Board of Education Meeting 1/31/23

001I'd like to call the meeting to order. Please silence or turn off your cell phones and note the locations of the exits. Let's take a moment of silence for our community members that are struggling right now and a mention of our current our fellow uh board member trustee Kate who just lost her father. Please rise for the flag salute. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. In accordance with the provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act, a public notice of this meeting has been sent to board members, all district schools, the Herald News, the Suburban Trends, The Record, The Messenger, West Milford Town Hall, the County Superintendent Office, The Board

002attorney, Cable Vision of Warwick and West Milford TV77, and posted in the administration building. Copies of the board meeting calendar resolution were provided to all local media, town hall, township, library, and all district schools. Roll call. Mrs. Francisco, >> Mrs. Rico >> here. >> Mr. Sidowitz here. >> Mr. Lippy >> here. >> Mrs. Dwer >> here. >> Mr. Greeno >> here. >> Mrs. O'Brien >> here. >> Mrs. Lockwood >> here. >> Mrs. Van Dyk >> here. >> Mrs. Romeo is absent. >> Dr. Anamo, the superintendent report. >> Oh yes. Good evening everybody and welcome to our regular meeting for January 2023. Uh a couple small bullet point items tonight. Uh number one, I'd like to congratulate Mr. Treniccasta, our athletic director, for winning the Bob Hope award awarded by the DAJ, the uh athletic the

003athletic directors association of New Jersey. Uh the board of trustees. This award is presented to a recipient who has made significant contributions and demonstrated excellence in the area of professional development at the local and state level as an instructor or participant in leadership training courses. In the past year, Mr. Treniccasta has achieved his CAA as a certified athletic administration from the NIAA, National Interscolastic Athletic Administrators Association and serves on the executive committees in the Big North Conference, Pay County and Super Football Conference. This year, Mr. Trenicasa was also selected to the NJSIAA advisory committee for the reasons above and for his continued professional development and growth mindset. Mr. Trancasta was selected as this year's recipient of the Bob Hope award for professional development and will be presented a plaque at the annual state workshop in

004March. Congratulations. [Applause] >> No, no photo op. >> Really? We can't pick our phones up fast now. >> That's the way Joe likes. He likes to be on the other side. >> Yeah. Next up, we did open our 23 24 kindergarten registration for September. We have about 130 registrants already as of today. Um, so if you look at our website, we have two concurrent kindergarten registrations. We have the 2223, which is still up because we're still admitting new students this year, and then we have the 2324. So, obviously, if you're a new parent, enroll for September. Just click on the right year. And that one's going to have just the five schools to enroll for. So, uh, we'll keep our eye up on kindergarten enrollment numbers. We're hoping they climb north of 200, uh, sooner

005rather than later. Um, this way we can better get our budget together for our kindergarten staff. We know about how many teachers we'll need, but sometimes there's an anomaly with a class that's very high or very low. So, uh, the sooner people register, the sooner we can get our kindergarten paperwork in order. And last up, we have Miss Emma White as our student rep tonight. No. >> Good evening everybody. Um within the past couple >> Miss Mez is not able to attend tonight. >> Sorry for your abs. >> I was like [Laughter] >> um so within the past couple of weeks we had two things that had happened. On January 13th we had our pep rally which celebrated the winter athletes clubs and activities and that was an overall success. A lot of the students

006enjoyed that. And then last week, the Heroes and Cool Kids Club had their training and they will use this training to go back to work with elementary students in the future. This will be a part of their elementary visitations. And then coming up, we have the Lady Gaga mental health event which will take place on Wednesday, February February 15th, 2023 um in the West Milford High School. It's hosting an hour event on the teen mental health beginning at noon. This event is brought to our high school by CNBC and Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation. Lady Gaga's mom, Cynthia Ger Germanada, president and co-founder of Born This Way Foundation, along with two teen ambassadors of their 2023 youth advisory board, will be participating in a discussion on the importance of teen mental health and how

007to be there for yourself and others. This event will consist of a 30 minute panel discussion and 30 minutes of Q&A. We will be attending this live virtual event with other school students from Las Vegas, Detroit, and Los Angeles. Um, next, the student council will be hosting a fundraiser for Alzheimer's disease, and this will take place in a volleyball tournament. As you may know, last year's proceeds went to the Special Olympics. This will take place on March 1st from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. And the cost of each student participating to raise these funds will be $15 each person. And then lastly, the student council is also working on other future fundraisers. Um, and one of which will be a car show that will happen later on in the spring. >> Well, Mr. O'Brien wants to

008know about that. So, tell us about that car show. That car show so much fun. It's really a good time. >> Mr. Garino is very well known knows knows my husband very well. >> Thank you, Miss White. >> Thank you, Mr. Dr. Anamone and Mr. Novak, director of education. >> Thank you. Uh tonight we have uh we had a little uh special start to the meeting with our um you know, presentation board display. what you what you saw here for the um half hour before the meeting is typical to what you would see uh at Ryder University when um we go and accept the promising practices or the state school of character awards that we've been receiving over the last few years. So, we wanted to um bring that here and give everyone a little

009glimpse of of some of the work that we've done uh in character education uh over the years. this presentation uh set here probably represents maybe a quarter of the of the boards that we've had over uh over the time here in West Milford. We've we've done a lot of work. Uh I'm not going to steal too much of of Mary's Thunder. I'm going to introduce Mary Reinhold in a moment. Um but before I do that, I just want to acknowledge uh the staff members who came here tonight. And as you as you look out, I'm going to I'm going to say their name and their position um because they're a very um uh very indicative of the type of process we've had here in the district for character education. It's not one particular position. It's

010not just our social worker and principal who does this. It's our classroom teachers. It's this is across the board. It's in every corner of our buildings. And we for we didn't plan this, but these are the people who volunteered to show up. There have been members of our character committees, not only for our district level, but also in our schools. Um, they're actually probably a small portion of the of the large the larger group that makes this uh makes this all work. Um, so I'm just going to go in order. Uh, Blake Viscanti from the Aptua School Resource Center. Um, Colleen Leslie, secretary at the Aptua School. Sarah Warren, fifth grade teacher, Absua School. Jaclyn Becker, fourth grade teacher, Abua School. Dr. Dana Schwarz, principal, Westbrook. Uh, Megan Donigan, reading specialist, Westbrook. Patrick O'Donnell, principal,

011Marshall Hill. Christine Gennardi Fischer, fifth grade, Marshall Hill. Uh, Mr. Bill Kaine, principal at the Maple Road School. Trisha Grainy, fifth grade at the Maple Road School. Chris Rod, uh, third grade at the actual school, and Christy Clave, they go by many accolades, but she's the teacher at the at road school. Uh, and also last but not least, I I also want to acknowledge uh Mr. Treniccasta. He's been he's been here, he's been in a variety of capacities in the district. Uh, currently he is our athletic director as as we just honored him um in the state, but he has been a teacher um in the district as well. And I think that's where he got his start in in character ed with with last but not least Mary Reinhold who not only was passionate

012about bringing character education to us here in West Milford throughout her career but then pursued it in retirement. And I know when I get to retirement, I'm probably not going to pursue much, but but Mary has stayed deeply involved and uh has really, you know, um and was excited to come back and and continue with this uh with this process for us here in West Milford. So, without further ado, Mary Ryan Hol. >> Thank you, Dan. And uh he's absolutely right. That's how I started my little speech tonight. uh that if you remember I retired in 2016 and at that time I it was my mission to become a member somehow of uh the character education team because I believed that the 11 principles belonged in the schools and that it could change the culture

