we will have you guys go back into the room and we'll send in the last firm and then we will um move into executive session thank you so much yeah I should have said that the last time you when you go on and on and on we've lost a lot of [Music] teach I um I work for the district then has something in my contract that says I can't go that doesn't exist in school I thought I thought that was weird it's very common in like my company yeah so like you can't come work at n VAR I don't want you to go to BR yeah yeah hello so um thank you I'm sorry it's taking longer than we expected time we're getting good answers if you could provide um concise and focused responses um to we have several uh these are the collective board's questions um but to streamline the process I am asking all of them okay um but they are representative of all of the questions that the board would like answers to very good okay so please define who your client is specifically as it relates to board members superintendent and other administ ators how do you manage conflicts that arise between those entities including the control and flow of information when such a conflict is present well I think first of all it's very clear that my responsibility is that I work for the board I report for the I report to the board um so when there is a conflict between the board and administration I will always fall on the side of the board to represent the board um and I can advise and getting conflict counsel if it's a um a Personnel matter typically administrators are part of an association where they can get their own counsel um so we work it out uh that way I um it is difficult and I have been put in that position over the course of my career where there has been acrimony between the board and the superintendent uh and and superintendant have asked me for advice or insight and I can't I have a duty of confidentiality with you my conversations with you are privileged now things are always a lot easier when the board and the superintendent are on the same page and we can work together obviously then the information flow is free um and we can work collaboratively and and that's the ideal way for um for the work to flow um the reality is in the in most of the time when I am doing day-to-day legal work I am working with superintendents um I do have contact with board presidents to a lesser degree board vice presidents um and I provide legal advice to them but um it is always as a percentage of my time spent working it is always a lower percentage than what I am spending with the administration working on day-to-day issues but I am very conscious um because it has come up in my career and I I have had to walk fine line um it is very clear to me the board is my client and will always be my client thank you um given your definition of client how do you approach and correct board members who violate the code of ethics breach confidentiality or abuse their power and scope as board members so it a lot of this is client by client um I am authorized uh by regulation to speak with three people essentially I speak with board presidents superintendents and business administrators if we are dealing with a board level issue um I am probably going to be in primary contact with the board president to talk about what the issue or the concern is and from there you have to map out a game plan um and it depends on the preference of the board president how they want to approach the member who is in violation now interestingly enough um and I know um I had shared this with Miss Watson at one point in time there was a disciplinary decision um not a not a school ethics decision but an attorney disciplinary board decision um reprimand Ing and and taking some penalties against an attorney who gave advice to a board president that was against a sitting School Board member in the last week that decision was overturned by the Supreme Court no opinion no rationale no background just overturned and all the discipline dismissed um so I take that as um a green light to continue to do what I think is in the best interest of the board which is if I see a member that is not conducting themselves appropriately I have a conversation with the board president and I game plan how we are going to address it does the board president want to address it do they want me to script them um would you prefer we have a three-way conversation and I be deliver the information or would you prefer I have a one-on-one sidebar with that member to discuss with them you know this is um the conduct you're engaging in um it it doesn't need to be confrontational uh as a matter of fact I prefer that it be collaborative because because my role as a counselor and adviser is to facilitate you doing your job to the best of your ability I'm not doing your job for you I want to be there as a support um obviously it is the individual sitting board memb decision whether or not to take my advice I cannot force or compel them to take my advice um and if it gets into the realm of an Ethics violation I will advise the board president of what other options they have when it comes to ethics violations I consider that within the scope of my responsibility and now that the disciplinary decision was overturned in that one particular case I just referenced it to me that is um an endorsement of that approach thank you um what do you believe the main duties are of a board solicitor and please describe the scope of your role so I play the scope of my role is different for different clients and I I will give an example there is a board I represent um where I am asked to come to board meetings for the sole purpose of making sure the meeting is conducted appropriately there are some Rogue board members who do not um follow the rules about micromanaging Administration so I'm I'm essentially I go to the meeting to stop it um that's not an ideal role that's not legal advice but that is facilitation I think my but at the end of the day my role is to be an advisor you have certain goals you want want to accomplish those goals I give you legal advice and a pathway to accomplish those goals sometimes there is no pathway and I have to tell you that I have to say there is no legal way to accomplish what it is you want to accomplish but if there is a legal way I am going to find it for you um and I and I want to provide that advice to facilitate you doing your job that is essentially the scope of an attorney to provide legal advice but the Practical the Practical thing is is when you're working with public entities