The Daily Record The Star Ledger parpan Focus tap into parsipany patch and the district website this regular public meeting uh is being videotaped uh sorry video recorded as per byla 0168 the recordings of these meetings will be available on our district website and our vot tag YouTube channel we ask that you please refrain from using student or staff names in your statement professionalism is expected at all times may we have the roll call please Mrs Abraham here Mr baros here Mrs kogan here Mrs mayor here Mr Rea here Mrs Chappelle here Mrs Wright here Mrs golderer here Mr Choppa here please stand for the pled of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for hello everyone uh it's time for committee reports um snea why don't you go first hi everyone uh last week we had the AP Gov and Civics mock election three students represented the Democratic primary candidates and three represented the Republican primary candidates all social study students were allowed to attend and listen to How The Front Runners of both the Republican and Democratic party would combat the mo the most pressing issues plaguing our nation all students had an opportunity to vote for who they feel will make the best candidate of each party last week the phhs DECA had their Regional competition 24 students have qualified for States inlow magazine won a national award for our most recent publication the the phhs Italian students visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art to view artwork by Italian artists the Spanish leag honors class went to a play in New York City that depicted cultural struggles the hockey team had a toy drive yesterday for senior night for marking Period 2 the shop right stars are for academics Kelsey ktic Athletics Jaclyn tafro leadership Alexa korte community service Sebastian Gua and for the Arts Joyce Anika and Vivia Aurora were selected as winners of the 2023 Governor's environmental Excellence award in the Environmental Education student category three students were accepted into the New Jersey Music Association region chorus in eight students who were selected to perform in the new North Jersey area band concert at M Mount Olive the con the school has introduced more tactics to prevent vaping and it is placed in the bathroom the last weekend seven choir students performed in the Morris area honor choir concert at Randolph High School phhs placed six at the NGIT regional tournament for Science Olympiad the team will be going to States on March 14th and medaled in three events anatomy and physiology ecology and flight and there was a drama club fundraiser at Chipotle on rout 10 in moris Plains to support the phhs production of SpongeBob the musical yesterday from 5: to 900 p.m. and then we had our annual field trip to TCNJ um and then we had a presentation about how Community affects leadership thank you any questions for Sena Mr baras um I was reading in the tap uh earlier that the um Hills made the county tournament uh coming up on February 3rd basketball County tournament oh yes I read it um 19 19th seed right 22nd 22nd sorry 22 see um do you know or maybe you can find out for us just um did they have an idea on time schedules yet or I know they're going to be at the Morris morrris Morris NS they'll be at Morris NS to start um I'm just looking for a time because um I'd like to go attend so thank you I think it's in the afternoon but I can ask the captain and then get back to you that'd be great I have two questions um what were the topics that the Republicans and the Democrats thought were the most pressing um facing the nation oh sorry uh basic basically oh sorry basically what happened was they'd get questions from the audience and the ones that popped up the most were um unemployment and then um the situation in Gaza right now and and I believe the people who won were Dean from the Democratic party I don't exactly know who he is if I'm going to be honest and then um Nikki Haley for Republican steeve Phillips by the way my bad and the second question did you bring any Krabby Patties with you sadly no but you know if you come to the play you might get some I'll be there Emily what's going on at the high well anahi Nava Masa and Mary candel went two and zero with all wins by pin at the Viking wrestling mini jam on January 4th the December Scholars of the month were for English ban Miller mathematics Caitlyn nugan science Bella moral social studies Sophie Marx World Language Daniel Romero health and PE Jihan Feldman and electives Samantha catch for TV production the winter shop right stars were Seline Chen for AC academics Jake Maas for the art Ava Tracy for sports Sophia McBride for leadership and Arya bam for service senior class hosted a Chipotle fundraiser on January 9th from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. and received 33% of all sales on the 17th student council members went to tcj Winter conference presenting a workshop about the relationship between teenagers and their phones we were also recognized as a 20-year honors school at that conference the following students were selected by audition into the region one band Ian Al Le for Wind Ensemble bass clarinet Carlos Ramirez for symphonic band baritone saxophone our pep rally was moved from last week to tomorrow due to the snow software parent night is on the 24th and Junior parent Knight was on the 10th HOSA had a Northern Regional competition on the 20th lith senari placed first in medical math Ana syha placed fifth in human growth and development adita Jane placed seventh in home health aid the totem literary magazine is having a shell Silverstein art and literature contest where students are invited to submit a short story or for a piece of art centered around his work PHS Red Hawk logo contest is due on the 28th where a panel of Judges will review the designs and put up the best four to be voted on by students and boys basketball beat do 5955 on the 20th they beat Morristown beard on uh 5450 on the 22nd and they lost to Mountain Lakes 4340 on the 24th while girls basketball beat do 6626 on the 17th lost to Indian Hills 5749 on the 20th lost to Villa Walsh 5427 on the 22nd and lost to Mountain Lakes 3734 on the 24th thank you any questions for Emily okay no seeing none thank you ladies appreciate the reports uh we're going to suspend um our agenda tonight uh to allow for an update on security uh it says Chief pantina I don't see him here so would you mind coming up and uh introducing yourself hello everyone last year Tom Police Department just give you a