Bridgewater BOE Meeting 02/25/2025

001that's mine Bob you don't have a report right okay then we're going to skip right to our student Representatives reports good evening can you guys all hear me okay perfect so uh first little quick update the seniors have just heard back on their early decision two schools and most of them are waiting for their regular decision results some updates on our clubs the student newspaper the prowers as you know just started their weekly newsletters that go out to all uh students parents staff and the our model un team is about to go to New York City in a few weeks to compete and the science National Honor Society just hosted a successful volleyball tournament as well for our um roles at the high school the student advisory Council just started last month and we had

002our first meeting it was really smooth and we had a lot of new ideas from the younger grades about what was going on that we weren't too um knowledgeable on specifically they talked about scheduling and the education internship that was recently implemented I think about a year ago and it's been going really successfully and um they just suggested like bring it up earlier to students so younger students can get um in on the program earlier and benefit more from it and they're just hopeful for increased opportunities like this in the coming years and other fields and obviously like education was the most um convenient because we have so many teachers and staff um and like that but something they did talk to us about was how hard the scheduling process is for students especially um

003ones who come into high school don't know what they want to do in college and past that in their careers and they feel like a lot of our classes are too geared towards that or they don't have the specific structure to go out and explore their specific interests so something that we all talked about as like um specific like Solutions was not only having the same elective that we hosted this year but also organizing it by the different elective um course is you can take like business science English and math engineering this would um also be more beneficial come the end of scheduling time because that's when like the exigence of them choosing their class is a lot more apparent and pertinent to them also they gave us some great ideas about like putting additional

004segments on rbr TV where students can talk um like just on the whole broadcast about the specific classes that they take give some Intel on it and like just introduce the class in general as well have what we mentioned a little bit earlier in the year about like Town Hall style meetings where the upper classmen can talk to the younger kids for like a day or two at lunch about the specific classes give them Insight on like what what next steps they could take if they wanted to do like um the engineering concentration and whatnot and specifically they also talked about a good perspective that we got from the younger n9th and 10th graders was the transition from middle school to high school and implementing better communication strategies so that the freshmen can pick their

005schedules like it will be more easier experience for them especially when you come from the Middle School where it's a very structured environment you come to the high school and everything feels a little more loose and like maybe too much of the options can feel a little daunting for the younger kids um hello sorry so then also what I have to report on is that um just like these past couple weeks there was a sophomore assembly um and this assembly was aimed to just like inform students about like the harms of drugs and uh drunk drivings in particular but this was done through like an an interactive game show and having spoken to some sophomores myself um the general consensus was that this was just very engaging and students actually enjoyed it they said that

006like their peers weren't really on their phones they were actually like actively involved um in the game show and they did mention that they would rather it be held in the fall like um uh more relevant to like the time where they're taking driver's ed or directly after they had just taken the course but uh we were informed that this was just like a logistical issue and there we are working to implement this assembly closer to um the time where students are taking driver ed next year year and then as far as Sports Go most winter sports are starting to come to an end and they're all um in their state sectional tournaments and the hockey team our guys hockey team has performed extremely well this year they've won counties and they won their conference

007and they're currently moving through the state tournament with a big State win last week um our wrestling team made it to the state finals and we sent 11 people to our regions tournament and our girls swim team also won sectionals and our unified basketball team um has their first sectional game next week um additionally our basketball seasons for girls and guys are about to end um we just had our senior night for girls basketball um like on like February 13th and our guys also had their senior night last Tuesday and our first state sectional games for guys and girls basketball is on this Thursday and then finally just to wrap up with some upcoming events that you know we look to report on the future are that this Friday um we're holding a student versus

008faculty volleyball game where you know the students and um teachers like play against each other and then um next Friday there's a dodgeball tournament and we're just like yeah um and this was really fun I actually participated last year and so we're looking to have a good turnout again and then on March 17th there is a spring college fair um where you know lots of colleges like Ruckers Penn State Purdue TC andj are attending and um sophomores juniors in particular can get a lot of information information about um college and what they look to do in the future and then as far as musical like Musical music and arts go um the Festival of the Arts are beginning on March 19th with choir orchestra and band being performed throughout that week and [Music] yeah as

009always thank you have a good night uh so tonight for the president's report uh we're going to have uh training by our NJ SBA representative p uh Patty ree uh so I'm going to turn it over to Patty right thank you for having me tonight um I actually have two things after the ethics training I have a nice plaque to to uh deliver to the board for the all their hard work um but they'll go through the ethics training tonight um um because that's um a little in can be a little it's intense can be intense because it's very legal we do this I was I was just telling some members of the public we do this um we being njsba boards have to have ethics training every year it's part of your qac requirements

010uh and sometimes boards have their attorneys Do It um we do our program uh our training which tends to be I think a little more in depth um it this this is updated every single year so that it reflects uh the cases that were decided the prior year it does uh run through our um general counsel so that we make sure everything's all up to speed and and and accurate um we like to start with our general disclaimer which basically says that this uh presentation is for informational purposes only uh and not for and it does not repes present legal advice if you have any questions or concerns of a legal nature we uh recogn we uh recommend that you contact your board attorney um and I know uh that Barry because he's active on

011the state level one of our attorneys on staff is a former um attorney with the school ethics commission so when she reviews this we know we we pretty much got it got it right um it's a it's anide nice thing to have so in 1991 the school ethics Act was implemented was approved um and it really is talks about um that the public has to have confidence that what you're doing as board members um is the right thing for your District uh and with that um as they said they implemented the school ethics act um and um and so that there's so that you don't f viate their the public trust the legislative intent of the ACT is to um ensure and preserve the Public's uh confidence in uh the management of the schools and

012the Integrity of the school district uh part of the ethics act talks about um the um talks about guy a guide of actions that the board members can and can't do uh and it also has a uh method of disciplinary actions that can happen that they can imp impose should a board member uh not live up to the code of ethics there are two there are several parts of the of the code of ethics um the actual code of ethics applies only to school board members and um Charter School trustees the mandatory training requirements also only apply to school board members and Charter School trustees the list list of prohibited acts which we'll go into in a little bit apply to all school officials uh and the disclosure statements that are required um they uh

013uh not only apply to uh school board members Charter School trustees school officials uh we at njsba also have to provide a disclosure statement every year the school ethics commission um is made up of nine members the school ethics commission has the uh authority to enforce the school ethics Act of those nine members five are are non-school officials two are school board members and two are School administrators the uh nine members are appointed by the governor and no more than five members can be from one any one political party um as you see on the graphic currently uh both board member seats are vacant and the school administrator seat there's only one filled uh how that might impact um implementation or decision making is that they need uh in order to have any decision become

014uh official they need six of the commission members present so that's that's uh you know if you if they don't have six members they can have the discussion but like a board you can't make a decision can't have a decision um the the disclosure statements are about your financial if there's any Financial potential Financial conflicts or any um if you have any sta any relatives that work in the district or any District uh in in New Jersey um you need to put that on your disclosure statement I have a daughter that works in education in Middle sex County so when I do my disclosure statement I have to list that that she's on that she works actually she works in her day job is in Middle sex County and she then she does some band

015stuff in Somerset County but if you're a brand new board member or a new um School official you have 30 days from the date you were sworn in or the date you started um your new job to submit your first um disclosure statement after that returning board members and school officials have till April 30th of every year to submit that so it's coming around the time to have to do that and it generally comes as an email from the doe we talked about the um mandatory training requirement of the school ethics act uh and this is somewhat new different in the last two years a brand new school board members have 90 days from the date they are sworn in to complete their mandatory new board member orientation training um and we're almost running to

016the end of those those 90 days um and and the um by the end of the second year uh you have the board members have to do governance two which is finance and policy and as well as governance three in your first term for sure you have to do new board member training governance two training for which focuses on finance and policy and governance three training which is student achievement and labor governance two and three have you have a year to do that to the end of your the the ter your term year uh on the first year of every time you're reelected you have to do governance four which is a legal update um and the school ethics act uh mandates that it's New Jersey school boards that provides that um training uh and

017we have very several ways for which board members can complete that training we do a a live in person we do a live virtual and we do a self-paced online course uh for all of these there are C several things um two different ways that you can seek advice or guidance from the uh School ethics commission the first one is actually called the an advisory opinion and this can take place is is asked for by only a board member or School official uh you before you there's something that you want to do before you do do an an act or take some kind of of action you can ask the school ethics commission if they believe that if you know if this might be a violation of the code of ethics um and and they'll

018give you their opinion um and the opinion will can be made public if they make the opinion public they'll scrub it of all identifying information so it won't have names it won't have District names it just you know it'll it'll just give the the the other the rest of the pertinent facts they as I said they need six members to vote on it to make it public uh some board members have asked that have commented that a um an advisory opinion is an advisory opinion it's an opinion I don't have to follow it um that's it's not necessarily the case if you ask for the advisory opinion and you don't follow whatever the opinion was whatever they tell you it was um if somebody files an Ethics complaint your p PTY will likely be harsher

