001okay good evening everyone can you hear me out there if you can't hear just give us a signal because sometimes we can't tell we the way it's set up we can hear some of us better than others and can't always tell what you're hearing out there so give us a signal if you're having trouble hearing at any point during the meeting so welcome to the board of education meeting the board has already met an executive session and we did the salute to the flag in there so at this point point we're going to do a roll call mr cruz mr salmon here ms gray here ms white miss shaffer ms hira here ms light here ms mccoon here thank you okay i'm going to read the statement of public notice so bear with me um
002this is a regular meeting of the board of education of bernard's township notice of the time and place of this meeting was provided and copies of that resolution were forwarded to the official newspapers as designated by the board of education and to the township clerk and a copy of the notice was posted on the bulletin board of the board of education offices in accordance with pl 1975 chapter 231-a due to the pandemic the board of education expects that in-person attendees to this meeting will have completed and passed a self-assessment of their personal health where a face covering as pursuant to the executive order 251 sit in a socially distanced manner from members of different households and maintain social distance distancing if waiting in line to make public comment for those members of the public who
003are unable to attend our meeting in person there are two live stream links of the meeting posted through the district website veteransboe.com the two live stream links are both airing our meeting each simply backs up the other to be prepared if there's technical difficulty we very much welcome input from the public there are two times during the regular meetings that the public is invited to speak one time is early in the meeting before the board votes when you may speak about any item that is listed on tonight's agenda towards the end of the meeting there's another public forum to address any matter of public concern related to the schools when you approach the microphone please state your name and address each statement made by a participant shall be limited to three minutes duration no participant
004may speak more than once during a given public comment session in order to run efficient meetings and to allow maximum opportunity for members of the public to speak the board reserves the right to set a different time limit for individual comments or set an overall time limit for public comment portions of the agenda all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer no participant may address or question board members individually as a courtesy to those individuals unable to attend our meetings in person public comment may be made remotely through zoom interested individuals should not go to the district webpage brennersboe.com and select board of education followed by public comment in the drop down menu to review specific instructions or there's a link in this actual agenda to get there public comments made in person will
005be processed first then comments via zoom no public comments will be accepted before 7 pm or after the last item board forum of the agenda begins please understand that public comment portions of our agenda are not structured as question and answer sessions but that rather they are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board the board may or may not respond to public comments any board responses to public comments will generally be addressed during board forum or during committee reports however all comments are considered and will be investigated and addressed as appropriate please be courteous and mindful of the rights of others when speaking comments may not be abusive obscene threatening or irrelevant please understand that students and employees have specific legal and privacy protections the board is not permitted to respond in
006public to comments about students and employees please also understand that the board will not be responsible for the content of these of comments made by members of the public members of the public are cautioned that they are speaking at their own risk and maybe per and any personally directed statements they may make maybe subject them to legal liabilities of the affected individual if it is necessary for the board to go into an executive session at the end of the meeting we will provide an estimated length of time for the session and whether any action is anticipated to be taken upon returning to public session which of course we are going to leave tonight which we'll explain in a little while um okay we're up to our student representative mr lee thank you so much and
007good evening everyone with the end of the first semester just a few days away ridge is eagerly anticipating the start that comes with every new marching period although this is traditionally a rather busy time of year for many students the activities and achievements that ridge is known for have not stopped ridge's fine arts program continues to thrive at the highest level with the ridge dance showcase titled dancing through the halls performed on january 21st such a massive showcase is already difficult enough to organize and perform during a normal year and kova 19 complications have made all these performances ever more difficult a huge congratulations to all of the staff students and parents involved in this truly massive undertaking the ridge forensics team's winter season is well underway with members attending multiple local and national tournaments
008sometimes in the same weekend despite the team often competing in two or three locations simultaneously ridge still placed many champions and finalists in a wide range of events ridge congratulates the team the coaches and the parents for their continued hard work the ridge slim team has also continued their string of successes competing in several large meets at the skyline conference championship they not only broke several team records but also placed second overall in the tournament for the first time ridge congratulates all involved for this incredible achievement and believe it or not ridge is already looking ahead to the spring sports season yeah i know there's still snow on the ground who thought of it but baseball softball golf volleyball and many other sports are already holding informational meetings and will be holding them in the
009coming days and weeks ridge wishes all of our spring sports athletes the best of luck and will be cheering them on as they begin to train and compete finally the ridge student government is looking forward to our meeting with the board of education on february 7th we hope that this will further increase the dialogue between the board and the rich students as well as shed light on the experiences of a wider range of members of the pub of the community who attend rich high school on behalf of the student government i thank all of you for offering up your time and your and and everything for you know trying to listen to us and uh we hope that through this we will learn more about you and you will hopefully learn more about what we
010experience day to day here in this very building and with that thank you and i look forward to the conversation [Applause] thank you gordon um we look forward to meeting with the student government and hearing a lot about what your thoughts are does anyone have any questions for gordon i guess we can save our questions for that meeting thank you and as usual you're welcome to stay or go because i know you have some other commitments on monday nights right okay um okay we are um up to the next item on the agenda i just want to make a couple comments about how the evening is going to go i am very happy to see all the people here tonight thank you for coming out to the meeting and thank you to the candidates who
011are willing to come out and apply for the two positions on the board of education it obviously shows that our community truly values the education of our students and their well-being to see so much interest in serving on the board of education so um we're conducting this process according to new jersey law and board policy all the candidates who wanted to come tonight to speak were invited to attend they've been asked to address the following points when they come up to the microphone their reasons for wanting to serve the community in this volunteer capacity their perception of the role of school board membership and how the role helps students their day and evening availability for meetings their long-term vision for years of service to the board and their intent to run in the november election
012and how they would address the biggest challenges facing the board of education in the upcoming year so i know that the board and the public are very eager to hear from all the candidates so i'll stop talking but um when we are done hearing from all of them they're each going to come up in the order that they're listed on the agenda which is alphabetically um and come up and to the microphone and address the board um we are going to then go into an executive session um to deliberate and then we'll come back and obviously people will be eager for us to get back but it's an important two decisions we're making so be patient and we'll get back when we can okay so we're going to get started and we'll have the first
013candidate um mr amin oh we can use the podium here actually in the middle then everyone can see you in the hey everyone can you can you hear me so my name is nimish amin thank you for considering my application to sit on the vacant board seat thank you for considering it again i did apply for the last vacancy that was in june of last year um so i'll give you a quick background of me i was born and raised in new jersey i currently have a fifth grader and an eighth grader in our baskin ridge school systems um they will each be going to a new school last year next year in at ridge and and william and so that's exciting anxious times for them um i we moved to basking ridge in 2005
014uh before kids in 2011 after kids we needed more room so we moved but we made a very conscious decision to focus on staying in basking ridge especially because of the school system we have benefited so much from the schools the teachers the principals the parents the community and that's one of the main reasons i want to serve on the board i want to be able to continue that positive spirit i want to be able to help the board set the set the tone set the policies set the goals so that we can provide our students the best education that we can we have to realize there are a lot of different paths of success we want to set up all of our students for success and we have to take into account the many
015different definitions of success and and allow our policies to do that we have to seek input from parents from teachers from administration consult with rules and based on all that make recommendations and and set the direction for for our town to continue the the positive reputation it has the positive spirit the positive energy of i see the role of the board is to help out with those guidances and policies our schools should provide the best education we can enable success and as part of that we should look at the the different input from the communities the program for bernard's connect that basking that the board of education has said seems very on point we need to get get input from them we need to be able to communicate with with parents and teachers and administration
016what the challenges are what the different options are and how we're proceeding forward not everybody will always agree with the direction but we have to agree on the goal and that is to help our students get the best education possible my experience as a lawyer for 20 years i think enables me to do that a lot of what i do is working across groups across organizations across different functions to collaborate to get teamwork together and so that everybody understands what we're doing and make sure everybody communicates and and and hears each other so that we are all in in it together as far as availability my work does allow a fair amount of flexibility they understand whatever i don't do during the day i have to do at night and and that's that's that's how
017it's been and that's fine for the november election like i had said last time if i'm selected to fill the vacancy my intention would be to continue to try to sit on the board and run in in november so with that i just want to conclude by thanking you again and looking forward to any comments or other questions people may have thank you [Applause] thank you okay next we have mr byrd good evening thank you for having me this evening thank you for listening to me speak and all the other candidates here this evening as well for the first question my reasons for wanting to serve the community i am a parent i'm an educator i work at both the secondary education level and the post-secondary education level i'm familiar with the matters of curriculum
018and the demands that our students face i hold degrees in both educational leadership and special education i bring 17 years in the field including curriculum design and science science engineering arts and special education standards implementation school finance regulations community outreach metrics of post secondary readiness and more my perception of the board i and the role of a board member i understand the role of a board member and the role of the board is an advisory organization i look forward to bringing my experience to the board so that in collaboration with the superintendent and the other board members we can develop and enact policies that implement continual growth for our current and future students my day and evening availability i do have some contractual obligations that go most days until 2 40. i have spoken with
019my supervisor as well we have a rotating schedule there are some days where i am free an hour before that there are some days i am free two hours before that as i had previously spoken to the board in the spring vacancy and i had also run in the november election i would intend to run in this next november to extend my time on the board my long-term vision is focused very far in the future as a father of two i want to make sure that bernard's township will continue to be a leader in education for whatever the world looks like when my children and their peers walk across the stage to accept their diplomas in 16 and 18 years from now how would i address the long-term uh i'm sorry how would i address