microphone just so it makes it to the record let's try that again okay my name is Captain Tom Carney from the parity Police Department I've been on the job for 31 years and I've been running the investigative and juvenile division for the last five years uh lot's been going on there uh I'm here at the request of Bob Sutter like we come every year just to discuss what's going on in the schools with security as far as and what's the new topic class 3es uh with all that and our communication together is at its top we get along real well Bob would be able to uh vouch for that I um actually these last two storms uh we've been constant communication uh school resource offices all right so here's who we have at the schools because there's a lot of confusion and a lot of mixup at the high schools Bob lean has retired but he is now a security guard at the high school so he's still helpful uh Greg B who used to be at Central is now at the high school he's uh been on the job about 20 years he knows what he's doing and I haven't had any complaints about his uh performance uh detective Gloria Ortiz is at the Hills High School she's been there for a while unfortunately she's been out for about a month now she's due back middle of February in her place Matt McCulla has been working there uh he's also an SRO all the people I talk about right now are in uh have training uh school resource officer training it's a onewe course down at the state um they're not allowed to do it otherwise so anyone I speak of they all have that training okay as far as Central Middle School that's John or he's a class three and at the Brookland school also class three is there so the big questions people ask is well we want regular officer there they are regular officers okay the only difference between them and a police officer is they only have police Powers at the school and anything related to the school so off duty event uh prom they have police Powers there they're not allowed to go out and handle domestic force or anything like that separate from the school it has to be school function but otherwise they can make arrests they can do investigations although we have it that we will handle all the big investigations the detective Bureau we don't have them handle that we rather have them be in the school and deal with the kids and the small stuff the big stuff we handle and that's where my number one Detective Sergeant handles most of those cases uh George tetus who's over there without him I wouldn't get much done he takes care of the you know sex offenses that happen any of the um crimes involving drugs or anything where we're planning on charging the Juvenile and yes we can charge juveniles and we do okay not often but we do okay as far as the lower schools also class 3s we have now a changed it used to be three class class 3es in the lower schools now we have four we do have problem filling the four spot so in the meantime we've been using a SRO we have 10 certified sro's in our Police Department so each one of them takes a turn on the day that that they're working and they're responsible for those schools on that day the other three are retired officers one of them happens to be a retired Captain is Ed lpri John POI and Fred Arnold they are always on the job and they're the ones that go through the 10 lower schools L you one permanently assigned to uh Uptown and then one signed to uh to the other section uh downtown which is like L KYW okay as far as uh the SRO they and the class 3es they all report directly to the detective Sergeant George impetus and then if there's issues they come to me uh so I don't really deal with them much except for making sure they get paid I take care of their paychecks so they try to keep me happy okay as far as grants and stuff like that uh the newest things I'm not going to go over the old stuff it's stuff from the last year uh we were all trained and everything from CPR to bleed control but the newest thing the police department went through uh towards the end of last year was uh active shooter um response with the FBI it was a two-day program we all W uh running around um going through all kinds of Concepts on how to deal with schools and it was strictly designed for schools and every officer had to go through it was actually a great course I went through it myself and all these officers that I just spoke of were also involved in that School the other thing is uh that's new that was recommended from active shooter that I'm in the process of doing right now is getting uh access cards for the officers because if there is an active shooter the biggest problem we have is getting into the building because you're on lockdown so we have cards and we don't want to give a 100 cars out to 100 uh you know the swipe cards to 100 officers because that would be a problem so in lie of that we're going to have one in each car assigned to the car because the officers have to sign their keys out every day so even if they were in there on the day we know who's in there based on the car number so the car is going to be associated with the car and there's roughly about 30 cars that we're going to have with these cars that they have easy access to get in if something goes wrong that includes the lieutenants and the sergeants and traffic officers they will have that c too so right now everything's going pretty smoothly there's really no problems uh there's no gang problems in parsipany but we do have the gangs from Newark which lose you kids between the age of 12 and about 1 that of course come up here and steal your car uh steal your cars and the latest thing is they will break into your house to get those keys uh during the day not necessarily at night so um that's one of the biggest problems so I can say this to you and you can let it out to your friends lock your doors we keep saying it don't leave keys or uh you know valuables in the car and don't leave your keys near the front door where they can see it from a window um because they will break in and they don't care that your home so all right so that's it on this uh let me just make sure I didn't miss anything okay as far as cases just stats last year we had 26 Station House adjustments which for a town this size that's pretty small it's actually very good um so about 105 Handle With Care cases it's gone down from the year before by about 10 um so things are going pretty good at the schools I haven't had any complaints no issues uh everything's going good so does anyone have any questions for me could even be slightly off