##VIDEO ID:KqtOUpiC1Tc## uh the meeting will come to order statement of adequate notice statement of adequate notice of of the meeting to be held by the township of ocean Board of Education on Tuesday January 21st 2025 at 4:30 p.m. has been provided in accordance with the requirements of chapter 231 public laws 1975 notice of the meeting was posted on the bulletin board in the lobby of the administration building 163 mom Road oakers New Jersey all Ocean Township District Schools and transportation and the school district website on January 9th 2025 notice of the meeting was transmitted to the Asbury Park Press and the coaster newspapers on January 9th 2025 notice of the meeting was filed with the municipal clerk Township devotion on January 9th 2025 can we please have a roll call Mr Hastings thank you Mr President Mr doton here Mrs Dam here Mrs Gilman here Mrs McGovern Mr Schneider Miss Stevens here Mrs T Rico here Mr Weinstein uh president Mr McCarthy here okay for the president's report I have nothing for this evening um so we'll move on to our superintend report well thank you good evening everyone I have a few announcements this evening um earlier this week I was contacted by someone named Charlie Scott to let me know that his father had passed away Charlie Scott senior was the first principal of Ocean Township High School he was hired in 1963 to help open the high school completely staffed the school help with the buildout and he served our district for 10 years 1963 to 1973 uh he was spent three years as principal and then moved on to superintendent um of our school uh he left departing in 1973 to go back to Pennsylvania where he lived for a good amount of his life so I did just want to share that with the board and the community I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr Scott but um I had heard his name many times uh as a first principal of of Ocean Township High School so I wanted the board to be aware of that information um I also I I know I have emailed the board some information about this but just in case you haven't seen this yet our supervisor Miss Erin Ley supervisor of innovation and educational technology is featured in this magazine this month uh she has an article in here about our educational technology Specialists who we often uh adoringly refer to as Tech coaches uh in all of our schools so it's a great article and and then they also after they received her article asked if she would do a follow-up interview which she did do so it's wonderful I appreciate all of her hard work in putting this together and the hard work that that the tech coaches do every day for our school um and it's nice to see it in print here um for all to see so that was wonderful and finally uh I would just like to say that we are in that winter season I know I've said this before but we are in that winter season and uh I hope to get us into school every day possible um but should there the need arise to make sure that your contact information parents is updated in Genesis that we have your most Uh current phone number email address because that is our main point of contact and we will use remind we will use um our school web backpack but we get your contact information for both of those platforms through Genesis so we use your Genesis emails and phone numbers to contact you so you just want to also make sure that you have the most upto-date uh contact information so you can get any information should we have to send you information about emergency school closings okay and my last part of my report this evening is every year twice a year the superintendent reports out to the Board of Education information about our uh student safety data report so this evening I have for you and Mrs Conway if you have that you can display it it was an attachment right under my report um if not I'm happy to read it okay perfect there you go so in accordance with the public school safety law and with the board Board of Education policy 5512 all acts of violence vandalism and harassment intimidation and bullying must be reported to the Board of Education the information that I am providing this evening covers the reporting period from September through December 31st 2024 this information includes the number nature and mode of Hib incidents and a listing of other student safety data so here you have on the first page the district tib summary report if you look across last year from September to December 2023 we had 11 confirmed hibs this year from September to December we had seven confirmed hibs and you will see down the rest of this page the nature and mode of the incidents and I'm going to focus in on the 2024 column over to the right this year race and color in there were three incidents that involved race and color there was one of sexual orientation and four other distinguishing characteristics and and we had seven that were verbal and one that was electronic in nature okay um again this tally here doesn't have to add up to seven an event can have more than one mode and more than one nature involved so that number won't necessarily add up to seven if you turn the page or or scroll ahead Mrs Conway thank you we're comparing reporting period December 2023 again to reporting period September to December mcber 2024 and we're focusing in on how many cases were initiated how many were investigated in a timely manner and how many resulted in confirmed cases of hi so in 2024 we had eight investigations at the high school that resulted in three confirmed hibs eight investigation investigations at the intermediate school with three confirmed no investigations at Ocean toown Elementary School no investigations at monasa elementary school and one investigation at Wayside Elementary School that did result in a confirmed Hib okay and then additional student safety data that I am reporting out to you this evening the Department of Education separates these into categories you'll see the reporting C categories on the left the first one is violence we had 11 incidents reported from September to December zero incidence of vandalism zero of weapons two instances of substance abuse and seven Hi confirmed cases right so that is the