##VIDEO ID:PoJUcJuQJjw## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e yep yep everyone could take your seats please we're going to get started thank you I'd like to call this meeting to order the mission of the freeh hole Township School District is to honor and support every learner every day on the journey to become curious and engaged members of a diverse Global Community a notice listing the time date and place of this meeting was posted on the public bulletin board of all free old Township Schools on the entrance door to the administrative offices of the board of education on the district website at the office of the pre-old Township Clerk and published in the Asbury Park Press on January 11th 2025 and sent to the Star Ledger on January 8th 2025 please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to FL of the United States of America and to the Republic it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you could I get a roll call Mr Dita Mrs bran I apologize Mrs Crosby here see what happens your person M uh Dr Casey Mr gulo M Bert here M O Sullivan Mrs feler Mr Williams here Mr amaroso here thank you can I get a motion for the approval of the January 7th 2025 special meeting minutes thank you all those in favor say I any opposed any absentees that day I don't think so can I get a motion for the approval of the January 7th executive session minutes second those in favor say I I think two abstention thank you excellent okay president's remarks I'd like to welcome everyone here this is one of our most exciting board meetings of the year we look forward to it and I came a little bit early today and I saw in front of my desk the most kindhearted letter I I've been here 14 years I've never seen such an outpour of support from the students we got handwritten notes thanking the board of education for volunteering and all the time it really moved me and I have a pile here I don't know if every board member got the entire pile yeah there's so many here I read through every one of them and I want to thank all the staff and the students that colored these in and and all the kind words that were in them we even have some posters up here so thank you very much to all the the students that created these notes I'd also like to say that today we're we're going to be welcoming our um middle school debate team from Baro and we're going to have our governor educator of the Year award and our support staff of the Year award which we always look forward to every year and I'll sneak in one last remark before I turn it over to Mr Dix I want to remind everyone that we're going to have two opportunities um for our March 11th ref referendum um these are information sessions the first one's going to be in person on Thursday January 30th at the Ericson school 6:00 p.m to 8:00 pm. and the second one is going to be a virtual one and there will be a zoom link on our website and that's going to be February 20th at 6m so if you want to learn more about our upcoming March 11th referendum um please if you can attend one of those getting educated about what we're doing and why we're doing it I think will go a long way to make you feel comfortable when you're voting and with that I'm going to turn it over to Mr dickstein thank you uh January is board recognition month uh the cards that you see from our students is one way that as a District staff and students we express our appreciation for all that our uh board members do and also I think you moved them all but um also as a token of our appreciation we have uh tote bag with our logo on it U Mike's favorite Koopa is uh on there with fre Township schools for our board members to use so on behalf of the staff and students at Freehold Township thank you for your service um your salaries you'll have a 2% increase on zero so that um in recognition but we do appreciate your support and your service to our district and our community thank [Applause] you there have been some questions or concerns that have been uh asked and raised so I thought I'd you uh use this time during administrative report to address them uh there have been some questions from our community members regarding uh an executive order um and potentially ice agents uh coming to schools to remove students um it has been we've received guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education um if and when anybody shows up they are not given access and this is um while it's guidance specific to this it's guidance all the time um if anybody shows up to the school from that organization or any organization typically they are not granted access to the school um if somebody shows up and has an order executed by a judge so it's signed the building principal will contact my office I will contact our board attorney who will advise whether that is authentic and genuine and we'll go from there but I want to assure our community that we will our first step is that nobody which is our practice and our schools um and upon I don't want this impression that the bell rings and they identify themselves from whatever department and walk into our school our visitor procedures are the same all the time they will not be granted access until if and when a order signed by a judge is presented and that authenticity of that order is confirmed by our board attorney so I want to assure the community and our staff of that this evening is our recognition of our governor teacher educator of the year and support staff of the Year Award winners we are so fortunate in this town being a superintendent and also a parent of children who have had such wonderful teachers they as they've gone through this District we are lucky to have the most outstanding staff I think in New Jersey um I can be biased but that's my belief um it is an honor to be recognized as a governor educator being among the among the best as colleagues um our support staff has an unwavering commitment to supporting our staff and our students in the classrooms and again second to none and probably the best in the state of New Jersey so this evening we're taking the opportunity to recognize our uh 2425 Governor educator of the year and support staff of the Year support staff of the year will go first and there'll be a group picture Governor educator of the year I had ankle surgery and I wasn't able to visit the schools so we're doing our pictures this evening and then they'll be shared with our governor Educators uh one copy for the school and one copy for their classroom we are going to start this evening um with some student recognition we have and going come up front um we have the Baro middle school debate team and for that recognition I'd like to invite up Dr curus and Mrs Layman and the adviser of the baralo middle school debate team Mr tany thank you thank you so much um all right I I'll make it quick a lot of people here um there are on December 5th uh the Baro debate team went to Christian Brothers Academy for the annual Middle School model un that is the Premier model un event in Central Jersey CBA does a wonderful job just like they do with everything uh there were nine n committees uh we brought about 10 students um and out of those nine committees three of our students placed either first or second um in the entire committee which is amazing because these committees consist of about 30 students each um so the students who receive best delegate uh best delegate means that they were the top student outstanding delegate means they were the number two student on a delegation of about 30 students um model un is inaction everything that social studies is about um if if you don't know a whole lot about the UN it came together 1945 right after World War II um according to um the Secretary General of the UN in the end this is a quote from the Secretary General in the end it comes down to values we want to a world where our CH we want a world our children inherit to be defined by the values enshrined in the UN Charter peace Justice respect human rights tolerance solidarity that is why we focus so much on critical thinking and social studies um these three students um absolutely blew me away uh they were incredible all in their own ways um the first student uh that I'd like to bring up is Sir Downey sersa okay um so sersa Downey uh was awarded