019um and so we like to use this analogy that if a police officer tells you that something you're going to do is illegal and you might get arrested when you do the illegal act and you get arrested you shouldn't be surprised because they've told you upfront that this is this is illegal so if you ask for their advice and they tell you it's a violation and you still do it you're you know your the penalty will be will be harsher and you really shouldn't be surprised on these advisor I'm not going to go through each one of these I'm just going to point out um how you can actually read them um and the they are linked I think I sent um the the PowerPoint so they are linked uh um if you look at

020the case number which starts the advisory opinion um and as if you go to the school ethics commission website and look up these opinions a case that starts with a or AO as an advisory opinion if it's an Ethics complaint it starts with c um and and so just read through read through them I mean they are quite interesting um The Advisory opinions are shaping the way they view the changing way that um the school ethics commission views uh potential violations of the code of ethics um these are all cases from 2024 or were decided in 2024 um keep in mind that advisory all the cases are very fact specific to whatever is listed in that case and these are just some more um advisory opinions we can go through them but I know you

021have a full agenda and I'm thinking you'd rather look through them on your own just so you can you know know how to read them the other action that can happen through the school ethics commission is somebody can file an Ethics complaint and and that somebody can be anybody in the any member of the public they don't necessarily have to live in your town they don't have to necessarily even live in New Jersey with a lot of uh boards set live stream or record and and put the recording on their website anybody in where can file an Ethics complaint but the process is very specific they'd have to go to the Department of Education website and and really it's it is very specific they have 180 days from when they say the occurrence happened to

022file um to file the complaint they have um to be specifically State what section of the school ethics act that they feel the board member violated and they have to provide the factual evidence the school ethics commission will not go out and do research they will only decide based on what information is presented to them or is given to them the um board member that is the the the respon or the you know the respondant of the complaint does have the opportunity to respond um and again it's it's very factual and it's very um it very um they have to provide all of the information um and just some of the standards that one of the main standards that the school ethics commission uses um is would a reasonable member of the public believe that

023the person the board member violated the school ethics act there's no definition of what kind of person a reasonable person is uh but that is really these this one of the standards that they use I talked about some penalties before the school ethics commission has four different penalties that they can recommend to the commissioner of education and that's that's the the process they hear the case they make their decision they make their recommendation to the commissioner of Education the commissioner of education then can either um abide by what they said change it or do something totally different and then after that after the commissioner of Education makes their decision there is an appeals process um but some of the um the U penalties that can happen is the first one is a reprimand which is

024just a rebuke um by the commissioner Next Step Up is a censure which is a rebuke by the commissioner followed with a resolution at the local board that the person violated a resolution read and voted on that the person the board member violated the code of ethics the school ethics Commission can also recommend suspension for any period of time and if you're suspended if they recommend that and it's upheld by the commissioner suspension means you can't sit at the board table you don't get the board packet you don't participate until your suspension is over the the final thing that that the school ethics commission can recommend is complete removal from the school board um I don't know if I've seen that too often um suspension not too often centure reprimand and centure are the the

025most common ones but it's it does happen it's not that they never do and I'm not going to read through every code of ethics because there every there are 10 tenants of the code of ethics and they're all very specific um but I just want to draw your attention to underneath where it says the standards if somebody thinks um that board member violated the code that the particularly a um which talks about upholding the laws of the state of New Jersey and court cases and and if they feel that you violated that the standards underneath show what factual evidence they need to provide to the school ethics act commission to support their claim that you violated the um the code of ethics and as I as I said there are um there goes the gavl

026there are there are 10 tenets um of the school ethics um School ethics act and I have a handout that I I'll give you that has those them all listed um okay so we're going to into a few cases from the code of ethics and as I said um case number um the first one is C um that um shows you that it is a Code of Ethics it is a code violation a complaint um again these are all linked um in in your the PowerPoint that you have um and just to show you how to read it below in is linked also the the statute the 18a statute but in parentheses you'll see e that is the tenant of the code ethics that they um somebody filed a complaint about and that is what

027the uh School ethics commission has upheld or said that they did violate the the code of ethics and their recommen what they recommended and U was approved by the commissioner was a censure of that person if in our in our PowerPoint if it doesn't say recommended before then it's already been decided by the commissioner so this one is enture one's a reprimand um and this this is this one says that they recommend a reprimand so this is still going through the process um with the commissioner and again um they'll lay out the outline of the case above and then below they feel they violated uh tenant e uh and that they're recommending a reprimand this one this one is recommending a suspension uh for 60 days uh and what the the complaint um stated that

028they felt the board member violated four different tenants of the um code of ethics c um is that um the board is a policymaking body uh and so they feel they ventured outside of that um what what is uh D is not you know it's not to admin not to administer the schools but to see that they are well-run uh f is re uh refusal to um Surrender Your independent judgment to outside uh your independent judgment um and Jay is um referring all complaints to the superintendent again that's a recommended suspension next one comes up as a recommended censure and real if you have time read read into these cases because they are um frequently quite quite interesting sometimes a little head scratching like like what were they thinking um but um they are they

029are interesting so there's um I need to explain the difference between a recusal and an exstension a recusal shows the public that you feel or it's been determined that you have a legal conflict of interest um and a legal conflict of interest and if you do and you recuse yourself that means you don't participate in the discussion and you don't take part in the vote whatsoever an exstension um is if you feel you need more information or for some reason you're not comfortable voting on that you abstain and how that um shows up is how the votes are tallied if it's an exstension it might be uh 531 543 against one abstention if it's a recusal it would just be 53 that um because the board member felt they had a legal um conflict if

030if you think you have a legal conflict or you're not sure again always talk to your board attorney uh and and you and follow what they advise what they advise we talked earlier about the prohibited acts that that are there for board members and this is a list of the prohibitive acts uh in the um code of e in the uh School ethics act uh if you have any of these uh it is recommended that you recuse yourself and recuse yourself if there's a benefit of any these to you or your immediate family member um if there's any Financial involvement that may impair uh your objectivity if you're um one one example would be if by by trade You Are by profession you are a health insurance broker not for your District but for other

031for other districts or in education so that when something came up with the uh health insurance broker it would be wise to recuse yourself and ask your board attorney first they also list defined through many advisory opinions um what is considered a benefit so the the the definition according to the school ethics Act of what a benefit is is a direct or indirect Advantage profit privilege or gain whether personal financial or otherwise uh and again the determining factor is if the perception of the public it it that the school officials belief um that they are not objective in so the public perception again will a reasonable person feel that um the board member is not objective that that's the standard that they use and there are several cases about um about you know conflict or

032benefit cases um and and it as I said they're all helpful to read because they do have some uh interesting information if you look at the second one uh it was it's about naming of a school building um and that the person on the board um worked for the worked for uh the person that they wanted to name the building after and so um there's all sorts of very fact specific things um but they did find that the person um violated the code of ethics and they were recommending a reprimand that was up in Essex County I believe recently through recent um opinions advisory opinions and code of ethics uh complaints this school ethics commission has um continues not has it they continue to further Define what is considered a family member that that might

033impact um how you different things that you vote on in the original code of eth the original School ethics act it's very straightforward um but it recently um they they it's much broader so things like um your sister-in-law your brother-in-law even if they're not living in your house if there's um a stepparent or step parent by stepchild by marriage those kinds of things can impact um what what you have what a board member can and can't do and it comes out in as well in hiring of personnel once you're on the board um and and a school administrator you can't hire somebody that you're related to school administrator can't hire somebody that they're related to however if they become the administrator and their family members already here or you become a board member and your

034family member is already a staff member um that you can still be a board member um it just impacts what you can and can't vote on um and take part of in the discussion for so if it's an administrator and their relative is already here when they become the administrator or come in as the administrator um they may not exercise direct or indirect authority over their relative a board member um if it's a family member can't take part in the any employment matters regarding the superintendent or any supervisors in the chain of command between their relative and the superintendent so if they're they're a teacher that might be the Principal the vice the assistant principal a supervisor as a board member you can't take part in any of those employment decisions regarding them uh and

035um if by chance um if a board is looking for a superintendent then that board member with a family member in District cannot be part of that process whatsoever this chart shows the collective bargaining um if you have a family member the different levels of what you have a family member if you have a family member that works in the district um you can't participate in negotiations and you can't um be part of the ratification vote um if you're um if it's yourself that's a staff member in another District or an immediate family member in another District and they're part of the same the same teachers union that is here I think most of New Jersey and Jaa there's a few that are that are aft you can't participate in negotiations but after the memorandum

036of agreement and salary compensation package is is agreed upon you can take part in the ratification vote if the relative does not work in the district and they're not a member of the Union uh you can take part in the ratification the negotiations on the ratification vote a Proviso might be if um if um for somebody that's in the teachers union but not in your District a family member but if they have a leadership position either in the county they're in or a neighboring District or on the state level that might prevent you as a board member from taking part in the the whole negotiations there had been some cases early on where a a bargaining unit a local teachers union has endorsed a candidate uh for school board in hopes that uh expecting that

