##VIDEO ID:ciGwovNwjJU## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay North Hunter and bores Regional High School District Board of Education meeting on Monday October 28th 2024 is now called to order in accordance with the requirements of the open public meeting act njsa 104 d6x seek adequate notice of the meeting has been provided by submission of notice of the time date and location of the Hun County Democrat on October 24th 2024 notice and to extent know the agenda of this meeting have been posted at North Hunan high school and Vorhees High School provided to Municipal Clerks of betham Township Califon bur town of Clinton Clinton Township Franklin Township Glen Gardner burrow Hampton bur hybridge burough Lebanon bur Lebon Township tubry Township and Union Township as well as other interested parties and posted on the district website fire exits are located in the directions indicated a l to fire please move in a common orderly fashion to nearest smoke free exit please sign out your cell phones and iang need a roll call Miss pagno here Mr Chapman here miss Gallow here miss hin here miss kran here Mr M here Mr mik here miss Ray here miss selino here Mr Spanton here miss Fato here and Mr carban here FL hi Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all so we are here this evening to vote on making Dr Rich burx the superintendent of the north hund and Vorhees School District from November 20th 2024 through June June 30th 2028 Dr burjack gradu graduated from Trenton Trenton State College I'm sorry with a degree in technology education he joined the north Hunter and Vorhees District in 1999 as a technology coordinator and in 2020 2002 good talk tonight Rich was murdered to technology director for the district he held that position until 2009 when he was promoted to assistant principal of Wares high school then assistant principal at North hunon in 200 he was again promoted in 2013 to principal of North Hunton High School Rich held that position for four years until 2017 when he was made assistant superintendent of the north hund and VOR School District Rich has been Acting Superintendent of the district since July of this year which also HS a ma also HS a master of education earned in 2002 and a doctor of Education a degree he received in 2008 after attending Ruckers University in the education leadership degree program Rich has served this district for 25 years as one can imagine Rich has numerous accomplishments and successes given his long tenure with our schools these include he drove the initiative for all staff and students have laptops thereby providing greater educational opportunities for students and a connectivity with their teachers he implemented wireless networks to to allow laptop connectivity through the buildings he implemented the anti-bullying Bill of Right rights law he partnered with huning County Vocational School District to form the first of three full-time and County Academy programs he implemented the school of climate Improvement platform at the Inception we are now one of the founding districts using the state provided platform he enhanced security measures at our schools he successfully negotiated and agreed to a leas for the new full-time Polytech building currently under construction he added online tutoring programs to address student learning loss during the pandemic and maintained that program to ensure the continued success of our students he helped develop the lion PR Academy in the a autism programs at Vorhees rich is already driving our district towards the future in addition to developing the district's 2425 goals and objectives he and his team are actively developing our 5-year strategic plan rich is already engaging a professional consultant to conduct a demographic study to plan for the full future enrollment and needs of our district Rich knows our district and its needs and has conveyed to this board a vision for the future which includes developing a more efficient administrative structure that will provide academic support to ensure Student Success improving the high school experience by evaluating our current clubs activities Athletics developing a multilingual learner program that will benefit our students and strengthening our n9th grade transition program we are here today at the direction of this board of education this board recently expressed confidence in Rich by making him our Acting Superintendent through June of 2025 by making that decision we entrusted rich with many responsibilities including the development of our 5year strategic plan the development of our 2526 budget and the successful integration of Tech into North's campus Rich's superintendent contract that we are voting on tonight sets his salary at his current Acting Superintendent salary of $234,000 a year with straight 3% increases over the subsequent three years no bonus structures the contract sets forth annual reviews each year using in part the district goals and objectives as one measure of evaluation so at this time we open the opportunity for public comment so during the this portion of the meeting the public is invited to address the Board of Education with comments you are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and state your name Municipality of residents group affiliation if applicable and direct your comments to the school board president but all comments will be considered by the Board of Education and response may be forthcoming if in one appropriate individual school board members may not respond to the speakers at at the time of their appearance the public comment period will be a maximum of 30 minutes in length unless there are unusual circumstances you we allocate 3 minutes to speak and no one will be permitted to speak more than once 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 a level of deor appropriate for a public meeting where students may be present and in the audience good evening guys the mic's a little uh off here thanks for the