This meeting is now called to order. Mr. Crossfeld, would you please call the role? >> Anna Brown >> here. >> Timothy Cummings >> here. >> Jamie Falco >> here. >> Lewis Figurero >> here. >> Lorie Har >> here. >> Lee Wu Hong >> here. >> Wilbur Pan >> here. >> Maryann Tananiel >> here.
>> We have a quorum. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed and acted upon.
In accordance with the provisions of this act, the East Brunswick Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted at the Board of Education offices located at 760 Route 18, East Brunswick, New
Jersey. Written notice was also provided to the Sentinel, the Newark Star Ledger, the Home News Tribune, the Alternate Press of East Brunswick, and the Municipal Clerk of East Brunswick. All board of education meetings with the exception of executive session
discussions are videotaped for later broadcast. It is the policy of the board of education that videotape meetings are not edited for any purpose. Individuals who speak at the board's public meetings should be aware of these videotaping rules.
Good evening everyone. This is the board's reorganization meeting at which time board members who have been reelected will be sworn back into office and newly elected board members will be sworn into office. Uh we will begin with
first order of business on the agenda with the appointment of temporary chairperson. May I have that motion please? Move. >> Uh moved by Mr. Hong, seconded by Mr. Pan. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor I
>> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Now before we move on to the oath of office, I just want to note that uh following the oath of office, uh we will be doing nominations for president and
then vice president. And then shortly after that is completed, we will take a short recess so that the new officers can then take their places. And when I say short, I mean very short. Literally maybe a minute. So just to give everyone
a heads up. So no chithat in between. Okay. So next order of business is the oath of office to be administered. First person up is Anna Braw. If you would please join Mr. Crotchfeld front and center. Mr. Crotchfeld will be
administering the oath of office tonight. >> It's my first one. So >> Okay. Okay. Well, don't mess up then. No, no pressure. >> Short little words, right? I'm old. >> Um, please raise your right hand and repeat after me.
>> I, Annabbron, do solemnly swear. >> I told you. Short, man. I, Anna, Braun, do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> in the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey
>> and that I will bear true faith >> and I will bear true faith >> and allegiance to the same >> and allegiance to the same >> and to the government established >> and to the government established >> in the United States in this state >> in the United States in this state.
>> Yeah. Very good. under the authority of the people. >> under the authority of the people. >> And I do solemnly swear >> And I do solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> of the office of member
>> of the office of member >> of a board of education >> of a board of education >> and that I will faithfully >> and that I will faithfully >> impartially >> impartially >> and justly perform >> and justly perform >> all duties of that office. all duties of that office
>> according to the best of my ability. >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. >> Congratulations. >> Well done, sir. Thank you. I'm very proud of you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Antinet.
>> So, uh, please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Antinet Eola, do solemnly swear. I, Antoine, do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear a true faith
>> and I will bear true faith >> and allegiance to the same >> and allegiance to the same >> and to the governments established >> and to the governments established >> in the United States in this state >> in the United States in this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people >> and I do solemnly swear >> and I do solemnly swear
>> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> for the office of member >> for the office of member >> of a board of education >> of a board of education >> and that I will faithfully >> and that I will faithfully >> and partially >> and partially >> and justly perform >> and justly perform
>> all duties of that office >> all duties of that office >> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability >> so help me God >> so help me God >> CONGRATULATIONS Take off his jacket. >> Adrian take off his jacket. >> The first time he wears a jacket.
Thank you. >> Now you can SAY >> my voice. I would like to invite my boys with me. The only one. I have two more. Where? Where are they? >> My god, they've gotten so big. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Oh my goodness.
>> See when I first swear in he was only 2 years old. This leader >> I remember this 10 years. >> He should go have it memorized. Okay. So please raise your right hand and repeat after me. >> I Lee Wuhan do solemnly swear
>> I Lee Wuhan do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States. >> I will support the Constitution of the United States >> in the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. the Constitution of State of New Jersey. and that I will bear true faith >> I will bear true faith >> and allegiance to the same
>> and allegiance to the same >> and to the governments established >> to the government established >> in the United States in this state >> in the United States and in this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people >> and I do solemnly swear
>> I do solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> I possess the qualification prescribed by the law >> for the office of member >> for the office of member >> of a board of education >> of board of education >> and that I will faithfully
>> I will faithfully >> impartially >> impartially >> and justly perform >> injustly perform >> all duties of that office >> all duty of that office >> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God.
>> CONGRATULATIONS. Thank you. Thank you. Don't worry, I'm coming. >> No offense, Joe. >> So, so Mr. Juliana actually signed my high school diploma, so we only thought it would be
>> it would be fitting as his last swearing in, it would be me. Um, a full circle moment, right? >> All right, come on up. Michaela Caitlyn take a >> step. >> You're already ahead of me.
>> I think we've done this before. >> Just a few months ago. >> So it's fresh. >> Yes. >> Please repeat after me. I, Maryanne Tangos, do solemnly swear >> I, Maryanne Taniel, do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of
the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith >> and that I will bear true faith >> and allegiance to the same. >> and allegiance to the same >> and to the governments established >> and to the governments established >> in this state >> in this state >> and the United States
>> and the United States >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. And I do solemnly swear >> And I do solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> for the office of member >> for the office of member >> of a board of education
>> of a board of education >> and that I will faithfully >> and that I will faithfully >> impartially >> impartially >> and justly perform >> and justly perform >> all duties of that office >> all duties of that office >> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> SO HELP ME GOD.
THANK YOU. See here. Okay. Well, now that we have a full complement of board members, we will move on to nominations for president. So, let's talk a moment about how this process works. Um, every member has the
right to make a nomination. There is a second. A second is not necessary on any nomination. A board member may nominate themselves if they like. Um and then following that we will close nominations and then we
will proceed to a paper ballot for the vote. Then the ballots will be turned in f you'll each fold your ballot turn it in to the chair and then we'll do the announcement of each vote.
So we have how many board members this way? Four. Five. Not quite how I prepare. >> So, >> don't fill anything out on the ballots yet. First thing is nominations. So, I will now accept nominations for board
president. >> I'd like to um >> Oh, >> can I speak? >> Yes. I'd like to nominate Marian Tanuse for president of the board of >> I know a second isn't necessary but I like second is not necessary >> but I'd like to second anyway. >> Can I third?
>> I know this may not even be practical but I am adding a third uh to that and I'd like to add a little flavor to it as well if that's possible. >> Uh yes, >> thank you. And I've I've spent a lot of time thinking about this and and I I join Wilbur, I know, and and Twinette as
well, and and perhaps some others uh in this honor, and it truly is an honor. Um this this is uh I have some notes here. Hopefully I can get through them with in 60 minutes or less. Okay, I'll do my best. >> Did you say 60?
>> I'm joking. Uh my this is this is sort of the overarching theme of why I feel so compelled to make this nomination is because Maryanne is an individual who uh is one of the most selfless and dedicated individuals I have ever met.
Um in a very short amount of time here she has assumed so many leadership qualities and has been looked to as a leader of this team on so many different levels that she may not even be aware of. She's sharp. She's incredibly intelligent. Um, and if she doesn't know
something, she finds the answer to that. She's team oriented. She's has a team oriented outlook. Uh, her continuous desire, we have seen over the past several months to work together. She has deep ties and is invested in the community. She has deep experience in
this community as a member of the PTA and a leader of that that institution and that group. um and has shown over many many years a relentless dedication to the to the to all of the individuals who are involved with the district. She's not afraid to ask tough questions.
And if somebody wants to look back on the past six months of video, you'll see that she embodies that spirit. Everything that I'm saying right now is what a leader is and should be. She's innovative. She works together. She's collaborative. She brings people along. She has incredible and impeccable
communication skills. I hope I'm not overwhelming you right now, but so much of what you are and what you do is what I want to be as well. When I think about myself as a leader, she's humble and she's willing to admit a mistake. Although, as I was thinking about it, I didn't know if she had made
a mistake yet. So, it was hard to find that, but I think if you do, and you may, you will admit it, and you will think about what needs to be done to move forward through that together. You're comfortable with the uncomfortable. You don't back down from a challenge and this can be a very
challenging environment. You have an incredible understanding of the system at large. This is complex. You have you in such a short amount of time have learned so much about what it means to be in this space. You are quietly confident but and super and and strong.
I am so impressed with what you have done here as a leader. Um, and I just want to close and and I have to say seeing you uh stand there, take your oath. You set an amazing example not only for your daughters but for all of us and what it means to act with
integrity, to lead with dignity, to seek the truth in all matters, and to ensure that everyone has not only a seat at the table, but the opportunity to grow and thrive. So, I just want to share my thoughts on why I think you are such an
amazing human being. AND WE'LL SEE IF THE VOTE PULLS THROUGH, IF I was compelling enough. I hope I was, but uh you know, at the end of the day, I I think you'd be a terrific leader of this team. >> So, moving on, do we have any other nominations for the
position of president of the board of education? Well, seeing none, I now close the nominations and I ask the board to kindly complete your ballots. >> Don't get it wrong. >> It'll be interesting to see if the ballot says anything about what we just
heard. >> Please don't forget to sign and print your name on the on the ballot. It's true. Class of 2001. A vote for Maryanne Tangos by Lee Wu Hong. A vote for Maryanne Tangos by Tim
Cummings. A vote for Maryanne Tangos by Lorie Herrick. A vote for Marian Tangos by Anna Braraw. A vote for Mary Tangos by Wilbur Pan. A vote for Marian Tangos by Jamie Falco. A vote for Maryanne Tangos by Antoanet
Ivola. A vote for Maryan Tangos by Maryan Tangos and a vote for Maryanne Tangos by Lewis Figureroa. Our duly elected board president is Marian Tangos.
AND I'm happy there was no surprise in the balloting. So we will now move on to vice president. So at this time may I have nomination for uh nominations for vice president?
>> I would like to nominate Wilbur Pan for vice president. Although I cannot make a speech as compelling as Tim did for Maryanne, I will say that I do believe that Wilbur cares deeply for kids in the community and it's obvious that he is dedicated to the best outcomes of our schools.
Are there any other nominations? Okay, this is going to be another cliffhanger. Seeing none, the ballots are being distributed. Kindly complete the ballots, sign,
fold, and return to the chair. A vote for Wilbur Pan by Wilbur Pan. A vote for Wilbur Pan by Anna Braonn. A vote for Wilbur Pan by Lorie Herrick. A vote for Wilbur Pan by Tim Cummings. A vote for Wilbur Pan by Lee Wu Hong.
A vote for Wilbur Pan by Antoanet Evola. A vote for Wilbur Pan by Maryanne Tangos. and a w v vote for Wilbur Pan by Lewis Figueroa. We have a dulyeleed vice president. Oh,
I'm sorry. I missed that. I apologize. Where did that sneak off to? I'm sorry. I spoke too soon. We have a vote for Wilbur Pan by Jamie Falcon. My apologies. Now, we have a dulyeleed vice president. I must say that in 32 years of doing
this, I've never seen >> such a unanimous vote for president or vice president. So, congratulations to all. At this time, we will take a brief recess,
one to two minutes at most. Please keep your seats. Uh we're going to rearrange the deck chairs and uh have the officers assume their places. >> We had a giant. >> Okay. We're we're back in session.
>> Okay. >> Um All right. Moving on. So agenda item nine, adoption of New Jersey School Board Member Code of Ethics is the East Brunswick Board of Education Code of Ethics. Do we have a motion? >> Move. >> Second >> discussion.
>> I'm sorry. Let's say who it was. So moved by Miss Falco. >> Who else? >> And second by >> Wilbur Pan. >> So you want me to? >> You you can No, you don't have to reread it. Um now what you do is uh you ask if
there's any discussion and if there's no discussion then you call for the vote. >> Okay. >> You ask the board you ask for the to be called. >> All right. So discussion. Any discussion? So roll call vote.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Crochel. >> Yes. >> Cummings. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Jamie. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Agenda item 10, bylaws, policies, and regulations. Do we have a motion? >> Move. >> Second. >> Moved by Mr. Dr. Pan, second by Dr.
Falco. >> Any discussion? >> Any discussion? And just for clarity, if I may, uh this is uh strictly the reapproval of the existing uh bylaws, policies, and
regulations. >> Roll call vote. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Jamie, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Her >> yes. >> Lee Wu Hung, >> yes. >> Wilbur Pan, >> yes. >> Maryanne Tennis,
>> yes. Motion carries. If I may, I just want to make a note. Um, it's very convenient that your name was already listed as last because the president always votes last. >> So, we don't have to redo our voting charts.
>> You're welcome, Joe. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. >> All right. Uh, agenda item 11, official depositories. Do we have a motion? >> Move. >> Second. Moved >> by Dr. Pan, second by Dr. Falco.
>> Any discussion? >> Are these new or anything updated about these? >> No change on these. >> This is a voice. All in favor? >> All in favor? >> I >> I >> opposed. Abstion. Motion carries.
>> Yes. >> I'm getting the hang of this. >> There you go. Uh okay. Agenda item 12, official newspapers for publication of legal public notices. >> Motion move. >> Second.
>> Um >> there's a tag team over there. >> Dr. Pelco and then Dr. Pan. >> Yes. >> If discussion voice vote. Okay. So all in favor I opposed abstensions. Motion carries.
All right. Agenda item 13, official signatorries, primary accounts and funds. Motion >> move. >> Second. >> It's a race. >> Yeah. >> Give us we got a lot of stuff and miss her. >> Uh just a notation for the board and
members of the public where it's currently a blank for board president. We will of course this is based on uh the newly elected board president. So um Mary and Tangers will be listed in the official minutes. >> Okay. So this is a voice also. Um all in
favor? >> Opposed? Abstensions. Motion carries. >> Okay. >> Presentation. >> Okay. Um so now we have a presentation. >> The New Jersey school boards.
