Good evening everybody. I'd like to um call this meeting to order. Adequate notice has been provided. Uh Mr. Burns, roll call, please. >> Miss Brown. Mr. Craig here. Mr. Marco >> here.
>> Miss Divine >> here. Miss M >> here. >> Miss Makowski >> here. >> Miss Sherman >> here. >> Miss Z >> here. >> Mr. McMullen is absent. Mr. Dilus
>> here. >> Mr. Chu >> here. We have a qu. >> Thank you. Um, everybody please stand for the pledge of allegiance. All right. So, um, we have no executive session this time, so I'm going to move
on to section three. So, I believe first up is our, um, annual audit report by Mr. Roberta. for board members, you should have two items on your with your agenda. You should have a summary sheet that he
provided tonight and also the B1 exhibits from the audit. >> Uh thank you. I would like to go over the financial summary where we stand as of June 30th 2025. If I could direct your attention to the
lefth hand column we took under revenues this year tax levy 18,76541 tuition revenue 8,107047 miscellaneous revenue 405128 federal aid 28,270
state aid 11,2798 total revenue 38,585384 We expended in the same period 37 million851989 resulting in a gain in operations of 73395. We started here with a fund balance of 4,467185.
We are ending with a fund balance of 5,200,580. That number is further defined right below what makes it up. Excuse me. Reserve for incumbrances 924,000. Capital reserve designated for next
year's budget 376620. That's the amount of reserve that was put in the 2526 budget. And we have left over 989476. Maintenance reserve designated for subsequent year's budget 150,000. Again, that was put in 2526 budget. And the
amount left over in maintenance is only 52 unemployment compensation 895811 excess surplus 156 521 that's the amount that must be put in
the 2627 budget designated for subsequent year's budget 805321 that's the amount that was put in the 2526 budget and we have unassigned at 849628 which is the maximum
the state lets us put in for our unassigned surplus and that totals to 5,2580. Uh comparison of budget to actual this year that was below our total budget was 39 million39519.
We expended between expenditures and open orders incumbrances 38,776 385. Uh we spent 99.3 uh 99.33% of our budget which is extremely high.
No one could accuse us of patting our budget. We spent everything that was in the budget basically. Any questions on the financials? >> I think we need to enter a committee of the whole to have a discussion about it. Right.
>> Do we need to enter a committee of the whole to have a discussion about this? Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Invero. >> Yes. >> So, uh to clarify a couple things. One is that the excess surplus, so the 156,000
that is the amount of um surplus that we have to roll over basically to next year's budget, right? That's a two-year delay. >> That's correct. >> And um and looking at this, you know, I think that um some clarity, I guess,
about what you look for in in your audit. Um, one of the things I think the community is has been concerned about is whether or not the the school district has been um doing a proper job of uh
controlling its financials um maintaining its financials uh uh operating efficiently. I don't know if if you through your audit are able to I think say anything about the financial controls and systems and um uh I guess
the the proper operation of the of the financial part of the district. >> Uh yeah well uh we found in reviewing the board office records the records were actually in excellent condition. I mean the board office this board office has always done a good job with their
financials. Um like all school districts we experienced increasing costs. You know, that's that's what's happening. We had a budget and the normal increases in salaries,
special ed tuition, transportation, that's every place. I'm having that problem. Benefits, they're all going up. Okay. >> Sorry about all right. Thank you. Uh just to reiterate what I said um the normal cost
like every school districts have most of my I do a lot of school districts and most of them the same issues most places it's special ed tuition that's going up of course you have increases and we have a lot of salaries you know and benefits benefits have been going through the roof transportation
costs have also been going up so it's that type of thing so we did not identify any problems really with how the money's being spent I thank you. Yeah, I you know that's one of the things that I think it's we've definitely heard a lot of which is that
uh from different school districts is is exactly what you said which is that special ed costs are going up, sorry costs are going up, benefits costs are going up, transportation costs are going up and so >> I think it hopefully it's reassuring to the kinds of community that as you said the school district's financials have always been in good shape and and that
there were no findings in your report. So yes, >> thank you very much. Just to comment further to Mr. Chu's question, if you look at the last page of the synopsis of the annual comprehensive financial report, you can
see where the audit findings would be and you can see there are none. Just so you can see that directly from >> So I have a question um for the findings and that there were none. Um it would examples of findings be mismanaged funds
or just better ways to spend money. So that's I guess was my question. You know, just continually like as an audit, you're just you're checking to make sure that every law is followed, every rule is followed. Is your role to also suggest recommendations on how to better
use the funds or just to make sure that what we're spending falls in line with, you know, laws and regulations >> seem more in line with that they spend it properly. We don't recommend value uh judgments how they should spend the money. That's not our job.
Okay. All right. Well, thank you very much. >> Thank you for presenting. We appreciate all your information. Okay. Next up, uh we have our uh elementary principles coming up to present to us.
I can't Hi everybody. I am Jen Floyd. I am Collingswood's preschool principal. Say that three times fast. Um and with a few of my elementary colleagues, we are here to highlight a few of the new initiatives um items to celebrate within
our neck of the woods with the littles. So, as with the rest of the district, we always find ourselves rooted in the mission and vision statement. Um, and following the three core values, student success, equity, and inclusion, and team and family.
So, starting with preschool, where we play, learn, and achieve. Um, as a reminder of the uh or those you do do not know, um we do receive the New Jersey Department of Education's PEA grant funding. um which is basically the state assisting uh districts across the
state um in providing highquality early education um to three and four year olds in the district. Um the district's program is standard aligned. We follow all of the state's guidelines including their approved curriculum of the
creative curriculum. Um and it's also uh last year was our first full year using that. Um, we're also excited to share that we are beginning a pilot with um, creative curriculum's kickstart literacy um, enhancement that will focus on promoting early literacy skills um,
beyond what we're currently doing. So, we are looking forward to learning with the kiddos on how that enhancement works. Um, new to this, uh, school year, we have three of our five coaches. So, we have a lot of um, new staff members across the board. Like I said, three of
the coaches are brand new, including some social workers. Um, we also have new classroom teachers and instructional assistants throughout the program, throughout all of our buildings that we appreciate um and love to work with every day. Uh, Pete the Panther on the lefth hand side is the high school
Panther's younger brother who has been anxiously awaiting to enter the lottery um and accept a seat into the program this year. So, he is new to our program. And of course, um, most importantly, our over 110 little learners, um, the kiddos
who we, um, have the privilege of supporting every day. Um, lastly, for preschool, we went to celebrate our grand opening of Kaza at Parkview, which happened on January 14th with a ribbon cutting with Dr. McDow and a few a few little pairs of scissors, as
you can see in the picture. Um, this marks our fifth preschool location in the district which opened its doors on November 10th officially. Um, it also has to be celebrated based on the fact that it allowed any Collingswood resident with a three or a four-year-old
who expressed interest in the program a seat this year. So, not only is it providing education for all the kiddos who are interested in joining us, uh, but it cleared the wait list and it made a lot of men a lot of families happy. Um it definitely is a step in the direction
of uh supporting our preschool universe for years to come as well. So after that preschool's Mark Wiltsy from Garfields. >> All right. Good evening. I'm Mark Wiltie from Garfield Elementary and I'm going to talk about the the ELA pilot programs
that the district is currently taking a look at as we move away from uh balance literacy and into science of reading programs. The district is currently piloting into reading and benchmark advance. Uh I wanted to talk about these two slides uh because at Garfield we are
actually piloting in four of our six classrooms. So in KM1 we're currently piloting into reading and in three and four we are piloting uh benchmark advance. The other unique perspective that we have at Garfield is that our um
we are splitting fourth and fifth grade between math and ELA. So our fourth grade teacher, Miss Samantha Nash, is piloting in fourth grade literacy, but when the fifth graders come, she's still using the benchmark advance. So it's been interesting for me to experience
that. So I thought it would be good to speak on that today. So as you're reading through inter reading again even though these pilot programs are taking place across all five buildings and across grade levels in our K&1 classrooms specifically uh into reading
we're seeing the foundational skills are definitely being reinforced. It's very nice to have um a curriculum that is not only crosscontent in nature but we are also seeing a a level of rigor that we haven't seen pre previously. Um so
that's been a great experience as our teachers have gone through it. Uh these are the rigor indicators that come from the text but I think it's important important to point out the the grade level text when we read them. They are whole group in nature and that allows for us to then differentiate after the
whole group text takes place. Um, so there is a strong alignment to the science of reading program and lots of research on early literacy, phonics skills, foundational skills that we want our students to experience each and every day. And obviously both our KM1
teacher are loving the program and loving the pilot. For benchmark advance, same thing. Uh, what I will speak to for benchmark advance is not only are the texts complex, uh, I'll give you an example. Today I was helping out in third grade.