the gav for best position paper um uh for her portrayal as Louisiana State University uh in the NCA name image likeness category uh students write position papers which is a weeks long process of research and problem solving um sersa wrote an incredible paper uh and it was recognized as the best paper again on a committee of 30 students so cersa couldn't be here tonight but um um Wyatt Rea uh why if you could come up please [Applause] um so Wyatt was outstanding delegate uh on uh for his portrayal uh in the US Constitutional Convention committee uh of you're very welcome uh of the very famous William F from Georgia how many people have heard of William Fu so uh so whyatt really had you know he was going up against people playing Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson and why it really really had to do deep research to find out about this person um and why it did an incredible job outstanding delegate uh on his committee uh [Applause] uh why okay ah okay uh and lastly I know we have a big night um miles imrey miles if you would come up please so uh miles was uh judge best delegate which is the top delegate again out of a group of about 30 every year CBA does a fun and really creative um Committee in addition to all the very very serious committees that that concern things like Ai and War in Yemen and Ukraine and stuff like that Miles was on a pretend committee that took place in the Hogwarts universe and this was the spot that everybody was like Mr tany please can I have this one if you don't know miles he's also a very very talented actor who will be featured in Shrek later this year uh and Miles uh played the bad guy Lucius Malfoy and did a wonderful job so uh let's hear from miles e you know when you forget I just remembered how we actually do Governor teacher and support staff we do it by school not by group anymore for support staff I just remembered that sorry so we're going to start this evening with Baro we're going to ask our uh School administrators Dr hurus and Mrs Layman to join us this evening for our support staff of the Year Award winner our support staff of the award winner for barcalo is Colin Monahan representing Colin this evening are his parents Suzanne and Patrick Monahan hello my name is Suzanne Manan and I'm col manan's mom on behalf of Colin his father Patrick his sister Amanda his brother-in-law Chase his two adorable nephews he's got two of them now we would like to thank Mr dixin Dr brethower Mrs Montgomery the board the staff and students and families of baralo for the recognition and of this honor tonight I would be remiss if I did not also thank Tom Smith and Kathleen Rosen who hired Colin and allowed him to work with his incredible staff and students Colin enjoyed working with the students in the classroom and the student athletes in the track and field and wrestling he learned a great deal from the staff he worked with Mr erso Mrs Mr reventos Miss McGowan Miss West and Mr Santi enabling him to assist the students in many ways he' also like to thank the incredible Tas who are not only a great resource but a great group of friends thank you so very much for honoring him tonight we appreciate it our barcalo governor Ed educator of the Year Award winner for this uh school year is Christy reventos she brought her own fan club to this evening for e next we'll be recognizing our award winners from Lura Donovan school we'd like to invite up our administrators from Laur Donovan Jen Ben Brook and Kathleen Rosen and we'll start with our support staff of the Year Award winner Deanna Dy and our governor educator of the Year Award winner for Laura Donovan school Sarah D'Angelo e [Applause] next we'll be recognizing our support staff of the Year Award winner for central office and Technology Clint [Applause] Costa e next we recognizing our support staff of the Year Award winner for transportation I'd like to invite up our Transportation uh administrators I think both of you are here right see you back there Angie and Angela and our transportation support staff of the Year Award winner is Valentina moffler e next we'll recognize our award winners from Applegate school I'd like to invite up our administrators Mr Mr milway and Mulo we'll start with our support staff of the Year Award winner Lori Silverman that's what happened last I don't know it worked the first time we're doing the pictures at the board meeting so I'd like to recognize our governor educator of the Year Award winner for Applegate School Leah pner next recognize our award winners for Eisenhower Middle School I'd like to invite up Miss Gambino and Mr mcmanis we'll start with our support staff of the Year Award winner for Eisenhower Mike Manning and our governor educ governor educator of the Year Award winner for Eisenhower Middle School Scott Goldstein e [Applause] next we'll be recognizing our award winners for the Early Childhood Learning Center I'd like to invite our principal Lura CES Leon we'll start with our support staff of the Year Award winner Patricia Milo and our governor educator of the Year Award winner for EC is Shannon Duffy e next we'll be recognizing our award winners from the ktina school I'd like to invite up principal Tracy Shaw and Mrs Fern we'll start with our support staff of the Year Award winner chrisa Esposito and our governor educator of the Year Award winner for ktina school is Tiffany Killian e next we'll be recognizing our award winners from the Ericson school we'd like to invite up principal Kathy Armen and supervisor Daniel MH for Ericson school the support staff of the Year Award winner is Devin aquaviva and our governor educator for Ericson school Sabrina larsy [Applause] I have PTSD from the boot [Applause] next we'll recognize our award winners for West Freehold school I'd like to invite up principal Tara lechner and supervisor Melissa Danbury we'll start with our support staff of the Year Award winner Debbie reri our governor educator of the year for westre old school Katie lowski e [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I'm doing the make sure I didn't miss any again we are so blessed in freeold Township to be among some of the best Educators in the state of New Jersey but let's take a moment to give another round of applause to those that have been recognized this year of the best of the best and uh on behalf of the Board of Education I know I speak for everyone here we are so proud of you and in particular this year was special because I got to go in the Teachers Lounge this year we couldn't find Scott and someone said oh he's eating lunch and we're like are we allowed in there it was great we really love that and you got off because everyone's like oh my hair my clothes we're like don't worry Neil's leg is out you can get all dressed up and you can get your picture taken so maybe this is a trend it might be a trend even though we'll still surprise you we will allow maybe the pictures at the board meeting so with again congratulations oh and one more thing we're going to take a 10-minute recess so there's some coffee and cookies in the back thank you for 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 one more thing for uh two more things for administrative report first um we'll be sharing soon we're waiting for the public relations materials to come and when those materials come we'll be um inviting uh board members to represent at those various functions to sit at a table and be uh information session for anybody that has questions about the referendum um when those public relations materials come in um our bullying investigation report since the last meeting there were two incidents of harassment intimidation and bullying and both were founded can you can you hear me uh I is this an appropriate time I have a question about that aspect just do we have an update on the difference from last year like if it's up or down the numbers of of hibs reports I don't know if I have that with me but that is the attachment of cumulative oh no cumulative for the year I don't have that information with me I'd have to look and honestly it's probably better to compare at the end of the year for a year total because there's Rises and Falls this is very I'm proud that this is particularly low um so it's probably better to do a comparison