001Check. Check. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Check check. Check. 1 2 3 4. Check. Check. One, two. But I guess like >> do what they want. [laughter] >> They kind of do what they want. I do think that they give him two weeks to like Are we all good for recording? >> Well, welcome everyone. Um, I'm going to call this meeting to order. My name is Jason Bulma. I'm the board secretary and tonight we are doing reorganization. And so I'm leading the meeting to start the meeting off. Uh this meeting is being held in compliance with the open public meetings act and is open to the media public. Notices were dy posted and the meeting was advertised in the county democrat and courier news. Formal action may be taken. Can we stand
002and take flight to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible and justice for all. So, as the first order of business, um I want to congratulate our um election results winners, um Mrs. Menser, Mr. Pieros, and Mrs. Ryan. Congratulations. [applause] Um and after this, we will do the oath of office. So, I'd like you each to look at the physical copy of the oath in front of you. Um, and repeat after me. I state your name. >> I >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution >> I will support the Constitution >> of the United States >> and the Constitution >> of the State of New Jersey >> the state of New Jersey >> and that I will bear
003true faith >> and I will bear true faith >> and allegiance to the same. to the same >> and to the governments >> and to the government >> established >> in the United States and the state >> the United States and the state >> under the authority of the people. I state your name. I just >> do solemnly swear >> domly swear >> that I possess the qualifications >> prescribed by the law >> by the law >> for the office of member of board of education >> for the office of member of the board of education >> and I am not disqualified >> I am not disqualified >> pursuant to statute >> nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime >> norqualified due to conviction of a crime >> or offense listed statute >> statute
004>> and that I will faithfully >> that I will faithfully >> impartially >> and justly >> perform all the duties of that office of that office >> according to the best of my abilities >> best of my abilities. >> Congratulations. Welcome forward. >> Thank you. Um at this time we uh as part of reorg we elect the president and then uh the president takes over and goes through the election of vice president. Um something that is uh unique um to this meeting is that nominations do not need a second. So anyone can nominate anyone for president um and anyone can nominate anyone for vice president. And then we'll do a roll count um for the people nominated in the order that they were nominated. And as long as we reach a majority um which tonight
005we have eight members so it would still be five um we would have an election of president and then they would take over and perform the same thing for the vice president. So I'm going to open it up to anyone that would like to nominate. Oh, or Beth. Um >> we didn't do roll call attendance. I don't know. You are correct. Sorry that >> um can I get a roll call? Mrs. Cassidy >> here. >> Mrs. Depinto >> here. >> Mrs. Fury >> here. >> Mr. Lopes. >> Mrs. Menser >> here. >> Mr. Pierre >> here. Mrs. Rad >> here. >> Mr. Oza >> here. >> Mrs. Ryan >> here. >> Um so back to the election of the president. Does anyone have any questions before we do nominations? >> I'll take nominations. I'd like
006to nominate David. >> Is there any other nominations? >> Beth, >> I would like to nominate Michelle. I think she did a fantastic job and does a fantastic job for finance chair. I think he fantastic. >> Any other nominations? So, I'll close the nominations at this time for president. Um, we'll take a roll call vote on the first nomination, which is, um, Mr. Rizza. Um, can I, um, have a roll call? You'll say yes or no. Please try not to vote twice. Um, >> Mrs. Cassidy, >> no. >> Mrs. Pinto, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fury, >> no. >> Mrs. Mener, >> no. >> Mr. Mr. Pieros, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rad, >> yes. >> Mr. Riza, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ryan, >> yes. >> And now we'll take a vote for Mrs. Spencer. >> Um,
007yes. No, we're abstaining. >> Mrs. Cassidy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Deinto, >> no. >> Mrs. Fiori, >> yes. >> Mrs. Menser, >> yes. >> Mr. Pieros, >> no. >> Mrs. Rad. >> No. >> Mr. >> No. >> Mrs. >> No. >> Congratulations, Mr. >> I'm going to turn it over to you to conduct the rest of the meeting. Okay. We're going to go through the same process for the vice president. So, I'm going to open it up for nominations. Any nominations for vice president? I would like to nominate. >> Okay, I will nominate it. Anyone else? >> I would like to nominate Pam Cassidy. Um I have a few things I'd like to say about the nomination. Uh Pam started this year on our board. Um but as a new board member, she has um
008been fantastic in her duties, I would say. Um, Pam, I I asked her today because I said, "I want to nominate you. Can I just see, you know, give me a, you know, a ballpark of your accomplishments?" Um, and Pam provided me with a spreadsheet, which, if you know, Pam is perfectly spot on, of all of her volunteer hours for the year and in total 300 hours for board of education um, responsibilities. And that was committee meetings and then being the alternating committee meetings. It was the referendum open houses. Pam was like the killer on that because every single parent that walked through the door, she was going up to them trying to get flyers in their hands and I just I I feel like that dedication is exactly what we need on the board.
009Um, so I admire that about you, Pam, and I I thank you for your service to the community and to this board and putting in all that extra time and learning your role, doing the Garden State Coalition, coming prepared to every meeting. Um, so I just value that and I just want to say that and that I think that you would be a fantastic vice president for the board. >> Okay, any other comments before we roll? Cassie. [laughter] >> Uh, so you're first going to vote on um Mrs. Depinto. So you'll say yes, no, or abstain. And uh then we'll conduct that vote and then we'll move to the second one which is Mrs. Cassidy. So this vote is for Mrs. Depinto. Yes, no, or abstain. >> Mrs. Cassidy. >> No. >> Mr. Pinto. Mrs.
