Board of Education Meeting 1/5/16

001Um, at this time, um, I'd like to just say, um, there was a a terrible accident on the, you know, that somebody saw on the way in. And, um, hopefully it's not as bad as it looked. And, uh, you know, um, moment of silence for that those individuals involved in, uh, if anyone else has had some tragedies over the last few weeks. Could everyone join me in the flag salute 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, the public notice of this meeting has been sent to board members, all district schools, the Herald news, the trends, the record. The aim was Milford, the messenger,

002West Milford town hall, the county superintendent's office, the board attorney, cable vision of Warwick, 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. At this time, I'd like to um record the um results of the election. Board members, um we had six candidates for the three-year terms. We had three three-year terms. Uh Teresa Dwire received 2,158 votes. Gregory Bailey received 1,74 votes. Glenn Yuber re received 1554 votes. Eningga Keepy received 1452 votes. Kevin Babbitt received,417 votes. William Sidditz received,413 votes. We had one unexpired term for one year. Mr. Steven Drew was elected with 1,959 votes and there were 21 writeins for that. 32 writeins for the three-year term. At this time, I'd like to congratulate our newly

003elected board members, Mrs. Dwire, Mr. Yuber, Mr. Drew for his first election, even though this is his second year. and Mr. Bailey for his sixth and what 20th year of uh service to the board of education. Thank you all and um congratulations. At this time, Mr. Roselli will administer the oath of office to our newly elected board members. I'll go over there. Yeah, everybody. We'll speak slowly. We'll do very blame if they got an extra mic at the other side, too. Just see if I can do it. How about this? Okay, we're good. Okay, just as a preface, there are two paragraphs. Each one starts with I and then you'll say your name. So, these are the required notes. So, if you'd all raise your right hands. I believe do solemnly swear that I will

004support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of New Jersey. and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments and to the government established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God okay second paragraph I I do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of the board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to and this will be a citation which is required RS RS RS 4-1 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in another statute NJSA NJSA 18A 18-1 12-1 and then I will faithfully and that I

005will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and perform all the duties perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. So help me God. Congratulations. May I take your seats as well? And I will need signatures like Thank you. Um, at this time, uh, I I ask our newly elected board members, um, if they want to have a few remarks. Mrs. Dwer, would you like to say a few things? Yes, I do have something to say. Um, I'm honored, uh, to have been entrusted with the care of our school district by the voters of our community. I intend to advocate on the behalf of our children and our community as well as the faculty and staff and I look forward to working with each board member to bring the school district

006into the bright light that it truly deserves. It's been too dark too long. Please know that I'm here to listen to anyone with any concerns, but I have a lot to learn and I ask that you be patient with me and know that I have the best intentions in my heart for all of you. Thank you. Mr. Bailey, do you have anything to say? Uh, yes. I would like to first off start by thanking um my family first and foremost, my lovely wife Karen and my children who've always supported me through all the years um of this endeavor and uh for you know generally being there for me at all times because uh Mr. Bailey is involved in a lot of stuff and I need a real strong support staff and I have it at

007home. So I want that. Thank you uh to my family u to my supporters. Thank you for sending me back for a sixth term which is now my 20th year. I was first elected in 1996 and there are times when you do something for a long period of time. You do have up and down periods and some nights you say you you're not as excited as other nights, if you will. But I'm always excited to come here. I'm always excited to get reelected. I'm energized. The one thing about this job as a public servant, it it never ends. You can never rest on your laurels and there's always room for improvement. And that has been my calling card for the last 20 years. I don't hit the ball over the fence every night, but I

008try. And when you don't want to dig into that batter's box, and when you're not energized and you're not excited about the task at hand, then I think it's time to go home and do something else. Well, I don't feel that way. I'm grateful uh to being verted in. I'm glad to move forward. If I have my mathematics right, I might be now the or one of the longest serving board members in West Milford Township history. So, there's something to be said for that. And I'm I'm ready to go. Um, as always, everybody knows how to get a hold of me. I'm wide open. I see myself as somewhat of the voice of the people, the staff, and the community. You know, I am from Haskell. As I've said on numerous occasions, I didn't make

009it that far up Westbrook Road to West Milford. I've been in the upper Pay County area all my life and I've been in West Milford for a lot longer than I was in Haskell. I'm dedicated, committed, I love the place, and there's more work to do. So, at this time, I'd like to congratulate my newly elected colleagues and wish well to our incumbent board members. There's a lot of work to be done. There always will be. And Mr. Bailey is going to be right here doing what he's always done for the past 20 years. So, happy new year to everybody. Thank you, Mr. Yuber. I'd like to thank the uh residents of Westwood for their confidence in electing me and just to let them know that I look forward to working with my fellow board

010members to improve our schools and school system. Thank you, Mr. I'd like to thank the voters who found their way all the way down to the last name on the ballot to vote for me. Uh thank you very much for your support. I will work hard on behalf of all citizens, uh, even those who voted for some lady named Ryan or didn't vote at all. Um, building a strong education system is important to the kids in our district, to the parents, to West Milford and its future, to New Jersey and to the United States. This is where the future of America starts. I am passionate about doing the best I can to make the best education system possible here. Uh I will also work tirelessly to be a good steward of the taxpayers's dollars to

011spend money when it's needed and not when it isn't. See more about what I stand for and what I'd like to do. Uh I have a website www.contractwm.com contractwm.com and I would ask anybody who has any concerns, questions, or just wants to voice an opinion to contact me anytime. My email and phone numbers out there and and truly I'd like to hear from you. Thank you very much. At this time, I'm going to take the role. Um, Mr. Bailey here. Mr. De here. Mr. Drew here. Mrs. Dwire here. Mr. Foody here. Mr. Yuber here. Mrs. O'Brien. She just uh let me know that she will be a little late. She just got home from work. Mr. Robbins here. Mrs. Schultz here. Okay. And at this time, I would like to call for nominations to the

012office of board president. Are there any nominations? Mr. Mr. Rob, I'd like to take this this time to nominate Jim Foody. Uh he's been very dedicated to this board. I'm convinced that any one of uh our board members could be president, but I really feel confident that uh Jim could pull us together and and bring us to the next step. Are there any other nominations from the floor? Seeing none, uh can I have a motion to close the nominations? Don't you need a second? Not for a nomination. No. Make a make a motion to close nominations. Second to close to close the nominations. I need a second. Second. Okay. Is it all in favor for that motion? Is is everyone in favor for the motion to close? I Okay. Any abstensions? Okay. Um, no. It's

013a vote for the roll call vote. Okay. Mr. Bailey, no. Mr. De, uh, I've known Mr. uh, Booty approximately a year, honest with me, and although we don't uh, agree on everything, we can uh, always sit down and discuss everything in a civil manner. Um, I believe he's an advocate for the people of West Milford and an advocate for the students and he will make an excellent president and bring leadership to this board. So, I know I'm happy on that. Mr. Drew, yes. Mrs. Dwire, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mrs. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mrs. Schultz, abstain. Mr. Foody, congratulations. Thank you, sir. I would like to just take a quick make a quick brief statement. Um I want to thank my fellow board members for the confidence they have in me. Um I

014will be fair. I will allow everybody to speak. I want I want varying opinions. We need to have discussion on things. It just can't be yes, yes, yes all the time. And I I look forward to serving the students and staff of West Milford Schools. And let the fun begin. Yes. Um at this time, I would like to um call for the nomination of the uh board president. Do I have any nominations for vice president? Mr. Truth, I'll nominate James De. Any other nominations for board vice president? I need a I need a uh motion to close nominations for vice president. So move. Okay. I need a second. Second. Okay. Thank you. All in favor. It's all in favor. Vote. Okay. I thought it was a roll call vote. That's what we roll. Oh, close

015nominations. Okay. All right. So, we're close nominations. A roll call vote then or I mean a voice vote. Yeah. To close the nominations. Close the nominations. Everyone in favor of the closing nomination. I Anyone against it? Absentience? No. Okay. um for Mr. De as vice president. Mr. Bailey, yes. Mr. Deber, yes. Mr. Drew, yes. Mrs. Dwire, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mrs. Schultz, no. Motion carries. Congratulations, Jamie. [Applause] Do you have any remarks, Mr. De? I just want want to thank uh all the board members here and I think um this year we can really make a difference and try to turn this district around and move forward. Um hopefully we don't carry any personal feelings this coming year and we can work together as a team. Thank you. I

016need a motion to adopt the agenda as presented. So moved. Second. [Music] All right. Um we need a voice. [Music] Uh are there any questions? Yes. Well, first you have to ask if there's any questions on the agenda. Yes. Shouldn't there be petitions and requests? Not prior to I believe the petitions and requests is at the end where there's actual motions to be voted on. The reorganization prior reorg meetings. We've had two petitions and requests prior to the reorganization agenda. Prior reorg agendas. If you look at the minutes from last year, we have two petitions and requests. Just a question. Uh we could do petitions and requests if you wish. We can we have do have petitions and requests at the end of our uh resolutions, right? That for for the ones that need to

