##VIDEO ID:PZjOWL2bkp8## [Music] check check sound check check hey I'm doing okay how are you good nice to you nice to see you too welcome back long time you see e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e har e e e e e e e e e e I do what I have I know would you you like we caness we I mean that's what you do for the parents right right [Music] cute flow sweet quiet group mhm good evening everyone and welcome to the Readington Township Board of Education meeting this meeting is being held in compliance with the open public meetings act and is open to the media and the Public Notices were duly posted and the meeting was advertised in the Hun County Democrat and Courier News formal action may be taken maybe get a roll call Mr Depo here M Fury here Mr Lo here M mener here Mr Peach here M bagorski here M Ryan M wolf here Dr here can we stand for the flag please I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all good evening everyone thank you for joining us uh this evening and um I'd like to take an opportunity to wish everybody a very happy holiday and a happy New Year as well this is our last board meeting of the 2024 um year not the school year because we got 2025 coming into it but uh the end of 2024 um so happy and healthy New Year to everyone uh tonight we are going to share uh some information about an upcoming um public referendum uh vote that we are um in the conver in conversations about at the board level and the community level uh last week when we did the referendum Community Forum we set out three goals for members of our community uh first we wanted to learn more about what a bond referendum is we talked about what means for a school district to have debt what does it mean for that debt to be expiring and how can the district use this for future planning second we wanted to ensure members of our community had input on that future planning and lastly we sought to generate excitement and support for the future of our schools uh we had about I would say 14 overall um attendees mostly virtual online a couple of folks in the public during our community Forum last week um but we'd like to do the same with you tonight as Board of Education members uh most critically as board members we want to ensure that you have a clear picture of what a referendum means for your decision- making moving forward um so we have some guest presenters with us tonight uh last week uh we have these same presenters uh we're short a few tonight but um of course I'll introduce everybody um and in a moment I'll turn it over to to Tony so Jason will will speak tonight a little bit about a referendum everybody knows Jason our business administrator Don race presented at the community Forum he was there last week with us he is our facilities manager and he really is on the ground floor uh when it comes to all matters of our facilities and knowing what projects are really critical for the district um Tony salamini is our bond counsel and he'll he'll present in a moment and our architect of record is s breno Architects and both Rita and Kevin were at the community Forum last week um but Kevin is here tonight uh to talk with you all about about um his role in our U referendum so at this time I'd like to turn the presentation over to ton um good evening everyone um so last week was very hard to present I'm not going to lie because there's only two people in the audience so we doing empty chairs in the screen so I'm so happy to see people I'm very excited so it should be much easier um my role here tonight I'm the district spond council and our role is to make sure that all the legal requirements of a proposed referendum are met and also to provide you some information of the referendum process why school districts um go towards the referendum and answer any questions about the process um first of all a referendum is a public vote to authorize a school district to borrow money to do certain capital projects and the reason why school districts do public referendum is because you have two budgets for a school district you have your your general fund budget which is for all your current fund expenses and that's capped by your 2% tax levy cap and then you have a Debt Service fund and the only way you can get a payment in your debt service fund uh prior to recent legislation is if you had a public approved for referendum once you have a public approved for referendum those payments that pay the debt on the loan which is the bond is in your debt service fond so it doesn't impact your 2% tax levy C that's why historically a lot of districts and you've probably seen locally and throughout the state a lot of districts have been doing referendum in the last couple years because as the squeeze on that general fund becomes partly harder for districts to budget anything to address long-term capital projects districts have to go out and borrow money and as a district you can't just walk into a bank and take that loan you need the authorization uh of the public through a voter approved referend um we talked about um in my introduction I talked about why a bond referendum one of the huge advantages for a school district to do a referendum is you get a thing called Debt Service Aid if a project is eligible for Aid now um your architect will talk to you a little bit about eligibility and ineligibility but basically any Renovations you do for the most part are eligible for Aid Renovations consist of new roof new windows redoing your bathrooms redoing your agac any of those projects are eligible for a and the actual cost of those items are eligible for up to 40% Debt Service aid meaning if a roof cost you a million dollars you can get Debt Service Aid of up to 40% on that million dollars so 400,000 towards the cost of that million dollar roof and you get 40% of the interest associated with borrowing that money for the roof where whereas if you in your capital reserve or in your general fund budget or if you financed it through a lease in your budget you the residents would be responsible for the whole million dollars and any cost that's why referendum besides getting the cost out of your general fund and putting in The Debt Service fund this um Debt Service Aid is extremely important to school districts now full disclosure once your architect submits project applications they'll come back and say they're 40% eligible since 2011 the state has only been funding 85% of that so when you actually we go through the process and you see the tax impact analysis that your financial advisor PRS they're only going to show you getting 34% so anytime you see a financial analysis they've already taken that deduction into consideration now potentially down the road you might get that money back but the financial advisor projections that they always run are the most uh concerned served um there are five dates throughout the year we you can do a referendum if you have a special election it's either September December January March or you can ask for a question at the annual election and um we are assuming for the for this discussion and the the date we've been targeting is tentatively September of 2025 um and the reason for that is and one of the big considerations for your district is your District you have debt falling off so currently on a budgetary basis your District pays about $2 million in that Debt Service budgeting year that falls off in 2022 so because of the good planning of your superintendent and business administrator they've been proactively talking to your financial advisor and saying hey how much can we borrow by still keeping those taxes level and the number that the financial adviser came up with was a little over $40 million so potentially you could do according to their analysis a $4.3 million referendum with all of their assumptions assuming all those projects are eligible for the a we spoke about and your taxes would stay flat with a public referendum so obviously any referendum lower than $40 million you could actually do those projects and have a reduction in your T service line item and obviously any um any cost higher would be an increased currently just so you know that equates to about your average taxpayers is paying about $271 of their taxes goes towards that debt service so your debt fell away completely everyone's taxes would go down about $271 but that's why this is a really great opportunity for for your District to consider a referendum at this time because you could address up to $40 million worth of potential projects and everybody's taxes would remain flat um the other things we also look at when we come to a district is we look at a District's borrowing capacity and usually the borrowing capacity kind of tells us the story about the district um your total borrowing capacity based on last year's acfr was $104 million and you had about $7 million worth of outstanding debt so you could borrow think about your credit line in your own personal life about $97 million so you have about $97 Million worth of available baring capacity that you guys could actually borrow funds for um the other thing we we look at we look at um everyone's worried about inflation everyone's worried about high interest these bonds will be issued on a tax exempt basis so the interest is exempt from both federal and state income tax if you issued a bond issue now for 20 years you would be about three and a half 3.7% so the borrowing rates for tax exempt municipal bonds are still historically it's not like you I getting a mortgage or a car loan and then conversely it's also a pretty good time because usually these projects take a few years to build so you borrow the money today you can invest it pretty much at the same rate that you're borrowing so that first couple years you probably will be kind of uh the interest expense and the interest yard will kind of be off set um next I'm going to turn the presentation over to Jason but I'm here um to answer any questions you guys have go through than you um so Tony articulated that um the board's been looking at a potential referendum uh since early 2024 we knew our debt was expiring in 2027 so that's our