can I have a motion to return to public session make that motion have a second second all in favor I public participation on agenda items only each member of the public may speak a maximum of three minutes please state your name
for the record Katie mcder Rosal Park agenda item one uh were the policies amended to include parental notification in instances of seclusion agenda item 11 this is an amazing partnership and I'm commenting so that the rest of public will
understand what a big deal this is the federal government mandates that each state have a University Center for excellence and developmental disabilities ours is the bog Center at Ruckers I'm a graduate of the bog Center's partners and policymaking program a year-long intensive I've also taken numerous courses in person
centered planning there the faculty and staff at the bog Center are world class I have no doubt this three-year program will be transformative will have a transformative effect on the facult faculty staff and students at the middle school thank you so much for applying to be in next year's cohort agenda item 5 C
I am beyond thrilled that Mr flea will be the new principal at Sherman he was one of my oldest Child's favorite teachers you made a fabulous choice and I know he will do an amazing job agenda item 7c I saved this one for last because I knew it would be hard for me
to get through it um it's hard to put into words um the impact principal lechner had on Sherman my family and the entire Rosel Park Community when my youngest started at CH Sherman the children in the self-contained classrooms uh often felt
like an afterthought they were inadvertently left off field trips um they didn't participate in special events and in general it felt like they were locked away in the basement out of mind out of sight out of sight out of mind principal lechner made including
these students a priority uh she even asked her general education teacher to make goals about what they would do to improve inclusion at Sherman she took a struggling self-contained program and breathed new life into it assigning teachers like Mrs Stevens one of the best special education teachers in the
district and paraprofessionals who were dedicated to improving outcomes for our special education population through her schoolwide initiative of always being humble and kind principal lechner created an environment where every student valued and appreciated differences the kindness my son receives
from from his general education peers is undeniable and it's due to the culture she fostered at Sherman while principal lechner was a fabulous administrator making sure to always take care of compliance issues dotting her eyes and Crossing her teas she never forgot why
she was there to help her students have experiences of Wonder imagination and Discovery we will miss her terribly and wish her all the best in her new position thank you anyone else see none I will close the public
participation um we're now going to have a ethics uh 2024 training um presentation by Mrs clear and Mrs reee or Miss ree sorry from the New Jersey State Board Association okay what you did um good evening and
thank you for having us um uh to do your ethics training this year um as you may know I'm Patty Reese um I have been your field service rep uh in um for a couple of years but we uh the association found that we need more
field service reps because we need to be more available to our boards and with that we're hiring more people Gan is one of the people that we hired and um I'm working with Jean and ultimately she will be working the field service rep in
Union County um and so um you know I'd like to introduce Jean to you um and and you'll be in very good hands so I would just like to say a little bit about myself I uh started with New Jersey school boards back in
February I've been very very fortunate to work alongside Patty Hoot with her experience and I am a former board member myself who served six years and recently before I started with New Jersey school boards I actually worked um in central office I
was the director of operations and special projects at the Scotch Plains Fanwood school district and was on the superintendent uh cabinet so that's just a little bit about my background and my experience um before we start I would just like to say a brief uh little
statement for the benefit of the public as well as the members here um ethics training is required annually and for both experienced and new board members this training is meant to serve you so that you can focus properly on your roles and responsibilities um so that
you can go forward always maintaining the public trust board members as you know are policy makers planners and appraisers um and it's the function of the superintendent who you have hired and placed and evaluate to run the
district on a day-to-day basis so research shows that boards with strong governance protocols who maintain the public trust and remain focused on the important roles that they have of policy planning and Appraisal have a very high positive correlation to uh successful
student outcomes so that's just the opening and then we can start with our presentation oh I am supposed to over my shoulder so the first slide just is a disclaimer to say that this is a training session for information
purposes we are not providing legal advice um your board counsel is the appropriate uh person to contact if there's any other questions it's been said that public service is a core value that can improve the lives and the world around you and
as school officials you have the honor of serving the public but of course with that comes responsibility so tonight we're going to look at how we hold ourselves accountable recognizing that the school ethics Act is a set of minimum ethical standards by which all
officials must abide the school ethics act basically reminds us that it's essential that the conduct of members of local Boards of education and local administrators hold the respect and the confidence of the people board members and administrators
must avoid the contact which is in violation I'm sorry conduct which is in violation of public trust or and this is important to recognize that creates a justifiable impression among the public that the trust is being
violated so the school ethics Act established five things the school ethics commission prohibited acts mandatory training requirements for board members the it established the code of ethics 9 years later and also um
has disclosure statements that are necessary to file relative to uh personal and relative relationships and financial statements so who's uh who's accountable under this act um the provisions apply
to all school officials board members uh some of us at New Jersey school board the staff and officers and your local administrators and you we are governed by prohibited acts and we must file disclosure
statements additionally Provisions apply specifically to elected or appointed board members um to follow the code of ethics which we're going to look at and to uh make sure that you're meeting the mandatory training
requirements so who enforces this act that's the school ethics commission which is the body um charged with that it's composed of nine board members I'm sorry nine members appointed by the governor for a three-year term uh no one
