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Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=tL10h5q2HQ4

Part: 1

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This meeting of the Cherry Hill Board of Education is called to order. Mr. Schimp, will you please call roll? Good evening. Dr. Braddock. Here. Mr. Fain Here. Dr. Dryson Here Mr. Greenbaum Here. Ms. Manzano Here. And Ms. Stern Here. We have a quorum

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Thank you, Mr. Schimp. Public notice of this meeting pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act, has been given by the board secretary on July 22nd and 23rd, 2026, in the following manner. Posted notice on the school bulletin board at the Administration Building, posted on the board's official website, and transmitted to the Clerk of Cherry Hill Township This meeting can be viewed in person and online via the Zoom link on the district website. Please join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

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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. Great. Thank you for joining us tonight. I am filling in for Ms. Winters, who is out, as are several of our colleagues, and Mr. Schimp will be supporting us remotely. Thank you very much, Mr. Schimp.

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So start with board recognition. We don't have any board recognition this evening. And that brings us to Student representatives to the board. Do our student representatives have a report this evening? All right, well, why don't we start with Let's go west. Thank you. Hi, everyone. As we're at about the midpoint of summer, there's not a whole lot going on or to report since students are out enjoying their break still. But here are a few things we've got going on. Most of our fall sports teams have been practicing and training hard for their upcoming seasons

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Many teams will have their first games in late August, and we wish them all the best. For example, West Football will be having their first game on August 27th against Pemberton, so Come support. Renovations of our schools such as our track and field locker rooms and Walsh gym have continued throughout the summer, and we look forward to returning in the fall to see the newest updates. Some quick academic things. Many students have spent the summer preparing to take the August 6 sat. We wish them all the best and hope they do very well

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AP test scores came out earlier this month, and we hope everyone who took AP classes and the tests that go with them did how they hoped and succeeded. West's new student orientation will take place on August 25th. Incoming students will receive an introduction to West and will meet current students who will get to know the incoming new class. Student led tours will also take place where new students will be able to see the school And that concludes our report. Thank you very much, short and sweet.

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Okay, I don't believe we have any administrative presentations this evening. Which already brings us to first public comment. There will be two opportunities for public comment this evening. The first public comment session is for board action items only. If you wish to speak on any topic other than what appears on the agenda, you may speak during the second public comment. Speakers must provide their name and municipality And the agenda item they are speaking to Students may comment on any topic during the first public comment period by identifying themselves as a student.

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We will 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 or comments shall be addressed to the chair, which is me. Your inquiry may or may not be addressed by administration at the close of the session. And action items are items 12.x through 12 12.x through 16.x. And with that, we will start in the room. Is there anybody here for first public comment?

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Thank you. And Mr. Shimp, are you able to start a timer? I am. Hi, I'm Sarah Jocelyn. I live in Cherry Hill. I'm speaking on item 16.2, which are the district goals for 2026-2027. I did not see stated explicitly anywhere in any of the goals the issue of chronic absenteeism. This is a significant issue that needs to be dealt with by the board.

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I have a couple of proposals of where it could be included For example under… under number one, which is to increase the student math proficiency by strengthening the K to 12 instructional practices. Math is definitely one of those subjects that if you miss a critical day, you can very well be lost Chronic absenteeism is very likely correlated with that issue. And as a… just as a reminder, chronic absenteeism is missing 18 days out of 180 days

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One of the goals that is stated under this initiative is that we would have a 10% math proficiency with a 5% increase in grades 3 to 8 to 12 There is also a requirement for schools to develop an actionable plans based on data analysis. Well, that data analysis clearly should include chronic absenteeism And it should be differentiated instruction

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to tailored to meet the students' needs. So please consider, especially in math, because we know those data are already available. Are they not? So in addition We are supposed to be increasing by a 5% annually in math proficiency. Math is one of our lower scoring in Cherry Hill I also would like to point to the chronic absenteeism Task Force report that there is a task force out. It was initiated in January 2026. It was required to be staffed by within 30 days

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And they were required to report back within six months. Guess what? That's this time, August. So I am definitely looking at the board to look at the issue of chronic absenteeism within Cherry Hill. We also have the Action 3, which is the MTSS data. We want to support students whose needs are identified so that student growth is consistently tracked and reported twice annually. This would be something that could be reported to the board, just like the Hib data must be reviewed by the board twice a year. I think chronic absenteeism should be reviewed by the board twice a year, especially

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to make sure that we are not having issues of student suspension, homelessness, or other root causes that are significant in this school district. I thank you for your attention. Thank you for your comment. Next we'll go online. We have Mr. Neary, the floor is yours. Thank you. Jim Neary, Cherry Hill. I'm speaking tonight to oppose Resolution 14.10, the approval of consultant agreement, which awards a contract to Lavington to handle HIB affirmative action and special education investigations

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While the resolution states Ms. Weathington brings specialized experience. Her long-term history as a former district employee compromises the core requirement of this role, absolute neutrality. It is incredibly difficult for a longtime insider to separate themselves from the district and remain completely impartial When evaluating sensitive student complaints as a contractor. More importantly.

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Under her previous tenure, a federal office for civil rights investigation was launched against the district. That federal case alleged that the district discriminated against a special education student on the basis of disability because the school staff An administration failed to respond appropriately to instances of peer-to-peer disability harassment during the 2021-2022 school year. Re-engaging an individual whose past oversight led to federal civil rights investigation

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Introduces severe proven risks to our student body. We must also look at the financial reality of this agreement. This contract authorizes a rate of $500 per day with no cap or limit at a time when our district is facing a very public, very severe financial hardship. Spending our scarce funds on a consultant with this specific compliance track record is unwarranted If a family appeals a flawed biased investigation to the state, the district will ultimately end up spending additional funds to defend a broken process.

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Hiring an investigator closely tied to past federal compliance failures hurts public trust and creates unnecessary risk during this budget crisis. To protect our students and manage our funds responsibly, I strongly urge the board to vote no On resolution 1410. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. We'll go back to the room. Do we have any takers?

