You want this? >> No. >> Holy like your own person. >> Yes. >> Oh, this is nice. >> I doubt my >> I had clients are doing a lot of Google searches on
>> It's happening. >> Yeah, >> somebody's looking for their phone. >> New people. It feels so weird. >> Good evening. Welcome to the annual reorganization meeting of the board of education of the Somerset Hills School District. Please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open
to the public and media consistent with the open public meetings act and that advanced notice required therein has been provided. This is a reorganization meeting of the board of ed as of Somerset Hills at which formal action may be taken. The public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda. The O New New Jersey Open Public
Meetings Act was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act. The public notice of this meeting which included the time, date, and location and to the extent
known the agenda of the meeting was distributed at 3 p.m. on July 9th, 2025 in the following manner. Post on the Bolton board reserved for announcements in the board office 25cott Avenue, Bernardsville. posted in the main office of Bedwell, Bernersville Middle School and Bernards High School, mailed to the
Courier News and the Burnersville News and posted on the Summerson Hills website. Filed with the clerk of the burrow of Bernardsville, Far Hills, Peepac and Gladstone and Bedminister Township and delivered to the 10 dulyeleed board members. Can we please stand for the pledge of allegiance?
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> And with that we'll begin to administer
the oaths of office. And the first person up is Mrs. Kelly Hunt. Come on up. Bring your family with you. responsibility. >> How do you guys want to hold the Bible? >> I will. >> Okay. Left hand on and raise your right
hand. >> Okay. And repeat after me. I, Kelly Hunt, >> I, Kelly Hunt, >> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New
Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith >> and that I will bear true faith >> and allegiance to the same. and allegiance to the same. >> And to the governments established >> and to the governments established >> in the United States and this state >> and >> in the United States and this state
>> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. I, Kelly Hunt, >> I, Kelly Hunt, >> do further solemnly swear >> do further solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law
>> for the office of member of a board of education >> for office for member of the board of education >> and that I am not disqualified as a voter >> and that I am not disqualified as a voter >> nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense >> nor sorry can you repeat that
>> nor disqualified >> nor disqualified >> due to conv conviction of a crime or offense. >> due to conviction of a crime or offense. >> And that I will faithfully >> And that I will faithfully >> impartially and justly perform >> impartially and justly perform >> all the duties of that office >> all the duties of that office
>> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. >> Congratulations. Mrs. Hunt, you can join the day right at the end there. >> Come on up. >> Next up is Mrs. Libera.
>> We just need someone to hold the Michael. So, left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand. >> I, Allison Labber, >> I, Alison Labber, >> do solemnly swear >> Do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States
>> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith >> and I will bear true faith >> and allegiance to the same. and allegiance to the same >> and to the governments established >> and to the governments established
>> in the United States and this state >> in the United States and this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. I, Allison Labber, >> I, Allison Labber, >> do further solemnly swear >> do further solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications
prescribed by law >> that I slow down. that I possess the qualifications >> that I possess the qualifications >> prescribed by law >> prescribed by law >> for the office of member of a board of education >> for office of member of board of education >> and that I am not disqualified as a
voter >> I am not disqualified as a voter >> nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime >> nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime >> or offense >> or offense >> and that I will faithfully >> and that I will faithfully >> impartially and justly perform
>> partially and justly perform >> all the duties of that office >> all the duties of that office >> according to the best of my ability. >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. Mrs. Ry,
>> come on. Paul >> the other way around. >> Is my other right hand >> there? Raise your right hand. >> Oh, >> there you go. I, Patricia Rye, >> I, Patricia Rye, >> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States
>> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith >> and that I will bear true faith >> and allegiance to the same >> and allegiance to the same
>> and to the governments established >> and to the governments established >> in the United States and this state >> in the United States and this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. >> I, Patricia Ry,
>> I, Patricia Ry, >> do further solemnly swear >> do further solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> for the office of member of a board of education
>> for the office of member of a board of education. and that I am not disqualified as a voter. >> and that I am not disqualified as a voter. >> nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense. >> nor disqualified due to conviction of a
>> crime or offense. >> And that I will faithfully >> And that I will faithfully >> impartially and justly perform >> impartially and justly perform >> all the duties of that office >> all the duties of that office >> according to the best of my ability. according to the best of my ability.
>> So help me God. >> So help me God. >> Congratulations. Oh. Now that our new members have been seated, we'll take a roll call. Miss Ballard >> here. >> Miss Clark Emory >> here. >> Miss Cooper >> here. Ms. Mrs. Gomez,
Mrs. Hoppy >> here, >> Mrs. Hunt >> here, >> Mrs. Lbera >> here, >> Mrs. Santoro >> here, >> Mrs. Ry >> here, >> and Mrs. Frenda >> here. >> Thank you. >> At this point on the agenda, we'll do a presentation of the results of the
annual school election that was held on November 4th, 2025. For the members of the board of education, the votes counted for candidates were as follows. Patricia Rye, a three-year term from Bernardsville, 1,970 votes. Sylvia Gills, a three-year term
for Bernardsville, a total of 131 votes. Allison Labraa, a three-year term for Bernardsville, 1,680 votes. And Kelly Hunt, a three-year term for Bernardsville, 1,740 votes. I should say that I also received
an election statement for the November 4th, 2025 general election from the Somerset County Clerk that affirms the same. With that, we'll need a motion to approve the annual school election. Would someone make a motion, please? Miss Cooper, is there a second?
>> Mrs. Santoro, we'll take a roll call. Miss Clark Emory, >> yes. >> Miss Cooper, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gomez, >> sorry. >> Mrs. Hoppy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Hunt, >> yes. >> Mrs. Labbera, >> yes. >> Mrs. Santoro, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ry, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ballard, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Frenda, >> yes. >> Thank you. That motion passes. >> And with that, we'll get into our organizational procedure and we'll begin with the nominations for president of the board of education. Is there a motion to nominate someone for the board
of education presidency? >> I'll make a motion to nominate Sam Frenda. Are there any other motions at this point? Could someone please make a motion to close the nominations for president? Is there a motion, Miss Cooper?
>> Oh, I don't think I don't think you saw. >> Yeah, you're seconding. Okay, I'll second. Thank you. >> Um, we'll take a roll call. Miss Cooper just for uh to close the motion for uh nominations. Mrs. Miss Cooper. Mrs.
