At the state championships. And Ari went down as the sixth most decorated women's wrestler in the state of New Jersey history is pretty awesome. Our West Winter Track team broke 12 school records this winter. We have Brooklyn Ezekiel, who's a sophomore, and she's actually ranked seventh in the country One more time, seventh in the country in the triple jump. At EastRac, they won the Olympic conference meet this winter. And it was highlighted by Brody Bogus. He broke the school record in the mile and he ran an amazing, I still can't believe it.
Four minutes and 15 seconds This winter, it was outstanding. So it's been a tremendous winter season. And then we have all of these outstanding young people behind us. Who have just exceeded our expectations. I'm going to start tonight off with our East Boys swimming team. They are the South Jersey Swim League Pacific Division champions And 16-time NJSIA Group A South Sectional Champions. They finished the season ranked number six in New Jersey.
And I'd like to bring up head coach Joe Cucinotti. Good evening, everybody. Thanks, Mr. Burrell. I've got nothing left to say. Now, we… we always have a great season and it's because we have a great township that really invests in this sport. So coming here and being recognized by you is the greatest recognition we can get because it only helps show how important this sport is not just to our team not just the West team, but to the entire township and
This recognition is great and we appreciate you guys having us. And I'm not going to speak much more. I'm going to call them up. Here come the 2025 South Jersey sectional champions. Come on up gentlemen, shake some hands. Rowing tomorrow. Naveen Boji, Gabe Grodans. Sean Haney, Liam Inman. Josh Kim. Adam Leibowitz, Christian Leone. Ketter Neve, Jason Ritchie. Ben Schlatter, Dimitri Antonov. Braden Barkley, Adam Billett.
Connor Borelli, Kai Green. Noah Livestone, Ryan Moyer. Grant Muratoure, Alex Rounds, Matt Summeling, Jerry Yu. Mike Pichetti, Gavin Haney. Caleb Kim, Dan Kramer, Alexi Markov. Jack Shulligan, Kian Sherlock, Ryan Steaver, Ray Tao. Jacob Yerkes, Tyler Albrecht Santiago and Dino. Lucas Becerra, Luke Bernstein, Justin Kajoulis, Travis Ko. Matt Conlon, Luke Cunningham, Luke Davis.
Zach Roseman, Johan Manu, Max Massett. Matt Pinaya, Matt Rebstock. And Luke Wilkins. Thank you again, everyone.
All right, next. So much fun to watch. Like a… Exciting group of young men. One of the few teams in our school district that can put 2,000 people in a gym to come and watch them play. Just an outstanding season by them. The East boys basketball team, our Olympic Conference American Division champions. They finished ranked number seventh in South Jersey. And at this time, I'd like to bring up The New Jersey Basketball Coaches Association, Camden County Coach of the Year.
Mr. Dave Allen. It's a good possibility I'll be longer than Mr. Cucinati. He'll say because I'm older. I just want to just thank you. The Board of Education for the opportunity to teach and coach in Cherry Hill, a place where I went to school And had the opportunity to come back and play basketball.
What a tremendous honor that is. About our season. If you know a little bit about our team, last year we finished 13 and 16. Last in the league. Our whole team basically graduated. We had two starters come back. And one kid who didn't play much, who came off the bench. So then we had four new players who came into our lineup as well as a brand new team. And I knew after our first conference game we played the team that was picked to win the conference ranked fifth in south jersey And then from there, we were down 10 points with about four minutes to go, came back and won the game. And I knew we had something special.
And the reason why we won that game is because They were a team. And as you know anything, it's hard to build a team. And from the very beginning, they stayed together. They were a team. And from that. During the season, we were in the top five in South Jersey all year. We were ranked top 20 in the state as high as 17th. We were leading the state in scoring. At one point, we were the number one team in South Jersey. We finished with the number one seed in group four the number one record in the whole Olympic conference We went to the group four final four We had the second best record in school history And we won the Olympic Conference Championship outright for the first time in over 30 years.
And the one thing that I took from Coach Larry Brown is Good teams have good players. Great teams have great teammates. And part of our team is the Board of Education. And the president, Miriam Stern. Dr. Kwame Morton, Dr. Neil Birdie. Dr. George Guy, Carol Roskopf, Caitlin Mallory. Diane Lieber, our outstanding administration at Cherry Elise, Mr. Finkel. Athletic Director Mr. Burrell. All of our coaches, the teachers and support staff.
The fans and the countrymen And don't want to leave out. Our parents our parents And I'm not saying this to… be negative to any other parents. You can't be better than the parents we have. They are the best. And like with all of our teams in Cherry Hill, they're the best, but they are the best. So without further ado. I will announce our team. And you can come up, Chris Abreu.
Chris Delgado. Justin. Justin Farber. Jacob Jones? Noam Marciano. Kobe Medini.
Ben Raskus. Ryan Olsen. Jesse Sarada. And Jameson Young.
And I want to announce our managers who aren't here. Lauren Sakata. Eric, Jamie. Riley Morrell. Judah Neve. And one of our players, Kyle Scott. And again, thank you very much. You know, I forgot to mention that this winter Dave Allen was inducted into the Al Carino Boys Basketball New Jersey Basketball Hall of Fame as well. So congratulations to you, Dave.
All right. Our next group is our West girls basketball team. They were the Olympic conference patriot Division champions They were the NJSIAA Group 3 South Sectional Champions. And finally, they were the NJSI AA, New Jersey Group 3 State Champions.
They finished ranked number 11 in new jersey And number two in South Jersey. And now I'd like to present the nj.com. New Jersey girls state basketball coach of the Year, Mr. Dan Butler. Thank you, Mr. Burrell. First, I'd like to uh Thank the administrative team that is here tonight. I know Dave Allen did a fantastic job of introducing and giving the proper recognition to The people that matter the most and are the most supportive of our athletic teams here.
But again, athletic director, Mr. Burrough West principal, Dr. Burns, Dr. Morton, and the entire admin team The Cherry Hill Board of Ed and really just the entire Cherry Hill community. I am grateful for all of you. I'm grateful for the entire community coming together to support all of our athletic teams. Congratulations to East Girls and Boys Swim. Congratulations to East Boys Basketball. And I would certainly be remiss if I did not personally think, you know, Coach Dave Allen from Cherry Hill East.
I had the distinct pleasure of coaching with Dave Allen While he was at Cherry Hill West as a teacher and a coach. One of my mentors then, one of my mentors now He's a fantastic basketball coach. But he's a great mentor and even better friend. And the boys at East are obviously certainly very, very lucky and hopefully are appreciative. Of all that Coach Allen brings to not just East basketball, but the entire basketball community in Cherry Hill. So on to, you know, the Cherry Hill West girls You know, all thanks goes to them. It's a fantastic group of Individuals, you know, much more than just basketball players. As Coach Allen said, even better teammates to each other.
They had the good fortune of really growing together. We have a group of four seniors that started four years ago as freshmen. Which is extremely rare and unique in any basketball setting. So we have four of them that were, you know, starters for four straight years. In the Olympic conference in South Jersey, group three With some extremely talented competition. So I am extremely grateful and just really lucky to have been a part of their journey. That extends far beyond just this past season. Which was, of course, very historic. We were the olympic conference champions for the first time in school history.
We were the South Jersey sectional champions for the first time in school history And then, of course, we were the new jersey state champions for the first time in school history. So it's certainly worthy of… Of course. You know, it's uh One thing to be a teacher and to experience the value out of everything that we get to see and experience in a classroom. But the relationships that we are able to form You know, after 2 30 when the athletic teams, you know, kick off It's a special bond, special relationships that truly do last a lifetime. And, you know, this group certainly will be able to
Hold on to that state championship memory for a lifetime, but really they're going to hold on to those relationships that have been formed over the last four years. So without further ado. Oh, I'm sorry. Coach Anthony, one of our girls, not one of our varsity girls soccer coach at Cherry Hill Western has had extreme success over the last decade as the head of the girls program, but also the assistant coach with the basketball team and all that she brings to these girls in their lives each and every day. So thank you to Coach Anthony.
So without further ado, your 2025 New Jersey State Champions. I'm going to start off with some girls that are not here and it's almost half of our team, because unfortunately they are playing girls lacrosse at Cherokee right now. Enjoying a successful win as we speak. So starting with our freshmen, we have Amaya Devini. And Maddie Larson.
Eva Legato. Samantha Rubenstein. Ella DiPiero. Emily James. Kirsten Gibson. Giselle Dowling.
Lily Legato. Addison Petty. Bryce Westervelt. And on to our fantastic seniors Captain Molly Bovell. Senior Captain Julia Lewis.
And senior Danielle Short. Once again, thank you to everyone in attendance for your positive support. Thank you to our girls for a successful and historic season. And for those of you guys that didn't see the state championship game, these young ladies absolutely dominated the other team. They actually held their opponent to 19 points And faced a defense like that before, so… All right.
Last group. That we're going to introduce this evening, East Girl Swimming. The NJSIA Group A South. Sectional champions. The NJSIA Group A. New Jersey state champions They're ranked seventh in New Jersey. And for those of you that didn't see the meat, they actually won the state championship by three tenths of a second. It was one of the most exciting moments that we've had in sports. I had to catch Mr. Finkel because he was about to jump in the pool when they won.
It was absolutely amazing. And they're just led by an outstanding individual The nj.com New Jersey Girls Swim Coach of the Year. Mrs. Anita Bowser. Oh, you're so kind. Thank you. Hello, everybody. Thank you so much for honoring us.
This year and the past years, it's gives us a very good feeling how much you guys care about us and athletics. Because sometimes, you know, we don't always get the recognition that these girls deserve. I have to say in my, this was my 23rd year coaching at East. I'm actually a graduate. Swam for Cherry Hill East. This was probably in my top two of such a wonderful year.
And just the experience we had. I mean, the past two years we've graduated quite quite some numbers. So this is actually the smallest team I've had. Ever. But the most resilient team, the most dedicated. I mean, these girls just, I mean, they just blew me away this season. We just never thought that we would have done this well. And it really goes to show you how much these girls work hard day in and day out. Swimming is such a different sport than any other sport.