>> No, you do it madam president. Mhm. >> the New Jersey School Boards Associ association training regarding the board superintendent roles and responsibilities. Um we do have a member of the NJSBA here with us tonight who's going to present um because a lot of us
are new and Dr. Mman is new. So it's just uh roles and responsibilities. >> Good evening everyone. It's so nice to be at a meeting where it's a real celebration and it seems like a lot of milestones took place tonight. So, congratulations to everybody. And of
course, this January is um schoolboard member recognition month. So, congratulations to all of you. And at NJSBA, we thank you for what you do every day for your students and your staff and your communities. So, thank you. I think you all have a packet in front of you. on the right hand side is
the PowerPoint and um then there are lots of reference materials on the left hand side. There's one that's particularly helpful, I think, for um when it board has a new superintendent. It's called board superintendent communications. It's a three-page
document on the left side. And that's something that I would encourage you to go through at a probably sooner than later point in time to be able to establish those protocols for how you want to be communicated with by both the super for the superintendent to
communicate with you and for you to communicate with the superintendent and how you would go about doing that. Okay. So without further ado, we're going to talk about board member roles and responsibilities and also how to ensure more effective meetings. So primarily
really this is all about relationships. It's all about your students, your relationships and collaborating with one another and it seems like you all get along really well. Everybody is so happy to see one another and that was really nice to see as well. Um but this really is all about your students. Everything
that you as a board do per CQAC which is the quality single accountability continuum stipulates Thank you. another county heard from um stipulates that everything that you do must show that and demonstrate that you are doing what's in the best interest of all of
your students. Okay, so that's the primary thing here. And building trust, you have a new superintendent, you have some new a new board member, some repeat renewing board members. And with building trust, how does that happen? Communication really
is the key. And you heard Mr. Cummings talk about um Miss Tan, is it Tennis? tenuous >> tenuous um her communication skills. So this is going to be a tremendous importance to you in building that communication and that respect and trust with your new board president and also
with your superintendent. Being fair, consistent and reliable is always super important. Your policies allow you to do that. And as you know, you're a policymaking body first and foremost. And when you maintain and when your superintendent then implements those
policies, it allows you to be fair, consistent, and reliable because you're not, you know, making decisions off the cuff. You have a policy that you're following. And then showing empathy and understanding for people that are in your community, your students, your staff, each other when you're up against
different things, when there are conflicts. Um, making sure that you're respectful of one another. You don't have to always agree with one another. We ne we almost always don't agree with one another, but to at least respect that you all have the right to your opinions and to hear those out and to
have everybody feel and know that they've been heard. So, how do we recognize effective board leadership teams? They have a shared mission and vision for their district, and they refer to them constantly for guidance. They work to maintain a climate of trust and and openness. The
leadership team members understand and respect one another and their roles, and that's what we're going to be talking about tonight. Communication is honest, equal, and timely. Diversity of thought and opinion is valued and seen as an asset, not as a liability. and all
members stay focused on what's in the best interests of all students. So really as a board member when you're in the community you take kind of a microscopic view of the district. It's about your children, your neighbors children, your best friend's kids, your
grandchildren, whatever. When you become a board member, you're taking a balcony view. So you're really up on the balcony and you're looking down at the dance floor. The superintendent is responsible for what's going on on the dance floor and they are the ones who maintain the
district on a day-to-day basis, the operations of a district on a day-to-day basis. You as a board are o are providing that oversight and making sure that the district is wellrun, but your superintendent actually runs the district on a day-to-day basis. So, we
used to have a field service rep who talked about when you're a board member, it's like going up into a hot air balloon and being over all of your district, all of East Brunswick, and knowing that everybody, all of the students in your district are within your care. And I think that's a nice um
kind of visual. Also, micromanaging. This is where boards get in trouble a lot all the time. um controlling every part no matter how small of an enterprise or an activity, requiring approvals before action is taken. You've probably given your
superintendent the ability to do things without taking specific action at a board meeting and those are all legal and are run by your board attorney and all of those kinds of things. But obsession with constant updates. Okay, you should be getting updates on a
fairly regular basis. For instance, your district goals. You want to receive updates probably at least four times a year. So, we usually talk about developing district goals over the summer and then in November having your first update because that gives the superintendent and the administrative
team the opportunity to develop those action plans. The action plans are the how your superintendent will get you to accomplish that goal, which is the what you all have decided with the superintendent is important for the year. Then January is another good time
to review the district goals and the board goals because if you have new board members and you usually have some people in your a Oh, there's more of you here than I thought. Um, and you usually have people in your audience, it's a good time to let them know that we're still focused on these goals. We set
them over the summer, but we're still focused. March is a really big time to have an update on your district and your board goals because that's when you're going to start to get ready to evaluate the superintendent. So, you really need to know, your superintendent wants you to know exactly where they are in terms
of the district goals, and you need to know where they are. The last thing we want to have happen is for you to sit down to do the evaluation and think to yourself, I don't remember when we talked about these last. That's not good for anybody. And then June, you wrap up the year. You have a final update on the
the district goals and then you start looking at whether we need to carry anything over from our previous year's district goals for the upcoming year. Okay. Um people who are unwilling to let people whose responsibilities it is to do their job allowing them to do their
job. That's micromanaging. Also being obsessed with details. Okay. Minor major within a project or an effort. not believing the ability of the individuals. You've just hired your new superintendent. That's a wonderful thing. This is a great time to build
that trust, to build that relationship, to go through those communication um questions that I have in there for you. Um it's a really nice tool. It leaves no doubt as to what the expectations are for communication, and that really is very helpful to both the board and the
superintendent. And obviously, micromanagement most often can lead to mistrust. Whoops, wrong button. So, the four functions of a board of education are policy. You provide guidance through your policy decisions. The um planning is to provide for a
program of quality instruction to be able to advance student achievement for all of your students. The appraisal part is providing the superintendent with an evaluation, appraising their effectiveness every year. Your first job is to employ the superintendent and to
hire the superintendent. As you all know, you have as a board, you have one employee and that's the superintendent. The superintendent recommends all other employees to you, but they all answer to the superintendent. Superintendent answers to the board. And then providing
for two-way communication. The communication is really vital. And when we talk about communication between the board and the community and the superintendent and your staff, we're not talking about individuals being responsible for providing that communication. And we're talking about
the board ensuring that there is communication to outside to your community, your staff and your students and your parents and also within the organization. Okay. So, who does what in public school? The New Jersey Constitution gives power to the legislature. The
legislature gives power to the state board of education. Then the state board staff, the New Jersey Department of Education carries out the mandates of the higher bodies within laws and regulations. Local boards can develop their own policies covering issues that
are relevant to their local district. They must demonstrate that every policy and action is based on what's best for the education of all students. As I said before, boards listen to the community and public input and explain the needs of the school system as a whole. What's
really important to remember is that your board president is the spokesperson for the board. Your superintendent is the spokesperson for the district. Board members are state officials that are empowered by the state law to govern at the local public schools when they're only when they're seated at a legally
advertised meeting of the board with a quorum of the board. Okay? So you need a majority and an advertised meeting to take any action. So in terms of the board and superintendent roles, the board really is responsible for developing the vision, mission, goals, and policy. And
we also hope that they do that in collaboration with the superintendent, not just on their own. and separate from the superintendent. Then the superintendent develops objectives and procedures, action plans and for policies they develop those regulations.
The end results is what the board is looking at. That's their primary responsibility also that you are the what people. You determine what it is you want to see happen in the district and you do that ideally in collaboration with the superintendent. You don't want to be
doing something that's at odds with what the super so working that out is really key. And then the superintendent allows you to gives you the information as to how she's going to get you there. And that's through those action plans. Superintendent recommends everything
that comes to you at a board meeting should come at the recommendation of the superintendent. The only time you won't see at the recommendation of the superintendent is when you hired your new superintendent. Okay? then that's at the recommendation of the board. So the superintendent recommends, the board
votes, the superintendent implements, and the board evaluates every year in the spring. So we're going to ask a couple of questions. If um is this a board responsibility? You want the district to offer more steam opportunities for students? >> Yes.
>> Okay. You want the district to offer more extracurricular options for students. >> Yes. >> Yes. You want a specific course to be added to the course offerings? >> No. >> No. >> Excellent. >> You want a new policy limiting cell phone usage?
>> Yes. >> And I think the governor signed that today, did he not? >> Okay. I don't know what it's what the whole law is yet, but I haven't had a chance to read it, but I'm sure we'll all be learning that really quickly. >> You want to select the class trips for each grade level.
>> No. >> No. You want to select a book to be used within the English curriculum? >> No. >> No. >> And last but not least, you want to remove a coach because of a poor record and reported interactions with parents. >> No. >> No. Okay.
>> So, believe it or not, all the things that we talk about and especially when we do we talk about ethics and we give you different scenarios and talk about advisory opinions and um complaints that have been filed. All of those things have happened in New Jersey. We at New
Jersey school boards, although we are creative, we are not creative enough to come up with the things that have happened in New Jersey. Uh board members are policy makers. Remember, you're going to provide the superintendent with the direction and
the basis for her decision-making so that when something is going on in the district, she can go directly to policy and see what it is that the board want how the board wants her to handle that. Okay? What the board wants her to do. um it minimizes ambiguity for for the
superintendent and for all staff. And then the bylaws section of policy actually tell you about your board governance, what a board member's role is, all the different things. Um how to set an agenda item, how to set an agenda, things like that. And then your visionaries and your goal setters. You
really want to set standards for a program of quality instruction to and ensure that the budget supports those things. Okay, those standards. You want to hold the administration accountable for the achievement of goals. And then your communicators. You're going to
ensure that communication is provided to your community members and that community from communication. Wow, that was tough. It is Thursday though. Um, communication is brought to the board and to the superintendent as well. So again, that's an ensuring
effort, not that each of you as individuals go out and do that personally. Okay. Oops. This is very sensitive. Superintendent's role is to be the chief adviser to the board. Okay? She's the one that's going to provide you with background information, alternatives,
recommendations. She's going to talk to you about why she's recommending one thing over another. She's also the staff's liaison to the board and she provides briefing on daily operations and things that are going on in the district. Many superintendents provide a weekly update. Some call it a Friday
update. Um. Yes. Okay. So, that's where you're going to get a lot of that information. Okay? All of that should be one-way information to the board, not for you to reply to all or to, you know, if you have questions about that, contact the superintendent.
And then the superintendent's going to evaluate and assess policy implementation because that's their responsibility as well. They're also your executive officer. Okay? They're going to administer the policies. They run the school district. They provide progress updates on district goals,
holding people accountable for their responsibilities. They're going to direct staff members through personal action and the action of delegates. And then there your educational leader. So they should be staying involved in professional organizations bringing that information
back to you because there are wonderful things going on across the country and they can bring that information back to you by their professional membership in organizations and going to different conferences and things. So another way really to look at this is
this is a good recipe. The board needs to trust the superintendent and that happens over communication and um really communication and consistency. The superintendent needs to give the board loyalty and the best advice that they can. The board should respect the
professional training and expertise of the superintendent. I'm sure that was a big part of your hiring and appointing the new superintendent. And then the superintendent needs to make sure that they're ma managing competent um management of the schools. Then the for
the board, you're going to have confidence in your superintendent's ability to administer to the district and the superintendent's going to see that the policies are implemented and um that there are board policies and that they're implemented. So really in order to be the most effective tool to working
together, the board is governing body and community representative work with the superintendent as the chief administrative officer and educational leader and you work together to advance student achievement for all students. So how does this all play out then in
man making sure that you're having effective meetings, no surprises. If you've ever been to anything that NJSBA has done, you know that we talk about the no surprises rule. I see people doing this. Um, and that's no surprises from the board to the superintendent or
from the superintendent to the board. So, unless something is happening right before the board meeting, you should know about something ahead of time and the superintendent should be letting you know and you should be letting the superintendent know. So, if you're at a shop right, a local shop, right? I'm
sorry I don't know all your stores. Um, but if you're at a local shop right before the meeting picking up dinner for your family and you hear in another aisle, "We're storming the castle tonight. We're going to talk, we've got a lot of people coming to the board meeting because we're not happy with a certain recommendation." You need to let
the superintendent know. Let the board president know. You may want to move the meeting from a smaller room to a larger room if you know that there's going to be a 100 or 200 people here. Um, having that no surprises rule really does work very very well and it helps again it
helps to build that trust. So what are your board meeting responsibilities? Really making sure that you're going through that agenda beforehand so that it this tonight is not the night of your meeting is not the first time you're opening an agenda. Do you still get packets?
>> I love packets. I electronic is good. Don't get me wrong. Electronic is great, but I love packets. I was a packet person. I was a board member from 99. >> You're not helping us with that. >> I'm sorry. >> You know, we we we really have a plan to move to electronic and they're
wonderful. >> You're just They're wonderful, too. >> You're just cutting the legs off. >> No, no, no. They're wonderful, too. You have a lot of young people here. They're going to embrace the electronics. I'm old. Okay. I embrace the paper. So, I
was sworn in in 1999 for the first time, not 1899. Don't get fresh with me. And um we had paper packets, but we had people who would and we would get them like on Thursday for a Monday night meeting >> and people wouldn't read them. And so
you could actually hear the packet being ripped open and our superintendent used to get very very upset about that. So, they used a a strategy that I won't tell you about because I don't recommend it because it really upset a lot of people,
but it did work. It did work. So, um you want to make sure that you're studying that agenda and that you're looking to see if you have any questions. If you have questions, you can get those questions asked ahead of time and then the superintendent, the business administrator can bring you those
answers at the meeting so that everybody gets the answers at the same time. Okay? If it's something you need imminent, you know, you need imminent information on, that's one thing, but if it's something that can wait until the meeting, then that's really best because then everybody gets the information. So, you
really want to refer all of your questions, and this is part of that communications piece. Do you refer them to the chair of a committee, to the board president, to the BA, to the superintendent? What's your your chain there of how you're supposed to do that? Okay. And then already we talked about
the surprise surprise free meetings. Give the responsible parties time to develop those answers. Everybody doesn't have an answer at the time of a board meeting. Sometimes, you know, that's not to say that people aren't doing their jobs, but there's a lot of information
that your administrators are keeping in their heads at any one point in time, and you may have a question that's something that they hadn't thought of or that wasn't included when they were preparing everything for that resolution or that recommendation. So, give them the time to be able to look it up and to
get the information for you. And that also avoids embarrassment because you don't want it to look like that you don't talk to one another and that you and the and the superintendent and the superintendent and the board don't talk to one another either. Okay. Confidentiality.
