I'd like to call this meeting of the Board of Education to order. Public notice of this meeting, pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act, has been given by the Board Secretary on November 19, 2025, in the following manner. posted notice on the school bulletin board at the administration building, transmitted to the courier post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Clerk of Cherry Hill Township. Please rise and join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. The republic for which it stands, one nation, under God.
Mr. Shimp, can you please call the roll? Dr. Braddock? Here. Ms. Surefain? Here. Dr. Dreysen? Here. Mr. Greenbaum. Here, Ms. Manzano. Here. Mr. Mayor. Here. Ms. Palmer. Here. Ms. Stern? Here. Ms. Winters? Here, thank you. We are starting with one of my favorite things from one of my favorite groups of people. Board recognition for the High School West Marching Band. I am so thrilled to see you all here tonight. I was actually there. at regionals, to see your amazing performance, and I am so, so excited that you all came here.
Tonight to be recognized by the board. Turn it over to Dr. Morton. Fantastic, it is a great night. I'm gonna call up our, uh, marching band director, Mr. Ryan Sagadi. Up to help distribute… Uh, certificates. Sisagone has done such a phenomenal job. Uh, one of my former students. That's right. That's right, yeah. That's right. Absolutely, I'll turn it over. Well, first I want to say thank you very much for recognizing us at the board meeting today.
Um, I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention the incredible teaching staff that I have with me. Mr. Christopher Miller, Mrs. Bethany Bantle. Um, we also have a couple of volunteers that help us out, Mr. Brandon Balicki, um… Uh, and Ms. Brittany D'Angelo. As well as our amazing parents, um, and our boosters that have helped us out throughout the season. Um, I started volunteering with this band after I graduated college in 2018, and to see it grow from where it was then to where it is now. is pretty awesome, so… Um, even just in the past 3 years, it's grown a lot, so we have 59 kids in our outdoor program, which is the biggest the band has ever been, so… Um, it's really, really great. Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you, thank you. Didn't get a chance to see it, our show was painted black based off of. Obviously, the Rolling Stones. So, um, without further ado. Uh, obviously couldn't do this without the amazing kids. So, um, Natalie Bedron. Congratulations. Is it better… oh, sorry, Isabella Barrios Gonzales.
A more bishop. Essence Bishop. Julia Bracey. Xavier Brzezewski?
Corbin Bucci? Achelle Acaba? Chloe Carrandang. Lucas Carlson. Sasha Manessus Castillo. Elena Cote.
Christian Creek? Emma Cruz. Joanne Cruz? Michael Daniken? Kayla Floyd.
Nicolette Gaeta. Joseph Gowner? Eva Green. Rinaldo Hernandez? Lindsey Hughes?
Charlotte Kirby? Palmer Linez. Samantha Lerman. Aura Malina… oh, Aura Malini Lopez Perez? Hannah Mai? Madison Mana?
Julia Marzarati? Avery Martz. Julian McDonald? Timothy McGeady? Ishmael Monker?
Sorry, Ishmael Mancher. Gracie Moore? Michael Palladino. J.C. On Parker? Aiden Pizzarella?
Aemon Poyser. Alan Ramadi? Asao Ramirez-Mena? Benjamin Regal? Patrick Riley.
Miriam Reyes Mira? Sebastian Romero Ramos? Lucy Ryan? David Savatorelli. Cecilia Sinclair. Virgil Tyer? Molly Tepper?
Connor Tommaso? Michaela Ulrich? Shayla Umanski? Larry Vega. Brandon West? Kaitlyn Wood?
Kiara, Yaser-Lundy? India Young? do a Zahara? And Christina Zorn.
Thank you all so much for being here tonight. Van Parents, I just want to say that it was a delight as a band parent from the marching band on the other side of town. to get to see your show several times throughout the season, to watch both bands compete, and to see the camaraderie between the band families in the stands, how we send each other airgrams back and forth, it really was beautiful. And it's just what we see when we have the best of both sides of town come together. So, band parents, so thrilled to see you. Your kids are down the hall taking a picture, you can join them and see the whole band together before the season is over, officially. So, thanks so much for coming out tonight.
There's nothing better than a marching band, right? I might be a little bit biased. So… So, when Melissa and I went to the East Fall Preview concert, the band does march into the auditorium and perform. And it's… it is really cool to say. Absolutely what I expected. I expected a drumline to kick off our meeting. I mean, we can put in that request for next year, Dr. Braddock, that we would like a drumline. I mean, I don't think there's ever a bad time for a drumline.
I think all occasions call perch online. It is one of my… it is one of my favorite things, and… but in all seriousness, having seen the. the West Marching Band Show several times throughout the season, and watching it grow and progress throughout the season. They really were amazing this year, and their first placement was well-deserved. And they've only been around for… 8, 7 or 8 years? Yeah, the west started it when my son was in middle school. They didn't have a marching band before then, so… And it's a fantastic program and growing. What was Dr. Morton's doing, was it not?
You brought a marching band back to West, or had not been. It was a pep band and then a marching band, right? totally out of order in this meeting, I'm sorry. You are out of order, but it's all… as long as we're talking about marching bands. We could talk about marching band all night, I'm fine with that. And then just say what you want, I think that works. Um, moving on to something… Also important, but maybe a little less exciting than a drumline. is our presentation for this evening, which is the school safety data presentation from Mr. Saparito.
Again, I don't know if he can compete with the joy of a marching band, but we will try. Thank you for joining us tonight, Mr. Saparito. Thank you for having me. Madam President? Oh, actually. Good evening, everyone. Uh, thanks again, thanks for the time tonight. Uh, this is our annual. review of the student safety data system that we do every year around this time.
Um… looking at the, uh… the first thing I want to mention, I want to go off script for a moment. Uh, and this is, uh… Caitlin, if you'd be interested in this. The MD… Nothing bad, nothing bad. I happen to be over at, uh… Karusi today for… for something else, and… I got invited to Gobbler Day, which I had no idea what it was. But, I want to tell you something, those kids… for the multiple disabled kids. What an unbelievable job they did. Uh, the teachers that are involved in that, the administration that's involved in that, should be very, very proud.
Uh, tremendous job by all those kids. Of course, I ate too much, but… Alright. So, getting on with this today, um… Every year, we have to present this. We want to present it. the SSDS report's broken down into those 5 categories that you see there. Vandalism, violence, weapons, I'm sorry, 6. Vandalism, violence. weapons harassment, and alleged HIV. Now.
Before we had the SSDS, we used to have the EVVRS, the Electronics Violence Vandalism System. That system broke down. each of these categories into the, you know, 5 or 6 that are underneath each category, tracked it, we can pull the numbers and present them. This does not… this does not afford that. When we first switched over, I emailed them and asked them when those reports are coming. They said, soon we're working on them. That was a good 6 years ago. So, I don't think they're coming. So, we only have the numbers for those categories, not the subcategories that they.
get broken down into, like, violence gets broken down into, um… assault, sexual assault, sexual contact, and all that. We… there's no way to track those numbers unless you take each individual report and track it manually. That's very, very hard to do. Here's the numbers, the ball… uh, not the bowl, the red is the last year of COVID. Next year, we will not see any red on the screen, it'll be gone. Obviously, those numbers are an outlier, they can't even be counted, but one of it is a placeholder here. Uh, the important… we use 5 years, because that's generally… generally a good, uh, a good idea what's going on.
If you look at the two right-hand columns, 23, 24 to 24-25. Violence is down a few. uh, vandalism up a little bit. Uh, the weapons are down a couple, and those weapons, they're all. uh, knives that were brought to school, not displayed, not used. a couple of them, people forgot to take him out of the kids' book bags after they used them during the summer, but it's a weapon is a weapon, and it can't be in school. Uh, substance use. Uh, I don't know. who it was last year, it may have been Monsieur Fain, I don't remember.
Who said, I hope next year these numbers don't jump. Well. Here's our jump. And if it's going to be… readily available, as it is now. Older siblings are going to have it, parents are going to have it, and it is going to spill into our buildings. And it has. It's an increase. from 58 to 82. They're the ones that have been screened and gone out and have been, uh, either refused to test. Or have been found to be under the influence of it in their system.
HIB confirmed just about, uh, or I'm sorry, it's down a little bit. Which is good. And we go to the, uh… HIV. I can't say get a word, I can't say good word. Alleged HIB, I'm sorry. And, uh, myself and Mr. Mayor have talked about this. As you can see, the numbers are going steadily up. I think it was in… well, the evidence bears it out there, 2223.
is where that HIB alleged, I think we put the, um… So you got broader. To bring it to administrators, and it has to be tracked, and you can see the numbers have been gone up since then. I don't know how to explain it. Uh, it's just… I think, uh, it gets used as a tool sometimes more than it gets used to help the kids, which it's. supposed to do. You're supposed to be able to identify the behavior, stop the behavior, correct the behavior. I think it gets used as a tool to.
