thank you everybody uh before we uh get started just want everyone to know this is a teacher education educator Appreciation Week did I get it right okay great so we certainly appreciate our uh staff faculty teachers Educators everybody and uh we'll have a little bit more to say about that uh in a few moments but before that um board correspondents do we have any of that okay moving along we have committee reports education education committee defers to strategic planning thank you we have the combined education and strategic plan committee meeting that would be me then go ahead SS we had yeah we as you said we did have a combined strategic plan and education committee meeting um because we were both committees were going to be talking about the same thing um and to avoid having a quorum Mr Morrison um uh gave up his spot and I hopefully you are not hearing this for the first time you were over you were given an overview right okay thank you um the new uh we started Mr Sabino started with by providing an overview of the New Jersey school climate survey Administration and highlights of the 22 and 23 survey results uh we are currently awaiting the 2024 results the survey was provided provided by the rut ruer School climate transformation project in collaboration with The ruer Graduate School of applied and Professional Psychology the survey was implemented in the was first implemented in the 2021 school year to provide an additional means of measuring the impact of the Strategic plan goals in our multi-tiered system of support the survey was given over the past three years to students faculty support staff and parents SLC caregivers and it provides feedback in different domains Mr Sabino uh reviewed the survey domains the timeline of distribution and percentages of participation he also provided the areas of strength the areas of growth and the domains to grow uh Dr jitt asked if the committee wanted that presentation included with a strategic Plan update at the May 21st board meeting or to have a separate presentation uh the committee was in agreement to have a separate presentation in September so we could includ the uh results for 2023 and 2024 um we also talked about the May 21st Board of Ed strategic Plan update uh that's at the next board meeting Dr J discussed the Strategic Plan update that will be given at May 21st board meeting the co-chairs will provide a brief update on each goal and students and student groups will comprise the remainder of the presentation any committee members have anything to add or anybody have any questions thank um again with respect to Personnel a lot of items are discussed in executive session do we have anything uh for public no okay great uh then the last committee report is negotiations and before I hand that over to uh Mr Gall the chairman of negotiations uh I'll steal a little bit of his Thunder and and uh all of it all right all of it it's one of the few perks of being in this seat because there aren't many others um as many of you know we uh have met on several occasions and last Thursday night we had a another long meeting and we proud to announce that we have come to a tentative agreement with the uh with the unions the teachers and the staff and uh we're certainly very excited about that uh and uh we're just working through some of the details and there's the lawyers have to get involved and you know when the lawyers get involved you know things happen but we're moving forward and L go well we'll get it into writing and uh we'll soon be able to ratify that I want to personally thank uh negotiating committee Katherine bill Dan Susan sorry thank you I keep missing somebody uh it was your turn this time yeah sorry about that but uh again they put in some uh long hours we had one meeting that went until uh 12:31 o00 but uh we were committed and again the faculty and the staff they were extremely committed as well and I certainly want to thank them for uh working in the process uh we've been very fortunate uh again we'll have this agreement and a few months ago we ratified uh uh the prior contract which had been sitting around for a couple of years and uh so it's certainly exciting that we're able to uh uh move this process along and uh I think uh at the end of the day everybody is happy that a it's finished uh both parties uh worked aggressively with regard to what they wanted uh there was certainly compromise both sides gave both sides felt some pain but at the end of the day uh personally I believe it's a good fear deal uh and again it's about moving forward it's about the district and it's about everyone working together so I'm happy to see that's coming to fruition with that said Dan do you have anything further to add I do actually I'd like to take this time to thank Michael very much for heading up the board during negotiations no um seriously uh first off I'm really happy that negotiations are over that's number one they're not easy uh they're personal um and everyone really tries their best to make the best deal that everyone can do according to their representation I think that's what happened um I think there's also something that happened during the negotiations and I'm hoping I see Greg um in the audience here I'm hoping that uh the relationship between the board and the teachers grows and moves forward um I personally look forward to that I think there was some stunted relationship growth over the last two years uh due to the contract not being completed and I think this allows us to move past that into um something where we can work together so I look forward to that and I want to really thank Susan Bill and uh Catherine and Michael there were some really long nights and um Liz Bill and Nicole did an excellent job uh Beyond excellent and I really appreciate that and um when all's Tim Yeah Tim sorry um and uh I appreciate that very much and uh it's not easy and we got it done and I um again I think it's a good thing thank you okay great Dan does anyone any questions even though we can't tell the spe yeah we have no answers because we can't give at any specifics okay Mr President yes sir just a quick update on the uh regionalization um so just for uh just for the public uh we at the last meeting we announced the the the formation of the regionalization um uh the shared services regionalization feasibility study working group uh that group met uh in late