like to call this meeting up to order. Public notice of this meeting pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act has been given by the Board Secretary on October 6, 2025, in the following manner. Post a notice on the school bulletin board in the Administration Building, transmitted to the Courier-Post, Philadelphia Inquirer. And the clerk of Cherry Hill Township. Please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag. of the United States of America. religious dance, marriage. Liberty and justice for all.
Mr. Shimp, can you please call the roll? Mr. Fain? Here. Dr. Dreisen? Here. Ms. Palmer? Here. Ms. Stern? Here. Ms. Winters. Here. Thank you, Mr. Shim. So, tonight, we have our board retreat. And we are thrilled to have on this rainy night, Dr. Lori Banzlow from NJSBA here to lead us in some discussion about our board self-evaluation, which we all did back in August, which seems like… Forever ago at this point, with this October weather, and also working on setting board goals, which this board hasn't done in several years.
So, thank you, Dr. Banlo, for joining us this evening. I appreciate it. Thank you. And hopefully you can hear me okay, just to make sure the technology's working great. So, first and foremost, on behalf of New Jersey School Boards Association, we want to thank all of you for your dedication and commitment to the children to Cherry Hill, and just doing a fantastic job. So tonight, what we're going to be looking at, um, and. More than likely just an hour's time. Um, we're gonna be going over your board self-evaluation. We are going to be talking about goals, and I'm going to share some themes that came out of the evaluation that you might want to focus on, because they're your goals. I'll share the themes, but you guys have to, you know, decide if you want to own them.
Um, we probably don't want to have any more than 3 goals, which we'll talk about, and I'm also going to share an action. template, uh, that you can take a look at, because I believe, and it's totally up to you guys as a board, that if you don't have action plans for your goals, they're not going to happen. So you can create a timeline. So after the meeting tonight, I'll go back, I'll put everything together, I'll send it to Gina. Gina, can I share it with Kwam also, so he sees it? I'll send it to the two of them, the rough draft of the goals that we come up with. And then you guys can take a look at them and decide together.
how you want to work on the action plans, and that's why, you know, I leave you alone after that. So let's just dig in right away. So the first thing I want to show you is the chart. So, as a reminder, this is our new board self-evaluation. Remember, I came out and shared it with you, Michelle was with me, and so we don't have a baseline to go from last year, but this will be your baseline moving forward. It's been received really well. Um, so first I'm going to share with you the charts, and just so you know that, um. If you guys could just pass it around, just, there's just one. If you want to take any extras for the other board members.
Um. Each… each of the charts we're going to be talking about highlighting some areas that you really want to take a really close look at, so we'll pass it. Right? And I want you just to focus… let's just focus on the bore graph first. Okay? So, on the back, on the bar graph, anything 2.5 or above on the rubric that we spoke about a while back.
is good. And the Cherry Hill Board of Education is really doing a great job. I mean, I've met with boards that… and you guys were very, very thorough with your board self-evaluation, very honest. I've met with boards that have scored way below the two-point. zero, and they know that those… that's areas that they need to work on. So you guys have made a lot of growth. from the past, from a lot of the comments, a lot of pride, but there's always some things that you still want to continue to do. So if you look at the chart here, what really stands out as your strengths, as you can see, is accountability for student achievement.
That is very important to each and every one of you that came across very clearly. we always want to continue that, as many of you had mentioned in the evaluation. And the other thing I wanted to say is when I give you the evaluation itself. Everything is anonymous. You never have to worry about anybody seeing who made what. you know, comment, so I just want you to be comfortable about that. Also, um, the other strength that you have here is resource management and oversight. Okay, so I think that you are doing a really great job there. So some of the areas that I want you to think about that we're going to just kind of dig into tonight.
is vision, mission, and goals, which is why I'm here. That was something that was important, and I applaud you for doing a strategic plan. Not every district does that. You have your five-year roadmap. You want to be able to match your goals tonight. to your plan. So that's terrific. So you really are working on that first area already. The other area that came up was policy, doing a great job in policy, a lot of pride, but wanting to continue to make sure that you're being super efficient with policy. That came through very clearly as well.
One of the areas I really feel that you want to think about as a theme is governance, the governance team, and relationships and accountability. And as I had said to Gina, I can come back, we can do a retreat once your new board is together, we can do some fun things. some team-building kind of things, which I know is really important, because you don't get to do that in a formal board meeting. So we'll work on that together. And then community leadership. A lot of, uh, strides in community leadership. you want to continue that. When you look on the back, the graph in the back, I love this, um.
this little… although I don't… I didn't… I don't have a color printer at home, my friends, but if you look at the top. the dark area is exemplary. Areas that you feel that you're doing a great job, and that, again, accountability and student achievement. 46% exemplary. Resource management and oversight. 43% exemplary. And then, if you take a look going across, really strong in every area. But you'll kind of, you know, you're going to be able to take a look at this after the meeting and kind of digest it, and some of your colleagues who are not here tonight can also look at it, because you're really going to want to look at some of the specifics.
When you start working on those action plans. So I don't expect you to read everything tonight that I'm going to give you. Don't get stressed, because there's going to be a lot of information, but… Once we come up with the goals, which I did pull some themes out that I want you to think about. Take this home with you tonight. I'm gonna just mention a few things tonight that I want to highlight. But really sit down, you know, I know you want to watch the football game, many of you, so don't worry about that tonight, but really sit down and really take a very close look at. the evaluation. I'll just pass those around.
All right. And then she can just take whatever copies you might need. Okay. So, lots and lots of information. I'm going to just walk you through it briefly. Because I know you're going to be dying to read every single comment, but we won't have time for that tonight, because we're going to kind of dig into a few things. But I want to pull out some things that are important. So on page 1 of 20. first strand was vision, mission, and goals.
And that is clearly why we're here today. This is something that's important to the Cherry Hill Board of Education. Making sure that they set goals for the year, board goals for the year. Your superintendent has already worked on some district goals that he's been, or will be sharing with you. He and his cabinet, so we're not going to talk about district goals tonight, we're just going to talk about our board goals. So, this is why we're here. If you turn the page, um, I'm going to skip over this area and let you read this on your own. Because it's pretty self-explanatory. So if you go to page 4 of 20, the top area will be policy.
