Board of Education to order. Mr. Schimp, can you please call the roll? Here. Here. Mr. Greenbaum. Here, Ms. Manzano. Here. Here. Mr. It is me. Here. Ms. Winters. Here. Please excuse our technical difficulties. We're still learning. Public notice of this meeting pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act has been given by the Board Secretary on March 3 and 5th, 2026, in the following manner. Posted notice on the school bulletin board at the administration building posted on the Board's official website, transmitted to the clerk of Cherry Hill Township.
I'd also like to remind everybody that this meeting is being recorded and live streamed. Please rise and join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. And before we move on, I just want to, for anybody who enjoys our meetings a lot, you'll notice the public notice statement is different tonight. We are no longer transmitting to the newspapers. That's a new state law that went into effect on March first.
So now you'll only get information about our awesome meetings and the places that we said, the website, the clerk, and the bulletin board here. We have no board recognition tonight. We have student representative reports tonight. No, we do not. I've seen representative reports tonight. We do not have any administrative presentations tonight. So I am going to move on to first public comment, which is for action items only. There are 2 opportunities for public comment this evening, and the 1st public comment section is for Board special action items number 19 through 23 only. If you wish to speak on any other topic other than what appears on the agenda. You may speak during second public comment.
Speakers must provide their name and municipality. Students may comment on any topic during first public comment by identifying themselves as a student. We will alternate between speakers in the room and those wishing to comment online. Each speaker has three minutes to speak, and the timer on the screen will indicate the amount of time remaining. All statements, questions or comments should be addressed to the chair. Your inquiry may or may not be addressed by district administration at the close of the session. We begin in the room, as we do by custom and practice. Is there anyone who would like to make first public comment this evening on a board action item? Please approach the microphone.
I see no takers. I'll go to the line phone number ending in 788. It's your turn. Please unmute. Give us your name, municipality, and the action item on which you are speaking. My name is Jeff Potowitz, I live in New Jersey, 23.3. Resolution calling on the New Jersey State. Legislature to… To, um… it's constitutional recognition to provide a thorough and efficient education for all students of the Cherry Hill Public School District. Alright? First, please also add the Cherry Hole.
Please also add that the Cherry Hill Local Fair share as a tax rate is 1.73. Which is very high. Um… I'm not really sure what the average is, I think it's 1.4 or 1.5, but if our local fair share tax rate was. Average would be what is considered average, um, it would be eligible… we would be eligible for legalization aid. So that's that 1.73.
It's very, very hard. Oh, where… okay, then note, whereas in 2022, more than a decade of… that's in your resolution. Of significant underfunded, and change the… Change the more than a decade. Um, to 3 decades. We've actually been shortchanged. We've been significantly underfunded for 3 decades. Our aid was cut in 1990 from where we lost $5.2 million in state aid out of $20.5 million that we got back then.
And our citizens of Cherry Hill at that time, to make up the difference of $5.2 million, we voted for a increase in our TAC levy of 13%. Um… And many, many districts actually voted down their increasing taxability. We didn't. So please emphasize that. It was three decades of significant underfunding, not just one. Also, from '70-73, May 7th.
2025, there's an article that Camden County's Effective Property Tax Rate Ranks. Second among two 3,000. counties in the country. Our number, according to this article in 7073, May 7th, 2025, the number, our number was 3.08 for Camden County. That is the second highest in the country. Comparing that to.
Um… to other counties. Middlesex County was 2.02. And, um, Essex County… I'm sorry, Middlesex County was 2. Thank you, Dr. Padowicz. Thank you, Dr. Padowicz. Your time is up. We appreciate it. Is there anyone in the room who would like to make first public comment this evening? Is there anyone else online who would like to make first public comment this evening? You see no one in the room, I see no one online. I'm going to close first public comment.
and move on to correspondence. Mr. Schimp, is there any correspondence that you have to share with the board this evening? Nothing to share. Thank you. Superintendent's report. Dr. Morton, can you please give your superintendent report for this evening? Yes, thank you, Miss Winters. Just a few few items for me. We did not get the result that we were aiming for this evening. High School East Boys basketball. However, however, congratulations to the high school East Boys basketball team on a phenomenal season. They did win.
the Group 4 sectional title on on Friday. So that was phenomenal. Congratulations to them. Also, congratulations to the high school West Girls basketball team. They played for the sectional group 3 final on Saturday. Beautiful attendance, great game. Unfortunately, we came up a bit short. Um, it was the opportunity to repeat, but phenomenal season as well. So congratulations to both teams.
Yeah, it's just… just two other things. Thank you to everyone who participated during Read Across America Week last week. It was a phenomenal experience for our students and our schools. Thank you to the board members who came out, and to the other members who came out. It's meaningful when the children have an opportunity to interact with, uh. the caring adults in our community. So we, uh, we definitely appreciated the engagement. Um, and just one other note, uh, so our governor. provided her budget address this afternoon today. We are anticipating the release of state aid figures on Thursday. Obviously, our state aid figures and the numbers we receive are pivotal, um, in terms of how it impacts our budget. Uh, community can expect to hear more.
for me, just about where we are with the release of that information on Thursday. Our next meeting will be the following Thursday, the 19th. We will begin budget conversation. So more to come with that. Please stay engaged. We want to hear your voices. Thank you. Thank you. So roll kooks and go Lions. Yes, I'm getting smiles. I must have done that right. I will be a parent of both sides very soon, so I have to learn all the things.
Um, so we are… oh, old business. Does any board member have any old business this evening? No, then I'm gonna move on to our board work session. We have committee and delegate reports. I will start with the Cni committee report. Cni Committee met on March 2nd at 6 Pm. We had 2 topics on the agenda. The 1st was summer reading for next year, which are. current seniors are at the table do not have to worry about anymore. Um, it is… the theme is sports. I'm really excited. I'm not usually a sports reader, but the book selections are great. Board members took copies of all the books and are diligently reading or listening on the Sora app.
And we will discuss the selections in further detail after we've read them at the April CNI meeting. The bulk of our meeting was a data presentation from the CNI office led by Miss Staffen and her team is Langman, Mr. Peltzman, and Ms. Wong. We reviewed the benchmark data for English, math, science and social studies. And it's the 1st time in my memory that we've had a data review like that. So thank you to miss staff and. Um, and your team for putting that together for us. This aligns with our district goals, and we were talking about looking at benchmark data in tandem with the NJSLA and the other state data, NJGPA, that we get to look at student performance.
Some of the things that I just want to bring out, our performance is excellent, I feel, on ELA and our science scores were wonderful. I was really pleased with them. We did raise questions about why they're not aligned with some of the NJSLA. science scores that we see, so that's kind of a wonder that the committee had, but the benchmark scores were wonderful. Our social studies scores are also wonderful. We did have a little bit of a further discussion on math. where we're not seeing some of the results that we had hoped for at our middle level, and we're looking to improve those as we launch our children, um, into the high school level math courses beyond algebra.
