BOE Meeting 12-9-2025

001Thank you. Hello everybody. Thank you for coming to our meeting today. I'm going to call it to order. The meeting is being held in compliance with the open public speaking act and is in the open meeting is both open to the media and public. Notices were duly posted and the meeting was advertised in the Hunter County Democrat in Courier News. Formal action may be taken. Can we get a roll? >> Mrs. Cassidy >> here. >> Mrs. Yuri >> here. >> Mr. Lopes >> here. >> Mrs. Ner >> here. >> Mr. Pieros >> here. Mrs. Strad >> here. >> Mrs. Ryan >> here. Mr. Pinto >> here. Mr. Ra here. engage in uh a strategic planning process. As you may know, we completed our five-year strategic plan at the end of last school year, 2025. And

002uh this year uh we're going to be engaging in um strategic planning to set uh goals for the district for the next three to five years. Uh we have individuals that help us with this process. So I'd like to invite um Kathy Porier and Maryanne Freriedman from the New Jersey School Boards Association up to the podium to talk about their strategic planning process um and how we'll move forward potentially uh in the future. So uh Kathy, welcome. >> All right. Thank you. >> You're very welcome. Thank you for having us. Uh, well, I'll introduce myself. I know I've met some of you, but not all of you. I'm Kathy Forier. I am the field service representative for Hunter and Somerset counties. I'm new to New Jersey School Boards. I just started in September. And I

003have Marian Friedman with me who is not new to New Jersey School Boards Association. She's been a part of old. [laughter] >> Um, how long have you been with the organization? >> 16 years. Um, and we're here together because it's likely that we would be helping to facilitate your strategic plan together if you choose to use neutrosports association. Um, but I also I have met some of you through the county school boards association. I was a board member for almost nine years and a board president for almost six years in Delaware Township which is also aund central ascending district. And more than working in Hunter County, Hunter County is my home. I'm raising my family here and I'm a parent like a lot of people. children in our public schools. So, I have a vested

004interest in wanting all of our schools to be good just like you do. So, we're going to go through a little bit about our process and then we'll open it up to any questions you have for us. So, this is just what we're going to be talking about tonight. Um, what is strategic planning, advantages, how to be part of the process, and then again, we'll take any questions that you have. So strategic planning, it's creating an organizationwide vision uh that directs, motivates, and inspires members of the educational community to work together for the common good, which are your students, um your children of your community, their achievement, their academic achievement, their educational needs, their extracurriculars, all the good things that you do with your school. What are some advantages of strategic planning? It helps the

005board to be proactive. As Maryanne has said in one of her past presentations, what she's seen over the past 10 years is boards being reactive because of DOE mandates and things coming down to you. Strategic planning helps you to be proactive. We are not uh we're a separate entity from the DOE. We support boards. We provide training. Um we provide um you know ethics trainings and support for your superintendents, your boards and your VA so that you can be effective and successful for your students. As strategic planning is creative and innovative we take your ideas and we turn them into a larger plan. It's a process that's flexible. So what will happen is your administration will come up with action plans based on the goals that you choose. And if a year or two from

006now your administration or your board decides those goals aren't working or something new comes up for example if you did your strategic plan three years ago AI probably wasn't part of your strategic plan back then but that's something new that has come up that is changing education. So we have a process where you could address your action items and if you need to change them that's okay. Um it provides a forum of participation for a complete cross-section of the community. So you could have, you know, your mayor, um, police chief, student, teacher, parent all sitting together with an equal voice in the process, which is really nice. Um, it creates an ongoing cycle of planning, assessment, and decision-making. So you'll see that through your goal setting. And then we actually have a new way of

007tracking that process, which we'll get to in a couple of slides. It optimizes limited resources which is very very important especially in Heran County where we wait for those state aid numbers every year to see you know what kind of resources we're going to have for our schools and our students and it increases the communication. Dr. Hart would give an update every year about the status of your strategic plan and what's been accomplished. You'll see items on your board agendas and your public will be able to um see where you are and how you are achieving the items that you identify in your plan. So again, just some more advantages. Provides a clear focus on decision- making. Highlights the importance of good information for decision- making and creates a districtwide vision and mission that directs,

008motivates, and inspires working together for the common good again, your children. So why plan? Strategic planning really creates an umbrella that you'll use to pull your goals from and all the other goals that your district staff will use. We'll get to that in a couple more slides, but you know, some reasons maybe is your school enrollment changing? Are you projected to have your enrollment increased or is your enrollment [laughter] declining? Uh is the makeup of your school population changing? Are there more people in your community who don't have children in school? Do you have a population that's older and more of your population does not have children in the school? Um would you benefit from a roadmap for the district's future? strategic planning. It really is a three to five year plan on the direction

009that your school's going to go and it gives you that roadmap that you can use to help get there. Uh again, some more reasons for planning. Are there changes in family structure in your community? Is the economic structure of your community changing? Are the educational levels of your community changing? Is there competition for your public schools? And is limited funding impacting your programs and services? And again, um, as Dr. Hart stated earlier, if you have a strategic plan that's expired or expiring, that's when you want to create a new strategic plan. So, if you answered yes to any of those questions, then yes, you want to look into strategic planning. Um, this is our waterfall effect of the strategic plan. So, the strategic plan is really your overarching goals and objectives for your school districts.

010And from that over you know the next year or so say like every year you pull a goal from the strategic plan for your district goals. Your board goals should support the district goals and then from there your staff will take those to help set their administrators goals, your building goals, your department goals, your teacher and classroom goals, your student goals. All of that ties into student achievement um their educational and their academic needs. You know everything you do in a school ties into that. Even if you have a facilities goal, you want to create, you know, a a safe, healthy environment so your students have a nice building to learn and so they can sit and be comfortable and learn. Everything you do in a school ties into student achievement. So the components of

011our strategic planning, the commitment of the board of educations on the bottom and also on the side. Um, and that is really the board's commitment that they are inviting the community in, that they're going to listen to what they say and have them be part of the process for the entire time. So the first meeting and you wanted information on the three Rs. So our three Rs program is three meetings. The first meeting is reflect. So that's about a two-hour meeting. Dr. heart would put together a state of the schools speech for your community and your board and that would give everybody information. It'll talk about strengths and challenges and then Maryanne and I together we'll divide everybody up into groups and we do this randomly because we want you know a diver diversity of

012thought and experiences in each group of people. So you know we don't want everybody that comes in and our friends sitting at the table. We want people to have a diverse um group at their table that they're working with so they could hear everybody's perspectives in your community. So what we ask them to do is come up with strengths and challenges of your school district. And we try to get them to identify 10. If they don't identify 10, that's okay, but we aim for 10. Um and then at the end of the night, once everybody's identified their strengths and challenges, we invite the groups to come up and talk to the larger group about what they are and see what kind of consensus that we can get. if there's, you know, similarities and we use

013that to build on our second meeting. So, at the end of your first meeting, reflect. What Maryanne and I will do is we'll go back, we'll write everything up, write all the outcomes of the meeting. We'll send them to your board president, Dr. Hart, and your BA. And then you can send them to the rest of your board. You can post them on your website. That way, you'll have them. If someone couldn't make the first meeting, they'll have them for the second meeting. So they could join in, jump in, you know, wherever you are, your community is invited to to jump into whatever meeting they make. Um the second meeting is vision and initiatives. So in that meeting, we take the strengths and challenges and we ask people to imagine um if those challenges were

014overcome, what kind of initiatives would that take? What would that look like? And also to create a vision for your school. So, and again, we break up into small groups and everybody works together on that. Um, and then again, we'll take that, we'll write up all the outcomes, we'll get those to you within a couple of days. You can post them on your website, send them out to your community, and then we use that for the third meeting, recalibrate, where we'll come up with goals. And Marian has referred to this one as strategic planning gone wild because you can come in, your goal areas will be set up at each table and you're free to work on any goal area that you want to come up with goal setting for your district. So at that

015meeting, that's where we'll really come up with the goals and what people would like to see as goals for your school district. So after that, Dr. heart takes those goals and with his administrative team he would come up with action plans and action items for those goals. So this is like a three-month process for the meetings and then maybe a one to threemonth process for creating the action items. Um then that comes back to Maryanne and I. We write it all up. We come back and present it to your board. So that's the process. Do you want to add anything in that? Marian has been through many strategic plans. [laughter] So, we have a new feature which is exciting and I actually think we may be the first board that we're presenting it to. But

016we have a dashboard for our website now. Um, it demonstrates your project, your progress towards the achievement of planning. So, it's a really great way to be transparent with your community. They can look on your website. could send it out and they can see, oh, here's where they are with these goals that I went to these meetings and helped create. So, that's what it looks like. What your board would do is designate a person to sign in and update the goals. And this is again what it looks like. This is just an example of what it could look like, but you'll type your goal in. You could create a new goal, but from those, you know, overarching strategic plan goals, you would type in your specific goal and your comments about your progress towards it.

017And this is just another example of, you know, how you would reflect the measurability of the goals that you set. So in this case, they wanted to um increase the representation of students in MBS courses. And you can see how they put in again this is just an example. They put in okay this many this much more percentage of students are taking advanced courses this year. So you could do something like that. But you always want your goals to be measurable. This provides you with a very good way to make sure your goals are measured over time. So who can participate in strategic planning? Everybody. Um we help you. We will um send you invitations and templates to send out to your community. But obviously board members, everybody on your board is invited to come.