Gomez. Mrs. Hoppy, yes. >> Mrs. Hunt, >> yes. >> Mrs. Labbera, >> yes. >> Mrs. Santoro, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ry, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ballard, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mrs. Clark Emory, yes. >> Mrs. Frienda, >> yes. >> Now to affirm Mrs. Frenda as the
president. Mrs. Cooper, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gomez, >> Mrs. Hoppy, >> Mrs. Hunt, >> yes. >> Mrs. Libera, >> yes. >> Mrs. Santoro, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ry, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ballard, >> yes. Miss Clark Emory, >> Mrs. Frenda. >> Yes.
>> With that, >> Mrs. Frenda is elected as board president for this year. >> Okay, we'll move it right along. Okay. So, then at this time, we need to make a motion to nominate um a vice
president of the board. Yes, Miss Cooper. I'd like to nominate Mrs. Santoro, vice president. >> Thank you. Are there any other nominations for vice president? >> No. Second. >> Oh, you made
>> Sorry, have it, >> Miss Ballard. Um, and then we need a motion then to close the nominations for Miss Labbera. And do we want to um roll call that, Rich? >> Yes. >> Okay.
Mrs. Hoppy, yes. >> Mrs. Hunt, >> yes. >> Mrs. Labbera, yes. >> Mrs. Santoro, yes. >> Mrs. Ry, yes. >> Mrs. Ballard, >> yes. >> Miss Clark Emory, >> yes. >> Miss Cooper, >> yes. >> Miss Frenda, >> yes. >> Carries. >> Okay, then we will move right into um
our organizational action items for this evening. The first one being the adoption of the code of ethics. Um we will motion everything in a moment, but what we typically do is we have each board member read one of the items for
the um code of ethics before we make any motions. So I think we can start down at the end with Miss Cooper. She'll start with number one and then we'll just come down the table. >> Not we're not going to read the >> h >> the preamble. We're just going to start
with the number one. All right. Okay. I will uphold and enforce all laws, rules, and regulations of the state board of education and court orders pertaining to schools. Desired changes shall be brought 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. policies. >> I will carry out my responsibility not
to administer the schools, but together with my fellow board members to see that they are wellrun. I will recognize that authority rests with the board of education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board. I will
refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or the gain of friends. Thank you. I will hold confidential on matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure
individuals or the schools. In all other matters, I will 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 chief administrative officer. >> I will support and protect school personnel in the proper performance of their duties.
I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution. >> Thank you so much. I just want to call to everyone's um attention that in your board packet. There will be an acknowledgement of the code of ethics.
We have to sign that and present that to Mr. Lori this evening. Um, so then at this time I would like for organizational action items to ask for a motion to approve items A through F on the agenda.
>> Got a motion? >> I move to approve. >> Okay. And Miss Hunt is a second. Miss Happy and Miss Hunt. Is there any discussion regarding any of the items >> for items A through F? Mrs. Hoppy? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hunt?
>> Yes. Mrs. Labbera, >> yes. >> Mrs. Santoro, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ry, >> yes. >> Miss Ballard, >> yes. >> Miss Clark Emory, >> Miss Cooper, >> yes. >> Mrs. Brenda, >> yes. >> Motions carried. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, and we also all have a copy of the code of ethics in our
packet as well. Um, so at this time, we are going to do, speaking of ethics, our annual ethics training with the fabulous Gwen Thornton, who will be here leading us in that presentation there. Uh if I may for the uh for the board members, we'll have the the Bush Law
Group presentation first in the packet. Um but Gwen's going first. So just the that presentation is about 20 slides. So just kind of work through that. So Gwen will go first and then um >> No, we uh we actually prefer that you go
first. >> Happy to do that. This is awesome. >> Is that >> Oh, >> this one. >> Yep. Yes. >> Um, let me begin um by saying
congratulations to the new board members. Welcome. Um, I'm sure you will find it interesting and exciting. You have the pleasure of joining a board that is focused and committed to doing wonderful things for kids. Um, and so I
would just like to add my congratulations um, and let you know that as the citizen of this community, because I do live in Peepac Gladstone, I am particularly delighted um, to welcome all of you, both new and experienced board members.
Mindy, you're back. I am back. >> This is the last time I was here. Nice to see you. >> Um, so it's really a pleasure to be here this evening to talk about um, school ethics. And while for a lot of you um it may seem that you have heard a lot of this before um however I'm sure you
would agree that it does bear um reviewing yet again. So you know we always have this disclaimer. This is not legal information. Your council is here. Only your board attorney can provide you with legal advice. This is purelyformational and any questions that you have always
should be directed toward your board counsel. So um it's lovely that they're here. So the code of ethics is really designed to ensure that the public um has confidence and maintains that confidence through your actions um and
also it's not just um not violating a particular piece to the code which you also artfully read this evening already. um but it's also avoiding the perception of a violation which can equally be as important as the law itself in many many
ways. So again these are considered to be the minimal minimum ethical standards um but obviously adherence to them is a really um important piece for all of you as board of education members. So, who enforces the act? The SEC. Um, when I
used to be a social studies teacher, I thought that was the Securities Exchange Commission. Um, until I figured out when I moved back to New Jersey that it was the school ethics commission when I became a board member. Um, it actually is made up of nine members, five of whom are non-school officials, two are board
members, and two are school administrators. It's a gubanatorial appointment. Um currently unfortunately it is not fully staffed. Um the difficulty with that is when we look to have advisory opinions issued um for
statewide application, it often doesn't happen because they don't have a sufficient quorum to be able to make those AOS advisory opinions public. So what you will see uh in a few slides is that in December the last two years
we've gotten a dump of AOS. This year there were 20 different AOS that were released in December. Last year it was about that many as well. It's unfortunate because you don't have the advantage of having those advisory opinions for the whole year. You they
wait until December and then it's a new board and no one has seen them. So um you will be seeing those tonight. It's important to think about their significance. So, I'm just going to talk briefly about the mandatory training component, the code of ethics, because these are all provisions of the school
ethics act, disclosure statements, and then prohibitive prohibited acts, all of which are important components to this. So, mandatory training mostly for brand new board members, you have 90 days from the date of swearing in in which to take
new board member orientation. Um, we would encourage you to do that as soon as possible. Um, there are two weekends available for you. I'm not going to do the whole pitch. Um, but if you want to do that weekend or a weekend, I would advise you to sign up. This morning, I checked and there were
already 54 people um who are signing up. So again, if you wish to to do that, just let your business administer, let Rich know um and he can take care of that for you. For the rest of you, um, you must take it. You have a full year, Grace. Um, but again, if you're a
relatively inexperienced board member, taking those mandatory trainings at the beginning of the year is always helpful. You don't want to know how many people I talked to on December 31st this year in a panic trying to finish before the deadline. So, please don't wait. Um, we
also have revised all of the self-paced online courses and we've added an AI chat chatbot to it. So, there will be coach Carla who will be available when you take those online self-paced courses now to be able to respond to questions during the course of your taking that
instructional program which we're very excited about. Um, so in year two and year three and then every year of a reelected term subsequent to your first you have to take gov four which are legal updates and that's changed. We change that every year so it's different
every year. So, if you're just coming back on the board, you're going to have to take that. But it'll be fun. I promise. >> At school boards, does that count? >> No. >> Okay. >> Because it changes every January. And that's and that's why.