017be voted on, right? I'll say I I'm not sure about that, Mr. Schultz, but legally we're okay with just having the one on here. Um, so we're legally okay with that. It's if the board wants to add another one, they can for this meeting or not. Do I uh anybody is anybody against um having a second petitions and request? Do we want to vote on this? Yeah. No, just why don't you just call for petitions and request? see if anyone wants to get up to the microphone and speak. Okay. Just added that. Okay. Well, I'm going to Should I add that in now then? Agenda items. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, we Marilyn will call for a second petitions and requests and then we'll have one at the end. Is that okay? Sure. Okay. Um,

018we're going to do petitions and requests. Petitioners requested to speak prior to the meeting will be first with five minutes for each petitioner for a period of 30 minutes and then time permitting, other petitions and requests limited to five minutes per petitioner will be allowed until the 30 minute period transpires. Petitioners speaking during petitions and requests are asked to address topics listed in the agenda. All speakers are asked to give their full name, spell their last name, and provide their address. Speakers may not use the names of students during petitions and requests. Do we have anybody who would like to speak? Mr. Gotautley Wayne got 20 South Richfield Road. Thank you very much, Miss Schultz, for allowing me to address a couple of topics that are in the reorg resolutions. Uh before I do that,

019I actually have a oper request, which I'm going to start around the horseshoe here. If you could pass that over to Miss Francisco. You've got a couple of items here that really are a repetition of things that I was present for on a number of occasions, but upon a closer examination, I think I would suggest some changes. The first concerns the uh team charter, which is up for a vote here somewhere in the I think it's item number four. Uh it's always troubled me that that charter is typically referenced to regular workshop meetings and really should be expanded or some notice given that it also should apply to super Tuesday committee meetings which are not open to the public but are still official functions of the school board. Uh I would note that uh specifically

020the action of committees I think deserves more respect. Uh, I can recall at least one instance in which a proper vote of the committee was in fact overturned and undermined at a at a board meeting with no respect for the votes of the people who actually attended the committee meeting. So, I would ask that some wording be included in the team charter resolution to indicate that in fact it does apply to super Tuesday committee meetings. Uh there's another resolution in here that deals with what are essentially advisory or ad hoc committees. This resolution is typically included in the New York agenda. But I did see hear or read somewhere that there may be an effort by the school board to in fact uh create advisory committees comprised not only of board members but of civilians

021uh to u advise and analyze various issues before the board. Uh I would suggest or it's my thought that if these advisory committees actually render advice that the board takes absent any input from licensed professionals and in fact any member of that board is liable for the advice that's rendered to the school board and the actions taken on that advice. U I may be wrong on that. Mr. Roseli can check on that. But if this is not a casual endeavor, people who've been on the school board know that from time to time we get cross with some of our licensed professionals. And in my 10 years on the board, we've gone after one or two of them. That's why they have malpractice insurance and that's why board members are indemnified by the state. So, if

022you are intending to bring civilians onto committees, I strongly suggest that you make them aware of this, have them sign waiverss or figure out some way to uh protect them against uh what could be legal action if their advice actually is taken since I do have a few moments here. Uh this isn't technically on the agenda, but I did read some comments from the last meeting after I left in the discussion about solar panels. Uh, and let me quote a couple here. People are giving money away, and I'm more than happy to catch it if it's coming this way. Also, anything we can do that generates electricity and it's free is good. Aside from being essentially appalled that any citizen of America, adult person in the 21st century, can actually think that there's a free

023lunch out there. Let me point out that if you look at your residential electricity bill, this one is a Mr. Gotautly, this isn't on the agenda and you're asked to address things that are on the agenda. So, I would please ask you to refrain any comments that aren't related to the agenda. Other petitions are request at the end. Well, he can another petitions in request at the end. You if you want to speak, then we'll we'll change the wording to allow that. Any other subjects? I will I will hold my orange and Rockland until we Thank you, sir. Would anybody else like to speak? Mr. Nicholson, thank you for your comments. Wayne, good evening. I'm Bob Nicholson, 20 high road, Stockholm, New Jersey, N O L S. I'm here on behalf of West Milford 77

024TV cable commission. And um I have an award I'd like to present to some members of the board, all actually all members of the board. Um we belong, as you belong to the JAG organization. They had the annual what they call jam video awards Jersey Access Media and we submitted four videos and one of the videos from from the students of TV science got an outstanding video achievement award and we'd like to present it to you because we feel proud that um this we're all in this together. It's not us, you them, you know, I mean, it's it's we and um I'm very proud of what the students did and I'd like to see more help, you know, if they can do that. And maybe this can be an incentive for all of us working

025together because we do have a public broadcasting station and as much as that we can put up you know is in best interest of everybody you know and uh like I said if uh the students had 20 30 hours a week of programming we'd be more than happy to air it whatever you have it be interviews or ball games or something you know and we look forward I know we're going to have a meeting talking about how we can institute a program to more more material from local on the air so the residents can see it because this truly is our our channel for our West Milford, you know, so there's no there's no battle lines or anybody. We're all in this together. So, we thought we'd like to present this to you. Thank you.

026Mr. Nicholson, could you briefly describe what that video was for for members? I'm not sure what it was that you did, so Oh, I didn't do it. Oh, which you which you submitted. This was a um I talk with uh uh Carol Forbes and her students produced a uh we call CBB the Bolton board for the Russ Milford uh I mean yeah for the military tattoo fundraiser that you had and they did a great job of putting it on you know and uh we aired it and so we presented that in under the category arts entertainment music or performance and as you know among the other channels I think it was a five was it five uh narrowed it down. So, you know, like I said, I think it's proud for our first year of

027operation that we did this and uh we want to include as many people and and openly looking for material for anybody to submit and to get involved. So, I I I would uh hope that you guys would put that on TV. It's on TV. Okay, good. Thank you for watching. I am but not all the time. No, it's not. No, we're not in needles, but we we have we have put it on the awards that we tried to put in a special section. Um because this was in December, you know, they had the award and so when I got it, we kind of programmed the four videos around uh nominated, you know, and we we continue even though the tattoo fundraiser has been over, we still like to air it and show it up. There's

028other students um I know you have Frankie Lagana has done acceptable work with his videos. We've been airing a lot of his and I think there was the project uh yellow project. I'm trying to remember the name. We've been there in that as much as possible. So whenever we have a spot, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, half hour, we try to promote the high school as much as possible, you know, the students because, you know, a lot of people like to talk negative about people, but I don't believe in negativity. I believe in positive. And I think West Milford has a lot of talent. I'm also a member of the P County Film Commission, and you know, from years ago, we used to see a lot of winners. um one of the former students uh Mike

029Daigos he was who was a member of TV science and one award he's on our cable commission as well so so it's excellent that we do this and show the show the township that you know people want to talk about the negative side of the students but you know that's just a small thing we need to we need to reinforce the positive aspects you know there's always going to be bad in anything in life but we don't have to dwell on that let's focus on the positives is what I believe in doing It's it's important to me because I feel as I went through life, give back and mentor people and give these kids reason and want to do stuff to feel important. You know what I mean? That's what we need to do and

030that's what we're here for. Not just to go to school and get an education and go home and do your homework. No, it's it's it's education is more about it's about life experience and about sharing with everybody in the community. So I'm a firm believer in that and you know and I thought it was important and and Eric and Nationburg council women they also believed there was that too. We want we wanted to come to this meeting. I know it's not on your agenda but you know I felt sometimes you know sometimes it's good to break rules. So I I I want to thank you on behalf of the board of education and the staff of West Milford for submitting that for the for our students. And yeah, we didn't want to tell you. We

031wanted to make it a surprise, so we just tried to do it. This is right. Those are always pleasant surprises. Oh, yeah. Isn't it good? Yeah. So, I want to thank you for bringing this to us. Uh I was not aware of this, so it's it's good news. I always like to hear good news. Um and certainly, uh our students will be proud of Miss Forbes as well. Uh it it goes to show the good work that our students do, our teachers do. We're very proud of them. Uh also, Mr. Nicholson and I have been speaking to each other where we would like to collaborate more with having our students involved in the program doing uh projects within the community, whether it's from the schools or from other things that are going on in town.

