##VIDEO ID:BL1ZLS-sty8## with a dinell [Music] just to give you a flavor of of the difference tonight in terms of our board meeting of course this is the reorganization meeting of the Lawrence Township Board of Education U we are streaming this a different way Stephen Francis our technology supervisor is using one of our neat bars to stream the meeting this is how um did instruction remotely during the pandemic and we are trying it out for this meeting this evening uh and so we'll begin my name is Tom elge I'm the board secretary for the Lawrence Township Board of Education and this is the reorganization meeting of the Lawrence Township Board of Education and so what we'll do with this meeting is we're going to set us ourselves up for the remainder of the year so I'll open the meeting with the roll call open public meetings announcement and then surely thereafter we'll do the squaring in of the new board members and welcome them to the Board of Education after that we'll have the nomination of the officers at which time I'll change Thoughts with the new board president and we'll conduct visits and so we'll begin at this point with the roll call Miss Bose here Mr Clark here Miss Evans here miss Grover here Dr K here Miss Martinez here miss pasculli here miss Santos here Mr van he here do we have a quum this is the reading of the announcement of the uh open public meetings act statement the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon as required under law adequate notice of this meeting has been provided via email Andor facts to the times the Lawrence Ledger of the public library and has been filed with the municipal clerk this this meeting notice was provided prior to the 48 Hours required under the open public meetings Act and the board reserves the right to limit public discussion of personnel items and other matters is defined in the law please stand [Applause] for United [Music] States at this point we're going to have the squaring in of new board members and I'd like to square in first Miss Martinez our new board member and then after that we'll swear in Mr van heis and M groger together but Miss Martinez a special thing we'd like to bring you up just you so that your family can take pictures and recognize your accomplishment so please join me here [Applause] this is the required oath for school board members that we're reading I'm going to read the first paragraph and then I'm going to ask Miss Martinez to read it back uh in her own voice and then we'll do the second and then that will constitute we swearing in is a so it's I over Martinez do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith in allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I O the Martinez to suly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the contitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and Alliance to the same and to the government establishments in the United States and the state under the authority the people so help you best excellent and now for the second paragraph I O the Martinez who solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to statute instead of nor disqualify due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in the statute and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office ACC to the best of my ability so help me I O Martinez do suly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of members of the Board of Education and that I'm not disqualified as a voter Pur to the statute the statute nor disqualified due to con conviction of a crime or listed and that I will faithfully and partially and just justly perform all the duties as of the office according to the best of my ability so help me God welome to [Applause] the Mr ker and Mr van please join me in the same place I left my cheaters in the car so we'll do the same exact so we'll read the first paragraph and youd like to do it together okay except I won and I'll just say your name okay so it's I and your name do solemnly swear affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so helping God I van SAR I will support Constitution of the United States the constition of the state of New Jersey will bear true faith and to the same governments estblished in the United States people now for the second part I then your name do solemnly swear or affirm that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of the Board of Education that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to statute nor disqualified due to conviction of crime or offense listed in statute and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according the best ability ofif nor disqualify conviction of a crime that I will faithfully and justly perform all the duties according to the best of my ability conat for our new members and our rejoining members this o office I'd ask that you finally sign that it's in the first signature line and then return it to me and then there'll be another one for you to sign and I'll give you your copy back you'll keep the color copy for yourself okay you've come to the point in our agenda where we're nominating officers so we're going to nominate the uh officer president first and then followed by vice president some things that I'll remind you of um and that is there is no second required for a nomination there is only a nomination which means if there are two people who are nominated if I call the role and the first person receives the majority of the votes that person is automatically placed into that office I do that because often times we don't want to hurt people's feelings when they're nominated and so we'll vote and thinking that we have another chance to vote you do not the person who receives the most votes in terms of majority of the votes in first go round and that person who's nominated and I call it I do the role and that person receives five they are automatically appointed for that position okay so are I'm going open it up at this point are there any nominations for president the Board of Education I take now I'd like to nominate Mich Bose as president for the school board and we have the nomination of Michelle B made by