013and the climate of every school in New Jersey. And we do by the way I didn't put this in but we lead the nation in the amount of schools of character uh in New Jersey. this year 75 schools were just named on Friday. Uh New Jersey has 24 of those schools and one district of character for this year. So um so it it's a a incentive for everyone to get involved. So I joined the New Jersey Alliance for Social Emotional and Character Development under the leadership of Miss of Dr. William Trushheim who was uh the Pquanic superintendent and uh he is kind of a leader in character education and actually got us going back in uh 2015 around and uh because I don't know how to not raise my hand, I am now the secretary

014of the NJC and I'm also the co-chair of the New Jersey Schools of Character. So obviously I wanted West Milford to be right up there and they have done their job. So it's the mission of the alliance uh to develop lifelong learners who are responsible citizens prepared to enter the global society. That's our mission statement and uh we truly believe in that and I've had the opportunity to work with many tremendous educators in this job or volunteer work I should say and uh that wanted to bring the 11 principles into their school. So everyone understands that reading, writing, and arithmetic are really important. But we believe that character development and preparing our students for the real world are just as important. So what is character? Character is goodness in action. We envision a future where

015honest, trustworthy, respectful people treat others as they want to be treated. Uh, so every morning I get on the PA and after we do the pledge, I say to the kids, remember your character counts every day. And hopefully they're listening and they're know understanding what I'm saying. So tonight, the promising practice collection that you just saw is over the past several years. Uh, I looked at the data from 2016, I think, was the last year I could find, and we had over 50 promising practices in West Milford. So what is a promising practice? It's a a unique experience for the kids. Um, it taught our kids to grow and learn and care about others. So, I have to tell you about mine, of course, the give a goat night. Um, which some of you know

016about, but uh, it just came back after three years of not happening on Friday night. And I have to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised, okay? Because we had 250 kids in the gym. The teachers were all involved in competing against each other on four different teams. So, I was a little nervous, but the kids were wonderful. They were absolutely wonderful. They were appropriate in their cheering on their their teachers and when it was time to go get snacks upstairs, we did it in groups and they were all wonderful about that, too. So, it was just the greatest night and it was really nice to see that um after the pandemic to see them all back together again to see the teachers cuz remember the sixth grade teachers came when the pandemic was going

017on. So, we had sixth grade teachers who had no clue what they were getting into. But they quickly learned and some of them said, "I'll come help you next next." So, and I did not participate and I actually got a text message from our own John Fix saying, "You're not playing, are you?" So, so anyway, we have eight New Jersey national and and national schools of character in West Milford and we're also a district of character. So, every 5 years you have to reertify and our schools have followed that cycle and have been successful each time. Three administrators and eight staff members serve on the scoring committee for New Jersey schools of character. And our administrative team are also national evaluators. So that's that's a great thing. Probably helps that I'm the coordinator and I

018got them involved and I'll get more before I leave. So So West Milford became a district of character in 2020 and uh they have to reertify in 2025. So, I'm going to tell you, being back, I see we have work to do. Our kids and our staff lost so much during the pandemic. Social media is changing the dynamic of relationships, and we have to work hard to teach our students how to interact with each other in a positive way. Young people should be encouraged to form their own moral uh compass based on timeless principles. Our district has adopted the full value language from K to 12 for for our core values. Be here, be safe, be honest, set goals, and let go and move on. So, Mr. Novak just bought us each a book about

019full value language and they added one now to that uh to the language and it's care for self and others which I think is perfect and our students can benefit from adopting the language as their own and we as educators can make that happen. So at McAPIN we are adopting this slogan be that one for our kindest month of February. So I want to leave you with a poem that we used today in our character lesson. One tree can start a forest. One smile can begin a friendship. One hand can lift a soul. One word can frame a goal. One candle can wipe out darkness. One laugh can conquer gloom. One hope can raise your spirits. One touch can show you care. One life can make the difference. Be that one today. Thank you for

020your time tonight and for letting us do this. Thank you, Mary. And thank you for everyone for being here tonight. I I really appreciate it. Thank you all board members for getting out and engaging and and having conversations with the staff. who's um I'm sure something we won't we won't forget. Uh and in time for a shameless plug for you mentioned social media. Uh Mary and I were just discussing it today. Um digital citizenship night, >> March, sorry, digital citizenship night March 22nd. Um we've got a great uh we've got a great event planned. That event was sort of a spin-off event from our character education program. Uh Mr. Citro and I um were at one of the character events many years ago where we um met someone by the name of Jason Oler who

021was was one of the original authors in uh the work that goes along with digital citizenship. And that's that's really where we started, you know, dreaming up the the the night and the big ideas that go along with the things that we do. So, you know, as Give a Goat Night brought back, you know, some of the things that you loved. Uh we're getting getting our families back together again for for the West Milford family nights and uh we're excited to go to go back um you know to the dinner table for for digital citizenship night. Uh we intend to launch that evening a uh platform called Smart Social um which is you know digital citizenship night is great for one night and the conversations that we have. This is intended to keep that conversation

022going weekly, monthly with with students having the ability to to log into a platform and and have access to um you know some of those tools that we that we use in our lessons. Um, parents will have access to those videos that, you know, tell you what's going on in Tik Tok or how to lock down a child's robot Roblox Robux account, Roblox account, and uh, do all those things that we didn't have to worry about when we started this process in 2012. >> 2012. >> Yep. All right. Well, thank you and thank you for uh, thank you for coming out for everybody. And uh, I'm done. Thank you. Uh, special reports and correspondence. This is Francisco. >> Uh, yes. Um, board members, you have the meeting minutes from the December 20th workshop regular meeting

023in the executive session for consideration. I'd >> like to make a motion to approve the following board of education meeting minutes. December 20th, 2022 workshop regular meeting. December 20th, 2022 executive session. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I. >> All those opposed. >> Abstension. >> Anybody else? >> Yes. Great. >> Okay. President's report. Uh, Mrs. Romeo has um nothing. So, we'll go on to public comments. Uh, this portion of the meeting is referring to members of the public for the purpose of addressing resolutions on this agenda only. Members of the public who have requested to speak prior to the meeting will be recognized by the chair first. Each speaker will be given five minutes for a period of 30 minutes and then time permitting other public comment limited to 5 minutes per speaker will

024be allowed until the 30 minute period transpires. All members of the public speaking during this public comment period are asked to address topics listed in the agenda. All speakers are asked to sign the register provided and to give their full name, spell their last name, group affiliation if appropriate, and provide their address. Issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and respectful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and the board and the administration will not respond to them. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded to them by the

025laws of New Jersey. The board is not responsible and is not liable for any comments made by members of the public. Members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments. Members of the public are reminded that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. Anyone wishing to speak under public comment? >> Seeing none, like to close public comments. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? And next we're going to go to the ethics presentation and Kathy Heler from the New Jersey school boards. >> Thank you very much. It's nice to see everybody happy new year. It is very hard to follow presentation with school. Not quite as exciting. Thank you. Nice to meet you. >> Like your hair.