Uh, push back sometimes, and maybe sometimes, too, that it's not really bullying. It's… it's something else that needs to be mitigated someplace else, but it makes its way into this HIV-alleged category. tons of training is done in this every year, as you can see down the bottom. 97 HIV staff trainings. have been conducted, and 265 student-based programs. have been done during the academic year 24-25. That is… students in some way, shape, or form are being.
Um… educated on HIV. I think that's fantastic, and that's… That's just great that they're… that we're getting it in, we're trying to… understand what's going on and trying to take that knowledge and give it to the kids. And hopefully cut this down a little bit. Another important thing the last… last line there, HIV can. can be done, or it can be done, can be. accounted for on and off school property. So, if somehow or other it involves a child, a student of ours, and it's off property, it's still ours.
Still ours to bear. Oh, you go back, Mark, I messed up. Got it. Uh, there's been some state mandates over the past couple years. These are older, but I know we have a couple of new board members I wanted to make sure we got everybody up to speed on it. Our threat assessment teams are required by state law to be in place 23, 24, so this is our third school year. Yes, this is our third school year of behavioral threat assessment teams that are in place.
I did a rough count the other day, uh, counting the 3 and. couple months that we've had it in place. We've probably had about 20 meetings. Which isn't too terribly bad. And what I have tried to explain to everybody in numerous different forums. is this… it's B-T-A-N, Behavioral Threat Assessment, and the most important part of it is the M, which is management. Because you can identify it all you want, but we have to try to fix it. And we have to try to figure out what's going on, where is it going on? Is it in the home?
Is it in the building? Is it on the bus on the way there? Is it outside the school building? But this is what we're trying to identify. That's what that M is for, and it's very important. to manage it. We have. A couple that have… worked perfectly. And we have gotten the student help that they need. before anything bad happens. So that's what it is there for. It's… it's not… any sort of… it's not directed towards any sort of class of student, it is… it is there.
When it is identified by SACS. by administrators, by other kids, that the behavior just is not right in the school building. Uh, body-worn cameras are… deployed by the campus police, they are not activated in the school building during the day. Uh, they have them outside the buildings for arrival and dismissal. And, of course, extracurricular activities. The AG's guideline on it states very, very broadly. That other than inside of a school building during the academic day, they should be warned.
any chance for an arrest? Well, that can… be any time. So, that's why they wear them when they're not. Uh, or when they're outside the building or in an extracurricular activity. How do we keep the school safe every day? Well, there's… and these, again, are… have been… The reason they're still up there is because they work. Uh, the character education. That… that is taught, right? Mr. Guy, heading that up.
Uh, the mandatory review of the district's crisis management plans. The continued campus visits by Cherry Hill Police, which we rely on. Uh, every day. Mandatory training for the campus police officers and de-escalation training. They have to go to an SRO certification course. Which is a week-long course that's certified by the Police Training Commission. That you can… you know you're into building what your mission and what your job is inside that building. cultural proficiency, in-service training, which we attend with Cherry Hill Police, so we get all of the mandatory Attorney General training.
all the mandatory training by the prosecutor. Uh, it's all done under our… under our building, or in… in our… in our district. school safety specialist, that is myself. We have continued training required by the DOE. We have to put 10 hours in every year. Of… of training classes that we go to. It's… it's very easy to obtain 10 hours. So, uh, that is… an ongoing project. Law Enforcement licensing process. This is something new that just started.
Uh, last year, all of our officers are licensed through the State Attorney General. I had one, uh, I got to do my first renewal this year. It's quite the process. But we got that done and got it approved, and we've hired a couple of new campus officers, because we had two left that… two had… that had left. And their licensing process is also completed, so we're good on that. memorandum of agreement, which is very important. It is agreement between law enforcement, the prosecutor's office, and the school district.
There are 7 mandatory things that need to report… that need to be reported to law enforcement. I didn't list them, I apologize for that, but it's in the… it's… It's in the Memorandum of Agreement, which is an open source document that anybody has. anybody has access to. We have direct access to Cherry Hill Police Department's records management. We have direct communication with Cherry Hill Police Department, so we work. hand-in-hand with them. Our Megan's Law notification, that's done by the police department, they notify us, they notify our building principals, who then.
have protocols in place on how that gets disseminated to their staff. And we continue to practice monthly security drills and fire drills as required by the DOE. There's one fire drill a month that's required, and one security drill a month, and there's some other. caveats in there that have to be, uh… That they have a standard they like to meet, uh, lockdowns. lockouts, and all the different drills that the buildings they did, they do a fantastic job of making sure they stay on top of all that mandatory stuff.
We have the Alyssa's Law compliance with our direct 911 access is our silent alarms that we have in our buildings, we have our lockdown alarms in our buildings. That disable the outside doors. Uh, notify the building is going on lockdown on… No, with a serious event inside. We have the Stop the Bleed program, our all-campus police, all nurses, and a lot of staff are. Um, trained on Stop the Bleed. We have Stop the Bleed kits around all the buildings. Everybody, uh, all the campus police officers carry at least one.
tourniquet, and this is one of those programs where the Samaritan law, the Good Samaritan law, comes into play. Basically, it's very simple. If there is a. A bad wound that can be tourniquet, that could… a tourniquet can be applied, just do it, and. And that's that. If you do it wrong, and it doesn't work right, you have no… there is no liability. It's just a matter of getting it on there and trying to… Best you can to stop the bleeding. We have Narcan in all of our buildings just got updated this year. They're in the red boxes that we receive a grant from the University Hospital up in, uh.
I guess it's Newark. And we also bought other Narcan kits, and we have gotten other grants, so they're all over the building. The nurses have them, campus police have them, and they're readily available in each and every building. And we have a resiliency program for our campus police officers that Officer Baldessaire heads up. Uh, for us. That… I talked about it earlier, and the trainings that I've been to this year, and some of the incidents that we.
We look at, we look at every one of these horrifying incidents that happen in the United States. Even… not… not in the United States, but it… Violence in schools seems to be a… a… United States problem. There are some in other countries, but it is the most prevalent in the United States. trying to get to the bottom of what causes it. I don't know if it'll ever… If we can ever get to the bottom of it. As long as the availability of weapons.
is available in this country, and as long as the unchecked mental health. crisis continues in this country. We are going to continue to have violence in our schools and workplaces. It's just going to happen. I say everybody when I have the. Uh, new staff, or when I'm doing any training whatsoever. I remind everyone that this is not the mumps, this is not measles, this is not smallpox, it has not been eradicated. It just goes into hiding for a little bit. Until it happens again, and it will happen again.
Hope it never happens again, but unfortunately, I'm pretty sure it's going to happen again. Parents, students, teachers, and staff. are the front line of that. If the parents can identify something that's going on. If the students can identify something that's going on in the building, or with a particular person, or a particular group of people. That is why the campus police program is so important, has been so successful.
They are part of the community, they have a completely different mission than regular police officers out on the street have. They want to make those relationships with the kids so that they're not afraid to go up to them and say, hey. This might be going on, this might be happening, or however it manifests itself. Everybody that is on this list is important to us every day. Every time somebody steps foot into our buildings. It is important that everybody here.
is on the… on the… same page with safety and security. Our doors are locked all the time. Visitors are… Um, screened when they come in. The vestibules have been one of the best investments that we have made. It gives… it gives safety and security to the people working in the office. You can't get in the building once you're inside that vestibule. Of course, unless the door opens. But you… that is what we need. You don't want people inside the building.
If we can keep them. in that vestibule, it's… it's not anything bad, it's just. I always like to say, George, I tell… I say it all the time. make it hard for the bad guy. If you make it harder for the bad guy just for. 5 seconds, 10 seconds, a minute. Which is gold, that can save countless lives, or it can stop an incident. So we want to make it as hard as we possibly can. You are never, ever going to be able to put something in place that is going to stop it.
A dedicated adversary is going to get into the building if they want to. just the way it is. But there are ways to slow it down, and there are ways to mitigate it a little bit that can save lives. Any questions? Thank you, Mr. Separito. Thank you very much, Mr. Separita. I always appreciate this presentation. It's good to see where we're doing well, where we have some challenges. So, I always appreciate the, uh, the data and the presentation.
Um, one thing I wanted to call attention to is incidents of violence are down quite a bit. Um, about 28% from last year. It's part of a trend that you could see on the, uh, in the presentation. these incidents declining year over year for the last 3 years. I even went back to a presentation from 4 years ago. Um, we are lower now than we were several years pre-pandemic, as far back as I could find the data, so that's… I just wanted to call attention that it's great to see, it's a really good trend. We're trying desperately to get that slide back up again, and it's not working.