>> Okay. Um, you will be receiving notification from the state um to fill out your financial disclosure forms. These are forms that for the new members, you have 30 days in which to complete them. Um they if you're returning and as a board member you have
until April 30th. It can all be done online. They're not asking you how much money you make. They're looking for the sources of your income. Um and so you just need to make sure that you get those filled out and filed in a reasonable period of time. Again, don't wait till April 30th. get it done ahead
of time so you're not um behind because we have seen in the past year and a half or so the ethics commission really cracking down on late filings for financial statements and removing board members who are late. So I would encourage you to get that done in a
timely way. Okay. So um again a lot of them varying penalties but it really is important to get them done. Um, in the old days you had to fi file them in duplicate in hard copies. You couldn't even sign a xerox
copy. You had to sign the original and then you had to take it to the BA. Now it's done all electronically so your business administrator is not burdened with it. You can do it from your home computer. And what I recommend and suggest, especially for you new folks, is keep it year-over-year. So make a
copy of it and then keep it so that you know what the address is of and so forth. So you're not reinventing the wheel to fill it out. Okay. I'm not going to make you go through all of these slides. Obviously, you are responsible for upholding and enforcing
all laws, regulations of the state board of ed and the state of New Jersey. Um, I'm not going to read you these. You read all of them. However, I would point out to you that it really does speak to the role and responsibility that you have. You are a policymaking body by
definition and so you want to make sure that you remain within your appropriate role of policymaking planning and appraisal oversight and not involving yourself in the day-to-day administration of the school district. Okay. um making sure that you work
together uh as a team uh to see that the schools are wellrun. But any kind of day-to-day operational function is the responsibility of your administration and not the responsibility of the board of education. Making sure that you make no personal
promises nor take any private actions that may compromise the board. Oftentimes you will find now that you've been sworn in, although I'm sure you don't really feel any different than you did 15 minutes ago. However, people will see you differently once you have been
sworn in to the board and they will come to you and they will tell you what their concerns are, perhaps their problems. They might ask you to solve their problem. Just understanding that the best thing that you can do for those
folks is to provide them access to the system to be able to get their problem solved, to know what the chain of command is around who they should reach out to. So, if they have a busing problem, they would go to the transportation office. If they have a a concern with the child's teacher, direct
them back to the person closest to the issue, the child's teacher, then the principal, then the assistant superintendent, and ultimately to the superintendent, and you are the court of last resort. So, those are the kinds of things that when you become a board member, it's different than 15 minutes
ago. Um, and people will come to you. So, just making sure that you understand that that you're not promising that you can make a change in their class schedule or add a new sport or do whatever someone wants you to do. As much as you may want to help them, the
best way to help them is to steer them to the correct people who can respond to their concern and tell them, "No, no, I'm kidding." Okay? Refusing to surrender your judgment to any special interest. Again, you know, you are all
smart people who want to do good things for kids. Make sure you maintain that independence of judgment. Um, sometimes the public will think since you operate by committee that you're bobbleheads and you're all shaking your heads. Yes. A lot of the discussion and debate on boards of education with committees
takes place in the committees. Um so that you want to make sure that the public sees that in fact you have done your due diligence and worked hard to come to consensus. Okay. Holding confidential all matters which could
injure the district or create legal issues for the district is critically important particularly when it comes to staff and students who have an absolute right to confidentiality. And so you must be careful um to make sure that you maintain that because sometimes you will
have access to information that needs to remain absolutely private forever. Okay. Voting to appoint the best qualified personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of your superintendent. Um the board is not
authorized to hire anyone without the affirmative recommendation of the superintendent. That does not mean you have to vote yes. However, it means that you will consider all of the recommendations of the superintendent and that the decisions you arrive at are not arbitrary or capriccious in their
reasoning. You're required to support and protect school personnel in the proper performance of their duties. Again, you know, two hours ago, you could have stood on the outside of the soccer field or the lacrosse field if anybody's silly enough to be out there in this weather.