at the end of the year last year was lower than the year prior okay um so if you remind me when we get to June I'll have that report ready for uh to share thank you all right I will do the uh certification for November and December by Robert Dita the school business administrator /bo secretary certifies that as of November 30th and December 31st 2024 no line item has been overexpanded in violation of njac 6A 23A d610 C3 and that sufficient funds are available to meet the district's Financial Obligations for the remainder of the Year thank you Bob this is the first opportunity for public participation if anyone wishes to address the board please write your name and address on the signin sheet and state your name for for the record statements are limited to 3 minutes and should not be abusive obscene or defamatory in nature seeing none we will go to the Personnel policy Communications committee Mrs spieler you're just GNA read it number do you want me to it to you so we have uh no glasses over here so we're just um you could do it does it if carella can't read she can't see without her glasses so um I'm sitting with the light a thank you I'll take this one good evening now that we had that out of the way uh the Personnel committee did not meet as per uh Dr D uh and I'd like to move the following items on the list retirement number number two as listed resignation as listed I like the move position control as listed I like the list new employment as listed number six establish thought date as listed number seven adjust start date is listed number eight adjust start date salary as listed number nine change of assignment salary adjustment as listed 10 leave of absence as listed 11 uh unpaid days as listed 12 stien as listed 13 District honoraria as listed 14 PTO H honoraria as listed 15 PTO honorarium update 16 additional compensation safety care training is listed 17 would be District mentors as listed 18 certified substitutes as listed 19 non-certified substitutes as listed 20 affirm bullying investigation findings as listed student teacher practicum observation placement as listed 22 student teacher practicum observation placement update as listed 23 affiliate agreements ke Kane University as [Music] listed s thank you do we have a second okay thank you questions or discussion seeing none roll call Mrs bran Dr Casey no no yes or no okay M Crosby M rojulo yes Mrs Lambert yes m Mr Williams M Sullivan yes Mr Oso yes thank you curriculum committee Mrs Bran hello okay uh so the curriculum committee did meet this evening we were joined by with uh we met with rebec with Miss Rebecca Montgomery Neil dixin joined us for some time uh the members there were Emily Crosby and Elena OS Sullivan we discussed the items on the agenda and we discussed uh we discussed board Norms documents which went over the Norms that board members are expected in addition we well I'd like to mention at this time that we had a change in the calendar if anybody was not aware uh Columbus Day and Veterans Day was added to the draft calendar that we that's on the list will come to that also the language instruction education program has been approved by the New Jersey Department of Education it was reviewed and approved our district is going from uh 2024 to 2027 it only took them six months to do so it was very good and uh I ready which is very exciting a ton of training for teachers happened in the early part of the of the 24 September the fall it uh highlights if we recall diagnostics for students and it Tail as instructions for each student we're expecting good results and we're very hopeful and positive that we'll be able to uh improve on them our uh in February February 3rd through the 14th is going to be our second test period teachers will be trained in I on February 14th with a because there'll be an early release day for for professional development and we'll be sharing I ready instruction data with the teachers and administrations also uh we spoke about half days that would would just that uh during the calendar coming up in January January 14th the foundations which is the Wilson language foundation training program for K and first grade is being is uh will be held along with third to fifth grade and along with middle school department meetings and prek early literacy on February 14th as I mentioned for the I growth data analysis will be held and for for grades K through 8 and more prek Linker training is going on that day as well March 12th more foundation training for grades K and first grade then going through the curriculum I'd like to move number two the committee meeting number three course reimbursement as listed number four recent course reimbursement as listed number five home instruction as listed number six 2025 through 2 2026 school calendar as listed number seven adoption of the Wilson language foundations and that's it thank you thank you do we have a second discussion and questions for curriculum I have a question you you added Columbus Day and Veterans St in the calendar I think it was just a name update those days were only that defition of those days wasay are there definition of the days world day off was there right explanation of why the day off is done add thank you do we have any other questions for curriculum all those in favor say I I any opposed thank you finance facilities and transportation Mrs Lambert is this on the finance facilities and transportation meeting met this evening present were Mr D um Mr Amoroso Mr gulo myself and um's Ally and Miss Williams um Mr dixy met us uh Midway through the meeting as well we did discussed the following items um change to the custodial sub rate uh to make ourselves more competitive uh contractor wanted to withdraw a bid for the electrical work at ddees we discussed the ramifications of that withdrawal and moving forward on that um a request by a staff member to consider Grace's law which provides uh hearing aids for children 15 and under we are a self-insured district so we do not uh we are not mandated to follow the law we will look into the further um what that is and how that might work if at all possible we discussed a transportation issue and after determining that our transportation software was accurate in terms of the mileage um we determined that a School Bus according to our standards would not be appropriate at this time we discussed the outside lighting at the JJC building um which is an ongoing uh issue and that's to be determined we discussed all the budget transfers on the agenda this evening there are some related to Tas being transferred as to one to ones and obviously all the admin cap transfers that had to take place so if anyone has specific questions on any of the transfers feel free to ask and um an ongoing uh facility issue at ddes which will be handled over spring break um with that said the superintendent recommends that the board approve the following items which I'd like to move right now secretary and treasurer's report uh for the months of November and December 2024 and Mr DEA certification that we have sufficient funds to meet the financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year number four bills and claims in the amount of 5,1 157,000 180 approved by oh Mr amaroso uh travel and related expenses for all the staff people as listed number six all the transfers as listed number seven ratification of the specific transfer listed item number eight donations um we'd like to thank adult and pediatric dental studio the Lord Donan PTO carpets to go office furniture and Alexander exteriors who were more than generous in donating items to um the West Freehold school um and the Laura Donovan school item number nine PTO honoraria for West free old school is listed item 10 PTO honoraria update for Eisenhower as listed 11 acceptance of the bids for project 23 k001 dear rebid the electrical upgrades at the Eisenhower Middle School 12 approval of the award of bid for project 23 k001 rebid electrical upgrades at the Eisenhower Middle School item 13 withdrawal from cap Reserve account as listed for $685,000 item 14 acceptance and approval of the RFP for the Wilson foundation's training and the corresponding materials for the 2024 2025 uh school year as listed item 15 acceptance of the 2023 2024 annual comprehensive