##VIDEO ID:LEgO6H26Wes## Good evening. Public notice of this meeting, pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act has been given by the Board Secretary on September 30, th and the following, 2,024, in the following manner. Posted notice on the School bulletin board at the Administration Building, transmitted to the Courier Post, Philadelphia, and the Clerk of Cherry Hill Township. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. This is sugars. Can you call the role? Please? Mrs. Chirane here. Mrs. Gallagher, Mr. Greenbaum, here. Mr. Mayor, Dr. Rude. This is Niaz here. This is. Mrs. Winters here. Miss Stern, here. Just want to recognize tonight. The Phillies are playing, and you're all very dedicated for. Being here. So thank you all. Being here and not watching the game. We have no other recognition tonight. So we are. Go on to. Are administrative reports. Is that right or presentations? Is that correct? Turn it over to Dr. Morton. Thank you very much, Miss Stern. So we we've talked quite a bit. Over the last. Several months about the need for us to ensure that we're capturing community voice. Pulling community into the frag, as it relates to the school district. Part of that is system of planning, strategically, planning. Around how we'll pull the community in. We have our supervisor projects who is integral. And that process prepared to give us a presentation. So I'm gonna turn it over to. Ms. Roscoff. For the presentation. Here we go. Hope. It works. It's working. Good evening, everyone. Before I get started. I just want to take an opportunity. To introduce myself to those of you who may not know me. My name is Carol Roscoff. I have been A teacher and working in this district, for this is the beginning of my 25th year. 23 of those years was teaching English at Cherry Hill, West. 13 of those 23 I was also the Coordinator for student activities, and then there was one year where I was assistant principal. I've been supervisor of. Special projects since July 1st of this year. It's been exciting, and I learned something new every single day. I have lived in this community in Cherry Hill for 40. 6 years. It seems like. When I say that number out loud, it seems like forever. I am an integral part of the community. My son went through Cherry Hill. Public schools. I live in the same house that I grew up in in Cherry Valley neighborhood. So Cherry Valley is Cherry Hill is who I am, and what I am. As we go through this story of the community. Community relations plan what I'd like to remind everybody as I teach English. So I'm gonna tell you a story. Right but as we go through it. As we go. As we go through the story, I would like everyone to just keep in mind. That this story is fluid. It's dynamic. It will change as we. As the needs of the district changes. Efforts and programs change, and it will always be reflective of what the community is telling us at the time. So the community relations plan. As I was looking through it. And and putting it together. I realized that it's a story of paradoxes, and in literature paradoxes are where 2 opposite to coexistently. And so, as I was thinking about that, I realized. That on some levels. You know we have what is the external appearance and what is really the internal appearance. So the 1st paradox that we have, and it's come straight from the communications audit is that as a district, we believe, and it's true that we put lots of information out to the public. It, you know, our our understanding is, the information is out there. But the public's understanding of that is, the information's out there, but we always don't know how to find it. And the one of the recommendations from the communications audit was that there's sort of this feeling in town that if you are in the inner circle, or you know how to find the information. It's easy for you to find it. But if you're not, then you the information becomes overwhelming or not existed in in their perception. Paradox number 2 is that we had this sort of. People in the community have this intrinsic. Connection to the schools, but they also have this extrinsic feeling where they feel cut off, and what I mean by that is when I say intrinsic. If you talk to people will say to you, I moved here for the schools. Right? That is, that is one of the number. One reasons. People tell you they move here. They also say to you, and Cherry Hill is a town where we have 6 degrees of separation. If you've lived here long enough, and you talk to people. You can always find people that are connected to you in some way or someone. You know. So when you talk to people, they either say I moved here for the schools or. I went to school here. My parents went to school here. Now my children are going to school here at Cherry Hill, West. We have 4. We are now at 4th generation, families that have gone through Cherry Hill, West, right? And a lot of our elementary schools. We are at 3rd generation families going through some of the same elementary schools. So they had that internal connection. But they don't feel as if they have that. Other connection, where they feel involved. The last Cherry Hill West Pta. Meeting I went to. There were 2 people there other than me. So there is this lack of connection extrinsically. To our district and the efforts and programs that we're putting forth in the district. And again, it's this idea, if you are, if you know how to do it. Then you do it. But if you're not, if you're new to this community. You don't have that 6 degree of separation to the community, or if English isn't your 1st language there, there is this disconnect that people feel right. And the 3rd paradox that we come through is this idea of inclusivity, and we do inclusion very well. We do inclusion really well when it comes to our students when it comes to our curriculum, when it comes to. Making everybody in the buildings feel welcome, making sure that we are conscious of various holidays and and and that type of inclusion where we sort of fall down in this idea of inclusion is again this extrinsic connection. Where people who are new to the community moving into the meeting maybe have lived here for a long time, don't feel connected to the community. So we can all argue, and we probably will, that those are just perceptions. And this is a quote that comes from the. Communications audit. I don't know how to get rid of that one. That comes from the communication audit. Where it talks about the perceptions of the community, and it says, perceptions about inadequate. Perceptions about inadequate engagement and two-way communication are hurting the district's credibility, and we could all argue that it's perception. But what we all also know that it and and the world we live in perception becomes reality. So again, this is the story. And as you look at that one of the recommendations from the communications audit was that we evaluate and expand the district's communication, capacity and infrastructure. And literally, what that was talking about was things like the website that Mr. Paulinsky is working on increasing access to information through. Social media like tangible things. But what I'm gonna argue is that infrastructure can also be something more symbolic. And the infrastructure then becomes the relationships that we're trying to build. And we have to think about that. So I look at this picture, and it's an archipelago. Right, and the big island in the middle, I I think, represents the district. And the islands around the outside of it represent other constituencies in the town. If you notice the island in the middle does have a pathway that's going out to it. But the pathway is not connected to anything. So what the infrastructure that. But part of my job to do to do is to build these relationships with. And each one of these islands represents something. And I wanna make sure. That I read them right. Students. Staff and teachers and our Union. Families, businesses. Civic groups, ptas. Local Chamber of Commerce. Rotaries, cultural groups, senior citizens, alumni. Realtors and other funding sources. And what we have to start thinking about is relationships with each one of those things are really the pilings that are going to support the bridge. Not the causeway, the causeway are the programs and the efforts and the. Pieces that we're trying to institute. But those relationships become the infrastructure, the pilings that's going to hold those things up. And also with the reason that we need to think about how we do. This is because it was all part of district goals that I felt applied directly to me. And the 1st one is to identify key stakeholders and clean staff community members and local businesses. And that happens one person at a time. One group at a time, one family at a time. It's it's. Consistent. It's personal. And you have to make people understand that you are listening to them when they speak to you. Right. And we've already started doing this, and these people will become the ambassadors that was recommended in the communications audit that we need, that when we had, we need information, correct information put out in the community that there's a trust that we have built between them and us, and they will go out, and they will carry that message for us. Again establishing partners with local organization and community groups to support district initiatives and foster collaborative. And we have done that recently with the collaborative that we have put together for the elementary redistricting. And we are also on Thursday holding the 1st planning meeting. And that's another group of community members that we have put together to help us through these processes and help us to build trust. Expansion of experiential learning opportunities for students currently on almost minute scale, very small. We have students about 25 right now, who are doing experiential learning. In the district. These are seniors who either have a half day in the morning or a half day in the afternoon, who go out to different businesses. We currently have partnerships with Jeff. Person with Pen, with the Cherry Hill Police Department, with environmental resolutions, with some of our with elementary schools, man. Kilmer and Thomas Paine. And we have student, we have. Seniors, students who go out into these institutions and learn, along with the their business partners. This year. For the 1st time, we have interns from all 3 high schools. We have about 20 from West. And we have, I believe, 3 from Cherry Hill, east. And one or 2 from the alternative program. And then finally partnering with community organizations and universities. And this idea is that we are having conversations now. We already have dual Credit partnerships with Camden County and Rcbc. And we are now looking to expand that to 4 year colleges. When Dr. Morton and I were in California, at the League of Innovative Schools. He and I would do in the convening during the day, and then at night we would have these conversations about. Where did we want to take what we were learning there. We saw really great stuff out there, and one of the pieces that we kept coming back to was this idea of, know your own, grow your own. And we. We established this idea sort of as the overarching theme. Our guiding principle that would. Help us through whatever. Programs or efforts that we were going to be doing. And if you look at each one of these. That is exactly what each one of these will do right with our stakeholders. We are, we are knowing who our stakeholders are, that we trust, and we are growing them into partners with us. The the collaborative relationships, same thing we are, we are. Growing relationships with people. With the experiential learning opportunities that that takes on know your own, grow your own to a whole different level. Because now not only are we growing our students? The business partners are also growing a potentially new workforce for themselves. And then with the partners, with the colleges and universities. Again, that that is twofold. Right because we are. We are ensuring that these young people could start college with an associates degree. But the colleges are also growing their own, and knowing their own because they are, they are fostering. These young people. Colleges have a problem with retention of students. And so now they are also going to get to know who their students are when they start there after they have finished this collaboration. So the big question is, how do we? How do we want to do this? And again, I'm gonna. Argue that this is constantly going to be changing. It's going to depend on circumstances. Right. But there are some ways that we can start doing this. Some of them we are doing already. So the superintendent we have started doing those. This is ways for us to recognize. Staff members. Students. And we had talked this week about starting to recognize some of our alumni who still live in the community. We have so many teachers who are teaching in this community in our district who were students in our district, and we need to recognize that and show people in the community that. Dr. Morton is going to start doing some podcast. We haven't figured out how that's going to really work yet, but we're gonna figure it out as we go and where he sits down and explains some of the things that we are do. We're doing great things in this community. We just have to make sure the community knows it right. At one of the meetings Mrs. Sugars get a great presentation on the bond work that had been finished. We need to share that with the community. Dr. Mayan did a great presentation on preschool expansion. We need to share that with the community. Listening sessions. We've already started those last week we attended the. Collective Civic Association meeting. That's where all the presidents of the civic associations come together. We met with them. We listened to some of the things that they had to talk about. They have many ideas to share. They're they're more than willing to step up when we need them to and that was just one way. Yesterday we went to Rosa Middle School, and we met with a very, some very enthusiastic. Middle schoolers who shared some really insightful ideas with us about the cell phone policy and the use of artificial intelligence in the classroom. Business and community partners. We have. Met with both. Of the local chambers. South Jersey Chamber, Camden County Chamber. I get them confused. I'm gonna be honest with you. One of them is sharing with us a plan that they have. Where they bring in the summer they will bring educators into partners where the the educators job. Some of these partners and learn, what do they need? What do our students need in the classroom to be successful in these businesses? When I talk to them they would not replicate the program just for. Cherry Hill. It was too expensive, but they gave us all the materials and told us, go for it. If you want to do it, do it. So we are in the process. Of putting that together. On December 5.th The other chamber is going to have their monthly at Cherry Hill West. The culinary kids will be cooking breakfast for them. And we will give us an opportunity to showcase our students, but will also give us opportunity to reach out to them learning opportunities that our students are doing, and also ask them. For other opportunities for our students. Town halls will be happening in January around elementary, and they will happen as needed. Events. I hear every meeting. You all share the events that you attend. And we we need to really. Keep that up and maybe do some more. Tomorrow Dr. Morton will be attending the Cherry Hill Education Foundation Golf Audi. I understand that there was much discussion and debate over who was going to have the privilege of driving him around in the golf cart and in fact, there was so much discussion that next year that is going to be a raffle opportunity for them. We also. I have. Made up my mind. I've never done it before. I've made up my mind that in the late spring emphasis on late partnering with Cha and the Ed Foundation, we're gonna put together a 5 k. Run for the district. Just just things to be out in the community. And I was thinking about this today also. I'm I'm gonna try. To organize a big. Community-wide community service. Because I I really think it's important for our students to see us. Supporting the community that they live in. The community advisory panel is the. New name for the community collaborative. Mrs. Gallagher is not here. But I I did want her to know that when she made the recommendation that we changed the name. I I. Listen to her, and I realized that her concerns were valid. And so we changed the name now to the community advisory panel. And and then the communication efforts. Before Mrs. Wilson left she left a very detailed strategic plan for communication. That the new Public Information Officer will be able to follow and pick up. When she begins. This is just a quick little video. It's the 1st spotlight. We'll get. We're here at Rosa International School, and today we will be recognizing. Mr. Jack Mercer, teacher for his outstanding efforts in supporting the community here at Rosa International. For supporting. So I want to recognize someone who's here today. And I want you guys help and recognize. This individual is one of the greatest teachers that I've ever worked with. He has a special bond with students, and has so much patience and passion for his subjects, helping others. It seemed, with the guitar in the end within the cafeteria, on a daily basis during lunch, and is ahead of several after school clubs. He is the 1st one in the school building, and the last one to leave. Mr. Is a great part of the Cherry Hill community. Please join me. Give him a round of applause. Mark, how do I move. We're here at Rosa International Middle School, and today we will be recognizing. Mr. Jack Marther teach outstanding. So I got it. Thank you. So I have this quote from Travis Kelsey, and people who know me well will laugh because. I'm only a sometimes football fan. And I probably should not go on the record and say this. But I'm going to. I'm not a huge Taylor swift fan, either. I'm sure she's a very lovely person, but it's not. It's just not the genre of music that I would choose to listen to. So I I wanna ask you all for just for a brief little bit of time. To pretend now that you're in my English class, because this is what I do. Right this is who I am, and this is what I do. And if this were English class. We would spend a lot of time. Looking at the words of this quote, and I used to always spend a lot of time with my students and one of the big questions we would always talk about is, why do writers pick one word over another word. Right. So as you're looking at this, the 2 words that should come out at you is the idea and community. It is one thing to be a part of an organization. It's another thing to be a part of the community. And in class at this point. This is where we would talk about the differences in the denotations and the connotations of the words. Right, so. Denotation, dictionary, definition, real definition, are very similar. Organization is. An organiz, an organized body of people with a particular purpose. Right? Okay, community. A group of people living in the same place and having a shared purpose and character. So when you're looking at those words. On it from the dictionary. They're not that much different. But now I'm going to ask you all to think about them in terms of their connotations. Right, and the connotations are the associations that we bring to the