001pleas [Music] I'd like to call to order of public meeting can we ask everyone to just quiet down so we can start the meeting and and get going and get recognitions and so forth I know everyone it's it's um uh everybody's out waiting eagerly um I'd like to uh call to order in public meeting notice the north hun and vor's Regional High School District Board of Education meeting on Tuesday February 25th 2025 is now called to order in accordance with the requirements of the open public meeting act and JSA 1046 adequate notice giving the time date location and to the extent known the agenda of this meeting was published by the hunon county Democrat and the Star Ledger on January 9th 2025 in addition notice of this meeting has been posted at North hunon High
002School and B's High School provided to the municipal Clerks of Bethlehem Township califan burough town of of Clinton Clinton Township Franklin Township Glen Garner B Hampton bur Highbridge bur Lebanon burrow Lebanon Township tberry Township and Union Township as well as other interested parties and posted on the district website fire exits are located in the direction indicated if alerted to fire please move in a calm and orderly fashion to the nearest smoke exit free or free exit at this time please silence all cell phones please roll call Miss magn here Mr Chapman here Dr denin here miss Gallow here miss hin here miss Kon Mr lordy here Mr mcing here Mr Reed Reyes here I'm sorry apologize it's her first time M R thank you Mr spaton here miss veto and miss seleno here flag salute
003please I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for stands Nation God indivisible Justice for All um I'd like a motion in a second to approve agenda item 4.1 minutes of January 28 2025 school board meeting we Mo second and can everybody take a minute when you're saying it to give Doug a minute so that was uh motion was was Dan and second by Christine CH thank you you're very welcome all in favor any Nays and and any extensions and I'd like to explain why I N I have a question concerning um just content uh there was a statement made where it should be expressively instead of administration Express that they did not recommend the resolution it should say the BS which is the board secretary at
004the board table expressed that the admid did not support the resolution and that is why I voted [Applause] no yep okay um moving on we'd like to have recognition of our student achievements uh we would like to first start um no Rhyme or Reason I'm just starting with the most uh North hundon High School so if we could possibly have Dr catral come forward that would be great and I see there's a [Music] great over there okay so it's my pleasure to introduce to you the senior members of the group four the group four state champion wrestling team [Music] yeah it is really a uh a huge accomplishment and it's a testament to the hard work that not only our seniors but all members of our wrestling team put in they put in a lot
005of time they work very hard and they had some thrilling victories this year uh most recently again it was a really a big team effort in their victory over peber on I guess it was February 16th at down at Ruckers at the Jersey Mike Stadium Right Center Stage there they beat peber uh 37-27 and again I just want to stress it really was a team effort everyone did their part as a team to to come together so we're really proud of them at the school uh and I want to take a moment to recognize them they're also our our Scotland Conference champions uh overall too so again we have a great team this year and and gentlemen when call your name if you just come forward and get your certificate so we're going to start
006with uh Joseph Santano who plans to attend LSU and major in business so Joseph there [Applause] go venzo daro will be still deciding where he's going to college but he plans to major in finance so fenza congratulations Jake Infante will plan to is is going to NC State and a major in business so Jake congratulations Josh Jer will be going to seatan Hall and majoring in secondary education and will continue to wrestle so maybe Josh we might see you back in nor one day uh we have Evan Kenny who will enter the work force this fall as a in pursue a career as a heavy equipment operator EV congratulations Chase Perry is still deciding where he's going to college but he plans to major in business Chase not here today all right uh James Turner
007will go to wtti which is the welding training testing Institute this fall James Bobby Washington is still waiting to hear back from where he's going to go to school but he plans to major in pred Dental Medicine [Applause] Bobby and Carson young PL to go to Penn State in the fall and still deciding on his major Carson congratulations so again as a school we're very proud of our team this year they did awesome and a few of our wrestles are also advancing on uh to districts and then they'll be going and I'm sure some of them will be advancing on in two weeks down to Atlantic City for the state championships oh that's individual so this was a team uh state champion and now they all competing on an individual level from here so again
008congratulations gentlemen and this way all the certificates out guys let's go put them [Applause] out job guys conat [Applause] that was amazing congratulations gentlemen um we'd like to uh welcome um Mr Peterson forward for vor's high school all right I have here with me Andrew pakula Drew is a sophomore or a junior at Vorhees High School uh before I actually I'm going to have him tell you what he did because this is the first time in my 30-year Public School career that I've gotten news from a about a student that did what Drew did so it's pretty exciting and I thought he would be the one to tell it because he is not one to boast about his accomplishments or anything else so um Drew is involved with the Boy Scouts our Lifesavers Club at
009Vorhees High School our French Club and also Habitat for Humanity back in November um I got a email from uh the EMT Captain uh Captain shy about what Drew uh did around 4:00 in the morning when he received a call as a EMT for the rescue squad so I'm going to let Drew take it from there good evening everyone my name is Drew pakula and I'm a Cadet EMT on the tubry rescue squad on a very cold early November morning at approximately 4:15 a.m. we received a 911 call about a patient in labor when I arrived on scene I noticed that the patient was one of my neighbors relatives who I have met multiple times in the past while at her house we noticed that her contractions were a minute and a half apart and
010that we had a 35-minute ride to the hospital throughout our Hospital hital ride her contractions steadily increased as we approached moristown Medical Center there was a very little delineation between her contractions once we arrived I jumped out of the ambulance to help pull the stretcher out and then it got stuck when the stretcher got stuck it was in the loading position which is where the stretcher is completely outside of the ambulance but still locked into lifting mechanism at that point she looked at me and said that she needed to push so I assisted in delivering her baby in the hospital parking lot in 30° weather within minutes the baby was out I wrapped the baby up to keep him warm while the other EMT ran into the emergency room to get help there was an
011ongoing struggle to release the stretcher from the AIX position once released we wielded her into labor and delivery we later found out her and her healthy baby boy were doing amazing this was definitely a special moment to [Applause] remember no they did not name the baby after we've all asked that question I'm sure some of you were wondering that but no uh yeah congrat oh thank you drew for your uh service and helping um that woman all right here you [Applause] go I'm at this time we'd like to move forward to the board student Representatives report we have sioban Patel from North hun high school and Audrey Divine from vor's high school um I don't know who would like to start um evening everybody so recently thees Pride Club movie night was on Tuesday February
01225th today from 7 to 9 and the after watching movie nimona uh they're going to be selling snacks and drinks at a concession stand student council will be running a pickle ball tournament on March 6 from 3: to 6:00 at the gym um Ski Club is going to OK mountain resort in Vermont from March 7th to the 9th the Wares vocal music students are preparing for their annual quoir Coffee House Concert the concert is March 6 I believe it's in the coffee house in hybridge um the bores J clubs working on their spring music um musical Fiddler on the Roof and for performances will be on April 10th as well as the 13th instrumentalists in the b in the Bor high school music department um will H have hosted their Pops concert February 20th that
013was s at in gym they did an arrangement of different Jazz performances from the 1930s to 70s um included the concert band ja Jazz Ensemble string Ensemble and the winter color arer um and on February 4th the um Vorhees unified coordinated a peer-led community night and attended the girls basketball senior night to sport the players and lastly the Vorhees unified program also hosted a silent disco social event um February 13th thank you thank you um all right so I'll start off from North with um Sports so first we had a girls cheerleading won state championship for their game day routine and um I believe believe play second for traditional um then we have boys wrestling obviously group four state champions that's a huge feat for them so big uh big ups for them um the
014unified first teacher game was yesterday and that was a really really really great turnout um and it's just uh events like um that that just bring the community together um Key Club is having a pancake breakfast that's also a joint group for Hees the trivia bowl is um coming up soon so that's a teacher uh there's three teams teacher student and parents teams and they um uh it's a trivia night and they compete for um these huge GI back baskets with all different things in them um Mama Mia is showing at North we have four shows and the show on Sunday is 90% sold um Spike for cure is happening on March 4th there's 59 competitive teams and 12 non-competitive teams and those teams are made up of um eight people per team so that's
015just a lot of the student body getting involved it's been uh a bigger bigger and bigger thing every year um the blood drive is happening on the day after the 5th so that whole week is very busy because we had the blood drive uh Spike Rec on the fourth blood drive on the fifth and the trivia Bowl is on the 6th um prism concert is happening on March 20th the nhv Leadership Summit AT B is is coming up soon so um expect more details froming that for the future um sophomore semiformal is happening at raspberries on Friday March 14th we have 157 sophore sophomores um bought tickets so that's the largest so far like in North history Junior Prom is happening at the farmhouse on March 8th and they have 175 tickets sold and that's
016all I have that's a lot busy Sprint thank you both uh moving forward to Chief School administrator report Dr bers thank you Kim uh first before I start my actual report I did want to introduce gentleman to my right um this is Doug panak um Doug is serving as our interim School business administrator uh while Katie blue is out on um leave um I'm happy to announce that Katie had a healthy baby boy and mom and baby are doing fine and um Doug is taking over the range now for a little while for so welcome Doug and um if you have any questions for the business office Doug's the man all right I would um few things I want to mention about um both of our schools North Hunter and student students um took a
017community based instruction trip that's our community based instruction program in our special needs program um for preparing for Independent Living opportunities and transitions that's our pilot program they visited the Deer Path YMCA in flamington and were able to explore the facility and practice their interviewing skills with the staff there so that was a great experience for our students uh I want to congratulate the boys and girls wrestling team this year they both have done phenomenal um as you heard already for for um the seniors that were here um so congratulations to the students they deserve all the credit for that but they are also coached by two great coaches and um congratulations to the north Hunter and girls wrestling coach Dan pep and the boys wrestling Coach Dave Bell for being named Coach of the
018Year by the New Jersey coaches association so we had pretty successful year in wrestling all around so congratulations to them wow excellent I did want to mention uh VOR presented their um annual Pops concert I think Audrey mentioned this um but you know that's that is a great event that if anybody has an opportunity to go see thep concert at bores um is one of their um one of their starship events that they try to really focus on um this year it was from swing to Soul um influenced by Jazz uh featured swing music of the 1930s through the funk and Soul music of the 70s so um if you missed it this year it was tremendous yeah yeah then you know try to get to it the next time you hear about it because
019the pop concert is really a great event uh as Shivam actually mentioned um last night was our unified uh versus staff uh basketball game uh that was all supporting Sophia Sophia Shining Light Foundation um and um the unified team just edged the staff out just won it was a close game back and forth um but they they um they pulled it off so I also want to congratulate to North hunter in Jaz Ensemble um who received um an excellent rating at the 13th annual jazz band semi-final showcase at steel Stacks in Bethlehem PA um they are under the leadership of Mr Casey Carol and um again congratulations to them cuz that was a pretty big compliment for them also I do want to add one more reminder to I know um sh also reminded but
020Mama m is coming up this week um at North hunon if any of you haven't been to one of our musicals at either North or Vorhees it is literally the you know best production you can see this side of the Hudson um you know Broadway is Broadway um but I I have to say we compete pretty highly with them and um they really are our students the talent that they exhibit is phenomenal um take a chance to go see um the musical if you haven't um there will be one coming up at boris's again in the spring there's is a little bit later um but I recommend doing that I know all board members received a personal invitation if you didn't receive that personal invitation and you didn't see it in your email let me
021know and I'll make sure that we get it out to you again but um it's a great opportunity for you if you have the time I'll be her Sunday which is almost all that so uh strategic planning has kicked off I wanted to mention that for everybody our parent and staff surveys went out last Monday uh to date we have 237 responses from the parents um and we have 71 responses from the staff so I calculated that's a little over 10% for um know it's actually about 20% for our staff um and it is a little over 10% for our parents so right now you know with one week being out that's not bad we're probably going to send a reminder out on Monday again for the survey to try to get um some more
022participation and then we have planned our in-person stakeholder meetings for March 25th at North hunon and March 27th at bis uh invitations for those will be going out out this end of this week beginning of next week we're going to try to get out to our sending districts our community our parents um our staff and um and then you know we're going to ask for an RSVP so we have an idea of how many people are showing up to each of those meetings so we'll know how big that is and then that will be coordinated uh by Rich hpo from 4M um Educational Consultants uh who is managing our strategic plan we're also going to set up some um uh focus groups for students that I'm going to meet with him during the day um
023probably reaching out sh and Audrey and couple other students as well uh we're going to try to get a good representation of our student body and um you know just talk to the students and get their input so we can use that in strategic planning process as well and that is all I have for a report we do have a couple action items can I ask a question about the sure um the 10% return when you send out emails are they going some we have you know two person household one person household so is it going to both of the two person households it does but they usually respond once um I was actually about that I wonder if like this might be a 20% return for household so we have about 2400 and change
024students I asked m s actually right before this meeting how many households we have and I believe it was 243 so I go around 2,000 okay um and so 200 200 and some was a little over 10% okay thank you so I think we're good okay Rich what's the typical response rate for both teachers and parents I mean it depends on which survey we're doing and what the purpose of it is um is you know I'm hoping we Edge back closer to that 20% maybe when we send a reminder people will um you know complete it that haven't uh but even if we had 10% I you know I think that's a pretty good representation as well and how about for the teachers uh teachers yeah we had 70 teachers we have close to 300
025staff members so that's about 20% a little under 20% so is that what it typically is response at this point yeah we're only a week out so no I'm saying what normally when it's all said and done what is the average response rate I don't know we haven't done strategic planning in seven years so um you know I guess we'll see what this comes out to be and that'll really be our new Norm so cool is there is there a way to put it on the actually District website is there a link or anything for it or does it have to be done through an email uh the invitations from email we get a better response from I thought it was on the website but if it's not we'll check put I didn't to see
026it was there yeah yeah that it should be on the website as well but typically you know people unless they're stumbling across on a website the email is definitely more direct or maybe like on the homepages like so like if a parents going to check Aspen sometimes like instead of on the district website more so on on North and bores website when you first go on because you kind of have to go to the homepage if you have to add you know money to the students's lunch account or go on Aspen or check Sports schedules just we look at other options y uh Rich can you just remind us of the two dates and where sure so March March 25th at 600 p.m. um will be at North hunon and March 27th at 6 p.m.