What happens in executive session stays in executive session. I think everybody's probably old enough to remember the old commercial, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Substitute v executive session for
Vegas. Okay. So, really make sure that you're maintaining that confidentiality. Not playing to the audience is also one of your responsibilities. Okay. Making thoughtful votes and informed votes. Make sure you have the information that you need. If you have a
conflict of interest, make sure that your business administrator and your superintendent and your board attorney know what those conflicts are. Okay? Because remember when it's if you have a staff a a family member who's a staff member in the district and there's a staff item, it's usually with a number,
a staff ID number. It's not usually with their name. If it's a student, they usually have a student number in there. Um case in point, my daughter when she was in second grade, she had mono and I went to our board meeting thinking that I don't have any conflicts because I didn't. I had no family members or
relatives working in the district. and our our BA came over to me right before the meeting and he said, "Mayor, by the way, this particular item, that's Eva's homeschooling. You can't vote on that. You need to recuse yourself." And I was so great and it was a number. So, >> who knows their kids' student number,
right? So, I was really grateful that he did that because if I had voted on that, it would have had to have been um rescended and voted on without me and it could have jeopardized her getting homeschooling right away. Okay? So, always make sure that your soup, your
BA, and your board attorney know what your conflicts are so that they can advise you. And always check with your board attorney also if you think that you might have conflicts. Whoops. Superintendent's meeting responsibilities are to really prepare everything that they feel is going to be
needed for you to have enough information, supply you with the information additionally in your in your packet, whether it's virtual or electronic or paper. Okay, Bernie, I did that just for you. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Um, and they are going
to work with the board president and oftentimes with the um, vice president and the business administrator to develop that agenda. And then the superintendent really shouldn't have to repeat everything that's in your packet, in your information. If it's in there, you're really responsible for reading
through it. One of the things that I used to try and do was when I received the packet that day, tried to go through it quickly to see what the motions were, what the resolutions were, if I had any questions, so that I could fire off an email to the superintendent or the
committee chair or whomever, and that way get through most of the agenda. Um, it's a big help to everybody else because you're not doing things at the last minute. And then the superintendent really should have any necessary staff that need to be here to be able to
answer questions about something. So if you're doing student performance re um you know reports, things like that or director of curriculum and instruction, you may want to have your director of CNI here for that. superintendent should record any
questions that the board is has that they don't have answers to that night to be able to get back to you and they should be prepared to answer as many questions as you have. Again, given they have the information that's needed, but if it needs to be achieved or received, then they'll be able to get back to you.
And then the superintendent is accountable for implementing the actions of the board. So when you make decisions at the board table, the superintendent is going to make sure that those are implemented and taken care of. So an item is going to appear on the screen. You need to tell me whether it's
a board responsibility or a superintendent responsibility. Who approves the strateg strategic plan? >> The board. >> The board. Correct. >> Who oversees instructional programs? >> The superintendent. And then you vote. You do the evaluation on the
superintendent every spring as to how they're doing with that. Who approves curricular materials? >> The board does. Who recommends and implements policy? >> Superintendent. Who oversees the district leadership? >> Superintendent.
Who administers the contracts? >> Superintendent. Who establishes and adopts policy? >> The board. >> The board. >> And who evaluates the superintendent? >> The board. the board. Great. Okay. So, really make sure that you're cognizant
of staying in your lane. Remember, superintendent runs the district and operates it on a day-to-day basis. You make sure that it's being done in an acceptable way in an um a good way and an effective way. And remember that you have no legal status other than when
you're sitting at the board table at a legally advertised meeting with the quorum of the board. I like to say that your business admin administrator brings you your super board member capes and distributes them to you before the board meeting. When you have a quorum, you get
to keep them for the board meeting and then he picks them up at the end of the meeting because after that you can't make decisions for anything that's going on in the district as an individual. Okay? So to that effect, as individuals, board members cannot.
>> So if you want capes, talk to to Mr. Juliana. um make the board members as individuals cannot make decisions for the board, cannot take actions for the board or speak for the board. That's the board president's responsibility and that's unless the board has advi has
authorized them to do so. Okay. Um and even in terms of negotiations, when you're in negotiations, the board will usually have a negotiations committee. They'll establish the parameters and then they can come up with a tenative agreement with the association. But that
still has to come to the full board for ratification. Okay. You also can't direct any staff member or administrator or direct the superintendent as an individual. The board does that as an entity. Okay. So, you want to keep in mind that your essential board skill is
being able to count to five because you're a nine member board. You want to act with the majority. It takes a majority to accomplish anything. The real power of the board really is trying to find common ground. And I can promise you that you have more um more interests
that are alike and more things that you agree to than you don't agree to. It's really pointing out those things and finding those even when it's the difficult situation. And really common ground can only happen when all voices are heard and respected and minority opinion is respected as
well. And a board that runs rough shot over the minority board or citizens is headed for trouble. Remember, at some point you might be in the minority. That's where the rubber really hits the road. And it stinks being in the minority, but that's when you really have to say, "Do I respect the authority
of the board of education?" Because if as a board member, you're in the minority and you don't respect the decision that the majority of the board made, you can't expect your community members, your parents, or your staff to respect it either. Okay? You already went through the code of
ethics before. We know how important that is. You want to communicate with your community. Again, you're representatives of the local community and you're the ambassadors, schools ambassadors to the community. But that doesn't mean that it's your responsibility to go on social media and
post everything that you feel needs to be posted. You want to make sure that the district is supplying that information. And you also want to refer people to the the district website and your district social media sites that are run by the district because that's where they should go to to get their
most accurate and timely information. Okay. Communicating with the community and the staff. Board members shouldn't be contacting the comm community or communicating with staff directly. You should not be surveying staff. Okay. community members or staff with
concerns, redirect those to the chain of command or what I like to call the chain of resolution. You want to redirect people. You let them know that you're concerned about what they have to say. This is not about getting somebody off your back. This is about redirecting them to the lowest person in the chain.
So, it's a parent with a teacher concern. You want to direct them to talk to the teacher. If they don't feel that they have resolution at that level, they can go to an assistant principal if there's one in the building, then to a principal, then to an administrator or a supervisor or director, then ultimately
to the the superintendent. And if that if that all fails and the person still doesn't feel that they get resolution, it can come to the board of education. But if a board member attempts to kind of integrate themselves into trying
to develop that solution or that resolution, then you can't be a part of it if it cuts to the board level. Okay? So that's really important. And then visits to the buildings should only be only be happening with the superintendent's approval and notice to
the superintendent. Okay? Remember, when you're not here at a legally advertised meeting of the board, you're not technically a board member. So, you going wanting to go and walk around a building is no different than me doing that. I don't even live in East Brunswick, but I hope that your your
staff at your schools would not let me in if I said, "Hi, I'm Maryannne Freriedman. I just kind of want to walk around." Okay. So, the role of the board member really is to listen to all the citizens, explain the needs of the system as a whole. All of that has to do with active
listening, paying attention. Um, making sure that you're, you know, not not making decisions ahead of time. Active listening and thoughtful listening really is listening to what somebody has to say, not trying to think about what you're going to say in
response. Okay. Oops. So, if you have ch, what do you think? If you have children in the school, how can you talk to teachers now that you're on the school board? You want to let them know first of all, you're in for your parent teacher, you know, student teacher, um, conference.
You want to let them know that you're there as your child's parent. Okay? You're not there as a board member. You're there only as your child's parent. And you're not going to discuss board issues with anybody while you're there. Any of those kinds of things. Is it okay to visit the schools if you need to go to pick up your your child because
they're sick? Absolutely. You don't need to call the superintendent or text the superintendent that you're doing that. That's a pretty oneshot deal and you're in and out. But if you want to visit the schools for any reason or if staff invites you to go in for ReadAcross America or for to talk to their class
about your profession, you want to just send a note to the superintendent, Mrs. So and so asked me to come in to this school this point in time to talk about my profession or for read across America. That way she knows. Okay. And how do you respond to parents calling
and emailing about district staff or other concerns? You're going to use that chain of resolution, right? Go through that with them. So, your job is not to run the schools, but to see that they're wellrun. When an upset parent or community member comes to you or a staff member, try not to try
and resolve the problem. You're all people who care deeply about your students and your community, but that that responsibility is not yours as a board member to fix their problems, okay? You're to point them in the right direction so that they can get this the
the situation resolved at the lowest point in the chain. So, you just want to listen and should it rise to the board level, I know, I love the dog, right? Um, it should rise to the board level, then you'll be able to participate in that resolution.
So, we're going to talk about communication tips. The superintendent by policy is a spokesperson for the district. Board president is the spokesperson for the board. Know and use those communication protocols that you're going to establish, right? There's three pages that you're going to go through.
Email information should really be one-way information. I promise it doesn't take a year to go through it. It's just quick an questions and answers. And the way it will work is by a majority opinion of the board. Okay. Um, I think I I said to to Dr. Man, I
was with a board once and one of the board members said, 'Well, you know, on Tuesdays I'm with my mom, so the superintendent would need to call me at my mom's house and on Thursdays I go to the gym, so they would need to call me at the gym. That's not how that works. Okay? You don't want it to work like
that. You don't want the superintendent to have all these kinds of phone numbers. If there's something going on at the school district, the superintendent is going to let a staff member know to call the board president who can then call the vice president and you can disseminate that information
then through a a phone chain as the president and vice president. You want the superintendent to be maintaining the safety and security of all of the students, the staff, and any visitors in the building that might be involved. Okay? You don't want them sitting down, the superintendent sitting down and
calling each one of you. You'll get that information as soon as everything has been resolved. And she will most often say to whoever is calling the board president and the vice president, we are following all policies and regulations. We have emergency plans in place and
everything is working out well. I'll get you all the information as soon as I can, but right now this is my priority. Okay? And never ever reply to all. Ever. Never. Never. Never. Use a district email for all your board communication.
If you're not using a district email or if you're sending your district email to a personal email, that's not a great idea because if your records are your emails are ever open requested by somebody. If it's going to a personal account, your board attorney is going to
have to sit down with your personal email and sift through all of that to see what was district related and what wasn't. And nobody wants to go through that, okay? Including your board attorney. Um, if it's on the district email, that's handled by technology in the district and by this whoever run is
hoping to hold on to the server. Um, you want to be very careful when you're posting to social media. We re recommend you not having a board member social media account. We recommend you not posting board business to social media. Okay? It's one of those things where just don't do it. It's an accident
waiting to happen. And we want you to use the disclaimer that the SEC, the school ethics commission has supplied to us. And I believe Mr. Jacobe is going to be talking about that too as well. So I'm going to breeze through that. But what you want to say is the following statements are made in my capacity as a
private citizen, not in my capacity as a board member. These statements are also not representative of the board or its individual members and solely represent my own personal opinions. That is not a get out of jail free card like we used to think it was. Okay? because now the
school ethics commission is looking at the content of your post of your email of whatever. Okay? So just make sure that because any what what you use what you post in the content may dis um may
dictate whether the the um the disclaimer is actually able to be used or not. Okay. It could it could render it meaningless. That's what I was looking for. Okay. Okay. So, every policy that a board approves, every action that you take needs to be based on what's best of
for the education of all the students in the school district. And it's quiz time. How many board members does it take to change a light bulb in the schools? >> None. >> None. The board can say we need new lighting
in this room. Okay. And then it's the superintendent's responsibility to figure out what the best lighting is for the room. and to make that recommendation. >> What questions might you have? >> I I actually have a question on the the social media disclaimer.
>> Does it have to be that full statement or is it just this is made in my capacity as a private citizen and not as a board member? Like can it be a variation of that or it has to be verbatim this? >> It can be a variation of that, but we do recommend and the SEC recommends that you just use that. Um, if you're on
social media and you're talking about your book club or, you know, a mom's group or something like that that you belong to or, you know, something else that you do outside of board work, you don't need to use a disclaimer. But if you are engaged in some kind of a conversation on social media about the
board, which we really would encourage you to just not do at all, then you should use they do want you to use the full disclaimer. >> Okay. >> Okay. It doesn't mean that it won't it it won't be useful if you use if you use different words to get that point
across, but they do recommend that. >> Okay? >> They just don't and and it's all for the SEC, the school ethics commission. It's all about the perception of people in your community. Also, it's not necessarily about what you said, whether it was incorrect or or correct. It's
about the perception where does the public think that you were possibly speaking for the board? And that's where it gets iffy. Okay. >> Not necessarily does, but might they think. >> Yes. Yes. So, it's might they think that and it's the perception. And as we know,
somebody's perception is their reality. >> So, and we never want to see board members having ethics complaints filed against them. And Mr. Gobee is going to talk to you about that a lot. >> Okay. Any other questions? Yes. >> Hi, thank you for this presentation. This is very helpful. Um, I'm the newest
one here. >> I know. So up until yesterday on social media whenever I wanted I do have a question >> if somebody tends not anymore >> right but if somebody people just want to be able to communicate and ask a quick question sometimes an email is
takes too much time especially if the conversation's active what is your suggestion if you get tagged to answer a question that would just be a simple answer do you still have to put this whole entire thing underneath there this whole entire phrase >> you really should if you're because you
don't want to be it. You don't want somebody to perceive that you're speaking for the entire board. >> So any comment that a board member makes on social media should be in conjunction with this phrase >> about the schools or the board. Yes. >> All right. Thank you. Yes. >> So for example, like this morning I got
you saw I got I got asked a question about um >> Oh god, what was it about the >> Oh, Dr. Mammon's she's having an open house and whether people could attend at not their home school. And I responded and I, you know, I called Karen and I responded and I said, "Yes, per the
superintendent's office, you can I would have to put that disclaimer as well." >> There. >> You said per the superintendent's office, but I would still put the disclaimer in there. You can't be you you can't be too careful. You really can't. You know, it's um it's getting pretty ugly out there.
