This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 36 min.
- Who spoke · first speaks at
- Mariya ThompsonVice President
What happened
What happened at this meeting
Leonia school board passes personnel motion 33:16
- Board members and district staff discussed how a new K-12 cell phone policy would apply during lunch, on buses and at after-school activities. 11:44
- Mariya Thompson called for a motion to approve the consent agenda items, and the board took a roll call vote. 18:01
- A district staff member said renovations to the high school science wing, delayed by insurance talks and a terminated contract, would be finished by November 1st at the latest. 27:53
Item by item (8)
- Opening and roll call 0:00
- Public comment on agenda items 3:05
- A speaker at public comment asked for more detail on a special education program change, plans for special education and ESEA grants, and how the cell phone policy would be enforced. 3:34
- A district staff member said the program change reclassifies it from multi-disabilities to LLD and that about 95% of the IDEA grant goes to out-of-district placement costs. 7:07
- The staff member said enforcement of the cell phone policy is key and that the high school would begin messaging the next day. 9:04
- Board comments on cell phone policy 11:38
- A speaker asked whether high school students leaving campus for lunch could use their phones, and a staff member said students off campus would have access to them. 11:44
- Dr. Steven Meester said phones must be away on school property from first bell to last bell and that the policy also bans phone use on school buses. 12:22
- A staff member said the high school would send out a full guideline and that the policy applies K-12, including elementary students. 14:53
- Consent agenda 17:39
- Mariya Thompson asked for a motion to approve the consent agenda items, and a staff member called the roll. 18:01
- Administrative reports 18:32
- A district staff member described a three-day administrative retreat and said the science wing and playground upgrades were underway. 18:45
- The staff member said the Student Safety Data System report listed 13 incidents at the high school, 32 at the middle school and 1 at the elementary school. 21:09
- A second staff member thanked the custodial maintenance department for summer work to prepare the schools. 22:18
- Committee reports 22:47
- Dr. Steven Meester said the policy committee met last week and spent about 90% of the time on the electronic devices policy. 23:00
- Public comment and science wing delay 23:31
- A speaker at public comment raised concerns about delays in reopening the science wing, and another asked whether out-of-district tuition costs were offset by the IDEA grant. 24:50
- A district staff member said insurance negotiations caused the delay and that the plan is to open November 1st at the latest. 27:53
- Another staff member said the $400,000 IDEA grant offsets total out-of-district placement costs and that a contract had to be terminated, which caused delay. 29:35
- Personnel vote 33:16
Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.
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Video: posted by the district as “Leonia Board of Education Meeting August 18, 2026”