001602 pm on tuesday january 4th of the north hunterd and voorhees regional high school district board of education in accordance with the requirements of the open public meeting act njsa 10 4-6 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by submission of notice of the time date location and instruction for remote access to the hunter and county democrat on december 9th and the star ledger on december 7th notice and to the extent known the agenda of this meeting have been posted at the north huntingdon high school in voorhees high school and provided to the municipal clerks of bethlehem township californ borough town of clinton clinton township franklin township glenn gardner borough hampton borough high bridge borough lebanon borough lebanon township tewksbury township and union township as well as other interested parties and posted on the
002district websites please note your fire exits in the place that you are having this zoom meeting and if alerted to fire please move in a common orderly fashion at this time please silence all your cell phones and as a reminder if you could please remain on mute until you're speaking that would be advised please be advised in accordance with the executive order 251 face masks must be worn indoors at all school buildings please rise for the flag salute i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all at this time i'll read the official election results we have dan spanton representing clinton township and lebanon borough for a three-year term john mielek from californ
003borough and tewksbury township for a three-year term glenn farbanish from union township for a three-year term tara marie hintz from high bridge borough and lebanon township for a three year term and ryan hoffman from highbridge borough and lebanon township for a one year unexpired term at this time i will conduct the oath of office for these individuals so if you could unmute yourself and i will read portions of the oath of office that you have in front of you and if you could repeat after me inserting your name into the appropriate spots that i will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of new jersey [Music] and that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that i will bear faith and to the governments established
004in the united states and in this state under the authority of the people so help me god and i possess the qualifications prescribed [Music] that i am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to revised statute 19-4-1 that i'm not multiplied or and that i will faithfully and partially and justly perform all of the duties of that office according to the best of my abilities so help me god and i am faithfully personally partially unjustly foreign thank you mr chapman president mrs crystal mr farbanisch president ms hintz president ms hoffman here mr kirchberger here mr stanton president mr street here mrs fiato here i would like to now call for a report of the nominating committee chairperson or if you could unmute and give your report so the report from the nomination committee is jessica vyodo
005is going is our nominating we're nominating jessica viota for the office of president for the board of end thank you are there any other nominations being none just make a motion that we cast a unanimous ballot i'll just take a roll call um just procedurally wait what was john's question well no i made a motion that we cast the unanimous ballot since there's no patience from the floor why am i dangerous if that's okay i would ask them to take a roll call please well there's a motion on the floor right and it does not need a second for the policy but that does need a roll call so i'm going to read off a roll call just to make sure that we have a quorum of the board yes yeah and i think that
006i agree i think john's comment is uh you know can be construed as a comment on the motion encouraging the board to vote unanimously but i do agree with the process uh that there ought to be a roll call under the policy miss bonomi yes mr chapman yes mr far banish yes no chris hoffman yes mr kirchberger yes mr melik yes viscelino no mr spanton yes mr stream yes miss fiato yes we do have a majority so jess i will hand the meeting over to you for the vice president nomination thank you um roger can you please provide us a report from the nominating committee uh with your recommendation for vice president i recommend the nominating committee would like to recommend dev nomi as vice president thank you are there any other nominations from the
007floor for the office of vice president um katie can you please uh conduct a roll call vote for uh the nomination for deb as uh debonomia's vice president yes no miss hoffman yes mr hershberger yes mr mueller yes crystallino no there's span yes sister straight yes miss fiato yes motion carries thank you can i call for a motion and a second to approve action items 8.1 through 8.13 motion second does anyone have any questions um regarding any of the resolutions or um items asked up for approval seeing none um looks like we need a roll call vote katie is bonomi yes mr chapman yes mr banish yes yes miss hoffman yes mr hershberger yes mr melink yes missolino yes mr spanton yes mr street yes miss fiato yes emotion carries yes thank you um next
008on the agenda i'm just asking you all received a survey earlier today for your interest in committees so if you could please take a moment to fill that out and return it back we should be able to assign or reassign committees um as soon as possible and hey jess just a quick question is there a deadlock are we we're going to try to have committee meetings for the week before the yeah so we would need it back i would like i would love to get it back if we could by the end of the week um that way we can announce committees um the beginning of next week and everybody can be prepared for their calendar invites on the week of the 17th thanks for that clarification rob um anybody else have any other questions
