Let me talk to them. All right, board members, I'm picking up my phone to text Dean. Maybe because maybe people are… Oh, somebody's there watching the kids? Hello, everybody makes your sound.
I'd like to call this meeting of the Board of Education to order. Mr. Schimmf, can you please call the roll? Dr. Braddock. Here. And it's your thing. Here. Ms. Cummings. Here. Dr. Dryson. Mr. Greenbaum? Here. Ms. Lanzano? Here. Ms. Palmer. Here. Ms. Stern. Here. Ms. Winters. Here, thank you. Public notice of this meeting pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act has been given by the Board Secretary on February 3rd and 4th, 2026, in the following manner.
posted notice on the school bulletin board of the Administration Building. posted electronically to the Cherry Hill Public Schools official website, transmitted to the Courier Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Clerk of Cherry Hill Township. Please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. The republic for which it stands, one nation, under God. Indivisible with liberty and justice for all. I'd like to note for all participants, this meeting is being recorded and livestreamed.
Our very first thing on the agenda is my favorite thing. Which is board recognition. We have a preview from High School East of the Spring Musical. Which is footloose, and I just want to say my whole family has been singing along to the soundtrack in preparation for a month now. I cannot wait. But ladies and gents, uh, thank you very much for having us. It's our pleasure. This is, uh, some of the principal cast. Footloose. Um, we open February 27th, so a couple weeks from now. Uh, tickets are on sale now at curate.com, and we hope to see you there.
But we sincerely appreciate the opportunity to perform for you tonight, and we want to thank the board and everybody in this room for this chance. So without further ado.
Sarah White! Late at night, I talk, and I talk. I need a hero.
Raising on.
Larger than life!
And the storm. My blood like a fire in my.
He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast, and he's gotta be fresh on the bike. I need a hero!
You guys are awesome, and that was amazing, and I am so, so hyped to come see Footloose. Everybody get your tickets, it's gonna be incredible. Thank you so much for coming tonight. I think we should just end the meeting now, we're not gonna top that. We're not gonna stop that. That was incredible. Um… Absolutely incredible. So… We have our student reps here tonight, but there is no report. You guys are next time.
So I'm gonna move on to the next item in the agenda, which is elementary enrollment balancing presentation by Mr. Guy, who is going to do it entirely in song. to the soundtrack of Footloose. Interpretive dance. Take it away, Mr. Guy. Thank you for your faith in me, but as Dr. Birdie said, that is an incredibly hard act to follow.
All right, thank you to the board for… Allowing this presentation of elementary. Enrollment balancing. I would be remiss if I didn't thank all of the people on our district work group. Uh, they range from many different areas within. Um, our school district and our buildings, we had building principals, we had our school-age child care program, we had representation from. Um, our registration department, um, Mr. Schemp was a part of our conversations, along with Ms. Mallory.
Uh, along with a host of others that lent themselves to this work. And I see in the audience that we have the community, so we want to certainly thank the community for coming out in November. Um, once at East and once at West, and then virtually, and then filling out our survey, which inform. the preliminary recommendations that I am going to be making today, so we're… Excited to talk to you about what those preliminary recommendations are going to be.
So first, we want to start with. the guardrails that the board set up for us. We were to look for transportation efficiencies and try to. Maximize those efficiencies as it related to anything that we came up with. from a recommendation standpoint. Uh, had to be within. the cost and bus route time, so we certainly did not. want to go outside of… the root cost that we already have. And we certainly don't want children on buses for extended periods of time.
we were charged by the board to address overcrowding where it exists, and develop long-term solutions for overcrowding, and that will become. evident in the preliminary recommendations that we'll make later on in the presentation. And we were tasked with looking at programs, trying to look at our self-contained programs to minimize costs and student time. on buses. So, as I said, in November, we had two in-person community input opportunities to solicit community feedback.
We had a virtual, um, opportunity, and then we had a survey that, if folks could not make those three. input opportunities they could give their input via survey. So, a synopsis of some of the community feedback was an overwhelming concern about neighborhood. cohesion, um, social and emotional disruptions to students, especially if we looked at. things like boundary adjustments, instructional quality as it relates to overcrowding.
What staff were most interested in were the impact on teaching conditions and student learning. Uh, making sure that we keep class sizes manageable. And staff, workload, and access to resource resources as related to. Um, rebalancing and elementary balancing. So here are. a couple of comments, or three comments, two from parents and one from a staff member. Um, we were asked, or at least this parent felt like.
There were some disruption to neighborhood continuity and the reason why we live in certain neighborhoods. So there was a plea for not… for us to not rebalance, um, the second parent had concerns about a child entering kindergarten. And, uh, potentially, if we were looking at boundary adjustments, um, the second child or her kindergartner not being with the older child. Um, and that could cause pickup and drop-off concerns, routines, themes, events, etc, so those were concerns.
And then from a teacher in the district. Um… how does this affect class sizes, student transition, and student and staffing stability? Um, so I think that all of those are key and helped us, along with the board guardrails with our preliminary recommendations. So, I'm going to present 3 schools that we are looking at overcrowding to address the ward second guardrail, address overcrowding where it exists.
Clara Barton Elementary School currently has an enrollment of 478. Um, students. It, uh, has a school capacity of 566, but if we look at our. demographic projections that came to us in the year 2024, and you. Um, look out into 2028, 2029. That Clara Barton could balloon up to 670. 667 students, so we tried to put. that information in a graphic.
A bar graph so that with different colors, so that you would be able to kind of see where we are with that. Thank you, Nina Barati. And, uh, our second school, which is actually over capacity right now because of some different things that are a little bit different than what. Dr. Gripp presented in 2024. Dr. Gripp was, uh, not, uh, fully aware that at Horace Mann Elementary School, we take off 7 classrooms offline. 6 of them for our autistic spectrum disorder students, and one of them being a sensory classroom for those students.
So, we're already at 298, the school capacity is at 280. And we're looking at a projected enrollment of 349 students. in 2028, 2029. Now, you may be asking, this is elementary balancing, why is Rosa here? Um, but the second guardrail asked us to look at overcrowding where it exists. Right now, ROSA's current enrollment is at 785. the school capacity is 813.
Um, the projected enrollment for 2028-2029 is $864. So in keeping with the board's second guardrail. Um, even though this is not an elementary school, it is one of our 18 schools. that we're looking at in which overcrowding exists, and we need to make some determinations about that level of overcrowding. And what we're gonna do about it. So, our district work group, our administration.
Uh, looked at boundary adjustments, program analysis and building expansion as. exploratory ways to look at overcrowding. So for boundary adjustments, we took the liberty of reaching out to Dr. Gripp. Um, and his statistical analysis team. to come up with scenarios for boundary adjustment that address our 12 elementary schools. and also address the scenario in which we took the Lewis administration building and made that a 13th elementary school.
Um, in looking at that work, Dr. Gripp, over both of those scenarios was able to show us. That there would be a disruption rate of 534 students. Um, that would be disrupted in terms of boundary adjustments and moving them from one school to another to impact overcrowding. the two schools that would be affected the most would be Barton and Johnson. with 150 students at a 30% disruption rate, and Johnson with 268 students, um… at a 59% disruption rate.
So, in looking at boundary adjustment, that's a lot of disruption. We looked at. the community feedback, which we wanted to take into strong consideration. And the administration is not recommending boundary adjustments at this time. Let me say that again. The administration is not recommending boundary adjustments at this time. Okay, we can go home. So we took a look at program analysis, and.
in working with Ms. Mallory and Dr. Devee and. all of our team on our district work group. We were able to see that. Sure, there's some concerns with regards to. special education programming and some of our self-contained programming. But shifting programming could create additional stressors for students. and staff, and family. Ms. Mallory, over the last 5 years, has done a lot of work. with regards to her interactions with our supporting groups, Chasepta.
CPAG and her conversations with. with students and staff. and families about. movement of programs, even if they are outside of their, um, home school. area. So, we certainly don't want to move programs to alleviate overcrowding if it causes additional stressors, which. Are going to be problematic. With regards to special education programming. As we looked at ESL. each of our Westside schools has their own dedicated ESO.
Um, teacher and program, but as we look at the Eastside schools, we have an. A magnet at Sharp Elementary School. And we looked at the opportunity of creating an additional magnet to significantly support. Um, other ESL students on the east side, but even if we did, and more than likely we will. that will not significantly address overcrowding. So those were the two programs that we did some analysis for. to address overcrowding. Certainly, we wanted to take a look at building expansion, both from a temporary and a permanent expansion opportunities.
And we wanted to make sure that as we looked at them from a long-term sustainability standpoint, and that means fiscal sustainability as well, within this current fiscal climate. Uh, that we wanted to make sure that whatever decisions that we were making would be sustainable no matter what the fiscal. climate would be. We took a look at transportation efficiencies, but they were very much linked to our work around boundary adjustments, and since the… preliminary recommendation, um, from the administration is not going to look further at boundary adjustments to.
Um, address overcrowding, then we're not recommending. Um, we're very limited in terms of cost-effective ways. to address transportation, transportation routes, etc, because those routes are going to stay the same if we're not looking at moving. boundaries. So, our preliminary recommendations deal with. Uh, considering permanent building address additions at Clara Barton Elementary School and Rosa Middle School.
with an anticipated opening date of September 2028. The administration recommends that enrollment trends at Horace Mann Elementary School continue to be monitored. in the coming years, and we are going to make a recommendation that in January 2027, we go back to Dr. Gripp and his statistical team and look at demography work for 2027 to 2032, so that we can be much more. clear about our demographic studies. I think that that's going to be important for us, because in 2024, Dr. Gripp did not have.
the capacity of our pre-K universe and how that has expanded and will continue to expand. he'll have that information in greater detail in 2027, and that will help us as we look at Horace Mann or any other schools. That we think may be in danger of overcrowding. We also want to make sure that, um… Yep. In terms of that… our demographic study, that's where we are. So the cost associated with these preliminary recommendations deal with design, construction, staffing.
And building additions. capital projects could be covered by bond interest earnings. These are investment earnings from the bond referendum as a way. to finance some of these recommendations. Mr. Schemp has gone, um… And found out information about state code that this revenue is strictly. to be used for capital projects and nothing else, unless the law were to be changed by the current governor, which is.
Highly unlikely. Uh, then that's how this revenue would be used. Right now, we're looking at an estimated cost for each edition at Clara Barton and Rosa. 5 to 7 million dollars. Uh, we are not expecting an effect on the taxpayers, because this is bond. investment earnings from the bond referendum, so it would not affect. the taxpayers. So, we are looking for additional community input, but we're going to limit that to just the affected schools in which we're addressing the overcrowding for 2028.
2029, and that would be Clara Barton and Rosa. We'll work together with the Public Information Officer, those PTAs, and those communities. So that we can begin having conversations around, uh, what those. what those additions would mean, and what we would be doing leading up to that if the board accepts these preliminary recommendations. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you, Mr. Guy. Um, and just before we open it up for Board Member questions, I know there will be.
many questions. I just want to say that, you know. for me, the biggest thing I took away from the three listening sessions that we had out in the community, both at East and West and the virtual one. was that our choices for overcrowding really become. Are we going to shift students to where there are current available spaces in the district, which in a lot of ways would mean. busing kids away from the neighborhoods and the schools they're in to put them in other schools where there may be additional classroom capacity.
Or are we going to keep kids where they are? and add classroom capacity where the growth exists in the district. And I think that… after listening to the community, especially the feedback session at High School West, I felt like, for me. was really… transformational and kind of centering my thinking around. we know where the growth is going to be. The growth is going to be, if the Clare Barton community, we know that there's all these apartments going up, and those will be future Clara Barton students. So, the space should be… Where the students are. So… that's sort of just my… my take on this, sort of as a first shot, but I know many board members have a lot of questions.
And concerns, so I'm gonna open it up to other members. Mr. Greenbaum. Thank you, uh, Mr. Guy, thank you very much for this presentation and the recommendations. Um, I know a lot of thought, uh, and a lot of work went into this, particularly considerations for. Uh, for community input, for staff input, what people really wanted to see in a solution. Um… one thing I wanted to comment on is one of the board's guardrails was maximizing transportation efficiencies.
Um, interestingly enough, in order to do that. that kind of relies on moving boundaries, which is something that. community members who participated in were very much against. They don't want disruptions, and as Ms. Winter said. this proposal is to create space where the students are, not move students to where the space is. Um, but I do want to acknowledge that a solution that enables students districted to Barton to attend their home school. necessarily does achieve some of those transportation efficiencies. Um, it also creates an opportunity for students that live in the Barton sending area enrolled elsewhere.
Or, more importantly, future students that may have been forced to enroll elsewhere. to stay at their home schools. Um… One of the… one of the figures that you'll see if you go look at the demographic study is that we're looking at. An estimated 1,700 housing units coming online in Cherry Hill. Uh, within the next, now, 3 years. And 1,200 out of those 1,700 are all districted to Barton. So, I absolutely agree, it makes sense to make the space where the students are.
Um… The other thing I wanted to mention is another guardrail was considerations for special education, and while the recommendation was not to move entire programs around. specifically to address this issue, uh, and to maintain the integrity and. uh… efficacy of those programs. Uh, it also creates an opportunity to. potentially offer special programs at Barton. It creates the space for that. If, in the future, there's a specific need for that.
Um, the space limitations… would not be a reason why not to do that, and if that was the appropriate thing to do, this could potentially create the opportunity for that as well. Alright, and with that, I know my colleagues have. plenty to say as well, so I will wrap it up with that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Greenbaum. Can I just respond to one of your comments? First of all… Absolutely. Uh, neglected to say during our community feedback portion of the presentation that the Barton community, especially the Earlton South community at High School West, was very clear.
About what it meant, um, as it related to boundary adjustments and concerns around that. So we want to thank them, the Johnson community, the Knight community, the Stockton community. We're all very vocal, but Earlton South was definitely, um, at the top of the list as it related to that information, and they roll deep, and I see them here today, so thank you. Thank you. Um, with regards to Barton, um, there are a number of reasons why we have students currently not. Um, attending Barton, but are attending one of our other 11 elementary schools, 87 of those students right now.
Uh, for whatever reason, uh, forced enrollment, special education programming, etc. Um, are not. So, to your point, Mr. Greenbaum, we have the opportunity to capture. some of those students back with the potential recommendation around the addition, and it does deal with those 1,700 units that are coming. One way or the other, and they're a part of the Barton catchment, so thank you for that. I just want to say, before we go any further, that Earlton South, we see you.
And we hear you, and you were really, really effective in your advocacy for your neighborhood and your community and your school. And your advocacy. at that meeting at High School West really informed our thinking and decision-making around this. I want to thank you. Because the way that you presented yourselves and the articulate way that you showed us. what your school meant to you is really, I think, incisive and a reason why the recommendation turned out the way it is. So, thank you very much for bringing your input and feedback. other board members.