026>> Oh, thank you. I like it done. >> That was smooth, wasn't it? Very good. All right. >> Cuz my husband's wife worked in a salon. >> I like that. I like >> you get along great with my husband. >> All right, everybody. Thanks for having me for your annual school ethics presentation. Um, I brought paper materials with us because it's not a pandemic anymore and we can have paper. So, when you open your folder, by all means, look to the um, right side sign, the good old acknowledgement of receipt. Um, new people who haven't seen this before, this is something that you'll forward to Barbara. She'll keep on record. The board is required to discuss the code of ethics once a year, and this form uh, offers proof that the board has done just

027that. Okay, get those on over to Barbara when you're done. I can collect all. So, I am Kathleen Hawa for those of you who are new to the board or who may have forgotten. I um am your field service rep um with NJSBA. I'm kind of like a dear Abby for school boards. I come out I do training. your advocate. >> Yeah, that's that's that's how you just give me a call and if you have questions on good governance or what would you do and all that stuff, just let me know. Um, you know, I'm part of your dues. You're all members of the school board association and I was a school board member myself and I loved it. So, congratulations for being seated on the board. I hope that you enjoy your term here

028as well. But it is a team sport. You can't do it alone. You really can't. You need a lot of resources. You need a lot of guidance. you need a lot of time to get your seal legs. Um, so it's good to know that you've got an experienced superintendent, you've got your board leaders, you've got NJSBA behind you. We also have attorneys on our team as well. Your school board attorney is a terrific resource. We'll be talking about, you know, the need to to get um weigh in from your attorney throughout this presentation because we are talking about the law. Um, but I am not an attorney myself. I will tell you that I am very steeped in the school ethics act by the very nature of the job that I do. So I'm happy

029to answer any questions now or later about this material or anything else that touches school ethics. But I also want to note that we do have attorneys on board with NJSBA that are there for you to call and they give you um information, not advice, but it's very helpful. But your school board attorney really is um a terrific probably the best resource when it comes to questions on school ethics. What I have in your packets is a full um printout of this presentation so you don't have to take screenshots or copious notes or anything. It may be a little bit out of order um but all the material is there. And I also have the full text of the law. I mean, it's nine pages of small print, but what we're going to do today

030is kind of decode that for you so you can kind of see what it looks like in action. In your packet on the left side behind this code of ethics, I have a red and black dos and don'ts for the code of ethics, right? Um, and return veterans have seen this before. It's terrific. So, put this on your refrigerator if you read this every day. you know, if you don't remember a word I say today, and I don't hold it against you if you don't, um, have keep your packets handy. If you know what's in that red and black, um, dos and don'ts, you'll be good. You will be carry, you will be clean, as as I like to say. So, honestly, um, it may seem a little bit daunting about being accountable to a

031law that only school board members are accountable to to. Um, as public officials, we have a piece of legislation that just addresses what we do, right? Our conduct, our job description for school administrators. But that's really a school board member's best friend. Um, it helps to ensure to the public that you are going to do what they ask you to do, which is to govern fairly, to stick to your job description, to abide by a standard of ethics and a standard of behavior that is standard for the entire state. So no matter where you sit on a school board, whether it's in Newark or Cape May or West Milford or Blair's Town or, you know, Franklin Township, everyone has the same set of standards that they have to abide by, right? It's really all about

032service. You know, how are we serving our public? How are we different from other community servers? People who serve on the town council or the rec commission or the library or the PTO, we're different, right? So, this school ethics act describes how we're different and how we do our job, right? It's all about holding the respect and confidence of the people who put you here. Um, veterans, remember that I always make a point of talking about those last two words in red on this old, you know, by this this classic slide. You need to avoid creating the justifiable impression that you are violating the act. Um, we actually saw this a couple of years ago where someone who technically was not in violation of the act of the school ethics act um was found to

033have um been in violation because he created the justifable justifiable impression that the trust that the public placed in him was being violated. Even though technically he was kind of acting within his role, his behavior was such that the public really couldn't trust that he was. Um, and that's kind of paraphrasing it. What I will tell you is that the best place to learn about school ethics is a school ethics commission's website. That case, all the cases that I talk about and many preceding it and everything that's going to come from now on after is on the school ethics website. The school ethics commission publishes all of the opinions that it renders and an awful lot of its advisory opinions. So if you look through those cases and it makes for some really interesting reading,

034I'll tell you that. Um you start to learn like what this looks like in action, right? And interestingly enough, I will tell you not all bad behavior is unethical. We're talking about the ethics that are outlined in the law should be black and white, but actually some of these are rather gray and we'll talk about that. So that's why it's very good to ask for the opinion of your board attorney when needed. Um I want to note that this is um an act that applies to all school officials, but for school board members, the levels a little higher. Um everyone has to go by conflicts of interest. Everyone has to go by disclosure statements. And when I say everyone, everyone around the day is your superintendent, your business administrator, your certificated school administrators. They're accountable

035under this act, too. But school board members need to abide by the code of ethics. That's just for us and also by mandatory training requirements which is which are in this packet and we'll talk a little bit about um we'll talk about all of these four circles. Right. So we'll start out with the commission the board that enforces the act. Um every year I come here and I say it's supposed to be nine members but we don't have nine members. We have seven now which is kind of I think I think we have seven. um two school administrators, um several non-school officials, and one school board member. There's still only one school board member. We have never been with two. Even when I was on my board, there was not two school board members. So,

036the governor needs to appoint, but these are the people who determine whether or not you're in line with the ethics act. And they do that by issuing advisory opinions when asked and ethics complaints when presented with them. Those are two different things, but this is how the commission does its work. They meet monthly. Um they were meeting online. I'm not sure if they're meeting in person again, but in Trenton, right? Um and if a board member, a school official is not sure if they are, say, for instance, conflicted, right? where there's something before them. They're going to be voting on an item. There's something um you know, an issue on which they have to decide that might be a conflict that might not be in line with the school ethics act. If they participate and

037they're not quite sure, you ask me, I don't really know. NJBA attorneys don't really know your school attorney, I'm not sure. You can ask for an advisory opinion from that commission. And it's not um an arduous process. It doesn't cost any money. You just write a letter to the address that's on the website. I think they have an and step by step on how to do it. Describe the um action that's be that will be before the board before it's happened. Why you think there may be an issue right with yourself or one of your fellow school officials here in this district. You can't ask about Patterson. You can't ask about Verona only West Milford, right? Um and at its next meeting, the commission will discuss your request themselves and issue an advisory opinion which

038is advice which is advice what you should do, right? Yes, if you do that, you're fine. No, you can't do it because it would be in conflict with the ethics act and here's why. And they send it to you and they trust that you keep that advice, right? That you go forward with it. They don't send the board police out to make sure that you're not doing anything wrong, right? They trust that you're going to do what they ask you to do. It's not punitive at all, even if it's it's a no, you shouldn't do that. And the reason why it's not punitive is because the action hasn't happened yet. You can't ask for an advisory opinion about something that already happened. If there's a question about something that already happened, then we move to

039ethics complaints. >> That's the territory we're getting into. The horse has left the barn. And most of the time, you've made somebody mad, so they filed an ethics complaint against you. You hear about these all the time. Ethics complaint. Ethics complaint. Anyone can file an ethics complaint about any school official. Could be a fellow school official, could be a parent, could be a teacher in the district, could be a good governance watchdog from, you know, how many towns over. Could be actually the commissioners could file an ethics complaint against you. That happened to one of my board members. An ethics complaint was filed against her by one of the Yeah, pretty pretty creepy, right? Um, so in any case, we want to avoid these because these are not just one meeting of the ethics commission

040and done. These are this is a legal proceeding. Everybody's lawyers up, right? >> Your attorney will ask it to be dismissed. It doesn't get dismissed and you know go to all sorts of other steps and it takes a while and it puts a cloud over the board and the board's work in the meantime. If you are found to have violated the ethics act or someone on the board has, then that's points off of your QAC as well. So, it's a real hit and we don't want you to be in that territory at all. Um, that's also rather punitive. There are penalties involved. The ethics commission determines what the penalty should be in their estimation based on all the facts and the commissioner of education signs off on it. So on the low end you've got