Yes. We're, you know, we're down 67% from just 3 years ago, and continuing downward each year. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on some of the driving factors behind these incidents declining year over year? I think it has to do with… with this… the staff. And the administrators in the buildings. Uh, I… I think that… They… it's preached all the time. I think the… thank you, did you do that? Thank you. Um, I think it's a combination of things. I don't know if you can just pin it on one thing.
I think that, um, it needs to be an entire team. Uh, one, if… if one… One prong of that… of that team is working, but something else isn't. It's not going to get fixed. I think it's a combination of. of a lot of things, the things that we had up there. Parents. The kids themselves, the students themselves. and the buildings. I think they do a fantastic job every day. Thank you. Yeah. Any other board member questions? Mr. Mayor?
First, thank you for the presentation. I, too, always look forward to these. I just have… and you've already spoken to this, a really. maybe I'm just looking for some confirmation on it. Uh, with regards to substance abuse, when I. When I first saw the number, I immediately assumed that. the overwhelming majority of. Um, incidents, um, with positive substance abuse. Uh, related to marijuana. It is. Um… And you've spoken to that already. I just wanted to make sure that we weren't missing something, understanding that marijuana is not the only.
There is, um, substance out there. But I did suspect that it was likely that we would see a jump and. It's maybe not even quite as high as I feared it might be, which isn't. To say that I'm happy about it, I'm not, but… Society has made some changes, and has decided differently with regards to that, and of course. Um, as you mentioned at the outset. Um, availability just is gonna… trickle down, unfortunately, to our student population from time to time.
So, really, I just want to make sure I wasn't missing something else. Again, if we had those… if we had those subcategories, it would get broken down, because it does get broken down on the… on the SSDS reports themselves. We have a lot, and… Like I said, would require going through it all. 200 and… I'm sorry, uh, all… All 82 of them to see, but there is a lot of them that has the THC vapes, which are. I mean, they're just prevalent everywhere. You can't go to the grocery store without smelling it anymore.
But it's not a comment on it, it's not, you know, it's not an argument on it, I'm just saying, if we all know what marijuana smells like, and it's. everywhere. So, like you said, it's gonna trickle down. Dr. Braddock. Thanks very much for the data and the presentation. Excuse me. You alluded to it, uh… Briefly, but to what degree do you think the increase in the alleged HIV incidence is because of awareness of it as a tool? Because I could see, like, I'm really impressed with the number of trainings there are, and the number of programs there are for students.
So I wonder if just because they're aware of the tool. And maybe they're just… there's more allegations, but I am heartened to see the lower number in confirmed. So, what do you think's happening there? I think at times. when an incident… there might be an incident in a building. And it doesn't rise to… HIV, because it's… HIV is there for the honest-to-God.
HIVs that, you know, the students are being. Bullied. Now, that's what it's there for. I think sometimes there's dissatisfaction. about the outcome of… of something of an incident in school. And then, um, the… a parent or somebody else or a student. goes and says, bullying, which then has to get put into the system. You can go into the pre-screening, but it's still going to show up as a, um… As a, uh, HIV alleged.
But, thanks very much, yeah. Kinda close. Oh, yeah, it's perfect, that's exactly what I would suspect, too. Yeah, that's what I expect. In a weird way, I actually think it's good, because they're aware this tool exists, and students or parents feel comfortable. If they've been victimized by actual bullying. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm saying it causes the inflated number. Yeah. Dr. Driesen? Thank you. I just want to reiterate thanks, both to you and your team, for all your efforts. Thank you. From your perspective, is there anything that we as a board.
can be doing to further support these efforts. You guys have done a fantastic job for us. Uh, with the campus police program, uh, with the improvements made in the buildings. you know, as all the bond work is getting done, and we're getting new cameras in the… in the new spaces. And that kind of… that kind of has… tentacles to go out to the places leading. or the spaces leading to the new spaces, and… Uh, we get… it's… it's brighter, you get better. better vision through the cameras. just, uh… and the vestibules have been.
Just fantastic. It gives me… it's one of those things that slows… slows people down. Um, and… and the different, uh, the… the specs that we have in the vestibules that help. slow down if there should be such a, you know, horrible incident. But I cannot, I cannot express my appreciation to. to the board enough… Dr. Morton also, with the support that we get. And to try to, you know, continually make it more safe in our district.
Any other board members with questions for Mr. Separito? Seeing none, I want to thank you so much for coming tonight. A lot of good news in this report, we really appreciate it. You're welcome. Everybody have a happy Thanksgiving and safe holiday. Thank you, have a wonderful holiday. Next up is administrative reports. Dr. Morton, are there any. administrative reports this evening. No administrative reports, so we are going to move on to correspondence.
I'm going to start with… Sure. Renee is pointing at Kurt. I have a fifth… I feel like I have a 50% chance every meeting, and I'm 100% wrong all the time, Dr. Braddock, too many correspondents for this evening. So you're really starting with Bridget. Ms. Palmer. Ms. Palmer. I do have a few things, um, so last week was a busy week. I had the opportunity to attend, uh, on behalf of the board.
The, uh, latest New Jersey Fair Funding Collective meeting, which is separate from the Cherry Hill Fair Funding Committee. Um, the Collective is a group of. school district representatives, I don't think there's any parents, but district representatives and educators from around the state. Um, who come together to discuss our concerns around the state funding formula. Um, potential solutions. This particular meeting, we discussed the, uh, Department of Education survey. That we've talked a few times about, um, that was looking to explore and get feedback, stakeholder feedback on the existing school funding formula.
Um, it was really interesting and affirming to me that it overwhelmingly. We were all on the same page with the messages that we were sending in the survey, so… Focusing on the wealth factors that the funding formula takes into account. Uh, things like property value. Oh, that's not actually reflective of one's ability to pay. Um, need for increases in special education, transportation funding. Um, those different things that, again, we've talked about in different form, uh, forums.
continually. Um, so our ask is Cherry Hill, our feedback is Cherry Hill was very consistent with districts from. throughout New Jersey, Central, southern New Jersey, North Jersey. Um, again, we'll see where it goes, and that was kind of where we left it, is let's… Let's see what the DOE comes back with this year, what the new governor has to do. Um, but we're all feeling the same pain, the same pressures. Um, the second thing, the same night, actually, I had the pleasure of attending the National Junior Honor Society induction at Carusi Middle School.
Um, I was there in both parent and board capacity. Officially. Um, I was really excited to see, so 98th graders. about 98th graders were inducted this year from Carusi's 8th grade class, which is… phenomenal. I don't know off the top of my head how many 8th graders, but it's… it's a sizable portion. The stage was so full that I think the administrators were, like, standing off to the side. Um, but it's not an easy process to go through, so students are nominated or invited to apply at the end of their 7th grade year. They have to maintain at least a 3.5 GPA, be in good standing academically.
Um, no disciplinary history, and then they have to complete 30 hours of community service. Um, between January and then the end of that 8th grade school year. So, it was amazing to see. I feel like it's just, you know, we talk about test scores all the time, and those sort of, like, point-in-time data points, but. it was really heart… heartening to see the number of students that are. academically, socially, um, and thriving in a community sense over at Carusi. So, congratulations to everyone, to the parents, it's a testament to.
Them, and then, of course to the faculty and staff over at the school. Thank you, Ms. Stern. So, I attended, um, the East… high school youth soccer, um, made it into the, um, South Jersey Group 4 Finals. Um, and they played at… on the home… turf, a high school east on November 14th. Um, Friday night the 14th, and um… I think the things that really stood out for me… unfortunately, the team did not win.
So, they didn't advance further, but it was… I think the furthest I've come in quite some time in terms of being in a playoff game for the season. Um, I used to be a frequent. attendee of soccer games, which stopped this year, that team, so I… it was nice to kind of go back and see some of the kids that I had seen playing. previous years. Um… But what was, I think, you know, really, really nice to see was, you know. By halftime, I would say, or even… few minutes in, you know, the, um… Leachers got really, really full, and.
him, and he warned, he said, we were standing in front of the student section, and he said. just get ready if they score, you need to move out of the way, because the students are going to run up to the bleachers. So I was prepared to move, um… Uh, so anyway, it was… it was just really heartening to see, and I… I think, um… One of the, um, parents who'd been very involved with the bond work. had reached out to me and said, you know. You know, like, this is what the bond did. It brought school spirit to, you know, it helped to really bring a sense of school spirit to High School East that did not have it before, because we didn't have.
you know, I didn't… we didn't have night games, lights, the bleach… the additional bleachers, all that we have now. It's a really different feel. a really amazing vibe, so I just wanted to, um… it just… it's a good reminder to me about why we. I've gone through what we've gone through with the bond, and… While we're, you know, contributing as taxpayers. That was all. Thank you, Dr. Dryzen. Sure. Uh, this past week. on Wednesday, the Garden State Coalition of Schools had its November meeting. Um, and then on Saturday, NJSBA had a statewide delegate assembly, which you can attend virtually as individuals, just for individual.
