##VIDEO ID:7WjvT_NsrxM## e that'll do it check check one two check check one two Che e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay so let's uh start the meeting um please stand black pledge alleg to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic stand one nation indivisible roll quote please yes Mr shei here Mr Vish Patel yes Miss White here miss Pang Mr Romano uh yes here I think yeah I'm here miss Ana Patel here Mr Lugo here Mr ronac Patel here Mr ero here we have a quorum opening statement yes in accordance with the open public meetings at 1975 c231 Sunshine Law the Edison Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by by having the the date time and place thereof posted on the board of education Administrative Office board copies of this notice were sent to the home News Tribune and the Star Ledger okay drelli strategic Plan update yeah thank you so much board president shei um yeah we have a actually a couple presentations uh that are uh at our uh Action meeting that's scheduled for Tuesday the first one will be um our strategic Plan update and the pillar that we'll be focused on is the portrait of The Graduate um you know that uh area really focuses on uh the skills the mindset uh and the capabilities of what um we believe is a well-rounded student uh and a product of the Edison Township Public Schools so we're really excited to hear um from uh Mr Cohen uh as well as Mr McGrath who co-chair that committee and the second part of that is going to be uh where the rubber meets the road and the reason why we are all here in that student recognition we celebrate the uh talents the accomplishments of our students um that are a result of the hard work um of them their parents our teachers as well as our administrators and all members of the organization that make this place uh one of the best school districts around so um looking forward to both of those yeah we too president comments so uh good evening everyone Welcome to our first meeting of the year uh it's an honor to have you here uh as we begin what I hope will be a productive and collaborative year for our students schools and our community we encourage your active participation whether through public comments volunteering or joining school's PTO your inv your involvement is vital to success of the district thank you for being here tonight let's get the agenda started Dr R great um so for the board um we have uh an agenda uh for our first uh Board of Education meeting um in relationship to action items as you can see from the administrative resolutions we have the second reading uh of our policies uh the first reading was conducted in December um all of these policies with the exception of the AI policy um are a result of the audit that was conducted I want to say it was January 2023 by Strauss Esme uh to ensure that all of our policies are up to date so um we have done a robust look at all of these uh we are almost at the finish line um and we are currently in the process of looking at dates for um policy committee meetings in the in the very near future to address those so um the second resolution is honoring the um individuals that donate their time on behalf of the uh Community here in Edison Township and that is our school board recognition we will be doing a a ceremony um uh at that time so we are looking forward to that the official recognition is located on the agenda and then we will have our student recognition resolution there will be a presentation and the actual resolution for adoption there as well um and last but not least in the administrative resolutions we have the approval of our December uh HIV report the next portion of that is our curriculum and instruction resolutions uh the first resolution uh is regarding field trips that are transpiring over the course of the next few months and the second resolution addresses the professional development uh for all staff members that are going on in the district um to fine-tune their craft and bring back great things that are going on um outside of Edison so that we can turn Kum and uh continue to improve our practice here and last but not least is um our special services resolutions uh out of District placements as well as um a contract rate for inhome therapy uh Professional Services um and that is the conclusion of my report for this evening Mr Shay thank you Dr AR ready Mr to yes the first item up that I have is your traditional uh monthly Financial reports and minutes including the board secretary's report um contract Awards kind of a skinnier month in terms of contracts we have um some larger ones going out uh for technology for JP for wiring and AP for the new edition which is exciting it's going to be coming online probably end of June um procurement uh we're uh renewing a competitive contract for our districtwide air filters facilities we have a change order but this is actually a really good one um we're receiving an $800,000 credit from our esip program we've done really well uh with the projects that are aligned with esip in terms of bidding uh so we were able to save some money so we're actually going to receive an $8,000 credit back to the district I'm sorry $800,000 my I'm a little under the weather today got a bad cold that's big difference but $800,000 is really a huge thing so that's that's that's great for us as a as a district um we're going to be applying for