They practice before and after school. They don't practice with each other. So we really have to work hard to form that bond. And these girls have definitely done that. And you could show that they really did it for each other. And like Mike said, that last meet was So exciting. I mean, we, you know, coming down to the last race. We knew that we had to go 1.3 and our girl just our last girl. I mean, that whole relay you know our julia diary she's the one that's getting all the recognition, but there were other girls Ryan Hancock, Elizabeth Keating, and Lily Collin were also in that relay and
They just gave it their all. And, you know. Made us state champions. So it was very exciting. Thank you for Mr. Burrell and Mr. Finkel. For coming out to the meets and I'm so glad that Mr. Fingal got to experience this this year. Yeah, and thank you so much for all the shout outs. So anyway, so proud of you girls. For the season we had and I'm just, I'm going to call them up real quick.
Congratulations to all the other teams too. It takes a lot of effort, time, dedication And you guys should really pat yourselves on the back. And then obviously to the parents. Who are driving you all over the place, making sure you're getting to the meets, practices, whatever you need to do, and just being supportive of them. And that means a lot. So thank you for all your support as well. Okay. All right. I'm going to go. Sarah Boucher. We do have… some girls missing. So Erin Brennan.
Alexis Bowie. Sarah Cohen. Lily Conlon. Natalie Driscoll. Claudia Fogonetti. Ryan Hancock. Reagan Hancock?
Genevieve Henry. Alexa Jordan. Elizabeth Jordan. So Elizabeth Keating. Faith Kim. Layla Lawson. Laura merch.
Laura Montakeila. Julia Terry. Megan Shreglia. Hannah Wachowski. Laura Sullivan. Anna Sukhonic. Elizabeth Zimmer. Tori Valm. Okay. We're missing a couple certificates.
And Angelina Walsh. And Cecilia Wilkins. All right. Thank you so much. All right, so we're missing. Thank you again for all of your continued support. Just one interesting fact for tonight is all four of the coaches that came up today with these championship teams are products of Cherry Hill Public Schools.
All of them, so… Athletics matter. Positive experiences matter. And this is part of one of those things that just are really important. Thank you very much. Thanks. All right. Thank you very much and congratulations. Always exciting to celebrate their accomplishments.
All right. With that, we will move on to presentations. With that, I will hand this off to Mr. Guy. Thank you, Mr. Greenbaum. We'll be with you in just one moment. Thank you.
All right, good evening. As the elementary director of education, one of my duties Supervise. One of my duties is to Supervise. Sorry. One of my duties is to supervise the school age child care program so this evening with me, we have our school age child care program supervisor Melissa Conlin And our assistant supervisor, Nicole Gilbert.
So as we look at our actions. In terms of what it is that we are trying to do. We're going to talk a little bit about recruitment and retention and staffing through the school age child care program this evening. And then we're going to talk a little bit about school-age child care programs, capacity. At each school, current capacity, past capacity, and things that we want to talk about in the future.
I'll turn it over to Melissa. Good evening, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here with all of you. I would like to begin by providing an overview of our SAC programs. Sac, school-aged childcare accommodates working parents providing affordable, safe, and quality child care for children who might otherwise be left alone. Sac programs include The SAC before and after school programs, which serves kindergarten through fifth grades.
And are available at all of our elementary schools. Both programs offer children the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities including a time for breakfast or snack. Homework, outdoor play, arts and crafts, board games, STEAM activities. Active games and other fun engaging experiences. Sac Summer Camp serves children entering first through first first through sixth grades and offers an all-day program filled with enrichment activities field trips, swim time, special snacks, outdoor activities, and more.
And Holiday Sack is available on select staff and service days For children in kindergarten through fifth grades. This program includes arts and crafts. Crafts, STEAM activities, outdoor play, active games, and much more ensuring that children have a fun and engaging day all from school. What makes SAC unique? Sac offers opportunities for high school students interested in education.
Many children have the opportunity to practice and share their talents during talent shows which are organized for parents, fellow students, and staff. Children participate in various community service activities. Including creating holiday and birthday cards for local nursing homes. Through sunshine and smiles. Most recently, the SAC program at A. Russell Knight raised over $350 for the Cherry Hill Food Bank.
By designing holiday signs and selling them to teachers, staff, and parents. Sac programs have a safe environment and is flexible and convenient for parents and families. Children can participate in daily enriching activities to include but not limited to science experiments the arts, drawing, painting, sports, and team challenges. All of the SAC programs have engaging and caring staff. Sac is a place for children to socialize during out of school hours and make new friends.
Children have the option to participate in our projects and STEAM activities led by our talented SAC staff. Here are some of the facts about the SAC program that you may not be aware of. As Melissa discussed, our SAC programs consist of before and after school programs. Sachs summer camp and the holiday program, which serves over a thousand students within our Cherry Hill community. Since 2022, SAC enrollment has increased 22%. Currently, we have 876 students enrolled in our before and after school programs.
Sac tuition has only increased twice in the past 15 years. The most recent increase was during the 2023-2024 school year. Compared to seven area before and after school programs, SAC offers one of the most Affordable monthly tuition rates and has flexible skips scheduling for options available. For our before and after school professional week, we asked parents to share positive experiences about positive messages about their experiences with the SAC program. Here are some of the responses.
So grateful for my kids to have a safe and fun place to be at while we finish our workday. Staff have always been very friendly and professional. The staff is great with the kids and always polite at pickup and drop off. They plan such fun activities for the kids and make it enjoyable. My daughter loves sex. She gets the opportunity to play with kids outside of her grade and thrives. It challenges her to try new things and step out of her comfort zone. We love it. The staff is kind, playful, and cares for the safety and growth of our children.
We're so lucky to have the SAC program staff caring for our children every day, sorry, every morning and every afternoon. Thank you. Thank you for the providing a fun time for the kids. I appreciate the variety of activities provided to keep them busy and enriched. They are so happy at SAC, it's even a fight to get them to leave at pickup time. Staff retention. Currently, there are 135 staff members working for SAC.
25% have been with the program for 10 years or more. Since 2022, the number of SAC staff has increased 40%. Many of our formal high school students returned to work in our programs during their college breaks. Several staff members were former SAC students. I'm sorry. Staff outreach is conducted through variety of channels including SAC job postings are available year round on the district website. They are also shared on the Cherry Hill Public Schools Facebook page.
As well as shared by our PTA Zoom. We maintain communication with the local colleges and inform them when we are hiring. Some of you have noticed some of our procurement signs around the buildings. That actually brings in a lot of families. People that aren't even in our district that may be grandparents that just are coming to visit see those and they say, how can I sign up? Which I think has been our biggest You know, way to get it out this year, the last two years, actually.
And we also meet with the High school student advocates at the high schools to connect with them for potential students that might be interested in a career in education. So that they can come work with us as well. We also have many of our staff and teachers that refer individuals that they believe would be a good fit to join our team. We are always expanding the size of our staff and will continue to do so during the upcoming school years.
We plan to do this by continuing to work with Karov, our supervisor of Special Projects. As well as the student advocates at the high schools to promote our SAC program and provide internship opportunities. We will continue to provide our staff with competitive salary as well as other incentives including sick days and personal days. As well as training hours. Staff can use their experience for post-secondary education.
And individuals can start their career working in SAC And then move on in district to become teachers, educational assistants, or in other capacities. We are continually growing our program and plan on continuing in the upcoming school years. As student schedule changes, it allows us to accommodate more families into the program. Our advertising efforts include electronic communication such as Blackboard, social media, and the district website to keep families informed and engaged.
Increased communication with building principals and staff regarding the APR usage ensures smooth transitions for the SAC students. We offer a range of Schedule options allowing parents to select the days that benefit them most. We pride ourselves on offering competitive pricing with no increases anticipated in the near future. As highlighted in our Did You Know slide, we remain one of the most affordable programs in the area. Thank you. Thank you, Melissa and Nicole. Mr. Greenbaum, I'm going to turn it back to you for questions.
Okay, thank you very much. I appreciate that. Do we have any questions from board members? Dr. Breddick. First of all, thank you. I love seeing this because I was a product of Lumberton, they weren't called SAC, but recreation programs and school programs And they're fantastic for kids. My concern, or not my concern, my question relates to reducing the wait list. What have you seen in terms of a trend over time in terms of reducing wait list? Because it's great you're increasing capacity and such. Yeah.
For September, there usually is a larger wait list just because, as we know, staffing You know, with teachers beginning of the year. And we want to get to know the students that are in and we don't want to just throw a whole bunch of them in and not have them succeed in our program. So if we were able to give you like those numbers, our numbers from September wait list to October definitely drastically change, go down lower. Families also sign up spur of the moment five days, not knowing what it is. And then they change so that gets more kids in.
As of today, we have about like 40 students on the wait list through all 12 elementary schools. I know we don't want it to be zero, you know, but unfortunately right now we are at limited capacity at some of the schools. Do you see a decrease year to year in terms of wait list numbers? It fluctuates just because new kids coming in, kids going out. So definitely the beginning of the year is definitely a larger enrollment number. I will say this year we had the least amount of kids cancel. Our fifth grade group has increased a lot.
Over the years when I started 22 years ago in Zach. And when I was there, we probably had like one or two fifth graders. Now we're at like 1520 at some of the sites. So I think it's more of a need for families throughout the year. So that's why I think we have, you know, the higher numbers as well. Thank you for the wonderful work. It's fantastic. Thank you. Dr. Braddock, in addition to what Nicole said. One of our biggest strengths is also one of our biggest areas of challenge. Because of our flexibility.
There may be families that just want mornings Tuesday, Thursday. And because we are much more flexible than the surrounding school districts, we try to accommodate all of those areas, whereas other school districts around us has to be mornings, has to be afternoons so that Level of flexibility is an area of growth and challenge for us, but it's also an area When you talk to our families that they're very excited about. So that's something that we will continue to work on for the future.
Thank you very much. And understandably excited about too. That's fantastic too Thank you. Thank you. This is Trafane. I do have a question, but before I ask my question, I wanted to commend you all and the amount of work it takes to to organize that half week schedule. I think about it every year and I can't imagine The mental gymnastics that you do to try to figure that out. So I personally really appreciate the work that you all must put into that. I'm not sure who my question is directed towards specifically, but I'm just curious if we started to look at what the the capacity will be once our new APRs are built. So I honestly don't I'm just throwing it out there in the general universe. And I'm not sure that we have started that.