009um moving on now is the an opportunity for public comment during this portion of the meeting the public is invited to address the school to address the school board president with questions or comments the public is requested to sign the register provided but in this case please state your name your municipality of residence group affiliation if applicable and direct their comments to the school board president while all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate school board members will not respond to the speakers at the time of their appearance the public comment period will be a maximum of 30 minutes in length unless there are unusual circumstances and those appearing will be allotted three minutes to speak and nobody will be permitted to speak twice until those that have
010not yet been heard had an opportunity to have a turn to speak um i do have um some letters that were sent in for a public comment and i will i have to get to them but i will read them now into public comment the first is from maureen mcsweeney of clinton township dear board of ed so i realize it's not safe for the board of ed to meet in person during this latest covet surge it was not even safe last month when there were when there was the protesters not wearing the mask properly both times the prudent thing for the board of ed to do was to remove itself from the situation and relocate to a safer place the problem i have is that the students is that the students are not also being
011given the same safety options as the adults on the board of ed i realize that there is a great need for children to attend school in person i have a little difficulty with the fact that the transmission rates are so high and the school has not shown a virtual option for those who would like it the school also has a rule that mass must be worn inside the building but according to most of the students i've asked that's not really what is going on the school is also aware that the sports teams are having bleachers full of audience members including the student-based jungle also shouting maskless the answer back from the north hundred and high school office is that the clinton police department will not enforce the rule and are not the masked police that
012is utterly ridiculous the school is responsible the board of vet is responsible and the administration needs to step up they can immediately stop all audiences for school sports from being public they can assign a school administrator to oversee the events i understand that these are unprecedented times but like it or not we are in the middle of a coveted surge again so if the school wants to try and keep the school open they should be at the very least be more active in trying to mitigate exposure i also believe that the students that are not feeling that this is a safe environment should have the option to attend virtually at least until the transmission rate falls back to below one percent i am hoping that these topics can be brought up emergently at tonight's board
013of ed meeting it seems to me the state of new jersey is leaving it up to the individual boards of ed to decide for itself what is the best for the school please take these suggestions into consideration thank you maureen mcsweeney the next letter um that was received for yes sorry to interrupt are we going to read every letter that we get i mean i have a little bit of a issue with us having to respond to every single letter that is sent in every board members receive the letter they can go off and a letter i don't think we should read every single letter that we get sent in these these letters um were sent directly to the board secretary um asking to be right into public comment yeah but um i like to
014echo roger we were all copied on these possibly other ones too i think it was yes but they were according to our policy um would they had the right to have them read a public comment because they asked for them to be read a public comment um in us in a request to the board and request to the board secretary so according to our policy i have to read them when we make a motion have the policy committee look at review that policy going forward if somebody wants to have a public comment then they need to call in uh or attend you know like it's like it's similar to that you have to be there in person [Music] we can ask the committee to review it yeah i'll make that i'll make a note of
015that deb assuming they'll still be involved with policy but i'll pass it along if i'm not yes and each comment is allowed i think um katie is still um timing each letter um so um there's a three minute window for each comment the next letter is from fran mary fran daly um and this is dear members of the board of ed we the undersigned have organized to investigate and monitor the materials reconsideration process associated with the library books targeted at your september 28 2021 meeting and in the weeks following based on the irregularities observed during the district's 2019 attempt to ban fun home we and others in the community are concerned that board policy and regulations are once again being skirted in the current book controversy additionally we are concerned about the absence of communication
016and transparency to the public surroundings the process while we acknowledge that the actions of a small but vocal group have unfortunately placed the board in an uncomfortable position it is nonetheless vital that you act in a just dutious time and timely and transparent matter specifically we have identified these materials of concern with respect to policies and regulations to 2530 library resource materials and 9130 public complaints and grievances i believe in their recent meetings i'm not positive which one it was probably october they mentioned they were looking to be more transparent at least three board members commented on that goal one of them being the president i think it's important to quote them regulation 9130 states that complaints about library books must be made in writing and submitted to the superintendent you understand that the board