April uh and we are planning uh a um a uh virtual information session for May the 20th at 7 pm uh it'll be for about an hour uh you can register uh online at the watchong Hills uh website the address uh there's a new web page that we've created uh for this oh very good a new web page that's been created with that has the information regarding the study that we're going to be using to share information uh out with the general public as this moves forward uh but the URL is the Watchung Hills do or whrhs.org Ford District SL board- of- education SL feasibility Das study an email is going to be going out to the community the information's going to be shared with the news media all of our partner organizations uh in with the other boards of education and the other municipalities will be sending this information out as well uh including a link to be able to register uh and I would encourage our board members to use your own channels to make sure this information is out there but this will be the first information session uh outlining the process for the feasibility study uh and it will allow for questions and answers during that uh during that particular meeting and it'll be the first of many public sessions that we will be holding uh over the next year or so uh in support of this project so with that uh any questions or anything you wouldn't want to add to it Dr jitt you did an excellent job if you go to our district Tab and our board page you'll see feasibility study on there um this is actually when you click on the registration link this is what it brings you to um and we also do have a list of the do it of the advisory committee members uh on here as well and I'm also going to add the presentation once I make I'm able to make those few edits to it from our meeting so that is our advisory but thank you and I uh Mr Morrison has done a great job of moving this along and corralling you can see that the advisory committee has people from all five Boards of Ed um all five townships uh administrative Representatives so it's not easy to Corral us all together and get us all to meet so I think even just planning that initial meeting and getting everyone there was actually a huge accomplishment um but I think you've done a great job getting this off the ground so uh now we'll keep moving forward yeah thanks again Bob really appreciate it and certainly invite everybody to uh take a look at the uh you know to join that link and at 7 pm on that May 20th uh if you're not able to um I'm sure it's going to be available and I also think that we will probably put an FAQ on once uh you know you know what the important topics recorded as well it will be recorded they can there'll be a link where they can play it back and there'll be additional information will constantly be added to this particular page so that the they can bookmark it and come back and we you know as part of our commitment to be fully transparent with our communities all the information is going to be shared from from this website right right thanks again Bob is there a deadline to register by you could register up till 6:59 I think on that night that's how much we want people there right Andy I don't think there's any issue right okay just making sure as I say that yes I know good thing we have him there's not going to be a live appearance there's not going to be what a live session so no this will be live this will be live and then if but no but is the is so group getting together no it will all be yes it will all be virtual and if anyone has questions we're going to do that using the chat feature um because because it will be set up webinar style where it'll just be the presenters that are able to speak but we will be Fielding questions um through a chat okay if there's nothing further we'll move into there are any other committees that I've overlooked that we're not started and I apologize for that okay first opportunity for public comment the first public comment period will be limited to agenda items for this meeting only the second public comment period will be open to any topic all comments are limited to 5 minutes do we have any comments at this point first round okay seeing none we I'll close the first round the public comments and uh we will be with you shortly with the second round uh board discussion future action items are there any discussion with regard to these items anybody okay let's move on uh Mr President I'd like to move items A1 through A4 any comments or discussion with regard to A1 through A4 can I pull A3 for a separate vote please it's a motion to amend do I have a second for that second all those in favor I I okay uh let's take A1 A2 and A4 then any discussion with respect to those items okay let's do a roll call on those please Mr maio yes Mr Gall yes Miss Lee yes Mr mayek yes Mr Morrison yes sober yes Potter yes rasa yes trur yes and Mr bber yes motions Carri uh Mr President I'd like to move item A3 is there a second okay uh we will discuss that in in a moment or we're discussing now I'm just going to lead off with the discussion I have certainly reviewed the policies as I'm sure everyone has reviewed the policies tonight we're on for second reading um I know there's been some discussion with respect to how our policies are being reviewed uh how we go about it there's basically two options which we've discussed in the past one option to have a is to have a policy committee where that committee sole function is to view all the policies the other approach which we have done since I've been on the board and if not before that has been to take the various policies that uh deal with say education matters or deal with operations matter deal with Personnel matter and let those committees specifically vet out uh any issues or discussions that's warranted uh one of the reasons for doing that is that the people that may be directly involved in those area are available so say it's an operations thing uh the director of operations is available and it comes to those meetings if it's education uh you curriculum supervisor uh those individuals are there so it it allows for some feedback from them in effect they're on the ground dealing with some of the issues with respect to policy obviously uh Dr J you know Mr sty they're directly involved with those issues as well so that's one of the reasons why we've done it this way I know there's been some