001but very well supervised play as a way to foster creative thinking, collaboration, and growth. February 6th was National School Wear Red Day, and Lincoln School helped support the cause sponsored by the American Heart Association to raise awareness to the importance of CPR and care and emergency situations. LEAD is set to begin with our fifth grade Wildcats in the coming weeks in partnership with the ERPD. Here's our Lincoln look ahead. Um, we have President's Day recess on February 16th and 17th. Our parents parent teacher conferences are on the 26th. Um, the fourth grade field trip to Ellis Island is on April 9th. The anticipated start of NJSLA testing is on May 5th. And the annual spring showcase is on May 28th. This is the monthly report for fast school. Eighth graders have been busy taking the
002honors placement exam for Beckton Regional High School. Students have taken exams for math, English, biology, world language, and history. CAT reward day was celebrated on February 13th. We are so proud of all the students who achieved CADs for marking period 2. Thank you to Mrs. Benavvento and Mrs. Okconor for coordinating this program. The student council community service committee visited the YMCA this month to engage in activities with the preschool students. They had a great time socializing with the young learners, doing arts and crafts, and playing games. Thank you to Miss Muse and Mr. Kivo for planning this trip. All FA school educators and students celebrated Black History Month and President's Day. Congratulations to our spelling be winner Dexter Corino and runnerup Adriana Andreo. Thank you to Miss Beayu and her ELA colleagues Mr. Tanal, Miss
003Petraeus, and Mr. Kivido for putting together this annual spelling bee. Thank you. We will also once again uh be visiting our lower elementary school, McKenzie School. I'll be in collaboration with Mr. Barrow. I'll bring our honor society students down for ReadAcross America month. So, we'll in communication with that as well. And that concludes our February report and we'll be back next month with more highlights. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Tel. Great job as always. We're open to the public. Opening public comments on any agenda or non-aggenda items. State your name, address for the record. Address the board. President Thomas Banka. Each person wishing to speak will have five minutes each. Anyone wishing to speak will be given the opportunity opportunity to do so. Hello. Uh Kevin Lion, uh 77 Clinton Place. I'm here speaking
004on behalf of the East Rutherford PTA. Uh I've missed the January meeting, so I will have a couple updates from December and early January as well. Uh our membership holds fast at 228 members. That's a 19% increase from last year. uh fundraising programs. BNL photographers did remit the funds for the uh photo picture days that we had last fall. Uh $3,000 is what PTA earned based on all the pictures that were bought. So, thank you for that. Uh dates have also been already proposed for our fall 2026 picture day and retake day and those were sent to the administrators to check against the calendar. Uh the big box of cards fundraiser has ended. The product should be received early in March. Unfortunately, due to running it right after the holidays, it didn't do as well
005as we thought it would. Uh even the company expressed some disappointment in the numbers, but it was what it was. Uh we did launch the spring Gertude Hawk candy sale. Uh that's ongoing through Monday, the February 23rd. Uh candy sale pickup will be at FA School APR. Thank you, Mrs. Bali, for letting us use that space again the week of March 23rd. Uh this primarily will benefit our eighth grade committee for the endofear eighth grade activities around graduation. Uh our St. Patrick's Day coin challenge will be held at McKenzie School. Thank you to Mr. Barrow for helping us host that. That'll be from March 2nd to March 13th. Each classroom will have a pot of gold to fill for the leprechaun. And the classroom with the most money raised will be awarded a prize on
006March 17th. Um our eighth grade hosted a dine and donate event back on February 4th. They sold Valentine grams at Lincoln and FA schools for uh Valentine's Day which included lollipops and pens. Uh they also have a double good uh popcorn fundraiser going on right now. And there were a couple other things. I don't know if Mrs. Green is here, but there were a couple other things that they have going on as well. Uh fundraiser wise, our Tricky Tray, which is our largest event of the year. Uh we are currently soliciting donations from local businesses. The event is planned for May 15th at the community center on Breland Avenue and tickets will go on sale I believe in March, right? Uh several other events that happened. We hosted the hot chocolate social at Lincoln School.
007Thank you to Mr. Valardi and his team uh for that. Uh that was on December 23rd in advance of the uh holiday recess. Our fourth and fifth graders enjoyed hot chocolate, apple cider, and water that was provided by the PTA. The FA Band and Choir came over to help entertain us and also enjoy some hot chocolate. And that annual event has become a a great way to kick off the holiday recess for our Lincoln school students. Uh PTA is hosting the kids night out and kids day out on March 20th and 21st. Our Lincoln school students will participate on Friday evening, March 20th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. McKenzie School prek and kindergarten will meet Saturday morning 11 to 12:30 the March 21st. and the McKenzie school first through third graders will have an afternoon
008session on March 21st between 3 and 5 pm. Uh it's a free event. PTA is providing refreshments, dancing, games, all kinds of fun. Uh we do ask that a parent or responsible adult be present at the event for each child that is there. Uh this is not a drop off event. Uh we are going to host lunch for our staff for the parent teacher conferences February 26th and the teacher professional development day March 5th. Um, we do that each time they have the half day where we know the teachers are going to be here for a long day. We like to provide them some food so that they can enjoy their day and not worry about running out for lunch in the middle of a busy day. Um, East Rutherford is hope East Rutherford Town
009is hosting a no camping campout on Friday uh, February 27th. Uh, PTA was the recipient of a grant from National PTA for smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Uh we believe that would be a fun uh place to distribute those to families. So we're hoping to have them in this coming week so that we can distribute them next Friday at the camping event. And we're working with the art teachers in the coming month because each year we do a field day t-shirt design contest. We ask the students to design what will go on the front of their t-shirt for each school. Uh the designs will be created in March and selections will be made in April and then one winner from each school will have that their design. We had two actually last year from
010McKenzie, but one or two will be picked to have their design printed on the front of the t-shirts and those shirts will be distributed to all students and staff at PTA expense. And the winners of that contest also receive a gift card to cake and cone. Um, you'll also see on the agenda tonight a couple of space requests for the eighth grade committee. They are hosting a basketball game and a cornhole competition uh over the next month as well. So, we look forward to those events as well. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Close the meeting to the public. Okay. No correspondence. The adoption of prior uh board meeting minutes. Upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent, the board hereby approves the following meeting minutes. February 19th, 2026 public session meeting
011agenda. >> These all in here also. These all in here also the January. >> Yeah, I should read those also right now. January 8th, 2026 reorg session meeting minutes. January 8th, 2026 reorg session executive meeting minutes. January 22nd, 2026 public session meeting minutes. January 22nd, 2026 public session executive meeting minutes. Roll call. >> So move second. All right. Miss Caruso. >> Yes. M >> yes. >> Mr. Sealini. >> Yes. >> Shamley. >> Yes. >> M. Laruso. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Banka. >> Yes. Upon the recommendation of interimm superintendent, the board hereby approves motions S1 through S6. S1, approval of fire emergency drill report. S2, approval enrollment report. S3, approval of harassment, intimidation, and bullying monthly report. S4, resolution affirming the interim superintendent's decision related to an alleged harassment, intimidation, and bullying incident in incident.