words. And I always say to the kids that at this point it's the feel meaning of the words. It's what makes you feel when you hear them. Right. And when organization. For me. When I think of organization, I think of. Isolated. I think of cold, I think of institutional I it's not a warm feeling for me, however, when you think about community. You think about family? You think about neighbors, you're thinking about being a part of something. Right, and then we would spend time talking about why, the article and versus the article V. Right. And we we would spend a lot of time talking about that. So as we, as we move forward, we have to remember. That? Why we are an organization. A pretty big organization. We really want to be a part. Of the community. And that's what we all have to work towards. So that's sort of the. Community relations plan. If there's any questions I'll be glad to answer any questions. Is anybody on the board have any questions or. I would offer comments as well. Mrs. Winters. So I love that quote. And I think one thing about. My fellow board members and myself is that. We all consider ourselves, be part of the community and different ways and aspects. So I just wanted to offer to you for me. Is that if there are parts of the community that you're looking to reach. I would encourage you to ask. Myself, and I think the rest of us, too, that we would help you. To reach out, because all of us are volunteers on the board. But. We're all also volunteers and lots of other places. Volunteer with the Girl Scouts and a volunteer with my church. So I just think as you're. Expanding the way that we think about. Our place as part of the community, we can all be part of helping you reach out to maybe those aspects that you may not personally have a connection to. We have a connection to. So just to offer that I appreciate that and that I guess now the gauntlet is gonna have to start training for a 5 k. We'll get there together. Thank you so much, Miss Roscoff. It was fantastic. You can walk. Mr. Green is suggesting that we have the option to walk. I will. Absolutely love to walk a 5 k. My days of running are over. My knees have said no more, I think going to so, but I will surely be there to walk. So hopefully, we'll that will be part of the community inclusion right? Well, and that's you know, those events are just community building kinds of events. Right? They're not. You know they'll raise a little bit of money. But it's more about building the community and getting everyone out together for a common purpose. Other board members have comments or questions. Mr. Mayor, I could. I could probably go one for a while on on each of the each of the particular points you mentioned. I'll just simply say. You know, as a board. We. We talked, and it's been a couple of years since I've been on the board about the importance of improvement, about the importance of. Getting our message out, and and truly connecting. With the community with various stakeholders, in a way that. Will be more impactful. And we just had not. Figured out how to do that. And certainly the communications or audit was tremendously helpful. But I I'll just I wanna say that just even hearing and. You know I've known you for. Long enough as a teacher of one of our one of my daughters, but also as a community member who's been concerned with more than just the schools. Hearing, and even if I didn't. Hearing your presentation tonight. Convinces me that much more, that you're absolutely the right person for the role you're in. But that and that. You get it right. You care. And you see the way forward. I and you know I I believe, and I want to speak for all the remaining Board members, but I hope I do. We are here to support those efforts. Not just in reaching out individually, as Mrs. Winner said. You know she would with her groups. Of course I would do the same. But the importance of getting this right and of improving community relations. Across the board cannot be overstated. So much of what we have done and improved upon and instituted in the last year or so. Requires that kind of continuous and continuous improvement. Community input community and. The work you're doing. We'll support that. And I think. It's just tremendously important. So. You know I can't say Thank you enough, and and we but we. It's a team effort. We are part of that community. So I look forward to participating. If it means getting a new pair of running sneakers. I'm there. I might require something at the finish line that you know to help me get through. But you know but no, you know, and again, not to minimize it or or make light of it. This. These are amazing efforts there, tremendously important. Thank you. Thank you. To the members of the. Advisory advisor, group, advisory panel. We're here to help, to support and to. And to apply it any way we can. This is Tom. I said, thank you to. Our account. I I cannot pronounce your last name so, but for. What I I guess, get my attention was. The very beginning, when we partner with the different institutions, so the student can go out and get a feeling of it what they can. Maybe. Study or go in the fields. I guess, in the field of study they give them the opportunity for them to grow up. What we teaching. In class is great, but what is out there is even a lot bigger. And I think an organization in a community can. I mean, I belong to a lot organizations. But I think community comes as well that we all work together. I think the main thing is. Peace. If we could do that. Well, thank you for doing that. That's all I want to say. Yes. Is this Chirpane. I guess. My, I'd like to kind of piggyback off of what Gina said a little bit first.st Ask definitely. Thank you for everything that you put into this. Seen firsthand a lot of the initiatives that you're. Tackling, and I appreciate all of the effort that's gone into what you've done and what you're about to do. And so my my challenge to you would be to try to find when you're building these teams of people to share their perspectives. Is to try to find the people that aren't always the. The more. The the loudest people and the people that have been as engaged. Because I think that's kind of giving us in the same situation same kind of perspectives, a lot of the same voices that are comfortable coming here, and that kind of thing. And, like Gina, said, I think we would definitely all have. Ideas. But, I don't know that I have the exact answer, but definitely trying to find the smaller voices, or maybe the ones that are a little bit more intimidated by settings like this that wouldn't. Necessarily speak up or give their perspective. Other ways, I think, would target a population of this community. That we desperately need to target. So Over the this past summer. I I read something. It wasn't a a full biography or memoir, but I read something from Nancy Pelosi, and Nancy Pelosi had a. Sort of Ocd. Ish kind of obsession with every time she met a person. She filled out a 3 by 5 card on that person. Their name, if she had their contact, their contact, how she met them, and like what her 1st impressions were, and she kept this big stack. Of 3 by 5 guards. So what I've started doing is filling out my 3 by 5 cards. Right is old fashion. Is that sounds. It's, you know, it helps me, because if I see someone and I think Oh, wait a minute, and I go back. I can. I can remember. So I that's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to put together a group of people. And I'm gonna put it in a database so that other people have access to it right? But as I as I meet people, I'm trying to sort of just keep note of who they are for that very reason. Mrs. Niaz. Great job on the presentation. I enjoyed it very much, and I appreciate the work that you put into. And just wanna say that. I I'm more than happy to work with you to. Reach out to the communities that I belong to, whether it's the Muslim community or the disabled community. Think those are very important communities that we and maybe getting different communities to come together, you know, and and for a specific initiative, and I'll be at the 5 K-. Run. I'll bring my Manual wheelchair to make it fair, 'cause I think I'll win if I bring this chair. But I can, I can bring my manual wheelchair, or maybe try that. We are ambitious bunch. Here we're we're all gonna show up. I don't know if anybody else. So I It's interesting, because. 1st of all, fantastic. Very excited, and and. I was very curious where this was gonna go. I was very curious where your role was gonna go or and where it is now. And obviously it's it's it's forever changing. You know. I think. I think, to Mrs. Trophy's point, I think it's really. There are so much distortion, sometimes by the loudest voices, sometimes the loudest voices do have. Bring a good representation. But a lot of times there's a lot of distortions. I hear that from people who left and move back people who've been here all along, people who are new. To Cherry Hill, and you know. I think it's especially challenging. It's interesting. The kids talked about AI. Right and and technology because it's it's we all see how challenging it is. When you know, when our world, many of our worlds have become algorithms right there. Unbeknownst to unrecognized by us sometime. How much of our day. Is channeled through algorithms right? And and we start to realize we don't even. We're not even choosing. Who's we're who? We're being told who our community is? And yet, like in our real lives that are off screens or off technology. You know we don't choose necessarily. When you buy a home, or you rent an apartment. Or, you know, move into a neighborhood in whatever place you're living. You don't always know. Who are you moving next door to? Who. I for me. It's. The beauty of it's 1 of the it's 1 of the main reasons I chose. Cherry Hill actually is is truly. Yes, we moved here for the schools, you know. 1415 years ago, whatever it was. Cause. I you know I'm not someone born and bred here. I didn't grow up here. My family get convince all my family to move down here. By the way, which is. So something meter he'll put, or most of them. But But you know. I I wanted to be in a town that had a lot of different voices, and. Sometimes I feel like it's it's. I wanna I hope, and I'm excited to see us. Have that inclusivity of voices, because it's really important. It is important, you know. So I'm excited for that and I'm I'm appreciative of that. I i also. And you know. Forgive me for a minute for getting a little personal, but you know my parents have. My elderly parents have now moved down here right. They were the last. The last of the of the bunch in my family of origin, that I we were convinced to move here. And I'm learning a different Cherry Hill through their eyes. Right, their age, group. Right, the community that they're more connected with, which is. Somewhat different from the community. I'm connect communities I'm connected with. And it's fascinating to me to watch. Like how many communities are here and realize. And there's so many more that I don't know. Right. So I'm excited. That you know. In my time on the board, am I hopefully one day. Offense to anybody, but one day I will be off, and I will be ready to be off the board, and in that time I'm excited to continue to see. You know who's all part of this community who's working. To do the good work as you talked about in the beginning. Who are excited to contribute positively who's part of that. And I guess when folks aren't doing that, you know what's that about, too? And how do we. Understand that? How do we. You know. How is there a place of belonging for everybody. You know, cause to Mrs. Nia's point, you know. As a parent of a chat with special needs, who struggle to find a place in the world. Right, and as a you know, as a family, to try to help. My child, navigate that. Right. I, you know, belonging is so important, and it's not so easy or natural for certain people or certain groups to get that. So. I'm excited, and I last thing I'll say is the volunteer day. I mean. I just totally. Totally grab me When I've done that with other like at work, when we've done a volunteer day, or would you know. Other places, or with my own kids doing volunteer work. It is. Some of the most rewarding life experiences. It's also really. Which people don't always think of it this way, but actually, like the data shows, like. Helping others is actually very good for mental health. It helps treat, it helps with depression. It's actually something that is. Part of mental health treatment sometimes is looking at how we can do for others. How we can help others. Right? So. There's so many positive benefits to that. And we talk about that service learning. I know this is Winters, and I've had many conversations about. Our middle schools and our high schools, and having, you know, and it's something that. For kids who are interested in pursuing college. Colleges are very interested in service learning. They're very interested in students who volunteer. So. Demonstrating that modeling that, including our kids, our kids do it all the time. All the time, and a lot of families and adults do it, too. But you know, I think it's nice that we get to do more of that. Probably the most exciting part for me out of all the great things going on. So thank you. Thank you. Okay, appreciate it. And now we move on to our administrative reports. And I turn it back again to Dr. Morton. Thank you, Miss Stern. So I wanna take an opportunity just to provide an overview on process as it relates to teacher vacancies. School school jobs.com. K 12 job spot.com. Indeed! Zip! Recruiter. Handshake district. We also emailed out to colleges and universities as well to retirees and replacement teachers something that we did last year for the 1st time was created lawn signs, as related to sac to try to expand our pool of candidates for sack as well. But but there's a number of different options that are utilized, and that are always, when attempting to attract candidates. So depending upon where the vacancy lies determines who actually takes the lead in the hiring process. If it's in a specific Department, here at in Central Office. The the person who supervises that position will take the lead in the hiring process. If it's a building based position, then the principal takes the lead and the hiring process. So that individual will review all the credentials of the candidate. Including work. Experience resumes, application, certification. Reference letters and the individual conducts interview process as well. We typically will do 2 rounds of interviews. 1st round a second round this, this typically a writing task, a performance task as well. And then the final 2 candidates are recommended to. Being a superintendent for review. So I'll interview each of the certificated positions that come into the district and make a final decision on the candidate, that you know the final candidate that is chosen, that we have come in. We follow a similar process, as it relates to Lts positions. Long term substitute positions. So when we know a teacher is, gonna be out. On an extended leave. A staff member is going to be out on an extended leave. That same process is followed. So the onus is on district staff. To that candidates, and to make sure that the best candidate. Is hired for the role. Our daily substitutes are something that's slightly different. Daily substitutes would just cover for. A short term absence, that a teacher may have daily substitutes are handled through. A 3rd party company. Iss that we worked with. We work with. I can't remember how at least 15 years. If not longer. We've had a relationship and partnership with. They provide substitutes to a number of school districts in the area. Across state lines and local. You know, Tri state area as well. And it pretty much been good partners for us and helping us to get positions built. Es does that the candidates? So we don't. We don't handle that process directly. Now, that's process in terms of positions. Just gonna ask Mr. Elementary Education Directive education. And then I'll ask Mr. Dr. Birdie as well, just to provide any updates on. Positions that currently exist, and where we are in the process. Thank you so much, Dr. Morton. We have 2 positions that are open right now. We have Cooper elementary school. We have a 1st grade position. And at heart elementary school. We have a 4th grade position. Both positions came about quite suddenly. So we are moving a little bit differently outside of the protocols that Dr. Morton mentioned. I myself and my team are working to help with 1st round interviews. For Mr. Burgess and for Mrs. Tiernin, because they have a number of other different responsibilities. But then, when we go to the second round, as Dr. Morton mentioned it goes back to the building. And we're moving forward. Mrs. Lieber has been instrumental in connecting us with qualified candidates, and we are in the process right now of moving swiftly to find candidates to hire for both of those positions. Excellent, Dr. Thank you, Dr. Morton. I'm happy to report that there's not a great deal to report on this subject matter at the Secondary Level. That is absolutely attributable to Mrs. Lieber, and. 6 secondary principals and their administrative teams. They've worked. To find qualified candidates to fill the roles that we had. At the Secondary Level. In fact, the only the only 2 that I'm I'm even aware of that. Remain unfilled at this point. Are the East nurse position and the West Rotc position both of which have. Coverage plan. So again, that's a kudos to the secondary principals, and. Their diligence and their ability to maximize their their existing staff, to make sure that positions are filled. Thank you. Gentlemen, questions. So Dr. Morton. Why is it that we outsource, so to speak? We use a company to provide us with substitutes, daily substitutes. Yes. So once upon a time, that was actually a district health position, it was an individual who would who would report very early in the morning. Probably 5 am. Or so, and have to gather. From all the schools. The absentee list. Individuals who will be out. That individual would then have to. Reach out via telephone and coordinate with substitutes. And get all 19 schools covered and have someone you know. Show up. In the building. When I initially came to the district. That was the protocol that was used. Becomes difficult, based upon the the number of absences that may exist. If you, if you just think just the capacity that one person. I might have through our partnership with a platform that's utilized. Where a demo available substitutes are able to go into a database and select positions as they come available. Process is streamlined, and what it's done is it's helped us to. Greatly increase our fill rate. So once, you know, you may recall a few years ago. When we were coming out of Covid. And we were still experiencing individuals who had to take leaves. We had difficulty filling positions at that time because of a a limited availability of substitutes within the pool. But, generally speaking. E. Ss. Has allowed us to have a vast. Expansive pool, and we have positions that are that are covered. So we don't have. Kids in classes without teachers assigned to them. Thank you. Mrs. Winters. So I was gonna actually do this under the C and I report out. But I feel like it's more appropriate. Here, Mr. Guy, could you just talk about the success that we've had with hiring teachers for. And what that looks like, and how many more students are being served. This time this year for Sac, as opposed to last year, and the success that we've had with that, because I think that also is under you. And also mislever. Thank you, Mrs. Winters. So at the report that we gave for curriculum. On the 30th of September I did say that we have hired 13 new sack. Staffers. 