001I call I call to order the um board of education meeting of the Wong Burough School District. It's the reorganization meeting, January 6, 2026 at 700 p.m. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Welcome to a meeting of the board of education of the bureau of Waang. Please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public and media consistent with the open public meetings act chapter 231 laws of 1975 and that the advanced notice required therein has been provided. This is a regular meeting of the board of education of the bureau of Wong at which formal action may
002be taken. This meeting is being livereamed on the district website where a recording of the meeting also will be posted. The public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda at points in the meeting provided for the public to address the board. Recording or photographing other than for private personal use requires the consent of parents or guardians whose children may be included in the image. I'd like to read the election results. The annual school election of the watch school district county of Somerset was held on November 4th, 2025. There were 5,251 registered voters, of which 2,970 were the number of votes cast. The official results of the school election for the three-year terms were Richard Desaniano, term 2026 to 2028 with 313 votes. Leticia Marcelis, term 2026 to 2028, 1,380 votes.
003And Sahil Tra, term 2026 to 2028, 1,18 votes. You sure get some paper? >> You good? >> Yeah. Okay. Um, we're going to now administer the oath of office to uh Richard Desiano and Leticia Marcelis. If you'd please stand up. >> You need to say and Mr. Tria will be sworn in on January. >> Mr. Tria will be sworn in on January 22nd, 2026 at the next meeting. >> That's the camera there. And that's how you're going to look. >> That's what you look like. >> Okay. >> And I'll do Let me get my heart and then you I'll everything and then you'll repeat after. >> Okay. >> It'll make it easier cuz it's long. >> Don't worry. If you mess it up, you're still >> you're still in if you mess it up. >>
004Okay. Okay. Ready? >> Mhm. >> Okay. I >> I >> say your name. Richard Desiano >> Leticia Marcellis >> Do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> Doly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear truth, faith, and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state >> and that I will I have true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state >> under the authority of the people. So help me God. >> Under the authority of the people, so help me God. >> I
005>> Richard Desiano >> Leticia Marcellis >> do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education. do solemnly swear that I possess the qualification prescribed by law for the office of a member of a board of education >> that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS194-1 >> that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS >> 191 >> nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in NJSA 19A12-1 >> nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed listed in New York NJS 18A 12-1 >> and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. So help me God. >> And that
006I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. So help me God. >> Congratulations. >> You can sit up there. >> Get your stuff and then take a seat. >> Pictures. See each other. This is the good stuff. Congratulations. over there. >> She did help get him. >> We should break everybody's face >> just just for the fun. >> Daryl, Darl. >> Okay. Mhm. >> I didn't know she was ask. >> Okay. >> Oh, look. Flowers. plate now. >> Are they seated? >> Yes, they are. >> Yes, they're just taking some pictures. >> Uh, no. I don't want to put them both here for now. Okay. >> Guess the two empty seats. >> Sure. Don't forget tomorrow I need the emails and passwords for
007them. >> I have them all >> and I just met you have to actually >> Thanks. >> We could everybody look like Don't they look like they're on Broadway? >> Am I going? >> Yeah. Um >> second one. >> Yeah. Well, hello friend. >> I guess never mind. >> And then you need one of these to sign and give back to me. That's okay. >> It's going to run away. >> This will definitely add to my put everything or >> you missing it yet? >> I can take care of it. >> Kidding. Thank you. >> She only have like one more minute. Look how cute she >> think. >> Jen's moving. Don't worry. I'm going to put this on the back for you. >> You'll be next. >> That does kind of look. >> I'll
008sign it. Yes. >> And then I know >> I'll snap things on. >> Thank you so much. You're welcome. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> Hey, Adam. >> How are you? >> Good. once he comes. I don't think anyone else is coming. >> Ready to >> Oh, good. >> Good. Right. >> Okay. >> Nobody's here. All right. Roll call. >> Start the roll call. 26. >> Yeah. Um 2026 Wong Burough Board of Education. Jennifer Aglaro >> here. >> Danielle Emado >> here. >> J Desaniano >> here. >> Dory Harvey is absent. Adam Craft >> here. >> Jessica Maddox is absent. Leticia Marcellus >> here. and Fatima Santos. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Let's do it. >> Okay. >> Now, we're going to nominate and elect the board president. The floor is now open to
009receive nominations for the office of president of the Wong Burough Board of Education. So, anybody can make a nomination and tell me who. >> I would like to nominate Danielle Amado. >> Secondly, Would anybody else >> like to nominate anyone? >> Okay. Hearing no additional nomination, the floor is now open for a motion to close the nominations. I move that the nomination be closed. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. The um majority vote for the president is Danielle Amado. >> You have to do an actual vote >> right now. >> Turn your paper. Yep. >> Turn your paper over. We're getting >> Okay. As your name is called. So sorry. As your name is called, please state the name of the nominee that you choose to vote for. >> Okay. Uh so the nominee
010for president is Danielle Emado. So Richard Desaniano. >> Yes. >> Okay. Leticia Marcales, >> yes. >> Jennifer Aguierro, >> yes. >> Dory is out. Uh, Danielle Amado, >> yes. >> Adam Craft, >> yes. >> And Fatima Santos. >> Okay. Danielle Amado is hereby elected as president of the Wongboro Board of Education. >> And you may assume the assume the Jen, you have to get up so fast. >> That's what I said. I was like, she's halfway in. I want to get the gabble. >> Oh, the gabble pass. >> Here's your >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Oh, you're a board member again. >> And then do I continue this? >> You do. >> You start at number two. The floor is now open to receive nominations for the office of vice president of the Wong
