Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting of the Board of Education to order. Mr. Schimp, can you please call the roll? Ms. Cummings. Here. Ms. Manzano. 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 July 9, 2026 in the following manner. Posted notice on the school bulletin board of the administration building posted on the board's official website, transmitted to the clerk of Cherry Hill Township. Please rise and join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all Please be advised this meeting is being recorded and live streamed. Dr. Morton, do we have any board recognition this evening? We do not. Do we have student representative reports this evening? We do not. It's okay, guys, we weren't going to.
Did you guys want to make a report, or do you just want to introduce yourselves and say hi? It's fine. Can we give them a microphone so they can say hi to us? Green means go. Okay. Hi, I'm Isabella Rodriguez, and I'm one of the board reps from Trejo West. And, I'm Macy McCauley, and I'm the other board rep from Cherry Hill West. Can we give our reps an applause?
Welcome to our new West Student Reps. We're very happy you guys are here. Thank you for joining us tonight. Are there any administrative presentations tonight Then I will move to first public comment. There will be 2 opportunities for public comment this evening. The first public comment session is for Board special 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. Speakers must provide their name and municipality. Students may comment on any topic during first public comment by identifying themselves as a student. We alternate between speakers in the room and those wishing to comment online. Each speaker has three minutes to speak, and the timer on the screen will indicate the amount of time remaining. All statements, questions, or comments should be addressed to the chair, and your inquiry may or may not be addressed by administration at the close of the session.
At Custom In Practice, we start in the room. Is there anyone in the room who would like to make first public comment this evening? Seeing no one in the room, I'm going online. Is there anyone online who would like to make first public comment on an action item? Please raise your hands. Seeing no one in the room and seeing no one online, I'm going to close first public comment and move on to correspondence. Mr. Schimp, is there any correspondence this evening? No correspondence. Thank you, and Superintendent's report, Dr. Morton.
Thank you so much. Just a couple items for me. First and foremost, summer is here. As evidenced by the fact we're blowing through this agenda today, right? Everyone's enjoying. I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July celebration. I know I certainly did, and my voice is still recovering from the great time that we had. Most importantly, as the weather begins to… or temperature, rather, begins to heighten just a bit, just want to remind everyone to stay hydrated Stay safe during the extreme heat that we are expecting over the next couple of days. Summer programming is in session throughout the district. Thank you to all of the staff who continue to support our students, even in the summer as well.
As always, a reminder Some are reading It's never too early to begin summer reading. And as Allison Staffing cheers, information is accessible at the district's website as well about summer reading assignments. With that, I'll say thank you. Thank you so much. Moving on to old business, is there any board members that have old business this evening? I just have one piece of old business, an update on their funding. Unfortunately, despite all of our advocacy efforts, we did not receive any additional funding from the state.
in this year's budget, meaning that our budget allocation stands as what was noted in February and March that it would be. This is a huge disappointment for me, to be frank. I felt that the district as well as the community did a really great job advocating For Cherry Hill Public Schools and all the needs that exist. And I'm extremely disappointed that we did not see an additional allocation to support our students. The fight does not end here. I expect to move forward with advocacy towards revising the funding formula itself.
That way Cherry Hill can be sure to get its fair share, and we can sustain the great programming education that we are all all in support of Do any other board members have comments? Sorry for the sad note, but I feel like the funding fight was a big conversation this spring and I wanted to make sure to close that conversation. And if there are additional updates, I'll be sure to let everybody know. Moving on to our board work session. This is going to be committee reports or committees in July are focused on goals. So I will start with CNI. C and I discussed a few things we approved the musical for Beck Middle School, which is Dare to Dream
Which is a Disney musical review. If anybody loves to sing along to Disney songs like I do, you should make sure to go. We discussed the nursing orders And then we discussed the priority one goals, which are academic achievement and outcomes, as well as a few from priority 3. So I'm going to ask board members if you could open up your Draft goals documents so that you can follow along. So CNI worked on one goal around our preschool program
As well as goals around Give me one second while I'm opening this up. Math, ELA. And science, and also goals around our experiential learning and career pathways. So for preschool, the goal was focused mostly on our expansion efforts for next year, in which we are partnering with a number of amazing new providers. And so the goals have to do with, and these, if you look, if you're looking at the goal document, they're labeled as gold pre-K.
Talks about the providers that we'll have next year filling those seats And one thing that I really like is KPI five, which makes sure that the Office of Special Education is included and representative district community events having to do with preschool that makes sure that our preschool students with disabilities and special needs are included in that conversation. So we were pleased with those. When we moved on to math, we talked a lot about The future of our math goals. This year we use our district benchmarks as sort of the baseline to see where we are moving forward. Ms. Staff and provided the committee with the end of year
scores for those, and we talked about what we anticipate to see moving forward with a focus, as it has been in the past few discussions on math at the middle level, which seems to be a point of challenge still for us, and what that looks like going forward. We talked about some of the efforts that we have put in over the past few years One of the challenges when discussing anything at the middle level is that there's just been so much change at the middle level over the past few years. We changed the way our students attend our middle schools to now three districted middle schools
We changed the middle school to the junior high model. We changed the seventh and eighth grade math course. So there's been a lot of things that change. So the committee felt, along with administration, that the best thing to do is to let things settle, and we think that next year we'll get a really good sense of where we are and where we're going Does anybody have any questions on the math goals? Our focus really still continues to be around that Algebra 1. Seventh, eighth, ninth kind of band. I feel like we've got a lot of good consistency now between kindergarten all the way through with Eureka squared and in high school with the math pathways, we're doing really great. I think that that middle level is where we just continue to struggle
And where we want to make the most progress moving forward. We had a really, does anybody have questions about math before I move on? Okay, moving on to ELA. ELA was actually a great conversation because our ELA benchmarks look amazing. And kudos to Ms. Staffen and the members of her team because the ELA stuff just looks wonderful. I think The next piece for us is going to be translate that benchmark data success with ELA to what it looks like on NJSLA, just so you guys all know, NJSLA scores are going to be delayed this year because of the new adaptive test. So I know the board is used to seeing that earlier in the year, everything's going to shift a little bit later
But I think that'll be really interesting as we move forward. As you know, too, we've implemented Amplify CKLA in the elementary level with the science of reading. So I think it's going to be interesting to see how that impacts kids as they move forward. But really, the ELA stuff looks great For science, we had some really interesting conversations about how to measure science proficiency because the science standardized testing is not given in any grade every grade rather it's fifth, eighth, and 11th. And what does that look like? So instead, we decided to focus on participation on our district benchmarks with science
And then look towards what those proficiency scores look like, not this year, but in subsequent years. So kind of establish a baseline around the benchmarks and then move forward. We talked about open sci ed and the expansion of that Up to the high school, we talked about the sequence we have at the high school of biology, chemistry, and physics That was a conversation We talked about inclusivity, and thank you to Ms. Mallory, as always, for coming to CNI to talk about how our science standards are implemented with our special education learners and how they can access that curriculum.
