001but you know I argue with him and I told him I said you should go back to school and do this but he's making the money so it's kind of hard for him like his nephew has like this um technical companies that's good he can grow up like that yeah thank you foreign [Music] oh my God thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you [Music] yes [Music] that's right yeah [Laughter] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] this morning this is awesome [Music] thank you foreign this meeting is being held in compliance with the open public meetings act and is open to the median Public Notices for newly posted and the meeting was advertised in the 187th Democrat Courier News formal action may be taken can I get a roll call please I'm here this is
002fiori here this is menser just a peach y here is Ryan this is Wolf here Dr here an example here uh we can please [Music] questions good evening everyone tonight we honor student creativity and ingenuity students receiving recognition this evening have excelled in performing at Fine Arts as well as engineering and design we'll begin our program tonight with our honors fans students this spring our students participated in both the elementary and the Middle School New Jersey music educators Association honors band competition these competitions featured students from grades 430 students competed for top seats to move on in the competition to give us more details and to help me recognize these students I'd like to introduce our music teachers Mr hokuma and Mr Victor to come up to the podium me everyone those of you who
003do not know me I'm John hokeman I'm the director of fans of RMS and we are just so thrilled to recognize our students this evening the cjmea Middle School otter band is open like what Dr Hart said to students in grades four through eight and there's a middle school Seventh-Day version and there's Elementary four through six version all the students that are represented here tonight are in top seats in those ensembles this year and for RMS we had I think the most we've ever had 11 students recognized at the regional level who went up against students from 44 other middle schools from around central New Jersey and six counties to get to these 50s positions their concerts were fantastic and they sure they had to actually add a second or add a fourth band to
004the elementary version because there were so many students of that caliber this year from our middle schools so we were just so pleased and proud of them that they represented RMS at the regional level in the caliber that they did so when we call your name you'll come up here to receive something from products myself um so first I'm not sure if he's here tonight Jade Christensen on Trump home [Applause] your parents wanted I'm flute Rana Cottrell [Applause] Alex Elizabeth [Applause] Senator saxophone Jonathan Carrillo I'm baritone saxophone Robert saxophone Eric Schroeder on oboe Willie Schreiber on percussion Abigail Washington uh Turner saxophone Jack weisenberger now we'll turn it over to district and we'll talk about the elementary schools thank you everyone we would just like to say how proud we are about the students in
005the elementary level we had six total students um a part of the elementary honors Bandai and we are so incredibly proud of them for all of their achievements and they represented Reddington to the highest standard and so I would like to call it this news now so on clarinet we have Victoria and me thank you hello we have Robert trombone we have Nathan Cardella uh trombone we have Philip Kindle thank you on percussion we have Adriana saxophone we have Bruno Victoria slide over this way a little bit guys toward me [Music] is Jerry come on line up guys thank you [Music] congratulations everybody next this evening the share of students from across the district were selected to have their artwork displayed in the hunterton Art Museum's Young Artists showcase students were invited to a reception
006on April 29th at the Art Museum to celebrate their artwork included self-portraits pop art celebrity portraits and much more so middle school students also had their artwork entered in the Hunterdon Central art showcase this as well Mrs holozan is here to talk about the student artwork and helping honor these young partners my name is Christine Hamilton I'm the k-3 level art teacher it is an honor to be here tonight to recognize the achievement of artistic Excellence for so many young artists at the county level for Reddington Middle School the Hunterdon Art Museum Young artist showcase honorees Arts office Vanessa Augustina Ashley Phelan Maddie Christensen yep foreign [Music] Martinez master temperature foreign Selena Alexandria Victorinox young artist showcase honors thank you congratulations The Three Bridges Young Artists showcase honorees are as follows Jackson Conti Doherty Kristen
007drained Aldridge Skyler Finley what's going on really Lola marchiano Charlotte England thank you that concludes the Three Bridges young artists foreign yes yes they already have um certificates Addison bloomenberg Brooks Julian Lopes Ella March Benjamin Murray let's see Perez Axel Sands Matthew Schneider Romero Salazar Lily summon Maya gregors thank you congratulations lastly this year this year bless you uh eight schools with over 60 cars competed at Kingwood School in the electric vehicle challenge students from RMS did exceptionally well in this competition Mr new camp has joined us tonight to help honor these brilliant students foreign sixth graders an innovation in design the curriculum folks that are alternative energy and what culminating projects is designing electric powered cars and then racing um after months of uh kind of initially studying gear ratios aerodynamics electricity Newton's laws
008and then a lot of measurement Precision along the way these students then race these vehicles and this year we're like participate in a county-wide competition at Kingwood school about three weeks ago I took 20 RMS sixth graders to the event and in the initial uh initially our first race a 9-10 RMS team won first place and they stay in the winners bracket it was a double elimination tournament so you had to lose twice so we were off to a really good start when all was said and done three RMS teams finished in the top ten as Dr Bart said out of 60 different teams that made different schools and I'd like to recognize the students at this time in seventh place overall was a car named the Whopper and that car was designed by three
009young men Ryan bloomenberg and James spiron I'm finishing the fifth place overall was a car by the name of the biggie cheese mobile this car was designed by Samuel Cohen and Caleb Clash and then finally special accreditation goes out to a team of young Engineers who won all six races that they competed in winning the competition overall in first place and that was Madison picarski all right I didn't mention the name of their car and Madison classmate named the car the Bibble and her teammate was Claire Great Southwest thank you very much thank you you know tonight is really special not only do we get to honor these students but I get to inform the Board of Education as well that last week we sat in celebration and recognition of all of the honorees of
010our eighth grade award ceremony over at the middle school so the month of June is really a time for celebration and certainly looking forward to Summer but it's also a time for reflection if they can go all that we've accomplished over the course of the school year and tonight and last week's Awards uh certainly speak to the caliber of students and I'd like to congratulate everyone tonight for all of their rewards and all of our accomplishments and thank you to Mrs Collins and Mr new camp Mr hokuma Miss Richter for being here tonight as you can you're here so that must be there's no baby on the way right now so thank you for being here we really appreciate it it's good um thank you all for joining us this evening we're really students thank
011you so much for being here Paris we really appreciate your support have a wonderful evening you're welcome to stay uh we'll take a couple minutes of a break at Greenleaf where you can save the recipe congratulations congrats [Music] yes foreign [Music] air conditioners [Music] ready to smile you're smiling look this way look this way sweetie perfect now he's visited a board of Edmonds he's never been here before never been here before [Music] thank you on the other Edition I've had on under my superintendents report that was fun very nice um and this is something to celebrate as well I believe is um we are pleased tonight to announce that the rtea has voted on their contract last week with their General membership in the new contract has been passed by the rtea their General membership
012so the final step is tonight the Board of Education also has to approve the contract thus making it fully executed so this is agenda item 5.31 the nice thing is for Jason's office really is that all contracts and salaries everything has been being improved tonight as well so we're able to issue all new contracts before the new fiscal year um the other thing is I should make note of the fact that it's not often that a local Association Board of Education come to an agreement before the expiration of an old contract the fact that we did this before the June 30th deadline is really a testament to the board's commitment and the rta's commitment their leadership their open dialogue and their collaboration over the past say what five six months something like that in preparing
013for this moment where we are approving the teacher's contract so congratulations to the board and a successful negotiations and to the RTA and the team so that's it [Applause] all right yeah um yeah I'm good all right uh we are now open to the public limited to action items on the agenda thank you so I thankfully repeat oh I'm sorry I have that written down um I'm Shelly Goss I am a lifetime resident of Reddington Township I am a fourth grade teacher at Holland Brook School and a member of the rtea negotiations team so I am going to repeat some of the things that Dr Hart said from our side as well I'm here representing that team to thank you the board and especially the members of your negotiations team for your partnership in an
