LEHSD Board of Education Meeting - February 3, 2026 Board Workshop

001Call to order. This is to advise the general public that in compliance with the open public meetings act, the Little Lake Harbor Board of Education meeting was advertised in the Asbury Park Press in Press of Atlantic City and posted at the post at the office of the board of education located at 307 Frog Pond Road, Little Lake Harbor, New Jersey, and posted at the office of the municipal clerk of Little Lake Harbor. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Chone, >> here. Miss Ber >> here. >> Mr. Lagga, >> here. >> Mu >> here. Dr. Snder >> here. >> Mr. O'Keefe is back now. And Mr. Phillips >> here. >> Mr. O'Keefe did notify us that he was going to be late. >> Yes. Uh prior to even running for the position, Mr. O'Keefe had a work

002commitment that he uh let us know about and he should be here by 7:30 tonight. >> Pledge of Allegiance. Let's stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, we're going to go into executive session now. May I please have a motion to enter executive session? >> Motion. >> Second, please. Second. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> Okay. All right. I'd like to have a motion to reopen the meeting. >> Motion open. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. All right. The board of agenda. The board of education now welcomes the public comment on the items which are on our agenda tonight. It

003may not always be possible or appropriate for the board to directly answer questions during public comment period. Each speaker is allotted a maximum of three minutes to make their statement. No one may speak more than once on the same topic. You're required to give your name, address before speaking. Please keep your comments respectful and non-defamy. Maintain the level of decorum appropriate for a public meeting. Reminders may be in attendance. All right, we're going to do an approval of agenda. Recommend a motion to approve the agenda. >> Motion to approve. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Any questions? All right. All in favor? >> I. All oppose. Motion carries. Seeing that there's no one in the public, let's continue. Now moving on to the board work session. Made the year progress on district

004goals presented by Lisa and Tunes. Superintendent. >> Thank [clears throat] you. Okay. So this is a midyear update as per sort of a 360 degree view of where we are with the goals from or hot air balloon view however you want to say it from the goals that we had that we agreed on in the beginning of the year. So there will be more detail as >> I touch >> I know. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. >> There'll be more details, you know, at the end of the year, but I wanted to provide an update and the board requested it. So, those are the goals that were approved by the board, the district superintendent goals, which had to do with increasing student academic growth in ELA and math, the increasing in community engagement opportunities, reducing

005the rate of chronic absenteeism among students, and conducting a comprehensive analysis of transportation operation safety and cost effectiveness. So, they're all on the website. So, I, you know, I won't read them all here tonight, but Okay, let me go to the next. >> It's Well, it's not moving. [snorts] >> Okay. So our first goal was to increase academic growth by 2% in math in grades four in I'm sorry in ELA in math grades four through six as measured either by the NJSLA or state assessment whatever that is if it changes and uh or in district assessments. So how are some ways that we're concentrating on that goal? Well, to to in order to move that needle, faculty meetings, we're talking about things, principal meetings, lead teacher meetings, professional development days. We had board of ed

006curriculum committee from August through December and then we went to board of the holes. So now we'll talk about those things as a whole. But up until that time, we had board curriculum committee meetings. At the faculty meetings, if there is time after a faculty meeting, which each of the schools have once a month, then we will provide our teachers PLC time, professional learning communities, where they talk within their grade levels or their content areas about what's going on with the test scores, with the curriculum, is somebody doing something special, are they having trouble with something? What happened was PLC time was removed from the from the contract. So now we have to fit it in as opposed to having standard time for it. So if time is permitted, they get it after faculty meetings.

007There are curriculum director meetings and principal meetings. So the curriculum director meets with the principles and we talk about it at our administrators meetings as well, but this is specifically with Mrs. Gallagher and each of the principles to discuss any variety of topics. Here are some of the topics that are discussed. Again, I didn't get into highle detail of of all of these, but this gives a nice overview of what's discussed. Each school is different. The curriculum is different in each building. Materials are different in each building. So, they discuss the data. They discuss the areas of focus. They talk about what to collaborate on during PLC's and what's necessary for professional development. We have a professional development day tomorrow, a full day professional development day. So, we talk about that. They talk about what

008was discussed at the lead teacher meetings that Mrs. Gallagher has with each of the leads teachers and then they even talk about midyear data review as they're collect. That's the next step because we're right in the middle of gathering that data. Now we you'll see on the agenda for for next week that they're the state is putting out another high impact tutoring grant. So, we are going to submit for that grant like we did previously and they're doing an I Ready Math Madness competition. During the lead teacher meetings, you'll see that many of the topics are very similar to what's discussed across the board. So, we're getting that vertical articulation as well as the horizontal articulation that's got to go through. Each of those things is dependent upon the like dibbles is new for us

009this year. So, they there's a lot of discussions going on about dibbles. reviewing [clears throat] the the doing data dives into the NJSLA data, the progress monitoring that's been going on, how they're reviewing the beginning of the year data that was collected via common assessments to the mid-year data and then again at the end of the year we'll do the same. [snorts] um the Lear trainings which is the grant that the state put out that we had to do and any curriculum updates that come along for our professional development days we focused on PLC's we focused on utilizing data and targeting any behavior needs we had CPI training for staff which is the uh training that we use for positive restraint, safe restraints. You'll see here that there are those are the professional development days

010that are included in our calendar for this current school year and what the plans are for it. Professional learning communities again focus on reviewing the midyear data. So we we review the data at the beginning of the year, mid year, and then all throughout. talk about targeted instruction. How can we have the flexible grouping to really provide students what they need? The board of ed curriculum committee meetings. These were some of the things that we discussed as a committee to the full board. I mean to the committee of the board for curriculum. Now, some of these things we'll discuss publicly. I say some of these things we'll discuss because there are some things that we we are not permitted to discuss in public. If there's not enough uh children in a group to report out

011on certain scores, then we can't report those out. But we'll let you know that as as we do it. Any benchmark assessments that the students take our our um tiered system of supports proposal that we put forth which are going is going well at this point. the initiatives that we talked about again we've had this these are things that took place already so they are in place now and any QAC updates because this is a monitoring year for for the like harbor some of the assessment that I have here for you is you see that there's a note at the bottom that the winter data is not completed there is student data missing because we're right in the midst of doing it so what's the most important thing to see here is this is the

012I Ready math data and what's important to see here is that there's a larger cadre of students um in the exceeding expectations range. So that's that that's that brighter blue uh brighter green at the top. So we have more students exceeding expectations than occurred previously in the fall. Okay. So we're seeing that across the board in grades four, five, and six. So that's that's positive. Again, I have I want to make sure everybody understands this data is not complete. There is some student data missing. Okay. What we're also seeing is a decrease in the number of students not meeting expectations. So, we're seeing an increase where we want to see an increase and a decrease where we're seeking to see a decrease. So, we have a upward trajectory and that's exactly what we're seeking. This

013is link data from ELA. This data is less complete than the math data. So again though, what we're seeing is a larger population in exceeding expectations than previously. Sixth grade right now, I would say we're looking at saying, hm, what's going on there? But then again, we have less students. We have less data available right now. So I suspect that's going to change, but we'll keep you posted on that. Okay, that's why sometimes it's a little bit it could be a little bit skewed, but at least you're getting an idea of where we are and where we're going in the SE and this by the way will also be available on the website. Okay, our second goal of community involvement. This is what the goal read increasing engaging in oper in uh community opportunities throughout

014the district. And some of the things that have been done include uh greater conversation with PTO leadership and and executive board members uh attending different events with members in attendance. We did a community event at Naples. Wasn't very well attended, but we did do that. We're doing another community night. Candy bar bingo is happening at the end of this month. And so what we we said, well, let's take a look at that. We're going to have parents here. We know we're going to have parents here. Let's do a night right before Candy Barbingo. So that that's what we're doing. So if anybody wants to come, Candy Barbingo is in Frog Pond. So this is where we'll be. We since I've been here, we've done we've gone and celebrated tenure with those staff members who obtain

015tenure. We literally the administrative team, whoever is available, will go to the teacher's classroom or the uh support professionals room and bring balloons, bring cookies, and just celebrate them, take a picture. It's fun. They don't often expect it, and it's a nice little nice little thing to do. And as well as the educational services providers, we do professional of the year celebrations, teacher of the year celebr uh teacher of the year celebrations, which we will actually be doing next week. We uh all attend, of course, school-based events, whether it's back to school nights, the orientations, chorus and band concerts, whatever, you know, whatever the uh whatever's going on. We try to attend as many of those as we can. Monthly meetings with the association representatives, that's just typical in my calendar, as well as open

016conversation events for each school. What that means is I actually say to the principles, let me know what's the best time to come. They usually give me times that cross over all the preps and lunches so that anybody who wants to come see talk to me informally, formally, I'm in one spot. I they put me in a spot and they know where to find me. Carl often joins me. Sometimes an administrator will come. Sometimes it depends, you know, whatever they want to do. But they know where I am. They can come talk to me. Different than I'm walking around a building saying hi, popping into classrooms, doing that sort of thing. So, two totally different. It's a formal and informal events. And I do have, you know, we do have teachers that come in. Sometimes

017they just come in to say, "Hi." Sometimes they come in with a concern or a question. They heard a rumor. They want to, you know, talk to me about it. Sometimes they come in just to say, "Hey, Lisa, let me update you on, you know, what happened from last time." So, we do that pretty often. any formal and informal staff meetings. I tell the administrators, invite me and all of them invite me to things. If it's on my calendar and I contend, I'm going to go. The transportation department, as you know, is being built up. So, as they have their monthly safety meetings, we try to attend those meetings. I'll go, Carl go. Sometimes we both go. Depends what our schedules look like. And then any consistent communication with the community through any variety of

018outlets which include the mass communication which include email, phone, uh personal conversations with me whether by phone, email or come in and meet with me. The app texts uh not me texting the texts that go out for mass communication to the to the families. and of course Facebook. Our third goal of chronic absenteeism is something that we have two schools that are on corrective action plan. The preschool doesn't get a corrective action plan even if they were above the 10% because they're not included in this for the state. So we're looking at monitoring different things with chronic absenteeism. The reason why chronic absenteeism has jumped to the surface for districts across the state is because it's being monitored much more closely now by the state. So everybody sort of it bubbled up to the top.

019So that's why you're hearing a lot more about chronic absenteeism across the board. A lot more research is going on. It was always going on but now it's being discussed. Okay. So some of the things across the district that are going on, of course, we have to follow the state mandate of having corrective action plan. So we certainly do that. And then you've probably noticed that we're doing very consistent public service announcements. I do it at my superintendence report every meeting. I do it I did it at the beginning of the school year. I do it I did it right before break. I'll do it again before spring break and then at the end of the school year. We did a presentation at the beginning of the school year of what chronic absenteeism is, what

020it means, what it means for a child who's not in school. We talked about we review the attendance policy at all. We do it at faculty meetings. We do it at any orientations. Anytime we have parents, especially if we're meeting with parents with a student with chronic absenteeism, we have conversations about that. Whether it's the principal, the teacher, depends what level they're at, whether the teacher feels comfortable doing so or not. And that's fine. We we provide talking points. We provide information for that. We have provided additional guidance for staff on when to call home, when to follow up. Of course, we do all of the the necessary robocalls that go out to the community. The buildings will do on the 15th and 30th of each month. They will review the data, analyze the data.

021I have somebody in our offices looking at it more closely. While this is directly related to student absenteeism, we also sort of have a side thing going on. It's not part of the goal, but it's something that we're doing on staff chronic absenteeism as well. Uh these are some of the things that we do. We do do go to Truman Court in Little Lake Harbor. Sometimes it could be very difficult because our our parents have a hard time getting there. And so we're trying to come up with innovative ways to help the students come into school. And so we're working with our child study team. We're working with our building administrators to come up with different ways as we hire a an attendance officer, which we've been trying to do. We we are hope we

022know that that will also be of assistance. ESS the company that that we contracted also focuses in on chronic absenteeism as well. What we find is that many students who are chronically absent have tertiary and and secondary issues that ESS helps to work with us with. We of course talk about it at parent teacher conferences. Teachers document it. that ought to be documenting it on report cards and of course we do the brag tag reward students monthly with per perfect attendance certificates assemblies things like and this is just a little bit of what we do. So what we did was we took a look at last year and this year so so far and last year for frog ponds you'll see that the absentee rate students in good standing was 38%. So, we're seeing an

023increase in our good standing, which means that they're coming to school and we're seeing an increase in that percentage. Our in danger category has gone down a bit, which is positive. And our chronic absenteeism still has remained pretty static. So, it's still something we want to focus on. That's fragrant. We did the same analysis for Mitchell. You'll see again very similar results. the chronic absenteeism is a little bit higher there. It could be for any number of reasons uh which we'll get into we'll dive into probably second uh the second progress we made. Okay. Our fourth goal of transportation was to conduct a comprehensive analysis, safety, cost effectiveness, etc. specifically for route optimization, safety enhancements, fleet management planning for those reasons. And so far in our minor transportation expansion, we created that implementation plan, developed

024it and executed it, which the board is aware of, and we've hired six daily drivers and three backup drivers to date. And there are currently additional drivers in training for their CDLs. We have seven new bus aids. And so therefore, we have eight district-owned assets. As you know, we received the five million buses in November. And because of that, we've been able to eliminate the Mckini Vental costs, which are the costs of transporting our homeless students. So, we've been able to take those back. We're transporting them now. So, now we're not paying for them to be transported. We have three new revenue generating routes. One of them was a Pylon's route and two of them are Tupperton routes that we've already taken back. We've reduced one contracted mini bus route by bringing it inhouse. We

025well the coordinator conducts monthly safety meetings with all transportation staff and we've purchased two-way communication devices on our district own buses. Now that's to date. If you look at the implementation plan, there's still things we're going to do, but that's how far we've come to date. So therefore, overall, I would say that based upon this specific midyear monitoring where we are right now, we're demonstrating a forward trajectory and we're we're we're on track for continued advancement. Are we going to meet all the goals? Maybe, maybe not. But we are definitely moving forward and we're definitely not static as of yet. That's where we are for the midyear progress. Thank you. Any any questions, Christian? >> Um, just have a a few questions. Um, [clears throat] so with I'll start with the goal one and then

