I'm going to call this meeting to order. The time is now uh 0701. I'm sorry. 7 rise for flag salute. Please 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. Root of egress. In the event of emergency, all people may exit right or left from this room and proceed to an exit door. All doors will open from the inside out.
The open public meetings act announcement. The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public advance notice of and to attend meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions
of this act, the Helden board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published in the North Jersey Record Herald News, the board's official newspaper on March 29th, 2026. Notices of this meeting indicating date, time, and place were posted publicly on the door of the main entrance of the
school and filed with the clerk in the municipality of Hail. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cerna, >> here. >> Miss Gadd, >> Mrs. Fischer, >> here. Miss Garcia >> here. >> Miss Gatlin >> here. >> Mr. Guzman >> here.
>> Mrs. Johnson >> here. >> Mr. Williams >> present. >> And Mr. Gad >> present. >> Only report we have is uh president's report. >> Open it up to parents. >> Okay. >> Make a motion to open up the public.
Thank you. >> Motion, Mr. Judgement. Second, Miss Cerna. Roll call, please. All in favor? >> I >> I the floor is open if anyone would like to speak that's present. Is there anyone online, sir?
>> All right. Seeing no one in the room, seeing no one online. Uh, do we have a motion to close the motion? Mrs. Cerna, second, Mrs. Johnson. All in favor? The uh only item on the agenda currently is 10.1 to approve the contract uh for
the NGS NJSVA to conduct the opening for the superintendent search. Uh is there any discussion or before we move forward asking for a vote? I have a couple of questions. How many shared services does
about 12? >> Yeah. >> Is there a deadline for the NJ BSA? So what was discussed at the committee uh ad hoc committee for superintendent
search uh will be was that there is no actual hard there are deadlines with getting the search done. However, we're at the time of the year now where if we do not enter into the contract and start accepting applications that we would miss out on
potentially having someone in place, if we decide to hire our own person, uh not pursue shared service by the start of July 1st, which if that were to happen, then we would have to hire an interim, which could incur up to $900 a day, uh which is like the state uh
representative said is kind of the current rate. So anywhere between $8 and $900 a day to have somebody in interimm which would be a temporary person which would still also need to be approved by the county superintendent. Um and then if we did find someone after that date to hire it would just extend uh the
minimum contract has to be three years but once we go past July 1st then that extends the time to which we would be uh into that contract. It's the only option to find a superintendent and JPS.
We can find someone on our own as well. >> I believe so. Yes, sir. >> I mean, you can, but the process of the interview process and search and gathering all the applications, >> they have such a good system, right? At the moment, you will have to your
committee, the committee here will have to figure out how to do that process and it's time consuming. So it's hiring these e you know person or this vendor who has the expertise in this and so doing the meeting with the different
stakeholders. They're going to take care of all of that for us unless there is time that someone wants to devote to that which could cause a further delay because you're you're still trying to learn the process if you haven't been through it already you know. So
>> just a caveat with that >> there's a lot of legal obligations with that as well that the state provides and just reading through this packet gives you a lot of insight on it process. I mean having an experienced um vendor or group of people doing this would be
ideal especially if you know picking a superintendent is very important for the board because that is your one of your obligations to do besides make policy >> and we're doing um this type of service because we're waiting on whether or not
we're going to have shared service. >> I think you guys are exploring all options by doing this. Yeah. >> So the rationale behind uh opening search fully is that um we have an obligation to the children and the community and we want to find the actual right fit for Hilton whether it is
shared service or not. Um and again we're at the time of the year when we need to this is when people are looking to make the move so they could start July 1st. Um there are several other schools which are currently hiring. Um the vendor that we're using is leading several of those searches or that we are
looking to use is leading several of those searches. They said they've had a ton of applications and candidates. Um it was the opinion that we like uh Miss Austin said really want to make sure that everyone understands we are trying to do what's best for the kids. We're going to look take in
applications for people that want to be here. We're going to look at the shared because the while we will explore the option of shared services, it's not just up to us. We can say this is what we want to do and we're at the mercy of the other boards agreeing with us whether it's Manchester or any other boards. Um,
so that's why we felt it was the best option to try to go this route. Again, everybody's free to vote um how they choose. However, that was the recommendation was to go with the NJSBA so that everyone knows it's not everyone here is going to have an uh it's not
just one person picking, right? So, everyone here is going to be involved in the uh interview process. It'll be interviews by the full board. Um they're going to come in, they're going to go over u all the questions that can be asked. They're going to make sure that we have everything uh properly vetted.