>> Okay. >> And um very ugly. >> Extremely. >> Yeah. >> It's good for business if >> you're a lawyer. >> Well, yeah, that's true. So, if you want to keep your attorney happy, well, you won't keep him happy, but you'll keep him in business, then do all
of those things. Okay. >> Any other qu Yes. >> So, Miss Freeman, uh, thank you very much. >> Your presentation is very informative and very educational. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. And I have uh since we are
start we will start the budget season very quickly and we'll have different interest groups such as sports mom, music mom, the approach to the board to different board members. Would you please uh provide the guidance and
opinion about during the body process the superintendent rule and board members rule. So that's will be very complicated every year you know this happens everywhere. Thank you. >> So do you mean if if a motion comes
before you to approve something for something that you're involved in for >> No my my question is how to the during the body process how the superintendent and individual board member interact. So, I would ask then that the
superintendent provide a document or something on your website that will talk about the budget process and how that's going to be gone through for the board because you have a new superintendent. So, you're probably wondering how things might change, will things change at all? And so, that would be very good
information for the superintendent to put out and she would be speaking for the district. So, that would be the best thing to do. Um, and that can be put up on the website. And as you know, those of you who have been here before, you're going to get a budget calendar that's going to come from the Department of
Education probably within the next couple of weeks. I don't think it's out yet, is it? >> No. >> Um, usually comes out mid to to late January, >> about 3 days before the budget's due. >> And not the calendar. That's that's that's the actual funding. But um you'll
get that information and then your business administrator and your superintendent and usually sometimes with the board president too will collaborate and decide what those time frames will look like and that can even be posted on the district website so that the calendar is there and people
can look and see what's happening next because that can be really helpful. And then I think when you've decided how you're going to deal with the budget this year, you can talk about that at a board meeting and make public statements about it. This is how we're going to do this. And we want everybody know to know
what the process is to make it as transparent as possible. This people understand that this isn't something where two or three people go into a room and figure this all out and everybody else is left in the dark because that's never how it happens. But sometimes that's what people think. >> Yeah. Thank you.
>> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Thanks for the presentation. That was great. Um I I have a question about the uh communication with the staff uh issue and I understand the reasons why uh these rules are in place because we all know stories horror stories of uh
board members behaving badly and it's not just New Jersey. >> Um I I I I've heard things. Um the um but but one of the unintended outcomes of such a policy is that uh
sometimes there'll be this impression that the board has lost touch with the people who have boots on the ground because we can't talk to them u direct directly um to get a sense of what's happening. And the other thing that comes to mind is that there are um
there's another way of um communication in a hierarchical organization uh where it's expected that uh communication skips levels uh both on the way up and on on on the way uh down. You know, again, these are generally formalized uh
procedures. Um and if anyone's familiar with the 360 evaluation, that's one of those uh examples. So um I was wondering if you could um you know number one uh just provide uh some uh context as to
why NJSBA has adopted this recommendation in terms of the communication issue and the second is if I if there's a concern a perceived concern that we've lost touch with boots
on the ground how do we address that? So you can, one of the things that you can do is initiate a strategic plan. And I know that that's something that is in your goals for this year is to investigate strategic planning um options and do
that because that invites really everybody to come in and talk about the district in a positive way and talk about the challenges that that the district has and help to really develop that mission and that vision for the district. And so that's one of the ways
that you can do that. You can also ask the superintendent to put out surveys. Um and you you know sometimes they're not well received by people. Sometimes they're not really well um participated in, but sometimes they are and you can get some really good information that
way as well. Um people can come to board meetings and and public comments, you know, make comments about things that are on Do you have an agenda public comment on agenda items at the beginning and public comments on anything at the end? >> One >> one >> public comments at the beginning.
>> Okay. So, um you know, they can make comments at that point. The public really should understand though that that's generally not a question and answer period. that's a a point for them to be able to make comments to the board and then for the board and the administration to take those things under consideration. Um, if there's
something that needs to be addressed, then we usually suggest that the administration make sure that they have that person's contact information so that they can get back to them within 24 or 48 hours. That doesn't mean that the situation gets resolved in 24 or 48
hours. That means that somebody's going to start that investigation, whatever. Get back to them and say, "We're in the middle of the investigation or we started the investigation, but we don't have all the the information yet, but we will continue to get back to you on a regular basis." Because that's really
what people want. They want to be heard and they want to know that somebody's looking into what their concerns are. As you know, in business, you usually have 360 degree evaluations. That is not what school boards do. um you do an evalu only the school board
does an evaluation of the superintendent and they have to be non-conlicted members of the board. So if anybody on the board has a family member or relative working in the district, they're not going to be able to participate in the superintendent's evaluation and that can be difficult for people because they really want to be
able to do that. But it's for their protection. The conflicts of interest really were developed for the board members protection, the district's protect, the board's protection, and the district's protection so that nobody's getting into any trouble. And one of the things that we see a lot in New Jersey
is board members getting into trouble. So, we really want to try and alleviate that and not have as many complaints going to the school ethics commission and, you know, those kinds of things. But um it's important that the board take that responsibility very seriously.
And that's why we talk about having those updates on the district goals and for the board to give updates on the board goals as well three to four times a year so that everybody knows that you sat down over the summer and you developed these goals or whenever since they were probably just developed with
the new superintendent that you just developed those goals but you're still focused on them and you're still following through with those. and to be able to share that information. There's newsletters that you can send out as well that will talk about things. Usually there's a budget newsletter that
goes out from every district. Um, you can do that electronically. Trying to gain some points back. I know I lost some, so I'm trying to gain some back. Um, you can do that electronically. You can do it on paper. So, you know, those are all different ways that the administration and the
district can provide that communication. We just don't want you all to feel that you are the people who should be going out onto social media and saying, "Oh, by the way, there's this that and the other thing happening or make sure you go to this." You want to really direct people. You want to listen to their
concerns. You want to direct them to the lowest level in the chain of resolution as I call it. And you want to direct people to the district website and the district social media pages so that they can get that accurate information in a timely fashion. Okay. I hope that helps.
>> Um, yeah. Thanks. Okay. Anybody else? Thank you so much for everything you do for your students and your staff. New Jersey School Boards Association loves our board members. So, I'm thrilled to be here to meet all of you. I've met some of you at at county meetings and
it's been a lot of fun doing that. So, I hope to see you at county meetings. The next county meeting is virtual, so everybody can come. You can be in your pajamas and your fuzzy slippers if you want to. You don't even have to have your screen on. But we look forward to seeing you. You have my business card. If you have any questions, please don't
hesitate. And um there's also a lot of really good information on the lefth hand side. Okay. >> So, just let you guys >> Thank you so much. >> Just let you guys know uh Miss Freeman attend almost every inerson Middle Sex County Schoolboard Association meeting.
So if any one of you want to meet her, talk to her in private in person, you're welcome to go to uh Middle S County School Board Association meeting and next meeting we are not finalized yet, but we are trying to invite assembly
general uh uh speak person uh Mr. Coughlin to the meeting. So then you guys can ask questions especially your opinion about the budget >> and you get individual board credit when individual board member credit when you go to the meetings. When you come to out
to us for meetings whether it's virtual or in person you get individual credits when I come into you or somebody from NJSBA comes to you. You get board credit for that. So you can get board certified or individually certified. Okay. >> All right. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
>> Have a great rest OF THE NIGHT. THANK YOU AGAIN, MISS FRERIEDMAN. UH, so moving on. Yeah. Agenda item 15, board member prohibited acts and school ethics training. This is required by law that all board of ed members receive annual
training on prohibited acts and school ethics. So, this is going to be conducted by our board attorney, Mr. Matthew Jacobe. >> Good evening, everyone. I'm handing out an outline. Um, we're not going to go through it line by line. This is for your own edification. It gives you uh
guidance on the entire school ethics act. And tonight on your agenda, you guys adopted the code of ethics. If you remember that, it was on I think it was number nine on your agenda. um if the code of ethics is contained in the
school ethics act. So the school ethics act is a law a law of New Jersey is contained in 18A and within it is the code of ethics and as a board member you saw four folks take the oath of office tonight to uphold the constitution of the state of
New Jersey con United States constitution part of the constitution state of New Jersey is you have to follow the laws of New Jersey and one of those laws is the school ethics act and the school ethics commission which is part of the department of education
oversees and enforces the ethics act which includes the code of ethics. So the presentation that you had before was fantastic. I'm going to give you a different analogy. Um you talked about the balcony view or the airplane view. I
like to kind of bring it down to sports. Um think about a pro football team. Usually you see the owners sitting in those big chairs up in the boxes and they're looking down and eating a nice hamburger, whatever. They're the ones who fund it that you're
the you're the owners. You own the team and then you have a coach who's on the field and that's your employee and that's Dr. Malan and you hold the coach responsible and you just saw when people have a losing thing that the the owners go to the coach. But it's the coach
who's making the plays. It's the coach who's hiring the defensive coordinators. It's the coach who's, you know, do having them run this play, that play. That's the superintendent's job. They are the coach of the team. They have quarterbacks. They have blockers, but
they're the they're the coach and they make the calls. And you never see the owner, whether it's Mr. Mara or Mr. Jones or the the the different football owners going down the field saying, "I want the running back to do this." That
they don't get involved in that. That's the coach's job. That's who your superintendent is. They are running the day-to-day operations of the district. And I you heard the the speaker from school boards, Miss Freeman, talk about
it's getting ugly out there. It's getting very ugly out there. I have been doing this I've been I've been a lawyer for 33 years. I've been practicing. I clerked for two years. Then I started practicing and representing school districts. 31 years.
For 25 of my 31 years representing districts, if I saw five ethics complaints out of all the boards we represent, it was a lot. Now, we probably see five ethics complaints a month from all different facets. And I'm going
to give you a couple stories just so you guys can understand. And at the end of the day, we're you're going to be dealing with the budget. You had questions about the budget. Budgets are tight. We know that across the state. The one thing you don't want to do as a board member is spend money defending a
school ethics act. You say, "Well, we have insurance." You do. You have insurance and somebody files an ethics charge against you, the insurance company for the district will cover you. But you know what every insurance policy has? It's called the deductible. So, the
district pays the deductible. And my belief, I think your deductible is $15,000 per claim. So the first $15,000 spent is district funds. And these cases can go on for a lot of time. So the goal
here is you're covered. You're indemnified. If somebody files a case, you'll be defended. We will defend you on it. But the goal is to try to avoid it because if you can, you're saving the district money. It's much better money. Rather than spending on attorneys like
me, it's much better spending it on your kids and your staff. So that's one of the main reasons that we do this ethics training. I like to just give people an idea of like how these cases can morph out of control. You saw there's a lot of questions about the disclaimer and and
and one of the if you looked at the note below it said one of the persons used the disclaimer and the school ethics commission said it wasn't good enough. That's a district that I represent and the they had a board president.
I had recently been elect uh hired and the board president at the time um hated the union, despised the local union and he really despised the local union leader and so he had his own blog site
and he had the disclaimer right on the top of it and he had like first amendment blah blah blah. This is my own opinion. He put the disclaimer and then on his blog what he did is he bashed the union president but I'm not speaking
for the board. I'm not speaking for any board member. I'm speaking on my behalf. My right blah blah school ethics commission said oh no that doesn't work. And guess what? You're removed from the board for six months. Was removed from the board. He actually lost the election and then it was removed. But that's the
example that they gave is that the disclaimer is not a go free from jail card. You can't use a disclaimer and then do things because the one thing I like to remind board members is you're not only elected officials and and they you heard the speaker before you have one employee.
You have one employee that you evaluate but at the end of the day the nine of you you're an employer. In fact, you're the biggest employer in East Brunswick. You employ more people here. You set the example for all the employees that work
for the district that Dr. Man oversees. So you are an employer. And so I if you saw one of the issues that you saw in the thing is what stays in executive session has to remain in executive session. Why is that? Because a lot of things that you discuss in executive
session involve students, discipline, and employees. And employees have a fundamental right to privacy. And so it's your job as a board to always keep that in mind. You're not just an elected official. You're not just a board member. You're an employer. And so just
think if you're at work, how would you want the CEO of the company that you work for or your boss, how would you want them to treat you? And you got to put yourself in nothing. You are now the CEO owner of the East Brunswick football team and that's your coach. So I try to
bring it down so that people understand the role of board members because you set an example by which all the employees look to and you have a very huge responsibility and you have a lot of input and I got to tell you like tonight this board meeting that was one
of the nicest reorganizations I've been I've been to a lot of reorganizations. I've been in ones that aren't so nice. This was awesome. you set the right tone and that has a huge impact on the district's employees and frankly will make Dr. Man's job a lot easier when all
the all the team is rolling in the same direction. It doesn't mean you all have to agree on everything, but you're here. You're a team and and the goal is you want to be a winning team. And the way you be a winning team is you figure out how to work together, compromise, and get things done. Now, the school ethics act, I just want to give you uh another
example of a case that just shows you how these things can kind of morph out of control. I so the indifference insurance groups, one of them is New Jersey schoolboards insurance groups assigns cases to attorneys and we get we got I was
assigned a case for a board member who is a very distinguished law professor and this distinguished law professor has publications on Islamophobia, Palestine, etc. She's she's a tenured
professor and in her publications in her journals and stuff at her law school she has uh you know not a website social media etc all related to her legal scholarship and she speaks all over the world on these
issues. She was a local board member. Um, some residents filed an ethics charge against her, saying that your scholarship in your postings on your website at
your university violate the International Holocaust Remembrance Committee's definition of anti-semitism, which the town had adopted, and therefore you violate ethics. Well, I've been litigating this case for quite a few years, and so I'm going to tell you
what happened. It wasn't really these local residents. It was a group of Harvard law professors who took over the case and have litigated it. So, you might not like what what this professor said. That's okay. But we live in this country called
America and there's this thing called the First Amendment and she has a first amendment right to scholarship. She never ever mixed the two. her professional uh social media sites were totally never had any board business and
her board business never two never met. What was interesting about it is that I defended her. It was on the first amendment issues about freedom of speech and what you can write and school ethics commission said you're right. Even if you don't like what she said she didn't
violate ethics and wiped it out. That wasn't good enough. So they appealed it. went to the commissioner of education. We won there. That wasn't good enough. They appealed it again. We're in the appellet division. I won in the appellet division. Now, why do I tell you all
this? After I won at the commissioner, she didn't run again. She was off the board. The appeal to the appellet division happened a year after she was off the board. And guess what? We're now defending. She's been off the board for two and a half years. I'm in the Supreme Court. So people can take these things
and keep going. They don't make money on it, but they a lot of it becomes ways of attacking board members or in this case trying to make, you know, a statement on on issues that are way beyond the role of a board member. So the reason I tell this story is that these cases can
become very costly for districts in terms of deductibles. And guess what? But if you have a lot of claims, because what happens with insurance? I have four kids and I've had they're all grown, but you know, few car accidents and tickets. What happens to your your car insurance? >> Goes up.
