--------- just it's it should be done and if you don't have the money for it that position isn't necessary those people report directly to the cops so cancel it hire two or three of them okay uh so I
also you know I'm not going to get into politics but a Republican president historically gives less money in public education to the states and voting numbers from November also show a high chance of New Jersey getting a republican Governor our last Republican governor who she spoke about was Chris
Christie and anyone in education at that time just felt the chill go through their spot okay for anybody who wasn't it's really simple a lot less money for districts like us okay so as a district I really think we should start being proactive and I hope when the time comes
you focus on what makes education work teachers staff and safety invest in your buildings and grounds invest in your teachers when I started 16 years ago we ran with a superintendent and a curriculum director I prefer these meetings from my couch I ran here today after I put my kids to
bed but I prefer to not do that and I do appreciate you all up here taking time away from your families doing that but I do watch them hence why I'm here and if I could describe what I've seen in the past few years is you get an admin you get an admin you get a non-union
secretary you get a non-union secretary and listen if we have the money for it and it vs our district so be it okay but essentially when I think about it on weekdays and I have a pretty nice weekday schedule as a teacher my kids still spend more time with their
teachers and the staff at the school than they spend with me people at school who teach them who care for them when they're sick or hurt who I email or call to send or get information who clean up after them and make sure their buildings are clean and safe people who drive them
around these are the people you're saying don't matter right now we also used to have breakage in our budget every year that's when the top ofth guide teacher would retire you would hire a new teacher at the bottom of the guide which in turn would create
breakage and money for our district uh you could call it the circle of the guide by approving multiple teachers at the top of the guide you're not allowing that breakage and I know you can't comment or understand but I can tell you I sat in a negotiations where we were told too many teachers at
the top would bankrupt our district okay so I don't understand understand why a bunch of them are getting approved up there um so I understood uh the concern last week of commenting and people taking your comments wrong so I'll help
you with some dialogue okay there's a teacher shortage we have to hire at the top of the guide otherwise people won't come here right but why would they come here fix that in mediation anyone with block scheduling big or small District only teaches five classes which by the
way if your teachers were scheduled to teach five classes you would still be honoring the current contract um but that wasn't done middle sex has never been a high paying District but we got and held on to great teachers because they felt value they felt like someone had their back return to
that um now we have a lot of teachers uh and in mediation the teachers at the top of the guide always want money and is it ever really a significant amount no how do you fix that well you take this thing away of hiring all these people at the top of the guy and leave them there
offer longevity to your teachers offer an incentive to be here for five 10 15 years okay those are incentives that teachers are looking for right now because again there's a teacher shortage
okay make us a desirable District again that's than [Applause] I'm very nervous but I'm proud to say I taught Christine's daughter twice I'm
very lucky to work in elementary school and to have been able to teach her twice um can you just give us your name Cindy Mand sorry to Street middle um talking about the condu so we teachers are nothing if not adaptable
despite full plates we comply with curriculum changes meetings and anything Administration asks of us we work hard to do our best and absorb all the new procedures changes and demands that come our way all we want is a fair deal and a
healthy work life balance please sign up the contract [Applause] followup question first the first reading of the public comment on the website it looks identical to the one
on website what's what was the revision look like rision so we are we are working on revisions that's just so that everybody is aware of what it currently so the so the first reading and so it just so it's known there is revisions just not they're coming all right so there is no
current revision no all right that Mak sense and then my second topic is just responding to the the company that there is no such thing as an expired contract the only reason why the terms are still in effect is not because of the contract
because state law governor in public public Union Union employee relations in public sector that terms are still available that it it says it right in the law the contract is expired in by fact there really is no contract the terms are still in effect but there is
no contract I don't I think it's almost disingenuous to say that there there's it just a continuation of the contract and it's almost built baked into the contract it's not [Music] M Jeremiah K 120 Shephard middle sex New Jersey I'm here as a as a parent but
also there um you guys are all appreciated um but that's not why I'm here um last time was here there was an issue of uh an email reception there was a complaint to be made I emailed the board of that um that email was intercepted by the superintendent office