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Brooke Short, Cherry Hill. Dr. Dr. For uslyn, I do agree with you. Mr. Near, I also agree with your comments. Thank you very much for making those comments. Ladies and gentlemen. This number 16.2 with the district goals It's very concerning Because it really has nothing Nothing to do with education. It has no statistics to back it up, obviously. Under the 16.2,

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We talk about things like student voice, where it says increase opportunities for student voice to inform district decision making Wow So the children You know, normally your brain gets developed at 26. So our students are running our district in the decision making. I mean, this is just You know, before, I've called this district the most race-baiting come to this mic

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I've called it the most radical Now it's just the most nut The most nut district It really is Think about this Our president has said on a mic that there's too many white kids at Russell Knight, and never apologize for it It's amazing. Dr. Braddock says he's able to identify on mic, he says he's able to identify extremist

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Mrs. Short, please keep it to an agenda item. Well, it is to the agenda item. This item is about how nuts this district is. And I encourage you to vote no for item number 16.2. Again, if you don't realize you're nuts And that all everything you do along the line is negative for children. It's negative the consultants we have It's negative what

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What you guys say It's just It makes no sense, Miss Stern once said that we have hate groups. She said this on the mic. She's concerned about hate groups. I'm trying to explain that you people are nuts. And you have no cognitive learning abilities. You guys shouldn't even be there because you're all nuts You have some board members talking about

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plays multiple times. Multiple times they come in and they talk about the same play. I mean, you're all just nuts and you don't even realize it. And it's affecting our children. Thank you for your comment. Next, we'll go on the line. We have a caller from number ending in 788 My name is Jeff Podowicz and I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. First 14.2 approval of consultant agreement LaCoya Weddington, whether you could vote no. Her job description includes special education reviews. If you must vote yes, remove that

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From her job description. Please read Shift of Voices Opposition to District's new SEPAG, Cherry Hill Sun, September 27th 2018. Complaint from parent group over… over Lack of input on Cherry Hill School District School districts, administrative decisions becomes a point of contention. Please read this article. Ms. Weathington was the director of special education at that

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Time All right. Remember, the issue was a lack of substantive input Yeah, it's not good. All right, so please vote no. I would agree with what someone said before. Note 16.2 district goals. What particular goal, preschool, the Office of Special Education is represented at all district preschool community and family engagement. The state comes down for that

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Alright, ensuring information regarding services and supports is consistently shared with patients. Gee, with, with the K-12 students, is it the same way? Does it… does the… does the state care about the K-12 students? I'm not I don't know. I don't know. I really don't. Also, in that, it says, continue to collaborate with special education stakeholders, and that same page, AEM Pre-K, to enhance programs as an intervention for early learners with identified

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Needs Identified needs, and that has to talk about kids with disabilities. The term identified needs is not… is… is… the correct word for that is students with disabilities, not identified needs. Please churn change that term identifies needs to students with disabilities, because that's what you're talking about on that page. Please do that. And there's also a funding issue, and it's also where the state handles things. So you're giving… so, I mean, identify needs is not the same as students with disabilities.

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This… in this particular area, you're talking about students with disabilities. The Office of Special Education comes down, which does not happen to The regular, you know, kids in K-12, those kids, the state doesn't care about, and funding and other things. So please change that identified needs to students with disabilities. Thank you very much. You won't But do it, and the same with, Ms. Weathington. At the very least, eliminate special education. At the most

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Thank you for your comment. Thank you. We'll go back to the room if there's somebody who has first public comment. Anne Einhorn, I'm speaking Cherry Hill. Speaking on 14.10, the approval of the consultant agreement. In June of 2025, Dr. Mahan gave us a head report And at that time, the maximum number was 177 incidents only. To my knowledge, we haven't had a hip report since that time to tell us how significant this issue or the problem is

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I do have a problem. I believe that there's a conflict of interest with Ms. Weatherington being hired. She's a recent retiree from the district. She knows staff Very, very well, and I think that it would be very difficult in some situations to not have a note of bias It's not a criticism, it's just a feeling that when you've been here this long, will she be able to totally separate herself in her new role

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I'm not sure why she has to do special education reviews because You have a director of special Ed, and there's actually 4 things that she's responsible for supervisors, Ada, special ed services And special education supervisors. I don't get it, guys. Why do we need a separate person to help you with special ed? It's a contract that's open ended. It has no cap, no amount of days. Actually, I don't know if you advertise for this position. I don't know where the description of the job is located in the district

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I just think that you need to seriously perhaps table this and discuss if you've done all the proper steps to hire this individual You have an administrator, Dr. Goldthorpe, who's one of his responsibility directly is listed as HIB. So if you only had 177 cases In a school year, why do we need a separate consultant for HIV? Most disappointing is the responsibility to the public with an open-ended contract that has no end

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As to how many days this individual can work. You begged us to contact our local representatives To get more funding. And this contract does not represent to me the immediate needs of our district. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. We'll go back to the line. We have somebody online as Zoom user. If you could provide your full name, municipality and agenda item.

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Microphone's yours. Excellent, dear Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Okay, hi, Kim Freidel, Cherry Hill. First, I just want to take a second and thank the board for your volunteerism. While we all may disagree with things, we do appreciate all that you do. So I just want to say that Second, I want to speak to 1410 as well, the contract I'm going to kind of reiterate what has already been said. My concern is the district is really getting very administrative heavy. We just lost funding. We increased class sizes, we did all kinds of things

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that impact children directly. Now we have an open-ended contract To do work that we already have a plethora of administrators hired for that specific task. We have somebody who oversees Hib, we have somebody who oversees special education As noted before, this contract is $200 a day. There is no cap, not to exceed $40,000, not to exceed X amount of days. 100 days at that $500 a day is $100,000

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That money could go to hiring another teacher in the classroom. I really just hope you will reconsider, if not the contract, its entirety, putting some parameters around it to show some stewardship and to respect the community And as Ms. Einhorn just said, people calling the state, calling the governor, doing all of these things to look for money to help our kids, and we want to put another administrator in place. So please consider this agenda item. Thank you so much

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Thank you for your comment, Ms. Friedel. We'll go back to the room. Does anyone have first public comment? Okay, seeing none, we'll go back to the line. Ms. Natio, the floor is yours. Hello, good evening. This is Jennifer Nadio and I am calling as a citizen of Cherry Hill Township. I am appalled that we are running all over the town, all over the state, complaining, having families

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Stop doing I'm sorry, Ms. Dadeo, can you give me the agenda item, please? Oh, I'm so sorry. This is HR Mrs. Weddington 14.10. Thank you. Apologies for interrupting. Go ahead 14 to 10. Thank you, 14.10. I apologize. No worries. So I'm appalled that we have been begged to do all of this fair funding and we're getting all this funding to come in where we're cutting classrooms. We're making classroom sizes up to 28. We have young families

