001All right, good evening everybody and welcome to our first policy meeting of 2026. We have a pretty much brand new policy group here. Um, so I am going to be taking over for Miss Alvarez as chair of policy. Um, thank you for all of the work that she had done on policy over the last year and a half, maybe two years or so. Um, and then we have Miss Force here and Mr. Marazine, our newest board members who are both on policy with me um as well of course as our president Mr. Payne um who gets the joy of coming to all the meetings [laughter] of all. >> So um we are just going to sort of dive in. Um we have a lighter agenda today which is sort of normal after our reorg meeting.
002Um but the first thing we're going to discuss is sort of just like an introduction to the policy manual. Um, I know that when I started there were certain things that I didn't really know as much about and you know, part of it learning as you go, but I thought because a majority of our committee is relatively new to the board, um, I figured it might make sense just to sort of explain what our policy manual looks like and how to find certain things. Um, and so, um, the first thing is our policy manual is all digital. I I think we're like if somebody requested it, they're able to get a paper copy, but it's not updated often and it's really hard to manage. So, ideally, the best way is to keep it digital. Um,
003and then so if you go on to like the Monroe School District website, um, and you go under board of education, you'll see a link that's district policies and regulations. Um, and then right there you have another link that says district policies, regulations, and underneath that is the administrative organizational chart. Um, which is sort of part of one of our policies. Um, so then for our purposes as policy committee, you would click on the district policies, regulations, and on there you'll see um our Strauss SMA homepage. Strauss SMA is the company that sort of houses all of our policy documents. They're the ones who will tell us if there are updates to be made. Um, or if there are new laws that come out. Um, and so there are two sections here, uh, policies and
004then regulations. One thing that I only found out like maybe last year, um, is by clicking on the little home icon, um, you can see all the different sections of the manual. Um, so it shows you at the top um, which like it's almost like a table of contents, right? So the ones that are four zeros are bylaws. Um, and I feel like Dr. Leman usually does a really good job of explaining bylaws, but they're sort of the policies that the board is is governs the board. Um, I don't know if you want to >> No, that's exactly the bylaws are the basically the operations in which the board occurs, right? So everything from the election of the the board president through um you know student representatives of the board of education they all have
005a different place uh for self evaluations uh the board orientation bylaws in here. So just kind of it's your governance amongst yourselves, right? >> Yeah. So those are a lot of the ones that we really have more of control over. By definition, the board of ed is a policymaking group. However, a lot of the policies from like 10,00 are really whether it's recommendations coming from the state or from our administration. Um whereas the ones that are in that 0000 category, you know, we still might get a recommendation, but those are really more the ones that are, you know, discussed and decided by us if we feel change is needed. >> Can you explain the difference between the policies and the regulations? Um, sure. Only slap your name. >> You go for it. I'll >> I'll
006try. So, essentially, um, the policy I feel like is almost like the definition of what has to be followed and then the regulation is kind of how we follow it. Um, >> no, that's exactly what it is. So, the policy >> feel like I'm on a test here. [laughter] the policy is really closely aligned to and addresses specifically the laws uh statutes um and the broad strokes of something that needs to occur or uh again policies guidance and then uh the regulation is how the district implements that where the rubber meets the road. >> Right. Um and so whenever a policy comes up to be um discussed or or changed or really any action, we'll have two reads on that. Um so we start in our committee um and we'll review that and we're actually
007going to be doing that with one of our policies tonight. Um and then it goes to the board and the board that's called a first rate. So the board um can obviously approve it or they can vote to table it if there's a reason for that or you know suggest that it comes back to the committee. There have been times where we've approved the first read but still suggested that it might be helpful to make a small adjustment in the committee before we go back for then a second read which would be done the following month. Um and then we usually don't discuss the second reads at our committee meeting unless there is a reason why. So if there is something that has to get discussed, we can do it. Otherwise, it's usually just confirming
008that the decision we made the last month is the way we want to go before it's, you know, adopted and put into action. Um, are there any other questions about policies and stuff like that? >> All right, sounds good. >> So just in terms of how how this kind of moves through. So um very often uh the driving force behind some of the policy changes uh originates from policy alerts >> and the policy alerts so stress is a group of lawyers. It's a firm of lawyers that uh engage in the updated legislation. Um they use the DOE guidance and they merge it into the policy so it's aligned. It's one of the most common uh firms used in the state of New Jersey. Uh school boards I believe has a policy uh website and structure
009as well. They're looking to build that out. Um but the majority of districts use SHMA. >> So um I would say it's not a regular piece, but maybe quarterly at least. Um we get a policy alert and that's basically a a list of policies that are to be uh taken a look at by board of education. And again like I said the majority of them are if some legislation changes and very often times it's numbers are slightly changed or they change >> speaker from teachers or um you know a lot of the changes often are uh related to something like that. Then uh stress estimate goes through makes all the changes and provides an update updated copy that has all the strikeouts and and things so we can take a look and and review that.