012S5 resolution affirming the interim superintendent's decision related to an alleged harassment in intimidation and bullying incident December 16th S6 resolution affirming the interim superintendent's decision relating to alleged harassment intim intimidation and bullying incident December 20th 2025 >> second >> roll call >> Miss Caruso Yes, >> Miss Qually. >> Yes, >> Mr. Laruso. >> Yes, >> Mr. Sealini. >> Yes, >> Miss Shamley. >> Yes, >> and Mr. Banker. >> Yes. Committee reports. Curriculum committee. Miss Shemley, please. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Upon the recommendation of the interimm superintendent, the board hereby approves motion C1 and C2. C1, approval of student field trip and transportation request for the 2025 2026 school year. And C2, approval of student IEP mandated transportation requests for the 2025 2026 school year. So moved. Second call. >> Miss Caruso. >> Yes. >>
013Miss Collie. >> Yes. >> Miss Laruso. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sealini. >> Yes. Miss Shmley. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Banker. >> Yes. >> And that concludes my report. >> Thank you, Miss Shley. Uh, personnel committee, Miss Caruso, please. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the board hereby approves P1, approval of the Kelly Education Substitute List, P2 personnel actions, and P3 approval of travel expenditures. Second. >> Roll call. Questions? Any? Sorry. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Caruso? >> Yes. >> Miss Collie? >> Yes. >> Miss Laruso? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sigalini? >> Yes. >> Miss Shmley? >> Yes. >> Mr. Banker? >> Yes. And now it's with great pleasure that upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the interim superintendent of schools, we hereby I hereby uh motion to approve P4
014resolution appointing Mr. Brian Barrow as superintendent of school and authorizing and approving a contract of employment between the East Rutherford Board of Education and Mr. Brian Barrow. Second >> roll call. >> Miss Caruso. >> Yes. >> Miss Collie. >> I'm going to recuse myself because I wasn't able to participate in the process. >> Okay. Miss Laruso. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sealini. >> Yes. >> Miss Shmley. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Banker. >> Yes. >> Congratulations, Mr. Barl. Not as bad as it seems up here. Trust me, >> you're going to have to teach him how to use the technology though. >> Lucky we got it going. >> Just have a little comment from the board. Um on my on behalf of the East Rutherford Board of Education, it is my honor to officially welcome Mr.
015Brian Barrow as our next superintendent of schools effective July 1st, 2026. After an extensive search and interview process, it became clear that the right leader of our district was already here. Mr. Barrow has demonstrated dedication, integrity, and a deep commitment to our students, staff, and community. His leadership as principal has earned the respect of colleagues and families alike, and we are confident he will continue to build on next success in his new role. This three-year appointment reflects a strong belief in his vision and our confidence in the future of East Rutherford School District. Brian, we congratulate you and your family. We thank you for your continued service, and we look forward to working together to provide the very best to our students. Welcome, Superintendent Brower. Wow. Uh, thank you everyone. Um, as my father already
016told me to make it quick, so I'm just gonna So, uh, good evening. I'd like to sincerely thank uh both our past and present board of education members uh for your continued leadership and support for the East Rutherford School District. So, thank you. Thank you to the entire township mayor and council, past mayor and councils as well and East Rutherford and all the departments that help make our school district and towns a clean, safe and wonderful place to be. So, thank you. I'm equally grateful to both for our past and present administration, faculty, and all the wonderful staff that are here or not here for your unwavering dedication to our students and our community. It is a privilege to work alongside such committed professionals who strive every day to make a huge and meaningful difference.