014extremely productive negotiating process we feel we've reached a fair agreement which has occurred as Dr Hart said prior to the expiration of our current contract this is a rare occurrence and it does demonstrate that commitment of both the board and the rtea so thank you all very much thank you okay my name is Alyssa viola I'm your resident I'm a fifth grade teacher so I wanted to thank you for creating a budget that's fiscally responsible as a taxpayer and as a teacher I have been on both ends and I know a lot of you haven't been here in the past when we've had a flat budget for it felt like an eternity but eight to ten years I'd like to share a couple stories with you of what if that budget brought us um outside
015my room water would just pour poor poor for years from a leaking roof in my room I suffered and was under doctor care for my eyes every time I would walk in the building it looked like I had pink eye I was allergic to whatever is collecting in that that would stay um one year we would this is before we went paperless we would put report cards on paper we ran out of white paper and we were told to go to the closet and get what would have whatever was left and it happened to be dark purple and magenta paper for report cards well it wasn't copying so the teachers went out to Staples and bought white paper so as a tax payment payer I am very thankful that I mean we're nowhere near extravagant
016but extremes aren't good right like we like adult chocolate but we can't have the whole bag so thank you for not going to extremes um and that's what I wanted to say thank you for all your hard work and I have never I mean we used to fight for a one percent raise which was like for me at the time hundred dollars a paycheck or five percent a month I don't even know but this is so fair and it morale is up because we didn't have to fight for something like a one percent rate it shows you care and I love how all the leaders are working together you're working the administrators the rtea the HSA it's just really never happened so like this before and I just want to say thank you to all
017of you thank you and there are no comments online Mrs wolf nothing in the chat okay um thank you very much for your comments and that closes public session moving on to the agenda items um correspondence we had one email from JF uh regarding public comment uh moving on to board action approval administrative minute the administrative reports if I can get a motion to adopt 1.01 through 1.03 second Carol any questions or comments on the minutes on the reports I had something sorry I had something um I was looking through the bus evacuation drills and I don't know how it works so I'm asking one of the forms was blank the checklists were blank and one was missing the time I don't know if that's an issue but if someone needs to over check it
018I just thought I'd I was just scanning through them and I saw there were no check marks so that was my first observation and then my second one was that it looks like I don't know do we have purview to change the form because it looked like there was a bunch of empty space and check marks were here and check marks were there like if the form could be tightened up in any way so they can just put the check mark in the right column I'm sure they're standing there with the buses and the children and trying to get them to school and it just seemed like check marks were made in like empty space where there isn't anything that's just my suggestion thank you and we appreciate we did catch the black one without
019the blanket it was re-uploaded okay thank you thank you uh any other comments all right not hearing any can I get a roll call please is better yes this is Fury yes Mrs Adventure Mr Peach mrski yes Ms Ryan yes this is Wolf yeah yes example yes uh moving on to approval of minutes can I get a motion to about 2.01 through 2.02 so move Beth any questions or comments on the minutes all right can I get a roll Club please yes this is Fury yes just by Gorski yes yes is Ryan yes yes museum yes moving on to finance facilities can I get a motion to YouTube and we had a committee report yes we do part of the finance committee met on Thursday May 25th and the first topic we discussed was um
020presentation by oh sorry presentation by our insurance brokers uh cbiz group they presented options to us that were available and although final quotes are not yet available we likely have narrowed down our options to either our current insurance company which is safe School Alliance Insurance Fund or New Jersey Sig stands for New Jersey schools Insurance Group we will make the final decision after we receive a final rate increase from each of these two companies the next topic we discussed were the capital projects for school year 2324 as an update in the first uh the first thing we talked about was the RMS roof and the HVAC system we're still working on architectural well they're still working on architectural designs and the roof will likely be completed this summer we probably will not be installing the
021HVAC equipment until the spring of 2024. regarding the Elementary bathrooms due to inflation the cost may be higher than anticipated we have not yet received the final numbers and we we will reassess from all the quotes are in we then talked about the solar we're still waiting for the RFP which is the request for proposal from the architect we may have this this in the next several months uh then we talked about the Three Bridges School boiler we're still negotiating with the companies to match the lowest number to fix the boiler and some IT projects are in progress uh there's more detail to follow regarding the phone system the video camera systems and the core switches we also uh then uh said that the next budget presentation to the township is tentatively scheduled for Monday
022June 19th and we set our next meeting for Thursday July 6th at 9 00 a.m and then Wednesday August 16th also at 9am any questions or comments on the minutes or action items is the June 19th date still good I have to confirm I'll confirm the June 19th date and I will email everybody thank you okay uh not hearing anything can I get a vote please yes this is Peoria yes yes an example yes education technology and I get a motion to adopt 4.01 through 4.07 so move this second meal and we had a committee report yes we do um the edtech committee met on June 1st the first topic that we discussed was the leader in me program at RMS Mr tumelo gave a presentation about the progress of implementing elements of the Leader
023in Me program at RMS into both the day-to-day and SEL curriculum counselors and administrators held a book club over the past year and came away with ideas on how to integrate the seven healthy habits into the classroom and also in the areas of discipline and student leadership more to come on this topic additions to the curriculum would come to the board for approval next we talked about the comprehensive Equity plan Mrs beagle presented the comprehensive Equity plan which is due to the state this July this report is done every three years and the intent is for districts to assess their progress towards equity and to produce actionable items if needed our district is compliant in each of the areas of equity identified by the state the report is on agenda tonight for approval next we
024talked about the sex ed instruction Ms pouch updated the committee on the rollout of the new sex education curriculum that was presented to students in May parents and Guardians were notified three separate times in the weeks before Health instruction took place with the option to opt out of a portion or all of the lessons this year five percent of students were opted out of the sex ed portion of the health and PE curriculum last year the opt-outs were about four percent of the students receiving instruction so there was no significant increase year over year several parents had requested to review material and after doing so many allowed their children to remain in class students who were opted out were given an alternative assignment in the library second grade and seventh grade had the highest opt-out
025rates of all the grades the biggest challenges were last minute opt-outs and confusion for some students who were not aware that they were being opted out there were no issues or questions requiring administrative involvement during the week's instruction took place overall Miss pouch and the teaching staff did a fantastic job of implementing the new health standards to State Health Centers next we talked about the accelerate learning program um Dr Hart gave the committee a final synopsis of the after-school clubs that were introduced this spring and funded through Esser ARP the clubs were hosted by YMCA litera and Huntington Learning Center they were academic based with educational objectives all were very well attended parent feedback was minimal but positive the curriculum department will look at end-of-the-year diagnostic data to see if programs had a discernible impact
026on student growth math tutoring will be available this summer to eligible students the number of students needing math and literacy intervention is shrinking it's great news final end of your assessment and NJ SLA data will be presented in the October board meeting the last thing we discussed items to appear on the agenda student teachers summer esy field trips and the inquiry in consultant the inquiry consultant is such a difficult word to say to me has been instrumental in developing staff inquiry projects that led to public and also the data conversation guide this year her Focus will be working on RMS staff working with RMS staff to further develop the 8th grade Capstone continue work with teachers in developing inquiry projects reviewing and improving the data conversation guide and supporting our instructional coaches who are expanding