They have so many thoughts. Ms. Cummings. So, I have a question that relates back to, um… the potential 87 students, Mr. Guy, that, um, could be brought back to Barton. Um, will those students have the opportunity to remain. At the school they are now, if they chose, or will they automatically be sent. And then I have… can I just throw two in there?
My second question is, um, with the creation of, um, the special program space, the potential special program space at Barton. Will it help the alignment between which programs are offered at the elementary schools. and the middle schools that they feed into. Yeah, thank you for both questions. Uh, the first question is a bit nuanced, because a part of those 87 students are open enrollment students, so those are actually Barton families who.
have looked to find a space in another elementary school and have chosen to go. So I'm gonna actually kind of move that question over. to… that would probably be Dr. Mahan and the registration department, and I can find out a little bit more information for you. With regards to that, but there are opportunities within our registration department and our open enrollment policy for students and families to stay where they are, but there are some particularities that go with that. Um, with regards to special education alignment, and I do not want to misspeak for.
Miss Mallory, we, with an addition, you do have the opportunity to open up a space, whether or not that's going to be, uh, self-contained programming space. and realignment… We are unsure. It is a little too early to see that. I think it's very difficult to prognosticate. Um, our special education programming, because it shifts so much, and it's hard to kind of get a pattern on it, unlike our ESL programming. Uh, but there are potentials. for the opportunity for that to be a self-contained space and greater alignment by adding another self-contained program.
to the west side. Thank you. other board members. Um, so I have a few questions, um… do one at a time. Uh, Mr. Guy, can you please, um. Just… restate or clarify for me. At man, where, um, currently we have 298 students enrolled. Um, you talked about the special education classrooms, which obviously have a lower enrollment number.
lower number of students. Um, so… is the 280, which is… that is the… that's the line, correct? Yes. The capacity line. So, that number… is… is if every classroom had our maximum. number of students, is that correct? Ms. Mallory's nodding her head. So, if that's the case, and then we have 9. Classrooms. Yeah, we have 7 offline. I'm sorry, 7 offline, essentially, so that… to me, that sounds like.
Ms. Mallor's looking at me. Sorry, maybe I'm just looking at Ms. Malley. it sounds to me like we are absolutely. in terms of the number of students in the building who are… who are in the other classrooms. Aside from those 7. Um… we really, really are. highly condensed, I'm gonna use that word, I don't know the right, um, or highly, uh… concentrated in those, in those other classrooms.
Um… And it looks like we are projected to go above that number in 2 years. I guess I… I have a strong concern that we are currently not having any plan. whatsoever to address that. uh, concern, that issue. Um, and we are punting it. if I could just say so bluntly, so… That's a concern. I don't know if you have any, um, any thoughts on that? Yeah, so the administration did. you know, have a conversation around that, and we were looking at.
the strength and the success of the temporary classroom units at, um… at Carusi, and we were looking at… trying to align the timeline when those temporary classroom units will come offline, and whether or not. They would be available. two-man, if this overcrowding expansion continues the way that we. We think it might, um, and that was problematic. It was, it was like. a little bit too close to… because they're coming offline, um… 2728, and we're trying to put everything back online.
Um, these two editions for $28.29, but we did think about temporary classroom units. In the end, we… We wanted to move more swiftly with this preliminary. recommendation for the two editions, because. There… it takes about 2 years for those additions to be completed. Uh, I wouldn't want us to think that we have totally forgotten about Horace Mann, but we are. thinking about other opportunities, not necessarily. a full addition in those spaces. So, we're bringing this initial, um… recommendation, but we do… we're going to continue to monitor man and think about.
more opportunities. I think Dr. Borden has more to say. Thank you, Mr. God. Just to add as well, uh, we're… so… One of the things that Mr. Guy mentioned was the, uh, additional demographic study to be done in 2027. That would give us… five-year projections for moving forward from there. So while we have projections to suggest that. Man will be at 349. Uh, in 2028, 2029.
we're not quite sure what that will look like in the years after 28, 29. We don't know if that will… will hold just yet. We don't believe that it's sound or wise. to recommend, at this point, a permanent. addition onto that building, because those numbers haven't really been. a study there, and they're heavily predicated based upon. Uh, the programmatic design, as you mentioned, as well. So, that's why, you know, at this point, we said we wanna… we wanna monitor that. As Mr. Guy said, there's opportunities for temporary classroom units as well.
in the future as a stopgap. Um, but… but we'll see where we are in just a few years. Thank you. So just some follow-up, um… The TCUs that we're using at Carusi, are they rented or purchased? At this point. They're leased, so we don't own them. So whatever we're paying for them, which I think would be good information for the board if we could be provided for that, possibly this week. what they cost current day rates, just so we understand. Um, you know, because it sounds like. Um… there's a possibility we might need them at MAN.
Let's say. I'm just throwing… from what I'm… unless I'm mishearing. That's what I'm deducing from what you're saying. Um, and then, um… I think, you know, while I understand, and I think it makes sense to continue to. update our information from Dr. Gripp. you know, as I said to you in my email from our memo, our weekly memo, you know, these are… this has been in the works for 2 years now. You know, and I… I believe we have… we did it for a reason. We have clear data.
And things do shift, and they change, and we need to always take that into account. We did not have preschool. I think that's a very important. Um, piece of data, and… If I'm not mistaken, I recently understood that Cherry Hill grew by several thousand residents over the past several years. I mean, we've definitely. you know, I think word is out, um… For those who didn't know, we're a great place to live is, it's clearly here, and I think preschool is an amazing draw for our families.
Um, I guess I just… I'm just gonna kind of put this, you know, state it tonight. I'm concerned. For… um… We don't want to be reactive. We want to… we want to plan well, and I… I… in full support. Which I'll refer back to in a second, uh, regarding the, um, the expansion for, um, Barton. And Rosa, I'm in full support of that. I think it's necessary. Um, I don't want us to not… address the other school that we are, you know… I don't want us to not have a good plan in place for the likelihood.
Of what we're facing. So… Last question is, and I… I have not at all been involved in the rebalancing committee, so, you know, I'm just coming from memory here. There were other schools that were projected to be. over in, um, number capacity. I believe Stockton might have been one of them. I don't know what other schools were. I'm just wondering… If you could give a brief… Um… update about… are those numbers… in the original GRIP report, those were projected. Are those projections holding?
Um… We're two years out of the GRIP report, um, we actually… you all had a chance to see Woodcrest today with us, with the Board of Education and Schools. We are well below the threshold of. those numbers, you'll have a chance to go to Stockton tomorrow, well below those numbers. So we're continuing to monitor those schools. um, sharp and Knight are schools that we are monitoring right now because of enrollment concerns in the present day, but those from a demographic standpoint did not come up as.
two schools that their demography would. outweigh their, or outlast their capacity. So, all four of those schools, we're keeping an eye on. Um, we made preliminary recommendations around two schools. We would say the third school horse man is one that we are particularly keeping an eye on as it relates to programming. Um, and… how it continues to expand. But we're keeping an eye on Stockton, we're keeping an eye on Woodcrest right now.
the demographic numbers and. That's the problem with demography, you know, especially when you go out for 4 to 5 years. you… you never know, so… as good as Dr. Gripp's information is, it's incumbent upon us, and that's why Dr. Morton. Um, directed me last year to go to each and every school and go into each and every room and sit with principals to actually get. a capacity, because Dr. Gripp only has the information that we give him. He didn't know that there's 7 classes offline already.
at Horace Mann. He doesn't have all of our pre-K information. He can only go with the information that's given us. But in terms of us monitoring these programs, Sharp. night right now for capacity concerns, and continuing to keep an eye on Stockton and Woodcrest, because those are the other two schools. with, um, Barton, Kilmer, we're gonna continue to keep an eye on, especially because the majority of those pre-K students are going to come out. And they are going to be Kilmer cubs and coming with us, so we're watching that as well.
We're continuing to keep an eye on all of these areas, and if there are opportunities for us to be more proactive than reactive. we'll take advantage of those opportunities. Thank you. Uh, just final comment, and that is, um, I just really want to commend Dr. Morton. Um, and unfortunately. Mr. Schimp, it was your predecessor, but you're part of it now, um, for, you know, investing, having the forethought. to sell the bond, uh, the bond so early to then be able to invest the interest. I remember that discussion that.
That, um… You know, Dr. Walsh may have been here for that, too. It's now getting fuzzy. It was so long ago. But to have invested the money. essentially to… that the bond is paying an additional… I'm gonna call it kind of, uh, community dividend, so to speak, by… By simply smart investing and smart money management, um, our district is now going to have a, uh. Um, likely going to have funds to now enhance our schools even further.
than originally planned for in the original bond, and that's thanks to the community's willingness to support. The original bond, and to vote originally for the bond. Um, and thanks to, you know, smart fiscal management, which I think is an important, um. you know, peace, and being fully transparent with the community. Um, you know, we've got good people making good decisions, um, for the long term. Uh, when it comes to that stuff, so I really want to thank you, Dr. Morton, and your team.
Ms. Palmer. So, I want to acknowledge, you know, and I think… I think this is a sentiment that many of us share. I think when I… when I saw the initial recommendation, I was a little taken aback, just because of what the nature of our conversations leading up to it have been. Um… but I do think… I appreciate the fact that the reality is the anticipated population growth, the population growth that we're seeing, really is concentrated on the west side. and having just walked through many of our elementary schools today.
it's very clear that where there is physical building capacity. is further east, and so I… I think, you know, the thing that. we would have struggled with is how do you adjust lines? You end up then. busing kids from the west side to the east side just to. follow the physical capacity, um… So I appreciate the reality that, like, this… this is probably where we are, that you… you need to add physical capacity. where we expect the kids to be. Um, you know, I just want to be sure that we are intentional in how we do it.
Um, but I do, I appreciate, kind of, I'll call it the value add of being able to tap. to have the bond. Um… You know, so I look forward to seeing how this. plays out, I think I have just a lot of questions and thoughts swirling in my head. I want to make sure that we are setting ourselves up for long-term success. Um, but if the kids are on the west side, then we need to add capacity. on the west side. I mean, that is our reality. Otherwise, we're gonna jack up our transportation costs.
All of those other things. Um… You know, so that's where I am as of. Tonight, feeling a lot of things, but I appreciate… I appreciate the intentionality and the thought behind it. Um, and it is… as… non-disruptive as possible. Um, so thank you for that. Thank you, Ms. Palmer. I promise I will not retire before 28-29. So, um, Dr. Morton has asked me to ask Mr. Schimp some financial questions, but I'm going to pepper it with sort of a tough one, Mr. Schump, to start with, so I do apologize a little bit, but not really.
Can we go back to the slide where it said that there would be no tax impact expected on the community? I'm just gonna interrogate this a little bit, because while I understand that. the actual capital projects themselves could be covered by the bond interest earnings. the cost of staffing. those classrooms and any additional teachers, assistant teachers, administrators that would be needed. That is an additional cost that my understanding is could not be funded. by the bond interest earnings. So while I don't want to be Debbie Downer, and to be clear, I'm in support of the recommendation, I just want to make sure that we're all really clear on.
what the bond interest earnings are, where they came from, it's not a magical. pot of gold that we found at the end of the rainbow. Um, how much is there, how it would be used. And what part of these recommendations could be covered by that money? And what part of the recommendations would not be covered by that money, because we are setting ourselves up just to be clear, in my opinion, unless. I'm very far off here, Mr. Shimp, which is always possible, for additional impact. to the general budget. with staffing those new classrooms and administrators to support them.
So, an easy question, but a hard question involved as well. Yeah. Well, I think first and foremost. It's important to know that the investment earnings on those bond proceeds. are very limited in use, meaning. the Board of Education, really, by resolution. has, um… two options with these investment earnings. And by the way, this is all, um… managed by administrative code in 6A. It's very specific, so… the two options would be… that annually or, um, at the end of the projects, the Board of Education can either pass a resolution to move bond proceeds.
Um, into the debt service fund. Which would then be used to basically pay down the existing debt. Or, it could be transferred to the general fund and brought in as revenue. Where, um, you know, we would essentially create this. surplus. Uh, in the general fund, where then the board could take an additional action. to either through the budget process. Um, uh, the… you know, allocate those funds to our capital reserve account, or then do that in.
June to placing capital reserve, where the board could then use those funds to fund. future capital projects. The only other thing I would add is that. It's… again, the administrative code is specific. We do not have the ability to supplement the original bond itself. with those, um… investment earnings, meaning, you know, we can't, you know, then, you know, take the, you know. voter-approved $363 million in the projects that were laid out within that scope.
And then just start adding, uh… to it. So that, that would be the only real restriction, but those are the two options the board would have. It's also important to note that. Because the bonds are… interest, or uh, excuse me, tax-exempt bonds. Um, we are accruing an arbitrage liability on those investment earnings, meaning. that the board can only earn up to a certain amount.
on those proceeds. before we start accruing a tax liability to the federal government. That's something that, through my predecessor had set up through the NJ arm, where those funds were. invested, that's being monitored by that financial institution, and we receive annual reports. As to what that accrued liability is, and right now, it's about $4 million that we would be… that we would owe to the federal government in December. or January of 2028. Um, but I do want to say that.
Boeing, believe it or not, owing. those funds to the federal government is actually a good thing. And the reason that's a good thing is it means we have maxed out. our earning potential. on that original investment. So, you know, even in talking with our financial advisor, you know, people get scared to say, oh, you know, we've accrued this liability, but. Um… it just means that we've invested in a way where we've maximized what we are allowed to actually earn on those… on those investments, so… Uh, two very good things. I mean, at this point, as of June 30th, 2025.
the investment earnings were around $28 million, actually, on those… the original $300 million investment. So you subtract out or net out, you know, the 4-plus million current arbitrage liability. So there's about $24 million available. Um, for the board to utilize for those two things. Um, the second part of that is, yes, you know, if we. just like any other school, I mean, if we have an influx of enrollment, or enrollment increases, there's going to be additional demands on the operating budget in the form of additional teachers.
Uh, potentially, you know, additional administrators or guidance counselors, or whatever it may be. I mean, that's the case. Or would be the case in any school where enrollments were increasing and we have, um. class size limitations. Um, so yes, that will certainly be a general fund impact, but I wouldn't say. we're adding to the general fund because we're adding those classrooms, we're going to have the increase… the kids are going to be in these buildings. somewhere. Um, so the need to add additional teachers and supports would exist regardless.
Of the physical space editions. I think… Yeah, no, that makes sense to me, and actually, Adam, who is much smarter than I am most of the time. did whisper that in my ear, said, you're thinking about it the wrong way, the kids are gonna be there, and we're gonna have to have teachers to teach them. and administrators to, you know, run the schools and all that stuff, whether we build extra classrooms for them, or whether we put them somewhere else. And again, too, I think somebody else made the point that the other choice here is to start bumping kids to other schools, and that incurs additional transportation costs.