017had forewarning of the planned protest against library books prior to its september 28 meeting yet did nothing to employ or enforce its own policies during that meeting thereby enabling activists fringe community members to make verbal complaints based solely on false claims originating from an organized external censorship campaign that assists since spread nationwide the first materials reconsiderations forms for genderqueer and lomboy were submitted on to the district on october 6 2021 for regulation 9130 a committee to review the complaint regarding the books was to have been formed within 10 working days and we understand that the committee's first meeting took place october 18th more than two months have lapsed that time yet no decisions have been rendered nor status communicated about these two titles one of which is a graphic novel that can be read in
018roughly an hour this process is neither timely nor efficient and reflects poorly on the overall operation of the district regulation 9130 specifies at least six individuals who sit on the reconsideration committee including a librarian and a layperson with expertise in subject matter of the books in this case the lgbtq plus youth experience although are we at three minutes katie okay um so the remainder of that letter will be placed in um attached to the agenda for re further review if anyone would like to see it going forward the next letter is from sarah varga of lebanon township good evening i want to wish the board a happy new year congrats to the new board members and i look forward to what this new board can accomplish this year over the past few months this board
019has witnessed quite an outpouring of public commentary on the way this public school district is run some of it has been in support of the board's actions and their goals to maintain a safe diverse environment for their diverse community and some of it has been an opposition to the foundations of what a public school represents i'm concerned with the board's choice in allowing people with bad faith arguments to control the agenda and to hold the meeting hostage last time we bore witness to the board's inability to execute their masking policies police officers who were paid by the taxpayer and to atta and to attend these meetings were dispatched to the people not following the rules and had to beg the people to put their masks on they did not comply nothing was done to them
020while the board was an executive session the people not complying continued to have their mass off and officers continued to do nothing one officer was also wearing a neck gator mask which is not allowed as a covering since the beginning of the pandemic cdc and county guidance this inability for local authorities to following the masked men to follow the mask masking mandates and their inability to execute the job they're paid for fade to do is highly concerning for the safety of the people who attend the public meetings as well as the safety of the students who reside in these buildings the board lawyer states each week that you have the right to free speech and that's that right stops when you begin trampling on other people's rights i was assured by the board that the
021masking policy was robust and it wasn't therefore the existence of these people who insist on not wearing a mask and screaming at others in public who asked them to follow the board policy stated as a threat to our public health and our rights i also don't see the board speak out on behalf of martha hixson and denounce the accusations against her immediately nor have i seen the board speak out against the people who continue to project their religious doctrinate doctrine to to all members of the community despite the school's objection to objective to represent our pr pluralistic society and to place principle above personal opinion and reason above prejudice policy 2530 while when selecting media for the library you said in one of your district-wide goals was to provide the necessary to support to address
022and assist students with mental health overall wellness and emotional needs your district-wide goals last year were also to engage in professional development in areas of equality and conclu inclusion and again the remainder of that letter um will be placed into um the agenda and the final letter is from the new jersey association of school librarians and this is from lisa straw straubinger president of that association um mr dear superintendent bender president biato and north 100 and voorhees board member board of ed members the new jersey association of school librarians njasl is writing to request an update regarding the book challenges that have taken place in your district it has been more than three months since the attacks on the librarian and the library books were made were made at the september 28th board meeting as
023the board begins its work following reorganization on january 4th we ask that the status of the challenged books be made public as well as the date of the anticipated conclusion of the reconsideration process we ask you as a newly formed body to affirm and defend the district's commitment to the students first amendment right to read by conscientiously and transparently following your policy of library resource materials a parent may have the right to tell his or her minor children that they are not allowed to read certain titles but they do not have the authority to make the decision for other students policy 2530 requires that you prioritize intellectual freedom and the right to access materials in addition to the challenges themselves north hundred and high school librarian martha hixson has been named at board of education