opportunity to speak tonight my name is Richard lordy I'm from Union Township I'm here to share my concerns tonight uh with the special meeting to adopt the and ratify the the employment contract of Dr Richard berx as a new superintendent of the district given the significance of the decision I urge you to reconsider moving forward with the appointment tonight and instead pursue a more transparent thorough and inclusive approach to the superintendent search process a rush a rushed decision here risk overlooking crucial factors that could significantly impact our students facult and Community we all want what's best for our district I think there's no disagreement there Gathering input from all stakeholders that's parents teachers staff and community members can only help why we're not doing that or why the board is not doing that I'm I'm not sure but I want to be clear about something calling for a comprehensive search is absolutely not a criticism of Dr Berg and by no means calling his qualifications his credentials or his abilities into question an exhaustive search could well lead us back or lead the board back to Dr burx and affirming that he is the best candidate for the role however conducting a wider search would also allow us to consider a diverse a more diverse set of candidates who could potentially bring fresh perspectives and new ideas to the district this type of transparent open process would give the community full confidence that Dr burx is the right person to be chosen to move the district forward so I'm really here to address three main points here tonight and I'm sorry that I'm kind of rushing because I'm tight on time communication the advanced communication or that lack thereof announcing the meeting on a Friday for a Monday is a really tight window for the community to do their due diligence on what's actually going on here uh doesn't allow any members of the community the school the staff the tax pay payers adequate time to get informed or provide meaningful input on such a significant decision we need more time to take all factors into consideration for instance just a couple minutes ago the president mentioned the the terms of the contract which I just heard for the first time I'm assuming I don't I didn't see the contract posted anywhere if it was I missed it but we're all just hearing this now for the first time again I mentioned the search process why isn't the board conducting a more wider search that best uh cast the widest net for all candidates again it could it could only bring a more diverse set of candidates here and give us the best opportunity to find the correct person I want to bring up an important Point here the process here sharply contrasts with what the process is or was with hun Central I'm not sure if you're all familiar with it so it's a very comprehensive timeline that they put out with action steps and if I can I want to go over a couple of the steps January 4th Dr Jeffrey Moore announces his retirement March 18th the school board contracted with Haz Hazard young ate and Associates to conduct the superintendent church now here's what really caught my attention here page two as part of the engagement phase we will be conducting interviews and focus groups with all stakeholders we invite you to participate virtually in the links below they had two Zoom sessions two the first one being on April 17th 5:00 P p.m. to 6:30 p.m. the second being on April 24th 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. they Then followed that one up with an in-person focus group April 30th 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and lastly in addition to the many focus groups and interviews all stakeholders are invited to complete the hcrhs superintendent search survey to provide valuable input to the school board this is a complete contrast to what's going on here and I I'm just here to say Dr burx is under contract until June of 2025 why are we rushing time is on our side why not have a more exhaustive search why not use the time so I ask you guys please take this into consideration the third point and I just kind of touched on a little bit the timing I must say holding a special meeting eight days before an election with four seats on the ballot it's bad Optics at best bad Optics um it gives the impression that the board intends to make this decision without full Comm Community involvement or input from any potentially new uncoming board member additionally and as some of you may know this meeting tonight conflicts with the Union Township Board of Education meeting so it prevents any parent to be in two places at once so I'm not sure why this date and time was chosen but it just goes with everything that I've been speaking with the with members of the community about this being a rush process and I know I'm TI out time I'll leave you with this the last thing I want to say is that given that an Ethics complaint has been filed against this very board the public has every right and expectation for the board to be overly transparent this is the exact opposite of a transparent process thank you for the [Music] time the ments okay so need a call for motion and second to adopt resolution 10282 4-1 for executive session to discuss matters falling under category 8 as reflected in the attached resolution the board expects to be an executive session for approximately 1 hour and upon return to public session action will be taken second yes uh all in favor I I any opposed any extensions okay we're in executive session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right so I need a call for motion second to reconvene public session so mov Jess second Beth all in favor I any opposed any exensions we are back in public session I need a call for motion and second to ratify and adopt the new employment contract between the board and Dr R Richard bjx current Acting Superintendent of Schools approving Dr bjx as the superintendent of schools as approved by the executive county superintendent