##VIDEO ID:cDb_w4BkU24## e e like to call the order of public meeting Dan will be here in a few moments the north hun and B's Regional High School District Board of Education meeting on Tuesday January 28th 2025 is now called to order in accordance with the requirements of the open public meeting acts njsa 1046 adequate notice giving the time date location and to the extent known the agenda of the meeting was published by the Hun County Democrat and the Star Ledger on January 9th 2025 in addition notice of this meeting has been posted at the North hunon High School and bores High School provided to the municipal Clerks of betham count Califon bur town of Clinton Clinton Township Franklin Township Glen Garder burrow Hampton burrow Highbridge bur Lebanon burrow Lebanon Township tubry Township and Union Township as well as other interested parties and posted on the district website fire exits are located in the direction indicated if if alerted to fire please move in a common orderly fashion to the nearest smokefree exit at this time please silence all cell phones roll call Miss tno here Mr Chapman here Dr J here miss Gallow here miss hin here M kran yes here Mr lordy here Mr mcac here M ryes here Mr spanson here m f here and Miss Selen here and flag salute please United States of America for it stands one nation under God indivisible withy and justice for all just question before we accept we approve minuts I just wondering if our our board com no our board attorney will not be this here this evening why won't there be a board attorney the board attorney was asked not to join us tonight so we could have an open and Earnest conversation in the public eye and be as transparent as possible about we always do that about business board business the board is not required to have a board attorney here at every meeting shouldn't all of us been put on notice of that in case we had something that to before the board laer no no okay we will move on to um I need a motion in a second to approve agenda items 4.1 and 4.2 so move second minutes November 26 2024 4.2 is minutes January 7 2025 discussion any discussion okay I need a uh Voice vote all in favor any any names I'm an abstain on 41 and abstentions abstention for uh Mr lordy St on should be the same oh Angela yes sorry you should obstain on the minutes for November 26 4.1 right okay at this time we would like to have recognition of our student achievements um we have uh Ava Val of North hunon High School scho and Ryan denic and Zan ARS of B's high school so can we have is Mr krell's coming forth for I'm G actually be passing around a few images of what we're going to talk about this evening just take a look and pass it on down as we recognize a Ava R she is one of Ava come on up come on up it was one of our outstanding and very talented sophomores here in nor high school and we're recognizing Ava for a mural that she uh painted in the town of Clinton so for over a year uh in 100 hours worth of work Eva painted the beautiful mural that's in the alleyway off of Main Street in Clinton so a little back story here is after completing a similar mural on the walls of Clinton Township medal school during her e8th grade year Ava and her family ran into mayor Janice kovich of the town of Clinton who commissioned AA to paint a similar but bigger m girl on wall in Clinton so it's located on Candy Lane and the mayor gave a Eva free reain to draw whatever she wanted and she wanted to continue to honor the iconic Mill and she also wanted to include the iconic hun County Art Museum uh so she painted the scene there and she drew it entirely by hand she actually bought the supplies including the ladders and paint and the brushes that was needed and then the friends uh the friendly friendly sons of St Patrick stepped up to read AA for I believe all the supply costs most of the supply cost there was a little bit of collaboration there so that's what Ava did you can see the mural there and anyone who's walked through the town has seen it and it's really amazing so Ava has officially finished a mural this past August there was a ribbon cut cutting ceremony with the mayor the press and our own art teacher Mr C was there going forward Ava hopes to continue to take art classes here at North haran with Mr calibri she's involved with our art Honor Society and we actually talked about doing some new new mural around the school AA hopes to be a kindergarten teacher one day and so we're pleased to see all the creative things that she does here in school as well as in future so big round of applause for for you and Mr SP is going to take yourg so there's your certificate and I think we usually go over here Mr and it was mom last so you want to hold the certificate out in front of you there the picture yeah I down people it's actually sort nice H behind good evening everybody uh like welcome the new board members R Peterson principal Bast High School um I have two gentlemen up here who are seniors Ryan benic and Wen AR um I had the privilege and the honor over the past four years of watching them perform in our drama club presentations as well as our musical performances uh each and every year they don't disappoint and it's they've developed their craft uh to a point where the Adams Family was on there I think we should have charged more because it was really like a Broadway show um these guys were that good but in the middle of all that with doing the shows on that weekend they performed Thursday night Friday night then this past November during that time they participated in the Mid-Atlantic Regional College auditions at Rowan University the auditions are an inperson audition that draws High School juniors seniors and college transfers from the Mid-Atlantic region to audition for college recruiters representing theater and dance programs from across the country they had around 50 recruiting colleges there and about 150 students auditioning for acting musical theater Tech design and dance programs Ryan received 20 callbacks of those schools and maain received 23 call backs from the participating school again all this was done in the middle of once they got done there right back to 4S to put on The Adams Family on that Saturday um outstanding students to outstanding individuals that not only contribute in that way but are um big contributors to the culture of the school Ryan is part of the drama club the uh base and Men's Choir he's also involved with the concert band he also was very heavily involved in the Music Association events such as the winter house uh Winter Festival held back in November he's undecided on college but he's looking to major in English with a focus on writing and minor in theater Wen is in the drama club unified unified theater Bible club and the National Honor Society and thespian Honor Society he's also on decided um but he's getting closer to naring it down and he is going to major in theater um hoping he's going to be in the Lehigh Valley because one of the schools is mberg so maybe I can catch a show uh when he's there performing so um congratulations to uh Ryan and Wen time agenda item seven uh board board member roles and responsibil oh excuse me my apologies rushing Patricia sorry patri how could we do that number six sorry our student representes sham Patel from North hunon High School and Sarah schwar from Bor High School will present their reports for the board and a pleasure to have you at the board table do you want to go yeah sure so the first thing I have to talk about is our unified production of Junior this was held on December 7th and December 8th this was the fifth unified show that bores has put on where we have actors from our drama department and then as well as members of our unified program they worked together to put on shows this was an amazing show perfect timing it was just like a family funny show to have for winter and then we also had our winter concerts with the instrumental concert on December 10th and the coral concert on December 12th I had the opportunity to go to the instrumental concert and it was absolutely amazing I didn't get to attend the coral one but I heard amazing things about that as well and at the instrumental concert I know at least the attendance was amazing it was pretty much a full house as far as I could tell I showed up and had to sit like in the very far back because it had been completely filled up and rehearsals are now underway for the Pops concert and the upcoming drama club production of fidd on the roof the class of 2026 has recently been doing a lot of fun to raise money for prom they started with a cookie dough sale and then they did a fundraiser at Ry and Jake for where one night uh percentage of the proceeds would go to the class of 2026 and then my personal favorite fundraiser we did was The Pie Contest we got to put in raffle tickets uh to into different jars for our teachers and the top five teachers who had the most tickets got to get pied uh they drew it and I was lucky enough to get drawn I have to pie my physics teacher in the face um that was certainly a fun day um the Hun of County FFA is currently collecting supplies at bores uh it's uh the for the pita animal rescue in ringos they're collecting towels dog food cat food toys all that sort of thing and it is an animal rescue and they also provide Affordable Veterinary Care the Key Club recently held their annual cookie walk and over $300 was raised um recently this month we had our eighth grade orientation on January 8th and January 9th we had eighth graders from all of our setting districts come to Vorhees members of the student High School integration program gave cores around the school while many members of Faculty also uh gave them some speeches just to get them ready for coming to high school and then later that night on January 9th was the parent orientation for parents of incoming eighth graders as for our Sports our winner Sports have been doing very good for our fencing team the boys fencing team is 8 and three while the girls fcing team is seven and three and both teams are heading to States next week boys basketball is having an amazing season currently with a record of 12 and three they are currently leading the division they also won the bound to Brook Holiday Tournament girls basketball is also having a very good season they're currently 10 and four which is second in the division they held their shootout for Aroma game and over $2,500 was raised at that game they also similar to the boys team won their holiday tournament um for our wrestling team we recently had the Bloomfield Holiday Tournament and we had four Champions there our cheer team leaves for Nationals next week and girls swim is currently 5- two and they are heading to States next week and I do know that this is the first time that they've been in at least four years because I have a friend who's a senior on the team this is her first time ever getting to go that's all I have for you excellent thank you all right um for news at North we just had our winter sports pep rally um this is something that has been coming to North to recognize winter sports and not just like um uh fall Sports so uh to recognize winter sports I I want to start with the boy swim team um we had an amazing um feat uh at hun War Sussex we won for the first time in North history uh a historic win we came back with six meet and County records um with performances in the 200 medley relay 200 free um by Ricky kasano 200 IM by Lucas AB 100 free by Ricky kasano and 100 back by Lucas ab and also the 400 free relay um so I wanted to highlight that because For the first time in North history that's huge um the hockey team is for north and bores together very successful 11 and five they're doing great and I'm hoping to uh all the best for them um the Winter concert so the band played in front of the whole school um this is something that not many schools do and it's kind of a it's a really great showing it shows like a sense of unity through the school that um feel like not many schools have sending uh the sending schools came for a bridge building competition at north um tesb won with a top weight of 360 lb that kind of help um just get them more comfortable with the atmosphere and um yeah um model un for model un the conf they had their conference and it brought significant recognition to North Hunan um freshman Maxim um G was awarded with 225 outstanding first year delegate seniors Dylan ber Isabella hod hodkinson Abigail poke and Par Parker thomsson received an outstanding grief award sophomore Charles Monroe was honored with the outstanding government research project award and the north Hy delegation was recognized as an outstanding delegation so that's great for them um so also last week clim Township Police and state and the state police came to North for their drunk driving simulator um this kind of just shows um brings awareness and just shows the dangers of that and um prevents it as much as they can and talk about it um in the future we're having jrom in March uh the theme is the Night in Paris and that's coming also um we had last month I believe it was we had the Leadership Summit that was held at North between north and bores we're planning for another one in March at bores so you guys will be hosting that and I'm excited to see how that goes so yeah excellent excellent thank you thank you both now we can move on for Patricia um bullet seven um or excuse me Bullet eight board members roles and responsibility tring facilitated by Patricia Reese thank you for having me uh tonight um and uh your commitment to professional development training uh is to be commended um you know it's it's a very hard job that you do uh and that you want to learn how to do it better uh is is is as I said commendable as um you said I'm a p Reese I'm would New Jersey school boards Association um the field service representative that helps Works in hund Somerset and a portion of Warren counties I've been with the association for 10 years before I was with the association I was on my local board in Somerset County for 12 years so a lot of your field service reps have either been um school board members or uh they are retired administrators so that we sat in your seat uh you we we know although it's a different world today but but anyway um again thank you for having me and I think it's great that you started with um student recognition because everything you do is about the students that that's really why you're here um to help them and and to start off your meeting with that really um I really Keys into why you're here but tonight we're going to talk about the roles and responsibilities of board members and we we it's a typically we do it that this time of year because you have new board members uh and um it's not only for new board members it's for seasoned board members there's um you know it never hurts to hear things um to hear different trainings um so part of um what you do is building trust um it's the foundation of all uh of all Communications uh and by being being fair consistent and reliable and by showing empathy and understanding others so it's trust between you and the community between you amongst you as board members and between you um and your your Administration it's all key part of what what goes on the this this slide shows the difference of the of what the board and the administration do the board is is looking up into the sky your responsibility is oversight of the district not the daily operations of the district that falls to your Administration and so the the the the pictures show the board is looking up to the sky with a with a telescope and you're looking at the big picture whereas the administration is looking through a micros through a microscope on The Daily level I don't know if we need to necessarily go into this but you are uh elected as school officials uh and so your power comes um from the New Jersey Constitution through the legislature who gives authority to the doe and the State Board of Ed and then you take the um the mandates and the legislation that they pass and you develop your own policies each board develops policies that are perent to their district and to their locations there are four main functions of a board of education um you provide your guidance to a policy uh in planning you're providing for the quality instruction for all of your students you provide for the effective management of the district because you employ and you appra as your superintendent and that accounts for the the third um function of appraisal and then communication between the your you represent the community to the district you also represent the district to the community the board of education is a policymaking body uh and um the PO and so that's really your primary function uh you um policies help to ensure that the district is well-run uh they are basically broad go broad statements of goals um and of of the Board of Education and the direction that you as a board want the district to to take it defines um and aligns administrative responsibilities the the board and the superintendent have different roles in this in this structure the the board essentially determines what What will what will the students what will the curriculum be what do you want them to accomplish what are your your vision for the district your superintendent um determines how that's going to be accomplished um you know in in the scrap you know how how and when and how and why and what the specifics are to accomplish what it is that the board sets the goals that the board sets board members or policy makers Visionaries and communicators clean well-written policies provide your super tendent and your Administration with clear Direction uh as Visionaries the board sets um sets uh standards for progress of your students and for the program that you would like um to have um and you hold the administration accountable for progress towards the goals that you collectively determine and again communication because you're the communicators from the communicators of the district both ways the super superintendents have three distinct roles um within each district they are the chief advisor to the board they are the executive officer of the district and they are the educational leader in the community so as the as the chief advisor to the board they provide background information and and alternatives to different um and recommendations on different things that that need they want that the board wants to get accomplished they are