001foreign [Music] Township Board of Education reorganization meeting pursuant to the open public meetings act I could public notice that's been given by the secretary of the Evesham Township Board of Education in the following line are posting written notice on the official bulletin board of the Board of Education Office emailing written notice to the Burlington County Times And The Courier Post and filing written notice with the municipal clerk of the Evesham Township at this point I will read the election results we had three uh three-year terms available uh Tracy Fox received 8138 votes Dave block received 7963 votes William Thompson received 7 520 votes to ring Carlton received 6984 votes our sperazza received 6908 votes and personal choice was 223 votes Miss Fox Mr Bach and Mr Thompson what are the three top boat Governors and
002were elected to the Board of Education um at this time we're going to administer the oath of office Miss Gifford our solicitor will be doing that and uh first she will administer the oath of office to uh David Bach Mr Bach do you want to meet me in the middle oh United States for the office and I am not this fault person with the wall nor does qualified student conviction of the primer effects and partially and just so they perform all the duties of the office according to the best of my ability congratulations [Applause] thank you okay next um we'll be at Tracy Fox all right so we're gonna do miss Fox sitting down um can you raise your right hand please okay I see your name do solemnly swear that I will support the
003Constitution and the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance to same and to the governments established in the United States and the state and under the authority of the people so help me God I see your name do solemnly swear that I will possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a Board of Education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to law nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in statute and that I will Faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations [Applause] and last is William Tom Thompson you need to sign me foreign
004qualified foreign [Applause] at this time we'll take a roll call Mr Bach Mrs Capello here Mr physicaro here Mrs Fox Mr Katherine here Mrs null here Miss Lee here Miss Ryan yeah Mr Thompson here we have a quorum would everybody please stand and join me with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God and the liberty and justice for all at this time I will I will accept nominations for the election of the board president this like to nominate Leah Ryan okay not hearing any other nominations I'm going to close nominations for board president um since there are no other nominations on behalf of the Brewer I will catch John do a roll call okay
005all right yes Mr chriscaro yes Mrs Fox yes Mr Canton yes Mrs Noel yes Miss Lee yes this is Ryan Mr Thompson yes motion carries congratulations okay okay okay [Applause] I would just like to thank the board for their faith in my leadership I hope it's going to be a great year I will now open the floor to the now Nations for the office of board vice president Mr physicaro I'm Madam president I'd like to nominate Anish Canton as board vice president any other nominations seeing none roll call please Mr Ashanti Mrs Capello yes Mr physicaro yes Mrs Fox yes Mr Canton yes Mrs Knoll Miss Lee yes this is Ryan yes Mr Thompson yes motion passes congratulations Mr Hampton [Applause] thanks everyone this meeting will now be open to the public when I'm first
006seeing agenda items only however if your question or comments pertain to litigations students or Personnel items or negotiations we ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since we do not discuss these matters in public please limit your comments to three minutes per person anyone for a public comment okay seeing none we will close public comment at this time I just wanted to point out to the board and the public that there is an additional item under reorganization items items 3.8 is an adoption of the code of ethics for school board members so at this time I need a motion to approve items 3.1 through 3.8 Mr physicaro seconded by Miss Capello any questions or comments from the board okay I have a question this includes the meeting dates correct I'm looking at my
007calendar I need to look at my calendar for March that is my son's birthday there's absolutely no way I can come and I know a lot of budget stuff happens so can we talk about that uh what do you what do we typically discuss at this March meeting isn't it voting on the draft budget so last year we were able to combine the approval of the tentative budget with the regular March meeting the state had uh given basically like a wider time window for that but usually there's a separate tentative budget approval that happens earlier in March so um likely that March 23rd meeting which by the way is also my daughter's birthday so that's really really cool by the way yeah a great day great day so uh that meeting will is very likely
008to end up being just a regular meeting not tentative budget approval yeah thank you Mr Noel any other questions from the board okay all right so now's the boring part in the meeting I'm sorry everyone I have to run through the code of ethics with everyone um just really quickly so um the first item is I will hold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the state of State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures what this means essentially is what we've been dealing with for the last couple years that we have to uphold every law directive whatever the case may be that comes down from the state that has to do with the schools and if we want any
009of that changed we have to do that through the proper channels um much like this board has been very active in dealing with the state funding um and you know that's why we always say that we do have to file these laws because it's our ethical obligation and if we don't do that then the state can cut funding and other things um second I will make decisions in terms of educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools and meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing essentially making decisions without discriminating against those children that are different um I think that speaks for itself I will confine my board action of policy making planning and appraisal and will help to frame policies
010and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them your role as board members is to put in place the policies that your staff and administrators and students follow but you're supposed to do that with the best interest and the input of the community around you in mind and then the superintendent's job is to see that those policies are properly followed I will carry out my responsibility now to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well run again your biggest responsibility as a board member is to put the policies in place and to hire the superintendent the superintendent then hires everyone else and oversees the day-to-day operations of the school it's very important for school board members not to really become involved
