001last meeting. >> Huh? >> Yeah. I don't know. >> I haven't heard anything. So, >> wait. Game changer. >> This chair is really low. >> Well, that's okay. That'll do. I'm not sure that you're older. >> I don't know. Are you 52? >> Yes. Okay. I'd like to call this reorganization meeting of the West Milford Board of Ed to order. Um, [clears throat] join me for the flag salute. I pledge allegiance 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 trends, the record, the messenger, West Milford
002town hall, the county superintendent's office and board attorney, cable vision of Warwick and West Milford TV77 posted in the administration building. Copies of the board meeting calendar resolution were provided to all local media, town hall, township, library, and all school districts. At this time, I'd like to report on the election results from the November 4th election. >> third. >> Oh, time flies. November 3rd election. Um, there were six there were five candidates for three uh seats. Um, Debbie O'Brien received 8,914 votes. Linda Van Dyk received 8,86 votes. Raymond Gino received 8,734 votes. Michelle Bunson will receive 4,177 votes. and William Cidowitz received 3,919 votes and there were se 176 write-in ballots. Um at this time, Mr. Brown will administer the oath of office to Mrs. O'Brien, Mrs. Van Djk, and Mr. Gino. >> Sure. >>
003Stay where you are. Sounds good. Is that better? >> Okay. Please repeat after me. I >> I do solemnly swear that I will support >> swear that I will support >> the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. >> I will I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. >> And to the government established by the United States and this state. >> As for the government established by the United States and the state under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. >> So help me God. >> I do solemnly swear >> domly swear
004I possess the qualifications prescribed by law. qualification >> for the office of a member of board of education for the office of a member of the board of education >> and I am not disqualified as a voter RS194-19 disqualified due to conviction of a crimeal >> or offense listed in >> or offense listed NJSA1812-1 NJA 18-12-12-1 >> and that I will faithfully partially and justly >> faithfully and justly >> perform all of the duties of that office >> perform all the duties of the office >> according to the best of my authority according to the best of my ability >> congratulations >> [applause] >> At this time, um, I'd like to ask Mrs. O'Brien if she has any remarks. Can you hear me, by the way? >> That's fine. >> Hear me? >> Yeah. >>
005Oh, you can. Okay. My sincerest thank you to the West Milford community for their support in electing best support education. I am looking forward to be working with my fellow trustees as well as with our administrators administration to do what is best for our educational community. I also want to thank the most patient husband a woman could have, my husband John, as well as our sons Bill and Dan for their support. >> [applause] >> Mrs. Van Djk, do you have any remarks? >> I just want to thank everyone for their support and I look forward to continuing to work with my fellow board members to move West Milford forward and I thank my family for all their support and I look forward to a new year. [applause] >> Mr. Garino, do you have any remarks?
006Just thank you to the people of West Miler for putting your faith in the three of us to help the town and the and the the school move schools move forward. Uh thanks to my family and thanks to all of you that I've, you know, been working on the board with for the the past year. I think we've got great relationships and and uh I hope to see that continue. [applause] >> Thank you all. So I'm going to call roll call now. Mr. Stillman >> here. >> Mr. Conklin here. >> Mrs. Stevenson >> here. >> Mrs. Dwire >> here. >> Mr. Oshinsky >> here. >> Mrs. Romeo >> here. >> Mrs. O'Brien >> here. >> Mr. Gino >> here. >> Mrs. Van Dyk >> here. >> Okay. At this time, I'm going to call for
007nominations for the office of president. Do I have a nomination? Mr. Gino. >> I would like to nominate Linda Vand. Second. >> Okay. Are there any other nominations from the floor? >> Seeing none, all those in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose? All right. Mrs. Van Djk, please assume [laughter] and you can then take over and ask for nominations. >> Oh, I have to close the nomination. >> Yeah, we have to close the nomination. >> I I know I already did that just formally. Who Who do you want to close? Dave [laughter] >> Courtney motion to close >> to close the nomination. All those in favor? >> I >> Okay. >> Oh, you have to do a roll call vote. >> Mrs. Romeo, >> yes. >> Mr. Garino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson, >> yes.