5 of those are high schoolers. We still have some that are within the hiring process, and we're looking for more. We want to thank all of you all for the work that you've done with the lawn signs, as Dr. Morton mentioned, that are attracting sack and our high schoolers. And so we are expanding. Our sac. Employees from compared to 23 at this time to now 2425. Thank you so much, and I just want to thank you again for all the work you've done on that, because I know that was something coming into this academic year that was a concern for a lot of families. So since that was a highlight of the Cni meeting. I felt like as we're talking about employment now. It was a good time to bring that out. Thank you, Mrs. Winners. I I would be remiss if we didn't recognize our Saca Conklin, Nicole Gilbert, and Susan Root for the incredible work that they've done in collaborating with the 19 schools, with the Board, with. Mrs. Wilson, before she left, in terms of public information and with Mrs. Lieber. So thank our team. Definitely, and I also want to put a shout out that there are still more stack positions available. So if you know somebody interested, or you know, a high schooler who might be interested, it's a great high school job. Everybody keep asking around. Any other board members have any questions or. I have. One more, because I don't know if you touched on this, and and. I do. We have talked about this as a board, but I don't know that it's. You know, as widely known. And if you said it, I apologize if I missed it. But Could you just touch on, you know? Do we wait until. You know we have a teacher who calls out, or whatever. Before we bring in a substitute? Or do we have substitutes available on a regular basis in our district ready to go right? Yes, that's an important point. I actually didn't mention that. Yeah, so yeah, so part of our work with that, we have daily substitutes assigned to each individual building. At the elementary level. There's 1 building at the secondary level, at the middle level there are 2, and at the high schools there are 2 as well. So those building substitutes have familiarity with the buildings. They've become familiar faces. And you know, in the unlikely event that we're unable to. Have a position, fill the building substitutes can go in and fill in. Into those classrooms to ensure that, you know, kids are covered and supervised appropriately. Thank you. I mean, I appreciate that. I I see that as an effort to be proactive and ready and and understanding that that's a normal part of. Every day in a building that there will be absences. So you know I appreciate that. That is there. Any other questions. Comments. Yes, Dr. Morton has another 7.2. Another report. So. The Board and myself has received quite a few emails requesting that the Board consider policy on on class size. Particularly in grades 4 and 5. I just wanna provide you information so that you know you have the information on. What that would entail. In order to revert class size 4 and 5 from. The current cap of 26. Down to 22 per class. So in order to do that, we need 16 teachers. We figure that with the average teacher salary, that's the cost of about 1.6 million. And you figure for each one of those classrooms. You need furniture to bring those class up. Classes up to speed each. As well. It's about $240,000. So you're looking probably about 1.9 million dollars. In order to in order to make that a reality. The other huge consideration as well has to do. The availability of space. So, as you've heard tonight. And Miss Roscoe's presentation. We are examining elementary redistricting because of increasing enrollment at the elementary level. And a lack of a projected lack of available space. Just a couple of items for your consideration. Any questions? Actually have a question, probably for Mrs. Sugars. Mrs. Sugars. Not specifically class size, but the budgetary impact. So. 1.9 million is a little under 1% of our budget is that. I'm not a math person. I'm not a math person. Mr. Green is a math person. Maybe. A tense, you know something like that. And our, we have a 2% cap every year on our that, we're allowed to increase our budget. Correct. So just to. If to increase it. I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you. Mrs. Definitely glad you corrected that. So. Just as far as like what that translates into. Right. So you know, last year we had us. Initially had is almost 7 million dollars cut from the state of our budget. And we made a lot of cuts. That we had to make, and we also had some things that held study that we know are going to increase like. Our health benefits. We know. Last year health insurance, you know, worked with us and did. Increase the cost of our health insurance. But we definitely know that's not gonna happen this year. So. When we look at next year's budget and we're budgeting. You know, adding in another, You know, 2 million dollars essentially. Is, is just something that we have to consider as a board, and I think it's good for the community to understand that that's the kind of stuff that. Big picture that we. We're charged with. That's why we're elected to to do that. So. That's something that I know is. Top of mind for me, and it's part of our goals this year. I look at Mrs. Chirang because we had this discussion in business and facilities. Talked about is making sure that we're always good fiscal stewards. So fiscal stewards means looking at the big picture so. If you don't mind saying that. But that's something that you you wanted. You know you raised as an important contribution to our goals. So. Thank you. Thanks for allowing me to. Kinda. Let me ask a little bit. Correspondence. Do any board members have. School events that we would like to share about having participated in. Mrs. I attended Sharpe Elementary's back to school night. Was my last back to school night. I've been to a lot And it was. It was very nice one thing I liked was that they had all of the. Extracurricular, like the gym teacher and the gym. Gipas and the the music they had. It gave parents a chance to meet with a gym teacher. The music teacher. You know. Literacy the literacy coach all those. Extra things that we we give our kids to meet with those teachers. And it was really important and. It was very exciting. One thing I really liked is that. One of the parents came up to me and said, You know we recently just moved here, and I've never seen. Principles be as involved as. At least the principal, not school, is, you know, greeting kids at the door, or, you know, after I left he was helping the custodians. Put up the tables and stuff and so I thought that was great. They they work as a team, and I appreciate that. Mr. Mish. We have the same thing with him when he substituted in Stockton. For 2 months he stood there, learned every child's name and every parent's name, and was amazing. Mr. Green. Thank you, and continuing with continuing, with wrapping up back to school nights. I attended Woodcrest elementary schools back to school night, and a big Thank you to Principal Mccartney and the staff for hosting a successful evening. Like the the other, back to school nights I visited, very well attended, well organized, great support from the Pta, as always. It was a nice surprise to run into some of my son's encore teachers, who also teach at Woodcrest. So we got to catch up a little bit, and I got to have a nice conversation with Ms. Li Gambo and restorative practices. She had presented back in December and. It was nice to to follow up on that as well. That's it until I have this week. Thank you. Right? Are board members have. Activities. So I Had the opportunity to attend the East West, or West East, depending on how you like to say it. Soccer night Right, which Mr. Green, mom and I were both there. So yeah, you were there, too. And I got to see The Varsity girls, and then the Varsity boys. And although I do have a child who plays on one of the teams. I will tell you. I was really hoping there'd be a tie. And there was for the voice, and that was a great relief to me, and probably, Mr. Brow, he does seem to be relieved. When it's the case. But it was a fun night. It was a great night, and throughout the the day Freshman, Davey, and Varsity all played. And there was a couple wins and a couple of losses and a few ties. So you know, for me, that's it was. It was a great, you know. It was great, but. It was a fun night. People had a great time, and. So congratulations to both. West and to east for a very successful soccer. Night. And looking forward to football next. So there we go. I think that was the only event I attended. Okay, and now we move on to our 1st public comment. I'm sorry nobody else had any. Corresponding. Okay, we moved on to our 1st public. There will be 2 opportunities for public comment this evening. The 1st public comment session is for. Board action items only. And those are items 17 through 20 on our agenda. Which is located in board docs, which you can get to on our district website. And under the Board of Education, tab. If you would like to speak. Now, please identify the agenda item that you're speaking on clearly, state your name and your municipality. We will alternate between speakers who are here in the room and those who are online. Each speaker will be given a maximum of 3 min to speak. 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 Terro 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 of speech and public forms. Statements which demean individual community members or groups. Or which are irrelevant to the operations of the school district, or our repetitis 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 Superintendent, district Superintendent, Board, President, and all board members via email or other alternative means. Very importantly, Mrs. Tong. We always give students this opportunity to speak. First, st and students. Unlike adults, may speak on any. Topic, It related to our schools, in our. 1st public comment, and we will always prioritize students to go first.st So if you are a student and you are online, and you would like to speak, I would ask that you please put an S after your name. So that I know you are a student, and I can make sure to call on you first.st If you were in the room, and you're a student, and you'd like to. Now I'd ask you to please approach the podium. And if we have no students who approach the podium, but we have. Adults who are in the room, who would like to speak. You may also approach the podium. When the timer goes up on the screen, please state your full name and your municipality. And the item action item, you're speaking on. Rick Short, Cherry Hill, 17.1. With the grades, with the test scores the way they are coming out. At the High School level. Every minute. Or should I say every second. That's spent on things. That don't help test scores, or don't. Things, rise. Why are we going to those. Event. Why are we spending money. On flying to St. Thomas. For head, start. When our grades. Are in a freefall downward. Why? Why do you keep approving it? Why isn't all our focus. But on high school. Why isn't it. What what could possibly? Head start help. Any of the other grades. Our school's adrift. Our school is not focused on academics. Has nothing to do with academics. Thanks. Okay, we go to the line, and the phone number is 7, 8. Please state your full name, your municipality and the action item. You're speaking on. Hi. My name is Jeff Pollitt, and I live in Cherry Hill, 17.1 approval of attend conferences and workshop. G. We cannot hear you. Okay, I'm unmuted. Now can you hear me? Approval of attend conference and workshop. G. Superintendent Farrah Mayhan, 2,024 region, 2. Head start. Conference, St. Thomas. Us. Virgin. $3,435. Please vote no. Why, only why, only a small fraction of the students involved with head start of our preschool students. Really, it's a small fraction of those of those preschool expansion students. We have enough problems and issues in our school district. That that we that I know an assistant superintendent really needs the folks. Not head start moving forward. What is the administration going to do? Are we going to create our own head, start funded and staff by employees of the school district or staff, by individuals controlled by other groups. What are we going to do with 15? Another 1,500 to 2,000 students will we be providing toddler and nursing care what is going on. I think it's something that needs to be postponed. The focus does not need to be on on, on head. Start right now. We're just starting with preschool. Let me give you an example. Money is being spent, all that. Well, you know a class of 3rd and 4th and 5th graders, with 23 students with a number of students with an Iep. Remember that a lot of those students had Ips in 504. Should have at least at least a teacher, and one. Paraprofessional. These preschool students have 15 students, not 23, not 26 students, all right, and a paraprofessional. And it's cost a lot more. Then for. These students. No, we worry about these 3, 4 times 5th grade students with learning loss. That's what you have to focus on. You're not. You're focusing on what the State wants. That preschool. Head start. No, you don't need to go there yet. You need to spend that extra money 1.6 1.9 million. We had that money. We had that money available. And you put it away. You put that money into capital. So we had that money. Please stop this. Please, please stop this and focus on decreasing those size of classes. Thank you very much. Hey? We go back to the room. If anyone would like to speak regarding action items. Please approach the podium. Okay, and I don't see any people at the podium. Or the microphone. I don't. I do see a hand up. Wider bridge if you could. Please state your full name and your municipality and the action item you are speaking on. 19 point oh, sorry, Alanis. Cherry Hill, 19.4. I'm happy to see that family friendly is being approved again this year. It's never a done deal that it will be every year. I'm glad that. Kilmers on the list to receive the help to the students that need for family friendly good work habits as they move on through their schooling years. Thank you. Okay. We go back to the room. Do not see anybody at their microphone. I do not see any hands online, and I will close public comment. And we will move on to our work. Session. Gonna ask Mrs. Winters. Can you please provide C. And I committee report. I would love to thank you so much. So she and I met. And we had a wide, ranging discussion with a bunch of different topics. So in order to sort of focus. I asked Dr. Morton if he could put up our district around, because that. The items under achievement were really hit. A lot of the high notes of what. See, and I worked on at our last meeting. So if you look down this extraordinarily large list. One of the things that you're going to see. There. Sort of in the middle is the implementation of the Eureka squared curriculum and the implementation of the amplify. K to 5 curriculum. Those are our new Ela and math curriculum at the elementary level. So the update we got on that implementation is that ongoing development and support has been provided for both implementations. And that our literacy coaches and our math coaches have been working with the staff during their Plc. Time to plan for lessons. So just want to pause here and kind of go a little bit backwards before we go forwards. Board members will recall that about 2 years ago, when I 1st started on the board. One of the very 1st things we did in that budget cycle was to add an additional math Science supervisor, as well as additional math coaches. This was to address some of the challenges we saw coming out of the pandemic with achievement for math. So I'm glad to report back that those investments have borne fruit. If anybody looked at District Media this week they saw Gigi, the Penguin. And our elementary math science, Supervisor, Ms. Abdul Rahman, who went to all our elementary schools to talk about St. Math, which is being implemented as well at the elementary level. The excitement that we're seeing around math. You'll also recall that last year we piloted Eureka, squared. And several elementary schools. In order to make sure that we got that implementation right. This year it's been fully implemented at all of our elementary schools that all 12 elementary schools have a consistent math curriculum that is aligned with the State standards, that math curriculum is now consistent from kindergarten all the way up to 8th grade. To algebra. One, I believe. So if you're in the district, you're going to see that consistency all the way through, aligned with the standards which are, of course, what are tested when we do. Nj. Sla testing for those of you who are wondering why it's October and we're not doing sla data today, I have a preview for you. We're doing it next month. The next Cni committee meeting will do a deep dive into the Nj. Sla. Scores for this past year. A full board presentation will commence shortly after that. So that's kind of my preview for coming soon and kind of looking back as to what we did to support academic achievement with respect to math. 2 years ago, and how that's being implemented now, 2 years later, and going forward. I also wanna talk about the specialized training that we put in for special education staff with regard to amplify. Because one of the concerns we had going forward was our special education, both in self-contained and resource. So we actually had special trainers come in from amplify. Who are coaches, who are special education trainers. Just to speak with and to speak to the implementation for those special student populations so that they can access that curriculum. At the same level as all of our other students across the board. The other thing I wanted to talk about. With respect to amplify is that this year we have. Which is a tier, 2 intervention for amplify right now that's available to all of our students. My second grader has excitedly told me about boost and how much fun it is and what it is is the leveled program. So it meets you where you are. So if you need additional support, it'll go over that skills. It can also move ahead if you need accelerated. Things to read and to work. So that boost program that tier 2 intervention is for this 1st year included with our amplify but board members, especially Mr. Greenbaum. We were talking of B. And FI got to sub in about things that are upcoming for the next budget cycle. We'll have to decide when provided with information from the team. What what boost looks like in our elementary schools, and how much the value it adds going forward. Because I think if we want to continue with boost next year. That would be an additional cost. So that's something that we're gonna continue to look at. It's really too early to tell. We're only in the beginning of October. What that tier? 2 intervention looks like for our kids. But that's something that I'm gonna be looking at when we talk about recommendations for the budget for next year that are gonna be coming out of the Cni committee. And to see what that looks like. So that is just a couple of quick notes. Obviously, there's way more to that implementation than what I can give you. I'm happy to chat with board members. More if they