student safety data report for the first portion of this school year thank you Mrs Wen any questions from the board on anything that was in the superintendent report Mr wein U Miss wden so is there any conclusion to be drawn or is it just not enough data points so I'm always happy to see a decline however I've over the years these numbers have uh gone up and down so I don't want to say it's a trend but of course happy to see the hip cases going down I do think we've gotten better as an administration at um investigating these cases and uh following the law I also believe we have had better training we've attended better training and I believe we've also been benefited from case law that is released to us that give scenarios of Hib cases and what is what does and does not fit the definition of the law um you may read about some of these in your Schoolboard notes that you get certainly when I get those I share those with Dr Morgan and she makes those part of her training out and um to the anti-bullying specialist at the school so I think we are getting better at managing this I I'm happy to see a decrease in Hip cases but that doesn't mean there won't be an increase next semester so I would not want to say that thanks any other questions Mrs talo I just have one question about um the verbal hip incidences it seems like there's 19 but only seven were actual hibs is there any way of I don't know processing it so it's it doesn't have to become a hi investigation to save time for are you looking on this front page I'm sorry um yes okay so the the mode the 19 was from last year at this time oh the seven is this year for the same time period September to December just to clarify any other questions from the board okay that concludes my report wonderful thank you Mr Hastings thank you Mr President um just two quick items I want to first start by thanking our custodial maintenance and ground staff uh we had this brief storm over the uh weekend into Martin Luther King uh day and um our staff I think did a great job coming out uh in the cold in the frigid temperatures and cleared lots and sidewalks and I just wanted to thank them and appreciate them for the effort they put forth to uh make sure school could open on time today uh over the holiday break uh we had a heating coil in the uh High School auditorium break uh it created water damage uh to uh ceiling Electronics unfortunately the heating unit was right above our our sound booth uh so we damaged Electronics as well carpeting uh and then uh interior and exterior panels uh that's been reported to the carrier for coverage um we've had a recovery company come out and you know tear out all the wet the carpet dry the walls and and other things uh they've done assessment of Damages and the costs associated with repairing the damages uh and it's um now in the hand of the carrier to sort of review those costs and approve them for us uh but we want to uh move forward as quickly as possible so we get the room back up and uh running as soon as possible so we're moving forward with that process uh and and hope to have uh the auditorium open as soon as possible any questions from the board this is the sound booth in the auditorium correct okay so there were two levels to that Booth one had lighting equipment and below was sound equipment okay thank you thank you all right we will now move on to public comment uh the following are a series of motions uh on agenda items only the following are a series of motions to be read by the committee chairpersons all motions have been discussed at a recent public work session some motions have been approved at a public work session and the minutes for the approved items are posted on the district website at this point in the meeting we will now conduct the first of two public comment sessions the first session s will be open for public comments on agenda items only the second session will be at the end of the meeting and can be on any topic Board of Education bylaw 0167 public participation in board meetings the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest public comment is not a question and answer session specific questions can be directed to the administration the superintendent contact information is on the podium and we encourage you to contact her with any questions public participation shall be governed by the following rules each statement made by a participant shall be limited to five minutes in duration no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others have had an opportunity to have been heard the presiding officer May request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum would anyone from the public like to comment on any agenda item at this time say welcome uh welcome um Alex Hayes urst I have I think six questions here hopefully you can hear me um one a three-hour executive session I can't wait to um read a little bit about what the topics of discussion for your executive session were about when I asked for um the most recent executive session minutes I'll probably be submitting that this week um my second question that was actually a statement my second question um the report on violence vandalism weapons substance abuse Hib I think that was the last chart in uh superintendent W weldon's um presentation on hibs and um violent incidents at school I still am having a a tough time understanding the background on why the specific schools can't be mentioned it's only 11 it says 11 but it's violence vandalism weapons substance abuse and Hib are the things underneath and the violence counts as assault fighting threats robbery sexual assault other essay type related um things and I think a parent would want to know if all 11 things happened at Dow did all 11 things happen at the middle school perhaps everything happened at Wayside I have no idea um so I'd like to know why can't we find out what schools happened at which my third thing that that was a question mark behind my voice so I know sometimes I might be accused of statements rather than questions uh 7.1 7.2 and 7.3 there are no minutes um published online right now you cannot access them on board docs so in order for the public to adequately