001This meeting is being called to order in compliance with the open public meetings law of New Jersey. Notice of this January 6th, 2026 meeting of the Bridgewater Raridan Regional Board of Education was posted electronically on the district website and provided on January 8th, 2025 by sending an annual written notice to the Courier News, Star Ledger, Bridgewater Township Clerk, Rarenboro Clerk, and by posting on the bulletin board in the Harman vade administration building. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> I will now take a roll call. Miss Asuna >> here. >> Mr. Jooshi here. >> Mr. Singer here. >> Dr. Mr. Lee >> here. >> Mr. Pepe >> here.
002>> Mr. Maloney [snorts] >> here. >> Mr. Lee >> here. >> Miss Lan >> here. >> Mr. Walker >> here. >> Okay. I will now announce the final results of the election of November 4th, 2025. I will read a statement from the general election. A statement of the determination of the board of canvasers of Somerset County, New Jersey, relative to an election held in the county of Somerset on November 4th, 2025 for the election of the Bridgewater Raran Board of Education three-year Bridgewwater seats. The said board does determine that James Maloney, Steven [clears throat] Singer, and Lucy Lee were duly elected to the Bridgewater Raridan Board of Education. I do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true, full, and correct statement of the determination of the Board of Canvasers of Somerset County. In witness
003whereof, I have here unto set my hand this 19th day of November, 2025. Attested by Steve Porter, Somerset County Clerk, and Karen Carroll, Chairwoman, County Board of Canvasers. I will now administer the oath of office. I would like to ask Mr. Sanger and Mr. Maloney to stand and raise your right hand and repeat after me. Dr. Lee will be sworn in subsequently by Mr. Tim House. >> [snorts] >> I state your name. >> Do solemnly swearly >> swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States. Constitution >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith >> true faith >> and allegiance to the same >> and to the governments established >> in the United States and this state >> under the authority of
004the people. So help me God. I state your name. >> Do solemnly swearn >> that I possess the qualifications >> prescribed by law for the office >> of member of a board of education >> am not disqualified >> as a voter pursuant pursuant to RSU. 19 col4.1 >> am not disqualified due to conviction of a crime >> or offense listed in NJS >> 18A12-1 >> and that I will faithfully >> impartially and justly perform form >> all the duties >> of that office >> according to the best of my ability. So help me God. >> Thank you. Microphone wasn't on. Thanks. Hello. I'm just perform. [applause] Next on the agenda, I will take nominations for the board presidency. Do I have any nominations? >> I'd like to nominate Mike Pepe. >> Do I have any
005other nominations? Seeing none, I will close nominations for the president and take a roll call. >> Can we have a discussion? [clears throat] >> Sure. >> There's no motion on the table. It's vote for >> right. >> Yeah. Our understanding, it's a nomination and a vote. I think if we're going to vote for board president would like to know what that presidency stand for. Where would be a good time for us to hear the candidates say that? >> Is there a motion on the table? >> There is no motion on the table. It's a vote on an on a recommend a person has been nominated for president. >> So we can proceed with the vote at this point. Mr. Lomsky, can you please call the vote? >> Mr. Sunna, >> yes. >> Mr. Jooshi, >>
006yes. >> Mr. Singer, >> yes. >> Dr. Lee, >> I think this vote is invalid because there's no motion on the table. I don't think we can vote on something that's not a motion. I'd be happy to make a motion to open up the floor for debate on the nomination of a president. >> And actually on the agenda, it does say motion by. So there's a nomination, but it should be a motion with a second. So I'm I'm the one that nominated. So and then agen seconded. >> Correct. >> So then if we follow procedures at this point, we vote. >> Thank you. I I just said I I made a motion to open up the floor for debate relating to the election of a president. >> So I made a motion >> board policy
00710152 um election for each office will be conducted by a vote when the nominations for that office are closed. So uh nominations were closed. >> Understood. >> We should proceed with the role. I'd be happy to make a motion and second it so that we actually have a motion to vote on. >> There's a motion on the table. >> Voting for the president. It's been a motion was made. It was seconded. Now we are voting. >> So now we can have a discussion, right? Because a normal process would be motion second and then we have a discussion. I would like to hear from our president candidate what his candidacy stand for. I move to call the question. >> All right, I'll take a vote for the call to question. >> Mr. Asuna, >> yes. >>
008Mr. Jooshi, >> yes. >> Mr. Sanger, >> yes. >> Dr. Lee, >> no. >> Mr. Pepe, [snorts] >> yes. >> Mr. Maloney, >> yes. >> Mr. Lee, >> no. >> Miss Lockchan, >> yes. >> Mr. Walker, >> yes. >> All right, the call to question has passed. We'll now continue with the roll call vote for election of a president. Dr. Lee, >> abstain. >> Mr. Pepe. Yes, >> Mr. Maloney. >> Yes, >> Mr. Lee. >> No, >> Miss Lan. >> Absolutely. Yes, >> Mr. Walker. >> Yes. >> The motion has passed. The gavl is yours, Mr. Pepe. [applause] Good evening everyone. Happy new year to the board and the public and everyone at this table. Uh, I'd like to thank the board for their support and I look forward to working with everybody at this
009table and in our school community to make 2026 a year of growth and opportunity for our district. I appreciate everyone's support, particularly uh, Mr. Walker and Mr. Singer who have served as president um, in the years that I've been on the board and set a good example to follow. So, thank you and to everyone congratulations uh, Dr. Lee, congratulations Lucy, congratulations Mr. Singer, Steve, and particularly to Mr. Maloney. Congratulations and welcome aboard. Uh, let's all have a great year. All right. Uh, next up is the election of a vice president. Are there any nominations for vice president? >> Recommend for Rebecca Husana. >> Okay. Nominate. >> Recommendation for Mrs. Cassuna. Are there any other nominations? >> My is there a second? My understanding is that nominations don't need to be seconded for >> it's not
010required >> nominations for position. Someone could put their own name into nomination and be in the contest so to speak. So I don't believe a second is generally required and for for this action. So as far as the chair is concerned, Mrs. Asuna's name is in nomination. Are there any other names in nomination? >> Right. Seeing none, uh, Mr. >> So there is space on the agenda though for a motion. So I will make the motion >> Rebecca to be elected as president. >> Okay. There's a motion to elect as president. >> Vice president, pardon me. And uh, thank you, Mr. Beers. and Miss Lockan is seconded. Um, Mr. Lky, please call the role. >> Mr. Sununa, >> yes. >> Mr. Jooshi, >> yes. >> Mr. Singer, >> yes. >> Dr. Lee, >> I remain
011vote abstain because I haven't heard what this candidacy stand for. Thank you. >> Mr. Pepe, >> yes. >> Mr. Maloney, >> yes. >> Mr. Lee, >> no. >> Miss Lockan, >> yes. >> Mr. Walker, >> yes. >> Motion has passed. Congratulations. Congratulations. All right. Up next is the traditional reading of a board member's code of ethics. Uh this is prescribed by state law. Have I missed something? Uh the board members code of ethics. This is read by I believe every school district at by every board at their reorganization meeting and I would like to do that now. Uh we usually go around the table. So in your packets everyone should have a copy of the New Jersey school board code of ethics. There are 10 items and um each person will read one and Mr.