At work yet but thank you mr fain i'll take that one. Yes, we have started having those preliminary conversations. There's a lot involved with that. With regards to SACH has. Ways electronically that they buzz people in and out. We haven't accounted for that within our six APRs. And the six APRs haven't been delivered to us. So there are some things that we have to work out internally with regards to capacity.
But that certainly is something that certainly is that as we get closer to delivery, we are having conversations about that on how we try to capitalize off of that expansion in those six buildings. Thank you. And we call it Tetris. For how we figure out schedules. We always say. Parents ask all the time, how do you figure it out? I'm like, it's like Tetris. One goes here, one goes there. Ms. Stern. A couple of comments and a couple of questions. Just want to echo the other comments of just thanking you both. Thank you. I think, you know.
A lot of us, if we were asked, would you like to work early in the morning And then after school for three hour stints Approximately how does that with with a bunch of you know kids before school or after school How would you like that job? And I think, you know, the longevity that you two have in the program. Really speaks to, I think, the quality of the program we have.
It's a cycle, right? Your longevity, I think, speaks to probably, you know, this is a job worth keeping, right? And the fact that you're there and you have this experience wealth of experience and knowledge and leadership in the program than helps To provide that for all the other staff and I just really want to thank you very much. Thank you very much. I don't know how often i mean I imagine the families appreciate you. I don't know how often other people recognize in the district because it's a
You know it's not the core job that happens in the district. So just thank you both. Thank you. And I see you around a lot helping out a lot. And so I appreciate that. The second comment I want to make is that Mrs. Elmore Stratton, who is a former board member and a former SAC employee. You know, this was one of her kind of goals when she was on the board to really help support expansion of SAC strengthening sac.
To make it continue to be more accessible, right? We have a lot of families who have need. And I think she'd be so pleased tonight. To see that 22%. So it's really significant. Really, really significant. And I can tell you, you know, sitting here with her a few years ago. You know, how are we ever going to be able to do this? It's a hard problem. It's wonky hours. It's not the highest paid positions we offer, right? I mean, it's and it's, you know.
Loud, excited, rambunctious kids, right? As they should be. So, you know, just the fact that, you know, where we're at is really phenomenal. For me, it's phenomenal really exciting as we come closer to the end of the school year that here we are Meeting our district goals, right? This was in the goals this year. So meeting these goals You know, I just, I can't say enough about that so really significant to be in this place to hear this results.
That's dramatic, 22%, really dramatic. Having, you know, it's a consistent frustration that we hear when I've attended like pta meetings It doesn't matter where we are, what school it is, what side of town we're on. Sack, sack, sack. There's not enough. We, you know, we wait the Second, we're refreshing, refreshing, refreshing as soon as it opens up to sign up. It's a lot. It's hard for our families so that we've made this more accessible. And I think the piece, you know, the strength and also challenge that Mr. Guy talked about I think having that level of flexibility means that we're accessible and we're inclusive
Of a lot of different families and a lot of different childcare needs. And financial needs. So the fact that we have that, even though it's a challenge There's a lot of things we do in this district that are hard to keep going with. And create a lot of challenges. But there's a reason we keep them there and this is To me, that's a piece of it. So, you know. Those are the just kind of comments. Some questions I have are I'd love to see And especially the supervisor of special projects, Mrs. Roskopf, I'd love to see kind of how how we're thinking about this. I saw your presentation over the weekend and I was like, oh, I know that kid. You know, that kid in your picture who's been in my house is working. And I asked my kids, oh, did that kid work? Yeah, that kid works with SAC. Oh, wow. I didn't know.
Like I'm thinking about pipelines for, you know, whether, you know. And coordinated work with our guidance counselors when they have students and teachers who know hey, this kid's kind of interested in education. Hey, this is like an internship opportunity. Kids are always looking for internships. This is a summer employment opportunity. I just think there's so much that could happen. And quite honestly, the fact that we've put all this attention and interest and made it in our goals, I think is helping us work towards that.
I don't want to put you on the spot in terms of questions for like, you know, where are we going? But I love that this is, you know, if there is anything else in terms of student engagement or I'd love to hear. And if not, just kind of putting it out there that I definitely am looking forward to hearing more. That would be me again, Mrs. Sturm. So lots of conversations with Mrs. Roskopf and Melissa and Nicole with growing the teacher pipeline. They've been very specific. You heard about them talk about working with Ms. Giles and working with Ms. Joseph over at High School East and West.
To make sure that students know about this as we continue the pipeline expansion for 25, 26, we'll be looking to get the guidance department involved at both of the high schools So that we can look at those senior classes that are almost pre, pre in-service education classes And we'll look at opportunities for internships We can talk about paid internships at SAC. So those are other ways in which we can expand the grow your own teacher pipeline. You heard Melissa and Nicole talk about certificated staff or non-certificated staff. So this was our first foray with it this year, but we're going to expand that to our guidance departments, look at those seniors, because those are usually senior level
Courses that folks are taking. And even if they don't want to work at SAC, there are some opportunities that we can provide for them after school, after 230 for them to be able to come over, do some guidance. Do some work with some of our SAC supervisors there and make it like a controlled environment in which they are having not childcare, but opportunities to do like pre-service education opportunities. We can talk about that. We can look at mentor teachers.
And bring them around. They can do assignments or presentations after their experience to talk a little bit more about that. But the teacher shortages and going anywhere. That's why SAC-In The supervisor of special projects were engaged richly, but that's a way that we can expand into the high school guidance departments And into with those teachers that are teaching those courses as well. That's great. Thank you, actually. Wasn't expecting such a robust response. So thank you. That was great.
The last question that I have is, and I want to be sensitive of how I phrase this. So in order to meet the demand, because we did get a chance to see kind of the percentage of, you know, student, you know, families that are still not able to be entered into our SAC program. While we're in this process of continuing to build, we have an alternative that we've added in at the preschool to assist with some of the gaps. And the feedback that we've gotten so far is that that program Which started at Malberg this year has been successful and a positive addition.
Are we looking to, I know we're looking to expand to continue to grow and expand. Are we looking to extend it at any point? Do we see a future for elementary? Just to kind of supplement what we're having trouble meeting that demand or is that not something we're looking at like kind of long term? I realize maybe not for this coming school year but Yeah, that's not something that we're looking at at this time, Mr. Starr. We'll continue to look at alternatives on how we can shorten the wait list and expand capacities.
At our current schools, but that's not something that we're at a point that we want to have conversations about right now. Well, what that says to me is that you have high expectations to continue to expand capacity so that in districts. So that's actually in our own SAC program so that's actually a great answer and I appreciate it. I'm happy to hear that. Just overall, so excited to see this come to fruition. So thank you so much. Okay. Are there any other board members perhaps on this side of the table Okay, I just, oh, go right ahead. Since we got called out, I just want to echo the sense of gratitude. Parent of an elementary school kid absolutely loves the SAC staff and we're just so grateful.
Thank you so much. Thank you. And I'll just add, I just want to show appreciation to you and to all of the staff that that work across all the schools. As you know, we're one of the families that utilizes the services, whether it's playing sports or with toys or just getting his homework done. It's been a great experience. I'm excited for the new APRs to be ready next year, both Because they have new APRs. But, you know, also potentially more space to meet demand.
You know, I'm excited for the possibility that people might not be complaining, oh, I didn't get in quick enough It would be great if we could reach everybody. But we'll see what that holds for next year. But thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you very much for having us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. And with that, we will change gears and go right back to Mr. Guy for another presentation on the Access and Opportunity Committee.
Thank you, Ms. Greenbaum, and thank you, Board of Education. So tonight we want to talk a little bit about the access and opportunity committee. I will give you a brief update. So we always want to link everything that we do to our board goals. As we look at access and opportunity for all of our students, the action that we want to promote is a district culture that's equitable, that's restorative, and that's inclusive. For all students. So some of the work that we've been involved with this year was a virtual access and opportunity committee meeting in October.
That happened on October the 21st. We're going to have an in-person meeting this spring. We'll decide whether or not that's May, June. As we continued to talk with different stakeholders and invite different members of the community will make a decision on whether or not we want to make that a hybrid opportunity. We do have when we work with Mr. Plavinski, we have an opportunity to Zoom some folks in and have people Present as well. So we want to be as flexible as possible. All 18 of our buildings have access and opportunity committee members that meet monthly.
I have been doing listening sessions. I was with the Beck Bobcats. This morning and had a great opportunity to speak with them. I am at Woodcrest tomorrow. And we'll continue to slowly but purposefully make my way to all 18 of our schools so that we can have conversations with those committee members. Find out things that are happening with them and then any areas that the central office can do to better provide supports for them and the work that they're doing within their buildings. So building access and opportunity committee work was presented at the March 28th in service.
We worked with our access and opportunity committee lesson planning committee yesterday and we heard from about eight schools elementary middle and high school about what was presented on March the 28th. One of the things that was talked about was implicit bias and how that can be a gap Or something that can hinder adults from providing the appropriate access to either relationality or things that impede students from being all that they can be when they come
To us with curriculum and instruction. Some buildings talked about belonging. And they talked about a number of other different things that provide greater opportunities for our students to be able to work But they work with adults and that was professional learning there. And we'll continue to expand that professional learning. To our certificated and non-certificated staff. Actually, I did a presentation in January And in November with our non-certificated staff, our educational assistants with some of the access and opportunity work. So we're trying to make sure that we get all stakeholders
Involved in making sure that this work is important, it's being done, and it's being done at all levels. We'll continue to work with the Anti-Defamation League We have two schools right now that are trying to seek no place for hate designations. The no place for hate designation allows for that school to take three student-led projects that really try to make sure that all
All students voices are being heard. They're being included. They're being supported, which really deals strongly with goal number one around student wellness. So we'll continue that partnership and expand that in the future, Kilbur Elementary School was our first No Place for Hate school in the district under Dr. Morton many, many years ago and will continue to do that. What came to you earlier this year and we'll come to you later this spring to talk about restorative practices training for Bartonburger.
Rosa Carusi and East. And then we talk about the access and opportunity lesson planning committee. They are working on lesson plans for the 2526 school year. You may ask why they're not working on lesson plans for the 24-25 school year. In Cherry Hill Public Schools were big on alignment. So we knew that we were strategic planning this year. We wanted to make sure that our lesson plans were in line with New Jersey tiered systems of support.