017I'm appreciative of all of our past and present PTA members and boards and parents and most importantly our students for helping making our schools just an amazing place to be. I would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to my family, my mentors, my colleagues, my friends for their constant encouragement throughout the years, especially grandparents, parents, and siblings whose support has shaped me who I am today. Most importantly, last but not least, I'd like to thank my beautiful wife, Shannon, and our amazing five boys for your love, patience, and belief in me. You are my why. I truly are excited about the opportunities and challenges ahead and look forward to continuing to build and grow and achieve together for the benefit of the students and the community. Thank you. Mr. President. Oh, can I
018just can I just speak a second? Sure. Um, Mr. Barrow 15 years ago, I guess it was around 15 years ago, I sat on this board, but we were in the FA school library at the time. 15 years later, we've come a long way. Uh, I had the privilege of appointing you as principal back then and 15 years later, I get to appoint you as superintendent of schools. So, it's an honor for me. Just one thing to add. Um, community should be very comfortable with this appointment because Mr. Barrow has forgotten more about East Rutherford than I know. Um, he really um knows the fiber of the community. He's been here a long time and um, you know, I think he's going to be fine. He's going to work right in and it's nice to
019see a familiar face here. Um, we're going to give him the best boot camp from now until June 30th. So, when he takes over July 1, we want to just hand him the keys to a welloiled machine ready to go for September. So, whatever you need and congratulations, best of luck, and I'm always a phone call away. >> Should we suspend business from a moment? And do you want to take any pictures with your family or anything or >> Sure. Well, um before that um we could also open up to the public if anybody wants to make a comment again um post the appointment. Okay. Okay. Let's uh suspend business for a few minutes and we'll get back to it. >> Oh my god. and all that. >> I'm so sorry. >> I asked my
020brother-in-law, did you say? >> Oh, I know right about that time. Come on. Okay, resume regular order business. >> Physical uh facilities committee. Miss Laruso, please. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent, the board hereby approves motions PF1 to PF2. PF1, approval of monthly facilities calendar for March 2026. PF2 approval of district use of facilities applications. >> The second >> second >> comments. Roll call, please. >> Miss Caruso, >> yes. >> Miss Collie, >> yes. >> Miss Laruso, >> yes. >> Mr. Sealini, >> yes. >> Miss Shmley, >> yes. >> Mr. Banker, >> yes. Community Relations Committee, Miss Collie. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent, the board hereby approves motion CR1, approve the second reading of revised bylaws, policies, and regulations. >> Second. >>
021Comments. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Caruso, >> yes. >> Miss Collie, >> yes. Miss Laruso, >> yes. >> Mr. Sealini, >> yes. >> Miss Shmley, >> yes. >> Mr. Banker, >> yes. >> And that concludes my report. >> Thank you. >> Technology Committee, Mr. Sealini. >> Uh, good evening everyone. Um, our district's technology um, uh, information security program plan. Uh the district continues to proactively evaluate all appropriate district technologies to ensure the safety and security of our data and information systems. Planning of un of necessary maintenance and upgrades for both the current and future school year are ongoing and underway. Recently, vulnerability scans were conducted to identified areas of growth and improvements within our systems and infrastructure. uh remediations are ongoing to better protect the district from any possible cyber attacks. -ate purchasing for
022the 2526 school year continues to support the technology infrastructure across the district. Budgeting for the 2627 school year is concluded uh with projected needs covered under the proposed budget. As we progress through the budget cycle, the technology team continues to ensure that the technology and support needs for all our students and staff are considered when evaluating items and services to purchase. The district continues to evaluate varying technology platforms to help support productivity, efficiency, and infrastructure within the district. The district continues to evaluate policies and procedures related to the appropriate technologies to help support productivity, efficiency, and instruction within the district. Parents are encouraged to download the Parent Square app to ensure all communications at both the district and school level. The platform will be used for all official school communications, specifically any closings and delays,
023early dismissals due to incle inclement weather. The district continues to use Genesis to share and collect data from families through the forms portal to allow for efficient and paperless communications. Forms are updated annually to account for new information. A look ahead. A district artificial intelligence committee will be seeking out an array of stakeholders to ensure that programs and curriculum are designed with the future readiness of our students at the forefront. And Mr. President, that concludes my report. >> Thank you, Mr. Segalini. Any comments? I have one actually. Uh, multiffactor authentication. I think I mentioned this before. Um, about 70% of school districts are doing it right now. And I know it's probably going to be 100% before you know it. And is there been any question from them? you know, our our uh I guess
024we're using Bergen County Special Services for our technology email and such. And we we're using Bergen County Technical Schools also working with World Insurance. Uh we haven't been notified as of yet with our cyber security insurance that we have to have MFA, but Mr. Scarfield can go to a little bit more the measures we have taken. >> Yeah. So some of the measures we've taken now is our student information system and our financial database which are the two most critical pieces. They have set us up one in the cloud and two everyone has to sign in now through Google which eliminates you having to use your phone to get a code but it's safe, secure and it cuts out any uh worries about any kind of intrusions. But again, we're looking into all of the
025other things. Normally, your insurance company would come to you right away and say, "Hey, you need to do this." Um, we do any compli compliance issues that they ask, but we did we took care of just recently moved um the student information from Genesis and CSI, which is a financial software. It is now secure with a Google signin. So, there's no other way to get in. So if you don't have a Google account registered to us and you don't have authorization, you cannot get in. So that's they've kind of streamlined that because the other thing is if you're familiar with the Google authenticator where as soon as you log in, they send you code, you got to go to your phone. We haven't had to do that with those two. So I don't know if
026it's modernizing it or they're telling us this is absolutely secure. So that's where we're going right now, but it's something that we're not shying away from. We want to make sure everything's I understand years ago you had some problems with that with some attacks or whatever it was. >> Yes. >> So we're aware. >> Yeah. No, it's it's Yeah, it's getting I'm surprised the insurance company hasn't required it before now because they >> most of them are. Yeah. We we couldn't get insurance list until we put it in. They they >> thus far thus far insurance carrier world insurance has not said anything to us about our cyber security. So they they must be happy with >> I guess you're kind of dual fac dual factoring Google. Yeah, >> right. So okay. So >> who
027knows what it's most critical >> right now. We're starting to move things off our local servers into the clouds so that we can further protect things. >> And then you're using Google authentication for um Genesis. >> Yes. because that has its own dual factor could >> at CSI this this financial database which is most critical. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Can I ask a question? We don't have a physical server on premises. Everything is on the cloud. >> No, we do have physical servers but there are certain aspects that we're being advised to take it off the local server and to put into the cloud which is more secure. >> Correct. >> And and that would be the uh student information and the financial database. Right. >> Yes. Cloud-based. Thank you. >> So, little by