uh they were doing some writing about King Midas, but originally the passage was from Longfellow. Um so it was really rigorous. So we decided to pivot to King Midas and it was still a complex text. But as I was helping them um work on their writing
and you know, believe it or not, in third grade talking about using quotation marks and using evidence, text evidence, it was it was a wonderful experience. But when talking with Miss Lively, the thing that she likes the most is the fact that you have a whole group text that you start with to close read and then you break it down from
there. So, and and in addition in fourth grade, I go into the fourth grade classroom with Miss Nash and as she's reviewing the content with her fourth graders, she has the program and again they also had a passage which I think was from it might not have been Longfellow but I want to say it was from around 1917 and they really really
struggled. But the conversations we've been having is what if we had these programs from kindergarten on? By the time you get to third and fourth grade, maybe it's not so rigorous because they've experienced all this. But for our students right now, they're like, whoa, you know. So, um, but yeah, so
that we have definitely seen an increase in rigor and I am just starting to go through the data as we are looking at our dibble scores and I can tell you that in third and fourth grade we saw an extreme leap. Um, so I did not take uh too close pay too close attention to
fifth yet, but we saw a really high jump in our beginning of the year and middle of the year dibble scores in both third and fourth grade. Okay. And I also supervise the elementary wellness team. This is the second year I've been doing that. So our elementary wellness team is made up of Diane Duket, Kristen Pla, and
Katie Schuman. Um and then we have interns that are uh from various universities that come and help support the social emotional learning of our students. Each year we've sort of reflected and adjusted to what we've done. Um some new things that we've introduced this year is a caregiver
connect where parents can join and we give resources and support um to any families that need it. There's also a teacher toolbox session that takes place for teachers to join and they provide activities in addition to supporting the character strong program and also making
it a point to be there for our students. I think sometimes we may think that their role is to help a student who might be upset but it's much more than that. They might be having behavioral challenges, things that are going on at home, even something as severe as suicide ideiation. So they have been there for those students. They are there
to help support us. So, our wellness team has been an invaluable resource for us. Um, and you know, the work that they're doing continues to evolve. I'm sorry that slides um a little, it's hard to see, but they do a lot. So, I wanted to make sure it was up there and you could see it. I am now going to turn it
over to the Sharp Shark superstar, Miss Camila Henson. >> Good evening everyone. I am Camila Hansen, principal at uh Sharp Elementary School and I'm going to um discuss our elementary support teachers. Um
we also refer to the elementary support teachers as our ESTs uh in district. They are an essential part of the team approach for educating our students. Um as we have listed here, our district-wide goals. Um the ESTs address
missing foundational skills. They also build student confidence which is so very important uh when our students are learning their literacy and math skills. And overall um they help students progress in academic achievement by providing intensive and intentional
support. That word intentional is so important um for our EST uh teachers. um highlights. We have many of our teachers throughout the district who are now trained in um morphology plus um which
is sponsored through Orton Gillingham and the training. Along with the training, there are many materials that come along with the training that can be immediately utilized in interventions um with our students. So, we're very
excited. We have another teacher who will be trained um in the upcoming weeks. And so the morphology plus focuses on vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. And as you know I mentioned um previously immediately um these are options that we
have now for interventions for um our students in the um who are in tier three um or receiving tier three um interventions. However, click on LH support teacher ESTs also provide
target intervention small group or one-on-one instruction. Um the important one of the important pieces that our ESTs um um help with our students is building the strategies so students can utilize those strategies and apply them.
Um of course we want to um improve the academic performance and the genetic setting for these students and A um very important piece is analyzing the student data. So not just really reviewing but actually analyzing
um you know looking at very deeply digging deeply breaking it apart um especially now we're um using our universal screeners to identify needs implement strategies um I know um throughout the district at Sharp today
we're speaking about you know the universal screeners as they're taking place and our um teachers are excited um to be able to see, you know, the growth and also they're excited and looking forward to in the next couple of weeks we'll be having um PD where the teachers are able to collaborate with
the genet um the uh ESTs will collaborate with our general education teachers to look at you know to adapt the curriculum also look at the tier 2 interventions but I love to see that excitement about you know our students and you know the progress that they're making and of course throughout um our
ESTs also monitor so we want to make sure that um the interventions that they're using are effective. You know, rather than just giving them, you know, what maybe someone thinks they need, we want to make sure um they're receiving exactly what they need, monitoring that progress so that we can make sure, you
know, um what they're receiving is appropriate and effective and um helping them. These groups are fluid. You know, we want our students to come in, you know, receive the interventions, whether it's six weeks um interval or whether they need another six weeks. And we also
celebrate when students are moved out of those interventions. Okay. So just last week we had a student who no longer needs the tier three intervention um because he um the student met their goal. So we're able to celebrate you know when that happens as well along
with EST. Also wanted to give you information on the New Jersey inclusion inclusion project. So sharp um we were granted um this project and were able to participate. Um this year we are in
phase one. There are three phases. Um we are working in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Education and also the New Jersey coalition for inclusive education which is now all in. So it's all in for inclusive education is the the newer name. So again phase
one um is exploration right now. So, we're just taking a look at our current state of inclusion. We have her team um at chart. We have um Miss uh Lisa Rimchuk, Miss Dling, Miss McMaster is our school psychologist, Miss Kersio,
Dr. White House, Miss Birdie, and myself were on the team. Just Friday, we attended a um winter inclusion leadership conference in Galloway Township. Um it was great just to work alongside other um members of the NJIP
project um throughout the state of New Jersey. So that was on Friday that we attended. The NJIP offers um not just to sharp but it also offers virtual statewide um meetings for all
administrators to um to join along with teachers. provides PD for teachers and um our related services unique to Sharp. Uh we have our virtual statewide meetings that we participate in monthly
and we also have in-person meetings with our facilitator who is Lauren Baldino. Our next in-person meeting is tomorrow. So upcoming will be a um full staff PD which will be inclusion 101 for um our staff. We also sent out our staff
survey. Um so that's where we are in um our project at this time. The goal is to shift the mindset. So that's our goal for uh this year as we are exploring. We're shifting from um using the word
exposure that we want to expose our special education students. you know, we're shifting that to we want to provide access to the generate curriculum um with the goal of our students of all our students meeting the state standards. They may meet them differently with the appropriate um
supports, but that is one of the shifts that we're, you know, we're um working on now. So, we will continue um throughout this school year for phase one, then phase two, phase three will be in the next uh two years. Um, and again,
the goal is um to have all of our students uh benefit from um inclusion. So, not just our special education kids, but as at the end of that second paragraph, um it's where students with and without disabilities uh learn,
contribute, and belong. So, that is the goal and we are very excited to um be a part of this uh NJIP grant. Uh we also celebrate at Sharp. We love to celebrate. So um we're celebrating when students are even now in our expla exploration phase. We have students who
are going into the genetic setting from some of our special education students for both science and social studies but also now we have another um student who also goes in for his math block. So, you know, um we are looking at that systemic change and um are happy to, you know, to
see the results of um the hard work and dedication of our sharp staff and we're grateful for the opportunity um to have the NJ. So, now I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Matt Jenna. Thank you.
Hi everybody. I'm Matt Jenna. I'm the principal at Zay North. Um just to follow Miss Henson's discussion of inclusion. Um one of the ways that we uh promote and celebrate um and discuss inclusion um each year is our annual
inclusive schools week. Um that takes place in December. Um first just definitely want to thank our CPAG, our special um education parent advisory group. Um each year they show great leadership and uh collaboration with us on this uh on this week on the
celebration week. Um they put together for us a guiding document um for the for the week that has themes that we um can discuss with the students and activities. Uh so for instance some of the themes this year were intro to
disability inclusion um exploring our differences fostering friendships, expanding empathy and taking action for inclusion. So each day of the week was a different theme. Uh the CPAC puts together some recommended resources uh books, videos, um activities, discussion
questions that the teachers can then um do with the students in in their classrooms. Um and um it's a great week of learning for everybody. Um pictured here are just some scenes just as an example of some some things from inclusive schools uh week at Zay North
this year. Um our CPAG helps us put together a display um at the front of the building each year and it features a lot of the the books um and read alouds that we'll be doing with the students throughout the week uh to talk about um these topics. Um this year was was awesome with um at
Zay we had a ton of parents come through and do um some readalouds in our classrooms. So that was a really nice way we're very grateful for our parents to come out. Um really nice way to incorporate them in the discussions and the learning um have them um be in our classrooms talking about these topics
with the kids and the teachers. So that was fantastic. Um you can see on the bottom there uh we try to get the kids together in different classrooms, kids of different ages all learning together. Um we have some of our special education teachers going into different classrooms to talk about um different ways that um
you know disabilities and also different ways that individuals learn. And so um the kids um you know that don't have those teachers dayto day get get to learn from different teachers that week as well. Um, and a really another nice feature of the week each year is that
um, but at the end of the week we put together a schoolwide activity and it's it's a little bit different um, every every year. And in the upper right hand corner there is just an example. Um, Miss Bigs from our um, CST at Zay uh,
brought the idea of um, we called it take a walk in my shoes activity. So the idea was each individual student, each individual learner got to design their own shoe as a representation of themselves as a learner, but then we kind of put that all together in one collage to talk about how uh although we
are all individuals, we all have to support each other and our differences and learning and be part of one school community. Just sort of sending that message that we're even though we're individuals and we learn may learn differently and have different um abilities. um it's very important to
include each other and support each other in our learning as one school community. So, a nice way to kind of convey that message. Um and you know, as Miss Cinson mentioned, um inclusion is a big uh discussion point for us. We're always looking for
ways to I think we're doing a lot of things well, but they're always looking for ways to do it better and to do more of it. And so, uh it's not as if we just do inclusive schools week for one week in December and then we move on. It's something that we want to have an ongoing discussion about, but this is really a nice week to kind of highlight and celebrate some of the things we're
doing and have really good discussions about what, you know, different things we could do, you know, more more in in the realm of inclusion. Um, next I'm going to kind of transition into discussion of some of the exciting things that we have going on in our
elementary math uh program. Um there's a lot of things we could highlight, but we chose to kind of highlight two um exciting tools that we have at our disposal. Um one is new to us this year. Um I believe they were using it secondary, but now we're using elementary as well. The MAP growth
assessment. Um you can see the description there. It's a it's a computer adaptive assessment that personalizes questions to a student's ability. Uh measuring their skills in various areas. Um, and it's not for a grade, but it's to show their growth.
