okay so we're just going to rise for the flag salute please um they just let us know when okay 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 good evening everyone uh we we are going to run this meeting as a committee meeting until we get one more member um and then we'll have a quorum and then we
will call the meeting to order and we will begin the official uh board meeting um so we we'll start with uh reports and I can start with my report um let's see so good evening
thank you for joining us us um as noted at our last meeting we will be discussing a number of educational topics over the course of the year um tonight we'll be discussing cell phone policies in schools so that discussion will take place during new and old
business um secondly we have heard from some board members that they will not be in attendance at our next board meeting scheduled on Wednesday February 26 due to a widely attended Community event taking place that same night we anticipate not having a quorum and
therefore are cancelling the board meeting on February 26 so after tonight our next board meeting will be Wednesday March 12th however we will hold a finance committee meeting before March 12th so that our business administrator Miss Augustin can
review with the finance committee the budget Draft before presenting it to the entire board on March 12 um and that is it for me so I am going to turn it over to m WKA thank you for President E uh like you said during
new and old I'll uh I'll give a report a brief report overview the district's current uh electronic device procedures and present information about what's what's happening in the state um what's what what we thinks coming and then what you know we I think HBS should look to
do um there are a few notes I want to present to the board the first is that on March 19th our PTA will host their annual TR tray at the tides in North hen uh so hope we have a good turnout at the new location um additionally on March
14th we will hold the now third annual East Coast professional wrestling PTA fundraiser in our big gym I know that George and lisel um probably others have attended in the past uh it's been fun and it grew from year one to year two so hopefully um we'll see it continue to
grow uh we just got the flyer this morning so we'll put that in our future mailings to the uh you know the parents and students um I want to talk about snow for bit thus far we've used only one snow day which means we have a two a total of two snow days left uh if we do
not use those days then by contract they will be allotted to the extend the Memorial Day Break likewise if we have just a real terrible next couple weeks uh every day we go after those two are allotted we'd have to truncate the April break so we we hope to not have to get
to that level um but because of that we'll be looking closely at the weather the next couple of weeks because the weather does look you know iffy coming up I got a security update I want to inform the board um that in order to make the school even safer during a lockdown event we'll be putting electronic
locking doors on the common bathroom uh for students um this means that if that means that the the locks are going to lock from the inside of the bathroom so that if a lockdown were to be triggered the students that are in the restroom uh would be safe you know from from anyone
any bad guys outside um furthermore link and I weren't totally thrilled with the latest design for the front door area this is an important project and we're going to do it properly and if that takes a little more time in the planning stages and that's that's what we're going to do uh we have
a meeting schedule for tomorrow with the architect and our director of facilities to see the you know the feasibility of the most recent plan and then we'll go from there uh but it's definitely still a top priority uh the final security update is that in the next budget we're looking to install Vape detecting
devices in the common are bathroom areas please not that these devices will not have any camera at all in them because it's a bathroom um they're simply Vape detectors they will be connected to our camera system uh that we have uh in that uh if the Vape detector goes off an
alert will go through our camera system and everyone with access to our camera system will get a popup that said vape detector alert went off in this bathroom at that time and that helps us because with our cameras we can kind of identify who might have been in the bathroom at that particular ular time and that would be the you know a prudent place to begin
that investigation um do I do I think that vaping is a prolific problem at HPS particular no but I do believe it's a problem you know Nationwide for teenagers uh and it's it's it's been kind of easy to hide so I think it makes
sense in the next security upgrade the next budget to address this um lastly I spoke to Mr Marino and he's going to give us some information about upcoming policies and table policies so that the board could have as much information about what's coming down the the docket on that front um and we appreciate that
opportunity to have you know that explanation and the opportunity to ask any questions so that's my report thank you Mr Walker any questions Mr Walker I do have one last thing it's good news um the friend of ours um friend of hailen public Al Dil aiz he won a State
Assembly spot he's going to be on the education uh committee for the State Assembly and he asked me to be uh an adviser so I said yes it's an unpaid volunteer job that I'm happy to do so that's my great congratulations thank you
awesome okay uh Miss Austin business administrative report yes thank you madam mad pres um I just want to send the reminder to the board members who have not submitted their financial disclosure form uh you hear me say this until the
all the forms are completed and approved just remember the deadline is April 1st for all of our returning board members and um February 1 um has pass so hopefully all the new ones already submitted so
