001foreign [Music] nope I think I'm good to collect myself here good evening everyone uh good evening and welcome to the the first meeting of 2023 I hope everyone had a safe healthy and happy uh New Year um this evening is our Board of Education reorganization meeting and typically Dr Russo our assistant uh superintendent for finance would be presiding over tonight's meeting at least the beginning of the meeting he's unable to be here tonight so our assistant board secretary and District comptroller Bonnie Chaney is going to run the beginning of the meeting the business there's a there's a reorganization portion of the meeting so I'm gonna turn it over to Bonnie for for that okay I'd like to call to order the meeting of the West Windsor Plainsboro Regional School District Board of Education in accordance
002with the state Sunshine Law adequate notice of this meeting was provided by sending a notice of the time date location and to the extent known the agenda of this meeting on January 10 2022 and December 22nd 2022 to the home News Tribune and the times posted on the district website placed in the board office and in each of the district schools and sent to the Plainsboro and West Windsor Public Libraries and Plainsboro West Windsor Township Clerks again this is the reorganization meeting of the West Windsor Plainsboro Regional School District for the period January 2023 through January 2024 and again in accordance with the state Sunshine's law adequate notice of this meeting was provided by sending a notice of the time date location and to the extent known the agenda of this meeting to the home
003News Tribune the times the West Windsor and Plainsboro public libraries and copies of this notice also have been posted in the board office filed with the plainsborough and West Windsor Township clerks and placed in each of our schools and posted on the district website now just relay the results of the November 8th 2022 election there were two three-year terms available in West Windsor to which Louisa ho and graylen McEwen were elected congratulations Louisa and graylin there was one one-year term available in West Windsor to which schweta Shetty was elected congratulations and there was one three-year term available in Plainsboro to re to which Robin zovich was elected congratulations [Applause] so we'll move on to the administration of the Oaths of office and we well I would normally start with Louisa but she is out today
004so um gray Lynn we can start with you if you could raise your right hand and read your oath of office thanks Bonnie I graylen McCune do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I Grayling McCune do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS 19 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in New Jersey statute 18a 12-1 and that I will
005faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God next schweta you could raise your right hand and take that I sweat the Shetty do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I shweta Shetty do solemnly swear that I 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 RS 19 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or
006offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God thank you and again congratulations and Robin if you could raise your right hand and read I Robin zovich do solemnly do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I Robin zovich do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of abort of a board of education and then I'm not disqualified
007as a voter pursuant to RS 194-1 nor disqualified to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God and if I could ask that each of you sign your oath and then we'll move on to uh nomination for president of the board so could I have a nomination for president of the Board of Education Dana I nominate Rachel Juliana okay second Liz okay any other nominations so if I could ask that in front of you there's a white slip of paper if you could just write down your um choice for president of the Board of Education and pass it over to me it should have came with
008your packet there was a blue piece and a white piece of paper if you don't have it you can just write it on a piece of paper and send it to me [Music] people like me so first I have Elizabeth votes for Rachel Juliana for president schweta Shetty votes for Rachel Juliana for president foreign votes for Rachel Juliana for president [Music] graylon McEwen votes for Rachel Juliana for president Dana Krug votes for Rachel Juliana for president Puja Bonsall votes for Rachel Juliana for president and Rachel Juliana votes for Rachel Juliana for president and Loy maliga votes for Rachel Juliana for president so Rachel Juliana is president of the Board of Education congratulations and I will switch seats with him foreign thank you Bonnie um and I just wanted to say thank you to my fellow
009board members again for entrusting me with this role of board president and for representing all of you again this coming year it's been a really an honor and a privilege this past year and I'm looking forward to doing this again 2023 so thank you all right so now we will move to um to the vote for vice president of the board so can I have a nomination for vice president Louie I'd like to nominate graylin McEwen she's been vice president this past year and has done a fantastic job so I know she'll be um continue to do a job this is a great job this upcoming year so I nominate graylin [Music] okay any other nominations [Music] okay so if we can I think the blue sheet if you can all um write down your
010vote and I think we will pass it over to Bonnie [Music] foreign so first I have Elizabeth George Genera votes for Grayland McEwen for vice president McEwen votes for Grayland McEwen for vice president Dana Krug votes for Grayland McEwen for vice president Puja bansal votes for graylon McEwen for vice president Loy maliga votes for graylon McEwen for vice president schweta Shetty votes for Grail and McEwen for vice president Robin zovich votes for Grayland McEwen for vice president and Rachel Juliana votes for graylon McEwen for vice president congratulations grayler McEwen for being elected [Applause] congratulations Grayland and I concur with loy's comments so looking forward to working with you again this year yeah so now we um as part of our reorganization there are a number of items we need to vote on to continue the