Any questions about science? Yeah, we're knocking it out of the park here, Melissa. Our committee was great. No questions means I might be doing a good job explaining. And then the next piece of it had to do with something that the board and the community really pushed for in the strategic plan, which is experiential learning and post-secondary planning. One thing that Mr. Fain was really strong with, and I wish she was here tonight, but we talked about how Really what we should be advocating for is to make sure that we have are expanding our opportunities for the students who want to take them. Maybe not looking at like a total percentage of all students, but of the students who want to take these opportunities, do we have opportunities accessible
And also how maybe new partnerships may not be the perfect metric because she was saying that in some cases, it's existing partnerships that want to expand seats for students who want fun So that was a really good conversation as well with experiential learning Which is growing by leaps and bounds. And then the last one we talked about had to do with college and career readiness And the conversation there had to do with expanding opportunities down to the middle level to start thinking about those things, which is a missing piece. I think I had that in middle school. I shared that with the committee that when I was in middle school, that was something we did before we headed to high school, was talk about
Career opportunities. to start thinking about how that shapes the coursework you take at the high school level. So that's somewhere that we're going with that Using Naviance, which we use at the high school level down to the middle level, Ms. Dern. So regarding those sections of the goals. One of my comments that I would have written after reviewing them is I would like to see special education specifically mentioned regarding post-secondary
So opportunities and post-secondary preparation. You know those those two parts of the goals. Because we're really looking to include make sure that special education is, you know, we are more inclusive overall as a district. And I think in general, our special populations, you know, I think we need to If it's written
In the goals It's easier to implement that. So I know that that's something we actually talked about as an overlap, which we'll get to in our special education committee. And I know there are plans which we'll talk about in our report To do that. But to expand by using a new platform. However. I think we need more than that. I think we… it needs to be kind of
present in everybody's mind, that we need to ensure we are including our students who might, you know be among special populations. to look for to assist them to assure they're able to access these opportunities, and also that they're Their needs may be different in planning for post-secondary. So for instance And this is getting a little specific, but, you know, there are a lot of programs at the college level that if we're… if students are going off to college
For students who are first generation college students. There's a lot of programs, there are a lot of consideration for students with special needs to have special education resources at those schools. There's often Office of Disabilities at many colleges. So Bringing that back to what we're doing to help them plan, help those students and their families plan, I think access to that information is really important and There are a lot of families that might not identify or might be openly identified as needing that information, but in fact
broadening that information, making it more universally available and shared And having it more top of mind to… in all the work we're doing, I think really helps us in our goal of inclusion. So my question, I guess, would be, do you vision this falling under our new transition coach, or is this something that you're thinking would fall more under the director of guidance? or both. So, I think it has to be This is me speaking with my lens. I think if we're going for a more universally inclusive environment, then it needs to be universally inclusive.
We do need to put specific resources like the transition coach. That person is very specifically doing this, but we don't want to silo them either. I agree. And I think the folks who are delivering these resources to our students, those folks need to be Thinking inclusively as well and broadly have those resources in that lens. So yeah, and I think this is some place these intersection places where we've struggled as
district in the past Where really this is a conversation that's partially special education, partially guidance, partially all these things, so moving together. I mean, I do think I agree with you that if the focus for high school as we move forward is going to be towards these college and career pathways, towards more intentional plotting and planning of courses to help kids get where they want to be going, that that needs to be true for all students. Well, and if we're trying to expand opportunities, and again
Just as an example, without going too in the weeds here, but if we're expanding opportunities like internships or you know For instance, we know certain populations may not Be more as prepared for interviewing, or they may interview differently or they may not even know how to access. So I think as we're I just want us to really have inclusivity And awareness of different populations when we are looking for
to help our students. And I I'm thinking about, you know a conversation we had, you know our 1st stab at this was like We talked about the internship website, which was lovely I want to make sure that all students see themselves as potential interns I want to make sure that our website that has an interest But, you know, if you're interested, you know, I want all our students think, oh, okay, well I have a place in this. It's not just certain students who have a place to access internships.
I think this is a much higher, I think the level of inclusion that we are going for is a highly of excellence. And I think we'll be pioneers in the state to do this level of inclusion. I mean, I think very big about this, right? In my last five months on the board. And I'm hoping that that will continue, that thinking will continue. I know it's there at our cabinet level. I know Dr. Morton and Ms. Mallory specifically, because they're part of our meetings. I know their minds are there, so I just
I want us to have this as where we're working towards in a more general sense. No, I think that's a good point and maybe something that we can look at as we revise the goals. Before we get to final approval. Does anybody else before we finish priority one have any questions or anything they want to ask or Melissa, Ms. Banzano, do you have anything you want to add? It's the only other CNI member at the meeting. It's really good. And before we move on from this piece of it, I just really want to commend Ms. Staffen. Because in all my years on the board, I have never seen a more
Robust conversation at the at the committee level about academic achievement than the one that you led. So thank you so much for including us in the conversation for your forthrightness, for letting us be part of the tackling these things head on Because we really do appreciate it. We do. So thank you. Do you have anything, Mustafen, that you want to add or did I capture it? In summary, it's hard to summarize a meeting like that, but We also took a look at priority three a little bit
Which this is part of where we really do intersect with special education. So if you guys want to flip in your document to priority three We talked about MTSS into year two, looking at universal screening. Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions. And we looked about we looked at And Ms. Stern, I think you guys worked on this even more than we did. So I'm not going to talk about it too much. But just to let you know that the intersection was there between
Special education and CNI committee. Does anybody have any questions about that? I mean, I figure we'll talk about it more when we get to special education. Any other questions about CNI in general? I think I did a great job. And so I'm going to toss it to Ms. Palmer to lead us through Priority 2, which is operational excellence. Sure. So, as Mrs. Winters just noted, the Bnf committee discussed. We've we focused on strategic priority to operational excellence under aim 2a, and I apologize. I'm toggling back and forth between the couple
a couple different documents. The bulk of the conversation in the committee meeting this month really focused on the launch of ClearGov, which is the district's soon-to-be financial transparency dashboard. And if you remember Goal 2a in the strategic plan by 2030, majority of parents and community members will indicate a high level of satisfaction with their understanding of the data and information behind our financial decisions. ClearGov is really a huge step forward in that process
Mr. Schimp, keep me honest, I believe that platform, we hope, will be ready to go September-ish for a public facing rollout for current year data. But within the next couple of weeks we'll have historical Yeah, thank you for that. So the KPIs around goal 2A really are focused on our rollout of ClearGov. So the implementation, public launch Getting stakeholder feedback is KPI 2. KPI three consistent growth and dashboard usage.
our audit findings are clean, and then mobile and accessibility standards. Are there any questions? There was some crossover, too, in the Communications Committee, because I think communications especially will have a role in whether what what those kind of feedback sessions look like, how we gather that data But this is a huge step forward in terms of financial transparency for sure. I think we'll all see, and I know I speak for myself, but I know the discussion in both of our committees was that we're looking forward to kind of being able to do a demonstration of the platform and see how that works.
