e e e good evening um we'll take roll call sure good evening everybody Mrs bomo here Mrs Gandhi here Mr hayatt here Mr Lansky here Mrs McCormack here Dr MTZ here Mr petruno here Mrs seart here and Mrs Mendes here I'll draw your attention to Sunshine Law statement of videotaping of public portion of Board of Education meetings the public comment statement and no smoking or vaping on school grounds can you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance um announcements the maror Middle School Corral Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band traveled to Philadelphia Pennsylvania from April 19th through April 20th to compete in the world World strides Heritage Music Festival and visit some of the local attractions we congratulate our teachers and musicians who represented Marboro well with their talent and musicianship the MMS Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band earned silver awards for their performances the MMS Corral earned a Gold Award and was awarded the outstanding Corral Ensemble award for being the highest scoring vocal Ensemble to compete congratulations to all [Applause] um okay um we're just going a little out of order we um are going to go into executive for a couple of minutes so um I am just going to review the executive session resolution be it resolved in accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings act the Maro Township Board of Education shall conduct a closed executive session pursuant to the personnel and legal exceptions prescribed by njsa 10412 for the purpose of discussing matters of attorney client privilege it is anticipated that the length of time of this executive session will be approximately 30 minutes and that action um may be taken in public after the executive session be it further resolved that the minutes of the executive session will be released when the need for confidentiality in accordance with njsa can I have a second Ashley any discussion okay any oppose no okay thank [Music] you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e thank you all for waiting um we just had to discuss a little a couple of things that had come up that we had to review um so thank you um roll call Mrs bomo here Mrs Mrs Gandhi here Mr hayatt here Mr lonsky here Mrs mccormac here Dr MTZ here Mr petruno here Mrs seart here and Mrs Mendes here okay we now have the public hearing on the 2024 2025 school year budget all right good evening everybody can you hear me okay good evening everybody this is the 2425 public hearing for the Marboro Township School District budget um so just a from where we left off in March um we did submit the tenative budget to the county it was approved with no changes so what is being presented to you tonight is the same budget that was voted on on the tenative budget back in March so there were no fiscal changes program changes um nothing to mention in the public hearing that would warrant to bring to your attention so it's the same exact thing um but just to go over some of the key highlights and we'll go over the revenues the expenditures and exactly what's detailed in inside the budget as well as the tax impact at the end so during the budget um we faced some challenges some of the challenges were we saw a lot of increased cost for the maintenance of the school facilities some things that we just can't live without we have to continue um we saw increased cost for transportation services as well as special ed services and added District tuition again these are some things that are cost that cannot be cut out and these are things that we need to continue to budget for one of the big ones was the increase for the health benefit cost as you can see we budgeted for a total of 15,8 157,000 uh for health benefits for the 2425 school year which I believe is about a 10% increase from 12 but the year prior was 15 so it's collectively a 27% increase over two years salaries again collective bargaining unit salaries when we settle we have to budget for those those increases so those are built into the budget as well and then also our annual pers pension and dcrp mandatory contributions we have to make on behalf of the state total about 1.6 million which I believe was another 40% increase um so you'll see a lot of increases go over what we're allotted which is the 2% um and mind you the CPI was also 5.86% for transportation so they were able to go up that amount as well this is just again an overview of where we started with the the S2 cuts to where we are now so in June 2018 of course the state passed the S2 uh bill which modified the school funding formula as you know marrow was considered overfunded um and because of that state aid was held flat for many years with declining enrollment and then they decided to start um chipping away at some of our funding and then on top of that in July of 2020 um right after Co the state passed the chapter 44 bill which basically promoted new health plans in into the um School employee health benefits program and in in result of doing so they believed that it was going to pass off uh savings to the taxpayer by really lowering your tax base of how much you can go up to so you can see before 2018 I mean in 1819 before S2 our total state aid funding was about 11.1 million and then here we are today as you can see 2324 before I get to today 2324 showed you about at 7.4 million so over the collective course of about six school years you lost a little under $4 million when it came to state aid so State funding from the state um on top of the chapter 44 decrease you saw as well for the 22 23 and 232 24 school years um so 23 24 was kind of a rough year for us but 2425 our enrollment started to steadily increase S2 was phasing out we actually saw an increase of state aid uh for the first time in a a while of 558,000 we also showed no savings under the chapter 44 bill so we also did not have a a tax levy offset with that as well so that was zero so there was no effect to that as well too so every year we meet with Administration we meet with the Departments we meet with everyone just to develop strategies to reduce the taxpayers impact and by reducing the taxpayers impact you really need to look at everything um some of the ways we we really just dive into this budget is we we request the Departments to build a a zero Go basically go about zerob based budgeting and really start from scratch and only budget what you need um sometimes we do position reductions whether it's through resignations or retirements sometimes they just go away through attrition where we're able to just absorb the job or consolidate the duties just to really not have to essentially ruin lives and and and have to fire anybody or or terminate anybody so we try to do it through that way get creative um we reduce the school budget allocations by 10% this is a contingency we have them build in in the event that we that we need it we make sure it doesn't affect instruction or direct impact of kids um but at the same time we allow the principles the autonomy to reduce their budgets to 10% we don't do it for them so we give them that that flexibility because they know their buildings better than us we analyze the utility Trends accurately with the BPU we actually check the website routinely just to make sure that we're budgeting correctly and on spot on for utilities the two things that we do utilize are our reserves we have a maintenance reserve and a capital reserve you can see in the maintenance Reserve we're taking out 1.5 million and in the capital reserve we're taking out 1.1 million for a total of 2.6 now the 1.1 is for the HVAC um project at Marl and then the 1.5 is a various amount of projects that we'll get into on another slide excuse me and then um every year we have Surplus we try to utilize the Surplus just to offset all the increases we're seeing so we really do not have to make too many reductions or too many um I call them slashes or anything to the budget that would really directly impact our district lastly this year due to the exorb amount of of cost we were seeing we we are utilizing $1 million from Bap um from the health benefit waiver so we so due to the health benefit waiver increase we were able to um obtain a waiver in the amount of 2 $ 5,526 also on top of that we took about I think it was $794,000 to equate to the million that was coming straight out of banked cap now for people who are not familiar with bank cap um so every year you're allowed to go up to 2% per your tax levy um from the previous year if you have any sort of Bank caps left over or if you have any sort of um acur Bank bank caps from previous tax years you're able to tax tap into that and to utilize that and put that on top of the 2% so it is it is taxpayer money it is something that we're utilizing to go above the 2% cap so we do not have to make grave reductions when it came to over a million dollars because unfortunately when you have to start making reductions of a million dollars or more it's not just programs or vehicles or putting off projects it's it's it's tied to salaries and benefits uh some of the districtwide budget highlights again I work with Mr balone very closely when we when we build this and all the Departments we want to maintain all the instructional programs and services and that would be core subjects special education related arts and we also want to maintain the current classroom sizes we do not want them to increase um and so we we care very deeply about that when it comes to increased class sizes and we meet with the principles regarding enrollment projections and enrollment meetings just to forecast class sizes and forecast the enrollment of what they're thinking for grade level just so we don't get get in that bind or get in that habit of just getting into that trouble um we continue to focus on the student achievement and you'll see through some of the curriculum updates as well um technology Hardware is a big one we try to keep up on on our technology infrastructure um and our hardware and software we're continuing to budget for the Chromebook replacement cycle that we do every year we're also budgeting for staff Chromebooks um with the additional state aid we received I believe we were able to put it in the budget where they're at their end of their useful life where it's about four years old and we need to start replacing them we continue the presence of the class three officers with the partnership of the township that's a shared service that you'll see on another slide um this is definitely a great partnership with us and it's only grown even more um so we want to just continue that these are some Department highlights so specialist special services so we're we're working on WE budgeted to implement a ER program so an emotionally regulated impairment program with the hopes of actually bringing students back into district and not having to pay such high cost for add a district that and it's also tied with Transportation so special services is putting together that program this will be the first time in marbor that we have something like that where we would able possibly put kids back in bring kids back into District we still had to budget for the add of District tuition and the transportation services associated with all those students