010Dior, >> no. >> Mrs. Menso, >> no. >> Mr. Fieros, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rat, >> yes. >> Mr. Rza, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ryan, >> yes. >> So, now we'll hold the same vote for Mrs. Cassidy. Um, try to vote once. Um, yes nor abstain for Mrs. Cassidy for vice president. >> Mrs. Cassidy. >> Yes. Mr. Deto, >> no. >> Mrs. Fury, >> yes. >> Mrs. Menso, >> yes. >> Mr. Pieros, >> no. >> Mrs. Rad, >> no. >> Mr. Rizza, >> no. >> Mrs. Ryan, >> no. >> Mr. Congratulations. >> Okay, first thank you for being president again. Congratulations on for being vice president. I'd also like to echo the comments made about Michelle and both wonderful board members. Great working with you last year. I'm looking forward to working with you again
011this year as well. Okay. The next item is reorganization. These are standard items that we have every organization meeting. motions to bring in our policies and so on. There's five of them. R1 through R5. Can I have a motion and a second to move these items? >> Second. >> Interesting. In a second. Any discussion on the five items? All right. >> Do you want me to go first? I I just want to point out on I emailed everybody beforehand, but I want to just read it into the record and make sure everybody is aware. R1, the board of education calendar next to the June 9th date, it erroneously says that the meeting begins at 5. The meeting actually does begin at our regular 7 o'clock. It's not a 5:00 meeting. That's an error. It'll [clears
012throat] be erased, but just know when you vote, I'd like you to think that you're voting on a regular board meeting for June 9th. Sorry about that. Off to a good start this year. >> I just wanted to call out for R5 um [clears throat] the new law in terms of um advertising the public meetings, the notices um that begins March 1st. I just wanted to comment or suggest that in our next few um notices that we say like March 1st it's ending because I don't know that the public is fully aware that um that that we will not be advertising in those uh newspapers anymore. So just and maybe perhaps to parents too. I don't know who's looking at those but um I don't think that's common knowledge. I know like the boards all
013know about it but just the general public probably does not. So if maybe on the open open statement you can mention that we talk about that. So we'll just update the open statement. >> I could also just I'll just mention I have a newsletter going out later this month like my superintendent newsletter. I can put a blurb in there about that as well. So I'll make sure that we advertise that. >> Okay. Any other comments? >> Disgusting. Yes, >> Mrs. Pinto. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Hur. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Mentor. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Fieros. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Rad. >> Yes, >> Mr. Risen. >> Yes, >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Um, there's one uh item under the superintendent's report this evening. Um, and to conduct our code of ethics presentation and talk about
014HIV, I'd like to introduce Angela Guerrera from Meth Vessel and Warpool, our board attorney, our firm. Um, Angela's here tonight and she has some handouts for you and we'll take the next several minutes or so to do our ethics presentation. Angel, >> thank you. Okay, so I need an extra one. >> Sounds great. Thank you. [cough] >> Sorry. Um so as you all I'm sure are aware there are two statutes that govern the conduct of members of boards of education. One also applies to um school administrators and that portion of the statute is known as the school ethics act and there are some very specific prohibitions on uh personal conduct that apply to all sorts of school officials. However, there is a subsection of that act which is a code of ethics and I believe
015at some point you all will be reciting that and affirming your um agreement to abide by that code of ethics. It it's recently some of the provisions in this code have come under fire because they're a little bit ambiguous and some of them can be weaponized. Um, but what I think the number one issue that I see across all of my boards, and I handle the majority of the ethics complaints that come into my office, the number one thing that I see are social media posts. Um, and even when y'all are using the I'll call it quote unquote approved disclaimer, depending on what the content of your social media post or a letter to the editor, even depending on what the context and the content of that, the substance of what you're commenting on, the
016the school ethics commission has said, your disclaimer doesn't effectively refute everything you just said. And so some of that will come down to if you're discussing board business and you're not saying I Sally Jones as a me as an individual have an opinion that I don't agree with the proposed referendum. I I don't I'm just picking things out there. Um and you know, I want to hear from members of the public because you're referencing something that is directly impacting the board. The if someone filed a complaint regarding that commentary, the school ethics commission may refer it to an administrative law judge and have a hearing on whether you violated this code of ethics. Some of the other portions of this code of ethics are much easier to recognize that yeah I I'm not going to
017cross that line. For example, there is one um it is subsection G. I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if discussed would needlessly indivi uh injure individuals or the schools. In all other matters, I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for the school. So for that, it's pretty easy to realize, okay, something I learn in executive session that is by statute to be held confidential. I can't then tell my family about it or have a discussion with a member of the public about it. that's pretty usually pretty easy to recognize. And the same thing with providing accurate information. You know, nobody's perfect. If you say, um, our average class size is 25 students and it turns
018out it was only 22. Well, then when you get the right information, you say, I'm sorry, I was mistaken. And we all move on. But there have been other cases, reported cases where, for example, a board member in I can't remember what county it was now, I'll be honest, flat out lied to a member of the public. He said that a judge had not decided an issue that was impacting the schools when in fact the judge had issued an order two months before and the guy knew about it. He was just trying to hide it and not reveal it. you know, that kind of behavior is is clear-cut. But some of the other things in here become a little more murky. And that's one reason why we've put together the handout that I've given with
019sort of the chart with what we call the five C's. So, it's your commitment to the board. It's your conf your duty to maintain confidentiality. It's your responsibility to recognize the potential for conflicts. Whether it's conflicts with what your role is as a board member versus the day-to-day administration of the schools, which is the responsibility of the superintendent and the business administrator and the various other administrators. than claims, which is don't allow there to be anything that could be considered as a quidd proquo. Um, you know, I promising benefits to somebody for a contract or anything like that. That's pretty I think you know, everyone's going to recognize let's avoid that. And then again, chain of command, not trying to address concerns yourselves. You know, members of community are going to come to you and
