Can Can everyone hear me? >> Yep. Good. Good evening everyone. Miss Julinsky, can you do roll call, please? >> Yes. Good evening. Okay. Mrs. Balomo, >> here. >> Mrs. Carrero
>> here. >> Mrs. Gandhi >> here. >> Mr. Hyatt >> here. >> Mrs. Jenowski >> here. >> Mr. Lansonsky >> here. >> Dr. Msawitz >> here. >> Mr. Smith >> here. >> And Mr. Cohen
>> here. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. Um if anyone's uh recognizing from uh who's watching us live, we are in a different room this evening. Uh we are in the media lab or media room for um Memorial
High Memorial Middle School. Um so um we have not relocated but we're still here at the Memorial School if you're still planning on joining us in person. Um I'm going to draw point I'm going to point everyone out the their attention to our sunshine law. If you notice that in this
gender in this agenda that actually that paragraph has changed which is because the law has changed since there is no um publication any longer to the newspapers for our meetings. We now publish our meeting notices on our website. All
right. So, um, there'll be a section on our website with our meeting notices and then twice a year we need to put notice into the >> So, we send once a year to the Nazberry Park Press with two dates per month that they're to publish. So, twice a month
it's going to be published in the press that says if you want to see anything about the Marorrow Board of Ed, you need to go to their website under legal notices. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Uh, statement on video record on videotaping a public portion of the board of education meeting. Um we uh do
record our meetings. They are um visible and and watchable on our website. Um public comment statement. There will be two public comments sections of our agenda. Um and then no smoking or vaping on school grounds. Since we are on school grounds,
please um remember that as far as the policy goes, that goes in addition to inside the building, but around the building as well. Uh can we all stand for pledge of allegiance? The flag >> all the way back. Okay. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Um, I know when everyone came in um on the displays around the room, we were all watching the artwork on display. Mr.
W, would you like to say a few words about it? >> Sure. Sure. The artwork on display tonight showcases Mrs. Fington's creative arts classes at Marboro Middle School. All students have been working on both technical art skills and design thinking skills and these projects highlight their accomplishments. Thank
you, Mrs. Fington. >> Thank you, Mr. Mullen. Um, we before we get started with public comments, which is the next part of our agenda, I just want to stop for a moment and I want to just publicly say thank you to our buildings and grounds and our transportation teams who really worked
an amazing job to get our our schools open, our grounds cleared, um, you know, and our and our students transported safely during the blizzard. And their work started not on Monday, but their work started on Sunday the 22nd. and
continued straight through to the 24th, which is Tuesday. So, thank you so much to them and to their work and to their dedication to our schools. Um, you're you're you are totally appreciated, Mr. Spano. Thank you very much. Okay. Um, now we'll open it up for
public comments. Do we have >> So, I don't have the list. I guess it's still up front, but that's fine if anyone >> Okay. Does anyone want to offer public comments? Seeing no one wanting to offer. >> Okay, >> we can do the second.
>> They can do second. Uh second. Uh okay. So motion to actually motion to close public comments. Mr. Lansonski. Second. Miss Dancowski. All in favor? Anyone opposed?
Okay, we'll move along to announcements. Mr. Balone. >> Yes, I have one announcement. Um, proud to report on Saturday, January 31st, roughly 700 students auditioned for the CJMEA Intermediate Band. A Marbor Middle
School 7th grader was accepted into into the symphonic band, placing 10th into that ensemble. He performed on March 7th in Bridgewater alongside uh seventh and eighth graders from across central New Jersey. He was sponsored by his teacher, Mrs. Jennifer Bingham, also from uh MMS,
who helped adjudicate the auditions. He was also accepted into the Allshore Intermediate Band, placing sixth out of 45 clarinets. He performed with the ensemble on Wednesday, February 4th in Neptune. Congratulations. >> Thank you, Mr. Bowen. Any other public
announcements? Thank you. Um, school bus driver and building maintenance personnel motor abstract, please. Yes, all abstracts were run and everyone has um their standings are all um privilege and good standing. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Um you have the same tongue tie as I had
this morning. Uh since you have the floor, we'll move right on to referendum updates. >> Yes. Great. So that we went out to bid with the referendum with the project on February 19th. Bids are due back to the district on March 24th.
We had a pre-bid meeting on March 3rd. um where Mr. Spano walked the buildings with the architect, the engineer, and any contractors that were interested in in walking the buildings. Um you don't have to walk the buildings and attend the pre-bid meeting to actually bid on
the project, but we had four that actually came out. The bids will be open on the 24th and we're looking to award on April 7th. Everything else still same status quo. We still expect everything on schedule, but we're looking forward to opening the
bids. So, thank you. >> Thank you. And so, I assume that on April 7th, if everything goes well and it's successful, then we will have something in front of us at our meeting. Absolutely. To approve. >> That's correct. >> Great. This is spectacular news and
we're I'm personally very excited to hear that we're moving so fast. >> Yeah, it's um it's everything's going to schedule, thank God. So, >> and and and I may have missed it, but I think I know that you had mentioned it to me at one other point is that assuming all the all the awards go well
on April 7th, then work actually is going to start very soon thereafter on some of the precon. >> Yeah, it should be able to start after school hours. Um probably we're thinking May, right, Paul? and they'll be able to do like some of the work in the ceilings, you know, nothing that's going
to obviously affect children or dirty up anything during the school, but as much as we can get done before, obviously, look, the sooner we can get it done, the better, but a lot of it's going to depend on when the equipment arrives and lots of factors, but we'll have a better
idea once everything's awarded and, you know, we're able to send out the purchase order and kind of get everything started with the contracts. So, we're looking forward to it. >> Great. Any questions from Mr. Jinsky? Seeing none. Okay. Um, moving on to
communications. >> I have none. >> Thank you. >> Harassment and intimidation report. Mr. Balone. >> Yes. From the time period January 30th, 2026 through March 5th, 2026, there were seven incidents reported.
>> Thank you. Um, I will recognize the fact that our meeting dates for the rest of the March and for April are listed here. Our next meeting is March 24th. That'll be a regular meeting, followed by a meeting on Tuesday, April 7th, which will be a workshop meeting, followed by
another meeting on April 21st, which will be a regular meeting. Uh, next item on our agenda is the approval of minutes. I'll move this myself. Um, I'd like to make a motion. I'll do it first for January 20th. Motion to move uh to accept the meeting meetings both regular
and executive for January 20th. Um can I have a second? Miss Miss Jenowski, can I have a roll call? >> Yes. Okay. Mrs. Balamo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Carrerero, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Gandhi, >> yes. >> Mr. Hyatt, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jenowski, >> yes. >> Mr. Lansonski. >> Yes. >> Dr. Msquitz, >> abstain for January 20th. Yes. For February 3. >> We haven't done February 3rd yet, but
thank you. We'll do that next. Hold that vote on February 3rd. >> I only moved on the first one. >> Oh, sorry. I wasn't here on the 20th either. >> What? >> I wasn't here on January 20th. So, >> January 20th. >> So, you're you're a no or abstain?
You're an abstain. Mr. Smith, >> I'll abstain >> and Mr. Cohen. >> Yes. And now I'll move for the February third. And the reason why I did this is because I knew that there were a lot of different dates in which people were not here and I just thought it would be
easier for us for the record. So now I'll move the for the mo move for the minutes on February 3rd, both workshop and exec. Can I have a second? >> Dr. Mskowitz, can we have a roll call, please? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mrs. Carrero,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Gandhi, >> yes. >> Mr. Hyatt, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jenowski, >> yes. >> Mr. Lansonsky, >> yes. >> Dr. Msquitz, >> yes.
>> Mr. Smith, >> I think I should abstain on this one as well. >> Mrs. Balo, >> yes. >> And Mr. Cohen, >> yes. Thank you. Moving along to acting board secretaries
multi-certifications. Miss Jones. Uh yeah, M. >> Yes. So this just certifies that all our expenditures and incumbrances are not in violation of the statutes >> and payroll certifications. >> Payroll certification. This is for the
month of January 2026. >> Thank you. We are up to committee reports. Um they are listed alphabetically. So um advisory committee, Miss Carrera, would you do that one for me please or for us?
>> Use your icon. >> Okay. Okay. So, the advisory committee met ear uh on May 9th. Uh members in attendance uh it was Michael Malone, Danielle Balomo,
Brian Cohen, Adidi, and myself joining virtually. Uh during the meeting the committee reviewed the existing advisory committee charter including its purpose composition mission roles and responsibilities of members and adviserss the process for requesting advisors confidentiality and ethics
expectations advisor selection criteria and the committee's key initiatives. One minor suggestion was made to rename uh section four uh section 9 to key initiatives on our agenda and to remove the reference to a specific year. No other changes to the charter were
proposed. The committee also discussed advisor recruitment and selection. There was consensus that advisors should be solicited on a rolling basis throughout the year. The signup form will will be updated to make it simpler and more user friendly removing referendum specific
language and the committee discussed uh holding a summer meeting to gather general feedback from interested adviserss. The committee also reviewed the evaluation rubric developed last year for advisor selection and agreed that no changes were needed. Finally, the committee reviewed key initiative
areas including safety and security, crisis management, technology, community relations and communications. Additional ideas discussed included expanding community engagement efforts such as America 250 activities, new ideas for the district's community unity event, and exploring district level fundraising
and public private partnership opportunities. The committee was uh also discussed ways adviserss could support communication efforts and potentially assist in providing input on items such as district communication and school calendar planning similar to collaboration that occurred this year
with district staff and PTO uh PTA presidents. >> Thank you. I just want to add that the one of the um items that was um discussed was the how does um of an advisor get requested. So committee chairs from the board, all right, have
the ability to make a request to the advisory board to the advisory committee to request an advisor if you need it. So if you're a committee chair and you need an adviser for something you're working on, send an email either to me or Jenna this year because we're the um co-chairs
and you can go we'll we'll then evaluate your request and try to find you an adviser. Same is true for Mr. Balone. He has the ability to request an adviser. Um, anyone else want to add anything to the report? Nope. Thank you. Any
questions for us? Thank you. Buildings and grounds, Mr. Lolansky. >> Uh, we met on March 5th. We had a great meeting. We started off talking about the effects of the blizzard. We did have tree damage to the chiller of this building, Memorial. We also had damage
to the DeFino solar panels. There's insurance claims and process for both. and um Chris is on it with with Paul to in order to get these u get get these items fixed. We also have a possible reimbursement by FEMA and then an application process for that as well. Um
we talked about the 2026 27 budget projects. The district will be focusing on in-house maintenance projects to cut costs. Uh sidewalk curb repairs districtwide direct install JCPNL HVAC upgrades. tech direct install people don't know it's a big savings for the
district because uh by upgrading our old equipment which is unefficient with efficient equipment JCPN gives you a big and you plus you're saving money on electricity going forward by using better equipment so it's it's a win-win for everybody uh doing these direct install projects uh we did lighting
before correct Chris we did lighting before >> we did we did lighting back when when we were doing the eip >> y um they're going to include landscaping projects painting products throughout the buildings and plumbing projects such as the water heating water heater replacement at Asher Homes. Also,
Asher Asha Robertsville pump house replacement and awarded it was awarded in June the bid and and the start date was when do you remember? >> They're going to be doing it in June after school because they need two weeks. >> Okay. On the radar, but not yet is uh
they're looking at the at the roofs at Ashton and Robbinsville because the time is coming when we're going to have to replace those roofs. It's not in the budget yet. It's kind of on the radar. We know it's coming. >> The Robert, >> right? >> Yeah. >> Um, we talked about the referendum ready. So, I'm not going to repeat that. We did go over the referendum,
everything that uh Chris uh told us before. And we also we applied for a second playground uh grant and as we know, we already have one grant that we're holding on to and we can hold that up to three years and we're going to apply for another grant so we have enough funds. We'll replace the playground at Morell and and learning
center. And is there anything else I missed? >> No. Perfect. >> Okay. Thank you. >> They'll also in the presentation you're going to do in a little while, there'll be a little bit more detail on the buildings of Brown. >> Yes. Facilities. Yes. >> Yep. >> Thank you. Any questions from Solonski?
>> Thank you. Communications committee. Um Mr. Hyatt. >> Sure. We met last week. Um well, two things I would recap. One is we're going to continue pushing out regular board meeting updates, what was discussed this board meeting through the township so it
reaches a broader span of our community. That's number one. Number two, I think we're meeting later this week to map out other milestones throughout the year that we need to focus on. When I say milestones, I mean board related milestones, not necessarily school or administrative related. So staying in our lane there. So I think
we're meeting Thursday, Jenna, I believe Friday. We're meeting in the next couple days. So, we'll have a recap for next meeting. >> Thank you. Anyone else want to add or any questions for Mr. Hyatt? All right. Curriculum committee, Miss
Dr. Msquitz. On March 9th, the curriculum committee reviewed the CUSAC district improvement plan known as DIP. It also discussed the process for this summer's curriculum writing, including the committee's role in supporting that work. Members also
reviewed policy 2535, which is library materials, and discussed the district's current library procedures. As part of this conversation, the administration shared plans to uh share consistent communication for parents on how to access and review library books through
the existing library management database so that they can support their children at home. This communication will be shared with the committee, the full board, and parents once the policy is approved. Additionally, uh, administration provided an update on the, uh, recently revised RTI manual,
noting that the administrative team, including special services, curriculum supervisors, and principles, recently held a productive meeting to reflect on the RTI process using available data and feedback. >> Thank you, Dr. Mskowitz. Any questions for Dr. Mskowitz on the curriculum
committee? >> Anyone want to add anything? >> I would like to add something. Yes. Um just for anybody who's reached out about uh the health standards, I wanted to add in um that we had a good discussion in curriculum about um the federal uh
health and food standards and updating materials in the classroom with the with the policy uh with the curriculum review this summer um to be in line with the national food guidelines and updating the food pyramids that are in schools to meet um the new food pyramids that have been uh you know brought to us by the
federal government. So hopefully uh with that new review of the curriculum this summer because we're up on five years uh since 2020 uh we could look at getting that material updated so it meets the new federal guidelines uh for our children with with food and the food pyramid.
>> Thank you. Any questions on that? All right, moving along. We are up to the policy committee. >> Miss Carrero. Hello. >> Oh my god. Sorry. All right, I'll step back a little bit.
The policy committee has met three times since our last board meeting to review several policies currently before the board and ensure the language aligns with state guidance and district practice. Um, we've actually received a lot of great feedback from the board members. Um, and as a part of this work,
I've been in communication with several board members and particularly Miss Balo, uh, Mrs. Jenkowski and um Mr. Lolonsky due to concerns that have been previously raised uh regarding the library material policy uh policies. Some of the concerns appear to relate
more directly to administ administrative regulations rather than board policy. So I requested additional notes or clarification that could help guide the committee's review. Uh Miss Palma did share uh several general points as well as Mrs. Jankowski and Mr. Alonski uh
regarding library materials including references to the freedom to read and indicated um Miss Balma indicated that she would follow up with more detailed notes. Uh I also sent up follow-up email uh just requesting any information uh before we met uh tonight so it could be
incorporated into the committee's discussion. Uh but we have not received any additional materials at this time. If there's feedback uh more comments, we can discuss this tonight. Uh the committee has continued its work reviewing the policy scheduled for second reading. Um policy 2530 or yeah
sorry policy 2530 resource materials policy 2535 library materials policy 512 entrance age and policy 9130 public complaints. Um I will continue working with the committee members, administration and board members to
ensure policies are thoroughly reviewed and that all members have the opportunity to provide input. Thank you. Anyone else want to add anything to that update from the committee? >> I just wanted to add that in the curriculum meeting, we were able to have robust discussions on freedom to read
and library materials and I think we came to a really good place um with the understanding. Um there's one point that I expressed in curriculum um that I would have some feedback when we go to policy review. Um but all in all uh the
general over the general gist of the policy is in line with the updates that we um kind of had sent a lot in the in the first meeting. >> Great. Thank you very much for that feedback. I'm glad to see that the committees are also communicating which is really helpful. Um
any questions for Miss Carrera? Seeing none. All right. Um we are back to Mr. Lansonsky with safety and security. >> All righty. Interesting one here guys. So, one of the local school districts to us has recently installed school bus arm
stop arm cameras on their school buses to try to combat the people that are bypassing school buses when they're letting children on and off. Um, they've been successful. They've got it working. They're a smaller district, so the funds are not as much as we would need. Uh,
but we discussed it in bulk. We discussed how they did it. We discussed what they're doing. They are prosecuting cars that are passing buses and being successful at it. Um, so I wanted to bring it to the full board. This is something I can actually talk about in public because we can't talk about this, but I'd like the public to know this is
something we're looking at doing. Uh, and not keep it a secret because the more people know they shouldn't be passing up buses, the better. U, but kind of I want to get to get the feedback by the full board. Is this something you would want us to look into? I I would look into it as a um small project. start out with a few
buses and see how it goes because we couldn't afford to do what 90 buses that we have. But we could do a pilot program on a few buses and see if it if we got people passing in what it looks like in Marbor. I think if it looks like that close by to us, it probably looks like that here too. People are passing buses
and that's dangerous to our kids and safety is why we're here, right? So, um I get a little feedback, Brian, if you could maybe pull the board to see if that's something. My next stage, what I would do is what I do every year on this is uh I'll write the chief and and the
mayor to our next meeting and see if they have a buy into this. Uh I know Mr. Balone is reaching out to the other district to see how they coordinated it and get his administrative feedback to the next meeting to us. But uh unless we're all on board, I don't want to spin
the wheels here. So if we're on board and want to look at this as a pilot program because that's the only way our budget could support it right now without a referendum. Um so Sure. I I'm just curious. Do they do they give this a cute name? Like I mean, we used to have red light cameras, right? We don't have red light cameras anymore. It's like a this like a yellow bus camera.
>> It's called stop on bus cameras. There was a article in the paper how I found out about it. >> And um and uh >> I I know they're doing something very similar to this in Texas. Um, and I think they're doing it because they have driverless cabs also in Texas. And a lot
of the driverless cabs are actually not yielding and stopping for the yellow school buses and they're blowing through them. >> So, they're actually looking to stop the bus, the yellow, they're looking to stop the pilot now of the driverless cabs. >> So, um, you know, that's an example of where the cameras are really coming in
handy to sort of help support a safety issue. >> Can you do all the buses? If the, you know, the couple doesn't know who has them, who doesn't have them, once it's out there that we have some cameras on some buses, it might stop everybody from passing buses. >> Michael, I'm familiar with the districts that have that district that has implemented it. And I believe that we
have a shared agreement that we use some of the same buses as them. Are any do you know if any of the buses that Marro Township utilizes have these cameras already that we can kind of case study that? >> No. No. >> No. But they they use their own buses plus other people or they only use
outside buses. >> So we have I think it's four contracted runs out um with Colts Snack. >> Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I didn't know what district is we were talking about. Yeah, we have four contracted routes with Colt Snack. >> So I would assume they would have them because the um when I spoke to the
superintendent, she said that she put them on all of their buses. >> Yeah. So maybe we can see the feedback from those in our areas and what is going on there and then look at the hightra routes first that travel some of our biggest roads like 79
>> Ryan tenant um I know those are some of the high traffic areas >> because I I I do think that it's a very positive um not only will it make it more secure but it'll make parents feel more secure because some of the kids do get dropped off on you know main
crossroads. So I like the idea a lot. >> Mr. Lowki, the question to the board just for for the purposes of phrasing it. Are you comfortable and you feel a fear to you know to to change whatever I'm saying? Would you feel comfortable with sort of asking the administration
to go back and come back but to the board with a proposed pilot and what the estimated cost would be to do this so that we have something in front of us to sort of evaluate. We can do it in exec of course if we have to because I before we go out with a pilot I think we need to define a pilot brings up a very good
point what routes how many buses we want we would want definition >> and the reason also I wanted to bring the the mayor and the chief and the police got to be on board also they're going to prosecute so um >> well there's a process to making sure that our camera images are actually defensible in court
>> yeah I I think you should pursue it it's safety of the children so I have absolutely nothing against it. >> Yeah, I think we talked about this last year, too, trying to get something like this done. Um, did you say that you met with somebody that already has this >> actual article in the paper that I read?
>> Oh, okay. Okay. I didn't hear that. So, I just wanted to get clarity on that. Um, but yeah, I think it's a great idea. I think it definitely, like I said, it be good for the district, great for parents. Um, and I know >> again the heavy traffic, especially 79, I see a lot of kids going, you know, so
yeah, we should do that. >> Okay. Any other comments on this? >> Is anyone >> I I did want to know like in terms of budgeting. So Chris, this would be more for you. Um so currently from what I understand, um Silonsky, like we don't
really have a budget obviously set aside for something like this, right? >> They don't have as many buses unless they spend $20,000. The reason I brought it back is the prices on the digital equipment keeps going down every year as everybody knows stuff gets cheaper. When we first looked at it, it was crazy money for the kind of cameras you needed to go on a stop bomb and read a read a
license plate. Now they come down. Um they don't have 90 buses. So, uh Michael was going to reach out again and find out, you know, how much per bus or it did for them and their procedures, what they went through. And we were going to talk about the next meeting if we all decided that's we want to go and then
like jump like Brian said, look at bring us our pilot program pricing back and um take the next step at our next meeting. be great maybe if we can even maybe you know find a way to sort of our find our police department to cover the pilot.
>> So I guess the so if I understand >> it generates it's right it's a revenue gener revenue generating product. >> There you go. So I guess the steps then if I understand correctly is you're going to get a little bit more information. Mr. Balone you said you're going to get some information on this correct?
>> Yes I've already had a conversation with the superintendent. I've also had a conversation with our own transportation department. >> Okay. >> And I task them with um you know identifying uh violations, right? Is is first of all, is it a problem?
