JACKSON – The Board of Education saw the return of its two incumbents who won re-election during the November election. Both were chosen to new leadership roles as president and vice president of the board.
The reorganization meeting nearly didn’t come to be as board members and administrators feared they might not have a quorum due to illness that was said to have been the cause of Scott Sargent, Michael Walsh, and Gus Acevedo from attending the session.
John Burnetsky and Sharon Dey served as president and vice president of the board last year. Walsh was to have been sworn in for his new three-year term along with Thomas Colucci who was sworn in to begin his seventh year on the board early on in the meeting.
Colucci has been a Jackson resident for more than 20 years and he and his wife have two children. He enjoys career days and meeting with students to share his experience as a pilot, aviation educator and flight and simulator instructor. He was sworn in by district business administrator Michelle Richardson.
Walsh will start his third year on the board this year. He was nominated by Colucci to serve as this year’s board president. Walsh was unanimously voted in to serve in that role for 2020.
Colucci was nominated to serve as vice president and in Walsh’s absence chaired the meeting after he was unanimously approved to serve as vice president of the board.
During the session the board voted to appoint the firm of Schenck, Price, Smith & King, LLP, as general legal and labor counsel to the Board for the period of February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021, in accordance with the terms of the annual retainer agreement.
The Board also appointed Nicholas Montenegro of the firm of Montenegro, Thompson, Montenegro and Genz as special counsel for land acquisitions and other casework on an as needed basis for the period of February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021.
Board members also voted to appoint Brielle Orthopedics, P.A., as School Physician for the period February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021and Integrity Consulting Group as Broker of Record for Employee Benefits for the period of February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021.
Glenn Insurance, Inc., Absecon, was appointed as Broker of Record for Property, Casualty and Worker’s Compensation Insurance and Student Accident Insurance for the period of February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021.
Other appointments included George Stone as Treasurer of School Funds for the period of February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021, at a salary of $8,085; the firm of Suplee, Clooney & Company as Board Auditor for the period July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021 to conduct the 2019-2020 audit; and Spiezle Architectural Group, Inc. Architect, was appointed as District Architect of Record for the period of February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021.
Board members voted to approve the appointment of School Bus Ads, JAX Media Innovations for School Bus Advertising and approved a renewal contract to provide revenue sources for the Jackson Township Board of Education for the period of February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021.
Richardson was appointed as the Qualified Purchasing Agent for the period of February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021
The Board authorized Superintendent of Schools Stephen Genco to sign and file all grant applications to the United States government and state government for educational program grants and to represent the district for grant applications.
Genco brought up the subject of the state’s school board member ethics code stating that while no new members joined the board this year, “there have been a few ethics opinions that have come up in the state this year that you should be made aware of.”
Board Attorney Marc H. Zitomer elaborated on the subject saying, “School Board members in New Jersey are subject to the New Jersey School Board Ethics Act. The ethics act is essentially broken up into two parts which include prohibited acts which are conflicts of interests. I always advise board members if you feel you have a conflict of interest or something that doesn’t pass the smell test, so to speak, it is better to abstain than to be accused of voting on something where your interests can be questioned about not being in the best interests of the Jackson School District but for what is in your own personal interests which is obviously a no-no.”
Zitomer added, “the board member is a policy maker. You have hired wonderful administrators to do the day to day operations of the school district. You should refer any complaints that come to your attention to Dr. Genco to handle. That is what the code of ethics require and lastly confidentiality is key here. Be it information dealing with other board members, student information, litigation – it is essential you keep that information confidential.”
The attorney added that in terms of decisions that have come down recently within the state there have been “a lot of decisions concerning board members as volunteers. There have been questions about whether board members can serve as volunteers in other capacities be it helping out with the school play or some other volunteer capacity.”
Zitomer said that in such a situation “it is certainly fine to volunteer in other school district capacities but where it crosses a line is where board members have a lot of day to day interaction with (district) staff members because staff members see you as board members. They don’t necessarily see you as a volunteer. If you have a lot of direct interaction with staff members you need to take a step back.”
“Another area is when a board member has any connections with the NJEA (New Jersey Education Association) as we have negotiations coming up you may have to recuse yourself entirely from that process,” Zitomer.
Zitomer said such a conflict would extend to the district’s ongoing superintendent search which is currently going on. Genco will retire as superintendent on July 1.