This is a strength. of the board, but there are some areas that you want to focus on and think about. So, encourage the development of regulations to guide. policy implementation, use our policies and bylaws as the framework for board governance and decision making. All different things that you want to just consider. So, you know. policy reviews, policy updates, so making sure that you're continuing to communicate about that. So those are some of the areas that popped out in policy. And, um, one of the things that was mentioned, I just want to read, it says, there are so many policy updates that come through Shaw's Esme.
that the process of updating and revising policies can become. routine rather than intentional, and that happens to every board. So one area of growth is the board taking a more active role in reviewing outdated policies and proposing updates where relevant. that are relevant to drive district priorities. So that would be something that you'd want to look at with your strategic plan. All right? I want to skip over to our next element, which is accountability for student achievement, which the board scored very high.
on this area. So this is a strength, but this is an area that the board all agrees is… that's why we're here. is student achievement, and making sure we're creating the best pathways for our kids. So, although this is a strength, we can tie this into some other goals as we talk about it tonight. Okay, because I know that's something that's very, very important to you. So I want you now to go to governance, which is on page 9 of 20. This is our area where you guys were really tough on yourselves here.
Okay? There… and to sum it up, there was a lot of positive things about. moving forward, a great team working together. We've made a lot of great strides, but we want to continue to make strides. So, I highlighted a couple of areas, um… just making sure that we are, you know, focusing on annually evaluates its governance performance and ability to work as a team with a focus on student achievement. And we can work on some of those things together as we move forward, depending upon. what your goals are and what your action plans are. New Jersey school boards can help you with a lot of this stuff, too. So, this is an area I really want you to take a very close look at before you put together any action plans, because this will tie into many things that are really critically important.
to you. So, one of the things I just wanted to make sure before I go further. Key strength, commitment to student achievement. With measurable KPIs and aligned district school goals, that I wanted to make sure I mentioned that was something. Robust responsive policymaking, including forward-looking policies on cell phones and AI. Strong support for rigorous curriculum, preschool expansion, and equity for all students. These were all, like, very, you know, strong strengths. Sound recognition of staff and student achievements to foster a culture of excellence.
So those are some of the things that… that came out that I wanted just to mention. And, um… Underneath the governance piece, you know, everybody mentioned that you guys are incredibly engaged and passionate about the work. and the students in Cherry Hill. But you want to establish a governance… establishing a governance committee was a great start. And has helped make many improvements. We want to continue to do that. And… let's see… we want to make sure that we are consistent with our governance, so that's something that every board has to work on.
And that setting a calendar. was also very important to many of your board colleagues, making sure. We do have that calendar through school boards. If you need me to send that, I can send it again. Um, but setting your own calendar map, you know, matching that. is a great thing. Resource management and oversight, which is on page 13 of 20, this is a strength of the Cherry Hill Board of Education. You did score yourself very, you know, very high on this area, a couple areas that, um. Providing a high-quality facilities to support student learning is something that you're striving for. You do have beautiful facilities, but you want to continue that.
Um, and, you know, finance, we just never know from one year to the next what we're gonna get. I think that you guys are doing a great job here, and you really put some areas in there for consideration moving forward. Community leadership. was an area that is a strength, but with that said, it is an area that you want to continue and make sure that you're doing things in your strategic plan, reaching a variety of constituents, and I did hear that at the last meeting in the summer. That was something that was important to all of you, so we can talk a little bit more about that.
And then the very last, um, strand was the individual board members' contribution to the board team. And I really loved reading the comments here. I think everybody feels that they're working hard and contributing to the team. So… Very good, very high strength, 3.7 there. So, in a nutshell… Overall, I believe the board works well together in the common interest of our students and our community. Just reading a few things. Commitment to serving our community and doing what is best for the students of Cherry Hill is what this board is about.
Trying to promote transparency and interaction with the community. United in our purpose and in centering students and student achievement. And all members are highly engaged to do the work, and are invested in continual improvement. And we like to work in partnership with our superintendent, which is so key to having a board and being able to move the district forward. for all the students. So we are… there's a… there's a need and a want for more board retreats. Um, continuing to working on setting goals, looking at our policy and bylaws were some of the.
The biggies that stood out? Um, taking a, uh, continuing to take an active approach to revising policies and bylaws. And prioritizing governance came out really clearly. Another strength that I wanted to mention that was. a strong theme was sound fiscal stewardship. clean audits and oversight of bond projects and budget. broad community engagement with improved communications and town halls, so you've done that, that's great, and you want to continue to do that. That came out very clear. High levels of member preparedness.
ethical compliance and effective committee work. So, great job. Great job. I want you to read that on your own, as I said. So what I want you to do now, I'm going to show you… Just going to show you an example. of… and I did show this to you when I went over the goals, the different types of goals, so we'll just pass this around. This is just a very simple example. And this was a goal that a board did have, because they were not.
evaluating their superintendent each year, they would forget to do it, so this was a goal that they had. And goals do not have to be. super complicated. Tonight, our purpose is going to be just to state. I would… I would say three goals. If you want to do 4, you can, that's up to you guys. If you want to do two, you can. But I would… you want to have a nice, clear, concise. goal. We don't have to dig into the action plan tonight. That's what you're going to be doing together. If there's… Areas within that particular goal that we talk about that you want to make sure that we think about, that all of you think about, we're going to do that.
But if you take a look at this action plan, which I'll send an electronic copy to Gina. The board goal was simple, okay? to evaluate the CSA in a timely manner. Simple, all right? And then they want… they put down the major activities. that they would need to make sure they did, who would be involved, the resources that they would need for that particular. goal, the timeline. And the indicators of success, alright? doing the action plan is so important. I went to a board in Burlington County when I first started, and they're like, Lori, we had great goals, but we forgot to write action plans, and we're not getting anywhere right now.
So, I really strongly suggest you guys do that. Okay, I'm going to give you… These are not goals, these are themes, because you're gonna… you're gonna make the decision. I'm not gonna make the decision. But I'm going to give you a worksheet that has, on the top is the key strengths, some of the key strengths that came out that I read to you already. And on the bottom are some of the themes that came out. as possible ideas for your consideration. All right, so let's pass that around. And then I'm gonna hang those up here so you can see them up here also.
So when that gets to you, just take a minute and read through it yourself. And again, they're themes. I want you to decide. I just… I just put something together just to get your… thoughts going.