Um, board member professional development. Um, what I found particularly interesting in the Delegate assembly. we experience it a little bit here, but it's Robert's Rules. It's just kind of weirdly fascinating to watch. resolutions and then amendments, and then amendments to the amendments, and then discussion around whether those were amendments or without, so it's multiple layers. But nonetheless, interesting discussions, um. among state delegates about, you know, just how best to support our students in the state. And I think Mr. Travain's gonna talk about. Um, the town halls.
Thank you, and thank you for attending for us. Mr. Greenbaum. Attended as an individual, just to clarify, not representing the whole board. Attended in your individual capacity. We appreciate it. Go ahead. Thank you. Um, I helped out a little bit with some of the collection of. foods and other goods for the Cherry Hill Food Pantry. Um, I've made a couple drop-offs here at Lewis. Um, and I'll give a little plug, it's on the district website. Um, food drives can be going through December 19th.
Um, you could drop food off here at the Lewis Administration Building. A lot of the schools also have collection points. Uh, most of the helping that we did was through my son, who did a lot of volunteering at his school. Uh, some pictures of groups of the kids that helped out, made it to the township social media. So it's very nice to see just everybody helping out, and there's still time. That's it, thank you. I filled the box outside tonight, actually. More food. Um… I have two things to report. Ms. Palmer and I attended LMC, which is Labor Management Collaborative, as the board representatives.
On last Wednesday, I believe? Yes. That sounds about right. Um, it was another great meeting, it's just really great to see administrators from across the district get together to collaborate and share ideas. It's really nice to see the ability to give input and feedback to administrators and staff in other buildings who are having a certain issue, and how did… was it solved or addressed in a different building. And just to work together on that was really nice. And then for the second portion of it, there was a breakout into… Elementary and secondary groupings. Um, Ms. Palmer and I were in the secondary grouping, and there was discussion about.
the implementation of the junior high model, and the win period, and how that's going, as well as continued, um, discussion around professional development opportunities and collaborative opportunities. for teachers and staff at the secondary level. So, really informative and interesting, always happy to be in the room. with everybody as they discuss what's going on on the ground in the buildings, because it gives a lot of insight for board members to understand and to see what our role might be in helping to. move the district forward. Oh, and one more thing I wanted to say, which is actual correspondence and correspondence.
The board submitted a statement to the New Jersey Department of Education on the School Funding Reform Act, SFRA. That statement is posted on the district website for anybody who's really interested in school funding formulas to see. Um, I want to thank Mr. Shimp for helping me revise our statement and made sure my numbers were accurate. And on point, I think I did a decent job, but he definitely… tweaked it for me. Um, and there was also a statement from District Administration, Dr. Morton and Mr. Schump as well, and we're pretty well aligned. So, that is up on the website for anybody who wants to see it.
Mr. Mayor. Aside from attending the two town halls at East and West, which I know Ms. Truffain will elaborate on a bit. Nothing else to report. I also attended the virtual, uh, town hall, so I know that Ms. Trevine is gonna talk about that, but, um, I had the pleasure of seeing ELF on their opening night. At Cherry Hill West, I know that Ms. Palmer also attended, and Mrs. Winters also attended. And I was there as a parent, I brought two of my older children, um, which are not very old, but seeing theater through their eyes is something really, really cool, and I'm really glad that we have.
to high schools that do that, through middle schools that do that, and can't wait to see more, so excellent job to all of the teachers. staff, students, parents, community that was involved in making Elf a really, really great success. It was super fun. Mr. Fain. Uh, nothing to report. Thank you. The next thing on our agenda tonight is our student representative reports. Again, I am assured to get this 100% wrong. I think we are starting with High School East tonight.
And they're telling me, no, I'm wrong again. Joel says it counts. High school… High School West, I apologize, you are first. Your compatriots have informed me. So, go ahead and give us your… Report. Cool. Good evening. All students have been working very hard as the second marking period begins. As for extras. Spirit Week began last week, starting off our Battle of the classes.
Each class decorated hallways in its city theme, with seniors winning. Each day has a new theme, such as Rep Your City, Neon Day, Anything But a Cup Day, Twin Day. Just to impress in class colors. Classes receive points based on how many students participate. Wes had his 2025 homecoming on Thursday, November 20. Over 460 tickets were sold, and the turnout was a huge success. Homecoming Court was announced, featuring 8 boys and 8 girls that were voted by their peers. Including both of our student representatives. Let's begin holding Shadow Days for incoming freshmen to tour the school with current students on November 13.
The next one is on December 10th. Halloween featured a school-wide rock-paper-scissors tournament, with the winner receiving a Wawa gift card. As for academics, West held field testing to test out our new testing programs on November 3rd and November 5th. The first marking period ended on November 11th, with report cards coming out in the following week. Students are engaged in monthly math league contests during the lunch periods, competing against other New Jersey schools. Many grade 10 and 12 students. chose to participate in the American Math Contest to show off their math skills.
As for athletics, West field hockey team went on to play in the South Group 3 semifinals after beating Ocean City 2-1. West volleyball team made it to the NJSI AA Group 3. South Quarterfinals in Ocean City on November 6th, after defeating Pensau in the game before. West Swim began earlier this month with practices and scrimmages taking place. Other winter sports are beginning this week with tryouts and practices. For arts, West put on its winter musical Elf, with great turnout from the West and Cherry Hill community.
Auditions for the spring play, Suffs, are being held December 8th and 9th. West is one of the only 12 schools in the whole country allowed to perform it. As for our extracurriculars. NHS annual dodgeball tournament was a success on Tuesday, November 19. We collected hundreds of cans for… and raised money for the Cherry Hill Food Pantry. The final game between our two winning teams, the Dodge Fathers and No Baller ID, will be held at our pep rally tomorrow. Dr. Latina was held on November 5th, put on by Latinos at West as a part of the Hispanic Heritage Month.
The African American Culture Club 3v3 basketball tournament was held last month alongside the Arab Cultural Association's pretzel sale. We will be holding a Battle of the Classes pep rally tomorrow to increase school spirit and provide a nice send-off for Thanksgiving break. Our annual lip sync competition was held yesterday night, with performances being held during the school day for students as well today. And we hope that everyone has a good break and holiday season. Thank you so much. And now, High School East.
Starting with academics, inductions for the science and social studies national honor societies took place simultaneously on November 3rd. And the math, um, National Honor Society inductions followed on November 12th. The piloted adapted version of the NJSLA tests were taken by e-students on November 3rd and November 5th. And East was a testing site for the SAT exam on Saturday, November 8th, from 8am to 11am. There will be another SAT in two weeks on Saturday, December 6th. Mike does a stretch, so we're gonna make this work. Uh, am I picking up through the mic? Does it work? Okay.
Uh, moving on to activities, East was a polling place in the November 4th state and local elections, in addition to other members of the community, 18-year-old students were able to vote during the lunch breaks. East Student Government hosted a blood drive at East on November 11th and 12th. about 150 people, both students and adults in the community, donated blood in total. East Robotics attended the Delmarva V5 High School Robotics competition on Saturday the 15th. Two of his teams made it to the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. 25 East students represented Eastside Newspaper at the National Journalism Convention in Nashville from Thursday, November 13th through Sunday the 16th.
Four students advance to the National Journalism Quiz Bowl Finals, and 13 students earned individual award… sorry. earned awards from individual contests. use model UN, attended a conference at Rutgers University. from November 20th to the 23rd, 5 delegates, won individual awards, and East Overall, one best midsize delegation. East Annual Spirit Week began on November 19th and ended today. Student government ran a variety of activities, including games during lunch, a cupcake decorating contest, and a booth decorating contest for each grade.
They integrated the food drive into the Spirit Wee competition. and a total of 1,518 cans and counting of food have been donated by students. the associated dance competition is happening right now at East, and we wish all grades the best of luck. Moving on to athletics, during the annual Powderpuff Spirit Week football game between the junior girls and senior girls on Thursday, November 20th. the junior secured a 28-21 victory. snapping a long streak of the seniors consistently winning. The girls cross-country team placed 4th in Group 4 and 9th in the merge, with Addison Weiss placing 3rd in Group 4 and 12th in the merge.
the boys cross-country team followed suit by placing fourth in Group 4 and 10th in the merge, with Milo Perner placing 4th in Group 4. Both the girls' and boys teams advanced to the Meet of Champions on Saturday, November 15th. where 7 runners posted personal best times on one of the toughest courses in the country. The girls volleyball team capped off a strong season with a 20-5 record after falling to Washington Township in the playoff quarterfinals. The boys soccer team caught fire in the playoffs, advancing to the playoff championship. With thrilling overtime and comeback wins before falling to Southern 5-1.
After a historic 9-0 regular season finish as the Memorial Division champions, East football team lost to Toms River North 22-14 in playoff quarterfinals. Congratulations to all East athletes for successful fall performances. Thank you to all East students and community members for consistently supporting our teams. We're looking forward to seeing that support continue throughout the winter season. The annual East Athletic Hall of Fame banquet will occur on Saturday, November 29th. During which East alumni will be honored as athletes and coaches by being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
And finally, with arts, East Marching Band attended the Hershey Park Tournament Advance Competition on November 2nd, in which they won 4th place. Yves theater department has been hard at work on Dracula, The Winter Show. The show will run from December 11th through the 14th, so Thursday to that Sunday. Tickets are on sale online now, so make sure to take a look. Tickets will also be sold at the door. And that was great. I also got to read your report in Eastside today, because a copy of Eastside made its way home, so I flipped through until I found it. You guys did a wonderful job with that. It was a really nice summary. Thank you.
We have now made it to first public comment. There are two opportunities for public comment this evening, and the first public comment section is for board action items only. Which, this evening are action items 13 through 16. If you wish to speak on another topic other than what appears on the agenda, you may speak during second public comment, and speakers must provide their name and municipality. Students may comment on any topic during first public comment by identifying themselves as a student, that means either at the microphone or by putting an S next to your name if you're online, so I know to call on you first.
We alternate between speakers 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, and comments should be addressed to the Chair, and your inquiry may or may not be addressed by administration at the close of the session. So, by custom, we start in the room. If you would like to do first public comment this evening, please approach the microphone. Give us your name, municipality, and the action item on which you are speaking. Do we have any takers for first public comment?
No one is making eye contact with me. So I'm gonna go to the line. The first caller is a phone number ending in 788. It is your turn. Please unmute, give us your name, municipality, and the action item you wish to speak on. Hi, my name is Jeff Padowitz. I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. I'm talking about 13.4. Resolution authorizes submission and acceptance of 3-year preschool operational plan. Please over-read it, of an October 2023. around October 2023 with quite a bit of fanfare.
But it was announced by someone from the state that we would receive 3,470,615 over $3.4 million in preschool expansion aid. for that year, 2023, 2024. Okay. If you go to the NJDOE website and go to the user-friendly budget for 2025-2026.
and it was published October 1, 2025 for Cherry Hill, you will see that. the aid we actually got in preschool expansion for 10. for 2023-2024. This is on page 3. was actually 1,072,000. Less than a third. actually closer to 30% of what the state they would give us. So this is just another broken promise to the citizens of Cherry Hill by the state.
Another broken promise. Just like they cheated us with school funding all along. the school board never informed us, our administration never informed us. that we would cheat it so much that we only got 30% of the preschool expansion aid we got. we were promised, and in fact. The other two numbers there may not very well be valid. We don't know, you won't know until next. year, so more cheating of our community. more cheating of our students by the state.
And yeah, a million bucks is all we got, one-third. So please vote no on 13 before. Why? Because we were cheated. And. That will continue. our K-12 students in our community. and all the students with disabilities. Let me give you an example. We just built 16 preschool students, preschool classrooms, all right, 15 students a classroom. All right, with a teacher and a paraprofessional. We could have built 12 classrooms with 24 students.
And that would help alleviate elementary school. school crowding. and it would alleviate it, not 26, but that's with 24 students. Thank you, Dr. Padowitz, for your comment. Thank you for your comment. Time is up. Going back to the room, is there anyone who would like to make first public comment this evening? Seeing no one, going back to the line, is there anyone else who would like to make first public comment this evening?
Going once, going twice, I'm going to close first public comment for this evening. And just to clarify, the… Classrooms that are being built for the preschool students, those were rod grants, operating grants that were given to us from the state, specifically for building preschool classrooms. So the state funded a big portion of that construction. That money could not have been used for building elementary classrooms. That was a preschool-specific grant that was given to Cherry Hill that we took advantage of. Turning it over to Dr. Morton to answer the rest of that.
Thank you very much, Ms. Winters. Uh, the information that was just shared in terms of the numbers, uh, did not align with any. Of the numbers that… Uh, the district actually has. That information, I'm not sure where it actually derived from or comes from. Uh, but the, uh, amount of funds that we were earmarked to receive, the district has received. Um, the ride grant itself was a grant. Uh, that allowed the district to engage in a shared cost for the construction of the additional spaces.
8 classrooms at Kilmer Elementary and eight classrooms, uh, additional classrooms at the Malberg facility as well. In reference to the, uh, three-year preschool operational plan that appears on the agenda tonight, it's not actually the three. three-year plan. The 3-year plan was the application that was submitted. in the initial application a few years ago. Annually, the district is required to provide updates to that plan. That includes. Um, any, uh, providers that are gonna be in the… that are gonna be added in additional years.
Uh, it includes enrollment updates as well. Now, there's 3 parts of this… that plan. There's, uh, district contacts were included, the operational plan itself, and then the enrollment projections also. So. what the board ultimately will vote on is the one-year update. For the annual update to that plan, which is, uh… Which has been shared with the board. Um… I want to say congratulations to the newly elected board members. Our results were made official last week, so we can officially.
I congratulate those who won in the election. Congratulations to our current former president, Ms. Gina Winters. Uh, fantastic, I think over 17,000 votes, and shortly behind that. Board Vice President, Mr. Greenbaum. As well, congratulations, and welcome back, and also welcome. to the board as well, Mrs. Candy Cummings, uh, as well, so we're definitely excited to, uh. to re-up for two people, and then to add a new person to the board on the great work that's taking place.
Uh, just as a reminder, district offices, um, and the district itself will be closed Thursday and Friday for the observance of a Thanksgiving holiday. I'd like to wish everyone a wonderful, restful. Enjoy his holiday, um… Word of advice, if you are… a Black Friday shopper like myself, be safe, don't spend too much. Um, and just one other note I'd just like to share, uh… Really great, great activities taking place across the district today. Mr. Sabarino shared the one about the Gobbler event over at Carusi.
Uh, myself and many members of the district administration had an opportunity to go over to the Kohl's program at High School East. Uh, it was truly wonderful. It was a Friendsgiving… Um… event that they had there, and uh… the children and the staff and the program cooked. wonderful meals and brought in great desserts, and it was great to have an opportunity just to break bread with the kids. I usually don't eat many sweets, but I could not resist this banana pudding today. I'm not gonna say the name of the prison who made it, but… Well done, well done. Great job.
Uh, nonetheless, but happy Thanksgiving to all. Happy Thanksgiving to the Kohl's program, kids. That… when that. Um, was held here in the Lewis Building. Board members went every year I got to go a couple times, and it was a fantastic event. So happy Thanksgiving to those kiddos. So fun. So, moving on to our action agenda, I am going to move the CNI agenda this evening. the superintendent recommends, and I move the following, 13.1, approval of attendance at conference and workshops for the 24… I'm sorry, 25-26 school year.
13.2 approval of out-of-district student placement for the 25-26 school year. 13.3 approval of service contract with NJ Commission for the blind and Visually Impaired School Year 25-26. 13.4, resolution authorizing submission and acceptance of 3-year preschool program operational plan. As Dr. Morton said, this is the annual update to that plan. And 13.5, Camden County Educational Services Commission for Title I funding. have a second. Mr. Fain, are there any questions on the CNI agenda items this evening?
Seeing no questions, Mr. Schimp, can you please open the voting? Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Greenbaum, can you please move the VNF agenda? Thank you. Superintendent recommends, and I move the following.
14.1, approval of minutes, special meeting minutes, and board retreat dated October 13th, 2025. 14.2, approval of minutes, board working session, special action meeting minutes, and executive session minutes dated October 14th. 2025, 14.3 financial reports, 14.4 resolution for the award of bids. 14.5, resolution for the award of RFPs. 14.6 resolution for the award of transportation. And 14.7 approval of Cherry Hill McKinney-Vento DCPMP students for the 2526 school year.
14.8. acceptance of donations. And these included a donation from Alan Miller for the Jeff Miller Fund to be used to assist in senior trip costs for families in need at High School West. the culinary learning class at High School East. And… I think that's it. Uh, do I have a second? Mr. Mayor, uh, any questions? Not a question, but much, much joy to see the auditorium renovations at high schools east and west on the agenda this evening.
