Okay, 6 o'clock. So, there's no gabble, so knock on the table. Good evening. May I call the meeting of the Precipany Troy Hills Board of Education to order on Tuesday, January 6th, 2026.
Welcome to the Precipany Troy Hills Board of Education Organization meeting. In compliance with chapter 231, public law 1975 entitled Open Public Meeting Act, adequate notice of this meeting has been
provided as specified in the act in the following manner. A meeting notice was published in the daily record and on the district website on January 8th, 2025. A meeting notice was posted in all school buildings, the website, and the
town hall on December 19th, 2025. In addition, notice of this meeting date was posted at the municipal building, a copy of the notice filed with the township clerk and transmitted to other newspapers, including the daily record,
the Star Ledger, the Precipany Focus, Tap into Precipany, the patch, and the district website. This regular public board meeting is being video recorded as per bylaw 0168. The recording of these meetings will be
available on the district website and our video onthe-go YouTube channel. We ask that you please refrain from using student or staff names in any statements. Professionalism is expected at all times. Please join me for the flag salute.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. So, we get to review the results
from our past election. So, three people that are here this evening have received the following votes. Mrs. Allison Kogan received 7,767 votes. Mrs. Michelle Chappelle received 7,
sorry, Mrs. Michelle Chappelle received 7,556 votes and Mr. Deval Shaw received 5,65 votes. All three of these positions are
three-year terms. So at this point, if our board attorney, Mrs. Gail Fillain, administer the oath of office. Will the candidates please come up? Congratulations everyone. You have your oaths in front of you. I will use the
traditional swearing. You certainly may affirm fill in your in the blank when you with your names. Okay. So, please repeat after me. I state your name. >> I >> do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States.
swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and that I will bear and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. >> and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.
>> and to the governments established in the United States and in this state. >> And to the government established in the United States and this state >> under the authority of the people. So help me God. >> under the authority of the people. I state your name.
>> I shall >> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> for the office of a member of a board of education >> for the office of a member of a board of
education. >> Am not disqualified as a voter. >> Am not disqualified as a voter. >> And am not disqualified to serve due to a conviction of a crime or offense. am not disqualified to serve to conviction of a crime or offense
>> as listed in NJS18A12-1. >> as listed in NJS 18A 12-1 >> and that I will I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. So help me God. and that I will faithfully and partially and
justly perform all the duties of the office according to the best of my abilities. >> So help me. >> CONGRATULATIONS. >> They're signing out. That is Congratulations. Just waiting for cake to
keep. Oh, okay. All right. So, if we can give one more round of applause for our newly elected. All right. I have one more duty before we uh play musical chairs once again. The election of the president. So by
show of hands roll >> uh maybe I'll do the roll call right before I do that. So I got two more things to do. >> So roll call vote. A roll call for attendance. Mrs. Abraham >> here. >> Mr. Barios >> here.
>> Mrs. Kogan >> here. >> Mrs. Mr. Delave >> here, >> Mr. Dvito >> here, >> Miss Mayor >> here, >> Mr. Shaw >> here, >> Mr. Chappelle >> here, >> and Dr. Wright >> here. >> So now the election of the president. By show of hands, who would like to
nominate someone for the board president of Pipony Troy Hills School District? Mrs. Abraham. >> I'd like to nominate Mr. Matthew Devito for president. Mr. >> You also had your hand up. >> I did. >> Who Who would you like?
>> I would like to nominate Mrs. Kogan. Are there any other nominations for the board president of the precipany Troy Hill School District? Robert order says I have to ask three times. So I'm going to ask one more time. Any other nominations for the
president of the board of education for Pacific Troy Hills? Okay, so we're going to have a vote. Uh just a reminder, you can only vote for one candidate or we'll wind up tying and we'll be here until 3:00 in the morning. So the first nomination was for Mr.