Multi-tiered systems of support, our portrait of a graduate, our attributes and pillars that are going to come out of our strategic planning work. So that is why they are working alongside waiting for the strategic planning work, but continuing to make those lesson plans. And those lesson plans will be available for the 18 buildings When they are meeting monthly and when they are presenting in their professional learning. Spaces for the adults and then they will filter down to the students And those students will have that opportunity to benefit from better wellness and other areas within our action plan for goal number one.
Our access and opportunity work as it relates to character education. So in our kindergarten through eight spaces, we have social emotional learning. Through the second step program that's done with our 11 principles of character. And we do have just one, not two. I was with the Bobcats this morning and they told me that they had to kind of pull back on their promising practices application as they look To see how we are reworking middle schools and how promising practices kind of works with that.
In the future. So Kilmer has put forth a promising practice application. We'll tell you whether or not they have won that award, but in the past. We have had at least every one of our schools has had a Promise Practice Award, a state a state of character. We've been New Jersey State schools of character or we've been national schools of character and we've been a district of character. And that's a good segue to my last slide. So we need to, as we look at the district of character designation.
That is only for three years. We're going to be looking at in the 25-26 school year on how we can renew that. I will speak with Allison Staffen, who works with character.org and we'll get that started on what processes we need to do. With becoming or renewing our district of character status. Integration of access and opportunity professional development lessons alongside the work of NJT NJTSS and MTSS, the restorative practices training for the remaining elementary schools who did not receive the training.
Those will be our trainers that are coming out from High School West and they will do that training. And using more qualitative and quantitative student outcome measures for goal one to be able to see more quantitative and qualitative information about how this work is filtering down to student wellness. And we want to make sure that it's aligned with the strategic plan and our portrait of a graduate. So I'll turn everything back to Mr. Greenbaum for any questions.
Thank you very much, Mr. Guy. Board members, do we have any questions or comments? Mrs. Treffame. Thank you. I'm just curious if people get to volunteer to be part of the Access and Opportunity Committee, or is this a chosen group? Yeah, in the past, we've been doing this work since about 2010. We did have an executive committee that was made up of community members. It was made up of staff. It was made up of students.
We've moved away from that model this year because we wanted to kind of put a pause because we knew that we were going to do strategic planning and we wanted some alignment within that pause. We're hoping that the May-June meeting, I have a list of all of the community members who've been involved in the past. We're going to talk with Ms. Barati and we'll work on a community invitation for the May-June meeting so that we can have more community outreach beyond that information that I had just for October.
So that we can talk with folks and we can talk about in 25, 26 how people can, if they have an interest, how they can either be a part or support the work of the access and opportunity committees at the district level with our lesson planning committee. And at the building level. Thank you. Mr. Mayor. Mr. Guy, first of all, thank you. I appreciate the fact that you're taking a really wide sort of holistic approach to what you think needs to be done in the future.
With respect to of strategic planning and looking at all the data. Pause sounds like it's the right thing to do given the moves that we're contemplating. I hope, though, that once that pause is over that the plan is really to hit the gas. And supercharge this effort. As much as possible. For me anyway, about as important as so many other things the district does, especially in an environment where frankly.
Trying to continue to impress upon staff and students the importance of equity of social emotional learning, of belonging. Those things have come in some form of disfavor lately. And that's tragic. And it's hurtful to students. It's hurtful to staff. So I love the work you're doing. Hope that it continues. We'll certainly be supportive of those efforts. And look forward to Whatever we can do.
To continue to support those efforts throughout all the buildings in the school. So thank you and really, you know. Hit the gas pedal as hard as possible unless this pause is over. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The gas pedal, even though part of the vehicle is moving one way, there are other parts of the vehicle that are moving in other ways. I had a chance to go up to Rutgers University yesterday with Dr. John Cafania, Principal Rosa. Teresa Convery, special education teacher from Rosa, and Susan Wellens, an eighth grade science teacher.
And what we presented on was some things from the 2023-2024 school year. The Rutgers promising projects or promising practices project chose 52 school districts throughout the state, Rosa was chosen as the only school district in Camden County that since 21, 22 and 22, 23, in every demographic group. Njsla test scores rose. So they asked us about two things that we did. First, we talked about labor management collaborative, but here's where the gas is, Mr. Mayor.
They talked about, we talked about our access since 2018 for students with disabilities to our high school level algebra class. And what we did, it was a packed room. It was standing room only. Greater access, greater opportunities for those students with disabilities if they're taking that ninth grade algebra class, if they go into one of our STEM pathways that will put them on the way to calculus and grade 12. The other piece from a curriculum and instruction standpoint is that Christy Blundetto on the heels of that work for access and opportunity for IUP students.
This past year integrated the seventh and eighth grade math integration so at annual reviews, which are happening right now as we speak for seventh grade students, they're going to be looking at the results of that seventh and eighth grade integration. Those IEP students, because it's been an integrated math program, they're going to have even greater opportunities at Rosa Beck and Karusi. We may have paused some of the things that I talked about, but we're certainly hitting the gas from a CNI standpoint.
And a teaching and learning standpoint as it relates to access and opportunity. Outstanding. That's wonderful to hear you, your team, the entire staff should be proud of. Of that work and those results. Spectacular. Thank you. Okay. Are there other questions, comments? I just had one comment I wanted to add. I saw mention of expanding restorative practice training That was something I had a question on a couple months ago when you had presented about restorative practices and I was happy to see it expanded to more schools.
And I recall about a year ago. And the student data safety report. We had a presentation phone that showed just hard data showing the drastic decline, the quantifiable decline in each category of disciplinary actions as a result of these practices. So I'm very happy to see continuing to do this training, continuing to expand them and really just keeping the best interests and the safety and well-being of the students in mind. Thank you, Mr. Greenville. Ms. Stern.
I just want to, I think, echo a little on what you were saying, Mr. Greenbaum. You know, we we have these kind of confounding frustrations sometimes about I'm sorry to have my back to you, Mr. Guy. I don't know how to talk in the microphone well and look at you, so I apologize. You know. As a board, we review, you know, HIVs, right? We are updated about discipline um you know uh you know from a you know the kind of most significant discipline uh areas we you know receive updates and receive updates
You know, fundamentally you know we we struggle with Sometimes, you know, these kinds of like the escalation of conflicts or just poor treatment from one student to another. Right. And, you know, I can recall several years ago, you know, when there were questions of, you know, why don't we kind of clamp down more? Why are we doing these restorative practices? Why don't we have more discipline? And a video was shared with us, a best practice video is actually by, I think it was by Is it by the FBI? I'm trying to remember which federal law enforcement organization.
And it was really clear. They said, you know, they absolutely correlation all the data shows that discipline is not the effective, the most effective response. The most effective response to the most effective response to mitigate and address when there is increasing conflict and behavior and you know is not to provide discipline It's actually provide restorative practices. And, you know, that was actually, you know, we did a town hall on HIVs a few years ago.
And it was really beautifully explained by one of our elementary principals about what it means to have a child instead of just kind of punishing, so to speak, disciplining a student, what it means to sit down with them and have a conversation about their actions and have to face to face discuss The impact I mean, that's a very difficult conversation for a lot of kids to have. And it's a huge learning opportunity.
I think many of us as parents you know when we we live that our home lives you know When our kid does something that is a problem, do we just punish them or do we actually have a conversation with them and you know. To me, that's the most, as a parent and as even as a board like those pieces really helped me understand the value of restorative practices. And it's obviously a simplified comparison But, you know, I just, you know, all that is to say is that the data is very clear
When our federal level law enforcement is recommending. That we follow restorative practices. We know that that works here and we see it, but I think even to have that type of validation in terms of, you know, so many levels of a society recognize That is really what's most effective. Ultimately, you know, I think it's it's it's It's just always a good reminder for me. And I think it's nice to see um how you know that's continuing to be implemented and not just implemented, but it's evolving in our district.
In my time in the district, you know, with kids my kids in the district, I mean, I've seen it evolve significantly from kind of a, you know, maybe not as an active component of, you know. Community engaged, you know, meeting to a very active and very effective. Now committed. So I'm really pleased to see it. I'm looking forward to the reinvigoration of you know, I think you know external other external stakeholders I think that that's key.
So I look forward to seeing what comes next. Thank you, Ms. Sturm. So do we. Okay, any other questions or comments? Seeing none, thank you again, Mr. Guy. I appreciate your your presentations and thank you for sharing tonight. Thank you, Mr. Grimo. All right, moving on to administrative reports. We have one and it is going to be a construction project update, and I'll hand that off to Mrs. Sugars, who I believe has Some updates and some pictures to share.
Thank you, Mr. Greenbaum. I will try to get through this quickly in the interest of time. And I know you were at the update yesterday as well so feel free to add in any other comments as we go through this. So we didn't do a project update in March because we were in the midst of budget. So we have not done one since February. So we've seen a lot of work done, particularly at our APR projects. We're going to start with Sharp. You can see a long list of work that has been done at SHARP. Sharp is the one that is the furthest behind. It was the last one that they started.
And so we're pleased that we have roof, we have walls, then we're starting to work on the interior finishes there. So we're excited to see that project get going. Next, we have Barton. You can see here that Barton is moving along in terms of work being completed outside. Site work finishing up and then some of the work that's going on inside Barton as well, including the connecting links between the new APR and the existing building.
Mann Elementary, they spent a lot of time outside right now. They are prepping to start work on the playground. So they've been doing a lot of the outside work there, getting that up and running. And then Johnson, you can see we've made a lot of progress here. The one picture up, the higher picture you can see is from the stage. At Johnson, and as you look out into the APR, you can see the dividing wall that's down there. And then the bottom picture is the beginnings of the Tarkat floors that we have been putting into each APR. So that one is moving Right along as well and their playground installation is slated to begin soon.
As well. And then night, I think night is probably the best representation of the floor. You can see the logo in the middle there. The top picture is from the stage. That's the black VCT tile flooring that's going down in the stage area. The playground had its port and play surface put in, so that playground should be opening shortly. And then you can see the picture at the bottom with the logo. And then Kingston, this is them actually in the process of installing the floor at Kingston. You can see at the bottom picture, they're getting ready to put the logo in the middle.