I'm gonna be quiet for a bit, just while you read. All right. So here, the themes that… really clearly came out to me that I want you to think about. For your goals are right in front of you, or I'm just going to read… Making sure that… I think we're doing that. That's what we're going to be doing tonight, I think. You know, making sure that we develop measurable, data-driven board and district goals.
align with your 5-year strategic plan. So whatever number of goals you decide. whatever type of goal, that's what everybody wanted. That was one of the themes, is making sure that it matches your… they're measurable. And they really align to your strategic plan. That was important. Another theme was ensuring regular progress reviews and transparent communication with the community. So, you started out with your forums? That's important to you, you've made great strides. Some of you mentioned in the self-evaluation.
you wanted to go further. So that could be a theme or a goal that you're thinking about. Strengthening governance through training, retreats, and adherence to norms of conduct. Another big theme. And this was the one area that I had mentioned that you might want to consider, is really focusing, making one of your focuses. Also, increasing efficiency of meetings. We all love to do that, don't we? And committee structures for better collaboration. All right, consistency, better collaboration, making sure, and… what I loved also about your evaluation is that you listened to each other.
You can all, you know, everybody can have a negative vote on something, but. You all listened to that… to each other and come together, which is great. So this could be a goal, also? Expand accountability by tracking long-term student achievement, equity. and post-secondary outcomes? That was also a theme that came up, although that was a very… that was a strength of the board, and you can tie that into the other goals if you want. improve proactive financial oversight, long-term planning, and transparent budget communication.
Also, a strength that you have? Um, you could roll it into some of the other goals, or you just keep it going and not make it a main focus, that's up to you. enhance community engagement by reaching new voices, addressing misinformation. Which is a biggie in some… in many communities. and building trust. Okay? Those were the themes I felt. came out. Were there any other themes or anything that you… That might not be up here that you might have been thinking of or considering.
But just, I think, um… We have a very engaged board a lot of the time, but I think that. We aren't… we… are not always visible and present in the community in the way that we. are trying to be consistently, and I think that's something that… you know, I think is… Something to strive for. Okay, I'm gonna… if it's okay with you, I'm gonna put it right over here. So, visibility, and that was mentioned in the evaluation.
the visibility in the community at events, and… I'm just gonna sing in community. It could mean many different things. Well, just to clarify that a little bit, from my perspective, I just think it's, like. It's part of the commitment of being on the board, and I think. consistency, that there's… you know, generally more consistent engagement among. you know, everyone has their moments in their lives where it's not realistic, but… You know, I think as an expectation, I think that it stops during COVID, and it's been slowly building, and I think… I think, uh…
I'd like to see that more. Okay. Perfect. Everybody good? And ask each other if there's any clarification you need on things. Okay. Anything else that you want to add, Gina? So, I'd like to see the board drive policy in a more proactive way. I feel like we rely a lot. on Strauss Esme and updates. fine, but… in my mind, what does the board do? The board governs through policymaking.
And there have been moments when we've done that really well, the cell phone policy, I think, was a moment that we did that really well. But I guess I'd like to see… an increased focus. on the board and working… using policy as a way to move the district forward. So we're gonna get all of our thoughts down here. If I misspell anything, just yell at me. We're going to put our… get our thoughts here, and then we'll… will attack those… papers up there with the actual goals. So, what other things you think might be missing?
themes. So those were the themes that really came out very strongly. From your eval? Everybody okay with those? All right. All right, now I'm going to attack those. We're going to decide, you're going to decide together how many goals do you realistically want to have? All right, I had a board the other night, they wanted… they were gonna have… there were 6 goals is way too many. Don't do 6 goals. So you can decide, but we can work through it together. We don't have to decide right now.
So, if you… if you had a goal that you wanted to start. your number one goal. What would that be? And we're gonna… we could wordsmith it. I'll give you a draft of the wording, and you guys are gonna change it to make sure it's what all of you. the final product is, and what you like. And I'm sure, like, at many board meetings, a lot of times, boards will, you know, read those goals out loud. And so the community hears that these are our board goals, here's what we've done so far. So, go ahead, give me the first most important one.
I have to agree with the policy. I mean, we scored low on that on our self-evaluation, so clearly we all see a need to improve it, and it is… One of our stated… responsibilities, you know, called… I mean, you know, one of the top, so… We definitely have room for improvement. I'd like to see us get better at that, so I'd support that. Does everybody agree with that? I agree 100%. Policy? Um, my input for, at least for the first one, if. If we're gonna do it as essential, like, number one being our most important, I personally think that.
I agree that that needs to be one of our… our goals. For me, personally, the way that I'm looking at these is… We've identified that there's some work that needs to be done within, so in my opinion, I think working on ourselves. as our first goal, and then the subsequent goals after that. That's just personally. And I came across wrong. They're all equally important, okay? So, they're all… Then I agree with that? Yeah. Cool. Good, good. So give me the warning for policy. How would you, as a rough draft.
Gina gave us a few, you know, she gave us a little bit of warning. How can we word the policy goal? I'm just gonna put policy. I think something along the lines of… proactively develop policy… thinking of the word proactive. But maybe that's not the right word. Talk about it, and then I'll… I will start writing it till you… I would just refer us to Section 2, page 4 of 20, that maybe we can leverage some of the wording in policy to guide us.
And I appreciate this, um… focus on, like, what's important. I think that should be what our goals are. I would just also… give us a little bit of grace, and suggest this is the first time we're doing goals. Absolutely. So one priority for me. would be, let's set goals that are achievable. You know, so, like, I actually loved this sample one. not to get… That is a real… That's a real good. That's a real goal that several districts have reached. We want to try to submit our CSA email on time, so… It's like, I would also just…
enter into this discussion with that frame of reference, too. Well, I think this is achievable. Absolutely. I just mean it's very specific, um… And so, but I agree, I'm just trying to… I'm just trying to set expectations. But I think, to your point, Dean, and I think it's spot on, I think… maybe broaden it a little bit from there, where keep it basic, and maybe it is set a calendar for ourselves. Not… so you're saying for policy and for… No, I specifically… specific for milestones that we as a board need to meet throughout the year. Does that make sense? Yes.