020say, "I have an issue with such and such." Unfortunately, as board members, you can only act when you're here in this room as part of the board of education. You can't try to address someone's complaint on your own. And obviously you all have a sense of responsibility to the community or you wouldn't be here and you want to help people and that's why you're here. But in that situation where someone comes to you with a concern or a question, the number one thing that I recommend is to say to that person, either please come to our next board of education meeting and address it during public session or if it's something that you know directly impacts a student, then you suggest that they direct it to the superintendent so that he can then forward it
021to the appropriate school personnel who could handle that issue. Um, I've had other members in other districts who've gotten in trouble simply for passing on that information to the guidance the director themselves and not involving the superintendent because now the board member has gone out of the chain of command. And by involving yourselves with district personnel other than the superintendent, it can be seen that you're trying to overstep his role and not respect the chain of command. These are the kinds of things that might not immediately raise a red flag, but unfortunately school ethics complaints have become so common recently in the last four or five years. And I give an example to a lot of my boards. In 2019, I believe it was, there were 75 ethics complaints filed in the entire year. In
0222025, it was almost double that. And unfortunately, the commission is taking 8 to 10 months from the time the complaint is filed to even taking a look at it. And it's just it's a burden. And so, you know, our role is to try and make sure that you're aware of what the obligations are. And then if you ever have any questions, you direct, you know, that to the superintendent or your board president who can then address it with Jen or anybody else in my office for concerns. Um, again going back to what we've got here with the handout, the number one issue is social media and a lot of people I know a lot of people have sworn off of it, but there are still a lot of people who are engaged in it. And
023even the act of simply liking something that someone else that a member of the community has said, that can be a problem because you can't make a disclaimer on the little bike. And so it can then be perceived by a member of the public. Well, is board member Jane Doe doing this as just a resident and a member of the community or is she doing is she liking this as a board member? Is this the board's position on whatever the issue is? And so that can get into a troubling situation. Um, and it's it seems like something so simple and not anything that could be a problem, but unfortunately in today's society, people are willing to hop on that and it becomes an issue. Um, the commission has said that you as schoolboard members do
024not give up your first amendment rights to comment on issues gerine to the public or to your role as a board member, but then they kind of backtrack from that and then get involved in the well, was there a proper disclaimer and and things like that. So if you are going to make any comments on any issues, I would just recommend that you possibly, you know, talk to other members of the board and ask for their input. Possibly run it by the superintendent ahead of time and say, you know, what do you think of this? or even ask your board president to ask one of us to look at it because our role here is to help you know give you guidance but also to try and keep there from being any issues. Um so
025that's sort of my soapbox on school ethics act and school ethics commission matters. Um, and I guess part of my perspective on that is because I do handle so many of these and I see how something that seems so innocuous initially then becomes spotter for a complaint and then it's, you know, not just stressful for the person who's got the charges against them. It's a financial impact on the district because then somebody there's a statute in New Jersey that says that if a board member is sued or has some kind of regulatory charges against them related to their um role as a board member, the board has to cover the attorney's fees for it. And obviously you could have insurance for it and most most districts do, but you know there's still that that obligation
026and it's a statutory one that it it can't get around. So um we're trying to make sure that nobody here has that that issue. Um, in terms of besides the code of ethics under the school ethics act, there's really there's one subsection of the statute that I see getting used and and [clears throat] charged more often than others. And it's again because it is somewhat ambiguous and it's that no school official shall use or attempt to use his official position to secure unwarranted privileges, advantages or employment for himself, members of his immediate family or others. And it's that others that gets into the problem. I mean obviously we can identify whether you're trying to use your position to benefit yourself or your husband or your kids but then it's the others [snorts] and there's no
027restriction on that for you having a relationship with that person. It's just are you trying to for some reason help them get something that they're really not entitled to. Um, sometimes it's a position in the district that they might not necessarily be qualified for or that they're not the best candidate for or they're not the superintendent's recommendation. So, you know, again, it's just seemingly little things where you think you're trying to help can then um become an issue. So, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here, but again, I guess partly my perspective is I I do see so many of these on a daily basis. Um, and another to go back sort of to loop two things together, one of the things that you as board members have to address
028sometimes are the harassment, intimidation, and bullying complaints that come up come about in the district. and then the superintendent brings to your attention. Um, I know that, you know, we use and have used the term bullying for years and we sort of have a colloquial understanding of what bullying means, but under the statute, it is actually much more limited than that. And it's not just, you know, the typical um playground teasing. There has to be a motivating factor behind it. Whether it's race, color, sexual orientation, religion, um you know, disability is become a big issue when and when especially in some of the younger kids when they're teasing each other. It can the disability becomes part of of what they're saying to each other and then it brings it within this this statute where you
029know there are very specific um actions [clears throat] that the administration has to take. And then after the administration handles all of their investigation and reporting, then you as a board have to look at what the superintendent's recommendation is and you can either accept, reject or modify whether it's the penalty or the findings. Um, one thing that I think you know needs to also be emphasized is that the bullying doesn't have to occur on campus. If it impacts the operation of the district or that student who is the the victim of the bullying, if it starts to interfere with their safe learning environment, whether it's happening online or on Tik Tok, Snapchat, any of the the social media things that's been a huge source of out of school bullying that's happening. It's not even, you
030know, used to be text messages where you would actually have more evidence of it, but now some of these other um techno um apps that will delete or you know, you can only see it fleetingly, then there isn't always the proof for it. But um once it starts interfering with the district's operations and the learning environment, then regardless of whether it happened on a bus or at the local Dunkin Donuts or online, then the school has an obligation to address it. And again, just because two kids don't get along and maybe are having the back and forth is if it doesn't have that nexus to a distinguishing characteristic, then it's going to be determined to be unfounded. Um, that doesn't mean it's not a code of conduct violation. That doesn't mean that the kid who
031was being mean and cruel isn't going to suffer some consequence, but it's not going to meet the statutory definition of HIV. So, um, that's sort of my 35,000 foot overview of HIV. I can get a little more into some details on you know how it operates at the district level if you'd like. But um you know I'm also I'm very happy to take any questions on not just code of ethics and HIV issues but really anything that you guys might have in terms of board operations or um you know what the role of legal counsel is for you as a board who under your board policy I believe it's the superintendent the business administrator superintendent designate the board president and then your director ctor of people services um are the designated contact people for the
032board attorney. So if you have an issue that you think needs legal guidance, then you need to direct it to one of those individuals who will then sort of make the determination of whether it's something especially the superintendent has the expertise. No, wait. We have a policy on this. We don't need to get Jen and Athena invol or Jeff involved. you know, it it's spelled out right here where there are times where maybe the policy doesn't fully address it and so one of us will need to weigh in. Um, but those are your people who can contact us. Um, [clears throat] and I guess you have anything else that you want me to cover? >> I don't think so. I think um HIV and obviously the code of ethics were the two major components for
033today. >> Um >> yes >> I just wanted to point out that um when we had the referendum going on last year we were given permission to like or reshare district issued posts because that does promote the algorithm gets you know other people on and seeing it more. So I think there is a benefit to it and not just >> and I would agree with district issued posts. I think the issue becomes when it's Susie your next door neighbor who says something who may be that may be controversial or maybe you don't think it's controversial but someone else in the community is going to take offense at and then you've liked it or reshared it and it doesn't have that distinction. Obviously, as board members, if the district is putting out official um information on
034an issue, it's it's understandable that the board members are going to be promoting that. It's really more commentary from the public or your own interpretation of what the district is putting out there. That could be a little more of a a murky issue. Yeah. My advice has always been is if the district is putting it on our official page, it's kind of free game. >> Yes. >> You know, it's because it's coming officially from district officials. >> Absolutely. The same way if you put out a notification of, I don't know, a snow day, right? >> And you need to try and amplify that for people or a um you know, commendation for someone who's about to retire or or whatever. you know, things you want to make sure that the public is aware of as
035a district and as an administration. That is absolutely fine to promote. It's it's really just these outside voices that can then become a little bit um of a question. >> Yeah. So um the culture of board of educations has changed so drastically [clears throat] throughout the past years in the state of New Jersey. I was just curious if there's any assistance provided to board members that are subject to false accusations. >> Ah, okay. [clears throat] Um, well, I guess the question would be false accusations in terms of a school ethics commission complaint. >> Yeah, possibly as an example. >> Okay. So, with the school ethics commission, there is the ability um as a respondent and that's the person who the charges are brought against. It's the person who brings the complaint is known as a
036complainant and then the other person's a respondent. >> So not as a formal complaint just publicly like you talk a lot about social media but that also happens you know to board members at times necessarily us commenting it could be public commenting with false accusations >> and it happens all the time and unfortunately I don't have a good answer for that. um you know clapping back at the person can sometimes just exacerbate it and make it worse and then you've given power and you've let that person know that they've bothered you or whatnot. Um, you know, on the other hand, if it is truly slanderous, and there are very specific, very limited categories for slander, especially when you're an elected official, unfortunately. Um, unless I try to tell most of my people to ignore it,
037unfortunately. I I'm gonna be frank about it because it just I think you can sometimes address what's being said without addressing that person or their claims directly. Um, [clears throat] but if it's something that you know they're accusing you of criminal conduct or something that's so far beyond the pale, then I think you can try to take action against that person. But 95% of the time, unfortunately, I end up telling people it kind of comes with the territory at this point. Um, social media is accessible. I I hate to say it. You know, it used to be pictures of cats and people's kids, and now it's an online mud sluming forum for everyone. Um, and nobody's immune from it. But yeah, I mean, the block button is a good thing. And I think sometimes a
038lot of the people who sling these accusations, it may take time, but they reveal themselves to be who they are. And their accusations tend to become wilder and wilder and less credible and people start to see them for who they are. And unfortunately, you sort of have to suffer through it for a little while. But if you take them on head on, you're giving them some power that they don't deserve. Now, if it's an ethics complaint that they file that has false accusations in it, there is a rarely imposed unfortunately um mechanism within the commission where you can say this person file filed a frivolous complaint against me and they should be penalized for it. in the I don't even know how many of these that I've handled. I have had well two complaints declared
039frivolous two and I think I have close to 50 pending right now um in various stages of litigation but one the person was actually fined for filing a frivolous complaint and the other one they said it's frivolous but we're going to let it slide and not f not not uh find the person. Most of the time they will say, "Well, we can't find any proof that this was filed to harass or you know that they knew that what they said was was completely false. So, we're going to dismiss it, but we're not going to penalize them." So, there is a mechanism for a false accusation in a complaint. It's just rarely invoked, but it does exist and I have rarely, but I have actually seen it. Um, and One thing I have seen a lot
040of recently um is either intra board complaints or people who are no longer on the board and are bitter that they're no longer on the board and they start lashing out at current board members. Obviously, you can't do anything about someone who's no longer on the board, but um in my opinion, any complaint against any board member doesn't reflect well on the board as a whole at all, you know. So, I hate seeing it. And unfortunately, I have a couple of districts where I see it a lot and it's It's disheartening. Um, but you know, then I see a lot of other districts where, yeah, people don't get along, but they they operate within the structure and and the way things should operate. Um, so you can't control what people perceive and unfortunately that is
041one of the characteristics I'll say that the commission will take into consideration with complaints is what would the average person perceive? Would they perceive this to be a conflict? Would they perceive that um this board member was overstepping their boundaries? It's not necessarily whether you intended to or whether any board member intended to overstep or intended to sidestep the superintendent's authority. It's would a member of someone either on the other end of this this live stream or someone sitting in the audience are they going to see it as that way? So I think sometimes we have to sort of take you know take off our hats of knowing what it is either as board members or the board president what we're doing and then sometimes think okay how is and I hate thinking this way
042but how is this going to look to somebody else because that's how the commission will view a complaint is how did this look to a member of the I just throw a lot at you. I'm sorry. But that's the reason for the teaching. >> They're all returning. They've heard it at least. >> Okay. >> Once before. >> Okay. Then I'm sorry to be repetitious. [laughter] >> It's okay. That's why they're That's why they're quiet. So, aren't any other questions? You know, we're all we're always here. Um, and I know we're always happy to answer anything and and nothing is too odd. Sure. >> Yes, >> that's everything report this evening. Is there any questions? >> Thank you very much foration. [laughter] >> Next item is public. [cough] Any item that is on the agenda? Anyone
043online? Okay. So, I'll close that in a minute. We received three correspondents that are with the board secretary on file. We have a couple of action items. The approval of the minutes. We have items 101 through 102. Can I get a motion and then a second on that? >> I'll move. Second. >> Any discussion? >> I can't. >> M. Cassidy. >> Yes. >> M. Deinto. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fury. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Menser. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pierre. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Brad. >> Yes. >> M. Rizzo. >> Yes. >> M. Ronnie. >> Yes. >> Passes. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, our next item is unfinished business. You all should have received a email from Dr. Dr. Hart, I'm sorry. In regards to the strategic plan proposal, I know Dr. Hart, did you want
044to maybe go through your document or you I have read it? I can bring it up. Just give me one second. >> Um, [clears throat] you know, I put together a sideby-side comparison chart uh for everybody to see. >> Uh, I mean, I think the one thing that's that's there that's um something to be considered, I put it at the bottom. Um, a couple of things. First, there are several examples of strategic plans that have been developed by school boards and other strategic plans developed by Judy Wilson. Um, the cost is different. I don't know how much that is a consideration for the board. The cost is different. You know, the products um are also different. Uh, but I think the way I would summarize it is um how I put it on the document.
045So, strategic plan there, you can't necessarily go wrong. That's just sort of the flavor of what we'd like. School boards offers um a planning program with their three Rs in mind that includes those three forums um and then development of goals from there. Um the approach from Judy Wilson I I took away one word that she used quite a bit during her presentation which was inclusive. She tries to hear as many voices as possible which includes multiple surveys, multiple uh forums uh where she will talk with groups of faculty, staff, individual board members, individual key stakeholders like union leadership um PTO or HSA leadership and she has individual conversations and meetings and then compiles all the data for a group of stakeholders to review in that two-day workshop. um you know so it really is
046do we want sort of open public forums from school boards I I I did write here too and school boards mentioned it as well um I think we can predict what the goals will be if school boards does the presentation um all of the examples include an academic goal some sort of facilities or operations goal whereas uh Judy Wilson we start from the ground up right we kind of build a strategic plan um So, I think that it's kind of whatever the board um and the administration really see as critical and important and what our preference is. I don't think we can go wrong. I just think if we have a preference for the three community forums and goals that admittedly by school boards are predetermined. We just kind of put our twist on them
047or if we really want to build our plan from the ground up and have uh Judy's approach uh which would include, you know, more surveys and more inclusivity. So, thank you to the heart. I have a couple comments. I'll go first and then [clears throat] for everyone else. Excellent comparison. One thing I I did notice is that the predefined goals is almost like a cookie cutter approach. And what's the point of having in my mind surveys and open meetings and people's inputs and spending all the time if the goals were pre-ordained whereas Judy seems more be a facilitator where a facilitator is supposed to come in facilitate the meeting and get your input whereas NGSBA is almost trying to be like a partner that's providing the input as well as facilitating. So my preference and
048just my personal preference is I like the facilitation as opposed to where we actually get the input from the community and we tailor it to Reddit's needs as opposed to pre-ordained goals that we fill in the blanks on. But um that's just my opinions. I'll open up for anyone else has comments. Okay. Uh, I I I was a a hard cell at first, but um Judy Wilson when she started talking about the one-on-one sessions, that really spoke to me about taking the time with individuals. So, it might be employees who might not feel might not feel comfortable speaking up about what they really think we need to work on. It might be community members who are quiet and aren't the ones showing up. sometimes there's loud mouths who, you know, get a lot of the