the staff's liaz on to the board board members don't um address staff um officially they um they work through the superintendent and the staff as well Works through the superintendent I mean as the uh the chief executive officer they admin actually administer the policies that you set uh uh and they provide updates to the board on any uh upcoming um uh initiatives that they that they feel the Board needs to know about um as the educational leader you really do want your superintendent to keep up to date on um educational uh philosophies and um and and be part of uh educational organizations professional organizations another way to look at it is your superintendent is the implementor in Chief of the district such where where you have like any recipe uh you need to have all the correct ingredients for this for the successful end product and what are some of those correct ingredients the board trusts the superintendent the superintendent gives the best advice they can uh and their loyalty to the board you the board respects the Prof professional training and experience of your superintendent um and the you expect the superintendent to provide competent management of the district and to see that the policies that you have set are implemented on this slide a few bubbles are going to show clouds I guess are going to show up and we're really looking to see to to identify um is it a board priority is it a Board responsibility or is it a superintendent responsibility ility um so the first one is who approves the Strategic plan you can just call it out if that's okay just trying to get some interaction so so who approves this this the yeah the board uh who oversees the instructional program of the district super yep uh where that one came up too I double clutched so you got the answer ahead so the the board approves the curri materials uh and who recommends and implements policy superintendant recommends and implements the policy the board acts on that they they they they they vote on that policy it's a different way to look at it um who oversees the district leadership superintend superintendent who administers contract superintended um who establishes and adopts policy the the difference um and the last one is who evaluates the superintendent is on the board yeah you there's did well um so to be most effect oops did I go too for you I double keep double clicking to be most effective the superintendent and the board need to work together to advance student achievement that's really how it works you're you're a team you collaborate together um you know and as many teams you don't always have to agree but you have to be professional have professional discussions and come to some level of agreement what that whatever that might be and in in in that we want to make sure that um there are no surprises there should never really be surpris surprises uh for either the board or the superintendent uh what that shows is if there are surprises that you're not working collaboratively together as a team and who gets impacted the most if that happens your students we there is definitely a lane for um school board members things that they can do uh this um the open public meetings act which is quoted here um says that individual board members have no other uh no additional Authority or no status other than different than any other resident in your in your community uh than than than that except if you're at a noticed meeting with a quarum president so that being said as individual board members you cannot make decisions for the board take actions for the board speak for the board unless you've been authorized by the board to do so and and I'll send um a copy of this PowerPoint out to you um and you can to distribute tomorrow um just I I know it's it's a lot of information but um nor can a board member direct any staff member or any administrator including the superintendent that direction to the superintendent takes a board majority and as we go talking about the board majority um as I said you have no Authority unless you are sitting at a noticed meeting with a quir present takes a majority to accomplish everything and anything that you want to do um the the real challenge is finding the common ground on behalf of of your all your communities and and that could be a challenge with with a regional Bo board with as many constituent districts that that you have um but we you know we we comment that really you can only find Common Grounds if you make um time and hear and listen to all voices including the voice of the minority uh if you're if you do not allow for the voice of the minority in any of your discussions uh it it's it's really a recipe for for failure you really need to hear all sides of every issue so what is the impact of of a board or board members overstepping their Authority it undermines the authority of your superintendent by overstepping their what what they have it creates mistrust between the board and the superintendent it could also create uh inefficiencies amongst your staff which direction do people need to go who do they need to listen to uh and it diverts your attention as a board from the District goals and priorities that you as a board set and finally it can lead to your to some confusion amongst your step who who is really in charge everything that you do is is is identify by or or is under the code of ethics um board members um have to to abide by the code of ethics the legislative intent of the code of ethics is to make sure and preserve the Public's confidence in their local school officials and the act the school ethics act uh in doing that uh had listed a list of activities and prohibited and acceptable activities uh and um a list of standards that that that you need to abide by uh and a disciplinary mechanism to make sure that everybody is abiding by those standards not that I'll read all of these but these are the code of ethics there are 10 tenets of the code of ethics and you have to uh operate under that code of ethics uh at all times and you held accountable to that the role of a board member is that you need to be active listeners to your um community uh to your students um you you have a responsibility really to listen uh consider discuss then act on any issue while understanding the needs of the school Community as a whole and the school system as a whole so so active listening is really an important part of what you do as board members your job and you probably will hear this million times your job is not to administer the schools but to see that they are well-run and that is one of the actual um tenants of the code of ethics um when a problem is brought to your attention it is not the board member's role to resolve that problem um you listen to whoever it is that's speaking with you and you refer them to the chain of command um and and um if the the chain of command really allows that any issue to be handled in the most efficient way possible at the lowest level of the chain um for and and so as board members you should know what that issue is especially from the board end of it but if you have some questions from parents or parents or community members parents particularly did you talk to the teacher did you talk to the principal whatever whatever that chain is whatever you know that may go up um when you do speak with someone really um and and you listen empathetically you you refer them back to the chain of command just let the superintendent know give them a heads up so that they they know um to you know be on the radar the issue might be on the ra radar um just remember that if if there's an administrative solution you have to give your Administration time to come up with an administrative solution if they don't come up with an administrative solution that is acceptable to whoever was had the issue that issue that may come to the board and you need to to to look at it with fresh eyes to get the information and keeping in mind that sometimes an administrative solution um that's that the administration um comes up with uh it may not be acceptable to the person simply because they want what they want whatever that might be um but uh the board is really the court of last resort as as you come up with different kinds of issues just a few communication tips for board members the superintendent by policy is generally the spokesperson for the district and the board president by policy is the spokesperson for the board if you have communication protocols and many boards do such as if you have a question on a a committee report who do you reach out to the to the um to the committee chair directly those those can vary from District to District uh or from board to board so just be aware of what they might be uh for yours for your District any in any information that is emailed to board members if something comes from your superintendent or your board president um to all board members don't reply all ever um that can be seen as a violation of the open public meeting act because now that's a quarum and that's it's a quarum and it's not even if it only goes to a handful of board members if you email a few more handful um board members it could be seen as circumventing the open public meanings Act and the ethics School ethics commission has ruled about that um so you have to be careful about that um you don't want to imply that you're doing a quirm and you're not um noticing the meeting always use your District issued email address if you don't if you use if you even forward something from your District email address to your personal email address or your work email address if there's an oer request they would have to comply they can offer your personal information your personal computer so it's always best to just use the district issued um email address we we recommend that you be very careful when you post on social media be aware of the content um and always use a disclaimer a dis and the next slide will show you a disclaimer that the school ethics commission recommends you don't have to use it word for word but you have to follow the intent of that um and but keep in mind that there have been um School ethics cases um where it didn't matter that the person the board member used the disclaimer the content of what they said um was was found to be in violation they found to be in violation of the school ethics act P did you give an example of that um if I had the ethics Comm uh the ethics uh thing I had um there there were a few cases in middlex County a couple of years ago um and a very divisive I don't remember if it was Edison or um but it was a very divisive case and and people were posting and say posting during election time very specific stuff um and they would put the disclaimer um but the when it came and somebody filed an Ethics complaint when it came to the school ethics commission they felt that the the posting was very divisive and um and they they said that they were a board member but that they were not representing the position of the board but the very the very fact that they identified as a board member and it was a very divisive um comment comment a whole series of comments that they felt that it made the use of the disclaimer meaningless what about for example a board member post something says the disclaimer um um maybe talking about the salaries of school districts um and then it opens up a discussion on a social Media Forum about the discussions of our district and our salaries and it's it's a even though it was posted as a disclaimer it still represents um a disruptive conversation well it it represents disruptive or not it represents a conversation and if board members are are um um even though they use a disclaimer if you're participating in that discussion uh it even using the disclaimer members of the public may not differentiate between well I said this is only my personal opinion but you're a board member right and and so it carries a different weight like like you know it's it it may be only your opinion but if you continue the conversation or the discussion online it implies that you are that it could imply that you are speaking for the board what I have a followup question what if a board member forms a private group on social media regarding education we highly recommend that you and caution that you that board members not have private groups because it's it's hard to if if there's more than one board member if there's a quorum of board members on it now you have have to comply um with all the regulations and and statutes about open public meetings and by having a private group and only letting certain people in um you know it could be seen as circumventing the open public meetings act so we highly recommend that that you no longer um have um a private group or belong to any private groups other than or and if you belong to private groups like your Community we all have a every Community has a Facebook page right but as long as you're only commenting as a member of that community and stay away from board business you would be fine just don't post or don't post anything about board business on any uh private page um even in generalization yep yes I mean anything more than the school players tonight right something like that that's you know or liking a picture of the students getting their Awards yeah um or you know liking a athletic schedule something or sharing something that our Facebook page has share right um I have a followup question on that so what about being part the board members are part of a private group that um is a group that takes a particular political position or point of view if there is a quorum of board members that are part of that group does that violate the open public it it could it could be seen as violating and and really one of the the the um the things that that the school ethics commission commonly uses as they're looking at these cases is would a reasonable person think that this is this is a public meeting or would the reasonable person could a reasonable person think that you're speaking for the board uh and that it's kind of nebulous like but that is something that I I've seen come up more and more in ethics decisions just that that that you know could a reasonable person so so and if there's several it it implies that if you're having conversations that that um you know you're you're an elected School official and so that carries additional weight with it about the difference between a school SCH official versus maybe a town councilman and how we have to protect um the Integrity of the school differently um the school a school official is bound by the school ethics ACT code of ethics Municipal elected officials or not so they have to behave differently they can and they have different authorities after I stepped off my board I did one term on my Town Council and um there is definitely a difference in what you can do like I could go in as a just one of five Town Council Members to the police chief and have a conversation about their job or what's going on as a board member you can't go into any staff member to do that you just can't um and and so um you're held to a higher standard and that's unfortunately that's you know fortunately and unfortunately because because you know we have to remember that you're here to uh Advance the student achievement of all your students so everything we do needs to be focused on advancing them and not disrupting it yeah how about um if there is a during the interviewing process if a board member um says they were played an instrumental role in hiring um a process of hiring let's say a board attorney or an instrumental because would that be considered like well I mean you're and you're talking about and the hiring of board professional the board attorney because because board members should not be on any interview committees beyond the superintendent no um actually if the board member was being interviewed and oh commented on that saying that they played an instrumental role in the process and hiring of a particular um I'm not sure that that any board in in the higher so your the board members being inter let me understand this the board members being interviewed um for a position no just um to speak about their role as a board member to get reelected maybe or you know to be elected by by a publication by a publication you know whether the um paper like 100 Review or maybe um NBA or okay so so you're you're being interviewed by a publication or another organization gave free information and just post it about being instrumental and hiring um I mean someone who that they were aligned with their values and very proud about it is I mean what what you can do during camp campaigning is somewhat different however if you're campaigning for reelection there are um there they do look at some of those standards um but um in a board decides any one board member is not really by Design instrumental in in hiring um there's a process but the the process the the the majority of the board has to agree on that process of whatever it is then it becomes an um how would you say it then it becomes perception they're given the perception as though when they say when they blatantly say that they were instrumental in that process right it it does it does give the perception and it does depend on who you're speaking to um but um again I I think that a lot depends on if it's a if it's a campaign article um you just really have to be mindful of the code of ethics um because when when um there's two different things with the school ethics commission that that can happen a board member can ask for a an advisory opinion so before they take an action they can ask the school ethics commission if they would consider that action to be a violation of the code of ethics um and what when they give you their determination and and had some board members say well it's an advisory opinion but it's not really an opinion you asked the question on whether they will consider it um if you don't heed the advice the opinion that they give you if somebody files an Ethics complaint on that it's likely that your penalty will be higher than it would have otherwise um so when you ask for the advisory opinion you really do need to um to listen to that um the other thing that can happen is any member of the public can file a an Ethics complaint against a board member or School official um that mostly board members because you're you're the ones who have to abide by the code of ethics there's a very specific timeline for that and each case