that go out even the ones that we anticipate bringing back just in the event that you know they need to stay out or or something happens where we just we make sure we budget for it and you never know we have an unanticipated budget as well where you may have a student that come in that comes in November March that may have an outed District placement but we have it budgeted so we don't need to to Rob here to pay Paul essentially um there are no reductions for services for special education students in this budget if anything it has slightly increased just due to the cost of of those services so we budgeted for the increases but we did not reduce any of the services in the budget curriculum uh includes a replacement for textbooks and and supplementals for math grade 1 through 4 and science grade 6 through 8 so that was a big purchase for us um we usually do those on three-year program Cycles where we work with the vendor and we we just budget for the year one and then we finish paying it by the the third year because if we had the budget for the up front would have had to make make some Cuts so we got creative with making sure we got the updated materials but not sacrificing the budget security and technology so we are budgeting to provide an additional security monitor that will basically serve as a floater districtwide so we were having some I mean not issues but just just for substitute coverage just always having somebody on hand and always having somebody available is really beneficial for us so we're budgeting that extra position we're also budgeting for a cyber reassessment and wiring upgrades I believe at one of the middle schools and a at an elementary school um the Cyber reassessment is something that I believe we do cyclical every two or three years and so what happens is we'll have a third party vendor come out basically assess ouros security our firewalls basically everything involved with cyber security and then they'll report out to us to see if there's any fail safes or any you know internal control weaknesses that we can improve on building and grounds of course the big one one is the implementation project for the HVAC from morl that is partially funded through the rod Grant the other portion is the 1.1 I talked about that were funding through capital reserve so this is just a list of the facility projects that are in the 1.5 million and the 1.1 million of the reserve so the 1.1 is the top one the Marl HVAC some of the other ones that are comprom comprised of the um the maintenance Reserve amount so you have the asphalt and concrete repairs districtwide that is something that we go out to bid um replacement of the fire system sprinkler pipes at Abbott Early Learning Center I believe we had an assessment done and they are due they're at the end of their useful life and we are we checked with insurance we checked with a lot of areas to see if anything could possibly be covered or help with us and they said really it's just time for replacement um so we would be planning on going out to bid for that exter exterior door project at Dugan um your replacement generator Abbott that you you saw at the previous meeting where we went out to bid for um your courtyard Hardscape project at Memorial and that is the the courtyard with the pavers that we were planning on doing one of the floor remediations at middle school we going to start we're anticipating to cost that much it might be a little bit more um and that is due the rubberized floor we would get it AB baited and and replaced because believe it or not there's actually there's mercury in those floors I don't want anybody to get scared or worried about that but it is monitored every single single year but it's just time to take a proactive approach and start getting ahead of it now before it ever did become an issue but right now it's not um your improvements at ason too that's really just flooring upgrades the the the PA system is being budgeted for at Memorial the drainage repair behind the baseball field at middle we're actually going to basically improve drainage similar how we did to abbit and Middle School uh previously again we always uh budget for painting we always budget for brick work around the district solely this one would be for middle school and that's how you get your your 2.6 million so with our shared services we shared services we really try to partnership just more for efficiency and just try for for cost saving purposes so these are a highlight of our shared services again you already know the first two the SRO and the class 3es with the township fre Regional they handle our non-public Transportation so all our Aid in Loop um payments they are our they are our service provider we we basically pay them to handle that service rather than going out with an outside agency um Ed data services we use for Co-Op for purchasing supplies or services or anything that's really on the illary bid um list for us to to utilize MC and esj we use for special education Transportation mainly but now they're starting to venture into different Services as well so that's very beneficial for us one of them was when we approved last week which was Arrow um marro Township again we utilize them for the fuel and we do reverse energy auction for electricity services but actually saves us a tremendous amount of money than directly going through it with ourselves um workers comp we are in a we are basically in an Insurance Fund for workers comp only and then we provide the busing services for Maro Township Recreation in the summer so again this is just your total expenditures for the 2425 school year so you can see the total is 99 million but 73.2% of that is made up of instruction pupil Ser pupil support services and your health benefits and I believe just pupil Support Services is everything see so include your social workers your health your speech your guidance uh media and curriculum so that is about 73% of this total budget and of course school-based budgeting you have to balance so Revenue has to equal what the expenditures equal and you can see 85% of the budget is your local tax levy where state aid comes in at 8% your fund balance is what the Surplus I was talking about is that your 2% and then your reserves make up another 2.6% everything after that is something that we routinely budget for whether it be extraordinary Aid tuition uh which is your prek your prek tuition uh rentals and your student activity fees again it's a marginal amount compared to what actually is the driving force of the revenues so just a quick tidbit the the state of New Jersey classifies with District Factor groups for all of the districts so it goes anywhere from a to J J being the most affluent we are actually labeled an i District um so that's just food for thought where when they say that we're over adequacy they really take a look at some of that stuff and they basically deem it that when you are in a more affluent District you should put more onus on your your taxpayers and your local fair share rather than relying on the state for state aid funding so this is just the historical trend of the budget information that we've seen um starting from the 2021 school year you can see the tax rate has gradually increased over time due to the budget increasing as well um and the enrollment has started to almost go back to levels of 2020 or or pre 2021 so we're projecting 4,782 students mainly this is because of a lot of the housing developments that are starting to go up we're getting ready to basically bring in some more students than anticipated um so that's why you see that enrollment projection the way it is you can see the budget change is about 4.9% from the year prior now granted that total number of the budget does include reserves so some years may vary where this year we're using 2.6 million in reserves other years we may have used lower we may have used none may have used higher so that's where you get um the variances almost so this is just a breakdown to see you to show you which school basically has the most enrollment out of the projected so you can see Middle School uh both middle schools and Dugan are the three top highest enrolled uh schools in this district with Middle School actually being the the most old mle sorry so this was actually this is basically showing you the average property tax bills based off of other eye districts what I was telling you about with the district Factor group um this is pulled from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs website so it shows that even though our budget has gradually increased um we're still utilizing the full 2% amongst the other ey districts in Mammoth County we still are on the lower end of our property annual property tax bills and this is basically based on the average assessment of about a $500,000 house um or property so as you can see we are we are trying to be mindful of that but we're also trying to take into consideration that we are trying to do the very best we can when it comes to the tax impact and you can see from other different areas that are also eye districts and then there's other comparable eye districts on the right as well where the only one really out beating us is East Brunswick which also so has a higher enrollment so here's the analysis of the tax impact so your total tax impact is about 3.1% for this year's budget um you can see the the 5-year average all the way to the right in yellow based off of since 2021 until now um you do have your tax rate increasing from 1.12 to 1.15 and then it shows your property tax increase per your average assess valuation now mind you it shows you a decrease in 2021 that decrease was mainly due to that was the first year after we paid off our referendum from 2001 for Memorial and Abbott so that was the last time this district has had a referendum and that was 2001 so that's why it showed a decrease for that year yeah 2021 okay and that is the public hearings does anybody have any questions regarding the budget okay thank you thank you and and I appreciate that um any questions from anybody I know people spoke with Vinnie one-on-one or had meetings with him and so forth so okay thank you so much okay we're now going to open it to public comments I'll give you a second to gather is there anybody on the list oh nobody on the list does anybody want to speak Mrs Bono hi everyone good am I on usually you can hear me without it good evening farab Bono 26 nashv Drive good evening president Mendes Mr balone members of the board my fellow community members I'm actually here to inquire about the motion number 14 that you are going to be voting on tonight as much as I am all for the motion I just want to know if we can add in if there would be a cap in the cost to the external experts in educational governance and legal compliance considering the budget and all the cuts that the district has made in the past we had to reallocate funds last year and our math and literacy coaches at the middle school level those positions were retitled based on funding and we have to remember that we are here to serve the students of Malboro Township so I would like to see as much funds going towards the students so I was just wondering if they're could be a cap to the external expert component thank