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Parents who are leaving their children at night to come to board meetings to complain that their children are not going to get the same education as last year. And here we are going to hire somebody, as an administrator Who, by the way, not to try to get into all the information I know But I have been in part of Hib since it was over at

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When my son was in pain and it first started, Mrs. Wellington has been a part of that all along, and the concern that I have at this point is Isn't that a conflict It seems like a conflict, and then there's no cap and she can get paid whatever She is allowed to get paid There's no cap on our time This doesn't seem fiscally responsible. Am I the only one who heard Mr. Shimp say just last spring, spring of 2026

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That there was overspending by this Board of Education, which is why we're struggling with our, with our budget And here we are, overspending once again. I really hope that this is a no from all of you, especially those who are running for board again I am hoping this is a no for Mrs. Weathington and another administrator in this town

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Thank you so much for your time. Have a good evening, and please be safe. Thank you for your comment. We'll go back to the room. Does anyone in the room have first public comment? Seeing none, we'll go back to the line. We have Laurie. Mike is yours. Yes, hi, Laurie Neary, Cherry Hill. I'm also calling in to speak on item 14.10, the consultant agreement for Lavington. I must say, I find the timing of this resolution absolutely

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fascinating given the timing of our investigation it's just strikingly interesting. Second I find it utterly offensive that we use the word expert in Miss Weathington in the same sentence and that we're going to hire her as a consultant on Hib and special education. As my husband said earlier, her track record record on HID is atrocious. If you want to hire an expert, which I absolutely agree that district needs

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I would seek a law firm that's expertise is in Hib cases and civil rights To hire Ms. Weathington is a slap in the face and a punch in the gut of every special education parent in this district that has fought for years to improve outcomes for our students, to gain some level of understanding And a person who has sat in a courtroom many times Fighting against parents, dragging out those court cases, only to end up settling at the end of the day is simply outrageous. I am disgusted at what I have seen in the last six months

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I find Cherry Hill Public Schools to be an absolute disgrace. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. We'll go back to the room. Any takers in the room? Seeing none, we'll go back to the line. We have a caller named Tiff. The microphone is yours. Hi, my name is Tiffany D'Amico. I am in Cherry Hill calling about agenda item 1410. I am a Cherry Hill Public Schools graduate. I'm a resident, a former educator at Carusi Middle School, and now a parent to two neurodivergent children in the district.

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I care about this district, but I will not pretend that we are where we need to be. For decades now, Cherry Hill has rested on a reputation that was built in the past Today our schools are struggling. We are skating on fumes while the foundation cracks underneath us The resolution before you ask you to hire LaCoya Weathington as a consultant for harassment, intimidation, and bullying investigations, but you cannot effectively address Hib if you do not first address the systemic failure to support all students in this district, namely Neurodivergent students. I speak not just as an educator but as a mother who has fought tirelessly for my own child. My son was bullied in sixth grade at Crusi Middle School, and because our staff lacked the training to recognize and intervene in neurodivergent specific bullying

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He was left unprotected. The trauma of that experience has fundamentally changed his personality. He is no longer the same boy he was before these incidents occurred. That is the reality of our current system. An external consultant who investigates complaints after they happen does nothing to prevent that kind of lifelong harm. Training does. Investing in intensive, ongoing professional development for our educators on neurodiversity, trauma-informed care, and inclusive practices Would proactively reduce Hib incidence by fostering understanding and empathy in our classrooms. Instead, we're proposing open-ended spending at $500 a day with no cap and no end date for administrative oversight. This proposal arrives directly after this board eliminated 70 jobs, and the township raised property taxes by 7.4

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Adding an average of $420 to the average family's bill to address a $14.5 million deficit. This is not practical stewardship. It is prioritizing administrative optics over student safety and outcomes. When families are paying more and receiving less, and when children like my son and so many others are suffering Because of gaps in staff competency, hiring an outsider to audit paperwork feels like a betrayal of our community's trust. I ask for transparency. Why can't existing HR or legal staff handle these consultations? What specific gap does this fill that couldn't be addressed by retaining the staff we just cut, and what teacher or student project is being delayed so we can hire Mrs. Weathington?

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Our students, there's our resources in the classroom, not expanded administrative overhead. Please vote no on this contract until you can demonstrate how this expense aligns with the austerity measures you've imposed on our schools and taxpayers. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Go back to the room. Is there anyone for first public comment in the room? Seeing none, we'll go back to the line. Last call. Is there anybody online with first public comment?

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Seeing none, I will close first public comment Mr. Schimp, is there any correspondence to share this evening? There's not Thank you. And with that, I will hand it over to Dr. Morton for Superintendent's report. Thank you very much, Mr. Greenbaum. Just a couple items for me. So we are approaching the midway point of the summer already, and I am searching for a way to slow the summer down and look to see if we can just enjoy a bit more of the weather. But nonetheless.

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Things are bustling, and things are moving forward in Cherry Hill Public Schools you'd have to be a hermit not to notice all of the summer construction that's taken place across this district comprehensively. I'd like to thank everyone for their patience during this time. But as I've gone in and visited sites, I've been very impressed by the foundations and the makings of what promises to be much-needed repair. So, thank you to the community continually for the support of our bond referendum. I had an opportunity just yesterday to visit our ESY program, the Extended

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school year program, and the event that I visited was ESY Olympics over at High School West. Oh my goodness. What fun, what excitement What energy enthusiasm in the room. It was, it was truly wonderful to spend some time with the kids and receive hugs, high fives and all the other wonderful greetings and to see the staff interact with the kids. So, so truly, truly wonderful. Recruitment continues to go well. We are actively interviewing and identifying great candidates. Positions are being filled at an excellent pace. Kudos to Ms. Lieber and the HR team, and kudos to the administrators as well

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They're doing an excellent job in identifying many, many promising candidates. We're very excited, as our greatest resource is our human resource. I want to acknowledge concerns that I've received from some families as it relates to our before and after school program, our SAC program. A number of families have reached out and have vocalized concerns about just the way the process is working

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I can tell you, rest assured, we are working behind the scenes to alleviate this process as it has been, and we've cut down the amount of people that are forced to go to the waitlist, but we are even looking at ways to remediate having a waitlist altogether. More to come with that, I can't share any more just yet, but But hopefully in the coming weeks, we'll see some some positive progress in that regard. Just one last final note for me and a reminder as well

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Summer reading reminder We are halfway through the summer months. The staffing gets very excited as we think about summer reading. It's a great opportunity for our students not only to engage in summer reading assignments, but also to explore the cadre of books that are being read Without the pressures of schoolwork as well. So encourage all of our students, please make sure that you are on pace to complete your summer reading on time. And with that, I'll turn it back over to you, Mr. Greenbaugh.