Um, it uses a a scale uh called the RIT score. Um, which helps teachers tailor instruction for each learner. So, basically, it's an adaptive assessment, which means when the kids jump on, if they're if they start the test and they're getting the questions right, it makes it harder and harder to the point
where it meets them where their level is. Or if they jump on the test and they're they're not getting those initial questions right, it levels it out for them. So by the end of the assessment um you know not a group of 20 kids are not going to get all the same questions. So by the end of the assessment you really get a good feel
for how each individual learner is doing. Um and that provides some really excellent data for our um teachers as we're um looking at student growth throughout the year. The students are taking the test beginning of the year, middle of year, which is happening right
now. We're in that window and then end of year. So we can really look at their growth throughout the year. And uh again, it's the first year we're using it at the elementary level, but we're excited about it because it does provide some really um important and meaningful data and allows us to celebrate. Um we're seeing a lot of tremendous student
growth, so we can um get excited about what they're doing throughout the course of the year as far as their growth. Um I'm going to show some of the sample reports on that in a minute, but I also wanted to talk about uh Reflex Math is another thing that is pretty popular with the kids. Um it's a it's a
game-based online program um really geared toward students in grades two plus um and the focus is really achieving automaticity with their math facts. So there are basic basic facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication
and division. Um you know personalizes it for them the practice for them. Um certainly one thing that we noticed um the stronger the kids are with those facts, the more automatic they can reel them off um in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, the stronger
their foundation is. So as they start to tackle more complex math problems, multi-step problems, if they can automatically give you those first steps, those uh initial calculations or those initial facts, um they have much more confidence to tackle more complex problems as they go. So making sure that
they have that strong foundation with those facts is very critical. Um it's something that we talk about a lot and are going to continue to talk about how we can make sure that the kids are getting that um that strong foundation and reflex math is a nice way um a nice
tool that we've been using for that. Um for going back to map growth for a second um one of the really nice features of that provides all kinds of different reports that we can look at on different levels. So in the upper lefthand corner there's a school
profile. So I can sign on right now and see how our school overall is doing um performance-wise you know K to five. To the right there we can also look at a class profile. If we want to look at how is specifically second grade doing, we can pull them up and look at how that
group is doing, how those kids are doing. You can drill down to the student level, each individual student, how are they specifically doing? And you have various reports around that. And then to engage our families, we also have family reports which come in nicely at times
such as report card conferences when we're discussing progress and growth with with with the uh with our families. there's a nice report that goes along with that that can help them to understand um how how their child is doing and how they're growing. Um so
we're we're just kind of um at the tip of the iceberg with delving into these reports have multi- features and really good information um that we can look at things from a number of different levels. Here's one example. Um this is a class
profile report. So this was a uh a sample class um in the district of 22 students. Um one really nice feature of this report is it breaks it down. So it's not just you know for third grade math, it breaks it down into different instructional areas that were assessed
on that test. So for example, questions pertaining to geometry or measurement and data literacy, number and operations, operations in algebraic thinking. Um and kind of shows you how the kids did in all of those things. Um
so just as an example, this class really shows some pretty strong work in numbers and operations and operations and algebraic thinking. Um there's a lot of blue and green there, which is the upper percentile achievement. Um but as a teacher is looking forward and planning
things, the teacher might notice that in the areas that of u measurement and data literacy, for example, they weren't as strong. So is there a planning instruction going forward? that's that's an area on their mind that they really might have to provide some extra support, some extra work, some extra
activities to help them uh boost their achievement in that area to get them up to the levels that they're doing in other kinds of strands of of content. So, it really helps for um to really drill down how specifically they're
doing in different uh kinds of math. Um, switching over to reflex math. Again, the one that um where we're looking at fact fluency. Again, a lot of nice reports that uh administrators, teachers, everybody can use to look at. Um, this is a group fluency report. So,
it it can give the teachers a sense of overall how is your class doing with their fluency. You can see this report gives a starting fluency and then when you pull it up, it'll give you where they are currently. So you can see get a feel for as a group how have they grown.
Um and then you can drill down to the individual level. All right. So this is a sample student in the district. Um you can see that this student has really shown some nice growth in um in their fluency throughout the course of the year. And it's kind of hard to see at
the bottom there, but it it will tell you how frequently the student is using it, how many days a week, how much time per day. And that's something you can kind of sit with a student or with a parent and say, "Look, you know, um you spent this much time and look at how much you're you're growing." So, it's
really kind of a nice way to celebrate um uh show kids that the hard work that they're putting in is paying off and it's helping them helping them to grow. Um so, that's a nice report that can kind of really demonstrate that. Um so just want to also um again we're
very excited about these tools but want to give a shout out to our teachers and our instructional assistants and our staff. Um the data doesn't really you know they are the ones dayto day driving the work with the kids and doing an amazing job. Yes, we have this great data but it's the teachers and the kids
that are really doing doing the the work each day um to um show this fantastic growth. So we're excited to be able to use these tools with them. But definitely wanted to shout out um the effort of the teachers and the kids um who are really doing a great job working hard and again the middle of year
results are coming in right now. We're excited about the growth. Still more work to do until till the end of the year but um good things are happening and we're we're uh excited to keep keep it going forward um in the math realm. This time I'm going to hand it over to
Mr. Smith from Mark Nubbie. All right. I am Stephen Smith from Mark Noobie Elementary School. Um, I tend to be long-winded and a little bit obnoxious with some of my presentations. So, I'm going to keep it kind of short and pointed tonight with only two slides. So, I am focusing tonight on our
chronic absenteeism and what we're doing as far as the elementary world to combat chronic absenteeism. Um, every missed day is a missed opportunity with our students to explore learning and help their growth. Um, chronic absenteeism has long-term impacts on academic
performance, mental health, and graduation rates. So, as you can see up there, there are three points. Um, there is a law that students aged 6 to 16 must attend school. Um, when we look at students and their attendance, they are considered chronically absent if they are missing 10% or more of the school
days that they are within session. We of course do not want to get anywhere near that, but we want to make sure that we stay under that. We understand families take vacations and kids get sick. those things happen. But we want to make sure that if kids are healthy and everything is working well that we have the students in school so that we can work
with them directly. Schools however also have um what's considered a school chronic absenteeism rate which is where we look at the proportion of the students in the school and what percent of those students are chronically absent to determine if that school is in need of corrective action plan and if so what
are the next steps that we would do to help support the families um coming to school so we can support their learners. So, some of the things that we do, as you can see here, we've tapped into an online resource called attendance works. There's a lot of resources that are out
there and we just like Garfield has put up there, they promote attendance through putting those out in their their newsletters to families so that they can see the importance of school and you know all the benefits of having the students in school when they are healthy and able to attend. We recognize students with them coming down for
assemblies. We present all kinds of uh certificates and such. We have a fun one at Sharp. It's called the Super Shark Attention Certificate. Um, so we have a little bit of fun with that at Mark Newbie. Our spin on it is we have the newbie fire helmet which is there which stands for our friendship, integrity,
responsibility, and excellence. Um, each month we have an assembly and one of the pieces of the assembly is we focus on attendance. The class that has the best attendance for students coming to school and not being late uh gets to display the newbie fire helmet outside their classroom. So, it is currently and proudly hanging outside of our believe
it's second grade currently. Um, each month we go through it. It might stay there. It might shift. Um, but we definitely want to celebrate the kids and their successes for being timely and at school. If we do need extra support, we do have our amazing family liaison that any of our schools can tap into.
Uh, Miss Maline Deetsz is phenomenal about supporting students and their families if there is another need as far as transportation and trying to help out with organizing those things so that the families that are in need um feel as though that they can talk to someone if they don't want to talk to someone at school, they do have that liaison that
they can reach out to as well. I'm going to pass it off now to Mr. Kak. >> Hey guys, just 17 more slides for me. So, just hang in there, take your time. Um, first of all, Chris, great to see you over there, man. I'm really not surprised that you're in that seat. Um, I'm proud of you. I think it's great
that you're there. So, congratulations on that. Uh, so I'm Brian Kulc. I'm the principal at Tatum. And I'll close tonight with the importance of positive school culture across our buildings. Um, we've heard a lot tonight about the things that scatter scatter plots and
data points can tell you about our kids. This is everything else that's really hard to see unless you're in our buildings or you hear from us directly. If I were to ask my colleagues behind me what our number one job is, they would all say to keep our kids safe. Thank you all five for saying nothing. So, we're going to keep our
kids safe. That's our number one job. And keeping kids safe means keeping them emotionally safe. And that's where school culture is so important. So, all five of us operate a little bit differently. But, as you'll see in just a few slides that I have, uh, acronyms abound, but each of us celebrates our
kids and our staff every day in as many ways as possible. Hard to see in the top left there, but that's the weekly staff shout out um that is put on by the EWT that Mark talked about, the one of the most invaluable resources in our district. Every Friday uh morning in our inbox, we get a request to shout out
anybody in the district for any reason at any time. It's the best way to end our week because then at 2 o'clock or 3:00 um they put out the list. Your name is in bold and the shout out is there. So whether you see your name or not um it's such a great way to end our week to see who's been shouted out and why. Mr.
Jen and I actually won the random raffle uh last couple weeks. Uh I got a um emotional therapy woven tiger which is now in my office because we're the Tigers. Um so I think that's a really important thing for school culture and that is across the district. Uh the bottom there is us. That is our new ROAR
initiative, respect, ownership, achievement, responsibility. We give out laminated paws to our kids for demonstrating those four. Um, we have a uh monthly roar rally at which we honor our students of the month. You see there, our staff members of the month. I
recruited Grace Davenport and Daniel Mandaya from the high school to be our Tiger. Don't tell anybody because the Tatum Tigers think they know who it is. They do not. That'll be the big reveal of promotion. Um, this is all new to Tatum and the the impact it's had on our culture, not just for the kids, but for
the staff has been astounding and I owe that to my staff for suggesting that we do some more celebratory stuff across the district. Zane Star is another acronym there that you can see. Um, another great picture. I know Matt does a great job of celebrating kids all the time. And whether it's an acronym or not, it doesn't matter because remember,
school culture has a lot more to do with the unseen than what you see here. Um the sharks uh we heard from earlier and um Miss Hinsson, they are celebrated for their character, tenants, and their teachers pride. That middle one, I need to steal that. That is so cool, Camila. I've seen though all over town. If you
see on the sharp catchment, there'll be signs on the lawn for kids who have been shouted out by their teacher. Just imagine what that does for a kid and that kid's parents. So big kudos to Sharp for that. Garfield's buddies team up for good causes. Mr. Wily is the
master among us five for anything philanthropic. He will find ways to give back to the community and involve his kids and I was fortunate enough to help him um this winter with the fire uh police and EMT team and I was also joined by his whole family. So in Mark's
world the uh culture is a family affair. He also gives awesome sauce awesome sauce awards um to deserving students and at newbie Mr. Smith talked about fire, friendship, integrity, responsibility, and excellence. And again, it doesn't matter what the acronym is, what it stands for, how we
celebrate it. The fact is we need to celebrate our kids all the time. Once they feel emotionally safe, they are ready to learn. And that goes for our staff as well. I'll say this, I say it all the time. Whenever I see a meme or a tweet or anything online, specific to what we should be doing for kids and how to make them grow, learn, and feel safe,
I say, "Why are we not doing that for the adults, too?" Because they're just kids grown up. So, that's another role for us. as your elementary team to make sure that our staff is loved and supported because our goal is to send the best possible versions of our kids to this campus to make their job easier
and our district better. Thank you. Thank you all so much for presenting. Can we give a round another round of applause for all of our elementary school principles? That was very informative. Um, and it's really nice to know what's happening in all of the buildings because we don't get that piece of it all the time. So,
thank you for taking time out of your night to come here and present to us. It means a lot. Um, and a special shout out to the preschool program. I had an opportunity to go there for the um prek opening at uh Park View and you guys did a great job. You're very welcoming and had lots of uh the kids were really
great. The whole thing was phenomenal. So, thank you. Um, does anybody have any questions about any of the presentations that we just heard? I I had one if that's okay. Um so, uh first of all, thank you so much everyone. That that was very fun. Um you
know, I think as some of us as elementary parents have seen some of this stuff firsthand, which is really great, but it's so great to see what's going on in the schools. I apologize for my back being to you. Um I had a question for Miss Sensson actually. Um Miss Sensen, would you be able to go into a little bit more detail? Um you were talking about the the NJIP
conference that you went to. That was really interesting. Um, can can you just give us a little bit more um uh I I guess details about uh you talked about how um that's going to enable students to have more access to uh gened and inclusion opportunities. Would that
require um you know like how does that work? Would that require modifications to IEPs? Does it go like a student by student basis? Does the conference walk you through that process? I was just curious. >> Do you need a microphone or >> I am sorry about that.
