I'd like to call this meeting of the Board of Education to order. Public notice of this meeting pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act has been given by the Board Secretary on October 21, 2025, in the following manner. Posted notice on the school bulletin board at the administration building, transmitted to the Courier Post. Philadelphia Inquirer and the Clerk of Cherry Hill Township. Please rise and join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag… of the United States of America.
Mr. Schneff, can you please call the roll? Dr. Dreisen? Here. Ms. Manzano? Here. Mr. Mayor? Here. Ms. Palmer? Here. Ms. Stern? Here. Ms. Winters. Here, thank you so much. We are going to start with one of my favorite things, which is board recognition. And I'm going to ask Ms. Nina Baratti to come on up. and introduce the students that we have here tonight to receive recognition.
Hello, everybody. Tonight, we are thrilled to recognize quite a large number of Cherry Hill Public Schools students who have been named Commended Students and Semi-Finalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. These students are recognized by the organization for their exceptional academic promise demonstrated by their outstanding performance on the qualifying test used for program entry. In total, 40 students across the district were recognized as commended students, and additionally, 5 students were named semi-finalists. They will have an opportunity to continue in the National Merit Scholarship Competition.
I'd like to invite Dr. Burns and Mrs. Walker, our principals at West and East, to help us recognize these outstanding students. Students, once your name is called, and you shake hands, uh, just… lineup over there so we can take a picture for your family. Awesome, thank you. All right, so Ms. Walker and myself, we offer congratulations to East and West students who have achieved this, uh. fine honor. It is… and it's our honor and privilege to read the names.
First up is Henry Anthony. Julian Osman. Stick my head right. Yeah, I'm taking them back with… taking them back.
Adam Awad. Braden Barkley. Muskan Bhatra. Kyrie Bloom.
Daniel Cesaire. Maggie Chen. Vincent Chen. Annika Chintapali. Ian Dempter.
Irene Dong. Maxwell Green. Jessica Huang. Rivi J. Kevin G.
Noah Livestone. Jacob McConnell. Brianna Mankitty. Colin Moore. Lana knew.
All right. Mr. Burns and I, we didn't divide them up by East and West, we just took a pile, so this is my share. Holden Page. Isaac Paniker. Gina Park. Sanguan Park. Samuel Patakny.
Benjamin Regal. Finally, one of them. Selena Wren. Dino Russo. Landon Schuster.
Congratulations. Liam Shillade. Nicole Traley. Surely. Rohan Singh. Nico Spatucci.
Nathan Yee. Naresh, Ragov. a student. Rabza Vilmaz. Kaylee Doom.
Jerry View. So it's Jerry Yu. I couldn't tell on the font. Congratulations. Thank you. Selena? One. And Madison Nieves.
So we're going to go on to the semifinalists now. And we have 5. Samuel Kronk. Manya Gupta. And Max Kukatva. Gotcha.
Peter Moon. And Ronach Pathak. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you so much, congratulations to all of our students for their achievements.
Don't go away, we have to take a picture. excellent students, we are so incredibly proud of you. Thank you so much for coming here tonight and being recognized.
Now, we invite you to stay for the rest of this riveting meeting, or… We know you all have homework to do. So you are welcome to leave and get on with your evening.
And thank you, of course, to our principals for joining us. We appreciate seeing you here. So the next thing on our agenda is a presentation this evening. We have the State of the District presentation from Dr. Morton. which I am very much looking forward to. I recall we got this in December last year, so I'm kind of excited to see it now as we move. We're just about 2 months into the new academic year to see where we are, kind of take the temperature of the district and see how we're doing moving forward. Take it away, Dr. Morton. Yes, thank you very much, Ms. Winters, and it is my absolute pleasure to, uh.
to present the State of the district. State of the District gives us an opportunity, uh, to provide highlights. Um, information, uh, about where we are as a district, where we are going, ultimately. And, um… some of our future plans as well. Anyway, so for today… for tonight's agenda, we'll go through, uh, major accomplishments. We'll talk about some student outcomes. And what we'll do is we'll pull out highlights at each of these areas, or this presentation will be… would be 2 or 3 hours.
We'll focus on our management strategy around collaboration. focus on, uh, things as it relates to each level. Our preschool expansion effort, uh, elementary. um, elementary level, middle level, high school level. Uh, we'll also highlight some inclusive practices that we're very proud of. that have taken place within the district. Uh, we absolutely will spend some time discussing. Uh, highlights around construction. And the wonderful work that's taken place there. We'll also speak to, uh, efforts around communications as well.
or improvements in communications as well. So, first and foremost, to begin with major accomplishments, we are doing a lot as a school district. And we are proud of the progress that we have made in the past two… years or so, um… We have taken, um, an assertive approach. We have an assertive Board of Education, an assertive administration. I think it's great synergy. Um, as we combine our efforts to move forward with things. What that's looked like, uh, for us. has been, um, innovative policies. Our district was one of the first districts to adopt.
A comprehensive cell phone policy. Uh, this was prior to the governor's mandate that school districts adopt such policy. And not only have we adopted a policy for our students, but. You'll notice there aren't any phones here, right? Because our Board of Education is the first Board of Education in the state to adopt a similar policy. as well for themselves. Uh, we're proud of the work that we've done around strategic planning. Uh, we were able to adopt a new 5-year strategic plan.
And July, uh, that will serve as our blueprint and our guiding compass for the next 5 years. That was a community-wide effort that allowed us to hear the voices of thousands of stakeholders across this community. As part of that strategic plan. Uh, we also adopted what we call a portrait of a graduate. which are the clear, uh. characteristics that we hope for our students to be able to attain as they progress throughout the system. our system with us. Most importantly, these are the attributes that we believe are important for our students as they move into whatever post-secondary pursuits.
that they seek to obtain. Uh, as it relates to academic excellence, we've adopted new curricular and… new curriculum in ELA and mathematics at the elementary level. I mentioned. Preschool expansion, we'll talk about that a bit more. Uh, just in a few minutes, um… there's been a concerted effort on, uh. providing greater opportunities around our Advanced Placement Program. We want as many students as possible to have an opportunity to benefit there, and we are absolutely excited about a new partnership that we have with Rutgers University.
to create a college-now program, yes, Minister. I clap for that. We believe that would be revolutionary for our students. We truly believe in student engagement and student leadership. Uh, this is the… this is fertile ground for our students to begin to dig their roots. and learn the tenets of excellent leadership, and you'll see that this is something that we prioritized across the district, particularly at the secondary level. Um, as reflected in our student board reps who are here this evening.
Also, just one thing to highlight that may not be as obvious, we have our Superintendent Student Advisory Council. kids that I work directly with. Um, to produce… leadership-based efforts that. benefit, or that do benefit our community. Additionally, our facilities enhancements we'll discuss in a bit. We call it the Cherry Hill tomorrow when we're going into the process. I guess it's Cherry Hill today, and Cherry Hill tomorrow as well, because we see. the results, uh, right before our eyes. As it relates to community engagement.
Um, we have taken a concerted effort, and there's a dedicated focus in engaging. more with our community. I'll talk about it more as we go through this presentation, but we absolutely. Uh, as an administration, as a board, want to engage closely with the community, hear from the community, um, and respond based upon the feedback that we receive. One of those things that, you know, that we'll see. has to do with the expansion of our before and after care programs. Um, as well as a district ambassador's model that we've… that we've implemented as well.
Unquestionably, um, uh… We're grounded, I believe, in inclusive opportunities. You know, we believe that it is essential and important for all of our students to have a sense of belonging. some of those opportunities around inclusivity have included a transition of the Kohl's Alternative High School Program from this building here. Which sort of serves as a bit of an island for those children to… to moving them to High School East. Where they truly have flourished. It's been outstanding to see the opportunities that have availed themselves.
to the children, uh, as they've been connected to, uh, one of our largest high school. Our mathematics pathways have been expansive. I'll just speak about enrollment. Well, actually, speaking about courses that are running in a second as well, but our Mathematics Pathways. are ones that we've, um, implemented to provide greater relevance, greater connection as well for our children. I mentioned AP. Inclusive opportunities, but we have recently, uh, conducted. training across the board for all of our staff members as we've moved into the arena of introducing what we call the pre-AP program.
Pre-AP program is not necessarily an AP course. course itself, but it is AP frameworks that are able to be embedded across. all the different classrooms across the curriculum. Uh, and the idea behind that is that. We expose children to, uh. AP-based framework, and the thinking is that that. later will lead to a greater understanding of the expectations for AP-level courseworks. coursework, uh, which will ultimately. lead to expanded enrollment and more opportunities for students.
Around operational excellence, uh, spoke about collaboration, but we have a protocol we call the Labor Management Collaborative. We've spoken quite frequently about our LMC, or Labor Management Collaborative. But it's a way for us to engage all different members of our community into the decision-making process. Um, a couple years ago, we heard quite a bit of feedback from the community around district website, and we are proud that we were able to, uh. launch a new website, uh, last year. The website, uh, I think, has been very, very well received.
And has, uh, answered many of those concerns that we heard from the community. I mentioned communication, uh, communications efforts, uh, communications audit was done 2 years ago as well. And they were very hard recommendations that came as a result of that communications audit. We are checking off those items on that audit and, uh, implementing. many great things that are… that are benefiting the community, which we'll talk about. We're also extremely proud of the data dashboard that we've introduced, the data dashboard provides greater transparency and up-to-date information.
for our community. We are a proud member of the League of Innovative Schools, which is a network of. Progressive, innovative thinking schools. across this country, where we have an opportunity to interact with, uh. thought leaders across the country to bring great innovations to our district as well. I mentioned preschool expansion. Uh, we have 500-plus students enrolled in our preschool program. We receive… we've received nearly $10 million. Um, it's been awarded to the district and funding.
to put forth that effort for our community. Then just to jump into some specifics, so student outcomes. A few highlights. Uh, in 2025. our district was able to experience 100% of our students enrolled in our schools. uh, graduate, which is… which was what we aim for, you know. the ultimate goal, the key capstone, the key milestone of achievement for us. is to ensure that our children are graduating. And that they're ready to move on to post-secondary opportunities, and we were able to do exactly that.
Our graduates committed to enroll at over 100 colleges. uh, diverse array of college, some colleges, some of the best in the country. truly proud of the opportunities that have afforded themselves to our students. We're also extremely proud that many of our graduates have chosen to enlist into the military. We have just about every branch of military represented. As well, which is truly tremendous that our children have gone on to serve this country in such a great way.
Another statistic we don't speak about as much, but what I… which I believe is absolutely awesome, we have 204. Children earn a seal of biliteracy last year. those members of the Class of 2025. That's approximately 25% of the graduating class. And for those who have been around the district for some time, there's been considerable growth. As it relates to the number of children who've earned that steal of biliteracy. This next slide, um… just gives a sense of what some of those commitments were for our graduates from the class of 2025.
bolded the military appointments, just because of the significance of those. This presentation will be posted, so you can always go back and take a look at those. As it relates to academic rigor, uh, Cherry Hill Public Schools offers 33 unique. AP courses. Uh, so they're… 2,700, approximately 2,700 seats filled in those AP courses. And we administered 16… nearly 1,700 exams last year. Now, keep in mind, you have children… our children are very assertive.
And very ambitious, and our children take multiple AP courses. Many of them have their entire schedules loaded with AP courses as well, so there's some overlap of children. um, enrolled in multiple courses. Uh, but we're proud of the results as well. Nearly, nearly 70% of our children. obtained, uh, nearly either a score of a 4 or a 5. on AP exams last year. Um, as I mentioned, we've implemented the pre-AP framework. And what that does is that allows us to expand the pool of children who are exposed to our AP program.
We start that early on, and grades 9 and 10. As well. So we think about curricular opportunities, as I mentioned. We implemented a new curriculum in our elementary program, the CKLA. Uh, core knowledge language arts program. grounded in the science of readings program that we have implemented there. Uh, this program is… Um, truly, uh, comprehensive program. Definitely challenging for any teacher to have to learn new curriculum.
teach students as well, uh, but our teachers are truly outstanding, and, um. you know, have done a fantastic job in doing that. Not only a new curriculum for the most part in elementary ELA, but there was. for many schools as well. Uh, in mathematics, where we… implemented the Eureka Math Squared program. This program's… new for students in grades K through 5. Um, it had been… piloted already in grades 6 through Algebra 1 as well.