026I'll go in order. Um, so the lead teacher meetings, are those with all of the teachers at the grade levels? Like is that similar to a PLC but titled something differently or is it just with lead teachers across the district from grade 1 to six? Ju >> just with lead teachers and typically Mrs. [clears throat] Gallagher conducts those meetings. She has them in her calendar. She conducts them and she does that monthly. >> Okay. And >> and then the lead teachers provide the information to the their >> Okay. Um and then um how often do uh all of administrators meet with you? Is it weekly, monthly? >> So we do monthly meetings. With the weather, it's been like every other month. However, I also do one-on-one meetings with each of the administrators. Okay. >> And

027then um formally, >> so do the bar graphs that you showed with the data, do they indicate 2% growth? And then I guess also too, what are the plans for those bubble students? Because that's been a big focus on this district are the bubble students and how to get those to being proficient. >> I'm just taking some notes as you're because some of those answers I want to have bubble students and uh so I would not want to at this time say that there's 2% increase because all the data is not in yet. >> So once we do receive all that data, we'll >> let you know. And I'm just noticing and I my own kids have a PD day during midweek. Is that are we locked into that? Was that because of the um

028several PD development days like with the is it dibble? What's it called? Dibbles. Dibbles. Very creative names. um like is I guess that was the only day that like I feel that the midweek PD days and midweek PD half days are especially troubling for parents and students because if you do not have child care for your child to come home midafternoon, what's going to happen? You're going to pull your kid out and they're going to go to grandma's house or wherever grandma is. So you have child care coverage or they're going to stay home so that someone doesn't have to be there to get them off the bus. And that's what concerns me about those midday. I know in the upcoming calendar that's not the case on a Friday or Monday, but just something. >>

029Thank you. >> And then with the QAC, who is on our QAC committee from our board? >> Um, Mrs. Over. >> Okay. Is that a selection or could we have applied for it because they didn't >> it was they suggested board president or vice president at the time when we were putting committees together? >> Okay. And then um moving on to two um for community outreach. And I don't know if other people felt this way, but I kind of felt that I wanted to see I thought I included let's say um more outreach with the school community outside of this building. Like is there any plans for like a routine monthly um meeting like uh Zoom or um I know the police department is now having what's it called? Five with Yes. Five with five

030with Buzz. Five with Buzz. Like a podcast or something that people can because that's they're great if you have them tied in with an event, but I think if we really want to reach parents and things like that, it's like they have to know, okay, every, you know, the first Tuesday of the month, kind of like a board meeting, >> uh there will be a Zoom or there'll be something that you can, if you have a question or concern, you can bring it up virtual or >> Okay. Um I just think that >> because I think a one o'clock what time was our it's a difficult time. Unfortunately the snow didn't help. >> Yeah. So the plan is and that's I think that's a good idea and I'll definitely look at that. Uh the plan

031was to do one in the afternoon, one in the morning, one in the evening and other one. So all different times so that some something would fit for somebody is what hopefully was what we were trying to do. And then um the absenteeism. I'm I I really think we're dropping the ball here unless I'm not getting all of the information. Um a lot of local schools have the same goal and they're utilizing their signs out front of their buildings. It's important to come to school every day. Today we had perfect attendance. Today we had 95% attendance. Like put it in parents face. Like how many of us drive past George Mitchell on a daily basis and would see that sign? And I think that's a good it's free. >> Um and then you show how

032it compared to last year. >> Um like I want also too, why aren't we using Facebook? Because I don't know that we're reaching the target parents that we need with school board meetings in a superintendent update. The parents whose kids are not coming to school of they're not watching the meeting. That's the issue is they're not invested. um as they might not be as invested in that to watch those meetings. Um so I guess like I think this is an area where we have to be proactive and not retaliatory with a truency officer. By the time we've taken that into truency court, it's already too late. >> Like what can be done positively? I know you had discussed in your original one about teaming up with the PTO and prizes and rewards. So what rewards

033have been given out? So, I I'll have to connect with the PTO on that. >> Right. >> Um I just think that there's more that we can be doing here because it seems pretty much we we haven't done anything to change chronic absenteeism >> this year. So, I'm just I think we have to be more proactive. And um I love the certificates, but you know, I'm sure that if you know, the class with the best attendance gets a reward of some type, you know, >> pizza party. Yeah, I was actually willing to volunteer for the best, you know, class with the best attendance in each school. I did it once with a class >> um with my two daughters classes cuz they're twins. They were in separate classes with collecting plastic bags to help when

034we I used to come in on Earth Day every year and we would do something and um the class that brought in the most plastic bags um won a pizza party for me. So like they need to see that actual physical you know, prize. So, I think that I think we could I mean, I I don't know how many kids are actually chronically absent from that chart, but I think we have to change the trajectory and try to be preventative from this point on with absenteeism just in general. And I know it's been a terrible flu season and the weather's been horrible. Um, but I think I think we we need to try to do some we need to do better and put it more in people's faces. And I think we've had the resources

035and we haven't utilized them to our best ability. So with that, are everyone discussing this as a whole like where absenteeism is or is it been isolated to the schools, individual schools, >> the discussion of it of absenteeism? So like the rate of it, is it isolated? Are we focusing it on as a district as well as individually the schools? >> Both. because somewhere it's I again I just think we can do better. >> That's a good question. >> Okay. Um I had brought up I know the attendance officer is about to be hired. So, um, just following up on that, I know from as a former school nurse, if you follow up, I know we have the robocalls, right, that say when they're absent, but if you follow up with, and I don't know,

036secretary sometimes does it, sometimes the nurse, >> um, with >> why why are you home, sick or personal? You don't have to get details, but sick or personal. Some, it just helps. And then parents get used to calling in. I don't know what the reception, you know, if you have parents calling in. Um, but that's a good And that does change things when they have to call in and you know give a reason. >> If it's if it's safe >> about an illness, usually the nurse will follow up. If it's sometimes a child study team member reaches out, a case manager, sometimes it's the principal who actually reaches out. Sometimes it's the it's the teacher. It's every everything is very individual dependent upon the case of the student. like are we allowed at an elementary

037level to offer detention or I guess not offer it but um for example like if we do require doctor's notes and they don't turn them not doctor's notes but a note as to why you're absent notes >> um some school like private school you'll get you would get a detention >> right typically we wouldn't because the student it's it's not the student who's responsible for getting that note it's the parent who's responsible for getting that note especially at the elementary level >> I mean I just think the point that we get to when we get to a truency officer and going to truency court. We're past the point that we want to be at like all of the there were some recent articles you shared. >> Yes. >> About um truency and attendance because it's

038been a a nationwide issue is being being proactive not reactive. And I think in this situation with the truency officer we're in the reactive point. And I think it's really hard to come back from that point. I think we had to we needed to start off the school year like if this is what this is what happens and again it's something that can be instated for next year because we've been dealing with this problem since 2018 at least >> I remember because it's it's been a miracle for years it was >> I think the truency officer is required by statute if I'm not wrong >> no for discharge >> so I I don't believe that it is >> I don't believe that it is >> I'd like to add something if I can when I

039don't want to >> go ahead your when my turn is up. >> Your turn. >> Uh so working in in education. Um Dr. Snder, I understand your points and um what I would like to offer is if I were to more or less comment on each goal. So Dr. Artunis, I I know the hard work that goes into running a school and I I really appreciate the effort that you're putting in on your dis on your on your update. Um I see progress. I see progress. Um I see the need to continue to review data. Um, but really drilling down in it, I I do enjoy the idea of lead teachers working collaboratively collaborative collaboratively together with teachers themsel with the lead teachers themselves touching back with the direct director of curriculum but also then

040disseminating back down to their departments. That's important to do and and I currently do that and I was that lead teacher in that regard in two districts. Um, so if I were to roll through each of these goals, my comments would a few of the comments that would be be such um the standards I think I think in terms of your your first smart goal on academic growth. I I would love to see a drill down and focus on specific standards and the weaknesses of students who are below the mark where those lead teachers and departments can work with teachers to identify the linked um data. That's a tricky database to to maneuver and I've had to do that. I've had to administer it and work within it. So, it is tricky to use that

041data. So, some PD on that on the use of that data and then a focus whether it be a department meeting or PLC, whether it be allowing teachers to work on it without leadership and then report back to their department heads on how to what they've come up and what they see in terms of standard deficits. because I think there needs to be a a focus on specific standards where we are low and once we and I think you know this so I I I'm certainly just calling out what I would believe you already know. Um but I would like to see a standardsbased focus you know as to improve that data and I think we'll continue to see that incremental growth and I look forward to seeing that that that data that's not in

042yet. Uh in terms of the second goal, um community engagement, um I applaud you for uh for getting out there in Naples and and trying to make that happen. Um I like the idea of the candy bar bingo with the interaction. Um if I if I understood you right, you would have interaction beforehand. So where you know they're gathering, hit them early, maybe not late, hit them before they've left. I kind of like that idea. I love the idea of tenure acknowledgement because it improves climate culture. And if we're not met trying to create measurable goals for climate culture, if we've met yesterday and talked about that, I think it's important when we have happy teachers and we're reaching teachers, they're going to create happy memories and happy events for kids. It's going to be

043reported and seen back at home. You're going to reach parents that way. I agree with Dr. Snider in that uh the kids who are absent, the kids who aren't doing well, the parents are likely not as engaged as we'd like them to be. And I think the more we can engage with teachers to create amazing environments for kids, improving climate and culture, measurable smart goals in that metric, you'll see happier kids and parents will report back on how happy and well their kids are doing socially and emotionally. Uh I think chronic absenteeism, I applaud you for the 10 to 15 action points you have up there. I like what I see there. Um, it's it's a little I I really want to see more of why that jump occurred at at at George Mitchell School.

044I think it went from 25 at Frog Pond to 32. And I'm sure you can provide that that information, but I' I'd be super curious on why that that jumped. And I don't know if it's a transportation thing. I don't know what the reasoning is. Um, but I would like to see that. Um, proactive approach. 100% I agree with you on tackling absenteeism from the front rather than being reactive. being proactive. I completely agree with you, Dr. Snder. Um, in my district, we have a reward system. We have Eagles points, Central Regional Eagles, right? We're high school kids, but I'm sure we can develop programming and reward systems for children. Um, [clears throat] whether it be monthly, daily, or both. I think you can have ice cream socials. You can create a point system where

045it's frog pond points for character, attendance, um, academic points. you can have restorative practice lessons and activities where kids understand why it's so important to come to school. You may do that already. Uh I'll certainly learn about it and I look forward to that. But I see in the short time I've been immersed in in diving in and printing out and making books and having conversations and meeting with everyone I could. I I'm excited to understand the growth. I really am. So thank you for your efforts. >> Thank you N. Thank you Christine. Thank you, Laura, Tiffany, Greg, or John, you have anything to add? Any questions? >> I don't have any questions, but I agree with uh Dr. Schneider, and Dennis on the incentive program. I think something like that should be in place.

046I mean, I remember going back in early childhood when you would read books and you would get free Pizza Hut. So, >> it was pretty cool. And it was it was something that I look forward to to get into a book and read a book to to push myself to learn more and get that incentive. So I [clears throat] really think that that would be great for students here if there is you know uh potentially a merger where maybe the PTO gets involved helps out with that too. some type of program that's in place because I know uh kids would get up and be more excited to push their parents even if their parents are like, "Oh, you know, you may be staying home today. You know, your brother's sick." Whatever it is, you may

047get that extra push and that little bit of push may say, "Hey, mom, I got to get to school. I got to get this uh I got to get this prize I'm about to win." So, something like that could definitely drive up uh excuse me, drive down the the absenteeism. So that's my thoughts on it. [clears throat] >> Sharon, um I agree we need to be more proactive. I am not super fond of try court. I feel like that is very reactive and we should never get to that point. Um mass communication, I have notes here that it's just very inconsistent and I would like to see it consistent across the board. If we're putting out a mass text message, then it needs to also be a notification on my app for the school district.