you thank you Mrs Bono any other comments okay motion to close public comments have a second Ashley all in favor any opposed okay public comments are closed Communications I don't have any Communications thank you Hib hi report from the period April 26 2024 through May 2nd 2024 there were two incidents reported thank you uh upcoming meeting dates Tuesday May 21st is a regular meeting okay organization matters Annette the superintendent of schools submits the following resolutions for approval one board secretary two Insurance Consultant three School physician four board designate five public agency compliance officer six District Section 504 coordinator 7 section 504 coordinator for program accessibility eight approval of qualified purchasing agent for bidding purchasing and sale of property nine procurement of goods and services through state agency for the 2425 school year 10 purchase Professional Services 11 open public records act 12 designation of legal newspapers 13 tax sheltered annuity companies 14 motion for review of mpts sorry mtps district and maror Board of Education actions in the handling of the incidents leading up to and following the April 16th 2024 board meeting ISO move 14 is going to be amended so 14 is going to be amended if it's going to be mov in second why don't we just move one through 13 okay just move 1 through 13 first okay so um numbers 1 through 13 ISO move do I have a second Dr MTZ any discussion roll call on 1 through 13 Mr petruno yes Mrs bomo yes Mrs Gandhi yes Mr hayatt yes Mr lonsky yes Mrs McCormack yes Dr MTZ yes Mrs seart yes and Mrs Mendes yes okay we now have the amendment to the motion for the review should I for number 14 so I'll read it it's long um but I think that you have most of it there's a couple of revisions in it um I just want to highlight where it came from so in the last meeting and please correct me if I'm wrong Mrs Gandhi had discussed it and because it was a special meeting that we had it was placed I'm sorry it was placed here for this meeting here so it's here now so I'll read through it and then we'll move forward um motion for review of the mtps district and Marboro Board of Education actions in the handling of the incidents leading up and following the April 16th 2024 board meeting considering the recent events that occurred over allegations surrounding a student and teacher in the Marboro public school system which revealed gaps and challenges within the maror Board of Education regarding knowledge communication oversight and response around this event and having an impact on community trust and faith in the board and recognizing the need to B bolster our board processes and governance structures to ensure all board members receive timely and comprehensive information to carry out our responsibilities as elected officials and acknowledging the opportunity to learn and improve from this experience with an emphasis on the necessity for more robust crisis management mechanisms and community support and highlighting the importance of establishing preventive met practices and empowering the board to act effective l in the community's best interest under all circumstances therefore it is resolved that the maror Board of Education commits to a comprehensive review of District actions the board will authorize the commencement of a comprehensive independent review of The District's actions and decisions concerning the incident and subsequent management to identify procedural weaknesses and identify areas for improvement the independent committee selected by the board will include internal and external experts in educational governance and legal compliance the committee will conduct a timely and comprehensive review of The District's and its member actions and decisions related to the incident and issue a report with findings and recommendations for improvement and action establishes an independent review of board and board member actions the board will commence an independent review of actions of the board and its board members the independent committee as selected by the president will include internal and external experts in educational govern governance and legal compliance the committee will conduct a timely and comprehensive review of the board's and its members actions and decisions related to the incident and issue a report with findings and recommendations for improvement and action develop enhanced communication protocols the board is instructing the superintendent with developing communication protocols to ensure time Tim ly and thorough information sharing among all board members especially regarding critical incidents impacting board decisions and Public Safety reaffirming commitment to ethical standards the board reiterates its commitment to upholding our oath of office maintaining the highest ethical standards transparency and to ensuring Equitable access to information devoid of personal agendas pledge to Foster Community engagement the board commits to ongoing dialogue and transparency with our community stakeholders to rebuild trust in the board this motion is presented for immediate consideration to promptly address the issues at hand and restore confidence in the Marboro Board of education's governance and commitment to its constituents so a motion we say need a motion so I need a motion the first motion right so miss Gandhi that's you so miss Gandhi can you just get on you can can say on the microphone I so move okay and a second Dr MTZ I second okay any discussion I have some concerns with this motion and um I know it's going to wind up on a Gossip Girl blog later tonight but wait can I just say one thing I'm so sorry on this part we just have to be mindful of the things we say at this point right with active litigation I just have to put that out there well it kind of Segways into my opinion on the motion is that um we have attorneys in place now we have special attorneys in place for a lawsuit that we're facing um I think that we have outlined policies in our district to make sure that most of what is said in this motion already happens um I don't really feel comfortable with an outside audit much to um Miss Bono's Point uh paying more for outside firms to come in and audit a situation will this be for this specific situation that we are looking into or the hypothetical situations to come in the future um I support our Administration and I support my fellow board members and I just don't feel that this is something that will necessarily be fool proof If we have God forbid a situation in the future so um I as this is outlined now I don't really feel comfortable moving forward with this if we could just maybe discuss um in further Mr Lansky's motion of putting a plan of action into place I'd feel a little more comfortable with being proactive than reactive because in my own personal opinion um The Fallout of this specific case that we're talking about was removing our attorney so I would much rather move forward in a more unified way than an actual physical motion um just my thoughts just wanted to share those if anyone else wants to add thank you Annette any other discussion no okay I had a couple I would like to add oh go ahead um the motion uh the part of the motion that I am very supportive of is the need to optimize uh our policies and procedures I think that will promote progress as a board um for from a standpoint what I cannot stand behind is um kind of some of the verbiage in here there's a lot in this motion um and to be able to agree to all of this motion is something at this point in time um I wouldn't be comfortable with um I would love to be able to discuss further um um looking at policy 0133 um that is a policy in place that kind of already serves this purpose it's an internal board policy and something that can definitely um you know I could suggest be moved to the Forefront to review um as well as policy 0155 which is our committees if this was going to be something um that I could vote Yes for I would love to see a motion made to add a committee that would be long withstanding to our list of committees and it would be fulfilled in the same way as our other committees um as as we see fit as a board uh just kind of taking this one incident only addresses one incident it doesn't promote Forward Thinking um and I think here what everybody wants to see is progress so if we take a committee that would kind of respond to all of these types of issues um and allow us to be transparent with our community that is our purpose um as outlined by njsba we are here you know as the voice of our community as it pertains to mtps um I think that that kind of committee would serve very well for our board and kind of optimizing our procedures uh things that kind of stand out to me is reaffirming pledging um and for those two things I believe that in the fall I took an oath um in order to reaffirm something it would have to be that I did not fulfill the oath and now I'm taking a pledge as it states to um kind of reaffirm that commitment um and I don't feel comfortable doing that as I do not feel uh that my oath on this board has needs to be reaffirmed it's there it was made in the fall and I stand behind the oath that I took in the fall um but I would love to see this motion be turned into a committee for our internal board where we can optimize our policies long withstanding after I'm here after everyone is here just a committee in place when things like this arise we can kind of reflect on how it was handled and make sure that our protocol moving forward promotes better understanding communication and engagement on issues thank you Danielle um couple of thoughts I had too so I was highlighting some things that I thought were important and interesting in here too um and that mattered to the community and to us as board members there are some things that that you called out that I was like H that's something that we should definitely consider um I had taken similar notes I guess to what you did Danielle so there is a crisis response policy there's also actually like a legal council policy I looked at the crisis response policy and it hadn't been updated I think since 2014 um and Council policy and so to me I want to add those to the list right to the Forefront of things to your point that you called out here about how to handle crisis um that that would be important to me to weave some of what you had said in here right the comprehens a review uh taking a retrospective of events and what had happened and learning from them and I think upon just my glance at the crisis response policy I think there's definitely room for some of what you proposed in there I'd like to start for me at that place first to see what to I guess to your point what could be long withstanding when I'm no longer here in another year and WHL or whoever is here that it will be in place that people will have to ad to that and and how the board interacts with council is important to me too based on obviously the events that had called out so to me um I put that another piece that I put in here too though that I thought was we all agreed on develop enhance communication protocols Michael you had lonsky you had put the piece out about communication and making sure we're all communicating properly um but