Do any of these CNI members have anything else to add or anything I missed? The full report is in the embedded in the agenda. If anybody wants to read it, and we got copies of the presentation. Seeing no. Does anybody else have questions for the CNI committee? Seeing no questions, I'll move on to Bnf and Mr. Greenbaum. Thank you. So this month Bnf met in closed session, but it was essentially a continuation of February's discussion, just a little bit of a deeper dive into the same topics, what they mean.
Um… So I'm going to use this as an opportunity just to recap some of the information we have on the budget so far, and I will assume Mr. Schimp will keep me honest. Um, so, uh, Mr. Schimp had put together several scenarios, uh, for the board to look at based on different assumptions for state aid and tax levy. Um, looking at different, looking at possible deficits ranging from 13 million to at the time as much as 38 million as a worst case scenario, depending on various factors. We've learned as of today, after the governor's budget address, the worst case scenario certainly improved quite a bit.
We're looking at a 3% cap on losses. So while we certainly don't want any losses, 3% cap is a little bit of a relief. If you recall, last year, we could have been looking at as much as $11 million, which was Mr. Shimp's original worst-case scenario, so… Glad we could throw those two pages out, and hopefully, hopefully build better from there. Um, just a couple numbers for those who are interested. The CPI, the Consumer Price Index, is at 3.5%, which is going to have an impact on the cost of everything, for example, transportation is expected to increase by roughly the CPI or around 700,000.
Separately, benefits are a big one this year with an anticipated increase of more than $12 million that was reported back in February's report out. And in our budget, we have very little surplus to work with, and capital reserves are fairly low. So, as far as current discussions. We don't know state aid numbers yet. The governor's budget address was today. State aid is expected to be announced on Thursday of this week. As I said, the governor shared that there's a 3% hold harmless, which should cut limits to.
cut losses to, I think, around under 900,000. Again, we'd like to see an increase, because costs go up, but at least we know what our cap is on losses. Um, that's to be seen on Thursday. Mr. Schimp is actively working with her benefits providers to negotiate better rates. We'll see what happens there. And Dr. Morton is working with his staff to identify opportunities for efficiencies and savings across the board, which we'll be discussing next week.
Um, as far as taxing authority goes, as we talked about previously, including banked cap and health benefit waiver, because of our increased healthcare costs, the district has a 9.15% available taxing authority. That certainly does not mean there's any appetite for that. It's also probably not likely that it's going to be zero either. We'll see next week what the superintendent recommends, and discussions will proceed from there. Lastly, uh, we'll talk about the calendar. Again, on the 12th, that's Thursday this week is when we'll know state aid numbers. On the 19th, there's a special board meeting where there'll be a public discussion of the initial budget.
submission, and on the 24th additional public discussion and a preliminary vote, followed by April 28th is the tentative date for final budget adoption. So I believe Miss Palmer will speak a little bit about some of the advocacy that's already started with discussions with some of our legislators and resolution that's on the the agenda tonight. And I'll just give a plug for the Fair Funding Committee. They meet every month. I anticipate between the initial budget submission on March 24th, and final budget adoption.
Uh, on April 28th, there will be ample opportunities to advocate both locally and in Trenton, some as easy as calling our legislators and. Asking for more money, asking for changes to the funding formula, whatever it takes to fund our schools. So with that, there's probably a lot more than we discussed in committee this past week, but I thought it made sense to just provide a succinct summary of where we are and what our next steps are. And with that, are there any questions from the board?
Ms. Stern. I think just a comment, having been in the meeting, you know, I think there was kind of a half a sigh of relief today to hear the governor's address, but I also want to be really, really clear. We have… We are facing a significant budget shortfall and there absolutely will be some painful adjustments that will, no matter what, unless something. different comes beyond what we heard today. Um, I think we just really want to prepare. I… that hasn't changed.
additional tax levy is certainly on the table, and… you know, some painful adjustments. Uh, I think we just… I don't… I don't. I want to be realistic. The news is not the absolute worst case scenario, thank goodness. But we are facing a difficult scenario. So thank you. Okay, thank you. Yes, Mr. Fain. Um, I'm curious, now that you had mentioned after today's information from the governor that we're no longer looking at our like worst case scenario situations, which is good. Is there still opportunity to analyze some of the suggestions in those.
circumstances that maybe we can reduce the the levy burden on the tax levy burden on the taxpayers, and. Is there things that are included in that? I guess my question is, is there things that are included in those worst-case scenarios that could also. be considered in the not-worst-case scenario, so that we're hopefully setting ourselves up for continued success for years to come, knowing that we are literally in this situation every single year. So, um, you know.
I don't know if that made sense. Absolutely. And this is certainly setting itself up to be one of the most challenging years we've had. One of the things we did discuss in BNF, uh, we don't have lists of specific cuts yet. That's something that we're expected to be discussing next week. Um, when Mr. Schimp and Dr. Morton provide that to the board to review prior to our public discussion. But one of the asks that the committee did have was a prioritized list of. what those cuts or changes might look like and what the impact will be, both financially and impact to staff, impact to students. The goal is obviously to minimize impact on students and minimize impact on staff where we can. But we did ask for a prioritized list so we can make a more informed decision. Ultimately, it'll come down to.
What tax levy the board has an appetite for, and what the cost of that will be in terms of cuts. As for specifics. You'll find out when I do next week. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay, seeing none. Thank you, and we'll move on to the next report out. Miss Stern, Hr. Please. Obviously, most of what we discuss in Hr. Is confidential. I can report that we did get an update. One of our part of our district goals is about retaining our amazing staff.
And we've had an extremely high retention rate so far this year, um, you know, and we're very pleased to get that feedback. Um, so I think we're more than on target, um, with that. And we did discuss just in general some upcoming retirements that are coming forward. So we want to thank all of our very dedicated long-term staff and teachers for their. their commitment to the students and to the district, and congratulate them on their retirement.
I think that's pretty much all I can say, unless any other members from our committee have something to add. This is your faint. I just wanted to emphas kind of leading in what you're saying about retention, and you can see it on our agenda tonight. I want to just emphasize the conversation that we had around a majority of. turnover, if you will, with that word is due to retirement. So we're not seeing people leaving for necessarily personal reasons and other reasons. They're… it's just their natural progression through the stages of life. Um, and I think that that's important to note, that the.
the teachers and the staff that are the certificated staff that are leaving are due to retirements and things like that, and I just wanted to give a shout out to all the efforts that are being made throughout the district to. to retain and engage the staff. Thank you for… and actually, just along those lines, I believe that the ones that were mentioned in our meeting actually had to do with people who are moving out of state. Right? So it wasn't even… that was the reason we had anybody beyond… that were… was leaving by choice rather than retirement, so… Kudos. Kudos to the entire team.
Thank you. And moving on to Pnl. Ms. Palmer. All right, so the policy and legislation Committee met on March 2nd. There were a number of policies on the agenda for discussion, all of which are in the committee folders. If anyone has questions or wants to read the full readout. A few things that I do want to highlight. So Policy 2326, which is the district cell phone policy for students. You'll see that that remains on first reading, and will stay on first reading for at least next month's P. And L Committee meeting. That is because we've we have received guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education.