012Lee if you don't mind starting you can get one at the end. Thank you very much. I will uphold and enforce all laws, rules, and regulations of the state board of education and court orders pertaining to schools. Desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures. I will make decisions in terms of the education welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of children regardless of their ability, race, creed, sex or social standing. I will confine my board action to policym planning and appraisal and will help to frame policies and plan only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them. >> I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members
013to see that they are wellrun. I will recognize that authority rests with the board of education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board. I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interests or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends. I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to schools which if disclosed would necess needlessly injure individuals or the schools. In all other matters, I will provide accurate information in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for the its schools. I will vote to appoint the best qualified personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer. I will support and protect school personnel in proper
014performance of their duties. I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution. >> Right. Thank you very much everyone. I believe Mr. Lumpsky uh all board members need to sign and return this copy to you. >> Correct. Yes. >> Would it be possible to at least I have one copy in my folder. Would it be possible to get everyone just one paper copy to take home or at the next meeting? Yes. Just so everyone has it for their records. >> Yes. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate it. >> Oh, thank you. >> Would you like the one that This has my name on it. So, you're welcome to take mine. >> You know what? I'll take it
015for the next >> Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you both. All right. Up next, moving on with our reorganization agenda, we have uh to appoint and fill some positions. Uh up first is G. Election of a representative and alternate to the Somerset County Educational Services Commission Board of Directors. My understanding is that this is a voting member of that board uh who sits on that board and represents us and I think each board in the county nominates one member to sit there. Um so I think for all of these I'd like to take nominations or volunteers since these are uh extra work and if there is more than one nomination or more than one volunteer we can talk through it and if that doesn't resolve we can uh take a vote in order that
016the nominations came in. So does anyone have any questions about that uh position before we open it up to nominations and volunteers? Maybe just real quick since I'm new here, >> just a little brief overview of what exactly the position is and what like what >> they do there. >> So ED services is a board that sits and they run the ed services commission. Uh Mr. Walker is probably the best uh person to speak to this because he's been sitting he's been our member for a long time and is currently serving as board president is my understanding. So Mr. Walker, I don't want to put you on the spot, but if you wanted to opine a little bit on that' be great. and commissions is set up through the state statute to be an auxiliary
017source for the districts to use. In this case, it runs operates as a business. There is no revenue that comes from your normal tax revenue. Everything is generated through the services they provide. Every educational services commission is different New Jersey. The majority action the business models that are used with the summer county educational service commission is we have an academy in the neighborhood. We have about 170 students in all different ranges from autism um some some emotionally um impaired students and all all ranges and different areas for different areas and needs the students. We also have we do what's called coordinated special education busing. So uh normally a lot of the districts have students which go out of district but there's only one or two that go to a certain school. So in doing it
018internally in house our educ our our transportation smart would be difficult to coordinate that and doing it alone would be very expensive. So educational services coordinates those together. So we in the neighborhood um that revenue you as a whole revenue stream is around you know um probably 40 $40 million give or take um and the school has 170 students. So we run both those areas. We also do a lot of providing for um substitute nurse services and also when there is a p used for the when state funds are brought through for the different preschools they're run through educational service commission also it's a business but it's also a school and a school board so it's a it's a quasi static quasi quasi normal school district operations >> I have a question Mr. Uh just
019for clarification I guess what is it the state that regulates some county ed services? Um are they nonprofit forprofit? >> It's runs like a regular school board that stays regulated. They have they have the same full accountability through the county superintendent as as our district does and all the other 18 districts in Somerset County. >> So I know you mentioned what was the the did you say they make $40 million a year? >> No, that's the revenue. >> That's revenue. How much how much do they typically spend in expenses? >> I'm gonna I'm just gonna make a point that right now we're discussing in particular the role because we're trying to point someone to that commission. Um anyone who I think their meetings are open to the public and anyone's will is able to go
020and learn more. I think the let's try to keep our questions to what the role would be like for the board member who serves and Mr. Walker is the current member. I'm hoping that he's willing to continue. >> Yeah. >> In in that role, but if anyone has any questions about the role itself, I'm sure we could talk about the Ed services commission all night if we wanted to. >> Uh they they do a by monthly meeting every other month and the they run and every every other month they run with the executive committee. The meetings are uh the first Wednesday of the month at 4:30 in the afternoon and the executive committee meets usually the first Tuesday Wednesday of the month at noon. So we work in a you know quasi executive committee meeting
021when regular board meets aren't in session. >> Can I ask a followup? Do um do the alternates only go when you're not available or >> can come any time. They have voice but no vote >> and it's open to the public. So anybody can same as ours >> confidential session same rules apply same code of ethics pretty much everything right Bob everything's the same. We don't have to get QAC though. Educational services does not go through. >> No. And and any information I mean they have a website. You can look up any details you may want as far as spending and things like that on the taxpayers's guide to education spending that's that's accessible on the NJ DOE website. So if you had any specific questions on on those types of issues, it's it's easily
022attainable. >> With that um is Is anyone willing to serve or put to put a name in nomination? >> I'd like to nominate uh Mr. Walker. >> Mr. Walker, you have a second. Is [clears throat] anyone else interested or in serving or putting a name in nomination? Dr. Lee, >> I'm interested in serving this role or alternate if it's available and needed. >> Okay. Would you be willing to serve as the alternate or would you like to be put up for because we have to take a vote. Would you like to uh I just wanted some clarification if you can on your preference. I >> if we can work it out that'd be great. >> I would like to get participate if if people would like me to be the person I can. Otherwise, I
023can be the alternative because I think it's an important issue. Okay. >> It relates to our most vulnerable and needed students. I'm willing to serve this role. Thank you. >> Okay. So, we have a second name and nomination. Dr. Lee. Is anyone else interested in serving or putting someone up for this role? >> Okay. This is for the this is for the member of the Ed Services Commission from our board. We will uh since Mr. Walker's name was first, Mr. Launchkkey, will you please call the role for Mr. Walker? >> Point of information. >> Yes, sir. >> Um so we're voting on Mr. Walker as the official delegate to ED services. >> That is my understanding. Election of a delegate to a representative and an alternate to the Somerset County Educational Services Commissioner Board of