understand what you're going to be talking about and what you're voting on um I believe you're required to have those on board doc so I would suggest you not vote on 71 72 and 73 um number four the PowerUp Club after school program Miss Welden I'd love to hear out more information um sounds awesome can't wait to hear what it's all about wonder what school it's at wonder what age who it targets um number five uh the change order on the roof project so it seems um this is a company that the town and the school district has dealt with before and rather curiously to me there's always a change order like an increase in costs um so the $10,000 increase I'm wondering um maybe this is a Mr Hastings question if that would have affected the bid the bids that came in like if there was a $10,000 discrepancy would they have lost out on the winning bid and finally um at the very end of the agenda under bylaws and perhaps this is under there every year and I've never noticed but um where it has the rule of your meetings I'm sorry the order of your meetings it says uh I think it was after um Finance it says report of committees and y'all have never really done that I mean occasionally there used to be a wellness report I don't think safety or Tech really ever was reported out and when the public or other members of the board asked for like a formal report report out that was always mixed and said it wasn't either important or the full board didn't um agree to it so I'm just curious um is this going to be a new policy are you going to have all committees report out um and just how that's going to look okay thanks thank you Mrs a Mrs Conway are there any uh members online who wish to comment on agenda items only no Mr President there are no commenters wonderful thank you all right uh before we move in at number seven for our action items for minutes I just would like to share a point of information then I have a point of inquiry so point of information I'm seeing three minutes present under uh 7.1 7.2 7.3 um do any board members not see that okay and then I would just ask thank you I appreciate that as a point of inquiry does anything preclude us from approving these minutes and then getting them published for the public to see after the fact no okay thank you all board members can see these minutes yes okay wonderful thank you Mr do move to approve items 7.1 through 7.3 approval of minutes do I hear a second second thank you to approve 7.1 to 7.3 Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes Miss Stevens yes M Tarico yes Mr Weinstein yes Mr McCarthy yes motion carried and Mr Hastings you will see to it that the minutes are available to the public after for this meeting absolutely thank you sir appreciate that okay moving on to eight Personnel Mrs Dan move to approve 8.1 through 8.16 second there items 8.1 to 816 Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes to all recuse from U head baseball coach at the high school thank you Miss Stevens yes Miss Rico yes Mr Weinstein yes Mr McCarthy yes motions carry moving on to fin financial management res and Resource Services Mr wiste will you take that one please thank you Mr President thank you um I'd like to move for approval uh 9.1 to 9.5 and then we'll have 9.6 to 9.9 up for discussion would anybody like to talk about anything regarding uh is there anything you want to add anything about 9.1 to 9 um five Jeff um no I'd like to thank uh um Miss MOA and the Exon court for Their donation of supplies funds for supplies as well as the wanasa PTA for Their donation of supplies can I have a second for the 9.1 to 9.5 second I guess we'll do that and then we'll talk about the other ones if that's appropriate thank you this is 9.1 to 9.5 Mr Dalton yes M Dam yes uh M Gilman yes Miss Stevens yes m t Rico yes Mr Weinstein yes and Mr McCarthy yes motions carry is there anything you like to talk about Jeff on 9.6 to 9.9 before we open it up to everybody um no I think they're all self-explanatory thank you anybody have anything they want to talk about any questions from the uh from the board on 9 6 through 9.9 um Mrs Gilman yes president McCarthy 9.9 the New Jersey Department of that equivalent with the application we do that every year for this is for one uh any rooms that we are in this case preschool rooms that don't meet the uh space requirements for those classrooms so we approve this and then the county business administrator comes out typically uh in the spring to inspect those rooms um and and and then gives approval and gives approval yes thank you you'll see that on as an additional item probably in March or April thank you wonderful moving on instruction education Student Activities Mr Gilman president McCarthy um move to approve 10.1 to 10.5 including our trips and field placement and PB any questions or comments second I just have sorry I'm sorry I'll just have a couple comments there just to bring to the board's attention um first uh the most of these are normal things you always see the professional development memo though I would just like to mention that six of our staff members have been accepted to present at the women's leadership conference this spring the NJ ASA women's leadership conference so we're very proud of them for representing our school district at that event and also uh you see on here the New Jersey this is an equivalency application also but this is for NJ qac we are being uh going through the qac evaluation process this school year uh you may have seen in the news this year a group of superintendents across the state advocated to the State Board of Ed to change the requirements of NJ qac one of the uh areas where we're monitored instruction and program from more of an achievement model to a growth model to S celebrate the success of student growth and the State Board did agree to do that and it goes into effect next school year but everybody who's going through the process this year was allowed to apply for a waiver to have the new criteria apply to them which we are doing here I need to make you aware of that that we are going to apply for that waiver and um with your vote we will will submit that to the state that's it any questions