and public institutions I give a lot of what I call legally tangential advice it kind of touches the law but maybe it's not theoretically technically 100% legal advice right and that is how do you respond to reporter questions without saying something legally inappropriate how do you um uh approach a board member who is perhaps doing something that violates ethics law um how how do you facilitate communication between the board and the superintendent when that communication BEC strained um all of those things have legal components to them but but they're kind of like I said legally Tang tangent or tangential um I I view that to the extent the board wants that advice I am available to give it and and very willing to thank you uh what is an emerging Le legal Trend that will impact school education in the next few years and how are you educating and preparing school boards in advance there is that's interesting um that you asked that I just um a brainchild of mine that Parker McKay is doing is our uh summer our school law summer seminar series and Dr hacket if you don't have the email yet you probably will get it any day now um and that is uh where we're going to take the summer months the month of July in particular and first week of August to invite in clients to talk about um particular legal issues and in this summer Seminars the first bit is about investigations and the changing landscape of Investigations the second seminar I'm giving is on FMLA Ada in the interplay of sickle which I actually think is uh a very big emerging Trend that's going to impact how you staff your schools and then there's going to be a special education update that we have a number of um or a couple of special education specialists at Parker McKay who will be giving that I think um New Jersey is is an employee friendly State we all know that I don't think that's any secret um but what we have coming out every one to two to three years is a major legislation that affects employees rights um that very much I don't want to say limits Administration but complicates the employment landscape for administration the new sick leave Law is one example of that um the new sick leave Law uh made it uh possible for employees to use their sick leave for a myriad of issues um where you normally could not such as caring for as a matter of law sick leave used to be only for the employes own personal illness and now it is your personal illness your child's illness a related family member's illness bement leave school meetings and a host of other issues that while it may be good for employees and I can understand the legislative intent between by making that kind of move it complicates staffing issues for schools significantly um the interplay of the sick law with FMLA and Ada and I'm I'm referencing the Americans with Disabilities Act where leaves of absence are reasonable accommodation you are legally required to give um is a is is a ve it's a very complicated field this is a time and we've seen it since covid where a lot of people have left the teaching profession um finding qualified individuals is difficult school districts are recruiting from other school districts not to hire at the bottom of the salary guide but they're they're hiring people at steps six seven eight 10 12 um because they need to fill positions dealing with these new leave of absence laws and these new sick leave laws in an environment where you already have a teaching shortage you have trouble getting substitutes you can't get bodies in classrooms um is a challenge so one of the goals of my seminar series um that we're putting on is to educate school districts about how to navigate these laws and try to best manage um their Human Resources allocations thank you two more um how do you perceive the role of elected Schoolboard members in oversight governance and policy Generation Well oversight governance and policy generation is your job um it it it's what it's what you are supposed to be doing it's the day-to-day administration of schools you are not doing um your job is also to work in collaboration with your administrators they are your Think Tank uh when it comes to doing your job so for example in policy Administration you get these stra I know you've subscribed to Strauss Esme you get these Strauss Esme updates they some of it is sort of routine mandated legal language um changes here or there not a lot to discuss not a lot to talk about but every once in a while they come up with a major overhaul of policy um which Administration should be looking at first and saying this is how this policy change is going to impact our school district but you as a governing body are responsible for developing that policy in asking questions of administration uh about how you can tweak it you you don't have to accept what people put in front of you you can have conversation around how to shape it how to tweak it how to make it better um it's it's called policy governance I don't I don't really I think for me personally not as a legal advice but um uh as a board member in both public sector and on nonprofits I I think policy governance is an approach I don't see them as separate things they're intertwined you govern by questioning and developing and implementing policy and then asking for periodic updates we had a policy it's been six months it's been 12 months it's been 18 months how's it working you know do we need to change um it's not about um badgering your administration every couple of days or every couple of weeks for updates it's about having uh a wellth thought out plan plan um for overseeing the implementation of policy and understanding how well it's working so you could tweak it again in the future if the administration's job is to be on top of things reacting day-to-day as issues come up yours is to step back and to think bigger picture and to think as a governing body what is the direction you want your District to go and what policy can you come up with or create that creates a pathway for that um for that objective thank you and last question you had the benefit of hearing the other presentations what specific characteristic sets your firm apart from your competitors um quite frankly it's the depth of it's the depth of services you get at Park McKay um with all due respect to the other firms they are um they they have accomplished attorneys on them um I'm I'm not going to disparage another firm I don't think that reflects well on anybody um but what I will say is what Parker McCay brings to the table is a Statewide recognized expert on