>> Um in in some of those conversations um our main roads, our transportation does a great job with um like 79 or some of those major roadways where our students do not cross over. Right. >> Right. So if it we we have the students,
you know, exiting on the right side and then if they live on the other side of the road, the bus does a loop around and then drops them off on the other side. So there are mitigating mitigating measures we put in place to ensure they're safe. Um lot of other factors that we can discuss
once we get more information. You know, one big one is >> the budget. Um, police officers will not, from what I from what I understand, they will not prosecute based on a video, right? So, someone has to so the driver would have to basically file a complaint
with with the police department. So, there's a process around it. I'm not saying it's impossible. Um, you know, there there are, I think, implications with uh drivers and and the association they're in and the collective bargaining agreement there in. We'd have to have discussions around that. Um but there
there are a lot of considerations. Again, not to say that we can't make it happen, but there are a lot of layers to this. Correct. >> Um one other limitation um that they were having was
many of our vehicles um like Teslas and they don't have front license plates or some or some people don't put them on the front. So the bus arm camera does not capture that. So now they're exploring putting cameras on the back which on the back of the bus which
doubles the price, right? So again, >> yeah, you have to look at the pros and cons when you live it, >> which is I'm glad I talked to them because they're kind of going through all of these >> uh permutations of, you know, okay, the camera is great, but oh, >> we didn't think about no front license
plate, the car passes and we need to capture the rear. or the fact that the bus drivers have to go and form formally make a complaint against the driver that did it. So, I mean, yes. So, we have to really look at everything like the budget, what it's going to take to implement this, >> you know, is there like a a positive to
this, right? So, we have to get all of that information before, but I think it's a great story. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's a great >> very early stages. I'm just want to know if you guys all want to look at the next part. Maybe we do it like you said and we look at everything, maybe we can't. uh they did and they're doing it but they have these problems they're looking
at too. >> Mike, I have a question. Instead of looking at it through the lens of with the goal of prosecuting violations, if we put a couple on buses to just see if this is an issue that needs to be
addressed and use it to just case to see how many cars are actually passing the buses and send them out there for a couple months to see before we implement it on all 90 buses. um to just make sure we're not addressing a problem that isn't really a major concern of our
district. Uh maybe that's something that we can do and we could do that with just, you know, four or five of these >> have just internal look at the videos without the goal of prosecuting just to see if it's actually an issue that needs addressing. >> Sure. >> And and just the word out there, the
cameras are on the buses anyway going to stop. >> Yeah. And I think with what Mr. Balone was saying the starting point should first be just talking to transportation and see if that's truly an issue. Um I actually did witness one just right by my house but it was I think the driver
completely didn't realize that I don't know how they didn't and they drove past it and the bus driver was you know honking obviously but it it this is the only time I've seen it and my child has been going the district for over six years. So, I think we need to start there first and then if there are buses that already have cameras in there, then
maybe we could do a pilot with that because I don't think we should take the funds out to do it and then really just based on everything else that we discussed, there's a lot more to it to see if it's really worthwhile of an investment. So, yeah. Okay. So, it it sounds to me and I'll
make a scientific assessment here, which is it sounds like the board is interested in having the administration come back and sort of give us some sort of semblance of what this could look like, what it would cost, what it would how long it would go and what it would take and get come get back to us and we can then sort of evaluate this going forward. >> Sounds good.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you for answer that. >> Any other questions on safety and security? Thank you. Um, and our last committee is special education. Dr. Escowitz,
>> the committee met on February 25th and we reviewed the current process for response to intervention RTI tier three tier three interventions and the role of the child study team. Tier three is an uh is an RTI driven process, not a
special ed one. The child study team is used in an advisory cap capacity for tier three. When a child is referred to the child's study team, an initial uh identification meeting is scheduled to review the students progress and determine next steps. Parent
participation is essential to determine valuable information to develop insights into the child's needs and experience. This helps to make the decisions focused, thoughtful, and comprehensive. Special services will continue to collaborate with the PTO's and PTAs to support other afterchool activities to
ensure accommodations are appropriate for special ed and for 504 students. When requested, the department will work with the building administration to help promote accessibility and inclusion so all students are able to participate. Yeah, I just want to add to that because
um I think it was a really nice conversation and um I don't again I don't know if all of the parents I'm sure they do but I don't know if all the parents really know that a lot of the the PTO PTA events are open to all students and so um when we were when we had the meeting Mary Elizabeth said that
she's going to send out a reminder to everyone that it is open and then the PTO's and PTAs will make every effort to ensure that you know every kid is able to attend. So, you know, any parents that are out there listening, just know that every single event that a PTO and
PTA um hosts here within the district, it's open for every single child. So, if there is a need, if you feel that, you know, there are special needs that that your child needs, just reach out to Mary Elizabeth, reach out to the building, um reach out to the principal, but they will make accommodations so that your child can participate and enjoy the
activity or the event with every other student that's in the district. I would I would go to the principal first and then >> if you you know and then go to um special services director. I I just also want to recognize because this topic did
come up also in um the PTA PTO president's meeting um last month and it was very well appreciated and very well received by the PTO's that were present at the meeting um and they were you know they were very they were very thankful for the the work that um the district
was doing to help support this. So um it it did come up there as well and they there's positive feedback on all around on this. Any other comments or questions? >> I just wanted to say about the special education committee that I would because of my work schedule was unable to
attend. But I just want to thank Mary Elizabeth for um setting a timeside a time in her schedule to meet with me to update me. So I appreciate it because I know her time is valuable and scarce. And the same thing with you Dr. Miswitz who reached out to me and offered to
kind of catch me up on what I miss. So your time is valuable and I appreciate you doing that as well. So thank you. I'm trying to work around the person very much so as much as we can. >> Very much so. I know and I appreciate it and that's why I said you don't have to I don't want to rock a boat, but I appreciate it. So, I wanted to publicly
say that. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you very much for that. Any other comments on special ed? >> All right, we are up to the next item of our um our agenda. I'd like to welcome up the Marbor Education Foundation to do
a presentation on their grants for 2026. Hi, >> I'm for those who don't know, who may not know, I'm Jen Salachi. I'm the president Oh, thank you. of the Marvel Educational Foundation. >> Hi, excuse me. Hi, Alicia Thor, the
treasurer of the MEF. So, we have gone through our grant process and tonight hopefully you're going to be approving them. But we wanted to give you a little bit um about how it works. This is different than my classroom
clicker. See how I do. You want to start? >> Sure. So, just a bumping into you. Sorry. So, just a brief history. Um we've been around for 26 years. So we were established in the year 2000. We are a nonprofit a 501c3
and our purpose is to enhance the quality of education in Marboro schools by promoting community particip participation excuse me in school programs. So to date uh we have funded over $650,000 um which is over $250 grants given out
in the 26 years. So it is a very rigorous grant process. Um we want to just make sure our process in um ensures grant funding meets all educational needs.
So the MT MTPS teachers and the staff they apply online. We have a Google form. It started as paper. We changed that to Google form to make it easier for the teachers which they actually said that they would like. So we we did
that for them. And then the MEF meets and we review all the grants and we vote on them. We'll say, you know, we try and make sure we get all the schools um to have at least one. Um and then >> subject areas, >> all the different subject areas. Yep.
Like, you know, art and music, technology. Um then the MEF shares and reviews the grants with um the superintendent, Mr. alone and the assistant superintendent, Mrs. Gross. We had a nice meeting. It was nice. Um, and we, you know, we
wanted to hear what they thought too. We thought it was a good idea if and they said yes or no or no, we can do that. You know, we would have a nice conversation. Um, so then Mr. Balone and Mrs. Gross provide their feedback and obtain input from the principles, special services,
and staff. that's like on things where we'd say we would do and then they were like no I think we can actually do that and then they would go back and make sure that you know with the principles or the um special services if you know they can do it and then it comes to you
the approved grants get put on the board of ed agenda and will be voted on um by you for approval >> that's your treasure >> sure so just a breakdown for this year. Um, actually, first let me just talk about there's three different categories
of grants, right? There's a mini grant which is up to $500 that's intended for individual teacher staff usage. Um, collaborative grant up to $1,000 intended for multiple teacher staff uses usage, excuse me. So sometimes like all the kindergarten teachers might put in
for something in all the classes, you know, the kindergarten will be using it. Schoolwide grant up to $1,500 intended for usage throughout the school. Usually that's maybe an assembly or something that you know all grades can participate in. Um so this year we received 18 grant
uh applications. Um we approved 14 of them and the reason 14 um as you can maybe see on the bottom there in my note um one grant was not eligible. So it was an off-site trip and traditionally we have not funded that. You know there's a lot of different pieces with that
transportation. So that one wasn't eligible. And then the other three um as Jen was talking about when we spoke to Mr. Balone, Mrs. Gross, they consulted with um Mary Elizabeth uh Sturio that those were falling under special
services and they could actually fund those. So if something, you know, should be provided because of a child's IEP, 504, whatever it may be. So those individuals are still getting those grants. It's just that the school will be funding them, right? because we're we're filling the gap where the school
budget can't provide these these things. These are like the above and beyond extra things. Um so again, we we did our best to make sure at least one grant was given to each school and that also includes those three um because I think one of those three might have been
Robertsville. So if you don't see Robertsville on the list, they still got something. They were part of uh those those three I believe one of them. Um again, multiple subject matters. So we funded things in the arts, music, math, science, and you know, you'll see that in a minute on the next screen. Um,
seven of the eight uh schools applied. Okay, so uh again, those seven schools will be getting something. And this year, the total came to uh as you see there, just over $15,000. Okay, so these are the grants that we
have for approval for you. Um, do you want me to read them all? >> I know they're on the agenda. I just didn't know if you, you know, liked my voice and wanted to hear me chat more. >> You never know. >> We can say that that just just to note that some of these are are repeats. You
know, they are like the fan favorites like Market with a Stone, Living Voices, um, The Mad Science Workshops. There was a couple of new ones. Um, like those box drums and, um, indoor garden tower. I think that's new and at Dugan um the
last few years we've been funding um for the media literacy Mr. cyber um he's building like this robotics program as you see the robotics program and AI. So each year you know he's requested some stuff to add to it like 3D printing and other things over the years. So again all schools got at least um you know one
grant and as you can see it's all different subject matters and you know some are um speakers or assemblies others are things you know workshops and other things to be done in the classroom or you know more tangible items. All right so here's what's coming up.
We've got Oh, I guess >> these are the recent ones. These are the past ones. >> Oh, these are the Yeah, here's what happened already. Our casino night was so much fun. Um, we basically we broke even, but it was our first time um doing
it and we're going to do it again and had a really great turnout and we learned from it. It's so we're very excited to do that again. >> A lot of overhead. It was it was very fancy which was great but you know unfortunately fancy costs money so >> right >> but everyone enjoyed it so it was really
just a nice night to bring the community together and have fun even though you know very small profits. >> Yeah that's okay. >> Um and our dine to donate which we're going to be doing a lot more of but Buffalo Wild Wings we brought in about $500 for that which is wonderful. And
then our kids night out. Oh my gosh, those kids had so much fun. As did we. Um it was at Play Bake Zone and we um we made about $1,000. So it was it was wonderful. >> Yeah, >> they had so much fun and they said they wanted to do it every month
>> from the kids. >> Yeah. We're like may maybe in the fall we'll we'll do it again. Um, and I think it's not on here, but um, we do have um, another dine to donate coming up on March 19th, and we'll send the flyer around about that,
but that's at Lar Roa Chicken. Uh, like I said, Thursday, March 19th, right? Yeah, we'll send that out. Um, but the upcoming fundraiser, of course, our biggest fundraiser that we do every year, the Harlem Wizards Harlem Wizards, excuse me, basketball game event. Uh
this year it's on Monday, April 13th. It starts at 6:30. It will run to about 8:30. Uh the doors will be open at 5:30. It's at the usual spot, Marbor High School. You know, there's a big gym there, obviously. Um the tickets are already on sale. We've sold a bunch of
tickets already, so get your tickets because last year it did sell out. We had over a hundred like 24 people on the waiting list and we had people you know begging to be let in at the door but you know there's obviously a max capacity with the fire marshall and you know we can't do that. So I would encourage you
get your tickets soon. Um next week uh the wizards are coming to do assemblies in the school. So usually after that is when the ticket sales really take off because the kids come home all excited. So that's I'm saying buy your tickets now before next week because we're probably going to sell out. Um, and
again, it's our biggest fundraiser. Last year, we brought in uh $21,000. So, that's all that money, as you see, is basically coming back to the schools. So, for any fundraiser we do, we do appreciate the support because again, that money comes back to the schools,
the teachers, the students. Um, yeah, >> thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Any questions for Yes. I just I just had a quick question. Um the screen that had seven of eight schools applied for grants and I know
every school got them. I'm just curious if you and it's Google form if you monitor them as they come in or if you're like we're not even going to look yet until we have to review them because I'm just wondering if you ever like the one school that didn't apply if you kind
of like call the principal and you're like look just so you know nobody applied at your school so maybe you want to just like push out an email saying the grant's going to close soon or the timeline or whatever. Is that does that happen or um you don't you don't look at them until last minute. So that's
>> we do look we do look >> because they're coming in. Yeah. Um in the past I this year we didn't but I feel like last year we did right. We made like a push before. So that is definitely a good idea. >> Sent it out a few times to other schools. >> Yeah. I mean the I think last year it
was the same school that that didn't apply. Um I mean obviously you can see from there which school it is. It's the Abbott school. So that may also just be a little different because it's the preschool. You know, their needs may be different. But I think it's definitely good to have that conversation because maybe there are things there that they maybe could use and maybe they don't
realize, you know, they maybe see some of these other things and think that's not for that younger audience, but maybe they can come up with something. So Mr. Blow, maybe that's something Yeah. that we can talk about more to get them to put in some because as you see that we have the money to do it, so we would be happy to to to fund, you know, as much
that we can that comes in. Yeah, that's a good idea though. Thank Yeah, I'm actually going to >> I kind of remember last year we had a similar question and I think you know there was there was a point in time correct me if I maybe if I'm making this up right but there was a point in time I thought last year where there was a a
low and this superintendent you got involved and sort of you know pinged out to the principles and said hey you know grant time are you applying? >> I I do go out to them as well and you know we communicate back and forth. Um,
I think so. Um, I think >> keeping me honest. >> Yeah, that you were not making that up. Um, but I think that's a probably a good point. Um, because I go back to my teaching days and I, you know, the MEF existed then and
I never applied for a grant. And I'll tell you why. Because I didn't really know what it could do for me, right? I was just busy in my in my day-to-day. Um and perhaps the Abbott Center just they need to see some examples of of what we can do. I think we did a better job with
our other schools. Yeah. >> With that. >> Um so that's a good point. Perhaps we can um let the Abbott Center know some examples of what the MEF would be willing to fund. >> Yeah. >> And uh we can bring really good experiences to those classrooms. Um so
so we can certainly look at that. >> Yeah. because I think and we have funded there in the past many years ago. I don't think I was involved yet with the chick hatching which they still do but I think they fund it themselves or the PTO but >> kick it our way we'll we'll pay for it. >> That's that's interesting because
remember that one um PTO meeting that I was part of like the president's PTO meeting. I think Abbott was one that I remember the PTO president saying that they're a small school. There's not a lot of people that are part of the PTO. So I would think that there's more of a need there for the school to get the MEF
grants than any other school right now in the district, right? Because all the other PTOs are pretty robust. So I I definitely think that it would be beneficial if you actually do reach out to the the principal there. Um and I know Mr. Bologn's going to do it as well. But I think that that would work. I think they would benefit from it. So
>> to that point and and it's I think it's a very it's a very valid point. Um when I looked at the list of the project titles on the the board agenda, you know, like one of them says fifth grade, like um it says fifth grade musical fifth grade musical costumes. The other
ones don't indicate whether it's a grade specific or not. But if any of these are actually, you know, kindergarten appropriate since we have so many more kindergarten classes spread out across our schools. This these may be good examples to share back to habit >> with them. Yeah. >> And say these are some ideas where your
colleagues are doing this at their school. Maybe you want to think about something similar here. >> Yeah, the mad science one that's at Dugan. That was definitely all the kindergarten teachers got together. So that's definitely something for younger audiences >> that I think. Yeah, preschool mad.
>> Is that um fire and ice? >> Fire and ice. Fire and ice is a lot of fun. >> Yeah, that one I definitely remember off the top of my head was the kindergartens. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments? I just >> I just have to thank you for all you do
for this. As a teacher, as an administrator, I I was always applying. If there was a grant out there, I was applying for it. I didn't care where it was the money was coming from. Just if it was there, I was going to do it. And it really adds so
much value to the instruction. And it and it's it's free. It's free money. So, you know, all you have to do is come up with an idea and write it up. It's not hard. So, >> I would, you know, I'll help you write it if you have to. It's okay. But thank
you so much for everything you do. >> Dr. Squiz, you're gonna become a grant writer. >> I can I can, but I also have to tell you, I love the Wizards. That's That's my favorite. can sign you up.
>> Yes, sign up. >> We're gonna >> Mr. Bologn is signed up. >> I'm coach or do I have to play? >> That's up to you. You want to coach both? >> I think you should give him a play.
>> Um, thank you. Any other comments or questions? >> Thank you very much for coming by tonight. Thank you very much for the work that you do to support our students, our teachers, our schools, um your 26 year history, um and for all the fundraising and for, you know, um the
continuity that you bring. Thank you. >> Thank you so much for having us. >> We appreciate >> Okay. Um we are up to we go from grants right into budget. So we're up to discussion number four. Okay.
Okay. Budget discussion number four would have been five but since the meeting we didn't have the meeting so I combined four and five together. So okay. Okay. So, like our other presentations,
we just wanted to highlight, you know, what the board goals are, why we're here, what what we want to do to support what you want us to do. Today, we're going to talk about transportation, buildings, and grounds, and then after that, we're going to talk
about the full budget. Um, a little backstory, the the state budget address was today. State aid numbers are supposed to be released sometime Thursday. So everything was built right now just as status quo flat state aid. So we're all
hoping. Okay, we're going to do transportation first. So the transportation budget this year is $2.7 million. There's a decrease of $255,000. the reasons. So, transportation,
there's lots of pieces that go into transportation besides just the regular routes. Um, the transporting of the special education students, the transporting of gened students that might go to a private school, the payment in lie of there's lots of
pieces. So, depending on your student population, these numbers are going to fluctuate each year, but we'll go through. So joint agreements, we're expecting a decrease. These are out of district students that we transport. Um
we have less students out of district that we had in the past. And this is all based on actual numbers. We know who the students are. We look at what the costs are for those students and then we just increase them by CPI. So that's how we get to these numbers. Contracted
services, we have a slight decrease. Um, we still do have contracted routes. There's still a bus driver shortage, per se. And a few years ago, we've we contracted routes to Colts and we have some to the regular um, MOEC does some
contracted routes for us. So, we're projecting a little bit bit of a decrease there. aid in lie of those are the payments to the private school children that we cannot um do through our jointers trans through our joint
transport that amount has increased to 1177 a student so we've accordingly had to increase our reimbursement gasoline and diesel we're decreasing it budget to budget um we thought the costs were going to be
higher this year I mean right now they are but overall they've definitely ly, you know, are lower and the projections are still um favorable. So, we were able to bring that number down. Lease purchase buses. We're going to purchase well, we lease
four 54 passenger buses and a van next year. We do this consistently this way. We can only keep our buses I mean 12 to 14 years, but we consistently lease new, retire. It's almost like so
you have a constant lease payment and excuse me. >> Correct. You know, it's almost it's it's way easier to budget when you know a constant and you would hate to not budget any one year and then the next
year have to do 10. So we we've established a rotation and it works really well. And this is just how the transportation budget breaks down. Um salaries are not in this salaries are
are separate in the regular budget. These are just like all the other pieces that make up the transportation budget. So let's see equipment lease purchase. We talked about contract services are the contractors, non-public transportation, maintenance, repair, obviously, tires,
parts, software programs for diagnostics, all of that stuff. It's a big fleet and we need to maintain it. >> Sure. >> No, it's decreased. It's decreased. >> May I ask a question? I'm sorry. Sure.
Um, I just want to make sure I'm understanding the non-public is that students being transported to non-public schools? >> Yes, private schools that we're in a joint with Freel regionals actually does all the transportation in the district
for all this all the schools. Basically, if a child's going to say St. Leo, >> right? Um, and we can get that child on a bus with different different whether it's Manalapin, Colts snack, whoever. We
can pay a route and split the costs as opposed to paying that 1177 per student. >> So the non-public are um students that you can arrange an actual bus for. Correct. But the Aiden Loo is students that you can't pay get the bus. So you
give them the Indian fee more money than it would be the 1177. >> All right. I just wanted to see make sure I understood why that was separate. Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. So obviously the more we can train have transported the better
but you know those routes come in higher and then it's not worth anybody to do the routes. So that's evaluated each year. Freel regional goes out to bid for us. They kind of take care of it for the whole region. So, works for us. >> Yeah.
>> Sorry. Um, is the non-public and the joint agreements like you were saying is that >> joint agreements are special? >> Okay. Gotcha. >> Those are for all the special ed schools. >> Okay. Yes. >> Since we're taking questions, just so
aid in Lou. >> Yes. >> The $291,000 that's strictly the return that we're giving back to parents who are going up. So, we have that many. Yes, >> that's a huge number. >> Yes, >> students uh in private schools.
>> If you're if you're not coming to our schools and and you're not getting our transportation since you're paying taxes anyway, you get a a check written to you if you have to be if you're you're providing alternative transportation to the private school. >> Yes, that's what 1177 a year is how much
they are allowed to collect. >> Yes, there is a lot. We have a it's a packet and our transportation department goes through to make sure they're all ours checks names, address it's you know >> twice a year.
>> Do you get a lot of push back from residents who prefer the Aiden Lou and you're telling them I can guarantee you a bus? Do you do you fall into >> I mean we fortunately don't take those calls. free original does, but a lot I mean people just basically would rather have the cash and deal with it
themselves or they don't like the route, it's too long or they don't like the route because they have a first grader and there might be an eighth grader on it if it's St. Leo's or but if we can get them on a bus and it's safe and you
know obviously we prefer to do that. >> Yes. Correct. And they have to be over two miles from that private school. That's part of the, you know, the bustling rules. >> So, okay. Okay. Good. All right.