is very fact specific if somebody files a complaint there's a list of standards and and evidence that they must provide the school ethics commission does not look for that evidence they only review what is presented to them um and so that's um you know that that is something that that can happen um for so there you know there's two ways to go and again as I said every case is very fact specific you can go to the New Jersey Department of Education website look uh search for school ethics commission and you can they list all the there's years of decisions and advisory opinions that are public um um and so that you can look into that and I can send the link tomorrow um with with some you know how to get to the school ethics commission I mean it's sometimes quite interesting reading uh and sometimes you wonder what were they What were what was that board member thinking um however um you know it it kind of hones in on what what goes on on those School ethics on uh you know the school ethics commission uh I talked about this social media disclaimer this is what the school ethics commission recommends you don't have to use it word for word um and but you do have to say I'm not speaking it's my personal opinion I'm not speaking for the board nor am I making any representations of the board and again I'll send the the PowerPoint out tomorrow and and you you can um or tonight if depends on what time I get home um but that so that you can have all this stuff um and again use of the disclaimer is not to get out of jail free card so just be mindful of what it is you're posting and what you're saying that's really all it is um so as board members new and old um you should you're going to have a lot of questions and you should be asking a lot of questions just um remember that in asking these questions you are not the manager of the district you you have that person you have the superintendent that you hired um ask questions that are relevant to your role the questions that are relevant to a board member are highlevel questions and strategic questions um and we recommend that tone is everything right so just be inquisitive rather than accusatory you'll get um answers um better answers being inquisitory rather than um accusatory um what's the role of a board member in personnel as far as uh resumes reviewing resumés for uh Staffing decisions um the board can only act on Staffing decision staffing issues once they're presented by the super recommended by the superintendent um if it's on the agenda uh for approval um you can ask for and the superintendent the board offic put parameters around to look at maybe the resume of that particular person but you can't look at the resumés of everybody that was that was considered but you can ask questions like how large was the pool what were our qualifications what how was the um how was um how many have advanced degrees Global questions like that of the pool itself um but but you can't really um do much more than than that and it you can't really do anything personel unless a superintendent recommends it sorry um so we ask you to remember to take off your private sector hat um and and I know sometimes I because I've talked with board members who in their professional careers they're um they work in human resources and it's hard to take that off right it's it's hard if you're in a decisionmaking mode in your professional life it's hard not to do that here um but you have to remember that education has a different set of rules uh and that taking any action requires discussion uh and buy in from a variety of stakeholders so it it does um lengthen that uh remembering that also your staff your the bulk of your staff are um managed under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement um we also say again I talked about this earlier no surprises at the board table don't Blindside either a fellow board member or your superintendent nobody looks good in that that situation it just doesn't it doesn't really work um there's no reason why if you have a question you can't ask it ahead of time and and if you feel like it's a question the that the public would be interested in let the superintendent know okay thank you for that information I'm going to ask this in public so that they're prepared to give a thoughtful answer I mean again you you want to make sure that um everybody that that not only that do you look good but that you don't look like you're fighting chaos uh and that um you're working for your students um and and remember that your students you know students are watching so you want to really sit up here and emulate the the way you want them to to to act as well okay I said this several times remember you have the board has one employee and that is your superintendent you hold your superintendent accountable for the management of the district through the superintendent evaluation prog process and progress towards your District goals that you should collaboratively set um otherwise um anything else is um any other staff member you have to go through the superintendent uh you want to be most effective respect the chain of command remembering that all board Communications funnel through the superintendent um and if there's on one of your committees there may be uh an administrative liaison that represents the administration on that committee they are there at the the request of the superintendent and they are directed by the superintendent um and again one or two board members or three or four in a board the size um can't direct the superintendent it takes a board majority to direct the superintendent president's Authority I'm sorry what about the president's Authority do they have the right to direct the superintendent um generally board Pro protocols um most board's protocol is that um so that you don't have 12 people reaching out to the superintendent uh and thereby they're not able to do their what you hired them for generally those questions are funneled through the board president just so she can she can you know organize them and get get one to get them to the superintendent and and quite honestly if one or two board members has a question it's likely that others have a similar question so the response then could go to everybody whether that comes in the weekly packet you know from the superintendent or what whatnot but it's not unusual for um for contact questions to the superintendent to go through uh the board president primarily because there's a lot of people here and you hired him to do the day-to-day operations of the district and if he spending his days answering emails and phone calls he's not doing that that that generally also goes for some of the board professionals like like the board attorney generally that goes through the super I'm sorry through the board president um again if 12 people are calling the um board attorney all the time they're racking up the billable hours and it becomes expensive and so you don't want that as well but if you can consolidate the questions um and then get the answers to everybody it really is makes for a more efficient operation but in that particular instance the president is supposed to be representing the whole of the board in going to the superintendent so in other words can the president make decisions that have not been either gone through committee and have not been discussed with the rest of the board the um the the board president's Authority um does not extend to making decisions for for the board they working with the uh superintendent and the ba on um the agenda uh for for the meetings um but and there's very identified in statute very specific um duties of the president uh and responsibilities and I'm sure they're in your policy if you look up for the president it will it will the duties of the president and the vice president it will identify the statute I I'm asking you the representative the school board thank you yeah yeah we have a question it's best to send an email directly to the board president and not CC the superintendent that all depend on what it is that depends on your board protocols really if that's I don't know and I know at one point in time in then not to just in future I'm going to planning is planning to come back to talk about board norms and those are the kinds of discussions um that you have for board Norms you you we we'll discuss what it is the communication protocols uh a bunch of things like that uh that you all have to agree to or at least the majority of you have to agree to and then they we would M you know memorialize it in writing um and some boards further memorialize it by approving it as a resolution um and they can be Revisited whenever the board chooses to re to revisit them um but um I I thought that that's somewhere down the road in the not too distant future to talk about board I know I think Gwen was going to do it um and Gwen has a new job and she's based in Trent more than not um much to her dismay sometimes um but uh so remember that you as a board member are an elected public official what you say carries more weight with your general public because you're an elected official and you you by the nature of the job you do have more information than they have and there's information that you have that the public can't have so that's just the nature of the job um so just remember that your comments carry add weight whatever whether it's in social media or in the grocery store or wherever um and that if you sharing confidential information what what's discussed in executive session should stay in executive session until it's determined that it's no longer confidential and there's a there's a process for that um and I'm sorry it can be an eth y that was my next sentence no that's okay no but you're on the right you're on the right path if you uh share confidential information one it could harm people your staff or anybody a fellow board member whatever it might be but it could also be an Ethics violation you know that that is one of the tenants to keep all confidential information confidential um remember that you're not the educational expert you have an education ational expert you have your superintendent and so that you need to really um respect their experience and their expertise and listen to their guidance I mean they make recommendations to the board and I might not like what I say but but you always have the right to vote your conscience but you can't vote unless it's on many issues unless it comes at the recommendation of the superintendent I'm y I said earlier model the behavior you want your students to to emulate it's real important because they are watching they know what they know what the grown-ups are doing and now that you have student student rep set sitting at the table some of the time um even more so and they're reporting back to their schools so specifically how I'm sorry we are as a board how we interact even our board y yeah it's it's all I mean better decisions are reached when it's a collaborative atmosphere and you have a foundation of teamwork now teamwork doesn't mean that you have to agree all the time you can have serious disagreements but as long as you're professional about them uh and and everybody has given the opportunity to have a say uh and the board votes and then once the board votes whatever the majority rules is the majority rule and if you were not part of that majority if your opinion if your your opinion on that topic was in the minority once the the board votes uh and the majority rules that becomes the decision of the board and you can't you have to support that and you can't work against it and sometimes that's hard right because this didn't go the way you wanted but not everything's going to go the way you want it every time every once in a while you know hopefully more than not you will all agree but with this many people it does it that's not always going to be the case but as long as you're professional about it uh and everybody listens to uh each other and you support the final decision of the board that's that becomes you know an effective um School Board that's working for your students and their achievements this is key spend time doing the en spend your time and energy doing the work of the board not the work of people that you've hired it just really is um separate it's just better to to to only do be strategic and high level as a board should be uh that means not getting involved into into the day-to-day operations or even being in the building three or four days a week that could apply to not only to the you know students but to staff that it they they know who's on the board they they your staff know know that know at some level that you're a board member maybe not by face but by name and they'll figure it out and and you want them to be effective in what they do and what their job is so just um don't go in all the time again don't contact staff directly you have one St staff member the board has one staff member the superintendent manages that staff um and then we talked a little bit about all different board members um reaching out to the superintendent also don't make uh any personal requests outside the scope of the board uh to the superintendent and if you have a few minutes uh I put up some scenarios um we can go through or not I can send them out tomorrow with the answers as to you um it we I'll go through one and you tell me I have three slides of scenarios just kind of what would you do type thing so in this first one at the beginning of the budgeting annual budgeting process the Board of Education meets with the superintendent and business administrator and sets parameters for the budget is that the board's role I know it's kind of small I didn't expect this room to be quite so large no yes it commit setting the budget parameters you're saying it's not the board yes goals it's bud it's yeah it is your it is your responsibility part of your planning responsibilities um I'll do one more and then you can tell me if we want to do the other two I know you have a full agenda so it's just the the the concept um a member of the board of education is in the produce section of the supermarket when two of her neighbors come up to her tell her that their Teena that their daughters have told them that their third grade teacher spends part of every school day talking and texting on her cell phone while she sits in the classroom with her students to calm them down the board member promises to investigate the situation and make sure that it doesn't continue is that the board member's role you had us at the grocery yeah I didn't put theum Y and and it's not the board members role and there's code of ethics concerns um the different the CE and J are the different tenants do you want to do more or we ready that would be fantas yeah I'll come in there and then then we're really almost almost done um one more slide after this and that's the questions SL um remember that um remember that your responsibility as a a board member and a board is always to take actions in the best interests of all your students um that's really what what it is and the next slide is if there's questions but we've had questions throughout and I you have a I know you have a full agenda um in the packet that I gave to board president my business card so if you have any questions feel free to um reach out and and ask me those questions I'll I'll get back to you as quickly as I can and in this month of Schoolboard recognition month I want to thank you for all that you do for your students it's a it's a Monumental job at times and seems to be getting more challenging as the years go on uh but thank you for everything that you do I know that your students appreciate it you you thank you again thank you for that Pi where we left off uh number eight School administrator support please so the first thing I would like to report is um congratulations to our teachers of the Year Educational Services Professionals of the year at North Haron is Christen stelle um and at B is cell both of these teachers I've known for many years amazing teachers really connected with students and um really are an epitome of what we want every one of our teachers to be so thank you to both them their hard work to earners our Educational Services professional of the year uh at North hon is Kelly steel a guidance coun at North hon and car espo who Behavior at uh both high schools but time to wores right now um both of them uh Kelly I've known for again many years um just a great guidance concer work so well with their kids and has a great reputation car I've known for I think four years now this is her fourth year here right Jen yeah um and um again Cara has very quickly earned respect of our staff our students and our community so them for their hard work and also for that I a ton of other really good news but um Sarah and Shivam sort of took a lot of my thunder but I do want to say some thank yous um about that I do want to say the holiday concerts were fabulous at both schools uh they did a great job in North hunterland like they said does a schoolwide concert that is not common typically um but I think it is a great um way for the whole school Community to get together similar to a pep rally but for the Arts and I think that is really important U message to send uh at vores the choir and a band both perform for students as they ENT enter the building the day before winter break and I think that's a great um does you know they they get greeted um that last day of school before the break uh the class of 2026 also sold snacks and hot chocolate um and then they held their holiday pepper alley at the end of that day as well so um very fessed day and everybody had a great great day uh the bridge building contest again congratulations to those students from betham and tubry uh with bethlehem's um with tub's Bridge actually um investing the bleh Bridge by 30b so 360b to 330b uh congratulations to all the students that um I think sh mentioned from Mod un mod un is just a great program where our students get to um participate in a forum where they are assigned to countries they're assigned different topics that that a un would handle um they then prepare for those they do speeches they do presentations uh it's just a great experience overall professionally for the students they put a lot of work into it and obviously it paid off for our students because they want a tremendous amount of award congratulations to that and then we did have our eighth grade uh orientation