011Burough Board of Education. >> I'd like to nominate Jen Agliero. >> Second. >> Got more. >> Hearing no additional nominations. Are there additional nominations? >> Hearing no additional nominations. Um the floor is now open for a motion to close nominations. It's so moved. >> Second. >> All right, let's vote. Give me one second. >> Okay. Okay. As your name is called, please state the name of the nominee that you choose to vote for. Jen Aguero is the nominee. So, um, Fatima Santos, >> uh, Adam Craft, >> Jen Aguero, >> Richard Desaniano, >> Jeno, >> you'll learn. >> It's okay. Um, Jen Aglierro. Jen Aguero, Leticia Marcales, >> Jen Aguilerro. That's right. And Danielle Amado, >> Jen Aguilera. >> Okay. Jennifer Aglierro is hereby elected as vice president of the Wong Burough Board of Education. >>
012Great. Um, thank you so much for supporting and encouraging me. I really appreciate that. Um, um, and I'm excited to be working with Jen and um, to be here and putting my time and efforts into all the watch children. um and our mission and our vision and our district goals, all of that. Really excited to get to work on it. Um even more so. Um if everyone could email me your committee preferences for this year, um I can start to get to work on that. Um and Sahil, you could do that as well because I'll start to assign everyone and I can only do four people for perittee. So, um preferences are helpful. Um, great. So, let's now move to comments from the public. Agenda items. Uh, we welcome input from the public. There are
013two times during the meeting when the public is invited to speak. The first opportunity to comment on agenda items only is now. The second opportunity for public comment is towards the end of the meeting. Um, all comments are limited to 5 minutes. The total time allotted for public comment is 30 minutes. Before you make your comment, please state your name and municipality of residence. In the event it appears the public comment portion of the meeting may exceed 30 minutes. The presiding officer may limit each statement made by a participant to three minutes duration. Our public forums are not structured as a question and answer session but rather are offered as opportunities to share input with the board. In instances where the board feels a response is needed, the presiding officer or superintendent will address the
014comment. New Jersey statutes do not permit the board to discuss personnel or hiring in public session. Names of students should not be used. Members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights of those affected and identified in their comments and be aware that they are personally legally responsible with potential liability for comments that they make to the board. The board shall not be held liable for comments made by members of the public. Are there any comments? Daryl Eisenberg connect. I'm a resident here in Wong. I just wanted to congratulate Rich and Leticia and Sahil. Uh thank you for volunteering to serve in this capacity. It is truly a selfless selfless act uh to sit on this board of ed and to work tirelessly for our families here. Um so I appreciate
015that you even had the thought that this might be something you consider doing. Uh it is monumental that you're willing to do it. And to Adam and to Jennin, Danielle and Patima, thank you for all of your service as well. um our residents here and watching but most importantly our students are so fortunate to have such kind and thoughtful and hardworking individuals advocating for them. So thank you congratulations and happy new year. Okay. Uh since there are no more comments, let's move on to a presentation from Katherine Pura. Did I pronounce that right? Maria from NJSBA. >> Thank you. >> There you go. I just want to congratulate you, your new board members and your new board leadership. And I hope you have a very successful start and a wonderful 2026. So, I did want
016to be forthcoming only because I know you're working towards board certification that just for um certification credit for training credit, you need seven members of a nine-member board along with your superintendent. So, you may want to schedule an additional training within your um certification period if that's okay. >> Got it. >> Oh, yeah. I just wanted to let you know that. Um, but we are talking about ethics for school officials and it's really great that your new board members are here to hear this. I always take ethics from an educational standpoint. I really believe that the majority of the board members that I work with really have um the best of intentions and sometimes ethics violations can happen because they just don't realize it or they're not, you know, in intentional. So unfortunately the SEC
017doesn't take that into consideration. So it's really important to be educated on the ethics act and understand what your education what your ethical obligations are as a board member. Uh this is our disclaimer. So we are not attorneys. We don't provide legal advice. We're providing you information. A lot of uh ethical ethics situations are very fact specific. So, if you have a situation that you're wondering about or you're concerned about, you really need specific information about, we always recommend that you contact your board attorney for advice and any legal advice should come from your board attorney. So, the school ethics act um was put in place because you're making very important decisions that are in the best interest of children uh the welfare of students and it's to help all of you have the respect
018and confidence of the public and uphold the public trust. It's about avoiding any act that would violate the tenants of the code of ethics or give the impression that the code of ethics was violated. So, and these are the minimum ethical standards by which all school officials must abide by. And I just want to point out the little numbers and the letters on the bottom that you'll see throughout this presentation. Those are links to decisions that you can look up. I did send the presentation ahead to your BA and she can send that out to you and she can and then you'll be able to look up some of the information. It's all clickable. So, who enforces the act? The School Ethics Commission is the only body that enforces the act. They're made up of