Buildings are ground. And I have Mr. Spano here to assist me just in case. So, um, has a nice size budget. So, the facilities budget is $ 8.3 million next year. This is going up at only 66,000, which
is impressive from last year. Um, we're going to really try to leverage our in-house staff next year as much as we can to get some projects done. You know, everyone is under cost
constraints, whether it's at your home, whether here. So, Mr. Spano is going to make the most of his staff and use their skills to do things in house. So, we might have to buy more materials, but we won't have to spend the outside labor.
So, we're we're excited about that. guys are excited about that. They like to to use their their skills, you know, they like to to maybe do a project as opposed to just putting a chair together or something, you know. So, I think it's great.
Some of the highlights, his increases, um contract services are going up. We have fire alarms, sprinklers, there's always repair costs there. Um aging sprinkler systems. We took care of some alarm systems during the ESIP, right, Paul? but not all of them.
Landscaping ground service, that's our on-site or lawn mower people. We have a contract with them. Go out to bid. So, this is their increase for next year. The ease of payment fluctuates every year based on principal
and interest. We have that for 20 years, right, Mr. Smith? We talked about that today. 20 years is the ease of payment starting in 2019. So um the ESAP payment is the payment for our energy savings incentive program we did
in 2019. We we did an energy project. We need we had aging boilers and roof units, >> right? We had so many things that needed to be done and we were not successful in
passing referendums and things needed to get done. So, we were creative and we did an energy savings project. That's why you see solar around. The solar that's in the district is a result of that project. Um, and you know, we're going to continue to look at ways we can
do more of that. Equipment, there was a decrease. You know, equipment ups and down every year depending on what you need to replace, what you need to change. This year, he needs to get a plow truck, couple of snow tractors.
Water heater for Asher. That's one of the things that Mr. Spano is going to do in house. So, we're just going to buy the water heater this year and our people are going to install it as opposed to other years, you know, you get an engineer and you do a whole We're going to do it oursel.
>> Excuse me. I just had a quick question on the actually on the EIP. How come the payment is increasing if is >> it changes every year depending on as >> so okay um like the balance isn't decreasing like an advertising loan >> the yeah the balance is but the
principal and interest amounts are are scattered I have the I can actually share with you the amortization schedule if you want. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Okay. Custodial project supply. Oh sorry >> because only because um Mr. Just may have asked a question on the on the east
of is there an end to that? >> 2039. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Right around the corner. >> I I don't think I'll be on the board. >> Um, okay. Custodial supplies. There's an increase. I mean,
this is pretty much due to the fact that we're going to do stuff inhouse ourselves. So, that's why this lines up a little. safety risk supplies fees. There were increase in permit fees this year, right? So that's kind of jolting that utilities. Okay, this one I'm gonna
explain more. Our our utilities are increasing 200,000 in this budget. Now, obviously we all know natural gas electricity has gone up 8 to 10%. That's a fact. You've seen in your own bills. But the other the other thing that we're doing is I don't know if any of you have
heard of JCPNL direct install Mr. Lansonsky talked about it a little during during the B&G committee minutes. Basically what happens is I'm going to go to the next slide because that'll be clearer. We need rooftop units in our
schools. They're aging. So Mr. Spano is working with the utility company and basically what happens is for example the first one DeFino central we need two rooftop units on the cafeteria. The project would cost out of pocket
$273,000 for those two units. Through this program and incentives JCPNL picks up $125,000 of it. the district picks up 148,000 of it. But
what happens is it goes into our utility bill over 60 months. Ultimately, because we're getting something more efficient, you're going to be saving money in your utilities. This is going to I don't know if you're saving this much,
but you're it's still the payback is is so worth it. And we have the amounts here. So the payback is for the Defino project 24.66 a month on the utility bill. So this is all factored into the budget already. So this is a creative way that we can get
things done. >> Yeah. I you know what the program the projects the program is not always the same. Um >> it's always different. Yeah, they're kind of back now. So, we're going to take advantage while we
can to get the things that we need. So, two at Defino, Fort Dugan, and one at Middle for now. Facil uh projectwise, 334,000 worth of other projects.
Honestly, the projects are lighter this year because we're focusing on the referendum. I mean, that is that is truly, you know, where our resources are going to the referendum this year. But we're still going to, you know, do maintenance projects. Here's the list of what what
we're going to be doing. And this is just showing you what what the B&G budget is comprised of. Equipment, the projects, custodial services, that's all contracted custodial service. We went out for bid for that. There's an increased clause in
there each year. Supplies, it's all your custodial supplies in district, obviously utilities, ESIP. So, any questions on BJ? Yeah, you know, I I honestly didn't I
never knew about it. That was Mr. Spano bringing that bringing that here. And um it's fabulous. It'll be a good way going forward to to make improvements as we need them. >> Yeah. >> Good. Okay. >> Just just a quick question on the direct
install program. >> Yes. >> So the estimated costs here for the project that's a fully loaded cost. That's there's no other cost that the district has to incur is it's being fully financed through the the direct. >> Yes. And they
everything. We don't start making building. >> So, >> right. Depending on when the equipment is available again, of course. >> So, you have to plan these in advance because if you're replacing rooftop units, they got to get ordered. day after.
>> Yes. >> Okay. >> Okay. And and I know you explained this to me, but for the purpose of the rest of the board, the reason why this was not an option to us when we needed to do um the referendum for Astra and Robertsville.
>> Oh. Um it's replaces in kind. that is specifically air conditioned. This is something that's been there and it gives you your fresh air from outside. So these are the only types of equipment that are eligible. >> Great. >> Not new, not not adding to a building
replacements, >> right? That's I just wanted to make sure. So nobody can say, well, you know, >> right, why don't we do this? >> Why don't we do it this way? >> You're right. >> Because the percentage numbers are somewhat >> there's a huge variance.
I mean 45% for one, 30 47% for another and then only 13% for Marbor Middle. >> So the final one at middle school is because versus the energy that you're going to save. There is a huge labor cost because of the unit is 30 years old
and there's going to be required extra work to make it fit on the roof. So that's why the incentive is not as good. I am still exploring other ways to try and replace this unit. There might be another way we could do this, but even
at 13% it's better than us. >> Well, the financing for months. >> We have to replace this. It could go at any any point. So, we have to strike while the iron's hot. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. We're trying to be proactive and not get to that point.
>> Sure. So all >> every single school here is going to kind of go and things are going to happen at the same time. It's not like we're going to first go to more of a middle because that's like a more >> Yeah. No, it's going to be >> all together. Yeah. >> Thank you.
>> You're welcome. Okay. >> Oh yeah, I was there. Okay. Full budget discussion. Okay. So let's just talk about budget challenges this year. So, as you all know or don't know, we as a school
district operate on a 2% tax levy cap. Years ago, we used to vote on budgets. In 2010, the law changed and the state said you no longer have to go to the taxpayer to vote, but you have to you
have to live within a 2% cap with a few exceptions. I just wanted to first show you some of the things that make it difficult to live in the 2% cap. Our health benefit projection for next year is 33%
on $17 million. So you can imagine custodial contracts, that's our contracted custodial that we bid out, utilities, transportation costs, salaries. These are all things that make it difficult to
live in a 2% cap world. >> Yeah. >> And I'm sorry because I just want to be clear on the number. >> Mhm. >> The 33% you have for health benefits is 33% increase or 33% of our budget >> increase. >> Thank you.
>> 33% rate increase. And these other custodial utilities, >> those are just things that are difficult to live within a 2% cap, >> but they're not but their percentage increase does not exceed. Did you have a percentage increase for each? >> I mean, roughly >> salaries, collective bargaining units,
three and a half around. >> Um, transportation CPI is about 3.51 I believe. Custodial contracts, I think that's 4%, Paul, the Pritchard increase. I mean, ACB, sorry. And then utilities
are 8 to 10. So see these were some of the key ones I just wanted to >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> And then so this is this is the big one, right? So with a 33% increase in health benefits. Um,
the state of New Jersey allows a district to exceed the 2% tax levy cap by taking the health benefits waiver or adjustment. That's what it's called. Now, as Mr. Lansonsky always wants to
say, and he's very he's very right, this is not money the state is giving us. This is an increase to the tax levy. The increase the tax waiver, the health benefits waiver we are permitted to take
this year by the state is 5.153980 5.2 million. State aid, I just want to show you um as we said before, we're projecting it to be flat for now until we get the state aid numbers. State aid is $7.8 million. That's what we got last year. We did
have a decrease last year. So, hoping there's no decrease this year, but we we just don't know. Since the law changed in 2018, we've lost $3.9 million from the state, which
the local taxpayer has had to absorb. >> Let's talk about revenue. >> So, you back. >> We are an I district and I >> Yeah, go ahead. >> I just had a question about the >> health benefit increase. >> So
if we don't go to the 5% levy that's allowable >> 2% well 2% and then the tax the health benefit waiver. >> So what happens if we don't do that? Are you saying teachers don't get their health benefits? It's like what are the options
>> if if we don't take the $5 million waiver? >> Yes. >> So then we would not look like the district we are right now. >> There would be there would be discussions on look there would be staffing implications. There would be
program implications. So many implications for $5 million. I mean our total salaries in district are 62 million. Five. So, so just >> just to sort of clarify that.
>> Yeah. >> And maybe to your point is that if we don't take the waiver, we've got a $5 million deficit. Yes. That we have to close. >> Yes. >> And the way to close it is either reduction in spending or reduction in staff. >> Yes.
>> Or >> raising taxes to meet that 5 million is >> right. I just want to make sure I'm taking or taking the waiver. taking the waiver that we are permitted by the state to allow. We're allowed to go over the 2% gap >> by that amount
>> because the state has that there because of the 33%. The state does a calculation every year. >> But in order to take the waiver, you did you say that it the taxpayers bear the burden of that? Yes. >> Right. That's what I want to short.
>> Absolutely. That is true. >> Yeah. >> Absolutely. And just to clarify also, this is just our district within the freehole district also will probably have. So this 7.77% if we do go that route >> is just a portion of it and anything
additional. Okay. And you're saying that the state will allow us to increase it by 5.77 without um going to vote. Is that correct? >> That is correct. That is correct. >> Okay. This is what we're permitted to do
budgetarily through the state. >> And do we we meaning who who's whoever has to do it? Do we look at >> um health insurance companies and um look at competitive costs? Do we offer employees like let's say employees who
are married in the district um is one allowed to um wave their health health insurance which would save the district money but they also get like a cash back for doing that. Do we do stuff like that? >> So we are in the state health benefits program. Okay. New Jersey state program.
>> The state of New Jersey has rules regarding that. >> We allow waivers. We have waivers in districts, single waiver, family benefits waiver, but you're not allowed to give a waiver payment to an employee whose other coverage is state health
benefits. It's a law. So, if I have two staff members and one waves out, they just don't have to pay their portion. They don't get a payment. >> There's not anything we can do about that. That's a state law. >> But it does work if that doesn't doesn't
happen. Yeah, absolutely. We have waiver payments. Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Um we we went into state health benefits quite a few years ago. Um we try every year to get out. Our insurance broker
gets our experience modificely our experience is not beneficial for anyone to want to pick up our business. Our claims experience is trending on the higher than our premium
business right now. So until that gets better, we're kind of stuck right now in state health benefits. Um we do we do keep trying. We try we've tried everything, but unfortunately unless our experience gets
better, there's really, you know, nothing we could do with that. Yeah, >> just to understand the numbers. What is our annual cost for health care now >> the number right up here?
>> 20. No. Well, 27 includes um other things. It's it's about 20 23 million. Does that include the $5 million increase with the 33% increase I should say? Is that number already in calculating in the 33% increase?
>> Yes. The number in your book in your budget scans I sent you >> show what the projected premium is going to be and we subtract when we calculate a premium for the year we subtract what the employee contributions are. That's
all calculated in there. Um, but in your budget information I sent home, you'll see I think it was like 17 million and now it's 22 whatever million. Yeah, I think it's 5.8 was the medical
line alone. So, um I think I Mr. Smith and I spoke today and he was talking about or 5.5 or something. It's like, oh, they only give you, not only, and this isn't only. I don't mean it by that. They only give you 5.1. I'm like, well, because the
other 2% is within the cap, per se, right? They're saying you can live in a cap. So, they're not going to look at anything in the first 2%. But anything over that, that's where the state is saying, "We know you can't operate the way you need to operate,
so we're going to allow you to increase the tax levy without voter approval." So, and then you'll see so the this slide on revenue again the tax levy that
$96 million includes the 2% like in the box over here the 2% regular is only 1.8 million >> and then 5.2 is the health benefits piece. We are >> sure.
>> Um, do you know and >> if anything is going on in >> at the high school also at the same time? >> I'm sure. >> Okay. >> I'm sure. >> Okay. I I I mean I don't know for a fact, but I do know that I anybody
that's there's if they're they're not in the state for real regional, they have their own health insurance, but health insurance premiums are still increasing. So it might be a different number. >> Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean,
unfortunately, the state is just we're kind of at their mercy. Um, so >> I just real I just want to over the over the years because of your hard work, Cindy's hard work and Vinnie's hard work, >> we've always been in a better place than >> all the surrounding districts. Even
though we've always been tight budgeted and we always have these issues, >> we've been in better place than everybody around us because of the work we've always done in the past and the great work of the of the county departments here. >> Um, so it's 7.77. That's what we're looking at. >> Yep. And I I'll get I have the tax page
for you guys also. But I also want to and and I'm not patting us on the back, nothing like that, but if you remember two years ago, we did not take that tax levy incentive of 10% that um was permitted by the state to just increase without voter approval. We did not do
that. Um so >> now we Yeah, >> just for some context, uh the county did a um a survey of you know the county uh superintendents put out a survey. Um the majority of and I can just speak for
Mammoth County. I'm sure it's across the state, but the majority of Mammoth County is exceeding the 2% using the health benefit waiver or some some form of additional uh percentage because we're we're all in the same boat. Um
even, you know, I appreciate what Mr. Lolonsky said. We are um fiscally responsible. We really look at every little line item. Um but we we're actually set up for failure um ac across the state unless something changes. Um
so these are levers that we can pull. Um doesn't mean it it you know fixes all of our problems. We still have to reallocate look at um programming look at um enrollment in certain buildings
and and sort of uh switch things around. Um I've said this many times and I'll say it again. I have three principles that I abide by when we look at a budget every year. We don't want to adversely affect class size to
an unacceptable level. Um we don't want to cut programming, right? A lot of school districts will cut sports or related arts, the music, you know, plays, things like that. School is a lot more than just math and
English, although those are important, right? Right? We want well-rounded students. And the third thing that I refuse to do is to allow another school district to take good employees from us. So, a lot of school districts will say, "You were the last in, you're the first out." And a lot of times those are great
employees. And we spend a lot of time and effort in hiring good people. I don't want to give them to someone else. So, um, what we've done in the past, as you know, is we reallocate people, right? Um, good example, the
kindergarten coaches. We kept them. We were able to cut the FTE off of our budget, but we kept them and put them back into the classroom by way of resignations and retirements. And every time, you say this as well, every time
we have a a retirement or resignation, >> we ask ourselves, can we do this differently by still keeping our people, but can we reallocate people? So we don't send good people home or send them off somewhere else. >> So when you say most are going above
two, are they going near 7.7? >> Uh they vary. Um >> okay >> chart here. Yeah, people are going over 10%. >> Uh 21% of the county >> that has to go to voters. >> No, >> not if it's part of their waiver.
>> Not if it's part of their waiver. >> There's other w there is another waiver, Mr. Hy. You can do an enrollment waiver. We we don't have to, but there are other waiverss that you can take um if you have your enrollments really increasing.
There is another way to to kind of gather more money for that, but we don't we don't qualify for that one. So, >> I mean, it sounds like with the the cuts from the state that we're anticipating potentially, even if it or it may stay flat hopefully. Yes. But there's a
potential that if that drops and the increase of >> the health care benefits and stuff that's is really putting us in a situation where you know Yeah. >> where we would have to look at a little bit of a higher tax levy. >> Yeah. >> So, >> okay. >> I mean, trust me, it's it's Mr. Blown
and I have been living budgets since was like the second week in January. Like really um really going through every single little thing just to get it to here. >> We really have. And the real challenge is we don't know, right? The the
governor just presented today and she has 48 hours to get us our state aid numbers. So that's why Thursday is the day, right? Um so we don't know if we it's kind of it's really difficult to create and present a budget to all of
you and the public when we don't have some key information, right? So we do this every year and we always no matter how early we do this, we won't know until really Thursday and then our next board meeting is the 24th and that's the
preliminary budget, >> right? >> The timing is really difficult >> and this year worse because they the budget address was moved two weeks because of the new governor. Normally it's two weeks earlier. So you have a
little this was just So, >> so I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> I was just going to say I mean I know we're going to know about it at the next board meeting, >> but is there a way like when you find out on Thursday just to kind of
>> Absolutely. I'm going to update you. >> You know, if we we got the same as last year or did it decrease? >> You absolutely will. >> Okay. >> I will send home something Friday once I work through the numbers and figure out if I have to do anything. >> Yeah, absolutely. You'll absolutely get
that. >> It'll be in the papers. >> Yeah. >> Um the the 5.77% for the healthcare waiver, is that the max that we're allowed by law or is that just the number that we calculated we need? >> This is the max that >> So that number doesn't even that doesn't
even cover the increase the 33% increase >> right there. It could have right. >> So >> it it maxed out at that it would have been a little higher but it kept. So the reality is or the or the the foundation of this from a budgetary perspective and this goes to Mr. Lansky's point is that
net out the healthc care increase >> right >> right our budget would have been below the 2% tax waiver the tax >> we could have taken potentially less than the 2% based upon the fiscal
responsibility of the district >> over the last several years and with still making some investments in other areas >> I mean I pro I I would say I don't know I I would say it 2% would have been the minimum that I would ever recommend.
>> Well, I I understand, but I'm just saying based upon the numbers, the numbers would have been less than 2%. >> They are less than 2%. >> Because you've got $700,000, you're $700,000 shy with the healthcare waiver. And if you're at 5.8 for
healthcare increase and you're only getting 5.1 from the healthcare waiver, >> that means $700,000 is coming out of the 2% tax. It would have been close. It might have been 55. I don't have my number, but yeah, I mean, it's close, >> right? >> The also I I think it's it's worth
mentioning the benefit of doing this is it builds your base budget for the next year, right? So, if if you don't do this, um clearly there are, you know, Mrs. Jillinsky said we we would have to we wouldn't look the same.
Um but the other the other adverse effect is you don't build your budget base and you so so this helps build that budget base for next year. So then when you add 2% to that it's a little >> it's that much more. >> So it's >> and it helps you with your other so even
if Mr. Smith and I talked today, even if say health benefits were flat next year and we didn't have to take the waiver, um living in this 2% is still challenging, right? Because of the other things we talked about,
but um but at least it would be 2% on a little bit of a higher number. So, but I just want to talk about real quick the other the other things in the revenue because revenue is pretty it's pretty fixed, right? We can only get money from so many places. So the tax
levy, then we have the state aid, which we hope is flat, fund balance and surplus. That's the money that you kind of save at the end of a budget. So if you budgeted, you know, $100 million and at the end of the year you had $2
million extra, you can put some money in reserves and the rest of it kind of flows into surplus. Um, and you can utilize that to help with your budget the following year. So, that's what that is. Maintenance reserve.
We're going to be using a million dollars out of our maintenance reserve to help fund the budget. It's a tight year with surplus and and we just we need to do that. Extraordinary aid unfortunately has been dropping.
We budgeted 500,000 last year and I don't it was not near there. Um so we had to bring that down. Plus I have uh some less out of district students list next year. So it's kind of
relative. Interest earnings still projecting high still going pretty well. So that's a savings. tuition, two parts, integrated preschool tuition is part of that and then the extra tuition students that the special services department has
been bringing in. That's helping tremendously. That's helping to build revenue. So that's, you know, a great help sale of the property. So again, the little the little schoolhouse
um still is not closed. We still have they're still going through variances and this and that. Yeah. So, um, at this point, we're not going to close till like July, August. So, I pushed the revenue off. We're not
closing till July. I told them I need the money in the budget next year. So, um, yeah, they're still trying to get variances and Union Hill and Tenant Road, the little building. >> Yeah.
So that's that rentals semi- miscellaneous other things in our budget student activity are the paytoplay you know the the hund middle school you pay to play sports and clubs that's what that is so all of those numbers make up the $ 108
million budget that we're presenting I have a little blurb on the right here just kind of to let you all remember I'll be taking $3.2 $.2 million out of the cap reserve account in the budget next year to pay for the referendum. That was the our
portion of the referendum that we all talked about. Just wanted to kind of Okay, expenditures. So, obviously expenditures and revenues have to tie or else we have a problem. So, um I think this little chart is good
because it shows the little note in the middle. 82.5% of our budget are salaries and benefits. It's a big number. So the rest admin, tech, security,
facilities, transportation, special ed curriculum, and then the schools are each given an allocation that they can that they spend. But $108 million next year. And this is kind of the tax levy chart.
Um 2627. That's the tax rate we're projecting. If you look the average assessed, it's not what you could sell your house for. Remember the assessed value, that's what taxes are based on. Um in Mororrow, the
average assessed home is $498,000. That's the assessed value. and the tax rates are are all based on that. So $389 for the 2627 school year is the annual
increase for an average home in Marboro that we are projecting for the year. And I also did the five-year average. So that same home, the five-year average was 182 a year if you average it out over five years. So I
we're not taking it lightly. I promise you that. >> Chris, you also have to keep reminding everybody a lot of that's due to state aid decrease. >> What? >> The state aid decrease over the years. Absolutely. >> 3.9 million. >> This is not like we built a swimming pool. >> Correct.
