Board approves LEA agreement, clears consent agendas with several recusals

The Linden Board of Education voted to approve an agreement clarifying which employees are covered by the collective bargaining agreement with the Linden Education Association (LEA) and moved a series of consent items across committee reports on Tuesday.

At the attorney’s report, the board attorney presented the LEA agreement, noting there had been areas of disagreement but that the parties reached terms. The board then made and seconded a motion to approve the agreement; the item passed on a roll‑call vote with members recorded as voting yes.

The board also approved committee consent motions in a single block: education items (reported as items 1–24), finance items (1–31 after a numbering correction), personnel appointments (items 1–51), buildings and grounds items (1–8) and planning and policy items (1–2). Several trustees announced recusals on specific subitems during the education and finance votes; the record lists individual recusals tied to agenda subitems rather than full committee rejections.

According to the board attorney, the LEA agreement resolves which employees the union identifies as covered by the collective bargaining agreement; the precise list of affected positions was provided to trustees before the vote.

Next steps: approved items will be reflected in board records; recused trustees were recorded for the items they identified, and members were later permitted to amend or recast votes on the education report where needed.

(Reporting note: vote tallies and recusal notations were recorded in the meeting roll call. The board attorney introduced the LEA agreement and the formal roll call that followed recorded unanimous approval for that agreement.)