We're going to call the meeting to order. Uh, first order of business is the flag suit. Please rise for flag. >> Sorry. >> Good. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Street Loot of Egress. In the event of an emergency, all people may exit right or left from this room and proceed to the exit doors. All doors will be open
from the inside. Open Public Meetings Act announcement. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend any meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In
accordance with this provision of the act, the Helden Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published in North Jersey Record Herald News, the board's official newspaper on January 9th, 2026. Notices of this meeting indicating date, time, and place were posted publicly on the door of the
main entrance to the school and filed with the clerk of the municipality available. Roll call, please. Mrs. Serna here. Miss >> Mrs. Fisher here. Miss Garcia >> here.
>> Um, Mr. Guzman is here. >> Okay. Miss Johnson >> here. >> Mr. Williams here. >> And Mr. Kleta present. We need board member.
>> We're going to just administrative. >> All right. So, next order of business is uh number 2.1 oath of office for new board members for Mrs. Gatlin. Can I take your picture? Will you do this? >> Sure. >> Thanks. camera
and then >> you guys ready? >> Okay, raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name. I, Tanisha Gatlin, >> do solemnly swear or affirm >> do solemnly swear or affirm >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States
>> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> in the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith >> and that I will bear true faith >> and allegiance to the same >> and allegiance to the same >> and to the governments established in
the United States >> and to the governments established in the United States >> and this state >> in this state >> under the authority of the people. >> Under the authority of the people. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. >> I state your name. >> Tanisha Gatlin. I Tanisha Gatlin.
>> Yes. Do solemnly swear affirm >> do solemnly swear and affirm >> that I possess the qualifications >> that I possess the qualifications >> prescribed by law of this office >> prescribed by law of this office >> a member of board of a education >> a member of board of a education.
>> Okay. I I'm not disqualified. I'm not disqualified >> as a voter pursuant to >> as a voter pursuant to >> RS19 >> RS19 >> 4-1 >> 4-1 >> I am not disqualified due to conviction
>> I am not disqualified due to conviction >> of a crime or offense >> of a crime or offense >> listed in >> listed in >> NJSA >> NJSA >> 18 >> 18A >> 12-1 >> 12-1 >> and that I will faithfully Y >> and that I will faithfully
>> impartially >> impartially >> and justly perform >> and justly perform >> all the duties of that office >> all the duties of that office >> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. >> Congratulations.
>> Thank you. Congratulations honey. Just giving her a second to get logged in so that she has the agenda in front of her. Motion to skip Yes, I did. It's on there. Thank you.
>> I did much probably as well. >> Thank you. >> I didn't. Thank you. >> Thank you. until she gets here. >> So, we we think Kelly's going to be between 7:30 and 8. So, we're going to probably likely table that until the end
of the meeting. Is that correct, Mike? >> Yep. >> That's the plan. >> Good to go. >> Yeah, I gave her that hard. >> Thank you. She's fine. Next we have uh committee and representative assignments. We have a
motion for uh item number 3.1 for board committee and representation assignments. >> Motion >> motion Mrs. Johnson second. Mrs. Cerna roll call please. >> Mrs. Cerna
>> yes >> Mrs. Fisher. >> Yes. >> Miss Garcia. >> Yes. Miss Gatlin >> here. >> So, we're voting on the assignments >> number three. These are the assignments
for the policy state. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Is it okay if I abain from >> Yeah. Since this is my first meeting? >> 100%. >> Okay. >> Mrs. Johnson? >> Yes. >> Mr. Williams? Yes.
>> And Mr. Kada. >> Yes. Number four, moving on to committee reports. Again, the committees were just established right now. So, there should be no committee reports other than the president's report, the business administrator report, and the chief
school administrator report. From my report, I have uh I was fortunate enough this week to make two stops at the school. One was for a brief meeting with Mr. Waka. Uh we had a very good conversation. Uh sorry, >> I wanted to make sure that we were able
to start the new year off fresh and have a uh good shared uh conversation about our mutual expectations for the upcoming year and make sure that we were uh on the same page. Uh we talked about the importance of open communication such as uh letting the board know if CSA wasn't
going to be in school, things like that as well as good communication on both directions. Um I also made a Sorry, I also made it clear that we understand that as a board uh the job of running the day-to-day operations of the school falls on Mr. Waka as the chief
school administrator. Mr. Waka as chief school administrator is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the school district and the board's role is in oversight capacity such as in uh fiscal and budgetary oversight. All right. So, we had a very good conversation. Uh I think we left I can only speak for
myself. I think a very good fresh start. I think everybody's uh on the same page for the new year. Secondly, I came back uh this Friday. I was able to take up the Halen Education Association's offer to tour the school and speak with uh their board uh their union president. We
saw several different classrooms. Um I got a chance to see the new wing of the school that for the first time uh since I've been in the building and I was very happy with all the work that was put in. I was also happy to see that uh some of the younger students that we were able to observe um were doing uh back to like
the center style of learning which was used prior when my daughter was here prior to COVID. It was uh nice to see. We did disrupt a couple classes. Um so I apologize to those teachers. Uh again at the end of that we did have very positive discussion myself and the HA president again uh it was only just to
make sure that we understood that you know we clear the air make sure that they get that uh the goal on my end and for the board is to work together to the benefit of all the stakeholders and make responsible decisions again and it was pointed out that uh I do constantly and
always say I appreciate the ha happy that you guys come here and uh you know I'm happy that you voice your concerns you're more Welcome. It's like I said previously, as a member, we want you to come, not only when it's bad. If there's issues, please come and bring them up.