010um we take a look as a board and say what you know most of the time when it comes something like that there's no adjustments or changes that we need to make. Um and then uh >> how does that get here exactly? >> Yeah. Is that an email? >> Yes. So the the district gets notified and then uh the chair of the policy committee will get notified. We will and sometimes they're they're large updates, sometimes they're short. So we will chunk it um and over a series of meetings move through and and uh adopt any changes in policies and regulations and again oftentimes a policy change and a regulation change our hand in the ass. So usually and like I plan to continue as um Miss Alber would get the alert and then she would
011forward it to the committee so that way we were aware. Um and then Miss Linsky um who is one of our uh business office administration secretaries. I was trying administrative >> assistant. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> She will um also make sure that it's put into our executive content for our board agendas for our committee agendas. Um so that way if you happen to miss the email, it will also be there so that way you have it for the night of our meeting. Um, and I do feel like usually the administration will prioritize which ones might be more urgent. Um, you know, or making sure that we're not covering too much in one meeting because some of them, you know, as Dr. Leman said, might just be like simple changing, you know, charter to charter school
012like it's it's really not much. Whereas others might be a little bit more of a discussion where we might have a couple of different options and then, you know, the administration will usually recommend something to us. Um and then we discuss as a committee if we feel like that's the way we want to move forward or if we have any concerns about that. >> Would the superintendent recommend that or or we would just recommend that to the board? So what I typically do is I take a look at what the original policy was, what the say there are options checked, what the options were checked at that time, merge it into what we assessment automatically take our selections, right? It leaves them blank, right? So then we would merge our selections over there and uh
013again very often they're appropriate to be carried through. Sometimes the policy may be substantially changed enough that those options or selections or choices aren't relevant anymore and then it would necessitate a discussion whether it's sometimes the building principal level sometimes it's uh you know other discussions and I would come and give some feedback to what it could potentially be >> y >> um >> and actually a lot of times and this this this week's policy is an example um our board attorney will guide us in a selection because this is a legal bill heavy policy that has one choice and the choice is really dependent on uh what our legal guidance says. So, >> yeah. And then that's that's usually driving force. I'd imagine we'll get a pretty big policy alert in the not too
014distant future just because of all the legislation and bills that were passed in the last few weeks. Um some of which were education driven. Um, but to know how many of those will affect the policies we have, I'm not totally sure. Um and then you know the other only other thing I could think of is there are times where you know one of our building administrators might feel that there needs to be a change made or there might be you know discussions with you know all of the administrators like I the best example I can think of and I don't think I was on policy committee but I was on the board was the graduation requirement >> which wasn't necessarily a policy alert change however it was done sort of to allow students to have
015more flexible options um that were still following the laws, right? So, that was sort of the policy part of it, but then we changed the regulations so that students didn't have to take certain requirements that they used to, which would allow them to take other classes that they might be more interested in. Um, yeah. >> So, you want to get into the first Yeah. >> policy? >> Let's do it. >> All right. So this month uh there are two regulations and new policies that are uh being abolished and they're being replaced by one policy and one regulation and they're on uh sexual harassment. So uh the change and again this is a legal one has been driven by change in uh rules, laws, guidance. Um they're grounded in basically two areas, title seven and title
016uh nine. Um and anything sexual harassment related um we always consult our board of attorney. So this outlines processes to follow because there um there's a federal piece that has to be tightly like a timeline that's basically guided by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and um the educational amendments of of 1972. So these are no flexibility, no theorying because they, you know, they're grounded in basically civil rights. So um any of the changes that were made in those areas have now been streamlined into one policy from two. It used to be a title seven policy. They merged it in with the with the updated title 9 stuff. There is one selection um and it's in the regulation. So it's 22page regulation on page 13. Um it asks for um basically someone who's making investigating