financial report as listed item 16 commission for the blind contracts 17 approval for the Consultants as listed item number 18 approval for the specialized evaluations and services as listed 19 approval for the specialized evaluations and services updated as listed item number 20 idea basic and preschool fiscal year 2025 Grant update as listed 21 fiscal year 2025 ES CA Grant application update as listed and uh that is it 22 22 wait I missed 22 sorry oh approval to withdraw funds from the maintenance Reserve as listed thank you Mrs Lamer do we have a second do we have questions for finance yese Mike I I just want to request that um I get a copy of the detailed uh budget for the referendum I haven't seen that yet so I'd like to to have that so we you and I are in an email exchange I said we're g to try to accept the meeting with yourself myself and crwby one time to go through that and I don't recall getting a response back and back time if I missed I apologize that's right I just I wanted to see it in advance so I had time to to look at it before I meeting right and I did say if you look at the website the start and then we have a discussion about yes and I I did thank you Jeff Jeff I have two things number one uh well not number one but I do want to reference number 20 on the agenda the Ida basic and preschool uh fiscal year 2025 Grant I think it's very important and I'm glad we were able to approve that considering uh that was on the list of some of the money that was not going to be released so I was glad we were able to get out of Washington I should say that we were able to get that through on this agenda uh if anyone doesn't know our state receives roughly $400 million in Ida money from the federal government that was on a temporary host hold today but thank God a judge was able to uh make sure that those holds did not take place also I'm curious and I guess maybe it lines up with Todd's question a little bit is what exactly is our strategy for getting the referendum to pass um I mean I know there's been a couple meetings with some PTO there's absolutely no Absol Ely no social media Presence at all I know we paid a PR firm in excess of $80,000 there's some stuff on our website which doesn't look like $80,000 worth of work to me I'm I'm just curious uh what exactly the the strategy is here because doesn't seem like a winning strategy to me right now well I'm sorry you feel that way we have been at every uh school's faculty meeting we concluded today with the um Donovan and eclc so it's been presented at every faculty meeting uh the PTO that we have left I believe are also Donovan and eclc uh which we'll be presenting at so we've covered every PTO and every staff to educate them there is constant communication so all of the communication that comes out the website that's been created postcards that are coming uh Flyers that are coming have all been created by the pr firm I disagree with you that website is actually full of information that's important and we have a community Community forums coming both of which they planned and scripted so it's actually been a great deal of work that our PR firm has done Bob and I get emails multiple times a day uh communicating while we don't have a social media presence as a district uh we don't have somebody who we employ to do that work our buildings have um web Masters and also our principles some staff in the building have social media and they have newsletters in which they've been commun communicating information about the referendum as it's um and they'll continue to do that over time additionally um we our Communications committee has recommended and we've pursued going into two Senior Communities and presenting at the senior center Mr Dita and Mr Amoroso presented to Our Town Council so there's actually been a lot of work that's done the community forum is really the initial opportunity to be in front of our community we're doing two of those one in person and um we really have some time so the Publications that are being done and are coming out will be out in the month of February can I make a suggestion so since we do have PE members of this board that do have a social media presence would it be wise to get talking points to the board members that we could utilize um you know because a lot I mean the some what I have seen on social media regarding the referendum has been misinformation um well what we feel is the only response from anyone would be to steer them to the website we wouldn't be engaging anyone in conversation on social media if you see any negativity on social media the best response is please visit this website for the facts and that steer that person to the facts but our the entire committee that's working on the referendum and the pr firm felt that you don't want to engage in social media that was the consensus that I heard yes and then if when we are informed of information that's on social media that's either an inquiry or misinformation we've asked that it be sent to us so that it can be added to the frequently asked questions page on the district website that's how we've been populating that what methodology was used to get what um plan or what methodology was used to get information about the public session to people who do not have students in our schools they did a press release so it was in the patch uh Asbury Park Press the problem is they're all online I know and what about the people who are not online they'll bear postcard well we don't have the Flyers yet we'll have oh we did print we printed Flyers that one of our Township committee people took with them to put in the community so at Town Hall and at the senior center um the bulletin board the bulletin board in town hall and the postcard will be coming out which we'll have the February 20th date on it I believe I'd have to double check but the February 20th is date is virtual the people I'm trying to gather are not people who are going to attend a virtual meeting but I suggest having a second inperson meeting because the postcards coming out too late to get to those people that's all yeah we're using our seniors on our committee to get the information out okay and the senior center um and the press releases are the only way to reach and we did include today and our lot of that went home to please notify our um you know your neighbors or anybody else who may be interested which we all have been doing I'm saying when I'm out there talking to people there's a whole population of people who are still very unaware and it's concerning to me there were in uh there's also a suggestion that we're following up on although it won't be in time for other sources of getting the information out okay for like U um with local partnering with local businesses but that just came at the end of last week okay thank you yes it's just like anything else the program is being rolled out yes we did hire someone because we needed professional help to get the bond approved and they're working diligently with the committee to roll out uh the process of informing people and I think it's going along quite well no we we we are listening and that's that's good feedback we have to make sure everybody is getting the information they need the key thing about the referendum is making sure that people are educated doesn't mean everyone is going to vote Yes just because they get an education but the important thing is to understand what is being done how much money is being spent what it's being spent on so the committee has spent a lot of time to put together the information in a way that we call it educating the voter to know what is going to happen and that is an ongoing effort um we also have someone in each senior community that's attending and they are disseminating information because we know those are people that to Michelle's point that probably would not be able to get this information um so it's going to be ramped up up I mean the we made a production video that they've just finished the cut on and they were making several versions of it there's a long version of the video and then there's some short clips of the video and in the video they're showing the Pod area so visually when you look at the video it's very helpful that could be a link that we could also steer people