and by um which completely threw me off guard right so the board that got fit so now the email says that when if you email the Board of Ed um it goes to the President and Vice President um I there's there was no writing on the
website the first time to ensure that there's complaints to be made that your employee would not intercede these um complaints and get ahead of them before they can be handled by you guys but there was the issue of um it wasn't on there the first time saying she's going to get these emails so how many
complaints or how many issues have been buried because of this because it happened to me I witnessed it happened you can't say it didn't happen and I have witnesses for it so and I have tons of it we had conversations but I'd like to thank you um Danielle and for handling that the right way for stuff
but there's still the concern does who gets the emails it still just you and the vice president that are getting these emails I found it highly inappropriate that an employee was interceding elected officials emails but are
you we um we have addressed the the issue we did make it clear on the website so I can make sure or I can confirm exactly as where those emails are going and I will let you
know but this just happened though what just happened you guys just reformed this exactly so how do we not know where it's going I just want to confirm to make sure that we're all it it got handled the way that we had discussed so I just want to make sure of that and I
will let you know okay and the last time um like I said I'm I'm Ada complain I have hearing issues it does that and I was trying to get an explanation of who got um my my email because I thought all of you got it you didn't apparently um I was misled on that concept but then I
was trying to like listen and then your uh assistant superintendent and it's recorded clearly looks at one of your officials does a Cutthroat motion again inappropriate so I just think that there needs to be more standards upheld like if I ever did something like that forget
it I would murdered drag to the streets and well don't do that but the whole point is you guys are appreciate it um it's growth Community it's very brave for people to stand up here and put their hearts in the thing it's very very very brave um you weren't the attorney
last time I was here but when I saw this young gentleman before he was kind of getting chuckled at inappropriate for an attorney to chuckle again it's on the video you go look at it so I mean this type of behavior if I I don't know I just just don't think it's appropriate but we're not perfect
we can work past things and heal things so if that can just get corrected and people are aware that top tier leaders are just I don't know I guess just a control of us everything I don't know but that's it I appreciate your time thank you oh I'm sorry you said uh you're
going to get back to me but we did it okay that email or phone call or um it could be either okay thank you okay we will now close the public comment portion of the meeting um we
don't have a reason to go back into that correct okay um we do not need to go into executive session and our ethics training has been postponed so I'd like to make a motion to adjourn all in favor Part: 2
the board has been an exe executive session for the past 30 minutes for the purpose of discussing confidential matters as outlined in 21 the matters that were discussed will be disclosed to the public as soon as possible once the reason for non-disclosure is no no
longer exists so moved second Anette can you please take the role yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
yes thank you we'll move on to our announcements um the only thing I'd like to say tonight um Trish isn't here but her and I were able to attend the um preschool information section last week I believe um and a lot of great
information was given to parents um I know there's a lot of parents that are excited that they're going to get free full day preschool for their children um we for next year it'll be expanded to five classrooms so we'll be able to service many um preschool AED children
so I'm very excited about that now our superintendent of schools Dr Roberto Freeman and we do this quite often that's exactly what I was going to talk about but Madame President took care of it for us and one of our preschool teachers they're in the crowd
and look at that smile on her face so you you can see how preschool is going I just want to remind everyone that preschool registration is open it closes on March 12th so it's it will be open for an entire month um the steps for
preschool pre-registration can be found on the website follow each one of the steps and if you have any questions feel free to call the numbers that are on the info graphic thank you now our business administrator board secretary Miss
Anette Jena good evening um budget work is going on in the business office right now state aid will hopefully be announced next Friday and we're hoping it remains flat for the year um there's a lot of talk that there might be Cuts
so we're just hoping at at a minimum that we get um you know the same amount of state aid that we got last year um once we get the state aid numbers we'll pull everything together that we have and then it'll be presented at the March thank you
thank you we will now move on to our liaison reports our middle sex oh we didn't we have that but we is not attended yet um so we're gonna move on from there um our middle no I'm the legislative um and the