041a reprimand. Um that is where the commissioner of education writes you a letter that says you were very bad and uh it's kind of just between you and the commissioner and the person who filed the complaint, right? It doesn't it gets published on the school ethics commission's website and everyone will see that but that's pretty much where it stays. The censure is a step up from that where the board president has to read from the deis and it's in minutes that you violated the ethics act of line. So, that's rather humiliating and even worse is being suspended from your board for several months, whatever the commission determines is appropriate and the uh commissioner signs off on or in severe cases, you could be removed. And I will also tell you alarmingly, I mean, I think

042it's alarming. We're seeing more removals and the removals um the increase in removals seem to stem from people not doing their mandatory training on time. the commission is really has no appetite for that anymore and it seems like they either give you a reprimand or a removal like nothing in between and the removals are going up. So do your mandatory training. Okay, we have a slide on that do it. Um, so all of that being said, let's kind of get into what the law says about your job description and what you should be aware of. And what you should be aware of are conflicts of interest. All right, this is for all school officials. It doesn't mean that you can't serve the district if there's a conflict of interest, but you may have to step

043away from the deis on certain matters. And this is how it's outlined in the law. Some of these things seem pretty evident, right? Like financial gain or someone trying to give you a gift with the intent to influence, then you need to step away from that. But some of these are rather gray, right? Like um h what is what is a a service that might prejudice independent judgment? Not sure. Right? This is where your great legal minds help you out on that. So if there's ever a question, ask for some legal input on that. Um, I don't even spend an awful lot of time on that because they are so nuanced and they're so facts sensitive that it's kind of hard to to go through all of those and and give examples. There are examples

044on the school ethics commission's website of people who had conflicts and did not recuse themselves. Right? When I say recuse yourself, if there's an issue before the board on which you're conflicted, you cannot participate in the discussion at all. You can't participate in the vote. So if it's being discussed in executive session and that's a conflict for you, then you can't go into executive session with the board, right? Um and that's also whether there is a benefit to you as a school official or your immediate family. We'll talk about family in a moment. Um throughout the presentation, you'll see fine print decisions that the commission has made over the last two years and recently released. Um, in these two instances, these are board members who did not recuse themselves from board matters when there was

045a personal conflict of interest. One got a reprimand, one got a censure, right? But we also have to keep in mind what might benefit our family members or what might be perceived to be benefiting our family members. And there's two family two family terms I want you to be very aware of. One is an immediate family member. um it's either your spouse or your civil union partner, domestic partner, or dependent child who lives in the same household as you, right? So that's not my dad. My dad doesn't live with me. So he's not an immediate family member. My daughter is, my husband is, but my dad's a relative according to the ethics commission. That's a big definition on the um on the right hand side. uh you know including your uncle, your halfsister, your daughter-in-law,

046your steparent, your brother, your sister, all these people, right? That's a relative. And we keep those in mind because if there is some kind of perceived benefit to either one of those, you have to be um mindful of recusing yourself in those cases. And it also depends on where they've worked. So if you've got anyone belonging to you, the big definition or the small immediate family member or relative that works in West Milford, you are conflicted from participating in any um discussion or vote related to your superintendent's hire or evaluation or compensation. Absolutely not. Right. Um, if you've got um the other thing too that you should know about is once you're on the board, the superintendent cannot recommend for hire to the board any of your family members at all. The end. None. Very,

047very narrow circumstances in which that can be done. Even during the pandemic when we're scrging for nurses and teachers, just couldn't get any exception. So, for all intents and purposes, no family members to work here can be hired here once you're seated. Now when collective bargaining comes around negotiations, if you have a family member who works in the district, right, large bucket or small bucket, immediate family member or relative, you cannot participate in negotiations here at all. You're out completely. But if you have an immediate family member, yourself, your spouse, or your dependent child who works for another school district, right? you're in the teachers union in Cedar Grove, you cannot participate in negotiations here until in effect the final vote on the contract. So when the contracts all together, salary guides are reached, memorandum

048of agreement, basically the final vote, you're back in, you can vote, you're not conflicted anymore. If you have someone from that big bucket though who works in Cedarboro or Compton Plains or you know Westgate May, you can join negotiations from start to finish. That's hasn't always been the case, but it's been the case since 2017. However, look at all those asterisks all over those yeses, right? So that means maybe not. Maybe not. If for instance you, my sister-in-law was the head of negotiations in Thompen Lakes, right? I couldn't participate in negotiations in Warren Township. Ask your attorney. Keep track of where everybody lives. The pandemic's over. We're getting back together again, right? In groups. So, you know, with the holidays, ask them how's it going, especially kids who are graduating college. Where are you landing?

049Right? And make sure that you let your board president know who's forming the committees, you know, so you don't wind up on negotiations. Um, and here's another, you know, there may be some other conflicts. Um, I also want to note that when you are formally endorsed by the teachers union, um, if money has been exchanged, especially, you need to sit out the next round of negotiations. But there the the even the very definition of what an endorsement is is kind of called into question. If you read that advisory opinion, I I highly recommend it. A 1018 was very interesting about a board member who didn't want an endorsement from the teachers union, but the union endorsed him anyway. They did not give him money. He was running unopposed. Um, he was on the negotiations committee.

050And when he ran, when he won, the union said, "Oh, so sorry. We endorsed you. You're off. Whoops. Better luck now. Maybe next time." and and he said, "Oh, no." And wrote to the ethics commission and the ethics commission said, "Well, there was no money that changed hands." I'm paraphrasing, of course. So, it really wasn't an endorsement. Read that. It's a really interesting case. Really interesting. Um, and here are some advisory opinions that were issued in in uh the last couple of years um about who could who could participate in their negotiations or not, which might help you. Um, you know, basically someone who uh whose ex worked for the assoc worked in the association, could they participate? No, they couldn't. They were conflicting. Um, how about somebody's aunt? Could they? And the commission said,

051"Well, that's stretching things a little far. That person can't interesting um opinions." Again, a bus driver, can they participate? Well, um, no, they can't. Um, and also vote on a superintendent's miracles. Keep that in mind. That kind of slips by people, right? They're conflicted. They don't participate in the search or the hire or, you know, uh rather, you know, renegotiating the contract. You'd still have to sit out miracles, too. These people knew that. Um and then after the superintendent resigned, um the board said, "Hey, well, we want to get the superintendent back and if these two people can vote on them, maybe maybe it's okay, but now the ethics read." It's kind of interesting. Again, all this binding interesting stuff, but aside from context, at the heart of the um at the school is a

052code of ethics, and that's your job description. Um, it go it's broken into subsections from A to J and we're accountable to all of them and uh there's some real beauty in them but there sometimes I get a little sad. Um, this one I'm getting a little sad about like over the last year or so, but I'm very grateful for the chance to give this presentation in public because I think the public has a misperception in a lot of the districts that I serve um, and in a lot of districts in New Jersey about what a board member can and can't do when it comes to the state board of education. Here it is in the code of ethics, a piece of law that you must abide by. As a board member, you will uphold

053and enforce all laws, all rules and regulations of the state board of education, there it is, and court orders pertaining to the schools. So, when the state board of education mandates a curriculum change, the board has to make sure that the curriculum reflects what this what this state board of education is telling them it needs to do. Right? I mean, that's the broad statement. Can't go rogue. You cannot go rogue. Can you advocate? Absolutely. Can you make some noise and say we don't like this? Oh heavens, you know, yes, you can do that, but your, you know, your hands are tight. Your hands are We saw a lot of this with the masking stuff, right, during the pandemic when, you know, masking was a requirement. They were there was an order from an executive order