Devito. So I'm going to do a roll call vote and then I'm going to do a roll call vote for Mrs. Kogan. Okay. So a a yes would be voting for and a no voting against. So >> Mr. >> Mr. Devito, >> Mrs. Abraham,
>> yes. >> Mr. Barios, >> nope. >> Mrs. Kogan, >> no. >> Mrs. Delave, >> no. >> Mr. Dvito, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> no. >> Mr. Shaw,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle, >> no. >> And Dr. Right? >> No. >> Okay. So, this is the second roll call vote and this is for Mrs. Kogan, which should be the opposite of what you
just voted, but Mrs. Abraham, >> no. >> Mr. Barios, >> no. >> Mrs. Kogan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Delave, >> yes. >> Mr. Devito, >> no. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> yes. Mr. Shaw,
>> yes. >> Uh, you voted yes on the Yes, sir. >> went down. >> Okay. Mrs. Chappelle, >> yes. >> And Dr. Wright, >> yes. >> 1 2 3 4 5 6 to three, the vote is Mrs.
Kogan, elected as board president. CONGRATULATIONS, You didn't have a All right. At this time, we will do the election of the vice president. Are there nominations for vice president of the board of election board of
education? Mrs. Abraham, I'd like to nominate Mr. Matthew. Thank you. Miss Dr. Wright, I'd like to nominate Michelle Chappelle. >> Are there any other nominations for vice president?
Okay, seeing none, Dr. McHugh, can we have the roll call vote for Mr. Devito? >> This is for Mr. Devito. Mrs. Abraham, >> yes. >> Mr. Barios. >> No. >> Mrs. Kogan,
>> no. >> Mrs. Delofave, >> no. >> Mr. Devito, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> no. >> Mr. Shaw, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle, >> no.
>> And Dr. Right? >> No. Um, can we now have the roll call vote for Mrs. Chappelle? >> So, for Mrs. Chappelle, Mrs. Abraham, >> uh, no. >> Mr. Barios,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Kogan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Delofave, >> yes. >> Mr. Dvito, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> yes. >> Mr. Shaw, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle. >> Yes.
>> And Dr. Wright, >> yes. >> Eight votes. Mr. Chappelle. >> Motion carries. >> Motion carries. Mrs. CHAPPELLE. OKAY, we have one more item of business and then we'll take a break. Can we have
the student committee reports? >> Good evening. Here are the latest happenings at PHS. FBA, DECA, and Science Olympiad are having competitions tomorrow. The student council have their NJASC uh winter business meeting tomorrow. And
the ice hockey team had a game against South Brunswick yesterday. The basketball team had a game against Hanover Park yesterday. And the basketball girls JV team had a game against Morris Hills yesterday. for PHS. Our student council executive
board is going to TCJ tomorrow for the NJASC winter conference. We've been planning two events which includes the student council lipub video and the Hill senior standout. As for athletics, the ice hockey team has their senior night tomorrow against Menon at 5:45 p.m. And
the girls basketball team also has their senior night on the 12th at 7 p.m. Thank you. >> Do we have any questions for our student representatives? I don't think your mic is >> maybe. Do we have any questions for our student representatives?
>> Okay. Uh before the break, I need a motion to go into close session right after the break for purposes of discussing student HIV matters which are confidential in nature. Action on the Hib matters is anticipated to be taken during this evening's public session.
Personal information pertaining to the individuals involved in these matters shall be redacted from the minutes of the executive session and shall remain confidential until after such time as the board determines that the need of confidentiality no longer exists and the matters discussed can be disclosed.
Can I have a motion, Mrs. Mayor? And a second, Mr. Devito. Does anybody have any questions? >> Okay. >> All in favor? I >> I >> any opposed. All right. So, we will now
have a break for so we can congratulate the newly elected board members. Switch. >> Nobody needs to hear your order. I was drinking the windows up front. >> Unusual.
>> So unusual. in a really nice way. >> Somebody like >> All right. May I call the No, this one's much This mic's much better. May I call the meeting to order again? 7:19.
