I'd like to call this meeting of the Board of Education to order. Public notice of this meeting pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act has been given by the Board Secretary on May 20, 2025, in the following manner. Post a notice on the school bulletin board at the administration building, transmitted to the Courier-Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Clerk of the Cherry Hill Township. Please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Mrs. Sugars, please call the roll. Dr. Braddock? Here. Mrs. Surefane? Here. Dr. Dreisen? Here. Mrs. Gallagher? Here. Mr. Greenbaum? Here. Mr. Mayor? Here. Ms. Palmer? Here. Ms. Stern? Mrs. Winters. Here. Thank you. So I see there are a lot of students in the room tonight. So, in deference to the students and the fact that I know that it's the end of the year and everybody's very busy with homework and schedules and exams coming up, I am going to have a first public comment session for students only in the beginning of this meeting.
So that students can make their comments, and then… head off to do whatever it is they need to do, get ready for the day tomorrow. See board members nodding their heads, so I don't think anybody is opposed to that. So, we are going to have a first public comment session. This will be for individuals both in the room and online. Students, if you are online and you are waiting to comment, please put an S after your name. That way, I know that you are a student, I know to call on you. Adults, grown-ups in the room, you will be able to comment at either our first or second public comment sessions later in the meeting.
So we're gonna start in the room, as is our custom. Any student who would like to make a public comment at this time, please come to the microphone, give us your name, municipality. You'll have 3 minutes. I'm Josh Resnick. I am from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, is that okay? Uh, I would like to read an email, which I send to the entirety of the Board of Education, as well as Superintendent Morton. I wish I was reaching out to you on a happier note. I recently learned that there has been an active administrative decision to fire Dr. Francis Maurer from Cherry Hill High School East in the form of not providing him with a contract for the 2025 2026 school year.
To put it simply, this decision is a mistake. In a school which has dealt with poor and inconsistent administration in the recent years, the hiring of Dr. Francis Maurer was the single best decision which the school has made. From planning school-wide No Place for Hates events to attending nearly every single event in and outside of school, including out-of-state activities. With DECA, all the way to individual band activities. Dr. Francis Maurer has demonstrated unparalleled commitment to the school and has acted as the ideal administrator.
Not only is he an effective administrator, but also a genuine friend and advocate for students. From helping mediate religious concerns with the Jewish Student Union, to helping students deal with their own difficult times, he has shown compassion, understanding, and a willingness to go above and beyond the expectations of his role as the Vice Principal of Cherry Hill High School East. Additionally, he has exceeded the expectations of his job description. He has rewritten the courses within the school, while also leading the Class of 2027 to being the class with the lowest fail rates in the school, which is an extraordinary accomplishment.
The firing of Dr. Francis Maurer is more than a simple administrative change. This is going to affect thousands of students who will go to Cherry Hill High School East in the future, and it will affect the thousands of students who are currently in the school. He possesses an ability, which many people do not have. And never get within their life. A true empathetic connection and openness of understanding. Whether students are seeing Dr. Francis Maurer as they're walking inside the school in the beginning of the day, or they just see him standing around during lunch periods. He is always there as somebody who can help out the student body.
Last year, I had the privilege to attend ICDC with DECA with Dr. Francis Maurer. And just to summarize my experience at ICDC, I had to compete in an event where I needed immense practice and presentation prep before I competed. Now, there are 20,000 people that go to this event, over 200,000 participants throughout the world. And Dr. Francis Maurer was able to help me achieve Moderate success with top 6 in the entire world. This isn't something that many people get, and I only got it because of the help of Dr. Francis Maurer.
It is un… it is… extremely important that The Board of Education understands how important and how vital Dr. Francis Maurer has been to Cherry Hill High School East. And there must be something done to change this, and I'm out of time, so thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much for your comment. I'm looking online, and I don't see anyone online waiting, so I'll go back to the room. Is there any other student that would like to make public comment tonight?
Thank you, just please give us your name and your municipality. Hi, my name is Lauren Clayton. I'm a sophomore at Cherry Hill East. Um, I don't really have anything specifically formal to say. I didn't send an email because I knew I was going to come here and speak. Um, I just believe that this decision to not renew Dr. Francis Maurer's contract is… utterly ridiculous to say it in the most casual way Um, I am… a child who has… who is neurodivergent. I have many things.
And DFM has helped me through all of the issues that I've had throughout the school. Have a 504, he's been in all the 504 meetings, and he's been very compassionate. I was out sick with pneumonia in October of 2024. And he was able to work out ways that I can still succeed in school and not fail the school year, because I was out for most of the month. And because of his help, I was able to still move on. I was able to stay at the school.
Had plans to go online. I had plans to go to online school, and this was… kind of right before he left And he was emailing my therapist, and he was emailing my guidance counselor, and he was trying to find ways that I can stay, because he cares about his students. And he wants us to be here, and he cares about our well-being. I haven't met not one other teacher at Cherry Hill East, that has cared for the students as much as him.
Since he has left, we come in at the bus doors, and there's always a fist bump or a high-five coming from Dr. Francis Maurer. But since he has left, teachers stand there and make sure kids come inside. There's no enthusiasm, there's no joy in their eyes, nothing, because DFM was the only one who wanted that for us. And… I believe that we need someone like that in our school, especially in a high school, where there's statistic… Statistically, a lot more things going on mentally than any other place. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments. I do see a hand raised online. Simran Shah, if you are a student, you can comment now on First Public comment. Just give us your name and municipality. Uh, my name is Sherman Shah, and… I am from Cherry Hill East, I'm a sophomore. Um, so, I think it is exactly what Lauren said, ridiculous that, um. You do not wanna, um, renew, um, DFM's contract. He has cared for not only 504 and IEP students, but For students in all grades.
And they… And these students, like I said, are from all grades. But nobody can… bring joy and fun to Eastlake DFM has. He has been there for students, and I've been there For… everything that we have gone through. And, for example, for me, I also have an IEP, but I am also somebody who advocates for myself, not only for my IEP, but I've seen the kind of love and respect that he gives to students, and… how he understands where we're coming from, and not a lot of teachers
At East can see where we come from, and see what we have to take on as high school students. And I think someone like DFM himself needs to be at East, because Without him, we're going to school every day, and high school can be a very tough place. Like, for multiple people. Not only mentally, but also physically. And he brings a sense of joy, and at least for me, and I can surely say for a bunch of my other peers.
He makes coming to school fun, and he makes us look forward to it. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room, is there any other student in the room who would like to speak now at public comment? I see no more students approaching the microphone, I'm looking online. I don't see anyone with their hand raised online to make public comment at this time.
Seeing no one approaching the mic, I'm going to close this public comment session. There will be two additional public comment sessions tonight. The first one will be for action items on the agenda, and any students who wish to speak, and the final public comment meeting at period at the end of the night will be for anyone, including grown-ups who are here with us. To speak on any topic. That will be at the end of the meeting. Thank you, everyone, for your comments tonight. We appreciate you being here. So now we're gonna move on with our regular agenda. And we are starting the night with one of my favorite things, which is board recognition.
And we are going to start with Jewish American Heritage Month, an essay, and post our contest winners. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Morton. Thank you very much, Ms. Winters. Yes, as you just stated, I'm also pleased and honored this evening to have the opportunity to recognize some very, uh, special young people who have participated in the Jewish American Heritage Month's essay and poster contest. I'm gonna call up Ms. Dermer to come up to the microphone and join me there. We'll recognize the winners.
Hi, everyone. My name is Susan Dermer. I'm a board member of the JCRC. Um, I'm honored to be here on behalf of the Jewish Community Relations Council to present awards for the Voices of Heritage Contest. Held in the celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month. Through… through their thoughtful essays and creative posters, the students have beautifully captured the many ways Jewish Americans have helped shape our nation's story. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the educators, families. And community members who supported this initiative, especially a special thank you to the Cherry Hill Public Library for their invaluable partnership and support in bringing the voices of heritage contest to life.
Now it's time to recognize our outstanding winners. For the contest. When I call your name, please come to the front. Okay, let's begin with our K- category… grade category. Our first winner of the night is Lila Steinberg. A 5th grade student at Richard Stockton Elementary School. Lila's essay shares Ruth Bader Ginsburg's story. From her early life through her work. On the Supreme Court.
And explains why she remembered… she's remembered as a strong Jewish leader who made a difference. Congratulations, Lila. Moving on to our sixth through 8th grade category. We have two exceptional 8th graders, students from Beck Middle School.
Our second place winner is Bella Richard. Her poster highlights Bob Dylan's role in the civil rights movement and his personal journey with identity, capturing the spirit of Jewish history. Congratulations. And our first place winner is Devin Cohen. Devin's poster honors Barbra Streisand's groundbreaking career. As a… as a famous actress, singer, and among many things.
Highlighting the enduring impact of Jewish Americans in the arts and cultures. Congratulations, Devin and Bella. 7 here? Okay. Um, now on to our ninth to 12th grade category. Our final winner is Alexis Rover. Who couldn't be with us this evening. She's an 11th grader at Cherry Hill East. Alexis's essay honors Ruth Bader Ginsburg, very popular.
As a proud Jewish trailblazer whose resilience and pursuit of justice continue to inspire young women. And to lead with courage and conviction. Congratulations, Alexis. Before we conclude, I'd like to share a few words about the Jewish Community Relations Council. Of southern New Jersey. Through the initiative, like the Voices of Heritage Contest, we are proud to support and engage youth in learning about Jewish history, culture, and identity.
Our work extends throughout the region, from promoting community partnership to providing educational resources through the Rob Goodwin Holocaust Museum Education Center. Where thousands of students every year learn the vital lessons of the Holocaust, and the importance of standing up for hate. Thank you for… to Dr. Morton and the Cherry Hill Board of Education for recognizing Our student honorees, and helping shine a light on the importance of Jewish American heritage Month.
Thank you so much. We're thrilled that you were here with us tonight. We have one other board recognition tonight, and it's something that's near and dear to our hearts. It's our student board reps from High School East and West. So excited, Dr. Morton, would you like to recognize them with me? Yes, actually, I'm gonna ask Ms. Bharati to come up to the microphone. We have something to share with the students. I'm also going to ask Ms. Winters for you to join me at the microphone as well, as we hand out plaques to, uh, to our student board reps.
Alright, so when we call your name, if you can just come right up. Uh, receive your plaque. Ms. Browder, you're doing double duty this evening, but you're gonna have to get a photo as well. Oh, but student board rep positions, we believe, are a are amongst probably the most important. Of any of the student leadership roles that our students have an opportunity to serve. They represent literally, the student bodies of both of their high schools, and as you've heard. Children have come forward with candor, with honesty, with intelligence. I think our four this year have also demonstrated a level of collaboration that we have not seen.
Um, in years past amongst our board reps, so kudos. To all of our board reps, fantastic job this evening. I'm sure, you know, Board of Education members have similarly positive things to say as well. Uh, but first and foremost, uh, from High School West, Rebecca Brusselhoff? From high school east, Selim, Berkatop.
Unable to be with us this evening is Arolyn Camp from High School East. We can have Mr. Finkel stand at Errolyn's place. Yes, and last but not least, from High School West, Jenna Taylor.
Are you ready? 1, 2, 3… Thank you. So it's a bittersweet moment for us on the board, because… while we're sad that it's your last night with us, to give your final reports, we're also thrilled that you're moving on to wonderful things, graduation and beyond.
Um, I just want to say heartfelt from the full Board of Education, we were really lucky this year to have Four strong, capable, competent women representing both high schools so capably. We really appreciated everything you brought to us. There were meetings that were challenging. And you guys were here, and you used your voices to represent your community as well. And we're really proud of you, and excited to see where you go next, so thank you guys so much.
And now for your final reports from both high schools. I'm sure I'm gonna get this wrong, but I want to say it's High School West first tonight. Am I right or am I wrong? Dr. Braddock is telling me I'm correct. Confirmed. And it may be the first time this year I got it right, you guys. Because I said last meeting, remember this moment. You're picking East. Rest is first. So we're gonna start with High School West. Do you guys want to give your final report?
Awesome. Okay, as our school year comes to an end, Wes celebrates the success in several different aspects of our community. For academics, AP tests have finished, all except for one, AP Psych, which will take place tomorrow, May 28th. Thank you for your academic dedication throughout the school year, and congrats on completing these courses. Njsla testing occurred last week for both our freshmen and our juniors. And finals will take place starting on June 10th. Reach out to your teachers for more information on schedule and specific class requirements.
For athletics, spring sports are coming to an end, with senior nights, final games, and playoffs all happening in the past few weeks. West Baseball had a game against Bishop East this Saturday, and a playoff game versus Ocean City today. Signing day… signing date ceremony took place on May 21st for West… West athletes Committed to their colleges with families and friends coming in together to celebrate our seniors. West Softball won against Morristown in their strikeout cancer game on the 21st As well, in tennis, Brenn Ryder and Brian Reese won their Olympic Conference Tournament Championship With a 6-2, 6-2, victory over Seneca. West Golf participated in the Olympic Conference Tournament qualifiers with Liam
Fallon Lewis, and… Will Kahan earning the Olympic Conference National Division Second Team Honors. As well as, um, many TRAC students have qualified for state, uh, championships, which will be taking place Friday and Saturday. The Teen Arts Festival took place last Wednesday, with performances from jazz bands. West three a cappella groups. Uh, theater, acting classes, as well as showcases from our… from several of our art students.
Congrats to all of our students moving on to states next week. Thank you for sharing your immense talent with us. West Choir Concert took place on May 20th, and the instrumental concert is to take place this Thursday at 7 o'clock. Senior Solo Night for West Music is scheduled on June 4th, and West Band and Vocal groups will participate at Music in the Parks on Um, on June 7th at Six Flags. Chance Sans and Wes Singers participated in the ACDA competition at Rowan on May 19th with awards for Outstanding Performance in both groups and superior performance and sight singing for West Singers.
And lastly, at extracurriculars, a Memorial Day ceremony took place yesterday with our junior… our… Air Force Junior ROTC being included in the participation. Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't know there was a second page. National Honor Society hosted the Teacher Appreciation Breakfast during Teacher Appreciation Week to celebrate the commitment of our teachers and to express our gratitude For their immense dedication to the West community.
Career Day will take place June 2nd from 8.30 to 10.30 for the entire school to give West students the opportunity to seek out different careers and hear from professionals in their prospective fields. One acts play festival took place on May 17th. Congrats to everyone who won awards and participated, and a special congratulations to the senior class who won the festival. With their play, Modern Day Fairy Tale Epic Fails. Uh, finally, the senior class parent meeting took place on May 14th. West seniors participated in a senior movie night on the… at the stadium watching High School Musical 3 on May 19th, and seniors look forward to their senior sunset that will occur soon.
Along with this, senior prom took place on May 22nd at the Adventure Aquarium, where students had the best night and were able to watch the fish as they participated in their final high school dance. Commitment Day took place on May 1st, car decoration was held the night before, with seniors showing up with their college gear to celebrate their next steps. Seniors, make sure that you check your obligations and get your project graduation tickets soon as well. Field Day, originally scheduled for May 28th, was canceled due to inclement weather, but come out to support both West and East.
At our joint field day on May 31st. Is it okay if I say a little thing for ending Board of Ed? You can say whatever you want. Awesome! Okay, um, as my time on the Board of Education comes to a close, I wanted to say thank you. For the leadership that you've shown me, the lessons you've taught me, and the community you've helped me to become a part of. Whether it was during press conferences, strategic planning committees, late night meetings, or the quiet moments of support, like a knowing glance at 10pm, even when we're all exhausted. Every single experience has shaped me in ways that I'll carry forward.
It has been a deep honor to serve as the West representative on the Cherry Hill Board of Education, and I'm greatly grateful for Dr. Morton for trusting me with the leadership, even as a freshman And to Ms. Roscov for her steady guidance for teaching me what it truly means to show up, not just as a representative, but as a member of this community. To my friends and my family, thank you for giving me insight, encouragement, compassion that grounded me in this work, and in the fall, I'll be continuing my education at Dartmouth College, where I… Where I plan to major in government and minor in international relations. I hope to build on everything that I've learned here, carrying it with me as a foundation for future service and impact. Thank you, Cherry Hill.
Thank you, Rebecca. Jenna, do you want to say anything? You don't have to. I have nothing prepared. I'd like to speak on the spot, so… I'll leave it at that. That is fine. You can think about it. It's… it's a long night. So, you can, if you want… if you want to, you can say something at public comment later, um, but you don't have to. I mean, honestly, your service, both of you, speaks for itself. Really, really wonderful representatives of West, and just really proud of you both. And… can't wait to see you on graduation day. I'm gonna start crying already. Right, before I start crying, I'm gonna switch over to East.
And we can hear about what East has been up to. Yes, uh, the school year is rapidly coming to a close, but still is a lot… a lot is going on. Uh, for academics, AP testing was held at East from May 5th to May 16th. Cum laude society inductions took place on Wednesday, May 14th, and the top members of the junior and senior class in regards to academics were inducted. Congratulations to all inductees. The Mathematics National Honor Society inductions took place on Monday, May 19th Congratulations to all the new inductees.
Uh, NJSLA testing was held for freshmen and juniors from May 19 to May 22. Seal of biliteracy testing in various languages for juniors is taking place next week. The senior chord ceremony for the Science National Honor Society and Social Studies Honor Society is on Monday, June 9th. At 7pm, uh, Latin National Honor Society inductions are on June 11th, and Looking forward, final exams are from June 10 to June 13th, and makeup finals are from June 16th. To June 20th. In regards to activities, Eastman Company held a fun ice cream social on Thursday, May 15th.
East, uh, hosted a Model UN conference on Saturday, May 17th. Prom tickets were sold from May 5 to May 16th, and senior prom is being held this Thursday night from 6.30pm to 10.30pm, sorry, at the Crystal Tea Ballroom in Philadelphia. The theme is the Emerald City from The Wizard of Oz. East Field Day is being held this Friday, where students will take… have the opportunity to take part in a number of activities from the clubs at East and more. Many senior activities are coming up with Senior Sunset on June 2nd. The Senior Skating Party on June 4th.
And senior clapouts at the various elementary schools on June 17th. In regards to athletics, many senior athletes celebrated committing to continue their athletic career in college. With their family, coaches, and teammates on East Signing Day on Wednesday, May 21st. Congratulations to the student athletes. And the athletic playoffs for spring… for the spring sports season is currently undergoing. In regards to arts, the jazz bands and orchestra concert was on Thursday, May 1. Congratulations to all who participated. The Cherry Hill East Arts Department's art slash photo slash tech show took place on Tuesday, May 20th.
And featured the art students created in their various classes throughout the year. The showcase was open to students and staff during the school day and to the public at night. Pavas inductions, or the Art Society… Honor Society inductions, took place on Wednesday, May 20th at 7pm. Congratulations to all the talented artists. The Spring Choral Concert took place on Wednesday, May 21st, and featured all the singing groups at East. Looking forward, uh, Thespian society inductions are being held on June 5th. Senior Solo Night for East Music is on June 10th. And that is all, and um… I also don't have much prepared, I don't have anything prepared, actually, but I will say, um.
Thank you so much for this opportunity. Um, serving on here, I've learned so much just about how local governing bodies work, and Such an honor to represent your school to be chosen for that, and something I'll never forget, and I'll… Keep with me always, and I just admire this board's commitment to public service. I know it's not easy sitting here, I've seen how it's not easy, but you… are so very committed, and I appreciate… I appreciate that so much. It's something… I benefited from… being in this great district since second grade when I moved here, um, and like many families, my parents moved here because of how great this district was.