032So, we look forward to that. We will be having a meeting uh over the next couple of weeks, and hopefully we can get that off the ground and running. So, thanks again. Anybody else like to speak? I I I'm going to I'm going to call on um Miss Aronson. She had her hand up. Doctor. Dr. Aronson. Only my NYU students are supposed to call me doctor. I I I hope this has to do with uh things on the agenda. Well, I want to thank Edwin Gonzalez, our videography uh person for uh televising uh and putting this agenda and this meeting and past and future meetings on 77, our township television station. Thank you, Edwin. Thank you. [Applause] Ada, you put on my chain help to back in here. Ada Eric Mackenro, Councilwoman West Mford, not

033speaking as a council woman, speaking as the chair of the TV committee, which I'm very proud of. Um, we didn't let of the commission, sorry, we didn't let anyone know what we did because it was our first time entering. That's why we kept it a secret in case it was we bombed out. But that tattoo went viral up and down the state. It wowed every country. Now, if the kids were to produce it and put their name to it, there's jobs out there waiting for people who are that good. It's all I got to say. Thank you. Anybody else like to speak? Mr. Green, Green Huitt, I was just uh requesting to know if we're going to have that meeting in executive session today. Uh we we didn't schedule it only because of the fact

034we only spoke um if there was a certain time frame that if the student was back in school, uh we weren't going to address it. That was what I was led to believe. And yeah, that's all because it's Well, it was really not to discuss that particular person. It was to discuss the uh right to a child's due process uh breaking of the policy or not following the school policy and possibly the law. It was my understanding it was for a specific student um and that's why and the circumstances around that student but it's happening to other students including mine. Do you want to return to schedule? Well, should we go with that being a meeting with the court of ed or I mean we can I can uh I can speak to you to

035discuss the direction we would like to go into and if it's something we can resolve if not then perhaps we can bring it to executive session. We sort of had these conversations before Mr. Rashika with all due respect and nothing seems to be changing. So, if I can't come here tonight, then uh what are we supposed to do? Cuz I've come to you several times and you know what I'm saying. But we and we've had some very good very good discussions. Yes, we have. But nothing and but there is nothing that um you know we we are prepared to do tonight in regards to doesn't mean we can't sit down uh to discuss this as a group. If you want to schedule it, that's fine with me. We can schedule for the next board of

036ed meeting, but I I think it's since we have two new members, they should know what's going on. They should be advised of what's happening in the in our schools. Okay, that's fine. So, would you like to put on We'll we'll discuss this in executive session session and then we'll reach out to you. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thanks. Thank you. Is there anybody else who would like to speak? Seeing none, move to close. Second. I think since we added this to the agenda, did not include specific language as we normally do, but it has to have be pertinent to the agenda. and that allowed one, two, three, four speakers to address topics that were not related to the agenda. That it's fundamentally unfair to have cut off Mr. Gotley and we ought to allow him to

037finish his remarks rather than making him wait until I I agree. I agree. Since we don't have a second, um, do I have a consensus from the board to allow Mr. Gotautle to finish? uh his comments. Yes, Wayne, please. And I apologize. Apology accepted. I needed the break. So, where were we? We were talking about the free lunch syndrome. Um, I read a couple of quotes about giving money away in regard to solar panels and we're getting some for free. The point I'm trying to make here is that assume everyone in town has some kind of electrical power from either Orange and Rockland PSG or maybe even JCPL. If you look at your standard bill, you're going to see in the section under transmission charges that there's an obscure reference to something called an SBC

038charge. SBC charge that stands for societal benefits charge and that was imposed by higher authority. And I'm looking at my bill and the kilowatt hour usage in our house is probably yours too varies from season to season. But typically the SBC charge is about 0.5 to 0.55 cents per kilowatt hour. So over the course of the year in our house that might run from $2 a month to $4 a month. The societal benefits charge among other things goes to subsidize solar panel installations in the state of New Jersey and other kinds of renewable energy. If the average per month in my household is $3, which is $36 a year and that is an indicator of the average per household in town and there are 10,000 households in town, that means that we effectively report $360,000

039into things like solar panels and renewables in terms of subsidies. So it's clearly not free even from our own hands and because there are things like 30% instant tax credits and mackers depreciation which effectively is federal taxes forsaken or foregone that we have to make up the renewable energy program in this state and everywhere around the country is not at all free. you're paying for it every month in your power bill. Now, last month I tried to insert a note of caution for the board here that before they look at the structural integrity of the roofs, they should actually look at the structural integrity of whatever deal it is that's being brought forward as a financial deal for these solar panels. Uh although I have yet to find a public installation deal that is blown

040up, if you do a Google search under solar panel scams, you will find a whole bunch of residential deals that have blown up and gone upside down for the homeowners. Now the interesting thing is that the critical elements of a residential solar panel deal are essentially the same as those the critical elements for a public owner solar panel deal. It's just that the tax benefits have to be passed to an investor which in my world makes it even more risky because third parties who are only interested in the tax rate. Uh and if you look at the failings of these things for residential uh owners, typically they involve going upside down in the power purchase agreement. That is the step rate increase you're going to sign into for power over the life of the deal.

041The other big failing is when they sell their homes and the successor owners refuse to sign on to the agreement because these agreements for homeowners are typically 15 to 20 years. The turnover on houses in America before the great housing crash was seven or eight years. So typically these houses are going to turn. Some of the new owners said, "I'm not signing on. This is baloney." Because by the time they got to it, the power purchase agreement was upside down. They were paying more under that than they would in the open market. So once again, I would caution you folks before you start throwing money around on roof surveys to start to find out what kind of a deal you're signing on to, who the counterparties are, and specifically whether the investor is signing a

042recourse or nonreourse agreement, which means that if he goes belly up or pulls out because he's extracted all his benefits, the people either lending him money or you can only take the asset, only take the panels without forcing him to make good on the contract. If you're stuck with the panels, then you double down on the risk because the real risk is the panels go obsolete, they go into disrepair. No one wants to spend the money to do it. when we had the county here three or four years ago with their engineers, Birdsaw, if anyone remembers that company because it's not in existence anymore. We asked the question of what happens if the investor goes belly up. The answer was the bank will take over and you have nothing to worry about. Well, I was

043a bank officer for many years, and I immediately jumped up and said, "You've got everything to worry about." Because when the bank takes over an asset like that, the last thing they want to do is put more money into it. They want to get rid of it. It's a blot on their balance sheet. So, you really need to look at this agreement closely because this is a financial transaction to the investor. It's has nothing to do with renewable energy. It's a tax deal. Thank you very much. Thank you, Wayne. Okay. Anybody else like to speak? Do I have a second? Thank you. All in favor? Thank you. I believe there is still a motion pending to agenda. Yes. Second. Yes. All right. Any other questions or comments on the agenda as presented? Yep. Any other

044comments or questions? Thank you. Uh on the agenda as presented, seeing none. All those in favor? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay, now we uh we'll move on to our reorg resolutions. Um Mr. D'Vor, would you like to uh move resolution number one? To make a motion to move uh resolution number one or Dr. Second. Any discussion? Mr. Drew. Um, there are three things I'd like to change. Can you speak to your microphone, please? Sorry. Thank you. Three things I'd like to change on this paragraph one. Uh, notify board president for board secretary. I'd like to change order to and um in the table of meetings I would like to add a meeting in May uh which I assume would be a Tuesday meeting um um near the beginning of the month

045would be preferable to set uh district and board goals. Uh number three, um we have the uh open public note. Board reserves the right comment on the agenda item blah blah blah. I'd like to add an option um at the uh trustees option to receive electronic editable copies of the documents that we get every before every board meeting. Um editable. You want to be able to edit our documents. And I'll tell you why. So that I don't have to print it out and then make my notes on it. I can't I mean certainly know who's going to do that, but I'd like to make something bold in red that I know I want to do something. So that that would be my preference. So do I need to make four motions? I'm sorry, three motions

046or one I question. Um you mentioned first um board president, board secretary and board president. I the board Okay. And board secretary. All right. I see that first paragraph. Paragraph one. Last one. Um should I make a motion to change order again? Yes. We make a motion. We make a motion to amend. correct what the amendment would be would change that word or to end or to end. Yep. Um I'd like to comment on this. So Mr. got to be second. Okay. Second. Um discussion Mr. Board discussion on that now that we have uh discussion. Um, as far as that meeting date, I I I agree with that is beginning of of of May. This is just for the word to end or to end. I thought it was on on we'll do them for

047of each individually in case I'm not instead of treating them as a block because I I saw it would have made more sense. Okay. Yeah. All right. All right. So, discussion. Does anybody have any um No, no, I'll take that back. Sorry. I I I'll save my my comment for the next one. Does anybody um have anything to say about Mr. Drew's um changing from or to and I'm not quite sure if the statute says that the only the board secretary gets notified. Statute says only. No, it it doesn't. the board decision on who to notify for this meeting. Honestly, the effect of that is not much if it doesn't get notified at all. It's just something that we should follow and there's no enforcement, but I think it's a good idea. Quick question, Mr.