based on what Mrs won just said wonderful that's good did we have a second for 10.1 through 10.5 we do wonderful okay for 10.1 to 10.5 Mr Dalton yes Mr Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes M Stevens yes M Tarico yes Mr Weinstein um yes to all except for 10 two I'll recuse myself due to my affiliation with Mammoth University thank you Mr McCarthy yes motions carry and then uh discussion around 10.6 do I have any comments or questions on our school calendar Mr Wy um so uh I think every year we've always kind of talked about juneth and I just want to make sure that we're bringing that up for discussion to determine what we want to do about juneth so and I noticed that this year the way it falls out it's a half a day is that right or it's it's an early closing because of where it falls out it falls out on Friday the way it falls out if there are no emergency closings or we don't go over yes yeah so do we want to have any discussion about it or I I guess I'm asking um more because I guess um uh even I guess on the corporate am corporate American a corporate corporate side that day is starting to be recognized as more of a day people do take are given that day off so I just want to bring it up for discussion I don't have a I'm not saying we should or shouldn't at this point just wanted to bring it up make sure we talked about it do you have do you have any feeling about it Miss Walden I think there are a few days uh that come up every year not not just that one um and I think when we look at our calendar we take I think we would not I don't think we're in a position to just start adding days I think we would have to have a fullscale calendar committee to look at if there are days we can stop taking in lie of new days if that was the wish um of this school Community because our school goes later than most and I don't think we're in a position to just add days um but I have been approached about other days as well not just that one um some of the Muslim holidays Veterans Day comes up um so I think it would have to be a larger conversation around all days rather than just to focus in on one day okay um but I do worry about how late we finish the school year um so Mr Waton for juneth you know how our Cal on do you know how we fair with the rest of the county county many of the schools are done with school before June 19 so it's not a concern some schools take it off absolutely and some schools are in session any other comment on the calendar or specific that specific date Mrs Gilman not on that specific date but u i noticed that there's PD the end of August the last week is that for our administrators it's that's new faculty our new faculty orientation so the only the one thing I did want to point out is that I we did update the look of the calendar so that perhaps it would be a little bit easier to read um and that the the list of dates follow this page in in the previous years it was under it in very small font so I did try to change the format a little bit to make it easier to understand and it does include some information for employees as well so you'll see July and August on this calendar we've always had a 12-month calendar but we've ALS we've had two calendars a 10-month and a 12month it caused some confusion I felt it was best to streamline it to have one 12-month calendar that indicates the days you'll see there's a subsequent page for students and parents and then the following page really that home that is uh a focus for staff it's a work calendar um so the format has changed but the the days that we ordinarily take in this District are um very much the same as a number of those are also negotiated in some of our bargaining unit uh CB agreements Mr Wy so so the the fact that we finish late is that something that is that something that could be looked at or is that is there a reason are we taking like a a different kind of break than other people do or why why do we why do you why do why do we finish later than most people you know I believe that our uh the three Jewish holidays that we take at the beginning of the year has some impact on our calendar um I think some districts there are a lot of districts that are closed on October 13th for Columbus Day the teachers are in for professional development but some districts do come to school on that day um you know some schools start right away on September 2nd the teachers come in for PD in August and the students would come on the second that's that's some what some districts do um I think those are the main changes I'd have to look a little bit more closely at some other calendars and to as to why they're able to finish sooner but it's usually I believe the the Jewish holidays that we take in the beginning a lot of districts take either they take one day for Russia shaana not two we take two I don't I'm sorry Mr does that answer your question Mr weon yeah well actually I was actually wondering if if it's something that I mean I'm not I'm not sure how the everybody feels I don't know if the teachers feel the kids feel the parents feel about wanting to end school earli I'm not sure if we should think about looking at the calendar and figuring out how we could accommodate that I'm not I'm not saying we should or we shouldn't I just not sure if that's I mean what your m w your is that something you'd like to for us to look at or what is your thought on that I I'm happy to look more into it I think I think we have a diverse community that has that wants different things yeah so I think it would really it would need to be um not just quickly how you feel about this and move on I think we've had prior to me I think there's been superintendant that have suggested days of school that have come with you know a negative reaction so and then the board is you know I think then together the administration the board put put days back on the calendar if the board is looking for me to redesign this calendar and change the days that we have off I'm happy to form a committee and begin that work thank you knowing that knowing that we have some days that are negotiated and in our in our in our bargaining unit so Mr yeah I know for the last two years and or