024meetings and has been the target of defamatory comments and email communications from the community ms hixson has faith has been faithfully serving the students and the staff of north hunterdon high school since 20 an award-winning educator she has ensured the collection of materials provided in the school library is current diverse and reflects the variety of viewpoints policy 2530 directs the board of education to defend the integrity of the library personnel as an organization of professional educators we implore the policy the the board to publicly protect your employees by speaking out against and refuting the ad homiem attacks against miss hixson please let us know how and when the board will offer such a defense of ms hixon finally is our understanding that mrs hickson the professional who is certified and qualified to select books for
025the school community has not been alerted to any new challenges that have arisen since september 28th and has not been been provided with the associated material reconsideration documents for set three minutes katie okay um so at this point in time um we can open up the floor to um public comment for the remainder of the 30 minutes rich do we have anyone in the waiting room uh yes we have four people in the waiting room i will let first in martha hixson is first on the list martha if you can hear us you're the um first person for uh for in-person public comment martha you're on mute can you hear me we can thank you great uh good evening board members i am martha hicks librarian at north hunterdon high school on the occasion of
026your reorganization meeting i would like to wish you a happy school board recognition month annual event designed to raise public understanding of the roles and responsibilities of school board members given the events of the past year and the last four months in particular i imagine the public awareness of activities is at an all-time high and may have contributed to this year's recognition month theme of rising above depicted perhaps ironically by a hot air balloon taking flight more than most i know firsthand how painful the attacks you against your integrity and professionalism have been in recent months and i thank you for your perseverance and diligence in the face of an unprecedented public scrutiny and criticism of school boards congratulations to ms spanton mr melek mr farbanisch ms hintz and ms hoffman on your successful campaigns
027your willingness to enter this free and contribute to the education community is noteworthy earning a position on the school board is more than a victory in a popularity contest it is a serious responsibility that comes with a substantial reward difficult decisions and the unfortunate predicament of never being able to please everyone i wish both new and continuing members of the board endurance patience and the wisdom to seek solutions in the best interests of our students let dedication to academic excellence and intellectual freedom be your guide finally during this recognition month i would like to express special appreciation to mr chapman and mr kirchberger who at your october 26 meeting asked the board and administration to provide public support for me although their request has yet to be acted upon their compassion and humanity serve as
028a model to all district leaders who must protect the social and emotional well-being of staff so that we are able to do the same for our students i wish you all a happy school board recognition month and a healthy and productive new year may it be one in which you truly do rise above and soar to new heights thank you are there additional people in the waiting room yes i'm going to admit jordan's iphone right now okay again looks like jordan's having trouble connecting it looks like it's still spinning but let's give it about 10 more seconds and where's going to work so i can move jordan back and we can try them after the other two people okay all right i'm going to put jordan back in the waiting room and we'll try again
029in a minute i'm going to let in ellen pozzi okay hi ellen um it's your opportunity for public comment um if you could please unmute your line okay can you hear me we can okay um you i think you have two audios on i think i might have an audio i turned one off is that better yes thank you i think you still have another one on can you hear me all right you know what um stop that how's that better thank you my name is dr ellen posey and i'm a member of the new jersey association of school librarians and representing them here today following up on the letter that you read i just want to point out a few things that were talked about in the letter um and ask for some action
030on them um and jason asked that the status of the challenge books be made public as well as the date of the anticipated conclusion of the reconsideration process in the spirit of transparency and diligence that the board has expressed in the past we ask you to reaffirm and defend the district's commitment to students first amendment rights the right to read by conscientiously and transparently following your own policy on library resource materials has been mentioned before 2530 this policy requires that you prioritize intellectual freedom and the right to access material for all students this is vital to students growth and learning additionally uh north hunterdon high school librarian have been named board of education meetings and has been the target of defamatory comments and email communications from the community as she is a long-serving librarian and