024Directors. Since those are two different roles and we have two different names, I'd rather take the first position first and then uh open it up to the second one because one could affect the other potentially. >> So is this a vote on just the representative? >> This is just the representative vote is the way I would like to handle it and then after this we'll decide on the alternate. >> Sounds good. Thank you. >> So I will >> if that [clears throat] works for everyone and Mr. Lomsky if that's in I know here it's written as one. So according to policy I'll go when there are multiple nominations I will go around and you state the name of who you are voting for and then that'll determine the majority. >> So for this role it's
025different than a presidential and vice presidential >> that would have been if there were two nominations >> that would have been okay. >> All right. So then we we'll solve that we'll use that process. Thank you Mr. LSK. >> So when I call your name please state who you would like to serve as the representative to the Somerset County Ed Service Commission. Either Mr. Walker or Dr. Mr. Suna >> Mr. Walker >> Mr. Jooshi >> Mr. Walker >> Mr. Singer >> Mr. Walker >> Dr. Lee >> Mr. Walker >> Mr. Pepe >> Mr. Walker >> Mr. Maloney >> Mr. Walker >> Mr. Lee >> Dr. Lee >> Miss Lan >> Mr. Walker, >> thank you both for your interest in serving and Barry, thank you for continuing to lead that organization and serve as our
026representative. So, thank you very much. All right, that leaves us with an alternate and uh is anyone miss Dr. Lee, you mentioned that you were interested in serving as the alternate. So, that's one name and nomination. Is there anyone else interested in serving as the alternate to the ED services uh board of directors? Yeah, I' I'd be willing to be the alternate. >> Okay, we have a second name and nomination. Are there any other names and nomination for the alternate? Right, Mr. WSky, same process. >> Yes. >> Right. Thank you very much. Uh, if you could please call the the role. >> Mr. Sunna, >> Dr. Lee, >> Mr. Jooshi, >> Mr. Maloney >> Mr. Singer >> Dr. Lee >> your vote your [laughter] vote >> yeah wasn't voting for you he doesn't >> myself
027yes >> Mr. Pepe >> Mr. Maloney >> Mr. Lee >> Dr. Lee >> Miss Lan um Dr. Lee >> Mr. Walker >> Mr. Maloney >> Dr. Dr. Lee has the majority. >> Congratulations, Dr. Lee. Thank you for serving as our alternate this year. Mr. Maloney, thank you very much for your interest. >> All right. Up next, we have a delegate to the New Jersey School Board Association's Delegate Assembly and Somerset County School Boards Association. I think we should probably take these. Would it be all right if we took these separately, Mr. Lumpsky? >> All right. So, we'll start with the New Jersey School Boards Association's Delegate Assembly. Just a real real briefly, the delegate assembly usually meets twice a year in on a Saturday morning down in uh Mercer County from usually around nine o'clock,
028once in May, once in December. They elect officers to the NJSBA. They set the organization's bylaws and they basically entertain resolutions to decide what their lobbyists will advocate for on the state and federal level uh in terms of education. Um so that's an important role and um the delegate would be able to go and attend and speak and vote on behalf of the board at that meeting. Uh is anyone interested in serving as the either the al serving as the delegate? >> I'd like to nominate Jen Lan. >> Jen Lan's name is in nomination. >> Second >> just just for the record. I don't believe we need seconds for these. So we'll just we'll go because someone could volunteer themselves volunteer position. I don't want to go too formal on that and I don't think
029by policy we need a second. So, Mrs. Lockran, is anyone else interested in serving? >> Dr. Lee, >> my name. >> Uh, Dr. Lee's name is in nomination. Is there anyone else who's interested in serving as the delegate? >> Right. Um, Mr. Lumpsky, if you could call the role. We have Dr. Lee and Mrs. Lan for our our representative to the school board's delegate assembly. >> Mr. Asuna, >> Miss Lockin, >> Mr. Joy, >> Miss Lachan, >> Mr. Singer, >> Miss Lan, >> Dr. Lee, >> Mr. Pepe, >> abstain, >> Mr. Maloney, >> Miss Lan, >> Mr. Lee, >> Dr. Lee, >> Miss Lan, >> Miss Lockan, >> Mr. Walker, >> Miss Lockan, >> Miss Lchran has the majority. >> Congratulations, Mrs. Lchran. Thank you for serving in that role. Dr. Lee, thank you for
030your interest in in serving again. All right, with that, uh, we have a alternate to the, um, it's it's not on here, but it's good to have an alternate. It's only two meetings a year, and if the, uh, delegate is not able to make it, there is a form that the alternate could fill out. swearing or attesting that they are the alternate. So, I think it's a good thing that we have someone uh backed up just in case. In both instances, if that person isn't able to go, I believe closer to the meeting, we if neither person is able to go, closer to the meeting, we would be able to um appoint somebody else. I think it's pretty fluid that way, but we do need to take care of it today. So, is anyone interested
031in serving as the alternate to the delegate assembly? >> Dr. Lee, >> you're nominating yourself? >> Yes. >> All right, Dr. Lee, thank you for that. Anyone else interested in serving as the alternate? >> I'll volunteer as alternate. >> And we have Mr. Walker volunteering for alternate. >> No, Mr. Singer. Sorry. [laughter] Thank you very much, Mr. Singer. Thanks, Mr. Singer. Thank you very much. Anybody else? I should know they're all in red over there in in in maroon. Any other names for the alternate? Mr. can you please call the role for al for our alternate >> Mr. Sunna >> Mr. Singer >> Mr. Jooshi >> Mr. Singer >> Dr. Lee >> Mr. Pepe >> abstain >> Mr. Maloney >> Mr. Singer >> Mr. Lee >> Dr. Lee >> Miss Lan >> Mr. Singer >>
032Mr. Walker. >> Mr. Singer has the majority. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Singer. Congratulations. Dr. Lee, thank you for your interest in serving. Um, I do encourage all board members to uh check out the uh delegate assembly. It's an interesting assembly. Does a lot of important work. I think you can uh go down, which is great, or you can watch online when those happen. I'm sure we'll hear more about that as the meetings uh the first meeting gets closer in the spring. All right. Up next, it's the Somerset County School Boards Association. Um, this role entails serving as a way as there is it is a voting member, although the number of votes is very very small, if not minimal, if if not zero actually. Um, I >> I think sometimes for president there's
033not much of a vote. I think in theory there could be an election. But it >> there's one like one one vote per board when there when you run for the officers which there is are two open officers. So >> it's like every other year. >> So there will be a vote for a position soon. So yes. >> So so there will be a vote for that. >> There are two positions right now >> vice president positions. >> But the county school boards association is a great opportunity to meet with u school boards folks and other more importantly other board members in the county who are who are dealing with a lot of the same issues that we are. So I hope to see everyone there whether they are the official delegate or not. It's
034good to have someone remind us of what they're up to. So >> you're also a member of surrenba being an county officer member of the county officer leadership ass association which is a additional meeting and training which is available. Okay happens about four times a year. >> Got it. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Great. Uh any volunteers for that position? Dr. >> I'd like Thank you. I'd like to nominate Mr. Lee. Mr. Lee's name is in nomination. >> I humbly accept. Good to hear. Uh, anyone else for that position? >> I mean, AJ, Mr. Joshy, >> I'd like to nominate Mr. Singer. >> Right. Hold on. So, we have Mr. Josh's name and nomination and Mr. Singer's name and nomination. Is that correct? >> Respectfully, I decline. >> Okay. So, Mr. Joshi declines. And with