Um, the board attorney will now review the code of ethics that all board members have in front of them for signature. I believe the three of us who just got sworn in already had ours. We already that was around the table. >> So, board members, um, you have your
code of ethics in front of you, your acknowledgement forms. Please execute those and return them to Miss Benos. We will do of course as we have in the past a longer ethics presentation but essentially today is just to remind you
of your requirements under 18A col2-24 and 12-24.1 meaning uh with respect to the items the matter the actions that you cannot take and the actions that you should not take. Um again those actions uh
basically to ensure that we are not doing business with um you know organizations or individuals with whom you have a relationship professional or personal. Using your position to secure unwant unwarranted privileges. Um
ensuring that you don't take employment or service that might prejudice your independent judgment. Not using your office for financial gain. uh not representing yourself or others against the board and again that is in courts of record. That is not in terms of any uh
appeal that you may have in front of the board for your own uh child. No solicitation or acceptance of any gifts. Uh the code of the code of ethics which is the 24.1 essentially ensures that you uphold and
enforce the rules as set by the department of education. to make decisions in the best interests of children. I will have to say that at this board um there is never ever a question of that. You may differ in your interpretations, but um it's certainly
refreshing to see this board um you know compared to others where you really do put the students first. Confining your action to policym, planning, and appraisal. This is an area where all board members um across the state could improve. remembering that your job is
not to administer these schools, that your job is to ensure that they're they're wellrun. Um that is done through your superintendent. You are to refer all um complaints to the superintendent. It does not go to the building principal. It goes to the
superintendent. Um it is only when there is a failure of administration to resolve the complaint do does a board member have the authority to act. So again, we'll go through all of that in more detail,
including the social media uh cases that have come out um from the the school ethics commission at a later date, but for today's date, uh please make sure you sign and return your code of ethics to Miss Benos. I'm certainly happy to take any
questions. >> I just don't have the bylaws list that I can read or later on, so maybe that can be trouble. >> Absolutely. All right, we're up to correspondence. Is there any correspondence to come before the board? >> No correspondence for this meeting.
>> Is there any unfinished business or leazison reports? I'm not sure anybody did anything over the holiday break, Mr. Devito. >> Well, yeah, it's some unfinished business. So, uh, at our August 21st meeting, um, we approved our, our board
goals for the for the year. And so, there's a couple items from that that I have some questions on. Um, one regarding, uh, uh, bullet number four, a, uh, creating adhering to a plan to achieve board certification by October 2026. Um, I think we are running a
little little close to that. when we I don't think I'm sure how much board credits we've earned that we could could uh could achieve that by October. So, I'm wondering um I know we have a new we've have a new liaison that we I think Mrs. Abraham and I have gotten to know a little bit since since workshop and I
think he'd be willing to come and do a few presentations for us at some future meetings. I think we should try and work towards that. >> Has reached out a few times so she can continue to see if he will respond and set up a date. >> Very good. And then the other item from the board goals that I wanted to bring
up was the um item number five. We said we would to effectively establish the progress of our board goals, create a dashboard or a dedicated reporting mechanism. This use will be used to track progress and updates at our at our monthly meetings. Um I have not seen that yet at all.
>> No, critical issues was supposed to work on that and I don't believe critical issues met close to the end of the year. So we can put that on critical issues again for So, we're going to go into February with that. All right. Fine. All right. Just Just wanted to bring those up. That's all. Thank you.
>> So easy to lose those, right? >> Okay. Since this is the first meeting with the new board, um we're going to uh review the committee list that, you know, is coming around now and it will have the index cards that you fill out
with your preference for the committees. Um, and if we could have it back to Mrs. Benos by Thursday. There is I mean obviously there's a lot going on. There's always a lot going on, but we would like to get the committees set up as soon as possible so that they can,
you know, get their calendars um set and we can start the meetings um of the committees. So, what you're going to get is a current listing of the board committees, those committees responsibilities.
You're also going to get the code of governance, the blank cards that are the purple things for the 25 26 years. Um, then I think each person gets their own packet. Yeah. And if you, you know, Mrs. Mrs.