Uh the week prior, I met with the board administrator, Miss Augustine, to complete all of the required signatures for the board turnover. That was all done. We spoke with the board attorney. Um there were several meetings which were brought up where the attorney's firm is
conflicting schedules. So, we're going to look at whether or not we need to move those dates. Um, we'll discuss that and whether or not it's necessary to have the attorney at every meeting or if we can proceed with the schedule. We have to that. Um, and I also spoke with the BA about the upcoming budget
timeline and which is obviously a priority for the board. Uh, the committee assignments are on the agenda. I did want to take a minute to talk about that. One of the things that was brought up during our conversation with CSA Waco um was the importance of the committees and um one good thing
about the communication that we did have was last year it felt like certain comm committees did not meet and did not perform what uh where there was a lack of communication either from the committee chairperson uh when asking for things or if they were reached out to by the chief school administrator there was
also a lack of communication back. So I'm asking that the people who are board uh committee chairs this time understand the importance of that role. U I'm going to ask that going forward that all of the committee chairman uh reach out to Mr. Walker as soon as possible and establish a meeting date at least you
know within the next two months for your committee uh as far as certain committees will meet monthly. Uh another issue that was brought up is I think that as the committee chairs having gone and spoke with other board presidents and other watch other meetings I think it's important that the committee chairs
uh do a brief write up of an actual report so that they can give back feedback of what actually happened so that information can be shared with not only the board but the public so that to whatever capacity they're legally required to know what's actually going on taking place. I think that some of the issues that we had last year could
be have been rectified had the committees been in proper working order. Um, as with finance committee, I'd like to see that continue to meet uh before every actual meeting like they did last year. I think that's the most appropriate way unless you guys have any other suggestion, but I think that make
sure and I'd like to see the personnel committee meeting prior to any meeting where we have personnel items on the agenda. This way all the important questions can be actually hashed out in an appropriate fashion and then the board will have the information that they need to make the appropriate decisions. Um again just from my
experience we're moving forward but it without a with a lack of information makes it harder to vote on things. So I think that that'll clear that up going forward. Secondly we do have a I'm a new board president. Miss Cerna is a new vice president and we have several new board members um both appointed and
elected. So, I thought it was important. I reached out to the New Jersey State School Boards Association, our state field rep. Uh, she will be coming in tonight at some point. She was gracious enough to fit us in to get the ethics training in that we're required to have. Um, she is at another board meeting in Hawthorne, so we're going to have to
table that probably because she probably won't be here until the end of the meeting. She was gracious enough to fit that in as well as scheduling a date for her next available time to do the training for the chief school administrator uh evaluation because again this will be first time for some people doing it and I think it's
important that we have all the proper training and make sure that everybody knows what's expected so that we can do that and I know that affects the QAC scores. Um one last thing we discussed with both Mrs. uh Austinon and Mr. Waka
was I like something that Manchester has on theirs um on their website rather. Um I would like to add the link on the website that Manchester has that allows for parents and people in school to report uh students who do not live in the district. I think that that's important as uh fiscally we have a lot
of uh money tied up in children who we all hear complaints that there's kids that come here that don't live in town and we'd like to make sure that we have the best that we can. so we could have kids that belong here and make sure they're getting the most out of the money that we're spending. Uh lastly, I
would like to ask Mr. Waka that uh going forward, we have um at least once every six months the special education, the shared services uh coordinator as well as the head of facilities come in and just brief the uh board on what they're doing and what what accomplishments,
what we don't have, what we do have because we do get complaints from time to time. And the last thing, I'm sorry this is the longest, hopefully this be the longest report I ever have to do. Um, when people have complaints, the proper thing would be to address them in public at a board meeting or the complaints go to the chief school
administrator and through the complaint process. It's not to email individual board members. So, if we could please, you know, make sure that we're doing that. If you do have an issue as a parent, a staff member, as a union, come up. It will be addressed. Um, and we'll do the best that we can. So that's all I
have. Um, Mr. Waka, >> your timing is impeccable. >> Couldn't get better. You >> great. You did a great job with that. That was very >> Thank you. >> Perfect. >> Um, Mr. Waka for the chief school administrator report. I think it's
funny. You could tell that you're from S County, but she's not just by the way you pronounce Horththornne versus Hawthorne. Um, it's >> if you if you're here long enough, you you picked up, by the way, but I want to address some of the points you brought up in your speech. And first, I want to
say uh to Miss Gatling, welcome aboard. Uh I always say this to board members uh you know it's it's philanthropy and it's volunteer work that you're doing but it there's a lot of gravity to towards it because you're you're making decisions that are going to impact uh people's children. So I I think it's a a really
pronounced level of philanthropy and volunteerism and I think you should be really proud of yourself and we're we're we're happy to have you on this board. Um I want to echo Mike said about the committee chairs. So, as far as committees go, I I I serve at the committee chair's uh pleasure. Um, you
know, I I think there's I think a a really logical structure is if you're a committee chair, you can say, "Mr. PA, I want to meet every Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. Uh, and can you do it in person or on Zoom or we can meet every Wednesday at at 5:00 p.m. or what whatever is kind of
you you when you talk to your fellow committee members. Uh, you tell me when's uh, you know, one or two different times that are really good for you and I'm going to look to make it work. Um, and and I think that's probably the best way to go forward. the committee meetings sometimes are going to be really really quick, especially if
it's part of an agenda that doesn't really isn't really populated with a whole lot of agenda items. Um, but I I think that's the best way to kind of go forward with some kind of structure in that regard. Excuse me. So, I know we have Kelly here from the New Jersey School Board Association. She's going to give an
ethics presentation once I'm done yapping. So, I'll make it a little quick. Um, I also want to say that um, you know, as Mike said, we had the board president come. He met with me and then we he he kind of tour with the HA because that they'd offered the that that service. I know Ellen was one of
the first people to take him up on that. Um and I know George is looking to schedule time as well to do that and Miss Garcia also came in um earlier last week to meet with me and I thought that was a very productive conversation. Um so I I would encourage even if you've been on board for a while it's still a
good thing to kind of just touch base. So please reach out to us. Um, I had our what we believe is going to be our second to last HVAC project update meeting. We're still on pace, on budget, which is really good. And the the only thing that was giving us trouble is like