So, I'm so thankful, and also just to see The… also want to say that the audience citizens, um. Of Cherry Hill come to sit in the meetings every two weeks. I admire them so much, and they're so… Part of what makes, like, this democracy work, and I just really admire that, how they come and they speak in public comment, and they're covering This whole community, so I just really appreciate that, and I feel like I've learned a lot. And, um Yeah, I'll just keep it with me wherever I go, and uh… next year, I'll be attending Harvard, which I'm very… have before, and also, I want to speak for, um, Erilyn, because she's we met through this, like, we were… we're not close, but we became such close friends, and she's also amazing, and I know she appreciates this so much, and she's gonna be attending Princeton, so very happy for her as well.
Thank you so much. You represented Eastwell, both you and Aralyn. We were really blessed to have you here with us this year. Um, and I do think there is something wonderful that the four of you volunteered for this position, because public service is something that I think is a little bit out of style right now. Um, I went to college for political science. It's what I always wanted to do. And I see the value in it, and I hope you guys too, after sitting here for years, see the value in serving your community and making the world a better place to live.
Because that's what we're all trying to do up here. So, thank you, thank you, thank you so much, and best of luck in your endeavors in the future. Um, it's gonna be a long meeting, people, so if you have… things to do, problems to prepare for, homework to homework, finals to study for, I won't be offended. Um, if you want to stay, if you want to go. Um, because I will see you again on the stage at graduation. Just a few weeks, so thank you guys all so much. All right, we do have two presentations tonight. So our first presentation is on our preschool program, switching from seniors in high school to our smallest learners.
Um, and Dr. Mahan is going to provide an update to the board.
Good evening, everyone. And that's a tough act to follow behind the board reps, so please bear with me. I'll try to get through this as quickly as possible. So thank you for the opportunity to share information regarding the preschool program, as Mrs. Winter said, going from our graduating seniors to our youngest learners that we welcome into the district. So, tonight, we will explore the overall preschool program, highlighting some of our accomplishments. The supports for a smooth transition to kindergarten. And how we are promoting the program.
Then we will discuss the enrollment process. And lastly, we will jump into what the future holds. And end with opportunities for questions. So, just as a quick refresher to preschool expansion, here again is a snapshot of the requirements. As a reminder, for every preschool expansion presentation that I share. We are 18 months now into a 5-year expansion. And what we have been able to accomplish is something to be celebrated.
I give kudos to the entire preschool team as they continue to shine daily and make the program superior. For a moment, just think about… Where would a new business be in 18 months? A construction project with 5 years to completion what would the site look like after 18 months? Or consider an adjustment for a family in 15 to 18 months, what would that look like? So we approach the implementation of preschool with a humble spirit, reflective practices, and have asked for grace, civility, and understanding as we experience successes.
But also challenges. So some of our achievements. Overall, within a short time period, preschool expansion has been highly successful. We have happy, engaged, enthusiastic students who are ready to learn and have access to a high-quality curriculum daily. We use creative curriculum, and it is being implemented with fidelity across all locations to ensure that our students have access to a high-quality curriculum and preschool program. The personal growth the students have made is phenomenal. We highlight their developmental growth.
Everything from meal choices and the development of their food palate and willingness to try new foods. Success with toileting, their developmental… excuse me, they're developing social interactions and overall independence has flourished. We have also been able to provide staff. Teachers and educational assistants with professional development in several areas. To support the needs of all learners. The New Jersey Department of Education conducted a site visit, and some points of note included in the in the, um, feedback provided was evidence of consistency across the locations and evidence of teaching and learning through implementation of the curriculum with fidelity, which is a highlight.
Additionally, as part of the preschool expansion, we are required to be trained in the early childhood environmental rating scale, also known as ECERS. The preschool instructional coaches visited most, all but two, classrooms as of today, and giving a rating based on this scale, which gives us targets for success and targets for growth. And lastly, through preschool expansion, all programs locations, including the Malberg Early Childhood Center, must go through The Grow New Jersey Kids process. We have begun this and have set up all of the initial paperwork to begin.
While we celebrate our achievements, we still recognize that there is always room for improvement. So we will still continue to improve on communication and consistency across all locations. With a specific emphasis on how information is shared with parents. We also recognize the need for building a sense of community among the preschools. This is not possible without parental involvement. We know it's too short years at the preschool, and for some families, 1 year. But we need to find ways to better engage our families. So, shameless plug If anyone is interested in joining the PTA or becoming a member of the Executive Board, please contact us, because we want to start a strong foundation with our youngest learners.
And lastly, with the implementation of a new program, we are planning for something we have never, never experienced. So every day, we are learning something new. As we meet every day, we will learn and grow to make the program better. As we continue to build the program, we anticipate a strong articulation between preschool and kindergarten. To support this, we have… we will have the open house or sneak peek for preschool students.
Kindergarten orientation for rising K students. We have always offered this, however, this year, parents will see the curricular connections and how the preschool experience has better prepared students for K. Last year, Ms. Edwards and the preschool staff began transition meetings with the building principals and select staff. Which will continue this year. And Ms. Katzikas this year has begun a preschool series to educate staff members regarding preschool expectations, curricular components.
And the pyramid and Second Step. We look forward to building upon that in future years. As we reflect on our achievements. Areas of growth, manage enrollment, field parental and community questions, and support the transition to K, We are simultaneously promoting the preschool program. This includes preschool information nights for parents. Updates to the website, which include names and locations of each site.
Recently added are videos of each location highlighting the director and their program. And including parent testimonials. We will continue with the preschool open houses. And after last year, again, as we are learning, not scheduling these on the same day as the K open houses. We underestimated how many families have a preschool student and a K student. This summer, with the support of the Cherry Hill Education Foundation, we are planning a preschool roundup for all preschool families.
This event will include preschool staff and many local agencies and businesses. Planning for this event will begin shortly, but if you would like to participate, please reach out. We want to welcome our youngest learners and our families so that we can continue to build on parental involvement early. And lastly, responding to parent and community phone calls, emails. And quick check-ins while out and about in the community. We want to be responsive to the questions and concerns Of everyone.
So, preschool enrollment. We are continuing to build to excellence and have increased our enrollment over the past 18 months. So, in addition to our in-district Malberg Early Childhood Center. We also partner with 4 private provider locations. They are Cadence Academy, Discovery Corner Learning. Kindercare and Mosaic Early Learning This expansion would not be possible without the support and partnership of the private providers.
On the next few slides, I will share our enrollment numbers by location. You will also see enrollment numbers for preschool expansion and overall preschool, including our preschool disabled students in self-contained and inclusion. Okay, so I'm gonna go over the last few years. So, 23-24, which was our first year we implemented in January. We had 19 classes.
219 preschool expansion seats. But if you include the PSD seats, we had 285 total. Preschool expansion seats. And I just remind everyone, we had to convert our entire half-day program It's a full day, so these numbers may seem lower than what we have traditionally had, but this was the conversion year. The next slide shows the 24-25 school year, which is our current year.
We have, again, last year we had 3 locations. This year, we now have 5 locations. Cadence, Discovery Corner, KinderCare, Malberg, and Mosaic. We have 25 classrooms. This year for a total of 309 preschool expansion students. If we include the number of seats held for inclusion and preschool disabled students. Our number goes to 375 total. Preschool seats.
For $25.26. We will continue with the same 5 locations. And we increased the number of classrooms at Malburg. And we add Kilmer Elementary School as a new location. We will have a total of 41 classrooms next year. For a total of 501. Students. However, when you include the inclusion seats. That brings our number to 615. Please note that while the total number of seats includes inclusion seats and preschool expansion seats. It does not include students who are in self-contained classes at the preschool level.
So what is our plan for growth? As I mentioned, we have 5 years to move towards serving our entire universe of approximately 1,700 students. So for the 26-27 school year, we are projecting 25 additional classrooms. To bring us to a total of 66 total classes and approximately 893 students. For the 27-28 school year, an additional 27 classrooms, bringing us to 93 classrooms.
I remind everyone that these are projections, and we are working diligently to secure private provider locations. In October, we will need to submit our projections to the New Jersey Department of Education. The NJ DOE will notify us if our projections are accepted as proposed or accepted with modifications. So, the selection process. Preschool is very popular, and we recognize that most parents want their child to participate in the program.
However, I would be remiss if I did not highlight that we currently have more preschool Cubs than available seats. If we could provide 1,700 seats from day one of preschool expansion. We would have, but that is simply not our reality. I have been advocating since we started this for the, you know, Mahan Preschool, but, you know, it takes a lot to build a new building, so… We have to work with what we have, and we are trying to do that to place every single student so that they can have access to a high-quality preschool program.
So, we can… we continue to collaborate. And we continue to outreach to private providers to expand our program. So, this year, we had 578 applicants. And we currently have approximately 250 students on the waitlist. We have placed 325 students from the applicant pool Remember, there are 501 seats, however, there were 3-year-olds who were in the program who were… who retain their seat, they will now be in the program as a 4-year-old.
To date, though, we have been able to remove 70 students from the waitlist, so parents who had initially received a waitlist letter have already been notified that they have a seat in the program. And that is because of declined acceptance. Some families asked to be placed back to the bottom of the waitlist. Others have declined acceptance altogether. So for a variety of reasons, we have been able to move through 70 students, and we anticipate more. That's early for us. We had moved approximately 60 students total last year off the waitlist, so we're certainly ahead of the game.
So what does the future hold for preschool? So, preschool, similar to all of our Cubs not having a seat. Um, preschool has numerous parts to make the program come together. In a collective fashion, similar to a detailed puzzle, there are pieces that need to be filled in and questions that will remain unanswered. But I repeat again, we are 18 months into a 5-year expansion, and I'm sure in 5 years, we will be able to answer all of the questions and have refined our process.
So what does the future hold? We are excited for the opening of 16 new classrooms at Malberg and Kilmer School in January of 2026. Construction is going well. If you happen to drive by either location, you can see the progress being made. We are mindful of the political climate and its impact on federal and local funding, and how changes in funding may impact preschool expansion. We are also mindful of the uncertainty currently around Head Start programs.
We are aware of programs in other states that have been cut or drastically reduced. That has not become our reality, but it is on our radar. We are aware that while we are 18 months into a 5-year expansion. We will… that 5 years will be here before we know it. So, we are collaborating and educating New potential private provider partners to expand. Please know that if we do not have private providers, we will not be able to expand, as we do not have space in our current buildings.
And while we are still novice in preschool expansion. We are Cherry Hill. And others take notice of what we are doing. And they have seen the growth that we have been able to make over the past 18 months. And they are asking daily, what are we doing, and how are we making this work? So, under the leadership of Ms. Katsikis. A Camden County preschool group has been formed as an arm of the Camden County Curriculum Consortium, where preschool educators come together to share information.
And lastly, we are excited to offer the Preschool Academy for staff beginning in September to be sure everyone is ready to welcome the students who will begin in January of 2026. I'm sure there are other things that I have not highlighted here that are on the horizon. So the preschool team is continually adapting based on the preschool expansion expectations. Any questions? Thank you, Dr. Mahan, for the update.
Thank you. Do any board members have questions about preschool? Mr. Greenbaum. Thank you. Uh, no questions, just a couple brief comments. Thank you very much for this update on the preschool program. I've heard from many happy families who have had very positive experiences. I've also heard from a few who lamented not getting a slot. As Dr. Mahan said, preschool is very popular. I have quite a few neighbors who have preschool-aged kids, and they're all very excited.
Uh, except for the one who didn't get in, but the rest are very excited. Um, but I look forward to continued expansion of the program as we open new classrooms at Kilmer and Melberg, and continue seeking new partnerships with community providers. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Fain Could you explain, um, what you were saying, or what it means to, I guess, acceptance with modifications, I think is what you said? When we submit our enrollment projections in October? So, what that means is.
If I say I'm anticipating, so similar to this year for 25-26, we had anticipated opening 41 additional classrooms. When we submitted that in October, the state came back and said. Tell me exactly where all 41 classrooms are going to be. And I said, we are continuing to reach out to partners. Um, we've reached out to every private provider location in Cherry Hill. We don't even know if there's 41 eligible classrooms in the township, and they said.
How many classrooms are you building in district? I said 16. They said that's how many you are getting awarded for. So, this year, as we are approaching the… preparation for the 27-28 school year, which I have to submit in August, or in October, which is coming quickly. Um, we are telling private providers now, if they want to partner with us for 27-28, they have to commit by July. And that's a big ask, um, knowing of the, what does the future look like? Uncertainties with this, and people setting aside classrooms
A year out, and, you know, there is a business model to this as well, so… um, you know, the state comes back and looks at How are we making progress? So even with the 16 classrooms, not as aggressive as I would have wanted to be, it is still demonstrating progress towards Brexit 5 would have been going to be, a demonstration of progress towards me. Are… total universe. Um, our normal. Total universe. Test, test, test.
Test. Okay, so it's showing progress towards our total universe. So… Um, they basically… review every single application. We have colleagues, because we're like, does this happen? After speaking with other members who are active in preschool, they have also expressed to us that that has occurred. Thank you. You're welcome. Dr. Braddock. Thanks very much, Ms. Mahan. I always appreciate these updates. Um, a quick question that is perhaps a little self-serving. Uh, I was wondering, you mentioned that, um.
You're looking for parents to get involved Things like the PTA and other things like that. Can you talk a bit about other ways that parents in the community can get involved in these discussions, and Like, for example, with the PTA, I… Expect to have a daughter. Eligible for preschool soon. Could I join the PTA, for example, even though she's not involved yet? So… what ways can people get involved? So, there are a variety of ways for families to get involved. The main one would be through the Parent Teacher Association at Malburg.
We also have an early childhood advisory committee in which parents can ask to participate on to give their feedback. We typically look for families or parents who have either a background in a specified area. Um, that can contribute to the overall landscape of preschool education. Um, there are always opportunities at, uh, community events for parents to participate, and if parents call and say they have a certain gift that they would like to share. All of our preschools have done a wonderful job in inviting parents into the schools, whether that's to read a book, support with
Meal distribution or prep. Um, to see, uh… participate with an activity in the classroom. There are multiple opportunities for families to come into the schools. Great, thank you very much. You're welcome. Other board member questions. Ms. Gallagher. See, um, Dr. Mahan, you kind of mentioned this, but I just want to… So, um, you were saying that, like, when reaching out to private… private providers.
You're not even sure, like, what was… I don't… I don't remember how many rooms were needed, but, like, if the availability is even… within Cherry Hill, like… Um, our other districts finding the same problems? Yes. So, and many districts have started to partner with other districts, so we do not have that liberty because everyone knows that we need approximately 110 classrooms, so people are trying to you know, secure those rooms. Um, as quickly as possible, so I'll give you an example.
There is a local school district that surrounds a smaller school district. Um, or neighboring school district, they have partnered together and secured a location, and they are splitting the building Um, so that they would have adequate space. So, yes. I think I know what district you're talking about. And then, um… If there aren't private providers to partner with locally, and maybe even surrounding because other districts are looking to.
What's the next step? That's a great question, Ms. Gallagher. That is an on-the-horizon question, so as we continue to move forward. Um, I can tell you that over the last 6 months, the impact of preschool expansion in Cherry Hill and surrounding districts is having an impact on private provider locations. And they have started… those who have previously said they did not want to partner have started to reach out.
So we are taking advantage of those opportunities, and… really being public-facing and meeting with them face-to-face, answering all their questions, putting them in contact with other partners that we currently work with, and also giving them access to our preschool specialists so that we can really talk through with them any questions or concerns they may have. Great question. Just one last question. Go ahead. Um, I know… I don't remember when I read about this, but, um, like.
Obviously, the majority of private providers need waivers. Because of, uh, square footage and room requirements, like, space requirements. Um, and I think I read somewhere that the governor was considering aligning the preschool requirements with daycare provider requirements. Do you know where that stands? So, that is… well, I just want to go back just to correct, because I want to make sure that people understand that the waivers for toilet rooms or restrooms in the classrooms, as well as space, not only applies to in-district locations, but also to private providers.
And I believe every single classroom at Malburg currently also has a waiver for space requirements, so it's not just for our private providers, it's also for our in-district location. Um, that is on the table. However, that has not been approved yet, so we are still following the guidelines, um, the 950 square feet. With a waiver to 750 square feet. Thank you. You're welcome. Dr. Dreisen. Thank you, and I apologize for speaking.
Appreciate the presentation. I understand the complexities you noted of trying to get additional private providers to commit I think we were talking about 2027, 2028 now. With, you know, just uncertainty in general. Um, can you remind us Um, for our current private practice partners. How far out are we able to commit then? Do they extend out through 2027, 28, or are we able to… what runway do we have with our existing partners. Okay, so… All of our existing partners are on a one-year contract.
It is… so they are currently signing. I notify them. January, February, to say, hey. We're gearing up for next year, we're already starting to plan, and then the Department of Education sends me a sample or model contract that's used for preschool. I then share that out. That's actually due back to me. Next week, from all the providers, many have already returned it. Um, they've given commitment that they continue to partner with us. It is much easier for the private provider to break the contract with us than it is for us to break the contract with the private providers, so… We work very closely with them to ensure that we're all working in unison, that we're on the same page. We meet with the directors
Monthly, bi-monthly, um, and share all information, so… It's a shorter runway for the providers who are already in the program, but most of them are saying to me, we're still gonna have this funding, or we're still gonna be doing this? They're… they're more nervous with some of the uncertainties that I shared. Other board members? Ms. Sheffane? So I'm very confident that you're going to reach all of your goals.
So, but hypothetically speaking, if we ever get into a situation that's less than ideal. Are you aware of whether or not any of the funds that we've received, whether it's for… I'm assuming the preschool expansion funds don't apply, but any of the funding for the classrooms that we're building. Well, we have to pay any of that back? If they are not hypothetically speaking, not used for preschool classrooms in the future. So, thank you for the compliment. I will meet all of my goals, but one of the things that I always do is stay in my lane, and that is certainly a Lynn Sugars question, because I do not know Um, with the ROD grant.
That we've received have those funds work. So, Lynn, if you could help me out. That's a good question. You know, I don't… I don't believe there's… There's a caveat in there, because I believe the assumption is that if you applied for the grant, you're going to be using the classrooms for preschool. Um, I think if you found yourself in a situation where the where the aid didn't come through anymore. You know, how could they expect you to pay it back if you can't maintain the program because you don't have the funding that you need to maintain the program?
So I think it would probably depend on the situation. Um, but presumably, those funds were, um, granted to us under the… under the guise that, you know, we would be using them for preschool classrooms. Okay, thank you. Anybody else? Dr. Mahan, I just wanted to compliment you on the slide on Preschool to kindergarten articulation. And connection, I think back Seems like forever ago, but when we were on the kindergarten Curriculum Committee, when you were leading that, and I was a parent.
That was one of the things that I talked about, um… was making that connection more explicit between the previous preschool program and our kindergarteners, so it's really neat to see. And also having Second Step. In preschool now, when that's our K-5. And K-8 at this point, right? Second step. Social-emotional learning program. I just think it's so wonderful. I think that One of the challenges in the early years of preschool is that we kept thinking about it as a separate program. But I feel like now, 18 months in, it's really becoming… even more clear every day that our preschoolers are our students. They're fully part of the Cherry Hill Public Schools program.
There are cubs who are going to end up being East Cougars or West Lions someday. And I really just love watching those connections grow and become more explicit. Can you talk a little bit about any other connections that I'm missing? I think that maybe there were some high schoolers that had connections with our preschoolers, or other ways that the preschoolers are becoming more involved in the district, the wider district as a whole? So, some that quickly come to mind when we had the four classrooms here at the Lewis Administration Building.
The Beck Band came over, and the preschool students were able to participate in the school performance, which was a wonderful experience for them, the musical performance. Uh, we've had students from high school east and west go to all of our locations, sorry, to all of our locations during Read Across America Um, to engage with the students and, um, read books to them. Uh, we've had presentations at all of our preschool sites around swim safety.