Oprah uh a highly experienced construction Department an expert in real estate that just help you purchase a building an expert in zoning and planning working with planning boards that just help you um get approval for your pre school um public financing people that just helped you with a contract that might be on the agenda tonight in fact um we they don't offer that depth these are experts you don't even have to know exist you may not know exist you may not even know that we are drawing upon their expertise but this is what Parker McKay brings you um we're not going to we have a dedicated School Law Department of I think we're at eight attor attorneys six seven eight attorneys somewhere in there um we have special ed experts we do all the school law stuff you would expect of a school Law Firm um I do it personally with a heavy emphasis on labor and employment my colleagues also do it and we've got dedicated special education Personnel other firms may have expertise as well but what they don't have is that full team to bring to bear um to support you and aspect of running your business at strike that I said running your business you're running a school district but the fact of the matter is you're you are like operating a small Corporation um School law is not the only expertise that you need to function well uh and we can meet those other needs in a way that my competitors just can't thank you so much thank you so can I stay or what do I do now um yeah actually we can invite everybody back in okay um and you're welcome to thank you thank you while they're coming in I'm going to move forward um can I get a motion to adjourn to Executive session so moved second um where is the oh sorry I'll wait for voting trying to motion unanimously passes whereas the open public meeting act authorizes Board of Education to meet an executive session under certain circumstances whereas the open public meeting act requires the board to adopt a resolution at a public hearing or go into private session now therefore be it resolved that the vorest Township Board of education that it is necessary to meet an executive session to discuss the items involving matters involving Personnel including but not limited to employment appointment termination of employment terms of condition of employment evaluation of performance promotion discipline or any public officer or employee um we will um I don't know how long we're going to be I'm not going to say a time I always get it wrong um it will remain confidential and until um it is made uh it will I'm sorry any discussion held by the board which need not remain confidential will be made public as soon as feasible but the minutes of the executive session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists and we will return to open session and there will be um a vote following our discussion okay that's it [Music] oh can I get a motion to return to public session so moved second we're waiting for got about die it's 10:00 guys [Music] okay Mr Bryce Mr Rosen this is voting to come out of executive session to return to public I'm sorry to return to public session yes that's just to return to public session the motion unanimously passes can I get a motion to approve appointing Gorman danella and Morlock as board solicitor for the period from July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2025 as per the following resolution and I'm not going to read the resolution we all so moved second online voting is open there are seven yeses and two NOS the NOS are Mr Rosen and Mr Rosner the motion carries moving to District reorganization can I get a motion to approve all items under District reorganization so moved second online voting is open motion unanimously passes can I get a motion to approve the minutes of the March 13 2024 regular board meeting so moved second online voting is open I have eight yeses and one exension from Mr Bryce moot okay um I have a couple of comments and I apologize but I I I would be remiss if I don't because right we're moving on oh we have a whole bunch in here but we can comment they're all individual in the district organization we have them all individual actions oh 11 of them oh okay sorry we have to do of each one 9.2 okay can I get a motion to approve the resolution concerning the board meeting dates for the August 2024 through June 202 number three deposit okay can I get a motion to approve item 9.3 so moved second okay online voting is open would you rather I just say all in favor yeah yeah that would be great all in favor I Mr Bryce are you okay motion passes motion to approve the hiring payment and Fa simile signature authorization for the 2024 2025 school year item 9.4 so moved second all in favor I I motion to approve the legal newspaper to be used for the 2020 24 2025 school year as the VOR The Courier Post and the Vorhees Sun 9.5 y's get a second we get a second did you I missed it all in favor I I motion to motion to approve adopting all the policies rules and bylaws as in effect as of May 1st 2024 and all job descriptions in effect of May 1st 2024 so moved second all in favor I motion to approve the following adopting the standard operating procedures and internal controls in effect as of May 1st 2024 on file with the board secretary and the purchasing manual in effect as of May 1st 2024 also on file with the board secretary so moved second M favor I I a motion adopting all curriculums and textbooks in effect as of May 1 as shown on the attachment so moved second right all in favor I motion to approve the following regulatory appointments I'm not going to read all of them but thank you to Helen Dr alagria Donna Ross um Su donelly and Clark Mathis go moved second all in favor motion to approve Danielle cirri assistant business administrator to fill the following roles in the event of the absence of Helen Haley business administrator board secretary for the period of July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2024 board secretary custodian of school district records Contracting agent and transfer investment of funds at authorized District depositories so moved second all in favor I I and motion to approve Danielle assistant business administrator as an approved signatory on all purchase orders contracts and checks for the 2024 2025 school year V moved second all in favor I I okay we have to do the minutes again we already did them I went out of order oh because I I took that vote people voted meeting dates gotcha okay so let's do this again moot to approve the minutes from the March 13 2024 regular