for the period November 20th 2024 through June 30th 2028 sove any questions or comments um I did want to share a few thoughts um recognizing you know just sort of the unique opportunity we're in um and also just being cognizant of some of the questions we've received about about the process um in my time in education I've worked with 15 superintendents in different educational or board capacities so I've seen as superintendents have been onboarded I've seen it done many many different ways um ideally you know you get an announcement almost a year in advance that a superintendent is retiring so that you can initiate and conduct a very thorough search before appointing someone the following year um I'm cognizant of the fact that the transition that we have gone through is atypical for for a number of reasons um but I will say also that I've been through a number of instances where you have gone through the search and that internal candidate who has either been doing the job or has been in a position to do the job has often been the candidate that that that search has landed on and it's understandable because that candidate knows the district the board know as that candidate um and there's a lot to be said for that knowledge because when you bring in someone who's new um there's a learning curve of Getting to Know A District which takes at least a year uh and often several years before someone can know the district and I think we have an advantage with um rich as being somebody who does really know the district in in from his various roles and and positions um I'm also cognizant of the fact that we had begun a strategic planning process and soliciting um bids for that that process recognizing that that's just important work for us going forward um and I think one of the things I was particularly cognizant of was that any further search at this point would delay that work possibly putting it out a year from now uh and I think we all sort of recognize and are eager to to do that very important work going forward um so there's there's something to be said for moving forward um with that also while a superintendent search definitely gets input from a community so does a strategic plan uh having participated in the Strategic plan here previously I know that was a series of meetings done over several months uh where all community members had opportunities to come and sort of chart the direction that the district would ultimately take if you recall our last strategic plan uh this little thing called the pandemic got in the way of that and and and that didn't continue but we are we do have an opportunity to to start that work a new so I think this idea is that we recognize we are poised to get a lot of input from the staff from the community from our constituents and the important thing about a strategic plan by Design is that it becomes sort of the main work and evaluative measure of the superintendent um and we're in a unique position where um Rich has sat as an interim for us not once but twice actually I believe once since I've been here once before I was here and obviously has facilitated the work at this table many many times in fact I'm coming up on my one-year anniversary and um Rich has been the voice at the table or The Presence at the table in all one of those meetings um which I think is also valuable and important um also for those who might be questioning is there a different candidate or another candidate out there it's important to notice that note that superintendents do not get tenure their tenure exists in as much as the contract exists and that charge of strategic planning and the work that would stem from that is something that we as a board will have to evaluate annually regarding the progress of of that work um as I said my experience here and and those of you on the board have even longer experience um of this board and some of you much longer experience of of the district also um which I think is important and those perspectives are important and I know are informing your decisions as well um I know in my time here I've been able to see Rich um engage in all that he's been asked to engage with he has dealt with challenges he has dealt with crisis um and he has done so so admirably and effectively um he's been able to find Solutions um and I would say to the audience or anybody listening who has watched this board um I don't think they'd be under any illusions that we get along on everything but it's something that Rich has been able to navigate and sort of Forge consensus opinions and resolutions through the questions he answers the solutions that he proposes um and so I commend him for that work um he has already begun to indicate to us what he would potentially seek to do in a leadership role and the ideas he has for moving the district forward that would hopefully feed directly into a strategic plan um that while we may get criticized for the Optics of a rushed process or a short time frame for communication that is certainly something that we can build into processes going forward or give that charge to to say we need to be at a place where the community understands why we're doing what we're doing um even when they may not always agree with this as well um so I guess I would ultimately be voting for this contract because I think it supports all of that work and with that plan and that charge going forward is is directly to support the students staff and and the community so um that's my point of view take take it as you will um but I did just want offer it as to why I would be voting in support of the contract thank you Brandon um one of the things that Brandon says I I think is really important and I really appreciate you sharing a lot of your Insight because I think coming from a teacher in a different School District I think you have a lot of information and a lot of the stuff that you said um really resonated with me and one of the things that I think is is very valuable because you know