want more in depth information. But that's just a quick note on that. I did want to talk about another aspect of our implementation, which is parent engagement, and this is something that the Cni committee discussed. In several meetings last spring, when we were talking about. Implementing a new math and Dla curriculum at the elementary level, is making sure that our families. Who are helping our elementary students with their homework understand and are connected with talking about connection the way we're talking about it. Ms. Roskov. What's going on in our elementary schools. So there's several ways that that's being done amplifies providing virtual sessions on the science of reading for our families, and I'm excited to report they filled up super quick. So quick that I did not get into the initial sessions. I'm really excited that I was able to get into one of the second round sessions. Bless you. And I'll be intending that tomorrow morning so that parents can learn more about the educational theory behind the signs of reading, and why it's so good for our students. So those are happening out there. There's also math virtual information sessions that are happening, and parents have received information on those. But in addition to those virtual sessions. There will be in person, literacy and math parent information coming up both at the elementary and the secondary level. And my big ask of Cni chair is going to be, ask board members to attend those, because I think it's going to be a really cool opportunity for us to engage with the families in our community about all the exciting new things that are happening in the district. So all 12 elementary schools will be holding these nights as well as both high schools at the secondary level. And our middle schoolers will be able to go. To either east or west. Depending on their middle schools. I believe it's Beck and Rosa at East, and Rosa and Carusy at West. I think I got that right. If I'm wrong, somebody can correct me. To learn more about the curricula that's being offered. So I think that's a really neat opportunity to engage our families with what's going on in our schools, and so they can see all the good work that's being done to support academic achievement. Another piece that I wanted to bring forward was something that I asked Mr. Guy to bring to the meeting, which is, if you look back up on our oh, it's gone now. I'm sorry, that's my fault. I waited too long. I'm talking as fast as I can. I've got that North Jersey going right now. Thank you so much. If you look back up there under it's like the 1, 2, 3, 4th bullet from the bottom. So after we develop our district goals. Each school develops smart goals aligned with the district goals. For the action steps that are. Towards the educational achievement that we've. All been looking for right. So I asked Mr. Guy, and he told me that we're well underway in developing the school based goals on academic achievement. And you'll see up there in our district goals the emphasis on Math and Ela subgroup performance. Because that's what we're focusing on this year. So that's sort of another preview coming soon to stuff that we're working on at the district level. Dr. Morton's gonna talk about it. I think. You have a bigger update for us or no. Oh, look at that. Sure I can. I can show an example. That's amazing. I see this is unexpected. I'm so excited. Thank you so much. Absolutely so. This is. This is just an example of. One of principles. Building goals. So the goals themselves. Align with the district's goals, but they also become specific to that school and the population. And with those data targets might be. So if you take a look, we're looking at the same. The same action. That you just went through. So you see implementation of amplify. But you'll also see. Specific measures that are listed. For the population. At Barton, so increase in Jsla's math. Scores. She's looking. Economically disadvantaged students about 5 to 10 points. On the 25 spring assessment. Progress. Monitoring data assessments and benchmark tests show steady improvement and math scores for economic students with at least 2 to 3. Point increase per quarter. So on and so forth. I just wanted to show this as a quick example, but we use a smart format. Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time oriented as well. For establishing these targeted. Goals based upon what the school's data is, and and where that particular building is. These are coming in now. Going through final approval, and they'll be posted on the website as well for all to see and to review and. To take a look at as well. That's awesome. Thank you so much. I didn't know we had that kind of specific. I thought it was like a preview coming soon. I'm excited to see it happening in action. And I can't wait to see the final version. So that was a lot on. I'm gonna pause there and see if any committee members have anything to add. Or if any people have any questions on the amplify and Eureka Maths squared implementations, and where we're going with that, because there's a whole second chunk of things that we did, but I know that was a giant mouthful and a lot. And thank you to Dr. Morton for providing specific examples. Mr. Mayor. I am Sharon. I'm just kidding. All right. Thank you. So I'm not even sure if this is the perfect place for the question. But given the data that Dr. Morton, just. Discussed, which is what we want to see. And that's you know. That's that's great work. How do we sustain or and and grow that improvement, the improvement that we've that the smart goals have shown. Is it too early to have that conversation, or those. Discussions already in the works. Yeah. So the discussions are definitely in the works. I think what these, what the specific building goals show is that there's intentionality and clear planning and thought around who their students are, or who the students are in that particular building. At a particular grade levels and the identification of strategies to support those individual students. The the team has been doing a great job as well with the rollout and the training for our multi tier systems of supports. Platform or framework. And jtss, staff members have been trained. Administrators have been trained. Next phase of that will be training will take place at the schools as well. And their teams that were establishing plans for achievement within the buildings. And now what happens is that if students aren't meeting the mark, we have systems of intervention and support in place. To support those kids and help to bring them up as well. So. Yeah, so I mean that that work is in progress. Thank you, and I will now slide back into my non Cni committee position. And wait my turn. The Cni Committee welcomes all questioners, and I just wanted to reflect on what Dr. Moran just said. Just on a personal level. I have an Irrs meeting for my son. Tomorrow. So that's multi tiered systems of support. So this work is already ongoing where teachers are already identifying students who may benefit from an additional level of support. Tier 2 or tier, 3. Support. Even this at this early stage in the school year, to. Locate students who may be at at risk or at promise, and to see where we can help them. So that we don't get to the point where we're halfway through the year. 3 quarters of the way through the year. We're already putting those steps into place for students who need it. So that's really neat. And I just think that. You know for me. I think you know the role of the board. Is that sky right? We are at 30,000 feet. Trying to think about the whole district. But the reality is that each one of our schools is different, each grade within that school is different. Each class, each kid is different. So when we talk about goals and looking at growth and achievement, we really have to look at it on that On those more micro the teachers and the Administration do that at that micro level. The board doesn't do that because it would be impossible to make a plan like that. For almost 11,000 students. But when we're looking at, what does what do the 3rd graders that Barton need to be. More successful. What do the 5th graders at sharp need? What do the kindergartners at night need, whatever that might be? I think that's the good work that's being done, and I think. You know, it was maybe my second year on the board that we did a deep dive into school, based goals in the Cni committee, and that was when the puzzle pieces really clicked for me about how that all works. It's layers upon layers. And I know this year there was a push to get the district goals. Done a little bit earlier that way. We weren't holding up that important work of the school based goals. So I'm delighted to see that it's moving forward. The stern has a question. So just to, you know, along the lines we're working in, right? We're working on. And hopefully. I don't want to steal your thunder from P. And L. But we will be talking or strategic planning. I'm sorry, but we will be talking about. The website eventually later, tonight. But in a snopes like way is it snopes or snoops right, snopes in a snopes like way you have just. Busted the myth that we do not have achievement based goals which I read as I read in a quote in a paper this, a newspaper article that came out, and I was like, Wait a second. So so, Dr. Morton, I think there's some confusion in the community about. These goals. We are seeing them here. But could you please provide for us now on the screen. How do we find those goals. Absolutely. There's investigative reporting in my committee tonight. I love it. Alright! So this is. District website, homepage. Actually, I'll go. Homepage. Yeah. Page here. There's 2 different locations where the the goals are located. If you click on We'll hover over Board of Education. You'll see. District goals accessible here. And at our schools there's also a tab. Here for goals. I'll just click on the one here into our schools. As you go down. Is it hyperlink, hyperlink? Here for 2425. District goals, and as I mentioned, the school goals, the links here aren't active just yet, but they will be once we. We populate them in the next. The next week or so. But if you click through, just your goals. We see a condensed version. Of the information that this winners just shared here. So student wellness, goal. And each of the actions that are listed. Under. If you want. A specific detailed. View right at the bottom of that page. If you just click there. It takes you to the document that we just. And all of the goals and actions and indicators and major activities are listed in this document here. So this is. Then accept accessible. Since the goals have been approved. Okay, thank you for walking us through that. Think that hopefully helps, you know. For now until our website is updated, which is. Coming soon, stealing any more. Thunder about that! I'm gonna see a little more thunder from Joel, from Sp. But I'm not done. But go I just I wanna mention as we're talking about all these things. The good work being done on the data dashboard. Because that's something that started in Cni and now has migrated over to the Sp committ. The data dashboard is gonna be live at the end of the year. That's true. So that'll be a place where people can see the work that we're doing and our achievement specific. And in real time. So that is coming soon. To a school board near you. So a lot of really good things going on did there any other questions about amplify and Eureka squared implementation. I just wanna again say, parent information nights. I'm so excited as many of them as I can be. Ms stern. So one question that we discussed in the committee and Mrs. Mallory was able to answer it was really helpful was about. We went into more of a deep dive about the coaching that is being provided to the teams. And specifically the multi tiered system of support. I wonder? This is a little bit of a different question from what we talked about in in The committee, but I'm wondering. You know, going back to, you know again our top priority academic achievement, you know, student success. You know, student, you know, achievement, right? Mrs. Mallory. Ms. Mallory, I don't know if whoever. W- would be the right person to answer this Dr. Morton. Can just share a little bit about how the multi-tiered system of support and I know it's very involved. But high level like how that helps with achievement. And maybe just a little bit about. You know some of the things that we shared in the committee about what we're doing with that. Sure, so I'll I'll try to answer your question, because it is a little bit broad. But we are working closely with our curriculum team to ensure that not only students that are identified as having a disability have an Iep, or even a 5? 4 are given those opportunities through examples like. The boost program, or it's not really a program. But the boost supplemental. Curriculum materials to work at different levels within their class, within their classroom environment as part of like the preferral intervention. We I know Dr. Birdie and Mr. Guy have also worked with their teams. To start streamlining the Mtss. Across the district so that there's not only consistency, but there's more. Access to resources and supplemental materials for all students to have access to. Is that kind of what you were getting at. It does. Okay? And I, maybe just. In like the most basic like. Non educator, language. Is there any way that you could just say like, How does that. Help, with achievement. I think what it does is it allows teachers to meet their students where they are. And that not only gives them confidence to be able to achieve at where you know where their ability is, and it's there's a range. There's a range in in every classroom. You know Differentiated instruction is is not a new term, but it's something we continue to revisit, because there are so many different needs. So I think, in part of meeting students where they are, and supplementing our curriculums. And providing those different resources like Boost. We're giving them that confidence and that ability to work. Side by side with someone in their grade level who may not be on the same academic level as them. And then also exposure to the grade level, whether, again, whether they have an Iep or not. Allows them that opportunity to to grow and to kind of have that. Bar raised in different ways. Yeah, I was just gonna just gonna add, so the idea of personalization is what. Comes to mind as I listen to to Miss Mallory, speak as well. So it's the personalized approach. Identifying Child and the needs of that child, and developing a plan for that child. To provide whatever supports are necessary to help that child. Progress, and succeed. Thank you so. And along those lines you said Mrs. Mallory, and and I think you know. Dr. Martin about growth, and it not only to help. Students who might be at different level, side by side. You know, each grow at their own rate at their own, with their. If I may add a little bit to that, I guess I'm thinking like in the way that they learn best. Right. Some some students learn better with different. You know different approaches. Most adults, too. Right? And then also. As they do that they can actually. Also even go forward and grow further, so that allows them to further. And that's something I've learned from. You, all of you, if all your whole team, you know, to grow further. So that's really when we, when we're really the way I. Simplest terms. I that's where the rubber hits the road. That's where the kids. Who have been struggling and or. Or and or are ex going far ahead from their classmates, you know, having that those. Multi opportunities. We're catching them all and helping them all move forward. And and go further. So that that's how I don't know if that. Sounds accurate, but that's how I understand it. So. I just it's. Obviously extremely complicated than that. But you know. Since many of us at this table are not educational professionals, it's helpful. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions. On, amplify, and Eureka squared. It is a sea change, I mean I. You know, watching it, having an elementary school or myself. It's just amazing to see how it's really transformed so many things. And. Just how high interest the Cka texts are. The other thing that I'll say that just having had, you know, 3 children. Go through the district at different times. I do feel like it's really neat that all the kids in my son's class are using the same knowledge. Together, whereas I feel like before there was a lot of the differentiation happened because there were different reading groups, reading different things, different books. But now it's 1 class. But then the materials level so that you can meet the kids where they are, which is really cool. I never thought my kid coming home saying how excited he was to learn about ancient India and the religions. There. But he is. It's high interest, material. They're gaining background knowledge which helps them. There's just a lot of really great things going on. So I'm excited for parents to be exposed to that, and see that when they go to the Literacy nights. At their elementary schools, and also parents who can attend the science of reading workshops. I'm really excited to do that tomorrow morning and take a deeper dive into how this all works in helping teach our kids to read because it's foundational skill, and also one of our milestones of achievement kids reading on grade level by the end of grade 3. So that is amplify. Eureka squared. I know this is a lot. I'm sorry. I'll try to go as fast as I can. But I also want to talk about the pre-apion. Because I feel like we did A. We've done a lot in Cni lately at the out talking about the elementary level because there were so many big changes to elementary, but the preap expansion. Grant that we received. Is gonna be huge at the high school level. So just at a really, I'm sorry, a really high level. The idea is to have. More students and different. All different kinds of students have access to Ap coursework. Right? So there seems to be. A challenge with only a certain type of student thinking that they are an Ap. Student whatever that means. And the Ap. Program and this grant are really challenging that and expanding the idea of who can take ap course, work, and the answer is, everybody with the right support. So it's really asking about our special education students and getting them into AP some of our diverse subpopulations and making sure that everybody has access to AP. So this grant that we got is going to. Work with our 9th and 10th grade students. So they are ready. And able to take Ap coursework as they move through their high school curriculum. And I just think it's really it's just a great opportunity for them. Some of the changes that we're gonna see next year. Are gonna be. Beginning in 9th and 10th grade, English. And it's the way that my Staffin described it. And, Dr. Morton, please correct me if I get this wrong. Because I am not a teacher. It's a framework of teaching methodologies that use our current. So it's not changing the content of the curriculum that we're teaching. But it's giving students the framework or the lens, so that they're ready and prepared to take Ap. Coursework, going forward. So I think it's really gonna be a difference. We have staff being trained in P. Ap. African American studies. An Ap seminar, which will be the 10th grade. English. And we're also looking at ap Precalculus as one of our math pathways, which is, I think, maybe the most