028little, we're going to start weaning off, I believe, Bergen County Technical Schools to start weaning off certain aspects of how we operate the district. Take it off the local servers and to put it more into the cloud for security reasons. Yeah. >> You're welcome. Any other comments? Hey, thank you, Mr. Sealini. Uh, finance committee. Um, I believe Miss Cruso, are you doing that or Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Upon the recommendation of the of the interim superintendent of schools, the board hereby approves motions F1 through F7. F1, approval of payroll for January 2026. F2, approval of bills list. F3, approval of financial reports for December 2025. F4, approval of transfer report for December 2025. F5, approval to discard obsolete equipment. F6, resolution to renew the Bergen Municipal Employee Benefits Fund from January
0291, 2026 through December 31, 2028. And F7, approval of the transfers for preschool education aid funds for the 2025 2026 school year. Second >> comments. Roll call. >> Miss Caruso? >> Yes. >> Miss Collie? >> Yes. >> Miss Laruso? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sigalini? >> Yes. >> Miss Shmley? >> Yes. >> Mr. Banker? >> Yes. >> And that ends my report. Mr. President. >> Thank you. Okay. All business. new business. Hey, >> that's all we have. >> We did. Yeah, we did. Yeah, I offered to do >> I do have some new business. Um, I'm going to introduce Meliss Melissa Delaso from New Jersey school boards and she's going to conduct our ethics training. if you give me two seconds to set this up because I am a uh dinosaur when it comes to uh
030>> when it comes to this. >> You have to train Brian. >> He's got to be He's got to be more >> He's got to be more computer savvy than I by accident. By accident. Let me get this done. Whoop. I get this so I can get the whole thing. Flora. >> Sorry for the delay on uh >> the meeting was a little long. >> Wonderful. >> Yes, >> the delay. It's been that way. Congratulations. >> Thank you. We spoke on the phone, but we have not met. Thank you for coming. >> Yes, that's where I want to go. You >> could go either way. Either way. It's not. Maybe it is. >> So, I'm going to take a second and um introduce myself and get to know, don't mind. Um I am new with
031New Jersey School Board Association. I am the field service representative for Bergen County, which means I support all of Bergen County, including you. Um I'll first ask how many new board members newbie newbies. One. Um so just I'll highlight some things but just so you understand New Jersey School Board Association is an association of board members in New Jersey. Um all the districts belong to New Jersey School Board Association and the districts pay a membership with that. The resources that we provide are your uh mandatory training as well as a myriad of other training individual training for board members as well as board training. We have uh certification programs. We have attorney of the day. We will have BA of the day. Our BA just retired, so we're getting another one at the moment. So,
032if you ever have any questions, your first phone call should be to me. Um outside district specific information, but any board questions, I want you to feel free to give me a call. I'm passing around the ethics um list, but also my business card. So please s seriously do not hesitate to call if you the website has a lot of information and it is a great resource but it could take you some time. I appreciate the fact that you are all volunteers so I am more than happy to do any research for you if you have a question find you those links etc. Um I want to make sure that your time is used wisely. You use a lot of it here and we all know how large that paycheck is at the end of
033the week that you get. So um just want to put that out there. I also have nine years of board service myself locally in Altapan. So, thank you. Um I I am I have done what you do. I understand it and I appreciate it and I thank you for that. So, let's get right to it here. Okay. To start off with, I just want to let you know this is a lot of legal information in here. I am not an attorney. This is not legal advice. You can only get that from your board attorney. And just keep that in mind. Um, and as I had mentioned, I did mention that we have the attorney of the day at New Jersey School Board Associations. We have a lot of resources. They'll always say that same disclaimer
034that I just gave you. So, we're going to start out with the school ethics act. And the main goal of the school ethics act is to assure officials hold the respect the confidence of the public. Many of you are well you are all volunteers as we know that you may think of yourself as a volunteer but you're not just a volunteer you are a representative of the state. You're an elected official. So it's a little bit different than the typical volunteers. Um the the point of the school ethics act is to make sure that the local administrators hold the respect and the confidence of the public and to go one step further. It's to um avoid even the impression that that trust could be violated. So sometimes that makes a very big difference in how
035your behavior is viewed. So there's a lot of board members that are doing the right thing by their perspective and in reality looking from somebody from the outside may be perceiving it differently and it's also how you are perceived as board members and how much information you have etc. So these are going to be the minimal ethical standards that we'll be talking about hopefully you surpass that. So who enforces the act? It is not New Jersey School Board Association. It is not me. I am not the board police. Um the school ethics commission or the SEC is the body charged with enforcing the act. It is made up of nine members. There are five non-school officials. There are two school board members and two school administrators. The commission is appointed by the governor and over
036the last few years it has had as little as six members. And the members that were missing were schoolboard members and school administrators. So they have added more individuals, which is great, and you'll see a little bit later why that's important. But they're the ones that review your complaints, your ethics complaints, and your opinions. Okay. Provisions of the act um are about accountability. And there are four parts to it. All board members are responsible or for all four of these things. and the administrators are responsible for two. So the mandatory training and the code of eth ethics apply to board members and the disclosure statements and prohibited acts apply to everybody administrators and board members. uh to start off with mandatory training. I'm sure most of you are familiar with it by now. A few
037years ago, they put into place that your governance one, which is new board member training, is required to be done within the first 90 days. So hopefully you're on track with that. And if you're not, speak to your BA because it is your BA that will sign you up for mandatory training. Okay, good. Did you do the weekend January? Do I look familiar? Because I was there. No, it it's a big weekend. Yeah, it was cut it was cut a little short, too. Good. It's usually a lot better, but it was cut short because of the weather. Um, but it it is a great weekend and you learn a lot and I know it's overwhelming with the amount of information. So, again, don't hesitate to reach out. The other ones are governance 2, governance 3,
038governance 4. you have to do it by the end of your first of each year. So next year you'll be doing governance two and then the third year you will be doing governance three and then any cons any additional term that you do the first year of the new term is governance 4 and governance 4 is updated it's legal updates it's updated every year so it isn't the same all the time. It's really important that you do those. The SEC is uh really looking at that and making corrective actions if they're not done. So, the financial and personal relative disclosure statements, same thing. If you're a new board member, you should have already done that. For returning officials, you have um till April 30th to do that. I recommend you get it done as soon
039as possible. It's not that I won't say it's not that complicated because it is because of the way the questions are asked. So if you have any questions, speak to your BA. I know they're often returned um because things are missing or wrong, etc. because it's a little confusing and it's asked questions a lot of ways. What I will tell you is I also have to fill it out as a uh school board association member since I was hired in September. I filled it out then and I just had to fill it out again. I've been on the road doing the ethics presentation. So when I sat down to do it, I looked at it completely different after all of this and started like I just put everything. Anybody I know that is works in
040a school district is now listed on my thing. I it doesn't even matter if I'm related to them because you get to a point where there's so many and we'll I'll show you some stuff on that later, but there's so many different pieces. It's almost better to over report than under reportport. You are not providing any of your financial information as far as how much you make etc on these forms and they are public. So, it's better to over report than under reportport. That's all I'm going to say. Okay. Oh my god. Am I doing that? It's okay. I keep looking at myself. So, we we covered the financial disclosure statement. Um, let me just see if there's anything I want to highlight on that. Okay. The the other thing is and we'll go through