019five non-school officials, two school board members, although both seats are currently vacant, and two school administrators. One seat is currently vacant. NJSBA does not appoint people to this board. They're appointed by the governor. If you are interested in filling a school board member seat, you should reach out to your legislator. So the provisions of the act u mandatory training every board member has to undergo uh yearly mandatory training um the code of ethics which we'll go through in a moment those are the two things that apply to schoolboard members only uh the financial disclosure statements and the prohibited act apply to all school officials including schoolboard members. So, what training is mandatory? So, new board members, you have mandatory training that you'll need to take within the first 90 days of um taking office. So,
020um you'll do governance one, which is new board member orientation. It really gives you basic knowledge, skills, what is um HIB, which is the bullying law, the superintendent evaluation, open public meetings act, and more about the code of ed of ethics. You'll hear about all of those things in governance one. Uh by the end of year two, you need to take governance two, which is finance and student achievement. By the end of year three is governance three, which is policy and labor relations. And then every um board member who's reelected needs to take governance for in every first year of a reelected term. And we provide a lot of ways for you to do this in person. We have live virtual. We have a self-paced ondemand virtual course that you can take at any time.
021We try to make it very easy for you to take your training. We also have a new board member orientation weekend that's really great and if you're interested in that, I highly suggest that you have your BA register you. Uh there your BA will need to register you for all any board member for all mand mandated trainings. So, financial disclosure. Uh, again, new board members and new school officials will need to fill that out within the first 30 days of being sworn in. So, you'll get and watch your email. You will get information about that. And then returning school officials have until April 30th to file. And they're not asking for how much you make or what's in your bank account. They're really looking for where your sources of income are coming from, just to
022identify any potential conflicts of interest. So, and this is just an example of a financial disclosure case. This was a case where a board member uh failed to list a business interest that she and her husband were involved in on her financial disclosure and um it was found to be a violation of the code of ethics and the recommended penalty was a reprimand. So, we've really seen them get very strict about timely filing of your financial disclosure statement. Um, again, there were, you know, numerous cases with varying penalties. So, just make sure you do that on time. And again, you'll get reminders, you'll get a lot of emails if you get close to that date and you just haven't filled it out yet. But any questions, definitely ask your BA. So, these are the code
023of ethics. We'll just go through them. Uh the first one is I will uphold and enforce all laws, rules and regulations of the state board of education and court orders pertaining to schools. Desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures. I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability, race, creed, sex, or social standing. I will confine my board action to policymaking, planning, and appraisal. And I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them. I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools, but together with my fellow board members to see that they
024are wellrun. And I did just want to point out, you'll see the little standards text at the bottom. If there's ever uh if someone ever reports a violation, there's factual evidence that has to be included with that. So those are just the standards of factual evidence that have to be met for each piece of the code. Uh I will recognize that authority rests with the board of education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board. And I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or the gain of friends. I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools. In all other matters,
025I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the oper aspirations of the community for its school. Confidentiality is hugely important especially if you hear student matters or any personnel matters in executive session. Um student privacy is protected under federal law and personnel matters are always confidential. I will vote to appoint the best qualified personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief uh administrative off chief administrative officer who is your superintendent. uh all personnel actions come from the recommendation of the superintendent. I will support and protect school personnel in the proper performance of their duties and I will I will refer all complaints to the chief school administrator again officer again your superintendent and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure
026of an administrative code. This goes back to the chain of command. And I know we had we talked about chain of command in a couple of your other meetings, but whenever you hear a complaint, you always want to refer someone in the community to the appropriate chain of command. Definitely tell your superintendent. Um but then once you've told your superintendent, your job is done and um that person will take it through the appropriate chain of command and appropriate staff member. So who can file an ethics complaint? uh anyone in your community, outside of your community. Um again, they consider whether the facts and circumstances would lead a reasonable person to believe that the act has been violated. There is uh a potential $500 fine for frivolous filing. They have to be um reported within 180