I had put in here CU you had some board decision decisions in public safety and so something I had written was Safety and Security and Communications committee could take a look at policies as well and and where they can come into play and some of the things that you outlined here and so I thought that it was a good review of what you had written I think I'd like to look at those places first and see where we can build something that's long withstanding and future and forward thinking so that hopefully we can all work together so that was just my thoughts but I you know I appreciate all of the well-written pieces that really got my mind thinking so thank you any other discussion um yeah I I have some so um first off thank you for sending it over a didd um I did get a chance to go through it uh the I mean the two issue I know the one issue I brought up last we last yeah last week um was you know and again no offense was you know with the board president um uh making the choices for you know who would be on this committee um the other the other issue that I you know saw when I was reading it was um the use of these outside entities um you know to come in and do this investigation um were you know uh to look into you know exactly what um transpired um that didn't really resonate with me you know after reading it um when uh I mean it was over two years ago but when I campaigned and you know ran and got elected for this seat um it was primarily based on taking like government out of you know out of the school and out of like board involvement and um you know that's something that I truly believe like you know that's not something that I would want to waiver on and you know that's a commitment that I made to everybody that did vote for me and I wouldn't want to um you know I wouldn't want to go back on my word like that and I feel like doing something like this would be bringing in more um you know more government involvement or you know even if it is at the municipal level um the one idea I did have and I'm kind of like writing as everyone's talking so just um you know this is like very rough but you know I thought maybe you had mentioned a crisis response policy um so I'm thinking like you know maybe to look whether it's at this issue or God forbid there's you know any others uh hopefully not while I'm here but maybe you know maybe another committee chosen by the board as a whole could be like a crisis or critical response committee whose purpose would be to internally like among board members review and analyze the response and role in a critical situation within the district and um you know highlight the things that went wrong highlight the things that were done well areas we can excel in areas that we you know that we did well in uh you know something like that um I feel like that would really leave the district in a it would leave the board and the district I feel in a better situation because it would be something that we can grow on um you know where we can realize if mistakes were made I mean look we're we're human mistakes happen so if they do then um you know I think that the most important part of making a mistake is realizing it and you know realizing the part you played in it so that you can grow from it um and I would hope that you know a committee of this would be able to do that um I I know I threw a lot at everyone but it's just an idea something to think over and uh again you know thank you for bringing this forward because I do think that this is definitely something worthy and you know should be looked into I just want to mention one thing you talked about the government being involved I I agree those were just ideas and I think after you mentioned and I think one or two other board members I'm completely in agreement that we don't have to and it wasn't um you know they're they're elected right um I think the committee is either volunteers or they're elected I'm not sure but um it was again just a recommendation I even read mentioned njsba I mentioned you know um a retired superintendent potentially um so I'm not saying that the um you know forming a new committee or any of the suggestions that any of you made right now I just don't think that one replaces the other it can complement each other I don't think one replaces the other in my opinion so you know it's it's difficult to kind of look at our own actions and come up with like truly unbiased ways of like fixing it or you know moving forward so that's that's the only thing and I'm again I'm not opposed to any of the other suggestions I think that's great we should definitely try to update some of the policies that haven't been since 2014 I think Danielle's suggestion is fine too to you know have like a a different committee and yes I mean I think those things should also be in place but again I don't think one replaces the other I think one complement the other yeah just to that point aidia I know I had sent you one of my recommendations for the motion was that the communication committee take on the delegated responsibility of making sure if something needs to be communicated within the board to eliminate that uh phone chain situation that maybe was not the best choice but Michael myself and Chad are on the communications committee and if something like this should arise well we have to reiterate and make sure that communication is sent to each and every board member maybe that's something the the communications committee can take on or the Safety and Security committee not in lie of a different committee but just to fill those holes and fill those gaps where I mean I'm proud of coffee chat but it doesn't take up so much time on the communications committee where we could delegate responsibility in the literal sense of communication so I didn't mean it that a committee shouldn't be formed it's just that um we all give so much of ourselves already there's so much that goes into being a board member and so many hours spent and so much brain power and it's almost like a second full-time volunteer job for some of us so I just wanted to make sure that we weren't burning the cancel from both ends with the Committees yeah and one more thing um Aldo I thought I had changed this and apologies for that but I did change it where it would be for both committees that it shouldn't be the president it should be the board so that's something that we need to just update on the second portion I don't know how that may have not gone to you um Mr Rose but for both of them it shouldn't um I think it's for the sorry one second it in there uh under establishes an independent review in the third sentence it says the dependent committee as selected by the president you want that to read the board correct correct yes yeah as selected by the board will include internal external experts yeah I definitely wanted to address that concern of yours Aldo so I that's something that was left on it shouldn't have been it should be the board because I did change it on the first paragraph um up above so yes yes we're we're in agreement that that's the amendment to the motion do you agree with that too yes yes that's fine okay yeah um and then to address the concerns about the cost I get it um you know I obviously and Mrs Bono 100% I don't think we need to take anything away from our kids um but sometimes you have to put a little bit of money behind something for the betterment of our kids um and also we're not talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars here you know I'm and again I don't know Mr gross or when we do RFP or look into it you know we can get an attorney or or or an audit firm or whatever to kind of do it at a flat rate there's lots of creative ways to go around it um but we can't forget that even though you know I know we're School District but we're still a business at the end of the day right where we need to make sure if there's something um that needs either to be fixed or there there that we assess it um there were things that we could have done differently better the same I don't know um we won know until we look into it so yeah yeah I just want to add I agree with what everyone said here and certainly I don't think we want government involved I think people who are experts on governance that's one thing but definitely I would look for an independent third party to do this I look at this in two forms one is we need to figure out what we did right what we could have done better and then Implement things towards that of which there are three suggestions in here which I think are good I agree with taking out the timeline so that gives me the ability to vote on this because I want to also make sure that we do this in a timely fashion but we need to do this in a way that um doesn't introduce us to additional liability because that's the last thing anyone in this board wants and thank you Mrs Bono I agree with you I agree with the DD I don't think this has to be expensive um there are firms that specialize in auditing and doing things like this um I think if I'm going to vote Yes on this and I think there's no timeline but to me what that does is it reaffirms our commitment to take some action here and we need to discuss it as a board in much greater detail to figure out when is the right time to do that given everything that's going on in the background so that's sort of where I'm at my thoughts but I this is a good discussion and I agree that maybe a committee maybe um Communications committee gets involved in some of this but I also want to just understand again what we did good because that'll help enhance those things and what we possibly could have done better that's all that's it that's my comments just just one additional comment um the paragraph that includes develop enhanced communication protocols um it's calling for us to instruct the superintendent when incidences of this the severity that we are we saw uh following April 16th occur um one of the problems or one of the things that I see that I'm not comfortable with with using terms like instructing is I would rather collaborate uh with the superintendent to form communication protocols because the safety security and quick action of our superintendent to address these issues is Paramount I wouldn't want to bound uh our superintendent or security uh Administration with immediately saying I have to call the nine of us before I take action when there is a security threat to a student to the school or to anything like that so verbiage like instructing the superintendent I'm not comfortable with um voting yes to because I would rather collaborate in a committee setting to form better protocols that include our superintendent because we are not there on the dayto day we don't know what it feels like to be in a crisis situation and the what's Paramount is that our students and staff are taken care of before a phone call to myself um who really can't take action in the moment uh that's that's not my my duty as a board member um I just want to clarify on that so I don't think it's when something happens the whole point is that we develop this plan now so that when something comes about action is taken not that when it's happening they have to call the board to figure out what next steps are so I just want to clear that up