All the way to the back of that picture, you can see the wall padding, which also has the logo on it. The dividing walls have the logo as well. So that will help distinguish There were times when I was taking pictures that I could not remember which one I was in, but as these logos go in and we use some of the school colors, they'll certainly be distinguishable from each other. So that's exciting as those projects move along. Carusi Renovations, you know, we've talked about this being a four-phase project. We are moving into phase two as we prepare this summer.
If you have been to Carusi recently, you'll see that the temporary fencing has been installed. And next week during spring break, we will start the work for preparing for the installation of the TCUs, the temporary classroom units. And this includes electrical work and sanitary sewer line work. And the TCUs will start to show up next week as well. So that'll be exciting. When we start to see that come together and that will allow us to work in the buildings and areas for the students to go while the work will continue through the course of the school year.
Also, we spoke about our preschool edition. This is our Rod Grant projects that we have going on. We have an addition at Kilmer, an addition at Malberg, and then 13 toilet rooms at Malburg as well. Current classrooms that do not have toilet rooms in the classrooms will be added there. This work is supposed to be done December 20th. And we're excited to say that we have walls. So that's good. A lot of masonry work has been done. We came through a very cold February, March.
As we're starting to come out of March and into April, we've been able to do some of that work there. And very excited that roofing will start soon. This week and next week. So we'll be excited to see the roof. Once the roof gets on, we get the envelope closed in, then we can start working on the inside. The pictures here are from Malburg. And then these are pictures at Kilmer. So that work is progressing well. And as the weather warms up, we'll be even moving faster as we move into the summer.
So we have a lot of upcoming projects and we will have a lot of activity in the district next week during spring break. Anything that we can do now to get ready for summer work Summer seems like it's a long time, but in terms of getting construction work done, we're lucky if we get Eight to 10 weeks to do that work. So next week at Carusi, you'll see that the emergency generator installation prep work will start in addition to the TCU work that we'll be doing. At Rosa, we'll actually be moving the gas line next week and starting to mobilize for the project there.
Site work throughout the district will be taken care of, finishing up some punch list items. And then the critical HVAC work phase one that we did over last summer and into the fall. We'll be addressing some punch list items and things of that nature next week as well. Rosa Middle School, that construction schedule is being developed and we've had some very intense conversations about asbestos abatement and what that looks like. We're going to need a lot of people available between Carusi and Rosa to do that work over the summer. So we've been working with
Our providers to make sure that the staffing is adequate to do that work. We have three bid openings coming up the week After we come back from spring break. So expect lots of bid awards on the agenda on April 29th. The first is Cooper and Beck site work. We've done the front site work at Beck. This will finish off the parking lot to the left. Of the school, and then we'll address site work and a new playground at Cooper. Beck Middle School, this will be for renovations to the front office area.
And then West Stadium, which is lighting and ADA accessibility, that bid opening is going to be on the 24th of April. We also are finalizing pricing on Barton and Sharp. They were the two playgrounds that were not included as part of the APR process. Project. So we're finishing up pricing on those to get those playgrounds installed. And then next on the list, we're putting together a list of phase two, we're calling it, for critical HVAC that needs to be replaced. And we're starting to have conversations about both of the high school auditoriums and F wing at High School East.
Is there anything else I missed, Mr. Greenbound? There's always more, but I think you hit the big highlights. Right. And so this is our financial information that we share with the board on a monthly basis. We went over this in depth at our last BNF committee meeting, so I won't steal that Mr. Greenbaum's thunder for that report, but we do know that we have some deficits at this point and we discussed ways that we are going to address those deficits.
We've spent about 34 or encumbered about 34% of the money At this point, still lots of money to be spent and projects to be put together and put out to bid. But so far things are moving well. So I will take any questions if there are any questions. Dr. Dresden. Thank you for the presentation. In terms of next on the list, if you go back to that slide just for the future roadmap. Can you remind us where in the timeline we anticipate all schools having the vestibules.
So that's not really, we have not fleshed that out yet. So after… This summer, we will at least have started all three middle schools will be in progress. I have told our professionals that's definitely a list on top of the list in terms of priority. And so I expect after we get through this, getting the three projects out and bid and up and running that we will start talking about those security vestibules. So one of the issues is, do you do those in isolation or do you do them in line with other work?
Do you do five of them at the same time with the same contractor or do you do all the work that needs to be done at that school? So we need to kind of look at what makes the most sense in terms of getting those projects completed. And how do we structure the project itself? Do we do it like we did the APRs? Or do we take a building and say, we're going to do all this work at the building? The other thing is, is that some of the APRs are pretty simple Some of the APRs are, I'm sorry, some of the vestibules are pretty simple. Some of them are a little more complicated. So like a Stockton.
Where you have to literally cross the hallway to get into that main office, you're building a structure heart, you know, same thing. You have to physically build a structure so we still are kind of working through some of that and trying to decide how to structure that work. Thank you. I appreciate it being The priority, as you said yeah Okay, any other questions or comments?
I will add just a couple more. A couple more additions to this, and I'll be brief. As I said earlier, I'm excited to see projects getting closer to completion, particularly the APRs. There's a lot of work planned for this summer. I think it's going to be at 11 or 12 different buildings. Especially anything that requires the kids to be out of the buildings. We have a lot of work going on. A lot of stress, but a lot of exciting stuff. Something I've been updating on each month is just that we continue to monitor the state of tariffs and other policies.
That may potentially have an impact on some of these construction projects. Something interesting this month that we learned is because many federal grants have been canceled in recent months. The side effect of that is many companies are eager to jump into the K through 12 market and bid competitively. So we're seeing a lot more competition. Projects that previously would have had three or four interested parties are seeing as many as 17. Hopefully that increased competition helps offset the cost of any additional material costs.
But only time will tell how increased competition and tariffs will impact projects or schedule. As of now, we're still doing okay. We're not seeing a significant impact, but we'll continue to keep an eye on it. All right. I think that's it. Any other questions, comments? All right. Seeing none. We will move on to move on. Board correspondence and I'm trying to remember which side we started on last time I think we started over there.
When we start over here with Ms. Commerce? Sure. Thank you. So March 27th, I believe it was, I attended the latest meeting of the fair funding for Cherry Hill Committee. Again, a lot of conversation. All of the conversation was around State funding, that process. I do encourage, I want to call out the fact that this week is really your last chance if you want to submit testimony to the legislature.
In support of changes to either the funding formula or restoration of some of Cherry Hill's state aid. The last legislative hearing is coming up on April 10th. So this week will be your last week to submit that testimony. The next meeting of the Fair Funding Committee, they're all on Zoom. The next meeting is April 24th at 7 p.m. I believe there's more information about how to testify, where to submit. On the Fair Funding Committee's Facebook page and Instagram. You can also always reach out to Fair Funding CHPS.
At gmail.com. Again, I know that there's been a lot of traffic. I know that Alana has received a number of emails from parents, families, students who have sent in testimony. We greatly appreciate that. And I know that the committee does as well. Also, just want to call out the fact that I and a number of other board members feel free to chime in, but attended Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Cherry Hill West. Over the last two weekends. Fantastic, fantastic show as always. Congratulations to everyone on stage, everyone behind stage, everyone down in the pit orchestra Really well done. And I think that is all I have for this month.
None to really report, but do want to reiterate and echo I know we don't reiterate or echo, but the fair funding is important. If you are going to get your testimony in, I think we're at 48 hours now before you can do it. So please do so if you can. So I… those past couple of weeks were a blur. And I think I did more than I than I can recall at this moment. So I apologize. Anyway, to this morning is not a blur. And this morning I got a chance to attend What's called, did I ever tell you ceremony at West?
Also has been called Unsung heroes ceremony. Got to see some of our students today, which was so lovely, unexpected. And it's a beautiful tribute to that are all the sophomores at High School West Right. And I believe it's part of English class or language arts class Is that right, Jenna? They write a letter to
An unsung hero, important person in their life, sometimes an adult, not always. Every single sophomore in every class of every level participates, which I think is pretty remarkable. Because we have a lot of different types of classes You know, in our high schools and um And then there are a few that are chosen for the ceremony so you know Our AFJ or OTC cadets, as always, greet people and help to guide us through the building, all the visitors and today
I was one of many visitors. Typically the unsung hero is invited. There were four students who presented their unstung heroes, you know, red spoke to them and thanked them. And their unsung hero is present a lot of um parents in general were attending. And also I didn't and many teachers And also what I learned today is there are middle school teachers who are also invited back because these are sophomores. So it's not that long ago that they were in middle school.
One of the students chose one of her middle school teachers and, you know, very heartfelt. Just talked about how that teacher was really there for her. And said, you know, sometimes she said sometimes kind of amp the teacher amplified her voice. And she said she hadn't experienced that with other adults in her life, which I thought was you know how how important people aren't in our schools. There was a student who was her brother A student who was her father And another student who was his teacher in high school. So anyway, a beautiful event. Dr. Morton was there and many of the fantastic staff and administrators and of course the culinary program had a stupendous breakfast for all of us.
So it was really just a beautiful, beautiful morning. And I was, I know it was long-winded to talk about it, but It deserves a lot of recognition and attention. And the students did a fantastic job. And I'm sorry, performances by the acapella group and the band, the jazz band so Just beautiful event. I was also able to attend what I believe was opening night of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Cherry Hill West, which I thought was really exciting. It was my My kid's first time at a high school play, which they did pretty good.
Ate all of the snacks available, but it was really nice. So kudos to everyone that was in that performance. Thank you. I attended an open house event at GCLEA, which is a mosque here in Cherry Hill. It was a great opportunity for community engagement to learn about Islam and have some great discussions and build better understanding. It was nice to see some familiar faces there as well. And I just want to say thank you for the warm welcome and I look forward to continued engagement.
I'll go in chronological order. On a Sunday, March 16th. I was able to attend an event hosted by the Jewish Community Relations Council. I bring it up here in correspondence because the event actually recognized Cherry Hill High School student East junior adam koppelman. With the 2025 JCRC NextGen Israel Advocacy Award for his work educating peers about Israel and combating antisemitism. It was great to see our community, including Mayor Fleischer and New Jersey Assemblywoman Melinda Kane, recognize Adam for his efforts.
On Friday, March 28th, this is a great Friday night activity. I attended virtually an NJSBA board meeting That was part of professional development for the NJSBA new board member certification. On Sunday, March 30th, as others have mentioned, I had a chance to attend Charlie and the chocolate Factory, which was terrific. And I unfortunately was unable to attend because it was a drill weekend for me. But on Friday, April 4th, my family attended the Woodcrest Carnival at Woodcrest Elementary, and that's just a terrific event. Thanks. Okay, thank you very much. And thank you for your continued engagement.