So the kids are going to be here. Whether we build classrooms for them, or we send them somewhere else, and we won't need teachers to teach them. So that… that does clarify my thinking. Thank you very much. I just want to make sure that people… I don't want it to be, you know. two, three years from now, people say, well, you said in this presentation there was absolutely no impact, that it was all going to be paid for. the investment earnings from the bonds, because the investment earnings from the bond money will pay for the physical. spaces. They're not gonna pay for. what it takes to actually run the classrooms in those spaces. Just before I move on to these other questions, Mr. Schimf, can you… you gave us the total amount of money.
Um… of the investment earnings. Can you just… and I understand this is a rough, rough estimate, but could you just give us a sense of, like. What portion of those investment earnings are we talking about using for these two. projects? Is it… most of it? Is it some of it? Is it just a small portion of it? Just so the community and the board can understand what we're talking about here? Yeah, you know, we have… some idea, and I've had conversations, certainly, with our professionals. I mean, you know, it's… a positive thing here, we just completed 8 classroom additions… I'm sorry, the addition of 8 classrooms at 2 of our.
Malberg and Kilmer, so we have some idea of what adding 8 classrooms would look like. And if you just take, um… those classrooms and, you know, the preschool classrooms that we added. had bathrooms in them, and they would be a little differently structured for the elementary levels. Um, but… rough estimates, you know, if you added 6 to 8 classrooms plus gang bathrooms onto each of those buildings, we're probably in the… $7 million, uh, neighborhood for each project, so… Again, very rough.
future estimates. No, and I appreciate that. Nobody's gonna hold you to that number, but I'm just trying to get a sense of size and scope here, right? Because we have this total… we have these additional funds. You know, and I don't want people to be concerned that we're. Just gonna put all that money into these. This would be a portion of those earnings. to solve this enrollment problem, correct? Correct. Um… And I would never… I wouldn't recommend you, again, because we… We will continue to earn additional, uh.
interest on the remaining funds and that arbitrage liability will continue to grow, so we have to be mindful of that and ensure. That… enough interest proceeds exist at the time this bill comes due with the IRS, because we certainly don't want to tap into our general fund. to pay that down. So we'll be mindful of that, um… As well, for sure. Thank you. I did see a couple more board member questions.
Ms. Palmer. Um, so Mr. Schimp, and I apologize if you said this explicitly and I missed it. I just want to clarify, so we could… Move those earnings into the general fund. I have my own feelings about, like, one-shot revenue streams. Are we limited in what we could then do? Then are we limited to only spending that money on capital, or could we say… We have a big budget deficit this year, we could plug a hole. Again, I'm not saying that that is the financially prudent decision.
But are we limited in how we spend that money once it's in the general fund? Yeah, I would say, you know, with… with our initial interpretation of the administrative code. by it saying that we can transfer the funds into the general fund, I would say we would have flexibility. with those funds, I don't think… it doesn't specifically state that it has to be utilized on capital projects. However… an influx of one-time non-recurring revenues. I would never advise this board to… and I know you said this, you preemptively said it in your question.
Um, that would not be an intelligent or wise use. Um, to, you know, kick our budgetary problems down the road a bit by utilizing these funds to… to… to fund recurring expenditures. So, um… I would highly recommend that these funds be utilized or dedicated for. One time. type costs. Thank you. For the record, I agree 1000%. I just… I anticipate the question and the… conversation, so… Mr. Fain. Okay, so I have a lot of different varieties of questions, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to ask these, so I'll continue that conversation a little bit, if you don't mind.
Um, a little bit of clarity for myself specifically, but hopefully for the board as well. When you're saying revenue, and that money is coming in. Last year, we were faced with the fact that we taxed so much that we lost a certain stream of funding from the state. maybe that's not the best way to put that in words, but we no longer get equalization aid, is that the piece that we don't get anymore because of. That… it's… that's… it's accurate that we did not receive equalization aid, but it's not accurate that. Because you raised the local tax levy, that that took away those funds. Okay. That's… those are two completely separate issues. Okay, thank you for that clarity.
According to the… the reason we're not receiving equalization aid is because the formula is stating that we're not taxing to the capacity. that we should be. Okay. So, I guess my question is, by receiving that money, I know it's kind of… I don't know why we would ever not take that money, we earned it on the bond, um… But my question is, will the… or as far as you know, you might not even know the answer to this question, but. Will that affect what our district looks like in terms of. any of that from the state. Will they look at that as you now are getting even more money, and that will potentially affect.
further funding. No. Okay. No, these interest invest… these earnings would not impact. the state… the state funding formula in… at all. Okay, thank you, that's super helpful. Um, my other question is, back to the slides of this… I'm redirecting, like I said, it's all over the place with my questions. Back to the slide where we talked about Barton and the increase… our predicted increased amount of students. The 8th… oh yes, the 667. So these projected numbers, is this from the GRIP study?
Yes. Okay, so I… this is more of a comment, and something just for my fellow board members to think about when we make this decision. is we're using these. these numbers from the GRIP study, but also recognizing that there's other areas in the district that the GRIP study is not accurate on. So I think that that's an important piece of information for us to consider moving forward with whatever decision that we do make. Um, in addition to this question, my. other question would be, the number that you're… that we're giving for.
Um, the… comparing it to the 8 classrooms is… Have we decided, or have we… gotten a ballpark decision. I know nothing is set in stone yet, on how many classes we would be building. on either of those schools? Is it just essentially enough to offload this number of increase? Are we giving some wiggle room? Like, what is… how do we make, as a board, how do we make the determination on how many classrooms we're building on each school, so that. We're fiscally responsible, but also addressing. the needs, and maybe giving ourselves a little buffer if, man, 5 years from now.
is complete… even farther beyond what GRIP has. found, or whatever that looks like. How are we making that decision? Does that make sense, that question? Okay. I could… do you want to… I could take a piece of it, um… you know, I would say… once a decision is… if a decision, or when a decision is made to proceed with. building additions, then those conversations would begin as far as design. And, um, it certainly would take into account programmatic needs.
Uh, as well as the capacity needs. So that would be difficult to answer right now. However. It's important with the timelines, you know, to shoot for. you know, an opening of these new classrooms in September of 2028. Um, our design professionals would need at least 24 months. Um, notice. So this is a decision that. Fortunately or unfortunately, we don't have to make, you know, prior to… September of 2026. Okay, thank you. Um, another question that I asked, this is kind of going back to a previous, um, committee meeting that we had that I think is a…
I'd like to present it at… in the public meeting, because I think this is an important thing to discuss. We… so we… recognize that Barton will have a significant increase because of the housing that's being built on the west side. And we know that Rosa is already at a point at which they essentially needed these classrooms a while ago. A question that I presented in… in this… I guess this would probably maybe be for Dr. Morton, a question… or, uh, Mr. Guy. Um, I had asked about what our… our thoughts were with the impact on Karusi, and whether or not Carusi… we acknowledge that Barton needs.
support, physical support, will that affect our needs at Carusi? knowing that Bart In feeds into Kreusy. I know that there's plenty of space at West, but if you could just comment what you had mentioned in our meeting. Yeah, so there would… there would be impacts on Karusi, uh, with the understanding that. Uh, there are great progressions. As students come in, they matriculate upwards, it takes about 6 years to move throughout the elementary program. Whereas it takes 3 years to move through the middle level program.
Karusi currently has about a capacity for about 1,000 students. They have about 900 students now. Um, there's about 100 seats available. We're comfortable with the grade level projections. that they'd be fine, uh, with the… with any increases as they, uh, are represented on this chart. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure that point was mentioned, because it was a discussion that we had, considering we are looking at. The impact that this has on the middle level, and I just wanted to make sure that was out there. And so my last elephant in the room that I'd like to discuss, and we kind of tipped on this a little bit already, but I think we're now at a place where we really need to be having honest conversations about this.
I think from… you've heard from many board members that this makes the most sense, is to. give room where the room is needed, but it's still not addressing the fact that we. One already can't afford half a lot of the things that we currently sustain in the district. Last year, we made really difficult decisions. To adjust our middle schools. Um, to support our budgetary needs. And moving forward, transportation still. is consistently a huge cost for us, and I'd like to, if somebody could give a little bit of insight.
on what our plans are moving forward, and some of the decisions that we may at the board need to make. beyond just building classrooms to address some of our financial needs, knowing that this year alone, we're probably looking at a really. difficult budget season, not that they all aren't very difficult, but… this year alone. So, some of the decisions that we're going to have to make at the board level will offset, not to rain on anyone's parade, I think it's happy news that we have this money, and we have. the ability to build school, or build classrooms so that we're not disrupting a huge population of the district.
And I think that's fantastic. I also am in support of doing that. My concern is that, like, we've all mentioned here, it's still not addressing a lot of the needs and guardrails going into this process, so if. I don't know who… this is kind of a general question, if we can just… have an open discussion about some of the hard things that we predict we'll have to look into and discuss. About budgets. Well, I mean, I think… I think this is… I think it's really a budget… discussion, which is going to be happening in the next couple weeks, but I think where you're pointing to, and which I would echo, is that.
You know, we've been having a long conversation on the board about transportation costs, because. transportation is one of the biggest drivers of. the budget that we can get our hands around as board members, right? We know the cost of busing keeps going up every year. I know that, you know, we can only tax a certain amount, there's a cap on taxes, and yet the cost of busing is, even if we maintain the same routes year over year, it continues to increase, right? And I think there was a hope on the board, or an expectation is maybe too strong of a word, but certainly, um.
I had said, from a leadership perspective, that I didn't really want to talk about. how the board could address transportation costs until we got this recommendation. Because if the recommendation had been to change bus routes. then that would have been the start of the conversation about transportation efficiencies. Because the administration's recommendation is not. to adjust. Um, bus routes to achieve those efficiencies. I think the board is going to need to look elsewhere, and I think that's what you're pointing to. I think now that… assuming that the board.
what I'm hearing, I don't want to prejudge anybody's decision, but generally, I'm hearing support for this proposal. If that is what we decide to do with respect to rebalancing, that is great, but to your point, Renee. it doesn't address making our busing more efficient, and therefore the board will have to pursue other avenues. Of containing our transportation costs going forward, and I think that's a real conversation for the budget as we move into March and April. Yes, thank you. I just… I think that it… I don't want to downplay the happiness of falling on a pot of money, so yes, like, it's very exciting that we have the opportunity to expand the district, because we very clearly need it, and I know that there are community members that ask this question at our town halls, why can't we just build classrooms? Why can't we use the temporary classroom units?
we had a robust discussion. You heard that discussion here tonight. Um, and I'm very… glad and grateful for the opportunity to build. the classrooms. I just… I don't, again, don't want to be the downer, but it's the reality that we are now continuing to face very difficult decisions. And I just want the community to understand. That, with this comes additional difficult decisions that we will have to make, so… Yes, this… building the classrooms won't impact tech, the tax.
where we are with taxes, but we already discussed the financial need for. teachers and all of that stuff, and again, yes, I know those kids would have to go somewhere, but the reality is we will be faced with very difficult decisions. Absolutely this year, and for the next very close couple of years, specifically on transportation. And potentially other places, and I don't want us to lose sight of that, and I don't want. the community, because recently, I've personally had a few people.
express their frustrations with increasing taxes and all this stuff specific to the schools, and. it's… it's just very important for us to be real about the situation that we're in with money and finances. I don't want to… you guys do a fantastic job. I'm very excited about your shimp, about your views on the budget, and it's very new for us, and, um, with the zero-balance budgeting and stuff like that. I'm excited to see where that takes us. I think you'll hopefully find a lot of opportunities there. It's, again, it's just important for us to.
talk about the elephant in the room, and… this is a great opportunity, but it is also not addressing the concerns that we've continued to be. shocking, disgusting. Ms. Stern. Yeah, I mean, I think just kind of a, you know. echoing what Mr. Fain is, you know, what you're saying. I mean, I think that. And it's interesting, because I think, you know, we all. are part of this community. We talk to a lot of different people. Sometimes people just.
Talk to us, it happened to me recently, someone I. didn't know knew that I was on the Board of Ed, apparently knew I was on the Board of Ed, and… We were talking about school stuff. Um, you know, I… and I understand completely. why, you know, um… Solutions may look very clear from one view. you know, um… and… and one person's reality is one person's reality, you know. many people's realities are shared in this community, but. I do want to say, you know, they're, you know. People say all the, you know. two things can be true at the same time. Um, many things can be true at the same time, and what I just kind of.
Um, year after year scene is that, um… our community highly values, highly, highly values, and it's a huge part of our identity as a community. excellent schools, excellent education. that comes at a price. And when you look at what are the. multiple things that are true at the same time. The multiple things that are true at the same time are. a highly qual… high-quality education. Um, with experienced people.
who are… who… the majority of whom in public education. have… we have contractual obligations to them. And with them, for a good reason. Um, there… and we have a… Uh, very limited amount of aid coming from the state, who the state says. Based on real numbers from your town. your population has an income level that warrants a very small amount of us… of state aid coming to your town. Mr. Stern, I don't want to, like, interrupt your flow, but I feel like we're veering off the topic of enrollment balancing and into the budget conversation. So I'll come back to exactly the last point around that, and that is, you know.
whether it's busing and looking at our busing. whether it's… it's… and this is, to your point, Mrs. Winters. Um, there is no doubt that if we haven't, as Mr. Shimp said, if we have an increased number of students. We are either going to have to increase our class cap size. Which is something that is… you know, a third rail conversation, but is a real conversation. We're either going to increase the number of students in every classroom.
to accommodate, so we don't have to add staff, or we're gonna have to add staff. It's… it… so those are, you know, to… It comes into the budget conversation. And those are all the real things. That's the real talk, right? So, as a community, ultimately, we are deciding, and we're listening to community voice. This. this outcome took many of us on the board by surprise, right? But ultimately, it was community voice that really drove this.
And I think community voice… There are many voices, um, but, you know, to that point. you know, these are… there are only a few kind of levers that we have. And we're gonna have to figure out, you know, the majority of the right. decision in that direction. Stay tuned for an exciting budget discussion. I'm gonna go to Dr. Dreisen, who is joining us remotely tonight, because he had a few questions. Dr. Dryzen, go for it. Thank you, Ms. Winters. Um, thank you, Mr. Guy and team, for the presentation.
Thank you, Mr. Fain and the committee, because I think the committee's done great work. Particularly with the community input sessions, and I just want to thank… this board discussion has been great, and so, actually, a number of the questions I had. have already been raised, so I've really learned a lot from this discussion. Um, two quick comments, then, and one question. Um, just to put it out there publicly, I actually, and I'm responding in real time here, I really echo and align with a lot of what Ms. Stern said in her initial comments. Um, just to summarize, and I think I'm summarizing one, um, just to be clear, support for the recommendations outlined in this proposal.
an interest, though, more broadly speaking, in being proactive, not reactive. And a credit to Dr. Morton and the team. really with the foresight to be able to have these additional funds available. So, agree on all of that. Um, the second comment I just want to quickly make, and maybe it's my misunderstanding, but it may be reflective of community members' misunderstanding. And so this may be more of a communication point, but just in terms of some feedback, when we set up those guardrails. That second one, address overcrowding where it exists. I did read that and interpret it all within the context of elementary rebalancing.