Benos will accept them in any form you can possibly get them to her. Um, I did want to ask one thing of everybody. The ad hoc committee. Yeah, it says pilot and residential developments. I just wanted to make sure that it actually says residential
developments because that is at this point the main one of the main concerns. So, I don't I just wanted to make sure the ad hoc committee was not only focused on pilots. So, um, if you're asking to be on that ad hoc committee, just realize that, you know, hopefully
we're going to be talking about the entire issue surrounding residential developments and the increase in student um, students coming to our district. Dr. Right. >> Um I just wanted to ask the status of the DEIA uh
>> committee >> committee uh because it hasn't met. Um and I know that it was the status of it was wonky. Um and I'm the liaison and I know we haven't done anything. Um so I don't know if it exists currently and should have a liaison or whether it's
going to be reconstituted. Um I can this might be new business. I would love to do a you know climate survey. Um but uh I just want to know the status of that. >> You know the status or would you like to update us later? >> I will update you late. Uh
>> I can give you we can touch base. Okay. Perfect. Thank you Dr. Wright. >> All right. Are there any other questions on the reg? I mean this packet I don't think is any different. Uh okay.
Now we are up to the approval of the minutes for regular and executive sessions of December 18th, 2025. Can I have a motion for the approval? Mrs. Abraham second. Mrs. Mayor, is there any discussion on
the minutes? Okay. Can I have a roll call, please? >> Mrs. Abraham, >> yes. >> Mr. Barios, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kogan, >> yes. Uh, Mrs. Delave, >> yes. >> Mr. Dvito,
>> abstain. >> Mrs. Mayor, >> yes. >> Mr. Shaw, >> abstain. >> Mrs. Chappelle, >> yes. >> And Dr. Wright, >> yes. >> Okay, motion passes. We are now up to superintendent bulletin number nine. Dr.
Chase. >> Okay. Um, happy new year to the board and to our community. I also want to congratulate Miss Kogan, Miss Chappelle, and Mr. Dval for your membership. I look forward to working with you this year for the district. Uh I al I just want to let the whole board know and the community know that on the school
calendar there is a comment that speaks about having emergency school closings prior to January 5th and a makeup day of January 19th. We've had inclement weather, but we're not going to be holding school on uh we are going to be holding school um on that date. So, what
I will be doing in the event um of addressing the situation where we've had Brook Lawn and also the hills that were offline for a day due to power outages, I will be recommending a calendar adjustment at the next board meeting. I am thinking about prop I actually want
to plan to propose converting June 2nd, which is currently listed as a professional development day, into a single session day for those two schools. So students can attend on those days and in the afternoon our staff could do uh the required PD that they wish to participate in. So um that'll
allow us to meet the 181day requirement per the state of New Jersey. Um so again that's forthcoming but I wanted to let the community know if they had any concerns about that. Uh my other item is just for your approval in the bulletin we have items 1 through 39 and addendum
items 40 to 42 and the readins. Thank you. So, can I just confirm the 19th was supposed to be a day off and it still will be a day off? >> Yes. I'm sorry. Yes, that's Martin Luther King Day. Yes, we will be closed. >> Okay,
>> let me say that again. We will be closed on Martin Luther King Day. >> And only the two schools that had the emergency closings will be attending school on June 2nd. >> Yes. Once the calendar once the board approves that calendar adjustment calendar. I will probably send some out
communication out tomorrow to just re um state the fact that we will be closed on January 19th and then as soon as the board approves the calendar we will send something out to staff and community as well letting them know that those will be days for school on okay in June. Thank you.
>> Thank you for clarifying. >> Are there any other questions on the superintendent's bulletin? >> Mrs. Abraham, >> um when we're discussing the calendar changes, um will we have an opportunity to discuss it before we >> It'll be it right. The calendar changes
would will be um on for our approval. >> The secretar's report. Uh Dr. McHugh. >> Okay. Our secretary's report is a little bit different for this meeting. The first 18 motions are are our reorganization motions and motion number 19 is our monthly bills.