037now that they're endorsed that creates a conflict and they can't participate in negotiations that happened a couple of times and so now what what the school ethics commission has said um that if there's if if you get an endorsement and it's simply that an endorsement and it doesn't have a monetary aspect to it and there isn't an expectation that you will vote the way they want you to vote or however that might be uh then the recommendation is to just sit out for one negotiations but that it doesn't prevent you from being part of the process the other thing that that has come out recently in um different advisory opinions uh is the impact on committee assignments especially if the board member is the board president and their family member Works in District if that's

038the case um there there there are several advisory opinions here and one uh code of ethics complaint uh and and basically that what the school ethics Commission in The Advisory opinion the first advisory opinion is saying that if your board president um you can't choose the chair or any committee members um on any committee that remotely or directly touches upon your family memb employment so if your family member is a teacher that you know leads out negotiations Personnel curriculum and finance committees so it really does impact the uh the the ability of the president because in most District it is the the president who who um determines who selects people for committees it does directly impact um impact that the other thing that has come out in recent years from the uh School ethics commission

039is uh board members have been using the advice of council defense uh you know they they they said we asked for we asked an attorney and they said it was okay um so now there's uh there's things that you must do if you're going to to use the advice of council defense if you are doing that um you have to um seek the advice of council before any action is taken um that and you have to seek the advice from somebody who is qualified or authorized to give that I would say it would be an ed an attorney who's familiar with this with education um but but they have to have at least this you know be an attorney and they they have to be um have the authority to do that um you have

040to show that you've given them all the important facts and circumstances uh before you took the action and that whatever advice they gave you you complied with um and and you have to have all four of those to successfully um say this was advice of counsel however um if you use that defense um it doesn't mean that you won't necessarily be found in violation of the code of ethics but it does mean that you won't get the penalty so you could still be found in violation you just won't have the penalty part of it so it's it's um you know be careful volunteering in schools is really an important part of what uh board members do it's really the fun part of your job is to go do fun things in the school whether it's

041read Across America or um chaperona field trip uh but um we just need to be mindful um of a few things as you're volunteering because you don't want to give the impression to a reasonable member of the public that you're in the schools every day um and potentially managing the school so um if you're going to go in and volunteer uh just again uh it should not really be frequent it shouldn't be three to four times a week uh um you shouldn't supervise students or staff give any instructions whatsoever um and you um shouldn't handle any cash any of the finances because you handle the finances for the district so it becomes murky to the public what exactly it is that you're doing um these are different um what might be considered a violation and

042what might not so the first uh instance is a they have a they're you're assisting your spouse who um a staff member who with casting rehearsals and lighting for the school plays you have regular contact with students and staff and you're an active presence in the school and if you're assisting directing the play it's hard not to give instructions to students and staff so that could be considered a violation uh but if you um are going in to do read Across America or to you know to be the um all the parents that help with the marching band during competition and during games and and or if you're part of the PTO or PTA uh and and or you're homeown parent that's all fine um just um let the superintendent know give them a heads

043up when you're in the building primarily because staff knows who uh board members are and it may not be your intention but some sometimes um they feel awkward and it might put them in an awkward position but if the superintendent is aware and can say no no they're just volunteering um it just really does help everything the next big issue um that's becoming a struggle is social media um and there's been a lot of the school ethics commission has spent a lot of time in the recent years adjudicating cases B based on social media uh you know keep in mind that you don't you never lose your first amendment rights however you are now an elected School official and you're held to a different standard uh and you know by virtue of the school ethics

044act and when the school ethics commission looks at has cases of uh regarding social media they do consider the content the substance and the context of what it was that abort member had written um on their um on their social media posting um so um part of this is they they do recommend that you use a um a um disclaimer I'm reading it it's like my brain is just like um that on here on this page there is a recommendation that on any social media posting uh you write you use a disclaimer this one they give you you don't necessarily have to use this but you do have to say you're speaking as a private citizen that you are not speaking for the board and the viewpoints rep represent yours and yours alone however even

045using that uh it it's not considered or get out a jail free card because they will look at the contents context and substance of what you re wrote what you wrote and if they feel a reasonable member of the public could imply that you're speaking for the board or you're making decisions for the board you could still be found in violation of the of the school ethics act so really is um really do have to be mindful of what you post um and how you post it what what what you say and how you say it uh the this is just a slide that shows um some different questions and answers most of some of which I've said you don't have to use the exact word of the disclaimer um just be just be mindful

046you have to use some kind of you should strongly recommended you use some kind of a of a disclaimer there's some general guidance here um we recommend that if you had a a as a as a candidate if you had a campaign page that you not use that once you become a board member uh reasonable member of the public doesn't remember the timelines of when you became a board member and what you said before you were a board member could could be different maybe not but could be different from what you now say as a as a board member and that it would be confusing to um your your your public have to remember that you are by choice an elected School official and so you are held to a different standard so you do

047have to be careful about what you post on social media and there's a couple of cases here um that are linked but primarily if you're liking a page from liking something from your personal account that's not going to be a violation um and and if you post something like hey go to the school play um it's great this year or hey you know our baseball team won the championship you know as long as it's something like that you likely won't be found in violation I I I I was on your website today I saw that picture and my son played baseball when he was in high school so baseball always like always and marching band my daughter does has done marching band from high school and still does marching band as a as a grownup

048so those things always stick in my mind you're one once once a baseball mom or a band mom always always it just you just never use that um but just just be um be mindful of that we also recommend not to be an ad administrator on any social media account or private page because if you're the administrator you get to decide right what stays what doesn't um and it's just best not to put that in in put that out there not to put yourself in that position and and I I do say it's likely won't be found in violation it's very case specific and and again I don't want to imply that you'll never be found in violation but um just be mindful of these different different things um and you likely won't I mean

049I know I sound like an attorney right you likely won't but you like likely will not um and that is the end of of what I have to do on this I just to say um I know the board member recognition month was last month but thank you for all that you do sometimes it's a thankless job um but it's it provides so much value to your community uh and and to your students to help them do the best that they can to achieve one more page and that is at the end there's a whole bunch of linked resources on how to get to the school ethics act how to get to the school ethics commissions and commission decisions and they go back well over 10 years um and so they sometimes if you need

050a deep dive they are quite interesting to read and then who's on the school ethics commission and I take if anybody has any [Music] questions it's always my favorite time to do this because by the end people are just kind of glazed but that and so I'm done with the presentation but that being said next thing I have is to present to the board for all their hard work their plaque that they are now a Bo certified board um and I just want to and and we get a picture that would be great um I just want to say for the members of the public um how do you get to be a certified board you have to commit to doing 16 hours of training uh and this is like this will be like almost

051an hour of training within four years seven um you have to have at least seven of a nine member board present and the super to qualify you have to submit your um last cont ratified contract you have to do a policy wellness check uh and it's all part of that you have to do it again Within four years it's a rolling four years um and um you know I'm happy to say that um thatw is they they've reached that status and I did a little research the 21 districts in Somerset County only three are certified um and one um is will they haven't gotten the notice yet but they're it's coming soon um and I think think that's really does show a commitment of the board um to continued professional development and to continuing how

052to learn to be better at governing uh and it shows the commitment uh not you know as well to your community that that is important to you and to your staff so in saying that I would like to present New Jersey school boards ass Association board member Academy Bridgewater Raritan Regional School District having successfully completed the requirements prescribed by the njsba board member Academy is hereby recognized for achieving board certification and you actually achieved this in the fall um it just takes a little process a little time to process and it's signed by the president of New Jersey school boards Association Dr Karen calino and our executive director Dr Timothy Pernell so oh all right that e y thank thank you Patty and um I just want to thank everyone for their patience um you

053know as we previously discussed the the code of ethics is is unique to school boards um and we should take it very seriously um if you do have any questions though reach out to njsba I uh had a question about a conflict recently uh and I reached out to njsba and and and they're very helpful and if you uh you know you can reach out to p where where njsba has uh attorneys on staff that can help as well as ba you know a staff ba if you have uh Finance questions although Mr lomsky is incredibly helpful with that I also want to thank Mr Walker and Mrs lockran for their efforts uh to get us certified so thank you very much both of you uh with that I am done with my report so

054I'm going to move on to the committee reports first is the academic committee with Mr Joi our next meeting will be March 10th next meeting is March 10th uh up next is the community relations committee with Mrs lochman uh we met on February 11th at 6m in attendance or myself Miss Lee Miss Sana board president singer and superintendent Pierce um the first topic was uh municipality and Boe relations the committee discussed potential meetings and agenda items with both municipalities and I believe we're waiting to hear back from Representatives on when that might take place um the second topic was send receive discussion uh there was further discussion on potential send receive agreements and more concrete information will be provided to the Boe in the near future were there any questions before I move on because