this current year and then going into next year the winter break goes an extra day or two as well so you lose there because it's more than a week yes right so I think that that definitely has an impact when you look at next year it starts on a Wednesday and goes all the way through the next Friday um and looking at I just spot checked a couple of districts that normally would end the week before that we're ending are also going into um that last that next week of June and ending later because of that and then some of the other holidays you know the the challenge being that equation of 180 you know and how do you squeeze it in so Mr Mr wey do you have a is your question that you're posing to the board currently that you would like to know whether or not we have a desire as a board to create to ask the administration to create a calendar committee yeah I actually I I guess I'm not sure if it's a problem or not that's what I'm trying to does anyone here on the board feel know uh that there is a problem with the current calendar that they would like to to address or bring up I don't feel that it's a problem but I would be interested to know how the teachers and the would feel about rather ending earlier and having more the summer or having those extra days off like how everyone would feel about that I would be interested to hear about that is there is that is this an action that we want to direct the administration to take currently is that what I'm hearing Mr Dolan so my my thinking would be if that's a direction we want to go could that be for the following Year's calendar so that for for the community Community for our teachers you know when you think about families when you think about our staff them knowing the calendar in enough time in advance is really an important thing if they're planning family things and things like that um so if my opinion would be that if we're asking the administration to do that it would be for the following year um to really start to delve into that um and I'll just say with some experience in that area um you will never satisfy all parties because one asks for this another asks for this but that equation is 180 and typically you have to stay within the September 1st to the end of June so once you map out holidays within that time there's very little movement that you can do but I think to get the input of people's important but I think I I don't want to hold up a calendar that's less than a year away that families if if I'm scheduling my kid for summer camp or something like that I want to know what I I want to know now right I want to start to think about what I'm going to be doing so um I would my suggestion would be the following year that was my point we can't make a can't go ask people what they this won't be this will not be a quick process it's not you don't think Mr I'm sorry you don't goad you don't think it's for this this you don't think we could do something to implement this September I don't think we can go before before you answer it's really like we're I'm I'm assuming we're talking about like three or four days right or that's what's up for grabia right it's not like it's 10 days right it's if you are asking me to change the days and submit another calendar I can do that for you next week without without hesitation if that's what you're asking me to do if you're asking me to go find out how the staff feels about the days and that was one point I I get the sense you'd also want to know what the rest of the community feels about this that is not a fast process that is a I think a process that deserves the time and energy to hear people out about how they feel about it okay and then and then it may require negotiations I'm not I'm not sure about that so can we clarify what the board would like out of this to move forward is there is there if anything or is it is the discuss has the discussion that we have had satisfied desires present in the room I I'll let other people speak I I agree with what Mr Mr Dalton said I mean this could be something that could possibly be looked at next year but there's just too many factors um you know when Labor Day falls what the what the teaching agreement um indicates so um I think we need to move forward in terms of voting um and then if if we want to look forward to next year um you know that would be a better Direction Mr so so could so is it reasonable to say you know by by the summertime we we we can kind of look at this to have a discussion around there is that well I can start the process immediately I don't think we'll have a conclusion to the process yeah concl absolutely absolutely so so what's posed on the is the opportunity now is the major as a majority of the board would they like the administration to report back to us on what options we have for proposed changes to next year's calendar this summer is that fair when you say next year let's be clear the next iteration of the the Cal is Curr yes 26 yeah thank you appreciate you want to make sure we're on the same the next iteration of the calendar that is currently presented yes thank you for clarifying yes can so I have a yes do I have majority straw poll vote Yes Mrs Mrs T Rico doesn't matter no no okay thank you uh so is that something the administration can provide since we've had a majority request that just to be clear would you like me to start a committee to gather this information I think that you should provide options that's what was just approved that you'll provide options to the board on how we can examine the calendar moving forward absolutely wonderful wonderful thank you appreciate that I did have a question just on the just because I know this December there was um four days that were half days for um teacher parent teacher conferences and I just didn't see it on this calendar yeah they won't be on this calendar they'll come out later with marking period dates and Conference dates because that's not a districtwide okay half day okay perfect districtwide days are on this calendar awesome that will be forthcoming Mr just for a final Point there's no emergency here right I think we're just trying to get a handle on if if it should be changed to make