board meeting no moved second keep it going it's late online voting is open I think so I have two extensions by Mr bright and Mrs Watson and the rest are yeses motion motion carries okay I'm gonna go I'm gonna I'm G to go really fast but it's going to be teacher appreciation week and I would be remiss if I did not say something so um As We Gather here today I'm filled with immense gratitude and admiration for our incredible Educators who dedicate their lives to shaping the minds and futures of our students um this coming week as we celebrate teacher appreciation week I want to take a moment to recognize the unwavering commitment and exceptional work of our teachers across the district our teachers are the backbone of our education system and they deserve our utmost respect and appreciation day in and day out they pour their hearts and souls into their work going above and beyond to ensure that our students receive the best possible education they are not just teachers they are mentors role models and champions of our children's success while we celebrate the incredible work of our teachers I also want to address the concerning political activity and threat of protest at Eastern High School please note that the Vorhees Board of Education only serves preschool through 8th grade and there is a regional board of education that serves the Eastern High School that said we all live Thrive and are impacted in Vorhees the Vorhees Board of Education firmly believes that our school should be a safe and inclusive environment free from political agendas or divisive rhetoric we will not tolerate any actions that disrupt the learning process or create an atmosphere of tension and unease and we are committed to ensuring that our schools remain focused on providing a highquality education for all students moving on I would like to take a moment to recognize the incredible achievements of our Educators and students at Signal Hill first I want to commend Miss Palumbo and her students for their outstanding art show the C the creativity talent and dedication displayed in this exhibition were truly inspiring it is a testament to the exceptional Arts education program at Signal Hill additionally I want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to miss Stevens and The Talented fourth grade teachers at Signal Hill for their incredible work in leading the presidential Hall project this Innovative and engaging learning experience has not only enriched the lives of our students but is also brought immense Pride to our community and I know many of the other schools are also doing a president a presidential Hall I just didn't have an opportunity to see those um also last week Signal Hill students purchased bandanas to support the Alicia Rose Victorious foundation and raise awareness for children with cancer students wore their bandanas last Friday and over $1,300 in proceeds will go towards the foundation's efforts to provide bandana pillows and kits to children and teens with cancer proceeds will also help open teen lounges and hospitals throughout the country a sincere thank you to miss serani for organizing this event as well as the members of our Signal Hill parent faculty Association for bringing this great idea to to life to close I again want to express my deepest appreciation to all of our teachers across the district your unwavering commitment to our students your passion for education and your tireless efforts to create a future for our community are truly remarkable we are honored to have you as part of our team and we are grateful for the incredible work you do every single day thank you and happy Teacher Appreciation Week all right fire drills and safety drills on the attached the hi intimidation and bullying report on the attached suspensions on the attached oah requests receive they have both been closed out board secretary report thank you can I just ask asked for a Clarity there is no there was no attachment on suspensions were there no suspensions I uh I have a attachment no wait no you have an HIV no I have a hi sorry you're right no yeah there are no that that mean there are no suspensions okay so we'll get and updated we'll get it sent thank you for catching that Miss frie or secretary okay thank you uh the first item on my in my section is the maintenance projects that were completed over spring break uh Mr Mathis and his staff were very busy over spring break uh working in each of the schools some of the U projects that they completed are at the Crescent School uh Dutch doors were installed in all the prek rooms and a bench that was in the hallway was repurposed for to make a nice shelf for their copy machine in the hallway um hbac maintenance was done throughout the district at Hamilton carpet by the gym was replaced with luxury vinyl tile which we've been doing over the whole District as I mentioned earlier during the budget presentation um at Signal Hill also the cooling tower was was uh prepared for cooling season at this building you might have noticed it's kind of brighter in our hallway uh there was installation of LED lighting in the in the whole building um HVAC cooling tower work work was done um archives were we have an archive room back in here that was all straightened up because we'll be receiving iPad delivery of 1,00 iPads very soon um and then the eclipse glasses were uh received and distributed to each of the schools to prepare for the eclipse I believe it was on April 8th um at the Middle School uh there was painting that was done in hallways in a prep room uh the kitchen storage room was stripped and waxed more HVAC worked uh Furniture was delivered um it'sot of student chairs and teacher chairs and desks throughout the district I mean throughout the school um at oage HVAC work again and districtwide we had the generator inspection and ceiling tiles were removed so while we're off that week they're very busy doing as much as they can do during that time period we take full advantage of the time that that there's no one in the buildings so thank you again to Mr matthys and his staff the next item is Investments as we talked about a few meetings ago we were going start investing money um in CDs at TD Bank and also um in a money market at New Jersey arm and in the interest rates are really great 5.3% for New Jersey arm 5.13% for the others um I checked the statement as of April 30th for New Jersey arm and we've made over $9,000 which is great um of the amount of money that we have we put 17 million which is roughly half of the money that we have to