party may have more than five members on it and it's composed of school two school board members two School administrators and five non-school officials and what do they have jurisdiction over well they have um they
they provide advisory opinions only school officials May request an advisory opinion to determine if their or another proposed activity would violate the act so it's actually seeking advice and they will provide that advice School ethics
commission also has jurisdiction over ethics complaints now anyone can file an Ethics complaint alleging a violation of the school ethics act um advisory opinions are published if uh six members
of the school ethics commission vote to support publishing it and those are things that we use um to refer to in our practice they report the school ethics commission that overall they generally get about 85 ethics complaints filed a
year that they review and are um asked to provide 35 advisory opinions so the mandatory training session section of the ACT requires that in the first 90 days new board members
uh take government one which is an orientation for new members to provide basic knowledge and skills explain New Jersey qac harassment intimidation and bullying the superintendent evaluation process um the open public meetings act
and of course the code of ethics by the end of year two it's required that board members take governance 2 which focuses on finance and labor by the end of year three governance three will um go in depth on student achievement and by the
end of the year following every reelection or reappointment governance 4 must be taken which will provide the most recent legal updates New Jersey school board provides this training in different ways um in person with live virtual sessions as
well as self-paced online so we mentioned earlier that uh there are disclosure statements that must be filed all new school official officials which elected or appointed board members are must file disclosure statements within 30 days of the start
of employment or taking office if it's an administrator returning school officials have until April 30th which is the deadline to file those so we want to take a quick look to see what happens and regarding penalties
for violations that are found um the SEC makes the recommendation to the commissioner and the following penalties can be arrived at a reprimand would be a rebuke by the commissioner that the conduct violated the standards that we
we will look at in a moment um but does not result in any formal resolution the next penalty would be a censure which becomes a formal disapproval by the commissioner which is publicized by the adoption of a
resolution so names get put on there that's available open to the public The Next Step would be a penalty of suspension which would bar a member from any activity for set period of time and finally of course for egregious acts it
would be a removal um an immediate termination from board membership or employment if it's an administrator okay let's go back one so on the next slides we're going to look at each part of the code of ethics which goes a toj just to bring your attention
to the fact that on the bottom there are standards which actually go in depth about what would have to be provided as evidence to um successfully support that there was in fact a violation so we're going to focus on the top so a says I
will uphold and enfor enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures I will make decisions in
terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing oftentimes when board members
are running um they have a certain platform but we need to set that aside and make sure that we're always focusing on the education for all children C I will confine my board action to policymaking planning and
appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them and that goes back to our earlier conversation where that is the role of the board I will carry out my responsibility
not to administer the school but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well-run that's the appraisal I will recognize that the authority rests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action
that may compromise the board and in a few moments we'll look at what what comes under conflict I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interests or partisan politic political groups or to use the schools for
personal gain or for the gain of friends I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the school which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters I'll provide accurate
information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its School I will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer so we
know that the board hires the superintendent and evaluates the superintendent the superintendent is the chief executive of the district and hires all the other people I will support and protect School Personnel in the proper performance of
their duties and this in the past has come up on for an issue if you may hold certain beliefs or the community does um about for instance curriculum but you need to support the staff that's properly following um what has been in
statute the uh the necessary education for the children and finally Jay I will referral complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after a failure of an administrative solution and this
is really an important um thing that goes back to uh the chain of command and the proper way to um allow the administrators in the in the district um whether it's teacher principal or goes
up to the superintendent level to find an administrative solution so that uh that can be the most expedient and provide an opportunity for Learning and discussion um only when that fails would it come before the board and the board would only participate acting as a full
board o I think we may have lost the sound okay um it's back so now we're going to just take a look at some of the cases I should have said earlier that this presentation um is available in central office and can
be shared after tonight so that the hyperlinks here and at the end with the um resource information would be available to all of you so we're not going to read through all of them but a couple of them are important to just maybe touch upon so the first one here
talks about a member that copied and pasted information from a board email and sent it uh with a non-public contents to Township officials this inter commmunication had the potential it was determined to compromise the board and it was
recommended for a reprimand further down we have c2020 um which talks about on their own a member had contacted vendors um and districts for prices to go from MacBooks to
Chromebooks now at a meeting it's fine to express disagreement about um the way forward but it's inappropriate to conduct Private Investigations as a board member um it effectuates plans without consulting those who will be impacted and because of that it placed
board at risk and that led to a censure oh I'm sorry it's the over the shoulder that's getting me oh it's not um responsive okay all right so down Midway uh
c221 talks about a member that met with the public to justify her actions for a walk-on motion of a highly divisive board action to change a holiday name now this was an independent action that was determined to have undermined the