NJSBI actually offers a calendar. Oh, that's true. Adopt that calendar. But we… But I think we also… this year, we struggled, and it seems crazy, but the reality is that I feel like we… things happen, and we lurch from. big thing to big thing to big thing, and we lose track of, oh, if we really want to have the CSA evaluation done by the statutory deadline, then we need to back that up and look at how much time we have. to complete that. So I think, you know. putting together a calendar of the things that we're required to do and making sure that those things are done in a timely manner.
I think would actually be a really… I think that's a really good goal. Because I do think that was a place that we stumbled this year. So, can I pause for a minute, just so I make sure? I'm going to put governance as the second one, because you had mentioned governance, okay? If everybody's okay with that. And then I'm going to go down, and I'm going to do… calendar, right? And to Gina's point, and to many of your points, like, there are. you know, we have our calendar at school boards, but other boards do create. a calendar, because there's so many other things that are so important. So, I'm just going to put calendar right here, board, like.
Does that make sense? Okay, tell me if it doesn't. Okay. Okay, all right. Those are 3 so far. You can… I also think governance is very broad. I actually wondered if the calendar could be… Yeah, same, same. I was like that, because that'll keep us on track, that's a structure. So, I'm just going… I'm going back through my notes, so… the person who was very responsible for driving the bus on this was Ms. Gallagher, and she has resigned from.
the board to take a job opportunity, which we're very proud of her for, but also… I am back in my notes, because she was leading a lot of this. Um, so that… It's under governance, in general, if we want a governance goal, two ideas that came up were. seeking board certification. And also, the efficient meeting manage. meant was something else that came up that she also had. This was… these are my notes here from back in July.
So I don't know if we want a broad governance goal, and then, like, some of these things be the action steps, or if we want to just… To Dean's point, like, start low and slow here, and pick. a measurable… chunk, like, as a goal that we set for ourselves, and then strive to achieve it. If I can suggest… Pick your goals right now. Just… Focus on what you want to have as your goal, because once you read through this carefully, you're going to come up with.
really specific action steps that you're gonna want. So, but it… that would just be my suggestion, just to focus on what… what are the… what are the… three broad goals, and we could put. if you want, you could put calendar under here if everybody agrees with it. What do you think? I sort of like the calendar broken out as its own item, just because it was an issue that we specifically ran into last year that I think is measurable, I think is very achievable.
And there's a level of accountability. for ourselves. I think that self-accountability piece is what's going to be hard, because one thing that I ran into this year. brand new board president, had no idea what I was doing. was, it's the piece of the self-accountability. Because I'm the leader, but I'm not the boss. So, when it comes time to do stuff, I find myself, like, trying to get people to do things, but then… Right. We're volunteers, so… I like the idea of the calendar being a goal unto itself, because then.
That's… that's the framework, so that it's not… Gina's calling everybody and saying, hey guys, like, for real, we have to get this done this weekend. It's like, listen, we all agreed. We're gonna vote on these goals. We're gonna get this done. I mean, the big things that we need to get done. In a timely manner. And just to add, like, it's not a small goal. Like, even though it's achievable, it is not a small goal to put it together. track it, and then update it. And I say that because.
Um, previously, when I… during… when I was president, that was… we had what we called an issues profile that we did… that had some of these elements, the calendar stuff. And it was a lot to update all the different aspects, had to do with, you know, with committees and topics, and… events, and kind of, you know. Um, but I love it because it's also a process that survives us. Yeah. Right? It's an institutional historical record that is really important when we… people rotate on and off.
Right? Like, people, you know, so… I have an idea of maybe… like, we kind of said. We want to keep the calendar separate, but I think that maybe there's opportunity to combine governance and calendar in a sense of, instead of thinking calendar, maybe we can think timeline. And we can also incorporate roles and responsibilities of us as board members into that timeline, as far as training and things that would help with governance. Um, because not only do we need to know when things need to be voted on and things like that, it's also important to note.
when you need to do certain Governance 1, Governance 2 trainings, um, things like that. So there might be… instead of just a calendar of. physical dates when things are due, maybe making a. Yeah, timeline, calendar, combo thing, which also incorporates roles and responsibilities of board members. Because something that I was thinking of when you were all speaking. Another thing that I know is thrown around there in governance was the discussion of creating, like, an orientation process for new board members. We are… you know, every year, I feel like the last couple of years, we've had at least one.
sometimes two, three brand new board members. Um, and it's incredibly challenging, not only for us as a board, but I'm… I'm assuming the administration to keep up with such new people all the time. Um, so maybe doing something that actually could address the governance thing that we want to speak about in a. and a goal, as well as the calendar. So just a little plug for workshop. Marianne Friedman and I are doing an onboarding workshop that we will give you, like, the template. It's in my agenda. Good. Okay, good, good, good. So it's a lot of… boards have used that to help. Yeah, it's funny, because as we're talking about this, I… so I went through all the sessions at Workshop to build my agenda. Literally every single thing I picked was governance stuff. I feel like at this point of where I am, like, I'm year three on the board. That's where my.
focus is so much more so than it was… in the beginning, it's just getting your hands around. the basics, and also, like, trying to understand the issues. And not that it's not important anymore, but I feel like. to your point, Renee, now it's sort of working on ourselves and building the board team so that we can. move to the next level. I feel like that's the moment. the point that we're at. Just to clarify… I… well. Okay, sorry. I'm gonna wait till we get past this. It's probably a later question. Okay.
All right. We have 3 areas. Policy. We haven't wordsmithed the goal yet. We're gonna do a rough draft of a written goal together. That's all we're gonna do tonight for each one of them. policy, we have governance. And we have board calendar slash timeline, we're going to finesse that with roles and responsibilities. All right? Is that… are you comfortable with that right now as your main areas? Dean? I guess I'm just trying to build on what we heard from Ms. Stern.
Okay, let's make it informal. I'm okay with being deep. So, but no, in all seriousness, it's for community leadership. Um, and we're talking about this expectation, maybe this falls into what you're talking about, roles, responsibilities, but. Could a goal be? Like, we each set a number? Like. we're… I don't know how we can… effectual, you know, operationalize this. expectation, and do we want that to be a goal? Is it board participation at… X percentage of events, is it each member takes on… it's hard to say each member takes on X number. Or something. Rather than, like, a whole number, which is some sort of… it gets to this community leadership.
what do we call this? Elements true. Elements, yeah. Yeah, and I think as life gets busy, I mean, we all have kids, we all have jobs, we all have. life outside of the board table, it's easy to take for granted. That, like, alright, somebody's gonna cover it, but for me, especially in this first year on the board. going to those events is really how I've learned. all of our individual schools, our school leadership teams, some of our teachers, just getting to know. the students, the families. I can't do that without being in our school, so I do, I think it should be a bare minimum expectation that our board members are actively seeking out those engagement opportunities. So do we want to do four? Community leadership. We could keep each of them simple.