008>> Mrs. Dwire, >> yes. >> Mr. Conklin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyk, >> yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >> yes. >> Mr. Oshinsky, >> uh, >> 11,078 vote, sir. Mrs. [laughter] >> Yes. Okay. And here we are. Find us at a point where I don't have to sit here anymore. Um, [clears throat] come on up here and then you can >> make your remarks. >> Okay. I'd just like to thank all of my fellow board members for um endorsing me again for president. I will do my best to, you know, support each one of you and to support the board of education and to help keep the information flowing and that everything is open and everybody has a voice at in this around this table. Um I just look forward
009to working with Dr. Anamone and Mrs. Francisco and Mr. Novak and Mrs. uh Dr. Mcuade in moving forward and we look forward to a much better 2021 than we had 2020. Thank you. All right, let's see where we are. Okay, I need a nomination for vice president. Any Ray? >> So, I haven't talked to her, but I'd like to nominate Terry Pri. I'll check that. >> Okay. Uh, any other nominations for vice president? If not, I need a motion to close. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Roll call. Mrs. Francisco. >> Mr. Romeo. >> Yes. >> Mr. Greeno. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dwire. >> Yes. >> Mr. Conson. >> Yes. Mrs. Van, >> yes. >> Mrs. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Mr. Stillman, >>
010yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Congratulations, Mrs. Dwire. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you. As Linda said, we'll hope to have a better 2021 than we've had in 2020. Um, I look forward to moving the district. I hate that it starts moving it forward. I look forward to making improvements in our district and working with the administration to try to get us on a road to blue ribbon school. That's that's our our main focus and to treat everyone equally. Um whether you're an athlete or a student. So, we have a long road ahead and I look forward to traveling on that with my board members. Thank you. >> Congratulations and I look forward to working with you again. >> Thank you. Yeah. Tell me what Uh our our next item of business is our
011ethics presentation. We have uh Miss Kathy, Miss Kathy Helway here from New Jersey School Boards. >> Welcome. Happy New Year. >> Put the screen down. >> Thank you. Always feel welcome here. It's really nice to be back with you. Smiling, but I definitely am. Thank you so much for having me. Congratulations on your reelection and on your appointment of >> really nice. Um, and I'm here for ethics training, which I'm happy to say I have done annually with West Mil. You guys are very, very diligent. And that's the upside. The downside, if there is one, is that you've all heard this stuff before a lot of time. We updated the presentations, but I am not going to be as in depth as I typically am. I'm just going to, you know, highlight some of the
012things that are new for 2021. uh meeting some decisions that came down last year that are rather interesting and if you have any questions by all means ask me um either now or later on email. So, um, that being said, I believe you all have copies of this. Um, we're just reviewing Barbara is also the acknowledgement of receipt form, which we'll sign and get over to Barbara, um, when we can, that this show that we talk about this review requirement. Um, but both um, we all know what the record is about. legislation about um holding confidence to thank people who believe that you are the ones to you know who are best suited to advance achievement. So the ethics act of course is a collection of minimum standards that members must advise on um there's
013a fact requirement talking about it and also doing your training and filling out your disclosure statements are also part of the things that the ethics act established and I'm not going to go through all this but this is a great chart to have this happen um if you have questions about what kind of training you need to do is right here um the ethics commission Jamaica has not changed since last time I saw you. There is still a vacancy on it and it is still one of the two school board members. So there are only eight people on the commission right now, most of whom are not school officials. Um and we are still doing our thing with advisory opinions and ethics components. And just to um rearticulate, advisory opinions are non-punitive. They are advisory.