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Thank you. And with that, we'll move on to old business. Do any board members have old business this evening? Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to committee and delegate reports. This past month we had an additional special meeting of the P&L committee. The board received some mandatory policy updates from Strauss Esmay immediately following the July committee meeting So a special session was held to ensure all policies can be discussed and go through first and second public reading in time to be adopted for the new school year. And with that, I will hand this off to Ms. Stern to do a brief report out from the P&L Special Meeting on July 15th

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Thank you very much. Ms. Palmer's absence, I'm going to read the report that she wrote up. I was able to attend P&L meeting, I'm just happy to attend, as a previous member. So On her behalf since she's not here. Here we go. Policy and legislation held a special meeting on July 15th to review 3 times sensitive policy changes that needed to be enacted before the start of the school year in September.

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Most notable was an update to the district cell phone policy to reflect what is now law in New Jersey. Stress Esme took a different approach from the approach that the policy committee originally intended. Districting districts, directing districts to abolish their current cell phone policies and merging them with the existing policy 5516, which used to prohibit audio and video recording in schools.

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The committee is recommending that we follow that guidance, but incorporate key pieces of our own existing policy in writing into the new revised policy 5516. The information to be aware of. Devices are banned on school grounds from bell to bell. You guys can share this information along. This includes smart watches And smart glasses We are not recommending changes to device storage policies. Students are permitted to store devices in lockers and backpacks

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We will revisit this if needed. If the need arises, and have asked administration to monitor whether a change is needed. And to update the board. The new state law clearly defines a number of exemptions that will also be outlined in this new policy. This list of exemptions is broader than what was in our original policy. It still includes students who monitor their health conditions or require devices as part of an IEP or 504.

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There was a lot of discussion about classes such as music classes, finance classes that might use programs or apps as part of instruction. The policy allows for limited bolded limited use of apps as part of instruction with the approval of the building or district administration. So There may be some big work to do for some of our new administrators coming in, especially at the middle school and high school level. Devices are allowed at the discretion of teachers, club advisors during after school activities and on buses

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The Strauss, as Mr. Greenbaum said, the Strauss-Esme policy guidance came in after our July committee meeting They actually recommended that boards suspend their bylaws requiring two readings of a policy in order to get the updates passed for September. The committee felt strongly that a policy as public as this one should go through the full process and not in any way be shortchanged. So we decided instead to have a special meeting in order to make sure that that could happen

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That's really all I got to say. I was there. It definitely encapsulates everything we discussed, but board members, if there are any questions about the report, Mr. Greenbaum, is that I know you and I are pinch hitting, but we're good with offering questions or comments on board members, correct? Absolutely. And I'm going to probably defer to Dr. Mahan, if there are any, but nonetheless, Mrs. Trevain. I think you'd be able to answer this because I'm more wondering if there was any discussion on the usage of district issued devices, specifically our computers. I forget what they're called. Thank you, the Chromebooks that they're given

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Because I think this is interesting perspective the state is taking, and I'm excited for continued discussion on this is a big one. I already saw some faces from the other end of the table. This is definitely a big one. But I'm hoping that as a board, we can also discuss the Chromebooks as well, and I know that at least what I've witnessed with this is that when they come home, they're still very unlimited access to a lot of things on those devices. So I was wondering if there's… there was any discussion

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This which seems pretty extreme. Honestly, I'm surprised that the States taking that perspective on that. And I'm wondering if there was any discussion on the Chromebooks. So there was not. We really were trying to Combine our two policies, the recording policy and our cell phone use policy. We didn't include board members on it. We do have our own board member policy, too. No. We did not go any further than that, and obviously, you know, it was a

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Kind of urgent and meeting. So we kept it very short. It was like a half hour. So we did not, but it's an interesting question and something that, you know, can be brought forward. I would definitely suggest maybe Feel free to email Ms. Palmer about that. Yeah, it's pretty unrelated to cell phones so that's not surprising to me, but I was just curious. But yeah, I'll definitely bring it up. So maybe in the next P&L meeting it can be discussed Yep, and I will add it's something that in the regular P&L meetings it has come up each month. It's something that the administration is working on developing use of technology policy and

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looking at what's currently being used and establishing guidelines around that. It's something that's ongoing and will continue to be discussed in future P&L meetings. Ms. Stern, may I also chime in? Any other questions, comments, and thank you, Mr. Gumom, for any other comments from board members. I'm sorry. Is that Dr. Mahan? Yes, please, please do. Mr. Yes, I just wanted to chime in. I just wanted to chime in and reiterate what Mr. Greenbaum just said, that we are looking at the technology policy as well, along with the AI plan for the district

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Both of those items, I believe, are on the August committee meetings for CNI and P&L Miss Palmer and I have already looked at some draft language in terms of exactly what Mr. Fain just mentioned in terms of access to devices, not only in school, but also at home, and who will actually actually be issued a device. Dr. Mahan, that's really helpful. Thank you for clarifying. So I guess along those lines, any board members who have any thoughts, ideas, input, questions, concerns.

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either email Ms. Palmer and or ask to sub in if there's an open seat. Money meeting Great plug. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, and that brings us to our action agenda for the evening. We'll start with 11.1 approval of minutes. The superintendent recommends, and I move the following action agenda items 11.2 June 9th, 2026 minutes. Do I have a second?

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Dr. Braddock Any questions or comments Seeing none, Mr. Schimp, please open the voting. So I think we're okay with quorum. I was not present, so I just have to abstain from those minutes. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Schimp.

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Yeah, CNI Action Agenda, the superintendent recommends and I move the following action agenda items 12.2 through 12.5 inclusive. Do I have a second? Mr. Fain. Are there any question or comments on CNI action agenda items? Seeing none, Mr. Schimp, please open the voting I vote yes.