035that, a nomination for Mr. Singer. I got it right this time. You got a lawyer who's going to be a stickler on names. >> Thank you. Uh, all right. Anyone else? So, we have Mr. Lee and Mr. Singer for Somerset County School Boards Association. Mr. Lomsky, if you could please call the role. >> Mr. Sunna. >> Mr. Singer. >> Mr. Jooshi. >> Mr. Singer. >> Dr. Lee. >> Mr. Lee. >> [snorts] >> Mr. Pepe >> abstain. >> Mr. Maloney. >> Mr. Singer. >> Mr. Lee. >> Abstain. >> Miss Lockchan. >> Mr. Singer. >> Mr. Walker. >> Mr. Singer has a majority. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Singer. Mr. Lee, thank you for your interest in serving in that position. Right. Up next, we have the appointment of town representatives. Uh these are liaison who
036work who can report back from the burrow of raritan and the township of Bridgewater. I will uh I guess I'll jump in the frey first and nominate my put myself as a volunteer for the burrow of raritan. >> I'd like to volunteer for Bridgewater. >> Uh Mr. Lee, I'm sorry, Mr. Singer for Bridgewater. [laughter] I >> I'll get it right. I promise. Right. Anyone else for Bridgewwater? I'd also like to observe as well. >> Okay. >> I think in the past we've had two for me. >> We we have had two members in the past. I think there's nothing against doing that. Uh this time I mean both members would have to pass the vote. So people could vote for one or the other. Um >> or both, right? >> Yes. Yes. Both both could
037serve, >> right? >> Yes. >> Um >> meaning that there's two positions because I think in the past we have done that. >> So I think it's it's one position and Mr. Lumpsky, you can correct me if I'm wrong. I think by consensus and by discussion, we've two people wanted to do it and the board was fine with that. Um I think that would be fine. Again, I don't see any reason why that why that would be an issue. >> Um but as we go, if if if we take a roll call on those two people together, >> someone could theoretically vote yes or no on either person or abstain from one of the people is my kind of understanding. So just for point of information, >> people can say one or two names, >>
038right? >> Yes. >> I think we've had two talent town leaison before. So right now we have Mr. Singer and Dr. Lee for Bridgewater Township liaison. >> In that case, I would like to nominate our new member as one of the town leazison. Okay, Mr. Maloney, thank you very much. Right, we have three names and nomination. So, we have three names of nom nomination. I guess I would like to if we could have a little discussion maybe among those people if they would be interested in serving together or if we would like to use the procedure we've been using to take a roll call vote to elect one or two people or we could do each person separately as a roll call vote and come up with one, two, or even three names, whatever the
039board thinks. >> We didn't discuss This is an appointment, not an election. >> This is So, >> so let me ask with three people. >> If we have three people, >> yes. >> How do we do the vote? Do do we go around and people vote for two and then we tally those votes? Is that how it works? I'm just procedurally I'm trying to >> Thank you. We have not had uh three people. There's never been a vote on this before. Um that's potentially been contentious. Hopefully hopefully it's not. Um so with that >> I would like to withdraw from this because I think there's enough people volunteering. >> Okay. Thank you very much Dr. Lee. I appreciate that. Makes it a little bit easier. [snorts] So right now there is a two people are
040in nomination Mr. Maloney and Mr. Singer. Since we've had two people before Mr. LSky, would you please call the role on Mr. Singer and Mr. Maloney serving together >> for the procedure? >> Yes. Thank you. >> So should we say the name still? Should we say yes or no? So in years past when there like at the last board reorganization meeting I don't believe there was a vote where we went around and said names because the board was able to agree on every position. Um in this case since we can have two people serving together I would like to do it. Uh, the way I think would be best to proceed would be to put the two names into um up to a vote together. And if someone wanted to say yes on candidate A
041but no on candidate B and as long as there was a majority for each candidate, I think that they would um go ahead into that role. >> Understood. Thank you. >> No problem. Mr. Lumpsky, does that check out? >> Sure. >> Thanks. >> Um, yes. >> All right. So, this is a vote on Mr. Singer. I guess we'll say it. A and B, Mr. Maloney serving as >> there possibility. >> Well, that's >> yes, that's what we're saying. So, if you vote yes, I think you're voting for the candidacies of both both individuals. Just like any other motion, you could say yes on A, no on B >> or no on both. Right. Uh, Mr. Lamsky, could you please call the role on Mr. Singer and Mr. and Mr. Maloney serving together as joint? >>
042Okay. After I call your name, I'll state the two individuals and you could say yes or no after I state their name just for clarity. >> Okay. >> Muna. Mr. Singer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Maloney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jooshi. Vote for Mr. Singer. >> Yes. >> Vote for Mr. Maloney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Singer. Vote for Mr. Singer. >> I do. >> Vote for Mr. Maloney. >> Yes. >> Dr. Lee, vote for Mr. Singer. >> Abstain. Vote for Mr. Maloney. >> For both. >> Mr. Pepe, vote for Mr. Singer. >> Yes. >> Vote for Mr. Maloney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Maloney, a vote for Mr. Singer. >> Yes. >> A vote for Mr. Maloney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lee, your vote for Mr. Singer. >> No. >> Your vote for Mr. Maloney. >> No.
043>> Miss Lan, your vote for Mr. Singer. >> Yes. >> Your vote for Mr. Mr. Maloney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walker, your vote for Mr. Singer. >> Yes. >> Your vote for Mr. Maloney. >> Yes. >> Okay. Motion passes. Both are appointed. >> Look, thank you both very much for serving in that role with the township of Bridgewater and serving as our liaison to that body this year. Dr. Lee, thank you for helping making that process go a little bit smoother. I know that you're uh >> I know that you'll still be active in the community and helping us with that as well in the future. Thank you. >> Okay. All right. >> Vote for Burough of Raran. >> Oh, Burough of Raridan. All right. Myself. Does anyone Is anyone else interested in serving as
044the liaison to the Burough of Riden? >> I am, but I'm not qualified. [laughter] >> All right. Uh, so, uh, if you could call the role on the Burrow of Rarin liaison, please. Mr. Lowski. >> Mr. Sunna. >> Mr. >> There's only one nomination, correct? >> Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Yes. And no vote. >> Yes. >> Okay. Mr. Jooshi. >> Yes. >> Mr. Singer? >> Yes. >> Dr. Lee? >> Yes. >> Mr. Pepe? >> Yes. >> Mr. Maloney? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lee? >> Miss Lockan? >> Yes. >> Mr. Walker? >> Yes. >> Motion passes. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And thank you to everyone who volunteered and agreed to serve in those roles. Thank you, Mrs. Sunna. All right, up next, we are open up to section six of our agenda. Open
045to the public. Individuals and/or groups are invited to present their concerns, comments, and requests regarding the following action items to the board of education at this time. This is I I believe that may not be correct. I just want to double check. This is the only public comment section, correct? >> This is the only public comment. >> Okay. So on these action on these action items and anything else. So this is your one chance to address the board for five minutes. In according accordance with board policy, members of the public are allotted one opportunity to address the board for a maximum of five minutes during this portion of the meeting. Please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district's website. Would anyone for the public like to address
046the board at this time? Uh, please just state your name and town of residence for the record. And I believe this is to sign in. >> Yeah. Laura Crest, president of the Bridgewater uh, education associate, Bridgewater RAR and Education Association. I really just want to thank you and uh, congratulate you. I would like to congratulate you on your reelection, Mr. Singer. I also wish everybody a happy new year and I'm really hoping we can forge ahead uh with a little more calm this year as a board of education and uh that's what I would like to see and the people that work here as well. Thank you >> Miss Chris. Thank you for your comment >> JP11 491 Norwood Drive Bridgewater. I just want to come up here wish everybody happy new year. Congratulations Dr.