discussion to go back to that go back to having a policy Committee in general we certainly can entertain that I'm not saying that I am personally against it but uh I just want the public and the rest of the board to understand the pros and cons of doing it that way so in so that's policy and whether to have a specific committee with regard to these policies the five that are up for uh second read uh again um most of them are mandated by the state and the question that seems to have come my way and we can further discuss it is whether our policies are perhaps uh overreaching or over Brad with regard to the uh specific policy I'm just talking about at this point 6A D 6A colon 7-1 or seven that deals with managing for equity and education which is a state law which specifically States stipulates it's what we have to do and any policy that we adopt a has to be consistent with this policy um so those are my general comments with respect to policies uh but anyone else have any comments or thoughts or questions go ahead Lisa yes please if we could uh break it up because I did uh appreciate um how the attorney with regard to 1140 really flushed it out and made it for a l person and a parent who might look to a policy for guidance made it concise and very direct and easy to understand um so I would ask if we could take apart A3 because some I'm verting affirmative on and some I'm not if that's possible okay sorry I don't have an issue with that why don't we there's five policies people have comments on each why don't we comment or discuss each one in order and uh if there's let's just discuss each one in order and then we can see we can certainly separate out the vote are are there Mr President are there any on here that are not controversial well what I believe in terms of the comments I received I believe 1140 and 8600 didn't folks did not give feedback on 1140 was the one we worked on from the last meeting and transportation I think there were no concerns with either now I I wanted on 1140 I wanted to have see if we could have the definition of Equitable what it means right now put into there that's the one Mark revised he doesn't have I thought he put that in there I thought no just just the actual definition as the state says it now we just want to see if we can add that into the actual into the actual policy policy just in case that definition changes in the future we want to make sure we we're approving the definition as it is now can I just read to what so this is that the document um NJ AC managing Equity yeah sorry sorry so it just that says Equity means all students have the opportunity to master the goals of the curriculum in an educational environment that is fair just and impartial to all individuals Equity focuses on consistent assist and systematic access for all students to curriculum resources instruction and environments that sustain opportunities for excellent outcomes um I I agree with that that's excellent and I like the idea that it keeps saying opportunities it said and that's what Mark added to the policy that's why I thought we were good with that okay he did he does have that in here it says all students shall have the opportunity to master the goals it's in the second paragraph of 1140 because that was the direct feedback I gave him after we I never saw that version I thought he just said that that was what the I know that he put it [Music] iny so with that said are we good with 1140 and again is there any issue with 8600 okay um let's just discuss 1523 and then we'll come back to voting comments with respect to 1523 which is entitled comprehensive Equity plan which is a plan that we have to establish or Administration I should say has to establish so there's guidelines in there go ahead Lisa in front of what I'm just looking for she looking for it and I see that you have copies can yes yeah let me I'll pull it up on here I just want to make notes on there I think I'm looking at an older version of I know so she's got the newer version if you want to take a look oh that no that one I'm okay with I was looking to the other version of others you have a couple copies I just him we're talking about them one at a time I I get it sorry I Mis are we on the same page that we're talking about 1523 now or no just so we're all clear she was talking about something different I thought I was talking about the next one down I was looking for the newest version of that oh so we're okay 1523 comments questions concerns yes Lisa yes thank you if Carol needs that she can take that paper copy that's fine you can keep that yes leis I'm sorry um I just so we are the Board of Ed and it ju the language was it the first line struck me the Board of Education shall complete I so that means that we're writing this and composing it I emailed as you know you and Liz and I just thought some of the language should be changed to you know the board shall direct request that the C be developed the way the first line reads it says the Board of Ed shall complete so so um what's in the code like that's so what Mark said we could change that too he actually did get back to me tonight because I sent him all the everyone's comments yeah um and so he said what we could do is like you we could change the language to the board of education or a committee thereof I'll collaborate with the superintendent and the affirmative action team but the code actually says the board shall for the comprehensive Equity plan it's all the a lot of the stuff is the board but we can he you know he gave us suggestions for adjusting that if that makes everyone feel more comfortable um we can do that again the code specifically the way I read it 6A col 7-1-4 and I think this is what you're referring to Lisa C each District Board of Education shall develop once every three years a comprehensive Equity plan so it specifically says that's what the law says I I get it and I'm now sitting on this board and I didn't even know we had this plan nor do I know the contents of it this is why this is hard for me to reconcile I I believe this is new the equity plan is new so you know what if you want Miss Carol can speak to that we we're Miss it's one of those that we um we're still waiting for more information on when we're supposed to submit it which we think is going to be imminent yet we haven't really gotten much guidance on that correct so I'll let Miss Carol