048Weing. It just means that Mike, please. Yes. Yeah, that's all. Yeah. Instead of just notifying Barbara, I'm going to notify send an email with no question. I guess my thinking there, we had a little bit of problem uh couple of meetings last year with a quorum where we're all sitting around. So would be a favor. Any other comments? Uh roll. Yeah. Uh this is not to approve the motion. It's just to of change. It's just to approve the the change from or to end. So we'll we'll we'll have a roll call vote on that amendment. Mr. Bailey. No. Mr. De. Yes. Mr. Drew. Yes. Mrs. Dwire, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mrs. Schulz, no. Okay, that changes. Okay, so that that amendment passed. Barbara, yes. I move to add a

049meeting to the table, a date of meetings. Um, a meeting where we will discuss the goals. Um, you know, might make sense to to do it on Tuesday, but it might make sense to do it on Saturday, but I'd like it like a specific meeting on the agenda. Would you like to wait until after you have a new superintendent after July 1? No. Do we have a Well, these are the regularly scheduled meetings. Special meetings would be, you know, could be called at any time. So they would not be added to your list of regular meetings. What you're doing is setting the board meeting schedule which would be regular meetings. If you want to do a a a meeting for goals or any kind of um you know workshop with um New Jersey school boards

050facilitating it. That would be a special meeting that we would call. It would not be part of the board's calendar of meetings. After that, a good time to actually look at that and many districts do it is they they work with the uh school boards in August. So they call it some cases a retreat where this may be a Saturday morning like we've done uh and they they get it in place in August. It's a discussion and this way by the end of September, the beginning of October with the start of the school year, the new goals are in place and it kind of, you know, you're getting through the previous school year, so you can reflect back on some of the things that you think need improvement and you can do it there. So

051that would be my suggestion. I mean, it doesn't matter to me, but I just I think that's the best I think that's the best place to put it would be August. Well, my my thought here, you know, after this I'll just you guys vote and decide what you want to do. We didn't do this meeting because it wasn't on the regular agenda. We didn't do it until what, October, and uh and and we're still waiting for the specific district and uh and board plans in January. And so our ability to actually uh evaluate or direct the district based on the goals and some plan to meet the goals, we might get 4 months out of it. So I would like to have the goals in place earlier, a plan in place at the very start

052of the uh fiscal year so that as we are scheduling staff and uh um starting the school year that we have an idea of what we're trying to accomplish at the start of the school year uh rather than waiting until we're halfway through the school year. So that's that's my thought on the on the process uh to make it a regular thing that we do and do it before we sell. But don't forget people tend to forget that we do have a 5year strategic plan which I think that needs to be looked at more often and that can really start you off at that point. But I think again if you go with August, July, August, you would have it in place for September and you could also use the strategic plan to guide as

053well. So yeah, you do have other materials that you could use and information, but again it's up to you. I I like the idea of uh giving more lead time to our CSA and other administrators. So I'm going to second the motion. Now discuss now there's a discussion with Maryland, please. Uh normally the board would do a self-evaluation and the board would also evaluate the superintendent. the fact that we had a interim superintendent last May um the which the option was to not fill out the survey. So because that we because of the interim situation that we had and the fact that um that was not done that pushed back those goal setting meetings and I feel that um we do have the we do have we we are looking to hire a new superintendent

054and I feel that uh the board should include that superintendent along with our strategic plan and New Jersey school boards to facilitate a meeting As such, Mr. U from what I understand, it's a special meeting could be placed any time in the calendar. Is that correct? I'm sorry. What was that? Special meeting can be placed any anytime. Anytime. What I understand from Mr. Drew is he wants to block this time out so we're all conscious about it and that we can attend or get maximum amount of people to attend and discuss these things at that time frame. So, but if you if you read if you read the the resolution, it also indicates that our our work sessions are on the third Tuesday and our our regular meetings are on the fourth Tuesday. So, basically,

055this is not for special meetings. It's for our regularly scheduled meetings so that the public is aware of them ahead of time. Is there is there a way to block out a point in May so we are all conscious about this and discuss it? I have no problem doing that. That's not a problem. But um I Are you saying that we should just do it as a separate motion? I think I think it's something that you should you should discuss probably in committee especially if you want to exclude any new superintendent in the in that discussion. Hopefully, you'll have a new superintendent on board by then and they could be part of that discussion. But that's going to be discussed in close session tonight also. So perhaps this is something that could be revisited. It's

056not that I don't want you to have another meeting. That's not it at all. But there are some preliminary things that normally go along with the goal setting session. And just if I may to answer your question, Glenn, it should be done in a separate resolution. This resolution is for the workshop and special action uh regular meetings. Um there's no new business on this agenda, but I I suppose it could be brought up at the next meeting under new business or now old business. Can I can I say something? Um, I would have to agree with Barbara and Marilyn that a new superintendent should certainly be included in this and we do need New Jersey school boards to sit in with us and work with this on work on this with us. So, I would

057say I think we need to hold off till we have that new superintendent. Jamie, do you mind? Um, I I like that we're having an open discussion here. Um, the the purpose of having a meeting in early May, um, is is twofold. If we have a meeting in May, um we can have an action plan in place hopefully by July by July that the superintendent could then inform our building principles who can inform staff that here's our action plan that we're going to have to meet our goals. Um, but more importantly, we're required every year to evaluate the superintendent and and part of that evaluation is what our goals are and our and our plan. So, if we have goals set and we have an action plan, we've got a larger length of time to

058evaluate our superintendent. I would much rather evaluate him over a 10-month term than a 3 or fourmonth term. It just to me makes a lot more sense. And and I did speak with New Jersey school boards on this and they agreed that we should really be having our our field service rep. I spoke to her. She said that we should be having our meetings probably the beginning of May so that that action plan can be in place by the summer, which in turn will have it everything moved out to principles and staff before the opening day of school so that the staff can start to work on that action plan and whether it's Tony or somebody else then that we've got we've got some real meaningful time that we can evaluate our superintendent. Um I'm

059in favor of of having this meeting, but listening to Barbara, it doesn't belong here. We we this is since this is a a a schedule for our regular meetings. I um I'll reach out to Robin Mihan and get a date in the beginning of May when she's available. I I would hope to God that her schedule is open right now. If you call it now, I think you have um and at the next board meeting, I'll hand that date out when we're going to have our goal setting. Jim, I just have a question. Um, because I'm new at this and I and I want to understand, shouldn't the superintendent be involved in that action plan? Doesn't he guide us? Mhm. Yes. So, if we don't have a new superintendent by May, well, this is what

060I'm I'm going to hand out to to G. Oh, well, it would it would be my idea that if we're successful in our superintendent search that we ask our new superintendent to come and join us at that May meeting if he's serious about helping us move forward or she or she Thank you, Steve. That that they would be more than happy to sit in with us and start to develop a plan. And that that that would be my thought. But if anybody were unable to make that meeting, you could always reschedu the meeting as it's a special meeting. You could be rescheduled at any time. My thought here and and I guess at the end of the day here, I'm going to go ahead and withdraw this emotion. But things don't get done unless you

061have dates. And so we need to know we have to have a superintendent. We have to have this meeting. We shouldn't have this meeting in October. we shouldn't have, you know, plans in place in January that we need to make a regular thing of doing this. We should include our superintendent even if they're not on board yet um in in the process. But either way, you don't have a date by which you're trying to get things done where people can reserve that date and make sure they're going to be there. It won't get done. Well, I think we need to check Robin's schedule to see when she is available because I'd hate to have something added in to a newspaper um advertisement and then have it cancel it because she's not. I'll withdraw my motion,

062but I'll I'll um I'll reach out to to Robin Lean tomorrow and see her schedule and then email the board um so that they can reserve those dates and we'll we'll make it concrete um by our next meeting. But in the meantime, I think that Steve, we should direct that to the new policy committee so that maybe we can have something in policy that sets the standard that we do this so from moving forward that we'll have everything in place to make sure that we do it in May, we have our action plan by July and we hit the ground running at opening day of school and then we've got something to evaluate. However you want to do that as well before we reserve a day. You're not going to be here that long, but

063uh moving on then. My third Mr. Yuber, would you withdraw some? He doesn't. Okay. Um I'd like to add an option that uh documents at this meeting at the board members option that we can get those electronically instead of having to have someone drive around and deliver this and have a lot of paper and all of that. I'll be happy to bring my own paper copies or have them on my computer. Um, that would depend on whether or the board is all good with with that. We've had other board members in the past who want hard copies of everything. Well, I that's why I'm saying it's the option. I want mine electronically. If everybody else wants paper, that's perfectly fine, but my guess is that several people would be happy with Do we have a

064second on Mr. uh Drew's motion? Yeah, I I' I'd like to second that motion because I personally I agree we have the virtual backpack. You need to pass your uh Thank you, Marilyn. I agree because we we have the parents um using the virtual backpack so that we have reduced the paper load going out to parents. Um, I think we we can live by that same rule and we can get whoever wants it electronic copies. Um, I I personally would be in favor of it. So, I'm I'm seconding that motion. Absolutely. Barbara, is that a viable option to receive these documents electronically? We have them. Yes, we do. We we post them by email um to a number of people. we we send electronically. We also have um a board members page for any confidential

065information. So it it's fine. Then why don't going off Mr. J, why don't we add this line if the motion is this to say board members will have the option to receive documentation and agendas electronically. Yeah, that's fine. As long as there's no option to be able to edit the information by a board member, I have a problem with that. It's confident confidential information and I don't think we as board members should have an option to make those edits. Well, the the agenda isn't confidential information. Well, any documents board member information would be I don't think Mr. Drew's intention is to edit the final version. I think his intention was to make himself notes for the meetings. Yeah. Is that correct? Yeah. I I mean I'm not going to edit it and give it back