that the other thing is um just like U Madame President mentioned that the cancellation of the next for meeting a letter a notice will go out tomorrow to let everyone know but I do want to meet with the finance team which I stressed in the finance meeting um today just so
that we can go over once we receive the state aid number and see where we are budget wise confirm all of our capital projects that we're looking to do next year and to make sure that we can kind of iron out any like questions for the board by the time the presentation or
the board is um the budget is submitted to the county we are meeting March 12 so the tentative budget have to be approved then the submission to the county is March 20th that means that um you know we have to agree on March 12 or we would have to have another meeting to passed
the budget before March 20th and um that's why it's imperative that we get together as a finance te to discuss it uh our Governor's announcement on that St dat will be the last week of um February and usually um it's probably
like either the Thursday I believe it is we could watch it on um line and usually a few days after that we get our numbers and then we you know kick it into action to make sure that we have everything that we need to um balance our budget
the the last thing for announcements is the PTA donation I have received some board members um donation but if you would like to donate usually the board um members collectively collect and we um present you know one Collective gift
to for the PTA the PTA meeting or event is March 19th like um we said and I'll go out and get whatever um we usually get which is usually a gift card from the board um um collectively for this event so please see me if anyone is um
interested uh on the agenda tonight we have a few things in finance one of the um things we have to do every year after our audit review is some is approve our um comprehensive budget I mean comprehensive audit this year so just
some highlights from that audit which is part of my um presentation so I'll just kind of do that now um the district is in good Financial standings overall you should have received a packet in the
mail on Friday if you want to look at that now or pull it out that would be um ideal to kind of go through some of the finances that um the district is at right now so we are looking at page
14 okay okay so on the audit um overall the district um is um financially healthy if you look at section one of your audit book which is your um your management
um um booklet here in section one it overall it tells us what the general fund expenditures are for the year our total general fund expenditures was 23 million 826 um 7
6719 overall um after um deducting Social Security and other um pre prek inclusion expenses our total expenditures for the year our adjusted expenditures was 19 million 517
364 with that every year our Auditors um take a 2% of those expenditures and apply it to our general fund expenditures adjustment um which this year in line B4 if you guys look at that
in section one is um 39347 on top of that we did receive some extra extraordinary Aid and non-public Aid um for the year of 79,000 in which we it brings us to a total of
unassigned um surplus of 469 694 in line M in line M we can take this amount and we can use this to help DOA budget for 2526 so once our order is done from a
previous year this year is skipped from these numbers and then the year that is coming up now to budget for those are the funds that we can use as a revenue Source in our budget okay with that being Miss before you continue Miss
Johnson is now online should we call the meeting to order can be part of the yes that would be perfect so let's do that okay um so call the meeting to order um we already did the flag salute
so let me um oops read the rout of erress in the event of an emergency all people may exit right or left from this room and proceed to an exit door all doors will open open from the
inside the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Helton board
of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published in the north Jersey record Herold news the board's official newspaper on January 15 2025 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 in the municipality of Halden roll call please Mr CER Mr Keta miss cadr Mr
Guzman Mrs Johnson I heard Mr Martinez Mr moxo here Mr Ramadan Mrs here okay so um we're you're doing your
audit presentation now so you can just continue okay thank you thank you yes so I think I was at finishing up section one and now we're on to section two so in section one we came to the point where we were discussing the maximum unassigned fund balance in which
we can use as a district to balance our budget for 2526 that total amount is $469 694 that is on page 14 of your um audit management book that was um sent to you on um Friday along with a copy of the
agenda in section two of this um U management page we look at um some items that are related to some of our reserves that the district will has the capacity to use also in our 252
um6 budget part of these are we have a um legal restriction in C1 we have to um use or kind of use these funds for um our next year as far as the PS that we committed to from the previous year so
in 2324 there were um a total of 638,000 purchase orders that were left um open that rolled over to the next year so these are restricted um funds that we will still need to um commit to for the subsequent year and then we also
have an C3 which is 97,000 also our total restricted fund balance that we can also use in our budget for the 252 for 25 26 school year on C4 where it says unreserved assigned
for fund balance these are where our restricted reserves are as which are if you look on page 16 the total amount of 6,306 866 is broken down as such we have
4,860 in capital reserves These funds are strictly used for capital projects we also have 882962812 maintenance reserves can be allocated in the budget to be used strictly for required maintenance throughout the
district we also have emergency Reserve 250,000 and emergency reserves are used specifically for unforeseen items such as when we had our um the pipe situation in the cafeteria if we didn't have funds to pay for it we can use these emergency