027days of the date of occurrence. and the person that uh files the complaint is responsible for providing the factual evidence for that complaint. And it's just something to keep in mind what we're seeing, especially with board meetings recorded and live streamed. You know, anybody can be watching, you know, in your community, again, outside your community, see something and decide to file an ethics complaint and be able to use that So these are just some of the penalties that the SEC recommends when they find a person person is in violation of the school ethics act. So the first one's a reprimand that's not public except it is they're all the decisions are public. You can search them, Google them. They're all online. Um the school e ethics commission meetings are public. They have minutes. You can
028look at them. Um their decisions are mostly made public. But a reprimand is basically them saying, "Yes, we found you in violation of the code of ethics. Do not do it again." Um, a censure is a step up from that, but that's a formal disapproval by the commissioner, and that's something that would be read at a public board meeting at your board meeting. Um, suspension, again, more serious, barred from engaging in any activity or matter for a designated period of time, 30, 60 days, whatever the commission would decide. And then the most serious is removal which is you know you are removed from your school board. So advice of council defense this is if you have a situation where you've sought attorney advice on and the attorney gives you advice but then you still are
029found to be in violation of the ethics act. So, you can use the advice of council defense and say, "Well, my attorney said that was okay to keep doing." And they will consider that, but they will only consider that to mitigate the penalty, not for whether um there was a violation or not. And there's prerequisite factors for that. And it has to meet all four of those um items to be uh to be able to use use advice of council defense. It's extremely fact specific. So, and these are just a couple of examples of code of ethics cases from this year. The first one, a board member stated publicly that the board was prepared to reduce instructional time by 40 minutes per day and that was after the superintendent had told the board member that
030revealing that information would harm their board in negotiations with the union. So she was of course found in violation of the act with a recommendation of a censure. And then the second one is a board member who was a member of CPAG which is a special education parent advisory group and she used her board email to um send I guess something about their group or their group meeting and they found that in doing so she was in violation of the act. you can't represent any other groups to the board. So, be very cautious about, you know, if you're involved in a volunteer activity that you're keeping that separate, that you're not representing that group to your board. And be also very careful about using your board email. Like, only use your board email for board
031items. If you're a parent and you that's totally fine. and you retain all your rights as a parent to advocate for your child, but make sure you're sending everything as a parent from your personal parent email and keep your board email entirely separate. Never email a staff member from your board email, things like that. Uh these are just some more code of ethics cases. The top one, a board member read another board member's text message allowed at a public meeting and it provided information about a school official. Um, there was a recommendation for reprimand for that. The second one we wanted to highlight because it was a 15-year board member who we assume probably had pretty good knowledge of what the role of a board member is and they got very involved in a personnel
032issue. uh the board member usurped the authority of the superintendent who's responsible for making disciplinary recommendations uh and the board member took it upon themselves to go to the employees home pick up a letter presented on behalf of the employee directed the BA to not give a copy of the letter to the superintendent and then instead of recusing herself from the matter um which she had a personal in interest and personal involvement the board member advocated on behalf of the employee and question the superintendent's recommendation of employee so that found me board members can't really get involved in in personnel issues like that. Uh and I think, you know, because it was a 15-year board member, that board member was suspended for 60 days. So, and you can look all of these up. They're pretty
033long decisions, but if you're interested in reading through some of them, they're all available online. So, recusal versus versus abstension. So there are times where you might um have something where you're conflicted from voting on or even discussing on at a at a board meeting. So in that case, you would recuse yourself entirely, which means you don't take part in the discussion and you don't take part in the vote. And that's just for things where you have, you know, a conflict. Bless you. Um and an abstension is just you abstain from voting. Maybe you don't have enough information to vote. A perfect example of that is if you vote on uh every month you vote on minutes from your previous month's board meeting. So if you didn't attend the previous month's board meeting, you would
034abstain from voting on those minutes because you weren't there. Um but again, recusal is when you just formally disqualify yourself from even taking part in any discussion about it. So, and again, if you have questions about whether you should recuse or abstain on certain things, you can always ask your board attorney. So, relationships, there are sometimes relationships that will cause a conflict of interest or cause you to not be able to take part in things like negotiations. Um, these are just definitions of relationships that they use. Immediate family member is a spouse, a civil union, domestic partner, and a dependent child that you are living with in your home. Um those are definition definitions of relatives. Spouse, civil union, domestic partner, or a parent, child, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandparent, grandchild, son, daughter-in-law, steparent,
035stepchild, stepbrother, sister, halfb brotherther, sister of the individual or the individual spouse or partner, blood blood, married or adoption. That's for the nepotism law. Um, and again, although the term relative does not appear in the prohibitive prohibited acts or the code of ethics, a relative can create a conflict of interest. And anyone not listed may be considered an other if a conflict exists. So, we have a chart I'm actually going to email after we get through this. I will email it to your board president and she can send it to all of you. We have a very helpful chart that lists all of the um relatives and relationships and ways that they may conflict you from voting on like personnel or voting on negotiations or taking part in negotiations. So advisory opinions. So the school
