Do I call to order? Um, meeting no statement. Adequate notice of this meeting of the Berkeley Heights Board of Education was given as required by the Open Public Meetings Act, NJSA 104-6ESQ,
and in accordance with the updated regulations. On January 7th, 2026, a notice of the board of education and meeting schedule was posted on the Berkeley Heights Board of Education official website, posted at the administration building, provided to all
public schools, PTO presidents, and BHEA president, filed with the municipal clerk, and provided to the public library for public inspection. Miss Nicholson, would you please take roll call? >> Miss Airi.
Mrs. Bradford >> here. >> Mr. Dylan >> here. >> Dr. Forger. Mrs. Jolly >> here. Mr. Morales >> here. >> Mrs. Stanley >> here. >> Mrs. Terrarero >> here.
>> We have a quorum. >> Flag salute. Please stand for the flag salute. United States of America and to the republic for it stands nationisible justice for all adjourn to executive session whereas the
Berkeley Heights Board of Education seeks to adjourn to executive session in full compliance with the public meetings p open public meetings act NJSA 104-6 ETQ ETS Q. And whereas the public the
open public meeting act provides that the public body may exclude the public from that portion of the meeting at which it discusses matters related to those identified below. Matters rendered confidential by federal law, state law or court rule. Individual
privacy. Collective bargaining agreements. Purchase or lease of real property if public interest could be adversely affected. Investment of public funds if public interest can be adversely affected. Tactics or techniques utilized in protecting public
safety and property. Pending or anticipated litigation. Attorney client privilege. Personnel employment matters affecting specific prospective or current employees. Be it resolved that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education
adjourns to public to executive session to discuss matters related to students, legal negotiations, and personnel. And be it further resolved, the minutes of the discussion of any of these items will be disclosed to the public when matters have been determined and
confidentiality is no longer applicable. Can I get a motion to enter into executive session? >> So moved. >> Seconded. >> Voice vote. I >> favor I enter into executive session at >> 637
>> 637 Seven. Ethics. >> Can I get a motion to return to public session? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. So, Miss Bradford is the first. Miss Jelly is the second. Okay. Um, first I want to thank all the board
members and the staff. um you've always been so dedicated to the district and I just wanted to thank everybody for their time and efforts because I know that this has been very busy year so far. Um I wanted to also remind everybody that the goal tonight is to stay on topic and
remain calm and respectful of one another as we focus on agenda items tonight. Now I will move to the report of the superintendent. >> Thank you very much. Um, first up will
be the report of our uh student representatives. >> Hello. I will be giving my report alongside Howers as he had to leave to go to SAT tutoring. So, I'll start with his. Uh, good evening. This is the sixth edition of Happenings on the Hill. Since our last meeting, it has been a
relatively calm period at Governor Livingston. To start, students were very appreciative of the two snow days we had on Monday and Tuesday due to the blizzard. The unexpected break was a welcome boost to morale as we move through the winter months. On February 18th, GL held its annual prom fashion
show, a fundraiser supporting both project graduation and prom. Seniors walked the catwalk in the converted cafeteria modeling formal wear and showing off their style. The event was a huge success and a lot of fun for everyone involved. A video of the event is available on GHS TV YouTube channel.
Currently, students are meeting one-on-one with counselors to review and finalize their schedules for the upcoming school year. The process is well underway and helps ensure students are on track academically. As the school year continues and we move beyond the halfway point, seniors have begun applying for local community scholarships as they prepare for their
post-graduation plans. Additionally, the student the GL student ambassadors are collecting unopened clothing items as a part of their partnership with the UCEP civic engagement project operation warmth. This initiative supports community members in need and has seen strong student involvement. As a side
note, this is a reminder to parents and students planning to take AP exams. Please check AP classroom to ensure you are registered. No changes can be made after March 12th at 2:45. And he chose to end it with a quote from Victor Hugo. Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise. This quote speaks to
life's natural cycles of challenge and renewal. It serves as a reminder that periods of difficulty are temporary and that patience, resilience, and hope remain essential as we continue moving forward both in school and beyond it. Thank you. And then to move on to the sports report. Hi everyone. I apologize
for my absence at the last meeting, but I am excited to share winter sports updates. To start, the Governor Livingston swim team had their senior night on January 22nd. And to continue with the success of the swim team, uh they attended the county championship at Jersey Aquatic Club and multiple swimmers obtained their all-time bests.
That was very exciting for the team. The boys went against Rutherford in their sectional quarterfinal, advancing to face off against Mendum where they ultimately lost. Uh to highlight a swimmer, Peter Vagaroskus made the MOC cut in the 100 backstroke last Friday at the last chance meet. It was awesome to
see. His time of 5374 not only qualified for MOC's, but broke the school record held by David Martinez set in 2019, which was a time of 5393. The girls team made it to their 10th straight sectional final. The team had won for the last three years, but we did
ultimately lose to New Providence. As a highlight, Alexa went broke a 40-year-old record set by the legendary Betsy Liers. Betsy was an all-American back backstroker in 1982, and for Lexi to break that record as a freshman is quite impressive. Myself and Lexi also scored over a 100 power points
individually. The GL hockey team went against Westfield in UCT final and they fought super hard, but they ended up losing 3-7. They later faced summit and in the final two minutes, Alec Natney scored the ting tying goal which was very impressive. On February 4th, it was National Women's and Sports Day. This
goes out to all women and girls involved in sports worldwide and specifically at GL. We are very proud. And Kira Pizzy was the National Girls and Women's and Sports Day recipient. The basketball team also held an inclusion game to support Shining Stars Network on February 7th. The GL fencing team held
their senior night on February 9th. The meet was tough but super impressive. Senior night for the girls and boys basketball team alongside the cheer team was on February 13th and 14th. Congrats to all the seniors. The winter season is ending soon but and with many sports are already done. Looking forward to the
spring season coming March 9th. Thank you. >> Thank you very much and congratulations. >> Yeah, >> it's an exciting time. Um, next for the superintendent report,
uh, we want to honor, uh, two of our students as unsung heroes. Uh, they will be recognized, uh, March 11th at a Union County, uh, event. Uh, but tonight, unfortunately, neither one of them could be here, but
we want to recognize them anyway. Uh, the two students are Michael Healey and Eduardo Nasnto. So whereas the Berkeley Heights Board of Education hereby recognizes Michael Healey and Eduardo Nas Nasimento for receiving the Union
County School Boards Association's Unsung Hero Awards to be awarded March 11th, 2026 at the Union County Awards ceremony. And whereas the Union County School Board Association in collaboration with the New Jersey School Boards Association recognizes unsung
heroes from each high school in Union County. And whereas the Unsung Hero Award honors students who make outstanding contributions to their schools and communities, but are often overlooked by other traditional student recognition programs. These students have overcome difficult academic or
personal challenges, modeled good citizenship, or shown a spirit of quiet strength that has inspired others. These unsung heroes may have organized community nonprofit programs, selflessly supported others, or achieved academic success despite
disabilities, language barriers, or other significant challenges. And whereas Michael Healey and Eduardo Nasimento have overcome obstacles to reach their full potent potential have served the commun school community and the community at large and stand as be
as a beacon to inspire others. Now therefore, be it resolved that this resolution is presented to Michael Healey and Eduardo Nasimento on February 26, 2026 as an unsung hero of Union County and the Berkeley Heights School
District. Each one of the students will receive their own special award. I gave that to u Miss Barry uh the tonight, but we wanted to recognize them here. So, right. Thank you. And at this time, um, we will have the, uh, board member
training by New Jersey School Boards Association, um, Jean Clearary. >> Good evening, everyone. It's a pleasure to be with everyone again. Um I I just want to start by congratulating your
unsung heroes. It is a really remarkable event to attend um and to hear all the stories and see the recognition of her students um who have overcome at times amazing obstacles. So it is um wonderful
that you had that moment to um say that tonight for your local community. Uh so we are going to now take a look at ethics for school officials um 2026. I recognize that many of you have heard this before for the benefit of your
public that we do this on an annual basis to reflect on um those things that will help help you serve your community and especially your students best. So um I have to start and remind everyone that
this is an educational um session. It's not meant to be legal advice. Your attorney is the appropriate person to direct your specific questions to. I did not attend law school. But we I want you to know that um I am here to support you and provide the resources that you need
so that you can govern well to see that students remain centered at um your discussions and your work and benefit from your uh your service. So, the School Ethics Act um recognizes
that it's essential for the conduct of members of local boards of education to maintain the public's trust and confidence. And because of that, board members um and lead administrators are required to
avoid conduct that would be in violation of the public trust. But importantly, anything that would lead a reasonable member of your community to believe that their trust has been broken. So this slide is actually a very important slide
because we want to really understand what is the purpose of the ethics act is to help maintain that confidence um in all of you as school officials doing important work in service of students.
So um who enforces the act? It's not New Jersey school boards. It's the school ethics commission. The commission um the commission is composed of nine individuals that are appointed by the governor, no more than five from a particular party and it's constituted by
um two school board members. Unfortunately, those positions are open. We're hoping they will get filled with the seating of a new governor. Um five non-school officials and two school administrators. One of those administrative positions has recently
been filled by the new governor. So um that's who enforces the act. This slide is actually basically an agenda for what we're going to talk about through the rest of these slides. The ethics act really seeks to um
provide for accountability and that accountability is what gives your community um faith and confidence and trust in you as school officials. So, we're going to just review these four things are um affect board members,
mandatory training, code of ethics, the filing of disclosure statements, both financial and family relative statements, and prohibited acts. But I just want to point out that disclosure statements and prohibited acts also must
be um abided by the uh lead administrators in the district are are um affected by that as well. So mandatory training board members are generally pretty familiar with this. One of the things I'd like to just point out
is that we do offer um different modalities so that you can complete your requirements um in time and stay in compliance to avoid any um penalties or sanctions from the school ethics commission. First 90 days is a new board
member orientation that goes over basic knowledge and skills. what you need to know in different areas. Um it includes training on the superintendent's evaluation which is required for you to have um under statute so that you are
prepared to um engage with the evaluation process to see that the district is being wellrun for students. Um one point I'd like to make about the schedule is that if any of you choose to take a governance training in advance of
the year that you're in. So if you take governance 3 in the second year of your service, that's fine for information, but you'll need to retake that um to be in compliance. You have to take it within the year of your service. So just heads up on that.
So now we'll look at we looked at mandatory training, right? We had those four things. We're going to look at the um disclosure statements. um financial disclosure statements, just so everyone knows if you haven't done it before, is um not asking you for dollar
amounts of where you draw your income um but is more concerned with the sources of your income because that can lead to um any conflicts, things that you may have to recuse yourself from participating in down the line. And that
is another way that through this ethics code you are um maintaining the confidence of your public. The uh personal and relative disclosure statements very similarly that's the intent of those. These must be completed um within the first 30 days of either
hire for an administrator um or within reorganization for a new member that's coming on. Um and then every year thereafter, you're all required to complete this um by April 30th. These um statements, these disclosure statements
are actually housed on the school ethics commission website so that the community um can access them and review them. So, we have um financial disclosure case that I want to bring your attention to. And this year,
we really want to point out to you that we've seen an uptick in uh financial disclosure statements um cases for people uh either failing to comply or not filling them out accurately. Um in
this case, that's listed here and I think all the board members know, but these are hyperlinks. So, if you click on these um where it says see, I think it's 8524. It's a little distance for me. Um that will bring you to the full case. Okay. But what happened was a
board member failed to um complete the form and show that they had an they and their spouse had an interest in um a business and that led to a reprimand. Okay? So, just be careful. Make sure you're doing them timely and that you're
including everything um that needs to be included there. So on the next slides, we're going to take a look at the code of ethics. Now, um this runs A through J. These are set up to actually introduce the code parts,
but on the bottom where it says standards, that's the information that someone who believes this part of the act was violated that they would have to provide to substantiate an allegation that there was a violation of this part.
So the first one is I will uphold and enforce all laws, rules and regulations of the state of New Jersey pertaining to education. Um and make changes only through legal and ethical procedures. So pretty straightforward.