board's decisionmaking process as it's up to the board to publicly discuss and explain the rationale for decisions and it also undermined the administration's Authority and Po and imposes an unnecessary strain between the
administration and the board so that led to a reprimand so as we said earlier um the school ethics uh act actually has prohibited School ethics commission has prohibited acts this is a summary here and on the top is a hyperlink that
you'll have available to you to look at more in depth if you have questions but it talks about the need to make sure um that if you have a conflict you handle that appropriately and suggest and Rec and says that you need to recuse yourself if
there's a benefit to you as a school official or your immediate family due to the following any business interests use of a position to secure unwanted privileges or advantages any Financial involvement that may impair your
objectivity any service or employment that may Prejudice independent judgment any gifts or favors that were offered with the intent to influence and any possible Financial game if any of those are present you may not
participate in any discussions or vote so when we look at conflict it's important to understand the recusal process as opposed to abstaining from a vote when you have a a conflict um you're told that you need to recuse
yourself from the discussion and the vote abstaining alone is not enough it's not sufficient enough to me memorialize it what you want to do when you know you have a conflict is to be very transparent about that recuse yourself
um that helps to memorialize that in the meeting notes and the next step would just be to get the advice of your board attorney um to see if there's any effect on uh the impact for a quorum or the recording of votes but the recusal is a
very important step to understand so conflicts um come out of of your relationship and at the top it outlines immediate family members which are basically easy to understand spouse a civil union or domestic partner or dependent child residing in the same
household but underneath it it's an extensive list of who could be considered a relative the thing to know about this is that the term relative doesn't really appear in prohibited Acts or in the code of ethics but can still cause a conflict so if you have any
concerns or questions about whether you actually do have a conflict you should um seek your council's advice so here is a list it's hard to see um I did print this out and put it in your packets just for a future reference um but it talks
about the familial relationship and whether or not you would have a conflict which would preclude you from participating in uh uh the um Union negotiations or in the anything to do
with the superintendent's contract or evaluation for hiring in Personnel the um it says clearly that you may not hire the relative of a board member or the chief School administrator with very very limited um exceptions if the
relative already works in the district then an administrator may not exercise ize direct or indirect authority over that relative if a board if it's a board member the board member may not take part in any employment matters concerning the superintendent or
supervisors who are in the chain of command between the relative and the superintendent and that really is a a difficult thing because everybody working in the district is working under the superintendent a board member may not
take part in the search selection or vote to hire a new superintendent or any posst hire evaluation or contract discussions so here we take a look at collective bargaining and um how it relates to ethics so if there's a
relationship to the board member we see on the left column um it talks about whether or not you can participate so for a spouse dependent child uh a child not who's not dependent who's living at home and a relative um um if
the current member uh works in the district you may not participate in negotiations or vote to ratify the contract if you yourself your spouse or dependent child Works Outside The District in another District you may not participate negotiations but after the
memorandum of agreement salary guides and total compensation are in place you may vote to ratify if you have an independent child or a relative who works out of the district then you may participate in the negotiations here and you can vote to
ratify now this is all especially um we have to make sure there are no other conflicts that may um be involved so other possible conflicts could be that the family member is not in the unit but terms of employment
linked to the unit and here you can think of a vendor that might have um might be working in the district and you might have a family member working for that vendor the next could be supervised employee in the unit um an example could
be an after Care Program uh where the person works and is being supervised by a staff member or immediate family or relative that has heightened Union involvement in another District that could also create a conflict so here and you'll get this
when uh the presentation is shared with you that it just is a a reference chart about advisory opinions that we spoke about earlier this is just a sample of some and cases related to prohibitive acts and this is just a guide for you um
to see and to be uh informed by so we'll take a moment to just look at the effect of a conflict on committees so for instance if a board president has a child that's an instructional Aid in the district we
know that it's the board president's responsibility to assign committees and chairs um but if that was the case where they had a family member in the district they could not choose any Committee Member nor be on any committees involving the local Education
Association or matters relating to the superintendent they also may not choose the chair or the members of the committee or be involved in anything that remotely touches um upon this including but not limited to
Personnel negotiations instructional and finance committees another example below is um a board member has uh a spouse who's a 10-month employee in technology department we would have to look at that and say that then they could not be
involved in any and all matters including service on any committees that remotely touch upon or directly relate to The spouse's employment in that technology department including without limitation Personnel negotiations or
Finance committees so we'll look here at some um findings for ethics violations um to do with executive session the first one talks about a member who attended executive session where there was a discussion on candidates to fill a
vacant board seat without coming forward and saying that their husband had applied the second one is a board um president attended multiple discussions on matters involving an immediate family member other board members were unaware of the identity now both of these were
um in both of these they had consulted Council these led to censure because again we always want to maintain the public trust right when a member with a conflict goes behind doors it creates a justifiable impression to the public
that their trust is being violated it provides unwanted privilege or Advantage not available to the public members um other members could chill or be intimidated from speaking their mind clearly and members are responsible for