yeah yeah no I understand I just for in a committee setting we would be able I mean I know for our policy committee um and even with our curriculum we sit uh with the assistant superintendent but Mr Bon sits into our policy meetings and we're able to collaborate on a communication like on a policy protocol so collaborating on a communication Pro protocol in a committee setting would be would be something I would be comfortable with and maybe it's just the verbiage it just seems very I don't want to instruct Mr balone that you have to do this immediately while he's trying to do his day-to-day work um so a couple of things in here that I wouldn't be comfortable saying yes to maybe are just verbiage that you know need to be changed but um you know that's just one other thing that I could kind of yeah and and I can't remember the name of the of the policy number but I know there's a policy that um already is either in place or I'm pretty sure it is in place that says that there is a plan that the superintendent is supposed to pull together for something like this I don't have the crisis management I'm not sure there there's crisis response that has who the superintendent will reach out to and it has a list of Staff it's it's actually not us first to your point Danielle um it's to well at this point we have to update it right because it has to include the threat assessment team and all of that um but yeah so that is in place who's out there we just have to make some changes to it yeah so I think this really all it's saying is that we acknowledge and I think over the last few meetings everybody was questioning what happened who called who who heard about it first right so this is simply just telling the superintendent right now that this happened so let's take a look and put certain policies or certain protocols in place right this is not like something again I mean we've faced numerous different things unfortunately over the last couple of months or weeks and nobody expects Mr balone to pick up the phone and call all of us that is not how we can operate we just that's that's not our role anyway we can't do it that way but this is really just telling the superintendent now that hey we Face something we know there was a little bit of a breakdown in whatever transpired let's let's look at that and put some protocols in place so that if and when things do happen again that we're not kind of going down the same path again so that's really what it is it's not about dayto day and I I actually I love that idea me too but when I read this that's not how it's coming across to me uh but that what you just outlined there is phenomenal in my opinion yeah and I was just going to say that piece too and I just want to clarify if after reading all of that wres a lot and then if I just voted yes it means I agreed to almost every word in here but I do want to stress this point I think what you were saying too all these notes I have here are in agreement with pieces that you have so I think that the the path forward even taking a look back right as a board and seeing what we could do differently which I think we've been trying to do right and we're going to look at our policies I'm for pieces of this just voting yes to every word in here right now is I think the only part I'm struggling it's not that I'm not on board with the plan because I am on board with most of the things in here I just want to pause take pieces out from here and use them as I want to say like my guiding post to the things that I want to see that we can all agree on or work towards for for how we can work together in the future and so just Yes means I agree to every single line and that's the struggle but the pieces and the spirit of it I'm there so can you just so I understand what are the pieces that you're struggling with that's on here I think for me right now I need to know a little bit more about an external review I'm not against it at this moment in time I can't say yes till I know a little bit more about it I'm not saying I understand cost I know we're in business I get it I need to know more about that also there's some other things I know that I've mentioned before with external review at this point in time that just lead me to a little bit of concern at this very moment today but other than that there's also just um how we conduct I guess the um review I want I have some logistical questions other than I know this is not the logistics this is just that it's going to happen I'm okay with looking back I have no problem with that as a board growing from it I think I just want to um talk through it a little bit more can I ask Mr gross to expand a little bit on the board instructing the superintendent with developing communication protocols what is are we teetering on that fine line of board Administration day no it's no different than putting a pol because it's already in the policy there's a policy in place that actually States something very similar which just I'm just saying let's actually move forward and do it and have something in place so it's no different than the policies that we write that the district follows it's as simple as is that the case Mr gross sorry okay we'll get used to that it depends on what you instruct him to do so again it's it's matters as to what the meat to the actual policy will be or the procedure will be not necessarily just the words so it it it matters as to what is in the content of the instruction a lot of what I'm hearing for um Val from you as well is the logistical piece and I think that's where everybody's getting stuck on I mean what I'm hearing most of you agree that this is needed you know again I'm not putting the 90day that I was initially right so that gives us a little bit more freedom to really explore how to move forward with this but I again strongly believe that this is something that we do need and I also think think that we should take up what Danielle and Aldo and then mentioned about doing a different committee I think again like I said it complements one another I don't think it replaces so understood go ahead Dr Miss woodz um I how can we pull this together so because everybody's in agreement something can be done but now everybody has yes it is I just have to speak louder um how can we whoa how can we um get together and formulate a motion it doesn't have to be right now but moving oh you think so yeah because I don't think anything in this motion is really I mean even using an external you know auditor I just we don't have to go with someone really expensive we can there are just so many ways around it I just think that you know we've pushed this like it's been what 3 weeks now right so we've had 3 weeks to really think about it and we won't know until we actually put on an RFP what the cost is if it is excessive of course I'm not going to be like no we have to move forward we could take a look at it again we could again come up with creative ways but these are all logistical issues that we can work through what we need to come together as a board and and you know again not just for us but for our community I know that people want answers it's not just us even if the number let's just give like a hypothetical even if the number to audit is $10,000 I promise you I cannot count on both hands how many people in this District can find something to do with $10,000 that would benefit our students even if it's something like obviously we have an immense budget so $10,000 to 99 million sounds like a drop in the bucket but you have to consider how that would reflect on staff members and people applying for Grants if needed or any type of supplemental funding it's not just you know you have to spend money to make money kind of concept in a business this this looking at the big picture of of an outside audit it might not sound like a lot of money in the moment to correct any mistakes that may have happened it's just more for the grand scheme of things if positions are being cut and salaries are you know being voted on and then we just haphazardly approve a $10,000 external audit it it's going to give sour feelings to people whether or not you agree with it or they agree with it there are people that are going to think there's that money can be spent I agree I'm sure there were a lot of people that were not happy with the litigation fees for fighting 5756 right they're both sides same same thing here that's one the other thing is you know we're talking about grants so I'm going to go back to the thing that you know we were fighting just about a month ago about MEF who gives grants and you know we're still going back and forth on we're going to accept that or not so I feel that you C you know if we're going to turn away from that or we're going to pay money to litigate a lot of other cases that again half of the committee agrees to the other half doesn't the 10,000 to me is and again we're just it may not even be that much it may be less we don't know we're speculating we can't but I can say with certainty that we've put a lot of money behind some other litigations right so I mean it's just ironic that the litigation that the litigation money that was spent on my own ethics charge was found to be you know forgiven so there is there other things in the district that the litigation costs are being spent unnecessarily that's what I mean I'll every single day I will spend litigation on 5756 it's not a point that needs to be brought up right now this is just more or less you know I understand what can we do moving forward can we amend policies can we you know we have policies in place that need to be paid attention to so can this motion be implemented by amending policies it's not that I'm not agreeing with something needs to be done but if we update our policies and we amend policies that are already in place then we need to respect the policies that like 9191 if we're going to take 9191 so literally then maybe 0133 and 0155 needs to be amended and taken just as seriously well so there was a what was a policy that was in uh renewed or updated in 2014 the one that says to have like this crisis response so that was updated in 2014 I don't think and I don't know how much of that was actually followed in in this whole process I don't know enough of it I just read it right exactly and so I feel like yes policies are there but I don't know how much we're actually referencing it and how much we're actually actioning from 2014 to now 2024 if there was supposed to be a protocol or or something in place a plan in place already to to kind of circumvent a lot of what's what happened here or how to like move forward with it and wasn't put in place that tells me that we need to do more than just put a policy together would you be um Mrs Gandhi would you be opposed to re I think there's a lot of good content here and a lot of things I would 100% say yes to a lot of things um but not everything would you be opposed to amending it to maybe one or even two motions separating this um after we discuss it a little bit more maybe in executive um where we can kind of make it more overarching and less specific things like policy implementation I think that's phenomenal accountability to uphold policies excellent all of that will promote growth it will promote better