our name um in Investments we still want to keep safe investments in our regular bank accounts as well these are mostly ensured by FDIC all right so that's that so that's encouraging um and then the the next item is a very exciting item our new preschool building you've probably seen the press release and so forth that we closed on the preschool building uh which is at 250 haddenfield Berlin Road uh it was a long time in the process as I mentioned earlier tonight we were um approved for the preschool education Aid back in September of 22 and at that point we knew that we would have to find space for 500 students um in October of 22 um we started looking for building space or or also looking to see if we should build on to what we already have uh Mr Mattis came across a building in Gibbsboro on 561 which is Hadfield Berlin Road we looked into that but we also searched throughout vor's Township to see if we could find something and nothing matched what we were looking for as much as the building in gibso so we started that process in October of 22 um finally um in May of 23 we had a special meeting on May 30th that was that approved the purchase agreement of the building but from May 30th of 23 until February of 24 it took that long to get approval because the application was submitted to the Department of Ed office of school facilities and we also apply for the grant on the same day so on May 30th of last year we applied for the land acquisition and also for the for the grant but the department I'm sorry the office of school facilities does take a lot of time to review things they have a lot of different applications and maybe not a lot of staff and they're very thorough with their whole analysis so it did take a long time for their approval we also had to go to planning board meetings at Gibbsboro since it was not in our town so we went to a planning board meeting in uh July of 23 and also in March of 24 and we most recently went April of 24 um so after all of these different approvals and the success of getting the grant we were able to go to settlement on April 25th to buy the building it's going to be called the Vorhees early childhood development center uh the next day April 26 we advertise for bids for the renovation of the project on on May 7th we will have our pre-bid meeting at the site where people that are interested in bidding on the renovation will'll walk through it and ask questions of our architect and get to see it firsthand and then we'll open bids and this is kind of like great timing we're opening the bids on May 30th which is um what I said one exactly one year since we approved the purchase agreement to buy the building so it's strange how dates work out that way but it's exactly one year to the day uh so that took a little longer than we thought but we're just very thrilled to have it and very excited to move forward so if all goes well with the bids that we receive we hope to award a bid on June 10th and then start construction or renovation soon therea um we're going to host uh a community Forum on June 17th at 7 pm at VMS theater and that is really to address any questions about preschool and the upcoming construction and that'll be open to anybody that would like to come whether they're in Gibbsboro or Vorhees anybody that has any questions is welcome to come to that Forum so we'll be posting more about that so thank you very much and I hope you can U understand our excitement in this whole process thank you now thank you um it's another wonderful achievement in our district um also miss fery uh thank you miss santor the suspensions has been uploaded okay um superintendence report okay good evening everyone um I'll try to be very quick um at the February 28th board meeting a concern was raised regarding funding of the drama club so on March 21st I had a meeting with the drama club director and after deliberation the district agreed to finance the annual rental expenses for the sound system and lights amounting uh to approximately $5,600 so we have agreed uh to do that each year we extend our gratitude to the drama club's faculty students and parents for their dedicated efforts and express our commitment to support the club's Endeavors to make sure that our students have a wonderful drama experience we had a preschool Fair last night so I want to thank some of the staff members are here tonight who was uh there last night uh from 4 to 7: PM we interviewed a total of 46 candidates uh just for our preschool program uh so it was a wonderful experience and we found some really wonderful candidates as Miss Haley mentioned we advertised for con a construction vendor on April 26 and we hope to open the building next year we we're uncertain about the date that the building will be open we will not know that until we appoint a vendor who will then give us an approximate date so due to the competitive teacher Market the uh New Jersey Department of Education has given the district verbal permission to hire staff for the 24 25 school year to hire half the staff that's needed for our preschool building which is approximately eight teachers and eight uh instruction Associates uh so we'll be able to hire them commencing on September 1st this evening's agenda includes the consideration of two teachers and one instructional Associates so we're not quite there at half yet uh we do have quite a few resumes to go through from last night so our plan is to pair these staff members with our preschool staff in both district and provider sites to give them hands-on experience starting September 1st until the building opens additionally these staffs can serve as substitutes when preschool uh staff are absent it's important to note that the preschool educa or expansion aid funds all of our preschool salaries with no impact on the general budget I have submitted a letter to the commissioner of educ of Early Childhood requesting permission to hire all of the staff for the Early Childhood Department Center by September 1st and I have not received a response that letter just went out on Friday given the current competitive teacher Market hiring staff after September 1st may prove challenging and we want to have a full staff in time for the opening of the building so at this time we are going to hire half the staff needed for the building with hopes that we will get permission to hire the entire staff we have received uh the budget from the um preschool grant for all of the staff so we just want to be able to hire them before the building open so that's what we're going to ask from