B, it says, "I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of all children and seek to develop and maintain um schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of any identifying characteristic. So that's important that
we recognize that we're here to serve all students of the district and make decisions for the best interest of all students regardless of those individual needs which which they surely have. C really outlines the roles of the board
um to confine your board action to policym planning and appraisal. And uh I will point out that policym is a crucial part of the work that you do in governance. It's really the way you communicate the
expectations that will support um that how the district is run effectively, how people will be evaluated and ensure that people are treated um with equity outlined in your policies. So um you'll confine your board action to policym
planning and appraisal. Again the a large part of that is the evaluation of the superintendent. And it goes on to say and help to frame policies and plans only after those who will be affected by them are consulted. So if we look at our
policies as the guidelines or the rules, we want to make sure that we have compliance with those so that we are providing an effective efficient system to um serve our students and we want people to follow rules. We have to make sure that they're clear and
understandable and accessible. D goes on to point out that you're agreeing as board members um not to administer the schools but together with your fellow board members see that they are well-run and this is really two parts that are very important right we
recognize the superintendent as the administrator in charge of running day-to-day operations as well as being the educational leader of the community um but this also goes on in the second part which is important to understand that together with my fellow board
members, right? We recognize that the structure of governance um the governing body has authority and individual members on the team do not hold authority. So when you are going to act, you act through your governance through your team um to move forward.
E says that you will recognize that the authority again they're saying again rests with the board of education and make no personal promises or take any private action that may compromise the board. Um later on in this presentation
we're going to touch on social media and the impacts of social media communications and agreement. Um and we want to um recognize that it's important to maintain the confidence of the community that people aren't confused by
the position of the board, right? And the board operates out of a majority um respectful of the minority opinion, but that this helps to support efficient and effective operations. F goes on to say, I will refuse to
surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends. And as we look further into this presentation, we're going to talk about what this means a little bit towards benefits um and conflicts that
may arise. G I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed could needlessly injure um the schools or individuals within them. Um,
it goes on to say that in all other matters, you're ensuring that you're providing accurate information and in concert again with your fellow board members because you are a governing team interpret for the staff the aspirations of the community for its schools. And
really the most important way that you do that is through your policies, right? Um, that's how you communicate what those expectations are and how people will be held accountable to those expectations. Um, confidentiality is an important um, thing to understand. We, you know, as a
former board member myself, I recognize um, the the desire to be as transparent with the community as possible, but that's admirable, but there's a place for it. And for effective, efficient operations, we have to make sure that we have a clear understanding when things
need to be held confidential. You just came out of executive session. you address things that are permitted under statute to be spoken about in executive session for that very reason, but also your committee work. There are times when you're doing work in committees and
you may be um researching, discussing, taking in information before those topics are appearing on a board agenda where that that means that we're it's appropriate to speak about them in public. You are expected to maintain the confidentiality. If you're in the
committee or if you're receiving the committee report just to inform you as someone who's not on the committee, you're supposed to maintain that confidentiality and that allows for the the board to move ahead effectively and efficiently and maintain the confidence
in not only the community but in each other. It's important to have that as part of your team. Um H says that I will vote to appoint the best qualified personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer. Again, your
superintendent, Dr. Feltry is charged with being the educational leader and recommending to the board after careful consideration with her experience and her authority to recommend those people for hire
um that are best suited to the needs of the district. And the board has limited rights to um understand and feel confident in supporting that recommendation but not to necessarily be part of the larger process of personnel and hiring.
I I will support and protect school personnel in the proper performance of their duties. So we as individuals may hold opinions on things um as people but we need to recognize that um we have a
higher bar that we have to meet to ensure that we're reflecting well as members of the governing team to maintain support for board me I'm sorry for uh staff members who are performing their duties appropriately. Um and that
also goes a long way in maintaining, you know, a collaborative environment with our educators that is going to help the board um have better outcomes, see better outcomes for your students, right? When the when the governing body has a good relationship with um all of
the administration and staff to the best extent possible. Jay says, "I will refer all complaints to the chief administrator." um and we'll act on those complaints at a public meeting only after failure of
an administrative solution. So these are clearly, you know, we're we're speaking in English terms, but sometimes we have to step back and and really break things down and say what does that mean in real board service? Okay. What it really is talking about is chain of
command. Um and recognizing that board members have to many times educate the public when you're approached. People know you are board members, right? They'll approach you looking for a solution to a concern they have, an issue they have, and they don't
recognize that under the code of ethics, you're really not allowed to engage with them on those issues because you don't have the authority of being an administrator or a teacher or a staff member who would appropriately be able to um address their issue. The
appropriate thing for a board member to do is point them in the direction of the person closest to the issue, whether it's a teacher, principal, administrator, up to and including the superintendent's office, and then let the superintendent know that you've done
that so that she can take whatever action she feels is appropriate. Um, and it's always helpful to explain to your community members that of course you're you care about the fact that they have an issue, but it's not appropriate for you to engage in it. What will happen is
as a board team, if there's the failure of an administrative solution, something that um is not agreed upon, it will come before the full board and the full board will decide whether to support the recommendation of the superintendent.
Um, if you as an individual board member have done anything besides recommend address that to the chain of command and step away from it, you would probably have to recuse yourself from participating in that process. So, we've gone A through J. Now, um, who
may file an ethics complaint? Anyone may file an ethics complaint, but there are certain things that have to happen. has to be filed within 180 days of the alleged um infraction. It has to identify the part or parts A through J
of what they believe was violated and they have to provide um the information that would support that accusation and that was what was listed on each slide under standard. Okay. Um, it is important to note uh that they there can
be a penalty, a fine assessed for anyone filing frivolous filings up to $500. Um, and from what we're being told, there's more of um a focus on doing that. um so that things that do, God bless you,
things that do need to be addressed are addressed and that we're preventing frivolous filings which really hurt any governing body's ability to serve its students. So if a an accusation is actually substantiated,
um the ethics commission would then um impose recommend I'm sorry, recommend to the commissioner what level of penalty to be imposed. So the first is a reprimand which is um could be considered a learning experience. Um
it's something that uh is recognized to be a mistake. Um and it pretty much ends there and now you are more the wiser and you go on and don't do that again. Um the next one is a censure. A censure
would involve a local resolution informing your community, naming the individual or individuals who violated the act, and um that's done at your board meeting for the benefit of transparency for your community. For
more egregious acts, the ethics commission can recommend a suspension for a period of time um where a board member would not be able to participate in any meetings, discussions or clearly votes um for that period of time. And
for egregious acts, um it could lead to the removal from board service um or if it's an administrator, removal from h from from uh their employment. Advice of council defense has been used
in the past. Um, important to know about advice of council defense is that it doesn't remove a penalty. It may or may not reduce the level of penalty and it can only do that if these four things are present at the time. Um, even if all
four things are present, it's not guaranteed that the penalty will be reduced. The school ethics commission looks at the individual specifics of the case and the impact it would have on the community's ability to um feel confident
in US school officials. So, we have some uh code of ethics cases here. Again, just pointing out they're hyperl. You can read more about these. Um the first one, just as an example, I won't go through every single one of
them, but the first one, for example, involved a board member who um had information shared by the superintendent, but was told to keep it confidential and it involved instructional time and the possibility that instructional time would be
reduced. Um the board member went ahead and shared that and unfortunately um not only was it a a break of confidence, it impacted current negotiations that the
board was involved with and also created quite the stir in the community about um concerns from the the parent base mostly um where it hadn't yet been decided but had a very negative impact on their
ability ability to move forward. Okay. Um, this next page I I we did carry this one over from uh last year because we find it important to point out that it's not only new board members who may um run into violations by not
being careful about this, but a 15-year board member had um been found in violation of numerous parts of the act. And you'll see on the bottom the parts that were violated are listed in parenthesis. Um, but this 15-year board
member um acted in a way to undermine the authority of the superintendent to make recommendations for a disciplinary action. This board member didn't agree with that. went to the um staff member's home, collected a letter, brought it
gave it to the business administrator, instructed the business administrator not to share it with the superintendent, advocated on behalf of the uh staff member with board members, and then finally um did not recuse themselves for
the conversation and vote. So, it violated multiple things um leading to the recommendation of a suspension which was acted upon. So terms just to be familiar with um boards should come prepared board
members should come prepared to meetings um have the information you need so that you could have the appropriate discussions and votes. There are times because we are human beings and life happens that you may have to abstain. Um, an example of the appropriate time
to abstain from a vote is if you were perhaps you had missed the last board meeting, you were ill, the next board meeting they're asking to approve the minutes of the last meeting, it would be appropriate to abstain in that situation because you weren't present. Um, but for
more uh serious things where you recognize that you because of your disclosure forms or because of a recognized conflict that you have or something that could be perceived by your community as a conflict affecting
your objectivity. um you need to recuse yourself and recusal is the more formal way to record the fact that you're recognizing that it may be either a true conflict or be perceived by a reasonable member of the
community as a conflict. Um and so you are not going to participate in any discussions or votes on that issue. Okay? It's always good practice to let your board attorney attorney know in advance of the meeting if you may need
to recuse yourself because the attendance of other board members at that meeting it could possibly affect having quorum. Right? So you just want to be prepared for that relationship definitions. Um I'm not going to really go too much into this.
There's a handout that will be shared with you if it hasn't already um that you can refer to and those things will uh help you decide when you should have a a perhaps conversation with your attorney about whether you are
conflicted from participating in something that's going to um come before the board. Advisory opinions. So advisory opinions um are how you can ask the uh ethics
commission in advance of taking an action whether something that you would do might pose a violation or be problematic. Um you can do that as an individual board member or your attorney can do it on your behalf. What's happened over time is that when the
ethics commission looks at these, they'll they may say, you know, this information, this is a great question and the answer to it would be really helpful for other board members throughout the state of New Jersey. And they will remove your identifying
information, your name, your district's name, and they will share it basically into a library that's available to all board members to refer to. So on this slide at the very bottom there's a hyperlink and that is actually the hyperlink that will bring you to all of
the advisory opinions. One thing that's important for board members to really understand is that similar to how uh you know a a speeding sign right is put up. I have to be in compliance with
the speed limit whether I knew they put that sign there or I didn't know the sign was there. It's my responsibility to be in compliance with that. And if I get pulled over, the police officer isn't going to care that I didn't know that was the speed limit. Right? So
advisory opinions that have been shared previously are there for you to consult if you have a question, but also to have a general understanding of that will guide appropriate behavior in your governance. Okay. So on the next uh I believe it's two
slides. I'm not going to go into these for time, but these are the ones that came out in 2025. There's a short uh list here next to it of what it was pertaining to. It may or may not affect you and your district here, but these
are the most current ones that you should probably be familiar with um and may be helpful to you if you recognize it. So before you request an advisory opinion, you should look to see if that advice has already been given.
So um the ethics regulation definition of a benefit, right? Because what we know is that we can't benefit or anyone close to us in our family can't benefit or we would have to we would be conflicted and have to remove ourselves. Um if they're going to hold you
responsible for that, they need to give you a definition. And it's important that you're comfortable with that definition. The ethics regulation definition of a benefit is a direct or indirect advantage, profit, privilege, or gain, whether personal,
financial, or otherwise. And our attorney in the room can probably agree that saying something like or otherwise leaves some space for them to decide on a case-bycase basis whether they believe that it would be harmful to the
community in breaking down trust in public school officials. Okay. So remembering that the determinative factor is not if we as individuals feel that we can be objective, it's how the a reasonable member of your community
would perceive it. Right? If you can be object objective. Um the case on the bottom uh kind of goes to a benefits situation where a board member spoke during the board meeting um about how he was running for the general
assembly and um asking people to come out and vote. So it was my understanding and I may be wrong but it was kind of said at the end of a meeting it was totally inappropriate. Um, but because of the specifics of the case, and you can find those specifics if you hit the
hyperlink, it was recognized as being improper, but it was given a reprimand that it shouldn't have happened, but the impact to the community was limited. So, um, that is something we just have to be careful about. We're always going to be
perceived by our community as board members who may at times have information that the broader community doesn't have. And so they could believe that when you speak, you're speaking on behalf of the board. And that's what's problematic. We want to stay away from
that. So we've covered the other aspects, right? The mandatory training and the um all of the other things. And now we're looking at prohibited acts. And again, prohibited acts, you have to be in compliance and avoid prohibited
acts as board members and lead administrators as well. And there these are this is really a short table. Um there's a hyperlink up there to bring you to more information that explains things a little bit more fully. But if
you find yourself in a questionable situation about having a business interest or professional activity that could be perceived as being in conflict, uh use of your position to acquire benefits for yourself or family members, any financial involvement, right? If I
work for a textbook manufacturer, I probably shouldn't be voting on what textbooks we're getting um next year. Uh service or employment that um could prejudice independent judgment. If any of these things are applying, this is
where recusal would be important. Okay. Um, and a consideration on the bottom is one that we should always hold close to ourselves that as board members, we should never represent any other person or party for any business that's before
the board. Okay. So, prohibited acts cases. Um, and because it's a distance, I'm going to ask for your patience for a moment. Um, C7623.
