ACTION ITEM A EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE For Meeting of October 17, 2017 FOR: (X) ACTION ( ) DISCUSSION FROM: DR. LAWRENCE S. FEINSOD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SUBJECT: Approval Of Open Session Minutes of the Meeting LSF:dm Attachment
MINUTES OPEN SESSION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING NJSBA Headquarters 413 West State Street Trenton, New Jersey President Daniel Sinclair called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m., read the Open Public Meeting Act statement, and asked for a roll call. Executive Committee members in attendance were Mr. Daniel Sinclair; President; Mr. Donald Webster, Jr., Immediate Past President; Mr. Michael McClure, vice president for finance; Mr. Brandon Pugh, vice president for legislation and resolutions; Ms. Christy Tighe, vice president for county activities; and Dr. Lawrence S. Feinsod, executive director. Staff members present for the entire meeting included Cynthia Jahn, general counsel, Frank Belluscio, deputy executive director, and Denise Mazzucca, executive administrative assistant. Staff members attending part of the meeting to provide department reports were the following: Ray Pinney, director of county activities & member engagement; Michael Vrancik, director of governmental relations; Vincent DeLucia, director of training & professional development; Joseph Hsieh, director of information technology; Kim Blum, director of human resources; John Faford, director of finance; and Patty Maillet, director of business development. Jane Kershner, director of field services; was excused due to illness. President Sinclair began the meeting by asking for a moment of silence in memory of Senator Jim Whelan and for the people of Texas, who were enduring the impact of Hurricane Harvey. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR S REPORT Dr. Feinsod spoke about several developments at NJSBA: Hurricane Harvey: Dr. Feinsod recalled the devastation New Jersey suffered by Hurricane Sandy not that long ago. During that time, the NJSBA Hurricane Sandy Assistance Effort was created to match donors with schools in need. People across the nation offered to help New Jersey during our time in need. Dr. Feinsod has reached out to Mr. James Crow, the Executive Director of the Texas School Boards Association, to ask him to advise us of any efforts being made to receive contributions for public schools damaged by the storm in Houston. A Reflections column was dedicated to the situation in Houston and contained links to help those in need. Telecom Services: NJSBA has entered into an agreement with CrosStar Telecommunications. This company can go into a school district, analyze the districts telecommunications costs, and then reduce those costs. NJSBA partners with them, and in, turn receives 2% of the total cost savings for each school that uses the service.
Open Session Minutes Executive Committee Mtg. Page 2 of 5 Dr. Feinsod announced that NJSBA has also decided to use this service to save the Association money on telecommunication costs. The CrosStar Company has completed the evaluation of NJSBA and made some recommendations. Dues Receipts Ahead of Last Year: Dues notices for 2017 2018 were sent to business administrators in June. Contact was also made with board presidents about the value of NJSBA dues-based services. Dr. Feinsod announced that dues collection is ahead of last year at this time, both in terms of the number of school boards that have made payment and revenue received. Future Ready Schools New Jersey: Future Ready has been modeled after the Sustainable Jersey certification program and has exceeded expectations. The program already has 37 school districts that have committed to the certification process. There will be 65 schools honored at Workshop 2017. Dr. Feinsod announced that he and Patty Maillet had spent the previous day meeting with Joel Bloom, the president of NJIT, which has provided major financial support for this project. As a result of that meeting, Jeremy Reich, project coordinator for Future Ready Schools New Jersey, will work from NJSBA Headquarters at least two days each week. This will put him in closer contact with NJSBA, the Department of Education, and other education organizations. Significantly, NJIT has also agreed to fund Jeremy s position through June 2019. Patty Maillet added that programs like Sustainable Jersey Certification for Schools provide opportunities for companies to provide small grants to participating schools. Funding in place for Future Ready through June 2019 will enable the program to follow the same path as Sustainable Jersey. During the next phase of the program, NJSBA will begin joint fundraising with NJIT to solicit grants from the private sector. Military Opportunities Day/Month: Dr. Feinsod spoke about NJSBA being the only state school boards association to have STEM/STEAM specialists on staff. He noted Sgt. Simpson, who is assigned to work directly for our organization and is paid for by the U.S. Army. This is the second consecutive year that the LEE group executive directors, through the initiative of NJSBA, have sent a letter to school district leaders, encouraging them to schedule a military opportunities day this fall. We have also received a proclamation, signed by Governor Christie and Lt. Governor Guadagno, declaring September 2017 as Military Opportunities Month. Dr. Feinsod emphasized that although the military might not be for every child, we owe it to every child and parent to present them with the information explaining the opportunities that the military can provide including scholarships and training opportunities. Weekend Leadership Conference: Dr. Feinsod distributed the Executive Director s Goals for 2017 2018. He explained that even though these goals are called Executive Director s Goals, in essence they are goals for the entire Association staff. One of the major goals listed is conducting a weekend leadership conference. The plans are well underway, and the program will be take place April 20 22, 2018 at the Princeton Marriott. Dr. Feinsod also reported that the conference will be totally funded through corporate donations. A $50,000 commitment has been received from Dell and VMware. President Sinclair added that he has received a lot of positive feedback that this program is being offered again.