permission for uh delayed opening we're going to have a change in our delayed opening schedule for next year instead of doing the 90 minute delay we're going to com um align ourselves with all the other school districts and it's going to be a two-hour delay parents are being notified through the teacher uh through the principal's newsletters and um through my newsletter as well so we're going to move to a two-hour delayed opening starting next year uh we had take your sons and daughters to workday for the second time in in um in the last few years it was wonderful on April 2 5th staff members brought their children and had exciting time I want to announce that today is principal and substitute appreciation day so we do have one of our principles here U Miss tadley so um happy principal Day to all of our principles and to all of our substitutes we thank you teacher appreciation is next week and of course um Miss Watson said it so eloquently we value and appreciate all of our teachers nurses day is May 8th and so again we want to say to our nurses thank you as well I am proud proud of our initiatives to offer clubs to our elementary students and I'm appreciative for all those wonderful staff members who serve as Club advisers for next year we plan to run clubs for marking periods two and three and I just want to just give you an overview of the clubs that we offer because they're absolutely wonderful at ET Hamilton with Miss tley is the principal we have a science club a writing with Taylor Swift Club I I love that one um a pastel drawing Club Hamilton Hawk Art Club drama club and a Harry Potter book club and all our students can be involved and all our fourth and fifth grade students Crescent Elementary has a drama club a computer Club a steam club sports and gaming club and a gardening club at oage we have a super study skills Club a health club the golden ticket Reading Club brain teaser Club restart your love of reading book club and a Ste a stem club and at Signal Hill we have a chess club a newspaper club and a public speaking Club so we're very proud of those clubs our children enjoy being them so thank you to all our staff and principles have their budget for next year and we'll be running the clubs again next year so boy president that ends my report thank you uh policy uh we're on to committee reports Mrs Stewart can I get a policy committee update yes the policy committee met for an hour on April 25th Dr Hackett Mr moscit and board members Julie Kover Julian biry and I were present for first read we discussed the following revised policies and regulations policy 6700 Investments policy and regulation 7610 vandalism policy and regulation 8630 bus driver bus Aid responsibility policy 9323 notification of juvenile offender case disposition for second read we discussed the following policy 0155 board committees regulation 2200 curriculum content policy 2340 field trips policy in regulation 2423 by ual education policy and regulation 24 31.4 prevention and treatment of sports related concussions and head injuries regulation 5440 5440 honoring student achievement policy 5750 Equitable Educational Opportunity policy 5841 secret societies we also discuss policy 01 64.1 conduct with board members during public meetings and discuss adding related content to our board handbook which we'll continue working on for the future policy 01 64.2 request for information by board meet by board members and we're re revamping saying for possible adoption in our district and protocols for artificial intelligence thank you thank you this is Rudder can I get an update from the academic Excellence Committee of course on April 10th the academic Excellence committee met for one hour it was Dr Hackett Mr MOS with uh Jennifer bran Stewart Julie Kover Richard Rosen um and myself we discussed we also discussed artificial intelligence um guidance that was a document prepared by Mr Taylor we went over the after school clubs that are being offered currently and what it may look like next year uh Mr mosit reviewed data from the past three years for I ready and we talked about fifth grade leadership opportunities at all of the elementary schools and we talked a about a pilot program um specifically for second graders that is potentially going to be run next year that's all thank you so much um Miss fery can I get an update from the technology committee yes so we held our meeting on uh Monday April 29th present was myself Richard Rosen Jacob Rosner and Monica Watson staff president um was Mr mosit we started our conversation uh talking about the um the issue of keyboards for iPads um we were updated that all the MS iPads have recent recently been updated with combination cases that do include keyboards um and that over the summer transition will start um for grades 1 through five uh and unclear yet on how long that timeline will take um for that for that full roll out the committee then turned its attention to the AI protocol document that the other committees also reviewed we applauded the efforts done thus far in creation of the document um but did have some follow-up questions uh and so uh the committee will be meeting again uh to get some of those questions uh and concerns that we had clarified uh and then finally the committee discussed the malfunction of the VMS security system system in January um and we were assured that um that the cause of the malfunction um was they were unable to pinpoint the cause of the malfunction but the steps were taken to hopefully prevent future malfunctions from happening um and like I said the committee will be meeting again soon to address the uh protocol document thanks great thank you audience participation anyone wishing to address the board please approach the side table on the right and write your name and address on the login sheet while the board has limited its ability to respond to the public on matters involving Personnel litigation negotiations and attorney client privilege the board will now hear comments from the public relating to items on the agenda for this board meeting comments are limited to 3 minutes the board will not take action this evening you will be lated you will be notified at some later time by letter electronic mail telephone or in the context of a later board meeting of any action the board does take seeing none comments from the board just a quick comment I I just wanted to uh reiterate uh the uh excitement about the purchase of the new Vorhees Early Childhood Center um and I wanted to extend my heartfelt thanks to Dr hacket miss