020the biggest challenges facing the board today well cultural anthropologist margaret mead once said best uh we are now at a point where we must educate our children in what no one knew yesterday and prepare our schools for what no one knows yet as an educator i am ready to dive into the issues the board hears i deal with best practices current trends visions for the future on a day-to-day basis if selected i hope that together with the rest of this team we can use our collaborative experience to make decisions that will best promote the education and welfare of our students and community thank you very much [Applause] thank you and now we're up to ms blackman hello my name is erica blackman and i am so honored to be here tonight to share my ideas
021and visions with the current board of education here in bernards township i truly believe that i am the perfect candidate for one of the open positions on this board i'm extremely passionate about education and i have the time and availability to commit to my community in this capacity i want to serve my community by bringing my 20 plus years of educational training as well as my experience as a parent of three to this board as an educator with a bachelor's in education and a master's in educational leadership i'm uniquely qualified to serve as a school board member i graduated from florida state university with a bachelor's in english education i began my formal teaching career in washington dc where i taught middle school language arts while in dc i created my own curriculum focusing on
022poetry short stories african-american literature and writing a research paper when i was told there was no money for my ideas i was able to get a volunteer guest speaker during my unit on the holocaust and fundraise in order to get a class set of the novel the outsiders because of the experience of creating a complete curriculum with limited resources i believe i would make a valuable addition to the curriculum committee after my experience in dc i moved to tampa florida where i attended the university of south florida and received my master's in educational leadership i also taught high school english and supported the students as they navigated writing an essay deciphering shakespearean works and reading literature from a variety of cultures i volunteered my own time to sponsor the student-run sophomore class and book club
023through these volunteer opportunities i was able to really get to know my students and learn what teenagers need from the adults in their community i also began to understand the struggles and limitations of a classroom teacher because of my years as a teacher i think i would work well with the personnel committee after becoming a parent i stayed home with my kids but kept my foot in the education door through tutoring and teaching at my local synagogue while working with jewish teens i created and taught a class called religion around the world i invited guest speakers from other religions and really focused that class on recognizing the value of inclusion and diversity according to the grade school's website the minority student population at ridge high school is 40 and at mouse mount prospect it is
024almost 70 percent these numbers tell me that we need to be more aware and knowledgeable of our minority students the experiences and knowledge that i have gained while working with different populations could definitely be an asset as we continue to welcome all cultures to our beautiful town because of my values and beliefs and learning from every culture and how inclusion is closely tied to mental health i believe i would also be an asset for the wellness committee currently i teach language arts on a virtual school platform called outschool i create my own lessons and any student around the world can take my classes i've been teaching virtually since 2019 so i definitely know my way around zoom and how virtual education can be utilized although i believe in keeping our children in school whenever possible
025it is imperative that we have these 21st century skills so that we can continue to bridge education and technology and be prepared for whatever the future may look like besides being a teacher i'm also a parent with children in our school system i know we all as parents want what is best for our children not only do i have the experience of a teacher but i have the hopes and fears of a parent as a school board member i would be able to listen to and work with fellow parents to ensure that all of our students have the best school experience possible i've already been acting as an advocate for the school board by educating my friends and fellow parents on the topics that matter most to our community because of my teaching experience and
026my attendance at these meetings other parents have trusted me to share my opinions the role of a school board is to set goals and a direction for our schools while simultaneously connecting to the community each member of the board is a teammate bringing their own ideas and experience and then working together to make the best decisions for the district however the most important focus for all board decisions should be based on the academic and emotional well-being of every child in our school because i teach online i create my own hours and therefore i am available anytime that committees are meeting or training is being held i was already planning on running for a position on the board this coming fall and have been to almost every board of education meeting this school year in order
027to understand the structure of meetings and the nature of these discussion i understand the responsibility that a school board member undertakes for the good of her community and i am fully willing to commit my time to a position that i'm so passionate about with that being said i also recognize that i have a lot to learn but i'm an excellent student and if possible look forward to learning more through training meetings and my fellow board members the last few years have been unprecedented for our school districts besides the everyday challenges that schools and staff face the covet pandemic has brought new issues to the table maintaining a healthy safe environment while keeping our kids in school is one of the biggest issues facing our board today as a board member it is difficult to navigate
028what is the best course not only for our students but also our staff and community members parents need to work and kids need to be in school but we are mandated by the state to follow the laws of new jersey school board members take an oath to uphold the constitution of our great nation and therefore if i'm chosen for this position i will work to support the decisions of our state and communicate to the parents and community members the necessity of those decisions excuse me ms black try to interrupt but your five minutes are up so please try to finish up absolutely i am seeking this position for the sake of our students my children and all of the children in berners township they need the adults in their life to work together to create
029an educational experience that will shape their personalities and help them become the leaders they are meant to be thank you so much for your time [Applause] thank you we're up to ms caruso good evening i think it's remarkable that so many people want to be involved and i think it's a testament to one of the reasons why our community is so wonderful i've always been an active community member before moving to basking ridge eight years ago i lived in bergen county where i volunteered with habitat for humanity local nursing homes and i also served as a substitute teacher for the leonia public schools my husband and i have three children in the district and we love bernards township and the diverse families that reside here when my children were in preschool i volunteered for everything
030i was the homeroom parent and i also served on the plaquemine church preschool board as the fundraising chairperson and then when my children started at liberty corner school i remember how amazing it was watching them embark on their academic careers and since then i have been fully committed to our school district and our community by working to foster a positive educational experience for all of the kids since in the last six years i've been a homeroom parent i've chaired many events for the pto i was an enrichment coordinator i served on the lcs pto for two years in the events role and i'm currently serving my second year as pto president and i believe that the secret to a successful board is compromise respect and teamwork i've also served on the boe bt connect committee
031the superintendent's advisory parent advisory council the lcs lions pride committee and the lcs culture and climate committee i was a faith formation teacher for several years at our lady of the mountain warren and i have a special place in my heart for high school students and the challenges that they face i volunteer with my high school alma mater in north carolina where i promote college attendance after high school and i often tell those students that the impossible is simply another possibility my perception of the role of school board membership is that of a supervisory role where i would contribute to decisions that not only maintain our stellar school district but also help to improve and develop it as a member i would help review and approve budgets and policies and evaluate implementation of those policies
032represent our district mission and work to achieve district goals i would serve as a representative and advocate for our community while prioritizing our students i believe every decision that the board makes directly impacts our students and their families and i see myself as a voice for the children i believe that if we are making the children the focus and the priority then we can achieve great success i was an early honors graduate from the university of north carolina in wilmington where i received a degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing and a minor in sociology and i've partnered with my husband in running a law firm we decided to start the firm years ago with so that we could be home with our children and both be active and raising them and i
033manage all administrative and marketing aspects of the firm and let me just tell you that there is nothing that exemplifies patience like working from home with your spouse but in all seriousness this working dynamic allows me to make my own schedule i'm extremely flexible i can be available for all of the meetings and i would be honored to serve on any of the committees my long-term vision would be to eventually serve on each of the committees so that i could get a broader understanding of the inner workings of the board i'm fully committed and if selected i intend to run in the november election i would address the biggest challenges facing the board today with an open mind i believe that a proactive approach is the best one but if that isn't possible then the
034first thing i would want to do is understand the challenge by researching and listening i think that we want to make sure that there aren't any root causes that need to be addressed first and i would like to do all that because i think that you have to understand the problem before you can solve it then i would generate possible solutions and creative alternatives to those solutions next i would help implement the agreed-upon solution and finally evaluate the outcome of the solution i do not shy away from hard work especially if it means getting it right my volunteer work has been an organic development that has brought me here today and i am motive motivated to join the board simply because i want to help i want our school district be the best that it
035can be and i also want to ensure that all of our children reach their full potential they are my heart and our future thank you so much for your time and consideration [Applause] thank you now we have mr collins good evening quite impressive listening to all the other speakers and what they bring to the table before i start my prepared remarks i just wanted to give a little background on my what i bring i've been a police officer for 23 years so i have quite a different view of things maybe than some of the other candidates which i think is might be a good thing because differently looking at things could could help in some situations the last 15 years have been responded to the special operations division i've been probably on every major call
036in the tri-state area in 15 years or so that includes uh hurricane sandy jersey city shooting 9 11 et cetera et cetera so i think that moving forward i think that i think it's important that we have different voices and different opinions and different viewpoints on the can on the board but um to the members of the board good evening my name is jonathan collins i am submitting my candidacy for an open position on the berners township school board uh i read that when an idea comes it should be like sitting on a pin it should it should make it get up and do something it wasn't one issue in particular that made me decide to apply for a seat but the idea that it was time to get up get involved and hopefully have
037a say with that i also felt the need to get involved in a community that i am proud to call home berners township really is a special place for me and as a transplant to basking ridge i've seen what a great town this is but there is a reason we all love it here and i i really feel as the people that live here i've come to know a good many people in the town and i've remained friendly with all of them so when an opportunity arose to give back to this great town which has given my family and i so much i jumped at the chance like sitting on the parochial pen as a father of two wonderful girls 88 and six here at cedar hill and like all parents want the best education
