001e e e testing one two testing one two test one two 222 test one two seconds we e e e okay it did unmute e e e e e e see it's taking oh yeah that would SM than vacuum testing one two 222 testing one two just sure that you see you shoulding all that up Paul missuso Paul Mr Sanders here Shenley here Mr B is absent and Mr L Russo here fire exits to the front and out to your left um at this time up the National Junior Honor Society to give their monthly report and Miss as well microphone oh I need a mic that's her first M that's her first hey Goen and with and R with schol okay that's yours nowar and for all inform ad together for earlyy information will be
002shared the next aary school will cerica beginning of March more details will be shared soon including the scho we will be inviting commun MERS to session with now froming the month of February all School teachers have been focused on Black History Month they have been creating various lessons cented around famous black American and B School of students and staff enjoy February week from February 10th to February 14th these included sports day winter Spirit Pajama Day character day and Valentine Day great job teachers and students for wonderful performance at the end Performing Artist great success congratulations our grade thank you for coordinating this and judges we're very proud of all the students and the best best of luck on these exams award for [Music] February events of the afternoon congratulations to our boys basketball team for
003earning second place in the recent championship game in South thank you now here from Diana and Achi this African and and thisin our program School plan2 February great sucess thir participating and stud engaged an entire day unstructured Foster cried thinking collaboration and growth February 7th was national school we rting and Lincoln School help support cause sponsored by the American Heart Association to raise awareness to the importance of CPR and emergency situations in collaboration with the erpd the L program launched in early February for our fifth grade students G for against drugs depart designed to raise awareness the importance of a drug free Li style are also Community Partnerships with our local police department the facil by now is looking to partner with peem the organization focused on Civic oriented programs and Eng as we look
004to exp local community a goal is Mee up partner scho the GL to collaborate on good job guys than change the audio back to the yeah just give me one second we're just having technical difficulties again e just doesn't very good out there because everything's coming through here testing one two test one two oh okay hold on sorry Mr hold on yep yep yep yep yep yep yep uh there we go hold on move this over yeah that's the Schoolboard one no not that one sorry sorry let's go here where are you yes hold on one second here back here go there just give me one second Mr Bry I'm sorry and there we go what's going on I'll it right to the zoom tab let me do that for there right and then here
005yep share where's it going where is it it's on the left side here there we go got you dou click on double click right on there okay this BR you're in business there we go I wanted to show the board and the some of the things that you help us do in F school to enjoy um our educational experience so it's not only academics but there's a lot of activities and growth uh within the um curriculum as we had so I'm going to start off by just showing you just a couple of videos here um slides National Honor Society we go to Bor Park every winter and we decorate a tree th school um and there's our tree there it's very nice it's cold um Mr tanel he is the advisor and there I am
006that like I'm really like Frozen in Time are National Junior H society and our uh evening so here we have the student council um and what we've been doing with student council this year we reprogramed it um where the on where the students voices engage and student passions it's comprised the three committees the newspaper committee the community service and the committee and school spirit so there's a little video right here we want to show you really quick they count on others to help um next slide we have is our pep rally we have our pep rally twice a year um they would have more we could but it's a lot of fun um KS really enjoy it we have our wild cat we have games um we have school spirit and we have one video
007over here that I'm going to show you quickly I'll go back um you backwards oh I I need access he didn't give me access that's okay no problem that's okay things happen and we have it you know we bring all six seven and eight over together and we have competitions this year one um for the first mon we'll see what we do for the second so that's our pet rally um also the student council community service um you you have to be 12 years and older um they spent halfy day at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey this month students Lear about food inse and perally packed 63 boxes of pasta which total to 108 bags of pasta for families in New Jersey so we're very proud of them and their contributions oh you're
008hitting the laser okay try to write you are okay see if I can go ahead try again there we go and Robotics this is our afternoon robotics CL kids really love it we do this in the St every single Monday so thank you for that uh or spelling me U this is terrific we had the English Department we are Judges we had e grader Rocco withell going up in the count and being just run it up it was a great day it was very highly competive but like I said they they really enjoyed it and they they were very very like glued to watch with the whole thing because a quiet silent type of spelling be where you can't say anything so that you know they're not nervous and it's hard and getting up there
009in front of the whole student body is not an easy thing um here's our community uh trips where uh we go with our students okay um here uh we've been to the diner we've been shopping we've been to what else did we go Mr SSA here chilies yes yes so basically Community Based instruction the Liberty comment and a local D provided middle school students who a valuable real world learning experience these Alle help students practice socializing their structure yet natural setting allowing them to develop communication and interpersonal F additionally they gain hands experience with Bud by making choices about purchases reinforcing math and decision making skills inclusive nature old students ability can participate and build confidence in their independ and today they go onp and we have art lunch also students they recess they want