066to you and say that's what we're going to do. I just want to be able to, you know, notify myself that this is something. So you're look you're looking for a word document or Word Word Perfect Publisher, whatever you use to produce it to begin with. I can read. It's a Word document. Okay, that would be correct. Mr. Uh, I just want to caution if we do send out documents that can be edited that we may be taking on some liability. That's all. I don't I agree with Marilyn on that. I understand what you want to accomplish, Steve, but just be careful. That's all I think some PDF programs have the ability to take notes on on the programs. It should be sent out as a PDF rather than a word. I understand what you're

067doing. I have no problem with it, but the potential change agenda items and then send it out. Not that Mr. would have to do this, but it's it's out there. So, I'd rather not have a word document. And if we do that, that should be a policy decision to the committee and then the board. Well, your specific language didn't include that at all. And I didn't disagree. My my language I I think accomplishes whatever approved for, which is just have the options received electronically. You can do with it what you're able to do with it. And if you need more, it can be brought to the policy. Then the whole board can decide whether it's board documents or whatever. So do you want to make a motion to add that line in the as as

068you stated without the editable it would be perfectly fine. Okay. Any more discussion [Music] so it won't be editable? It won't be at this point. Nobody can change your resolution. No. You sure? Somebody comes retype the entire agenda. Yeah, but nobody's going to be putting that agenda out. I mean, we're going to have the official agenda that gets sent to the people and gets posted and that gets printed and people pick up when they get here. So, we will be providing those vote on that line. Yes. Do a vote on on on the amendment as suggested by Mr. Could you please repeat the line said right at the very end of this motion that it should say board members will be optioned to receive documentation and agendas electronically period. Okay. Do we have to supply

069Chromebooks for that or don't take that um Mr. Mr. Bailey. No. Mr. De. Yes. Mr. Drew. Yes. Mrs. Dwire. Yes. Mr. Foody. Yes. Mr. Yuber. Yes. Miss O'Brien. Oh, she's not here yet. I'm sorry. Mr. Robbins. Yes. Mrs. Schultz. Yes. Um, okay. So, you'll have to let me know if you want them electronically or whether you want them in paper version. So, um, before you leave tonight, please let me know. Okay. Um, I assume that that's the same thing that you want with the committee agendas because I believe we send out the committee agendas also. Yeah. Yeah. I I I now we're going to make another I would like that. I I I I personally if I can receive it, we can save the district personnel from running around Okay. wear and tear on the

070vehicles. Okay. I I think it's just that's fine. Just let me know which way you wish to receive it. Okay. If if the board members would please um email Miss Francisco of their uh preference, whether to receive it by courier or by electronic uh mail. Would you please do that? Thank you. We're moving on to No, you got to vote on the main comments or Yeah. out. Did you have another one? No. These were amendments to the thing that's already on the table. Four. No, I missed it. Only three. Got lost in those other number one. So on the the original original resolution with the uh the changes that have been already voted upon, right? I'd like to make a motion to have the uh board reorganization resolutions as discussed and amended. Do I have

071a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Robbins. Roll call vote. Mr. Bailey, no. Mr. De, yes. Mr. Drew, yes. Mrs. Dwire, yes. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mrs. Schultz, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Ward one reorganization resolution has passed. Um, moving on to board resolution number two. Mr. uh, Yuber, would you like to read that? Uh, Whereas there should be an official newspaper designated for the official publication of correspondence and notices required by law to be published by the board of education in the township of West Milford. And whereas there is no newspaper published in the township which meets the requirements of NJSA 351-2.2 two. And whereas a newspaper should be designated to publish correspondence and notices of the board. And now for now, therefore, be it resolved that the Herald News shall be the official

072newspaper to publish said meeting notice in correspondence through December 31st, 2016. And be it further resolved that the following newspaper may be used where addition additional publication as required. uh the record star ledger, sub uh suburban trends, the messenger, and be it further resolved that the record may also be used to publish the preliminary budget approved by the county superintendent of schools when the secretary needs a daily newspaper to meet required publication dates. Second. Thank you, Marilyn. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote. Mr. Bailey, yes. Mr. Deber, yes. Mr. Drew. Yes. Mrs. Dwire. Yes. Mrs. Mr. Yuber. Yes. Mr. Robbins. Yes. Mrs. Schultz. Yes. Mr. Foody. Yes. Um, Mr. Drew, would you uh move item number three on a reorg? I'd like to move item number three. uh without reading all of it regarding

073the code of ethics um approval board members and it is as stated in our agenda second any discussion Mr. True. Um, paragraph one. Um, first sentence, each school board members responsible read and become familiar with code of ethics. Code of ethics became part of the school ethics act. Uh, sentence two, questions about the policy should be uh directed to the district board secretary. Our bylaws say that they should be directed to the superintendent who is our primary contact point. I would like to change district board secretary to superintendent in sentence to do well our our policy states that I guess I have to hand the bylaw do our our policy does state that um in our Bible as policy but our Bible does state that um enforcement of our policy which the code of ethics

074is part of our policy um is supposed to be done by the superintendent. So um you want to find but it's possible that the code of ethics policy is different. So if that is a case change Mr. this um they bring this up uh we should probably just bring the bylaws and code ethics uh to reflect this but uh I understand it may be Mike please it may be in my opinion I don't know burdensome to direct it directly to the superintendent I think that would be the function of the secretary but I'm not sure so Mhm. Exactly. So at a minimum we need to just marry up all all three of these bylaws, code of ethics and this agenda to reflect the same. That's the point. Well, we have to adopt this. So we

075could adopt it as written and then if it's inconsistent, the policy committee should recommend a change perhaps at a future meeting. But it should be consistent. I agree. I I agree with you, Mr. Drew, that it should be consistent and but it must be adopted today. So if that's the case, we should adopt it as written and then we can change it at our next meeting just to get it on the books. [Music] I wish I'd written that down. [Music] something. Yeah. I mean, it's a when you read the policy, it's splitting hairs to say that the board secretary should not have questions directed to our for this. Um because every reference is to the board secretary in the policy, although that specific line is not contained in the policy. So, we can How about

076if we do this? I withdraw my motion and policies for superintendent or because in addition superintendent and business administrator keep the board informed of the school ethics decisions and the like. Okay. Um so so I withdraw my motion [Music] would you want it? I'm suggesting the policy committee look at it and make these whatever changes want to have that in there. If you want the superintendent and board secretary to be in there, that's fine. Or administrator business administrator. Well, I know the policy does reference business administrator or board secretary. I don't think we need to change it at this point. It could be looked into either. Okay. So, I withdraw my motion. That's fine. Any other further discussion? [Music] Seeing none like that roll call vote. Motion is okay. Mr. Bailey, yes. Mr. De, yes.

077Mr. Drew, yes. Mrs. Swer, yes. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mrs. Schultz, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. [Music] Um item four on the board reorganization. Mrs. Schultz move to adopt resolution number four. I second resolution number four for for the audience and people watching on television is our team charter. Um any discussion? No, no discussion. Okay, taking enough time. Roll call vote. Mr. Bailey, yes. Mr. De, yes. Mr. Drew, yes. Mrs. Dwire, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mr. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mrs. Schultz, yes. [Music] Mr. Bailey, would you move item number five, please? Second. Item number five is our meeting protocols for the public. Uh, any discussion? [Music] Mr. True. Um I believe I have three things we should change in uh paragraph 1 2 3 4 5 6. We should change the

078notification again. Uh board secretary and board president. Um number two, um paragraph trustes should address an issue no more than twice during the discussion. Um and rather than for no more than 3 minutes per discussion, we should put as per Robert's rules of order. And in the second to last paragraph be further resolved, general rules parliament are used for board meeting. Uh, Robert's rules of order shall um be used and and my problem here is as a guide at the meetings. Um and we should just put shall uh be used in its deliberations and proceeding as per bylaw number 164 paragraph 1 that we are required to use Robert's rules of order and uh so I don't think we should be amending that here so that we've got an inconsistency. You're looking to remove the

079words as a guide. Uh well uh it shall be used um in its deliberations and proceedings shall be followed or something shall govern. Edwards. So I would like this section to follow our bylaws where we use Robert's rules of order and change the order to end. So the first amendment is change order to and in paragraph 1 2 3 4 5 6. I agree. [Music] Sh. So it it reads Robert's rules of order shall no in paragraph six where inform board secretary or board president. I want to change the or to and so that that's consistent with the other motion. Okay. What was the second thing? Uh second was uh as per first first uh um paragraph on page nine trustees should address an issue no more than twice during the discussion. Uh trustees should

080uh and then for no more than 3 minutes blah blah blah blah blah as per Robert's rules of order remove the no more than three minutes. Okay. It's it's not it's not 30 minutes. Um you're allowed to twice no more than 10 minutes each for Robert's rules. Not that we've ever had that. Um and we can always vote in close discussion, frankly. You know, right? Right. There's other ways under Robert's rules, too. Yeah. Well, let's just follow Robert Jules. So, does the bylaws say we're going to follow Robert? So, are you making all three as one motion to move things along or you can do that? Yeah. Okay, I'll make them all three. Okay. Second. Second. Any discussion? Can we Can we have copies of Robert Rules? I mean, I haven't looked at that in