hiy their staff um for their pivotal roles in making this Vision a reality um I also wanted to thank the board members for their approval and support of this Pro of this purchase um you really with with that approval and support demonstrated our Collective commitment to the future of Education in our community um a special thank you also goes out to our colleagues in Gibbsboro your collaboration and support have been crucial in moving this project forward um The Early Childhood Center in my opinion is more than just a building it's a place where our children will start their educational Journeys where they will learn to explore play and grow and it represents our investment in the Futures and our belief in the power of Education from the earliest stages so thank you um very quickly I just want to thank all of the staff and the audience who have been here all night long I know that this is a super long meeting but I see all of you and I appreciate all of you including those of you that we had we lost yes we saw you I really wanted to say it earlier before everybody started to leave but agreed agreed okay um moving to policy can I get a motion to approve all of the items under policy still moved second online voting is open motion anonymously passes can I get a motion to approve all of the items under curriculum B moved second online voting is open motion unanimously passes can I get a motion to approve all the items under Personnel so moved second online voting is open the motion unanimously passes can I get a motion to approve all of the items under transportation so moved second I have a question about Transportation yes I know we purchased a school bus why aren't we using it well we need CDL Drivers and we have two people currently taking CDL training um we started out with one person that we had but he left the district um that was our transportation coordinator so we have a new one but yes two of our our transportation coordinator and one other staff are taking the CDL classes right now um I think I know the one person already took the test passed the written test is now training behind the wheel um we we're going to hold classes in the summer as well we interview people that were interested in house so we have that in the work so we're we're getting there in the meantime um we do have a maintenance agreement with tnl so they drive our buses around and make sure they're you know charged up and Mr Mattis Al also keeps track of them but it's in the works it's just taking a little while to get the CDL Drivers so is that offered to teachers and staff because I know at Eastern the teachers do it to make extra money yes yeah we put that out we um we have a whole agreement that they would sign and we we sent it out to everyone we did I think we did like a a Google form at one point so we had some interest and then we actually conducted interviews and in the end there were just three people in the whole District that were interested um we were also approached by one of the Local transportation companies that we used to see if maybe we could have an arrangement with them to use their drivers in our buses which we have our actually Amy's looking into that for us um to see if we can how we would go about doing that procurement wise and also what kind of what kind of agreement we would have with them we've also talked to Eastern to see if we could have a shared service agreement with any of their drivers so it's all in the works it's just not there yet yeah yeah unfortunately we just had three people that were interested so we tried but we're getting there yeah we're getting there but thank you thank you online voting is open the motion unanimously passes can I get a motion to approve all of the items under buildings and grounds so moved second online voting is open motion unanimously passes can I get a motion to approve all of the items under Finance so moved second online voting is open there are eight yeses and one abstention from Mrs ster motion passes [Music] um moving to public comment anyone wishing to address the board please approach the side table and write on the write and write your name on your name and address on the login sheet while the board is limited its ability to respond to the public on matters involving Personnel litigation negotiations and attorney client privilege the board will now hear comments from the public comments are limited to three minutes the board will not take action this evening you will be notified at some later time by letter electronic mail telephone or in the context of a later board meeting of any action the board does take hi Marlene Caplan I waited out this meeting because I want to thank somebody and if I waited until next month I wouldn't remember why but I want to thank Dr Hackett um at last month's meeting I asked a question and on my way out Dr alagria gave me information that I did not have and I thank her for it but a few days later Dr Hackett called um and um gave me the information that I wanted and I'm just really impressed with that level of communication and so I thank you very much I Echo that we get many many emails or I get many many emails commending Dr hacket and her responsiveness and how appreciative people in our community are of her responding to questions that are asked at board meeting so thank you for that comment just starting my timer um I just had a couple comments the uh sports program um it's probably one of the most unique things um as a parent of two special needs children just to see your child accepted but not separated um when I pick her up and she sees the kids and she's very sensitive but it's um just as a parent to see that your child is playing with other kids and not singled out um just watching the parents was was enough that made me enjoy bringing my daughter tonight um I also wanted to uh congratulate the retirements we have Linda voria John Shay Dennis manun again um I wanted to give a personal shout out to uh Gina baroi and Colleen Rossy both our colleagues they probably have just shy of 80 years combined my daughters were fortunate to have them but they have lots of things they're going to do in the future um the one I had question on the vandalism regulation um a couple of things as far as the principal or design getting the estimate for the the repairs and stuff I think I don't know if that's the best utilizing to have a principal to know who to ask I'm not sure if there's a different person to could do that but it was um was 7610 C3 ABC so the principal would obtain the estimates for the