054from the governor. It has the force of law and boards had to go by that. And the public wasn't aware of that. They really were under the impression that boards could do something different, but they cannot. They can't. So, I'm happy to say that in public, even though I used to be able to just whiz right through this one, right, for years, but now I can't. But B, I never whiz through. I love B. B is my favorite. This is the poetry in the law. This is why you're sitting here, right? You are going to make decisions that in the terms of the educational welfare of children. That's why you're here, right? You're not on your town council, right? You're not serving in any other capacity when you're here at the day then to serve

055kids and not just children, but all children. That's my favorite, right? That's my favorite line in there. All children. I will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children. And that means not just the gifted and talented, not just special needs, right? Not just your kids, not just the Eagle Scouts, not just the troublemakers, all of them, right? Who I identify with the trouble to be honest. >> But you have to keep all of these children in mind when you're making your decisions. And it's as simple and as difficult as that. That's why you're here. That's why you're here. That's why it's really my honor to serve you guys. You're doing a really important part. And all these kids need you. I love B is a really good

056one. C. I like too because it starts to define what your role is, right? And puts it down in black and white. Your role is policym, planning, and appraisal, right? So policym, we know that you have policy committee. You vote on policies, updates and and adjustments and new policy and you know um and suspend new policy allocation. That's your job. We know that planning. You've approved your strategic plan. You have annual district goals. You make sure that your administration is updating you on that and they have the resources to those goals and appraisal, right? How do they go with also planning a big part of your planning? It's your budget, right? Voting on your budget, making sure that everybody has what they need, right? within the means that the district can afford. Um appraisal is

057is basically evaluating your superintendent and his performance on district goals, right? And how they and how the strategic plan is coming along. We need to make any adjustments. I don't know. And also you have public comment. So anyone who's going to be affected by policy change has the ability to um to talk to you about it. So that's a good one, right? But note that these are highlevel things, right? And this dovtales beautifully into subsection D which for new people may not have heard this. You'll hear it a million times if you haven't. And our veterans have heard it a million times and it bears repeating that as a board member you are not to run the schools but see to it with your fellow board members that they are wellrun. Your administrators take care

058of the dayto-day in matters big and small but we are the 30,000 foot view. You don't get involved in what's going on in the classroom. You are districtwide, right? You are districtwide. That's your job. You know, whether the food in the cafeteria isn't so good on Thursdays, that's not your gig, right? You are the 30,000 foot strategic plan people, right? You want to make sure that your plan is fulfilled. And I know the sus. It's really nice. Um, and your job description continues with E. um you recognize that the authority rests with the board of education. So what that means really is that and no personal promises or private action that may compromise the board having a lot of trouble with E. A lot of trouble with E in the last few years especially social

059media is where E goes to die. It's really sad. It's horrifying some of the things that compromise the public's trust in the board. that happens on social media at the hands of individual board members who have something to say, but you have to balance what you want to say with what you need to do under the code of ethics. Because like I said, this is a team sport. And just like you can't go to your neighbor and say, "Have your son apply for a job and I'll make sure they get hired." Right? You can't say to somebody, "Oh, you know that teacher that you think is a disaster? Well, I'll make sure we take care of him. That's not you. You know, you are not the board, first of all. That's not your role anyway,

060but you're not the board, right? You are not the board. The board has its authority and you're part of that in a legally constituted meeting when you're voting on agenda items. I don't get to do that. I get to help you do it, but I'm not a decision maker. You guys are. when you're at the table. And when you leave the table, your authority leaves with you. But everyone's always going to look at you like you're a board member or go too far and they're going to think that you can do things that you cannot. And it's up to us, they're not bad citizens or anything to help educate them on what your role really is. And I love that role. I don't want to get involved in the day-to-day. And this code of ethics

061protects you from from going even near that. So you have to keep it. F is another depressing one that I used to just whiz over in years past, right? Yeah. Yeah. No politics on the school board, right? Use your independent judgment. Well, I'm sure everyone's been watching the news. Like, since when did school boardsmanship get so interesting that it's on the national news, but it Yeah, I mean, clearly it is. And politics are leeching into local boards. Stay away from it. That's what F is about. We have a new executive director, uh, Dr. Tim Fernell, and he sent out a reflections column. You saw that, Debbie? That really a beautiful piece on why having nonpartisan boards is a strength. So, read that. Um, uh, G is very verbose, but it's all about two concepts. And

062one is confidentiality, right? No leaks. If it's discussed in executive session, do not let that conversation leave those walls. Even if your fellow board members are conflicted and can't join you, they cannot know what's going on there. You get a confidential memo, you keep that info confidential. When we're talking about confidential matters, most of the time we're talking about people at their worst. So although it's in the law that you, you know, keep confidentiality sacred, as a human being, you're going to want to do that because people can get really hurt if that stuff is leaked. And in every and all other matters, you provide the truth, right? So confidentiality and truth. Geez, been having a hard time on social media, too, as well. Very, very rough days these days. H I love because H

063is why we can have a board of lay people. My career was in banking. I had no idea how to hire a teacher, right? Or to hire a buildings and grounds person or even how to hire um you know a a business administrator, right? But it got a little better at what to look for on that. But it's not my job as a board member, right? It's your superintendent's job. They know how to make the best hires for your district. They put a name in front of you and it's either a yes or a no. And you have to have your superintendent's recommendation to vote on anybody. And that's why we can have so many diverse walks of life around the table, right? And participating in the governance of this district. So I think that's

064a beautiful thing. And just as good, probably even better is I right now especially with everything teachers in New Jersey have gone through. I mean, we're talking pandemic. It's been really rough. Right. Even before that, the Frisky administration was very difficult. So it just keeps coming and coming, right? to support and protect their school personnel in the proper performance of your duties. So, we're going to want to do that anyway. But what I really love about I is that when someone is trying to pull you into a conversation where you don't belong, that's going to be unpleasant. You're in the supermarket, right? This has happened to our veteran boards. It happens to every board member at some point. You're leaving church, you're on the soccer field, whatever, and someone is trying to tell you about

065a concern they have with their child's teacher who just doesn't do blah blah or who does something that'll curl your hair, right? Something really terrible that they're confiding in you that they think is happening. You don't want to be there. And quite frankly, you can't. You can't. It's I go to I say I'm sorry legally I can't participate in this. Right? Don't try to corner you at a cocktail party. You're just there to have some fun. Right? Just go to I. It'll make life so much better for you. And it's only proper because you can't fix that person's concern. That would run up against D, right? Where you're not running the schools. You're just seeing to it at the large level, district level that they are wellrun. So, you help walk people through the chain

066of command because they're nine times out of 10 or even more than that, they're not trying to do it because they're a bad citizen or anything. They just don't quite understand. They voted for you. They put your sign on their lawn and now you're supposed to be their problem solver, but you can't. So, if there's a complaint about a teacher, go to the principal, advance up the chain, assistant superintendent, superintendent. That's where all of those things are solved. you know, coach, athletic director, superintendent, things of that nature. If there is the absence of an administrative solution, right? And subsection J talks about the failure of an administrative solution. That's not a popular administrative solution, right? That's a failure. No administrative solution is offered to that person at all. None. None. Then it might rise to

067the level of court's detention. By then your attorney will be involved and luckily that is very very very very rare. You are the last stop on the chain of command and most complaints don't get there but you will hear things as an individual board member and you need to direct let your superintendent know that you've heard those complaints. Not to direct the complaint to the superintendent, not to tell the person who has the complaint that that's what you're doing. But you do have to just let him know. And when you let them know, you don't say, "Here, you know, here's Mrs. Hela's phone number. Get back to her on Tuesday and let me know that you talked to her. You know, follow up on this. Take care of this." You don't do. It's not your