And swim schools coming to make sure that we are preparing our youngest learners to be members of our avid swim team programs here in Cherry Hill, so it's, uh, really speaking to water safety at an early age. Uh, we recently had, at one of our locations. I cannot think of the name of the program off the top of my head, but basically, like, a… like a South Jersey food bank. Program come to the schools and talk about nutrition. Um, and healthy habits with our students. We're looking to expand that next year to all of our locations.
So, um, you know, anything that is happening at our K-5 buildings, we try to replicate down at the preschool level. Anything from parental involvement to having our high school students come down and support. God bless you, to come down and support our students, so… I love that. Lots going on. I love that. Thank you so much. Any other questions from board members about preschool? All right, thank you, Dr. Mahan, for everything. We really appreciate the update, and we're excited to see the continued expansion of the program.
We appreciate it. Thank you. So, moving on, we have another presentation. This one is Mr. Guy, and it is Restorative Practices Implementation.
Thank you, Mrs. Winters. So, myself and Dr. Birdie and a number of staff members, administrators, administrative interns came in January. To talk a little bit about the restorative practices training that took place at Barton Elementary School, Kilmer Elementary School. Rosa, Carusi, and Beck Middle Schools, and High School East. We promise that we would bring back data and talk a little bit about the impact of those practices just on those schools.
So, just a reminder that this work falls under goal number one as it relates to student wellness. And we're looking to proactively use preventative measures to build upon positive school climates. And the actions that we're working on really deal with equitable, restorative, and inclusivity for all students. Some things that are true and some things that are false about restorative practices. We touched a little bit upon this on… in January, but I wanted to make sure that we emphasized it again today.
That we seek to restore relationships between individuals. That's what restorative practices is really about at its core. Uh, we want to make sure that we're working on those social-emotional skills. You heard Dr. Mahan talk about early learning, SEL, and second step. Translates over quite well into K-8 second step, so those are things that we want to bolster with restorative practices. We also want to help develop, um, problem-solving skills and skills to work through conflict. Things that are not true about restorative practices, that they lack accountability in terms of the code of conduct.
The Code of Conduct is put into play in a restorative manner, but when behavior infraction has taken place, the code of conduct is applied, but it is applied in addition to a restorative practice. Restorative practices take too much time. No, that's not what we're necessarily… that's not what we're hearing at the K-12 level. Uh, we've repurposed the time, because you could never get more time. Um, but we've invested in different ways on how we use time between students to students and adults to students.
So that we can apply restorative practices. Restorative practices are a type of therapy. You know, they support social-emotional learning, and they help, um, with, uh, problem solving and. Skills that students need, that they will need as adults to solve conflict, but they are not therapeutic. So, as I said, the data was taken from six schools, and we really focused in on their training, which was on November 13th, 14th Um, and we took data from that time up until the end of April.
We honed in on behavioral fractions, infractions within our Genesis student management system. We did not disaggregate or break apart what types of behavior or infractions there were, because in 4 months. Uh, you just didn't have enough time to be able to use a before and an after. We want to do that, really, within a yearly space, so when we bring this information to you in the future, we'll be able to do 2024-2025, 2025, 2026. Um, we collected data from multi-tiered systems of support. A number of our Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions.
Have restorative practices linked to them, and we use something called qualitative data, so not a lot of metrics, but conversations and observations with students and staff. About the impact of restorative practices. So we put Barton and Kilmer together, and we came up with a collective average of 18% of behavior infractions as reported, uh, around this time, from the 2023-2024 school year. There were a lot of observations around problem solving applied in 4th and 5th grade specifically, as our elementary grades in those two schools employed restorative circles. I talked a little bit about MTSS, and there is something called a check-in, check-out system, which is actually a universal opportunity for all of our kids to get some preemptive interventions.
To restorative practices and are linked to, um, restorative practices. At the middle level, Beck Rosa and Carusi, we looked at a collective average of 33% of behavioral infractions reported in comparison to the 2023 2024 school year. What we noticed were positive conversations with staff after staff and student restorative conferences. One of the things that I talked about was false, that Um, some administrators and some staff members feel that restorative conferences take too long.
But when staff were trained around the restorative conferences and implemented them over time. They felt like both staff and students felt like the time was well spent. And, um, students were able to make different decisions after those restorative conferences, and they were able to, um, link relationships back to either the staff member or the student, or student to student. At high school east, 42% of behavior infractions reported in comparison that were down in comparison to the 23-24 school year.
You know, there were reflections from students and staff on the creative ways in which administrators and staff have found time for restorative conversations and restorative conferences. Mr. Davis talked with me about an opportunity that happens with our High School East students because they rotate through their advisors, if you will. So he found creative ways to make sure that advisors and students, if there was conflict, that they were able to connect with one another outside of the time that they normally spend, since they are kind of moving through advisors, and this cycle
Period. A lot of the restorative practices and conversations and conferences come from the pre-existing model. Uh, that we saw in December 19th, 2023, for those board members that were here. Um, great work by, um, our Student advocate Ashley Giles, and Dr. Morton, and the staff at High School West for leading the way on those types of restorative conversations and conferences. That High School East has benefited from, and that we will see when we expand our training to our 10 elementary schools, that they will benefit from as well.
So a lot of our successes were around staff embracing restorative practices in and outside of the classroom. We know a lot of conflict does happen outside of the classroom, and with the training model, with those six schools, we're able to put restorative conferencing and restorative conversations Outside of the classroom time, as well as inside. We know that we're working with New Jersey Tiered systems of support at the district level, and that every one of our 18 buildings is implementing and moving away from intervention and referral services.
To multi-tiered systems of support. So we've been able to link a lot of the Tier 1 supports Um, with restorative practices, and that's gonna be… that's… that's gonna be huge, because Tier 1 is access to all of our students, so if we can support within the Tier 1 framework using restorative practices. Um, behavioral changes for students, then we're gonna see less referrals to the more intensive Tier 2 work, and the even more intensive Tier 3 interventions.
Uh, we found that students involved in restorative conversations, restorative conferences, and restorative circles tend to not commit the same behavior on fraction again. Bam! That's what we want. Like, we do not want kids to be able to make the same mistake again. Now, they will make other mistakes, and that's fine, but we don't want them to be able to make that mistake again. So we feel like restorative conversations, restorative conferences, and restorative circles, um, really are finding a great deal of success in that manner. Some of the things that we observed at the elementary and the middle level Where peer mediation, and we don't do peer mediation in every circumstance, because
Um, it could come in conflict with our harassment, intimidation, and bullying policy, but where appropriate, formal reflection meetings, problem-solving conferences. Um, linked to the Second Step program, which was already mentioned at both the elementary and the middle level And staff are doing a lot of root cause analysis. Wes has led the way in that area with restorative practices and restorative conferencing, and EASE has come right alongside of them, both High School East and West have looked at Chronic absenteeism, um, and behavior dysregulation. Some of our students, if they are unhoused, for example, when we're looking at chronic absenteeism.
We could see behavioral dysregulation with them. We need to be able to understand that there are some other external factors that are involved here, and if we can find supports, link in with people like Siobhan Carter, uh, to be able to support us with McKinney-Vento Unhoused Families. We may be able to address some of those levels of dysregulation, um, find more, uh, or… put kids in better positions to deal with belonging, and then we reduce that chronic absenteeism when kids are here and in spaces at the high school level, both east and west.
Then we see less of a need to do restorative practices when they feel like they belong. So that's a lot of the root cause analysis we do. Why? You know, why is a student acting the way that they are. What is the root cause of that behavior? And that's happening at both of our high schools. So there are opportunities that always exist with all of the work that we do. Um, on the forefront. Of 2025, 2026, we're looking at training from the other 10 elementary schools. We'll be looking at High School West to help us with that, because they have undergone train-the-trainer models.
We'll talk a little bit more about how that is rolled out to the 10 elementary schools at some point in the future. And certainly, we need to be able to differentiate Tier 1 behavioral supports across K-12 spectrums and K-5 behavioral supports. Check in, check out may work very well, but it may not work as well at the middle level or the high school, or it may need to be morphed. And switch. Some of the things that we are going to be working on in the future is amplifying how we communicate the work of restorative practices to our families and MTSS and NJTSS.
We were already… Dr. Birdie, my colleague, is already working on an MTSS handbook that we'll have for families. And NJTSS calls for greater amplification of communication as it relates to restorative practices as potentially a intervention within our multi-tiered systems of support. Myself, uh, Kate Pereira, the admin intern at East, and now working with me at Stockton, and Mr. Finkel, High School East principal all had a chance on May the 16th to go to a statewide MTSS conference.
We had a chance to hear from Old Bridge, um, about how they are working on mental health supports and using restorative practices. They use them both hand-in-hand. So, um, Kate is working on how we can get to Old Bridge, and how we can Um, talk with them about the work that they're doing with both mental health and restorative practices. They've been doing this work Since 2012, we certainly want to collaborate and replicate that work in Cherry Hill Public Schools, um, in a way that works for Cherry Hill Public Schools.
That's the end of my presentation. Are there any questions? Thank you so much, Mr. Guy, and I just want to kick it off by saying how grateful I am for the work that you and the rest of the team are doing on this. I think When you talk about kids who are exhibiting unexpected behaviors. And what do we really want to do? We want to help them grow and understand why that unexpected behavior happened, and how to… not make that same mistake again, right? And we also want to understand the why, the root cause piece, and I think you brought those both out in your presentation.
And I think the proof is in what you presented here, in the number of disciplinary infractions that are down. Across all the levels, but I think extraordinary at high school East to see the change there. So I wanna… I just want to acknowledge both your work as well as the work that's going on over at High School East. Um, just being a parent there, it's been a sea change this year. And it's amazing to watch this work, and what it can do for our kids. So, opening it up to board members, Ms. Palmer. Dr. Grime, sorry, uh, first, thank you for… for the presentation. I think one of the things that… that sticks out to me the most is sort of the increase in that decrease, right, from elementary to middle to high school.
And I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about what those restorative conversations, conferences look like. At each level, how we make them age-appropriate, and sort of what the student involvement is. Um, you know, I'm wondering if it resonates with students as they get older, if they just… if it kind of clicks differently as they get older. Just walk me through what that looks like. Yeah, I think… thank you, Mr. Palmer, for the question. I think that they… they do look different. Restorative circles are really happening in the elementary level, and those are led by the elementary teacher. Uh, they can be I think what… when we think about restorative.
Practices and restorative circles at the elementary level, we've asked for teachers to start using curriculum with the circle, so that students get used to being in the circle, and then there are restorative questions, like. What happened? Why did you do that? Who did you harm? How can you make Um, how can you make amends with regards to Um, working through that relationship. And that conversation looks a little bit different at K2, maybe not using those words. And 3-5. We haven't seen as many restorative circles at the middle level, because content area spaces just don't necessarily lend for that. There is some experimentation with curriculum around that.
Those are restorative conferences that are being done by an administrator, a teacher. And a student, or more than one student, if there's peer mediation and we get parent permission, same type of questions. What happened? Who did what, how do you feel, how do we make this relationship? How do we reconnect? Can we reconnect? Is that realistic? If we can't reconnect, how do we respect one another? So, those are more restorative conversations that are done by each of the grade-level administrators, um, in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. There usually is a pre-conference with a staff member, um, especially if it were staff to student.
So that you can kind of have an understanding and get some prep with the staff member Uh, to be able to do those supports. 9 to 12 level at High School East, almost the exact same thing. Um, but that could be done by the student advocate, by the student assistance counselor by a school counselor, by a assistant principal, all of those folks could be involved in a restorative conversation. Um, or one of those people. Um, we… at the high school level, it's so much harder, uh, to try and get adults and students together, and… It's a little bit easier to get students and students together to work on those relationships, but trying to be creative on finding ways to put the adults together. There are pre-meetings.
Um, and they're asking the exact same questions that they were asking at the middle level. Um, where appropriate, to try and connect adults back to students. And to try and connect students back to students. I think in the 6 to 12 level, the conversations are so much more pivotal Because if you feel like your relationship is broken with that adult especially. It doesn't matter the curriculum you will bring, it doesn't matter how engaging your instruction is.
If that child feels like they don't have a relationship with you anymore. That is what needs to be repaired. So you always will hear Dr. Morton talk about restorative practices or about relationships. And especially at the 6 to 12 level, they really are about relationships. I hope I've answered your question. You did, thank you. Other board members? Looking at the quiet side of the table. No. Mr. Fame. Yes, I'm not quiet. Thank you. Um, so I have a couple. One, um, clarifying question.
You spoke a lot about MTSS. This… these practices are not exclusive to that population, correct? This is for anybody who needs these services. Yeah, multi-tiered systems of support, especially when we talk about Tier 1 and restorative practices are a part of Tier 1. That's for everybody within the school, so that's for everybody within all 18 of our schools. Okay, um, and then my other question were, is there any mechanisms in place to… you've… highlighted all of the success that you're having in each grade level. Is there any mechanism to ensure that whatever practices are found successful for those students, it's continuing on through their years when they move from elementary to middle to high school?
Yeah, it's a great question. That's why we chose two elementary schools, all three middle schools and one high school, because one high school had already been trained. We're looking to expand upon the successes that we've had Um, at the six schools that have gone through this training, uh, and expand that from an articulation standpoint. We're looking at, in the next 3 years, we hope that we will see, um, all of these practices within our MTSS Tier 1 perspective K-12 articulated in all of our spaces, because Wes is already leading the way in that way, so they don't need as much support.
But east, all the middle schools, and our, um, and Barton and Kilmer, and then our 10 elementary schools is going to take a little bit longer for them to come on board, because there are 10 of them. Uh, so I would say in 3 years, we're gonna see vertical articulation into, from our elementaries to our three middles. To our two comprehensive high schools. Awesome. I had one more question. Um, so most of this, the things that you discussed seem to be conversational. Is there any other restorative practices Um, whether just in general, or that we use that are not based on conversation.
Well, I think one of the things… probably not, because conversation is at the… root of relationship building and relationship repair. Um… And what we're really trying to do is we're trying to help students solve conflicts and problem-solve on their own. Um, so that they can get to some understandings around what repair looks like. Now, there are some more traditional pieces that people have said, you know, if you… Um, did some things in lunchroom, you go and… you, um, make restitution, uh, help the custodian clean, and all of those other things that we've heard, more traditional.
Ways to do that Those can be looked at as punitive, and restorative practices are moving away from those types of pieces and moving more to a restorative conversational model that you'll see within conferencing. Conversations and… and circles. So there are some spaces, not here in Cherry Hill Public Schools, where they are advocating, um, to make to repair in this way by fixing something that you broke.
And we can certainly explore that, but right now, we're working on conversations. Just to give you some context of why I asked that, I actually just watched a show on Netflix called quilters, and it's about the use of restorative practices in the justice system. And it is only 33 minutes, and it's 33 minutes of grown men that have done, obviously, unspeakable things compared to what our students are doing, but… Um, and through quilting, they're finding restorative practice… like, the restorative practices are working. So I'm just curious, in the populations that you struggle with having circles and finding
Successes that you do otherwise, if things like that would… maybe not necessarily quilting, but… but things that they could be doing to maybe that they find interest in that would help the conversational piece of it, if you're finding that there's certain areas that they struggle… like, certain populations of students that struggle with that piece. Um, but if you're… if it's more of the Person trying to start the conversation that's really the issue, like you were saying, the relationship, if it's already broken. Yes. Um, if that's where you're finding, I don't know, just a suggestion. I was thinking, I literally just watched it, like, 2 days ago, and I thought that this was… a very interesting correlation to what we are going to be discussing tonight, so… Yeah, I'll put… I'll put it on my watch list. You should. Um, I think…
You know, when we're talking about broken relationships at 6 to 12 with adults and students, I do think they're, to your point, there could be other things outside of conversations that, um… staff members will have. I know that as a former staff member, if I had a broken relationship with a student, then I knew that student liked to play basketball, I would find a way To engage them within the basketball, um, and have some sort of connection there, and that could be a connecting point. But I think that activity still would go awry if I come back to the classroom and treat them disrespectfully, and I'm not engaging with them in conversation.
That's the root of how kids feel in terms of that engagement, and that's gonna happen through that conversation. So I can certainly bring an activity alongside of it to kind of reinforce, but if I go back and negate that activity that I just brought to help reinforce. With some inappropriate microaggressions, or things that I think I'm joking about with the student, but the student's not taking it that way. I've just put everything that I've done with that activity in disrepair. And I have to go back and try and find a way to repair that and build trust again. I might not get that second chance with a 6-12 student.
So that's why I think we're… we certainly want activities to come alongside, but we want the root of the conversations, the conferencing, the circles at the K-5 level. To be a space to provide that repair and relationship, especially with adults and students. Understood, thank you. Dr. Braddock? Very, very quickly, first of all, thank you for the presentation. I love seeing the data, and naturally, I have a question about data. Um, I love that you're comparing to Old Bridge, and we're looking at other districts where we're going to be learning from.
Um, how do our numbers, given that it's a fledgling program, how do we compare to other places like Old Bridge? You might have access to their numbers. But do you have an impression as to, uh, whether we're doing things similarly to them? Not counting the mental health element. I guess, in short, what do you expect when we start… when we start implementing some of these things at other districts implement as well? Yeah, uh, thank you, Dr. Braddock, I appreciate that, and the numbers work for you, because you wanted the numbers after January. Uh, so… Um, in terms of Old Bridge and what they're doing with, you know, mental health supports and restorative practices, they're only doing it in 6 to 12. They have been doing it since 2012, so that's a space that we are going to look at. I think that we're right on target.
With a lot of the work with conferencing circles, engagement, training, um… They are bringing in a lot of their school counselors, they're finding different ways to free them up in certain areas. Those are aspirational for us, that we can begin to look at with our school counselors and with our student assistant counselors. At 6 to 12, but I think that we're right in the same space. Old Bridge is not the same size as we are, so a lot of what we're going to… when we visit. Some things we can replicate to scale, others we cannot, but I would say that in listening to their presentation.
Um, I think that we're… we're on the right path. And I can say, like, real quickly, I ran an odds ratio of the implementation here, and there's significant differences, so… just statistically speaking, the numbers are impressive in and of themselves. But, um, if you're looking at it from, like, a social scientific perspective, those numbers show that what you're doing is working, so thank you. Thank you, Dr. Ryan. Mr. Greenbaum. Thank you. Again, I don't have any questions, just a few comments. This is one of my favorite topics, because we always see such a direct quantifiable impact, and I appreciate the updated presentation with supporting data.
Um, you know, I'm not surprised to see comparable results to what we saw at High School West in the December 23 presentation. Internally, I had asked for a similar breakdown in different categories, and you know, I was not disappointed in, you know, just seeing significant reductions in every category. Um, you know, it's really great to see these positive trends continue as these practices are expanded, and I look forward to continued expansion, and… Uh, you know, seeing the positive trends in school climate, so thank you again.
Thank you, Mr. Rimo. Other board members… So I have a question. We've… done a few things on the board that I think are adjacent to the work that you're doing. I'm thinking about the implementation of Second Step, I'm thinking about… The cell phone policy, which I know correlation is not causation. But I have to think it had an impact on some of the behavioral trends we're seeing. Are there other things that we can do as a board to support the work that you're doing to increase positive impacts for our students?
Yeah, I talked about future work in amplifying communication, um… Many of you are parents, and when we share information from the New Jersey Tiered systems of support, where we share the handbook. Can amplify that information. There are a lot of misunderstandings. We're going to be moving from intervention and referral services to multi-tiered systems of support. The main rationale for that is intervention and referral services is a singular referral system, multi-tiered systems of support.
Focuses in on every student. Uh, so amplification of that work. Uh, I think it's gonna be critical. To, um, understanding, and then quelling misunderstanding of what it is that we are trying to do in supporting students, and how restorative practices are linked to multi-tiered systems of support. Perfect, thank you so much. And we've been talking internally in the board about our role with communication.