it close early and if that was also your recommendation that school should we Clos early right if everybody if if the community is not into it and the teachers aren't into it and we there's all those things then you know I I don't I don't know what the feeling is you know I mean that's really what I'm more interesting is what the feeling is of everything don't you what you would recommend wonderful thank you any other comments or questions on 10. six okay moving on policy Mrs Gilman thank you Mr President uh move to approve 11.1 the first reading of our policies and we will discuss 11.2 benefits of certain support staff members ju just to clarify is this initial presentation of uh 11.1 it is initial presentation so we will not be approving 11.1 tonight we will this is our first reading and this is one of the from the review correct so this is the review of our policies policies do we have any questions or comments from the board on 11.1 all right so we will have a second reading of that in our next meeting and then we will vote on it for approval you will have an opportunity to ask questions again in that meeting on this policy this Gilman right 11.2 um is a discussion of conduct of board meeting and I appreciate you adding this to the agenda Mr President this gives us an opportunity to reexamine the way that we uh conduct our board meetings should I am I allowed to uh go on yeah so just to clarify for the group um as the the chair of the committee Mrs Gilman asked me to to put this policy up for review for us to potentially discuss an amendment to it I believe that she has some ideas that she would like to present forward but this is our first opportunity to discuss ch yes thank you so I had a chance to re-examine our policy uh policy number 0167 public participation in board meetings and uh this was also a revised policy of November 20122 it states in order to permit the fair and orderly expression of such comment the board shall set aside a portion of every board meeting the length of the portion to be determined by the board for public comment on any school or School issue District issue that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the school district so with that in mind um these are my thoughts if we had one public comment session at the beginning of our uh meeting of our agenda before we vote on any agenda items we can have a public comment on any item right now we restrict it to just agenda items and then people from the audience uh either online or in present have to wait through the rest of our agenda before they make any comments on any item so um in the past we've had some comments from people who've had to wait through our long agenda and their comments are you know they might come up to the microphone and and say you know we've had to wait a long time to make this comment so in in my think thinking that we could possibly modify that public comment session to be uh less frustrating for people who want to attend our meetings and who would like to make their comments heard so if we allow them to make a comment during the first public comment session on any agenda item or on any item that they feel is important um to the functioning of our schools and this might encourage more public comments uh while allowing us to move through the agenda a little bit more efficiently exceptions could be made for when we have presentations given by our supervisors or administrators where we would allow question and answer right now it's a public comment session only so I would just like to open that up to the board members and see if perhaps you have any comments on it or share my thoughts on that and just before we do I'd like to um M Conway would you please scroll down to uh the order of the meeting yes right there perfect thank you you can pause right there so um what this does pertain to is policy 0164 which is the um the order of business for the meeting so I I want to clarify that I understand what you're putting up for discussion is that you would like to propose that we potentially consider removing the second public comment and congesting it all into one at the beginning of the meeting is that correct that's correct okay so that is what's up for discussion on the floor now to the board um and we'd like to open that up to see if anyone has any opinion on changing the order of business so that there is a single public comment um on any item I mean I would agree with Miss Gilman I mean certainly would offer the the public more of an opportunity um to come ahead of the meeting um and lead to a lot less frustration and hear from more from more of our community members Mrs talo I like what Miss Gman is recommending but I still like the two public um opportunities for comments because if you take you know the second one you make it first obviously more people would come up and you know have comments about any of the agenda or any of the items but at the end after listening to everything that we're talking about they should still have the right to come back up and make comments regarding the rest of the meeting so I still think there should be two but I do like you know bringing the second one up first Mr wey I'm uh I'm agreeing with graceanne on what you said that you know when you having a discussion somebody then might want to say something so I mean I think at one point we had it that way right where you could talk about anything up front do you remember that I don't all that down so I believe what has been proposed now at this point is that a consideration of opening both public comment sessions up to any item I'm I'm not sure that's the just give me one second Mr Dolan yeah so something to think about like I I think I need to think about it a little bit more and maybe do my own research right um I also wonder as we're going through the process right now of you know considering a new board attorney um if it's something that we would consult with the the attorney that would be advising us on to understand what what is this in other districts what are the benefits and the drawbacks of each model um because I do know that the models maybe are employed in other districts but I I'd like to get a