functionability of this board and I think that part of this motion is excellent and I love it and I would vote Yes 100 times over there are some things like I've mentioned that I'm really not so keen on um so if we can discuss that maybe in an executive session break it out into an overarching motion or maybe two separate motions I think that at least speaking for myself you know for what we've outlined and the things that are really great about this motion I would vote Yes 100% yeah if you don't mind since we're already discussing this I think the the one question that was concerning is about um instructing the superintendent but I feel like you understand like a little bit after clarification so that is not a concern So Much Anymore correct I would not vote Yes to it as it's written here just because it says instructing so you're talking about just changing the I would love to see that in a policy um or as a communication protocol instead of just telling Mr balone this is how you're going to communicate I want to hear his feedback as to what would be productive for him I don't expect him to make nine phone calls I respect chain of commit and uh you know with our president so when that because of that um instead of using the word instructing I'd like to collaborate uh through a committee uh or maybe with one of the Committees that we already had like Mrs Seward said um to really put a procedure in place but something that you said that resonates with me is the accountability to our policies and even if we have to have a policy about being accountable to our policies which sounds redundant but that is Paramount we could have a million policies but if no one is actually looking at following or reading them then they're just words on paper so I love what you had said about that and being accountable to the policies that exist um but I think that if we looked at some of the policies and I just you know a couple that were mentioned Mrs Mendes mentioned a couple others I think that we can make this motion more overarching to include um accountability to the policies that exist in addition to some of the other stuff that's in here that's really great it's just um there's a lot of information in here and voting yes it's hard to get nine people to all vote Yes to every single one of these PS because it could be one that stands out that's like I can't get on board with that and unfortunately you know a motion is a formal procedure to take action and I can't take action on all of this um but I could take action on a lot of it so same and that's the point I was saying too that to say yes to every line is hard for me but to Danielle's Point first of all there is a policy and bylaws policy but it doesn't say it doesn't hold them accountable we talked about that we brought it up in one policy meeting so revising that one right and what happens when people don't and CU you had mentioned that too I think there's a lot of things here that I would pull out and I like the idea of breaking it up into two things and and and kind of like weighing in on it and and overarching I think we could get behind it I think I say we I mean myself and I know you yeah I don't I don't want to see it just be dismissed if it's no or that I think that it's really important that we do something with this it's just the entirety of it is not I don't feel comfortable with the entirety but I don't want to say okay push it to the side that is absolutely not um I would love to see this this quickly we voted on in a way that everybody is comfortable with and so with that being said we can move to roll call or are you comfortable with that still or or where do you stand so I heard everybody here obviously right and there's a lot of support in whatever is in here um what I'd like to do just because this has been sort of lingering for a couple of weeks is we move forward and vote on it and then we can go back and do what um Danielle's recommending that you know we could go ahead and see if we need to again depending on how this passes or if it doesn't pass um but I just want to clarify again I know you you thought that um that Bas what I'm saying is that Mr balone would have to call us during every incident that that's not what that is again I just I know I I know that's what you think but the instruct the instruction piece is just that we're basically recommending him to put a protocol in place for things like this that's it and then once it's already in place we review it we make sure this makes sense you know we're all on board with it again collaborating whatever it is and then that stays and that's what we're going to use for future incidents so yeah and and if and when it's it's written like that 100% it's that's a no-brainer for me okay good discussion all right we're going to move to roll call right you wanted to vote you said correct okay okay roll call vote for organization matter number 14 as amended Mr petruno um no as to the way it's written but you know echoing the sentiments of everyone else I'd love to see it revised to a way that we can pass it but no for the current uh the current revision Mrs seart no Mrs bomo no Mr hayatt yes Mr Lansky no Mrs McCormack no Mrs Gandhi yes and Dr MTZ I'm voting yes too okay and then last Mrs Mendes no for the reasons I had mentioned okay so I have six NOS to three yeses motion does not pass still move over we can still move this over yeah yeah's a lot of okay financial and business operations matters Danielle the superintendent of school submits the following resolutions for approval one final 2024 25 school year budget adoption two adjustment for healthc care costs three use of banked cap four capital reserve withdrawal other capital projects five withdrawal from maintenance Reserve six travel and related expense reimbursement seven authorize signat eight uniform minimum chart of accounts nine after school sports enrichment programs 10 renewal of contract educational data services for purchasing procedures for the 2526 school year 11 harassment intimidation bullying HIV report 12 appro approval of agreement e- counseling Inc 13 reaffirmation of Team teaching integrated preschool tuition 14 approval of addendum to extend the professional service agreement between the Mt booe and ESS Northeast LLC 15 transfers 16 travel ISO move I have second Michael discussion roll call Mrs McCormack yes Dr m SZ yes Mr petruno yes Mrs seart yes Mrs Gandhi yes Mr hayatt yes Mr alansky yes yes thank you Mrs bomo yes and Mrs Mendes yes um curriculum matters Dr MTZ the superintendent of school submits the following resolutions for approval curriculum guides one curriculum guides ISO move I a second adidi discussion roll call Mr hayatt yes Mr lonsky yes Mrs uh excuse me Mrs McCormack yes Mr petruno yes Mrs seart yes Mrs BMA yes Mrs Gandhi yes Dr MTZ yes and Mrs Mendes yes Personnel matters adid the superintendent of schools submits the the following resolution for approval one retirement two resignations three full-time teaching staff PES oh my four School psych psychologist 2024 2025 school year certifi certificated administrators um 2425 school year operational administrators um sorry six oper AAL administrator seven stien supervisor and assistant supervisor of buildings and grounds 2425 school year eight non-aligned certificated administrators nine non-aligned non-certificated administrator 10 non-aligned support staff 2425 school year 11 secretarial Personnel 2425 school year 12 bookkeeper and clerk 2425 school year 13 special education instruct special education instructional assistant 2425 school year 15 School monitors 2425 school year just oh sorry 14 kindergarten basic skills instructional assistance 2425 school year 15 School monitors 2425 school year 16 School Aids 2425 school year 17 buildings and ground staff 2425 school year 18 stiens maintenance workers 19 Head custodians and night custodial supervisor 2425 school year 20 stien head custodians and night custodial supervisor 2425 school year 21 Courier 2425 school year 22 business dri sorry bus drivers hours and salaries 2425 school year 23 bus attendance hours and salaries 2 4 25 school year 24 computer technicians 2425 school year 25 computer technician 2 2425 school year 26 District network technician 2425 school year 27 registered nurse 2425 school year 28 permanent floater school nurse 2425 school school year 29 unpaid leave of absence I so move second Ashley discussion roll call Dr MTZ yes Mr petruno yes Mrs seart yes Mrs bomo abstain from two yes everything else thank you Mr Hy yes Mr alansy yes Mrs McCormack yes Mrs Gandhi yes and Mrs Mendes yes retirement comments I think you had I do if you recall at the last meeting we did not have retirement comments at the time for Mrs Nancy ol so I'll read them first Nancy ol has been an instructional Aid in the Marboro Township Public Schools for the past 16 years during her time in the district she spent most of her years at Robertsville when asked what she would miss the most after retiring she responded her colleagues throughout her tenure in the district Nancy has worked with a diverse student population across all grade levels her calm demeanor and dedication to her students have been admired by both staff and families she has touched countless lives over the past 16 years and we are grateful for having had the privilege of working with her in retirement she plans to spend time traveling abroad and working in her garden congratulations [Applause] Nancy and now retirement comments for Moren oconnell Moren oconnell began her career in marbor Township Schools as a substitute teacher in 200000 shortly after that she became an instructional assistant at the Early Learning Center before moving on to Holmes and then to marbar elementary school in July of 2009 she became the principal secretary at marbar Memorial Middle School during the interview process it was evident that Moren was just the person to step into that role with her kind and gentle approach along with the knowledge Moren gained over the years she served as a resource for the staff regarding a wide range of issues she was also instrumental in creating and implementing the building budget each year from Gathering quotes to monitoring account balances and ordering supplies Morin's meticulous nature ensured that these tasks were accomplished precisely her Bright Smile greeted us every morning whether it was a good or bad day her calm demeanor was reassuring to all she had a way of making everyone feel welcome and comfortable she was always there to ask after your family or pet there was no question or task too big or too small she was willing to help in whatever way way she could and do so with a positive attitude and Outlook it is hard to put into words all that Morin means to the staff at Memorial she is sunshine personified we will all miss her guidance and warm heart we wish Moren all the best in a retirement filled with health happiness long walks bike rides and quality time with her family especially her grandchildren good luck Moren you will be sorely missed and Memorial will never be the same without you [Applause] thank you and thank you to the staff um okay old business scary so yes I I'm not sure if this should be like with old business or new business I had the um the motion that