Um, between the district and the community, so that fits right in our wheelhouse of the things that we're working on as goals for ourselves for the future, is increasing that function of the board. So anything we can do to help you, we'd be happy to. Thank you, Mrs. Winters. Any other board members? All right, thank you so much, Mr. Guy, it's always a pleasure. Amazing work. And next we have administrative reports, and Dr. Morton is going to give us an update on strategic plan process and timeline.
Yes, thank you so much, Ms. Winters, again. So. Um, so behind me, right over my right shoulder here, we have our strategic planning timeline. Uh, that we followed this year. Um, you know, as I've said, uh, quite a few times, it was the… it was our goal and intention to ensure that this process involved the collective voices. Of, uh, good, good majority of our community. And we did just that. Uh, we began the process in August 2025. Uh, with the Strategic Diagnostic Survey for administrators and with the Board of Education. We then shifted to, um, community engagement survey.
We had about 3,500 people participate in that survey. Uh, we also concurrently ran community discussions around Portrait of a Graduate We heard from over 5,000 people, uh, 500 people, I'm sorry, within the community. Uh, and on that regard. As well. Uh, we had 3 stakeholders workshop meetings, where, um. The core values, mission, vision, were formulated along with The draft, uh, priorities.
And proposal as well. Thank you, Dr. Mann. Uh, we also had focus group meetings that, uh, occurred where we had about two dozen people participate. And those focus group meetings, also. Uh, so we submitted the first draft of the strategic plan itself to the board. Uh, if anyone had an opportunity to participate in our, uh, board committee meetings earlier in the month, you would have heard discussion Uh, and feedback sessions around, uh, that… that draft. Uh, we then… took that information, uh, incorporated it into the draft, revised it, and presented a second
Draft, uh, last week, last Tuesday, I believe. Um, and now that… that brings us to… to… to today, in terms of where we are. I know the timeline includes the strategic plan final draft of the strategic plan. At the June 10th meeting being up for, uh, for board approval. I'm not sure if there's any additional feedback. That has arisen from that second draft, but just to go through a timeline and present it and put it out there, um… We are right on pace with where we need to be, and where we plan to be, so things are going well.
Thank you, Dr. Morin. So. We have this meeting and this discussion space, and then the goal is to move to a vote on the final draft at the following meeting, which is June 10th, and Dr. Morton, I believe that The iteration of it, the final iteration, needs to go back to the community as well, prior to our taking a vote. Can you just describe that process a little bit? Correct, correct. So once we have, um… Once I have a general understanding of, uh, the board's uh, comfortability with what we have.
We'll then take that plan, bring it back to Hanover, they'll convert it. Hanover Research, our firm that's working with us, but they'll convert it into… table-based format. We'll also take it back out to this community groups that work with us to help to create the plan as well. So we'll vet it through, uh, vet it through these groups as well. So that… that's an interesting piece, because some of the feedback that I received were… concerns about the formatting of the document that we were reviewing, but that's not the final format that it will be in. It's going to be reformatted, and…
Checked for… like, structural consistency and all that prior. Okay. So what I would like to do, if everybody's amenable, is I would like to break this next discussion that we have into two chunks. So I'd like to have a discussion regarding Priorities 1 through 5 that were discussed in our committee, so we all had an opportunity to review The draft that came back to us with the marked-up version, I'd like to give credit to Mr. Greenbaum, who showed me how to view the marked-up version, because I couldn't figure out how to do it. Thank you, Adam, for always being my co-pilot.
Um, but we had a chance, and I asked everybody to look at… you had access to all five priorities, but you especially focused on the ones That went through the committees that you sat on. For consistency with what the consensus of the committee was. So I'd like to have a discussion now for maybe the next… I'm gonna try for 10 to 15 minutes about just that, so if anybody has any feedback on priorities 1 through 5, if we could start there. Ms. Gallagher. Actually, I have a question on what Dr. Martin was just talking about with the timeline. Sure, definitely. Um, can you explain again how… taking the strategic plan back to the community group.
So, we'll vote on it, and then it goes back to the community group, or the… it goes to the community group first, and then would… then we would vote on it. Yeah, so once the… once the board is comfortable with the final… with this draft plan, the recommendation from Hanover is that we go back to the community groups. That have participated in the process of helping to write the plan, so to speak, uh, that we've vetted through those groups. For coherence, consistency. Uh, cooperation, things along those lines, so it's not a brand new plan that we just throw at everyone, and they don't have an opportunity to see it prior to… its distribution and its official launch. So ideally, if we're voting on it on June 10th, when would they… like, what's the… what's the date you're hoping to get it to them?
In the next two weeks, I hope to bring it to people, let them get a look at it. Okay, perfect, thank you. Ms. Gallagher, that's why I have my hair on fire just a little bit, because I feel like… We need to really work mindfully about coming to a… consensus of the majority If not tonight, then within the next day or two, that way it has time to go to Hanover, be put in its final form. Sent out to community groups, that way it's not like we vote on it and poof, here's a new plan that they haven't seen before.
So we're sort of… I just want to be mindful of that timeline as we, you know, seek to give our final feedback. Mr. Fain? So, um, are we anticip… I mean, obviously, we're gonna deliver a product that we assume they are going to be content with, but what happens in the event that they have feedback? Yeah, at this point, you know, the recommendation is not that we make major overhauls. There'll be short, minor tweaks, uh, if necessary, but nothing major, and that's a recommendation that comes from Hanover.
And also recall that these individuals were engaged in the initial development of the first draft that came forward, so there's… Yeah. Shouldn't be… too far of a deviation from where we were at the beginning of the process. Dr. Dreisen. I can try to follow instructions and jump in, if that's okay? Yeah, is every… is everybody… before we do that, is everybody okay with… process, like, where we are in the process, what's happening at this point.
We're trying to move towards finding the consensus of the majority. That way, it can go to its final phase. Yes? Alright, then Dr. Dreizen, kick us off. Sure, so I'm on CNI, and we had an opportunity to focus on priority number one, academic achievement and outcomes. And my question on the second feedback just had to do with, actually, the focus of tonight, preschool. Um, in our CNI meeting, we didn't discuss removing the P. In the Ames, and I was just curious why we're removing reference to preschool and focusing on K-12 versus Pre-K through 12?
Because otherwise, there's no reference to preschool in the strategic plan. There actually were some comments in some of the committees about the relevance of, uh, how things apply. Specifically to, um, the various levels. So that was intentional. That was intentional. Yeah, we did, we did pull… preschool out of that because of, you know, the, um, specificity of some of the things that are focused on at that particular level. And so, are there other opportunities to reference preschool in the strategic plan? I didn't see it right now in priorities 1 through 5.
Or it's a good idea not to reference preschool and the strategic plan. I think we… I thought, from what I recall, I think there's, um… We had reference, uh, preschool with specific, um. Indication on enrollment, and on their enrollment growth of their program. But that was part of, uh… no, it's part of our annual goings that we had done. Right. Yeah, I mean, that's my thinking. I would suggest that we follow a similar format, just because of the… Um… lack of predictability as we move forward. You know, preschool program itself, I'm not sure… Dr. May had, you know, articulated it enough, but this was Governor Murphy's
Understood. Vision. So as we have a new governor come in. It will be very important for us to understand what that individual's vision is. If we commit to something in our… uh, 5-year plan. That's contingent on, you know. An election and someone's vision, it may put us in a tough spot. This is actually, uh, Ms. Palmer's. Conversation, I think, at one of the meetings that we were… we were at. One of the committee members, they're all… They're all blending together. They are all blending together. I think we talked about it.
We focused, I think, more on special education than preschool. But I agree with you, I think with the uncertainty. Right. At the gubernatorial level. I guess just from a… naive perspective, perhaps, but I think a strategic plan is a visionary document. And if it is something that… that's important to us. Um, the other thing, whether for Priority 1 or not, coincidentally, I don't see a reference to restorative practices. Um, anywhere in the strategic plan right now as well. So what I tried to take a light of, like, what might be missing.
For us to make sure we get in, um. Just to, you know, round out the plan. So, I actually had the internal conversation with myself about preschool today as well. Um, because I… one of the things that… I… I noticed, so I reviewed 1 through 5, but I focused on the meetings that I sat in, which were… priority one academic achievement. I was in special education and HR. Um. I think the board actually did a really good job of identifying some of the big missing pieces that weren't there before and are now present. So, like, I saw elementary redistricting.
Bond projects, LMC, Um… Special education, now articulated both in its own section as well as infused throughout the document, and so I had the same internal struggle about preschool that you did. And I sort of came to the same conclusion as Dr. Morton, which is that I think it fits better in our annual goals, which are something that… get refreshed every year, because we simply don't know what's gonna happen with Head Start, we don't know what's gonna happen with the gubernatorial, and…
You know, I think since… because the annual goals are more, um… I want to want to say fluid, but we update them every year, so that as circumstances change, we can be responsive to that Whereas I feel like this document is more set for the next 5 years, and like you said, aspirational. So that's sort of where I landed on it, not that that's determinative, I'm speaking as one of five, one of nine, rather, but, like, that was… that was where I landed with preschool. And I would think restorative practices I mean, Mr. Fain and I had this conversation a little bit earlier today about, like, we can't call everything out in the strategic plan, otherwise it's going to be 500 pages long.
So I would say that that sort of would fit in with the MTSS piece, and once we, um, develop goals based on that priority, then we can articulate restorative practices as something kind of falling out of that category, if that makes sense. I agree. I think, ideally, our annual goals, though, will flow from and tie into something in the strategic plan. And so, I agree on the restorative practices piece. Um, and I guess perhaps on the… Might just be a bit of a stretch. I don't know how we'll connect preschool, but um… just something to think about. I didn't recall discussing that in our CNI meeting.
Mr. Fain. I would say just expanding on that, that I think given that, and I hear that… that side of it, I think it's important that we do not forget this conversation when we're developing our goals for the district, and that it is intentionally included. Because it is a massive… project that were underway that affects not only so many priorities, but, like, pretty much every aspect. Budget. Education, all of the things that we do here. So I think that if it's not going to be included in the strategic plan because of the uncertainty of the future of funding. I think that it's important that we are making sure that it's included in our goals.
Annually, given that as of today, we expect funding. Tomorrow. I expect all the funding. I think that's gonna be… I'm looking at Mr. Mayor now, because he and I are the fledgling preschool committee. So, I think, Mr. Mayor, as you're taking good notes over there, the preschool committee is going to be tasked with… I'm assigning us the task of remembering to incorporate this conversation when we think about preschool goals. Consider it done. Thank you, my partner.
Ms. Palmer. And I do, since one of the… one of the priorities that my committees looked at was Priority 3, and the MTSS goals and special education goals. We do reference, just briefly, pre-K in the context of looking at, um, quality and effectiveness of interventions. Yeah, yeah, so it is, it is in their… it's… it's woven throughout, even if it's not specifically called out. But that's… that's a good point.
So how should we do this? Should we… that's priority one. Does anybody else have any other… deep thoughts on Priority 1? Should we go… That way we're not bouncing around. Mr. Fain. Yeah, so a lot of my feedback on Priority One is probably stuff I should just put in an email, and it's my… maybe just changes that can be done mostly to… structure, so I will not… um, get into that too much. I do have a question about some of… Um, the KPIs that are related to professional development. Um, what is the annual requirement for teachers and professional development? Like, how many professional development hours do they have to have every year? Just generally speaking, because I feel like I don't even know who my question is directed to. I'm just directing a question.
Just to better understand if this is… So, contractually, teachers have to have… they participate in 7 in-service days? Throughout the school year, and then they have to do part of those seven are six. Flex option hours, so there's one day that is an in-service day identified, but it is flex option time. And then if you are a new hire. Depending on the year of sur… years of service that you have, you may need to complete new staff orientation, which is 4 days.
And anywhere between 18 to 24 additional professional development hours. Okay, thank you. That was very, very helpful. Um… Let me just make sure that I… I think most of… And that's current, with the new contract, it is down to 12 hours. Okay. Thank you, Diane. You're welcome. Um… Okay, yeah, I do… my… I did have a preschool question, too, which was… Good, I just want to make sure… Um… I guess most of the other stuff is minor things… Miss Gallagher.
I guess the two questions I have are kind of, like, overarching. Overarching? Um… So I can just ask, because they kind of apply to every… all the priorities on some level. And so, um, like. My first question is, like, when this… is in final stages. Um. You know, a lot of, um… a lot of percentages are used, 5% increase, 10% increase, blah, blah, 85%.
Are we gonna be able to, like. Instead of saying a fi… like, well, we actually have the baseline data to reflect and then show what the 5%, uh, or the 10%, or whatever the increase is, or decrease, depending. Um, what the final success is, quote-unquote, right? So, as… me, anybody looking at the document can say, okay. This number is what… how we define success. Right? And then secondly, a lot of data collection is discussed.
And I don't know what the right term is in education. In business, we call it, like, ERPs, like, any sort of, like. Um, you know, software that we use to, like, to collect data, and… Do we have systems in place that Um, like, I… like, do we currently have IT systems that will collect the data that we need, or are we going to have to make IT investment to meet these goals? Yeah, so we will… we will actually track the, uh, percentages and a percentages… percentage increase… increases. Uh, there is, uh, myriad data that's collected currently.
You may not just be aware of that, but there… but there's tons of different forms of data that teachers maintain. And collect, uh, part of the purchase of the, uh, data dashboard last year was to create uh, repository that's a central repository where we could house data. And it's easily, uh, interpreted. Easily displayed through, you know, visual displays. So the thinking at this present time is that we'd be able to use that platform Uh, which we've put publicly on our website. We use that to display and share.
Progress and updates. That was… those were my questions. Thank you. Quickly, Renee, priority one, and then we'll move on. Listen, this is not a quick process, but I will be quick. I do have a question. Um, my… this is my only priority one question. In Goal A, we're discussing, um, state assessments, and then in… so for Aim 1, Goal A, and Goal B. Goal B, we're talking about school performance reports, and I remember our discussion of benchmarks versus state assessments. So when we're talking about school performance reports, is that more of the bench Mark.
No, so the way it differs, so AIM, the first AIM focuses, uh, on mathematics, the second one is English language arts, the other one is science. We tried to align those with the standardized tests that children in grades 3 through uptake. Every year. First goal focuses on the aggregate student population. Everybody's moving forward. The second goal is more specific to individual demographic groups. So the demographic groups, uh, are reflected on school performance reports, and on the school performance reports, there are targets that… that demographic group is expected to reach.
Based upon, you know, the performance of the overall group and the norming of And thanks. Okay, because the reason why I'm asking that question is because the KPIs throughout both AIM 1 and 2 are discussing the bench, the district benchmarks. So, is it… The understanding that if you're reaching those, it will be consistent that you're meeting the targets and state assessments. Yeah, so the benchmarks are an indicator of success, so… If I want the… player in basketball game to perform well in the game, I would… I would, um… create a benchmark. If I want you to make a certain number of free throws, you have to make 8 out of 10 every practice. If you can shoot 80%,
My hope is that in the game, that she… be relatively close, but it's an indicator practice would be an indicator of what one may do in the actual performance. Or the game itself. So the benchmark provides this opportunity for us to ascertain where the students are. What their needs are, so that… We have a somewhat reliable indicator of how they might perform on the actual standardized assessment itself. Okay, thank you. Mr. Greenbaum.
Thank you. Uh, just two quick items. One, I was very happy to see, uh, inclusion of special education in more of the goals. Um, it's something that we always prioritize, but as we said in some of the other Uh, when discussing some of the other priorities, explicitly mentioning it communicates it to… you know, to the public that it is… that it's a priority for us. Um, and I also wanted to mention about the preschool. I certainly concur with Dr. Dresden's comments about not seeing it… explicitly mentioned as far as enrollment, and I had some of the same conversations. I… I was on the fence about it, but…
Um, seeing that pre-K is included in a lot of the… the goals and metrics, um, you know, as long as it makes it into district goals, I'm happy. But, you know, I certainly do want to see us continue to expand and reach our full universe, so I did want to share that. I shared the same concern. All right. Priority 2. Anybody have any feedback on Priority 2? Mr. Mayor? Yeah, I'll just be brief on this, um, and, um, thanks… Thank you, Mr. Greenbaum. In the discussion that we had, um, when I sat in.
Um, on the committee, uh, I thought went well. Um, you know, there are still… there's still… and they, uh. It's a little bit dense, but… Um, I am… comforted in seeing that a lot of what I see and read through again. Reflects many of the practices that the district has already engaged in and has been engaged in, but Similar to calling out pre-K or calling out Um, especially ed as a priority.
Because it hasn't been called out previously, it sometimes looks… because it's a given, as though we're not doing it, and in fact, we already have been for Uh, for quite a while, so I think it's important to document that, and this… this strategic plan and the language for operational excellence on the second priority does that. Um, I was also… pleased to see in this iteration that a lot of the percentage benchmarks, which were originally there. Um, aren't there simply because there were too many factors that were outside of district control.
That, that clearly I was concerned about. Um, and so I'm glad that, um. That they're no longer there, though. A little surprised that the one the one-figure, percentage figure that remains is on the clean artists, and in fact, we've always done better. Than 90%, or at least we're normally better than 90%. Um, so we should be able to hit that. I thought that number could be a little bit higher. But overall, um. You know, I don't have any specific suggestions for changes or revisions.
Um, you know, I'm thankful that… A lot of the comments that we… that we made in our discussion, um… have made it into this, uh, this iteration. Thank you. It's Palmer. Uh, so I do… I think the revised Priority 2 pretty accurately reflects the conversations that we had within BNF. I know there was a lot of conversation. Um, I appreciate, to Mr. Mayor's point, that we're no longer… initially, we were calling for just a flat reduction in spending.
I like that we've revised it to focus on more… Um, effectively using the resources that we have, rather than just cutting. Again. Because so much of that is out of our control, and aligning fiscal responsibility, specifically with supporting student success and investing Where we need to invest to grow, to be better for the future. To give our students what they need. So… Nicely done on the revision on this. I'm very happy. Ms. Gallagher? I agree that a lot of the additions are… actually, all of the additions are what we talked about in BNF. I'm just gonna go back to one of my comments, and I have this comment kind of throughout a lot of, um…
Not necessarily priority one. I think the KPIs are… are measurable. Um, in priority two, many of the language in the KPI section and in other priorities as well. Does not read to me as measurable, necessarily. Like, some are, some aren't, so… I brought it up at the meeting, I brought this up in years past for goals. Um, it's just something that I see, and… you know, I'm not saying that what the KPI language is saying is what we shouldn't do, it's just…
You know. It doesn't strike me as something that we can measure in any sense to really see that we've made progress towards something. In a way that's meaningful. That's my only comment. Thank you. Mr. Greenbaum. I just wanted to call out, uh, two significant additions that came as a result of Uh, board discussion, and everybody coming to a consensus on several items, including these.
One had to do with bond projects, responsible oversight, transparent communication around it, and successful completion. Um, it's something that, again, we're already doing, we're going to continue doing, but you know, when we have almost $400 million of taxpayer money that we need to spend responsibly. Um, including it as part of our strategic plan, I think, is pretty important and pretty significant. Um. The other item that we saw in there are specific goals around elementary redistricting.
Um, including specific timelines, doing so with fiscal responsibility, and community engagement throughout the process. That's something that needed to fit in there somewhere, and is going to be, uh. A significant challenge and opportunity. In upcoming years, and seeing specific goals around that, I think, was very good as well. Dr. Jason. Thank you. I was actually going to comment similarly to Mr. Greenbaum. I just wanted to express gratitude, um, in, um. In priority number two, specifically around that… the reference to the bond construction projects. I think the language isn't as explicit as I would have desired, but my understanding is that this also, um.