047Lee uh Mr. Singer Mr. Maloney on your elections. Uh Mr. Maloney especially you because you're newly elected. You're brand new to this thing. So I wish you all the best of luck. Um, so another thing is is what I've been witnessing here, and my gut feeling is a lot of board members, if not the majority of the board members, are probably not going to like what I'm about to say. But what I've witnessed just tonight from the majority of the board members is that a lot of decisions and discussions right now for school for the school district a lot of it is being based on emotion on personal preference on personal emotion and in the future what I would like to see and I'm up here speaking on myself as JP Levven is that you
048don't take things personally. You don't take things to heart. You do things for the district. You do things for the students. You do things for the taxpayers. And not personal. You know, don't make your decisions based on personal preference and whether somebody doesn't like somebody or whether somebody does like somebody. Um uh and another thing is is when I was sitting outside or standing outside just hanging out before the meeting started, uh Mr. Beers, I have to say, and I'm directing this right to Mr. years and no one's going to stop me on saying this is that he made a comment and accused me whether it was being a joke or not a joke but I don't take it as a joke. Mr. >> I was joking. >> No, no, no. You're going to have
049to be quiet on this one >> because you do not run this meeting. You are a non voting member. >> All right. And when it's my time to speak, you you let me speak. All right. Do you hear me? >> I'm not answering. >> Okay, fine. because you usually don't answer on things. All right. But he made a comment and accused me of stealing one of his signs, his political signs from a few years ago. And I want to I want to make the story straight. I did not steal any political signs, nor will I ever steal a political sign. All right? And if we want to change it and have the truth come out, it is Mr. beers, your superintendent, our superintendent that took a sign that I put up. All right? And he
050silenced me. He censored me. He did not allow my opinion to be seen or heard by the public. And what he did was he allowed one political sign that maybe he put up himself and did not allow another sign to be done. All right. That is censoring freedom of speech. It's censoring my first amendment right. All right. So, I just wanted to clear that up, Dr. uh Mr. Beers, that I did not take a sign. You were the one that took my sign. And we It's all recorded on police, whatever they call it, uh cameras. All right. Out in the parking lot. All right. So, please with that said, merry new year and God bless everybody. Thank you. >> Happy New Year, Mr. Levin. I do have to have a point of clarification. The the
051reference I made to Mr. Lean. I'm not gonna >> Mr. Lean, respectfully. Respectfully, >> this is not a back and forth. >> Mr. Mr. Leven, respectfully, your time. You You've yielded your time. >> Sit down. >> We've yield you've yielded your time. We're going to move on from the meeting. Is there any We're going to move on from the meeting. Is there any other public comment on action items or otherwise? >> I just do have a point of clarification. >> Yes, sorry, Mr. Beer. >> Uh, Mr. Leven, the joke was he he did leave a sign on school property a few years ago. So, I just want to clarify he had the story backwards. He left things on our property. I I did remove him. It's well documented. So, I don't know why it caused
052that reaction, but it seems to have hit a sore spot. So, happy new year, everyone. All right, moving on with Paul McComet. Thank you very much for for for coming. >> Hi, I'm Margarita Yosi Fakis. I'm a Bridgewater resident. I'm speaking again about this district's changing its policy on allowing exchange students. Since September, I've spoken at each of the BOE public sessions on this topic and I wanted to bring it up at this meeting in case there are new board of ed members that are open-minded and accepting of other cultures and exchange students. Since September at each meeting, I've described the numerous benefits to the existing students and the school for having exchanged students. I also explained the process so they can see it is easy and is not as time consuming as you may
053believe. I am perplexed as to why this district that I live in is in my opinion close-minded. How can it be that not even two miles down the road, the school there allows exchange students in their schools and the district? Both Summerville High, two miles away, and Marstown High, not very far away, allow them. I'm a taxpayer and I've been a Bridgewater resident for over 10 years. I've paid for a student to attend a school in this district tenfold. I'm entitled to have a child in the school in this district. Yet, I'm not allowed to because of some unknown bureaucratic reason. I can't have an exchange student in the district that I live in because my district does not allow exchange students. And I can't have an exchange student in the district next door that
054allows exchange students because I don't live in that district. What is going on here? The first time in September, four months that I talked about this district changing their policy and allowing exchange students. There were existing high school students sitting in the let's say audience. After that meeting, I walked to my car and four of the high school students approached me in the parking lot. They told me that they really hope their school, Bridgewater Raritan, allows exchange students in the coming year. They said they would love to have an exchange student and currently cannot see why it is not allowed. They told me they would love to become friends with someone from another country and to learn their culture and even to learn a few words of their language. They thought it is a great
055idea and would be wonderful. and they said they wanted an exchange student in their class soon. That's right from the horse's mouth, not just somebody standing up here every meeting. For the past three meetings, I've explained the benefits to the current students and the district. I've explained the process to show it is not ownorous to change the policy to allow J1 exchange students. That's the J1 visa. It is not a huge effort for the school or the district administratively or otherwise to approve to have an exchange student. I've even shared some uh via email some neighboring school district policies which are very basic and are easy to change our policy to or your the district's policy too. I also offered assistance if you need any help. I can set up a call with another district
056for them to share their experience. I'm just trying to understand from your your perspective. Exchange students are allowed in neighboring districts and they used to be allowed in the Bridgewater High School. Some of my neighbors or our neighbors have hosted exchange students in Bridgewaterm and they have only wonderful things to say. If you're worried that you'd get like too many exchange students, I I promise you you won't, but you can always put a cap on that number. My family has already has a lovely girl martr from Spain waiting to be part of our family for only nine months. She's not a bully nor a terrorist, just a young girl wanting to learn the American way and experience everyday life in another country and to improve her English. I want to exchange I want to host
057an exchange student because I think it will add value to her life and the lives of existing high school students. We don't get any money for this. We're pursuing this because we have heard wonderful things from neighbors and other families that have hosted such students. You may be under the assumption that this is an F1 exchange student and you believe you need to apply to the federal programs in order for your school to sponsor them. You do not. This student is not with the choice plus program. That's completely different. What I'm asking for is a J1 visa and they'll attend the high school with no tuition fees. There's a sponsoring organization. It's the ASSE International Exchange Program. They the ones who would sponsor this and your school is not needed to sponsor the student. just
058to enroll her. So start with allowing J1 students. That is more simpler than the F1 process. If you need any help, I've already said I'm available. I can compile letters, emails, phone calls, educate members of the on the process, whatever you need to make this happen and soon. So my question is, was this topic on the agenda to discuss collectively as a group? >> I just gave you a second. Just know you have about 30 seconds left. >> Okay. Did board members come up with any discussion points, advantages, challenges? Again, I see none, we see none of changing this policy. Please reconsider and bring this up as a collective decision to vote on at the meeting this month. It should not take four months to get things done. The policy has to change today, not
059next month, not next year. It has to change now so that exchange students can attend school in this district. Please be open-minded. Thank you. We have to be better than our neighboring districts. >> And thank you very much for your comment. Is there is there any other public comment this evening? Going once, twice. Right. Seeing none, I will close uh section six, public comment. All right. Next up on our agenda is the reorganization mo uh motions A through M just for uh the board. Uh item M, approval of a field trip was added earlier this afternoon. Uh if anyone has any questions about that, once there's a motion in a second, you can ask uh questions or have discussions as with any of these motions. Do I hear a is there a motion for reorganization
060items A through >> M. >> A through M. >> So moved. Second. >> Right. There's a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? motion. >> I'm sorry. A motion or discussion. >> Have a motion. >> A motion. Thank you. >> A subsidiary motion. >> Thank you. >> Um I would like Well, not a motion, but I would like to request that motion D, which is board calendar, uh be considered separately from the reorganization motions as a separate resolution or a question. >> So, effectively tableabling that for a moment until after the >> correct motivate, >> pardon me. It's a motion to divide. >> Motion to divide. >> No, no. I I actually would like to just request. I don't think I need to make a formal motion on that because um I guess according
061to Robert's rules, you're allow at least a single board member is allowed to request that it can be considered after the adoption of the rest of the rework motions if that's possible. >> Um I'm going to be honest, I'm not 100% sure about that. Uh I don't I've never seen that this board operate that way before, but I've seen that at other meetings. So I'm not I would have to defer I would have to ask Mr. LSKI first if that's uh a way that we could proceed. I know that's not our normal um it's not our normal course. >> I think >> and the motion was for the entire um the entire slate of resolutions, but I I will certainly >> I will I will also defer to Mr. But it's my understanding that according