topic if you want I got a lot of knowledge um do the officers have like educational programming do they go into classrooms or are they just patrolling and saying hi to during the summer they go in with the SRO to get familiar with the schools that's the regular officers the class these are SRO the ones that are um the 10 that we have that are in Patrol they we Circle them out when the others are off like Gloria is out right now for a month and a half so they'll Circle in um so everyone kind of gets to know the schools but yes some of the younger guys they haven't they haven't been in all the schools yet but we work on that usually during the summer month when the schools are closed we don't want we're not allowed to really bring them in while you're the school's in session that doesn't work well and then like the slos that are assigned to either the elementary schools or the middle schools like are they just in the schools or are they going in oh I see where you go like curriculum you you know what I'm asking we don't have done there in a while it's not cost effective uh it takes up a lot of time but uh the officers at the middle school are permanent there so they will go into the schools if teacher wants to do a little uh presentation with them they're more than welcome to do it uh at the lower schools not not necessarily they do go inside they do go into the principal's office and they do walk the building but they don't uh get interact as far as classes going any kind of class session to know that's at the lower schools middle schools and high school yes other questions by board members I Mr baros thank you and uh thank you for your service thank you um so just recently and and I'm not looking for specifics but just recently um the report was released on the uh yaldi shooting and my question is with some of the conclusions that came out out of that report um is there a process in which whether it's the sro's and the class 3s or the PD in general that kind of reviews those findings to say good point we need to button that part up or like what's the process well that's where the FBI would actually show us a lot of those videos and show us where the mistakes are and just so you know we've changed the way police officers go into these active Shooters now there's no more waiting if you're the first person there that's one reason why we need the keys in the car there's no waiting you're going right in you're not waiting for a sergeant with a key you're just not so you don't wait if if another officer comes up at the same time as you great you both go in together but we were trained to go in individually we were trained to go in as two assuming we get there at the same time three or four but the reality is you're not going to have more than that you're going in with one or two and you're moving fast through the hallways you know you're listening for the sound and you're going as fast so the training is thorough and those videos yes we do see them we do get trained as far as review and where it can be improved yes that's standard thank you yes Dr R um could you just give an example of you know what kinds of things get handled at a Station House adjustment what kind of things like what does it Handle With Care okay I'm glad you asked that I wasn't going to bore you with this but I will now there's seven mandatory things that we must address and the Board of Ed has to address address it with us uh they're not allowed to just sweep it under the rug anything besides these it's it's the gray area where the principal will have the discussion with us and we'll make the decision kids if it's a firsttime offence things like that but these seven things the first one is unlawful possession of CDs that includes marijuana even though it's legal it's not legal for someone under 21 okay Firearms any or any dangerous weapons on uh and this includes offs school property and all of course we're talking about here uh the third one is anyone who has threatened has planned or otherwise intended to cause death or serious bodily AR harm so if the kids get in a serious fight like a bat in the baseball field in the middle of the night that's a problem that that we will charge okay that's that's a guarantee crimes involving sexual penetration or criminal sexual contact that's another one and that does happen to schools not often thankfully thankfully Sal upon teacher administrator Board of Ed member okay so if one of these kids assault you sorry we got to charge it's not an option and you got to let us know too or or the principal or whoever can get in trouble also uh bias related acts on or off school property doesn't have to be on school property okay those we also have to act on and the last one potentially missing abused or neglected students okay and every year the Board of Ed along with the police department and along with the Prosecutors Office signs the memorandum of agreement which has these seven things listed on it if you ever want a copy of that just Google search it and you'll see it it's very long I read every page it's about 160 Pages it's not a fun read okay anything else go forward Mr R um so along that line the say an incident of harassment intimidation or bullying would that fall into that gray area that you mentioned correct yes but if if that bullying includes an assault now it's a mandatory but if it was name calling that would be in the gray area yeah that would be a gray area that would be the decision of the principal or the Board of Ed or you know whatever discussions they have that wouldn't really yeah that wouldn't fall under us necessarily we are to notify them if there's a bullying situation outside the the school we would notify them that the students involved who you you do it through the SRO though okay Mrs Golder thank you so much for your service um I was trying really hard to write fast but could you repeat the one that the mandatory one that goes after the assault on a teacher or administrator think that's your favorite one I like that that includes bus drivers by the way okay uh bias related acts on or off school grounds thank you and that's acts okay yes M Abraham thank you I just had a quick question for the for the um elementary schools is there a schedule that the officers follow or I mean I'm sure this not public information so for safe yeah I'd rather not they're there for the whole school day okay unless something happens and they they're sick and then we have to scramble to get some the replacement but other than that they're there for the