027will be at boies um we anticipate they'll go about an hour and a half um we're probably going to do to cafeterias we haven't actually um confirmed their facility yet but I believe cafeteria is probably our best bet especially with the crowd that we expect thank you it's also yes yeah it's going to be exciting so uh all right so the action items I have uh we do have our report on harassment intimidation and bullying um this month there was two cases one was founded and one was unfounded so that will be for your disposition next month and then we do have a do you want to do to call on motion for the Hib inance January uh can I have a motion this second to affirm the determinations of the Hib incidents reported at
028the January 208 2025 board meeting all in favor need a motion first oh sorry sorry I'm rushing I want to you uh motion first hey Kim I got a question on this real quick so when we vote on this are we are we voting to affirm that policies and procedures were followed not the actual agreeing or disagreeing of the outcomes correct yes okay so then how would we know if policies and procedures were followed correctly I'm not saying they weren't I mean but how would we know that if that's what we're voting on that's what you hire me for that's what so so so basically we're saying that we're leaving it's a it's Bas it's a recommendation coming from your Administration to the table okay I just wanted to clarify I didn't it was it
029was unclear to me and as you are going through your your board agendas you may go in the drive and find that information there there is information Tagg that you can go into the files to review and then if you suggest if you have questions further shoot them to Dr Pack's was available for questions before the meeting thank you think we need the motion motion motion and a second anyone second that was Brendon and Christine was the second all in favor I any n extensions Carri thank you we have our monthly reports it's next on the agenda item if there's any questions and if not 7.4 is um we're re um reappointing or re adopting our um organization of CH for the district um we added the new position that we added last month and
030we also added a couple that were um actually left off and we tidied it up a little bit so um so we need a motion in a second for that just so everyone knows that organizational chart was approved at our January meeting as Dr B just said we there was a change to it so that is why it's on the the uh agenda so I got a question on this I'm sorry I don't know maybe Dr Barett is it possible and I've asked this a couple times can we get uh a list of we have the roles but can I also get the responsibilities the amount of people that are tied to each role and the salaries on this or chart yeah I'll get back to you so we can get it all the information
031is there yeah okay it's all public it's on agendas you have a motion but but I had a second second I don't know did I jump somebody did I jum second I thought it was that's fine Brian and Nicole got it thank you and then just voice yes all in favor any Nays or extensions motion carries okay moving on uh to uh Schoolboard president's report we are we'll be adopting our a preliminary budget and regular meeting on March 18th 2025 7: p.m. am here in the district office moving on for our public session during this portion of the meeting the public is invited to address the Board of Education with comments you are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and to state your name Municipality of residence group affiliation if applicable and
032direct your comments to the school board president while all comments will be considered by the Board of Education and a response may be forthcoming if and when appropriate individual school board members may not respond to the speakers at the time of their appearance the public comment period will be a maximum 30 minutes in length unless there are unusual circumstances you will be allocated 3 minutes to speak and no one will be permitted to speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard please keep your comments respectful non- defamatory and maintain the level of decorum appropriate for a public meeting where students may be present and in our audience thank [Music] [Applause] you good evening my name is Steven lley and I'm a 40-year
033resident of Lebanon Township I would like to thank the board for their work and dedication I'm constantly impressed by how the board members um dedicate so much time and effort to ensure that our schools are the best they can be i' would like to before I begin I'd like to clarify a couple of points to put things in perspective firstly there are different types of organizations in hierarchical organizations the boss gives the orders and the subordinates just carry out their boss's orders other organizations are more collegial where the role of the leader is to bring the organization forward and come to a common shared agreement having evaluated and discussed the issues collectively secondly different management styles are needed in different organizations the wrong style in the wrong organization is highly problematic when the appropriate inappropriate
034style is used that is a serious red flag the Boe is a collegial organization it is not a hierarchical organization to be redundant there's no boss of the board of education at the last board meeting there was an agenda item where the Boe president put forward a resolution for the board for the members just to vote for it the problem was that the item in question had not gone through the normal process and it would appear that most of the board had not had any real chance to evaluate the proposal one way or another it appeared that had been a concerned effort to keep the board members in the dark I saw no zero justification of a the pros and cons for changing the legal representation and B why the resolution did not go through
035the normal process the repeated claims by the board president that legally the resolution did not have to go through the normal process was not an answer as to why why the change was needed nor why the normal process was not followed the continued Stow Waring by the Boe president to explain rationally these two issues was clearly disrespectful to the other board members the Boe president seems to totally missed the point that many of the board members did not think that their role was just a rubber stamp a decision which they had no information to make that decision clearly created a lot of unnecessary friction and was Frank L embarrassing the decision to proceed in that BOS style raises a serious red flag as to the management skills of the president of BOE to be clear
036I expect better from the leadership of Bo our Board of Education be a leader not a boss thank [Applause] you just a moment good evening I'm Pat Stave I live at three huntsmill Road in the town of Clinton uh person one to your budget planning here uh Raritan Flemington raron School District just received notification uh that they were being defunded $100,000 of federal funds due to the very recent changes in funding now as you consider your budget has this school district received any notification whatsoever of a decreased level of funding to this District I guess the answer is no because nobody's saying yes uh Please be aware the changes are definitely uh in the in the uh in the horizon the closer Horizon so your budget might not be as comfortable as you are hoping
037it to be thank you very much I do need to mention that I am associated with the legal Women Voters and have been for like 50 or 60 years I'm really too old for this nonsense now however uh here I am uh still paying attention uh I speak for myself this evening not for the League of Women Voters uh but I'm still grouching thank you [Applause] good evening board members my name is Amy Barrett and I'm a resident of hybridge my remarks tonight are motivated by observing the board discussion at the January 28th meeting I was concerned by the motion in January to switch General Council in the middle of the school year but I am even more concerned by the behavior of the board president in defending this motion her disrespect toward other board
038members raised serious red flags about her management skills miss selino a board president May technically have the right to put an unexpected non-emergency item on the agenda but your handling of your motion concerning general counsel sub subverted normal board process you did not go through the committee that normally handles contracts you refused to answer questions from that committee's chairperson before and during the meeting and you along with Miss Gallow did not share information with the rest of the board although you said repeatedly it doesn't have to go through committee this board's normal process is to go through committee your disregard of board process is poor leadership Miss Gallow miss kago and miss Reyes by voting to support the motion to switch general counsel you to voted to subvert process and transparency despite your emphasizing the
039importance of these things in previous board meetings thank you to the two new board members Dr Deanie and Mr lordy who rightly refused to pass the motion without additional information miss selino your disrespect for process and for other board members was also shown when you raised the subject of an ethics complaint and described this as quote potentially a conflict of interest to the rest of the board first it was inappropriate that you raised this issue in a public meeting as Miss Ken haded to tell you second it was inappropriate that you sought the advice of special councel Bush law on whether you could raise the issue of a complaint being dealt with by general counsel it sounds like you're playing one Law Firm off against the other this could get expensive and it's also p
040leadership I noticed that Mr kamno is absent tonight I'm wondering if this was board consensus or another executive board decision this is another red flag and a warning to all of us in the north4 community to pay close attention to board agendas discussions and votes thank you [Applause] my name is Philip trer I'm from anandale last month's meeting was disappointing in that opaque board politics seemed to have reared their ugly head again in spite of the fact that the so-called book issues have been resolved and had been made mostly Mood by the passage of the state right to read bill ironically a session describing Statewide rules and Norms including a caveat about injecting partisan politics into board proceedings was presented at that meeting of the board immediately proceeding agenda business many on the board were
041blindsided by an attempt to replace the current principal Law Firm representing the board with the supplemental Law Firm contracted to deal only with conflicts under the guise of course savings for which no underlying evidence was presented and proper procedure was ignored there was obviously another underlying reason for the board president's Proposal with the strong support of the board vice president that became obvious when a short time after the meeting an annotated and disingenuously edited version of this portion of the meeting was posted on the Internet by a group with a history of of opposing books and ideas that did not align with their ideologies the obvious purpose of the edits was to take comments by some members of the board with a particular point of view out of context it did not accurately represent the
042flow of discourse during the meeting just as a reminder the same tactic had been used by the group to attack our former librarian who had a well-known point of view concerning access to library materials at the high school thank you [Applause] Wayne Robinson Lebanon Township 29-year resident I'm here to express my concern regarding the absence of the board attorney from kamno Law Group at this meeting this situation brings to mind a similar occurrence during the previous board meeting where the attorney was disinvited leading to questions about the communication and decision-making processes of this board it is essential to clarify whether all board members were were informed about this disinvitation and whether it was a decision made at the last minute additionally I would appreciate understanding the implications of such a cancellation specifically is there a
043cancellation fee if the attorney is uh informed a short notice these concerns are critical not only for ensuring transparency but also for maintaining the Integrity of our meetings because it directly affects governance and operational efficiency thank you for your time [Applause] Jennifer kusac hybridge with the question of an attorney uh an attorney needs to be unbiased in their advice to this board for it to be wise and useful the the attorney's purpose is both to protect our students and to protect the school board itself from being sued as a person who pays taxes to this school district I would like those taxes to go to educating our students not to fighting lawsuits that come about because an attorney is giving advice that is motivated by a political agenda instead of what is the law and
044will protect this School District from being sued people Sue school districts all the time it is costly even if the attorney's fee per hour were a lot lower it's not going to make up for being repeatedly sued an attorney is not someone you hire simply by the lowest bidder you need somebody who's experienced and wise and does not have a Personal Agenda that is going to have that is going to override their judgment about whether or not it it is going to open this school board this school district up to lawsuits for fiscal stability we need to have attorneys who follow the law not political [Applause] agendas Karen go hybridge I'm a parent I'm not speaking as a school board member anything I say has nothing to do with the hybrid School Board um want
045to remind you again of the training that you received at the last meeting from New Jersey school boards about not springing things on your board at the last minute um thankfully the resolution 5-4 was tabled for further discussion I do not see it on tonight's agenda however after your 1 hour long um executive session there is a spot for old and new business so I am hoping that it's doesn't pop up then and everybody's not expected to wait out on parking lot for an hour to find out what's going to happen thank you [Applause] hello I'm VI Hodes from hybridge uh I don't have much planned I think most of what needs to be said was said in the last meeting or has already been said um I'll just reiterate that well I think you
046guys know what's at stake this is unfortunately a political agenda being forced forced forward by someone who is upset that they weren't able to censor books and they want someone who won't tell them no I think we're pretty much all aware that's the case and I hope that those of you who um are able to figure that out um know to stand against it because well it's obvious this is not in the interest of the students it's not in the interest of the school board they just feel that this is their time to seize power so um please do your duties and stop this latest bout of culture War nonsense [Applause] Debbie far banish Union Township miss seleno having watched the presentation during the last board meeting I have several concerns that I would like
047to share one according to miss Reese from the njsba other than a few exceptions you are largely no more have no more Authority than any other member on this board you are a body of 12 and should act like a body of 12 two I believe you have committed or at the very least are on the edge of ethics violations you are not taking the recommendations of your Administration so you are usurping your power you are not accepting board votes appointing cigma Law Group for June 2024 through 2025 year because you think you have the gavel you can Buck the system to get your way it was made quite clear last June the four sitting board members who voted against kigo Law Group that you have an issue with them rather than follow normal procedure
048and have the issue sent to committee you took it upon yourself to reach out and Cur cost to have Bush law write up a proposal to replace kigo law if you are trying to save money you failed because you just costed dist District money in that St stunt stunt and on top of that you refuse to take calls from fellow board members to discuss it let alone address the matter in committee sessions your executive partner jumped in last meeting to say that you do not have to give reasons to ignore other board members which is quite ironic to say the least consequently in my opinion you are not acting on what is the best interest of our students it appears you are on a personal Vendetta three I'm going to preemptively tell you that the
049public is well aware that you voted against Dr burjack twice as superintendent if you if we see you trying to undermine him we as a community will bring you up on ethics charges and have you removed I will kindly ask you to remind the administration that Miss ree also stated that if they see you getting out of your lane they too can file ethics charges against you you talk of Civility it is defined by Oxford languages as formal politeness and courtesy in behavior and speech you did not show civility to cigma Law Group nor your fellow board members you tried to Blindside the board members that do not share your opinion you are just one of 12 members on this board I certainly hope the district that you come from is taking notice because the
050rest of the districts are I do not have a good opinion of you and I believe your my opinion is shared your term is up this year prove me wrong or it is time for you to go I pray Bethlehem Township is paying attention thank you very much [Applause] is there any other public comments at this time my name is Kathleen Meer Crane and I'm from Clinton Township I don't know really what's going on with the attorney need to be honest with all of you and I'm not going to weigh in on that um if something needed to go through proper process it was tabled and that was great and I'm just shocked here tonight at how we're all everyone here is coming down on the president without talking about the people who were also
051inappropriately behaving three board members were completely inappropriate I watched them on the I wasn't here present I was watching it on the um the video and I counted three board members I've already written a letter so I'm not going to there's no need to call them out tonight but and and I believe you actually mentioned something about it at the time about the behavior that was going on um everyone has to act appropriately everyone has a political agenda so let's not pretend that it's there's not two sides to this story and again I'm not weighing in on attorneys I'm not familiar with each Law Group and what they should be doing or not doing I'm sure there was a good reason for whatever the president was trying to do but I also believe that the
052person with the gavel who's banging the gavel everyone here should be respectful of that and I watch three board members be completely disrespectful talking over raising their voice body language was inappropriate they're sniggering and laughing they had a million people sniggering and laughing in the audience all of this is inappropriate and divisive so there's two sides to both to to this whole situation and just because you guys drum up more people who come up here and and and complain doesn't mean that there's not more people like me who are also watching and also finding other things other board members acting inappropriately as well so I think the whole scene that I watched was unacceptable so I just hope that you guys do better because this District deserves better and most of the board was appropriate
053but the three that I saw were really embarrassing and we got to do better thank you are there any more public comments at this time we have about eight minutes left any more comments okay moving forward I think there's somebody oh go ahead nope go ahead Evie rerer Stewartsville New Jersey my comments are my own they don't represent the green Wich Township School Board um I wasn't here at the last meeting so I really can't comment on it I do want to thank all the board members because I know how hard you work so thank you one and all I know the president has a difficult position she also has more of the authority but one comment that I heard um from an audience member was that you all had an equal vote um the
054only comment I want to say is that I noticed that your votes are weighted which I haven't come across in my district it doesn't look like they're all equal just a comment but thank you again for all your hard work appreciate it any more public comments okay with no more public comments we'll close public comments and we will move on to um number 10 on the agenda ulum instruction and Technology committee report um Brandon yep um so we had a couple of uh items on the agenda um for the first time we put uh AI first on the agenda simply because it was a topic we kept meaning to get to um but not having the time so rich brone gave an update of some of the AI work going on in the district specifically
055uh staff inservice work at the beginning of the year that had broad exposure about AI technology what it could do he shared with us a series of grade level media literacy Civic uh lessons embedded into specific courses and subjects that focus on specific aspects of AI also the staff at large has access to the Geminis built-in um AI components and there had been some experiment mentation with subscription Gemini platforms um broadly they're seeking ways to develop more professional development and more thoughtful staff staff use and exploration um I was able to share some board level use of a couple of tools one being Google notebook LM um as a way of helping the board sort of access information among our meeting minutes and agendas and kind of demonstrating the way that you could put all
056of the resources into one place you could query them you could create outlines summaries uh FAQs and even generate a podcast which the committee listened to for a little bit um just to kind of Hear Voices talking about our resources and our work uh also shared another AI research platform called perplexity which is a natural language research tool that returns peer reviewed and database resources so again something that could potentially help board members in queries and research that they might be doing uh the sentiment was broadly that the committee encourages using AI tools to help Board of Ed members better understand all of the materials resources agendas and minutes uh that can often challenge getting up to speed for both new members and members who might not be working on specific committees in developing their
057broader understanding of the district I believe this past month also Dr BAC um was using some of the built-in features in Google meet where it was creating an audio transcription of those conversations and kind of encouraging folks to kind of go back and look at those things and those two become resources that can be queried um for accuracy or understanding particularly if you were a member of a meeting being able to go back and and recall specifics and details and and things of that sort um in conclusion the district recognizes the importance of teaching students about artificial intelligence the way that it works ethical and appropriate use and empowering students to effectively use AI tools for learning inquiry agency uh and lifelong learning of of students and adults we also recognize that students are entering
058college and professional fields that are already steeped in AI use so we are supportive of more staff PD and more AI educational use um second item was our uh monthly data which Rich reviewed uh briefly with us um standard data and the committee supports recommending those reports the third item that rich shared he had done some additional data analysis of some Ela and math standardized assessment data Trends um if you recall we typically get performance trends for a single assessment like the njsla 9 or the NJ GPA in math or English uh but in this case he was actually able to go back and follow a cohort of students through multiple grades grade seven grades 8 and grade n which really was allowing us for the first time to see a group of students moving