038for them and i believe that we have a responsibility to see that the high standards set by our schools remain high but if for if we abdicate our responsibilities when it comes to our children's education then we are truly doing them a grave disservice we must challenge our children to retire not because it promises great rewards wealth or material gains because it makes them better citizens and unlocks their potential rising to meet the challenges is what this made this country great and can continues to do so i know there are many challenges to meet for our school board this year and every and every year covert 19 and school security are two which i feel very strongly about both have disrupted or destroyed untold lives my wife and i were witnesses first hand in the
039beginning phases at a pandemic she was a oncology nurse who continued to provide care for her patients as a police officer like many other first responders continue to answer calls for service no matter what the risk i have seen first-hand devastation rut by terrorism and school violence is no less terrible when we took our oaths we did so knowing that it comes at a great responsibility a responsibility that i hope to maintain with a position on the berners township board of ed as i see it the members of the board are caretakers of a great educational legacy we owe it to our children and the children yet to come to advocate for them and their parents to ensure that the best policies that benefit the education of our children are put in place many of
040our residents are from different backgrounds have different life experiences and believe it or not we may disagree politically but one thing we can all agree on is we must work collaboratively to achieve our goals or nothing is gained i plan to stand for election in november if called to serve tonight because i feel the right way to do a job is to see it through no matter what the results are tonight i only hope uh my only hope i only hope for the best candidates to serve on the board as i know that by being here tonight uh they have shown that they are invested in our kids education as any parent i appreciate it as far as my availability being a police officer has its ups and downs as far as scheduling goes but
041i plan to be available if needed given given some some notice i can make arrangements but i plan to be here every monday night and if there's another meeting time i can make arrangements to make that happen as well i appreciate it thank you very much and good luck to all the candidates [Applause] thank you um now we have miss sepak i'm sorry if i'm saying your name wrong good evening my name is chila chipak i'm a mother of two girls raga who is eight and change who is eighteen a naturalized u.s citizen who grew up in the former yugoslavia in europe as a member of the hungarian minority among multiple ethnicities languages and religions i carry with me a lived truly multicultural childhood experience i am a trained engineer and a curious individual who
042by research inspects all aspects of life before proceeding forward this is precisely how i came to choose this school district when my family moved to new jersey just a bit more than two years ago since we have moved to this beautiful small town i have cheer cherished and loved from the very first day i have been in a pleasant situation where i could turn all my focus to my family and children by becoming a full-time full-time homemaker it is quite a new situation for me as i have worked as an architect and then as an industrial designer all my adult years i now have the opportunity to grow in the most important role of my life being a mother and to bring out the best of the unprecedented circumstances we all live in my sole
043goal in serving on the board of education is taking part in completing the work that has to be done and is being done by this great group of volunteers who open-handedly and graciously give their time to the community and its children i place great importance on listening to different views collecting all accessible data carefully evaluating it and engaging in meaningful conversations before arriving at a balanced decision that affects our lives and especially our communities dearest members our kids future i believe that the board of education's job is to focus on the best interest of the children carefully allocating all the resources this great school district with its staff has to offer and implementing policies supported by data since parents know their kids the best i believe they also have to be able to directly influence
044their this is decisions and be able to advocate for their children the communication between schools teachers parents and students is more crucial than ever we all feel some disconnect we haven't felt before and my goal is to build stronger relationships our community has to allocate all the necessary means to help our children in their transition back to their normal life to build and strengthen their skills and to flourish in their social interactions in the upcoming school years i trust the school district to succeed in giving the children the knowledge strength and means to become our society's happy healthy and contributing next generation if appointed i would bring to the board of education my engineering knowledge some experience in financial planning and intent to work with the other members teachers and motivated parents to adjust to
045the continual changes alongside designing the best possible new infrastructure environment and learning experiences for our children i am ready to learn all that the veteran members of the board know and would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their dedication and many years of service and lastly as it was already asked for me i intend to run in november school board election if my work on the board is satisfactory to the parents of bernie's township and i hope you will honor me with your trust furthermore in the future thank you [Applause] thank you now we're up to mr khanna good evening and thank you for the opportunity my name is dinesh khanna and i'm seeking this role to use my experience and skills to serve our community and support of my unwavering belief
046in the power of education as a 10-year resident of basking ridge and a father of elementary school going twins at mps the choice to reside in this town was not accidental but intentional due to the excellent school system as a parent and a member of the community arcade social emotional and intellectual development is of paramount importance education has always been an integral part of my family i strongly believe in the importance of education at each stage of life from infancy to adulthood i personally have a dual master's degree in math and finance and come from a family of educators engaged in teaching a white swath of age groups from kindergarten to undergraduates my wife and i have been engaged in the mps community for the past three years sonia is currently a home room parent
047and my first experience of reading a book to the first graders was personally very rewarding it's a tough crowd with the onset of covet and the boe meetings going virtual it presented me with an opportunity to be involved in these meetings which i have tried to attend regularly over the past 18 months or so as an operational executive in the financial industry for over 20 years i built and led diverse teams collaborated across teams to achieve common goals while we need to address the myriad of urgent and imminent issues we should not and cannot lose sight of the strategic vision to be an agent of change and progress towards long-term growth and sustainability of our community communication transparency and being a strong proponent of diversity equity and inclusion are in my opinion key to building
048maintaining and retaining trust amongst our stakeholders as a member of the boe i will support and be constructive contributors to establishing goals to address our students educational needs parent and community aspirations while being fiscally responsible teachers are our main assets establishing conditions providing tools to enable the administration to retain and hire top talent effectively evaluate professional staff and to keep teachers motivated is key for our children to excel in our school to remain competitive in joining and supporting the boe my long-term goals will be to continue to provide our students and staff with safe and secure environment support and foster environment for social emotional and intellectual development maintain an environment for our teachers to excel and be creative thoughtful and intentional decisions making based on facts and data promote a culture of resiliency adaptability and
049creativity in everything we do and celebrate equity and inclusion finally i do plan on transitioning my role if elected to a three plus year board member in closing i'm cognizant of the time commitment however i also recognize the importance and criticality of the role to be able to devote my time and attention i look forward to the opportunity to serve on the boe and the community it's also heartening to see the number of community members interested in this role and it's not going to be an easy choice it's testament to how deeply this community we are vested in in helping and ensuring the continued success of our school system i'm confident whoever you will choose today will have the best intentions for all the kids and community at large thank you [Applause] thank you now
050we have mr lordy thank you i'm going to try and get through this without my glasses fogging up so apologies if i pause good evening i want to extend my thanks to all of you for providing the candidates here tonight the opportunity to explore interest and passion for these vacancies i too am in a lot of all of the people who showed up here today it's it's an amazing testament to our community i believe that there are two reasons why i should be selected for the vacancy of the board number one as head of operations of a law for a law department in a major financial company i'm an accomplished leader without an agenda who excels at bringing people together to find common solutions to difficult problems but more importantly than that i'm a parent
051who feels deeply indebted to our school system for the gifts that it has given my children both an exceptional and a traditional education and i want to start paying that debt back now that my work has changed to a more flexible schedule i can devote that time both during the day and at night by making my own hours and not having that wonderful new york city commute that we all know and love let me tell you why i feel that i'm indebted my daughter started kindergarten at oak street this year and my son has been in the cedar hill behavior disabilities program since entering kindergarten in the challenges and fears that we faced as parents of an exceptional child were daunting and my wife and i sometimes felt as if it was insurmountable to be
052honest it was a very emotional and scary time for us as we had to quickly navigate through the processes we didn't understand and quite simply we were very scared for his future many emotional nights were spent between my wife and i because we were so overwhelmed by the enormity of everything that was unknown but the entire team that we worked with eased that burden and our fears and concerns quickly vanished i can't tell you the relief that it brought to us and just how supportive they were both academically and emotionally we are so grateful for the hard work and the dedication of the incredible behavior disabilities team in cedar hill and we are so amazed every day by the significant progress that he has made with their help i knew then that i wanted to
053help other families as we have been helped and that pointed me to the vacancies i fully intended on running in 2022 but when the vacancies were announced i decided that i should reach for my goal a little bit early and now let me tell you a little bit why i'm the candidate that should be selected first our family has strong ties to the community and our children will be in the district for many years to come my wife jackie is a lifelong resident and our decision to move to basking ridge was based largely on jackie's positive experience and her continued strong ties to the community in fact she graduated from this very high school in 2003 although she told me on the way over she's never seen the inside the pack it's all kind of
054new so i asked her how to get there she had no idea her father has been practicing medicine in town for over 30 years and has no intention of retiring or moving away so knowing that we had lifelong friends and family around us for a long time it was just an easy decision for us and we could not be happier and are proud to call basking ridge our forever home second i have a long and successful track record of giving back going all the way back to my childhood where my parents always gave themselves by volunteering in the schools and stressed the importance of volunteering and giving back quite simply it's in my family's dna i used to collect for various charities and i spent thousands of hours as a hospital volunteer from middle school
055all the way through when i graduated high school when i graduated high school i wanted to do something and give back so i made the decision to join the marines i felt it was my way of giving back to the country that had given me so much i was also figuring that later in life they would be able to train me with invaluable core foundational leadership teamwork and innovation skills i continue giving back to this day at work and i'm most proud of my role as a mentor in our leadership program and my efforts leading programs within our both our veterans and our diversity employee resource groups and lastly as i said i am an accomplished leader without an agenda who excels at bringing people together to find common solutions to difficult problems the board
056would have confidence that leveraging my skills towards any goal or any mission that they have would possibly would end in a positive result the board acts as servant leaders working diligently together as a team to develop creative and innovative solutions ensuring they are the voice of teachers parents and most importantly the students they need to find the delicate balance between not only what is right for the student but also what is possible legally financially as members of our law department as a member of our law department's leadership team we face those same challenges and just like you we need to work together to come up with the right solutions as the leader of our comprehensive operations strategy including our significant legal budget innovation projects and all of hr efforts i also act as primary counsel