Open Session Minutes Executive Committee Mtg. Page 3 of 5 Interviews with Gubernatorial Candidates: Video interviews with the gubernatorial candidates will be conducted in September. Lt. Gov. Guadagno is scheduled for September 8, and Ambassador Murphy is scheduled for September 13. The interviews will be conducted by Ray Pinney. After both interviews have been completed, there are plans to publish a Q & A with both candidates in School Leader. During the meeting, NJSBA s position paper on critical issues in education was distributed. This paper was developed for the candidates by the Governmental Relations and Communications Departments. Upcoming Events: The Strategic Planning forums will be taking place Saturday, September 9 and Friday October 6. Both meetings will be taking place at NJSBA Headquarters. It is anticipated that 50 participants, including the Officers, representatives of the Board of Directors, CAL, and the general membership, and staff will attend. The Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for September 15, 2017. Junior Achievement of New Jersey will be holding an Educators Welcoming Session at JANJ Headquarters in Edison, NJ on October 18. This event will focus on JANJ s Finance Park program, which meets 100 percent of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in financial literacy. NJSBA s communications and marketing staff have assisted JANJ in developing a publicity plan for the program. Commissioner Harrington will also be speaking at this event. NJSBA s work with JANJ represents an example of the partnerships we have developed to meet our current Strategic Plan goal to advance student achievement. Book Study: The book Multipliers by Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown was distributed to the directors and officers. This book will be used for the book study done at the Directors Council meetings for the upcoming school year. OTHER REPORTS Patty Maillet gave a report regarding Workshop 2017. She noted that the registration numbers are higher this year than they were for the same time last year. An early bird special was offered to boards giving them $100 off if they registered before June 30. Districts are permitted to bring 18 board members/district staff with each group registration. All boards will be receiving badges onsite at Workshop this year. Badges will not be mailed prior to Workshop. Staff will be onsite for any issues that may come up with the badge printing. The Future Ready Award Ceremony will be on the stage on Tuesday during Workshop. Thirty-seven schools will be participating in STEAM Tank at Workshop. Dr. Feinsod indicated that the weekly updates from the Executive Director to the Officers would commence the following week. Frank Belluscio noted that a Q & A that was published by The Asbury Park Press regarding special education by Dr. Feinsod. The article will be uploaded to NJSBA s website. Frank Belluscio also spoke on behalf of field services and noted that the new superintendent evaluation tool has been finalized and will be released this fall.
Open Session Minutes Executive Committee Mtg. Page 4 of 5 John Faford advised that we have signed an agreement with CrosStar. After their assessment of our current telecom services, it has been estimated that NJSBA will save approximately $13,000 a year by using the recommendations made by CrosStar. Cyndy Jahn stated that Middletown will be submitting a resolution to revise our policy regarding school funding to address schools that lose state funding. She also noted that a number of board members have received reprimands or removal for not completing and mandated training. General Counsel is in the process of preparing an Amicus brief regarding a case involving Rice notices. Mike Vrancik spoke about a resolution approved by the Newton Town Council calling for all school districts in Sussex County to be merged to one school district. Kim Blum reported that the search committee assigned to find a new director for legal and labor relations has narrowed down two final candidates to be interview by the executive director in the upcoming weeks. Lucia Brooks was hired as the program coordinator for ELFNJ. The part-time position for the call center has also been filled by Taylor Stanton. Taylor will begin on September 11. Joseph Hsieh announced that the project to improve program registration has been completed and will start being used on September 5. The process went from seven to ten steps to two. DEPARTMENT UPDATES Dr. Feinsod noted that all of the department directors provided written updates. (The reports have been posted on the Executive Committee website at www.njsba.org/ec.) The following directors presented brief comments from their reports: Frank Belluscio, Kim Blum, Cyndy Jahn, Michael Vrancik, Vince DeLucia, Ray Pinney, and John Faford. The department directors other than Frank Belluscio, Cyndy Jahn, and John Faford were dismissed at 3:17p.m. PROPOSED AGENDA FOR SEPTEMBER 15, 2017 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING The agenda for the September 15, 2017 Board of Directors meeting was reviewed. ACTION ITEMS President Sinclair asked for a motion to approve Action Item A, Approval of Open Session Minutes of May 2, 2017 Executive Committee Meeting. A motion to approve Action Item A was made by Donald Webster, immediate past president; was duly seconded by Michael McClure, vice president for finance, and was passed with one abstention. President Sinclair asked for a motion to approve Action Item B, Ratification of Officers Vouchers. (Officers abstain from voting on their own vouchers.) A motion to approve Action Item A was made by Donald Webster, immediate past president; was duly seconded by Michael McClure, vice president for finance; and carried unanimously. Action Item C, voucher Submitted Past 30 Days, contained one expense voucher for Jason Jones. President Sinclair asked for a motion to approve Action Item C. A motion to approve Action Item C was made by Donald Webster, immediate past president; was duly seconded by Michael McClure, vice president for finance; and carried unanimously.
Open Session Minutes Executive Committee Mtg. Page 5 of 5 President Sinclair asked for a motion to end the meeting at 3:30 pm. A motion to end the meeting was made by Michael McClure, vice president for finance; was duly seconded by Donald Webster, immediate past president; and carried unanimously. INFORMATION ITEMS The information items provided to the officers for the May 2, 2017 meeting included Association Financials and Departmental Updates. www.njsba.org/ec. Respectfully submitted, /s/ Dr. Lawrence S. Feinsod Executive Director LSF:dm