But we are anticipating a policy update from Strauss Esme. And just in the interest of doing this one time for efficiency, we're going to wait until we do receive that policy guidance, look at it all, and consider it all on the whole, and then move forward with with the necessary adjustments we need to make in light of the new state law. Policy 2422, statutory curriculum requirements is positioned to move forward for final adoption at our action meeting later this month, and very notably, Policy 2365, which is the district's first policy on the acceptable use of generative AI.
Also is positioned to move forward for final adoption at the end of this month. So thank you to everyone who has contributed to that process. We have spoken about this before, but the idea is that that policy will be the broad guidelines under which we operate. and then separately, the administration is working on an AI plan that will function as kind of the day-to-day operational piece. There will be a public component to that. There will be future discussions about that that will be is in the works. I know that it's in the early stages. It'll move forward.
Full steam ahead once this policy is adopted. So we look forward to discussing that in greater detail later. Finally, and we'll talk about this later, but we did. This was where we introduced this fair funding resolution that we're going to consider later on tonight's agenda. So I won't belabor that conversation, but thank you to the board members who contributed as part of the committee. Special thanks to Ms. Mrs. Manzano and Mrs. Cummings for. subbing in and joining myself and Mr. Greenbaum for that conversation. Anything else that other committee members would like to add any comments from the rest of the board?
Thank you. Mr. Fain governance has not had its March meeting yet. Okay, Friday. So that will be at an upcoming meeting. And now the last thing under the board work session here is additional committee and delegate reports. So these are committees that are meeting. They're not one of the standing committees, or if you are a representative, a delegate of the board to another organization. Is there anybody who has any reports tonight? Ms. Palmer. So last Friday, Dr. Morton and I attended a legislative link event in Westmont Manhattan Township. It was hosted by the Hadden Township School District. They run, I think they call it the Fair Funding Collaborative, which is a regional group of school districts who come together and talk about school funding issues.
So Friday morning, they hosted an event. Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, who represents us here in the, uh, in the 6th District, was the speaker, uh, the only legislator who attended. Um, but if you get one, he's a good one to have. So he, he was pretty candid, I thought, in his remarks on the state of the current funding formula. It was the first time that I really heard him publicly. say out loud the formula as it is right now is broken, is not working, is not doing what it was intended to do. So he did commit that the legislature is committed to revisiting that formula, did say, though, that he expects it to take an 18-month to 2-year process.
Um, some of what he discussed, we saw come to fruition in the governor's budget address today. He did say that he expected to see those hold harmless caps kept in place for this year. He also, I think, mentioned special education funding being tied to actual enrollment versus. average enrollment. So things that we have asked for in the past, things that we are asking for in our current funding resolution. Um, but note that. Until a new formula is adopted, those things are not codified in law anywhere, so we'll be at the, you know, whims of the governor from year to year on.
how that's handled. I thought it was also interesting that he, you know. He would like to see us get away from funding public education through property taxes. Also acknowledge that that's a pipe dream. Um, you know. was not very forthcoming on what he thinks it'll take for him for us to get. to a different form of school funding. He had a few ideas, but could not really say what he thinks it's going to take the legislature to.
develop an appetite to change, change the status quo. But I would say it's progress. We unfortunately, I don't think had enough. I don't think we had as much time for questions as I had hoped we would have. Um, but that is what it is. It, you know, he had somewhere to be. Um, overall, though, it was nice to see districts come together. I mean, I can say for sure. as much pain as we feel here in Cherry Hill. We are not alone in that. You know, there are districts of all sizes in a very similar situation. I, you know, his his calls for consolidation. I think.
were heard differently from different districts, you know, depending on what your size, what your makeup, what you stand to benefit from consolidating. But a lot of good discussion, and just good to be in the room. And Dr. Moran's not really, you know, since you were there, I know it's not time for your report out, but if there's anything else that you would add… No, I think you did a fine job. You captured the summary very well. You know, additional time for questions would have would have definitely been appreciated. But he did spend a significant amount of time, I think, just addressing the comments that you mentioned, and then.
field in the questions that he did. Yeah, and he, at the end, um, he posed a couple questions to districts and just asked us to kind of mull it over, you know, things like where where are there opportunities for consolidation? Are there incentives that we'd like to see from the State to incentivize consolidation again. In bigger districts, I think that's a little bit of a different conversation. Mrs. Winters. So I just wanted to chime in that I went to NJSBA's Board Governance Leadership Summit, which is for board presidents and vice presidents, and the first two hours was on consolidation.
Um, so I very directly asked the question, what are the benefits to a large district like ours on consolidation? And basically, they said there aren't any. Yeah. So this is really a conversation that's being had among the smaller districts. I did speak to some smaller districts in Camden County who are. very strongly considering consolidation, because at this point, for them to continue on the path that they're on is unsustainable. Um… So I just thought that was kind of an interesting tidbit. I understand the push from the state is consolidation, but I don't think that's necessarily going to be.
the answer for us. I mean, I do think there is a space to talk about, you know, things like shared service agreements and stuff like that. But to actually consolidate, it doesn't really benefit a district of our size. So we're going to have to look elsewhere for solutions. Yeah, I think the biggest benefit I I think there's no doubt the governor referenced consolidation today. multiple legislators, the majority leader, I mean, that is… that is the word of the year, is consolidation. Um, I think the. Really, the only benefit, the only argument that you could make that there's a benefit to districts like ours is that maybe if there are fewer pieces to cut the pie into, theoretically.
you know. Maybe you can make the argument that might lead to more dollars in the future. But there's still the same number of students to educate. Same number of teachers to employ, you know, I think you still run into the same problems, but that's… not for me to decide. So that's where I will end it. Are there any other questions? comments. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Are there any other committee or delegate reports? Ms. Stern? I'm just going to give a brief report on we did have a special education committee meeting and in March, and.
It was February. Sorry, in February. Um… And, um, some of the kind of high-level takeaways were really just about. us continuing to develop further understanding of, um… You know, some of the challenges and complexities of the topics that come up around special education in our district that come up especially information that we hear from the community, from parents, um, and understanding how that intersects, that information, kind of.
intersects with, you know, what's happening in our schools, what's being delivered to our students. We talked about the continued intense focus on least restrictive environment. Which means that our students with special needs by law and also. by strong intention of delivering our best services to our special ed students are receiving, you know, are put in the the the environment that they can be most successful in with with supports, but do not restrict.
them that are, you know. I don't know if that's the best way to describe it, but… and that how that can be very challenging sometimes. Um, you know, I think of it as like inclusion, and maybe that's, you know, but… but how that can be sometimes challenging as we adjust to more and more and more of. working towards more inclusion throughout our entire district. while continuing to serve our students. We talked about the ongoing efforts to put resources where they're needed, sometimes extra resources where they're needed to provide support and education for.