062to Robert's rule section 27, if you want to split the motion into multiple parts, you have to make a motion to divide the question. >> But wait, I I would also like to note that when it comes to uh when you're voting on blocks of resolutions or blocks of motions that according to section 4132 of Robert's rules, you can request for separate consideration of a question and a motion. >> I believe just for clarification, that is what you just said, right? >> Yes. You just [snorts] have to make a motion to divide the question. >> I I I would like to request it without having to put out formal motion. I know I believe you're able to do that according to Robert's rules without having a formal divide the question motion. >> I'm I'm going
063to be honest. You you may be correct. I'm not uh I that's not an element of Robert's rules that I'm aware of. So, I'm going to defer to what how the board has operated in the past. I've never seen this board do things that way uh once a motion has been made, but I think it's something we can discuss. uh in in the future. Um but I'm going to go with the precedent that the board set for a long long time, at least since I've been here. Unless you have a formal motion, then uh I'm not comfortable doing that. But if you have a motion to make, then I'd be certainly willing to put it to the board. >> So, is it out of order for me to make that request for it to be
064a separate resolution? >> That's going to be my my ruling for the moment, but we can certainly have discussion on it and entertain any subsidiary motions or amendments to it. >> Understood. But in that case, I'd like to move to divide the question so that motion D, which is support calendar, is considered as a separate motion. >> Thank you. There's a motion. Is there a second? >> I'd like to second because I have been a proponent for dividing the block voting. >> Gladly second that. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much. There's a motion in a second to divide the question. I believe that's that I'm guessing that would be a majority vote. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um Okay. >> I don't believe we would have discussion on that. So, I think we'll call
065call the RO. >> Okay, this is roll call to vote. >> Does anyone have any need any does any board member need clarification on what the motion we're voting on right now? Sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Lumpsky. >> If you make all of please. >> Okay. >> Mr. Sunna. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jooshi. >> Yes. >> Mr. Singer. >> Clarify. This is on the motion to divide the correct. >> No, >> Dr. Lee. >> Yes, >> Mr. Pepe. >> No, >> Mr. Maloney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lee? >> Yes. >> Miss Locker? >> Yes. >> Mr. Walker? >> No. >> Motion passes. The resolution is divided. To clarify, we don't need we don't now need two motions. There's there's basically now two motions on the table. A through C and E through M and then
066separately D. Correct. >> Correct. >> So my recommendation would be that we since that's been divided that we hold D until after the main motion if that's all right with everybody. All right. So at the moment we are going to focus specifically on reorganiz reorganization mo motions A through C leaving out D and then E through M. >> Uh any discussion on those motions? >> Yes. >> I would have a moment discussion. Uh I'd like to >> thank you. Um, I believe that the existing policies that we have in place here failed to go beyond the compliance that's required of us and doesn't strategically move the district forward on the behalf of our community. And I think that as a board, I think we can do a better job of standing up for our community
067and these policies and making sure that these policies do a better job of standing up for the community and making sure that these policies empower parents. And as a result, I will be voting no to adopting the BOE policies. Any further discussion? >> Dr. Lee, are you I'm sorry, your microphone was on, so I wasn't sure if you were prepared to speak. >> Mr. Singer. >> Yeah, just so my understanding is if we don't adopt the policies tonight, this district will have no policies going forward until we adopt all policies. Is that That would be my understanding unless there's some different provision in law. I know we're required to readopt if we don't. Right. >> We would have to maybe have a very late meeting coming up with new ones, >> but that's my I
068I imagine that's correct. >> Just checking. Thanks. >> Any further discussion? >> All right. Again, this is a vote on reorganization motions A through C and E through M. Mr. Lomsky, could you please call the role? >> Mrs. Sunna, >> yes. >> Mrs. Sunna, sorry. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jooshi, >> yes. >> Mr. Singer, >> yes. >> Dr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Pepe, >> yes. >> Mr. Maloney, >> yes. >> Mr. no to E and abstain on F and G. Yes on everything else. >> Miss Lan, >> yes. >> Mr. Walker, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> All right, that leaves us with the divided uh resolution that is resolution D, which deals with the calendar. Uh for the public, if you're interested, that is on page four of your agenda. Is there any
069discussion on resolution D in the reorganization motions? >> I would like to make a motion. >> Mr. Lee, >> I would like to move to amend motion D with a new board calendar that will help restore community representation, administrative oversight, ensuring that we bring back more discussion on the behalf of the public and on the behalf of the community. Uh, I emailed specifically what the new dates I propose are, but they generally follow a very similar cadence to past years where we have typically met in most months, twice a month, bi-weekly, every two weeks, with the exceptions of the summer calendar having one meeting per week and with the exception obviously of uh when there's any holidays in certain months. >> Mr. Lee, would you be able to tell me when you sent that? I
070don't recall receiving >> 759. >> Mr. Beers, if you wouldn't mind just a second there. If you wouldn't mind just a moment. There's a motion on the floor. Is there a second? Sorry, I forgot to ask for a second. I >> I don't think I was on this email. >> Also, >> okay. Is there a second? >> Can you just verbalize that? Thank you very much. All right. There's a motion in a second to adopt the calendar that Mr. Lee has emailed to everyone. >> Uh just for a point of clarification, Mr. Lee emailed this at 7:59 about four minutes ago. Uh despite the fact that our at our December 12th meeting, uh we explicitly asked if anyone had an issue, I'm sorry, at our December 16th meeting, we mentioned the fact that this calendar
071was sent out December 12th and asked if that anyone had an issue with it to please contact leadership and Mr. Beers. And obviously we received no emails about this until this evening. >> So Mr. Singer, I know when you were acting as board president, we have put that out. I did not receive a single email from anybody about suggestions. Again, it was put out as a draft and just for discussion points, we said if there if there are any comments, please reach out. Now, some things were forwarded to me from Facebook or what have you. So it went through different channels, but I I didn't receive anything. I was wondering if you received any message. >> That's correct. I've not received anything. >> Thank you. I would also like to note that despite what uh
072is being suggested uh this year, having the calendar have two meetings per month would be quite the diversion from what we did this year uh where we only had two meetings uh in uh April and September uh along with meetings for uh a retreat or evaluation. Uh so it would be quite the divergence and I would further uh reference other nearby towns such as summary uh Somerville, Montgomery and um Central who all have the schedule that has been proposed tonight basically. >> Yeah, >> I'm sorry. The schedule that was proposed on December 12th, not the newly proposed schedule. >> May I speak, >> Mr. Lee? Thank you for those. >> Yes, you >> need to allow everyone to speak. >> I I didn't see anyone else. Thank you. >> I Mr. Lee, go ahead. In
073the future, I'll make sure everyone gets a chance first, but I did call on Mr. Lee. >> Thank you, Mr. Pepe. Uh, I believe that the calendar that was presented to this board tonight is an insult to the communities and the people that we represent. By slashing meetings, we silence community input. We degrade transparency and we turn board oversight into an afterthought. And amid a statewide fiscal cliff and another year of budget deficits that are hitting school districts across the state, I think the last thing this board should be doing is giving themselves a break and saying this is fine because now more than ever we should ensure our community stakeholders are being given a seat at the table. The calendar that I have proposed will restore our multi-yearlong tradition of having bi-weekly meetings, meetings
074that run twice a month, and ensure that this board's role in ensuring that our schools are wellrun is protected on the behalf of all the students, parents, and taxpayers that we all represent. and by voting against a proposed calendar that intends to put back accountability into our school district and voting to strip meetings away. You are voting to put community input and proper oversight last. And I hope that you'll join me in voting yes to amending the board calendar which in its current state would bring us back to where we were for many many years before 2024 uh before 2025 and the 2025 calendar in my opinion was a bad calendar too because we started to drift away from our bi-weekly meetings which I believe is a mistake and it's time to correct course as
075a board. I know that Mr. Singer mentioned that this was sent recently, but this board has repeatedly done things on a as a surprise to board members who had no idea things were going to happen. We've had resol resolutions being shared that have been shared last minute, literally seconds before coming for a vote. >> Getting off topic. >> No, no, this isn't because you guys are saying that this is a last minute thing, but this is what happens. You guys resend and you do this without telling anyone. Just ju just just for just for the record >> and you mentioned other districts that have monthly >> Excuse me. The president is speaking. >> Ju just a moment. I don't believe a point of order should generally interrupt the speaker. Miss Locker, is there anything you
076wanted to clarify with that so I can make I believe I have to make a ruling on a point of order. Do you want to clarify? Please. >> This is got this has gotten completely off topic. If we want to talk about the calendar, talk about the calendar. But you're talking about other things that have absolutely nothing to do with the calendar. So just stay on topic because this is a a meeting of business, not a meeting of, you know, opinions about other things. This is business. Stay on topic. >> I'm well within my right to express my opinion on how bad this board calendar is for our community. And I know there was a discussion that there are other district, you don't mind, I believe a port of order needs to be ruled on.