programs again that was already mentioned but I did want to say at nor at B actually uh the ship club which stands for the student High School integration program is who runs that eth grade in grade that eth grade program uh they do a great job of exposing students to um all kinds of things like the Jazz Band performs to the students to highlight you know what what opportunities there are there uh they had U they talked about all different clubs and activities Sports um plus they get to go through schedule and see some and hear all about AC academics as well at North H it is the student ambassador's club that does basically the same thing same schedule Mike squa make sure that they're both very similar but different clubs that um run those so thanks to Mike for all the work you put into that because that is a tremendous amount of work to get those two um it was two days at North two days of worries then on the second day of both of those um there was a parent program as well that so and all feedback we got from that was excellent so thank you every involved I do have my report on harassment intimidation bullying there were two incidences this since the last reporting period both of them one was inconclusive and one was unfounded that is what you will be affirming next month and then call for a motion second toir the determinations on the hi incidences uh correct yeah um I'm taking uh sorry voice all in favor being a little of Rusty it's been probably eight years since I have done this R get back on the bicycle um and then are the monthly reports for your consideration November and December were there because we did not have December any questions I I have a question on this it's okay can you just walk me through only because I don't know how this process typically works so if we were to vote on this are we voting on the process that somebody looked at this and this is what was their determination or how does which one are you talking about the hi the hi the hi instance yeah so all you are affirming is that the um Administration has done the due diligence the people that youve hired to do this investigation who are trained to do this investigation and who have came up with a conclusion and determine what that conclusion is um really reason for you to vote on this as a board is because you hear about the hip incidences at the first meeting and there's a chance for either party on either side to appeal it they can come and plead their case to you before you actually affirm it but all you're doing by affirming it is saying that um the process was followed the process was followed okay thank you moving on to 9.1 um January 2025 the school board recognition as you all know P just um made that announcement and recognized everyone here in boards across New Jersey um I need a call for a motion in a second to adopt resolution 02823 all in favor any or uh 9.2 2025 board committees representative delegates it was in your uh drive everyone received that um the I do have a question uh was the Hun and County uh delegate so I was the Hun and County delegate and I'd be happy to do it but I rather open it up if you know others wanted I had a few Tara had made interest but Tara's our delegate as well so I didn't know if someone else would like to step on to that role it's I mean Tera I go to all of them so do I I mean I attend them so I can do and it's just you I thought an opportunity for another board member to attend so you to answer tonight can you just give us a brief what what's expected you're so our County our hun County meetings you're you're in attendance you're counting you're taking notes and Reporting back to the board it's civil most of you a lot of you go already so and they always have a virtual component physically and not like Thursdays is virtual only there's no in person um and they usually rotate usually it's at theet and at a location in Flemington usually it's the case school so they rotate in our County North and South um in present ones but everything is also virtual so you can always attend virtual to do the presentation and it's various topics and um like the other night there was a topic on the role of school board secretary um and that one was from sunet andony so that was report out on what the discussion was and they send followups too so if you're going and they're presenting and they have Powerpoints and other information they will share that with you and you of course can come back and turn key to the board it's it's excellent information I'll do that yes so you'd like to do that thank you Christin for stepping up can thank you our next regular board meeting is scheduled for February 25th 7.m here in the district office um at this point I'd like to open it up to opportunity for public comment during this portion of the meeting the public is invited to address theard of comments you are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and state your need Municipality of residents group affiliation is applicable and director comments to the board's Co president while all comments will be considered by the Board of Education and a response may be forthcoming is when appropriate individual School bers may not respond to the speakers at the time of their appearance the public comment period will be maximum of 30 minutes in L unless there are unusual circumstances you will be three minutes to speak and no one will be permitted to speak more than one on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard please keep your comments respectful and non defamatory and maintain the level of decorum appropriate for a public meeting where students may be present in the audience at this time public anyone like to come good evening I'm Deborah bomi from tubry Township I'm deeply troubled by the resolution to change legal representation for this board the current attorney has consistently demonstrated their ability to act in the best interest of this Board District and our students over comno Law's tenure they have saved the district hundreds of thousands of dollars critical savings giving the boards responsibility to manage taxpayer funds wisely clearly visible in District public financial statements New Jersey state and Schoolboard regulations make it clear that board decisions should prioritize the welfare of students and the success of our district over personal and political interests changing legal council mid school year without cause or evidence of wrongdoing undermines these principles and creates unnecessary disruption diverting resources from more pressing issues facing our schools and causes distrust within our communities this resolution also raises questions about your lack of process and transparency how can new board members vote on this matter when the proper process has not been followed has there been discussion in committee meetings or executive sessions about this it has not been in public meetings Miss seleno have you adhered to District policy 174 which outlines a process for seeking legal representation have new board members interviewed both law firms or are they relying solely on the guidance by select board members outside sanctioned board meetings which is not allowed is there an open RFP if you are truly looking for better representation are other firms being considered there are equally important factors to consider other than legal fees are the new board members aware that comegno law firm only represents school boards no private clients so there is never a concern of a conflict of interest in the representation of this board or pursuit of decisions this is not the case of bush law are you aware that Jonathan bush is the mayor of mouen and is widely known in political circles as getting ready to run for New Jersey governor politics has no place in our school district you are trying to vote in a politician whose Focus will not be 100% on our school district and our students the stability of our current legal council has been a critical asset in navigating complex matters changing representation without cause risks eroding trust and goes against the collaborative Spirit outlined in our state laws and tonight's presentation at a time when our district faces real challenges like ensuring academic Excellence addressing mental health needs fostering inclusion and supporting all students and staff this is a distraction we cannot afford I urge the board to prioritize the best interest of our students our staff and taxpayers by retaining kamgno law whose exceptional work is evident thank you good evening board members I'm Amy Barrett from Highbridge as a community member and taxpayer I'm also concerned by the proposal to replace the board's long-term legal counsel in the middle of the school year board resolution 02825 4 which is item 17 on the agenda applies that replacing kamgno Law Group as general counsel is based on per hour costs however the board voted in June to renew its professional service contracts for the entire 2024 to 2025 school year with the same per hour costs so this change is not a routine matter nor do I believe it is motivated primarily by Financial concerns a proposal to replace kenno law group was first raised by Nicole Gallow at the June 25th board meeting a month after the board voted 7 to4 on May 7th to retain the book let's talk about it at that same June meeting board members kago Gallow and selino voted no on a routine renewal of professional cont contracts that included kenno Law Group as general counsel based on the public board discussion at both the May and June meetings I suspect that certain board members were unhappy with advice the board may have been given regarding their motion to quote remove the book based on New Jersey obscenity Law they also appear to be following the same Playbook as the hund 100 Central board which abruptly terminated their attorney's contract last night it would be a shame to replace a law firm that has acted in the best interest of this district for many years if this motion passes I hope that the board will heed reasonable legal advice from its new general counsel and not cost taxpayers the tens of thousands of dollar in litigation costs incurred by politicized Boards such as Sparta and Handover thank you for listening give me a moment all right so I'm varah Hodes I'm from Highbridge and I'm here to discuss something you've got planned for later tonight that as the others mentioned it's repl ing your current legal representation now to explain what the problem is I'm going to give some background you see for the past year or so a certain member well one of the members of your board who I won't name but I'm sure you can figure it out and for the and the person I'm talking about you know who you are has been advocating for a number of destructive actions namely trying to censor books relating to sexual education and LGBT rights actions I should also mention are illegal according to state law your attorney has pushed back against such action citing that they are well illegal and the said member has who advocate for these actions is upset about this while you have official reasons the implications and consequences of what you're doing will essentially mean that your attorney is being fired for warning you about illegally proposed destructive actions and the factly silences and discourages any future warnings of potentially illegal actions which um as we show saw on the presentation is something you need to be worried about with ethics considerations as such for those of you who care if you're moving forward with this plan you're going to be going without warning and could potentially violate state law and open the school to lawsuits and I don't think I need to explain why that would be a bad thing uh I hope that you can come to your senses and reject this resolution to replace your legal representation for there are ulterior motives behind it and ulterior motives that would be disastrous for the school and the students hi name is Lea zingle I am a parent in the district from Union Township um I came to this meeting tonight because I I do usually look at your agendas and I was surprised um by the item that our previous speakers have um have addressed and have some of the same concerns about what's going on um Mr lordy indicated to me on social media discussion about this tonight so I'm looking forward to um the committee reports I don't know is it Finance Personnel I I don't know what committee discussed this but I'm super eager to hear um your report on how we got to this but honestly I'm I'm up here right now because I'm a little con concerned I walked in a few moments late um but it seems to me that there's no attorney here tonight because that is what did I hear you say Mr Selena that um that's so you can have an honest conversation is that is that so many folks um that speak so much about transparency and answering parents' questions awareness of process did I when an answer is appropriate maybe you can um provide for Me Maybe that's forthcoming it are these board meetings not honest and is your conversation not honest and transparent when our attorney is here um that's my that's my only ask tonight I'm I'm very very concerned about what I heard when I walked in this evening good evening president selino my name is Guy Citron I'm from Califon tubry tonight I'm not here representing any group I am not uh instructed on what I'm about to speak on um I'm speaking purely as an adult from this community with a child who I hope will go to this high school we know when this board is doing politics we know who on this board has openly campaigned with elected Republican officials and we know who is associating with extremist anti-government hate groups we know all that I'm speaking to you from the heart as a parent and hopefully a friend to be to the point of the other comments made we're here to serve the kids we're here to serve our students we're here to improve academic Excellence there is a local problem that is evident Nationwide which is occurring in classrooms everywhere and that is smartphone addiction I truly believe that this represents Common Ground between conservative families liberal families and everybody in between and I've been coming to this meeting for two years we all want better I think deep down we all want to work together let's keep that door wide open with projects that we all care about and like I said I don't even know if the people behind me agree with what I just said I'm here shooting straight from the hip but what I have for you is a peer-reviewed article from a professional Journal published not too far away and Pennsylvania written by two excellent folks from East stoutsburg and they outlin the whole issue and I'm just going to laser cut to the point science is telling us today that the symptoms of depression and anxiety and all these other things that we're seeing in our students from addiction to cell phones is no different than drug addiction at the psychological level it's the same would you send your child to school with a pack of cigarettes in their pockets Pock et why are you sending with a cell phone neurologically it's the same stimulus it's the same reward feedback loop it's the same distraction it's the same destruction of Education I used to smoke cigarettes maybe we all you know anyway loose analogy you got to give me a break so I'm just going to pass this out I wish this board the best this year let's work together please you just give those to the yes of course yes of course thank you hi I'm Karen go from Highbridge speaking as a parent Community member or not as a board of education member um a few weeks ago you were trained on the school ethics you signed the code of ethics tonight you were trained on the roles and responsibilities of school boards please remember your role as a school board member please remember that politics have no place in school boards you're supposed to be here in the best interest of the students and the students only and not in the best interest of whatever political groups you may belong to thank you good evening I'm uh JP Lael for bean Township and I'd like to welcome Mr lordy as our new representative and remind him that he has very big shoes to fill taking over for Glenn farb banish Glenn was um consistently uh Equitable and Resolute in sticking to the facts of an issue he was always poised and very level-headed no matter how heated the discussions would get or what the public brought up to the bike um I appreciated that he had the highest standards in ethics and I agree with the speakers regarding the change of Attorneys at this time I'm very concerned that it was not as uh Lila said um more discussed in the public as if there was a problem or something else or a reason why we really had to change them you know if there was corruption or something that's a different situation but if they're saving us money they don't have a conflict of interest because they can't because they don't have any public clim clients besides school boards and they've done excellent in everything else why why are we changing them I'd really like to make sure that you consider um everything that's being discussed and again make sure it's not for any political purposes or because the attorneys pushed back on the books that were attempted to being banned um which again were illegal basically uh and you've seen from these many meetings that uh Banning is not appreciated not welcomed and not the popular opinion so if you're really representing us you'll hear us thank you very much I'm another hybrid resident my name is Haron tinger the last time I spoke during uh public comment period I apparently angered some others in attendance when I told you quote we will be here meeting after meeting watching what you do and listening to what you say so I'd like to clarify we will be watching what you do and listening to what you say in order to be ready to speak out during public comment period on agenda items that are important to us items such as retention of legal counsel and we'll be here so that we can help parents and taxpayers be better informed about how you have represented them when they vote in Schoolboard elections I'll just say that I want my tax dollars devoted to offering all our students the best education and the most supportive School environment possible thank you is there anyone else for public comment no further comments we will move on to um item uh number 11 on the agenda cul our committee report okay um so the committee met last week uh number of items