Who aren't we putting… are we putting the… we are putting the calendar as a separate goal. Okay. I am generally in favor of 3. Versus more. So I'm also okay taking one of these down. Go ahead. I was gonna say, I mean, my intention was to kind of combine two and three, so that it was… we didn't have to necessarily designate a separate governance goal. Because I… in my personal opinion, I think a lot of it comes from just understanding roles and expectations.
Um, which, because many of us are new all of the time, I don't know how far we… I mean, train… I guess what you have written up there is pretty straightforward. Um, I'm… a little bit struggling with how to measure that, other than we've attended or completed X trainings. Um, but yeah, so that was kind of my way of combining them so that we didn't have to think of two if we wanted to do a community one, or if we wanted to further outline governance. And I almost had… similar thought, but I… I was considering, did we want to… when we talk about governance.
trainings, retreats, adherence to norms of conduct. to me is that community leadership piece a norm of board conduct? So I was sort of rolling that piece in under governance, but I don't… I don't feel strongly about what we call it. Some way or the other. So is everyone good with moving this piece underneath governance? This could be part of your action steps. All right, so that would kind of combine it. And then we can get to the community leadership, which was also important on your self-evaluation.
All right, so we're going to… This is gonna flow into here at some point, and then we're gonna do community leadership as a third one. Everybody good with that? Okay, yeah. Sweet. So I… I think when we look at our calendar, or, you know, our, um, engagement opportunities. You know, there's several every week, so usually… or many weeks there are several, which is great. I think one a month is not going to hit the mark.
I think… but I think we have to make it achievable for everybody, especially the new members. And I also want to just make a plug for something that I've seen. As the year went on, I think that we need to… somehow, someway, we need to set an expectation that board members are attending at least. to committees on a regular basis. Because that is something that I've seen fall off this year. I think that in the past. When we had the big committees, and they were on scheduled nights. I think people were better about, okay, I sit on CNI and P&L, and I'm at those two every month.
This year, we tried to be more flexible, which was good in a lot of ways, but I also think people have been kind of… you know, and I think we need to set an expectation about if we're going to continue to meet flexibly with the committees, which I think has been an asset. that there needs to be regular attendance at committee meetings. So I don't know whether that falls under… we're talking about showing up for stuff. or fall under governance, but I think that… I'd like to see that in here some… somewhere. So, let's come back to… Thank you, Gina. To policy.
All right? That was the one that we decided. And… you're going… you're starting to get into some, you know, deep thought about. what do we want as the steps? So when you put together those action plans, you share them with each other, and you're going to flesh that out, and come to a consensus together. So policy, what would be your goal? How would you… Gina, give us a little bit of a thought over there. Drive policy in a more effective… way, increase focus. Tell me what you… how do you want to word it. I mean, we have the word proactive, which I think is an… I think it's a… important descriptor of what we're trying to get to, right? Like, it's not just that.
oh, it's time to update it, it's been 4 years. Now it's… you know, like, our AI policy, like, we need an AI policy, you know, we needed a cell phone policy, like. We want to be proactive and responsive to the needs that, you know, or support, ultimately support. you know, put the students as a district. I think it should be simple, the board… Our goal should be take a more proactive. role. The board will take a more proactive role.
and governing through policymaking. Now the question's always going to be, how are we going to measure that? Which is the problem we always run into with this stuff, like, how… So, do we walk it back to an even more basic level? Start small and say. we're gonna… one policy. for this coming year, that is Cherry Hill-centered, similar to the… the… cell phone policy. Maybe that's too small, I'm open to it, but… one issue that is proactive, that drives the district forward, that is Cherry Hill-specific, that is not just a stress as my update.
What do you guys think? I guess my question for further clarification on where everyone's brains are at, or what exactly are we thinking about? Because, like, the cell phone policy was, I feel like, opportunistic. It was a current thing that everyone's been talking about. It was… it was kind of there for us to… well, I feel like we easily implemented a policy. I'm sure some districts wouldn't find it so easy, but, um, it was… it kind of seemed like low-hanging fruit, so when we're thinking about this, we have hundreds of policies. Is your thought of… thinking, like, as far as the strategic plan goes, thinking about what we're trying to work on, and now.
as a very beginning stage of the strategic plan, do we think of policies that we could. include now that will help us achieve them, or is it more. looking at a more productive and efficient way to go through all of the policies that we currently have. like, I guess just to understand, because I totally agree. But I'm interested to know a little bit more of where your thoughts are. So, I think that going through the policies we currently have, like, that's… That's what Strauss Esme does for us, is to make sure that the policies we currently have are updated, and I think we do a decent job.
of keeping up with those through that. But I think at this point, that's where this board has kind of… That's the level of policy we've been doing, which is, like. We get the updates, maybe there's options, and we discuss those options. I mean, what if we did something like identifying, you know, and we can name it, like, 3 policies that would. you know, to focus on to support. the annual goals. I mean, it's very simple, it's measurable, it's like, you know.
So, for instance, you know. Right? The AI policy could fall under that. It's achievable, because we're already… we know we're working on it, but there, you know, there might be other goals. that we're not… we're redistricting. It's a big part of what we're doing this year. Like, we have policies that need to be. looked at really thoughtfully with that, like. So, I feel like it makes it achievable, because it's a very… it is a big goal. I like that, I like that framing of identify three policies.
Yeah, I do too. …to update to support. district… current district goals and processes, or however we want to phrase… however we want to phrase that. Say that again? Identify 3 goals, 3 policies to update. to support. current district goals. And… processes? I'm thinking redistricting as, like, a current process. Do we have, um… to make sure that we are attainable, do we… do you think that we have… I mean, we clearly have a ton of things going on.