last debt payment and that debt represents money that was borrowed about 20 years prior to that on projects that the board had done at that time to cover things that the district may need that you now see and are using and the students are using so in July and August we were talking in the finance committee um on whether or not we potentially want to go off for a bond referendum and let the vote voters vote on that in public uh potentially for September of 2025 um over the past 10 years uh we have been doing a lot of capital projects in house which U most of you on the board have been voting for uh we've done well over $20 million with projects through our own reserves and that's through uh Pruden fiscal planning that the finance committee has done and our reserves because of all the spending that we've been doing and uh redoing our roofs um and redoing things that the staff need in the house um our reserves are lower than normal uh we're a little lower than $1 million in reserves right now so it's an opportunity time for us to be going out for a referendum because our Capital reserves and balances are lower um and at the same time our debt is falling off so the board uh into through the finance committee authorized us to look into this which is why we having any presentation tonight so what have we done since the board uh allowed us to do that in July and August well Dr har and I went around and met with everyone at the building level so we met with about 350 staff members um over the period of September uh we went to each and every building we gave a presentation solicited feedback because we wanted to know what potential projects uh the teachers want to have uh in their buildings what do they need over the next 20 years and obviously we're going to have our architect and bond counsil and and our facilities look at things that are structurally necessary um but we also want to know what is needed in education uh for the next 20 years and how could we develop that into a referendum so we gathered all those ideas uh we also went to the administration at leadership meetings uh we had a retreat and talked about this then uh got some ideas from the administration uh most recently uh we've been going around and talking to critical stakeholder groups so we've met with HSA we've met with Union leadership we also met with the Town Council and Township of Readington we've met with police we've met with fire uh we've met with EMS and OEM um so we've met with a lot of different groups that have direct stake in the public schools um that's what we did in October and got their feedback and some great ideas came out of that which we've created a list of all those ideas so every idea that's been provided at any of those meetings or send to myself or anyone is on a list and uh since then I don't want to steal Kevin Thunder but uh he's done some walkthroughs which he'll talk about to help cost out those projects as well as go into the needs uh HVAC paven roof what is going to fail potentially in the next 10 years and will we have enough money to do that one roof section could be a million dollars to replace this roof to $ three and A5 million so with reserves below a million dollars right now you know it would be challenging to do larger scale projects uh we most recently had an open public forum uh which went very well and we got some ideas from that which are also on the list um and we encourage more ideas because we're really updating our Long Reach facilities plan so anything that doesn't make it into the referendum will also go into a fiveyear long range facilities plan which is acquired by the state and that will be prioritized in years one two three and four five um to make sure that we are planning for the long-term future and if we can accomplish it through the referendum we might be able to accomplish it through reserves we might be able to go out and get a grant to fund things like that and the board has approved a ton of Grants uh we've gotten well over a million dollars in Grants in in the past several years Alone um we've done the public for we're tonight are resenting a board meeting what is going to happen after this we are going to go into Comm meetings to discuss the referend at length and what projects potentially could be in there and at some point board is going to have to vote right now on our timeline we're shooting for the vote in February because there's needs to be enough time to do paperwork to submit to the state uh in order to make it onto a public B at the poing location uh in September if more time is needed the the vote in public wouldn't happen in September it would happen on another date which was highlighted previously but the most important thing that we did was stakeholder collaboration which is also we tried to need that every single person that we could meet with that has a stake in the game as well as the general public because this impacts house values it impacts who wants to move here um it impacts everything uh that happens about 30 to 40% of the people in town have children in school so a large degree of that population we have met with as well as people in the township who represent more than that so we've probably met with about stakeholders about 50% in town uh we we got some from the public forum as well um but we're hoping to get some more over the next month or two um but right now what's going on is architect walkthroughs um so I'm going to turn over Kevin saido to talk more about AR thank Jason I think between Jason andon Dr I don't know have much left to but good evening reita this evening is actually at my kids jazz concert eth gr jazz concert so we split up um but um for this evening so Jason has described the process the Administration has taken to get the start of list meet with all stakeholders and and and um begin a very impactful list with regard to program needs and um that that does two things it integrates obviously the board the community and all the stakeholders with regard to advancing uh the need and the the want for the referendum and Jason and Tony also talked about architect walkthrough what so now that we have the start of list from the administration and from all four schools and all the stakeholders that Jason mentioned that list doesn't have any cost to it right so so one of the things that we need to do as we walk through the schools we will begin to scope those projects what does that mean so we will apply project costs to those I'm going to talk about that in a moment um an hour hour and a half J so we're going to start to apply project cost to those projects that we've been provided by the administration so that we can accurately account for those costs and can start to give the board decision points and decision matrices right so a uh those projects have been identified we are going to scope or cost those projects and then we're going to offer our recommendations with regard to priorities meet with the administration meet with the finance committee and then move those forward with regard to um the priorities of those projects now secondarily our office and our Engineers office are also walking through all the schools and we're identifying we're identifying a need-based projects those are not the fun and sexy projects those are the projects like window replacement toilet room upgrades Carter door Replacements floor replacements lighting Replacements um boilers boilers uh HVAC units unit ventilators some your unit ventilators we're a little on the old side so we need take a look at that uh um so our engineer has been through the schools as well with Mr race and he has identified a list of those projects as well those projects He hasn't forwarded to me yet they'll be coming to me this week and our engineer and all our office will begin to scope those projects as well what do those projects cost okay and we'll do this on a per school basis and all of these projects whether it's a simple as a door replacement or lighting ceiling replacement flooring replacement roof replacement Jason mentioned on a person school basis we will scope them we will we will base them on today's costs now you're going to say wait a second you're establishing today's cost how do we make sure we have enough money in the future if the referendum we to pass so with that we can only value it on today's cost so so in order to project um the cost that you're going to need in the future um should the referendum pass on the projected date we are including something called escalation at about eight 6 to 8% per year including a project contingency at about uh 8 to 10% for renovations and we're including all the soft cost of the fees okay so the cost that Tony talked about at a million dollars for a roof I could actually say it might be better than that right so when you look at Roofing cost at anywhere from $50 to $60 a square foot those are hard costs or the costs for the contractor to come out and do the work when we uh when we budget these projects we budget project costs which are both hard and soft cost because you only build with project costs what what I'll bring to your attention is with regard to the funding you get funded in 40% gross was 34% 40% uh gross 34% net based on Project costs so your funding includes all soft costs associated with systemic Capital upgrades it's important to understand that see so oneoff projects oneoff Capital Improvement projects are not are are are not typically funded systemic capital upgrades Windows Doors roofs floors ceilings um are are are are funded uh at a at a gross rate at 40% okay that's important understand so the majority of the projects that we're looking at both in terms of the ones we've been provided by the district and the ones that we are now in the process of identifying will most likely be funded at a 40% gross rate for project cost which is which is good to know right so um we once we generate the list of all projects and again not the projects that we only think you need but it's also the projects that you want it's a combination of needs and wants all will be scoped all will have uh we we'll make recommendations as to when