049attention, but they're really not at the heart of the community. So, I that really spoke to me, the one-on-one sessions, and I thought that that probably was worth um the added cost for for the Judy Wilson program that would be worthwhile. So, that's what I would support. >> Any other comments? >> Sorry. Um, so I guess my comments I would agree. I think Judith Wilson's presentation was was impressive in that her her one-on-one meeting with board members individually. My concern with NJSBA is that they said Friday night and Saturdays is when they would hold these forums. And I just really don't think the attendance is going to be what we want it to be to get a full representation of, you know, the the concerns in the community and the concerns in the district. So,
050I think just in terms of the timing and and the um her methods to do these surveys where parents can just do it in the comfort of their home, just quickly fire off whatever it is that they want to contribute as opposed to going to this in-person forum on a Friday night that we know they're not going to come to. Um, so that was a big thing for me. And the other thing is we've used Judith in the past for many of our board initiatives and she's fantastic and we like working with her and I think she she truly understands our district and you know puts in that time. She's follows us and knows when we pass the referendum and she just knows things about our district. Not that school boards doesn't because they're obviously
051you know in tune with us also, but there's just more um of a personal touch and she she did such a fantastic job last time. So, I would for sure go with her. Again, >> I just want to um clarify one thing. School boards offers the Friday night and Saturday session. They also offer the three consecutive months of evening meetings as well, which is an option for us. So, it's not that we're and I don't know if that's more appealing, but I just want to point that out just to make sure that everybody knows that if it's a hangup, it could be something that we resolve. I mean, it sounds like we're all leaning a little bit toward uh Judy Wilson, but if that was the true hang-up was the Friday and Saturday, that's something
052we can get around, but evenings can present the same problem, right? You know, three consecutive evenings over three months and sort of this revolving door of different stakeholders coming in the meeting, coming in the room could, you know, create the same issue. I just wanted to make sure that everybody knew that that we have a little bit of flexibility. >> So, I'm essentially leaning towards NJSBA. Um I'm wondering if we can cater if they can cater it somehow to us so maybe we can have some sort of um instead of in person like Beth just mentioned maybe do some sort of survey. Um and Dave to your point with the goals I actually think those two goals should definitely be part of our plan. I think academic should always be a goal. Um and I
053did like their I liked their dashboard feature. I thought that was that was just a nice little ad to it. Um, so yeah, I don't know. I was kind of leaning towards them. If we get to the same end result, um, which if we think we could, then the cost savings is going to be beneficial. Interesting. One thing I had since Beth brought up meet and Judy had mentioned that she wants to do remote through like teams or Zoom or Google Meets, right? We I had asked her that we need to at least be in person. So, she also do one in person. Um, if we go with Judy, I would see if we can maybe talk to her if she do more in person as opposed to just one. Um, we'll probably have to
054meet in person anyway and we'll have a Zoom or Google Meets on the call, but either she's there or not. So, I thought that was interesting where the school boards actually were going to have, you know, they were going to be all three in person. Um, I talked with both of them before I brought them to you. Um, I know that we have a lot more of an ability to customize things with Judy Wilson. So, if we say we want additional inerson or however we want to work it with Judy, I I think there's some flexibility there. I think that there are some things that she's found more success with virtual um because it she'll do a kind of combination of both. In talking with the school boards, I'd have to go back. But I
055I hear what Justine was saying, which is how much customization do we have with school boards? And I I do think that it's very limited. And if we do customize, I think there's also going to be a cost to it because they had that two column chart with like basic costs and then the advanced cost. And it's like the only way to do it is with the advanced cost, which is the 11,000. If we're going to do surveys and customize more, they're going to add more on. That's the conversation I had with them. Um, I don't think Judy adds things on if she does more in person. And she's at our disposal as well. You know, if if you were to call her or I were to call her just for, hey, what would be
056the next step? It's not like she has an hourly fee or anything. Not the school boards does either, but she would not based off of my experience with her in the past. So, >> any other comments on this thoughts? So next steps are this is going to be an action item for vote on the January 20th meeting to decide which member we want to go with either school board. So think about if you have any questions reach out to me reach out to Dr. Hart we'll answer them hopefully and if you don't know we'll reach out to the two vendors and answers for you but this will be on the agenda in two weeks from now. >> See based off of your feedback it sounds like we're preparing an agenda for Jimmy Wilson. I I'll
057hold off a little bit in case something comes up, but um >> that's a good question. So, the agenda item, we could keep it open or decide on the 20th after another discussion or we could just say the motion is to approve Judy Wilson. The motion is to approve NJSBA or we can have a motion that we don't have filled in that we fill in at the meeting. So, we could just decide that now. Do we need to know now or? >> No. If I if I knew now if I knew that we had a consensus, I could at least start unofficial work because there there's there's behind the scenes work that I want to start putting together so I could do that in the next couple of weeks. Um, you know, I would also
058like I mean I think we should put the name of the person on the agenda, too. I think we should just we're here. We're there's no new information we're going to get between now and January 20th, right? Like we're they're not coming back and presenting. You have the two column chart. I'm I just want to know like what are we going to wait for? >> One of the information I need to know is can we replace the inperson meetings with surveys >> for yeah for school boards what the additional costs be to surveys additional features. >> Okay. I can find that out. I don't >> because I don't think we would have a good turnout for inerson meetings and that would help decision >> for inperson meetings for school boards. >> Yeah, I think I