speak to some of that a little bit with the comprehens of equity plan we have one from 2019 2020 which would have taken you through three years however last year the Department of Education said hey everybody hold on you don't need to submit one for this year we're going to kind of wait on it so we just you know extend it so now everyone in in the world of personnel is kind of like do we need to submit one in June um that kind of idea but with the comprehensive Equity plan it starts with A needs assessment and it's very scripted from the state so just an example of like number one on there that they ask us you have to answer yes or no if you're in compliance the first one is saying um equality and equity and this is the old one so there may be new language and the newer one but equality and equity in school and classroom practices that shall as a minimum do the following identify and address all forms of prejudice and discrimination in all district Charter and Renaissance school project programs um practices curricula that's just item one so what we put as our documentation that we do that as a district is 1140 affirmative action program from February 27th 2017 polic board policy 1523 comprehensive Equity plan board policy 2260 affirmative action program regulation 2260 affirmative action program for school and classroom practices uh policy 5750 so I can keep we just kind of list all of our evidence then it goes to item you know item 1B which is asking you about um equal ensure equal access to all school facilities programs activities and benefits and so what we do is we work with the affirmative action team within the school we go through each item and we list board policies sometimes it's more than board policies like for example um one of this talks one of the items says do you provide staff development to ensure that all Equity requirements are in compliance with njac 6 A7 1.6 and one of our evidence pieces is that the district provides four days of Staff Development each school year an ongoing professional development for staff as needed and then sites board policy 1140 once you're done with the needs assessment anything that you wrote no for compliance you have kind of extra work in your comprehensive Equity plan anything that you answered to Yes um is not something that's not addressed in the equity plan thank you very much I just saw all that that you cited and just one second least if I may sure and we'll get right back to you just want to reiterate that we as the board have the right at any time to abolish a policy to rewrite a policy edit a policy so even if we agree to this policy tonight that does not bind for the next 100 years what the policy is in theory next week or at the next meeting policy can be abolished and then we can start again so I don't want anyone to think that whether we agree or not agree or we approve it I should say that we are then bound that again our policy book our policy manual is a fluid uh set of rules just like any government statutes are and uh and they have to be because the state changes their rules and then we're bound to follow the rules uh sorry go ahead at least I apologize no thank you very much for that that's exactly I had no idea what this document was where it was didn't know if it was then made to the public I I didn't know any of this um I so is that so the one from 2019 and because then it says in line item number four of the policy the board shall submit the C to the executive county superintendent so can I assume so I obviously the board did not submit it so we we submit a lot of things to our County like superintendent so that's something thing where we have a a cover letter um from Dr jitt it goes to Dr Jinx and then we put our comprehensive Equity plan to him for approval but we have to just so you know that language and we have to show those resolutions as well it says that the board submits it it says it in the code just so you know and when that cover letter is sent it just it it doesn't like list Dr J and the Board of Ed it's Dr jitt as the CSA the chief well there's there's other evidence that we have to submit with that like board resolutions related to the comprehensive Equity plan we also have to show board policy that relates to any of those items that we're saying we in compliance with so I think you know that's a lot of the the board's role in that is that there's work done um as part of the comprehensive plan so that we have things to site for each of our one thing we pie could do if it may makes if the board's in agreement with it we can say the bo anywhere that you're uncomfortable it just says the board even though that's what it says in the code we can say the board in collaboration with the superintendent you want something like that but that's I'm just putting that out there b so just um just out of curiosity and correct me if I'm wrong it's my understanding that the reason why we are having to review this policy um is because the State Board of Education reviewed and updated this back in in uh August um and as a result so the question I have for you um uh Nicole is has the state provided you with updated documentation to that so that the language in the document is in alignment with what the new policy is that the state put forward this so that's a great question if you look at their website the last one that they'll have there is the this current school year so we're all waiting for that next link for 2425 to show up in the past it's had to be submitted um like like in the area of June or before the start of school so we're kind of waiting um for more guidance from the doe as to what happens next so this is this is a classic example of the State uh in their Infinite Wisdom uh playing the game of uh ready fire aim um they they race out with a what at the time was a very controver um update uh it had split split conversation on the board of ed it created outrage from members of our state legislature um the board in the State Board instead of revisiting it and taking their time even though it was a very split vote race this through and then they're racing it through again and they still haven't provided any guidance to our district on how to implement this thing yet they're they're jamming this down everybody's throats and I just I I have a really hard time with the way that uh the Department of Education continues to operate in