>> $3.9 million of the taxpayers having to to take on the expenses. >> Yeah. And to add to what you just said, Michael, not just that, but also the increase of like the health care costs. Like it's, you know, we're getting like hit both ways. So
>> there's no no other way basically, >> unfortunately. >> Because the the downside of that would be letting, you know, great teachers go or even staff, >> changing programs. The I mean, the reason we're all here, right? Correct. >> The reason that Marorrow is Marboro. I
mean also I mean it's becoming so terrible that school districts are selling off schools to raise revenue and that and redist I know I can never say redistricting for sure in order to be able to sell a school or you know whatever. >> Look we've always I've been here a long
time and we have always been very very prudent in our budget. We just have we've always tried to plan. We're always looking in the future. Michael's always looking at wait in two years though how can we that's that's just how we we have to operate >> and we don't want to end I don't middle
town just have to shut down what three >> absolutely so we're you know we we don't want that >> end up like that you know so many districts um have declining enrollment nowadays >> this isn't even close to our educational impact because this doesn't include freehold which went up to 10% last year
so >> correct this is us right this is us I understand this is this is us. >> So anyway, >> for some of those schools that are I guess closing down, do you think any of those students would be redistricted to Marorrow? >> No.
>> No. And they're just um they're just consolidating schools. The the one school middle the two schools Middletown are closing only hadund and something students in each school, I believe. >> I know one had about 200. >> Oh, okay. Like 200. >> Yeah.
>> And then I saw Ocean Gate. they just closed their school in South Jersey, they had 150 kids, they're just gonna move or, you know, if it's a one school school district, they'll end up with a sending, you know, they'll send them to another district and pay tuition. But no, I mean, fortunately, you know, our
our enrollments just hasn't gone down. just kind of been and I think a lot of that has to do we we've gotten a lot of new neighborhoods in town and that's kind of kept our enrollment instead of going down it's kind of kept it you know more steady I believe
I so I wanted to just bring up one more thing I think it was like last month's meeting that we were talking about um preschool I think it was where we're kind of way under char like we charge our the >> parent so that's going to be on the agenda
tonight. You'll see it's agenda item I think number 10. Number nine though, which is interesting and you'll note agenda number agenda item number nine are tuition rates that we are going to be approving for next
year. Um, we have special ed tuition students that come in and instead of peace meal approving tuitions as they come in, we we get recommended tuition rates from the state for us, you know, from like the Marorrow budget calculates
our tuition rates. So, we thought it was proactive to put those rates on the agenda so that if a district wants to send their special education student here, they can see what the costs are. But on there is is the preschool
kindergarten rate if we were to accept a preschool or tuition student gened. And that rate is $18,000 and change. That's not of course what we're going to charge for integrated preschool. We are looking to charge $10,000.
>> Um which is an increase from 8240 from last year. But the great thing is we're going to be offering we're going to be transporting those kits this year. >> Yeah. No, no, I'm I'm I'm actually saying like I don't know if there's a way to kind of, you know, I know we've been very um modest in our increases,
but I don't know if again it's not a ton of students, but still I don't know if there's a way to kind of >> Well, we a little bit this year, like, you know, $1,500 or whatever. So, so that was a pretty significant increase. Um, and you know, some of those kids
might still be here two years in a row. So, we thought that $10,000 was a good starting point in our slight increase. Um, but we doing the transportation I think is a a great a great thing to add.
I think the parents will will really um benefit from from that especially if they have other children in the district. And so, >> yeah, that actually uh came from a parent. So, thank you to that parent. >> Um, and then we got right on it. We Chris and I talked to transportation. and we said,
>> "What do you think? >> Let's let's let's try to work this in as an added value." And uh >> yeah, >> transportation did a great job and looking at all of those students to say, "We can do it." >> So, it was it was actually >> it was it was a you know, good input
from our community and we were able to >> I don't want to say easily do it, but it was something that this is the first time we're we're transporting gened kids for >> integrated. Yeah. Okay, budget discussion number four. So,
you're very welcome. >> Oh, I think it was the most somber budget discussion we've had so far. >> Okay. Um okay. Can I um we are moving on to the next part of our
agenda to the item under presentation of school ethics and co school ethics act and code of ethics. We are now in the hands of our board attorney.
>> Thank you. uh I've just provided to you two pieces of paper. The first are the ten commandments. Behind it is what you need to sign after we have gone through the ten commandments. This is a requirement
uh under cusack to make sure that we are doing this on an annual basis. Um, it's also reaffirming what you guys do when you take your oaths of office and you put your hands on the Bibles and you say
you're going to follow all the state laws that are required. This is one of them. Um, ironically, >> oh, I didn't I'm sorry. I didn't even notice. I I I could start before >> Do we need all board members present for
this? They should be present for it. That's why I'm just going to keep my introductory remarks. So, we're just saying >> he he may start singing to sort of, you know, >> you know, you know, >> I'm going to get one of these from the producer to
>> But, uh, ironically, the, um, state ethics act 18 A12-24-.1 uh, was adopted a quarter of a century ago and it has not been amended since.
So this has been something that's been on the books for 25 years and this never been changed even though obviously a lot of things have changed in the world. I mean just think of technology changes and no one has thought that it's
important to modify in any way these ten commandments. But I guess the same way the original ten commandments haven't been amended yet either. So they're just a little bit little bit longer. Can't bring the ten commandments up in school yet. But so just like the but even the
constitution has amendments to it. We don't have any amendments. Um were they coming back or they are protesting my presentation? >> I don't think they're protesting. I think they were using this opportunity to take the >> Okay.
>> All right. So um we could start. >> Do you want to start or you >> Yeah, we'll start. >> Thank you. So, what I'd like to do again because it's getting late and we have a lot of things to cover. I don't want to spend a lot of time on any of these things, but I do want to make sure that you go
through it so that we've met our requirements and you can uh faithfully execute that second piece of paper that you have before you to say that you've gone through this and you have uh been apprised by this office as to what you
need to do. Um, obviously if any of you have any questions concerning any specifics, you know, I'm always open to entertain any of your questions for those particular issues that you might have. And obviously, ethics concerns arise all the
time. I mean, I had one just the other day uh from another district where someone just and this is just as an this was going to be my stretch, but I don't need to stretch anymore. But this was going to be my stretch while you were out of the room because I didn't want to start without you guys here. That's
okay. But I this week someone called me from one of the districts and mentioned that they just found out that their stepbrother was a principal in the district, one of the board members, because they ne they were never they never lived with each
other, but they had the same one parent. I don't know even remember which one. and they just and but they never lived together when they were growing up, but they just found out that they were step siblings um from the same parent. And
now she was in a panic because what are you supposed to do now that I've been voting on all of these things? Because obviously your question was can I still vote on certain things? You can't. I mean, if you're if you're a board member and there's a principal uh in the district who is a relative of yours and
step uh sibling, step brother, step sister would be one of those definitions under relative, regardless of whether you had a great personal relationship with them throughout your childhood or you just found out about it last week, the same rules would apply. So, these
things come up all the time. Give me a call. We'll figure it out. We'll n navigate through it. We'll run through these rather quickly because again I was saying that we don't want to do it too long for tonight's uh rest of the board meeting. So I'll read them, but I'm going to
emphasize certain parts of each one of them which I think just need to be highlighted. And if you have any questions on them right then and there, please stop me. If not, as I said, get back to me later on and we'll talk about them if you have any concerns. So the first one is I will uphold and enforce
all and I'm always emphasizing the word all laws, rules and regulations of the state board of education and court orders pertaining to schools. Desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures. This used to be one of the easy ones but
when we came to 5756 it became not so easy for certain uh issues because again whether the laws regulations and rules included directives and guidance from the attorney general's office that was
really the question there and rightfully so. was a question that was raised and again because these ten commandments have never been amen amended for 25 years there really are some gaps that you have for those things for example the second one is a rather
easy one 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 all children regardless their ability creed sex or social standing
Um, obviously that's self-explanatory. I think that's really why all of you are here for the job that for the big salaries that you get for being board members. Um number three or letter C. I will confine
my board action and the key words there are confine and action to policym planning and appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plans only only is a key word there after the board has
consulted those who will be affected by them. C, D, and E really say a lot of the same things, but they are different for different aspects of your roles. And obviously, most of them can be covered by the term of we don't micromanage, we
don't act as individuals and we have to confine our work to what we do here uh around the table and what we do in executive session. Uh th those are our those are our mandates. Basically, we um
have to confine our actions to policym, planning and appraisal. We only do it after consulting with each other. We don't speak on behalf of each other because the next one, for example, says, "I will carry out my responsibilities not to administer the schools, but together with my fellow board members,
not me as an individual board member to see that they are well-run. We don't take things individually. We do that as a board." The third the third one in the in the uh section here is I will recognize that authority rests with the board of
education and will make no personal promises nor take any private actions that may compromise the board. Now again that's usually self-explanatory makes a lot of sense. I want to highlight to to you though that that means
it doesn't mean that you have to compromise the board because the word may comes before compromising the board. So if any if it's an appearance of something that you would do that would may compromise the board that would be enough to be a violation not that it had to actually result in the board being
compromised. So that's why you have to be careful about your private actions that you take. That's why we talk about those things like what you post on the internet, those things that you post on a website, those disclaimers that you need to put on them to make sure that if you're speaking on behalf of yourself uh
or another uh title that you might have or another office that you might hold in either private or public sector, you have to make sure that you put those disclaimers in there because you're not speaking on behalf of the board. You're only speaking on behalf of yourself. Um, so all of those really carry together.
The one last part I want to talk about because it's always the most important part of this conversation because most of you uh have children who go to school in the district and it's it's always very difficult for board members to have to remember and differentiate that
they're working on behalf of the board in certain capacities, but they're also paramount and higher than your board membership is your parenting membership. And as a result of that, you've got to make sure that whenever you're dealing with teachers or principles or even the
superintendent, if you're dealing with it from the perspective and from the side that this is as a parent only, got to make that clear. You got to make sure that you be able to differentiate. You always have your parent hat on because if not, then you're not really. So, you
know, they give you have to get a license to get a dog, but you don't have to get a license to be a parent. But when you have your and that just says something about our society in and of itself, but it's true. Um, but in this particular
case, that parent hat is always on and it's going to be paramount to you. So, just make sure that we're always letting everybody know whoever you're dealing with, whether it's even a custodian trying to get in the building or the security people or whatever it is, you're not walking in as a board member
if you're doing something for your child. Make sure you make everybody understand that right from the get-go. And therefore, there shouldn't be any confusion as to how you're presenting yourself in the building. Jenna, sure. >> This actually happened the other day. I said, I'm like, I never walking in here
as a board member. This is a parent. And they actually asked me like why does that matter and I was like and so I mean we talked about it but I was like that's I never thought about that question. >> Yeah. Right. But but it it it matters
more to you than it does to them because of these ten commandments. However, it should matter to them. But the problem is because you're a board member. That's why it's so important that you have to make that representation to them because even though it may not change their
attitude or their approach because they still know you're the board member, you've got to make them hear from you that no. So, you know, don't don't misunderstand my reason for being here kind of thing. It's it is it is as I said, it happens all the time, but you
never lose that parent hat. Um, letter G, I'm sorry, letter uh F. I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interests or partisan political groups or to use school uh the schools for personal gain or for the gain of
friends. Pretty simple. G 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 interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its schools. Now, those are two sentences that that really don't go together, but they guess only make 10, so they didn't make 11. So,
let's take each one of those separately. The first one is really just the, you know, what's what goes on in our executive session stays in our executive session. That's really what that's pertaining to and we've always had those conversations and you all understand that uh those all matters that we talk
about in confidence should remain in confidence uh and needlessly injure individuals or the schools. It see it doesn't even mention my fellow board members. It doesn't mention staff members. It could be anybody. If what if if what you're revealing in, you know,
uh needlessly injures or compromises somebody because of your release of that information, that that's a a violation. The second one's a little more tricky. For the first part's easy, the last part, I will tell you the last part of that sentence, I don't even know what it means, and I haven't for the last 25
years. I've been doing this for 40 years, and I don't know what that means for the last 25 when they first adopted this. In all other matters, I'll provide accurate information. Clearly, that means we're not going to be able to provide inaccurate information. We shouldn't intentionally provide
inaccurate information to anybody, whether it be uh ourselves or to the community or anybody else. And in concert with my fellow board members, meaning again, we only work as a team. We don't work as individuals to interpret to the staff the aspirations
the community uh of the community for the for the schools. I guess it means that every community could be different as to what their aspirations are and therefore every board member has but I'm not sure they were planning on giving you flexibility in these things but so if someone can
come up with a great idea but Danielle I'm sure you can tell me what that means the the aspirations of the community for its schools I'm not sure I follow right I said everybody has different aspirations as to what the schools would
be but what the people want. That's what we have to do. But we can only do that in concert with our fellow board members. Right. Letter H. I will vote to appoint the best qualified personnel available after consideration of the
recommendation of this chief school administrator. Now, most of you know this. Chris, you wouldn't know it because you've just been here for a month. But all the personnel issues that are on your agenda come from the recommendation of the superintendent. That's by statute. Only the superintendent can recommend personnel
for you to hire. Boards have every right, individual board members have every right to vote yes, to vote no, or to abstain on every one of those personnel recommendations that the superintendent puts forth. What you can't do is say, you know what, Mr.
Superintendent, we're going to vote no, and I want to vote appoint Mr. Jones instead of who you put up for appointment. Boards can't do that. You could only do that the best qualified after consideration of the recommendation of the chief school administrator and only the chief school
administrator can recommend. You can convince him to move Mr. Jones at your next meeting, but until he does that, you can vote for Mr. Jones without that consent. All right. I I will support and protect school
personnel in proper performance of their duties. We support our personnel. We, as we know, we are not supposed to speak in a negative manner about any of our employees or personnel in public. If we have problems with any of them, they will be riceed. We'll talk about them in
executive session. uh an executive order that was issued more than 25 years ago that has still that is still in effect that uh New Jersey has basically says that employees have that right of confidentiality and they should not be spoken about uh in a negative vein at a
public meeting by board members. That doesn't mean you have to like everybody that works here and that doesn't mean you can't find some fault in what they do. But if you do, we'll do that behind closed doors. Or we give them that right notice that gives them the right to say, you know what, don't talk about me
behind closed doors. You got something bad to say about me, you say it out here in public. That's that employees right pursuant to that executive order that's older than me probably, but that's been around for a long time. >> Yeah, sure. >> Uh, just so I understand, um,
sorry. Um, we obviously can't talk about, but because you said we're parents, too. Like if board members go out as parents and then speak a certain way about school personnel
or administration >> disclaimers, >> right? So that's that's that precludes them from like any like that they're not violating. >> You got to be careful because a disclaimer in and of itself won't just give you blanket immunity from things. In other words, if you don't like a certain teacher because your child is
with that teacher, because you're a board member, you have less rights >> than you would be if you weren't a board member. Because if you were a parent of the teacher, you could then come to the podium during a public meeting and say anything you want bad about the teacher, subject to that teacher suing you for
defamation or for liable or slander or anything else. >> As a board member, you wouldn't be able to go to the podium and speak publicly about that. Therefore, you wouldn't be a you shouldn't also because of the others, you shouldn't be going out to the community and saying bad things
about that person. But if you have a problem with that employee, you go to the superintendent or you go to the principal as any other parent would and tell them there's a problem. But you wouldn't be able to publicly say bad things about. So then as a board um if anybody any of the members go out and
say something negative about an administrator or a school personnel what what can what can be done like what if any of the board members break these code of ethics like what's >> the procedure? >> Yeah. Well is it just an ethics? There's an ethics commission that hears ethics
complaints and people file ethics complaints all the time and they would then if the person who wanted to file that complaint would say that they violated section I of 18812-24.1 because they uh did not uh support the
school personnel in a public manner by posting something on a website by saying something at the football game by you know saying something at the deis during the public board meeting those I mean that could be considered to be again but then that complaint gets filed it's reviewed by the commission the
commission determines whether or not they you they meet that uh threshold and if they do that they'll send it to a hearing like any other hearing have an administrative law judge conduct it to get the facts straight because there may be three sides to the story meaning your side their side and the truth is
somewhere in between >> but I guess as a board we could actually as a board we can file an ethics complaint >> anybody can file an ethics complaint members of the community can file an ethics. >> No, that I understand. I'm just saying like >> any board member can file an ethics complaint. Sure. >> No, I mean that I understand. I just didn't know if we could do it as a full
board. That's I was just trying to figure out if that's the >> normally you wouldn't do it as a full board only because you're probably doing it against another board member >> unless you're doing it against the superintendent. Um, but the idea is
if you were doing it as a full board, it wouldn't really make sense because there's at least one of you nine or it's going >> I see what you're saying. Okay, got it. Um, can I ask more questions or sorry for um >> I'll answer it too. >> For F, which is I will refuse to
surrender my independent judgment to special interests or partisan political groups. >> Can you give me an example of like what that would be? Well, you're not supposed to be saying, "I I'm going to vote a certain way because my uh friends are telling me to vote that way or my political party is
telling me to vote that way." You're not supposed to be doing that. Now, we all know from Washington to Trenton to Malboro politics, people do that all the time. They don't have these codes of ethics, though. So, you can't publicly say, "I'm voting the party line because the party line told me to vote this
way." You're not supposed to say that. Okay, >> because the code of ethics says you're not supposed to say that. Even though, as I said, you know, ask ask Chuck Schumer what he tells people to vote. And they all say that they're voting the way Chuck Schumer is telling them to vote. So,
um, good. All right. Uh, wrapping it up. Last one. This is the big one. I will refer all complaints to the chief school administr uh chief school officer and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative
resolution. Again, we all have had this. Somebody in the community or somebody tells you, "We got a problem with such and such." You're not, and I think Chris, you probably were even asked this question during the interview the last time, I think, because that was that's a big thing. when someone comes to a plate,
you're not supposed to take care of it yourself because we work as a team. We don't work as individuals. You'd have to refer that to the school administrator whether it's in this case it all should be the superintendent and then the superintendent will deal with it from an administrative standpoint as to who should be dealing with it internally.
And it's not the board's issue to deal with once it's provided to the superintendent unless or until there's a failure by the administration to take appropriate or action that you find appropriate. And then if that's not done to your satisfaction,
comes to the whole board. We'll probably start it depending on the issue. If it's a student matter, personnel matter, whatever, it might start in executive session and then we can deal with that issue. But we shouldn't be dealing with those issues until the chief school administrator has had his opportunity uh
to deal with his administrators or his employees to deal with the issue to get a satisfactory solution. That's 10 for 10. We're good. All right. Not bad. I only took about 10 minutes.
>> Any other questions for Mr. Gross? >> Sign your forms and get them to Chris. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Mr. Gross. Okay, we're going to move on to board business. Um, and the next items on our agenda
where you're all signing. Um, we are up to financial and business operations. ready. Financial and business operations. >> Good. Miss Jenowsky, would you read that? Thank you.
>> Okay. The superintendent of schools submits the following resolutions for approval. Number one, receipt and acceptance of the board secretaries report. Number two, treasur treasurer's report. Number three, transfers. Number four, list of bills. Number five,
travel. Number six, harassment, intimidation, bullying, HIV report. Number seven, audit report for the 2024 2025 school year. Number eight, non-public school requests for security purchases under the non-public security and program for the 2025 2026 school
year. Number nine, state tuition rates for the 2026 2027 school year. Number 10, integrated preschool program tuition for the 2026 2027 school year. Number 11, home instruction. Number 12, approval of IDA carryover allocations
from the 2024 2025 to the 2025 2026 school year. Number 13, donations. Number 14, grants from Marorrow Education Foundation. Number 15, Electric Generation Service Cooperative
Pricing Resolution Agreement. Number 16, approval of agreement with Transportation Consulting Services LLC. Number 17, state contract purchases. ISO move. >> Thank you. Can I have a second, please? Mr. Lansonsky. Discussions on any of the
items here. >> I would like to open up some discussions. >> The first is just a quick question and then I'm going to skip back for the grants from the Marbor Education Foundation. When the materials come in um and any supplementary materials,
especially from programming, do they um anything given out in the classroom, is that reviewed by uh the principles and the administration to make sure that it fits the standards of our board and the expectations? >> Yes. >> Thank you. Um for number three,
transfers, um I wanted to open up some conversation. If you go to the second page, there's a $15,000 um realloca reallocation of funds for consulting services. Um so I know that we had hired the director of
transportation not too long ago. Um and there was some concerns um because we hired the former transportation director and approved a salary increase for that position despite the concerns that were raised by the community and the board members. um
shortly after now we're being asked to spend another 15,000 on a consulting firm to assist with the hiring. Um I'm struggling to understand why we suddenly have a need um now this is the second time for an outside consultant to perform hiring functions and um given
the financial pressures obviously that we just heard on the budget. I I think we have a responsibility to carefully evaluate if this is necessary um and if it's a necessary expenditure of the taxpayers's funds especially when we are already taking steps uh to acquire
talent um with raising that initial salary. Um, so I just wanted to get some justification why the consulting expenses are now necessary um, when we haven't really seen those in the past. Um, just is this the same consulting
firm that was going to be used for the business administrator and kind of what does that look like? >> Okay, go. >> I think we'll >> tag team >> we'll tag team this one. So I'll start and then and then Chris will um so so the consultant that's currently on the
agenda for transportation uh no it is not the same one that was brought for the business administrator or proposed for the business administrator. Um this one we've actually approved uh this company in the past to assist in transportation. Um the
reason for this one is our transportation coordinator resigned. So uh with that resignation um we there's also on this agenda um an acting position right an acting coordinator
um and the thought behind this uh this consultant is to simply fill the gaps that the acting coordinator um will need. for example, uh, routing for the ESY program, which is coming up, routing
for next year, which it it might feel like a long way off, but it really isn't. Um, not only the routing procedure, but also inputting into the routing software, Versatrans, I believe is what it's called. So, um, so that's what this is for. Uh, very different.