was put out at the last meeting um regarding um the malpractice and after you know doing some more research and getting you know further input uh I have a revised motion that I'd like to put forward for it so I should I do it with old business or do you want me to wait for new all right so um I'd like to motion for our board to file a grievance against uh Mr Mark zider and shank price with the office of Attorney ethics to review a potential violation of the rules of professional conduct and start a thorough and effective investigation by the district Ethics Committee and the office of Attorney ethics uh filing this grievance is not a civil lawsuit or a criminal complaint and it is not filed with an intent to recuperate damages but instead to uh recognize address and record a potential ethics violation uh via a thorough and detailed investigation by the two entities I previously mentioned into the uh un authorized actions taken by Mr zider and the firm on behalf of the malor Township Board of Ed without his consent or approval so move Mo second Danielle discussion I'd like to can we discuss that Mr gross and executive because this is a legal matter vote on it yeah no after we come back out of yeah depending on what questions you're if you're going to have questions or comments that have any kind of legal implications and certainly we shouldn't be discussing them in in public session but if you just want to vote on the motion you certainly can or if you want to move to um table the motion till we have answerers your questions with regard to that uh things other any items that might need to be discussed in exec which may have some legal implications you had a question too no same I just have additional questions but yeah so I'd like to table it so we can talk to the executive session and come back out and do we have to do if there's a motion to table then we need a second on the motion to table second and then we would have uh all those in favor of tabling until we return from executive session raise your hands sorry okay motion passes so we're tbling the motion until after our executive session discussion but we'll return from executive session and we can come back out and vote right exactly when we do the executive session motion we'll say that action may be taken Upon Our return and that would be one of those items okay okay any other old business yeah I just wanted to give the board an update uh it was asked at the previous meeting meeting to find out about summer camp so we were in the talks with the YMCA and they are able to provide a summer camp for 2024 um we're still working out the specifics but they are able going to provide it so we're just going to basically work out this work with them regarding the specifics and then they'll be moving forward with you know sending out a flyer and registration forms and and get getting everything in order but it probably will just be at Robertsville as it has been in the past so uh that's good news that's great how many families sorry do we ever find out like how many families actually use that yeah so the summer camp I believe last year was 60 registrants uh six so 60 students utilized it not as many as in the school year but still enough to provide a program thank you Vinnie thank you for that any other old business any new business yeah I had um I had emailed this to everyone three weeks ago um around the policy sort of making so I know we can't vote on it today and that's cool um but I do just want to read it just to get it out there um we can either discuss it now or you can take some time to absorb it we have plenty of time to get feedback before we discuss this further at was it May 27th meeting May 21st sorry May 21st meeting so we have time but I just want to get this out there right now so I'm just going to read it we can table a discussion on it um or we can have a discussion on it now it's up to you guys uh so motion to revise board policy so this motion is put forth with the goal of fostering constructive and collaborative environment within the board bridging gaps among different viewpoints increasing public transparency and enhancing our Collective ability to serve the best interest of maror Township Public Schools it is with the understanding that the Board of Education recognizes the importance of continuous improvements and innovation in our policymaking process to better serve the educational goals of marble Township Public Schools uh we acknowledge that diversity of opinions and expertise among all our board members that can be leveraged in making informed and balanced decision so let it be resolved at the marbor Public Schools Board of Education again we're not going to vote on this but I'm just reading it as a motion um adopts the following procedure to enhance our policy development rision and approval process and before I get into the details let me just categorize this I think it's one how we we function or or how the committee has made up um how we communicate Decisions by that committee to other board members and then finally sort of the service providers we use so those are the three broad buckets but I'll read them kind of as I sketch them out uh one reorganization of the policy committee the Board of Education will select members of the policy committee that will capitalize on their expertise and the value those skills bring to our policy committee this includes prioriti prioritizing members with qualifications uh in the following eras wherever possible which I think we do to some extent uh human resource law education counseling Andor parents or Guardians uh policy cap revision to ensure thorough review of considerations of each policy proposal no more than five policies per month shall be on the agenda for either first or second reading so that would be a total of 10 uh meeting minutes procedure the policy committee will take meeting minutes during each meeting minutes will be shared with all board members within 7 Days of each committee meeting at the next scheduled policy meeting the minutes will be approved and made part of the public record uh board discussions um before I read this I'm not suggesting a a board as a whole but where a policy meets one or more of the following criteria the policy should be added to the Board of Education meeting agenda for public discussion before scheduled for a first reading number one the policy includes substantive changes affecting marbor Township Public Schools educational goals or Services any policy that a majority of the policy committee determines to be a significant public interest uh and three and finally any policy being proposed or updated that were not approved by the majority of uh the policy committee prior to First reading and then the final one is exploring the service providers the Board of Education will explore transitioning from stra s me to a potential other service provider for reading policy alerts and assistance policy drafting acknowledging General General dfac with their current Service as we we've discussed in public meetings be it resolved so so that's it um it's in your inbox we can discuss it now we can take some time to absorb it I know it's getting late we've got a lot to talk about about an executive and we can have that discussion in the next meeting so yeah and I appreciate you bringing that back up and I appreciate you sending it um I won't be able to attend the next meeting it's actually a work thing but don't you don't need me here you have other people so that's okay um I have a work obligation that I tried to get out of but I can't so um couple of things that I just want to bring up I I think I mentioned limiting it to five is we just have to have a caveat right right of a number and I don't I don't know if it's five definitely there's a number that's way too many but there are times when they roll out together have to roll out together or should roll out together right we had that happen too and so I think we just have to look at the number right and maybe there's just a cap and maybe it's not five but I just want to put that out there yeah and I'm okay with that because yeah a lot of those policies that push through that are several um some of the changes are minor so we can figure out how we exactly sometimes it's like one word and it sometimes it's an alert and we can't control and it's by you know some sort but anyway that's my one thing and I I I think you know if we all agree or we revise this to a point where we can agree on it this will become a policy or a policy will get updated to include that in it so we have time to figure out that's fine and I know we're not voting on anything now but because I won't be here at the next meeting I just want to say two other things the caveat of when they should come to the committee of a whole is a little too broad and I think we need to kind of look at that subst you know the you said substantial changes what would that really mean right cuz sometimes you're changing a lot of the wording in there and do you care if we change the word from the to a I'm just giving an example right uh public interest I could say everything could be of public interest right so I was trying to write down quickly Chad and remember I think you said something about public interest sure um I would just I would take a look at when it should come to a committee of a whole if that's the route everybody's going to go and what criteria and make it a little more prescriptive so that it's not everything and it's open to interpretation that's what I would say and then and then it's you said something about majority vote on it but I would look at that too I just didn't quite understand that one so just at a high level those were just some of the things I would take a look at for me but everybody else could do what they want but I think you were going to say something too yeah I did have a question is this like so is this change proposed for an immediate reorganization or is this like how how exactly are you or January yeah are you proposing to restructure the makeup of the policy committee now mid year or is that for the reor meeting in January I think moving forward oh so you're saying like after it was voted in if it were to be voted in you're saying by that next point we should have made the change to the committee that's a question yeah we just look at it and we agree that we need to add somebody in addition to the people then we do it or we could all sit back and agree that the policy committee is structured as it should be there's there's four people currently on it yeah in order to add a person yeah there's four already on there that the same thing Craig U I love I love the overarching message um but again if you if you read like uh like a Roberts rules the the example I give you is I motion to have a coffee break in this meeting there's a lot of verbiage in these motions and again no one's going to agree to everybody's personal uh point of view on the narrative surrounding which is all really great narrative but in the motion when you broke it down here it's way I would have a lot easier of time telling you what I agree to and what I don't agree to um with just you know a numbered motion of I I move to do a b c and d and then the fine the F like what we do under those