014They are about behavior that is either going on now or that you're contemplating between either you or your fellow board members. And ethics complaints are, you know, after the fact. You bothered somebody, they're mad at you, they think that you've uh violated the act and they file an ethics complaint. And if you are found in violation of the act, that is punitive. And here are the different um penalties that the commission may re the school ethics commission may recommend to the commissioner. We've had examples of all four of these this year. Uh the commission has recommended a reprimand, a center, suspension, and removal in all different cases in 2020. Um that being said, this is the kind of work that they did. They meet monthly in Trenton and this year, um the bulk of their
015work were was comprised ethics violations, but 20 of those were dismissed. Court cases we'll talk about I'll touch on a little later. um they heard and directed 21 uh requests for advisory, but only one of those was made public. We'll talk about that. Um but mandatory training violations, this is this is interesting. Um so get your training done when you can, as soon as you possibly can, if you're up for training. Uh because eight people were removed from their boards this uh last year because they did not complete their training. Uh four were suspended. Yeah. code said they do mean business and 10 people were reprimanded which is embarrassing and cost the district some staff not good. Um here is the advisory opinion that the commission uh published this year. It is the only one
016that was made public. We need six votes by the commissioners to put this on their website and they're typically put on the website because the commissioners believe that this would be um helpful for other school boards to learn from. It's all scrubbed up, so we don't know where it came from or who asked for it. But if you do go on their website, this is in it. It's the opinion is published in its entirety. The language is very interesting. I'm telling you, it's it's almost snarky. So, it may be worth a read. And I'm not quite sure why this one was published because it seems a little bit obvious to me. But the superintendent in the school district wanted his sister-in-law to be considered for a promotion. And as you guys know, um you can
017be grandfathered in if you know someone if the superintendent is hired and they belong to you and you already work in the district. But after that, the superintendent can't hire a relative unless they're in a very narrow exception. The ECF has to approve it. This one was a cafeteria worker wanted to promote her to a secretary and he asked if the SEC if it was fair that she was being, you know, held back because of her familiar, you know, her family relationship with the superintendent. Was that fair? And the FCC was like, "Yeah, it's fair. All right. You can't do it." So, that one was kind of interesting. Um, but the other things that they did, you know, the uh ethics complaints all go back to the code of ethics. Um, and here it is.
018Uh, you were very familiar with this. is going to kind of breeze through. You're going to uphold all laws and regulations and everything that you're required to do by the courts, by the state board of it. Um, you're making your decisions in terms of the educational welfare of all children, not just your own, not just any particular group, but all children. Um, your word action is comp is confined to policy making, planning, and appraisal. and that we will only frame policies and plans after you have given the those who will be affected by them a chance to weigh in other will not this is this is school board favorite right we can all say it together you're not going to run the schools but see that they are wellun in concert with your fellow board
019members not by your um E is violated all the time don't know why but you're supposed to recognize that authority rest with the board of education, not yourself. You should not make any kind of promises or take private action that's going to compromise the work of the board or the image of the board or trust in the board. And you're going to keep your judgment independent. Independent. No matter who put you there, no matter what endorsements you receive, you're not going to be the wall carrier for any special interest group. And you are going to hold matters confidential that need to be held confidential. This one is so important. I always pause when I get to G because you know when this is violated it really does hurt people. Um but it's violated all the
020time unfortunately. Um and also uh you are obligated to provide accurate information. Um you know no falsehoods of course with your fellow board members to interpret to the community the operations they have. Um, you will vote only to appoint uh personnel after hearing the consideration and recommendation of this chief administrative officer of your superintendent. You can't just pull someone out of your back pocket and hire them. Um, and you will, one of my all-time favorites, and it's never been more important than year 2020, year 2021. I will support and protect school personel. If someone tries to complain to you about a teacher or a coach or this or that, go to odd. You can't participate in that type of conversation under the code of ethics. You are told to support and protect your school and