whole school day okay thank you yeah any other questions I also happen to be a traffic engineer so if you need anything with that know a lot about traffic sorry I coming back the you had mentioned that we had um that there were two two resource school resource officers at the high two at the Hills no correction one school at each one at each right okay and then two at the middle schools all right and we have one class three officer at at brookln one at Central yes okay and last last year if I'm not um you are correct three of didn't we have three officers we had sro's actual police officer detectives at the middle schools for cost Effectiveness they decided to move it to two class 3es at the middle schools no that I understand it was the Elementary we had three class three yes for the district and now we have four yes okay other questions two more Captain thank you and thank you and the sergeant for your service really appreciate it you got it thank you all right thank [Music] care is there any correspondents come before the board no no okay uh is there any unfinished business president Mr um not sure where this Falls of it's not old business please let me know and I'll mention it new business um one of the uh pilot programs that back in the day seems like forever ago which is 1515 can we talk about it now or uh sure okay um I attended the chamber Commerce meeting this past uh Tuesday and they mentioned that 1515 Route 10 will be ready for occupation by the end of the year so just to make that no this is first I heard about an actual uh date where people are going to start moving in or whatever their their plans are uh second question is uh at our last board meeting um Council vice president Nea spoke and he mentioned that he would be contacting the board to discuss the negotiations for the pilots the the newer Pilots um just was wondering if we can get an update on that absolutely so uh that board meeting I think was the the reor fourth right um that following weekend uh Council vice president NE and I exchanged a series of text messages and we had agreed to meet um that that Monday that following Monday um at 7:30 at Paul's Diner um on Monday morning uh I received a text message from Mr neglia saying that he was asked to perform a work-related assignment uh the evening uh of Monday night and had to had to cancel and and reschedule our meeting um I texted him back with some dates um to which he said he would review those and get back to me I've have not heard back from Council Vice PR neia in uh almost two weeks interesting shocking so my question is at this point as this date are do we have has there been any discussions with the town on the pilots that were approved uh uh the end of 23 which would have been uh Sentry Sentry drive whatever the two pilots were I can't keep up with them anymore campus campus two and three campus uh have we had any negotiations any discussions any rough outlines anything not to the best of my knowledge I'm I'm saying no so the board still and and then another on relating to 1515 since uh um they're going to have this big grand opening on the end of the year have we ever negotiated with the town on that at all 1515 no so right now we got 1515 that's going to affect the schools and uh the two new ones and we've had nothing from the town so right now we're Bard business kind of out in the island by ourselves yes so there's been no dialogue with the municipality um I know the board uh prior to this uh current term has uh attempted to um have communications with with the municipality with the mayor uh to no avail okay so at this time no there's no agreement we have no sense of what the township is willing to do in terms of funding uh for those tax abatement properties and um we uh will need to go into close session to uh talk about uh that topic um under uh negotiations and litigation um so that motion will be coming at the end of the the uh public meeting today okay stay tuned thank you thank you yes Mrs kogan just kind of along the same lines um at the same Chamber of Commerce meeting there was also um the economic what's it called Economic Development advisory committee mentioned that they will be holding um FAQ sessions regarding the pilots to um provide more information because there are a Township you know committee and there is an indication that false information has been given out so they are hoping to counter that so I just want to make everybody aware of that um and about two weeks ago maybe the Daily Record had a very good article about the timeline for a lot of these developments so they indicated that Cherry Hill would also be open for the end of the year they said fall and their information but like we said we we don't know anything else that's hasn't been published so thank you for that so um committee assignments uh have been published and we have created an ad hoc committee specifically to uh deal with the impact of pilots on the school district so Mrs benos um if you could see if we can convene that ad hoc committee to meet next week as there Wednesday okay Wednesday okay yep we'll we we'll firm that up but yeah thank you very much yeah thank you so much uh Tim and Allison for for raising those issues can I yes please Mrs Golder did um the Chamber of Commerce have stes for those uh Q&A no no they they said that there was going to be some kind of registration process because they wanted to make sure that they didn't max out whatever um number of people that they were going to be able to have they but it sounded like there was going to be more than one meeting and I I checked the website and there's no indication of any of that you just heard at our meeting all right thank you okay thank you for that any other unfinished business no uh committee reports I don't think any committees have no have met um um so so in consultation with Mrs benos um I asked her where I thought this might go in our agenda um what going to try to do every meeting um is uh I'm not really on any committees as a chairperson but I'm going to try and capture some of the notable things that have occurred between board meetings that may not normally make it um to uh you the board table for public comment um thank you guys I appreciate it I I've talked to Dr Sutter uh quite a bit these last few weeks um last two weeks sorry on a number of issues um we've had a few weather events right we had a delayed opening we had an early dismissal we had a snow day and I think what the board and the public want to know Bob is when's the next day no no no