their own actions with the duty to act prudently and cautiously even though that they had sought counsel first and that brings us to advice of council defense for penalties there are prerequisite factors
on advice of Council that the approval or advice was received prior to the actions being taken that the individual who offered the advice had the authority to do so that the individual seeking the advice or approval made a full
disclosure of all pertinent facts and that the in individual complies with the advice that's received including any restrictions that it may contain if all four factors of the advice of council defense can be met a board member May may be able to avoid a penalty for
violating the school ethics act but a violation of the school ethics act can still be found the advice of council defense is extremely fact sensitive and in order for it to apply all factors must be satisfied and it is important to
know that and we'll talk a little bit about this going forward that content really matters um and these cases are very specific to the facts in them which is why we don't have always you can do this or can't do that it's it's very
sensitive to um what's involved in that situation often times uh when board members are concerned about avoiding conflict they raise the question about their ability to continue to volunteer in school and we recognize that many board members are very active um in
their school districts so serving on the board doesn't prevent volunteerism in the school but you are a school official now and you have to pay special attention to two things in particular your degree of involvement and the degree of authority so the degree of
involvement you want to look at whether or not you're giving directions or instructions to staff or students or if you're taking orders from staff right that poses some some uh it clouds the issue of what the relationship is um if you're being seen as being in meshed in
the building and always there that could be problematic as well another thing uh that's recommended is that you avoid handling any school monies because you are a school official so it's um it blurs the line with your volunteerism so you should leave that to another trusted
member of the volunteer committee and will you you know if you are going to lead if you've LED this in the past um taking into consideration how it may be perceived by the public you may want to take um less than a
leadership role in those volunteer activities of course it's always best practice to advise the superintendent that you'll be performing this work and being involved in the committee I'm sorry in the volunteering um you want to refrain of course at all times from board
discussions or any kind of votes um if you're there volunteering and you're in the school keep it focused on what you're there to do probably directly related to Children um and stay away from any topics that really need to be addressed when the board is convened and
always be cognizant of the obligations of the ACT to guide your conduct so when it comes to voting board members are entrusted to review the recommendations from the superintendent and then to vote in a way that they feel best serves the needs of the district
and its students however you must always consider your statutory obligations now for appointments transfers or removal of certificated and non-certificated staff a member can vote in in a way um that may not support the
superintendent's recommendation however it cannot be an arbitrary or capricious um reason in advisory opinion a1222 it was asked if a board member would violate the school ethics act if they vote affirmatively to refuse to
implement the New Jersey student learning standards for the Comprehensive Health and physical education that was an a topic that um still has a lot of um discussion around it the the sec's response was that it was shown if it's
shown that a school official acted contrary to the laws rules and regulations promulgated by the State Board of Education they could be in violation of the ethics act another area that um comes up of
course is social media um presence and activity to um avoid uh any ethical violation so as a general matter a school official doesn't violate the ACT merely by engaging in social media it is part of the world that we live in
instead the commission's analysis is Guided by whether a reasonable member of the public could perceive that the school official is speaking in his or her official capacity or for its for your official duties um now remember a
reasonable the perception of a reasonable member of the public um is left open to interpretation as I said earlier um these cases are very very specific um in how they are interpreted it depends in large part on
the content of the speech if the speech in question has no correlation to board business or anything to do with the district um and couldn't possibly be regarded as a statement or a position on behalf of the board as a body you wouldn't be violating the ACT um posting
pictures of your family picnic or some local event that was going on that you enjoyed not going to be a violation however if the speech in question does relate to the business of the board or its operations it's then reasonable to perceive the speech is being offered in
an official capacity and pursuant to official duties that's um something to really keep in mind now the school ethics commission suggests that if you are going to maintain um social media accounts that
you put a disclaimer and they provide this as as a sample in bold the following statements are made in my capacity as a private citizen and not in my capacity as a board member these statements are also not representative of the board or its
individual members and solely represent my own personal opinion so the questions that we get asked frequently are if you use the disclaimer does it automatically protect you from being in violation of the Act and the answer is no it does help help
clarify for the public perhaps um it's a statement that you're making however it's very very driven by what the content is to to be determined if it's a violation So based on content if a reasonable member of the public could
perceive you're speaking in your official capacity that could make the disclaimer um inadequate and of No Force or effect to protect you if you have social media accounts and staying away from anything to do with board business and you don't use a
disclaimer doesn't mean you're automatically in violation again content matters and you are not required to use the exact wording um of the disclaimer provided but I would point out that it was provided by the school ethics
commission so in this case a board member asked if as a private citizen it would violate the ACT if they answered operational question questions about the district on a Facebook page like a Q&A between parents and the board the sec's response is important to understand and
they talk about um board members don't abdicate the right to freedom of speech however board members are also public officials and therefore must exercise precautions to violating the act it must be clear that the comments made at any