068role. It's a problem with D. And here's the other thing. If that were to come out in Mrs. Hela's favor, she's just jumped a whole bunch of, you know, stops on the chain of command and you're her board member, man. She'll be coming to you with absolutely everything. and her friends will start to come to you and you're violating the code of ethics left and right, left and right, left and right. Don't do it. And also the other thing about the chain of command is that when it is violated, it really does leave the people on those stops that were missed over um with a I'm going to say it's a bitterness, right? It's a lack of trust. >> You know, there's a process for these things and we need to listen to the proper

069voices at the proper time, right? And luckily we are out of we're but you do have to let your superintendent know where you heard. Um and that's the code of ethics. So I don't know if there's any questions about this. I know I'm doing a lot of talking. If you have questions later by all means call me. Um or ask now is perfectly fine. Um but before I leave you I always mention volunteering in the school when we do ethics um training because this is an interesting concept for so many people. um you know, you kind of work your way onto the board table a lot of times because of your involvement in the school. You were so involved in, let's say, the PTO or, you know, some kind of civic work that was supporting

070the board and you wanted to participate in this work and you're here, right? So, what do you mean I can't volunteer in the school? Well, you can, but there are some restrictions as a board member because we don't want to bump against D, right? We don't want to even give the justifiable impression that we're say trying to run the schools or doing something other than our policym planning and appraisal. Right? We're always board members. That's how we're always looked at. So in all honesty, what it comes down to is are you going to be in the school an awful lot? Is it going to look like you're working here when somebody walks into the school cuz you're always there because you're working on the school play. That's where a lot of these things come. the

071school play became a problem for a lot of board members. Um, that's not appropriate. But going in once uh for like a one-off like career day or chaperoning a trip or something like that, no problem. Working with the PTO, volunteering on behalf of the PTO, no problem. Cuz that's a separate board with its own bank account and its own bylaws. Same thing with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, recent any of that. But as a board member, I couldn't start the Warren Township Archaeology Club. That wouldn't be appropriate in the ethics commission's eyes. And I get it. I get it. Also, don't touch the school district's money. Stay away from it. And if you are volunteering, let the superintendent know that you are. Okay. Just so that they'll know. Um interview committees. Do you all do those

072here, Alex? Um any interview committees? Would that involve the board members or on occasion? >> Uh on occasion. >> Okay. and that's perfectly permissible. The superintendent owns the hiring process. Okay? So, if your superintendent and thinks it would be a good idea to have a board member on an interview committee, that's okay. I will tell you if you read these two advisory opinions, the school ethics commission isn't crazy about it, but they do recognize that this does belong to the superintendent this process. So, if he feels the need to bring board members onto an interview committee, that is fine. But it can't, it's got to be that way, right? The ask has to come from him, not from the board member to the superintendent. That's not permissible. And there's some other, you know, um, codes

073of conduct that the ethics commission would like you to do, like just just observe. Don't ask the interview questions. No more than two board members is what they they want. You know, make sure that the administrator is always present. Okay. Um, and here's some other decisions about board members who were kind of bad last year. You can read them at your at your leisure, but I will tell you, um, C6720, that one at the bottom, makes for really interesting reading. Um, this is about someone, a board member who felt very strongly about football players kneeling during the national anthem. and it happened during a game that was at their district. He felt really really strongly about that anti. And if you read that decision, that's a whole manual on how not to be a board

074member. Right? This board member was demanding that the administration change rules. You know, do what he says. I'm your boss. Blah blah blah. Just bad behavior. It's okay to have strong feelings on an issue. We all do. But how you govern while you hold those strong feelings is a totally different animal than just going off and getting your way. You're on a board and you're not running the schools, right? So, read that one. That C6720, very interesting. Um, and there's uh some other interesting ones. Um, but again, there's a lot of fine print here. Um, but this is about a point. Yeah, you're already seeing some of the keywords here. So, um, you know, ah, a teacher is so afraid of co, but sure enough on social media there's a picture of the teacher in

075Cancun, right? So, um, and parents were sending the board member these shots. So, yeah, you know, what do you do? Well, what you don't do, as tempting as it was and as a as as reasonable as this probably seemed to the board member, you don't say, "Oh, yeah, we're going to take care of that with an appropriate response." That's a problem. That's deep. That's not your gig. If it rises to the level of the board, your superintendent will let you know. Read that one because that's a very interesting one. Um, and what I also want you to know >> as you go through these, the commission does read the complaints in a light that's most favorable to the complainant. But but note that second bullet point. The commission has been it's been smelling, right? It's

076been smelling. Board members are using the ethics act and ethics complaints as weapons against their fellow board members to resolve. They want the commission to be the referee and say who's the good board member and who's the bad board member. >> And the commission is not going to do that. It's not not all bad behavior is an ethics violation. even behavior at the deis. There's plenty of stuff that is, you know, a real bad look and it's real bad to work through, but it's not an ethics violation. If you look, I think the first case, if you go on tonight, um the last decision that they made were about two board members, one of whom threatened to punch the other board member in the face twice, you know, in executive session, and that's not an

077ethics violation. So if they're tired of reading these things, don't file them, right? Don't file. >> Not that that would never happen. Well, Bob, >> I am telling you. I am telling you. I mean, there's problems with that. No question. But is it an ethics violation? No. No, it's not. Um, here's that slide I was talking about about what your training is. I mean, it's kind of easy to remember. In your first year, you need to take what's called governance one, new board member orientation. Um in your second year you will need to take governance 2 which talks about money matters. Year three we talk about student achievement and if you are reelected each year um that you are reelected for your first year you have to take a legal update. So that's good stuff.

078Um and apparently if you have a three-year gap in board service that's when it's the cycle starts all over again. So if you haven't been on the board for three years, you start again and you go to governance too. We are the only people who offer that NJSBA. It's in the law and we do it online. We do it in person. All sorts of of different ways. You can do it self-directed. You can do it live online. So go to our website. If you have questions about it, I can help you with it. But your business administrator is very aware of of how to sign you up for those those things. Just make sure you do. In fact, I am not even going to look at this slide with you because this is the penalty

079for not taking your mandatory and I know you're going to. So, I'm not talking about it with you. And disclosure statement, but you have it in your packets. Um, disclosure statements come from the from Trenton, not from us, NJSBA. Um, but when you do receive it, make sure you fill it out and send it back. Um, new school officials, the first time on the day is 30 days after you're appointed. Um, and for everybody else has to have one in by April 30th. Okay. Um, and that's kind of Oh, social media talked to you about less less we forget. Okay. Remember, you know, good old E. Good old E. You have to make sure that you maintain confidence in yourself and in your board, not compromise, you know, the public's trust in your board. So

080you have the school ethics commission is going to look at your posts, you know, free speech, free speech. Well, would would a reasonable member of the public perceive that you on your social media accounts are talking for the board, right? >> That's that's the barometer, right? And we're not talking about someone who's, you know, has a degree in education law. We're talking about John Public, right? So if as a board member you start opining on matters of education on your social media that's very likely to be perceived by the public as you speaking for the board. Right? If you your field service rep who loves you very much advises you not to go on social media and do anything other than post pictures of your vacation and your kids and your dogs. >> Yeah. And

081songs and poetry like I do. Like I do like I do. But but you do still have first amendment rights. You just have to balance them with this. So if you really do feel like you have to get involved in matters of discussion about issues that might touch your board governance or you perceive to touch your board governance, use this disclaimer. The following statements are made in my capacity as a private citizen and not in my capacity as a board member. These statements are also not representative of the board or its individual members and solely represent my own personal opinions which is all in caps and very redundant but that's how it came to us from the school ethics commission. So if you use that you're probably good probably but you have to walk the