021they certainly deserve. And lastly, um you will refer all complaints to your superintendent. And the board will only act on complaints at public meetings only after everyone's gone through the chain of command and there is no solution until it gets to the board of education. Right? So that's the code of ethics. I know you're all familiar with it. Please thank you. Thank you for indulging in reading this aloud to you. But let's get to some of the juicy juicy stuff just to show how boring I am that I think this is exciting. But um here are some of the decisions that the commission uh made this year. Um this one was interesting. A board member did not fill out her disclosure statement proper, right? And there was a complaint, an ethics complaint against her um
022that she wasn't putting um the the proper income on her form. The commission did determine that it was technically a violation, but there wasn't really nefarious intent there. However, however, intent doesn't matter really, but you have the lowest form of a penalty just well actually the second rule is the center. So, that wasn't terrible, right? Um, a parent and a teach a teacher and a parent meeting was out in front of a particular board of education, right? About superintendent handling a particular volatile event. And the board member unintentionally did a reply wall, right, for all the board members to see the superintendent was on the screen and that parent who was complaining about the security issue. And the board member went on, you know, in the text of his email to describe his thoughts on
023the matter to everyone to talk about things that they did in the executive session. And lo and behold, the parent, the non board member could read all. There are a few problems with this one, right? One is no reply all, right? That is a violation of OMA. Now, the SEC does not hold you accountable for violations of OMA, but they did acknowledge that that was a potential to have violated OMA. Um but since you know it wasn't for put through the courts it's not really an A. But uh clearly that wall with the parent on there with that info from executive session did compromise a breach in confidence is a breach in confidentiality and so that guy got arrested. Right. Um the commissioner has not affirmed that decision yet but it was this one was
024really nasty. Um, this is a board member who had a blog, a social media page that just kept going after the same teacher, Lewis Tenure, who was in the district. Um, and over and over. And although the board member did say on the page that these are his opinions, not those of the board, you know, that's one thing. But he kept saying in his post, in his blog posts, um, that he was a board member, that he was a That's a problem, right? So, um, sure enough, he's found in violation of several different, uh, subsections of code ethics, C, E, and I. And because it was so nasty, um, and ongoing, uh, he was, uh, he got a 6 month suspension, not good at all, right? Not for the very ugly case. So, he was
025suspended off the board. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now, I don't think that the commissioner has affirmed this decision yet. So, I'm not sure if he belie the suspension has happened just yet. Um, but someone did get suspended this year and is suspended currently. We'll get to that next. This case, very interesting. Okay, this one came out of a district that sends its kids or used to um over the border to New York, right? Yep. Yep. Yep. So the board president at the time that uh it was determined that this was this monogex county, right? They sent the board jury for years for years. Um a new board came on and this you know was petitioning and led to the commissioner. It was an arduous process and sure enough they sent the kids to hide after that.
026Right. Um but u a very impassionate board member who had a son in the district, was elected to the board, ultimately became the board president and just really drove the decision to, you know, or at least tried to get the kids to go back to full service, right? If you read through this decision, it is several dozen. It's wrong. It's wrong. Um, but the board president's behavior would deem so egregious um that she violated in the ethics commission's opinion C, E, and F. Right. And the commission recommended a censure, but only because she was not on the board by the time this thing got through the process. If she were still on the board, they would have recommended. Um, you know what's really interesting about this one is that I've worked with that board member
027and you know as and what's written in the decision is accurate, but she's not a bad person, right? She's just a very impassionate person that she was using her role and it goes back, you know, although she, you know, it goes back to me which she was found in violation of, it's not about just your kids, it goes about everybody. So, this is a real interesting one to talk about this year because sometimes we get tunnel vision, well, not me, but I've seen board members, well-intentioned board members who want to make a difference, get tunnel vision when it comes to a certain group or their child or their n their child's best friend, and you lose sight of what you're really supposed to be doing. So that this is a good pulse check for >>
028which commissioner was >> this was under well it's under it was decided last year but the current commissioner has to affirm it so she's right so we'll see I don't see why she didn't know it hardly matters now uh but it's something interesting this one is current okay you may have heard about this one okay board member was invited to Arizona by a vendor um to learn about their products that the school board may be using and although the board member recused himself from discussion on that um you know when the board voted on that sort of thing and didn't participate in the vote at all um he did take a trip right to lovely Arizona all expenses paid and I don't know nobody nobody offered his neighbors a trip right I don't I never