011regular business of the school district so can I have a motion for items 7 through 34 Dana and Grayland any questions or comments Bonnie okay Miss Bonsall yes Miss Genera yeah Miss Krug yes Miss maliga yes Miss Shetty yes Miss zovich yes Miss McEwen yes and Miss Juliana yes so that closes closes the reorganization portion of our agenda so we now move to the regular business items in our agenda tonight so I will turn it over to Dr utterhold for comments but if you think again everyone um you can't just uh welcome to uh this month January is a school board recognition month ly school years it's an opportunity for political Community to recognize the nine members of Board of Education express our thanks and acknowledgment gratitude for their service and contributions to the school
012district um pleasurable thank you thank you Dr Idaho all right we're now going to turn to the student representative reports so can I have the representatives from High School South and High School North please good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board we hope you all had a nice holiday break and we are ready to cover what's happening itself we ended December with our winter spirit week this week was full of so much Spirit South and Holiday music from our jazz band and choral programs played at lunch and throughout the halls and the offices and our acapella group went caroling throughout the day we ended the 2022 school year with side-by-side pep rallies 9th and 10th graders in the old gym and 11th and 12th graders in the new gym one of the highlights of
013our pep rally was a big City big send-off we gave to our beloved security monitor Bert Barros we let her know that South will always have her pride and spirit with it on the athletic front um the boys and girls South and North basketball teams played each other in December and they were both great games with lots of spirit and energy in the crowd we have a lot to look forward to and we are expecting big things in 2023 we have the musical Black History Month celebrations and upcoming Musical music festivals also this just in South took the victory just two hours ago over North in their swim meet we want to highlight the impressive victory of the girls with 117 to 53. that's all for tonight we hope you had a great New Year
014thank you thank you get home safe with the fog good evening everyone I hope today is what well and happy New Years to start off on Friday January 13th High School North will hold its inaugural diversity equity and inclusion also known as Dei day di day is a student Workshop event at our school designated to build awareness of issues related to diversity Equity inclusion and belonging our goals are to Foster students skills and understanding with regards to Equitable practices Inspire students to think and act with greater awareness and work to support a more just and inclusive School environment by engaging in one of 38 interactive workshops led by students and adults that day if anyone on the board is interested in attending or would like more information please let Dr dauber or Dr Kim know
015last month students from High School North met with Dr aderholt and Dr dauber to discuss the impact of rising costs on school clubs and the search for creative ways to support students in this manner students greatly appreciated Dr aderholt's willingness to sit down and listen to talk openly with students we know he's a very busy person with many responsibilities and we greatly appreciate it next up we have winter sports the wwp United cheerleaders have qualified for the National High School championship in February in Florida the north south basketball games were a great way to kick off the season with the girls North team winning 45-27 North female wrestlers Trisha Naka and afua APO both took third in their weight classes recently at the queen of the East wrestling tournament Karen said Raju and Evan de
016Jong took second place at the George Meyer U.S army wrestling invitational while will Lopez and Justin mussmano both took third our track and field team will take part in the CBC relays on January 8th and the spring musical is underway this year North will present The Little Mermaid from March 2nd to March 5th and it looks like it'll be a great show now hand it off to me here thank you Ria on January 28th the high school north at sponsoring its second annuals prom shop The Prop Shop is available for all high school students at West Windsor Plainsboro who need an outfit for prom all items have been donated and now are free of charge for the students the High School North parent teacher student Associates is sponsoring a winter cleared out this December or
017this January 9th memories can help families can help raise funds for the class of 2023 senior Celebrations by cleaning out their closets kitchens attics garage and basement see details at the high school doors PTSA newsletter which is emailed to family on Fridays the more our collection ways the more money we raise also for parrots on Tuesday January 10th the High School North guidance Department in conjunction with their PTSA will be hosting a Roundtable discussion titled Atomic habits discussion will Center on setting goals for the new year this meeting will take place via Zoom at 12 30 PM more information can be found in the High School North slash PTSA newsletter as well finally planning is well underway for the Washington seminar Disney and this year's Music tour at High School North which will take place
018later in the school year many students are very excited about each of these and we appreciate the school's board for breaking these trips back to our school this year thank you guys thank you for all your time and get home safe good night thank you all again for the great student rep reports we really appreciate it and happy New Year to all of you uh so now we're going to go to our Board of Education annual ethics training this we do this every year and so we're I'm going to invite our board attorney Jessica chacey up to the podium good evening everyone congratulations to the excuse me newly elected board members who are sworn in tonight and happy New Year to everybody uh I know we have to go back to December when we were
019talking about this but it's not a fairy tale you have your school ethics act review tonight um so let's begin uh just a reminder this presentation does not replace individual ethics training required for all newly elected or appointed board members don't blame me for that foreign I know most of you have gone on most of you all of you have heard this before uh but I I will read at you because in some instances because we're talking about the law and I think we're talking about the law you mean to be specific um so just keep in mind this is off on Under 18a 12 21. um as you know this is representative former government uh it is essential that you hold that the local Board of Education Local School administration hold respect and confidence