I mentioned the mathematics, high school mathematics pathways previously. But just to speak to courses that are currently running. Uh, right now for us. Uh, an AP precalculus, we have 3 sections running at East, 4 at High School West, AP. These are… these were the new sections last year. Uh, AP, Calculus AB, one section at High School East and one at West. business statistics, one section at High School East, and cybersecurity, we had a section at each one of the schools as well.
spoke about collaboration just a bit earlier, and this just gives a framework of what labor management collaborative is and what it does. But we work closely with, um. Uh, each and every one of the labor associations within the district. I believe it's important for everyone to have a seat at the table and to have a voice in the decision-making process. And in doing so, we've involved our Board of Education in that process as well. We have Ms. Winters and. Ms. Palmer as well, who take part in our steering committee, and they've had an opportunity to get a bird's-eye view, and.
Um, first up, you go into the decision-making process, and… the structure. That exists there. We've had many successes, I believe, for, you know, as a result of our collaborative efforts. Um, this quote right here is a quote of mine. Collaboration's about a commitment to this. idea that we're gonna work together. It does not mean that we're perfect, and it does not mean that we get everything correct. But we're committed to finding the best answers for our organization across the board.
Our district goals reflect our commitment to. collaboration, um… We believe that collaboration fosters greater staff wellness. Some evidences of, or some highlights of our efforts has to do with school calendar. As much as you love the school calendar, Ms. Winters? I'm sure you don't want to have another revision of the school calendar, but it's important work to have those who are impacted by something as.
We might consider mundane as the calendar. those impacted by that to have an opportunity to provide pertinent feedback and to affect. the decision-making progress. process, rather. Uh, district-wide, we have what we call LMC teams at every building. Uh, so every building has their own individual team. We also have teams at. a team that comes together at the district level as well. Um, we believe it's important for each individual building to have their own voice, and to have their own decision-making process.
Uh, that exists. Last year, we were very proud to serve as a regional hub site. for an LMC conference. Uh, we held that right at the Camden County. Regional Center on 70 and Springdale Road. You'll see in this picture, this is myself addressing. The group, uh, and right here is Ms. Winters. who led a session. Uh, as well. Uh, I think, Ms. Palmer, you were a part of that as well last year. But we were able to see. individuals from all different districts, uh, come to learn with us and learn from us.
As we, uh, engage in this collaborative journey. I had a tremendous growth opportunities, and I believe that these collaborative efforts helped to create the conditions of success. Right? Conditions. Uh, something that we're extremely proud of as well, successful contract negotiations that our board was able to engage in with our employees. for me, that communicates value, it communicates worth, it communicates, um… that we're here to work with you. Uh, CHASA.
That's our administrators association, our Campus Police, self-explanatory. And CHEA, those are our teachers, secretaries. And other support staff as well. I'd be remiss if I did not mention. Our board also approves a 1.5 injection into our salary guide. to support, um. our salaries and to bolster our salaries, and to get them into a respectable. place. That was done outside of negotiations, and that was something that was unheard of.
truly unheard of, and something I think that needs to be consistently. discussed and highlighted. Uh, truly a great sign of support for our wonderful faculty. As we look ahead, we are seeking to empower our building-based teams. We want our building-based teams to be able to engage in the decision-making process. And we can provide the supports and resources to help them solve critical problems that may exist within their buildings.
The New Jersey School Climate Improvement. platform allows us to survey. our faculty, staff, and our community. Uh, to get, um, critical feedback about… about what. individuals are experiencing, but that also provides a framework for us for moving forward. We had administered this survey two years ago. We will be administering the survey again in November. Uh, it'll be interesting for us to compare results. So to speak, right? To see where we were two years ago, to see where we are today. But more importantly.
This serves as a springboard for us to plan and to, uh… to create building-based goals and to work from. Yay for pre-K! Dr. Mahan's over there smiling. Uh, preschool expansion has truly been amazing. For me, uh, to see where we're going and see where we've come from, from. uh, the writing of an application done by Dr. Mahan and her team. to, uh, the massive growth that's taken place. Truly remarkable. It's truly been outstanding to see this.
addition for, you know, our… our Cherry Hill community. We now have 5 locations that are operating. listed here, I won't read each one of them. Uh, and that is set to expand as well. Uh, if you've driven by, uh, Malburg Early Childhood Center or by Kilmer Elementary School, you see. work that's taken place on the back of those buildings. Well, those are additional classrooms that will be added to each one of those facilities. And we look to open those in January. Uh, preschool uses a play-based curriculum called Creative Curriculum.
Um, it's learned through playing, uh, as appropriate for our preschool-aged children. Our preschool program continues to maintain an inclusive program at our Malberg facility. Um, as had historically been the case, and that is something that has continued. Uh, for the first time ever at the preschool level. We were able to offer, before and aftercare program. Uh, I can recall 2 years ago, as we've… Traveled around and engaged various PTAs and engaged community members.
This is something that consistently came up. And as I mentioned, you know, the board desires to listen to the community and respond. As has the administration. So, very proud, uh, of the work that Dr. Mahan has done around identifying. a great resource for our… preschool community. And just consistency and moving forward. As we think about our program, and as the program continues to grow. In some respects, you look at… I look at it as a district within our district.
And it's important that when you have. Multiple providers. that there is consistency across the board. There have been some challenges, to be quite honest. I mean, there absolutely have been some challenges, but we continue to push toward. Uh, commitments for consistency. as we move forward to ensure that students who are. at the Malberg site, or rather, at a hybrid site. receive a similar experience. I would be remiss if I did not talk about the preschool Roundup.
Preschool Roundup saw approximately 800 people come at the beginning of the year. to experience, uh… an introduction to our preschool program. Children had an opportunity to get on the bike, uh, to get on the buses. Uh, to meet and interact with preschool staff. to meet other families who are in the process of engaging in preschool. It was one of the greatest sights I had seen in a very long time. So many happy families. And happy, happy children. Uh, truly excellent. As I mentioned, our Malberg site.
Excuse me, and our Kilmer sites will be opening. In January, and we're excited to… welcome an additional 240 students. We'll be starting at that time. Spoke to our elementary program, so I won't… go into great depth there, but again. We are… we're proud of the work that we're doing to bring cutting-edge. research-based curriculum. I'm sorry. Research makes a curriculum, um, to our… our classrooms and to our children.
Um, and it's important as we continue to move forward, our teachers. will continue to gain in their expertise and understanding and implementation of those curricula. We're… we're… We are happy about the expansion that we've made with our SAC program as well. Our elementary. Uh, before and aftercare program. Just to give you hard numbers, uh, we've increased enrollment. in the last several years, by 263 students. What that means is that for AMSAC, there's been a 27% increase in the number of students served.
For PMSAC, a 28% increase in the number of students served. We've essentially been able to do that by increasing our staffing. Mr. Guy and the team has done a great job, and. thinking innovatively. We've included many of our high school students who are interested in careers in. education, um, as a learning opportunity, really, but also as an opportunity to expand. Um, and the number of students that we serve. We recognize that we have not arrived in this area, right? And there are many, many families.
that are still in need, and we will continue to search, um. For answers, and to create opportunities so that every family. That is desirous of. before or aftercare has an opportunity to receive that. At the middle level, I don't think it's any secret that our middle-level program has, uh, has transitioned. Um, last year, we were faced with. Second year of, uh. diminished state aid, and we needed to make a shift that would allow us to.
continue to serve our children very well, but that would also help us. As we continue to navigate, you know, fiscal uncertainty. Um, and I'm proud of the work that we've been able to do there. We've shifted to. Junior high school model. We, um, as I mentioned, collaboration. We employed a middle-level scheduling team to help us to schedule that out and to figure out a schedule that could… that would be able to work. For all, our what I need, period. It's a period at the end of the day that has provided great opportunities for expansion of our, uh.
music and chorus, orchestra, and band program. It's also provided some flexibility in terms of. scheduling, um. opportunities for, um… additional support and focused intervention, and things along… those lines as well. I wanted to mention this here, you know, a few years, uh, it's been a few years now, that all three middle schools have. I focused on the implementation of a National Junior Honor Society.
And that… that model is truly taking off. Um, you know, honor society is sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. But truly, the two core ingredients, I think, that our schools have done and really focused on have to do with, obviously, academic achievement, but also. Uh, community service and giving back to. our schools and community. Just to mention a few things that occur that are unique at each school that are a really highlight. Uh, and positive moments. Uh, the PBIS program at Beck.
Which is a positive behavior support program. Student Success Center at Carusi Middle School that supports, you know, students from diverse backgrounds. On National History Day at Rosa is truly… truly outstanding, and our kids do a great job there. Moving on to high school, uh, so… We have several opportunities for our children to be prepared for life. beyond graduation. We do offer. dual credit programs. We mentioned our AP programs prior to. Ap programs have.
Providing students score high enough on their exams, students are able to obtain college. credits, but they're also able to obtain college credits through our dual enrollment programs as well. Uh, just to mention numbers, we had 369 students take advantage of that at High School East, 277 at High School West. dual enrollment programs are run with, uh. Rowan College of Burlington County, Camden County College in Stockton. Um, again, very proud of. Our partnership with Rutgers University that will be, um, initiating in the next.
semester. This partnership will afford our juniors and seniors an opportunity. to attend school down at Rowan. Rowan, uh, at Rutgers Camden. And take coursework along with. college students generated by a college professor, so truly outstanding, at a fraction of the cost. Something else that we're extremely proud of, uh. expanded experiential learning program for our high school students. For the first time ever, we've been able to expand that over to high school East, where students from East.
are attending internships as well. I just highlighted a couple of those, and… those places down here at the bottom. We'll see in this picture here, our newest partnership has been with, uh, Cooper Medicine. Um, thank you to one of our board members, Mr. Fain, who works there. for making the introductions for us. Uh, but these are… Children who are taking part in that, which is truly outstanding. Uh, and we are exceptionally fortunate to have Sandra Castellani. a science teacher in the district, uh, spearhead that effort for us across the board.
I mentioned leadership opportunities. Again, you know, it's our responsibility to prepare our students to take advantage of whatever post-secondary opportunity. that they, uh, aspire to participate in. As such, we seek to cultivate student leadership. Um, we do that… Curricularly, we have DECA program, we have Air Force Junior ROTC program at High School West. Our counselors at both schools are focused on, you know, college and career.
counseling and provide opportunities for families to get. Critical information, as I mentioned. Last year, we graduated all of our seniors, and children were able to take advantage of great opportunities. This career day offered at at least one of our high schools, which provides an opportunity for our kids to learn from industry professionals. Uh, great, great day, great, uh, event. Uh, we also have for students in our special education 18 through 21 program. engage in community-based instruction. and job training as well. Truly a unique program.
Uh, absolutely fantastic. And, um, it's one program I've been able to, uh, see up close and personal. Athletics. There's a lot here, folks. I told you that we were doing a lot. Uh, athletics. Not sure if we realize, but more than half of our students at the secondary level participate in an athletic. for intramural team, right? So we have… 58… nearly 5,800 kids at the secondary level, and more than half. participate in athletic program. We had 191 all-conference athletes last year, 68 kids went on to, um.
Played college sports. It's too numerous to name, so I'm not gonna name each individual team in their championships, but we've had several championship teams. Several recognized coaches, uh. I'm most proud of, though, our, um, unified sports, and this inclusive opportunity, and… expansion that's taken place. We have the Unified Bowling Club, and for those who don't know what Unified means, we have. Students with disabilities, along with students who are general education students. Uh, competing on one team, and it's, uh… Truly, mutually beneficial opportunity. We also… we've had a unified.
track program for many years now. Something we may not know, and as an individual, as a former athlete myself, one of the greatest things that comes about as a result of athletics are the things that you learn. Uh, that you take with you that can be applied across, uh, various sectors of life. Most recently, there was an Athletics Leadership Conference that took place that saw former athletes in the district. interact with the children. You know, that guy there, myself, I'm not sure if everyone knows, but Ms. Mallory was a college athlete at LaSalle University.
Uh, and Dr. Mahan was a fierce athlete as well, and uh… At Monmouth University. We were happy to be joined by our mayor, wonderful mayor, David Fleischer as well, but truly a great event. Uh, where we focused, um, on building the leadership capacity of our athletes. Uh, there's… An intentional effort as it relates in this regard as well. There's other opportunities for our students to engage in leadership. growth. I can recall speaking with Mr. Burrell, our athletic director, about this many years ago.
It's just great to see it all in full fruition. There's a positive coaching alliance. Captain's luncheon that takes place multiple times a year. We run in Athletes Against Bullying Club. And, uh, our coaches are engaged in seasonal coaches meetings as well. Again, it's important that we, uh, maintain inclusivity and inclusive practices. You know, as a matter of fact. Our schools, our students, um, are different. um, you know, we want to ensure that we recognize everyone.
And that we have a… that everyone has a place in our buildings, and in our school district. Belonging is essential for us. critically important for us, and it's something that we'll fight for, and… We'll make sure that that occurs. And here are some of the great things that are happening. Um, truly, truly amazing work that's being done by Ms. Mallory and the special education team. Uh, but we have Best Buddies program in the middle, high school level. Star Games is an annual favorite for everyone who attends. Uh, spoke to our Unified Sports program.