So the conference that we attended on Friday um afternoon with the team um was more of uh I guess professional development for the team where we could hear from other uh presenters on you know what's new um in the world of
inclusion. So that was the conference you know that we attended on Friday. So as far as the actual NJIP grant um yes so before any changes are made of course we have to you know work alongside with parents to um make any um
changes or addendums to the IEPs. But even before that, we are analyzing the data for our special education students uh using the universal screeners um and also looking at their IEP um looking at the progress uh
looking at how they're meeting their their IEP goals currently to determine if they are ready for the next step. And so we'll meet with the team and then from there we're able to, you know, make the decision with the parents involved. the parents are involved in you know
every step of the way before any changes are made. So that is um what will happen as we move forward and the facilitator with the NJIP is there to help us kind of um to work through those various steps. So again right now we're in
exploration where um and I would say we're maybe a little step ahead because we are actually um able to make some changes you know u with the parent um to the IEP to have students you know included more now, but going forward,
the facilitator, Miss Lauren Baldino, is there to help us as we go into the next phase, which the middle school is in phase two, where it's more of the partial implementation. Um, so that's what we're working towards. So, it's going to help she's
helping us, you know, to navigate um the system change. Hope that answers your question. >> You did. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> Um, actually, Miss Henson, can you come? Thanks. Um, sorry. Thank you. This is great update. Um, I really appreciate
spending the time around the mindset shift. That framing is really helpful. And, um, at what point are you gathering feedback from families in Sharp and Beyond? >> And beyond. So, that's next. So, right
now we are with our staff. So, um Lauren Baldino, she um put together the staff survey that went out to the staff to um it was completed. So, tomorrow what we'll do is work together to look at the survey um just to see where our staff is and then
from there um we'll go beyond to our families and the community and so forth. So, that's where we are. I know that I talked to my uh staff at I talked to them at one of our staff meetings just to let them know like I my mindset had to shift like I'm obviously very
inclusive you know but when I was um teaching my EL students I would always say okay well it's great that our students are exposed you know to the to English and so now I would find myself saying that for many of our special education students like okay the
exposure we want them exposed to the general education, you know, uh, setting. But now the shift is no, we want our students to, um, be exposed, not exposed, but we want them to have access to, uh, general education
curriculum and therefore we're still want our students to be able to meet the standards, you know, as opposed to exposure. So, it's helping me too that, you know, the the shift mindset. So, it's been it's been great for me and the staff and we're excited. The team it's a
great team. They're very excited to do this work. Any other questions for me before I exit? >> Thank you. >> Can I ask one general question? Is there any way parents can get in on the
shoutouts. I said it. I'd like to send some shout outs. Like if there's a way, let us um jump in the shout out game because I'm here for it. >> Sorry, that's my comment question. >> Um I not exactly sure how to answer. But
I will tell you, >> I'll just throw it out there. Like >> every Wednesday I do meet with EWT and there's a way that we could probably do a school-based and I can add it to our agenda for sure. Yeah, I think it's a great idea. >> That's a phenomenal idea. Uh, anybody
else have any questions? No. So, thank you again for coming and, you know, just a huge shout out to all the staff and all of our buildings that are working really hard to implement these things every single day. So, we appreciate everything that you all do. All right, we're going to move on to
section four, which is future dates and miscellaneous information. Um, just take a look at those dates and add some things to your calendar if you're interested. Um, I was just looking at the Garfield Science Fair. Is that open to the public or is that just Garfield
kids field science fair? Is that open to the public or is that just for Garfield? >> The Garfield Science Fair. Sorry. >> No, the the the the Garfield Science Fair. Is that open to everybody or is
that just for Garfield? It's on the It's on the calendar. >> Pearl. That's true. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. I love that idea. That's cool. Yeah. I haven't seen a science science fair in a long time.
>> Okay. So, uh in any event, add some of those things to your calendar if you're interested or you can attend. And um can't believe it's already our hundth day of school coming up. And then we'll move on to section five, which is routine business.
Um, approval of the minutes. Make a motion to approve the minutes of December 22nd, 2025 regular board meeting, January 5th, 2026 reorganization meeting, and the January 2026 continuation of the organization reorganization meeting. Can I have a motion? So move
>> and a second. Is that all in favor? All in favor? >> I I Okay. Section six. We have uh one of our student board member reps here. So, we're going to have Mr. Christopher Schmasky present to us today.
>> Uh good evening everyone. Um I'm alone tonight. So, uh one solid voice for a very long new year report. Um so this one uh we do have a lot of information that we gathered. Um a lot of different
meetings that have happened in school. Um the survey as usual um winter break and everything. So I'll start with uh the survey that we sent out. It was just a general um how are
students doing after break? Um a lot of sleeping in the return was like a polar plunge. Um for me especially just right back into it full swing. No, no relaxation the moment you get back. It's not like, "All right, let's let's start slow. No, just straight into
assignments." Um, uh, students really enjoy the reindeer games, um, on the last day of school before break. Um, it's always a really super good thing that happens with everyone. Um, it's a lot of good participation. Um, a lot of good school
spirit and just a good way to like attend out the year. Um, for the students who actually uh participated in it. They had a lot of fun. Um and the students who didn't said they wish they did and they hope there's more events next year for them to participate in. Um the only sad part
about it all is uh no one had their phones to take pictures of the doughut eating competition. Um that's that's the one thing that come comes up with our phone policy is some missing out of memories. Um because usually we get a good video of everyone trying to swallow two whole powdered
donuts in one shot. But uh yeah, overall it was uh it was a good event. Um and everything was good uh good before break. Um some of the things the students would like to share. Um this was I pulled straight from general student responses just things they want
to know. Um they would like to know more about the unification soon. Um some students have reported issues with um how um situations with bullying is dealt with um that it takes too long, it gets
brushed off, gets ignored. Um, I personally have a friend who has a situation that is being um, ignored and not handled in a way that he thought was fair. Um, in terms of tech, students like would like to be able to access
personal emails on school computers if possible, especially for seniors. Um, seniors going into college, seniors looking at college admission emails, um, emails to their college, they need their personal email. they can't carry this school email for forever. Um,
students would like to see um proper teaching of how to use technology um AI, Sheets, calculator um just all things that students should know how to do in terms of technology as it's becoming more and more involved in everyday life.
Um some students um in terms of coming to school in the morning get turned away at 7:59. Um, some students wonder why the staff would rather close the door on them than encourage them to be on time and get in. Um, obviously the students are showing effort to be on time. I have
watched it a few times um um on mornings where I have a field trip and sitting in there watching students run to the door and the door gets closed. Um it you know I understand they are late at that point but for students who are really trying to get there maybe a little leeway. Um
one student mentioned that the code of conducts online is outdated. Um I'm not sure I have not personally looked at that. Um but I have heard things that it's not always up to date and that it doesn't
currently reflect some of the rules that we have in school. Um some students want to see reviews of the yonder policy for next year. um you know this um I'm gonna ignore that one because it's no longer
possible. um from so from a ninth grader who uh wished his name to be used uh Julian Benetti. He asked in regards to a phone ban um in terms of students paying attention in class
um in terms of students paying attention in class and focusing and being present all day. He was wondering what life was like before phones. Um He was saying, you know, obviously our phone policy is in place to rain kids in
um make them pay attention. And he was he said, um in his words, was everyone in their seat 100% of the time? Was everyone obeying 100% of rules all the time? Um and he he assumed probably not. Um he said, you know, not everyone always
wishes to follow the rules. Not everyone always wishes to stay in their seats and learn. Um he said that you know and and um I have said this before in meetings uh with Mr. Whan that um it should be realized that
students who are rule breakers and wish to not focus and pay attention usually choose to do that for as long as they can and will find ways around rules. Um, and I don't know this student personally, but I'm assuming that um, he
might be a student who follows the rules and puts his phone in the pouch. And for students who follow that, day-to-day life gets more steps for them. A little harder, a little less freedom for them. And for those who break the rules, not much changes for them. They always find
a way to break the rules. And u, you know, this is this is a a thing of society and I guess a thing of school that will always be rule breakers. Um, but he just he asked me to use his name in the in the response, so I thought I
would uh put his name out there. Um, students do. So, one other thing, um, students sometimes do not feel that, um, the meetings that we have with administration really go anywhere. Um,
some students do not feel heard or recognized in these, you know, meetings with students. Um meetings like the unification meeting that we had uh two weeks ago um meetings that we've had throughout um
throughout like my time here. I remember meetings in 8th grade and meetings through freshman year with administration asking us for our feedback. And not always do we see any results and sometimes to students that feels um unheard or unrecognized. Um
that was a response from a student who who wanted to say that um sometimes it it it doesn't they don't feel as recognized with those meetings. So that was everything I have from the forums. Um one other thing I wanted to report on
was um last Tuesday the 20th um there was a student organized walk out in protest of the ICE raids across the country and specifically in Minneapolis. Um com. So I talked with two of the teachers who I saw were out there. Um
and they said they had nothing to do with it. It was 100% student organized. Um student Hazel Collins. Um I was unable to speak with her before the meeting to gather information from her, but I did see her out there. she was using her
voice very loudly, um exercising her first amendment right um very well and in a very orderly fashion and respectful fashion. Um the two teachers who were out there um uh Miss Tenure and Mr. Fieldman. Uh Miss
Tenure, I did get a statement from her. Um she said um as a teacher of American literature and teaching the ideas of American civil disobedience um she encourages students to think for themselves and she provides a safe space for all students to think in all ways
that they to to decide their own thought process to decide their own beliefs. Um and then she provides a safe space for them to express it and um provides the materials
for them to express it in a safe manner. So as the students went on their walk out um they did accept the consequences if there were any of cutting class because they did walk out at the last two periods of the day to have their
walk out and their protest. Um it was cleared by Mr. Newman, but he did say that um if teachers cut write you up for cutting class, that is the punishment that you must accept and that was understood by all the students and understood by the teachers. Um
the point of of reporting on this was just to show that um the students had a very, you know, powerful and studentled walk out. Um that they're fighting for their beliefs um and that they were willing to follow,
you know, their first amendment rights and express those. Um, and I think that's pretty much everything that I have. Um, of course I don't have Kenny and Naim with me tonight to talk on sports, um, or Naim to talk on what he does with the student
voice committee. Um, I do have a little more to talk about with the unification meetings. Um, however, I did invite a student here tonight, Julian Cardi, who's in the audience who will speak during uh the public comment about um how the unification meeting went. I
figured um I might as well get some other views on the people who attended. We had about 20 to 25 uh attendees across our lunch and flex periods. Um and it was overall just a little confusing. We didn't get a ton of
information. Um we thought we were going to get a more than we got. And as a student body and a student representative, um when we don't know and we're told something's happening, rumors spread really really fast. So um we actually
had a meeting with Mr. Newman last Friday and um it it caused a lot of uh questions for Mr. Newman and he was uh like bered with questions and he doesn't know all the answers either. So, um, just for the students, um, knowing
what's going on is definitely going to help, uh, calm down the rumors that are spreading. Students don't know what they're going to see next year. Um, as someone who's more involved with administration and hearing things, I understand that it's not going to be what everyone's saying, but to calm down
the students is definitely important, and to let them know that all their fears are not going to come true would be uh, very good for the students to hear. So, I'll have uh, Julian speak on that later. Uh, but that's everything I have for tonight. >> Thank you so much, Chris. Great job.