another more a little more perspective on it um before I'm I'm ready for it I'm I'm listening to everyone and trying to consider all those points but I'd like to get a little more perspective on it you had a comment Mr kilman um I think that's a good idea certainly to check with the attorney I think that before we go ahead and vote on items though this would present an opportunity for the public to make their comments known up front whereas the second one we've already voted we've already gone through the agenda so yeah coming up again is Moot and it would probably be encouraging of more people to stand up and make their comments known at the beginning before we cast our votes UNC items but certainly checking with uh the attorney is a great idea but I thought this is something that we should consider something we should think about as we move forward with a into a new year how we conduct our business Mr Wy what do you want to do John I see I'm undecided unfortunately so I see the I see the Merit of uh both sides I worry about opening um opening both comment sessions open-ended I I don't know that I agree with that I don't think that that's a good idea I do see the Merit in the first one just being an open ended single comment session um I would like to give uh time to speak with an attorney about that if I was put on the spot that would be my my thoughts so until we can select that and make that decision I would like to uh hear that opinion of what other districts are doing as well that's my thought thank you for asking appreciate no problem anyone else any other comments Mrs so we should leave it as you know we'll examine it further so I believe the the way that we can move forward is I think we'll wait unless I hear any so of course any board member can make any motion as I've advised you so if if a board member decided they wanted to try attempt to change the policy they could and then would follow a policy change I think that what we're in agreement on currently with the board is that we will wait until the board selects a new general counsel and then address it with them and then potentially Mr Gilman you'll propose a change to the policy we'll have two readings of that and then approve it should the board desire to sounds good good yes wonderful nice all right public relations Mrs Dan move to approve 12.1 and 12.2 um I just wanted to speak on 12.1 real quick if I can um and this is kind of piggybacking off of Miss Gilman or what she said just wanted to read the last resolve la that says the township of ocean Board of Education urges all of New Jersey citizens to work with their local Boards of education and Public School staff toward the advancement of our children's educ education um I just wanted to point that out publicly that we want to hear from the public we want we want ideas to come in we we want to hear if there's issues and we want you guys to come in and speak and I think that's what Mrs Gilman is trying to encourage more of the citizens of our town and the community to want to talk to us so I just wanted to point point that out um I promise we didn't talk before that when you said that I was say that's perfect um and that's all so move to approve 12.1 and 12.2 do I have a second second so for 12.1 and 12.2 Mr doton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes Miss Stevens yes uh Mrs Tarico yes Mr Weinstein yes Mr McCarthy yes motion carries old business do I have any old business from anyone in the room Wonder new business Mr waty I have two points two items one is um uh M well then you could help me with the actual name of the event that we went to at Dow Avenue School yes it was a family Culture Night family Culture Night which was uh a nice spirited um event they were three um different areas at Dow Avenue one was in the gym the other was in the library and the other was in like the cafeteria and it was great energy kind of going down there and it was kind of nice to see I didn't partake in any of the food because I felt didn't want to Rob anybody from food that they might want to have so so I didn't do that I did enter myself in Miss Walen and duck duck goose contest but she left uh she left a little early and so I participated myself I didn't I didn't win the EV is there video you lost well some kid cheated and then the other part I just want to say is to all the uh the high school Ocean Township High School graduates that went to um Ohio State just want to congratulate you for the big win um my daughter is included in that mix so uh just big congratulations out to you and and I do feel for Amy that Alabama never made it that far but uh she would never know that so um I want to make a quick comment about that quick comment yeah wonderful m g okay so even though our legislative committee is meeting with uh Senator gopal um all board members and you may have received this email I'm me New Jersey school board rep so I get the mail all the time Mammoth County SBA virtual meeting on February 4th uh a conversation with state senator Vin gopal who will discuss pressing issues facing new Jersey's educational system uh this meeting will provide membership and opportunity to engage with lawmakers to outline the current challenges so if anybody wants to attend a meeting and has any concerns about schools uh all you need to do is go to the uh New Jersey School Board site and register for free and they'll give you the link for February 4th and we don't have a board meeting on that evening wonderful thank you for sharing that is wonderful and and with that well one moment Mr with that um you do have up until the night before our meeting with Senator gopal and our Assembly women which is on uh January 27th so if you have anything in particular that you would like the legislatively aison community to discuss feel free to send it our way we've already received wonderful info that will be discussed and is added to our agenda and we will report out on that uh as we return from that meeting okay wonderful thank you um any other new business from anyone in the group great moving on to public comment on any item the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest public comment is not a