So this… it was just a bit of a surprise when Rosa came up. Um, that, as I mentioned, I support it, but that, um, so that just was some feedback, and community members may have that feedback, too, when they're hearing these recommendations for the first time. So, that's just something for us to consider. As we continue this work in other projects. Um, and so… and then my question, um, though, um, relates back to the, um. the bond interest earnings, um… And a lot of the questions were already asked and answered, so I appreciate it. This is the first time we're talking about these funds.
And so… and this is the district's recommendation. Just for the board's sake, though, one of the questions I had in this week's memo was. You know, taking a step back. with these funds, is there, like, a wish list in terms of capital projects, Mr. Schimp, like, if we limit these one-time funds to. capital projects, removing elementary rebalancing from, you know, from being the topic of discussion. Where would we want to have capital projects spent? Maybe it is to address elementary rebalancing, I just want to at least have that discussion here as a board.
Are there other topics that could benefit from. These funds so that we're being thoughtful in that regard. Thank you. Uh, you know, yes, uh, Dr. Dreisand, I mean, there are certainly other. capital needs the district has outside of the bond, as you probably, or as you know. Um, the bond was actually scaled back considerably from the original estimates. So, um… you know, the district over the last couple years has supplemented.
some of those things that were removed, i.e. Furniture, um… in these spaces, um, through the use of capital reserve funds, and that's one of the things I brought up. I believe it was in December, the Committee of the Whole, when we were talking about. very early budget projections and things. is that we, in addition to budgetary issues, we have also depleted our capital reserve account to. The point now is we're under $4 million. The other piece of that. is the board at the time committed. to paying $4 million a year towards the principal on the debt.
via that capital reserve fund. So, um… That's why I made it a point, what I was saying earlier about the statute, we have the ability to transfer these funds. to two places, either the general fund or the debt service. So, additional discussions and decisions will have to be made about the board's continued support. To pay down that debt. Uh, you know, at the level of $4 million a year. I know that was not a… necessarily a formal commitment, so there are… we have options with that, and we'll have to.
take a look at how that looks. I mean, some of the initial reports I saw before the bomb was even passed. had included, uh, anticipated interest. and utilizing said interest to assist with the paying down of the debt. Um, so yeah, I, you know… I would never say that there aren't going to be capital needs that we would love to be able to utilize capital reserve funds for to fund, because we don't want the operating budget to be hit with that. Um, even this year alone, as, you know, the budget requests have come in, and we're deep into administrative review here.
Um, there are a lot of things, and most of those are things that were pulled out of the bond. Uh, telecore systems, like I said, furniture. Um, other security camera-related type things, so… it's hard to say, but again, you know, if we put these additions on and we use these funds to do it where it doesn't negatively impact the operating budget, and it doesn't increase taxes. That's a great thing, and then consider that there's probably going to still be 10 plus million dollars on top of that for those other type of projects.
That's really helpful. Thank you, Mr. Chimp. Even just to help. In the future. I don't think I fully understood what you were saying then initially when you said that one option was. you know, to pay down debt. And so, um, I guess then just to clarify then. when the district is recommending tonight in this presentation, at least as a potential recommendation, to use these funds for. these purposes. Is the district recommending that this is the best use of those funds? in light of all those other potential uses.
Yes, Dr. Dreisen. All right, anybody else before we close this conversation? Just want to add one quick thing, too, I had on my mind about the use of the temporary classrooms. Um, and I know it's been suggested throughout the way, just keep in mind. That… if a school district were to plan and wanted to utilize temporary classroom units, that has to go to the DOE. Uh, for efficiency review. And keep in mind, temporary classrooms are exactly that. They're meant to be temporary, so even if we do utilize those classrooms, we're going to have to lay out a plan for the eventual.
Um, whether it be construction or additions, or prove that these are. you know, blips, so to speak, in enrollment. Thank you, that's helpful. Any other board member comments before we close this conversation? Alright, seeing none… Thank you all for a very productive conversation. And I'm sure we're gonna have more discussion moving forward. There will be community meetings. at both Barton and Rosa. So, anybody who's interested in that, stay tuned. I expect there will be also.
more discussion here at board meetings as we move toward… it would have to take board action. If this is something that we want to pursue, the board would need to vote on that. Um, so that will be coming soon. So, next on our agenda is first public comment, but before we get there, just because I see a lot of community members here, I just want to. Because I don't want anybody to feel that we did not. hear your voice. If you wanted to talk about this topic in particular, because we're not voting on it tonight, it would fall into second public comment, which is all the way at the end of the meeting. And I do want to warn you that in between.
Now and then, there's a board work session, which is… Okay. They feel… I just want to be sure, because we're going to have first public comment now, but that's only for board action items, so that's for items we're voting on this evening. I didn't want you to feel like you didn't have a chance to get your voice heard. If there are community members who don't feel like staying for this entire show, in all of its amazing nature. and do want to comment to us, we always appreciate comments sent via email to our board email addresses. We do read those, or you're welcome if you need to go home and get kids to bed, or whatever you need to do.
you can always zoom in and call in at second public comment if that's more convenient. Not that I'm kicking anybody out, but I do… just want to recognize that it's a long night, and you've been here for a while already. And you all have small children. Like, we all. Thank you so much. And with that… Goodbye, Arlton South. And with that, we are going to move into first public comment. There will be two opportunities for public comment this evening.
This first public comment session is for Board Special action item… oops. Yes, action items only. If you wish to speak on any topic other than what appears on the agenda, you may speak during second public comment, and speakers must provide their name and municipality. Students, if you're a student, you may comment on any topic during first public comment period by identifying yourself as a student that's either in the room by coming up to the microphone, identifying yourself, or if you're online, if you put an S after your name, I will be sure to call on you first. We will alternate between speakers here in the room and those wishing to comment online. Each speaker has 3 minutes to speak, and the timer on the screen will indicate the amount of time remaining.
All statements, questions, or comments will be addressed to the Chair, and your inquiry may or may not be addressed by district administration at the close of the session. So, I'm going to open the first public comment period now. I'm going to start in the room as we do by custom. If you would like to make first public comment, please approach the microphone, give us your name, municipality, and the action item you are speaking on this evening. Rick Short, Cherry Hill. Speaking about 21.3.
has to do with the cost of, uh, the Barton and. Kingston Vestibule System. vestibule system. Um, the original numbers look to come in around. $600,000? But the, uh, cost you're voting on tonight is $2 million. So, I believe you're, uh, about $1.4 million over budget. Um, some of the questions you should be asking is, I mean, I just want to triple check this, is that this is a bond, right? This is a bond.
project. It's not a capital reserve project. So if it's a bond project. That means that there's another 25% soft cost added. Which means now it's about $2.5 million project. So, have you seen these blueprints yet? Do you have any idea what's being used in the, you know, to put it together? Is it silver hardware? Is it gold hardware? Is it gold bathroom toilet seats? I mean, what are you spending money on?
I mean, this is, like, what? almost $2 million overrun. For two… front offices? $2 million! Okay, here we go. Are you gonna have enough money. Uh, to do the windows. Because, you know, we want to be green. Are you gonna have enough money. to replace the doors, which you still haven't replaced, which stores still can't lock in our school with.
Under a lockdown. So that doesn't make much sense. That… you're over-budgeting almost $2 million, and you might run out of money. to replace doors that don't lock in a lockdown. It's the same thing over and over again. You talk about fiscal… responsibility. is anyone going to ask a question? About this. Cost overrun. And again… The community, no one knows what the blueprints look like.
Is it an additional classroom that you're adding? I don't know, and again. The hardware. So… wish you knew more, wish the public knew more. Not too transparent. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going online, the first caller, it's Nora's dad. Please unmute, give us your name, municipality, and the action item you're speaking on this evening.
Hi, yeah, my name's, uh, Bill Kenney. I am a parent of two kids at Clara Barton. And, um… I just was curious if people had looked… I know we were… I like the plan. And I've… Mr. Penny, this is first public comment, so this is only for items the board is voting on this evening. If you want to call in and comment about the presentation we just received, that second public comment, and that's all the way at the end of the meeting. All right, then I will wait for the end of the meeting. Thank you.
Okay, thank you so much, we appreciate it. Going back to the room, is there anyone else who would like to make first public comment this evening? And I'm in Cherry Hill. 22.2, the retirement of Sherry Latanzio out of Kingston. Thank you, Sherry, for all those years that you provided to the students at Kingston. Um, I've known you for a long time. But I certainly hope that you enjoy retirement. Thank you for your comment. Looking back online, I don't see anybody else for first public comment tonight. Going back to the room, is there anyone else for first public comment tonight?
On board action items. Sarah, Jocelyn, Cherry Hill. Um, I heard Mr. Short's comments, and I would just like to encourage that there be clarity made about this. Because my understanding, this is among a series of additional vestibules. Where the first one has already been done as a demonstration project.
And now we're moving forward. So I think it, um… It behooves us to understand the details of the nature of the first one, cost, and is this truly that much of an overrun? Uh, because this would be a continuing process. And of course, the board does monitor these things, and I'm sure that Mr. Schiff knows all of the answers. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. going back online, the next person is Jim Neary. Please unmute, give us your name, municipality, and the action item you're speaking on.
Yes, actually, Laurie Neary, Cherry Hill. Um, I just also wanted to speak to action item. Um, 22.2, the retirement of Ms. Latanzio. I just wanted to wish her all the best in her retirement. She was an excellent educator that served my children, especially my oldest well. And she will definitely be missed. Thank you. Thank you… thank you for your comment. Going back to the room, is there anyone else who has first public comment this evening?
I see no takers. Going back online. Is there anyone else who would like to make first public comment? Seeing no one, I'm going to close first public comment this evening. And we are going to move on to correspondence. Mr. Shimp, have you received any correspondence on behalf of the board? No correspondence to report. Thank you. Moving on to Superintendent's report, Dr. Morton. Thank you, Ms. Winters. Just a few things for me.
Uh, first and foremost, just for everyone's general awareness, um, students, sorry. But, uh, Monday is our snow makeup day. Alright, so Monday we are in session. For schools, so just as a reminder, uh, the 16th of this month is an official school day. Uh, good news for students, the 17th. uh, still remains a day of no school for students. However, for staff, that is a staff in-service day, so we'll be in session. Uh, for staff in service on the 17th. I heard it referenced today, and I'm certain someone will probably talk more about it. I'm not gonna steal the thunder, but today, uh, many of our board members participated in what we called.
Uh, BOE and our schools day. It was a great opportunity for board members to. For us to peel back the curtain, as we said, to operational excellence, but really. And truly, it was a great opportunity for board… for our board members to have an opportunity to interact. Um, with our schools, students, staff. there was some lunch duty performed. There was a sorting ceremony that took place today. it was… it was truly wonderful, but… but more than anything, I just wanted to say thank you again.
for the dedication of your time. You know, that was… it was, uh… There was tremendous for me to, um, observe the interactions and, uh, validating for our staff, so thank you. Uh, I do want to speak to one other thing. Uh, on Friday, students at High School East, uh, held, uh, a student protest. Those students were protesting, my understanding, um… their concerns about some things that were happening nationally. Uh, there are many questions that came forward about just general protests, how that goes about.
Um, does the district co-sign protest? Do we allow protests? We shouldn't allow protests. received a number of emails to that effect as well. Um, student demonstrations, disorder demonstrations is, uh, sort of, um… contained in policy or policy 5520. And it speaks to how the administration is to interact with students. Uh, first and foremost, it's not the job of teachers, administration, staff. to espouse their political viewpoints or other viewpoints on students, and to have students execute.
a demonstration or something aligned with a teacher or staff member's viewpoints. That is… that is not… acceptable, appropriate, it's not something that we endorse. Or promote. Uh, what happens, though. Our students are socially aware, they're socially conscious, and students are becoming more and more, uh, politically active and. and driven. Uh, when students… Make… bring awareness to the fact that they would like to do some sort of demonstration. There's a few criteria that the administration goes through, and working with the students. The policy protects their right.
to engage in a peaceful. demonstration that does not disrupt instruction. or the orderly operations of the schools. But if a student is interested in walking out, for instance, as they did, they walked out and missed one class, if they're interested in impacting their own personal experience, walking out. peacefully demonstrating, uh, the… administration and the staff. is compelled to respect the wishes of those students. And that's exactly what happens.
We respect the wishes of students to do that. And what that means is that students are still under our care as, um… As an educational institution, so if they are outside of the school building, we're going to ensure that the kids. are safe. We're going to give them healthy parameters. Again, the expectation is that they do… they do not disrupt the. orderly operations of the school and of the school district. Um, if they're able to do that and do that fine. What they incur are the natural consequences associated with their behavior.
So, on Friday, the kids were compliant. They did what the staff asked them to do. They went outside. They want a route in the building, then came back ultimately in. Ultimately, the students missed, uh, one period of class. I believe there were 200, 250 kids or so. that participated. Each one of those students who missed class are marked absent for class, and marked for cutting. Accordingly, because essentially that's what it was. Now, dependent upon where students lie or fall.
Within, uh, the attendance policy. appropriate consequences come forward. If a child. has had a series of cuts. And they have violated that infraction before. That child may be called in, and there may be a disciplinary consequence assigned. If it's the first infraction. There may not be a disciplinary consequence in the sense of. some type of detention or other, uh, other approach. Uh, so… but nonetheless. Uh, our job is to work with the students, respect their right to, you know, to demonstrate if that's what they choose to do.
Uh, but in no way, shape, or form does the district, um. coerce students to engage in any type of demonstration or behavior. So, just wanted to share that. Thank you. Thank you. Next on the agenda is old businesses. Any board member have any old business they would like to raise? I see, Dr. Dreisen. Thank you for the email. Has one item for old business, because I would not have seen you online, so I appreciate the email.
Go ahead, Dr. Jizen. Thank you, Ms. Winters, and it's actually Dr. Morton, thank you for your comments just now on the, um. You know, activities related to demonstration. My only question, building on your comments, is. Will this skew chronic absenteeism data? Can you just clarify for the public if a student misses one. is marked absent from one period, will that then impact our data? And if so, is there a way to carve that out as we then try to analyze. Chronic absenteeism down the road.
Yeah, it's a good question. Their absence… they were… I believe they were absent from third period? The third period class, Dr. Byrne? Yeah, so, no, it wouldn't impact chronic absenteeism. So there's two different things at the high school level, specifically. There is a daily attendance that's taken. Uh, so that… whether a kid is in school or not in school, and then this period-by-period attendance. So period-by-period attendance is where, uh, we incur class cuts, right? So if you are marked. present for the day, but you're absent from the fourth period, or the second period.
That child would be marked cutting for those two periods if they didn't leave to go home. So, period by period attendance doesn't. uh, impact chronic absenteeism, daily attendance impacts chronic absenteeism. Daily attendance is captured, first period. At the high school level. Thank you. Do any other board members have old business this evening? Okay, then I'm going to move into our board work session. And I am first with the CNI report. Cni met.