we think you need it um sooner or later and all will be prioritized and then we'll sit with finance committee with the administration and you're going to start start to um pair down if you will our list of projects because most definitely the total aggre list of projects will exceed some of the numbers that Tony mentioned earlier today and I know they will so you will be faced with the task of um looking at we'll make some recommendations you but you will make those decisions with regard to what is in that referendum and we're going to help you prioritize that but ultimately we're going to come to you for your your for your decisions on that what what goes into that now um in addition to the funding uh the projects are need to be submitted to the Department of Education on a personal basis six months prior to the referendum well they need part of it is a part of it is statutory with regard to um with regard to notice um for the clerk's office and so forth uh the rest I think is under Staffing Department of Education regardless we will make sure we get it in six months prior which is the end of March this year for a projected September 2025 referendum okay so uh we do our office and our Engineers office does need about two months a month and a half to two months um to generate all the required uh paperwork for submission Department of Education we've done this num num times before so we need a little little less time for capital projects a little more time for different for other projects but we figure about a month and a half to two months is adequate from when the board makes a decision as far as what is in that that referendum okay and then um and then we'll go on to refer vote as early as September of 25 so right now we're in the when re course of identifying all of the projects we will um scope them we'll attach dollars to IT project cost um and we will make recommendations as far as priorities and then we'll start having our meetings with Administration finance committee to understand what your choices are to ultimately be packaged in this referend Jason that wasn't too long um so next steps um we talked about it uh Kevin is going to start developing paperwork but really he needs the Board of Education to make decisions so uh I you guys to be thinking about um during winter break um you know what you would want to see potentially in a referendum and the the committies will be reviewing that in January in detail um likeing multiple meetings to be able to decide what's in that eventually the board will have the board resolution to vote on on what will be included in potential referendum to be able for Kevin to send things to the state once that occurs you know we'll be talking to the public again about what made it into the referendum what didn't and generating excitement relating to it come down to public vote um that will right now occur in September but you have fund of opportunities to push that to a different date but ultimately the taxpayers have to vote upon it and there's many ways to structure that so the committee will be looking at that um but the public will have to vote on we decide to put there after it passes they'll probably be some construction immediately with a shortterm smaller things but a lot of construction will take two or three years to do so things that people see and we talk about now you may not see constructed until 2027 2028 um you might see things in 2026 so it really depends on if it's a large project or not um how do you learn more so you have a refer website it's on the quick side of our homepage um and there's a lot of different ways to contact we have emails phone numbers um we've gotten a lot of emails um and I've got a few phone calls um but we've met with well over 400 people to dat so we've gotten a ton of ideas and um some great dialogue great conversations and now it is the Board of Ed and public STM um P questions and Kevin Tony are here to answer any questions you may have so I'll turn it over to you if you have any questions to board go ahead Carolyn question about the just question about choosing September as the time for the the vote is there would it be that people going to the normal polling locations or is it a different type of vote then um so generally speaking every County does a little differently but generally speaking you use the same polling locations that you normally vote at so if you normally vote at the firehouse that usually stays consistent uh what the Board of Ed will will decide later on is what time the election is um special elections have to stay open till 8 o'clock they can open as early as 6 o'clock am but up to as late as 4M so the board would decide that um as we get closer to the I guess my concern is that um voting the the participation rate is very low especially like the primaries or off year not the presidential that's that gets a lot of attention but all the rest what's the likelihood that you saw how many people showed up to the the the meeting last um last week I'm I'm afraid that we're GNA have you know 10 people deciding on a referendum because people aren't going to be voting is is there anything we can do like why wouldn't we do it in November when the regular election is done just to be able to get so in terms of Passage I think the passage rate for September elections for the last 10 years has been about 88% somewhere around there so the passage rate is pretty high um and it's really about educating your community and really um providing information forums like this you guys are starting very early to be honest with you most school districts don't do any public information um for a September referendum this early um I have 12 or so March referendums and they're just adopting their question next week and most of them are starting their public Outreach now for March so you guys are well ahead and doing good job of educating your community and kind of getting out in front of it um the ultimate selection date is up to you guys um most people the theory behind picking a special election date is because then the voters can concentrate on the actual school project and politics don't get involved a lot of times people don't want to mix the two it also gives you a little bit more time for Kevin to go out for summer projects or any projects give you another two months you know for the bidding and stuff to get out ahead so that's another kind of Advantage but a lot of people just don't want to mix the local politics or national politics with the school project who pays for the actual election the you guys pay for the actual election so our budget yeah and that's so Jason will have to budget that in your general fund however if the referendum approves Kevin will have that in that soft CA that he spoke about so that's eligible for Debt Service Aid and then if the referendum passes in you issue debt you can take that portion of the bond proceeds and reimburse your general fund for any money you spent so you're basically at risk if it fails you pay if it passes Jason can reimburse himself still pay just pay thank you you said the passage rate is like 80% for non non November what's it for November uh similar um historically I think most people have stayed away from November um I was surprised I had three uh referendum this November and um they all passed which I think is kind of unique um generally speaking if you had a non-controversial school election at a special election dat about 133% of your voters come out and vote so you need 6 and a half% plus one voter to say yes you probably had 75 80% of your community vote November which means you have to have 40% plus one vote Yes any other questions I have a question does it work let's say they we approve $40 million how does the money get distributed like do you get the lump sum like because I know some projects can take three four five years I'm just curious how work um so what the public would be authorizing is the public would be author let's just say you did 40 million they' be authorizing you to borrow $40 million to do a certain set of projects that you authorize Kevin to submit to the doe then the board will decide how to actually borrow that money um and you work with your financial advisor and they would make a recommendation hey we're going to do $10 million worth of projects this year are we just going to borrow 10 million and not borrow the rest of it currently what most financial advisor are advising because of the pretty low borrowing rate and the high reinvestment rate to borrow it all at once um so it takes the market risk out and you kind of offset your interest expens with the interest earnings for that first couple of years anyway while that two-year build down is coming but that's a recommendation that'll come kind of later on and if the market changes you maybe only borrow you know what you need for that first summer and what have you but we also don't like to do that because we don't like to get paid twice or three times because every time you do a bond issue you have to pay the profession so if we can do it once you only pay us once as opposed to paying us there has to be a real good economic reason to do that otherwise direct men questions thank you both for coming and thank you for to continue my superintendent report tonight um I want to thank you very much thank you um I I will mention to the board and to members of the public that um we're in active conversations as a board in terms of the referendum so this isn't the last that we are going to be talking about so any other questions that pop up between now and you know February or March uh when we have to make a final decision and even September's vote um those questions will be answered in more public forms and more communication so um this is we're in the beginning stages but as Tony said we're starting early as well um so thank you the second part of um my superintendent report tonight is to uh say farewell to Board of Education members who have served alongside all of us for the past several years um these Board of Education members have served faithfully and thoughtfully over the past many years and uh