Do you think that we'd be able to identify 3? And I know it's okay to not achieve your goal, but just to make. Make sure that we actually can, like, 3 would be… okay. Yeah, I can think of it. I think so. Yeah. Well, and to Miriam's point, like, even just thinking about. The enrollment rebalancing issue, I mean, that touches so many things. It touches… The open enrollment policy, it touches transportation, it touches, like, there's so many other things that are gonna… and those policies need to be looked at through the lens of what are we trying to achieve. Yeah.
Okay. I like it. So, I'm going to take this boarding out. Well, actually, I was gonna be my… We're gonna leave it. Just in terms of… more of a communication to… I think we… We can… I like the proactive lens that we've been talking about previously, but maybe we can combine by just saying. The board will… our goal is the board will take a more proactive role in policy. And our action plan is specifically. Will I… we'll identify. I don't know, that's more just a nuance. policymaking, yeah. Policy making? But in this case, like, I feel like the first statement is more of our vision.
than the actual goal. So the board will take a more proactive role in policy? Making? By identifying? By identifying, right. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, the… really, the action steps, right, is the identifying, so… By identifying three policies to update to support current district goals. and processes. It's a rough draft. I like it. Do you like it? It makes it measurable, which is what my fear was with the policy one, like, it seems like, how do we get our hands around it? But I think that's a good… I think that's a good approach.
We're good with the first one? We did a goal, guys. Wow, you did one! We got one done. Alright, two more to go, two more to go. I know we have the Washington Command. And 13 minutes. Alright, here we go. Okay, governance. But who's counting? Ooh, alright, governance. What do we have up there for go? I don't know if I have any… So, in terms of time management, I think this one might be easier. Let's go to this one. Wanna go to this one? Yeah. Alright, let's go to the easy one. Community leadership. What would be your goal? I mean, I think whatever… whatever we end up deciding, I mean, I think a very measurable thing is just how many we attend, and also different activities.
And I'm just gonna say it. It's comfortable to go to places that we're familiar with and that we're used to, buildings we're used to, but we really need to be rotating around to all different buildings and types of activities, community activities, building activities. all the different levels. So, how do you want to say that? As a goal? So there are 9 of us. Well, soon to be. Nine of us. Um, I do… I know, like, I agree there's so much going on, and one might seem, like, insignificant, but at the nine of us, and to make sure that we are being realistic to everybody's.
other commitments. I personally think at least one a month, but diversifying. I'll not… because all 9 of us are expected to do it. But I don't know, maybe an action step would be diversifying what that is. But I agree with you, um… I personally think that… attending at least one community-centered event. a month as a Board of Ed member. I think that's good. What if we specified. At a school other than your home school. Is that too much? Or we could say… Or actually, is it just a personal goal of mine, but… and I don't know if we want to make this a collective goal, but.
each year, can each board member try to touch each school? I was just gonna say, ensuring. maybe reaching all areas of the district within that nine… I mean, it's only 12, right? That's 18, yeah. Right. We could say at least one a month. At least. So who's ready to wordsmith with me? When you're ready, no rush. You did it before! Every board member, huh, that's what I was thinking, good.
Right. Well… will attend. participate in. How about, uh, participate in? We'll participate in… no, it's okay, that's what I'm here for. Participate in… Mm-hmm. and engage a board engagement, at least one… thank you. At least one. At least one thing.
At least, at least one. Right. Engage, right, opportunities for engagement, opportunities for engagement. opportunities for engagement? That's what… yeah, we… that's… that's what we have, like, a running document that has all those in them, lists them. Okay. How about… maybe we should say, like, school slash community, just so other people who are not on the board know what we're talking about. If this is going to be community-facing… Oh, I like that. Opportunity, perfect.
That's great. Yeah, BOE. Boe? As a board member, yeah. It's a rough draft, it's a rough draft. Alright. Every board member will participate in at least one. The OE. Board of Ed. For engagement. per month. Opportunity for engagement. Yes. Opportunity. No, no, I'm saying I've tried… there's some… I don't know that there were opportunities. There were. It was the July 4th, right, there were community events.
Every board member will participate in at least one. community or school engagement opportunity on behalf of the Board of Education. or as a representative of the Board of Education. Everybody good with that? Yep. You're gonna remember that? Here we go. All right. She's the journalist. Every board member will… Former recovering journalist. And at least one. school or community. engagement. I… I… can I just say, BOE Inc, I think the BOE… because we… it needs to be something that we've been invited to.
on our shared calendar. It's not necessarily something, oh, I want to go to this. Right? Which, that comes up too. Well, that's where the… as a representative of the Board of Education, if we're not explicitly invited. through the administration, it doesn't… in my mind, we're not a representative of the board. Yeah, thank you. then you can help me cross that, what you want me to take out? Because, for example, the Board of Ed was invited to the cattle part, and so that's a community event that we attended as Board of Ed members.
Good? Okay. And then how do we work in… Tell me… go ahead, I'm sorry, Mary. We just have to work in somehow or other that, right, the rotating to. multiple different schools. Could that be under the action steps, though? Like, we'll define that out? Yeah, I think that's fair. Help me make this clear. What do you want me to cross out? Cross out opportunities for engagement. And I guess BOE.O.E. NPOE? This one? Yeah.
And then you repeat at least one. And at least one. At least one school or community. Take this out, right? Yep. Yep, at least. Every board member will participate in. at least one school or community engagement as a representative of the Board of Education, as… yeah. As a representative of BOE. Yeah, however you want to write it out. Now that we've taken out a lot of the words. We could probably add, ensuring. I like the action stuff, I mean… Because we gotta leave something for the actions. Yeah, save some for your actions. And if it boils down to that month, it happens to be at your home school.
Okay, totally. I think we need to… I think we said per month. Yes, all right, yeah, I'm sorry. Every board member will participate. in at least one? School. School or community engagement per month. Per month. Gina, I promise it's gonna be readable when I send it to you. It's all good. Her mom's… I got it. Okay. As a representative. So… of the Board of Education. So, the only other… this is great. I don't… We just need to hold each other accountable. If that is gonna be the key thing, because if I'm calling y'all, like, we're setting it as one of our three board goals. If one board member.