Um this is a case where a board member um was found to have had um a direct or indirect financial benefit. They received uh free legal
uh services to um in response to an ethics charge and um that of course creates a relationship of attorney and client. So that was a personal relationship outside of the board work roles and responsibilities. And when the
um bills list came up, this board member approved paying that law firm, right? So something that clearly um they definitely had a benefit of free service, free legal advice and um that was found to be serious enough to
warrant censure. When we look at 7518 on the bottom, uh, a board member with possible good intent was promoting a their nonprofit that provided um things
to that they felt would help support students and student learning and they were approaching staff about directing families towards this nonprofit and these services. Um but that was um seen
as problematic and was a reprimand. It was you know for considered to be you know best in intent to help students. But we have to be very careful when we are as board members engaging in that
because it also puts staff in an awkward position of feeling that the governing body is now directing them to something that they may or may not feel comfortable recommending to their um parents for their children.
Okay, I think we're going to go by that one. Um, and C10922. Uh, this was a board member attempting to use their position to secure business relationships with vendors for a
separate nonprofit. One of the things we want to be careful about is identifying ourselves as board members if we're engaging with people in a private way, right? We don't want to have a benefit that could be perceived that you would be getting um the benefit
of being a board member that's you would have the time and attention of a vendor because of that relationship. Right? So um the public's perception and not the school officials belief as to whether it would it could they could participate in
a matter objectively. Um the respondent should have listed the nonprofit on the financial disclosure form and again going back to the forms being very transparent about your business relationships and um interest in businesses.
Okay. So we are going to move on to h I'm sorry hiring and personnel. Um it is a rule that as boards you may not hire family members of board members or
of your superintendent. There are times when a family member may precede you before you are hired as superintendent or um elected as a board member. If that is the case, an administrator may not ever exercise direct or indirect
authority over their relative. So, um, other schedules of who's going to be in charge of that relative would have to be laid out clearly. A board member may not take part in employment matters concerning the superintendent or any
supervisors in the chain of command from their family member up to and including the superintendent. So, you're conflicted. that would be a reason to be conflicted out of the superintendent's evaluation and any other um things due to employment of others in that chain of
command. A board member may not take part in the search selection or um any evaluations uh that have to do with superintendent's contract. on this. We're talking about um the
complications if a board president is does have a family member in the district because it undermines the authority normally granted to the president um for committees to assign people to committees to assign uh leaders of those committees, chairs of
those committees. Um and you can read more about it with the hyperlinks. Um even a board member who's not the president. um if you have a family member in the district can pose very similar issues. You would not be able to participate in anything that could be
remotely seen as affecting in any way your family members employment which would remove you from um numerous committees. Right? So you would really have to um look at that and get guidance on that collective bargaining. This is for your
um you know your attention. I strongly recommend that if you have questions when it comes to collective bargaining about whether or not you should be participating, please get your attorney's um input on that. That's the safest, best way to go forward.
Campaigns and collective bargaining board members who receive union support and endorsements um may be conflicted from participating in negotiations within the first year. again, maintaining public confidence in
school officials that even though and I myself benefited when I when I was running from um the support of the the teachers union, but I was I had to turn down uh sitting on the negotiations committee within that first year. In
this in following years, it may be permissible. um volunteering in schools. We know that most board members arrive at the board table because they've been committed um volunteers to the schools in the past, but the school ethics commission doesn't
want to say that you can't participate through volunteering in other ways. Of course, we recognize the biggest volunteer activity you're doing is your board service, right? Um but they really point out that it's the degree of involvement and authority that you have.
So the degree of involvement that you'll have with staff and students, the in the level of interaction you're going to have with them and the authority of how you are able to give um directions to staff, right? which would cross over
into administration um or having anything to do with funds through that uh volunteer activity. So the code of ethics as we know points out you know that you need to confine your
activity to policym planning and appraisal. anything outside of that really is beyond the role of um a board member and really just weighing it against the level of involvement and the authority. Okay. To see if it's
problematic um not to get into administration so not to be seen by staff as you directing them in a separate volunteer activity because you are a board member that creates a conflict. Um, and we want to remember that we may have um warm relationships
with our staff. I hope you do. Um, but because you're a board member and the board will at times have to make decisions affecting people's employment and livelihood, we have to um not be perceived as being close where we would
lose our objectivity to participate in those activities. So, uh, when visiting a school, um, it's really recommended that you advise the superintendent to let the superintendent's office know that you'll
be in the schools. Um, whether you're going to be there as a parent or a volunteer for something. Um, also, of course, refrain from speaking about board business when we're away from the board table and stay on point for the
purpose. So at times you may be invited all of you you may be invited who can attend you know a celebration in one of the schools um you know for the students and you want to be there but stay away from talking about board business and remember that you're there to celebrate the students and the activity of what
you're there for and then arrive on time and leave when it's over. Um best advice. So now we're going to take a look at social media. Um, and in in my heart, I just wish I would
could tell you not to do it, right? But social media is a fact of life. I use it myself. My phone is always right next to me. Um, but we have to be really careful to protect the incredibly challenging work that you're doing as a team in service of
your students. We don't want to do anything that's going to undermine that work. Right? So when a board member makes a statement, the school ethics commission is looking for how it would be perceived by members of
your community who recognize you do have access to information at times that they do not have. So they look for a nexus. Is there a nexus between what you are saying on social media and board business that would lead a reasonable
member of the community to think, uh, you're saying it because you know something, right? So, we have to be careful and recognize that the ethics commission is going to look at things and they're going to look at things specific to what's in front of them and whatever um, accusation of a violation
comes up, right? They're looking at the content of what you're saying on social media, the substance of it, and the context of what it's being said in other things. You know, if it's something about a candidate running for election
for the school board at the time right before the context of when that statement is made can can affect it. So, the school ethics commission has recommended a disclaimer. The purpose of that is to help clarify for your
community that you are not in fact speaking for the board. And they recommend this wording. You're not required to use this, but it is coming from the body that will decide whether or not you have a violation. It's in bold and italics and it's really
consisting of two parts. It's first saying that, you know, I'm speaking as a private citizen and not as a board member. And the second part is going on to say and it also doesn't reflect the views or opinions of any other board member. And you know, so you're doubling
down to try to be as clear as possible. The thing about this disclaimer though is it's not a get out of jail free card, right? It's really going to be important the impact and how the community perceives those statements on social
media and the impact it would have. So while it helps to maybe bring clarity, it also may not be enough to prevent a violation. So social media cases um
one I I just want to take I'm sorry I want to take step back. One of the things also to consider are two things I'd like to just have you um keep in mind, right? The first one is that you're serving your full community, right? All of the students. And when we
make statements on social media, um we have to be aware that there will be people who agree with us and people who disagree with us. And that alone, even if it's not a violation, can undermine the confidence that people have in the
work that the board is doing in serving all of the students. So, we really want to hold that as a standard before we write something on social media because we don't want to disenfranchise anyone or have anyone lose confidence that
their position or their concern or their child um is not being addressed for the person that they are. Um and it can also undermine the full board um by creating dissension even on
the team and it can create um a lack of clarity and that lack of clarity can make the very challenging work you do that much more difficult. Right? So we want to really um be mindful of that. So, social media cases,
uh, the first one, um, a board member's comments were found not only to have the potential to compromise the board, but in fact did compromise the board. Staff members had staff members came forward and were very, very concerned about what
was going to happen to teaching material in their classrooms based on a board member who was making um, statements on social media. and it was leading the staff to believe that there were going to be um textbooks and teaching
materials pulled or banned. Right? So, it created quite a disturbance. It was inaccurate. The board as a governing team wasn't considering that at all at that time. Um it misinformed the community. It caused a lot of divisiveness. Um and because of the
seriousness of that, you know, they they did make a reprimand and they did have to put things in place to clarify that. So, it's really hard to put the genie back in the bottle, right? So, we want to have good pro practice and process
first so that we don't have to try to make up and rebuild that trust. Once it's gone, it's gone. um a board another board member another case to consider here for social media is that a board member was making posts
and referring to we and you know the royal we I guess implying that it wasn't just their opinion but other board members agreed and unfortunately this um was happening it was determined to be of course beyond the scope of the
responsibilities of policym planning and appraisal Um but it was before an election and so it was um very disruptive and s it was found to be that this person surrendered independent judgment um to support a particular
political group and was acquiring the benefit um for her friends by encouraging the election of a group in her official capacity as a board member. Um, and again, a teaching moment, but the serious consequences go beyond the
penalty, right? I don't want to see any of you penalized, but it's more than the penalty. It's the impact it has on your community and the disturbance it causes and the um the wrench that gets thrown into efficiently operating the district
um and staying student centered and student focused. So, information to keep in mind, texting, and this is a new um best practice that we're really pointing out this year because of things that we have seen
happen this past year. Um texting from the board table could result in someone filing an OPRA request for your phone records. And if you're doing it on your private phone, um you're now inviting someone else in who you didn't intend to see all of your private data. An ethics
complaint will need to show that nexus between um you as a board member and the information that you're sharing in that um you are always your child's advocate. Um but when you're going into schools, if you're a parent or a guardian and
you're going in for the purpose of advocating for your child, which you should always do, um don't put in there that you're a board member. Even if that teacher sitting across that desk knows you are, um we don't want to put that out there. you're there to be an advocate and be that advocate. Refrain
from using if uh for new board members who may be using social media, they're not held bound by the code of ethics, once you become a board member, you should stop using that. It could be confusing to the community about things that you said in the past um or whether
the things you've said in the past reflect the board. So, stop using that. Um and be very very careful. It's not recommended that you as a board member are the administrator of a social media page because you can be um seen as
either supporting what you allow on that page and taking a stand which may not reflect the board. Um but you can also be seen as taking a stand if you're an administrator and don't allow something to appear on that page. That's also making a statement of belief. Right?
So, we have wound down to the end and I think you're all still with me. So, thank you for your attention. Um, here are the resources. The chart mentioned at the top is actually has been handed out I believe. Um, and these are the hyperlinks that you can um find more
resources. Of course, if regarding this you have any specifics about possible ethics violations, your attorney is the right person. But for any other resources or general information or anything in terms of your um service on a governing body, please feel free to
reach out to me at time. And I really do want to um thank you for your continued service to the students of Berkeley Heights and wish you all of the best as you go through forward. And I believe it's 21 days till spring. I just thought I'd leave that with
weekend. 21 days. All right. Yeah, I I'll make this as quick as as as possible. So, tonight is the district goals update. Um, we'll be I'll be reviewing the what we've done. so far um
this year. So, our first major goal focused on um fostering a district-wide culture of student- centered learning. And this initiative is multiaceted as you can see in the slide. First, we aim to empower all our students to become self-directed, reflective, and truly
engaged learners. Second, we are committed to empowering our teachers. This means giving them tools and support to create differentiated, meaningful, and highly relevant learning experiences. And finally, the focus uh of this goal
in the classroom is on student thinking, engagement, and promoting a highlevel cognitive challenge. This should be evident in the clarity of our lessons, the depth of questioning, the richness of classroom discussion, and the active participation of our students.