057to our general and our deputy general counsel providing them my recommended guidance aligning to our goals the skills i use daily with great success also align to what i believe is important to the board namely being an active listener and not reacting and solutioning and before fully understanding mr larry sorry to interrupt but your time is up so please try to finish up sure being an independent voice and being an adaptive leader and being positive in closing i hope i've been able to convey my strong passion significant qualifications and ability to serve in our shared quest to enhance and enrich all the children's experience i want to assure you this is not something i take lightly and while i'm hopeful to be appointed this evening regardless of the decision i'll be throwing my hat in
058the ring in november thank you [Applause] thank you now we have mr molinari good evening ladies and gentlemen the board members of the public thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak for a few moments on my application for the boe first i'd like to say like others have how proud i am of this community that so many have stepped up to serve on the board it's a job that's vital and can be thankless and the fact that this many candidates whatever you think of their various positions or qualifications are ready to jump in speaks volumes about the character of this community my reasons for wanting to serve on the boe are rather simple i feel i believe i have something of value to offer the community in this capacity i've lived in berners
059township for the last 21 years and have two children who have come up through the schools oak street wham's and now ridge along the way i have volunteered my time and efforts in various capacities coached for years with ridge baseball club i've been involved with the knights of columbus with st james church and volunteered with both i spent time working at a local food bank during the pandemic in short i believe in serving the community in whatever capacity one has the time and capabilities to do i especially believe in being in the arena and not just critiquing from the sidelines or from the internet if one has criticisms but also has capabilities and the bandwidth to be actively involved in making something better i believe that one has a civic duty to do so and
060that's the type of example i want to set for my children my profession allows me a certain flexibility and schedule that combined with the fact that my kids are older and very independent provide me the opportunity to take on the time commitment necessary to serve if appointed is also my intention to stand for election in november it is not my intention to dabble as to my capabilities my past experiences and accomplishments qualify for me for a seat on this board i believe in the value of public education and have endeavored to be a lifelong learner i hold bachelor's degrees in history and sociology i also hold an mba from the university of scranton a jesuit institution that emphasizes the worth of learning and the value of service before self my military service in the united
061states army complements my formal education i've served in high functioning units in high stress environments with fellow soldiers of every background attaining the rank of sergeant and being responsible for the well-being of troops not much older than our students at ridge we had differences that were there but the focus was always on the job if you could do the job the rest was secondary these experiences have served me well in my career of specialty medical sales where communication with diverse stakeholders is keep from discussing scientific information with heads of medical departments to building rapport with the worker at the front desk being able to communicate and work with people from diverse backgrounds is vital in my view the school board has a role that can be boiled down to a simple statement the board is
062not here to run the schools the boards exist to make sure the schools are well run this oversight is vital to the students not in the aspect of controlling everything a teacher says or scrutinizing every decision a principal makes but in placing the best people possible in their respective roles and getting the support they need and letting them do their jobs this is not to diminish the role the board which does have a role in mediating disputes setting the overall tone for district learning making policy decisions oversight not micromanagement but with the authority to step in collectively when necessary so what are the biggest challenges that i see for the upcoming year we don't know what we don't know and any prospective board member is only seeing a certain aspect of any given issue until
063they are seated i will try to speak to what i do know budgetary questions will get resolved the hvac system at ridge will be figured out whether or not to spend forty thousand dollars on a diversity consult will be decided one way or another and future curriculum decisions will be worked out eventually we will learn how to deal with covet the challenge to overcome that i see is one of communication parents are more involved than ever which is a good thing it begins to go off the rails when portions of the community lose confidence in the board there is no way to make everybody happy but better communication go a long way towards restoring and maintaining the community's trust a place to start is with cultivating a diversity of opinion and outlook on the board
064those of you who've listened to my past couple comments have heard me be both critical and complimentary always i've endeavored to present my thoughts with civility and respect and i hope that's been appreciated even when it's apparent that i don't agree with agree with all the outlooks on the board we need to be able to disagree without being disagreeable we need to be able to debate without rancor we need a board of education where a variety of viewpoints are taken into consideration and where the community feels that even if a decision isn't the one they hope for that they have been represented listened to and the reasons for that decision laid out in a respectful manner i love this town and want what is best for all the children in our schools i truly believe
065that by being bringing different perspectives backgrounds and outlooks onto the board we can work together for the best interests of our students i feel i would be a valuable part of that board thank you for your time and consideration thank you now we have mr parker thank you i appreciate the opportunity to speak with you this afternoon or this evening i should say um unlike many of the other applicants here i'm a relatively recent arrival to basking ridge i've been here for a little over two years now my wife and seven-year-old son who turned seven in just a week or so who's a first grader at oak street school but i want to give you a sense of why i'm interested in the position and serving on the board obviously my son's education is extremely
066important to me and i expect that he's going to be here for a long time we chose basking ridge specifically because of the quality of the education system here and i want to be a part of keeping that legacy continued and as strong as it is already if i look at my background i feel like i've got a number of different experiences that will really serve the board well i've got over 20 plus years in higher education as a professor of psychology industrial organizational psychology at a large state university that served students from many different backgrounds populations it was located just outside of chicago while i was there i also served as a director of graduate studies there managed the budget for the department of psychology was also involved in curriculum reviews and setting up
067the the overall curriculum for the department and for my specialty industrial organizational psychology in particular after 20 some years as a as a professor sharing dissertations writing grant proposals and securing funding from the department of education in one case i decided to move into an academic or excuse me administrative position within the university and in that administrative role i was the head of the office of assessment which was responsible for making sure that the 125 plus degree programs that we had at northern illinois university each had a system in place to evaluate student learning objectives and to ensure that those were being met for each of those degree programs so they were really focused on student success in addition to that my office also conducted research studies to look at retention look at pedagogical practices
068within the university and to make sure that those practices were working for each each student group first generation college students as well as minority students which were a big part of the university student population so looking at retention rates looking at graduation and success was really important and the role was not to try to put to evaluate those programs necessarily but rather to ensure that the degree programs themselves had the process in place to make that happen and i view that as similar to what the role of this of the board of education would be we're not going to be administering the programs or evaluating them directly but we want to make sure that there is rigor in place to ensure that the outcomes are being identified well and being met and that a process
069is in place to follow that we're also interested in making sure that other key performance indicators of the of the school system such as fiscal responsibility such as maintaining uh support for teachers being able to attract quality teachers being able to retain those teachers is really important and of course then the focus on student learning outcomes so again i see the board's role really is one of advisory ensuring that there's rigor in the process ensuring that the evaluations are conducted appropriately across a wide spectrum of outcomes if i'm selected for this position i'll definitely plan on running in the fall as well the um the filing date is on my birthday so i'm not going to forget that that piece and so again looking at the challenges i see ahead for students for teachers covett
070has just thrown everything up in the air but supporting teachers supporting the people who are working to educate our students is really top of the list in terms of the current moment i think focusing on the wellness of our students is really important as well longer term when i hope the world settles down a little bit the things that are i find really important are focusing on scientific literacy i have a background in chemical engineering before switching over to psychology so i understand how to think like a scientist and i believe that that kind of training scientific literacy is extremely important i think that critical thinking skills are some of the most important things to be valued and it serve people well regardless of what field they go into and how the world changes from
071here on out so those are the challenges that i would want to focus on as a member of the board currently i am serving as a director of research for an organization that advises companies on diversity in their workforce we conducted a yearly competition to identify the best companies to work for with respect to diversity and so i'm very versed in managing diversity what it takes to to bring different perspectives on the value that that diversity has excuse me mr parker sorry to interrupt but your time is up so please try to finish up okay that's that was my concluding statement so thank you i appreciate the consideration thank you we are now up to mr racio good evening board thank you for considering my candidacy for this vitally important position my name is lawrence
072ratio and i respectfully submit my candidacy in hopes of fulfilling one of these roles why me my desire to serve on this board is deeply personal partially motivated by a debt of gratitude that i owe the bernard sanchez school community as a whole in 2014 my son a first grader at lcs was diagnosed with leukemia anyone who's ever had to face something like this knows that it's the biggest nightmare of a parent's life but is often the case during the darkest times that when you see the good in others it was during this time that the teachers and administrators of lcs transcended their professional responsibilities and organized an effort to make sure that my son not only kept up with the curriculum but thrived teachers were willing to come to our home on their lunch
073breaks to help tutor his guidance counselor visited him in the hospital with treatments and the school nurse would regularly talk to his oncologist to make sure that she would maintain the protocol when he returned to school naming those superstar teachers and administrators is beyond the scope of this it wouldn't be appropriate in the setting but they know who they are thankfully we were able to put this ordeal behind us four years later and move on the resources and effort efforts put forward put forth by the berners township school district were numerous this type of focus and professional caring is something that cannot be legislated or voted on but it's rather the result of a culture that has been built and nurtured over time i'm here to help make sure that our school system doesn't stray
074from the core values that has benefited my family and so many others taking on one of the most important responsibilities which is helping to plan the education of children is not something that i take lightly i have a bachelor's of science degree in biochemistry but spent my entire career in high level finance having worked my way up from administrative assistant on a trading desk to running my own hedge fund despite this relative success i was never a strong student i mean i was a terrible terrible student to be honest upon reflection though i simply learned differently from those who succeeded within the traditional formatted curriculum as a result i am extremely sensitive to the fact that alternative methods of teaching and curriculum development should always be explored so we can extract the most value for