were discussed under the general reports uh there was an interesting observation regarding an uptick in absences the day after Halloween that kind of caught everyone by surprise and that's something I think we continue to sort of look at uh there were two months of home instruction and uh continuing out of District placement data um also brought to our attention was a review of the 20 2425 agreement with the person centered approaches in schools um we apparently currently have staff trained in this approach in both buildings the program is designed to serve and currently serves about 20 to 25 of our special needs students uh it is a partnership between the NJ doe office of special ed and ruers University to train staff and families to ensure positive transitions from school to adulthood uh for students with disab with disabilities um they provide training in both uh in school settings and transitions out of school as well uh a question was sort of raised about uh this being a continuing agreement and um uh Jennifer karosi was able to clarify that now that the district has reestablished the role of director of special services she has has been in the process of reviewing all contracts and agreements and just making sure that the practices trainings and things of that sort are current and up to date and that's why it has come to us uh at this time um the committee concluded will continue to monitor any Trends outline data generally supports the items that were presented there agenda item number two was on the non-public stem Grant um this is a uh Grant Grant it's run by the state it's a state required notification for certified teachers to teach in to teach after school hours after their contractual hours at a non-public school could be a home school private school something to that effect the idea is to offer highly qualified stem individuals uh who are hard to get even for public schools but to offer their services to private schools um a survey goes out to determine if staff is interested in partic ipating and their availability um and then they look to match availability with with um placements and location seeking that service uh last year we had approximate a number of Staff members four teachers taught 331 hours after school um we pay the teachers and then get reimbursed by the state for those instructural hours so that was just an update as to the nature of the grant our level of participation uh it's something that we're required to to offer and monitor um that was followed by a um report of the njsla performance report so this is the grade nine performance um rich now had an opportunity if you recall several months ago he gave our general report which at that time was just our results um he's now been able to do County comparisons and look at other Trends uh in the area uh one of so a number of findings Ela performance tends to be consistently High across the county uh and has improved from year to year um another thing that we always sort of have to keep in mind is that uh 115 of our North warhe students who are enrolled technically count within the polych magnet academy scores so they're not represented in our scores but these magnet students um are represented in those Academy scores which tend to be highest in the county um even though they receive their instruction in ela and math and and additional science through us as well um so it's sort of a it's a it's a double-edged sword there in the sense that we do a good job educating those kids but their their performance results um unfortunately don't count um for our district um another observation is there continues to be consistent struggles among algebra uh the algebra test for students across the county and the state um additionally another uh spot of focus is the grade 11 science scores they also remain low across the county and the state however they are actually very high for those Academy students that I was just describing a few minutes ago who are students who were doubly invested in Sciences um this is a junior level test um it reviews multiple science subjects but unlike the NJ GPA in math and Ela which counts for and are required to pass for graduation uh the science test uh remains uh does not count for graduation and that um just complicates the student investment in that in that test um some additional research that Rich has been doing um because with algebra students the students we receive in Algebra 1 um you know are often students who might be struggling in in math our strongest math students have already moved Beyond algebra one often taking algebra one in the sending district and there was an interesting data point that across our our sending districts some districts are have 20% of their students having taken algebra whereas other districts are as high as 65% of their students having taken algebra in e8th grade so that's something that I think is he'll continue to look at will very much be a part of continuing um articulation efforts uh kind of examining that PO that performance the those data Trends um putting them in conversation with our own placement tests Transitions and and recommendations uh rich is going to continue to look at um prior cohorts um because we often get performance once the students become ours as as ninth grade kids we don't have the luxury of knowing the years of Prior performance of those students so that requires more work in in in data collecting on his part to see where some of those Trends might begin um a talking point there was particularly with math um that you often see uh tracking that begins at the K8 levels um becomes more and more consequential as students uh go up in grades and by the time they reach us um you're you're working uh with a more challenging proposition in terms of different student levels so the conversations among the sending districts would cover everything from what is the curriculum that the schools are are employing is the idea of teaching algebra in that curriculum the same across those districts does it differ uh what are the resources that they're using what are the levels that they are um offering to students and sort of the mechanisms by which students might be um in at those levels the last item was um a brief one on artificial intelligence this is something that the curriculum committee has been has sort of been on our radar for a number of months um but it's just something that we haven't been able to get to other than some informal discussion so we were proposing that within the committee meetings that we seek to prioritize that giving its emerging importance in pretty much everything at this point um and that we would look to seek any sort of updates on staff training staff use um and discussions on policy and acceptable use language that might be emerging or coming from any questions would it be possible because we as you said a it's typically we have maybe five minutes at the most at the end of our meeting so is it something that we can consider to have a separate meting add one that month where we're I don't know we can never like take away from what we're going to talk about yeah so much yeah because I think my initial suggestion was we always left it for the end of the agenda and then we run out of time if we make a point of front putting it in front of the agenda at the very least we'll get to it um and then I guess the thinking is if there are things that can be reported to us in terms of what's happening I mean I see no reason why that wouldn't ultimately parlay into a broader presentation to the entire board and to tap that in Spoke we also could put that in every Comm we could have a discussion in every committee so everybody can partake in it it's just an option yeah it's funny um one Summit I'd gone to earlier in the year one of the districts is highlighting the fact that they had taken all of their policy put it into a bot that could be queried um and that you could and its knowledge base is your policy um and I think ultimately having and uh Rich was at the presentation where the department of uh the doe Department of innovation was there and they they are really sort of noting artificial intelligence that kind of falls into three buckets the the platforms and processes that are student facing the things that kids are learning to do and utilize those tools um staff productivity the ways that it can streamline that work but then more challengingly the way that districts themselves might be using it for communications for efficiencies um you know from everything from scheduling to other processes where um it can assist and we need a lot of a lot of work another another piece I don't know if you want to comment on with the of the there's a really good question about the honor oh yes thank you for reminding yep you know it was it was at the very end so um yes this was something that had come up I think was briefly discussed here before so uh Rich was able to give us the history of the honor Ro uh because that was something that created a lot of questions and concerns at the the start of the year um the backstory is that when the school was on a letter-based system um the honor rooll process or at least designation of honor rooll at that time uh was B's and A's and there had been a move that once the district moved to a number based system they were going to sort of raise the rigor of Honor Ro and I think it was going to be like a a 90 for honor rooll and a 94 for high honor rooll but it just so happened that when the school did transition to number based grading the policy that had been intended or the practice that had been intended never fallen suit um so we were still in the mode of reporting as honoral kids who were numerically getting bees um and I guess High anoral kids who were numerically getting AED this year the first was the first effort to sort of abide by the the plan to uh raise the the the the challenge or the rigor of Honor rooll um and I know that created a lot of questions confusion clarifications at the start of the year um and so in retrospect it was one of those things that probably needed to have been communicated more aggressively so that folks weren't caught by surprise is also you're dealing with the phenomenon that in the middle schools a lot of the honor roles are predicated on like B's and A's and then the high school becomes sort of this Step Up um so another distinction that came out there was we have two different systems of sort of recognizing student achievement the honor role is one that's sort of agnostic to your level in other words if you're at an academic a CP and honors and AP level honor rooll is honor rooll is honor rooll and if you're getting an a you're on the high honor role regardless of the level of class whereas something like GPA uh is weighted relative to the level of the course that you might be taking so it's a way to kind of have recognition via the GPA that's on the levels of the courses that you're taking and how you're doing whereas the honor role is a broader recognition that regardless of the level uh it's a recognition of of Higher Achievement um I think I think that was it thank you for REM good catch any other discussion okay can I have a motion in a second to approve 11.1 11 right Kim I had a question oh yeah so again being new so it's okay I'm Rusty you're new 11.1 home instruction so I I looked at this and I noticed that 16 of the 20 on the home instruction I've already ended and one ends this week so is it typical to approve something that's already ended or are you supposed to do it before it starts maybe I'm just misunderstanding yeah I think one of the details is that we were looking at two months of data because we didn't have the December meeing so there was an element of catchup on that um and then I don't know if there was more to it but I do remember that part home instruction is for students that are not school for medical us um and we we are obligated to provide that instruction sometimes that happens meeting so you will be approving a period of home instruction that has already happened got it at the next but ideally the fact that we had two we didn't have a meeting in December that exacerbated us a little got it okay makes sense thank you some just one thing sometimes they very short term right I know somebody breaks an ankle and they can't or that's a bad example but right it's a very short term so the entire home instruction can take place between two between me right makes sense okay thank you for sure any other discussion are we good everybody okay can I have a motion in a second on 11.1 through 11.3 please all all in favor any n or exensions moving on to uh bullet 12 policy and school security the policy committee we uh we met on January 21 um all were in attendance um one of their main agenda items is that the New Jersey school board um policy manual is ready um the committee reviewed the summary sheet for the conversion of our policy manual to New Jersey school boards we use some examples of policies that were condensed from three to five policies into one policy um three to five on St Esme that um went into the New Jersey school board policy the committee decided that we would review three sections the new policy per month so we had a discussion we were kind of trying to figure out if we should just approve it and then implement it and then go through it or review it um prior to implementing it so we kind of made a decision as a committee that we were going to do three sections at a time um and hopefully we'll get we should be done and ready for June am I saying that right yes June um May or June depending um Rich bjx will has a few highlighted areas that need to be addressed in the new policy manual um and then upload and then figuring out the upload of the manual um to the policy and security folder for all of us to be able to go through and look at everything and uh yeah so the review policy over the next three months adopted May and June and then our second agenda item was on school security um structure and costs associated with equipment uh present the admin presented additional information at Future uh meeting for continue to improve our security system so that has to be kind of any questions discussion uh one question maybe two um you shared I think somewhere in the minutes was that sort of breakdown policy by policy it sort of did that comparative thing um in a number of the notes it said something like policy replaced regulation retained um and then there were a number of when it said something to the effect of like like regulation not retained as per North or something like that I didn't quite know what how do interpret that note so there through the whole process there were questions that um the representative from school boards who was working on our policy conversion uh would come up and have one regulations that were completely um outdated gotcha and so some of those you know we said we don't need that anymore because it doesn't even apply it has apply for sometimes in some cases 20 30 years okay thank you um the other question is as the work goes forward I remember last year when I was on the policy committee it was the strategy of how we're going to do this is there is is there a way through that um spreadsheet or that mechanism where we any of us can actually see what the school board policy is that's aligned against like our current policy so that's currently in the policy um committee folder for 2425 okay so and the whole board has access to we just put it in there because we didn't want to put it somewhere generally but everybody has access to that so the policy committee will that there's nine sections total so three sections in three months but so the sort of thing like if looking at that there's a question of you know some decision to be made any of us would have the ability to look at what the school board language is versus what our current language yeah because our current language is up on and proposed language until it's aded by aailable in possible okay great thank you the general conclusion Bron I think was we didn't want to adopt never right not attemp to get it perfect to kind of flag things that we policy committee members have different views and angles at flag is wait we need right and I think my thinking was I didn't want to sort of have to throw questions at the policy committee if it was something where I could just look at the language oh okay I get I get what's going on there and you'll see when you go in you'll see that there's policies from school boards that there multiple anded that good J okay uh bullet 13 Finance fa Transportation comme report that would be um we met on January 21st uh all members are attendance um first agenda item was the 2526 budget uh Katie gave us an update um basically just to letting us know it's underway it's in the process um there's still a lot of information that she's waiting on to to get kind of clear projection but she's to get quickly in the process so um the second item was we talked about capital projects and the long range facility plan um oh for the um for Polytech uh and I don't know if this was reported out yet but the amount of students that we will be getting from polych is going to be 70 uh the original assumption was 100 so it is less um there was some kind of brief discussion about that that's happening and um the possibility that it's until the programs get running uh then they can advertise so we're hoping that in the future that'll grow to to the expected 100 or or possibly more um and that they we would be meeting next week to continue the contract negotiation um the long facility plan is in the works final draft will be put together um that uh and that'll be shared with with the uh with the group after it's completed um this is something that's done every five years and is required on the state to be done every five years um and we should be proactive in getting that done so it's there's two items on that L range facility fund that Katie is recommending uh to be completed next year and that's some issues district office the HB the handicap accessible ramp and a new walkway along the football field uh and then at North hundon there's a a spot in the back um near the Sal that's um the rain off the run off from the AP L was causing some major erosion so getting ahead of that so doesn't continue cause more damage so those are the two projects she's recommending um the New Jersey energy CLE uh Grant um this is the work that we've been work we've been working with