To support the first component of our student- centered learning goal, empowering our students, we have engaged in several key actions. We have dedicated faculty meeting time to analyze the Danielson rubric components 3A, 3B, and 3C. We facilitated uh
staffled best practice sessions during our professional development days. We are also using a revised walkthrough form and observation feedback that is specifically focused on these Danielson components, the 3A, 3B, 3C to inform and
improve practice. This is further supported by a review of lesson plans for the same components. Um and in addition, our elementary principal meetings uh have included discussions about trends observed during their walkthroughs uh in order to determine
staff PD needs based on the data collected and that was uh evident in our February 13th um PD day. Our progress towards empowering our teachers to create differentiated, meaningful, and relevant learning experiences
includes providing professional development and best practices on both the October 13th and February 13th PD days. A significant part of this effort also um involves collaboration with teachers participating in peer observations across schools to learn
from one another. We also conducted a staff PD survey to solicit feedback on important instructional topics that need to be addressed and we are engaged in collaborative work focused on grading and assessment practices. Finally, this section on in this section
on student learning, this slide addresses the critical third component of the goal placing a focus on student thinking engagement and ensuring a highlevel cognitive challenge in our lessons. This is the heart of effective teaching and learning. We are looking for clear evidence of high level
questioning, robust discussion among students and high quality active participation. These observable elements are the direct proof that our efforts are uh to empower both students and teachers are translating into powerful learning experiences in the classroom.
With these three key areas covered, um we'll move on to goal two. So building capacity for data literacy and informed instructional decisionmaking, we are cultivating a district culture where educators systematically analyze and respond to
multiple sources of student data. The first application of this is to directly inform daily instruction. The second and equally critical application is to drive effective intervention and monitor student progress. And ultimately this
effort is about using data effectively so we can make more informed decisions that directly support the sustained growth of every student. The key actions and metrics that we are focusing on to operationalize our data
literacy goal involve the following. We have provided significant training on and provided professional development sessions focused on the effective use of multiple data sources found in our data warehouse link. Additionally, we have
facilitated data analysis sessions using common data found in link for grade level teams to ensure consistent access to and analysis of all the various assessment data that we have and the results and other key performance
indicators that we collect. Our educators are participating in collaborative data cycles, meeting regularly to analyze formative assessment data as well as summitative assessment data, identify student strengths and gaps, and collaboratively
design targeted instructional responses and interventions to support teachers doing win and MTS and uh typical classroom day instruction. Counseling and CST are engaging with data as well as engaging in these discussions with
teachers to support students academically as well as assist with the more holistic view of student progress. These actions support data literacy by ensuring our data analysis is systematic and directly informs instruction and intervention, helping us to make the
most informed decisions possible for student growth. Our third goal is to support the whole child. To achieve this, we are integrating evidence-based social emotional learning practices and self-regulation frameworks such as the
zones of regulation. This goal helps to ensure that all our students are emotionally ready to engage fully, connect with their peers and teachers, and ultimately succeed academically. Our uh to ensure that our support the whole child goal is successfully
integrated, we have targeted professional development for all staff on zones of regulation and evidence-based uh social emotional learning practices, ensuring consistency across the district. We are also actively integrating social emotional
learning competencies into our core curriculum so that these skills are taught and reinforced not just in dedicated lessons but throughout the school day in the classrooms. Our counselors and sachs provide lessons to the students as well as have created Google classroom and Google drive
lessons for use. We have actively engaged students in events and assemblies to promote kindness, respect, friendship and the like. And these actions demonstrate our commitment to creating an emotionally supportive environment where every student has the foundation they need to connect, engage,
and achieve academic success, questions. Right. Thank you, Madame President. I turn it back to you. >> Thank you. Um, so moving on to
resolution one. All board members, do I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Okay. Do I have a second? >> Okay. So, I have um Mr. Morales as first and Jolly as the second. Um, discussion.
It's on um was it the third or fourth page? >> Page three. All right. So the the >> about the approval of moving the date of
the May meeting >> later. >> Anybody want to discuss this at all? I can explain to you why this is being moved. >> You just say for for the >> Okay. So, just for the record, the reason why it was requested to move the date is because there's a jazz festival
going on that night. And so, um, to eliminate parking chaos, um, we felt it was better to, um, much like tonight, um, the felt need, right? >> We felt that it was better to, uh, move
the date to the six. So I think so that that one is clear and I think um we could maybe use this opportunity to talk about another potentially another change in date. Um we have our March 12th meeting scheduled
um and it is meant to discuss and approve the preliminary budget. Um and Jen correct can correct me if I'm wrong but the state has moved the date by which um we have to submit the preliminary budget to I believe the 27th.
So and the state is coming out the governor is having her speech and on the 10th and we think the numbers from the state will be available on the 12th. Uh so we are you know we wanted to discuss with the full board um the moving the
meeting to um several possibil possible dates um later in March. One of the possible >> you mean the budget >> the budget >> the bud not the meeting itself but the discussion on the budget. Um so one possible date we already have a March
meeting um currently on record for the teacher presentation. um honoring the teachers and retirees. I I don't know if we're retirees, but the teachers, >> this the educators of the year, >> educators of the year. Um and that is a regular meeting. And I guess we could update um the description of the meeting
to include this budget discussion. Um or um we could also potentially look for a special meeting purely focused on the budget um with the dates of u March 23rd or March 24th. So um I think we checked
the school calendar there is nothing seem to be >> there's nothing so advantages of the special meeting is that um you know it's purely focused on the budget um and then we can focus on the educators of the year at the March 26th meeting. Um but
then again it's also a special meeting so that could be inconvenient for people. Um, so I just I I I do support moving it to give our business administrator more time, but you know, I wanted to get everyone's thoughts as to
what date and they might prefer. So on the table, we got the 23rd, 24th, which would be special meetings. That's a Monday and Tuesday of that week, or the 26th, which is our currently scheduled meeting for educator of the year. >> I just ask a clarifying question. So
it's the 12th. We would still have a meeting. >> Yes. >> We're just moving the preliminary budget part. >> Yes. >> Okay. I just want to clarify. >> So any Oh, go ahead. Go. >> Thanks. That would give our administration and business office an
extra two weeks to work on uh the budget and to make any adjustments after the governor's meeting. So, I I do not support a special meeting, but I do support the moving of the um preliminary budget to March 26 with the educator of
the year. >> Thanks, Gail. Um sorry, and I just wanted to uh add one other note. I think um so it's not I think moving would also enable our business administrator to have some informational sessions with
the um with the board members leading up to the board meeting where we discuss the preliminary budget. Um so I think that would also help us um you know stay informed. I know that they're working um as close very hard to get us uh a cut of
the budget um you know the so for discussion purposes um and so Jen and I have been uh discussing the date for that but regardless I think um as you know giving those extra two weeks would give them an opportunity to have a draft
and you know then maintain some change controls around that and have meetings with the individual board members. first um who would like to um you know understand the budget leading into the meeting >> and um one more thing the final budget
adoption would be still the same on April 30th and >> unless we hear otherwise >> right yes of course right >> I'd also like to point out um I don't know if everybody remembered last meeting um when we were looking at the March or maybe it was in the beginning of the year we were looking at the March
12th date and that was a conflict for one of our current board members, um, Mr. Dylan. And I believe this would, if we moved it, it would actually make it so that he would be able to attend. >> Yeah, this this group made that well known that that wasn't a priority. Let's
not pretend it is. Now, >> let's just stop. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> I I think the way this is being done is not proper. We have a motion to approve a board meeting change from the 6th to the 7th.
Okay. You're not amending that motion. You're trying to introduce a new motion to set up a new meeting and that's in the nature of a new business item which you did not submit. So I think to consider this at this time is not right. It's not according to our rules. It's a
new business item and it's it's it's not really an amendment to an existing resol resolution. So, I don't think we should even consider this. Maybe it has merit, maybe not, but it's just not procedurally right.
I think that's to me. So, I I think it's to the individual who would be making the motion. Is it a motion to amend the currently existing motion to further amend the uh board meeting calendar? If it is simply a separate motion, I agree with Dr. Forer that you go to new
business. If it is a motion to amend further amend the board meeting schedule, then it'll be a mo then I think it's obviously on that individual to make that motion. >> Sure. >> So I just have a right. So my understanding is we don't really need to
make a resolution to change a date. Is that correct? >> So you've published your meeting schedule. >> Yeah. >> So I think you'd have to move to amend said schedule. So there's a public notice and then publish that notice of the amended schedule because the public has to know if a mo if a meeting date is
moved. >> Like the board president has the ability to add a special meeting at any time as long as they Yeah. as long as they um inform the public 48 hours, right? So, I know this one we're just changing when
we are presenting the preliminary budget, which we do want the public to know, but is it necessary to actually have a >> So, the board president can, but the there's other mechanisms for non board president members to do that, such as make a motion at a a meeting like this,
>> but like the board president could >> call a special meeting. >> Yeah. Okay. >> I have a a question. Um, if you're changing a date of a presentation, do you need a resolution for that?
>> A presentation meaning what? Sorry. >> If if dates if if you kept the March 26th date, >> but you were moving a a presentation like a title of a a presentation from the 12th to the 26th. Do you need a
resolution for that? >> No, that you would not. So, the agenda has to be published 48 hours in advance and whatever presentations are supposed to be at said meeting will be published on that agenda. >> Okay. So, we So, what I'm hearing you say is we don't even need a resolution. That's something like this.
>> If you're are you adding Are you moving something or adding a special meeting? Those are two. >> Well, I think that's >> No. So uh currently if we look at our um meeting schedule we have our March um 12th meeting that says regular meeting and preliminary budget presentation.
>> So I guess Deb's question is do we need if we want to have that preliminary budget presentation and a different meeting do we need a resolution to do that? >> I I do not believe you would need a resolution. I mean, if you've advertised it, did you advertise it on your publish?
>> It's published on our website um as a regular meeting and preliminary budget presentation >> when the board passed its resolution approving the calendar. >> Was that on there or is that just something that you put on the website?
>> No, I think it's on the calendar. if it was on the board approved calendar and the board would have to pass a resolution modifying said calendar because you can't you the board already approved a certain schedule that's different than you know obviously like Dr. Felch's presentation and I >> right >> you would not need a resolution to move
that to another meeting but if the board approved something already specifying that that's the date the presentation has to take place then you would need a motion to modify uh the date. >> Okay. So if if on the current resolution before us for resolution one because
it's a calendar date change then if Ms. Jolly's motion is an addition to this would that be acceptable? >> So she would Miss J would have to move to further amend the board meeting date
change which I think is appropriate because that's what has been opened here. You'd have discussion. uh you'd have to give the verbiage of how you so choose to amend that and then the board would vote first on whether you approve or disapprove the amendment and then vote on the full resolution.
>> Okay. >> Can I ask a follow-up question of the business administrator? So when is the preliminary budget actually due to the state now? >> March 27th. >> So the day after. >> Correct.
>> It hasn't happened but we've come close. What if the preliminary budget fails >> at the March 26th meeting? >> Then I mean I would probably I don't think you'd have timing to call a March meeting. You'd be you'd be late. I mean that would be it. I mean boards have
been late before the commissioner gets the ECS typically will then get involved and you'd be likely required to hold meeting after meeting until you approve the preliminary budget. >> Okay. Thank you. Yeah. The other thing though is, you know, moving the meeting
to introduce it just means uh the board has less time to look at it, right? I mean, if we get it uh we we were supposed to have it a little before the 12th and then we would have like a whole month to look at it before we uh finally
approve it in April. Um so you're just you're just saying I you don't need as much time as you usually do and I don't like that. I think we should have a lot of time to look at it and I don't like I don't like introducing things a day or two before they're due. I think you we
should have a lot of time to look at it and that's the effect of this. If you stick in a new meeting then you just push off what you have to do. >> So um to and you know I like to look at things um as well. Um so I I think what
Jen and I had discussed is um providing the board with a draft, right? This is the presentation to the public, right? Yeah. >> Um so but so you know, you would want to see it before it's presented to the public anyway.