027teacher inquiry our next meeting is scheduled for August 17th at 8 30. thank you Mrs Fury any questions or comments on the minutes or action items this is betterman I just had a quick question so the eighth grade Capstone that you mentioned will that be next year that will be implemented or still like in the design phase and will be the year after likely still in the design phase and it phase and implement it the year after one of the things that we did this year with the Civics projects is we're trying to see if there's a natural way to have 8th grade capstones fit with Civics and this year was our first time doing those Civics projects so right now it's tentative but we're looking at still doing Civics and enhancing that next year
028and then seeing if the 8th grade Capstone maybe like some Service Learning or something else can be pulled into it in future years great thank you any other questions or comments all right can I get a roll call please yes this is bugorski yes this is Ryan Yes is Wolf yes thank you yes it's simple yes moving on to Personnel can I get a motion to adopt for 5.01 through 5.38 so move that second Carolyn and we have a committee report we do the Personnel committee met on May 17th and we discussed Staffing updates the enrollment numbers for 2023 and 2014. um contract request educator short the educator shortage proposed legislation technology department personnel matters and then the agenda items which include new stamp appointments Authority for superintendent to hire between meetings summer program hires
029including esy summer Tech and others and staff transfers I said our next meeting for June 16th at 8 45 which actually oh it's coming up that was quick I'll be there any questions or comments on the committee report or the action items foreign yes Ms fiori yes this is bugorski yes he's Ryan yes he's well yes there's yellow yes example yes can we do a round of applause again oh yeah contract everybody all right and moving on to communication can I get a motion to about 6.01 through 6.03 so move Jennifer second bed and we have a committee report yes uh the committee met on June 8th and reviewed book completing policies the regulation 9130 public complaints and grievances the committee reviewed Dr Hart's updates to regulation 9130 which included clarifying language on the definition
030of a late person utilizing a rubric or scale informed by the criteria and requiring the committee to report its findings and recommendations to the board within 60 days of receipt of the complaint the committee did not reach a consensus on adding a requirement to the regulation for the board to vote or accept to accept or reject the report indicating removal or not removal of the work as part of the process this would require an update to the corresponding file of policy that was previously reviewed the committee would like to open it up to the full board for discussion on whether the board would like to send the policy back to the committee for review with the intent of adding language to the policy requiring the board to vote on the review committee's report the committee
031also reviewed the cell phone resolution sample Dr Hart brought forth a sample road solution for the committee to review the committee discussed the resolution directing the administration to provide educational resources to both parents and students such as a periodic screening of the documentary screenagors Dr Hart will make updates and put force on a future agenda prior to September the committee also reviewed the safe return Plan update the safe return plan is required to be updated every six months minor updates made including updating dates the references the reference of looking to the county department of health for guidance and updating tutoring Partnerships and clubs and enrichment the committee also discussed aiding language regarding HVAC that the outside air intake be maximized as long as the air quality permits thank you it was a perfect time yeah
032we also reviewed alert 230 the New Jersey Department of Education and jdoe office of fiscal accountability and compliance of faced recently completed a Carl D Perkins Federal grant audit for the school district and the njdoe recently completed Federal Integrity audits related to Federal covid-19 funding conducted by the NJ doe in school districts as a result of these audits the njdoe is requiring one new policy guide 6115.04 revisions to two existing policies policy guide 6112 and 6311 and a new regulation guide 6115.01 policy 6112 is reimbursement of federal and other Grant expenditures ofac audit indicates that Perkins has been renamed with strengthening Career and Technical education this update the name regulation 6115.01 Federal Awards funds internal controls allowability of costs the ofac audit indicated that the school district needed a description of the process used for
033Grant and budget development the audit also recommended staff training this regulation was created to outline both policy 6115.04 federal funds duplication of benefits the ofac audit indicated that the school district needed a description of the process used for Grant and budget development the audit also recommended staff training this regulation was created to outline both policy 6311 contracts for goods or services funded by federal grants and ofac audit indicated a school district needed a policy guide requiring vendor suspension or Department checks completed by the school district for the purchase of goods or services funded by a Federal grant the policy guide should indicate these checks are applicable for contracts or purchase orders over 25 000 unless the district chooses a lower threshold the federal system for award management Sam is accessible at sam.gov and compliance with
034the provisions of policy guide 6311 must be demonstrated with written evidence then policy 6140 citizens advisory committee policy guide 6140 is a long-standing policy guide establishing citizens advisory committees that are required for some federal and state-funded programs the policy will allow but not mandate that the citizen advisory committee meetings be held publicly and the superintendent and the board president shall be included in the citizen advisory committee the following policies were tabled due to time policy 5305 Health Services Personnel policy and regulations 5308 student health records and policy and regulation 5310 Health Services they will be added to a future committee agenda the committee also seeks to abolish policies via the alert 230 policy 9100 public relations a district may have policy guide 9100 public relations in the property manual which includes similar language that is
035included in njac 6A colon 23a-5.2 and policy guide 9120 policyguide 9120 is mandated as a result of the State Board of Education adopting fiscal accountability efficiency and budgeting procedures first introduced in 2009 therefore the committee recommends abolishing 9100 so we don't have the redundancy and then regulation 9140 the citizens advisory committee is recommended a regulation guide 9140 be abolished as policy guide 9140 includes a similarity press release tentative topics are June green initiatives how we celebrated Earth Day in April final budget and Governor's educators of the year and then in the summer which is due June 15th of Summer learning keeping up skills over the summer agenda items include the safe return plan alert 230 policy 6112-6115.01 6115.046311 and 9140 the next committee meeting is Wednesday July 19th at 4 pm thank you Mrs wolf
036I was just going to clarify you had said um policy 9140 I thought you were saying that one was abolished but that's just the regulation for 9140 because the updated policy includes the information that was previously in the right okay thank you okay I'm sorry she knows this okay and uh the policy that you wanted to bring by to the full board yeah I don't know the number it is 9130 public complaints and grievances um the only way to put that back on the agenda is consensus over the full board so wanted to open up for discussion on any point of views perspective um and to weigh in on if that is something the board would like to perceive um I guess my first question is can any I don't know if this is correct
037but if somebody from the um committee can explain why there's a heart why you're finding a hard time to reach a consensus on it like as a board member I think that needs that we do need a policy change for that and that the board should be voting on a committee's report um I do you want to address so so the reason that it's not uh voted on unless there is actually to be taken is because that's all of these are action items on the agenda so um if the recommendation of a um of the committee is to keep status quo keep things the way they are then there's no action for us to take so if there's if their recommendation is to remove the book then we need to take the action to remove
038the book and I know we discussed um the hips that we vote to affirm those but the difference there is that when we vote to a firm whether a find a case is found to be ahead or is found not to be a head in either event it gets reported to the state and the findings get reported out to the parents but that doesn't officially happen until the board affirms yes or no so there there is action that's taken on those just to clarify can I actually be clear about one thing it's statutory that we have to take action on hibs like it's in the law that's why we do it it's not and and you have the ability through a hearing to accept reject or modify the report as well Pro statute right yeah
039just wanted to add that but I think my question was more for the policy committee that had discussed adding this to the policy to be able to vote on a committee's report I'm just curious you know what the other side feels like I guess like why why are they on why are you unable to find come to a consensus on it so two things one on this agenda was the regulation so in order to add that to the regulation it doesn't match with the policy so we would need the full board to agree to send the policy back for discussion and then in terms of the agreement I can speak for my position and then if anybody else wishes to share theirs they can is that a fair way to share um so my position