time or place other than at a board meeting do not appear to be written on behalf of or with authorization of the board the community is aware of your status and would likely attribute statements from you as being representative of board speech and we
know that your policies and you can refer to your own District policies um will address that who is appropriate to speak for the board generally it's the board president and the superintendent to speak on behalf of the
district social media General guidance any account that identifies you as a board member so if you had um a social media account while you were a candidate for office you can no longer use that because it would lead to confusion for
the public if you like or share from a personal account some other um something that you see of interest um that doesn't have anything to do again with board activities or work or District work then
you would probably be fine but of course as in all things we want to be very careful um to make sure that we're not supporting anything divisive um you do you are a school official and that's just general good practice so some points to consider as
we close out um New Jersey school boards recommends that uh boards develop lists of members and administrators who have conflicts and re view that regularly so that you're prepared to move forward and everybody has a clear understanding of
um what they may or may not participate in always consult with your board attorney on ethics issues to identify any conflicts or issues that you may have and need more clarity on and finally continue to check Schoolboard notes which you all should be receiving
as board members um to keep a breast of the newly released advisory opinions and decisions from the commission that's updated regularly and is um very helpful so in closing just the reminder
that board members may not deliberately disregard or ignore ethical standards that are required by law to be upheld and to enforce so when board members do so it not only threatens the Integrity
of your board it also unnecessarily compromises District personnel and subverts the Very purpose for which you are elected namely to serve the needs of the school district and all of its students and again your role as board
members um is to work with policy to plan to appraise and to make sure that the goals and Ambitions of the community for the children of your District are being appropriately attended to so um the last slide will just show you that
we have uh resources of ailable again those hyperlinks will work for you um going forward if you have any questions or concerns or on this topic or any other um as your field service representative I'm happy to um take your
call or provide any information that you feel you need going forward and i' just like to say uh thank you so much for your service on behalf of your students and Community you place such a an important role and um I applaud you for your attention and uh wish you all a
good opening to the new school year [Applause] yeah there there's a brief part waiting for the second part my name is vinia I'm the director of Special Projects uh for the new school boards Association um and what I want to do tonight is I've introduced myself to you a little bit
show you a few slides uh I've had a conversation with you know with your Administration I know that you're planning a retreat uh in August and I wanted to give you some ideas um about some of the work that you may want to consider in order to do that um uh in our in our society today with such so
much importance on all the work in schools it clearly goes beyond the classroom um and part of my experience uh is part of that um I'm waiting for that to come up uh however uh in in
essence uh my my experience in schools uh I've served in every role literally except for superintendent I've worked in very high performing districts and districts that were quite the opposite and uh and and uh what I can share with you uh is that it does not matter what
the profile of the district is the same structures the same strategies are critical uh in order to to um really ensure that there's Improvement in total growth our world is changing we need to prepare kids for
their Futures not our pasts and with technology with what's happening with AI and all those other initiatives we need to ensure that our staff our boards our community um is very much aware of what
the needs are for kids to be successful in this Century I want to ask you a couple questions not their answer but rhetorically you know what do our kids need to be successful in this Century I'm old enough to remember when
a kid graduated from high school in New Jersey they could lead with a with a diploma a very healthy um comfortable middle class lifestyle our schools were designed
today 100 years ago 1890s we need to continue to change so that when our kids graduate they have a place to go be independent be self-supporting and feel confidence and I'm going to suggest to
you that the stresses of our society today we talk about covid and those impacts we know they continue to affect kids I have four kids I'm thankful they're grown up but I got three grandkids and I see the struggles that they
have but I am also so fortunate um you know my middle grandchild is 10 years old on the Spectrum the Educators in her District have made an unbelievable difference where she is out of her shell and she reads but these are the things the successes unfortunately you guys don't
hear about all the successes all the times but parents at home are reflecting constantly on the impact of schools I'm not to go through this this gives you an idea of my experiences I've got experiences in government I have
experien in industry and the pharmaceutical medical device industry I've owned a small business and I've got a lot of years in education my experience in education is in high performing districts and districts that weren't uh districts that
um were were uh economically comfortable and those that were not and it didn't matter because the same structures the same edication the same ideas in each of those districts were implemented with a focus on the needs of
that district and it began at the conversations at this table and tables like this I'm going to just not going to get into it deeply you may be familiar with the Iowa Lighthouse study um it's a done that was done by the Iowa school boards
Association and it documents very specifically the behaviors that boards have that attribute to the success of kids the success of the district and also incl ensuring teacher retention you may be aware of a project school board
has been involved with for 10 years with ruter and Kain uh it documents the impact of collaboration among staff among boards among with parents and how it does a couple of things when there's formal collaboration in a district two things
happen number one regardless of the of the uh profile of the district controlling for poverty there are significant increases in student learning especially in in math lesson language arts but the other thing that they've learned is that after five years there
is no difference in teacher retention between a high poverty excuse me a low poverty a high performing and a low performing School District when the staff feels that they're valued and when the family when the communities are included in that work it changes the