075every student times have changed technology has changed so our teaching method should be fluid do you really need to teach kids the dewey decimal system when they reach in their pocket and pretty much figure out anything they want probably not so why now the simple answer is because i have the capacity and the time to do so my earlier years in the district were spent working hard long commutes into the city coaching various boys and girls sports in town and now that's all done i also think fathers are well maybe not after tonight are underrepresented on the board as well and i think the board would be well served by having a financial professional who brings within a unique lessons learned from years of surviving in one of the most competitive fields outside of professional
076sports these are critical times for public education fraught with challenges from outside influential groups state legislatures and other groups who might not have our best interest in mind another reason i am here is to do whatever i can do in my role to make sure that outside influences rules or whatever they're going to be classified as do not conflict with the values of bernie's township residents students and teachers one example might be pressure from outside influences to get rid of our honors or gifted and talented programs i can tell you that that is something that i would fight and go to the mat for opposing if we allow outside influences to alter our curriculum here then some of the other areas of curriculum like special needs which is exemplary in town are also at risk
077people in large part choose to move to burners township because of the schools we've always delivered a private school level education in a public school setting and that must never change one of the questions posed by the board is how would you tackle the most pressing issues facing the board the shorter answer is i don't know i don't know the minutia of the issues you're facing right now i don't know what is being mandated by the state and what things we can control i don't know the school's financials look like and i'm not a participant on social media at all what i do know is that i am extremely talented in being able to take a problem break it down to its simplest components and derive it past the solution when you're starting a company
078you become an expert in extracting and maximizing value from finite resources i'm quite confident that i can help the district stretch their current budget without sacrificing vital student oriented programs i do know that during the height of the open the school's clothing situation communication from the then current board could have been better given the perception given that perception is 90 of reality i would certainly suggest if i was on the board that the board engaged more frequently in direct communications with the community if binding edicts are coming out of the state level and we are powerless to fight them without engaging in an expensive lawsuit then let that be known mr rashford sorry to interrupt your time is up so please try to finish up really holy geez all right um all right so um
079wow okay look burner township has the highest concentration of phds according to census tracts i'm sure we can all come up with a solution that makes things work smoothly and work better i don't think there's anybody in this room or watching that doesn't have the student's best interest in mind so i humbly submit my application and look forward to your decision thank you [Applause] thank you we're up to this thing good evening board members and members of the bernards township community we have heard some statements from many individuals this evening my first thought was very impressed i said wow it's pretty amazing that we have so many people who are taking interest in our schools and students my second thought was what makes us qualified well i can tell you that i feel very strongly
080about my ability to make positive changes for our community professionally i have always been involved in public health and wellness after undergrad i went to harvard to pursue public health which landed me to work at a well-known bank on wall street i ran wellness programming for employees all across the globe i learned how to write and execute policies training employees in various countries after leaving that position i went on to culinary school to pursue a passion and then on to integrative nutrition where i married my passion with my wellness inclinations i've now learned how to merge the concept of mental wellness with physical wellness i currently own a small local business as a trained chef and a licensed health and wellness executive where i work with many members of the community to do just that
081merge mental and physical wellness with kovid it's become glaringly obvious that along with us are the adults our students feel this mental and physical stress of the pandemic life as we are still living through it i feel this is one of the major areas that i would love to focus on if if if i become a board member my husband and i moved to basking ridge in the summer of 2016 right before my eldest daughter was about to start second grade at mount prospect my son was only one at that time coming into a new town i wanted to get involved so i became a class mom and i got the opportunity to meet a lot of parents and teachers and administration at mps the teachers and staff at the elementary level did such a
082wonderful job with organization and making each student feel so important i knew right away that the best decision our family could have made at that time was to be in basking ridge and i still stand by that today i concurrently also started a girl scout chapter for my daughter and other second graders at mps my troop is still running today and we have grown to eight dedicated girl scouts who are working towards their bronze award it's simply an honor to have had a very minute part in shaping them into empowered girls they are excelling in and out of the classroom fast forward to fifth grade at mps and i again received an opportunity to get involved by co-chairing fifth grade events from my daughter's class i got a chance to work with mrs hosney and
083under her guidance we fundraise and advocated for the graduating class making extravagant plans for a proper send-off to wams unfortunately kovit put a big halt into our plans temporarily but we were able to postpone to this past summer and we did it bigger and better than we even could have imagined when everything became a little bit safer when i got to wams with my first daughter i again felt the urge to get involved and so i joined the pto as board president i had the good fortune of working with mrs hudoc as well as some very educated and knowledgeable parents through the challenging year of quarantine and virtual everything that opportunity gave me a window into the world of the boe and i was lucky to be on various committees including the parent advisory committee
084superintendents advisory committee and the pto presidents committee when a vacancy arose last summer i jumped at the chance to get involved and luckily i was appointed to be on the boe i served on the board for several several months last year and really witnessed the ins and outs of how the board is expected to operate having gone through many trainings under some pretty dynamic and knowledgeable individuals i started learning a lot more about our school system i'm hopeful that i will get a chance to come back as a board member and work hard to better our schools and create stellar opportunities for our students and their families at the end of the day we're all present today because we have a common interest we want to make a difference and perhaps make a change for
085the better or we might just feel compelled to do a civic duty and get involved on some level i realize that being on the board of education comes with very very high expectations i'm willing and able to put the time commitment into the board meetings as well as committee meetings as i have done so in the past i want to be there to listen to our community of teachers students parents and the administration i'm happy to be teachable and come with that growth mindset that requires hearing opposing views i encourage and will act to support open lines of communication i want to be a liaison for parents who need help with their concerns or just need assistance in finding a voice i plan on throwing my name back into the november election because i want
086to be involved for the long haul to me this is not just a temporary job but rather a priority that i hold near and dear i have three kids now currently a seventh grader at williams a first grader at liberty corner and a four-year-old who will start kindergarten at liberty corner next fall or this fall i'm interested in their future as well as the future of all of our children in basking ridge one of my favorite quotes that i want to leave with is said by helen keller alone we can do so little together we can do so much this quote embodies our community and the power we have to give our students the best education they can receive i can only hope that we can teach our kids to grow up to be astute
087and compassionate human beings who leave the world a better place than they found it thank you for your time and consideration [Applause] thank you and now we have miss west good evening my first comments are to all the folks that were here and put their name in the hat um at first i was thrilled that there was such enthusiasm and entrant for i saw 17 names and then 13 names i was blown away i sat here today and listened to them speak and now i'm incredibly humbled these are a talented group of people that can't come here today to ask to be on this board of education i think that says a lot and i hope that the ones that do not get on for this evening i see their names in november because i
088certainly would be out voting i um i have the distinction of being a graduate of ridge high school i was born and raised here in liberty corner i went to liberty corner cedar hill lambs and ridge that was back in the 80s we're not going to say the year i moved on from liberty corner and went out to denver i studied hospitality management where i learned many skills including including placating difficult clientele working my way through labor issues and overall management organizational skills after colorado i then went to virginia where i practiced where i went to law school i went to george mason school law and practiced law in new jersey for a few years then went on to colorado where my husband and i had our two oldest children i practiced in the field
089of litigation insurance subrogation and some real estate few years practicing there i came back to new jersey relocated i worked in a firm for real estate transactional types of law we selected bernard's township for exactly the reason everyone up here has said in no small part for the education system at the time we had a four-year-old and an 18 month old so school system was critical i can't say i was really excited to move back to my hometown simply because no one ever wants to go to your hometown because it's never the same but i pushed and we encouraged my husband to give it a try and we have enjoyed the last 18 years here in basking ridge we had another daughter who is currently in the school my son graduated and had a fantastic
090experience here throughout the entire system he graduated a few years ago and is doing very well no not any small part to the education he received through this system my daughter went through the school system with an iep so i'm somewhat familiar of how the paths are for the honors for the ieps and those in the middle my youngest who is currently at ridge we won't discuss her where her situation is right now unless i'm sure all of you have teenagers know that that's not something that we should ever bring up into the public i was not one of the ones that was ever focused on the board of education i didn't pay i paid attention but did i pay and watch no i trusted i trusted that the folks that were here cared about
091each and every child they cared about the community and i trusted them to do their job for the most part i can't say that i agreed with every decision because no one ever can but i truly believed that the decisions were made for the majority and well thought out and for the best of all of us some point in the last few years i felt in the community and in the world that there seems to be a decrease of tolerance empathy understanding it seems to be in retreat i believe those core values are taught from the top and they are lived i feel i can bring that focus back to the core values amongst the board and hopefully amongst the children i think that if we live as the board with these core values we
092can influence the administration teachers parents and each of the children be clear i'm not saying that the board doesn't show that it cares it clearly cares because this is a big job i'm saying that we can bring it to the forefront on every decision made my skill set is i'm even keeled i'm pragmatic and thorough when it comes to decisions i am not going to tell you that i am not quick to react and spit out comments but my decisions are well researched thoroughly considered from all sides and i have a strong negotiating skills excuse me miss west sorry to interrupt but your time is up so please try to finish up sure i do have the time available to commit i do work full time but i work locally and the folks that own
093the company happen to have students in the school system so i believe and i have spoken with them but they would believe every moment that i've dedicated to this would be time well spent so i appreciate it and i i know you have a really tough choice tonight so good luck [Applause] thank you yes that was an impressive group of people that we get to go to to discuss so we need to have a motion to go into executive session someone like to make a motion miss gray mr salmon seconded the motion um i hate to make an estimated time of um return it's there's an estimated time on the agenda but as i said before it's an important decision and we will do our best to be efficient in our discussions we'll see you