Thanks, Sarah. Um, okay. So, um, >> Kelly, can I one just one question, do you think students are aware that the law passed that cell phones will be banned next year? I just curious if that's coming up at all with how we go beyond.
>> So, I did um include that in the report as one of the questions. um is how do the students feel now that that has been officially passed by our governor of New Jersey that it is a state ban now? Um and there was a statement that I wrote out um it is a little long, but it was
all of the students um they're not happy about it. Um and for more reasons than just I can't play video games on my phone, I can't text my parents. Um there is obviously um things that are get more difficult at the end of the day. How do you schedule
a ride home? You have to do a lot more planning in advance. Um but aside from that, a lot of students um did bring up the idea of safety um is they feel less safe without their phone. um in a
country where school violence is is very prominent and it happens weekly, monthly, um many many times a year. It's worrying for the students. Um I
gave them a scale of how they feel. Um they feel unsafe. Um they feel that it's unfair, they're angry, they're upset, they feel it's unjust. um and not just in Collinswood, for the whole state. Now, um in the meeting we had with Mr. Newman, he did say, you know, we are
ahead of the curve. We beat the state mandate out. We've already implemented it. So now where other schools are going to be struggling to implement this, we've already done it, and we're going to be a little smoother in the implementation of it in years to come. Um but regardless of how
uh how we've dealt with it, the student safety concern is still out there. Um, I did want to reference um although New Jersey is pretty safe in terms of um school violence. Um, I did bring up the date and I wanted
to reference this. Um, September 27th, 2019, a gun was pulled at this school. Um, which just, you know, no one was harmed. Um, but it it proves that there can be holes in safety. Guns can enter
the school grounds. Um, how comfortable it is for everyone to talk about that is a safety concern of the students. Um, in my eighth grade year here, um, on the same day as the Texas shooting, um, we had a false alarm pulled at the end of the day. Teachers dove in through
classrooms, barricaded the doors with desks, um, and we weren't allowed out for an hour and a half while cops came in and secured the building and let us out with their guns drawn. So, that is um, it's definitely, you know, like concern
of it's banned in schools. The students know that and um safety is their number one uh concern that they put in the forms to me. Um and I will make sure I share with all of you guys. So,
of course, I really always appreciate this report and um I will um I just would love I know you do a survey, so can I put a plug in for possibly um understanding how students want feedback. I will offer as adults, we
don't always know how our feedback is received in our day-to-day life. So, just better understanding. Is it better to know early? Do you want to know after it's decided? So just really I think let's it would really be great to kind of unpack that or keep having the conversation um around feedback because
I will sit in the space of uh my everyday job that is a constant rinse and repeat. How do you give feedback? How do you balance? How do you bring people along? But it would be great to keep getting that perspective as we're doing this work and trying to communicate often and frequently and also bring out hear the perspectives and
use it. So just keeping that dialogue. >> Um I also think I heard and want to make sure illing that the policy and its impact in actual outcome there seems to be an imbalance in what folks are seeing. And so just I guess we'll you know there's policies we review and
we'll can keep that top of mind as we're doing those reviews. This is just really helpful perspective of the outcome of a policy is that your day-to-day lived experience >> and pre phone you knew what everybody wore. You talked to a lot of people and
you know it was just a little easier but I can appreciate that most kids get a phone because it's about safety, right? Like so that frame is something we can certainly appreciate. >> Mr. Schminsky, thank you again for your your reports. Um, and I think I've said
this before, which is that the reports you do, I think have clearly a lot of work is put into them. uh you know I I think we've heard over the last several months um you know you've consistently you and your your colleagues have consistently put out surveys right and
got responses reported them to us. What's your sense of are they the the same folks responding to the surveys month in and month out? Are you getting a different group of of um classmates every month? Um like what what's the how many folks are are responding and and do
you have an idea of of who's responding? So, um, I get about 100 to 180 responses per form. Um, it's a little less than I would like. Um, I definitely like a little, you know, a much larger portion of the class, but
I send it out as much as I can. I give it to the administrators and they post it on every classroom that every student is a part of. And it is completely optional. It's their choice to do it. So, I mean, I don't force it, but when I see people like, "Hey, what is this?" I'm like, "Answer it right now. Do it." Um,
So I think sometimes I get some new students um but most of the time I'm pretty sure I get the same, you know, body of students, the same ones who are um involved in the school who want to see change, who want to give their feedback, who want to be heard. Um
I did the the first poll I did, I got a um a census of if you were freshman, jun sophomore, junior or senior, and it was about even across the board. was about 30 to 40 from each uh grade level. So, it's it's pretty mixed for all the grade
levels, all the different ages that we see. Um, but I'm pretty sure um the, you know, 100 to 170 responses I get is about the same people every time. Um, and I will be doing more things um in the future. I'm looking to see about
getting some middle school responses in um and to further expand it to all the to more students. >> So that that's actually that's really helpful to understand the month of month like the the group of people who are responding. Do you do you is your sense
that that group that's consistently responding is representative of the the sum body as as a whole? Um, so some of the responses I get are obviously like joke responses. They I don't think every student I actually had two students who
were here um just before the meeting who were asking me about it and they thought those responses went to the teachers. Um, every time it gets posted it does say studentled survey. So a little miscommunication there but um I think you know it is it is pretty
representative of a good mix of each grade as a whole. Um I I don't think it includes everyone because obviously it's it's whoever whichever student decides to answer it. Um and it's wherever student cares enough to answer it. So I feel the responses we see are only the
students who care enough to um have their voices heard or care enough about the school to want to put some feedback into it. >> Thank you. I was just asking because I think that's one of the most difficult parts of of survey administration and analysis is trying to understand the
responses of your sample right in in the whole universe of actual responses. So I appreciate the the detail that you you gave there. >> I I definitely have some students who care a lot more and who actually approach me personally. I'm like this is my response. um if you have any questions about it, ask me right now
because they give me paragraphs. Like sometimes I get students who write full-on essays in the responses and I read the whole thing and I'm like, "All right, I can use like half of this." Um but like definitely students who are a lot more passionate than others. Um and
some who just don't care and just splatter across the keyboard and then submit it. So >> thank you. >> So Chris, thank you for your reports. I feel like I get more information from student reports every month than I probably do from any other, you know, group in, uh, the district. So, thank
you. Um, it's really nice to kind of just see from students points of view. Um, I just wanted to empathize, uh, uh, with the unification meeting with students. Uh, I went to a community event last week and we kind of got the same gist. So I'm hopeful that in
hopefully the soon future that we will actually get some concrete answers and a path and so because there was a lot of rumors I think also and that's what community members brought up that if you don't give out the plan if you don't roll it out if you don't give specifics that people are just going to assume and
that's not the way we want communities to >> to f you know so um >> yeah I think it was it was like for the students you know they heard something was going to happen and they started coming to their own conclusions and it was like wait and then we thought this meeting was going to give us a little more and it wasn't as much as we thought
and then they just kept going with what they thought was going to happen. >> The same thing is happening with adults. So just >> that's what I think I heard from the last meeting. >> Chris, thank you so much for um all of your information. We find your reports to be very helpful and informative and it's good to know you know what's going
on both good and bad in the schools right and there's a lot of good too. Um so we appreciate that. Um I also wanted to touch on the unifi campus thing. I know that um Dr. Walker presented last week to the community. She did an amazing job and fielded a lot of questions um and you know there were
some concerns that came out of that of course but I think one of the things that we had talked about doing um or that came up in conversation and I we haven't even had a chance to follow up with this yet but um maybe putting out like an FAQ to you know quell some of the fears that people have and yeah it's
in the report. Okay, already on it. Got it. Already on it. So, um, in any event, we are working we are working on that and getting out the information. So, we appreciate everybody's patience and feedback. So, um, if nobody has anything else, we're
going to move on to section seven, the superintendent report. So, we have a bit of a change of pace. So, thank you everybody for braving uh this lovely weather that we're having. Um, section 7 uh.01 01 is the enrollment report
which is attached December 2024 uh 2222 uh students December 2025 2215 uh 0.2 0.3 and 0.4 for are the uh safety drill suspension and anti-bullying
reports. Um and we have a few announcements, statements, and clarifications. Uh but before we dig in first, I would be remiss without publicly um giving uh uh thanks to our buildings and grounds crews. Uh we are
glad to be back in school. Despite the wintry conditions, the winter storm brought significant snowfall and ice um to our school communities this past weekend. Um over a dozen districts just in Camden County alone were unable to open as quickly. Uh
and some are still experiencing delays and closures. Um and this is pretty pervasive across the entire state based on um what happened uh with the storm and school district's ability uh to be able to to to respond appropriately. We
are extremely fortunate in Collinswood to have a fullervice high functioning uh buildings and grounds uh crew that are able to mobilize as quickly as they are. Uh and so um Mr. Blango. Uh you and the team, we just wanted to thank you uh for
the tremendous efforts uh that your team does in caring for our schools under these challenging circumstances. We heard uh from our preschool leadership about the ribbon cutting. Um and I just wanted to give an additional um uh shout out to our phenomenal uh
preschool educators across our district. Yes, we have uh uh five sites. Um but we are now servicing over 200 uh three and four year olds across our community in Collingswood. Um this is a tremendous milestone, but it also will reap