profile of a district so this is about best practices again we're just kind of having an introduction but it begins with beliefs shared beliefs having a conversation to have an understanding of what we believe
as representatives of this community and where can we build the bridges that show that we we have those same beliefs but most importantly we need to have beliefs of what that kids can learn that with the right support
structure kids do learn we also have to believe that as a decision makers for this District you can influence change your District your community is looking is watching you in a good way they know that with good
leadership their kids are going to have an even better opportunity of success for their chosen Fields whatever they may be but you also have to have an an agreement of what it's going to take and one of the things that the iow
lighthouse study says are your boards actions driven by a set core of beliefs for student learning in other words all kids can learn they may learn at different rates sometimes we forget the ultimate goal of our systems our goal is high school
graduation kids learn at different rates we know that some of those kids are are taking higher level classes in n9th and 10th grade sometimes in eth or seventh other kids might not take it to 11th grade it doesn't mean that they're not smart it means that they learn
differently and they learn at different rates this is what the lighthouse study reports that when a when boards have these seven traits it has a positive impact on learning on schools on climate
on kids and everything else shared leadership what does that mean we we lead in the areas that we have strengths when I was a mayor it was very simple I'm not a finance guy I'm an education guy I had an accountant uh on
my on my Council guess what that was the individual who chaired the finance committee and worked with our Our Town Administrator and ba those with the expertise to represent the board and the community continuous
Improvement you know as a parent as a grandparent now I'm looking at I want to see my kids and my grandkids continue to grow not stop if we stop we become stagnant at
any age we're going to lose opportunities the ability to create and sustain initiatives that also means the ability to determine when an initiative isn't working and take it off the plate we need to have those understandings that we're going to evaluate
things having a supportive workplace professional learning the importance of using data and I believe one of the the foundation is ensuring that our community and our parents are involved
those voices are critical if we want to have true support for the work that we're doing and more importantly have an understanding of what what those goals are and those goals are across the Spectrum but I'm going to suggest to you that overwhelmingly there's one
goal they want their kids to be successful they want them to be healthy well adjusted the way we get there well you know we all have different styles that's fine but we have to focus on what our goals are and then have an understanding what's going to work best for us in
order to get there when boards do this this is all from the data boards established learning time like you've done tonight is learning together talking to each other having extensive conversations the whole thing about shared leadership a develop a
willingness and read to lead and allow others to lead build commitment to the Improvement Focus through shared information and discussion once we recognize that we have a challenge let's work together to solve
it and by engaging in deliberate policy development and as my colleagues have shared with you leading through your policies which are all critical as far as the ethics act I want to show you this slide this is a true story um there my
wife and I are plenty of cross country trip we both want to get to the West Coast good friends are in La I've been cross country in the past I want to go a northern route because we're going to go in August and I don't want to have snow if I'm camping uh uh so I want to do that first she wants to
go Southern rout because she wants to see family in Arizona we have the same goal we have different ways ways to get there it's no different than what happens at this table or in any classroom or any discussion what we need to do is have an understanding of what
those other other goals are there are 10 components for total School growth and and and Improvement see C of instruction assessment accountability professional learning leadership and governments
parent and Community involvement resources student Support Services the bog Center is a marvelous place I was so happy to hear about that tonight um uh technology integration policy advocacy and continuous improving me mechanisms and strategies now those are
things that at the board at at the administrative level and at the at the other uh educational levels that are important to address but what I'm suggesting to you these this is some information for you to consider as you give input in terms of what you feel your August Retreat is
about this is on on your server here so you can have this this is in your District they can be it could be shared with anybody and this is just some of the examples of what districts in New Jersey are addressing today I guarantee you are addressing 80 to 90 if
not more percent of them today but if you also look down those things like internships and apprenti that's the dual enrollment commission program is coming on now so that within five years every High School in New Jersey will have opportunities for kids
to learn trades to have apprenticeships paid apprentices as as seniors and internships as Juniors so they have an idea of where they want their life path to be their their career path to be again this is what it takes for all kids to
achieve those Partnerships high quality instruction PL for families for teachers for everybody collaboration plc's data effective Clinic supervision of all
staff RTI IEPs 504s these are the the foundational pieces that help a district succeed it's always about relationships what do we share shared goals do we do
we believe there are multiple ways to achieve goals you know we don't have to agree but we do have to listen to each other we don't have to like each other but must we should respect each other and we have to respect each other's roles and respect responsibilities we do have to develop
genuine trust without trust we can disagree and be dis but we can't be disagreeable but without trust how do we move forward how do we come to compromises how do we truly discuss whatever the issues might be before us and we make decisions B
based on all factors determine which we believe is best for kids our kids our community and their future I'm going to just ask you to do take a quick game with me right now so you have a better idea of who I am and uh it's usually something that I do when I do PL as a
way to start building that team so people have an understanding of who they are so these are six statements about me one is false I'm going to ask you to determine which one is false is after I give you a little bit of story uh I mentioned
earlier I worked in the medical device industry um I worked uh for Seamans medical nuclear medical back in the 80s they introduced the first pet scaners scanners um I was a distant consultant introducing those to uh radiologist and
