NORTHFIELD BOARD OF EDUCATION FILE CODE: 9326
Northfield, New Jersey X Monitored
Mandated
Bylaw X Other Reasons
MINUTES
The minutes of all meetings of the Northfield Board of Education shall be sufficiently detailed to serve as documentation of board compliance with New Jersey statutes and administrative code.
The minutes of the meetings of the board of education shall include:
A. The classification (regular, adjourned or special), date, and place of meeting;
B. The call to order stating time, person presiding and his/her office;
C. The record of the roll call of board members;
D. A notation of the presence of the Superintendent of Schools, business administrator, board secretary, administrators and the public;
E. Announcement of notification listing the newspapers by name;
F. A record of any corrections to the minutes of the previous meetings and the action approving them;
G. A record of all communications presented to the board;
H. A record of each motion placed before the board, the result of the vote, and the vote of each member.
A copy of the minutes of the previous meeting shall be sent to all board members along with agenda materials.
The minutes shall be filed permanently for reference purposes.
All reports requiring board action, resolutions, agreements and other written documents shall be placed in the files of the board secretary and/or the Superintendent of Schools as a permanent record.
Executive Session Minutes
A form summary memorandum of the existence of an executive session shall be prepared by the board secretary and be appended to the regular minutes of the particular meeting. This is recognized as a summary of the executive session and the topic discussed only and shall not be construed as the minutes of the particular executive session.
All executive session minutes shall be taken by the board secretary. These minutes shall be taken so that they are reasonably comprehensible.
All executive session minutes shall be kept on a separate page(s) for each subject in order to protect the confidentiality of other topics/items.
All executive session minutes shall be kept in a separate binder identified as such and kept in a safe and confidential location determined by the Superintendent of Schools and the board secretary.
The executive session minutes shall be reviewed on a quarterly basis by the board secretary. Unless there is a recognized or court ordered privilege, confidential or privacy right, the minutes of executive session will be made available to the public as soon as the reason for the confidentiality no longer exists.
All of those matters reviewed by the board secretary that are recommended by the board secretary for release shall then be reviewed by the Superintendent of Schools Upon the Superintendent of Schools’ approval, those items that are then determined to be released to the public may be referred over to the board solicitor for review. Upon the solicitor’s review and recommendation for release, if requested, the Superintendent of Schools shall cause the particular executive session minutes to be placed as an item for board of education vote in the “Approval of Minutes” section of the next board meeting.
The board of education shall, on a call vote, vote on the release of the recommended particular executive session minutes to the general public.
With the approval of the board of education, the particular executive session minutes released to the public shall be stamped by the board secretary as approved for release and then filed in a separate binder for “Released Executive Session Minutes.” This binder shall also be kept in a safe location determined by the and board secretary.
Those executive session minutes not-approved for release shall be returned to the Executive Session
Minutes Binder described above.
Any request for released executive session minutes shall be made on a formal request form (Form attached to this policy) with payment of appropriate fees for photocopying and mailing N.J.S.A. 47:1A-2.
Public Access to Minutes
Minutes of all regular meetings shall be available to the public for inspection within two weeks of the there approval.
The board secretary (or other person deemed to be the custodian of public records) shall permit the minutes to be inspected, examined and copied by any person during regular business hours. The board may charge a fee for copies of the minutes as provided by law.
Taping of Public Meetings
Official Tapes
The board secretary may tape record public meetings of the board in order to assure proper documentation of occurrences and the preparation or transcription of minutes. All tapes are the sole property of the board, and any individual requesting access to these materials must do so in writing five working days in advance. Tapes shall not be removed from the board office and must be played in the presence of the board secretary/ designee. All tapes shall be stored in a locked cabinet located in the board office and shall be retained under the NJDARM schedule for 45 days or until official transcripts or minutes are prepared and adopted, whichever is longer.
Taping by Members of the Public
Any member of the public is entitled to make an audio or video tape recording of a board of education meeting subject to reasonable restrictions including that the taping will minimize intrusiveness and not interrupt the proceedings. Any person wishing to audio or video tape meetings shall provide written notice of their name, address and telephone number and will consent to the board, at its own expense and upon request, to make a reproduction of the recording. Absent prior board approval, no additional artificial lighting shall be permitted. No electrical or other wiring is allowed due to the danger of entanglement and tripping. All persons recording board proceedings shall hold the board harmless and indemnify the board against all damage or injury whether to equipment, to themselves or to others. To protect privacy, there shall be no taping of closed executive sessions and no audio pick-up of private conversations occurring in the audience or between the board and its attorney. Persons taping shall not move around the room while meetings are in session and equipment, once positioned, shall not be moved during the board meeting. Unless waived by the board, no more than two portable video tape cameras, operated by not more than two persons, shall be allowed, on a first-come, first-served basis. Following the adjournment of the board’s meeting, any persons responsible for taping shall immediately remove all equipment and restore the facility to the same condition it was in immediately prior to the recording equipment being set up.
Adopted: August 21, 2000
NJSBA Review/Update: December 2009; December 2010
Readopted: October 24, 2011
Key Words
Minutes, Board Meeting Minutes, Records, District Records and Reports
Legal References: N.J.S.A. 10:4‑6 et seq. Open Public Meetings Act
See particularly:
N.J.S.A. 10:4‑10, ‑14
N.J.S.A. 18A:11‑1 General mandatory powers and duties
N.J.S.A. 18A:17‑7 Secretary to give notices and keep minutes, etc.
N.J.S.A. 18A:54‑20 Powers of board (county vocational schools)
N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. Public Records; Examination and Copies (Open Public Records Act)
N.J.A.C. 6A:8-4.3 Accountability
N.J.A.C. 6A:30-1.4 Evaluation process for the annual review
N.J.A.C. 6A:32-12.1 Reporting requirements
Executive Order No. 9, September 30, 1963; modified by Executive Order No. 11, November 15, 1974
Maurice River Board of Education v. Maurice River Teachers Assn. 193 N.J. Super. 488 (App. Div. 1984)
Matawan Ed. Ass’n. v. Matawan‑Aberdeen Ed. Bd., 212 N.J. Super. 328
Liebeskind v. Mayor & Mun. Coun. of Bayonne, 265 N.J. Super. 389, 400-401 (App. Div. 1993)
Atlantic City Convention Center Authority v. South Jersey Publishing Co., Inc.,135 N.J. 53 (1994). Tapes made during closed government meetings are common law public records, subject to the removal of any confidential or privileged information before disclosure. “Blanket access to the tapes would not be required; rather, access could be limited to those portions of the tapes necessary to vindicate the public interest.”
Robert Wayne Tarus v. Borough of Pine Hill, et al., NJ Supreme Court (A-93-2005, decided March 7, 2007). The public’s right of access to governmental proceedings includes the right to videotape.
Manual for the Evaluation of Local School Districts (September 2002)
New Jersey Department of State, Division of Archives and Records Management, School District Records Retention Schedule
Possible
Cross References: *3570 District records and reports
9123 Appointment of board secretary
*Indicates policy is included in the Critical Policy Reference Manual.