040is I think that it would clarify the policy to add that as a Next Step um I also put some ownership on the board for the decision with that being a recommendation from the committee and I do look to the Hib like the policy as something to use as a sample for how to do that effectively but recognizing that hip is statutory and it is not for this and this was not in the advised sample policy that was given to us by Sarah thank you so then with the board need to vote on that to go back to the policy Committee in order for it to go back to the policy committee someone would have to make a motion to return uh to send policy 9130 public complaints and agreements is to the policy committee
041to update based on um voting yes or no to a firm or not a firm a committee report it would need to be seconded and then the board would vote on it and then it would go to the policy committee are there any other uh um Jennifer correct me if I'm wrong too I think we're trying to avoid what we're looking to was what we did with the cell phone policy which is we went to a policy we created some language it came to the board and was like wait a minute maybe this doesn't belong in a policy maybe this is more of like a resolution so instead of getting to a policy drafting a policy bringing it to the full board and then realize that this is not something the full board might support
042we thought we discussed it in committee let's send it to the full board to see what the direction that the board would like to take with the policy is as opposed to the cell phone which was not really policy more resolution let's do something a little different to avoid simply duplicating work I guess I have that right yes yes correct and if there's other input not specifically related to voting but if there's anybody that was part of the committee that would say hey I have a question or something that I think could be clarified to do better having that information up front would help the committee the University of policy and resolution you made a distinction there and I did oh I understand um so the policy is uh when we talk about the policy
043in reference to cell phone the policy is the position of the board enacting certain law statutes code things like that the resolution when we looked at policy for the cell phone we decided that this would live better in a resolution which is more like the board's position statement on something and then directs the superintendent to take action we thought that with the cell phone policy at least and I think I don't know if you were here for this discussion Carolyn that it would be better to have a resolution that kind of gives the board's position on cell phones in school some research behind it and then direct the superintendent to do something with the board's position rather than a policy which is there to uphold statute and or code and and also the the board
044writes the policy which are tend to be mandated policies from the state um the regulation is how the administration goes about adhering to that policy so the board does the policy but then the administration Dr Hart has the authority for the regulations regulation not to be confused with resolution I almost did say resolution and the reason the regulation we in the policy committee outlined because there were Lessons Learned through the process that we did that I I think I needed I think that the committee needed that we wanted to outline in the regulation which we thought was important but we didn't want the regulation to conflict with the board policy and when we got to the voting portion that's where we realized there was a conflict and then we needed to update policy in order
045to put it in the rank we were backing into it then the policy right now doesn't say either way whether we vote on it right I thought it did I'll it's I believe it's silent foreign not just be a regulation 9100 is public relations sorry um it says the committee will report its findings to the board no challenge material may be removed from the curriculum or from the collection of resource materials except by action of the board and no challenge materiality may be removed solely because it presents ideas that may be unpopular offensive to some any board actually to remove material could be accompanied by the board statement of reasons for removable it says you can't remove it without giving reasons correct and you can't remove it without board action right but you can keep
046it with that board action yeah but it doesn't say we don't vote if there's no action we don't vote unless the report is to to remove that's correct because you don't vote on the report that was the other thing that we kind of wrestled with in committee is do we want the board to vote on a report that doesn't have any action secondly do we want the board to vote on a report that requires action or they're voting on The Action itself right so you can vote on a report that removes a book from the library but then you have to have a resolution to remove a book from the library not just in the report so it's almost like two different votes am I capturing that correctly please somebody and that that's where we
047wrestled with how to tease out this language wouldn't it be wouldn't it be that we're voting on the decision from the committee's report based on the committee's report that's not what I mean we have to vote to remove a book or a material you don't so Rapport that's the language that's the current language so so what you're saying is if because the policy if the if the committee recommended to remove a book then there would become an action item on the agenda correct so if they don't recommend removing a book then the action item on the agenda would be approve the report well it would be leaving the book in the library wouldn't it it would be the opposite over that's not function that's not an action right so then we put in the book
048on an agenda item to vote to keep it or remove it and regardless of whether or not there's a committee report is that I kind of missed that last part for a second but it sounds like you've got it right you'd be voting if you put it on the agenda as an action to keep or remove a book then the it's regardless of what the report says the recommendation it's a little bit of semantics to say it's not an action I mean it's the finding right to do something or not I don't know to say it's you know you don't vote because you're not taking affirmative action it seems a little bit just like word play okay um so I I think the you know my opinion on this is we had input from our
049board attorneys and when we were questioning you know how this plays out we had their guidance and I feel like you know changing the policy would still not have gotten us any different to the last action item or the steps that we took so for me to to change the policy when in the end we took a vote anyway I I just I see it as um is unnecessary to add an extra step in there to vote on a report that was submitted to the board you know I feel like it would be going against our attorney's advice of you know the policy is solid and sound and if we're messing with it then I would want it to go back and make sure that we have we are following that and you know I
050I just I don't believe in changing policies to fit what we want the outcome to be so in the end we got there we had the motion and we we had the votes um so I think the policy worked as is I had something as well if I couldn't agree more we in place and you have all kinds of committees in the district the green committee there's a security committee there's this committee when people agree to be on a committee they're willing to give a commitment of time and and a cooperation and working you know you know with with other people on this committee everyone's going to have different opinions but they work together and they reach an outcome um and I agree with what best said that you know they reach the outcome and
051just because some people might not agree with what they decided we shouldn't they want to not change the policy so I don't think that's appropriate I think the policy is is appropriate and I completely support the decision of the committee and I think if we did something like that it's a slippery slope because then if we're going to question the results of that committee then the next committee you know they might not approach it with the same with the same attitude because like well we're going to make a decision but then the board might you know change policy to to appease certain people so I I do not support uh changing this policy thank you Dr sir Steel okay are there any other comments for the avoidance of Doubt I'd like to make a motion
052to send it back to the committee so we can have a formal vote can can you word it formally yes I motion to send the public complaints and grievance policy back to committee policy 91 30 91 30. all right and do we have a second wait a second let's see all right any other questions or comments before a roll call I have one comment in that that was the initial you know reason why we couldn't reach consensus because we didn't have exactly what the parameters were of what part of the policy was you know people were hoping to change so I feel like kicking it back is going to be in the same exact boat next month that there isn't clear guidance from the board which pieces would want to be changed so go ahead
053can we are you looking is your motion to accept or reject the report or to accept or and we could do two motions except to reject the report or accept or reject the findings for the recommendation or put the book on either way the board has to vote all right take a second to digest that can I repeat back what that would mean so if it was to accept the report that would live with administrative reports at the beginning of the agenda and it would get voted in just like with all the other administrative reports where there's no affirmative action but it's accepting the information accepting or rejecting the results would be a vote on an action similar to when you affirm him where would he go on the agenda this is where we had
054trouble um I'm with you um vote under administrative reports to accept or reject a report from a committee let's say standard language would be vote to accept the report forget about what the report says for a minute a vote to accept the report if the report advocated or reported to keep a book in a library and the motion passed no action is taken if there's a no vote to accept the report I would presume that somebody would then make a motion to remove the book after the library that that see it's almost like emotion that's going to make it necessary for a second motion so if the record to keep a book in the library is rejected then we need a second motion to remove the material and the reasons why if the report says