reserves to pay for those type of items now emergency reserves are not the easiest to use we will have to get County approval we will also have to approve that we this was the item that was unforeseen that we didn't anticipate and we did not budget for it so it is a
process even though it says emergency there's still oversight by the county on how we can use those funds but we have to get and we still have funds to utilize if we need in case of emergency of course yes we do and the final reserves which is the reserve for
unemployment funds this is you know at as I stated in the finance committee these are um reserves that are set aside in case we had to pay out any unemployment claims so the total reserves for the year is 6 million 306 866 and again these reserves are
restricted and only could be used for the category that's stated on within the order okay any questions on that on the capital maintenance and res examples yeah okay so when we did our addition
project so we use Capital funds for to do the addition project that's a planed um expansion that's what you mean by that Capital reserves are planned maintenance are planned emergencies are unforeseen and not planned yeah okay so um those are our f um the
audited finances for the year 2324 and these um um are we also have um other items such as extraordinary Aid and also the nonpublic aid which I think I stated and that's part of the
unforeseen um Surplus that we would see um during you know throughout the audit process so any questions on the finance and um as far as the audit is concerned when it comes to the financial part of it okay all right in addition to our um
the actual Finance Parts there also there's also material part where there is um the auditor takes samples of different areas in um within the district they look at all they look at contracts they look at salaries they look at purchase orders they look at um
you know um student count and there were some items that they um they noted in our report that the district has to kind of um look into internal controls and correct so we're going to be working on those and we've already started the process and a lot of this I attribute to
the transitioning between the two um um software um that that we went through the budgetary but we're on top of this and and it it states in our um cap which is our corrective action plan that we're going to approve tonight okay is there a specific time frame to address those
findings I put correct on the capital on the corrective act action plan depending on what it is some of the stuff is annual like the ASA report we only technically could approve um um correct that on the next submission and technically the the ASA report is
submitted in October so once we our udit was complete that was already submitted so any corrections will probably in all reality be corrected this October 2025 but we have to put a time frame which I put June 30th which because
that's the end of the school year yeah that's on the corrective action plan okay okay you all right that's any questions okay thank you so much Miss Aon um okay so let's let's vote on minutes can I
have a motion to approve prior minutes um now do we have we have two sets of minutes can we do them together or do we have to do them one by one do a one by one if someone wants to vote on one or the other but they can
state which one there okay uh yeah let's just do it together then you can say both or just one um okay so uh moved by Mr Martinez seconded by Mr mosow roll call
please Mrs SAA yes Mrs Johnson yes Mr Martinez yes Mr moxo yes Mrs yes okay um so let's can I have a motion to open the floor to Citizens on agenda
items only some second moved by Mr Martinez seconded by MCO uh Mr MCO all in favor I I I okay the floor is open to Citizens on agenda items only
nothing okay good I have a motion to close moved by Mr Martinez seconded by Mr mosow all in favor I I okay um to the
agenda so let's move down we did um let's start going through our committee reports or committees um personnel and management Mr Martinez uh
agenda items only okay curriculum and Technology Miss CNA policy and public relations Mr Martinez it uh security and safety Miss
Johnson agenda community and Outreach Mr Moo agenda items okay and then finance and physical plant Mr moow uh we met
discuss the budget briefly um as ba explained and agenda um I guess we can sorry okay so uh for state and County um is not here um I did there was
a county meeting um on the 29th a few of us were there um on chartered schools um it was an interesting meeting um there are 86 chartered schools in New Jersey uh 63,000 students uh there are nine in
pic County and seven of them are in Patterson um they have a five-year contract with the Department of Education to live up to their Charter whatever may be um just a couple of things here um I had asked if the you know Charter
Schools Arc to 12 or if they're segmented like you know Middle School um and he said it really depended on the charter of the school some of them Arc 12 some of them are um just Elementary or middle you know or up to middle school and some of them are are high
school specifically um and then there was a question about which I thought was a good question about special ed students and if Charter Schools can address the needs of special ed students and the response was it depends on the the case
it depends on the needs of that student so they may be able to address those needs but they um may not be able to they have to follow all of the same things that public schools follow but they may not be able to address the needs of a particular student in which case that student would likely be
referred out the way they are at at a at a traditional Public School um anybody who was there want to add anything okay uh so uh Mr Marino anything yes so on the agenda tonight under section nine our policy updates
and some new policies that shra sesme is recommending um as I mentioned last time shra sesme is the company that does our policy and they do everybody's policies they do every all the districts um they take the the policies that are required by the Department of Education they put