094soon everyone has to vote to go out sorry in favor all in favor okay so okay um we're back um just want to before we move forward with nominations i wanted to thank everyone who came out tonight it's a very hard decision lots and lots of great candidates came out and i want to encourage anyone who doesn't get nominated and appointed to keep coming to meetings and stay involved because as a lot of people up on this stage have experienced themselves um people here have been appointed and come back out some of them had to come out multiple times before they got appointed and then ended up running so um please don't be discouraged and please come back out so the way it's gonna work is we have two positions to fill so we're gonna
095have a nomination and a vote for to fill the one position and then we're gonna do the second one afterwards um so it's gonna go in two separate votes okay so at this point we're up to the nominations um would anyone like to make a nomination karen yes i would like to nominate uh i want to say correctly dinesh khanna okay um would someone like to second that i second that nomination okay it's hard to see the microphones project in a weird way that it doesn't sound like it's coming from where you are to me okay so suzanne has stuck in it um are there any other nominations well it's right now no i know but don't we have to offer that or no it's not how it works for us no it's like emotion
096okay emotion it's like a motion so we have we have a motion in a second okay so we don't have to ask if there's anything no your policy says okay to move to do uh do each position in order so we have a motion okay we have a motion in a second so at this point we will take a vote a roll call mr salmon yes ms gray yes ms white yes ms schaefer yes ms hira yes ms light yes ms mccoon yes the motion carries okay thank you okay so now we will do a vote a nomination for the second position would somebody like to make a nomination mr salmon i nominate goodyear singh hey would somebody like to second that nomination a second that okay mrs white okay can we have a roll
097call please mr salmon yes ms gray yes ms white yes miss schaefer yes ms hira yes ms light no ms mccune yes the motion carries thank you mr croot okay so at this point um congratulations to the two appointees we do um bring them right up here tonight and square them in so um where are you guys okay so could the two appointees please come forward bring your stuff up because you're gonna just sit right over there yeah you have to come up and sit over there so okay they're gonna get sworn into office right now for everyone that's out there do turning on your mics okay in the absence of the the board secretary tonight i'm going to handle the swearing-in of the the two new board members so as i've explained you know
098please repeat after me as we go through the oaths there's two oaths that we have to give all right the first eye do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm we can say it together that i will support the constitution of the united states that i will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of new jersey and the constitution of the state of new jersey and that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the united states in this state and to the governments established in the united states and the state under the authority of the people so help me god so help me god okay the
099second oath do you solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that i possess the qualifications prescribed by law but i possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education for the board of education and i am that i am not disqualified as a voter and that i'm not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs 19 4-1 pursuant to rs 19. 17-4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18 a 12-1 listed in njs 18 12-1 and that i will faithfully impartially and justly and that i will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office of that office according to the best of my ability according to
100the best of my ability so help me god so help me go congratulations thank you [Applause] okay welcome it's kind of a exciting way to join the board to just get thrown off here um we're going to move forward with the rest of the agenda for the meeting um if we're voting on anything that you guys can abstain if you haven't you know seen the documents and things like that when it's your turn um so we're now up to superintendent's report there are three items with someone like to make a motion for those three items mr salmon and mrs gray seconded um mr marcarian do you have anything to say about those three items well the first is the uh annual submission of the self-assessment for our anti-bullying bill of rights uh for each of
101the six schools the second is uh the uh hib report for january 24 2022 the third is approving a rutgers research project which is designed to provide training for our paraprofessionals uh in an effort to help them with some behavioral support strategies for students and that's it okay um could we have a role call i mean a vote items one two three you get a motion in a second oh we need them and we had emotion yes we did uh mr salmon mr salmon moved in ms gray seconded okay mr salmon yes ms gray yes ms white yes ms schaefer yes ms hira yes ms light yes mr khanna okay that was abstain i think right mr khan thank you and uh ms singh abstained ms mccune yes motion carries okay thank you okay we're
102up now up to public comment on agenda items if you come up to make a public comment please tell us your name and address before you speak thank you they're on agenda items so this would be a comment on anything that's on the agenda for tonight okay i don't see anyone coming down we also have a zoom to check to see if there's people in there there's nobody there there's nobody waiting in the zoom no okay so no public comments i'll be closing this public comment moving on to approval of minutes can we have a motion for that item mr salmon someone else in a second this is white can we have a roll call please mr salmon yes miss grey yes miss white yes miss schaefer yes ms hira yes ms light yes mr
103khanna abstain miss singh abstain ms mccoon yes motion carries okay um for finance there's items one through sixteen would someone like to make a motion this is gray and it's light seconded is there a committee report mr salmon yes there is uh finance met on thursday january 20th the first item for discussion was a bond refunding opportunity a presentation was given by brian morris of phoenix advisors who is um bond advisors to the district and tony solomon from williams goldman and spitzer who was bond council to the district mr solomon solomine explained the statutory scheme for public school bond refunding which i'm going to go into a lot of detail here but it's essentially like refinancing a mortgage to get a better rate bonds can be refunded for 10 years after issuance after that if
104the district can realize more than three percent net present value it must by law do a refunding and the savings goes directly to tax relief the refunding does not change the repayment structure of the term of the refunded bonds just the interest rate for a school to complete a refund it must pass a resolution to adopt a refunding bond ordinance at a public meeting and then adopt a form and sale resolution at a subsequent meeting bonds were sold in 2005 as part of a 54 million dollar referendum for additions and renovations to the schools and administrative offices in the district in may 2012 the district issued bonds to advance refund a portion of the 2005 bonds the 2012 bonds so that was kind of like the first refinancing the 2012 bonds were sold with a
105call date of july 15th 2020 2022 and reach final maturity on july 15 2029. the 2012 bonds that mature from the july 15th that mature from july 15 2023 to 2029 which is approximately 8.8 million dollars in bonds are eligible for refunding and would save the district approximately eight hundred and ten thousand dollars or approximately one hundred and five thousand dollars per year which is net of cost for the refunding the refunding bond ordinance on the agenda states that the refunding is not to exceed approximately nine point two million dollars because the market conditions may fluctuate between now and the day of the refunding and to incorporate the interest expenses and the cost of the refunding uh tonight we will be revoting on the refunding bond ordinance which will authorize mr mclaughlin to work with
106mr solomon and mr morris to execute the refunding the second item discussed was the oak street roof project uh you'll see on the agenda tonight is a resolution to award the contract for oak street roof repair project to a company called pravco pravco actually submitted the second lowest bid because it was determined based on conversations with the lowest bidder and the district's contract council that the lowest was material deficient materially deficient and must be rejected tony katana the district architect knows pravco and says they have a good reputation a portion of this work will be up to 40 percent of the cost of this work will be paid for by a state grant uh this project will be completed over this summer uh the next item up for discussion was the aramark work order status
107system the committee was bill larkin who's the new director of facilities for the district came and gave the committee a presentation on the aramark work order system mr larkin intends to streamline the work order system to classify work orders into one or several categories plumbing hvac electrical etc which will allow him to prioritize and track status of work and completion mr larkin will also train aramark personnel on how to categorize work orders and to remove work orders once completed there was an update from uh john perrin who's the assistant director of facilities and mr larkin again on uh who's the director of facilities on several project closeouts uh the wham science labs there was a few items left to be done but most of them got done over the christmas break the uh hvac controls
108upgrade upgrade mr larkin uh received a timeline from our controls vendor so this isn't the machinery this is just the software that controls the machinery to do the hvac in the district our vendor is ame ridge high school is substantially complete however there is some change order work that is being done to address some coil damage that we had over the over the colder days um and the remaining schools in the district will be worked on continuously in succession over the next several weeks completion for the full district is expected in mid-march mr mclaughlin provide an update on the district's implementation of the new jersey educator health plan which is referred to as chapter 44. um the new jersey educator health plan reduced employee contributions compared to the chapter 78 contributions that employees had previously
109been made mr mclaughlin spoke with arthur gallacher the district's health benefits consultants to review the claims data since the start of the njehp in january 2021 and the district has not seen any reduction in claims in terms of the items on the agenda one through three are standing items number four is professional development number five is a correction uh it's it's to acknowledge the donation from liberty corner pto for sixteen thousand dollars thank you for for the donation uh i previously reported that was for um a faculty lounge or faculty space upgrade but it's actually for painting murals in the cafeteria so uh thank you again to liberty corner i apologize for the mistake number six approves a contract with the somerset hills y for the swim team for 21 22. uh number seven rejects
110the um incorrect bid for the oak street roof project and awards of the roof project depravco the second lowest bidder number eight is as i explained the notice of bond refunding ordinance to refinance callable 2012 bonds numbers 9 through 14 are grant modifications for carryover grant funds number 15 of men's tuition costs for out-of-district students and number 16 is student services that's it thank you does anyone have any questions okay can we have a roll call please mr salmon yes ms gray yes ms white yes ms schaefer yes ms hira yes ms light yes mr khan abstain ms singh abstain ms mccoon yes motion carries thank you um under the policy um committee we have 21 items would someone like to make a motion personnel yeah oh i did i say policy i'm sorry it's
111personnel 21 items that would be bad if there was 21 policies okay personnel 21 items um did you raise your hand mrs gray and mr salmon thank you um is there a personnel committee report uh there is but it's very short so i had the pleasure of doing minutes for two separate committees this time around all right um so the only thing i can report out for personnel that's not confidential is that um mr syat heard from the head of hr in madison about a diversity equity inclusion firm that they are using which is called the equity leadership group mr syat will and may have already spoken with the head of the firm and uh maybe scheduling a meeting between the firm and the personnel committee for february this would represent another possible company for
112doing the dei consulting work that we've been discussing and that's it thank you does anyone have any questions okay can we have a roll call please mr salmon yes ms gray yes ms white yes miss schaefer yes ms hira ms light yes mr khanna abstain ms singh abstain ms mccoon yes motion carries thank you okay now we're up to the policy there's only two items can i ask a question about personnel before we move on to sorry is it possible and i don't know if it is i don't know what stage you're in for mr saya to share anything on the item that mr salmon just reported are you referring to the dei initiative yeah that's going to move forward to the next step yeah well no we have we've already had two proposals and