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For context, I'm not having access to board docs tonight, so I'm just going to vote. Yeah. So mine is not popping up. I'm a yes as well. Oh, okay, never mind, mine did too. Motion carries. Thank you. We'll move on with BNF agenda. The superintendent recommends and I move the following action agenda items 13.2 through 13.8. Do I have a second?

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Ms. Stern Any questions or comments? Okay, before moving forward with the vote, I do want to read out acceptance of donations. We have a donation from Way Pass Books and Hallie Edelman to be used to buy library books at Woodcrest Elementary School from Beck PTA to be used toward busing for 8th grade trip to Great Adventure at Beck And an anonymous donation to clear the eighth grade student meal balances at Beck, Carusi, and Rosa. Thank you for your generosity.

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And with that, Mr. Schimp, please open the voting. Mr. Greenbaum, I'm going to do a roll call on this. I'm having a little trouble with the online voting. Understood. Thank you. Yeah, Dr. Braddock. Yes. Mr. Fein Yes. Dr. Dryson Yes. Mr. Greenbaum Yes. Ms. Manzano Yes. Mr. Yes. Motion carries

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Okay, with that, I will hand this over to Dr. Morton. Oh, after HR, we got it. That moves us to our HR action agenda Mr. Ern, would you please move the HR agenda? The superintendent recommends and I move the following 14.2 to 14.10 inclusive. Do I have a second? Mr. Greenbaum, are there any questions or comments from board members?

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Dr. Braddock. I forget the way to go about it. I defer to the board attorney. Is there a way to pull out 1410 and consider for later consideration? Given what we've heard tonight Are you asking To make a motion Are you asking to consider it for this evening later this evening, or at the next meeting? I would say for the next meeting, so we can discuss at length. So your motion would be to postpone the motion 14.10 until the August 11th

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Meeting that would be my motion. Then you would need a second Was there a second? Mr. Shimp, is there any discussion on that motion? I didn't see it Mr. Shimp, would you please Who is the second Mrs. Stern. Was it Mr. Thank you. Mr. Greenbaum was the second. So, Mr. Shimp, would you please call the roll on the motion to

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table I'm sorry, postpone the motion 14.10 to the the next meeting. Dr. Braddock. Yes. Mr. Fain Yes. Dr. Dryson Yes. Mr. Greenbaum Yes. Ms. Manzano Yes. Mr. Yes. Motion carries. Okay, so I'm going to need some help. So

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You I would just certainly thank you. So the superintendent recommends and I move the following 14.1 through 14.9 Inclusive, do I have a second? Ms. Manzano, are there any questions or comments? Seeing none, Mr. Shim, can you call the vote, please? Dr. Braddock. Yes. Mr. Fain Yes. Dr. Dryson Yes.

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Mr. Greenbaum Yes. Ms. Manzano Yes. Ms. Stern Yes. Motion carries. Okay, and with that, I will hand it over to Dr. Morton. Excellent. Thank you so much, Mr. Greenbaum. And with that item 14. or the board has just appointed Miss Caroline Starer as the new Director of Secondary Education

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Ask your spirit to come up. The Spirit joins us as a highly experienced administrator with over two decades of experience. She's been a middle school teacher, assistant principal at the high school level, director of elementary education, acting superintendent And now she moves into this role as Director of Secondary Education as well. Is there a couple of remarks? Absolutely. I would like to sincerely thank the Board of Education, Dr. Morton, and his administrative team for the confidence you've placed in me with this appointment as the director of secondary education.

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I am truly honored and grateful for this opportunity. It is my goal to work collaboratively with families, students, staff, and the community to not only build on all of the wonderful things that are currently happening in our schools, but also to increase opportunities and supports for our students so that all students have the chance to succeed. I look forward to serving the district with dedication, integrity, and a commitment to excellence.

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Thank you. Thank you very much, and welcome to Cherry Hill. Okay, next we'll move on to the P&L Action Agenda. The superintendent recommends and I move the following action agenda items 15.2 through 15.4. Do I have a second? Ms. Manzano Are there any questions or comments?

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And I will note that this includes first reading of Your cell phone policy as it has been revised, which is policy 5516, it is embedded in the agenda. If anybody would like to read it What's that? Mr. Schimp, can you please open the voting? Voting should be open This is Dean Dreisen. I vote yes

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Noted, thank you. This is Renee. This is when I vote yes, but I have to abstain from 15.2 of these from last meeting. Yes, I have to abstain from 15.2. Thank you. I do the same. Yep, this is Adam Greenbaum. I also need to abstain from 15.2. You may need to do a roll call vote. Nothing's coming up on my screen to vote. Okay. Dr. Braddock

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I'm listening to the response there. I'm sorry, Mr. Dr. Brown Mr. Shimp, will you please call the roll? Dr. Braddock? Yes. Ms. Chofain I'm a yes to 15.3 and 15.4, I abstain from 15.2. Dr. Dryson Same as Mr. Fein. I vote yes to all except abstaining from 15.2.

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Mr. Greenbaum Yes, but abstain from 15.2. Ms. Manzano Yes. Ms. Stern. Yes. So the motion carries. You have the… it's the majority of those present in voting. You have 3 affirmants, the abstentions count towards count as agreement to the ultimate vote Because you have that here, the motion passes

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Thank you, Ms. Gilfillen, for keeping us on the straight and narrow Okay, and that moves us to 16.1 district goals. The superintendent recommends and I move the following exit agenda 16.2, approval of the 2627 district goals. Do I have a second? Dr. Breddick. Is there any further discussion before voting on this item? I thought there might be. Let's start with you, Mr. Fain. Not really discussion. Well, I guess it's discussion, but I was hoping we… I know there was a lot of things changed in the goals this year, and I was hoping that maybe Dr. Morton, you would give us just a very quick and dirty some of the things that you focus on to change for the year

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Yes, absolutely. There were changes to the strategies and actions that were listed in the corresponding KPIs as well. For the most part, the strategies and actions had to shift a bit because we are in year two of the five-year strategic plan That we, that we currently have set With that said, I can't speak to the specific nuances or changes in language, but the language has been changed to reflect where we should be in the process just now. The preschool goal itself was changed to reflect different status as to where we are as well. We're onboarding 5 new partners, as opposed to opening 2

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expansions or additions in hiring teachers. So that goal has been reflected or updated and revised as well to reflect that also. There's been much back and forth with the board and administration working through This process, I think it's been a good process and a collaborative one as well And something else I would like to highlight, I was part of the CNI committee for this, which kind of brought up a couple of the goals, and I would like to highlight the discussion around clarifying some of the KPIs to make sure it was reflecting the specific work that was being done, and I thought that was important for us to note

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here since unfortunately, not a lot of people attended the CNI committee. But I just wanted to highlight that we… we really went through each one of them and made sure we clarified the language to make sure they're measurable, and that it was targeting the actual action items that were listed in the goals Okay, thank you. Any additional comments, questions, discussion? Ms. Stern. Yeah, just I really want to thank everybody for such a collaborative process this year, specifically Dr. Morton.