020of the people board members and administrators must avoid conduct which is in violation of the public Trust or which creates justifiable impression among the public that's just trust is being violated that's important because it's not just a violation of public trust it's also the impression that may be given so in your role as board members you should be aware of that okay as we get into the law as we begin again we will talk about njac 6A 32-3.2 it requires every Board of Education too one discuss the school ethics act and code of ethics for school board members at regularly scheduled public meetings each year this is your meeting I doubt policies and procedures for training board members and understanding the code of ethics and document that each board member has received and reviewed the
021code of ethics you will get an acknowledgment of receipt of this training uh to sign all right we'll talk just a little bit about the role of a school board member you are none of your newbies here so at this point you should know the these tenants all too well um you're the governing body of the school district you're charged with high level policy making decisions the only entity that can enter into contracts or other binding agreements your decision making Authority is limited you cannot administer the schools and you may not act in many situations without CSA recommendations and we have the code of ethics which is again 18a colon 12-24.1 and we're going to go through each of those with you the first one is 24 1A uphold all laws this is pretty self-explanatory
022follow the law you know again we've been through this before I'm not going to bore you with uh the the details of it but I just uphold all laws and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Edge and courts order and corridors pertaining to schools desired changes should be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures a reminder that we're gonna we have some cases in here with some advisory opinions cases start with the letter c advisory opinions start with a you can look all of these up on the school ethics commission website if you want the full summary of the cases if you're so inclined to look them up I will leave some of these to you guys to read we've been through them before I I will hit some
023highlighted ones but this one is pretty straightforward for example c5814 a board member violated the code when he attempted to issue a board employee of rice notice without filing proper legal procedures of seeking board authority or Consulting with the board so um everything's gotta cannot be done by one member it's got to be done by the board as a whole so in doing so you weren't upholding that board number is not upholding the law um just jumping through to 18 8 colon 12-241 B I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual individuals needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing I tell every board this is well uh it goes beyond those
024protected categories it goes to all of the practice categories under the New Jersey law against discrimination uh I guess the doe is an updated the wall for that purpose but you should know that um if you have questions regarding that please feel free to discuss that with me um all right so c1619 board just another example of of something that would have been found to have violated section B board member who's adult and financially independent child working District as a per diem substitute teacher violated the act when they participate in the superintendent's evaluation and voted to approve payment of Miracles um there is obviously a conflict there when you are a board member and you have a relative and we'll discuss that a little more later immediate family member who works in the district um
025voting on the superintendent's evaluation there you can be whether you're influenced or not you can be perceived to be influenced give that impression so you cannot vote on their contract um so c4020 is another example board vice president did not violate the act by making a statement during a public meeting land-basing a number of District parents by name and an advocacy group that were critical against past actions of the board even though the meeting was virtual beamed into homes where children could see it doesn't take away your rights as a board member to address those issues see this is this is one of the important ones not that they're all important but this is all uh certainly one of the important one um you know this is I will confine my board action of policy
026making 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 um you know I deal with this in a lot of school districts with new members and I know none of you are necessarily new here but new board members come in and they think they're going to change everything they think they're going to come right in on their White Horse and just change how the district operates but your role is limited to policy making so you can't do that and I'll look you've probably heard this on 15 times before but I think it's it's worth repeating that your role as board members is limited to policy making laughs all right c1614 remember uh was con board members conduct conducted a
027site visit to assess a candidate for a super for assistant superintendent without board authority um obviously that's problematic because that goes beyond your role you're not that's not policy making that's beyond policy making now assessing staff members so that board member was actually Centric for that just as a reminder the school ethics commission has a number of different uh mechanisms or abilities to to reprimand uh board members in the event there's a violation school I think that could be I reprimand it could be a suspension it could be a censure it could be removal um so there are those mechanisms and again if you have any questions about any of these please um stop and ask me uh I won't read this one c4405 where President and Vice President violated multiple provisions of the ACT
028when they accepted an invitation about privacy privately with a local Teachers Association to discuss concerns that the association had the meeting was held without the knowledge of the other board members and without knowledge of the superintendent or the superintendent being present that's found to have violated subsection C and D of the ACT the president was suspended for one month and the vice president was censured doesn't mean you can't meet with the association as board as board members you just have they have to have the authority to do so from the board there was no discussion with the superintendent or the designated representative that was the issue here the half your Authority comes from the board as a whole all right d no micromanaging this kind of plays off the limit of policy making but it's