All right. I think that brings us to first public comment. There'll be two opportunities for public comment this evening. This first public comment session is for board action items only. Item 17 to on our agenda. There'll be another public comment section for any topic at the end of the meeting. If you are a student in the district, you may comment on any topic during this first public comment period, and please identify yourself as a student if you are on Zoom.
Just put an S next to your name to identify yourself as a student. If you'd like to speak now, please identify the agenda item and clearly state your name and municipality. We will alternate between speakers here in the room and those that are online. Each speaker will be given a maximum of three minutes 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 Cherry Hill Public School District or within the authority of the Cherry Hill Board of Education.
The board welcomes diverse opinions on relevant matters. Under established federal law governing reasonable restrictions on speech in public forums. Statements which mean individual community members or groups or which are irrelevant to the operations of the school district or repetitious will not be permitted. Members via email or other alternative meetings. All right. And with that said, we will start in the room if anybody would like to speak.
Thank you. I think you know the drill. Yes. Is it on? It's on. Okay. Rick Short, Cherry Hill. I'm going to be speaking on a Item 18.2. Find it interesting that… We're coming back already. And it says right in the description that we're reinforcing bus lanes or bus loop. Probably because the current paving is sinking. So my question is my question is We got to get this right, folks.
Why is the paving already sinking that we already did? Why does Garrison Associates don't know the right thickness to put. Moving on down further to the section where talks about Stockton. With Stockton, why are we adding water inlets? Went over two years ago. They ripped out the entire front of the project.
Why are they going back now? And having to put… Is this something new? And finally… Can't really comment, but that just looks a little interesting that I guess this really isn't going out to bid because it's the contractor that did the job two years ago. Also, the way you're… calling it deduct and add.
I mean, for the general public, I think it's a little confusing One part you're saying it adds. 19,000. To put in new paving or to reinforce it and a millet, that price itself doesn't sound right at 19,000. I mean, I'm just shooting from the hip here, but… Once you start milling and putting four or five inches of asphalt How's it only costing $19,000? Things aren't adding up here and things aren't making sense. Plus, you mentioned that it's a deduction.
Is it a deduction from the allocated amount like how can you be adding And then deducting. And i hope The board starts asking questions Thank you. Thank you. And as acting chair, I'm going to take a liberty and just provide some clarification. 18.2 our credit change orders for work that has already been completed. These are unused contingency funds that are being returned back to the district.
This is for work that is being completed. All right, we'll go to the line. We have a caller, a wider bridge. Hi, Alania, Carrie Hill. I'm speaking on agenda item, I think it's 19.1. I just wanted to thank Lynn Figures for her years of service in Cherry Hill School District and that he should enjoy her retirement and as someone who does the day-to-day operations for my job and
Sees all the hard work that Lynn puts in. It's going to be some hard shoes to fill. And I hope that that person is ready to help the district and everything needed for budget and construction and everything else that happens in such a large district and to make sure that audit findings are no complaints year after year and everything else that Lynn does to make sure that the District is compliant. So thank you, Lynn, and good luck to the board
Thank you very much. We'll go back to the room. This is Big Lynn. I'm wearing my glasses. 19.1 Lynn Sugar's retirement. It takes a great deal to shake my core. For the news of your retirement did exactly that. I truly believe you're the best business administrator this district has ever had. Years of revolving board members trying to get board members to understand the budget how to build a budget, how to build a bond.
And how to get the community members, including myself, to understand the budget and how the district is spending our bond monies. You are a true person of integrity. Honesty. And full transparency. The side dose of the realities of spending money cautiously and with a true plan. Thank you for answering all of my questions these several years. With respect and in layman's terms, but mostly with respect. I sincerely hope you never have to look at another New Jersey school budget.
And I hope this Board of Education goes far and wide and does a national search Because I find you to be irreplaceable. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next, we'll go to the line, phone number ending in 891. Europe?
If you could unmute. Yes, go ahead. Okay, I'm unmuted, right? Okay, I'm muted. My name is Jeff Potowitz. I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. And okay, it's 19.1. All right. I'm going to take a little different take on this. And is there any way you can convince her to stay for another two years? How about that? Which is… But everyone else said, except I'm going to put a different spin on that. A lot's going to be happening over the next two years. With finance in Cherry Hill. And indeed someone, whether they're here now and she's trained someone, I'm not so sure. I hope you go find mine. I just… have that feeling.
But the problem will be we're going to get our aid cut. $10 million next year. I mean, the following year, not and to about 18 million or even less. That's going to create a problem. We need someone who's been here a little bit long term to look at that. And that will be a problem. Number two, what may be coming down the pike and you don't know about this at all. The state had to sign something for the federal government.
I think it has to be in over the next two weeks. If the federal government doesn't like that. Or disagrees with the state doesn't comply. This state could look lose a large portion, if not all, of its federal aid. That will affect Cherry Hill, but it's going to affect districts who have a lot more clout than Cherry Hill. A lot more if it's done on the statewide. When that is done, and if that is done. How are they going to balance things? And one way to balance things would be Instead of us getting 29, Our calculated age should only be 18.
And that would be a way to help certain districts who have lost federal aid. I'm concerned if they do that. If they do it individually, I don't know what will happen. But those are two things to consider. A, where it will be cut. Over the next two years. And B, what I just told you what may or may not happen over the next month or two. You may know more than I do, but that is a little bit frightening. So if there's any way for university to stay or act as a consultant for whatever for two years. Over the next two years, there could be a problem. I guess I'm saying the same thing other people did i just
Said it differently. Anyway, good luck and take care. Goodbye. Thank you for your comment. We'll go back to the room if there's anybody who would like to make a comment. Seeing none, we will go to the line. And I see a Mr. Colin Duckett. It's good to see your name here. Europe? Good evening, Colin, Duckett cherry hill I'd like to just come on and speak briefly. Excuse me, about 19.1. Misled sugars is an incredible accountant and has served our district incredibly. During my tenure as student representative to the board last year.
From high school West. I saw Ms. Sugar's ability to frankly make money appear out of thin air, particularly with the budget cuts that we sustained and that I spoke with along with a number of other students and with some of you. In Trenton. And I just I just wanted to call in and thank her for her service and uh And just make sure that everybody appreciates the great asset that we are losing to our district.
Thank you so much. We'll go back to the room if there's anybody who would like to speak at first public comment. Seeing none, we'll go look on the line. And seeing none there, we will close first public comment. Okay, so next we'll move on to our board work session I am going to ask Mr. Fain.
Nope, I'm sorry, Dr. Dreysen. To sub in for curriculum and instruction to give report out. Sure. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Brunam. So on April 1st, the CNI committee met. Mr. Fain, Ms. Winters, and myself. The agenda that evening. First, as did some other committees, we had the opportunity to hear a presentation from the superintendent's advisory the presentation to the CNI committee focused on redesigning high school.
Students presented opportunities for restructuring high school to provide experiential learning opportunities and internships. And look at the possibility of adapted schedule for internships and career exploration. We then had a presentation on sustainability Where the focus was on the overall strategic plan for sustainability for the district. Beginning of the process for a larger board presentation and tying this work to the other strategic planning work underway. We then had a discussion focused on restructuring the middle school model.
Where we learned that the middle level administrative teams q a both as a group and individually. Sectioning meetings have occurred. Is it worthwhile, to read everything from the agenda? Whatever you think is relevant. As much or as little as you care to go through. We did get an update on the restructuring of the middle school model. Including looking at staffing and certifications. There will be a more in-depth meeting that's going to happen most likely in the June timeframe.
Now the committee is spending time looking at pieces that we need to keep in the junior high school model. Last but not least, we had We were informed that the high school final assessment schedule and end of year important dates We approved some IRB research proposals. Looked at SAC and cultural proficiency equity and character education updates. And finally received a YMCA of the Pines update. So it was quite the agenda for a one hour committee meeting. Thank you very much. Answer any questions.
Okay, I guess we'll move on to BNF. So I'll give the committee report out for business facilities. We had two items we went through this week. One was a student presentation on their community service project. As you'll hear, we had different groups of students from the superintendent Student Advisory Council giving presentations in each of our committee meetings. Last week. And in BNF students presented their project fair because we care Which is an event that will raise funds to help students in need for such activities as a senior class trip and the prom.
This fair will be held after the 5K run on May 31st. From 9 a.m. To 1 p.m. So if you're there for the run in the morning, please stick around. And if you're not. Please come out anyway. It's for a good cause. It'll feature choral groups from the middle and high schools, food trucks, and other activities. The other item we went through was a bond referendum project review. This is a periodic review of financial information concerning bond referendum spending. This is something Mrs. Sugar's put up on the screen earlier.
And I'll just hit a couple of highlights here. As she mentioned previously, approximately 34% of funds have been encumbered to date. That means spent or committed. Notwithstanding current work at ROSA, which ran into some snags that we've discussed previously, projects are roughly on budget, with some running under, others running slightly over, but mostly balancing out. There were some things discovered at ROSA and I I think it was a month or two ago we talked about this, where a lot of the doorways need to be replaced. There's a lot of asbestos remediation that needs to take place when that's done.
So that ran a little bit over. And as discussed a few months ago, in order to offset these costs. Some of the preschool construction projects at Melberg and Kilmer, which are subsidized by rod grants, are actually running significantly under budget. And this presented an opportunity to move some site work and repaving at Melberg out of the bond scope and into the scope of the preschool construction projects since they're related projects. We're still underrunning the preschool construction projects by, I think, about 600,000.
And this puts us within about 0.3% of estimates for bond projects so far, which is a pretty good position to be in within three tenths of a percent. So we're in a good position. Things are going pretty well. One last thing to mention. Item 12.3, also under the board work session, we'll see several projects for this summer going out to bid. These will be on the action agenda for our next board meeting for approval.
All right. And with that I don't think we have anything for HR. I'll go to Mr. Mayor for P&L. Sure. I'm sorry. I forgot to ask. Any questions or comments about BNF? I appreciate you trying to be efficient. I just want to make sure that I have my thought process correct. And I know we did discuss this in here before, but just For clarity purposes, we're able to, since we're under budget on the Rod Grants of preschool, we're able to Use some of that money to pay for projects that were originally on the bond work and that freed up money for the ROSA projects. That is correct. So it's related work that work could have been included within the scope of the preschool construction, but it was already in the bond construction work.