018Um parents, past, present, and future parents. The parents are their students number one and best advocate. Their voice is very, very critical to the process. So, you know, invite parents of students aren't even in your school yet. If you have a, you know, a mom's group or parents group of, you know, babies and toddlers, invite them into the process. Um, of course, parents of your current students. And then if you're parents of students that are in high school or even beyond, they can probably offer you a really good perspective because they have that high school experience and they know, you know what, here are some things that I wish you know was available or here are some things that worked really well to help um students succeed in high school. Uh obviously your staff and

019administration's very critical to to the process. Your teachers, you want your teachers voice at the table. Um students, invite your students. You know, your eighth graders may want um have ideas of something they'd like to leave behind. Um invite your, you know, your K to8. So, in whatever ways appropriate for the little ones to participate, you know, all the students are welcome. Uh and again, invite, you know, high school students to come back. Uh community members, you know, seniors group, your town council, your mayor, business owners, everybody's invited. And it's nice because everybody sits and again they all have that equal voice in the process. Uh student voice again student voice is already there. It's not something we give. It's something we honor. Um and we listen to them. So we want the students to

020come and talk to their teachers about what it's like learning in your school and talk to your board members um and create something together. It gives them agency in their educational experience. So how can you participate? Um we used to participate. You can attend and act actively participate in all three of the meetings or one meeting or two meetings. You can again everybody can jump in to any meeting you want. So attend as many. If you can only attend one, that's okay. If you can attend all three, that's great. But we want people to participate to the extent that they're able to. um you could become involved in your schools and then again attend board meetings where we'll be hearing updates and um progress on achieving the strategic plan goals. Okay, any questions from the

021board about our process? >> I had a quick question about that website that like a link that you can put on our website. >> Yeah. So it will be like it's not live yet, but yes, it would be a link that you could put and display right there. It will go on their website or on your website and then somebody from your board, administration would be password logging in and updating. >> That was another question. >> Yeah. So the planning meetings that we invite community members, teachers, students to go to are separate from board meetings. >> Yes. So what we usually recommend you do is advertise them as a board meeting because if you have all your board members show up for no action will be taken. Obviously your board president would just open the

022meeting and close the meeting and we go about our strategic planning process. But yeah so you all can be together. >> What's the like whole timeline from you know board commitment to kind of roll it all out? So probably about three to four months and again the meetings are about two hours each one meeting a month and then time to develop the the action plan and put it all together into you know a tangible plan for you. I have a question. So I was looking at the which already presented ahead of time and you had um a section of committees. You had some called the state of school committee, state of community committee, the planning council council and action plan committees. >> So that in terms >> that would be our traditional strategic planning which

023we have as traditional strategic planning and then the three Rs. The three Rs is the three meetings over three months. The traditional is Maryanne can probably speak to that a little better. more experienced with that. >> Hi. So, the traditional plan usually takes six to nine months to do and um it's much more involved. So, you would have committees at the beginning to develop a state of the schools report and a state of the community report. In the three Rs process, the superintendent develops the state of the of the schools report and then those those groups would put together state those reports and they would be handed out at a weekend meeting. It involves people coming together Friday evening all night and then Saturday all day and then you would have state you would have

024um the action plan teams and anybody could be a part of the action plan teams developing those um and then they're presented to that that final process. We present that final plan just like we would with the three Rs. The problem that we had with and boards were having was getting people to be able to commit to a full Friday night and an all day Saturday. And it really does that process really does work best if you have people there for the full Friday night and Saturday. So we came up with this plan because we thought it would be easier for boards to get people to attend. They don't have to attend all three. They can attend one or two. They can certainly commit to all three and we really appreciate that as well. And

025it's also a shorter time frame. Also, the action plans really do belong in the hands of the superintendent because that's the how he or she is going to get you to the what the community and the board and the staff put together as the goal areas and the objectives. So, that's where that's a little bit different. Um, the traditional plan was the one that we started with I don't even know how many years ago. Um, I've been around for 16 and they were doing it well before that because I was on my board for nine years and we used it three times during that nine years because we were able to get ours done in a shorter period of time. So that goes back at least 25 years. Um, but most of the boards are

026doing the three Rs at this point because it's shorter. it gets done the work that you need to get done to be able to have that forward thinking plan and you get those action plans and everything all put together within about five months and that way you're off and running and that's what most boards want to do is they want to get it done so that they can move forward but it is very intentional and it is very strategic follow so the role of the board kind of high level we attend the meetings plans and so on provide input in the three R plans. Any other role that you see the board do or is it just part of the community part of the three meetings? >> Great. part of the three meetings. Obviously, you

027would then you would be a part of developing those goals in the at the end of the second meeting after that visioning and initiatives exercise. Then we'll come to consensus points on that and that will really drive us to three to five goal areas that everybody agrees to including the superintendent and the board members. Every we're going to look for consensus on that and then that's the what then you put then that all comes together in that third meeting. And so that's the what it is you all want to see. Your community members and students and your parents and teachers and faculty, staff, that's what everybody's looking to have done. So that's the what. And then the superintendent puts together the action plans. Just like the superintendent puts together your action plans for your district

028goals. That's the how part. The action plans are the how for the strategic plan. So but you would then approve all of that at the end. So if we come out and present it to you, your board, your school board would approve it. And then you're picking goals every year. You're going to choose, you know, collaboratively with your superintendent your district goals most likely from your strategic plan. Any other questions? >> Well, it was great to see everybody. Thank you again for having us. Any questions, feel free to follow up and chat to us anytime. Thank you so much. Have a happy holiday season. >> Thank you. >> Good night. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good night. Good night. >> Uh so, uh we have planned I I emailed the board earlier. We had planned

029for two presentations tonight. Um I told you that unfort unfortunately Judith Wilson uh wasn't able to be here tonight. So we can um you know have a discussion now at a later date about how we want to move forward if we want to invite her in some capacity uh to talk with us about strategic planning um and how we want to move forward. But uh that concludes my superintendence report unless we want to have a conversation about moving forward with strategic planning in one direction or another. Thank you. So, one of the things Dr. Hart talked about with me a while ago when we realized Judith can come was um we were going to vote on which vendor to use on January 20th. Do we invite Judy on January 7th right after the reorg so

030she could present before the 20th? something to consider that we want to get her before we actually vote because we are usually pretty quick. So something we consider just inviting her to be a second presentation okay with that. >> I'll I'll talk with her uh find out uh if she's available. I think number one that that that's first and foremost you know folks calendars uh fill up. If not, we can talk about alternatives if she wants to meet with the committee virtually and then we see if we want to move her forward in some way, shape or form. Um, you know, and then decide how we want to go from there. >> Sound good? >> All right, I'll talk. >> We'll try and get her rather than just just wait to change. >> All right.

031Thanks. >> Yeah. >> All right. So, the next item is the public forum. It is limited to items that are on the agenda. If you'd like to speak, please come up. State your name and town that you're from. And you have three minutes allocated to speak. Okay. Okay. We received five email correspondences. They are with the board secretary on record. So we have those stored. Our next item are going to be board actions. The first one is the approval of administrative reports. We have four items 101 through 104. Can I get a motion and then also a second on those four items? >> I'll move al second. Is there any discussion? >> Mrs. Cassidy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fury, >> yes. >> Mr. Loes, >> yes. >> Mrs. Menser, >> yes. >> Mr. Pierro, >>

032yes. >> Mrs. Rad, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mr. Depinto, >> yes. >> Mr. Rizzley, >> yes. Passes. >> Okay. >> Next item is approval of minutes. We have two items, 2012. >> Can I get a motion? And then also second those two items. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Okay. >> Mrs. Cassidy. >> Yes. >> M. Fury. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lopes. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Menser. >> Epste. >> Mr. Pieros. >> Yes. Mrs. Rad. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Ryan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Depinto. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rizle. >> Yes. Passes. Next item is finance and committees. Finance and facilities. We have 10 items to move. We're not going to have a committee report this month. We're meeting on December 17th. So we'll have a committee report at our next

033meeting. Can I get a motion and a second to move items 301 through 3 to 10? >> Any discussions? Miss Cassidy, >> yes. >> Ms. Fury, >> yes. >> Mr. Lopes, >> yes. >> Mrs. Menser, >> yes. >> Mr. Pieros, >> yes. >> Mrs. Brad, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Deinto, >> yes. >> Men, >> yes. >> Passes. >> Next item is our tech community report. We will have a community report on that required to do so. We have two items to move. 401 through 402. Can I get a motion and a second on those two items? >> Motion. >> Okay. >> The edtech committee met on November 17th. Uh the first item we discussed was the teacher academy catalog. Dr. Brown shared the teacher academy catalog along with new software

034to display these professional development sessions for teachers. This software has the ability to show classes filtered by subject area and also tracks teachers progress towards credits. Uh next we had a quarterly technology update. Mr. Bellski gave an update on all technology department initiatives that have occurred since our last tech report. Projects include audio system for TVS cafeteria, wireless access points for Holland Brook school classrooms, updates on iPads, Chromebooks and servers, a website refresh, security enhancements for staff computers, software renewals for student accounts, and state testing and reporting portals. Upcoming projects include network cir network circuit upgrades for White House school and three bridges, smartboard replacements now that the referendum has passed, intercoms and network upgrades that are -ate eligible. Mr. Bellski is working on budgeting for the technology department for 2627 school year and he

035mentioned um that he is seeing increases in cost for software as a service platforms. So he is evaluating the value each platform brings to the district. Uh next we talked about the AI working committee. Dr. Hart shared that the AI working committee had an initial meeting to set goals and start collecting data. Five RMS students will be included on the AI working committee to capture student feedback. Uh more updates to come as this committee works towards best practices andor policy recommendations for the board. Um, next the NJSLA 2025 comparison. Uh, Dr. Brown and Miss Pouch researched surrounding districts NJSLA scores to compare our district's performance with similar districts. The committee asked to see this data several years ago because comparing Readington to the state average did not give a full picture of how our students

036are performing amongst peers in Hunter County and surrounding districts. Overall, our district is in line with surrounding districts in ELA, math, and science. Uh, next, we talked about the NJSLA adaptive field test. The field test assessments have been successfully completed at HBS and RMS. This was a trial for the new testing in the spring. Thank you to all of those who helped as there was not much notice given or training provided by the state. Lastly, we did a follow-up for grade three and grade eight. Uh following up from the October board meeting, Dr. Hart and the curriculum supervisors put together a presentation for the committee uh to answer board members questions that were asked during the board meeting. Presentation included additional data such as demographics including ML's special ed economically disadvantaged subgroups, longitudinal achievement by

037grade and cohort and I growth data. Oh, and intervention dismissal rates. Um lastly, we uh we scheduled our next meeting for December 18. And the agenda items are updated field trips, fundraisers, and other typical agenda items. >> Any discussion? >> Mrs. Cassidy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fury, >> yes. >> Mr. Lopes, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mener, >> yes. >> Mr. Firo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rad, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Deto, [clears throat] >> yes. >> M Rosa, >> yes. >> Our next item is our personnel committee report. We have seven items to move 501 through 57. Can I get a motion and a second on the seven items? Second, Justina. >> So, the committee met yesterday. Um, Dr. Hart reported that staffing has remained fairly stable throughout the school year.

038White House School, a speech therapist, resigned to take a position in a more therapeutic hospital setting. The position has since been filled. There were no changes at TBS or Holland Brook. RMS, a custodian resigned and the position will not be filled at this time. Preschool, there were no changes. Power professionals, we are fully staffed. FMLA, we have two positions that will need to be filled. Transportation is also fully staffed. Um, in regards to the custodian that resigned, we have decided to leave the position un unfilled at this time and will continue evaluating options. Dr. Hart then shared a news article about the RMS students who will serve as leaison to the board. The students did a wonderful job speaking at the last board meeting. We discussed how frequent how frequently they should attend meetings and

039suggested having them participate approximately three to four times per year. Dr. Hart will speak with Mr. Daly and report back to us. We then re we reviewed recent teaching staff moves at district schools to better understand motivation for position changes. It's a personnel matter that will be discussed in executive session. Our next meeting was set for January 14th at 8:30 a.m. And the agenda items are your typical agenda items such as substitute hires, long-term substitute hires, and stipen payments. >> Thank you. Any comments? Mr. One thing I just want to let the board know that I was able to speak to Mr. Dailyaly today for a couple of minutes about the students. Um we talked about uh student expectations coming to the board, what they wanted to get out of their experience reporting to the

040board as well as how frequently um students should come to board meetings. Um he's we we've got a great plan. We came up with a good plan. He's got some good ideas. We talked about the potential of it bringing the students back January for a regular meeting March and then June. Um and the March and D June dates coincide really with the end of the winter sports season and then the end of the uh spring sports season as well. So potential in January, March, I think maybe they might be interested in the budget. A lot of them do uh civics projects about the budget. um and then June for the end of the school year. So if you know anybody has any thoughts that was that was our initial conversation today, but they enjoyed it.