predictions for that no predictions for that okay good um there was a facilities issue with one of our clubs um not not not the fault of the board I think it was just uh the inability to to um fill out a form uh correctly uh for for a relatively big event um the good news is that the kids in the club won't be impacted for it that the event's going to um go on and that was successfully resolved uh there were a few building issues um uh regarding um heat a heat in one of our elementary schools there was some comments about um the gymnasium in in Brook laon and I guess crowding in the stairwells at Central all of which Dr Suter uh handled and resolved timely um water main break on a you know a day where the temperatures in the teens in front of the hill in front of pars of Ben High um so it's been a you know eventful a couple of days just on the just on the facilities and weather front um we had our meeting with uh Dr Sutter and um Mrs Golder myself leadership meeting on um January 23rd minutes have been provided uh in your packet so if you have any questions on those U minutes please please let me know um immediately after that meeting uh Dr Suter facilitated uh Dr Wendy wri's board member orientation and input for myself Mrs Golder Mrs benos Mrs Tedesco and um I want to thank Dr Wright because just prior to uh that meeting earli in the day early afternoon she had sent me a list of questions and um while the orientation itself is I I think relatively in-depth um I think your questions were great because it allowed us to talk about you know real topics and not just in an academic way but in a real sense so thank you uh thank you for that um and I think you you attended uh the njsba new board member orientation correct could you just maybe speak to that for a second how was it absolutely so I attended the governance one training of the njsba was the weekend edition it was down at the Princeton Conference Center uh in Plainsboro um it covered topics of school law including open public meetings and school ethics act um board governance uh board members responsibilities uh separating out what is the role and what is not the role um give kind of Crash Course on things like the board's role in student achievement and finance and Labor Relations um and as well gave me a great opportunity to connect with board members from across the state uh in large group and small group um and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on it uh it's fully paid for through a grant from the New Jersey Educational Leadership Foundation I believe is the correct name um and it was incredibly valuable both for the learning and also um one thing that really struck me was how uh precious it is to be part of a community both here and Statewide of people committed to our students and really you know making our communities better place thank you any questions for Dr R on her experience I did see the group photo published um a day or two ago I I zoomed in I was trying to find you in in the large Auditorium I couldn't see you I actually I thought my I'm it's my left shoulder is you can see um one of the things that Dr right had asked in her questions was does the board have kind of a working calendar and I I I think we had one years ago but we haven't had one in a while and I think what she's referencing is there's an njsba um 12 Monon planning and agenda calendar that's actually very helpful it's this one from the njsba kind of uh intermingles um no November elections and April elections and and when things are so U Mrs benos Mrs Tedesco U graciously volunteer to actually create one specific to our board well you were volunteered sorry um she was there yes that's right so uh yeah we'll have that out uh shortly and um just uh make sure you're aware the meeting date changes we move the uh Fe February 88th meeting to February 7th there was a um a lot of support to to want to go to the Morris County School boards meeting um on um on the 8th so we're moving that and um we've moved the March 14th meeting to March 12th um just a couple more things um I attended the Somerset County SBA meeting on the 22nd virtually I sent out the agenda uh the assistant superintendent a curriculum for Franklin Township gave a very good presentation um that um document that's attached is an interactive document so there's lots of hyperlinks embedded and if you go on the the rendering of of his his his picture in his Virtual Office which he did during covid um there's a lot of good material there that you can click on and read um if you haven't done it New Jersey School Board Association puts out a lot of weekly um sometimes daily uh emails and the school board notes are a very good resource for us to to read up uh and be be uh up to date on some things there were a couple of new SEC advisory opinions in um the last two or three legislative update um they highlighted 10 new laws assigned by the governor uh an expansion of the free School breakfast and lunch program um information about non-public school transportation Consortium and how that's going to work um a report looking at youth Suicide Prevention um and one of the ones that I wanted to talk about a little bit tonight was um when the state um encouraged Boards of Education to move their Board of Education Election to the November general election um really with the purpose of saving money right because the state was strapped for funds at the time um most Boards of Ed in the state did that the reason being is the state said if you want to keep your budget um I'm sorry you want to keep your annual School Board election in April uh you're going to have to go out for a public vote on your budget even if it's at or below the 2% cap um one of the laws that the government recently signed uh now allows school boards to go back to an April election without having to put their budget out for a public vote um so I'd like to ask um our critical issues committee uh to to begin looking at that and determine if it makes sense in some way to consider uh moving our vote back to back to April there's been a lot said about part politics interjecting itself into School Board elections and and I think one of the major driving forces of that is when you when you take the the Board of Ed Ed election which was separate and very focused from April and you put it into the general election I think an unintended consequence of that was partisan politics creeping in um so I think it might be a good time for us to look at uh look at moving back to April will be obviously for this coming