029a it's a little more detailed about micromanaging District administration that's not your role again it's policy making um says I will carry my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are all well run you're not trying to be mean by by saying that we're not trying to Remember by saying that but that's not your role you have to know what your role is and it's not to administer the schools that's left for the Educators the administrators and I'm sure you've heard that at least 22 times in 4010 uh This falls under no micromanaging board member violated The Code by instructing the superintendent to allow a graduating senior to participate in graduation ceremonies when the superintendent have barred the student from participating in the ceremonies due
030to safety concerns the police reported that there were threats that the student was targeted was the target of a shooting and the board member was aware of the report still found to have value of the code the intent may have been good but it that was administering the schools that was micromanaging it should have gone through the superintendent there's no overriding theme that you will hear throughout this presentation when you have an issue when you have a complaint that needs to be addressed it goes to the superintendent doesn't go to the principal doesn't go to the vice principal assistant principal goes to the superintendent see 6406 board member violated the code when a unilaterally visited the school and took pictures of open windows in the middle school and items in the board office bathroom which
031he then spoke to reporters about I mean that one's I think pretty obvious I can't imagine in my wildest dreams while a board member I think that would be okay but apparently they did and they were and they were reprimanded for it 24.1 E I will recognize that Authority Rush with the Board of Education and make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board so as a board member you can't say that the authority is mine right you have to it it does not rest with me arrested or you as a board uh it's the board so you can think of it as ours right it's not me it's ours and that's that's the distinction here you you are working as a board uh as you can't do things personally
032for yourself uh c1614 board member violated the code when they made personal promises to a candidate for assistant superintendent by advancing the possibility of his employment with the district and promising to resolve a contract issue for the district which had the potential to compromise the board it's pretty uh self-explanatory c6319 board member did not violate the act by negotiating and sending a post-csa contract to the ESC prior to full Boe review and discussion all of the actions ostracized minority the board sites act did not exceed the scope and of and duty of the board of a board member that's a little different in the sense that there was a contract proposed CSA contract and the ECS does review that F no personal gain I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment or special to special
033interest or part or partisan political groups or to use the school for personal gain or for the gain of friends great example of this is as a board member obviously you can't vote on somebody being hired by the board you can't be involved with that especially a relative a family member you that's a big no no that would be a personal gain you have a spouse who then wants to be hired by the board can't do that um c3418 and this is a pretty uh egregious example but it's a good example a board member violated the act when doing a traffic stop she identified herself as a board member stated that she hates cops because they hurt black people called the request for her license license registration a bleeping insult threatened to make a call
034right now to the council president and after told that the ticket could not be voided stated then I'll call the council president and your skinhead cop Chief Two Township administrator sent a memo to the Boe president expressing concerns over these actions SEC found that her near immediate self-identifying as a board member was attempt to leverage Boe position that board member received a six-month suspension for that um a3614 this is an advisory opinion board members May endorse candidates uh up for election to the uh to the board if the endorsement is made as a private citizen not as a board member or on behalf of the board um the reason I like to talk about that is because you have to know generally speaking we talk about private action you have to be very careful as
035a board member that you're not presenting yourself to the public as a board member On A Private Matter um for example you may have private payment opinions you may want to write a letter to the editor there is case law about writing letters to the editor you have to make it clear and we'll talk about this with social media as well that you are writing or speaking as a private citizen and not a board member um you have to ident identify yourself as a board member you have to identify that you're not authorized by the board so indicating the letter you're not authorized by the board to make this statement and that uh it's not written by the board these are not the views of the board okay so you have to be very clear
036when you're when you're doing that that's again that's not just for letters together that's social media it's whatever whenever you're representing issues that are in any way affect the school district a 2414 conflicted board members may not participate in the board searched for a new superintendent as confidential matters pertaining to search criteria Etc might be disclosed by the board members again these are advisory opinions everybody say conflicted board members usually means you have some sort of relative in the school district so you're not involved in that part of it and and look if you have a as a board member you may come on the board and have a spouse in the school district or a child for that matter you are privy to confidential information that information and then we're going to talk about
037that a little later has got to remain confidential so the concern here is um that that confidential information can be used to your advantage so you need to be very cognizant of that as we talk about that maintain confidentiality this is one of the biggies I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all their matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members and interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its schools as board members you are privy as we said a confident confidential information we have executive sessions you're all aware of that you have privy to information related to students and staff that the general public is not privy to your that information