055to remove the book from the library the superintendent is putting it on the agenda as an administrative report I would assume in edtech then they would be a vote to remove a book from the library but if then that gets rejected and the book remains then we have to remove the motion from edtech it's action versus inaction I'm accepting a report is an action to accept a reporter and it can be seen as semantics but I think the board ought to be very careful in in how you decide that you wish to take action that would just be my simple advice just be very careful in what precedent this sends and and how you want to move forward with accepting rejecting reports and or taking action to do something with that set record well what
056I don't get is if we're saying you want this committee to decide it we're deferring to them they're on the committee they make a careful decision but then we can we can reject it if they vote to remove the book so that goes away once they it just seems like it should be on both sides whatever they make a decision on yeah we defer to it but we should vote on it I don't get we only vote the only vote on it if they if they vote to remove the book if it doesn't make any sense because there is no other action otherwise that's the illustration the action is voting to keep the book okay well but so we vote to keep a book that's the action you're voting to accept a reporter that says
057keep keep a book why are we deferring to these people only if they go to we're deferring to them if they vote to retain the book right I mean it just doesn't make any sense it only happened one way this isn't the only example right think about if you're on the other side of it and everyone on this committee wanted to get rid of every block right so they just kept voting let's get rid of this book you're on the other side of that you're not going to want to defer that you don't get a lot of Voters and the board has a vote if we're going to create a report to remove a book it is expressly written in the policy that that has to be voted on by the board so if it
058was opposite board would have the stop Gap to ensure that there was an excessive removal or something like that of a book out of the library because there's action being taken removal from the library is happening something that was used taxpayer money that was used to purchase something is being removed because of a recommendation of a report because of that the Board needs to be aware of it and take that action terminating employment for employee that takes board action non-renewal of an employee does not take board action because you're not doing anything you're just not offering a contract okay I mean you know we talked about the IDS and the other states that we load on yeah I I understand the confusion I and the the contention I understand the disagreement I I'm just presenting
059what I thought I heard the illustration from the policy committee the the confusion and even how the vote would go the sort of like tree diagram that's in my head of like if it goes this way then we have to do this if it goes this way we have to do this but it depends on how the vote goes so I have another question um to Camille's point about setting up precedence right if we if we add this language to the policy can you give another example of um another committee that would be formed not with a book complaint that week that the board would get the reports but we don't vote on it I'm just trying to have an idea of what what else would there be the green committee the whole curriculum committee
060could be dissected like ad nauseam just that alone but the board votes right that's what I'm saying okay so my I'm trying to find an example you can provide an example of another committee that would be formed that we receive a report of that we also don't vote on the retention recruitment committee I reported out that you didn't vote on that to accept the report there was no action to take him as administrative action I reported I gave you the report I did a Public Presentation but there was no action on the board's part the action on the board's part happens when the administration implements the report which is settling the contract with the teachers approving a sub rate or hiring consultant to do you know team building whatever you know that's when the board
061action happens because then you're doing something yeah that's why it's a little misleading because in this case you know leaving the book in the library to me is an action I don't you know it's full of confusing so right so do you have know how you want to rephrase your motion I mean I'm not hearing support for it so I don't know but I think I think and this is where we struggled in committee also for various reasons is that affirming or rejecting the import report administratively sounds just it's confusing to me as not taking any action because I feel like it doesn't conclude the process can was it helpful or is it helpful to view the conclusion of the process as the report to the board much like the example on the retention recruitment
062committee when I reported out I guess in April like we we've met we've done this here are some of our recommendations end point now Administration go do your work is that helpful no to me it doesn't seem the same to me I think the alternative to accepting or rejecting the report in the administrative report it sounds to me from from what Randy is saying and maybe Justina is you want to vote whether or not we keep the book is that what I'm hearing you don't want to vote on a committees whether to accept a committee's report or not in regards to regulation 9130 it just for regulation 9130 or well that's the one that's we're discussing there but I guess that's I'm trying to understand so if if there are other instances where there's a
063committee report do we need to go through now all the policies that could have a committee report to make sure that they vote yay or nay or is it just 9130 that was the question that I just asked if we can have an example of another when else do we have a committee report we just came over 9130 for now yeah I mean to change the procedure for voting in order for the report for the finding but that's why it's back to the full board because they didn't know what to do they didn't know how to break that down versus accepting or rejecting the report of the committee or accept or that we should be voting specifically on keeping or removing the book rejecting the committee's report does not is not an action it's not
064an action it's yeah I think it's a lot but that doesn't remove the book so if the if the committee recommends it we keep a book and the board rejects that committee that committee's recommendation we still need to provide a reason why we're going to remove the book because that's what our policy says so there would still need to be emotion made to remove it so there would be a motion to reject it and then a motion to remove the book right and so that's the redundancy because if you want the book voted on whether we keep it or not you have to make the motion anyway if the recommendation was to keep it if the recommendation from the committee came to remove the book it would automatically become a an agenda an action item
065on the agenda right so do we want to move yeah so the motion the motion is to send 9130 back to committee but that was it there was no clearer guidance comments were that um it's not clear so can we vote take a roll call on sending 9130 back to committee with no guidance I do want to give Jennifer the opportunity to add clarification or guidance if you want to because you made the motion did you clarify the motion or does it have to be a new motion well I would say just repeat what you want written in the minutes as the motion and I mean we right now we had a motion basically to change to send the public grievances policy 9130 back to the committee to change the policy but the clarification on
066what to do with the policy otherwise you're just sending it back which is nice again um just clarifying the motion so that way we haven't and I just want to give you the opportunity because you were like let me sit on that verse yeah so Carol you just mentioned that if the committee rejected it then we would vote on it yes if the book committee rejected it we would vote on it what which policy is that a part of a part of is that part of 9130 that it states that yes with a statement of reasons but the motion wouldn't be to accept or reject a report the motion would be to remove the book from the library for these stated reasons is it that the policy doesn't say vote it says take action paper
067um do you have the problem you have the policy yeah oh no I was just trying to you it's on our website yeah yeah I know but it's not letting me I can email it to you Justine you can just click it says any board actions to remove material will be accompanied by the board statement of its reasons for the removal I don't know thank you by the way just um because emotion is made and is seconded whether the language is modified or not we should probably vote right yeah you want to so I'll modify it to vote on the results of the report to accept or reject the findings of the acceptor objective Finance the report yes so is that of this particular report or every report that comes it would be going forward
068yeah we wouldn't go backwards we did it with this one but we wouldn't go backwards it would be like anything that comes through policy 9130. going forward anything for policies at 91 30 the report aspect going so I'm going to repeat the motion motion to send 9130 back to committee to accept or reject the findings of the report can I get a roll call please Mr government no this is Fury no Mr Peach yes mrski no this is Ryan yes visual yes no example no motion does not pass all right any other questions or comments on the committee Communications committee just clarify um so all the discuss regulations updates that clarified the policy will still proceed as is Sam's the one we work in correct I'll just update yeah okay so when when we update