Any questions, thoughts about ClearGov and Our Kpis around goal 2a. Aim 2B, enrollment balancing and resource utilization. So there was conversation in committee about sort of changing the focus of this goal. And for this year really focusing on especially in light of changes at the elementary level and class size making sure that we're taking the resources that we have and allocating them strategically to make sure a little bit of a crossover, I think, with Mtss, probably making sure that the resources we have are placed where they need to be to provide the maximum support.
Let's see And you guys can look through strategies and actions and the KPIs. Keeping an eye on class sizes, annual resource allocation reviews, targeted staffing supports, and the schools that need them. Any questions, comments, Ms. Winters? So I really like to focus on class size. Yes, that was such a big question from earlier this year, especially at certain elementary schools who were concerned their class size would go up and they wanted to know that we were going to monitor
If there was an impact and what that looks like, and add resources as needed. So I think that's amazing. My only concern here is that the administration raised a concern during the rebalancing discussions around Rosa Middle School specifically And how enrollment at that school is higher than I think we would want, and that was something that was brought forward by administration. I don't see anything here about addressing ROSA, and I want to make sure that that's not a dropped ball. Yeah, and there was, and Dr. Martin, I will… I'll defer to you to say… say whatever you want on this piece. There was
Discussion in the committee meeting on that very point. I think the consensus, keep me honest, is that It is a concern. It's something we're watching. It's not… it was not something we were ready this year, or that administration felt like this year we were ready to put in the goals But it's maybe a next year conversation, and that we really wanted the focus to be on elementary resourcing for this year, given the anticipated anticipated impact of class size changes and or the attention around it.
I understand that. I think I'm just concerned because it's been a conversation at Rosa now for a few years. And now that we have fully implemented the new middle school enrollment process, where it's three districted middle schools that has finalized. So now we're getting a clear sense of what those cohorts look like coming from the group of four elementary schools that go to each middle school I just want to make sure that we're not continually kicking the can down the field because Rosa has classrooms that are physically smaller because the building was never meant to be a middle school
Rosa also doesn't have the same kinds of resources when it comes to things like science labs that the other two middle schools do. So I just want to make sure that since that conversation was raised that we don't just keep ending it because I worry about the impact on those students. I do know that enrollment at Beck looks higher for next year Which is good, it seems. And I do… I want to say this, too. I've been involved in these middle school discussions since the moment I joined the board in 2022, and one thing that I've realized is that things kind of move cyclically, so you can't really make a decision based on one year's enrollment
Because it may change the next year, I just feel like there has been a conversation about Enrollment at Rosa Since we changed it from a selection process to a districted school, and I want to make sure that we don't We don't just push that conversation to the side. Just to jump in really quickly. So Rosa, we have a few spaces coming online. You know, and coming into this year as the new all-purpose room space gets completed and music space is open, and the what was formerly the main office gets converted into some instructional spaces as well. So that's where we said, well, we'll monitor
The impact of those additional spaces. We'll see where we are and how we continue to trend enrollment wise, but we absolutely aren't dropping this. We're keeping a close eye on it, close watch. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. And to that point, I think one of the things the goal around to be for this coming year, we pivoted a little bit from what the framework had been going into this year. That was intentional, and what I do appreciate is that we're acknowledging that we do need to monitor, and we do need to change course from time to time
So I think this particular goal focused solely on elementary rebalancing last year. So there was a natural need to pivot anyway, but I appreciate that we were willing to have that conversation And then the third piece of the conversation was aim to see facilities, resources, and capital projects. And Focused on a lot of the same things that we're doing right now, continuation of making sure we have an annual health and safety facility checklist.
There was some conversation about once ClearGov is rolled out whether there's an opportunity to roll out a similar I don't know if you want to call it transparency tool around facilities management, and sort of what's next on the list. A capital project tracking tool. And then continuing to provide regular updates on bond progress and completion. Any questions, thoughts on this particular goal? It was a pretty straightforward conversation. Mr. Schimp, anything else you would add or anything I missed or miss Mrs. Cummings?
I was just going to say it was a good job, I think, summarizing. Looking forward again. Hopefully we'll have the demo done at the August committee level and then Start getting community feedback here shortly Great, and I just wanted to add that as we start the implementation of ClearGov Potentially the capital project tracking tool down the line that we are really one of the few schools in New Jersey who offers this level of transparency to their to their public.
Okay, thank you for that. Any other questions? Close it out there. Awesome. Priority 3, aligning student supports to mirror student needs is Ms. Stern. I hope I can capture it. We had a pretty robust conversation and I think I want to just start with what I actually, what we ended with in our committee meeting, which is to say that when I joined the board There were no goals anywhere in the district goals regarding special education.
And that was a focus. For several years. It was a gap And we filled the gap. We addressed the gap, I should say. And year one, the goal that we had set was to interview families with students with special needs to understand what their needs were. That was the entirety of the special education goal. I just really want to acknowledge the you know the
Believe it or not, impressive pace, I would say that we have the speed we have gained, the gains we have made by expanding this, you know, the whole working on our goals and the work we're doing in our schools, towards the overarching goal of inclusion, expanding inclusion, and making it a lot more universal. So, With that, I'll speak a little more specifically
One of the kind of main areas that we talked a lot about was Really honing in on building level Focus with inclusion, you know, not Only the special education department, but really being more intentional about Involving and engaging all the principals at all the buildings to really help bring and expand and ensure the inclusion of our special education students because obviously the principles are really key people for every student and every family.