041Um and we also discussed um a selection or a piece going into um Mr. Charleston's RMS Express newsletter where the students might write a report about what they've learned at the board meeting as well. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Any other comments? >> Mrs. Cassidy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fury, >> yes. >> Mr. Lopes, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mener, >> yes. >> Mr. Pierre, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rad, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pinto, >> yes. >> Ma, >> yes. Passes. >> Next item is policy and communication. We will have a committee report. Prior to that, we do have two items. 61 through 62. Can I get a motion and a second on those items? >> Second. >> The policy and communications committee met on November

04224th. The first thing that we discussed were policy updates. Dr. Hart provided the updates he made based on the committee's previous recommendations on the following policies. Policy 2330 homework policy was updated to include the independent reading practice log used in grades 3 to 8 to monitor student reading practices and create a reading connection between home and school. Policy 2340 field trips policy was updated further define that field trip shall be defined as any journey by a group of pupils away from the school premises under the supervision of a teacher which is an integral part of an approved course of study or part of a school celebration milestone or competition. It also included that parents will be notified when charter buses are being used. The committee also discussed if the number of field trips should be

043adjusted due to the increase in cost to the district. This will be revisited by administration and discussed in committee. Policy 2412, home instruction due to health condition, no update. Um policy 2481 covers other conditions. Policy 2414, programs and services for students in high poverty and in high need school districts. This is a mandated policy from Strauss Esme. Our policy is from 2006. Strauss has a more recent version, but it is from 2011, which is still outdated, but more updated than the one we have. We will place this on the agenda and keep an eye out for future updates. Policy 2430 co-curricular activities updated to include kindergarten through 8th grade. Since the previous version only mentioned uh grades 6 through 8 also included situations where an outside vendor may provide the co-curricular opportunity, for example, YNCA

044programs. We also added that co-curricular program shall only be available to students enrolled in the district. Policy 2440 summer school added uh this main food assignments for summer reading grades 6 through 8 and students moving into an advanced or honors math class to the policy and also changed the name to summer school and programs to capture the policy for ease of reference. Policy 2460.8 special education still required and no updates were needed. Policy 2551, musical instruments. We updated this policy to reflect our current practices by stating, "The board of education shall not be obligated to purchase and maintain a supply of musical instruments for all pupils enrolled in the instrumental music program. The board of education will purchase and maintain a supply of instruments for students who meet a specific threshold on the freeze lunch

045list. The board also maintains a supply of larger instruments for student loans at no cost to the parent. policy 2560 live animals in school. There is no policy update needed just uh changes to the regulation. We then discussed the freedom to read act um and the related policies. Um stress estate provided updates to us policy 2535 library materials which was developed in time for the effective date of December 9th for the freedom to read act. Dr. heart attended a virtual seminar regarding these policies to gain as much information as possible in preparation for our meeting. The committee had a detailed discussion about the various points in the new policy and regulation. The regulation provides an outline for review committee selection which now includes a superintendent and a representative selected by the board. It also states

046that the challenged books shall remain on the shelf until the final decision is made. The board of education shall review the review committee's report and have a public vote on whether the library material is to be removed from the school library or limited in use. Some committee members feel the policy and/or regulation needs to include a statement about considering community taste in regards to age inappropriate sexually explicit content. It was mentioned that other districts have statements that reference not allowing obscene materials in accordance with the New Jersey Revised Statute 2C 34-3. Some committee members feel the policy should remain exactly as is and do not wish to make any additions or subtractions to it to avoid any difficulties in regard to possible litigation. They feel that mentioning obscenity clauses or any deviation to the recommended

047model policy will place the district at risk. One committee member expressed concerns about some of our library books containing sexually explicit content and read a passage from one of those books. This committee member also recommended that due to item number two under library material curation which states the board of education in consultation with school library staff members shall have discretion in selecting, purchasing or acquiring library material for inclusion in the school library. We can add guidelines for the librarian to aid her in and her staff in the curation process to ensure student safety. Dr. Hart will consult with the librarian and gather her input and get back to us. Dr. Hart highlighted that the district has already taken steps at the recommendation of the edtech committee to ensure parents can see what books their children

048are reading. This year, the district sent out a letter to parents listing books in our library that may be sensitive in nature designated for mature readers at the 9 to 12 grade level. The district also updated its library software, which now has a parent login for parents to have easy access to the books their children are checking out. The district also implemented an independent reading practice log for grades 3 to 8 to monitor student reading practices and create a reading connection between home and school. This new policy and regulation may require a full board discussion. Policy and regulation 2530 resource materials updated to remove references to library and library materials since that those now will live in policy 2535. Policy and regulation 2535 library material. These are mandated as the board is required by the

049act to develop and adopt a written policy and procedure to address the requirements of the freedom to read act and the guidance. It is recommended we move forward with the first read of this policy and make changes as needed after board discussion policy and regulation 9130 public complaints updated to reflect policy 2535. We then reviewed the differences between textbooks, library materials and resources. The committee reviewed the table provided by Dr. part to have a visual of the differences between resource library and textbooks and which ones require board approval. The New Jersey Department of Education broadcast regarding Mahmood. It was tabled until the next committee meeting and our policy tracking document for review. Um the committee continues to work through their assigned series prioritizing which policies require immediate attention. We are waiting for Strauss estimate to

050complete their audit of our manual for us to reference during our process and agenda items policy 2330 2340 2414 2430 2440 and 2551 are on the agenda. The freedom to read act provisions though are not on the agenda but up for board discussion. And our next meeting is Monday, December 22nd, um 3:30. >> Okay. All right. So, I'm going to open this up for discussion. I know there might be some on some of the items that were either on the agenda or up for discussion. So, I'll open up those. Anyone like to comment? I would like to make a comment on policy 2330. the homework policy. I would I want to talk more about that number eight, the new policy that we created. I was wondering if we could bring it back up at tech

051or is that something we should just talk about now? I don't feel it's doing what it's supposed to be doing. Uh it's supposed to be tracking the kids, you know, what they're reading and parents are supposed to be going on Google and see what the kids are reading, but I don't think these are getting updated. So I don't think my son's read three books. He only has one on there. So I was wondering if we can talk about it. >> Any other comments on >> I I also want to make a comment on 2330 homework on second revision second review of the policy and the addition essential message. Uh, I feel like the inclusion of that very specific example of a type of homework in this policy is too specific. Um, and that the policy

052otherwise is just general guidelines on how we envision homework and how it's used and and applied in the district. Um, and this seemed to be the only line item that was explicit about what was expected as homework. and that seems like it's tying our hands um in the future for if it evolves or changes at all. I just I would like to to recommend I don't know if it would be a move to remove the addition to the policy >> so that we can catch your >> Yeah. Carlo, is that your position as well for item number eight? >> I don't want to remove it. I want to talk about it. talk more >> and um I think we need to have something in place but I don't think this works right now. >> Okay.

053>> So just our policy policy workshop dial by so for everyone in the audience as well I'll just give an update. So things go through first read and then second read. So right now this policy the homework policy is up for first read. So if it passes first read, it then goes back to the committee and they could modify it or not based on either public input or board member input. If the changes are editorial or just high level, they could go for second read. If there's anything substantive that needs to be change, it has to go back to first read again anyway. So right now it's on the committee. If [clears throat] members do not want to approve it, you could approve it as first read and if that line gets modified, it has

054to go through first read again next month anyway. Or we just go through it and say no on first read, it goes back to the committee either way. So if you don't feel comfortable, you want to remove that, you could just vote no on that policy and it'll just go back to the committee. or if you vote yes and the committee decides to modify it, it's going to come to first read next month again either way. So I don't know Pam if you had preference like your thoughts on it. >> Um I said I would prefer that it's not ready in its current state forward but I don't know if you want to move it. >> No, that's fine. >> Okay. So if that's the case if you guys you guys can vote any way

055you like. I'm just going to just give from a procedural perspective that if you think it's not ready and you want it to go, you can vote yes on everything and you can vote no on 2330 and then we'll just go back to committee and then committee will just committee work. >> I just wanted to make a comment that I believe that reading log came out of a review committee that was formed um I think with teachers. Dr. Hart can um elaborate on that a little bit and that was a compromise. So parents were notified and are aware of what their students are are reading. So I don't see that it would be an issue to include it in the policy. Um especially since this was kind of the recommendation that the teachers came up

056with. So I think it should be utilized. I don't know if it's mandatory right now or not, but I think it's a great idea to have it part of the um policy. >> Okay. Any other thoughts on that's really the only change? >> Yeah, just to be clear, I wasn't rejecting the the reading log or its use or its implementation in the school. It was just it felt like it was out of scope of the purpose of the policy. So, it was too too detailed and as we're finding that if we want to change it at all, then we could be in conflict with our policy. possibly change the bargain back in community. >> I'd like to just make a comment. So in looking at the policy, I'm picking up on what Pam is commenting.

057The structure of all the other comments are more processoriented. And then number eight is very specific. So eight looks like the how rather than the what. And I feel like it's an overstep to have in a policy the how. I think the how is best le left to the administration and the policy should be the what we're trying to achieve as a board. So I'm I'm aligned with where is that it's not appropriate in terms of the scope of writing policy. I mean I think for me the issue is is that it's not being implemented correctly. So how do we um make sure it is being implemented if it's not part of our policy? Good luck. Can I add one thing? >> I agree that there's a question that came to the board regarding implementation.