April um although theoretically it could but uh I think for 2025 let's just understand I think the njsba I think um Madam attorney's firm can provide some some insight and guidance on how that could work if we wanted to pursue it there is the uh NJ SBA inaugural women's leadership conference on April 19th it looked extremely interesting uh I'm undecided if I'm going to attend or not all are welcome you don't have to be a woman um so if you're interested you know please sign up for that uh and my my last piece uh I'd like to wish Brian satch a happy birthday it's his birthday today so happy birthday happy birthday happy [Applause] birthday uh are there any uh no committee reports right that's it okay um any leison reports I think we had CPAC I don't know if any of attended that you weren't able to I no okay thanks can um I have a motion to approve the executive and regular minutes of January 4th please oh I'm sorry you have a question oh no oh oh motion I'm sorry second Allison uh Mr palel okay okay roll call please Mrs Abraham yes Mr bar yes Mrs kogan yes Mrs mayor yes Mr Rea yes Mrs Chappelle yes Mrs Right yes Mrs Boulder yes Mr chappa yes and just before Bob we move on to the superintend report I'm sorry uh councilman I I didn't see you behind the Lector but we have councilman McGrath in attendance tonight so thank thank you for coming now Dr Suter superintendent short thank you Mr Chao good evening everyone I would like to congratulate Sarah Wills Marlene Gibson and Antonio Hernandez for their fantastic work in getting 78 students published in the Young Writers USA Anthology entitled haunted Where the Wild Things Are what an incredible achievement congratulations and thank you for your hard work and dedication the Littleton Edition construction project has faced numerous obstacles including the release of permit from the town as well as underground storm water piping however I want to report that footings and Foundation block is underway and it should be completed weather permitting by the end of this week finally I want to thank Mr Steve beler for inviting me to phhs for the annual civics government presidential Town Hall debate I was completely taken back by the professionalism displayed by each student who played at presidential candidate they were poised knowledgeable and engaging and I want to commend the students and the staff for asking intelligent questions and for the courtesy they showed their classmates it really was a great experience for me uh tonight for your approval we have superintendent bulletin items 1- 40 with theendum and reading items 41-61 thank you any questions for Dr Suter on the superintendance bulletin okay seeing none Mr Tesco secretary's report please hi everyone on tonight's secretary's report we have our regular business motions including the approval of of uh the 2024 New Jersey school Development Authority Grant does anybody have any questions thank you no seeing none thank you uh any new business to come before the board yeah thank you let's see ah Mrs mayor congratulations uh on being elected to the moris County School Board Association uh as director you're you're absolutely welcome and we will see you um on Saturday at the president's vice president's breakfast right okay great and Mr beros um wanted to introduce um some new business regarding two of our bylaws so I'll turn that over to you for thank you Mr President um just as aware um I have a I'm going to add a couple other things to new business but not as topical as uh as this will be I'm sure um I am looking to have uh since committees are going to be uh affirmed tonight I would like to at the end of the meeting ask that you send bylaw 10152 0171 uh the policy um I'd like to see this these two uh bylaws uh updated and changed to reflect a more a clearer understanding of um especially to be in alignment with Robert's Rules and the New Jersey State uh rig so I would like to see that happen and I think that the uh the policy committee is the best place to start that um you know based on what happened in 2023 I think this is an appropriate time to review this so I am asking for that consideration any Mrs Chappelle so thank you for raising that very much Tim um there is one thing I'd like to add you can hear me they can hear me closer oh um there you go they uh so when I was reviewing Robert's rules um to see you know the points that were mentioned in the the agenda I was reminded of something else um so uh last year when we were talking about um various things in in part of the operations of the general board um there were a couple people who mentioned the fact about terms you know the limit on terms people would serve in certain roles and how that may pay a part in some of the um situations that were arising um across the board um I talked about this we we heard it on the board we also um I had talked about it offline with a number of current and previous board members so the stuck with me and so when I was reviewing this and I realize that 56.3 one right above the point that you raised is about term limits I feel like this is the right Point since we're already looking at these policies that we should be considering this as well now I've only been in the chair for two weeks you already want to get me like No I um I thank you for raising the issue uh and I you know we discussed briefly earlier in in September of 2022 the policy Comm committee actually did amend uh bylaw 0152 to include um as I recall a a three-year term limit I could be wrong but I think it's corre three-year term limit um the motion never passed it didn't get a two-third majority of the vote it was voted down so I think um I think both Tim's and Michelle's suggestion to to uh bring 0152 and 0171 to the policy committee for review uh is appropriate and you know certainly we can I think we had decent language about term limits um in 2022 so we can certainly revisit that in policy great thank you if I remember Mr President um the chairman of the policy committee at the time uh I think I still have the old language to the policy to the to the bylaw change that was recommended which I thought was very um appropriate so uh I'll dig it up and we can uh we can discuss it okay thank you thank you just Mr Ray just to clarify are we talking about term limits for just president vice president or that was correct that's right yes thank you okay my second item for new business so at the at the Chamber of Commerce meeting this past Tuesday um I spoke to vice president of the chamber um Mr Frank kahill who's also