048It needs to be on social media. For example, tonight I did not get a text message for this. I did not see an app notification, but I did see a social media post. It's inconsistent and I just feel like we need to have more transparent communication across the board. Um, and then listen, [clears throat] I love the PTO. Their budget was set in the summer. So you keep asking for the PTO to do these things, but that budget was set just like our budget is set. That budget was set. They are constantly looking for volunteers to review the budget. There's a budget committee. So if you want the PTO money, you also have to show up and contribute to that budget meeting and contribute to the fundraiser. So right now it's hawk. That's how we

049paid for that vending machine right there. $12,000 not including the books. So we cannot rely on the PTO to be the incentive for every issue we have. >> I know they do have a wish list though every year, right? That would be the PTO. >> They share wish list staff wish list or if there's a need for a certain department um if there's a donation that comes in but >> correct. >> Yeah. which we can certainly ask for a wish list to be shared, >> which asked for a monetary donation as the previous PTO president was asking a lot because I've already set my budget. >> Okay. >> Well, I got to say I'd be willing to put money out of my own pocket for an incentive program. Personally, that's just me. >> I will

050gladly join you if you want George Mitchell. I'll do a pizza party at Frog Pond school with the best attendance for the month of February or March. >> I'm in. Okay. Greg, you have anything to add? >> Uh, just a couple comments. Uh, Dr. Antunes, thank you for sharing. Community engagement. Um, and I think you know this, but just I guess the the principle to keep in mind is meet the parents where they're at. It's very hard for people to come here on campus, maybe at night for our meetings or during the day. So, if we can leverage more technology, whether it's Zoom calls or Facebook live or even just video chats that we can send out via email or text, like everyone has a phone with them during the day. So, if there's a

051way to leverage that, uh I know uh the previous superintendent used to do uh video chats at the end of the week or in beginning of the week of things that are coming up. Um, you know, sometimes the letters, the PDFs that you send out are very well written, but I know a lot of times people prefer quick videos or or just quick, you know, shorts, so to speak. Uh, so maybe we can consider communicating that way. And it's just something easy that we can all share. Um, as you try to communicate to the community, it's it's pushing it out to them rather than them coming to us. and Carl and I um we talked about a couple things regarding uh senior groups when the budget comes. We want to make sure that uh you

052Carl myself go into the senior communities because of what happened last year and just really explain how the budget is put together and and our fixed costs and what we're doing to make sure that we don't have a 32.6% tax increase again this year. Um, and then as far as absenteeism, you know, what I'm hearing really is how do we create a ground swell literally from the students on up to get them excited to come to school? Um, and to really, you know, like what did you say? Push the extra push in the morning. >> The extra push. So like you know if if you have a brother, sister, whatever your sibling, you know, one sibling may be sick and mom or dad may have, you know, whatever their own things going on and they

053say, "Hey, okay, you're going to stay home today because of this." But that one child could push mom or dad to say, "Hey, I really want to get to school, mom. I really want to get to school, Dad, because I'm really excited about this new program, and I could win something. I could win a prize." And and they're and they're into it. you know, it's it's motivating them to push harder, which they may have to push their parent a little bit more, but their parent may say, I know I would. I'd say, okay, let's go get in the car. I'll take you. So, that's >> or even for next time, they'll keep that in mind. >> Yeah. >> And so, what I was suggesting or or thinking is maybe we can have some kind of

054dis districtwide uh um campaign or district-wide contest where we involve the kids um and just lay out here's the problem. How would you solve it? and we'd probably be pretty surprised in some of the answers that come. You know, it's very similar to when we were in school when there was uh putting up fire alarms in your house. How did the fire department spread the message? Well, they had a poster contest and the best ones got displayed in the hallway or got displayed at the fire station. So, maybe if there's something that we could have some kind of contest districtwide of how to solve this problem to get input from the ground up. I mean, even first graders, second graders, if you break down the problem enough, maybe we get answers or ideas from places

055that are very unexpected. So, that's just my two thoughts on those two things. >> Can I just add one thing, Chris? Just I just both of John and you both made me think of it. When my kids were in school, and I don't know if this still happens, but there used to be like a reading basket or a prize basket that you could win at the end of the month, and you got a ticket if you were well behaved or you had all your homework done. Um, and parents donated them. I think we need to engage parents and parents, you know, in a classroom, you'll be surprised. They will be willing to donate a nice basket for their kids because guess what? They want their kids to try to win it. >> It's a great

056idea. >> And this way, it's not all on one person. It's not on the PTO. Um, and this does it at the classroom level. Then you can have it at the grade level or at the school level. And so you have multiple different opportunities to gain on this and um target it and physically getting that ticket, putting it in, and the more tickets you have, the more chances you have to win. You know, there I think that would really engage students and parents. >> Dr. Snider, I love that idea. And around my school, we have um little, for lack of better term, mailboxes where at certain level a kid gets a ticket, but they might get like the frog pine points ticket for great attendance or whatever it might be character and they can and

057if they can't give it to somebody, they can slip the ticket into the mailbox, but but the tickets are accumulated somehow in a database. The tickets grow to a certain level of points. And in my school, in our school, we could we could uh the kids can go out onto a website and with their points, they can earn uh a certain gift of their choice. But I love the the the gift basket. >> I I love that idea. I think that's great because I think a lot of families would be willing to donate and they have stuff just probably at the house that they're not utilizing. It's brand new that they'd be willing to give to the kids >> and then it's just a communitywide and you know, I don't know. I mean I I've

058done it. We go around and ask businesses and business of in this town are great and they do donate to us to a lot. I mean Acme has given us a lot through the years. So we do have a lot of community engagement and they would really be willing to help us. But I think if you let parents know why you're doing it that gets them involved and understand what the problem is and um students will then want to jump on board. And then I think and also too it'll help teachers like I think it will help the classroom setting. I mean, you could also include behavior with that. You know, you're well behaved for the day, you get an extra ticket or for the week, you know what I mean? And so, it kind

059of ties in a lot of different aspects. >> Dr. Anton, I have to apologize because aren't we creating solutions and isn't aren't we just supposed to recommend to you guys like here's what we'd love to see and then you guys create those solutions? >> We always like ideas. I don't know. >> So, I'm sorry if I'm adding to the rabbit. If this is a rabbit hole, I don't know if this is how we roll. >> No. So I mean this is a discussion we're allowed to suggest or question. We cannot direct. We cannot say Dr. Antunes this is what you need to do >> but we can say Dr. Antunes would you consider this what would be the pros and cons? Is this something that can work in our district? If it can't then it

060can't but if it can let's look into it. >> Thank you for that. >> All right. Thank you very much. We got we got to keep moving here. Uh next is the schoolboard ethics training presented by Adam Weiss. Thank you. >> That's good. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you. I'm going to check to see if I can advance the slides. And with that I can. So thanks. Um so tonight I'm going to talk a little bit about school ethics um for board members and the code of ethics. Um I'm going to also talk a little bit just a little bit about board member social media use. Um so we're going to go through the ethics act, the code of ethics. We're going to talk a little bit about what the school ethics commission is, the

061definition of what a school official is. We're going to talk about uh the commission's jurisdiction and and kind of how cases work there. We'll also talk for a moment about prohibited acts uh common violations and penalties that are dished out by the ethics commission as well as uh one or two uh recent um school ethics commission rulings. Um so with that the school ethics act we are all everybody in this room at this table is bound by the school ethics act. It dee it deems essential that board members and administrators hold the public's respect and confidence. Uh, a lot of what you're going to see here is meant to buttress the the public's confidence in board members and board members as public office holders. Board members and administrators have to try to avoid any conduct

062that violates uh the public trust or which creates a justifiable impression amongst the public that the trust of the public is being violated. um 247 you guys are board members and so the requirements um as they stand out here are um are your obligations uh all the time and can touch upon some of the private dealings that you may have at your job or hobbies etc. So, it's really important any if you take away anything from here tonight, it's that you have to really be mindful of um any public facing acts that you do or I should say inactions also that you do because it could give the public an impression that their trust is violated. And I'll also tell you this, when it comes to the school ethics commission and these these types of

063cases, a lot of times the question is, was the public's trust violated? Or could that action given uh the public a justifiable impression that something wrong was going on? And it's that impression alone that can hang somebody. Um so uh the the the act also sets forth the standard of conduct for board administrators and board members as well as the disciplinary process. Um let it be known that the ethics commission takes a very broad and strict interpretation of what could be a justifiable impression of violating the public trust. And therefore, the best I could say to you is if it feels weird or if it feels like it could be a problem, potentially it is a problem under the School Ethics Act and therefore you should try and seek advice whether it be through me

064or New Jersey school boards association um etc. And please feel free to stop me at any time you have any questions. So accountability as school officials, you all have the honor of serving the interests of the public, but in carrying out that duty, you have to hold yourself out to be accountable to the public that has instilled trust in you. Therefore, it's essential that you as board members conduct yourselves um in a manner that is going to uh continue the public's view of you as having confidence in you and your ethics. Board members and administrators have to avoid conflict which is in violation of the board's public trust or the public's trust and that creates a justifiable impression among the public that such trust is being violated. I can't say this enough that it's that

065impression alone that could amount to an ethics violation. >> Another word for impression would be perception. >> Perception. That's right. The way that a situation or person is perceived or who they're perceived of maybe owing things to. that could be a problem. Uh the school ethics act establishes the school ethics commission. It sets forth the standards for conflicts of um of interest for officials. It also um puts out the code of ethics for school board members. Um it requires that as board members uh and as administrators that there be annual submissions of financial disclosure um statements. I will tell you that I'm aware of at least one board member that has been removed by the ethics commission as a result of failure to file those annual um disclosure notices. Um and there are also training

066requirements which I'm sure all of you have already um either started or will begin to start shortly. So the code of ethics it applies only to members of the board of education and also um uh the the superintendent because the superintendent most times is a board member exeicio that is a nonvoting member of the board. Board members annually reaffirm your commitment to abide by the code. I believe you did that at your reorganization meeting this year if I'm not mistaken. And what I've highlighted here, the the bold are actually taken from the the the act itself. So you are to uphold and enforce all laws, rules, and regulations of the state board of education and all court orders. Where we see people trying to violate court orders is if um there's an order out there

067and the board says nuts to that. We're going to take this action anyway. That would potentially be an ethics violation. um you have to make your decisions in terms of the educational welfare of the children and meet uh the individual needs of all children. With that being said, you have to take all students into account, not just what's best for your child or your child's friends um or any certain group. Uh it it's really you have the the goal that you have is you're the eyes and ears over the policym for the district in order to ensure that all students have a beneficial educational experience here. You must under the code confine all of your action to policym planning and appraisal. That is what board members do. Their their acts are limited to uh policym

068planning and appraisal. You should not become involved in the administration of any policies that you pass as a board. Um you you're to carry out your responsibility as a board not to run the schools but to ensure that they are well-run. Board members should not must not cannot and do not micromanage the administration or give orders to school personnel. You must um under the act recognize that the authority rests with the entity that is the board of education, not any one of the of the seven members and must not make any personal promises or take any private action that may compromise the board. Um if you're taking action on your own, you have to be mindful of what you say and what you do. and that saying and doing whatever it is that you may

069do or say could create the justifiable impression amongst the public that you're acting by or on behalf or at the at the um behest of the board of education. Therefore, as board members, you must each refuse to surrender your independent judgment to any special interest whatsoever or to any partisan political groups or try to use the school for personal gain or the gain of your friends and family. Decisions should always be based on what's best for the district, what's best for the students, not what's best on politics and not what's best on special interests. You are to uphold and must uphold the confidentiality of all school matter matters and provide accurate information. Here again, public trust. We are not to give any information that may mislead the public or disclose any private information. You have

070to vote to appoint the best qualified person after consideration of the recommendation of the chief school administrator. As board members, you can only take action on employment of individuals at the recommendation of the chief school administrator. The only time that you do not need the recommendation of the chief school administrator is when you're hiring the chief school administrator. Um, consider the expertise of the superintendent and your team in recommendations and make decisions based on who you think is the best candidate. Doesn't mean that you can't ask questions. To be clear, you can question a chief school administrator on the recommendation. Um, you don't have to. You're not a rubber stamp, so to speak. But at the same time, you're you're you have limits as to where your lane is and ends. You are required to

071support and protect school personnel in the proper performance of the duties. What we mean here is follow the chain of command, do not violate the chain of command, or publicly criticize staff members. Um, this is a big one. You are required to refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and you cannot act on any of those complaints unless you do so at a public meeting after the failure of the uh of an administrative solution to be put forth by the chief school administrator. If we ever get into a situation like that, my strongest suggestion would be that we have a conversation offline. Um, we submit all of our complaints and concerns to the superintendent regardless of how you get them. If you're out, you know, at at a party and someone brings a complaint

072to you, say thank you, and you're just to refer that to the CSA. If that friend were to come up to you and say, I haven't got an administrative remedy, I would suggest you then contact me so that we can have a discussion and we can look into it to decide what the next steps would be. The school ethics commission not made up of nine people all appointed by the governor and if I'm not mistaken their terms are scattered. Um it it consists of two schoolboard members, two school administrators and five non-school officials. So these are the people that put out decisions on ethics complaints. They also one of the functions of the ethics commission is they put out um advisory opinions. And advisory opinions are questions from boards or school officials about a future

073contemplated act. Basically asking the commission if we do X, will this be a violation of the act? That's the only way that we can get 100% certainty on whether or not something would be a violation. I can give you my own opinion, legal opinion, um, which is just that, a legal opinion, but it's the ethics commission that can give you the definitive answer as to whether or not a future act would be a violation of of uh the the act. So, who's a school official under the act? Great news. All of you. all school board members, all school administrators, and any individual that holds a position that requires an administrator certificate or uh stumble there or who is responsible for making recommendations on hiring, purchasing, and the procurement of services. uh the superintendent, a super

074assistant superintendent, BAS, principles, vice principles, supervisors are all school officials and therefore they're required to fill out the annual disclosure forms for uh for financial disclosure forms. Teachers and other district employees that I didn't mention um are not school officials under the act. The jurisdiction of the ethics commission, they they decide on ethics complaints. They make decisions filed complaints fi they make decisions on complaints filed by anyone that is any person in the world can actually file a school ethics complaint. They don't have to be a resident of Lake Harbor. They don't have to be a resident of New Jersey. Arguably they don't even have to be a resident of the country. I've never seen one of those complaints come through though. Um the SEC school ethics commission does not offer any opinions on violations

075of district policies. Whether or not the open public meetings act has been violated, whether or not a board member has lieled and or slandered another board member, that's not what they rule on. They rule on the ethics act and the code of ethics. They do, as I said earlier, issue advisory opinions. Only school officials can request advisory opinions. and the advisory opinions that are issued by the ethics commission remain private unless there are six ethics commission members there that vote to make it public. Um even if it's made public, the person uh the person about whom the the advisory opinion is written, their names remain um anonymous and so does their district. The nice thing about this is that when ethics advisory opinions are published, that helps lawyers like me get a get a feeling

076for how the ethics commission feels about certain matters. And then that allows us to then, you know, give you the advice based upon pronouncements by the ethics commission complaint process. So the ethics complaints are filed with the director of the ethics commission. They can be filed by anyone um alleging violations of code of ethics or violations of the school ethics act. Only individuals can file complaints. A board of education cannot file a complaint. The director of the SEC determines whether or not the minimum threshold of the code or the act um is could have been violated. Then at that time, if the complaint is accepted, the respondent or what we would also refer to as the defendant in if it were a superior court case, the respondent is directed to file an answer. The answer