PD for our staff to ensure that they have the skills and resources that they need to serve our students with special needs. And we talked about some of the challenges that I think the board feels. in representing our students voice and our parents' voice. you know, kind of the challenge of, you know, what's the expectations are sometimes, and the understanding are, versus what the. what the implementation is, even what the… sometimes what the requirements are, what the laws are. So sometimes there's a disconnect, and how do we bridge that gap of information? We talked about how sometimes other factors are, um.
influencing the educational environment for our special needs students, um, and then, uh, Mrs. Ms. Mallory gave us, you know, as I think every meeting, you know, you kind of give this educational component, sometimes pulling out pieces of direct experiences that are going, or direct story, you know, things that we're hearing are going on or understanding are going on, concerns. And kind of how to apply, um, how special ed is implemented in that situation. We talked about positive, um. PBIS positive behavioral, I'm going to say it wrong, intervention supports, yay!
Um, you know, how we are, you know, continuing to expand that in our district. Um… And, um, we also talked about a board. I don't know if we want to call it a retreat, but how a presentation to the board, um, specifically on special education, how, you know, I think to your point, Mr. Fain, you know, you have continuing questions. And how to really try to ensure that some of the… deeper dive information that we sometimes get, deeper level understanding that how do we, you know, transmit it to the full board?
I think I hit most of the spots. Um… And we called it a special ed retreat, actually. So I'm going to stop there and ask if there's anything to add. If I missed anything from other. Okay, so thank you. And we will meet again at the end of this month. Thank you. Any other… committee or delegate reports for this evening. Seeing no takers, I'm going to move on to our action agenda. I'm going to start with our approval of minutes. I'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes. These are the regular meeting minutes and executive session meeting minutes dated January 27, 2026. Do I have a second?
Miss Manzano, are there any questions? Mr. Schimp, can you please open the vote? Motion carries. Thank you. Ontoine. The superintendent recommends, and I move the following curriculum and instruction agenda number 20.2 as presented. Is there a second?
Ms. Cummings, Mr. Schiff, can you please call the vote? Motion carries. Thank you. Mr. Greenbaum, can you please move the BNF agenda? The superintendent recommends, and I move the following action agenda items 21.2 through 21.5 as presented. Do I have a second?
Miss Palmer, are there any questions or discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Schimp, please open the voting. Mr. Schill. Sorry. I'm gonna recuse from Bill List 4, please.
Yes, to the rest. Motion carries. Thank you, Miss Turn. Can you please move the HR agenda? Superintendent recommends, and I move the following as presented. action agenda items. 21 22.1 through. 22.8. As presented again, said it twice. Do I have a second? This is.
Manzano. Is there any discussion? Please, Mr. Sham, please call the vote. Motion carries. Thank you, Miss Palmer, can you please move the P&L agenda? I can. The superintendent recommends and I move the following action agenda items 23.2 and 23.3 as presented.
Do I have a second? Mr. Greenbaum, is there any discussion? This is Manzano. I'd like to open discussion for item 23.3 to the rest of the board if possible. Do I have a second on that motion? Uh, so… Should I then… So we should vote on 23.2, correct? Okay. Mr. Schimp, I'm so sorry, I just forgot your name, your name. Mr. Shin, can you open the voting on agenda item 23.2 only?
I will. You're gonna see both resolutions, but I'll amend it. For the minutes. Motion carries for 23.2. Okay. Uh, so Mrs. Manzano, you made the motion. Floor is yours. Thank you. So our resolution 23.3, I just think it's a fine time to kind of bring it to the attention of everything that we or what we're able to talk about from P&L. So I'm hoping you can expand upon that for the people that weren't in that meeting, and then any questions.
that we may have. Yeah, so this resolution really, and brief shout out to Mr. Potowitz, this was actually a similar item that he had shared with the board, I think out of East Orange, West Orange is one of the oranges. But we like the idea. I think Cherry Hill has a compelling story to tell. And if you were in attendance at the last meeting or listening online, you heard a pretty robust discussion around our desire to move forward. So we drafted a resolution really meant to tell what our story is, that history of underfunding.
The impact that it has had the trend of just year after year tax increases, painful cuts obviously came to a head last year with not came to a head, but last year we had to look at changing the entire middle school to junior high model. Again, not. Because it was not the right thing to do, but it was unfortunate that we made the decision, not just because it was a solid educational decision, but because our hand was forced by the budget. And also to tell the story of the fact that just a few years ago, because of that history of underfunding.
our taxpayers took on another burden voluntarily and approved a $363 million bond referendum, which at the time was the largest in the state's history. Still is. Okay, thank you for the gut check on that. Um, you know, it's important, we felt, as a board, that it was important that we tell our story in whatever way we can to the appropriate stakeholders. So that's legislative leadership, certainly Majority Leader Greenwald. The governor, the new Department of Education Commissioner. This is the vehicle by which we are doing that. So I deeply appreciate, I think.
I think I received feedback from all nine members, eight members of the board, myself from Dr. Morton, from Mr. Schimp. Thank you to Dr. Mahan for for, you know, allowing it to be on the agenda at the allowing, but for opening up the agenda discussion at. at the P&L committee level. And because you did it so quickly, we had originally planned on. voting on this at our special budget meeting March 19th, but because of the timeliness with which everybody got their feedback.
We were able to incorporate our changes and get it on the agenda for tonight. Well-timed with the governor's budget address today. I'm trying to think if there's anything else. You know, it didn't mention this during my report out, but. I didn't realize, so in Cherry Hill, our operating budget is 81%, roughly 81%, supported by local taxes. There were districts in that room with us that said to me, oh, well, we're like 35%. So we've put that number in here. I mean, those are the things that I think really stand out and illustrate. People think that we're Cherry Hill. We've got all this money.
We don't, we're a community of. working-class people. There might be some outliers, but each and every one of us struggles to. pay for our own increases in daily cost of living. And, you know, when taxes are the primary means by which we fund a very important and treasured educational system in this town, you know, relief's gotta come from somewhere, and the reality is, under the New Jersey Constitution. The state has to provide for that thorough and efficient education, and you cannot tell me as one board member that if we're footing 81% of the bill, that the state is keeping up its end of the bargain. It's constitutional obligation, at least with respect to Cherry Hill.
So I appreciate all of the work that went into this by my counterparts on the board. This is Manzano. I just want to thank Miss Palmer for her, um, attention to this and spearheading, and also her pride and commitment to voicing those opinions, getting it out as quickly as possible. Thank you to Dr. Martin and Mr. Schimp as well. Um, we were all expecting for March 19th, so to see it. be up on the forefront today is pretty exciting. Mrs. Stern. Yeah, I just want to echo real gratitude. It's a lot of work. This was extra work, so I just want to thank you so much. And I also, you know, I think in some of, um, small.
you know, discussions that we've had internally. you know. I wanted to share, which may not be common knowledge for everybody on the board, you know, current board. But. When the funding formula passed in 2008, and then we took a 10-year cut. Year after year for 10 years, over and over and over again. So there was a presentation, and it was only in 2022, it wasn't that long ago, um, that the then board was given, um, that in 2010.
