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Board adopts code of ethics; refers new decorum policy to policy committee
Summary
Trustees read and adopted the district code of ethics and agreed to route a proposed decorum policy to the policy committee for drafting and expedited review.
At the Jan. 7 reorganization meeting the Teaneck Board of Education read and adopted its annual code of ethics and voted to ask the policy committee to draft a formal decorum policy for board meetings.
As part of the opening formalities each trustee read items from the code of ethics aloud; the board then moved the consent agenda and later returned to item 4 (the code). Trustee Jerry Kirschenbaum proposed adding a provision about “dignity and deportment” (behavioral expectations for trustees). Trustees debated whether the change would alter state law (N.J. Stat. Ann. 18A) or whether it should be developed by counsel and the policy committee.
After discussion the board unanimously approved the code of ethics item and voted to refer development of a decorum policy to the policy committee so counsel could draft suggested language. Trustees said the policy committee would expedite the work and return a draft to the full board for consideration.
Trustees framed the decorum discussion as an internal governance matter: the proposed policy would clarify expectations for trustee conduct at public meetings and how complaints are handled. The motion to refer the matter to the policy committee passed by roll-call vote.