058I've talked with the administration and we're looking at collecting the data to find out how it's being used. I I don't know and I know that this was a question and it was something that was brought to the board and will come to the edtech committee of the board. Um I've talked to only administration about it. I have not reached out to any of the teachers. We haven't talked to parents. We're looking for a way to try to collect the data to see how it's being used um to report that back to the edtech committee of the board. What I do know is that the teachers in classrooms grades three through eight have given it their best effort. This is part of their daily routines. I've seen it posted in classrooms to make sure students

059record um their books in their logs. Um I know that there are reminders provided. I think that this is a mutual responsibility between the teachers and the kids. I just have to find out a little bit more from the teachers um in terms of implementation. Now, don't forget too, it's also optional, right? So, there's a little check box on the top of the log that allows the parent to say, "No, I I don't really need to see this on a regular basis." Uh so, we have to find out how many parents may have checked that box and you know, how how teachers are are tracking it as well. Um, so I just want to let you know that we're looking at collecting the data. Um, in talking with the administration, I just want the board

060to please be patient. This is going to take time. Teachers first priority is the students in front of them on a day-to-day basis and instruction. Monitoring and tracking this type of data is something that we will get for the board. I promise you. But please be patient because if it's a teacher's choice between pulling a small group and doing some academic interventions or checking a reading log and let them doing some academic interventions first reading log second. So we'll get this to you. We're thinking probably in January to edtech. Um but I know that there are questions about the data. I will report the report back. Fair enough. I know that there was a question that came from somebody to to collect the data. Okay. So, in regards to this policy, again, when we go

061to vote on it specifically for 2030, it seems like it's going to go back to committee either way. And maybe that line stays the same as people want it. Maybe it changes. It was really up to I guess it sounds like we're going to have the committee rebuild. Maybe it was a little early to bring it in for a gathering, right? See? Okay. So I So you guys can vote how you like and with that um being said, any other comments before? >> Sorry, I just have a couple more questions on the Freedom to Read Act. >> Yep. >> So I [laughter] know we're not voting in on it tonight, but I just have a couple questions. So this policy will do away with the resource material policy, which I think is 2530. >> Revise

062it. Reise it. Not do away. >> Pull the library out of it. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And so it's quoted that the board of education in consultation with school library staff members shall have discretion in selecting, purchasing or acquiring library material. Is is that what will be within that policy? And how does that look? I mean are we because you know we've discussed this in the past where library books end up in a library with donations with um fundraisers the scholastic book fair. How will the board be able to um consult and have discretion in selecting or purchasing those? >> Yeah, >> that I just have some that's what I was hoping to be able to discuss um as a full board tonight. I don't think it's um where we would have eyes on every

063book, but we would set a guideline for to help with curation process. Um, so the only thing that I was um I we were split in committee on whether or not we should add a statement to that section that you just read for curation um protecting the students against sexually explicit content if there was some sort of statement that we could come up with as a board to include in the policy. Um I think it's necessary and I was wondering um how the whole board felt. I know in our um in our sustainability policy, we do make a statement that the board wants to protect students, staff, and school visitors and community members from environmental harm and will strive to eliminate the use of potentially toxic and harmful substances. And it goes on in that

064matter. And I I feel we have that included in a policy for sustainability. I feel that we could have a polic, you know, a statement included in in this that just states um how we're going to protect students from, you know, I guess sexually explicit content is I was wondering how everyone felt >> and where we left in committee was [snorts] what I imagined and I haven't done it yet was to go to the administration as well as the school librarians and almost get what they had in terms of a flowchart of how materials flow into the library and where do we have processes where there are approvals uh from you know librarian recommendation to principal approvals and then my approval how purchase orders are generated and create that flowchart to report back to you

065because I know that things get in the library I know I sign up on purchase orders so do the principles and I know that librarians use their professional judgment and recommendations to get books in the library I just don't have a document to show you so I was going to talk with them and coordinate on the document report. >> I'm just going to add something on this. Right. All these policies and I know that we there's three policies that came in from Stra's ESM 2530, 2535 and 9130. 2535 is the new one about library materials. All three have regulations with them as well. Regulations are documents of how the administration will implement the policies. So the question always becomes what's in the policy versus what's in the regulation and do and how do you merge

066the two whereas the regulation has to reflect what's in the policy. It can't do things outside policy. Interestingly enough about these the regulation for 2535 is mandatory. It's required. So that's going to be something that the board votes on as well. So there's the three policies. There's the mandatory 2535 regulation and there's two other regulations that the board doesn't have to vote on. So we can do that as well. So when we look at this and we want to say how do books get curated do we do it process the board's allowed to do to do it based on the paragraph that Ellen read question is do they do it and what's the best way of doing how we do it and so on. I think that just needs to be worked out and I

067think that's what Dr. Hart was getting at right. >> So that's why it's not an agenda. There's just some open questions on that like how do we handle the curation for that point is it in the policy we add a statement policy or do we modify the regulation as well um so there's some ideas and then Dr. part will work on that. I just want to mention that's like what's going to be voted on? Um, so any questions on my thoughts? >> Justine, I'm sorry. I don't I don't think we answered your second question if I understand it correctly. The the resource materials policy is not being abolished there. The resource materials policy addressed library materials. That's all been carved out and is now created in the new library materials policy. So like these three

068policies all talk to each other. So, as we create the new library materials policy, the public complaints policy as well as the resource materials policy have to be revised because the new library materials policy addresses library materials and those no longer will address library materials. >> So, so what is our timeline on figuring out how we know what books are flowing into the library? I mean these meeting the minutes state that there's um you know books containing sexually explicit content and that a passage was read from one of those books. I don't know I mean we've discussed that me earl and the dying girl in the past. I don't know if that's the book that's being in reference to or do we have more books in the library. So I'm just curious what our timeline

069is um to make sure that these are not getting into the hands of our children in the middle school. Well >> this comes up Dr. or if we come December, not today is still comes into effect. >> Yeah. >> But I would imagine most school districts will not have policies on first or second reading within a few months. So >> from a realistic perspective, is it two, three months from now? But by the time we work all these an appropriate time frame, >> it's hard to say. I I mean, I haven't even talked with the administration or the librarians about it. um two months I guess you know February January late January early February I I mean um you know I I I just need to know the the expectation I mean if the expectation

070is to bring to the board ways in which books get into the library I can do that I can do that relatively quickly then it's up to the board um we've we've talked in in committee about this what role is it of the rewards, right? Once we have our process, we have our process, it's going to be a very similar process that's been used, we can memorialize it, then it's a matter of moving everything forward and approving it. The laws into effect right now when Justina, when it comes to books that are already in the library, I think we're talking about two different things. There's books that already exist. They're there. There's a process to have them removed. That's what any interested person in our community wants to do. But there we're also talking I

071think more significantly about how things get there in the first place. >> And so similar to the homework policy, this may not have been ready for first grade versus not first. That's why we have the policy committee. So at this point it should just go back to the policy committee. Um any board member has any questions Justine and Ping will just send policy committee chair an email CC Dr. Art and myself and then they'll bring it up in the next policy committee and then when it's ready for next read it we'll show up on the agenda. But for now we should go through a committee process go through the policy chair send any questions comments you have and the committee will handle it. >> So I'm sitting here listening to this and I'm incredibly frustrated.

072Um so we looked at this in policy as the not as the minutes um suggested. We vetted it. We talked it out. We moved it on to first read. It was supposed to be on the agenda tonight and I got a call last week that it was being pulled from the agenda and I have to say like that doesn't happen. We respect our committee members. Sorry. um we respect our committee members like what is our role if we decide to move it forward and then all of a sudden it's being thrown back to committee to discuss what like what what are we supposed to discuss the the points that I made in committee where this is a mandated policy the 2535 library materials is mandated from the state sme are our attorneys we pay them

073to write policy for us they wrote this policy Dr. Hart recommended this policy. It came to us and we said, "Okay, if 600 other school districts in New Jersey are using this exact policy, why would we deviate from it? Why would we change it, customize it, do anything to it?" Because when we do whatever obscinity clause or thing that you want to add in there, we are now inviting all those groups that are first amendment right groups who have unlimited funds to fight us on this. And in my mind, I would rather have our dollars be used for education purposes than legal purposes. There's no point in picking a fight with these groups. We have a sound policy that was recommended to us by attorneys. Hey, if you pass this policy, good chance you will

074not be sued. Why would we why would we say, "Oh, you know what? Let's deliberate on that and discuss and figure out how we're going to make it right for us." In my mind, I I don't feel there needs to be changes to it. I think it's ready to go as is. Other school districts, I've looked online, have already passed it for first read. It's moving along. like people are moving us along because it's not worth the fight. I mean, when it's a policy that is recommended, sure, we can put things in there that we feel reflects our community. When it's a mandated policy like this, and this is the reason, so someone had asked me, but there wasn't a lot of discussion in committee. There never is. When it's a mandated policy, we move

075it along because that is the least risky move to do. So, I feel like it should have been on the agenda tonight. The public should be able to see what it is we're talking about. Nobody has no idea. They haven't seen it. It should be out there for the public to see. We should have been discussing it in public tonight for first read. So, I'm just frustrated with the whole process. I don't know why we have committees if we're going to override it and just pull things off anyway. I mean, that's something I'm going to talk about board goals later. like respect us doing our vetting and what we do. So, a couple of things. Um, we have a policy committee. If we're just going to take copy and paste what stress estimate gives us

076and not um think about our community and our school district that does differ from different communities in the state of New Jersey, then we are not doing what our role is as board members. So, that is how I feel about that. I also pointed out when it came to um policy 2530, the Flem Rare district, they also added to their policy. They did not copy and paste. They did what worked for them and I share that with the committee. I don't know if I shared it with the full board, but that was there. So, um I disagree and I think we are doing our students a huge disservice if all we are doing is copying and pasting a policy. So, I'm just gonna >> I'm a bit frustrated with myself, too, because I think we're

077sitting here and there's the,000 lb gorilla sitting in here and nobody wants to talk about it. And if somebody wants to read what what's in in those books that people could listen to it, uh I think that I I think that you would tend to say that our children's uh uh being having safety for our children and and and what they read is more important than being afraid of litigation. So there has to be a time where you stand up for what you think is right and not let our not let our goals and objectives be dictated by attorneys, litigators, and first amendment people. If you [clears throat] know what the right thing to do is, you just do it. Let the chips fall forward. They may. And some people may agree with that and

078some people may not. Take it to a close. >> Uh this policy is mandated. However, districts do have discretion with it as long as it doesn't um interfere with the minimum requirements of it. So, while this is a mandated policy and stra did provide us with one um we are allowed to make um additions to it um for and it's actually our responsibility to do so. So um that's how I feel and it I felt we were split in committee that I two of us were okay with adding to it and two of us were not and that's why I asked for it to go to a board discussion and as I was going through the minutes um I realized we were breaking kind of from our normal process of revising the policy um making

079our additions to it and then bringing it to first read and I felt like it was rushed to first read and that was breaking our process in committee. So that's where that came from. I also didn't get a response when I sent my email from you or anyone else. I just it was ended up being a back and forth between Dr. Park and myself. So I I feel strongly I do have the passage that I read. Um if anyone does want [clears throat] to hear it, but we do have the right to add this to policy. >> So I'm just mention this as well in that um one of the reasons when Dr. partner that why it got closed from the agenda. It's kind of similar to the homework policy that there might be changes