delegate that's the New Jersey school board New Jersey school board yes that get in legislative officer so if you have anything um so the next legislative meeting meeting is on March 15th the next delegate assembly is 510 um and then the resolution
subcommittee that I sit on are will be hearing any potential resolutions on April 1st and 2nd so I'm hopeful that we will have the information on the resolutions by our April 24th meeting so that we can discuss them before the
delegate assembly on 510 um and um I did attend the mid 6 County virtual meeting on 26 um the speaker was Vin gopal and then the unsung heroes for
msex county is on 3:26 and the spring meeting is 5:21 as always if you want to sign up for any of the county meetings you can sign up on your own because they cost no money if you want to attend any of the trainings that cost money it has to go
through the business office thank you thanks and our middle sex Public Library Board of Education representative Miss Aaron Gomez good evening everyone uh I don't have anything to report tonight thank you and our student
representative Miss Ary Parmer respected board members teachers active citizens parents and my mom good [Laughter] evening last week I had a great opportunity to talk with Mr s principal
of Parker Elementary School with where he shared few wonderful events held at Parker Elementary School with me and every morning kids are welcome to the school with African drum beads which you just heard and it was such a wonderful performance which is played Freestyle by trained music students and these drums
carry historical significance teaching patience and teamwork to students now these drum beat are referred to as the heartbeat of school as it gives immense energy and make student feel welcomed at same time other than this there are many more events held every month keeping
students active and making School more fun such as having a play day in August barbecue in September parents are also invited night events craft events coin challenge and many more F fun events another thing to highlight is
hardworking teachers and Parker who adopted to the new curriculum because it was set for the betterment of students and as we know our teachers can go above and beyond for students also teachers counselor and staff are very quick to respond at Parker to any problem or
issue held within the school body I do have some great news to share with you but currently it's a secret and I hope and I hope that by the next meeting I'll be able to share it Dr pan knows the news thank you thank
you um and then Mr nicolay also has um you would like to present something thank you Danielle I would just like to update the board and the public on negotiations between the successor agreement between the Middle sex Education Association and
the middle sex Board of Education at this time the middle sex Education Association and the middle sex Board of Education continue to work towards a final agreement the negotiation process remains ongoing as both parties continue to work toward a mutually beneficial
resolution the two teams two negotiating teams have met eight times between May and September of 2024 during this meetings numerous issues have been discussed and progress was made toward a resolution at which time a mediator
um was selected and was scheduled to meet in November however due to unavoidable Conflict by the mediator the session was postponed the next available date for all parties was Monday January 27th 2025 during this January 27th session
the mediator met with both part and spent over four hours discussing several outstanding issues despite the extended session it was determined the second session would be necessary to continue addressing these unresolved matters this follow-up session has now been scheduled
for Monday March 24 basically the the open issues that we have been discussing um while we've met those eight times that the board of education has the right to implement block scheduling at the high school the
Union has the right to then negotiate the impact of lock scheduling and change that occurred at this point the wages that have been offered are at or above the county average and in conclusion we understand that the ongoing negotiations can be frustrating for those involved
however the negotiation team for the mil6 board of education is diligently working towards a fair and anical resolution thank you thank you okay we'll move on to item five um approv board meeting
minutes um there are meeting minutes there from the committee of the whole on January 22nd and a regular public meeting on January 23rd um there are also Corrections and revisions to previous board agendas superintendent recommends
approval of items 5.01 to 5.02 as presented so move second any questions on either of those actually I believe the the whole was the 21st was
it y yes Tuesday Thursday which it says it's right on the minutes it's just wrong on the title oh on the title there so Committee of the whole on January 21st and our regular meeting on January 2
yes okay Anette can you please take the role Mrs yes Mrs Scher yes Mrs B yes yes M Jeffrey yes Mr Nikolai yes Mrs Perry yes Mrs Quinn yes Mr
yes thank you we will now open the public comment portion of the meeting comments at this time are limited to agenda items only please come to the podium and put your name address email address and subject of your comment into the record book before speaking please give your name address and subject of
your comment to miss Anette gordano business administrator board secretary director comments and questions to the board president you may speak on two separate topics for up to 3 minutes each uh you've seen me talk a lot about the mea it's not like I'm a spokesperson