059overtime versus that yearly reporting that might uh just be a single data point and often puts us in a position of actually comparing different groups of kids one group the year before a different group the following year versus the same group over multiple years and recognizing that each might have some unique Trends and trajectories um as he shared those Trends with us it revealed consistent year-on-year growth in ela for that particular cohort um but also growth overall but less consistent growth in math particularly for students who were moving into algebra in grade nine and if you recall that kind of is an ongoing area of f Focus um as grade 8 math students move into the more challenging concepts of grade n algebra rich is going to continue to explore this this kind of data
060um and build cohort sets to give us a better sense of where our student growth is or if there's an absence of growth um that might help Define the trajectory of student standardized assessments uh that can better inform the curriculum and intervention work that the district is doing as well as articul conversations happening with the sending districts um and as far as going forward he'll continue to provide more data to help broaden and contextualize those single data points uh such as the NJ SLA and GPA um and that would be inclusive of things like the PSAT the SAT and at scores um and for thinking about strategic planning going forward this kind of information can help inform broader um what's called a portrait of a graduate that rich had shared with us a couple months
061ago that perhaps coming out of strategic planning uh that can help give us a more expansive and comprehensive view of what a graduate might look like in in many different dimensions um I think that is everything that I have and I don't know if any of the folks had qu uh questions or anything that I might have missed from committee members any questions okay I need a motion and a second to approve agenda items 10.1 10.2 second oh Tara was the motion and it was a tie between [Music] so you doing Taran Brian all in favor I any Nays or extensions thank you you're welcome um moving on to um policy and school security we have a committee report yes so policy and school security committee Mets on February 18th all were present um as
062everybody's aware that we're reviewing the New Jersey school board policy manual is now in um we we had High Hopes in uh trying to get through the first three sections um and kind of ear our conversation we kind of realized that it's a little bit more arduous than we had planned um so we're going to we're going to slow down a little bit and try to go through individual policies um one of the um um discussion revolved around some of the language at that um provided to replace our current policy manual we discussed some wordens such as adding language that would also evict someone for Lew and immoral acts as well as contact police there were some discussions about 1112 um. 6 r85 and why there are separate restrooms and concessions for visiting fans after
063some of these wording discussions it was decided that we might not be able to get through the three sections as I stated um but we're we are going to review 3000s and 4,000 series for next month and then uh and so we can start picking up the case a little bit um we're in the process and I think it's already been created uh develop a spreadsheet that will be used to input and track specific questions and actions as we go through the process because you know you have to kind of go through see what we have see what we what we're looking at see if there's any changes we also determined what board members have access to the critical policy resource manual on the Jersey school board's website there is a place that you can
064go to on there um to look what their policies are since we are board members we have the ability to get into that um and we print out policy sections for committee members that have requested that so thank you to the office staff for printing them out for us and uh the conclusion and what we're going to do is just continue with the policy manual review and create and we already have this spreadsheet and we're going to use that to start tracking questions and ideas any questions um I can't remember was the intention to um move through them obviously piece by piece but then we would be doing approving it all at once once the review was done yeah okay M and then in the website um access when you say that they have all
065the policies there um does that mean that there's policies there that aren't necessarily included in our sort of match policy work that was done for us so yeah so New Jersey Schoolboard policies would be their model policy so all uh school board members have the access to go in there to see what their policies are in L come compared to like stra SME so to speak but each individual School District might have some you know some changes depending on you know the the school and you know what's particular to that actual school but the ones that I guess we're seeing uh proposed for us are more or less boards model policies and then just sort of aded and then is there was there any mechanism with the policies as they're sort of being modified um
066is that sort of annotated in any way to see I know some of it's very obvious because it'll say like north 140s um but I didn't know if in other places um there were specific dimensions or I know a lot of times in stra Esme there's like a choice that you're having to make is is it going to be pursued done this way or this way um I just didn't know if there would be a way of knowing like where we might be more specifically tailoring that policy I mean the summary document does a nice job of that yeah well yeah so they did did they did provide a summary document for the policy committee that kind of gives you like what stra eses was compared to New Jersey school boards New Jersey school board
067tends to have like one policy that might have like three or four of the St SME and they reference back and forth so that way you can see what the New Jersey Schoolboard policy is compared the stra smme and then you can kind of compare and we still have access to our Str ese so then that's also another way of doing it but it does give a pretty good summary and um and it also because the numbers are very different for St estimate too so that way you can kind of cross check as well but it sounds like as you're going through it there's going to be instances like these specific questions that surface where there's going to be a little more deliberate Tailoring on our part there could be y y any other questions
068see any other questions we'll move forward um to finance facilities and transportation committee report Dan uh we met on the 18th uh everyone was present um the first thing on the agenda was the budget uh Katie gave it Katie and Doug gave us an update on the budget it's still being worked on so Doug will be filling Us in as we move forward and next month we'll have uh we'll be reviewing the budget for the first time um item two is the uh long range facility Plan update this is something we reported on previously uh it's now on the agenda for approval so that we can send this to the state for submission um we've you know we that's been vetted and and looked at so uh the committee is um saying that we should
069approve that uh on this agenda um the next agenda item is uh Professional Services peret sjin this is related to the long range facility plan um two projects that we had brought up in the previous meeting were the um the district office there's roof and sofits HVAC and the handicap ramp um and then the erosion that's going on uh behind the the salt shed there's actually photos in the fft folder if anybody wants to look so you can really see how what what kind of shape that those items are in so um that's what this the Professional Services are for for those two projects um the other items are standard there's a district donation uh one that's uh pretty straightforward um and then the uh last item was the uh legal services that um we
070had the discussion around the resolution at the last meeting it was brought to the fft committee um the um prior to the committee meeting Katie had put together a timeline if we and they had given us their recommendation that we should go to RFP for Legal Services uh this is something that's done typically every five years or as needed uh but it's usually every five years it's been four years and the discussion was um because of all the controversy and everything we should probably go through that process um we did talk about the the time frame um and sorry so basically the time frame would be that the board would or the administration excuse me will proceed with that process put out on RFP um we would form an ad hoc committee to um review
071those um proposals um with the uh result being a recommendation at the May meeting um which would then start um with a contract period that would start in July which is when the previous contract ends um we discussed it and it was the Committees the consensus of the committee that would move forward with the RFP process um and that is it there any questions on that well I W just because of the comment of decrease um funding what is this typical time where they would let us know we're having a decrease in funding or um going into our new budget I was just that was something that brought up and I didn't realize the timing is usually she represent federal grants and we're the State numbers will come in this week you know as far
072as our state aid we don't know what that will be we're hopeful that'll be flat okay uh but uh we we have to wait until it's Thursday I believe it's when they release that we'll know if we have a decline in funding now on the federal side we haven't received any notification uh regarding that okay yeah just curious on the timing on when that funding I it was before went budget so can kind of project the next few days is and is it my it's it's my understanding that Federal funding only affects certain programs I think or something at VES the yeah well the one that particularly affects at VES would be Title One title that's thank and that is a federal program but it does affect state aid too a lot of federal funds
073Focus so that's what we're hoping when we see on Thursday that so all right and we would have those updates come March for the preliminary budget we'll know those numbers definitively once we have numbers on Thursday Doug and I will be spending a lot of time together and yeah and we'll be presenting something to you would you have your ear to anything that would say that the state is just now getting information about potential Federal changes and therefore I haven't heard anything process of bit I haven't heard anything from the state that the federal changes are going to affect this all okay I'm not either okay no news is good news we'll take it so far I have a question I'm surprised that Miss blue was in attendance in the notaker with being on leave
074well she wasn't the actual notaker I she going to continue to be involved in this no that was her first day of leave and she really wanted to beat her to have a hand off to Doug to make sure transition really appreciate it okay you have a question okay um I had a question in regards to the minutes um it didn't I feel like we discussed also as the um during public comments about getting more information and coming back with information in regards to the questions that were raised um for transparency and I didn't see anything reflected in the minutes what we discussed and the discussions that we had during the committee in order to provide that transparency for community members and just to really be able to be clear and um also in regards
075to uh going out to RFP and um the concerns and like that so I I guess I'd like to make a motion to take from the table resolution 01 28 25-4 to switch Le council's roles so that we can clarify so do you want to have a discussion about what the fft committee talked about or you want to bring a motion back to the table well that's why I I'd like to bring it back to the table and so we can have more clarity okay you don't have to do that for clarity but you could do it if you'd like to I'd like to okay what are you making a motion on I'm sorry I'd like to make a motion to take back from the table to take from the table resolution 02825 d44 to
076switch lead counsels or from the original motion from the original motion so you need a second there's a motion I'll second that was Mr L so now so there discuss we have a motion on the on the floor we have a second for it was you're stating you're taking off the table yes the resolution 018 0125 2825 D4 and we're we like to have uh discussion um I know I was in that committee meeting um there were qu there was some going back and forth discussing um the questions that were asked there were questions raised at last month's meeting by board members when we were in discussion um specific questions um it was tabled and brought into fft so the questions were sent to the attorneys to both attorneys the same set of questions one
077one attorney responded answering questions and the other did not respond answering questions so I they were in the uh the folders and it was shared with board members so I'm hoping that every board member got the opportunity to look at those questions look at your responses um and discuss but I think what we're saying it's not on the minutes at all no there's no reflection of any discussion that we had and then there's some things on the on the agenda that weren't even shared to the public we talked about shared services we talked about agenda items our health Ben benefits we talked about driving um cost factors we we we talked about many things and we they're not they weren't shared so they're here but they're not shared with the public that's why we're doing
078this so I uh I went through the I guess the AI translation I don't know if that's what it's called like the you know just kind of look through and transcription transcription thank you um and uh I was it was it was kind of neat there was some things that were missing it looks like there was like words and sentences missing so but I did kind of go through that and then I did notice that they weren't on here but um I didn't know if they were going to be like up for discussion so that's why I guess well I think because of the um the discussion we talked about the um the questions and I think in my opinion the the the questions that were asked to the attorneys it's it's a very kind
079of informal uh process of just asking them those questions I came up at the meeting um I think one of the attorneys or both said that they would attend the fft meeting or would would answer questions in person um but I think during that discussion we discussed uh what the administration was advising which was to go to RFP we all agreed that that that was the process that should be followed and that's the recommendation that we brought to the board which I also mentioned during the meeting that I was um confused how um just a few months ago it was not you know admin was against going out for RFP and here we are now going out for RFP so I was concerned and confused about that um we were I would say they were
080they didn't say they were against going to RFP they just hadn't made that recommendation the recommendation came from the board president no that we that we were to switch the attorneys there was no discussion from administration because we usually wait uh 5 years which is what's the typical process is I'm referring to uh last year mid year when uh a board member yes when a board member brought up um an interest in going and you know to make a motion to go for RFP and at that time adman um was very solid on not moving forward with that and for transparency I feel that we need to have that we did have that discussion and the concern of going out for RFP um now when we um but the these were two different issues correct
081two different issues now it's supposedly cost previously it was it was a different issue it was also cost if I remember correctly I believe they were um not for it because the concern of the cost factor from what I recall you mean going forward with the RFP yes last year yeah but issue committee it was recomend amended to go out for RFP correct corre we all agree on that but I I think what what she's saying is there was a discussion that was had that she was trying to have and it's not being heard it's not reflected in the minut for transparency Kim do you mean um recommended to go for RFP now out of the committee that's what's coming out of committee a recommendation to go to to RFP yeah my recollection in June
082was there was a proposal to change attorneys and it was brought up at that June meeting that the the appropriate course would have been for it to then go to committee for a discussion and potential going out to RFP and then I guess my confusion is I know there were some questions that got surfaced as a result of last month's conversation that felt like it was something different than the committee's discussion for RFP and as we got the two sets of answers that you shared um one of them where one of the attorneys did not respond my impression of that was that they were not inclined to be giving us um fiscal advice on the choices that we might be making as part of there not responding to one of those questions in other words
083it wasn't their position to advise the district as to the choice the district might be making from a cost standpoint um at least that's how I read that particular response and then when I saw the RFP come from the committee I assumed that oh okay that was that was the process that we were following yes the motion was tabled so that motion was tabled it was brought back to committee committee because that's what was asked and it was asked at the board table for more clarity to uh there was questions asked at the table and there was that people wanted more clarity um there were people asked that specifically board members asking to table it because they did not have enough information so those questions were drawn right from the board meeting and there was
084about five of them and they went to both attorneys and cordially asked to respond and those were the questions that the the board members asked not me they came from the board table right and so we went through that whole process in committee and the resolution and the agreement of the it was unanimous that we would move forward with the RFP process so that is what I reported out so that that's the resolution of that whole process but if you go to agenda item three Legal Services discussion regarding resolution D4 and then there's nothing there if you you clearly go to the transcription and the well so but that's there was discussion but it should be your concern about your concern is with the minutes that has nothing to do with the actual resolution or
085the um what we're moving forward with we're not no one I'm not and I'm not saying we're not moving forward with RFP that's not the what the question was the question was the discussion of the resolution 02825 it was tabled it was brought into fft recommended by yourself to bring into fft correct we then rescinded the motion to put it in every committee and it went through fft correct but there's no information here we did have a there were some there was some conversation tonight this this discussion is around the now voting on this resolution this discussion is not about you're if you're in not in agreement with the minutes then you you can you can talk to I don't know how that that getss resolved how I mean typically between the chair you know
086but okay not here I don't yeah I don't have a problem with reflecting what was talked about in the in the meeting I'm just state I'm I'm I'm explaining that's where I think she's coming from that it's not on the on the there was discussion Place basically that um you know board members as well as community members are expecting information to come forth and I feel that we are not being transparent and providing them with the information we need based on what the men so that's one part and the other part is well let's bring it back to the table and we kind of already have it seems like we're discussing at least three different things but the only thing that's on the table is a it's been brought back a motion in a second
087that we that we can continue to discuss it but it's not the motion was not to improve the minutes you may have that desire and you may want to make that motion but the motion is to vote on that resolution correct correct which is to bring it off the table so then you can then make a motion to take action on it because right now you're just you're simply taking an an action to get back into onto the agenda okay and should should it be on that that should have been passed before we start talking about it then no no this is this is fine you have a motion have discussion now you now you can have discussion to bring it back for consideration have your discussion and have your vote and now it'll be
088off the table now you can then have another Motion in a second if you want to go ahead and discuss then going out for RFP it's just a procedural thing it's get out of the resolution was to was to flip the the motion has had a first and a second discussion on on to bring it back to the table untable it okay and I would you agree is can't can be separated from the question of oh yeah that's what we're saying it is they're two separate corre I'm not oh I don't I don't disagree that was a recommendation coming out of it she's saying she's requesting the motion to take it off the table right so you have to request that motion that has first so was a motion in a second yeah I agree
089it just talked a lot about the minutes and the decisions to go RFP because we can't do both we can't go to RFP and adopt that resolution that's not sure can oh we can go to we can do both yes you can do both yes but to So based on the this motion so my comment is based on the motion to pull this off the table I think it's I think it's unnecessary because we've already resolved the issue and we decided to move forward as and unanimously to move forward with the RFP process if you know the minutes are a separate discuss and and and that's fine I don't have a problem fixing it but that would be a separate resolution or a separate motion I should say is it is it appropriate to discuss
090or say what the questions were posed to theor yeah they were public they were they're in the drive everyone has is aware of them everyone has access to them you saw the questions there was no they were not my set questions they were the questions that came from the board table they're public to us as a board are they public to everybody they're not that's what I mean no okay it was to the board at the board table right now for discussion I mean those questions certainly can be can be addressed but they were questions questions were made in public right you're saying the questions came up right in the in our discussion in the course of the discussion through yeah I mean I will say that those questions are by no means a comprehensive
091set of questions they happen to have been representative of the happen stance conversation and wouldn't be a deliberate set of questions that you would put to a set of attorneys if you were going out to an RFP so I did not see them in any way as a replacement of an RFP process and I don't think any one of us in that committee is saying it's a replacement for RFP that it was an agreement in the committee to go out for RFP and the Ba's set the timeline for the RFP to begin so so here's where I'm at with this right so I've only been here six weeks so trying to grasp all this is is a lot to take in and this is is clearly a hot button issue for whatever reason um and
092I'm not I don't have that history for for why it is but where where I'm at with this is when this was presented at the last meeting I didn't feel comfortable moving forward with the information that we do now that that we had at the time I I do now so since that meeting um and we had discussed it in in in committee that if we were going to go down this road I didn't like the fact of a motion being on the table in perpetuity so I wanted to close it out one way or the other and and and then move forward that that's where I was at with this and sidebar because it's kind of connected but sort of not just to be clear one of the points I made in in the
093committee meeting is I think that there's other Professional Services that should be going out for RFP at the same time specifically because one was adopted the same day as legal services and one was adopted a year prior to that so I felt in my mind that by just going out for legal that it could be perceived that they're being singled out so I wanted to agreed I wanted to give my feedback that if we're going to go out for R RFP for the two Professional Services that were adopted at the same time or later additionally I I think and the consensus was that a 5year period was suffice I disagree with that especially in the in the economic Times that we're in I think a 5 years is an eternity my recommendation was kind of
094me in the middle and go for every three I understand that every year is probably not efficient but I think 5 years is way too long um but just to tie it up in a bat I wasn't prepared to to to take action or vote at the last meeting but I am now yeah I'll just reiterate that I definitely do not think we have appropriate or adequate information in those five questions in no way suffice as a thorough consideration of legal services but but to be fair on that that that's the questions that the board wanted answers to at the last meeting those are the questions that came up in the context of discussion they were not a set of questions that were solicited deliberately and thoughtfully to put together an expansive package of information
095on which to vote at the same time but those are the questions the port wanted answers to yeah coincidentally it's what came up in the moment so if I can interject when we discussion um again Administration recommends the RFB process it's what we've always done it's a standard operting process that happens in every school district that goes out for Professional Services it's just something that you do so that you um open the um opportunity up to every other law firm that's out there um so the proper way to do this is RFP again the board has full discretion to vote the way they want to tonight um but I just want to make it clear last time it was there was concern because ktie blue raised the issue I'm raising the issue now but this
096is not the recommendation of the superintendent I'm sorry I didn't hear the last part it's not the recommendation of the superintendent to move this forward tonight swap law firms without doing an RFP so then at this point the motion's on the table I didn't hear what you said I'm sorry so the motion's on the table yes it is yes we have take a vot okay well there's discussion yeah we're still discussing um irrespective of what questions are raised to the attorneys and I definitely have fresh eyes coming on because I don't I've been here so long as Rich has been here but was it concerning to anyone that and both of these attorneys are our attorneys was it a concern to anyone that given a set of questions irrespective of what they are that these
097are our attorneys questions are raised to them one answered them one didn't regardless of the type of question did that come up in committee was that anything anyone even noticed or looked at because I recall last meeting I was one that said I need more information and I thought that discussion was going to be here fine it was in committee even though that's not I think how I thought it was going to play out but given again two attorneys are asked questions one did not respond no well he did respond he just not to the questions and I don't to me it doesn't matter what the questions are it matters that that and the manner by which no but the proc respon is and the the issue is these are our attorneys correct and and
098given any attorney you would expect a board would expect when you ask a question to an attorney you get an answer the the response the response was a summary and I I'm trying to find it now but the the point was that I don't think they they felt comfortable responding to those questions by email and they wanted to come to the fft meeting to respond in person okay but so they would they would have responded but they weren't invited question so okay I I'd like to interject at no point and I had spoken with Rick we spoke about this asking the attorneys um at the end of last month's meeting having them come for presentation or coming into fft or to the board meeting and that was that we we spoke about it that that's
099something that they're not interviewing re-interviewing they have contracts with the district they are both legal counsel to our Board of Education they to the district they serve the district both councils and you know in what what capacity they're working on but there was no way I think there was this was a what I think was was the mishap the the attorneys would be working and switching of councils lead Council will continue on all the cases that are are wor we still have no we have no reason can I make the switch Dan may I finish please there's been no reason may I finish I apologize go ahead that but the the attorney would lead Council would continue all cases and and and uh Focus energy on on the cases that are are at hand and
100anything new coming in would flip to special Council they already have a contract they're not being fired they're not being amended it wasn't being changed just a clarification on that the contracts would have be changed amended yes they would have be amended yes yeah why they would not be they would be amended as to the roles no no no why are we doing this I spoke to that there's there's a few reasons can you Can you estimate how much money would save in a year it would be we're talking about four or five months changing the roles four to five months yeah kind of are We saving by doing this we are saving for hourly we're saving on hours hourly build we're the attorney is not here and that is at a request not at
101the board president as well I was we spoke rich and I and that there isn't a need to have a board attorney um at every meeting and Dr B that came from Dr B and I agree with that legal reason been done but there's things right you're talking about other savings and so forth yes yeah you're suggesting that the motivation for the change is to save money there are some savings yes can you provide an estimate or a bound what the numbers you think well Brian let me say this there was at the last meeting I didn't mean to interrupt you um there was some speculation that a a switch of this nature would result in a an additional cost of thousands of dollars I think a board member said that unquantifiable I think we
102kind of put that to rest that that is not going to be the case so okay that's but there may I don't I haven't seen anything to be fair I haven't seen anything quantifiable of savings right but we put to bed the speculation of thousands of dollars in additional cost so just just to be clear I also question the fact that bush Law Group is putting up One Flat Rate when I know that contractually there's a schedule of it's based on who would be performing what task like if I don't know his name the the head of bush Law Firm if he were to attend a meeting his hourly rate is very different than if if it's a a junior person and so we had a schedule of rates from Kango but we had one
103flat rate from Bush no we had a schedule of rates of from from Bush as well and what I saw there was one one hourly rate if you look at the resolution the resol go back to the resolution the resolution States the fees and I believe it's 175 for um bush Elation was raised that would be a savings so so certainly you must have penciled in some kind of number that said this is worth the commotion that's erupted to save because it's going to be a million dollars $100,000 a dollar surely before you've decided to do this you thought this is worth doing because it's going to save something can you share that something with the to save some something we are saving we're making we're making changes the as as the I'm sorry I
104can't hear you I apologize I'm sorry no no that's okay we're making savings the the board uh attorney is not here neither attorney is here um and there are savings hourly now I don't know to speak to that I will say I have requested to see the itemized bills list for legal because if you look at our bills list we have a a one lump sum of legal and they do come itemized and I have requested it and I have been denied four times so why is that him I've just been told no what was the answer just no uh no that we could look at those we could review those that I wouldn't understand them there would be who who told you that who told that was yourself no it was not yes I
105actually have the bills upstairs on my desk if you want to now because I we were going to look at them together but yes you had we had spoken and I asked you if I could have the itemized bills list I told you in the drive and you said no and you also stated that you alluded that I wouldn't be able to read them I wouldn't be sure and you know it would be if we opened it to all the board members cuz I had said it should be in the drive for the board members to see to look through and you said it would open up it be uh we it would be something in the Wii having all board members look at it would be a problem and there was there was issue
106to that the board councel it is the board counsel yes they they assist the administration and the ba and they work closely but the board hires the council so the board therefore should see the bills and be able to see itemized bills and I did re sounds like that's put to bed because we could rich is saying that you can get them correct sounds like that so then so they would be itemized bills in a drive for us to say no I was going to review them with Ken yeah as the board president run the district they run the district she requested to look at the bills with me and I said yes I would collect them so I am looking at the previous resolution to vote on the bills we vote on the you
107vot on the bills list yes I'm looking at the previous resolution and the rate uh Bush Law Group is $180 an hour for attorneys Kango was 225 for partners and 195 for associates I I'm I just know as a done Professional Services in the past I know there's probably a schedule of of rates depending on who's attending the meeting or who's doing the work I think that's in there let me just take a check I think that resolution is is in there I'm sorry it's 180 for attorneys and it doesn't mention any other attorneys attorneys in general and then paralal and clerks are build at $85 per hour that's all that's said in this agreement with bush Law Group so we could pencil it out right now so it's what $ 20 $30 an hour
108different something like that times1 hours that's assuming bush doesn't have a a rate for a part trying to get a feel for what what is the motivation here so Brian let me Chim in on that I okay I I I can't answer that specific question about it's your crumbs comment you said before like are we talking about Crumbs are we talking about needle moving are you talking about in in the with respect to saving money I agree um but in respect to saving money I dug into this a little bit and I I kind of looked at the the big picture the overarching kind of view not trying to look at it so needled in so to speak so just to put in perspective and I and I don't know if anyone's looked at this
109but so in 2023 total legal expenses here was 80,000 my eyes are getting bad uh $8,885 in 2024 it was 103 , 10209 year to date 2025 it's $ 26,571 40 well we had the negotiations so if I so I took it and I compared it so if you look at the averages right I just coming from an outsider here you look at the average of 2023 and I know each month doesn't have a legal bill right there's gaps there get a bill every month it's about $667 in 2023 and the average bill in 2024 was 8,591 184 and so far the average bill in 2025 is $4,285 70 I then took it a step further and compared the first two months of 2024 to the first two months of 2025 so if you look
110and and just they they lined up kind of neatly where there was invoices both January and February so in in in 2024 is $18,995 248 and again I said year to date is 26,571 40 so outside of this whole discussion that we're having this bucket of expenditures has exploded since 2023 for whatever reason I have no idea why for some of it cuz I wasn't here but one way or the other this this has to get put this has to get under control cuz it seems like it's just on an upward trajectory with for whatever reason no but you're you're not factoring that we had contract negotiations with the no I know but that's those are serious hours that we put in with tons of meetings to to resolve those contracts so that to extrapolate
111and the whole point of this is this is not our job this is his job and the Ba's job we're not supposed to be itemizing and quantifying because we don't know all that information because we're not board administ we're not administrators we're not superintendent we hire the superintendent so we shouldn't be making we shouldn't be making decisions about $30 an hour willy-nilly without for no reason there was no performance concerns there was no there's there's only 6 months left in the contract what what are we doing what seriously the time you're wasting and this I mean and now and are we going to receive how much are we is Bush going to be charging us for the time that they had to do to draft the resolution all the questions they've been asking I have
112a list of things that we I mean there are lists of things we could be doing we could be um I know we've been contacting them on a on a on a routine basis constantly check can we just consolidate those calls to maybe once a month where we we we call the attorney once a month get go through all the questions maybe not even once a month maybe have it done when we're in an executive session when they're already here and we're already paying for them to be here so we can save money and just and not have these constant calls and constant emails and constant thing that they're constantly responding to that's where these costs are coming from we're we're bombarding them with information and they're responding and then they charge us for us
113and that so we're generating all these costs why are you refering all these questions and everything like that I'm saying there's other ways for us to save money no I'm I'm asking what are you referring to that we're all it's as a board or you're you're specifically pointing out board members saying that they're contacting they're calling they're contacting attorneys I'm saying the the board is const we've we've had so much turmoil that we're constantly contacting them for response on different things and and asking them to and then and then reaching out to a second attorney for more questions more things these things can be cons I'm just saying this is a c way of cost savings but this is something we can discuss at fft and then figure out or like we said go out
114to RFP and figure out but I I don't understand why we're trying to run the district and circumvent the administration okay to save $30 an hour it's ridiculous Sor go ahead I was I wanted everybody to have their discussions in so I didn't want to interrupt in regards to cost but am I wrong in saying I thought there was something more than just cost in the reason why this resolution was brought up from the beginning Dan mention that I'm sorry Dan mentioned that in the meeting that he said that there was another reason which I asked him what is it I CU I didn't know yes we last month we it was brought and the concern being there yes uh could there be some savings absolutely can we you know it is a short period
115we would go out for RFP it's it's 5 months um and that we do have um our lead Council handling services for for board members for um an Ethics complaint and it is an Optics with the public that you have a board Council who's leading the board and is has established relationships with individual board members you you said that in our committee meeting I don't know where that's what your perception is I don't have that perception I don't even know what you're talking about why would we why wouldn't the board member why wouldn't the board want our board attorney to represent us when when an outsider from God knows where brought an Ethics you know random ethics charge we would want that person to represent the board and we should be as a group supporting
116those members for that I why would that be why would that be bad optic to have I think having our our board attorney representing certain board members on ethics charges and then all of a sudden going switching them out to another board attorney make that's bad Optics that wasn't that is not out no no no I'm not saying switch our representation I'm saying they representing these board members all of us and now we don't want them representing anything else no that's not true that's not true we said that they would switch roles and Lead Council would continue on all the cases that lead council's handling I understand but why would we they are our attorney why there's still this just goes back to the same question there's no it $30 an hour is not a
117reason for a board member to to bring up switching out uh our our attorney I mean the these rates have not changed for four years these are the rates that we agreed upon that we went through an RFP process that it's we vetted them this is and everyone decided at that time this is our attorney nothing has happened since then yeah can I interject I think what it comes down to and I think we discussed this in the meeting brass tax what this is some members of the board are satisfied with the representation and some aren't for whatever reason that's it that's what this is about that's it that's not what this says that's not that's what we talked about I'm saying that's what we talked about meaning that is what's going Onre it's being
118couched as a cost savings correct and and I would actually I would dissatisfied and not satisfied and I would agree with it and I actually liked your comment where you said I don't have any history here but I know that part of the board wants this and part of the board doesn't and there's a lot of conflict so maybe we should move forward with this instead of waiting for 5 years and you know what I agree with you and that's why we went forward with this RFP process that makes sense to me that all makes sense to me but switching them for six months makes no sense to me because there's nothing there's no reason to so are you saying it it will have a minimal effect no because I think the perception is that
119we don't trust them for some reason I feel that if we didn't trust them I mean it's just um in regards to Optics I believe if the motion was put on the table let's say um for RFP initially I think that would have been Optics as you're trying to um remove the current Council from where they're at I I took it as the consideration of keeping the council and just switching the roles and them still following through on their responsibil Am I Wrong am I correct am I not correct in regards to they would still follow through in regards to that that's what I understood and I just want to be clear and make it clear so that everybody is aware of that because now the perception is there was something else other than that
120but that's not what I understood I understood that you know we uh in switching the council you still have that group that Law Group representing and doing what they need to do for our fellow board members to pursue and cons uh the legal counsel but why are we switching so I I have a question so if we're going out already for an RFP right what what and you know I don't know how many law firms are going to come in with whatever proposals whatever um it could be five it could be 10 could be 15 it could be 20 what is this argument about what what is what makes a difference at this point about swap you're you're you're defending an attorney based on I I I'm kind of confused of the protection of an
121attorney if it doesn't matter because we got to go off for RFP anyway so if it's more comfortable because of perception of an Ethics violation that he's representing and he should be representing the entire board not just individual because when um if I'm not mistaken with an Ethics violation you're representing the individual not the board if he's a board attorney he represents the board as a whole Okay so I'm kind of confused if the perception is and and and and president feels that it is a conflict of interest it is not a good appearance because the he's supposed to be working for us who cares at this point just swap him and do the RFP he can go after to the RFP too correct so so so then why is there such an argument right
122now just to just swap it and move on for the rest of the meeting I I'm a little confused by by the that is not what this by the outcry I am I I don't I don't I don't know anything I I Kango bush worked with both of them in my career and they're both great attorneys I have no issue with either one of them and I'm not I'm I'm concerned about the process this is supposed to go to fft and that's what we done F and then we have this recommendation and then we have the recommendation but there's a motion but there is nothing in this resolution about Optics about that there's a conflict of interest but I don't think resolution dollars why would have they be in because that's the truth that's the
123that's the transparency the transparency is this isn't about $30 an hour this is about some kind of other reason what you're alluding to my point you just no I there's a resolution on here to switch it's okay there's a resolution on there to switch attorneys as we go out for RFP I don't think the resolution is going to put in there what the the reasons was the whole reason why it came to the table so we can have a board discussion so people were upset that it didn't go into fft because that's how it's always been done that doesn't mean it has to be done that way legally it doesn't have to be that way it was a perception that you guys thought that since it wasn't going through fft that there was something going
124on behind the scenes and I don't think that's what this was if anything putting a motion on the agenda in my opinion is pure transparency for everybody to see including the public not just coming out of fft so this resolution the information we were given was that it was about hourly rates and that's what we were discussing now you're telling it does say that the resolution States the resolution States switching law sorry I can't hear I'm sorry the resolution States it's switching of roles from special to lead leads to special and It quotes their their their fees and then when we asked you why you were telling me it was because of the rates not not not just that I did not say that you there no discussion about conflict of interest yes there was
125at the last board meeting yes there was yes because uh one of the board members got very angry and was yelling one of the board members was spewing at me shouting and screaming abhor so got a comment oh Brendan has been asking to speak an hour something like that this this is textbook micromanaging we are ignoring the administrative recommendation our reasons seem to switch faster than the weather from cost to process to this notion of Optics that everyone claims to have a definitive perception of but Optics are in the eye of the beholder as we hear from every speaker who steps up to this microphone um the savings argument I had separately reached out to Rich and Kim pointing out that we didn't need an attorney at every meeting and we would save much more
126by simply narrowing down when they were needed versus any debate of ours um and this is still subverting a process that was going to go to RFP and has resurfaced and is now trying to once again reassert a switch rather than following through the RFP process it's not resurfaced it was put the motion was tabled to go into f f f per Mr Spanton wanting it to go through fft committee that is where it the resolution went that's the natural progression that's where it is it was on the agenda for a discussion unanimous DEC the only thing you see on the agenda is the committee agenda is the resolution and there was discussion there are board members here that were in that committee there was discussion of you know what could could it be Miss
127Reyes had questions Mr lordy so it it wasn't that you know it's it as to Dan it's the motion of the RFP yes on the committee fft agenda there was discussion of RFP the SK time schedule and that the administration was recommending as well but the board councel coun is counsel to the board the board counsel yes certifies an assist the superintendent and the ba the board counsel does not respond answer Mr B Dr burx is not responsible for the attorney the attorney the auditor the uh the be uh board secretary and treasur of monies respond to the board not to the superintendent there is a clear chain of command and we're having a a dis discussion and it was placed on the agenda not for any other reason we wanted I wanted to have