motions once those motions pass or don't we can like you know hash out the details but the the lengthy paragraphs and hanging on all the verbiage in every word is where I'm getting caught up because there's sometimes there's verbiage in there that I'm like I can't agree with this but the overarching plan of what you're laying out sounds great so when you're asking myself to vote on a motion you're asking me to agree to everything you've put in there which I can't do but the principle of your motion is very substantial and and forward thing so that is where I'm coming kind of you know coming up short on these motions is it they're so robust that it's hard to get on board with every word in the motion and essentially that's what you're asking me to do because it's it's a call to take action and I can't take all the action don't feel like I'm trying to shove all this through we can easily break this up so that's good absolutely I'm with I don't disagree Michael so quick overview look at it chat I think the 7 Days takes takes care of a lot of issues we've been having given board members 7 days to look at the policies I'm all on board with that these seven days and that means we don't do them as fast course committee can only meet when it can meet so be it I'm okay with that um the five policies except when the Daniel's point before some policies interact with other policies so may some may come down might be six or seven because this one interacts with that one and they both should be on the same docket so you know five is a give and take depending on those reasons for me and the other um point I would be will okay on is bring it to the full board when there's not a majority the other reason is no but when there's not a majority in the policy committee and and it's at a stand still then could bring to the full board before first read because really when you had seven days to look at it it's only a first read it's still a full board discussion and you had seven days digested before it got to you so I think we still have the same robust compensation if it's if it's in if it's in stale in in policy committee then it should come here before the can still first read I agree with those three items okay off the top right now I just have a question um I don't know if it's better suited for Mrs Mendes or Mr gross in our B laws it does state that we can have discussion for exploratory reasons and some of these policies as a a group without a public meeting um how is that upheld that is in our in the bylaws that are listed exploratory conversation no that part I got you said you approve things without a public no no no not approve explor conversation right okay as a group as a whole you mean in executive or in public it's not it's just oh just as a group mm well that's basically through similar to a committee structure people without you know less than five board members having an exploratory conversation about anything is it may be something worth pulling up an executive because it's written differently in our bylaws and that would definitely be something that I would be interested in knowing more about um and then to U Mrs Gandhi's motion um I think that it's a perfect example if we're going to look at policies regarding our Communications protocol and policies there's way more than five so I think there has to be a caveat because what I wouldn't want to see happen um as a policy-making board is we change four of them we get them golden where we're all comfortable and we're progressing and then there's like three more that are kind of trailing behind from 2013 that haven't been touched and there's confusion as to well are we going with policies you know X Y and Z or are we going to go with the five we just revised so I'm okay with limitations um but I think that when uh we revisit the motion um a caveat especially with things like communication Communications and protocol it would be most beneficial to us and board members after us if we kind of revise them all as a whole yeah yeah and Chad to that point maybe just for me just shorten it to a couple of categories right if there's a cap to that point I think I'd mentioned there are some that come up with statutes and so X number except with the exception of and then sometimes there can be an exception and and a rule to that because there are sometimes to your point seven policies that tie to HIV hypothetically could be code of conduct it could be Hib it could be substance abuse right and so there are some that roll together that we just have to think about the other thing to your point Mr Lansky I just we have to look at the seven days in advance and just I just want to understand the nuances of the seven days right and and because some of it is tied to when the committee can meet based on schedules right and availability of all of us plus Administration and so I just I have no problem with the time limit everybody if you want to review in advance I'm there that's fine I just want to say what if it's 8 what if it's five right does it get pushed to the next meeting right does it get pushed to the next meeting that's all I'm saying like it gets pushed or whatever happens is was my other concern I have that's kind of what I said so be it if we can't meet within seven days of oh then it gets pushed pushed because it's important that the board members have seven days I just I think that's important yeah yeah yeah I didn't hear that part thank you and those should be accompanied with like the meeting minutes I think that's that's important that's critical cuz understanding why the changes happened and why are we making those changes cuz otherwise we're just reading something corre so we need to understand like what went behind those changes I have a question regarding Chad it you might want to like look into it or maybe I can look into it before emotion um the policy writers I'm only familiar with stme njsba I don't know if there're any others besides those two that are offered I don't know if anybody else knows they're not just those two and is there a cost behind changing I and and I'm sorry I was going to say that a while back I had R I think I mentioned that to you to njsba yeah um then we had some other things occur but njsba will come out and give a presentation in public in a public meeting obviously about the services that they provide the cost if you want to transition to them I never met with them it was just to say do you offer this service and they said um yes other than that you know obviously I think I mentioned it to all of you and wherever um but I just wanted to know if that's a that's why I said explore because I think that's probably the next step and I think and I know go ahead sorry um yeah the um it was actually something that we had discussed in a prior meeting because um uh the you know the same exact conversation came up um regarding policy notifications that we're receiving from St Esme versus um you know what would be coming from njsba and I don't know the exact figures but if I remember njsba was like substant I want to say substantially cheaper but regardless um it wasn't like an exorbitant amount of money and I my what I was um trying to recommend at the time was it may be worth you know if we're going to be doing policy revisions why just look at you know it we have Strauss Esme already why not have njsba too cuz I I want to say it was less than $1,000 a year to add the service like for that amount of money why wouldn't we just have both and compare the two and see you know who's making what changes why you know who didn't send an alert for one policy whereas the other one did what was actually mandated and what wasn't right like what's mandated what's not cuz that was another you know that's that's the whole premise of that completely agree I mean I would I would go even further than just ways with st May if it was up to me but yeah yeah but that can't happen again that's kind of yeah no and and thank you Chad for bringing that up and I think good discussion so if you're going to do whatever in the next meeting I just I gave you some of my thoughts but you all vote how you're going to vote and then I'll watch and see the outcome of that I'll just say this is helpful I I come into this board I've never been on a school board before so this policymaking part to me was both mysterious I've learned a lot right in the last couple months so these are I think things to try to improve that from my perspective coming into this fresh but I also need to collaborate based on your experience some of you have been in this board for two and a half years so it's good appreciate it thank you CH any other new business okay we're going to open to public comments anybody on the list does anybody want to speak Mrs Bono hi good evening Miss Mendes members of the Board of Education my fellow community members when I spoke earlier about the cost I didn't realize the impact it would have I want to thank you all for volunteering your time as a board of ed member we know it is a volunteer position and you spend hours upon hours here and from my understanding as a community member it is the direct responsibility of board members to make policies that velop plans evaluate outcomes not manage the day-to-day operations and you have a very special role as the liaison right between the community members concerns the taxpayers communicating with the superintendent but it is the board of Ed's responsibility to uphold right and enforce these policies when I mentioned earlier about the cost and Mr hayatt I thank you for acknowledging I wasn't talking about no external or cost I was talking about you know not to be punny but to go pro bono right for the public good services rendered at a lower cost and now I'm hearing that that motion was I don't even know if it was a motion item number 14 was voted down and now we have a new motion to file AG grievance so I guess my question is we we know the Board of Ed has adopted an amended a prior policy that has created a cost because the district is being sued by the attorney attorney general and we are in litigation for that what is the cost at now filing a grievance because I do believe that our funds need to be directed towards the day-to-day operations of the district servicing the students of Malboro thank you thank you any other comments okay motion to close public comments second Annette all in favor I any opposed none okay public comments is closed executive session resolution be it resolved in accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings act the maror Township Board of Education shall conduct a closed executive session pursuant to the personnel and legal exceptions prescribed by njsa 104-112 for the purpose of discussing matter of attorney C client privilege it is anticipated the length of time of this executive session will be 60 minutes and that action may be taken in public after the executive session be it further resolved the minutes of the executive session will be released when the need for confidentiality in accordance with njsa 10412 no longer applies all in favor I any opposed discussion okay thank you drinking so much water all day e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e 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