081years and I would like I'd like to see it again. So, there is no I mean, you could go to Barnes & Noble and buy a copy. The board can vote to have copies purchased for everybody, but at this point, it's we don't have copies of copy that I bought and it's probably in the attic. You'll get most of it online. I I have an older version which I don't mind as I'll get it online. The one online that is out of date, but Not the official. It's not the official. So, I'll give you some titles that you can go look for. Okay. Thank you. It's less than 10 bucks. Yeah. Yeah. No, you can Yeah, you can buy it on Amazon. Relatively inexpensive. So, we have a motion and a second um to in

082the one, two, three, four, five, six paragraph down is the board secretary and board president. um 7 8 in the ninth paragraph strike out for no more than 3 minutes per discussion. Time may not be notated to other speakers to read um as no more than twice during your discussion as per Robert's rules of order. And then 10 11 12 and the 13th paragraph be it further resolved that general rules of parliament are used for every board meeting. Robert's rules of order shall govern the board at the meeting. That's it. Should it be all meetings? It this doesn't apply to all meetings. Yeah, it's a single. It's per meeting. Okay. Any discussion? Roll call. It's on the amendment, right? On just on the amendment, Mr. Bailey. No. Mr. De. Yes. Mr. Drew, yes. Mrs. Dwire,

083yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mrs. Schul, no. [Music] Okay. So, now we have the uh that motion as a as amended. Any any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. [Music] Mr. Bailey, no. Mr. Deber, yes. Mr. Drew, yes. Mrs. Mrs. Dwire, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mrs. Schultz, no. I passed Barber. Yes. Okay, Mr. Robbins, would you please move um Yes. resolution number six? Yes. Like number six to adopt the following resolution as stated. Okay. And and for the public, it's u it's the agenda for our workshop special action meetings. Any discussion, Mr. Drew? uh the bylaws lay out specific agendas for the meetings and it includes a section of staff comments and recognition which we have left out of here and uh I

084think that that's a valid thing to um keep in our regular meeting. Uh I think it's always a good idea to listen to our employees and certainly recognize their contributions. All right. Recognition. Really would like to do that. Recognitions is in there under the superintendence report. Page 9. Yep. Special piece. Yep. See that? Um, under workshop special action under superintendent report recognition. That's right. I just think it ought to be consistent. Um the other thing uh that I would like to see in here in the uh superintendent's report monthly progress towards district plans. I think the fact that uh we don't necessarily have a plan. We don't discuss how we're doing towards our plan. Um I think we ought to do that on a regular basis rather than deciding at the end of the year

085whether we did well or not. uh when you say our action plan for our district goals. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Under superintendent report. So if we don't mind, I'd like to add that in the superintendent report. Monthly progress for district plans or district goals. Do we second that? My my discussion my my question to you um do you want this at the workshop special action meeting or would you like this at our regular meeting? I think that might be better suited for our regular meeting. What do you think is better? I think regular. Okay. All right. I draw the motion. I just have a question. Is it possible? Because I've looked at action plans before. I've done action plans. Are you going to be able to have something every month? Because sometimes those Sometimes you won't.

086I just have to identify the fact that you're still working on something that we discussed last month. We're still working on it. Okay. Yeah. Because he's not going to have something every month. Super. Okay. Keeps the board informed. We're aware. I I I you know I I I think keeping the board informed is is a good thing. So Okay. So you're right. Let's add that in too at the regular meeting. Yeah. All right. Withdraw the motion. Okay. Which mean you you would have to withdraw the draw that. Okay. Anything else on um item number six or resolution six or Seeing none, roll vote, please. Mr. Bailey, no. Mr. Deber, yes. Mr. Drew, yes. Mrs. Squire, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mr. Schultz, yes. Motion carries. Thank you, Barbara. Um, Mr.

087ever. I'm going to go to item resolution number seven. Like to make a motion to move uh item seven as presented in the agenda. The following resolution second um for the public's um this is our agenda for our uh regular meetings. Um any discussion? This would be the point to amend this to include monthly progress toward district plans and uh under the superintendent in the superintendent section. Okay. There will be Yeah, you have to has to be second. So I'll second it. Any discussion? the roll call vote. Well, uh roll call vote on the amendment to add um superintendent report on on district's action plans regarding our goals. Mr. Bailey, no. Mr. De, yes. Mr. Drew, yes. Mrs. Dwire, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mrs. Schuber, yes. Mr. Mr. Robbins, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I apologize.

088I do that often. Mr. Uber. Yes. Mrs. Schultz. No. It took me a whole year to figure out he's de instead of divorce. Yeah. Now we got to get on board. He finally got a couple times. That that amendment passed. Yes. Okay. Um [Music] special color there. All right. On on item on item seven, Corbin. Yeah. We have under our our policies, uh, we'd have education, personnel, budget, policy, negotiations, legislative. Um, and then we have legislative again under our special committees. So, we can remove that first legislative under negotiations. We really we never we've never had right Maryland a legislative committee that's always been a liaison. I have a a second to remove that. So you're making a motion. I'll make a motion that we remove that legislative under negotiations since we have it under

089special committees and leaison. Remains in number nine. It remains. Yeah, it still remains but we're just we've got it down here. Yeah. So that you want to remove her from special committees. Um no leave it in special committ reports under reports. Okay. Committing reports because there is no committee. There's a motion to remove it. Yes. Now we have to to vote on removing that first one out. [Applause] Um, who moved and second that? I'm sorry. This this we're gonna move it. Legislative Barbara. I see it. Okay. But who moved in second? Seven. Um, you moved. I moved it and Mr. Drew seconded it. Okay. Mr. Bailey. No. Mr. De? Yes. Mr. Drew? Yes. Mrs. Dwire, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mr. Robinson, Mrs. Schulz, yes. Okay. Now, now we'll any other discussion um

090with regards to the agenda at our regular meetings. Like to make a motion to move item number seven to adopt the following resolution. as amended. Sorry. Okay. Second. Who second that? Mr. Yuber. Any discussion? Vote. Mr. Bailey. Yes. Mr. De. Yes. Mr. Drew. Yes. Mrs. SWire. Yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mr. Schultz, abstain. Uh, Mr. Yuber, would you like to um move resolution number eight, which is in regards to our special meetings? I will so move. I second. Second. Any discussion vote? Mr. Bailey? Yes. Mr. De? Yes. Mr. Drew? Yes. Mrs. Dwire? Yes. Mr. Foody? Yes. Mr. Huber? Yes. Mr. Robbins? Yes. Mrs. Schultz? Yes. Um, Mr. Drew. Item number nine, please, which is uh board committees. Would you move that? Like to move item number nine, board committees. I'll

091second that. Any discussion? Absolutely ridiculous. Mr. True. Um I would like us to consider having a commit uh committee regarding uh facilities and grounds and their maintenance uh so that we look at that issue uh separately and uh we we have in my brief tenure spent a lot of money on that and uh um I think it warrants a little closer look to make sure that we put maintenance plans in place and uh minimize cost to you as president. I don't need a motion to Okay. So that can be that's up to you as president when you're making when you're making committee then it's up to you. So we don't need to you don't need a motion for that. However, most districts and in fact almost all of them I know do have buildings. Okay.

092Yeah. I think instead of budget and finance. What's that? Instead of budget and finance. But when I and I'm and I'm and I'm reading and I'm reading this too, Barbara, and it says um you know, operations consisting of housekeeping activities concerned with keeping the physical plant open, safe, and ready for use. But then the last sentence says operation of plant does not encompass the repairs and replacement of facilities or equipment for accounting purposes. So, it might not be a bad idea that we have a committee that would be formed. Um, okay. Well, that's at your discretion. We don't need changes. I'd recommend that you talk with uh um Miss Francisco about that and we see if there's a good way to do that. I have a question. Um, as far as our our Joe, our

093regular committees, um, we have education personnel, you know, budget and finance are pretty much our stand policy and negotiations are are our standard um, committees. Um, how would we can as far as having all these committees? I would everybody here on this board is here for pretty much one reason which is education of students and staff. Um I would like to see that be as a um committee as a whole done and we discussed that at our workshop regular meeting. What what which what not everything just education we're all here for education and and things that are here you know three people being explained programs I would much I I think that the board would be better informed um by doing that 1-hour meeting at the at the beginning of our workshop meeting so that

094if there's anything that's got to be presented to the board from whether it's for Mr. Novak or or any of the principles or Miss McUade Mrs. Sorry that we Dr. Doctor I'm sorry I'm not looking to eliminate the education I don't want to eliminate it but would rather see it move it to a committee of the whole as a committee of the whole and that would have to be a board okay so that's two separate things so this motion doesn't need to be changed not eliminating it no then a later motion by the board have to be under old business or new business. Then it would be to make that committee a committee of the whole will be discussed at the regular lunch. That's all. Okay. All right. Thank you. And just a note, if