Um, on February 2nd, you guys have, and the community has, the notes in the agenda, so I'm just gonna move through this fairly quickly, unless there are questions. We heard information on summer programming, believe it or not, even though all this ice and snow, we are planning for a summer. We talked about, um, ESY, which is our extended school year program. PSAT and college essay, summer enrichment programs, those are the classes students can take at the high schools for grades 6 through 12. summer music program, and SAC. So we received information on all of those, planning for summer 2026.
We also had a couple of policies on first reading. They were all related to freedom to read, and the. implementation of that state law and how that impacts our policies. Those are reviewed by the committee and will be sent over to P&L for their review. there were no changes coming out of CNI. We felt that they just basically followed the statute. The bulk of our committee meeting was taken up with an update from Dr. Birdie and also his. team from the middle level, including the three middle level principals and some teachers on the junior high model.
This was because the committee decided that since we're about halfway through the year, the, um… We're starting the second half of the year now. We wanted to get a checkpoint on how the junior high model is going. If there were any lessons learned so far, anything that needed to be tweaked or adjusted, and what we could expect moving forward. So just, there's a lot of information, but just to summarize, I think the biggest thing that came out of it was the biggest need. that was found was the need for additional teacher planning time for teachers to coordinate amongst themselves, which is something they used to have.
every day is my understanding under the old teaming model, and do not have currently. They are working to find creative ways to build that into the junior high model. But it's not the scale and scope that used to exist. And so, the teachers actually were really wonderful in articulating how that impacts. their ability to, um, coordinate among themselves when they're serving students. Not that students aren't getting served. But that it's additional challenge, too. communicate with each other and talk about what they're seeing with their particular student, how they may be able to more robustly support them.
So, there was also feedback on other things, but that feedback tends to be mixed. Some people like the win period at the end of the day. Some people do not. Some people like the split lunch, and some people do not. But the lack of common planning time seemed to be the place where everybody agreed that a change needed to be made, so… Dr. Birdie, you can chime in if I'm getting this wrong, but my understanding is that that is where the team is going to focus its efforts, looking towards next year, to see if there's a way. to build in more common planning time for our teachers and staff to help them serve the students better.
Did I capture that okay for you? That is, uh, that was excellent, it's a great summary. Um, and to that… to that end, uh, we did meet with the VIN committee again this afternoon, so… One of the promises we made to the board. Uh, last year when we started to think about the transition was that we would continue to meet with the. junior high scheduling committee, and also the VIN team. Uh, to continue to, uh, look for checkpoints during the year. Um, to make enhancements and to improve the product. So that is a good summary, very good summary, and um… We are continuing that work, um, ongoing throughout the spring.
Thanks so much, and I think from the board level, we're just looking to support your work, so we understand that this concern has been identified, and we're just looking to see how, going forward, we continue to support. The last thing that we talked about was, um, Dr. Dreisen raised in new business questions about the preschool curriculum. Which, um, is interesting, because preschool does fall under CNI. Last year, we had. kind of created a special working group for preschool, a special committee under preschool. That committee has not met. yet this year, so I promised I would follow up with some information about our preschool curriculum to the committee.
Which I did. If there are further… we're sort of working through that information. If there are further questions, um, we'll find a way to either. work on that through CNI, or to convene the preschool committee. One of the things that Dr. Dryson brought up, and I see Dr. Drysen, you have a question too, so you can… I'll have you chime in and clarify if I get this wrong. But he raised, um, questions about why in our Cherry Hill Preschool program. Um, we have… mixed-age classrooms, ages 3 and 4. So that was something that we talked about, that that's the model that we had in Cherry Hill prior to preschool expansion. It's a model we currently have, and it's preferred by the state.
And Ms. Monsano and I, who have had preschoolers in the public preschool program. And Mr. Fain talked about the benefits of the mixed-age, um. program for students. Dr. Tryson, I see that you have another question or comment, so if you would like to chime in, and then I'll turn it over to every other board member. Thank you, and I think this is it. I apologize for being active here tonight. Never apologize for that, we love it. But, um… Thank you for the summary on the CNI meeting. Um, regarding the presentation, you know, the check-in on the junior high model. Um, one question that came up, and we actually spoke about it earlier in this meeting, is that a reason for the transition for middle school to junior high model.
was because some of the budgetary challenges we faced. And so, a question either for Mr. Schimp or for Mr. Greenbaum. was just, are we seeing financial savings? And I'm not sure what's prepared or what's able to be shared publicly, but just. At a high level, are we seeing those sorts of financial savings that we hope to achieve. Um, as part of that transition from. A middle school model to a junior high model.
Sure, I can take this. Thank you, Dr. Dreisen. So the change to the… Uh, the junior high model, uh, strictly impacted staffing, so the impact was immediate. Uh, there's a reduction in staff at the middle school level. Uh, the majority of those staff members were reassigned elsewhere. It's always a tough decision when. something impact staff, uh, but the short answer is yes, the realization of those savings was immediate through the reduction of the staff needed at the middle level.
Thanks so much to you. Any other committee members? Mr. Fain? I just wanted to make a quick comment, because I think it's important that we all recognize the effort that not only went into the planning for changing to the middle… the junior high model, but the consistent and. Frequent meetings that they've had since to reflect on the changes. address any concerns brought up by teachers and students. I think there was some quotes given to us by students and staff, um, at CNI, and I just really want to recognize all the efforts that the building principals and the committees that they have, and the teachers that are involved in those committees.
Um, I just want to recognize them for the work that they're continuing to do, and. Because I think that it was a huge discussion, it happened. kind of haven't talked about it as much, so I just want to make it very clear and known that. Just because we might not have been talking about it here, the work is still being done, and. Um, you know, the outcomes that we are looking for as a board, they're still being thought of. by the committees, um, for the junior high modeling, um. changes and scheduling, so I just wanted to make sure that they're recognized for the work that they're still doing.
Thanks so much, Ms. Stern. I guess probably for Dr. Birdie, um, so… you know, at the beginning of the school year, we… you know, back-to-school night, you know, one of the immediate. conversations that came up right away was the lack of common planning time at the middle school. because of the new schedule. And that's something that, you know, we asked about, um, since then. this is now kind of… you know, become a clarified.
need, um, specifically at the middle school level. Um, today, when… and I don't want to do too much of a spoiler alert, but I will say one of the things we got to observe quite a bit of was a. a lot of common planning opportunity from different members of. the schools, different members of the teams in the schools, um, specifically. Um, addressing… to benefit students, let's say, for, you know, like MTSS, you know, making sure that our students' needs were being met.
Um, many of us, I think, can relate to this in work environments, you have meetings. you know, to discuss, um, you know, how do you improve, um, how do you come together and have those conversations? Um, I guess I'm a little confused about. Um, I'm hearing that it's an identified need. Uh, it's a checkpoint, this is a checkpoint discussion. Um, it's not… have there been any, um, immediate remedies? Because it is February, and we have quite a few months left in the year, I would… I'm hoping that there are remedies now, at least temporary remedies, and then obviously the committee talked more about, kind of.
Long term for next year, but in the near term, are there remedies? Thank you, Mr. Stern, that's a great question, and there indeed are. Um, I would start first with our priorities. If you remember in the spring of 2025, we really looked at. some of our values and beliefs around middle-level education, and our goal was to keep those at the forefront as we. As we looked at the changes that were inevitable, right? So we looked to protect things like academic time. Um, intervention. specialized programs, and thankfully.
Um, to Mrs. Surefain's point, the principles and the. building-level teams have done a great job of keeping those things priorities. Um, so while the daily. collaborative time no longer exists in the schedule, those teams have worked to find other ways to supplement that at the building level. Now. I'm not suggesting it replicates or even emulates the. pre-existing time, but they've been really creative with the way they've used faculty meeting time. the way they've used department-level time. Um, the way they've used building subs and internal coverage to free up teachers for those meetings to exist.
Um, those are… those are short-term. sort of stopgap solutions. Um, we would love to not tinker and really look at wholesale reform in that area, but right now. Um, again, in an attempt to make sure that we're maximizing the time that exists, they are using pretty. creative, um, solutions. I think the team did a really great job. Um, there were… there were probably 6 or 7 folks who spoke at CNI, and I think they did a really great job of explaining how those things. have, um, have been put into practice.
other board member questions on CNI? All right, seeing none, I'm gonna move on to the BNF committee report. Mr. Greenbaum. Thank you. Uh, my notes are kind of verbose, so I'm going to do my best to summarize in real time here. Um, we really had two topics that we covered in our BNF meeting. One was the financial audit. And the other had to do with an update on the budgeting process. As far as the fiscal year 2025 audit overview, we were visited by.
Dave McNally from Holt McNally. This is the independent audit the district goes through every year. Um, I think Mr. Schimf is going to go through a quick summary of this after my report out here. Um, but… spoiler, there are no significant findings. We received the highest ratings on each report. We performed very well. Uh, for anyone interested in reading the full report, it is posted to the district website under. CHCLC.org, under Departments, Business and Finance, and the current one, as well as 10 prior, are posted there.
Again, we received the highest ratings in each of the reports, and no significant findings. Um, as far as the budget update, we continued, uh, discussions on the budgeting process. Um, we're working with a modified timeline now. The governor's address has been pushed back to March 10th, which means we probably won't have state aid numbers until the 12th. That gives us a very short runway. Uh, the board will likely need an additional meeting to discuss and vote on the initial budget submission.
Um, so stay tuned for, uh, for that to be added to the district calendar. Um, the changes can be made between initial budget submission and final budget approval, so if there are changes that do need to be made, or something… a better situation changes. Maybe we advocate in Trenton, and they find a whole lot of money to give us. Crazier things have happened. Um, we talked about some of the challenges that, uh, that we're facing. We're looking at a significant increase in the cost of health benefits. We could expect transportations to go up.
transportation costs to go up, as they do every year by the Consumer Price Index, which is 3.5%. Uh, so that's a challenge every year. Uh, and as always, there's uncertainty around state aid. Um, and we, uh, Mr. Schimp went through a review of some of our accounts, taxing authority and funding sources, as you mentioned earlier, our fund balance and capital reserves are particularly low this year. Uh, we looked at, uh, available tax levy, uh, what bank cap is still available. Uh, this year, there's a medical benefits waiver that allows for some additional taxing authority.
As we say every year, we always want to balance the need to generate revenue to fund our schools with. Uh, you know, being respectful of our residents and not overtaxing. Uh, you know, we'll see where the recommendations lie as we move forward. And again, as Mr. Shimp mentioned. Um, we're looking at, uh, seeing if we could utilize some of the interest from bond investments. Uh, to address some of the immediate needs. These discussions will continue, as Mr. Schimp from the Finance Department continue going through building and department-level budget justifications, and we learn more from the state.
Alright, and I will throw it over to Mr. Scheme, see if he wants to add anything about the audit. Thank you. Thanks, Adam. Um… So this document's actually available in the BNF committee reports, and I won't read it verbatim, but. Just to summarize and repeat what, uh, Mr. Greenbaum stated, uh, just keep in mind that this, the audit report is for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. They did assign an unmodified opinion. Uh, which just basically means that the financial statements were presented.
uh, fairly and all material respects, that's the highest. opinion a district can receive. Uh, no internal control weaknesses were noted. In addition to that, the auditors, due to the amount of federal and state aid we received did do, um. single audits this year was on the IDEA program. our debt service transportation and reimburse Social Security aid through the state programs. Uh, both of which, obviously, or all of which received unmodified opinions as well.
of note and within that document, I ask that they put together. or highlight, I should say, um… our fund balance, um… Specifically on the general fund side. Uh, for the last 5 fiscals, so it's a good snapshot to show. Like, we've been talking about, and I've been talking about. Um, we continue to spend down more of our budget each year, and then, therefore, those excess surplus funds. that have been utilized as a revenue source. Um, to fund budgets in future years has been.
I won't say depleted, but it has been reduced drastically, so that's one of the challenges we're currently facing. On a positive note, the food service fund, these are proprietary funds. The food service. fund did add, or the net position increased by $320,000, so they have an ending fund balance or net position. at June 30th of about $1.9 million. Uh, the SAC program, school-age child care, net position increased. $420,000, so that program's net position now sits at $1.7 million. Those are both positives.
for both of those programs. Uh, again, like Mr. Greenbaum mentioned. our ACFR report. Uh, is available on our website, as well as the DOE's website, as well as the administrative mandatory report. You care to, uh, indulge, they're there and available. Uh, again, we're only required here in a public session to discuss each of the findings, and there were no material findings within. The audit report. So, all good. Kudos to my predecessor, certainly, and to our finance team here.
Alright, thank you very much. Uh, and the board will be voting on accepting the audit report later this evening in our action agenda. Uh, with that, are there any questions or comments from BNF committee members or other board members? Going once, going twice. Okay, seeing none, thank you very much. Mr. Greenbaum, did you want to read out the donations at this time? Or did you want to do that next time? Um, sure, I will do that now. Those are actually under our work session, under 14.6, but… Since we're doing it now, as we move to our consent agenda, it is… a bit of a hassle to pull these out, to read them during.
The action agenda, so I'm just going to read through them now. Um, 14.6, we have a resolution for the acceptance of donations. Um, we have a donation from… Uh, the East High School Music Boosters to be used toward the choir trip at High School East. from Cherry Hill Education Foundation to be used towards the science of habitat. school assembly at Mann. And from sharp PTA to be used for 5th grade field trip and buses. As always, thank you very much for supporting our students.
Awesome, thank you. Um, nothing for HR tonight, so I'm going to move to P&L, which is Ms. Palmer. Okay, so P&L, which is the policy and legislation Committee, for those of you not familiar with our. myriad of acronyms, uh, met earlier this month. We had a number of policies on our agenda on first and second reading. Um, noteworthy among them were discussion on our statutory curricular requirements policy. Uh, which has been discussed ad nauseum here, so I won't do that, but notes on our decisions are all in the committee readout.
We also discussed, uh, our, uh. district's first ever accessible… acceptable use of generative AI policy. Um, they are both on your agenda, on the action agenda tonight on first reading. Um… Notably, we were scheduled to discuss Policy 2363, which would have been a revision to the, uh. Student use of wireless communication devices policy. However. a day or two before the meeting, we've received some updated guidance on the DOE with respect to the, uh, the statute that was, um.
the new state law that took effect will take effect for next school year. So, we decided as a committee not to have that discussion, to review that guidance. And then, uh, as of right now, I expect to have that conversation at the March committee meeting. Um, I will end there, because I think the rest of the policies were all very minor language changes. Again. notes on each one are on the committee readout. Um… does any… do any other board members have questions, comments, Mr. Greenbaum, Dr. Morton?
Do you have anything to add? Board member questions, anything? Okay, seeing that, I will stop there. Great job, and moving on to governance, Mr. Fain. Thank you. So, um, I kind of give a… try to give a brief update last week, not understanding the structure of the new agenda, so I will do it again tonight, but be a little bit more brief. Um, because we did discuss it a little bit last time. But, um, we met on the 20th of January. Um, Mr. Greenbaum, Dr. Dreisen, and myself, and looked at our board goals that we voted on last year.