popular thing we've ever done. Maybe up there with Gigi, the penguin everybody loves the math pathway courses at the High School, so we're looking to expand those pathways next year. And Ap Precal will be part of that. So the idea is just to take students that have been under representative and Ap. Course work, and to make sure they have open up access to Ap. Course, work for them. So it's sort of a continuation in my mind of. The thought that went behind the math pathways which the idea was to open up. What were those more rigid tracks. And allow students a wider range of students to access different math pathways. Both at the A and H levels right. So this is another way of expanding thinking about expanding opportunity for all of our students, so they can have access to all of this coursework. So I'm really excited about it. I think it's a really cool idea about the Ap expansion grant and what that looks like. There's a lot more to it. There's a ton of professional development going on, teacher training all kinds of neat things. But I know that I've been talking for a long time. So I'm gonna stop there. Anybody have questions about Apans. One of the exciting things for me is that as we grow the Ap. The population of students will be able to offer more ap courses, because a lot of times, you know, courses can only run. If you have a certain number of students who can take that, who are interested in taking that course. Right? It's based on demand. It's based on what students want to take. So if we have more students interested in taking some of these ap courses that are in the catalog, but may not have run because there weren't enough. There wasn't a big enough group of students who wanted to take it. As we grow, our student population who become a P. Students, we can offer more of this coursework. A more diverse. Assortment of ap courses at both high schools. So I think that'll be really neat going forward. Especially at high School West, where you have a smaller population to start with. Right. So it's just a smaller pool of kids. So if you're growing the Ap. Population there and 9th and 10th grade, then what blooms is more ap courses available on 11th and 12.th If that makes any sense. But yes, lots of lots of. Crazy, awesome achievement stuff going on in the Cni Committee. Any questions on Ap. I already talked about sack, so I don't have to talk about that. And the last thing I'm just gonna say is that we did have an update on the assistive technology services. For kids with 5 0 fours and Ips with implementation of the cell phone policy. What that process and procedure looks like. One neat thing that I learned is that some students are able to access some of the programs they need on their chromebooks. So part of it is just figuring out what those accommodations look like going forward with the cell phone policy when students need something written into their Iep when they're able to access what they need through their chromebooks. And just being able to accommodate. Individual students. It's done on a case by case basis, as all Iep stuff is case by case, Mallory, did I get that? Mostly correct. I'm getting a thumbs up from Miss Mallory. A lot. I have pages of notes here. Just so, you know, I really try hard to accurately talk about the things that you talk about as an expert. Any questions on that? Everybody's just tired of hearing me talk. So the last plug I'm gonna make is that if you're bored and lonely and you feel like you need more data in your life. The Nj data is coming soon. That is the data from the State testing. That's 1 of the biggest things that I would say Cni does on an annual basis is, take a look at that. Many families have already received the individual student reports through Genesis for their students. I know I've received mine, but this would be the schoolwide district-wide. Level data data for subgroups. So that's coming to Cni November with the report out to the Board presentation to the Board following that. So everybody stay tuned. So if you're not talking about achievement, we'll be talking about achievement more next month. Any questions on Njla. I'm really excited that Dr. Rood will be back to help me with that. Alright, and that is plenty for C. And I thank you so much. Thank you very much, and hopefully for Jenna and Solomon. You can. Take back with you the information to your classmates. Maybe not the seniors, but the the underclassmates, especially that Pre-ap is coming! To to a school near you, and will be expanding opportunities for. Lots more students to take. And feel more comfortable taking it so. Alright Business and facilities. Mr. Greenham, can you please give the Bnf. Report. Thank you and apologies in advance for the long report. We're just getting warmed up. So tonight I'll give the the committee report out. Will. Start, we'll get back into construction updates for all the bond construction work that's going on around the district. And when we do that I will ask Mrs. Sugars to share out some pictures. I can talk for 20 min about what's going on, but actually seeing it is is a lot more meaningful, in my opinion. So let's start with the committee. Report out to Mrs. Winters for subbing in for Mrs. Gallagher this week. I hope you found it interesting, and thank you very much for your contributions. So 1st we went through the budget 2526, calendar and timeline. Mr. Sugars reviewed the proposed calendar and timeline for the development of next year's budget. An additional board meeting may need to be scheduled in March, especially if there are any delays in receiving State aid numbers. We have all year to work on this. And then suddenly, it's crunch time when the numbers aren't what we expect them to be. Hopefully they will. Be good news is here, but we'll we'll find out when we find out. The public hearing date is required to occur between April 24th and May 7, th and is planned for Tuesday, April 29.th And the full schedule is attached to tonight's agenda and can be viewed under agenda. Item 18.2. If anyone is looking to see when we'll be doing what for our budget discussions. We also met in closed session to have a transportation. Linda King, who's a transportation supervisor, joined us and shared some concerns with transportation costs. The just discussion included preschool education and general education, routes and considerations, with renewing routes versus putting them out to bid. And we also spoke about the impact of redistricting as students, as district as. Elementary district lines get redrawn, we may see some walkers that become bus riders, or vice versa. And as the work of. That's hearing committee moves forward. We'll have more information there and what its potential impact is on transportation. I'll take a moment to pause here and ask if there are any questions from other board members. Seeing none. Let's move forward with our bond construction. Update. Mrs. Sugars. Do you want to share before or after. Looks like we're doing it now. Okay. So, Mr. Chair, some some updates on where we are, with the different Apr construction as well as could we do as well. Perfect. So I won't talk a whole lot about, because we have already seen this information here about who the contractor is, and all that kind of stuff. We'll jump right to the pictures, because that's good stuff. We have 6 Apis that are being done this year. We've talked about this before Barton Johnson, Kingston, Night Man, and sharp. The design is similar for all 6 schools. And 4 of the school's. Manson, Kingston and I are also getting playground equipment through the through the contract as well. So, Barton. We have made some additional progress there. The Cmu walls are complete. The spray barriers in place. The masonry has started. You can see here from a couple of pictures, and if you recall the update that we did I guess it was at the end of Sept. End of August. We've we've made some progress here as well. So that's starting to come together pretty well. Here at Barton. The next one is Johnson is our only building that has the yellow brick, because Johnson has the yellow brick. Oh, I'm sorry! I thought I was. So Johnson has the yellow brick. And you can see here that we have started with some of the wall panels. We've added some of whoops. We've added some of those Above the brick, so these the exterior Finishing will start at that project. There. So that project is moving right along as well. Kingston is, as you know, our building that is the furthest along in terms of. That was the 1st one that we started. And you can see here from the pictures that Kingston is starting to look finished. So we're working on the connecting link to the building. We've done the asphalt paving there wall panels and roofing. And some of the concrete paving on the outside, some of the site work. That kind of gives it that finished look. So that's that's our building that is our furthest along. Night is the next furthest along and looks very similar to the other buildings. You can see some of the interior pictures. Here the stage area. Some of the duct work, and those kinds of things that happen behind the scenes. And getting ready to put the port in place. Rubber at night as well. Man. We're moving right along there, too. You can see here that we are starting the brick installation. Some of the wall panels have happened on the one side. And the foundation waterproofing has happened there as well. And then sharp sharp is the one that we are the furthest behind on, I think the last time we shared pictures we also had was the concrete base. There. And now you can see that we have started this dealer so. That's good news. About what's happening there at sharp. So we talked about timelines. We're hoping that as these buildings are being completed, that we can. Release the playground equipment. Early. And we're also hoping. We. We talked about the benefits of having an opening of all of the Ap's at the same time, instead of kind of doing them piecemeal. So we'll have some more discussion about that. But all of the Ap. Should be ready to go for the 2526. And then if we wanna talk quickly about. Carusi. One of our larger projects. That we're doing this year as well. We can talk about again. We're working with the same contractor at we are working with the Ap's. Lot of work happened there of the summer. We were able to do some board tours. Which was nice, so that you could see some of the work that's getting done there. This project will be done in 4 phases. Just because of the nature of the work that needs to be done. The asbestos abatement that needs to take place when the building is not occupied over the summer, and then, during the course of the school year, the improvements will take place. So this year we concentrated on the front hallway. We're still working on the main office area, the a hallway in time for school. We have been able to Do some work with oh, gosh! I'm so sorry I'm droning away, and I'm so sorry. Let me. I'm sorry cause I didn't see pictures on your screen, so I wasn't sure if you were wanting to share the slide deck. I that's also my my bad sorry. I have 9 pages and notes I could read through, but I think the pictures definitely. I mean, okay, Mr. Sugar got a lot. You're a lot juggling a lot of stuff. Okay. Okay. Let's try this again. Alright. So I'm gonna move to where we were. Okay, so Come on, now, get it together. Here, come on! Try this again! Okay. Okay, so Again. This is gonna be done in 4 phases. We talked about that. And the 1st phase that we did includes the main office area and the front hallway classrooms. It also includes the gym roof, which is just about done, the lobby and the locker rooms of the gym they're still working on. And we expect the gym to be turned over at the end of October. The locker rooms to be turned over around Thanksgiving, and then the main office. Around the end of this of the. Of the year. So around. Winter break. So here's some of the pictures. These are classrooms that we're working on, as well as the locker rooms. One of the things that we talked about was, if you see here the blue and yellow tile we had talked about putting a paint finish over that tile. We're rethinking that now we may put sheet rock over that tile. It's. I think we're gonna it's gonna have. I just think it will be a better look if we do that. So we talked about what that will look like, and what kind of impact that will have in terms of a change order to do that. Also, they've started the framing of the main office. If you were on the board it was just sort of an open room. Now you can see that the framing is going up. The gymnasium lobby is getting ready. For finishes, and the gymnasium finishes are being installed. And I think it will be interesting. Hopefully, we'll have an opportunity to do another board just to see the changes that have happened in the gymnasium. As well as the roof and insulation has been completed there as well. So we're moving right along on those projects. And, as I said hopefully, those areas will be open. Students to use again for the staff to get back into the main office. Fairly quickly. As of the end of September. We have 400,000 on this project, the end of September. We've used 42,000 of that. So we still have a good healthy allowance left, which is good because we still have a lot of project left as well. We think that the wallboard installation over the tile will probably around be around 65,000, so that will eat into that allowance a little bit. But we think that in the end that that'll be the right move. With that. Okay. Okay, thank you very much for that. I know. I certainly appreciate seeing the the photos and the updates when the board was able to walk through and and see what it looked like over the summer. The the progress really is incredible, and looking forward to. Given some of these. Some of these facilities back to the students soon. So with that being said, as I said, I have about 9 pages of notes on all the projects going on. I have a much shorter summary I'll go through, but if any board members are looking for additional details, I absolutely have it. So with that said, we'll go through a contract a construction update as provided by Their architect, Bob Garrison, New Road, Construction, and Eri. 1st we'll look at some of the site work being done across the district. Melbourne. Playground. Of the Punch list items have been closed out, and we're looking at a 2,500 to this contract. That seems to be a theme this month. I hope we can continue that. At pain and heart, finishing up a few punch list items. There are a few remaining at this point. We have a credit of about 17.8 to get some money back on these contracts. When we don't have to use all of our contingency money. There's some minor playground items being addressed the slide was replaced, and rubber surface has been repaired. It's Stockton and Lewis. Specifically here at Lewis. Elephant armor. Those are the metal treads on the front steps that have been put in. They look good. And we're looking at $120,000 credit on this contract as of now. So far no additional changes expected. But. You know we don't wanna counter before they're hatched. Would Crest and Lewis working on a few punch list items, such as handrails and and guards. The playground at Woodcrest is open. If you saw the photo shared by the district last month of the children sitting outside the fence looking in, anticipating its opening, it is open. The kids can play in the playground now. I've heard they're real excited about it. It'd be great if we can get another picture of them on the other side of the fence. There's a credit expected on this contract. I will mention there's a couple of minor issues with the slide that are currently being worked. But you know it's typical stuff. I'm excited. The kids have the playground back. Of all the intricacies of the work that we do? That's the question. Everybody wants to know. When is it going to be available. At high school, West work and accessibility improvements for next year at the Stadium are in the planning stages. We received $71,000 in Federal recreation grant funds per site improvements. Well, as appreciate our construction guys. Going after any money that's available for for Grant funds. This is going to include accessible parking sidewalks and reworking fencing at the larger parking lot security lighting. All stuff that's much needed at high school west and this work is expected to commence this upcoming summer. And hopefully be finished in time for the 2526, school year. The only complication we're working on now is fireworks at high school west. So we have to plan around that we don't wanna dig everything up and. Have to find a, you know, and and run into that, so it'll be a little little bit of a shorter runway, but they think they'll be able to get it done, and looking forward to those improvements. As far as Ap's. Thank you very much, Mr. Presenting, some of those pictures and progress. The substantial completion date is June of 25. We're going to see them. Reach completion, kind of in the order that they were started. But the goal is to turn over all of the Ap's for the fall 2,025 school year. It's gonna be exciting to to have 6 new spaces. For for the kids to do athletic activities. You know, assemblies everything else that they do in their Ap's. As Mrs. Sugars mentioned, there's a 400,000 as of now. We still have $236,000 left. There's a few items in there that such as Nope, I'm sorry mixing these up. There've been no changes, no change. Orders issued to date, and most of these items have been just unexpected things. They found underground soil, remediation, temporary construction, roads, things like that. With Carusi. Going out to bid soon with Tcu. So those are temporary units that will be at cruise starting next year. We're expecting bids from 2 vendors, and pricing is expected. End of October. We will see another new traffic pattern next year, as the tcus are installed. There's going to the bus loop is going to be moved around the Tcu to ensure students should still not need to cross the bus line. The gym. You saw the construction going on, it's expected to reach substantial completion. October 21, st and students should be able to get back in the gym. Locker rooms, and I believe front office are expected around Thanksgiving Break. One challenge they ran into is, we have brand new bleachers at Carusi, and there's an issue with measurements at all. 3 middle schools at Carusi, Rosa and Beck. We did not measure these. The vendor is working on a solution with the manufacturer. We're expecting an answer on the bleachers this week, whether that's doing some fix on site. Remanufacturing them whatever it needs to be. But it's something they're working on, and hopefully can get a solution to us very soon. The East dance studio at High School east waiting on a schedule to remove and replace temporary flooring. There's some concerns with the the quality of the job. But that's gonna be done at no cost to us. But it passed all township inspections back in September. Early childhood education at Melburg and Kilmar. The expansions were doing there to add 16 more classrooms permit applications have been submitted. They're responding to questions. Work is expected to start in approximately one month. With expected completion. In December of 25. One open item that still needs to be discussed is when these additional seats come online, if they're available sooner than September. How does that fit in with. How preschool is funded and and things like that. So that's something that's currently being discussed. And. We'll have a plan for that. As we move forward. 