059just I just closed it. >> But we we have to do the inerson meetings like that. We can't scrap that and then just do surveys. We have to add surveys in and then do inerson meetings. >> They have the three meetings as part of it. >> So they have the three meetings and then >> Oh, I see. And then Judy Wilson does the forums. >> So Judy does surveys, forums, individual one-on-one meetings, and then pulls a group of stakeholders together for two days. And so her two days is like the three meetings for school boards but with the forums and the surveys and the individual one-on-one meetings. >> I mean, do you know how many inperson Judy Wilson will do? >> Those two days are in person. The two full days are in person and
060at least she said at least one of her forums is in person. >> We could ask to do more forums in person. I think that her response would be that it may not result. And she does like a morning and an afternoon. Like she's when we did it last year, I think she came here and she held like a 9:00 a.m. here in this room and then stayed all day and did her onetoone meetings and then did the evening all on that same day. But one-on- ones and and then she came back and did faculty and staff. I want to say she had individual meetings with every faculty at like a faculty meeting. Gathered information somehow from faculty That was like six years ago. That's >> students too. >> She does. She's done surveys of
061students. Uh she did a meeting, I think, with middle school students last time as well. Which could be virtual in person. I'll just weigh in because you sounds like you're trying to get a feel. I'm very supportive of working with Judith Wilson. We've worked with her in the past. The cost difference is nominal and we've had great success. So, she knows the district. So, I'd be supportive of that. Linda, >> I'd say >> I like the personal touch. So I guess we can >> anything else from unfinished business on agenda anyone wants to bring up? >> Okay. Next item is new business from the board. Obviously, we're going to have committee selections. So, the agenda, you saw a bylaw 155. You know, it's part of the three leads. You have that. So, for the committee
062selections, I'm going to send an email out after this meeting asking you to provide your input on what committees you want to be on. First choice, second choice, your preference. Realize some of the committees have certain times which you're familiar with. Some are morning, some are afternoon. um to reply to my email. Obviously, we're gonna say don't reply all, but it's part of my standard email response. So, I'll have that out there. And then something I want throw out there just to get your thoughts on and this could be part of your response to me is should we create an ad hoc committee for the strategic planning or not? And if there's interest in that. Um because the way we're going to do it obviously we're going to have these meetings. Any board member can
063attend the meetings as public. We have five of us. We'll open the meeting up like a quorum. So like we do now. We'll turn it over to Judy to do the um our facilitation, but we want to have dedicated board members that are part of the strategic plan. Some districts do it, some don't. So my thought process if we can decide on the 20th when we meet on it is do we want to have an ad hoc committee? And my thought would be one person that's from personnel, one from finance, one from adtech, one from policy would be on the ad hoc committee and they would be the liaison back to each of the other committees if we go that route. So something to consider for 20th we could discuss it but if you are
064interested in it and if it does it's just say I want to be on one of the other committees and I would be interested to be on an ad hoc committee if you form it. So >> can I add something? I think it's a great idea. When Judy talked at her presentation, the group that meets, the the stakeholder group that meets is about 30 people. So, I would recommend that. However, even if it's ad hoc or if we just get board member volunteers, I would recommend that we select three to four to be on that core group. Um, because that is intended to be a mix of stakeholders and not with one group of stakeholders truly overpowering another group. So nine board members at 30 is almost a third. >> We have parents, staff, teachers,
065community members that we also want to put on. But if onethird of it is just board members, then we have onethird of the the same voice, if you will. So >> I think it's a good idea. However you want to do it, it's fine. But just know that that core group is limited to three or four board members. >> If because my thoughts on if you have ownership and someone's part of it, things go better. But if you have like, oh, any board member can show up. I'll show up. I won't show up. I plan on going, but I'm not going to go. It's open to any public. We need to show or not. But if you have four people that are dedicated and one from each committee, it actually just has the whole committee
066process flow. So, if we wanted to do it, um, I know in our policy, the president can create an ad hoc one with no vote. So, any complaints if I uh go forward? Okay. All right. So based on that, I'll put in our committee for it and will you and if you want to be part of it, just put that in your response back. >> So I have a comment on the policy for board committees because the last time it was edited or updated was 2021 and I think in the past year it got longer. We made um the change that all the board members get the committee agenda prior to the meeting. That's not something that we had done in the past. Um, so I don't know if this policy needs to be updated
067with that information. And the other thing is it's not the right. >> It's outdated already. >> We in May of 2025, we updated that policy with our policy suite. So the one that was in the portal is policy >> because we put in 24-hour notice for committee members if they're not able to Yeah. >> Yeah, you're right. It's so the um Justine going to send you the link. It's if you just look up the policy >> website, >> it's on the website. It's the the updated one's on the website. Yeah. >> Okay. The other comment I wanted to make was that um there was also a suggestion in the past, I don't know how everybody feels about it, is to also add the agenda items, the links. I think it would be beneficial to see
068the information that is attached to the agenda. So, I don't want anybody's thoughts are on that, but >> yeah, that's something that Dr. Ho and I talked to about um a couple months ago, right? we're doing the board review self- evaluation and we reached out to Jennifer our legal counsel and she said there was no issue with sharing the preview documents to all board members. Her only concern was about processing and how the board handles it. Um for example, if you if we go out there and I'm not part of the policy committee but the policy Jason posts out policy committee documents to all board members to review beforehand. There's nothing wrong with that from Oakma, Oprah, anything along those regards. Her concern was emails when you see that like all of a sudden you
069see something in a policy committee and you do a reply all to all board members about that. So her concern was if you're going to do that, you have to follow the open rules and just send an email to the board chair and to the president and Dr. Hart. So if we were to do that, Jason will post all the material out there like he does for all the meeting minute meetings prior to the committee. You would have access to it, but you have to be cognizant of OPMA and just your replies if you were to do that. I know Dr. Carr, you have thoughts on this as well on >> Yeah, I I'm I'm just I'm a process person. Um, and I would just ask the question, what's the issue? We're trying to resolve