complete ignorance of what we have to do at the district level um this is unconscionable that they're they're they're they're hoting this on the districts yet they're not providing the information or support to the districts that they need in order to make informed decisions about this I I'm you know I I'm just I I cannot express how angry this makes me the way this department of education is functioning and and the the way that they just turn a blind eye to what the needs the actual needs are of boards of Education in order to provide proper oversight and guidance for the education of our students it is embarrassing it is appalling and they should be ashamed of themselves thank you one second Lisa uh we'll go back no I'm was going to say and it gives me a lot less headache if they knew how to do their job because I'm this is I'm trying to cover us because you know when this will come there'll come something one or a few little instances during the year where we'll have to go to policy and it's this that should be reviewed and they'll threat and they'll threaten the school district with the attorney general just like they did with other school districts so the question I have for Liz state law is in effect at all time we're always Bound by state law regardless of what our policies say we adopt policy versus just saying we adhere to the state of New Jersey Law which would eliminate almost all of our policies but we can't do that because qac says no that's no good so the question is if we hold off on these three which are all related and they're existing my knowled 6A and they're existing policies so it's not that we're not going to have them we're just holding off on the updates right and there's a state law that dictates what has to be done anyway and we're certainly in no way saying we're going to violate state law that's certainly not the intent at all but the question is with respect to cusac what is our timing with respect to approving these three matters uh while the state in effect gets their act together can we delay this or are we on a a set deadline because qac will either come in or see we there's really two things in addition to qac there is our annual audit I believe that some of the policies uh you know they look for certain policies as well um so and I can't speak to that as in in as much detail as Tim but those are kind of the two things outside of you know also wanting to make sure we have the policies to refer to which but as Lisa pointed out before it's helpful if they're in terms that when people are reading them they can actually understand uh non-educators you know trying to look at our policies but it's the qac piece which we went through qac this year we don't have our official letter and score yet so if anyone from the doe is watching this meeting you know they could deduct points but um I think um but you know so we're so we're fine right now there's not any I'm sure um no so so we went through that this year already um you know what we even when we don't go through the full monitoring every year we have to sign a statement of a Insurance saying that we're in compliance um but we've done all of that for this year so it's not that we're under the the gun to you know get this done tonight and again our audit isn't imminent um so we have time for that as well but those are kind of the those are the two main checks and balances so to speak to make sure we have all of all of these pieces um and the other piece would be um if anything you know legal comes up um where we're in litigation for some reason a lot of times they look to see what types the policies we have in place so that's the other thing to remember but again we have these policies in place we're just not we just wouldn't be doing the updates right now so we would be fine you know with regard to that so that is one other piece with the policies because they you know if we have any kind of um legal matter you know they often do look to see what policies the district has in place um to govern us and I just want to reiterate for the public why we keep talking about the qack and the audit and what that really means it's not not double secret probation if we don't do well the state has the right to come in and in effect take over the district and they've certainly done that in other districts and that is not what we want certainly not what we need uh we are a high performing District we are a district that you know from all accounts are districts that people want to come to they want to be educated here the people who work here want to work here and the last thing you want is the state to come in and be a disruptor because that's what the state would do so that's why that's important um Lisa I'm sorry I may have interrupted you at some point it's okay thank you and just to be clear then so for 1523 the one we're currently discussing the C we can't even update it because they're waiting for the state to tell inform you how to updated or what's required on the website did I understand that correctly or I mean it comes up at every single one of my County meetings we're asking because my biggest fear is in their usual style you know June 2nd they'll tell us it's due June 30th and needs to be board approved so you know I'll end up scrambling to get it done get we we wouldn't even be able to to complete it at this point though in terms of that's what all the soups were talking about because you need to do A needs assessment you need to have your committee look at it it's not something that Nicole sits in office and writes up so I don't know how they would and what'll be great is if they extend it over the summer because you know everyone's available in the summer right to work on these things so so if they extend it to August 30th um you know I'm going to flip because we obviously don't have all of our affirmative action team members here in the summer the package that gets sent is really dependent on time like I think that's what Dr J is saying so the package that we send to them based on the old you know outline of of of what they're asking for is the statement of assurance the resolution appointing the affirmative action officer traditionally the board does that in June so I mean we're already scheduled to do that a resolution authorizing the affirmative action team to conduct the needs assessment and develop a comprehensive Equity plan