I mean, as this is currently written, doesn't do this, then that board goal isn't achieved. Correct. Yeah, it's a lot of pressure. A lot of peer pressure. Good. Peer pressure. See, listen, not for nothing, but, like, compared to… I'm so sorry, but compared to, like, what our… what our staff and teachers and administration have to hold them… are being held to by us. low-hanging fruit, people. It's not a lot to ask. All right. But we have to start somewhere. That's true. You have to start somewhere. But, Dr. Banlow, question for you. I think, right, and I think that we… we… Oh, I would… I would agree that we would understand that if there was extenuating circumstances, that there's a sensitivity that we can all bring to that extenuating circumstances, an unusual extenuating circumstances.
Sure. That's why I feel like with this, it gives us a whole month. So if you miss one, there's always going to be some other opportunity. So I think… Well, and some of them, like. June, there's graduation. We're all gonna be at graduation, you know what I mean? It counts. Like, I think, you know, some months will be… If you all go to the East-West game, that's a great opportunity. Yeah, back-to-school nights, we always, you know, try to provide coverage at every single back-to-school night. So, I think we can do this. I have a process question for Dr. Banlow, if I can, just because this is the first time many of us have gone through this process.
What does that accountability typically look like? Like, how do boards hold themselves accountable for these goals? Hold themselves accountable, we're writing really good goals that they feel that they have ownership in. And that are achievable and simple. Making sure you have very clear action steps that everybody comes to consensus on with the timeline. by matching it also, you're going to be looking at your strategic plan, too, to make sure that, you know, okay, I'm going to look at the board self-evaluation in detail, like Lori told me to. But I'm also going to take a look at the strategic plan as we work on those actions.
those action steps. So, I hope I answered your question with that. My suggestion, and then I know time checks, so we should move to the third one, but maybe… the last board meeting, whether it's a working or active session each month. We have a slide put up that just says. opportunities for engagement names, and whether you have a checkmark or not. And then it's the… Public shaming? I love that. Gene, that's a really… and that was mentioned at the leadership, um, forum, like… boards do that every month, too, like, to hold themselves accountable, to, here's what we've done thus far. Thank you, you know, Dean, for going out to the board meeting, to the community event, like, you…
Make sure you… yeah, yeah. Maybe we do it in the middle of the month, so that it gives people time to finish if they haven't yet. Okay. That's more accurate. Yeah. All right, all right. Accountable. Two good goals? Happy so far? Yes. Alright, now here we go, let's dig into governance. So for sake of time, is it okay for us to say something, like. create Board of Ed calendar and timeline with roles and responsibilities by the June of next year.
or January of next year. Whatever that month is, but… I mean, as early as possible. I think, ultimately, we could get to a cadence where it's. Shortly after Oregon. By next weekend. I think, I think… I think begin it. Renee, volunteer. Begin it. Begin it by reorg. at the maintaining it is a… is a very big step that's important, and it's… But I do… go ahead, I'm sorry, Mary, I just… I think to Renee's point.
it needs to… it can't be by June of next year. I think it needs to be sooner, because things like the CSA evaluation, some of those key dates are going to come up quickly. So I think, you know. right after we have… the new board kind of sworn in and in place. For January. There we are. That should be our goal. I have a process question. So, it's this board that's gonna vote on these… goals. So then what happens in January when there's a new board? Like, can we bind this… Do we… are we binding the new board to these goals for the next, because you know why it's important, Gina? It's because of your board self-evaluation. You are reflecting on.
all the hard work that this board has done. And where are we now, and where do we want to head? And you're gonna have those new members come in. They should be… they are going to be part of this… these goals. So then I think that… Before we land off. Right? Oh, yeah. I think that the calendar piece… like, I think we should do it… Yeah, before, like, whenever we vote on these goals, if there's a majority behind these goals, then I think… Realistically, that we need to start working on it. And to your point, Miriam.
we did used to have… it was, like, a shared… spreadsheet. I mean, I think it needs to be something like that, where everybody's in it, and everybody can see it. Because, to be completely honest with you guys, I don't want to… again, I don't want to have to own it by myself, and then be chasing everybody down. It's not gonna work. It's just not gonna work that way. Like, I think we all need to be… into the calendar, accountable to the calendar. Yeah, I mean, it could be an action. It's an action step of how we'll maintain it. So for the actual goal itself.
Is that… is that what we're gonna write? Create a calendar and timeline with… For a calendar year in 2020. 6 by Reorg. Yeah, I think that's fair. It's for California. I know reorg is, like, a weird time, it's the middle of school year, but that is, like… That's when new board comes in. Yeah, I think that makes sense. It also kind of aligns with our orientation process that we're. going to work on as well. Okay, so I'm ready for the wording with it. You ready?
Yeah, that's good. Go ahead, go for it, Renee. Go ahead, Renee. I mean, can we just create a… VOE calendar and timeline. by reorganization every year. maybe cap… capturing… I think we want to spell out what we're capturing on the timeline, right? Yeah. Something like the CSA email that had trainings.
Capturing? Capturing. Create a board calendar. No, I like that. Capturing, um, significant… trainings, votes. But, like, uh, evaluations requirements, like, any of… any… I'm open to any other words you want to throw out there. Capturing significant training. statutory requirements… Because don't forget, we're coming up on CUSAC, people. Board activity… I mean, board activities, that was, like… I mean, if we look at the old issues profile, like, that's… But I don't think we want to duplicate the…
board engagements that were already done. No, no, no, no. I mean, like, activities as in, like. NJSBA, as in, like, CSA evaluation, that's… Or maybe insignificant events. Or key, significant training, statutory requirements, key events. governed by the board? Well, workshop would fall under training. And evaluation falls under statutory. Right. Mm-hmm. We also have timelines, like, I mean, I don't… this is where my head goes, too, like, the budget.
Right? Like, budget discussions, like. But to me, that's where my… I don't know if that's where you guys were thinking, but I'm, like… But again, I don't want to duplicate what the administration already does, because… they already have a budget done by… But this is for us to track. Right, so for instance… When it starts committees, let's say, that would be the F would start that conversation. Because that was actually… it was broken out by committees. the committee topics. I don't know if you remember, but that's what it was, so I don't know if that's… if we wanted that. I mean, it was involved, I don't know if we wanted that involved, but…
So far, we have created Board of Ed calendar capturing significant training. statutory requirements. and other milestones as deemed necessary by the board. Yes. I love that. Wow! Woo! Other as necessary.