They're going to do uh stakeholder um information sessions where they're going to speak with the staff uh get their insight. They're going to allow the parents and the other community members to come in. It's the same search that actually Manchester I believe used. Um I could be wrong. It was the same vendor that they used when they had
>> we used a vendor that had experience with the >> experience. Right. So um like I said I'm brand new board president been on I know we do have two former board presidents but I do think it would be in the best interest so that everyone in the community is on the same page to know that we are doing everything in our power to make sure that we have the
right person um regardless of who it ends up being in the end that that's somebody that we feel comfortable with that they have the best interest of the children at heart. They're going to do you know everything that they can do that's in their power. So that that was why we're going we're attempting to go this route. >> I I have a question. Uh you said that
you have an ad hoc committee for superintendent search. >> Yes. >> That actually has to be voted on by the full board. You have to let the board know that you have an ad hoc committee for superintendent search and that's never brought to the board. >> We can definitely vote on that. That is
something that I know was um brought up because of the pivot of um the shared service agreement not kind of going in a direction that is that was expected. It was also um kind of talked about when this contract came into fruition. So
right now we can even though it's not on the agenda, you can make a motion to um do that if you would like to because it wasn't official. It's just like a conversation that was put together in order to create one to um handle this process.
>> We have a motion to create an ad hoc committee to the superintendent church. >> Motion Miss Turner. >> Second, Mr. Johnson. Roll call, please. >> Okay. >> On the committee.
>> Sorry. >> All right. Mrs. U Mrs. Cerna. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fischer. >> Abstain. >> Miss Garcia. >> Yes. >> Miss Gatlin. >> Yes. >> Mr. Guzman. Um I think it's important
for the resolution to reflect who's on the >> that was going to be the next thing that was >> I think that right Mr. Guzman is correct if we're going to vote on if you're going to vote on it it should be these are the people that are going to be on the committee and then have the vote >> I think the resolution is to wait the
resolution is to create one and then the next resolution is to approve who's going to be on it. Okay. Yes. Okay. >> Mrs. Johnson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Williams. >> Yes. >> And Miss K. Mr. Kleta. >> Yes.
>> Okay. So, I guess um you can make a motion to create you guys can make a you can talk about who you want to be on it and then you guys can come up with that suggestion of who you want to be on it and then we can make a motion to establish that these are the members of
the adult committee. Okay. All right. My suggestion for the ad hoc comm I'm allowed to give a suggestion. Correct. >> You can make a suggestion and it's open to the board for discussion. >> Okay. So my suggestion for the search ad hoc committee um would be to have Mr.
Johnson, Mrs. Cerna and Mr. Williams. Um it's obviously again it's open for discussion. The floor is open to any member that wishes to speak or give their insight. Feel free to give your insight. I would like to be on it. I feel like I
bring transparency and >> balance. >> Any other comments or questions? >> I make a motion to adopt that committee. >> Motion, Mr. Guzman. >> Second, Mr. Cerna. Roll call, please.
>> Mrs. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fischer, >> abstain. >> Miss Garcia, >> yes. >> Miss Miss Gatlin, >> yes. >> Mr. Guzman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johnson, >> yes. >> Mr. Williams, >> yes. >> And Mr. Kleta, >> yes.
>> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Do we have a motion to move item under finance 10.1? >> I have a question, Mr. President. >> Yes, sir. Um, do we know yet who uh the NJSBA is going to appoint to be the facilitator for the search if it's
approved by the board? Um, usually is a field rep. Um, but we know who it is. I mean, in the past, we've had certain field reps do our superintendent searches that have extensive experience in this. So, I want to make sure that we're getting the best bang for the buck. I think if we get someone who's
brand new and that's facilitating our search, it's kind of like where we're spending all this money for. someone with with experience. >> Yeah, >> I would like I would personally >> Mrs. Kelly, she has plenty of experience, years of
experience with this. >> Yep. >> I have a question. So, with working with NJSBA, will they will it be included in the contract that um they have to find a
superintendent by a certain date? >> Well, she did say um that in the month of May, we would need like six additional meetings in order to do the interviewing process. So, they're going to they're going to be um extra meetings
to hit the the date. >> Okay. And when it was discussed with Miss Mitchell how the board uh contract works, she said she has done searches where she said full disclosure that they have done a search, they've accepted applications, they've done dozens of
interviews and the board at that school didn't like any of the candidates and then they had to start over. They said that is fully possible that you can start this search and not come to again we you need a minimum of five votes of the board for the full board to approve
it. However, we would like to have, you know, a candidate that everyone can feel comfortable with. Um, so they said that that is 100% possible that you can go through the entire search and you don't find someone that you're comfortable with. So, they their thing is that they want to make sure that we're comfortable
with who we get, that the person's comfortable, and that that everyone's going to be uh, you know, happy with what they spent, and the kids are going to get what they need, and the district and all stakeholders are going to be, you know, squared away and happy. Oh, that sounds about right. That's
exactly um I know I asked you this before, but um since the full mo majority, like you just said, of the board um chose to look in the direction of shared services, why can't we just wait until
their next meeting, you know, before we spend the money? >> There is a termination clause. Um there is a termination clause in the contract. Uh if you open it up, it's on >> I mean because it's like two weeks, right?
>> I'm just hold >> I think both boards that were um >> I mean for us to wait for it >> meaning North I don't know >> North is um discussing it. >> So under section No, but the board don't
know about North. We only know about >> Yeah, we did not know. I did not know about that. So I think >> you haven't gotten to that part. I was trying to bring it up on new business. >> Uh can I while we have this opened already about it, can we talk on that next topic? >> I just want to make sure you
>> So we were approached um via we we did receive formal correspondence from another board uh asking for a meeting. Um, I instructed Miss Lama to reach back out to them and look for an actual date so we could sit down and talk to them. Um, which was North Halen.
Uh, their president called and asked if they if we would be interested in scheduling a meeting with them. I said that obviously would be up to the full board, but if they send a letter, um, we would formally attempt to schedule a meeting as long as there was five people here that were interested in doing that.
Again, my suggestion is that we look at every possible option because I want the people to feel comfortable that at the end of the day, we're trying to do what's best for the kids. We're trying to do what's best for the town. Um, Manchester does very well and North Halen does very well. North Hilden is on
the higher end of, you know, the scores uh in the county. So, when they reached out, I I do think we should look into it. Um, again, was going to be brought up under new business that they reached out. um it will be under the formal correspondence probably in the next uh meeting. However, their next meeting is
also not till either April 14th or 15th. So, the only thing waiting that we were cautioned um was again if you wait and we don't start uh soliciting applications by basically tomorrow. um that we would most likely
fail to be able to hire someone of our own if we have to go that route uh by the July 1st deadline for the contract. Again, we have to not only do we all have to agree to hire somebody, even if they're an internal candidate or someone else or external candidate, the county
superintendent is allowed a 20-day wait. It's 20 days. So, she has 20 days and I'm sure there's like with everything with the state, I'm sure there's extensions and things that she can apply for. So my fear in waiting uh especially sitting here is that I don't want the town or the stakeholders or the parents
to think that we're not checking every box. Um spoke with Miss Augustine about the money. Um she ensures that the money is available in the budget and this is not going to lead to any shortages of any other things um that the $8,000 would be well spent to make sure that
we're soliciting. Um, and again, if we had a better I don't know, for lack of better like if we had a better idea of how the other boards were looking to uh deal with us, I would say it's possible to wait, but I don't want to risk waiting personally. I
mean, everyone's free to vote how they want. Obviously, um, I voted no to things that other people wanted before. However, I don't feel comfortable waiting for someone else to make a decision for us. I think that it would be almost negligent on our behalf to say we're going to wait on another board, whether it's Manchester, North Hilden,
or anyone else that may come forward and say, let's wait for them to make a decision before we move forward. I would almost say assume they don't neither board wants to work with us and look for our own and if it's something that works out, then it works out. And again, there is a termination clause. So, if we were to get to a point where we think that
shared services is the way to go and everyone's happy with that, um there is a clause under section I just had I apologize. The termination clause on article five, it says that as long as we give them 30 days written notice that we could exit
out of the contract and it will be based on uh hourly time. So it's uh the association would be build at $70 per hour for professional time and up to $36 per hour travel. Uh but the cost cannot exceed the 8,000. So if they really didn't do anything by that point, they
could only bill us for what they have done to that point uh under this contract. So >> I understand though the what you're saying about the waiting period, but um >> we also said we don't want to rush into anything, right? We want to do what's best and the board already told you
guys. So is there a way that we can um isn't there a way we can just like appoint and do like the monthto month? What was it? Well, if we're worried about spending $8,000 after not the money, not the money. I'm talking about >> person. So, if if we go the interimm
route after 10 days, we'll spend more than $8,000. >> No, not the inter. Wasn't there another way of acting? >> Acting? Yeah, acting. I'm sorry. >> You you could appoint acting, but you could also hire someone from within if there's somebody self-certified. That's
what I mean by acting until we find >> but we're also interviewing them >> right >> at the same time as we're interviewing other candidates as well. So >> the weight of time because it's multiple interviews that we have to that Kelly has to do.