055I got a bunch of policy okay so there were multiple policy updates that were discussed uh five 512 which is harassment intimidation and bullying or bullying and uh policy 9320 policy and regulation which is oh I'm sorry I missed one no no that was the right one sorry cooperation with law enforcement around the areas of surveillance these actually fall under different committees but we were discussing it from a community relations perspective um then we discussed 9163 which is The Spectator code of conduct for inter Scholastic events events the committee discussed the importance of a safe and healthy playing environment at inter Scholastic events and that good sportsmanship should be exhibited at all times by student athletes coaches officials and spectators at such events we also discussed um the um the what the the occurrences that

056would take place during if if there were offenses and the first offense was um sorry I little popup came up and I can't read around it the first uh offense uh would be 60-day suspension from events like I lost my whole place here I'm trying to work around this then the second offense um within the same 365 days would be uh suspension from attending all home Athletics for 60 days it keeps popping around and then I think the last one was three I'm just going to move on the last one was uh like a suspension for the rest of the year and okay and the fourth topic we discussed was uh students award ceremony that will recognize all the amazing achievements of Bridgewater R and athletes were there any questions or comments okay uh the

057fifth sorry I'm sorry go ahead I I'll wait until the end okay um the fifth topic we discussed uh policy 5756 and some of the legal ramifications of school boards that have amended these polic polies and then there were a couple walk-in items um actually there's one I had shared with the committee that the assembly uh of higher education Advanced several bills on February 10th that were designed to bolster New Jersey's 13 community colleges were there any questions or comments I think if if the entire board looks at that policy for The Spectator code of conduct the main thing that that we uh discussed was there's language in there where you have a choice and I believe the original language was um if a person committed in a an offense where they're ejected from from

058a game um it had said we had the leeway to figure out how many games that would be and and we had thought the best option because depending on the sport right we know like football if you said three games well that's half the season but if it was basketball let's say that might only be a week so we decided to go with a um 30 days 60 days and then a year so if someone's removed from from an event for unsportsmanlike conduct um these are spectators that you cannot come to a home event for 30 days and then uh if it happens again it would be 60 you've never had it happen three times but if it did you you would be done for the year and there was also language um I believe

059it was uh Mrs suuna who who suggested that we go with the option where sometimes you have people act up and it's the last contest of the year so let's say it's a state game and someone gets ejected well it would carry over into the next season or the next year we had the option of doing that so I appreciate all the input it was it was a robust conversation this also makes us in compliance because as a member of the ngsa we have to have this policy in place for next year so it's great that we're moving forward with that I think we have we have a very RW policy already and I know your staff had administer to it I there's been some crazy an this past weekend that happened so and if

060you were aware of it so those are actually taking place where an individual is disqualified from further competition because of it right now so they take it seriously these you know we're trying to keep those a safe environment for our student athletes and The Spectators Le uh I would like to uh uh follow on and expand on the committee's discussion about the news involved in the 5756 transgender policy as a background this is policy that is developed by a private company it name is JIS may it is a policy writing company that contract with many school districts in the state to write their District policy the number 5756 is actually not related to any law but rather an internal reference number from this company however since so many school districts in state uses this policy

061writing vender uh they share the same reference number so I'm also going to refer to it by 5756 transgender policy because there's could there could be other policies that's of this content that doesn't have the 5756 number so this policy is concerned about the transgender students in school districts and the company also had represented that this policy is mandatory however uh around this topic there has been development that that we discussed in the committee um about 18 month ago summer of 2023 the state attorney sued three school districts who Tred to amend this policy 5756 and that lawsuit in resulted in a court order injunction for amending the policy which means that the verdict is not clear but nobody changes anything and then the case recently progressed through the appell court and the ruling was

062published on February 10th 2025 let me read the excerpt of the ruling uh the trial Court's injunction relief had two components first the trial court enjoined the boards from implementing their amended policies we have analyzed that portion of the junction and discern no Abus of discretion means that that holds second the trial court enjoined the boards from amending modifying or supersedes any portion of the existing policy until the proceeding before the Civil Rights division is resolved the board argued that the trial court abuses its discrection discretion in issuing the second portion of the injunction we agree translated into plain language just means that yes we're going to wait until the Civil Right division to amend it but it is okay to abolish it this court also have shown that this policy is not mandatory so

063I F I feel like this update is good here for our whole board further in that ruling it cited the law saying that the boards have the authority to make amend and repeal rules for its own government and transaction of its business for the government and management of public schools and public school properties of District uh which means that the school district um should write our own policies now with that um the midl toown school who is one of the three District Su uh by G held a meeting two days later after the ruling uh and abolish the policy the in the week after two other school districts also moved to abolish the policy since it is not mandatory and they seek no further modification of the policy this render the second injunction mute as

064well so with that um I would also like to add that there has been more than 20 schools have since abolished this policy and it is clearly not mandatory I would like to add this to our community discussion thank you I would just like to say that in in general I shared the Court ruling with the committee I did not get into the nitty-gritty of the policy it was primarily to provide an update to the board of education on a pressing legal matter but we did not go into depth on transgender policy I did not and that wasn't the purpose uh of that being on the agenda so I just want to clarify that part again it went into that discussion but I it is not it wasn't part of the original agenda that's all

065the yeah I I forgot what time it ended but the next meeting is to be determined up next is finance facilities and transportation with Mr Walker thanks Steve we met at February 18th at 6m in attendance is myself miss laughren Mr Lee Mr singer Mr lomsky Mr beers and we had two two guests um Mr Chuck gr and Anthony tazi they are from Integrity Consulting they are our healthc care and our Pharmacy Brokers um the the up first in the meeting where um Mr Grant and Mr tansi discussed the um gave us a presentation of the district Healthcare the prescription plan Insurance offerings as well as the economic Trends in our healthare costs and their effects on the District budget they went pretty in depth into our experience was we move from the um from

066into into Self insurance and how some of the how some of the health care costs have changed and and actually Co had quite the impact on health care costs because during those two years uh majority of the society and those Prov individuals didn't actually go through Wellness checks and normal Healthcare checks and all so it was interesting to see how that that actually was a surplus to the healthcare providers and then now that that the co co is you diminished in the area and there's a larger larger cost to Ure and larger claim claims going on so it's pretty good pretty good conversation any questions nope guess not business forie agenda we uh the business administrator gave us a draft agenda the items on on on on this evening um we me we we took

067special attention to the purchases and bid Awards there's several on this evening we have lots of lots of activity going on spending referendum money getting in for the summer we're actually making an opport to purchase um technology ahead of time so the tariffs don't impact it so nice job Kevin um and there was consensus approved the agenda project updates which we have a lot going on uh Kevin gave us an update in the bid awards for basson field P phase two project and the hvc upgrades for adenville Crim and Bradley Gardens actor projects that also an expected completion date for lot of the actor projects will be March 25 for the window replacement of Adamsville Bradley Gardens Crim Eisenhower Hamilton and Van Holton security vbl at all the schools except for the except for the

068high school we need to build Dome there U the Middle School restroom reservation and Bassel and Fieldhouse Reser renovation project that's is that we passed our do we get past the when we pass that one so that's we're ready to rock and R with the bathrooms that pass on field um all the other R projects are ongoing on the schedule um and there are no recommendations at this time lastly was the budget update Mr lomsky gave us an update on the 2025 budget developments by sharing the several areas of reduced budget expenses and increased budget revenues also discussed was the ability to use a healthcare adjustment to the budget and there were no recommendations at this time any questions see them nonpublic Transportation summ summary U Mr lomsky shared the shared with the committee the

069district's obligations for transportation of non-public school students and how the partial State how the partial State reimbursement of it um we had a conversation any questions on that policy update first reading we had the policy reading for policy 8500 Food Services and policy 744 7441 electronic surveillance and school buildings and on school grounds St smma pil policy alert updated updates were discussed with the committee for the 8500 Food Services and also for 7441 electronic Sur surveillance in schools and on school grounds which are consistent and add the definitions and small small minor changes there wasn't a big update to them I think they changed it they just changed it to sub subsidized right the biggest one subsidized for the food service it's presented for this evening tonight any questions on that see none other matters

070negative cafeteria bounces and Bradley Gardens Little League baseball loop there's a large increase in the negative capfer bounces which was shared with the business maer and suggest that we share be shared by the committee on how to encourage payment for those individuals U so that that's ongoing with the administration they're looking into ways to rify that and what the next steps are an email from the Bradley Gardens Little Loop baseball organization was shared with with the committee and it asked asked permission to for to do improvements to the up the conditions of the upper field at Bradley Gardens and no cost the district um this has been done before the business Min also pooke about also spoke about the potential requirements to add breakfast offerings at new several new schools locations in the 252 2025

0712026 school year in the last recation the grant submission for the upper field of bradle the gardens was was was accepted and we thank them for doing that any questions we adjourned at 8 o'clock and our next meeting is March 11th at 5:30 pm at the W building thank you Mr Walker we're up to Personnel committee with Miss kist okay um we met on February 18th at 5 o'clock virtually in attendance was myself Mr Walker Miss Lee Mr singer Dr fonder and Mr beers uh we start out by discussing the draft of the Personnel addendum for tonight uh the committee discussed the Personnel addendum and we supported the action items next we address addressed enrollment for and Staffing for the 2025 2026 school year Dr fer shared enrollment information the committee discuss the enrollment trends