Rich has definitely been uh pretty much the superintendent every time that I've had concerns or issues with anything and um the main superintendent here also at the same meetings I think one of the things that I'm troubling with the contract is the fact that the community the faculty and the district did not have input um into this process um and I think that I I I kind of started feeling this way after we discussed this and uh I started some research and I I looked into it was Clinton Middle School they did a survey recently for superintendent um Hunter and Central did a research um for superintendent and got the information from you know the community on what they wanted in the leader um and as I believe Rich has all of the CR credentials to be in this position I'm struggling with the process more so than the person um of how the process has quickly transpired and um it just to me it doesn't seem that it's inclusive to the entire Community it might be inclusive to us and here um but that's one of the things that I feel strongly about is um especially as a leader of this District I think it's very important um and I think it helps a district and I think it helps the superintendent when the community is 100% And the board is 100% behind them um so I'm not saying that I don't believe that rich would not be one of the the best candidates for his position if it was opened um for interviewing but on on those kind of basis I don't know how I feel about pushing this contract through just wanted to say and friend then I appreciate your comments um you're much better speak of the me so I appreciate you saying all of that um I just wanted to reiterate that I agree with with what you were saying um but some of the things I wrote down were um because of of Rich's 25 years here um we we all know and I don't think there's any doubt that that he's highly respected and well regarded by the school administrators the staff uh and even the board members here um we've never heard anything to to the negative for that and I think that's our input that we're getting from from everyone I I understand the perception of and the process but we've heard heard you know from all the people that have been here for years and years um what they think of rich and so we know these things um I've I've worked with well over 20 districts in my on my business side I've worked with the school districts boards and superintendents um and the one thing I I see mainly in New Jersey is the turnover it's just constant turnover superintendent when especially when they're coming in from the outside they're just coming in in to to do a job and then it just it's just a revolving door and what you end up with is you don't there's no death there's no history there's no history there there's no um looking forward enough to get things done Rich has obviously dedicated his his career to this district and I think our vote of confidence to to uh continue with that relationship is something we need to do right away so yeah Dan I'd like to e on those comments also Brendan um very eloquent and I'm not going to try to top that um but I just want to say uh you know I guess I'm the longest serving board member here at this point uh I'm a short-timer not running for reelection so um but uh you know in this short time that I have left I just want to uh you know speak out that uh you know spent 12 years working with Rich different capacities um he's a homegrown uh uh son um been in the district for for a a long long time working his way up he knows where where the bodies are buried around here um you know we've hear nothing but good things from staff from uh um you know uh other administrators um so I I have no reservation in supporting this motion um I feel confident the voters from tuxbury and Califon have usted in me to make decisions benefiting this school district and I have no no doubt I have the confidence to make make this uh positive decision for for you know for the towns that I represent um I don't need to go back and uh tell people that you know well we did this and this and this they they you know they trust me they elected me you know go make a decision that's good for the school district don't delay something that can be taken care of right now continue our long-term planning just keep keep the ball rolling so I've uh you know going to miss working with you rich um but uh um that that those are my two cents and uh you know leave with that um I appreciate everyone's input Brandon Dan um I do have been a sitting board member for 15 years combined with my local and the the the the high school board um we are elected to the board of education for two two the major major component of our job is the hiring of a superintendent and the evaluation of a superintendent second to that is driving policy I Know Rich um I have no doubt his his his his um based on his uh longevity uh that he's been in the district and what he's done his communication and and so forth with the district and and positivity I don't doubt that the job cannot be done by Rich BX my my concern has always been and Rich can identifi with this and the board struggles with this but I am about process and whether it's it is statute or it's supposed to or should have could have I think it's perception and we do we are put here by our constituents and we need to do what's best for everyone first and foremost students staff stakeholders and I just see a lack of transparency in the process it's an Optics and I also feel the district we've been in such a tumultuous environment the last four years through Co coming out of Co the past tenure of a of a superintendent a lack of transparency you having to step into the shadow of a of a previous superintendent stepping into situations that maybe you weren't ready for or we weren't ready for um not that you didn't do it and you couldn't do it it's not about it's the could and should and I just feel that and I think it would envelop you as as as our face of the district because