HVAC, they got to go into the roof, right? And if there's snow in the roof, you know, it makes things a little more tricky. Um, so things have been pushed back a little bit. Uh but we've been able to kind of just adjust hours so we have more people working on Saturdays when the building's empty or after what
they call second shift is when you know the kids for the most part the kids aren't in the building so we got a lot of work done there so we're proud of that. Uh I know that this week it looks like there's going to be a lot of snow. I I want to thank our custodians. We had snow last weekend and the you know the very next day the building was workable
and the parking spots were all clear and and that may happen this weekend as well. So we'll see what's going on with that. Uh really important. So, on February 1st, our preschool four-year-old window opens and we've gotten to the point because of that expansion project that, you know, Mike
was alluding to. Um, if you register on time, now we we put this on Facebook, we put this on our website, we put this on the happenings, we we contract with the local newspaper. If you're a four-year-old and you register on time, there's going to be a spot for you. Um, there's only 10 spots total for general
ed three-year-olds. So like no matter how you slice it, it's going to be a lottery. Um you know, I defer to board presidents if if they want we don't we have like that like the thing you the old school thing you see at bingo halls where you put everyone's name is. We we shake it up a couple times and we've had
the board president pick names out. We videotaped it. We put it on YouTube. I think that's probably the best way to go about the grade the age three. Uh but if you register within that window and you're four years old, there's going to be a spot for you. The problem arises is
when it's like August 25th and you come to us and you say, "Hey, I have a four-year-old that wants to go to preschool." Like, yes, of course, we want to try and and accommodate you, but at that point, a lot of time the spots are taken. So, you know, we we just want to encourage the community just to get in that window and we're going to make
make sure we make it work. Um, to the point about the um the residency link. So, I I actually just spoke to Andy about that. I think it was yesterday or today we we'd spoken about that. Yes. >> Um, the Manchester link is is is it's it's legal. It's allowable. Uh, we're
going to do it a little differently than the Manchester only because there's a couple like spelling and grammar things I want to kind of just clean up. But, um, what's today's date? The 20th. If you get me to February 1, I imagine we'll have something on there uh for your review. And if you like it, then
this board can go forward with that. Um, and then the the special ed and the facilities. I I don't What was this point you made about this? Oh, you you asked about having the special ed >> just having them come in like that. >> If you want to do it by annually where every six months, I I think it's very fair ask. Um that some people, well, I
don't see that being a problem at all. And I will say one thing as far as complaints are going. I think, you know, >> I know that number one, we have a a population of teachers that are stalled. They they're really really that good. We're we're blessed to have them. Um and we have three assistant principles that
are all great in their own way. And this has been the year where Of course, there's always parents are going to have concerns like that's something we know is always going to happen. Um, but the amount of complaints we have, knock on whatever kind of service this is. Um, they've been very fixable complaints and
reasonable and and it's just been a really smooth school year all things considered. So, I'm just really proud of the the staff and the the administrative team for just making it so that you know we're at that point this point this at this part of the year. And that's my report tonight.
Miss Austin, >> sorry, can I ask a question? >> I'm sorry. >> Um, for the February 1st, you said the lottery opens for uh four year olds and >> three. Yeah. Yeah. >> Four and three. >> Yeah. Very good. I'm sorry. >> Okay. So then the foury olds all get
accepted or is there like a limit? >> Like if if we have a year where there just happens to be like 150 four year olds in Halen, then then obviously that would change things. Um, we've never had a problem where if if within that window, um, if if you registered, there
was enough of a cushion for us to say that if you registered as a four-year-old during that that monthlong window, it seems incredibly safe that you're we're going to find a spot for you. >> No, I'm asking how many spots, like you said, 10 the three-year-old, >> they have 10 total spots. >> So, how many do we have for I
>> I believe it's 75. >> Okay. So, >> somewhere if you write down 75 to 80, I believe that'd be accurate. >> Okay. And so the 10 spots for the three-year-olds, is that including um um like teachers um children as well or is that like 10? >> So the board policies the board what the
board voted on unanimously was that because the state allowed um as a as a negotiating perk and also a service perk to teachers um if if teachers want to bring their students to a district, the district can offer free uh services to
those students. This board voted six to zero to zero to allow that. Uh so they'll be in the pool like anyone else, but like I have teachers, I don't have the teachers, the board has teachers where um you know they they wanted to get their children to school last year just didn't work out lottery wise and
other teachers kind of got the lucky thing that was plepped out and and they got to bring their kids. >> So they have to enter the lottery. >> Yeah. Just like anyone else. Yeah. >> Okay. So, what the thing with that is is that we get a lot of complaints about the out of uh district children that
come here and then we only have 10 spots for three-year-olds and obviously that's not enough even with the teachers but with the teachers children that are out of district. >> Um that's going to cause a lot of conflict with the residents here. So, is there any way that we can up the 10
limit spot? >> Well, is there any way >> the way Okay, it's a good question. So the state, we don't pay for our preschool. The state pays for our preschool, right? And so it's it's a it's such a fiscal boon to go through them. Um their rule is 15 students per
class limit. So like if we wanted to do our own preschool and we wanted to fund it ourselves, yeah, we could have more than 15 students per class, but now we we wouldn't be able to afford it because it's such a big program and we go exclusively state. Their cap is a hard cap, 15 students per class. So, if we
were to expand the amount of three-year-olds, it would just be at the the expense of the amount of four-year-olds that we offer. So, for I would say that I've been here for 10 years now. The first seven and a half, I would say eight years, we didn't offer preschool to three-year-olds unless you
had special needs like if you had an IEP that required that you'd have early intervention start preschool. uh the state kind of changed their their their formula and they said, "All right, we want you to now start with five uh general at least five general ed preschool students. >> We did that for a year or two, they
moved the uh the barometer up to now 10." So that's where we're at. Um but it just it's not fiscally we if if we did add the if we added to our overall preschool, it would just be at the the expense of the number of four-year-olds we could have. >> Okay. So, um, you know, like when I
decided to call Northfield and they were going to charge me $16,000 to put my kids in that school, and this was a while ago, but I find it very odd that the teachers are allowed to bring their children here and have no tuition. >> So, can you please send me that policy
or that write up or that >> we forwarded it to um our attorney, so >> yeah, by law, you can only do this so many ways. It's got to be I believe it's got to be free for your staff or you don't let them in at all. I I will check. I will get back to you on that.