it's uh I've been talking about since the contract expired in July I I almost call myself an Umpire calling Falls and Strikes right now it's un looking too good first you didn't settle a new contract before the original one expired that's almost a failure of leadership letting a
contract lapse is not an oversight is a choice a choice that tells teachers their financial stability uh security and their financial futures or their any of their Futures come second to whatever goal you have in mind I just I truly values Educators not let them work without an agreement in place and let's
be honest this isn't sneak up you know teachers staff of the community have been rallying for a contract for months you see pack four meetings Unity ins shirts excuse me uh and public police for fair treatment last month the ma
stood right outside this very building on a cold January day uh to rally and fight for a fair contract you had time you had warnings you had opportunities to get this right strike one second the offers you put on the table are not
competitive and it almost seems like you're missing the point uh according to the report you just read you almost addressed none of the issues that were published in the njaa report uh not only block maybe block scheduling but it talks
about competitive time for extra or competitive pay for extra curricular uh and just generally having a feeling of disrespect uh it's not necessarily about getting your
average or above average wages it's just NE I you cannot build a a strong school system among we golfers and it's not just the numbers game it's bigger than that it's about whether uh it's whether your the district
respects the Educators at hand I right now it almost seems like you're treating them dis supposedly because right now it's loud and clear no was being told we don't value you and when you you don't have value teachers teers they leave when they leave there's only one person that really loses and that's the
students in the district strike twoo third more and more teachers are leaving whether it's by resignation or early retirement and these aren't just Educators finishing 30 or 40y year careers these are teachers retiring the moment they hit the minimum age and walking away as soon as they can that's
not a coincidence it's a district failing its people an District that makes Educators feel respected and support it doesn't see wave after wave of early retirements uh a district that prioritizes teachers doesn't have to beg people to stay and yet here we are at
tonight's agenda you can see at item 907 you have two retirees which some I know they're right around the minimum age of retirement there uh it's no nothing shouts when are being valued and
retiring right when you can and the worst part is that you cannot replace them easily because who's going to sign up to work in a district where they feel overworked underpaid and unappreciated strike three and now you know what that means strike three and
you're out except this isn't a baseball game it's just a loss on the scoreboard uh it's this is real and this is our teachers our students and our community and every time you fail to support the Educators that make this District what it is it's not just them lose it's everyone so I ask all of you what is
your next move you're already out the only question now is if you're going to do something about thank nobody understand that I'm not sure a lot of like what parts if I can just I'll just I'll just
make overall response one to the extent that you have any uh a full scope of negoti a or one side of the negotiations that's highly inappropriate it shouldn't happen you shouldn't have it the board can't share it with you the board can't
share it with the public that's one the second is just a misconception that I'd like to like to clear up and that is the contract continues so there's no such thing as teachers not working without a contract they don't have a successor
contract but what happens is part of the ongoing negotiations uh and part of negotiations is then what happens during that interim time period that two as a general rule I cannot speak to these specific
negotiations generally the way that negotiations work is you also part of the negotiation is what happens during that time period between the old contract and the new contract so it is just it is important
for all parties to work together together to work together consistently um which is what they in fact are doing while people may not be happy and I've never seen um any Union that wasn't happy or any board that
wasn't happy when the contracts um take a long time to settle but just because of that does not mean that there was administrative or board or leadership me I also just sorry my mic's I also just
want to remind um at this public comment SE session it is agenda items only I was referring to agenda item four which is a liaison report from the which was going to be Leon report from the the the negotiating committee and or I can
reference item nine or an item seven which is retirements which I reference um do you want to open it to this or wait till the second because do you want I'll talk or I'll wait I mean he did reference retirements U so that is fine
but if there I would wait till the next public comment portion if it doesn't directly affect something on the agenda one of the board members spoke to the public about something can I just address that should we wait till the next session why don't you why don't you wait
till the next session since it's not a specific agenda L thomy 109 green Avenue okay so my first question is on uh 14 14 there is a rental of