this is what it is the leader the things of our district it's buying from everyone and again I reiterate it is not the person it is a position and we need to be transparent in everything we do and process and if it's a has to be a best practice that we're implementing we should be using best practices and we should be establishing them and I iess that's how you know I feel strongly about that um that we didn't take pause I just a lot going on we've got more moving quickly and yeah maybe we do we would go out for a search would normally or an internal Canon or a posting internal external take the time to evaluate give yourself a breath as well to identify and really shine I would suspect that you know you might be one of those last candidate standing there might not be any candidates that come out for a search but I think we owe it as a board and we owe it to our constituency I don't know if I can support this moving so I'll just add a few things to what um Dan and joh and Brendan said it eloquently I think um from my short experience on the board um I know that my constituents have elected me here and they trust me to do what's in the best interest of the students and the faculty um as well as for the community at large um Rich has always been here he's always come to meetings whether he's been sitting there or he's been sitting there he comes to every committee meeting um and participates actively and um and does his best to try to manage the differing opinions amongst the board members while we try to figure out what is best for um for the students and the faculty I think that um it's very common at least in corporate practice to uh take someone who's grown from within and to to Simply promote the next person in line and honestly I can think of no better person to take this position than Rich Berg A he has shown us time and again that he can be a leader uh that he has the best interest of the school district and um and I fully support his uh the contract and moving it Forward I'd like to follow up with Beth and John and Brendan um then again nobody can say it as well as Brendan just did but um by the end of my term on this by the end of my term uh I will been on this board over 10 years I've worked with Rich through all of those 10 years um I sat with side by side with John through previous searches I've sat um in negotiation committees for the last three contracts um I've worked side by side as vice president twice and as president of this board with Rich um I can think of no better candidate for this position Rich has proven himself time and time again um consistently to step up to the plate as needed um and when even before we've even asked him to he acted in roles that um show True leadership and passion for this position and this community um there should be no question in our minds that we um are making a decision based on sound judgment and experience um we were we are elected officials we were elected for our capacity to make this vote and make this decision and how we've acted on it has not while as Brendan says we are an atypical board we are a board of 12 very differing opinions but we unanimously came together as a board to support you and I want to continue to do that in every sense of the word so I've known Rich for probably over 10 years having kids in this District I've certainly known him close over the past three years and I guess unlike some many of you right I've had a very different relationship with Rich over the past nine months um can tell you um you know certainly being here 25 years is certainly one credit but he is passionate about our schools he's passionate about our about our students and for me I can tell you I I chose I've said this redundantly I chose to live where I live so my kids would come to these schools and what I need to lead these schools is someone who's passionate about the students who wants to be here he has 25 years a wealth of experience he could go anywhere he wants he is here he has stuck with us through many things we have a lot going on the coming year between strategic planning between budgets between getting Polytech integrated in our schools he has proven to me time and time again that he is rational it has been I will tell you an abundantly difficult year many of which has been public to you many of which has not been public to you and I can tell you he is rational thoughtful in the decisions he makes he is he is trying to be abundantly transparent to to the extent he's allowed to be he's always always focused on our students and I will tell you if there's anything you care about that's what you have to care about I will tell you I think the proudest vote I'm going to make and I have no idea what my future holds here the proudest vote I'm going to make tonight is putting him in charge of our schools because I truly truly think he is going to do what's right for us over the coming years I will tell you I'm voting yes tonight he is the right person for our for our schools thank you I've had a great experience as a new board member with with Rich with answering so many my questions and very very prompt with getting back and the leadership through all the the crisis if you will the challenges with our with our board um and I I agree with with Rich being a fantastic candidate and being the person it's it's the process that I'm concerned about as well it's the opening this up to having it as a regular search process with an interview um and and then also when we when I saw a few days ago what happened at Central too that that just appealed to me so much seeing all the steps that they took and it doesn't mean that rich is as everybody's saying Rich isn't going to be the person that we choose but just going through that process it's I feel it's the best practice in the due diligence for our board to go through that and I I understand we have the the Strate strategic plan coming up in a sense I understand that and that's super important I brought that up early in this