010to go to the computer to lunch with M and enjoy every minute of it that is like my favorite part when they do the actual like candies and and rappers of it's just amazing how talented our students are just this year also does the yearbook club and every year I make sure you all get a yearbook so you'll see the new Addiction coming up soon believe it or not four months and here we go here work is going to be displayed at the New Jersey pack this year so we wish them congratulations and for this year we have an initiative where we're doing a lot of um of these student assemblies uh we have an Internet safety coming up we had a human trafficing prevention student assembly um we have our teens and mental health
011Suicide Prevention and awareness so we're really um you know bringing it up to where students understand reality at points but yet they're also able to keep themselves safe and then we had our Parent Academy we have dat coming up soon for that particular assembly and then St string talk about social Med and we remember this in the beginning of the year it was beautiful day it was really really um wonderful for the din Shar the opening and it was very special and here's some science experiments that they do class this is my sixth grade here and here is our choir and are fear of them so what we do is twice a year we put on shows for our peers so we invite L school over and we do a little um Broadway show where
012we're singing and acting and dancing and the students really enjoy it and it also gives them a connection of when they move to foul school what they have looking forward to if they're interested and as you know a lot of our students will link in and FS are very involved in artist especially when it comes to band and Cho um so Mr and Mrs SCH are continuously recruits every year um and here this is our student coun this is the wild cat times I don't know every student has received one I know G I'm not sure if it was pass to they're excellent they're top notch top notch this is something that they these are my creative most creative writers sometimes I got to tweak it a little bit like no I don't know if
013you can go there but they're all a good sharing and they absolutely love it so we'll make sure we give you your next Wild Cat times coming up in another month or so and those are the things that we you know we do plus so much more but I wanted to just share just little highlights you know with you um just so you can see that we're we're learning we're growing and um we're all doing the best we can over at F the effort you can see from teaching staff and everyone else that we all support one another and we just want to do what's in the best interest of our you I love this I would like to see this from all the schools like you know come and share what's happening in in
014all the schools this was excellent thank you very nice Matt Lee um at this time I'm GNA call up Matt Lee from school boards and he's going to do a presentation on the rules and responsibilities of the Board of Education a [Laughter] lot much about njsda I'll just a bit of an introduction njsda is an association of Bo education uh we are really about supporting board members the work that they do we are not a state agency although we're often mistaken for one uh we really just help board members with the training that's required by them for them by the state and also some advocacy services and things like that uh in order to help facilitate good governance within School District so that's our job uh myself I am the Field Services representative from Bergen
015County BR jsba uh my background ground is that I was a board member myself for 20 years I'm hard to believe I look so young and then I've been here with the association for almost nine years so pretty much 30 years involved with Boards of Education um and uh hopefully and add some value to what your your board does here brother um for our presentation today uh we have really kind of two main pieces of versus Board member roles and responsibilities I know some of your board members have been around for a while and that's okay we bring this presentation to uh many Boards of Education especially at the beginning of terms here prob year uh it's a good refresher but it's also a way to kind of level set how you approach your role
016for the coming term last piece is talking a little bit about how meetings can be more effective and what board members can do to make sure that they have productive uh time spent in their in their government's responsibilities U it's probably not something that you U bring to mind uh specifically each time you think about your agenda and the things that are going on but we always like to remind board members that the core of everything you do should be thinking about what's best for students how is it you work together to make those things happen for students and making sure that we're doing it in a collaborative respectful environment board members um have been exposed over probably the last 10 years or more to uh an environment that's less uh trustful than it's been
017in the past and that is probably something that is detrimental to how boards operate um there should be an environment of trust between the board members themselves between the board and the administration and between the public and the board make sure that everybody understands that the main objective of what we're doing here as a governance body is seeking to create a better student achievement environment within the district so communication is really going to be helpful there making sure that we are consisting and making sure that we take the time to understand other people's positions when we're having discussion sure um surprisingly some uh there's a lot of research that's actually done around things that come to mind right away are something called the I White House study where they sought to identify what are the
018attributes that words of educations display that lead to better outcomes for students and you can see this list is derived from some of that research um things like having a shared Mission or Vision that boards refer to consistently to kind of keep themselves on uh a specified P looking about that uh climate of trust and openness that we can have respectful dialogue about the things that we're considering um making sure that everybody understands what their roles are there's a clear division of responsibilities between Board of Education and the administration and everyone's understanding and working within those rols is key communication of course as it in anywhere is important diversity of thought is important as well it it may seem as though Boards of Education all move in One Direction or another everybody votes yes on