There may not be as much knowledge, but we run adaptive physical education. courses at our high school level. Adaptive Physical Education. Similar to Unified, it means you have Generate kids along with our special education kids in the same. class, where they have an opportunity to interact in many positive ways. We've expanded that to include a unified art. course as well, which is… which is… which is absolutely, uh… Amazing. Now on to the great stuff! Construction has been vast, and it's been expansive. Uh, we most recently.
Um, did a ribbon cutting for our all-purpose schools. We've had six. new all-purpose schools that have truly been remarkable. for each one of these school committees listed here. There are new playgrounds that are being installed. across the district. Great site work improvement that's taking place. You see a new APR in this picture here. And site work, I believe this is… Melburg? I believe so.
Recent projects include, uh, vestibel work and front entrance facade work at Beck Middle School. Uh, the High School West Stadium. Where the high school, um. Uh, annual East-West game was held, um, you know, is that… great ADA accessibility work done there. Rosa Middle School is under massive renovation. It's a multi-phase project, uh, that's seen some of that project come to fruition, and others are continuing. Um, same with Karusi. Karusi's… Complete and total overhaul and renovation.
Um, and again, I mentioned our preschool classroom additions at Kilmer. and Malberg. Just to show a few pictures. I've learned more about construction in the past few years than I've… I believe that I've ever bargained to know. But this is… these are pictures of, obviously, Karusi before. We'll be looking forward to those after pictures. Um, these wings used to be occupied by kids. During the school day. They now… are taken… their coursework here. These are our temporary classroom units.
Which are… which appear to be a favorite over at the Karusi facility, but the facilities team's done. Great job in providing. a seamless transition for our children while this construction takes place. I mentioned Rosa previously. Rosa has a large, like, gathering area. being built in the back of the building here. That's taking place as we… as we speak. Uh, this is the work that's taking place in the front. of the building and the facade. There's been other internal work as well, um, that has truly transformed the classrooms and hallway.
hallways there. We mentioned playgrounds previously. This is an example, a picture of one of those… Playgrounds, but as we look forward, um. We'll be doing four additional security festivals. I believe… That work will take place this summer. The Karusi renovation is ongoing, as is the Rosa renovation. Beck, uh, will have the interior. of that building, uh, the summer renovations will begin. Uh, an additional site improvements are scheduled for the schools listed here.
It's another… another beautiful playground. Uh, but just to speak to additional projects that would take place, uh, High School East and West Auditoriums will be. completely, uh, renovated and upgraded. I believe East is scheduled to begin this school year, right? In April, Mr. Schiff? Absolutely, so that… that will be amazing to see, uh, that High School East facility. Uh, which is long overdue, uh, it's a brand new. auditorium and, uh, space for our community. Uh, both high schools will have their gymnasiums.
upgraded as it relates to the HVAC system. Um, both high schools have elevator. work being done, and… playgrounds at both Stockton. And man will be enhanced. Communications. Communications, the work here has been robust. Um, we… we really taken to heart how much of the feedback that we have received around communications. I mentioned the new website that we had launched. But as we've attempted to engage our community in better ways.
and more transparent ways. Ms. Bharotti, who joined the district last year, has done. fantastic job. She's brought her outstanding production and editing skills. And as I've asked him, Barada, you have to just make me look good in all these videos. She's done just that. Interesting statistic, this number here, 1 million. from January 1st to today, our district has accumulated over a million views on our Facebook. content. Uh, truly outstanding. Uh, if you slide all the way over to the right.
What that equates to is a total of… uh, watch time of 14 days and 1 hour. Uh, that's up 236.6%. Uh, so we are absolutely engaging with the community. Ms. Barati's doing a great job with that, and um… Truly remarkable, and we'll continue moving down that… that path. I mentioned the new website that's been launched. We're also attempting to improve in the area of crisis communications, and what that means is that we want to.
be able to provide timely and transparent communications to our community. Uh, when situations occur. For instance, we had a situation yesterday at one of our schools. And as we get… gather more information. it was critical that we got information out to the parents and to the staff. in the man community, we did just that. One of the additional pieces that we sought to add, and um… you know, credit to Ms. Barati as well, is that at the conclusion of the incident, we want to provide.
additional information to let individuals know that. the incident is over, it's closed. We're ready to move forward. We provide the information that we're able to. Obviously, there's some discretion and there's confidentiality that exists with certain things. But we'll continue, uh, with… Discussions. This is the… podcasts that have started last year, we call them Discussions with Dr. Morton. We'll continue to communicate, uh, information via this platform. We just launched a new discussion with Dr. Morton today.
that featured… Our boards, elementary enrollment balancing committee. Uh, great discussion that was had with that committee. Uh, so I urge everyone to take a look at that. Very informative. It tells you where we are in the process. where we're going in that process as well. And as I mentioned previously, we are seeking opportunities to engage with the public. our, uh, enrollment balancing committee will be doing just that. November 13th at High School East, 7 p.m.
We'll have a community input session, uh, the 18th at High School West, the same, and the 20th. will be a virtual opportunity. We also have a board special committee around communications, and that communications committee will be. engaging with the community as well in a similar format. Uh, those topics will be, uh, determined and will be communicated soon. Uh, but we look forward to, um. to the, you know, that opportunity to… to engage the community. So, future plans. What continues to be hot and pressing?
In addition to what was just discussed. AI and AI policy. It'll be important for us to. finalize a policy that has been begun. Um, Mr. Mayor and, uh. P&L Committee has been working through an AI policy. We'll continue to do that, and we're looking to have something. I finalize within the next several months. I mentioned the work around elementary enrollment balancing. Uh, that effort will continue as we move forward. Upon hearing feedback from the community input sessions.
our steering committee will get to work, and we're looking to have a recommendation to the board, uh, the second meeting in January. I apologize, I don't remember the date off the top of my head. Um, and from there, there'll be continued discussions that will take place. The board will engage in discussion. I'm sure there'll be revisions that'll take place. But hopefully we're able to have. a decision in place by, um. the end of this academic school year. Uh, which gives us some time to plan in the next school year, because we want to implement any changes that we decide upon.
Uh, in 2728. So… A portrait of a Graduate. As I mentioned, we adopted characteristics, but now we're going to bring those characteristics to life. We have to find ways to embed that curricularly across the board, uh, to give our children. opportunities to learn what it means, what each one of those characteristics mean, and how they apply to them. As a child and as a student, um, we also will identify opportunities to assess. that our children have learned those characteristics as well. So, uh, there's… more work to do with that, and… Uh, the final focus will be on addressing chronic absenteeism. I won't go into great detail around that.
Uh, but we had a presentation at the previous board meeting. That is a focus for us and moving forward. And moving forward. Um, chronic absenteeism or attendance rate cuts through. Every strand of data that we have, so it's some… important for our kids to be in school. connected with us in order for them to achieve. I'll finish with this quote. I think it's some, you know, I think it's… it's indicative of who we are as a district and what we're all about.
And it's a Drucker quote that I love, but… It says the best way to predict the future is to create. that future that we desire. And with that… I'll say thank you very much. Thank you for the presentation. That was a lot. That was a lot. That's a lot, and I, you know, I really appreciated in the beginning when you said that this is… an ambitious and engaged board. well matched with an ambitious and engaged administration. pointing in the same direction, and we've accomplished a lot, but there's a lot more to accomplish, so… Thank you for that, board members and our student representatives, I'd like to open it up for questions or comments.
on the state of the district. disturb. Um, just first of all, I want to thank you, Dr. Morton. I think it's, um… although earlier than last year, I think it's great to do it at this point to reflect, um. you know, September and October are typically very busy months, I think, and start getting back to the new school… starting the new school year. Um, and it, you know… So it feels like a marathon, I think, for families a lot of times, so… Um, it's nice to realize.
you know, what's really happening and what's been happening. Just a few comments. First, um… early on in my board service, I remember, um, a board member saying it more than once, actually, you know, don't expect to do more than three things in a year. Basically, manage your expectations, because this is a big district, and it… there's a lot of people involved, and it's hard… it's hard to, you know, it's hard to be agile and make… and make. significant changes in the areas that maybe needed, you know, needed some changes, that we needed to re-look at.
I mean, this is just completely turned that… idea on its head, you know? I think, um… I remember when you… took over as superintendent. Um, you know, having conversations of, well, we better up our game as a board, because we gotta keep up with all this, all this happening, all that's going on. Um, you know, it's… it's exciting to see. I'm… I'm particularly grateful to see the focus on. All of our different student groups, the level of inclusivity.
Um, you know, when I joined the board, special education was kind of a, like, a footnote. in the conversation. Um, and although, you know, special education and many other groups. who are, um, you know, special populations. you know, we might not be exactly where we want to be yet. But it's very clear we're on our way, and the level of inclusion in, um, recognizing all the different ways in which we're working to get there for all those groups.
It's very heartening for me. Um, and it's, um, you know. Feels… it's good to see just all that's coming together. It's a lot of years, a lot of… a lot of time put in for many, many, many people for all that you're talking about. Um, honestly, I feel really, like, it's very, um… I have a lot of pride in being on this board for. to see, um, all that's happening here. And I want to thank you. And your entire team. To be clear, and all the people who support your team in the community as well.
Thank you. Other board members, and I'm looking at our student reps, too, if you guys have any feedback. I mean, you're living it, right? seniors, you've been in the district? many years, if you have any thoughts on the presentation, we'd love to hear them. or any board members? Dr. Dreisen. Thank you. Um, I want to echo Ms. Stern's thanks for the presentation. One quick comment, and then one question. Um, the comment has to do with the Class of 2025 commitments, if I can just build on your comments for a moment.
Um, as many know, I, um, I serve as a physician in the Navy Reserve. And when I say this all the time, one of my favorite, favorite experiences is when I get to see, for a periodic physical exam, a 17- or 18 year old. who's new in the Navy. And I just… and I ask them why they chose to serve, and. the foresight, because I'm 41 right now, and I still feel that I'm really in the early innings of my career. And at 17 or 18, they can have completed. a career in the military by 3738, and then.
And then start whatever's next for them. And so, I just also want to, just speaking for myself, commend, um, those who made that choice, thank them and their families. for that commitment, um, I think it's very exciting. Um, the question I had, um, was… I think this presentation did a great job speaking to the accomplishments and successes. I'm wondering if you could speak a bit to what you see as some challenges currently in the district, and how we're focused on addressing them. Sure, so I think the interesting thing about the presentation is that the presentation itself.
is a reflection of how the district has approached. answering the challenges that we… experience. So, um… you know, I think some of Ms. Stern's comments, uh, has to have to do with. historical knowledge and understanding. where we, you know, where we were, and… Um, some of the pain points, as we call them, that community members mentioned to us. And it's… it's our approach in addressing those. So, the communication highlights, for instance.
that came about as the things that we're doing came about as a result of a communications audit that we did. that came about as a result of community feedback that we've heard around difficulty navigating the website, difficulty. And, uh, receiving information. Uh, lack of timeliness in terms of information being sent out. So those protocols we put into place. address just the… just those things. Um, the new curriculum that we've… we've introduced. seeks to provide our children with. a conceptual understanding, a conceptual framework linkages to other forms of knowledge and things along those lines.
So it's actually riddled throughout, uh, in terms of, um, in terms of what's there. So… Ms. Palmer. So the… the thing that… keep sticking out to me as we've, you know, we looked at the presentation before the meeting, as you went through the presentation just now, is. that everything outlined here is a reminder that the work we do, the work you do within the administration. it's a… it's a marathon, it's not a sprint. And I think so often, you know, we ourselves, the community, it's just our culture these days, we like instant gratification, but… implementation of a new curriculum.
Our investments in preschool, right? Um, the bond work. These are not things that happen and come together overnight, but they are incredibly important. Um, and it may not, on the surface, look like a lot. You know, our work with LMC. It may not look like a lot. members of the community may not see it, see every step of the way, um, and you don't appreciate it often until you get to the end. So, I, you know, this is a really… helpful reminder, at least for me as an individual, of. just how much we're doing, that it is a long game, and that.
at some point, we will see the huge payoff of all of these investments, so… I appreciate the reminder. Other board members? Ms. Manzano. I think that the presentation was wonderful. Thank you for all of that detail. Thank you guys have a really unique opportunity here. to connect, um, your, um, product of a graduate with your… our challenge of chronic absenteeism. I think it's going to be a really, um, unique way to connect those two, and how important that is.
As you work towards that goal. So, thank you for including that. All right, High School West. Um, we just wanted to thank you for the presentation. We love to see all these, like, new additions and changes, especially, like. living through it, we wish we were to, like, stay a bit more to see them, but it's okay. Um, we know these future students are gonna have a great time. I just wanted to say what, like, stood out to me, especially, like, as AP students. We think it's great to, like, recognize the pre-AP program. It's honestly, like, an amazing way to give students, like, an introduction of, like, hard courses. I just want to recognize it.
And it's also just great to see, like, all these changes in construction, like, come to life. Like, I remember even in the summer, we were talking about it. And now, like, it's already here, so it just, like… Great, and we just… yeah, we… especially, like, even at West, we thank you guys for, like, dividing attention to, like. our field, because I know you guys make, like, a million. implementations every day, but, like, it really adds up to a lot, so we just thank you guys. And yeah, we're thankful for, like, the unlimited opportunities. And I wanted to say I really appreciate how you brought up the different paths that graduates are taking after high school.
Because I know a lot of people are not just going to college or going to trade schools or going to the military, and I'm really admiring. especially this year, I didn't realize how much our guidance counselors are so hands-on with us, but, like, as soon as we became seniors, even at the end of last year, they were like. They helped us so much with the Common App, with Naviance, all that stuff, which I wouldn't have, like. knowing where to start if it was not up for them, and up to all of our, like, programs, like the STARS program, and. Rogers Camden program, which I'm really happy about, that we started. So yeah, thank you for talking about that. Excellent.
Thank you, we love to hear from the student perspective, because it's… It's different for us as parents. We have… among the board members, we have kids in all different levels, but you guys are there every day, and to see the way that the things that we. talk about and dream up how it actually impacts you on the regular. That's really impactful and important for us to know and understand. That's why you guys are here as student representatives to the board. High School East. Thank you. I just want to echo what the West rep said. This is a great presentation. It's great to hear about everything going on.
I also just want to echo especially something we've noticed at East, all the bond projects, all the construction going on. new stadium was completed last year, it's been amazing, all of the games we're able to have, it's completely changed everything socially at East. We are all very, very excited for the auditorium renovations. We are very glad that that is happening soon, although we will be gone before it's done, but I'm excited for everyone to come after. Um, and yeah, just thank you for getting all this stuff done, it's great. Thank you, guys. Go ahead. Similar to the previous statements, um, just thank you for a very thorough presentation. Um, another thing that we've really noticed throughout our time in high school.
is the addition of those math pathways. As we've seen by all the students up there getting awards. Um, there are so many students who are really gifted in math. students who have different, like, diverse skills and. and skill sets, and they want to glean different perspectives, different skills, and being able to. expand their math opportunities has been… really helpful for a lot of students, and a lot of them have, like, spoken to us and different students about. like, all the opportunities to take different courses, aside from just statistics and calculus. So, thank you. Awesome, that's really great feedback. The Math Pathways were a discussion that was going on very early on when I joined the board, and to watch every year as more courses are added, and students choose to take those courses.
I was really excited to see the growth in AP precalculus, which is brand new this year. Four sections. running at West and 3 at East, that's really amazing. And that's a path into AP. math coursework that didn't exist before. Um, so that's a really neat onboard ramp for people who maybe haven't experienced an AP math section. And now they can take one. So I'm glad to hear that from you guys' perspective, it's going well. Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mrs. Winter. So, I wasn't going to make an initial comment. As board members were… Um, fortunate that that information that, you know, you've provided.
We know a lot of this because we live it, we're in committees. Um, so obviously we're thankful for that, um, but… We decided to speak after hearing some of the student reps speak. It, um, brought up… an issue which, um, we heard often at, um. at least I heard it in some of the sessions that I attended at workshops. Many districts in the state focus on their top 10% of their students and bottom 10% of their students, and there's good reason for that. And we do that. But few focus enough energy and effort on that middle 80%.
And while that statistic didn't. didn't scream out specifically. so much of what you have just talked about in opportunities across the board. Both, um, inside the classroom and outside the classroom. exemplify just that, that the district. gets it, um, does focus a lot of effort, a lot of. A lot of focus, a lot of attention on that 80%, recognizing that. Um, success means something very different to every single student in our district, so… Um, thank you for continuing to do that, provide the opportunities.
Um, and as… while I may be an outgoing board member, I know that this board has always been supportive of those sorts of efforts, and. I know always will be, so hopefully you and your staff will not be shy. about coming to the board for support for those issues in the future. I think I got to everybody. I just want to say that the thread for me that ran through the whole presentation was belonging. And the fact that every student in the district has a place and a space to belong and be included in their school community, whether that's through.
all the students who participate in athletics. through music and arts, talking about the new auditorium, through academic success, and whatever that looks like for each student, through inclusive opportunities with different. student groups, um, clubs and activities. There's so many things going on at any given moment, and I think sometimes we tend to… focus and fixate. on whatever's hot, the hot topic of the day. But it's nice once a year to take. the lens back and look at the district as a whole to see. how we're moving forward in some of the larger challenges. To Ms. Palmer's point, that are not easy to solve and that take years to solve.
But that we are making progress. Um, and I think it's just really wonderful that you brought this to us. So, thank you so much for the information tonight. Really appreciate it. Are there any administrative reports tonight, or have… have you used up all of the things? I just wanted to double check that the next thing on my agenda, I'm like, administrative reports. So now we're gonna move on to board member correspondence, and board members attended NJSBA workshop last week together, so that'll probably be a highlight of what we're going to do.
I'm gonna start on this side with Ms. Palmer, because this is Ms. Manzano's first time doing this, so we can all be the, uh… I'm not gonna put her on the spot by making her go first. So we'll come around the table this way and end of this Manzano. Okay, so as Mrs. Winters, uh, stated, a number of us were at the New Jersey School Boards Association workshop last weekend. I focused. the majority of my time in sessions about board member ethics, especially, I thought that was really important in this my first year as a member.
AI in schools, which, you know, we've talked about a number of times, and then special education, especially around. Uh, really building inclusion in the district. And, uh, a focus on transitions, and Ms. Mallory and I actually ended up in a few sessions together, uh, uh. you know, coincidentally, but it was really valuable. Um, the other thing I wanted to mention was, uh, last Thursday, I attended the. First meeting of the school year of the Cherry Hill Fair Funding Committee. Um, and Dr. Morton's presentation was actually a great reminder of.
why our fair share of state funding is so important, because. For anyone who doesn't understand. Part of the reason that we needed to pass the state that the largest bond referendum in state history is because Cherry Hill has historically been. So underfunded by the state of New Jersey. Um, and at a time where we anticipate, you know, a state budget that will not necessarily get any better. uncertain around federal funding, um, the fair funding for Cherry Hill Group is… is a critical.
community-based, um. volunteer, you know, group that is focused on doing that advocacy at a. taxpayer, voter, parent level, which really is the voice that our state legislators, our incoming governor, which will be a new governor, no matter who it is. Um, they really need to hear from in addition to us as board members. Um, so anyone who is interested in being involved in that fight. should follow the Fair Funding for Cherry Hill Public Schools Facebook and Instagram pages.
Um, sign up to receive alerts. You can sign up for funding chhps at gmail.com, follow them on social. the next meeting is not until January, but, um, social media level advocacy will start pretty much right after the, uh, the gubernatorial election next week. So, pay attention, get involved if you're so inclined. Um, and thank you to everybody who was involved in that group, because it will be critically important this year. Thank you, and thank you for being our board liaison to Fair Funding. We appreciate all the work you do.
Ms. Stern. Nothing to report. Dr. Dreisen. Thank you. Um, on October 15th, I attended the Garden State Coalition of Schools meeting for October, and. This month, um, it featured a panel discussion on the challenges and high costs. of district transportation. Um, and then, like Ms. Palmer, I had an opportunity to attend the workshop. Three highlights for me. We're first, um, a session on chronic absenteeism. That was led by our own NJSBA rep, Dr. Lori Banlow. Um, second session on exploring the art of being an effective board member.
Um, which was really fascinating, because it featured a panel of past New Jersey board members of the year. All with 10 years in the decades. Um, and then third, just networking with other New Jersey board members, many of whom were in their first year, and many of whom were also pursuing that individual board member certification. So it was a great experience. Awesome, thank you. I was at workshop, and my focus for this year was on governance. being board president this year, it's… been a lot learning about how we can continue to professionalize and up our game as a school board.
So, I attended… creating an in-district orientation for new board members. which we have one here, and we will have another new one after the election, at least a new… one new one after the election, since Mr. Mayer is departing. for greener pastures. Um, running board meetings more efficiently. So, more to come on that. Ms. Gilfillin and I are hard at work on how to streamline our agenda. And I want to create a space for more discussion and collaboration, and less sort of the routine work of the board, so to kind of readjust that balance, stay tuned.
Coming soon. Effective Board President and Superintendent relationships. Which is a really neat session, um, but the takeaway was that when you… have that effective relationship, it has positive impacts on student success. Which is our ultimate goal as a board, so working on how we can create those relationships to move the district forward. planning for strategic governance. So those are the four governance sessions I attended, and then for CNI, in my role as CNI chair, I did one on literacy standards and curriculum, and one on.
AP expansion, which we heard a lot about tonight. The district that did AP expansion talked about how they were able to radically expand the pool of students. Taking AP courses, including students who had not traditionally been AP students. And their results, their scores on the test still remained in line with or exceeding what it was prior, so that expanding the pool of AP students to non-traditional students did not mean. that the scores were impacted in a negative manner. In fact, it was the opposite. So that was a really neat session to attend. Um, and my annual mandatory training, I got that done too, so it was a busy week for me.
Mr. Mayor. My, uh, my focus at workshops was AI sessions. I attended multiple AI sessions each day. I'm happy to report that our policy will be in… fine shape. Um, I expect… hopefully we will finish our discussion at next week's P&L Committee, and we'll be ready for a vote very soon. I also attended a session on… Aquatic absenteeism and leveraging.
MTS it. I will return. leveraging MTSS. which we do, and we do it very well. Picked up a couple of great tips, so I look forward to sharing those. My takeaway, really, though, was we are very far ahead of many districts with regard to the implementation of MTSS. But there are some opportunities there that. We likely can take advantage of to improve our statistics on, on.
absenteeism. Uh, overall, it was, uh, sad that it'll be my last workshop. But I think I learned a lot, a lot of good takeaways, and I look forward to putting it to use in the next several days. in the next 8 weeks. Thank you. Ms. Manzano? I, uh, attended my brief time at workshop, uh, attended some. sessions that I think will help, uh, support our administrators and our teachers. I attended a session on chronic absenteeism with Ms. Staffin and Mr. Guy, and I thought it was a really great presentation by a superintendent from North Jersey.
And, um, Mr. Mayor and I attended a session called More Than Sad, uh, to help identify, um, struggling students, um, that may be contemplating, um. taking their life, or, um, different things like that. So I think that that was another good session to speak as well. Thank you. Great job, everybody. We got a lot of workshop knowledge. all of us brought it back. Moving on to our student representatives to the board for their reports. Well, this is gonna be tragic, I never remember which side to start.
I think it's High School East this time? Is that correct? West is nodding yes at me. So it might be true. We'll start with high school East. Okay, starting with academics, East administered another SAT test on Saturday, October 4th, and administered the PSAT test for sophomores and juniors on Wednesday, October 22nd. Um, East Guidance held a college financial aid night on Monday, October 15th. To guide seniors and parents to the college financial aid process. Inductions for all of the World Language Honor Societies, including Spanish, French, Chinese.
Latin took place on Wednesday, October 22nd. With a total of 78 students inducted into the respective societies. Um, 9th grade Meet the Counselors Night for freshmen and parents occurred on Thursday, October 23rd. Where guidance counselors introduce themselves to the NOAA students and their families. Moving on to activities, East Student Government Association held public town halls during lunch on Monday, October 6th, and Wednesday, October 8th. All students were able to ask questions and share ideas with their elected leaders. East Model UN attended the South Jersey Model United Nations Conference at Eastern Regional High School on Saturday the 18th.
East had the largest delegation, and 10 of our delegates won an award. East speech and debate teams attended their first competition of the year on Saturday the 25th at Phillipsburg High School. 5 years competitors won an award. PocoRaid, East Mix of Homecoming and a Halloween masquerade dance, sorry, took place on Saturday, October 25th. Student government and the Thespian Society ran an amazing night of fun with more than 800 tickets sold. Red Ribbon and Violence Prevention Week began yesterday and will continue through Friday the 31st. Students have been and will continue participating in a range of dress-up theme days to combat and raise awareness for violence and drug abuse.
Yesterday, Eastside, East Student Newspaper, was named the number one print and the number one online student newspaper in New Jersey for the 17th year and 4th year in a row, respectively. by the Garden State Scholastic Press Association. For athletics, congrats to the girls' cross-country team for winning the Olympic Conference American Division title, and to Andy Weiss, who won the individual Olympic Conference Championship, setting both a school and course record with a time of 17.46. Um, the girls' volleyball team has maintained an impressive 17-4 record, and remains undefeated against Olympic Conference opponents so far.