128a transparent conversation that it was in the purview of the board and the public we contract both attorneys they are contracted with the district until June 30th period now we all are sitting here we have our emotional we're we're revved up there's reasons people are pointing fingers that it's it's agenda driven it's it's political no the agenda is driven by the board president and the superintendent it's in policy there was no other I had no other nothing other there you you say ulterior motive situation I've been doing this a long time I I care I'm here my constituents vote voted me here because I do care and it we need to get back to children yes and we're spinning about this the bottom line is it's a discussion and we agree to disagree we're we're
129adults here no more the the the screaming the yelling the heaven it's a discussion the motion's on the table there was a second we've had discussion is there any further discussion I just got one point of clarity for for those that weren't in that meeting because this seems to come up a couple times as a matter of process and procedure I specifically asked that question meaning it's the recommendation of the committee that we go to RFP but I asked specifically because this was table business could this be brought back up and the board votes however they vote mhm whether it's a yes or a no who knows I have no idea um and then go back to to the RFP process which was the recommendation of the superintendent and the answer that I got that
130I got to that was yes so if there's any process clarification I asked that question I move to call the question can I make one more comment I just want to make sure to that point um rich just like you said so that means we would switch to if if the motion passes we would switch law firms the contracts would have to be amended we'd have to adopt them next month um at March so then we would use a primary attorney from April May and June and then we would still have an RFP process that potentially could have another attorney that would be in there for the next X am amount of years like that's where I'm at right now just from administrative perspective it's but you know we we we would only have we'd
131have lead Council for three months and then do an RFP process correct okay that was my understanding was I asked that question just on a procedural basis that was I received yes you can do make sure yes we can but the administration doesn't recommend correct this is so with the attorney this is something the board does like the board is the one that selects the attorney is it the board attorney there's an ad hoc committee that's created to go through the process with um uh inviting Administration to participate and there is an interview process yes there's a timeline it's in our if you look in the drive now I did see that but I'm just trying to get some clarity because I hear a lot of board superintendent I'm not really sure and and isn't
132it that um you know refreshing my memory another board I've been on um that when the attorney is called it's the board president that calls the attorney is that correct like not everyone we can't pick up the phone and call the attorney right it you go no it goes there's a process yes right okay so I'm not just just want to clar on that CU I was you were saying that people we can call yes any any any any communication any email any phone call anything that any other board member just decides to bypass text message we are charged a sixth every single time so there's no I wasn't suggesting because I've never even spoken to joho it's always through the board person so and then those that are highly passion for the current setup
133I'm curious I'm also curious why you know you have the roots you know why you like it as is I guess I just want to follow what the administration is recommending okay same thing and it's been the process it's not it has nothing to do with the attorney it has to do with the process and what the administration is working on I've been happy with the attorney and I also am concerned that we're getting into trying to run the district agreed question D um the concern on the process but wasn't the process follow meaning we tabled it to go out to to go into committee it went to committee and we're back so the process was follow no correct but that original resolution is should be resolved with the RFP process was the resolution the
134process so you're saying that so you're saying that the process was followed for the RFP being pardon me the um the T when we table the resolution to go into committee and then come out you you're you don't have any problem with that process correct no goes the committee and come down no okay just wanted to CL yeah but the normal maybe it's not that it's not a policy that has to do this but the the practice has been a board member with sayy I'm not happy with the attorney representation we'd like to look into that it would go oh okay of committee X you next time you guys meet you look into that you come back with a recommendation you can attest to you can attest not a hey it's Tuesday guess what there's
135a new resolution my concern with the contract absolutely well can we I mean I guess that I mean like basically so you're you're asking for an example and the most recent example that I when when we were we were discussing the superintendent's contract we had a board discussion after that discussion the next day I had a lot of followup questions and some concerns I reached out to then board president sorry I should be speaking to you and it took a few and I sent an email with my concerns and my questions the next day it 3 days for that process for the for the board president to get back to me for whatever reason you know but in that conversation when we were addressing some of the questions that I had had this the comment
136was said that you know the attorney pretty much this is before anything was even public nobody was even aware what was going on at the time um the ball is already rolling and we can't stop it and my my response was well that's not true because nobody knows this isn't on the agenda there's we have no concerns well I was advised by the attorney XY and Z so right off the bat what that's concerning for me because I had a board member with significant questions about the process and and the way this situation had happened and I kind of got steamrolled and nothing was public so I do have a concern with council's judgment on when you're trying to ask questions and get clarity and you're told sit down pretty much I was told to
137sit down and it put put me in a very awkward position that I couldn't get my answerers question in time to be able to vote or have more information to vote differently and that was at the ex you know that was the attorney's recommendation wait I'm not finished then we have the special meeting we vote everything's fine there's a public complaint about a sunshine law issue I guess it was going back and forth I guess in the administration and with the attorney don't know what really exactly happened we come in for a regular meeting and then at the last second hand carry comes out of executive session it just to me seemed like it was predetermined and it was a little shady and for me I'm just not com I'm I'm not comfortable in that
138and then when you have an board attorney representing individuals and not just the board as a whole to me that's concerning so yes I do have concerns about the council that we may be getting it's not just about the money yes the money is huge I agree I I understand that but it we're going out for an RP RFP process right now we're not comfortable with some of the legal council that might be coming down the pike if we just switch it out they have the same opportunity as every other um Law Firm to go out for an RFP so that's my personal thing which just recently happened put me in a very awkward position between both the president and the superintendent and that was not my doing you have every right to have a
139concern right every board member can have a concern but I just wanted to share my concern okay it it's not a you know in my opinion you don't have to justify it for you know you it seems like that's what's going on here it's questioning well it's great that you're explaining kind of why your motivation was do that I was trying to hold that back because that's a private regardless you have a right as a board member to have a concern about something but typically that results in you know it's raised hey I've got a concern about this it gets discussed in committee and you know then reported out is discussed at the board level and we take action this that's not how this happened well at the time the president didn't think that was
140sufficient enough to bring into a committee or have a discussion about it even if it went to Personnel but you can bring it up at new business I mean you don't have to have a private conversation with the president you you can bring that concern up to the board and I'm sure there'll be well my goal was to do that it just didn't get to that point because of legal council's so I can understand in the experience that you're sharing right now you weren't able to share that experience that you had and what exactly took place because of legal advice correct is that what you're saying and out of respect for people at this table I kept that quiet so can I ask a question sure not not just you in general was the was
141there research done where if a board does it typically happen that if a an attorney is representing someone on a board for ethics charges do they do they s them out switch them out because of conflict of interest in other districts I can tell you in my in my past experience with ethics violations um it's a best practice and I've never seen this where the lead attorney is representing and particularly it's not just one person we have eight board members can you give an example um yes I I'm saying best practice and that the attorney themselves recused themselves and recommended to the client therefore a board member um other services that was in my local District so you know it's Optics and I I feel I know you keep saying Optics but that's it's your
142it's your Optics it's not our Optics okay so that's a but I'm saying it it is a to me in perception it's a conflict of interest it's your one person I'm not speaking for the board but I'm making my statement it is a conflict of interest in my opinion okay I I think it's fair to say that everyone's going to have their own reason right I mean I think I think every second we spend on this is taking our Eye Off the Ball personally so I mean at this point I don't unless I don't have anything else to say the Motions out there we got to there's an expression in Italian that I want to say but I won't but we got to move on so in my opinion so let's just either take this
143to a vote move on because I think the fact that this is such a hot button issue is in fact an issue in itself even better so and I think it's just time to move on so that's my suggestion we have a motion and a second on the floor for to uh the resolution untable no to untable unable and then you have to have another and we need a motion in second to vote on that resolution Mr chairman had made a motion to to call for the vote but it wasn't seconded so that dies okay so we need a motion on the floor no we have second to untable to untable it now we need a motion in a second no we need a vote need to vote and I'd like to do a roll
144call if you don't mind that is absolutely I would suggest and just to clarify this is to bring it off the table so that you can disc so then we can discuss it for the next an hour and a half tan I hope vot on it while two people aren't here not even on the agenda yes and it's not even bu Mr Chapman no Dr denin yes um Miss Gallow yes hence is yes Miss hence no uh Mr lordy yes Mr uh maaz macac no sorry Miss Reay yes re no she got itk you re and no worries okay thank you Mr spaton nope and Miss Selen yes okay is you yeah oh I didn't hear your name coming around the table so the answer is motion pass okay 7.2 is that a majority okay
145now it's on so do we need another motion or it's already on the table no you now now now that you brought it back to the table just motion because it it got table first there was a motion at the last meeting I'm presuming and then then there was a motion to table that motion and now you made a motion bring it off the table or back to the table and now you need a motion I said to bring back to the table that was the motion second to bring it off the floor back to the table now we need a motion second I thinked cces now the conversation would actually start right we've already had it kind of did it backwards so if there's a motion so I'll take I'll make the motion to
146adopt resolution 0128 25-4 and I need a second point of order I think we've done this completely wrong I'm sorry I think we've done this completely wrong I think when it was taken off the table the motion was on the table from last meeting the motion was to take it off off to T off the table back into consideration and then we then had a discussion and we voted on the passage of the motion did not we need a second for this there's a motion so there's a motion do we have a second okay okay so what do people think about this sorry that was good okay Miss kago discuss yeah no we have discussion I know when I ask about you know those that are passionate about you know keeping it the way it
147is um I'm interested to hear what you have to say about the current status of placement of the attorneys you said that you are so I'm just a process person um the only reason my recommendation is what it is is because I think we should be going through the process um I think swapping attorneys that we have one attorney for three months now as our primary attorney that will be take three months worth of cases and then go out to RFP and maybe not have that attorney do it I think it causes it's going to cause some the possibility of things falling through the cracks when it comes to legal terms so I think doing an RFP having a new attorney whether it is our existing attorney or or the one that we want to
148switch to or a completely um new attorney um I think that should be done through RFP and should be adopted for July 1 that way we we have a demarcation point we're allowed to phase up to that we're allowed to understand what legal cases are really important to still maintain some legal council with and what needs to be handed off it just allows us time to do those things and that was why I made the recommendation because I have no allegiance to either attorney I like it both I would like just to add to that but I guess that's like an assumption that we don't know you said things could fall through the cracks I mean that's kind of like an assumption then that bush W be ail to handle it so that's they handle
149it we'd have we'd have we'd have cases that would still be with kedo because it was only three months ago right and then we'd have cases with bush if Bush didn't win the RFP Orno didn't win the RFP then we'd have a third Council that would now start taking cases from July 1 on right so it just so from July 1st we would have we could attor we work so it hasor see differential between attorneys and whiches we prer which we don't I'm just tell you what my [Music] ration I can't hear I'm sorry this is a board discussion you are here is the public to view I would ask that you keep your comments and quiet please so the board table can have a discussion so yes some of these cases are very lengthy
150um we have one that was just filed um last week um that the our current Council was working on they continue to work on that but if we got something else a month from now then it' be a different Council working on that so it's just yeah the attorneys are not changing meaning they're not changing what they're currently they would that's what the motion is the motion is to change so that no no no I'm saying to clarify what you said they're not going to change what they're currently working on correct no that's okay so they're going to work on what they have pretty much on their plate right now so that will stay and remain for consistency purposes yeah correct well up until we get new cases right is filed then that brass tax
151it's who do you want to take the new cases until June 30th until June 30th correct that's what it comes down to and the idea that a new attorney would be taking up and may not have context or history um but that could happen anyway with RFP that could happen through RFP we could go out for RFP and neither one of these attorneys could end up being could end up being the attorney and then the new attorney lead attorney comes in so it could be one of them it might not but it does give a a the board a a chance and opportunity to see the other Council who who we contract and is as Dr BX has said is satisfied with both attorneys to see um Mr Bush's uh Services as well are we
152going to have him at the meeting I think that's been a discussion with uh Dr bjx that brought it to me and I you know if we're not having any action there's anything that we need to updated um exe through Personnel or executive session at this point uh it's been a we've discussed not having the attorney present only when needed I'm interpreting what the administration said is that having gone through been around to see a transition from attorneys maybe it's last time it happened was because of an RFP that it's not without costs of time of uh effort of communication so we're just deciding to put a little burden on if we switch we put a burden now and put possibly put a burden again in five months MH is there any further discussion okay
153you want to do a roll call vote M kegman yes Mr Chapman no Dr den no Miss Kell yes Miss hint no Mr lordy no Mr Isaac no Mr Rays yes Mr Spanton no and M solino yes 4.1 in favor motion doesn't pass motion does not pass okay okay at this time can I have a um is there any other discussion on uh fft anything on the agenda I just had one clarifying question and this may have been answered at a prior meeting regarding the um work needing to be done in and around this building I couldn't remember if it was determined to be as a result of the polych project in anyway it's not no these are um things we've actually been putting them off until poch is done cuz we don't want to
154redo walkways and things like that when a machine might roll over it so okay thanks any other discussion on fft this uh this process this RFP process for Legal Services is this just a board dock this is something that doesn't have to be approved it doesn't have to be approved now okay so then there we can we can discuss the the process and that I guess at some point we can I mean that pretty much lays it out the document that was in there and I was going to work with Doug Kitty had already um started something but we're going to have to work on it to get it complete to get it out and and the RFP will go out and we follow that timeline as closely as you can can we uh request
155to have that RFP placed on the website it will yes for the public to see so everyone can see that yeah we usually post it on our website and then we also I believe there's a list of um legal legal firms that it gets sent out to so that everybody is aware of it as well and then to tag off what Mr lordy said we approved in 2020 it was November 2020 I think 21 okay for our our architect they over so it was literally the same date and we voted on it approved y the architect and legal yep um on February 1621 so we really should be going out for it's AR the architect the discussion we had at fft according to Katie is the standard practice is 5 years um I believe M
156Mr lordy brought up the fact that he thinks it should be less than 5 years so maybe that's something we should that's what Katie was saying she was looking at that it was on the list my recommendation is to do the do the Architects next year um number one Doug is an inter room with us right you know we want to make sure we get through this year I think Legal Services is being done because it was a topic on table um architectural services we would do next year and probably orders I forget what the order insurance broker was the insurance yeah because we're also in the middle of the long range facility plan exactly and the and the they'll also be the demographic study will be might respons to run two rfps that we
157decided to do today just a note just but at it was question by an fft to to to bring those because next year would bring us to six years so no be five yeah to be five I think they were appointed they didn't start till 21 was it it say adop adoption dat Empire yeah just to clarify I just thought that you know taking a look at all the Professional Services that we had an opportunity to get them on the same cycle and I thought by doing it this way or the way you know we going out to Legal it gave the impression to me that it may be interpreted that they were being singled out so that's why I wanted to add the Professional Service that was adopted the same day and the year
158prior so then all three would be on the same cycle and if it is decided that that cycle is 5 years I personally think it's three but if it's decided that it's five then those three would go on the 5year cycle unless the board feels for whatever reason that they're not satisfied with the service and they can bring it up sooner yeah on that I guess I was wondering where they traditionally on different Cycles just so that we weren't doing multiple rfps for multiple services in the same year yeah some of those are bigger like you know the architect and the attorneys are bigger rfps than um something like the Mental Health Counselors right and um so having those in different Cycles actually does help so you're not trying to manage five rfps in a
159year um so this might work to our advantage to do legal this year do architectural um yeah we have the I have it right here and then um the LI but the what he's speaking to is the liability insurance2 that was appointed May of 2020 so can we can we can we bring that to a to kind of hash through it and kind of you know because I think there there also might be differences in the type of Professional Service on what's going on like if if we're in the middle of a long range I could speak to architecture if we're in the middle of a long range facility plan we might not we're going into strategic planning as well yeah exactly but but looking at these Katie has a you know the a running
160list I'm sure she's not has them all on as to Rich's question they're not all on the same time SEO that would be maddening no that's crazy that's crazy so she obviously has them broken down but looking at what we what um coming out of committee that's you know the 2020 for the health the insurance broker but then we were looking at uh the architect because it was done at the same time when we did the attorney in 20 the 2020 21 school year okay so we're going to have two next year and then three the following year I think Dan is suggesting maybe that you guys could your committee could well we'll talk to I mean k it's kti's recommendations or Rich you know we can put that as an agenda item as far
161as rfps and what the Cycles going to be sure um and even if you wanted to we wanted to you know change it a little bit we can go off cycle to start with and then get on a cycle right sure yeah that's what I I thought was good best practice yeah yep just so to avoid this situation again you know where it's we we have a Cadence that we're going to follow yeah I think Katie would say she had one but it's not the one you you would prefer I would agree with that I would absolutely agree that okay is there any other discussion okay can we H have a motion and a second to approve agenda items 12.1 through 12.5 13 13 oh sorry oh no am I looking I'm looking at the
162old man give me a break here 12 thank you Tara and I need a second Tara and Brian's yeah turn your there you go does that help that does help Brian thank you there'll be a quiz next mon all in favor I so there's not a roll call for this cuz I want to abstain from the bills list yeah you don't need a roll call you can just abstain from just abstain from it I'm going to abstain from the monthly bills list and you talking about 125 yeah I had question enough information so what's that did we vote no we're in the middle so I'm holding do we have a discuss a question and I brought this up last time so just to clarify we're voting on bills that were already paid correct well the