Miss groger are there any other nominations seeing none Mr Clark yes Miss Evans yes Miss groger yes Dr King yes Miss Martinez yes Miss pascoli yes Miss Santos yes Mr van heis yes Miss Bose how do you vote and do you accept the nomination I vote Yes and I gladly will AC nomin [Laughter] don't drink I have my water here there okay so second I left you at the opening for nomin yes accepting nominations for vice president I would like nominate you Tom are there any other nominations no other nominations suppose yes Mr Clark yes M EV yes M yes Dr yes M martinz yes m p yes Mr van yes and Mos do you accept the nomination happily accept [Applause] yes so we're gonna hand out two to everybody correct just one just [Music] one and pens if you need it so we're g to um the board member code of ethics um I will read the first one and then we'll just start with Olga and each person will take a code of ethics until all of them are out loud and then we will sign it and date it on the bot a school board member shall abide by the following code of ethics for school board members number one I will uphold and enforce all laws regulations rules of the State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of the children regardless of their ability race PR sex or social standing three I will confine my board action to policymaking planning and appraisal and I will help frame policies and only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them four I'll carry out my responsibilities not to administer to schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well brought five I will recognize that Authority rests with the board of educ and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise theard six I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of Friends Seven I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its schols eight I will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administr nine I will support and protect School personnel and proper performance of the duties 10 I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution thank you everybody could just write your name and sign it we do not have any Street of Representatives leaders any recognitions no um no adoption of minutes um and reports to the board all right happy New Year lawence T Community First of all welcome back our two incumbents Mr van Heist Miss froger and welcome to the board officially elough we're very excited and welcome back ladies to the front table here appreciate you um it's going to be a great uh start to the new year we are so excited and warmed um by seeing the faces of our kids come back today Al albe it it was a short week so we said to them you could do this um we were very excited to have them back today you know schools opened very smoothly our administrative team was welcoming and ready to receive them with optimism I personally wanted to express my heartfall gratitude to this board of education for their support in approving the leadership team's trip to to strengthen our Global Partnerships on January 22nd we look forward to presenting to the full Board of Education what our overseas travel were like um I plan we plan to represent as a team to really talk about the impact and influence that we had with these Global relationships and the time that we spent over in China um and Taiwan it was truly extraordinary and we can't wait to share with you our journey um these Global Partnerships continue to enrich our district by fostering growth Innovation and a deeper understanding in for learning they help us to enrich our practices and quite frankly these uh Partnerships just around the world um have had us grow in such ways that we're still trying to kind of process and comprehend this experience it was truly remarkable the Educators and the students that we came across overseas in Beijing and Shanghai and Taiwan were truly extraordinary so I want to thank the board for that opportunity and I want to publicly thank the leadership team for standing in the gap for us and really you know making sure that things were smooth as we left here to close for winter break um I'm wishing everyone a fantastic start to 2025 my message is is simple it's a short week enjoy getting back into the swing of things I look forward to another year of success with the Board of Education thank you thank you so much uh board secretary report before you tonight on the agenda under the SPM section is a significant decision uh that's this is the decision to move forward with our referendum uh before you this evening for your consideration is the resolution two or two resolutions actually there's a resolution there regarding the submission of the adoption of the referend question there is a second one that accepts the PC the preliminary eligible costs which is the state's offering we received more state aid that we originally anticipated that is just fantastic for Lawrence Township Public Schools I'd like to reiterate that the only way Lawrence Township Public Schools receives assistance from the state is through Debt Service Aid and to receive Debt Service Aid you must bot and so a referendum is a vote to to the people the people vote on whether or not to allow the school district to bond um if the referendum passes the district will raise the necessary funding to fulfill the educational program by way of construction and so what we're proposing on the the agenda by way of this vote here tonight to accept this is to move ahead with the educational program of Mars into the distant future the last piece is ministerial and that is the setting of the polling times uh in our discussions this referendum and the election will be as far as we set it up be as familiar as possible um ping times places and things of that nature so that people are as comfortable as possible with situation and routines such that what they do on their their annual elections that so before you this evening is the resolution if you approve this that the next day we will file with the Mercer County Clerk and various other governmental agencies and we will move forward with a great enormous amount excitement towards our ref so