Um, and you want to make sure um that you know 15 minutes ago, an hour ago, you could have said the coach was not a good coach. Now that you're a board of education member, you're responsible to protect school personnel and the proper performance of their duties. Which means if you have a concern with the coach,
you would go to the coach if you had a child. However, if a parent, you can't just sit there and gab with the parents and complain, which before you became a board member, you could do with impunity, but you can no longer do. Okay? Referring all complaints to the chief
school administrative officer and act only after the failure of an administrative solution. Again, people will come to you. You can't solve their problems. What you can do is give them guidance. And after your administration has acted um then if
indeed it comes to the board and you have involved yourself way back when with someone on an issue you would have to recuse yourself and not participate. So, you want to make sure that if someone comes to you and there really is an issue that creates um concern for you
that you think is probably important, the best thing you can do is notify the board president and the superintendent and keep everyone in the loop and then you will have done your taken care of your responsibility. Um, so I'm not saying don't see say anything. What I'm
saying is make sure you're reporting it to the appropriate people and not involving yourself with those kinds of problems. Okay. Who can file an ethics complaint? Anyone. Anyone can file an ethics complaint. And with the live
streaming of all of our meetings now, um almost anyone could watch, see it, and then decide to file a complaint. So, just keep that in mind. Um it it's harder to hide these days. When I was on
a board of education, um we just used a um tape, cassette tape to record meetings, there was no I know it's a long it was dinosaurs roam the earth. Um the bottom line was there was no video. So, you know, someone would have to come
in and listen to a tape to be able to discern if there was had been something that was a miss. That's not the case any longer. Um and you just need to be aware of that. Um, anyone who wants to file a complaint has 180 days, which is the
length of a school year typically, um, to file a complaint. Um, and then they all just have to put what they believe the, uh, ethics complaint is about, what tenant A throughJ was violated, and then provide evidence or backup to that. And
of course, now we have live videotapes of evidence. And so that becomes another piece. And then you add social media and postings and that becomes another piece as well. So you just need to be aware and be conscious of that. Um the one
protection that board of education members have is that if someone is filing a frivolous complaint against you, they can be fined up to $500 by the SEC for someone having filed a frivolous complaint. We have not seen that
happen recently where someone was actually fined for a frivolous complaint. Um but that authority does rest with the school ethics commission and they could hypothetically find someone for filing against a frivolous complaint against you. And typically
that happens during the silly season which fortunately was over in November election season. Okay. What penalties can they issue if they are found to have violated it? A reprimand, which is exactly what it says. It's the same thing we say to our kids when they
misbehave. Don't do it again. You were an error. A censure, which is a more formal disapproval. Um, it does require um that you read the uh adjudication of the case aloud into the minutes at a
public board of education meeting and post it. Um, it's a little more significant. a suspension and again you know the SEC can identify the number of days for which you're suspended. Typically we have seen that with failure
to file financial disclosure statements in a timely way um and removal. They do have the ability to immediately terminate your membership on a board of education and we have seen them do that in particularly egregious situations but
again not recently. Um but however they do have that ability as well. Okay. We've also seen in certain instances where some board members have fallen back on an advice of council defense for
penalties where they claim um that um a council has given them um information that led them to believe they weren't violating the code when indeed it turns out they were. In order to claim a
defense of counsel, um, you have to meet certain criteria and that you have to be able to prove advice was given to you prior to the action that you took, that the individual who provided that advice replied
relied upon possessed authority or responsibility, i.e. was an attorney. Um, and any pertinent f facts and circumstances were fully disclosed to the attorney who provided you the advice, not just my side, but not the
other side. Sort of like kids in kindergarten. I didn't do anything wrong. It was the other guy. Um, and that the individual comp com um complied with the advice received. So again, all four of those factors have to be in place. So if you're thinking that at
some point there'll be a problem and you can rely on and say, "Well, an attorney told me to do it," you have to be able to really back that up significantly. But there have been so many instances that that has happened. Okay. Um there are a number of cases from 2025. I am
not going to go through each of these. Um the links in the PowerPoint um will allow you to read through all of them to be able to see if you're really interested in all of them. Um, I think some of them are a little more significant than others. Um, and again,
I'm not going to go through these case by case because you can read them, um, and see if they are of interest to you. However, um, again, a lot of them have to do with board members stepping outside of their roles and responsibilities, and that's where
people tend to end up with problems. Okay. Um, so again, you know, a board member read another board member's um text message in a public meeting. That's a problem. Um, because it was
confidential. Uh, again, I point out this case to you. Um, the second one here, and here's why. A 15-year board member. So, for those of you who are seated and saying, Gwen, I've listened to you talk about this the last decade.
I understand that. But length of service is no insurance that you can't end up with a problem, right? And this was a long- serving board member who was been in seated for 15 years and ended up um really with suspension. And part of the
reason for that suspension not only was because it was an egregious violation, which it was, it was personnel related, but because she was a 15-year board member. and the SEC said, "You should know better." Right? So again, um I
point out that case not to wag my finger at anybody um who served on the board for 15 years. Got to love people who are willing to do this work for as long as that. Um I think it's important work. I'm not saying it shouldn't go for longer than that. I still miss Bob. I
keep looking for him um because he's been a fixture here forever. Um but you need to be aware that these things continue to apply to all board members and they don't have a really good sense sometimes that if they look at how long
you've been on the board, they're going to take it more seriously than if you just been there for five minutes. Okay. Um the question always comes up about should I abstain on something or do I recuse? And so this has become a a little bit and different attorneys
interpret it differently and so you can depend on your council to let you know whether you can abstain or recuse but typically you can abstain if you don't have enough information or you um let's say for example it's minutes and you
weren't here at the board meeting you would abstain from approving the minutes. you weren't here, so you don't have the information that perhaps to feel comfortable, but you can abstain if you think the public might perceive you have a conflict and so you may not want to vote. An abstension should not be
used to not vote on a controversial issue. Um, that's not the purpose of an abstension. You were elected by your community and so there's an expectation that you will fully participate even on those topics that might be challenging or difficult to vote on. A recusal
should be used if you have a legal conflict where you are not permitted by the law to participate in voting. Um but again you know that is the difference between an abstension and a recusal. Just to be clear, um the ethics
commission said you has to be required to show in the minutes whether you abstained or whether you recused because the recusal would reflect that there is a law that prohibits you from voting as opposed to an abstension which is just simply choosing not to vote for whatever
reason you might have. Okay. >> Could I just expand on that? Yes. Do you mind? Okay. So uh and it does happen from time to time a couple times a year where a board member feels like uh they are in a in in a position where they
need to recuse themselves. A very easy process uh in particular uh if you discuss it with me or with Mr. Bory as your board secretary uh because we will memorialize in the minutes as an example that you left the room uh that you
weren't involved uh in a particular discussion or series of discussions over time. Uh the minutes will reflect not only uh were you not present for any discussions but you also weren't present for an actual vote. Uh so it's very
clear to the observer and to the reader of the minutes that you had no involvement in in any you anything regarding that topic. And I'll give you off of my experience. Um years ago um we
were um former district we were involved in instituting an energy savings improvement program. Uh we did have a board member who was connected to some of this work. there was a possibility that his company may be in the running
for some of this work. So, I'm I'm talking over a series of months. Uh there were recusals from discussions where votes didn't even take place. Um gentleman left the room at the end of the discussion, came back, the minutes reflected, left the room at 7-Eleven,
returned at 7:54. There was no coercion of the superintendent, the BA, the board. he was not present. He was not in the zip code. Uh so that's an important mechanism that you have as a board member to leverage your board secretary
to ensure that there's an appropriate documentation um not only in order to protect the board uh but also to protect um your individual actions as well. So if you feel like, hey, this may be something um
that I I may need to recuse from, just discuss it with us. We'll give you appropriate guidance. Uh we can refer uh as as necessary with the attorneys. Um you know, if it's um a bit more complicated, but um it's it's not a hard
process, but just let us know so we can kind of do our do our end for you, >> which is great advice. It it is a way of making sure everything stays above board and everyone is responsible. So um why are we talking about relationships?