Um, and in anticipation for this year, and… Um, just to kind of go through those really quick, our goal around policy, um. creation and or adherence, uh, we… more or less task to P&L, considering that's kind of their whole wheelhouse. So, um, we have faith in that. committee to keep, um, you know, on task and monitoring our… Um, what our policies look like through the district. Um, as far as the calendar, the goal that we have around creating and trying to optimize a calendar for the board to be on top of all of the things that are required of us every year.
Um, we kind of decided that it makes the most sense, at least for this year, considering. Um, we're kind of implementing this a little bit on the tail end of the school year. Uh, we decided that it made more sense to implement the New Jersey School Board's recommended calendar. It's very clear and outlined on where you need to be with everything, so I can send that out, actually, to everybody if it makes sense, um, so they can see. It's very. Clearly, um, delineated by month, where you should be and the things that you should be doing as a board.
Um, and staying on track of. Most of that's around, um, this time of year, when we have the budget season coming up, and the CSA, and self-evaluation, and all those things. A lot of it happens within. the first couple of months of the. the actual calendar year, which is the tail end of the. the school year. Um, we discussed. what it looks like to be, um, to be certified as a whole board. There's a lot of trainings that we need to complete. This is an annual thing that any board would have to do. Um, that's trying to achieve certification. That discussion also led into.
what it would look like for the… specifically, the committee members of governance being certified themselves. So we had some discussion on how to track and maintain our own transcripts and the things that we're doing in addition to. Um, all of the work that we do just for Cherry Hill. There's a certain number of trainings and meetings and things that you have to attend outside of. Um, just the district ones for that. certification, so we discussed that. Um, it's very easy for those of you, especially Candy, since you're the newest one this year, but for other people that might.
rerun and become new board members formally in other years, um… it's very clear for first-year board members on what to do and what you need for certification, but after that, you're kind of on your own. Um, you just have to keep track of all of those classes yourself. It's easy to see your transcript, but as a first-year member. Um, it tells you exactly what you still need. After you've passed, I believe you have to do that within your first two years, if I'm not mistaken, to be a new board… a certified new board member.
After that second year, if you're going for just a regular certification, you just have to track it yourself. It doesn't do that nice. like, spoon-fed tracking for you. But, um, it tells you what you need, you just have to monitor yourself. Um, and that kind of is the same way with the board. It tells you exactly what you need as a board for certification, you have to do it yourself, so we've already reached out to school boards and seeing where we can get our own transcripts and. Um, there's some things that we have to do through our policy, um, like, a policy audit and things like that that we'll need, which will be later down the line once we're closer to certification. I said this is going to be quick, and I think this is longer than the last one.
Um… I'm trying to keep it brief. There's just a lot that we did talk about I didn't realize until I started reading my notes. Um… Another thing that we talked about was the… as far as the count… this is in the calendar discussion, we talked about the CSA evaluation. and board self-evaluation, we thought that it made the most sense to marry those deadlines together, and when we have an expectation of Dr. Morton to submit. his self-evaluation should be the same time that we're submitting our self-evaluation. So they're kind of overlapping. And at the same time, we're holding an expectation for him, we can hold that for ourselves as well.
Um, as far as the community engagement. Goal around, um… I don't have the goal in front of me, but… the abbreviated version is that we committed to attending one a month as a board member, and hopefully in a variety of different spaces, not the same ones over and over. Um, we discussed how to keep ourselves accountable. Unfortunately, there's not really another way to do that than just holding ourselves accountable. If you remember from last meeting, I recommended public humiliation, which was shot down by Dr. Dryzen and Mr. Greenbaum.
Um, so for right now, it'll be an internal holding each other accountable for that as best we can, and then in that conversation, we also talked about the, um, cell phone policy that we implemented for ourselves last year, and making sure that we are being cognizant of not being on our cell phones, since that was our big discussion. We're holding the students accountable. Um, for not using them in instruction. spaces, and we implemented the policy for ourselves. So, another thing to self-regulate.
Um, other than that, the only other thing we talked about is maybe when we're looking at goals for next year, considering a little bit more flexibility in that, and we specifically talked about. Um, the goal of having one community event per month, which we all, for the most part, have jobs and families and things like that. And maybe next year, considering more of an average. I know we talked about this when we did our goals, but I think now that it's becoming reality that. you know, we do or do not have time to go every month. It's just something that was brought up in our meeting to consider for how we physically word our goals so that we are actually achieving them.
Um, next year. Do any of my other committee members have any comments? Or any other… anybody in general? Yes, Ms. Winters. So not to throw more things on your plate, but… within the calendar discussion, I like that you're basing it off the NJSVA calendar. But I think for some things that are specific to us as our board. I would like to throw on the committee's plate, um, getting in our required trainings. for… both for NJSBA, and here we always do, like, an HIB.
training, ethics training, and Kate offered to do a little bit of a talk about policy as well this year, since that's one of our focuses. So getting that on the calendar. And also rescheduling our retreat that was… canceled by NJSBA. Now that Dr. Banlo is back, um, I think it might be a good time to do that. And I just also wanted to, um, talk a little bit about. the CSA evaluation, because we were talking about it, you and I, um, after the last meeting, when you mentioned it.
And I just think that, you know. when I was looking at the reports that we get, um, that Dr. Morton's doing, the quarterly reports on the goals. Our next one is not due until April 23rd, and that's going to be 3 quarters of the way through the year. So just sort of being mindful that he's already doing that process, which we requested, so I think also asking him to start his self-eval. in April, like, overlapping, that might be kind of… asking him to do the same thing twice, like, double the work, kind of working on the same thing, maybe… push that process a little bit later.
after at least we received the third quarterly report, being mindful of the fact that we do have the July 1 statutory deadline. Um, but maybe trying to find a date, um, for receipt of his. His self-avow, then we can go in and do our part, which gives us enough time to do it, but I don't… I don't think we need. two months to do it. And like I said, I'm just worried about overlapping processes. If we've already laid out this quarterly update system for him. That we want to make sure that we're being mindful of that. As well as the statutory deadline, so I just throw that out there.
This is the first year we've ever asked for the quarterly updates on goals, so maybe going forward, if what we really. We can adjust that next year. Based on what we want to do with the CSA self-eval, but I think because that's the process we already set up. And I think the last thing that you and I kind of discussed was, do we want. our process to be more on the school year calendar rather than the calendar year. The calendar year makes sense for the board, because that's when our new members get sworn in. But I feel like everything else… runs Kate's laughing, because it's true, everything else runs on a school year, so by the time we actually adopted our.
goals, and started this process. We're, like, halfway through the year already. So maybe moving to more of a… you know, June to June, or September to June, or however you want to envision that. If that would make more sense for us. So, not to complicate your life, but just throwing those kind of ideas out there. And then if there's anything that I can be helpful with, um, as far as. coordinating, um… That's fine, I'm happy to do it, but you should feel free, when you're organizing the trainings and stuff, when you guys decide what you want our trainings to be for this year.
if you contact NJSBA, just copy me on the email, and I'll tell Lori that it's fine, that she should go through you. That's what Kim and I did when she was governance chair. Any other board member? Uh, yes, Ms. Pauler. I just had one additional comment that almost kind of builds off of Mrs. Winner. So, without having the exact dates in front of me, where my mind was. in talking about our… the timelines for our self-evals and the CSA self-eval.
I just wanted to be mindful of, and I think… I think this will all probably line up. I just wanted to be mindful of the… ultra-condensed budget timeline for this year. Um, and was going to pose the question of, is it worth. pushing the self-avow piece back even, you know, 2-3 weeks, so that we're still well within the timeline we need for the statutory deadline, but to give ourselves and. you know, Dr. Morton, the flexibility. to work within reality, in what we all expect to be kind of a… challenging year, I'll say that for the thousandth time.
Um, but that… that was it. But I think… we're kind of all there. Yeah, thank you. I think I… the intention of the conversation was more to avoid the situation that we had last year, so that we weren't last minute and missing the deadline, but… I mean, there's definitely some wiggle room in knowing the situation with the budget, and, um, to Ms. Winter's point, our expectations around. Um, the quarterly goal updates, it's definitely not a set-in-stone thing, and we can revisit in February… it is February, we can revisit this month on.
what that looks like, um, realistically. Yes, mister. additional point, besides budget, um, April? is usually when… all the staffing planning for next year. you know, contract renewals, all of that comes out. I just… I just think, like… And yet another reason to really be mindful of, you know, Dr. Morton's time. And his responsibilities that. Very crunch time, very much a crunch time.
Um, so, I, you know. And another… I think another point that's a… important to point out is that when we're doing our piece to that CSA eval, it should be married directly to his quarterly goal update, so as we get that, we… should, and I guess this is kind of something we discuss in more, like, a personal recommendation, just to go through and get your mind and the mindset of, this is how my feedback will be. So that it's easier, because that document, it takes a long time if you do it the right way. Um, so I want to just make sure that we're hitting that deadline, so that we're also giving appropriate and, um, you know, respectful and.
Good feedback. Yeah, I mean, I continue to hope that. each year that we streamline it a little bit more. I think now that we have the strategic plan in place. And now that we have the quarterly goals updates in place, it's gonna make a lot more sense, because I think in the past, what happened was we received all of your evidence. in a bucket, and then we… we were kind of trying to go back and marry that to the goals to try to find evidence that we had achieved all the things, but I think now that we're doing the quarterly updates. hopefully board members, it's not going to be that big of a crunch at the end, because we will have been.
as the year goes on, looking at our goal progression, so we're not going to feel like all of a sudden last week in June. we're trying to find evidence for every single goal, so I'm hoping that the better we get at this, and the more we streamline it, the easier it's gonna get so that it's not. just a rush at the end to get it done. It'll make more sense. Continual self-improvement. Any other board members have comments or questions? Alright, thank you. Awesome, thank you. Um, and now, you'll see there's a new agenda item. Additional committee and delegate reports. So, this is… If you are a chair of a special committee.
Um, for example, well, enrollment balancing already had a big chat tonight, I don't know if you want to give enrollment balancing report after all that. I feel like… We did. No. No. Um, but… Uh, special education would be another, or if you are a delegate to something on behalf of the board. So not that you just attended an event as a board member, but, like, if you were designated, for example, Dean is. the board's representative to NJSBA. So if he has a report. all of that would now go here in the board work session, rather than trying to cram it in during what used to be correspondence or board member comments.
This is the designated spot for. I was assigned as a delegate on behalf of the board to this. I went, and now I'm reporting out, so I hope that makes sense in the context of the new agenda. And again, thank you to Kay for organizing our lives. we were very disorganized before. Does anybody have an additional committee or delegate report? tonight. This would be the once-a-month spot, just for clarity. This is now the once-a-month spot in which that happens, so if it's not now. your next chance will be the board work session.
next month during delegate reports, so you don't have to worry about trying to squeeze it in. every single meeting. Ms. Cummings. You, and then Dr. Jizen. Okay, so I am your delegate to the, um… Garden State Coalition of Schools, sorry, I had to think about what that was for a second. Um, and I attended the meeting, it was… the middle of January, so… it's kind of a little bit old news, but not necessarily. So the focus was on, um, school funding, and it was a fantastic.
in-depth presentation given by a representative from the Education Law Center, um. Dr. Fair, and she just went through a really great presentation on different. Changes in federal policy that are affecting. SNAP and Medicaid eligibility, which will in turn. lower the eligibility levels of community members. Which will, in turn, affect our free and reduced rate, which.
affects our funding. So, it all kind of rolls up. So she gave a good presentation on that. Um, it's… which is going to negatively, again, impact state aid calculations, despite. the unchanged needs of the students in our community. Um… And then she gave some pointers on advocating and what we should be advocating for, um. to waive state reductions for districts experiencing municipal overburden, which is a fancy way of saying, you know, with a high tax rate.
Um, cap year-over-year state aid changes to reduce volatility, which, you know, we've been advocating for for years. Um, funding expert analysis of special education costs and local fair share calculations. Um, freeze low-income student accounts, not accounts. Student counts to protect districts from funding losses tied to federal eligibility changes. And then loosen restrictions on surplus and reserve accounts to improve district financial stability.
Um, so it was a really great call. I'm still waiting for the link to come out, I haven't seen it come out yet, um… But when I do, I'll be sure to share it around. It was about an hour, so it wouldn't be too much of your time, and you can speed it up and play it fast. And that concludes my report. Thank you so much, that's really good information. You can ask if anybody has questions. Does anybody have questions? Sorry, newbie. You're doing great. I'm gonna go to Dr. Dreisen, and then Ms. Benzano for delegate reports. Look how well we're doing!
Good team. Dr. Dreisen, you are next. Thank you, Ms. Winters. Great. Um, I think I was going to mention this briefly in correspondence, but appreciate the clarification to do it here. Um, so on February 5th. Um, the Camden County School Board Association had its winter meeting. The agenda included updates from the Board of Directors, from. our field service reps from government relations. And then the keynote was, um… presentation on school funding reform. So, just wanted to keep this board updated on what was going on there.
Thank you. Any questions for Dr. Dryzen? Nope, Ms. Manzano. On February 4th, I attended the Camden County Educational Services Commission, and I was sworn in as a delegate. Uh, it was a big, um, budget… meeting, uh, for the rest of the year, so nothing too crazy to report. Our next meeting is at the beginning of March, so hopefully more to report back then. Does anyone have any questions?
And before we… are there any other committee or delegate reports for this evening? And just before we move on, I just want to thank. you guys first serving as delegates to these different groups. We usually try to assign them, um, to board members who either have a high interest in something or some of the newer board members, so that they can learn a lot about things, especially Garden State Coalition of Schools. I know Dean had it last year, and Candy, with you doing… I'm sorry, Ms. Cummings, you doing it this year. Um, I find it to be really helpful for new members because they cover a wide range of topics that are relevant to board members, and supplementing your NJSBA stuff.
It's another good way to educate yourself on timely topics. So, thank you guys so much for serving as our delegates to those different associations. We are now going to move on to our special action agenda. And I am going to… make a motion to approve. appointments. As they are presented on the agenda, do I have a second? Ms. Palmer. Mr. Schimf, can you please open the voting on the appointments?
Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Schimf. And just to clarify, as we're walking through our new way of doing this, the reason I didn't ask if anyone wanted to pull anything out is because there's only one item. So I'm gonna do that again. Yes, there's only one item here. I'm going to make a superintendent recommends, and I move the following curriculum instruction agenda as presented. Is there a second? Mr. Fain. Mr. Shimp, can you please open the voting on the CNI agenda this evening?
Sorry, I had a blag earlier. Motion carries. I didn't mean to worry you, it wasn't popping up on my computer. I'm gonna throw it over to Mr. Greenbaum. for the BNF agenda, and you can move it on consent. Thank you, the superintendent recommends, and I move the following action agenda Items 21.2 through 21.5. as presented. Do I have a second? Dr. Braddock. Uh, any questions? Seeing none, Mr. Shimp, please open the voting.