an M on it for mandated so there's several of those those either new policies or changes tonight so the M's are there they also had a lot of updates a lot of language um we looked at them I think they're mostly word smithing but they they're Crossing out some words that that we we we thought might be more
substantial than maybe just a slight revision so um at my my recommendation was like when I saw the agenda let's because it came out Friday um let's take take off some of those revisions that are not mandated let's give the board
members some more time to look through those and we'll put them on for the next meeting they're they're not mandated so there's there's no immediate requirement that we do those changes if at all really um so that's why if you look on your agenda there's some that are crossed out and said removed we'll just put those on for next time just to give
everybody the opportunity to look at those but we did leave the mandated ones on because those mandated ones like I said are right from the Department of Education a lot of those regard relate to the uniform State memorandum um and again these are all things that we don't really have a say
and for QC we need to adopt it so um so we do need to adopt those tonight that's my report okay great thank you Mr Merino any questions okay okay then so let's start Jeff C jump in real quick with a question sure
is um I know one of the policies with the uh artificial intelligence and you know I just you know we both decided we didn't want to jump into you know having the board vote on something because it just came out and it's pretty hot yeah so that so yeah that one's more substantial so that one
came out um as well and that's not that was never on the agenda so artificial intelligence we all have been waiting for it um the state um Department of Education worked with Strauss sesme and they did come up with one but it's not mandated and it may not apply to you
know ka8 districts it might be better for high schools so it was put out there and it's kind of like a soft recommendation it's something that we that that the administration really should look at first to see if this works for you as an elementary school and a middle school um and whether app
maybe it doesn't even apply to the elementary kids and maybe it's more better for the middle school grades so I think that's something the administration should really look at first uh and then make a recommendation to the Board of Education as to which way you want to go but you're not bound to what stme is recommending it really
is just an initial draft of that policy that's a more substantial policy thanks Jeff thank you okay um so let's start with uh personnel and management I'd like to
move 7.1 to 7.5 please I have a second second moved by Mr Martinez seconded by Mr moow roll call please can we have session Pur please um um when I asked uh last
meeting about um having a fully staffed uh you said that we were fully stop but then we have a new hire so was are we replacing what number you talk about uh 7.1 oh this is a a cafeteria a so we had
uh one of our former cafeteria AGS passed away a couple months ago got that one but well like I thought that we were fully stop so I thought you uh I was I was referring to the teaching ctif St m i was I wasn't referring to I'm sorry for that okay who was
Voting we haven't started okay so roll call please Mrs turn yes Mrs Johnson yes Mr Martinez yes Mr moxo yes Mr Ramadan yes
yes okay technology back to my m curricul in technology Mr Ramadan motion to move 8.1 to 8.5 second moved by Mr Ramadan seconded by
Mr Martinez roll call please again I have a question um I asked uh I called earlier today um just to get uh more insight on uh 8.5 I want to know what was the last five years of the field trip for 8th grade where that we're going to six vs instead of like
something educational is that like like a part of the prom or is it like I think it's a fun activity though right of course it's fun but yeah I mean I'm just saying they they they're already in school it's it's technically it's a field trip it's more of a a celebration
for them you know have it accumulated their their experience so are we not doing like a DC thing anymore like that was when my son was I just want know they used to go to like DC or in the years before that they the seventh grade would go to like Boston um that was something that you know the the interest
in that was was strong but it was kind of wanting a little bit um so we we just decided to let's go locally so are we just uh so this is new Six Flags so they've been going to Six Flags each of the last several years but they also go to like U like our seventh grade they Ed the trip they go on like one of those
cruises around New York in the eighth grade I believe went to last year they went somewhere in Brooklyn to do some kind of jump Blazer something like that and then from Brooklyn they went to the American dream mall and did whatever they did at the the American dream wall
so um so are we just doing field trips to be fun or just going to be like educational for this particular grade I I would kind of advocate you know this is the end of the the line for them so if this is where they want to go and this you know I would be I prove them
going for something like this um if this was a trip for like grade three or four it would be a much different story your vote Mrs oh yes I I just want to add I I totally agree that for the younger grades it should be something educational you know fun but educational
um but for the middle school I think uh especially seventh eth grade you know it's okay if they do something a little bit more recreational and social um they've kind of earned it you know and um and they look forward to it but um
okay so Mrs Johnson yes Mr Martinez yes Mr Moo yes Mr Ramadan yes Mrs yes okay i' like to move 9.1
please and these are just the mandated ones I st the lawyer right the yeah the ones so the the ones that are mandated the ones that were not mandated were struck through so those we will table until the next and and by the way uh this is a first reading so this doesn't