019everything is something you hear often all the time um but that is really what is the end of what has been uh thoughtful discussion opinion shared consensus reached and lastly staying focus on the best interests of all students in the district we talked about how board members approach what happens in their District uh we look at it from a high level so this actual um analogy comes from a book called The governance core which is a really good um academic study of what boards education contribute to the educational process and they talk about WS being in the balcony overlooking an active dance floor the administration would see all the moving pieces from being down on the floor next to it everything that's going on so um as you can see two different perspectives all working
020to reach the same end one other thing that's kind of surprising to both community members and to new board members is that board members are actually State officials okay they may have been and likely put in place by their Community by Val box or by the selected Toc Bo but they are charged with executing the state's uh mandate to educate children therefore they are State officials and it's really kind of a progression you will beginning with the New Jersey state constitution which gives the legislature the power to schools the legislature then gives some of its power to the State Board of Education State Board of Education that has an operating F and that is the Department of Education and within the rules and regulations that probated by the legislature and by the bo of Education
021and make policy that makes it relevant to their local districts so that's their job they are State officials we often talk about the four functions of the Board of Education firstly is policy boards make policy they're a policy making body that's their cheap responsibility and their job is to create a policy within which the administration can run the school state of De the next piece is planning and if we look back at the last slide with the balcony view that's what we're talking about there that sort of long-term aspirational uh strategic planning that goes on in the district the next piece is appraisal so boards have an oversight responsibility over the programs that happen within the district um in terms of the outcomes of those programs not the execution of those programs that's the role
022of the administration and I'm also evaluating the superintendent uh on the annual goals that are set by the board of education so that's their whole SL appraisal responsibilities and lastly provide for two-way communication between the community the board superintendent committee members keywords there are provide for right because there are definite um divisions of communication responsibility between the administration and the board we'll talk about that in a future slide one of the things that um it's important for board members to remember is that they don't run the schools okay and that's often something that's confusing both to the community and to new board members the community sees the board often as the top of the food chain if you will but it's not really organized that way and in fact the code of ethics that board
023members must adhere to talks about the fact that they carry out the responsibility not to administer schools but to see that they are well run okay that's the oversight piece of it and if you look at the bottom part of that slide especially the text that is highlighted red what we're looking at there is what the School ethics commission looks at when it's trying to determine whether an Ethics violation is taking place and that in red says there was a direct involvement in activities or functions of responsibility of school Personnel or the day-to-day administration of the school district in other words board members are advised to stay out of the running of the district day to day it's not their job there's uh very sort of complimentary roles and I talked about this a little
024bit earlier about the division of the responsibilities of the superintendent and the Board of Education and if you look uh at that chart starting to pop with roles and responsibilities the boards is about that Vision that mission goals and policy whereas the superintendence piece is the objectives in other words how are we going to reach those goals what are the things we're trying to achieve with those goals the procedures what are the Tactical things that are going to happen to achieve those goals those are reflected typically in action plans and relative to policy uh the administration is generally responsible for the regulation which is how those policies are implemented within the district so you can see there's complimentary pieces those roles and responsibilities the next piece is the focus and this is sort of a
025classic njsba um framework work would wish to understand how the work gets divided the Board of Education defines the what what is it that we need to have happen okay it's very outcome oriented the superintendent and administration is in charge of the how what are the means to achieve that what are the things that are going to be done by whom um how are resources to be aligned what the timeline with the me of success look like so that's the responsibility of the superintendent and the last piece around taking action on things in the district the superintendent makes recommendations all the resolutions on on the agenda recommended by the superintendent the board then votes on them the superintendent then takes that and implements them and the board evaluates how they are implemented by the registration
026so that's a a pretty clear definition for division responsibilities uh we talked about um these kinds of uh major responsibilities for the policymaking um uh responsibilities of the board we talked about a little bit already um the one thing I like to draw attention to in that first section is the last bullet where it the bylaws bylaw section of your policy manual is basically how the board has deign the def find that is going to run itself so that's how we operate um and the last piece U I like to to highlight on this slide is the two-way communication piece uh again I'm going to address that a little bit more in terms of policy as we go forward but it's important that board members remember that they are sort of the middleman if you
027will between the administration and the community and vice versa so the board should be letting Administration know what is on the minds of the community and the board member should also be able to explain what it is that's happening within the school districts from from a uh an informed perspective talk about the superintendent role and there's really sort of three main facets to it firstly being Chief advisor to the board so the superintendent is going to bring a lot of background information um suggest Alternatives in certain areas and make recommendations to the board from the perspective of being the person who is there dayto day working on things within the district the superintendent is also the Lea on to the board for the staff um we often ask boards you know how many people work