So that was really a big shift, and already, before we even had our meeting, that has been in the works, and it's been in the works at the cabinet level discussions and in planning. So I just really want to acknowledge that, you know, that was exciting to hear So we talked about, well, what do we need to reach this larger kind of more universal awareness and of inclusion, and that really has to do with
implementation of Not just a professional development to make sure we're providing the resources for our all of our staff and administration to be able to expand their understanding of inclusion of students with disability in general education settings But also monitoring that, you know, tracking the participation in that We also talked in evaluating our programs to see where we're doing well and where we need to, you know, maybe make some adjustments. We talked specifically about as well a topic that's been coming up a lot more lately
And I look at it kind of like as we continue to develop and drill down further and further understanding where we want to make more impact. And so added to our goals this year is specifically focusing on students who have dyslexia. That is a topic that's been coming up a lot. Are we meeting their needs? Do we need, you know what are some of the reasons that families of students and the students themselves who have those challenges
You know, why are we hearing more that concerns about their needs being met. So we talked about incorporating more specific screening to ensure and measuring that to make sure we are how that's impacting literacy learning. And also we talked about that We have now started to share, and I may get this wrong, so Ms. Mallory will help me with this if I get it wrong. We are now, regularly sharing DIBELS data with families, and so for the first time, families might be seeing this information, and their children might be very
The children who are being assessed with DIBELS are very young, and so they might say, oh my gosh, my child, my kindergartner is not, you know, Ms. Manzano was kind enough to share, as a parent, her perspective on this. Oh my gosh, my child, you know, is, is below Is this an indicator? And so the educational piece for parents is really important to making sure we're not just giving them data, but that we are providing them with a framework to understand the data that they're getting. Did I get that right, Ms. Mallory? Okay
I mean, you're gonna check me if I'm wrong, right? And I can't see you because my back is to you, so you please just lean into the microphone. Thank you. So just as an example, that's another, you know, piece that we're working on. And I want to thank Dr. Morton very specifically for saying This must be called out. We must make sure that this is listed and called out directly in the goals. So there's to just kind of expanding that, we also talked about, I want to make sure I get this right
A lot of notes and not the best handwriting, so bear with me for a second. Sorry. We talked about, other… other areas with special education that we touch on, including… I'm gonna… I'm gonna get this wrong. Sorry, just bear with me.
Ms. Mallory Can you jump in on the training portion safety care, safety care? Did I get that right? Can you hop on that one? Just explain. So the verbal de-escalation piece that's based in applied behavior analysis and talks about gives actual examples of how staff can use language with students who are escalated to de-escalate students And targeting more buildings staff we've done entire buildings in the past year and a half, and we're going to continue to train all staff on the verbal de-escalation portion of safety care.
Thank you. And along that along those lines, we talked about also having more spelled out protocol, that staff and guidelines to follow, not with just training, but also when they are post-training, are there in situations in their building where there's escalation, there might be students who are dysregulated you know, right now It's a little bit more individually up to the building as they respond to situations like that. So having a little bit of more
Protocol to follow protocols to follow so that every It's just a lot easier if everyone can know what they're supposed to do and what where the criteria meets for responses to certain You know dysregulated students, or what have you. And I think, you know, again, kind of understanding that like You know We're asking our staff, our teachers, our administrators to be experts in a gazillion things, right? Not just in
You know, kind of traditional academic subjects, right? But we're asking them to be specialists in so many, you know, behavioral management, all the things, special education, all it's a lot to ask of them. So I think making sure that they have the resources, the education, the more regular… I wouldn't say more regular, because I can't speak to that, but ensuring that there is the regular kind of defined times to, you know, kind of
talk through, synthesize our general education staff have that as well regarding special education and how do we you know I think It's just more generalization. So I don't know if I hit all the notes. There's a lot more specifics in here. And there are more specifics also about MTSS. You know, last year was kind of year one. Now we're moving into year two. And I just, you know, I think that we We had a lovely discussion, it was great in committee. I think we were all kind of vibing together, which was really nice, quite honestly, to know that we're all kind of thinking in the same direction. And I think… I know for myself, I would love to see
as much as we can, perhaps a little bit more measurable measurements, I guess, in our KPIs. I'd love to see a little more of that. That's my one ask after looking at what we… what was put together Because we were just kind of talking it all through in our meeting, but Yeah. So I'm going to stop there and ask our other members if There are things I missed or didn't add or
Ms. Palmer. Yeah, the only thing I'll add is that I what I really appreciate is that There was a definite attempt through the goals to address some of the, I would say, higher profile themes that we heard, especially from our special education families in the last year. So I agree. I think there's a little bit of tweaking that we could do in terms of adjusting the language so that we, we know how we're measuring year over year, what our success looks like. But I think if you read what is in the KPIs, they are measurable. I think I would just
Tweak it a little bit. So we know like what our baseline is, where we are. But focus on professional development and training, family education, consistent communication to families Support for our staff Those were sort of the high-level things that I was looking for going into the special education committee conversation. We got that, so I really appreciate the work and thought that went into framing what the priorities needed to be for next year.
Ms. Winters. I just want to call out under goal 3A, the very last bullet point under strategies and actions, provide targeted professional development on dyslexia characteristics, screening data interpretation and instructional responses to build staff capacity across all schools. I think that's really important that was included, because I feel like a lot of the other pieces with dyslexia that I'm seeing have to do with identifying students, which is very important. But then the next question is then what happens with those kids? So I'm really excited to see a focus across
all schools on how we… what the instructional response to that is. So thank you for that. The other piece I just wanted to call out and amplify was what you said under CNI, which is, I think. We are moving towards a space here in Cherry Hill, and especially on the board where we're seeking greater and greater inclusivity, moving towards true inclusion. And I think That is a lofty goal, and I think it's going to take It can't be siloed. It can't be just the special education teachers. It's got to be the whole school community. Everybody understanding what that looks like, so all students are welcomed in these spaces.
And that's huge and it's going to take time and it's going to take understanding and it's going to take training and it's going to take all these things. But we are so far From where we were, and we have so far yet to go, but I just want to just call out how This vision is really coming together, and thank you for your leadership on that Yes, Manzano Just real quick, I just want to comment on what you said, Mrs. Winters, that the committee and also Dr. Morton and Ms. Mallory are fully committed to that. It is a trickle-down effect, and it starts with everyone and goes to everyone, so thanks for notating that.
And thank you to Dr. Morton and Ms. Mallory for that. It is great. I mean, I don't… I'm not on special education committee, but I can definitely see it from the outside, and it's amazing to see, and I'm really excited to see how we continue to get there, and especially as a board, our role is to provide the resources to get there So I think we need to be mindful of that, that it's one thing to have these aspirational ideas about true inclusion, but as a board, we need to make sure that then the budgetary piece is aligned with That vision, otherwise we're not going to get there. Because if people aren't prepared and they don't have the training and they don't have the resources, that is really, really hard to do. That is something that I emphasize with the commissioner when she was here when we were walking through Karusi.