resolution authorizing the submission of the proposed comprehensive Equity plan the list of affirmative action team members comprehensive Equity plan needs assessment and the comprehensive Equity plan form so I mean the policy relates to the needs assessment because we're you know we need to cite the board policies that we have thank you Nicole what I'm going to suggest at this point is that 1523 1530 and 1550 be uh in effect sent back to the Personnel committee for a little further review and perhaps a little further time uh may help us get some information from the state and U so there's a motion that's if everyone's good with that we can change the motion and just look to adopt 114 I'm okay with just going ahead and voting on everything okay there there's there's a motion on the table there's a motion pending with regard to approving A3 is there a motion to amend it just to approve I'll make the motion to approve one second okay to amend the previous to table the other ones well we'll do that as well we'll do that next first we're going to amend the motion the amended motion gets approved or not appr and then you vote on the amended and then we'll do the other okay um is there a second to stand okay let's do a roll call Tim with respect to 1140 and 88600 are we are they voting on the motion to amend or voting on no no they're voting on the motion to amend and the polici right I'm sorry too no no all those in favor of that motion to amend to amend is say I if you're in favor of do a roll call do a roll call on just point of order just a point of order I just want to be clear what the amendment is saying again because it's we've gone around yeah we're amending it so that we're voting on 1140 and 8600 in separately first yes that's the amendment correct okay okay Mr maio yes Mr Gall yes Mr Lee Yes mayor yes Morrison yes Miss obber no proa yes oh sorry Miss Potter no uh okay M trumpour no Mr Burber what I oh sorry yes I apologize in the beginning yes apologize so the motion so that that yeah that that's good 64 I got right she who was the yes I was yes okay sorry no you should have counted the no or I got tricked with amended amend so it's amended so now we can vote on 114 right so this a vote for to approve 1140 and 8600 right okay Mr maio yes Mr Gall yes M Lee yes Mr May yes on 8600 no on 1140 okay Mr Morrison yes sober yes Potter yes pra yes tror yes and Mr Burber yes motions carry or motion carries make a motion to table 1523 1530 1550 for for the purp I'll just make it for purposes of discussion second do we need a roll call for that then yes I just have a question could you just remind everybody what the ramifications are of tabling this not do you mind I'm sorry do you mind yeah no hold on this amendment is strictly whether we're going to have the vote to table this is not the motion this is not the vote to table this is a motion to vote on whether we should vote on table so this yes just a motion that's what the last motion that's what the last one did isn't this the motion to table yeah this is the motion table yeah that's what I thought Dan was saying I thought well the last one we amended it Michael's correct because there's A3 on the table right now right so we amended to take out 114 600 had a vote on that now we have to amend A3 to uh again at for 1523 15350 because they were part of the original motion so it is just the motion to whether we're GNA vote to take well she still wants I'm assuming you want to know if it does go through the table what are the ramifications correct that will be happening Dr in a second yes fair enough so I have to look back at the original versions but the um the changes to the original policies were not that um significant we're I mean the discussion from the board is to actually change not change it's not against what the the new changes are it's there you know the comments are on what the original policy is that we still have an existence so um it what the the comments that people made in terms of their OB objections weren't to the edits to the policy they were to the existing policy so not approving those edits is not going to have you know huge ramifications for us at this point um not that I can foresee so so the original policies will still be in place okay thanks okay yeah Susan just and for the board's purpose is as long as you don't stray from the law you know you're fine but when that's where you got to be careful because if you stray from what the federal government or the state government wants in that policy in terms of what they have in the law that's when you're when it's tied to a funding that's where it gets trouble for example eate eate wants specific policy language and they will ask you for it and if you don't give it to them you may have trouble you know there's so there's you know there's idea there's Esa there's all kind of fundings that there are and so every if they come do an audit they're going to want to see this this and this in policy Tim delaying this one meeting will that have any effect no no because because right now knock on wood we're not being audited right but that's the ramification in time is that's what it would be anything further roll call okay Mr maio yes Mr Gall yes Miss Lee yes Mr marich yes Mr Morrison no Miss obber no Miss Potter no Miss pra yes Miss trumpour no and Mr brunberg yes okay I got 64 the amendment passes the amendment pass now got V yeah I'm running out of room is well is there a motion now to the motion was already amended okay okay right motion now the vote ising Miss dagio yes Miss Gall Mr Gall Miss Lee yes Mr Mar yes Morrison no Miss obber no Miss Potter no Miss pra yes Mr trur no and Mr mber no okay well that does not 5 five that's five5 it's defeated right nothing passes okay disa a move Point nothing happened uh Mr President I'd like to move items C1 through c14 comments or discussions roll call Mr maio yes Mr Gall yes Miss Lee Yes me yes Mr Morrison yes Miss sober yes Potter yes pra yes trur yes and Mr Burber yes carries Mr President I they move items D1 and D2 second comments or discussions roll call please Mr maio yes Gall yes Miss Lee yes Mr marich yes Morrison yes sober yes Potter yes fra yes shour yes Mr Burber yes motions carry okay this is the second opportunity for public comment uh comment about anything is now allowed do we have any public comment okay I see none is there any other