>> It goes up. You have a lot of school ethics commission violations. You know what happens to your insurance? It goes up. You're going to be paying more. So again, the goal here is to avoid it. So couple things that we can do for you. If you have a question, if you're
concerned about a conflict or if you should vote or you should recuse yourself, speak to Dr. Man, speak to the board president and say, "I would like to because you can't contact me directly." The only people who can contact me is the BA, the president, the
superintendent, but you can ask permission to contact us and we can give you guidance on it. Um, if it's a very unique situation, we can get what's known as an advisory opinion from the school ethics commission and say, "These are the facts. Can the board member
participate this in this or not?" It takes about one month to get it. We file it and then they have a meeting and then they'll issue the advisory opinion. So, we can get you advisory pins. The other thing that we're going to do, and do uh Mr. Juliano is going to circulate to you, we have a questionnaire. I know
some of you guys have already done it, but I think it's good practice to do it anyways and update it so things change. What we do is we take your questionnaire and we give you guys individualized memos about whether or not you have conflicts or not. And we also provide
that to the superintendent and the board president and the business administrator so that everyone knows who should recuse themselves from certain matters, who should not recuse themselves. And it's just a good way to have you start thinking about what are the questions that could put you in jeopardy in terms
of of ethics. My job as the board attorney and my firm's job is to give you guidance to avoid these. And I can tell you most of these things can be avoided. The one thing I can tell you where people get in trouble is social media. Absolutely get in trouble because
you you it all should really be done through one social media account which is the districts. And when people start getting in conversations, things go ary very quickly. And um I had another case I'll just tell you about quickly where
uh somebody was on social media with who they perceived it was a private account who they perceived as a really good friend of theirs and they were saying all kinds of really not so nice things about the superintendent. Well, guess that person that they thought they were really good friends with, the friendship went sideways. Guess what became public?
all the comments the board member made about the superintendent and how the charges were filed. So, you got to be very careful. You're an elected official. You got to be careful what you write because once it gets out into that Ethernet, whether it's on social media
or a blog, whatever, it doesn't go away. It's there for perpetuity. And um it's important and you you will see and this is happening with you guys set the example for all the employees in the district and
there's been a lot of employees not here but throughout New Jersey who have gotten in very very serious trouble about what they post on social media. And so if we're asking our employees and we and you have a policy about uses of
social media for employees, you have now going to have different rules about kids and cell phones and you'll see children have having bullying situations using social media, texting, etc. If you guys set the example in terms of the way you conduct yourself on social media, that
goes a long way as to what the expectations are for the board, for Dr. Man, and all the staff and all the students in the district. So again, if you have any questions, please reach out to the superintendent. We're here to help you. We'll give you guidance. We'll
give you a written opinion. And if it's something that's very unique, most of this is not too unique. We can give you guidance right away. But if it's a very unique situation, we can get you an ethics advisory opinion. And that's my presentation this evening. You can just summarize that we have a
need for close session. This this probably coming up. to change public. >> H public com I I was going to suggest that. >> Yeah. Okay. >> You don't need it. You don't need the motion. You can just move it up if you
know. It's the pleasure of the board. >> You can just move it up. >> Okay. Okay. So, we are going to uh change things a little on our agenda and um for the good of the public, we're going to move up the for the good of the
cause for the public. So at this time anybody wishing to speak can um go to the podium. Is there anyone wishing to address the board? Go ahead to the podium.
Please state your name and address. >> And before you do, just uh to note uh public comments are list limited to three minutes in duration. Uh, we'll keep the time on that. >> Okay.
>> Uh, my name is Jake Rosser. Um, I'm a uh >> Sorry, your address. >> Oh, my address. So, my address is uh 19 Railroad A Helmeta. >> You got it. Okay. So, my name is Jake
Rosser. uh previous uh bus driver uh with uh uh East Brunswick and um you know I'm uh I'm here tonight uh because in my opinion what occurred and my case reflects not merely um on an employment
decision uh but a serious um failure of uh fairness, proportionality and ethical judgment within the district. Uh I want to be clear at the outset. I am not claiming perfection. Um I am human. I
make mistakes. Uh what deeply concerns me is that when I made a mistake, I was not afforded the same opportunity to correct my conduct that others routinely receive. Um throughout the school year, my record was unblenmished. No write-ups, no
disciplinary meetings, no corrective action plans. management repeatedly sent me out with other drivers to ensure routes were being performed properly because I was viewed as a competent and reliable individual. The situation changed during the summer
program. I enrolled based on representations that the program uh would provide consistent 5day per week work. Those representations uh later proved inaccurate. Had I been given truthful information, I would have pursued alternative
employment. Instead, the reduction in hours called immediate financial hardship. Shortly thereafter, I was accused of stealing time. In my opinion, that accusation became justification used to reinterpret everything I did thereafter. Yet, the time she cited had been
approved by management, who later acknowledged approving them was a mistake. I was told my brief absence from a site constituted an unacceptable safety risk. At the same time, I possessed documented data showing that buses were permitted
to leave students at Bsentennial Park for extended periods of time uh without transportation. Um office staff were also authorized to leave early with pay. These are not accusations. These are documented circumstances that in my
opinion demonstrate inconsistent enforcement of policy. I was never verbally warned, counseledled or given the opportunity to correct my conduct. A single conversation would have sufficed. Instead, incidents were uh accumulated silently until termination become became
inevitable. I also find it deeply concerning that my termination occurred during a non-contractual summer period without progressive discipline or an opportunity for correction >> at the time. I am managing uh legitimate
medical issues into significant family responsibilities. I made judgment calls under pressure believing I was acting responsibly and in good faith. >> Time. Sir, your time is up. >> I am asking for reflection, sir. your
time in my opinion chooses to respond far more institution than it ever will. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Is there anyone else wishing to address the board?
>> Please state your name and address. >> Hey, good evening. My name is Muhammad Rafi. I'm from Islamic Center of East Bronswick. Uh my address is 250 Media Avenue Sparswood. So good evening board members. So Pundant uh and the president, newly elected president and the vice
president. Congratulations and u and know welcome to the community here. On behalf of Islamic Center of East Brunswick, I would like to extend my warm welcome and congratulations to the entire board members who are newly elected who are already the board members before. Um your dedication to
the education and the community engagement plays a vital part in shaping the future of our student and strengthening our school district. Uh we would also like to express our heartful appreciation to the board members who took time to attend the meet and greet event in Islamic center of
East Bronswick. So this happened at the time of uh you know last year. Um there are a lot of uh issues came up. In fact, you know, the the team here, you know, they met the uh the entire community. They happened to listen what are their issues are. It was really uh nice to
see, you know, the team happened to gel up with the community members. As you might remember, during that event, members of our community, including parents and student, raised serious concerns related to bullying, harassment, safety, and inclusion in our
schools. Those serious issues affect our children's everyday. We look forward to working with you all to help ensure that every student in East Bronze feels safe, respected and supported regardless of regardless of what background, what ethnicity and what race it is. Also just
wanted to extend uh a small invite. January is the uh Muslim heritage month. So due to Muslim heritage month, we have lot of activities planned you know this Sunday uh which is 11th of January. So we have an open house in Islamic center of East Bronswick which is from 2 to 4
p.m. So it's an open house you know anyone can most know come over there ask any question related to Islam and what is all all this about. Uh we also have a major event which has been scheduled on 24th of January which is in EBPL and the
public library. So know it's a whole day event we have from 11:00 a.m. till 4:00. So we have you know uh various booths, we have various culture, we have some heritage days and exhibits over there. So please feel free to join us over there and again once again
congratulations and happy new year all. >> Thank you. Thank you Mr. Ry there any Mr. Jack >> Jack Levit for Springfield Road. I've been coming to a lot of board meetings over the last several years and
I found myself doing something different tonight than I have at any other board meetings. And I found myself smiling for the first half hour. I couldn't stop smiling at what went on up here. First of all, we have a new superintendent.
You all made an outstanding choice of a new leader, but more importantly is the how. You did it collectively. You did it supportively. Something we haven't seen from a board of education in a really long time. It shows that you're entering this calendar year as a team and that's
thrilling for this community. Of course, the smiles of the night will soon be replaced with the realities of business. I hear there's a budget that needs to be developed and it's going to be with smaller numbers. >> Some what some contract negotiations and
ongoing concerns of the community are also going to come up. I encourage you all to remember what you did and show the community here tonight. You're not going to be perfect, but when you're not, that's when the community needs you to face us candidly and transparently.
When the community has concerns, obviously you should listen, but show us that you've taken the action, even if the action isn't popular. But most of all, do it together. That's what's going to bring the community together. I'm looking forward to a great 2026. Thanks very much.
>> Thank you, Mr. Love. >> Is there anyone else wishing to address the board this evening? Going once, going twice. Can I use this? You finally get to use this. >> We didn't even know this was up here. Yeah.
>> Okay. So, we have a need for a closed session. Whereas the board of education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting and whereas these subjects are in within the exceptions to the open public meetings act and are permitted to be discussed in close session pursuant
to NJSA 104-12B. And whereas the board of ed intends to discuss matters listed in the agenda. Whereas the length of the closed session is estimated to be 1 hour after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and action will be taken. Now
therefore, be it resolved that the East Brunswick Board of Ed will recess into close session for only the A4 said subjects, and be it further resolved that the East Brunswick Board of Ed hereby declares that its discussion of the A4 said subjects will be made public at a time when the public's interest in
disclosure is greater than any privacy or governmental interest being protected from disclosure in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act. Do we have a motion? >> Second. >> So that's Wilbur and Jamie. Discussion.
Motion carries. >> All in favor? >> Oh, all in favor. Voice voice. Sorry. >> Opposed. Abstension. Motion carries. Thank you. >> Welcome back everyone. >> Sorry, technical glitch.
>> I think he has a button in his car. >> Okay. All right. So, uh, moving right on to our, uh, our our student representative couldn't be here tonight, so we're going to move right on to our superintendence report. >> Good evening. Thank you for coming back.
It's been an exciting evening. I want to first of all start off by congratulating Madame President >> Dr. is and the newly minted vice president, Dr. Fan.
I am excited to work with you both and the rest of the board. And I have to say, as a new superintendent, this was it was such a dream, honestly, and I feel good. I know we're going to do great things on behalf of our children.
There's a lot that we need to get done and I'm excited to do that with all of you. So, good evening, East Brunswick. The artwork on display in the boardroom this evening was created by students
from East Brunswick High School. The Right. Isn't it good? The art teachers of these talented students are Megan Buckley, Lisa Gumbas, Ashley Hanaya, uh, Phelix Martinez, Malt Malto, Mu
Mousari, and Jonathan Shalaba, Dr. Ed Bashier, as you know, is the principal. In December, East Brunswick High School proudly hosted the induction ceremony
for the National Matt Honor Society, MOU Alpha. This year's 53 inductees. Look at them. They represent an elite group of juniors and seniors recognized for their exceptional scholarship and commitment
to service. Beyond maintaining a distinguished record in advanced mathematics and general academics, these students have consistently demonstrated the initiative, reliability, and work ethic required to excel at a national
level and we are really proud of them. So during the month of December, you know, cute, hammer participated in the schoolwide initiative to benefit the live like a unicorn organization. Hence all the
unicorn um outfits there. The live like a unicorn organization was started by eight-year-old Liv who was impacted by pediat um pediatric cancer. She started this organization to support other children who had cancer as she wanted to
help them be brave. One thing that the live like a unicorn organization does is distribute unicorn uh boxes to kids who might have long doctor's visits or may be in the hospital for an extended period of time. The Hughes families
donated so many amazing items to include in these boxes and students also made unicorn cards during lunch. The initiative ended with staff and students dressing like unicorns. I bet you see a principal there and a vice principal
there. Dear Pink, it's it's really cute. It was a pleasure to welcome back the class of 2025 on December 23rd. I got to witness this. I was excited. I was a part of it. Um the our alumni returned to the high school to offer guidance on
college applications and the freshman year experience after a formal Q&A panel which that was my favorite part. Uh the the kids answered just they had such good questions and good insights. You know what to do from choosing a roommate
um to participating in all the things that you can the first week of school. was very very well um done. Um the kids were very forthcoming and you could hear a pin drop. Our students were so um just
engrossed in the experience. They um they moved into breakout sessions after the Q&A and this was organized by the breakout sessions were organized by academic major giving seniors a chance to ask specific questions in a nice
small intimate setting. So, I want to thank our alumni for donating their time and wisdom to help our seniors navigate their next chapters. Our early learning academy preschool students continue to experience meaningful and engaging learning
opportunities across the district. This was, I believe, a chitik um elementary preschool students joyfully said goodbye to 2025 and welcome 2026 with a new year celebration marking the transition with excitement.
And at Irwin in December, uh they explored the creative curriculum clothing unit. Students were students learned how clothing is made from thread to fabric to finished garments by examining different materials and
discussing how clothing is created in everyday life. The unit culminated in a classroom fashion show where students proudly modeled colorful designs and celebrated one another's creativity. Yesterday we had a great day of
learning. It was my absolute pleasure. I I believe I got to almost every group in maybe four or five different schools yesterday. Our staff was engaged in a full day of professional development that was designed to strengthen
instructional practices and enhance student learning. These devel professional development sessions were led by our administrators and teacher leaders. The sessions focused on best practices and collaborative learning. The first
picture you see on the on the left side, I'm looking at your left, your right, um is our arts education department. I got to sit in on an AI um presentation that
they had was so cool. So so cool. The topics other topics included literacy instruction, vertical alignment across grade levels, fostering student engagement, and implementing the latest assessment updates.
In sports, girls basketball is off to a 71 start and won the Homeell Holiday Classic. The freshman boys basketball won the Pertham Boy holiday tournament. The girls wrestling was invited to participate in the prestigious Beast of the East wrestling tournament in
Delaware. Boys wrestling won their fourth straight Brunswick Brawl Team Tournament at North Brunswick High School. So, our senior Cam Vic, we went viral. Did you all see this? >> Yes. He hit an incredible long-d
distanceance buzzer beater on December 23rd to put the Bears up 2925 at the half. Those three points were a total game changer, helping the team fight through overtime to bring home the win. You have to see this shot to believe it.