year that we need to start working on that and we we also need to consider that this is this is a very important bees to that we go through this process and make sure that we we follow the steps that I feel would make me comfortable to go through and to to just finish that off I have all the confidence that rich could be that person it's just a matter of going through the right steps so to your point Christina as a new board member I've had great experience with you rich you know you've been here for every meeting you've stepped in in every moment when we needed you as you know inter term and as an assistant superintendent um I feel you bring a wealth of experience with all the years here at North you know and your dedication to the district um my vote is not based on your ability it's not based on me feeling that you lack in any way um my vote that I struggle with is being more familiar with the process as a new board member I'm was not familiar with the entire process of you know in hiring a superintendent and um I struggle with the perception of what we are doing throughout this process um I don't struggle with your ability and capable of running the district and I think you need to know that and yes and you are very much appreciated um it's the process I struggle with the perception and I feel that if you would interview I feel you would be the last man standing you would be that one I'm I I'm I don't struggle with that book I struggle with the process we um we follow process and we discuss steps at length we also did interview um he was you were gracious enough to step up and interview Us in addition to that he opened himself up to any additional questions that any of us may have had after a very lengthy um executive session um I'm finishing up six years on the board uh the board I believe we have policy and procedure we've put the right people in committies to make sure a policy and procedure is as strong as possible is compliant follows School boards and New Jersey statutes um so at any of those times as committee they could have discussed that but I do believe and the process we we were given that that uh gift last session at that time that's where the reservation should have come up and everybody was asked so I as much as maybe going forward as a learning and also for in strategic if this ever comes up again uh maybe it should be a little bit more solidified but I believe that process was given a process was understood and we all agreed to to move forward so um I wanted to just say that I thank you for um you know giving us the opportunity to get you know you better throughout that original interview even though it wasn't a full interview so to speak it was on the spur of the moment and you did outstanding for for the moment but the follow-up questions and all of the responses to me um makes me fully confident that we we've done everything possible to support the school and the mission of our district and our students foremost and the rest of our stakeholders so I um I thank you for the opportunity to be part of this process I'd like to add um that t you know you did come in graciously on this for the moment for sure um and I think that um I think that during the discussion um I think I don't think it was as apparent to me of of the process more so it was more of an emotional kind of thing because I think most people here are on this table support you and a lot of things that you do um and I like to say that wholeheartedly um but you know I did a day or two later Reach Out The Glen because I was concerned about the process and um and although that maybe we were kind of in agreement about some things because you know also said about sending some questions so that was kind of on my mind like okay questions like what's in the answer what's important you know um I think it's more so of the fact that like I did try to kind of like oh wait a minute I think that maybe maybe we might be going about this the wrong way um so two days after that decision I I started questioning the process so it wasn't just like this came up out of nowhere it was something that was heavy on my heart um and I did try to bring it you I brought it to Glenn and Glenn graciously called me back and we had a great conversation but you know um one person out of the 12 that was kind of concerned that point I don't know when everybody else talked to Glenn um but whether support or not support it doesn't but that's I think that's that's the only thing that is holding me up about this whole process it it's it's not the person it's the process and I know that said that process was in place you know but when you compare it to other situations and other districts it just didn't it didn't feel that way and it didn't feel that things were being communicated properly I feel like we we keep saying we compare ourselves to other districts we're looking at at other districts to see what policy they followed what procedure they followed we are a unique District we have our own unique circumstances hun in central had extremely unique circumstances with their superintendent we don't we didn't first of all we're not hun Central we're not Bridgewater we're not we're North hund Vorhees District we made a decision as a as North hund Vorhees District to follow a process that we all unanimously decided upon we had ample opportunity for hours to change our mind to ask questions not a single person said one thing at that and when we all agreed to not move forward we all agreed with the process this process this meeting was discussed we agreed to come together at this meeting to ratify this contract this was all discussed prior this was not a secret to any member of this board um we had countless notifications as to what the contract would look like and where it ended up we were giving adequate notice to ask and ask questions about that contract at that time we were giving adequate notice to ask any follow-up questions of Rich during this process there is nothing that