Oh, yes, sorry about that, Doctor. Go ahead. Point of clarification, Mr. Greenbaum? I'm sorry, just in this new format, can you… Can you just remind us how we're supposed to, if we have to abstain from the fourth bill list, for example. how we do that here? Sure, um, I'm sorry, Dr. Dryson, I just saw your email, I was typing back. You can… you don't need to remove that from the agenda in order to abstain, because an abstain is not a yes or a no vote. Yeah. Okay. you just, if you don't want to discuss it, and you just need to abstain for conflict of interest, it's the same way we used to do it. Mr. Schimp opens the voting, you can just at that point say that you need to abstain from said item.
Great, thank you. I hope that that's clear. Yeah, it's easier. There was something that I clarified with Kate, because I wanted to make sure that's something that comes up a lot when we're voting. Thank you very much for that clarification, and I apologize, I am still getting used to having remote attendees. So now, Mr. Schiff, I am going to abstain from the fourth bill list due to a conflict of interest. With the deployment with Beata.
Mr. Schump, I'm going to recuse from Jewish Federation on the fourth bill list to avoid a conflict of interest. Dr. Brown. Oh, I noticed that as well. We're calling in and out, sorry about that. Mr. Shimp, I'm sorry.
was your look at me to see if I was abstaining or to see if I was voting? It was. No, to see if you were upsetting. Just a voice vote, Joe. Yeah, yes. Thank you. Motion carries. Miss Stern, can you please move the HR agenda on consent? Oh, it is me. I thought it might be miser. Make her do anything. Uh, just thought I'd ask. Um… the superintendent recommends, um… And I move… so it's the same. Yeah, I move the phone.
I haven't got it right. The HR agenda. Hr agenda items, um, 22.2 through 22.8. As presented. As presented. Second. I need a second, please. Uh, Mr. May? Mr. Shim, please call the vote. You can ask if there's anything anybody would like to discuss. Seeing none. Is there anything anybody would like to discuss? We're doing great. I'm sorry. I get it for next time, I promise.
Mr. Chef, thank you. Motion carries. Thank you. Ms. Pomers show us how it's done with the P&L agenda. She's got it. No pressure, I appreciate that. You're welcome. The superintendent recommends, and I move the following, uh, agenda items 23.1. Through, uh, agenda item 23.4 as presented. Uh, do I have a second? Mr. Greenbaum? Uh, is there anything anyone would like to discuss?
Any additional board questions? Seeing none, Mr. Shimp, can you open the vote? Ms. Palmer gets the gold star. She also gets to go last, so she watches us all fumble through it first. Grace after pressure, that's all. Uh, nothing under governance this evening. Oh, I'm sorry, real quick, doctor… oh, motion carries. Was it mine again? No. Oh, okay.
We blame the internet for all of our failings. Um, moving on to new business, is there anyone who has any new business to consider this evening? something novel and exciting. Dr. Drysen, I do not see you in my email. I'm assuming you're okay on new business? Alright, thanks so much. So now we will move on to second public comment. Public comment is an opportunity for members of the community to provide input to the Board of Education on educational issues.
The board welcomes diverse opinions on relevant matters. However, statements that are abusive, obscene, or which demeanor are defamatory to any individual or any group of individuals will not be tolerated, as such comments are disruptive to the orderly operation of this meeting. Speakers wishing to provide the board with information which is not relevant to the district's operations may communicate directly with the superintendent and the board president via email or other alternative means. we will start in the room by custom. Each speaker will get 3 minutes. If there's anybody who would like to make second public comment, please approach the microphone now and give us your name and municipality.
And Mr. Schimmple put the timer up on the board. Good evening, Dan Levin, Cherry Hill. Um, so I sent an email to the school board, um, shortly after the rebalancing session at Cherry Hill East. Some of you may remember me, I was the guy who was asking a lot of questions. Um, I don't know if everyone had the chance to read the email that I sent. I got a response back. Um, kind of… general response back, um, from that email. I'm gonna read this now, just so everyone is able to hear, and… respond to it in time.
Um, so, just a little bit about my background. I'm a licensed professional planner in the state of New Jersey. I have done. well over half a dozen, probably closer to 10 or 12 housing element and fair share plans in the state of New Jersey, so… Um, I believe that I, you know, have some expertise in what I'm saying. Um, so bear with me. Uh, so… I personally, I do not believe. That the analysis as robust. As it could be. Um, I believe the geocoding of student addresses would be the most ideal way to determine a general rate of incoming students due to new construction.
In South Amboy, for example, which is a much denser community than Cherry Hill. Over 500 apartments were constructed that yielded a total of 26 additional children. into the school district a rate of just 5.2%, and my source there is the former township administrator, who is currently the township administrator of the Borough of Sayreville. Um, by comparison, the analysis provided by the school board consultant estimates 497 children from 1,761 units, a rate of 28.2%.
that's… if I've done the analysis, my review of the. analysis correctly. While the Cherry Hill schools certainly perform better academically than South Amboy, I find it extremely unlikely that the demand for apartment housing for people with children is five times greater. in Cherry Hill than Southampton. Additionally, if the district simply identified the historical trends of student addresses in large multi-family buildings, of which there are many in the township. A basic inference could be made that new housing would likely maintain similar or perhaps slightly higher rates of children into the district.
Since newer homes are typically more attractive places to live. This assumes families can afford the higher rents. the dataset of addresses from the geocoding wasn't provided, but this analysis could be done extremely quickly and at little cost to the school board, and I'm not advocating that I do it. I'm saying somebody else. I can do it. Somebody else can do it. Um, I urge the board to take a more critical review of this analysis, and not just take it at face value before it spends a. lot of money on all of the rebalancing that was discussed tonight that may not be required.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Levin, for your comment, we appreciate it. And if you do want to provide further information or anything, please feel free to email us. We do read all of the emails. So, thank you. Um, going online, going onto the line, the next person is the caller with the phone number ending in 788, please unmute, give us your name and municipality, you have 3 minutes. Okay, my name is Jeff Potowitz. I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. There's an article entitled, New Jersey School Funding Formula is Short Changing West Orange by $25 million. The funding formulas.
reliance on personal income, that is total gross income, inflates the district's local fair share and reduces the potential state. state aid. It was posted February 5th on West Rich patch. Please refer to it and read it. From the article, which districts are impacted the most? West Orange isn't alone in this, but it's among the school districts most impacted by the income. by the school funding formula. All right, Cherry Hill tops the list.
the use of income in the formula inflates its local fair share almost $29 million. Last year, they got no equalization at all. We didn't. That means next year, probably RA will drop down to about $19 million that year, 2026, 2027. If it's local fair share was calculated based on property values, they would have received about $28 million in equalization aid. wow, that would put us, if we did receive that, we'd probably get close to $40 million this year. We didn't get that at all. West Orange Uncle Phil share was inflated by $25 million as a result. All right, and its potential equalization went from $40 million to 15. It's time to fix the funding formula. I agree. This is from an article. That was from an article.
written by their school board president. They sent a resolution to the state of New Jersey, what I'm going to read is part of that. All right, whereas the inclusion of gross income and the calculation of local fair share reduced the district's equalization rate by approximately $25 million in 2026. 5 2026 school year. Remember, we were reduced by $28 million, whereas the district received $3.9 million of categorical transportation aid and budget for $17.3 million in transportation expenses in the 2025 school year, yielding a funding rate of only 22.5 million. A couple have resolved. Resolved.
that the West are in Scoop Board of Education urges the State Assembly, the state senator, and the governor to consider additional reforms to reduce. The use of district's gross income is a calculation of its local fair share, and it is further resolved that the West Orange School Board of Education urges the State Assembly, State Senate, and Governor to consider additional reforms to increase the percentage of district's transportation costs that are funded through the transportation, all right? And they delivered it to the governor and others, all right?
The fact of the matter is, we've been the most cheated according to NJ Education Aid Blog. Go read that. We've been the most cheated district. Thank you, Dr. Padowitz. Dr. Potowitz, thank you so much. Your 3 minutes are up. We appreciate your call. Alright, going back to the room, is there anyone who would like to make second public comment this evening? Please approach the microphone. Tell me when the time starts. Okay. Good evening, my name is Richard Dodd. Tonight, the board has discussed the upcoming budget, and discussed goals, values, and remedies.
I have an idea for consideration that would. help promote safety for students, staff, and administration. I respectfully propose a formal motion be placed on a future agenda. to review and amend the current criterias. for allocating emergency reserves to include change of status students. The added criteria. for change of status students. would be specifically for students who would benefit from.
being authorized to receive an interim one-to-one paraprofessional. Specifically, emergency funds permitting school administrators to submit a documented need. For students with increasing behaviors. that pose a harm to peers, staff, and or self. This would help remedy the procedural delays that occur. While the child study team is completing evaluations and gathering data. This would help better support students. who are struggling socially and emotionally.
And what allows those students struggling with behaviors. to continue receiving their free and appropriate public. education, and this also aligns with IDA. IDEA. Thank you. Thank you for your comment, we appreciate it. Going back online, next person is Jim Neary. Please unmute, give us your name and municipality. Yes, hi, it's Laurie Neary, Cherry Hill. I just wanted to comment on two things. One, um, regarding some of the discussions around the middle school schedule.
Um, one, I personally, for one, have found it to be a very positive change, so I hope that. That doesn't change. Um, the routine, the consistency. the students knowing what to expect each day has been a tremendous improvement, and the win period, frankly, for my son, he probably wouldn't get any work done if not for that period, so… I really find that I'm hearing about less behaviors as well, so I hope that doesn't change, and we can find a way to adjust for planning time.
That doesn't indeed change the schedule on these students again. Um, and also regarding the rebalancing, I'm still kind of processing. What we heard earlier, um, that was a sudden pivot that I, too, was not expecting, and. I'm also a little concerned, I'm not hearing discussion around special education. And that's incredibly important, as in the way we deliver our programming today, and the way in which certain programs are only delivered at certain schools.
I didn't hear discussion of that, and I'm a little disappointed that we're not. making changes to more effectively deliver that programming, and I thought that was an important point. and part of this process. So, I hope to hear discussion of that soon. Because right now, I'm not… Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room, is there anyone who would like to make second public comment this evening?
Come on down. Leading the charge, okay. and Einhorn, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. So I hope I get what I need to get in. Um, when it comes to reports. I think the board and… whoever takes these notes needs to define the acronyms. Um, particularly on the one I saw was when ESY, SAC. MTSS, people don't really know what that is, so… If you could just add it to the wordage on your reports, I think that might be a benefit to those of us who still read this stuff.
Um, my second thing is, is I was very upset looking at the notes from the budget preparation update. When the bottom line was that if we do a 2% tax levy. We do bankrupt, and we do a health benefits waiver that the potential in a home. for next year could be a minimum of $512 on a $227,000 assessed home. In January, Mr. Greenbaum, a resident, did ask exactly what was the total.
tax increase from the school district, and she never got a response. So, it's not just. blah blah blah, 50 cents. It is more than… what's always told to us in the public eye, and I don't think the public understands that it's not just 2%. Um, which does concern me. And keeping in mind, as you go through the budget process. That we know Town Council's going up 5%. We don't know what the Camden County tax is going to be. The fire tax, the library tax, nor do we know what open space tax is going to cost us.
Um, number 3, I thought Kingston only had 9 growth spaces less, so as you move forward. We're looking at other schools, I think you better look at Kingston. Um, because, you know, that report is not exactly the most accurate report we've ever received. As a school district. Um, and number 5, I am just very, very… oh, no, my next thing is that on the audit review. The funds that were retrieved from food service and school-aged child care. that were increased? Where do those funds go? What part of the budget were they moved to?
And my first thing is, do… does this district participate in the SPAN program? in the state of New Jersey. That would, especially for the school district side, that would engage all families. To help improve student achievement. I have been on that website for the last 2 weeks. Um, I have no idea if our district or our department of special ed utilizes it. But it sure looks like a very cost-effective way to help. Better the way we deliver our special ed programs. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment. Going online, the next person is a wider bridge. It's your turn. Please unmute, give us your name and municipality, and you'll have 3 minutes. We can. Alana Harris, Cherry Hill, you can hear me? Okay, um, I'm speaking as the chair of the Fair Funding Committee, a subset, uh, committee of the Zone PTA. There is a fair funding committee meeting next Thursday, February 19th at 7pm, Zoom only, that I invite everyone in the community.
to attend, where we are discussing some of these, uh, tax levies and increases, uh, on the Cherry Hill taxpayers and what we can do about it. to, um… get help in our state aid and from the Cherry Hill Township, uh, so that our taxes do not continually increase astronomically. Um, we'll be discussing further the. OPA results of the pilot programs in Cherry Hill, and how that has affected our taxes on the school district, and.
taking input from the community of how to move forward. So, um, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or you can email us, fairfundingchps at gmail.com. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room, is there anyone who would like to make second public comment this evening? Please approach the microphone. Give us your name and municipality. Rick Short Cherry Hill. Um, I have to comment from last meeting when Dr. Morton.
claimed I gaslight, uh, the community. No, I don't gaslight the community. Uh, what I do is I tell you facts. And the fact still stands. That there was an ethics complaint filed against. This school, and there was a 24-page defense. of hate speech. Can't twist it any other way. And you can't twist it in any way that Policy 2100. is an anti-racist policy. That is racist.
All these things I talk about all the time. Fit the mold. Fit the mold of a radical. district, and I've said this, that this is the most radical district in the state of New Jersey. There are 427 high schools. In the state of New Jersey. And guess who's out protesting? Unbelievable. Cherry Hill. How many schools we're protesting so far? Not even a dozen yet. Who… what is the profile of these. high schools that are out there protesting. Well.
They're all the lowest performing schools. in the state that are all protesting. That's weird. And we're the highest. performing, one of the highest at East, and somehow, we're all motivated to protest. So there is a hysteria occurring in art. community. It's an anti-ice hysteria. Right? So what is this board gonna do? Huh? Are you gonna tell the facts about ice? You know? That there were… Uh, 372,000 arrests? That's too short.
We're not gonna go beyond Cherry Hill Public Schools and talk about ice in the… Well, you can talk about George Floyd, you can put out formal statements about George Floyd, you can put out formal statements about. Um, Asian, uh, attacks in Georgia, and I can't talk about ICE. Mr. Short, during public comment. The comments must be about the operations… They are, because there is a hysteria against ICE occurring in Cherry Hill schools. Right now. And our kids are uneducated. to what is really happening. There was a student, according to East Online, that said.