And I have a little nugget for you after that. Wow. Right. >> So, so Pam, as of the time I was getting this report together, right? >> So good. It was It's just wild.
>> So cool. >> So, look at it. Do that. Yeah, >> it was so good. So, as of um this afternoon, as I was preparing the report and you know, we're going through
what what I was going to share. Um I was told that Cam was 18 points away from hitting a,000 points. And as we were here, >> he hit it. >> He did. >> Isn't that cool? So cool. So cool. It is his year. Um so congratulations, Cam.
We're so proud of you. We can't wait to see what you're going to do next. Um, so over the next few weeks, as you know, I am excited. I'm going to be the host of a series of uh meet and greets at each of our 11 schools. I truly look forward.
This is just to connect um with our parents. I want to hear perspectives as we work together to support our school communities. There are 11 opportunities for a reason. We welcome everybody to everyone. If you can make it to your own
school community, come on to the next one or whichever one. Um, I'm really excited. I know one day I have two backtoback. Um, I think I have Irwin first at 6 or something and then I have Bound 7:30. So, you know, we're going
because I really want to get us um moving along here. Um, we have a lot of work to do. Like I said, I'm so excited um with this because um January 22nd, I'm going to be presenting with along with my board what our strategic goals
will be for the coming year and really working on um our next few years, the chapter of this district. I'm really excited and this is an opportunity for everybody to come out and for us to just get the conversation um going. So um I
hope to see you there. So, just a reminder, Monday, January 19th, our schools will be closed in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Day. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. M. All right. So, moving on. Uh, I we need
a motion to move board of education items one through nine. >> Move. >> Second. >> Set. >> Oh, Dr. Falco, what's happening? >> Board of Education. >> Yeah. Okay. Any discussion?
>> So, should we page Dr. Brun? >> Yes. Page 12. Um, bylaws and policies first reading. >> Yes. >> Uh, board committees. I was um a little bit confused as why
um why this decision was made to take the finance committee away from being a committee of the whole. Now, I understand that in past years that there had been a just a a regular finance committee and that last
year was the first year we did a committee of the whole and I believe the believe the date was March the 3 and um it was it was traumatic for as a new board member because we didn't we
weren't prepared ahead of time. we were handed a list of a number of pages of okay here are the cuts that you have to sift through and figure out which ones you want to do. So I can imagine that that was also difficult for the public.
However, I think it was very valuable um for the public to see the fact that we really you know we don't make these decisions lightly. we really take care and to think about it and the the
community has asked for more transparency and I think having a finance committee of the whole will continue to work towards building that um you know better communication with
the public. >> So does anybody else want to say something? >> Yeah. Oh go ahead. >> Go ahead. >> Okay. So um my comment is also about number two and I know that um I've had you know some brief conversation with Dr. moment about it. But my experience
on the board has been with both. And so my first year on the board, there was a finance committee which included only a couple of people from the board. And then um their decisions or what they had narrowed it down to be their decisions was then shared with the whole board.
And we had people who were on the committee that were aware of what the cuts or and the numbers would be and people that were not on the committee who then had to process that separately. And the people who knew and made those decisions or a part of the early you
know all those finance committee meetings without the full board they were more I want to say like mentally and emotionally prepared because they had been through those finance committees whereas somebody who was not part of those finance committee meetings it was a lot to come in and and you hear
a number but then when you hear the programs and the possible cuts associated with it it's like a real shock to try to manage and then they very quickly you have to go out and vote on a temporary budget. And so um I also
understand the concerns from last year and um doing it as a board of the whole um because it is traumatic and it's a lot and we sat up here and were given a paper and we had no idea what was going to be on that paper until we got here.
Um, and so I like uh both ways. I think what we need to do is tweak the process from last year to make it a little more cohesive where we're not thrown into that and we have some preparation and some idea of what the expectation at
least is. Um, and some preparedness so we can look at it and see prepare ourselves for the questions that we want to ask. That way we sit up here and get those answers. Um, so that is my perspective as somebody who's been in both. But, um, you know, ultimately like
that's why I welcome these decisions because I want to hear what everybody on the board has to say. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Uh, just a quick comment. Um, Lori and I agree with you. I think there were two areas that I had concern with last year. One was that the public had no
idea what we were talking about and that h that has to be more effective. And second of all, which which I think Miss Herrick really brought up um really well was that um we need this information ahead of time so that we can prepare and and then of course have the public be
more aware of what we're talking about. If we can possibly do that, I think the process would be very transparent and would benefit everyone. Thank you, >> Mola. So, as someone who was sitting over there last year for that budget, I can
say 100% I've sat through the meetings where you guys had committees and I've sat through the meetings where you guys did it as a community of the whole. And while two things could be true at the same time, one, it could have been done better and two, it's better to have all
nine people's opinions when it's coming to the budget. I do agree that the committee should be a committee of the whole. Um, I do like your suggestion of perhaps giving us the information a little bit ahead of time. I don't know if that's allowed, so maybe you guys can clarify that. Um, I think a lot of the
problems that there were with with that initial meeting was there was a there was an urgency to vote as a consensus. So unless you were somebody who was experienced in that type of a um a presentation, everybody out there assumed, oh my god, that's the budget that they're passing. So, I think some
clarification, some transparency, um, would, like she said, tweak all those little issues, but I would like to see it continue the way it was. The public, there's going to be hard decisions that need to be made. We all know that already. We already know that there's going to be budget problems for the next
budget, and I think including the community in what is we're experiencing as a board will help them understand. So, if we have to give a little bit more explanation when we're sitting here at the on the panel, that's going to help them understand what's going on, but that's also going to be um more important for the final decision because
like Lori said, she had to make choices on what a group of smaller a smaller committee created and maybe she would have had different opinions on the things that they were um trying to save. So, I agree in keeping it in the public. >> Anybody else?
>> Dr. Pan >> Wilbur. So um so um yeah uh I I'm not going to reiterate all the points have already been uh made to me th those points are all um you know self evident. Um the one point I did want to make though is that
I understand that this is a traumatic uh thing but for me the root cause of the trauma was not whether or not we had it as a committee of the whole or and didn't do it as a finance committee or the other way around. The traumatic part is that we had a $7.5 million budget
deficit and I don't think the organization in terms of how we address this is going to take that pain away. It's going to suck regardless of which one it is. Um having said that, I'm also in favor of keeping it as a committee of the whole too.
>> So, anybody else? Okay. So, I I actually agree in keeping it as a committee of a whole. As everybody knows, this is my first uh time being on doing the budget on this side of the aisle. Um, and I think what's important is that we have to remember at the end of the day, we
represent a lot of people. And uh I I always go back to this, but it was last year when Dr. Braun pointed out, oh, Hammershield is going to turn into an elementary school. And the community came out and spoke up and it's important for us to hear that. And um doing it as a committee of the whole ensures that we
have transparency. I know that's a word that gets thrown around a lot, but um I know that's something that the entire board wants to continue to make sure we have. So, I'm also in favor of doing it as a committee of the whole. >> Okay. Okay. >> All right.
>> So, like you, I got to prep coming into East Brunswick and watching March 3rd. You were not prepared for what you did and that was not fair to the community. My suggestion that it be
a committee is to allow all nine of you in small groups to be able to look at what it is you're being asked to do, ask your questions. I think I see like a classroom teacher. I do something
whole group but until I sit with groups who learn differently who want to ask different questions and I'm able to explain what it is we're asking of you right um and then when we bring it out to the public and have that conversations you don't even have to
make any decisions when you were in the small when you're in committees like so you have small committees but for big ticket items you want everybody hearing the same thing having the same information being informed so that when they come out to the public, the public
can hear uh a a a an int not I don't want to say an intelligent conversation, but basically have you ask questions that are important that you've had, but have had time to really think about it and be
thoughtful and presented in that way. Because as I was watching, it seemed to me like you were making decisions and not having discussions. And you want to come out here prepared to make discussions, hear what the public has to say. It's still very transparent. There's no decisions going to be made in
the small committee, but really allows us time to learn, to marinate, and to be able to ask those questions that are pertinent to whatever our goals are and what we're hearing from the community. That's what I'm seeking to do. Now, if the board wants to keep it committee of
the whole, I will still insist on small group brief sessions before we come out to the public. I cannot watch you do that. It is not fair to me to our staff who are traumatized. And I know you, you know, I' I've been out there and they tell me things. I can't believe they
thought I was expendable. I can't believe they wanted to do this and do that. And I know that's not what you meant. You were going through it. So that was why I suggested that we do that for more um just to streamline the process. But I'm okay with whatever you do, whatever you decide to do, it
wouldn't stop our work and being able to come out here as a unified um group. So >> Mr. Hong. >> Yes. So uh as for Dr. members a small
committee uh I will suggest nine of us we have different life experience we have different education background we have different specialty >> so I will suggest for the for example
Dr. Brown is educator. So he can focus on the curricular or the extracurricular. Uh Tim Thomas is a executive. So you maybe you can focus about the items about this building. So Dr. Pan and Dr.
Falco are medical specialists. You can focus on student life service and then everyone divide the job in $200 million budget. It's huge work. Yeah, >> you know it's no way for us in in two
weeks go to very detail for each item. So if for as uh Dr. members just if we can break up the small committee and then everyone can focus on the field which you are
specialized and to make better decision >> and if I may starting in February we will have a standing conversation about the budget with the public where we are what we've learned what we're thinking what we know what we don't know
what we're waiting for and putting it out there up until when we have to make a vote. Like if you do that and then you know if we do that then we're not only getting to sit with it but we're educating ourselves and it's helping us
think because we all don't know what we're going to do. I'm hoping it's flat. I really am hoping it's flat. I know that I'm working on the we're already working on the budget, right? We're working on the budget. My team and I, we went almost what 60 budget managers we met with the week before we went on. It
was like a marathon here. I'm just going through line by line. So, I know what we're thinking about, what we're doing. Uh, but the time that we've had to go see it, think about it, come back. That is valuable for us um to do. And as we're going through that, we can be
sharing with the public. This is where we are. This is what we learned. Um, I want an opportunity to be able for us to do some facilities walk through. >> Yeah. >> You know, um, with all of you, I want you to see what I'm seeing. And so when
we come here, we're coming here with a from a place of knowledge and people can see that and we're unified in the voice and what we're talking about and grappling with. We're not going to be happy either way to your point. Um, and Dr. Pan, yeah, it is, you know, uh, all
right, Wilbur. Uh, but I just want us to, you know, to know more, be able to be better informed. But however we decide to do it, I think it's going to be important to do the small tying groups together.
Um, before we come out here and >> does our bylaws do we have to change it to we can do the small groups and keep our committee of a whole, right? >> You can absolutely keep the comm >> committee. You can absolutely keep the
committee the hall. It's really I think what Dr. Man >> it's okay m um is suggesting makes sense is you you have the right >> to meet as as uh ad hoc committees with
four or less members. So you guys could break it up. You could have you know the president and or vice president serving as the ex official member. So you have two kind of constant people that are going to the different committees um and then they can and then when you come
back after you guys have all done it then you can have a discussion as a committee the whole and the public when you're better informed of the different components of it because some of the stuff is frankly >> you can't do anything about it. I mean it you know your health benefits can't do anything about that. Uh the cost of
energy you're not you can't do anything about that. Um, but there's certain things that like I I remember last year, um, uh, Miss Brawn, you talking about like the the orchestra and the strings and things like that. You got into the granular that might be better to have those discussions and then you guys can
do it. I think it would be probably pretty important though >> just so that it's not said groups, you'd have the president and or vice president at the those meetings so that then the president vice president when you meeting communicate hall can share the different thoughts that were
communicated. So that requires no change in your bylaws whatsoever. You can committee the hall, but you can do it when you're better prepared to have kind of a more granular discussion on the areas that you can really kind of, you know, take a scalpel to as opposed to a >> mallet.
And and in just in fairness to this current board, I will say that we kind of already do that on our own anyway. Um, so this is just I guess formalizing that process, but um it's a it's a different board from the last budget.
So, um, it's this wouldn't be new for us. Um, and I think that's why we were opposed to putting it in back into committees and keeping it as a committee the whole because we don't come in here unprepared. For the most part, we we walk in and we've already had our
conversations in not in quorum. Okay. >> So, when you take the vote, you're going to vote on one through nine, but if you're a no on number two, when I voice the roll call, just say yes, except for
no on two. Okay, makes sense. >> Unless there's other questions. >> Dr. Braun, >> yes. Did Did we get the minutes? >> Yeah, they were electronic. There's an email. >> The open session minutes were all emailed. the closed sessions. No. Okay.
So, and that's what the motion is to approve the open session minutes. >> Not closed. >> Correct. >> And by the way, you can vote on minutes even if you weren't in attendance because if you've reviewed them, you can vote yes even if you were not in attendance at it. I would suggest that if you're a brand new board member and
you weren't here last year, you you might want to abstain on the minutes. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Because just because some of them say open and closed sessions. Please note that it will just you're voting on the open the close session. >> We're not we're not there.
>> Got it. Okay. >> Anybody else? Dr. P. Sorry. >> Wilbert Wilbur. Sorry. >> Um one quick uh question on number nine. Um uh it looks like uh this one we're deleting two positions and replacing
them with two positions. In the Friday memo, there was mention of deleting three positions and replacing the two positions. Just want to clarify that. >> Would you like me? Okay. So, these were abolishing the two job descriptions. Um,
individual people have those job descriptions. The other position that would be impacted, there's multiple in the district. So, we wouldn't abolish that job description because there's it's still applicable. Okay.
>> So, this is a roll call vote. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> All right. And we're good. >> Yeah. >> Uh Anna Brown. >> Okay. No on number two. Recuse on number three. Everything else? Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you. Uh Timothy Cummings, >> yes. No on two. >> Antonet Ivola. No on two and abain from the minutes. >> So that's uh four through eight. >> Thank you.
Just bear with me one second. And yes on everything else. >> And yes on the other items. >> No two. >> Yes. And no on two. Yes. >> Jamie Falco. >> Yes to everything. >> Lewis Figureroa.
>> Uh yes. Uh no to two. >> Lori Herrick. Yes, but no to two. >> Lee Wuhan >> stating for two and eight. >> Yes. Everything else would >> Yes.