2 more items. Told you it was a long list. This is the short version. here at Lewis. The roof is being placed under warranty. There's 1 leak. It's in this room in the corner over there. They've looked at ways to repair it. They've been unsuccessful, they decided. They're just going to replace it. The work will be done on the weekends as to not interruptions. But they're making it right again. That'll be no cost to the district. And lastly, just some miscellaneous items that came up. We're anticipating potential supply chain issues or increased material costs due to all the hurricanes that have been going through our country. They're expecting a lot of materials to be going down south where things need to be built and a lot of commodities costs are are gonna go up. It's just something we'll have to roll with. But. I appreciate them, keeping them keeping us abreast of. I also want to thank Garrison new rodent, not just for keeping us updated on. What's being done and what went right, but also what goes wrong. Everything doesn't go perfectly. But there, they've been very transparent and proactive in communicating what went wrong, what its impact cost or schedule is to us. And most importantly, what's being done about it? Again. I have a lot more notes on this. It was a very long meeting, and we caught up on everything that happened over the summer in the last few months. But if any board members have questions on particular projects, I probably have it in my notes, or we can. We can certainly go back to. You know a forensic garrison era, and and get an answer. So with that, while I catch my breath, are there any questions or comments. This is Winters. It's everybody's favorite question. The playgrounds. So is there a possibility? I understand the Ap's are gonna come online in June. The end of the school year. Is there a possibility that any of the playgrounds will come online in the spring? Because I understand the children are driving everybody crazy. By finding sticks in the field and doing whatever children do when they get bored. Yes, Yes, there is a possibility. There's nothing that's that we can commit to at this point, but they think they'll be able to get some of the playgrounds. In and available to the students. The playgrounds have to wait until the site works done and the site work is done at many of the sites. So the goal is whether permitting to get the playgrounds installed and open, so that the students have a place to play. And don't drive everybody crazy every day. I am sure the staff, especially the Ed assistants who supervise recess, will be thrilled to hear that. Thank you so much. Any other questions or comments. Mrs. Stern. You mentioned regarding the bleachers. I think it was Carusi that they were. There's in all the middle schools. There's measurement. Sizing issues. So is that where's the financial responsibility fall for fixing that or redoing it, or whatever the whatever the right way to remediate, that is. Yep, that's a great question, and the vendor has taken responsibility for that. They are covering any of the costs. The real challenge we have now is. Timeframe, and finding the time to do the work and get it. The goal was to have everything installed. When we opened the gym. I don't know how that impacts it yet. I asked when we're gonna have an answer, and they said hopefully, tomorrow morning we need answers. The real challenge is they don't want to just cut them to size. And compromise the integrity of them, and something that's supposed to last for 30 years. Only last 5. Right. They don't want to take things that have been custom painted with the school name or with any colors on it. And now. You know they're cutting off some of the wording, or at one of the schools. There's a walkway going off the middle, do you know, cut both sides so you don't have. Kind of asymmetric. So they're they're working on that that's on them to pay for it. That's on them to find a solution. It's. It's on us to accept the solution. But it's something that Garrison's working with the vendor to to get an answer, and leaning on them pretty hard to to figure it out. Thank you. Any other questions or comments. Alright, seeing none, I will. Wrap this up, and we'll move on to. The next agenda item. Thank you. Well, lucky for you all this is gonna be real short. So we move on to the Human Resources Report, which is often, which is. You know, a confidential committee. And often held. There's not very much I can speak to. However, we did talk about hiring where we're at with hiring which. And retention. We talked about the where we're at with sack hiring which Mr. Guy referenced earlier. So that was really helpful. We also talked about. Ess, I'm sorry. Es the the and other contracts that we have. Contracts for staffing. So dr. Morton spoke about that, so you probably. Felt more shared more than I might have thought to share in the committee report. So that was really helpful. And In general, I can say that we had a i i think, a really good discussion about the rigorous. And intentionally so. Vetting and hiring processes that we do. To ensure that you know we are not only hiring. You know the best people that we possibly can hire, but also to ensure that when they start. They're fully. Prepared with all of the materials. Credentials, licenses, certifications, etc. That are required, so that we are adherent to. All of the laws. That we need to follow. So that we can. You know, ensure that people coming into our buildings are. Prepared and. You know, ready to teach our kids and do it in a safe way and provide a safe school environment. Where they can learn so. That was part of the conversation. We also talked about. A little bit about the exciting Public Information Officer. position and. Candidate, which we will. Believe is on. Our agenda for tonight, which I reviewed earlier. Now it's I'm getting confirmation. So that's exciting. So that was part of our conversation, and. I think that's all I can talk about. So anybody have any committee members will stick to committee members 1st on that side of the room. Have any Comments or questions regarding our the report. Okay. Alright. I'll open it up to non-committee members. Anything to add or questions. Okay, that was easy. Thanks, quick! Good done. Go on to policy and legislation. Mr. Mayor, can you deliver an equally short report? Please? 1st of all, thank you to Mr. Greenbaum for sitting in with us on, and P. And I. Last week we handled a handful of things. 1st of all, we discussed continued our discussion on student mental health days. We've we've came to a believe. Agreement and consent is that the number of days. Should be 2 And that they would apply to all levels when we. When the the proposal was brought to us, it was it came in from a high school student. Materialist. And I think the thinking was that it would be only for high school, and that's not the case. So, and I think there is also agreement among. Committee members. That it should apply to all levels. The the issue that we continue to work through and are making progress on is how. Operationalize that. To ensure that when a student and or family member, on behalf of the student. Reports out that they are going to take some time, whether it be half day or full day. For a mental health break. That there is a follow up of some level. From from the school. To ensure the the safety and and health of the student. It's 1 thing to. To call out sick. It's 1 thing to. To miss a school day. For perhaps a college visit or so, or family visit. A family is away on vacation. But when a when a student member says that they need time off for a break for a mental health break, or worse, to that effect. That raises some concerns, and I think responsibility on the part of the building and the district to ensure that the student is okay. So there is a process ongoing now to determine what the best way to conduct that follow up is who would do that, and at what level. The follow up will be because. There are potential triggering words. That might follow that might require a little more of an in-depth quicker response to ensure that. The student, you know, is not actually. In a position where perhaps the district might be able to help get resources. To the student if necessary. So in that regard. There is a meeting on the 18th that's next Friday, with the Mental Health Task Force. Time to get their input and guidance on what the best practice is. What guidance they would. They believe, is best for the district, for the buildings to follow. So more news to more news to come on that. We would also discuss methods of publicizing this 2 families. So families understand that we are gonna start doing this and how to take advantage of that, how their students can take advantage of that. And of course also internally, so that those. Staff members who normally are responsible for notating student absences are aware that. You know how to handle those as well. So you know, I'll certainly be happy to follow up with more information after the. After. And I'm gonna attend that that meeting as well with the Mental Health Task force. On the 18th we continued further to discuss the hib communication process. The letters continue this week we'll have. The final revised version of the 1st 2 letters out committee members can take a look at those, but we also talked about the importance of. And understood that it's not just these letters. We also want to provide us. You know, comprehensive communications as possible across the board, so that would include. Potentially flowcharts in in. Improving on the FA document, which currently exists, also placing it in an area which is a little more accessible to families using live links and Google docs in order to just expand the opportunities that families have to get information. And with regard to information. And Dr. Mayhan also. Was, was helpful in letting us know that she is in the process of setting up, and I believe has already done that. Set up 3 or 4 different parent universities. Those are gonna be zoom Attendance, so there'll be no. A no cap on the number of parents and families that can attend. They're gonna start in late October. So later this month they're gonna start. Just another opportunity to engage families where they are and help them understand. More about the more about the process. As well. In addition, there will be a thought exchange survey. Which will be given, and will be accessible to all families who are participants in one way or another. In the HIV process. To get their input on what is working. What is not working, what suggestions they may have, and hopefully, we'll be able to take some of that and and continue. Continue moving forward and making those improvements. We Have a presentation to the Board in January from Dr. Mayhan. Will include the results of the survey will include updates on how the parent. Universities are going as well. So those were actually 2 of the those were 2 of the larger matters that we discussed. For Mrs. Winters. Enjoyment. I'm gonna use the word calendars. The 25. 2526 calendar either has been or will be posted. We we took another quick look at that. And the 2627 calendar. Is gonna go back to Lmc tomorrow. Not necessarily for any changes, just to make sure that the question came up. Whether or not there was another issue that Lmc wanted to just get a final sign off on. Before we post the 2627 calendar. So we're gonna do that tomorrow. Every policy that the district currently has that mentions K to 12 is going to be updated to. Pre-k to 12. And finally. We discussed resolutions, 2 of which I'll discuss in a little bit more detail. When when I move the agenda. 2, 2 resolutions, one of them resolution, for week of respect, which actually. Is this particular week starting yesterday. And the resolution for school violence awareness week. So when when I move those agendas, I'll actually read those resolutions into the record. Cause. They're both important, and it's not just a lot of times when we move agendas. You know it's but we've done the work, and and we've all seen it. And I always thank my board member. I actually don't always thank my colleague board members. I'm doing it now. For doing the work ahead of time and recognizing what's on the agenda. So oftentimes. You know, we get to that, and we just move agendas. And every now and then I think it's important to actually go into one and and read the words that are there. Mr. Green does that one. We accept donations. So I'm gonna read. I'll read those into the record at the time. That is, P. And L. Was not as quick as as the. Get your agenda. But I did my best. Do any other committee, members, current or. Temporary, have any questions or want to add. Mr. Green. Thank you. Just a quick comment. Thanks again for including me in the discussion. I wanted to provide a little more context on the hibters. Working within the. Rather rigid confines of the HIV statute to find opportunities for improvement as something I've been engaged in in my time on the board. And it's you know, it's always with the goals of. Trying to get increased transparency, particularly to board members when reviewing decisions, better communication with families, and more confidence in the process. This is just one step. The the revised hibers. We're we're rewritten with the goal of being both more informative and more empathetic. And I. I appreciate Dr. Mayhand sharing some more opportunities for education for both parents and students to better understand the process. It's kind of a holistic approach to. Do what we can to improve the process where there are opportunities to do so. And I'm happy to see us moving forward with some of these items. So thank you again for for including me in that. Glad you were available, and thank you for attending any. Do any other board members have any questions? Mrs. Chirp. More of a comment than a question, but it kind of lumps 2 of the. Items that you discussed the hip process and the mental health days. And something that I would like to see. And I know we've discussed this, but something that I think would be helpful for us as a district to support all of the children in. This is. Starting to crunch some data on what our, you know. Our hips look like, and. Maybe this can tie into those those days that we're offering, and if there is a way. To do this in a respectful manner, but. To maybe identify children that are. Involved in the hip process, and that are maybe expressing stress, or whatever you know they're they're handling with in. In that kind of way that could potentially be mitigated. Knowing that they have these days, and I don't know what that would look like, but maybe tying that into discussions that you're having. As we try to hopefully take the swing back to reducing the number of hibs that we have with better awareness of the process. Yeah, no, I think that's you know. That's a. That's a good observation, and certainly anything that we can do while we're looking at the head process is primarily on the communication. Aspect of it. But ultimately, whatever we can do as a district and at the schools. I'm here at the board table to help identify potential root causes and and do do work to try and reduce the the numbers. Appropriately is certainly important work and good work. So it's a good suggestion. Seeing no other. Oh, sorry! I did see no other questions, because I wasn't that way. I don't know, Ed. This may be a question for Dr. Morton, who is had to step out for a second. But I and I don't know if you recall. But What time of year do we get that report from Mr. The Hib data that is reported. Do. Do you know, when we off the top of my head it was yeah. It was towards the end of the year last year. So this is your fame. We will get some data in December, so at least we have a start. And that is a full presentation, that is, by Mr. That Looks at that is mandatory for state reporting. And it's pretty comprehensive. So just, you know something. It's a start. It's a start for that information. So. Yeah, yeah. And I think, I remember that from last year I was here for that meeting, and I think that's really helpful for the holistic picture of it, and I guess where I'm coming from is more of an internal. Maybe not even something that we see at our level, but something internally that they can maybe identify. You know. Repeat. Documents that come across. You know our specialist desks that from children that might be stuck in this process that we frequently talk about as being nonpunitive, and all that stuff, and frustrating because it comes from such a very. Strict statute process, and I think that maybe we can. Reduce the number of the ones that we're seeing that are unfound like, say, unfounded Hibs, by maybe providing these services that we're talking about and. Understanding the root cause of them. So that more of an internal assessment of what we're seeing. Are you talking about like the restorative processes? Which is what we've put in place for that. Is that what you're referring to? Or. I guess more of seeing if there's. Repeat You know, students are being accused of things that potentially are not that are more needing services like mental health days and stuff. But it's coming off. And it's coming across as a potential hib that we're seeing. But it doesn't fit under the process, and it's probably more of just better communication of what a hib is. But maybe there, if there are students that are frequently in this process that should not be. I'm hoping that we can. Try to mitigate them, being constantly in this process by. Having better services for them and identifying students that could. You know. Use these, especially when I, when we look at younger children. That I would, you know, don't! Are. I would like to think that are not coming from a place of. Harassment, intimidation, or bullying, and are probably just expressing feelings that they have in that sense or somebody's feeling that that's how they're expressing it, and unfortunately it comes in the form of a reported hib, when in reality, maybe, the student is just expressing feelings that they have in. In more of a negative way. And if there's. If there's students that are frequently in this situation that maybe we can start looking at that data to prevent this by offering them these days, or communicating better with. Families that they that they're off, they're being offered so in the process of figuring out how to offer mental health days. And. I want, I want to say perfecting, 'cause we'll probably never perfect the hip process but making the hip process better. Maybe there's something that we can do internally to identify students. That are frequently accused of hibs that are not in. Not harassing and bullying children. They're just expressing their feelings in a way that's not. Beneficial to anybody. Okay, thank you. Okay, we move on to strategic planning. And I think that might again be. Mr. Meyer. That word is gonna give the report. Yes. So strategic planning some of what we discussed in strategic planning, Mrs. Roscoff. Highlighted for us earlier. In her report, but I may have opportunity to pass the mic over just in case there are some questions, or when I make mistakes. Which I plan to do. So we we actually kicked off. Mr. Paulski kicked off the meeting with. Some more discussion on the website, and where we are and and the new website, and where that's going, it looks really good, although They did say that. What is shown is really just a sample of where things can go. But for those of you who are in the room could see it's