hungwell on um it's been a great project they've done a great great amount of work this is kind of at the tail end um I think we said that by the end probably by the end of the semester be the thirdd item was the business office staffing continuity so you just reported on the repl assant dou CH starbrary and the assistant ba will be starting on um on the agenda items um the fft committee reviewed them and recomend approve questions on I had a question um because I saw in the minutes and I'm actually interested too what is what was the the topic of discussion regarding parking at Bieber I don't know I mean Rich he was concerned to talk yeah sure so um a resident had brought to my attention that um they were parking at Beaverbrook because they were not a senior and paying to park at Beaverbrook it happened to walk across potentially dangerous uh conditions to get to the school so I mentioned that hey do we know exactly or do we have is it Quantified how many of the spaces reserved for seniors are actually being taken and if there's any spaces available if there may be from some sort of Lottery system or whatever just to make sure that we're using all the spaces you know how parents potentially avoid a safety issue there or uh they're they're actually paying Diva Brook I think it's $75 a month the pay there so I just brought it up and to see if there was any possible solutions put it on I think Rich reported that he wasn't aware that was going I can um outside of this we're trying to still find out who an exact contact is we finally find a form that students are filling out but there's no there's no name there's no phone number it's um little CL Destin so we're trying to figure out who's making money off this and because the reality of it is they should not be you know this is an unsafe environment for students to get from that Park lot to our Park lot we would usually have it in springtime um when I was over at building I would you know we would always have to crack down on it around the springtime P of police would always help us by going over and take even warnings you know to start with and then need be ticketing um you know but if they're paying for it and it's within the code you know the are we talking about the parking lot at where like the shops at building any other side of our head all right it's not in it's just it's not it's not development people it's that complex that I that's not 100% clear that's where they're parking yeah in the comp it's just not 100% clear who's charging them so that's what we're trying to we have some research to do and we're still do and if it ends up being an enterprising student after the disciplinary action maybe an recommendation but from that same standpoint have we thought about whether um to create a better environment for students to travel from there to the high school if we were willing to use some of this place at that we did actually um years when when the poch project started jum whatever you want um Katie and I actually worked with um the property manager for that who was um negotiating with us to um have parking over here we said we could use you know anywhere between 50 and 100 parking spot so number one they wanted $75 per month for parking spot so like 75 grand a year so still the when we talk to our Architects about building a a safe ramp between that um number one the property line half of the headro is on you books property line Happ is sort of complicates it because we have to have two Property Owners permission to do it number two as a school obviously would have to be handicap accessible um by the time we looked at the scope of the project it was and and and and what's turned out is you know even with construction going out we don't even have the parking yet that polych will provide um we're still okay you know Greg did do I Dr Cell to do an analysis of parking on the campus um I can sure that commit next month if you like uh but basically you know how many spots do we have how many are used or how many do we have to at least have reserved especially you know we can't use every single spot every day it's not possible we have events like blood drives and things like that where we need um some parking to be able to host those events so there are some days the parking lot might look like there's some empty spots and there's other days it doesn't um and it varries back and forth and we have to make sure that we ensure that we have a spot for every senior has always that you know we don't want a senior who gets their license in March of their senior year to not have a spot because we other so it's not an easy topic but we are working on it we're going to get some more answers soon as possible one other question and if we had discussed this before maybe I missed it with this uh Polytech cohort of now 77 who I'm assuming that cohort is goingn to be a freshman cohort all right and I I guess I don't know how are we looking at impacting uh scheduling and class sizes and things like that as those numbers are coming in those are things we're starting to adjust now class size will be the issue doing Tall probably the end of middle of February right preliminary feary end of February there um and um you know once we do those tallies we determine how many sections we need we're going to see how these students impact that um as far as the scheduling they will go through a normal schedule but part of their rotation will be prob discuss I just have a point um Katie um had put in our Drive uh photos of some of the finished projects so if some of um and so this is a proposal to basically say that required by law you have to include the schools in some brokering of that deal or being the recipients of something from that it is it's file code 3210 so um and Verona had proposed it so exactly it hadn't been in the past but going forward the proposal is that all um with the under the new pilot all new has to have a communication between school districts and the stakeholders along with the mun that are are graning these variances for development because sometimes those deals will be 10 or 15 years long and the school is not getting anything from exactly yep yep that came out of delegates so um so that was kind of exciting so that part of the whole um we'll have that also um because as a district we're seeing the growth out here um so it'll help us in our strategic planning you know for five years out um and was does anyone else have any other questions I just have a question on that so in the context of the demographic study that we're going to be doing does it make sense to get any input from the municipalities as to whether they have approved plans for the developments so we actually that was one of the options we elected to um get from our demographer okay and so he's looking at I think he calls it an advanced um building planning okay analysis good so they're looking at all future developments that proposed and approved okay great study is started the study has started it took a little while just to get all the data um from everybody that we needed to get it from uh a lot of our semi districts and we work with them um but now that we have all the data he he has everything in his hand that he needs as I believe a week ago and so I anticipate you know probably maybe next month if not next month another good question um obviously it's a it's a district strategic plan when we do the community engagement is it was it discussed at all is that you know like are these meetings we have two high schools and you know there's a lot there's overlap a lot but there can be two different communities is there going to we going to try to embrace that or we going to try to keep that you know make sure it doesn't happen yeah you could um talk we want to so I think the idea is I at first I I when you said two different meetings I thought are we going to have two like one meeting with Bill the next but um the way it was explained to me is that they would be basically be the same meeting um and he would take the input from both of those meetings one of them was at or and one of them is at North it might be more convenient for someone very than one ores but they're going to have the same amount of input as someone would have from North and or it might just be that somebody can't make it on the Tuesday night they come on a Thursday night so they can go to either school it's not school spefic but is he's going to collect the data um the quality of data from these meetings U for it'll be the same data that he's collecting can and then one of the recomendations was also to reach out to the boards of the k um so that we have so we're trying to find as much input from all of our stakeholders so um that was one of the recommendations to have at least some those boards or someone of that board participate in our our as weild strateg and I also mentioned that our superintend articulation past Friday andbody said they definitely um help us getting information out to their parents because again if somebody has a student in sixth or seventh grade this is really important for them to be involved yeah and we have an RSVP right yes RSVP so we'll have to work your departments getting the communication out there once we get that stakeholders will probably that and one of the questions that came up brought about RSB that make sure that stakeholders are part of our community it doesn't matter what category in our community are but that you're invested in the the district so the 12 sending districts U the schools um you not getting input from outside our community I think it's great because it's going to show a sense of unity with the community and and being able to you know get those positive changes and feedback that we need to go forward for a strategic plan for the next five years prev strategic plan model simar meeting at both schools uh the last one that that we actually did we didn't have any meetings it was it was a a short verion that school Court's Office a 3 model and I think there was one virtual one I participated and definitely had a meeting at both but I don't remember which year that was and there was one maybe so we we we've definitely done it that way the last one was like sort of a let's we didn't finish a lot of the um we finished the plan we done the previous time so we just did the 3D model to try and contine goals this is great that it's having it's extended to both schools inclusive and it's great for like you saids we can't get there one meeting and we can go to any meeting like if we were in that area we could be at oror and vice versa that's perfect I can add to because when I was at Workshop in October I attended a strategic planning session and they showcased Denville school districts um way of marketing which were applying a lot this year but what really caught my eye was the students were involved in creating a video to to capture everybody and and then I guess for our next meeting I don't know we when they talk about a slogan something so um as a whole we should come together figure how we want to Market it yeah that's something I we talk abouted right from the beginning just do that put of the exles they surve T can I just tap in on the committee and just mentioned new can we can we add the meeting time on there time of the meeting because when you go in you don't know okay yeah we were Jour we started right at 6 6 p.m yeah we started right at 6 and at 645 but we'll put it on the front thank you very much yeah okay it's exciting I'm excited that very ex and it's also based off the pillars of the qack which is very and then the other thing that we have we vote on what we didn't discuss in committee is our um overnight um approving field trips so we've got two we have War's High School Key Club is going to Asbury Park for the convention and the north Hunter High School Youth and government Club is going to the uh youth the government conference in East Brunswick both in April so we need to approve that so they they can attend okay I need to call for motion second on the floor for uh 14.1 overnight field trips second so that was uh and all in favor I any needs or exensions okay delegates reports uh T so I touched upon the one but um is it right we create a folder because the is really large um everyone has access to it under your school board you can go into U the delegates and you can read the whole it's like 180 Pages um but the summary of what was voted on um but I'd like to be able to just move it over so you don't have to it's an our folder on each delegate hand right absolutely um so there had been uh six um seven uh resolutions that had been proposed and that was one of the other things we haven't Bo but in the future if there's something that we want to propose on changing verbage or something like that within the bylaws or the resolutions of school boards we as a board can do that we just would have to do a formal submitting of the process so um there were uh seven resolutions that were submitted more than that but seven that were voted on and they Whittle it down um six have been approved one has been approved um there was um a change to by laws pcon County but um one of the ones that resolution number two uh was proposed and we brought this up um about this uh newspapers and that's so we are allowed to the resolution was approved to do uh electronic notices and that includes all notices both for um but not limited to regular meetings special meetings and public hearings it doesn't have to be in printed newspapers so that was um out of resolution number two and it was approved by the delegate Association um one of the other ones from K Timmy origional was um excuse absences for military elist so New Jersey has required absences and students that are partaking in military training and that that have to be absent it won't be held against them so that resolution was approved um so we have any students in the future that are committing to the military and have to be out for training they're not going to be uh dinged for not you know being for the absence to graduate um the one that I brought up and this one will be interesting and I thought Dan your committee can take a closer look at the one it's the resolution for um out of Verona regarding payment and L of taxes and starting forward there has to be communication between the municipalities um the towns and school districts so that way we're aware of any type of big large developments coming that may impact us um and then there was a couple others um that it was just on uh verbage um in the the handbooks but no other changes to BU and everything is in there and there's a summary but I'll make a folder so if anyone wants to read through the whole resolution well actually they meet twice a year and I think Taran and I have really I think be able go you guys should go it's worthy to hear um other boards discussions a lot of boards posing you know resolutions and that's something we can do we can use that so that platform so something especially now that we're using school boards as policy you know when we want to make changes we'll propose it and they'll make the change to the policy that school boards I mean ours a tailor to ourselves and School Board always um maintains um like local Boards of Education to exercise existing statutory Authority develop curricula that refle un distinct needs of all students residing in their communities and support state educational standards but if there's a big change we can make a proposal and then the whole delegate assembly will vote on it so it's kind of nice to get the feedback from many many stakeholders thank you L there's a lot of good stuff lot of me um um okay moving forward uh 15 um is delegates reports we're just finishing I just want to mention that Thursday January 30th this week is the H hunon County uh school boards meeting so if you haven't registered you want to you can register online at schools um number 16 uh Personnel uh that would be Christina the Personnel committee met virtually last Wednesday and everybody was in intendance January 22nd and we discuss the personel agenda thank you um and now that brings us to uh Point 17 uh I am looking for a motion in a second to adopt resolution 02825 D4 to appoint Bush Law Group as general counsel Magno Law Group as special counsel discussion I'll make motion sorry excuse me motion and a second sorry we have a motion I'll second and we um as the chairman of the facility of finance and transportation committee uh this is an item that I would have expected to come to our committee for discussion I know it was brought to the administration prior to our fft meeting so I I was curious why it wasn't uh brought to the meeting so I reached out to you Kim and asked why it wasn't brought I don't even understand why it's here or what were why it's being proposed um you did respond but you didn't answer any of the questions um I said that we would have the opportunity to discuss it today um my concerns are that this is not our standard practice this is not what we normally do doesn't follow our prop procedures normally this is something that we go to committee we discuss the committee I I have no issue with P Law Group and if this is something we want to look at then we should use our proper process that we've always done that we've always followed I don't understand what the emergency is that we need to make this decision so quickly and without any information I would assume that the board members that are new who have no history with uh the attorneys they I don't even know how they would vote because they have no information and we don't even know what it's why we have this resolution here so it ask that you talk about that I'm also concerned about the cost to transfer from one attorney to the other um we would have to comango would have to transfer all current issues and information that's going on to the new attorney so we'd be paying countless hours to two attorneys to transfer all that information it would be very costly and on a contract that's only has another six months on it um so I'm concerned about the cost um you know I spoke to I was concerned because I wasn't getting a response so I reached out to Gwen and asked her what the Gwen from SBA and asked her what standard practice is and she said to me that the proper you know standard practice is to go to committee the committee recommends a change then we would go to the administration superintendent we then to the ba we RFP she feel was physically physically responsible