We… we are living in stolen land. So, this is one of your leaders? For Cherry Hill East? There was also a student that claimed there was ICE agents at Cooper River. Cooper River Park! There weren't any. There was a correction from the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. Again, there is a hysteria going on in our community about anti-ice. Ice is good. They are there to arrest criminals. We are currently going to discuss Cherry Hill Public Schools. I am trying to relax.
the hysteria, and you keep interrupting me that I can't say any facts about ice. I can't… no. Your time is up. Thank you for your comment. Going back online, I don't see anyone online for second public comment, and going back to the room. Is there anyone in the room who would like to make second public comment this evening? Please approach the microphone, give us your name and municipality. You have 3 minutes. Hi, my name is Laura Pendergast, uh, Cherry Hill. I am here tonight on behalf of CPAG. Um, I want to just let everybody know and give everybody a reminder of who we are and what we do.
Um, we are the special education parent advisory Group. Um, our mission is to partner with both parents of, um, students with IEPs and 504s. As well as district administration to improve the experiences of students in special education. Um, and so we just wanted to remind everybody, if. Um, that we do accept input from parents, and so if… families have concerns or want to reach out. Um, our email address is cherryhillc.
gmail.com. That's cherryhillc. S-E-P-A-G. at gmail.com. We welcome everybody to reach out. and communicate with us, what we do then is we take that information, we look for patterns. common things we hear from families, and we bring that. Um, to the district, um, they bring it to the board, um, to problem solve. Um, and make things better. So, thanks everybody. Thank you for your comment. Going back online, I don't see anyone online going back to the room, is there anyone else who would like to make second public comment this evening?
Please approach the microphone. Give us your name and municipality. Sarah Jocelyn at Cherry Hill. I want to, um, welcome, uh. our new, uh… New Jersey State Superintendent? For the Department of Education, her focus is on literacy. I believe it's the science of reading. And also, we have a new Camden County, uh.
board member on the State Board of Education. Um, and I think that, uh, those are important things as we move forward with what happens, uh. from the changes in policy. I was very appreciative of the… of the footloose. Uh, students say we're great, weren't they? I also very appreciative of Mr. Guy's report. Um, I did have… I did take some notes. And like everybody else, there were some things that I saw that might… were a little bit, um… maybe needed to be filled in a little bit, not that the information isn't there, but we have slides that we have to rely on.
So, I did see, of course, that the decision was made not to change the boundaries. The question about the 13th school. was kind of glossed over a little, and kind of reflected on the fact that there was. A belief that that 13th school represented, perhaps, this building, okay? And, um, and that, of course, that would require a change of boundaries. Um, I did note the, uh, that the. data that were provided on BART and suggested that.
Um, there would be a 40% increase, um. in the, uh, students in that. Period. Um, and that of the units of new housing being put, it would be a 70%. increases of housing in the area of Barton. And it does kind of suggest that at least the. Comments should be made. on why there's not a consideration of a school to divide the Barton sending area.
It did not bear in this… that may have been discussed. It may have data toward it, but it was not presented to the public. I also was very appreciative of the discussion that was had on the. the money that relates to funding. And the estimate of cost. Uh, but I was concerned about the timing. Oh, we must make a decision by the September of 2026. Even though the next timing for getting an update on data.
is for, um, in 2027. And so, that was… that's something that should be really thought about seriously. And again, um, I do appreciate the information on the impact of. housing and student, uh, things you do have Evans Mill is an example. of housing, where originally they said, we're only going to get 7 students from there. So I think you should… you have opportunities. Thank you. Thank you for your comment, we appreciate it. going back online, I don't see anyone online going back to the room, or do we have any other takers for second public comment this evening?
I'm seeing no one approaching the microphone, I see no one online, and so I'm going to close second public comment. and move on to board member comments. Board member comments are limited to 3 minutes, similar to our second public comment, and I am going to start with Dr. Dreisen, so I do not forget him. Dr. Dreizen, it's late at night, and my brain isn't work so well, but I want to make sure I get you in, so you're first for board member comments. Thank you, I appreciate it. I think the only thing I'd add here is, um, building on something that Ms. Surefain said in the CNI report when we talked about the, um, the update.
On the junior high model, I also just really want to commend that working group. I just think, um, for those who don't have an opportunity to participate in that committee. They're so collaborative, and even during the Q&A, I commented on this during the meeting. One will answer one question, another will answer another question, another will build on what one person said. it really is just a very high-functioning team, and something that I was really impressed with. And the only other comment that was, there seems to be alignment among the committee members that night. is this sort of guiding principle that we should try to.
Aim for some consistency in our junior high schedule in the. near term, um, the schedule has changed. annually, I think for the past 4 years was the comment during the meeting, and so… While there are challenges with this transition, one of the things that we discussed was that, you know. And some of these may work themselves out over time, and that we can be. serving the junior high community by encouraging some consistency right now, and letting that schedule.
take form over a longer period of time. Thank you, Dr. Dreisen. Um, I see our timer is not working on screen, so I'm… Kate is going to be my timekeeper. Okay. I assure she will be fierce. I'm going to start on this side of the room with Dr. Braddock. You can go first, board member comments, you have 3 minutes. Uh, yeah, just a couple of things. Uh, this last week, on February 5th, I participated in the African American Read-In at Russell Knight. Um, Mrs. Nicenzo's kindergarten class, I was lucky enough to read Counting on Catherine, How Catherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13.
Which is a story about Catherine Johnson, an American mathematician that. went through, uh, some tough times, as you might imagine, an African-American girl would go through, but she persevered and got a position at NASA, and. the kids were awesome. They all told me how much smarter they were from the parents, so… than their parents, so… If you are a parent of a kindergartner in Miss Nosenzo's class, talk to your kids. They think they're smarter than you are. Um, and also, just as an aside, um. We talked about redistricting a lot today. I really want to give a shout-out to Mr. Fain as the head.
Of, kind of, the board redistricting committee, and also Ms. Winters and Ms. Cummings for their work on that committee. I've had the pleasure of working with them, and… and… it's a big team effort, and what especially Mr. Fain's done can't be. understated. So, I'll stop there. Mr. Fain? Restart me. I'll be quick. Um, my only comment is I wanted to thank Dr. Morton for making, um, his comments about.
the walkout and the expectations from the district. I myself had a lot of questions around that, as it's not about that specific event, but just our expectations around, um. academic achievement and. keeping the students to a standard. I think for me, as sitting here at the table, and we have so many discussions on absenteeism, and. student achievement. I appreciate that you brought that to the board table yourself to respond to. What I'm assuming is other. comments and questions you've gotten from the community, but.
I feel like maybe also the questions that I asked you myself. Um, it's… it's important for me that we're being consistent with the efforts that we're doing in other areas, so thank you for addressing that and reassuring that everybody, the community and this board, that. We still hold our students accountable for. holding themselves accountable, so thank you for, um… the comments that you made around that. Ms. Manzano. I just wanted to echo, uh, lots of sentiments we heard today. We had a great day, a super great day, uh, exploring 1110 or 11 schools today, um, so we have some more tomorrow, I'm excited about that. Um, echoing what Ms. Treffane said, thank you, Dr. Morton, for explaining the.
Uh, freedom of speech, freedom to protest, uh, that we are allowing our students within parameters, that they're in school, and what is expected of them in that. Um, peaceful way to do that. Um, also want to commend the middle school team that we met with at CNI. Um, it takes a lot of work, and to have 4 or 5 different schedules thrown at them, so agreeing with what Dr. Dreisen said. Um, hoping for some consistency with them, but, um, what's most important to me is their passion. for making everything work. Um, the activities that the students do throughout the day, the curricular time that they have.
Um, and then, you know, making sure that that's all getting done, but also, obviously, voicing their concerns of needing their own planning time. Um, it's really important. So, thank you to Mr. Chaffain for spearheading the enrollment balancing. committee on the board side, um, and that's it for today, thanks. Thank you. I'm gonna echo that, too. We're not done yet, though. We're going on a traveling roadshow to get more community feedback, um, but this was a really important milestone. for us, I think, to echo some of the community comments and board member comments, I think the recommendations ended up being different than maybe what.
we expected when we started out on this. I think when everybody thought about enrollment balancing, everybody was just thinking about the map. And was thinking about it very narrowly, and I think, you know, the conversation broadened as. As we discussed it in committee, and we thought about it more to other ways that we could solve the problem. But I know that this has been a long road, so I want to thank you for all your work thus far, bringing us to the point of recommendation. Um, always facilitating open and honest discussion and communication among committee members. And, you know, we'll finish this out with, you know, getting more feedback on the actual recommendations and then coming to a decision in the months to come, but thank you. This is a really important milestone for us.
I also did the African American read-in. Um, I read to third grade classes, and I also attended one of my favorite nights, which is the. Jazz night at Rosa last night. It is all the jazz bands together, the three middle schools, the two high schools. It's an amazing night. They were all wonderful, it's super cool to see the middle schoolers look up to the high schoolers and what they can become. see the high schoolers, look at the middle schoolers, and remember when they were in middle school. It's just amazing. Kudos to Mr. Porco over at ROSA for. moving this forward upon the retirement of Ms. Mark, who had spearheaded it. I think it's past its 25th year now, and it's really a unique event.
And really nice to attend, so thank you. Ms. Cummings was there with me as well. Um, I think that's all I have. Mr. Greenbaum. Thank you. Um… If it's alright, I wanted to take a brief opportunity just to… elaborate a little bit more on some of the BNF notes that I skipped over. uh, during my report out, but they are in the… in the report included in the agenda. Just to clarify what the… Uh, available taxing authority is. Again, this is available, not what's being recommended. We're still very early on.
Uh, as every year there's a 2%, uh, up to 2% tax levy, which comes out to about $4 million. Uh, total. Um… We have about 1.68% bank cap, which is another $3.4 million. Uh, it looks like there's probably right around 5%, uh, for a medical benefits waiver, which could bring in about $10.5 million. Hypothetically, this would amount to an average tax increase. Uh, of $512, but again, this is hypothetical based on maximum available taxing authority.
As a reminder, we had the ability to go to 10% last year, and the board had no desire to do so. Um, but hopefully that helps, just, uh… kind of elaborate on what the… helps enumerate what the taxing authority is, what the amounts are, and the maximum impact on the taxpayer. Um, on a similar note to my colleagues, um… We attended, uh, Board of Ed in our schools, where. Uh, several board members were invited to visit many of our schools. We saw many today. We're going to see more tomorrow.
I just wanted to say thank you to the staff and teachers in our schools for hosting our visits. It was really insightful to learn more about each of our schools in person, and it really was a joy to see how our students learn. Especially the little ones. We ended our day in Malberg and just seeing the little ones learning and how excited and happy they were. Uh, just, uh, it was a nice way to end the day. Thank you. Miss Stern. A few comments, um… uh, one… I guess one just to address, um, first of all, I want to thank, um, Dr. Pendergrast for.
Um, taking the time to come to sit through this entire meeting. Um, you know, I think I always want to recognize that parents of students with special needs have. additional challenges that other families might not be facing. Um, and it's hard to… sometimes not just figure out how to manage those challenges, but also to then take leadership. Um, as you have, um, with the special education parent advocacy, um, group is, um, advisory group, I'm sorry, parent advisory group, um, is really… I really appreciate that, and I really appreciate the… the growing effort on behalf… that CPAG is making to… to be a resource for families in our district and for the school district.
Um, so thank you. Um, I do want to just comment, um. several times throughout, and recently, comments have been made about ethics complaints that have been filed against a board. To be clear, any human being can file an EPIS complaint against the Board of Education or Board of Education members, that's the right of, uh, of… our citizens. Um, but to be clear, uh, the, the, um, um… The School Ethics Commission has, uh, not founded any ethics violations in any of those complaints that have been filed.
Um, so, you know, there are findings, and there are findings, but there are… there have been no ethics violations, so just to clarify that. And, um, the last thing I want to say is I really want to thank Dr. Morton. I want to thank all the staff. Um, a Miss Barati. Um, Mr. Schemf, you were the kind of key people involved. Uh, and we're… and Mr. Guy, oh my gosh, Mr. Guy, who is our main. Sherpa today, I would say, uh, going through, spending an entire day, um, walking through, um.
Many elementary schools. Um, I, you know, I think, uh, and Ms. Braddy, I owe you the survey, which I will do tonight. just, uh, you know, first of all, key takeaways for me, um. that I… not only were we… it was a dizzying number of students and buildings and staff that we saw, but the truth is that all. All of them look very similar. And there's, you know, really speaks when we were seeing the learning and what's being taught.
Um, the, the significant effort being put in by teams of people. to ensure all of our students are learning to the best of their ability and receiving a high-quality education. Um, tremendous consistency throughout our schools, and that, that's, that's huge. So, just want to thank you. I'm excited for tomorrow. Ms. Palmer. So I… want to echo, and I will not repeat, but I fully agree with. You know, my colleagues' sentiments around BOE in our schools, and I look forward to day two.
Um, my life has also been very wrapped up in the 8th grade to high school transition. uh, attended the Discover East event. Um, I know I talked about the… the Cherry Hill West Open House at the last meeting, but. Um, you know, it's been nice to see. how we as a district. orient our rising high school families. Um, on that note, for those who haven't seen it. who may be going through the course selection process for the first time.
I encourage you to check out this latest edition of Discussions with Dr. Morton. Which feature is that Ms. Staffin, Dr. Morton, talking about the course selection process. The district's website has been incredibly helpful. Under academics, the course selection booklet is there. A lot of other information about that. Admittedly, probably less daunting than I feel like it is, but might be a daunting process for a lot of people, so I appreciate the resources that are there, encourage other parents in similar situations to check those out. And uh… I think that's it for me tonight.
is Cummings. You're a hard act to follow, just want to say. Um… So I, too, with Ms. Winters, attended, um, the, uh… the… what is it even called? Jazz Night? Yeah, it was very awesome. It was the first one I've ever been to. I was blown away. like, 5 jazz bands in the round, um, and it just… it's so immersive, and it's great, and our students are so… They're just so talented, and I think I, at one point, I looked at Mrs. Winters, and I was like, I just want to be best friends with them. Um, I'm really sorry that I did not get to attend.
BOE in our schools today. I will try and slide in maybe tomorrow afternoon for the second half of the day. I'm gonna see if I can. Um… But otherwise… That's it, I don't think I have anything else, so thanks for the opportunity. Thank you, and moving on to Superintendent's comments. Thank you. I only have one really quick comment, and it's just to, um… to, uh, say thank you to all of the community members who consistently come out. who share their voices, who share perspective with us. I know it's not easy at times to share.
Um, opinions or perspectives that may even feel contrary at times. But we listen, and we take your feedback and take your input. Um, as reflected in the enrollment balance recommendation. I did not anticipate that that would be the recommendation when we started. In my mind, it was gonna be a true boundary readjustment process, but as we. We went through the process, we looked at the data. We heard from community members, we engaged with the board subcommittee. it was clear that a pathway had emerged forward, and it was.
truly only really one or. one pathway to go forward, and that was the recommendation we came up with. But we arrived there. We, you know, that's not where we started. Uh, so I just encourage, you know, everyone to continue to come out, share your voices, share your perspectives. Continue to engage with the district. We'll continue to create opportunities for the community to do so. Um, and with that, great meeting. Have a great night, everyone. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Ms. Monsanto-ald, members in favor of adjourning? It's