already. It will be much easier to for people to access information quickly, to see exactly. You know where to go? The layout. Is much more user friendly. It is. Much more intuitive. And as a great example. For instance, when Dr. Morton earlier today. Went through the various steps to get all the way to drill into the district goals, and we all know the goals are there, and, for instance, whether it be achievement or otherwise, we know they're there, and it's frustrating. To see out there in the public people, saying, You know. They're not part of the goals they are, but they are sometimes hard to get to. And to Mrs. Roskov's point earlier. If you know how to work the website. You know how to get there? It shouldn't be that way. So the new website looks great. It is much easier again to, to see information, to get information. The framework for the website is already built and done. There was. Some concern earlier. That the vendor was gonna have to slow things down because their project manager left. They? They were able to identify someone else to move in. And and picked up right away, so we didn't lose any time. The delivery date. End of the year this year. For the new website. The framework is there at this point. It's a matter of porting. All of our existing data and putting it in the right places in the new website and then cleaning. A handful of things, just to make sure that when it goes live it truly is ready to go. But I will say that really impressive. To see to see how much work has already gone into it. One of the things that has been most often criticized. By, the. By public by community, by board, members, by parents. Is the website. And sometimes because it's just can be difficult to manage. It looks like that. Has certainly been heard. It is being addressed. And come January first.st New website will be live along with that. Mr. Polinski also showed us. The data, the data dashboard again. Just a sample. It's still in progress. It's it's early days, but looks really really good. We have talked often about the importance of being able to show. Our data to show for parents to be able to see the numbers. And to be able to. Realistic and usable comparisons, whether it be between schools or cohorts. And see what's actually happening. In the district as opposed to trying to. Parse data from lo longer spreadsheets, often perhaps making innocent or not mistakes. And then. Drawing conclusions which are not supported by legitimate data. The dashboard will. Go a long way towards showing a tremendously improved ability to be transparent with numbers. And we'll also have the opportunity. As as the dashboard to add more and more functionality to that. So, for instance, if we. Make a decision in the future that we would like different sorts of views, or would like to be able to have. The opportunity to manipulate data in different ways. They'll have that functionality. It is anticipated that the dashboard will also be live. Same at the same time frame as the new website. So both the data dashboard and the website should be live as of. The end of this year, which is wonderful news. I will pause just briefly. And ask Mark if I have misstated anything in a gross manner. Then I I would not feel terribly. Guilt ridden by your correcting me, shifting down to grab a microphone. No, that was a great summary. Thank you very much. While you're while you're sitting there, though I will. I would like to say this just a moment of levity. It was mentioned by Mr. Greenbaill. I forgot to mention this. Apparently there's a leak in this room. And it it's I don't know whether it's coincidence or not, but it's it's near their mets. Fan. You know I will follow that up. However, I will follow that up by saying congratulations. It's important to be good winners and good losers. So, anyway. But thank you. The presentation was excellent. We always appreciate that. It's great to see what the work that's actually being done, and you know I can say. That I really think that community members will also be happy to see what's what's happening. They're really getting what they've asked for what we know, that. Community, the community members. And I think what we need also, in order to. To be on top of what's happening in the schools. We also discussed, although we didn't get into any real details. The continued movement in elementary school redistricting that it is not done in a vacuum. Nothing that is happening with regard to schools and reconfiguration. It's being done in a vacuum, you know. This is all stemming from in large part. The new demographic study that was done, and understanding that. The Cherry Hill today. Is not the Cherry Hill of 30 or 40 years ago. Population growth. Is significantly higher on the West side. In particular, it is expected that that will continue in the near future, and we have to address that. And one of the big tools that we do have to do that is. Through elementary school, redistricting. And the use of. Members and the collaborative team that has been meeting to do that. It is my understanding also, that because it has been such a successful group to work with, and the insights that they have brought to the table. The fact that they've they've done that by putting their own. Personal agendas decide on working as a group for the betterment of the community. Will likely be used for other projects, as well. Throughout. As we move forward. So that's all you know. That's all good to see. There was also very brief discussion. With respect to where things stand. With the steering Committee on. On redistricting. Which has resulted in a a. Recommendation of 3. 3 specific recommendations, none of which are nothing, is in stone. These are all. These are all. Things which are in consideration. So I'll. Go over them very briefly. One is to consider redistricting schools by a grade level and groups. So it will be grouping the schools by grade level and smaller groups of schools that are close to one another, to. To reduce, you know, to reduce travel, time to disruption, to to students, but also allow them to remain together as their own community, as they continue their. They're processed through the Cherry Hill schools. Second. The second big recommendation that came out was to bring this building online as an elementary school. Not not a huge surprise. But that was one of the. One of the top 3 recommendations. 3rd is, of course, to redraw. Boundaries to make those boundaries make more sense. And to do so in a way that is, also recognizes again where the demographics are going. To try and do so in a way that minimises. Transportation cost disruption to students. Travel time and to try and make. As possible. Special education, opportunities, available. To more students, closer to their homes and home schools, so that. There would be less less travel distance for those students as well. Again. It is. It is early days, but important days in those discussions that are moving forward and thank you. Specifically to the members of the community who have. Lent their time and their expertise and their guidance. In in helping us move forward. Finally we discussed the Hanover Update. They have worked through Parse, through all the data from the survey that that was done. As we move forward there will be a number of opportunities for continued. To for us to learn even more from the community specifically. This coming summer we'll there will be gathering additional feedback from us as board members and leadership. In order to drill down on priority areas. They will continue through that and through October. They're continuing to analyze data they're looking for to see where we can take advantage of. Opportunities to close gaps and inequities with regard to outcomes, to access to different programs. We're also, they will continue through November to gather more stakeholderions and try and identify additional areas where we can. The chief successes, and identify and begin to attack some challenges that we have. There will be community focus groups. They will start at the beginning of next year in January. And then they will be prepared sometime in the spring to come to us with. 4 findings and a full presentation. Again not nearly as short as but I don't think it's quite as long as be enough. Do any, which is not necessarily criticism. Thank you, Mr. Green. Do any committee members wanna add anything to that? Or Mrs. Rusk off? Is there anything you'd like to add to that presentation that you think we need. For context. If if there are questions I can. Other board members have any questions. Seeing none. I know you raised your hand late on purpose to do that. Mrs. Stern. It's okay. I'm in your periphery. So a little bit more about a question of questions, a little bit to understand a little bit more about the recommendations coming out of the committee. So the 1st one. Could you talk a little bit more about the idea of grouping by greed, and what how that would look, and what were the. The configurations. Yeah? And also. What would be the benefit of that. 1st of all, just remember, these are recommendations, and they have to go through the steering committee for to be bedded to make sure how viable they really are right. But one of the recommendations was to look at A. K through 3. Configuration. A 5 through. Or 4 through 6 configurations, 7 and 8, and then the high schools would look the same. The benefit that they found was by doing that they distributed the number of students. Across different levels. And it did provide extra seats in the buildings. It also what was the rationale to provide extra seats and and looking at it, it would also allow, possibly, the the distribute, the redistribution of special Ed, so that that would be more equitable. And also the redistribution of possibly demographics. Again, this has to be all vetted by the. Steering committee. Thank you. So this is early days, early days. Yeah. Cause my wheels are turning, but I'm I'm gonna hold off on the wheel. The other piece of that would be to try to. Not only, you know, to to cluster them was the word that we came with. We we're literally using some other words, and we came to the word cluster, so that they would try to be as as closely as possible clustered into neighborhoods. So that kids would still travel with the same cohort. It wouldn't be like they would go K. Through 3 and one building. And then switch to 4 through 6 building, but be with a brand new cohort of kids. So if we were clustering them, there would still be the. You would still travel with your friends. Through elementary and middle school, and then your choice of high. Thank you. Seeing no other questions. That is it for strategic planning. I'm not raising my hand again. All right. We move on to our special action. Mrs. Winters, can you please move the C. And I agenda, I'd be happy to the superintendent recommends, and I move the following. 17.1 approval of attendance at conference and workshops for the 2425 school year, and. 17.2 resolution approving a professional services. Agreement. Between the Cherry Hill Board of Education and Partners in pediatrics to provide services at the Pulitz Day School. Do I have a second. Miss Stern. Are there any questions on any items on the Cni agenda? Speak, now. Seeing no questions. Board members. Get ready. Ms. Can you please open the machine for votes? Board members. You may ask your votes. And we have a unanimous yes, vote. We move on to business and facilities. Mr. Greenbaum, can you please move the B. And F. Agenda. Thank you, the superintendent recommends, and I move the following. 18.1 financial reports, 18.2 resolutions, 18.3. Approval of budget calendar for the 2526 school year. As a reminder. If you want to know when we're doing what with the budget, that's where the attachment is. 18.4 resolution for the award of change. Orders. And. That's all of them got a shorter one tonight. Do. I have a second. This is winters. Any questions. Seeing none. Miss Sugars, please open the voting. Board members, you may cast your votes. Mrs. Schumer is, I'm going to accuse myself from 18.1 due to interest. Okay, we have a recusal from Mrs. On 18.1. Otherwise we have a unanimous yes. I will move the human resources. Agenda. Superintendent recommends, and I move the following 19.1 termination of employment certificated 19.2 termination of employment non-certificated, 19.3 appointments certificated, 19.4 appointments non-certificated, 19.5. Assignment salary change, non certificated, 19.6 other compensation certificated. Do I have a second. This is winters. Are there any questions from board members. This is Winters. I see there's an addendum. There's a Cherry Hill East School nurse being added to the agenda. I was wondering if that fills the position that. Was mentioned earlier that was open. Okay, so we still need another cities. Got it. Thank you so much for clarifying. I appreciate it. Anybody. Any other questions from board members. Okay, seeing none. Mr. Can you call the vote? Please. Just just you can do a regular. Thank you. I need to abstain. Choosing to abstain from 19.3 to ensure that I avoid a conflict of interest. Okay, we have one abstention, Mrs. Stern on 19.3. Otherwise we have unanimous yes, vote. Okay, Mr. Mayor on my left. Can you please move the policy agenda. Certainly super super tenant recommends, and I move the following. Item 20.1 approval of harassment, intimidation decisions. Do I have a second. Mr. Greenbaum. Are there any questions? None. Mrs. Sugars, would you please open the voting. Board members. You makeaster votes. And we have unanimous yes, vote. I'll do it now. So before we, I, I. Mentioned earlier that I wanted to read into the record the resolution for. We discussed earlier. Recognition for the week of respect. So before we move before we move forward. Thank you to the chair for allowing me to do this. I'd like to read into the record the resolution. Based upon public 10. Whereas for the 2420, 25, school year, all. Public school districts and approved charter schools are required to designate the 1st full week in October as. Week of respect, and whereas the Cherry Hill Public School district supports the value of providing an opportunity. For students, parents, school, district personnel, to recognize the importance of. Character, education, and to provide appropriate instruction. Focusing on preventing harassment, intimidation. Or bullying. Now, be it resolved, at the Cherry Hill Board of Education designates this week, the week of October 7, th 2,024, as week of respect, and directs the superintendent. To have all schools participate in activities appropriately designated to promote the character. And to recognize the importance of social and emotional learning and the prevention of harassment, intimidation. And bullying in our schools. So I just wanted to read the actual resolution into the record. So it's more to me, anyway, it's more than just the fact that this is a New Jersey mandated law. And what we can do, what we do here on the board again. I'll thank my. Colleague board Members for. Always supporting the importance of. Character, education, and respecting one another, and respecting each other's cultures respecting each other's. Beliefs respecting and celebrating each other's differences and learning. About them. It's it's great that there is a resolution. And and I look forward to whatever the school's individually are doing to support. We cover, respect. It's great that it's being called out. It should always be more than just a week. I mean, respect is. Something that has to be Lived. And that's not just. Acknowledged during, you know, 5 days of the school week. It should be every day, but. I thought it was important to read the words of the resolution of the record, because we you know, it is it's more than just numbers. It's more than just. It's more than just raising our hands and clicking and voting. Yes, to something. To acknowledge that and celebrate it. I just wanted to put it on the record. Yes, I think well. So respect obviously is about kindness, you know. Pledge to a you know, anti bullying platforms solidarity type of events. So essentially, that's that's pretty much done in the schools. Events that help to. Putting solidarity amongst the kids. And you know their communities that could look like dress up days where specific color days or other type of events, as well as designated and designed within the schools. So. So with with that. Thank you, Dr. Morton. Thank you to the administrators and the teachers who are doing that. Certainly we, as the board would invite, or I would. Board member invite community to participate. Welcome, you know. Welcome, respect and talk to your kids, your students about that. And you know that it starts there right? We we talk, Mr. Fain. Thank you for your suggestions on. Ways we might be able to reduce Hibs and reports and and education. Respect is. Absolutely foundational to that. Thank you for that. Alright. We move on to new business. Is there any new business this evening? Besides the sad faces about the Phillies losing. Any other new business. Okay, seeing none. Is there any old business that Board members would like to raise tonight? Okay, seeing none. We move on to our second public comment. This is our second public comment section, during which you may comment on any topic relevant to our school district. Or the Board of Education. If you would like to speak. Now, please clearly state your full name, municipality. We will alternate between. Speakers who are in the room, and those who are online. Oh, I think we have a few more since the Phillies. Game is over I should stop rubbing it. Anne, stop talking about it. Each speaker will be given a maximum of 3 min to speak. The timer on the screen will indicate the amount of time you have left. As always, we invite our students who would like to speak first.st To, they will have the 1st opportunity to speak. And we if you are a student online, please put an S after your name so that we can identify you and call on you first.st Public comment is an opportunity for members. Of the community to comment on matters relevant to the operations of Terry Hill Public School district, or within the authority of the Terrell Board of Education. The Board welcomes diverse opinions on relevant matters. Under established Federal law, governing reasonable restrictions on speech and public forum. Statements which demean individual community members or groups, or which are irrelevant to the operations of the school district, or are. Will not be permitted. Community members who would like to present information to the school district are always welcome to communicate directly to this District superintendent, board, President, and all board members via email or other alternative means. And with that we will start in the room. If anyone would like to speak. Please approach the podium. Please state your full name. And you will have 3 min, as the timer indicates, on the screen. Rick Short, Jerry Hill. We have 300 million dollars right now. For bond money. I didn't hear anything about the. Doors being replaced. I don't want to speak of what doors that can't be locked. But I can't believe. That we have doors that can't. During an active shooter. And I come up here year. After year after year, and say the same thing. Second of all. Few years back, before the Ap. Rooms were built. I presented the board with information. From this New York City. Going green program. Obviously you didn't do any of that. Dap buildings. I guess my only question is. Do they have transparent roofs. Because if they don't, they don't look very green. They look like Polarns, with 2 freaking windows. And I've said this before. Warns you a year and a half ago, before you were building it. It looks like a Polarn. So you spend 4.2 million dollars. Unless unless the roofs are trans. Transparent. And it looks like a Polarn. So it's not green. I would like some clarifications from the last meeting. And this is directed towards Dr. Morton. The question is. The last meeting. You said in reference to HIV numbers that were presented. They are grossly, grossly inaccurate. You said grossly. So these are your numbers from 2,020. 