113we are now going to interview a third proposal a third consultant so i did speak to dr carla manning today and i'm going to be setting up actually a separate meeting for the personnel committee to just meet with her so that we can find out some more information get another quote and then hopefully make a determination to move forward so that we can board approval contract in february thank you yep okay so for policy there are two items would someone like to make a motion this is white someone like the second was light is there a policy committee report uh yes policy met on january 10th and we had a discussion regarding district policy p9130 titled public complaints and grievances and this policy essentially outlines that a parent has the right to address an issue
114that they have have with the board however the policy does not indicate what needs to be put in writing and submitted to the board before the board addresses the issue so there was a dialogue to amend the regulation to provide some guidance on what information should be supplied to the board in writing we also had a second reading on policy 0167 which is titled public participation in board meetings and the policy has been amended and updated to reflect that a public comment shall last a duration of three minutes which is what we've been doing we agreed that we're not going to change the policy at this time we're just going to provide a modified method of participation to the public and as the meetings have been in person for some time now there was a
115discussion that as of january all public comments should be made in person however as you notice today even though we want to get back to the spirit of in-person meetings and comments being made in person the board agreed to allow individuals who cannot make the meetings in person to make their comments uh virtually and then we also have a second reading on policy 5751 in regulation 5751 which is titled sexual harassment of students and this was reported out at the last meeting there are no changes from the first reading however there was a discussion to review the policy to make certain that it is consistent with the district's record retention policy so we're going to get advice on council which will be considered at the next policy meeting that's it thank you does anyone have
116any questions okay could we have a roll call please mr salmon yes ms gray yes ms white yes ms shafer yes ms hira yes ms light yes mr khanna miss singh abstain ms mccoon yes motion carries okay um we're up to curriculum there's one item would someone like to make a motion for the one item this is gray and mr salmon um is there a curriculum committee report yes there is do we need to do anything in terms of the new course before i read the minutes no do the minutes and then we'll vote after okay okay beginning the 2022-23 school year students who enroll in choir will be placed in concert choir or ridge corral based on their voice rather than gender concert choir will be made up of bass voices in grades 9
117through 12 and treble voices in grades 11 and 12. ridge chorale will be travel voices only grades 9 and 10 and both courses remain a six credit full course if any student has a question in terms of what their voice is they or their counselor would contact their music teacher who then would work with the student to ensure that the student was placed in the correct course we were provided with an update about the revised ninth grade physical education program introduction to fitness began at the start of marking period two the purpose of this course was to provide students with a strong foundation in the five components of fitness which are muscular endurance muscular strength cardiovascular endurance flexibility and body composition the information and practice in the course will provide students with the knowledge and
118skills necessary to safely and effectively engage in a variety of fitness activities throughout their lifetime every one to two weeks a different area of fitness is covered and at the end of the course students create their own fitness plan with goals for personal benefits introduction to sport and movement will begin at the start of marking period 3. the purpose of this class is to provide students with an understanding of the fundamental foundations of the four categories of sport invasion games such as soccer team handball basketball target games such as golf archery frisbee golf fielding and striking games such as kickball softball and net games like badminton volleyball pickleball students will apply the six skill related components of fitness agility coordination balance power speed and reaction time and active participation with this foundation students will be
119able to explore a variety of sports and activities that they may be able to participate in as part of a lifetime of activity the department supervisors uh each did a deep dive into grades that were received last marking period and courses that had five or more students drop down a level and compared this to the teacher recommendations provided to students prior to course selection last winter feedback from all supervisors consistently was that the majority of students who dropped down had not been recommended to the course in which they enrolled many also suggested that the return to normalcy may have impacted the decision to drop down for example last year often tests and quiz were open notes and students are finding it difficult to perform as well without them this was the case with world language
120where notes and translators could be used last year therefore they've leveled down because they were not feeling successful some students in six credit ap and enriched science courses have a lab that encroaches on part of one lunch period a week and some students drop down as they decided they did not want to give up that time for a lab in some subjects for instance math students dropped down for a better fit in courses such as ap gov in all cases of students who dropped down they did not follow teacher recommendations students may have qualified for a course but that's different than it being the best fit and going forward counselors will continue to have these conversations with students at the same time we do not want to dissuade a student from trying a higher level
121in addition for students who are new to the district we do not have teacher recommendations and that can skew data as well the data will be tracked for the next few years to see what may or may not be related to covet the option two presentation date has been moved to february 8th at 7 pm in the ridge pack right here with the rain or snow date of february 9th it will be recorded and it will be available for parents and students to view if they're unable to attend discussions on expanding health have been put off until next fall mr shellow explained that they need to renew review the new standards and make adjustments to the current curriculum he'll be attending a county meeting to get more information and then a proposal will be presented
122to us in the fall mr coleman then reviewed what we had discussed and agreed upon in prior meetings regarding summer geometry which is an alternate path open to only eligible eighth grade students the purpose of this opportunity is for qualified students to move between a one year ahead accelerated mathematics pathway to a two year head accelerated math pathway for students who are successful in this program they will be able to take honors algebra 2 and 9th grade he shared three very important points which i really want to emphasize so that everybody realizes that that has been made clear one this is an in-person only instructional program two this course needs at least nine students to participate in order to minimally fund the cost if less than nine students meet the criteria the program will not
123run however only those students who meet the criteria will be offered the opportunity to take both honors geometry and honors algebra 2 concurrently during the student's 9th grade school year no other accommodations will be made and 3 students must submit an application by the deadline in order to be considered information about the course and eligibility will be available shortly and it will be available on the website and lastly mr terry has checked in with the social studies teachers to try to determine if sophomores have been able to complete their community service hours which were reduced to 10 hours for this school year he has received mixed responses some students have been able to while others have not due to volunteer opportunities being cancelled he's working on some in-school opportunities for students so that they can
124complete their hours students in the national honor society have mostly completed their hours which also presents tutoring opportunities for 10th graders and that option is being shared with qualified sophomores our next meeting will be february 3rd thank you are there any questions for mrs white no okay could we have a roll call please mr salmon yes ms gray do we have a motion yes we did oh i'm sorry um oh it was me you actually made the motion yes it seemed so long ago it was just um yes ms white yes miss schaefer yes ms yes motion carries thank you okay we're up to the wellness committee is there a report there is not we are working on rescheduling the wellness committee meeting due to for availability of participants so stay tuned okay thank you
125liaison committee reports does anybody have just one just one quick one i'm the new umly appointed municipal alliance liaison and um i'm all signed up and i have my training by via zoom tomorrow morning and um the meeting later i guess it's early feb so i'll be right back thank you for thank you for volunteering to serve in that capacity okay if you want to use that word yeah um any other liaison reports no okay so now we're up to public comment on non-agenda items if you're going to make a public comment please give us your name and address before you speak thank you so hey everybody my name is eric cuda151 back rage ride basking ridge uh i guess first time here so thank you to everybody who's been serving the last couple years
126and all the work you guys have done good luck to the the two new folks there's a lot of work to do so excited to see how you guys will contribute to everything going on i think what i want to talk about today is is masking um there's a lot going on in the news around mass and i think i just really want to make sure that we have a plan we are prepared for the moment that this executive order is actually lifted and we aren't just scrambling and being reactive i think back to last year when summertime came we had some excessive heat we didn't know what to do the murphy was saying one thing certain districts were all over the place so i guess what i'm seeing in the news is certain countries
127are removing mass mandates about almost 40 states in our country do not have a mass mandate in fact breaking news just now is that new york had a judge strike down their mass mandate so i just got to text my wife my nephew who lives in long island already got an email from his school district saying we will not be mandatory masks anymore it'll be optional so i guess i hate these masks myself um i guess all i'm asking you guys is to really be thoughtful be proactive because it's coming i mean he extended his emergency orders for 30 days that's coming up in two to three weeks the the case rate when he put it in was about 35 000 positive cases a day right now today it's down to about 7 100 so
128that's a more than 70 percent decrease cases are going to keep going down hospitalization's going to keep going down we need to be prepared for the moment that that is lifted to help our children um i just think it's it's probably one of the most important things we could focus on you guys can focus on and hopefully you hear from one parent i speak for a lot of the kids that my children from cedar hill associate with i don't know any kid that doesn't mind wearing a mask i know i've heard that a couple times over the years i haven't seen one i don't get to pick up a lot but when i do i see a lot of faces that i can't see expression so if i can't tell what a kid's thinking or
129if they're smiling or not i'm sure my kids can't either so please be thoughtful about these kids when when that masked mandate is lifted i'm not saying you you can't enforce masks if a parent wants to send them in please by all means send them in but if a parent knows what's best for their child i'm begging you when that thing is lifted please on behalf of all the little kids in elementary schools that i know of here in basking ridge i'm begging you to be prepared to act for them so that's the first thing second thing just real briefly i think another thing this board should really think about you folks really have an awesome opportunity in the cdc guidance in the new jersey department health guidance they actually recommend clear masks for several
130kids right special needs students also students that have are early learners and learning to read if you ask me anyone in elementary school is learning to read because learning comprehension is learning to read these kids these teachers that they're interfacing with and staff excuse me sir sorry to interrupt just if you could finish up they should have clear masks for our littlest learners please please let's do this for the kids please thank you very much is there anyone else for public comment here in person no okay what about on zoom we have one on zoom okay this one he did okay yeah hello t.e you have entered the meeting can you hear us in the meeting can you hear us let me go to the next one oh right i'll go to the next one
131we're trying to connect with the next person in the zoom meeting hello ripa cardi carter hi you're in the meeting thank you this is ricky carter 58 independence drive basking bridge i want to thank the board for their careful consideration of the various extremely qualified candidates that presented themselves this evening it's really nice to see so many of our neighbors and colleagues and friends and other constituents of the district coming forth and wanting to serve in a volunteer capacity congratulations to those selected and lots of luck to the entire board to going forward working together and hopefully making some positive decisions that keep in mind the safety and education of our all our students not just uh not just those that need assistance i'm here to actually make a comment asking the board to regardless