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Not an easy thing to take so much feedback. and feedback and feedback from the board. and be able to kind of synthesize, consider, bring back to the team, team feedback, you know, back and forth. It was really It's the kind of process I would hope every district has. So I want to thank you. Ms. Banzano.

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Thank you so much. I just wanted to also say thank you to specifically Dr. Morton, Ms. Mallory, Ms. Staffen for an Rcni committee, and also our special ed committee for some really, really great discussions this past month, specifically, I think, just being able to focus on when we say all students really meaning all students And making sure that that is something that we are going to focus on this year. So, making sure that we're reaching all of our students past graduation through their transitions, and while they are here with us. So, thank you for that.

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Okay, any additional questions, comments, discussion? Okay, seeing none, Mr. Schimp, please open the voting. I'm going to do a roll call, Mr. Greenbaum. Dr. Braddock Yes Mr. Fain Yes. Dr. Dryson Yes. Mr. Greenbaum Yes. Ms. Manzano Yes. Ms. Stern Yes. Motion carries.

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Thank you, Mr. Schimp. I don't believe we have anything for governance tonight. Which brings us to new business. Do any board members have new business this evening. I'm sorry? Mr. Grimma, can I just ask a question? Go ahead. Just regarding the governance committee, I just don't know like when the next meeting is or if we're Sure. We don't actually… we don't have an August meeting scheduled, but we do have our board retreat coming up on the 22nd. I guess maybe I wasn't here to report out on the June

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Sorry, I just realized that I wasn't here to report out on our last meeting, so I will report out on that. So in our last meeting, which I guess was either beginning of July this month, we discussed what our target would be for the board retreat. We're going to be revisiting our goals doing some team building exercises. So that will happen on the 22nd from 11 to 2 PM. And I have some things that were brought to my attention by our Ms. Winters, our president, to bring up in the August meeting. So we'll coordinate for this month

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to reconvene. We do have a fourth member now, if one of them cannot attend the meeting, then I will reach out if anybody else is interested in participating but we now have Miss Cummings is our fourth member on on the committee so Yeah, but if one of us One of them cannot attend, then I will make sure if anybody else is interested in attending. So that was our focus of our last meeting was the board retreat and making sure that We're going to be here for 3 hours, making sure that they're useful of our time and that they're productive. Oh, and we also discussed our certification as a board and with the training in our retreat. And if we I believe we need four more trainings within meetings, the rest, either the rest of the this year or up until March, then we will satisfy all of our education that we need

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and all of our training for our board certification. The rest of the certification for the board is kind of like paperwork that the NJSBA will help us facilitate and manage. It's really just going through our policies, the policy work that the PL committee has been doing even over the last, like, three months Is a lot more than I'm understanding that most boards do. So I think our NJSBA rep. feels as though it will be fine with all of our policy-related requirements, and then NJSBA does a full audit of their… from their end. So it's… it's not much that we have to do as a board. It's really just that training and getting that scheduled. And I have the results from

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the survey that whoever took it took, and it was pretty consistent. So that's how we built out the retreat, and how we'll target which trainings we bring in for the rest of the year Sorry, I totally forgot that I wasn't here to report out on the last meeting. And I was not here either. I was not aware he didn't report out in July. Thank you very much. And with that, we will move on to new business. Do any board members have new business this week? Okay, seeing none, that brings us to second public comment.

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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 demean or are derogatory to any individual or 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's operations may communicate directly with the superintendent and the board president via email or other means.

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And with that, we will start in the room. Does anyone in the room have second public comment? Okay, Mr. Short, the mic is yours. Rick Short, Cherry Hill, Dr. Braddock, thank you. Much respect for what happened there. Thank you for that motion. Ladies and gentlemen, there was a number that just popped up tonight. It's very concerning

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And I didn't even know it. So there's 177 HIBs. So the question is, just 2 years ago in Woodbridge, who has 4,000 some more students, there was 62 HIBs. So, ladies and gentlemen, what the heck is going on in our schools? Well, it's the it all comes down to this, everyone. It's the craziness And it's the negativity. So let's start with just security itself. Let's start with the negative things about security. So our security, we don't have proper perimeter security. Dr. Morton in his newsletter every week puts out an announcement not to be in the area

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But he doesn't have a sign posted. So that's a small little negative thing. Then they forgot to put gates after they spent a million dollars. Then on top of that, when they put the perimeter fencing in, they forgot to put… they would put it down a fence line that's existing, but not put it on another line So again, just another little negative thing. And then what about our total alert system? What about whatever happened to that system? I haven't heard much about that. I think that was cut out. What about our doors, our interior doors that still, you know, we still haven't properly secured our doors?

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It's not good. So they're all little small negative things. Now let's move on to the big question is, why is there just so much more HIVs? Well. Because I'll go back to Dr. Morton's comment on July, I think it was 25th, 2025, when he challenged me, he said, Mr. Short, provide evidence that we're still using our culture consultants. Well, the evidence is, is that They are still in our curriculum. If you go to the Genesis system, our consultants are still there. And when you talk about our consultants, ladies and gentlemen, let's get into Dr. Love. Dr. Love, who Cherry Hill West teachers, I have an email proof, Cherry Hill

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Teachers were working with her. Now, Dr. Love wants to destroy America, destroy capitalism. She wants to radicalize everyone. So, do you think that's a good consultant to have that's implemented our curriculum? No, I don't think it's crazy, right? It's another crazy thing. Now, let's move on to Dr. Kinde. What is he against? Oh, he's against capitalism. And again, Dr. Kinde is in it, is in our curriculum, in our genesis, and it's crazy. See, what happens is, is now, after I get done speaking.