077I'm going to let you continue. Try as best as you can to keep to the calendar itself and your motion proposal. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I know there's a discussion as mentioned by Dr. by Mr. Singer that other districts some districts meet once a month but I think we can do better than some districts. I think we can be a shining example of what great accountability transparency and excellence in education looks like. And I think that by restoring our tradition of bimonthly or bi-weekly twice a month meetings we can bring the community voices back to the table. give people more opportunities to participate in public comment, open the room for scrutiny, and allow for more opportunities for this board to do its job and make sure that this school district is wellrun. >> Mr.
078A >> having attended meetings for two years um as a participant and also having watched and attended meetings for 20 years um I have seen more public interest and more public conversation and input this year with our limited calendar than I have seen in 20 years. So I don't think any calendar that we could propose would limit community input. Uh, and we also have an opportunity for the community to send emails, which we don't receive a lot. Um, so I think that what we have is sufficient. Uh, and I would just like at a future meeting if we could discuss early enough when we need to have our retreats and other events so that we can just get them on the calendar sooner than later. Thank you. Uh in 20 microphones on it's a little
079bit tricky for me to tell if you're just on their best. >> Appreciate it. Uh in end of 2024 when we were going into 25 there was this reduced meeting frequency that was uh proposed. At that time I think we made the decision to reduce only some months to be once a month while keeping the other months to be twice a month. I believe that having timely meetings important to handle business timely to run uh our meetings to meet our students need. Uh we have our big district. We will have business coming up. I think having that frequency is helpful for the benefit of our students and and our our community. uh school committee. I have opposed reducing this the meeting frequency then I continue to oppose reducing the meeting frequency now. [snorts] So I
080tend to uh agree with u Mr. Lee here that we should keep our bi-weekly >> by month twice a month meeting frequency. Thank you. >> Any further comment? >> Uh Mr. I would have been willing to consider this had I seen a calendar, which I can't open because it's actually very difficult for me to read while we're conducting a meeting. I would have considered uh additional dates, I'll actually consider pretty much anybody's opinion on anything. But when when we're when it's thrown at us at the last minute in a gotcha attempt to catch us off guard so speeches can be made, then no, you just don't have my support on this. I'd like to speak. >> Mr. Lee, go ahead. >> And Miss Lan, have you not done the exact same thing with your own
081resolution? >> I think that >> it's pretty obvious. >> Okay. >> The rules apply to one group of people to the motion. That's okay. And it's everybody to the motion that's on the floor, which is my the revised calendar. >> I will continue to that. >> Muna, >> go ahead. You mentioned that we saw a lot more public participation and I agree with you that it is a great thing to see as part of this board. However, I believe that actually affirms my argument that we need more meetings because if our residents are very passionate about the issues that are going on in our schools, that's going on at this board. We should provide them with more opportunities throughout the month and throughout the year to ensure that their voices are heard. given them those
082opportunities, not just say, you know, correlation isn't exactly causation here. And I know that we think that just because we had fewer meetings in 2025, it will lead to more participation. But just because there's fewer meetings doesn't mean there will be more participation. We want to give people more opportunities. We want to be flexible with people's uh med uh personal lives. And we want to make sure that uh we get continuous feedback from our community through public comment and we give them those opportunities throughout the year which is incredibly important. Uh but I I have one really important question which is like how do how does this board having fewer meetings improve student outcomes? I can't seem to figure out how it does. And I can only see upside for this board having more meetings,
083improving community representation, improving oversight, because that's the exact role a board should be playing on the behalf of our community and representing the community and our school district. >> That that leads me into a point that I wanted to make and and you make some fair points there, Mr. Lee. Um, I'm in favor of this calendar at least passing it and my recommendation would be that we pass it in its current form and if issues arose we could the board always has the opportunity by resolution or by going through leadership to add more meetings. Um, mentioned student outcomes and that's a good point. I do think one thing that we should consider is that we are heading into an incredibly busy school year. Um, at the end of this year and the beginning of next
084year, we have grade shifting. We have full day kindergarten coming to the entire district. There is a lot going on. There's a new governor coming in who I'm sure will send a number of things to do, the administration, a long checklist of things that they want done. And usually that comes sort of at the last minute. So, it's going to be a busy year for everyone at this for our students, our teachers, and everyone at this table and the staffs that support them. My understanding is because I see this in the school I work with, I work in, preparing for a board meeting, it's a smaller school, takes a lot of time. Putting together an agenda takes time. going point by point and make sure that making sure that everything's right takes time. Um, for
085me, I think one of the advantages of this calendar is that it frees up a little bit of time for our administrators during the day to focus on the running of the schools and not necessarily putting together an agenda every two weeks, especially this year. Um, so that's one of the reasons I'm in support. But if there are issues that come up, if there are things the board needs to deal with, whether they're broad or very specific, um I hope that the administration would say, "Hey, we might need another meeting to to deal with this topic or we want to let the public know about this." So, I think it's a good calendar, at least as a draft. I would suggest putting I I would suggest locking in what we have now and then moving
086forward um and possibly making any changes in the future. But thank you for your motion. Is there any other discussion on that motion? Just if I could add to to what you said, uh, Mr. Pepe, >> there there are a couple of retreats that typically we we schedule and my suggestion and I can send something out to to the, uh, board is I'll throw out some potential dates because we we do need a board of ed retreat probably within the month and then typically we do one over the summer for goal setting, etc. So, a lot of times it's it's easier to get it on the calendar first before your calendars get filled up with other things. >> Is it possible like if there if we come to the time of retreat and there are
087some issues either things that we need to vote on or things we need to approve, could that be turned into a >> you know a retreat first and then a couple of action items and we notice it that way. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Right. I think we've had some discussion on that. I think everyone's gotten their voice in. Is there anyone but before we move on, is there anyone who hasn't spoken yet that would like to vote to comment on Mr. Lee's motion? >> Okay, Dr. Lee, have you spoken on the motion yet? >> Okay, >> I have you have if you could real quickly because we want to move things along as much as possible. Thank you. >> Talking about border retreat, I believe the last border retreat that's scheduled in
088December actually has been cancelled. We usually have taken that opportunity to to look over our board self evaluation and discuss if I'm going to interrupt you for a second. I'm sorry. We got a little off topic. I apologize. There aren't any retreats on Mr. Lee's calendar, proposed calendar. >> So, I don't believe any of those are are retreat dates. So, I don't want a bigger conversation about retreats. We're just talking about logistics. >> Mr. Beers had mentioned about border retreat. That's being an alternative. What I was just mentioning was that a border retreat was just canceled. I think that we should have the dates on the calendar so that we have the opportunity to meet. It's harder to put a new meeting in than to cancel a meeting and we're already cancing board retreats anyways.