041the ramifications of issues when the SEC finds problems, but the SACE is starting with censures if you don't fill out your financial disclosure forms. So, it's a little bit it's like the second level of consequences. So, I'm going to ask here if we can go around the room and read these out if you don't mind so that I'm not talking non-stop and I'll give a quick highlight on each piece. Okay, >> if you can, that's small. Whatever way makes it easier for you members. Uh yeah and enforce all laws, rules and regulations of the state board of education and court orders pertaining to schools, desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures. >> Okay. The important thing here is when you come out of your election cycle and you're elected, most
042people come on the board and you will hear many board members, various board members state, I'm here to represent the people that voted for me. But that's not true. You're here to represent the entire community and most importantly you are here to represent the students. You're their voice. So that's one thing I want to point out about this. And the other thing is you we'll talk we'll say it a thousand times tonight. You have authority as a board. Nobody has authority individually. That being said, you also re receive your authority from the state. You represent the state. So you're not just representing the you are obviously representing your local board, but your power comes from the state. So you're you are required to uphold the state mandates, the state laws. That's what you do when
043you take your oath. Okay. B. I will make decisions in terms of 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. Right? So that's, you know, you're again, you're making decisions based on all children. Sometimes when you have children in the district, this becomes a little bit more difficult, but you always want to take a step back and make sure you're representing everybody in your decisions. See, >> I will confine my board action to policym, planning and appraisal. And I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them. >> So policy making, planning and appraisal are your main functions. And one of
044the one of the interesting things is that is where it says only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them. This is why you have public comment during your sessions especially on policym while you have two readings and public comment. Okay, next one. >> I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the school together my fellow board members to see they are wellrun. So this is the NJSBA mantra you will hear over and over again. Um your role is to oversee the school not to run the school. >> 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. Which again goes to you function as a board not as individuals. And there are
045boards that find it difficult sometimes to come together and are divided. So what I recommend is that you're always paying attention to where you can find common ground even if you don't agree on everything. F >> I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interests or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends. >> Once again, you're representing the entire community. G >> I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the school which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools. In all other matters, I will provide accurate information in concert with my fellow board members, interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community or its students. >> Okay. So, obviously, you're keeping confidential matters confidential. But the other important thing here
046to remember is that when you provide information, it's accurate. And you need to be careful and we'll get into that a little bit later, but you want to make sure that that you're providing the accurate information and not your perception. Okay. One other thing that I haven't mentioned here in these slides, well, two things. You will get a copy of this presentation tomorrow with all the links. So, you're going to see tons of links in here with cases, and we're not going to go through every single one of them, but there's a lot of information here for you to review at your leisure when you can't sleep at night. Feel free to read all those um decisions and some of them are interesting and some of them are not. But the other thing here is
047the standard section that you'll see on all these slides and will be on your presentation. When it comes to the codes of e ethics, the standards are the pieces that you would need to prove if you were showing that somebody violated the ethics. So if you were doing an ethics complaint, these are all the standards that would go with the comp with the item of the code of ethics or the tenant of the code of ethics that you would be looking at. Okay. H I will vote to appoint the best qualified personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer. So the majority of what you will be approving at your meetings is at the recommendation of your superintendent this evening when you appointed your new superintendent. That was one of that
048is the only person that you will hire hopefully not terminate and have you know renew contracts with etc. That's the only individual. The rest of the staff and administration and teachers etc are all hired by the superintendent. Okay. As well as evaluated. I >> I will support and protect school personnel and proper performance of their duties. >> Right. This seems like it it's easy, but where we run into problem with this is on social media, and we'll get to that a little bit later. Jay, >> I will uh refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution. So, this one is talking about the chain of command. And again, we're going to talk about that a little bit later, but
049um it's very important that you refer individuals back to the chain of command to resolve their issues. Okay, there we go. Okay, so ethics complaint. I'm hoping you're never going to do one and I'm hoping you never have one put against you as well. This gives you the guidelines of the timing. So, it's 180day window and um some of those details. We'll go into this a little bit more. So, to start with the penalties and sanctions that the SEC can apply to board members is a reprimand is the is the lowest level. A reprimand is basically a slap on the wrist. Sorry. It's not necessarily made public. Um, a censure is a formal disapproval by the commissioner publicized by the adoption of a resolution, which means that you will be reading that resolution at a
050board meeting that you will be sitting at. If you have a censure, censure is where if you don't complete your financial disclosure form or don't do it accurately, that's where it will start at as a censure. Suspension is you're barred from engaging in any activity for a period of time and removal is obviously you're removed from the board depending on the level. Advice of council defense for penalties. So should you have an ethics complaint put against you, you're going to speak to your board attorney. Your board attorney will get involved. Listen to the advice of your board attorney or if you're provided an attorney through insurance, which is another step of the process, listen to the advice of counsel. If you choose to not listen to the advice of counsel, it puts you in jeopardy.
051Okay. Okay. So, now we're going to go through some of the ethic cases. I'm going to go through these. I'm not going to hit everyone. We would be here all night. Um, I'm going to hit on some of them, but as you can tell where they have the complaint numbers, those are links that you will be able to click on when you get the presentation and go into them a little bit more. Um, I'll go through the second example because it's a board member sent an email about attending a CPAG meeting as a member of CPAG using her board member email. In doing so, it creates a justifiable impression that the objectivity or independence has been impaired. And that one turned out to be a reprimand. This the reason this is a good example. Um,
052does everybody know what CPAG is? Right. Special education parent advisory group I believe or um so this is an individual who was on the school board but also very involved in leadership of the CPAC. They also served on a committee that it was involved with special education, a committee on the board. So things kind of got crossed in all of this because I'm sure it was an individual that was very passionate about it and they probably thought they were doing the right thing and they're trying to get people to come and and that kind of thing and they used the wrong email. They didn't use their personal email. They used the board email which now just made everything go together. That becomes an issue. There's other details to the process, but that's the general idea.