095you turn over the page, um under budget and finance, it does say capital improvements. So that would be part of the construction and changes to facilities and things like that. So that is basically part of the budget and finance purview. Construction programs policy approval builds and Robert is that something that you would you take the responsibility buildings and grounds you report on right well you know I I Mr. Devil Mr. De go ahead. Uh just real quick, I just wanted to say I think the point of making a separate committee was to put a little more emphasis and control on the amount of money and oversight. That's all as far as I understand and planning. I think it's it's a good idea. Um, and in thinking about it, I think that if we have a

096committee, that committee can then go through every building and make a list of the things that we see that are wrong. Um, I I look at our comprehensive maintenance plan that we send down to the Department of Education and it's cookie cutter and everybody knows that each building is different. it's not cookie cutter and that if we can make a list of things that are wrong and need attention at every building then we can have our So basically what you're saying is that your head custodians and your building principles are not doing that. Well, I I mean I can walk around. You're basically micromanaging what their personal micro I'm not micromanaging Barbara, you know. I'm I'm not by saying that that committees members are going to walk through buildings to address things that they not

097address identify not address just identify same thing that that's micromanaging that's micromanaging because we have that in place with your head custodians and your your your building principles and we have work order systems and and we got to the point with our roofs that they were falling one apart um and and bad repair and having a committee that can advise the the entire board of what they see out there that we can just make a list. It doesn't mean that we're going to do it do all of these things, but just identify things that in a short time or in you know a few you know 5 years or two years could become an issue. That I I think is what Mr. Drew is um getting at and that is the responsibility of your facilities

098people. Well, why don't I'm sorry. Why don't if if you're looking at this kind of a committee, why not have this committee uh work with the head custodians and the maintenance people and have them identify the problems and then share input rather than um make make decisions for them. I if if if we do this um I think that would be that would be my idea that the head custodian maybe the assistant head custodian would be on that committee. Each building would need its own committee along with Mr. Sanvi and go through the buildings and identify because I I can walk through. Can I ask you a question? When would you be doing this? I I don't know. That would have to be something that we would discuss. I can't read or hit part of

099that committee. Barbara, this is something that we'd have to dis you let him finish. Excuse me, James. With all due respect, I think we need to have a discussion. Well, I was just going to say that would be a discussion that all of us would have to have. Yes. And then report back to the board whether or not that's something that is viable. And which is why I say that's under your authority as both president to set the committees, meet with the administration, do that for that. Correct. But I understand what what Mr. Mr. Drew is is trying to do. I'm I'm not saying to tell the custo that anybody should walk through the buildings or anything else like that or tell the custodians what to do, but I'd like to see a plan that

100they put together that where they can You want to see what they come back to us with with Yeah. Yeah. They're the experts. I don't think anybody here is. Just but of course, you know, and then there are times that are going to be um and we've been we've done this before. If there's a question about something that you can set up an appointment to visit whatever the we've done that at the high school where you can actually go visit, we'll take you over and see what we are with I think the superintendent to make sure that we're not that's not the last thing I'm trying to do, Barbara, is micromanage. I'm I'm hearing what Mr. Drew was saying and God knows that we've we've got things going on the you know had we identified

101the railing in the back here maybe we could have done something sooner you know you know on the radar for a while well I'm I'm not trying to micromanage but just trying to identify so that we can we can get our house in order you know there's there's a lot of things that we that we need to do and and Mr. Robbins I Mr. D'vor has been having his hand up for a while. I'm here next. I I just want to state that it is covered under budget and finance, but the point is just to put special emphasis on on the buildings and grounds and to look into these things so we can kind of head off problems that may may occur in the future. That's all I believe Mr. Drew is trying to say.

102So, it's not that anybody's going to micromanage. It's just another committee to put a little special emphasis on these items. That's all. You're blocking out time to do the research. [Music] Mr. Robbins. Yeah. As another option in in in attending the finance committee meeting in the past is that at least I think what bring is brought up in those meetings are current situations that need to be dealt with. However, I'm sure Barbara uh or Tony has a list of, you know, a list of items in which they feel needs to be focused on, but they're not at the top 10. So, I'm assuming uh so I'm I'm thinking as another option is during that meeting that is provided. So this way if if Arma's responsibility is to manage that and she is communicating with you

103know head janitors and so forth building people that that just needs to be communicated at the budget finance committee and then maybe that that committee meeting can determine which is the higher priorities. I I I I understand that Mr. Mr. It's important that we we have that information gathered just for budgeting purposes. If you have a brand new uh uh piece of equipment, a furnace, whatever it may be, it has a life expectancy. We should be taking that brand new piece of equipment and saying, "Okay, in 20 years we're going to have to buy another brand new piece of equipment and we should be budgeting to save that money so that when it comes to the end of the life expectancy, we have it." So, this is something that we should be doing for everything.

104So there's quite a bit of planning to be done for each and every building. And we shouldn't be just looking at defects and be reactionary. We should be planning against the day. Everything wears out. And if something survives longer than it life expectancy, it's gravy. If it doesn't, we'll be prepared. Mr. Bailey, I'd like to interject one thing here. And I want to caution my colleagues. We're elected servants and we come from varying walks of life. None of us here that I know of are even in the education business. That is, we're not certified purchasing agents, BAS, you know, in other districts. And in some words, there are people who are in this business that serve on their local town boards. We don't have that here. So, we got to watch it because what we're

105doing is we're interjecting our ideas and thoughts into all of this. and in a way undermining, circumventing, constantly questioning the administration that we're paying big tax dollars to their salaries to do their job. So, as opposed to just today, I had the conversation, and I'm not one to call and bother the BA much or the superintendent. never have done it. Don't need to do it now. But today I had a little conversation with uh Miss Barbara, you know, ready to begin my uh next term, energized, etc. We talked about a couple of items. And I've always been keen on physical plant issues cuz that's what I bring to the table. That's what I do for a living, roadways, etc. I built McCormick Field myself. I know everything about McCormickfield and I spoke to her about

106some ideas I have for the future. It was a cordial, productive conversation, but at the end I was very confident that my ideas that I shared with Barbara, she was going to process, lay them out to the rest of her staff and see if we can move forward with it. So this idea that we're qualified to determine if a roof is bad or good. If there's rain coming through the roof, it's a bad roof. I don't know if it's a good roof. I don't want to know as long as I'm dry. If there's an oil uh burner or a boiler malfunctioning, I don't want to know. But I want somebody like Mr. Bunk, my head custodian at uh what do you call it? Maple Road, to tell me that it's wrong and then we take

107the appropriate action. We're more of a steering committee. None of us here are architects, engineers, etc. So, I think we're dipping our beacon to an area that we don't know about. And I'll tell you another thing what it does. It takes up time and it takes away time from what this board is supposed to be here to do. And tonight is a perfect example. These are boilerplate reorganization resolutions. In most circumstances I've been here where they've all been moved at once. They've all been approved and we've moved on to bigger and better things. We're here 2 hours into this breaking down every resolution almost sentence by sentence. Initially, I thought we were going to read every single one. That's not what we're here to do as a board. And the fact that we say we're

108not micromanaging, we absolutely are micromanaging because we're not that well-versed in these areas. We think we are, but we're not. That's not to say that we don't each bring bring something to this table, but we got to watch it because on TV on channel 77, we pawn ourselves off on experts about various issues. And you know what? Nobody ever questions who's an expert on what. It gets on TV, it gets in the paper, and next thing you know, it becomes uh embedded in truth. And that's not what a board is supposed to do. So that's why I'm voting no. I just caution my colleagues. I've done this a long time. I bring a lot of experience and I know what I'm good at and I'm good at paving. So, if you want to bring that

109up, I can talk to you about it, but I don't know what you guys are good at. And quite frankly, that's not the issue. But I think we should leave this stuff in the hands of our professionals. And there's two of them right there that run this district on a day in dayout basis. And you know what? If we're not happy with what's going on and if we keep questioning and forming all uh more committees and making government bigger instead of streamlining it and making it smaller, then maybe we need to look at our leadership. I'm satisfied with our leadership, but I'm disappointed in the actions of this board. I think we're in over our head. Can I can I make a suggestion that I think is something that we should be doing. Um, I

110mean, we could start this for the summer, whether I'm here or I'm not here, but we should be getting and gathering the information from our custodians and principles based on the needs for each one of the buildings and and put together a three to a 5year plan where is something that we could look at. We decide we're going to prioritize certain areas along with the projects that we have going currently that are in need. Uh, and we're aware of the fact that, you know, if someone says the the playground is starting to have some problems with uh, you know, the swings are starting to corrode and there's rust and all these other things that we know that within a short period of time we're going to need to spend some money in that area. Uh,

111I I really think it's I hate to oversimplify it, but I really think that's all it is. Just have those areas recognized, put together the list for everybody to look at, and then we prioritize based on the on the needs. and and that's where we are. That's that's what I understood Mr. Drew's intention was, not to micromanage, not to go and tell people what to do or give it out to staff and see what we can do, just to to make a list of things and then let then let the administration prioritize it and work it into their budget. It's a simple spreadsheet. Yep. Mhm. But I I just, you know, I understand what Mr. Drew says and with regards to a comprehensive maintenance plan and I it's it's just a cookie cutter board that

112you know people we throw out and there's no actual plan and I would rather I'd rather see a plan or at least a list of things that we know we need to repair in the future. So um All right. Um so there's no need to make a change here. No need to make a change. Please vote on this item. Will uh any other discussion on resolution number nine? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Mr. Bailey, yes. Mr. De, yes. Mr. Drew, yes. Mrs. Dwire, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mrs. Schulz, yes. Mr. Drew, would you move item number 10, please? Uh, I'd like to move item 10 regarding advisory committee, but I'm not going to read it. Second. Any discussion? Roll call vote, please. Mr. Bailey, yes. Mr. De, yes.