070by sharing more information and giving all board members access to the full documents rather than allowing the chairs and the committees to do the work that they have to do in committee and then bring it to the full board when necessary. That that would just be be my thought. You know, you have a lot to review anyway. Do you I mean do you want every committee agenda with all the committee handouts and links to review or do you want to review when it's in front of you as board action when the time comes? It's just process. Could there be like a shared folder for each committee where the documents are in there and if we because I I've run into where sometimes the minutes come last minute before meeting. So then it's trying to catch
071up and then if there's a question and then it would just be sometimes my free time isn't you know it's 11 p.m. 1 a.m. So [laughter] you know it's not easy to ask questions at that time. So, um, for convenience and for ease of access to, you know, information, I just feel like a fully informed board is is a good board. >> And it also goes down to the agenda. So, you have the agenda item. So, it's committee is going to discuss X, but without the background document, you really don't know what the discussion. So, you don't know if you want to pose a question to the committee chair ahead of time about X. And for the last I don't know four or five months I've been getting all as board president the folded before
072each committee so I get to do it. So I've actually asked questions ahead of time. So it's actually been very beneficial to me to see the material not just the agenda to be honest with you. And if I have access to it and there's no legal issue why anyone else can't have access to it. Do we open this up to the rest of the board just from a transparency perspective? I've been the chair of the finance committee for two years. I've never once received a question from anyone prior to a meeting and I can count on one hand the number of questions I've received after. So I'd be curious to know which committees are getting questions because finance isn't and I wish we did because I love finance. >> Maybe you will documents are made
073available besides just an agenda spur questions. >> I have asked um questions but I usually can't address them to Jason. because it's about the bill list and things like that that I think you would you would have answers to. >> But you're on that committee though. I'm trying to figure out >> Oh, somebody else. >> Yeah, just from the the committee chairs. Are you getting questions? I'm not clear what problem we're solving. I don't I don't oppose it. Um I'm just not sure it's necessary. >> I I can offer examples. So, you know, sometimes as like test score thing, you know, comes something comes from central to us, right? And so as the committee chair, I'm looking at the documents beforehand and if somebody else is looking at them, I don't have the information yet
074until we have the meeting and then I can answer the question. So to me, I don't really see like you could ask me the same thing and I'll say I'll I'll ask at the meeting, which is what I do and then I go back to that person and I say, "Okay, this is what I found out." Or I just include in the minutes whatever the questions were, what the response is. So I mean I do get questions on the documents beforehand but on the other hand I'm thinking of like policy we have policy tracking document and if that's available to everyone it's a working document that four of us are inputting information in I just can't imagine nine people looking at this and like to me I'm just like you know it just makes me
075cringe a little bit because I you know I'm like I but I want to just enter the data in my section and I don't know I feel like it's a lot of hands in on the document and it's in draft form. It's we're discussing it as we go and then we get to the meeting and we the minutes come out and the minutes are the you know the summary of what we discussed in that meeting. So I to me I don't feel like I need more information. I feel like I get enough information from the minutes and then if I have questions afterwards from the minutes, you know, I look at the agenda. If there's some real something bothering me that I need to really ask about, I will. But otherwise, I just wait for
076the minutes to come out and just so I understand it before I do a vote. >> I just found a message I had in my draft that I never sent to you. So, >> oh, [laughter] so you can see it is dated right now, but I I before the last meeting because I had some comments about the transportation topic that I wanted to share with you. And I know edtech I do send messages to Beth a lot because I'm really curious about seeing that data and I'm impatient and I just want to get in there and I want to look through it myself. Um, so I I just in in the same sense as Justina, I have this curiosity and I might not read it go through all of the attachments every time, but I
077do like the idea of what you said that about the folder that's for every committee that we can just go into because we do have to wait until you send out an email, find the link and then go through it. But >> and that's probably what I would do. I would just say that when Jason and I send out the agenda and folder, right? So my email is always like our next committee meeting is such and sate, here's the link, here's the attachment with the folder that has all the documents in it. Instead of sending it to committee, I'll just send it to the full board. Like that sounds like that would be and then you have can create a folder and you can just put all edte in one folder, all finance in another
078another folder. And >> that's kind of what happened. Adam was just added as a CC to file. No new process was created. My name was just added to all those emails I'm able to do. So rather than just adding me would add four other people depending on the other committee. And there's been um there's been situations where some I guess a person had some things they wanted to mention during the committee meeting an idea or shared or whatever and we've made sure we've shared it out and and the chair goes through and make sure those points are addressed and it works out nicely. I feel that like that wouldn't you know hinder the meet the committee meetings or anything. So >> if as long as they're sent to the chair, you know, within a timely
079manner before the meeting, that would be okay. >> Did you get to just original question? I don't think the policy needs to be updated for this. This is just process prep. >> I really don't want to update any more policies right now. [laughter] I really don't want to go in and start tailoring, you know, >> Yeah. I want to We got to get through the 2000s. >> [laughter] >> We're still there. >> We're getting there. >> Okay. Any other items um from any new business school board? >> Okay. Next item is our second public forum. Any items on or off the agenda? Anyone online? >> Okay. Close that out. We now have the adjournment. Can I get a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting? >> Yes. >> Mindo. >> Yes. >> M fury.
080>> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Thanks everybody. Thanks. about the ethics. >> You could say no matter what other people >> [laughter]