080that came out and might not be ready. As you can see, it may not be passed first read tonight by based on some of the comments. So, from our perspective is that we should be go back to committee, let the committee iron this out. Do we put an absentee clause in it? Do we not put an absentee clause? Do we modify the regulations with the librarian's input? don't need modified regulations. I looked at 9130. One of the things I noticed that the committee that's formed in 9130s different than the committee that's formed in 2535. They should have the same in my mind criteria of who's on the committee the same same criteria. You know you're reviewing the books. So it was just premature and we kind of rushed a little because December 9th today is

081the day freedom to read act goes live. So we wanted to go through. So last time when Dr. Hart and I met were like, you know, maybe it's not ready for a first read yet because there's so many open questions. So that's the approach we took. So I don't know if Dr. Hart you want to add on to that. >> No, I I that's accurate. Alan wrote some some comments. We didn't hear from the committee. We exchanged back and forth. I got the impression that there may not be support for the policy on first read. I called David. We had a conversation about it. And you know this is where uh we ended up. My understanding is that you know I have some work to do in getting this flowchart and talking with the librarians

082bringing it back to committee. I don't know if there will be any recommendations to customize or change the policy but I know that there was work that I needed to do on the administrative end to ensure that the board had a clear picture. That that's at least what I understand what I understood. just make sure that the board has a clear picture about how materials are curated and if that satisfies the inquiry from the board, I can do that and we can talk about that in committee. This is just really sending it back to committee to complete the work that needs to be done. No changes to policy are being recommended. It just has to go back to the committee. Beth's point, we have policy committee that let the policy committee do the work. So

083that's kind of where we're going with this. That's why it's not on the agenda. and want to follow. >> Um I don't want to put you on the spot, Ellen, but if you did want to read an excerpt, I that would help me um understand whether we should have some sort of extra clause in the uh privacy and probably beneficial to the court. But if we don't feel comfortable, it's okay. >> It's okay. I we have to we have to make a distinction about the two different things that we're talking about and I want the board to understand what what is whatever you're going to read in it's up to you if you want to read it it's completely up to you what is in the library is in the library there is a process

084for removal what and tell me if I'm misunderstanding this please talking about adopting the policy and how things get into the library is a different conversation I I just want to know what we're going to achieve by hearing an excerpt from a book that may or may not exist. If if we hear the excerpt and we decide the book needs to be removed, someone has to go through that process. I I don't know if there's a purpose to hearing that or should we maintain the focus of our conversation on how the books get curated in the library to begin with that. I I think they're they're two different things and and I don't I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. I don't know how one relates necessarily to the other. There's a process for removal, but

085there's also now we're talking about a process for procurement. The removal process cannot be changed. That's that's now in statute and that's what's in our policy. The curation process is the part that the collaboration piece I think that was mentioned in the policy. So, if there's a goal, Ellen, it's really completely up to you, but if there's a goal in hearing this, let's identify the goal. But if the goal is for us to send it back to policy committee to make sure that we have a clear process of how books get into the library, that's a different conversation. And I don't know if what you're about to read achieves that goal. >> Well, and I I understand what you're saying, but for me, the goal would be to make sure the in the future we

086don't have books like this end up in the library. So, I think it is important. I mean, I understand that we would have to go through a process of removal, but I'm looking for the towards the future. If we're going to put this policy in place, it probably needs to have some added language for any future books that could potentially end up in the library and in our students hands. That's where I'm coming from. >> And I and I think that what you're talking about is a criteria. And I think that I can't answer the question about the criteria until I talk to the professionals who are the ones that are trained to decide what the criteria is to put those books in the library. That's all there. There's there are professionals that I believe

087this board and the administration need to empower to make really good decisions for our kids and I believe in those certificated professionals. I don't know if we can talk about criteria, which I think is the genesis of this conversation, until I understand the genesis of that empowerment and how we can best give our professionals the tools that they need to make those decisions for children. I want to give them those tools. That's my goal. >> I just wanted to say I I disagree with that. I think that this is exactly what our job needs. Our job here is to protect these kids. And if there's something in there that's not inappropriate, we should kind of know what's in it. I want to know what's in it. Like I'm not sure. I I can kind of

088guess from other past books that I've read out there on the internet floating around. But if these books are here, the audience should know, our public should know, and we should do something about it. >> Just like to add, Dr. Hart, I appreciate the clarity that you were just bringing to us, which is what is the goal? It's a forwardlooking goal and the process that you want to use around empowering the educators to help us identify the criteria. I think that's a really pragmatic way to approach it. I just wanted to share that I support that approach. >> Um I guess the the other part to it is what um if there are already books in there that some may deem in Asian appropriate with sexually explicit content in it. So will there be a

089process for um you know I don't know who determines maturity level. I don't know who determines um age appropriateness for which students get to read which books or how if there is a book here toward 8th grade how our sixth graders wouldn't be able to sit in the library and read it without the parent knowing. And I think that's the difference between a school library and a public library is that usually typically in a public library a parent is with the child. they brought the child there for the book selection process where in the in the library the parent isn't with them and there are some books that are um sensitive in nature they discuss rape they discuss um you know sexual activity in in descriptive ways so that's where I'm just if we have

090a if we say we won't allow sexually explicit material to come into the library um then that relieves that whole [clears throat] controversy and would minim ize book challenges and take that whole thing away. And I understand that there may be one or two sentences in a book for artistic license or whatever that you know there could be a justification for having it and and that's not really what I'm talking about. It's it's books like the one that I shared that I just feel are not that a parent a child should not read that book alone. without having a parent there to be able to have discussions with them and and help them through reading that book. You might be going the same place you are. I was just going to comment while this is

091an important discussion. I don't know if this is the right venue for it and I was going to ask you David should we redirect because I think we have clarity that it's not on the agenda now for voting that there's going to be more discussion in the committee. might we get back to our agenda so that we're not here till midnight? >> The problem is though is that the committee is split. So >> what is the process when there is a split committee? Is there a decision >> for discussion? I think >> but is there a decision that's needed tonight? No, just if just sharing information and getting the full board's input >> and then a decision gets made where here it would go back to committee and then I >> this what going to

092happen is we we've had full board discussion here right this is why it's not being voted on why Dr. hard and I've also decided not to put them on the agenda because it needs more discussion. is not ready for first draft. Um because there is a lot of open items on for example do we modify 2535 regulation on how books get in on the curation which seems to be where a lot of discussions on right. So that is something that's just going to take more time. So it has to go back to the committee. So let's let the committee do their work. They'll come back to it. Maybe it'll get resolved. Maybe they'll come up with an answer. Or if not, the next time we meet, we can have another board discussion on it. But

093it does have to come out of committee, let them do the work, let Dr. Hart do his homework with the librarian and his other staff and see what needs to be done. So, we do our process. The committee will move forward. Like I said, it's very similar to the homework policy we talked about. It came up for first read. It may not have been ready for first read because there's some discussion on it. So, we'll send it back to committee. committee will either modify sentencing, keep sentencing, keep it as it is. That's what the committee's meant to do. That's all I think is going to happen that I'm sorry Michelle is going to go back to >> I just want to quickly retract asking you to read a passage to make you uncomfortable. >> Okay.

094Any other discussions? I would like to read a short passage from the the [clears throat] policy. It's uh onee um just to point out this this might help to acknowledge that a school library media specialist is professionally trained to curate develop the school library collection that provides students with access to the widest array of develop developmentally appropriate library material available to schools. So there is a statement in there about developmentally appropriate. Um, I'm not sure how much I can go into about the types of um, reading material complaints that we've had, but they are so broad that I I can't imagine that any that from parent to parent that we even agree on what is the content that should be excluded. And I think developmentally appropriate gives us that broad range of of discretion to

095make sure it's each appropriate material coming in. But I am very interested in hearing what the curation process is that our highly qualified, highly trained, highly educated um media specialists, librarians um follow. >> I I do want to mention P and too the other the other thing that we have to realize is that we have advanced level readers in the middle school, right? Sixth, seventh, eighth grade students may be reading at, you know, a level that's a 10th, 11th, 12th grade level. And it's our obligation to ensure that they have access to materials that are advanced in nature in terms of their literacy. And sometimes books that are advanced in readership are also advanced in content. And I think that there's a balance there that we have to find as well. Developmentally appropriate is a

096great term and I really like it and and I I apply it, but developmental appropriateness has a wide gradation and I think that it's just we want to give access to, you know, a wide array of materials so that kids could be appropriately challenged when when they need to be. So, but thank you. I appreciate it. I don't have anything else to add. I'm just going to just going to add one more thing is whatever policy in my opinion whatever policy that was in place whatever policy that was used to allow the books that are in there right now um I I think uh was very insufficient and that's where I think you need to go back and make sure that stuff don't go back in there again. That's just one board member's opinion. And

097I'm not promoting that you read that because I wouldn't put you on the spot. But if you did read it, um I think you get a consensus on what I'm alluding to. >> Yeah. And that's where the curation comes in and how we get books in. That's there's a big difference with once a book's in, as Dr. hard side versus once it's in they're getting it out versus not having it at the beginning which is the passage that you read from I don't have a lot of faith in a lot of professions that u I'm going to say you you want to talk about developmentally appropriate material um there could be a book that has a chapter that you could rip the pages out and the rest of it would be developmentally appropriate. But to

098leave that chapter in and with that sexually explicit material, I've seen I've seen some of the material. I didn't see the rest of the book, but I didn't really need to see anymore. And if there's a professional that said that's that's appropriate for K to8, I just question their credentials. >> Okay. So, I'm going to take Michelle's advice and bring this to a close and bring it to a vote. Um, that being said, we had I'm just going to readate the motion. So, it's been about half hour. So, so people know or not. It was communicate, I believe, and it was six policies that were first read. That being said, can I get a roll call? >> Mrs. Cassidy, >> going to vote no on policy 2330. Yes on the remainder. >> Mrs. Fury, >>

099no on policy 2330, yes on everything else. >> Mr. Los, >> yes on 6.01, yes 6.02, except for 2330. Bring back to AT formation. >> Mrs. Menser, >> no for policy 2330 and 6.02. Yes to everything else. >> Mr. Pieros, no. 2330. Yes. Everything else. Mrs. Rat. >> Same thing. 2330. No. Yes. Yes. >> Mrs. Ryan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Pinto. Yes, >> Mr. Rizzle. >> Yes. >> Everything passes except for 2330. >> All right. Next item is unfinished business. We have three items actually on that. Um it is the candidate for meeting date. So about the meeting section if you like. >> Yeah. Um there's a document in the agenda which are uh tentative uh board meeting dates for calendar year 2026, not necessarily the school year. So it would be the rest of

100this calendar year 26 and then next fall. Um please take a look at it, review it. Um no significant changes. We generally stick to the second Tuesday of the month. Um January 6 is our reorg meeting and then January 5th 27 I can't believe we're talking about 2027 but January 5th 2027 is reorg um for next year. If anybody has any comments, suggestions, anything like that. I think that it's they're pretty typical um dates. This will be on for the reorg agenda. Uh so if you're okay with it, we're just going to move it forward for the agenda uh in January. But if there there is a a huge conflict that you notice, you know, same night as aund and central concert or back to school night or something with that, please just let me