Um, we had a funding formula we were supposed to receive 100% of that funding formula. We actually only received 28% of what we were supposed to receive. And that went on for 10 years. And we, on average, were below 50% of what we were actually supposed to get, according to the state's. said, you're supposed to get this much money. We got under 50% of that for 10 years. That is a major compounding impact. Um, and then we had a few years when legislation passed in 2018 that boosted us back closer and closer and closer to the 100% amount, which Dr. Padowicz refers to this and even earlier times.
And now we're going back down again. Um, so I just, historically, I think to understand the ongoing, you know, 10 years of severe underfunding, it's, uh, has an impact. And it contributed directly to why we had such a large bond, and it contributes directly to, you know, we just started to catch our breath, and… Here we are again. So thank you again, and thank you to everybody here for participating in it. Mrs. Cherpain.
Um, I know we had some, like, email conversation back and forth as far as input into, um, the draft that's here. Was there? And we talked about like what… We were discussing specifically what information as far as numbers and figures goes, was included, and why was there any conversation, or is there anything that. is not here, that there was conversation about, and there was a specific reason. I don't know if… do you know what I mean?
I do, and I think you and I had kind of gone back and forth about whether we put like percentage tax increase. Honestly, I think. my thought, at least, and I'm open to the discussion. My thought, at least was that you run. You want to tell. This is a narrative. It's a story rather than, I'd say, bog it down with percentages and a percentage may or may not. Mean… the same thing to different people. You know, I… I think, in my mind, it was enough to say that we've had year over year.
these compounding tax increases, I forget the actual language that we used in here. Um… We talk about the. the increasing tax increases, that's not how it's said. It's a little more succinct. concise than that. Uh, but you get the point. I think it was just an effort not to bog it down with number after number after number, to the point where people glaze over it. if that… if that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely, and I think that, like you mentioned before, the 81% in itself.
should be significant enough. You probably shouldn't need any of the other information that's in there. Um, but I appreciate the explanation, because I know we went back and forth, and I just, I know earlier we had, um, a suggestion and a comment, so, um… I just appreciate a little bit more information about what did and did not get in here and the intention behind the way that it's drafted. And quite frankly, we could have… we could have added probably 10 more whereas clauses. You gotta stop it somewhere, and that was… it was… that was really just a judgment call. Miss Winters. Yeah, I mean, I drafted these for years when I worked for the legislature, and there's, like, a cadence and a rhythm to it, and it's very different than any kind of other writing that you do, like a white paper or something, or a policy paper, which is more technical. So this is really supposed to be just.
an argument, and the language is very formal. The legislators are used to reading stuff like this. This is sort of the way that they communicate. Um, so Bridget and I really work together on… on just that piece of it, on making it sound the way that they will receive it best. They also do not read anything that's longer than two pages. ever at all. Like, and generally one page is better. Like, I will just tell you that, that if, you know, you can hand them a stack this thick of evidence, and they will… Everything needs to be, you know, punchy and right up front, because other than that, they're not going to see it. I do think this will get their attention.
coming from us, we vote on it tonight, and if it passes, I do think it will. And then Mr. Shimp, as Board Secretary, you'll transmit the copies to all the people. Wonderful. Thank you. I do. I think, for me, the bottom line was that 81% number. We are footing the bill, period. Full stop. Nobody else is coming to save us. Um… That was it for me. Any other questions, comments, concerns? Okay. Then I will close out discussion and ask Mr. Schimp to open the vote, or we could do a voice vote, if that's easier.
Yes. So… Do I have to redo the superintendent recommends? Yep. Okay. So the superintendent recommends, and I move that we vote on agenda item 23.3 as presented. Second, Mr. Chervain. And now, Mr. Shimp, can you open the vote? The old-fashioned way. Mr. Fain. Yes. Ms. Cummings. Yes. Mr. Greenbaum. Yes. Miss Manzano. Yes, Miss Palmer. Yes. Ms. Stern. Yes. Ms. Winters. Yes. Motion carries.
Thank you, and thank you to everybody who worked on that. It was a team effort. I appreciate it. Moving to governance. We don't have any agenda items under governance this evening, and then we're on new business. Is there any board member who has any new business to bring before the board tonight? Mr. Fain. Just quick. I know we've already kind of begun discussions on this, but I wanted to bring it to the table as something that I hope to see in. Whatever committee it comes out of is, um, and a bigger and open discussion on technology in the classroom and throughout the district, how we're handling it. I know we've been working on cell phones and AI and I definitely look forward to opening discussion.
more broadly about technology and how it's utilized throughout the district. Thank you. Any other board members with new business this evening. Seeing no further discussion, I'm going to move us to second public comment. Public comment is an opportunity for members of the community to provide input to the Board of Education on educational issues. The board welcomes diverse opinions on relevant matters. However, statements that are abusive, obscene, or which demeanor or defamatory to any individual or any group of individuals will not be tolerated, as such comments are disruptive to the orderly operation of this meeting.
Speakers wishing to provide the board with information which is not relevant to the district's operations may communicate directly with the superintendent and the board president via email or other alternative means. As before, each commenter will have 3 min. The timer will be on the screen. If you're a student, you can go first. either approach the microphone or put an S after your name. If you are online by custom and practice. We start in the room. Is there anyone in the room tonight who would like to make second public comment?
There was an ordinance that was adopted to establish a new TECO, which is a three executive campus overlay zone. This does not mean that there's any developers who have started process for this. But among this group, there will be about 195 units that are anticipated to be built here. up to that much, including buildings that would be up to 75 feet and 6 stories high, as well as possible accessory units.
Um, in addition, there was a… was a adoption. of the affordable housing plan for Cherry Hill. And I think that's an important to know because it requires developers to report by the beginning of January the status of what has been done for the prior year. and also have a report out to the state on, uh, by the township. So those are relevant issues for this last night. There also were 2 students who spoke.
One dealt with the issue of recycling. at the Cherry Hill Schools, and so there was a follow-up item that needs to be handled there. Um, and the other spoke about concerns of safety and the community relative to the updating of ICE enforcement in communities within New Jersey and across the country. And so I just safety of our students and our community is a very important issue.
I also had a couple of questions for you. I wanted to ask whether the minutes of the meeting should be available to the public, because I'm not able to see them in the board docs. So if that is a concern that we're supposed to be able to see them. I would like to know how to get to them. I appreciate that the summer reading will be on the issue of sports, which I think will engage our students. The library summer programs relate to archaeology. Dinosaurs and geology, and so I wanted to bring that to you. There was a question about our science things. I remind you the science testing is done at every three years, and that requires that students recall the information in the three-year cycle.
So your testing did not do that. And again, I appreciate the request for technology understanding by the board, how it's being used in the classroom. Thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Charlson. We appreciate it. Going to the line. The first caller is Alana Yaris. Alana, you can unmute and give us your name and municipality. If there's someone else on the line, can they speak before me and you call me next? I just am not available for public comment at the moment. Not a problem. We'll come back to you. The next person on the line is the phone number ending in 788. It's your turn. Please unmute and give us your name and municipality.