029got offered a or anything like that. Um it was pretty complicated but ultimately um the violation of C and F was determined and the initially um the board recommended a um I think it well here it says 6 months sus they recommended removal right removal complete removal but commissioner amended that to a sixmon suspension right but the SEC came down really hard. If you read that language, it was like not playing around. >> How about that? >> Um the commissioner lessened it, but that's the former commissioner. Um he's suspended right now, but he's appealing. He's appealing. So that will go in front of the new commissioner. We'll see if she affirms or adjusts the penalty. Um but while that appeals process is going on, he is off the board. So that's been really interesting. um
030this one. And so those were those were the four big deal. Those were the four things that I wanted to talk to you about that new this year. Conflicts are not new. They're always the same. Um you know, we uh know the definition of immediate family and the definition of relative, right? Immediate family is that gold box at the bottom. It's either your spouse or your child who lives with you and is financially dependent on you. So your parent even if they live with you as far as the SEC is concerned is not your immediate family member but your parent does fit as a relative. This is the vague definition of relatives. Anyone on here belonging to you or your spouse is a relative, right? Whether by blood, marriage or adoption. And so that's where
031you have to kind of keep in mind um you know conflicts when it comes to hiring, when it comes to reviewing your superintendent, when it comes to negotiation. I know you've seen these charts before, but if you have someone belonging to you who works in West Milford, then you cannot take place in naturally the superintendent search, but also the um the evaluation of your superintendent, anything to do with his contract, his miracles, anything like that. If you have an immediate family member or a relative who works in the district, right? And when it comes to um negotiations, then there's a few more couple pieces to look at. But this chart, hold on to it for your record. It's on the directly from the FCC is a wonderful resource. And basically, if you have someone relative
032or um or immediate family who works in the district, you're out of negotiations completely from start to finish. But if you or your immediate family works for the union in another district, you can participate in what pretty much amounts to the final vote on the contract. You can vote to ratify the contract, but only after the memorandum of agreement is reached, salary guides, all your compensation package is agreed upon, ready to go, then you're back in. Um before that, you're out. If you have someone who is part of that big definition, a relative who works out of district, not in West Milford, somewhere else, whether it's Cape May or Verona or Vernon, um, you are in, you are in from start to finish, except, notice those little asterisks, unless there is some other kind of
033conflict. The most popular ones of those conflicts would be that your family member has heightened union involvement in the district where they work. They may be part of our negotiations team, vice president meeting, something like that. We always advise you, you've heard me say this before, to ask your attorney. It can be kind of nuanced. They'll help you figure out what the conflicts are. Doctrine of necessity. I think you guys are all familiar with the doctrine of necessity. I've talked about a lot, so look forward to that. And volunteerism, it's still the same. We don't have any new advice from the commission on volunteerism. It's a good thing to volunteer at the school, but you have to be mindful that your role does not conflict with your role as a board member. So, this handy
034seven question chart may help you determine whether or not the volunteerism that you want to um participate in in West Milford would be appropriate. Um you know, basically you're not supposed to be given orders to staff or students or assisting orders on staff. You're not supposed to be in school all the time like a one time gig is fine. chaperoning, reading, something like that is all good. Don't touch money. Um if you you can volunteer for the Girl Scouts or the Rec Commission or something that has a separate bank account, its own bylaws, even if um the membership of that organization is comprised of students or it meets in the school. As long as it's a separate organization, Boy Scouts, you're good. But you can't lead a club on your own that belongs to the
035school. Um, so if the West Milford uh school district wanted to do a coin collecting club, you really can't be involved. Um, and that's kind of how it goes. So just match your answers up to that and you will be good. But, you know, as always, if there is some kind of a conflict or you're not sure, ask your school attorney and NJSBA can also help you navigate through that as well. Um, and then let's see what else we've talked about. This slide is is an oldie but a goodie. Um uh and it's worth mentioning if you haven't read these decisions, they're not a bad one, not bad ones to read because uh the commission is very verbose in the um in the decisions where they talk about whether interview committees are allowed or not.