>> So if we wait behind the eightball we might not get the best candidate even if it's whether it's internal or outside. >> I'm not saying like wait like that. I'm saying he just said we, you know, he would rather have somebody, well, we would rather have someone that everybody
agrees on and feel like is the best candidate. And if the board already felt that way, then why wouldn't we just wait two weeks? >> The only thing I could say as to that from from my perspective is we sat here, we we did a uh we spoke about reaching
out to Manchester. >> Wait for that meeting >> and we reached out to Manchester. They had it on their agenda and then they took it off. >> But it's up there for discussion now. >> But they had it on their We We did that. They had it on their agenda as correspondents, official correspondence. They had it removed from their agenda
and they did not address it until after it was spoken read aloud publicly at the public portion. So again, doesn't mean that we can't work with them. I'd be happy to work with them if that was what's in best interest. Same way, I would be happy to work with anybody who could provide service or to these kids
and to the town. Um but again I just think waiting for someone else to make our decision is not in the best interest of the kids in the school. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Using Miss Mitchell um and having the interview process um for like the parents and the teachers and the
stakeholders and this um that's a process that we would have to do anyway, right? Even if it was a shared service, that way we can get the input of everybody else. I think it's a good idea to get the input of everyone else because then it's on the record. >> So either way we go whether it's the
shared service or a outside candidate, we are already on that process. So it works out that way. president. So, what I'm hearing is that we open up the search and even if you want to do even if you want to do a
search service, you're you're going to want that superintendent from the other district to come through the search >> as well. >> Yes, that go through the interview process >> instead of just >> Okay, >> I think we were going to do that anyway.
You should have our interview when you >> Yeah. I want to make sure that everything is done legally and ethically so that we can not later somebody come back and say that we >> so if regardless we're doing a search regardless we just want to get this we want to get this started >> and we want to and we want to get it started as soon as possible because
again it's time restrictive and we would it would be tragedy if we say we found the candidate we like and we just missed the deadline because they're interviewing for some of the other like Lakes is hiring right now. there's a bunch of other places in this area. So, it's not like we're the only school that's looking. There's there's a lot of
If you go online, there's a lot of places hiring right now. >> So, >> and we also have to think about what their actual contract is. If they're already hired in another school and their contract is not >> um doesn't allow them to leave, we still need that time frame, right? So,
>> and again, the the if we have to hire an interimm, it's expensive. And again, we talk about money and tricky budgets. You that's a lot of money to spend. 98 for that. >> I should have been a superintendent, not a police officer. Uh, do we have a
motion on 10.1? >> M. Miss. Second. Second, Miss Johnson. Roll call, please. Buses. >> Mrs. Cerner. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fischer. >> Yes. >> Miss Garcia. >> Yes.
>> Miss Gatlin. >> Yes. >> Mr. Guzman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johnson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Williams. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kleta. >> Yes. >> All right. Have a motion to open the floor to hearing of citizens on operations of schools. >> Motion. >> Motion. Mr. Johnson.
>> Second. >> Second. Mr. Williams. All in favor? >> I. >> Seeing no one in the room. Do we have anyone online? >> Nope. Seeing no one motion close Mr. Guzman second Mr. Cerna all in favor
>> I >> we have a motion to adjurnn >> motion to adjurnn misserna all in favor second >> second Mr. Isconin. All in favor. >> Motion is meeting is adjourned at 7:25.