028for the board right kind a mature question only one right everybody else works for the superintendent the superintendent is the voice of the staff the board the next piece um briefings on District Operations and uh bringing things to the board that require their action that's part of the board exercising its oversight piece and the superintendent making sure that the is informed and the last piece is evaluating and assessing policy implementation it is clearly the board's opport or obligation to adopt the policy in the district but is also incumbent upon them to consult with the superintendent when they do so and to um check in with the superintendent on how policy is being implemented and whether or not that policy needs to be adjusted in order to make it work to the district the next piece
029is being the executive officer of the district so administering the policy running the district dat day U making sure that the board is aware of things that emerge um that may not plan for uh being accountable to the board and also directing the staff members because again the entire District works for the superintendent and the last case pieces being an educational leader so that entails staying up to date with things that are going on of the board being active in organizations when it comes to making all those things work uh this kind of recipe for Success if you will is making sure that there's a good relationship between the board and the superintendent and that is work right um there's trust to be uh delivered in both ways right trusting the superintendent superintendent of work
030is going to earn that trust by giving the board his or her best advice and making sure that the uh superintendent is keeping the board as up to dat as possible um expecting your professional training and experience of the superintendent um these folks are people who have spent a lot of time in the in the Environ the educal environment and done much education in order to get themselves to the position where they sit and that is to be respected um and kind of the last piece here is making sure that um the superintendent is administer in the correct way according to the policy by the board okay audience well not audience participation board participation okay responsibility your superintendent responsibility strategic plan instructional super excellent approve curricular material Bo that's Bo you got your right recommend
031policy good oversee District leadership this doesn't include the superintend super very good administer super contract that was the wrong l okay again you know uh what underl all of this is that the most benefit derive out of the relationship with the board and the superintendent is when you are working together moving the same direction and advancing through respectful collaborative interaction we talk about no surprises a lot right and it's never a good idea to just kind of throw a fire cracker into the middle of a board meeting from the board memb perspective and it's also not great when the board shows up and learns something that they probably should have known about before in the middle of a public meting right so that line of communication if it's good and robust and what it should
032none of this ever happens right so no surprises kind of theme that we like to work with um this again is uh something that doesn't occur to people as much as it really should and that is that board members don't have any legal status other than that of a regular citizen unless they are sitting in a legally constituted meeting of the board so board members shouldn't be walking around schools giving direction to staff things of that nature because the board only speaks as a body individual board members don't have authority it's only when you can get a majority of the board to to on a direction that things can Beed individual board members can't make decisions for the board they can't take action for the board they can't speak for the board unless the board
033authorize they can't direct any staff member or administrator nor can individual Bo could direct the superintendent why majority right you think about the superintendent right superintendent superintendent's time more properly is a finite resource right if a valuable resource is going to be directed in a certain uh way shouldn't the board majority be in agreement that that's the proper way to spend that resource right that's why individual board members don't get to direct the should be a good decision we always talk about this too which is there's an essential skill as a board member that nothing gets done unless you're able to count to five or four in this board's case um you have to get a majority of the board to agree and um really that that's kind of the basis of it if you
034can get the consensus you get the board to um come together on a direction then that's what happen to District um skip this I we covered most of this the one piece that kind of gets obscured there by that graphic forun is that Minority opinion should be considered should be delivered should be accepted and respected okay part of the strength of what comes out of the deliberative body is that all opinions are heard and then consensus is reached what goes along with that is that once consensus is reached and majority is spoken the minority even though may they may have disagreed should be supporting the decision of the body as a whole I won't talk about the code of ethics that's a whole other presentation but I just want to point out especially for again
035in the context of a roles discussion the code of ethics is really the minimum set of ethical standards that are expected to be adhered to by board members so board members do review this at reorg do have a whole other hour presentation on that whicher um so this kind of speaks to that piece where board members are sort of the intermediary between the administration and the community and vice versa um and some of you probably um would agree that uh respectful listening doesn't take place as much as should anymore so this is just a reminder for board members to be listening to all all C and to also be able to uh speak to the actions of the district um when community members inquired about it so all of those pieces of active listening into