Encapsulates improvements to physical infrastructure and safety. So, for example, vestibules. Um, we're committing to having that done with a timeframe in mind. So, I think that's an improvement relative to the first draft. Thank you, and I think, like a lot of things. You know, again, Mr. Finn and I had a conversation today about the struggle between, you know, what belongs to strategic plan, what belongs in annual goals, and I… I mean, to… what I want to say, what I said to Mr. Fano, what I want to articulate is that we've never done a process like this before.
Um, either the administration or the board. So, I think, you know, a lot of these pieces are gonna be… fleshed out, and we'll have NJSBA's help to… to take this strategic plan and then generate our annual goals, and I'm hoping that that process Um, has really improved this year, and really speaks to the things that we… we think are important for next year and then beyond. So, and I, I mean, I was not on BNF, but I was really excited to see the changes you guys made. I think it really made this one strategic much stronger, um, articulating the bond and the redistricting pieces.
So, anybody else on Priority 2? All right, we're rolling along, guys. Parody number 3, aligning student support. Any comments on this one? Dr. Braddock? Yeah, very quickly, maybe just maybe a point of clarification, but I noticed the KPIs… associated with… Priority 3. A lot of them just say, kind of, the activities they're going to be taken to, or the steps they're going to be taken to
Gather the data, determine whether or not we're beating performance, and on some of the others, it's a bit more specific in terms of what we're aiming for. I mean, that might be appropriate for Priority 3 relative to the others, but I guess wanted to call it out in case I missed something. Um, and to streamline, I'm not gonna… I'm just jumping ahead for the sake of Consolidating. Um, and Priority 4, which, which, um, I was focusing on specifically. Some of the KPIs have a bit of, um… more abstract language relative to exact numbers. Like, we'll have at least 3 meetings, or we'll have at least this many meetings with the community. And I'm not saying that's wrong, but I'd be curious to know
What determines how many more meetings than 3 we'd be having? Are they decided on an ad hoc basis? Or anything like that? So, I guess just generally with Priorities 3 and 4, it's more about specificity around the KPIs. Thank you, Dr. Braddock, when you're looking at Priority 3, can you just… were you thinking more about the… the first piece of it, which has to do with MTSS, or are you thinking more about the piece that was newly added, or just in general, throughout the priority. Newly added. The newly added piece, okay. I hope I'm looking at the right document, but… I'm reading newly added KPI 1, track the percentage of educators and staff trained on best inclusion practices annually, for example.
Whereas in some of the other priorities, it would say. 90% of educators and staff should be trained on inclusion practices annually. So, whereas the other KPIs and some of the other priorities mention specific benchmarks. These seem to mention the activities to be undertaken. And again, I'm not saying that's wrong. It could be… Absolutely appropriate for a performance indicator to be, yes, we did this thing. I just want to make sure that we're consistent in the way that we're measuring success. Thank you. That kind of dovetails with Ms. Gallagher's comment before.
Anybody else on Priority 3? Ms. Palmer. I do just want to call out, um… I think the board as a whole… expressed a lot of concern with the initial draft that… that we felt like special education was a big missing piece. And it's really… it's become now really central to this Priority 3. So. I appreciate the work, especially that, um, Ms. Mallory put into creating, um, and updating this draft.
I think it's a much stronger document that speaks to the needs of a much broader, um… segment of our community, so… I agree. I remember in an early discussion with Dr. Morton. And I… he was asking me about the consensus of the board, how do we find the consensus of the board? It was the point where we had all given our individual feedback. Um, and I said, well, I read through all of it, and I think we can definitely say that the consensus of, I think, all nine members was that we needed to articulate a vision for special education. That's been done here. So thank you to you, to Ms. Mallory, and to the team.
Um, because that really should… I think it really strengthens the plan. So we appreciate it. All right, priority 4, climate and family engagement. Mr. Greenbaum. Sure, I'll keep this brief as well, but there were… there were two common themes here as far as things that needed to be added or enhanced. One was inclusion of goals related to LMC, the Labor Management Collaborative. It was briefly alluded to, but it's something that… Um, our district has become a leader in. We've really… reap the benefits of enhancing the relationships between the board, the administration, our staff.
Um, and it's really great to see some… some more robust goals related to the LMC. Um, the other thing was goals around enhancing community engagement. This was a common theme on almost every topic is how do we engage new people, more people, how do we find new methods of engagement? Um, and it's good to see, uh, much more detailed goals and strategies and actions around enhancing community engagement in many different ways.
Thank you. Dr. Braddock. Building off what Mr. Greenbaum just said, I'm very excited about the community feedback forms that we have presented here. Something that I would recommend we do. Um, kind of combine the two things that are my favorite things in priority for the community engagement and celebratory… or celebrating the achievements. Um, I would say that when we do. Actually achieve these milestones when we do it in conjunction with the community, to the degree we can, that we call out those community members that contribute to it, because We don't do anything without the community if we can help it moving forward.
So I want to make sure that they get their… their hat tip as well, when the time comes. Thank you. Anybody else? I'm priority for? I think this, for a lot of us who ran for board. I guess back in 22, 23, I feel like this was the whole entire conversation. I'm looking at Mr. Greenbaum and Ms. Gallagher. Um, and Mr. Mayor, when we ran. This… this was something that we really wanted to see articulated, and it's really neat to see that it's here in this form now, and the vision forward for the next 5 years.
Um, and thank you to… Ms. Roscoff, Ms. Barati. And everybody in the administration for putting this in there. We really appreciate it. It's a huge piece. All right. Priority 5. I'm looking at you, Mr. Fain. Because you had some changes, and you said that most of them made it you feel like it was well done in here. Yeah, so I think the new goal under AIM 1 is on point, and I… Um, thank you for the collaboration and the feedback on that, and the changes, because I think that this is more aligned to the AIM that we have listed here.
Um, honestly, my… I only have one thing, and it's in reference to… the KPIs that are listed here. The way that they read, to me, seems like they're more strategies, and… Um… not every single one of them, but a majority of them. Um, saying things like, implement this and develop this, that… at least the way that it's reading on the document that's here, it seems as though they're more… strategy, so I'm just struggling to understand how these are com… the going to help us understand whether or not we're meeting our goals.
Because if it's more action items, like developing, implementing, things like that. Um, there is a KPI, for example, AIM-1, KPI 4 is talking about the retention and a 5% increase annually. Like, that to me, is a good KPI. But a lot of the other ones that are listed seem to be more… action items. So that's honestly my only feedback on this. Other than that, I think that this priority is pretty solid. Anybody else on Priority 5? Dr. Dreisen. Well, I guess I'm just reflecting on the comments that have been made, and maybe to reframe and see if I… I think I might be in agreement.
Um, as a board, we're focused on the priorities and maybe the goals, like, in terms of the what. And I don't think we're trying to get into the nitty-gritty of the of what the KPIs are. That's the how. I think it's more the structure of the KPIs. Just that whatever they are, that they be measurable, so that we as a board can then do our job in terms of um, you know, focusing on accountability. And addressing the what, if that makes sense. I think that's exactly it, and I think… and… Mr. Fayner and I were talking about that today, you know.
The piece of staying in our lane. But I do think there's also an accountability piece, and it's like, how will we know when we have achieved success? Um, so I think that… and I think that's broad feedback from what I'm hearing overall, five priorities, is that just to make sure Yeah, and I mean, it really is, I think, part of the partnership between the board and the administration, is that if we're all doing our jobs well, then There's gonna be a big celebration in 5 years, because we'll have measurable KPIs. And the board will say. We did a great job, you know, and I think… I think that's the desire moving forward.
Yeah, if I can just, um, just add to the conversation a bit. So typically, what one might see in strategic plans is that does not typically list many, many school districts do not list a specific quantifiable number, they'll say percentage increase in the number of recruiting strategies. Why do they do that? They do that so that there's flexibility when they set their annual goals They can set a specific percentage for that particular year based upon what may be occurring.
So, the thinking is behind the KPI that was just read. Implement recruitment strategies. Specific recruitment strategies, the number of strategies that's utilized, the actual yield that we're looking for will be established, and the annual goals process. And if… if we, for instance, used Indeed this year or next year, we may not want to use Indeed. It may look like something different. But the overarching indicator is that recruitment strategies would be implemented ongoing.
Um, but some… some have specific numbers, some do not. Mr. Fain? So heard, and I hear what you… I definitely am understanding what you're saying. I guess for me, it's just more of, like, how do we know that we're we're reaching our goal by by the… just… maybe it's just the way… I don't know, just what's listed here. And I… I definitely appreciate, like, annually it's going to be more nitty-gritty and more specific, 100% understand that.
Um, it just, as a district, when we're talking about the effectiveness of our recruitment strategies. I guess it's just… maybe it's just me. Um, I'm just struggling to understand how some of the ones that are listed are going to actually show us an indicator of success or performance. Um, that will align with that. They are aligned, they are aligned, but that will give us an indication that we've achieved that goal by 2030.
Am I making sense? No, I agree with you. Okay. Okay. So, can I… I'm gonna try to summarize. And you can all throw something at me if I get it wrong. So what I'm hearing, in general. As we kind of wrap up this portion of the conversation is. The committee feedback was generally incorporated into the strategic plan. A lot of the missing pieces the board called out, specifically special education were incorporated into the plan.
That is good. There are still some lingering concerns around… the measurability of the KPIs and the sense of the accountability function of the board, how will we know if we've… when we've achieved success? Um. With the response being that we can flesh some of that out in the annual goals. And some of the missing pieces that people are calling out. We'll also go into the annual goals process. Yes? Is that a fair summary of the conversation? So I know some people also had a little more nitty-gritty detail things.
Um, I'm gonna ask you guys… if there are things that you… want to articulate to the administration that you do it in an extremely timely manner. Because I don't want it to be, like, it can't be that we're dripping… thoughts at Dr. Morton for the next two weeks. We will drive him crazy, and we would like him to stay and be our superintendent forever, so… Please, if you have, um, other things that… on priorities 1 through 5 that you need to… that you would like to… to raise, if you could raise that in a timely manner, like, within the next day or so, that way…
We can finalize this draft. But I'm hearing broad satisfaction with a few concerns. Is that fair? Okay, excellent. That was more than 15 minutes. We are now… So, we're now gonna move on to the second piece of this conversation, which is… the piece that I attempted to lead, which is the vision, mission, and goals. So, I'm sorry, vision, mission, and core values. Whew! So, I'm gonna… I had done a process, because I was trying to figure out how 9 people who are not allowed to have a conversation as 9 people, except when we're sitting here at the table.
We're possibly going to move to consensus, because… Due to the Sunshine laws, which… are a huge part of the work that we do. We do our work in public. But it also means that any conversation the nine of us has only happens every two weeks and in public. So, what I tried to do was… take the concerns that people had from the last meeting sort of generate feedback, which then I articulated back out to you, that way we'd have a starting point for tonight's conversation. So I hope that that was helpful in framing it.
From the email I sent you today, I think we do have broad consensus around the vision statement. Um, the two vision statement iterations that people seem to like the most are actually very similar to each other. Does anybody want to speak to either one of those? No, everybody seems pretty comfortable with that. So, we'll work together to try to combine… I mean, I think both of the ones that got almost half the board in support of them are just streamlined versions of the original vision statement.
Um, but capture what the community wanted just a little more. Less words, more punch, right? I also think that… the core values piece. I was actually surprised at the way that turned out, that there was a… a majority of the board, 5 members. Um, picked a streamlined version that had 4 values, and then almost a majority, 4 members actually said, keep the original values as they are.
Um, so I'd like to open the floor with that. And see if anybody would like to weigh in on the core values with the two options here. Mr. Greenbaum. So, this is one area where… Um, my… my opinion was that we should be… we should do our best to stay true to what the stakeholder committees that put these things together did. Um, I'm not opposed to something that's more streamlined, but keeps the original spirit of it. Um, but this is something that the original stakeholder meeting back in… October. Uh, spent a lot of time workshopping these. We heard in public comment from one of those community members who said, please don't change these, we put a lot of work into it.
Even the nuance of specific words is important. Um, and I found that very poignant, um, so that's… that's where I landed on this, was… you know, if we make any changes, it's simply to streamline something without changing the intent. But my thought was to keep it as established, because that's what the stakeholders communicated they wanted. Yeah, very quickly, um… Am I allowed to say what I voted for and what I didn't vote for? Oh yeah, it's not a secret. Oh, okay, so… You can go for it. So at the core values, I voted for both of these. I imagine other people did as well, but if I could weight them, I would wait option 2 more for the exact reasons that
Mr. Greenbaum just said, because I want to make sure that we honor the work done by the stakeholders. So, to the degree we can weigh our choices, I would weigh option 2 more. So that's two members for keeping the original values as they are. Dr. Dreisen. Thank you, and I… I don't want to belabor this, because I know I've shared these comments before. Just to clarify, at least my thinking, because… and I welcome clarification. Um, but my goal here is to reflect the community input, um, and certainly appreciate all the work that the stakeholder groups did But then, credit to a number of members on the administrative team here, they went out to the community.
Did lots of engagement sessions and heard feedback. Which were summarized into five key themes. Some of which overlapped with these original values, which the stakeholder group did a great job at teeing up, setting as a foundation. And I think it would be, um, unfortunate of us as a board, as a community, if we don't refine those original values that were… that… served a great foundation in summer, fall 2024.
Um, with all of the work that was done since then. And so, we're framing it as trying to be true to the stakeholder groups, and I just want to be clear that I'm trying to be reflective of all of the community input. So, Dr. Dreisand, I'm going to put you on the spot, though. So there's two options on the table here. There's the first one, which is four values. A whittled-down list, and the other one was to keep the original… list of… I'm sorry. 5 or 6 as they are. So we can come back to you, but that's… that's pretty much what I'm trying to figure out right now.
Um, if there's… So is there a… you're saying there's a motion to try to narrow it to two options? I'm trying… I am trying to move us to a final… And this is where it's okay, I'm… I understand I'm one of nine board members, I'm just making clear… my perspective here, and so that's okay. That's fine. I just… do you have a preference, is, I guess, what I'm asking you. Or… and you can think about it, but I… that's what I'm trying to do, because, I mean, I think… at this point, there's a… there's a strong sense from maybe about half the board to keep the values as they are, and there's probably…
A sense of other board members that we need to make it try to use less words to say the same thing. And I'm trying to figure out where we're gonna land on that. Because this is key, we have to get… we have to get through the core values, because I think that's really going to feed into the missions. Statement conversation. Um, so I would really like to get, like, a good sense of where the port is. So just to respond to your question, and I feel bad that We're talking, and people… option one was empathy, integrity, engagement, and empowerment. Option two is keep the original values as they are.
Again, I wish I could go back to that table I created for the board, but I'm not trying to actually approach this with my perspective. I'm trying to approach it from the perspective of the feedback that came from all of that community input. And I think some things that are missing from here include references Again, and I'm not trying to wordsmith here, so academics, learning, knowledge, wisdom. Something around… education. That was one… priority feedback. Another was safety and well-being.
And that will, again, for We Are Cherry Hill, I agree with whoever the comment was, they don't like the word health. I don't like the word health either. I was trying to come up with an H word. Um, again, just trying to reflect Um, the feedback from the community. Um, and fit it into a mnemonic that could be memorable. That was the exercise I was trying to get you know, the board to engage in. So, um, I feel both options don't honor some of the key themes that we heard from the community. So I'm hearing none of the above.
On options 1 and 2, right? But this is just one part of a larger strategic plan. We may not have full consensus. We're not going to have consensus. I'm just… I want to set the table, guys, here. I'm not looking for nine… well, first of all, even… we don't even have 9 people here tonight, so 9 agreeing would be impossible. But I'm not looking for 8 members to agree. I'm looking to get a sense of, like, we need to move forward with the plan. And find where the majority is. Ms. Palmer, help me find the majority. That's a big task. Um, so I… I am leaning more toward keeping… the original, although I… I understand where Dr. Dreisen is coming from, and I don't…
I don't disagree with you. In spirit, in theory. I do think… I'm looking at mission, vision, core values kind of holistically, right? And so themes that are not explicitly listed as core values. They're… they're woven into that kind of package of mission, vision, core values, so that at least when I look at it. I'm comfortable that we are expressing an aspirational. Holistic, comprehensive vision for what we want our district to be, represent, and be for the future.
Um, which is kind of the same… same reason that I… I was on team, let's not incorporate the core values within the mission statement. Um, but that's kind of where I was coming from, so I'm leaning toward keep them Because I do think there are words like equity and perseverance that to me, really send an important message that that we're eliminating if we just whittle it down to those four words for the sake of having fewer words. Um, again, I understand, totally understand the spirit of a mnemonic or something that is short, memorable, concise.
You know, it comes down to what what message we want to send. Just before we move on, Dr. Morton, just correct me if I'm wrong. I was in that first workshop. Perseverance was one of the top Correct. It was. So that's what I'm struggling with, because I feel like… I was team make it shorter, but then I was reflecting more, and I do remember that Perseverance was, like, if it wasn't the top, it was one of the top things that came out of that workshop, and so to take it out.
I don't know how I feel about that. Ms. Gallagher. So, I think I'm just gonna kind of put it this way. We have talked about this so many times, I couldn't tell you what the core values are. I've looked at this so many times. I know a couple of the words, they're not ringing to me that I can remember them. You know? And… you know, we chose from a list that was provided to us, just because we're shortening it, we can choose which words we're shortening it to, right? Um, so that's… I think that's part of it for me, where it's like.
So, I don't want to belabor this point, but, like, I was… heard about the school recently, that there is PATH. It's perseverance, accountability, trustworthiness. And humble… humility. And it's like, I remember those, right? And not only are the four words core values. But the word itself, like, the Numont, is that what it's called? Is also… Right? It, like, it's guiding. Right? So, I know that we don't want to, like, belabor the point, but my point is, is that I heard that one time.
And I remember it. I've looked at these words for how many months? I couldn't tell you more than 3. That's all I'm gonna say. I think we need to reduce it just for the fact of We need… or make it in a way that we can remember it. That's it, so… Mr. Fain. I'm gonna make it real short and simple. So, I completely agree with what Kim just said, and I also think it's important to note that the two options that we're talking about right here are really not different. There's… engagement is included in Option 1, so for those of you who can't see our computer screens.
Option one is empathy, integrity, engagement, empowerment. The original core values are I'll put them in the same order. Empathy, integrity. We don't have a… it's equity, perseverance, and empowerment. So, it's reducing… taking out two. Calling it engagement, and then keeping the other… the other three. So they're really not that different, but I agree with… with Kim, and the whole point in my perspective of this. Was to shorten it so it was memorable. We can still include the voice of the community, and like Dr. Dryzen said. These were just how we directed the however and, like. Tireless nights that Carol spent trying to reach out to the whole community on all of this, and the time that people put into it.
They were given these words to discuss, and then asked to provide any additional feedback. And that was a lot more. So I agree that it needs to be something that we can remember, because in the same light. Night after night after night of looking at this, I still can't remember them either. Miss Palmer. So, in the spirit of productivity, and because I know that we've got a lot of people here. Is there an opportunity for, and in the interest of time. For us to form, like, a small… workgroup to talk through some of these things. I think… we can get there, like, maybe… it's ease, we have a lot of E words, maybe we could make integrity.
You know, ethical… I don't know, I'm… literally just coming up with words here. Maybe it's… that path idea, I feel like we're not there right now. I do too, I'm here. And can I just… My concern is this, that we've been trying to… it's been 2 weeks since the last board meeting. And… we've done a lot of work on this, and we're still not there, and I think we also need to accept that at some point, we are not going to get to everybody agreeing, and it's going to end up being an up or down.
So I am willing, because it's a long night, and because we also do not have any… if we can't get this tonight, we don't have any shot at getting this mission statement done tonight. So I'm willing to give us, like. Two days, and I'm serious, and it has to be… it has to be for real to try to get this done, and if not, then I'm gonna say… I'm going to say as board president, what I think we should do is stick with what the community said. Like, if we can't come up with anything better in the next 48 hours. Then that's got to be it, because at some point, we have to… move forward. Even if it's not what we want. And if… if we cannot come to something that we agree on.