101know so we can make that revision. But otherwise, this will likely move forward. This is just a draft for now and then mark your calendars. Thank you. All right, the next item is board goals. So we met two months ago, we had four goals. We voted on that. And one of the things that Maryanne from NJSBA earlier mentioned is that a lot of boards do not actually review four goals or look at them until self-evaluation in June. So we decided to do something a little different. They didn't actually review our board goals on a periodic basis. That being said, it is was my view that unless somebody takes ownership of something, nothing gets done. So, I asked Pam and Allan to work together to take ownership of the board goals that we actually can review

102them and I also asked for them to put up a draft because the other thing is we come to a public meeting. This is not something you can just dynamically create on the fly in public. So, I asked them to go back and think about it, look at our board goals and come up with what they thought our status is. So, they did that. So, I am going to turn this over to both Pam and Ellen now for them to lead this. And normally I moderate the meeting, but I let you guys moderate the next uh however long this takes. >> Do you want to split it or do you want to take it? >> But I I think if anybody has more that they want to add to it, that's what we're definitely hoping

103to gather all of your like even longer. Sure. Um, so our first goal was the board will ensure academic achievement is a central focus in decision-making by creating and implementing systems and frameworks that prioritize academic success. The board will work with the administration to prioritize teacher retention, training, and recruitment to support achieving academic success. The um our December update is that the edtech committee discussed the NJSLA results and comparative data with district leadership. The committee then discussed with Dr. Hart ways to address student performance issues across the district with emphasis on third grade and middle school. Teacher retention um to be prioritized at all times as staff changes have impacts on curriculum fidelity and important consistency for our learners. The personnel committee uh is informed of staffing updates and reported out that there have been

104no staffing changes at RMS Holland Brook School and three Bridges school and the one resignation at White House schools covered with a temporary replacement while the search for full replacement continues. Um and our short-term coverages are stable. The AI working committee has met and is working on data collection and a new professional development website uh has been created and is in use for an improved experience and better tracking. Our action steps for um moving forward throughout the year is to monitor key academic priorities um indicators and metrics. Review current staffing challenges with administration. Identify board level actions, funding policy adjustments, etc. Um support training and professional development by reviewing progress in mid-year and year end and how the tie how they tie to academic goals. Um, our next goal was the board will work with

105the administration to upgrade and refine safety and security measures to ensure student and staff safety and continue to maintain a positive school climate for all students to thrive in. The December update is that Mr. Belowki shared his quarterly update with the AT tech committee. Wireless access points are updated at RMS and homework school. This enhances network-based security measures. Updates to software, devices, and network servers are complete or in process to help protect from vulnerabilities. Transportation routes have been discussed, and the administration is currently reviewing the data for a report to the finance committee. A school climate survey is planned for this year to gather insight into the learning environment and further academic achievement. And our action steps uh for um through the year are support capital investments and security systems facilities and emergency communication schools,

106receive regular updates from administration on climate surveys, discipline trends and programs and to support initiatives that reinforce positive student and staff culture. Okay, we'll move on to governance protocols. Uh the board goal was the board will conduct a comprehensive review of existing committee protocols and communications across committees and implement recommended actions. The board will update the policy guide and implement a schedule for reviewing policies. Our December update is that the board committees have improved communication by sharing the meeting agendas ahead of time and sharing out presentations. This goal can be improved upon and needs further discussion. The policy committee continues to work through the new tracking document and have implemented new tools from Strauss SMA and NJ NJSBA for efficiency and bringing manual up to date. Our proposed action steps are to assess current committee

107structure, communication flow meeting practices to gather input from committee chairs to update goal tracking sheet, implement recommended governance improvements, update and maintain the policy guide and establish a room schedule for policy review. for example on this section of Twitter. Our last goal was around the referendum and strategic plan. The board goal is that we will collaborate with the administration to launch enhanced communications to inform community members of the referendum. The board will empower the finance committee with the administration to create a capital project plan regardless of the referendum outcome. The board will facilitate the implementation of the strategic planning process in coordination with the administration. And our update this month is the board has committed to transparency as the referendum projects get underway. The finance committee has its next meeting in December to work on

108the capital project plan. Proposals from firms to assist with developing our strategic plan are under consideration and the NJSBA reps and Judith Wilson will present to the full board to help with that decision. Our action steps are that we will collaborate with administration to develop clear messaging for the community. We will review plan options and approve a clear path forward. We will support the new strategic planning process. We will monitor progress at key milestones and we will adopt the final strategic plan and ensure alignment with goals. Are there any observations, additions? I had a few uh comments maybe things just to consider. Um under the governance goals um I just wanted to point out the sharing of agendas. this initiative we started last year like a full year ago that um you know I'm fine

109trying to take credit for it in this current year but I feel like that's something that was already implemented last year um so I don't know if it needs to be repeated um but a suggestion I had was to look at the board self assessment see if there was anything in there that as a board we could potentially work on um we already have that data from this frame that it would be um interesting to See uh so the other thing for um committee protocols I we also worked on that last year which was probably more in the onboarding um committee we had like committee protocols or onboarding um so some of that is already done that work's already been done also but um just reminders about certain things about you know attending committee meetings

110and some of that stuff I I feel like we need to circle back to some of those um protocols and we have some policies written about like if you are not able to attend a committee meeting you're supposed to contact the chair you know there's different things so I feel like something like that could be included in governance protocols um and then also communicating with a chair of a committee cceing the board president and the superintendent on communications like maybe just look at some protocols around that also in terms of um proper for communication uh for referendum the uh one action there's like one action step that talks about communication I feel like we could um expand upon that if it's maybe like resources that we need to put towards um you know we had

111a communication consultant for passing the referendum I don't know if that's going to continue for um reporting out to the community in terms of what projects are are happening but maybe that's something we could look at as a board to uh we talk about being transparent about the projects, but really it's more like the overall uh success and and how you know the projects are rolling out um and how we're communicating that out to the public. Um and the referendum website I don't think is included on there, but that was uh that could be one of the um action. It's already been I guess part of the December update. And then the other the last thought I had was for referendum that potentially as a board we should think about having a standing agenda item

112related to the referendum so that each meeting we just give a progress report on um projects and what's up next and all that. So those are my suggestions. >> I can make a couple comments as well on the reform portion. one is I know on the finance committee you went at December 17th a lot of what you mentioned Beth is what we're gonna talk about but I think a large how we do referendum and what the process are I know Dr. heart and I already talked about like a timeline for folks when this has to happen and so when project so we're going to try and get as much information as possible and it's going to be a standard item on every finance committee so because it's going to be a standard item on every

113finance committee it's going to make it into the board into the readouts um the website I know we're going to be modifying it for transparency so it's good news we just passed but a lot of things you brought up that I think hopefully the next finance committee meeting. Um, we'll be able to work out a lot of the logistics. I think a large part of it is going to be dedicated to that. >> So, that's the new comment. >> And a question for the governance goals, is that going to live in the policy committee? So, like they'll also be I'm just trying to like who's going to own that? I know that Mrs. Cassidy and Mr. Peninso are reporting on it, but like which board me is there the govern the governance goals? Is there

114a point person for that? You know, like the referendum strategic plan is mostly finance. Like where is that governance going to live? >> The whole board. I would I may have had context. I think um maybe Beth's question in the past, this is just past practice. >> Um we would talk, you and I would talk and then a goal would be assigned to a committee just to track. I think Beth, that's what you're getting at. So in the in past years, like referendum obviously falls under finance. um governance may fall under policy. I think we also talked about like academic achievement that's edtech, right? So what Jason and I can do is you know every two months or so put you know the goal on the a committee agenda if we want to am I

115interpreting your thought correctly but if we if we want it's just a and governance I guess the question is where should that live >> I thought we had decided it would be policy and communications >> I thought so too but that was maybe last year I think we did that Okay. >> Any other first want to thank for putting it together a lot of work actually. >> Any other comments? >> Yeah. For the academic achievement could is there a way to monitor like the social emotional learning was that like our monitor something? >> I I can answer I can answer that question. Uh, I can tell you that one of the administrators in the district has been working with a a group of teachers last year piloting a assessment tool that monitors SEAL. Um, and

116this year it's being implemented more fully in say grades K through five. So, we'll get some SEAL data. It's brand new. It's hot off the press. It's one of the administrative goals, but we have the very beginnings of having some preliminary data tracking SEO. So that's something I can I can bring to the tech community. >> Y also in the conversation I had a few weeks ago is that one of the items we had when we did the presentation months ago we did the scores there's so many moving parts when the scores happen what they are who gets tested when and so on. So I asked Dr. are at one of the upcoming meetings. So probably I think you said February do a presentation and how we do testing what the testing is when they

117get measured what's a baseline versus midyear versus end of year growth and so on just so that the board knows. Um so that's coming up as well too. So just the board knows how we test our students. Any other Okay, we will move on to the green committee. Okay, >> the green committee met last week uh December 2nd. We reviewed the strategic focus areas for 2526 school year. Um Mr. Bow gave us a referendum update. Uh the committee thanked um Dr. Hart and thank you Mr. Bow and his staff for all their hard work on the referendum. we were celebrating in the past. Um the website is transitioning to status tracking for the referendum and a communication format for referendum projects. I think um Mr. B was just updating the committee on how that be

118communicated out. Uh the construction for referendum projects will start in summer of 26. The um next item we discussed was the five-year strategic plan and that um the vendors would be presenting tonight's meeting and green committee members were invited along with other community stakeholders to participate in the strategic planning process and attend those uh sessions. We discussed uh outdoor spaces. Uh uh Dr. D. Roza held a walk and roll to school program this fall. This was a new partnership with Gohunardan and the Readington Police Department and students, staff, parents had uh were able to walk and roll to school for the day which was seemed like a really great um activity. Uh Miss Freeman discussed the trees for schools grant uh from Sustainable Jersey. It's a $39,000 grant that the district received. It's for tree

119plantings. Miss Freeman gave an update on the process. Um they're finalizing budget right now. There are many many partners who are working with her uh to get this project completed. Um students are invited to uh many many she went over the whole list. It was very impressive. Um invited to New Jersey Ottabbon to attend the Mammoth University climate summit. Uh they have partnerships with RAND headquarters to be watershed ambassadors. They're volunteering for the spring uh tree planting. I forget how many hundreds of trees it was. I can't remember if it came out of that meeting or the meeting prior, but an enormous planting. Um alongside the alongside the eighth graders in the Viking visionaries program will be planting. Uh the eco ambassador students will be attending a workshop with Hunter and Central sustainable agriculture students