we'd like to recognize some of their achievements uh Randy Peach was elected to the board and began his term in January of 2022 he's been a member of the negotiations Committee in 2022 although he was fortunate because we did not have any active bargaining going on at that time he served on the policy committee the edtech committee and the finance facilities committee over his three years on the board and eventually became the chair of the policy committee Randy is known for his thoughtful approach to board issues and his always comprehensive meeting minutes reported out to the board each month I'm sure he'll enjoy more time so that he can go to Long Beach Island and go skiing in Vermont I'd like to say Randy thank you for your service to the board and you will be [Applause] missed sorry Jennifer wolf was also elected to the board and began her term in January of 2022 she served as a member of the Personnel committee the policy and Communications committee and the ntech committee and HSA represent pres ative she was often called upon to be part of the sick be excuse me be a sick Bank trustee and serve on Alternate committee meetings many times Jen also served as the chair of the Personnel committee and the vice president of the board in the year 2024 Jen attended many New Jersey Schoolboard Association workshops as well as County meetings and eventually this led her to receive the certified new board member recognition last year an honor that she received at a County board meeting Jen thank you for your service to the board and with two children still in the district I sincerely hope I will be seeing you at many school and community events in the future thank [Applause] you Camille ciella was appointed to the Board of Education in January of 2021 W serving one year of a term until she was reelected and began her first full three-year term in January of 2022 Camille served on the Personnel committee negotiations committee and finance facilities committee she was the chair of both the finance committee and the negotiations committee where she successfully LED negotiations with the rtaa and she was called upon many times to be a sick Bank trustee camil served as vice president of the board in 2022 and 2023 and was elected president of the board in 2024 Camille also served the board by participating in the RMS Vice principle search along with me and Mr Charleston some may or may not know that Camille as has a Doctorate in Education and she's an educational leader her strong background in education has certainly served the board well Camille thank you for your leadership your friendship and your service to the board these past four years thank you [Applause] everyone thank you so much the the service to the board is completely voluntary um so just know as you're coming in for for next month completely voluntary and it can often be a lot of work and a lot of work behind the scenes that many members of the public may not know um so I very much appreciate all of your contributions to the board all the countless hours that you've put in serving the students of Readington because that's really why we're all here um you've all served very thoughtfully Faithfully consistently um and I will miss you so thank you very very much teachers do you know right thank you absolutely so thank you so much we really appreciate it at at this time it's it's okay with you Dr C will'll take a quick five minute recess real quick we'll finish our meeting and and would like to stay or go they certainly can but thank you very much thank you [Music] you can yeah so um probably that's allow for that's allowable for govern it has to be like Risk impossible so if things work out we'd actually make money yeah I mean it's really a state 34% [Music] it's I for [Music] so it's like you know you know shortsighted but you know it's considered and I think talking should do fin no idea not good I'm like no that's a pretty good quote like ieven to 10 times you and I [Music] like 20% Lots on the head and they subcontract that's very common for that that was very nice you're very welcome yes [Music] there's like half in the next exactly so it's like you know there's ways to which the board has done in the past that's how we we'll din oh now you now I think now I think can't you retroactive I it's very sweet your family but um I think I talked her but anyway it's a great idea if you want yeah see we'll see how things roll next year it's one person little different I don't know R I know it's gonna end [Music] soon all right are we ready to start good yeah all right okay excuse me we're going to resume our meeting thank you Dr Hart for your kind words for all of us we appreciate that and it is Bittersweet I have to say right right Jen right Randy all right moving on we're now open um to the public uh any um action items that are limited that are on the agenda limited I'm going to say that again we're limited to action items that are on the agenda anyone oh okay moving on um oh sorry go yeah just want to say thank you thank you Dr Hart Mr B my fellow board members um just really really appreciate the opportunity to serve so thank you to the residents of Readington as well um I can't think of any more rewarding way to spend time than to volunteer in service of our students so thank you for this opportunity and the pleasure of getting to work with each and every one of you so thank you um correspondence there nothing less than under correspondence um board action moving on to approval of administrative reports can we get a motion to adopt 1.01 to 1.05 second uh any questions about anything that anyone sees there okay can we get a roll call please miss defo yes M Fury yes Mr Lopes yes M mener yes Mr Peach yes m bori yes Mrs Ryan Mrs wolf yes yes passes all right moving on to the approval of the minutes a motion to adopt 2.01 to 2.02 Second Caroline and we got a roll call please M dto yes M Fury yes Mr Lo yes M mener yes Mr Peach yes M bori yes M wolf yes Dr yes passes moving on to finance and Facilities can we get a motion to adopt 3.01 to 3.07 move that second Carolyn and we have a committee report Michelle yes the committee met on November 20th uh board goals were discussed and the committee agreed the referendum safety and Communications goals will be prioritized in future finance committee discussions an update on the capital projects list for this year next including the RMS main office and nurses Suite will provided all projects are on track and estimated to be completed by January 1st RMS Student Activities online payment pilot the committee discussed various payment options for cash and checks required by state law and electronic payment including electronic payment channels which have set up and per use fees the district will pilot pay schools for field trip payments to Genesis which are compatible and syn together offering an ease of use Fe the committee was informed that PayPal and Veno are not a legal means of collecting payment for school districts F results will be available by April the referendum and expiring debt topic was discussed the architect will review the proposed referendum project list with the committee in January the goal remains to have a referendum on a more discussion is needed to finalize a recommendation including the need for projected cost for referend projects the commit discussed the need for the state to provide the facilities faor for an alternative toilet room in a three bridg school in order to provide an accommodation for a student of special needs issues persist with healthare and prescriptions backend data disques resulting in complaints that are three times higher than the average the njaa is now engaged with the district on this to the was provided update on newspapers going out of business and the disconnect with this and the state law that requires printed notifications in businesses no decision is needed on this topic the committee reviewed the holiday gift Drive which is covered by donations the bill was reviewed and proposed agenda topics for the next meetings were discussed the next meeting is scheduled for this Friday December 13th at 8:30 a.m. thank you does anyone have any questions regarding those minutes yeah just quickly when I was reading through the minutes um schols company that we use or app whatever um something that I learned this year which I'm wondering maybe we should do a um PSA sort of thing around this the fees are very high when you're paying by credit card and so I had contacted the bu business administrator's office and I'm like I'm trying to put money on here for lunch and it was I want to say like 10 or 12% it was something really high to pay by credit card and I wasn't sure if other parents know this but the advice I was given was to do through banking like an a withdrawal instead of through a credit card so I just wonder if maybe that's something that we can work on communicating out I know some of the field trips are low cost so it wouldn't really be like an exorbitant fee but just something to when I saw P I'm like oh I kept meaning to you know I feel like we should maybe push that information out for parents to know so I just wanted to share that okay thank you thanks Beth anything else any other questions excuse me I apologize I'm not just I agree with Mrs F's comment on the education round Pace schools and just ways to have less fees for um Student Activities and and for lunch um and then also just wanted to make a comment I'm going to vote Yes um in support of the alternative method for 3.07 but just I always advocate for um using that as a temporary fix and ensuring that we have um in-classroom toilet facilities for all preschool and kindergarten for long term thank you great thank you anyone else okay we got a vote please M de yes M Fury yes Mr loes yes M mener yes Mr Beach yes M borski yes M Mo yes Dr yes moving on to edtech can we get a motion to adopt 4.01 to 4.06 Second and we we have um report yes we have minutes um Ed Tech committee met on November 22nd uh the first item we discussed were board goals uh academic achievement obviously falls under at Tech uh for academic