072for 2025 2026 and Beyond as well as the related Staffing considerations no actions were taken next we discuss the comprehensive Equity plan the committee discussed New Jersey's requirement that each School District follow a process to develop a comprehensive Equity plan the current comp the current comprehensive Equity plan was developed in 2019 for implementation beginning in July 1st 2019 this plan has been renewed each year for the last 6 years through the annual Board of Education statements of assurance in February 2025 the dis the district began the prescribed process to create a new comprehensive Equity plan through the Boe resolution to conduct a needs assessment in the spring of 2025 the Board of Education will be presented with a new comprehensive Equity plan to review and approve after Boe approval the new plan replaces the current

073plan and is effective beginning July 1st 2025 the committee supported the action items to begin the state required process to replace the current comprehensive Equity plan with an updated one any questions okay that was a lot comprehensive Equity plan um policy uh thank you comprehensive z uh policy 0151 was the discussion of possible language changes the committee discussed the proposed uh change in policy 0151 and there were no actions taken at the time uh next we discussed all of our future Personnel committee meetings uh they will be taking place on 3:25 520 812 1028 and 122 and we'll add other dates as needed any questions perfect we adjourned at 5:35 and our next meeting is 32525 thank you Mrs kry are there any Lea onor delegate reports a update on dates uh this coming Monday

074is the unsung heroes event at votek it starts at six o'clock I assume everybody's responding to's coming and on May 8th is the next Somerset County hybrid meeting which will take place at botek at 6 PM there's no topic noted thank you Mr Lee I'd like to update our board with the updates on the uh delegate assembly uh so far I haven't received uh or have any resolution to bring to delegate assembly we had a discussion um uh with uh Miss Lin and Miss Huna on the possibility of Hib and turns out that there really isn't a need to advance it through the delegate assembly as the board is supposed to be able to write our own policies so the the district that Miss Lin brought up last time is not a proper uh topic

075for deleg assembly so the report status would be that we will bring no resolution to the to the May meeting thank you thank you any others see none I'm going to move now to item number 10 our public comment session individuals in our groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests to the board of ed education at this time for any matter in accordance with board policy members of the public are allowed one opportunity to address the board for a maximum of 5 minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district website and we ask that you state your name and your uh uh District of residence uh for the record uh just want to again uh remind the

076the U the public that instead of having two public comment periods one on action items and one on anything we now have this one public comment period uh for any items that you might want to bring forward so at this time the public comment period is open hello some of you know me um my name is Lexi Ryan I'm a teacher at Hamilton primary school I also live in Bridgewater and this is my daughter Rachel who's in seventh grade and my son Charles is in fourth grade um I am here uh to speak about policy 5756 and um I also want to bring your attention to an email you received earlier from Laura whan um hopefully you will all um read that and take it to heart um my child Rachel is 13 and non-binary

077and restarting the pride Club at the middle school and has already faced some awful treatment um due to being nonb AR and fortunately has had the support of teachers and administrators at the middle school and I'm so thankful for that I really strongly believe that policy this policy is important um I think that getting rid of it at a time when people in our country are trying to tell transgender and non-binary individuals that they are not valid that their identity is not valid I think that is incredibly hurtful I am close f family friends with um someone whose child went through the Bridgewater schools who then died by Suicide um who was a young transgender man um in addition here's the policy speak repealing policy 5756 leaves staff without clear guidance increasing the risk of

078unintentionally violating New Jersey's law against discrimination and exposing the district to lawsuits whether or not the policy exists outing a trans student is illegal this policy ensures all aspects such as name and pronoun changes are handled properly protecting both staff and students and keeping it in place is essential thank you thank you Mrs Ryan H good evening I'm Laura Crest I'm the president of the Bridgewater R and Education Association um and just to be clear like as the leader that I've been a leader in the bre for almost 20 probably more than 20 years um thank God not the president for that long I'd really have gray hair um that uh I really don't share my beliefs and I try to stay politically neutral at all times and I'm going to do that right now

079um so for me uh Lucy sharing that cleared up the which you shared cleared up what happened in the court which I was not aware of so I'm going to skip that part of my little message okay but um uh because I was going to go into how we're not above the law and it's sort of I don't know I don't understand why people feel like they can break the law but I am an observer of humans uh I've taught for over 25 years and I've been involved with the B for like I said almost 20 years and I've been in life for you know 58 years so I often now as I observe people I question people who are so driven to push their will Above the Law and on to others even when

080it doesn't directly affect them i' would like to think that people have some kind of sense of self-reflection and ask themselves why if this doesn't affect me do I need to insert myself and really make an effort to change things okay this policy has not been a problem in our district when I started teaching children that were sort of feeling maybe at the time on the outs or On The Fringe uh dressed all in black and they would go into the bathroom and cut themselves that doesn't happen anymore because then after that it was cool to be gay then everybody was gay then um you know TR and there are people that are gay but not everybody and then there are you know a lot of children who don't know what to do with how

081they feel and they're saying they're transgender and it probably happens you know one in every however many okay that are really transgender and when they get out of middle school and they get to the high school the real number comes out so I went from having about five kids in my class A few years ago that all wanted to be called different names to none for the last four or five years so I'm not sure what's going on here um I think if people are really upset about what the law and the way things are that we should handle things by voting right and because how do you decide which law you get rid of it's the one you don't like or the one I don't like which one goes do they both go I

082don't know well why would why do we have laws then I'm not really clear because we teach our Stu kids in school to follow the laws so I'm not really here to speak on either side of it I just think we're on a slippery slope when we decide what's right and what's wrong you know legally right because we're not lawyers but you know clearly the courts are addressing it right I'll give you that but I also say vote and get the laws changed or not because it seems doing it this way does nothing but stir the pot cause dissension hurt feelings and drag the district into things they probably don't need to be dragged into right now when we have a lot of problems going on financial concerns maybe we have three contracts to negotiate

083there's things we have kids that really need help right now that aren't questioning who they are we have kids in eth grade that can't read you know those are the things you know we need stuff to get into the classrooms those are the things we need to really help these kids and I think that's what we should focus on and then every body will just turn out to be who they are and that's the way life is thank you thank you Miss Chris good evening my name is Andrew bucko I'm a resident of Bridgewater um also a parent I have a child who will be in the Bridgewater AR School District next year and um I came to speak because um it would be a significant mistake [Music] for uh the school district to resend

084the transgender policy and uh the reason is that first and foremost uh the school district has a responsibility to provide a safe learning environment for all students now you don't do that by essentially singling out a small minority of children uh and young adults who uh as the previous uh speaker had mentioned maybe are just not sure who they are what their place is in the world it's been estimated that there's between half and uh just under 1% uh transgender individuals in the United States which means that in Bridgewater RAR in high school that would put the number at under 25 uh students who are potentially transgender it's a very small number and to be uh changing the the policies of the school district to make the lives of those uh students harder uh is

085is just plain wrong now some of the arguments I've heard against uh transgender uh Americans have been that don't like uh people saying what their pronouns are well I work for an international company I work with a lot of people all over the globe who have a lot of non- Anglican names knowing what their pronouns are helps me not make a fool of myself when I refer to somebody the wrong way it's it's a it's a practical matter um I've also heard that uh people don't like um having to use the preferred name uh of somebody who who's transgender now my name is Andrew I don't like the nickname Andy if you call me that I will ask you not to but if you continue calling me Andy against my wishes that doesn't make you

086a freedom fighter you're not battling woke that just makes you a jerk and doing that to the the students of of this school district uh is is uh a grave mistake um now some people say that transgender kids shouldn't participate in sports it's right the NCAA student athletes number in about 500,000 there's 10 student athlet colleges universities throughout the country who are transgend 10 out of 500,000 that would mean that there are probably zero transgender students in Bridge Water R in school districts who are in sports and even even if they are why should we not allow them participate in extracurricular activities you wouldn't say that um someone who uh is uh um religious shouldn't be able to join clubs do other extracurricular activities would you no of course you wouldn't and the to wrap

087up there's also some practical matters of this this discrimination is against the law and if the school district uh resins the the policies that guide its employees in such a way that end up causing them to break the law it's going to cost money it's going to cost the taxpayers of of the district real money defending uh lawsuits as one of the previous speakers uh alluded to that's that's money out of the classrooms not teaching our kids instead defending what ultimately is a boneheaded decision so I hope you will uh take those uh thoughts into consideration and not resend the policy thank you very much thank you Mr bucko anyone else seeing none I'm going to close that portion of public comment we're up to item number 11 the approval of minutes and I just

088want to note for those that might have gotten their uh minutes beforehand there is only the regular session minutes being approved not any closed session from last time for which I will entertain a motion so move second are there any corrections to minutes see on Mr Star Mr lumy sorry Mr Lee Miss yes I really yes Miss loan yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes motion passes we're now up to our action items up first is Personnel 2518 so moved second there any questions seeing none Mr Mr Lum Mr Lee yes Miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Miss lockran yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes the motion passes 2550 through curriculum 2552 is next for which