For all the band parents, chorus parents, drama parents, and everybody else out there, this is a huge step forward. Thank you. 14.5 also includes the re-bid for the Beck Middle School renovations. Um, so that's going back out, and exciting to see that project move forward as well. Uh, other questions? Seeing none, Mr. Schemf, please open the voting.
Motion carries. Thank you. Tonight, I am going to ask Ms. Stern to move the HR agenda. Superintendent… the superintendent recommends that I move the following. 15.1, termination of employment certificated. 15.2, termination of employment non-certificated. 15.3, appointment certificated. 15.4 non-appointments non-certificated, 15.5 assignment, salary change certificated. 15.6 assignment salary change non-certificated.
15.7 leaves of absence certificated. 15.8 leaves of absence non-certificated, 15.9 other compensation certificated. 15.10 approval of new job description. 15.11 approval new job description, 15.12. Approval of new job description. Do I have a second? Mrs. Balmer, are there any questions? Just want to make a comment, I want to thank, um… Dr. Morton, for adding in the language.
That we had asked for, uh… In our last meeting. Okay, any other questions? Mr. Shimp, could you please call the vote? Mr. Schemp, I'm a no on 15.10 and yes on everything else. Motion carries. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, can you move the P&L agenda, please?
Indeed. Uh, Superintendent recommends that I move the following item 16.1, approval of harassment. intimidation and bullying investigation decisions. Those are the ones that the board heard on November 11th. Item 16.2, resolution for the approval of harassment, intimidation, and bullying, uh. hearing decision, also November 11th. Item 16.3, uh, first reading of policies. Specifically, uh, 2365, acceptable use of generative artificial intelligence that was.
the policy that the committee spent overmowing, overwhelming majority of its time on. At the last meeting, uh… Policy 173, duties of public school accountant. 174 Legal Services, 177. Professional Services. 1570 internal control, 611 Special Education. Medicaid Initiative Program and 6220. required budget. preparation. Uh, second reading. policies. It's item 16.4.
or specifically 4283. which is electronic communication between support staff members and students. And 242 statutory. Curricular requirements. Is there a second? Mr. Braddock. is Winters. I'd like to make a motion to divide the question on 16.4 to separate the two policies out for a separate vote. Do I have a second?
Dr. Drysen seconds motion. All in favor? Okay, so we will take two separate votes on… what was the components of 16.4. We will take a vote on. policy, um, 4283 and 2422. Are there any other motions on the floor? Ms. Stern. It's not a motion, let's just a… and I'm not sure. I guess a point of information, point of order for this. So we have a few policies in. First reading that. Um, should… really be part of, uh, go to BNF.
So I don't know if we can do that during… cow in December. That's the way to move that forward, or… I guess I'm looking… how do we… Questions, I'm sorry. Sending them to another committee. You want to commit them to another committee? Yeah, I just… I mean, and I don't know the timing of that, but… They're on… you're just on first reading this week, so… That's fine, so you… as long as you commit that to the.
to the committee, the committee can complete its job before the second reading. Um, and unless there's substantial changes. Um, at which point you may want to consider sending it back for a first reading. I don't imagine so, I just think they belong in BNF as well. They can just go back to the… the BNF committees and see where they come out of that committee. In terms of changes. Okay, perfect. So, do I have to do anything further on the record for that, or is that just a process that will just happen? That's just a process, because quite frankly, if there's no changes to be made.
It'll just proceed to second reading. Perfect, okay, thank you. Are there further motions on the floor? I'd like to make a motion to recommit. Policy 2422, statutory Curricular requirements back to P&L for further discussion and revision. Do I have a second? Mr. Fain, all in favor of recommitting policy number 2422 back to P&L for further discussion or revision. It is unanimous. Good job, team. Dean said he wanted more Robert's Rules, and there we are.
Are there any questions? Seeing none, Mr. Scheme, would you open the voting? Oh, I'm… Um… okay, so the vote… the consent vote on 16.1 to 16.4 will just simply not include Policy 2422. Correct. Correct. Nope, got it. Alright, thank you. We didn't mean to be complicated, we're sorry.
Voting is open. Motion carries. Thank you so much. Nothing under governance, sadly, this evening. Moving on to new business, is there any board member with new business tonight?
Now is your moment. Seeing no new business, is there any old business this evening, Ms. Surefain? Thank you. Um, I'd like to just… Take mention, a couple of the board members mentioned this during correspondence, that we had our three. Um, elementary balancing town halls over the last… week. Felt like longer. It's been a week. Um, one at Cherry Hill East, one at Cherry Hill West, and one virtually. I would say roughly, I didn't actually take a headcount, but roughly 40-ish people in person in both of the East and West.
And we had over 100 people in attendance online, so thank you to all of the community members that. Came out and participated. I would say across the three town halls, the… Um, the feedback that we got, the concerns that were presented, the questions that were raised were very consistent across all three. Um, some very general themes that. about, I think there was 6 total board members that were represented throughout the 3 of those meetings. Um, that thank you to all of those. of you who took notes, I did, I tried, but yours were more helpful.
Um, so we did see some common themes throughout the town halls. One of the big ones, and. this was a large topic of our discussion yesterday at our November, um. committee meeting was around special education and what our plan is to move forward. With ensuring that there's equitable access to programs throughout the district. programs that makes sense. location-based, um, location-wise. Um, trying to not only. ensure that everybody has the seat that they need, but… geographically, that it makes sense to them, and one of the biggest concerns that we heard from a lot of our special ed.
Um, families at these town halls where that they want their kids back where they belong. Breck in their neighborhood schools. Um, not on buses for long periods of time. Um, we had a community member from Cherry Hill East give us an example of how her children are… she has 3 children, they're all separated, and her child that requires special ed services is in the school that she doesn't feel as connected to as she does the schools that. Um, her other children go to. Um, that spoke very highly, um, you know, that touched us specifically, because that is one of our guardrails as a board, is the special education programming throughout the district.
So that was a big, um, a big theme throughout all three town halls. Another one is a lot, and we anticipated this. This is something that we've discussed before the town halls, is what's going to happen to the current students that are there. Um, that is absolutely a large topic of our discussion in our committees, is what is that going to look like for the students that are currently placed in their schools? Um, and moving forward to the ones that will be rising kindergartners in the, um, the 27-28 school year that this would be implemented in.
Um, so that's something else that we discussed. yesterday in our committee meeting as well. Um, we had a few. community members bring up the bond work, which we thought was particularly interesting. Um, we were able to clarify that's what the beauty of the town halls versus these meetings, is we were able to clarify that the bond work is all said and done for, and that. those funds as they stand now for the projects that they're allocated for are. to be used for the projects that they're allocated for. So, um, unfortunately, we don't have, at this moment, we don't have.
You know, any opportunity to take a couple pennies from here and there and, um, spend that in, you know. because of the way that the bond projects work. But we thought that that was interesting. We're happy that people presented that, because I'm sure that there's. Other questions about that in the district. Um… what else? Um, one of the things that I took back specifically, um, to heart was. There was plenty of feedback that we can improve our communication and information about this process and everything that's going on. I would like to give a special thanks to Ms. Barati on.
the in-real-time website changes that were made in our, specifically at our East meeting, because that was our first one. Um, so, huge shout out to that. If you go on our webpage and you find… scroll down a little bit. And you find the big… the 6 big boxes, the one that says elementary enrollment balancing. and you click on that, it now gives you more easily accessible information, specifically the GRIP report that we are all referencing when we talk about balancing elementary. It now has our crazy-looking maps of where everybody is located, which I think is incredibly helpful for everybody.
Um… links to the forum, or the… I don't know what we… podcast, the video that we did, um, earlier. in… I think it was October. And some other information in there. So, this is super helpful. We watched it be updated right before our eyes, so thank you for that. Um, but yeah, that's pretty much everything that happened in the town halls. Our meeting yesterday was really just a focus on what the themes were that we saw throughout the meetings. Um, and our timeline going forward with the expectations are, so now that we have all of this information, Dr. Morton and his team will be.
typing and crunching all the numbers behind the scenes to see what we want to ask Dr. Grip for moving forward, if we're looking at, you know, line… changes in lines and what have you. So, that's really the focus of our meeting yesterday. Um, as far as next steps, we do meet again on December 22nd. The goal of that meeting will be to see if there's any other themes that come out of the survey that closed that was available to all the community members to provide additional feedback. Um, and to see a little bit more of where the administration's brains are at with a plan moving forward.