Then I think we default to what the community brought us. Because our goal was to improve upon this if we could. And if we can't find 5 members. Who are gonna say, this is better, then I think the default becomes what we were originally presented with. Is that fair? Because I… my struggle right now is that I… I don't know how else to get the nine of us to move forward on this, because we can have this conversation for the next 5 hours and not find… not find consensus. Yes?
So, if everybody's in agreement, we can close this discussion now, because it's pretty clear that you know, the board is not to the point of making a decision. And I think… but I think we really have to be clear that… and we're not going to be able to have another 9-member discussion, that means. Prior to the vote. That is the other decision we're making right now. If we close this conversation and try to work on it some more, there is no opportunity for nine members to have a conversation Before we come to final vote on June 10th, and everybody's gotta be
Willing to sit with that, yes? I'm seeing knotted heads. But there's a desire on the board right now to give it one more shot? Ms. Palmer. So, I… don't want to be that person, but if we're looking… I'm nominating you. If we're just… solely looking at the form that I think all nine of us… did all nine of us participate? Yes. Technically, we do have a majority of the board. There is a 5, there is an option that had 5 votes So… did we not pick options that we liked, or…?
Well, Ms. Winters is expressing concern around perseverance. Since I was in number one Um, my… I I agree. I think we need to move forward. I would just… and this might be semantics, but I'll just say again. When we talk about this moving forward, I hope that… I mean, I think language matters, and I think we're going back to what was agreed upon by the stakeholder group. I feel like saying it came from the community, I just have a little bit of a difference of opinion. So let's give it… so, to Ms. Palmer's point, there is a majority, there are 5 people who said that the shortened version was the version they wanted to go with.
Mr. Mayor, help us out. Well, I don't know if this is gonna help. Let's… let's understand that, you know, this was… this was… This was not an open discussion vote. It was really… Let's see where we are on this. This is the opportunity for us to discuss Where each of us have landed, which is appropriate. Um, and it may be that given the discussions, given some of the the comments and concerns that each of us have expressed One or more of us, you know, may change where we have landed on that… in that initial, sort of.
You know, straw poll. Um, and I think it will be appropriate at this time to… for each of us to take… take those words. Under advisement, and let's… let's knock this out in the next 24, 48 hours, and then come back. And then, uh… finalize it with a vote. Yes, but we're gonna have to have a consensus within the next 24 to 48 hours without all 9 of us having a full conversation again. That's just what I want to make sure that people are comfortable with. Feel better, Ms. Winters. To Mr. Mayor's point, I think you should take a vote now for keeping it original. I think you might have the 5 votes.
I'm not sure, but you might be able to settle it now. I'm saying. Based on this discussion. Take the two days. If you're giving us 2448, let's take the two. Let's take a breath. I feel like people… Let's take a breath. So I'm gonna say… and I really… but I really mean, like, I will… We're gonna lead this process, and it's gotta be… it's gotta be quick, and whatever it is, know that I am trying to respect everybody's feedback, but there is going to come a point where it's just gonna be wherever five of us land is gonna be where five of us land, and that's gonna have to be just good enough.
Ms. Palmer? I'm sorry, can I ask one more? Just clarifying question to kind of guide all of us. So, the… the core values that were identified that came out of the stakeholder group meeting. The intention… what was the role of the stakeholder group? It was to represent the voice of the community? Am I… that's been my assumption. So, are we differentiating between the greater community and the stakeholder group? I mean, I was at the meeting, I can tell you that there was representation from all across the community there.
I mean, there were students there, Rebecca was there, I was there. Um, members of different groups, and these were the core values that came out of that conversation. Um, adjacent to, but different than the community discussions that Ms. Roscoff led. Association of Presidents and members of the administration, like, there was a… there was a broad representation there. It's fair to say, then, that those five… 6 core values. Five.
Were driven by the community. I think that's a decision you have to make for yourself, right? A full gratitude to the stakeholder group for all the hard work they did. Um, for the purposes of public debt, that was, um, those participants were selected. They were asked… invited to attend. It wasn't open to the community. But it… I'm just presenting facts, right? I understand that, but at this point, it's 9 o'clock, and so I'm going to… I'm gonna… Unless Dr. Braddock, I saw you had your hand up. I'm gonna close the conversation. Um, and we're gonna move on with the agenda, because there are a lot of people here waiting, and we are clearly not getting any closer to a… decision tonight. Um… At least the community sees how much we all care. I mean, it's incredible. You know, there was… there have been conversations about how the board doesn't have real conversations in public. Guys, we are, like, one big happy family right now. Um, Dr. Rude used to say, Ben Rude used to say, fight it out, then hug it out. I feel like we're there, people. So, let it not be said that the board doesn't struggle.
Mightily to try to get… get it right. We get there, we'll find out. All right. We're gonna move on to correspondence. Lightning round. I know. Bridget's telling me I'm starting with Dr. Dreisen, because she knows I have no idea. Sure, I'll be quick. This past Wednesday, I had an opportunity on behalf of the board to attend the Garden State Coalition of Schools annual in-person meeting. This is the one meeting each year that's in-person. It was at Forest Gate Country Club.
Um, some notable, um, things, there was a legislative panel moderated by, um. To, um, reporters from New Jersey Spotlight, entitled Education Now, Working Together to Navigate Troubled Waters. Panelists included Senator Declanuscanlan, Assemblywoman Michelle Matsukitis, and then two superintendents, Dr. Carrie McGann and James Earl. And then we had a keynote speech by Commissioner Kevin Damer. Um, so really interesting, encourage other board members, um, to attend if you'd like. Um, got to hear from a lot of superintendents and, um, and other leaders within the state of New Jersey in terms of the questions they asked and the discussions that were had, so… Appreciate the opportunity.
Mr. Mayor? Nothing. Ms. Gallagher. Nothing. My turn. I attended the Rosa Choral Concert as a board member, it was on our list of engagements. Um… There were over 400 students singing Africa by Toto in sync. It was one of the most incredible, uplifting. Inclusive, amazing nights that I have been to in a long time and restored my faith in… The kids, the public schools, and humanity. It was a great night. Mr. Greenbaum. Thank you. I attended the AAPI Heritage Month celebration at High School West, along with Mrs. Winters, Dr. Morton, and other community leaders.
It was really a nice opportunity to celebrate the rich tapestry of cultures under the umbrella of AAPI Uh, as well as see some great performances. Thank you very much to Nina Gow for hosting us, as well as former board colleague Sally Tung for the invitation. Mr. Fain. Nothing. Dr. Braddock. Nothing. Ms. Palmer. Okay, last week I attended the final Fair Funding Committee meeting of the school year. Um, so thank you to Alani Ores, who chairs that group for the work that she puts into that, um, every, every month with, uh, with her other work and family obligations. Um… please follow that group on social media, sign up for their email list so that you find out what, um.
What… what they're working on leading into the next… next school year in September, because that's when they'll pick up. Um, I also, as a parent, not a board member, but always a board member, attended the, uh. Orchestra and band concert at Carusi Middle School last week. Phenomenal job, 6th through 8th grade, um… to everyone involved. So, that's all I have. Thank you. And we will now move on to first public comment. They're not gonna be very… Possibly not yet. So, I'm gonna… I'm actually gonna just explain this in real talk before I read the whole statement.
There are two public comment periods tonight. There were actually 3 tonight, because we tried to give the students a chance to go first. Those were here early. So what's going to happen in this public comment period is if you are a student. You can speak on any topic. If you are not a student, if you are a grown-up. It's action items on the agenda only. So, this person looks very excited about my conversation here. So that means you have to… come up, say your name. Your municipality and the action item on the agenda you're speaking of. If your comment is not about an action item.
Do not worry. There's another public comment period all the way at the end of the meeting, and you can speak on any topic relevant to the school district, the Board of Education. So, I'm gonna read Dr. Praddock. And so you know the second part of the meeting goes faster than the first. It goes much faster. Yeah. Yeah, tonight it will. So, I'm going to read the… the script here, but just, like, so we're clear, I don't want anybody to be angry or disappointed if they come up to the microphone. If it's not… if you're an adult, and it's not an action item on the agenda. I'm going to ask you to wait until after we vote and speak at the end of the meeting, so I don't want anybody to… to not understand what's about to happen. If you're a student, a student, either in the room or online, please put an S after your name, and I will call, and you students can speak
Now, at this public comment period. Okay. There will be two opportunities for public comment this evening. This first, well, second public comment section is for board action items only, which tonight are items 11 through 19. There was another public comment section for any topic at the end of the meeting. If you're a student, you may comment on any agenda item, identify yourself as a student. If you would like to speak, please identify the agenda item and clearly state your name and municipality. We alternate between speakers in the room and those online. Each speaker will be given a maximum of 3 minutes to speak, and the timer on the screen will indicate the amount of time you have remaining.
Public comment is an opportunity for members of the community to comment on matters relevant to the operations of Cherry Hill Public Schools or within the authority of the Board of Education. The board welcomes diverse opinions on relevant matters under established federal law governing reasonable restrictions on speech in public forums, statements which demean individual community members or groups, or which are irrelevant to the operations of the school district. Or repetitious will not be permitted, and community members who would like to present information not relevant to the school district are always welcomed. Communicate directly to the district superintendent, board president, and all board members via email or other alternative means.
If I could shorten that one, I would. Forwards. Thank you, Mr. Greenbaum. Miracles do happen. So, we're gonna start first public comment, we're gonna start in the room. You may approach the microphone. Hello, permission to speak, please. Students go first. For all students. Sorry, I'm gonna allow students to go first, because they… I see a flock of students sitting in the back there, and I want to make sure that they have… they can come up and speak, and then anybody can come up and speak.
On an action item. Are there any students in the room who would like to speak? I thought there were. Come on up, give us your name and your municipality. Hi, everyone! Um, good evening. Um, my name is Anna Bardounius. I'm the school-wide president of Cherry Hill High School East. I'm a junior. Um, today I am here speaking regarding DFM, um, and originally I was very emotional when I first heard out about DFM. Tears were shed, I promise you that. Um, but I feel very deeply about the impact that this will have at East. I debated between coming up here, to be honest, and speaking because It is a true fact that we don't have all the information, and I want to acknowledge that we don't have all the information.
And nobody knows the full story, none of the students, faculty, or administrators will ever know the full story, and I fully understand that, and I see that. However, I did want to tell you a few things from my perspective, and from my experience with DFM. I have never seen DFM walk by a group of students without talking to them, without checking in on them, and without making sure people are okay. He is one of the very few people in our school that starts with, how are you, before he asks for something. Which is something that doesn't happen often. That is so special, and… One personal experience I had with DFM is my sophomore year of high school, I walked into this math class, and everyone told me it was the scariest math class in the whole school. I don't know if you've heard functions. I'm sure you haven't heard good things. Um, I was absolutely terrified. I was ready to, like, literally leave. I went up to my teacher and I was like, I'm dropping, I need to go to guidance.
And I met with DFM, and he called my mom, he was like. She can do this. And I was like, no, DFM, you're wrong. Like, I literally looked at him, and I was so mad at him. I was like. I do not need to be here right now. Get me out. And he was like, girl, you had a 99 in geometry. Anyway, so I stayed. Um… And I'm now in my favorite math class I've ever been in in my whole life, and that's literally thanks to him, because I can tell you tears were shed at that meeting, too, um, and I was literally so ready to leave. And without his support, I don't think I would be… the student I am today, I don't think I would be able to push through everything I am today. And I've also worked on projects with him. I see her no place for Hate sticker. Um, we've been working on that initiative really hard, and I can just tell you that everything that he does is with the intent of helping the students. Everything he does is looking out for the students, and I really don't think
That you… I don't know, like, if you experience him and his energy and his… his true passion for students, um, I really think it's just so empowering, and when I think about walking in the hallway next year as a senior, um, I really hope that I see a positive, friendly face and smile that the students deserve to walk into school with. So, thank you for your time, thank you for your support. Please. Like, ugh, thank you guys so much. Thank you so much for your comment.
I don't see any students online, so staying in the room. Any other student that would like to make a comment? Your moment is now. Come on up. Hi, my name is Lee Malavi, and I'm a sophomore at Cherry Hill East. Um, I assume that you're all aware of a circulating petition about the layoff of Dr. Francis Maurer, or DFM, that has amassed nearly 7 100 signatures in the past week and a half.
I created this petition, and I also led a walkout in hopes that the student body would be heard. But I know that it wasn't enough. This is the least that I could do to give back to DFM. And he has found a way to touch everybody's hearts, and it is beyond upsetting that a member of the Cherry Hill East community is being let go after only two years of being at East. Dr. Francis Maurer has helped countless students navigate their 504s, IAPs, and doesn't hesitate to be a helping hand.
He gave up his Saturdays to help the speech and debate team fill judge spots that last 13 hours, and in the more than 40 events that I have attended in the past 2 years at East. He has been to almost every single one of them. The students at East love him, and we would have never imagined him ever leaving us. I've never seen so many people come together to help one person, but we truly have lost a part of our family. 900 people walked out to protest his departure, and 700 signed a petition to show support.
But again, it wasn't enough. Now, my fear has become a reality, and my last memory with DFM is that both of us sat in his office trying to figure out how to get his job back. And I will always miss… Walking into school every morning, into the annex entrance, and hearing him say, good morning, twin! Because it truly lit up my day every single day. Um, so my question for you guys is, is there something positive in the academic or the emotional aspect that can be taken from his departure? Because I know that together, all the grades at East are going to do what we can to help him return.
And GFM, if you're ever listening to this after this is done, um I just want to thank you for being my number one favorite twin. Thank you for your comment. Looking online, I don't see any students with their hands raised, so going back to the room, are there any other students who would like to make a comment? Hi, I'm Aiden Smeglin, and I'm a student at East. Um, I think I offer a different sort of perspective on this same issue about DFM and his… him leaving.
I'm the student volunteer for sound at East, which means I have to run the soundboard for every single school event, which means I see with my own eyes that DFM is at every single event. Typically at other school districts, this is a paid position that has an actual employee working there. But as a volunteer, as one of three volunteers, including some teachers that also volunteer, we help coordinate these school events. I'm seeing DFM there with my own two eyes, you really see that he supports all the kids, and that without him in the school district, it's really… the kids will notice that they're gonna lose a familiar face, it's not gonna be their seeing supporting these events.
Um, additionally, as all the other students mentioned, DFM is constantly fist-bumping and greeting you in the hallway, and always is cheering you up with a positive smile. Going back to what I said earlier, um, I know I saw many board members actually attend either the MCD or the MCD Parent Night, a multicultural day at East, and this, being a software, I've now seen this event for two years, and last year, it was run by Ms. Joseph, and this year it was run by DFM, so I was able to see a complete different style of how it was ran.
Under the other teacher's guidance, it was much more chaotic, and you could really see how Um, the clubs, nothing was on time, and as someone who had to help run this, it was really stressful. Uh, but under DFN, we met months before the event even began, and we had a committee. It was student committees, and it was me. As helping run the tech aspect, helping run and coordinate so that this event would run smoothly. Without DFM's leadership, I really fear that these events could go back into the past, how they were so disorganized, and we think it's worth just to see how not only does he help as his job.
A standard job as one of the vice principals of East, but also just helping with these activities and helping coordinate so that everything runs smoothly and making sure the student body, everyone's voice is heard, especially in events like MCD. Thanks. Thank you for your comments. Any other students who would like to speak, please approach the microphone. Good evening. Um, before I begin, I just want to thank you all for the opportunity to allow students to speak, um, especially 9-15 on a Tuesday night. Um, I'm sure you all would rather be home with your own families.
But I do recognize it is a privilege to be here speaking with you. Today, my name is Stella Kim, and I'm the class president for the Class of 2027. The sophomore class that has had Dr. Francis Maurer as not only our assistant principal. But also, our communicator, mentor, and biggest cheerleader. I'm here to advocate for Dr. Maurer in the same way that he's consistently shown up for not only me, but my entire grade. I do not know the reason for Dr. Meyer's departure, and I've been told that I never will.
But I do know the impact that he's had on our school. He's worked with student leaders on initiatives to combat bias and discrimination. He creates monthly newsletters celebrating student achievements, and every morning, rain or shine, he greets students with fist bumps. And every day, he helps students feel seen and feel like they belong. And some might ask, is building relationships really part of his job description? And I'd like to point to Cherry Hill Public Schools' own belief statements that, one, all students need positive relationships with staff, and two, that all staff should support student success.
And in the chaos of high school, those small gestures, knowing our names, fist-bumping us in the hallways, and taking time to listen, can truly change lives. Dr. Maurer understands that. When word spread about his departure, a student I barely personally knew reached out asking how we could support him. When I asked why it mattered so much to them personally, they said. He knows my name, most people don't. I'll never forget sitting in his office, overwhelmed by my future. I asked him how I was supposed to take the right classes to apply to the right major to find a respectable job, make enough money.
And how I was supposed to know this all as a high school student? And he told me something I'll always remember. He said, the most important factor is your passion and love for what you're doing. I didn't move from the UK to Boston. From Boston to Cherry Hill for a job title. I came because working with students is my passion and purpose. That moment shaped how I personally view leadership and purpose. And that's the kind of mentor Dr. Maher is to not just me. But to hundreds of students. He's a cornerstone of East, and I can't imagine finishing high school without him.
After speaking with so many students, we're left wondering what could possibly outweigh what he's contributed for us. So, the Cherry Hill Board of Education, I truly urge you to reconsider the decision. Dr. Maurer represents the values this district stands for. Removing him means losing not just an administrator, but someone who shows up for us every day. And shows that education is truly about the people. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.
I don't see any students online going back to the room. Students, please approach the microphone.
The DSM is the complete opposite, and so much more than that. He's a mentor, a leader, and in many ways, even a hero. It isn't just enforce rules, he also builds relationships, which can't be said about all the ministries. He also creates an environment where students feel safe. Perspective and heard. That's the kind of leadership that is great. And that really… We need leaders like DFM who truly understand what students go through. Believe with empathy, and take the time to know us, and not just by our name, but by our stories and experiences.
That's when DFM does everything. So I'm asking you to not just think about what he has done, but what he can still accomplish if he is able to stay at peace. Not just for us current students. But for the future. Students who need a role model in their high school life. Thank you. I don't see any students online. Are there any other students in the room who would like to speak?
If you already made a comment, we're gonna do… it's one comment per person, because we have so many people waiting. But if you have more to say, you can always email us. You can email the board. Or the superintendent, and then we will get your… we'll get your comments, okay? Uh, last week, and I never received any reply from anybody on Did you email me? Yes. The superintendent replied, but I didn't receive any… So, when… Yeah, so I just want to clarify, so usually we don't go back and forth, but I want you to understand what's happening.
So, when somebody emails the board and the superintendent, we don't both reply, one of us replies, this is appropriate for the situation. So, people who email just the board. Or board members get a reply from the board president, because I'm the only one who can reply from the nine of us. If you email the board and the superintendent, either one of us will reply, not a reply from both. But if you have something you'd like to say to the board. And you would like a reply from me, if you email me, I promise you that you'll get an email back. Everybody gets an email back. Okay, thank you. Thank you for understanding. Are there any other students in the room who would like to speak?
Before I go to the grown-ups. Going once, going twice. All right, I'm gonna open it up, first public comment. Please, your name. Municipality and action item that you're speaking on. My name is Gary Steinmetz. I am a resident of Cherry Hill, and my daughter attends High School East as a sophomore. And I'm here in support of Dr. Francis Maurer. So, this is not an item on our agenda. There's no board vote on Dr. Francis Maurer. I think… I think they spoke, I mean… They are students. Students are allowed to speak on any item.