Because it's relationships that create the conflicts um that you have to perhaps recuse in some instances and or um abstain from. So um here's how the SEC def defines immediate family members. Your spouse, I'm not going to
read all of this, your dependent child in the same household. Um and although relative does not appear in the prohibited acts or the code of ethics, um the SEC has expanded to include the broader definition of all of those relatives which show up in the nepotism
law rather than in the school ethics act as part of the relatives you need to be aware of. And we actually have a list thanks to the SEC finally um of all of the various kinds of relatives that you possibly can have. and some you probably
have never met um that could cause a perhaps a problem. Okay, so advisory opinions just just another word to put a a bow on this. Um any school official can ask for an advisory opinion. If you think there might be a conflict coming
down the road and you want some definition around that on a particular topic, um you must ask for it on a prospective basis before the issue comes to the table for a vote. So you have to ask ahead of time. Um and they will
review that request and get back to you in a timely way with their advice with an AO, an advisory opinion. Um, and again, it takes six members of the SEC to make an advisory opinion public, but if it's just your request, um, they will
get back to you in a timely way, and that way you will have an understanding of whether there's a potential conflict, which can help guide your behavior. So, it really is beneficial if you think there's something coming um, to ask for an advisory opinion. And it's not a
formal piece. It doesn't require your attorney. Anyone can ask for an AO. um and and they will get back to you on that. So, it's very helpful to know that. Um it is again an opinion um on a
proposed action. Um and again, you know, we have a little policeman here. This is one of my favorite pictures. Um because we have had board members who will say, "Well, I did it anyway. Just because there was an AO that said I shouldn't doesn't mean I can't." That's right.
Doesn't mean you can't. However, you know, if a policeman's option says, "Don't do this on the street," would you do it? And probably the answer is no. So just be mindful of the fact that while it doesn't carry the force of law
because it's advisory as opposed to an actual decision, um ignoring it is at your peril because in all likelihood if there is an AO and then there's a violation charged against you because you've ignored that AO, um
the penalty most likely would be more significant than if you had abided by the AO, which is why we have a little cop there, right? It's like just be mindful. It's carries the force. Um and we like to tell you that so that you know that ahead of time. Here are some
of the advisory opinions. Again, um all of those links um are live and you can go in um I Rich is going to share the PDF of this with you um so that you can go in and click the links live and read any of them. Um, I think the ones that
are the most interesting that came out and um in the dump that we got this past year are the ones having to do with conflicts for committees. So that's something that is a relatively new phenomenon. So, if you have a family
member employed in your district that creates a conflict, um you are going to be procluded from serving on committees that in any way touch the employment of the family member employed in your district. And so, you can find yourself
as a board of education member um with not being able to serve on virtually almost every committee on a board of education. Um and that's not a problem here. I understand that. But I have some boards where seven of nine members have conflicts. So that can be a problem.
Yes, that can be a problem for staffing um committees. And the and one of the AOS asked if they could invoke the doctrine of necessity, right? Which is if you don't have enough members eligible to participate, if you declare what those conflicts are publicly, then
everybody gets back in. whether you can invoke the doctrine of necessity to assign committees and the answer was no you can have a committee of two okay but so I think that's just interesting but I sort of like reading these things because over the years
things have evolved and changed and that's a relatively recent um occurrence where those committee assignments now um we had a board president who could not assign committees so the then the vice president had to do it and so trying to
staff committ committees with three board members on a nine-member board can become very challenging. So, um those are the ones I think that are the most interesting. But again, I'm not going to take your time to read through every single one of these and all of that.
Okay. So again, you know, the benefit, one of the ways that you can determine whether you need to abstain from a vote, and this often comes up around field trips, particularly where a board member will say, "Well, we're approving the trip for the you had such beautiful
children, all of you. Um it I can't vote on the fourth grade field trip." Well, if your child's not getting a benefit that is any greater than every other fourth grader going on the field trip, you can vote on the field trip. And that really is am I getting a
benefit that is greater than another child or any other person in the district would have by virtue of my participating in a vote. Okay. So that is really the simplest way to remember it. Um but again
you need to make sure you think about those things as you go through. So again, you can't um you should recuse yourself if you have a business interest or a professional activity that could create a prof per perhaps as the gentleman you were describing on HVAC
air whatever. Um any business interest could create that kind of thing. Um using your position to secure unwanted privileges, advantages or employment. Um, so you know, board members should not be delivering resumes to the superintendent of people who should be
hired. Um, that it would be I mean, you just can't do that kind of thing. It'd be using your position to secure a privilege for someone else, a friend or a neighbor, a family member. Um, again, you want to make sure that you're maintaining your independent judgment.
um not accepting any gifts or favors from vendors um with the intent to influence your vote um or not having any financial gain from the district. Okay. Um so making sure that you steer clear of all of those kinds of pieces. Okay.
Um but again that that sort of judgment is that you're not having a gain that is greater than any other person um any others. Okay. So I'm not going to go through all these conflict of benefit cases as well um just for sake of time.
Um if you have a district a relative already in the district um make sure that you don't participate in any kind of vote around that. Um you can't if you have a family member in the district you can't participate in the employment matters concerning the chief school administrator. You can't participate in
the search for that. Um setting terms and conditions of employment. Um and again you just need to make sure um that you avoid those potential conflicts. Okay. So again here is the impact on committee assignments when a relative
works in diff in district. The board president had a child and instructional assistant. So this board president um could not assign committees. Here's one where they had working in the tech department. So they couldn't serve on
personnel negotiations and finance committees or the tech if you have a separate tech committee. Few districts still do that but many do not. Um again if transportation specialist was a family member couldn't be involved in choosing a vendor for busing or assigning bus routes or anything to do
with employment of any um staff connected to the transportation department. Um, in terms of collective bargaining, um, negotiations, I'm not sure where you are in negotiations. If you have that coming up, um, oh, you don't Oh, that's really wonderful. Um,
it's exciting. Done. Um, but if you do, if you have a family member, um, who is a member of NJA or the same or the NJA or a similar statewide union including the AFL, CIO, we have some teamsters. um
that's considered the same type of association. Um then you would not be able to participate in negotiations. Um but you would be able to vote to ratify the contract ultimately as long as all of the cost has been assigned to that
contract and it's been published um the cost so that you know what that is. Okay. Um and again um if you know over the course of time as you're on the board if these things change you can always check with your superintendent
business administrator um if you know employment changes and things shift so that you know whether you can participate in what that level of employment is. Um in terms of campaigning and collective bargaining um if the union has endorsed you um it is
not no longer a per se conflict. Um, it was for many years an automatic. You're out of negotiations for one full year after you were elected. If the union endorsed you, whether you sought the endorsement or not, you were just out. They've decided that's no longer the
case unless um it was the endorsement and finances were given to you with the intent to influence. As if they're going to say that it was anyway, okay, we won't go down that road. Um but but nonetheless um it is no
longer the problem that it once was. Okay. Volunteering in schools. Most of the time the people who run for boards of education are active volunteers in their schools. Members of the PTO classroom parents volunteer for field day. Volunteer for
read across America. Pick something that you do in the districts. Just because you're a board of education member doesn't mean you can no longer volunteer in the school. However, it does depend on the amount of time that you are in the schools and the amount of
contact you have with students and staff. And so, you just need to be mindful that you're not taking or giving direction to staff and that you're not imshed in the building and spending so much time in the building that people who come in think you are on the staff.