equipment and I believe that's for graduation and I think I expressed my feelings at another meeting that everyone has to control their budget and cut back on things and a little bit a little bit a little bit adds up to a lot so I would hope that you could
reconsider and not rent a stage and Tents and everything for graduation which lasts an hour and just I mean I graduated from the school I taught at this school I know some board members graduated and chairs were just put out
beautiful flowers kids walked across a special area and it seemed to work fine so I would hope that you reconsider not spending that money um I have a another concern about taking
teaching supplies in the transfer today teaching supplies to go over to administrated supplies teachers need supplies they need their money and it's going for podiums which I would think that we would have enough podiums in the
school district um I don't know if you can answer me I could be totally off based with this but we paid a behavior technician $113,000 and 7,560 a behavioral consultant service
$2,343 8547 for four evaluations at $575 each I could be totally wrong I don't know what those were for but I'm wondering if those evaluations Behavior ones
um should be reported on the uh HIV report and so for evaluations were done and there's only three listed here I think that um I think those have to be reported to the superintendent I could be
wrong okay the bill list um I was here at the last meeting and I presented a whole list I did want to take everybody with my concerns or questions so I asked if I could meet with someone that they
could explain to me so I don't have to come every meeting and ask so it's a whole another month and no one ever got back with me no one met with me no one sent me an email phone call anything so I have a few questions about the bill
list which I hate to start talking about did you not received that information in an email no I did not who who did it come from the only email I got from the superintendent was oh I'm sorry was job
descriptions those were the only ones I got so I know that you can't really explain on the bill list everything but um for example substitute service got paid $67,000 on this bill list so is that for the month is it for the year is
it for something I I don't know so that's one of the questions um I know that there was reimbursement to the superintendent for the uh Committee of the whole meetings it's not a lot of money but I would like to know
what that money was used for and let's see what else here there's just several other of those but I would love to be able to meet with some to answer my questions I have a whole lot on the bill list but I don't want to take anybody can you send an email with
the questions that you have you could give those to well I gave it to them gave it to the last meeting I to check I didn't send it email I physically handed you papers at this meeting yeah and I know I I wrote
everything up and I have to check my email to make sure that I sent it okay but I'm pretty sure that I did but I have to check okay well I I looked under your name and my you know from people and I didn't see anything so but if you wouldn't mind checking that would be
great and then you can give us the questions that you have I'll give you those I'll just write my name and I'm finished [Music] okay I don't see any others so I'm going to close this public comment portion of the meeting
and we will move on oftentimes it may appear to members of our audience that the Board of Education takes action with very little comment and in many cases a unanimous vote before a matter is placed on the agenda at a public meeting the Administration has thoroughly reviewed the matter with the superintendent of
schools if the superintendent is satisfied that the matter is ready to be presented to the Board of Education it is then referred to the appropriate board committee the members of the board committee work with the administration and the superintendent to assure that the members fully understand the matter when the committee is satisfied with the
matter it is presented to the board of education for discussion before any final action is taken only then is it placed on the agenda for Action at a public meeting okay now we will move on to item number eight our Personnel report by our
committee chair Mr nay thank you Daniel um we have action items tonight 9.01 appointments contractual 9.02 salary dayss or none um 9.03 hourly
positions 9.05 extracurricular and co-curricular siphons 9.06 leave of abs 9.07 and the service 9.08 staff trans
9.09 salary ads 9.10 the community school some other 9.11 other Personnel action items superintendent recommends approval of personnel action items 9.1
to9 11 as presented so move second any questions on any of that by the board okay and that can you please take the V mrsy yes Mrs Scher yes yes M Jeffrey yes Mr Nikolai yes Mrs
Perry yes Mrs yes Mr yes thank you now we move on to our education um report by our committee chair Mrs Perry good evening this the superintendent recommends the approval of the education action items 111
through 1113 as presented so move second any questions on that okay and I can you please take the role Mrs keny yes Mrs Schuler yes Mrs B
yes M Jeffrey yes Mr Nikolai yes Mrs Perry yes Mrs Quinn yes Mr foron yes thank you we'll move on to item 12 policy action items um on 12.01 there is a first reading that got added there
this is um directly in response to what we had discussed last night about um updating our guidelines for public comment um we have some second readings we are not adopting anything tonight the superintendent recommends the approval