036ethics commission issues advisory opinions. Uh so if you're taking part in something or you're volunteering for something that is affiliated with the school and you don't know you know what is can I continue this or is this in violation of the code of ethics any school official can request a advisory opinion and they will get back to you and say whether they think it's likely to be a violation of the act um and then you have time to you know stop doing that so you can abide by the code of ethics but you you know, it's really about, you know, future conduct uh of a school official and whether that would violate the act. So, they can um a lot of these advisory opinions are available online. Um sometimes they make them public, sometimes they
037don't. If they make them public, six members have to vote to make it public and they do remove identifying information, but there's a number of advisory opinions that we've listed in here and that are available online. So, and again we have our little uh police officer there. So, if you get an advisory opinion from them saying that yes, this is likely to be in violation of the school ethics act, you can not do whatever it was that you were doing that you requested. If you continue to do it, you know, they're likely to find you in violation of the act. Now, and we always recommend that you go look at the existing advisory opinions to see if there's something that pertains to your situation before requesting one. So, and these are just a list of
038advisory opinions that were released in 2025. You can click on them. Um, some that I found interesting just if you have, you know, a board with a lot of parents on the board is can a board member hire a district teacher to tutor their child? Uh, and they didn't comment on that because the board member had already hired the teacher, but they did recommend that that board member recuse themselves from anything um involving that staff member uh negotiations and even I believe anything having to do with the administrator that was in charge of that teacher. So, they had to recuse themselves from quite a bit. Um, if you see any and that you want me to go over, let me know and I can go over them. So again, we have another parent one, can
039a board member advocate for their child? This was a parent who had um unilaterally placed their child out of district. Uh, and it was found that you can you can advocate for your child. You can as a parent if you stay in your parent role. You can take that all the way up to, you know, the DOE if needed, but you can't do it as a board member. You can't bring your board role into that or use your role as a board member with it. Uh, so they found that, you know, she had to recuse herself uh from a number of things like related to the director of special education, but it was okay. she could advocate for her child. Uh union, if the local union endorses you, um it doesn't create a conflict per
040se, but if they donate money to your campaign, you may have to um not participate in negotiations for a year following. So, but again, any if you see any of these you want me to go over it, let me know. Um so benefit so a benefit can be it doesn't always have to be a financial benefit a benefit can be personal also uh and they really use a determinative factor of the what the perception of the public is not the individual's personal belief but you know would the public believe that they have a you know they're receiving a benefit. So, and there's an example was a board member spoke during the board meeting about how he was running for a general assembly. Uh, so he was using his position on the board to solicit support
041for his campaign on votes for his personal political campaign and it was found that he used the schools to acquire a personal benefit. So, and they recommended a reprimand. So, these are prohibited acts. So these cases, you should recuse yourself if there's a benefit to you as a school official or your immediate family due to a business interest, the use of your position to secure unwarranted privileges or advantages or employment. Uh it does also extend to others. Uh financial involvement obviously uh service or employment that may pre prejudice your independent judgment. uh any gifts, favors, uh financial gain. In those cases, you really should recuse yourself if there's a benefit. And then other considerations is avoid um representing any person or party other than the board in any matter before the board. When you're a
042board member, your priority is really the board. Uh and then it's not a conflict if you're not acrewing a greater gain than anybody else. So, say for example, your board votes to approve field trips and your child is going on one of your those field trips. That's okay because your child is not receiving a benefit that's any greater than anybody else. So, those types of things are okay. So, and these are just a couple of prohibited prohibited acts cases. Uh, one involves a board member that had um interest in a law firm that provided her with free representation in the defense of an ethics charge. Uh the board member has a personal involvement with the law firm as it was providing her with legal representation and uh was found that the respondent had received legal
043defense without incurring costs in her defense of the personal ethics matter. And the respondent voted to approve the payment of the law firm which was on their agenda at a meeting and they were they recommended a censure in that case. And then the second one was a um a person who had a child that is a relative under the act and they participated in labor negotiations with the union of the administrator who supervised his child and the person used his position as superintendent. I believe it was an interim superintendent when he participated in labor negotiations with the union of the administrator who supervised his child and therefore it was found he used his um position to secure unwarranted privilege or advantage for a member of his immediate family. So there was a recommendation for a