My name is Jeff Podowitz, and I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Uh, when you… when they talked about consolidation of, um, our school districts, that's a sore point with me. Um, I wrote about… I wrote a letter to the editor of Remapping Debate in July 17th, 2011, and the title of this. Was Cherry Hill-Marketville merger exemplifies perils of New Jersey consolidation. You'll remember that? Cherry Hill and Mercantville? The merger? Um, okay, Cherry Hill, what I wrote was, Cherry Hill is one of the largest.
New Jersey communities at 70,000 plus, and we have one of the largest school district populations of 11,000. Consolidation will not help us get tax relief. We have high property taxes relative to what our properties are worth, because we do not receive. Our fair share of the income tax funds we send to Trenton. This was July 2011. And then I talked about a school district that the SFRH said we should get at least $36 million, but we were 7… we were receiving approximately $11 million, and then I wrote consolidation will make things worse.
Um, and we were receiving less than $11,000 a student, uh, that was back in 2011, and now the state says we deserve about $1,800 a student, or $800 more. Then that travesty… About 15 years ago, when we got a… when we got 1,000. Gee, just as bad when you think about that. Uh, and I talked about Courage Connect, they were pushing it. Uh, if any of you remember that, and what I wrote was, well, guess what? From what I read on your website, and that website was remapping Debate, good website.
Um, your articles point out that things are not always what they appear to be. They're a hidden agendas. Well, guess what? My agenda is that our community stops being bled to death, because relative to other communities in New Jersey, we are not and have not for years. Be getting our fair share of the funds we send to Trenton back to us. We're not the only ones. The way the state has administered and modified the original SFRA school funding formula has made things worse, and SFRA was not fair to our community to begin with. And CIFA.
Was underfunded. By the way, thanks for passing that resolution that you're gonna send to the state. This has been going on for years. And gee, we get $800 more of a student than I was complaining about back in 2011. That's how much we've been cheated. That is how much we've been cheated. That's for affordable housing? Yeah, really, we should… that's great, except for one thing. We've lost all our equalization aid. So, and that's the aid that goes to help educate the kids.
From… that are at risk, like kids in affordable housing. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Potowitz. We appreciate it. Going back to the room. Is there anyone in the room who would like to make second public comment this evening? Please approach the microphone. Brickshaw, Cherry Hill. I want to share the board 2 of the greatest school board member moments. And two of the worst moments. First.
And Ken Gallagher left. She left the message of one thing. Hold… your superintendent accountable. The second best moment ever was when Jen Fleischer. was one of two people. The mayor's wife. to vote. Four. Children and better education. One of the worst moments ever. dealing with indoctrination.
of our teachers and of our students. came when Mr. Guy. After a lengthy discussion about going to all the schools, the biggest thing he found wrong was, we have a problem with implicit bias. This is quite scary for me, ladies and gentlemen. Very, very scary because what it tells me is, is that there wasn't a learning loss cause. There wasn't any other things, too much screen time that this was the most important thing to this district where I stand that we have a problem with implicit bias.
See, the problem with that is, is that you tried to change people's perceptions. You tried to change teachers' perceptions, and students' perceptions when you try. to change. their opinions. That's what you do. This is Marxism. This is references of Nazism. This is mind control, ladies and gentlemen. This is scary, scary stuff. And then it gets worse. How about the… how many times have we talked about the report from November 13th, 2024?
Where it shows that our consultant, our radical nut consultant, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, causes more hostility. and you board, and you… administration, keep him in the curriculum! Amazing. Amazing. And the other thing is there's no accountability. Kilmer Elementary School, was it 492 ranking statewide 15 years ago. Today it's at 847.
And this district has no plan for it. And like Miss Gallagher said. No one is being held accountable. So what I think needs to happen is we need to start having. Jen Fleischer moments in this district, where we put everything in front of our ideologies and do the best for children, because you are failing. Thank you for your comment, Mr. Short. Going back to the line, the next caller's name is Corinne. Corinne, it's your turn. Please unmute and give us your name and municipality.
Hi there. Good evening. My name is Corinne Driscoll, and I'm speaking as a parent of a student at Cherry Hill High School West. I'd like to comment on the Eos attendance pilot that was recently shared with families out West. According to the information provided, students whose families do not opt out will be asked to complete a survey about their. Career aspirations, educational goals, which staff members they seek support from their connections to peers, and any barriers they may experience when attending school. Students will also have the opportunity to share in their words what they want the school to know about them.
The responses. The responses will then be used to create an insight card intended to help staff connect with students, or I'm sorry, connect students with opportunities to support them throughout the year. And while I appreciate the district's intention to support students, I find the framing of this initiative as an attendance program somewhat misaligned with the approach being used. It is difficult to see how a brief survey will meaningfully uncover the complex reasons why some students struggle with attendance, particularly when those challenges often require deeper conversations, trust, and relationship building to understand.
It also raises a question about the role of existing student support staff. Should conversations about barriers to attendance already be happening through guidance counselors and school teams who work directly with students and their families? Those professionals are often best positioned to build relationships, understand individual circumstances, and provide meaningful support. I also wonder how this program accounts for students who are nonverbal and who are not able to independently read or complete a survey. How are their experiences and barriers being captured, and how are they being included in this process?
Additionally, the form states that families can withdraw their student from the program at any time. However, the form itself is currently no longer accepting responses, which makes it unclear how families are expected to exercise that option. At the same time, the types of questions being asked about goals, connections, and support systems suggest that the program may actually be designed. help staff understand student to better understand students and support their growth. And if that's the case, it may be more transparent to present the initiative in those terms, rather than positioning it primarily as an attendance intervention. Families value honesty and clarity when new programs are introduced, and alignment between a program's stated purpose.
And its actual design helps build that trust. Thank you so much for your time tonight. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room. Is there anyone who would like to make second public comment this evening? Please approach the microphone. And I'm from Cherry Hill. I just want to go back to last the last Boe meeting. I'm was a little confused as to why you didn't have Neil Birdie on your agenda and appointing him as the interim principal at East. Um, a lot of people in the community still don't know that that has occurred, and I think it's important.
that we find a way to let the whole community know, not just the East community. I would like to know how much bank cap we have to work with in the next budget process. And I would also like to know if our current status with health benefits. allows us to apply for the tax levy incentive aid. Is that still available this coming year? Um, I do… I was at the town council meeting last night. We should be very proud of the students that spoke. Um, they're quite elegant, particularly the representative from West. I was very impressed with what she had to say.
very articulate. calm and respectful manner, but with real reason to speak to town council. Um… Sorry, I have several things. When will the ribaj from your proclamation to. the State be available for public consumption. And also going back to Dr. Potowitz. We've been severely underfunded. since 1990.
And I don't know what under your whereas is, if you could just say since 1990 to 2025. give them a dollar amount. I don't know if that's available or appropriate, but I think they need to know a dollar amount money generally presses most people. Forgive me. Oh, I just wanted to bring up that last year. The school board of colleagues would. also faced a severe budget deficit and worked closely with the borough.