a couple of Grants um and then as of now there's uh no Transportation contracts as of yet that's it so uh Mr to can you tell us what we plan to do with that $800,000 sure uh uh since we have this large credit coming back to us we're going to use that to fund the uh Edison High School switch gear project I as you know I think I've I've talked about this before definitely in committees um the switch gear is is very much outdated there I believe it's from the 60s part of it's not really functioning well but we're going to be able to replace the entire switch gear package at Edison High School which is you know really um an exciting thing in terms of doing something good for the infrastructure of the building so if folks have concerns about uh you know air conditioning the the infrastructure over there this is the first step switch gear Addis on high okay Mr President yes that switch gear yes it's it's it's old and we're replacing it and yes it will help us in the infrastructure of that school absolutely so just to make sure that the public knows yeah that's why I ask him to we're working on that we've been working on it for a long time thank thankfully now it's it's coming to fruition thank you Mr Romano all right so next is board member comments while you started it okay you have anything else you want to say yes I do uh I am uh the superintendent Le on to the uh the library uh the new board members at the library uh they said that they are committed to not closing Clara Barton I hope they understand that uh Clara Barton library is valuable part of the library in our district uh the library in North Edison will be closing uh for major Construction in I believe the 28th of this month and the new temporary will be on Oak Tree Road across the street from the Edison family uh restaurant there's a a building there uh I believe there's I think it's 6,000 square ft that they're going to take and utilize now that project should last about 15 months so that's where the temporary library is going to be now what they're doing at the library is part of the building is separating from part of the building so they're going to replace this area uh they're doing major renovations to make it more more efficient so in other words we could put more projects more programs in that facility that's what if anybody's listening to what's going on that's what the money's for now there was a construction no excuse me there was an architectural firm that gave us bids and we found out that they weren't what they said they were so the fact of the matter is is that the numbers had to go back out now what makes it interesting is that the same architectural firm was used at another facility not the library the other facility was for turf fields and infrastructure upgrades that was $5 million there's change orders that have brought it up to six I'm sorry excuse me added 6.4 million more so when we talk about construction at the board of ed we are behind this we are watching every step that's going on the fact of the matter is is that we didn't we didn't drop the ball someone else did but you have my word that the people at the library especially the new trustees come out the other night and said we will not Clos the clar Barton Library I'm not saying about anybody else because if everybody remembers we fought hard to keep that library and some those people that are on the trustee board they were in lined with somebody else that wanted that building my name is Joe Romano and I responded to somebody that used the word anonymous I will not I will not use the word anonymous Joe Romano says that's not going to close so if you can listen to any of the other Library trustees you can reach out to them we will not I will not I will not stand for them closing to Clara Barton Library libraries are what our children use what we use as public they are a vital part of Education our students need the education that they get at the library so if anybody wants my name is not a Anonymous my name is Joe Romano and I stood up and said it will never happen thank you Mr she thank you Mr Rano any other board member comments anybody um I have some comments and I'll go back to my old way of before I asked make by comments I asked questions for Dr Adell so there were some concerns from parents about Vape detectors in our schools so the question is do we have Vape detectors in our schools yes the answer is yes we do have Vape detectors in our schools okay I know the answer I just wanted you to say yes we do yes we do we have the all all the bathrooms in in the uh in the high school and middle schools uh high schools currently right now middle schools we're actually looking at data to determine number one what's the Frequency how much how many Vapes are we taking off of students at that time is it a prevailing problem um and then once we kind of look at that we'll use the same approach that we did in those high schools as well we've seen great results at that time also so if it's necessary for the middle schools that's what we'll do as well thank you Dr so I just have uh some comments one is about the Education Foundation um a year ago more than a year ago when I was on the board this is something that uh um we want to get it set it up I'm very happy to announce that the Education Foundation has been set up uh Mr to is that correct that's correct so uh you will be hearing more uh from