Etc in the New York City area I love the outdoors I mentioned we're planing a cross country trip I've hiked through Grand canion I Whitewater rafted in Wyoming I climbed a 12,000 foot mountain in Salt Lake City Mountain biked the
Smokies one of my roles number three was as a middle school principal uh it was a difficult School 56 kids from a neighboring City High School hid in the woods uh as my kids were being dismissed came out with bats because of a disagreement over a a
a recreation game the night before 56 kids I think 30 were arrested two cops had their arms broken and that's what I learned from the girls in my school that if you take your posts out for your earrings put them between your fingers use them as a weapon against somebody's
face and pull down that's what the 11 that's what the 11-year-old taught me I had dinner at the White House in 1993 I think it was um when President Clinton was uh was in office when I was mayor and as a councilman I wore a wire for
seven years for the FBI I uncovered corruption and finally I'm convers conversing in Italian which of those do you individually think is false five all right any other five let's how about one one who anybody say
one two 3 four you three how about a four how about a five how about a six sorry folks one is
true two is true three is true four is true five is true I don't speak a word of Italian I can speak in this room the truth is is that my one
grandmother was born in in the greenage village about 1895 um uh her she was born here my other three grandparents were not she witnessed the bias that her family experienced at that time in man in Manhattan and she refused to let my
mother my aunt or my uncles learn anything except what we can't say here so but my point is this my point is this when we have an opportunity to begin by just doing a quick exercise to get to know each other
it breaks the ice like any other party any other get together and I'm going to suggest to you that as a teacher what I learned that when my kids were happy when they laughed they were more more open to learning they when they felt comfortable in my
classroom they are more open to conversation so I appreciate your attention this evening um again I'm be happy to work with you guys if if if it works out that way uh but regardless um feel free to contact me if I can help you from school boards have a great night
thank you for that um we're going to do the um n n NJ NJ GPA presentation next thank you it's not up yet but I'm Colleen bodc the director of guidance and testing for the
school district um we are going to present or I'm going to present the um njpa results this evening were required to present them to Boards of Education in the community within 60 days of receipt um and we received them in late
June um so it's I'll start the presentation but it should be up um any minute now um so the NJ GPA is the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment and it's given to all 11th graders um
and it's required for graduation um so this spring our students took it um actually let me get the presentation I can read it from my all right so the NJ GPA is given in ela and Mathematics so students have to pass
both in order to meet graduation requirements um and Ela students are tested in the 10th grade standards for English language arts and for math the standards for Algebra 1 and
geometry um in the spring of 2023 the State Board of Education determined the cut scores for njp PA as well as the um cut scores for the alternative assessments so if students don't meet the 725 cut score on math or English
language arts they have an opportunity to meet graduation requirements through a variety of other avenues um and that includes um sat PSAT ACT scores um and
if that fails um students May complete a portfolio that's submitted to the state for consideration um but any student who did not meet um proficiency this spring will retake the assessment in the
fall the state does offer um a either summer or fall retake and we will opt for the fall because we often have many transfer students that will need to take it um so if we could go to slide
um oh it's me sorry about that okay so here we are um this slide here just shows our um High School results compared to the state's results so in English language arts 91% of our high school students um
passed the assessment um and in math 59% past you can see um both of those are above State average here is the comparison from last year's results to this year's which I think is um quite telling um
particularly in math we went up 11 percentage points from 48% passing in math to 59% this year um and we improved by two percentage points in English language arts this is a comparison by race um
from last year to this year um at the top you can see last year um 81% of our black students passed um and this year that was up to 90% um and last year 31% of our students
who identify as black passed um and that's up to 65% this year um exceeding the the district average as well um for our white students last year Ela um pass
rate was 94% up to 97% this year um mathematics 65 down to 58% this year um and for our Hispanic students we went from 83% passing English language arts last year
to 88 this year um and this is huge um for our hispan anic students we went from 31% passing last year to 54% passing this year um I am not reporting any data on our Asian students or students who identify as multiple races
um as depression guidelines prohibit me from doing that this is a comparison by program at the top you can say see students who um qualify for free and reduced lunch so last year year um our free and reduced
lunch population 84% passed Ela now 85% um last year 37% passed um the math and that was up to 53% this year you can see um the increases on the right side
for General ed students 96 to 97% in ela 58 to 70% in math um our multilingual Learners I did not indicate the um pass rate for 2023 um because again suppression
guidelines prohibit me from doing that so that means that less than 10 students fall into that category so it's not appropriate for me to to share that data um over here uh on the bottom right you could see the special education students
um and English language arts last year we had 67% of special education students pass and that was up to 81% this year um and math went from 19 to 22% um most people probably can't read
the bottom there but I just noted that the data for students with 504 plans are also not included here because there were less than 10 students with 504s that are in the 11th grade oh I'm going the wrong way okay so some notable achievements
graduation Readiness um rates improved in math overall by 11% um and in ela by 2% from last year's results um some subgroup improvements um by race the scores for black students
improved by 9% in ela and 34% in math over last year and for Hispanic students um there was an improvement of 5% in LA and 23% in math um by program we had a 16% increase in math scores for students
who receive free reduced lunch a 12% increase in math for general education students and we had score increases in both Ela 14% And math 3% for special education students um and I just wanted to note that um Rosell Park High School