It's just… Because we have the opportunity to shift it to where we're underrunning. It helps balance things out a little bit. And again, we're still leaving some wiggle room because you never know what's going to happen. Thanks. Thank you. I appreciate it. Are there any other questions or comments about BNF before we move on? All right. Seeing none, Mr. Mayor, I'll send it over to you for P&L. All right. Thank you. We had a great Pino meaning most of which gave us the opportunity to listen to a presentation.
The superintendent's advisory council Specifically, Salem was there along with one of her colleagues from Cherry Hill East, Stella Kim, they did a presentation. I'm not going to go into any details because I suspect we may have a presentation or something similar to it to the entire board at some point in the near future. Was a presentation covering one of the projects that the council has been working on on AI and the use of AI in school what uses the council believes may be appropriate to consider what concerns have been shown.
We had an opportunity to get some feedback on some work that the council did in and asking the right kinds of questions in survey to administrators, staff, and also students. So it was really it was eye-opening and one of the things that we learned as committee members was how much the students who worked on the project learned from the beginning to the end and just how much the level of detail and complexity that AI presents in the educational environment.
At a time when it is apparent that AI is not just here to stay, but it's growing. So many colleges now are even beginning to order to offer minors and majors in artificial intelligence and various uses. It's timely. It was an excellent presentation, really well done, very professional. And just as a preview, you should look forward to hopefully be hearing directly from them in the future.
We moved on to handle a couple of policies briefly. We started discussing 511. But that's the eligibility of resident, non-resident students. That's one in which there are a number of suggested revisions from Straussian because it's a relatively lengthy policy. There's a lot of detail in it and and It's going to require a little more time and effort for the committee to do a crosswalk between The existing current policy and potential changes. And we pull that and we'll continue. We're going to discuss that offline. I'm going to bring it back to committee next month.
Similarly, we began a discussion on 2363, which is our student use of wireless communication devices. We're going to take a slightly deeper dive into that as well. To see, again, just where are we with respect to some of the things that we've begun to see already with HIV and some improvements but also the potential to add some language with respect to the way It impacts recording and recording devices. We are also mindful of the fact that this state has already advised and it looks like it's very likely that they're going to come down with with a policy from the DOE that may require us to take another look as well. So we want to be as efficient as we can with that.
We're going to take a deeper dive on 2363 as well. Finally, we looked at 8441, which was care of injured and ill persons simply to recognize that there's we're not going to make any changes to the policy. The practice That all of the buildings use, which is simply that staff members permitted under any circumstances to transport ill or injured students. In their personal course. That's always been the practice. But that practice was not properly laid out in the policy. So that's now just going to be adjusted to assure that there's no change in practice.
That has been ongoing for years and years and years, and that's not going to change. We did not have time to move on to our final agenda item, which was to begin a discussion on pay tuition for non-residents. So we're going to pick that up again. Next month, we just ran out of time. Because we were so interested in the presentation that we had, which really was quite excellent. Any other committee members want to add anything to that? This is Stern. I just want to echo your echo comments to Solom and Stella it was really phenomenal work. I mean, you could see how much thought and research you guys put into
You know the topic which is the topic huge topic and definitely growing. So I just really want to thank you. It was so well done. I was trying to figure out how the heck that you guys had time to do that with all your schoolwork, your activities. College applications, all that stuff. Very impressive. So thank you. I look forward to the full commitment. We did get copies, but full committee presentation. Do any other board members have any questions This is your fate. I know there's a little bit of discussion, so I just wanted to put it on the record that I think that it might be important for us to add language to 8441
Describing the procedure for when a parent or guardian refuses medical treatment of their child. I know we have a practice in place. It might be something that we consider to put that into the policy to make sure it's clear what steps to take in the event that a a kindergartner refuses care. Fair comment. Any other questions, comments?
None. That's it. Thank you. Okay, thank you, Mr. Mayor. We have no report for governance tonight, and that brings us to our special action agenda. Let's move on to curriculum and instruction. And now I think it's Mr. Fain. Thank you very much for subbing in. Sure. The superintendent recommends and I move the following 17.1. Approval of attendance at conference and workshops for the 2024-2025 school year.
17.2 resolution approving a professional services agreement between the Cherry Hill Board of Education and effective school solutions to provide mental health services. 17.3 resolution of the award of settlement agreements, 17.4. Approval of IRB research request for Rowan University and 17.5 approval of master research project. Do I have a second? Mr. Mayor, are there any Questions, comments?
Seeing none, sugars, can you please open the voting? Board members, you may cast your votes. Mrs. Sugars, I'm going to have to recuse myself from item 17.2. To avoid a conflict of interest. Otherwise, I'm a yes vote on everything else once the computer plays nicely with me. But if it doesn't, you can. Oh, well, if I open the online voting, that probably would help. I apologize for that.
Sorry. So much for those wonderful things. Yeah, I'm sorry. I was trying to do two things at once. Other than Mr. Mayor's recusal on item 17.2, we have a unanimous yes vote. Thank you. And I'll move the BNF agenda. The superintendent recommends, and I move the following. 18.1, approval of bill lists and 18.2, resolutions for the award of change orders.
And I just wanted to call out these credits coming back to us for unused funds because we underran the budget for these projects. It's $103,000 credit for paving. At pain and $120,000 credit for site work at Stockton. Do I have a second? Ms. Palmer, any questions? Seeing none, Mrs. Sugars, please open the voting.
Board members, you may cast your votes. Mr. Triggers, I just have to recuse myself from 18.1, the second bill list. Due to a conflict of interest with Bayada Home Health Care. Recuse myself from any out of home health care payments. Mrs. Sugars, I'm also going to recuse myself from billus to the PO for Cooper Health Systems evals. That Mr. Sugar's to catch up. 18.1, I similarly have to recuse myself from the payment to ESS.
To avoid a conflict of interest. And maybe last but not least. And last but not least, I'm going to recuse myself on bill list number two. Jewish Family Children's Services and Jewish Federation. To avoid A conflict of interest. Okay, so we have recoosals from Mrs. Scherfein, Dr. Dreisen. Mr. Mayor and Ms. Stern, due to conflicts on the bill list. Other than that, we have a unanimous yes vote.
Okay, and that moves us to HR. Mrs. Trefane, can you move the HR agenda, please? Sure. 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 assignment salary change certificated. 19.5 assignment salary change non-certificated, and 19.6 other compensation certificated. Do I have a second?
Any questions or comments? Okay, congratulations. Can you please open the voting? I'm sorry. I did have a comment. I apologize, I should have done it before. I just want to thank Mrs. Sugars, you know, just a minute ago when you said you were, you know, multitasking essentially and doing two things at once.
I feel like that's kind of your everyday all day. I don't a couple years ago when we passed the bond, your job doubled at least. At least doubled. You know, your main one of the big parts of your job, the budgeting has been unpredictable. Absolutely swinging up and down, up and down year after year, you know. I really have no idea how you've done what you've done with the grace and the calmness.
That you bring to your job. You know. I think a lot of people may not realize in addition to managing a budget managing all the bond projects. Last year, cutting staff in your own office despite the fact that your job had doubled in size previously. You know, you deal with the voluminous and perseverative
Requests for information. And not always in the most polite manner that they come in. You deal with many other tasks Talk about unsung heroes. We recognize them today at West, but I have to say there are shoes, I think one of the public comments, there are shoes that I don't, I don't know how will come close to filling your shoes. And for those of you who
Have not had the opportunity yet to attend an NJSBA conference, a workshop, you will know in the fall in October, people will come up to you and talk to you about lint sugars. And, you know, the amazing VA that she is, how lucky we've been to have her. And they'll be now in October coming up to us telling us what a loss it is. And definitely, you know. I'm going to miss you. You know and and uh you're your exemplary work product and work ethic is ethic Hard to find. Really hard to find. And I wish you lots of rest and lots of joy in your retirement.
Certainly well earned. So thank you. Ms. Sugars, I'd like to abstain as a symbolic gesture of how much we're going to miss you. I'm not kidding. I'm abstaining. I can't unanimously let you go. Other than Dr. Braddock's abstention, we have a unanimous yes vote.
Thank you. Mr. Mayor, can you move the P&L agenda, please? I can, but I'm going to lead off by simply saying, Mrs. Sugars, I'm going to withhold my until the roast on the last board meeting that you attend. Believe me, I'm not going to stay silent. Superintendent recommends that I move the following item 20.1 approval of harassment, intimidation and bullying investigation decisions. Those are the ones that we discussed on March. 25th of this year. Even 20.2 approval of the waiver of policy 2340 field trips that is to allow students from both Cherry Hill East and Cherry Hill West who earned spots to compete and make this our schools that much more proud
In Orlando at the national competition for DECA. An additional item 20.3. Which I will actually turn the mic over to our board solicitor, Mr. Green, to read into the record. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Resolved at the Cherry Hill Township Board of Education hereby approves the settlement agreement and general release of all claims with prejudice in the litigation filed in the United States District Court District of New Jersey.
Under civil action number one colon 24-CV-7250. And authorizes its appropriate officers to execute same on behalf of the board. Thank you, Mr. Green. And renumbering that item 20.3 to number 20.4. Do I have a second, Dr. Braddock? Are there any questions? Seeing none, Mrs. Sugars, would you please open the building? Board members, you may cast your votes.
The sugars, I have to abstain from 20.1 as I was not in attendance for that meeting. Other than Mrs. Schreffame's abstention from 20.1, we have a unanimous yes vote. Okay, and we have no action items for governance. That brings us to new business. Do any board members have new business tonight?
Do any board members have old business tonight? Seeing none, that brings us to our second public comment. This is the second public comment section during which you may comment on any topic. If you'd like to speak now, please clearly state your name and municipality. We will alternate between speakers here in the room and those that are online. Each speaker will be given a maximum of three minutes 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 the Cherry Hill Public School District or within the authority.
Of the Cherry Hill Board of Education. The board welcomes diverse opinions on relevant matters. Under established federal law governing reasonable restrictions on speech in public forums. Statements which demean individual community members or groups or which are irrelevant to the operations of the school district or repetitious will not be permitted. Community members who would like to present information not relevant to the school district are always welcome to communicate directly to the district superintendent. Board President and all board members via email or other alternative means.