But but the policy is I believe so on your website so we can find >> Okay. This board voted six to zero um uh in favor of that. >> I because I was also told that um that was because of COVID and juries. >> Well, that's when the that's when Governor Murphy allowed this to be um
you know something that was doable. Um but we we revisited in 2025 and and this many people that are still on this this day has uh you know voted yes to that. >> Anybody have any questions? >> Yes. Is the preschool still part-time or is it fulltime?
>> Oh, it's we're we're proud to offer full day recap. >> Um some people will do uh like half day electively, but most people want full day. >> There we go. >> Mr. Walker. >> Yeah. Uh what's the average cost per pupil for the uh preschool program?
>> It's free. >> It's it's it's the talent that the You mean for the parents? >> I mean, >> if they did incur like a um any additional um students, what's the average? >> Okay. So, to put it in perspective, and again, I'm just estimating, but I think
our cost per people, let me correct me if I'm wrong, you have like 12,000 a student or something like that. >> It depends on whether it's a a public or non-public um student. I can look it up and then I'll get it to the meeting. Okay. >> Um but yeah, it would if if we had to fund it ourselves, um it would change
the whole paradigm of our school. >> I did anybody else have any questions before I ask mine? >> Good. >> I just You said 15 and it's 10. Is the other five for is that like banks for special needs or >> well special needs it's the way the law
is written and Andy correct me if I'm wrong but if a child in early intervention is identified as needing a preschool 3 years old if we don't have a spot for that child then we're going to have to incur the cost of sending them somewhere um so we leave um just a
safety net of a certain amount >> thank no other questions then we're going to move on to Mrs. is Augustine and the BA report. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, my report today is to first um let the board know that um you should
have received the email regarding your personal um um disclosure forms. For the returning board members, your form is due um April 30th. And for the new board members, you have um up until February 1st. And I have to check on Mrs. Gatlin
because since she was sworn in today, I believe she may have 30 days, but please get those as soon as possible. This is part of also your um responsibility as a board member to um um submit those um disclosure forms. And if you have
problems signing in or you don't know where your PIN is, which it was in your email, let us know. Okay? if you have any questions on that or what to put um on the form, we can kind of walk you through those um questions because sometimes they seem they're different but they seem a little redundant but
there it's like one word answer I mean one word that changes the question. So just let me know. Um the other thing is that um this past week or two like um um the president said we I've been working with um a few vendors to discuss some
budget items as far as um getting us all ready for the finance team to discuss some things that we just um we will be putting in the budget next year. So I just wanted to just update the board and we are working towards that. the finance team. Within the next few weeks, we're going to kind of dive deep into um
making sure we understand everything in the budget budget before it's time or submitted um for the board for review. As far as the um agenda items today, we have several um projects on the agenda for approval. Um we have our fire alarm
project, our HVAC project. Both of those projects are on their way. Mr. Walker and and Mr. command's been going to most of the meetings um regarding the updates on those projects. We also have on the agenda tonight um a M& facility assessment report. So I was for speaking
with Mr. Man um and we were um discussing doing a complete top- down analysis of the building. We have our engineer coming in and he's walking the site just to make sure that we are covering all the HVAC areas of the
building. And this is in preparations of course health and safety first, but we also want to prepare for the um budget that's coming up and you know submit any projects or for considerations for our new budget that's coming up. The second any questions on that? Um I'm not sure
if anybody had any questions on the assessment report because that's pretty this is um something new that's um we're a different approach on how um to maintain the building this year that Mr. man have brought to the table that we're going to um try to um facilitate. Um the
second thing is our financial reports, our monthly financial reports, which is our treasures report, transfer report, and our board secretaries report. This is done um every 60 days. We have to re um reconcile and report these items to
the board and also to the county. The other item, new item is our post agreement. We are at the end of our renewal of our posters meter. So, we're going with a different comp company this year and saving a little bit money on this um with this vendor. And we have
our Masio statement, which is our monthly invoice that we have to pay for the food services um program that we have here in our facilities. And the last that came in as an addendum was our carryover funds, which was completed, I believe, like Friday or Monday. So,
we're ex um submitting them and also accepting them. and we submitted to to the um state. It hasn't been approved, but the state does allow us to start utilizing those funds. And I just want to note that um spec specifically with title one that we're able to cover the
four salaries initially in the beginning of the year that we could not. So that was a good thing with the trans um the title funds. We were actually I believe we transfer money from another title into title one in order to cover those funds, cover those salaries. So, any
questions? >> All right. Thank you. >> No questions for Mrs. Augustine. That is the last uh committee report we have. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. Miss Mr. Brown, do you have anything on? >> I'm still waiting for a letter from the
unit's attorney about that petition, but he's assured me that it's coming. >> Okay. >> Great. Um, do I have a motion to accept the committee reports? >> I don't think we need >> Okay, never mind. Disregard. >> Um, motion to move forward for the
ethics training presentation 5.1. >> So moved. >> Motion, Miss Fischer. Second, Miss Johnson. Roll call, please. >> Oh, all in favor? >> Thank you for being here, Mrs. Mitchell. >> My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
>> Sorry to make you do two of these in one night. >> Yeah, like I I'm just the uh the ethics champion today. >> It's a tough one, right? >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> So, you all have that acknowledgement of receipt.
You just sign that and and hand that over. That will give us that give us the evidence that you um also in there I put uh the 12 month calendar of your board responsibilities.
kind of helps you stay on track and know uh what you're supposed to be doing each month as a board member. Uh so it'll talk about trainings, it'll talk about the CSA evaluations, schools, things like that.