All right? So, onetime um activities are perfectly okay. chaperoning a field trip, working at field day, volunteering in the at the snack shack at at the football stadium, all of those kinds of one-time events,
going to the National Honor Society. Any kind of public event is different. I'm not talking about public events in the district. You all should and can go to every public event that you can. Um, people love to see you and appreciate you being there and support. I'm talking about actually volunteering in the
school. So, you're not procluded from doing it, but you just need to be careful um about the amount of time that you spend there visiting a school. Um I know some of you may have students that haven't yet reached middle or high
school and you might want to go see those schools. Um perhaps you just want to go in and see them. I've never met a superintendent or a principal who wasn't happy to have a board of education member interested
enough to go in and visit the schools. However, you need to set that up through your superintendent so that you're not disrupting the educational process of the classrooms. Um because no member of a board of education should routinely be
visiting the schools on a regular basis other than obviously if you're a parent back to school night parent conferences running a school party in your child's class per all of those things are fine but you should not be routinely in
school buildings. You're not there to check things out to decide if the bathrooms need more cleaning there are lights out. there's a cracked tile. None of those are your responsibilities. So, you just need to be mindful of that. I would encourage you, especially during
National Education Week, um to go in and observe a classroom at the elementary, middle, and high school. It's always exciting to see what goes on. It also will remind you why you became a board of education member which sometimes we all need reminded about why we do this
because sometimes it can be difficult to remember depending upon what's going on in your district. So, I think that's always a wonderful thing, but just make sure you set those visits up through your superintendent or if there's the facilities committee is going in to look
at, you know, something as a committee with the business administrator or whoever is responsible for that committee, that's fine, too. But you should not be just randomly visiting the schools. Okay. Social media. And I'm going to be really brief because I know
your council is going to talk about social media. And here's my answer to social media. Just don't do it. Just don't do it. Board business belongs at the board table. It does not belong on Facebook,
Reddit, Twitter. I don't even know all of them. I've spent my life staying under the radar. I hope to go out staying under the radar um eventually. You think I'm kidding. I really don't. Um people will say to me, "Well, I saw it on Facebook." I'm like, "Okay, I
don't think anyone cares what I eat for dinner or where I go or what I do." That's fine. Okay. But social media, while it is beneficial for getting out positive information, can also be misused. And when it comes to boards of
education, the public has the right to observe your conduct of public business. And that should happen at the board table. It should not happen on social media. Okay. However, if you're going to ignore that advice, which most people do
routinely, unfortunately, um please make sure that you are very careful to indicate that you are speaking solely for yourself and that what you are saying is not in your official capacity and is
not reflective of the board. Keep in mind that even including a disclaimer is not a get out of jail free guys, it's not it doesn't mean you haven't violated the code of ethics because we have people say but Gwen I
had the disclaimer. I know but if you spent 20 minutes talking about board business using the royal we did this we did that. Someone's going to believe in spite of that disclaimer that you are discussing district business. And so you
just need to be very careful. Always air on the side of caution. Don't post. Pick up and have a phone call conversation with someone. It is far better. It is far more human. You can communicate more effectively. You
cannot hear tone in a posting. And if someone's already inclined to be upset, they may be more upset by the fact of the words you wrote even though they don't seem offensive to you. So again, um please just be really careful with
this. Um the SEC has spent more time in 2023 to 2025 on social media cases than they have spent on anything else. And so, you know, just keep in mind also texting from the board table can result
in someone filing an Oprah request for your phone records. Be mindful of your public's perception. You should not be texting at the board table or during a board meeting. People did live before cell phones.
Board of Education members actually served for a very long time without a cell phone. I understand, however, that you all have families. You can put it down on the board table, put it on vibrate, and don't pick it up again till the meeting's over. If something rings
and there's a family emergency, I understand you want to take care of it. You should go outside the meeting, take care of it, and come back. Okay? It really is a way to try to keep the respect and confidence of your
public because the public will suspect that you're talking to each other even if you're just writing a food list, right? Or shopping on Amazon. I don't be doing it during a board of education meeting. Okay? You're a child,
you are your child's first and best advocate. Um, when you're meeting with staff, just don't start the meeting by saying, "Hi, I'm here and I'm on the board of education, but I want to talk about Susie." Okay? Start with, "Hi, I'm here and I
want to talk about Susie." Don't bring your board of education hat with you to a conference with your child's teacher or to anyone that you talk to from the district. Okay? You should not absolutely use your campaign page now that your campaign is over and
you've been elected. There is actually a case around that and it will be viewed very negatively if you do that. Um so you can put that that page on hiatus until three years from now. Um and and then you can reactivate it, but don't
use it to communicate um with that. Okay. If you administer a social um media page for a group um you can find that some of the things that get posted on there may end up being detrimental to you as a board of education member. It's
not that they tell you you can't. You just need to be mindful. So I will go back to by original premise just don't go on social media except for the things you want. Communicate all you want with your friends, your neighbors, your families. Do whatever you like, but
don't use it for board business. It belongs here at the table, okay? Or at your committee meetings, right? So, here are all the resources that we have for you. We have a copy of the school ethics act. You already have the um signoff
sheet for uh your BA. I have copies of it for you, too, as well because I brought those with me. Um but you already have it, so I'm not going to have to give them to you. questions that you have for me. All right. Well, let me close. Yes,
Holly. >> Oh. I know. I know. Thank you. And let me just close by saying January is board member recognition month. So, thank you um on behalf of NJSBA, its officers and staff
for the work all of you do since it is board member appreciation month. I don't want to leave without saying that. and if there's anything that we can help you with. Um, I saw on your website because periodically since I do live in the community, I do look at your meetings and I saw you had a regionalization.