to choose between just two attorneys there going be another attorney out there that's even better pricing or more efficient um also was there any kind of if it's because of cost was it was there any study done about how efficient Kango is versus Bush you know how many hours do they commonly do on you know there's a whole lot of discussion that never happened and you're expecting us to vote on this none of us know why it's here I know the um this was brought to the um Administration by you the resolution was drafted by you it was not from the administration I believe it's the Ba's prerogative to make Financial if it's a financial decision I don't even know if it is I believe it's the ba prerogative to make financial decisions not the board to direct the and make financial decisions that's why we hire the um so um I would I would like to know if if you could comment on why this is here and why would you proper procedure I can comment it was brought as you all know uh you can look to your policies uh 0164 are board meetings the board president and the superintendent create the agenda it is my it is in executive board's perview to ask for a a resolution to be put on the agenda the resol resolution that you see on the agenda is not to release Mr comegno or Keno's firm it is to switch the roles of our councils so we're new board new year as you were speaking to we six months in going out for RFP can be timely lengthy and can we have two um firms here representing us and Bush as Katie kest has helped us in cases and worked with us and we look at first and foremost I'm looking at costs as a district we're moving into a time where monies are tight um our superintendent has even said 70% of our administrative our administrative costs we have to be very fiscally that was one and I will answer your question for that over three years with uh kegal laws firm we went from initial fee of $175 an hour to $225 an hour that's a 28% increase with bush law we started at 175 an hour to the present 180 an hour the resolution States it's right there for you to read that the rate uh Bush law as general counsel effective mediately at the rate of 180 per hour for attorneys and $5 an hour for paral legals whereas with the Magna Law Firm it is at the rate of $225 per hour for partners and shareholders 195 per hour for associates and $100 per hour for paral legals it is a cost savings to The District in one two we're not losing the services of Mr KGO or kamno Law Firm they will be on board for special counsel so all of the cases that Mr cno's firm is working on will he'll continue to work on as well as we have an Ethics um we have members on the board that are affected by I don't think that's that's no it is not no not actually it we don't have a lawyer here that we don't have a lawyer here we will have the for in ability you can talk to me speak to me we're having a conversation but I don't want you to discuss it any further I given legal advice from Council from Bush it is public to state I'm not there's no names being discussed there is a there is a ethics complaint on the board and Mr comegno is servicing that it is a potential you look at Optics potentially of the district that has a conflict of interest to the rest of the board or the board as a whole so that is why we've asked we're in the middle of the year not to go out for RFP to switch the roles of the council this way before you laugh we know under excuse me we are in a public session we allowing one person at a time okay everybody can have their turn there's not a problem with that we want to hear you we want to hear I don't need you to we just heard this to G she as you to stop I ask you to stop I ask everyone please it's Civility and deor we are adults here we can have conversations that is why it is here on the table right now for the full board to have this discussion I would appreciate that every single board member speak in their term and their time and and just speak to me there's no reason to cackle be caty or name calling or other it's inappropriate can you respond about the wasn't brought to the mft comme or anyone else also it does not have to go through committee that's what we do that's our standard practice that's what we always it does not have to go through a committee why did you choose not to go and the choice the choice after discussing with the executive board we had a discussion we we talked with um Administration and looking at the servicing of fees looking at the situation we we didn't want to go out for RFP that makes no sense go out for RFP right now there's no need change if the board chooses to go out to RSP when the contract is due in the spring we can do so and we can go through the process and we can before the resolution was put on the agenda why was it not brought to F I'm not talking about RP we didn't even get to talk about it to decide if we want we're talking about it now why go to commit it doesn't have to go to because I don't know anything about this and you wouldn't tell me it doesn't have to go to Jess Dan's talking to me so let's do one at a time it does not have to go through committees and it doesn't have to go if it goes through committee it doesn't have to go through fft so we're abandoning all standard practice no we still we practice we have committees as a whole policy1 155 drives our committees there's a structure there are there is rol responsibilities for the chairperson but why did we change our standard policy why are we we didn't change standard policy why I'm sorry why are standard practice we always go to committee even when this this was brought up by Nicole previously we decided at that meeting that if we thought it was something we wanted to do we would go to committee to discuss that a committee why are we not practicing okay this nothing to do with individual board members no you're bringing up you're bringing people's names up and I'm not here to to defend your position with a board member I'm talking about a previous previous motion where we and I apologize using your name previous motion where we brought it up and we said we should send this to committee to discuss and that is what we always do and you're circumvented you're completely around and and and then not telling me anything about this policy which should be going through the fft it doesn't have to go through f i it doesn't have to but so Dan let me ask you this that was a conversation you had with the ba and the ba shared that information with you and then you that it would go that there could potentially be something in at that tap and then you proceeded to ask further questions and and Katie spoke with you again and at that point correct she she had we spoke because we were having the meeting um so I reached out to her to talk about the agenda she said oh and by the way there's a potentially talk that we might want to switch attorneys it may come up in next month's effectiv I said oh okay she was just giving me a later in the week she said I don't want you to be blindsided it's now going to be an agenda item on the agenda she said so I will let you know I want to apologize because I did tell you some information at the beginning of the week I didn't want and I just wanted to make sure you weren't talk about and in Pre in previous in the years I've been here as well previous yes it's it's been in an FF Comm committee if things have going to FF T but they don't have to the president and exec board can can request to have that put in the who the exective Pres president is EXA you should know I'm just so so the the question is did You relay this concern to the administration to the superintendent and yes and did they get the chance to go to Kango and ask them to to revise their I renegotiate I spoke with Dr bjack and I'm assuming Katie is Dr BJ's um employee that's not my role to speak to Katie and Dr BJ wasw yes were they the opportunity to renegotiate we're not renegotiating contracts we're not entering into any renegotiations we're not changing the contract can I question does the contract state that Kango is our primary attorney and or is it two identical contracts between Bush and comegno um and will they have to be modified in order to switch the role from special counsel to primary Council so don't about contracts um well we have to have new contract signed because now someone's in a primary position versus a special position and if we're resigning contracts why wouldn't we go to the full contract need to be amended and there is termination Clauses in these cont I make it clear that these are not at the recommendation of administration what will the penalty be for breaking our contract there should be penalties with the breaking of the contract but I haven't had the time to even look at that I think I'd like to put a motion on the table to table this until we find out what the since this is a fiscal uh since this is a fiscal solution or a fiscal you're telling us that this is they're doing this for fiscal rates if there's a financial penalty to the district for canceling or terminating our contract early we should have that information before we make this decision you know the information I I have been in touched with Mr B I spoken as well VA spoken to assuming Administration no I spoke to John just to let him know that this was going to be happening yeah and I did to I didn't ask his legal advice not legal advice but we have a contract we signed a contract in January to have service or signed a contract at last June or whatever it was to have Serv run through June 2025 if we break that contract there is a penalty to the district it is a financial penalty why are we breaking a contract uh 6 months into a contract what is the eminent reason what is the justification for switching the the roles and now incurring a financial penalty saving $50 an hour it's not it's we have it does and we have an attorney at every meeting we do not need an attorney at every meeting the job of the the we do not do not the job of the attorney is not to mediate between board members being disgruntled at the board table but we're not we could easily change that we could easily say we would like it that you not come to every meeting and we designate the ones that they come to that also addresses the issue but we haven't even proposed that because we weren't given the opportunity to speak well that's something that we can address in board Norms we're going to have that board Norms with us with Patricia and we can we as a board can decide operation uh procedures operational procedures changing you're changing what we're having an ATT now we're no longer are you telling us we're no longer going to have an attorney at every meeting I said the attorney does not have to it doesn't have to be but if we're if we're incurring hours in future meetings are you now not going to have the attorney at our our meetings to financially save us money is that your decision my recommendation I mean this is a this is an impact to the entire District we had we had a discussion we did have a discussion who excuse me who board leadership did mean you shouldn't have put this on the agenda if you didn't expect this to happen period expect to be attacked I expect because nobody knew about this do what I expect is to have Civility toor and have a conversation that's what we're having enre what that is what we're having here a discussion I'd like to I'd actually like to revisit my motion or I don't know point point I was just going to make a point of order there's actually been a motion in a second to table if we take the motion and there's a second we have to take a roll call vote on that and if that does not if that fails it will go back to the main motion and we can continue to discuss we haven't have enough we don't have enough information to make this decision so I know what Ved right we have a contract that run the end June that we would be in of if we change things I think the motion is to get more information I'm just trying to my motion is to table this motion so that it can go through proper process we can investigate if there's a fiscal penalty for this so that we can and then we go and then we make a decision based on that but right now it doesn't there's there's no discussion from what I'm aware it's a 30-day Clause there's a 30-day in the Contex what's a 30 30-day um notice and we're not there's no notice to we're not resending a contract we are not we are modify and we don't know fiscally what how that will impact the district so my question is this so you're more concerned about a small fee for switching the contracts in of $50 an hour not a small fee just it's not thousands it's thousands to get the other law fir up to date to get all the files transferred over that they have even if they're not current get everything up point of order point of order we have a motion the second to table this discussion through committee to get information that has to be the motion we aoll V to table to further discuss so to table item s no Mr yes Dr yes no yes Mr yes Mr yes yes okay no that's right there that's how a board's supposed to work I will ask that we y soing this we will have this discussion moving into committee okay I make a motion I need a second to move it into every committee to have a discussion so I'm sorry I'm not understanding what the motion is I'm motioning Dan has it an fft I'm making a motion to have an this discussion continues so everyone's pervy to it and have it in every committee next month next month I need a second first Nicole is the motion first you're the second just a question though again going back to the way we typically work is that it goes to the fft it does not have to go to fft understood okay but we would in other situations where we discussed contracts for Professional Services they have gone to fft there are committees here where it's not relevant to have this conversation so my question is why would we have every committee discuss it separately where there is no overlap why wouldn't we have fft or another committee discuss and provide a recommendation overlap is all board members will be pring and and contributing so transparent it's in all committees listen so it's it's appropriate for like Community to have a discussion about our the motion is on the floor second we're having a discussion and and I'm saying okay there was a motion of support for it so I I that's that is my um asking for that I think it should be in committee so you have a motion and you have a second so we need aoll this is disgusting so I I like the idea that because I've always been frustrated by individual committees that you're not on but there is every other piece of business that we do that does not have occur as board as a whole basically you're asking for this discussed as a because it's committee and everybody's on one Comm affects all of I have BEC quum because it's the same topic that's why we have committees and it's not a quum in the committee it's not a forum in the committee discuss so there's overlap and she just pointed out that if you meet like if we have an email train she just said and you there was us but then we forward it to three more of our board members pretty soon we met a forum on the same thing that would violate the same thing of sunshine sunshine law would be open violates open public record act so if we're all discussing it but in separate committees on separate days it's still cor because we're all discuss what what we can do Tera uh we can bring this to to uh Council and we can request that to we look that yes I mean she just what council are we bringing to our Council it will go to counsel andoun at the point in time it is still you'll be utilizing I just want to discuss more because she just went over presentation and what you're doing by putting the same topic to be discussed by every board member in separate commit would constitute the board as a whole so we either do it in public and have it discussed it goes into the committee with we our committees are waited also who makes I mean it would be really nice to have an attorney here to discuss this do it's just not an open discussion there I'm wondering we want more information right that clear so can we bring more information to a regular meeting and then discuss it that way we all discuss it um I agree with these committees and I think very important and it does have to do with everybody this has to do with everyone we're a board so we all should be privy to our attorney conversations I would comment that we do that with every item It's Not Unusual we we have committees that are tasked of making a recommendation discussing investigating ask the right questions make a recommendation comes to the board the board and then opens up for discussion and at that point so it's not that anything is actually kept from the board as a whole to vote on and to ask questions about it it's just that we adopted a this board has adopted a strategy whereby we have committees who are on point and they bring back so and I would argue anything related to academics is far more important to the actual purpose of this board than than which law firm is you know sitting in the chair but we don't worry about having every academic discussion happen at every committee because we have this approach where we have a committee that's pass with talking about that and bringing you back to the board and the board I support that that sense I mean I think the last time we did this it was in done in special committee if I remember correctly where we had right but I mean we vetted we had a half dozen or a dozen attorney firms that respond to RFB we we read through every response we' picked our highlighted ones we've interviewed every attorney firm we made down we came down to our recommendations the board waited and we made our recommendations and we and we decided on our decision um we didn't put it as an agenda item with no discussion because we had that why Finance because I I am the one to present to you Professional Service cont and it makes sense that with the money that we spend to a professional service vendor that we go through um a process that's deliber and RFP allows me to go out to the public and solicit proposals from any legal services vendor that's interested in our business and I can then submit that to a subcommittee which is what we did last time um and allow that subcommittee to have all of the information for any legal services firm that's out there that's interest in our business and it makes it Equitable