038is to be held in trust and in doing so if you don't if you don't hold that information in trust besides the detriment it can cause of the board as a whole it's a clear violation of the ACT and the SEC takes this very seriously and comes down pretty hard on folks for even accidental violation you may not mean to and there's a couple good examples in here and let me just jump to them c1718 board member was censured for responding to and having a social media message reposted over an alleged student discipline incident of a high school student must identify the students school grade level gender and specific details about the incident and length of suspension imposed c0919 board member was reprimanded for inadvertently copying a Community member on an email that was intended
039to go to all Boe members and the CSA where in discussions that were held in executive session over a staff member parents complaint over security issue were revealed it wasn't intentional they accidentally cc'd the person does not matter it's still a violation of the ACT it's like I said the SEC takes confidentiality very seriously even accidental disclosures are going to be a violation see 2921 I have to go through this one because Mark did some research and actually put it in here so it's important I get it board member violated multiple provisions of the ACT went to the PTA meeting they discussed the board superintendent's search and candidates for position uh indicated that it was unlike that it was unlikely that the Acting Superintendent would be considered for the position and then publicly stated at
040board meeting that it was important the new superintendent hold everyone accountable and that it might have been difficult for the Acting Superintendent to do that if they have been selected this violated GE and I so Mark asks I talked about h I will vote to appoint the best qualified person Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer so this is one of those where it basically says you gotta you've got to consider the CSA the superintendents uh for those of you CSA as Chief School administrator uh their recommendations when it comes to Personnel matters um c3502 board member did not violate the code when they voted not to reimport reappoint an employee despite the contrary recommendation the principal and superintendent the ACT does not require the board to accept all recommendations
041at the CU CSA the Boe must however consider all recommendations and dismiss those that are arbitrary or capricious so that's important you have to consider it but you do not have to agree with it as long as it's not arbitrary or capricious so in other words you have to have reasons now in this case I'm sure the superintendent was seeing red um and it might have created some bad blood with the board but just so you know be very careful when you I mean you should have information enough to have a basis for not accepting that recommendation a3115 is again as an advisory opinion how that selecting candidates for the district position and making recommendations is the role of the superintendent prior to the recommendation board members have no role in selecting candidates for positions
042other than that of the superintendent so look you could have a great candidate I mean you could have I mean someone you know someone famous you have Tim McGraw for example um interview for a position and I got I love Tim McGraw he's great I want to hire him but super 10 doesn't recommend it doesn't matter the board can't susponte do it themselves they can't then hire that person all right 24 1 I support District Personnel Iowa support and protect School personnel and proper performance of their duties c01-18 board member violated the code when during a private conversation during a board meeting he asked that the CSA position opened would that person the current employee be interested Not only was there no position to fill as there was a CSA in place but the other
043individual was the superintendent subordinate by inquiring if interested in the boss's job the board member undermined the CSA the word of the chain of command and compromises CSA and the proper performance of his or her duties uh so that's a good example of not supporting in this case a superintendent but District personnel as a whole c5305 remember violated the code when he sent an email to the superintendent that was also sent at the ba and all other board members that was threatening and intimidating in that it asked for the superintendent to provide an accounting of her personal leave um I mean obviously you know there's not well in some districts in the relationship with some board members and superintendent it's not a love story in this case the board member violated the code and was
044and was reprimanded for it um under case Point C 8417 but remember and superintendent did not did not violate the code and the superintendent decided to allow the parent of a special education student to observe a classroom without consulting with the classroom teacher and the board did not violate The Code by denying the grievance that was filed by the Association in connection with that visit it's another example of what would not in that case would not be um not supporting District Personnel because that was a grieving scenario so that's that's entirely different that's a contractual issue all right Jay proceed through proper channels we alluded to this a little bit before I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer meeting the superintendent and will act on the complaints of public meetings only after
045failure of an administrative solution so this is pretty straightforward um as board members you're going to hear complaints from the community it happens from parents by new students maybe staff complaints have to be referred to the superintendent it's not your job as board members to address those complaints and and deal with them your job is to Frank if the superintendent have the superintendent handle it only if it's not handled at that point then um you can address it in uh and for the if there's no administrative solution as a full board not as an individual c1821 board members violated The Code by sending a response email to a community member that was critical of a staff member's comments at a public board meeting and posting on their private social media account calling a post flip