part of the economic development uh committee uh in town and um so he put me to the side and he asked me what could the board do I guess traditionally up until some point in time in 23 that video on the go um was doing what was considered a meet the merchant segment uh that video on the go produced and I guess published on the video on the Go YouTube site and if I'm saying that incorrectly forgive me but that's my understanding um and of course being that in this case here Mr Cahill uh had wears both hats for both the Chamber of Commerce and the economic development most of the meet emergence or say vast majority of them were Chamber of Commerce members um now he understands that based on what has transpired with the now refr I believe this is was the case based on when I was President the last couple years is that uh this was a shared services agreement between the Board of Ed and video on the go I do not think there were necessarily a payment uh funds for this Mr kahill is aware of that and he understands the board's position as relates to doing stuff with the township however he is is requesting that because this has really got nothing to do with the township per se that it's more to do with the um you know trying to Spur you know highlighting the merchants which are mostly um Chamber of Commerce members also helping with the economic development which is the township if the board would reconsider and allow Mr Cahill to use the services a video on the go again I said I would take that information I would pass it along which I did uh email to you Mr President um I'm not sure what the next steps would be but I would like to at least have a discussion and put it into a proper area to maybe further vet it out if possible can I clarify yes Mrs Golder sorry um I think I lost something somewhere there was a shared agreement between who before the township of pory and Board of Ed right okay that which for the video on the go okay you said video on the go that's why I was well isn't the video on the Go part of right wa that's why I want to go yeah I I I will say normally video on a go but yeah um so anyways that's the that's the that's the ask so I told Mr K he'll be very happy to pass it up the food chain so that is what I have done thank you any other any other comments on video on the go you any other comments on video on the go well I wanted to ask a qu now so when we had the shared agreement with the township I I recall it was mayor barbaria he used it a lot to do a lot of different segments um what the segments were about I don't know but was that when the economic development which is an office under under under the township they were using video on the go then I mean I don't know the particulars of what the shared agreement was for um but um but Frank kahill technically shouldn't come to us to ask for that he it should go to the to the mayor the township so that they can in turn do it you know discuss a shared agreement with us because is Frank kill acting as the president of the Chamber of Commerce Economic Development because if it's under the economic development then that's under the township if it's Chamber of Commerce that's that's separate the answer is yes on both because he is I mean technically he's doing both roles right um I would you know obviously the the video on the go relationship is a share of services with the town um I it definitely I think it goes back to and I could be wrong here but I believe the agreement goes back to when Mary barberio was in his first term right I could be wrong there um and up until some point in 23 I guess it was mainly for Town Council meetings if I remember correctly but that could could have changed I don't know but whatever reason it stopped I have a good I have a good thought as to why it stopped but it stopped and Mr kahill is looking at it just from the economic development point of view Chamber of Commerce point of view is would we be able to give him an exception on that one here may not be possible I just said I would bring it I would bring it to the attention of the board okay thank you um it it it it seems like or just anecdotally it seems like there's been some you know confusion about video on the go and and the responsibilities it has to uh the township and I would think think if the initial agreement um was entered into during mayor barberio's first term I'm sure it wasn't in perpetuity so it must have had an end date somewhere and does anyone recall it being renewed at any time since then no okay so so I'm sorry Mrs no it has not been okay uh then I'd like to suggest that we um assign Communications with the task of investigating where we are with v on the go um reviewing any agreements that might be in place with the township and perhaps just defining a little bit better the scope of the services that are offered um by video on the go so if we can assign that to Communications okay great yes sir one last thing um just wanted to share with everyone that um this morning I had the pleasure of attending at the lake Hawa Elementary School the Lake High's Winter concert uh it was fourth and fifth grade I can only do the morning session because I was busy in the afternoon um speaking only for myself but it makes you really proud to be sitting at this chair making some of the decisions that we make when you see the Young Folks especially the strings which was kind of uh new uh over the last few few years but just the the combined choir the um the percussion band the strings band you know fourth and fifth graders I mean they're really just getting their hands around instruments um and um you know playing as a group and Ensemble it was awesome it was it was a lot of fun lot of enthusiasm um and I just wanted to let everybody know that it was a great event uh and um I I was glad I was invited to go and I appreciated the opportunity to attend so I just wanted to share that thank you Tim any other new business no okay moving on to a hearing of the public uh at this time if there's anyone who would like to address the board please come up sign your name and address in the book at the Lector and state your name for the record and please address the chair each person will have three minutes to speak to the board it would be helpful if you would like to address the board to please come up now and sign the book so that you are ready when the first speaker finished as a reminder we are video videotaping the meeting if you are a student who wishes to speak we ask that you not provide your home address but rather