So I have to wait till the end? You do, sir. That's what I was trying to explain, I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. Is there anybody else who would like to speak on an action item that we're voting on this evening? Any adults? Uh, Rick Short Cherry Hill. Um, some of the things you're voting on today is, uh. Under, um… Professional development.
Looks like it's under Beck. Mrs. Sims… is going to… educators of color… leadership, synopses… synopesis 2025. And Plainsboro, New Jersey. Um, I gotta ask, uh… So, sending this one teacher… to this one, Synopsys. Of educators of color leadership. Is helping… our schools? Is this a sound investment?
Oh boy. There's another section here under… And this is stuff I might not totally comprehend, but… would be a good question to answer. Which action item, please? This is, uh, I believe under 15, under, uh… Student ID, it says, uh, to the district, Rancocas Valley Regional BOE. Something between November… 15th to… January 25th, it was $17,000.
I believe Rancocus is in Burlington County. I sometimes understand that We give money to other… Um, Camden County Schools So, why are you approving $17,000 Again, I don't really understand it all, but… Why are we also approving… 5,500 to Cinnamon, which is, I'm pretty sure, in Burlington County. Um… not getting that totally understood either. So these are just general questions.
And then under the other section of, uh, building and facilities. Uh, you have two, uh, two contractors listed. The name is, uh. Nickersonny and NJ Start. Under playground stuff, but you have no pricing. So you're voting on something that you… I guess don't have a price for? So, I hope you ask these questions before you vote on things you don't know how much are gonna cost.
Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going online, there's a phone number ending in 891, it's your turn, please unmute, give us your name, your municipality, and the action item you're speaking on. My name is Jeff Potowitz, I live in Cherry Hill, and it's 15.6. Um, 15.6. It is recommended that the Board approve the submission and acceptance of the funding for optimal comprehensive Universal Screening. Focus. Goal 1 selected, implement a high-quality universal literacy club. Greener, Goal 2, build educator capacity in effectively using universal screener.
Goal 3, utilize screening data to inform instructional practices. This is about reading. The name of the group is… is the, um… is the author… is the… sorry, the name of the group is… whatever the name of the group is. It's about equity, it's about whatever the name of the group is. It's the bottom… The bottom line is, I'm sorry. It is the, um, true… Okay, the bottom line is this. Alright, it's about equity, it's about other things, it's about reading. Uh, for $30,000, that's $3 a kid, we're gonna spend a heck of a lot more. $30,000 won't even pay for the administrative costs. And besides the fact, it's about teaching reading.
Alright, reading! A stupid teaching reading in the Tannery Hill School District. For years, and if kids really have a problem, then what you do is you write an IEP, you write a 504, and you give the kids help, which I'm not sure you do all the time. All right, and I've been writing about that on NJ Education Aid. From, like, 10 years ago. What goes on… what goes on in school districts. So this group, these people, that God knows how much money we're gonna spend, that's gonna be a lot more than 30, $30,000, $30,000, letting them… and they're going to end up dictating to us, collect data that you have the data on the students already. It's the individual student, Cherry Hill.
I don't even know. So vote no for this, because this will cost a lot more than $30,000. And this is ridiculous. And on the state level, they created a whole new… a whole new department about this. That's ridiculous. Um, please vote no in this. Their job is not to take over our school districts. They give us little enough. They're cutting our special ed aid. It's those kids that matter. It's those 20%, 25% of the kids who really are and have trouble with reading. Thank you. Help them, the district, the state won't, because they haven't.
Right now, they're cutting our aid. Thank you very much. Dr. Potowicz, please speak about the action item. We've done Dr. Padowan? Okay, thank you so much for your comment, I appreciate it. I said 15.6. Going back to the room, is there anyone else who has an action item they would like to speak on? All right, going back online, I don't see any other hands raised, so I'm gonna close first public comments. We will move on to our action agenda.
Somebody's phone is excited about the action agenda. It's very exciting. Okay, so we are… we have the organization agenda tonight. Ms. Sugar, so I'm going to ask you a question. Do I say the superintendent recommends for these, or do I just… Okay, the superintendent recommends, and I move the following organization agenda items listed in items 11 through 14. Do I have a second?
Ms. Palmer, are there any questions? Ms. Sugars, please call the vote. How long do you estimate this is going to take? I appreciate that. Mrs. Winters, unfortunately, I'm having trouble with board docs tonight, so we're gonna have to do… A traditional… Old school roll call.
So you made the most, and who made the second? I moved, and Ms. Palmer seconded. Board members, we're gonna do a… we're gonna do a voice vote on Items inclusive 11 through 14. Dr. Braddock? Yes. Mrs. Chaffain? Yes. Dr. Dreisen? Yes. Mrs. Gallagher? Yes. Mr. Greenbaum? Yes. Mr. Mayor? Yes. Ms. Palmer? Yes. Mrs. Winters. Yes.
It's a unanimous yes vote. Ms. Sugars, are you ready for our CNI agenda? I am. The superintendent recommends, and I move the following. 15.1, approval of attendance and conference and workshops for the 24-25 school year, 15.2 approval of attendance at conference and workshops. For the 25-26 school year, 15.3 approval of out-of-district student placement for the 24-25 school year. 15.4, approval of professional service agreements for the 25-26 school year. 15.5 approval of agreements for the 25-26 school year, 15.6 resolution to approve the submission and acceptance of the funding for optimal, comprehensive Universal Screeners focus. Do I have a second?
Mr. Fain, are there any questions on the CNI agenda this evening? Ms. Sugars, please call the vote. Dr. Baraddock? Yes. Mrs. Cherfine? Um, I have to recuse myself from 15.4 to avoid a conflict of interest, and the rest, yes. Dr. Dreizen? I have to recuse myself from 15.4 for a conflict of interest with employment with Bayada, otherwise it's a yes. Mrs. Gallagher? Yes. Mr. Greenbaum? Yes. Mr. Mayor? Yes.
Ms. Palmer? Yes. Mrs. Winters. Yes. Okay, BNF Action Agenda. The superintendent recommends, and I move the following… very long list. 16.1, approval of minutes, board working session, special action meeting minutes, and executive session minutes dated April 8th.
2025, 16.2, approval of minutes, special meeting minutes, and executive session minutes, dated April 23rd, 2025. 16.3, approval of minutes, regular meeting minutes, and executive session minutes dated April 29th, 2025. 16.4, financial reports, 16.5, resolution for the award of bids, 16.6, resolution for the award of RFPs. 16.7, resolution for the approval of change orders. 16.8, approval of Cherry Hill, McKinney-Vento, DCPMP students going out of district for the 24-25 school year.
16.9, resolution for the award of contract renewals. 16.10, resolution for the award for transportation. 16.11, resolution authorizing the use of contracts with approved cooperative purchasing systems for vendors to provide goods and services. 16.12, resolution authorizing the use of cooperative pricing agreements. 16.13, Resolution authorizing the completion of an application and receipt of a safety grant award. 16.14, resolution for approval of contract with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield.
16.15, resolution for approval of contract with Prescription Insurance Provider. 16.16, resolution approving dental plan with Horizon Dental of New Jersey. 16.17, acceptance of donations, and despite it being a long list, I always insist on reading through these. A donation from Cherry Hill Education Foundation to be used for preschool meetups at Jake's Place at Melberg. From RTI International. National Youth Tobacco Survey to be used for betterment of the school at High School West.
Uh, from Beck PTA to be used to reduce the cost of 8th grade field trip bus at Beck. From American Heart Association to purchase physical activity equipment at Karusi from Beck PTA to be used to reduce the cost of 8th grade field trip buses. From Kilmer PTH, we used for, uh, for buses for field trips. And Kilmer PTA to be used for playground equipment at Kilmer. And that is all of them. Do I have a second?
Mr. Fain, the first person I saw. Any questions? Seeing none, Ms. Sugars, please open the voting. Ms. Dr. Braddock? Yes. Mrs. Cherfain? Yes. Dr. Dreisen? I have to recuse myself from 16.4, the seventh bill list for conflict of interest with Beata, otherwise it's a yes vote. Mrs. Gallagher? Yes. Mr. Greenbound? Yes. Mr. Mayor? Yes, but for recusal on the bill list to ESS.
To avoid a conflict of interest. Ms. Palmer, I need to recuse myself from, uh, on the seventh bill list. Because of a conflict with, uh, Bancroft, but otherwise I'm a yes. Mrs. Winters? Yes. This is your fame. Can you please move? Everyone heard the votes, and I don't… Mr. Fain, can you please move the HR agenda?
The superintendent recommends that I move the following. 17.1, termination of employment certificated. 17.2 termination of employment non-certificated. 17.3 appointments certificated, 17.4 appointments non-certificated. 17.5 leaves of absence certificated. 17.6 leaves of absence, non-certificated. 17.7 assignment salary change certificated. 17.8 assignment salary change, non-certificated, 17.9, contract renewals, certificated athletic and co-curricular.
17.10, approval of sidebar agreement, and 17.11, other motions. Do I have a second? Mr. Greenbaum, um… My sugar… or any questions? Yes, Ms. Winters. Just want to speak on 17.1. Mrs. Ferguson is retiring from Russell Knight. I have never met an educator who believes absolutely in the individual's success. Of each individual student the way that she does. We talk a lot of… on this board about how success looks different for different kids, and she embodies that ethos in her teaching. She was my daughter's special education teacher.
At a moment where I was really concerned, and she celebrated every single one of my kids' successes. Ms. Ferguson, I wish you the absolute best in your retirement. You're a gem. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Okay, Ms. Sugars, can you please open the voting? Dr. Braddock? Yes. Mrs. Cherfain? Yes. Dr. Dreizen? Yes. Mrs. Gallagher. Yes. Mr. Greenbaum? Yes. Mr. Mayor? Yes. Ms. Palmer? Yes. Mrs. Winters? Yes.
Mr. Mayor, please move the P&L agenda. Yes, Superintendent recommends that I move the following item, 18.1, approval of harassment, Intimidation, bullying, and investigation decisions. 18.2 approval of harassment, intimidation, bullying, hearing decision 18.3. Also in approval of and harassment, intimidation, and bullying hearing decision. All three items, 18.1 through 18.3, refer to those matters which the Board heard on 513, May 13th. Item 18.4, second reading of policies, specifically academic integrity and care of injured and ill persons, academic integrity with no changes.
Care of injured and ill Persians, uh, persons just with the minor clarification changes discussed. Uh, at first reading. Item… 18.5 approval of waiver of policy 2340, field trips to allow both Cherry Hill East and Cherry Hill West to attend senior trip at the same time. Item 18.6 approval waiver policy. 5111.2 and 8110. For emergent circumstances to allow a family member to. Remain at their middle school despite having moved out of that, um, sending district for the 25-26 year.
And… that is it. Do I have a second? Mrs. Surefane. Are there any questions? Seeing none, Mrs. Sugar, so you take the vote. Dr. Braddock? Yes. Mrs. Cherfing? Um, I need to abstain from 18.3. I was not present. The rest, yes. Dr. Dreisen? I need to abstain from 18.2 and 18.3. I attended that meeting virtually, so it wasn't Participating in the appeals. Otherwise, it's a yes.
Mrs. Gallagher? I'm gonna recuse myself from 18.2, and I'm gonna abstain from 18.3, and then just… sorry, I probably should have asked this. Since I wasn't there for that April meeting, do I have to re… abstain or recuse? Okay, I'm sorry, what item agenda is that? It's about the students staying. The waiver policy, is that it? I wasn't at that meeting. 18.6.
I'll abstain from 18.6 as well, since I wasn't at that meeting. Mr. Greenbound? Yes. Mr. Mayor? Yes. Ms. Palmer? Yes. Mrs. Winters? Yes. All right, there are no items for governance this evening. Do any board members have new business? I have one item of new business. For June committees. The CNI and BNF committees are going to switch the times.
Because the CNI committee is going to be discussing the new junior high model, we might need additional time, so we're gonna go last. So, if you are someone who enjoys attending board committee meetings for fun. P&l will meet at 5 in June, BNF at 6, and CNI will be last at 7pm. Adjust your schedules accordingly. Is there any old business? Oh, guys. Ms. Gallagher. I promise it's gonna be the fastest old business. I sent out an email on Friday regarding the roles and responsibilities from governance. I said by today, we had a lot to do.
So, if you would like extra time, we're not meeting until committee meeting, so you have an extra week. So, I know we have a lot going on, so if that kind of fell… it was a holiday weekend, so That's it, thank you. Dr. Dreisen. For item 5, I know you spoke for the board. I just wanted to recognize the students as well, because I just personally, um. They were an inspiration for me running, and I think they asked really pointed questions specifically around NJSLA data, and I just really admired their participation, so I wanted to thank you all.
Anybody else? Old business? Alright, second, public comment This is the second public comment section, during which you make comments on any topic. If you would like to speak now, please clearly state your name and your municipality. We will alternate between speakers here in the room and those that are online. Each speaker will be given a maximum of 3 minutes to speak, and the timer on the screen will indicate the amount of time you have remaining. Public comment is an opportunity for members of the community to comment on matters relevant to the operations of Cherry Hill Public School District or within the authority of the Cherry Hill Board of Education.
The board welcomes diverse opinions on relevant matters. Under established federal law governing reasonable restrictions on speech in public forums. Statements which demean individual community members or groups, or which are irrelevant to the operation of the school district, or are petitious, will not be permitted. Community members who would like to present information not relevant to the school district are always welcome to communicate directly to the district superintendent, board president, and all board members. Via email or other alternative means? I see someone has approached the microphone. Hello. Do I have permission to speak?
We welcome all community member comments. Please state your name, your municipality, you have 3 minutes. Yes, I am Gary Steinmetz. I am a resident of Cherry Hill. My daughter is a sophomore at High School East. And I'm here in support of Dr. Francis Maurer. I think it's a time to reflect and reconsider. Dfm is a rare talent, and I ask that you do… you could do what you can to renew his contract. Either in his current role, or possibly within a new role in the community. I can only attribute the proposal to not renew it to his lack of seniority.
He readily takes initiative and makes a great ambassador for the school. He's taken time out to accept my lengthy phone call to discuss requirements for placing out of a class. Checked in with me when my daughter was having some difficulty with classes. He's approachable, including joining in the student performances for the multicultural event. He's reached out to others, and then personally explained to me the details of the new data science pathway He provides an international perspective, and always remains upbeat and engaging. He's a gem, but no resume can properly reveal his zeal and excellence. Don't let star talent leave the building. Thank you for your consideration.
Thank you for your comment. Give me one minute. See a hand raised online. Candy Cummings, it's your turn, please unmute and give us your name, municipality. Good evening, Candy Cummings, Cherry Hill. I would like to make it explicitly clear that the following statement is mine as an individual. Deep concern for the direction you appear to be taking with the community's strategic plan. So I've also emailed this Nine elected officials should not get to dismantle or dilute a strategic plan created by the very constituents who put you in office.
This plan is not a product of whim or narrow interest. It is the result of a thoughtful, inclusive, and deliberate process driven by the community you serve. Nearly 4,000 community members contributed their voices to define our core values. Integrity, empathy, agency, empowerment. Equity and perseverance. These values are not abstract, nor selected lightly. They are lived values and deeply held beliefs of your stakeholders. They represent the full spectrum of our community and are the foundation of the mission and the vision statements.
To suggest removing equity from this list is not just misguided, it is dangerous. If equity is not a core value in Cherry Hill, then what exactly are we doing? Equity is foundational to effective teaching and learning. Stripping it away changes everything. It undermines accommodations for students with special needs, eliminates differentiation and appropriate leveling in classrooms. And it raises a kind of inclusive thinking that begins with something as simple and essential as teaching children to share.
The mission and vision statements, now under unwarranted scrutiny, were crafted by community members whose work was guided by one of the most respected K-12 research firms in the country, ensuring not only integrity and rigor, but a process rooted in evidence and expertise. To material change or override these statements is to undermine the very process that gave them legitimacy. It's a dismissal of community expertise and engagement, and a rejection of the public's role in shaping its own educational future.
This plan belongs to the community. The individuals who built it see themselves, and more importantly, their children reflected in it. That sense of representation fosters belonging. Something every community must nurture, and every effective educational system must foster. This is not a one-size-fits-all plan. By rejecting or reshaping this work, you are not just offering revisions, you're silencing the voices of your stakeholders. The very individuals who place their trust in you through their vote.
To do so suggests an astonishing level of arrogance and disregard for both process and people Now is the time to honor their voice and respect the process. It deserves to be implemented. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room. Whoever would like to speak, please approach the microphone. Good evening. My name is Lisa Zorn. I'm a resident of Cherry Hill. Um, to say I was devastated and furious about learning that Dr. David Francis Maurer's contract was not going to be renewed is an understatement.
Dfm, as he is affectionately called, has been a beacon for my son, Aiden, who spoke earlier tonight. The entire class of 2027, as well as students in other classes, he sees and truly sees kids for who they are and what they can become. He knows their names, what they're interested in. He shows up and supports them at events, and is just excited to work with them and to be with them. And how he's managed to actually establish real relationships with each of these teenagers is truly awe-inspiring.
I appreciate him, um, and all that he does immensely, and it does not go unnoticed. As you can see from the people who have shown up for him, and um… those online and at home Um, he is a true gem in Cherry Hill, and that is hard to find, and there are few of them. He has touched all of us in such a positive way. I implore the board to reconsider this poor decision and keep one of the best administrators in Cherry Hill. Thank you. If you write your comment.
Going back online, I see a phone number ending in 891. It's your turn. Please unmute, give us your name and municipality. My name is Jeff Podowitz, I live in, um, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. There's an article that I read and passed on. It's from April, 10th of April 2025. Brand new. This has to do with college… with high school, too. Think about it, especially when your kids are graduating. Making the invisible visible, a taxonomy of contemporary anti-Semitic experiences on college campuses.
Silverstein and Block, making the invisible visible. Taxonomy of contemporary anti-Semitic experiences on college campuses and schools. Alright, it starts out by saying in the introduction, anti-Semitism in the United States has sharply increased since October 7, 2023. All right? Especially on college campuses, but all over. Which were upended by an epidemic of anti-Semitic hate, violence, and harassment targeting Jewish… students.
It's a fairly long article, read it. It ends by saying, the psychological toll of anti-Semitic experience on Jewish university community members. And may I say, everyone. Has been profound this past year. While overt assault and explicit discrimination remain a concern, the prevalence of microaggressions suggests that anti-Semitism is deeply embedded in institutional and social structures. Rather than limited to individual acts of hate. It always was behind the scene.
For years. About the parents that were complaining about the principal. Uh, the assistant principal, maybe just labor management collaborative, which is supposed to be involved in helping students to make education better. Maybe that labor management collaborative Even though he's assistant principal, still will decide there are better ways to utilize funds that we spend One way to maybe spend it on him. Um, maybe they'll decide, and maybe they'll talk to the superintendent, who really has the ultimate decision on this, as before. This is… it's not the board as much as the superintendent. Maybe he'll agree with
You all. But maybe this labor management collaborative, even though he's in the union member. Since they're supposed to be involved in students and helping students, in general, do what's best for him. Maybe they may help. Try them. And try appealing to the superintendent, too. Thank you very much. Thank you, Dr. Potowitz. Going back to the room. Please approach the microphone. Let me down to you? Yeah.
Hello? I'll hold it for you. Okay. Really? Thank you What'd you say your name? Hi. My name is Jackie Friedman. But before I begin, I would like a shout out to Leah, and all those who assisted her. What an unbelievable job informing updating and teaching her fellow students on the right way To follow the rules, and peaceably demonstrate.
I would hope that everyone in Cherry Hill East would acknowledge and thank her as well. For her civic duty. It's important. I am proud and privileged to be part of a family unit That includes three strong women. There is my daughter, Melissa. An educator of 30 years. Who several years ago acquired her doctorate in education. As part of that accomplishment, I, the mother.