053And this goes the reason this is a good example is when I mentioned it's not just what you do, right? It is the perception of what you do. So often times people think they're doing the right thing or they're passionate about something and then end up with in a situation that's that's an issue. Uh what do we got? 15 board member. Oh, this is C78-23. This is a this is an example where an individual was a board member friends with a staff member. The sta the staff member was going to be discussed during executive session. They did not want to come to be present for the discussion. So they asked the board member to bring a written their side of the story kind of document which they did and they came and they had the
054BA make copies of it never mentioned it to the superintendent. When the exe executive session came up, that board member handed out that letter with the staff members side of the story, per se, never advised the superintendent and obviously that turned into a big problem. They were representing that individual and that never should have happened. The outcome was a 60-day suspension for that board member. Okay. If you have any questions, we can go back and forth. Um, you know, just a heads up there. Recusal versus abstension. Recusal means that you are not able or should not be voting on something and it's usually you need to recuse yourself as well from the discussion. Whereas an abstension is you are choosing not to vote. There is a difference. A lot of people use them interchangeably. I
055brought this up to another board and they got they got very nervous and they said, "But I'd rather abstain." What I will tell you is if you're abstaining or you're recusing and it is not something that you find personally offensive to share, I recommend sharing because the public is watching and when you abstain from something sometimes they think there's a lot more to it. So, for example, if you choose to abstain from the minutes, approving the minutes from the previous meeting because you were not here, people might go, you know, a lot of times with with when you're when the public is watching and now with videos and live streaming and everything else, it becomes like, oh, let me go back and check those out. What was in there that they don't want to vote
056on or they didn't agree with? Again, it's not required, but it's just something to think about. Always remember people are watching and the perception and recusing yourself if you're conflicted in some way. For example, if you are conflicted and you're um there's just going to be certain things that you can't vote on if if you're conflicted, including negotiations and things along those lines. Relationship definitions. So, if you've been doing this a little while, you know there's a very long list and that A11-23 link will give you a chart of basically if it's your mother's second cousin who lives in California, whether or not that's a problem. Like there's so many different pieces to this relationship um list. And so I will go to again if you're not sure if you have a relative that may
057be a conflict, please speak to your board attorney, you know, ask to ask to run it by them just to be on the safe side so that you don't make a mistake because after the fact you cannot fix it. Okay. Um advisory opinions. So we covered ethics complaints. Ethics complaints can be brought against a board member by anyone. It could be another board member. It could be a member of the public. Doesn't have to be somebody from the district. It can be somebody from completely outside. It ethics complaints work. Advisory opinions are before you choose to do something, you want to know whether or not you should do it, whether or not it's going to be an issue, right? You want to make sure you're not doing the wrong thing. In that situation, the SEC
058requires one that you look and see if there's already been a decision similar or that meets that criteria because they don't want the extra work, which I can relate to. And the other thing is you need to it has to be in referencing you, your board. You can't ask about a hypothetical case or things along those lines that are outside what you're doing. The other thing is if you do ask for an opinion, you are expected to abide by that opinion. So if you choose to go ahead and do whatever you were going to do because you disagree with the opinion, just know that you're open to facing a possible complaint down the road and therefore the ramifications of that. Okay. The other thing that's mentioned here is six members of the SEC must vote
059on an item to become public. So as I mentioned before, for years the SEC has been working with only six members. So you can imagine getting six members to a meeting is not that easy. So we would get a flood of opinions at the 11th hour each year like in December when they all got together and finally put out some opinions. But they've added more people to the board uh to the commission. So that's a good thing. Okay, we covered this with the advisory opinions. The advisory opinions are a lot easier to follow and research. I mean, you pretty much can just Google it and see, ask a question. As you can see, they're written as questions and then when you click on the link or the opinion is very clear and detailed. Of course,
060the other piece of the advisory opinion is they're giving you an opinion based on what you're providing them. If you're leaving out any important factor in there, the opinion is not going to apply. Obviously, it might be something you don't think is important, but it might be. So, be aware of that. Um, I wonder if there's anything. I'm not going to go through these. You can read through them at your leisure. The key to I'm trying to think if there's anything worth going into there. Okay. The key is whether or not you're getting a benefit. And it's the perception of the public, not the school officials belief. Some of the examples, uh, is this the one here? A board member spoke during the board meeting about how he was running for general assembly. He was
061using his position on the board to solicit support and/or votes for his personal political campaign. He used the schools to acquire personal benefits. So, he was sitting up at the board table. It was new business. And he said, "Oh, just, you know, you're all here and I know you think I do a great job. Just a heads up. I'm running for general assembly." So, I hope you get out there and vote. Obviously, you're using your position to gain a benefit and to get votes. Um, prohibited acts. I'm sure you're aware of these. Recuse yourself if there's a benefit to you or your immediate family. Business interest or professional activity in conflict. Use of position to secure unwarranted privileges, advantages, or employment. financial involvement that may impair objectivity, service or employment that may prejudice independent judgment,
062gift favor, etc. offered with intent to influence financial gain. Other considerations shall not represent any person party other than the board district in a matter before the board and not a conflict if not acrewing a greater gain than any others. What that one means is an example is you have a child that's in the band. There is a resolution on the agenda for new band uniforms. If your child is getting a banned uniform just like everybody else, you do not have to recuse yourself from that vote because your child is not getting anything more than anybody else. So that's a good example of that. And the other thing to remember is benefits are not always financial. One of the decisions in one of the complaints is a board member, I think it was the board
063president, was also involved in a nonprofit organization. All volunteer work, both sides. The nonprofit organization did volunteer work in helping tutoring students um as a volunteer service. The board member saw a great connection between both the school district and the organization spoke to the superintendent went through proper channels and went to great extent to get that connected. Unfortunately, because he was the one who did it that way, the decision came out that there was a gain because the organization that he was working with was able to get a leg up to come in. Again, no financial benefit. So, those are the examples where I say it's it's not you get into the weeds when even if you're doing the right thing, sometime you have to take a step back. The public always perceives board members