089I will entertain the motion so move to Second any questions for comments excited for another spring season of sports baseball team I don't know might be hard to repeat the weather starts to turn now we can look forward to spr if there are no other questions or comments Mr lumy can please call the RO Mr Lee yes Miss Asuna yes Mr Joi yes Miss lockran yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr Sanger yes the motion passes we will now have business 25102 through business 25118 so moves second are there any questions or comments on these business items so I will whether I abstain or recuse from 107 through 109 I've actually had this conversation with do I don't need to but I do it to show that there's

090no impropriety and that I serve on Educational Services Commission and I would actually ultimately be signing these documents just so everyone knows so thank you for the clarification any other comments I do just want to note that business 25108 and business 2519 are pass through monies so you every dollar that is uh sent to these Public Schools um are are reimbursed through the state so it's just a pass through payment I would also like to thank um pjac Amon for uh donating recess supplies uh in memory of uh subash ammen a former Hamilton Cafe and play assistant and I'd like to thank the B Holton uh school PTO for Their donation uh for classroom and curricular enhancements in honor of uh their governor educators of the Year Mr lsky could you please call the rooll

091Mr Lee yes Miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Miss lochran yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes on all I have a recuse myself from 107 108 109 Miss kri yes Mr Sanger yes the motion passes we're up to special services 2518 and special services 2519 for which I will entertain a motion so move second any questions comments seeing n Mr Lum Mr Lee yes Miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Miss lockran yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker recuse on 18 yes on 19 Miss kri yes Mr Sanger yes the motion passes we're up to other 2523 through other 2525 so moved second uh if there are any questions or comments on the hibs we'll have to move that into Clos session so I'll ask if there are any

092comments on that and anything on Miss Le I have a comment about 20 25 25 that's getting to next thank you um I think I had a question regarding the comprehensive Equity plan and I further thank you for the answer while we're discussing in the committee um and I think I want to make a comment that the state statute does require the comprehensive active plan that also protects uh well that protect special ad students with disability religious groups in addition to the other group like all the groups of students so it is uh in the administrative code it is technically a state regulation so so um to that effect and uh I would like to make a comment to request that our Administration make it about the you know Equity to make up difference in

093learning needs such as special and and SEO with that uh request I would like to to vote yes to that it's not time yet but that's my intention to vote thank you any other questions or comments seeing none Mr wsky please call the V Mr Lee yes Miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Miss lochran yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes the motion passes we are up to policy 2512 through policy 2514 so moved second any questions or comments on the policies that are up for adoption I have some comments Mr uh thank you uh I'd like to take the opportunity to voice my opposition to some of the revisions that would be made in policy 7441 um which is our surveillance policy and with new

094surveillance policy revisions that delineate that emergency situation be in place for law enforcement to be able to access School surveillance I'm concerned that this kind of arbitrary language changed which fails to Define what an emergency is uh will lead to arbitrary policy enforcement which may lead to out comes that may you know endanger our students and I'm also concerned that this policy will prevent law enforcement from being able to access surveillance systems when an emergency situation is developing but not currently happening and I think our community has a reason to be concerned that this policy revision may be used to potentially limit the vital role that police play in keeping our entire Community safe and especially our students and our children so I hope my fellow board members can join me in voting no uh

095to the revisions in policy 7441 thank you just for clarification I'm looking to see what language specifically you're speaking about Mr Lee yeah so um it's it's about uh during an emergency situation uh the policy says that you know we that police are they view it during an emergency situation you know my concern is that especially you know from reviewing the memorandum about understanding it doesn't really specifically delineate what that kind of emergency situation looks like and I'm worried that this policy would uh limit the Moa does delineate that like what an emergency situation entails it's an yeah I'm not going to debate it but the mo MOA does it outline that okay well I I you know at least my concern is that it kind of limits what police can do at least and

096I'm worried that you know it could be construed the wrong ways and kind of worried as well that you know if we have this policy in place you know what if there's an emergency situation developing so that's my main concern are you familiar with emergency why why are you asking this question just kind of you know I didn't ask a question I just made some remarks all right but in basis I mean I'll be honest I me I've been witnessed myself numerous situations where um this I think the administration is handling things quite well and and and the policy is addressed is actually addressing statute did you read the statute I didn't read the entire SE okay I just wondered you know so I think it's very very sound in its development and this policy

097actually coming in in the years ago helped us make our surveillance system more robust and actually more secure for our students and in this opportunity I think it's a good opportunity for the two departments to work together and I think they have good Synergy you know the police department and our and our district so I I think it's fine the way it is in written and I recommend to the rest of the board that that it be approved as as recommended by the committee and and and just so everybody is aware of this to get it out to the public that in no way shape or form are any students in our schools unsafe the the police department has a login this is the police departments of Bridgewater M Raritan have a login we've set

098them up with vpns where they can log in and access as they see fit there there is no language in this policy that's forbidding police to do anything or need permission from us just to make that clear it feels to me that they bu need some further discussion in the committee which I think today is the first reading maybe uh during between now and first reading there's further clarification that can be provided I I will note that this was discussed at committee where Mr Lee brought up his questions on that and was discussed just want to make a a point that there is opportunity for further discussion if any more is desired or beneficial any other comments or questions question sorry go ahead Mike I have a different I have a different policy I wanted

099to bring up so anything on that I pass on just a question on The Spectator code of conduct I don't know if you can answer this bar or anyone else um there's a provision that says that a principal can go back and look at an event and make a determination that someone was acting in an unsportsmanlike or inappropriate way and enforce a um penalty or a possible penalty or a warning if they weren't actually removed by an official or or during the day of the game do we know is a is a removal by an official is is that subject to a review as well the official gets the wrong person or hears something that they didn't actually hear um or we locked into to what that official says or can the school go back

100and overrule the other way we we would be judicious in that okay we're thanks uh so this is my opinion on Hib policy 5512 um I don't support the policy as it has been presented to the board it's a direct adoption of the model policy that is provided by Strauss SMA without any amendments or meaningful consultation with parents community members or stakeholders njac 6A col 16-7 do7 mandates that each District Board of Education develop its harassment intimidation and bullying policy in consultation with at a minimum parents and other community members School Employees School volunteers students and school administrators further as I've brought up many times the policy's definition of harassment intimidation and bullying fails to differentiate between incidents that should be addressed through the student code of conduct versus those that meet the threshold for

101discriminatory bullying under the hi statute it and I don't feel like the distinctions are clear both for students or families and that is basically the reason why in good conscience I won't be voting for 5512 anyone else can I uh make a comment about 50 50 5 want to would you like to change uh or suggest any amendment to to the policy and we will as amend it I have suggested changes to the policy but I don't feel that the board is open to making amendments to the policy though we are as a board required by law to review the policy and have local control over the policy as long as it includes at A Min minimum the the components that are listed by the state mandate so no I'm not going to make any

102suggestions but thank you for asking the question anyone else I would note that the the legal components of 5512 are lengthy and extensive and any change to that would be um problematic and uh taken at only um with Extreme Caution so I I think we did discuss this at one point and while I think the committee was amendable to looking into changes as the specific changes that were discussed were not available at that time so again if at any point uh changes want to be made to that policy yes we can certainly look into them but I think one of the issues that we have is a larger state legal issue with this law that that makes this policy what it is um and I think that's something that needs to be addressed on a

103a greater level than what we're doing right now um yeah and we've had emails back and forth um and I asked you several times and if it is the and I agree maybe the uh title of the policy is wrong but we can can change that and that would have to go to I guess delegate assembly and bring it up as we've discussed last year as well um so you know the the language that you had um I don't even think um I understood clearly what was stated so as Steve said maybe you know it's a larger more complex issue that we may not be able to legally tackle and maybe we may have to bring it up at a larger conference uh delegate assembly and I agree with you maybe the the name is

104wrong um but how do we tackle that and again if there's more clarifying language maybe we can take a look at it can we revisit this we can there is no limitation to it I mean this is being revised because there were revisions by under the law yeah I at any time you know each each committee is supposed to be reviewing policy at every meeting yeah so has this been brought up before at delegate assembly Mike you you were there last year has anyone brought this up there have been a couple of different resolutions one I can think of in particular about the definition of um Hib did not actually it was referred back to committee and hasn't come back since the committee within the delegate assembly yeah it was to um give superintendant and

105administrators more leeway to kind of give the thumbs down to something that obviously wasn't HIV right away um which I think was already exists under law at least in most districts of the ability to give that so not this specific topic so it may come back it may okay and can I just say it as far as the Hib policy I'm going to respectfully ask the Board of Education to please let's not Institute policies that makes the life of an administrator or principal more difficult or fraught with legal pitfalls what have you the best bet is to follow the statute the way it's written there are a lot of flaws in it I I get it that it's clunky and and the name itself Hib and the defin and the legal definition of Hib are