077can include a claim that the complaint is frivolous and can also seek um a penalty of up to $500. I will tell you, I've never seen the ethics commission issue a penalty for $500. um the complaint does have the ability to respond that the complaint is frivolous. Used to be that you could also file a motion to dismiss a low of an answer. However, now um no other filings are permitted. That was a change in the statute recently. Um the commission goes over the complaints in executive session. They then vote. Um if the complaints are um dismissed outright, that's done at the at that level. If the complaint in the eyes of the commission has merit, it will get then transmitted to the office of administrative law. Complaints that allege violations of the act by

078administrators um andor board members, uh the SEC will make a determination of probable cause and then transmit the matter over to the office of administrative law. At that point, a deputy attorney general who is assigned to the school ethics commission will stand in the shoes of the complaintant and essentially prosecute the case. So, it would be the board member being prosecuted by the deputy attorney general. Um, when these claims come in against board members, typically um the uh matters are you're indemnified by the board. The board has insurance uh for these types of claims. And typically what would happen is the insurance carrier would assign insurance defense council to represent the board member who has the complaint filed against them. So you're not alone. Um from there uh the matter goes to the office of

079administrative law where an administrative law judge will hold a proceeding. There's evidence taken and objections are made just like you're in a courtroom. Um once the judge um takes the case, hearing dates are set up and then from there you have written discovery whether it's you know interrogatories could be exchanged subpoenas can be issued all sorts of things. From there once that hearing is done which can take weeks um the administrative law judge will issue what's called an initial decision. From there, the judge transmits their initial decision back to the school ethics commission. The school ethics commission decides then whether or not they're going to affirm, modify, or reject the commission, the administrative law judge's decision. And then once the commission acts on that, then they send it to the commissioner of education for final

080sign off. That's all to say, this is a long and drawn out process that can be avoided if people just did what they're supposed to do. and I'm here to help in any way that I can shephering you through the process and any questions that you may have along the way with regard to school ethics and the ethics act. So, um what are some of the prohibited acts? You cannot have any business interests that um may conflict with your obligations um as a board member. You cannot have any personal financial interests that would conflict with your obligations. You cannot use your position to secure unwarranted advantages or privileges um for yourself or for your family members or others. You cannot um take gifts that are meant to influence you and your position as a board

081member. Um you cannot have any personal involvement in anything that may create a benefit for you or your family members. Um, you cannot uh accept any employment or whether it's paid or volunteer that may impair your ability to have independent judgment. Who is a relative under the ethics act? Spouses, civil union, uh, domestic partners, dependent childs that reside within the children that reside within the same household. Relatives are pretty much everyone else that are somehow related to you, whether it's a spouse, child, sibling, grandparent, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, stepchild, etc., etc. Here's what I would tell you. to the extent that you feel that you're going to be asked to make a vote um on anything that may impact any of your relatives, friends, or others. Um, I would suggest that you get in touch with me

082through Chris and I'll be happy to discuss whatever concerns you have and we can look through to see if there are any conflicts um before you take any board action because the idea is you want [snorts] to know about it before you take action because once you take action arguably the violation could have happened. common ethics um violations, participating in union negotiations when yourself or or relatives are employed in the school district. Um personnel actions when relatives are involved in the districts. Um if you have relatives in the district that that work in the district, you should not be voting on the superintendent's contract. You should not be evaluating the superintendent. You should not be voting on the hire or termination of any of your relatives. social media posts about board issues. You have to

083have a disclaimer on there. I would suggest that everybody in this room to these have social media. I would suggest that you put it on private. I would also suggest that you put some sort of disclaimer in kind of the lead of your uh profile, if you will, that indicates that you're a member of the board of Little Harbor and that any um comments are your opinions and and that you do not speak for the board. I can help you with disclaimers to the extent that anybody would like one. Um, offensive, racist, sexist social media post that may compromise the board by showing bias against um, certain groups or or in favor of certain groups can also get you into trouble. Um, recently I'll tell you I have had and I don't know if if

084this district has had it because it would predate me, but with all of the vitriol that's going on in the world politically, um, we've had situations where teachers have have made public posts that are in not necessarily in this district, but that impact the district and the parents and things like that. For teachers and employees, we have board policies that they must follow. For board members, there are no such policies. For board members, there's only the ethics act and code of ethics for board members. And so, I will tell you one of the things that I'm coming up against in some of my districts where I've had, let's say, a board employee make a comment that is volatile, uh, and then get treated one way because they're an employee. And then I'm on the same

085board. I've had a board member say something equally as offensive to some uh and the board can't do anything and the public comes out and says, "Well, you you know, pitches pitchforks and torches. You did something to the teacher, but you're not doing anything to the board member." And that's because board members are all equals. The board president and vice president are leaders amongst equals. The board cannot take action against one of its board members. that in and of itself might amount to an ethics violation against the board members that are actually taking the action that they're not supposed to be taking. All this to say that the only mechanism to quote unquote police board members is the code of ethics and the the ethics act by way of the school ethics commission. It's it's

086a very interesting dynamic what I just described to you because it is one of my boards right now where the the a staff member was disciplined and the board member had nothing done to them and the public just couldn't grasp why was the board member being treated so differently. So what penalties can the SEC issue if they find that um someone has violated the act? So the lowest form uh form of discipline on the continuum is a reprimand which is simply a private admonishment by the commissioner. A censure is essentially a public admonishment um at which time if a censure is issued the board has to read aloud a censure resolution from the school ethics commission. Um that's what a censure is. suspension, it's temporary removal um for a time that is determined by the

087commissioner and then the highest on the continuum would be removal for the remainder of the board member's term. To the extent that board members are no longer on the board, um you would think that the case would just fall away. Uh but now the ethics commission, even if the person is no longer on the board, the ethics commission continues with the case. And in in the case where a member is no longer on the board, the only thing that they really can do is a centure. So let's talk for a moment about little case studies here. So this is a 2022 u matter. In this uh in this case, a complaint uh alleged that the board president violated the act because she informed the board that the board was prepared to reduce instructional time by

08840 minutes per day despite multiple directives from the superintendent not to share that information because it could compromise the board's negotiating position with the union. Um and also for allegedly making misrepresentations. Uh the commission um adopted the ALJ, the judge's recommendation of a censure. The reasoning being that the respondent placed the board's reputation in jeopardy by speaking publicly about a matter which she essentially was not authorized to talk about. Um and the commission concluded that because of the majority of the of the board president's actions took place in public, well then the public should know what the sanction is. Therefore, a public centure of that board member. In this case, um the board member went to the um workshop in I guess Atlantic City uh with a name tag from her board and with a

089shirt on from her own nonprofit. She was speaking to v vendors at the workshop. She live streamed their conversations and introduced herself as a board member and then proceeded to promote her own nonprofit organization. the SEC determined that this was a no no um and felt that she was using her um position to get access to the event, the workshop, which was paid for by the board. But once she's there, she started to utilize the workshop for her own personal benefit. And therefore, um the she was guilty of violating the act and she was uh censured. Excuse me. Can I ask something about that? I receive all these emails about these after hours after convention time events like by different attorneys and different >> one of which is my firm. >> Are they they're that's

090on the up and up to go to those. >> It's totally on the up and up. And and I will say this and you can rely on this as advice of council. Um, when you go to the workshop in Atlantic City, every event must be open to every single attendee of the the convention. And as long as you're at one of those everyone's invited events, it shouldn't be an issue for you at all from an ethics standpoint. Now, what you do there is at the event is a different story, but I'm only saying up to you get to that door, that's okay. What you do after you go through the doorway, I can't say you're not going to violate the act. I mean, it just seems unusual that they're serving alcohol and things like that

091and then you're allowed to attend. It just doesn't >> you are absolutely allowed to attend. And um I would say if you're going to an event, look at their little uh invitation or whatever and if it says at the bottom of it, this is open to all members of the blah blah blah, not a problem. If it's one of those events that's on the workshop app, because they also list them there, not a problem. That's part of the >> you know and even I would say even if you were in a social situation as a full board but not talking about any board business that's probably okay too at the workshop. Okay. Uh let's go on to the next one. This is a an interesting one. So this one and I used to represent this

092board. Um the board president uh promoted his own volunteer nonprofit math, you know, um math workshop type tutoring. Um, well, that's a problem because if you do that, it gives a justifiable impression to some people that don't take you up on your offer of service that maybe he doesn't like me or views me differently because I didn't use his service. Or think about it this way. If you're a if you're a teacher and you know that your student is being tutored by the board president and then you give the kid a bad grade, I mean, it just starts to look problematic. So, you can understand why a situation like this was a problem for this uh board member and the windup is that um he was reprimanded as a result. And um it does I

093like the the quote there. It creates a conflict with the parents, teachers, and students who may feel pressured to use and/or volunteer for that board member's nonprofit. >> Good question. >> Yes. [clears throat] >> If he wasn't a board member, would that stick? >> Not a problem. Because non-board members are not obligated to follow the ethics act or the code of ethics. >> So, if he was and then he was finally off the board and he launched that, >> I think it would be okay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Sure. whether or not the board then says like, "Oh, yeah, we're going to hire Mr. So and so's tutoring company." I would have a issue with that um because he just came off the board. And so I I would, you know, it'd be my

094if I was advising the board in a situation like that, I'd say we need some time, space, and grace, and then, you know, we can have a conversation. >> Thank you. >> Sure. Um, we're running low on time and I want to just get on to social media real fast. I think everybody here knows what social media is. It's electronic messaging platforms. Uh, think Facebook, Instagram, etc. Um, real quick on free speech basics as board members because you don't shed your first amendment rights just by being a board member. But at the same time, you have additional responsibilities as it relates to your first amendment rights. So, um you can speak freely. However, you know, when you go to a movie theater, you're not going to yell fire for obvious reasons. So, that's the same

095thing um with your first amendment rights as a board member. You can certainly say what you want, but um you have to be careful because um the courts treat social media as if it's the social square or public forum. And therefore any online social media activity is public even if it's on private uh because it's on a public platform. And you know it's one of those things use your best judgment. Um and certainly your judgment is impeded if you're on your couch with your iPad with a red glass of wine. Um you know it just comes down to common sense. Um so this is the one that I'm going to give you. This is a 2021 case that it was decided 21. Taking care in sharing criticism even while endorsing other candidates. This was brought

096by a board member for violating um for writing an oped endorsing four candidates for then upcoming uh board election. The oped alleged that the complaintant was very bitter and that she positioned herself at odds with the teaching staff. um respondent admitted his endorsement in the op-ed was an attempt to influence voters and he used a disclaimer saying the author is writing this endorsement on his own personal behalf. His opinions are his own. So I bet you he thought that that disclaimer was sufficient. Let me tell you why it wasn't sufficient because it didn't identify him as a board member. And that's where in this case he this person had a problem. Um, the judge said that the disclaimer was insufficient because all it did really was talk about his position on the board without disclosing

097that he was a board I shouldn't say that he talked about information that he had as a result of his board membership but didn't indicate that he was a board member and that's a problem. And so therefore um those comments were outside the the scope and duties as a board member and as a result the individual was censured. Um please be careful with public uh with with social media. It is um just a minefield if you will especially in these strange times that we are all going through as a country. Um I don't have anything else to add at this point. This was just meant to be a real quick primmer. [clears throat] Um, I'm happy to answer any questions that anybody has and to the extent that you have any, um, yeah, happy to

098answer. >> General question. Yes. Um, being new to the board, if we act as a board, but someone can't stand the decision, they find it unethical or unlawful or and they choose to sue the board, are we personally protected under some type of insurance of some sort? >> So, um, yeah, the the short answer is yes. Any actions that you take within the role, scope, and function as a board member, you are statutoily indemnified for. that is the board has to provide you with a defense that is an attorney and identification that is payment of the judgment. um to the extent now if you if you start to if it starts to look like it's outside the scope that's where an insurance carrier the board insurance carrier may say yeah not quite well we're not

099going to cover this one but I will tell you you know like nine and a half times out of 10 no problem no issue statutory identification not a problem other questions I just have a couple Um the one slide that said our ethical duty is the benefit of all children and the versus of all the children first. How does that play with our responsibility to the community at large that elected us? Uh we live in Little Lake Harvard. There's a big senior population. They don't have children. They're on a fixed income. And we we faced this last year with the huge budget increase. Uh me personally, I voted in a way that kept the the classroom sizes where they were at status quo, but that vote resulted in a 32.6 tax increase. So, do we

100always have to vote with that in mind uh that the children come first or is it, you know, up to our judgment of how that plays? >> Yes, I I think it's a great question. Um at the end of the day, the board is um the protector of the public funds and also the protector of the education of of our children. And so it's this balancing that the board has to do. Um that is to to to make good decisions that are in the best interest of the children and taxpayers because we have to you know we're entrusted with the public funds. I I think the two go hand in hand. I don't think that you can split them apart. I think that the the um the appeal of Little Egg Harbor only increases when

101its schools are are high-flying top performances. Um to the extent that the schools are not well-run, well then that's going to cost the taxpayers more. It's going to lessen the property values, etc. So yes, we're supposed to do best for children, but by doing best for children, a lot of times we're doing best for the taxpayers and stakeholders in town. >> All right. Thank you. And here's some other just questions that we've dealt with in the past. Just wanted to get your opinion on it. when it comes time to for the superintendent to recommend certain administrators for reappoint or for um certain hires, we obviously take in consideration the recommendation of the superintendent, but as board members, we feel like that's all we get. Is there any way to get other information about candidates or

102uh a lot of times you know we just get the recommendation which is fine but you know we may hear something or you know there might be other viewpoints out there but we don't know how to get that to include that in our calculation before voting on appointing or reappointing certain administrators. >> Yeah, this is a tricky one. Um, I can tell you about a time that I had um a board, this is going back years, um, up by where Carl used to hang out. Um, but their super, they were losing their BA and they had no BA. Uh, and it was the board meeting before it was the last meeting for the BA and so the next board meeting there would not be a BA there and the superintendent was not going to put