082walk besides just walking the walk. There was a case a couple years ago where somebody used this the ethics commission disclaimer. It was a little this is kind of new. They've really ramped it up, but someone used the ethics commission's disclaimer and said, "Yep, private citizen, not my board, just me." Um, but then was was looking to endorse someone for for election, right? And you can do that as a board member. You just have to make the disclaimer. And so this person was endorsing a non-incumbent who was running against an incumbent. And after they put the disclaimer up, the board member was saying, "Sitting at the deis with candidate X is a nightmare." I'm paraphrasing. They make bad decisions. They embarrass the whole board in front of the teachers union, etc., etc., etc., but that's

083an ethics violation. And that's what the commission said because you're not acting like a private citizen in those comments. You're saying that you're sitting at the board table. So you can't have it two ways. You can't have it, you have to be careful. So again, social media can be a real minefield. And the thing is is that, you know, people are watching what you say an awful lot. And I don't know about you individually, but I can say for a lot of the people that I serve and board members, you know, they're just looking for a misfit. They're just looking for something. And they get a lot out of, you know, misbehavior on social media. even if a board member doesn't even realize they're meeting. So, just be very careful there, very careful. Um, and

084uh other than that, friends, read your school board notes that comes to you from NJSBA because if any decisions that you need to know about from the commission or any court cases or changes or something that you need to know about school ethics, it's going to be in there. And like I said before, keep track of where your relatives work so you don't inadvertently join negotiations where you're not supposed to. Um, and ask your board attorney to to opine on matters of ethics when there is a lot of gray areas, right? And again, it's a team board. We're happy to help you use your resources. I got to tell you, it's um it's really hard to serve at the deis these days, but it's so rewarding to be able to say that you're spending your

085time and your energy and your talent on the children in your school district. All of them. All of them. I don't get to do that anymore, but I do get to support you because you can't be on the board and at the same time, but I do get to support you. So, let me know if I can help you. And thank you very much for letting me speak on ethics. Um, I know it was long and very dense, so if you have questions, let me know now or later. But, um, thanks again for the invitation and the time on the agenda. >> And thank you, Kathy. >> Thank you, Kathy. Thanks, Kathy. Right. >> Yeah, I know. You guys know tie, right? You should have wore your tie. >> Yeah, exactly. Okay, I need a

086motion to adopt the agenda as presented. Any changes, comments? >> Like to make a motion to adopt the agenda as presented. Second. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay. Education. I'm going to ask Terry, Mrs. Dwire. >> Okay. I move to approve items 1 through six for um approval. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call. >> Mrs. Slwood, >> yes. >> Mr. Greeno, >> yes. >> Mr. Mrs. Rico, >> yes. >> Mr. Cidowitz, >> yes. >> Mrs. Drier, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> yes. >> Mr. Lippy, >> yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Personnel, students affairs, Mrs. Van Djk. >> I'd like to move items 1 through um 33. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Dr. I'd like to thank you for checking out that stipen position and correcting

087it. >> Thank you. >> I have a question under number 11. Um I'm not have to guess well put the microphone on would be a wonderful thing. Um so um Mrs. Garish is part of the um lays on for the West Milford Municipal Alliance if she's going to be out for a a little bit of a time. Is there somebody going to fill in her spot at the uh at these meetings? Is there somebody going to be filling in? >> Well, we're looking for a sub for the overall position position of SAC. In terms of alliance subs, um, could you send me the want to send me the dates tomorrow? >> Sure. >> We'll see if we can grab somebody at the high school. >> Okay. >> Monthly, right? >> I'm sorry. >> Monthly meetings.

088>> It's monthly. Yeah. And it's um hybrid. So, I mean, the person could just go right on the computer. >> Thank you. Dr. Anon, um, you have a vacancy announcement for that position, right? Is that the same? >> So, we posted for it's a temporary short-term uh spot. So, it's going to be hard to fill the six weeks, but >> you're welcome. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> I would just like to uh congratulate Colleen Mills. Um she's got a few more months, but congratulations on uh your retirement. You've been at uh many schools over the course of uh your years here, and we do appreciate you as a class 8 in those years. So, happy retirement. come this summer. Anything else? Okay, we'll call Francisco. >> Mrs. Van Dyke, >> yes. Mrs. O'Brien, >>

089yes. >> Mr. Greeno, >> stay on 22 and 25. Yes to the rest. >> Mrs. Lockwood, >> yes. >> Mr. Sidowitz, >> yes. >> Mr. Lippy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. with very sincere regret about Laura Denna leaving. She's a she's going to be a loss to the district. >> Mrs. Rakana. >> Yes. >> Operations and finance. Mr. Gorino >> like to move items one and two under operations and finance. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call. >> Mr. Greeno. >> Yes. Mrs. Rico, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lockwood, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mr. Sidowitz, >> yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mr. Lippy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke, >> yes. >> Motion to move item three under operations and finance. >> Second. >> Roll call. >>

090Mr. Gino. >> Abstain. >> Mrs. Rico. >> Yes. Mrs. Lockwood, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mr. Sidowitz, >> yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mr. Lippy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke, >> abstain. >> Motion to move items 4 through nine under operations and finance. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Roll call. >> Mr. Gino. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sidawitz? >> Yes. >> Mr. Liippy. >> Yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lockwood. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwire. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rico. >> Yes. >> Policy. Mr. Sitz. >> Like to move items resolutions 1 through 21 under policy. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Seeing none. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Sidowitz. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mr. Lippy. >> Yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien. >> Yes.

091>> Mr. Greeno. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rico. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyk. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwer. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lockwood. >> Yes. committee reports and liaison uh parks and wreck creation. Uh Mrs. Shano and Mr. Lippy. Um we had the first parks and wreck commission uh meeting two weeks ago. Um they have I think since the last spring they have a new parks director. Um and they're doing a ton of work around town including um work at Paradise No School. and they mentioned how um the board is um really partnering with them at Paradise Null and they appreciated it. Um and they also um have just opened up indoor soccer for registration if anyone is interested. There is a very limited number of spaces per age level. So um register quickly. >>

092Thank you. Uh safety Mrs. Dwire and Mrs. O'Brien. >> Um, our meeting was, um, postponed until February 8th. >> Superintendent round table. Mrs. Rano and Mrs. Van Djk. Uh, we have our first meeting of the year on Thursday. The county school boards association, Mrs. O'Brien and myself. Um, there's nothing. >> We I think tonight was their first meeting. I think they had one last >> last week. >> Yeah, last week during the board meeting they had a workshop >> and the next one will be in March. >> In March. Yes. >> Um the New Jersey School Boards Association, Mr. Sowitz and Mrs. Van Djk. >> Yeah. Well, you had an email that you had sent out about New Jersey School Boards. >> I did. Oh, >> did you not send something to all was or

093did it just go to me? >> Well, I don't recall it, but my uh the de about the delegate position I was >> that was sent to us. I didn't send it out. >> I you forwarded it to us. >> Um anyway, uh there are governance trainings that are mandated as we learned about today uh during the ethics training on February 3rd to February 5th is the governance one in-person training. So I highly recommend that. It's a great opportunity to network with your fellow board members around the state. Uh, governance 2 is a virtual meeting on February 27th from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. And governance 3 is also on the same date from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. which is a student achievement discussion. Uh, with all these trainings, there are live virtual sessions. There are