That it's not just a question of this line item for special education funding. It's a question of what does the entire school look like to be prepared to receive these students and really include them. So, you know, I think, and we did talk about specifically about, you know, are there the resources in place? Do we have the right positions in place? Do we have the right? Are we supporting the people, you know. there's a thing about
You know, when you're providing resources, you know, the benefit of having maybe a peer resource versus more of a supervisory resource, you know, there's different benefits to both. Are we providing that? Where do we need to be creative? Ultimately, and I've seen this happen in other areas. I've seen it in my own profession. You know, when you intensely put the resource in place to support and train
Everybody Then the generalists do then have this area of knowledge and expertise and it just becomes part of their general knowledge and expertise And then those need for those intensive resources can be time limiting because of that, because it becomes everybody understands and everybody gets it. You know, we also have You know, people who have had different exposure in their own education, in their own training, in their own classroom experience
very different types of exposure to special education. And that varies so much from person to person and you know where they're at in their career, what they, you know, what's available in the buildings. It's interesting because I, you know, over the years, I've sat here and listened to community members criticize, and sometimes even board members, the money we spend on PD and professional development, but How are we going to get anywhere without spending money on developing our staff? I mean, that's the whole point. So that's critically important. And I am apologizing because I did not mute my phone. Sorry about that. So I
you know, I think we we we you know and and We have tons of internal resources. We have so many people who have so much knowledge. It's just it's leveraging all that. And then providing the supports to carry it all through. you know, I think we are It's funny, we talked about, you know, we're maybe the only district who has this, you know, gonna have this level of, you know, transparency in, you know, in the dashboard for ClearGov, you know.
I think we are a district that puts tremendous effort and focus and has for many, many years on supporting our special education students and having many different people This is just taking it up a notch, I would say, and bringing it more generally. So I hope that what we're talking about is not in any way being heard as we're not doing it, we're not doing it well. What we're saying is we want to continue to expand and grow Even further if you know want to make sure that message is heard too. And I think the families are such a big piece. They
Our families are a big piece of all of our students. They're especially a big piece when it comes to our special education students. There's a whole kind of Different way and You know, we, there's a different level of stress and worry and unknown and Information for a family of students with special needs. So we really want to and that and their point of contact typically is the child study team. So we want to make sure that we're addressing our families through the child study teams
Early and often. With the information they're provided doing what we can to help them understand the system. We've done a lot of that at the administrative level. I think there's been a big push this past year, which sometimes is well received and sometimes isn't, but you know we're doing that. We want to expand that Mrs. Winters. I just want to call out while we're talking about families that CPAG is specifically called out in the KPIs. And I want to just note that they've done a really great job this year of engaging and bringing in some families who maybe did not know
Where to go with their questions and they're providing that essential link between the families and the resources that we have, because I think that's always a big question People sometimes have a question or concern and they don't know where to go with it, and CPAG is a really great resource, so I'm happy that they are specifically named because they are doing a lot to try to create those collaborative spaces to bring people together and to align resources with student needs. Thank you for mentioning them. And I know they continue to work directly with Ms. Mallory or have communication and meetings with Ms. Mallory. Because they are an important stakeholder resource and support.
Well, I've spent a lot of time, so I guess that tells you how important this is. Anything else I missed, Ms. Mallory, anything else? Anybody else in the committee, Dr. Morton Not to call people out, but just making sure I'm being thorough. Well, thank you very much. All right, priority for climate and family engagement back to Ms. Palmer. Okay, so the Communications Committee tackled priority 4 goals. The bulk of our of our
conversation and the committee really was focused on goal for a 3 which is enhancing community connections and transparency By providing opportunities for meaningful feedback discussions with… between the BOE administration and the community. We've felt like a lot of progress was made last year, especially around elementary rebalancing, the feedback that we got about the community sessions that were held was overwhelmingly positive. I think
It was, you know the need for that was something that we heard across the community. I think it's something that we as a board wanted to see. I think they were very well done, and we saw how they could be a useful tool for us to share information, but also to receive information. In your committee folders are not in your committee folders in your BOE folder, there's a list of suggested topics. So one of our goals for next year is to make sure that we do another at least 3 community forums. I think the goal calls out specifically three community feedback forums.
The takeaway from the committee meeting is that while 3 is sort of the standard, the minimum that we want to get to, that doesn't mean that we can't do more if the need arises. I think that that should very much be the floor and not the ceiling. So take a look at those suggested topics. We also had some discussion around maybe there's an opportunity to do another session, or we even talked about a budget roadshow. I think that's a little ambitious. But certainly community forum on
Things like ClearGov on things like special education, what the actual, you know specifics of those sessions might look like is for us to kind of flesh out as we go along. But that's sort of what the committee saw as really the biggest impact that we could make toward goal 4A3. I'm looking through Some of the other KPIs are here. I mean, continuing to report out on things like our social media engagement metrics and Ms. Brady is not here tonight, but that's something that she has made a concerted effort to do, not just with the board, but with the public. And for me, it's meaningful not because I necessarily care how many likes a video got. I think that's great
But for me, it tells me how people are receiving information, what is resonating with them, and, you know, what we can improve upon, build upon, where we should be focusing our Admittedly, you know, limited efforts, Ms. Brady is phenomenal. She is also a communications team of one for a very large district. So I want to make sure that we're focusing the resources that we do have where they're most meaningful. I'm looking through some of the other… so I'll pause there
and see if there are questions, comments, thoughts about that discussion. And I would defer to Ms. Barati, but she is not here. Dr. Morton, was there anything else you would add? I would just elevate as well, we continue to focus on labor management collaborative and our work with staff members to create collaborative framework and you As we've done in years past as well. Yeah, yeah, and LMC for sure, I mean, Cherry Hill has been held up as an example of how the Labor Management Collaborative should work, and the benefits that it brings. You know, I think for this year, we shifted from more of a district-level focus to more a building-based teams
So I look forward to seeing how that continues. And then priority for a I'm sorry for B is focused on Let me see Information tracking, 4C is on school climate You can all look through The KPIs will be here all night if I read every single bullet point under each one of these. And then Let me see. A2 was the one that I was missing. And focusing on continuing to grow our student government infrastructure and sort of how that comes together at the district level representatives from both schools, all of our schools
Working together. Thoughts, questions, concerns? I know I kept it brief, but thoughts on whether the goals, I mean, I think the goals are, again, it levels up, it builds year over year toward our ultimate 2030 goals. I think we're on track. I think we're where we need to be You know, in terms of community feedback We had a lot of discussion about the need to hold sessions kind of across the district, how we can build virtual options in for people who can't be there with us in person, what that looks like.
Pretty straightforward conversation. I hate to be so brief, but that's how I roll. Thoughts, anything else? Otherwise, I'll turn it back to Mrs. Winters. Great job. Almester I'm sorry. I'm jumping all the way back to HR because I did leave out something that's important, which I thought about when you're talking about communication and We also did talk about ensuring that We continue to express and our staff continue to experience
being feeling recognized and appreciated. We've… that communication piece has expanded so much this year and we want to continue to expand that and maybe do it on a more of a micro level rather than a big macro level. Macro level is great. We can, I'm sorry, not rather than, but add in and start to look at the ways we are doing that, the places where staff do really Do feel that. And can we continue to expand and replicate those practices to make we're always trying to be more universal, right? We love the individual feeling of every building, of every school. We don't want to lose those things
At the same time, the really good practices that make us such a good district, we want to make sure we're expanding more universally. So I'm sorry I left that out earlier, but priority 5 was next. Oh, I didn't you moved forward. I moved forward. Okay, well then, forgive me. That's amazing. Moving forward, moving backwards Sorry. No, you're good. It's priority 5 times. It's been a day of since 7:00 AM switching gears constantly, so I apologize if I've switched gears.