069regulation in the policy committee I'll just take it uh Dorian will update it and then she'll just repost it online so things like the timeline the definition of who the layperson was to serve on the committee all of that could just be updated as an administrative approval because it's a regulation yep still vaccinated yeah [Music] no other questions or comments uh can I get a roll call please it's better yes this is Fury yes Mr Peach yes mrski yes this is Ryan yes the board retreat uh so Dr Hart and I met with Judith Wilson um to review how we will move forward with our board retreat this year which was something that the board enjoyed last year and requested that we do again this year um so what she's working what she has developed
070for us is a a survey a self-board evaluation um it's shorter than the njsba one which was the 12 pages and Gwen Thornton said that for 12 Pages 21 Pages um well it was very long and they're working to update it but it won't be ready for another year so she worked on something um using two different sources including the New York school boards about self-evaluation so I'll be sending that out to everyone um we just got it today so just reviewing it for um and then you'll be getting it from either Judith or myself the date I was regret to answer stage yet so July 18th I will not be here but everybody else will be here um the August uh July 20th was a date that we threw out there which was a
071Thursday um and we had one board member that was not able to make it then either and then August our August board meeting we have two board members who will not be here so far so um yeah summer is impossible fun summer um I mean does it make sense to wait till September when people are back well September tends to be longer meetings and then you're adding on The Retreat on top of it and this is fully my fault for messing up July 18th as Carolyn said you mentioned that can I present an alternative to the board usually in September we would have Gwen Thornton from school boards come and talk about goals and help you develop goals it's possible if you wanted to start the September meeting a little early that we could do
072the board retreat in lieu of the goals and just let the goals come out of the retreat if you wanted to and then and we could forego um having Gwen Thornton come and we could just have Judith through the whole thing do the board self-evaluation if she's available that that's um tough do that and then um help you set goals for the year as opposed to having somebody for school boards come after we do the evaluation just a thought so the September board meeting is September 12th at 7 pm currently um I do agree that what the work that we got from Glenn Thornton was the same that we got out of our board retreat so it's a little bit redundant um but that how long do we expect the board retreat to take when
073we did it in July we did it as a separate meeting there was nothing else on the agenda or 90 minutes I mean we had dinner together we had we ate dinner that was about a half hour and then we went right into the retreat and we did some Workshop activities I mean I would say we could start the meeting at six do an hour and then out of that meeting could come some of your goals if you won an idea it's just an idea if everybody can come at a game as opposed to having it busy members I hate to ask this but do we know when Central's back to school nights are because of that no while you're looking it up can I just offer that I really do appreciate when Gwen comes
074I just think she's such a wealth of information and if we could maybe even schedule her to come prior to Judith coming to the board I just think she has a really good perspective on what other boards in the state are focusing on and I feel like um she helped me submit some ideas that Judy's kind of you know first so maybe stopping them and having women coming earlier just a suggestion so we did we did reach out to Gwen based on your feedback and um they have it like basically it's a standard support Retreat that they do and it focuses on ethics and we wanted it to be more tailored and they don't their shoebox more I mean that goal setting not not a retreat from Gwen just that goal setting she kind of
075walks everyone through that was helpful that's what it was so we met with Gwen after we met with Judith so you're saying so last year we went in with the with goals that we got that we worked out with Judith and then we refined them with Gwen so you're saying work out the goals if we if we do that without the board if we do the board retreat after we set goals though I feel like that would be um I guess it's like a gold brainstorming is kind of how I see one like more of a um introducing the ideas it's just a suggestion um being one of the thing I could say is something we have almost everybody here except for Michelle um we could look for a week or another day in the
076summer that would work for everybody's here but I can't I don't know what Michelle's schedule will be and we're always going to be leaving somebody out summertime and she's and she's new and I you know be valuable yeah um we could continue with the July 18th with Judith and do Gwen in September and then the board would still have both just not me do we have to have the goals done by September it's just um we normally do them in September because it sets up our school year right we have waited as long as October or November and some years to do though support goals I try to do District holes in September it does get confusing it does strongly that before the President should be at the retreat September was who SE first person
077I want to see when Judith and then October with Glenn maybe is that pushing it too far what do you think any other comments October is when we invite the administrators and the supervisors and the principals to report on all of her student achievement data which was maybe mindful of that that's a big meeting I'm tapped out of suggestions um how about we see if September 12th works for Judith and if that works and we can get through our goals then we can see if we need to bring Gwen in yeah okay all right thank you everyone for working through that moving on to new business from the board we had a green committee report we did all right we met on the green committee met on Wednesday June 7th and um we spent a
078lot of time working with the attendees on it's brainstorming for ideas for next year so first of all we went through our three pillars pillar one is to reduce environmental impact and costs we talked through the solar array Expansion Project that Camille covered in her finance committee report so I'm not going to go through that but the green committee Board of Education members will review specifications on the solar array Expansion Project and forward the specifications along with any comments to the finance committee for approval the RFP process is expected to take several months and another update will be provided to the green committee at its fall 2023 meeting so the green committee doesn't meet um as a whole during the summer just the Board of Ed and administration meet in the summer to plan current
079capital projects we reviewed that have a sustainability Focus including the LED lighting upgrades to RMS and HBS the outdoor Garden improvements at White House School water bottle Filling Station additions to RMS including one in the cafeteria district will apply for another round of electric School Bus grants through the epa's clean School Bus program and applications are due in the summer by August 22nd while the committee understands this is not likely to be a successful Grant bid we feel this is still an Endeavor that will pay off in the longer term as more high priority districts receive funding thereby reducing the number of applicants the clean School Bus program provides five billion dollars until 2026 and has awarded 500 million in the first year which was 2022. pillar 2 is about improving health and wellness of
080school students and staff and the green committee applauded the district's birthday celebration which was held on April 26th and communicated to the community in the June edition of the Reddington news also in the board of Google right okay the opportunity for stewardship from the students to the greater Reddington community and attendance was very impactful representation from diverse students including different academic and artistic disciplines in their presentations showcased the extent of green initiatives occurring in the district there was a suggestion that this become an annual event appreciation was expressed for the work of Dr Higgins and Mr Bowman organizing this wonderful Community event so thank you to that pillar 3 is provide Environmental Education Mr Livingston informed the committee that the biosoil video is undergoing some final revisions once complete the link will be shared not
081only with our district but also with Partners at Rutgers University so they can share with other school districts in the state Department of Education climate change pilot Grant received by the district infused some great new resources for students into the classrooms which will assist with climate change education um next we talked about brainstorming so this was for the 2023-24 school year for all three pillars committee members collaborated on generating ideas which will inform summer planning session by board members and administration on priorities for green initiatives for the 23-24 school year ideas included the following for pillar one resource conservation work will move forward on the solar Expansion Project LED lighting upgrades and the electric School Bus funding opportunities additionally there may be opportunities to collaborate with the Reddington environmental Commission on reduction of food waste