>> And so that by shifting it out um the presentation, you're actually going to have more time to review it. as um you know, Jen and I discussed an early March date like maybe around the 6th of presenting of sending it to the board for review. And so you would have from
that date until the sub until the presentation >> which is hopefully in the week of March 23rd um to uh to review and that will give Jen an opportunity as as well to meet I think with board members and answer all the questions. So what is
what is the proposed date that a board member or committee at least gets to see this document? >> Um so we had discussed as a target um a date of March 6th >> and that's still even before the the state numbers but I know that um you
know the budget's big right and so >> we we want to start looking at it. >> Would that be let me ask what is what would we see on the 6th? So I'll leave that. Um I I my my expectation or my
hope um was to see the full detailed budget. >> That would be my hope to you want to make that part of your resolution and I then I if you can make that part of the resolution then I will >> I I I don't want I that's >> And you have a facilities and finance
committee meeting on the 9th too. March 9th. >> Yeah. facilities committee before it goes to individual >> the nth, >> right? >> So, it could be the 9th. I I mean, I thought March 6th originally because we had the March 12th um date. Um so, that
was kind of stuck in my in my head. Um but I think, you know, whether it goes to finance and facilities or it goes to the full board, like everyone's going to have questions. Um so, I don't see any and everybody deserves to see it. So, I don't have any issues with it going. That's why I'm actually in favor of
pushing it back is because we had the the finance and facilities meeting on Monday, then the numbers weren't coming out till Tuesday and then Thursday was the board meeting, right? So, we already knew we weren't going to get a whole lot of information >> by the 12th, right? We already knew that. So, I'm actually thrilled that we
get a little more space to actually look at it and discuss it before the board meeting. >> All right. So, could we get a >> So, why don't I make a motion? We board gets it March 6th and the meeting is uh what did you say? >> Facilities and finance March 9th.
>> Facilities and finance, right? >> That could potentially give us two facilities and finance meetings prior to the preliminary budget. >> Right. So I guess so we we definitely wanted to move it and I could make the motion to amend the March 26 date, but
again I was also worried about it being educator of the year >> and was thinking that there's potentially a possibility to have a special meeting um instead purely focused on the budget. Uh so that's why I kind of wanted to get a census and
then I could make the mo to a a motion um accordingly depending on the consensus of the group in terms of the dates they would like to have the budget presentation. >> Let's let's uh work on a a nice
formulation of the motion and put it in new business and then we can move on with this item. Uh, so I think what Tom's proposing is to have a resolution as part of new business and just vote on this and then have a resolution,
>> right? >> And it's not 48 hours. >> So >> what >> I think we could do it now. >> I think it's better to do now because you have that you have the board policy on what can and can't go into new business. So, >> I think it's easier to wrap it into this
so we avoid that issue of the new business issue. >> And and honestly, like I know we have the 48 hour rule for new business. It's just that that information came out um >> yesterday. >> Yesterday. >> 24th. Yeah. So,
>> read me the resolution. >> I have a question. Uh are you going to be there on the 23rd? Because I believe that was a discrepancy. You weren't going to be there on the 23rd. Correct. You couldn't make it >> on the 26th. You mean? No, on the 23rd. >> 23rd is a Monday
in March. No, I'm available on the 23rd. >> Are you available on the 26th? >> Yes, I'm available on the 26th. I believe it was the 19th. I'm not available on the 19th. March 19th. And there was a conflict in in the school, too. There's a musical.
>> Okay. So, um, I didn't hear from every I think Gail, um, you're supportive of the 26th. >> Okay. The 26, Pamela, >> could could the chair please state the resolution that >> I'm trying she's trying to figure out which date in the state. So,
>> okay. >> I >> All right. >> I don't want to mess with the teachers night, but I do think that the way we have it schedules will prevent us from hurting insulting the teachers, which is always the big uh draw. So, I'm okay with staying late that night in order to get this done.
>> Okay. And I mean, and I guess realistically, um, the teach educator of the year is scheduled for six o'clock and over at 7:30, which is typically when we would start our session anyway, um, after exec at the end start preliminary budget at
7:30. >> So, David, so I think we have consents. >> Oh, Javier, >> I'm okay with the 26. >> Okay. Are you good with it? >> You're going to have to explain this to me when it's all done. >> I I'm totally confused that will a chair
state the resolution that as as we're that we're supposed to vote on? >> Given to plain English, I will put a resolution together. >> So, my motion would be to amend um resolution one to include a change of the budget presentation date from March
12th to March 26th. And those are both scheduled meetings, correct? >> Yes. >> It's preliminary budget presentation. >> That's right. Preliminary budget presentation from March 12th to March 26th. >> I'll second that moment.
>> Wait a minute. What What about the rest of it? >> The rest of it was, you know, when when does the board get to see this? Uh >> that part of it. >> That's not That's not part of it. I don't think that needs to be by resolution. >> Uh then you may not
Yeah, it is a resolution. It says resolution one, approval of board meeting dates and you're changing resolution. >> Can we appease Dr. Forger by saying that by >> Please appease me >> by the 9th of March that you can get a preliminary to the finance and
facilities committee. >> Well, if we don't have state aid, you have to know it's a draft preliminary, right? You can't that the whole point of >> moving the preliminary >> budget meeting is to allow time to have
all of the facts and figures to actually create what Dr. Forer wants to see. >> So if you could do a preliminary for them without with the understanding that that's not going to be there and then that way you're going to have another finance and facilities meeting with them anyway before the 26th so you can
>> give them more thorough number. Yeah, we have March 9th and March 20th for finance and facilities. >> Think you can do I'm just gonna ask. >> Okay. So, Dr. >> the second part of it is by the 9th of Finance and facility. Gets it. >> Sure. >> Okay. Is that right?
>> Is that okay with you as well? We both have to work on certain >> then it's fine with me. >> Tom, they can try to get it to you guys for the night for your finances. I think Tom wants it in the resolution. I'm >> trying to my arms. I can't do what?
>> Well, there's three of us to the finance facilities here and that's the expectation. >> Yeah, >> I think we we can agree. >> We'll give you as much as we can on the 9th. I mean, it's not going to be final. It's not going to be a final preliminary budget presentation by the 9th.
>> There there is one big hole and that is how much is the state going to kick in, >> right? But I think we can >> and that we won't find out until we're hearing the 12th. Well, >> they're hearing it. They're not guaranteeing it. They're just saying. >> But I I do think we can use prior year's
number um as a an estimate and and we're not anticipating a change, >> but I've also been in a district multiple budgets where we weren't anticipating a change and the change was huge and >> you know, our prelim budget and our
final budget were not nearly the same. >> Understood. But at some point, we have to draw a line in the sand and start looking at it. Yes. holistically >> 100%. >> Yes. >> But I also want to say we have been right. We we've been looking at all of the components. We just don't have all
of the pieces >> yet. Is everyone ready for the resolution? >> Yes. >> And I will I will email this shortly after to your board secretary. >> Um it says Oh, I don't have my mic. Oh, I do have a mic on. Uh whereas the Berkeley Heights Board of Education
previously scheduled a regular board meeting for May 7th, 2026. Whereas notice was provided to the board that a date chain would be forthcoming. >> March, not May. >> No, the other resolution >> I'm reading the full resolution as amended. >> But you said May. >> That is May.
>> This is the May 7th to May. It's >> May 7th May and March 12th. Uh March. >> Got it. >> 12th 26th. All right. Um let me start over. >> It's a long Sorry. No, it's okay. Please correct me as we go. I just put this on the spot. So uh whereas the Berkeley
Heights Board of Education previously scheduled a regular board meeting for May 7, 2026 and whereas notice was provided to the board that date changes would be forthcoming and whereas the Berkeley Heights Board of Education previously has meetings scheduled for March 12th and March 25th March 26, 2026
with the budget presentation scheduled on March 12th, 2026. And whereas the board wishes to move the budget presentation from March 12th, 2026 to March 26, 2026. Now therefore be it resolved that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education hereby approves change in the May 7, 2026 board meeting date to
May 6, 2026. And be it further resolved that the board that the May 26, 2020 shall held with an executive session at 6:30 p.m. followed by public session at 7:30 p.m. And be it further resolved that the board budget presentation shall be held on March 26, 2026. Be it further
resolved that the appropriate notice of this change shall be provided in accordance with the applicable policies and open meeting requirements. Could I just add ask that you add preliminary? Yes. Before budget presentation >> approved uh budget
>> preliminary >> preliminary. >> Thank you for that. >> Everyone okay with me not reading that? >> So the mot that's the motion. >> That's the motion. So now >> okay. So now we have to vote first on the amended version. >> Do we have a second to this?
>> We do. Javier did. So we have to vote on the amended first and then we can vote on the full res. >> You vote to amend first. So whether you should amend it or not and then you if it's approved then you vote as on the amended. If it's not approved then you vote on the original. >> Okay.
So madame secretary can you do a roll call, please? Miss Bradford? >> Yes. >> Miss Stanley? >> Yes. >> Mr. Morales? >> Yes. Mrs. Jolly, >> yes. >> Mr. Dylan,
>> yes. >> Dr. Forger, >> yes. >> Mrs. Terrarero, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Madam Secretary, can you do a roll call now for the new resolution? The full resolution.
>> Full amended resolution. >> Correct. >> Okay. Uh, Miss Bradford. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stanley? >> Yes. >> Mr. Morales? >> Yes. >> Mrs. M Jolly. >> Yes. >> Mr. Dylan. >> Yes. >> Dr. Forger.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Terrarero. >> Yes. >> Motion pass. Report of the business administrator and board communications. Great. So, the district's business office continues to work diligently to ensure
smooth operations and adherence to best practices in financial planning and oversight. On, as discussed, on February 24th, the New Jersey Department of Education released revisions to 2026 school election and budget procedures calendar, which we received yesterday.
As a result of those revisions, Berkeley Heights, a type two district, now has a budget submission deadline of March 27th. I think we've covered that. This updated timeline provides the district additional time to align its financial planning and finalize state aid information ensures full compliance with the adjusted state requirements. I do
want to thank the board. Thank you for that consideration in changing the preliminary budget date. It's appreciated. Um budget discussions with administrators and department leaders were productive and helped refine priorities and identify key needs for upcoming school year. As part of our
continued budget development process, we're building on those conversations and preparing for further review at the administrative council level. We remain focused on carefully evaluating salary considerations, monitoring benefit trends, and assessing overall district needs for 2627.
Board members remain actively involved and continue engaging in dialogue with Dr. Feltry and myself as they receive updates and review the evolving financial plan. USC walkthroughs for the district buildings were postponed yet again due to weather conditions and will be rescheduled for April. I really hope
there's no snow in April. We appreciate everyone's flexibility. Um we would like to extend our deepest appreciation to Rick Romano and our entire custodial maintenance team for their outstanding efforts during the recent weather events. Leading those efforts in our buildings were our head
custodial staff Yan Marin, Novi Gonzalez, Andrew Odow, Vincent Domingo, Ted Minsky, and Antonio Centurion, whose leadership, responsiveness, and hands-on commitment were instrumental throughout these challenging conditions. Through long hours, thoughtful planning, and unwavering dedication to snow removal,
building safety, and storm preparation, they worked tireously tirelessly throughout the blizzard and during our snow days to ensure that upon our return, our schools were safe, accessible, and fully operational for students and staff. We're sincerely grateful for their continued dedication
and exceptional service. Their professionalism, teamwork, and pride in their work truly exemplify the high standards of our district. Thank you. >> Thank you. Comments from the public on agenda items only. During this portion of the meeting, district residents and staff are invited to address the board of
education on agenda action items only. The board requests that individuals state their name and town of residents or school of attendance for the record. Additionally, all inerson public commenters are asked to please sign in. All comments should be directed to the board president and depending upon the
nature and complexity of the question. It may or may not be answered during the meeting by the administration. If so, the response would occur after the public portion of the meeting has concluded. Although the board may not respond to all items raised during public forum, all public comments will
be considered. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding personnel matters are discouraged and cannot be responded to by the board. Students and employees have specific
legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey. The board bears no responsibility, nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public. Please note that any that if any member of the public becomes disruptive during the meeting, the board president may terminate the participant statement.