031award-winning educator she has ensured that the collection of materials provided in the school library is current diverse and reflects a variety of viewpoints i have worked with her myself and find her to be a conscientious and hardworking librarian policy 2530 directs the board of education to defend the integrity of library personnel as an organization of professional educators and jaisal implores the board to publicly protect your employee by speaking out against and refuting the ad hominem attacks made against her please let us know how and when the board will offer such a defense finally it's our understanding that the librarian has not been alerted to new challenges that have arisen since september 28th and not provided with the challenge material because librarians are uniquely trained to assist with and inform the challenge process we ask that
032your procedures be modified so that district librarians are informed when challenges to materials in the libraries are received this is important they're professionals they know how to deal with these challenges i i am involved in teaching them how to deal with them and stu it's an important part of what they learn so we and jaisal looks forward to learning how and when the modification on infor informing the librarians will be implemented and documented and in conclusion and json looks forward to hearing from the board on all of the above matters by january 25th thank you so much for your time thanks ellen thank you okay i'm going to move ellen back to the waiting room and then i'm going to let alexa often hower in hi alexa you've been added to the meeting if you
033could please unmute for your public comment hi how is everyone tonight can you hear me we can thank you great thank you so much um i just wanted to my name is alexa offenhauer i live in clinton and i wanted to say really two things since one of them came up during this meeting which is i wanted to thank you for reading the emails that you received for public comment out loud and explain very briefly why it's so important to do that this system of having us watch on youtube and then come into the zoom meeting is not intuitive um and as you can see from the fact that somebody was actually not able to connect it's not easy to do and so i don't think that the fact that you received emails is an
034indicator that people weren't also here it's simply that technically this is not a super easy system and so i think having that public comment option via email is very important particularly when the decision to go virtual is made fairly last minute as this one was so that's the first thing the second thing is that i would like to just repeat and reaffirm what has been said in the those letters that were read and as well as the comments we've heard tonight um which is that the books that are chosen by the librarians are not simply chosen willy-nilly or without some sort of process this is a field of study with expertise and books that are chosen are chosen because they um have certain they fit certain criteria they um represent certain voices and they have
035been uh get awarded certain things and and i just want to um emphasize the importance of following policy and the importance of transparency and i also work in i work at rvcc so i know how the policies can get longer and they can be a little bit esoteric and there can be a lot of minutia and yet they're there because they protect the public ins the public's interest of transparency and making sure that we are all able to be aware of what's going on so um i thank you and i just ask that we get um an answer that is a transparent one um and some action on this issue thank you okay uh we have had one more person come into the waiting room so i'm going to admit fran and then we'll try
036jordan's iphone one more time okay hi fran you've been connected to audio um if you could unmute your line and um state your name and and municipality for public comment and your public comment hi um i hope you can hear me now okay sorry my mic wasn't connected um i just wanted to say um as one of the people who emailed the board i wanted to thank you i'm sorry could you state your name and the municipality that you're from could you turn off the youtube connection as well does that work okay sorry about that um thank you um i'm one of the individuals who emailed in and thank you for reading our comments um a number of community members including those who didn't just about the policy being followed with good faith um that
037i know it it's a tremendous thing to take on serving like this and you must be in an uncomfortable position but it's time to say where you stand to it's time for the the committee to come forward and to give their verdict if you will and it's time for the board to respond to it i know you have 30 days we strongly urge you to respond by the meeting on the 25th because the longer this goes on this is traumatic to the many students who have spoken out and it's important to the community for you to take action um we appreciate it's a difficult situation for all of you and that this is going on a long time that is taking up a lot of your time and we would like it to move on
038so we we very much appreciate your service and we would like you to carefully processing did we lose fran i still see her connected but i don't hear anything she's frozen and she dropped yeah it looks like she dropped so yeah let me let me try jordan's iphone again and see okay get that connected yes so you're aware we're at the 30-minute mark right now okay i think we should let try jordan one more time because he was before and we didn't get to and he's the last person but we didn't get to connect him through before jordan are you on the line now can you hear us jordan i don't see any activity there um just just so you know no i don't i don't see any i it might you might not be
039connected anymore yeah okay so i'll move jordan back and then you can proceed with me okay all right um can i call for a motion and a second to adjourn our meeting rob seconded by roger all in favor aye aye aye anybody opposed motion carries meaning is adjourned you