036this discussion and um you know kind of reminding board members that they have a dual role in this area couple questions for the board questions for new board members especially I have children in school How can I talk to their teacher now that I'm on the school board I am reaching as a parent yeah the whole idea there is that a board member should properly frame that discussion when they were went to have it okay and that's not only good for the staff member right who may be a little bit unedged because a board members but it's also good for the board right because sometimes um folks will look at a board member being pres in front of them as an opportunity to deliver a message or lead a case right you walk in you
037talk about we're just going to discuss Little Johnny today and I know I'm a board member but that's not why I'm here that's really helpful for parties is it okay for board members to visit the schools sure right if it's a specific um intention to go check up on everything right well I mean that's possible with the um permission of the superintendent and a specific reason for it right but board members T to show up walk through the door and take a Grand Tour that's not why well certainly it's going to have an effect on the learning environement in the school right and it's also stepping outside of uh last part how do you respond to parents calling or emailing about District staff or other concerns did you sneak ahead Chain of Command right chain
038of command is really important for board members to understand it adhere to it's very understandable that community members would come to board members and say hey I got a problem I need you to fix right look like you're at the top of the chain but board members have no authority to solve problems right so even though you think you might be going to the top you really sort of on the wrong side of The Ledger for that kind of endeavor what you're looking to do is go to the place where the problem began and board members should be referring to you you to the place where the problem began so if it was the athletic field or the classro or the club send that person back to that that person in charge to try and
039resolve the problem there if that doesn't work then it moves up the supervisory chain of command a board of education is essentially the court of last resort in a district right so if it goes through the supervisory chain of man there's not a satisfactory resolution it comes before the board if a board member has intervened in some way prior to that they're kind of rendering themselves incapable of rendering a um an impartial decision when it comes to them so the person where the incident began let your superintendent know that this was brought to your attention quick text with email with phone call and then step away right pretty much summarizes everything there um making sure that the superintendent is informed again goes back to that no piece that we talked about before you don't want
040that creeping up uh through the supervisory Cham plan and reaching the superintendent with with no for I listen to this a couple times already this is um communication so the superintendent by policy is a spokesperson for the district it only makes sense right the superintendent knows what's going on day to day within the District nearly every inquiry that's going to come in is going to come in about things that happen dayto Day within the schools so it's only fitting the superintendent be the main spokesperson for that the board president is a spokesperson for the board and the uh necessity for the board president to speak outside of the voice of the district is relatively rare so think about the duties of the Board of Education right we talked about those four main responsibil so if
041there's policy issues or if there's say strategic planning that's going to happen in District again it may be more president reaches out to the public and says hey we' love you you know blend your voice to this process we're going through so those are the kinds of things where the board pres would speak out on their own um board members in terms of um emailing information uh it should be one way if you're going to send information to the entire board can't reply all because that would constitute a public meeting and your meetings by virtue of the Sunshine Law are meant to be held in public so if you're having discussion that the public doesn't have access to that's violating the law always recommend that board members use their District email address for communication about
042board matters um your own personal email account could be subject to Oprah could be subject to Discovery um and there's record retention responsibilities that you have as a state official for your commity communication weol around board business so The Prudent thing there is to make sure you communicate only on your District email address or board business um social media we could talk about for about three years they not going to um it's strongly recommended by virtue of any number of SEC advisories in case is to not have a board member social media um if you have a campaign social media account um you've been advised to leave that campaign email account or social media account uh upon being seated as a board member because it is thought to Cloud the position from which we speaking
043when you do comment so don't use your campaign social media account anymore um strongly recommended not to going to private groups again because if you strain to board business on private group you are not doing it where the public can access it right um yeah so the bottom pieces about the disclaimer so um when you do comment on social media about things that could be adjacent to your board service you are highly recommended to include a disclaimer that's been crafted by the SEC um it doesn't have to have that exact wording but it has to hit all the points in that disclaimer and board members are cautioned that even if you use the disclaimer but the substance of what you say is in violation of what you should be doing as a board member you
044could still get yourself in trouble so saying I'm only speaking for myself but then in the context of that social media post asserting three different things are the board's intention or's feelings he essentially violated that statement where you said you were speaking right so uh it's always the content of what you're see um rolling up on the end here and I think it's worthwhile to just reiterate the point that board action board policy should always be based on what's best for all the children in the district any questions thank you for your attention and um as it says on the slide there thank you for all you do for students in New Jersey I know that this is a um very high pay job lots of prestige but you know that what you do is