of policy action items 12.01 to 12.03 as presented so moved second any questions andette can you please take the vote Yes Mrs Scher yes Mrs yes M Jeffrey
yes Mr Nikolai yes Mrs car yes Mrs Quinn yes Mr Thon yes thank you we will now move on to our facilities and finance report by our committee chair Mr nck thank you Danielle um our facilties of Finance
trans action items this evening consist of 4.01 the bills list 4.02 monthly budget transfers report 14.03 board secretary's report 14.04 the monthly Treasures report 14.05 SBA
administrators monthly certification 14.06 board members monthly certification 14.07 building uses 14 8 coordinate Transportation 14.09 contract allowance management
adjustments change orders 14.10 contracts have been awarded 14.11 participation in the co-op pricing system 14.12 purchase of equipment 14.13 Chromebook
repair 14.14 rental some equipment 14.15 purchase of a van 14.16 paining 14.17 purchase and installation the video surveillance system superintendent recommends
approval of facilities and finance action items 14.01 through 14.17 so move second um any questions on any of that um I just have a question did we find out any more information on 14.07
number three is that yes yeah um that okay um and then just want to go back to 14.15 I know I asked about this yesterday um I'm just wondering on the need here I
know we purchased or we approved to purchase a truck last month um and that was because I know that one of our maintenance people was using their own vehicle for um work related things um so I'm I'm still not sure I
understand the need to an out purchase another vehicle um I know yesterday we discussed maybe you know a van is covered versus a truck is not in keeping equipment but wouldn't it be more cost effective if we put a cap on the new truck that we just purchased
uh currently there's um four men in the department the facilities and they all go back and for between the buildings um the pickup truck has purchased because it's we put
plow on it because now they're doing plowing and everything um Justin I know uses his own truck currently one of the trucks is pretty much at the end of its useful life and two of the other men are
using their own so there's really need to have vehicles for guys and but as I said um they're going to use the van to transport some of the equipment some of
the equipment is large in the back of the pickup truck um pipe cutter machine or something like that um so there really is a need to to beid vehicles um and then again on 14.16 the
painting Services um was those bids were they through this um this pricing system that were approving or was that something that we did on our own no that's something that
we did on our own okay does anybody else have questions on any of that okay and that can you please take the role um I'm gonna vote now on 14.15 um yes to the
rest Mrs Scher yes Mrs yes M Jeffrey yes Mr n I'm going to refuse from 14 .07 items number four and five and yes Mrs Perry yes Mrs
Quin uh for 14.15 for 14.15 um I also have a no for that and yes for the rest mron yes for everything no for 1450
okay um do you have any ongoing business new business okay I will open the second public comment portion of the meeting comments at this time can be on any topic please come to the podium and put your name address email address and
subject of your com com into the record before speaking please give your name address and subject of your comment to miss Anette gordano business administrator board secretary direct your comments and questions to the board president you may speak on two separate topics for up to three minutes
each thank you oops oh go ahead no go ahead you sure yes ladies first hi everyone I'm Janette Pine um 132 Maria the
scway um um Jan Gil you need anything else I forgot okay all right so um gosh the last time I was here one of my colleagues um came up and mentioned some disparaging comments that she had heard
from another superintendent and principle about how we don't settle contracts and I crumbled a little bit and then I went home and I thought is that all you got because I know middle sex to be way different than an
organization that just doesn't settle contract since I have been here and in particular the past few years I have felt nothing but support a desire to look ahead to the Future to see things from a different
angle let me just back up for a second we used to use a curriculum that was not research based but it's what we did and we paid for it so that's what we did and I had a conversation with some administrators some who are in this room
right now and we agreed it's not working this doesn't make sense we have got to look at things differently and that's painful and that's costly and that makes us have to be vulnerable and step out and try something different and brother that is not comfortable but that's who
we are we are forward thinkers here we step out into the ether and we try our best knowing as teachers that there's support for us beneath that I can't tell you what that means to me so when I hear somebody talking about just the contract
and that sums up who we are I said you better think again my friends from Parker said one of us is all of us there's no them and us it's a we so when I heard Mr nicolay talk about the negotiations I felt like you were very
sincere and trying to come up with a solution and dog on it that's what we're all here for tonight we're going to work together because there is no us and them there's a we we are all working together what superintendant have you ever heard of that steps out with a bernee brown
quote a bernee brown uh YouTube clip