to because then you could see the issue with security in the Ericson pot on the video you could listen to Mrs Arman speak you could listen to Neil speak I'm speaking and we talk about the details of the referend so if you don't want to read a flyer if you don't want to look at rants on Facebook if if you really want to get a good idea then going to that website and getting the video coverage of it I think is really helpful and that has just happened I think I mean they gave the last clip within the last day I believe is that correct after the community for they'll be putting in on the website okay so that that's that's coming out if anyone on the board Mr Williams or anyone else if you want to uh call my office set some time I'm more than happy to walk you through the presentation on makings if you want to use that for some bullet points I've been following the same format all the time kind of sort of what a referendum is why we're going for referendum um talk about the financial impact so and and it is and I do reference and I do show at almost every presentation the website I say what I'm telling you right now every piece of information in more detail can be found here and I just go through a bullet point presentation so the website in my opinion is very useful and I've actually used that to kind of tailor my presentations that I've made but if anytime if you want some talking points or something feel free call my office we'll set up some time um I know our two no board members have requested the same thing so whether we do all three together or we just do our own individual time please just let me know just for the for the Forum on Wednesday I know we're only allowing four board members agree or disagree as as you will I know you invited me I'm going to decline that invitation so whatever four board members you want would be fine but I do appreciate the invite you understand why it's for right it's open I spoke to Mike it's the law I I I I spoke to Mike about that I did bring up the fact that outside of being board members we're also tax taxpaying members of the public and he had said that's splitting hairs you know I don't know so maybe he could provide more guidance on that but do we have do we have oh I think Michael has something to say since this is not advertised as a public meeting under the open public meetings act uh if more than four board members would attend and participate in this meeting that is not advertised it could be deemed a violation of the open public meetings act that's the problem because under the definition because um we we even spoke about the possibility you could attend but be in the back back of the room and not sit at the deis but that still would violate the definition under the open public meetings Act of a meeting because as you all know if there's going to be a a quarum of the Board of Education attending any meeting at which there will be a discussion of board issues or board uh public business that would require previous advanced notice of a public meeting which would include public participation and the other portions of uh the meeting that are in your bylaws the definition under the open public meetings act clearly says and I'm going to read to you the definition of the word meeting in the statute which requires the public notice it says meetings mean and include any Gathering whether Corporal or by means of communication equipment which is attended by or open to all the members MERS of the public body and that's why if everyone if it's an OP if it's an invitation open invitation to more than four board members and if more than four members attend you're required to have this as a public noticed public meeting 48 hours in advance and that's the problem because as my understanding is this meeting on Thursday is not scheduled and has not been published in our uh newspapers and other places as a public meeting with 48 hours notice and as a result of that we should restrict ourselves to only four board members being present during this meeting so it's not to Avo to avoid anybody's claim and put the referendum in any kind of Jeopardy that the meeting would be participated by a quarum of the board I do want to share that February 20th is an identical session and it is not uh under open public meetings because it's a actually while it's a zoom link it's a webinar so the only people who are able to communicate are the panelists possibly if we restricted the hosts and individual people attending so it wouldn't be considered an open public meeting because individual board members cannot communicate with any of the public or each other they can communicate with the host so and that's identical our professionals are there the same people the same presentation if we reach more than or or this or people can attend both do we have any other questions okay did we have a second it's been so long I forgot second we did we did okay thank you thank you all those in favor say I I any opposed okay thank you old business you have any old business business new business we're going to do uh board ethics training as you already know we have Mr Michael Gross here our board attorney and I'm going to give him the floor thank you thank you good evening everybody um I'm going to be violating a rule that my speech and debate teacher told me I don't want to say how many years ago that you never hand anything out and start to talk cuz no one's going to listen to you after you hand it out um I should have handed this out as soon as I got here during your break but I apologize but what what I'm going to what I'm handing out to you don't have to read right now so let's preface it with that maybe that'll keep you from looking from avoiding looking at the piece of paper and listening to what I have to say because what we're going to do this evening is give you a reader digest Edition uh that's dating myself as well saying Readers Digest Edition but for those of you who understand what that means I'm going to give you an abbreviated presentation on the what I call the Ten Commandments and it's the 10 ethics codes of Ethics that are uh in New Jersey statute that are specifically applicable to school board members you will note that this statute was adopted in 2001 you will also notice that this statute has not been amended since 2001 uh I don't need to tell you what has changed in the world in the last 25 years but the New Jersey legislature and its infinite wisdom has decided that we can all rely upon a statute that was written in 2001 concerning how we're supposed to conduct ourselves as a public entity and a public body uh as if we were still in 2001 so how do we really get away in doing that um we do it the same way that judges interpret the Constitution that was written 250 years ago we have to apply it the the plain language of what's there and we have to apply it to what's changed in that in one case 250 years in our case it's only 25 but just if you think about it in 2001 there were no iPhones at that point in time so even though it seems like it's not that long ago for somebody of my age uh 25 years ago a lot has changed with regard to social media technology uh interactions uh how we conduct ourselves at meetings with regard to remote meetings remote learning and Etc so you can understand uh how difficult it is at times to take those Ten Commandments that started in 2001 and we have to apply it now to 2025 and Beyond some of these sections are very very simple uh some of them are much more complex some of them make no sense at all and I'm telling you that I've been reading this for the last 25 years and there are still some sections of this that I could not tell you exactly what it means and I haven't seen a case that anyone ever contested it or filed a complaint upon it so we can get an interpretation as to what it means what I'd like to do though is I I will tell you that I will read each one of these and I will emphasize the those words in each of these 10 in a quick manner so as to highlight for you what the important elements of each of these are before we get to the nitty-gritty and the 10 in in particular I also want to give you just a real quick review as to what the school ethics commission does how it functions Etc and it's going to be real quick um but really