163check go out tomorrow so yes but authorized by the ba they're purchase orders that were already authorized for services that we've been the services have been provided and now we're paying for those services or products is that is that protocol is that how it works on the school side cuz that sounds crazy to me be honest with you I mean on the government side like the CFO couldn't pay a bill until the committee or the council approved so if there was ever I get that services will be rendered but at least it gives the board the opportunity I think we have a fiduciary response possibility to look at these things but if we have a question there's really not much we could do at that point because it's already and I don't love the language
164meaning we're approving like we're we're approving bills that were essentially already about to be paid right and and and we don't really have if there's a question like a whole a process that that that could be held like has that ever come up here I I fought through this concept when I first joined so so so it doesn't sound I'm not as crazy right here's my U you know after Consulting the school boards about it and not and you may not have been here when Katie reminded us that if we don't approve this kind of Hell Breaks Loose but basically the county commissioner gets involved in all kind of stuff so what how I internalize this is if you find something that you have a question about and you might object to it's going to
165come up again sure bring it up um and you say you know what uh I don't think we should be paying uh to have the as don't say legal yeah whatever it is I don't think we should be you know paying the cafeteria Supply people right then we have a discussion and we somehow then KD needs to figure out well heck what am I going to do now the board doesn't want to pay the cafeteria and I guess we just have to stop the C you know whatever the outcome is but it's it is after the fact but it's going to come around again so if you have a problem with it you can voice it so I guess my question would then be give me some rope here but like so and this is
166hypothetical no accusations let's just say there's a bad actor in place right that was had a relationship with a vendor or was doing whatever then it comes to the to the board and it comes Pas time 6 months a year we stumble upon all this stuff does it come back to the board in any way that we would have approved such invoices or bills that would have been deemed to be in bad faith and like does it get that bad actor off the hook that we approve them does that kind of make sense I if I'm understanding part of what you say every year the board president basically gets interviewed by the auditor um and what they are looking for is given the extent of your knowledge or to the best of your ability do
167you believe these services in this conduct to have been done ethically um and it's not that they're expecting you to be some sort of detective auditing into it but your general sense of it I think the other part of it and correct me if I'm wrong in terms of a lot of the vendors we annually approve hosts of vendors whose Services they continue to render monthly or periodically um and I guess that would potentially become the process that were how you're authorizing dissatisfied with the administration to administer to the public and to to our kids you know to keep think food service is quite a really good example because if you don't pay that bill then your kids don't eat it so we want to make sure we pay the bills and you also I
168believe hopefully you have a policy that allows the administration to let checks released earlier for um you know immediate needs yes we have that to yeah immediate so just just for reference there are districts in New Jersey um that do approve their bills before they're paid and I believe there's a local District now doing that and I I don't know if if if um Doug could speak to that I don't know I don't know you know personally anyone but there are looking researching and looking that that they do that something that we do yeah y yeah I I can't I I've just heard that through throughout my career of you know there are boards that look at every bill before but but that's what you're doing now those checks haven't gone out the door yet
169right right I'm not I'm I'm my experience is it comes to the the bills list comes We can question that and it's paid I've never in in my 16 years experience that's how it's paid but I'm just saying there are boards that do things differently Doug would that be considered the exception that boards are doing it that way yeah I I think it's it's rare just because of efficiency of keeping things moving you know you you you you don't want to U you know because at some point vendors might say well we don't want to do business because it takes 90 days to get paid you know that that's another risk that you have by you know adding additional oversight in in the the process of paying bills does that make sense okay so so
170if there's a question on specific Bill are you saying that the ba would have to hold it if there was disagreement from the board or not full correct and and normally what what the bill is is like if you have questions before the board meeting is to call you know and and say you know what what is this about so we can we can give you some background as to why we're making this payment yeah Katie's very open to if you have a question about something you can call her call her call BA in advance okay any question you call Doug right now not kati's busy okay noted for time but I will say I have a question on this one if I can um I saw on here and I don't know how much
171you can get into it because it seems I have no idea but there's a payment on here for 45,000 that says a settlement payment what is that executive session yeah we can talk about that in it's got a name on it I don't know who this person is can't discuss that but I I don't know what number is it it's my eyes are going but it's uh 038 747 it looks like I I just don't know what settlement payment means um when we're in executive session and the attorney will review um cases usually all that would have been discussed it can be discussed Dr BX can share that information with you so so I wasn't here it looks like before this is dated 122 I guess last year so does anyone here know what that
172is well we can't I do but I can't discuss it in I'll say you you guys know what it is yeah we discussed it in the executive session in December okay so me it's fair to say that Angela and I are the only two that don't know what it is correct right so what we're saying is if something like that comes up as you're going through the agenda we get the agenda 4 days before you go through those bills list go through and you send your questions to the ba and the ba will reach out to you make sure I'm copied on well dealt with being the intern but that's the process makes sense to me okay noted going forward okay is there any other discussion then on fft okay so I need a motion
173and a second to approve agenda items 12.1 through 12.5 you have that did I have that you have that already you you you you call for the vote did we do The Voice vote and no no we did not because um wanted to abstain on 12.5 which and we're good and so you and not everybody else go ahead and get your book okay you're good okay ladies are are we good sorry all in favor I I any needs or abstentions get the one thank you okay okay moving on to uh community relations student affairs committee report Tara just we haven't done that one yet uh the uh committee met on February 20th virtually and everybody was present including Dr Buress and uh Juliana um we had a couple agenda items Dr Buress addressed a few
174of them but one of the agenda items that came up was a student risk assessment survey um and uh Dr B has presented the survey to the committee um to explain that these come to us this one was coming to us from 100 prevention resources um and that there is a um an effort that has to be done by the district and we looked at you know uh to issue the survey and the cost that would take to issue it versus what we're getting back from it and it was discussed that um some of the main concerns was consent an act of consent so this was the type of survey that we would have to spend extra on uh administering um and we've noted that there were already existing methods to monitor students including um
175our counselors who address behavioral issues um the survey was linked to funding for nonprofits but it wouldn't be a benefit back to the school so we waved the survey and what it was asking and the cost of us to administer and what would we get back so at this point um Dr Burgess uh and the committee we decided that we would opt out of it we we could opt in and opt out and it was brought to our attention that some of the other districts in the county were opting out too the high school districts so um he led the um the survey areas the hter and Behavioral Health know that we were opting out of this um so that was what that point was that came to our uh committee uh the other big
176area that we discussed is our district strategic planning um so right now the surveys had just gone out and there was what now 237 um and 71 responses um the dates are the 25th for North hunon March 27th for bories uh there was discussion that we'll try and either do coffee and tea pizzas to get the community to come out and we're really hoping for a robost turnout both with this all of our stakeholders with um students parents other committee me community members um and that we can develop a really strong strategic plan so there's a lot of excitement there um and uh there'll be continue push um one of the areas that came up is that if we could put the information out on the websites um to Garner more Community input um and
177that discussion led into another agenda item that was brought up that had come up in uh Personnel um and then we moved it over to community relations is um looking at our website and using it as a tool uh data Gathering and providing information for all of our parents and students and community members of what's going on in the district so um our it's come up in the past but it there was a cost on trying to revamp it um kind of a high cost but we're looking at um the platform that's being used right now is uh a WordPress right was basically the framework so sometimes things aren't able to be updated uh timely they get cumbersome so the thought is that we'll move forward in the um and then it'll probably go to
178if we have to have a cost incurred um fft to discuss um putting Mone towards updating our website um so there's possibilities that the revamp could happen now with our existing infrastructure over the summer so that come up the new year it'll be functional easy to access userfriendly and then well you know all of the work that we've done through strategic plan could kind of be into the uh portal the the web basee between north and Boris um we are going to ask the technology director to look at pricing uh for revamping and if we get that back then we'll have to look and see if we can come up with the Monies to put into the website which I think would be prudent considering it's been how many years um and it's a huge
179tool it's the face it's the interface between students and parents in our community so we're going to do something it's just a matter of what yeah exactly and the cost would be so so anyway so that was um what we discussed there are two items that we have to vote on um the mythology Club um has gone through all of the protocol it's a non-paid club there's been more than 10 students and an advisor so we'd be voting on that at B's high school and then our standard um the overnight field trips and this field trip is uh for 20126 they need a lot of planning so it's a Florida trip um so we would need to approve that tonight so they can go to Florida and participate any questions from anybody I have a
180question sure so a few years ago we looked at I probably you're probably pushing right I think four years T years and we talked about different sites and we looked at all the high schools locally that were similar to ours and is that possible to look at that to or you is that something where you have a gauge we are yeah that's that's part of what we're doing is looking at what other people what they're Happ with and it's we're actually switching to final site for mass communication so one of the sites one of the areas that we're going to look at maybe consolidating everything under one to see what what else is out there but there's yeah but there's we're going to look at other products yeah and then I had a question about
181the student focus groups so the student focus groups are going to be organized within the schools to kind of talk about the strategic planning are they going to get the same kind of questions how what what are those meant to do um it's I I don't have the questions yet from forign I'm Consulting um but my understanding is that there are separate set of questions that are based towards students and what their experien is in the school and what they'd like to see you know again around those five pillars of qac so it's still structured in the same format it's just their questions are going to be a little different because they're students so and our idea is to try to find a um you know between the building principles make sure that we have
182a representative sample of all the students so obviously some of our student leaders but not just all the student leaders right you want to hear from that's what I'm saying like I don't want to just to be the ones who want to kind of like always like to be in kind want to get on that are kind of quiet and don't really like stand in I have some thoughts on how I'm going to get recommendations and I think we'll get a pretty good represent that way you get a more a better representation of of all all the kids yeah we as a board be able to see the questions to the students since we we've seen the questions that are going out to the general Community as well uh for the focus group yeah we
183could that would delay the process I'd have to bring it up to the next board meeting and I wouldn't be able to have the focus groups until after that but we could do that no we don't have to the board could sh the board we don't have to vot just sharing them vote on them because there's board members that don't have children students in the in the district either without doubt yep and then the results of strategic planning the um timeline is hopefully by May we'll have um results yes so this is not a question about the platform for the new or the upgraded website but was there a discussion of we have a pool of a lot of very Tech using Savvy people say that too are they is there could you actually have
184it like a like a group of students designed it or is it really meant for the parents and so you need it to be more you know aerial 15 F I think it's user we were looking for back when we look talk years back we were looking at it when seeing what everybody was using and talking about being user friendly you know and that there was you know as parents coming you know how to find this where to find this even as new board members I know I've gotten Miss Dean's called Mr lordy where do I find this where do I where's this where's that and you just maybe it's not for the students so maybe it's I think it's a Well I think it is there's students there's parents there's a lot of of
185people that go on our website people who are moving in the district that's the first thing they go to is our website absolutely what's the school about what's the demographics what where there there's a lot of people that people are looking at a job they're looking at and then one of the things that didn't come up in our discussion per se is but it had come up four years ago is the thought that some of the uh Tech U students you know there might be an opportunity of working going forward on keeping the update and interfacing but that would be you know if it's class or it's a club could you know take on those kind of projects with an advisor to you know work on updating you know there might be you know if
186they're interested in web development there could be a web development club that is the votch school have that as a I was going to just ask that a p a track I yes did they have they might have it at central campus I know it's not going to be here yeah it's not one of the programs don't here so could it be a possibility that in one of our classes that the teachers teach that this could be like a project for them to do yeah that's something I would you know again I have to consult with G on a few things but we have um we have there is some liability um on our public website that you have to be concerned about um and just from our cyber liability insurance um the less the
187more people that have access to things like that the greater the risk is to our cyber liability insurance which then raises those prices and it becomes like a whole cycle of things so input there there's there's definitely room for involvement yes um without a doubt because we like our kids to be to touch upon what Tara was suggesting and maybe it's something for a future new business I don't know if the district currently has any um students tech support staff positions um during the school year no we have summer um tech support that help over to Summer and yeah that gets posted every year because I know there's models out there where students are sometimes that that help that Hub help to that's probably when you'd want to flip it too right you don't want
188to do that mid school year you would want to start a school year off that way yeah with a program like that I mean flip the website in the summer yes that was part of discussion time well you you could definitely survey the student population and parents as to you know what they like about the the website what they don't like you know and because they're using it and I'm sure we'd get a lot of feedback from the students you know and you might get ideas that they can't be Hands-On but they could you know you take that discussion back you know to um through the proper change and yeah so they have a say in it but I I think surveying our our public our families the parents of kids here in the district
189and students first they're using it they're going in there and using the website I mean we've all been there with kids or not and it's not always user friend wasn't the best it was free but you know there's limitations when things are free so hopefully we'll move that forward yeah school year okay um is there any other discussion in community relations I guess the only thing I'd like to chim in on brought that up because I had it in my notes that website stinks so it almost sounds like you're going to hear the AOL dial up when you go on that website and I don't like the fact and I brought this up once before like if we're going down this road change the the domain gee I don't know if that's possible but theet
190makes it sound like 1995 so either switch it to a.org orc I think G7 Own It edu I think edu I thought holding to it is reserved for univ is only for universities the op the option is um k2. nj. us or net or you can do it but not net seems archaic to me it just seems It's just scream Stony that's me and then I don't know if probably makes it cool that's not cool the keid will not think that's when the old guys are pissed off about it that's it's cool the other thing is um if we're going to go down the road I don't maybe look to an app if if we can does that probably drive more traffic than the website these days I would assume what students I don't know
191if any students that go on the website right so so what I what I'm assuming there's no app mobile so so so what I'm assuming they're doing is they're probably just bookmarking the website to their to their phone which the functionality is not always great so it would be my suggestion that if or if the board you know just maybe look into it I have no idea but it seems like if you're going to go down that road road why not explore it so this idea came up last week so we are starting that process and these are all great ideas it's good progress Beginnings any other discussion okay I need a call for a motion and second to approve agenda items 13.1 through 13.2 so move second so I got Dan and Angela Deanie
192she's got her thank you all in favor I I any n extensions motion carries okay at this time we'll take uh the delegates reports um Tara uh we're we the next delegate um assembly is on May 10th it's a Saturday and uh I I'm the voting but everyone is able to come go to the event so it's sit down at corer County Community College and I highly recommend at least once in your term to go to um the delegates um once the uh agenda the pro handbook is um released I'll share it all you know send you guys the link on it um and then we've brought it up before we can put in resolutions if we as a board um want to write a resolution and submit it we can do that we've never
193done it as a board um but that's what we vote on when we go there so school districts throughout the whole state and now that we're using school boards as our policy it may be something we want to do you know if not this one the November um you know if we have a new resolution or we want to change verbiage on one of their policies because we're adopting the majority I mean we're adopting those policies and adapting them to our district to make them us but that's something we can do as a district we've never done it so I just put that out there all the time it's work but it's can you Tara can you share um when the timelines come out for because there's they meet twice a year so can you
194share those timelines with the board to give us a lead time so because going month to month to our meetings we may miss that window yep I'll send everybody in email so and then everybody we've got newbies on the board that are thinking you know outside the box and you know that that would be great you know yep I'll do that um tomorrow so for the upcoming one it'll be within the next six weeks close down I just don't know the exact date yeah I knew you would know yeah thank you um Christina yes so Hunning County delegate um I volunteered to do this on January 28th at our last meeting and the first meeting was in two days so I had a conflict um but it was it was virtual on January 30th the
195topic was preparing a School District budget I was able to find out if there is a way I could View the footage and they didn't record that one but the day prior There Was An Ocean County presentation with the same speaker um so I listened to that it was Charlie Muller who is the ba and residence for njsba and also the ba for Point Pleasant school district and it was more of a question and answer between the two um allow the information was what we're doing in fft getting ready for the budget um The Talk was about how important it is to look back several years which I'm sure Katie has been doing for Trends and then also future expenses utilities health benefits and so on and so forth so that the nice thing about
196all the county meetings is for January and February it's all online so you can go to any of them and tap in so we still have a few more days left of February and then they start becoming um in person another thing I wanted to mention is Karen Callahan who's a lead coordinator reached out with an email that we all got in January January 15th if you want I can I can kind of re forward it to everybody because it's probably way down in our email lists um candidates for president vice president and second vice president for the Hunter and County School boards Association they're asking for um anybody who's interested to fill out a form and the deadline for that is March 1st so it's coming up in a few days um so you're
197interest if you're interested you could go back to that email or if you want I can forward that email um also there's a nominating committee which the the committee will review all candidate submissions I submitted interest a while ago and I was selected to be on that nominating committee so it's myself and two other people who are going to be doing this and and we are meeting at the end of March to review and then the vote for the candidates will be at the May 1st meeting the May 1 meeting will be in person um not sure where it is yet but it will be for a 25 for the 25 2020 25 2027 term so two-year term congratulations yeah that's awesome thank you yes thanks for volunteering for that M yeah we're going to