103forward a board me a BA candidate. And so the board member said, "You know what? I'm going to make a motion since the since the superintendent's not recommending anybody. I'm going to make a motion that we appoint someone as a BA." And they had a person. Um, and they did that and it was an ethics violation. And my argument to the ethics commission and to the judge was they were actually keeping the best interest of the district, you know, top of mind because there wouldn't be a BA after this meeting. And the ethics commission said, "Good try." Um, so they were all censured. Um, so my point in telling you that story is that's an extreme and it's a violation. And so the only thing we can do is when a superintendent recommends somebody and

104I would say this to any board, this is not about Dr. Entus. Uh you can ask questions um in executive of the superintendent um about the candidate that they're recommending and you can ask questions. Why is this candidate, you know, tell you know essentially give me the reasons why I should vote with you. um or approve your recommendation. [clears throat] But if the superintendent is not recommending candidate B, there's nothing to vote on. There's nothing to discuss. This is what we entrust the superintendent to do. And by statute, we have to essentially, and it's not a rubber stamp. I want to be clear because you could also vote no. Um I don't want you to think that I'm saying you're a rubber stamp for anybody. You're not. Um, you get to ask questions and if

105you're satisfied, you vote one way and if you're not satisfied, you vote another way. And quite frankly, you know, it might mean that a superintendent needs to put three, you know, go three different times with people in front of you until the one person finally gets appointed. But again, you can only vote on those who are recommended by the CSA, nobody else. A lot of times we get approached by parents with issues. How far can we ask questions to get the information to pass on to the superintendent? Obviously, there's a chain command and we can't take any action by ourselves, but this individual we may know personally or they trust us more than uh the superintendent or the principal. So, we can get more information that we can pass on to the CSA eventually. Is

106that do you see any issues with that? Look, the way that I the way that education works, it it's a team, right? It's a village. And there are going to be times where um relationships, you know, give you better access, right? Um I will say to you that under the code of ethics, it says, I will refer all complaints to chief to the chief school administrator and take action and only take action upon them at a public meeting after essentially there's been no resolution. Um, so my suggestion would be to the extent that any of your friends in the community come up to you with complaints, you can they can tell you about their problem, you can let them know that as a board member, you are all bound to follow the code of ethics

107and the only thing that you're allowed to do is to refer the complaint to the CSA and tell them I will refer the complaint to the CSA. And um I would also say it could put you in a little bit of a funky spot. Um because if you're given information that doesn't make its way to the CSA that would have otherwise been necessary to have and then something happens to the student and you didn't provide that information like that could be a problem too because you are board members. You do represent you are the board of education. So the the best thing I could tell you is to refer the complaint to the CSA, but then if to the extent you see the person again, you can follow up with them and say, have you

108has the issue been addressed? If it hasn't been addressed, I would bring the issue back to the CSA. And if the CSA indicates that the issue is fully resolved and there's nothing else that the CSA intends to do, well then at that point, my suggestion would be have a conversation with council to say, how do we handle this in view of the ethics? Uh because one of the defenses, one of the newer, it's a new thing actually. You're allowed to now rely upon the advice of council as a defense to a school um claim. >> We also have policy on that by the way that we just revised 9192 or something. The steps in which people can make a complaint and if they're not satisfied with the resolution. >> Yeah. So that's you know at

109the end of the day if it was if it was an issue that is unresolved we should know about it um and we should try to I don't want to say address it but we should try to ensure that it is routed appropriately um to the administration. >> Okay. My last one just because you you really do break down things and make it very simple to understand. Can you just remind us especially for the new board members the difference between running the school district and asking questions to the superintendent like where is the line that as board members you know we there's a lot of detailed things we might have questions on that may be perceived as trying to run the school district we just want to I just want to know you know what's

110the line and how can you explain that in its most simplest terms >> well that's a tricky question thanks for saving it for best. Um, if you look at the superintendent's job description, you're going to see that it's all dayto-day stuff. And I think the easiest way for me to describe the line is if it gets down to a day-to-day function or activity within the district, it's more or less uh falls within the uh the wheelhouse of the administration and not the board. If it's policy, planning, budgetary, um those are within your wheelhouse. Um the best way that I could tell you on this is because there's so many gray lines and areas and everything really what could be in this district an issue might not be in another district an issue. The best thing

111I could tell you is to run, you know, to utilize me as a resource so that I could say, "Wait a minute. I think you're going into that other lane or you're going onto the shoulder and get out of there." Um, that that's the best that I could tell you. It's really case by case. But but think about it this way. If it's something that has to do with the day-to-day operation of the schools, you're probably not in the right spot. But we can ask about them. >> You can ask about them. >> We can always ask a question. >> You can always ask questions. >> We cannot direct the superintendent to do A or B. >> We can just ask questions. >> You should not direct the superintendent to do A or B. But

112certainly certainly ask questions. You're that's what you're here for. >> Does anybody have any questions on that? >> You're allowed to make recommendations also. Just a recommendation, right? >> That that's where you get into potential issues. Like I I I don't want to give a blanket statement. you're allowed to make a recommendation because I could say, uh, Dr. Antunis, I recommend that you, um, you know, don't open the school until 9:45. Um, >> yeah. >> And then I don't know how that's perceived. And then I don't, you know what I mean? Y, >> I got it. Any other questions? All right, Adam, thank you so much. That was very informative. All right. Uh, work session letter C, discussion of policy 0167, public participation and board meetings. Did everybody have a chance to review it? And

113any questions? Now, Greg, I think this was the one that you brought up at last meeting. >> I did. Um, I don't have any questions surrounding it. Uh, the one thing that, um, Adam Weiss did, uh, bring up is that at any point we can, uh, motion, I guess, to suspend it. um for a meeting. Say if we have like a hot [clears throat] topic, maybe people need even uh more additional time. But I think this is a huge win for the public. Um especially when we come into those uh uh times where there's uh either a lot of conflict or people really want their voices to be heard. Um you know, having a full five minutes versus three minutes, I think is a substantial increase uh to get your point across. So, I think

114this is a huge win. >> And and just for the public at home, the major change was for the public comment to go from 3 minutes to 5 minutes. We had to change that in our board policy. I think that's a good idea also. But I in regards to hot topic or 100 people at the um mic, I think we'd want to go back and reduce it and it so that we could hear all the people >> so so we could vote as a per basis meeting. Is that so so the board the board can always vote to suspend any one of its policies. The question is, or what I tell my clients is just because you can doesn't mean you should. Um, you know, you have a hot topic with a packed house, you're

115going to want to shorten the time or or make maybe two public, you know, but you can do all of that on the fly as long as it's done by way of a board vote in public so that everybody knows what's happening in terms of uh suspending any policies. So, if we vote to extend it to five minutes, to Laura's point, if if it's a packed house, we at that meeting can say we're only going to take questions or comments for three minutes per person. We can do that on the fly. >> You can do that, but be prepared for backlash. That's that's the issue, >> right? In the spirit of hearing everybody. Um, right. >> That would be that's my thought. >> Yeah. No, I I agree with it 100%, but I I think

116that there would be members of the public that would view it differently as well. But I I agree with what you're saying. Okay. Any more questions on that? All right. Letter D. Discussion of proposed board retreat date March 24th, 2026. Can anybody not make it? Feel free to check out your phones. >> I won't be there. I'll still be away. >> Chris, what's the time? Typically, is it an all day thing? >> Can you help me? >> I think the thought So, just to refresh everyone's memory, uh the reason why we want to have a board retreat early is we have two new board members. Um we want to really just all come together and talk about different uh things that are going on in the school district. One of the things that we wanted

117to do last year in the board retreat was hear from the administrators and myself, Adam, Lisa, and Carl had a meeting about three weeks ago on how can we as a board get the information that we want but not be looked at as trying to run the schools. And so the plan so far, and we're going to have another discussion, is to get questions from the board members about anything you want about the schools. Uh, and Lisa is going to organize it in a way, I believe, and Lisa, you correct me if I'm wrong, uh, by department and by different leaders that will incorporate our questions into their presentations and then they'll give us a presentation at the board retreat about um what's going on, what are they celebrating, uh, how can the board help

118and what are the challenges. >> Is that correct? >> Collect that via Google doc from the board. And so Lisa create a mechanism in which she can collect it in an organized manner of our questions and then we'll make sure that that's incorporated in the presentations so that they get answered via uh the presentation at board retreat. So hopefully you know we're probably thinking 6:00 again like 6:00 to 9:00 on on a proposed date. So Laura you cannot make it on the >> 24th 24th. >> That's okay. I can submit questions. I'm coming back early, by the way. I will make it for the April meetings. >> How about the 31st? Can everybody make it on the 31st? >> April 15th. So, don't worry about me. It's just >> back. >> I'll be out of

119time. >> How about St. Patrick's Day? >> There's [laughter] a party that Adam's having >> my kids birthday. Okay. >> Mine's day four. So, >> all right. So, maybe March is out. Uh the reason why another reason why we wanted to have it in March was because of the budget. Um but if we can still discuss the budget and have the board prepared to discuss it publicly with folks that approach us, can we have it in early April or is there now budget meeting, public presentations we have to take into account? >> Well, spring break and Easter is very early. So that week of the 6, school's closed. So, I'm assuming that the workshop will be the 14th. I don't have that on my calendar. >> 21st. >> Yeah. So, >> so we could have

120the board retreat on the 14th. >> Laura, still not 15th. >> Laura, >> that' be a Wednesday. >> Don't worry. >> I could No, but you should be there. >> Join. Could we turn the work session into the board retreat or is that >> or is that too much? We >> still have to review the agenda, right? >> And will this be in lie of a retreat in August or in addition? >> Probably in addition so we can set the priorities for the upcoming school year. >> You didn't know either. See, I'm helping everybody out here. >> I'd rather see a strategic plan get underway, but we can talk about that next week. >> Yeah. Chris, it's only in the evening is what what I'm hearing. It's not something you take work off of. You

121don't have to be here all day. It's an evening event like a meeting. >> Yes. Yeah. I >> just another meeting. It's it's fancy word retreat, but it's just really what we make it. >> Okay. >> Um Okay. So, would it be okay to replace the work for a retreat or do we want to have three meetings in April? [snorts] Tiffany's giving me that look. >> Either way, I have to cancel something more either way. >> Okay, Laura. So, you're back when? The 15th. >> I'm actually back the 17th. >> She's she's pushing the dates around >> the changing to see if you're still paying attention to this. >> I'm leaving for the 15th. I'm driving. So >> Oh, no. >> Um, okay. So, just for April, our plan work session is the 21st. Is

122that correct? And our regular session is the 28th. >> Yeah. >> So, would it be an issue to make the 21st a retreat? >> That's up to the board. I would think >> what you're talking March 21st, >> April. >> Okay. >> We don't want to go too far out because the budget is due when >> it should be the end of April. >> I don't know if it's wise to have it in April if we're going to be having budget discussions. If it's anything like last year, >> it won't I agree. >> It's still a little too tight. Maybe >> too much. Yeah. >> I I rather just >> If Laura's okay with joining, do you really mind joining virtually and hold March? As long as I can submit questions. No, that's fine with

123me. >> Okay, so we're back to March. March 24th was the proposed date on our agenda. Can anyone Does anyone not make the 24th? >> I'm good. >> How about the 31st? Just >> uh I'm I'm available Tuesday the 31st of March. Are you guys good with the 31st? I'd really like Adam there because he he knows what's going on and explains things well. >> Does anybody have a problem with the 31st? >> I'm fine with it. >> Okay, >> Dr. Snider. >> Yeah, that's fine. >> Okay. All right. All right. March 31st, 6 o'clock to 9:00. >> Can I ask one request? Sure. I I feel bad like making administrators make a presentation. I guess I would just like it a little bit more relaxed, less formal. >> You know what I mean? >>

124I don't know how anybody else feels, but like >> I agree. >> A more relaxed setting where we're there's an open dialogue. Like I don't think we're going to put people on the spot asking questions. >> Yeah. So, we just have to be careful uh again to not make it look like we're evaluating people based on their based on the conversation. Um >> well, we can't evaluate them, so it's not like we could, >> but the perception of it could possibly be that way. We discussed this like that's what I originally proposed was to try to have just a really laid-back >> because it's just like another board meeting if we're sitting through presentations. >> Yes and no. Um it hopefully we submit enough questions ahead of time and then we'll be able to ask

125questions after. Um but the hope is and again this we're trying it this new way to get as much information answered ahead of time in their presentation and then just have ancillary questions afterwards and have somewhat of a discussion. I know what you're trying to get at. And you know, I I did suggest that the first time around, but after collaboration with Adam and Lisa and Carl, we felt like this was the best way to not put anybody on the spot, but also to get the answers that we want um in a way that's suitable for all parties. >> I I I guess we disagree on what a retreat should look like, and that's fine. I'm g I'm just saying given the budget information it might be tentative perhaps because we may need that other

126meeting. I don't know Carl you can speak to that but we have because our meetings are late in April. So when would that budget public budget presentation need to be done? >> Right now the governor's address was uh postponed until March 10th. So, we're anticipating all the other dates have possibility of getting pushed back to. So, we're we're very much up in the air. If you want to choose a date, I would choose it. And then if anything changes as we get closer, we can deal with it then. >> I'm not being negative. I'm sorry. >> Um, like what happens if the date is pushed back so far? Like what happens with our date that we would have to let I'm not I'm just thinking of possibilities. If if we had to riff anybody, does

127that change that date or it doesn't >> or is that state law >> as of right now? That's statutory. To the extent that the figures come out really super late, I mean that may have to be adjusted, but it's something that we're going to have to watch as we get closer. Good, good, good. And you know, I just want to remind everyone not to riff anyone during teacher appreciation week like was done in the past. >> If if it's statutory, >> I know it's just bad timing all around. Not that we can help it. Um, okay. So, March 31st, mark your calendars. discussion of the February 10th, 2026 draft board agenda. So again, this is the first time we're doing this. Um unless anybody else has any other suggestions, we're just going to go through