achievement the board is dedicated to creating and implementing systems and Frameworks that prioritize academic success ensuring it remains a central focus in decision- making uh suggested board action steps for thech committee include continue a periodic review of assessment data comparon data from other districts uh clubs that support positive learning environment and mental health supports for students and staff The Other Board goal safety to continue to upgrade and refine Safety and Security measures to ensure student and staff safety suggested board action items in edtech include student safety education uh around see something say something uh surveillance and monitoring online behavior and hi uh harassment ination and bullying how can the board support initiatives in any way um next we had a quarterly Tech update from Mr bki the uh technology projects around the district right now include a sound system microphone and mixer for student Productions at RMS battery backup system enhancements for temporary use during power outages wireless access points installed by facilities team at RMS iPads for kindergarteners were refreshed uh reallocate those used Ed iPads for other uses within the district Chromebook Chromebook refreshes for sixth graders and then those Chromebooks reallocated to other uses in The District staff devices are also being refreshed uh security updates to cameras and door access devices phone system and intercoms are now coordinated to work together other projects of the tech department is working on include implementing securely pass at RMS placing spare Chromebooks and chargers in each r classroom to keep kids from going to the library to sign a Chromebook out uh network switch upgrades are upcoming the website needs to move again to a new platform uh which will be final site security uh software security assessment is another upcoming project for the tech department uh so that was a lot but we only have those a few times a year so Mr bsky cover a lot uh next we talked about the njsla comparisons and followup um so as requested by the etch committee Miss pouch and Dr Brown shared njsla data that they gathered from surrounding school districts websites and those designated in the same district Factor group from previous years their analysis showed that Readington district is competitive among similarly sized schools articulation at 100 Regional High School 100 Central sorry um informs us that our students are prepared and doing well at the high school level science articulation meeting with Central hasn't happened yet but there is no indication that our students are not prepared going into Central next we talked about the pre and post covid comparison Dr Hart shared data of District njsla scores pre and postco compared to State data in English language arts our district has recovered in every grade for grades seven and eight there's still work to do there but remember we are comparable to surrounding districts in these numbers when comparing us to the state the state has not recovered in any grade in English language arts um for math our recovery has been slower but there are several cohorts that have returned to preco levels grades four and Algebra 1 uh the other grades are trending in the right direction looking at State Recovery only Algebra 2 students are back to pre-co testing level uh next we talked about uh dyslexia handbook and updated protocols Mrs beagle discussed a dyslexia handbook which has been updated by the state New testing and secondary scen are being reviewed by the district general education and intervention will be utilizing this new handbook it will be pushed out to staff through professional development and at the march in service next we talked about preschool uh Dr Hart reported that there are no changes for the upcoming school year for preschool there will remain 210 seats same Staffing positions and locations creative curriculum is now used in all preschools um next we talked the controversial library books uh the committee discussed updating the library cataloging software so it could potentially be easier for a family to opt out of controversial library books or books with sensitive topics the district currently notifies parents at the beginning of the school year through a letter appearing in the Genesis class that they can opt out of certain titles in the book room and discusses that there are titles in the library parents may want to review when asked Dr Brown stated that only a handful of parents opt out of Library materials um uh typical agenda item are unlisted and then our next meeting is scheduled for January 16th 8:30 thank you Mr F any questions about what was just disc just a comment in addition to um clubs that support positive learning environment there was some discussion on different academic clubs possibly steam related or um the National Junior Honors Society and what the board could do to potentially support those initiatives so just wanted to highlight some more of the conversation thank you thank you for that anyone else any other comments okay may we get a roll call please M depto yes m f yes Mr loses yes M meno yes Mr Peach yes M bori yes Mrs wolf yes Dr C yes passes moving on to Personnel um maybe can we get a motion to adopt 5.01 to 5.12 so move Jennifer second car and we have a committee report yep yes uh the committee met on Friday December 6th oh thank you at 8:45 a.m. um we reviewed Staffing updates for 2024 2025 uh the director of pupil Services search enrollment updates and visitor volunteer policies followup there was also committee handbook review uh where Dr Hart reviewed the proposed committee handbook and ask members of the committee to share any feedback related to the role of the Personnel committee or any ask ECT of the handbook the handbook is intended to be a memorialized resource for the board to capture current learnings and practices as a lasting Legacy reference for future board members to more effectively communicate responsibilities and expectations discussed Personnel matters and then agenda items are resignations new hires other leave and green coordinators and the next meeting is tentatively set for January 22nd 2025 at 8:45 a.m. thank you Mr any questions about anything was just brought up excuse me may we got a roll call please M Depo no 5.8 yes to everything else M Fury yes Mr R yes Mrs mener yes Mr Peach yes M borski yes m w yes CIO yes moving on to communication can we get a motion to adopt 6.01 to 6.04 second Carol and we have no committee report this no we do final uh oh the final one yes so we met the committee met on December 2nd uh we open the meeting by discussing the fact that there is newspapers or ceasing print publication including the Star Ledger uh the Trenton Times and the hund Democrats two of the three newspapers our district uses to publicize notices are now ending print publication which will impact our ability to comply with notice requirements at the suggestion of Dr Hart committee members agree that our district should follow the lead of other districts and groups which are advocating for the legislature to take action such as amending the law to allow for electronic publication of notices our options for advocacy included having the board pass a formal resolution requesting legislation we're Simply Having Dr Hart a letter to our representatives in the legislature of the two options Dr Hart believes that a formal resolution by the board would have the most impact one member suggested that our advocacy should include encouraging the continuation of printed notice to the extent possible particularly for more elderly members of the community and allowing news allowing local newspapers to service candidates for print Publications even if the readership count levels are too low to qualify existing law um and I see since the meeting there's a there's a resolution on the agenda tonight which which captures that uh next the uh Strauss policy table of contents uh we next discuss using our policy table of context table of contents as a starting point for the policy review process that is being planned by the committee the table of contents identifies a policy the data was last updated and whether the policy is man um and U in a minute I'm going to talk about the protocols for the policy review that we also discuss um but we next discuss the the committee handbook um Mrs wolf just mentioned that was also discussed at the Personnel committee uh Dr har shared with us a draft of a committee handbook he developed um and uh which he did not present to the recent board member orientation which had been that morning because he wanted committee members to First review the draft before finalizing it and uh so the handbook would include information about how each committee operates how often the committee meets its expertise and responsibilities the representation on each each committee responsibilities of the committee chair committee members agreed the handbook would be a helpful document to have and that it should be used in the future for on board new board members Dr Hart stated that he would bring the draft to the handbook to the other committees for their input um onboarding survey results we next discussed the results of the recent survey which board members were asked to fill out about their experiences with the onboarding process when they were new members according to the survey results board members first year experiences were relatively positive and responses indicate that the written onboarding materials given to them had been helpful one of the suggestions was to have training on Robert's Rules of Order and Dr Hart indicated that a training session on Robert's Rules was tentatively scheduled for March based on the survey results Dr Hart also suggested having a an additional new member orientation in January along with the midyear check-in with new members around June um he also suggested to bringing back a mentoring program for new members um so next we discuss the protocol for the policy Rie after reviewing the table of contents policy table of contents we talked further about the protocol