And we will start in the room. Is there anybody here with public comment? Please state your name and municipality. Sarah Jocelyn, Cherry Hill. I wanted to comment, of course, congratulating the teams for their success But the SAC presentation was very personal to me because as a working mother.
My children attended SAC. In fact. Sac was created. While my children had already been having to go to a kindergarten private care And so I was extremely happy to be able to transfer my son from From Joyce Kilmer, which is a wonderful school, to his home school. To go into second grade and my daughter was able to start Right at Russell Knight from going forward. The the teachers, the staff that ran SAC were exemplary.
I always relied upon them. And my daughter and son formed good friendships that continued throughout the time that they were there. I will tell you they were very excited because they got to ride the school bus back and forth between Johnson and Russell Knight. So that was their school bus experience, people. But I know for in my own family that in another district.
That the childcare is not nearly as I'll call it reasonable, flexible. Flexible is the right word as flexible And so we are very, very blessed to have the great SAC program that we do have. And I do hope that there will be a continued growth and opportunity. Reduce that wait list. Because parents do need to have reliable childcare and that flexibility.
So thank you for that presentation. And of course, Mrs. Sugars, we will miss you. How are we going to possibly get through the next couple of years? But we wish you the very best for your time. And thank the board, of course, for all the work they've done. And I look forward to next month. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go online. Phone number is 788.
Worked. Okay, thank you. My name is Jeff Potowitz. I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Next year, we're getting approximately $7.4 million for preschool aid. 7.4 million, probably down to 6.9 million. But we'll go whatever figure. According to the lecture you gave to the preschool parents on January 8th, I think this year, they were pointed out to be 1,134 students in preschool when you do the math, it's around $6,500 a student will be getting from the state. The state's estimate.
For cost and it's a low ball estimate, is about 16,500 or $16,800. That's a $10,000… deficit that will be paid for by the rest of the district. $10,000 a student based on 16.5. However, the issue also and that doesn't include cost of busing. Plus the issue is that we pay over close to $26,000 for the regular student, not including buying costs. And that means we're looking at a range of between a deficit of 10,000
Too close to $20,000 a student paid for by us. And the money will be sucked down to preschool. That is a lot of money. It's simple numbers. I don't know how you're doing things, but… Hey, that's a lot. We're getting triple the amount of kids next year, about triple amount for preschool expansion that everyone says is great, except article to read. Effects of New Jersey's Abbott preschool program on children's achievement, grade retention, and special education through 10th grade, Barnett and Young Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
For our third quarter 2021. There was a study done about us up to grade 10. Very, very interesting. Everyone needs to read it. You know, it's still under research. It turns out that this was mandated preschool in Abbott districts were mandated by the state of New Jersey. The judge is mandated. So therefore, they couldn't. Therefore, the study was not the study was not randomized. It was not a randomized study. That's number one. Number two, it says given how much uncertainty remains about what works for whom, under what conditions, a substantial increase and rigorous research is warranted. Such studies should encompass a variety of approaches, old and new, perhaps including larger scale cluster randomized study. So basically.
We are part of a new study. We are a large school district and they're going to see Successful. Thank you for your comment. We'll go back to the room. Rick Short, Cherry Hill. Thank you for bringing up the vestibule. Yet again. We can't do lockdowns in our schools, but somehow You're putting vestibules in front of lockdowns Especially in elementary schools first And to middle schools and to high schools.
But it's amazing, eight years after parkland that you can't do a lockdown in Cherry Hill schools, and we have the money for it. Next up, I want to comment on Ms. Stern's comments about how wonderful Restorative justice is. And I've said this before, restorative justice led to 17 deaths in Parkland. Right now, Broward County does not practice restorative justice. And maybe consider reading Why Meadow Died. Because it all goes back to restorative justice in the bomb of administration.
Also, I see the new DEI coming in. It's called Access and Opportunity. Just a new word for DEI. I mean, you guys really don't give up in this district. It's amazing. And I loved how Mr. Guy was saying how excellent Rose is doing and how excellent Payne's doing grade-wise, but I don't think that's the real numbers. It's quite entertaining for me, I must say. Moving on, tomorrow will be the first year of superintendent of superintendent Morton's.
Under under… Wings. You know… We just had a wonderful sports night. Sports is all around merit. That's what sports is. It's around merit achievement. But… Dr. Morton, still to this day, can't answer his own website. Askdrmorton.com. All these questions about all these horrible people that we have as cultural consultants.
That he's bringing in, that he's, you know, on 1126, he says he loves children And his fellow people are all about the love to children and the community loves children. Well, if you love children, why would you be working with these fanatical nuts? Dr. Morton, you know, I get to the point right now where you're basically the biggest cultural proficiency scammer in New Jersey. Because you are can't answer this, sir. You can't answer that back, Dr. Love. You can't answer back Dr. Muhammad.
You can't answer back Walter Greeson. You can't answer about Dr. Kinde. You can't answer about You can't. This is why. He is the biggest cultural proficiency. Thank you for your comment, Mr. Short. Thank you. We'll go to the line. We have a wider bridge. Alana Yaris, Cherry Hill. I just wanted to commend the board on the ELA curriculum that's used in the elementary schools this year, CKLA. I had some questions about some of what my children were learning. I reached out to their teachers and I was given the information. But what really struck home was when we were driving down Crescent Road, the sign at Johnson said Greek mythology is my Achilles elbow. And my kids said, that's not right. And I said, what do you mean that's not right? And they told me, well.
Achilles had a heel problem. And that's when I knew that they were learning in school because of the curriculum that was brought in and approved by the board. So thank you for that. I also want to commend Ms. Daniels at Kilmer who sent out an email about Kindergarten orientation for incoming parents and there was a conflict based on a holiday and I emailed right away and she was immediately able to rectify the calendar problem.
Thank you to the community for being opening and welcoming to all and for the curriculum that is being taught in the schools. Thank you very much. We'll go back to the room. Is there anybody in the room that would like to make a comment? We have a student. Hello, Salam Barakotab, Cherry Hill East. I'm just speaking as a community member, not as the BOE rep.
But I just wanted to bring attention to East's Multicultural Day, which is The parent night is this Thursday from 7 p.m. To 9 p.m. In the East Auditorium. And it features performances by the Vietnamese culture club the korean Culture Club, African American Culture Club, Indian Cultural Society, Filipino Cultural Society, and the Chinese Student Association. So multicultural Day or MCD is, as it's known at schools, like one of my favorite days of the year. And the performances that is open to the public on Thursday at 7 p.m.
It's just huge productions with costumes, choreography, singing, and we've been working on it for like months And then on Friday, we also have the MCD school day where there's booths from more clubs and all that but um The performances are just really great. It's a whole spectacle and I encourage everyone to come And I think it's so great that in our district, we have events like this. It means a lot to students and I just think at this moment, it's great to support it. So thank you. Thank you so much. We'll go back to the line, seeing no hands raised, go back to the room.
Seeing nobody else, we will close second public comment. I'm sorry, Chair, I have a point of clarification. Certainly. I wanted to clarify, and it's probably directed to Dr. Morton. Dr. Morton, do you run, is it fact or fiction that you run your own separate website that you create content on? No, no, I do not have the website that was referenced there. That's Mr. Short's website that he created himself.
Thank you for clarification. Thank you for giving me the opportunity, chair. Yep. Thank you for that clarification. And with that, we will close second public comment. Do we have any comments from superintendent? I will hand it off to you, Dr. Martin. Absolutely. Thank you very much, Mr. Greenbaum. I just want to congratulate all of our student athletes again who were recognized this evening. Again, it's been a historic winter sports season for our teams. We are extremely proud of them.
Dr. Dreisen, thank you so much for recognizing Adam Koppelman. For the next NextGen Israel Advocacy Award. He was here this evening with his family, his mom and dad as well. So definitely proud of him and his Always wonderful to see our kids make an impact in the community. That's absolutely fantastic. Just to mention academics report card. So a high school and middle school marking period three closes tomorrow, I believe, April 9th. Elementary report cards were issued about a week or so ago.
We are now in the home stretch. For this academic year. And before we know it, we'll be looking at end of year activities, including move up ceremonies and graduation ceremonies and and everything else. So definitely a great time, but also a reminder for our students to buckle down and make sure that they're focused and let's finish up strong. That's what's definitely important for us. So April is Autism Awareness Month. It's also Neurodiversity Awareness Month. Very important.
Important recognitions for us. It's important that we celebrate the various types of diversity of our students. I'm one who is a parent of a neurodiverse child. He's a delightful child. He thinks differently. But he is… He's amazing, as are all of our children. Who fall under that category. And with that in mind and thinking about diversity and cultural celebrations, thank you, Salim, for mentioning the Multicultural Day. At East that's coming up, High School West will be doing one as well. I had an opportunity to attend some wonderful events last week, but just like to recognize our schools.
At the elementary level, Sharp, the International Night, Kingston for the family culture and traditions night, Woodcrest had a spring carnival. There's other activities and events. That continue to take place. So it's important that we celebrate community and we recognize our community. Just a couple more. The district will be closed next week for spring break. Happy Passover to all those who are celebrating i wish all who are celebrating Passover, a joyous time with you know family and loved ones Also, Easter will occur. Happy Easter to all those who are celebrating as well.
Wishing you time with love and happiness as well. In reference to the disrespectful comments that were made about me this evening. It's truly uncalled for. Mr. Short, you tout yourself as an individual who believes that there's no hate It takes place in Cherry Hill. You're consistently disparaged in no place for hate platform Yet you come up here repeatedly. And name call and disrespect individuals who are giving their sincere effort in trying to make this district and this community a better place.
I don't appreciate being called a scammer. I'm not a scammer. If you are interested in having a conversation with me offhand. We can do that and we can definitely have a conversation. But if you look up my track record, you look up anything about Kwame Morton. Scammer is the last thing that you'll hear. So I'm going to put it on record that I don't appreciate being called that. With that, I'll say have a great evening, everyone. Thank you for a great meeting. Thank you, Dr. Morton. I will make a motion to adjourn the meeting. Do I have a second?
Ms. Palmer. And I guess I just banged the gavel. Meeting adjour