And the mayor of Collingswood, to the point where the borough was willing to help. fund some funds into their account to keep them um stable. So fortunately, they didn't end up doing that because they worked very, very, very well and closely and didn't let our legislators put us to the side and we were able to get the funding that they needed. So their budget levy. And the taxes to the residents weren't so high. Mayor Fleischer mentioned that he's meeting with you this week, last night, the board meeting at the Town Council meeting.
Dr. Kwame, and I'm going to tell you that I am very disappointed in our local representatives. Um, he may have gotten back to you, but he does not get back to the Fair Funding Committee. He does not get back to Alana Yarris, whose town was just as valuable as yours. And I love Troy Singleton from Burlington County, and I have crossed the bridge many times already this year. Thank you. Thank you for your comment.
going back to the line. The next person, it says iPhone. It's your turn. Please unmute and give us your name and municipality. Yes, Laurie Neary Cherry Hill. First, I'm speaking on behalf of myself. Uh, I just want to say thank you for the resolution to the state regarding the current status of our funding. I think it's a critically important. gesture and needs to be done to make sure they are aware, as I'm sure they have awareness, but let's make it explicitly clear. Um, second.
I'd like to speak on behalf of Tuscepta, uh, to Ms. Stern, we've made our second request to meet with the special education committee. And I would hope strongly, um. That they take Josepta up on the request. Given the current state of affairs, we'd like to sit down and have a meaningful dialogue, and I hope that it is taken under consideration. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room. Is there anyone who would like to make second public comment this evening?
Seeing no takers, going back to the line, Alana Yaris, it's your turn. Please unmute, give us your name and municipality. Alana, we can't hear you. Alani Ayers, Cherry Hill. You spoke about data from benchmark testing. I'd just like to make a request that any benchmark testing or testing in general that it's that's administered for the district be administered by.
Um, certificated teachers only, and not by substitutes that are in the classroom. I know that sometimes teachers need to be absent, and the benchmark testing needs to be offered at specific times, but if that sub could be moved to another room where there is a certificated teacher, so that. The testing is given to students and accurate instead of students being put under pressure from a sub, maybe that they don't have a good rapport with, or if the testing could be pushed until a teacher returns, so that a sub.
Of the teacher at all is not giving the testing, that would be greatly appreciated. I think that will help with some of your numbers, that sometimes, uh, students don't improve upon, um, and then second, it's difficult to know what board members have and have not attended events in the district, um, with correspondence being after public comment. Um, but I know that last week was the All Cherry Hill Middle School Band, and this was all, um, band and orchestra students who wanted to participate from all three middle schools, and I'm unaware of any board members or central administration staff that were present at this concert, and now next week you have a meeting for budget discussion and usually your meetings are on Tuesdays and for some reason.
you're having a meeting next Thursday instead, and that's all elementary school band. If we truly are a we district of West and East coming together, I think it's important that the board members make it a priority to attend events at the middle school and high and elementary school level, and not just the high school level of sports for East West Day or. other things, and not just attending an event that's sponsored by one school, um, multiple schools is a great way to show that you're in the community for more than just your home school or a neighboring school. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room, is there anyone else who would like to make second public comment? Don't see anybody going back to the line. Looking for hands raised. Giving it a minute. I don't see anybody, so I'd like to close second public comment. And I just want to clarify. I might have misunderstood. But the resolution that we voted on the budget resolution, the text of that is embedded in the agenda. So it should be available for the public to see. Um, I will double check, but I think that is the case.
Yes, I'm getting a yes. Sometimes I get confused because things appear on our version of the agenda, but it may not be public facing. But I always try to double check. So if anybody's looking for the text of the resolution that we actually voted on that will be sent to the State. That's where you can find it. It should be listed there. Okay. We are moving forward to board member comments. These are comments by board members on events they attended in the district. Okay. Um, I'm going to ask Mr. Schemp to continue using the 3-minute timer, because if 3 minutes is good for the community, it's good for us.
and I am going to start. Mr. Fain is giving me happy faces over there. She is. Mr. Fame. Would you like to start board member comments this evening? My pleasure. I usually don't lose it up here, so thank you for that. Um, so I actually, I guess it's good. I have things to report out on tonight. Um, and I'd like to also mention, I appreciate the comments earlier about having representation of who is going where. I think we would be more than open to any suggestions on how to do that, so people know it's hard.
to know where to put stuff, or how to do that other than this space here. But, um, for me personally, I attended Footloose at Cherry Hill East, um, at some point in the recent past. I think it was last weekend, I don't know. Um, but it was absolutely incredible. I had a great time. I took my two youngest daughters with me. who a 4-year-old and a 7-year-old who sat there the whole time, watched the whole thing, just as excited to see it as I was. Um, it was absolutely incredible. All of the kids did a really, really good job. Um, I am also signed up for both middle school plays that are coming up soon, so as a result of my kids watching Footloose, they saw the program and now want to go see every play in the district.
We are signed up for that as well. And I was also able to attend with Miss Palmer and Miss Cummings, the Woodcrest escape room night that was held. Also in the recent past, I don't know what day that was, it was Tuesday. Okay, so we went to that as well. And as someone who has a very special place in my heart for escape rooms, I thought it was absolutely awesome. We had such a good time. We did the fifth grade escape room, which… 5th graders did it quicker than this, but we did escape. We returned back to Earth, and it was a lot of fun, and kudos to the teachers that put all of that together, because it was very well thought out, great puzzles, um, and it was really cool. So they did, I think it was third grade through fifth grade. They said it was their first time they're trialing it.
Next year, they're going to try it with the kindergartners, so I will definitely be back to witness that. Probably not participate, just to watch, but it was a lot of fun, so thank you for all of them for allowing us to attend. Thank you, Miss Manzano. I also attended Footloose this past weekend. I brought. I, too, brought my 7-year-old and my 5-year-old, who are now signed up, or have signed me up to see every show that ever exists in Cherry Hill from now until the end of time, which is great. Um, a little fun fact about Footloose, uh, in 2007, Miss Augustine, who was a Spanish teacher at East.
High School East, and I were in Footloose together at the Ritz Theater Company in Haddon Township. So, yeah, that was great. And she happened to be there on that night, so we got to experience seeing it at Cherry Lease together. Um, so again, kudos to the students, um, and to the teachers, faculty, staff, everyone that was involved. Awesome. Thank you so much. I went to Footloose with Ms. Manzano and our kids, which was pretty great. I want to give a shout out to everybody, but also especially to kind of the unsung heroes, the Pit Orchestra. We are one of the few school districts that still has students play the music for the musicals. A lot of districts hire that out to professionals, so I want to give a kudos to the pit, especially my nephew Max.
who is holding it down on percussion, um, the kids who do the lighting and the sound, the students from the stage crew working on the sets, the costumes, all of that is student-driven. So the musical is so much more than just what you see on stage, it's really an effort of all those students who are involved in it, and the faculty who support them. So thank you to everybody at East. And I did cry a little tear when I said goodbye to the East Auditorium, which is going to be going offline soon, but I can't wait for the next iteration of what that looks like going forward. I also attended the vocal recital at Rosa.