It's not for hiring at all. So, I did not have a chance to pull up the salary that we had hired um the last employee that resigned. Is the salary we were bringing um this interim director in for less than the salary that he was
making? Yes. And by how much? Do you know about just ballpark? >> Total savings? >> 275. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Yes. Also, it's a good point you brought up, Danielle, because I also I talked to Michael this week and I had this
questions when I read the agenda. >> Um, it's only a couple days a week. This is not a full-time everyday consultant. Correct. Couple days a week. >> Two days a week. >> So, the 15,000 is the most we're going to spend on that. >> Thank you. >> Any addition, you know, questions or discussions on anything under the
financial matters? >> Seeing none, can we do a roll call, please? >> Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Gandhi. Yes, >> Mr. Hyatt. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Jenowski. >> Um, yes. But, uh, I'm going to say no to
number 16. >> Okay. Mr. Lillansski, >> yes. >> Dr. Msquitz, >> yes. >> Mr. Smith, >> yes. And abstain in number 14. >> Thank you, Mrs. Palmo.
>> Uh, yes to all. No 16. Mrs. Cerraro. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Cohen. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Moving on to personnel matters. Mr. Hay, would you read that?
>> I'd love to. Personnel matters. Superintendent of school submits the following resolution for approval. One, retirements. Two, resignations. Three, amended start date. Four, employment part-time certificated staff. Five, employment
instructional assistant. Six, employment school monitor. Seven, employment bus driver. Eight, acting transportation coordinator. Nine, reass reassignment certificated staff. 10, amendment hours and salaries, non-certificated staff. 12, curriculum peer-to-peer family night presenter. 13 curriculum station
facilitators empower program parents academy. 15. Stipen mentor teacher. 16. Stipen non-certificated staff member 17 student observation 18 teach student teaching 19 amended student teaching 20 substitute nurse 21
substitute bus driver 22 substitute bus attendance 23 substitute secretary transportation 24 substitute head custodian 25 paid medical disability leave 26 unpaid leave of absence 27 amended resolution leave
dates I so move. >> Thank you. Can I have a second, please? Miss Gandhi. Any discussions on any of the items under this section? Seeing none, could we have a roll call, please? >> Yes.
>> Mr. Hyatt? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jenowski? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lansonsky? Yes, >> Dr. Msitz. >> Yes, >> Mr. Smith. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Balomo. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Carrerero.
>> Yes, >> Mrs. Gandhi. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Cohen? >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And I understand Mr. Baloon, you have some retirement comments before we move on to our next one. >> Yes, I do. Uh, retirement comments. The first one is from Margie Addio. Margie
began her career as a bus aid in November 2002. Over the last 24 years, she has made sure all the children on her bus experience a warm and welcoming ride to and from school. She's the first friendly face a child sees in the morning and the last goodbye at the end
of the day. During her many years at at transportation, she has touched the lives of many co-workers who will miss her dearly. Margie's professionalism, patience, and dedication to her job was noticed this past year as she she was awarded the certificate of kindness from
the board of education. The transportation department wishes Margie the best in her upcoming retirement. Congratulations, Margie. Give her a round. Next one up is uh Sarah Bert. Sarah Bert has worked for the Marbor Township
Public School District for the past 28 years. She began working as a substitute secretary in 1998 before joining the district as the transportation secretary in 2001. Over the past few decades, she has been an integral part of not only
the day-to-day operations of the entire department, but the district as well. Sarah is the friendly voice answering the phones and friendly face greeting all visitors down at transportation. The transportation department is going to miss Sarah immensely. We wish her nothing but the best as she embarks on
her next adventure. Happy retirement, Sarah Bert. Karen Jaffy. Karen Jaffy began her career in transportation as a school bus attendant 21 years ago. Over the past two decades, Karen has been a tremendous asset to the district. She has been a
vital part of our students daily lives, ensuring safety and well-being with unwavering commit commitment. Everyone at transportation would like to thank Karen for 21 amazing years of service. Best of luck to her on her well-deserved
retirement. Comments for Christine Morris. Tonight, we honor Christine Morris, who is retiring from Marbor Township Public Schools after 26 years of dedicated service since joining our district in September of 2002. She has taught kindergarten, first and
second grade at Defino Central Elementary School, shaping the hearts and minds of generations of students while building lasting friendships with countless families. Her warmth, professionalism, and unwavering commitment have been a cornerstone of our school community. With a heavy
heart, we say farewell as Christine and her family relocate to North Carolina this summer, but we celebrate the extraordinary legacy she leaves behind. Christine, thank you for believing in every one of our students, for pouring your heart into their growth, and for
leaving an indelible mark on the Marbor community. We wish you joy, adventure, and smooth seas ahead. Best wishes as you begin this new chapter. Uh, retirement comments for Wendy Moscowitz after 28 years of dedicated
service. Mr. Cohen, are we adding up all the years? Okay. Uh Wendy Moscowitz will be retiring from Marbor Middle School in June, leaving behind a legacy of meaningful contributions and connections with students and staff alike. Wendy joined
the MMS staff in September of 1998. Throughout her tenure, her assignment has always centered on technology instruction. Though the courses themselves have evolved with the times from keyboarding and computer applications to computer technology and
today's digital design curriculum, as a related arts teacher, Wendy has had the unique opportunity to work with most students during her three year their three-year middle school journey. Over the years, she has impacted the lives of more than 3,000 students. Wendy is
widely known for her willingness to support both students and colleagues in their use of technology and can be counted on to lend a helping hand whenever asked. She often stays after school to support the basketball teams, other athletic events, the musicals, and
art shows. Her computers club has been a student favorite for years, providing a welcoming space for students to explore new programs and expand their skills within a positive school environment. We congratulate Wendy on her well-earned retirement. She now looks forward to
spending more time with her husband Adam, her son Jared and daughter-in-law Lana, excuse me, and grandchildren Jake and Luke, as well as her daughter Allison and son-in-law Ryan, and of course, Coco, her cherished dog. Wendy's
dedication, kindness, and commitment to the Marbor Middle School community will be deeply missed. We wish her every happiness in this next chapter. And last but not least, I'm not sure how any of us will get paid after Lenor Rodriguez leaves. She is our payroll
person. Lenor began her journey with the district in September of 2001 as a part-time business office clerk. She quickly proved herself to be dependable and professional. After her promotion to payroll clerk in April of 2004, she
became an essential part of our operations. Always willing to lend a hand and offer support. She played a key role in helping the district successfully transition to a new payroll platform. Her dedication and positive spirit will be greatly missed. We thank
her for her years of service and wish her and her husband Willie a retirement filled with health, happiness, and new adventures. Congratulations, Lenor. Thank you, M. >> Thank you, Mr. Bologn. And if my math was correct, um this um amazing group of
retirees represents over 151 years of service combined to our school district. So, thank you all and thank you for your dedication to our students and to our administration and our schools. And we wish you all the best of of of success
and time off. I I should keep a running total for the entire year, but I don't think I want to. I It would become depressing. Um, okay. Moving on. Our next item is policy development and community community relations matters. Dr. Mskowitz, would
you read that? You had it in your hand and I figured you were ready. >> And I am. Um, the superintendent of schools submits the following resolution for approval. Buildings and Grounds 202627 school year holiday calendar. Number
two, approval of the amended 2025 26 school year calendar. F uh number three, first reading be resolved that the following be approved for the first reading from before the board of education. I so move.
>> Thank you. Can I have a second, please, Mr. Smith? And now we're open for discussion. Uh, wow, the hands all flew up. I'm gonna start in the middle this time with Mr. Lowski. >> Thank you. Okay, cool. U library
materials. I know I spoke the last time about having a searchable database, have it memorialized in the policy and easily accessed by the public searchable database on our website of our reading materials. I don't see it in the policy.
Um, I don't think it's a substantial change. can move to part two if I know that the policy committee is willing to for me is willing to put that back in. Um I don't know why it was overlooked, why it wasn't put in there. That's my question. Are we willing to put that in there? Memorialize the fact that we will
put a database online, searchable by the by our parents and and u you know updated on a regular basis. >> Okay. So I I can speak from the district lens
and then the policy committee obviously will have a discussion here. Thank you Mr. Lolonsky for reaching out. >> Um I think we had a good discussion about that. Um I don't know that I would um I think there may have been a communication gap. I don't we didn't
overlook it because we we already have a plan uh to go out to our parents about communicating this. Um, you had reiterated to me you really just wanted it included in the policy from a from a an operations standpoint, district
perspective. I have no issue with that. So, we can we can add a sentence. Um, if the policy committee is amendable to that, um, and you you brought up a good point. It it's a lot of times when we look at policy, it's about not the people who are currently here, it's when
we're all not here that it's still we still have uh the practice that that stands. we could do it and then you know down the line administration says oh the board doesn't have in the policy we could we could take it away. >> Yeah. >> Can you can you point to the specific letter which we're talking about so that >> everyone understands
>> uh letter B sub subc I believe it is. Uh let me pull up. >> So B subC says recognize the importance of electronic of school libraries as centers for volunteer voluntary inquiry and the dissemination of information and ideas notwithstanding parent guard parent guardian rights to monitor their
children's use of library and guide their own access to instructional and library materials in accordance with policy 9130. Yeah, will provide a searchable database where however you like to accomplish that searchable database online and regularly update it
regular. >> That's where I ended just kind of a final sentence there. >> Um I think that's the most appropriate place for it. But just so I I thought the conversation just and I apologize again. I think Mr. Bol's right. We didn't no one did this intentionally. It
was it was an oversight. But I I understood that you said that the the go the goal was for the searchable database to be able to inform the parents about the catalog of what the library offers. >> Yeah. So they can look at any time online.
>> And this section speaks to the right to monitor their child's use of the library and guide which is different. I don't know if >> I think it had another section another section >> because I don't think our system would tell someone if a child went to look for I mean I think >> no that's not what look the child look a book. Just a parent wants to know is
this book in the library? they will just search the database and then decide their child could should read that book. >> If we want to put it somewhere else, you know, as a we could look at it as the policy committee. Um I I just because it was about parents monitoring. I figured we could put it there, but we could we could really put it anywhere.
>> I just think that the phrase um retain the right to monitor. I think that as a district that it's just us giving them a tool in order to do that. So if they're saying they they have a right to do it, but we're not providing them a tool to do it, then this us providing them a
tool to do just that. That's the way I look at it. >> I'm not I'm not in disagreement at all with the right to do it. And and I actually think the right word may be electronically, >> right? So that this way there's, >> you know, we don't we don't marry ourselves any specific technology, right? We just say electronically,
right? I'm okay. I I personally am okay with that. I just was wondering whether or not we're going to say it in the context of monitor their child's use of library. I mean, we do say at the beginning of the policy, we recognize right out the f right at the top parent
in the last sentence of the first paragraph, parent guardians retain the right to guide their children's own access to instructional and library materials in accordance. I think overall we just we capture the the essence right there. So, I do think that the word electronically just gets plugged in. Are we just talking about electronically
access the catalog or are we setting an expectation to electronically access the use of the library materials? >> We want to make sure we I'd like to make sure that we we we make sure we're accessing a regularly updated database that the district will maintain
>> that shows the the library the library content this the the course cat the library catalog of what's available. >> Right. So I just want to put a name in and say is this book in the library? I >> I know. Right. So, we just >> I had a question around that though. So, just so for clarity for the policy
committee, are you saying that as a parent, if I have a child in second grade, that they would only have access to what is available? >> No, they have access to the whole library. >> Or the whole library. >> Yeah. And you can make determination that your second grader should or should not read that book, whatever reason you
feel. I mean, as a parent, >> Michael, I'm sorry, Mr. Lansonsky. As you said, uh you you spoke to Mr. balone about this, but you never reached out to me. I'm more than happy and I would have loved to have this conversation because I personally think like electronically I
totally agree that something should be in here and I mean I would have appreciated something similarly happened with the civil policy too >> or um resolution and it's like I I would love to have those conversations because it only helps inform me. I don't remember every
>> single thing that is said and I and since you reached out to Mr. Balone. I don't know why I can't be enjoying that conversation. I would love to. >> Oh, because he sent the email of the policies. That's why I reached out to Mr. Balone. It came from Mr. Bologone. I thought he was representing the policy committee because the email came from
you. The policies didn't come from the chair also. So, I mean, if you want to copy me, I that I think that that would be helpful for me to be involved. >> That's all >> I'm going to add to that. I think it should be the full policy committee because what happens is it it's great to have these conversations. Sure. I mean,
there's nothing that there's no way that we're saying don't have the conversation here or with even Mr. Bologone. But if the three people that are on the policy committee, if we are the ones that are going to be sitting there and actually updating the policy, it's important to inform us so that we can, you know, to
whatever you want that we can actually when we meet, we can pull those things through. Especially if you reviewed it ahead of time and you felt that there were pieces missing. It would have been nice to like know ahead of time like what basically what Jenna is saying, just include us so that Yeah. again faulting I I >> usually the email comes from the policy
chair but it came from Mr. Voluone so I reached out to Mr. Balone that's the only reason why >> okay so then I guess we can all agree that whether an email comes from Mr. alone or if it comes from the policy committee. I think as a board we should just be
it it should just come to the the the committee itself so that it's easier and we can kind of address it even before it comes to vote. So >> So I I I I read through it and and I remember this conversation and I and I and I personally I I'm in favor. I think matter of fact I even promote I think I
even encourage it in the conversations we had about the library system. Right. So So, if letter C, because it doesn't seem to fit really anywhere, but I think the the the the correct wording may be, and this is just an idea to throw out there,
provide electronic access to parents to review the library catalog and offerings. >> Not done once, not just done once and nobody goes in next year and then says puts the new books in. >> Yeah, Michael, I think that there is a policy because we I briefly looked
through it for when materials are introduced to the library. Um they have to go through a process where they're approved. So I think that this database should be updated in uh you know in collaboration with anytime new library material is approved by the board or
approved by Mr. Blow. I'm not sure who does it. um that this database gets. I don't think any book should enter a library without being entered into the database. >> Yeah, I would say current because it's not regular. It's not >> when you say regularly, is that weekly?
Is it monthly? I would say no, but I would just say current. Any any current titles in the >> are you you because then the language would be provide electronic access to parents to review the current library catalog and offerings. >> Perfect. Good.
>> And we would add that right into letter C following the first semicolon before the word notwithstanding. And then the f it would follow. So that would precede the the that sentence and then that would what would follow would say notwithstanding parents and
guardians retain the right to monitor their children's use of the library and guide their own child's access to instructional and library materials in accordance with the policy. It logically flows nicely. It says you can look at the catalog and then you can decide what you would like your child to see. >> Yeah, I think it's really important to know that everybody on the policy
committee agrees to like this like we this is a welcome change and update and again because we go through so many policies sometimes you just don't mean to but you just overlook something but this is absolutely as a parent in the district myself. This is important for me to be able to access what my kids are
going to read. So we're all in support of it. So, I'm glad that you brought that up and then we can make that amendment for the second read, but we should still go ahead and vote for for the first read. >> So, for the record before I before I read it, just for the let's see if there's any other feedback on this policy,
>> Danielle and then Carrie. >> Sorry, I'm just going up the table now. >> I expressed um these concerns the last meeting and then again in curriculum uh when we were looking to give feedback to policy. Um for me
the change from that the waist straw estimate has the policy written it requires a one-year review window. So that means a parent can bring a book for review and it can get approved or denied. So it can be taken in to the library or it could be it could be taken
out of the library or it could be left in the library. Um the way the policy committee has it proposed they want to change that one-year review window to a three-year window. um which means a parent loses the ability to challenge a material after that first review. So
you'll have to wait three years. It also takes away the ability for any other parent to review that material. So if I brought you know Peter Pan to uh the board of ed and I said for these reasons I don't want Peter Pan in the library. Um and then I give my reasons and then
another parent says oh I looked at that book and I don't want it either. and the board approves for it to stay in. How the policy committee is proposing this is that you will have to wait three years before you can challenge that title again. Um parents and invested
parties petitioning a book should never um feel like they're being shut out of the ability uh to have this reassessed. Um especially with the changing of board of education. The final decision on the books rest with the board of education. And as everybody knows, the people on
the board of education change yearly. Um, so I would never want the proposed change from moving it from one years to three years um fundamentally shuts down and challenges parental rights and advocacy and it's a fundamental stance
against it. Um, making a parent wait three years if my child is in, you know, third grade, which my daughter is, I can't challenge that book again for the school. Um, and I just want to point parents to uh policy 2422. It's our opt-in, opt out policy. Um, you have the
right as a parent to opt your child in and out of any material at any time. Um, and I believe that this extends and takes away that right. Um, if a parent has true concerns, um, the proposed change does not do anything to assist the community we serve and instead takes
away fundamental rights of the parents who advocate best for their children. So I cannot um you know I cannot approve the policy even for a first read as written with that one year um to three-year stipulation and actually I had the privilege of going to the
Strauss SMA symposium today and this was spoken about. Uh this is a mandatory policy and changing one of those fundamental things um from how they have it written as we've all spoken about in the past does put the board at a uh in a in a position where there's liability
from the state. So, I really believe that we should keep it where it was at and keep that one-year review window so that we don't deny the rights of anybody in our community. >> Can can I ask can you tell me where in this particular policy we're talking about 2535? Can you It's not in the
policy. It's in the regulation. >> Right. So, it's it's not the policy committee that put this forward. This came from the administration because administration put the the regulations together. >> Right. But it's attached to the policy. So before we approve the policy um that regulation do you know for me would have
to be updated. I I believe it's a >> okay so >> like as we spoke about today at at the workshop um that regulation is here to make sure that the policy is enforced correctly. So I just want to make that clear. >> I'm not I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just trying to sort of just from a clarity perspective anyone who's looking at the policy will not find one year
versus three years. That wasn't part of what the conversation was and it's not so we didn't change anything that gave us. No, >> it's in the regulation guide. So, can you speak to the regulation guide? >> So, I can explain uh that piece and I I think it it's
>> there's there's some clarification that's needed here. So, um from an operational perspective, um we did not want to overburden because there there's a there's a whole committee you have to pull, right? and
and if you you don't want to overburden the staff um the board and you know pulling pulling all these people together on a regular basis um could be problematic and and we kind of the the logic at least behind it was um
individual board terms are three years so we we were kind of you know using that logic um I it's very important to note here this is not about individual children. This is not about selecting a book for your individual child. Every
parent can choose to say to a principal, a teacher, me, anyone if they say, "I don't want my child reading this title, my child." You always have that right and we will always honor that right and we will give
you an alternate text to meet those standards. That is not this right. So I we have to be careful that we don't blend those two things. Right? I'll I'll repeat that. Every parent has the right
to speak about their individual child or children and what books they do and don't read. If you come to me and say I don't want my child reading reading this title, >> we will find an alternate. That is not this. at least one year. >> What we're talking about here with
library material is if a parent wants to take a book off the library shelf for the entire school, >> right? At least, >> right? So, we we have to make sure we're talking about two separate things. Um, so that was the from an operational standpoint,
if a parent is going to challenge one of the books in this library and they want to take it off the shelf for every single child in this school, we have to convene a committee, right? And and go through an entire process. Um, that was the logic behind it. You know, have we
had many in the past? No. So, you know, if if I think the next question probably to me would be, how many of these have you seen? Um, since 2012, I've dealt with one uh as an administrator, right? And when I was a
teacher, I didn't deal with any. So, in 22 years, I dealt with one. Um, so does it happen often? No. Um, could it? I guess it could, but it hasn't happened often. So, you know, from an operational
standpoint, you know, the if if well, the regulation I could go back to one year. I I would have no issue with that. Um, I just want to let you know what the logic was and that it it was not dealing with individual students and parents. It's it's it's
about dealing with pulling a book from an entire school. And correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't there in New Jersey we ha we have to offer opt in opt out. >> Yeah, >> that that was one. And then >> we have a policy on that.
>> Okay, good. >> Okay, so you can opt in and opt out that would not be taken away at all. And then correct me if I'm wrong. Um Daniel indeed uh Miss Balomo Miss Gandhi um we went to Strauss SMA symposium and they
talked about the freedom to read and they said that if there is a challenge with a book right like if um something gets submitted to be removed from the library that in a year like they they can only challenge that same book for
one year for it to be up again to >> Right. Exactly. >> Yeah. So it's not three years. >> No, that's the changes. >> So it is that's exactly what they said. So they said you could challenge it every year. >> Um what our regulation is. So the reason why I brought this up and and um there's
the regulation because e in our policy it is directing us to work with our regulations. So a lot of times the regulations are directing staff and Mr. Bologn how their staff is going to engage with the policy. The the policy actually says that any request by an individual with a vested interest to
have library material removed from a school library in the district shall follow the grievance procedure outlined in regulation 23 2535 in accordance with 18834A5. So if in that last part it says that the board of education the final decision rests with the board of education. So
this regulation is actually directing how we are going to interact with the policy. Um, and that's why I found it to be really important that we're comfortable with the regulation um that goes along with the policy because like they did say at stress estimate today, we should have the ability to reassess
the material every year depending on, you know, even just the dynamic of the schools. Maybe something happens in town or whatever and and a book a parent feels a certain way about a book and then the next year it's not the same. They should just have that ability to keep that conversation open and I would
never want to be a part of shutting down that conversation. So yeah, I'm I'm just gonna I understand Michael what you're saying and I also understand you're saying hasn't happened a lot. So making it one year is not really going to change things. I think you also have to take in consideration every year not only does the board
change but parents change. If a new parent comes into the district, that parent wasn't here last year and now has to wait two more years maybe to talk about a book they don't like. Uh also shows you trends. Three years waiting three years doesn't give you a trend. If you do it every year and all of a sudden
there's a new parent every year, maybe it's something to look at. Maybe I missed something. I look at it again. It shows you more of a trend if you have >> but but I I sorry I respectfully disagree because the the whole optin opt out, you know, I don't So if if as a
parent today, I don't like a book in the library. I come and bring it to the administration. The administration does what they need to do, their due diligence, and then they decide, nope, they're not going to remove the book. they put it back on the shelves. If I still be on that point, if I don't want
my child to read it, I can still go to them and say, "I'm opting my child out of that reading that book." So, my parental rights are secure. I'm able to do exactly what I need to do to raise my child the way I want to raise my child, but I'm not taking away the ability of
other parents who may not be aware that a parent has pulled a book out from the library and they may want their child to read it. So, it's not just that, but also the burden on the administration if they have to form a committee and they have to do
this every year. We have to trust the district if they're saying this hasn't happened that often, knowing that it hasn't happened that often, knowing that it's going to lessen the burden on on administration and knowing that I can still keep my parental rights and say my child is not
going to read that book. I think it's it this kind of the way the policyy's written and the way the regulation has been updated. I think it kind of fulfills all three all three points for me. So >> it's two completely different things though. You opting your kid out of a book is completely different than a
parent saying they want out of the library completely and they have whatever reasons they feel they have to say that. It's a different it's two different completely different subjects. Yeah. 100% agree with you. You have the opt in, you have the opt out. of your parentage, you don't want the child to read that book. But if you're another parent that says for whatever reason,
I'm not going to say I agree with them. I disagree with them. For every reason they say they don't want that book in the library for anybody to see, that's what this other >> regulation for. >> Well, I agree. But then what about the other parents that may want the book there? Right. So you're >> But that's that's why we have a process and a committee to look at it.