>> But you can ask are allowed for >> Yeah. Okay. >> Uh Wilbur Pan. >> Um uh yes to everything except for number two which is no. >> Maryanne Tenos. Uh, no to two, yes to everything else.
Okay. Moving on. Uh, motion to move business and support operations item items 1 through 12. >> Second, >> Jamie and Wilmer. >> Thank you. >> Discussion, Miss Herrick.
I'm just going to make a quick comment about number four, which will basically say that the softball parents will thank you for putting up some fencing, which will allow us um for which will allow them to see the games without having to
sit inside the field and the same for um the field hockey parents. I'm sure they'll be thanking you as well. So, thank you. >> Yeah, if I also have to something on that. So, um, just, uh, in terms of what Miss Herrick said, um, was there a way
to avoid that by preparing better initially? Because from what I'm looking at, it looks like roughly a $25,000 difference if I'm not mistaken. >> And, um, you know, that again, we're going into budget season and every dollar counts. So, for me to see a
change order on something that I I thought we had everyone's, you know, sign off on, whether it be the um the, you know, the coaches, the the uh athletic director, someone you know, to to not be able to see through the fence,
that to me seems I I mean, I I it's I just can't believe we're talking about that to the tune of $25,000. So, I I guess my question is what's done here is done, but how do we avoid this as we move forward? and we have fields, we have buildings that need to be uh, you
know, addressed. How do we stop spending money, you know, when we don't have to? This is something I really think we could have avoided. >> So, >> it's fine. >> I mean, I can't speak to exactly right. I can
only tell you that diversity of thought matters when you have perspectives of different people looking at things different from different um through different lenses and it's unfortunate right it's it's unfortunate um I can only tell you that moving forward we
will not do that so sorry >> if if I can add one thing the the fence that's being taken down we are going to retain and repurpose so it's not >> totally wasted >> you know totally wasted I think during during the design um
>> it phase when it was designed the security aspect of keeping um people off the fence uh climbing it when people are climbing it it collapses the fence so I think that was made the priority instead
of the the viewing um I was not that I'm removing myself from anything but I was not part of the design Um, so but I concur with what Dr. M said. >> So my my my real concern here is that we
moving forward because I think what we're all saying is we messed up here. How do we moving forward? I just want to make sure that we're looking at this and we're getting the right people in to see it. And that would include whether it be staff, athletic director, principal to get everyone's, you know, view on this
because obviously we didn't do that. at some level we we we we say you're saying the security you know part part of it and I get that however you know this this is is something that we need to avoid in the future. So, if I can give you a rural life example,
>> uh the next uh the lower turf and some fencing is going to be replaced. That's on tap. Uh that was scheduled with budgeted. Um and we've already had some preliminary conversations to ensure, you know, what areas are being impacted if some of the baseball fencing. So, are we
talking to the baseball coach? Are we talking to the athletic director? Are we talking to the high school? Um, as a parent, sports parent, I I can understand why parents are upset and then the fin and as the finance part like being upset about
>> the finance piece. So, >> life lesson learned the hard way and we have to ensure that it doesn't happen again. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, it will not happen >> and sometime this uh change yodo could go up and sometime going down. Yeah,
this is is the you know it's very common norm for the construction industry. It's not always up. Sometime it's going down. I in my I remember so many times it's going down on this agenda. >> I sorry I I will say that when we when
the field was just about done and we tooured it, the focus was on that fencing and safety and and security. And so at the time you look at like I've never I don't design or think right I would think that the company who helped us come up with those plans as well as
the people who had input would think about those things but I was like okay until like honestly I went to a game and I sat on the bleachers and you get so dizzy trying to look through the little holes and parent like parents would tell me I'd be like oh I don't know like can you see can you not and then I would go
and I'm like yeah okay like I can't see and I understand why they're bringing their own chairs and moving to other places. And then this past year, we started to let them be on the field, which then I was on the field and I was like, it's dangerous on the field. I played field hockey. I don't want to get hit with a field hockey ball. So, I can
appreciate this and I know the parents will too. But I also agree like let's I think we have to leverage um we have to leverage the people that uh are specialists in this area and if
obviously security and safety is a concern but how do we do both and and how do we making sure that we're covering both when we go forward because we have a lot of projects that are going to be coming up and we know that money is a concern. zone. Yeah.
>> I just like to say something and I don't know if this is going to be unethical, but if this company didn't suggest a different way to protect the students, maybe we shouldn't use that company again >> because they should that should have been something that comes from a company who's putting up fencing for Did I break
a rule? >> We don't know. >> I'm sorry. I >> sorry. >> Duly note it and it will be I'm the mic consideration going forward. >> In fairness to Dr. Mammon and M Mr. Crutchfeld, they were not here when these decisions were made.
>> I was here, but I wasn't. >> It's not my area, right? That's what I >> We will do better. >> Yes. >> Um I I I wasn't here either. But >> um but but but but it actually does occur to me that there may be just
competing priorities here. Uh right. Because um believe it or not, I kind of remember this discussion from friends. We're not a sports family, but I remember this thing coming up and um and I do recall someone saying that one of
the benefits of this fence was that the the the the field hockey players could go and do their thing without worrying too much about people, you know, peeking in on them. Um and then so so that's one priority. And then if the other priority
is being able to watch the game, now you have two competing priorities and you got to kind of pick which one it is. So, um, uh, I I I agree. We have to do better. But, um, I I can actually conceive how this was a, um, you know, a
bunch of reasonable choices that wound up with with this as well. So, >> okay. >> Um, >> I I I have a question on item two, if that's all right. Um uh in in in the list of uh uh items on on the bill list
um there's Pretten Architects who had a ton of charges and credits. They just went back and forth. I was just wondering what the backstory was to that. >> You do have an answer. >> Yes. So, uh Pat Samjin is our district architect. They do a number of projects.
We had a uh credit due back to us. So, as the bills were coming in, the credits were coming in. we've uh recouped all of that credit. Uh that's why they're actually getting paid. So, it was just a mechanism. And what you're seeing is each purchase order has a line on the
bill list. It says line one, $5,000 and the credit against line one. So, it makes it look very long because I know it's like several pages of transactions. Um but that that's why we had a credit on our account from previous work that we've recouped.
>> Okay, great. Thanks. Anyone else? >> So good. Roll call. >> Roll call. >> Yep. >> Okay. Anna Braun, >> yes. >> Timothy Cummings, >> yes. >> Antinet Ibola, >> Jamie Falco, >> yes. >> Lewis Figurero,
>> yes. >> Lorie Herrick, >> yes. >> Lee Wuhong, >> yes. >> Wilbur Pan, >> yes. >> Maryanos, >> yes. Motion carries. >> Okay. Um motion for curriculum and instruction
items one and two. >> Move second. >> Jamie and Jamie and this is just >> discussion. Couple quick questions. This is largely about myself.
>> This is largely looks mental health related. >> These trainings at no cost. Um >> how'd they go? I mean one happened, right? >> Yeah. both happen. >> Oh, they both happened. >> Yes. >> Both yesterday. >> Yes, they went very well and the um the the the student assistance specialist
counselors and child study team really received the information very well. >> And do we do we survey staff at the end of these to get get feedback? >> And and do these providers change typically annually? I mean are we typically is DCF typically coming in and
doing these trainings on an annual basis or >> um the providers change depending on the needs of the department. So whatever the focus and the the goals of the department for the year would reflect on who they're bringing in for to provide the professional development.
>> Okay, that's good to hear. >> Yeah. In fact, today we met and debriefed. I was with the counselors for this one, the NJ4s. Yes, >> I know we talked about that and because I did see them yesterday um while it was
happening and we were able to debrief it was overwhelmingly they loved it and wanted more more of it >> and these uh trainings as we look at what the trends are because even today our conversations are what are the
trends what are we seeing um what are what are we able to handle what do we need more help with that then informs who the providers are for the next time were able to meet. It's fluid. >> Anyone else? Okay. >> So, that is a roll call.
>> No, just Okay. >> So, all in favor? >> Yeah. >> I oppose. Abstension. Motion carries. >> There you go. >> Okay. >> Going to be an expert. You're good. You're doing great. Yeah. Moving on to
uh human resources. Motion to move items one and two. >> Move. Oh, there's three items. >> Oh, second. >> There's an addendum. >> Oh, the addendum. Sorry. >> Motion to move items one through three. There's an addendum that was left on everyone. >> Move.
>> Second. >> Wilbur >> or Wilbur and Dr. Falco. >> Jamie. >> If he's Wilbur, I'm Jamie. >> You can call me Dr. Cummings from >> I'll take those. Yeah. >> Can we unite you?
>> Sure. >> Sirings. >> Sirings. >> Um >> discussion. >> Discussion. >> Discussion. >> One one question. How the heck did we partner up with Northern Arizona University?
>> I knew you were going to say that. So, Northern um Arizona State University is purely virtual. >> Yeah. >> But they live the student teachers live here. And so for anytime that happens,
we have to go into a memorandum of agreement that says, "Okay, we're going we're going to be responsible for this and you'll be responsible for that." Because it's not like they're going there and coming there. So that's just what that is, not that >> I thought so, too. I'm like, there are so many colleges here. Where why are we going to Arizona?
It at at first I thought it was students that for some reason were living down there and wanted to experience winter, but then I looked up where they say they're located and I think it's the northern part is high enough that they actually get snow. So, you know, that took that blew that idea out of the
window. >> Anybody else here? >> Uh, Mr. H. So on the item number two there's a ice hockey assistant uh coaching the stipent for that I remember
I remember many years ago the parents came to this board not this board I'm the only one came to the board asking for the former hockey team they promised that they found everything including the equipment
the coaching and the everything. So I I just so asking why this is stipen and please it explain why this is stipen for this position. >> Page number seven.
>> All right. Per the contract because all the coaches fall under the EVA contract. Um, so we pay, they're still our employee and then we charge the players, each player a per player amount to reimburse to make the district whole for
all expenses. >> So you mean they actually the parents are still paying for this position? >> Yes, the parents pay for just like when it was originally approved. I think this is year three or four. It might be year
four um that we're we're doing this and it's been set up that way. They pay for ice hockey. What we do, we develop a budget. We say based off of what we expect to spend for security, trainer, uniform, whatever the case may be, all-incclusive, we expect 22 players.
It's going to be x number of dollars. And then when we get the at the end of the year, we take the actual expenses. Uh and each year we've given money back. Um, so we're not overcharging, we're not making money, the district is breaking even. Um, so that that original
agreement is still intact with the ice hockey. And just so the board is aware, dance uh is also set up the same way. >> Okay. And I know the answer. So I just want to tell the new board members, right? >> Thank you.
>> You could have just told us >> he has the authority. >> Why not? Ask Sirum. >> Sir Cummings, anything. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, so this is a voice >> roll call.
>> Roll call vote. >> Yep. >> All right. >> Uh, Anna Braum, >> yes. >> Timothy Cummings, >> yes. >> Antinet Eola, >> yes. And Lee, I already knew even though I wasn't here. >> Uh, Jamie Falco, >> yes. >> Lewis Figurero, >> yes. >> Lorie Herrick, >> yes. >> Lee Wuhung, >> yes.
>> Wilbur Pan, >> yes. Mary antennage. >> Yes. >> So, moving on to special education and student services items 1 through five. Motion to move. >> Move. >> Second. >> I got it.
>> Discussion. >> Uh so, um items one and two are for a first grade student and a second grade um uh student. Um why why is there Yeah. Um why why is there such a difference in the tuition? Um because uh the for the
first grader it's 11 uh,300 uh some and for the uh second grader it's uh 18,900 uh some which is like a 60 plus% uh >> increase. I was just curious why.
>> All right. So um item number one is for the last school year and it uh the student uh was effective January 3rd. So, it's prorated and then this current year is for the full year. >> Ah, got it. Missed that. Thanks. >> Oh. Um, one other thing in this section
and appreciate the monthly uh school reports, but just to extend off of what I had asked at the last meeting. Um, should we have a responsible party um uh for some of these for some of these reports? Um uh because um just just as
part of my day job, if I see a report and it says that a bunch of things were done such as, you know, fire fire drills and there's um a part of that report would have the person that's attesting that those things actually happened. >> That would that would be me. >> That would be me. I signed them all.
>> Okay. >> Um I know the dates. I know what what the when the drills are happening, if it happened, how many kids were involved. The principal signs off on it, it comes to me, I sign off on it. So there's a whole system in place before it gets to
you. >> Okay. Thanks, >> Mr. So for the item number five, special education student service. Uh there's a genet law practice. So we have 11
schools why bound and war stroke are now listed. You said item five. >> Uh, item number five. >> Number five. >> It's right after the fire drill. >> Right after the fire drill. >> Security drills. I'm sorry.
I think the call might not require >> my question is why those two school >> they didn't have it >> they didn't have it >> and then then my next question is you did the nine schools
And there's two. Does that mean there's two school don't need do not need this kind of training? >> They'll do it a different time. >> A different time. >> Yeah. Okay. >> They might have done it already at the end of October at the very beginning of December, but they're all spread out. But they have to do it every month.
>> It just happens that all of those. >> So you happened all nine in November. >> Oh yes. >> Okay. Then hopefully make sense. >> Yeah. Any other discussion? >> All right. All right. So, this is a roll
call vote. >> Anna Brown, >> yes. >> Timothy Cummings, >> yes. >> Antina Ibola, >> yes. >> Jamie Falco, >> yes. >> Lewis Figurero, >> yes. >> Lorie Herrick, >> yes. >> Lee Wuhong, >> yes. >> Wilbur Pan,
>> yes. >> Maryanos, >> yes. Moving on to committee reports, uh, information items, and for the good of the cause for the board. Uh, I guess we can start since Anton is new. We'll start with Dr. Von.