045appreciated it is power and it makes so many children so thank you thank you thank you thank you very much thank you thank you enjoy your night enjoy your night said a dusting looks like more DUS that's not all right moving on with our agenda uh committee reports School business administrator Mr verace thank you madam president uh just five items F7 through f11 F7 is the approval of bills list number two for February 2025 f8 approve and accept amended Elementary and secondary act funds so these are not new funds were just reallocating how those funds are being used so you can see in f8 if I pull it up it it's just showing like I said it's not new funds it's just uh we asked the county office to to reallocate the funds they uh
046they agreed to it and the board tonight is going to approve and accepted once again it's not there's no new funds it is the existing funds that we have we just uh moving them around within title one two and four uh last week we spoke about F9 approval of contract with parent Square uh parent Square Mr Jen CASRO is our reverse 911 that is to get notifications out to uh to the community F10 approval of the financial reports for January 2025 and f11 approval of transfers for January 2025 uh not related to finance uh earlier today students and teachers probably saw that at Lincoln they're uh putting up some type of covering on the walls to better protect the walls I actually just showed uh trusty Sanders and it's it really looks great Mr Jen
047Casper and I are very happy with the with the results Mr valard is very happy and we'll get to continue probably rest of that fallway if not in June maybe a summer project so uh they're very happy about that progress that's happening right there and then next month I'll talk about the shed over at McKenzie it's about a 25 plus year old shed uh it has run its course and then we'll talk about that next month have place to events and then the other thing next month is the uh preliminary budget for 2526 any questions any discussion no okay thank you Mr barachi thank you mad president uh superintendence report Mr Jean Casper thank you madam president uh student enrollment to date Kenzie School 382 students up one fou school 238 students down one Lincoln
048School staying steady at 174 students gr total of 794 students fire drills and security drills were done for the month of February um harassment intimidation and bullying February report there was one which I discussed with the board last week at our work session um once information is uh addressed by the board we'll be able to send communication out to parents which is aligned to the uh HIV or bullying um policy and law uh long range facility plan as Mr verrai had mentioned we're still looking to do the upgrades to our McKenzie roof section and fou school section of the roof uh upgrades to the Board of Education Office roof um and upgrades to external internal doors at B school so those are some things that are in the works at this time we will give
049an update to parents um as soon as they start to become in become um things that we're going to be moving to motion uh in the area of special education students we have 129 students in total down to in District down two of 118 students emotional and behavioral program quality indicators have been addressed in New Jersey Department of education's office of special education announced the release of the emotional and behavioral program quality indicator tools these indicators were developed through collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders from the field to ensure that the tools are both relevant and practical and are put to use uh Transportation cord uh considerations for students with disabilities the office of special education announced the release of new resource guidance titled Transportation considerations for students with disabilities uh this guide is
050designed to assist families and School District staff in navigating discussions about Transportation as related as related Services uh within uh within the students uh individual educational program which is their I and the guidance provides practical information discussion prompts and best practices to support collaborative planning and ensuring Transportation Arrangement meets the unique needs of our students with disabilities Transportation information notification so the Department of Education is mandating that districts complete a student bus information card for each special education student who receives transportation services according to the Department of Education parent or guardian of a student with an IEP is responsible for completing the students information card when the IP is developed or amended for students who receive transportation services with the parents or Guardians consent the laa is required to distribute a copy of the completed
051card to the assigned School uh bus driver and or School Bus Aid on the relevant school bus route these cars must be kept in easily access location for both school bus driver and bus AIDS and to ensure compliance with this mandate each F district has taken the following steps the CST office sent home the forms of all parents who received to all parents who received transportation services parents and Guardians are directed to complete the return the completed form to the CST office CST office will upload the completed forms in Frontline uh document um and will'll then also send a copy to the transportation supervisor in our district or southb and jointure commission if we're utilizing them for our outer District placement students and upon receipt of the transportation supervisor will'll distribute them to our district
052drivers and bus Gates um we did update our semi update uh we had reached out to the the county office and SM spoke to Dr brano Who's going to be giv some final thoughts of that prior to our submission um currently right now Mr Mr barachi and I are currently working very hard on our 2526 I can't believe I'm saying 2526 um school budget mean with all departments um putting our heads together to make it a viable um efficient and effective budget um and keeping the tax the um taxpayers uh in mind as we keep moving forward to making sure that we can present to the board a sound um budget for all that concludes my report any discussion thank you Mr um at this time I will open to public comment open public comments