089>> Point noted. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh we are >> Mr. Pepe. May I speak one last time? >> One last time. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Miss Mr. President. Um obviously a lot is happening in the district as you mentioned. We have a lot of changes are going to happen with the governor. There's a lot of changes are happening with full day kindergarten. And I think once again, just like Mrs. Sununa's point, this proves just how important having more meetings is because community representation is going to be so important as these changes happen. Ensuring that there's continuous feedback, ensuring that the community's voice isn't being limited by a calendar that's going to strip away board meetings. And I have to just ask, is the time of the administration
090more important than community representation? And I believe the answer to that in my opinion, my humble opinion is no. And that's why I believe having more meetings, making sure that the community is involved in these discussions as these rapid changes are happening is going to be so important, especially this year. And so, even more so than ever, we need to be making sure that the community voice is being represented continuously through the year. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Lomsky. We are voting. Uh >> I'm sorry, Mr. Singer. Just want to note, as has been noted before and has been often noted in the past, if the public would like to speak to the board, the public has the emails of the board. The board reads all of the public's emails. The board
091considers everything that the public sends by email. The public's voice is not curbed in any way. They are welcomed and they are listened to by this board. That's it. >> Thank you. I have one short comment, >> Miss Lockan. >> Uh, I have a busy calendar and I have already put all of these dates on my calendar and there was a comment made about lastm minute emails going out, but I never bring something before the board that I don't send to administration and to my board president. >> Mr. LSKY, can you please call the role on Mr. Lee's motion to uh revise the calendar dates that we have in front of us? Does anyone not have them in front of us? Everyone was able to get the email and the rest. Mr. Lowki, let me
092know if you'd like that later for the record. Uh, please call call the roll. >> Mr. Sunna, >> no. >> Mr. Jooshi, >> no. >> Mr. Singer, >> abstain. >> Dr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Pepe, >> no. >> Mr. Maloney? >> No. >> Mr. Lee? >> Yes. Miss Lockan, >> no. >> Mr. Walker, >> no. >> Motion fails. >> Which leaves us with resolution. >> I would like to make another motion if that's possible. >> Mr. Lee, >> thank you. Uh, I'd like to move to postpone then uh motion D or in this case the question D on the board calendar to a special meeting that we can hold on Friday, January 9th, 2026 here at 7 p.m. so we can give this board calendar the real deliberation that it deserves and not just
093another blind rubber stamp. Thank you. >> I've got to make a comment on that. >> When was the last board meeting, Mr. Singer? >> December 16th. Excuse [clears throat] me. There's no discussion on this. Point point of order. There's no discussion on this. I have a motion. There needs to be a second. There's no discussion on this until >> Okay. Thank you. My mistake, Mr. Lee. I'll save it for >> Thank you, Mr. Beers. Thank you, Mr. Lee. There's a motion. Could you please repeat that motion because I got a little I didn't follow it completely. >> Yes. I would like to postpone the question on the adoption of the board calendar to a special meeting that can be held on Friday, January 9th, 2026 here at 7 p.m. So we can give the board
094calendar the real deliberation that it deserves rather than just putting in another blind rubber stamp. Thank you. >> I'll second that. I feel we have uh >> Okay, just >> Okay. Second. >> Sure. >> There's a motion to >> I'll interpret that as a motion to table this and and to hold a special meeting on January 9th at 7 p.m. here. >> Is that correct? >> All right. Um, any brief discussion on that? I don't want to talk about this one too long. >> I move to call the question. >> There's a motion to call the question. There's a second. >> Just there's been a motion and a second to call the question >> inquiry. >> Real quick, Mr. Because they just called the question, we would be voting first on the motion to postpone.
095>> Yes. So, this is a vote on Well, first first a motion. There's a motion to call the question on the amendment that I'm sorry, the amendment that was just raised. The motion that was just raised. Mr. Lomsky, please call the role on the motion to call the question. >> So, just for my own clarification, because I'm getting a little lost here, it's getting late. are we are voting to have a special meeting. >> No, >> eventually this is the step before that. >> Okay. >> This is the vote to cut off discussion on that motion. >> Gotcha. Mr. >> I would like to raise a point of order related to that motion. >> I I asked Mr. Blanchi to call the role. The role is going to be called. >> This is to call
096the question. Mr. Sunna. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jooshi. >> Yes. >> Mr. Singer. >> Yes. >> Dr. Lee. >> No. Mr. Pepe, >> yes. >> Mr. Maloney, >> yes. >> Mr. Lee, >> no. >> Miss Lockan, >> yes. >> Mr. Walker, >> yes. >> All right. With that, we are up to a motion. Uh, Mr. Lee's motion to table the resolution D, the calendar, and entertain it at a meeting here at 7 o'clock Friday night, January 9th. Um, Mr. WSky, please call the role. >> Mr. Sunna, >> no. Mr. Joshi, >> no. >> Mr. Singer, >> no. >> Dr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Pepe, >> no. >> Mr. Maloney, >> no. >> Mr. Lee, >> yes. >> Miss Lockan, >> no. >> Mr. Walker? >> No. >> Motion fails. >> Right. That brings us
097up to resolution D, the calendar. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Lumsky, please call the role on the calendar. Motion D. Resolution D. >> Mr. Assuna, >> yes. >> Mr. Jooshi, >> yes. >> Mr. Singer, >> yes. >> Dr. Lee, >> no. >> Mr. Pepe, >> yes. >> Mr. Maloney, >> yes. >> Mr. Lee, >> no. >> Miss Lan, >> yes. >> Mr. Walker, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Just want to confirm that that is everything. Right. Brings us up to motion. I'm sorry. Section eight. Motion to adjurnn. Some moved. >> I hear a motion. There's a motion in a second. All those in favor? >> Anyone opposed? >> The motion carries. We are adjourned. Our next meeting is right here, January 20, 2026. Um, currently that is 7 o'clock. Right, Mr. Beers? >> That's
098correct. >> 7 o'clock. See everyone then. >> Happy New Year. Thank you. I app