128this All right. So, um, we'll just go page by page according to the number on the bottom of the draft. So, page one. Does anybody have any questions about that? >> Yes. Uh, so 9 9a correspondence from Mr. Cole, facilities manager. Carl and I did speak on this, so it's really just an affirmation of what I understood it to be. But, uh, under Mr. Kohl's update, um, the the Rod grant project replacing the three HVAC's, um, it's work that had been completed, my understanding, work that had completed. And now we're just pursuing the grant. Correct. >> That's correct. >> So that answers my question. Thank you, sir. >> Okay. Thank you. Page two. Any questions? >> Yes. I Carl, is there any chance that we can get a copy of the auditor's report or something

129to see before the meeting or? >> Yes, I'll I'll be sending things out over the next two days. >> Perfect. Thank you. I have a comment just on the um in in trying to understand the reports. Um I did confirm and I spoke to Carl on this that you know the cash balance on the treasurer's report is equal to the cash balance on the secretar's report. So I'm glad that you know that's something that really needs to be checked um every month. And I don't know where to locate that. Um I had some other questions but as Carl explained um some of these numbers will fluctuate in ter when we get the final audit report. So that's when we really need to ask questions. Um pertaining to the bills list I I did mention that

130maybe the board could continue to get the legal invoices. Yes. And >> previously we sent them to the board president. Are we continuing that? I >> think we sent it to all members. No, >> you can send it. You can send it to all the board members. I'm fine with that. Okay. >> Right, Adam? >> The monthly. >> Sure. >> Okay. >> Keep them low, please. Thank you. >> And that would be the all the legal though, right? Because we have some other attorney matters. Any more questions on page two? See none. Page three. >> Yeah, page three. Um I was looking at the bottom. Um item three, non-personel. Carl and I again strictly discussed this this afternoon. Uh we were looking at the out of district agreements. Uh and I just wanted to again

131confirm and bring up the point really of u well it carries over page four. Sorry that's fine. But uh on page four as part of non-personnel we have the uh the DCPN place student um from free towns for free $27741 and um you know I know there's sensitivity that comes along with DCP placement and often times it has to do with discussing things with the home le the homeless uh liaison and special ed director but I just want to make sure that um we're doing everything we can to confirm residents and to make sure that it's our bill to foot, you know, and that that another town and we love kids, but but sometimes people do strange things in other districts and find an easier way to get kids educated in other towns and have

132the other towns foot the bill. So Carl and I had a very good productive conversation on it and um I just wanted to bring the board bring it to the board's attention that sometimes those things just need to really be delved into to make sure that we're appropriately giving the student the education they deserve and need but addressing it and and not making sure that we're just taking on something that Freehold found a way to send out to Little Arbor. We've also had um the previous case that went on for about two years and that we wound up winning uh very recently and it was the same type of situation. It was a challenge and and the proofs and you have to go through the process and it's very quick for a district to send

133out a tuition bill and ask for a payment. That doesn't always necessarily mean we're you know we're liable for it. >> Just looking out for kids but looking out for our wallet as well. Any other questions on page three? Moving on to page four. >> So in we're resending Atlantic City Press. Is that right? >> Yes. >> Okay. Just >> what happened? there was a um a [clears throat] law that was put into effect regarding public notices for school districts. So for this year from January through December, districts have to advertise two times per month in their designated newspaper which basically says that all of the information from this point forward is going to be on our website. We have that ad on our website right now. We have a dedicated page set up for

134legal notices on our web page. So, this is really uh just a business decision. You previously approved two newspapers. If we continue with that, I will have to run two ads in two newspapers for the remainder of the year. By designating rescending the two papers, just approving one paper. We're running the ads in only one paper. So, it allows us to save half the amount of money. So, can I ask why the Asbury Park Press over the Press of Atlantic City? Um, I know the Press of Atlantic City covers Atlantic County, but also the southernmost tip of Ocean County where Asbury Park Press is more northern Ocean County, Mammoth area. >> Right. So, the guidance that was given to me on that was for, you know, to to go with the Asbury Park Press. Um,

135it's a board decision. If you'd like to choose the other newspaper, we can adjust that. My goal was just that we only advertise in one paper. >> Just from my experience, I haven't seen many Asbury Park presses in like the Waw Was down here, but more in the press Atlantic City. >> Do you guys have any thoughts on that? >> I'd like to know the cost. >> Yeah, >> it's cheaper. >> Well, it's half the price either. Well, no, just in general. Uh the newspapers are all pretty competitive at this point as far as pricing, but this just basically cuts our expenses in half. This is only until the end of the year. Come next January 1st, we will not be advertising in any newspaper and we will not have to have a designated newspaper.

136>> Yeah. I just think with Atlantic City being closer to us that a lot of people work there, a lot of people follow the press of Atlantic City. Uh I think that's the more appropriate newspaper to advertise in, but that's just me. >> What What about the local papers? You can't advertise in the local local paper >> like the sandpaper or something. >> Yeah, exactly. Uh, I think that's a monthly, right? >> There's um under the statute, I believe it had there are requirements under the statute. But here's the problem. The the face of print media is changing um to the point where it's not going to be around much longer. So that's this is the legislature recognizing the fact that this is rather antiquated and you know get with the times uh and we're

137going to start having them electronically. Uh so that's really the impetus behind this. I would not suggest that you go to a hyper local as the one and only meaning the sandpaper as the one and only. I I think you need to have a wider reach so that we could again at the end of the day the objective is to be transparent and to reach as many people as possible. And I think that whether you choose the Atlantic City Press or the Espberry Park Press, I would suggest that you do one of those over just the sandpaper or some other hyper local small. Got it. [snorts] Thank you. If you'd like to choose which one this evening as we're here at the workshop, we'll make the correction for the agenda. >> I mean, I'm I'm

138whatever. I'm good with that. >> I don't mind either. What? >> No preference. Yeah, I generally do not think that this is being looked at in the ad section in the back of of either. So, but I mean I'm an Asbury Park press girl, but that's just me. >> Well, the birds in the cages, they look down. >> I know that these ads are like [laughter] $300 a pop. I've had to trying to comply. >> Yeah. So, >> as a former public information officer, this is very close to my heart. Uh the press of Atlantic City also covers the second congressional district which is uh our congressman the Asbury Park Press does not cover his that district. So that's why I know it's local enough to be >> back in the day I delivered newspapers

139for the Asbury Park Press. So there you go. There's my >> There's your bias. >> I've always just remember Asbury Park Press has always been like but >> yeah I was north. So, >> is it okay we do as president of LA city for another year? >> Yeah, it makes you happy. >> It does make me happy. Thank you. >> Let's move on. >> I'm going to say yes. >> All right. Anything else on that page? That is page four. >> Just continuing to see the resignations of our um CPAs and then seeing the post today I believe on social media about the pay rate of a CPA. a lot less than the bump we just gave Paris. So, I just think it's a discussion. Um, we ask a lot of them. They don't work

140as many hours as Paris, but they do put in a lot of hours. >> This was a special ed, not a CPA, right? >> Um, >> the one above it, cafeteria playground 8 is a CPA in case anyone was wondering. >> Wait on page four. >> Still on page four towards the bottom under resignations. Okay. >> So, I believe that that is a transfer, but that's not or position change. I'm not sure. Um because I did see that on there twice that but the whole point of it is the pay rate of a CPA. Nobody is coming to do that job for $15 an hour um and sticking around. So if we continue to see this turnover rate of cafeteria aids and paraprofessionals, what are we going to do to be proactive? Because we bumped

141pay in paras, but we didn't do anything for CPAs. >> But we don't know why they're resigning, do we? >> Well, that was also one of my concerns. Um that yes, do we have access to exit interviews to see why our turnover rate is so high? What is happening? Why are employees leaving? That's something that I don't >> I shared that you would provide a summary to the board but individual is no but summary to the board. I think we just need something to discuss of you know what is happening that our turnover rate is high because it is very high and on that turn off on that note um I'm jumping ahead pages but it's on in line and I had I mentioned this I think in an email to to Carl and Lisa

142as well I think we really need to look at our part-time parah our substitute um parah and CPA rate. I mean I I think that I don't know how many uh substitutes we have on the list, but I do think we need them. And I think we want to keep good paras that are substitutes to come back. And I think at minimum wage that's not going to be the case. I think it, you know, we need to, if we're willing to pay a part-time par $25 an hour, we have to be willing to pay a substitute par $25 an hour. >> I I agree with Dr. Snyder in that, you know, um being in education, my wife being in middle school, me in high school, and we uh we hear time and time again the

143substitutes, whether they're teachers, paras, what have you, they're going to go where the money is. They can go anywhere in the district that's within travel reach and you're going to get the quality of the person you're going to get. You're going to pay for it. And I think it's super important to recognize perhaps you ask your union representatives. I don't know how we get out there, but we find out before other districts are paying people and we we really need to evaluate that. I think >> I hear it from my college students because I think Central is one of the best substitute rates >> and and it's still very difficult to get great subs. >> But like my students, college students know, they know which district offers the most. and are willing to do that

144for a day because it's not back in the day when I was in school and you had a substitute and they turned on a movie and hand you a worksheet. Substitutes are expected to do a lot. >> Agree. >> I I was told no, they're they're expected to do less and less in terms of running that the lesson plans are set out for them. They pretty much monitor the classroom. It's like a four or five babysitting, >> especially at the high school level. You know what happens, Laura? It becomes a safety issue and and uh someone who's not a professional in the classroom. Kids are let out and they're just roaming. And John can attest to this. You know, we have a pretty good environment at Central and they are high school kids and they

145should know better. But the, you know, any school, any class that has a substitute in it, nine times out of 10, kids are out roaming the halls and they're >> Yeah. >> They're not learning when you don't have the right person in the room. >> They'll pay for that. I think >> I think >> and nor are they qualified often times to teach the material. So they monitor basically and hopefully keep the kids in the room. So, as we've discussed this and and wanting to go ahead, >> if that is something we're going to do and raise the rate, uh can we at least get some kind of cost breakdown between uh last year vacation time and sick time, hours used versus, you know, the dollar rate that it's currently at versus uh what it

146would potentially be. >> One one way of looking at it would be to compare our rate right now to if we bump it up, what the difference would be. Yeah. Versus I I would assume the run rate of well or the rate used the hours used last year. So we have like a >> what what did it cost this this last budget cycle compared to if we raise it what is it going to cost us? >> Correct. Yeah. Just so we have an idea. >> Sure. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. I was just going to say that as as we make these suggestions, just remember it's one piece of a bigger pie that Lisa and Carl have to put together. um and make sure everything fits and that we're not, you know, raising taxes or

147going beyond what we can afford this year. >> All right, page five. >> Chris, if I can just make one of the comments. >> Sure. On page four, >> uh yeah, just along the lines of the full body of discussion we're having, if you can identify even one out of placement student where I'm just going to hone in on that DCP place student for 87,000. If we fine-tune our operation and we can really [clears throat] make sure our shekels are counted appropriately, we can we can um we can stand to pay a par a substitute power or get that better substitute. You know, it's all a matter of how we checks and balances and how we look at the dollars and cents in the right categories. >> Absolutely. We save money in one area, we

148can spend it in another area where we really need it. >> Like we're doing transportation right now. >> Yep. >> It's re reallocating funds. Uh, page five. Any questions on page five? Okay, moving on to page six. [clears throat] I I do have a question on page six. Um Roman numeral six. Um the additional um perdm administrator that's just to have on the books in case they they could be called today. And again, under what terms are they they being called? Like if um someone's are they only being called if there's a leave of absence or if a administrator is out ill? >> Out for like a day or two? No, we're not we're not doing it for an illness. >> Um >> it's an extended more than extended period. >> Okay. And what coverage

149is mandated though in the building? Like are we required by law to have a certain number of administrators in the building? um based on the number of students which we've talked about a lot with different schools like so let's say someone is out sick in uh frog pond is there an like are we required to have someone come in and substitute for them >> there's a there's like a standard but it's not I don't believe it's statute at all >> um look to be honest okay >> that's like to say you know is there a standard for kids in the classroom we we're constantly pushing those boundaries But unfortunately, there's not real any law about that. >> There is. >> Well, to add an aid. Yeah. >> Well, I know just for a fire code,

150you can't have x amount of kids in a classroom jam in there. I mean, >> it's all based off capacity. >> Yeah. And I mean, if you look at like the the preschool rooms, kindergarten rooms are have different requirements as well. So, I I can I can look into it for you. Um, I know with regard to nurses, I know that off top of my head. >> Yeah. Um, but yeah, I I can look into administrators. >> I just have a question on the um F leaves of absences. In the past, I think I've asked this before, but just need a reminder. Uh, where it says employee numbers that in the past we actually use names, but now we're doing >> numbers. That can that can be a little intrusive. So it was recommended that

151we use employee numbers. >> But is it the law that we have to use numbers versus names? >> It's not the law. But um a lot of times to avoid um personal information getting out um and other uh information that may embarrass somebody um you board use uh employee numbers as well. >> Excuse me. I I would add along the lines of climate culture, happy teachers, happy kids, happy families. you know, why do we need to announce that? Why not stick with employee numbers, you know, privacy purposes? >> I I do think it really is also to you sometimes just a question of concern of the teachers. You know, I like to we've in the past we've had some teachers that have had some serious illnesses and I think we like to let them know

152that we're thinking of them and you know, we're concerned. So, >> I I I agree with that. like something like retirement, you know, maybe you want to congratulate them on retirement. I don't know if that's something that's with their names posted or not, but or if it goes off the employee number on that. >> Yeah. But illnesses are different story. It could be embarrassing. It could be privacy. >> It's not our story to tell, right? It's their story. >> Okay. P uh page seven. Any questions on page seven? Now, I do know that we do have a a copy of the calendar if you want to have that discussion now. It's also disc work session discussion. So if that's one of your questions, we can have that. >> Go ahead. >> My question on um