us with the Ed Foundation uh so it's coming uh the other thing is you know um we have nine board members uh we have our differences but let's remember we're here for the kids let's put our personal differences aside and work for the betterment of the students the community in our district uh the third is um people probably remember uh from last year cuz I remember uh the jmi construction uh bid is supposed to be open on 15th of uh this month and it's not open you guys it's not on the agenda because we had to make Amendment um not not jmi I'm sorry uhsh Marshall John Marshall I'm sorry John Marshall um we have to make some amendment to that and it's right now the target Daye is 22nd 22nd 22nd of January so uh can't wait for uh that uh bit opening and uh the other thing is jmi uh um it's supposed to be bit ready last January and it's still not ready so I hope I can see the architect at our next Finance facility meeting with the principal so we can eyon out all the differences and and get it going um there are some discussions um about the new bathroom policy in JP uh I totally understand where that's coming from and uh you know the school leadership should be commanded for their effort um let's give it a try and see how it works out but the concern is number of times that a students allow for the uh digital whole pass and the time for each whole pass so U there were suggestions about still using check in checkout method for the bathroom pass but not limiting the time and not limiting the number of of times in a day so let's see if the current policy works well if not you know maybe we can look into that um those are some of the concerns from the uh parents next is we're can to open up for uh public comments but before uh the public comments um I just want to say that uh we uh we're going to keep the policy of six minutes and I'm not going to stop you when the clock hits 6 minutes I'm going to point the clock and please wrap it up okay I give you the respect and please give us the respect to try to wrap it up I'm not going to interrupt you say hey time is up and also I'm going give you the rebuttal okay I'll give you a three minute rebuttal that we have been practiced in the in the past so you have six minutes and three minute rebuttal all right with that said uh if no more board member comments we're going to open for motion for oh we don't need motion okay so we're open motion huh we should have a motion we should have a motion okay can we have a motion for public comments motion okay uh Mr Patel and the Mr Eric all in favor okay now the podum is yours public comments who is going to be the first one for the 2025 to stand over there there you go there you go good evening Anthony Mara five coletto Court in Edison Happy New Year to everyone I'm here again to speak about policy 5756 the policy is wrong the policy is evil it does harm to our children if the division of child protection permanency were operating as they should they would call it child abuse but unfortunately they too have succumbed to our society's bent toward the LGBT lgbtq agenda it needs to be wiped out um Mr X you have told me to my face that you would vote to abolish this policy I'm going to hold you to your word vote to abolish this policy join Miss Pang Mr Risha Patel M Anana Patel who voted at the I think it was the September October meeting which ero when it was to abolish this policy it was the October October October one to have a policy like this that allows children these are these are children we're the we're the grownup we're supposed to be Educators we're allowing them to make decisions about life altering matters there's an administrative regulation here uh New Jersey administrative code 88 27- 2.6 it says quote no person shall perform any bodypiercing procedure upon a person under 18 years of age without the presence written consent and proper identification of a parent or legal guardian no person shall perform genitalia piercing upon a person under 18 years of age regardless of parental consent yet we can allow a student to say I'm going to change my gender from boy to girl girl to boy and mutilate my body and take uh hormon blockers and not even tell Mom and Dad come on come on how many parents here would like to have that done to them your son or daughter goes to school and says you know what I think I want to change my gender from boy to girl girl to boy and the school says no we're not going to tell you we're going to keep you in the dark if this doesn't trouble you I respectful you need to rethink why you're on the board excuse me the Lord Jesus Christ gave us a rule it's called the Golden Rule do unto others as you would have them do unto you you can't argue with this policy you can't OB with this rule excuse me you can't argue with that who doesn't want to practice that who doesn't want to work with people who say I want to treat you the way I to be want I want to be treated so do you want to be treated by being kept in the dark by not being told about what's happening with your child in school policy specifically said 5756 specifically says there's no affirmative Duty for any School District staff member to notify students parent of the student's gender identity or expression this needs to be this needs to be wiped out there's another rule law in the Bible it's called the fifth commandment honor your mom and your dad are we honoring mom