and fair and for the policy that we have so that's why we've done that in the past and that's why I would recommend that in the future someone moving just to answer that ktie on o policy 0174 it does not have to go out for RFP and I think the board you you obviously know that but I think there's board members that do not know that and what what I'm looking at here at sitting coming in and sitting it's board operations it's looking at being incl and being transparent and letting everyone have a discussion and that's why it came to the table because we weren't we weren't relinquishing we weren't firing we weren't uh taking um either attorney we were just switching the roles because of those two items financials just so Professional Services I'm a school architect I've been in front of many boards and the reason Professional Services are not low bit like a low bait contractor like contract because you want the best value so it's not we shouldn't just select the cheapest attorney I should be selecting the best attorney and so that process has already happened and this is who in commment was the one that was selected nothing's changed since then we we still have the same you're you're switching to a lower a firm that we didn't select just because they're cheaper but we did we do have a contract with no I do what I'm saying is we have both counil they we have contract both so it's it's literally changing RS we don't do that we already we've already done cont yes she can't answer you I can tell you it is okay I did speak with special counsel I spoke with Mr Bush about such and and I advis that we we can do this Mr Bush did speak with um Katie on the resolution so I didn't wrath the resolution Dan as that as as POS and those were concerning to me and that as a as as the board executive board we do have to work we have to have an advoc relationship and work with the attorneys and that we would have both attorneys we're just switching the roles no one's you know we're cases like everyone saying oh we're not they're not going to be updated they're not have the cases he would be apprised and those cases would continue and Mr carry on with those cases we've already Ted this's the Flor item to all committees I have to resend that so I resend that motion well the first that was we're talking about BR uh just brought up the opportunity to have a what it would actually be a special meeting and we would just have that that bring the data to the table and have to discuss we wait just a minute Jessica again I didn't I have a pole in front of meim I sorry so when you refer to data we don't have data all you have are rates which goes back to Dan Point our policy 174 actually calls for an RFP or something similar if we're going to change Legal Services I I can read it to you a Del okay well I can tell you that a deliberative process means using careful thought and having discussion when making decisions you need to have data and information to do that and I agree with Dan cost should never be the only but you not conducting a firm you're not conducting AAR to understand what the capabilities of their legal services are necessarily if you want to compare just the two then they should come back to us hit us the same way that they did back in 2020 2020 and we compare the two or we open it up again his law firms Chang so I don't think that you can just come out with the rates and use that as to have a special session of the committee that's not the way we have a transparent and fair discussion about the law firm that is going to provide us with primary legal services that are to the benefit of our students it's not for us it's for them so when we do have legal questions that we need to ask for our students that we feel that we have the best law firm to provide us with that guidance not Che well then I I make a motion to have a um separate would have a discussion we can invite the attorney then at that point I am requesting to have both attorneys come to um a meeting and we can have an open dialogue and we can have discussion collect data everybody can can ask the questions they feel relevant um and be heard and will we give them the they should get the same questions of what we're going to be seeking so you can do a proper comparison of the two law firms and services we're going ask them to come in here and talk to us it will be a board meeting so I would expect the committee would to discuss what those questions should be this is New Territory for me as well I I am not aware you know lawyers coming doing presentations we usually go out for RP they prepare the materials they give it to us review it and make decision based on that last questions that we presented to them collaboration of that entire sub everyone on questions don't if would actually come out present don't I'd like to request we have some to inv that we have right a meeting and we invite the attorneys I ask the administration look into that and speak with both off we do already have a set we have set of questions but of course the board we can look into questions esta a set standard of questions I know I was on that committee um when we went through um and even if you go into the file that shows the responses that we got back then um you can you can pretty much determine what the questions were because the responses are I'm sure we have those questions questions that's what was done in the RP like I'm kind of confused by this whole process it question so the the the two we have two contracts he you've said before that we can request special councel anytime we have a question or something that we want to BCE off so if everything Remains the Same are we able to work with Bush when we have certain questions that we were trying to figure out absolutely do you go to them when when there's conflict well the board president has authorized they are not comp so what is the definition of a special counsel and what are they used for what would we ti What would the what was the what is the purpose of a special counsel and picking and choosing on the day-to-day business who what can what attorney we want to represent us in an answer um there should be a process and a and a standard in place that on that we can expect to find that our information who is who is Kim going to go to to answer and how will we know that it's Bush or kedo if she has the opportunity to flip-flop so when we went out for RFP last time we had the option of appointing general counsel and then a conflict counsel or special Council right the reason why we didn't do conflict council is because then you can only use Bush when there is a conflict so when you appoint Bush as a special counsel you can then use them for other times where you feel like they would better expertise maybe like maybe there's an area that power issue they maybe they couldn't cover a certain case or a certain date or you know you could kind of defer back to the other Council so again it's still um still the ability to use them in both of those same capacities the only time we have used Bush isn't a conflict type issue and that was when was representing municipality you need to go and negotiate that tuition contract the state we have used Bush extensively and we don't really have any experience with them at all no I mean our board has no experience with them other than the RFP that was done five years ago but administratively we have the yes at the board level now no but they were interviewed they were at special counsel they are attained by our district as special councel and there has been engagements and workings with Administration so so so Katie when a board member requests when there's an issue and item agend on the table for for uh further discussion and wants to um make a motion this is necessary to make a motion to go to special councel or can they ask to have Council special councel look at the agenda I would policy as to what board members requesting there's C coun well there was a request back in was June I to for it was when we were looking at rfps and there was a request for that I think and there was no return response there was no there was nothing it was deing fell fell on De ears that's a shame because it's it's hard but the president doesn't respond to a email on a typ basis um I can I say why are we having ATT T can I say something here because there was I think there was an answer that was given and you don't need to know the reason why she was not available I didn't ask her why were you talking what is your point Jessica where are you going Sor is really ladies ladies Jessica I need to stop do we need to stop the meeting do we need to stop yes we can now there's no motion on the floor Rich lordy was had a question thank you what a what a first meeting huh congratulations so this is what they warned me about um one kind of a statement and it maybe a general observation and we kind of hinted or discussed before when we had the presentation listen I'm all for open discussion in in dialogue and transparency and especially the process right that's I'm all for that so and and I'm receptive to having more information on this topic um but I'm absolutely disappointed to see the conduct here I mean I think we're all above taking personal I mean this seems personal for people I mean personal shots and digs and screaming I mean come on I mean we're here for the kids regardless of what the topic is we should all be able to articulate our points in a calm and composed manner without taking shots at each other digs and and insults and screaming over each other so that's just one statement or observation I want to get now uh in regards to process listen I ran on process I ran on transparency so I I I would like to say and this is no dig at anybody is that if everyone knows when I spoke at that Podium right there I questioned the process about the hiring of the superintendent so that seemed rush to me here so I don't I'm not on board with anything um when I don't have the information or it doesn't seem like um the board is has enough information to make an inform decision so I think it's been discussed um here that there is an appetite for at least some some additional information um I don't see a problem with that so one of the questions I I did have just being new so um it seems the appetite is for this to go to fft if I if I'm hearing everyone correctly that's that's typically what do now what happens if theom comes out of fft but not everybody on fft agrees we're going to be right back in the same spot we are right now correct or am I am I not understanding what the process is I think at that point there would be presumably more information an informed process an informed discussion that ultimately takes place and then gets voted upon and then as the training just before suggested you live with the results of the vote so we would we we would be back in this position that we are right right now with with others feeling satisfied that they have more information am I understanding that correctly yes okay thank you I think more information but I think it's about the conversation that's transparent and it's not that that our committees we don't trust them because we do right and that's how we're set up right but I think especially in light of this discussion and what's happening here this has to happen again right with more information that's what I'm saying but if it goes first to a committee and then back here well we're going to miss that discussion but that if they formulate questions others might still have questions so so the way I'm thinking about it is that information is going to be gathered and then we're coming back here like we are now share the information well we'll have the information there'll be minutes though of that meeting there will be minutes of that but that's not the same no it's not it's not the same given in light of what's happened here that everyone is pretty it seems like um vested in wanting to be in the conversation and in the moment um is what I'm seeing and I I I mean personally I trust the committee um process last time we had a special Committee just for this and with um you know representation uh the that went out and did the interviews and gathered and reviewed and poured through rfps we're not going to RFP but essentially we are between these two firms so we we have never worked as a board and I will tell you in my four years on the executive committee that I never once worked with bush not once I've only worked with um the primary attorney which was before it was comno to someone else and I can't remember what firm Brenda was in but um I have never worked with bush I don't other than to interview them to put them as second choice not as first choice okay and that was five years ago and I will Che though we did interview we went through the process it was narrowed down to a selection I think there were there were several candidates and it was narrowed down and that both and Mr Bush was selected the special so obviously we have full confidence in Mr Bush's uh law firm's capabilities to represent us but not on a daytoday primary basis he was not our choice for day to day but there's still no reason there still have no reason to switch Yeah so the point so the discussion's over the point I had just brought up and we're going to look into can we hold a a special a special meeting I think at this point this is board members are speaking to they want to see the process and they want to be privy to the questions so can I i' ask uh Dr B can can we reach out and see if this is even possible as board pres you call special meeting anytime you um as far as finding out if it's possible for the attorneys to come and speak to that committee as a whole that I last time didn't we go to when we went to RP I think I think it was during zoom and we had a special meeting and we asked questions of the attorney and all the board was present on Zoom no or not no they were not during it was not was the finalist interviewed on Zoom then maybe I'm trying to remember I think if I'm hearing Angela correctly and some other things one is I I don't know that there's the per se to invent a new process there's certainly an appetite to have it go through the traditional process of fft but if I'm hearing Angela correctly given sort of the the nature of the interests and in the conversation if that could be enhanced in some way where there's an opportunity to contribute questions to that committee's work to be furnished with a report of that committee's work that we could further get clarifying questions about your point so that we don't sort of do that to ultimately then have a lengthy conversation here I also but I don't the committee is needed to even formulate questions and how and I'm I'm sorry I I my experience on the board is committee on of the whole so I'm used to hearing everything and I will say to that thank you to very that it just um informed me very well in ways that you know I appreciate each work and the extra time everyone gives to their committee but there's something about when you're not there you know so so how I'm seeing it is that right now we we've had Community engagement we've had conversation and so if we get the information which is what I'm hearing we need information and it comes back everyone hears it we have the discussion and and it's transparent that's that's how I'm sort of thinking about this but you know and I also recognize there are um sort of practices that are in place too so you know but it gives us an opportunity again Community engagement have conversations getting information and it gives us a step and moving collaboratively right I I'd like to call special meeting and and request to see if it's possible to have both attorneys there's no reason um I have a question uh I need a motion in a second to adopt resolution 01222 for executive session discuss matters falling under category as reflected in the resolution theard Session foro 1 hour and upon return session action will be taken said e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay moving I need a motion oh g g thank you sorry you did say that to me um I need a motion in a second to reconvene public session second all in favor I any Nays or abstentions no I need a motion and a second to approve agenda items 20.1 through 20.3 with the exception of 2.1.2 and 4.1.1 oh sorry on 20.1 sorry my apologies on let me rephrase that I need uh motion a second to approve agenda items 20.1 through 20.3 20.3 with the exception on 20.1 2.1.2 and 4.1.1 second Dan and Beth and I need a roll call by m tno yes Mr Chapman yes Dr de so I'm abstaining on some items is this where I do that um we have 20 oop um it's the my name Z 2.4.2 got it on 20.1 and then I need to abstain from 20.2 very good Miss Galla yes Miss H yes Miss kran yes Mr Roy uh I'm going abstain from 20.2 yes on the other item yes on the other item got it Mr MAAC yes Miss Rees yes Mr Spanton yes Miss fata yes and Miss Lena yes okay moving on uh any old and new business I would just say as a matter of new business I didn't wanted to get lost that our superintendent is going to be presenting at the texo conference down the stretcher this week that's the administratives association about just technology integration into education uh and it's always sort of noteworthy when you've got District leadership presenting at Statewide conferences good to you thank you I'm excited it's tomorrow at 3:15 so um I I just have a gentle reminder new business um board members need to complete their financial disclosures um it's April 15th Katie and I new board and I'm included um but new board members had to do it earlier correct 30 days 30 days from the date of their appointment but I think we've already I think they're done right yeah any other old new business a motion a second to adjourn wait I have one question um I think it's a TK um when you presented the governor's teacher of the year um do the recipients ever attend the board meeting to get that recognition uh we have it in the past something we can talk about doing I mean um we we have had the county teacher year I believe when the county teacher year wi we have them come and we've had in the last seven years I think we've had three teacher and and if you attend those 100 in County school board meetings they recognize them in May right and yeah that's that's great too didn't know if we did it our anything to Cate absolutely okay any other discussion I need a motion and a second to adjourn move second all in favor any needs or extensions