Uh, they'll continue the regular season versus Cherokee on Thursday, October 30th, and begin playoffs versus. Rancocas Valley on Monday, November 3rd. And the East and the West girls volleyball teams also came together for their match on Sunday, October 26th, to raise funds for cancer. Um, the girls' tennis team capped off a strong fall season with a strong 10-6 record in advance to the semifinals of the South Jersey Group 4 playoffs before falling to Egg Harper in a hard-fought match. Um, the girls' field hockey team celebrated Senior Day with a 4-1 win over Triton yesterday, and is hoping to end their season strong.
The boys' soccer team is looking forward to making a strong push in the playoffs after a good regular season with a 13… 5 and 1 record. The girls' soccer team had a strong regular season, with a record of 9-8-1, and is hoping to continue their success in the playoffs. The football team completed a 9-0 undefeated regular season and captured back-to-back Memorial Division Championships. As expected, the Cougars defeated Cherry Hill West during the annual boot game on Thursday, October 9th. With a dominant score of 49 to 7. And concluded the regular season with a hard-fought 29-20 win over Bridgeton.
on Saturday, October 24th. And East will host Thomas River North in the first round of the playoffs on Friday, October 31st at 6pm. And to encapsulate the successes of our athletes, cheerleaders, marching band, and color guard throughout the season. East held its first pep rally of the year on Friday, October 24th. Congrats to all of our fall sports athletes. And fun, sorry. And finally, with arts. Fast food is first theater production of the year, was held on Friday, October 3rd. The Underclassmen cast and upperclassmen directors and managers all did an amazing job.
Auditions for the winter play Dracula, a comedic thriller, were held on Saturday the 4th. The show is a new take on the classic story, featuring a group of characters from classic novels teaming up to stop Dracula before he devours all of London. Tickets are on sale now, and the show will be on December 11th through December 14th. Make sure to buy your tickets. On Thursday, October 9th, during lunch, the U.S. Navy Commodore's Jazz Band visited East. All students involved in the music program had the opportunity to hear one of the best jazz bands in the country, and participate in a Q&A about musical careers in the military.
Tomorrow night will be East Fall Preview Concert at 7pm. This concert will have all 16 music groups at East performing one number each. It's an amazing showcase of our music program, and it is always the biggest concert of the year. Admission is free, so come check it out. That's all from us, thank you. That was a lot, thank you. And thank you for the new information about Eastside, I didn't realize that. That's really exciting. I mean, it's all very exciting, but it's always fun to hear something new. Moving on to high school West. Okay, so as our weather's starting to cool down, so are our routines. We're so excited for all of our new and upcoming events.
So, school updates. So, happy Red Ribbon and Violence Protection Week. In support of this, the school hallways will be flooded with everyone dressing… dressed up, such as Sports Day, PJ Day, Purple Day, among others. Your book sales are currently open with a price of $95, so order yours today. We held our Hype Socks fundraiser to support school spirit this week. Additionally, Boograms will be sold October 23rd to 29th, a chance to send your friend a spooky surprise on Halloween. All of our underclassmen will be taking their photos on the 28th and 29th of October.
And all grades are starting to prepare for our annual lip-sync competition, as the Spirit Week theme has been confirmed as cities. NHS made sure to visit health classrooms of 9 and 10th grade students to teach them about its four pillars. They also inform them of the helpful peer tutoring program. Now, with academics, attention seniors, the early action deadline for many college applications is right around the corner on November 1st and November 15th. So make sure to submit your applications. Last Wednesday, all of our sophomores and juniors took their PSATs.
Freshmen and seniors played outdoor games, and then all grades enjoyed the half day off. We will soon have field testing for our new standardized testing platform. Which some students will help test. you're holding an SAT test center on November 8th. Open for the public to come and take the test. We are honored to hold a testing center on every SAT day administered. The ACT deadline to register is coming up on November 7th. So make sure to sign up while you can. Our marking period is slowly coming to an end on November 11th. Additionally, our Model UN Club is. Growing rapidly in numbers, and at the most recent conference, the SJMUN on October 18th at Eastern.
Two of our delegates won awards. Now for athletics. Our fall regular sports are sadly coming to an end, but for many sports. playoff season is starting soon. Winter sports registration is now open on Genesis, and I'll. On October 9th, Wes won the annual Raise the Bar Challenge against East. It was super fun for all of our students, and we look forward to next year's rematch. All of our grades are meeting and preparing for the upcoming Powderpuff game on November 17th. NHS will be hosting its annual dodgeball tournament on November 19th. All proceeds will go to charity. As for West Arts, all students from various art electives join together on October 24th.
and enjoyed a trip to New York City. on October 22nd, art students volunteered their time at the Jefferson Hospital to continue our ongoing mural filled with mosaic and paint. Preparation for West's annual MT Bowls project is starting. As teachers helped glaze bowls during a teacher in service on October 20th. Fall show preparations are underway, as the cast has just been confirmed. Our West Marching Band is now a Region 1 two-way tournament of band's champion. In the last 4 years, they have now won this title 3 times.
Now, for extracurriculars, what the help of SGO's new members, the homecoming theme is under the stars, which will fall on November 20th during Spirit Week. The medical club hosted a bake sale with all proceeds going to Breast Cancer Research on Monday, as well as a guest speaker event. Nature Latina is coming up, which is an event where Latinos Out West sponsor a night of fun for families in the community to get together, eat, and dance. Many seniors have internships in fields such as healthcare, engineering, education, theater, IT, facilities management, the police department, and many more.
These students have half days alongside other students who work in shadow professionals, and uh… variety of fields, along with our formal internship program. We are so excited they're getting experience in their field of interest. We wish all Cherry Hill students a successful and fun start to fall. Thank you. Thank you so much, excellent. So much going on. I agree with Mr. And September and October are just very busy. A lot of great things happening. So I have been reminded. By Ms. Gilfillin that I skipped something. Um, uh, agenda item 8.2 to acknowledge receipt of the.
audit responsibilities disclosure letter that all board members have seen that. It's embedded in our agenda. So now moving on to first public comment. There will be two opportunities for public comment this evening. This first public comment section is for board action items only, which are items 13 through 17 on tonight's agenda. If you wish to speak on any topic other than what appears on the agenda, you may speak during the second public comment section. Speakers must provide their name and municipality. If you are a student, you may comment on any topic during the first public comment period by identifying yourself as a student, either in the room or online, you will put an S next to your name so that I know that you're a student.
And you'll get called on first. We will alternate between speakers in the room, and those wishing to comment online. Each speaker has 3 minutes to speak, and a timer on the screen will indicate the amount of time remaining. All statements, questions, and comments should be addressed to the chair of the meeting, and your inquiry may or may not be addressed by administration at the close of the session. So I'm going to open up first public comment. By custom and practice, we start in the room. Is there anyone in the room who would like to make the first public comment on an action item this evening? Please state your name, municipality, and the action item you are speaking on.
Good evening, Candy Cummings, Cherry Hill. And I am commenting this evening on Action Item 17.1. approval of the 2526 Board of Education goals. And I want to start by saying that I really do support the intent behind goal number 3, which is community leadership. Having board members actively involved in our schools and community is just so important. showing up, listening, and being visible builds trust and helps keep you connected to the people that you serve.
That said, I do think this goal, and perhaps all three. could be a little bit more defined, right? Right now, they read more like action steps rather than true goals. But back to goal number 3. Attending one activity a month is a good start, but it doesn't really describe what meaningful engagement looks like. Or how it helps move the district forward. I'd love to see the language focus not just on participation, but on purpose. How you take what you learn from our community and use it to inform decisions.
Strengthen relationships and build accountability. Again, I'm glad to see the board moving forward with goals, especially one centered on community engagement. It's such an important step towards building that stronger connection. And more transparently leadership. Thank you very much. Thank you for your comment. Going online, the first person is a caller with a phone number ending in 788. It's your turn. Please unmute, give us your name and municipality, and the action item you're speaking on. My name is Jeff Potowitz, I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. It's 14.7 and 14.8. Approval of tuition contract agreement to receive a student.
placement for the 20, 25, 2026 school year, and the other one. Supposedly is one student, but it really… it gives you two different numbers, so is it… I don't know, is that one… is 14.8 one student or two students? Anyway, I'm gonna say vote no, and why? Why? Because the tuition weights we're getting are not fair funding. This is an example. So, what we're getting for the tuition rates are… and please look at the numbers, is $20,000 a student.
That's not even close to the actual cost. of a student in Cherry Hill. How much is that actual cost? Well, the actual cost is actually 27, approximately $27. $1,700. Not… 20. How do you know? Well, you could find it out by going to the 2025-2026 user-friendly Budget Summary. just came out in October. Alright? And if you look at 10, 15, 20, 24, which is actual, you'll see the amount of students we had.
was approximately 11,941, or about 12,000 students. You will actually, if you read, find out that the total budget, or the total. on the total amount of money we received was about. $306 million, also found in this. When you do the math. you'll see that per student, based on that 12,000 number, it's 27,600.
$700. Not! 2,000. Simple. Just go to those numbers. transparency, that's… you can find these numbers online under the user-friendly budget, and do the darn math. So, for each one of these kids, whether it's 2 or 3, and it's unclear how many, we're short of 20… about $28,000. And also, we don't know exactly anything about these students.
And we don't know what the cost of these students will be, but if it's the average, it's $28,000, not $20,000. So that's a cost of 8, a loss of $8,000 per student, maybe more. Because we have an overcrowded district this year, because if you look at the next phase, the estimates. It appears that we gained, according to these estimates for 10, 15, 2025, we gained about 1,000 students. But again, you have to look at this.
And there are a lot of questions, a lot of information is in that user-friendly budget. You have a fair funding committee? Look at it, since our aid will be cut. Thank you, thank you, Dr. Podowitz, for your comment. We appreciate it. Your time is up. Going back to the room, is there anybody else who would like to speak on a board action item tonight? Those are the ones we're voting on. seeing no takers? I'm gonna go back online, and there is one more hand raised. It says, a wider bridge. It's your turn, please give us your name, municipality, and the action item you're speaking on this evening.
Alana Yares, Cherry Hill, 16.5, the renaming of Rosa Middle School. Um, I see that. Rosa has a first name of Giacomo and a middle initial. Um, what will the signage look like on the outside of the school? Will it say Rosa Middle School the way it says Karusi Middle School, or will it say… Giacomo, middle initial period, Rosa middle school, the way it says Henry Seabeck Middle School, on the outside of the school. Um, I just… I want to make sure that.
the buildings all look the same and get the same namings, because Karusi has a first name and a middle initial, but the signage on the building just says Karusu Middle School. Whereas at Beck, it says Henry C. Beck Middle School. Um, I drive by a bunch of schools in the district, and it looks like some signage has the full names of middle… of the schools and some signage. only has whatever the school is called versus the actual name of the school, so I would suggest just being cognizant of the fact that.
schools have official names, and the official names should appear on the sides of the building instead of. partial names, or how people refer to the schools. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room, is there anybody else who'd like to speak on an action item this evening? seeing no takers, going back online, is there anyone else online? I don't see any other hands raised online, so I'm going to close first public comment at this point, move on to Superintendent comments.
Thank you, Ms. Winters. Just two comments, really, for me. I'd just like to commend CHEA for the golden, uh, Golden Age prom event that was, uh, scheduled and took place. Last week, uh, truly an amazing affair. It was held at the Legacy Club. There were over 200. well, 200 seniors from our community who participated in that event. It's really wonderful. I had to move off the dance floor because there were… So many, so many, uh, partaking in the festivities and having such a good time, but it was… it was, it was truly great to see, and it's wonderful.
Uh, to see, um, an association with… from our district impact the community in a positive way. Um… Final message I just want to wish… everyone a happy Halloween, but also a safe. Halloween as well, just, you know, make sure, um. engage in safe activities and safe procedures as well. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to our action agenda, where the action is. I will start with CNI, Superintendent recommends, and I move the following, 13.1, approval of attendance at conference and workshops for the 25-26 school year. 13.2, approval of out-of-district student placement for the 24-25 school year.
13.3, approval of out-of-district student placement for the 25-26 school year. 13.4 resolution authorizing. OOD placement at Gloucester County Vocational Technical School District. 13.5 resolution approving educational services, Gloucester County Special Services School District, Teacher of the Deaf. And 13.6 Camden County Educational Services Commission for IDEA Part B funding. Do I have a second? Ms. Palmer, are there any questions on the CNI agenda tonight?