I attended two Read Across America events at Bret Hart and Stockton, and that was super fun. I mentioned earlier that I went to board president training, which was a day long training offered by NJSBA. It was in West Windsor Plainsboro on Saturday, there were a ton of other board presidents and vice presidents there. I got a lot of really good ideas, good. feedback. So I'll be bringing that back to turnkey to the board. And finally, I did meet with Mayor Fleischer and members of his administration with Dr. Morton and Mr. Schimp, and we are working on places where we can align best to support each other.
Because property taxes, when people get their tax bill, they don't distinguish between the school district and the township. They're just mad that their taxes went up. So we are looking for ways that we can collaborate and work together to find efficiencies and support each other because we're all in this boat together. Everybody is suffering. from inflation and the increased cost of everything going up. So I'm hopeful that those discussions will be fruitful, and I'll keep everybody posted going forward. Mr. Greenbaum. nothing this week. Thank you. Ms. Stern. waiting for the timer.
need my full three minutes, Mrs. I'm just kidding. Um, I got a chance to attend the AI Summit, which was organized and run, um, by Mrs. Staffen. It was a phenomenal day. Um, it was a full day, and there were a lot… I felt, like, very fancy, because there were a lot of administrators there, principals and administrators from our district, and even a few from out there was standing room only, um, it was held at Camden County College, um, in town.
the site in town, and, um, it was all things AI with breakout groups and I only got to attend for a few at the beginning of the first half of the day. But I wanted to read a quote which I thought was very powerful. It really gave me a good. understanding, I think, of the direction that education is moving overall with school. Ai was a front and center, um. Uh, part of the presentation. And the opening remarks, the person from school AI said that.
The tool handles the task, the AI is the tool. It handles the task. Educators handle the humans. Um, and, and really, um, I got an understanding of how AI is really… very helpful, specifically in targeting and differentiated instruction to really help each individual student learn at their different pace with their different needs, um. I went to a presentation specifically on the use of AI in special education. So that was really interesting. And it was presented by one of our.
teachers from Karusi Middle School. And then I went to the I got to read at Read Across America to Mrs. Sullivan's class at Barton. I walked in without a book and she handed me a great book which had just so many layers of information and lessons, and I got to learn. about all kinds of, um, not only these students, and get to see the students engage in fourth grade students with great questions, great topics, um, but also, um, learn about some of the really neat, um, ways that they're integrating some of the lessons from those books.
Last but not least, New Jersey School Board Association. I got to attend the 8th grade dialogue. Students from all over Camden County sat on a big stage and got questions. asked of them and they had to answer in front of a whole audience. I got to meet our three students who were representing our three different middle schools. Harper, Heidi, and Jeremy, all very, very impressive young eighth graders. I got to meet their families, the principals from all those schools were there.
Um, and just some, um, high-level takeaways, um… Basically, their opinions from middle school. Kids really want, um, they want break… brain breaks and recess at that grade level. They want more… Miss Stern, I'm going to give you the gong in about 2 seconds. More mental health supports, and, um, they want, um. they supported the arts, and less overcrowding in the halls, specifically in our schools, which I wanted to say we're fixing that. But, um, yeah, really, really impressive young people.
I appreciate it. Use it a lot this week. So I'll give you a little bit of a password. I think it was like in like three or four days, I did all those things. It's a good amount. It was a busy week. Before we move on to Ms. Palmer, I just do want to acknowledge that this was a team effort this week. There were a lot of engagement opportunities, and I want to thank board members for jumping in, especially at the last minute as schedules changed. I know we're all trying to balance. board and work and families and children, and whatever else is going on. So there… there were a lot of moving parts this week, so thank you guys all for jumping in. Miss Palmer.
Okay, as Mrs. Chafain noted, we attended a woodcrest that was literacy night, but it was an escape room theme. It was fantastic. I was thrilled that I was able to attend. Uh, also had the opportunity to go see Footloose. My daughter and I went to last Saturday's show. Phenomenal job, and thank you, Mrs. Winters, for shouting out those unsung heroes. My kid is a tech crew kid, so I have a deep appreciation, and I was a Pit Band kid in high school, so I appreciate all of the backstage. You were a band kid. I was a French horn player. Yes.
Clarinet. Right. Anyway, yeah, so I certainly appreciate all of that behind the scenes, but obviously the on stage talent is phenomenal and I'm obviously looking forward to seeing Safet West, uh. Next month, I guess we're already there. I also had the opportunity to read to fourth graders at Johnson. third graders at Barton, and then some of our littlest learners, preschoolers at Mosaic. It was the first time I was able to read to one of our non-Malberg preschool classrooms, and they… My heart was, like, bursting when I walked out of that building. It was the end of a rough work week, and it was just exactly what I needed. So I really appreciated the opportunity to be there. And then, since I left it out of my comments last time, I did also attend the West Pops concert, which was at the end of February, but.
left it off of my list last time. It was… that was a great night, a great opportunity to kind of sample all of the different musical offerings at West, um, really job well done, phenomenal. Kudos to Mr. Sagetty and the team over there. I think that's everything that I went to, and we talked about the legislative link. Thank you, Miss Cummings. So as mentioned by Ms. Chafane and Miss Palmer, I too attended the Literacy Night Escape Room at Woodcrest last week. And then on Friday last week I went to Cooper Elementary to attend the Teachers, Readers Theater.
Which, if you're not familiar with Reader's Theater, it's when generally when students get up and act out, like, a scene or a chapter from a book. Well, this time the teachers got to do it, and they were very exuberant, and the stories were robust, and it was hilarious, and the APR there was just alive with Friday vibes. It was a great experience as part of their. Read Across America Week. Um, and then I rounded out my week, um, also on Friday at Barton Elementary with Mrs. Longmore's first grade class. I read Room on the Broom to them, and they… I know we all love that book, right?
Um, and they… they, um, they were active participants in the story. They, they whooshed and found the bows, and the frogs were there, and it was a great… it was a great time. Again, the highlight of my week, it was so rewarding. I love being with, like. our youngest learners, because. They really are. They're so engaged, and they're just so lovely to be around. But I would be remiss… And if I may, I'd like to take a moment to recognize Women's History Month.
Um, so I want to just take a shout out to the incredible women who shape our school community every single day. Women's History Month reminds us not only to reflect on the contributions of women throughout history. but also to recognize the impact being made right here in our district. The women in our schools and our district are educators, mentors, problem solvers, and role models whose influence will be felt for generations. So, to our teachers, administrators, to our staff, and to my fellow board members.
Thank you for your time, your perspective, and your commitment that you bring to our students and families in our community. Thank you. Thank you. That was lovely. And moving on to superintendent comments. Dr. Morton. I really don't have many comments. I'd just like to thank everyone for coming out and for continued engagement. We'll need your engagement as we move forward in the next, uh, several weeks. Um… But then have a great night.
Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn. Do I have a second? Miss Palmer? All those in favor? It's