046it hypocritical inflammatory and a source of embarrassment to the district and promised the Community member an administrative response even though the administration was still investigating and had not yet responded to the staff member um in this case you have a board member uh going to addressing a Community member um and we're addressing them in public before there's an administrative solution that's the concern here there that there was not an administrative solution it should have gone to the superintendent um so they should not have been a promising an administrative response if they and if you go to for example a vice principal you shouldn't be doing that to try to resolve the issue that administrator that vice principal um if you go to the vice principal and say Hey I want you to resolve X Y
047and Z that that Vice principles should should have said no not their job go to the superintendent um c2407 board member violated The Code by not providing superintendent with letters because he's not not like the superintendent's management of issues raised in those letters instead the board member went to other administrators to address the issues that board member got a six-month suspension for that just keep in mind administration of schools by the administration all right um everyone's favorite part conflicts so this really um well we're going to talk about the the ethics law versus nepotism law and the definitions because it and you can look I'm not going to read them to you um under the ethics law there's definitions for immediate family relative and others as you can see under others an individual who meets
048the definition of relative under nepotism will be considered an other under the ethics Act um if we this a lot of mostly applies to negotiations uh Collective negotiations with uh your local Association or Union so absent any another conflict a board member who is currently or who has an immediate family member that is currently a member of any Statewide Public teachers union but another school district cannot participate in any aspect of negotiations until the Moa including salary guides and total compensation package has been attained once that is done member can vote on a successor CNA um I get this question I've gotten from a lot of school districts a lot of board members I will always tell you unless it's going to be a close vote don't vote on it there's no reason but it's
049it's pretty straightforward if you have an immediate family member not a relative or another immediate family member as a member of for example the nja or afscme or um CWA and that's also the group that represents and only the njas here so in this case the NJEA then um you can't be involved in negotiations arguably until you're voting on the Moa and salary guides there's been an agreement on that even in that case we'll talk about it um if you're a family member who who is in any way a media family member who is in District you got to stay out of it completely there you can't vote on the on the contract so a board member with a relative who was employed by the district cannot participate in any aspect of negotiations including the
050vote on a successor CNA following attainment of the Moa it's important to know the definition of relative and what that entails so what I always suggest if you have someone in the district we need another relationship and then we will you come to us and we will give you advice as to whether you can be involved in negotiations or whether you can vote on the on the collective negotiation agreement but uh generally speaking in District it's an issue out of District it's a relative and they are in in this case the NJEA and so they work in another school district you may be able to participate in negotiations there's a number of factors that we'd have to consider and mainly what are their role in that other unit in the other District so are they
051on the negotiation team are they on the executive committee and we'll do an analysis of it so that in that instance come to us and we will we will address that um this is our little handy dandy chart for quick reference regarding those conflicts we just talked about and these are a couple of issues that arise sometimes is just to give you some ideas um an advisory between a2417 it's just advised that the employment of a board member's sister by a substitute staffing company that had a contract with the board for substitute would not conflict the border from negotiations or for from participating in all issues concerning the districts superintendent building principle and budget now if it had to do with the staffing company itself maybe that's a separate issue but for those purposes it's
052not a conflict a3014 having to do with substitutes advised where a board member's spouse is employed as a substitute teacher in District the board member may not participate in any Personnel matters of those in the chain of command over the board member's spouse for obvious reasons at that point um it could be personal gain for the individual employee and obviously the board member foreign non-traditional education union membership not really an issue here because you have the nja I think for everybody in some school districts you will have asked me CWA Teamsters um but not really an issue here so that becomes an issue we can discuss it more in depth the doctrine of necessity this has arisen uh so when there are board mem when where so many board members have ethical conflicts the board
053cannot function then a board may use the doctrine of necessity which will allow the board to function as if no member had a conflict the board must pass a resolution invoking the doctrine reasons for it and the nature of the conflicts the doctor allows voting and in limited circumstances participation in negotiation I don't think we have that issue here but you should be aware of it always consult us before using the doctrine as advisory opinion a2817 the swathi commission does not require at least three board members to be on a board committee uh permissible to only have two members on the committee a board cannot have a committee of one if there's only non-conflict if there is only one non-conflicted member and the board can invoke the doctrine of necessity in order to form a
054committee again I don't think we have that issue here interview process um I will go over this but I'm going to I'll give you my opinion after uh a31-15 each Board of Education may decide if it wants a Personnel committee the SEC does not support board members conducting interviews for positions below superintendent if a board forms a Personnel committee no more than one or two board members May participate participating members have a limited role these are Personnel decisions I strongly discourage anybody from participating and board members from participating in interviews of anybody other than the superintendent uh and that's because if you start asking questions um if you're asked a question and you start engaging somehow that's going to open you up to an ethical violation so we really don't the SEC doesn't doesn't encourage