correction to fix it the principal would present the bills to the I don't think think that should fall under a principle to get payment for vandalism um I just think they have enough stuff in the building I don't think that should fall under that in my opinion um the uh the one problem I had tonight was the the solicitor things I know we're interviewing for jobs but it's diff difficult as a special needs parent to see special needs kids lumped in as it's a million dollars it's this I understand the parameters I understand that but we have a few parents that are special needs and to be considered that we want to do what's best and I know sometimes the the requests are not advantageous and a little out there but to kind of I right to remember that they're children um even though the parent might be very unrealistic what they want to still kind of lump them into that is very difficult as a parent let alone a taxpayer and a teacher um even though I know the point was to sell how we we'll work on it but it was difficult to sit and listen and another friend back there has a special needs child and I'm sure that wasn't the intent but that's how it came across thank you you and thank you for sharing your daughter with us hi um my name is Kristen Stefan I'm here on behalf of the CPAC the CPAC is special education parent advisory group and it's a state-mandated uh District level parent driven group charged with providing input uh to the local school district on system level challenges in special education and related Services um we have had the pleasure of working with Dr aliga and Mrs Ross this year um we've had quarterly meetings that have gone well um but we would like to grow our uh our group our parent group so that's why I'm here tonight um to kind of plug the group and also thank them um for helping us and working with us we meet at night and then a week later we kind of follow up with them and go over everything um so we welcome new members and the information is updated on on the school district website uh and it's been done by the child study team and it's located under the special services tab thank you thank you uh any additional board comments are we on board comments yeah okay I will do this fast I know I'm standing in the way of going home um I want to take a moment to acknowledge that may is mental health awareness month this is a time to reflect on the importance of our mental well-being particularly in the fast-paced and often polarizing world we live in today the constant stream of news and social media can sometimes leave us caught in a cycle of outrage affecting not only ourselves but those around us I've noticed this more and more over the last few weeks in our community being outraged and reacting based on inflammatory social media posts and rumor Mills and how vital it is that we strive to listen more and connect on a deeper more human level rather than remaining stuck in moments of anger and isolationism unwilling to talk to those with differing opinions or views on the world than us furthermore as we approach the end of the school year students are facing the pressures of standardized testing which can significantly significantly impact their mental health I know there were some real Jitters and anxiety in our home leading up to these tests I also want to speak to the challenges of serving as a Schoolboard member this role while fulfilling in many ways comes with its own set of stresses and mental health trigger from managing differing opinions to handling various communication Styles personality conflicts and adversarial interactions with little opportunities for our board to interact and get to know one another on a personal basis I've personally felt the impact of board service on my own mental health at times which really came to a head for me in January and I really questioned for a minute there could I go on like this because the toll on my own mental health was making me physically sick I was having trouble sleeping and feeling just really disillusioned and low I'm fairly confident I'm not alone in feeling that way I'm sure other board members have had similar thoughts and struggles but it's not something that's necessarily talked about because of the stigma around mental health recognizing this I've made a conscious effort over the last several months to reduce my social media intake to help Safeguard my own mental well-being and trying to be more deliberate about scheduling in moments of self-care and reflection I've also made changes in the ways that I've made that I think about my various roles as a mother wife board member employee volunteer and citizen in this community and how to be best in those roles I need to step back and think about what is depleting me more than fulfills me and appropriate social media guidelines and limits have been one of the ways that have been working for me and I say working because I'm still working on it and it's still very much a work in progress and I just wanted to talk and encourage others to to consider if a similar step might be right for them as well I'm doing a lot better but I think that it's important to tell our stories about mental health struggles because it's not something to be ashamed of I am proud to I am I am proud to applaud our District's proactive measures related to mental health including the support from car Solis and the dedication of our staff who work tirelessly to ensure the well-being of our students I also commend our efforts in implementing Wellness activities for our facult faculty recognizing the importance of taking care of those who educate and support our students every day lastly I want to remind everyone that it's not never too late to seek help there's absolutely no shame in needing to talk to someone whether it's for yourself or your child we are a community that cares and feels deeply and there are resources available for those who need them again I want to thank our teachers guidance counselors IAS support staff and administration who think and tend not only to academic successes for our students but also the mental health and well-being of our entire School Community thank you we are no longer going going into executive session um any information that we need to provide uh we can do so via email yeah um it's just relating to timelines we will do that um by the end of the week next meeting date is June 10th 2024 um at 7 pm in the admin building um and can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting so moved so moved second all those in favor hi hi yeah [Music]