Started with the presentation. This is the disclaimer. Um, this is forformational purposes only. It's not to give you any type of legal advice. Of course, if you need any legal advice, we would go through the board. >> Tonight, we're going to talk a lot about
the uh ethics act itself and about the respect and confidence of the public and then making sure that your conduct as a board member doesn't violate that confidence and trust. And then also about the justifiable impression that
you did in some of your conduct. So, a lot of that comes into play when we talk about social media. So, that is a big component of our um ethics complaints that we've had lately. And so, I have a couple of slides on that. We'll talk about that. So, this is the actual uh commission
itself. It's nine members, five uh non-school officials, two administrators, uh school administrators, and two school board members. You can see at the bottom there it says that all seats are vacant for the schoolboard members. So if you have a little bit more volunteerism time, you
might want to go and be on the ethics commission. I think that would be a lot of fun, don't you? So uh the um provision of the act is um all about accountability. You have to have your mandatory training completed and we'll talk about that shortly. We'll
go through the code of ethics today. um the disclosure statements. You stole my thunder on that one, but that's okay. And then we'll talk about the prohibited act. So, your mandatory training, if you're a brand new board member, you have to have that done in the first 90 days. I know
that that was difficult online, but that is a whole another story. Um and then when you're in your second year, you have to have it done um at the end of December um for all those consecutive years. So in the second year, we have
the finance student achievement piece. That's a newer um component that we have. So that's been updated. Uh governance three has a new labor relations piece to it. Um so that would be in year three. and then governance for if you're a returning board member
um reappointed or reelected. So those uh disclosure statements, you know, just know that that is a big huge deal. You have to have that done in time. So if you're a brand new board member, it has to be 30 days from the time you're sworn in. And then everybody else would be April 30th. Uh just as a
little tip, when you fill that in, uh a lot of times board members fill it all in and then they think they can just quick email it over, you need to save it as a PDF so that you save all your data. Otherwise, you'll fill that all out and then you'll all of a sudden notice that that data is gone. So just save it as a
PDF and then email it out and it'll really save you a lot of heartache because I've done it a million times where I didn't save that and all that data is gone. So, make sure that um you fill that out completely because there has been some violations lately on um
the disclosure statement. I'll go over that shortly. Uh you can see here where there was a board member that didn't fill it out completely, didn't uh disclose that her spouse had um some type of uh business organization that did business with the school. If you
don't fill that out, it asks you different questions each time, and it seems like it's the exact same question over and over again, but there's like little nuances to it. So, it's does your relative work in the district? Does your relative have any business that the
district does uh with the schools? Like all those little nuances, please read it through completely before you fill it out. But there was a reprimand that was given to this board member because it wasn't filled out completely. Um, so just be mindful of that. I answer my
cell phone seven days a week. So when you're doing it, if you really need any help going through it, um, or confused on what a relative is, please call me on my cell phone. I answer it seven days a week. So now we're going to go through the
code of ethics and talk about what each uh, tenant looks like. But I just want you to look at that standards portion at the bottom. That's what the um ethics commission looks at when a complaint comes in to see if it was a violation of that tenant. So um you might want to be
mindful of those standards as we go along. But letter A speaks to exactly what happened when you were sworn in. You uh swore to uphold the rules and regulations um and laws of the state of New Jersey. So, uh, sometimes we saw a a
violation of letter A. Um, if there was like a mandatory, uh, um, policy that that the board didn't abide by, things like that, we would we would maybe see a violation of letter A. Letter B speaks to um, making decisions
for all students. Super important that when you're sitting in this seat that you're mindful of all students as a whole. You're not thinking about just special groups or um, students. that mean something to you individually. You need to be making decisions based on all
students. Letter C, I love letter C because it speaks directly to your role as a board member. Your board is um your board member service is policym, planning, and appraisal. And that's it. Sometimes board members think their role is much
more than that. And really that speaks to exactly. So policym you're a policym board. you go over those policies and make sure that they're up to date planning would be the budgeting piece that you're doing right now. Um sometimes curriculum and and being
involved in in that some of that planning and then appraisal the CSA evaluation that by statute needs to be done by July one and u I'll be doing a presentation on that um maybe next month or so. D speaks to uh making sure that you're
not administering the school. So, as a board member, you're not rolling up your sleeves and getting involved in the day-to-day activities. You just have that role of oversight. So, imagine yourself sitting in a balcony looking down and you're seeing all the dancers on the floor, but you're not telling the
dancers exactly how to move. That's that oversight piece. So, make sure that you understand that the board is the what and the administration is the how. Letter E. We see a lot of uh violations with letter E when board members really have a hard time going from campaign
mode to board service. So you're making all those promises when you're in campaign mode and you're saying I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that for you. But then when you come on the board is quite different. You realize that you're one of nine and that you're a team. So you can't uh be making
promises or taking any private actions for any groups. Letter F is that same type of flavor where we see a lot of times violations um based on a political group maybe supporting you when you were campaigning
but now in your board service you all know that it's nonpartisan. So make sure that you're not um you know doing any type of special favors or acts for uh a political group uh that has supported you.
Letter G is talking about confidentiality. That's super important when you're an executive, but also sometimes when you're in committee. So sometimes when you're having conversations in committee, they tend to be maybe confidential pieces to those
conversations. So just know the differentiation between when you're in committee, if you're talking about something that's not ready for the public yet, it's important to keep those items confidential as well. So not only in executive a lot of times when you're
an executive board members feel like well I can just tell my spouse or my partner and that cannot be when it's when you're in executive everything stays in that room but also that committee piece is it's very important to be mindful of that.