082for health and wellness pillar 2 ideas for exploration of nature as a resource for improved mental and physical health expansion of the seventh grade walk in the woods to other grades and the potential to incorporate something called the 1000 hours outside challenge pillar 3 for Environmental Education we talked about expansion of Partnerships that support Environmental Education such as Raritan Headwaters Ambassador Community Resources and the Township's open space and environmental commissions plans are in place to update the district's sustainability integration document and to update math curriculum to include new climate change standards support for leadership opportunities for students such as Board of Education presentations was expressed as well the Reddington environmental commission is updating the Township's environmental resource inventory which will be an interactive digital resource to the schools that can be incorporated as applicable to
083all pillars is expected to be available around the start of the school year so that's something that we can right now the township has an environmental resource inventory but it's not interactive it's very difficult to use so they're investing in making it a resource that is more accessible to the population which is wonderful new business we are the district is restructuring its submissions to reading to news such that periodically as appropriate ads will be purchased to communicate information such as the budget summary color AD placed in the June edition this will be in addition to the regular submission of Articles from the district the committee briefly discussed the New York Times article shared by Mr zwerling regarded regarding food waste and partnership between a municipality and a school district and how it might inform planning
084for next year the next Green committee meeting will be held in the summer of 2023 with Board of Education members only for strategic planning and a thanks was given to all green committee members for their support in 22-23. thank you Mrs veteran and I think this was also to comment that these if there was going to be a presentation at school boards for green initiatives the deadline is June 15th did you want to talk about that at all or yeah I could talk about it so um you guys all might have gotten an email from the school at New Jersey school boards Association of solicitation for proposals so I had just reached out to Carol and said you know maybe there's something there for us to create a proposal on our green committee great initiatives
085in the district um and so I'm putting that out there for everyone I was going to put a proposal together so if anyone has any thoughts or anything then you know please just reach out to me after the meeting thank you any questions or comments on the green committee minutes thank you all right and I'm just going to jump back to the retreat um Judith is available at 6 00 pm on the 12th so if we want if you want to put up to the calendars um and Jason will send out a notice for the public all right and lastly some betterment I have all kinds of new business right um so there's so much spectacular forington Recreation will be on June 20th from five o'clock to nine o'clock P.M and I volunteered to do
086a board of ed table at the event so I'm looking for help and support Dr Hart is on board to help with examples of student work and and displays that we can have there but um if anyone would like to join and come we could maybe have like an early shift and a later shift um we have to bring our own table our own chairs our own tent but I think it's a great opportunity for us to Showcase what we're doing in the district so if anyone wants to help please reach out to me and let me know thank you all right uh we are now open to the public anything on or off the agenda um I actually have something else that I was commenting on but when I'm sitting here listening to about
087policy 9130. um does the Board review the report from the committee and look through it to make sure that it adheres to the book selection policy and make sure everything in it is true and um okay to approve or do they just say the overall result of this report is this so we're going to go with that because there were contradictions and double standards in the committee's report so I was just wondering if you're not voting on it are you just taking the committee's report at face value and not really digging into it making sure that everything in there is true and compliant with your policies that you put in place so that would be something I would think the board would want to vote on and say yes we agree with this determination from
088this report and we will therefore or go along with it or say you know what no this because if you look at it if you look at the condition report you read it through it says in the guidelines that you were adhering to the library Bill of Rights yes and you read through everything you were not educating so that was just for that that was just the thought I had sitting there um but my other comment is Dr Hart at the last board meeting I asked why you were insisting on keeping a boat with sexually explicit content on the Shelf at RMS with a policy that violates the library Bill of Rights and creates a double standard for the district and your response you stated that you are okay with the double standard because you
089feel teachers in the librarian should reach out to parents to help the child make good reading choices and I I agree that if you are going to insist on keeping books with sexually explicit content on the Shelf in k-3 libraries that parents should absolutely be notified um the problem is that you state the district follows the library Bill of Rights you save this right on the book challenge form you stink this on the library website and the book Review Committee stated in their response that they adhere to the principles of intellectual Freedom the right to access materials and the Integrity of the certificated library media personnel must be defended you cannot State one thing and then have a policy that contradicts that if you say that parents should be involved in their child's book selection
090alongside the librarian is this just in the case of sexually explicit books does this mean you are okay with sexually explicit books in the library for all students to access as long as the parents say it's okay are the books labeled and flagged in the system to ensure that this takes place are you aware that um there is Bill s390 sponsored by Andrew zwicker this bill prohibits a board of education of a school district from Banning or restricting access to books or other resource materials in a school library under the proposed Bill a board of education is similarly required to adopt the American library association's library Bill of Rights or policy prohibiting the Banning or restricting access to books or resources the bill permits the commissioner of Education to withhold state aid to any Board
091of Education that does not follow the provisions of the provisions of this act this bill was introduced to the Senate on June 1st of this year and has been referred to the Senate education committee if this bill passes your current policy which clearly violates the library Bill of Rights will not stand you will not be able to police restrictions on any book in the library and you will not be allowed to involve the parent in the book selection process without risking withholding of State eight parents will lose the ability to challenge a book if they feel it is not age-appropriate what this bill does is open the door for more sexually explicit books to enter our school libraries especially since there's a whole new group of young adult authors who are insisting on filling their
092books with graphic and sexually explicit content this pilgrimage will ensure that any book selected for the library that happens to have sexually explicit content will remain due to parents no longer being able to challenge them men are on the dying Girl by Jesse Andrews had this content and it was selected by the librarian and approved by the board and somehow there's nothing on the cover of this book to say this is inside it so you have to read the books cover to cover so if there's no policy in place to check for that that's going to be a problem if this Bill gets passed in order to protect our children from this potential you need to update policy 25 30. I ask you to include standards that ensure age appropriateness will be considered as well
093as prohibit sexually explicit language and graphic depictions and sexual acts can you amended to include classroom libraries as well right now there's no system in place to oversee what ends up in classroom libraries and the heaters by Jesse Anders is in the classroom at RMS these votes do not come with constant warnings and they're often not recovered before being approved I was recently made aware that the perks of being the Wallflower book is currently in the RMS Library there are three copies of this book and one is currently checked out was the student's parents notified that they have checked out a book that Common Sense Media says is for age 16 and up and kirkus states it was meant for high school reading lists noting that some might object to the sex drinking dope smoking
094and but bliss says that is for the upper grades um 9 through 12. this book has very descriptive sex scenes abortions drug use and sexually and sexual abuse this book is another one that is not age-appropriate for the students at RMS he sent an email out on May 12th regarding a disturbing incident with one of the buses where a man used a scene language in front of the children you stated you were regretful that students were exposed to such a language it was my hope that you will apply the same standard to the books you place on the library shelf especially since you will no longer be able to place restrictions on any books nor consult with parents in swiperville s3907 passes um please let the district parents know where you stand on this issue
095and if you will revise policy 2530. um you know on another note I've noticed over the years being in Reddington um that a lot of the communications from the curriculum Department from Dr Hart um they all state how you believe parents are Guardians are the primary educators of their children and that you value the importance of partnering with families you also stated um at the last board meeting that you think it's important to include parents and that you value us as a partner when our child is selecting a potentially sexually explicit book but then at some point we lose this credibility with you when it comes to our child struggling with their sexual identity and I'm just wondering how you qualify that as well and if they could be consistent you know across the board