question and answer session specific questions can be directed to the administration the superintendent's contact information is on the podium and we encourage you to contact her with any questions public participation shall be governed by the following rules each statement made by a participant participant shall be limited to 5 minutes in duration no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard the presiding officer May request that any person leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum would anyone from the public like to comment on any item at this time s welcome back welcome back again to me I don't know to you um okay I have a couple of comments Andor questions um I appreciate the sentiment of wanting people to interact more with you and to you want to hear from them um if you want to hear from people in person you want them to come to meetings you want to hear from them online or via email they need to know what it is you're doing not just click this link and you might be able to to see through board docs and seven other clicks what's going to happen at tonight's meeting um I was also going to read aloud um there was quite a bit of flurry on Facebook last week about the new attendance policy primarily at the high school and if superintendent well Welden hasn't seen the post I'm happy to to share some of the sentiment from parents but I do also share in it it seems kids get a blanket um I'll call them a nasty gram like your kid is in trouble a fail uh the kid gets it the parents get it if kids are late to too many times or if they miss school too many times so the dis and I understand the need for that to an extent however kids are showing up to school sick um because they're so industrious they don't want to miss school um they're petrified of missing homeworks of missing tests and then the catchup this is what parents wrote and they wrote words like my kid is petrified they won't go he's going to go to school tomorrow because he does not want to miss um so I and and then a lot of people said it gives their kids so much anxiety the thought of missing school that's kind of amazing that some kids like really want to go to school that bad I suppose but I don't think we should have a policy that's giving kids extreme anxiety um more importantly I'm at two minutes or almost right now um the president today issued a decree essentially uh saying Federal immigration authorities will be permitted to arrest people and Carry Out enforcement actions in and near places like churches and schools and this is an incredible departure from the a long-standing policy that this country had that avoided immigration officials raiding or going into so-called sensitive areas um dis disturbingly today the acting Homeland Security secretary said criminals will no longer be able to hide in America's School and churches uh to avoid arrest so that's equating all immigrants as criminals in my opinion um immigration of activists are saying today um what our president did today or other people's presence this WIll Stoke fear in immigrant communities and keep children from going to school it will prevent people from going to hospitals it will prevent parents from dropping off their kids chalkbeat today if you don't read chalkbeat perhaps you should um said Trump's policy paves way for the immigration agents to detain parents during pickup or drop off I'd like to know what is this school district going to do if immigration officials show up at any one of our school's front doors inside our buildings or in the parking lots or on our school grounds will you deny entry to these immigration officials whether it be ice or whatever will the Board of Ed consider drafting rules for school staff on what to do when this happens there's an excellent Memo from Denver New York City does this and La does this on what to do if immigration folks show up at your school and I'd also like to know these are predominantly questions how will the school work with the otpd to ensure the safety of our students because we do have immigrant students and we have immigrant parents yesterday the President also revoked rules aiming at preventing discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation he signed an order designating only two genders female and male declaring that they cannot be changed the World Health Organization which as you probably all saw on TV you know the President says we're out of there uh said rigid gender Norms also negatively affect people with diverse gender identities who often face violence stigma and discrimination as a result including in healthcare settings um and I would probably venture to say schools there so I would like to know how will this board and I'm asking the board in particular how will this board react to this and separately how will each school's Administration react will you guarantee the safety and gender identity of our trans non-binary and questioning students will you put any sort of um policy fourth saying you stand by trans binary questioning students I have more but that's it for now thank you thank you Mrs H Mrs Conway do we have any one with any questions in the queue yes Mr President we have Allison Connelly please go ahead thank you very much uh good evening everybody Allison Connelly president Township of ocean Education Association um the TOA executive committee appreciated the robust conversation that the board engaged in regarding uh future calendars and we hope whatever suggestions that the board makes to superintendent Welden regarding the construction of future calendars will include input from the TOA uh we believe a committee structure would probably be the best way to ensure that also and unrelated um I think that anybody who's concerned about an anxiety inducing uh attendance policy should probably contact the State and not attack the district since it's the district's policy being dictated by the state's rules and guidelines have a great night thank you thank you Mrs Conley Mrs Conway do we have anyone else no there are no further commenters Mr President wonderful can I have a motion to adjourn motion to ajour do I have a second second motion meeting is ajour