064as having infinite information and secrets and all that kind of stuff too. So when you speak, they think you know everything. And that's another piece when you're looking at something from a perception perspective. Okay. Um I think that was the one I just covered. We're going to go through that again. These are a bunch of different examples. I've covered some of them. You can read through the rest. We would be here very long time. >> Let's have a question. Um, >> thank you. >> We have many many board members that have uh that are coaches and such and we have physical facilities calendars that we vote on >> and should they recuse themselves for that if they're coaching and they're they're not requesting themselves but >> they're coaching in the district? Yeah, that might be
065coaching um for rec in a rec. Yeah, I'm sorry. Not in a district. Yes. In a rec W recck program. Yeah. Unpaid volunteer. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, what I'm going to recommend is if you're in doubt, take the high road. >> It's just the better way. >> Just Yeah. Yeah. >> Right. I And it's just stops the problem. And the problem kind of like I tell my kids, right? You may get caught, you may not. And it's it's it's not it may not happen today. It might be when you're running against somebody else who's opposing you down the road who's looking for something and looking to create an issue. So you that's why you always want to be careful. If your voice isn't going to make a massive difference, it it really depends
066on how strongly you feel about something and how important you you feel your voice is in that matter. So certainly if it's something that is not an issue for the board and they're going to vote on it anyway and it's going to go in that direction. It's not an issue. I highly recommend just stepping back. It's just to the benefit of yourself more than anything. >> Thank you. >> Please ask me as many Oh, I think I went right past that one. >> The issue can be too how competitive is it slots? So no one's used our gym in 30 years something on it's probably not a big deal but if there's like 10 different programs that are fighting for spots in the gym then it's more of a problem. Okay. Okay. So here's hiring
067personnel. If the rel if you have a relative that already works in the district and you're elected to your position that's fine. However, once you are on the board, you cannot have a relative hired into the district. Okay? Um, and if an individual is already working in the district, you as a board member must recuse yourself from anything related to their supervisor on up right up to the superintendent. So, you would recuse yourself, you would not be involved in the superintendent evaluation, etc. Okay. We talked about this one with the committee assignments. I I will also recommend I know it is the the board president who assigns committees. Have conversations with your board members. You want to find out their interests, but you also in the example that I had had given you, make sure
068you're not putting them on something that would become an overlap with with maybe something they're too involved with. It's better to keep those pieces separate. It's just better for everybody in that situation. Okay. Collective bargaining. So, when you read this chart, the relationship to a board member, do you have an immediate family member or relative who's related to yourself? Do they work in the district? Yes, they do. Current member of a statewide public teachers union? No. No. Participate in negotiations? No, you cannot. Vote to ratify the contract? No, you cannot. And then depending, there's so many different nuances to this. I will always advise you to ask your board attorney for your specific situation. It's just easier, but you certainly could do the research. I had a question recently because it does say current member
069of a statewide. Well, it says public teachers union, but somebody had asked what if it's a PBA or something else involved and it was becoming very complicated for individuals. So, run it by your board attorney. Board members who receive union endorsements may be conflicted from collective bargaining if negotiations begin within a year of the election. Endorsements of a candidate by a local and/or national statewide union doesn't create a per se future conflict unless a financial contribution is given with the intent to influence. So, this one is interesting because you would assume you just ran for office and the union um not only did they publicly support you, they also gave you a financial donation to help you with your mailings. Typically, all that does is takes you out for a year from being on NGO
070negotiations. So what I will tell you, there are also unions that are somewhat savvy and will offer to endorse somebody or will endorse just publicly go out and endorse an individual who they not may not be favorable with because they do that in in hopes to avoid them from being on the negotiating committee. Um, so there's different pieces to this and this is why decisions have come down that the way that they have. Um, again I would always recommend just don't get involved in it. It makes it a lot easier because then again it's the perception of the public from there. Volunteering in school. There is a way around that. If you get endorsed, there's I forget how you but you put it out there that I'd seek the endorsement and there's a way to
071to maintain your ability to serve on negotiations even if you were get >> right. An endorsement doesn't prevent you. An endorsement plus a financial donation will take you out for a year. Everything else is it depends and that's when you go to your attorney. Um but but but again what what I'm just trying to say is to to keep it clean, you know, and it's not always an easy decision. It's not an easy decision because if everybody else is being endorsed and you're not I'm not telling you this is an easy decision. I'm just trying to tell you to keep these things in your head and what the effects are. And sometimes you don't realize that it could be being used in a different way. Um volunteering in schools, you are obviously allowed to volunteer
072in the schools, especially if you have children involved in the schools. It is very important that you always remember when you walk in the school, you are still a board of education member. No matter how much you try to remove that hat, that sash, that crown, whatever it is, it is still you will be looked at as that. Um, I personally have learned that the hard way. I never really realized that I had friends in the district that I was I mean I went on vacation and went to plays with, etc. And I remember one of the teachers saying to me, this is years down the road. Oh, I'm not going to be at school the first day of school. And I'm like, what are you telling me for? Like, I'm sitting here on the
073beach. Why is this my, you know, and then it, you know, that's in the back of your head? I'm like, really? Really? We we know each other that well and you're telling me this as if it's always there. um if you are going to be volunteering in the school whether you have students in the school that you're volunteering in a capacity there. The thing I will tell you is avoid handling any money. Don't don't take that role on. I've had questions but we work the book fair and I work the cash register. Don't do it. Just avoid it. Um avoid supervising any staff or teachers and avoid supervising any students. Those are the key things that will help to keep you out of trouble. Um, I will also say if you're going to be volunteering
074in the school, let your superintendent know. You do not have to. This is not the law. This isn't, you know, it's a good board norm just because if your superintendent knows and there's a call that they get, they'll know why you were there. It just makes it a little bit easier. Even if you're shooting them a text or leave them a message or send them an email, you don't have to go into a bunch of detail. It's just that. The other thing you'll run into is if you have students. Does anybody have students in the school? Yeah. Okay. Um, you have to be careful if you are advocating for your child. What I will tell you is your child is your first priority and you 100% have the right to advocate for your child. So,