036And it's fascinating to me that they go on and on about how they really don't like it, how board members shouldn't be involved in it, but if they are going to be involved in it, here's the strict parameters that they need to observe, which is one or two maximum, and they can only watch, they can't ask questions, they can't do much of anything really, and it has to be at the behest of the superintendent. But interestingly enough, when someone asked, well, how about exit interviews? Can we participate in those? That was a very tur decision that said no, no, no, no. That's a violation of D. That means you're trying to run the school not seeing that they contrast is kind of interesting to me. Um, and it just and it also goes to show,
037you know, I mean, when these one of those opinions, the exit interview was issued in 2010. The other one um about uh interviews not being interview commissions not being encouraged was five years later. And the membership of the committee does change on occasion. and it's guidance. So, advisory opinions are a good thing to ask for. Honestly, they're free. It's just a letter. Go on the website. They'll give you the address and the instructions on how to do it. But most of the time, you can ask school boards or your attorney and get a pretty clear answer. Um, other than that, I would ask that you all consider to keep those lists of where your relatives were so that any kind of negotiated agreement or any kind of decision really that the court has to make
038with personnel in the district is not compromised by a conflict that you didn't know about. Um, you know, use your resources, uh, your board attorney on any kind of ethics issues as I keep mentioning and look at your schoolboard notes because if anything new and different and exciting in the world of school ethics pops up, that's where we're going to put it. Um, and again, I'm happy to talk to you guys on anything, you know, relating to this, just give me a call. Um, but in closing, um, it's all about public trust, right? And this is what keeps us on board. These are minimum standards. I know you guys follow them here, which is why it's really a pleasure to come out and talk to you about this and work with you. And if you
039have any questions, I'll I'd be happy to take them now. Um, but that's kind of all that I wanted to go through with you all tonight. Anything? Does anybody have any questions? >> I don't. >> All right, friends. >> If not, thank you, Kathy. We appreciate you coming and >> and we'll see each other again soon, I hope. >> Yeah. H have a good rest of your new year. Yeah. There you go. Okay. So, next we're going to need a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as presented. >> I'll second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. So, we're moving to the board reorganization resolution now. >> Resolution. So, We need a motion for a consent agenda. I need need somebody that it was moved to stop the agenda.
040Now we need a motion to for a consent agenda so we can move all the items under one motion. >> Okay, I will move for a consent agenda. >> A second. [clears throat] >> All those in favor? I. >> Any opposed? So we're going to move item 1 through 12. The reorganization motion resolution. Can I get a motion to adopt reorganization resolution? >> I'll move to u move u resolutions 1 through 12. >> Second. Any discussion? Does anybody have any discussion on on any of the motions one through 12? Okay. Um I think as maybe one and two, but um I've just been thinking that the remainder of this year anyway, I wonder if we could look to have our board meetings at a different location. Um obviously the high school auditorium. um for a
041lot of reasons that I can think of. One, uh at home, everyone watching, it's constantly going down. So, there is a Wi-Fi issue. There is a microphone issue in this building cuz we don't all have one. Um and there's space that is, you know, more than five times at the high school auditorium that if people did want to come to the next meeting, they could sit 10 feet apart. So, it was an idea that I've been thinking about. Um, and I would want to take a look into that. >> I'm just wondering do do we really need to change that because we can advertise if we want to change this different location. Are you >> and I wasn't sure like it's just I wasn't sure if anyone else is in agreement or if had ideas
042why it wouldn't work. I >> I agree. A lot of people don't watch these anymore because they can't hear. >> I agree. >> Will that change though with moving to another location? The high school the high school has um microphones >> better. Yeah, >> they have much better equipment than we're looking into a new microphone here. But we'll also I'm also concerned when things go back to normal >> that the or is not going to be available because we'll have other things going on concerts or um the play and you know there'll be props on the stage and we won't be able to use the facility the way you know we have the access to this one. So, um I know that we're working on getting new microphones and I think that an upgraded sound