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Dr. Morton will come up, and he's going to say, I love my children at home, and I love everyone, and everything's fine. But what he has created in this whole, whole system is just craziness. You know, Van Jones just, commented on CNN the other day about how nuts things are Well, when you have nuts in our curriculum running it through, this is what you get. You get higher HIBs. Why do we have so many HIBs? Well, because our ideologies are so whacked out that you guys shouldn't even be on the board, and Dr. Morton shouldn't even be there. Thank you. Thank you for your comment.

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Next, we'll go to the line. We have a number ending in 788. Hi, my name is Jeff Podowitz. I live in Cherry Hill, and I'm pretty much outliving this. The last board meeting, our school board president said she was disappointed at what happened, that we didn't get any more funds I don't know what else to say.

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I remember years ago, it was about 2018 when I hit the Lenape and other districts really were getting their aid cut and someone from I know, they lived in Cherry Hill, but they were… they were… they went to public relations, and And they offered their services to the Lenape Regional School District and communications, things like that. We have someone like that in staff And we do. What has have you told her to do? Brudy, I think Miss Rudy, I think I'm not really sure. Maybe I'm not giving her saying her name correctly. Well, that's a person who is skilled

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I mean, in a lot of things and handles your And handles a lot of things. For you all, and the word gets out about what you do in Cherry Hill and other items So, what are you doing using her connections To uplift the community, to tell the community what's going on And to tell outside the community in the state of New Jersey what is going on and how we're being cheated, how is that being presented? And I thought about that back in 2018

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And it wasn't done, I thought about it, but now I'm saying about it. We have someone on staff Who is a great communicator And knows those things, and she's getting paid for that Actually Why don't you and a school board publicize this more? Why is it quiet? Why isn't the community up in arms for what's happening? They're not being energized, I don't think I mean, I know about it because I've been looking at this for 20 years, 25 years. And since 2000 and since we've been the most cheated district

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Since 1990 up to 2016 and money and funds, I mean, is that being publicized? I don't know. There's a lot of misinformation being put out there, to minimize the fact, and I've seen it, and I've talked about it, how badly we're being treated, and how badly we're being treated, so maybe you can put her to work, and maybe you could work in public relations To do something about it. Thank you very much, but I think that's the thing to do, because that's what's been missing

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And then Thank you for your comment. Okay, well thank you very much. That's really been missing. And I don't know why it Okay We'll go back to the room. And Einhorn, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. So I have a question about the tabling of 1410. The contract or if we read the proposal says starting July the 1st Has she started working in our district, and where does that leave you with the 14.10 tabling

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Maybe somebody could, at some point could explain that to me. I do have a concern. Recently, it was a great publicity photo of board members being at the public library encouraging summer reading. Actually, it's quite cute. But my biggest concern is that there were 5 of you in the photo. And for all intents and purposes, someone who would know would say, well, it looks like a quorum to me. I understand this also happened at the 4th of July celebration for the township fireworks. I would like to caution this board to be very careful on how you pose those photos

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Because five is a quorum. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go to the line. We have Lori. The floor is yours Thank you, Laurie Neary, Cherry Hill. I'd like to thank the board for the tabling of item 14 I do agree with the comment made by Mrs. Einhorn, so I'd like to understand how that will be resolved. I'd like to apologize for my anger and upset during my public comment

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I too have sat around that board table. I have advocated for our students I have gone out and advocated for fair funding for this district for almost 8 to 10 years now I cannot express enough My upset And concern My son is a shell of a child that he was And to echo Tiff's comments earlier

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I do not know That he will be the same It has taken a long time and to see what has happened to him Is Just not okay. And I certainly hope that this board is going to sit and pause having served on that board How long they will allow the administration to compromise not only the board But the district

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And our students I will continue to fight for my son However I hope that the district will take a good hard long Look He may never get the justice he deserves, and I will not stop fighting But I certainly hope the district will think about the position they are being put in time and time again That is simply not an acceptable financial or risk to our students

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Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Thank you for your comment. We'll go back to the room. Does anyone else have second public comment? Sarah Jocelyn, Cherry Hill. I mentioned last month that the Cherry Hill Public School District submitted their attendance report for the 25-26 school year. It was due on June 30th

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Now, that attendance report needs to follow certain guidelines set by the state We have had on our district website a dashboard that reported chronic absenteeism. Now, chronic absenteeism on that dashboard has not necessarily been refined by the state credentials, which were distributed in April of 2026. I do want to know in the upcoming dashboard that we will have

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Whether it's going to be this new served as board, or if we're going to maintain having our dashboards that are on our district website that talk about number of students and different factual things. If we're still going to have a chronic absenteeism one, I think it's fair if there is an approximate, okay, during the years, so you can track it as you go along But then, at the end of the year, or during the year at some interval, you

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confirm where you are. Now, from looking at that dashboard that is on the district website. It looked like there was basically no change in overall school district between this past year and the year before. 15%. Okay, that kind of number. And so it behooves us to ask, what is the real number? And that was in the report that was filed June 30th. So I just want to make sure that we're on the same board. And I did bring this up at a previous meeting.

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I do also want to say that it is of value to understand that there were significant changes in which schools had high absenteeism in 2020 5 2026 versus the year before. And I know that in the past I've been told each school needs to have their own plan when they have a chronic absenteeism rate. And basically Middle schools, all middle schools, all high schools, and half of the elementary schools have chronic absenteeism. So it's a fair number of schools that have to deal with

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having a plan to address this. And so I do want to say that there was very high absenteeism at schools where I think we had transition in principals. I do not know whether that was a factor at all, but I did want to mention that that was an observation that I made So I thank the board for working on these issues and for all the work that you do on the goals. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. I don't see anyone raising their hand online.

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Is there anyone else in the room who would like to make second public comment Seeing none, is there anyone else online? Mr. Neri, the floor is yours. Thank you, Jim Neary, Cherry Hill. I've been seeing a lot of posts online, specifically today and yesterday, election season is upon us for the board. So I would like to remind the board why you're there

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The Board of Education's main job is to ensure that the superintendent is running our schools well The state of New Jersey has laws The state of New Jersey has statutes Cherry Hill has policies which boards of education have passed previously, and you continue to pass. The main role of the Board of Education is to ensure that our administrators are following those laws, following those codes of ethics, and following the local policies.

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When our administrators do not follow them, you need to hold them accountable When families speak up to alert you that They are not being followed. You don't ignore them There are laws, there are ethics, there are policies for reasons. As a board member, most of you during your elections said the reason you wanted to serve was to help children.