Okay. Okay. Okay. We're good with that. You're good? Okay, those are your three goals. Okay, so what I'm gonna do is I'm going to just take pictures of them. Do you want to keep these, or I can just… you don't have to… If you're gonna take pictures of them, that's fine. Okay, I'm gonna leave them… I'm gonna just take pictures of them, I will put together… the goals, I'll send them to the two of you to look at. And then you just… you're gonna take it from there, okay? You wordsmith, make sure the wording of the goal is great.
And the action plans you start working on, and I'll send you a template. Thank you for all the work that you put into in preparation for this. If you don't mind me, I'm just gonna clean up myself. Is there anything else I can do for you guys? Okay. No, and we'll see you at workshop. I'll see you at workshop? I can't wait. All the governance-related things.
Thank you, Dr. Banla. Moving on, we will have one public comment section this evening. Like, to open public comment if you would like to speak, please clearly state your name and municipality. There are no speakers in the room, so we will go online first, and each speaker will give a maximum of 3 minutes to speak, and the timer on the screen will indicate the amount of time you have remaining. Students are given the opportunity to speak first. You can put an S next to your name. I'm opening public comment for tonight. I am looking online to see if there are any hands raised for public comment this evening.
Seeing no hands raised… oh, I do see a hand raised. Phone number ending in 891. It is your turn for public comment. You have 3 minutes. Please give us your name and municipality. Hi, my name is Jeff Podowitz, and I live in Fairy Hill, New Jersey. Um… Budgeting, to me, is going to be very, very important. And there's a crisis coming in Cherry Hill. First, you need to understand that our taxes are unusually high in Cherry Hill, and since between 2022 and 2025, our school tax.
has gone up totally. The school portion of our tax bill has gone up about 7… I'll call about 17.9%, almost 18%. That's… between 2020 to 2025. Also, um, Camden County has the second highest, um. relative property tax rate. of any cat… of… of… greater than twice. Now, the second highest in the country. relative tax rates. If you didn't know that property tax rate, if you didn't know that.
that's the truth. That's what's going on. It's from the Tax Foundation. Um, um, I'm just doing this… Anyway, um… We're gonna be… we're in a crisis of… of our state aid. Uh, it's really bad. And to answer the crisis, we will have 2,000 kids in preschool expansion, with decreasing funding for preschool expansion. in 2028, 2029, or even sooner than that. So, we really are under it.
a crisis. Our state aid. went from 36 million to in, uh… which was a height, the height ever. down, down to… Approximately 18 to 19 million for the school year 2026 and 2026. 27. So budgeting into lending the public. be aware that, because I've been aware of it for 20 years, I understand school findings, and I commented on the numerous articles in, uh. Fool Finance 101 and, um, NJ Spotlight News. I've been aware of this for 20 years, and I also believed.
that a preschool expansion back 20 years ago would exasperate the problem. So, um, what do you… what's gonna happen? And I hope they would tell people about what's going on, because it's really, really going to affect everything. the education of… Every student in this community. The school board association, I'm also interested in preschool expansion. And I'm sorry, in kids with disabilities, and I've read special education is service, not a place, it was from a task force of the school board association, and what I read, and that's from 2014, what I read did make me happy, and what you need to understand, the problem is we are… We are about to lose for the next school year, all of our equalization aid.
Which includes two-thirds of our preschool aid. Two-thirds of our. special education aid, SFR aid. We are going to lose. All of it in the year 2026-2027. So those kids with special ed. are going to be affected, and I don't hear the school board. talking about this like they should. They talk about a lot of other things, but not this. And also our overall will be cut $18 million and so on. maybe you should start saying that they should talk about it.
Thank you, Dr. Podowitz. Your time is up. The next person online, it just says Zoom user. Zoom user, if you could unmute and give us your full name and municipality. Hello, this is Rick Short, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Can you hear me? Thank you. Madam President. Yes, we can. Today, you put a social media post out. Calling, um… elementary… enrollment balancing.
Um… Aren't we just really doing elementary redistricting? Why would we use words like that? Why would we use words that, I guess, just… don't make sense to what we're doing. We're redistricting. And my other question is, it's pretty basic, is are you really gonna tell the truth? about why you're doing it in certain ways and certain designs. Because if you go on and on and on. claim that it's about balancing students, it's really not.
It's about territories and certain schools and certain areas. Wish you guys could be more… transparent and honest to actually what's happening. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back online, there's one more caller. It's Laura Einhorn. Please unmute, give us your name and municipality, you'll have 3 minutes. It's Ann Einhorn, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, so I kind of listened with avid interest to your goals.
Um, one thing that really bothers me is that there's a whole marginalized group of individuals out in your community. someone like myself, the senior citizen, okay? who, as you know, comes to your board meetings and committee meetings, because that's my thing. But, you have lots of people out here who don't understand who you are. Okay? And I would suggest that, you know, as corny as it sounds, it's nice to visit. You know, the school groups, but there are a lot of us out here who do care about this system.
And you have Harvest Fest coming up, have a table, you have the seniors thing come… that was done in September. Um, I'm not talking about political fundraising events, I'm talking about. Maybe for, I mean, more of an alliance with the Cherry Hill Township. You have the senior groups that meet, you know, I know it's more pressure for you, I know you have children in the system. But you're missing out on real talent. and perhaps thoughts out here. And when you do that, you can say, this is what we do.
tell me what your thoughts are. What can we help? help you with. And I think that would grow towards any organization. that you would visit as a school board member. I have to tell you, even though I'm really old. We used to do this in the old days, okay? Because no one understands what you're going through as a board member, okay? And it's not always that you're going to get negativity. It's just that… that you're there. that we do care about you, even though you may not have children in the system. I think that's really, really important.
I also love the fact that you're really going to focus on policy. Because… ESME is a bunch of lawyers who have no educational foundation. And yet, you, as a school district, you know, follow the rules and follow the recommendations. But, you know, it's a very valid point that you're coming up on redistricting, um. issues. I'm sure there's some other things that I've missed, but I, with you, I would start on boundaries, the policies that were going to affect any redistricting.
Um, and the children, and how they'll be placed. Thank you for listening to me. Thank you for calling in, and thank you for your comment. Madam President, I apologize, but I… I'm 10 minutes past… I understand that. There are no more callers for public comment. So, I am going to close public comment. And I am going to make a motion to adjourn. Do I have a second? I see a second. All board members in favor of adjourning? The meeting's adjourned. Thank you all very much. Thank you.