Letter H talks about um appointing the best qualified personnel. So that's all for the administration. Sometimes board members get a little overzealous and say, "Well, I think Sally Sue would be great for that job." That's not our role as board members. That's recommended by
the superintendent and you can vote yes or no on that, but that's not something for you to be involved in. That's more of that rolling up the sleeves type of conversation. Letter I. Sometimes we see board members make comments to members of the public
or maybe on social media if a uh a public uh community member talks about a staff member and how they're disappointed in something. Um make sure that you support our staff. They work very very hard and they need you to be on your side on on their side and and
uplift them. So, make sure that um you know if you're in the grocery store or what have you that you're not uh speaking poorly of our staff. We have had some violations of letter I and we did have a board member um taken off their board for 60 days by a post that
they thought was a good idea. They blogged about a staff member and they had all the proper uh disclosure on that blog but um spoke poorly about a staff member. So, they were taken off for 60 days. Letter J. Letter J talks about chain of
command. It's super important as a board member to understand chain of command because like I said, if you're in that grocery store and it always happens in the grocery store where somebody comes up to you and says, you know, I'm really disgruntled about X, Y, and Z that's going on in the district. You want to be
a barometer for the community member, but you listen. You take that in. You ask them to follow that chain of command. So you um regroup them to that lowest level of chain of command. And if you don't know what that would be, you need to ask the superintendent what that
would be. But that's where it should go. You should not be handling any type of complaints on your own. Once you do um hear that complaint, you can go ahead and give that to the superintendent and let the board president know. And then also, if you don't want to go grocery
shopping, it's okay. remember. >> So, um, ethics complaints, you have 180 days, any community member has 180 days to, uh, put in for an ethics, uh, possible ethics violation. We have seen fines recently for frivolous uh, filing
because it's very popular lately that board members think it's a good idea to put in um, violations, complaints against other board members. Please, if you have a problem with a board member, work it out amongst you. Um, all don't don't put it to the um ethics
commission. We're seeing a lot of that lately and it's just really taking up a lot of unnecessary time. So, there are um some fines that are being imposed lately for that type of thing. These are uh what would happen if you're
found in violation. A reprimand is basically a letter saying that you were found in violation. it's a slap on the wrist and says, you know, don't do that again. Then it goes to censored. That's a little bit stronger. That's read at a public meeting and that stays on the website for 30 days. A suspension, like
I said, that uh that person that thought it was a good idea to do the block was a 60-day um suspension of of the service. And then removal. We haven't seen a lot of them lately, but we're starting to see them more because board members are not doing their mandatory training on
time or they haven't filled out their disclosure. So, if you don't fill out your disclosure by that um April 30th and submit that, you can be taken off the board. Also, with your mandatory training, if you don't get that done within a certain time frame, they will remove you from the board. So, just know
that that's uh something that you absolutely have to do. advice of counsel. Uh we're seeing a lot of board members say, "Well, you know, we talked to the board attorney and the board attorney said that I could do this type of conduct." Well, um you can use
the defense of advice of counsel, but you have to make sure that all four of those components are comprised um that defense. uh if you don't tell the full story to your uh board attorney and your board attorney goes on just the story that you tell them um sometimes you know
you you haven't disclosed completely what uh type of conduct you were going to do. You also have to make sure that uh you spoke to the attorney before any type of conduct. It can't be after the fact. So, just be mindful of that because this is something that a lot of board members are saying and they're not
able to use that because all four components aren't part of it. These are some of the cases and we we don't need to read through all of them, but I just wanted to point out this one where a board member used their board email um to uh talk to the CPAD members,
but they were just C a CPAD member. It wasn't like they were part of like a board service thing. So, make sure that you only use your board email for board business because it gives that justifiable impression to the public
that you're speaking for the full board and you don't have that authority to do so. So, make sure that the board um email is only for the board business. You don't use that to um speak to community members or speak to uh
sometimes we see a lot of board members speak to town council. Um that makes that feeling that impression that you're speaking for the board. Uh number uh C7823. I talk about this a lot and because a lot of times board members say, "Well,
you know, I've been on the board for a really long time, Kelly. Why do I have to hear about ethics?" And uh this one speaks directly to that. So this was a 15 plus year board member that thought it was a good idea to drive to a staff member's house, pick up a letter, hand
it to the BA, tell the BA, don't give it to this, don't say anything to the superintendent, don't give it to the superintendent, and when they spoke about it at the um board meeting, didn't recuse herself. So she was removed uh for 60 days. So sometimes even seasoned
board members go off the rails and that's why we need to talk about ethics every single year. This is a newer guidance that came out about two years ago and there seems to be a little confusion sometimes with board members. So recusal versus
abstension. So when you abstain from a vote, it's because you don't have the proper um information or data that you need to feel that you can cast your vote appropriately. that would be abstainating. Recusal is when you have a legal conflict. So if you have a legal
conflict in any way for that vote, you need to recuse yourself from the vote and the discussion. Because when you think about it, if you discuss if you're part of the discussion and then just say, I'm going to recuse myself from the vote, you might have skewed the other
voters by your discussion. So, make sure that you don't use any type of discussion and you recuse yourself from the vote if you have a legal conflict. In your packet, I did put a chart of um what's rendered as a relationship. Um
that's a really helpful chart. It comes directly from the ethics commission and that'll be helpful. Uh sometimes people are like, well, my cousin, sister, brother is uh working for the school district. Am I uh conflicted? So that'll give you that whole um chart.
Advisory opinions, we've had probably about 45 this year. Um they they get taken to you by uh schoolboard notes. They're in that um that email that you get quite often. Please look through that. You can ask for an advisory opinion from the ethics commission. Uh
but they ask that you please look at all the other um advisories just to make sure that it's not repeating itself. And that cute little police officer is there because a lot of times board members say, "Well, it's just an opinion." And we say, "Well, it's it's kind of akin to if a police officer
said, "You'll get arrested if you do this." Um, you wouldn't uh you know, like not trust their guidance. So, please make sure that you trust the guidance of the ethics commission and and know that those advisories are there to protect you. So in your email, this is um you can
click on these links and look at all those advisories. I I put them in that chart for you. And then um when we talk about benefits, sometimes you have to be mindful that a benefit can be direct or indirect. So make sure that you understand that um that type of nuance.
Uh sometimes a business uh affiliation in some way can give you like an indirect benefit for your family. So um just just be mindful of that. These are some of the prohibited acts to recuse yourself if you have a conflict
in any type of financial gain, favor, um any type of business interest. I you would recuse yourself from any of those discussions and groups. And these are some of um the cases that I put into your uh packet itself. Um
there was one board member that was promoting a nonprofit um and did get a reprimand because they felt that that was a benefit to that nonprofit that um he was affiliated with. Um so just know understand the benefit to you from even
from a nonprofit. They're they're very um cautious about that. And then of course um hiring personnel. We know that if you're a board member, we can't hire any of our um relatives and then also uh the CSA as well. Um we
can't hire any of their relatives. And then uh the impact of a committee, if you had a uh board president who uh had somebody that would worked in the district, then you couldn't pick committee chairs and you couldn't serve on committees that had to do any type of
um touching of that uh that job itself. So any type of negotiations, finance, even sometimes with curriculum, they say that um a conflicted board president shouldn't be on that. So you would hand that over to the vice president. And then collective bargaining, I put in
here um exactly like whether you could uh participate in negotiations with the uh relative status or you can uh vote to ratify the contract. I have that in there so that I don't know um if this is a year for that but you can have that um
as part of if if it was that year. Uh and also with uh if you were supported by the union and we don't see this quite often but if you were you couldn't be on negotiations for an entire year if you were just campaigning and they supported your campaign.