017and making decision um to reach this determination the decision maker will apply either the prepoundonderance of evidence standard or the clear and convincing evidence standard. So um I engage the board attorney to ask us and you know get his guidance as to which one of those standards would be most appropriate. Um, I suspect it'll be the first one, but um, he's just going to confirm with us. That'll be checked off. And then in the final version, that that section, just so you guys know logistically, the select option below gets erased and that's all merged into basically one cohesive paragraph. Um, but they separate that so we can kind of identify where the choices go. And again, when anything comes to sexual harassment, this process may um they don't do this very often, but they explicitly
018say they recommend that the district consult with their board attorney upon receipt of a sexual harassment claim. So, that's what we typically do anyways. But with the complexities and the details and the timelines involved in an investigation surrounding sexual harassment, um that's our first stop um with the severity of this kind of a project. So um so so the recommendation here would be you adopt the policy as written. There's no choices. The recommendation with um I would I suspect it'll be that first one who's just waiting to hear back from does that mean that there is there is evidence that something could have happened as opposed to >> that's why I'm having him determine which standard would be the most appropriate because you have to choose one, >> right? I just wasn't sure what that
019first one meant but >> and again that's on the legal side of things and that's most likely >> when we engage in something like this the board attorney andor not the board attorney but their that firm would be leading this investigation which makes this a natural secondhand piece of what they do. >> Um [clears throat] and then the other piece that goes along with this is those four policy the two policies and two regulations that used to cover this information are going to be abolished. So my recommendation would be to move forward with the abolishment of those four. So this the adoption of these two, the abolishment of those four. So we are in compliance. Again, we're required to have a policy that covers this topic um with these timelines and things like that. >>
020Also, just one quick thing that you I just remembered um they'll give us different codes next to policies when we get policy alerts. So for this one, it says mandated, right? So we we like Dr. sort of say we don't have a choice. Um then they might say something is recommended or something is suggested. So in that case doesn't mean we have to do it. Um usually it makes sense for us to do it. You know there are some that may not be applicable to our district but um and then the other thing would be sort of what he said would be the abolishment which means that there's no purpose to having that policy any longer. Um and it'll usually have that code next to it on the policy alert. So, I guess we'll have
021that for next on the first read for the next week's board. >> Yep. >> This was a pretty easy one to start with since there's really not much to talk about, but are there any questions? >> Yep. >> All right. I say I just wanted to start you guys off easy, but it really I had no say in the matter. Um just really quick the other thing that I had wanted to go over um which is our goal for this committee for the year um we had initially done a policy review through New Jersey school boards and this is something that they had offered to us uh free of charge um as part of our membership with them. Um and you know the issue that we sort of began seeing with that is they're not
022the ones who govern our policy manuals. So, a lot of the things that they were seeing that we might not have was just the numbers weren't the same. Um, you know, and so when we had started doing that project, you know, I know like it was a lot of additional work, you know, for Dr. Layman and for Miss Linsky to sort of match up and see which one was correct and um, you know, what we were actually missing. And so then when we were down in Atlantic City for the schoolboard workshop, um I actually had the opportunity to speak to a rep from stress Esme and I sort of explained that to her and said, you know, and this wasn't the first time she had heard this and so they offered to do a review