Well, I'm nosy. Um, no, I just interested. I saw you did a regionalization piece through Rowan. That's wonderful. Um, because I was just it was on NJ.com, the newspaper, not social media. Uh, again today. um and
and they're really going to start push I mean it's going to move forward this time I think in earnest and I think because of the financial conditions of the state and so forth and the uncertainty at the federal level with funding um that's become more iffy um I think
perhaps it will move forward more quickly although you're over 500 so you're a little safer than the 57% of the districts in the state that are under 500 people so Um, kudos to you for taking the initiative to do that. All
right. Happy New Year. Thank you. >> Happy New Year, Gwen. Thank you so much. Very good. Okay. And as Gwen mentioned, we're going Megan is going to do a separate that's going to be an executive, correct? No, that's public. So, we can do that now.
>> Okay. You're up. This is Dr. Paul. I'm sorry I didn't. And so I brought him with me tonight because he had not seen ethics presented. So he was >> Yeah, for sure. >> Good luck.
>> I'm sorry. I should have asked this one. Was my understanding that the was retiring. She spoke to us. No, >> no, she wasn't our rep. She had just come to do an individual presentation for us. >> Thank you. Yes, she was in another
district this evening. We were just splitting up and I said I would come here because I live in the community by >> have a good night. >> You have the presentation correct? Okay.
>> Oh, okay. Here we go. Good evening, everybody. Congratulations to the new board members. Uh, you're going to have a lot of fun. I'm a former board member myself. So, this is the um social media uh presentation by the Bush Law Group
and as Gwen said, just don't use social media, but I know we're going to. So, so social media is just like every, you know, we know what it is. Instagram, Facebook, X, which was Twitter, uh,
LinkedIn, Reddit, Snapchat. There's just a whole bunch of different things that, you know, people use nowadays, uh, for social media. And so I know that we all know that we are allowed to have we have free speech
but there is a position there it's kind of curtailed when it comes to being a board member. So your your ability to have free speech is protected but it can't infringe on another person's free
speech. Um, for the purposes of analyzing social media, the courts treat social media as a public forum. Um, it's often referred to as a digital town hall or public square, which is, you know, what most people use it as.
They use it to get the to get their messages for and wide, but it can also be very harmful if you use it incorrectly. So when you are a board member, you are an elected official of your community and your speech is subject to review before the SEC, which we know, we know
is the school's ethics commission. I used to think it was the security exchange commission until I started doing this. Um, so if a community member does feel that you violated the ethic, your ethics, then they can bring something up against you.
So, there's a few cases that we're going to talk about and I'm just going to give you the key takeaways as you have it in your packet. So, there's the Christopher T. Trust case and the key takeaway is you need to take care in sharing criticism even when you're endorsing a
candidate. So, the respondent in this case endorsed a critical oped piece. Um, and the respondent admitted that he was trying to sway voters, but the respondent had added a disclaimer to his uh post, but the disclaimer wasn't good
enough. His actions had the potential to compromise the board, and the disclaimer should have been unambiguous and clear that he wasn't speaking on behalf of the board. So, when you put something out on social media, the automatic thought is that you are representing the board and
that's why you just shouldn't do it. But if you're going to do it, make sure that the disclaimer and is clear enough to make everybody understand that you are not speaking on behalf of the board. But even then, if there is, like Gwen had said, if you spend 20 minutes doing one
thing and you spend a minute saying, "Oh, well, I'm disclaiming this, it might not be good enough." Um, and then there is donor tag. The key takeaway here is that you need to take care in sharing contact that could
impact the district. The respondent posted on social media, took issue with the union, COVID mandates, um, and gender identity curriculum. So, the ALJ initially had said that the respondent hadn't done anything wrong, but then it was taken up to the appellet
division. The appellet division determined that due to the unfair labor practice charge that was filed by the union anti-UN repost violated the statute. So please take care and when you're you know putting things up that
can be seen as anti-UN animous because you can be file you can be charged with something. The next case that we're going to speak about is Pinto v Cusado. The key takeaway here is take care while engaging in online topics in which you
could realistically have an influence. A board member commented on the district history books said that as a board member um but did say that as a board member did not he did not have the capacity to make changes to the books. Um but there could be a reasonable interpretation because he was a board
member. He could have influence on what books are a part of the district and that just looks bad. Then there is Adams Paul v. Dilks and this one um you need to take care and disavowing social
media posts made by staff members as non-representatives of um as non-representative viewpoints of the district. So the board member made comments regarding teachers behavior to a parent but it can be seen as taking
action as a capacity as a board member. So was a board member did the privately but still because because he was a board member it could be seen as board member commentary. So it depends what it looks like and the your scope of your duties.