that should be followed for the review of District policies uh Dr Hart brought up the prospect of the board establishing a governance committee at the upcoming reward meeting and that if such a committee were established it could be responsible for reviewing policies and identifying ones that should be revised however committee members felt that even if the board did decide to establish a governance committee the responsibility for reviewing policies and identifying ones to be reev revised should remain with the policy committee we next discussed the specific protocols for the review of policies after hearing suggestions from Dr Hart the general consensus was reached on the following protocol each Committee Member would be assigned a set of policies to look at perhaps 5 to 10 per member with each member to then decide which policies to recommend for review or revisions at the next committee meeting Dr Hart suggested creating a rubric for the review of policy such as how recent the policy was updated the philosophy behind the policy and how other districts address the policy Dr Hart suggested that that this review Poli uh that this review process not begin till after the reord meeting and the policy committee membership has been set uh and this will allow time to draft the suggested protocols um for the review of policies next we discuss wellness policy um which is policy 8505 um and uh we consider the updates to this policy after reviewing the policy with the green committee over the past several months and reviewing requirements for the stain sustainable Jersey for schools application the policy is being updated to better reflect how the school School District encourages health foods and physical activity the updates include statements such as promoting inquiry involving nutrition and food and uh supporting a recess period at the middle school which is now in the schedule encouraging field trips that promote physical activity harvesting garden food for the cafeteria promoting other outdoor lessons and supporting physical activity in after through YMCA these revisions uh position the district to possibly achieve additional points in sustainable Jersey application Dr I mentioned that the application is under uh is underway now and is due in June in response to a committee member's question Dr har noted that our green coordinator does not have to be a district employee and in the past was a person the district hired at an hourly rate who had a background in green initiatives or sustainability uh we next discussed the school revision for this year Dr har presented the revised school calendar which is on the agenda for tonight uh this is because due to the schools being closed on November 11th because of the power outages that day will now be made up on January 20th after this board approves a revision tonight an official notice will be sent out to families reminding them of the change um also given those recent power outages Dr Hart noted that the purchase of generators has been added to the referendum uh he also noted that jcpnl has upgraded our district from a level two priority to a level one so now we're on the same priority level for restoring power as hospitals uh next we discussed an update on the cell phone policy Dr har reported that Mr Charleston has begun researching the issues and engaging stakeholders including talking to children and parents uh he plans to be able to report back to the committee uh by late winter or early spring so tonight the agenda items um the wellness policy the school calendar revision and uh the resolution regarding U the print Publications the next meeting is was scheduled for January 23rd at 4M thank you Mr Excuse me any questions regarding no we just may we get a roll call please M defendo yes Mrs fiori yes Mr Lopes yes M meno yes Mr Peach yes M yes m w yes Dr yes okay moving on to unfinished business um Dr har did you cop everybody yeah everybody should have a copy that was at your seat of tenative board meeting dates for um 20 calendar year 2025 um generally we kept we try to keep board meetings pretty consistent with the second Tuesday of the month there are some exceptions um but these are a draft right now and once the new board sits after reorg in January they will be finally approved if there's any revision or any discussion that any members of the board would like to have regarding the dates we can have that now or even you know via email um after this meeting but they do need to be finally approved at reor as well um and I can provide all of you a copy as well they're tentative right now but um they'll likely be approved in January so you have them are there any questions about the tenative meeting dates any concerns with any of the dates that are listed thus far no okay all right um unless I hear anything uh via email from any members of the board these dates will likely appear on the reor agenda as well okay okay moving on to new business from the board uh there was a green committee meeting so we have some minutes on that this spew yes we do uh the green committee met on November 21st the first thing we discussed a strategic Focus for the 2425 school year um Mr B referred to the Strategic Focus document which lists the three pillars of Green Ribbon Schools and shows our 24 25 goals associated with each pillar uh the next item we discussed of Prince George's County Public Schools climate action plan um actually when I attended the um Workshop down in Atlantic City I uh spoke with a member of the Prince georgees County Board of Education and um uh discussed a a plan that their Air District was using um that basically laid out all their goals going forward and I brought that as an example for our district just something we can look towards um if we felt we wanted to go down that road uh for Action items to go you know forward in the future um the committee discussed using this document as a framework to plan out future greed initiatives and long-term goals uh next uh for pillar two reduce environmental impact and costs we talked about the referendum public forum and invited the green committee members to attend the Forum on December 3rd uh Mr bow gave us an expansion a solar array expansion update um the project is moving forward and construction will begin once permits are acquired likely in the spring uh the timing of this project could not be more perfect as the district was notified that the New Jersey school boards Association Aces Savings Program uh could not negotiate a cost savings to districts so the district will have to pay the utility rate for electricity and a drastic increase beginning in June 2025 um the uh Mr B also gave us an update on the electric school buses uh the committee the notified the committee that the district's first electric School Bus has arrived will be arriving when we as this pest meeting y um the anticipated date to begin service is January 2025 uh the electric charger has been installed training has already begun for the facility and transportation Transportation departments communication and roll out for this bus will be discussed in the finance committee for pillar three improve the health and wellness of school students and staff uh Mr B shared the links to the newsletters and Genesis Blass that pertain to sustainability efforts in the district uh this is our part of our Communications plan um next we talked about the fourth grade field trip um um so miss Pou gave an overview of the new fourth grade field trip that was created by the Township's water watch committee this was in collaboration with rbcc uh this was an idea pitched by Mrs adari in a previous green committee uh students walked the lacken Meer Trail and stopped at four stations that were manned by rvcc students uh students will return in the spring to the same Trail to compare their findings special thanks to Mrs pouch Mrs adari Mrs orandi Mrs felsh Mrs Fury and Mr born Locker as well as the students from rvcc uh for making this trip such a success uh next we talk capital projects update and an IRS tax credit u Mr B shared a slideshow of capital projects completed by the district that align with sustainability goals including the RMS main office nurses office the White House school art room and the White House school preschool playground uh Mr BM also informed the committee that as a result of a flyer that Mrs fiori brought back from the school board's Workshop in Atlantic City the district was able to apply for an IRS tax credit on several completed capital projects this equates to a savings of at least $50,000 for the district if it's accepted by the IRS um for pillar three provide Environmental Education uh our sustainab sustainable Jersey recertification is coming up uh Dr Hart reported that the leadership team is working on the recertification application for sustainable Jersey for schools um and this is doing spring although I think it might be summer I think there's a long a big window of them that it is there's several like checkpoints you can submit in January March and I think June or July yeah periodically um for the sustainable another sustainable Jersey uh a $2,000 Grant Dr Higgins gave us an update um TBS has received this Grant from sustainable Jersey for a traffic Garden this is sort of like an outdoor um project where the students can drive through and learn about the rules of the road um walk through whatever I'm not sure how they're getting through it but um this project was in partnership with go hunon uh next RMS sustainable Jersey $110,000 Grant Mr Charleston mentioned that RMS received the grant for $10,000 for an ecoaction News student Le project um we discussed that wellness policy that was then brought over to policy uh that was wellness policy 8505 uh which will help with our sustainable Jersey recertification and then uh do Dr D Roa White House School shares that White House school is participating in empowered schools which brings stem and Energy savings initiatives to the school um next Mr bow shared the link to curriculum documents for rs's new Encore classes that pertain to sustainability and Greening career Pathways He also