113Mr. Drew, yes. Mrs. Dwire, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mr. Nuber, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mr. Schultz. Yes. Marilyn item 11. Please move to adopt resolution number 11 which is our policy manual remain in full force and effect. Second. Any discussion? Roll call vote please. Mr. Bailey. Yes. Mr. Deber. Yes. Mr. Drew. Yes. Mrs. Dwire. Yes. Mr. Foody. Yes. Mr. Yuber. Yes. Mr. Robbins. Yes. Mrs. Schultz. Yes. Mr. Bailey, would you move item number 12, please? Like to move item number 12, please. Second. Um, this is uh Government Records Council and Open Public Records Act. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Mr. Bailey, yes. Mr. De, yes. Mr. Drew, yes. Mrs. Dwire, yes. Mr. Foody, yes. Mrs. Mr. Yuber, yes. Mrs. M. Oh, you caught yourself, Barbara. Mr. Robins. I just said Mrs. Robins.

114Mrs. Schultz. Yes, Mrs. Schultz getting late. I apologize. Okay. Um, petitions and requests. Uh, this is our second petition and request. Petitioners who have requested to speak prior to the meeting will be first with five minutes for each petitioner for a period of 30 minutes. And then time permitting other petitions and requests limited to five minutes per petition will be allowed until the 30 minute period expire transpires. Petitioners speaking during petitions and requests are asked to address topics. Well, we can any any topic. We did that earlier. All speakers are asked to give their full name, spell or last name, provide their address. Speakers may not use the names of students during petitions and requests. Mr. side. Well, Sidwood 694 Lakes Shore Drive. Everybody had really valid points about grounds and maintenance and it it

115seems to me that there there must be a better way. I know that Belleville recently just did a facilities audit. So perhaps never to undermine the administration because great strides have been made on a lot of the infrastructure items. New boilers and new roofs and so on and so forth and a lot of it was well before Mr. Rashika or Miss Francisco served and it would be unfair to place the blame on any single individual. But a facilities audit to be saved for through the capital reserve uh funding would in five years time allow you to use True Professionals to survey every nick and crack that the any building may have or whatever problems that may occur and create a list not just for the benefit of the present but rather for the future when

116everybody isn't around. So beyond the the Excel sheet format of what most people think it should be, there's professionals that do go in depth into this and I think it would be behoove the township of West Milford to to spend money on a facilities audit to get something extensive done. And I think that's something that I heard everybody kind of reach out for. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else like to speak? This is Dr. Aronson. During 19 barefoot, I don't think I said my address before. Um, I would like to uh suggest that the school board um form an ongoing working committee to deal with street drugs, all manner of drug problems that start with kids as as young as 12. We also have a group in town uh CASSA committee of against substance abuse.

117Um I have been on the township uh health advisory board. I hope that I will get put back on that. I had resigned. Uh, I'd like to see each group work on uh serious drug problems that we have that negatively, as you know, impacts learning. Um, and maybe the different groups can get together once in a while. I think we have a really serious township problem that should be attacked from many different directions. And each of these uh groups, CASA, the township health advisory board, the school system might come up with different ideas. We should be working together. Um it's a major major medical problem and a major problem that affects uh our children's learning. Um I watch him watch the kids out at Shopright during the summer uh trading drugs, selling drugs with each

118other. Um indeed this is not just a West Milford problem as you know as you hear from television. This is a countrywide program uh problem. It's certainly a statewide problem. But this is our town. This is West Milford. And perhaps with all of these groups working together, we can decrease the drug problem in our town. Uh we can put our heads together. We can get some ideas. Um, so I'd like the board to discuss the possibility of having an ongoing committee that might work together with a CASA committee and a township health advisory board committee and let's see what we can all do together in terms of decreasing the drug problem in our town. Starts with kids frequently uh stealing drugs from their parents' medical uh cabinet. Um the kids out on the street trade

119drugs with each other. Um it's it's very complicated problem and we're not going to resolve the problem but maybe we can make a dent all of us together in decreasing that. Um I think uh that each of the groups KASA the school board the health advisory board may come up with different ideas with different approaches and we should all be working together on this. So I'd like you guys to be discussing the possibility of having an ongoing committee to deal with the drug problems uh that indeed start unfortunately with kids as young as 12. Thank you very much for your consideration. Thank you, Dr. Darrison. We re really appreciate that. And as you know, we did speak together about the possibility of having some kind of coalition. Uh I'm happy to report that uh in

120reaching out, I know Mrs. Schultz did it as president. Uh and myself reached out to um school administrators and the board of ed and we have quite quite a number of people who are attending the dinner uh on January 14th which I think is a step in the right direction. So I think if we're able to sit down and talk and put our heads together uh we can work together. I'd like to see written reports from each group. Mhm. Okay. So we we'll take it one step at a time. We start off with food and drink. So And then we move on. We're going to have drink for this drug problem. Just water and soda. That's right. But thank you. Appreciate it. Would anybody else like to speak? It's Eric. Not miss. It's just Ada.

121Okay. Ada. Ada. Eric. And I didn't spell it last time. It's E R I K. Councilwoman. Not speaking as a council woman. I also happen to be on health advisory and on all of the drug programs in town. Uh just to give you some sobering numbers, 24% of the United States is addicted to opiates. This is what you're going to find out next week at this Cassa at the Cassa dinner. In New Jersey, it's 29%. And nationwide there are 88 deaths per day due to drugs. Just a sobering fact. Thank you. I I I know that uh Mr. Rashika sent out the invitation for for the 14th. Yes. Next Thursday. Um I don't think I got it. You did get it from Mrs. Schulz. Okay. Okay. I know that um I'm attending. I know Marilyn

122said she's attending. So if there's anybody else. Okay. We get until tomorrow. Yeah. Is there anybody else who would like to speak? Seeing none to make a motion to petition. Thank you. Need a second. Thank you, Rodney. Mr. Executive session. Sorry. All in favor? Opposed? Um, we have our um executive session resolution. Mr. to the board. Would you ever motion to approve the following resolution that the board go into executive session approximately minutes for the purpose of discussing personnel HIV and superintendent search attorney privilege executive session will not be released until such time as the privilege for confidentiality is no longer I have a second. The voice vote. Second. Uh all in the voice vote. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Yes. Yes. Um we're going to be going into executive session and we will

123be coming out taking action on on um HIVs and one personnel matter. And if anybody has a copy of their code of ethics to hand to Barber, if you would please do so. [Music] Okay. We we're out of the executive session. Um and we have uh two items to move. One under education. Would you like to uh read that please? Uh recommendation of the superintendent to approve the following resolution. And there are incident report numbers 2016H-3. The board determination was substantiated and 2016-4 for determination listed as unsubstantiated. So be it resolved that the West Board of Education approves issuance of written decisions. You okay? No, these are not Okay. Written decisions affirming the superintendent's determination in the following HIV investig investigations. Second, please. I'll second. Any discussion? I think those two should be split. Oh,

124the the H4. Uhhuh. I'll put that in my notes again. That's not very Yes, I agree with that. Separate separate votes. I want a separate vote. Yeah. Are you okay? [Music] Calls for a separate vote. So, it's a separate vote. Separate. So, let's do just H3 first. H3 was substantiated, okay, by the administration. Okay. Okay. So, we're going to vote on on HIV 20002016H-3 [Music] as being substantiated. Um, any discussion? Roll call vote, please. Mr. De, as further recommendations, I vote yes. Mr. Drew, no. Mrs. Dwire, yes. Mr. Foody. Yes. Mr. Yuber. No. Mr. Robbins. Yes. Mrs. Schultz. Yes. [Music] Motion carries. 52. No. Um, HIV 2016H-4 Um, that is un unsubstantiated. Any discussion? No. Roll call, please. Mr. De? Yes. Mr. Drew? Yes. Mrs. Dwire? Yes. Mr. Foody? Yes. Mr. Yuber? Yes. Mr. Robbins?

125Yes. Mrs. Schulz? Yes. Okay, we're going to move on to personnel. Uh, student affairs. Um, Mr. Drew, would you move item number one under personnel students, please? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. De? Yes. Mr. Drew? Yes. Mrs. Dwire? Yes. Mr. Foody? Yes, Mr. Yuber. Yes. Yes, Mr. Robbins. Yes, Mrs. Schultz. Yes. Motion carries now. Oh, 10:35. I need a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion to adjurnn. Second. U vote, please. I favor. I any opposed meeting officially adjourned. Thank you everyone. Thank you. You want to live?