I see no questions. Mr. Schimp, can you please open the voting for CNI? Voting's open. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Ms. Palmer, can you please move the BNF agenda this evening? Yes, I can. The superintendent recommends, and I move the following. 14.1, approval of minutes, uh, board work session, special action meeting minutes, and executive session minutes, dated September 9th, 2025.
14.2, approval of minutes, regular meeting minutes, and executive session minutes dated September 30th, 2025. 14.3 financial reports, 14.4 resolution to reject bids and authorize Rebid, Beck Middle School interior renovations. 14.5, resolution for the award of transportation. 14.6, approval of out-of-district student placement for the 2025-2026 school year, DCP&P. 14.7 approval of tuition contract agreement to receive a student placement for the 2025.
2026 school year DCP&P. 14.8 approval of tuition contract agreement to receive a student placement for the 2024-25. and 25, 26 school years, McKinney-Vento. 14.9 resolution approving civil action matter. 14.10, appointment of chief law enforcement officer's designee. 14.11, resolution authorizing and approving certain purchases. In excess of the bid threshold. through New Jersey state contracts and or purchasing system cooperatives, and 14.12 resolution authorizing the disposal of obsolete textbooks.
Uh, do I have a second? Mr. And Mr. Schimp, can you open the voting? Voting is open. Mr. Schenfard, 14.3, I just have to abstain from the third bill list to avoid a conflict of interest with theata. Thank you. And Mr. Schimp on 14.3, I need to abstain from the payments to Bancroft in the third bill list. Mr. Schimp on 14.3, I have to abstain on invoices to ESS and on 14.9.
I also have to abstain to avoid a conflict of interest. Yes, on, um… all the rest. Motion carries unanimously. Abstentions noted. Thank you. Ms. Stern, can you please move the HR agenda this evening? Superintendent recommends, and I move the following. 15.1, termination of employment certificated, 15.2, termination of Employment Non-Certificated. 15.3, appointments certificated, 15.4, appointments non-certificated. leaves 15.5 leaves of absence certificated.
15.6 leaves of absence non-certificated. 15.7 assignment salary change certificated, 15.8 assignment, salary change non-certificated. 15.9, other compensation certificated. 15.10, approval of sidebar Agreement. Do I have a second? Mrs. Winters, are there any questions? Seeing none, Mr. Schimp, can you call the vote, please? Voting is open.
Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, can you please move the P&L agenda for this evening? certainly the superintendent recommends, and I move the following items, item 16.1 approval of harassment, intimidation, and bullying investigation decisions. Those were heard on October 14th of this year, item 16.2. first reading of policy, specifically 4283. 16.3 second reading of policies, those are specifically, uh.
155.1, 1620. 5115339.01, and 143.2. None of those policies have any substantive changes since first reading. 16.4, the abolishment of Policy 1648. and 16.5, the resolution for the renaming of Rosa International Middle School to Giacomo S.
Rosa Middle School. Do I have a second? Mrs. Palmer. Are there any questions? Dr. Dreis. Is it possible to address the comment that was asked in public comment? around the naming? What was the comment? So, just to clarify… Yeah, if you could just remind me more. I can't frame it as well as it was said in the public comment, but… around whether it's going to be Giacomo S. Rosa Middle School and consistency with the other.
names. It was… it was better said in public… No, no, I recall, I recall coming out. I'm going to turn it over to, uh, to Dr. Morton. I don't know whether it's appropriate to answer, or if we can't answer at the time, but… No, not at the present time. No, we can't answer at the present time. Yes. Mr. Shrimp, would you open the voting?
Voting is open. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. And now, moving on to the governance. section. We finally have something to vote on. I'd like to make a motion to approve the 2025-2026 Board of Education goals.
Do I have a second? Ms. Palmer, are there any questions on our goals? Dr. Dreisen. Point of order, am I able to make a comment as part of this discussion? Sure, go ahead. I would just, um… I appreciate the comment that was made during public comment here around our board goals. Um, I would echo them. Um, I think I'm just really happy, and I would compliment our board. This is the first time we're making. Board goals, and in our, um. in our discussion around this, we talked about, you know, baby steps in this regard, and starting small, and there's certainly opportunities for improvement, but I'm just really proud.
that we as a board are at least, you know, committing to this, and we'll continue to improve. Over time. as a part of the process, too, I'd like to point out that in the retreat, it was discussed that we approve the goals, and then the next step after that is creating the action plans. So, if the board approves these goals this evening for the 25-26 school year, the board will then move forward to the next step, which is small groups of board members. work on action plans to flesh out how we will achieve these goals over the next year. So that's coming soon, assuming that the goals are.
are approved. This is just the first step. Any other board members have comments on our goals? I did text Ms. Gallagher to let her know we were voting on this tonight, and she was very happy about it, since this was… something that she worked on all year as governance chair before she had to resign. All right, we have a motion and a second. Mr. Schimp, can you please open the voting? Voting's open.
Mr. Schimp, I'm not sure if there's an issue with board docs. I have not seen… Okay. It pop up for me yet, but I'm a yes. Noted. Motion carries unanimously. Good job, team. We now have board goals. For the first time in a very long time. Next step, on to the action planning. Moving on to new business, I'm going to… see if we have a motion on the floor. We do, thank you. While I don't… I don't, um… often speak kindly of attorneys.
Despite the… despite the fact that I am one, and those that know me know I don't often speak kindly of myself either. Um, we have been fortunate, um, in the district and on this board to have had the advice. an ear of one who truly has been a great ally, not just to the board, but also to the students and staff. Um, of the district for many, many years. Paul Green, who is Ms. Gilfeland's colleague.
And I am, um… I'm honored to be able to speak unkindly of him. Mr. Green. Um, was recently awarded, um, a very prestigious award. for members of the board. Um, and in that regard. Um, I move… I will move. normally that this board consider the following resolution. Um, and with the chair's permission, I'd like to read the resolution into the records. Otherwise, you know, it may not… it may not reach the number of years that it should.
Please do. So, um… It reads as follows, whereas Paul Green Esquire has faithfully served the Cherry Hill. Public School Board of Education with professionalism, wisdom, and integrity for almost 30 years. And whereas Mr. Green's thoughtful guidance has consistently supported the board. in making decisions that protect and advance the interests of students, educators. and the community, and whereas Mr. Green's dedication to excellence. has ensured that the actions of the Cherry Hill Public School District.
Remain transparent, lawful, and aligned with its educational mission. And whereas Mr. Green has earned the respect of colleagues, administrators. Staff members and board members alike for his professional demeanor. steady judgment, integrity, and demonstrated commitment. In service to the education. and service to public education. and was awarded the Russell Weiss Jr. Esquire. Distinguished Service Award on October 23rd. 2005 by the New Jersey Association of School Attorneys.
In recognition for his professionalism. integrity service and lasting contributions. to the New Jersey school law community. Boards of Education, and students and citizens of New Jersey. Now, therefore, be it resolved that in recognition of his many years of service to the Cherry Hill Public Schools. The Board of Education hereby. commends Mr. Green on his receipt of the Russell Weiss Jr. Distinguished Service Award, and expresses its deep appreciation. To Mr. Green for his distinguished service.
and lasting contributions to the district. Its administration, staff, and most importantly. to the students of Cherry Hill. And with that, the superintendent recommends, and I move, that this board take a vote. adopting that resolution. So there's a motion on the floor to adopt. Is there a second? Ms. Stern. Dr. Schiff, can you please open the voting? We're gonna do this one. …the old-fashioned way. Excellent!
Dr. Dryson. Approve, yes. Yes. Ms. Manzano? Yes. Mr. Mayor? Absolutely. Ms. Palmer? Resoundingly, yes. Ms. Stern? Yes. Ms. Winters. Yes. Motion carries. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor and Ms. Guilfillin for helping to write that. I think it's important that we recognize. Um, Mr. Green on his accomplishment. It's amazing. I know it's also his birthday, I believe?
It was Saturday, and I, you know, just reflecting on his 30 years of service to the district, 30 years is a long time. A lot has changed in Cherry Hill in the past 30 years, and the depth and breadth of his service and his historical knowledge of the district. Um, he's certainly been brought to bear in many of the decisions we've made, so congratulations, Mr. Green out there, wherever you are celebrating. We really appreciate all that you've done in service of. Cherry Hill Public Schools, and especially its students. Is there any other new business, Ms. Stern? Yes, so last week, um, the… one of our, um.
uh, special committee is the special education committee met. Um, and, um, Ms. Palmer was part of the… commit is in attendance as well. Um, we focus on several topics, um. you know, one was, um, a conversation about, you know, the ongoing efforts to which I referred to earlier, to always. um, you know, be honest and authentic in. Acknowledging that our services are a work in progress. They're always working to improve and broaden as much as we, you know.
is appropriate and is, you know, within our ability. Um, and our responsibility to broaden our services. Um, uh, this past several years, I've been on the board year over year. We've added multiple. Um, special education, um, classrooms, and we had some conversation about. Um, looking forward, you know. what we kind of see coming, um, in terms of improving our services. the overarching goal is towards more and more inclusion.
So, you know, that's what we're working towards. Um, we also talked about the uncertainty for a lot of our, um, heightened uncertainty for a lot of our special education. Families, um, with the changes happening at the federal level. Um, although, you know, we're 100% status quo, you know, everything is in place. here for our services, our budget's in place. Um, you know, that's where we are now, and we have to acknowledge that there is uncertainty.
Which creates a tremendous, you know, tremendous amount of, um, stress for families, um, for the future. Um, I… you know, I find… you know, I find it such a duality to hold in place that we have these. services that we're continuing to expand. We have, um. you know, significant, um, kind of thought leadership about improving. services, um, you know, Caitlin Mallory at the helm. Um, you know, and action in improving our services, and yet, you know, at the same time, we have to grapple with.
the sense that, I mean, that's true for all of our school… any of our, um, schools, you know, um, what will be for… for education. just so much is unknown. So it's just a hard place to be, and we want to acknowledge, um. That's a particularly hard layer to add on to for our families, you know, who struggle. Um, you know, in their own, you know, in their own… with their own families, with their own challenges, um, and I… having… being one of those families, I appreciate that at a different level.
Um, but, um, we also talked about, um. uh… the, um… forthcoming, um, and I won't give too much away, but there will be some. media efforts, um, to, you know, internal, in district, you know. efforts to kind of have more of a… conversation about special education. Um, you know, to… to, um, I guess, give more understanding. I think there's a lot of.
conceptions, some that are accurate and some that are not accurate, so we always want to provide as much information as we can. which I think sometimes we talked about is challenging when we have specific situations that, um. or raise specific, you know, student situations, or… Um, you know, which obviously, our job is to protect our students, so, um, what that means is we have to protect their privacy, too. Um, we are bound by FERPA. Which… I always forget what that stands for, but I'm in health… I work in healthcare, so I always think of it as, like, the parallel of HIPAA.
Um, you know, that's because I think most of us understand HIPAA. You know, we would want our doctors not to blast our health information, private health information in public. And in the same way as a board, and as our administration, we're not going to blast our students' private. information under FERPA, so, um… You know, so that gets challenging sometimes, and we talked about the, you know, that, um… in terms of you want to sometimes be able to speak more specifically to, um. situations or address them, but ultimately, you know, I think that the takeaway is we want to continue to work on.
Communication, um… connecting with our families and our students. and broadening, um, you know, broadening our inclusion. Um, opportunities for our students, so I'm excited to see what comes. Um, I don't know if Ms. Palmer, if you have anything to add to that? No, I would just add, you know, the… meaningful conversation that we had around making sure that we're… addressing the needs of all of our students in special education, and the idea that that is a very broad.
stroke, right? And special education runs the gamut from. Students with lesser needs, students with greater needs, and just the complexity of. wanting a one-size-fits-all situation. for all of our students that just… does not exist. And so, you know. the district team is doing a lot of work. I know for our part as committee members, we're trying to do the work, and it goes back to it's a marathon, not a sprint. Um, but we're working on it, and we'll get there. I'm confident that we will… we will get there. So… Thank you for that addition. Um, I mean, and I feel confident that we're moving in the right direction.
again, my own experience, just, you know, in the years in this district. I'm, like, absolutely blown away by how much has changed for the positive. Um, in my time, um, as a parent, and also on the board. So, um, good conversation, great meeting, um, look forward to the… Don't want to give too much away about the media piece coming up, but it's coming! I'm excited to see it, so… Thank you. That's it. Thank you.
I just wanted to give a little bit of a report on the enrollment rebalancing Committee that met yesterday. Was that yesterday? It was, Joel, Mr. Mayor is nodding at me. Um, Mr. Fain is not able to be here tonight, so she asked me to give the committee's report. We met, and we discussed. the board's guardrails around enrollment rebalancing again. We talked about next steps, which include the three upcoming community meetings. one at High School East, one at High School West, and one virtual. All three meetings will be identical meetings.