>> Correct. And that's why I have doing it for not doing it every year. It's again, it's more so much just putting a burden on the on administration. I don't think it takes away anything from a parent. Again, >> Mr. Cohen, um, in the in with with the
way that this is proposed, um, I don't I know a lot of people on the board have never been in the library when the library is working. I have had the privilege of doing that very very often. Um, by the standards of 2422, uh, optin, opt out is about exposure to
material. Um, it talks about religious beliefs, um, and just, uh, how a student feels when they interact with materials. And I I don't know if you've read the policy, um, but I have. And when you're in a library, and you have five-year-olds in a library, six-year-olds in a library, eight-year-olds in a library, checking a
book out of a library physically, so the parent knows what they're bringing home, and being exposed to the material while in media literacy are two totally different things. Children pick up books all the time. Children pick up pick up books when they're there for the YMCA after school activities. Whenever the
library is utilized, there is the potential for exposure to this material. To have true optin, opt out, the parent should have the right to contest material on a yearly basis. As we know, Mr. Bologon and I had a conversation about this. it doesn't come up that
often uh because there and and there is guidelines um for the committees that should be formed when these uh when contested material arises. Um maybe it's something we look into having an ad hoc committee of board members and adviserss and Mr. Bloom could tell you better
about the makeup of what the committee has to have. Um, but it would be something that uh maybe it's something that we can kind of prepare certain people that this may come about so that it's really only going to be a couple of
people that have to um be impositioned by coming to review this material. I don't foresee it just by what Mr. Balloon has said. Of course, I don't know personally um it happening often, but to just remove that right altogether and say you can't challenge a book that your child may be exposed to on a daily,
weekly, monthly basis um really feels like we're shutting down transparency. We're shutting down um you know, feedback from our community for really no benefit to the board. Um I would be more than happy to hear the same concern year after year if that really meant
something to one of our community members. So that's where I'm coming from and my perspective on it is that I would never want to be told as a parent, even a parent that comes to the microphone, you know, meeting after meeting after meeting, they have that right. They should be heard and even if the decision is still the same year after year, I
don't believe it's our right to just shut down that process completely. >> Any other comments on this? I >> Yeah, I just had a quick question. Um, outside of the administrative burden, was there any other source or reasoning for the three-year specifically?
>> No, >> I'm sorry. To >> No, >> it was okay. Like, did it did it do you we know of any other like counties or school districts or are using >> This is brand new. So, >> okay. >> So, is it about the same issue?
>> Yeah. >> Um, so Mr. Mr. Bloom, we talked about it yesterday in the curriculum meeting. Um, I respect I I went back and I kind of highlighted so it looks like it could be at the most just so we give an idea of
what it's taking from staff a 95day investment of time because I think it was 5 days to respond to a parent and then um uh the review committee shall submit its written report with recommend recommendations to the board education
no later than 60 days and then um the written statement of reason shall be posted on the board of education's website in a prominent and easily accessible location within 30 days of that determination. So that's about a 95 day, but it could be less. That's the like the most time we have. Um, so I
definitely understand the time commitment of that. I just think that I know that there's optin and opt out. I just think like you said one book um by any chance was the book removed or not? The one
>> it was not. >> It was not. So to me, I think that a parent in that situation, um, I'm only assuming it was just one last effort to safeguard their child from at all being
exposed to the book on school grounds. So you can opt in, opt out, but there's obviously still a risk of being exposed to a book that you opt out of. and it must be a serious reason that they don't even want that like on the bus or left
on a library floor, you know, and they're picking it up and what is this? You know, I think that's just a last like a safeguard that we can provide parents to say we're listening to you and we're going to do we're allowing you to do it every year. And I like
Michael's suggestion of it's a trend like if the same book every year is coming up, which it doesn't sound like it happens that often. So, better to air on the side of caution, especially if a parent feels that strongly about it. I think that um it safeguards the district
from liability as well. Mr. Bull, I have a question for you because I know the regulation is you wrote if we were to potentially leave the regulation as is and then you revisited this in May because this is brand new. We all know this freedom to
read is even relatively new and you say listen in the last four months since we released this policy we had eight challenge books the burden is too heavy we can't do this year after year then we could just repole and relook at the policy so that we don't take just kind of like a common ground that we can come
to we leave the regulation at the one year like it was written by strauss if this is the burden is just too big for your staff then we just reassess it at the end of the year or over the summer months We could always do that. We um we do it with policy all the time,
right? We revisit it. We bring it to the policy committee. Um this one is unique because you know it is regulation. So it's you know it's really the the day-to-day. Um >> well that's what I was going to get at that this is more more administrative like we can't really
dictate how you should be running this and doing this. And that's precisely what we're doing right now telling you if you need three years we're taking that away and saying no you have to make it happen in one year. were basically trying telling you how to run the schools. >> So, and I get what your point and I get
with your point. I think you're all getting to where I was thinking um which I think is is that this is not a board decision. It's an administrative decision. So, I think the question really comes to you as our superintendent. What are you comfortable
with? Are you you're comfortable with one year with an understanding that you will come back to the board and let us know if the one year is too onus and you need longer time maybe it's two years maybe it's 18 months whatever it may be you come back to us and tell us that or
if you know right now based upon impact of the district that every year is going to be a challenge and I'm not sure if history tells us that that's the case >> right then I think it's you know it's really your call I think what was helpful for this is that you got a lot of feedback back from the board on what
their position is. Some are in are are of the mindset. You know, it's your it's your your administrative decision. So, I think the the onus really falls on you what you're comfortable with because we didn't write it. >> Yeah. I think I mentioned I I appreciate
all of the perspectives, but I think I I led off by saying I I could live with the one year. Um I actually do like the um revisit if we need to, you know. So, um I would I would be fine with that. I also appreciate you allowing me to, you
know, manage the day-to-day. I I do. But there are some um this feedback is helpful for me. Um and and I also appreciate Mr. Cohen saying, "Look, you are the day-to-day, so you know, you tell us what you need." Um, this is one
of those items where in hearing all of the feedback, I think it's it's worth a try to say let's we can revert back to the one year with the understanding that if it doesn't work and I come to you and I say I just can't. This is this is untenable now, right? We have too many
or we have the same parent coming year after year trying to get this book since kindergarten out of our district for nine years. Um, that might be a little too much too. So, um, yeah. I mean, so
>> yeah, like I don't know if you want to do something in the middle because obviously right like there's two points of stuff like maybe do something smack in the middle like do two years and then you know reassess like if this year that you that comes up if you find like parents are emailing you because obviously things are changing the
climate is changing then you can come and say no this is good that it's only two it's a two year we may need it to be every three years or like no we're not getting that many and we could manage it and we could actually put it back to one then That's fine, too. But we kind of do like a middle ground and do maybe two years to start off.
>> Yeah. I I mean, >> it's your call again. I think it's your call. I'm sorry, Miss Pinowki. >> I can do whatever. I can do one. I could do two. I could do three. >> I just just for like reference on how we do this. I don't want to trample on your day-to-day toes. Definitely not. I just
so for me like it starts out for the purpose of regulation 2535 and this policy. So as a board I feel like we're voting on both. So it's not so much trying to step on day-to-day toes but I just feel like we're asked to vote on
both. So that's why I think that we're referencing the regulation, not trying to encroach on something we shouldn't as a board or board member. But that's the way that I was I mean the regulation 2535 is like peppered into the entire policy that we're asked to vote on. So I
think that's >> it's like a like a gray a gray area because >> I don't I don't know if I see it the same way. I just think I see it as if the in order for us to vote on reg on policy 2535 we have to have knowledge and awareness
of what's in the regulation but we have no control over it. So again, I just think from my perspective, hearing the healthy conversation about this, it's your decision. >> And I think if you can give us some insight as to what your decision is,
then we can probably move on this issue. And there may be one more. >> Well, but sorry. I I actually don't I mean, isn't there any way that we could still move to vote on this and then because we we're still going to have second read and then Mr. Bologn can have some time to think about it and then
come back next board meeting because I don't want to put any kind of pressure like right at the moment. >> He can assess it. Oh yeah. Yeah. Sorry. >> I wasn't suggesting that he had to give us an answer right now unless he wants to. >> But it's it impacts the decision of some board. He some board members need to
understand where he's at mentally because it also means how they vote on first read. >> Either they vote yes or no on first read. We still have second read and they can change their mind and they can vote yes in second read, but in first read they just want to they want to have an informed vote. That's I think where I'm trying to get to.
>> And I I just want to close out. Um the reason that I was bringing that to you is not to get involved in the day-to-day, but it's actually just to bring the concerns of the community back to you, which is something that I I know you feel is beneficial. um and just being around so many parents and I know
freedom to read got a lot of um you know talk early on and I think that the policy actually is very sound and it was written very well and this was just the one nuance that I could see I always feel like we should give more um
opportunity for parental involvement and then scale back you know however you see fit how it's affecting your dayto-day um taking away right up front just feels like it's not a benefit to the community. So that's why I wanted to bring this up tonight and I know we talked about it in committee too. So
>> and one more question, Mr. Bologn, have you heard at all from the community any concerns about this the policy or anything freedom to read out? Um has anybody come to you and said like >> not from our community. It's so brand new. I think it's hard to you know people haven't really seen it yet. >> Um
>> because I haven't heard it from I mean I'm pretty active in the community. I'm sure you you have like young kids too. I haven't heard anybody have any concerns about this per se or brought it to me and if they did I would obviously direct them to you per our code of ethics but um I haven't heard anything so yeah just
wanted to put that out there >> I just had a >> yes >> quick general question so um the policy right is up for first read now the regulation guide is that >> just so I could understand is that attached to the policy or can this be modified at any point in time by
>> Mr. alone because if it is then it's not really impacting the policy per se, right? >> Policies are within the board's discretion. Regulations are completely within the superintendent's discretion. We we understand what the regulations are because they inform our policies and our policies inform the regulations. But
ultimately, we don't vote on regulations. That's the superintendent's responsibility. >> But to also answer your question that yes, they can update the regulation, >> right? >> He can do that on his own. >> You can update it. Does the board have to be notified by >> I as a matter of practice I I notify the
board you do that >> but it's not necessarily like required >> okay so it doesn't okay I think I understand thank you >> um any other comments on the on the one to three or anywhere between one to
three I mean I just I'll leave it >> I have some more >> okay >> but on a different policy so >> can we stay with 2535 for a second because I think Miss Jenowsky do you have something on 2535 I it was all that. Okay. But on a on a positive note, I really do appreciate
the incorporation of all the references to parents rights, parents um discretion and you know all the communication that I've had with the policy committee. Um a lot of back and forth between Miss Carr, myself and Mr. Cohen. So I I really
loved being in the loop on that and just all the work that went into it. So, I appreciate that. >> You're welcome. I I'd like to suggest and um obviously if we can keep it for first read and move it to second read if
it's possible. I'd like to suggest that the one thing that's not in this policy but it seems to be very important to everyone is that if there is is the regulation and it's the first time I've really seen a very healthy conversation about regulation as connected to the policy.
Would it be possible for us to actually have just a sentence in here that says um modifications to the reg regulation by the district would be brought back to the board for awareness. So that if you change this if you change the regulation, modifications to the
regulations would be brought back to the board for awareness. Not for vote, not for anything, but so that we're aware of it. So that if you do change the regulation, because it's so embedded into this policy, that we're at least aware of it. And it's probably I don't think it happens many many times, but this is the one that we've had the
longest conversation about regulation since I've been sitting on the board. >> I have no problem with that because that's what I do anyway. So, but again, we always talk about when I'm not here, right? So, >> yeah. >> Um, I have no problem with that. >> I think that's a good thing for us to take back for the next meeting and add
that on. So, you know, >> and again, just like you again, as a parent, yeah, I want to be very involved. So there's no reason why we wouldn't take the recommendations and changes that you guys wanted. We're all on the same page. So yeah, this is this is good stuff.
>> Okay. I I I want to see I know you have more. So I I want to just see if we can close out the conversation about 2535. So the the three items that I have in front of me for us is one about the addition of electronic
access which I'll go back to. The second is your your decision as to how you want to handle one year or three years, right? With an understanding that if you need to reassess it, that's within your discretion, right? And then the third
item is just a slight modification to add the language that a modification to regulation 2535 will be brought back to the board for awareness so that we're so that we are so there's full transparency.
All right. And then the language that was proposed for the additional sentence in letter letter B number one subletter C would read recognize the importance of school libraries as centers for voluntary
inquiry and the dissemination of information and ideas semicolon. provide electronic access to parents to review the current library catalog or end offerings, notwithstanding,
parents/guardians retain the right to monitor their child's use of the library and guide their own child's access to instructional and library material in accordance with policy 9130. That would
be the additions. And if the board is okay with that, do these fall into the category of where we can at least keep this on it for first read? >> Yes. >> They don't substantively change the policy. >> Okay. >> So, you're saying that if we if you vote
yes to move it to second read, it's in order to make those changes and then if they're not, you decide in policy not to do this but to do this or whatever, come second read, if we don't agree, we can then say no. That correct? Just make >> but at least we don't have to bring it back for a first read again.
>> Okay. >> Unless in fact it fails on second read and we have to go back and rechange it. >> Okay. So we can move past 2535 with that understanding. >> Okay. Um Miss Palmo I think you said you still
had the floor on some of the other ones that you wanted unless you want to yield to anyone else who may have >> any additions. Did did you want to bring up something on another one of the policies first before Miss Balmo or you want to just work through her list?
>> We're in 2535. So we can move on to next. You have 2530. >> I have 9130. >> 9130. >> Okay. >> So I'm just trying to understand with this policy. Um I see an entire paragraph. ask a question before you I'm
sorry to interrupt you. >> Is there any anyone who has comments or any issues or concerns on 2530? Otherwise, I'll flip the page and say we're not going to have to come back to it. >> Okay.
>> She's Yeah. 9130. Um, so I'm looking at a second paragraph here that's all bolded, which is usually signals that that was not in the original policy. I'm also looking at the reference to a state statute that was added in here. My question is, Mr.
Cohen, did this come from Strauss estimate or were these changes ad hoc for our own committee? Was these recommendations of Strauss? >> Yeah, these were >> so Strauss put in um the statute for freedom for resource. Okay. And then they put in this entire second paragraph.
>> Yeah. >> Okay. Um >> I think these were actually based upon the fact that 2535 was created. I thought I think they make a recommendation that these changes had to be made to 9130. They had to be moved here.
>> So for paragraph one, paragraph three, we can't really touch that because it's tied to the statute. So it doesn't really even matter. Um for that second paragraph in the middle, um can you elaborate a little bit on that? Maybe Mr. Mr. Gross or Mr. Cohen, what that's going to what that means.
>> Let me just reread it. Okay. >> Second paragraph I I my interpretation is saying that board members don't get any special treatment. >> That's I'm just trying to I'm just trying to understand it so I don't mess it up. Not because I'm contesting it. So
it would basically let's say a parent that serves on the board has a problem with library material or a grievance with the curriculum. This does not wave our rights to contest that for my own child. Okay. It just says you wear a different hat. You come in as parents. >> The same thing we do already. This was
just added in to memorialize it. No problem. Thank you. >> And and I think it also extends not just to board members, but it also says a district staff member. >> So no special treatments. >> Anyone anything else on 9130? Any other concerns on 9130?
Okay. So those were the four policies that were up for first read. Any other discussions on those policies or any other discussions on the items that were under this particular item for policy development, community relations?
Okay, seeing no further discussions already been seconded, can we have a roll call? >> Absolutely. Mrs. Jenowski, >> yes. Mr. Lansonsky. >> Yes. >> Dr. Dr.
Mr. Smith here. Sorry, Mrs. Balomo. >> Yes to all. No to uh 2535 library material. >> Mrs. Carrero, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gandhi, >> yes. >> Mr. Hyatt, >> yes. >> And Mr. Cohen,
>> yes. as to um the policy 2535 as we agreed would be changed by by the um consensus of the board. Yes. Okay. We are up to liaison reports.
Um all right, Mr. Hay, you're you were the first one to read liazison. Can we come back to you? >> Okay. No report. No, no leazison report from Freel Regional High School report. There was no report from them. Uh, moving on to the next one. We're up to
the Marbor Education Foundation, Miss Gandhi. >> The Marbor Education Foundation has various grants on the agenda for tonight, which we all kind of heard for final approval from the BOE. Thank you to the teachers for their innovative grant ideas. The MEF will be hosting
another dine to donate event this time at Lar Roa Chicken on um route um route 520 in Marorrow on Thursday, March 19th. Uh so it's Lar Roa Chicken on Route 520 in Marorrow on Thursday, March 19th. Please come out and show your support.
The MEF will receive 20% of the sales. Tickets are on sale now also for our annual Harlem Harlem Wizards event. The game will be held at Marorrow High School on Monday, April 13th at 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. This is the
This is always a great family fun event. Get your tickets now before they sell out. >> Thank you. Any other any questions or comments for Miss Gandhi? Moving on, we'll go to Mr. Lansonsky, Marbor Township.
>> Got it. Thanks to Lyn Franco providing my update. Uh, spring brings with us warmer weather and snow melt, but also means pothole season on the east coast. Potholes following any winter are to be expected, but this year's severe weather took an enormous toll on the roads throughout New Jersey. Potholes can be
reported quickly to DPW via the township pothole portal linked on the homepage. Scrambled extravaganza. March 28th, the township will hold their annual egg hunt for children ages 2 to 10. There'll be an inflatable petting zoo, special photo ops. The event is bring your own basket.
The egg hunt is divided by age groups including a time slot for inspirational special needs. The flyer is on the town website as well. And lastly, the Marbor Library is now accepting donations of books and jigsaw puzzles. No textbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, or I said
textbooks. Children's books and classics are particularly desired. Bring donations to the library during regular open hours. That's it. >> Thank you, Mr. Lowski. Um, Mammoth County School Board Associations. Miss Carrera,
>> I don't have an update. >> No report. Thank you. Um, New Jersey School Board Association, NJSBA. >> I have a couple updates. Um, there's two forums coming up, the Women's Leadership Forum and the Public Relations Forum. We all get the NJSBA newsletters. So, if
you want to uh look out for those, the the dates for those. I know some people are probably already registered because they fill up quickly, but those are out. Um, I also wanted to reference um in the New Jersey schoolboard newsletter um there was a a chain about CPAG organizations in the state of New Jersey
and it seems like a lot of districts are having um problems getting those meetings up and running and I want to say that last night Carrie and I had the opportunity to attend a CPAG meeting and our CPAG organization in this district does a phenomenal job running their meetings. Um just looking at some of the
feedback on the NJSBI um newsletter and on that forum um everything that should be covered in our meetings was covered last night and that was really that was really nice to see and see the parents engaging and interacting. So just a little shout out to them. Um that's all I have.
>> Thank you. Um scope Dr. Msquitz >> no report. >> No report. CPAG, Miss Shenowski. >> Thank you, Robin, for the beautiful update. Last night, March 9th, CPAG proudly hosted a meet and greet along
with a special education budget overview at the board of education office. A huge thank you to Miss Sturio and Mrs. Mortar for delivering an engaging and easy to understand presentation that helped families to understand the complex special education budget proposal for
2026 2027. Their clarity, conversation, and commitment to supporting the CPAC community is truly appreciated. We also extend our gratitude to MMSD Superdogs and MMSRI Hands and Heart programs for sharing
their incredible work and showcasing their talents with items to purchase. Their participation, excuse me, sorry, their participation added a wonderful spotlight on the meaningful programs happening in our district. Thank you to everyone who joined us. CPAC is committed to
strengthening connections, sharing valuable information, and celebrating the amazing supports available to our students. If you're not yet a member, we'd love for you to get involved. Your voice and participation make our community stronger. CPAG's next meeting of the school year will be virtual on
Thursday, March 26th at 7:30 p.m. The agenda and link will be sent out through special services and will also be posted to our CPAGs Facebook page. Please continue to check out CPAG's website and Facebook pages for additional resources and advice from other parents.