Um, we can expect a tentative proposal of our initial proposal in the end of January, our meeting that's on, um, January 27th, I believe. And then from there, uh… We'll be moving forward to plan our next set of town hall meetings, which will happen sometime in the spring. Um, and that'll be an opportunity for us to. Deliver the information of what our proposal is and be able to re-engage the community. Um, about what, you know. their feedback on actual information that we'll have them.
for them at that moment. Um, I think that's pretty much it. I don't know if anybody that was attendance… yes, Ms. I just wanted to note that if you're unable to attend any of the three meetings, the virtual one is actually available online. through YouTube, or it's on that elementary enrollment balancing page, so if you were unable to attend one of those meetings and you wanted to see what it looks like, or if you were there and it was just so much fun that you want to do it again, you can watch that, um. Online, and see what that looks like. Thank you. Yes, Mr. Mayor.
Just, just a couple comments, um… First, this… the town hall is the two that I attended, um, they would not have been as successful as they were 3 years ago, so… Um, as you've already thanked Ms. Baraga for the work she's already begun to do, having been with the district a relatively short amount of time. I think it's already beginning to show some real… real improvement in how the community is engaging, um, and has welcomed our opportunity. To listen to them, um, because they were really, I thought, very successful.
very successful meetings. And I want to thank the community, also, for coming out, um, in relatively. Um, large numbers, given… You know, given the sort of short time frame. that we had, um, we heard lots of, you know, lots of great comments, respectful. thoughtful. Um, it was very… I was glad to be… to be part of that. Um, and I thought also was… It was good to hear that, um, the overwhelming majority of the comments and concerns.
Um, and even ideas. Um, largely parallel the guardrails. Um, that we had already set out. Um, and that's confirmation. Um, that we really are one community, whether we're sitting on this side of the board. where we are parents. We see things, we feel things, we want things to be the same way. We are really not that… They're not that different. We have different roles and responsibilities, but what we hope for our children and for our staff, for our students.
Um, is really well aligned, and I think hearing those themes again and again. Um, from a number of people who come from different perspectives than we do. Was, um, was a comforting thing. So, thank you, Mr. Fain, for running the meetings as well, and professionally as you did. Really was a… it was a win-win all the way around. Thank you, I think that's it. Ms. Stern, I have two, uh, things for old business. Um, one of them is, uh, regarding, uh, the meeting. We have the Special Education Committee meeting.
Met, um… That was yesterday. Whew, lost track. Um, was that yesterday? Okay, it was yesterday, thank you. Um, and, um… just the… A majority of the time we spent discussing, um, kind of. the intersectionality of the balancing committee. Um, and the balancing efforts, along with, um, kind of the how special education, you know. as Mr. Cain, uh, mentioned, is one of the guardrails, that's one of our guardrails, is to really be tuned into, um.
Ensuring that there is strong consideration throughout the entire process of special education. And, um, I was very pleased to talk… we talked a lot more about process. Um, and also, um, you know, kind of. Because we, you know, had some overlap of attendees, we had some of the feedback. Um, you know, uh, about that, so… So, some really good discussions, um, you know, continuing on. Um… Uh, and similarly related, we also talked about, um.
the Special Education Parent Advisory Group, CPAG. So they had a, um, a very, very well-attended meeting, I believe, last week. I think I understand from Dr. Morton, I believe they had over 50. Approximately 50 or more attendees, which is… Wonderful turnout. Um, you know, we often talk about the fact that, you know, families with. Um, kids with special needs are, you know. Often, um, trying to find the smallest scrap of energy for themselves and their, you know.
Uh, let alone, uh, extras, which is tough when you have, um, kids who have needs that are. Outside, it's typically, uh, parents have. Parents would typically develop in kids have those challenges. So, um… It's just extra, but nonetheless, a, um, greater turnout is my understanding, wasn't present for that, but I understand it was… it was great, and… A major theme that came out of it was just about community… not just, but it was about communication. Um, and so, you know, that's something that we're talking about in our committee meeting.
Um, you know, how do we ensure that we work. towards doing whatever we can to understand how do we improve communication, how do we communicate in ways that meet the needs of parents with special needs and their children. Um, and, uh, Ms. Mallory gave the example that one of the questions that's come up through CPAG is. Where are all our special classes placed this year? Um, and that's, you know, one of the questions for the balancing committee, you know, placement of special classes. Lo and behold, Ms. Mallory explained, there's a link right on our website that shows all of the special class placements, so.
Just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention. If you go under the Cherry Hill Public Schools website, chclc.org. go under departments, special education is listed right there under departments. And on the available links section, which is, um, lower down on the page. There is the 2025-2026 Special Class. programs, so that if you look there, there's a beautiful chart. Thank you, Ms. Mallory, um, that shows where all the different schools, where all the different classes are placed.
Um, which is done with a tremendous amount of thought and effort. Um, you know, already, Ms. Mallory and her team are. Uh, based on the current knowledge of enrollment and the current student needs, you know, they're thinking about classroom placement. Uh, for next year. Um, you know, obviously there's challenges with that, because you can't determine placement until you have the. the IEP meeting for the following year. Um, but uh… and it's early in the year, things change, but… just a lot of consideration, a lot of planning, um, and… with the overarching goal of increasing inclusion.
Uh, throughout our district for our students and families. So, um, great conversation. Uh, about that, and about, um, you know, the feedback from CPAC. Um, I just want to mention, um, there has been an update to the CPAC page, so I want to thank. Um, uh, Ms. Barati for, um… I think Ms. Barati probably assisted with that. Those were one of my asks before. Um, and if you are interested in getting involved in any way, shape, or form. in, um, special education parent advisory Group. Um, there's a link on the special education page, and you can email them.
Also, you can speak with, um, the building principal of where your student is in school. My understanding is they are going to be, um, sending out a survey to get. To really get some good data from families, so… Uh, if you are interested in the survey, you know, please make… I don't know how that's being disseminated. I would just encourage you to reach out to CPAC to get that information. Um, and make sure you get to have your voice heard and included. Um… What did I leave out? We did CPAG, we did balancing. Um… I think that's everything. Talked a little bit about… Going for. So, um, that was that. Any… I'll just pause.
Um, and on a completely different note, and I'm just gonna do what I've been doing, which is, um… Continuing to, to, um, just… On a totally different, uh, old business topic, but… Um, you know, ask everybody to please do what you can to. Sign up to attend. Our opportunities for engagements, um, sometimes… I look, and there's a lot of the repeat names, and sometimes I look, and there's a lot of spaces in the. sign-up sheet, so, you know, just asking us all. Um, and I think specifically my ask is, um.
Or my, I guess, encouragement. Is to think about, if you haven't attended something before. Um… during your board service, maybe try something new? Um, and also attending things that are maybe not in your normal. Um… uh, school-based activities, so maybe… If your child is in high school, maybe try something that's in the preschool, the elementary, whatever it might be. Um, but, you know, just to continue to. you know, every time we get out in the community.
Um, into our schools and other events, it's an opportunity to really learn and understand more and improve our. Um, ability to serve the community, so… That's my other old business. Thank you for that. Any other old business? Tonight, among board members. All right, seeing none, I am going to move us on to second public comment. This is the second public comment period. And it is a public comment section for any topic.
Public comment is an opportunity for members of the community to provide input to the Board of Education on educational issues. The board welcomes diverse opinions on relevant matters. However, statements that are abusive, obscene, or which demeanor or defamatory to any individual or any group of individuals will not be tolerated. 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 operations may communicate directly with the superintendent and the board president via email or other alternative means. If you would like to speak now, please clearly state your name and municipality.
We'll alternate between speakers in the room and those online, and each speaker will be given a maximum of 3 minutes to speak. The timer on the screen will indicate the amount of time you have remaining. I'm going to open up second public comment. My custom in practice, we start in the room. Please approach the microphone and give us your name and the municipality. You have 3 minutes. My name is Michael Nussbaugh, I'm at Cherry Hill, I'm a parent of a child with special needs in the district. I'm also an educator myself, so I understand both sides of the table.
I want to speak tonight about something many families in the district have quietly experienced. culture of special education that is not collaborative. and not transparent, and not supportive of parents who are simply trying to help the children succeed. Over the past few years, many parents, myself included. have been met with resistance of. Uh, resistance instead of a partnership. Too often, when parents raise a legitimate concern, the response is not problem solving. It's if you don't like it, go to due process. That shuts down communication. It damages trust, and it pushes families into conflict rather than collaboration.
So I know a big topic at CPAC was. With communication collaboration, but I've spoken to many parents recently, and it's been anything but. A recent example, when I requested a simple follow-up classroom observation today. something parents routinely do, the request was denied. That is gatekeeping, and that prevents us from being true partners in our children's education. After months of inconsistent communication and refusal to revise my son's IEP. We're pushed into mediation, uh, earlier this month. Mediation is supposed to repair relationships, but we walked away.
With only 3 small items. Figured we'd get at least something. One inclusion goal, limited weekly inclusion, and an FM system trial. That we should have been offered months earlier. These were not the result of genuine collaboration. They were the result. of a district refusing to work with us collaborate. Proactively. At the same time, I submitted an OPA request. New Jersey's public records law to understand how Cherry Hill handles special education disputes. the documents I received show repeated settlements and constant attorney involvement.