special education students fell just 1% under the overall State average for all students in ela um so that was 81% compared to the overall average for all students in the state the past rate for ELA was 82% and some intervention strategies
that we plan to implement in the future um to increase math scores we're going to have targeted small class additional instruction to reinforce the fundamentals and the tested Concepts we're going to continue to focus on differentiated instruction um driven by
data we'll continue to use data to drive decisions and tailor interventions to meet the specific n needs of different student groups um for multilingual Learners we will um create individualized plans for all students including State Testing accommodation
specific under their proficiency level um and English language classes will focus both on academic language and con con conversational skills that are in line with state standards and for special education students we will ensure that IEPs are
effectively implemented and tailored to meet the specific needs of each student um and questions can be directed to the the people listed there so for test Administration distribution of results that's me the director of guidance and testing Colleen bodc um in
terms of intervention strategy and instruction the director of curriculum Mr Salvo um and the principal of the High School Mrs Costa uh may receive those questions and in terms of special populations Mrs G
Gallen the director of special services and um superintendent go the ESL supervisor thank you very much great thank you [Applause] you don't okay committee reports we'll start
from my right anyone on this side no anyone on my left I do have a report uh for personnel so we have a bunch of changes this month
we have some new hires some moves unfortunately we do have three resignations and I'd like to just say best of luck to Mr I'm Sorry Miss lechner um you've done an amazing job and I know that you're going to continue to do an amazing job in the future um
I'd also like to congratulate Mr Flea on getting the promotion to the Sherman principal we know you're going to do an amazing job there um I think that's about it thank you thank you anyone else
no okay we are going to dive into the agenda items um under policy agenda items one and two uh number one District policies second reading exhibit
a number two District policies first reading exhibit B um we are adding something that's not on your written agenda um to this portion uh which is proposed changes to policy
7510 use of school facilities for consideration um there will be a second reading I guess in the next meeting okay can I have a motion to approve policy section make that motion have a second roll call please
vice president Constance quintella yes Susan carlstrom yes Lauren Harms yes Dr Brittney Kirkland yes Cindy Meo yes Jennifer mcar yes Chris Monroe yes president Paul Bayon yes motion passed
thank you under Personnel agenda items 3 through 11 staff appointments number four title change number five change of assignment and transfer number six change of assignment
esy par professionals number seven staff resignations number eight summer recovery additional employees number nine curriculum writing number 10 additional hit program
substitutes number 11 job description descriptions can I have an approve can I have a motion to approve the personnel section motion have a second second vice president Constance quintella yes Susan carlstrom yes Lauren
harmes yes yes I have a few to um um I recruited myself for 3C um I also want to congratulate Mr fle on his um I guess promotion uh to Sherman school so congratulations and um I'm really sorry
to see Miss lechner leave um I I think she did a fantastic job and we're going to miss her so Mr flea big shoes to fill that's it Dr Britany Kirkland yes Cindy Meo yes Jennifer mcar yes Chris
Monroe yes uh president Paul Bonte yes motion passed thank you um at this time I want to congratulate U Mr Fleck on being
um uh I guess huh appointed promoted um as a principal of Sherman school if you want to come up and say a few words thank you thank you I have to say the gentleman I was up here before I was a little disappointed
when he said he didn't speak Italian I was looking to brush up on my Italian tonight uh but thank you good evening uh I'd like to extend my heartfelt thank you to the Board of Education uh Miss and your administrative staff uh the parents the dedicated teachers at and
staff at Sherman Elementary I'm truly humbled by this opportunity uh and by the support and help and really all the guidance that I've been got given uh these last couple of weeks uh it's really it's it goes really far in my
book uh this opportunity means a great deing me I look forward to collaborating with such passionate and committed team continue the rich tradition that is Sherman Elementary uh in this position I'm looking to give back to Rosal Park what it's given back to me uh in form of
a student a employee here as well as a community member and now principal um I I'm really looking forward to this opportunity and thank you for trusting me thank you thank you and good luck
under education items 12- 16 2024 2025 NJ PB sis number 13 District mentoring plan 14 professional development plan 15 District em emergency virtual or remote
instruction plan number 16 harassment intimidation bullying in excuse me incident uh can I have a motion to approve the education section make a motion have a second a roll call
please vice president Constance quintella yes with an exstension to 16 Susan carlstrom yes Lauren harmes yes do Dr Britany Kirkland yes Cindy Meo yes with an exstension on
16 Jennifer marar yes with a no to number 16 Chris Monroe yes president Paul bante yes motion passed under business agenda items 17
through 22 monthly certifications 18 approval of bills 19 ES EA accept Grant allocation 20 purchase of new equipment 21 use of buildings and
grounds 22 proposal for Aline Elementary cev a motion to approve the business section motion give a second roll call please vice president Constance quintella yes Susan carlstrom
yes Lauren Harms yes Dr Brittney Kirk yes Cindy Meo yes Jennifer mcor yes Chris Monroe yes president Paul Bonte yes motion passed thank you any continuing business none any new
business I just yes I just want to say um and apologize we are having uh some communication and Technology issues this evening um it was estimated over an hour that we tried to
figure out so that we could live stream however we were not able to troubleshoot it is being recorded and it will be posted um to our website tomorrow but I did want to apologize for that we've been trying and we are conducting further investigation to resolve the
issue in the morning but I do want to personally thank Mr Jared Foy for being here and assisting us who has been working behind the scene so thank you thank you any new business none okay public participation each
member of the public may speak a maximum of three minutes please state your name for the record I'm waiting Lucy okay anyone seeing none closing the public participation um that's it right nothing else the next schedule board meeting
will be an open session held on Tuesday August 20th at 7 p.m. the board meeting will be held at the Roso Park High School auditorium can I have can I have a motion for adjournment have a second second all in
favor I thank you e e e