106are very different things and we explain this to people we do the best we can but I I think we're making a big mistake if we go down this road and change things um and make everyone's life more complicated who who actually have to work with and Implement these policies just a comment we can vote on this to comply with the law and get the language in this that we need to right now but that doesn't prevent us from reconsidering it and reconsidering additional language later uh I would assume that that's true I I just wanted to add that I did not want to make any administrator's life more difficult but I do think that the language in the law is confusing or the language in the policy is confusing and that we are not

107outside of our capacity as a board that is one of our responsibilities is to write policy as long as we adhere to what it says in New Jersey statute at 66-77 which is that a school district shall have local control over the content of the policy except that the policy shall contain at a minimum the following components in which it lists the I think it's six components that are listed and underneath the second paragraph of the policy so we do have control over the policy I do agree that there are legal ramifications if we willy-nilly change any form of the policy but I will not be voting for the policy because I believe that the definition is not clear and if it's not if we're saying that the definition of harassment intimidation and bullying or

108bullying is not the definition of harassment intimidation or bullying I think it's problematic so I'm not voting for it that's the extensive which I can take this point I want to make a p a point about the delegate assembly uh I did Explorer to take this to delegate assembly and I think the result of that discussion is that it doesn't belong there this is a local Schoolboard issue we write our own policy including the name of the policy the only reason that this polic is named this is because St is May decided that this is a name of the policy I think that uh the the law that it stems from is the anti-bullying Bill rights it's not this name so I think the name of this policy is entirely in this board's hand not

109delicate assembly okay any other comments seeing none Mr lsky can you please call R Mr Lee no on policy 5111 and yes on the rest of 2512 yes 253 for 254 no on 7441 and yes on 85 missa yes Mr josi yes Miss lockran yes to all except for no Miss Lee uh no to 5111 no to 5512 no to 7441 yes to the rest Mr Pepe on policy 2512 no 155 I'm sorry pardon me no on 5511 yes on everything else I think I mean 5111 5111 thank you I appreciate that Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes the motion passes we're up to Old business is there any old business that needs to be discussed seeing none we up to new business is there any new business to discuss Le um

110I want to thank the audience who came here to share with us your thoughts on the transgender policy and uh I think that I value your perspective and uh uh I think this is definitely a a uh topic that is worth further discussion uh there is clearly a update on the ruling and the law we were uh presented from stra May again uh that this policy is mandatory but now that we know it's not and now I hear that you think that there's good points and I would like to hear further actually I do not know what the Avenue would be how does this policy benefit you uh my impression is that uh our school District had other policies that have provided protection for all students and I think like I agree with I think

111I forgot the name uh of the gentleman sitting in the back that we shouldn't single out one group of students and I believe this policy does exactly that because while we protect the the rights for every student transgender student is already included by singling them out I do not know right so I I'm willing to talk more learn more about it and uh I think that this policy should deserve a committee discussion because there's an update from our most recent uh update from Court ruling so I would like to make a motion to refer this to the committee I think the committee would be academic committee for reviewing of this policy does that need a motion or if there's a motion do we now put on okay so I have a motion you could just

112send you could discuss in committee do we need a motion according to Mr lsky we do not need a motion so would this be on the agenda for our next academic committee discussion do we need a motion to agree to Mr ly said that you do not need a motion to send it to committee the committee Comm chair would just put it on their agenda and take it under consideration yeah we can do it sure okay thank you thank you Lucy I just want to caution you real quick though because I want to caution you against interpreting court rulings and law because you said before that Middletown W uh and that's not correct did I say today that middle one that's what I heard you say but if that's not correct okay yeah I mean

113but to to to be clear to be clear uh there were two rulings within that you referred to one page out of a 34 page uh decision and you you ignored the rest of the ruling so I would be very cautious in in decid in in making statements about whether or not uh a Court ruled in favor or against uh a party that is not here today I think that uh if I did say uh what I intended to say was that the injunction was lifted actually the injunction was not lifted one of them is lifted the injunction that was lifted allows any school district to abolish this policy the injunctions were not lifted the injunctions are remaining in place until the division of civil rights makes the determination that what the court said was

114that it was incorrect to say that a board could not do a a revision or modification to their policy which is what the lower court said in addition but the injunction remains in place one of the injunction was lifted the other the injunctions were against the policy that those schools put into place that put in unus on staff to to report that's still in place it is I agree with that however the other one that allows the school district to abolish the policy was lifted um when it comes to committee I'm uncomfortable with this going to committee this should be a whole board discussion out in the open like we're going to kick it to committee I I don't think this belongs in academic committee we're talking about the rights of students so if there's

115a motion make a motion um but I I don't think the proper place for this is in committee the board is welcome to do as AC fit but um that's typically not how we work things where someone makes a demand that this is going to be on a committee agenda because that's between AJ and Miss Jones I believe that according to Robert's Rule referring to a committee is actually one of the Motions that the board can decide to do but this issue is a whole board discussion this is a whole board discussion because no matter what academic committee does does you're still going to have the discussion so have it I think we should defer to Mr President of our board what would you like to do should we make a motion not make a

116motion I I don't think a motion I mean I think if you're going to move to change or abolish the policy then then you can make that motion I I I don't know that this is something that needs to go to committee um but I don't really I mean I'm not making a motion so I'm not asking you to make a motion I'm asking you as the president of this meeting can we make a motion to refers this to the committee Lucy can I ask a question what on the committee right if you think about academic committee and there are three board members only on academic committee and the president of course can attend like what specifically would they be reviewing And discussing that that's why I think probably Mr beers is talking about making

117it a full board discussion because it would be unclear like are we just reading it over are we like what is it that we would be doing because if it's a discussion you know that that board members would like to have who are not on academic committee like the place to do it probably would be here I mean you could Jeremy if you're writing a note to Lucy you could just say it it's okay oh well actually uh I would like to make a motion to repeal policy 5756 that's possible is this the point where we have the discussion after the motion is made or we have to vote second yeah okay second second and now we're up for discussion Jeremy as you made the motion you get to talk first of course thank you

118Mr singer uh you know I'd like to take the opportunity to you know voice my support for the repeal of policy 5756 and as most of us here I think in this room can agree on you know our families are definitely the most important things in our lives uh families are the social units that literally make up the Bedrock um and Foundation of our school Community um unfortunately policy 5756 is a policy that intends to rip parents apart from their children it forces students to go through one of the most challenging moments in their lives alone without the people they love rather than forcing students to navigate their gender identity alone we need to find ways to work with our parents to ensure each student gets the love and attention they deserve according to a

119poll by CRC research nearly 71% of registered voters oppose withholding information about the gender identity of a student from a parent the evidence shows that parents want and deserve to know what is happening to their children in our schools and at the end of the day it's not the job of our schools to raise students but the responsibility of parents to raise their children as a board member member I'm committed to doing what's right and what's right for standing up for our students our parents our families um and most importantly our entire community and I hope that every member here on this board will join me in voting to repeal policy 5756 thank you Jeremy have you have you read the policy uh I have read the policy okay so you are aware that there's

120a portion of the policy that says that the principal or design shall have an open but confidential discussion with students to ascertain parental Communications amongst other things well there's an opportunity for separate are you aware of that I I'm I'm aware from policy I I I have a big problem with you saying that this policy is intended to rip parents apart from students and force them to go through this alone I think the policy is actually intended to make sure that students don't go through this alone and that they have uh Personnel within the school that are there to support them in every step of the way uh my my viewpoint on this is that really ultimately you know when it comes to our students you know the people that will best support our students

121are going to be the parents I think in my life I think my parents have been you know the most supportive people in my life and so you know suggesting that the first conversation had about gender identity should be with an administrator I think is really the wrong approach to how we should be talking about um you know the gender identity of students so you know from my perspective you know if I were a transgender student um you know I maybe I want to talk to an administrator but really I want to talk to my parents first and I think you know it's wrong that we're uh you know allowing this uh information about students to be kept in the dark um and I I'm concerned that that kind of keeps parents in the dark

122about you know what's going on with their kids in school so so Miss Lee before referred to the the case decision that came out uh about the injunctions uh of which apparently there are many um one of the things that the court said in that decision is that there was nothing in the in the law or in the policy that prevents student from talking to their parent about it or telling their parents about it the simple purpose of the policy is to not have an onus on the district to as someone else said out that student so I mean if a student wants to talk to their parents about obviously they can do that there's nothing in this policy that would make that not possible I think at the end of the day it really

123just it's about what's right for students and I think that you know allowing schools to keep information about students gender identity secret from parents is the wrong thing to do and I think you know it's in the best interest of students and parents that everyone's informed about what's going on with students in school I'd like to make a comment Goode oh go ahead please okay so I do you know any children that have uh similar issues we had a couple of uh folks I don't have any personal experience okay so did you read the email that was just sent to us I did read the email I'm going to read it out loud okay go ahead so this is one two three four about four paragraphs so I'm just going to go to one last