120and the um the project uh local resident and arborist Neil Hendrickson is heavily involved in helping Miss Freeman to plan this project. More details to come. Uh there was a wellness grant that the the district received from our health insurance company, $22,000,500 uh for healthy eating habits for staff members. This was a very successful program during the fall professional development day. So the district will be continuing it in the spring. There will be incentives for staff members to participate and the district is looking for additional grants for next year. Uh in terms of referendum communications, um Mr. Bow updated the committee that there will be a prioritization of outdoor spaces and wellness projects with the um first reference first wave of referendum projects. Um the next item we discussed was a solar project. Mr. Bowen

121reported that financing has fallen through for the second time. Uh, Select Energy is the latest company to come prepare a quote on the financing of the project that was approved and awarded to construction vendor Easy Energy. Uh, if financing falls through for a third time, HESP said that they would try to pick up the project at the last minute. In order to be eligible for the federal solar incentives, the project would need to be 5% complete by July 5th. For that to happen, the financing and ordering of materials will need to be approved by the board at the end of January. That's for the financing and early March for materials. Uh when asked why the project financing financing has fallen through, Mr. Bow said other solar our solar project is on a smaller scale from

122for many that these companies are doing. Uh the market has changed significantly since we first began this project two years ago and we have rigid parameters that have to be met such as installation location and access to property during school hours. Uh finally, we talked about the biodiversity audit and the school grounds recommendations. Uh this was a goal that was created based on suggestions from green committee members to identify plant species on one or more school properties and create a plan for tree plantings and reduced mowing. Um the committee will continue to develop this idea in future meetings. um unfinished business, the NJSBA convention down in Atlantic City. There was a sustainable Jersey recognition ceremony lunchon. It was a very nice event uh that staff uh board members and administrators attended. Um that was for

123our silver certification. Mr. Becker was at the meeting and he's a representative of the Readington Township Environmental Commission. Uh, Readington Township also receives C silver certification from Sustainable Jersey. Uh, the $4,000 stipen. Mr. Bow invited the committee to submit suggestions for projects that would fall under the $4,000 budget line item for green initiatives. Uh, the Readington Township well testing program. Mr. Hendrickson and Mrs. Orlandi talked about the well testing program which is a partnership between headquarters and Bington Township and the need to increase public awareness and committee members had different ideas on how to uh raise awareness. And lastly, Mr. Becker talked about the property that um abuts the backside of three bridges. Uh it's called Forest Hill and he has RDCC students helping to design that project and it would be a walking trail.

124It needs some maintenance and signage and it could be utilized by TBS um students which is very exciting. And then our next green committee meeting is Tuesday, March 3rd. >> Thank you. I do have comments on that. One of the things that's kind of important that Beth brought it up is the financing for silver. And if the financing doesn't fall falls through and we need to go to a third or to the fourth, board action is going to be needed and the deadlines begin in the February, end of January. So themes may go on to the finance committee agenda. We might have to do a quick vote on one of our future agendas. um either be the January 20th meeting if it goes to that. So, just being able to look at that solar finance

125and something that may be on our radar real soon finance committee on the January 20th meeting. Any other comments? Okay, next item is comments open to public. >> Oh, new I'm sorry. New business from the board and I skipped that one. All right. Any new business from the board? >> Hi. Sorry. Uh I'll go through it quickly. Garden State Coalition Schools. Uh I failed to give you the update from October 15th. We met on uh transportation costs was the topic. There were a number of suggestions which I can provide to the finance committee, none of which were, you know, whole ones to solve all of our transportation problems, but there are some recommendations there and how to cut costs. Um, at the November 19th meeting, there was a presentation about wellness in your school district

126and on your school boards. Um, to be mindful of the wellness of both our students, our staff, the administration, and the school board as well. Um, not surprisingly, the key behaviors to protect health are sleep, nutrition, and movement. So, again, no big surprises in either of those meetings, but I did want to share with you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Before I move on, any other new business for Okay, we'll be open to the public. >> There's comments on there. >> Okay. So, we I guess we'll do in person first and then we'll do live comments. So, if you have um if you'd like to speak, please state your name and tell you from three minutes and I'm on or off the agenda. >> Um my name is Stephanie. Um I work in Readington Middle

127School. I am your media specialist. I think it's always important that everyone have a face uh to the medium or position that is going to be referenced in many things we could talk about. Um I had no intention of speaking. However, the idea of credentials was brought up and I just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware of mine. I graduated from Ruckus University 5 beta capo with a double major in communication in Spanish that included coursework at the University of Salamanca in Spain where I got grades of silver salient to classics. I went on to a short very successful career in public relations where if I stayed in it I would have been making six figures and be senior vice president one of the largest PR firms in the state. Instead I followed

128my passion helping and so I switched gears got my master's degree in library and information science from Rick University. I came here after two years working part-time with private school because I thought pension would be a good thing and here on January 3rd I believe I will celebrate my 15 years here um that I have loved all but for a couple moments I have been given two awards I most recently was honored with the governor's educator of the year award president par profofessional a educational services professional and in 2016 I was awarded outstanding library media specialist for the state of New Jersey. Um, I have 15 years experience in working with many different kinds of students, all different kinds of students. I have had training over the course of 15 years. I have had professional

129development for 15 years. I have also spoken about my profession at conferences in Hawaii, Georgia, Tennessee, and throughout New Jersey. My expertise is valued by many people in my profession and I most recently was a stop on an open libraries store for others to learn about how I do my job. In addition to that, I am the mother of two amazing young women who are intelligent, funny, engaging and brilliant. I'm very proud of them. Those are some of my qualifications and thank you. Anyone else in the room? >> Renee Brown. Um, I want to start by saying if you give a hundred parents 100 different books, they are all going to differ in what they find appropriate or inappropriate for their children and for other people's children. We all want an environment that reflects our

130values of responsibility, transparency, and respect for families, and the New Jersey Freedom to Read Act does just that. This legislation does not take the decision-making away from parents or the community. In fact, it reinforces a clear consistent process for how books and instructional material are reviewed. A process that relies on the professional judgment of certified educators and librarians. Thank you. Importantly, nothing in the Freedom to Read Act prevents parents from guiding what their own children read. Reading families retain readington families retain the ability to opt out of library materials or classroom tax are not right for their child. Parental involvement is and should remain a cornerstone of our schools. Parents should make the choice for their children, not for everyone else's. This legislation helps ensure schools remain focused on preparing students for the real world

131where they will encounter different viewpoints, engage thoughtfully with information, and learn to make informed decisions. And for these reasons, I think the Readington Township Board of Education should support the New Jersey Freedom to Read Act. Book choice belongs in the hands of teachers, librarians, and parents, not the school board and not other parents. Thank you. >> Okay. Anyone else in the room would like to speak? >> Is is that open for discussion? I thought that they you might not have that uh library issue on the agenda. It's right now this is anything open on the agenda or offic [clears throat] Curtis White House Station. So, what I'm handing out basically is a page from the Federal Communications Commission. And I'm kind of surprised that we wouldn't have at least the standard that we have for

132public radio and TV for a middle school library. So, what this has uh to do with this particular page is obscene, indecent, and profane broadcasts. Federal law prohibits obscene, indecent, and profane content from uh being broadcast on radio or TV. That may seem clear enough, but determining what obscene and decent and profane mean can be difficult depending on who you talk to. In the Supreme Court's 1964 landmark case on obscinity and pornography, Justice Potter Stewart famously wrote, "I know it when I see it." That case still influences FCC rules today and complaints from the public about broadcasting objectionable content drive the enforcement of those rules. In other words, if you know it when you see it and find it objectionable, you can tell the FCC and ask us to check into it. Deciding what obscene,

133indecent, or profane. Each type of content has a distinct definition. Obscene content does not have protection by the first amendment. For content to be ruled obscene, it must meet a three-prong test established by the Supreme Court. It must appeal to an average person's purient interest, depict or describe sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and taken as a whole lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. Indecent content portrays sexual or excratory organs or activities in a way that is patently offensive but does not meet the threeprong test for obscenity. Profane content includes grossly offensive language that is considered a public nuisance. Factors in determining how FCC rules apply include the specific nature of the content, the time of day it was broadcast, and the context in which the broadcast took place. Broadcasting obscene content

134is prohibited by law at all times of day. Indecent and profane content are prohibited on broadcast TV and radio between 6:00 am and 1000 p.m. when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience. Okay. So that's that's the Federal Communications Law and I've read a couple of the books. Um, and it certainly rises to indecent content and certainly profane content. I don't believe that it it meets the three-prong test. However, I I just find it absurd that for a middle school library, we would not have a defined uh u a definition of what is considered age appropriate. It it just seems absurd to me. So, that's all I had to say. And again, there's a link at the bottom where you can actually go to the FCC site. So, I I

135just don't understand why we would have that defined uh appropriateness for our public radio and TV, but not for our middle school library. Thank you. >> Okay. Anyone else from the audience? Hi, I'm Marissa Hetenbach. Um, I'm a parent. Um, this is my first board meeting here, so it was quite interesting. Um, so the homework policy, I'm not sure if I understand that correctly. So, this reading practice log that the kids are using, is that something the teachers fill out, the students fill out themselves? Um, are parents requesting that? How was that brought about? um you know what is done with the information that's collected on it and it's coming back and I'm hearing you talk about data and I was just curious what data was being collected and the purpose behind it. Um I

136would assume parents could ask their kids what they're reading. They can ask the teacher. Um, I have a little one, so at three bridges, so I'm not even at the middle school level yet, which it seems like a lot of the discussion was geared toward tonight. But, um, how many people are complaining about books and the content? Is there I know you can't answer me, but um we're talking about we're going to handle collection development for the libraries, right? Who is going to curate it? When you talk about it, you keep saying we. Wouldn't it be the person who has a master's degree in library science that would be handling that? Wouldn't they be the person who is qualified and highly trained in order to do that? It seems like there's a lot of talk

137going on and we're making mountains out of mole hills with things that don't need to be. It sounds like that policy is something that's pretty straightforward. And I'm just curious as to what the agenda behind it is that we want to put criminal law and then we're saying that neighboring districts who do not have a good reputation did that. We should model that too. I moved my family from another district in Hunter County. I wanted to stay in the county. I did my research between the staffs, the teachers, the administration. This was the only place that I needed to go. And so now I have a first grader. And I don't want to be in a position again where my child is in a district where the board of ed makes bad choices. Let teachers

138teach. Let administrators do their jobs. Make sure the finances are good. Make sure the kids are educated, please. There was a lot of back and forth tonight where people are not seeing eye to eye and my general vibe because I'm not I haven't been here before so I don't know these faces is that there's something else going on. People I don't know if it's agendas or something, but something doesn't seem right. And it's right here in this policy. And I don't know why because there is nobody, not an educator, not a professional who would put something in a kid's hand that they think is going to have some kind of catastrophic experience for them. Take their cell phones away. You want to look at research on brain development. I don't like the fact that my