153conference days, we have a half day on evening conferences. It's part part of the negotiated agreement that we have to follow. >> It's it really is that simple. >> Do you have something Greg before I start? >> Okay. Um I just number one and I was a proponent had issues with this long before I became a board member. 14 half days is excessive. There is no reason the last week of school should be entirely half days. For working women especially, it is extremely difficult. And if we're concerned about attendance and making sure kids are in school and we're concerned about lost instructional time, we should minimize the number of half days to those that are absolutely necessary. And while I understand PD teacher con um uh parent teacher conferences are a must and I know

154the days before a holiday like Thanksgiving and Easter are again contracted. That last week of school we can gain at least two half days back. I still think 12 is quite a bit and I'm not sure how we lost them with PD uh days because we have or have not have a full PD. So that that last week of school being half days, I would also like to see um I think that um and again this is without any input from the public. So if the public is aware um of what the calendar looks like and starting before Labor Day is unusual for the district other than having teachers come in. So I wanted to know who has this been shared with districtwide like when what has the feedback been? administrators, union representation as per

155contract, we have to share it and we got we had discussions about it >> and and surrounding districts >> surrounding districts, some have their calendars in, some do not. We did that at the superintendent's round table. So that's >> and everyone is starting before >> some are, some aren't. Same with that week in November. Some are, some aren't. It it just is not consistent. My concern are parents with children in multiple schools. Um, uh, let's mate is in Manahin, so that follows a different schedule. So if you have a high schooler, PAA follows the same schedule as mates, which I think also follows the same school as OCBTS. Yep. So like if you want to keep kids in school, I think we have to be all consistent with the same calendar. So the county has

156discussed this, the super at least the superintendent has discussed it several times and with transportation with individual community things. There's just no agreement. And apparently this has been an annual thing. This isn't new. So >> yeah, I'm just not a proponent for kids starting before Labor Day. That's >> Dr. Antonus, do we have mark periods here? Sorry, I don't know the answer to >> Trimesters. And do these half days align with end of March testing? >> That's what we took. Yes, >> we try to do that once the calendar is set. We try to do that. >> So the whole process of grade input, finalizing grade books, >> we take that into >> grade verifications and maximizing instructional time, you know, I have found in my experience, you know, when when we have those half

157days, um the kids get out of the building, uh they they're they're able to do their midterm exams. Let's say we just finished midterms last week. Uh the kids leave the building or come in late. In this case, they're coming in late. So, it's delayed opening 9:00 start. From 7 to 9, we're doing grades. We're getting all that administrative stuff for our classroom out of the way uh that we would have otherwise never had time to do during our office hours. Um and you know, through it all through collective bargaining where we're we still have so much instructional time that we have to get to. And um I understand the idea of of what do we do with kids and and how do families manage that. But um it's helpful it's helpful for for the

158professionals in the building to have that stated time to either do PD and or grades um and do everything that's still for the good of the kids >> and end of year close out. >> Absolutely. Oh, end of year close out. Hands down. Never get out in time. It's never enough time to close out the classroom. Are we able to collect data on the attendance of half days last year? Was that part of our chronic absenteeism or there more absences on a half day versus football days? >> I I I can't answer that. I don't know. I'd have to look into that. >> No. Yeah. I'm saying can we can we collect that data? Can we go back and look at the you know, we we're going to have an attendance officer. Can they review

159the absences of half days to see if that's affecting our attendance rate? >> We can take a look at that. I can say that since I've been here, nothing has jumped out as being boom, there's not a lot of kids in today. I see that every now and again if there's a stomach virus or a flu, that's when I that's when I'll see like a jump. But nothing has jumped out, but we can look more closely. >> And my other um concern is climate surveys. Can we put something out to the community to the parents to say, "Hey, like how do you feel about this?" Um, you know, we're saying administration was okay. I think that's what you said that you or spoke about. >> Took a look at it and association with meaning the

160teachers. >> I mean, I know that when my older kids were in high school, they were working with their teachers on the island all summer. So, is that going to affect staff members that have summer jobs? You know, is you know, >> according to I mean, it seems to work for for what they said. Got some input from that >> and we represent the public. So, we can't have like 100 200 opinions. >> Well, I think that those 100 200 opinions matter. >> They do. If they come and voice their opinion, that would be >> But we're not giving them access to seen the They haven't seen us. They don't have access to this. We do. Next week there'll be an attachment >> Friday. So from Friday to Tuesday, that's when I'm supposed to represent

161the voice of the community. >> No, they have to pay attention. >> There's some responsibility. When you have a child in school, you should be paying attention. [clears throat] >> Also, >> and this is preliminary has adjusted the calendar. >> We've made amendments. Yeah. >> I just think it's important to get input from the community before Even >> I honestly I don't know how we manage all of the input that would come in. If there were a lot if there was a lot of input I I don't even know with everybody how I can as a person just manage that. It's it would be >> it would just be sharing it with the board that this is what the community said and then we vote on it just like everything else. >> Everything that comes

162through has to have an option. We have to look at every single one that comes through. We have to say contractually does it work? Does it not work? That just takes time if we were to get a lot of input. >> We've had surveys before >> tremendous amount of time >> where said would you prefer uh adding a snow day on? Do you remember these surveys? We have >> we did a survey a few years ago about the November break. That was a very contentious issue >> because remember at one point we had potential makeup snow days around Memorial Day weekend. So that you if we had no snow days, it was like a five day weekend. That is great for parents who teach, but the rest of us do not get a 5-day weekend

163on Memorial Day. >> But I felt like that was an effective survey that we were able to make. >> Yes. And pulling away from like Easter break in the event you go over, do not make any plans that you can't change. Well, if you have children and you need child care, you have to make plans well in advance. That's not fair to say. And again, that will affect the attendance. And guess what? Those makeup snow days, what are they going to be? They're going to be half days. So, our parents going to send them to school on a half day on Easter break. No. >> Well, my pet peeve is all these days off in November, but we keep it because we're told that Pinelands has all these >> Well, technically, I guess we don't

164have to in the event that we have our own busing. We keep busing differently. >> It all comes down to 180 days of instruction. >> Right. Right. We're required to offer 180 days of instruction and then it's broken out accordingly based on testing cycle, holidays, >> right? >> But there's a lot of days off in November. >> Yeah. >> It's teachers convention on election week as well. >> But we don't have to close for election day. We're not uh we're not a voting facility. So our it's not mandated that we close on that. We could go to school those three days. Um, and then additionally, I guess what PD is September 28th, like we just brought these kids back to school and we're going to have a half day. There's no way to push that

165out. So, it's not the first month of school. >> You typically start P you typically start your data, you talk, you start your uh schedules for beginning uh assessment dates and common assessments and those sort of things. The teachers need time to start talking. >> Yeah. So, so there's professional development and then there's inservice. Inservice days give administration the time to roll out all the procedural and policies for the year and that's what happens at the beginning and then PD days are in our contract part of the collective bargain agreement where where we we have the right to have certain days for growth. So there's inservice roll out and there's professional development. >> Our days are all listed as PD days. So we don't have a distinction. >> There's not distinguishing but I've seen it

166in the last in the past. For example, one of the days when the teachers come in in the beginning of the year, they're called PD, but there's no PD. It's exactly what what Mr. Re just explained. So, I actually said to the association, let's call it what it is next time, but because of the way it's in the contract. Absolutely. >> I know previously they had um no faculty meetings, right, for the year or >> uh I'm not sure about. I know they have faculty meetings now. >> Oh, okay. I thought the current contract I have heard that. >> So the last week in June, they're half days. Um because it's the end of the year. I'm just wondering why they're half days. Is that how we always done it? >> Uh I'd have to

167go back and look to see what was done previously for I know we did it that way last year. >> Okay, I guess that passed me. Is there any way to get them down to two half days? Because we know that if we add a snow day, that's going to be another half day. So that means that this year, let's say we have no more half days, no more snow days. We're going to have five half days at the end of the year. And that affects and we have to think about how it affects our families because it's either going to mean that they're going to now use afterare, which is in a difficult financial time as it is, increase their financial burden, and um you know, we lose instructional time because of the snow

168day and then we're replacing it with a half day. And that's where it's better to have it built in as a full day than you know these half days because especially at the end of the year how much is going to be recovered at the end of the year especially at a half day >> and I thought I received when I was looking back at some old um feedback Dennis from a previous survey that I believe that our parent teacher conferences do not necessarily align with our report cards. Did you did Greg and I guess Chris would know. Did you receive report cards before conferences? >> Usually the first one I was told was at conferences. They talk about what was supposed to go on report card. That's what we were told. I don't Is

169that what's happening? >> They might align with progress reporting. Uh but in in my experience, >> I don't do progress reports. >> So in my experience, it doesn't align with what? >> Yeah. So I know I know it that was a concern also. I' in my experience I've never and I'm pretty efficient. I've never had and my colleagues we seem to never have enough time to get to our curriculum the pacing guides with with mandatory state testing all the variances that occur throughout the school year. Um it's super difficult to get everything uh cross all the te's dot the eyes. Um, so, um, I guess my point is, uh, we just got to be really careful with what we consider full days and half days. Um, that's what we're doing now. >> I was going

170to say too, the half days at the end. Yeah. At the end of the year, school culture, we all know who's ever worked in a school that not much is happening in the last week of school. I sorry to say, but the kids are all riled up and sometimes half days work in their favor. >> You know, sorry, devil's advocate there. Like, we're going to send them back to school on a Thursday and Friday, and then they're going to be off Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and then we're going to come back again. >> I'm talking about the end of the year, >> right? But how productive is that going to be to send our kids back to school for the first day on a Thursday, Friday, and then say, "Go have fun for your holiday weekend.

171See you on Tuesday." >> Actually, it gets them so that when they come back on that day in my experience, your experience may be different. It's all that preliminary stuff is out of the way and they start, >> but that's my experience when I ran a classroom. That was my experience that every >> we have never historically had students return before Labor Day here our area and the reason that the the weekend um November began is because so many people in the area I know it's for Stafford have businesses work at businesses on LBI and that's the crunch. It's the last week. is the last, you know, drive. And I agree, uh, with Tiffany, my kids have worked with teachers on the beach. Um, and when you sign up for a job for the summer,

172and again, you have to think about the economic climate for everyone and think how and be empathetic as well as educating our kids in this district. But you have to sign and say that you will agree to work through Labor Day weekend. Like, it's part of it. And some teachers need this money like that it's they need it to survive and make it through the the year. And I think we have to be and and if they've agreed um I I guess I would maybe we can make it a policy that we see that teachers have signed off that their union has agreed and signed off and approved the calendar so that we know that when we're voting that okay well they've supported it, this group supported it and now it's been brought to us

173just for my own comfort. I don't know about anybody else's. >> Yeah. But maybe Dennis can speak to this because I I feel that teachers need that prep time before. I've always gone in as a nurse. >> Are we talking about the start of the year? >> Start of the year. >> Absolute setup time. Totally necessary. You can't expect teachers to come in before they're contractually obligated to do so. And um yeah, I can't remember the last time I didn't work before Labor Day weekend for setup purposes. >> You can't remember when you did that? the last time that I didn't come in before Labor Day. >> Right. Absolutely. >> Always. >> Yeah. >> And I've had discussions with teachers that said by the end of August, they're already thinking about the school year. >>

174And you know, that last week of August, they're ready to get in the classroom, but you know, contractually they can't yet. My biggest pet peeve about the calendar has always been how late we get out. >> Now, I know that depends on how early we start. Uh but to get out and June's almost over, you know, by the 17th, would mean we'd have to cut from November, which is sacred around here. A lot of people go to Disney in Florida and vacation and then obviously spring break is at the end of March. Um so I guess my question to the group really is there's a lot of constituencies that we're trying to view this calendar through. Who takes priority? Is it the students? Is it the parents of the students? Is it the teachers? When

175we try to decide this, who should we put first in mind? >> I don't think anybody should go first. I think it should be a stakeholder survey. I don't want to know who you are. I just want to know your opinion. My kids don't go to school here. My summer is not going to be affected. But I am expected as a board member member to represent the community. and I don't feel like I can do that without the community input. >> So, let me ask you this. If there are 1,600 kids in our district and we only get 50 replies back from the community, >> then those are the 50 opinions that matter. >> Then they take priority. >> If you give me your opinion, I'm going to vote on your opinion. And I don't

176want, no offense, Chris, hearsay opinions. I want to see the data. I want to see the survey where it accurately reflects what the community wants. I >> But would you say that 50% 50 Let's just say hypothetically 50 people respond and the other thousand people didn't. We're going to go with the 50. >> Me personally, my vote will be based off of what the community is telling me they want. >> The community that responded. >> Yes. Because that's They can also respond at a board meeting. >> Yes, they can. But like first was saying, not everybody is available at this time of night. There are parents that work overnights. There are parents that don't have child care. I get all that, which is why I feel like climate surveys are an accurate reflection and not

177just board members guessing or I mean I I wish everybody would respond that we'd have a very large but I think in our experience we only had a couple hundred respond last time which even that even a couple hundred that's hard to get and that's not representative of the 1600. What do you guys think? I I I think we need to look at a majority point of view. And I think when Lisa goes to her county superintendent meetings and there's an overwhelming overarching opinion and the county superintendent can recommend a a calendar that has been proven, we're talking about moving a day or two here and there at county meetings. The county superintendent who meets with their peers, who meets with the state, they know what calendar works best. the 50 people, all the due

178respect, the the the the surveyed people in Little Lake Arbor, um I I think they they would want to consider what the county representatives and what the experts who have managed the calendar would have to say and offer. And I I feel like we're just looking to tweak a few days. I don't think we're looking to overhaul a uh a calendar. And I think the county superintendent would probably offer the best rationale as to why or Lisa, you can certainly offer the best rational as to why this is set up the way it is. if they are what they are. >> Yeah. >> I just want to say that our county is very diverse. So a community that's very um >> has a lot of the Jewish community, they're going to select a different calendar