053on any agenda or non-agenda items State a name and address for the record address the board president each person wishing to speak will have five minutes each anyone wishing to speak will be given the opportunity to do so oh sorry um agenda items only no okay um seeing none I close to public comment uh correspondence to members of the board um none adoption of Prior board meeting minutes upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves the following meeting minutes uh January 6th 2025 annual organization public meeting minutes January 16th 2025 work session meeting minutes January 16th 2025 work executive session meeting minutes January 23rd 2025 public session meeting minutes January 23rd 2025 public executive session meeting minutes R Miss Caruso yes Miss colie yes Miss Mena stay from January 16th thank you Mr
054Sanders yes Miss shamley and Miss L yes superintendent resolutions upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motion S1 to S3 S1 approval of fire and emergency drill reports S2 approval of enrollment report S3 approval of harassment intimidation and bullying monthly reports second any discussions roll call Miss Caruso yes Miss colie yes Miss Mana yes Mr Sanders yes Miss shamley and Miss lusso yes uh curriculum committee Miss shamley thank you m recommendation the superintendent the board hereby approves motion C1 C1 approval of student F trips and transportation requests for the 2022 second any discussions Miss Caruso yes Miss colie yes Miss Mana Mr Sanders Miss Shenley yes and Miss laruso yes thank you uh personel committee U Miss perusa thank you madam president recommendation superintendent board approves motions P1 through P4 P1 approve
055the Kelly education substitute list P2 Personnel options P3 approval of travel expenditures and P4 approval of resignation notification of more Bel trans with [Music] regret any discussion R Miss Caruso yeah yes Miss quy yes Miss meta yes Mr Sanders yes Miss shley yes and Miss luro yes my report thank you uh physical facilities committee Mr Sanders thank you madam president upon recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approve this motion pf1 approval of monthly facility calendar March 2025 second second any discussion roll call Miss Caruso yes Miss colie yes Miss Menan yes Mr Sanders yes Miss Shenley yes and Miss Luso yes Community Relations Committee Miss the reading Poli and regulations the two resolution to participate in sustainable Jersey sustainable Jersey any discussion roll call Miss Caruso yes Miss KY yes Miss meta yes Mr
056Sanders yes Miss shamley yes and Miss laruso yes thank you all right so there's no new business and technology have report for us you're welcome Technologies to ensure the safy and security of power data information system planning of Maintenance and Improvement conversations are ongoing the scope in which the district may look to embrace the tools so commonly found land the as conversation stakeholders will be engaged to provide feedback in ter Next Year Bud for the 25 initial forr programing andology as we progress through the budget cycle the technology toensure the technology supp needs all students and staff are considered when evaluating items and services for mer the 2425 school year see a continuation of the annual technology fee to help support technology programs within the district all students throughout the district will need needs to
057be satisfied alongside their acceptable use and damage agreements in order to use and take possession of District owned technology the district has adopted add pay school Central as a payment servicing provider for these fees and parents are encouraged to create accounts for all district financials if they have not done so already the district continues to use Genesis to share and collect data from families through the for portal to allow for efficient and Communications forms are updated annually to account for the district continues to evaluate technology platform to help support productivity Effy and instruction within the district and lastly the district continues to evaluate policies and procedures related to appropriate Technologies to help support productivity efficiency within the district and that concludes my report thank you thank you any discussions any questions thank thank you Miss
058Mana um finance committee in Mr B's absence Miss Caruso on the recommendation of superintendent board your approv motions F1 through f11 F1 approval of bills list number one for February of 2025 F2 approval of the January 2025 payroll F3 approval of providers for tuition extraordinary service contracts and agreements for the 2024 2025 school year F4 approval of membership in the joint Insurance Group nbig nbig uh P5 approval of renewal contract with quad Quant Quant thank you Quant leasing USA Incorporated p uh I'm sorry F6 approved of the East wetherford bus transportation manual for the 2024 2025 school year F7 approval of bills list number two February of 2025 f8 approve and accept amended Elementary and secondary act the Essa funds approve um F9 approve of contract with parent Square F10 approval of financial reports for
059January 2025 and F1 approval of transfers for January 2025 any discussion Madam president I do underneath um F6 just wanted to assure trustee Banker as well as you Madame President that the addressing um the idling of the buses has been embedded in that manual and after this evening will be distributed to all bus drivers and Buss in the district perfect thank you any other discussion sorry we need a second I jumped the gun there sorry take your pick of who second did that PA second right okay Miss Caruso yes Miss colie yes Miss meta Mr Sanders yes Miss shimley yes and Miss Luso yes thank you any old business any new business um I do art show it really if you're there it's really really cute it's um a lot of great artists beautiful work
060um it was a lovely presentation um it was very nice that the kids were to congratulations [Laughter] able to facilitate that great thank you anything else okay um at this time I will open to public comment again opening public comments on any agenda or non-agenda items state your name address for the record address the board president each person wishing to speak will have five minutes each anyone wishing to speak will be given the opportunity to do so just gotta hold it down ke just hold it down till it turns green there you go should be on try the other one oh you can try that one there you go there you go think a delay [Music] wife of a 23-year-old veteran teacher from school and 18 year veteran of the East School District good evening
061my name is I 1992 graduate of school 1996 graduate of Alf school as of 2000 beon Regional High School gradu and a 20-year veteran teacher of public schools many of our staff are also invested in this community not just from working here but from living here and having loved ones who live here we are here again tonight to speak to the Board of Education about settling a their contract last week the board attorney had a lot to say members found much of the common sort much of the commentary inory suggesting that board members would be Ved out for a fair settlement with respected Educators he Littles the collaborative trusting relationship that both sides of the table have worked very hard to maintain our voters understand the issues much better than they are being given credit