The statewide data I've received from the New Jersey Department of Education is even more concerning. Well, national research from Perry Zirkle. And if you have heard of them, an impartial ed law specialist and U.S. Government. Accountability Office shows that most districts have zero to just a few, uh. due process cases each year. Cherry Hill had more than 20 in a single year. Far more than the norm for a district our size. I realize we have a big district, but it's… that number is really high. That level of conflict places Cherry Hill, and what researchers call a hotspot district.
Where the problem is not difficult families, but systemic failures and how the district handles special education. this stuff is not published on Cherry Hill Public Schools website, unlike. Where all the special classes are. Okay, this stuff I had to dig a little bit, and I dug it, and I got it. Okay, all the points… come to the same conclusion. Cherry Hill has a culture of avoidance, not collaboration. And our children are paying the price. That is why I formally request the independent audit of special education. same type of audit, Haddonfield conducted in 2019 and led to real improvements.
I gave each of you a copy, two board meetings ago. Tonight, I'm respectfully asking for written response. Thank you, Mr. Nesbound. I'm asking for a written response. Thank you. Thank you. If you have more to say, you can always contact us via email. I know 3 minutes is sometimes not a lot. going to the line, the next person online with their hand raised is Laura Einhorn. It's your turn, please unmute, give us your name and municipality, and you have 3 minutes. It's Anne Einhorn, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. So I didn't get to do it during first public comment, but, um.
I'm going to start with 15.7. the science teachers at Karusi that are going to be out for a total of 5 months. Can someone reassure me, or maybe I missed it in prior board meetings. That how are these classes that these individuals are missing going to be covered by those schools? Um, very surprised to see how, at 15.10, 15.11, and 15.12. the Community Engagement Liaison, the Director of Special Projects and Student Services.
And then the supervisor of school counseling. Before, we had bundled. the community engagement liaison and the Director of Special Projects, and I had advised at one time or said. that I would… postpone filling that position. Until you find out what your final budget numbers are going to be from the state as you move forward. Um… I'm assuming that supervisor of school counseling is the… a position, is it new?
Um, or is it something that you're fulfilling as you move? forward. I didn't quite understand that one. Um… I do have a concern. I'd like an example of what's a special project. And what that title of Student Services would mean to the community. Because from what I can see at the high schools, I believe that we have coordinators for student services already. I don't know how it works for the middle. in elementary schools, probably not for elementary. Um, but I am concerned that if we have such a tight budget.
How are we going to fulfill the financial obligations for these positions? Um, thank you very much. Good 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. I think you know how it works. Andy Malcvain, Cherry Hill. Um… Like to, Alfred, congratulations to Mrs. Winters and Mr. Greenbaum on their re-election. Along with, uh, Candy Cummings. You have a lot of challenges that you have to face in the next couple of years, and.
As I've said in other forum. Um, a steady hand at the tiller is essential to being successful. Um… Many of you know me, and I'm known by friends and critics alike as the Yoda of Cherry Hill, a title which I embrace as long as it refers to. Me being old, grumpy, and sometimes speaking in tongues. Um, I attended the WEST meeting to address overcrowding. Uh, there was lots of good questions, uh, asked and answered.
Uh, followed by… and I've been following the documentation available on CHCLC, and it is really excellent. It's timely. It's clear and informative. And I'm just absolutely baffled that some community members have the opposite assessment of what took place. Um, and what is on the website. It's there. It's clear it offers a path forward. Um, this is not an easy process, and there are no simpler answers, but.
Doing this process the right way, the way that you're doing it, I think we'll end up with. positive result. And I look forward to doing the best for our kids. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back online, phone number ending in 788, it's your turn, please unmute and give us your name and municipality. You have 3 minutes.
Dr. Potowitz, it's your turn. My name is Jeff Potowitz, I live in the Cherry Hill… I live in the Cherry Hill School District. I live in the Cherry Hill School District, and one thing, first of all, I don't know exactly what you were talking about by erroneous numbers, straight from the. user-friendly budget for 2023-2024. It specifically says 1,072,917 was our preschool education aid. If you think that's not true, and if you think that's a lie, then say it. But be careful when you call other people.
you know, misinformation. 2. All right, so everyone could check that. user-friendly budget on this school district, on the state's website. Not 3.4 million like we were originally told we were going to get. And that can be confirmed also. 2. Supposedly, and we don't know that's true, the state paid 40%. in that ROD grant, we paid 60%. That's for 16 classrooms, I said 12, 16 classrooms of 15 students, 12 at.
24 for elementary school. If you do the math, and remember that that. Those classrooms only have one teacher, while preschool classrooms have a recurring cost of. of a teacher and a paraprofessional, plus they're more -- it's much more expensive. I mean, they get free lunch and free and free snacks. They get a lot of other things, a lot of other services. You will see that the cost. If we paid out of pocket for 12 classrooms after about 2 years.
It would balance out. I fully understand school funding. I know what's going to happen that any expansion aid will be cut in 2 or 3 years, and we'll get paid, and the money will… State A will get will be exactly what the SFRAA is, which is what the state wants, and not be less than $2,000 a student. So at 2,000 students total in preschool, it's going to be a fortune. And our aid was cut already, and you all know, and by the way, Dr. Milosz basically called me a liar a couple of years ago when I gave numbers I knew. Well, to be honest with you.
That's the number. Anyone can see what the numbers are, and could go to the user-friendly budget. It's there. And as for the ride grant, it paid 40%. We were responsible for the other 60% of a very, very expensive rooms. Thank you very much, but please don't say that there was no misinformation I was giving you. I was giving fact. People need to check the numbers. the total number, how much we paid for those.
Thank you, Dr. Potowitz. Dr. Potowitz, thank you for calling in. We appreciate your comment. for those classrooms. Is there anyone else in the room who would like to make second public comment? I don't see any takers. Going back online, is there anyone online who would like to make second public comment? Going once, going twice… Seeing no-takers, I'm going to close second public comment. And turn it over to Dr. Morton for superintendent comments. Thank you very much, Ms. Winters. Uh, so Mr. Schimf is very experienced business administrator.
done this for a very long time. What I would suggest is, if there's any confusion about. specific numbers that are contained within the district's budget, user-friendly budget. Or things along those lines. have a conversation with Mr. Schiff. He can clarify any misunderstandings or any misinformation that may exist. It's not my desire to argue about numbers, or what exists. Uh, we can see directly to the man. He's willing to have that conversation, so I would suggest you take advantage of that. Uh, in reference to the new positions. Uh, actually, um, the Director of Special Projects position, uh, was formally titled.
Director of, um… guidance, and we just changed the title. Uh, for that position. We changed that title because it provides greater flexibility and allowing for a wider pool of candidates based upon certifications that are associated with position titles. I won't get into the nuances of it, but it just gives us an opportunity to hire the best candidates possible. Uh, who can support and work with our staff. Uh, the other position, the, uh, supervisor of, uh, school guidance.
Uh, school counselors, I'm sorry, would also be a reconstituted position as well. The position was supervisor of student. Student Services, uh, previously. Uh, it was most recently occupied by Mrs. Siobhan Carter, who, um, who was recently, recently resigned. So those are positions that have currently existed. Uh, the 3 additional positions… Or the position title for, uh, community engagement. Liaison is a new position for us. Uh, that position itself will be attached directly to.
Uh, the chronic issue of chronic absenteeism, and it would allow our schools much-needed support. To be able to target and to work with families. Uh, and helping them to reconnect with their school buildings. Essentially, that's the thinking that's there. Special education, the number of special education. settlements and, um… Suits that, that take place. Uh, the whole objective of, uh… Mediation is to… to mediate, is to come to… an agreement and come to an amicable agreement with families. Uh, we approach.
all situations, you know, with the desire to identify services as, you know, as. experts believe are needed. And to work along with families to allow that to happen. Uh, just to give you specific numbers, Cherry Hill Public Schools is a large school district, uh, less than 1%. Uh, the families who are receiving special education services. went to some type of mediation or settlement last year, and that number is drastically even lower this year. I think we're at .03%. Or something to that effect. Um, so, it's not to… uh, negate any… challenge that any family's having, because if it's just one family.
You know, we want to absolutely make sure we do the right thing by every family, and, um, you know, we'll continue to work to. To do that, um, to make sure that we provide the best. for all of our students. Uh, with that said, thank everyone… I thank everyone for their comments this evening. Um, have a wonderful, wonderful holiday. Thank you. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn the meeting. Is there a second? Ms. Mancano? All board members in favor?
It is unanimous, the meeting is adjourned. Thanks, everyone.