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Please remember that every day When families come to you saying that their children are being harmed Thank you. Thank you for your comment. We'll go back to the room again. Anyone in the room for public comment? Seeing none, go back to the line. Last call for second public comment. Going once, going twice

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Okay, seeing none, we'll close second public comment. Okay, that brings us to board member activity. This is where we talk about engagements and community activities board members do, and I will start with Dr. Braddock. We'll go around I forget the exact day, but yeah, visiting the library, it's a couple people mentioned the two little Rugrats were mine in that picture, if you saw the picture on Instagram or on Facebook. Abby's ready to read Fahrenheit 451. If you look, if you zoomed in, it's a little ahead of her time, but she's trying to get her summer reading in about

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18 years early. Well, 16 years early, but it was it was a really cool experience. It's cool to see… it's cool to go and to support the summer reading, but it's also cool to see just how much the library offers in terms of what kids can go do of all ages over the course of the summer. I mean, that place is a refuge for some kids. I mean, middle of the summer, we were up there, and I think that at the same time they were doing a story time for kids, and there were 30, 40 kids up there in the middle of the summer

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So it was very cool for a lot of reasons, and I mean, I'm a big advocate for libraries reading in the public library in general. So it was a very cool experience all around. I know Several others were there as well I too attended the public library with some of my board colleagues. Great time. I was going to also comment about the reading. I guess I should have dropped my four kids off to have a little story time session while we were taking our photos. But, the library does really offer a lot

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And it is right in the middle of town, and so it's a really great spot for our students, for our families, for our community to gather. So thanks for that opportunity. And nothing for me. Nothing for me Let's see. So I also was at the public library. I think this is my… I think we've started doing the library summer reading plug for or submitting support, I guess I should say, by showing up and holding books and taking photos

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I didn't read any of the books, but, you know, I mean, not there. I've read them some of them before. But it was, like, as Dr. Braddock, as you said, it was bustling, bustling in the middle of the day! And I, you know. proud as a board member to be able to make the time Year after year to show up and be at the library and Show my face to support summer reading. If I can help promote summer reading. This is my last year to do that. I will do it every single time.

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Because it is foundational, it's important, it supports all the work that we are trying to bridge from June to September It supports all of what we do through the year to promote reading, and the free resource or taxpayer supported resource of the library. So I'm very pleased, very proud bonus, it was Baby Land. I got to see Dr. Braddock's two babies, who I'd never met before. It was lovely to meet your children

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We had another Board members child there who did not want to be on camera, but was also participating in reading. And lots of the kids, some of the kids who we saw there are in our preschool. It's always a good reminder about why we do the work we do, and to show up and pick up a book and take a photo, it was great So That's the only thing I participated in, but I was very happy to do it. I think the only thing I participated in was negotiations for the teaching assistants, which is not

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Something really to report out on that nothing Okay, well, thank you to all my colleagues for your engagements this month. With that, I will hand it to Dr. Morton for Superintendent's comments. Thank you very much, Mr. Greenbaum. I do have a few comments. First and foremost, approval of the 2627 district goals. I just want to say thank you to the board for that approval. Significant. Today is July 28th, and to have that done before August is critically important

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We've attempted to align everything that we do in a sequential way, in a way that actually makes sense. So strategic plan to annual district goals to building goals to action plans that get implemented across the board. But this positions us well and allows us to move forward with the building of building-based goals. Thank you for the community member who made comments about chronic absenteeism Chronic absenteeism isn't a major concern, absolutely has to be a focus for us in the district. As we look at attendance, the way attendance is typically reported is it's reported as daily attendance. If you look at our daily attendance rates, we're well in the 90s at every school across the board, and it looks great.

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But as mentioned, chronic absenteeism is 10% or more of the available days being missed, right? So a student, a number of students can miss 10% or more, and the daily attendance can still be high, but there are detrimental impacts when students miss an excessive amount of school. So that is an absolute focus, that is something that each and every school will have a goal built around. Those goals will be available on the district website as well for everyone to view and everyone to see

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Those statistics differ by school. So there are differences, obviously secondary schools compared to elementary schools, but they do differ. However, we deem that the goals need to be specific and targeted based upon the populations in each building. So we want them to be nuanced in that manner As it relates to HIVs, there was a comment made about that as well, and the number was thrown out. So the state has an anti-bullying Bill of Rights Act that, you know, every school district is required to have HIV policies for

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We take our responsibilities very seriously in this district, and if a family or a child or a staff member believes that there is a concern that may violate this statute, an investigation is launched. An investigation does not mean that it's a confirmed act of bullying. It's an investigation. Right? We look into it and do our due diligence. And that's the responsibility we have as a district. We will not deviate from that it's a statute. We'll make sure that we that we we follow that statute

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I also want to mention there were comments made about transparency and fiscal fiscal responsibility, ultimately. So we absolutely take fiscal responsibility with the utmost importance. It is a bedrock for us, a non-negotiable. We believe in, or this administration believes in being as efficient as possible. We've shared the statistic in the past and I'll share it again There are 96 K to 12 districts across the state of New Jersey

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If we start with 1 being the highest and 96 being the lowest, Cherry Hill Public Schools, as it relates to administrators to student ratio, is 93rd out of 96 K-12 districts If you look at another measure, administrators to teachers, we are also 93rd And that ratio as well. We aren't over over staff with administrators. We haven't sought to hire an excessive amount of administrators. What we do seek to do is to work in an intelligent fashion to use the resources that exist and to do it in a sustainable fashion.

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We have our director of, just to give an example, Director of Secondary Education leaves our district the end of this week. There's an overlap between the time that he's gone and the new person's able to start By having another available experienced administrator who's done a bang up job throughout her career, come on and provide assistance, it fills that void and fills that gap, reduces the burden on an already On an administrative team that's already working very, very diligently and working very hard. This disappointment here that we were seeking actually is a continuation of work that started last year when we had a vacancy in our office of student services last year. So that individual

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helped us on a per diem basis, not on a daily basis, per diem. So on certain days when we needed additional assistance, and that's what that carried over into this year as well. So that was the purpose of that resolution. But we absolutely take Fiscal responsibility the utmost importance, and I just want to make sure that we reiterate that With that being said. I'd like to wish everyone Great evening. Have a good night.

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Thank you, Dr. Morton. And that brings us to the conclusion of our meeting. May I have a motion to adjourn? Mr. Fain, do we have a second? Ms. Stern, all in favor? Okay.