198meet March 19th to review the candidates so the next meeting is UN is unsung heroes which really fun to be at last year so it's next Wednesday March 5th from 6:30 to 8:30 and it's if you're not familiar with it um it'll be at JP case Middle School for students in 8th grade and high school seniors who are nominated by their schools who have perhaps faced obstacles or they've given back to Community with little Fan Fair so it's students who are recognized for the stories are phenomenal what their background is I'm looking forward to it and we have nominees from both schools yeah like someone who who helped deler bring deliver a baby I'm not sure that blew me away but yeah both beles in submit that could have happened after the nomination could actually
199so that's it for me if there's any questions and just a tag off of Christina so Christina called me and she's like I'm not going to be able to make that meeting but there it seemed uh it seemed like January they were all the county meetings were doing the same thing so it was a presentation I I I I recommended to everyone to go into New Jersey school boards and look at your your PD and go through and you know sign up for them it's online it's virtual and they send you the materials afterwards for you to preview and go through it so um I was there Tara I think it was Tara and I Angela you might some one of you was yeah I could see that in our in our the query so
200um it's a great great tool thank you for doing that Christina Kim not related to that but at somewhat you reminded me um I know will we each will have coming up whatever year training we have to do as board members I sort of recall um previously and I can't remember if it was Katie or somebody else um the Ba's office kind have a list of what what's available depending on which thing they Katie would that would come from the Ba's office I don't know who sends that out if it's I think Katie and Cindy manage that together and they'll let you know what what to do I will I it's different for each of us depending on where you are but new term it comes up y yes so I'm going to weigh in
201here on this one because I have experience here so just make sure that when you tell the board members which which training they have to take all the available options that they can take say training because there's more than one I did not know that I know now but just throw it out there yes and the options are right in person yeah you could do U memory service you could do uh three-day um at a selected site you could do virtual which was three three nights for two hours you could do one day in person which I think was six or seven hours or you could do what they call self-pace and you go into your your pace so there are I I have no idea if it's if that's the same for uh you
202guys that are a different yeah this is no that was new member right that's was for for new member I would assume it's similar but don't take my word for there's requirements I should proed there's more than one option at least that was but there's also the new member orientation it's a weekend I think correct Angela de just did that this weekend yes went through it this weekend it was awesome you see I am carrying my binder with me rejuvenated I have my positive pants on and I am ready yes I'm here for you and you should have access to school boards um you log in and you'll have your own account and it'll show you all of the courses you've taken all of the um you know County training school uh workshops and all
203that but they'll also let you know what what year what you need on um you like your governance and finance I think your second year is finance so yeah and it's now finance and policy they add they Incorporated policy in governance too so it's now policy and finance yeah which is great so if you have any questions that's where you'd ask um the ba um moving on to uh Personnel Personnel committee met February 19th at 6:30 and it was virtual and everybody was in attendance now we we discussed all the agenda items in addition we discuss non-confidential items that we want to plan on um so I do have a report out on that that's something that's different that our committee would like to have an agenda and we didn't have the agenda together but
204we have the minutes right now so from this point forward we will have an agenda if there's any additional discussion items and the minutes which I'm reporting on right now so um agenda item number one there were job descriptions that we wanted to take a look at the superintendent of schools and the assistant superintendent and we decided it was a brief survey and we really wanted to take time to do a proper review since this is part of our bylaws to review job descriptions that could perhaps be outdated um so we are next um month going to make a more comprehensive review of the superintendent job description and compar it to NJ sba's um template of job descriptions and then from that point forward we're going to try to review two job job descriptions per
205month starting with administrative roles and then moving into the instructional positions um so that's our plan throughout the year and then agenda item number two was um the organizational chart we discussed that the organizational chart need to be updated there's some positions that we um just recently hired that were missing so that was added and we voted on that toight right and then thirdly we have um paraprofessional positions where we currently require the substitute certificate which requires 60 college credits and we discussed the option of hiring individuals for pray professional PHS who either hold a pray professional certificate issued by the state or if they are eligible for a substitute certificate so that would reduced reduce their cost and increase our potential intake of those particular professionals um once we have the pair of professional
206certificate as an option our hope is that this will broaden our pool of employees so we want to take steps to allow that to happen to C to have a certific certificate to employ our esps and research and change of policy um is what our action item is contract language right so then the last piece was about the um the website we talked about as well which we just discussed got referred over to community relations great so any questions or comments with that just a suggestion um just for the superintendent I guess because there's a policy a new in in the N njsba it's a new policy 2131 specifically about the superintendent we probably want to make sure they're not contradicting each other at a minimum so um when I recently reviewed that I okay
207my first reaction was holy crap you got a big job after that me too uh just reminded me that if you're gonna that those I'm sure those job descriptions are pretty I mean the job description is pretty closely aligned with that but you wouldn't want something that contradicts Absolutely I'll take a look okay any other discussion for Christine questions for Christina okay there's also one on the ba if you eventually get one of your future months that level there's one on the ba as well okay I need a call for a motion second um to adopt resolution 022 25 uh 2 for executive session to discuss matters falling under category 8 as reflected in the attached resolution the board expects to be an executive session for approximately 1 hour and upon turn public session action
208will be taken I so move God help I who the second re well it's a blanket all in favor I any Nays or exensions I'm just going to that my district ad e e e a motion and second to reconvene public session move second all in favor I any Nays or extensions okay at this time I need a call for a motion and second to approve agenda items 18.1 uh motion second motion second and uh a roll call vote on that we are tabling do I need to uh make a motion to table that do say a second just want to clarify what doug your roll call yeah do we need to make a a motion though to table 18.2 no okay because you didn't move it okay you only moved 18.1 perfect uh roll
209call vote uh Miss Kegel yes Mr Chapman yes Dr Den Dei yes de sorry okay Miss C yes Miss hins yes Mr lordy yes Mr mcisaac yes M Rays yes Mr spenton yes and Miss SEL yes the motion carried okay moving forward old and any old and new business new business um I was just I I wanted to make a suggestion that at the next fft meeting that maybe we can set a uh agree upon because I know there's been a lot of discussion about when the board attorney is present at the meeting um and I know there's a lot of costs involved and so um maybe we can set like a whatever we want that to be every four months every or as you said when uh forget what your suggestion was before that
210when it's when there's something that's coming up that I think yeah and I just to be transparent that when we have the discussion I I said to Rich what's your recommendation do we have anything on the table that needs to be discussed or is there anything that can be held and Rich had spoken to Al can make no law and it's something that can be updated in March and and I'm assuming that anything that like if we have a question or a situation or a motion situation that we had and we're a little confused and we can take that to the attorney and it's a much cheaper conversation call than it is for him to sit here for 4 hours and go through with what we just went through right I'm assuming right if there's
211a question we can there's there's certain things that we if we had a question without a doubt we can just get a legal opinion on that question there's other things sorry that the attorney we would want them to brief the full board on and be able to have the board ask questions of the attorney based on that process would that be in public or an executive session that would be an executive session that's what I meant okay so then they would just show up for the executive session then we don't need to pay for the three hours that we're sitting here deliberating about a motion it depends if we know when we're going to go into executive session because we don't tonight was really know when we're going in typically but but I agree as
212needed it's as needed I mean that's why you can't really make a schedule of it then it would just be like hey we have a couple things like or something going on I see what you're saying to absolutely but I said I see to see if you need the attorney for that specific meeting no no no so when Rich and I discussed he call we calls me and we were talking about agenda items and I and I said to him what is your recommendation on you know having the attorney what is you know and and we discussed it there's really unless we have something on the table that needs to be addressed you know we don't have to spend those costs and many of the attorneys agree they don't have to be here they don't
213want to be here I'm not arguing that I'm saying I just think because none of us know when they're coming or not coming I think we should just have the discussion about what that process should be whether it's you know we we agree that okay whenever rich said you know contact you and say what we're saying Dr that's the conversation you had I'm saying none of us have been part of that discussion I mean that's something if you wanted to send out we wanted me to send out to the board after you discuss it with me and we're going to talk about it and then we're going to figure out but I think what Dan is asking if we he just wants it to be referred to fftt so we can discuss it in fft
214but me and you also can have a discussion that's F that's fine yeah just for clarity just for that's fine can I ask why it would be fft yeah oh I don't know I don't know what I mean typically contracts are discussed there under the finance all right but this is a question uh sorry if I misunderstood but I think there is a question of when do we have the board attorney attend our board meetings and to me there's a of course it's it can't get any cheaper than not paying them to be here right but what are we giving up like what what what risk is there maybe zero risk but or is there some risk that that is happens when you don't have an attorney but I don't it's I don't care what
215committee falls under but you know finance and Facilities maybe it's a policy thing or it could also be perception I I know we've had our discussion about it it could also fall into Personnel because even though they're not employee of Dr bers they are employed by the board so yeah I I just would encourage it there is some discussion yeah I don't care what committee it f on that's fine yeah like you said I just want a clarification what are we giving up yeah besides saving money and I think you're all looking and we have these conversations you're all everyone has said this sitting here and we're discussing and we all agree to disagree and that's okay but that was a recommendation from Dr bers that was not my recommendation nor uh moving to we
216talked about uh you know um having officers you know um we've had talked about the contracts you know that's something that I've I said I kicked it back to Rich when he asked me and I said well what's your recommendation so I think it comes the the ccil is here for the is hired by the board right so that is something again I'm being transparent and sharing it but I asked Dr burjack and there was no need for it last month was no I'm not question I'm not questioning any of that I'm just saying we I'd like to set a standard practice going forward well I think that would be between when we discuss that and say hey is there as I said to Rich I said is there anything urgency that has to be
217discussed in tonight in in executive session and there was he spoke with kenno and there was not it it could hold till March so I would imagine if you're looking for a number I don't think you can always give that a fixed timeline when I'm not asking for I'm asking for a discuss this discussion to say and maybe the resolution is whenever Rich recommends it and then that's fine moving forward just like a committee to look at a committee to look at that well let's rich and I talk about it and then Rich can make a recommendation and find a committee to put that in fine that's that's I'm all I'm asking I have something oh I don't I guess it's new business I guess yeah so a couple things one I I want to
218just hit upon some of the public comments that were spoken at the podium to me signified that there could be a potential information that's leaking from from the board to the public because there's certain things that they had said about the processes and and um there was two things oh gosh I got to go back and read but I just want to bring up the confidentiality that um we're sitting at the board we do we are having conversations um and I just feel that some of the public comments from last week and from this week signify to me that there could be a potential information being leaked out to the public and I just want to kind of reiterate our confidentiality and our oats when we when we took this position so that's one I
219don't know if anybody has any discussion want to talk about that I I I I totally agree I mean I I was I was very hard to sit here quietly and I don't want to make faces I don't want to make anybody uncomfortable up there half of them are about me anyway so I just don't it's not easy to stand there okay but the things that I was hearing I was like there is no way that that person would know a public comment unless something was being said now I just want to lay that on the table because you know I don't say it's intentional maybe it is I don't know but just I'm concerned I'm really concerned when is the agenda made public very concerned Friday the Friday yeah but there were certain comments
220besides on the agenda that that that like the processes and this and this and that and you know and when one of the public comments stating that you know we didn't take the superintendent's recommendation and like it's there was a couple of very very specific things and I'm going to go back to watch all them so I can bring that back to the board that I can say that that was definitely not something that was discussed in the last public session so I just wanted to remind everybody of that because that could be a potential problem especially when it comes to something with Personnel or something or something with like your contract or something I mean there that you know those are private information I shared my concern about what had happened with me with
221Rich's contract because that was very hard for me it was a hard thing for me um and that's why I wanted to share that but I kept that quiet specifically because it just didn't want to murky water you know but I I felt that that was a necessary time to bring that up publicly because that's what happened to me so and now the board is aware of that a lot of people were accusing me of certain things and that's not true but I tried to do the right chain of command and it did not work properly so that was just my two cents and then I have one more anybody else I mean I know there's well we're still on new business okay so this is also new business again about confidentiality we are meeting
222on zoom in committee meetings if you can't turn on your camera in my opinion you should not be in the meeting if you're traveling or there's a specific kind of situation that you're you're you know you're traveling from back and forth for somebody I understand I feel as a representative being elected that my face is on that screen and and I I want to be present when I'm I'm on that screen and I kind of feel that it is disrespectful um when other members aren't doing the same and I don't know if anybody shares that same thing but well I just want to point out I had a turn my camera off because I had bad internet the other day mine kept freezing so you guys were all there in my one committee and that's
223the only reason I had to turn it off is because no no but I'm just saying I was I'm always on but my connectivity for two days and then I just got to think it happened in your other your point you did bring that up but she you did say technical difficulties you did say that so we we understood no no I'm saying but I don't I don't know if I've ever been in any meeting where people you know pop I have since I started since since I've been on the board from from day one I tried very hard to sit quietly the only thing that BS to I okay wait a minute well are you have anything else to say yeah I'm just saying I just try to give the respect and honor to
224one the committee chair to the superintendent to the board president that like I'm present and like my screen is on if I have to run to the ladies room obviously screen goes off I don't know I just feel that there I don't know about these Zoom committee meetings honestly I don't I don't know if I'm I'm fully comfortable BR them back to in person I I would prefer there that's I'll have a tag on in a second are you finished I'm finished does someone else was commenting I had a question on that was it that your screen was just frozen or how was the C the camera couldn't make the internet connection any worse was it just that you were just like Frozen face is that what it was yeah no it would freeze up
225everything would freeze up so they suggesting me to turn the camera off because then I was able to hear because oh is that right she was lagging like she was was lagging in both meetings that week so it was must have been with the wind and all that in my area so but but T I think what Nicole's referring to that makes sense she you stated that I don't know like you text if you're going to be late you send send send it to me send it to Rich I'm going to be I'm not going to be there or you let us let someone know but when when you're having technical difficulties because I had a problem I'm sitting in fft and there's two committee meetings and I'm sitting there and Katie's there Frozen I'm
226going hello hello and then I'm like where is everybody they were in another meeting so it's just communication but Tara said I'm having technical difficulties that's yeah but to Nicole's point this has been going on since we've come out of covid we came back to the board table in person and I'm not don't quote me I'm not going to say where the were only board or but I'm sure we're one of the few that still is virtual in committee meetings is that right yep so are are committee meetings also since they're public I'm assuming they're also recorded correct no no there's not a quum AUM there we're not a quum but yes but we would be in the building on school premises to have our committee meetings so they would still be private communication it'd
227be the same committee meeting that you have virtu but it would be in person I think quite a you guys get the same email because NJ SBA it's this one where people can ask a question hey my my district is doing this the threads on that recently were that committee meeting is a virtual is not rare I don't think it was rare to have obviously board meetings still virtual well we were made to come back that was mandated to come back in person for board meetings well the law change because we have to take action at these board meetings and this is a public meeting um committee meeting since there's not a quarum there's not a requirement to meet a person but again that's up to the board I'm just going to Signal my bias
228I think it's something we do that smart in terms of time commitment and driving back and forth to buildings for an hour meeting I think it's an efficient use of our time I mean I'm there are times I mean I took my last meeting at work because I I didn't get to leave in time I wouldn't have made it so there are times that I would you know I I take the the meetings while I'm still at work and I'm an hour away so there'd be you know would be hard for me to get here on time and and I don't I don't see the benefit of of doing it in person well to point when we are on when we are on screen screen sorry sorry it's late we're on screen and to point
229people are their camera on and this has been going on I've been coming out of Co because when your perception when you're on I mean I'm always on camera but I'm I'm just saying I don't know what the difference would be but listen to where I'm coming from and it's not just me I'm sure there's other people have thought about this when you're on a meeting and you're your camera is shut off yeah everybody's voice is shut off for for till they're ready to speak but you don't know if they're you're on your phone you're texting there's communication you have P you have family there you're sitting there we don't know we could be in a personel committee and whoever's not on could be broadcasting to whatever in the kitchen I'm not saying I'm not
230pointing anybody out and saying it but it's just the again you were elected officials these are our tasks you only have two I have to go to every single one right it you know I'm not gping about it it's part of the duty um but you have two committees and as to Brendan saying well it's not more than an hour why are you complaining if you can't turn your camera on don't come I just think that we maybe should be cognizant of it because you don't know I mean you don't know that's all I'm just want to go home I'm sorry I I I definitely think outside of technical difficulties my opinion the camera should be on at all the time right that that just seems common sense to me outside of the rare instance
231or it should be communicated if there's a reason why you cannot be on camera well we have Norms coming up yeah right I mean that would seem like something to establ no nothing scheduled as of yet we're having discussions about that um just throwing it out there we could operate as a board as a whole and not do committee structure and have two meetings a month and you would have all your meetings and then your personnel would be private and there's no action taken at the meeting but it's open it's a called a working session and it's open to the public so there is a public a point in time for the public to speak but then it's a a working session with the board it's transparent and we have a divided board and I
232I think you have people come new board members coming on and seeing different things and we all come from different perspectives I'm just throwing out I've done it before um and I liked it that's me I I I'm just saying yes could it be long it could it start out being long and arduous yeah it could but so could a a regular meeting and a committee meeting Food For Thought what would be the process if there is an appetite to to to change is is it or is we have to go through an arduous process to to switch to that format it's policy it's yeah it would take basically two months you adopt it yeah so once the decision was made you um propose a language for a first reading for policy and then you