That's all I have. >> Any questions? >> Okay. Any new business? Mrs. Abraham. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Um I just wanted to take a minute to just mention that Mr.
man is a certified coordinator and we just wanted to make sure that we acknowledge that and appreciate him for his efforts outside of this room. We all put in a lot of effort to go to a lot of events and meetings and I think reaching
these milestones should be appreciated. >> Yes, thank you. I had that for last time but he wasn't here. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Appreciate it. >> So, I I had some business as well. I kind of segus into that. First, I'd like to welcome Mr. Shaw to the board. He's the newest board member. I know, you
know, welcome and everything. Um, to that end, um, when I received my CBL certification in mid November, so uh, I, you know, didn't know I couldn't attend in workshop this, uh, there was a a meeting of just the certified board
leaders that were already certified. Um, so, uh, I received an email and I think the rest of you that are CBL's as well would have received this from, uh, Mr. Ray Penny from school boards about a, uh, session, couple sessions regarding what was discussed, which was regarding
mentoring, uh, of new board members. And I'd like to take the opportunity to volunteer to mentor either Mr. Shaw or even still, we're still new um, as as a CBL. um if if that's if that's something you're up to up to doing, just wanted to
put that out there. Thank you. >> Thank you. They actually uh the the topic of that meeting was uh based more on mentoring people outside of your district. >> Um so just so you know that that's what Mr. Penny is is discussing. That's what
was discussed at school boards, right, Mrs. Mayor? >> Um thank you, Mr. >> Yeah. And to that end, I don't disagree, of course. I just was um what I was trying to say was I think I've had conversations before today with some of the other board members individually about a a a more robust process of being
able to you know train say train at least help acclimate new board members to the board because sometimes I wonder if it's you know it been effective in some ways. That's all. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Can I address this? >> Yes.
>> Um just board members just following on the code of ethics. Um I would like to do our updated chart. Um so if you could each individually email me um in you know people that you are related to within the district, anything that might
cause a uh a conflict. Um employers uh individuals that you might have um professional relationships with that we should be aware of. um so we can kind of track the the agenda, make sure that everybody stays on the right side and also any volunteer opportunities that
you're you're doing either in school or out of school. Um we we're finding some additional um opportunities outside in some of our CBI programs where we want to make sure that there's not any conflicts there. So if you could each individually email that information to me, I can update our chart.
>> Question. What are these volunteer opportunities related to? Any volunteer work? Sometimes we do it with our >> Yeah, it's it's usually I ask for all um but it's really things that might touch on what the district's doing. So,
anything inside of the district, any volunteers, uh jobs that you have in PTA, any of the sports programs, um you know, uh we we've had a couple of folks that were really involved with the band. Um but any outside agencies where they
may come into contact with the the district. So hry collection. >> I don't I don't not >> never hurts to put more information down. She can dismiss it if she needs to. >> And if there's ever ever a question,
please feel free to to contact us. >> At this time, we're at the hearing of the public. If there is anyone who would like to address the board, please come up. Sign your name and address in the book at the lectern and state your name for the record. 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. Sign in the book so that you are ready when the first speaker is finished. As a reminder, we are video recording this meeting. If you're a student who wishes
to speak, we ask that you not provide your home address, but rather only give the name of the town 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 their comments and are referred to bylaw 168 for further information regarding the
videotaping of our meetings. Is there anybody who would like to address the board? Okay. If not, I will close the public hearing of the public. We will have a roll call vote on superintendent bulletin number nine, items 1 through 39
with addendum items 40 to 42 and readins. Can I have a motion please? Mrs. Mayor and a second. Mrs. Delave, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Abraham, >> yes. >> Mr. Barios, >> yes. >> Mrs. Delave,
>> abstain from number 31 and yes to everything else. Mr. Devidito, >> yes. Mrs. uh Mrs. Mayor, >> yes. >> Mr. Shaw, >> Dr. Wright, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chappelle,
>> yes. >> And Mrs. Kogan, >> yes. >> All right. There being no further business, I need a motion to adjourn the meeting. Dr. Wright and a second, Mr. Dvito. All in favor? >> I. Meeting adjourned.