043system would certainly help. Uh not using masks in front of the microphone would definitely help. Also, I I think the new microphones is a big plus because we're we're not going to have one to share. We >> we're going to get microphones every and that's one good thing, but that doesn't do anything for our feed that our people are watching. you know, that's our Wi-Fi. That's a building thing. I I would hope that our high school has better Wi-Fi. I mean, I just it is what it is. I don't know. I mean, there's numerous reasons. I just wanted to like I don't know for this year, you know. >> I don't want to put Winston on the spot, but Winston, is there an issue with the with the connection or is an issue with this
044what we're using? >> Um, it really was an issue with the way that our Wi-Fi was configured. Um and that would basically would that we would have the same problem anywhere in the district. So with me doing the tapings here and also around the district, it kind of gotten our money's worth out of the system and then some because it's been here forever. It probably will go into the museum when we're done. So, um I I think I think that that would be a big plus. But we also do can move to another venue if you know say everybody feels that that meeting needs it right. So, I know we're getting into now the winter sports slashplay season. Is the play starting up with practices and all that again in the auditorium or uh I
045believe so. Um the sports start on Monday the 11th coming up Monday. Um, so then I have with I don't know when cuz I so the reason I'm asking I understand what Barbara's saying but for one or two nights during the course of a of a month to be able to spread out in in a more effective way on a stage to be able to allow more people to spread out in an audience and to have the proper technology there from a sound system perspective. I I mean I know maybe doesn't like it makes good sense to do that for the two or three or likely the remainder of this school year maybe not next school year but it I mean I think it makes sense. I mean, I think that's kind of where you
046were going when you said you agree, right? >> I think the question that I would raise when I think about the stage, I don't know if we would be able to I think this part is deeper. I don't know how we would space ourselves out and still be able to, you know, be in the It definitely would be better for an audience, but I don't know how well it would be for the board. I think we'd have to look at it. >> Yeah, I'm remembering from our times there for the student recognition and I think right when we had those tables set up, I do think we could Half on stage, half down. >> Mhm. >> But I still think you could get them on. I mean, we have >> in our in our county.
047>> One of our shining stars definitely is up there. I mean, do you want >> right now J Romeo for one for the post, >> right? >> But I think if if all of us are there, you could you probably could film from back forth. You're going to get the whole group, right? >> Let let me try to coordinate it. >> Okay. But I don't think it needs that we change the resolution. We could just um announce that you know the >> where it is each month >> been changed. Here we used to rotate through the district years ago. We used to have a meeting at We used to have a board meeting at every school. Really? >> Yes. Because it gave people a chance their building and you know get a feel for the
048building. The board members got to you know walk through the building prior and meet with the um kind of you know like a plan >> you know I we haven't done it because an issue >> it sounds like a community >> yeah it was it was a community outreach and and it it was because the schools were you know like there were people who maybe lived in Ashawa and never went to UG GL and they wanted to give a an overview of what the building looks like and that. So, I mean, I'm sure we could use that. >> That's nice. That's a nice idea. I like that. But, you know, I would love to do that. >> Yeah. It's a good way to get out to the public and, you know, maybe get more people
049to come from that area for that meeting. >> Well, to me, right, we've always tal and and we have all these neighborhood schools and that's for a reason, >> right? because of how spread out we are. I think that might be nice for the the people in UGL, right, to travel down here maybe is a lot different than traveling 3 minutes or 5 minutes from their house. It might be harder in the smaller schools with social distancing six feet apart to have crowds there. >> You know, in a normal era, it might be easier. >> That might be for the >> Yeah, >> that might be for the 202122 school year. Yeah, it doesn't. Yeah, it doesn't have to be I that is another way to to kind of get the you know the feel