You can come to any meeting that you are available to come to. It's not restricted, like. Westside parents go to west, east side to east, it's all three meetings are… it's three meetings, the same meeting. We're having the multiple times to try to increase access for all community members. Um, there will also be surveys that you can fill out if you can't attend any of the meetings, so that we can receive your feedback. In order to prepare for the meetings, the. committee, along with Dr. Morton, produced, um… Ms. Bharati filmed us, and we did a little video.
which has been posted on the district website and social media. for the community to access to… get information about where we are in the process and what we anticipate the meetings to be about. Ultimately, our goal with the community meetings at this point is to receive the community's input. No decisions have been made yet. We are not coming into the meetings with a proposal to be discussed. We're coming to the meetings to. receive information from the community about what. they think the challenges and opportunities are, and what they think we should be focusing on.
before we take the next step. So that's the point we were at in the process. I'm really hopeful that it will be a fruitful way to engage with the community. It is not going to be like this at a board meeting where you have a full quorum of board members, and so public comment. you come up for your 3 minutes, and I say thank you very much, and then the next commenter, because we can't really have that dialogue. in a small group when the board is at a town hall style meeting, we can have a little bit more of an open and free discussion. So that's what we're looking forward to, a little bit of a better way to engage with the community around these issues, something Communication Committee has been working on all year.
So I'm excited to see how this works, and if the format works well for the community, then we're looking to adapt it going forward to all different topics that. our race, so that we can really begin to. again, continue to move forward. in interacting and engaging with the community that we try our very best to serve. Mr. Mayor, how did I do? Did I miss anything on movement rebalancing? You missed nothing. I will just… I'll just, um, add that those… three meetings… well, not be three different meetings. It will essentially be the same meeting, the same presentation.
Um, same opportunity for members of the community to present. Um, their concerns and their perspectives. Um, so there will be no different information presented. Um, at the… at the meeting at East, then at the meeting at West, or virtually. Right, it's the same show 3 times, you can come to whichever one that you… fits your schedule, you can come to all of them. If you really like hanging out with board members. We will be there to listen to what you have to say. We're going to take all that information back. Including information you received from the survey that will go live on the website, and then we will… begin to disaggregate that information to see what the community is looking for and how we can best serve going forward.
Ms. Stern. I just want to clarify, we're talking about rebalancing our elementary-level schools, is that correct? Correct. So, and this question had come up last time, but just to reiterate, originally we were talking about elementary redistricting. But that actually seemed like too narrow of a lens, because when you talk about elementary redistricting, people picture. the map of the schools. And redrawing the lines, and that's all that it is. That's not what this conversation is about. It's a much broader conversation. about reallocating resources equitably to serve all of our students.
To make sure that enrollment is balanced at the elementary level, and all the other things that it impacts. So the board. has talked about the impact of enrollment on transportation and transportation costs. We've talked about special education programs and where they're allocated. and how to reduce bus times for those students. So there are other considerations beyond just looking at the map. So that's why we've changed the language a little bit to make it a broader conversation. And that's the information we're hoping to receive back when we bring. this to the community through the video that's out now, and also there will be a presentation at all of the meetings to kick it off by Dr. Morton and Mr. Guy, which will again kind of frame out where we are in the conversation.
what the opportunities are. Um, what the challenges are, it's really here about what the community is looking for. for us to do going forward, and how we can best rebalance enrollment so that we can create situations for our kids. that are sustainable for the next 5 or 10 years going forward, the way our resources are used in the most efficient way possible. Because as we've all been talking about, the budget is tough, and it's only going to get tougher. And we need to be smart about how we're allocating our resources so we can continue to provide the best possible education for our kids.
And we can continue to sustain the level of education Cherry Hill is known for. And unless we take a serious, hard look at allocation of resources, we can't really do that. So this is a moment where we have to be… We have to be thoughtful about the future of the districts, um… what that looks like budgetarily, especially when it comes to federal and state aid. And what it looks like for our families in the district who I know are struggling right now as the price of everything seems to go up and up. And so we have to think about what tax burdens look like on them.
That's a real consideration, but ultimately, for us as a board, we're always student-centered in our focus. So our ultimate goal is… at the end of this, to have a vision for Cherry Hill going forward that centers students and the student experience and our teachers. And providing the best possible education we can to them. within the limits and confines of the resources that we have available, because the reality is, although I wish I had a money tree outside the Lewis building. to fund all the wonderful work we do. We just don't. We have finite resources.
And we have to live within our means, just like everybody else does when they're budgeting for their household. So, that is the quest we are undertaking. It will not be easy, but it is necessary, I believe. Going forward. In order to… to be forward-looking and proactive and not reactive. I think the worst possible thing that we could do is wait until we reach a crisis. And then try to cobble together a strategy. I think we need to start being a board that really looks to the future and says. Where do we want to be that's part of the strategic planning process? Where do we want to be 5 years from now?
10 years from now, what does that look like? How do we serve those students? Um, so that is a piece of that process. Anything else on enrollments? Any other new business? any old business. Dr. Dreisen. Two quick things. One on a lighthearted note, but I do think it's important, reflecting on workshop, just to point out that. with the networking opportunities, it's also networking among our board itself. And so I've just, for example, was pleasantly surprised that several of the board members are just as happy to get a delicious sandwich at White House.
subs than they are to go to a fancy restaurant. And so, there's that type of bond, and so I was very happy about that. Um, the second thing, and this is more granular, but just really for public-facing, for the community, just to point out that tonight we did not vote on Policy 2422. Which was something that we were discussing at the last board meeting. And so that's going back to P&L to consider further additions. Um, my ask, um, for P&L, when you have that discussion, is just to, again, just speaking for myself. I still am not clear on what the threshold is, on what's being included, and what's not being included in that policy.
It's really covering a lot of varied content. And so, you know, is there a way to make that more precise? Or, again, is it just state-mandated? Um, and that is what it is, but. I look forward to the report out from P&L following that discussion. Thank you. Thank you. Any other old business this evening? Seeing none, we are moving on to second public comment. This is the second public comment section. This is for any topic.
If you would like to… oh! Public comment is an opportunity for members of the community to provide input to the Board of Education on educational issues. Board welcomes diverse opinions on relevant matters, however, statements that are abusive, obscene, or which demeanor are defamatory to any individual or any group of individuals will not be tolerated. Such comments are disruptive to the orderly operation of the meeting. Sir, is that… is that information to be given out to the board? Yes. Okay, you can give that to Mr. Schimfreight here.
And he can pass it around. Thank you, Ms. Stern. No, it's fine. I was reading and not focusing. Thank you. So, speakers who are wished to provide the board with information not relevant to the district's operations may communicate directly with the superintendent and the board president via email or other alternative means. If you would like to speak, please clearly state your name and municipality. We will again alternate between speakers here in the room and those that are online, and each speaker is given a maximum of 3 minutes to speak.
The timer on the screen will indicate the amount of time you have remaining. start in the room. As we always do. So please give us your name and municipality. Okay, um, good evening, everyone. My name is Michael Nussbaum. I'm. child, a parent of a child with an IEP, and I teach, uh. special ed, an inclusive setting for Chinese and ESL in Camden. I'm a doctoral candidate, um, in educational leadership. So, first of all, I heard a big topic, a big theme today, is that I see you're trying very hard to reflect on.
The inclusive environment in your schools. That's great. But my experience and a lot of parents' experience, and I'm telling you this, as a parent. Hey, I talk to a lot of parents. It's been anything but. I've had to fight for inclusive opportunities after being denied for years. Okay? That doesn't show priority, and that doesn't just take time. That's very, very simple stuff. You don't fight with parents. to get what they are guaranteed by law.
Um, many… I've been denied IEP meetings without reason. Um, you know, I've… I've been asked, uh, when am I going to go to settlement? Um, instead of actually trying to work with me collaboratively, um, the CST, it's… it's been hell. And… Honestly, you guys have to realize is that, again, I'm 3rd generation Cherry Hillian, okay? My grandmother. She's the one who actually was on the board to rename this township. You want to talk about history? I probably know more about Cherry Hill history than any of you put together.
Okay? Now, Cherry Hill was a really good district in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. has slumped in the past 20-something years. Okay? And we have to stop being so darn insular, and we need to start looking out. So, as you can read. on the sheet, which I'm… I had a whole speech prepared, I'm only going to get to part of my speech, but we have to stop being so insular. I understand a lot of teachers, they don't go out of the district to do PD, professional development. I don't know if that's still the case. But we need to start doing that. We need to start looking outside.
We're not doing well enough. I know that you're taking steps. Okay, but still more needs to be done. Now, with my proposal today. I think we can get a good jumpstart on all of this. Okay, so basically, Haddonfield had our issue. Okay, whether you believe it or not, we have a big issue with special education. Okay, and I'll tell you, it's up at the higher level. And as a parent, I'm not the only parent who says this. There's lots of us, okay? It's gotta stop. It really has to stop. I'm getting sick of it.
All right? So… Haddonfield had an audit about, um… 6 or 7 years ago, okay? They had a third party do the audit on their special education. And, uh, everything went up. They had 45 recommendations. Um, and, uh, within 6 months, 64% were addressed, okay? I also want to remind you, this is that while star grains are great. you know, um, other things, other activities are great, but everyday inclusion is not present. Our current rate in Cherry Hill is 48.7%. It's terrible.
It's absolutely terrible, okay? So you gotta look at those hard numbers. Please read that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your comment and for the additional information. We appreciate it. going online, the first. person I see, it says iPhone, and then 25 in parentheses. Please unmute and give us your name and municipality. Shore Cherry Hill. Yes, did you hear that? We did. Okay, wonderful. So, uh, NJSA104-12 requires time for public comment on the school district issues of concern.
I would say that access to district records is such an issue. Good evening, members of the board. I want to speak about public access to records under New Jersey's Open Public Records Act. Parents and residents often have difficulty figuring out where or how to obtain public records. For example, sometimes parents want to see bullying reports, review budgets to see where tax dollars go. Where emails sent between staff about their child. So I built a free public portal called CHPSOPRA.com.
In just a few minutes, anyone can submit an open public record act request, including anonymously. And it's CHPSOPRA dot com. I appreciate that Mr. Schimf, the records custodian, confirmed that requests submitted through the portal are received and honored by the district. I did not appreciate the cease and desist, though, regarding the website, but I'm glad we've been able to resolve the. Uh, the initial portion of it, and you guys will be accepting the portal request.
Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room, is there anyone else who would like to make second public comment this evening? Please approach the microphone. Sarah Jocelyn, Cherry Hill. I, uh, thank you for the State of the District report. I wanted to make you aware of the upcoming draft revisions to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards.
Um, these will be presented in the November and December 2025 State Board of Education meetings. In November, they will be discussing the. Career readiness, life literacy, and key skills, and science student learning standards. In December, it will be Computer Science and Design Thinking, World Languages. Visual and performing arts, and the New Jersey Preschool Teaching and Learning Standards.
There will be a regional meeting where the public can participate. Coming up after the new year. The meeting in our southern part of the state will be on Tuesday, January 13th, at the Camden County. college. And these are important because student learning standards then, once they're adopted, that drives the next level of curriculum changes within our… within our schools. Um, I also wanted to share back. And that there was a, um, church women United state meeting that was held on Saturday with the focus on building connections.
For quality and equity in New Jersey public schools. This meeting was an education event on both what ESSA is and the new ESSA state requirements. As well as identifying the stakeholders and engaging the public. for student success. Among one of the main contributions here was the discussion of chronic absenteeism. And I appreciate that the Cherry Hill is engaged in that, um, that effort, which is critical.
One thing I wanted to point it out from that. was that, um, the multi-tier systems of supports are so important. 41% of students that are experiencing housing instability have chronic absenteeism. Uh, so we need to be aware as far as the stakeholders that we engage, and I know that there is a district goal to engage. Additional stakeholder input. Uh, for career development.
And so forth. One comment that came back in the question and answer had to do with cell phones. Um, and for English language learners. Uh, in some classrooms, these cell phones are extremely important to allow their translation software to engage better. with the curriculum that is ongoing, so I wanted to bring that up to the board. Um, we all, uh, appreciate the effort of the board and the importance of education as a human right. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Jocelyn, for your comment. Going back to… the line, the next person is a phone number ending in 788. Please unmute, give us your name and municipality. My name is Jeff Potowitz, and I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. I found what another speaker said very, very interesting, all right? This is from Profile Veteran Lobbyists, represents New Jersey, NJ Spotlight News.
night 2005… I made a comment. My name is Jeff. School districts have blamed special ed for contributing to a rising local tax levies. I skip, and I'm talk… students that are high-functioning with LD will pass the early grades, and then their grades drop, they will be placed at lower-level general. education courses. If the student is persistent and parents support the student, they may get. help privately. For students with dyslexia, appropriate reading help may be… may very well be viewed as expensive by the district, and the districts will fight.