044censure there. So, and these are just some other conflict and benefit cases. So, in the bottom one, the board member was pro promoting their nonprofit to parents in their community and the staff and teachers. So, and again, they go back to well, is the public what's the public's perception of that? So, they found that they were in violation of the act and they recommended a reprimand. And the top one again is another one that related to a uh a lawyer and the board's use of their attorney to file an ethics proceeding against another member. So this is just another case about a conflict or benefit. In this case, it was a board member who got involved in another personnel matter involving their school's wrestling coach and it was uh, you know, found to be an
045ethics violation with a recommendation of a reprimand. So, and this is another one had to do with a uh board member and a nonprofit. So board member attempted to use her board position to secure business relationships with vendors for her separate nonprofit. So the respondent introduced herself as a board member and then proceeded to promote her nonprofit. And again, it goes back to the public's perception uh not the school officials belief as to whether he could participate in that matter objectively. So, and they found they used their office for financial gain for securing business relationships and that is an ethical violation and they recommended a censure. So, and this was another one with a board member with a I believe a personnel issue and their board attorney. And then the uh the bottom one is
046there was an item on the agenda that had related to the board member's spouse and they I guess felt that what was on the agenda was not representative of what was actually going on and they had been contacted from some community members about it and it seemed like they were trying to clear up the item on the agenda but they contacted you know as the employee spouse they contacted the board president and the superintendent. And you just can't do things like that when you're a board member. So, the respondent should have referred all calls from the public to the superintendent and um not contacted the superintendent or the board president about any matter involving their spouse, even if they believed it to be minor. So, they recommended a reprimand in that case. So, hiring personnel.
047If you have a relative that works in the district or you have a relative that is applying to work in the district or um cannot hire a relative of a board member or of the CSA except in very limited exceptions that um require a waiver from the executive county superintendent. Um, so it's because an administrator may not exercise direct or indirect authority over their own relative. And then a board member may not take part in employment matters concerning the superintendent or supervisors in the chain of command between a relative and the superintendent. And a board member may not take part in the search selection or vote to hire a new superintendent uh and post hire evaluations and contract discussions. So again, if you have a relative that works in the district, you're going to want
048to maybe get some advice about where you will need to recuse yourself, if you can take part in evaluate evaluation and things like that. So these are just some impacts on committee assignments when you have a relative that works in the district. And again, these are if they have an A, that means they were an advisory opinion. So the top one is a board president that has a child that was an instructional assistant and they were advised that they cannot choose the chair or committee members to be on any committees that remotely touch upon um or directly relates to the family member's employment including personnel negotiations instructional and finance committees. So it's quite a number of things. Uh the other one the board member spouse works in the technology department and they were found that
049they could not be involved in any matters including service on a committee that remotely touches upon or directly related to the spouse's employment. And then in the third case the board member's domestic partner is a transportation specialist and it would be was advised that they should not serve on the transportation committee. So collective bargaining, it's your negotiations. So if you have an immediate family member or a relative that works in the district that is a member of the union, um you cannot participate in negotiations, you cannot um vote on negotiations. And so if you have if you yourself are a member of the union um or you have an immediate family member that is a member of the teachers union, you can not participate in negotiations and be on negotiations committee, but you can vote
050to approve the contract. So there are different nuances to that. So, if you have negotiations coming up or you're interested in serving on negotiations committee, definitely figure out if you're conflicted from doing any of that. Anyone have any questions on any of this so far as we go along? If you have any questions, feel free. So, heightened you, you'll see in the bottom it says um like heightened union involvement. That would be if you are uh like a building rep or something like that for one of your units. So, and again, we touched on this before, but for members who receive union endorsement, you might be conflicted from participating in negotiations if they begin within a year of the election and the union uh donate or yeah, donated or contributed to your campaign with the
051tent to influence. So volunteering. This is one we get a lot of questions about because board members tend to be really active in their communities and tend to volunteer for a lot of things. And that's a good thing. We don't discourage that. You can volunteer in your school, but just you can't oversee or give direction to staff and students. You can't blur the line between the role of staff and the role of a board member. Uh the involvement has to be you know somewhat infrequent like coming in to read to a class is fine. Chaperonia field trip is generally okay. Um things like if you're in the you just don't want to be in the school you know frequently have a day-to-day presence where you're really inshed in the building and you're giving you know