mean that we're adopting these we're approving the first reading there will be a second reading of these um at the next meeting and that just allows for time for more review mee too yeah and we'll have a policy yeah we'll have a policy committee meeting before the the next
meeting um yeah oh R call Mrs CA yes Mrs Johnson yes Mr Martinez yes Mr Moo yes Mr Ramadan yes Mr
yes okay and now skipping down to finance and physical plan Mr Moz like move one through 12 I have a second second moved by Mr mosco seconded by Mr Martinez roll call please Mrs
S um am I doing I'm going to um abstain from 122 I think it's just the the uh listing the bill listing that you have to obain for you don't have to obstain from the entire yeah 12.2 right um the item you
mean whatever right 12.12 is the resolution and then there's a bill on the bills okay perfect and yes the okay Mrs
Johnson no I just wanted to make sure okay all right can you guys hear me no Mr Martinez yes Mr Moo yes Mr radan yes and Mrs yes okay so now we're gonna move
to New and Old business and Mr W is gonna talk about uh you know our our cell phone policy um and then we can talk about the articles that I you know sent out and just have a little discussion um and go from there sure um
so I'm going to I'm going to read aloud what I had given to the board members in the room because I know we have people um you know joining us from Zoom uh so in this past January uh Governor Murphy expressed support for a bill that would require the commissioner of the
Department of Education for New Jersey to create a model cell phone policy to offer guidance to districts pertaining to the topic of still student cell phone usage in public schools the bill will likely look to prohibit cell phone usage
by students in the academic setting and it's possible that the model policy may even advocate for a total prohibition of cell phone usage for students in the schools um I imagine that a committee will be formed by the at the commissioner's office which aims at
crafting this guidance uh to the districts I do not believe it's been stated and correctly if I'm wrong Jeff but I don't believe it's been stated when we should expect this policy to be given to district superintendent or to District Board of Education members um currently each School
District's Board of Education in their policy May determine how they wish to regulate student cell phone usage some schools have opted for total complete cell phone bands other schools have utilized a modified usage of cell phones um our district cell phone usage was
board approved within our student code of conduct I've provided copies of this on the following pages on exhibit a so when you go to exhibit a it's got a circle with the letter A on top um you'll see that on the left you'll see
the co a column titled behaviors um the third one down is electronic device us should that's you know for for a student that's in grade sixth seventh or eighth this is the discipline policy that Mr spado or Mr tro or M Pano or myself uh
would look to follow uh a level two um is be determined by the the the frequency that the event happened or the severity that something happened um and if you keep going along you'll see um the same code of conduct for grades three four and five um for their cell
phone usage um so this is what we look to follow with that four now if you keep going you'll see exhibit B exhibit B details the number of students that were written up by staff members this year for El
electronic device usage so that represents total number of times a teacher logged into our realtime system um and wrote a student up for disciplinary action for cell phones uh for those of you at home the answer is a total of four times that's happened this year um Exhibit C details a number of
students that were given self-managed warnings for cell phone usage violations this means uh that a student was using their phone when they weren't supposed to the teacher didn't want to have the discipline assigned but the teacher still wanted note it in the system so if it happens again the teacher say I gave
you them a chance once but you know this is the the last chance you're going to get before I officially write you up uh that total was four total times this year as well um and then exhibit D discusses uh the district's current cell phone policy on student uh owned
technology devices um and some of the the highlights of that are that this board uh through its has decided that um if there is a valid reason for a student to be using a device in the classroom uh the teacher
is allowed to let that happen uh there's guidelines for that uh but that's something that this board had opted to to utilize now here's the the looming questions that I think parents should have and staff members and board bed members um
the first question is will the Doe's model policy be mandatory for all districts to adopt in other words um I'm not sure if they're going to give a model policy and it's it's a mandatory model that you have to follow or if it's uh here's what we want you to do but you still have the sovereignty to kind of do
what what with your own thing um the second question I have is Will districts be continue to implement cell phone polities that allow for students to have cell phones at certain times of the day so my question here is is this bill going to be a total prohibition of cell phones or is it going to give some
opportunities for a kid to bring into advice uh to the school um another question is will funding be given to districts uh to cure whatever it is the district feels it needs uh to be able to implement the the cell phone whatever the cell phone policy is so I know some
schools buy like cell phone lockers or have cell phone like lock device whatever it's going to be um if if we look to do something like that is are we going to be on the hook word or can we get some kind of reimbursal and that doesn't follow the emergency funds either no
most like probably um the next is when when's day one of this going to be is this going to be a we get something in a couple weeks says hey you better have this ready by September or is it going to be you have to the January 1 or I don't know when that's going to be um and the last