Was there anything else under HR that you wanted to highlight? I think that was the majority of that discussion Yeah, I think, I mean, I think the success with Lieber's not here tonight, but I think the success of hiring retention You know focusing on You know, I mean, we've such a high level of focus of showing a level of, you know, demonstrating the value of our staff that the recognition of their value.
In our practices and then yeah, I think that was the main kind of continuing on and what's working And tweaking the things that maybe could be a little different could always, you know, use some tweaking. So I'm looking to see if there's anything else. We just talked about adding perhaps like more of a building level goal. Again, the theme this year is continuing to kind of
go more building level. And so with HR, we didn't have building… I don't think we had a building level goal in the previous one. So we just want to add that in So those are the five priorities. So the next step is that All the feedback will then go back to administration revisions will be made, and then we will receive a final draft of the proposed district goals for board approval at the next meeting. So if you have additional feedback
Do not sit on it Make sure that that feedback gets to Dr. Morton like Tomorrow Yesterday because Then they need to generate the final draft for our review. And then there will be a vote Yes Wonderful. So the committee that got left out was poor P&L because they didn't have any goals. But they had a lot of other things to do. So I'll turn it back over to Ms. Palmer. So we did in fact have a policy and legislation committee meeting for July
I will go through the readout with the caveat that Almost as soon as the committee meeting was finished, we got some updates from Strass Esme. So on first reading we had a very robust conversation around policy 2363, which is our student use of wireless communication devices policy, AKA the cell phone policy I'll get to the details on that in a second. We fully, so the committee recommended that we make some changes to that policy in line with the new state law.
Committee referred it out for board action. The committee supported those changes. We were under the impression that that was going to be sufficient to get us through to the start of the school year. Then Strauss said not so fast. Back to that in a second. Policies 5111.2 and 511 both dealt with open enrollment at our schools at the elementary schools and student eligibility policies. There were no substantive changes
There were some language changes related to Our new preschool program and the way we talk about that program versus calling it the Malberg Preschool because That's not a thing on its own anymore. We have a robust preschool program All of those changes are in the committee folder. If you have not received them and reviewed them already, please feel free to do so. 8110, policy 8110 deals with our attendance areas. The committee had been asked to review that and did not
did not see the need, agreed with administration, did not see a need to make a change to that policy, so there… there will be no board action taken on that. That policy stands as is. We also reviewed the first chunk of our bylaws on first reading, the bylaws for people in the, in the public who don't know are the policies that guide the way the board operates board governance. So we reviewed bylaws 0110 through 0157 Those bylaws, there were no substantive changes to the majority of them. A few minor language tweaks. There was a conversation
On I'm blanking on the policy number. The policy that deals with board leadership There was discussion around the Two-year limit for board presidency. The policy currently reads that no member of the board can hold the position of president of the board for more than two consecutive years. It is an open conversation, but I would like each of you who are here tonight to think about your thoughts and feelings
reach out. I'd like to discuss with each of you individually. Right now the committee is recommending that we remove that requirement. I reached out and had a conversation with New Jersey School Boards Association And they affirmed that having that term limit in writing is very much the exception in New Jersey that they were unaware of other any other district, though they couldn't definitively say that there was 0 districts that had that in writing
Their exact words were Cherry Hill is the exception, not the rule. There are a number of reasons that I feel Removing that term limit is the right thing to do. I think We historically have been a very high turnover board. And a high turnover board of working professionals who May not necessarily have the capacity, may not necessarily have the desire to be board president. But my biggest concern really with is with the nature of the high turnover of the board. I think
We run the risk of putting ourselves in a position where solely because there is this I only speak for myself arbitrary two year limit We run the risk of Forcing, for lack of a better term a person into a very important, very intensive leadership role that they do not want, just because You know, nobody else can do it and
You know. I just I I feel like the only justification that I have heard so far for keeping that in place Is the what if, right? The worst case scenario. And the argument we heard in committee, there was a member of the commenting committee that just said, remember. there could be a person who is… is in the presidency, who the board doesn't want And I hear it. I totally understand where that person was coming from. I would say that then the role of the board is to do the right thing.
There's a vote every January. And I think shame on us if we're not willing as a body of nine to make a change if a change needs to be made. I am not a person that believes in setting policy or legislating to the worst case scenario. That will always be my justification for personally supporting that change. So The bylaw will go through governance. And then it will be sent to the board for a full board discussion on first reading. It will go through second reading in committee, I believe
Right? All of even the bylaws need to go through a second reading, so it will have another committee cycle. I'm certainly willing to have conversation here as part of the report out. sit with it if you want. Reach out to me personally. Reach out to the governance chair, Renee, Mrs. Cherfain. It's only the start of the conversation. I know that there are some feelings around making such a change I am comfortable based on the conversations that I've had with SBA, New Jersey SBA, that
we would not be out of line. But I respect that it's a big change kind of culturally. So I will leave that there. Before I move on through the rest of the report out, is there any… does anybody want to have a discussion on it right now, tonight? I know that's kind of a big thing, it's a big shift And we're not taking action right now. Mrs. Stern. Just a couple comments. I think the piece I know it's understandable that there's concerns about kind of the what is, but
to your, again, to emphasize your point The board has the opportunity and does has a requirement to vote every January on their leadership. And that has, in my time on the board and just coming. This is my sixth year, you know that has that has been a real Oh, it's not, you know, it's not a It's not performative, it's a real thing. It's real thought and discussions and ideas, and I think people think a lot about that. So I don't have a… I mean, I get why someone would raise that, but I don't have that concern. I will say that I can recall, because of the high turnover, I mean, I recall hearing from our previous superintendent, him saying
I've worked with four board presidents in the past four years. Because of turnover, because of, you know, the public decides who should be on the board and who shouldn't It's a big job. It's a really big job And if… if the board is going to be a Mean is going to serve meaningfully. There needs to be a person at the helm who is
Capable of managing the capacity of that role. And also willing and quite honestly, if they're a little more knowledgeable and a little more experienced and have their feet under them a little better, I think that benefits the whole board As a board That being a board president about 5% of what the board president does probably is seen by most people, including most of the board members. Absolutely. The vast majority of the work of the board president is done quietly by themselves
And or in meetings with the superintendent, you know, it's done on their laptops, and it's not… it's not what goes on. I mean, there's a role of it, but, you know, this is a very small percentage. So You know, and it's a volunteer position. So I'm in favor of having someone who's kind of gotten their feet under them. have more of the opportunity. I'm also in favor of, you know, we… when it comes to policy in general, we keep saying We do our best not to have orphan policies, not to have these policies that are an aberration
from the rest of the state, why would we have this bylaw that's an aberration? I don't… I don't think that makes sense. It sounds like it is most… pretty much an aberration, so that's just my initial thoughts. I know we'll have a more robust discussion, but I want to put that out there. Yeah, I appreciate that, and just so everybody's aware, so the bylaw itself Exists the policy itself is not a standalone, but that one and if you look at the policy, it is the last sentence of the policy. I will say, I mean, we've all been in situations, we've all been a new member training. We've many of us have been to the school board conference
There are some smaller districts. I do believe that they're mostly smaller districts throughout the state where you may have board members who serve on the board for 5, 10 20 years blows my mind in some of those districts. And I love what I do. I love this work, but I cannot imagine doing it for 20 years, because it is a lot of work And I just think things run their course. So there are some districts where you may, you may see a board president who serves until the end of time.