011with the day-to-day operations of the school as that could pre-determine their positions on issues that may become may come before the board um I will recognize that The Authority arrests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board um this one's pretty self-explanatory but it's important to remember when you're talking to people such as friends or family or posting on social media you don't want to take any action that could compromise your position on the board or compromise the board as a whole especially with something that could come before the board later I will surrender my independent judgment as I'm sorry I will not surrender my independent judgment a special interest or partisan political groups or to use the school's personal gain or
012for the gain of friends again pretty self-explanatory goes with the one before it that you won't um do things just for your own benefit or the benefit of friends or some special interest group or partisan political group that you're involved with and you need to always look at things um you know through the lines of a board member and what the board as a whole would do I would hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community at four at schools so this basically means obviously school board members get a lot of confidential net confidential information both an executive and
013in emails and documents that they get for students staff different things that are coming up in the school district those absolutely need to be remain confidential and if you are if you are talking on a matter that is a school matter you need to make sure that you're spreading accurate information and that your views align with the goals of the board I will vote to appoint the best qualified personal Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer again you hire one he hires everyone else so um if Dr Smith is making a recommendation your role as a school board member is to take that recommendation um as you know being a good one and to appoint the best qualified personnel and then not withhold your approval for arbitrary and capricious reasons
014um I will support and protect School personnel and proper performance of their duties this one kind of goes with the other the one above it um you are a school board member therefore you should be positive about your interactions with the community when talking about staff and administrators um and you want to not be out there on social media or in the public bashing any particular staff member or or administrator if there is an issue you want to take that to the chief School administrator and let him deal with it and the last one I will refer all complaints to the Chiefs will administrator won't act on complaints at public meetings only after a failure of an administrative solution so we are constantly saying at the meetings that we can't discuss Personnel matters or student
015matters and a lot of times when board members get emails their only responses I will refer your complaint to Dr Smith that is because they ethically cannot respond to these emails and participate in a conversation about the issue because it is not before the board and it is not their role to do so so um when they get complaints they can certainly refer them to the chief School administrator or to you know the other appropriate person if it's a if it's a building level issue um and they can tell resources but they really can't get involved unless it is something specifically before the board so that's everything any questions or comments from the board pertaining to 3.1 to 3.8 okay saying none roll call please Mr vishinty Mr Bach yes Mrs capella yes Mr physicaro
016yes Mrs Fox yes Mr Catherine yes Mrs null yes Miss Lee Yes Mrs Ryan yes Mr Thompson yes Mission carries under old new business items 4.1 and 4.2 I need a motion to approve items 4.1 which is appointments and 4.2 which is fundraisers can I have a motion Mr physacaro Ms snow oh thank you any questions or comments from the board pertaining to those two items okay seeing none roll call please Mr vishinty Mr Bach yes Mrs Capello yes Mr physicaro yes Mrs Fox yes Mr Canton yes Mrs Knoll yes Miss Lee Yes Mrs Ryan yes Mr Thompson yes commission carries okay item 5.1 any items of Interest this meeting will now be open to the public pertaining to any items of Interest however if your questions or comments pertain to litigation students or Personnel
017items or negotiations we would ask you to see the superintendent after the meeting since we do not discuss these matters in public please limit your comments to three minutes per person anyone for public comment okay seeing none we'll close the public comment Dr Smith do you have anything to say before I join the meeting just um welcome and congratulations to our three new board members very exciting and uh congratulations to our returning uh board President and Vice President congratulations to the whole board for the year we have ahead 2023 it's going to be great so thank you questions or comments from the board Mr Canton thanks Mrs Ryan um just uh I wanted to share some Reflections in December but I didn't want to take the the spotlight away from our departing board members so
018um I think I know I speak for for Mrs Ryan as well when I say it's with great humility that the two of us stay here um in the last year we asked a ton out of our board members we've literally doubled the time you guys spend in executive session we asked more from our committee members and our committee chairs we even came in on weekends which is unheard of previously right just like we asked a lot of you guys I think uh you guys should continue to ask a lot out of us as your leaders um like Leah's job is not to run the meeting right our job is to make you all successful um so just like we ask a lot of you continue to ask a lot out of us and that
019goes double for for our new board members especially up until now till May you will see and hear things that you've never heard of things you don't know how to deal with new ideas every single day lean on us call us we're here for you we're all one team and we need to be successful so anytime there's a question especially for our new board members please do reach out to us thanks guys and I concur with everything you said he's the most eloquent Personnel of the two of us so any other questions or comments from the board okay seeing none I need a motion to return Mr physacaro Mr clanson roll call please Mr Bach yes Mrs Capello yes Mr physicaro yes Mrs Fox yes Mr Captain yes Mrs Noel yes Miss Lee Yes Mrs
020Ryan yes Mr Thompson yes motion passes thank you welcome back to uh 2023 and we hope for a very productive and successful year for everyone thank you [Music]