question is you know what should HPS look to do um about this topic so I provided a little op it when first was cell phones first came out um it seems like most District's initial reaction was to to ban them uh
we don't want to have cell phones in schools uh then years passed by and I think District saw that they they weren't fully able to enforce the the policies of of a total ban and that gave used to the the kind of like bring your own device type policies uh you know
when we see that in exhibit D but I think that was the Genesis of going from hey we're going to do a total ban to now there might good reasons to do it and for me and also like with all the um stuff going on at the schools you know they wanted to like
parents be notified and that became a thing where the students checking their own check their own and they check in with their parents and stuff like that call me you know and that be case something where they gave a little more lenience on to allow them to use the phone just like the um on the planes
wasn't that at one time it was dead zone through soon as you get in the airport and on a plane and then leave now you have a little more time in between so it seems it seems like a lot of a lot of the things you're discussing stem from you know we're going to move away from it emergencies happening and then if
came where they started looking into agree um but now we're at a point where it looks like the pendulum is starting to move back um towards the idea of advocating for total bans um I think that cell phones in teenagers hands are
are both somewhat necessary and I think they're also they have the potential for harm um but I think that the real damage that I see isn't really what what what we're seeing within the classroom I think that a lot of students are staying
up very late and I I see it in my own home but my son because these Tik Tock algorithms and the and the Instagram real algorithms they they they're meant to kind of get you addicted and to get you to keep scre scrolling and staying up late um and since the adaptation of those
just the eyebolt that's the amount of students coming in looking tired or lethargic or coming in late uh or and even our our days off am of kids you know being absent it seems to be going up in correlation with the the the rise of popularity of those platforms um I
think that social media's impact on students self-perception is is a real thing and I think it's a for the most part A overwhelmingly negative impact um you know there there are some good things about social media but it's you know we see the impact of the negative
here at school probably more than we see the good I think the toxic influencers are a big harm uh it's you know we had an HIV a couple months ago because someone saw something on Tik Tok and wanted to emulate the Tik Tok challenge or Tik Tok Trends whatever they're called uh and someone got hurt at helden
because of that so I I think that's dangerous and then there's always you know a lot of these these apps make it so that the the record of the record of conversation between your child and whoever they're talking to it's going to disappear after a certain time it's
gonna you're not going to be able to see it and I think that's a scary thing for for both parents and administrators because you know we want to kind of have a good idea what they're saying and and why now the data provided by the staff via the discipline right UPS is showing me that cell phone usage in the school
day is not a major impediment to teachers classrooms there only saw four official writeups so far and four you know warning kind of writeups uh I think many teachers do a wonderful job either Gathering the phones when the kids walk in um and other teachers simply tell the
students that they're expected to keep the phone out of sight students are expected to put a phone away when an adult staff member instructs to do that um just like they're expected to follow any other directive that uh reasonable directive given to by an adult staff member um I think if this board wishes
to adopt a SE policy that demands a total ban uh then that will be the will of the board and it'll be my job to ensure that the will of the board's enforced um if the board has the ability to create a policy that may be more reasonable or a bit more F flexible then
I I would advocate for that um I know that this is a walking district and a lot of moms and dads get a a certain piece of mind when they can see their kid walk home on the the whatever the 360 thing is called yeah one of those things yeah so
and if if let's be honest if if you took our school and you dumped it upside down you'd have a thousand cell phones fall out of it so um I I definitely don't want to rush into this I I know we're kind of at the will of the state to a certain or we could be to a certain degree but I haven't I I think the right
move is just for for us to pay attention to this issue um you know kind of figure out what might have been working in other places and not working in other places what are the unintended consequences for that they've experienced um and just kind of follow the issue until we need to make a
decision because right now I'm I'm not convinced that this is you know uh this wasn't part of our strategic plan to fix this um the discipline data is not showing us that it's a major need uh but we might have to make take some kind of action so if that's whatever it's going
to be I think we should you know plan those steps and then take those actions that's my report maybe set some expectations so we you know what I mean yeah so so depending on what we're tasked to do you know then you know the next step I'd like to get you know you
know parents and some of our older students uh in and teachers to kind of weigh their you know whatever it is that we might have to do but right now I don't even know what that not looks like so I don't know what's problemis right so I mean well because
it's not a problem it's good to set expectation so that way it doesn't become a good point I think that some some districts have kind of jumped the gun and said I want yeah right I want to be do X Y and Z we're not in that position but I think it's still a topic