business that anyone like to bring up today yes yes who said yes sorry Catherine I want to discuss about forming a policy committee um I I think it we have nothing to lose by forming it if it doesn't work it can always be just disbanded and I think maybe it would we' get a lot more of this information out there instead of you know spending this time going through everything I just I don't know what you have to do to go ahead and form it or see if people are interested in it okay then wave it could I could I address it um I agree with Katherine uh having worked years ago on a policy committee a lot of the nuts and bolts get settled in committee it's just a very practical way I mean you still end up with a big discussion sometimes but an awful lot of stuff gets resolved early and painlessly really so I'm in favor also of a policy committee which Michael knows because I think I volunteered for it at The First beginning of the year when it didn't exist so my first question is and everyone else above and then I'll have a question so as as the last board member that chared a policy committee uh and actually was the was the committee that oversaw the revision of every single policy in this District where we started from the beginning and went through every single one A to Z to bring them up to date so that we would be fully in compliance um I can tell you that um I the there's a theory of how it works and then there's the reality of how it works and the reality is that anything that touches on a particular committee that committee got very involved with so if there was a policy on operations it didn't matter what the policy committee said you know we would say well we want to bring this forward well then all of a sudden there's an operations discussion and so what ends up happening is it ended up actually bogging things down and the reason why we abolished the committee and just decided to send the uh policies to the relevant committees was so that we would be more efficient with the use of time and so that the people that were uh on committees touch ing a particular policy they had the opportunity at the beginning to go through that process so I'm not sure how a policy committee is going to change the number of questions or the discussion that goes on at this particular table because invariably somebody's you know is not going to be a part of that discussion when it comes up to this table so I'm just I'm sharing my experience um that's not to say that I'm I'm vehemently opposed to it um but just from a practical matter based on experience I don't think that it's the best use of everybody's time given the amount of time that we're spending on other issues but that's only that's one person's opinion I just wanted to share that um uh I hear you but I'm my experience for the last three and a half years is that in subcommittee we really don't take the policies apart we why is that that's the question why is there a failure maybe maybe that's the charge I don't know why the answer is but I know when things come up we we just seem to oh okay they just seem to fly through we don't really dissect them the way a policy committee used to so that's so so that goes to the discussion with respect to what I originally brought up was to have every committee being uh committee by the whole which was shot down by most people I'm not sure why we're chuckling because we just stated or Carol I'm sorry has just stated that our po our committees are not functioning properly when it comes to policy I'm certainly not happy to hear that uh not being on the Committees are being uh uh what's the term that I'm on you're ex official ex official I thank you uh so the fact that I am hearing that perhaps the Committees are not functioning properly with respect to the policies that are geared directly to them and one of the benefits is that everybody has has an opportunity to chime in and discuss certain policies cuz I've split there's uh everyone's on one of those main committees so they all have an opportunity to chime in with respect to a committee and as with chime in with respect to policy and as Bob said that if there's an education policy and there's four or five people that are discussing that and if there's then an issue the other five are going to then further discuss it so there's always going to be two shots at the Apple with respect that and then if there was a policy committee we still have that same problem so we always have that issue where there's five people that are involved and five people who are not involved and there just always going to be an ongoing debate sorry can I just make an observation on the P so the one thing and and this goes to what Carol said about something not working with the folks that and I'm just making an observation it's not like the policy goes through the committee and that committee recommends it to the board and then it's the folks not on the committee voting against it it's folks on the committee that the policies went through that are voting against it on second read I'm just pointing out I so that's where I you know am am having trouble understanding that because and I'll you know I blame us for that if we're we're somehow not having that Forum at the committee meeting because you know so these will go back to Personnel Comm committee um but a lot of the questions that were brought up were brought up by Personnel committee members so that's on us to look at okay how are we not soliciting that conversation during the committee meeting because again it's not that it's coming to the board and it's folks who weren't on the committee that are asking a lot of questions it's the people that were on the committee that discussed it list if I could just make a comment to that I think um we do need to uh just acknowledge that the all the Committees and each member member spends an enorm amount of time in committees and other meetings especially when we some of us actually have jobs and other things so the idea that some things slip through the cracks and then get picked up in the in the general meeting I don't know that that's a great I don't know if it's it rises the level of crisis in terms of the committee's not working no I'm just I'm just daating that as an observation of I'm not sure how to fix that or and I'm not I'm not placing blame you guys get an inordinate amount of information from us this is our