179that works best for those. So that's those students are not missing days. >> So I think that we have to think about our our demographics with regards and if we have not taken any survey as to what our demographics are because this is something we have not historically done. The most we have done is brought teachers back before um Labor Day to do their um to have their PD in service, whatever we're calling it. Last year's Labor Day was on September 1st. There was no question. Um I I do not support a calendar that has 14 half days. this last year and I did not scour the calendar as well as I should have, but the number of half days that were like on a Wednesday in the middle of a week, I cannot imagine

180what parents have gone through uh this year with a random Wednesday half day in the middle of the week and they're trying to figure out their schedule and yes, they have time in advance to plan. It's still an inconvenience. I'm happy to see that those are now on Mondays or Fridays. Um but the other question is are do are we obligated to have off um Martin Luther King or President's Day are those days that we have to have off by our contracts? I did not see anything listed on our teachers contract when I reviewed it. I did say that we could not have PD on those days, but I did not see that we could not make teachers be in session on those days because who's pulling what school district >> schools have to abide

181by national holiday? >> Federal holiday. >> No, someone just pulled um President's Day to make up for the snow days. >> Yeah. >> In regards to I'm sorry, who's who this is important for? I would say the teachers are the pillar of our our schools and of course Dr. Antuna said she consulted them >> contract. >> Yeah. >> And you know so I have to think we have to think take that into consideration because they do without them we can't run the school. >> I have two questions. One when do we have to decide on this like not next meeting do we have like a few meetings to think about this? And two, can we actually do some sort of online survey or on something just to get some feedback from the community of whoever

182wants to respond? >> How about you? You could invite the they can email the board anytime. >> I would say right now we're we're where where we should be. If we didn't do it already, it's usually January, February. I know that um Dennis had brought up the superintendent's meeting and the surrounding calendars and how they would know what's best, but I don't feel like we got a straight answer on that. You said they were varying. Correct. So, we don't even have that piece of data that says our surrounding districts are going with this or they're going with that >> because they're varying. Some some are doing what we're doing, some are not. >> Right. So because it's based upon a couple of things like what Christine you said certain communities it's all based upon transportation

183tiering things like that so everybody's a little bit >> can we base it on local schools in the area other school districts that are within this area that's just okay >> can I just make an >> can I make an observation um so if I peel out the professional development days which are part of the collective bargaining agreement. You talk to the union, they would identify x amount of days that that they're required to have for professional development. If you pull those days out of the calendar, the only other half days we have are for parent teacher conferences, which are for the families, so they can get informed on their kids, and then it's the day before the Christmas break, the day before um spring break, and then the end of the school year. So

184I feel like what we're really looking at is potential conversation around those four days at the end of the school year to your point Dr. Snder. >> So again just back to best practices and and what's doing right for families and for the professionals. It's PD days is parent teacher conferences and it's the day before holidays which people like to get out of here anyway. Kids families appreciate that. I think it's the last week in June we're talking about here. It's my Anybody have any other comments or questions on the calendar? So, between now next week, between now and next week, I'm assuming nothing's going to change on the calendar. It's just we're going to vote yes or no or >> No, that's not true. I mean, I heard what people said about reducing half

185days down perhaps one of the half days at the end of the year, you know, one or two of them. need >> because this allows that if we have a snow day and it's added at the end of the year, most likely it's going to be added on as a half day, which is what I don't like, which is what I would also propose would be to build in those snow days and then if we don't need them, then the kids get out earlier. >> So Christine, your recommendation would be June 14th and 15th all day and then half days, Wednesday, >> and then I would actually add two snow days. let's just be happy and add two snow days and then we would finish on the 21st and then if there's no snow days

186then we finish on the 17th anyway because that's the reality of what would happen in the event of a snow day. Right. >> Well, we've had one so far. We count for the future. >> Oh, yes. >> Do we do we have that uh sixth grade promotion scheduled >> in there? You still do that? >> Yes. Okay, >> that's a good point. So, the the last days, if they're for graduation or promotional ceremonies, is it in the teachers contract where they get to leave that day when they got to come back for a graduation ceremony? >> No. Okay. >> That that is in there for or I will look again. It is definitely in there for conferences. I I can look to see. I don't recall it, but that doesn't mean anything. >> Thanks. >>

187Any other questions, concerns, comments on the calendar or that page that we page seven? >> All right, moving on. >> I'm sorry. I I just got to I apologize. Uh letter D, the um high impact uh tutoring summer program. Does that mean that summer splash is coming back? >> No, that's the high uh I briefly talked about it in the goals. That's a grant that's out there that we're going for. So, we're we want to try to start planning that thinking that we're going to get the grant. >> So, it's not summer splash. >> What's the difference? Well, this is for a very specific cadre of students who need some tier 2 services. >> Okay. Uh are there any grants that we've looked at for reinstating summer splash? >> There's been nothing that I've seen

188so far that that has come across my desk, but it's been more cursory. I haven't locked in on that. So, we can definitely go back. >> All right, moving on. Page eight. I just have a question on the tails program. Um, on the link when you click on it, I couldn't really read the handwriting on page one where it says, "Please describe in detail what the dog will do at the school." >> It's all handwritten, right? >> Yeah. I was really interested, but I I couldn't read it. >> Camaraderie, something like that. I'll support I can take a look. >> Okay. >> He's been here before though, that gentleman. >> Yeah. >> And I just had I'm happy to see those uh job descriptions. Thank you. Because that keeps people more accountable and didn't know

189we didn't have them. And the trips are they I know they're supposed to be curricular related. Um looked up a couple of places. These I I assume for Okay. Ecc must go on two trips per year. >> Okay. >> As per the preschool. >> Okay. And are we still doing where the parents pay for the school trips? I know here >> or if somebody can't then >> got it. >> Thank you. The cost has gone down significantly because we have our district. So cost of that down. >> Okay. Anything else on the draft agenda for February 10th? All right. Letter G. Did we cover that? Was that okay? >> All right. Number nine, public comment. The floor is now open to members of the public. The board of education recognizes the value public comment on

190educational issues. The board requests that each statement made by a participant is limited to three minutes as cited in policy number 0167. There's a sign in sheet located at the podium. Please sign in before you speak. Seeing none, board forum. We'll start with Christine and go around. Um I just want to um say thank you for this meeting. I really do think it's a great place to have some articulation with all board members at the same time on the same topics. And it's um in my opinion hearing other people's feedback and seeing where people agree the same way or have a different perspective. It does help all of us digest at least myself this information and to vote next week. So thank you and everyone have a good week. Enjoy the Super Bowl. >> Tiffany,

191>> I'm going to save my resources for the regular meeting. Um, but I am happy to see half days no longer being in the middle of the week and uh I am excited to be part of the work sessions um because even being a public member in the past trying to figure out what was happening during a regular session was confusing. Um so I think this was a great idea. I also think the meeting was very productive and just FYI, I'll send an email, but I do plan on, you know, trying to get the strategic plan going for a new business for next time just because it's outdated. Oh, >> absolutely. It's something we're going to discuss for this year and we're going to make it practical and not something that sits on the shelf.

192>> Yeah. I'd like to even New Jersey school boards involve them because they're structured and community involvement. talk about community involvement. Some districts have had hundreds of people in to help with that. >> That's nice. >> Yeah. >> Absolutely, >> Edis. >> I would like to um first of all thank everyone for your patience and me being late this evening. I'm terribly sorry, but as I said in my email, these were well planned and uh beyond February that won't happen again. So, please continue to be patient with me through the month. So, thank you so much for that. It's really an honor uh to be here and to have this discourse with everybody. I I I agree. I haven't been part of the other structure, but I thought tonight was really productive. I'm sorry I

193missed executive session. I would really look forward to that discussion as well. Um it's been a busy uh 22 days for me uh since January 13th. And um I'm I'm happy uh Laura for the invite to the Ocean County SBA meeting. Happy to get those two credits already for me there. Nice seeing you there as well. Um happy to report that I've completed governance one. Having a little glitch there, but um getting the getting it signed off with that is complete. Check. Cupcake judge check. >> Disclosure form done. Um fees taken for student production. Some things that I'm happy that I'm complete with and I've already met with Lisa and Carl. Super pumped about having some personal time with them. And I did reach out to everyone and gave everyone my cell phone number. So,

194please, if you have anything you'd like to discuss, I'm Adam. I haven't exchanged numbers with you, but have some questions for you. >> Thank you. And fingerprints are tomorrow and county clerk's already got my re-election stuff, so petitions coming. >> Got it. Thanks. >> Great. >> Happy to be here. >> Thank you. Happy to have you. >> That was a very informative uh hard followup uh but I'm very happy with the new uh process that we have having work sessions um all together as board as a whole. I thought tonight was incredibly um uh productive and I really look forward to seeing the board move forward in this direction >> and you getting your bio up the website. >> He's working on helping you. >> Bio's up. >> He was done the first night before

195he left. >> Um same here. I think tonight's session was very very good. We got we got a lot accomplished. a lot of information was passed along through everybody here and um I think it [clears throat] was very good uh as far as everything goes. Um I think it's a great format. I think it I'm looking forward to more meetings like this that we can throw some ideas around, some things out there and get some stuff done. I also want to say thank you to all of the staff. Um [clears throat] especially custodial maintenance. Listen, we had a lot of snow, a lot of ice, a lot of hours were put in, a lot of hard work. Uh, I appreciate them personally for getting the district open and operational. Um, Mike, uh, Kofer, Mr. Kofer,

196thank you. Transportation, getting the buses up and running, moving, getting the kids back and forth to their home safely. uh that was very important for the kids to be transported back and forth safely and you know getting back and forth here to get their education. So appreciate all of that hard work and effort and also thank you Lisa for getting everybody you know here also and making sure things are getting done. >> Chris, can [clears throat] I add one thing before you start? >> Sure. >> So I remember last time we talked about our delegate for New Jersey school boards. So, I don't know who is interested, but the first meeting is May 16th, um, 2026. Is it >> It starts at 9:00 a.m. So, I don't know who >> county, >> you want to

197look at your schedules and things like that. I was looking to see what trainings were available and that's how I stumbled upon it. So, um, and is it an all day thing? >> Um, morning to at least noon. >> Okay. Yeah. So, >> and I maybe maybe next week if >> Sure. If anybody else is interested, let me know because there's only two meetings a year. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. Um, I want to thank Dennis and Tiffany for being our new board members. And right off the bat, you guys are contributing. Thank you for your opinions, your thoughtful opinions, your different perspectives. Um, you know, you guys got sworn in a month ago and you're already hitting the ground running. So, thank you for what you're adding to the team. Uh, to

198echo what John said about the ice storm, uh, thank you to all our services um that cleared the the parking lot and have everything ready. Thank you to Lisa. I was really uh bothering her about trying to get a message out early on Sunday so parents didn't have to wait till the last minute. Uh so she was able her and uh Carl were able to make the call pretty early on Sunday morning. By noon there was a message that we wouldn't have school on Monday. So really appreciate that early heads up. Um cupcake challenge. Uh myself, Dennis, and Tiffany were there. It was a great event. I think last year you guys did it. that you guys made. It sounds like it was so much fun. So, that's why I signed up this year. It

199definitely was fun. Uh maybe we can have more participation from the board and administrators is because it's a really good time and some really good cupcakes. Uh, sticking with the theme of one of my personal goals as president is trying to continue to reach out to the community um through Lisa and Carl, we have a meeting set up, I believe, at the end of February with the mayor and deputy mayor so that we can go over the budget and see other ways that we can work together since we're all in the same town. We want to make sure we have open dialogue with um our township leadership. Uh in the same vein, Carl and I went to the drug-free community grant kickoff meeting this morning at the police department in the municipal building. Uh basically

200it's a group of different um entities in town working together off of a grant that this nonprofit is um trying to use to basically prevent kids from using substances, uh vaping, drugs, marijuana, and what we can do as a community to prevent that. And believe it or not, what they were saying was they're seeing from the data kids using and being exposed to things earlier and earlier. Uh they can only do data on sixth grade and higher, but they know it's starting even earlier. So even though we're an elementary school, uh this is really the bottom floor, the ground zero of where kids are starting to be introduced to this. So, we're going to see what we can do to work together with them uh to bring them in for educational programs or just different

201ways that our school district can take the initiative before they get over the pine lands and try to educate them on that. And then finally, we've been here for 4 and 1/2 hours. Uh it's been a very productive 4 and 1/2 hours, I believe. Thank you for everybody who uh participated. You know, we envisioned this last year. Uh and I think this is what we envisioned, just the exchange of ideas. is we may not agree on things, but we're all in the same room. We can all discuss what we think should be done and maybe we'll change our minds or maybe someone says something that makes us think of something else. And as a board, the seven of us, you know, we have to come together and make a single decision. But tonight was the

202hard work of exchanging those ideas, doing our homework ahead of time so that we're prepared to ask those questions and then hopefully, you know, throughout the week get more fine-tuned answers and by next Tuesday, our next meeting will be a lot quicker because we would have had the answers ready already answered and we would feel comfortable in the way we vote. So, I too look forward to this form of um administrating our responsibilities of making decisions on behalf of the school district. Again, it was four and a half hours. I thank you for your time. Everyone here is every board member here is unpaid and you're you're sacrificing time at home with your family. So, thank you very much. >> All right. Ajournment. Can I have a motion to adjourn, please? >> Chris, I'm sorry.

203I have one point of clarification. Sure. >> In regards to the uh agenda and the meeting next week. >> Yes. Should we try to get questions answered first? >> Yes, if you have any other questions. >> Okay, so they have time. >> Yeah, good point. I forgot to mention that. >> Okay. >> If you have any other questions, the rule is 11:00 a.m. on Monday morning. So, you have all weekend to review the agenda again. Uh if your questions still aren't answered, please when you submit a question to Lisa, just CC me just so I can help you if I can. uh but by 11 am on Monday so that Carl and Lisa have time to answer it before the following day's meeting. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thanks Laura. >> That motion to adjourn.

204>> Can I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All right. Being hereby resolved by the Little Lake Harvard Board of Education to adjourn at 10:37 p.m. Can I have a vote? >> All in favor? I >> Any nos? Abstensions?