124second to the last one and Miss whan says some may say that New Jersey state transgender protections are enough they are different and should not be used in isolation things like permitting a child to use one name at school without parental notification can be life-saving you see you do not know about that child's home environment regarding lgbtq plus support and acceptance varies greatly among households if you force notification to home you are forcing the child to come out at home and forcing a person to come out can be very dangerous not all home environments are loving and supportive you may actually provide a reason for the child to be beaten and abused and the reverse by allowing them to use their chosen name at school gives them a safer space that could potentially reduce suicide

125rates I know the people who wrote this guidance guideline and have discussed it with them they work with lgbtq plus students and community members to create this best-in-class guideline if you choose to ignore it or drop it to recommend you will be purposefully rejecting ways to prevent suicide in 2022 by and she goes on to say what's going on in her life and she ends with I will hold the district and the town responsible personally it is time for infighting in the red and blue BS to stop and to do the right thing for this jeopardized community so if and then one of one other thing I wanted to read is that in January when we took our code of ethics um number two says I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare

126of 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 we are here to protect children and if I can prevent one child from dying I will do that and I think this policy protects everyone taking it out does nothing keeping in keeping this policy in does a lot and does a lot of good so I don't know where we go from this I'd like yeah I would like to make a comment first I'd also like to thank everyone for coming out tonight speaking and also to miss willan for sending the note um it's a very privileged lifestyle an upbringing to assume that every single child in our district and every student has loving parents and two loving

127parents in their home who will accept them for who they are for whatever reason there are children who are admonished by their parents because they're not in sports you know when when one of the parents was a big athlete and their child wants to be in theater they can be admonished for it there's there's so many reasons that a child can be afraid to go home and say what they want whether it be sexual orientation or anything we are in a a position that we need to protect our children all of them no matter what so assuming that they will be safe going home is just unacceptable and I I applaud you that you have such a wonderful family and upbringing I think that's wonderful for you but not every everyone is as lucky can

128I respond to that may I respond to that uh you know thank you for AJ for your comments um I think it's important that you know Mrs whan's email was read out loud I'd just like to address that uh this policy assumes that households are abusive um it it it it it assumes that it assumes that it assumes that you know we need to be protecting students from parents and I think that's the wrong mindset to have um really parents should are one of the most important people um when it comes to a students education um and yes I agree that there are cases where there are abusive parents and those should be dealt with accordingly and obviously we want to prevent suicide um but I don't think that this policy um and implementing it

129will prevent any suicide um it doesn't prevent students from bullying other students because of their transgender identity um and I I'm absolutely um opposed to that I think it's disgusting that people need to be facing bullying today because of their gender identity um and you know as as you know someone who understands what it's like uh for and I've seen bullying before you know it's something that we don't want in our schools and I agree but I don't and I agree that we don't want that but I don't think that uh having this policy in place prevents this kind the kind of bullying that happens in our schools and I don't think um that it it's made with the right intentions with the idea that um somehow this will protect students from parents um rather

130than trying to figure out how we can keep you know parents away from students um we should be finding ways to uh strengthen that relationship between students and parents and I'd also like job i' i' I'd like to add as well that you know policy repeal doesn't really entail outing um a teacher is not required to inform uh any parent that their student is transgender um that's absolutely not required but without this uh policy uh we just make sure that there are uh we falling laws against discrimination and you know in my opinion I think that uh repealing would be the best choice uh for every board member L um I don't really understand what this policy does that the law doesn't already do that aside just I just want to make that statement um

131do we have a specific policy for our gay students do does the school district is the school district required to out our gay students to their parents um so from that perspective I I don't I don't understand why this policy exists as on an island when there's no other policy for protected classes that we have that are that aren't already covered in the code of conduct that said I said this in committee um I'll say it again I think repealing this policy will hurt a very small number of students I don't think it'll take away their rights I don't think that the student the school district won't protect them but I think that they will feel as though something was taken away from them and despite the fact that I don't understand the purpose of

132having a singular policy for a singular group of students I think that I wouldn't want to cause them harm so that's all I wanted to say about that topic I if if you'd allow me I could give a a brief history lesson on where policy 5756 came from just so we all have the same set of facts so in 2017 under the Christie Administration a law was passed and this the synopsis of this law required the commissioner of Education to develop guidelines for school districts regarding transgender students um and and right at the start you can look it up it's Ruiz vital the Comm Commissioner of Education shall develop and distribute to school districts guidelines concerning transgender students the purpose the purposes of the guidelin shall be to provide direction for schools in addressing common

133issues concerning the needs of transgender students and to assist schools in establishing policies and procedures that ensure a supportive and non-discriminatory environment for Trans transgender students okay it was towards the end of the Christie Administration during the Murphy Administration I believe it was under commissioner repet transgender student guidance for school districts came out from the New Jersey Department of Education policy 5756 references this exact guidance from the doe which is based on the law so that's where it all comes from but I've I've got to say this I just to to weigh in on this and and and I want to put others at at ease I'm going to say respectfully I Jeremy I believe you have this backwards because within this policy what you see is that although it doesn't make parental notification mandatory

134in no way shape or form does it rip apart families and what you're asking us to do now is to say well big government should come in and big government in the form of this board with this what you're suggesting and say if you get this information you need to out children so I believe that you have that your reasoning backwards that's my opinion um but nowhere in this policy nowhere does it state that parents are not informed I would rather as the leader of this District have the professionals within our district being counselors uh adults helping a child through whatever they experiencing and many times we know that's including the family and that support mechanism so to think that doesn't happen is a falsehood because that's what everyone's working towards and and I know

135this because as an assistant principal and as a teacher years ago I've worked with kids through these types of issues and help protect them and help them get to this point so that's my lived experience so with this I can tell you we can resend whatever policy you want it doesn't change our practice and as long as I am in this chair I will protect the kids of this district and I will also abide by the law and by the guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education those are my two cents thank you yeah I wish to be recognized right uh I'd like to respond that um a few comments that transpired before I want to reassure everyone that repealing this policy in its particular form of Strauss dis May 5756 does not mean

136not to support transgender students the support is already in the law and in our other policies one of them is on our agenda today that's anti-bullying policy include sections that protect transgender students and I think that um the policy itself as my colleague had mentioned here uh didn't really serve a purpose particularly it didn't have to ex exist in its particular form it it w beyond what the law or guideline or regulation had required of there are school districts who never adopted such policy there are School District that adopted a different policy vendors policy that's not the same as the St s May 5756 there is a disconnection between the law and the guideline and the policy which Strauss May wrote that disconnect must be addressed and that disconnect is M representation of the law

137that's my opinion that's why I think our committee needs to further look at it and to find out that discrepancy because I know njsba policy writing doesn't write the same form let me finish there's a motion on the table though it's not going to committee there's a motion on the let me finish my talk please your Interruption interrupting my live thoughts sorry so the the particular form of this policy 5756 by stra May is the interpretation by this company I think our board should should look at alternative policy vendors policy such as and G SBA who Patty REI was just here with us there's different ways this polic is written what I'm objecting to is this one particular form of transgender policy that our school district has adopted many other school district have adopted and

138abolished and I think we need to look at this particular form and consider abolish it today by abolishing today we give ourselves protection right away and we can uh explore other forms of this policy that abides to the same law and offer protection to our transgender students thank you I just want to respond to what you've said in terms of the policy going beyond the guidelines if you look at the 2018 guidelines from the doe that's what this policy is almost word for word it's straight excerpts from the the guidelines so it does not go beyond the guidelines it is the guideline I think it is worse compar this policy to the nsba policy I understand that but I'm saying it does not go beyond the guidelines because it is the guideline well I would

139disagree because the ngsb policy is not like this have you taken a look at 2018 guidelines I I asked you a question have you I mean I I have them right here if you want to take a look at them I would like to read everything I think that I don't know at this time during this meeting is that what you wanted me to do no I wanted you to do it before this meeting I think I've read what I think I need to read I'm open to write to read more but if you're going to say that it goes beyond the guidelines without having read the guidelines I I have read the guideline and I believe it did go beyond I asked you that you didn't say so how does it go beyond we

140have a motion on the table is there any other comment before we call the before Mr lsky uh calls the RO Mr lsky could you please call the RO Mr yes no yes no I'm going to abstain because I want to read the laws that went through that were just passed I want to know them in depth before I vote on this no so the motion does not pass correct is there any other new business there's something I want to bring up from a board operation standpoint maybe a point of order is that there was a lot of talking to the audience and all conversations go to the chair in the meeting correct Steve corre yeah so I just would like to note that for board members so in the future it' be done that

141way I understand sometimes you're acknowledging but all conversation goes through the chair just a point of order motion to adjourn second NOP we have to go back into close session motion to go to close session uh object I would like to bring another new business if I can well there's a motion on the table and I is there a was there a second yeah okay so we need to vote on that motion then the motion is to go to close so unless there's a unless the person that is making that motion resends it which I guess he does not that's a voice all in favor of going into close session at this time I I all opposed Clos with that we are in Clos session are we staying here uh do you want to stay

142here