062to them attorneys are need for a lot of things including giv advice during negotiations but is the board members that a community trusts to ultimately make decisions for the district please make a note that your attorney's comments last week did not bring us any closer to settlement while overall data shows our guides as competitive for bur County the souer continues to still be a lower taxpaying community compared to the rest of bur County about 20% of our members are tasers here we also want to to keep taxes affordable for residents while maintaining excellent schools for our children we can receive a fair salary increase and that at the same time to the P East brother's medium salary is down 7.7% from last year when compared to other K to8 districts with similar student populations a
063l than County average settlement will continue this trend par professionals and secretary salaries are primary concern in negotiations given the impact of their incate cost costs it is crucial that we continue to work together on the salary guide to find a viable solution our taxpayers including over 25 era members have a longstanding record of supporting our schools and not just because they know that good schools increase property values it's because they care about their kids we support our board we support our community and most of all we support the students the auditor maintains that we have a very healthy budget therefore we are very confused as to why this negotiation has been so challenging you have an excellent staff who runs excellent programs and an excellent Community asking for a fair rease please understand that
064from our point of view it appears that negotiations have been made difficult just for the sake of having our side settled for the least amount possible instead of what is fair and deserved we are happy to bring our sources to next mediation we know that both sides are looking forward to settling this as soon as possible so we continue to focus on working together we must keep Beford the best choice for students staff and our community thank you speakers okay I thank you for your comments the board hears your comments and your concerns are we closed well let me close it out okay at this time I'm seeing no other speakers I'm going to close the he the public comments okay I just I want to you know comment on a couple of things um
065I think it's a little disingenuous if I will that the union wants to stand up at the podium and make all these statements including what's fair but because I respond on behalf of the board somehow that doesn't further the negotiations I guess we should just sit here as potted plants and not react at all okay and if there's a premise that you want to negotiate this in public let's negotiate it in public I'd be happy to do that okay and I I I would have to check with the board but I'd certainly be happy to do that if you want to negotiate just in public okay we want a fair settlement you want a fair settlement but obviously what's fair is going to be somewhere in the middle I think you guys would agree you
066guys come in high we come in low and we try and reach what we think is a fair settlement there's going to be a natural disagreement on what's fair and that's normal it happens in 564 districts throughout the state or however minute go okay this is not an unusual process okay um you know should we have just gone into negotiations and given you your first uh proposal was that good for the taxpayers okay it makes no sense so to throw out these accusations that we're not being fair isn't in itself not fair okay we're trying to do what's fair for all the taxpayers and there's these comments that you want the county average why don't we use and I'll propose this to you why don't we use a county average guide let's take the county
067average guide starting salaries middle salaries let's create a county average guide okay plot you guys on the guide see what the dollar amount of increase would be and then we'll give you the county average based on that in real dollars okay if we're going to go with County average then let's go with County average all right it's not fair to be saying these things and negotiating this out in public if you want to negotiate in public let's negotiate in public thank you do you have anything for SEC okay no was so at this time we're going to adjourn to executive session uh resolve that in accordance with Section 8 of the open public meetings act chapter 231 the board has the authority to adjourn to close session to discuss matters pertaining to Legal Personnel negotiations
068attorney client privilege and or student matters said matters will be made available upon the determination by the board that disclosure of the minutes will not detrimentally affect any right or interest of the board the board expects to return to the business portion of this meeting and approximately I I'm hoping it's not a real long one you have anything I have few I have a few follow things up from last week some of the things we talked about I got some more Direction on and then um we are going to be coming back out and likely taking action so the public should be aware that too um I hope not that okay 30 minutes 45 45 yeah we'll update public and 45 okay about that all right can I all in favor I any oppose okay
0697:30 spot eight 820 820 yeah here I think I signed everything thank you want to land e e e just a quick announcement I was asked by Madame President come out uh the board of education is still an executive session and they will continue executive session until 9:30 thank you e e e give me one second you are not yeah you're on I need a motion to return to the regular order of business second all in favor I anyos okay um we have one res yeah thank you we have one resolution CR2 out dr3 cr33 and it's going to read resolve that policy 5756 transgender students be abolished this is a first reading on this policy do we vote on do no no discussion right uh you can have discussion on it any discussion okay
070ready to go roll call okay Miss Caruso yes Miss collee um so I think there's pie with apology I could use clarification but since we're not able to kind of make modifications at this time M Mana yes Mr Sanders yes Miss shley yes and Miss laruso no okay walk on resolution passes 42 this time a motion to adjourn and our next meeting is March 13 at 6: p.m. second all in favor I any opposed motion