We get a lot of questions on volunteering in schools and yes you can volunteer in schools. It's just if that authority that you would have in that volunteerism, meaning that if you were going to give a directive to a staff member, then you would shy away from
that type of volunteerism. So, uh if you were going to do something where a staff you had to tell a staff member what to do, then as a board member, you would not do that type of volunteerism. But otherwise, you can read to a class, you can go on a field trip or what have you,
but just be mindful of that. Um and then also uh if you are going to do any type of volunteerism, make sure you tell the board president and the superintendent so they understand the degree of that volunteerism. Visiting the schools, sometimes we all
get like a little key fob as board members. Some board members really take advantage of that. You should not be a staple in the schools. You don't have the right to just come through the schools all the time. And just know that sometimes staff members feel uncomfortable when board members are in
the building. And just understand that feeling and that concern and uh not be a staple in the school. If you are going to visit the schools, please let the superintendent know. Social media is uh the biggest proponent
of our complaints itself. uh you know certainly you have your first amendment rights but if you are going to uh be on social media the ethics commission said that you should parrot exactly that disclaimer um saying that it's your personal opinion remember we talked
about in the ethics act that justifiable opinion from the public that you're speaking for the board. So even that content piece. So let's say you're on there, you have all the proper disclosure, but you're speaking like you're a board member or you're speaking
about board business on social media. The public can say that you're speaking for the full board. So you need to shy away from um you know doing any type of posting like that. You can certainly say you know snow day or whatever that's fine. But anything that is spoken about
at the table, if you're on social media, um you could be a possible violation there. So, we say to make sure you put that disclaimer and um make sure you're mindful of your content. These are some of the social media cases
where um they even they had the disclosure uh but they still spoke as a board member on that social media. So, there was some reprimands handed out there. Also, if you have a campaign page that
identifies you as a board member, you shouldn't be posting from that anymore, you should shut down that page um until next time when you want to uh campaign because that identifies you as a board member and then that could put you in a possible violation. Um they also say
that if you administer a social media page, you can be shutting down comments. So sometimes they say that that could possibly uh have some type of violation because you're stifling the public to speak. So just know that you want might want to watch that with the the
administrator. And then also you're first and foremost an advocate for your own child, but when you come in to speak about your child in any type of meeting with the staff, you need to take off your board hat. You cannot be sitting there and say, "Well, I'm a board
member." You're there as a parent. And in your packet, I put uh those uh links there so that you can look at the advisory and the decisions made. >> That's it. Does anybody have any questions for me? >> I just have a question about the recusal
and the abstensions. You said um abstension is no information and then the recusal is >> Yeah, they feel like you don't have enough information um to make an intelligent vote. >> Okay. So like we have uh on the professional development um portion of
the agenda, we have a few of us that are on there. So we would be recusing ourselves >> if you were on >> we're on the agenda. >> Oh, you're on the agenda. Yeah. >> So we would recuse because it's a conflict. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And the discussion.
>> Okay. Thanks so much everybody. >> Thank you Miss Mitchell. >> Thank you Kelly. Sorry to have you do it twice in one day, but >> Oh, no, no, it's my pleasure. It was only 10 minutes from each other. That was great. >> Kelly had one question. So, for a discussion, would they leave the room or
they just still be here? >> No, you know, that's a that's a great question because I I had that a lot. Um, the rendering is is that you really wouldn't need to leave the table or the room that you would just um recuse yourself and and not um discuss anything. Yeah,
>> but that's a great question. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Kelly. >> My pleasure. >> Moving on. Do we have a next is number six, hearing of citizens on agenda items only? Do I have a motion to open the floor to the hearing of the citizens? >> So moved. >> Thank you, M. Fischer.
>> Second. Anybody? >> Mr. Williams. >> Roll call, please. All in favor? All in favor? >> I I >> All right. The floor is now open to the public for agenda items only. Do we have anybody online?
Not >> seeing no hands here. Seeing no one online. Can I have a motion to close the >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mrs. Fischer. >> Second. >> Second, Mr. Johnson. All in favor? >> I. The floor is now closed.
Correspondence. We do not have any. So moving on to we have a motion for the approval of prior minutes. >> Motion for 8.1 prior minutes. Mr. Johnson. >> Second. Miss Cerna. >> Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cerna.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Fischer. >> Yes. >> Miss Garcia. >> Yes. >> Miss Gatlin. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johnson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Williams? >> Yes. >> And Mr. Cla? >> Yes. >> Thank you. Mrs. Cerner, personnel management. Do I
have a motion to move the agenda items 9.1 to 9.4? >> Motion, Mrs. Cerna. >> Second by Mrs. Johnson. Roll call, please. I before we move on, do we have any questions on any of the agenda items
under personnel management? That would be 9.1 through 9.4. Does anyone have any questions? Seeing no questions, can I have a roll call, please? >> Mrs. Turner? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fischer? >> Yes. >> Miss Garcia? >> Yes. >> Miss Gatlin? >> Yes.
>> Mrs. Johnson? >> Yes. >> Mr. Williams? >> Yes. >> And Mr. Kleta? >> Yes. Moving on to curriculum and technology. Do we have any questions before we move for a motion on any of the items 10.1 through
10.8? No questions. Do I have a Do I have a motion to move agenda items 10.1 through 10.8? Motion. >> Motion, Mrs. Johnson. Second, Miss Cerna. Roll call, please. Mrs. Cerna
>> rec from 10.2. Yes. Everything else. >> Mrs. Fisher. >> Yes. And we'll accept 10.6. I abstain. >> Miss Garcia. >> Yes. 10.3. I refuse. Miss Gatlin.