Oh, and the districts will fight. Other LDs, such as math disability, SLI, language learning problems, auditory processing problems, etc, are viewed as costly to districts because of volume of students. So it is easier and cheaper to put these kids in lower-level general ed courses or special ed without appropriate help, if the parents don't like it. Let the parents fight. The districts have the lawyers on speed dial, and have deeper pockets than parents. It's all about money. One of those lawyers.
that I was describing was Mr. Green that you just honored. Good for him that you honored him. All right? What would he mean to me? My name is Jeff. Alright, in 2007, I was interviewed by the Star Ledger. And the article was about a state-level omnisbum. That was in 2007. I don't praise Mr. Green. He did his job. He did his job for you. There were teachers that did his job for the school… for my son, but Mr. Green did the opposite. He was a hindrance.
And you honored him. That is insulting, as far as I'm concerned. Not as far as you. So, I know some of you are big-shot lawyers. I'm just a nothing. But I'll tell you something. All right, that… that… That's exactly the way you are, and when I hear that parent talking, that's what I think you are. Just like I described. And that description about if the parents don't… parents fight, the districts have lawyers on speed dial. He was one of those people.
No thank you. And I wish you had. written that before that you were doing it. I am sorry, Mr. Lawyer, I am sorry. That was insulting to someone like me. You just insulted a parent from 15 or 20 years ago. Don't praise him. He did his job for you. For you, he did his job, and his job was exactly as I described. Nj Spotlight News 2015. or write about Miss, um… Ms. Lynn Strickland. You could read what I wrote. I wrote that 10 years ago. I still feel it now.
Thank you very much. And by the way, for the teachers that helped my son, thank you. Thank you for your comment, Dr. Potowitz. Going back to the room, is there anyone else who would like to make second public comment tonight? Hi, just give us your name and municipality, you have 3 minutes. My name is Dr. Jeremy Kukovka, Cherry Hill. I'd like to raise a significant safety concern and potential liability concern.
Uh, this is due to the dilapidated nature of the Cherry Hill East. high school parking lot. Um, there are fissures. There are craters, there are large areas of uneven pavement. Uh, and I think this puts our students and our staff at risk every day. I think it also… puts the community at risk. As you know, the… School is open to the public for many events that we have every year. Uh, just this past year, I saw a woman trip on the parking lot and fall.
And not able to get up on her own, and I just think it needs to get fixed. Thank you. Thank you for your comment, we appreciate it. Going back online, the next person, it just says Zoom user. Zoom user, it's your term, please unmute, give us your name and municipality. Hello, this is Rick Short from Cherry Hill, can you hear me? Hello? Okay, great.
We can hear you, go ahead. Um… a couple years back, uh, I referred to this district as the, uh. group baiting… district in… America, or in New Jersey. Couple… couple months back. Um, I refer to you as the most radicalized. District. in… well, in New Jersey, I know I said that.
Um, I think we've… come to a new level. And I believe now we are the wokest, dumbest. district in New Jersey. Let me give you an example. Two weeks ago, we were referred to… look at elementary enrollment balancing. Why did you call that? Elementary enrolling balancing when it's not.
And everything you've said tonight about how you're so careful, you care so much about the children and everything else. Why ain't you just telling the truth? Why are you just telling the truth? What, you know, what you're doing? I don't get it! I know what you're doing! You're not balancing kids for a certain reason? You have physical buildings that you need to remap around, and you're not telling people. Next up… What did you just re-name Rosa?
Now it's Geronimo Rosen Middle School or something? So now we have to call it Geronimo Rosa Middle School? I don't understand! You just voted on something, you voted unanimously on it. Now it's called Geronimo Rosen Middle School? Like… Can we… can the superintendent please explain? What just happened? I mean, we just keep doing all these dumb things! Why did we need to rename it Geronimo, or… Jericho, or whatever the heck it was.
You're supposed to be, like, as educators, you're supposed to be, like. educated and smart. A bunch of woke dummies doing dumb things! Every single meeting. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room, is there anyone who would like to make second public comment? Going back online, the next person is Laura Einhorn. Please unmute and give us your name and municipality.
It's Anna, and we're in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Still a little confused, um, by the previous speaker's. comments about the open Public Meetings Act, uh, requests for information. I did an open… an OPRA request on Sunday evening, and the website directed me to the Office of Public Information. Where in the past, I had always submitted it to the BA, who. with my understanding is… The secretary used to handle that. Has something changed?
And in the meantime, I'm wondering if my request was even received. Um, I'm a little confused, so if someone could just… acknowledged that it was received, if that's possible in a public meeting. I would appreciate it, and if not, where am I supposed to send currently? OPA requests. I do agree with the earlier speaker and first public comment, um… regarding the naming of the building at Rosa. Um, for us long-timers, it's always going to be the Rosa… buildings. So, you know, I was very confused on what you voted on.
Um, and I appreciate Dr. Jerusalem also… Reminding the board of what exactly are we going to name the building? I'm just confused as to how that went through without knowing exactly what you're naming the building. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Just as a reminder, I go through everybody's public comment, and then the superintendent will have the opportunity to address some comments at the end, so… Hold on, everybody, I'm just trying to get through everybody's comments first.
Hang tight. The next person, it says, iPhone with 25 in parentheses, iPhone 25, it's your turn. Please give us your name and municipality. Am I allowed to go briefly for 30 seconds more, Ben, sure? I'm sorry. Am I allowed to briefly… 30 more seconds? No. You've had 3 minutes, everybody gets 3 minutes. Okay, I didn't use the full 3 minutes, so can I use the rest of it, I assume? Moving on. No, you cannot bank your time, sir. Moving on to the next caller, it is a wider bridge, a wider bridge, it's your turn.
Please give us your name and municipality. Uh, Alanier's Cherry Hill, can you hear me? Sorry, I didn't realize I was called on. We can. Okay, um, I just wanted to speak on a few policies that I were reading… that I was reading, um. for the district, one of them was approved in. July, um, but I think it might need to be re-looked at. Um, policy 5111.2.
Um, it says, unless students apply to attend high school under Policy 511 1.2, secondary open enrollment, and are accepted, they'll be assigned to East and West based on the boundary guidelines and Policy 8110. I understand that you need to have. guidelines, but I thought that we had open enrollment for high school, so why are students automatically being assigned. to a high school if they don't open enroll or choose to attend a high school, also within that policy, you state the enrollment for.
commercial CM Beck with, um… elementary schools as the sending zones for those middle schools, but I didn't. see anything in the policy about the sending zone. for Rosa with elementary schools, and you have listed in the policy that open enrollment is only through the 21-22 school year. So, how do students know that they're supposed to attend. Rosa, if it's not laid out in the policy. And just to clarify my earlier comment.
I don't mind the renaming of Rosa, I just want the signage to be consistent on all schools throughout the district, so if a first name, middle initial, last name is listed on one school, a first name, middle initial, and last name should be listed on another school. If that school also has. uh, first name, middle initial, and last name of a person that they are named after. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room, just one more check check.
Don't want to miss anybody. Let me just finish public comment. I have another caller on the line, okay? Getting through everybody. Um, the next person is Dr. Yoni Yaris. It is your turn, Mr. Shimp, can you please reset us for 3 minutes for Dr. Yaris? Um, good evening. Also, wanna… couldn't call in earlier, um, I apologize. Um, I'm grateful that you properly renamed Rosa, honoring the name that it should have had when it became Rosa International Middle School when I was a student there.
Um, for those who don't know, uh, Mr. Rosa's first name is… I will never be able to pronounce it, but that is his first name. He was a legendary principal in the district and spent a lot of his time there back when it was Heritage. So, Bree putting his name back on there properly honors memory. That should never have been removed, uh, when I was a student there. On a different note. Um, as you guys, many of you know, I work in Willingboro, um, and I was pleased to share with you, I don't know if Mr. Guy has shared this, and if he's in the room turning, uh, page right now, I apologize. Um, but recently at our 50th anniversary celebration, Mr. Guy was inducted into our Hall of Fame.
Due to all of his work and education, he is a proud Billing Borough alum from 19… 1980s, we'll go there. Um, so just wanted to share that out there, that the impact that both our trail administrators are felt all across the state, and especially from where they came from. Thank you so much. I think Mr. Guy appreciates you not calling out his graduation year. It looks pretty amused back there. Going back to the room, is there anybody else in the room who wants to make second public comment?
Going back online, is there anyone else online? Speak now or forever, hold your peace. Seeing no one in the room, seeing no one online, I'm gonna close second public comment. All right, so now we usually go to superintendent comments, but just before we do… I would like to address the east parking lot. question. East parking lot is on deck to be redone, but as Mr. Schimp. pointed out in a presentation, if you want to look at the. previous board meeting, he went through all the projects that are upcoming. The parking lot can't be done because we're going to do significant renovations in the back.
on F-Wing that are gonna be a lot of demolition work. So it's on deck. But it's not happening immediately, because if we were to do it, and then we would have to bring in heavy machinery to do some of the other work that's scheduled at East, we would ruin the work. So, that information is there if you want to go back. All of our meetings are on. YouTube, for all posterity. If you ever need help sleeping at night, you can go look, but Mr. Schimp did an excellent administrative report about all the bond projects that are coming up, and that was. specific question that was addressed, so that one I do know off the top of my head, but because I am not the expert, I'm going to pass it over to the experts to address some of the other concerns.
Is Gilfill in. Thank you, and this is, um, in response to Ms. Einhorn and one of the other callers in. Ms. Einhorn, your… comment raises the exact reason why the owner of that website was sent a cease and desist order. It impersonates the Cherry Hill Public Schools. Um, it is not affiliated with the Cherry Hill Public Schools. You are absolutely correct. that your request should, in fact, go to the Oprah custodian, and in this case, that's Mr. Schimp.
Um, but that is exactly why. Uh, the district said… took the step of sending that cease and desist order. Um, it is confusing, it does purport. to the community that it is receiving OPRA requests on behalf of the district, it is. not. It is no affiliation with the district whatsoever. The district is prepared to go ahead. and take further action, um, with respect to ensuring that that.
confusion does not, uh, exist. It does place the district at. uh, legal, um. Crossroads if, in fact, a request is submitted and it does not get to the district in some way. Um, I do believe Mr. Schimp has said that. He did receive Ms. Einhorn's request. Um, and it… we will fulfill that. However, uh, the other requests that are coming through that. Um, we cannot guarantee that those are actually getting to the custodial.
the custodian of records. So, for the community members, if in fact. you are asking or requesting records from the school district under the Open Public Records Act. Please go on to the Cherry Hill. Public Schools website and utilize the link there, which is the appropriate correct. link, um, and we will address the. failure to abide by the cease and desist order separately. Thank you, Ms. Gilfelin, for clarifying. Turning it over to Dr. Morton for Superintendent comments.
Excellent, excellent, thank you so much, Ms. Winters. I'll be quick. Uh, just again, um, in reference to, uh, Rosa renaming, just to let everyone know, Rosa, uh, had… initially, when it was, uh. open. Rosa had and was associated with the International Baccalaureate Program. He's an NYP school. Uh, it's been several years now that Rosa has not had that affiliation. Uh, therefore, the international portion of the title needed to be revised and adjusted. Uh, the first name of Mr. Rosa is Giacomo.
So, the board just renamed the school. Accordingly, Giacomo Rosa Middle School. Um, similar and consistent with. The other two middle schools that carry the first and last name of the individual. Uh, we'll figure out what the signage will look like as we go through construction, and we… update our buildings, um. we, you know, are placed in the appropriate naming convention of the schools there, but we'll figure that out. We haven't discussed that aspect of it just yet, but thank you to the board for.
the approval of this aspect. Um… I'd be remiss if I didn't mention, uh, you know, we heard inappropriate, uh, derogatory comments levied toward the board and administration today. Um, to refer to. individuals who are volunteering their time and, you know. giving their best to the school district and community as woke dummies. It's just inappropriate, and uh… just lacks dignity, lacks respect. Uh, we have students who are seated here at the table. um, you know, poor, poor example. for our students and for our community to engage in behavior like that. I've always learned that those who lose words first.
tend to result… result in name-calling. Um, you know, perhaps an expansion of one's vocabulary is needed. Here, you know, to find other words, and. to find other ways to express oneself. But, um, again, highly, highly inappropriate. There are no dummies here. There aren't any stupid people here or anything else. And I would appreciate it if, um… we would maintain respectful and civil discourse. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to make a motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Ms. Stern, all those in favor of adjourning? It's unan