132of whatever the mass mandate may be that the board seriously consider keeping masks as a requirement in the school district just until the weather gets a little bit warmer we get everything under control a little bit and just keep in mind the safety of all students involved staff including the teachers the academic folks everybody it's not everybody gets a choice in this let's put it that way and just keeping in mind the overall community safety and well-being and once again thank you to this board for carefully considering tonight's candidates and making um their decisions thank you t-t-e can you hear us now no i'll let the next one can you hear us we're in the meeting yeah yeah we do have more people there's nobody else in zoo okay so if there's anyone still here
133in person that wanted to make a comment this is our first time doing it this way hi lisa press 85 springhouse lane i wrote to you last week regarding the sos express that was sent on friday january 14th i was surprised to see that the updated covid policy included a requirement for students to wear respirators and 95s kn 95s and kf-94 masks as the cdc and the national institute of occupational health safety and health and the new jersey department of health guidelines do not include these requirements and this policy change was in complete contradiction to federal and state guidelines and recommendations which specifically state respirators are typically designed for adults and therefore do not have not been tested for broad use in children and the national institute of occupational safety and health does not approve
134any type of respirator for protection in children additionally this is not recommended by the new jersey department of health the school has mentioned numerous times at board of end meetings and also in emails that they work with the township department of health i contacted the department of health with the township and spoke to the health officer and the somerset county superintendent's office and they were not consulted and were unaware of this policy change thank you for removing the policy and this requirement as just last week my kindergartener was sent to the nurse the nurse's office three times because he couldn't breathe in his cloth mask my question for you tonight what is the process for making such policy changes in the past it was stated that you aligned with cdc new jersey department of health
135and the local health department on guidelines which clearly seems to not have been the case here can you comment on the process and what you take into consideration when making these policy changes thank you [Applause] hi i'm barbara gary 66 dryden road i'm sure you all have seen many emails from me at this point we are all tired we are standing here still talking about masks two years into the situation if the mandate is lifted children should not go to school if parents do not want that mask on their child it's not fair i decide what goes on for my child not anyone else if a mask works and you want your child in a mask put it on their face not my business my business is my child no one else's it does not
136if if this mask is working then it will be fantastic for your child it is not fantastic from mine the board set out a bunch of goals last month december not one goal pertained to covid19 and the policies and procedures that are going on we're getting emails saying that children should wear n95 masks and be excluded from their friends when they go back to school and have lunch and the middle school lunch situation is not acceptable it is not acceptable to sit in a room with 15 to 20 other students and every other person is eating and the other people that are not eating are told you're in study hall that is not acceptable find a better way i spoke to two board members about this one was not aware that that was going on
137how do you not know that that's the policy at a school i sat here this evening someone told me in an elementary school at snack children are being told to put down your mask take a bite of food and put on your mask to chew what are you doing to these children it needs to stop this is abusive this cannot go on anymore stop it you have the power we've put you on this board you're voted in you have the power to change these things please change it childhood is ending for some of these people it's not fair it's not acceptable to take someone's childhood away stop the insanity it's ridiculous they go to sports they hang out together they do all this thing and then we play this make-believe game of putting on your
138masks and going to school but as soon as you come out go play sports go do this without your mask they go to restaurants they're living their lives other way stop what you're doing to them in school it's not fair anymore i beg you to look into the policies and procedures that are going on in schools and figure out a better way a better way please [Applause] good evening i did want to start to thank mr markarian and members of this board in making all the efforts to keep school in person as much as we could excuse me ma'am could you just state your name and address please i'm so sorry cindy wong 22 carriageway um i wanted to thank the board for making all efforts to keep school in person this past month although
139it sounded there were grades and classes that were more impacted than the others throughout the district and we saw many townships in new jersey go remote it is appreciated that this district and its administrators worked made lemon out of lemonade with what you could work with um congratulations to the appointed members we hope the appointed members today and the rest of the members will continue to take their position in all seriousness to take consideration of all matters in their decision decision making as a board member as we can see today that the parents and residents of this community are vested more than ever to be involved in their children's education to have alluded at some point that parents should not have same matters affecting affecting their child's mental physical and physical health and well-being and
140education is contrary to the beliefs of the core of being a mother or father with that said to echo some of the other parents i hope this board will strongly consider and prepare for making max optional when the mandate is no longer in effect and give the decision-making back to the parents these members of the boards continuously echo the help mention of wellness and health of the children but it is not a one-size-fits-all option and should not be dictated by people and officials who do not care about our own well-being please let the parents decide and please be prepared to respond upon these changes thanks [Applause] is there anyone else for public comment at this point i'll close public comment so most of the comments were about masks our favorite topic it's unbelievable that we're
141still talking about masks almost two years later obviously it's very good news that the rates are dropping so fast it's unbelievable just in the last two weeks you know how many cases how many less cases there are so we're all very hopeful that things are moving in that direction in a very speedy manner um we really hope that we're going to be in the place we were at the end of last spring where where kovet was there but not you know controlling our lives anymore um so we we don't have any inside information about the mass mandate in the state of new jersey aside from what you guys already know about the um it being extended for the 30 days obviously we're watching the news and waiting for information just like everyone else see in
142terms of clear masks there was something in the sos that mr merparian sent out on friday about clear masks that parents have that option for their students um and i think there was a link to where to buy some clear masks that were highly recommended i do know you know that there have been different ones tried out some of them fog up and some of them have issues so i don't know you know how much success you know people have when they try them in terms of the comfort level and stuff like that but certainly um that's something that that is allowed [Music] and um the process for covid policies um i was talking to someone the other day i'm just going to be speaking off the cuff here about the way the board is
143probably someone who came out was coming out for the appointment the way the board works in normal times when it's not covered we have a committee process where things go to committees and we send things to the policy committee for discussion i mean the last two years things have been happening at a weirdly strange pace and things come from the state and there's not time to have a policy meeting you know to discuss everything that comes because we don't always know when it's going to come so you know there has been you know some i mean let's just call it chaos right sometimes because we're trying to react quickly to things um you know we do we are listening to the community i know um some people may not get an email back as quickly
144as they would like i know we've been trying to communicate when we get a lot of emails on a topic um by addressing them all in one message um when we're getting inundated with messages about certain topics um let's see i don't know did i hit on all of them mr mccarron yeah i think there was a question about where's the recommendation come about from masks and you know we looked at the doh guidance on both the 12th and the 19th and on the subjects of subject of mask they link to the cdc page which talks about recommending that people wear the most protective mask they can that fits well that they will wear consistently they go on to say that loosely woven cloth products provide the least protection layered finely woven products offer more
145protection well fitting disposable surgical masks and kn 95s offer even more protection and well-fitting niosh approved respirators including n95s offer the highest level of protection so they're saying that and simultaneously saying that people should wear the most protective masks they can so when we're buying mass for our staff we buy kn95s and i think that's where the recommendation comes from obviously we understand that there's a lot of opinions about masks and what you know what is the best mask for an individual which was why we amended the initial document to say fine we're not insisting on any particular type of mask i can only tell you what i see when i read this cdc document which was from the njdoh's guidance document so that's where the the rationale comes from okay um at this point
146we're up to board forum does anyone have anything mrs gray yes um i have uh one quick thing which is just a comment about the uh question or the point mrs geary made with regard to wims luncheon um and it was me it was totally me i told you that i didn't know that but it shouldn't surprise people that a board member who doesn't have a student in the middle school doesn't know exactly what's going on at lunch well i did tell you i didn't know so then there were two of us so i and that did surprise me and i can't say that i was excited about that because i think it's kind of sad to have to watch your classmates eat so you can take your turn but nonetheless it shouldn't surprise anyone
147in the community that the board is not involved in the decisions of how lunch works at any of the buildings there's four elementary schools and they each have different practices forget covet go back in history when things were normal all four elementary schools run lunch differently they have different facilities they have different spaces they have different enrollment numbers and we don't know that either unless we happen to have a child in a grade or a class that is impacted by some type of change so just for the community at large it's it's really not alarming that the board isn't involved in that level of decision because we're a policy making body that is not to administer the schools and that would be administering the schools to be involved on that sort of day-to-day operational level
148so i just i don't want to leave the impression that we should be involved in those decisions if there are concerns and they come up obviously people in the community can talk to board members no no issue with that and that was supposed to be my short item sorry so my longer item is something that has come up in a just a small handful of emails that the board received over the last week or so regarding the appointment tonight and i just want to say thank you i know a lot of people are gone but what an impressive group of people that we were fortunate to hear speak passionately about their interest in coming out to the board of education that's always really um invigorating for people who've been involved like we are just to
149know the interest is there but there were some sentiments shared with the board through email about this idea that if someone ran in the election and did not win the election that they shouldn't be appointed and to that i would say there should be some some background first of all some background knowledge to understand there are a lot of people sitting on this board right now who were appointed who weren't even appointed on the first try myself included took me two tries to get appointed and then i had to run for election and then i got a lot of votes a lot of votes but it was a process and just because you didn't get the the top three if there was a top three situation does not mean you still weren't supported by the
150community to the tune of nine hundred votes that's a lot of votes if you look at the historical tallies for votes in this community mr salmon myself ms mizhira sorry miss schaefer mrs corn who recently left the board and ms richman who left last may were all appointees who subsequently ran and were elected so i just want to be clear that there shouldn't be any sort of assumption or uh like foregone conclusion just based on that fact and that's all i want to say does anybody else have anything for board forum i would just like to say welcome and welcome back we will definitely be speaking about logistics and training and all the stuff that has to happen and we look forward to working together and i don't have anything else for a board forum
151so we're up to adjournment would someone like to make a motion for adjournment ms hira and mrs gray all in favor