096throughout all the policies within the district thank you thank you Mr Pinto thank you kind of interesting Kindle also writing to attention um I just saw this on the agenda tonight I did not say this ahead of time otherwise I would have asked earlier but could you just speak to if it's not premature because I see that it's just that I've been approved for second reading policy 3217 and policy 4217 use of corporal punishment if you happen to have that I can look it up too when I get home but if you have it up all right thanks thank you any other questions or comments or comments anything from the um nothing in the chat okay um the public comments section is closed uh um thanks Mrs definto I'll go in order I'll start with
097some of the questions I hope I capture them all um for Mrs dipinto I you know I I believe I know the School Administration staff probably believes in the library Bill of Rights I know that it appeared in the report too I don't believe that a professional a teacher or a librarian assisting a child to make a good book Choice violates the library Bill of Rights I think that's what professionals do every day I think it's the responsibility of the teacher in the library to really guide children to appropriate book selections um books like me and Earl and that dying girl do have markings on them they are discreet markings they are markings not for necessarily for children but for the librarian there also is a code in the library system when the book is
098checked out there's a pop-up window that comes up these markings are discrete so that they don't draw attention to the books unnecessarily but they signal to the librarian um the content that's in the books so we do have those markings that are on the book and we do have we've updated our system to include like a pop-up window you know and those sorts of things I'm aware of the I'm sorry the pop-up window yeah no it's not a parent notification it's a librarian notification that that you know by the way this book is for eighth grade but so now that not for eighth graders because it's available for eighth graders no I'm talking about for the other students yeah so we could I I don't believe that we have placed a restriction what I believe
099is that a teacher assisting a child and making an appropriate selection and reaching out and partnering with the parent is not a violation I do believe that that is good practice I believe that's what teachers and Librarians do says that you can't do that it says that you're violating that child's policy about privacy when they enter the library so that that they're supposed to be able to select a book um without discrimination in there that's how it is on public libraries and that's how it is in school libraries as well I agree with you I think that parents should be involved and we should know everything that's in the library we should know if these books are containing this content and I would love a system that would alert you know parents to this I
100would have loved to have a heads up before my son read that book um and I would especially would like an alert if my son took out a person being a wallflower so you know but now it led this bill coming down will prevent that from happening and making so that's where I think this policy needs to be totally re-looked at and make sure that there are things in place to ensure safety for our kids coming in in contact with this sexually explicit content because you're saying one thing that the library Bill of Rights is stated in other so I didn't mean to but it's hard to discuss these things without a back and forth as well and I think that we're talking about teachers we're talking about students we're talking about professionals we're talking
101about things that aren't black and white and when there are Shades of Gray I think that it's appropriate under the guidance and supervision of a certificated staff member for choices appropriate to be made for a child and that's a belief that I have it's a belief that I believe our administrative staff have and our librarian house and our teachers have you know we make these choices every day I I heard a statistic I don't know when it was or where it was that teachers make you know somewhere around three to five thousand decisions a day right like and there are some days that I'm sure that teachers walk away and they feel every three to five thousand decisions that they've made for today um I remember those days when I was a teacher and I
102think that there's nothing wrong with the teacher guiding the selection of appropriate materials for a child do I believe that there's a matter of interpretation with the library Bill what rights I do um and I think that particularly in this case in other cases I think that we've acted very appropriately and I I support the teachers in their guidance their their Steady Hand and their guidance and their assistance with uh with children making selections I'm aware of this wicker bill um I don't believe that it's moved anywhere Beyond being a bill it's not law you know nothing like that but I know it's been introduced um I'm not aware that haters is in any classroom Library I believe we looked into that back in the fall and I I don't have an awareness of that
103I mean things may have changed classroom libraries are things that are collected from HSA donations parent donations from teachers bringing in some selections for home and things like that um so you know it might be there now but I I'm not aware that it's there um and my comments have always been in regard to partnering with parents and I believe the same thing when it comes to a student who's struggling with sexual identity you know our counselors our teachers are very Adept at working with children to if they haven't told their parents about their sexual identity or their gender or their sexual orientation that they want to partner with parents and I know this for a fact and it works because even if they don't know I know our counselors really do support children and
104how can I help you talk with your parents because your parents are a support at home and this will only work if you're honest with them I do think that that is appropriate um I think that there may be a case and I'm not aware of one here in Readington but there may be a case or more than one case where that initial outing or coming out of a child so their parents may be a dangerous situation for a child and if that's the case I like that our policy does give us a little bit of flexibility um but I firmly believe still in that partnership and I think that's really critically important and just like in the case of the book um I I that's our goal you know our goal is to partner
105with parents our goal is not to have an adversarial relationship or no our goal is not to keep them in the dark um are our policies by and large work and I think it's a testament that they really do um you know I I think I think that I got all the questions that's uh there was one more do we review the report oh yes um no um the board um yes reviewed the report in it let me go backwards a board member served on the committee the committee together crafted the port report although there was a chair that really owned the document the report then went to a board committee for any questions comments or feedback from there the report went to the full board so that's the process um Beth is the chair
106of edtech I know we brought it to edtech I don't recall if there were any clarifying language that needed to be added when we were in at Tech I don't recall but I know that that is our Pro that that's just a process that I naturally used it doesn't have to go to the committee but I brought it to Community First for that purpose of getting feedback before we brought it to the full board can I add Dr Hart the purpose of the committee work was to make sure that the policy was followed that that's what that role not to accept the rejected report in any way but just to look and see if the policy was followed yes thank you um Mrs Kindle you asked about a policy I'll tell you that we have
107an existing policy right now bringing it up in terms of um the use of corporal punishment um so there's some clarifying there's some clarification and Jennifer please help me because we talked about this like two months ago um there was some clarifications made so it's an existing policy um you know that that expressly states that a staff member cannot use force on a child in terms of punishment um or disciplinary action however what we needed to or what the policy needed to make room for was the fact that we do have a policy on restraint and seclusion in certain extraordinary circumstances where if there's a dangerous situation there can be a child restrained and I believe that statutory updates plus updates from that uh restraint and seclusion policy wanted to be mirrored in the Corporal
108punish policy punishment policy so what you'll probably notice is like policies all talk to each other so when one is updated another one has to be updated because like this policy informs this policy and things like that so um to the best of my knowledge not having the minutes in front of me that's the best I can give you but if you email me I can give you more details if you'd like that was good okay all right um can I get a motion to adjourn to Executive session in accordance with the Sunshine Law to discuss Hib and the superintendent's evaluation for approximately 30 minutes at which time the board expects to return a public session where actually shall not be taken the matters discussed will be made public if and when the circumstances regarding
109acquiring confidentiality no longer exists however it is not presently known when such circumstances will exist second term and can I get a roll call please it's better yeah this is fiori yes Mr speech Yes yes Ryan yeah as well yeah yeah after social yes yes all right does anybody need two minutes thank you everyone although we shouldn't we should take two minutes after Anthony okay um yeah you know what why I'm finishing up if anybody wants to take a cup two minutes