>> Thank you, Miss Janowski. Miss Miss Bournestein, please. Uh I I first I want to thank you for extending an invitation last night to the full board. I believe I I and and I apologize. I I did send a note to Miss Colby. Um but I apologize that I had a conflict that I wasn't able to attend and I apologize for that
because I would have liked to have been there. But I'm glad to hear that you had a good turnout and I'm glad to hear that you had a very successful meeting. >> Um, can I can I Okay, sorry. Because I know you said that there's a little bit of a challenge like getting more parents to come. Um, and I apologize if this is
already being done. So, I'm just asking, but after a meeting, do you guys send out sort of like the highlights or the recap of what the because what happens sometimes is, you know, if they can't attend, but if they're kind of if they if there's a recap of some highlights that you could share with everybody,
maybe that'll encourage parents if they see they're like, "Oh, I missed this." Or, you know, it would be nice for me to kind of respond. Even if it's not attending, maybe they can communicate via email or you can kind of start that interaction so you get a little bit more um parental involvement and attendance. I I don't know if that's something that
you guys would consider. I know it's a little bit more work, but it would be nice to even just pick out some of the really high points and and sharing that with the parents. So, just just a thought. Last night, Miss Sturio last night last night. Last night, Miss Murio did in
order to help get parent attendance because sometimes it's hard, you know, some parents voice their preference for having in-person meetings so they can just make better connections. Um but obviously that that a venue might be difficult. So it might be a block for
that. So Miss Stio did say that she would look into possibly um allowing that at the board office every now and then. Um you know and even saying I will be in my office and won't hover in the meeting in case you want to talk about things without an administrator there
which I thought was um actually very uh up and up of her. Um, and then on a on a side note, um, I know the Super Dogs presented here, I think a few years ago. They make the dog treats, which is pretty amazing. Well, they're doing
t-shirts and socks and even um those nonparel candies um like the chocolate candies. So, they um have what the erra um it's really amazing everything they've done. So, I did say, you know, whenever they're ready to kind of do
another presentation for the board, we would really love to see all of their new items um up for sale because it I mean, the t-shirts were just absolutely adorable. >> Yeah, >> that's great. >> Yeah. >> Where do they where do they sell the dog treats?
>> I have an order. >> I I ordered some. Um so, they sell it to our staff to I don't know if they go out to parents as well. I'm buying a t-shirt that I saw last night. They're they're really great. >> I'm just gonna throw Well, yeah. I I love an order for them, but I would love to be able to sort of include this like
at Marorrow Day at the board table. I mean, promote it. I mean, you're you're right next to us anyway, right? So, I mean, it'd be great opportunity um to to do dog treats and help help raise money for them and promote them. I love that.
Okay, thank you very much for all the liazison reports. So, we're up to old business. Um, I'll start. I have one I know I I sent this email out to the board already, but I do think because it was a matter of, um, a board public conversation, I'd just like to make sure the public is also updated on it. Um,
and that is to let everyone know that on May 5th, um, the board will be receiving training on sexual harassment from the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, or it's also known as NJASA, and this will occur during our public portion of our board meeting. Uh this
comes as as in response to an original um motion that was put forward at the time last year by um Miss Seawart um to have um both myself and Mr. Gross look for um opportunities to sort of do this type of training and we were very um
fortunate to be able to find this. I want to thank u Miss Carrero for her help in sort of connecting with NJ Kasa. So just so everyone knows that we will have it's between 60 and 90 minutes. I know it's a long training but and this is not a topic that we should really um
try to rush um and it will be done during a public session so everyone will be able to sort of you know be able to see that we are doing this um and I provided a synopsis of the training which I will share real quickly with the public which will it'll include you know definitions associated with types of
sexual violence and non-cont sexual violence. It'll talk about the prevalence of of this in our communities across the country and the people infected by it. It'll talk about understanding trauma informed practices. Um they'll talk about committing how to com how committing to prevent sexual
violence is an important act of this board and of of um the district and it will also include areas such as recognizing the importance of modeling violence free interactions. So it's it's a very it's a very important um curriculum or agenda that they put
together. And I want to also stress that the two people who are going to be coming in from NJ Kasa are the co-directors of the organization. Denise Rodriguez actually is a um she's a a an educator. She's um got a PhD in English
from um as well as a BA in in English. She's worked in non forprofits for many years as a grant manager. She's been with NJ Casa for since 2019. Um, and what I thought was really important is that she is actually she's
also served on a public public board of education in Bradley Beach and actually sat as a term in term of as a vice president. So, she understands right off the bat what we do. So, it was really important to have that. and Robert Baron who's her co-director. Um he has um been
there since 2010 uh since 2015. Um but he also has extensive experience in behavioral health and um has been working in um antiviolence movements since 2010. So I think these are two
very um qualified people um to be able to come in and do this. And um what I hope to do is make sure that this is something that we can incorporate on an annual basis or a bianual basis based upon our experience on May 5th. So please I I encourage everyone I know or
some people have you know personal uh commitments but if everyone could be here from May 5th that would be really appreciative. Um so that's my old business and now I'll open it to the the board for old business. Mr. Lowonski. >> I know we said we were going to bring up
the um um resolution for civility, so I'd like to do that this time. Um I appreciate Jenna Turv, Mr. Pra, your work on on the policy. You sent out your revisions and Mr. Cohen as well. I appreciate your work. Um respectfully
though, uh both of the works that you provided really changed civility policy to a govern in my opinion changed the civility policy to a governance policy. And let me finish the resolution. I'm sorry. Anytime. I'm sorry. So governance
is a system by which an organization, institution or society is directed, controlled and held accountable. Civility is the way we all interact or general population interacts with each other and how we should interact with each other. to Al's purpose of her resolution was to simply say not to set
policy was to set an expectation of civility between board the public and the greater community. Um I just having a hard time understanding why we're changing it to a governance and I'll fully support a governance resolution. I
mean governance resolution should come after after civility uh resolution. The governance resolution is how you handle the non-ivility. But you have to have a civility resolution first if you in my eyes if you're going to have a governance residence resolution how
you're going to handle civility or you want to combine them both. But to change it take disability out of it and change it to governance to me is a mis misdirection. Um and again I think he did great work on the governor's one. I I would support a governor's one but I also would like to have in first place a
civility resolution. And I really having a hard time understanding and we think we need to go line by line in Val's Val's resolution and understand why it needed to be changed. If some and you said some reasons were legal that could be done in executive session doesn't that legal thing that attorney client
privilege we can talk about that in a sec but there's plenty of stuff that's not. So if if we're not prepared to do it tonight that's fine. If we need time to get to do do it it's fine. But I think I just need to understand why we took so many things out of vowels and changed it to governance without a
proper explanation. >> Oh. Um, Michael, did you read uh or Brian and I, we were working on uh the one that he sent in the email, the draft email. So, it's not um it's not even
governance. It's not even the one that I worked on at all. >> I know. I read it but it says it's it's it's entitled governance again has the word governance and it doesn't >> resolutions are like a problem >> but again it's it's one single page where Val had a lot longer there and I and and again it was sent last night and
you asked last time when something was set you asked one more time to go over it. I think last night it was kind of last minute to to really absorb it and go over it for today. But um it still doesn't explain to me why so many things were taken out of vowels. I
I just need to understand why >> because vows was very much policy language and not resolution. A resolution is cla like um what what like proclaiming
something like we an aspiration like we taking an not an oath but to something that we all believe in. That is not that's that's a resolution. A resolution is not the language that Val put in. Even in my governance one, I kind of
went down the rabbit hole of like adding in, you know, giving people time because that is linked to, you know, like hostility and kind of like these pressure tactics, right? We kind of went down the rabbit hole of where and that's
what you know Brian did amazing work on revising this making it the length that a resolution should be and working on the language that it should be. So if we go through So why can't we not go through vows of resolution? If I'm looking at these couple of these
paragraphs, I see plenty paragraphs here that do not reference policy, but they were taken out. >> Go through them. I'm I'm perfectly okay with going through them. I you know I I it's in front of you and you like >> Mr. Gross feels that executive stop us
and tell us that we talk about that. >> Yeah. >> All of them I'm sure not. >> Mr. Gross, I have a question. What clout does a resolution have to >> speak that? >> Because I' I've had resolutions.
>> That's an excellent question. >> I I've had resolutions get, you know, >> about me. >> Resol A resolution has >> no clout. >> No clout. >> Yeah. >> Depending Well, I But the answer is depends on what the resolution says. If a resolution says that you're supposed
to do something, well, that's the clout that it has. It tells you that you're supposed to do something. If a resolution is more like a proclamation, then it doesn't have any effect because it doesn't require the board to take any further steps or to abide or to do
anything further than just adopt or not adopt the resolution. This is I I would really call this a proclamation. um in that it's not telling you to do anything other than make a policy and therefore that's the effect that a
resolution like this a resolution like this would have is it's only telling you the board and providing the p the board a uh >> which one which one um Mrs. Mendes or the the one that we received?
>> Well, I think both of them say that at some to some extent, but I think the one that has been profered yesterday. The only part of it that is binding is that it says that you're going to make a policy. That's all it says. That's the
only binding part. You're going to revise a policy. >> And and that's what I liked about the >> You're not going to revise it. you're going to send it back to the board board back to the policy committee to make recommendations to the board to sort of decide if the policy should be revised. >> Right.
>> So, we all received an email from Valentina Mendes who I would say is the original author of this and she asked me to read that. So, can I take a moment to read her email? Um, it was sent today um at 121 to all of the board members and
Mr. Bologna. And again, she's the originator of the resolution that we're discussing. Dear members of the Marorrow Board of Education, please accept my apology for not being able to attend tonight's meeting. I make every effort to be present whenever possible, but I am
currently fulfilling other obligations. I felt it was important to share my perspective regarding the civility resolution that I originally drafted in and introduced while serving on the board. This resolution was created with a very specific purpose to address board member safety and the growing instability surrounding public discourse
not only at meetings but also treatment of board members outside of meetings. The proposal included clear actions and timelines because the intent was never to simply acknowledge the issue but to ensure meaningful steps were taken to address it. Over the course of several
months, I repeatedly asked for feedback from board members so that any concerns or suggestions could be incorporated before it came to a vote. Very little feedback was provided during that time. The requests I did receive from Mr. Cohen were incorporated into the draft. Despite that, the resolution was still
voted down with explanations that I believe were weak and in poor taste and did little to address the substance of the proposal. Transparency and accountability are essential to the integrity of this board and to maintaining the public's in public's trust. Excuse me. Any effort to
revise or reshape the resolution now, particularly if it removes the accountability measures and timelines will strip it of the purpose for which it was written. A civility statement without structure, action, or follow-through does not meaningfully address the issues that prompted this
proposal. The behavior of certain board members, which I referenced during my public comments at the last meeting, has been appalling and is precisely why this resolution was introduced in the first place. Ignoring those realities or weakening the resolution only reinforces
the need for clear expectations and accountability. Since I cannot be president this evening, I respectfully request that Mr. Lansonsky, Mrs. Janowski, or Mrs. Balomo read this email into the record during the meeting. I am asking these members specifically
because they understood the original intent and purpose of the resolution and have not attempted to dilute its meaning, weaponize it, or engage in embarrassing displays of behavior during or outside of board meetings. I understand that this request is permitted and should not be disregarded
or altered. If the board intends to move forward with a civility resolution, I strongly urge you to honor the enri the original intent of the proposal and preserve the actionable components that were included. Anything that significantly deviates from that
framework undermines its purpose and reduces it to a symbolic gesture rather than a meaningful commitment. Mr. Cohen's reasoning for voting no was weak and in poor taste and continues to demonstrate how he is aligned with his friends rather than focused on what is best for the board. as a governing body.
This resolution was written to establish standards that protect the integrity of the board, ensure transparency, and hold members accountable for their conduct. I hope the board will approach this discussion with the responsibility in mind, and implement the resolution in a
way that reflects its original intent. Respectfully, Valentina Mendes. >> Thank you. >> Um, can I ask a couple of questions? Sorry. >> Yeah. Um, so Mr. Lansonsky like what
what particularly from that resolution and just so I understand was Val's original because it's obviously we've talked about this for many many weeks I guess or months but is the resolution about how board members are treated by the public and
what we can do about it or I that's I just want to understand like what how did how did she start that like I I don't remember I don't have in front of me either so I don't know if Molinsky if you can I have the original one in front of me. It says, "Resolution of the Marboro Township Board of Education establishing
a commitment to board member safety, civility, and respectful community engagement." So, I guess it's us and us and our engagement with the community. >> Right. So, how the community treats us. Correct. Correct. As board members. >> No, sounds like how we
>> he's saying we can't. Can you please read that? >> Resolution of the Marboro Township Board of Education establishing a commitment to board member safety, civility, and respectful community engagement. >> So, board member safety and respectful
engagement with the community. >> Mhm. >> Okay. >> It sounds like >> like I just want to go you want to read the first paragraph and we'll see why why we had to change the first paragraph. Then that's all I'm asking you to do. And if it makes sense, it makes sense. If there's a legal reason,
legal reason. If it's a policy that doesn't make sense, then it doesn't make sense. I look, I understand. Um, and Mr. Gross will tell you, the board doesn't have a lot of uh power in in controlling a lot of these things. There's only two people in in the state of New Jersey,
the secretary county superintendent and and the uh uh what's it >> education, right? That can um disbar a board member and and take and take action. Board members can't take action against board members except the ethics complaint. Um,
>> you miss meetings in a row. >> Yeah. Miss certain amount have meetings. Correct. >> The only action the board can take against >> We're talking about civility, not missing meetings. >> I said that's the only issue. It's the only statutory obligation that board members the only statutory right that the board has against board.
>> Right. So I mean I answer my question. So the first paragraph reads, "Whereas the Marro Township Board of Education in parenthesis, the board is committed to ensuring a safe, respectful, and orderly environment so that members may serve the community free from harassment, imitation, threats, or retaliation.
Why change it?" That's all I'm asking. >> That was consistent with the one that I sent last night. >> But it's not exactly the same. >> It's almost exactly the same. >> Well, why change it? >> It's almost exactly the same. >> It's almost exactly the same. >> All right. we you know if if everyone
wants to submit it this there was lots of comments that came with saying hey we should take this out we should put that out during the course of your feedback and Mrs. Jenowsk's feedback and even the even in the respectful dis you know back and forth feedback that I had with um Mrs. Menddees as a matter of fact this
is the original not the one that u Mrs. Mendes refers to in her letter in which we um agreed to some changes that I had sort of proposed during a meeting in December in which Mr. Bologn was at. >> So why don't we go why don't we go? >> So that's my that's my comment. >> Okay.
>> If the board likes the original language that's that's the board's decision. >> All right. I offered my edit and I offered my change and that was my that was my offer. It's it's up to the board to decide whether or not they want to adopt. I'm not I'm not the final editor. Nor is Miss Mendes because she's no
longer on the board. >> Okay. >> Just making just asking general consensus here. >> Yeah. I guess I also want to understand right like the the board needs to be protected by the public too. So I mean if this resolution if we're going to make the updates it's obviously how
board members treat each other, how board members treat the public and the other way around. And I mean, I wasn't going to bring this up, but like if we're going to to talk about I guess I know you guys are great proponents of of of civility. I want to understand that how do we add in here because quite
frankly, you know, being doxed by board members, spouses on Facebook is just not appropriate. Right? So what what I'm saying is if we're talking about it, then it needs to be all incompassing. Right? can't just be how board members are with the public, but it's also how
the public is with the board members. Again, today, I was doxed on social media. Again, I wasn't going to bring this up, but this came up, so I'm going to mention it. It was your husband who posted it. Right. So what I'm saying is what what are you saying that we should
put something in the civility that we as a board should take action against a um a community member. I have no problem with them expressing whatever they want to in terms about my,
you know, my stance on policies and stuff, but doxing and the the kind of language that was used. >> Well, they put out our email addresses, right? And not my not board, not board, but like there were Yes. >> Yeah. Um,
but what I'm saying is so then we need to add things in there or you know in a situation where a board member >> files something against a community member that comes out to be not true but a lot of stuff you know case or whatever
is dismissed and it's still talked about over and over again. So those are the things that I would like to add in because honestly I have been a target of that consistently over and over again by Valentina Menddees when she was here as
a as a as a board member. Right now when they're not on the board I get doxed you know you're a sitting member of the board and I get doxed for by your husband and so where does it stop? Right. So if you want to make the civility policy and you guys are all for it,
I mean even when we voted on the gentleman, you know, Chris sitting here, he got doxed the very next day. It's brutal. And I agree that we need to do this, but the people that are actually putting this forward were the ones
attacking these people. I mean, that's how they welcomed the new board member. Like, I just I don't understand. Like, so we want to talk about civility, and I'm I'm not arguing or fighting. And I'm genuinely bringing this up because yes, I do think that we do need to have we need to be more civil with each other.
We need to be more respectful and it's okay. I'm okay if you have, you know, this board is supposed to be nonpartisan, right? We're not we're not talking about we're we're here to make sure that we do what we need to do for our schools. And when you have all this
noise outside and Right. >> Right. and the whole and the one of the biggest things that Valentina Mendes when she came and she um or when on the board when she recommended the civility policy and I'm only bringing her up because you read her letter otherwise I
would not speak about her because she's not here. The reason she brought it up is because, you know, um, lost my ch train of thought, sorry. She brought it up because of whatever was going on, doxing and, you know, uh, board members being attacked and no, nobody from the
community wants to run for the board because of all of the attacks. And then what happens? She was one of the first people to talk about Chris being given the seat among some other board members here. So you can't talk about civility
and then go on Facebook and do the complete opposite of what you're proposing the board to follow. So when she says that any of us or Mr. Cohen is, you know, his behavior or his or his stance on whatever is shameful, I
actually don't think that. I think it's quite the opposite. And I'm not defending, you know, I guess I am, but it's just it it to me, I can't take it seriously. When you say one thing, you keep talking about it. And even you, you know, Mr. Lansonsky, you brought it up
and you're you're sitting here and saying, "Well, why did we change this? Great question. But why don't you turn around and say to the people that are making these posts about someone that was just like a seat got sitting here
>> 15 to 17 emails over the last 18 months Mr. Gross where you have >> I was still speaking is there a reason why I was being interrupted I was not done with my my statement with what I was saying so I would like to respectfully say >> giving back Mr. Cohen Mr. Gross Mr. Miss
Misqu was giving input >> I'm speaking only >> Mr. I would respectfully ask you if I'm not done. >> Okay. We can't have we can't have two people talking at once. >> Let's finish your comments and then I'm going to go to Mrs. >> So that's all I'm going to say. I just would like it if we're going to talk
about the civily then really let's just >> just talk about it once and for all. Let's talk address the elephant in the room honestly and not hide behind hey this is a civility policy. Let's follow it. If you're going to propose it, follow it. >> So I know you want to let Miss Bolo
speak, but I was specifically address. So I I don't mind letting somebody else speak first, but if you can just >> Let me just see what the point is and then I'll >> Mr. Gross. Uh we have about 15 to 18 communications back and forth over the last 18 months um speaking about how the
board doesn't govern social media. I think um you know knowing Val and she had referenced us um the things that need to be addressed through civility are sexual harassment um to board members um sexually harassing language um threats on lives uh well you said
that we don't govern Facebook. So, I'm just going to say my piece is that when it turn Val's civility policy came from a spirit of truly protecting a board member um and truly protecting the lives of board members and the um the the
wellness of board members. Um you we all know that we maintain our first amendment rights even as board members. Um and that's something as a elected official I would never uh take away. I believe heavily in the constitution and our constitutional rights. Um you and I
have had this conversation quite often actually um that a board of education does not govern constitutional rights. And so I would never feel comfortable putting a civility policy into place that does that. Um, I think that this policy as written originally by
Valentina really hit the um the fundamental practices of protecting board members against things that don't allow them to function in their role. don't allow them to function on a daily basis and truly um are urging the board when hundreds of community members speak
out, which they did, to take action um against protecting our board um from each other and from from community members. So, those are my comments. I don't know if this was probably better, like Michael had said originally, to be spoken about in executive because it has
some confidential factors to it, but I just wanted that to be put on the record. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Jenowski. >> So, you brought up my husband. So, I'm just going to start out by saying that I absolutely refuse to sit here for the
next three years and speak on behalf of my husband because I am his wife and I love him, but I am not his lawyer. I am not his handler. Okay? So, if you have an issue, bring it up with the adult that you have the issue with. and I'm not going to make this time on the board
discussing things he does or does not do. You are speaking to someone who does not have Facebook. So obviously right there you can see a clear difference on his choices and my choices. If you are setting a stage right here
and now that the spouse of a a a sitting board member has to answer for their spouse, is that what the barometer is that you want to set? >> So actually it would >> yes or no. It's just yes or no. >> No, I can answer the way I want to. Um
actually that's not >> that >> I'm responding to her. So >> I I just I just want to make sure we look I understand. >> No, but I I just want to >> you can respond. I am okay with the response but I also want to move the conversation along to get back to what we were going to talk about which is
>> well to answer the question yes I feel that I can sit here and talk about civility because I don't even have Facebook you however do you are actually an admin of a Facebook page that you allow negative things about board
members recently on your page I was called or insinuated that I was a racist. You allowed it. You allowed it. I didn't say you posted it. I said you allowed it. >> Correct. It's freedom of speech. I don't sit there and I don't like Right. So,
>> okay. So, just respond to that one comment first about >> But I waited till you were done. >> No, about the about you were done. >> Oh, okay. Because you asked me and you paused. That's why I was finish. Yeah, absolutely. And for you to start by saying >> I
>> for you to start by saying I was not going to bring it up. That is not honest because you specifically wrote me an email saying the exact words. This is unacceptable and I intend to raise this matter formally when the civility policy
is discussed. That was sent on February 4th. So, since February 4th, you absolutely had every intention of bringing this up, which is fine, but don't start it with I didn't intend to bring this up. You clearly intended to
bring it up, but my h my husband and I don't share a brain. Okay? I mean, if I wasn't here tonight because I was sick, is he allowed to sit in for me? Of course not. So to hold me accountable
for his actions is actually completely ridiculous. I mean if that was the case then every spouse arrested for something. Our jars jails would be full of husband and wife duos because you cannot hold a spouse liable for what
another spouse does. But I hear that you're kind of alluding to the fact that I should be. And I'm asking you now, do you believe that a board member should have to answer for their spouse and their spouse's actions? What they say,
what they text, what they post. Is that the barometer? >> So, I'm going to respond to Yeah, there are three questions. So, one, um, about the spouse thing, quite honestly, it was you, Annette, and well, you you were sworn in this year. Um, but when you
were running, when you were campaigning, you for whatever allegedly, which again, I want to put it on the record that my husband was 1,000% cleared. Even the temporary restraining order um was dismissed. So, all of that, there's
nothing there. But you along with other board members and the 40, 50 people, whoever that you brought in that day and everybody came and spoke, they were actually holding me accountable for something that was still under investigation that my husband may have allegedly done, which again, I'm going
to say again that everything, every single charge was dismissed. There was nothing there because I mean, there's no charge. Let me rephrase that. There were no charges, but any kind of allegations that were put against him were completely dismissed from the police,
from the um superior court um prosecutor as well as the family court where the restraining order, the temporary restraining order um was put through. Right? So, when everybody else is holding me accountable, you are one of them. So, now to question me and turn
around and say, "Why am I holding you accountable?" You're right. I don't think a spouse should be account held accountable, but I'm only giving you back what you kind of put towards me and what your expectations were towards me. Second, the uh the email that you read
off about me bringing this up on the civility thing, that was on February 4th when Danielle Balomo, a sitting board member, made a post, not on her personal page alone, but on several different Facebook
pages using a photo of my minor child. Your husband had that on his page. And that's why I said again, the reason why I brought it up today is when people that are putting forward a civility policy are supporting it, their actions
should show that. So when your husband, which I'm again, you're right, you're not the same person. I came to you and I said, "Do you support this? If not, then you should speak to your husband and say, don't allow anyone posting a necrupt and then sitting there and posting a picture of me with my child
who is 12 years old. She's a minor. That's a violation. That's wrong. And I would think whether you are, you know, you guys were all in support of, hey, you know, these these five men, whatever they did, nothing happened again, right? Everything was dismissed. Whatever you
guys were all talking about that we should support the women, we should we should support Danielle. All of that stuff. Every single allegations were dismissed. There was nothing. There was nothing that was found. But everybody was in support of that. So, I wanted to make sure that you were in support of making sure that nobody's posting a
picture of a minor, okay, a minor on Facebook. So, that's why I sent that and that's what I talked about. Now, what I brought up today that I was not going to bring up, I'm not lying because I'm talking about a different incident that was posted today by your husband against
me again. So I'm what I'm saying is if we're going to do the civility policy, if we're going to sit there and make all of this, then I need to make sure that we add things like this in there, too, because go and I I know how many times Val has come over here and said, you know, there
are so many good parents and good community members that will not come up and stand up. And quite frankly, when you see that kind of social media activity consistently attacking other board members, who's going to want to do it again? Do you think I want to run
again for this board knowing that every single day there's some kind of post made about me? Absolutely not. Why would I put myself and my family through this? I put my family through five months of hell. Why? Because I'm on a board when nothing happened, false allegations over
and over again. So that's a problem. So yes, the civility policy needs to protect the board members. But it's it's definitely that's why I'm saying that if a if if a community member is doing this, then maybe the board can sit there and put in a policy that they will be banned from school property. I want to
see some action. I don't want it to just be civility policy. We're doing a proclamation. You know, we're going to sit there and spend months of our of board time when we should be focusing on schools, education, curriculum talking about this. If we're going to do it,
let's make it let's make it with some like Let's have some teeth in it, right? You see a you see a a a community member consistently posting negative things about a board member. Well, guess what? Then the board needs to sit there and put it in a policy that we will come to
a decision if they need to be banned from school property. We had on that day, October 14th, when there was a bunch of people here, there was a pre a a board member um a past board member
who basically threatened our superintendent at the meeting. It's in the recording. That person should be banned from school grounds from attending a board meeting. That's the kind of stuff that needs to go in this policy, not some proclamation of like, yeah, we're going to try to be civil. We're going to do this, but then you
know what? people gonna go out and do it. Put a little disclaimer saying I'm speaking as a parent, as a community member, and there's nothing there's nothing that we can do. That's a waste of the board time and we've wasted so much time. So, I think what Brian and Jenna came up with and turning into a policy, it actually has some teeth where
we can do something. I don't want a proclamation. I want something that has that that we can actually as a board m board do. We can't do anything to each other. We can't sit there and remove you from from being a board, you know, a bad board member or removing me for being a
board a bad board member, but I'm tired of like this talking about civility and all of that stuff when nothing is really happening. And I'm going to leave it at that. I >> I agree with you that and I have actually said to Miss, >> may I just say one thing? >> Of course. Yes, please.