Earned bragging rights to call her doctor. The last member of our family. Is our moon in our stores. My 15-year-old granddaughter, Logan. She belongs to the extraordinary class of 27. In the 54 years I have lived in Cherry Hill. I have seen many administrators come and go. But I have never met anyone quite like David Francis Maurer. Affectionately known as DFM. He is adored and respected by students and parents alike.
He checks all of the proverbial boxes. From day one, he made every effort to beach… to meet each child Not some of them, but all of them. In what seemed like less than two weeks, he knew their names. He actually had meaningful conversations with many individual class members. Not an easy task with teenagers. In my book, he deserves an award for this alone. Not an Emmy or Oscar, per se.
But maybe sainthood. Dfm diligently attends school events. Where equal doses of fun. Support and encouragement are offered when needed. He demonstrates honesty. Humanity and courage. With things both big and small. A breath of fresh air, you might say. Our kids noticed it all. He was simply interested in them. In a real way, a sincere way. In the last two years, DMN has… DFM has met our children.
On their terms, with dignity. And class. Does anyone in this room remember one educator from your school years? That affected them greatly. I have one more sentence. It is my belief that for many. It will be DFM. A big contributor to the heart and soul of this very special class. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Dfm has become an integral part of our village.
And we need them to stay that way. You should, too. Thank you for your comment. Of course, thank you for coming tonight, and thank you for your comment. I appreciate it. I'll nap on the way home. Going back online, Dr. Sarah Joslin, it's your turn, please unmute. Sarah Jocelyn, I'm a resident of Cherry Hill. First, I'd like to comment on the issue of the screening, the literacy screening.
That is a new New Jersey state law to screen children Uh, so that they, uh, gain the reading skills that they need by third grade. And it also extends to those that have not achieved the reading level. Um, if they are past third grade. So those… those monies are required to be spent. I also wanted to comment, um. Um, on the, um, discussion that has happened about the, um.
Core values. I did want to point out that, uh, I know you're looking for something to remind you. I would suggest, perhaps, I, three E's and a P. Uh, might be a way of remembering these, uh, these particular core values Um, as a way of bringing them to mind. And integrity is the basic one, and I put that first. Um, we did discuss these in our beginning meetings in October, but we came back and we reviewed for definitions in our last meetings based on the public input that was obtained to get a definition.
Around them. So, I just wanted to, um… I'll reiterate the process that the… that was, uh, done. During the assessment and the work around the core values. I definitely appreciate all the work that is going into Um, this discussion. Um, I did want to remind you that you will be having a cohort. That is coming through, uh, starting with the first full year of pre-K. That will move into that third grade testing by the time you get through your five years.
I think that assessment of the understanding of how pre-K assists in that reading capability, for example. Will be something that is of value to you. Um, I appreciate The work that has gone into making assure that all of the Uh, facilities have the skills and the training that are needed And that's a very important factor to go on. I know that the pre-K, um. Retention and the training was an important part in discussion… in discussing Uh, the KPIs for, uh, the staffing and staffing retention.
I appreciate all the work that the board is doing, and I thank you for your continued enthusiasm. And focus on getting annual goals once you have our, um, our core, um, strategy in place. Thank you so much for your work. Thank you so much for your comment. We appreciate it. Going back to the room, is there anyone else who would like to speak? Please approach the microphone. Hi, my name is Melissa Friedman. My daughter, Logan, is a 10th grader at Cherry Hill East.
I tell this story often. Two years ago, I interviewed for the position of vice principal. Cherry Hill East. I have been an educator for 30 years. I have my master's, my doctorate in curriculum and instruction. And I went into that interview so passionately. I graduated from East. My daughter is there. I love this district. But I can tell you something about my mom. She raised me to know.
That there's always someone smarter, faster. Richer, poorer. Venue. Dfm was the right choice that day. He was the right choice. He was a better choice than me. And I take so much pride in what I do. I take so much pride. In this district, but I couldn't think of Anybody that I would rather have lead my child.
And I'm the biggest advocate. Of this district. Nobody, nobody could replace him. My biggest fear… was that someone would steal them before the 4 years was up, and he wouldn't shake My daughter's hand at graduation. Because I'm so proud to say that he was leading. He took the job I wanted, but that he deserved. He earned. And I think the last thing I'm going to leave you with, that every single person has already said everything there is to say.
But my biggest disappointment is to know that we have leaders of this board. Ms. Winters, you have a child who's a sophomore. And I couldn't think of another human being that is better to lead our children. For an example, for us. Our children. I don't need to know why he was let go. What I need to know is how he was treating our kids, and what he stood up for, and what he represents. And he represents all that's good and fair in this district.
And it makes me so unbelievably sad and disappointed to know that we don't have a board that supports a fabulous administrator, and they're hard to come by. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. I don't see anyone online. Is there anyone else in the room who would like to speak? Good evening. My name is Ruby, uh… I'm a Cherry Hill resident since last year.
So we moved to the town last year. And I'm here for a very personal reason. Believe me, it's not about DFM. It's completely different. I'm a desperate mother who's looking for the help. That school districts make last year regarding my son's admission. So, we're going back and forth. And you can see I'm getting emotional on that. Because we are going back and forth with the school district about So, when we move to this town, we did not know the schools here.
All we heard, Cherry Hill has a good school, and this and that. So we're like, okay, we can trust the system. So, the school district made a decision on my son that he will go to the Rosa International. It's not something that we picked up for him. And now, last couple of months, we are having a conversation We made a mistake, this kid has to go to a new school. And I'm sure you all understand, when a kid goes from elementary school to the middle school. It's a big change for the kid. And I have two kids.
And I've been blessed with that, that they both are very gifted academically. They all are A's and everything. But my firstborn… is very introvert. He's very gifted. When he was 9, he was like. Runner-up for international Science, International Geography, national history, it's just natural-born talent. But when it comes to the social things. He take time to make friends. Like I said, he's very introvert. And now, we move to the new town last year. Finally, he made up his friend circle, and he'd been happy in the school. It took time.
And now that he's going to the next year, to the 7th grade. Now, a school district is telling me you need to change the school again. Like I said, I have another kid. She is a social bee, and I wouldn't be worried even a second for her. But with my firstborn, he take time to make friends, and it's a social… I don't know, like, who gonna pay for this? Like, this social anxiety for my kid that he took time to make friends, now he's happy with the school, now he go to the new school.
And when all the kids are coming from elementary to the middle school, they all are on the same page, now he's going to the 7th grader, that 6th grader already have friends. So, I'm not understanding, this is not something I picked up. Academically, I'm not worried, because again, I'm not bragging about it, but both me and my husband, we are in research. He's from Colombia, I'm from Cornell, so we… academically, we are very blessed. But socially, this is not right for my kid. And I look for help, I'm getting the same answer back and forth.
I'm respecting the chain of command. I reach out to the registration office. They talk to their supervisor, they say superintendent will have the same answer. That's why I'm here today. Like, I just need the answer for my kid. Thank you so much. Thank you for your comment. Hi, my name is Wendy Starkman. I'm a resident of Cherry Hill, and I have a son who is In 10th grade at Cherry Hill East.
I just wanted to share a letter that I had sent to Dr. Morton the other week regarding DFM. It is with great sadness and utter disbelief that I am having to write this letter. It has recently come to my attention that Dr. David Francis Maurer's contract was recently not renewed. Having been a parent of a high school student for the last 10 years at Cherry Hill High School East. I can honestly say that the last two years have by far been the best high school experience.
That we've had. He has demonstrated to students that high school can be a place that they enjoy attending every day. Their day starts with his warm greetings. As the buses arrive, and the students are felt seen and welcomed every day. Throughout the day, he can be found walking the halls, engaging with the students, and being a part of their daily routine. In the previous years, there has been… there has been no social interaction administratively. With any true warmth that made the students feel cared about.
We're safe. Dr. Francis Maurer has had an open-door policy since his first day at High School East. He has made himself available to all students, not just the Class of 2027. To come see him with any issues or even help when needed. He has been a vital part in helping to revamp the math and business programs to help the school improve upon standardized testing, as well as help the students reach their goals throughout their time in school.
During the crisis with the Israeli war, he was an integral part in helping the student body Come together as one, and seeing one another as classmates and friends. He stepped in where needed. To support all students who were struggling, to make them feel safe in a very unsettling environment. On a personal note, our son has been involved in the robotics program at East. He has been a very strong advocate of this program throughout his time at East. He frequently stops by the robotics lab after school. Speaks with all the students about what they are working on.
He has been a very strong voice in making sure that this program does not disappear, as every year we get less and less funding. It is very unsettling as a parent to see such a strong figure in her child's life so expendable. Where has the value of what he brings to the school outweigh the cost? To let go of an administrator who truly cares about students has made such an impact in all of their lives is unfathomable. We as residents of Cherry Hill Vote for our school board members with the hopes that they have our students' best interests at hearts. But these actions recently make us question that.
On a personal note, I'm heartbroken for DFM. But I am more heartbroken for the students of Cherry Hill East. The Class of 27 deserves Dr. Francis Maurer's contract to be extended, and so does the entire high school. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. I don't see anyone online going back to the room. Is there anyone who would like to speak? Please approach the microphone. Good evening, everybody in the board. Thank you for having us here this evening. Um, I do want to make a caveat that this is strictly coming from my perspective, um, for those of you that do know me in the district, this is a straight parent perspective, so please let me explain that.
My name is Dawn Fischera, and I'm a resident of Cherry Hill. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. Um, the statements, again, I said, are my own. As we saw this evening. Students are impacted by the potential loss of GFM in ways that move beyond academia. It speaks the very sense of belonging that we want from our students. Which, let's be frank. Impacts student achievement. You can't have achievement without belonging. You've heard stories, personal stories.
About kids feeling seen and heard. How they feel like they belong. In this district, kids that wouldn't go to school. Unless they saw DFM. And gave him a smile in the morning. Kids that have said that he was the reason that they weren't back the next day. You can't put a price on that. You can't. As a parent, an educator, and a leader who understands the critical importance of culture, connection, and consistency. In-school leadership especially. During the junior year, one of the most pivotal points in a student's academic journey, I am dismayed.
At the loss of someone who embodies all those core values that were spoken about this evening. Junior year is a pressure point. It's the year where students are navigating high-stakes exams, high-stakes testing. College and career decisions. My own son is a sophomore, a class of 27, going through it right now, so I see the struggle he's making. And I know the hand that DFN has given him. Um, it's also the year where a strong sense of school belonging can either anchor a student or where its absence can create a lasting disengagement.
Dfm is not just an administrator. As was spoken earlier, we don't know all the facts, we can't know all the facts. Personnel is personnel, and it's close to us, and we get that. Right? But as a school administrator, he's been very visible, he's been trusted, he's culturally responsive for LGBTQIA community, for our neurodivergent community. It's not… for our IEP, our 504 community, it's not just our gen ed community whose lives he has touched. He's touched everybody's lives, and it's a way that's meaningful. That Facebook post that went up have 141 comments, not one says, yes, but remember when he did this.
That says something. I want to close tonight just by saying I know it's a difficult choice that you have to make, and again, that we can't… we can't make the decisions. You have to make the hard ones. But I really do hope that the voices you listen to are arguably the most important stakeholder voices. That's those kids. That waited 3 hours to be heard. Their voices. We work for them. I'm in education. I've been in education for a number of years. We work for the kids. That's the job. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment. I don't see anyone online. Is there anyone else in the room who would like to speak? Please approach the microphone. Good evening, everyone. Jeff Killian. I'm a resident of Cherry Hill. I'm also a long-time math teacher at East. I'm here to represent the faculty voice in support of Dr. David Francis Maurer, and I'm going to read an excerpt of a letter that I sent to all of you previously.
In his two years at Cherry Hill. Dr. David Francis Maurer has been excellent in his leadership of the math department. And it has brought many positive attributes to high school East. For many of us, David was our first supervisor with extensive experience as a mathematics teacher, and that's Very invaluable to have somebody with that level of that knowledge. This deep knowledge base of mathematics curriculum and instruction allows David to better facilitate instruction that is both rigorous and acceptable.
His level of transparency and openness is a rare and commendable trait. And has earned our respect for his decisions regarding our department. Even when we may not agree. His willingness to advocate tirelessly, both for the needs of our students And for the well-being and professional growth of his teachers, has helped all of us to improve our craft. David has also established remarkable rapport with students. He leads not just with authority. But also with empathy and respect. His doors always open to students who require guidance and support.
He consistently meet students who are struggling, ensuring that they have the resources that they need to succeed. He has created a culture where every student feels seen. Valued and safe. This has made a lasting impact, not just as a slogan. But as a lived experience for our students. Numerous times over the last few weeks, we have heard stories where David has been the lifeline For some of our more at-promise students at East.
We realized that sometimes administration must make decisions that they deem as in the best interest of Cherry Hill. The one that's outside, we may not fully understand, but must respect. Whatever the reason, and this has been so eloquently stated tonight, it really is a shame that there isn't a way that we could work things out with David today, even if he's not in this role. That is in some role in the district, as we believe that he is just an essential fit with the East community, and I do hope he's listening tonight, because I want to thank him for his support.
And our working relationship over the last 2 years. Just in summary, I implore you, if there's anything that we can do. The reverse this decision, we would really appreciate it. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comment. There's no one waiting online. Is there anyone else in the room who would like to speak? Please approach the microphone. Uh, Rick Short, Cherry Hill. I come back again, Madam President, to ask for clarification.
About the statements made by, um… Mr. Greenball, claiming I put false information out about budgetary things. There's no way that that West Stadium Um, there's way more than 500,000. It's millions of dollars. That's the first thing. My second thing is about the to D, F, M. You know. People behind me, the people in… well, I don't know about the people in front of me, don't understand one thing. He's just a victim. He's a victim of preschool, pre-K. Folks?
Doesn't matter anything about him, or how good he is, or what he does, it's just the cost. We gotta get pre-K! We gotta get 1,700 students, and he's cut because of budgetary reasons, folks. That's why he's cut. Has nothing to do with, uh, his performance or anything like that. I mean… These people behind me… made eloquent speeches. You know, it was many years ago, just 3 years ago, we had to do the big, uh, equity, uh. Uh, we had a dumbed down, uh, east, because we had a transfer teachers out of East, because East was performing too well, all in the name of equity.
Um, and there was a lot of bad decisions made then. This is another bad decision, folks, and it's just the cost. Next year, the pre-K costs are going to go through the roof. Dr. Potowitz has been talking about this Um, and luckily, Ms. Winters will, uh… Ms. Sugars will be gone and won't have to deal with it, but… It's gonna be a blood blast next year. And my final comment about equity, the obsession for the town's obsession with equity. So again, I have twin daughters. Do I want this same exact exact outcome with equity for my… For my daughters. Do I want them to be the exact same intelligence when they graduate?
No. That's impossible. But that's the belief of the town. We live in a world of equality Where we want the best for every possible student, whether they're IEP or whatever. That's what we want. We want equality. We don't want to be obsessed You know, I've stood up here 4 years in a row and asked. Anyone to prove DEI works. No one's come to the mic and showed any evidence that for 12 years, DEI has worked. Dei is part of equity.
Equity is another scam! Again, I ask you. Don't you want the best for every single student? When they graduate? Or do you want them the exact same? Do you want every Cherry Hill Each student be exactly the same? Exactly the same outcome. That is equity. We want a quality… thank you. Thank you for your comment. Just to clarify, folks, the preschool funding is completely separate and has nothing to do with funding for High School East.
Is there anyone else here who would like to make a comment? Oh, our student! She had plenty of time to write something. Yeah. Thank you, miss. Um, well… My name is Jenna Taylor. Um, I live in Cherry Hill. I go to West, and I'm your rep. Uh, for OS. First, I wanted to thank the panel that chose me for this position. And the opportunity to represent West. From my time sitting as one of the board reps, I have learned a lot of things.
It has proved to be va- to give me valuable insight on how schools are governed, run, and managed. Including how decisions impact our students, staff, administrators, and community. As I move on my… as I move on from my position as a board rep, I hope you continue to amplify and value our students voices, as they are who we are most importantly trying to serve. Student Voice has… student voice is one of the main reasons I applied for this position.
Since I was younger, I was a young child, I was a very outspoken child. I was often given the chance to speak on behalf of my peers. So it's been given this opportunity, I have made it my mission to speak on things my peers have found most important to them. So, I sincerely thank you for this opportunity Since this may be my last time speaking on this mic as a student, I just want to thank all my teachers and administrators that have guided me through my years in this district. So many teachers… have given me so many opportunities.
Um, all the way from the bottom in kindergarten, Ms. Costanzo. All the way up top to Ms. Cooper in 12th grade. Mr. Birdie, as my principal of Accuracy. They have taught me to speak up. Speak out and hold my head high while doing it. They have instilled in me that I can do anything on my head held high while I do it. They also instilled in me that I can do anything that I put my mind to, and I will take those lessons with me as I continue my academic education at San Diego State University.
I just want to thank you guys. This… district has become my identity. And it's gonna be very hard to move on! From next year. This place is who I am, and I care for it deeply. And I just will never forget my years here. And I just want to thank everybody for making… displays the best possible place. Especially those teachers, you guys have left everlasting impacts on my heart.
And have taught me so many amazing things that I will carry into this world, and I promise to make a difference. For you guys. So, thank you. Jenna, thank you. We are so very proud of you. You represent the best of us. Is there anyone else who would dare to follow that? And make a public comment this evening?
Is there anyone else who likes to approach the microphone before I close second public comment? Okay. Closing second public comment, and going to superintendent comments. Wow, so I get to follow. It's very late, I'll be… I'll be very brief, but just thank you to… I want to say thank you to all of the students. Um, community members as well came out and shared their honest opinions and gave comment.
Uh, this evening. We… we are not at liberty to discuss personnel issues, any personnel-related matters, you know, not something that Uh, would be up for discussion. Uh, just as a point of clarification, the Board of Education is not necessarily directly involved With the renewal of staff for an evaluative process of any staff member, there'll be an administrative process, starts at the school level. And then works its way up to me. So there's nothing for the Board of Education to take action on. Though they appreciate your comments, you know, I can… I can definitely… attest to that fact. Just one thing I'd like to share, because I see a couple kids who were a part of it.
I had an opportunity to attend the, uh, Cherry Hill High School East Model UN Conference 202 Not this weekend, last weekend. Truly amazing. Truly amazing. Probably 100, 200 kids or so there from… a good contingent from East, but and West as well, but a number of schools represented. Uh, but it was truly phenomenal to, uh, to see the students engage in, like, diplomatic role play. And, um, you know, put together resolutions and things. Very, very fascinating.
Kids were outstanding, and I was impressed, um, by you guys, so great job with that. I want to put a plug in as well for our… Community event this… this Saturday, August 31st. I'm sorry, May 31st. It wasn't that long of a meeting. The meeting wasn't that long. 5 hours and 25 minutes ago! Yeah, uh, 5K, Starting at 8 a.m, 8 a.m, we have about 150 people or so.
Signed up thus far, we're looking for more registrations. Dr. Dreisen's gonna be one of those people. We'll follow a number of board members. We're gonna follow that. 5k with a fare because we care. This is a student-led event. It's been, um, facilitated, along with Mr. Roscoff, but by students from high schools east and west. These students are members of our superintendent Student Advisory Council. Our community event opportunity for us to pull the community together, and all the funds go toward helping students who are in need.
As well. So, great, great, great cause. Um… Looking forward to that. Please come out and attend. Yes, June is next week. We are officially in the home stretch. Young people, you will be graduating before we know it, before we turn around. So, uh, truly a great time, but thank you for everyone who came out tonight. Uh, have a great evening. Thank you, Dr. Morton. I didn't even make the motion yet, you guys. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Do I have a second? Mr. Payne and Ms. Bruskov. Ms. Taylor. All in favor? The meeting is adjourned. Thank you so much, everybody.