055you we don't encourage it but you should be aware of this opinion uh just following up on that uh a3115 board members may not conduct the interview but may offer observations and assessment after the fact um but again if you're sitting in the interview it's going to be likely a violation so just be real careful final recommendations Are Holy within the preview the superintendent like we discussed before you can sit in all the interviews you want this if the superintendent doesn't want to recommend it you're not going to vote on it because it's not going to be before the board um before recommendation is made for hiring board members have no role except When selecting a superintendent uh volunteering I know this does come up a lot there are a number of advisory opinions on
056this if you have questions certainly ask us about it specific questions uh basically the SEC School ethics commission is concerned with the degree of involvement with staff and students that a board member could have they're really concerned with your directing staff or students and or the perception that you're directing staff for students you got to think about it you may you may be a parent you may be in a in a school in your mind as a parent but a teacher is going to still view you as a board member right so when you are in that school volunteer maybe it's for homecoming or something like that and and there's an advisor there a teacher advisor you may just be trying to help out and say hey grab this can you do that yeah well
057that may be a directive and that may violate the act so just be careful uh and cognizant of that we're not saying you can't volunteer we want people to volunteer that is not what we're saying it's just understand your role what the perception may be um and if you have questions please ask us about it the school ethics commission does not view intermittent non-executive volunteer activities to be an issue rather the main concern is that a board member should not be in a consistent supervisory position or generally overseas staff or students when volunteering so came to a consistently and generally you shouldn't overseas staff for students um some volunteering activities that Oak are okay helping to construct and maintain props for the musicals plays loading and uploading band equipment for the marching band Charming as
058a team parent including the arranging order organizing spirit days in your celebrations your end of the year Banquets home home or classroom parent homeroom parent coordinator for specific schools coordinator of a movie night event coordinator of Field Day events PTA PTO executive officers including the president but again be cognizant of your role as a board member and what impression you may give by engaging in certain actions or conduct all right another advisory opinion board members who former who is employee of a busing company that contracts with the district to provide transportation to students can transport District students on a daily basis to and from school even though the bus driver has supervisory role over students in Forces school rules and interacts with staff and student on a daily basis the difference at least according to
059school ethics commission within the private employment volunteer is volunteering is the individual getting paid as opposed to not getting paid it's their job you can agree or disagree with that but that's how the school ethics commission views it all right we talked about this a little bit already um no lone wolves you don't want to but there's no night Rangers you don't want to you don't want to go out on your own c2516 lone board members loan board member with procedural concerns about a superintendent contract board member wanted to file a petition with a commissioner on those issues uh the board attorney told the board member uh hey look you can't um you can't without the support of the majority of the board member said Shoop I'm going to file it anyway um and after
060the board member filed the ethics charges ethics charges were brought against the board member and SEC found that the board member instituted excuse me a preceding adverse to the district obviously you can't have adverse proceedings as a board member to the board and took personal action that compromised the board uh the alj recommended reprimand but the SEC modified the penalty to censure all right this wouldn't be a complete ethics presentation unless we talked about social media which I can tell you is as attorneys debate of our existence when it relates to this stuff you see a lot of school ethics cases related to this so I think it's important to kind of go through this in a little bit of detail c1718 board member was censured for responding to and having social media messages reposted
061over an alleged student discipline incident of a student message identified student school grade level gender and specific details about the incident length of suspension imposed see 1915 and see 2015. and I'm going to tell you before I get too far into this there are some inconsistencies with the SEC and um the oal so it follows ethics commission complaint Gothic commission makes a decision it can get appealed to the doe which is going to go to the office of administrative law and administrative law jobs will then make a decision this gets complicated which then can be reviewed by the Department of Education um so uh see 1915 and see 2015 the SEC found two Boe members violated the act when they posted on Facebook that a substitute teacher who was also running for election to the
062board was unemployed and engaged in misconduct as a substitute teacher notwithstanding the fact that statements were not true and actually applied to another teacher the commission found that the boards violated njsa 18a 1224.1 Ing and issued a reprimand my advice to you just generally speaking is I will use the terms of one of my teachers when I was young Sister Christian she told me that you know anything nice to say I don't say anything at all right c5619 and 57 19. the SEC found Boe member violated the ACT when he posted offensive posts on his personal Facebook page that were anti-muslim although it was found that the posts were on his personal Facebook page were not made in the capacity of a board member and the content of the post were personal opinions the Boe
063member violated the act as if it as it was Private action that may compromise the board and undermine the public Trust member was only censured because he had to he had not run for re-election therefore removal was not an option um and as I said before the you're going to see the next case it's not consistent but I do want you to focus on those terms private action that may be compromise they may compromise the board because that is something that whether it's an alj or the SEC can kind of seize upon because there's the First Amendment argument here and I don't want to get into and bore you with the details of it but there's a First Amendment argument but this is saying you don't have that First Amendment right because it's a private
064action that compromises the board um so my best advice to you honestly if you if you see a post you don't agree with something and you think it's inappropriate just shake it off just leave a blank space there don't respond all right so with that we have any questions any questions from board members okay here I go there I go here I go again all right [Music] thank you thank you Mr [Music] okay all right so we'll now move to the first opportunity for public comments the board invites thoughts and reactions on agenda items and items of concern from members of our community who are present each participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to making a statement which will be limited to three minutes in accordance with board policy
065zero one six seven all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer this public comment period shall be limited to 60 minutes any public comments I have sent good evening I have sent an email two nights ago I am here for two reasons first obviously is the nagging issue of the board or the superintendent not understanding margin of errors not helping a child not letting me as a parent meet the child's teacher and on and on and on a lot of atrocious things going on and all these things that are happening I don't know how to connect this thing with the what's going on in the real world I mean you should be connecting it but I'm going to connect it for you and I'll be seeing probably one or two of you after the
066meeting so the first thing is um my daughter is eligible for math 6 hna if somebody has a problem understanding this I am happy to come meet you individually collectively I have sent some expert analysis I'm not getting even the responses I mean how great are you if you don't understand margin of error and now let's take a pivot here and jump to what's going on in in the news right today two things first is New York City is getting deserted there was a thought Bubble at the beginning of the pandemic that West Windsor will gain that expensive you know those High earning people here but didn't happen West Windsor is also shrinking second thing which is even more dangerous and that's why I'm recommending that the boat should shrink to five members in fact
067in 2020 may I said it's three members but five may be fine so the Advanced Technologies are going to take over all education it will not come here right away first it will go to the the law enforcement and the judges low level cases will be handled by artificial intelligence and eventually it will come to education where high school will be redundant interesting developments happening we don't really need high school but anyway all these things are meaningless because I don't see any Vision there is not even you don't even have a competition here just like walk in the park you walk to the Board of Education and be here for three years and the right thing to do is shrink the board I mean I don't know to you know do a panorama here I
068can talk to five people versus nine and my request is what are we doing if we can't handle day-to-day problems what are we doing if you don't know what's going to happen in five years you are all sitting on the tip of a dormant volcano and if that's what you are comfortable with you're going to perish change your perish but don't take my daughters with you and I'll see you later thank you [Music] thank you any other public comments hearing none I'm going to close that public comment portion and we do not have any committee reports since we just started the year so I will move to the voting portion of our meeting can I have a motion to approve Administration items one through five Dana and Liz any questions or comments Bonnie okay um
069Miss Krug yes Miss maliga yes Miss Shetty yes ovich yes Miss Bonsall yes Miss Genera yes Miss McEwen yes and Miss Juliana yes we don't have any curriculum items tonight so we're going to move to finance can I have a motion to approve Finance items one through six uh gray Lynn and schweta any questions or comments Bonnie okay um machete yes missovich yes Miss bonso yes Miss chanera yes Miss crew yes Mr maliga yes Miss McEwen yes and Miss Julian yes we'll now move to Personnel items one plus the green addendum can I have a motion for those items uh Loy and Puja any questions or comments right Bonnie okay Miss Bonsall yes Miss Genera yes Miss Juliana oh yes Miss Krug yes Miss maliga yes Miss sovich yes Ms McKeon yes right a any
070board liaison reports any new business all right that takes us to the second opportunity for public comments the board invites comments from members of our community who are present each participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to making a statement which will be limited to three minutes in accordance with board policy zero one six seven all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer this public comment period shall be limited to 15 minutes any comments all right hearing none I will close the second opportunity for public comments uh we will okay so we will be recessing into close executive sessions so I will need to read the statement whereas the open public meetings act authorizes Boards of Education to meet an executive session under certain circumstances whereas the open public
071meetings act requires the board to adopt a resolution at a public meeting to go into private session now therefore be it resolved by the West Windsor Plainsboro Regional School District Board of Education that it is necessary to meet an executive session to discuss certain items involving personnel and student matters wwp a negotiations update discussion of District property Appellate Division number a 1571-21 and Hib cases be it further resolved that any discussion held by the board which need not remain confidential will be made public as soon as feasible the minutes of the executive session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists be it for the resolved that the board will not return to open session to conduct business at the conclusion of the executive session can I have a motion to
072adjourn to closed session Robin and Liz all those in favor say aye thank you everyone