that is very appropriate to have at a board meeting you know in public a have a plan we have we have to have a plan so basically our our policy right now is that um teachers some teachers will take the the phones at the beginning of class
um and then some teachers will just tell the students don't have it out I don't want to see it and I mean that that is reassuring that only four there have only been four incidents reported so that's really good um I mean actually this was one of the topics that you know we we talked we all agreed we wanted to
talk about before this even before Governor Murphy even you know um gave this directive so um you know I I I think it's important a lot of research has been done um and there actually is you know to your point Mr Matco about uh
the security um in a few of the districts and a couple of those articles that I forwarded um the police department are on board with Banning or limiting um they don't think that they think it either interferes with security or uh it doesn't enhance it doesn't help
in any way um but just to give I don't know if you all had a chance to look at the articles but just like a very uh overview quick overview um so Ramsey High School they went ahead and did a ban as of January they're using the
Yonder pouches those are devices that they lock so that the kids they can bring their phones in but they are locked at certain times and then they unlock them um during like recess during lunch you know at those kind of times um
let's see the in lynon the Middle School um and in Jersey City they use the Yonder pouches but Jersey City interestingly they don't unlock it at all not even at lunchtime and that kind of speaks to you
know research saying that cell phones and this having access to cell phones like this 24/7 access to the cell phones um it hinders social interaction and peer interaction which I think is you know important I think that's
valid um and then actually Prospect closer to hen Prospect Park um implemented a ban during instructional time and what they do is um they assign slots and storage boxes so you know
there's different ways and I actually had some questions too some of mine kind of were the same as yours and zaka but um you know the question was would if we did do a band would it be a total ban would it be just part of during instr classroom time and then they you know would have access to it at recess which
is what happens a lot now it but it's it seems more like an informal based like teacher by teacher um should the teachers the onus be taken off of the teachers like if we had these devices right um then the OWN is off of the teachers and there's not
although it doesn't seem to be a problem but then they don't have to worry about that um but you know those are expensive those pouches no they are they are very expensive and if I may say if you're done I'm not done but you no no no no so
um and then the other question was um you know what are some of the other Alternatives like there was one article and I don't remember now which one it was that said that what they do this seems logistically this might be challenging but when students come in they switch out their Chromebook for the
cell phone so they have designated areas and they don't get their Chromebook for the day until they give in their cell phone um so that would be like a logistically that might be difficult and that would still I'm guessing that that would still be with the onus on the teacher to you know have to take
instructional time to do that but that would be one way to do it without having to pay for pouches or anything like that but basically like you know and this is a discussion we're not planning to do anything this year unless the governor says we have to um or the Department of Education says we have to um you know
what would be our next step like you know we're discussing it now we're kind of just throwing things out there about like what would be our next step um any any other questions any other thoughts yeah Mr did we get did we kind of get any feedback from the parents so far
like randomly based on the SP procedure I've had a couple parents email about you know I heard there's going to be a self unban and I said well that's that's that's not exactly the case but it was announced but we don't know you know where where it's fully going um I think some of the board members Miss C did I
believe you did as well attended the The Parent Academy thing we had a year or two ago um I don't recall the topic of cell phone specifically being a a discussion a discussion point at all if I'm wrong correctly but I don't recall that coming up um so I'm not I think
most parents would would would say to you yeah I I I am a little bit afraid of my of the dangers of of cell phones but I think a lot of parents are also going to those same parents are going to say but I I really like to be in contact yeah see the thing no I agree there's nothing wrong with that it's not as long
as it's not within the confine of the classroom does it will hinder that's what I was gonna say now that's what I was gonna say but right now they're Bandon that when the teacher is instructing a student is the teacher says cell phon way yeah but that's fine
though but not necessarily what I was going to say was not necessarily and now that I'm doing little teaching and I've been into different schools it ain't the cell phone in your Chromebook these kids are out playing video games right it
ain't the social media all right so much when they're interacting they're a playing pool against each other they're playing Spades against each other and they're using the Chromebook like you know the district where I'm at you can actually go
in the teachers Chromebook and see what the student is doing and you can shut it down no you yeah well all districts all districts are able to do that but it's not that and they're still playing because even in my class after I didn't give you the
test after we went over things were going over if you got makeup work to do from another class go ahead and do it I walk around to do their they're playing okay but there is a solution for this we own we own the Chrome books right