give only the name of the municipality in which you live if you are a parent wishing to discuss a specific matter pertaining to your child during this portion of the meeting you may request that the board temporarily suspend the video recording alternatively please consider speaking privately about the matter to the superintendent after the meeting speakers should refrain from using specific student or staff names in the comments and are referred to uh referred to bylaw 168 for further information regarding the videotaping of our meetings is there anyone like to address the board we have uh President Joe Kyle the ptha hello Joe hello everyone I'm Joe Kyle of the ptha the executive board feels that we must reluctantly bring something to your attention at the close of our arbitration last week on the Elementary schedule the arbitrator asked everyone to leave the room except for me and the superintendent the board attorney and our attorney he looked directly at me and Bob and said that if he has to file a report we would both not like it but he added that we should try to settle it ourselves I wrote Bob the next morning and suggested that we roll up our sleeves and try to reach a compromise I even revealed that we had come up with a couple of ideas he wrote back that under the advice of the board attorney the district would not meet with the ptha without a neutral third party present so we're thinking we're not going to try to work something out it's confusing why the district is so ready to spend taxpayer dollars for the arbitrator to say nothing of the board attorney salary and that I have to tap into my members dues but I I I think I should add and the board the executive board and I talked about this it's not just the money those of you in the room and I know there's a bunch of you here who have been in meetings and negotiations before you know that the fewer people in the room the better if a just Educators and those of us committed to children like it always was up to a few years ago then we have a much better chance of reaching a compromise and solving problems before they Fester we should not be so quick to turn to lawyers and arbitrators we did a lot better here before we started to do that previous superintendent made business personal that is something that had not previously happened under her the District of personal actions against some including me actions that hurt people including my family and my children and I have as much right as anyone to be angry with the way I've been treated by this District but I still have a job to do we still have a job to do can't let our personal interfere our personal feelings interfere with that our students will get hurt at the arbitration your board attorney told me that I was too emotional she meant it as an insult but she's right educators are emotional because we're passionate about what we do we're not passionate about the law not other jobs passionate about teaching and learning and I think many of you in this room whether former teachers or those committed to sitting on the school board feel the same way I've been here for a long time 26 years and I've had some really good arguments with you know Bob pette genan V seal these sites heck even Vinnie and and ell and I like hit it a couple of times but that was business when we met each other it started end started and ended friendly asked about our kids we talked we kept the lines of communication open because what we have in common is that we're here because we're passionate about education Andy chaffo and I would yell at each other over the negotiating table years ago but when I saw him bowling a couple of months ago I introduced my kids and we had a nice chat it doesn't have to be personal we have a job to do as Leaders I'm asking you to put our personal issues aside we used to have regular meetings we used to have meetings required by policy and practice I asked you to return to the practice of a few years ago now and always let's meet alone as Educators there's so much to gain nothing to lose thank you uh thank you is there anyone else who care to address the board seeing none I'll close the uh public session yes uh sure Mr Kyle the answer your question um I agree a motions do Run High so I like the fact that there's a third party there so we can get the business of the board and the business of the pth done without without any emotions without any problems I like a third party there so I think it's worked well in the past since I've been here I'd like to continue that so we can get the business done thank you do I have an extra [Music] minute um sure I technically closed the public session but absolutely please feel free I I appreciate what you're saying Bob I do I've been here for a long time and whenever I say that I think people probably think probably too long but there are people here sitting at this table Judy you're one of them Andy you're one of them go back a long way a long way you guys know and others here know that when you're in a small room with people you can solve problems before they become big problems once you put lawyers in the room who are not teachers we suddenly start talking about numbers and contracts and the law we're not talking about students and teachers and education now I don't deny that sometimes we have to get them in the room but when someone says hey just roll up your sleeves and see if you can come up with an agreement and I'm revealing to you that I'm willing to compromise I'm willing to the teachers are willing to pull back here I don't see why we can't try before we spend several thousand dollars I think it's worth it to just give it a shot I'm an old man but that's what I think all right thank you Joe can I okay we're going to close the public session at this point so thank you uh for your comments now have a roll call vote on S before the superintendent no there'll be no action coming at a Clos session thank you Tim for that um so roll call vote for superintendent bullet number 12 items one through 40 with theendum items 41 through 61 may I have a motion please Mrs Mrs kogan and readin I'm sorry and readin seconded by Mr Rea R Mrs Abraham yes Mr baros yes Mrs Co yes Mrs mayor yes Mr Rea yes Mrs Chappelle yes Mrs Wright yes Mrs Golder yes Mr choa yes thank you we're going to go into um Clos session for the purposes of negotiation and legal matters uh no action will be taken at the conclusion of the executive session uh I need a motion to go into closed Mrs Chelle seconded by Mrs Abraham all in favor hi [Music] yep