there are different aspects of the school ethics commission with regard to their uh review of issues as it relates to school board members one is somebody can file a complaint against a school board member and that would then go to the school ethics commission they would make a a review of the complaint that is filed they'll determine whether there is any reason to go forward with that hearing with that matter they can then summarily dismiss it if they believe it doesn't meet the uh review uh of their perfunctory review of the the code of ethics or they would refer it to a administrative law judge for a hearing and then they would have a determination ultimately after the administrative law judge conducts the hearing for the facts that might be in dispute with regard to any particular complaint and the ethics commission then can impose a determination and a a a penalty there's another area though that they deal with which is actually a better way of looking a better way of dealing with some of these issues and that's what's called an advisory opinion that's different than someone filing a complaint anybody can file an advisory opinion before you do something it's basically to say this is one of these we're not sure whether we can do it or not we don't want to violate the code of ethics so therefore we're giving you the background we're giving you the information and we're asking you for an opinion they turn those things around pretty quickly I can't say the same for complaints because as you can see that process takes a long time through a hearing administrative law judges Etc but with regard to the uh advisor opinions it's just done on the papers you you file the paperwork you ask the question if it's a question that is specific and we with the the facts that they can make a determination on they'll turn that around rather quickly because they want to get it to you before you do something that you're saying I'm intending to do or I want to do and it's certainly a very good tool to use so as to avoid going under the first route that we were talking about because if you go that route and someone doesn't like it they may file an Ethics charge against you and as a result we'd have to go through the process I talked about initially so let's dive into this because I know you don't want to be here all night and I'm going to turn this two-hour seminar into hopefully 15 minutes so you could see that uh it says the school board shall abide by the following codes of ethics for Schoolboard members and number one is used to be a real easy one it turned out to be not as easy as it used to be after the covid struck and the executive orders in New Jersey came out but you can see it says I will uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures that means we follow the law that seems to be pretty simple what when it got a little fuzzy was when we had an executive order as we had during covid was that a law and therefore did we have to follow those laws and that's where we got into those gray areas and that's where we get into something that hasn't been adopted and changed in 25 years why we'd want into some of those areas where people are going to claim that an executive order is not necessarily a law um I'll leave that for the people with robes to make those decisions but when there are executive orders for all intents and purposes they are laws that we need to follow because it doesn't say statutes and I think if you look at the word law laws mean laws it doesn't mean statutes statutes are what the legislature uh adopts regulations are what the administrative the executive and administrative agencies adopt and therefore everything else falls under laws meaning what we're supposed to follow it's it's a red light and therefore we're supposed to follow the law open to interpretation of course how we have to follow it uh districts could have filed using that same example districts could have refiled an advisory opinion asking the ethic commission would the Executive Order be a law under uh section A of the code of ethics they get us back an answer before we would decide whether we're going to comply you no no we're not going to follow the executive orders things of that sort that's a good example as to how you can get an advisory opinion before you'd start to violate something that if in your own mind would think may not may not may be in violation of the ethics code of ethics or someone could think that it is a violation of the code of ethics second one another easy one I'll make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing now simple we're here for the kids we all know that that one I don't think needs to be uh too further explained than what it really says now we come to the big three and the reason I call them the big three is they really intertwine with each other they really say more or less the same thing and most ethics complaints when they are filed are either filed under section c d or e or all three of them and they C says I will confine my board action to policymaking planning and appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plans only only at after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them now obviously what this basically is is what I always call it's the micromanaging section it's the micromanaging uh provision you're supposed to let the administrators do their job the principals do their job the teachers do their job the custodians do their job the bus drivers do their job and your job is to make the policy that tells them how to do their job the only people that you the only person that you evaluate in the entire district is the superintendent you don't evaluate anybody else that's why you evaluate the superintendent and that superintendent evaluation is based upon how he or she is evaluating everybody else down the chain of command so the board members roles are restricted and supposed to be uh limited only to the actions of policymaking planning and appraisal and you will help help frame those policies only after the board has consulted those who are affected by them all through the superintendent all through the chain of command uh letter D says I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools again the same idea I'm not administering I'm not micromanaging the schools but together with my fellow board members and we're going to use that phrase several times in the next six or seven uh sections that we're going to go through because it's always in conjunction with your fellow board members you are elected officials no doubt you're elected individually no doubt you only act as a group you are not permitted to vote to to make take any action as an individual board member you're only allowed to take action as the majority of the boards will uh that's the only way we you're allowed to functioned or otherwise you'd be in violation of c and d and e um e is again I will recognize that Authority rests with the Board of Education again not with your own individual Authority but with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may and that's the key word there that may compromise the board you'll notice it doesn't say will compromise the board or has compromised the board board it could be something that doesn't even compromise the board but it it could it if it's perceived that it may compromise the board that's where you may run a foul of section uh e now I do want to talk about one part of this where you recognize the authority rests with the board you make no personal promises we all understand what that means you're not supposed to be telling people I'm going don't worry I'll take care of it well no you can't tell anybody don't wor you certainly are elected officials you have a right and an obligation to answer to your constituents as individuals they voted for you as individuals and there's nothing wrong in hearing and talking and uh conversing with your constituents one on-one with people or two onone with people or again not five of you together are talking about something but any four or less four four or less could certainly even meet with members of the community at any time without violating the open public meetings act then you have that obligation to but what can't tell anybody is oh don't worry we're going