2 to 2,023. It's 1, 70. They were back in 2,018 before restorative justice. It was 94. Alleged cases, and it jumped to that. And you also, said Mr. Short. There wasn't an 81% that's grossly inaccurate. So well, Dr. Morton, correct the record. That when you take 90. And 170. It's 81. Because we don't want any, and misinformation because. I guess Dr. Morton's gonna be grossly wrong. And finally, I just. Come up here. I don't know. I've lost count now, how many times I've come here. And I asked the same question. So I had a buy the domain name. Asked Dr. Morton. Com. Because the district refuses to answer the question. About that we have. Consultants. That our Abolitionist. But hate America. Oh, alright, that's right. And thank you. Okay, we go back to the line or go to the line. And the phone number is 7, 8. Please state your full name and your municipality. Advocating for us, when it came to getting the fair portion of the tax dollars that we send to Trenton back to. Us. What happened was especially Pta was left on its own, and we ended up becoming part of a Miki brief against Sra to the New Jersey Supreme Court. Disability rights, New Jersey. And that's a whole big, that's a whole story. Actually, where that went nowhere. There's an article entitled Lmc. Labor management collaborative, equal results. It's David, August 29, th 2,024 NJ. Ea. New Jersey Education Association. Please read the article and do some research about it in the article. It does say that to chose. Public School district labor, managed collaborative work to obtain 1.5 million dollars in salary. Stabilization. Basically, what's interesting is that, according to the State's figures, we are $29, or 111118% above what the State Council is. Our local fares is our local fair. In other words, that's the money. That's the money that we basically that. So we're paying more than enough. In taxes according to the State of New Jersey. But still we're short of money. The question is, why we should have money when we, when, according to the State's calculations, we are overpaying on our taxes. Why, what's going on here? So basically, the state what the State did was roll back a portion to everyone of our a cuts one year in the school district, use part of that money. To basically enhance salaries for certified staff new personnel. So we could hire more personnel and be more competitive, which is great, except we always had that money. In June there was, there was, there was a School Board meeting where I think we we did 10 million, and then we needed a total of 50 million dollars, and we put that into the capital reserve account. And someone like me said, well, one sold some of that money back. Don't put it to capital reserve, because maybe we had other uses for it. Well we did. We could have enhanced our salaries of our starting teachers. So the rollback. Really didn't solve anything. You all could have solved it if you used part of that money to enhance the salaries, and someone like me said, but you didn't do it. You didn't. When, in fact, you could have. I I don't know Thank you, and your time is up, and we go back to the room. There's anyone who would like to speak. Please approach the microphone. I do not see anybody at the microphone. I go back to the hand online. The next hand is Amy Roth. Please state your full name, and your municipality. My name is Amy Raw. I'm a parent of a 4th grader in Mrs. Wilson's class at Bret Hart. I spoke at the last meeting would like to provide an update. I'd written something earlier. And now I'm revising it. Has there been some updates. Earlier today we learned that our second daily sub is being replaced with another temporary solution. Well, the district continues to look for a qualified long term, substit. That is a certified teacher. The replacement that will start on Thursday is within the Cherry Hill district and appears to be a certified teacher. So that is a huge improvement over our current situation. I appreciate the district providing an alternative that appears to address some of the access concerns, and also puts a certified teacher within the classroom. We are aware that they are still looking for a long-term sub, and so we should expect a new teacher, another long-term sub in the fall, and Mrs. Wilson, back in January. Very challenging for children to. Have 5 teachers in one school year. I would be remiss if I did not provide an update on the situation through yesterday. I believe this meeting was a catalyst for an increase in communication that started today, or we received 2 emails from our building administration. That equals the total of all previous communications that parents have received over the 1st 5 weeks. Communication is important for our children. The 2 communications that we had previously received. Were around that miss. Our previous long term sub had been terminated, as well as a general communication. We have been asked to communicate through our building administrative assistant, as our daily sub did not have a email. I requested a 10 min call with our daily sub to explain a medical procedure that my son was having that might impact his behavior. I was told that there could be a call set up next week, which is, after his procedure. Or, and that a certified staff had to be present during this call our principal indicated that our current substitute teacher may not be fully aware of district expectations, and for that reason it's important to have certified staff members. Present during any direct communication. If he's not fully aware of district expectations, how is it reasonable that he is permitted to teach our students without a certified staff member. This policy of not allowing direct communications is not reasonable. When dailys are in the room. Access. None of the individuals we've had teaching. Our children have had access to cherry hole resources, including training for the new curriculum. Lack of access is an impediment to the subs. The easiest way to improve the situation is by removing the impediment. Feedback on learning. This is the 6 week that we and we have not received any graded homework. We have not received any graded class materials outside of math. Exit tickets. There have been a number of test quizzes taken, none have been returned. No feedback is received on Ela cab or science. I'm hopeful that our situation will improve. I request the district to look at policies when daily subs are in rooms for extended period of time, as the current policies are causing our children to fall behind, cause frustration with parents and create a negative parent school relationship. It's my sincere hope that I'm not back here again in 2 weeks. Thank you for your. Thank you. And we go back to the room and do not see anybody at their microphone. So we will go back to the line. In the hand. Up is Kurtick. If you could please state your full name and municipality. To please unmute. Yeah, go ahead. Her brand. Yeah, I was muted sorry. Hill. I usually go to full 3 min, although now it'll be 2 min 46 seconds. But I'll try to keep it quick for the sanity of of the board a couple official things, and then a couple of responses. What I've heard today. Earlier, when Miss Roskov was talking about the community relations plan, I really like the idea of connecting with colleges. In the area and being able to connect students to those colleges. And in that respect, if there is room for community involvement. I'd like to help there. I'm as I've said before, I'm a professor at American University, but I also have contacts. At other universities of Delaware Temple University, Penn. State, and a couple others in the area. If there is room for that I'd like to connect to Miss Roscoff and and Connector with some people there, if that would be part of it. I. On a bit of a personal note. I had the privilege last night. Of attending a an observation of the the anniversary of the October 7th attack at Congregation. Beth, L. Hosted by the Jewish Federation of South Jersey. And I would advocate for anybody interested in the school system. Anybody in Cherry Hill, anybody in Camden County to go online and and watch the the recording of that live stream, because it was very moving, and I guess, wanted to thank the Jewish Federation of South Jersey and Congregation. Beth. L. For hosting that. Finally mr. Mayor said something toward the end of his comments that I really enjoyed, where he said that talking about promoting respect. Now. All the talk about how things like restorative justice and. Empathy, and all these other things, how they. How they affect test scores and such. I'm not going to get into correlation and causation. Or or the accuracy of the numbers. But to me it's almost. It's a point, notwithstanding, because. It's it's not a 0 sum game. It's not binary. I am glad that there are individuals in the community individuals in the school system that know that we can teach empathy and academic excellence. At the same time, we don't need to pick. One or the other, and I think Cherry Hill students are. Able to do that. So thank you very much. I'm position 4 on the ballot running for the board, and I hope I can contribute in the ways that I mentioned here, not just. Next year, but in the immediate term, thanks very much. Okay. We go back to the room again, back to the microphone. Nobody's at the microphone. You go to the line. I don't see any hands online. I'm gonna close public comment, and I'm gonna turn it over to Dr. Morton for superintendent comments. Thank you, Mr. And thank you to everyone who's made comments this evening. Have, just a. Few announcements, and just a few clarifications, as well. There was. There were questions about head start conference so the conference itself. Is the preeminent head start conference in the country. It is, well, not just actually. It's in the Us version. But the 2 conferences that are held, one in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and also in the Us. Virgin Islands. Head. Start is a. Program that is targeted to support. Young children from low-income families. The the way that the program works is designed to support learning. Health, and the family itself for children that are within the ages of 3 to 5 Well known reputable program that is, provided services and supports to to young learners. If you think about the end, and begin with the end in mind. The ends of this. Preschool expansion. Process will see us. Have over 1,700 students in the district. If you think about that in and of itself. With the number of providers that we'll have. I'm estimating upwards of 15 to 20 providers. You think of it that! Think of that as a district. Within a district. As large as some districts that are, you know, across the State supporting that we build the knowledge base the individuals that are charged with building this program and and getting us to that place. Which is Dr. Mayhan. Dr. Mayan has done a great job, and not only writing the application, but getting us off to a start and building a foundation where we, you know where we can potentially grow to. To reach the projected point. We believe the conference is important because of that, because of those reasons. There's a comment about Hibs and Hib numbers. Just to clarify again when I said gross misinformation. There was an attempt to attribute. Allege HIV Hib incidents to violent acts within a school buildings that is. Totally inaccurate and an alleged incident is one that's unfounded. It is one that. Doesn't necessarily mean that it even represents something that's a a violent situation, and it does not mean that there's there's a direct correlate correlation. That's there. Further, there was a comparison between numbers and 2,018 to the 2,02223 school year, which are relatively arbitrary. I remind you that I was not the superintendent in 2223. I did explain that, and and attempted to explain that via email to you, Mr. Short. If you look at the numbers in 2,007, 18, there's actually a 28% increase. If you, if you compare those numbers of alleged HIV incidents to 2223. So again, to begin to correlate restorative practice violence, all these things. It it really th, that's not rational. It really doesn't really make much sense. In reference to the comment about State and the. Article that was that was published in Njea, and also published on the Neas website, as well. The article actually highlighted the Board's efforts. To use the State stabilization to actually raise starting salaries in the district. That's exactly what was done, and the article highlights. That so? I'm not sure where the confusion is there. But kudos again to the board, for you know it's it's great work to raise starting salaries and to make Cherry Hill more attractive. We've seen positive results in terms of our ability to attract. Good candidates to the district. And we've also received recognition as as mentioned. You know, that that was published. An Nga Njea's website, and also on the Nea's website as well. In reference to the use of daily subs the expectation is that daily subs will not be used for long-term opportunities. That that's not something that we necessarily desire to do, unless it is an extreme. Situation where you know we're we're somewhat in a bind. As I mentioned earlier today, we follow process by hiring substitutes similar to the same process. We we follow for hiring permanent teachers as well. That process was followed. Mr. Burg. Had identified a great candidate. We interviewed that individual. I had an opportunity to interview that individual. They were all set and ready to go. Until prior to a week from the school year beginning, that individual. Obtained another position. I guess that was full time, and made a decision that was best for themselves. Nonetheless, that left us in a very difficult situation, and I mean the realities that. It's no excuses, but you know there's a teacher shortage, and it's it's difficult. And it takes time to identify a suitable candidate. And the the week since Mr. Burgess and Mr. Guy have both been sleeper, for that matter, and sourcing. Candidates they've been interviewing candidates, and that you know the expectation and the attempt is to make sure we find a suitable candidate for the position. Information was shared with families today that a current. Teacher in the district would be reassigned to cover the class and help get the class through this transition. While we finalize the hiring process for a long term substitute. For that class, we we thought, that's the best move for us to make at this point. None of this. We? We don't necessarily want to be in this process, you know. We don't necessarily want these things to occur like this, but you know when they do occur. We have to respond accordingly. And that's exactly what's you know what's being done. Thank you, Miss Roscoff, for the presentation. I just want to reiterate. We wanna hear from you the public. We have some very exciting and dynamic processes taking place right now. Mr. Mayor mentioned. The Hanover research firm who we're working with to complete our 5 year Strategic plan. On Thursday we have our 1st workshop. Which will have stakeholders from within this community come together and help us to identify our vision, our mission and core values for moving forward. As we establish these core values and these other items, Miss Rosk and I will be out and we will be out to to talk to members of the community. To hear your perspective as well, and to have your perspective added. To to the conversation. Additionally, there'll be ample other opportunities for community members to share their voices and share their perspectives on what it is that we want for our children as our children progress throughout the levels. And move on to graduate and leave us. That's what we call a portrait of a graduate. So you may have heard that quite frequently used. But this is your opportunity. To provide your voice, to provide your input and to provide your feedback and direction. And like, I said, we're listening, you know. So we we definitely want you to stay connected. With that process we sent the notice out about. The district being accepted into a natural network called the League of Innovative Schools, is really an exciting network to be a part of. Great school districts here in New Jersey are also a part of that. There's great school districts around the country. There's 156, to be exact, Miss Roskff and I had an opportunity to to go out and interact with members of the League and California. And you know, just by the by, the experience that we had, you know, very, very excited for our affiliation, and we're looking forward to moving forward with that process Just 2 other announcements. Or Reminders. Thursday. It's all going down. It's all going down. Here's a high school, East football coach, high School, East Versus High School, West. Over at High School East will truly be exciting. So 1st east, 1st game. That would be done. That would be played under the lights at East this year. So it promises to be fun. Coach home and says that they're bringing the boot. Over the crescent. He's declared it already, so we'll see about that. We'll see about that. Come out. And enjoy a great night in Cherry Hill. Last thing I just like to say for all those celebrating yamour. Just wish you a great and easy best. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Morton, and I. Want to congratulate you? Mrs. Mrs. Roscoff and your team. For the admission into the League of Innovative Schools. And I, you know. It's also important for us, as a board to recognize what that means. The hard work that went into that, and what that means for elevating our district. To more opportunities, more access on a national level to. Exciting resources. You know, really moving us continuous to move us forward as. A cutting edge district. I can remember. Year, one or 2 on the board. I guess it was we were. Maybe it was year 2, because. I don't know. I don't know. I feel like you saw the article in this one just maybe you didn't. We were given an article from. Early days of Cherry Hill public schools to review, I mean, like, you know. Black and white photos. Early days. Long article about the the number of you know, exciting, innovative. You know, opportunities and experiences our students were having. It was really mind opening to see. You know, kind of the Cherry Hill back, then, and all of these aspiration aspirational really goals that we were striving towards and and starting to reach. And I feel like we're back in that time again. It's really exciting to see. So. And I feel like this is another piece of that puzz. So just wanna congratulate you for all your hard work. Thank you for traveling across country. I'm I know what it's like to be in a multi day conference. It's exhausting and intensive. Especially in a time zone difference. So so thank you both and excited to see what comes from it. So. And with that I make a motion to adjourn. Do I have a second. Mr. Green, all in favor. The motion carries meeting is adjourned.