075don't ever let that hold you back because that's your top priority in my opinion um as well as many others. Uh so when you have that sit down, always make sure that you do it as a parent. You're making it clear to whether it's a case manager, a teacher, a principal, whoever it is that you are sitting there at the table as a parent. And don't cross the lines by going into something that might go fall into board territory. You know, don't don't show, well, I remember when we approved the curriculum, this was blah blah blah or something along those lines. Just be very careful and keep that separate. We talked about visiting the school social media. All right, I'll go back. Social media. They used to tell you that you should not get involved
076in like the Facebook mom's group, right? Um, you can be involved in the Facebook mom group or any of those social media things. Just try not to comment. use it as a resource to find out what the community is thinking. And I personally think it's a great resource. You know what's going to be brewing. You know what's coming down the pike. I also recommend keeping your superintendent in the loop. If you're seeing things that are boiling up, I will say eight out of 10 times. The information is probably completely incorrect. You're also going to have times where there's topics at the board meeting that comes up and everybody gets on there andup and you know it's wrong. Don't respond. Do yourself a favor. you will never win a debate or a discussion or anything else
077on social media and it will just get ugly and it also puts you out there for an ethics violation down the road. Um, this is another one of those examples with accurate information. I also mentioned one of your ethics things is that you have to um support your uh the teachers and staff and everything else in the district. So, this is a perfect example. Don't say anything negative. Don't like anything negative. Don't chime in on anything negative. Stay out of it. It's just not worth it. Um, and again, the other piece of all this is accurate information is key. So, keep that in mind as well. That does not mean that you don't have the ability to, you know, if if it's something like, oh, the team just won and you share that or like
078that, that's fine. You're doing it as an individual. there is the SEC disclaimer um that you should use if you have an opinion and you're putting it on social media on your personal site and and also if you think your personal site uh social media is only your very close group I promise you there have been many of people that have taken a picture of it and said did you see this what she did what he did it's going to come out guaranteed it's going to come out somebody is going to make a statement so the disclaimer does is not your get out of jail free card. Putting that up there doesn't mean okay, I can say whatever I want now because I've made it quite clear it doesn't work that way and the SEC
079doesn't see it that way and decisions just keep changing over and over again. So, use your social media wisely. I'm going to go through those important information. Okay. Texting from the board table could result in someone filing an Oprah request for your phone records. when it comes to phones at the board table. Um I do like that you have this little thing here. Um but I when I sat on my board, I'll be the first one to say I had a babysitter at home. I had one kid that wasn't even in in the district yet. I know what you do here. I have my daughter is now in college and I would still be sitting with that phone so that if there's an emergency call from my child, I'm going to get it. Dad's not
080going to do it right. So, I am going to be be aware no matter where I am at any time. Okay? He he gets it when I give presentations. I don't have it here, but that's the only time he gets it now. So, my point is if you have any kind of emergency call, it could be a work call again somewhere you have to get a paycheck from. So, we understand that. Take your phone, leave the room. If you have to send a text, if you have to answer the call, excuse yourself and make sure it's important enough that you're going to excuse yourself to leave a meeting and take the call outside. Don't take it from the table and don't scroll because you might have somebody over here. First of all, I will tell
081you it is the rudest thing in the world when somebody's presenting and other people are sitting there on their phone like this. And I don't mean me cuz I don't on school boards. I don't really I get it. But when it's students, I have seen it at board meetings where it's students or staff and it's just it's just not a good look. That aside, you might be scrolling looking at social media over there or looking at, you know, designs on houses, etc., which I've seen happen. Um, and somebody else over here is doing something different and they think you're having a conversation from the from the again, it's all about perception. Might not have be on your mind, but that's what's playing out. Um, okay. You're we covered all this child's advocate. Refrain from using
082your Oh, if you have a social media page for your campaign, take it down. Take down the page. The reason is people don't realize that your page might be three years old or two years old or whatever the case may be. when you are if you're a sitting board member and you are running for office and you have a social media page up, it is looked at a little bit differently. So if you revise it, revive it or you decide to put up a new one, just remember people look at things and you can have posts that have from a year ago, two years ago, sometimes 10 years ago, how many times have you posted something about a birthday and everybody's happy birthday, happy birthday. Well, that was like six months ago. So they don't
083notice the timing. So they may think that in whatever is happening now that statement refers to that happening right now. So take that stuff down. Okay. All right. We are at the end. So um what I Anybody have any questions? Let's go there. No, this is a dry topic. So um I hope you'll have me come back with something a little bit more exciting. um because I would love to have a discussion and you know that's how we learn and you get so much out of it of things that you don't think about. So in closing what I will say is one thank you for everything you do. I know you probably don't hear that a lot. You usually get people coming in when it's um complaints etc. Um so I know what you do
084and I appreciate you and thank you. If you have any questions don't hesitate to reach out to me anytime. Call me a couple times a week. I'm just sitting there waiting for the calls. So please do. And you know, if you want to talk about board certification or even your individual certification at any time, let me know. Uh we have a huge selection of training options, but beyond that, anything going on with your district, we can create something or we can work for something that works for your board. I'm going to put in a little um push that you do your board self-evaluation. I don't know if it's something you normally do. I recommend it. I think it's a really good thing. And I can come back in. I can compile the paperwork for you
085and I will go through a board summary. I can help you with your board goals and things along those lines. So, thank you for having me and uh I'm here for you. >> And thank you, Melissa. Thank you. >> Thank you. It's the real So basically we can close, right? >> Well, we going to >> Yeah, I know. >> Okay, then we can close. >> Close. >> Thanks again. Have a good night. >> Thank you. >> Okay, if there's nothing else, uh I think we're going to close. Did did the public have any comments or questions on our training or any? No. Good. Okay. >> Sure. I I do I have to officially open to the public. >> Kevin Lion, uh I just wanted to uh acknowledge the board for their work in finding us
086a new superintendent. I think you made an amazing and awesome choice in Mr. Barrow. I know he'll lead this uh school district with a lot of value and give a lot of value to our students as he does already at McKenzie School as principal. So, I just want to thank you all for your hard work because I know you spent a lot of hours last year and even probably early this year uh looking through resumes and analyzing candidates and asking questions and finding the best person for the job. And we truly appreciate Mr. Barrow as our new superintendent coming in July. Thank you. >> Thank you, M. Mr. Line. Thank you for all you do because, you know, I you you put an awful lot of effort in. I I've not seen that ever before.
087So, as long as I've been on board, so thank thank you. Okay. Um and a motion to close. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Our next meeting is let's forget that March 12th at 6 pm.