233um have a second reading at a policy at the following meeting and that it becomes and i' probably say you wouldn't want to do that until you know going into I guess you have the fall after because we're doing our policies right now yeah actually I guess our reviewing of NJ sba's policies that would put a yeah until July till the summer anyway it would be nice if we can get those done first but not necessary that might to do all of that sorry go ahead would you need to do all those because policies are like it's rotational right you got to do so many at a time I mean I you wouldn't necessarily have to wait for them to be done to move to so Committee of the whole the um we would have
234to adopt them first yeah so right now we're trying to adopt a whole new manual from New Jersey school boards so adop you know having half our policies beat through stra esmee and another half beat through school boards isn't recommended um so we would and and we've gone through a couple ways of talking about that which was either adopting the whole policy and then reviewing it for you know the next few months or however long it takes or reviewing it first doing a cursory look which I think is what we're trying to plan on doing right now to make sure there's nothing that's a deal breaker there then we adopt a full policy manual and then do a further in-depth analysis of it but we could what you said you were just saying we we
235our policies right now we Guided by St Esme we have that until we adopt and jsba so potentially yeah we could you could say okay we're going to have a discussion on this somebody wants this you know and you have a discussion and it would take two readings so yes but to your point it won't go into effect until yeah I mean at this point it wouldn't go into effect until May anyway so might as well I mean just food for thought I guess I'm just throwing it out there food for thought I mean I mean it I tberry does it like that I think we have and the you know being an elected official um I have to vote on things even when it comes out of committee and and what happens is when
236it's open you can engage you can't engage when you submit a question there's no followup there's no interaction there's it's one way right um and you know all of us we're we have to vote on everything right so there's that um that interaction piece is is key um it sort of puts all the agenda items you know when it's time to vote they're all there everyone sees it it's it's it's straight path to transparency um fully um and what it does too is when when you're um when you're in committee there's what five of us four of us right so then you're only getting four or five perspectives when you're on the committee of the whole you have 12 everyone chimes in you hear everyone's perspective and that is going to grow this board right
237I mean yes I hear we may be divided but we need everyone's perspective right I think there's great power in that and also think like like today there was a little bit discrepancy of the fft minutes we there wouldn't really we any discrepancies anymore you know what I mean like everything would be it's in public transparent I think public all you're doing is having the conversation you know in public you're not making yeah I definitely think a perception for community members or anyone who's um either here present or at home watching um it it just keeps it more transparent yeah there's less room for um a bad perception or not pro following process or you know something that may have been left out and not purposeful you know maybe it just oh yeah okay so
238it's so right now else's conversation comment brings out something else yeah and what I want to add to that too is if I'm looking at how to get myself up to speed because we all need to do that on all of our committees we need to be reading the agenda is what's in the folder right but um I'm already spending two to three hours already in the two committees I'm on and then when I add to going in the folders and looking at every agenda reading any attachments there and now that we um record them reading the transcriptions or sitting through you know watching the whole video I might as well have sat at a committee of the whole because i' I've given all that time so I just something to think about if I
239know that if you have been sort of your practice has been one way just something to think about we can discuss this in policy okay and we've done it both ways over the years I I go back long enough that I remember when we had a policy to so we'll discuss okay I think G's working on his resume though right now stay here ask but I just do have one new business and that is is it possible and this would be going to um I guess policy committee um it's semantics but um with our board ofet agendas being distributed 48 hours before the meeting if that can just read business days the way in which our calendar Falls that the 48 hours is Friday and I get a board of that agenda the final one
240um around 3:00 on Friday and I want to give you your weekend I don't want to bother my superintendent on the weekend and so what will happen is then let's just say I have questions even though I get the um the draft one before if I have questions and you have questions and you have questions and Brandon you have questions then we could be sucking up your time on a Monday before our Tuesday meeting and then you don't want that you have to make manage your building so that's where if we could just change it to business days that would be so is it 4 days or 48 hours 48 hours but it doesn't say no it's but it says the policy says four days it does not say but I want to add business
241day so that because the four days as it is now we get it Friday and that is technically four days but that's the weekend it's Saturday Sunday because our board meeting was on tu Tuesday and what I'm saying is I want to honor like I want my our time honored because then we're really going through we could potentially be going through a lot on the weekends but I also want to honor the superintendent's time because when I'm getting this agenda at 3:00 on a Friday I'm not g I'm not even going to get to it by then but you know when I do and then there's the weekend I'm not going to be you're said you're essentially setting him up to get hammered on on Monday or Tuesday morning well question and I did and
242you did and you know then that could be sucking up his time when you need to be managing your buildings you know again that's POC we can have that discussion in policy like to hear from to a board of the whole though that would reduce a lot of the questions because we're oh yeah and it would reduce the amount of time that we have so I think it's a plus I mean I think it's something we really should just out of curiosity over the years I when were the board meetings weren't they on a Thursday years ago Tuesday yeah we went fromd Tuesday to Tuesday there there might have been a time it was on Thursday I which it would make sense then but yeah but well I no I'm not saying I'm just saying
243so looking at it if you're thinking about that like if it were on if our board meeting was on a Thursday then you would be doing the would that change the agenda coming out I just think the business I don't know would be the solution so just all right talk about it in policy okay is there any other I have I have a new business and it I apologize it's it's time sensitive and I want to bring it up um so I in tagging on to the student survey there's also a student support survey which is out right now to be disseminated to students next week March 3rd to the 7th and it just prompted me to really Dive In into our policy 24155 which is titled student surveys analysis evaluations examinations testing and treatment
244um so I made rich I I just emailed this yesterday morning rich and Kim um so I'm sure with having a meeting right now everything's been busy but I have concerns because there's a piece in this policy that says it's under Section D protection of student rights for surveys analysis and evaluations and it's clear that no student should be required to submit to a survey without prior consent if the information is related to so I don't know if you guys have had a chance to look at the survey because it was sent to us exactly a week ago February 18th so we got the actual email that goes out to parents as well and it asks about feelings um students feelings and whether they have family support so again we don't have the policy in
245front of us but when I looked at the definition of what is psychiatric psychological examination or test feelings falls under that so if you're following me this piece um where it had items that are if they fall under this category parent consent is needed so mental and psychological problems is one of that and we're asking students their feelings and whether they have family support another point was antisocial Behavior and the survey asked whether a student has a friend they can count on um and there there's critical appraisals of family relationships so again there's the whether you can count on a family member but there's also an open-ending question that states thinking about everything in your life right now what feels the hardest for you which may intently reveal sensitive information about family Dynamics so that's
246that's a piece that I I question because it seems to align with our policy where we could perhaps need to have parent consent for this um and then I had additional questions about the data and the storage and that's for how long is it stored um and who sees the results and then the impact of the questions when there's a question with the feelings like how often do you feel happy how often do you feel excited and student can internalize that and think well maybe I need to feel this way all the time so it it rates it if hopefully you guys are aware of this survey because you've seen it before um so I'm just suggesting that it seems to reveal that we need to ask for parential consent so in those in those
247situations and i' I've brought this up even as a parent about the surveys that instead of having an opt out you really need an opt in because in reality you need parental consent to get this information one we don't know where the third party is we don't know where the statistics are going we we don't know and I know they say it's anonymous but it's it still can be perceived as in my in my opinion also meddling with the family and what's going on there I kind I dis I agree with you on that but you probably do need permission yeah I don't think so the policy is saying that I'll look at the policy but right now I don't believe so survey we've been doing for a while and it's try to help kids
248so is it much different than what we um the policy in regards to feelings and questions that were asked that we just um decided not to move forward with an F I'm sorry what was the question the survey yeah the survey that the county survey County survey yeah there were there were different questions on that there was questions on um drug use and things of that nature that you know I felt like um had more of an impact on a student and would require um parental parental permission through the PPR um you know and I know there's some semantics about words that are used in some of our policies which are based on but if we're not allowed to talk to students about their feelings it sort of we can that that opens up a
249whole another ball of wax so is the concern that um when we bring up the feelings I mean is it a concern of feelings of um not just are you feeling happy today or it's it's what if it's deeper you we don't know what that individual student's experience is and what they relate to um not being happy what experience under the underlying experience that they might be going again I'll review it again I'll get back to Christina's email as soon as I can um at this point though I don't see an issue with it and who Rich when those surveys go out to the kids and who's delving into the report does that go to the counselors does it go to it's director of um guidance mik squa and then um okay the counselors have
250access to that as well and it's not Anonymous we actually want to identify the kids with the survey right no no that's what I'm asking survey it's not a um third party so well the fact that that the name is on it Christina do you have the policy right there I think actually if you put the name on it you do need parental consent well can we look at that can you I'll Rie it again it and check review just a few times but I will review and update the board yep all right is there that was all new is there any old business I'm sorry I had some new oh sorry I'm sorry make it as quick as I can um so I'm getting used to the whole Drive deal and it's cumbersome and
251um Ren and I were just going over some examples earlier in the evening and there's like like seven8 n clicks to get into these things and it's some of the stuff is buried I mean it it's and maybe I I understand it'll it'll be quicker for me as I start you know getting more familiar with it but one of the things I did notice and it was just seemed a little inconsistent is that I feel like we get emails when certain things are loaded in the drive but not others so I don't for me it would be helpful if there was some sort of way I don't know if Google could automate it somehow or if it's if it is an email if we could just get notification of when things are uploaded or when
252files are uploaded to the drive because I have no idea when some of these things are even put in there it's like I feel like I'm constantly searching for things I'm in the wrong place I have no idea um so that would be helpful to me something if you guys could if you could talk about it um kind of goes into the next point that I had is the onboarding process or the internal onboarding process we don't have one it doesn't exist right so for me as somebody that just came on new it would be helpful if there was even the basics here's introduction to the people or give you like the state of what's kind of going on like what what do you need to know right now like there was nothing from my
253P predecessor I got filled in zero there um so I just didn't know it seems like what our our process is now or what what we're doing is schedule your mandated 90day njsba training and good luck so I think we could do a little bit more to kind of catch new members up to speed um even if that's just a simple introduction to certain Play here's here's the people here's their roles here's their name here's their email something you know here's your telephone number I agree with yeah that I think it's something we actually started years ago I think and then never finished because I think the people that were doing it didn't get reelected and so but it's definitely something we can look at it just would be helpful because I'm I'm just saying
254it from experiences I'm going through it now yeah so it's it's real to me now I'm happy to help in that process I spent the whole weekend I've developed a laundry list of things you know kind of need to know and if I could help with that sort of professional learning I what what committee would do that what's up where would would that go would be like a committee would develop that or I think that has to because Katie has it be an internal process I would say that we come up with we might to pass the committee you know that would fit in just say here's what we came up with what do you think any suggestions from a board perspective yeah um okay but um I think we'd come up with the process
255first and i' i' talk to school boards and find out what they have I'm sure they have a model um that we follow well I did when I was they're all weekend I sort of anything that I thought that's a need to know you know so whether it was board goals District goals whether it was what's our curriculum fiveyear plan what's you know um what's our Equity policy what you know I just sort of made a massive list as a way of saying this would be great to give someone new like make sure you look at these things you got about a month you know from the time you're elected to the time you get in your seat um you know and start chisling at them but so question I think at some point in
256the drive Katie has had an we we talked about this about two years ago an onboarding folder for this process but is there anywhere in time I know as new board members we meet with the superintendent yeah ibody I I was no I'm I'm very happy that my superintend proactively reached out to me m to M so I know just from experience I don't know if tuesy does it and I don't know if we do it I know it's it's that's a paper thing and now we can do it in the drive we used to get a as a new board member you'd get a binder it would have in there the organizational chart it would have the board meetings it would have all the board members it would have your um long range facility
257plan it would have your strategic plan it would have your board goals in it it would have everything printed in there so you could start and fresh and getting you know familiarized absolutely so we don't have to do a paper one Katie has a folder in there why don't we use it yeah I was going to say there are some materials here that you all have access to under to Bo resource materials and that's a great thing to let it new board member orientation exactly and um so we'll look at that and we'll see if we can tighten up that process and get it to be more that would be great any other new two more things I'll go quick I'm sorry so I I I just wanted to give you a heads up so
258I did mention to Rich and he did take action on it and some of these things are coming out as some national news so one of the things is kind of near and dear to me um but we had talked to I talked to WR about uh certain states that ban Dy certain dies from the food in the cafeteria now he had inquired with P poman am I say that righton sorry uh about one in particular which was are fre I believe and and they made uh basically said it was a gesture that we're cognizant of not making sure any of the food served in the cafeteria will include this dot I don't know as a suggestion maybe we have to cify that in some way and I know states have taken it further and
259there's a four or five more that they've added to that list because there's there's just studies that it's uh certain dies cause cancer certain dies uh fect children with mental health issues or ADHD Etc so it I wouldn't personally want to rely on the the Food Service managers doing the best they I would want to maybe make the suggestion to the board that we codify that in some way so if that's for policy to discuss or come up with you I don't know but I just wanted to throw that suggestion out there but in the meantime it does seem like the food service provider is doing the best they can not to purchase and serve any food uh that that contains that particular red D number three so I don't know if anybody has any
260question on that but I thought like I said I thought it would be ideal if if we agree if the board agrees to maybe codify it so we're not relying on somebody doing the best they can just outright look at Banning it and then do not it's so they just know like any food service contractor that does business with us like say they're not our contractor then we have to have a new conversation hey we don't want this on our will show me the policy it doesn't exist that could just be a contractual thing like in the RP or whatever they're annually renewed right could be uh no that's another one that goes out for RP on a particular basis years it could definitely be part of an RP but it could also be apology
261discussion too so okay last thing is I was interested and I didn't get to it because I just didn't but uh cell phone policies in schools become a Hot Topic they come out of treaton that uh they may I asked Rich about that as well it sounds like it's there is a some sort of a loose policy with the door hanger am I saying that right yep and the kids put the the phone in the hanger if they choose but that doesn't take it off their person um so again I'm not sure where that where that direction is going and I'm not even sure where I land on that yet I want to hear both sides of the cell phone issue but one thing I did see um municip municipalities and boards move forward on
262is a cell phone ban policy at the board of ed meeting that one I like so um I'm not call I'm not saying it's a particular problem for every meeting but I I have noticed it you know it come up so I think generally speaking we're pretty good about that but um I think if if if there's a large appetite from parents that that cell phones are a problem in the for the students for Learning and maybe we should set the example and not have them here as well so um because that that seems almost like a 50-50 issue in my mind so if there's that many folks that are feel passionately about cellones I think maybe we should take a look at it just as a again not to single anybody out but just
263to more like lead from by example type policy that we're not even going to have on the table here just get out 5 years ago we brought it up and we wanted to make a school policy no phones and it was based on the the uh performance the distractions and all the other negative information that was coming out of social interactions and all that but the board we tried to move a motion member and then it got pushed back and they said no no one wanted to move forward with us addressing that as a board but the governor is posing that legislation that's no no now we have get we we we we addressed we we understood the issue and the mental health issue for our students we were concerned as a board so I
264I'm glad that you're bringing it up because we we we wanted to do that five years ago we would have been on the front end of this issue because right that's where I'm getting with that and I'm not sure honestly where my if and I didn't dig deep into this at all but my gut tells me is that I'm not in love with anything mandated out of Trenton I'd rather us come up the policy that best suits us right but um again that's my gut tell me I did not did not do a ton of research on it but it does sound like a divided issue but I think at the very least we if we're going to go down that road we would make a policy and bring it to the board as well
265to make it to make time to each other it was the distraction also the time that the teachers were spending became a discipline problem for years ago the teachers as a parent I I wouldn't want my child not to have their phone that's why I said it's not a cut dry but if they're handling it and I like the idea this the the pocket thing that they're using IF it implements I think rich said they want to try roll it over to Voris there's a lot of Ian I have friends that are using been using it for 15 years 12 years have had Dad she has a my girlfriend has a basket and the kids just drop their phones in there and there's no problems but she's been doing it for so long but I
266would assume and I'm making a big assumption here cuz I know have not saying this on any fact I would assume that most high school kids are not voluntarily putting their phone on the back of a door I would assume that I defer that to you no I think a lot of them are if it's a classroom rule that the teacher puts in place that's my next question is that is it individualized by the teacher yeah the te so are they saying if you have a cell phone on you have to put it on the door hang or could it be on your person in your pocket so yes the teachers are instructing the students that one of my classroom rules is when you walk in my room you put your cell phone in a
267pouch you sit down in your seat we start our lessons we go through what we go through today right um if a student has a phone in their backpack going and they have it completely silenced so that it's not going to buzz or distract the classroom in the middle of it they wouldn't the teacher wouldn't know if they had a phone okay so it's up to the individual teacher if they want to have a cell phone classroom poliy correct at North it was strongly encouraged that all teachers adopt this I I can't say 100% of them have but I think a lot of them have and it's worked well this year I think so far in the feedback we've gotten at Nord so I think mores will probably be the next school that we're going
268to ask to do something similar sounds good just wanted to bring it to the like I think eventually we might not even have a choice if if legislation goes the way it sounds like it might agreed y any other new business old I hate to I would even want to ask old business anyone okay can I have a a motion a second to adjourn second uh that was Tara and Tara and Angela all in favor any exstension for