full-time job this is not your full-time job and you get a lot of info just say one the one thing that I'm struggling with and I I got to believe the other people are because I'm Semite technical illiterate illiterate I should say is the new email system it takes me like 10 minutes to log in it takes forever to respond to it um it really bogs down when you when you need to just go do you know do your work real quickly it's really difficult um maybe I'm not saying that that's a reason but it does take up a lot of time so you know when that that is hampering some of the um yes Jan is it actually on the agenda I don't really remember like seeing Hy on any of the committee agendas they're not on everyone but when they're on there we list them the policies and the numbers I think maybe let's make more of a point of like making sure there sorry be on agenda and you know to discuss it why don't we try that first and if it doesn't work out we could revisit the discussion yeah because a lot of them were on the agendas for a committee read them went through them if you didn't have an issue with it you really didn't talk about it but if you did have an issue and didn't realize that maybe this is where I need to stop and say hey I have an issue to discuss not that I read it we've discussed it and then we come to a meeting and then it's the first that everybody on that committee's heard that there's oh you had an issue why didn't you say anything two days ago or three days ago when we were on it so maybe just making that extra point of and maybe spending more time during the committee report which is usually you know around I guess that's when we put it on for first read um maybe we need to make sure we spend some more time at the board meeting highlighting the changes to because I think a lot of the time too you may not it may not resonate until you actually sit down and read through it again and look at it all because again you you get a a lot of information your board packet the committee meetings every it's a lot of information um so whatever we can do to help that uh you know we're happy to so if we need to change any processes with that hopefully the emails on your phones is working a little bit better it is what if on I know it's it's pretty obvious when you open it up it's you know cross out is the old stuff underlines the new stuff but maybe a summary before we go into the meeting to say hey the goal of the changes we're seeing is to do this so maybe that then so we do that Ed committee I don't know if we do that for all the other committees I know Dena does that where we take the Strauss ese summaries of what the updates are and put those in there I don't know if we do those for the others so that's an easy that's an easy thing we can do operations we did not we do not yeah so maybe maybe that would be a good change because then it focuses you on you know we've had we've had a lot of discussions on pieces of a policy that are not being changed and we're bogged down on stuff that's in the policy and if we vote no it's still there so that I think that's an easy a couple couple things if I may uh with regard to the policies that in effect have been tabled this evening those refer to State Statute so it would be helpful if the state statute was pulled and sent to everybody as well I don't know if that's done I this way people at committee can see it because again Lee had a lot of questions and the language is pulled right from you know for that topic you know njac 6A colon 7 I can put that information together I did compile the questions that board memb sent me about the policies I compiled them and sent them to Mark um and he actually just before the meeting had sent me responses so I will compile that I can share that with everyone but I'll specifically share it with Personnel committee before the next Personnel committee meeting so that we can go through them all with these policies and I've spoken to Liz about stra s me and I know that discussion has come up in the past with respect to maintaining St s May or looking at another uh vendor with regard to going through our uh helping us with the policies so L is going to work to that and get me some information but what I also know with respect to stra Esme is that they used to send me and I think everyone on the prior board that I sat on uh a weekly or a monthly update of what was going on or what policies were in the news so to speak or what was changing and oddly enough I still get some of them but it's not from currently I just must be on right uh so I've asked Liz to uh look into that and see and if that is an option this way we can certainly disseminate that to everybody and you can see uh what Strauss Esme is seeing what they're recommending because again they're the ones who are sending us the policies and noting whether it's a mandated policy or an optional policy or certainly and then within the even if it is a mandated policy sometimes within the uh the body of the policy there are options that we choose or that we can you know it'll say either A or B is required and then that's up to us to decide A or B uh and they highlight a lot of that stuff so again I spoke to Liz about this a couple days ago I know she's going to work on that and then we'll get some answers on that Susan do you have something okay if you have one of those if you could send them because we only get yeah we just get alerts when alerts are coming out we don't but maybe they have something yes I'm sorry subscribe to but if you could that would be you did ask me that and I apologize I did not get that to you um at this point unless I hear that that there's several more people who want a dedicated policy committee I am not going to do that uh because uh that goes against my thinking right now with regard to committee as a whole because if I can't get the those three committees to work properly how do I know that the policy committee is going to also work properly and if that's then that conclusion that I would have to make I am forced at that point to have every committee be a committee by the whole or I'm not being consistent and I prefer to be consistent at this point anyone else have any comments at this point with regard to the policies okay any other further business I will entertain a motion to adjourn all those in favor thank you everybody I'm gonna run out just because I have a