Continued disruptions may result in removal from or adjournment of the meeting. Each speaker statement will be limited to three minutes in duration. Um we're going to take in person first and then online comments. I do not see anybody in person, so we will move to
online comments. And can you please promote the gentleman with his hand raised? >> Can you guys hear me? >> Yes. >> All right. Good. Uh, hi everyone. John Magcguire, Berkeley Heights. Um, so I
just want to go to district goals first. And so and you know this has been sort of an ongoing issue I think in the district where goals are strategies are framed as goals or outcomes and so I guess the question I have is what is
what is the tangible outcome that we will see as a result of these strategies or these goals like what's what at the end of all these you know these interventions what is going to be the net result,
whether it connects to proficiency, like like how do we know this stuff works? Like what's the baseline and then where does it go? >> Okay, go ahead. Continue. What are your other questions?
>> Oh, yeah. Uh, that's right. So, the the other question I have is with regard to the budget, the the calendar that you just approved, doesn't that narrow the public review period? In other words, I mean, it it feels like
it gives the board a bit more time, but it feels like it robs the public I I could be wrong, but it it it seems like it takes a, you know, a bunch of time away from the public to be able to review the the budget. Is that am I can I get an answer on
that? Is that understanding accurate or inaccurate? Hold on. >> Good. >> Is do you have any other questions or those are the only two? >> Well, if that is the case, I don't like because it was a it was a lot of like dates being thrown around, but it feels
like the public was that that was removed. And I I guess you know then I'm going to kind of move to sort of expressing a frustration with regard to the budget if it in fact does remove days.
And you know I I I think the school can be the district can be a bit more proactive in terms of at least signaling what it intends to do with the budget. And I think it can do that independently of the state aid numbers. State aid
numbers are often used as a a reason to sort of delay this discussion, but there's a lot of assumptions that we can make. Uh there's a lot that we can look at in the budget right now and say, "Hey, some of this stuff needs to be different." Um
and I, you know, I think there's a lot there's been a lot of community discussion around this. Um and I and I think it would be helpful for people to hear how the budget is going to move to
connecting to to sort of student need uh versus some of the stuff that we've seen uh increasing this year. Uh and I'm not going to repeat it. You guys have heard me say it at nauseium. So I I don't think the budget has to be this big secretive process that's happening in
the background. I I I think there could be some comfortable conversations as to where what direction the budget is going. I'm not clear as to why that can't happen. Um, and then I just kind of want to just remind I don't want to go, you know, the one thing that we don't want to kind of
have a replay of this year is every year, you know, I specifically make a request to see the full detailed budget approved preliminary. Once a once a board of education approves it and it goes to the superintendent's office, that becomes a document that can be
obtained by OPRA. I'm going to do that again this year and I really would hope that it doesn't have to be the back and forth it's been in prior years. Um I think the public should be able to see it. It's their money and it it connects to one of the biggest reasons why they
live here. And that's it. Thank you very much for your time if and I if I would appreciate an answer to the questions. >> Thank you. Um so Dr. Felure I don't know if you have them written down but I have them written down if you >> I do. Okay. I I wrote them down. So in terms of the district goals and the
tangible tangible outcome, we would expect increased student learning. I cannot and I I know and I know where you're going with this and respectfully I cannot make a direct line this year between September and May of NJSLA or
NJGPA that the efforts that we're doing are going to see increased proficiency scores. It takes longer than that. Um, and to be fair, those assessments aren't directly related to
uh the the sorry, they are directly related to what we're doing in the classroom, but those assessments weren't designed to be used to measure what's going on in the classroom. Those are are designed to be used to measure mastery of the standards and compare people and
and actually they're designed for federal compliance. But um we do look at them and we analyze our the standards that we're achieving and um that will be another data point if you
will but I cannot guarantee from September to that you're going to tangibly see it. Give me a couple of years, I can say we will tangibly see an increase in student achievement proficiency. You know, ideally what we're measuring now is what's happening
dayto-day in the classroom. What's happening in terms of interventions to bridge those gaps for those students who are struggling um and you know meeting the needs of of the whole child will help with academics. So we want to see improved academics. I I you know we're
looking at all of that data. But so just to make sure because I know he also asked how do we know that this is working? I guess you're basically saying we're not going to know. >> Well, if you're going to go NJSLA to NJSLA, you're not going to see it in
this one year. I I I I doubt it. I I I highly doubt it. I mean, >> I I have great respect for our teachers and we're doing a lot with them, but we're talking about students mastering the learning. It's there's a difference between teaching and learning. And I
mean, we've all experienced here. Somebody can look at you and say something to you and have a conversation with you and explain something to you and you nod yes and you understand it in the moment and you go out of the room and somebody asks you the question and you have to explain it and you're like,
"Oh, I have parts of it, but I don't have all of And that and that's the difference you know in in very basic form you know between teaching and learning you know it's not that it wasn't taught when you had that conversation with somebody but if you
can't go out and then red apply it or explain it then you haven't truly learned it and and that may take more than the months that we have you know so um realistically >> as far as the budget question
>> yes I Yes, technically it narrows the I mean if if we're going to present the preliminary budget on the 12th versus the 26th, yes, you know, numbers wise, but the state changed when the preliminary budget was was due. So, you
know, they they pushed the timeline back. That gives us time to be more accurate, you know, um with it. Um >> we still have a month between our preliminary budget and the final budget. So when we first present the preliminary budget to public in the public meeting,
there's a whole month until we're >> right. It's April 30th budget. >> When do we typically post that presentation? >> The preliminary budget presentation. Um what the the 48 hours before um she presents, right?
>> You know, unless although to be honest on March 12th, if we weren't getting the state aid numbers until March 12th, we probably would have waited, right? because then you're you're not adding that into it. You could have done whatever else with the, you know, and with a disclaimer, you know, a little
asterisk pending, you know, no change in what our projected state aid is, >> right? >> You know, but >> and you know, we um we've been very open with the board and keeping them appraised of the process and getting a
lot of support back with that. So, >> yeah. Um, I can't speak to prior administration, but um, I can speak to how we've been conducting things and um, the feedback I get is that there's a notable difference. So,
we'll just go with that. >> I would I would confirm. I mean, I like I asked Jen a ton of questions um, and she re she definitely answers me. So, I really um appreciate it or comes back to
me if she doesn't know the answer until, you know, once it's researched. So, um I do appreciate it very much. >> Okay, let's move on to minutes. Resolution one, all board members. Do I have a motion? >> So moved.
>> Seconded. >> Okay, so Miss Gra, Miss Bradford and Mr. Morales. Yes. >> Discussion. >> Yeah. Just a quick note, you know, um, so I know Jen's been working on refining
the the minutes and I really do appreciate it. So, but there is one glitch for me personally that I don't love is that um you know when we started right we had verbatim and then we moved to summary and now it seems like that
there's a link to the YouTube video but unless the link points you to exactly the point in the YouTube video where you're actually having that discussion I don't find it really helpful. So that is the part of the regular session minutes I do not like so much.
>> Noted. >> Okay. >> Madam Secretary, please take a roll call. >> Mrs. Bradford? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stanley? >> Yes. >> Mr. Morales? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jolly. >> I'm going to say yes to the executive
session minutes and no to the regular m meeting minutes. >> Mr. Dylan, >> yes. >> Dr. Forger. Yes, >> Mrs. Terrar. >> Yes. Motion pass. >> Finance resolutions 1 through 14. All board members resolution 15 and 16
Berkeley Heights only. Do I have a motion? So moved. >> Seconded. >> So Miss Jolly and Mr. Morales just Oh, actually let's move on to committee reports first. We'll go to finance and facilities.
>> Thank you. So, um, so the finance and facilities committee met on Friday, February 20th for from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Um, so on the agenda, we had um the team from uh from solutions architecture um
along with B bond council and Phoenix advisers. Um it wasn't so much a presentation but a Q&A. Um so they were there to answer any questions we had. Um bulk of the discussion um was around um you know uh plan B if you will like what
happens if the uh referendum fails? Can we go for another referendum? Um you know so we discussed that um you know November referendum would have a very tight turnaround but um possible the uh there is no additional fee to the
county. um we can leverage the same projects um though they would highly recommend resubmission for budget um given that however these projects were priced um uh is uh stale um given you
know that we're that we would be delaying further. So I think there was a takeaway for solutions architects to come back to us um with the question whether the DOE can maybe expedite um their approvals if they are only looking
at uh the revised budgets as opposed to a revised project scope or anything of that nature. Um let's see. Um so then with respect to make sure uh sorry agenda item number
two um we were talking about a couple of items that you'll see on your um on the overall agenda today. The uh PIP renewal it's the joint insurance fund for workers comp and we participate that in that annually to you know try to get the
best rates. uh the semi waiver that's special education Medicaid initiative I it's the waiver because we don't have enough qualified kids so it's actually more costly to administer the program than not so we are applying for the waiver
um so the donation from Andrew Adrenado Foundation um in my minutes uh the amount is slightly higher but that was revised to remove some of the apparel items but we're very grateful for the generous donation and uh the money will be spent on uh new windscreen flagpole
equipment. Um so we had a little bit of a discussion around um you know donations um coming in from like is this a particular donation was being the money was donated to the booster club and then the booster club purchased the items that were donated here. So we just
had kind of walk through the process there a little bit. Um and then we also discussed um participation uh in the joint transportation agreement with Hopekong BOE um and UCE and these contracts just um provide us additional
flexibility to um get comp competitive pricing on um routes when needed. Um so then we also discussed the budget. So uh as Jen mentioned, the administration continues to refine the budget. Um some
of the budget pressures um you may have heard before we have uh healthcare increases um currently estimated 17% uh utility cost increases uh currently estimated at 30% increase in in special education costs and uncertainty
regarding state aid but assumed to be the same for the purpose of the budget estimate and we already talked about the dates when the governor is making her announcements. Um we had quite a discussion about um capital reserve and maintenance reserves accounts. Um so
what the BA's office has tred up the capital and maintenance reserves accounts um based on the audit and that typically happens after the audit is presented to um to us. Um so there was a transfer of 1.5 million 1.519 million to
capital reserve and 629K to maintenance reserve and that consisted of um uh 700 so if we look at the capital reserve it consisted of 750k of board resolution that we approved in June to transfer
into capital reserves as well as some leftover um funds from the capital reserves that were withdrawn. on because we had um some state aid in in the form of rod grants. So we did not spend all
of the capital reserves that we withdrew for um our capital projects like the CMS roof, the Woodruff roof, and um the press box. So that's a positive in the sense that we, you know, we were able to get that 40% in the state aid from with
the rod grants. Um and then the 620K of transfer to maintenance reserves was consisted of the 350K that we approved um back in June via resolution as well as unspent um reserves that need to go back into the reserve account. Um for
those who are following audited breakdown uh can be found on page 83 and 84 of the audit which I believe is posted uh yeah is is on is still posted. Um so the reason this was a little bit of a lengthy discussion was because um I
guess uh you know I would personally was surprised that we had um some so much money to give back to reserves which was a good thing because I just was not aware of the rod grants um and uh though understanding that any unspent reserves
do need to go back. So, and then Jen provided us uh with a detailed um uh I guess reconciliation of the activity um on spreadsheet, right? To that ties back to the audited amounts um in in for the fiscal 25-year audit. So, um and the
current uh reserves levels um that you could see in the board secretar's report um in the attachments are the correct levels and include the transfers. Okay. Um real quick, sorry. bank interest rates. I think Jen Tom walked uh worked on um uh finding a financial
resources credit union where we can get um 4% um on a 9th month CD. So um the goal is to put about 1.5 million in cap reserves there which will generate approximately $46,000 in interest. So
that's always good. um pilot properties um you know so the administration met with the township regarding pilot properties um and the enrollment impact of pilot uh of uh students living in
those properties. So pilot is payment in le of taxes. They do not distribute funds uh to the districts in the same manners like our regular taxes. Um so the schools currently do not receive any pilot revenue. Um based on current
enrollment the cost to the district is approximately 1.6 million. That's for regular education, special education and um ELS. Um so we're waiting feedback from the township and I believe they're meeting um on Friday with their um
financial advisor. So, we're hoping that um we could have a partnership and um that you know the township can support help us support our students. Um and then we also discussed S the school regional regionalization efficiency
program. I think at the last meeting we said we'd kick it back to um the committee and at this time the committee is not looking forward is not going to move forward with the application um forformational purposes um uh Jen had
alerted us to um changes in chapter 192 193 and what this is is essentially um you know if we have schools in our just smaller schools in our district where we kind of are a pass through in terms of funds funding
for them for certain things. Um the way that we get reimbursed has changed and this could potentially potentially have an impact to the district. Um because before we would get reimbursed for what we paid, but now there's like a pool of money and that gets drawn down and it's
kind of first come first serve. So um you know this is just something to be aware of. Um the uh SRO the township um uh is discontinuing um I guess uh the SRO service which um is okay in the
sense that it is a $25,000 savings to us. Um Mr. Maxwell um will no longer be coordinating the SLO3 officers. Um we discussed with the administration what impact that would have and I think that uh the administration confirmed that um
we can get by um the leads education um will now be conducted by the community outreach detective again at no cost to the district and so and I think there was one outstanding item was that we would need to identify a point person for the safety committee right okay
I think that's it thank you um athletics and co-curricular >> I have a question on the so sorry >> thank you um the the meeting uh with solutions architecture and the bond council and things advisors talking
about if if the referendum fails in March to bring it back in November and that was what you sent them out to investigate >> um right um because I mean it wouldn't ne it wouldn't be the same questions but perhaps you know we could use because the projects are the projects um the
work that still needs to be done. So if we can leverage like the work that's already been done and the projects that have already been approved to I don't know reformulate the questions. Um so yes that's what we asked right just just in case right so we have kind of like a
plan B just in case >> because the board is in support of our referendum. No, no, no. Of course, of course. No, this was just so because I knew like it would be a quick turnaround time. So, like what are we going to do, right? Um, just in case.
>> Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to reemphasize the board's support for the March 10th referendum. >> Does anybody else have anything any questions on? >> So, just a quick comment. I'd like to thank the uh Andrew Adonado Foundation
for their uh donation, right? Um I know having been out there at many of the games, uh I noticed that they I don't know if this was their decision or our decision uh to finally put a flag pole up at that baseball field, which has been something that really needed to be done months ago, if not years ago. So,
I'm I'm glad that um they stepped up and and and corrected that. Um it just is it's a poor state when when we need donations to put up an American flag, right? Um that's a it's a ball club and a culture where uh we have
people coming from all over this the country now coming to watch our players. Um and the fact that that wasn't corrected sooner is probably a miss. So I thank them for stepping up and and addressing the the topic. >> Anybody else? Okay, let's move on to the
athletics and co-curricular. >> Okay, so none of these uh notes directly tie to finance, but I'll still provide an update here. Um we didn't meet in person, but uh and we made that decision for the interest of time and prioritization of the district. Uh there
was nothing that was necessarily action items, so it was informative nature. Um, so through the athletic director, um, we got an update on the wrap-up of winter sports. You know, right now a lot of our clubs are going through, uh, state tournaments, county tournaments. So, we
got a wrap-up of that and that spring starts are be spring sports are beginning. Uh, that season will kick off on March 9th. Um, there was an update on some budget review items. Uh, I know that there were, you know, uh, athletic and co-curricular budgets proposed to
the BA. Uh and also an update on several of the um BA board member meetings in which you know uh the athletic director were was participating in. Uh an update from uh facilities. Uh a couple things on the press box. Uh progress is being
made, sound systems being put in. Um new cameras to to potentially uh stream games in the future. Um and uh some updates on um some wrestling room repairs uh that we're waiting on. Um,
from a personnel perspective, things that are on the agenda item. Um, the boys lacrosse assistant coaches are on the agenda and also our girls our new program, the girls flag football coach. Uh, you'll notice that that's a volunteer position while that's still in
its probationary phase of a club. Um, that's a majority and that that'll conclude my my update. Okay, any questions? Okay, let's how about the report for technology and communications?
>> Okay, uh technology and communications met February 12th. Um talked about -ate is a federal program that subsidizes internet connectivity for schools. Funding cycles occur every five years. Berkeley Heights qualifies
for the lowest tier 40% discount on eligible infrastructure upgrades at the elementary schools. We need to replace 11 Cisco Catalyst 2950 network switches with 11 MRO MS150
network switches. The vendor being used is Arctic. The switches connect to classroom jacks and support wired connections. Reduced number is needed due to updated infrastructure and more efficient network design.
Upgrading ensures more modern and secure hardware, improved network reliability, and compliance with current standards. The total cost of the project from equipment to installation will be $43,919. I'll admit the 89 cents. For CMS and GL,
38 additional switches will need replacement in the future. These devices reach end of life support in 2029 2030. These switches support the phones, VIP and security cameras and Ethernet connections to classroom offices.
Uh so we talked about that. Um I'm going to say I'm not sure about some of this stuff. Um, we're putting in very high-speed switches and I don't know, this something I need to look into with their
help on why we need such high-speed switches for an elementary classroom. Okay. Uh, these are 10 gigabit switches, I think. And I'm not >> Are you talking about the the rate things that you're just talking about? Well, if I'm not mistaken, um those were
out of uh end of life support switches if I'm not mistaken. >> Um yeah, they are end of life 2013, >> right? 2013. So there's there's >> Yeah, but the question is >> my question, I should have raised this
at the meeting was what speed are we running these things at? You know, >> I don't I don't know the answer. I mean, why does an elementary school classroom really need high-speed switches, highspeed anything? So, that's something I'd like to look into.
Um, but I don't think it's on the bill list tonight. Uh, there is something for Dine Tech. We pay uh 2550 for a month, but I think those are the existing switches. Um
anyway uh we also talked about and now here I'm not going to go into a lot of detail because this is for like for the policy committee but there is a new law on uh internet enabled devices so-called IEDs
right um and basically from bell to bell you can't have an internet enabled device in the classroom so we're going to need a policy on that Um, but we talked about it and then we talked about the referendum and there's
a whole list of things that is going on. I don't think I'll take the time to go through all of that. It'll be in the detailed minutes. Okay. Um, >> any questions from anyone? >> Yeah. Yeah. I I
don't like to talk about this, but right now my My computer that has these minutes on it is inaccessible to me. Okay. >> Do you need those high-speed switches? >> If what I need I tell you what I need
somebody that can get rid of a virus that has taken over my computer. Okay. This is so frustrating. All right. Uh so I will I'm getting help. >> Do you know what the changes were that you reviewed? If you do, I'd be happy to copy that.
>> I have the uh minutes. I had a print out of it. I managed to do a print out. >> Can we scan that and maybe send it out to everyone? Okay. >> Uh yeah, I can once I get to my board email, I can send it, right? Oh, yes.
>> So, Dr. Forer, I think um I think >> Miss Nicholson said that she would scan it for you and then email. >> You're right. I forgot. It's actually It's actually uh in my board email. I can just okay >> take care of it from there. Uh >> but uh I was dealing with a horrible
horrible problem. >> Just a question. Yeah, it sounds like that's the cell phone ban. >> Yes, >> it is. It is. >> Just because it's going to come up in the public and people are taking notes. When does that when do we need to act? >> September >> 26 27.
>> Yeah. School. >> No, September. >> Start of the next school year. >> Yes. >> Start of the next school year. >> Oh, what wait a minute? What about uh summer school? >> No, start of the next school year. September September of 2026. >> That's the mandate. >> All right. >> Okay. Okay. Cuz I I assume
>> that's the what's on everybody's mind, right? >> It is. >> All right. >> Yeah. Turns out >> kids to school with bones. >> New Jersey is not the only state that's done this. A lot of states have uh >> stepped in. >> This is a bad thing. >> It's amazing. You know there's a guy was
this hate I think >> that wrote a book on this one guy wrote a book and look what he managed to do with that >> right. Yeah. >> I mean >> that is truly amazing that somebody could take the time to write a whole book on the subject
>> and basically state >> legislation to go. >> It had it was so influential that the states are passing laws to ban this stuff. >> Yeah. Right. >> It's probably in conjunction with, you know, other things. >> Yeah.
>> That are evidence. >> So, um >> I can't think of any other guy that's ever done that. >> Yeah. And I was just saying, uh the nation of Finland, which is known for its educational program, has also adopted that no cell phone because they saw a drop in their scores.
>> Yeah. >> Wow. >> It's incredible. So, um, does anybody have any other questions on that topic? Okay. Um, let's move to discussion. Oh, I'm sorry. >> It's discussion. It's not
>> Okay. Let's move to discussion on all the resolutions for that. Does anybody have >> I just have a discussion on part of like the referendum stuff we were talking about for the finance. Um, so I know when we did the press box, the price tag
for that press box was like shocking and I remember thinking it's like the price of a house. >> And so I know a couple people have asked about like the cost of this referendum, right? And like are these things really that costly? Um, so I wanted to just ask
Jen and Dr. for filter like what is the difference between when I want to redo my kitchen and when a school district wants to redo a room and the costs associated with it? >> Well, I can give you one example, right? So, if you want to do redo your HVAC at your house, what does that cost like for
your house about? Okay. The average school school building building not district to replace an HVAC. I know that mechanicals are on here uh in the second question, but um is 1.5 to4 million
statistically, right? Um so if you want to replace your roof, right, how much is your roof? Well, your roof could be 10, 20, $30,000 depending on how big your house is. Um,
I have been involved in roofing projects that have been anywhere from $2 to $6 million, right, for one building, depending on the complexity of the roof and how many sections there are to the building. So, uh, it's substantially higher, you know, whether people agree
with it or not being higher, it's substantially higher than like your house, right? And did you want to talk to some of the any of the other the classrooms or anything like that? >> Well, those are all based on square footage, you know, and and the costs that are associated with square footage.
And for school districts, part of that complexity is asbesus basement abatement. If you're ripping up floor tiles um uh or doing anything with HVAC and uh they have wrapped the pipes in
asbestous insulation, then you have to remediate that before you do any kind of renovation and that increases costs to classroom spaces. And then like one of the other things too, right, is so all the money taken from the bond has to
be used in the school district for the projects noted. They can't that money cannot be used for anything else except for the projects noted. Correct. >> If if there's any money that's left over, it goes back to the taxpayer. >> Right. So I think >> clarifying that, right? And I think it's
really hard because you don't realize like what goes into a project like the bidding and the contractors all have to be state you know approved and then so they up their prices because they have to go through that process right so I think um but right any money that is
that we take out for that bond has to be used for those specific projects and then if we don't use that money it goes back >> right towards paying that bond down >> uh even further which would be tax benefit so thank you for just clarifying that Um, and then, um,
there was something else in finance and facilities, I don't remember. Oh, I was going to say to, uh, Bill's point about the flag, just so you know, the BHEF was asked by a child to get a new flag for their school. Um, yeah. And I think, right, it does
show how tight some of our our budgets are for our buildings, right? And and how difficult it is because it it is whenever I see that at the BHEF meetings and see what our students and teachers are asking for, it is really hard. Um,
because it's like, wow, right? But when your building principal is asking you for tissues, it's because they really need them because their budgets are so tight. Um, so I thank everybody for donations. >> Does anybody have any other items to discuss?
Okay, Madam Secretary, may I have a roll call, please? >> Yes. And I just want to note that um, Mr. Morales had to excuse himself. >> I know he um, so Miss Bradford, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stanley,
>> yes. Mrs. Jolly. >> Yes. >> Mr. Dylan. >> Uh, yes. On 1 through 14. >> Dr. Forger. >> Uh, yes. >> And Mrs. Terrarero? >> Yes.
>> Motions pass. >> Personnel. Do I have a motion? >> I'm sorry. Resolutions. Sorry. Oh, sorry. Resolutions 1 through 12. All board members. Resolution 13 through 19. Berkeley Heights only. Do I have a motion? So moved.