hasn't been transparent to any member of this board about this process we have been extremely transparent with each other and the things that we can discuss due to personel issues is the personal matter it's the only person we hire and we've unanimously decided to support our decision to continue in his role and to give him the superintendent position based on our knowledge our working experience are and the Empower and the powers that were that were empowered To Us by arst to constituents to make this vote in this decision I feel we should move forward with the vote and can and ratify the contract that we've that we've developed and all and all had ample chance to question Jessica I don't think anybody's you know alleging anything was not not disclosed I you know folks keep hearing transparency perception I but I do get I get that it the the process was unique um and that it it as I said in my opening statements it doesn't follow that very traditional process that these things often do so I I I take no issue with anybody saying like they wish the process could have been different or that's the thing that's giving them pause um I totally understand that um and I think what I was trying to convey was that in recognition of that it's not as though we're in a position where a decision is is being made but rather we're on the cusp of a of a a larger undertaking through strategic planning agree that and and I think to the points that were raised here you know it's perhaps incumbent upon us to say how how can we move forward in a way way that we can all confidently feel communication and processes are happening in a timely fashion or you know through the Norms or things that we're looking to establish that are affording folks the opportunity to um signal ause or signal concerns obviously we've had to do that on a very different timetable this time around um and I think some of what I was trying to convey was that this particular situation I found to be very unique given the various roles that Rich has filled over the past couple of years that he has at multiple times in essence been doing the job um that's not typical for districts they truly are seeing one person depart and making a decision about a next person not having had the opportunity to see that person in that role multiple time sort for some extended period of time um and I guess that part of it was it did afford US insight into Rich his work his approach um in ways that um you could even argue go beyond the additional process that he he's he's been interviewing for this job for a few years in some way sh um I mean yeah not not deliberately but we've gotten to see that kind of work up close um so I'm I'm in no way asserting that the process was perfect I but it's Unique we have and I agree with you we have a unique board this is a unique circumstance we shouldn't be C cookie cutter or comparing ourselves to other districts because this circumstance and this situ scenario that we're going through is unique to us it is not a what what our district has been through and the the job interview that Rich has been conducting for well over 3 years has has been um unique to this District so to cookie cutter and say we're not following what 100 in central did or other districts who have who might have conducted their searches differently had very different circumstances and they didn't their circumstances we don't know about we didn't sit in their executive sessions we didn't we were behind the scenes at their board meetings or their committee meetings to understand that what they were going through as a board and the circumstances how they made their choices to go through their process we set through our our executive committee meeting for hours and chose our process that is true we had we were it was made very clear what our options were and we chose it and we chose it exactly I I would like to say that point out that the one thing I'm hearing from everyone is that everyone feels that rich is the right person for the job it's just the process of going through the end the pro to go out for superintendent search is a very expensive process so um you know that's a lot of money that we'd be putting out to to come back to Rich so yeah other comments okay so then we need a roll call vote te no no Mr Chapman yes Miss Gallow no Miss yes Miss K yes Mr M yes Mr M yes M Rez no Miss Selena Mr Spanton yes Miss VI yes and Mr farbes yes carries thank you very much um I truly appreciate all the kind words and um I do take all of them to heart and I want you to know I am dedicated to the district um I will do everything in my power to make sure this District continues to improve um and even the people that didn't like the process um I'm G to win you back so hold you to your to I believe thank you so thank you very much uh well my wife and daughter were able to join us tonight so everybody knows who the PES were that we're staying here they this and I was honored they wanted to be here as well they they they see what I what I do at home for this job yeah sure do you do anything a little bit a little bit um and so they they understand my dedication as well and um so I'm glad they were here to be so thank you than you so I will say I candidly I was nervous about public about this comment session tonight and I will say it's probably one of the proudest moments I have sitting here to say that this conversation was was a good conversation and I respect everyone's decision but this is the kind of conversation wherever I sit next year we need to continue to have because this was a good conversation right he was honest it was calm and it was constructive and again right everyone's everyone's vote is is what it is and it's there right but I think right this is a good start so thank you congratulations thank you thank you very much so I need to call for a motion and second to adjourn so move ni all in favor I I all oppos any extensions we are all right thank you everyone thank you for making a quick