long-term benefits within our school community. Um and I as a parent of a preschooler um I have directly um benefited and and and seen the tremendous growth that our young people
experience at three and four which helps them be better prepared for kindergarten. And so I just wanted to thank again um Miss Floyd um and Miss Soloway u who represents our calls um in Oakland campus uh for preschool uh and
all of our preschool uh staff um uh and support staff for for leading this phenomenal program. Um want to thank our uh elementary leaders again for the uh program highlights. And
so, uh, in our district, we use, uh, sightbased leadership. What that means is is that, um, schools are empowered to act and that a majority of the day-to-day decisions are happening at the school level, uh, because they are best, uh, positioned to make those daily
decisions. And so, we're thankful for our leaders on all of our all of our campuses. um so that I don't get the dirty looks for Miss Floyd. Uh Collingswood preschool and kindergarten registration team is looking forward to the upcoming registration season. Collingswood
families with children who will be three or four uh years of age by October 1st and are not currently in our preschool program can apply for full day free preschool by completing the preschool lottery application beginning on February 17th. Children entering
kindergarten and not currently enrolled in our preschool program can begin uh the registration process at any time. The registration team encourages families to share this information with neighbors in our community and to look out for additional information that will be shared within the coming weeks and
the contact information can be found on the registration page of our school district website. And so on behalf of the registration team, we are excited to welcome you to the Collinswood School family. Um we are extremely uh uh proud uh to
continue to see the growth and development of our students. And so uh we have posted some of these things before, but it's important that when we have an opportunity to to come together uh that we share holistically the efforts of our students. And so we would just like to congratulate our high
school which has been named to the college board advanced placement school honor role. They earned this uh recognition based on criteria that reflects the commitment to increasing the school's collegegoing culture while providing opportunities for students to earn college credit and maximize college
readiness. Our high school had 45% of seniors take at least one advanced placement exam during high school with 36% of all seniors earning qualifying scores on at least one exam. and 10% of
seniors took five or more advanced placement exams with the ability to earn college credit. And so we would just like to publicly thank our high school staff for continuing to support collegegoing culture and also a job well done for our students as they each pursue their academic goals. In this
same vein, the New Jersey uh state seal of biiteracy is an award given by the New Jersey Department of Education in recognition of students who have studied and attained proficiency in at least one language in addition to English by high school graduation. And so we are pleased
to report that this year we have nine high school students that have met that threshold and will earn that distinction on their diplomas uh this June. And so congratulations to each of those students. We'd also like to congratulate one of our uh additional student leaders, uh, sophomore Amelia Reynolds, who was
elected and sworn in, uh, to the New Jersey Association of Student Councils, uh, as an officer. She will serve as the New Jersey State Board of Education student representative. She will attend monthly state board of education meetings and be the voice for for
students of of New Jersey. She will officially be sworn in at the state meeting in July. And we would just like to thank Emmeilia for her commitment uh to student leadership. In addition, um we uh we were missing uh
uh one of our uh student reps. Uh but we want to commend our wrestling team as they improve uh 17 to1 uh this season and they're currently actually in a a team match uh in our gym. uh they reached their 1,000th team win this year
and which makes them one of five teams in New Jersey history to reach this amazing milestone. And so congratulations to Coach Moody, the student athletes, and all of the volunteers and supporters for this amazing accomplishment.
Uh we'd also like to acknowledge the continued growth and performance of our girls wrestling team. During their last tournament in PSboro, we had four wrestlers come out victorious. And so great job to all of our talented student athletes as our team continues to grow. Uh what started as a team of four is now
approaching a team of 25. And so um our girls are also doing a phenomenal job. We'd also like to talk about the incredible work that's taking place with our school counselors. Um individual student meetings uh focus on academic and social emotional needs are happening
weekly. Small group sessions based on issues that matter most to students are also in progress. Virtual college planning and dual enrollment sessions are also moving forward. In several weeks, the student course selection process will begin. Right now, pre-scheduling meetings are taking place
with department supervisors to prepare as the counseling department finalizes the 2627 program of study. In addition, to date, um we have had 118 college acceptance letters with students earning over $2 million in scholarships so far.
And so we'd like to thank our director of counseling, Kim Halenbeck, and the entire counseling department for meeting the diverse needs of our students. As it relates with the unified campus, the school district is undertaking the transition to a unified campus model, which was originally announced back in
April of 2025, merging the current middle school and high school into a single campus. This transition is scheduled to begin in September. So the campus merger is an operational necessity driven by two main commitments. student success and responsible financial stewardship. The
campus seeks to achieve a seamless educational pathway, a smoother trajectory as students metriculate from grades six through 12, strengthening academics with tighter curriculum alignment, especially as students uh move between middle and high school
grades. Greater consistency uh in terms of having one cohesive culture on campus, not two. Improve support. So strengthening resources dedicated to college and career readiness for all students earlier in their educational journey and then enhanced efficiency
proactively addressing the financial pressures and enrollment patterns by improving staffing space utilization and service delivery. So far we have had several uh community engagement events during our public uh uh budget forum. uh we made the announcement on April 8th of
2025 of the possibility of a campus merger. During opening day, so September 2nd of 2025, we made an announcement to faculty and staff and let them know that there would be more details to follow. In October, we met with all of the middle school and high school uh faculty
after school to share uh details and timeline of the program. Uh we posted in October um our efforts and that community engagement would take place prior to recommendations being made to the board of education and our community
information uh sessions alongside uh focus groups have been taking place for the month of January with a session taking place last week, another session in Woodland taking place tomorrow and then a session in Oakland taking place
uh Monday, February 3rd. We understand completely that change of this magnitude brings lots of questions. We are asking for patience as we navigate this transition. But we also want to be very mindful that we are also parallel to this in budget season. And what we don't
want to do is to get out in front of making promises that we are unable to deliver on without for one collecting all of the feedback from our community, two making sure that we are appropriately budgeting based on the feedback that we've received. and three, making sure that what we say we're
actually are going to be able to deliver on. And so the community presentation um that took place last week, as well as an updated list of frequently asked frequently asked questions that we've received so far, is currently housed on our school district website. It will
also be sent out to all families across the entire district. Um this week, we'd also like to give a quick update on our inclusion task force. And so consistent with our mission and vision, the Collinswood and Oakland school districts have formed an inclusion task
force to gather community input. Our goal is to build a more inclusive culture where all students feel a sense of belonging. While these meetings um may focus on specific topics as it relates to inclusion and supports for students with disabilities, um additional ideas will be developed that
will benefit the entire school community. And so far we've hosted uh four working sessions to share experiences and problem solve and make recommendations. And the task force concluded on uh Tuesday with a summary of priorities for
supporting and expanding inclusive practices in our district focusing on short and long-term goals. The priorities are organized into several categories. Culture of belonging, student supports and services, professional development for staff, and then family and community partnerships.
As we review the feedback and potential action steps, uh they will be shared first with the board of education during the board of education retreat on February 7th. Uh they will be um uh refined and then presented to the public shortly after.
Uh we would also like to give a preview. Um February marks uh uh Black History Month and so 2026 specifically marks uh 100 years of national commemorations of Black History. Dr. Carter G. Woodson, George Cleveland Hall, William B. Hartg
Grove, Jesse Morland, Alexander Jackson, James and James Stamped institutionalized the teaching, study, dissemination, and commemor commemoration of black history when they founded the association for the study of Negro life and history on September 9th, 1915. In 1925,
Dr. Woodson planned the inaugural week-long observance of black history and could not have anticipated what he would leave as a legacy for the world. From Negro History Week to Black History Month, they have carried forth this tradition. The observances have become
an integral part of the fabric of American culture and increasingly global community. For the 100th theme, the founders of Black History Month urge us to explore the impact and meaning of black history and life and to commemorate the transformation of the status of black peoples in the modern
world. Our preschool uh as well as all of our schools will be uh hosting a series of activities. Uh some of those activities include readalouds, center experiences, um uh curated age appropriate resources,
uh daily morning announcements, hallway gallery walks with, uh different grade levels focusing on different themes and then hanging uh their collective work. Our media specialists will be curating and providing resources which includes classroom readalouds and discussion
topics uh to to take place in class. Book displays in hallways. Uh sponsored guest speakers on different campuses. Grade level historical studies with videos and readalouds. Gifted and talented will be doing many research projects connected to Black History
Month. Integrated music and art uh projects inspired by black musicians and artists. literary centers with diverse characters and author texts for independent reading. Uh live author events will also be taking place throughout the course of the month. There will be studentled presentations
as well as um uh an AP African-American history presentation from high school students to elementary students. Um fifth graders on some of our campuses will be leading discussions, readalouds, and project development.
uh uh African story uh telling uh our uh assemblies um tasting tables in some of our schools um advisory meeting presentations, morning announcements, in-class curriculum integration and language arts and social studies.