mentioned there are many after school clubs that students can participate which align with green initiatives uh student climate challenge I had just updated the committee um as I was looking on S Jersey website that there is a student Le student climate challenge if any of the um would be RMS age group were interested in participating and then in terms of Unfinished a new business um Mr Foster a Community member on the committee praised the work of the staff and committee and said that he supports communicating this information out to the tach committee and The Wider Community um we talked about the state grant for the two electric buses Mrs betterman had asked about the timeline for the njd grant for the two additional buses totaling $640,000 uh these are being discussed in finance Mr zling another Committee Member reported that the district did an energy audit about 10 years ago and suggested it would be good to see about reviewing our progress and completing another one if possible Mr rling also asked about the green coordinator position if there were interested candidates and Mr B shared that the position was revamped but it remains unfilled to date and then we scheduled our next Green committee uh will be February 20th thank you very much does anyone have any questions about anything that came up all right moving on to um the formation of the government's committee Dr har so the policy and Communications committee has discussed the potential formation of an additional committee called the governance committee um and this is related to our um governance goal the board's governance goal um in addition to the committee handbook um I spoke with a neighboring maybe not neighboring District but a district nearby that has a governance committee about what the responsibilities might be um and and tentatively I'll just outline briefly some of the things that we thought a governance committee could do um it would meet every other month or maybe quarterly kind of like the green committee functions it would be responsible to um make recommendations to the board for adoption of new or revised bylaws policies or board regulations and maybe even elimination um of policies and regulations to promote efficiency of the board monitor regulations and and uh administrative directives to ensure they're in compliance with the existing policies make recommendations to the board for Action concerning activity in the district where we might need to propose a new bylaw policy or regulation um hear any sort of potential grievances or issues that may come to the board um monitor board member completion of the superintendent evaluation board self evaluation um assist the board president and vice president with training and onboarding of of new board of education members um and ensure that the board's work really is aligned to board goals District goals and strategic planning so it would almost be a committee within the board to just ensure that the board's operations remain focused on goals strategic work and adhering to our bylaws and policies uh so the question before the board as we consider reorg after the first of the year is is this something that we'd like to establish uh on the reorg agenda is it something that we feel like is necessary at this point um and if we want to establish this committee I don't think there's anything that in our bylaws that prevent us from establishing it Beyond rorc but it could correct I think we could establish it at any point but if we want to start the new calendar year with this committee established and assigned some work that's the question in front of the board at this point and uh the floor is open for discussion deliberation about a need for an additional committee um by the way uh potential members of this committee um does have to be but would be the board president vice president the chair of the policy committee and then just an atlarge board member as well as the District administration I say absolutely easy for you to say right yes of course um no have what is at large board member mean anybody just any board member any just a selected board member that may have interest so who's on the currently on the board correct so it would be board members so in addition to when the board president asks for committee interest of committees um we would we would know with that proposal of course anything could be changed we would know the board president vice president would serve on the committee the chair of the policy committee would also serve on this committee and then any other board member that might express interest to the board president could potentially serve any thoughts I have a question the scope that you just described um all of those items are currently being done somewhere right there's nothing new that this group would do is that correct I think you're probably correct it wouldn't be anything new a lot of P bylaw policy and regulation revision all happens in the policy Communications committee adhering to timelines like the superintendent evaluation and the board self- evaluation is generally in reinforced by the board President and Vice President um non-contractual grievances or issues that may come up an example of that might be the sick bank trustees has been established the bargaining unit for the teachers does say that if a grievance reaches the board level that a committee of the board may hear that grievance and that committee I would recommend to the board could be the Personnel committee because they handle Personnel matters um I think the only thing that might be a little bit different that's outside the scope of just board typical board work is onboarding new board members and participating in that but board President and Vice President generally are um at the table and assist with onboarding new board members yep you're welcome any other thoughts about that sure some of the initial conversation around it was to try to leave the board better off than it was when we arrived to make sure that we're handing down information as boards turn over um but then some of that work we were able to get ahead of in policy committee this year with sending out onboarding surveys to about board members experiences to see how that could be improved um you know updating the concept of a mentoring program putting together a board committee handbook and sort of memorializing some of the things that we learn as we go into documents that can be shared and handed down internally um so those were all ideas along with the governance committee that were initially floated to say let's bring that to the board um as a whole to get feedback for what to then move forward with so I just wanted to share like where it came from initially and and the intent of it agreed yeah and then finding out if it's something that the before for members would find helpful or not and then finding the right homes for just to ensure that this has the time and space to happen thank you J any other thoughts about that I'll just share a perspective um forming a new committee would mean that time from the business administrator would be utilized because you have to write an agenda and then time from the gr and I'm assuming that you would sit on it as well Dr and so there's I'm hearing an investment of time for things that are already done in other parts of the the current structure what what's not clear to me is what's the benefit aside from what you just shared around like the the hand down which I think we can handle So based on what's been shared I'm not hearing that there's a you know the return will be offset by the investment of time okay thank you agree with what Michelle said and and also I agree with what Michelle said and also my concern is um it would be another committee that people would have to sit on so now I think by and large most most of the board members are on two committees um this could potentially make it a third um and you know most board members have lives outside of the board as well lot of board members are working full-time and I'm just I'm not hearing what the the return is um for for that extra time especially since as you said all these everything that this new committee might um you know pertain to it's already done being done [Music] so I do again okay thank you anyone else okay well that's actually a nice segue there's something I'd like to add um it's not on the on the agenda as far as new business where it and um thinking about exactly what we're talking about which is this this transfer of new board members I think the handbook is really a great a great thing obviously it's going to be very helpful to people so that's a great idea certainly helps with communication um I appreciate Jen's sentiments at the beginning I also want to say that it's been an honor serving on the board of ed um I've enjoyed working with each of you honestly I I respect what you what you do and this is a lot of time I'm really happy the new board members are here tonight also you see what you're in for right people um but it's no it's really been it's been a pleasure to to do this um you know of course I'm personally committed to the field of Education my entire life and career um but I but I thank you so in thinking about this transfer the I don't know if in the recent past certainly not the recent past has there been new both both the president and the vice president are not going to be on the new board so therefore I hope people are it's not my business honestly but I hope people have been thinking about you know the next the next step who you know who the president and vice president will be so that's up to you guys to think about it but in thinking about that again this this transfer I took a few minutes to just jot down some notes about maybe the role of the President and Vice President and this is just like a work in progress and I would be happy to share with you um Dr Hart contributed some resources Etc but this is just a little draft so I'm just going to take a couple minutes to go through that it won't take very long at all um and I I appreciate your time listening to this and just again think about if