to take care of it because if it's a we're going to take care of it and there's only four of you there that means something's not right because four of you can't take care of something five have to take care of something and that's why we have this whole setup about having the quarum and if the quarum is present we have to have an advertised meeting to talk about any kind of public business that's what really e is talking about um you are only one of nine f um and F is really also a little bit intertwined with c d and e and it says I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups we all think we understand what that means and it all makes some sense that we're uh we're we're not going to make our decisions based on somebody else or some other organization telling us what to do now again you're elected officials you have constituents that you listen to your constituents if you can convince four of your other board members that what one of your constituents or an organization in your community is coming to you and asking you to do something well that's fine that's what you're supposed to do but you're just not supposed to surrender your independent judgment just because they're the ones telling you that this is what they'd like to do you still have to use your own common sense you still have to use your own what's in your heart that's how I always tell most people how to how do I deal with this and we all know what's right what's wrong we all all know that we're allowed to do what we believe is right in our hearts and if you follow your heart and you follow your conscience and you don't just do something because somebody told you to do it in every Walk of Life it will probably work out pretty good and we'll probably avoid section CDE E and F without a problem uh G and again I'm doing this like a rapid fire so that we don't have to be here all night I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools or the schools of course I call this the Las Vegas uh provision because what goes in the executive session is supposed to stay in the executive session and we're not supposed to to be talking about it with really anybody except our fellow board members uh or members who anybody who was invited to that executive session we're really not supposed to talk to our spouses about it we're not supposed to talk to our kids about it we're not supposed to talk to our neighbor about it because it's in the executive session and it basically says we're supposed to maintain all matters pertaining to the schools uh if disclosed would needlessly injure others and that also deals with you'll see sometime and the next sentence is the one I tell you I really don't know what it says why it's there it has nothing to do with an executive session but it's been there since 2001 but I think I could tell you that with with rather good certainty that when it says I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members again it's we only work in conjunction with everybody else we can't do anything as an individual interpret to the staff the as aspirations of the community for the school I think what that's trying to say is what I was BAS ly referring to before is you're elected officials and in concert with my board members I am allowed to talk to my constituents I am allowed to talk to uh my fellow board members even with regard to what I believe in my judgment independent judgment what the community needs what the aspirations of the community are and we could have differing opinions on these things that's healthy that's the Democratic process that that's why we're all here as individual board members for the collective body because you're not supposed to just say yes to everything that somebody raises and you're allowed to provide your independent judgment with regard to those things as to what you believe is the aspirations of your community I think that's what it says that there have been any cases regarding that sentence before but it's still there h i will vote and these now other easy ones I will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel avail ailable and here's the key word in that one after consideration of the recommendation of the chief school officer the board can only vote on Personnel upon the recommendation of the superintendent and what does that mean there's a statute that specifically says that that's why when you see in your agenda it says superintendent recommends the only part of the agenda that that is mandated by Statute where the superintendent recommends is for personnel hiring firing uh reassigning transferring Etc you have every right as a board member to vote Yes you have every right as a board member to vote no and you have every right as a board member to abstain for any Personnel issue what you can't do and again that's that's why just because the superintendent recommends does it mean you have to rubber stamp your independent judgment all the other things you're allowed to vote Yes you're allowed to vote no or you're allowed to abstain what you can't do is you can't say I don't I'm voting no to Mr Jones but I'm gonna nominate Mr Smith to for that position right now so I make a motion for Mr Smith you can't do that because you could only vote yes no or abstain on whoever the superintendent recommends for whatever position it is the only ones you get to make that choice on just like the only one you get to evaluate is the superintendent good uh I I will support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties makes sense to me um again not that much heavy lifting under I and Jay the last one I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution this is the chain of command section this is the one that says um I have a my one of my constituents told me something and therefore I'm going to take care no you're not going to take care of it you're going to refer it to the superintendent you're going to copy the board president on any email or forward anything to the superintendent and you're going to copy the board president and therefore we are following the chain of command because we're not doing it on our own and we're only to deal with the issue at a public meeting after we're not s again because the person that gave it to you may not be satisfied you may not be satisfied with the result of what happened and therefore it's still your right to just because the superintendent dealt with it and just because the board president dealt with it may not mean that you're happy with the result and you still have a process to deal with if it's done correctly we got to comply with all the laws with regard to confidentiality for employees we got to deal with the uh procedures with regard to Rice notices and the like and that would preclude it from necessarily being in public at points in time but they give you that ability that but the key part to the last one is if you get a complaint that complaint goes to the superintendent it doesn't go it if there if somebody's one of your friends relatives neighbors constituents it doesn't matter comes to you and says I got a problem with the bus driver you can't take care of the problem with the bus driver dri you've got to refer it it or them to the superintendent I always suggest copy the board president because it's a board it came from a board member and therefore the board presidents got notice of that as well and that will be taken care of administratively chain a command Administration will deal with it they'll report back as to what they found or what they didn't find and if you're still not satisfied there's still a process to go through at that point one last thing that I skipped over when one of these was in here and I'm not going to go back to it but I want to re make sure I didn't pass on this you guys are elected officials clearly you've got your elected official hat on some of you are parents of students in this District that's a totally different hat that you have on and it's very very difficult but you've got to always remember and it does this it this where you can't interfere with the employees and the chain of command and all these other issues as an individual board member you got to make sure that when you're taking off your board member hat and you're putting on your parent hat that