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Johnson, >> recuse 10.7. Yes. To everything else. >> Mr. Williams. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kleta. >> Recuse myself on 10.8 and yes to everything else.
>> Okay. We have nothing for policy, nothing for safety and security committee, and nothing for community engagement and outreach at this time. Do we have any questions on any of the
items under 14.1 through 14.18 for finance and physical plan? Anyone have any questions? See, seeing no questions, can I have a motion to move agenda items 14.1 through
148? >> Motion, Miss Cerna. >> Second, Mrs. Johnson. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fischer, >> yes. >> Miss Garcia,
>> yes. Um I recommend um approval of 14.16. >> Did you get that? Um 146 146 PO 6821. Okay. Um,
Miss Gatlin, >> abstain. Okay. Miss Johnson, >> yes. >> Mr. Williams, >> yes. >> And Mr. Kleta, >> yes. >> Okay. >> Do we have anything under new or old business? Does anyone have any new or
Yes, Miss Fischer. >> Yes. Um, just a few housekeeping. Um, being that I'm on policy now, I would uh I have been looking through the policy and bylaws manual. Uh, many many many of them are outdated. A lot of them from
2008 2010. So I feel that the policy committee needs to take that under advisement and go through the whole manual. One of them that New Jersey school boards has a little bit of an issue with is HIV and
they always want it updated and our policy hasn't really been updated since 2019. So that's an update of every year. We are a part of the strame. Um we are paying for it. Um they look at our all
of our policies and give us a you know tell us what we have to change. Um Mr. Rocka um it should come from him that has to go to the committee but I think that the policy manual is in dire need
of being updated. Um also with committees um as in the past as everyone knows being a seasoned board member whenever we did committees we also would have an alternate on any of our committees. So if someone couldn't make
it or if there was a conflict, um we would always have an alternate. So we would always have committees. Um I think it's very important to have committees meet at least once a month. Um to help
the school run well and to help um Mr. Waka. Um we I think we all need to be on board for that. So that's about it. >> Thank you. Anyone else? anything new or old business? >> I have the tuition information that Mr.
Williams was asking for earlier. >> Okay. So, the preschool tuition which was all of these tuition rates were approved on at the June um 9th the June 9th board meeting. So, the preschool tuition um for non-residents
is 17,471. Um for grades 1 through five is $17,88. For grades six through eight, it's 19,228 and that's regular education. For LLD,
um if there's any students that come in, um for LLD, it would be 53,772. For any autism would be 90,665 and MD multiple disabilities will be 21,579.
So that's what was approved on the board agenda. >> You're welcome. Anyone else in new oral business? >> Excuse me. I have one other thing. >> Um, so I know that we have a lot of new board members and if anyone has to take
the governance one class and they want to do it online, >> are you going to be teaching it? >> Oh, yeah. Um, actually it is um if you have any problems with it at all, I would honestly tell you to contact NJSBA
right away because it's a new system that they have done and a lot of things aren't working. So you got 90day clock is ticking that you have to get this done and you're having a problem with governance one uh with the site. I would
really tell you because that's what Kelly was making. She was alluding that to me because I have been on the phone with them >> telling them there are a lot of things that are broken. A lot of things have to be changed. And so if anybody has a problem with it, I would tell you really
call NJSBA right away. >> Oracle miss working on behind the scenes. >> Yeah. >> A lot of the components to it are not working properly. I think mostly everyone's going in into the
>> You're going on site, right? You're on. >> Yeah, you're on. >> That's great. >> Hopefully it doesn't snow. >> You're right. >> It probably will. >> And I'm not quite sure how that works either. If you can't make it if you can do because you're only allowed two board
members per district to go to this training. >> Yeah, we worked it out. Those two are going and then um Miss um that one is going in February, >> right? >> So, Yep. And then there's a one day also February 7th in Trenton from 11 uh 9 in
the morning till 4 in the afternoon if anybody wants to do a one day. >> So they changed the rule. Now you got to do it within 90 days. >> Yeah. Wow. >> Of election. >> Used to be easier just do it at schoolboards. Yeah. It used to be easier to just wait till the workshop sometimes just do it there.
>> Yeah. They they they've changed a lot of things now. So, so yeah, >> just uh for planning, you said for new business, um Governor Murphy on his way out um implemented
writing. Is >> that great? >> Isn't that great? >> Now, if we write checks again, we'll have that, you know, we'll be able to sign it. >> I am happy about that. We have to send we have to submit this as well to
>> yes >> seeing no other new business or old business >> almost. Um, can I have a motion for hearing of citizens on operation of schools 16.1?
>> We're almost out of here, guys. >> Motion, Mrs. Johnson. >> Second, Mrs. Garcia. >> All in favor? >> I. The floor is now open to the public on operations of schools. Please come up and state your name uh and address for
the record. >> Good evening. Um, I'm Amanda Puchalowski. uh president of the Hilden Education Association. Uh on behalf of the teaching staff, I would like to thank Mr. Kleta um for visiting our school on Friday uh taking the time off
to do so. Uh together we spent some time in the classrooms across the building from prek to the middle school. Um and we engaged in some meaningful conversations about the important work that happens here each day. Um, any chance I get to show off my colleagues
and students is truly an honor and easily the best part of serving as the union president. Um, I would also like to highlight the amazing work of Mrs. uh Carly Saul and Miss uh Stacy Kenova who uh Mrs. Saul teaches first grade and
Mrs. Kenova is our ESI uh coordinator and teacher. Um it was highlighted earlier this month on northj jersey.com and it was printed in all of the local newspapers. Um their face is all over the cover of the newspaper dressed up
for Grinch day. Um so it is something that first grade looks forward to every year and we are just so lucky to have both of them as part of the staff here at HBS. Um so >> thanks Amanda. Thank you. Anyone else in
the audience wish to speak? No. No one online. Seeing no one online, seeing no one in the audience. Can I have a motion to close the floor? >> So moved. >> Motion, Miss Fischer. Second, Mrs. Cerna. All in favor?
>> Can I have a We have no executive session. Can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> So moved. >> Mot Fischer. >> Second. Miss Cerno. All in favor?