there something that you want to consider being the president or vice president but the the the board president you can expect to spend anywhere from four to six hours a week Beyond that of a typical board member on various matters related to the board business at times during the school year it could be a little less it could be a little more the primary duties of course of course chairing the Board of Ed meetings are reviewing the board agenda in advance of the agenda being published on questions and consult you might question and consult with the superintendent regarding on the VA regarding the draft agenda you also uh chair the negotiations committee right now the negotiation meetings are in person in the afternoon and usually they go well into the night currently the rtea is in year two of a five-year contract and the rtaa is in year one of a three-year contract so that was they were successfully completed which is which is great also the board president um gathers in information regarding committees as you recall a year ago I I I personally like making phone calls I just like that's how I did it the new board president will do it the way they want to do it but I personally think it's important to get input as to what committee people want to be on and you contact working with the vice president and the superintendent um to make committee assignments But ultimately the president is the one who assigns board members to committees also um president attends and presents at new board member um orientation with the vice president the superintendent and the business administrator the board President also coordinates the board office holiday breakfast which some of you are able to attend and we appreciate that thank you for that was absolutely no that's a nice thing that that's kind of a tradition also attends graduation and delivers a graduation message to students and hopefully it's not too hot remember that we were gu uh but that's always a wonderful day who doesn't enjoy graduation um attends the welcome back in September and delivers an address uh to the faculty and staff and I appreciate you know Jen going I was not able to make those so Jen was very helpful with a lot of things uh develops a working relationship with the superintendent regards a superintendent as an equal and the district's long-term leader and top professional of course maintains availability for phone calls from the superintendent um also you write a yearbook message for the for the h Brook and the RMS yearbooks coordinates and facilitates the superintendent evaluation process as you know that's a big job for everybody everyone's a lot of input consults with the vice president to collate the um the evalu ratings and and comments for Board review also consult the board vice president regarding issues that are brought to the president's attention so Jen and I I do want to comment I've really enjoyed working with you Jen honestly we've had a great we've had a lot of laughs haven't we we've had a great year though which I'll highlight a few things in a minute but it's been quite a year and um but I've really appreciated working with you honestly your um your feedback and just the communication has been very helpful and I enjoyed it a lot thank you so thank you very much you have a great way of looking at things and that's been extremely helpful to me so I think that's also Rel important is that relationship of course between President and Vice President um makes contact with individual board members regarding any issues where other board members might need further information hears all voices of the board members and builds consensus I also of course feel strongly about that I think everybody's voice matters and it's important for everyone to feel they have a voice at at the table consults the board attorney regarding opinions need affordable that's a fun piece of course uh but it's part of the job you know and I think it's important well that that's just another important piece also craft communication and press releases on behalf of the board when necessary certifies payrolls for employees signs documents such as Bond issues warrants for payment architectural drawings contracts Etc writes letters uh to retiring staff members and awardees which I'm still working on I know there's a um those three people that were recognized for the um teacher of the year you know so we're going to you know be taking care of that as well writing them letters for their for their file and then some resources again that Dr Hart had contributed uh regarding the vice president the time commitment you can expect to spend at least two to four hours a week Beyond that of a typical board member and various matters related to the board business and at times that could be more or less that amount primary duties uh chairs the Board of Education meetings in absence of the board president consults with the board president attends graduation and delivers the graduation message um in the absence of the board president attends the welcome back in September and like Jen did and delivers an add an address to the um faculty staff in the absence of the board president and assists the board president in the superintendent evaluation so that's just kind of again a summary I'd be happy if you're interested in in sending that out to you guys so you have it but this is all part of the the trans the transition and talking about the board governance I agree with what you're saying I don't know if it really does make sense to have another full Committee just my two cents but um but I think that you know I'm really confident the board is in great hands moving forward and um again I congratulate the three new people coming on board and uh it's a great you're G you know great people this is a great District as I said from the very beginning it's a very well-run District I've appreciated working closely with you Dr Hart as well thank you of course Jason B is just phenomenal as you know business administrator this district is in very good hands so um I just wanted to add that and just mention that to you guys all right right any questions about you know again I hope people are thinking about it and um having your own conversations so any if you have any questions on happy to answer them if not we'll move on all right for how long you have to be on the board to be eligible to be board president I don't believe there is no I think anyone is eligible just have to get voted by the other members yeah I'll just add Camille you mentioned the resources that I yes sent to you I on the school board's website if anybody is interested take a look at some of the resources when it talks about the role of the board president I I thought they were pretty helpful and comprehensive just in terms of you know knowing Robert's Rules Rules of Order running meetings chairing meetings and and those sorts of things so School boards is a good resource for that okay sure it is thank you yeah all right so um moving on we are now open to the public for anything oh I'm sorry go ahead can I add a new business real quick um an update from njsba um two things so I attended the county meeting in December I just wanted to um let everyone know Dr Hart was one of the co-speaker at the event he did a fantastic job representing our district as always uh the topic was professional development curriculum and achievement I believe professional development yeah yeah something like yeah achievement y um so it was just a very interesting and and wonderful night and just it it helped me remember how lucky we are to have Dr har as the head of our district um new board members were there too should say I think all three of you were there in the orientation prior to the meeting and dinner too I think it's fantastic that they invited the board it was very well attended was there too um so the one takeaway that I wanted to mention or two takeaways one the new board member orientation they have that orientation weekend but this basic are limited so I know that they had mentioned it to the new board members that I think it was only two per District that would be able to participate in that um the uh County meetings in the winter time are all going to be virtual so they just wanted to spread the word that you're welcome to attend any County meetings that look of interest to you uh for the January and February meetings to sign up for those and then um I think that was it from the county meeting but I also attended the delegate assembly I did the virtual um to listen to what uh kind of legislative and policy resolutions were put forth um I did want to mention that the print media versus Electronic media was one of the resolutions that was it actually passed so I'm just going to read um B patcon Board of Education in Warren County proposed new policy language to be incorporated into the njsba manual positions and policies supporting the publication of board meeting notices electronically rather than publication in two newspapers as is currently required by law I think we had mentioned that there are several districts in Warren County that are also out of compliance they have no local papers to advertise in um so the resolutions committee had recommended passing this resolution and it did pass so school boards will be advocating and trying to legislators so they're on it I just wanted to get yeah that's it thank you anyone else for new business at all bu all right uh we are now open to the public for anything on or off the agenda all right can we get a motion to um move to Executive session to adopt the following resolution to um in accordance with Sunshine Law to discuss a student matter for approximately 30 minutes at which time the board expects to return to public session or action may be taken the matters discussed will made public if and when the circumstances requiring confidentiality no longer exist however it is not presently known when such circumstances will exist Mo that second Caroline maybe get a roll call please m d yes m f yes MREs yes M mener yes Mr Peach yes M borski yes m w yes yes thanks thanks everyone bye have a good holiday