But I think the flip side of that is, as Mrs. Stern alluded to, there's a benefit to, you know, I think At least from what I've seen in my two years on the board. You spend a year kind of learning the job. You get kind of good at it, and you get your feet under you in year two And I just… it seems like an unfortunate place to just arbitrarily cut it off. If somebody were willing to serve and the board needed somebody to serve for a third year You know
And they wanted to is the other piece of it. I just I do think that there is a value in some level of continuity, especially on a board that has, at least in recent history, not seen a lot of continuity from term to term there's three of us up for re-election every year I just, I look at the composition of the board that we have. I look at just What we have in front of us, and I do have real practical concerns about the situation that we could force ourselves into without having a conversation.
So take that as you will. Please reach out feel free to sub in in the August committee cycle if you'd like. Or bring it to a full board discussion. I know we're not all here tonight, and I would like to have a conversation with everyone here. I will move on from that particular piece of the report out unless there are any other questions or comments. Okay. The technology policy discussion we did not get to because we ran out of time. And we had another committee butting up to us. On the cell phone policy. So as I alluded to
As soon as we came out of that meeting, we received updated guidance from Strauss Esme that instead of amending the current policy that we had, they're recommending that we abolish our existing cell phone policy and roll it into the policy that already governs use of electronic communications and video recordings We will take a look at that. And in the interest of transparency, it's been publicly published, but because of the timing and because we need to have this policy in place for the start of the school year in September, P&L is actually having a special meeting tomorrow morning at 11
I believe we're here in the boardroom, correct, Mr. Shim? P&L. So we will be meeting tomorrow as a committee to discuss that policy change. It was the only way a special meeting is out of our norm for sure. It was the only way to make sure that we could have two readings, an opportunity for two readings before the start of the school year. There will also be two additional policies that will be on the agenda for tomorrow. Again, time-sensitive related to transportation.
That will be discussed in tomorrow's committee meeting. So apologies to anyone who cannot be there. Who would like to be, but It will be back for second reading in the August committee cycle It's the best we can do given the timing that we've been dealt. I will end it there. Questions, concerns, thoughts, anything that I left out? Trying to think of who was there. Mrs. Winters Are we still on track for a technology policy package before September? In August. Thank you.
Anything else? Okay All right. Governance Committee. Candy is Cummings As the only member of the governance committee here this evening. Is there a governance report? There is no report tonight That was awesome. She's got it. The only thing that I will add, even though I'm not on governance, is you're all delinquent except for Ms. Manzano.
Because who has done their board self-evaluations? Almost everybody. Did you look at the list today? You all did it. This morning, did you look at the list this morning, Mrs. Winters? By 8am? At 8 AM. I was all done. Mine was done! You all did it on the last day. I think there's only… there were only two missing as of 8 AM this morning. Well, then maybe my temper tantruming is working, because when I looked when I looked, and I won't say those names anymore. It was Ms. Manzano, Dr. Dryson, and myself, and I was like, what are they all doing
Excellent. Great work. Are there committee and delegate reports that we have not heard? Anybody who attended something on behalf of the board? As a delegate of the board All right. Moving on. To our special action agenda Who's ready for the action part? Superintendent recommends and I move the following agenda item 19.2.
Is there a second? Ms. Palmer, any questions on the CNI agenda this evening? Mr. Schiff, please open the vote. Motion carries.
Thank you, Ms. Palmer. Can you move the BNF agenda, please? The superintendent recommends and I move the following agenda items 20.2 through 20.8 as presented. Do I have a second? This is Manzano. Any questions board member comments, concerns Okay, seeing none, Mr. Shim, can you open the vote? Mr. Schimp
I need to recuse from bill list. I wrote it down earlier. Sorry I think it was I'm sorry. I think it was the 6 or 7 Phyllis Sixth Let me pay high school. Motion carries. Sorry. I'll find the right number, sorry
Ms. Dern, I think you can just recuse from any payments too. I'm recusing from any payments to Lenapeake Regional High School District. I think it's bill list actually About 8 And I'll recuse from any payments to Rutgers. There we go. Thank you. You're welcome. Simplify. Moving on to the HR agenda, Ms. Stern. Superintendent recommends and I move the following 21.1 through 21.8 inclusive as presented, all the language. Do I have a second?
This is Winters. Are there any questions Mr. Shim, please call the vote. Motion carries. I would like to recognize Dr. Barnes-Johnson and welcome her to Cherry Hill.
had a very long time, and I'd like to actually, which is really exciting. So, to our student representatives, thank you for being here and for being part of this very important process. To every educator with whom I've had a conversation already, thank you for your confidence, and to those that I will get a chance to meet board members and community members, I am delighted. It's really exciting, because as I was sitting here, I thought about an ad from the 80s for Apple computers. It said, Think differently
Or no, that's my revision. It was actually think different. And as I thought about the conversation about inclusivity, I thought about that ad because genius looks so different For so many reasons and to think that I am joining this community At this moment, where that is the conversation is really quite exciting. So thank you very much for welcoming me to this wonderful community under this absolutely amazing leader. Thank you, Dr. Morton
For your vote, and I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you so much. Looking forward. Thank you, Dr. Barnes-Johnson. We are thrilled that you are here and joining us. Moving on to P&L, Ms. Palmer. Sorry, my mic wouldn't turn on. The superintendent recommends and I move the following agenda item 22.
as presented and This is the Hibbs summaries discussed on June 23rd. Can I have a second This is Manzano. Any board member questions discussion items Okay, seeing none, Mr. Schump, can you open the vote
Motion carries. Thank you. There is nothing under governance tonight. So is there any new business for consideration by the board? Any board members? New business? No. Then we will move on to second public comment. Public comment as an opportunity for members of the board of, I'm sorry, for members of the community to provide input to the Board of Education on educational issues. And 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. I would start in the room But there's no one here So I will start online and the first caller is Ms. Kim Gallagher. Ms. Gallagher, it's your turn. Please unmute. You'll have 3 minutes. Kim Gallagher, Cherry Hill. I just wanted to say that I was happy to hear about the dyslexia goal discussion tonight. You know, I have two children with dyslexia and
You know, unfortunately, the resources in our district have not provided Then with adequate literacy programs. And I know that I'm not the only parent out there who feels the same way. And I think, as Ms. Stern said, that the first goal for special education was to talk to families. Well, I think this is also an opportunity for the district to talk to the families with children with dyslexia There are resources out there. There are proven methods that work for students. I have two children who are receiving literacy programs and have made significant strides in a very short amount of time. And just because it's methodical and it's structured
And it's proven So I think this is a good opportunity for the district to to talk to families who have not, you know, had success with their students in the district, specifically when it comes to dyslexia. So yeah, so thank you and have a good night. Thank you for your comment. Moving on to the next caller is September ending in 788. Please unmute, give us your name and municipality. You'll have three minutes.