everybody knows it because you cannot put yourself in a situation where employees will feel that they're intimidated or they're threatened in any way I'm not even saying you're threatening that something's going to happen but the idea that an elected official is meeting with a teacher you've got to tell the teacher even though they already know that you know I I am a board member but I'm I'm taking my board member hat off right now and we're talking about my son or my daughter and this is your right to do that you you're always your your biggest hat is your parent hat there's no hat that's bigger than that and you're always going to want to have that parent hat on First and as long as you follow the right procedures and as long as you let everybody know that when you're doing something you're not wearing your board memb hat you're wearing your parent hat same way that you have to put these disclaimers down in if you're gonna be putting something on the Internet or writing a the oldfashioned letters to the editor if you're going to be putting something down and representing yourself as a board member you got to make sure that if you're representing yourself as a board member as to what you say that the board has already approved that and supported that a majority of the board if not there's nothing wrong in you putting on your Joe citizen hat and just saying and putting that disclaimer on that website or on that uh letter that you're writing that this is Joe this is Michael Gross writing not as a board member but as a private citizen and I I have language that I will share with the administration that I would want all of you to take as a cut and paste that if you're going to put anything on social media you're going to write any letters to anybody and you're going to do that as a private citizen you're not doing it on behalf of the board use that and the reason I'm going to give it to you is this is what school boards and the co and the ethics commission has said is acceptable as a disclaimer so we don't have to worry about that you didn't put the right verb verbiage in there as to what you said so we'll share that and you guys could start cut and pasting that and using it whenever you want to because you still have those hats on you like your parent hat on you still got your Community member hat on you still got all these other hats that you're allowed to wear as long as you're clear that you're as to Which hat you're wearing whenever you're talking about certain things or having meetings with people whether they're in school even outside of the school setting um I think I've talked long enough I don't want to take individual questions from you for the sole reason that if they are specific individual questions it may be attorney client privilege kind of answers that I'll provide to you but we could certainly do those in executive session if you have but if you have general questions I'd be more than happy to take any of those but I don't want to deal with specifics those you could save for executive session inside pleas sure yeah oh no no I'm just saying that that if you if they sent you an email you would forward that complaint to the chief School administrator your response rather than doing that because again then you wouldn't be involving the superintendent that's that's different I'm just going through what the ethics requirement is I didn't what you can't go to the teacher or you can't even go to the principal but you could certainly tell them go deal with it with the principal deal with it and then it'll go up the chain of command exactly we just have to follow the chain of command so if you're sending them to the right place and that's all you're telling them but you're not telling them don't worry I'll take care of I'm going to make a call to the principal first but call the principal no but yes that's another alternative than to give the superintendent and the board president but again I would want if I was the superintendent to know that there's a problem because this way he or she could take care of that problem whether it maybe it doesn't make its way up therefore he knows so it'll make it way I just want to point out too we follow the chain of command as well separate from the ethics act that when I if if and when I do get concerns specific to but whatever it's to if it's specific to a student or a parent concern that is specific to a school the first thing we do ask is have you spoken to the principal if not we ask they go to the principal first if it's specific which doesn't typically come to me uh but if it's specific to a teacher our question would be have you spoken with that teacher and we follow the same chain of Comm so we try to get like you're saying Todd like refer them when they get to me we do the same thing have you spoken to the principal have you spoken to the teacher okay you heard that Q SEC points few more years we passed last year well thank you Michael I appreciate you coming out for that um this is the second second president's remarks I'll be brief because I don't want us to be here all night but um since we do have this in-person training on um January 30th since I have you all here hostage um Mr Goo you're on the committee are you going to be present January 30th at Ericson Neil are you going to be at Ericson January 30th for the information Forum you'll be there I'm taking attendance right now now just to make sure we have we don't have a quarum and I'll I'm on the committee I'll be there as well so we have two open seats so we have we have we can have two board members right now um that Elena Elena raised her hand we have one more seat does anybody else have an interest in going to Ericson on Thursday Mrs Lambert stepped out I can ask her when she gets back I didn't see she was gone all right that's fine that's fine and a reminder we also have the virtual one on February 20th at 6 and um all of us can um go on the link and view that webinar so Quorum doesn't matter it's going to be the same presentation um the one at Ericson um we felt was more personal because we're going to actually anybody that actually attends in person will be able to see the pods and so we thought it would be um a little bit more emphasis on why there's an urgency there to have the people kind of have the tables right there so that's the advantage of the inperson less on the board side more on the side of the public being able to actually come in and see what's going on the only other thing is um I wanted to because we have so much going on right now um towards the end of last year we were going to have our goals Retreat I'm G to suggest that maybe we do that over the summer because of the amount of work that we have on I don't know if you agree Mr dixin but I think given the U the referendum right now and our negotiations team we're pretty uh stretched but I think we'll Target maybe June or July and we can get this board together with a date and then we can go over our goals so we haven't forgotten about that so I have that on here so with that um um going to open the floor to public participation I don't know if we have any takers if I even need to read this does anybody plan on approaching the podium okay seeing none then I'm going to move into executive session whereas pursuant to njsa 10 colon 412b the Board of Education May exclude the public from that portion of a public meeting at which the board discusses any of the matters described that njsa 10 colon 4-12 B 1-9 now now therefore be it resolved that in accordance with the provisions of the open public meeting act the Board of Education shall conduct a closed session pursuant to the personel and legal exceptions prescribed by njsa 10 col 4-12 for the purpose of discussing the following matters pending or anticipated litigation settlement agreement pending or anticipated contract negotiations ftea contract it is anticipated that the length of time of this executive session will be 45 minutes and that action will not be taken in public after the executive session be it further resolved that said discussion may be disclosed to the public when reasons for discussing and acting upon it in closed session no longer exist do I have a second to go into executive session all those in favor say I any oppos thank you for