>> I'll second. >> So um Mrs. Bradford and um Miss Jolly. >> Okay. Miss Stanley. >> Okay. Um committee reports personnel. >> Yes. Um the personnel committee met on
Wednesday, April 18th at 12:00 virtually. Um, we discussed the agenda item number one was the interim GL assistant principal. We had a discussion on the need for two assistant principles at Governor Livingston. A discussion on
financial considerations. Discussion on the support for the new GL principal only a few weeks into the job. Discussion on the roles of the administration at GL. Discussion on the role of the curriculum supervisors and directors and recommendation to provide professional development and mentoring
for district administrators to encourage internal staff members to accept positions of increased responsibility in the district. The requests by the committee members were more information needed for the next personnel committee meeting on March 6. Uh job descriptions
of the GL administers sorry administr administrators and Dr. Felry did provide that for us and I put them in the minutes and uh the request for the GL principal to attend the next meeting. A second agenda agenda item was brought up by Mr. Dylan about the use of teachers
personal phones to create a back to school night video. Dr. Peltry is sending a reminder about the policy on personal phone use to staff. Videos or photos of students require parental consent according to our policy and updates will be provided the by excuse me to the personnel committee. Our our
meeting agended at 12:32 and our next meeting is on March 6th. >> Does anybody have any questions? >> Okay. Do we want to have a discussion on any of the items, any of the resolutions? I just want to say thank you for to
Jackie Bartlett for all of her many years here at Berkeley Heights and all she has done for our students. I know how much she truly cares about them and how much time she has spent in our buildings away from her own children to support our kids. So, thank you so much and we wish you the best of luck.
>> I concur. Anyone else, >> Madam Secretary? Roll call. >> Miss Bradford? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stanley? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jolly? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dylan >> 1 through 12. Yes. >> Dr. Foriger. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Terrero.
>> Yes. Motions pass. Education resolutions one and two. All board members. Do I have a motion? So move. Mrs. Jolly is one. I have a second. >> So yes, second. >> Mrs. Bradford.
>> Uh, committee reports curriculum. >> The curriculum. Okay. >> Um I don't think we have anything to report on. Okay. Um so do we have a discussion on any of the items? Any anything to discuss?
Okay. Madam Secretary, please do a roll call. Miss Bradford. Mrs. Bradford. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stanley. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jolly. >> Yes. to all. I accept I abstain on um resolution
131859 GL. >> You mean case? Oh yeah, >> Mr. Dylan. >> Uh I'm going to vote yes to all um specifically and number one just the GL
items. I'll abstain from the rest. >> Dr. Forer. >> Yes to all. >> Mrs. Trarero. Yes. Motions pass. >> Policy resolutions one through three. All board members, do I have a motion? >> Move. >> Stanley is first. Do I have a second?
>> Second. >> Mr. Bradford is second. Committee reports on policy. >> All right. So, so we have policy 0142.1 nepotism. Um, this is a revision.
there's a revision to this language and the statutes to better align with the administrative code. Uh the committee added language that in item number two that the board must approve this as well as the county. Um and then we remove the
optional language at the end of the policy. Then you have policy 1220 employment of chief school administrator. Um it's been revised for uh
legal citations. We added the optional language of the candidate shall meet the qualification criteria established by the board contained in the job description. And then we also added the superintendent shall devote themselves exclusive exclusively to the duties of
the office. Then we have policy 1552 sexual harassment of staff. This is new. We were the committee was glad to see this new policy with language that directly addresses how to handle sexual harassment for all staff. Um and then we
have regulation 1552. Same as above, but we are waiting for stress estate to respond on um questions regarding regulation 1530. Um because that section and the ones that are being abolished below um is being removed.
it's not in this regulation and we just want to make sure that we don't need to do anything else um to address that. Um and then we have policy 3362 which was the old sexual harassment abolishment. Um that one we are going to abolish it.
And then there's a policy 4352 um which we're also going to abolish on sexual harassment and they're being replaced with these new 1552 and and regulation 1552. Okay. So our second reads policy 7230
gifts grants and donations. So we talked to Mr. Distler. Um, and the committee has decided that we do want to add language on there about liability, but in the interest of making sure that this policy does get
put in place immediately, we are going to do it at our next policy committee meeting and that would bring it back to first read. But we want the second read to pass in order for it to be put in place, the current language to be put in place, especially specifically to deal
with um students and um fundraising. Um so we're going to keep the changes to minimal and then bring it back to policy committee. Um we have a meeting not next week but the following week for policy and we'll bring it back then. Um
so we're hoping it passes tonight. policy 8451 uh control of communicable diseases. Um we did change it back to Berkeley Heights because we did get confirmation that the city of Summit is not who we
report to. We report to the Berkeley Heights Board of Health. Um and then the other three, no four, um we did not make any changes to. So their second read is up and ready for you guys. Um, we did just discuss that there will
be new guidelines coming out for the student use of internet enabled devices. And then we did talk about how most of these policies are going to be um in the in the next couple of months are going to be talking about fiscal accountability, efficiency, and budgeting procedures.
Um, and that is it for the policy committee committee committee meeting minutes. February 9th is when we had our meeting. I can't talk tonight. Thank you. Discussion. >> Has Strauss says may popped out with a
IED policy? >> Yeah. >> No, >> not yet. >> They did say that they are working on one because when we met it was like the day or two before, >> right? >> Um, right. So, it was like February 7th or something or 6 that they came out with this. Um, so that they are going to
work on it. Um, and obviously we want to lean on them. The last I've heard is they said sometime springish of 26 give or take. >> Oh yeah, >> this is 26. >> I think the hard part is going to be is are we going to incur any costs, right,
to try to manage this? I think that's the hard part, right? Is because some >> Well, if we find out between the preliminary and the final budget. >> I know, right? But I think right >> I have somebody sitting next to me that might be able to tell us. >> No, but like Right. Okay, so in New York
there was some really weird stuff. Like there were like boxes that you put it in to lock it and then they can only unlock it at the end of the day and like I mean just some crazy stuff. So I'm hoping that New Jersey comes up with some better ideas on how to help us manage this.
>> This is one of those unfunded state mandates. >> Well, yeah, there that's definitely an unmandated one. I mean a unfunded one, but there's lots of those. Well, actually a long time ago the state passed a constitutional amendment I think that
said state mandate state pay. So if we incur any expense because of them they're supposed to pay for it. >> Well, can you find that >> our busing bills but I don't think they're going to pay for >> so it's check your constitution you
know. So >> there's a state mandate, state pay, >> but I'm not so sure that we actually need to spend any money to enfor to do this. >> So there's something >> I mean they do have lockers, right? >> Leave it in their locker. >> Oh, there's something called an unfunded
state mandate, but the process is there's a legislative appeal process that you appeal to the legislature. They review it. They decide if it is unfunded or not, but there's a time frame since when they pass the legislation. It's a pretty tight window. you have to then appeal as they're calling it an unfunded
mandate and then they review it to determine if it is. My guess is that process is and I think also you have to demonstrate that you actually will incur cost. So if they are going to say there are ways where there are free options like you know a plastic bin in the front
where everyone throws their phones then it wouldn't be an unfunded mandate. >> Yeah. But then the reality is of how how what's the liability of you know the district for all these phones that get lost or you know someone spills water on. But I think right that's that's the the question is what is stress estimate
going to put in their policy and how are we going to enforce it. So I think that's the big question. So the >> there's also an interesting question of what do you do if the phone starts ringing and it's in this bin.
>> Any other discussion? >> Okay, Madam Secretary, roll call, please. >> Miss Bradford, yes. >> Mrs. Stanley, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jolly, yes. Mr. Dylan, >> yes. >> Dr. forger.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Terrero. >> Yes. >> Motions pass. Strategic planning. Do we have a report on strategic planning? >> Yes. Um, so I did not send minutes out because I wasn't sure that it was really
necessary. Um, but we had a strategic planning meeting on February 5th at 1:30. Um basically we went over um how we're going to move forward with the strategic plan. Um we discussed some of the the issues that we were having like
the referendum and the budget. Um so we are going to have two meetings in April. Um where we will look at the strategic plan from the district administration um and then that will be presented to us sometime in May um and that way we can
get ready for the district goals over the summer. So it was mostly planning. Um they did the administrators did show us um the beginning of their strategic plan um documentation because yeah action plan.
There you go. Uh because they were meeting with the administrators. So they started on um action plan for the first uh strategic goal and so they just wanted to get our feedback if they were going in the right direction. Um, but we really have not gotten into the details
too much and we're awaiting the next two and like I said we'll have our meetings in April. So just uh thanks Pamela. Just to add to that, um I I we did discuss um the idea of um having targets and measurable um
outcomes um even as we you know it's a five-year plan. So even if they're interim until it get us to the end state um just so we can measure our progress as we move from year to year.
>> Okay, let's move on to negotiations. We have three different committees. So, I'm just going to do mine really quickly. Um I'm u part of the BHEA negotiations. Um the committee met on February 12th um
with the BHEA and it was just as a meet and greet with the group. >> That's it. Go ahead. >> I I have the Mountainside Negotiations Committee. We last met with Mountainside on uh January 13th. We met internally on
February 18th and negotiations continue. There was a head custodians meeting on February 24th and that was from 4:30 to 6 and uh the committee last met in October. So this
was a re restart on that and discussions were held with the entire committee and discussions were held just with Berkeley with just with board members and district um and discussions continue. The meeting adjourned at 6:40 and the next meeting is to be determined.
>> Great. Does anybody have any questions? >> I have a comment. >> Sure. >> Of course I am. So uh glad to see that the mountain side negotiations are progressing. Just want to put a little bit of reality to this. We're now 16 months away from the send and receive
contract expiring. To put that in terms of our students, the current seventh graders at Deerfield do not know where they're going to high school. It is in question, right? So, the reality of who this impacts, how clo how quickly this is coming, it's the existing seventh
graders that will be impacted by this. So, glad to see progress is being made um and uh hopefully get an end to this soon. >> Thank you. Any other comments, questions? Okay, let's move on to liaison reports. Does anybody have on
any liaison reports? >> Yes. The Berkeley Heights Town Council met on February 17th, uh, 2026. There was recognition with much gratitude of retiring school district crossing guard, Mr. Wayne Oorn. Um, and thank you for
him for his many, many years of service to our students and to the community. There was also an update on the pre-qualifications concerning the Latell Lord historical home in Berkeley Heights by the town's architecture historical architects. So they have to do certain pre things
before they can start it. They've worked on the foundation. Now they're working on the outside of that house. Um the special education parent advocacy group met on January 14th at CMS and the administration Mr. Mora and Miss Rush
gave an update to the parents on recent practices and parents discussed their needs and concerns as well as their compliments to the staff. I just received today the Berkeley Heights Veterans Affairs Committee, the Society of Historians here at GL, and the MEA
Mayor's Youth Council here at GL held an event today where the group started the creation of the second volume of the Operation Weth with our gifted and talented program quite a few years ago. Now, we're working on the second volume of that.
The group today had five veterans and 11 students come and they're hoping for additional participation on March 12th, their next meeting. That concludes my liaison. >> Dr. Fel, >> can I ask a question? So, were any of the former fourth graders now part of
this project? Are they at high school? >> You know, they would be. >> Okay. But that's an interesting thing. I'll have to look into that a little bit more. >> Yes. Thank you. Are there any other reports? Okay, let's move on to comments from the
public on any topic. During this portion of the meeting, district residents and staff are invited to address the board of education on any item. The board request that individuals state their name and town of residents of school of or school of attendance for the record. Additionally, all inerson public
commenters are asked to please sign in. All comments should be directed to the board president and depending upon the nature and complexity of the question. It may or may not be answered during the meeting by the administration. If so, the response would occur after the public portion of the meeting has
concluded. Although the board may not respond to all items raised during the public forum, all comments will be considered. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals while speaking. Specifically, comments regarding
personnel matters are discouraged and cannot be responded to by the board. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey. The board bears no responsibility, nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public. Please note that if any member
of the public becomes disruptive during the meeting, the board president may terminate the participant statement. Continued disruptions may result in removal from or adjournment of the meeting. Each speaker statement will be limited to three minutes in duration. We will take inperson first and then online
comments. Do I have any in person? Okay, let's move on to online comments. Is there anybody online? Okay, so I will close the comments portion. Um, and now I guess it has new business and old business, but we don't
have anything on there. So, we'll move forward to adjournment. May I have a motion to adjurnn? So move. Okay. >> So, Miss Jolly and Mr. Dylan, can I have a voice vote? >> I I thank you. And the meeting is
concluded at 10:53.