So social media is a power tool powerful tool for communication but board members must use it with caution and professionalism. The First Amendment protects free speech, but board members online activity is subject to additional scrutiny and ethical standards. Disclaimers on social media posts are
important, but not always sufficient. Post referencing board members or positions can still be attributed to the board. Posts that compromise the board comments on prospective board business or are reasonably interpretated interpreted as board as official statements may violate the code of
ethics. school ethic of code of ethics or the school ethics act and result in penalty. Always consider the potential impact of your online activity on the district, the board, and the community. When in doubt, call the Bush Law Group and we'll help you out. But honestly,
when you're posting anything on social media, even me, I try to stay away from it as much as possible. I'm a looker. I don't usually post, but if I do post, I post on my story so it goes away in 24 hours. So I can always have plausible
deniability, but I always try to do things that are like, you know, if I'm traveling somewhere or if I'm doing something that is very innocuous and is far away from my job and my position because I think about the professionalism that I have on a day-to-day basis and I don't want people
to attribute anything back to me. So I try to stay away as much as possible. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> U Megan, before uh we let you off the hook. >> Yeah. Um, and and this isn't necessarily a question, but just a statement that
the way that the public perceives an individual's online commentary about any topic, whether it is connected to an initiative at the district level, whether it's connected to education in general at the
state level or federal level or what have you, >> um, is always something that we need to be mindful of when it comes to >> when it comes to our posting. Yes. >> Because at this point,
>> um each board member here is one of 10. Mhm. >> And um not only do they have to consider um how they are viewed and how their statements could be perceived in any way uh but they also have to think about how
the board as a body um is also perceived. And I think that's why your your analysis is so timely and so important for each individual on the board to understand and to practice and
to apply. also as the board. It is really important um to me that we kind of are always thinking, you know, about that end of it. >> Yeah. No, definitely make sure you're always thinking about it. Before you post, always think about who can see what and kind of how it's going to be
perceived, right? So, like um Dr. Bolo said, you are a body of 10. So, one person's opinion kind of has a bigger impact than just you yourself. It has an impact on your family. It has an impact on everybody around you. It has an impact on the administrators. So,
anything that you say really people can cl um latch on to it and feel as if you're presenting something for a body of individuals that you don't intend to. So, it's better to just stay away from it so that nobody can make that perception. Does anybody have any
questions? that we say special interest group. So for me that like kind of a guiding light, right? Because we're here and it doesn't matter what political group
you're part of as when we sit here as board members, we are independent of that partisan. And so just for me like I've kind of over the years that has to be my even >> so for instance I've been an attorney
for the last 10 years and I sat on a board for maybe about 20 months or something like that and I would never I never allowed anybody to use ESQ on anything when I was working when I was on the board because I didn't want anybody to attach that to any thing that
I said or any advice that we when we were having committee meetings or when we were in executive sessions. And I currently sit on the zoning board in my town and I make sure that I'm just Megan Odella. I am not Megan Odella Esquire. I do not want my professionalism to my
professional um job to get in the way of what I do privately and personally for that purpose because I don't want anything to be attached to the other members of my boards. >> I did just in that same vein I just want you know based on what uh Dr. Rochel and
Santoro have said, I just want to we can never tell you you can't do something. You have your first amendment rights as as any board members. We can't or you know uh administrators, we can't tell you to do that. However, um I just think it's really important to to remember
that especially in the last 5 years, we have seen a huge overlap of how social issues and issues at large have found their way into boardrooms and have made their way to our podium and how um
perception is so much bigger than whether you're violating an ethics or not. Anyone can file like we like when said anyone can file an ethics charge. >> Doesn't have to be accurate. Anybody can file an ethics charge. Um that is a cost
to the district. It is a you know it is a headache. But beyond that is even it's just the perception and the chaos that it can cause. So it it's not exclusive to whether it violates the code of ethics, but what could it mean >> for >> in the dayto-day?
>> Exactly. So, I just want, you know, we absolutely can't tell anyone what to do, but just in terms of what it means. >> So, we're not telling you to not do something where it's a should and should not, right? Like, you can go and you can speed down the street. Well, you're if
you get caught, then you're in trouble. We We're not saying don't do something. We're not saying you can't do something like we're not puffing your hands, but we are cautioning you. Please, please, please really think about it and really think about the effects that it can have on those around you. That is the most
important thing and I think that as a former board member myself. What happens here with these people are should be curtailed to this setting and this forum and it should not leave these doors and it should just be you all having the
discussion and trying to make it out safely without getting harmed by the community. >> Okay. >> I have a followup. I found it interesting that uh podcasting is falling under the social media umbrella
and I think you know that is certainly uh an a space in media that is uh growing and expanding um infinitely. >> Yes. >> And um so I I I think I just wanted to share I thought that was >> Yeah. No, I think that when you're thinking of social media, you're we're
thinking we need to think of things that are kind of instantaneous, right? So when a film comes out, you have to go, you have to do the production, you have to get all these cast of characters together. But a podcast, anybody can pick up a microphone and start talking. I can start a podcast tonight and that
can go out within, you know, an hour of me finish filming it, uh, recording it, and then it becomes a tool for social media. It becomes a tool to kind of change how people think and how to to it becomes a tool to influence others. And
that's what we want to think of it as a place where you can influence other people. You don't post things because well not everybody but a lot of people post things because they want to influence somebody. They want to bring their their knowledge and put give it to somebody else. So now you've influenced
another person. And if you do it quickly just think of it as social media and when in doubt call our number. >> Okay. Thank you >> so much. >> Thank you, Megan. Okay.
Okay. So, then we'll just move into Okay. Um Okay. So for public comment um anytime we have a um public meeting there is a public comment session. So while it is unlikely that we are going
to be hearing any this evening procedurally I am going to address that public comments are welcome at this time on any topic please state your name and address. Comments are limited to three minutes. At three minutes you'll be interrupted and asked to pause to allow any other members of the public who would like to speak an opportunity to do so. An individual may return to the
podium to complete their statement after everyone else has had an opportunity to speak for a total of two times at the podium. Please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board. In instances where the board feels there is a misunderstanding or inaccuracy. The
board president or superintendent may address the comment. In accordance with New Jersey statute, the board will not discuss matters regarding specific personnel. A reminder for all parties in attendance to remain respectful and that there should be no interaction between the speaker and the audience. No members of the audience should interfere with the interrupted speaker's comments and
we thank you in advance for your input. Seeing as that no one is here, I am going to ask if we can have a motion to close public comment and a second. Miss Hunt. Thank you. Okay. Um then at this time we are going to move into executive
session. The Open Public Meetings Act authorizes a public body to exclude the public from that portion of a meeting at which specified topics are to be discussed under circumstances where the public consideration of such topics will clearly endanger the public or where the personal, privacy or guaranteed rights of individuals whose activities or
affairs are to be discussed would be clearly in danger of unwarranted invasions and the matters about to be presented for discussion clearly meet the circumstances test of such act. The board of education of Somerset Hills now adjourns its public session to reconvene
an executive session for the purpose of discussing the following. Attorney client privilege and potential litigation. Yet further resolved that the discussion in executive be disclosed when the board's consideration of the subject matter has been closed or that such matter does not adversely affect the rights of prospective current or
past public officers or personnel of the board unless such individuals have in writing requested the disclosures of such discussion at a public meeting and provided such public disclosure will no longer clearly endanger the public interest and I please ask for a motion to go into executive session. Miss
Cooper and Miss Labber second. Thank you. We are back from executive session. Um, and all that remains now is I need a motion to adjourn our most senior member of the board. >> We need a motion to adjourn. >> And all in favor?
Okay. Good night.