052orders to students or to staff. And that's really where those lines get blurred. And that's for in district activity. So if you're um a volunteer for like a PTA or something like that's okay because they're separate from the school. Even though they're affiliated with your school, they have their own separate governance structure. They have their own separate uh budget and money. So they're wholly separate from the board. It's really anything that has board oversight like indistrict activities like if you're, you know, volunteering for school play or volunteer coaching is another one that we get a lot like those kinds of kinds kinds of things could create an issue. So, and we definitely recommend that when you come in to visit the school, just advise your superintendent that you'll be in the school volunteering and that
053you're going to be there as a parent or as a volunteer, not as a board member. Uh, try not to discuss anything board related with anyone while you're here and just stay on point with the purpose of your visit. Um, when you're a volunteer, be a volunteer. You're a board member, be a board member. social media. This one gets people in trouble sometimes. Um, but again, it's just that, you know, perception of when you're posting something, could it give somebody the impression that you're posting it as a board member and that you're speaking on behalf of the board? Uh, you can post things, you do not give up your right to free speech. You can post things as a private citizen, but you really should use a disclaimer, which is on the next slide. So
054that's their suggested disclaimer. It's not 100%. If you put the disclaimer up and then post something about a staff member, that's probably still going to be an issue. Uh but you know, that's the disclaimer that they recommend. So, and there's an example of a social media ethics violation there that had to do with a uh a board election. So here are some social media cases. The first one is about a board member who posted some comments on social media. I believe it had to do with books and they found that uh you know even though the board was not currently engaged in deliberations regarding the removal or approval of history books from the school curriculum uh the board has the power and authority to review and remove books from the school library as well as
055to decide which books should be included in or are appropriate for the school curriculum. So they did find those postings to be in violation and they recommended a reprimand. And the bottom one is another one where they found that the board member was posting things and it was found to be a violation of the ethics act. Uh so the respondents post endorsed another candidate for the school board elections and they were posted in her their official capacity as a board member. So, important information to keep in mind, texting, uh, if you're texting from the board table, it could be about anything. You could be checking on your kids at home, was the dog fed, you know, could be completely innocent, but if someone from the public sees you texting, they could file an open request
056for those records. So, that's something to keep in mind. So if any ethics complaint needs to show a nexus between the action and the information and your role as a board member, uh always remember you are your child's advocate first or foremost. You are your child's number one and best advocate. Um but when you're meeting with the staff as the parent of your child, don't mention, don't state that you are a board member. Like don't go into the parent teacher conference and bring up the fact that you're a board member. try to separate those roles. Uh if you had a campaign social media page, usually we recommend that you don't use it because again the lines will be blurred about whether you're posting in the board's official capacity uh and how that could be perceived.
057And then if you are the administrator of a social media page, you could be linked to the content posted on that page. if you administer like a neighborhood page or something, we always caution about that. Uh, and then just going back to volunteering, I also did want to mention that we also usually recommend that if you do volunteer for like a PTA or affiliated organization that you don't handle money. Like be very careful about if you handle money. Um, and if you do, definitely seek board attorney advice about that. So, these are resources you can go online. Um, the relative chart is there, but like I said, I'm going to email that to your board president so she can send that out to all of you. Uh, the school ethics act you can read online
058all of the school ethics commission decisions you can find online as well and the advisory opinions and then also the website for the school ethics commission. And then we did want to thank you for serving your community. I wish you the best of luck with the beginning of your board terms. It's a really important job. Always remember that, you know, your first priority is the students. You're really here for the students and their education and to provide them with, you know, the best education that you absolutely can and keep student achievement at the heart of all of your decisions. I know you're you will. Um, so we really do these ethics trainings because we don't want you to get an ethics violation. And so I know it sounds like a lot of things that you
059can't do, but we just want you to be mindful of, you know, the your ethical obligations as a board member. There are a lot of things that you can do. You just have to do them together in a certain way and in alignment with your goals and our our code of ethics. So any questions? >> All right. Well, it's great seeing you. So I will be back next month I think for finance training and norms. So we'll look forward to that. You can always feel free to reach out to me for the new board members. My information is on the back of the sheet that I gave you. I think everybody else knows how to contact me. But yeah, I'm available to everybody. So feel free to email me, call me if you have any
060questions. If you think of questions that you wanted to ask or should have thought of during the presentation, feel free to reach out. I'm happy to help you. So good luck. have a great 2026 and I'll see you next month. >> Thank you for being here. Can we post the presentation or is that >> proprietary? Yeah, I did send it. >> We have it. I just wanted to make sure. >> Yeah. So, yeah, you're Yes. So, your board members can have it if they want to read through the ethics um decisions in more detail. That's >> Thank you. Spare time. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> All right. Um and I'm going to ask you to move all of the items, all the reorganization items except for a we have the day so we