um that is what I've got for you this evening there's any questions happy to answer them okay thank you thank you so much Tom um for president report um good evening I am thrilled to once again the president for the Board of Education um I wanted to thank all of my all of the board members uh for the nomination and express my deep gratitude on this journey that we are taking together um we have so much going on over the upcoming year and I could not be more privileged and honored to have board members like you all and I want to congratulate Joanne and Kevin on their win and welcome Olga I'm so excited I know that together we're going to do some really great things for Lauren Township um one of the things that has been on my mind um over the past couple of months that I've had the privilege of working with Robin is sort of looking at ways that we can be more efficient in the new year um one of the things that I wanted the board to consider um for this year is collapsing the community relations and legislative affairs committee and establish uh much needed adock referendum reconfiguration committee um which will actually turn into leison report um on the agenda moving forward so we would get rid of that meeting of community relations and make it a reconfiguration committee for the foreseeable future um and this will allow us to turn our attention to the pressing matters of the district for the the upcoming future um we can make a motion at our next meeting on January 22nd to memorialize this if everyone is in agreement we can discuss it if you're not um in the meantime I will be sending all board members a survey over the next day or two so that we can assign committees and chair chair people for the Committees we'd like to have this done for our next board meeting so get that done as quickly as possible um and establish meeting dates for the rest of the year um and just as a follow up to Tom about our upcoming referendum the public can expect many forms of messaging um so that everyone is an informed voter on March 11th um for the district's Bond refer referendum absentee ballots will also be counted um and as a wonderful opportunity for the public uh we will be holding a community conversation at the middle school at the LMS it'll be for the middle school and the high school families on January 14th at the media center at the high school at 6:30 pm we will also be hosting a direct link Town forum where everyone in our community is welcome whether you have students in the school or you don't um on February 4th in the auditorium at the middle school um both of these will be great uh opportunities for us to present things about what's going on with the referendum and answer questions and clear up misconceptions that may be out there regarding the referendum and what does it mean for Lawrence Township um we are really excited about it um and I hope that everybody is getting the word out to be an informed voter uh it's it's a privilege to vote um it's a privilege to have a say in what goes on and we really want to encourage our community to give us feedback um and answer any questions that they might have I want to wish everybody a happy and a healthy 2025 and thank you to Dr clim for all she's done last year and all of the administrators in our schools it's been a really incredible year for us in Lawrence Township um I wish everybody a great year okay that um we do not have any committee reports tonight we have no nison reports um any review of communications none uh this is our first opportunity for public input um if somebody is interested in any kind of comment okay seeing none we'll move on uh we do not have any board discussion and work session items um and next will be Personnel action items there are none move on okay uh CIA APD um we'll go with yes we did not meet but U you can see on your agenda there it and I would like to move o one and os1 and second Tom with a motion a second Mr CLK yes M yes Dr K yes M Martinez yes M Pas yes M Santos yes Mr van yes M Bose yes motion Carri thank you uh School business management action items uh yes uh as Tom had indicated at the beginning of the meeting these are two resolutions that officially kick off our referendum so with that I will probably move SPM one and two second motion a second yes Miss Evans yes M ker yes Dr King yes Miss Martinez yes M Pas yes m s yes Mr van yes M po yes so the re the reut okay um reorganization item motion to approve the Board of Education holds its regularly monthly meetings on the following dates at 6:30 p.m for the calendar year in accordance with njsa 18a 106 and that meeting shall begin in closed session at 6:30 p.m. and transition to open session at 7 o'clock P.M and that meeting will be held at Lawrence High School located at 2525 pron Pike lawrenville New Jersey unless otherwise noted meeting dates are listed as followed and with that I'd like to move R1 second that's okay take your time M Mr Clark yes yes M gr yes Dr K yes M Mar yes M Pas yes m s yes Mr yes M yes and it's our second opportunity for public input see none um new business items you want sure is nb1 through three and looks like approval of contract hours anding times and like one two3 please second with a motion Mr Clark yes M yes m g yes Dr K yes Miss Martinez yes Miss pasi yes Miss Santos yes Mr van H as I do mop up I will just uh say yes and congratulate Mr desite for his with this appointment um whose family is also here so uh enthusiastic yes [Applause] yes decide to School family we are super excited see you back there and of course old's family is here this is the most people we're going to see at a board meeting and I'm so proud and happy for our district for so many wonderful people joining us um so welcome to Mr Desai and Miss Martinez I also before we leave would like to take an opportunity for uh some pictures before we all gather um it is a special night for us with so many new people yeah Welcome to our family um and I think um yeah let's call for H just a few minute recess so we can take some pictures pictures thank you five minutes okay 5 minute recess ready go bring your yeah bring your family over e e for