023for us at no cost. Um they did offer to update it completely for us for an additional cost, but they did send us um a summary of the policies that either need to be updated or policies that they were saying we do not have that are missing. Like there are some that on their summary it goes back all the way to 2003. >> Um now that doesn't necessarily mean that we're missing it. It might be part of a different policy or things like that. But this is something that for the rest of this year, you know, we had had a schedule like this, we might have to revise. >> I totally revise it based on this. So, we'll pump it out. I I'll dig into it and say I'll look and see. We'll probably address
024the most urgent ones first and then we can kind of go back and go section by section. You know, start with the bylaws and then the 1000s, 2,000, 30,000 and just kind of start chipping away at it. >> And when you say policies missing, what does that mean exactly? So, so in theory it could be updated in our catalog, but when they, you know, they went into our website, it was a different number and it's there. It could just not be present. Um, some, like I said, some of them have been optimal policies. So, at some point, you know, the board, you know, historically maybe didn't choose to adopt it, so they're just saying it's missing and we can take a look and see is it relevant to us to even have. >> Yeah. I
025would definitely say the ones that are like definitely important that that you feel are are most important, we should probably get on that, >> right? Definitely. >> Right. So, you know, and then I think after looking at the ones that are missing, there was one that I was just speaking about that was like jury duty that it says it was adopted in 2003. >> It might be there. It might be under something like that's >> incorporated into another policy, >> right? So, we have to look at that and if not, then we'll have to put that policy there. um you know particularly if it's mandated and then if it's recommended then it would be more of a discussion um and then you know some of them are as simple as just updating a title on
026the policy like I don't even know I guess we would still have to >> adopt it but you know it's really not a question on that list I went over that list that you sent what the they said add an M what does the M add >> I'm guessing that's um for mandated >> I mean that's usually what the M is yeah so >> when it says because some of them I looked down the listing because the headings were over and off of the columns. Yeah. So, I just kind of like visually moved them over and then I said it says add an M. Add an M. So, okay. I kind of thought that, but I wanted to make sure it was meaning. >> I think when they do these searches now, they're using either
027AI as a tool to match things and look for discrepancies or they, you know, no one's going through our policy manual and like going through. So that's why when you and I are going to go through, we literally go and if there's >> like a PDF where you can do a search like you could search for like words or things like that. >> So there's a search function on the web when you first log into and that's broad and it's one there's one for in the policy section and one in the regulation section >> and then each policy is a PDF. So if we were to pull up a policy and they said, you know, add this word or look for this, we can do an internal, you know, PDF search within that one, >>
028right? So I like I don't know what you can see in my screen, but like you I don't think you can search policies and regulations together, but if you wanted to look for a policy that was about attendance, >> right? You can just put attendance in here and it'll show you all the policies where attendance is um I don't know if it's in the actual title or if it's anywhere in the everywhere. everywhere the manual. Yeah, that's a problem with that word. It's easier. It still narrows it down. >> Yeah, you don't have to start with. So, we'll we'll dig into this and like like I said, we'll identify the most urgent ones and we'll start working through those and then uh we'll start getting to some, you know, we'll finish with the ones that
029are, you know, recommended, updated, or you know, revisit because it's been since 2003. >> Sim Carmen, you guys were taking like a bulk of them. >> Yeah, we have the schedule based on the old one. on the old ones I >> now that we have this now you have >> right and like I mean this company knows how much I usually like to use my computer and not print things out but that's actually what you had said was why I printed this out because if you print out the PDF it comes out with the right formatting but when I had opened it up on my computer >> it was all over the place so >> that would be my recommendation just utilize the PDF form that they had sent if you're going to look at
030this >> yeah that was a nice read >> um So I think that is everything >> questions comments concerns. >> All right, that is all. Have a good day everybody.