and dad by keeping them in the dark no we are not if you're a parent do you feel honored if you're son or daughter decides to change from boy to girl girl to boy and the Edison school system says no we're not going to tell you some have said that if policy 5756 is wiped out it's a violation of New Jersey law against discrimination it is not it is not I challenge the board attorney to mount an argument that says it is it is not what kind of a policy what what kind of violation is it where we have a policy that that says we want the child to be the the gender he or she was born to so that he or she can reproduce in the usual way because a student change gender it's going to have a hard time reproducing in the usual way where the risk of suicide increases we all want suicide to be wiped out or as diminished as possible so the policy that replaces 5756 should be a policy that says we want our children to grow up as they were born we want them to be able to have children that student who says I'm going to change my gender 10 years down the line you think he might regret that decision what are we going to say to him well we give you your choice we let you exercise your free will why didn't you protect me why didn't you I was a kid in school and I had these procedures done and you as the grown-ups and the Board of Ed did nothing to stop it come on I implore you to abolish 5756 one last matter Mr lug you voted to abolish it and change your mind at a subsequent meeting you have convictions against it it's obviously you you recognize it is wrong keep your conviction abolishes policy 5756 and I thank you for your time thank you who's next Mrs come good evening Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle I always start my year off each time to remind um each and every board member that you've been elected to be board members and your name your main job is to make sure that the district is run well and not run by you that you have your specific jobs to do and the one main job has been taken care of until 2029 so everything else goes by the administration and you're there to see that the administration is doing their job well um I know sometimes uh in the past uh board members have gotten involved because people run to them with concerns and it's just human nature that you want to get involved in help but the best way to help is to let the administration know and have them do their job that's what they get the big bucks for so I need to remind everybody to yearly remember that and don't overstep because you don't get paid your salary is the least it could ever be uh number two is at this time of year the committee assignments have been uh given out I haven't seen them yet on the website are they actually put out on the website they are there okay so I'll have to look for them okay um and and with a new year are we going to be given our monthly updates as to uh all the construction that's going on uh luckily um I have been invited as a a formal nosy Board of Education member to see the final uh workings of uh we saw woodo Wilson and we saw John Adams uh gymnasiums and we saw um the Edison Success Academy so it it's fabulous and I'm proud of that but I know there's a lot more going on so I'm uh asking that um updates be given on each of the uh construction sites in the district I do drive by uh JP Stevens and it seems like it's on its way and it's something well needed even though we still have the driveway so as big as the classrooms can be and room for the students getting in there has still not been uh taken care of uh the next thing is I I had asked about this quite a while ago about the use of cell phones in the schools and I had asked if any discussion had taken place yet and at that time I was told no but um listening to govern Governor Murphy the other day uh he's trying to push that something be done regarding cell phones in the schools and they did um interview view a couple of schools and what they're doing to help that move forward so I'm wondering if the conversation has come up yet regarding that uh and the last thing is policy 5756 I I still stand by not knowing the particulars um that Mr Mara speaks about regarding the policy and as a member of the human Relations Committee in town I have invited um um Dr aldarelli to come and speak about the particulars of the uh policy itself so this way more people uh would be educated as to the actual facts of the uh policy so once we get a a date uh in 2025 uh I'll let you know and that's about it happy New Year and hopefully this will be a good and uh positive New Year thank you thank you so to answer your PO the question about the Committees it's online it's been online since Friday uh as far as cell phone uh I have Dr already answer that question yes we do we do have a policy in relationship to cell phone use right obviously not utilized um during instructional times unless it's utilized as an instructional tool right if if uh but teachers usually don't Grant permission in relationship to that um our policy does dictate um after school activities non-instructional components that they're able to use the governor's uh piece came out which always sparked conversation in relationship to that right um you know unfortunately cell phone use does sometimes lead to um students interacting in you know uh a non- prosocial manner right um and you know without supervision during