>> Yes. I was just going to, um, wanted to commend the music department and they're in the middle of their winter concert season. And so I had the pleasure of going to the band and orchestra concerts at Hughes, Church Hill, and the high school. And I have to say uh I just I
mean because I taught at Hammershold for a couple of decades that um it was amazing to see I think there were 300 little violin viola cello and bass players 300 of them
>> and they filled the entire stage and the crazy thing was there was no parking. I drove around 20 minutes couldn't find a place to park. Um I get in it. the place is packed out. This is an upper elementary school and the fact that
there there were no seats. In fact, there was not even room for standing room. I was standing out in the hallway and I was practically crying like some kind of crazed grandmother. I was so proud. Look at those kids. Because I I I couldn't help but think we almost lost
them last week. >> We almost lost that. >> Yeah. It was that close. >> It It was really good. I was there. Yep. for um five six and to um Anna's point there were over 300 like fifth graders
and then the sixth graders came on but what was amazing was >> they'd not been practicing together >> but yet when they came together testament to what our teachers do they sounded fabulous I stood too I had no
seat I just want you to know I stood in the corner which was fine but I really enjoyed enjoyed it. It was really great. We It was amazing. >> Yeah. So, I just wanted to pass those congratulations on and I will be at all of the upcoming chorus concerts start
beginning next week. >> So, I will continue your music. um caveat and I will say that I just want to remind everybody that the East Brunswick Symphony Orchestra, their strings along with the Churchill Junior High School Honors or Orchestra will be
performing in the winter serenade which is January 18th at 300 p.m. at Temple Benet Shalom. Um you can check out the East Brunswick Symphony Orchestra website to get your tickets. It's going to be great. Um, the orchestra, the
symphony orchestra has been amazing. And I love when the kids play with them. And I love it when it's kind of like this because if you were at the Trinity Church one, you're like right next to you're like right in part of the orchestra and you can feel it. And um, I love that. And so I'm really looking
forward to this. And so definitely try to get there. And that's it. And just to tag on that, the fact that our kids, our junior high school kids are going to be playing with professionals. Yeah. >> Because the East Brunswick Symphony, these are legit professionals. And so,
what an opportunity for our kids to get to experience that. But how good are we that our kids can keep up >> with a professional orchestra? Just throwing that out there because I used to teach at Church Hill. That's awesome. That's great stuff. Real
quick, shout out to the sustainability task force. Uh brought a flyer with me on uh January 25th. I was with this group earlier this week uh for a meeting on January 25th, which is a Sunday from 1 to 4. I would encourage all members of the community or outside of the
community to head to the repair cafe. I don't know if anybody has done that before, but essentially what they do is they have experts there who are skilled in, you know, fixing things. So rather than throw it in a landfill or recycle it, try to keep it intact. Um, so it's an awesome, you know, they they reference your clothing, textiles, knit
and crocheted off uh items. So really encourage people to to check this out. If you just Google East Brunswick Library Repair Cafe, you can find out more about it. So um please do come. Thank you. >> I'll go last.
So um uh the uh activities for Muslim Heritage Month have already been mentioned but I think it bears re repeating um you know one of the fantastic things about a town like uh about our town East Brunswick is the diversity of the uh uh community as uh
Dr. Mman said earlier diversity of thought um is a is a real strength and that's one of the things that makes East Brunswick such a great place to live. also was going to mention the EBS EBF uh uh concert, but that was already
mentioned. I will note, however, to uh two things regarding the music things. Number one, I've had the pleasure over the years of seeing our music, our students playing music with professional um musicians on multiple occasions
across different programs. and and and uh that um is something I remember uh one year um our uh chamber orchestra here my my kid was in it so full disclosure um um actually went they they
went down to uh Ryder if I remember correctly and they played um Mer's first symphony which is quite the feat for uh pe for students who hadn't graduated from from high school uh yet my other Mer joke is that for the concerts that
Anna just mentioned. We're the only school district that has so many kids that we can perform Mer 8 if we want to. So, yeah. So, there's that. >> Um, music folks will appreciate that one. Uh, other things I just wanted to mention is that the East Brunswick Teen Arts Commission has a creative writing
workshop on the 11th. Um, this looks to be a fantastic opportunity and for the folks watching uh this recording, you may just want to send your kid there and see what happens. Um, I I know from experience that um, kids often don't
know what they can do until they try it. And um I've seen a number of our our friends kids and also I remember growing up uh uh having a student enter a creative writing thing having no clue what they were doing all of a sudden
just unlocks something in their brain which which was um which is a fantastic thing to do and the this one of those things where if you don't give it a try you never know you know what happened. Plus, the EVT's Arts Commission is a terrific group and they're well worth
supporting. And um Oh, I I'll be done real quick. Uh CPAG has their transition resource fair on the uh 23rd. Um this is also a fantastic uh resource because the transition of um uh students with
special needs into adulthood uh is fraught with difficulty. um and uh the the excellent job that we do with it student population needs to continue um on afterwards. I I have some personal experience with this as well because uh
in my practice we also saw uh kids with cickle cell disease and the transition watching those kids go from our care as pediatricians to adult um uh care was heartbreaking many times um because it's a clear example of what happens when you
when you're a kid and you have great support and then you move on to adulthood and sometimes that support isn't um there. Uh want to acknowledge Dr. Mammon's uh um tour of East Brunswick coming uh coming up. Um the uh
when we were um interviewing um we knew what we wanted from all the community feedback in terms of a new superintendent and the ability to connect and communicate with people was right up at the top of the list. And I think there's no better demonstration over the past um you know uh past month
or so than the fact that she's established this. I want to find a black t-shirt and put her name on the front and a copy of the thing on the back and just label it Dr. Ma'am and North American tour. >> I could sell it. I could sell it. We can make some money. >> Yeah. >> Fundraising.
>> Yeah. And then um and my last thing um I I want to thank um everyone for their support over my first year as uh as a board member, but especially now having the opportunity to serve as vice president. This is a I I look at this as
a wonderful opportunity to be able to um help the students of our of our town. So, you know, for Anna, Lori, Tim, Arianne, Lee Wu, Jamie, Lou, and Antonet. Um thanks for the uh trust. Um
I I I won't let you all uh down. And um of of course, I wouldn't uh I would be missing a huge thing if I didn't thank my family, especially my wife Mary, uh who's been great support through all of this. That's it. Thanks. >> So, so I want to share another testimony
of our great musical program. So, in December, uh, Mayor Cohen's charity fund her annual fundraising gala. Our seventh grade orchestra honor students performed
75 meanings without repeating, without any break. So I need to get a give a lot of credit to the teacher Susan Muse. He conduct 75 million sitting standing there never stop. So you know that's is
a testimony how great our student are. Seventh grader they didn't eat they didn't drink for more than 70 minutes and play so many beautiful pieces. So so I'm proud my my boy is is there. So it's
for the uh miracles uh charity fund and we started in 2019 and I I'm one of the original trustees there. This fund helped hundreds of our school students. I hope other community
members homeless anybody got uh big impact to their life. We are here at the same time. I urge you guys if possible please help us. Every penny we risk are used strictly limited inside the boundary of East Bronik. Help our
students, help our family members, help disabled, our homeless. So please support us. It's really good things to do. I enjoy it for so many years. I I will still be in there, you know, as as
long as I can. But I may not that I get I want to thank uh all voters vote me for my fourth term. I really appreciate if you come here earlier when I first swing my oldest son was this leader. He
was >> younger than two years for so many years. I didn't spend my time with my boys with my wife. So without their support I couldn't be here. So I cherish the time serving our community. Every
vote I cast is for the best interest of our community. I never s thought about my children and I want to thank every voters who vote me in and thank you very much for your trust. I will do my best
to serve our entire community especially our students and I will yeah do my best and I will not let you down. I will keep doing the right things and uh I will be very happy with you the green board
members and I guess this will be my last time definitely last time I will now run again. >> Thank you. I'm really proud of everyone up here. >> I'm hoping not to ever bring Robert's rules to this podium again. Um, but I
what I do want to say is that um I'm really excited for the communication and the collaboration. Truly, the the presence here, the the levity that we have right now is a testament to the camaraderie we have. It's going to make
our district better because we care that it's better. We we want to work together. I'm really really proud of you guys. The unanimous votes, they speak for themselves. And I I really hope our community appreciates what that really means. It It's not a common thing to
have such unanimous support and such a strong direction for leadership. And I just couldn't be more proud. So, thank you guys for stepping up. Just uh a quick shout out. So many wonderful things have been said, but uh we have talked a little bit about athletics, the arts, but I also want to
mention our activities. If you go through our schools, if you if you are around after school for any reason, the amount of kids after school at at at most of our schools, not only is our secondary is just amazing. that and
that's a testament to our staff um to our families to our kids of course. So just a shout out to them because of all the time and effort they put into that and really that helps to shape their experiences. So many of us you know were and in high school we did those extra things that shaped our lives moving
forward. So, um, that's something that we really provide here and and it's just outstanding when you when you go out at the school, you know, at any time it seems like every night there's cars in the parking lot and there's kids and and people are happy and they're, you know, doing things and they're and then after
school activities, you know, and of course the arts, as you mentioned, 300 kids. Oh my goodness, that's that's just amazing. And that's that's a testament to what this district sees as a focus and something that that we really feel important and um and that's appreciated
and it really is. Um I also want a quick shout out to Maryanne and to Wilbur. Thank you for your leadership and for accepting those roles and you have all of us here that will be supportive and we're happy uh to help Dr. Mammon and her team move forward in this district.
So thank you. Thank you. >> First, I want to say thank you to all of you for tonight. Um, obviously I'm the newbie here, so you've been very very um patient with my inexperience. Um, it wasn't long ago that I was like a leg
sitting there waiting until the last drop. So, I'm trying not to go too long because I know you guys want to get home. But, it's important to know that them they're sitting here. But tomorrow at 12 o'clock, people are going to be watching this because the community cares about what's coming up. And I feel very confident that this budget cycle
will be more organized thanks to Dr. Man. And um again, the hard decisions will have to be made, but it will be in the best interest of the students. And that's exactly why I'm here. So again, thank you for everyone who voted for me and put that trust in me. My voice is always going to be what's best for the
community and not what's best for me. Um, I have children in the school, so I I have a firsthand experience as a parent. Also, I pay taxes here, so I have firsthand experience as a taxpayer, but as a board member, I want to be able to represent the community as a whole.
So, um, I hope that I do that for you guys. Um, I want to thank Marian so much for being our president. You're going to be an amazing leader. Uh, Wilbur, I'm going to call you Wilbur because you want to, um, you are going to be a great great asset to her. I know that she'll be
leaning on you. So, I hope that you're uh ready for that. And I want to thank everybody for being um here tonight and and positive. I I'm a very positive person and my glass is always half full. So, I feel like that's the energy that's going and I'd like to bring that there. There's going to be
times when we might not agree on things, but I think that we're professional enough to be able to work through it and I look forward to the rest of the year. So, thank you. >> I have one more thing to add. So, as we know, Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Giuliani is
leaving us in February. I don't have an exact date, but I just like to welcome Mr. Crotchfeld as our new BA. So, thank you. >> Thank you. And I appreciate you guys believing in me and, you know,
appointing me. Thank you. >> Okay, I guess that leaves me. So, um, I, you know, just to add to the to the music, incredible. I, my niece is in the orchestra also, and to go watch her play, I was like, who needs to go see Andrea Buchelli when you can go to the
JM Pack on any given night? >> Yeah. Yeah. Um, the other thing is we do have, I don't know if this was mentioned, but we have a parent university on Monday. Um, if you haven't been, they are incredible. Um, George Scott is phenomenal. And then there was something that happened in the district
last year and he just like stepped up. So, um, not in the schools, like two families in the district. And, um, he gives his phone number and says, "Call me, reach out to me." So, he's great. If, um, if you haven't gone to see him yet, it's it's free. Um, come out to the
parent university. Um, last but not least, I am so incredibly humbled by what happened here tonight. Um, Sir Cummings, that that speech was uh, you know, made me very emotional. Um, I was very overwhelmed. Thank you for having so
much faith in me. Um, thank you everyone for having so much faith in me. I I truly don't deserve that kind of love and um admiration. Oh, class of 2001. Yes. Um, but I, you know, I've been on this board for a few months now and when
I walked in here tonight, the energy was just so different. Um, I I loved it. I loved that we dis disagreed on things because it was like so nice that agenda item too for the like I I was like okay like we're we're having a conversation
and we're not all going to agree and that's okay. And um I'm so excited to work all together and I know we won't always see eye to eye. I you know we the public doesn't always get to see that but sometimes we don't and that's okay because look at what happens in the end
and uh everybody up here is an asset and brings so much value to the table and um what Leew said earlier about everybody has their fores from like a professional standpoint from a personality standpoint everybody's got their thing and I'm um
blessed and privileged to sit amongst you really are like the heart of East Brunswick and what makes this town so Great. So, thank you for trusting in me and uh I hope you will hold me accountable. I know you will hold me accountable. Jamie's got the Roberts
rules just in case. Um and Wilbur, I am looking forward to working with you also. Um and I, you know, I I do believe we need to make some changes in that this is going to be a everything of the whole. Um it's you know the the board president is just the
first amongst equals. So we are all equals here. That is my belief that has always been and will always be. Um, and Dr. Mammon, uh, I, you know, I would be aiss to say that any of this would be possible without you. I think that your energy obviously ch yeah changed us from
day one and um, I'm I'm grateful for everything that you are already bringing to the table. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. And forgive me as I learn how to do this agenda because uh, I Great.
Have I? Okay. Algra, have I done great? >> Um, so >> we have a need for another session. >> It was unexpected, so I, you know, didn't prepare myself. Um, so now >> we have a need for another close session. >> Okay. So, oh yes, where is that?
>> Okay. So, we actually have a need for another closed session. Whereas the board of education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion of public meeting. And whereas these subjects are within the exceptions of the open public meetings act and are per permitted to be
discussed in closed session pursuant to NJSA 104-12B. And whereas the board of education intends to discuss matters as listed in the agenda. Whereas the length of the closed session is estimated to be 1 hour after which the public meeting of the
board shall reconvene and action and >> take no action. Okay. And take no action. Okay. ignore that in the agenda. >> Uh now there therefore be it resolved that the East Brunswick Board of Ed will recess into the closed session for only
the A4 said subjects and be it further resolved that the board of education hereby declares that its discussion of the A4 said subjects will be made public at a time when the public's interest in disclosure is greater than any privacy or governmental interest being protected from disclosure in accordance with the
open public meetings act. >> Do I have a motion? >> Second. Okay. >> Oh, to close. >> Okay. To close, you need to give me like a real agenda. >> It's not my fault. >> Okay. Motion to close.
>> Yeah, we did it. >> Oh, okay. >> All right. >> All in. >> All in favor? I >> opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries. Thank you everyone. Have a good evening.