061can get through it. Sound good? Do you want this paper? >> I have it. Do we want to go around the table and read the >> You do the roundroin reading of the ethics. >> Um >> Oh, we do. Oh, great. Okay. So, okay. Why don't we go around? Um I'm going to start Adam on your end and we'll Get one. They're printed out. We'll get one. >> Karen has one here, too. >> And have everybody read it. >> You just like toss it off. Toss it off. You have it. Okay. >> All right. So, am I moving? Does ethics end reading? I am right. >> I think >> um >> Okay. >> And maybe >> um >> do we >> So >> Karen >> Sahill needs one so he can be part of >>
062Sahill, you're not sworn in yet, but um uh Dr. Glazer suggested that perhaps you should read one of these as well since >> Karen's bringing you agenda. >> Abide by the ethics as well. Would you like to join us? >> Oh, he has an agenda. >> Are we going to go down this way? Carol will direct us which way to go next. >> It's like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. >> So, um, while that's getting sorted, I'm going to read this first paragraph. Um, whereas it is recommended that each boards each boards of education review and endorse the New Jersey School Boards Association's code of ethics, thereby affording individual members the opportunity to declare themselves willing to abide by these principles. The following action will renew this commitment. Um resolved that the Wong
063Burough Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent adopts the following New Jersey school board member code of ethics. Adam, please begin. >> Wait, second. >> It's your resolution. Are you just reading a full resolution? Okay. >> Wasn't that the point? >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I was trying to keep it. >> Should I move? >> No. Read first. >> Got it. Okay. One, I will uphold and enforce all laws, state board rules and regulations and court orders pertaining to schools. Desired changes should be brought only through legal and ethical procedures. >> Okay. Two, I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools which meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability, race, creed, sex or social standing. Three, I
064will convi confine my board action to policym planning and appraisal appraisal and will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them. I will car four, I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are wellrun. Five. I will recognize that authority rests with the board of education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action which may compromise the board. >> Six. I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or the for the gains of friends gain of friends. >> Would you like to Sahil right to the podium if you'd like? >> Okay. Well,
065we're doing it now for next time. But >> this is the ethics training. >> Okay, that's fine. >> Okay, great. >> Thank you. >> So then back to you, Adam. At seven, >> seven, I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would ne needlessly injure individuals or the schools, but in all other matters, I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members, interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its schools. Eight, I will vote to appoint the best qualified personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the superintendent. >> Nine, I will support and protect school personnel in proper performance of their duties. >> 10, I will refer all complaints to the superintendent and will act on such complaints at public meetings only
066after failure of an administrative solution. >> So, should we just move this item then? >> Yes. >> Mhm. Second. >> Who's moved it? I'm sorry. >> I'll move it. I move this item. >> Any discussion? >> Okay. Local. >> Okay. >> Mr. Desaniano. >> Yes. >> Okay. Mr. Craft. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Santos. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Marcellis. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mrs. Amado, >> yes. >> Mrs. Agliero, >> yes. >> Um, Mrs. Harvey and Mrs. Maddox are absent. The motion passes. >> Are there any others that need to be moved individually? >> No, the rest of them are all together. >> Okay. See? >> All right. Why don't we round Robin again and we'll just go through them all. Okay. >> Adam with us with >> like to move C. Approve continuation of New
067Jersey School Board's Association membership. >> Tisha, you just read read the letter and the title. >> Oh, okay. >> You don't have to read all of it. >> Okay. D. Establish time and place of board meetings. >> You're on E. >> Yeah. No. Okay. >> Thank you. Designate official newspapers. >> F. Adopt par parliamentary procedures. >> G approve annual appointment. >> H approve deposit. >> I approve authorized signatures. >> You're at J. >> J. Authorize agents of I mean agents for requesting federal and state funds. >> K. Authorize implementation of budget. L designate pettyash accounts custodians. >> N designate school funds investor. >> N adopt uniform minimum chart of accounts. >> O approve disability insurance plans. >> P approve tax shelter annuity companies. >> Q. Designate claims approver. >> R. Designate line item transfers approver.
068>> S continue current contracts. T authorize procurement of goods and services through the state contract. >> U approve cooperative pricing system participation. >> V authorize the school business administrator to invest funds in the New Jersey asset and rebate management program. >> W approve affirmative action grievance procedures. >> Second. Any discussion? I just want to note that in um item D there's a typo. The January reorganization meeting is 2027 not 2026. We will correct that. >> Okay. >> And who's >> any other discussion? >> Seconded that. >> Roll call. >> Are you ready? >> All right. Mr. Craft. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Marcellis. >> Yes. Mrs. Santos, >> yes. >> Mr. Desaniano, >> yes. >> Mrs. Aglaro, >> yes. Mrs. Amado, >> yes. >> Mrs. Harvey, Mrs. Maddox are absent. The motion passes. >> Great. Um,
069let's move on to board business. Does anyone have anything to share or discuss? Little late. >> Please don't forget to send me your um committee preferences. >> Okay. Um, comments from the public. Are there any comments from the public on any items? >> Okay, seeing as there are no comments, um, >> I think we can adjourn. >> Make a motion to adjurnn. >> Make a motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Ibody. >> Thank you everyone. Good night. >> Okay. Bye. Congratul You have a sheep. Do you?