050for the I think one of the issues you're trying to address Kate is the communication with the public >> and I I think that that would be a good avenue to go down. So I don't think does anybody feel that we have to change the resolution? I think we can just do it on a on a monthby month basis if if you'd like. put my name on it. >> How about mics with no cords? >> I'll bring my own. >> Well, we're going to look at [clears throat] wireless. >> Um, some of the issues with wireless are the usual connectivity issues. The wired mics are always a little bit more functional, a little more durable, not going to short out opposed to the wireless where >> you have to think about the batteries that you
051have to change out. >> Batteries could kick out right before meeting does a million would have. So we're looking at both wireless and wired. Um I think the wireless is a little bit more expensive. Um but we'll see. So >> and uh is everybody okay with that doing that as a monthby-month thing? >> Yes, that's great. Any other discussion on any of the resol on the rest of the resolutions here? Anyone? This is up to 12 for you. I'm good. >> Romeo. Yes. >> Mrs. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Van Dyke. >> Yes. >> Mr. Stillman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Oinsky. >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Mr. Marino. >> Yes. >> Mr. Thompson. >> Yes. >> Okay. I know. I just voted on that and Barb said, "Wait a minute." Because I
052was thinking, I'm sorry. Can I say one other thing? Sure. And I don't know if this is even the case, but Linda in the public, I don't know if this would be helpful, but is this where number six where we can say is it possible that Linda only had to read the public comment thing once at a meeting and not every time or you have to read it every time before? >> We we do have to do we try to shorten it, which we've done once before. We'll look at >> I'm just curious if this is this is the meeting where we talk about that, right? Because I always look at it when we read it twice at each meeting. If you're not sitting next to Linda, I know what it's like. >> It's a
053little much to not read it, >> you know, and we know, you know, to see the rules or whatever it >> I think I think maybe we'll kind of get together and try to see if we could condense it a little bit more. We had an attorney that [laughter] >> sorry old business. Does anybody have anything under old business? >> If not, I need a motion to close old business. >> I'll make a motion to close old business. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> New business. Does anybody have anything for new business? Um, Mr. Marina. >> So I guess it's old business, but it feels like new business again. So talking I know that Jay has had some conversations with parks and rack and we've talked that the um track the
054bicycle uh track. >> Yeah, thank you. in fact do I think that they may have thought we we were they were waiting on us to hear from us as to whether >> you know they were they were looking for some kind of feedback on the educational aspect and then kind of co hit and so we I can pick it up and see where it is. >> Okay. And again I you know Jay you might want to comment on this. I don't know much, but I think that they are still very in tune with wanting to do that. I think that, you know, that's an important piece and we all, you know, the previous group, I mean, I think it was even before maybe CD Jay and Mike were on the board. I think we all
055agreed it was a great thing. >> So, I don't know if you have any last I talked to them, they told me that they're response. >> Yeah. So, we can send a letter and reach out to them and just see. >> Yeah, I'll look and see where we were and >> great. Thank you. >> I don't think anybody's changed their mind. >> No, I don't think so either. I just >> I guess the >> I just I feel like maybe we should again came I feel we >> move to a back burner and >> Yeah. >> Any other new business? >> If not, I need a motion to close new business. >> Motion to close new business. I'll second. >> All those in favor. >> There's nobody here. [laughter] >> Time for public comment. This
056portion of the meeting is open to the members of the public having a legitimate interest in the actions of the board for the purpose of addressing any subject matter per pertinent to and or directly related to the operation of the West Public School District. Members of the public who have requested to speak prior to 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 five minutes per speaker will be allowed until the 30 minute time period transpire. All speakers are asked to sign and to sign the register provided you 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
057not be responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board had the board ask that members of the public be courteous and respectful of the rights of other individuals who speak. 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 attributed to them by their lawyers. The board is not responsible and is not liable for any comment 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. >> We don't have
058any public. I'll make a motion to close public comment. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? If not, we don't need an executive session. >> Make a motion to adjourn. Second. All those in favor. Any oppos? >> Good night.