My name is Dr. Podowitz. Oh, there you are. My name is Jeff Toddowitz. I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. First, you just okayed 20.8, and that was a waiver, and the waiver is that what you want to do is a preschool is not even built yet And yet you want the ability to have a contract with that company. It is not… and it's an international company. It's not even built yet And you all said, think that's okay. No, it's not.
Alright? And what does the contract say? Why don't you put online what the contract says? What are we being committed to? How much it's going to cost So everyone, 20.8, read what the… if anyone's listening, read what it says, read the waiver application, and ask like I did. They aren't in existence. They're no building yet and that's what they're with that's what the wave was for. That is okay, really. No, it's not okay. And you just passed it. Well, yeah.
All right, inclusion without necessary supports is worthless and harmful. How about that, whether it's for dyslexia or any disability? And I've heard people get up at that microphone and complain. Maybe last year, the year before, every once in a while, parents complain. Kids with disabilities were in classrooms, they were not being given supports You mentioned the SEPAG. What about mentioning SCPTA, or the Cherry Hill Special Ed PTA? No one is talking about that. They give more support than SEPAG is.
All right The Labor Management Collaborative is supposed to help students. It's supposed to… this is supposed to aid in education of students. It does nothing. It doesn't do that. So the labor management collaborative is not helpful for students. Under the Labor Management Collaborative, actually, grades have gone down during that time period. It's not about helping students. It's about more like helping administration than students.
Read 20.8. Dr. Kids with Disabilities, they need support. The state, by the way, is shortchanging us for years. With that, because our aid to special ed is wealth equalized, and we get little to no wealth equalization aid. That's the problem. When the commissioner came in, did you say that? Our students are being cheated, our community is being cheated, the kids with disabilities are being cheated. And by the way, preschool, they don't believe in giving preschool kids with disabilities a cent
Anyway, thank you, my time has run out Thank you, Dr. Podowitz. Thank you for your comment. Moving on to the next caller, it's Sarah Jocelyn. Please unmute and give us your name and municipality. I'll have three minutes.
Ms. Jocelyn, are you there? Hi. I am here, but I'm trying to get you, okay? Yes, we can hear you. Okay, thank you. I thank you for the report that was made on the question about chronic absenteeism in the committee. I wanted to bring to the attention of the board that the district had to provide its report to the state by the 30th of June So this report for the previous school year has been completed, and it also is not just by school, but it's by the district, as well as by the grade and by the student group. I do encourage the board to review this report
In looking at the data that is on the Our dashboard, I see that six out of our 12 elementary schools failed by having a 10% or higher chronic absenteeism rate. And all the middle schools and the high schools have failed as well. I think that there should be an assessment made. You should look more deeply into the data And see what's going on, and I strongly encourage you to have a district goal around this for next year. You have the data that has been gathered. And you should be looking at a downward trend and you should be looking at where you are
With these schools. I see a significant improvement for the Barton School over year over year But a much stronger movement in the opposite direction for both Kilmer and Thomas Payne. So I advise you to take a look at this to find best practices and understand why there are these big swings Chronic absenteeism is required under ESSA. The funding is provided under the appropriate title, and so it should be considered that the funding is included
And should be used to address issues of chronic absenteeism. I also suggest you take a look and see if there are any discipline issues that are contributing to the chronic absenteeism rate in this… in this district And I appreciate the work that the board is doing and refining and stating their goals for the 26-27 school year. Thank you for the work that you're doing.
Thank you, Ms. Jocelyn, for your comment. There is no one in the room. Is there anyone else online who would like to make second public comment this evening? Seeing no one in the room, seeing no one online, I will close second public comment and move to board member activity. Do any board members have any community activity to report? Ms. Palmer. I can start. I joined a number of my board colleagues on July 2nd at Cherry Hill Township's annual Fourth of July celebration. My daughter and I went. It was a fantastic night. I'm sure others can
Share their thoughts, but it was great to just kind of come together at at the West Stadium with so many, so many people. Anybody else Go ahead. Hi, I just wanted to thank Dr. Martin as well, because I was able to attend the district stakeholders meeting this morning, which I thought was really interesting
I've only been on the board for like a very short time now because it just started. But it's already been like great opportunities. And that was kind of one of them because he invited like the West Board members. So I just want to say thank you It was a nice experience, even though it was short, but yes Thank you so much for attending. We really appreciate that. Anybody else?
All right, seeing nothing else, move on to Superintendent comments. Yes, just two quick clarifications. Labor Management Collaborative, or LMC, was mentioned previously The Labor Management Collaborative is a management collaborative framework for how we interact and work with one another. It actually involves the administration relinquishing autonomy and control
and preference of working along with staff members, given that empowerment to staff members to also to help them to become part of that decision-making process, researchers pointed to increased academic achievement, increased morale, increased feelings of wellness amongst staff members These are the actual individuals who are charged with the responsibility of working with our students and creating conditions for our students that are conducive to learning. There's no credence to the… to the notion that grades have gone down as a result of our implementation of LMC or labor management collaborative. Just the only other thing as well, there's a comment made as well about item 20.8, which the board
Approved today. I'm going to say thank you to the board for approving that as part of our ongoing efforts to expands our preschool program. Kudos, continual kudos go out to Dr. Mahan and her team for the intentional work that's being done. So that's actually a provider that has a plethora of sites. They actually work with a number of school districts across the state as well that are involved in preschool expansion efforts
And that partnership will allow us to have seats for students in the 27-28 school year, so the planning that Dr. Mahan does is that far out, you know, so we'll have a facility retrofit align with the regulations and standards as it relates to New Jersey Department of Education. We'll have places for Do the math. 8 times 15, right? 15 students in each classroom, but 8 classrooms for the 27, 28 school year. So I commend you, Dr. Mahan. That's something to commend her and her team about.
With that, I'll say, everyone have a great evening. Thank you so much. Thank you to my fellow women of the board. for serving with me tonight. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn. Is there a second, Ms. Cummings. All those in favor. The meeting