uh in addition to um content specific uh areas of study through history and social studies, English language arts, music and art, and STEM. Uh our high school specifically will be holding a door decorating contest throughout the month of February. Um and then having uh
students and staff deliver announcements of influential uh historical figures. Um and we would also uh give an additional shout out. They are not here this evening. Um, but we would like to give another shout out to our uh, Panther Pantry. So, the mission of the
food pantry is to provide uh, students um, and families of Collingswood, Oakland, and Woodland with supplemental nutritional support uh, home goods and supplies in a confidential and non-judgmental manner. And so, we support uh, this mission through generous donations from staff and
community members like you. Um, please follow up with Miss uh Ardan Nissner um here at our uh uh secondary campus uh for opportunities to get involved and for donations. Uh students are actually leading um the Panther Pantry and so it
is a student-led initiative with community- based support. Uh and so thank you again and that concludes my report. >> Thank you Dr. McDow. That was very informative. Um we appreciate all your hard work on all all of those things. Um
and I think that it was especially important for the um public to hear about the unified campus initiative and all the things that have been done so far and are continuing to go about doing. Um so we're going to move on to section 8 uh business administrator board secretary report. Miss Coleman is out tonight. So I'm going to pass it
along to Mr. Burns. >> Thank you. I believe this this information was given to you last week but just in case there's a budget transfer sheet. All transfers are under 10% which is the mandated by the state. Uh the board secretary report shows that
all of our accounts are positive and our cash right now is okay. Uh the student activity report is included which shows you all the all the individual accounts for student activities and those reports the balances. Uh the purchase orders which is a list
of purchases purchase orders that we put through in the month of January. The warrants is our bills list which is all the bills are paying including payroll and that's everything on the business administrative report. >> Okay. Thank you. We're going to move on
to our buildings grounds and finance. Um do you want to like read through these or do you want me to do it? Okay. So, we discussed all of these things last week at our committee of the whole uh meeting on the 21st of January. So, we are moving at uh lightning speed
here. We're just going to go through and put this to a vote since we had a conversation about all these uh topics. So, um let's see. Miss May, can I ask a clarifying question really quick? Um I know that we had discussed um only having one public
comment considering our new uh format and um you know I I completely understand that. I did not realize though that it was not going to be before we vote. I mean I'm I guess that's probably something we can't change for tonight but in the future I think it would be important for board members to hear public perspectives
especially on agenda items before uh we vote on them. Thank you. >> Thank you Miss Mcowski. I actually just saw that we were discussing it a few minutes ago. just making note of it. Um, so that is something that we can discuss. Um, are you what do you guys want to do for tonight? Do can we move
the public comment section or should we just keep on going? Go ahead, Roger. What were we going to say? >> Yeah, you can move it. I mean, if want we can make a motion to move the section. >> Okay, sounds good. So, we're gonna we're going to make a motion to um
go to public comment at this time. Uh, can I get a motion? So moved. >> Second. Second. So um we're we have to do a roll call, I believe. Right. >> Are all in favor? >> You have to ask if there's question. All >> in favor? Are we allowed to ask
questions on the motion? >> Okay. Sorry. Um so this is we are moving the one um the one section of public comment now up to the front here and then on our Wednesday meetings there will also just be one public comment because I think that is also the
opportunity. So is this now an opportunity for the public to speak on anything because that was why we left it at the end was for all topics whether they were on the agenda or not. So this is going to be for them to speak on anything. My interpretation is we're moving the the current one on the agenda
now. >> Yeah. And I would I guess I will echo there is also public comment in our committee of the whole meeting which is the opportunity to discuss the agenda topics that we are reviewing and approving. So this will be the second time to do that. So this is a general
one. I I think we'll have to see how the flow goes if we need to keep moving it further up. I would agree there was that opportunity in our last meeting as well. >> Great question, Matt. We're just going to go to public comment
now. All right. So, before we do that, um I just want to say that you know, please when you get up here, please stand, state your name and address, and keep your comments to three minutes or less. U Mr. Burns, >> we didn't vote. We didn't vote. >> We didn't vote. Okay. I think we said
there was a motion. We could do a motion to move the topic. We did not have We don't have to. >> All in favor? >> All in favor? >> Okay. Got it. Yeah. >> Okay. So, um for we're going to move to
section 1401, public participation. Uh please stand, state your name and address, and keep your comments to three minutes or less. Uh Mr. Burns, are you okay to keep time for us? Okay. Uh the public is reminded that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints should first go through the appropriate
staff and administrators. >> Uh good evening. My name is Julian Cardi. I'm the freshman class president here at High School. Uh my address is 825 Lynwood Avenue. Uh before I begin tonight, I'd like to give a a big shout out to the College Wrestling Program. Um I'm very grateful that I'm a freshman
and can be part of the team this year. And uh I'm unfortunately missing the match right now, but uh tonight we're honoring the 1000th program win. So uh huge shout out to Coach Moody and all the athletes and uh former coaches. Um so I want to speak about the unifications tonight. Uh I really
appreciate the admin um for providing the students the opportunity to come and speak um on behalf of the student perspective about uh the unification. uh the way it was advertised to the students, it seemed like the meeting uh was more of a meeting to kind of get more information and uh clarity of what
this change might look like for a day-to-day experience. Um a lot of the students had a lot of uh questions and speculations going into the meeting. uh once this is proposed in uh like when it's proposed so early on uh and there's a lot of time in between the initial
proposal when it was announced to the community and the students um and to where we are at this point now that gives a lot of time for rumors and speculation. Uh I know that we probably won't have sixth graders eating lunch with 12th graders and I know that we probably won't having to be bouncing in
between buildings constantly for classes. Uh but with the lack of information, a lot of students are going to assume the worst and that can kind of uh already get off on the wrong foot uh with an initiative as big as this one. Um but I'm hoping for the best and I know this can be a great thing for our community. So moving forward, I'd love
to have more clarity about that soon. Uh I attended the meeting along with the freshman class board earlier on in January um kind of seeking a little bit more information about the unification and we were asked a lot of questions and we've had surveys in the past and it was very difficult to answer a lot of these
questions because we don't know what a day-to-day experience might look like following this process. Um, and during the meeting, we kind of asked if the board had at least a skeletal outline of what this can look like because during the meeting, we're largely unsure of what phase the board is in in terms of
this operation. Uh, we didn't really know if they were into uh more of an exploratory phase, which is now revealed that uh the administration is. We didn't really know that they were still in talks. And I understand that you guys don't want to back yourself in a corner. Uh I know it's very difficult uh now that we're coming near the budget time
and I know that we don't we don't want to uh kind of reveal too much and uh especially before we know those budgets come out but it would be great to know that moving forward so that we can provide better feedback uh towards the initiative and uh hopefully seek out more clarity. So with all that being
said moving forward for more in initiatives like these uh the students are really seeking more information. Uh I'm really hoping that this is a great thing for our community. um online there's a lot being said about and uh the administration talking about how this can improve more of a seamless education path and kind of get our
culture more closely knit and I think these are all great things uh but it's difficult to understand a lot of the language and it's hard to understand exactly what physical changes we might see and kind of how this is going to affect our day-to-day experience and it's kind of in plain English what this is going to look like for us and how
these benefits might happen following uh the unification project. So, with all that being said, I really want to thank the administration for the opportunity to speak. Another great shout out to the wrestling team. Hopefully, we can uh hit our thousandth and one win tonight and uh have a good honor of that and really
appreciate having the voice on behalf of the students. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you so much, Julian. Um, so I don't see anyone else coming up, so I'm going to go ahead and say we can move to section um, where are we at?
section nine. Okay, >> I want to say section 10 because that's what I'm used to. >> Can I make a motion to consider informally the the topic of the unification uh campus unification so we can discuss just a little bit? >> Yeah.
>> Right. But so something I wanted to mention just to reiterate is that I think I believe there is an FAQ online. Correct. And and so and that FAQ online specifically addresses uh the topics of why are you moving forward with this
initiative? Will the middle school students be in the same classes as high school students? If the high school students is performing uh on a middle school level, will that high school student be placed in a middle school uh level course? Will high school and middle school students share the same lunchroom? Will high school and middle school students share the same health and physical education classes? Will
there be uh shared classroom between middle school and high school courses? Will teachers be shared between middle school and high school? Will there be opportunities for middle school students to visit uh toward secondary campus for a sixth grade year? Will the bell schedule remain the same next year? Will middle school students be permitted to play on high school sports teams? Will
the cell phone possibly be the same for all students? When will any staffing changes be made public? and and so I wanted to just make sure that that was clear that there is an FAQ um on the website addressing a lot of those questions which I I believe are may the questions that I've heard percolate up
about uh um this this initiative and so I don't know if anyone else wanted to chime in there but >> I think that's an excellent point that you just pointed out there that thank you for that. Um I also um can we get um I don't know where to find it. I haven't looked for the FAQ or seen it yet. Do you know how to find that on the
website? It's right at the bottom of his of Dr. McDow's letter about the process. There is a link for the FAQ right there. >> Yeah. And if we could get maybe get that bigger somewhere so it's so maybe so it stands out a little bit more. Um >> like announcements next to like board meeting
>> design person but just easier to get to the FAQ on it I think would be great. >> And and I I do appreciate Roger that you're pointing out that there are now FAQs that are posted to really get to those core questions that have likely come out of these various sessions. So, I think timing may be part of
people having them, reviewing them, and then coming to an open forum to give feedback. Again, I I I will I am leaving some of this these items as like how we ask for feedback, get it, and pose questions. Not I don't think everybody grounded in how to really give it so
that it was helpful. Um, so maybe we'll have to go back and get more feedback, but I definitely should make sure we're putting this FAQ in all materials because I also will still advocate that families in elementary are thinking about what secondary life will be and that we need to cascade information
because everybody has a narrative. Um, and so we should make sure we are pushing key initiatives prominently to all families, not just those who are going to be immediately affected this next year. Um, I thank you, Roger, for also
clarifying the questions that are on there. Hopefully, some of that might be helpful, Julian, to you and your classmates. Um, I also thought it was kind of I didn't see it at first. Um, Dr. McDow, I don't know if you can answer this. Is this something that's going to be updated as more like I know a lot of the information that we're kind
of waiting on has to do with the budget and our kind of financial situation. Is this I anticipate this is something that's going to be updated as that information becomes relevant, right? Yes. Um a as as with every as with every year um
the budget development process um is is often challenging. And I think that um I we have to wrap our heads around this sooner rather than later. And so one of the things that based on a lot of the feedback was that the community asked
for us um to give as much lead time as possible when changes were coming so that they were able to uh wrestle and grapple with this. Um and so that's what we have tried to do. And so when we posed some of these options to our
community um in April um there was shock value in April. Um when we posed it again in September, folks were like, "Okay, We're moving with this when we pose it again in October. Um we are trying to give as much information as we
can and so I need to be very clear. Yes, we have a comprehensive uh uh framework for how this should go. However, um students, staff and families must be afforded an opportunity to provide
feedback before we make final recommendations for how to move forward. And so it would be very easy um for four or five people to sit in a room and make all the decisions, but it wouldn't be appropriate. So, we're not we're not doing that. U we're engaging all three of our communities that feed with into
our secondary campus in order to make sure that their voices are in the room. Paired with that, um this time of year, we will also uh and Julian, I'm I'm sending you an email right now. Um >> so, I know I already spoke to one thing.