those time frames you know could lead to other incidences right of of discipline and things along those lines um it's actually a topic of discussion that I'm going to be bringing up I have a um uh student advisory Council entitled sages I'm actually going to talk about it with students um what are their thoughts in relationship to it is a distraction during the day how do you utilize them responsibly um we're also going to talk have that conversation with teachers too right to see if it is something that's prevalent in those classrooms um is it a distraction how it's utilized as well as administrators so um I do think our building things have a good handle on its use currently right now we really don't see too many issues in relationship to inappropriate cell phone use usually after school act after school those are that's when things get a little you know uh it's areas that we need to address um but our policy kind of lays out the utili utilization of that thank you anybody else yes Anthony Damron 25 Wy um I guess my question is um does the district do anything for uh the inauguration in terms of the students witnessing that um just at a you know as a historical perspective um you know to me it's a it's a teachable moment there um you know we have a new president being sworn in to forget about the politics of it just that goes for any president going forward so I was just wondering if the uh they witness that at the younger levels or any level just curious that's it yeah yes I mean so um the inauguration is set for Monday so obviously wouldn't be a live televised event um but it's definitely covered in in Civic classes and social studies right as um a part of the democratic process a part of a peaceful transition I would imagine that yeah I would yeah that's okay that's okay but listen I mean we can even talk about past um uh uh past inaugurations as well too any opportunity um to highlight things not only that are in our constitution but um you know the peaceful transition of power is something that's um that America Prides themselves on teachers use that as a teachable teachable moment um in all aspects of the grade level and when it's appropriate to fit into the curriculum so that's def definitely done thank you anybody else right good evening everybody Brian Rivera 98 Stony Road um bear with me I had a lot of thoughts so I actually wrote them down so let me begin first of all I want to say good evening I want to hope everyone is doing well I am here to State some concerns regarding some of the recent committee assignments uh something that I brought up last last time we were here I'm going to focus specifically on finance and Facilities committee today um the individuals appoint to this committee were Jerry visel ronac and Ralph um notably the three uh these three members actually ran a campaign together and then vual was actually a big supporter of that campaign except for Ralph Ralph I could send you that that little Facebook post if you want to see that again but I guess you're not in the Inner Circle but I I did want to state that but my primary concern is the lack of uh continuity on some of these committees um as no members from the previous year's finance and Facilities committee were even reappointed or even put back on and the absence of institutional memory troubles me um because it R it risks losing critical knowledge and insights from prior discussions um allow me to provide an example one of the examples was the JP Stevens expansion um during the project uh committee members changed Midway through the planning process as a result the project was rushed leading to significant oversights such as the plumbing issue we forgot to add Plumbing into the new addition so now we can't put uh wet Labs there now I find that an issue because if people were still in that committee they could have had those conversations they could have reminded individuals saying Hey listen we had this discussion we forgot we didn't implement this for this particular reason so we needed to have that discussion now but now we have an addition that we don't have no wet labs in um so I I have a concern with that uh so um the error means that none of these new rooms can function as wet Labs uh a costly oversight that could have been avoided uh had been a consistent representation on the committee um this was also issue that was raised by a new bommer Chris at the time where he had a conversation with the superintendent about this where Chris actually wanted to take it back to the drawing board and fix it but it was just too costly to do so we're already in the process process Wheels were in motion so we stuck with the plan I believe Eddie was making uh a suggestion where we could have classrooms there and continue lab somewhere else if I remember the conversation correctly also I would like to remind the board and its members and the members of the public particularly new board members because you're you're new to the game um that we have the fiduciary duty to act as the best interest for the community um not personal interests um and not for any particular board member or their faction and with that said you know I tried to remain quiet the last two days and and be polite and let the festivities happen but now I'm going to raise some of the concerns that I have um and I could say it now because it's public knowledge I said I I also have to