139first grader has a Chromebook that he brings home to and from school every day and he reads on it. I want him to read a book. You know what I mean? So, you have to look at it that way. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Scott. Uh, as trusted educators, you have a duty to protect our children. If the required policy that is allowed to be modified does not include language to protect our children or does not go far enough, it needs to be added. If you are worried about some hypothetical group possibly suing us because our approved policy differs even slightly from the recommended policy and are willing to sacrifice the safety of our children, you really need to be more concerned about being sued by parents when you allow them to be exposed

140to inappropriate sexual content. Adding the provision to ensure that we do not violate the relevant 2COC law as rar has should not only protect our children but also keep us from being sued by any group. Also, if committee members do not think that the board should be able to provide feedback or vote on their recommendation as is their duty as suggested members might be on a board committee such as this. Uh I appreciate Dr. Hart's concern about making sure that readers of higher levels are not exposed to sexual content meant for older readers. Just because a child has the ability to comprehend the material does not mean they are ready to consume that material. To Mr. Pi's point, there absolutely has been inappropriate material distributed by this district. I'm hopeful that the reason for this

141is that it is near impossible for the professionals to read every single word of every material provided by this district. If they have reviewed and approved the following content I'm about to read, then I would agree with Mr. Cruz's uh statement. In pre the pre-k classes were provided large alphabet banners promoting unhealthy foods with logos of Kit Kat, Donald's, ices, Dominoes, Oreos, Reese's, Wendy's, and Starbucks. They were also promoting screen ccentric platforms like YouTube, Netflix, and Xbox. Both unhealthy foods and screen ccentric platforms uh are widely documented as detrimental to young children's physical, emotional, and cognitive development. When children see these brands celebrated as part of their learning environment, they internalize them as desirable and safe. It makes it very difficult for parents to be able to go to the store and say, "No, you

142can't have that those Oreos." When they when the kid thinks, "Oh, well, my my school has it on there. It must be good. It must be safe." Right? Um my third grade daughter was assigned a book that promotes behaviors such as excessive screen use, consuming short format videos, and self-recording and sharing. basically how to uh encouraging you to to do Tik Tok videos and post them. This was this uh behavior is w also widely documented as harmful to children's emotional, cognitive and social development. Uh my 11-year-old daughter has access to read the book Me Girl Earl and the Dying Girl in her school library which contains a lot of graphic sexual dial dialogue including references to oral sex on minors and inappropriate adult behavior with minors normalizing this behavior. One such passage includes, "Papa Gains

143never sat you down, so son, one day you're going to have to get pushy." No, but he did teach me how to get a butthole. A lot of other stuff like that in this book available to the sixth and eighth grade to in the library there. Because these materials are distributed by the school, children naturally assume that the content is endorsed and safe. This implicit authority makes it even more difficult for parents to teach caution and boundaries around unhealthy junk foods, screen time, digital and social media, and other risky or inappropriate behaviors. The current policy framework does not require a review of thematic content for development, developmental safety, or behavioral influence. Without such safeguards, instructional materials may inadvertently normalize activities that conflict with child well-being, even when the academic purpose is sound. I'm formally requested

144that the district revise its instructional material selection and read policies to include explicit wording that ensures materials do not promote inappropriate, unhealthy or unsafe activities. Content is evaluated not only for academic value but also for developmental safety and well-being. Review processes uh consider behavioral influence alongside literally literary and curricular alignment. >> [clears throat] >> Hello members of the board. Uh my name is Caitlyn Tennis and I live in Three Bridges and um I I remember being in high school and reading 1984 and Handmaid's Tale. I remember being in middle school reading Catcher in the Rye and Fahrenheit 451. And one of the things that all of these books have in common is that they have all been banned and they have all been considered unfit for young people. They are part of the cannon. They're

145well respected. Everyone has probably read them for generations. And what they did for me is that they created uh a reader. They created a reader out of me. They've created readers out of generations of students, all of which looked at Holden Caulfield and what he was saying and his adventures in New York City and thought, hm, here's a kid that reminds me of me, who allows me to understand the world, who allows me to process the feelings that I am having and connects with me in some way. Maybe it's not Holden Cfield, maybe it's another book. I was also a big fan of Judy Bloom and I remember sneaking in the library and trying to find every single book that she wrote so that I could go on the adventures that I saw in my

146book. Are every single Are all books perfect? Absolutely not. That's where parents come in. parents speaking to their kids, talking to their teach um to their teachers, talking to the librarians, uh finding out what their kids are reading. Like that is the job of a parent. Parents in conjunction with teachers in partnerships with librarians create readers that think, that question, that connect, that have empathy. Um, so and I want to start by acknowledging that regardless of what our views are separately as people, as a community, we want the same thing for our kids. We want them to grow up smart. We want them to be thinkers. We want them to be respectful and to be respected. And we want them to be competitive, not just on a national scale, but on a global scale. And

147I think being a reader helps them do that. And I recognize that some parents are also uncomfortable with certain books or topics that arise in in libraries or that their students their kids might have access to online. Remember the internet is the wild wild west. So your students are on the internet. Your kids are on the internet unfettered but the books are the things right. I ask you to really question that. Um, so I want you to think about um how our students in Readington are performing again like with the rest of the state and how well our schools have done in educating those students and how we should allow them to continue to do the good work that they are doing. I will tell you that if you look at the states with the

148most banned books and I will show you the lower rankings of national scorings in education, Google is free. Check it out. You banned books and empires that fall. By the way, the first thing that happens before an empire falls is they burn libraries. We all know this. History has taught us. And was it Mark Twain who said, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." We get to see this all the time. They ban books, education drops, books come back, educations rise. The states that perform best do not ban books. And I love what you said about the FCC and having a regulation, but guess what? The FCC does not get to come to my house and tell me what I can listen to with my child. They do not get to make laws that

149govern my households and how I raise my children. I want my children to be exposed to a variety of literary works. I also remember visiting the museum and seeing the Venus Milo for the first time. Oh, that glorious naked beauty. We should put her away. Let's not forget the very Bible that many of us live by. We should read some of those sections. We should ban that too. So I ask you as you are thinking about these rules that you are making for other people's households and the educational goals that they have set for their children and the ideas that they are expressing to their child. What you are saying is that you want to reach into those households and make decisions for those parents and make decisions for librarians that are trained. I do

150not have a librarian degree. Who does? Thank you. Right. But I do have two master's degrees, one in education and one in curriculum and development. And I will tell you that I know literacy. I know reading. I know that engagement is half of the battle to building good readers, right? Like if anybody is in literacy here at you know that scars rope says that engagement is one of the threads that leads to fluent reading. So when you take that engagement away and that does not mean opening up the world to the child and say read whatever you want. It means partnering with librarians and partnering with teachers and speaking to your child and making sure that they are reading the things that you find is good for them. Just like I will read with my

151child and tell them that they can read those things and you might read with your child and tell them that they could read with those things but you should not be in my house telling me what my child can read and what they can take out of the library. I don't Is that all I had to say? [laughter] So I urge the board to continue to support the great literacy program that we have here in Readington Township. the literacy program that has given birth to a generation of really intelligent students, really intelligent kids, the same community where people have moved to to access this great education. The same community that attracted me here from a Catholic school, by the way, and I'm like, I can put my kids in school here. So, as much as

152people want to say, oh, I really value my come to my church. [laughter] I value all of the values that you do too. But do you know what I value? I value freedom of speech and I value freedom of expression and I value freedom of the press and I value the freedom to read for my child to become a critical thinker that when they see something in a book that's not quite right. They're like, let's talk about that. Let me explain to you why that might not be a good thing. But I get to do that work with my child. The teacher gets to do that work with the students. The librarian gets to curate books. and our students continue to grow and be one of the best school districts in New Jersey because we

153are not banning books and we are not down at number 48, 49 and 50 on the national ranking for education. Remember, look it up. Google is free. Thank you so much. >> Okay, any other comments from the audience? We have one online. I think it's one person, right? >> Yeah. comments from a Julie Lassa 6939. Um, oh, thank you. Uh, a book in contest uh many months ago was in the middle school library. So, sending home a list of books at grades 9 through 12 left and uh levels will not address that. Uh, me earlying girl was the book. Objectively, it had very obscene material and was deemed age appropriate to my disbelief. The key to the freedom to read act here is developmentally appropriate. I fail to see how obscene material would ever be

154deemed that. So why the objection to adding this language? How any board member is arguing against protecting children from obscene material is quite disheartening. The reading log is not Oh, and then a Carolan Sherwood um said the reading log is not very user friendly for parents. I know that I saw it in the beginning of the year, but I don't even know where to find it. Um Julie uh Los Sarasina um again said advanced readers does not mean that they need to be reading repeated profanity and sexually explicit material. That is not what I consider education that my tax dollars are paying for. Education and safety needs to be the north star. Books filled with sexual material and profanity does not follow the northstar of prior prioritizing education. That's line. >> Thank you. Okay. So,

155I'm just going to re reiterate our public comments policy each meeting and then thank you for your comments um from a board. We take them in. We have the option to address ones that we can as they come in or we come take it back to committee or um to address them offline. To my knowledge, there's a lot of comments, but I think there was only one question that really could be asked. I believe it was about like the readin log and how the readin log is utilized where it came from. It came from a meeting that we had a few months ago. So maybe just on just the logistics of the read and log you want to maybe address that Dr. >> Yeah. Sach I I can talk to you offline. Uh did I

156get your last name correct? Did I Okay. >> Okay. Just Okay. Um uh I can talk to you offline. I can give you a call. But this was the genesis of the reading log was um in order to create a connection between home and school and bring more awareness to parents of what their children were reading. You know, reading logs have been used in the district, but they go home now digitally. Um children track what they're reading, they write it down, and then parents, it's on a Google form and parents have access to it to view it. Um, in terms of the data that we're going to collect, we just have not reassessed with our teachers how effective this has been to create that homeschool connection with reading. And that's what we're looking into. But

157we can have a conversation. If you have more questions, email me. We'll talk offline. >> You're welcome. >> Okay. So, I'm going to close public session now. I'm going to move to executive session. Um, so the motion a motion to adopt the following resolution resolve to adjourn to executive session in accordance with the sunshine law to discuss a personal matter in a legal matter for approximately 30 minutes at which time the board expects to return to public session where action may be taken. Matters discussed will be made public if and when circumstances requiring confidentiality no longer exist. However, it is not presently known in certain such circumstances rules exist. I will move it. Can I get a second? >> I'll second >> and second. Mr. >> Mrs. Cassidy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fer, >> yes.

158>> Mr. Lopes, >> yes. >> Mrs. [clears throat] Beno, >> yes. >> Mr. Pieros, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rad, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pinto, >> yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you everybody for attending.