094self-paced online courses and we just completed our ethics training tonight. So that's all I have. >> Thank you. legislative, Mrs. O'Brien and Mr. Lip. >> Um, what I usually do is I go on the New Jersey School Board Association website um and research um and provide you with monthly updates. Um, for reasons unbeknownst to me, I could not find the most current legislative updates. So, I have nothing for you at this particular time. I hope by next month I will find out where they put it and then I could give it to you. Sorry. >> Technology oversight, Mr. Gino and Mr. Lipe. >> So, there was uh no meeting, but uh we're working with uh Mr. Winston and Dr. Anamone to fine-tune some of the things on the website through some communication with uh board

095members and parents. Um Tara, thank you. I think he's been responsive in trying to make some of those changes to get things fixed as quickly as possible. So, I think that's probably the biggest thing that will happen over the next few months is fine-tuning of the website. >> I don't know if you have anything else specific, Dan, that you know of. >> No, you know, right along the same lines, we had an edtech uh educational technology committee meeting earlier this week that Mr. Winston, you know, presented to the group and then, you know, open up those lines of communication just to get a, you know, a different set of eyes, parent point of view, teacher point of view, different types of staff members, guidance, high school, elementary, that sort of thing. So, um, I think

096little by little it's, you know, it'll it'll be complete. >> Township Board of Education joint committee, Mr. Gino. So, uh, the first meeting is scheduled for, uh, midFebruary. Um, >> the 9th. >> Yeah, >> I say mid. That's that's almost mid, Alex. 10th to 20, right? >> Uh, so, so it's midFebruary. I think that that was uh just finalized today. We didn't have one in January. >> Thank you. West Milford Municipal Alliance. Mrs. Dwa, >> I'm not a member. >> Oh, you're not, Miss I think it's Van Dyke. I should know that cuz I was there with you. >> Uh, the West Milford uh M Municipal Alliance met on Wednesday, January 11th. Discussions were held on the Youth Leadership Grant, which is currently in discussion with uh Mr. Novak and the application for the Atlantic

097Health Grant, which was submitted on January 23rd. If approved, this grant will cover the cost of heroes and cool cool kids for the 2324 school year. There were discussions about fundraising ideas, elections of officers for this year, current membership, upcoming uh county audit, and creating a resource list, and the two uh 2024 county budget. The next meeting will be held on Monday, February 13th at 700 p.m. in uh the West Milford Library. and on Zoom and I will not be able to make that but I think you thought you could make it. So, thank you. >> Yeah, I can definitely make the February one. >> That's that. Thank you. >> And you're welcome. The special education parent advisory committee, um that's myself and Mrs. O'Brien. There's nothing on the calendar so as of yet. Once

098the dates are finalized, we can get them out to the public. Okay. um old business. >> Yes, Mr. Swoods. >> I'd like to thank my colleagues for reaching out to me regarding the branding and I especially want to give consideration to the phasing in of any branding of color or anything that needs to structurally change what a school looks like. Um I 100% agree with that. There's a lot of emotion that ties to rebranding and anything of that nature. So perhaps this could be brought up at a superintendent's round table that phasing in is a great idea and maybe have concrete ideas and steps on where that would lead to next. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. I will speak to the fact that it has been brought up at superintendent roundt a lot um

099especially the last year plus I feel even before I was on the board it was brought up. So um I I think Kate said the last meeting to potentially bring it to education if I'm correct committee first and then bring it to superintendent table. >> I think that's what she decided last week. Right. Yeah. No, >> I I received the email and I like what Will did because he kept the whole um mascot thing in the school. He didn't change the mascot. All he did was change the colors. >> And I have so much respect for that >> because it keeps that school, you know, with what they're used to. And Will, I really thought that was a great idea. Thank you. >> Thank you. And the phasing in is important especially because some of

100these PTAs have put out dollars >> based on the current school colors. Yeah. So >> I think that that's why that's important and that might take even more than just this year for some of those schools. >> I think it'll be good. That' be very good. >> Yes. I want to piggy back on that. So um you know no awareness of changing um uh the branding our schools the there's organizations in town that are kind of piggybacking on on the school colors like West Milford Municipal Alliance when we designed our brand um that was the you know we wanted to tie it in with the schools because a lot of the stuff that we do are for our students. So, we wanted to, you know, keep keep the continuity. So, our branding as well is

101is the uh is the golden black. So, it's it's good to have that continuity that we're all in it together and we're all supporting each other. >> Agree. Any other old business? >> I move to close old business. >> Second. >> All those all those in favor. >> Any opposed? New business. Okay. I need somebody to make a motion. [Applause] >> Oh, like to make a motion to approve the following resolutions. I'm to read the environment. >> I'd like to read it. >> You just need to make a motion. >> Yeah. >> I did the heavy work. Now you can take it here. >> So, like Katy Hela said, you know, the work you do here is uh very much appreciated. You could see on the back walls here what happens when the board gets

102behind a program like Character Ed and really supports it. Our staff can really they take in a in a uh it just blossoms. Um and none of that can be done without the support of the board. So we're happy that the board has supported our character red for example. We're happy to continue its support moving forward. Um now we do have a resolution. You will each be getting your own certificate tonight and the copy will be posted at the board office tomorrow. So the resolution reads, "Whereas the New Jersey School Boards Association has declared January 2023 to be school board recognition month, a time when all residents can acknowledge the contributions made by our local school board members." And whereas the West Milford Board of Education is one of more than 581 local school boards

103in New Jersey which sets policies and oversees operations for public school districts. And whereas the West Milford Board of Education embraces the goal of highquality education for all New Jersey public school students. And whereas New Jerseys local school boards help determine the educational goals for approximately 1.4 4 million children in pre kindergarten through 12th grade. And whereas New Jersey's 5,000 local school board members who receive no remuneration for their services act as advocates for public school students as they work with administrators, teachers, and parents for the betterment of public education. And whereas school boards strive to provide the resources necessary to meet the needs of all students, including those with special needs. And whereas boards of education provide accountability to the public, they communicate the needs of the school district to the public and they

104convey to school administrators the public's expectations for the schools. And whereas New Jersey can take pride in its schools which rank among the nation's best in key achievement indicators such as the na national assessment of educational progress scores and the preparation for college through advanced placement offerings and SAT assessments. Now therefore, be it resolved that the West Lopford Board of Education does hereby recognize the services of local school board members throughout New Jersey as we join community statewide in observing January 2023 as school board recognition month. And be it further resolved that the West Milford Board of Education urges all New Jersey citizens to work with their local boards of education and public school staffs toward the advancement of our children's education. second. [Applause] >> Any other business on that? Oh, I'm sorry. >> I

105did so well vote just on that. >> All those in favor. >> Any opposed? [Music] Any other new business? I move to close new business. >> Second. >> All those in favor. >> Any opposed? >> Public comment. This portion of the meeting is open to members of the public having a legitimate interest in the actions of the board for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to andor directly related to the operation of the West Milford Public School District. Members of the public who have requested to speak prior to the meeting will be recognized by the chair first. Each speaker will be given five minutes for a period of 30 minutes and then time committed other public comment limited to five minutes per speaker will be allowed until the 30 minute period transpires. All

106speakers are asked to sign the register provided and give their full name, spell their last name, group affiliation if appropriate, and provide their address. Issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and respectful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and the board and the administration will not respond to them. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded to them by the laws of New Jersey. The board is not responsible and is not liable for any comments made by members of the public. Members of the public should consider their

107comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments. Members of the public are reminded that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. Anyone wishing to speak? >> I move to close public comments. >> All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay. Um, executive session. >> We don't need one tonight. >> Do one for me. >> Okay. I thought we were going to do negotiations. >> Well, the negotiations committee can be I can't do anything for it. >> So, I move to forego executive session. >> Yes. So, there'll be no executive session. >> No. Motion to adjurnn. >> Yeah. Motion to >> second. >> We are out of here. >> I