address a serious matter involving uh Mr vop Patel uh which though initially it was private but it became public when Mr Patel decided to file a complaint against the Board of Education Mr Patel sued the board after rightfully refused to cover his personal legal fees fees that he incur due to his own actions and in actions as a board member despite multiple requests the board cont consistently rejected Mr Patel's demands to use public funds for what we believe were inappropriate expenses to provide further context Mr Patel hired a personal attorney to represent him knowing full well that the board had no obligation to cover these expenses when the board stood firm in its refusal Mr Patel escalated the matter by filing a lawsuit against the Board of Education following the board election with allies now on the board Mr Patel voluntarily dismissed this complaint suddenly it went away however dismissal was made without prejudice which means that he has the right to uh refile this lawsuit at any time that he wants to for the board and the Public's awareness board members who sue the board cannot remain on the board which raises concerns about Mr Patel's motivations instead of bearing his legal cost he dismissed the lawsuit to maintain his position potentially with the hope that the newly configured board would act in his favor and pay him that $115,000 it is deeply concerning that the board not only elected him as the vice president well I'm still laughing to this day but also appointed him as the finance chair committee a position that demands the highest level of integrity and impartiality given M pel's history of disregarding board policies and legal advice the appointment represent a clear conflict of interest and jeopardizes the district's fiscal responsibility I strongly ask the ask the board to reconsider this committee appointments and uphold the previous board's position of refusing to allocate public funds for personal legal expenses is imperative that the taxpayer's money is used responsib responsibly transparently ensuring decisions are made for the best interest of our our community um I thank you for your time and your attention regards that matter um and thank you very much thank you I don't you want to say a couple words about that just uh the matter uh at hand has been dismissed there is no complaint uh currently uh there's no open litigation the issue of whether or not not um a board member who files suit against the board and I'm not going to go into a bunch of legal advice but there are exceptions to a board member uh if they file suit uh against the board they are allowed to remain on the board there are exceptions to that rule um there was no challenge at all on this matter there is no case in controversy presently uh and there's nothing before this board thank you anybody else okay go ahead I said you have three minutes thank you so basically I just want to see where this board is going are we going we don't have any other first timers excuse me any first timers before okay no go ahead thank you Mr sh I appreciate it so I just want to make sure because previously we've had this discussion twice we shouldn't be using taxpayers money to pay personal expenses and I want to make sure that this board is aware that the previous board did not like this and I'm hoping now that the board has changed the decision Still Remains the Same I'm really concerned that suddenly the board changes and suddenly there's a resolution or there's a check sent out there and somebody missed it I wanted to be aware uh with the superintendent I want to let the business administrator Mr she has presid that if this comes up the public should know that this is coming up it shouldn't be hidden or some slick thing going on cuz there's I've seen a lot of slick things in the past and now I have a couple of minutes though now I'm going to change the subject to a little lighter thing um first of all only rebuttal to rebuttal it's only rebuttal to what you no new topic so you know this come on well I was just going to say if 5657 that's the only can I add that to the rebuttal no that's that's a separate issue you can come next time I just think the attorney should give it's a rebuttal you know that you're you're administrator you know what rebuttal is okay I I don't I don't need it I don't need to educate you on that so uh Mr person can I address you you don't need address you don't you don't need to address if you don't want to so any other comments from the public okay can I have a motion to close public comments close public comments Mr ero second Mr V you missed it I I was bu I was I was trying to I was trying to get my water bottle off can pay attention pay attention okay all right don't play on the cell phone all right uh so um uh all in favor all okay now we going to Jour to the privilege session uh so in accordance with the njsa section 104-112 the Edison Township Board of Education adjures to confidential session for the purpose of discussion the following um confidential personnel and board matters pending litigation student matters legal matters and hip appeal can I have a motion to adjourn to privilege session Jerry me okay all right okay all right I have to give it to you okay and Mrs White all right so all in favor I I okay we don't plan to uh come out uh after this so I'll see you guys next Tuesday thank you we'll come out to e