correct me we could we could basically block that eliminate eliminate the games period can you that yes games period yeah to the best we can I mean there's some sites there's some sites that you just can't and there's sites that are for educational sites exactly but what I
mean is the Restriction of the software usage lies on us am I correct or not because we control we do software the limitations the downloads we do 100% now if I was to send an ed puzzle they need to be able
to get into the edpuzzle and they need that kind of software that also allows them to get into the games again but Mr W is saying that there not really an issue here it's not and that's a great thing no I'm just you know just speaking General when it becomes an issue is when
we because at the end it's spending money yeah we just have to tighten the belt when it when when it comes down and just make a plan but it seems like the belt is already tighten know I mean but for us to make a plan yeah it's tighten when my son was going to school here it was a problem with cell phones all right
we we talk the sidekicks and all the other phones all right that's it was now I think it's more of a control setting at least for us here in this we don't have an issue here no but I guess I guess we other schools do but I guess us talking and and figuring out a plan for
when it does get tightened we already know what to do yeah I think I think the best course of action is just is to follow what what's going on and and then you know once once we see what is concrete coming out from the state you know I think we'll be in a better
position to say what if any steps take um yeah I mean if something isn't broken we don't need to fix it if it's not broken you know but it's a good topic because especially in light of the the US Department of Education giving a directive New Jersey uh Department of
Education giving you know possibly having a a ban coming up so um you know it's a good discussion and it's good to Hash this out a little bit and I I agree I think we should wait and see what happens we weren't really going to do
anything before the end of this school year anyway so um but in the meantime we could keep watching looking at the data seeing if there are any more incidents seeing if there are you know if there's any uptick yeah you know and a lot of the what is too like you know what about
what about the watches that act as cell phones and what about this that um and then my uh you know I'm probably snitching on my son but like how about the glasses they they give like cell phone cases they put them in the box and they get away with it right so you know it's going to be the kind of thing that
if we have to take action you know we're gonna you know we're gonna have to set up a a structure and then look to whatever ways we can continually improve it look to do that but Jeff anything from from your end that you want to make this board aware of no all the everything that you said is exactly the
debate going on there's like all these pros and cons and um I think most districts are going to wait and see what the Department of Education mandates on this okay but do we have like say a backup plan uh in the event Again State
comes and say it's black and white you don't our backup plan would be in our in our board approved code of conduct student code of conduct which says you know the board approved a code of conduct that prohibits unauthorized use of cell phones right so if a student is on their phone in a time when an adult
did not authorize that you know then we have the justication through policy to say this is what we're looking to do um so I I'm hopeful that the model policy is not going to make us because we have a thousand kids walking through one door in a span of like you know maybe 30
minutes you know in the morning if if we have to stop each kid take their phone put it in a packet on a pouch it's going to be logistically I'm going to need you know adults there to help regulate that um you know equipment um because we got to make sure like if
right now our policy says exhibit date if you lose your phone um or it gets damaged here we're not responsible because we didn't tell you to bring it but I could also see like if you're telling me that when I come in I have to bring my cell phone to a a board approved locker and then somehow it gets
damaged I might say hey B of Ed you broke my my thousand phone got broken I just followed your instructions right so I'm not saying we're going to break every phone but like eventually someone's going to drop something and it's an expensive thing to drop so I think there's just a lot to to to factor
in um before we move forward yeah we should watch just keep keep watch and and and we'll we'll go from there all right thank you that was a good discussion all righty so let's um have a motion to open the floor to
Citizens so second moved by Mr Martinez seconded by Mr MCO all in favor okay can anybody like to address the board Tom thanks for the S Stu there day you guys a great
job okay uh can I have a motion to close uh moved by Mr Martinez seconded by Miss Johnson all in favor okay now we do have an executive session um Miss Johnson we are you can log off
now uh thank you um this no action will be taken so we can have the executive session if the board wishes to do it like u i can review to you you you got the packet with the the subm finings all the board members get that yeah um I'm I'm happy to review that in executive if that's the wish of this board uh or we
if if you've all read it and they're comfortable that we can move on the board yeah oh okay there's no anybody does anybody want to go into executive I have a question or anything about the concern okay all right that's fine
that's fine then we can we can skip the executive session okay all right then uh can I have a motion to adjourn so move okay so moved by Mr Martinez seconded by Mr mosco all in favor okay then we will see you on March
12th and finance committee please look out for for an invite to a or for a notification for a finance committee meeting yes before March 12th before March yeah okay uh adjourned thank you