>> I would just like to say I want I want to close out this interaction. All right. If you would like to continue with privately, that's fine. But I'd like to get us focused back. It is 11 o'clock at night. I >> we still have board meetings. >> There was, you know,
>> 40 minutes can't be given to one board member without someone else being. So, I think it's important that Carrie speaks and then I would like to speak and if Michael wants to speak, all um lies >> were just allowed to go on for 45 minutes. So, I think that it's important
that we all get to speak. >> We're not going to get to this full resolution tonight. I think we all understand. >> Absolutely not. >> Okay. >> So, >> I just I want to say one, I never held you accountable for something your husband may or may not have done. So,
and I and I never brought anybody in. I So, I don't know your accusation of I brought people in. I never brought anybody in. I've never even had communication. Can you come to the board meeting? So, I'm not sure where that's coming from. I understand what you just said about your
husband. You're saying that everything was dismissed. Okay, that's criminal. But would >> Yes. What I'm saying though, while you were trying to say that my husband does
stuff, I was saying when you quoted me, okay, posting on Facebook, I don't know if his actions rise to civility. And that's what we're talking about. I never questioned criminal, but I do highly question civility just like you're
questioning my husband, which is and you don't speak for him. That's what I'm saying. And that's why I've never held you accountable or talked to you about it. When you are saying, "I asked you if you condone it." You did it in front of an entire board email. You didn't come to me. You didn't say, "Hey, can you
talk to your husband? I didn't even know that my husband posted something about you today. He does not talk about Facebook with me because he knows that I am highly against it. I do believe in freedom of speech 100%. I do believe in that. But like I said, I don't have it.
If you are for civility like you say you are, and I want to agree with you, you're at you admin with like and I don't know Facebook lingo so please forgive me. But for example, team Marorrow,
how do I know because I was called a racist. How do I know that the people behind team Marorrow are not board members, board member spouses, board member children, board member grandparents? So, do you have the
opportunity of saying that your page will be completely transparent and we will say who team Marorrow is, who Marorrow Scoop or Cracked Board or all these like names that hide individuals that speak about all of us all the time.
Would you be willing to do that? >> Okay. I >> um but um but how do I know? I know but this is going to go back and forth and I I just I just wanted to sort of you know out of respect to the hour and the other board members and I just want to be
responsive back to Mr. >> So I'll just say we have a saying don't hate the player hate the game. I'm not in the game. I can say that I am not in this Facebook game. Are you is anybody else willing to walk away from the Facebook game? I'm not a player in it.
I'm not a part of it. >> I'll raise my hand and say yes. I'm willing to walk away from the Facebook game. I'm not in it either. Awesome. Okay. I will take the creed and say I will take a pledge in that one as well. I will also say that I will take a pledge that says, you know, and I wrote it down here. Spouses, children, and
family members are off limits in the context of our interaction as board members between ourselves. >> Mr. Cohen, are are nipples off limits? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, it confirmed. Her nipples are so cold they could cut glass. Confirmed. But again,
>> the mission is to allow her to die alone. Confirmed. >> I want to slaughter her. Confirmed. >> All confirmed. All confirmed. >> Videos being circulated. All confirmed. Under oath. Confirmed. So I just want to
let you know that those credible threats, please. >> Okay. Sure. Thank you. So I'm just asking you these things were said about a board member in the audience while she sat on the das. My breasts were
discussed from this far away. 300 emails were sent to you. That's what the civility policy addresses. That's what the civility policy addresses. So >> that that's what disability and
>> policy is. I'm sorry, but sexually explicit comments about my breasts from a member of the audience 10 ft away from me need to be addressed by board leadership. They need to be. But if they don't, then I understand that this is
not a goal of the board. >> The whistleblower that they're talking about that they brought out for this whole thing. >> Again, Mr. Cullen, I'm trying to speak to you and this is not appropriate. I I know I'm speaking. I'm speaking. >> Okay. >> So, I I was I allowed 40 minutes of time
to go by and other board members were allowed to speak. >> Please don't cut me off because I have an equal ability >> and you had many opportunities to do that. Please don't do it during my three minutes of speaking. >> The things that were said, the threats
that were made, the conversations that were had about a sitting board member were not done on Facebook. They were done right here in a meeting on school grounds. Those are the things civility needs to address. Threats to people's lives.
>> There were no sexually defamation. There were no threats made. Threats are made directly. There's the combat. >> I'm not going to sit there and let that person lie. But there were threats. There were no threats. That's why there is not a tpo in there is not a tpo. I
have one against you now to protect me and my family. This is not fair. >> This is not right against Daniel now to protect me and my family. Mr. Cohen the mic is mine that's happening right now that she is inappropriate that there were threats. I'm just trying to take a
recess or we're going to stop. >> I'm not I'm not arguing. I'm just trying to speak to you, Mr. Cohen. I understand multiple people speak at one time. >> I and I was speaking. I had the floor and I was respectful while others had the floor and I'm just asking you to hear my concerns as a board member.
>> I am and we all are. Again, >> it's it's not resonating that way and it doesn't appear to the audience and everyone watching at home can see that my concerns are not being heard because the the combiveness and the vitriol is overtaking other board members here. I
just want to talk to you about why Valentina Menddees proposed a civility me uh policy and why 340 plus people in our community and surrounding communities spoke out against things that happened to a sitting board member.
And it is righteous that people sit here and say we choose this. But I did not choose to have my breast be a conver a topic of conversation while I served this community. I did not choose that. And that is what needed to be addressed by this board. And we are now in March
and in October you were made aware of this. And I have rights. I have rights as a woman and I have white rights as an elected official to not sit here and have my body be the topic of conversation while I am trying to serve my community. And I also have rights to
serve this community without the the threats and conversation being around how I should be slaughtered and I should be left. And the mission is to let me die alone. That should not be what goes on serving on a board of education. You may not like a Facebook comment here or
there. We've talked I've expressed my dismay with several Facebook comments. I've been told the board doesn't get involved with Facebook. Took it for what it was worth for 18 months. But the things that I've mentioned here, they transcend every line of a comfortable
workplace environment. And what I have had to deal with for the last six months is a hostile workplace environment because I don't know who's looking at my breasts tonight. But it is not appropriate that that is what is allowed to go on without any implication and any enforcement of policy or protocol. And
and it's just allowed. That is the things that I know Valentina that I've known for many years. Those are the things she wants addressed in civility policy. Not who's willing to give up Facebook. That's not what we're here for. We're we're we're 30 to 60 whatever year old adults. What needs to be talked
about is the things that would not be acceptable in any place of work that are being allowed to go on on the Marorrow Township Board of Education. >> I want to say one more thing to follow up. I'm going to follow up one thing. It's funny how that comment the nipple comment again. My husband didn't make
it. The person that made it is no it wasn't running. >> But yet the whistleblower who Mrs. Balomo is best friends with and was actually a witness >> which is a witness. He actually made comments that said in that same group text, nope, in that same group text, he
actually said, "I am going to make a porno film with Danielle Balomo, but they are friends." But they are friends and that's the whistleblower. >> That's the whistleblower. But the comment, she wants civility about that, but she hangs out with a man that makes those kind of >> discussions on this.
>> But that's the whistleblower that makes those comments. >> I'm closing the discussions on this now. Okay. >> I'm closing the discussions on it. That's it. We've now spent about an hour on this conversation. All right. Um, Mr. Lansonski, we will have to come back to this resolution in some way or another.
But I will I will just share my one perspective I wanted to share with you, Mr. Lansonsky, when you asked the question about what was the concern about that first paragraph. My concern was and I think Mr. Gross may have sort of shared the same concern is that there's language in that paragraph such
as the word and I'm a word person. ensure free from harassment, intimidation, threats or or or or retaliation. There are things that we can't as a board do. And these words imply that we're going to do something
that we have no authority or power to do. So the wording that I suggested, okay, was very similar. Whereas the Marorrow Township Board of Education is dedicated to fostering a safe, respectful, and orderly environment that allows its members to effectively serve
the community and upholded the educational mission of the district. Right? I try to capture the essence without sort of making a statement that said we had a a power or an authority to do something that we don't. It sets it
sets its tone. And that's where I had a problem with the first paragraph. Okay. Can I say something? >> Is there any other new business? Any other old business? >> You have old business? >> I do. >> Mr. Balone. >> So, um,
at a previous board meeting, I I think it was the last one because we had a cancellation due to the snow. Um, so I think I'm right about that. But um there was a um question regarding um since we're talking about budget tonight, I think it's it's an appropriate
conversation to have. Um I did mention earlier um we try to you know I I adhere to my three principles, right? And and in in in doing that we try to reallocate staff in in different ways. Over the last couple of years we have reallocated
staff in various ways. And let me start by saying I am not taking anything away from the staff that we reallocated, right? They had a position, I'll use kindergarten coaches as an example. We had um Mr. Smith, just for your
edification to kind of bring you up to speed here very quickly, we had we have a literacy coach and a math coach in every elementary school. We had um specific kindergarten literacy and uh
math coaches for kindergarteners. Uh we had some kindergarteners in some of our elementary schools a few years ago and then um we had the balance of them up at the Abbott Center. They would travel um with our
budget. When I say cuts, I put that in parenthesis, right? We didn't cut those people. We didn't say you don't have a job. We just took the kindergarten coaches and moved them um into into a teaching position and had each literacy
and math coach at the elementary level take on the kindergarteners that they now took in their buildings. Right? So, so they were dealing with one through five, now they're dealing with K through five. Um question came at the last board meeting, did that adversely affect
student achievement and is it working? essentially. Um, again, I'm not taking anything away from our prior kindergarten only coaches. They did a great job. We reallocated uh it actually saved us money
and it's working. So, I'm proud to report that it's working. It did not adversely affect student achievement. Um in fact some of the feedback sort of retrospectively from the principles um was that there there's a a better
articulation now between our K and our one students which we we had a little bit of a gap again no fault of the kindergarten only coaches at the time. It's just now that we have this current uh method in place we do have uh sort of a better articulation from K as they
move into one. Um so that's the first one. Uh we actually removed uh the middle school coaches completely. Middle school has a course called innovations um which um essentially is it it pulls
students out on a related arts basis. Students who need academic support in ELA andor math. Um since we have that course uh allocated in each middle school um we actually removed the middle
school coaches. Um again not taking anything away from the middle school coaches that they did the work that they did a few years ago. We moved them back into the classroom and did not see any adverse effect on student achievement. Um so also a move that was uh fiscally
responsible without sending people packing, right? Not saying you don't have a job, we just move them into a classroom. Um, and then the final um the final cut, again, I put that in quotes, uh, really reallocation, was we had a
retirement in world language. Um, that was at the elementary level. We we now have um a teacher from this middle school who is providing world language instruction. uh along with an online
program. So students work through an online program and then uh he has a touch point with all of our elementary students. We pay him a stipend. Um we were able to save that money on that FTE right with that with that retirement. We did not replace that person. Um instead
we pay a stipen to a teacher here. It's working well. It's better than it was. Um, but you know, it it's it is somewhat difficult to share one teacher over all of our elementary schools, but that's that's the the program we have right now and
it's it's the best that it can be. Um, it's not ideal by any stretch of the means, but it's the best that it can be and we are fulfilling our requirements. So, just wanted to report to the board we have not seen any adverse um effects from those reallocations from a few
years ago. Um, so you know, we'll we'll continue to keep our thumb on it, but um, and I'll come back to you if if I see a need, we'll come back during budget season. Um, but this budget season again, we're, you know, we're we're still kind of looking at um, all
of our areas, but I am not looking I'm looking to still adhere to those three principles that I mentioned before. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments for Mr. Balone? >> Uh, just one quick question out of curiosity. did like uh when this consolidation or reallocation occurred,
did the teacher to student ratio increase for that K through because there wasn't any new teachers that were brought on. It was just more of like shifting over, but did the teacher to student ratio change? >> So the um technically the Yeah. So they they took on more students. They took on
another grade level. Um but it was a grade level within their building. So they were able to restructure the schedule that way. The students that remain at the Abbott Center, we still have separate people. um addressing we we have two two individuals addressing the needs of those students. So
technically, yes, they took on another grade level, but it it wasn't um it wasn't unmanageable. >> That's that's good to that's good to hear. And then the world language, how many students are participating in I guess that's a class. >> So that's uh grades two through five.
>> Okay. >> So it's give or take, you know, a hundred students. I mean, is it a is it an elective or >> uh it's not an elective? No. Not no requirement. >> Required. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Mr. B. And and um Mr. Smith, just, you know, one of the other um points that the coaches last year that were um well, the kindergarten teachers that were
reassigned last year, right, they at some point they actually had to commute between different schools. So, the time that they were spending going to different schools, all right, was also taking away from them being able to spend time with students. So, now they're actually spending more time with students. even though it may be more
students, they have more time available to them to be in the building. At least that's that was the the premise. Is that still true? Providing true? >> Yeah, it it is. And and um you know what what we're seeing again in after living both ways um the buildings are really
seeing a benefit to having the the coaches within the building dealing with their students because they can they can transition them from K to one seamlessly. Again, not to say that there was a problem before, but this is now um
just just a seamless transition. Um it's just, you know, by nature, when you have someone traveling to different buildings, there's going to be a little, you know, a little bit of a challenge as they transition. Now, it's it's just a smooth transition. >> Yeah. It it overall sounds like a very
um efficient solution to >> it was it was efficient and and it also saved us money. >> Thank you. Any other new any other old business? Any new business?
Seeing no new business, that brings us up to public comments. Um do we have anyone signed in for public comments? >> No. Miss Borenstein, would you like to? It's up to you. >> I don't want to put you on the spot.
>> All right. >> But you spend the evening with us. It's We always appreciate it. >> I know. I got to get a congratulations somehow, right? Um Robin Borenstein, Marorrow, New Jersey. Um I guess I'll give my little disclaimer that I'm just speaking on behalf of myself as a
parent. Um I don't want to rehash anything, but I just had hopefully just one question regarding um policy 2535. I know you had mentioned that there's the ability to do like an opt out or whatnot. What is the procedure for that?
The reason why I'm asking is because let's just say me as a parent goes ahead and says I don't want my child reading XYZ book. I go ahead I notify that I don't want my child to have that book. I get told okay fine your child is not going to get that book.
Problem is which I don't entirely think is a problem. I think there's a benefit to this is that there's The teachers also want to foster independence for the kids. So, they're oftentimes given the ability to get up to the Chromebook or
whatever method each school is using and go ahead and check the book out themselves. How does that work then? Is there a popup that comes up that goes ahead and alerts that the child shouldn't have this book? What ends up happening there? There's
also not always a teacher or an adult or somebody going ahead and watching that checkout process. So what happens if there is an error message that happens to come up, but the child isn't necessarily aware of what
this message means and they go ahead and they type the book anyway. So basically, what would be the procedure or the protocol to go ahead and actually do an opt out? because there's still the ability for me as a parent to go ahead and say, "Don't want my child to have the book, but they get it anyway." I'm not talking about them going ahead and
seeing it in the library or anything like that because that can that can obviously happen if the book is sitting there, but that can also happen if I go ahead and take my child to the library on my own. Um, I'm literally just talking about the child having some independence level and they're getting the book anyway. I know that there are
some instances where the child thinks they checked out the book and they didn't. And when the book gets checked back in, it says, "Oh, it's used in the library because it didn't obviously register that the book was being taken out." So, you just want to see what the procedure or I don't want to say policy because that's obviously not the correct
term, but what the procedure is in regard to the opt out. Um, just one if we can go ahead because I know you had mentioned about the sexual harassment training that was going to take place during a board meeting. Is it possible to go ahead and put some sort
of blurb on the website and within the email that goes out? Because I know that there are some instances where parents, for whatever reason, they don't have a babysitter, whatever the issue is, they bring their child with them to the meeting. This might be content that children should not be exposed to. So,
is it possible to go ahead and put something out for communication? I know that it's obviously going to be listed within the agenda for obvious reasons. Some people may not read it. Whatever may happen, they miss it. Whatever it is, is it possible to go ahead and just
put some sort of alert within that email or the website to notify parents that this is what's going to be happening during that meeting? Um, and I know Miss Gandhi left, but I did just want to address what she had mentioned in regard to giving a recap to the CPAG meetings.
I will definitely pass that along. I think that could be a good idea. Um, I did want to address it though just in case Miss Gandhi does happen to, you know, watch the meeting later on or whatnot. Um, part of the meetings is going ahead and getting that parent involvement, you get so much more out of
it by being amongst other parents. So, while it's great to have a recap of what happened in the meeting, there's still components that are missing um, in in that regard. So, while I think it's it's something that we could discuss doing, we still want to make sure that we get that parent
involvement with it. Thank you very much. Have a good night. >> Thank you, Miss Bournestein. Um, anyone else for public comments? Seeing no one else here for public comments. Motion to close public comments. M. Dancowski. Seconded. Mr.
Smith. All in favor? >> Um, all anyone opposed? Okay, public comments is closed. Um, thank you for the suggestion on the app on the uh the sexual training. Um, I will um when we do the the agenda from
May 5th, maybe a slight blurb on the agenda line that says has an abstract that says this will be, you know, sexual harassment training for the board members. It will be publicly v visible to the board >> the same day. >> Please be aware. Okay. Uh I also think
that it will occur it will occur later in the agenda. So, it'll be later in the evening. So, hopefully there won't be parents with kids still here, but that doesn't prevent them from watching it online. So, I think it's if we can do something that you suggest, we should.
Um, and did you want to respond to the the process? >> Yeah, that's a very specific question. I'll have someone reach out to you and we'll >> But thank you for raising it because it's a good question. All right. Um, in my head, I was actually architecting a
solution for the online one, but you may already have it, so it's best that he get back to you with that. Okay. Um, seeing no additional items on the agenda except for an executive session. We will be moving into executive session. Um, we
originally said for 60 minutes. I'm hoping it'll be for less than 60 minutes. We do have a matters of attorney, client privilege, and a personnel matter. Um, and we will not be coming back out for any action. So, motion to go into executive session.
Miss Carrero seconded Mr. Lansonsky. All in favor? Anyone opposed? We are adjourned into exec and we will not be coming back out for public. Thank you everybody.