Um >> thank you. Hold on one second. Is everybody okay with >> Is everybody okay with that? >> Uh let me let let me finish. But let let me finish. Um we will also be uh meeting
with uh students uh and staff at every school uh this time of year. Um and so we are scheduled uh to meet uh with the secondary campus students next week. I'm very confident this will be one of the topics of discussion. we will be on
campus for multiple hours um and students will have the opportunity to to kind of be able to dig in and so the initial data collection phase um was slated for January and so um we are exiting uh January in terms of
collecting data to make sure that feedback is is being represented in the decision-making process. February becomes the design process. And so what I will say, and this is more for benefit for all of the folks that are listening
um online, um the uh the school itself and the experience that our students uh uh receive will be very similar to what they're currently receiving. And so we're talking about common sense approaches. How do we maximize resources
that are available in an environment where resources are scarce uh to make sure that students receive maximum benefit for the dollars that are being spent? And so, no, we will not have 11 year olds in the same spaces as 19 and
20 year olds. Um that would be insane. Um what it could look like is that uh we already have with the exception of a hallway, we already have a shared campus. We already have uh middle school students taking high school classes.
That's really what we're talking about. We want a smoother way to be able to do this. We have We are very fortunate. We have excessively bright students in Collingswood. What does that mean, Dr. McDow? That means that we have seventh grade students taking 10th grade math.
That's what that means. That means that we have masterful uh artists and musicians that skill sets and talents go far beyond what middle school uh is currently offering. And so part of our responsibility is to be able to take the
feedback and to leverage what young people are asking for which is to not be held back, to not be restricted, to not have artificial barriers put in front of them to be able to advance and pursue their dreams and their goals. And so uh we in the coming weeks will be sharing
more and more of not just what we've heard, but what decisions are actually being made. Um but we wanted to make sure that we have those targeted um hard conversations with our board of education first to make sure that we calibrate in terms of message
expectations and investment. Then we'll be going back to our community based on the decisions. >> So I just wanted to make sure our sequencing is aligned. We had uh inschool sessions, parent invite sessions by the 22nd of January. We have
a letter sent the 23rd. We have FAQs posted the 28th by our retreat next weekend. Two weekend. Yeah, next weekend. We will have more detail that is informed by these conversations. Right. So I I think we're trying you're
doing all the information gathering that information probably sat in rooms and heard a lot of questions that you could immediately answer so that we don't keep right. So kind of myth busting on the way. Um and then by the time the retreat happens we understand the framework and guard rails by that will inform the
ultimate plan right is what we should all understand that that is our sequence at this point. >> Correct. We also have an advisory committee of middle school and high school um staff that are helping to make recommendations and so they are also uh
being afforded receiving the feedback. they will be integral in the development of our of our plan. And so there's a lot of voices in the room. Um and then and it's it's it's extremely important that we are very measured in releasing
information um to Mr. Card's point so that we are not fueling misinformation, that we are not fueling dissension, that we are not fueling polarization or continued polarization. And so uh we are asking for the community to be patient as we work through all of the details.
Uh but in the long term, we're going to make sure that students are at the center of everything that we do. >> I also want to say that um I really appreciate that we had the community meeting the other night and to by today the FAQ was posted online. So that was
really helpful um and very on top of it. So we appreciate that and we're trying to get all the information as soon as possible. We did already technically move on. >> Would it be possible one more remark? I know it was I already spoke but yeah I just really wanted to thank you for the
clarification Dr. McDow um very eager to share that with my classmates soon uh and kind of get the student perspective out there um and I thank you too Mr. you for uh explaining uh that the new FAQ link was posted. Reading the fine printer that's at the bottom of the list
was kind of difficult to see and that's posted today, January 28th today. So that's just kind of a long another again a long window of time without being pro provided that information and I also read this um response when it was when it came out and did not see that FAQ
link. Um, so as it's posted today, um, be great to have more notice and kind of have that more visible because that would have been a lot that would have been very useful to me tonight. So, uh, thank you. >> We appreciate it. Thank you for talking.
>> Okay. Um and then so another thing question I have which is that I think it was mentioned a few times uh here that there were maybe other concerns or or maybe other issues that or concerns that that community members might have that
were heard uh during some of these sessions and and if uh anyone else had any concerns to to for us to surface uh that hasn't been addressed in the FAQ that maybe we can uh surface that now so that we and get that addressed uh uh as
needed. >> That would be more appropriate for the retreat on February 7th. >> I would just I would echo that because I haven't had a chance to read through the FAQ fully. So rather than us all sitting here and reading through that, why don't we plan as a board to come together at the retreat and discuss more in depth.
>> That'll give us some time to look at the FAQ also. So thank you. >> Also want to caution the board. The FAQ is not all-encompassing. The FAQ was in direct response to some of uh the hottest topics. Uh we will go in into uh
significantly more detail on February 7th. Okay, moving on. Section number nine. Okay, thanks everybody for your patience. I am especially just learning how to do this. Um okay, so bu uh section number nine,
buildings, grounds, and finance. Uh so uh we have let's see um there are 16 different items in this section. So I am going to considering that we discussed all of them last week in some detail. I'm going to go ahead and make a
motion to um approve section 9001 to 916. Can I get a motion to approve that? >> So moved >> and a second. >> Any questions or comments from board members?
>> Mr. Barnes, can you do a roll call, please? >> Mr. Craig. Yes. >> Mr. Marco. Yes, >> Mr. Divine. >> Yes, >> Miss M. >> Yes, >> Miss Mcowski.
>> Yes, >> Miss Sherman. >> Yes, except for 9.08. I abstein because of a conflict with my school. >> Miss Z. >> Yes, >> Mr. Dilkus. Yes.
Mr. Chu, yes. Motion passes. Thank you so much. All right, we're going to move on to section 10, which is curriculum. And um we have it looks like five items on that section. So I'm going
to make a motion to approve the uh 10.01 to 10.05. Can I have a motion, please? Or >> so moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Any questions or comments from board members? Mr. Mr. Craig,
>> yes. >> Mr. Marco, >> yes. >> Miss Divine. >> Yes. >> Miss M? >> Yes. >> Miss Mcowski? >> Yes. >> Miss Sherman? >> Yes.
>> Miss Z? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dilkus? >> Yes. Except we're required to abstain. And Mr. Ch. >> Yes. All right, this is moving fast. Moving on to section 11, personnel. So, we have
it looks like 22 items on the agenda for tonight. So, I'm going to make a motion to approve items 111 to 11:22. Can I make a motion for that? >> So, moved. >> Second. Thank you. >> Any questions or comments for board members, >> Mr. Burns?
>> Mr. Craig? >> Yes. Mr. Marco, >> yes. >> Miss Divine, >> yes. >> Miss Mai, >> yes. >> Miss Mcowski, >> yes. >> Miss Sherman, >> yes. >> Miss Z, >> Mr. Dilus, >> yes. Except we're required to abstain.
>> And Mr. True. >> Yes. Passes. >> So section 12. Do we need a motion for this? There's nothing there's nothing on there for uh policy at this time, right? Do we do we still need to make a motion
to approve? now. Okay. All right. We're going to move on to section 13 um H reports previous month uh and 1302 chronic absenteeism corrective action plans for 2526
and do we approve those? Yeah. Okay. Okay. So missing a P piece of my agenda. All right. So can I make a motion to approve 13.01 and 13 to 13.03. So moved.
>> Second. >> Okay. Any questions or comments from board members? >> What was the >> Sorry. I was just going to ask what the change was for job descriptions. This wasn't on um the agenda for committee at the whole so I couldn't ask that question. So I'll pop through. I mean we don't get a tracked version so it might
be nothing but >> So the change was making sure that the uh reports to was consistent with all of the job descriptions. it was based on old language and so reports to it says uh superintendent or designate that was that was a change.
>> Thank you. >> And a question on 13.02 is is that something that's required by the state or is that something that we're we're doing internally? >> It's required by the state for uh any school uh that is over the 10% threshold for chronic absentism.
>> Is this a newer initiative by the state or Okay, gotcha. Thank you. And not every school is involved in that, right? >> Correct. >> Okay. So, um, make a motion to approve the items again. Did I do that already? Did that.
Okay. All right. Good. >> Mr. Craig. >> Yes. >> Mr. Marco. >> Yes. >> M. Vine. >> Yes. >> Miss M. >> Yes. Makowski. >> Yes. >> Miss Sherman, >> yes. >> Miss Z,
>> Mr. Dilkus, >> yes. >> And Mr. Ch, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Okay, we already did our public participation. So, um, section 15. Motion to adjurnn. >> So, moved. >> Second.
>> All in favor? >> Sorry. One there. here. I have a middle school shout out that I can share that didn't get in, but from this past weekend, there was something really cool I got part of. Um, I want to shout out Mr. Myers tech design class. Um, we I got to chaperon a the future cities
competition. Um, his class uh throughout the course of the year, students came in and built a city, like an actual model of a city, and wrote out a report. Uh, and then he entered the winning project from the class into the future design. So, our middle school students got to go and compete with 46 of their peers at
Archbishop of Carol all day on Saturday. Um, they did fantastic. Uh, they judges came in throughout the day, asked them questions, and they they fielded questions. They had a a hot glue gun. They were they were putting things back together as they fell apart. Um, and then they went and they presented in front of their peers. And we found out
today from Mr. that they won the best energy based project award and excellence in highway design award. Um so shout out to Mr. Myers and to Mr. Robin who was their um mentor uh and to
all the kids that that participated in that. It was a really cool thing that uh was glad to see our middle school uh tech tech design kids get to take care of. That's a mo motion to adjourn. Hi. >> All in favor?