Agenda for the March 17th BOE Meeting - RIH BOE to Discuss Budget and Board Goals—But Why Were Legal Invoices Removed from Public View? (& More)
- RIH Board Watch
- Mar 15
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 17
The next meeting of the RIH BOE is Monday March 17, 8pm in the Indian Hills Auditorium.
There is a busy agenda.
Most importantly, there is a Preliminary 2025-2026 Budget Report Presentation. The increase in taxes is 2% based on information provided in the agenda compared to the prior year’s approved final budget.
Secondly, the discussion of Board Goals is back on the agenda. As I previously noted, Board President Audrey Souders facilitated a transparent public discussion of Board Goals at the February 10th meeting. I commend Ms. Souders' effort and look forward to continuing transparent discussions that ensure these goals reflect the district’s priorities, promote accountability, and address critical areas like fiscal responsibility and governance. Board Goals should focus on oversight and policy, not operational details or direct management of the district. The board’s role is to set broad strategic priorities while allowing the Superintendent and district leadership to run day-to-day operations. Effective governance means establishing clear expectations, not micromanaging.
Other agenda items to be voted on:
Appointment of Mario Confini as Coordinator of Facilities and Operations at a salary of $159,500 starting July 1, 2025. Mr. Confini currently serves as the Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds in the Tenafly School District.
Approval of the contract for Matthew Bouldin as permanent Business Administrator (contract has not been made public yet)
Accept retirement of John Murphy, Social Studies teacher for 14 years
Approve a revised teacher contract, sidebar agreement and a new Supervisor contract
Approve the Job Description for the "Extended School Year Coordinator” (job description not attached)
Approve the Attendance Corrective Action Plan for 2025-26
Routine monthly Finance Resolutions as well as the tentative 2025-2026 Budget resolution
Several revised policies up for a first read. Curiously, the Board is abolishing the Policy 9100 Public Relations, a somewhat generic policy which addresses the commitment of the Board to community relations ideals. It is unclear why this Policy would be revoked, particularly since this Board struggled so much with public relations recently that they had to hire additional resources to help.
Policy 5516 Use of Electronic Devices and Policy 5701 Academic Integrity, which were previously reported to be under ‘robust discussion’ by the Policy committee, are not on the agenda.
The Public Hearing on the Final Budget will be held on April 28, 2025.
One item not on the agenda is a discussion of legal fees. Earlier this week, I noted that the district removed the OPRA (“Open Public Records Act”) logs, legal fees analysis, and legal invoices from the district’s website. Given the board’s repeated claims about improving transparency, this was a surprising and concerning move. Perhaps the board was advised to do so by Cleary Giacobbe Alfieri Jacobs LLC, the special legal counsel they hired at the last meeting.
The public deserves to know which former board member threatened legal action against the district and on what basis. Based on my review of redacted legal invoices from 2021 to 2024, legal matters are not redacted unless they involve student issues.
My full analysis of the district’s skyrocketing legal expenses is available on RIH Board Watch at https://www.rihboardwatch.org/legal-fees and which has been expanded to include a detail chart and graphs based on the 2021 to 2024 redacted invoices. There, you can also find links to all the redacted legal invoices I obtained through OPRA requests for Calendar Years 2021-2024.
The data is clear—the biggest drivers of the explosion in legal fees include:
The board outsourcing OPRA processing, a function previously handled in-house.
Inefficient labor negotiations, including a one-year contract that required two negotiations in two years.
Union grievances and unfair labor practices, which increased sharply in 2023 and 2024.
A surge in ethics complaints, which spiked significantly in 2022.
Multiple litigation matters, unrelated to student issues.
One of the most alarming trends is the dramatic increase in the board president’s use of legal counsel:
2021: The Board President or VP referenced in billing entries on legal invoices 64 times
2022: 25 times
2023: 490 times
2024: 135 times
This level of legal consultation by the Board Leadership represents a staggering shift in the use of taxpayer-funded legal services and raises serious concerns.
I hope to see the Board address the fiscally responsible use of legal counsel as part of their Board Goals discussion. Transparency is meaningless unless it is paired with accountability.
The full agenda can be found here: