scheduled board meeting of the Congress Board of Education appropriate notice has been uh made for this meeting roll call please uh Mrs Brown is absent Mr Craig here Mrs
dine here Mrs Maya here Mrs molski here Mrs Seltzer here Mrs Sherman here Mrs Z here Mr dois here Mr chill here uh please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance there was no executive session tonight
there are however several presentations so first up item 3.01 is presentation for Black History Month good evening everybody great to be here tonight my name is David Oliver I'm the supervisor of humanities k to2 um
just wanted to say that we do a lot for Black History Month particularly in the area of humanities lots of literature obviously Social Studies classes cover um all types of topics in black history from um founding of America to civil rights movement and Beyond um I want to kind of highlight some of the things
that our our classes have been doing lately though for Black History Month Mrs Slade's class made uh mannequin sketches based on famous figures in black history and Mrs berr class had students paint many famous figures in
black history and Mr LaMore who teaches our new AP African-American studies class had students do black out poetry and this is where you take a page of literature redact certain words and map it out so it equals a poem when you read the words that are not
redacted some of the students that were listed as exemplars um I have right here and if you are here tonight and you want to be recognized please stand up because you did a wonderful job from Mr laam Mo's class we have Cassidy Moore Cadia fana Graham
Reynolds and for Miss Bertrand's class Ken Boer Sophia Medina Ramos Rory burus and for Miss Slade's class Nora Maxwell Ayan Nichols Blair bunak Daniel
Morales Cleo fiser Darnell montigue Lila Pratt and Silena Daniel again wonderful job and I encourage everybody here please take a look at some point I'll leave them up throughout the night um and I I won't pick them up till tomorrow morning so after the meeting if you want to take a
peek please do um students thank you again very memorable month appreciate it thank you very much uh Mr ol I think on behalf of the Board of Education I think I can pretty confidently say that that you know we're really excited to get a chance to look
at the presentation after the board meeting I'm I'm looking forward to be able to look at each one of them individually so congratulations thank you so much students for uh your amazing work moving on to
3.2 uh this is a recognition for Eagle Scout for Xander stman so good evening everyone um thank you for being here and so uh the colleg of Board of Education would like to recognize former uh student Xander stman
of Oakland at uh its meeting this evening for achieving the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout in troop 3179 Xander began his scouting journey in 2017 earning his first merit badge and fingerprinting over the years he demonstrated commitment and Leadership progressing through the ranks and
attending summer camps at the rooseville Scout Reservation his dedication led him to earn the ranks of Tenderfoot in 2019 second class in 2021 and first class later that same year despite the challenges of the pandemic Xander remained actively engaged in scouting
participating in an adventure at yagoo Scout Reservation and serving as senior patrol leader his leadership skills flourished as he was elected senior patrol leader for the 2223 term he earned the rank of star Scout in October of 2022 life Scout in June of 2023 and
joined the Summer Camp staff where he was recognized for a strong work ethic and commitment to service during a senior year at Collingswood High School Xander took on the role of Junior Assistant Scout Master while completing his Eagle Scout requirements for his project he led the planning and construction of a Gaga pit at the
Oakland VFW Park in June of 2024 following High School graduation he returned to work at Camp yagoo before completing his Eagle board of review on January 2nd 2025 officially earning the rank of Eagle Scout we commend Xander for his dedication to scouting
leadership and service to his community his achievements exemplify the values of hard work perseverance and Civic engagement currently Xander is studying Premed neuroscience at Ramapo College and he plans to continue serving and scouting as a member of summer camp this year can we please give a round of
applause asander joins me on the stage Xander thank you again for your service and your your leadership in our community congratulations Xander on your achievement um moving on to item 3.03 the ssds report for period one by Mr
Jefferson for good evening everyone so tonight we're going to take a look at some of our school safety uh data system report denotatively the dictionary definition if you were to
look on the Department of Education website the definition that you're going to see is the New Jersey Department of Education student safety daty data system is a system that collects information about incidents in schools the ssds is used to meet State and
federal reporting requirements connotatively right what's what's the more implied meaning is that these quantitative figures and numbers and data are really used so that as school districts we can take a look at what are some of the things that we're doing to
help ensure safety to help that students are getting um some of the help that they need as far in relation to conflicts and things of that nature and so that's kind of also the connotative meaning to what is the ssds
system so if we're looking at the numbers this year this year is going to be considered the first period which would be from September to December the numbers the numbers that you're going to see
in red are going to be the numbers from this year I do have the numbers in blue that will show you for the first period last school year um what the numbers were in comparison so Hib harassment
intimidation and bullying investigations this year this is throughout the total district there were 15 total investigations if you compare that to last year this time there were 24 there were 11 alleged um that that did not
meet the definition of of a Hib according to State Standards there were four confirmed that met the definition of a Hib after a um investigation was conducted furthermore we're talking
about removals a removal is any incident that would be considered removing a student from the learning environment whether that is out of school suspension or whether that is some type of In-House suspension or alternative location other
than what a child's normal schedule is so in the first period uh there were 42 removals in comparison in the district last year to 78 restraints are self-explanatory
um last year in the second period there were five the second period being last spring this year in the first period um we had four restraints down at the bottom it it gets into the more of the specifics there are really four areas
that are looked at and focused on when we're talking about um the student safety ssds system first is violence and and violence would be anything in which usually um physical altercation whether
that's between two students or whether that is someone who put their hand on someone else or did something that fell into the category of violence against another person of Course vandalism we had 14 of those vandalism um is going to
be two weapons is going to be two and then substance is going to be seven I have confirmed there because with substance it's going to be if someone was found to be in possession of an illegal substance or found to be
under the influence now how do you know if someone is under the influence that would be if they were sent out for testing and the test came back confirmed okay so that would not be if we were just leaning on our own understanding and possibly thought that someone was
under the influence then you don't have any evidence of that either seeing them with the possession or getting a report back from a test from an outside um entity that was able to test the student then you wouldn't be able to put that
under confirmed board members any questions that anyone may have not a question but an appreciation for putting in the totals from the previous year I think that's something that we had been requesting for for some time it helps with giving just some
context to these numbers and good to see particularly when you look at something like removals uh anything that you might be able to say around why such a big jump there well drop well what is the main thing for removals especially when we when we're looking at our um restorative practices when you do get a
situation which someone has put their hands on someone it's very difficult to in in a lot of cases to not remove someone I will tell you that the the the amount of physical altercations has dramatically decreased one of the things
that I would that I would really say is we've been working strongly on developing a culture that says to students talk to someone um unfortunately I can tell you about one physical altercation in which we had a student that when I sat down to meet
with them they gave me two examples of when they went to look for an adult and couldn't find the adult and happened to bump into the the individual um that they were having the conflict with also mediations mediations has been really
big with um mediating students who have a concern I think I said this in one meeting prior to this we're actually at a point now where we're getting kids who are coming to administrators coming to teachers and saying can you go get so and so and can we sit down and talk in
the past students unfortunately thought that and a lot of students still do when I'm upset with someone that we have the maturity and the discipline to discuss this in the hallway right we we we can solve this altercation while we're very
angry by ourselves most students don't intend on there being a physical conflict when they approach someone but with really working with the restorative and having conversations with students we're finally getting part of my back everyone we're finally getting them to understand is that you're not disciplined enough in most cases
children to have to to iron out of conflict when you're that angry by yourselves so adult help is is definitely needed so I would definitely say that a lot that the the thesis behind some of the restorative is students seeking out adults whether it's
teachers it's not always administrators teachers also administrators also some of the culture and climate staff we have a culture and climate staff that we have working in the in in the hallways and with students that have just been amazing I I I mean some of the students
I I I can't tell you how good they have been and even that culture and climate staff will sometimes come to us and say hey just wanted to drop a little something in your ear and um that's tough for them because a lot of kids confide in them but also the culture and climate staff they have to use their own
discretion with sometimes um respecting children and when children come to them but also using their discretion when they think it's something that needs to be shared with the staff member so I definitely think that that the restor practices in specific the mediation of
conflicts and beginning to implement the the paradigm shift is students believing and understanding that sitting down and talking with someone or you allowing a staff member to lead a conversation and sometimes it's difficult right sometimes
it's um you have students that aren't still aren't good at it um and and it becomes a shouting match sometimes but it's working it's working thank you anyone else thank you very much
thank you Mr Jefferson for that presentation we're now going to enter Committee of the whole can I get a motion for entering Committee of the whole so moved and a second second all in
favor awesome so during Committee of whole we're going to focus on the budget and a budget update we have a presentation over here which I think we're going to cycle through it's going to be uh Miss Coleman Dr m myself talking through the the budget update um
and so I guess we'll take it away I'm going to blow through this slide this is our you know our mission statement our district leadership um next one Roger um next one I'm sorry doesn't want to work and again um how do we go about
doing the budgets you probably heard me say this before but um the board starts with their mission and their goals um the whole part being student achievement as we know and putting I'm sorry Fred can you move forward a little bit this isn't working me doing it sitting down um and then our school
budgets and budget development and this SL this presentation is just um we started out at the the board retreat in the beginning of February I did this in the retreat and just giving you an update of where we are right now and how we got there um knowing that state aid is coming out on
Thursday next slide yeah so in order for us to be able to understand understand how did we get here it's important for us to go back and remind ourselves of where we have been um and so I'm going to speak specifically to uh 2021 uh February of
2021 um I had the pleasure of uh coming on as superintendent of Collingswood in Oakland Public Schools and I took the first several months in order to do a deep dive into all aspects and areas of the school district Budget Finance and operations being one of them um we
released in May of 2021 um a comprehensive uh transition report where this was the first introduction of what we call the triple squeeze and so the triple squeeze uh in its most simplest uh terms basically States is that there are three core components that are
contributing to the financial challenges within Collingswood um first it's a uh higher degree of expectations and accountability uh uh second increased cost to operate due to inflation and
then the third is either either a lack of student enrollment which could be in decline or a uh inability to increase revenues to keep up with said costs and so we talked about the triple squeeze and then specifically we talked about
what we were going to do in order to mitigate that challenge to the degree possible move us to 2223 uh we started to see post pandemic inflationary costs that began late 2020
to 2021 and really began to emerge in 2122 and hit us extremely hard in 2223 where we saw the first beginnings of programmatic reductions in our budget 2324 we began to see program and Staffing reductions due to the
structural deficit all along the way advocating both at the county and at the state level and at the burough level uh to be able to talk about uh what the the structural challenge was and that if we didn't solve this problem together we
would have a challenge in the delivery or continuity of services and support to students and staff move us to 2425 significant programmatic and Staffing reductions due to a structural deficit which you will uh see a little
bit later today move us to current state we currently have unsustainable inflationary costs year-over-year and the revenues simply are not available and so I want to be extremely clear um in in what I'm getting ready to say is
without additional and I mean significant additional revenues there will be quote unquote significant painful reductions to programs and Staffing in Collingswood
and so the advocacy and the work that has been done by community members the work that has been done by our buau the work that has been done by our board um this is what a democracy looks like folks coming together trying to solve problems I'm confident that working
together we will be able to close this Loop um and hopefully avoid uh crippling budgetary uh reductions um which would uh not be what our area of focus uh is in order to provide beyond what is
called a thorough and efficient uh public education in New Jersey and so what's the challenge and so when we look at uh 23 24 The increased cost to maintain existing Services increased by $3.4
million additional revenues to address those in in inflationary costs was 1.6 we were able to close that Gap leveraging um the uh Grant dollars and additional resources that we were able to go out and find and so over the last
three years our school district with uh teachers and administrators have helped us to secure over 7 million in additional grant funding in order to offset this structural challenge to the degree possible in 2425 increased costs
were $4 million revenues were 1.2 million half of that deficit we were able to leverage the last remaining grant dollars we had to sustain a $1.4 million uh reduction that came in in the form of
21 staff uh positions that we were unfortunately unable to fund that particular year move us to 2526 the estimated and and we say estimated because we have yet to receive our budget but the anticipated uh
inflationary cost are $3.8 million to maintain current levels of service and the anticipated revenues is roughly $11 million barring any reductions from federal aid or any reductions from state aid which are yet to be determined we
will receive uh state aid numbers on Thursday the governor has his uh state budget address tomorrow afternoon and by state law he has 48 hours in order to actually release state aid and so we will know what we know um
Thursday okay um and so there's two main guiding questions when it comes to how do we align resources to uh the budget uh former president um uh Joe Biden once said is that if you want to see what we value see what's in
our budget couldn't agree more and so the guiding questions are how do curriculum instruction and programmatic development impact student achievement and the second guiding question is how do we improve the efficiency of our operations to also impact student achievement and so what this means in
its most simplest term how do you provide a continuity of service in the most effective uh and the most efficient way to make sure that students get what they need all right my turn to take over uh so what does that mean um all the schools submitted their budgets um so
when we went through you know we we look at everything we look at Personnel we look at all curricular co-curricular activities um staff positions trying to maximize um achievement we look at all areas of operations to identify any efficiencies we can um which is why a
lot of the most just about everybody in the board office including child sa team and buildings and grounds we all serve um two school districts this way we can generate a little additional Revenue um and we continue to explore shared service agreements um when when we can and when it makes sense and I say when
it makes sense so that like our buildings and grounds team is not they're not over um overburdened um with doing additional um every year we do the school budget planning calendar this is actually um actually a requirement and qac for those of you that know what qac
is but um I usually give it to the board in the fall um people always say oh you do the budget once a year no it's I usually have at any point in time I've got three budgets that I'm dealing with if anybody who's heard me say is before I'm closing out last year working in this year and planning for next year which is why
every month there's some sort of budget activity on the administrative um staff calendar and we talk about it in the ad admin meetings and any of the admins in the room will agree um they they start early on their budgets um and they do that on purpose because we need as much time as we possibly can at the board
office and we know this um our revenues have to equal our expenses and Fred has said this before we get Revenue in a about five different places uh state aid has been Rel it's basically been flat um federal aid our local taxes tuition and
any miscellaneous income I can bring in from shared service um expenses biggest ones are salaries and benefits um obviously are supplies our curriculum materials our special ed out of District tuition and TR trans transportation and
uh utilities so all that as you know with your home budgets has to balance um so what do I know as of right now um so by law everybody knows you've heard me scream and yell um we're limited to a maximum of a 2% tax
increase without any kind of adjustment um that 2% is about 375,000 we are eligible for a healthare adjustment because as of right now our health care renewal is coming in at 7% which is great because I started at at 10 but then prescription is at
20 um State Health Benefit Plan prescription is coming in at 29 so we are better than the state plan but the prescription drug plans are just everybody's um renewals are ridiculously high this year so we will be generating a healthcare adjustment um and if
anybody's been reading the papers um everybody who's got psse and Atlantic City Electric or any the company starting July 1 even your home everybody's getting a 20% increase um in their utility starting in July 1 so all that's been factored into the budget as
of right now um so our costs are up about 1.8 million I do have a loss in tuition Revenue about 1.26 million over last year and that comes from a few things number one is the cost
per people went down so we charged our sending districts more money than it actually cost probably because we've been cutting and then we've been trying to defer some of or move some of our expenses to the federal funds so it's reduced our overall cost per pupil so we owe Oakland
Woodland money back in addition last year um the opposite happened so in last year's tuition Revenue we were actually getting additional monies back as a tuition adjustment um um and then there's a decrease in children coming to
the high school from Woodland so that as overall the tuition Revenue you'll see a decline of about 1.2 million on my spreadsheet that I'll show you in a second um as of right now I'm assuming Flat state aid but we did get a memo from the commissioner last week basically hinting
or warning of a possibility of a 3% decrease or basically saying and the way they word it is very difficult but they said no school School District should see more than a 3% decrease so they're limiting any cuts to school districts at
3% so I don't there and again there are going to be some school districts that are entitled to more money that are I'm assuming they're going to be limited on the other end um and then currently in the budget is the fix to the Irvine gym entrance but that is coming out of a
withdrawal from our capital reserve fund so that we can get that done be man if I jump in here sure the and the the memo from the state about the 3% cap in uh loss in state aid was on just a few of the main categories of state aid that
the state provides districts and so they specifically stated that there are few other categories of state aid that are in uh connected say with enrollment numbers that is not CA but at 3% loss so in fact districts can overall lose more
than 3% of their state aid next year but the the main categories are capped at 3% loss and I know this is a very hard to read spreadsheet so the this presentation will be on the website tomorrow um so
this is the last four years basically of my Revenue so I can kind of give you a little picture so in the upper right column you'll see that's my tuition Revenue it is going down by the 1.2 million that I previously said and on the bottom you will see the upside down of about $3 million I know we've been
talking 3 million but that's where that number comes from so this is all of the tuition for the last four years the spreadsheet actually is much larger it goes back to like 2008 but I had to condense it um so it really does tell a story when you go back that far um so all I do is I do our revenues and then
on the last line on the bottom I put in what the total expenses are and that's just nothing more of a process of me going into the budget software basically everything I've put in and the business office that's put in and the schools put in and look at what the total is and compare it to my revenues it's a very simple process but it's we could see
where we are upside down by $3 million next slide and then this was actually a good idea thank you Zakia um I know you've heard us talk about we're under adequacy below adequacy local fair share so this
is a page out of the 2425 School District budget and it shows what um our total adequacy budget should be or Trenton considers us what should be versus what we are meaning our
general fund tax levy and plus our Equalization Aid they compare those two numbers we're upside down by $3.6 million under adequacy and then the next slide again this will be on the website
but um this is a page out of our state school aid um file that I get so that I'll be getting an updated file on Thursday but this shows the local fair share for Collingswood versus our tax levy so the local fair share for
Collingswood is about $24 million according to Trenton this is for last school year 2425 budget uh versus our tax levy of 18 million so that's so when you hear us say we're upside down by 5 million this is where the five million comes from then you hear us say upside down by 3 million you know where the 3
million's coming from um but I wanted just to give you an idea these are actual State documents um and these are actually real documents go ahead next one thanks goe Roger to expand on what uh Miss Coleman
just talked about I I basically made this graph from several years of those exact documents uh that bethan was talking about and so what do you see here and and this I think is really helpful for us to understand where the district's been and and where it's going
and why I think I've heard often times the question of well well why is this just an issue now why wasn't this an issue you know back when I went to school or or or you know back when and when I look at when we look at this graph the yellow line at the very top that is the local fair share and so that
is how much money the state has determined that our community can support through looking at the property uh values and looking at local income and looking at our enoll how much money our local town can support in terms of
funding our schools the Blue Line second from the top is our local tax levies so that is how much money that we as a district are allowed to bring in in tax revenue every year and so if you can see that blue
line is growing just slightly every single year so we have kind of this upward little slope going on and that's reflective of basically that 2% cap right we can't just jack up how much taxes we get every single year because we're limited by the state and
what we'll see here is how much the local fair share has grown how much the state has calculated that we can pay as a community to provide education for our students how that has grown over the years and if you see that that little
pink sort of up and down arrow Gap in funding the distance between the yellow and the blue line is the gap in our funding because even though the state says hey we can pay this much which jail line us as a community we are only uh getting
putting in that much which is a blue line and that's all that the district can ask for this is I think really important to notice because pre pandemic we can see that that Gap it always existed but it was pretty small and as we get to the pandemic and
at more recently we can see that the growth in that local fair share is getting larger and larger but we as a school district because of laws cannot make uh cannot increase our taxes at that same rate because of the 2% cap
law the growth in local fair share is important too because it what it's based upon is uh the calculations of what the state views as the budget that we as a district need to be able to provide an adequate education for all of our
students and that local fair share right so they have this Ade adequacy budget which says this is how much money you need total to to give adequate education to all of your students well if this is how much you can give in your local fair share whatever is the remaining amount
is your state aid that's essentially what they say so as our local fair share grows our state aid should be decreasing the problem is that our tax revenue is not keeping up with that local fair share and in fact if you look at our state aid which is the red line
it's basically state flat for the last 10 years so even while the cost of educating our kids has grown even while our local tax levy has only grown slightly our state aid has stayed flat and in fact if you do the calculations we're getting about 2
million dollars of extra state aid this year that technically by the by their formula we shouldn't be getting and so that's why our current adequacy budget Gap is only about 3 million rather than the five million that that Gap is at the end I also want to mention the last line
which is the green line is the amount of excess Surplus that was available to the district at the beginning of of that school year so basically that's the money that that was saved in previous years that was rolled over available for the district to use to buffer costs and
what we see here is that as the the the Gap grow and as the pandemic hit our district had to use all excess Surplus and so any excess Surplus that was there before that could buffer the
Gap be from before is no longer there because we had to use it up to buffer the the the increased costs during the pandemic and to buffer the increase in a local fair share and that Gap in funding and so that's where we
are are now where we have a a growing local fair share where we cannot close that Gap because of laws surrounding how we can raise taxes our state funding is luckily staying flat so far but we don't really have any surplus because we've
had to use it up in in the previous years to make up that Gap as best as possible not going to go through this you've seen this before these are just a lot of the cost saving measures that we I don't want to say do do but we do do
um uh again we do a lot of Co-op purchasing a lot of shared services um shared services for trash removal with with um Oakland um we're in gifs and those gifs of course last year and I don't think we're getting refunds this
year but usually if you pay in with your premium um after it's audited if it's all not spent you get it back in the form of a rebate we haven't seen a rebate in a couple of years but these are all things we do to try to bring money back into the district next one and again um I've gone through this
before this is our just all the ways we've done some creative re revenues again uh we do a lot of shared services and every shared service agreement that I put out on the street I do put a small fee in there so that um this we're bringing money back into Collingswood every time we're sending somebody out to
help another District um and we do see in addition to Oakland and Woodland we do have about a dozen other children coming into Collingswood from other districts to participate in um our outstanding special ed programs in some of the schools what we don't know um the
governor's going to speak tomorrow afternoon um the link is on here if anybody's so inclined to watch it um what I also don't know is what's going to happen in Washington I think that's probably the after we get through March and April that's probably going to be
the another thing that's probably going to cause more gray hair on my head is just what's what's going to happen happened with the um Department of Education in Washington um um like I've said before um I have dollars set aside for all three units um going into the
next school year um and again what I don't know is between now and June my ability to squeeze a little money out of this year's budget to put back a surplus um if we have an additional any additional out of District placements um that pop up and they they do pop up
pretty frequently um and again um depending what happens with our $3 million upside down I call the upside down um and what happens with uh any state aid or lack thereof regarding um the state and federal um
we're going to have some program and per Personnel impacts that are going to have to be felt next one go ahead Roger this is yours so uh this was a slide that we presented presented during the February
10th meeting and this is the same slide as as previously that Dr presented which shows the increase in cost of Revenue over uh the last three years or last two years and then next year our estimated growth in in uh costs expenses and then
estimate growth in revenue and you can see basically because the blue bar is so much bigger than the the orange bar basically what that says is our costs are increasing faster than we can bring in Revenue remember our tax revenue is capped our ability to increase tax
revenue is capped at 2% barring a few exceptions like the healthcare exception that Miss Coleman spoke about earlier and so as a reminder the we've had to cut programming and also cut line items within our budget in the 20 through 24
school year uh last year in order to make it into this year we've we had to cut many line items and also so uh in order to close the remaining $1.4 million whole uh part ways with 21 teachers staff
administrators so this year this is the problem that we're facing is we're facing this this massive Gap where our budget is is very Bare Bones we've uh we we don't have that many places to uh be able to cut that does not directly
impact students and so one of the the things that we have to look through is how do we maintain a balanced budget which is required by law uh given that our revenues are are capped and our expenses keep on growing and that's part of the the major process
that that the board office will be going through in the next couple of months um so that I believe is the end of the presentation and I just wanted to end by saying this isn't a Collingswood specific problem um I've
been in contact with the neighboring districts right around here the Haden propers I guess you want to call it everybody around this area it's it's no surprise to me that we're basically all upside down by about the same dollar amount because we're all similarly sized
districts with we all all have like basically the same average salary increase we're all seeing the same increases in health care um so we're all you know some are better than others but we're all struggling with the upside down um I just came I went for a ba meeting last week and I sat with like
all of my bring Bas in this area and we are all upside down um and that's really not a surprise to me because you know the state hasn't been very generous with um suburban school districts with state aid and we've been holding it together with our Surplus um but again once's
it's once it's gone it's gone and it's gone and we have we're all struggling with the same um Run Runaway costs um that you know there's just no capping on so I just wanted to end with that I mean
I know this is like Doom and Gloom and I'm Debbie Downer but just this is not Collingswood specific this is every District in our surrounding area and I'm probably there's probably more across the state but I'm only concerned with our little area right here and we're all having the same problem right now right
and and this is because this is something that's facing a lot of districts within the state uh this is another reason that Dr Seltzer Miss Sherman and I went to the state uh the uh school funding Reform Act meeting held by the Department of Education back
in jary to get a CH to talk to and Advocate specifically to State policy makers about updating the school funding formula and the ways in which they fund schools to help us close these gaps M do you mind not also mentioning talking about the meeting
that you went to last week okay um I attended um a meeting with the New Jersey fair funding Collective it's actually spearheaded um by our neighbors in Haden Township by the board president there Kelly hkl who's done a lot of work with this and a lot of research and a
lot of advocacy um and you know not to you know belabor the point but every single District that was there mostly Camden County but not all Camden County um there was Lumberton there was someone from out Laurel there um there was even someone from lenpy but um I sat and
spoke at length with Haden Fields superintendent Chuck CLA um Haden townships um Dr fisicaro and the conversations that they're having are the exact same ones that we are having here they are all deeply concerned about
the sustainability of um our school districts many of them said that they felt a lot of pressure to regionalize um you know we are a smaller District than some of our um some of the ones up north and some of in Central Jersey um and many of them felt that
this was pressure from the state to regionalize um and combine um uh to make larger school districts um they were very hesitant to do so um we did speak with one assemblyman uh Cody Miller who is um from District Four right next door
to us in Gloucester um who talked about the best place to Advocate is um in addition to the Department of Education the actually the the general assembly and the legislators here because those are the ones who actually are making the funding formula those are the ones who
have the ability to change it um at a level that the Department of Education just kind of turns it out um but all of them it was surprising to hear you know a number of these districts um talk at this length and you know the fact that this was unsustainable just to you know
repeat what Dr McDow was saying seemed to be something that they were all reiterating some of them talked about their relationships with their municipalities particularly the use of pilot programs to help support school districts um M many of them said that they felt frustrated with their
municipalities in their hesitancy to commit some of that pilot money um all of them talked at length about the 2% uh uh cap um especially since the county average for teacher salary increases is
3.5% so the math just does not line up there's a number of districts um around the state that are still in negotiations with their teachers um Mount Laurel uh does not have a contract Bard in town does not have a contract and largely it's because of this inability to meet
that 3.5% effectively um and and so this is there are a number of other ideas but I think that the biggest thing that came from this is there's going to be a lot more pressure from districts on legislators and assembly men uh and
women um to uh start having these conversations at the local level as well now I'll add on I was actually reading a few articles earlier today and it it shows how this is unfortunately such a Statewide issue so I was reading chalkbeat.org
and they had an article on January 23rd 2025 talking about the South Brunswick school system and and there they quote they said the South Brunswick superintendent Scott fader said if we stay flat so no new state aid no new
federal funding nothing else and we maximize the tax levy impact most districts will be down somewhere between two and 4% of their operating budgets for the next school year and in that article first say South Brunswick district will be down by about 3 million in the next school Year's budget if all
funding remains flat fader said the loss could be as great as 8 million if Federal funding is cut and so I think this is the the fiscal reality that that we're unfortunately having to to deal with right now within South Jersey and within our our town and I think one of the the challenges for us will
definitely be to figure out how best to navigate uh this this coming budget cycle are there any I guess questions or or comments from board members um yeah so it it looks like this deficit has been
anticipated um so my question is why did this board not present a referendum for operational costs instead of capital Investments and we can say that capital Investments might help in five years but they're not going to help with the $3 million deficit that we have coming into
next year and we still would have had to let teachers go and programs cut and our taxes would still be increased so the fiscal your responsibility is concerning of why that was a priority and not the
operational costs yeah so I I so that I think is a is a very interesting question because one of the that relies on this assumption that we can go out to bond referendum or sorry to referendum to increase our operating
budget and that is not a given so last year Robinsville uh District in New Jersey went out for referendum to increase their operating budget they found a loophole in the in the
law that no other uh District or the seems like the Department of Education believes should uh should be there because when you go out for referendum to increase your
budget the uh the State and the law says that a district may not include the following types of programs or services in a separate proposal at special election programs and services required to meet the New Jersey student learning standards capital outlay projects necessary for health and safety programs
and services previously included in the pre-budget year except with approval by the county super executive superintendent so basically what we're saying is that this is not something that the Department of Education intends or the law intends for us to be able to do and so while Robinsville did it
you'll notice that not any other school districts are doing it because what we're waiting on is to see from the Department of Education what their reaction will be to Robinsville having found this and used this loophole uh this year when they when they released the St the state state
funding uh information you know that's one of the big fears that we've had that we actually discussed on the board which is if we were to do this and use this loophole would the state claw back funding from us because we circumvented their laws we're not sure the the county
superintendent the state the State Department of Education uh from minor saying they will not answer Miss Coleman when she's asked about this and so that's one of the the big pieces that we have to understand is that there's this assumption that we can just go out and raise money for our our budget just
willy-nilly and and we cannot now beyond that I do want to mention that the uh referendum I think it keeps on being brought up you know regardless of whether or not you agree with the plan or not School uh
building consolidation is a proven way in which to help costs and maintain costs and and lower structural deficits that we have uh within this District we see it in so many different places uh with within the state I mean Jackson
School District is talking about closing their middle school as reported in January 2025 to consolidate buildings to save cost Jefferson Township reported in 202 or closing an elementary school to save cost watan Hills Regional Central Regional Walk Hill Regional Holland Township Logan Township were all awarded
grants by the state to explore consolidation because the consolidation of buildings is a surf fired way to help reduce overhead costs if we had the ability to consolidate buildings if we had the
ability then to also say sell Garfield as was planned in the referendum that would have given us some level of stop Gap ability and flexibility that we have none of now that could have potentially helped us get to a stop at situation where we can look at when our
current debt rolls off in 2030 or 2031 but again we have none of that flexibility now and so as I understand that that folks are are wondering well why didn't we go out for a referendum uh to up up our operating budget in uh instead of go out for a uh Bond reform
to help our Capital Improvements well because one one we don't know that if we could and two because our Capital Improvements are important at this point now because we have no flexibility if the roof fails on one of our 100y old plus buildings that money comes out of
our operating budget there is no money hidden anywhere that will take that directly comes out of the money that must be used to educate our students when I say there's no flexibility now that's what I mean that is the danger
that we are facing and that's something that that this board made very clear you know this is also something that the the the current budget uh shortfall yes it has been anticipated and this board has been and this District uh have been doing work to
address this for years now as Dr M said in his May 2021 90-day entry plan summary which is available on uh the district website on page 14 he writes specifically as a school Community we must confront the triple squeeze
unsustainable cost structures that increase automatically and take funds away from improving instructions like deferred Building Maintenance special education placements uh cost of benefits two higher uh bar for student learning and great greater student needs which require new strategies and new
Investments and three flat or decreasing Revenue declining local state and federal funding decreased enrollment this was in May 2021 that that Dr Mal let our community let us know about this it May in March
28th 2022 we had a 4-Hour board meeting to discuss the updated budgeting process right which was put in place as reported by the retrospect quote by what Dr Mall said make sure that every available dollar based on level of funding reaches the students and this budgeting process
helped the district identify pockets of inefficiency right this is reported in April 2022 right now I went back and looked at this meeting because there was a four-hour meeting with public comments and and this this budget process right
that 4-Hour meeting we had many public comments many of them very negative about this process and and one of the comments I kind of want to bring up that I I looked through one of the community members said you know I am also kind of concerned that we're talking about
scarcity in a time of Plenty we started the meeting saying we have $1.6 million surplus and now we're talking about scarcity that was the reaction that that our superintendent our district got when we were attempting to address the forthcoming budget deficit and so when
we when we look I just want to be very clear yes in 2122 we had a $1.6 million surplus but we knew that local fair share would be growing we knew that the structural uh Bud budget deficit was
there and we were addressing this issue even though it is a hard issue to address when we start the year with $1.6 million worth of surplus so this has been something that we have addressed for years we've gotten
grant funding to bring in to increase our our school uh budget to Inc to increase Services uh for our kids at the same time we've heard that grant funding isn't appropriate to to fund staff because it's not
permanent in the uh May 8th 2023 budget meeting or sorry 2023 budget meeting so the the next year's budget meeting um we had to cut freshman sports teams we had to reduce line item budgets uh we also increased Grant revenue and
crucially we didn't hire to fill uh retired and vacant teacher positions that were not educationally needed because we had those classes covered and at the same time we were told uh by some folks in
the public that our actions were reprehensible we didn't renew the uh uh school aison officer uh when he left and that directly saved student facing position the next this this current school year right in this current school year
we have 20 administrators total while in 2018 2019 we had we have 23 administrators total so we've even decreased our our Administration to save costs I say all this to say that this is
this structural deficit has been an issue that this board and and this District have been addressing for years that our superintendent has been addressing for years even when it's been hard to even when it's been difficult to when folks tell us that it is the wrong
thing to do so so I I just want to make that clear when we say hey we have this coming Gap the reason why we passed this this resolution last board meeting to ask for additional funding from the
burrow is because we have no other choice we have no other choice at this point other than to lose services and programming for our students we need a structural change and that's really important for for us for
us to keep in mind so Roger um I want to be mindful of the people that are here and their time and and um and move on to public comment soon as soon as we can but I wanted to get a sense of um I know Sarah you mentioned that there is some pressure to regionalize right among
feeling amongst other districts are feeling that pressure too have there been any discussions about region Regional regionalization regionalization because we can't put we can only put so much of a a burden on our community in terms of funding our school districts and I think it would be helpful to break
down um the local fair share versus the local tax level because I feel like those numbers are very difficult for people to understand in general you know including myself in terms of how that how that happens in terms of what the state determines what our local fair share is and why we're not necessarily
getting that we're only able to increase our taxes by 2% the numbers are just I mean you know they don't add up but to us to try to understand that is really complex because we're not budget people so I guess my first question is has there been any talk of regionalizing and
um what does that look like and uh my second question is to address those two things um I haven't heard any discussions about regionalization I do know in the accountability regulations um and I'm not 100% accurate about 90% I
believe it's the job of the C uh County Superintendent to identify those districts that they recommend for possible regionalization and they're supposed to set up the meetings and do a report and all that and to my knowledge
that hasn't happened and nobody's reached out to us on that and as far as local fair share and it's in its simplest sense local fair share is what Trenton thinks you should be paying it's based on your tax base in town right it's based on I guess the income of your
citizens and your property values and they get all that from um the treasury and the Department of Community Affairs they they they dump all that data and they say callings with this is what you should be paying that's your local fair share uh it in no way is realistic to
what any school district in the state of New Jersey receives but they use that number against you in the state funding formula right they back everything out of that number and what's left is what you get in state aid it's it's it's asinine but it's just that it's that
it's just how they do it um our tax levies is about the 18 point whatever million dollars um so that that's actually what you pay um and the the differ is what we can't I would love to be able to reach
because we could solve all of our problems and it would just be it would just be wonderful um but with a 2% property tax cap thanks to Governor Christie although it's great our property taxes have been pretty stable in the state of New Jersey um I can never catch that local fair share and
every year when they get do the state aid um announcement and they give and they send out the printouts um that number is ever increasing because as you know like stuff never goes down it just always goes up so I can't I can't chase it at this point like we are never going to
catch that number so that's kind of where the numbers what they mean so I guess I'm gonna say rather than ask folks for more can we have a budget that is not balanced so we can get what we there were expecting because
I think there's a certain point where we need to show our hand we have squirel we have balanced we have moved we're using grants from a government that frankly does not believe in investing in education and so at this point what is the signal we plan to give that the money that they're calculating on needs
to flow downhill because I do not think it is prudent to ask the community that is already based on valuation giving plenty to ask for more rather is it to push the state to release what has been
given to them and so I would what is it going to take for us to tip the hand right I would agree it would be egregious to hope it's going to work because clearly that's not working but I don't think it is prudent to go say please give me more when we clearly see
that the money is somewhere it is just not here am I miss interpreting these graphs I so I'd like to jump in to mention that there's there's an overall State funding issue as well that that we have to be aware of right and so Frankly Speaking what these graphs say is that
as a community we can pay more and and not only that but that we we should be paying more and investing more within our schools but I also want to keep in mind this is why there's so much nervousness uh at the I think board and District level about the
upcoming uh state aid numbers back in October the I believe the uh the governor told all of the divisions of the state to cut their budgets by 5% right this year the state is running
in a deficit and their their Surplus is shrinking in the next couple coming years there will be several um uh tax uh rebate and and uh programs that are are coming onto the books at the state level that will further increase that deficit
and so what I'm trying to say is the money is not anywhere and we legally cannot by law have a a a budget in the deficit we must have a balanced
budget point I'm pick you back sorry yeah let me just put a period to the under Roger statement um yeah legally I can't it's my certificate um love yall but no um it's my license on the line but how do we
change it it's a law it's the 2% law it's I've been screaming for years at the state level they gota it we've been capped at 2% since 2008 anybody who goes to the grocery store knows that the cost of inflation is above 2% I mean at a minimum they
need to change that law so that the the increase in our taxes is at least commensurate with like the cost of living adjustments that you know we're paying our staff I mean for crying out loud like there needs to be some method to the madness and it needs to make
sense just picking an arbitrary 2% out of the air and then keeping it that way for a dozen years or more just doesn't seem to make sense Statewide yet did great it kind of leveled off you new our rep in New Jersey for having high
property taxes not that much because we're still pretty ranked pretty high but um it it's just brought this problem on Suburban school districts so it's having been around the block a couple times there's two things change the
law and this is probably going to make it to the papers Sue this date I mean the Abbot districts did it 30 years ago I don't know what else to do because it seems to when the lawsuits happened with the Abbot districts which were the most urban districts that got a bul of the state aid back in the early
2000s um Suburban districts were fine right because like our taxes weren't capped so we could just ask what we needed for and if it went down it went to the burrow and the bureau redlined a few things and everybody was happy and then we were capped at 4% and then 2% and now you've got this it kind of it
went like this way so now we can't keep up with the money and the spending at the urban districts because we just don't have it locally so it this P the pendulum has swung completely in the opposite direction um again in every CH
it's it's just it's just they need to fix how they look at how we pay for Education really is what it is so I just um wanted to ask something on behalf of um in case anybody in the public is wondering this we just had a reassessment in town and most of our taxes went up I know mine went up
considerably um and you know people that appealed unless it's like a more than 15% difference it's not going to make much of an impact on your on your taxes so does that help us in any way share reform no this is yeah no that was factored in to the calculation because
it evened out so like people who had been overpaying taxes their taxes went down so yeah so that was a re that was a revenue neutral reassessment right um sorry just the other point that I do want to make too is we are living in a
reality where we haven't passed a facilities referendum in over decade decade plus and 20 years um we have old buildings those are costs that aren't going to go away like we do we are going to have to deal with them and as Roger
said I hope that we can make it until the point where the the debt falls off and we can make some of these more that will be much more pressing in four or five years um our neighboring districts passed referendums for considerable
amounts while they were facing these same deficits if not more um they were able to go to their communities and say these are things that they need these are our kids need we these are the buildings and the opportunities this is what it costs um I think we have to be
very realistic about the fact that the costs are going up we want these things for our kids and and these opportunities then as a community we need to come together to be able to pay for them is there a way that we can re um address like the uh School alignment issue that
we were kind of tossing around with the referendum and how that would sort of have a partial impact is there a way to revisit that piece of it in terms of keeping the buildings that we have and talking about you know School alignment and moving into grade level schools so we we could but again that
the one of the big issues is that we don't have a a compliant facility so once we start doing grade level schools with what we have then what about the students who can't get into the the buildings that we have on top of that that does not address the fact that we have three elementary schools which are over 100
years old that risk still stays there I mean it's the question and I think the answer is and I appreciate the clarification so the money's not there there's no it's it's okay got it and um in terms of our expense at this point is
it even possible to think of consolidation to relieve the pressure of expense right the sheer facility pressure right there is a pressure it isn't insignificant I just I'm I frankly am not saying that I know where any of that would go but is that even a
possibility to make such a huge adjustment to help offset the expense because that's that is how extreme these like right B what I'm understanding to fill this Gap those are the kind of conversations this board
will need to be Happ right so I want to be really prudent the first question like we first started out with like we we went here and didn't do that so but now this board will have to reconcile do we go as far as trying to consolidate schools to relieve expenses to try to
make this budget balanced the issue as I see it um and I'll let Roger Dr it it's space like our our elementaries are all tiny so I would like to say yes yeah let's just but they're itty bitty little elementary
schools with small classes so I don't we're just maxed out on space I mean um kids are getting OT and PT and all their services all over the place because we're just out of space and some of the buildings have um the classrooms are like smaller than the normal classroom
even so I don't even know if we could place more children in there um so I was kind of part of like when we were coming up at the bond referendum that's like we're just we're just space at the elementary level um so I don't I don't think that's a fix this
time I mean we just don't have the swing space to put extra to put kids in just don't have it some of the lawsuits happening at the state level currently like Jackson School District is over having to close schools and the money that they're losing out in the State uh you look at like Tom's Rivers and others
like yeah closing or consolidating schools and they're facing gaps that I mean comparatively who are feeling the same way but are much much bigger there was talk at the uh Fair funding Collective about from especially from the assembly men about um us how the
legislature has been floating more financial incentives to consolidate and regionalize um and that is geared specifically towards smaller districts particularly like ours um and in Camy County um many of our neighbors were
really concerned about what that would look like terms of home rule where the schools would actually be but many suspected that this would be in the future that there will be actual Financial incentives for uh region for districts to consolidate so let me let
me provide some clarity on the regionalization conversation and so it goes back to an original proposal launched by Steve Sweeney they ran him out on a rail in terms of uh his reelection and so what was The Proposal that was on the on the books was a 1.1
billion doll overall uh cost savings for regionalization school districts that were affected so New Jersey in its home rule interpretation is over subscribed in terms of school districts and so just so that you understand the comparison in terms of land mass and total student population New Jersey is on par with
Virginia and North Carolina North Carolina has 125 school districts Virginia has 132 school districts New Jersey has 660 school districts same number of kids kids and so it's uh the challenge is that there are some school
districts in New Jersey that uh have no students there are some school districts in New Jersey that have no buildings um but they all have boards they all have superintendents and they all have operational expenses and they all have the ability to tax local citizenry and
so when we talk about to our our level of understanding of regionalization school districts that qualify for regionalization are are your K3 school districts your K8 school districts and so any school district that is not a k
through 12 operating District are the are the districts that are in the discussion for regionalization of which Collingswood would not qualify you could say that we are circumventing the regionalization conversation because Collingswood by itself is a K12 District
but in partnership with Oaky that's a a degree of regionalization and then also in partnership with land which is a K8 is also regionalization and so from a County's perspective we're already regionalized um I think it's also important when we're talking about bandwidth and capacity we have been over
subscribed um or projected to be over subscribed uh uh for the last uh since 2018 2019 all the way out through 2029 and that did not take into consideration preschool and so what we have seen is that we have almost 200 students in
preschool we were over subscribed in 2019 without using preschool numbers and the reason why we have to rent space in order to provide preschool services at multiple locations um with our fourth rental property being uh opened in
September is because we're just out of space and so we have been over subscribed in elementary by almost 300 students for many many years there is a reason why they do not build schools the size of the ones that we have now is because economically speaking it's it's
not efficient and that's all paid for by the preschool Grant right all the renting of the buildings and all those costs included yes I just want to ask another practical question I know a few weeks ago we talked about scheduling and we talked about all these opportunities that the kids were going to have in terms of scheduling and now here we are
just a few weeks later talking about this massive budget crisis and potentially not offering those programs that we had said we were going to offer um how does that impact the staff and the counseling department that's actually doing the scheduling like when are they going to know what what their plan looks like in terms of being able
to offer those courses and do all that work to get those students in those schedules and then not have to worry about changing all that to put all that stress on them so that might be a question for you mark well let me I'm I'm I'm I'm actually gonna answer that um the reality is we C we cannot we're
unable to answer that right now and I think that I think it goes without saying is is that uh the chaos coming from Washington DC has introduced variables that no one anticipated and so we currently receive a little over $5 million per year in federal funding all
of that is potentially uh at risk um that is not something that any of us on this de anyone in the crowd anyone in this town could have anticipated also uh the the conversation that we've been trying to have is what
the state constitutes a thorough and efficient education versus what those of us who have made the conscious decision to buy homes and move to Collingswood raise our children here myself included I have a preschooler and a second grader
I live here too I'm a taxpayer I'm a parent I have skin in the game we all moved here for a reason because we wanted robust services and and offerings for our children however that is not what the state considers a thorough and efficient education and so uh at the end
of the day graduation requirements take precedent they they rule the day okay uh making sure that student IEPs and uh uh ser and appropriate academic services are delivered those also take priority
when we talk about uh painful Cuts it's all of the things that are not technically required and that is going to take a much longer conversation that has to include schools and so we're not able to answer that question today nor will we be able to answer it on Thursday
until we go line by line um School byol school so that we can better understand what's the impact of said decisions after we find out what the dollar amounts that are coming in from the state and hopefully uh no uh reductions
to Federal funding so I think my question is more towards um what the parents might expect to uh expect to know in terms of like what the scheduling process looks like when does that process start versus when will we know the information that we have to provide to them so high school parents should are already they're in the
process and so the high school is they're going through course requests students are selecting uh what they desire um and the school process is unchanged so we've not given the school any indication to change their process uh we do believe that student voice
should drive what is offered um and so we will try to the best of our ability to offer what kids are asking for um so to move the conversation maybe a little bit forward um obiously advocacy at the state level is extremely important and thank you so much for the work that you've been doing but
unfortunately that's not going to um be realized in time for our very serious deadlines that are coming up um so as you keep saying Thursday the numbers come out March 10th we have our budgetary meeting and at that point there needs to be uh a number given to the county correct uh so considering
that we um had a very largely publicized meeting two weeks ago to give an ask to the burough where do we stand on that as of now and what uh you know I I have seen obviously correspondents um but you know where are we in making this happen
because it sounds like the burrow has uh been very vocal about being willing to collaborate so what are we still waiting for and uh when can all board members be involved in uh whatever this process is going to look like yeah so the we're waiting on word from the burrow on and
the Commissioners on on what uh they are are willing to commit to additional funding for the schools isn't there additional documentation that they're asking for where where are we in that process yeah so the the letters that I think you were talking about which are are published on
the bur's website uh the Commissioners uh have asked for um our working documents and many internal documents that are protected as internal documents um uh and some of them are also protected as confidential negotiations
data documents um they're also asking for things like our uh classroom size counts uh you know and our our daily schedule for for uh the schools um the thing is that those documents are not
needed to understand at all the current situation uh all of this information right right here is all from public documentation so one of those things where one of the things that that uh Dr Sals and I wrote back when when was that hey look these
are internal documents that that are protected documents for the District administration uh and they are not needed to understand sitation which is what uh part of what the uh commissioner said it was need needed for I guess I just want to make sure I'm
really clear I think we can all agree that we don't need the buau to help us with school operations and bu planning so I we're trying to draw the line on what has to be is necessary and it's publicly available and in terms of next steps we're waiting to hear around what
is the response to the same information the state gets the federal government gets they're able to use it to help us understand funding and we're still waiting for a response and we know that our deadline is the 10th of March correct so on February 7th the first
letter that went out um it was signed and it stated that you know the Boe is eager to begin discussions with the barau about how we can partner to address the present Financial reality I'm a little confused on what level this could be considered a partnership um our
elected officials including everybody here at this table is responsible uh for communicating with our community um and the Commissioners have a responsibility to ensure that our taxes are not increased without a thorough review or where our money is going so simply
giving the district um $3 million is you know it sets a pretty terrible precedent for our town and we don't want to live in a town that drastically raises taxes with no uh accountability or transparency so I have a couple of questions of why we're refusing to be
transparent with our community and I do understand that some of those documents are you know deliberative processed documents and I would encourage us to maybe wouldn't it be helpful to deliberate some of those line items
together um so I'm I I am a little confused and again I think we kind of are gaslighting the um the community by saying that these documents are not necessary for the Commissioners to determine what funding from the Barrow uh we committing to the schools so so I
like address who is who is this final decision lay with because it it isn't a conversation between all of us um so who is that final person that's saying no we won't release these and also can we releas and
redact it's me so you're okay there are let me let me let me be very clear because I think that we're conflating the issues there are two Executives in Collingswood two there is the mayor and there is the superintendent and so a degree of uh
Mutual uh respect and parity uh is important and so the conversation around budget is not a new one we've been having quote unquote pick up the phone and call me conversations for four years and so let's not continue to tiptoe around the 800 PB gorilla or the
elephant that's in the room we've had these discussions informally for four years this has been a problem for 10 years in every other municipality in this region superintendent boards Mayors
bureaus they all work collaboratively in order to make sure that uh the schools and the children and the families they have with they need it is a uh fact not fiction it is publicly available information and we have 10 plus years of
information posted publicly on our website that 83% of our of the budget uh that the state believes that we should have is what we've been operating when our neighbors are between 96 and 120% of what the state says that's a
fact and so for us to continue to tiptoe around the issues I think is disingenuous and and respectfully uh I think that in terms of the public information we as a district have not
disrespected uh any entity and say uh show me your books we don't believe that you are telling the truth and we are asking for the same degree of respect I'd also like to jump in and and mentioned that there there's this I think conception that that has been
stated that the burrow would be giving the district $3 million and and just blind that there's just no accountability at all for what that money is done for no the accountability structure is here that money goes to the district KS would vote for this
board that is the accountability structure for how the money the district spends is spent so when we talk about conflating things the the bur let's be very clear the burrow the Commissioners are not elected to to
administer the schools so if we were to go line by line with administers who uh who aren't even school officials or School experts to say oh you know what this
class size should be this that class class SI should be this this teacher should stay this teacher should go that doesn't make any sense this is why even the board of education we are not allowed to administer schools we're here
to oversee the schools because the school professionals that we have our superintendent our business administrator our director of curriculum are the educational experts with Decades of experience here to help administer
schools and so this is one of those things where I I just want to peel back and and say I think there's this idea as if it's reasonable for us for folks to say um our business office apparently isn't doing their job
and and they're not budgeting or or finding the savings where they can be and yet we have one of the best business admin administrators in the entire State over 34 years of public and
private accounting experience right number of awards is is a it teaches for the New Jersey uh School uh the school business administration organization is called by other business
administrators in the area to ask for help on their budgets we have an assistant business administrator who what has years of experience as a math teacher and
has seven plus years as experience as a business administrator in different towns in including as a business administrator for haddenfield so so when we're saying hey we need the you know there should be some other folks that come in and and
look at the books no we have the local experience here that is necessary to understand our local context and what uh how to use our our our budget and I think we need to be very clear clear that the schools administer
schools what we have asked of of the bur and why we have come to the Bur is because the bur the Commissioners they govern the taxation model and so we have come to ask them to use their governance there to
assist the board and so I I want to be very clear there that that there there needs to be that distinction and that is why our ask is what it is and I just want to be clear to make sure I understand this Roger that you know our ask that we approved unanimously in
our resolution doesn't necessarily say where we're asking the burrow to come up with the three million right we're not necessarily saying it has to come through an increase in taxes right because you were talking about a taxation model we're not experts at all
in taxation models or in allocation or anything like that right so it doesn't we're just saying this is is what we need we're not seeing exactly where it has to come from right and so the the resolution itself does talk about increasing taxes and that that's because that's one of the places that we
identified there is capacity like there is the stated ability to be able to increase taxes by $3 million to provide the district with $3 million of additional funding however uh as you said you know as you know we know that we are not and nor is anyone here in the
district uh an expert in burough financing right and so if the burrow uh is able to use use their experts to go through their budget and to go through their allocations and to find out hey how can we provide this amount of funding at uh without raising taxes or
with a lower tax raise then I am 100% confident that all of us here would appreciate that and and the entire town would appreciate that um so so for sure absolutely it doesn't necessarily have to be tax RIS but that that is something that the commissioners um I believe are
you know hopefully deep in trying to figure out and and that is what we are waiting for from from the Commissioners is their word on terms of what uh they are are willing to provide and commit to our schools can I just ask go so a resolution that is asking can
you within your current perview I find three million is um if that is not tenable I guess I'm trying to make sure that I'm leaving this conversation clear that if that
perhaps as proposed by another member of this board that we would then go to the community with a referendum for that money if the burrow was unable to right so I I just want to make sure I'm I'm understanding the conversation we are having here this evening we have several
of us who are are we is the resolution in lie of going for a reference and if we cannot get a response by what date I think we would like better Clarity on we would then meet to determine what our next steps are so so to to be to be uh
clear the the there is like the uh Commissioners are able to raise $3 million in taxes and provide them to the schools I just want to be very clear that is doable all right um now in terms of hey if if this funding is not uh
provided to the district what would happen so you know on Thursday the state comes out with their state aid numbers and that will give us a little bit of indication into whether or not the Robinsville scenario which we've talked about before AKA raising uh doing a referendum to raise the operating budget
for our district is acceptable by the state right and if it is I think you will see a rash of school districts across the state doing so and the first time the earliest time that we can do so would be September right which means
that currently uh what our business office has to operate under is the uh uh current situation which is that we are likely seeing unless we see a miracle from the state likely seeing a several million dollar budget Gap that has to be closed and so a referendum in September
would not help that and would currently like would lead to the cuts for next year so one of the things that I really want to mention here is that uh beyond that this is what we asked essentially is Robinsville right it's just right it's just that it
can give us that this impact now it doesn't circumvent any laws um and so we don't draw the IR of Department of Education uh and Al honestly this also doesn't cost the the district money of having to um fund a special election for it um I would just like to and obviously
since that is the reality that we we are faced with this extremely close um deadline um what I would like to ask again because you're right we did unanimously pass a resolution and we all believed in that resolution but I I know I asked what kind of collaboration we're
talking about what kind of communication will there be inperson meetings that everybody can take advantage of so you know those affirmative answers coming hold on those affirmative answers coming from you is definitely what led me to say yes this sounds like a good idea so
I am simply saying and I'm I'm not sure why any kind of questioning means any kind of casting any kind of um you know disparaging uh commentary on Miss Coleman or anything like that certainly not what anybody's talking about I'm simply saying that I think having more of a collaboration if emails back and
forth and we're waiting and the clock is ticking and we're very worried about as you know you mentioned several weeks ago this five alarm fire could we perhaps have more of a maybe sit down not to I mean my impression isn't okay let's go over the books and see what you're doing
wrong it's hey let's go over and see what kind of cost-saving measures can we get into I've heard shared services in transportation thrown around around so it seems like there are some ideas out there and I am simply suggesting that perhaps some in-person meetings would be productive considering this deadline
that is bloming so I'd like to mention so the the cost savings question in terms of shared services you know the transportation piece I think is a is a big piece that uh that we've talked about has been uh rising over the years right um and I think we're projecting
what over a million dollars potentially next year in terms of of that so if were to eliminate all of our transportation we' still have a massive Gap but even then most of our transportation is through shared
services through the the camon County Educational Services uh which it which already bids out on behalf of multiple school districts in order to get us the best possible price for transportation of our
kids with special needs and and this transation is is very very uh um it's very specific you know some of these students need nurses and so forth right and so one of the things that that I want to say here is that yeah sure sure I mean if if their ideas
great but in terms of economies of scale understand that that the district's budget is twice the size of the Burrows so in terms of economies of scale we have the economies of scale here and we have the educational professionals and the connections to get
those shared services as best as possible you know in in July um part of the discussions with uh the Commissioners about the referendum we we asked them uh uh to help us with Transportation right and so if they would like to spin up a a transportation
company uh and help us uh with with with transporting uh not our kids with special needs but say for athletics then then sure right but no proposal as such has been offered what I'm curious about uh Miss molski is what like what dis what talk what
what meeting what discussions um what is it that you uh would like to discuss um with the Commissioners that hasn't been discussed here or via the resolution or over the emails that that uh we have sent and that are public and transparent for the uh
Community would I interject I think that the ask is that right we are all seeing there communication and the question and I I sit in a space of to set up a meeting that everybody doesn't come to may not be fruitful but how do we get a conversation in place and allow those
who are able to join to join and I and that's a Next Step that is maybe a one-sided olive branch of date time and show up and that it is open for everyone in this board to participate is what I'm
hearing um I I think we are working to make sure as a board we all are speaking in one voice that that that we are here for the best interest of our students and want to be able to see have that conversation face to face
um and that's the piece I will say in what I've seen I have not seen that any message is let's meet right I haven't seen that it's more of here's the list of things I need and rather than yes let's have a conversation that is not what I'm seeing coming back to us and so
I think I want to just make sure that I'm really clear if I've missed the memo I cannot keep up with all of them between all of the the roles that I have but what I'm reading very clearly is we are giving then it's not enough we're giving then it's not enough and now I
think we're asking let's give one more good try and say let's sit down and look at each other with the respect and dignity of humans to have a conversation for the betterment of the children in this community and that's what I think I'm hearing that will help all of us
move to The Next Step I'm certainly not suggesting that we need to come with more than what we have but let's offer to meet and call that what we've done we can put on the record we try to sit at the table to have this conversation and then move forward and I want I want
to I also want to be very very clear that in such a a meeting uh we cannot actually have the full board there unless were a a public meeting and so that necessarily is uh one of the one of the constraints so when there's a
question about well can we have the full board we cannot unless it is a a public meeting so I will defer my seat to my peers to go because I I'm assuming the bur would be under the same restrictions right yeah I'm not I a quorum is for them there's only three of I I think we can appreciate and let me modify a
quorum will be present and those who are or are not in part of less than will be present and allowing those to pick right like those on the finance committee probably need to step aside because we're in the me weeds so let's just offer that those who want to be in those conversations and can help them move
forward can help us move them forward so if you can please right like I heard some people have his phone number and his phone please help us get everybody at the table that is the ask and one of the things that that I want to be very clear about is uh in the
end we must close this this budget Gap right or else there will be very real consequences that are very negative for for our students um and and one of the reason why we have this resolution is because the uh getting additional
funding from the buau is frankly one of the only ways possible that that we can right now to close close that budget Gap all right seeing as there there is no other comments or discussion um I think I'll take a motion to close
Committee of the whole so moved uh and a second uh all those in favor all right moving on to section five future dates and miscellaneous information uh so see item 5.01 is important dates I do want to mention a
few things here because uh I think definitely a lot of community members will want to uh come and maybe make make their voices be heard especially because of the uh the budgeting um I think challenge that that we're facing so uh
we have a special board meeting on March 10th and that will be when uh we have to uh introduce and submit our preliminary budget for 2025 26 to the county executive superintend
um uh for the next uh year and then that budget will be fully passed later in April but it will uh that is the first step um and that has to be a balanced budget uh and then I also mention that we have a uh board round table on March
13th that's a Thursday uh from 6:30 pm. to 7:45 p.m at the kwood Library community room and then we'll also have another uh board meeting at the end of the month on March 24th um okay so section six routine
business item 6.01 approval of minutes uh can I get a motion to approve the minutes of the January 27th 2025 regular board meeting the February 1st 2025 board retreat and the February 10th 2025 special meeting so moved second uh all is this all fa all
in favor awesome okay so now we are uh to section seven uh the first section for public comments give me one second here okay um the purpose for this public comment section is to discuss items listed on the agenda additional more
General comments may be made later in the meeting the public is reminded that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints should first go through appropriate staff members and administrators the intent of public comment is to give the community opportunity to provide feedback to the board we will be actively listening and taking notes so that we can take all
that being said into consideration if appropriate clarifying comments may be made by the board president after a public comment or at the end of public comments for more detailed responses to concerns communication may go out later in the week by the appropriate staff members or administrators or be discussed by the board during future
committee meetings members of the public are welcome to speak and expect to do so with the utmost sensitivity for everyone in attendance um In fairness to all who wish to speak there's a strict three limit uh three minute time limit per person during public comment and Miss Coleman will assist by keeping time please remember to state your name and
and address for the record good evening my name is Mr Goldberg and I'm speaking today on behalf of the district music teachers Miss Carlson Mr gross Mr Hartong miss incasso and miss lwig and myself it is our mission to provide every student the opportunity to grow through a
highquality ability appropriate universally accessible music education that inspires the continuing study of Music in March the Collingswood music department is back in Action both the high school and middle school choirs will be putting on their midyear Coral concerts afterwards Middle School choir
will take their act over to Rowan University to compete in the njmea coral Festival Collingswood High School band and Orchestra have big plans at Philadelphia's prestigious Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts the band program then comes back home to serve our own
Community performing at the Collingswood Manor fifth grade families can look forward to the side by-side instrumental music Workshop where our more experienced students from the secondary program get to help our elementary schoolers more successfully transition
to the middle school last but not least come see this year's High School Musical Little Shop of Horrors tickets on sale now at calls theater.com c o l LS t h a t.com third fourth and fifth graders get
a sneak preview of the show as we take a field trip over to the auditorium the morning morning of opening night though these events are an important staple of any high-quality music program much of the impact of Music happens behind the scenes in music class every day every
day students learn to work together to create something greater than themselves they learn to encourage each other and motivate themselves towards a common goal the skills learned in music class self-awareness self-management social awareness relationship skills and responsible decision-making are the
skills students take with them to lead healthy and successful lives in any career from kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade music teaches students the best of what Humanity has to offer and what it means to be the best human they can be in general education classrooms
modernizing districts are pushing to incorporate social and emotional learning or seel into the curriculum based on overwhelming research that proves Seal's profound impact well music teachers have known this for decades which is why the Arts the original seal
continue to be a model for the many other aspects of schooling thank you for your time Rebecca Mueller 509 Dwight Avenue and secondary mtss coach under the wellness center trauma informed care Grant I want to start off in stating that I believe
in public schools and we need to start using the talent in the room those who work behind the scenes to uplift our Stu students instructional assistants for example are often unappreciated despite their qualifications many hold substitute
Sears and even master's degree in other fields let's get cre creative and start to use the people we currently have take Sam moer she stepped up to teach high school math class that had been without a teacher walking into a disorganized
classro with no supplies and disengaged students who had seen a rotating door of sub substitutes through her dedication she revitalized that classroom yet today she once again only serves as an educ educational assistance evidence that we
are under utilizing passionate and capable individuals we must support those that care about our community and help to find ways to get them to become C certified additionally our culture climate Grant which has been instrumental in fostering student
relationships is set to expire on Fe February 28th as a result we stand to lose three key individuals who have made an incredible impact Miss Kelly has not only Built connections with students but has also provided them with essential resources food coats hygiene products
and most importantly care the people who do this critical work deserve some stability and we need to find a way to ensure their continued presence in our our schools furthermore when we find a Spanish-speaking educator we must retain
them to support her diverse student body last year we lost Shan and capraro when the seal position was cut she played a crucial role in connecting families to the school and organizing community building activities such as this lovely
inclusion poster that we continue to to have um these roles are essential and not Expendable here at Collingswood our teachers have bleeding hearts they work tirelessly to do right by the Stu students but we can't continue to put
Band-Aids on a hemorrhaging wound it's time to stop the bleeding we must invest in retaining the people we currently have and ensure that they can Thrive this message is for our new board I want to be a part of a district that is strong enough to weather the CH
challenge a place where I can confidently send my own children let's take the necessary steps so that we cannot so that we don't face the bigger challenges of tomorrow we need to do this for for the future of our children and the nation and those depend on the
choices we make today please continue to keep this in your hearts and Minds thank you hi I'm Karen tan you're English teacher at the high school and communication is built on trust okay students trust me I trust them and when
that trust is fractured we have to do something to rebuild it and I often tell students who make bad choices that the way we build rebuild trust is that you have to be really open with me because if you betrayed my trust I
now have to see evidence that you're trying to change that whether it's intentional or not this board has lost the trust of the community little things like we had this wonderful presentation about the climate and culture team given
tonight and yet no one said that they're all going away on February 28th that builds distrust okay we sat here two meetings ago and there was misinformation on the slide about courses and the only reason
I knew that they were wrong because they were the courses that I taught and so I followed the train of command I went to my boss and I said that's inaccurate he said I know we have no intention of doing that and yet the very next night the same slide was shown at the public
library that erodes the trust between the board and the community and that is why I think the Barrow they don't want to micromanage you but they're not sure about the information that you put on
slides and that you say in presentations is correct and that's my concern that that we're sitting here and we have a state obligation to provide thorough and Effective
Education but if we're not going to get that money from the burrow that all goes away okay there's no way the school can survive losing the same amount of people we lost the last time we were a million dollars
short we're all going to have to open our books and we're all going to have to share everything if we want to all make it out the other side thank you very much good evening um Kristen Tash Middle School I'm also the ca early career
members chair I have explained to you before that one of my responsibilities in that role is to help new Staff feel welcomed when they come into our district this has been a challenge because when new staff arrive they're seeing more and more people leave since
February of 2021 there have been 122 staff resignations staff retention needs to be a greater priority rebuilding trust and respect to our staff also needs to be a greater priority this number will continue to grow if nothing changes the
balloons that you see tonight those that survived um staying inflated and the wind um are representing those members we cannot lose more people like Katherine braks Clara dad Cloud Francis
Garcia Rachel Haynes Claire mlin Natalie Le boy Bianca Coleman Samantha cofsky Katie Morgans Brian Dickerson Rihanna Henderson Felicia easterling Chanel Wilson Amy early Kenny Chambers Christa
rivello Jonathan Yan Joanne ronon Tara zallas Dana gonia Kim Ferrero Jessica benady Dave Walsh Jen Hoffman Andrea hooks Denise Clark Asia delal Frank
Christy English Julia gross Shannon Kelly Christa log Christa green Tammy Anderson Paris Stafford chelse D killo Aaron mcneel carara May Stephanie Riley roxan Schmid Frank Ward Justin cutner
Faith Alexandria Alexander Andrea Del Rio Wendy Heineken Nicole palillo Jen Rosser Charles witty Colleen witty Alexandra zangy Amy shettler Caitlyn dewal Ida Ortiz Mark mcke Megan sharp
Dylan krisy Sarah Johnson Laura siervo Sarah mvine Tracy Taylor Andrea o'hagen Jen Carr Sarah dominia plammy Ivory Danielle Lang Kelly Marquee Lauren Mor
delmarie Andino Christina hadu Michael paty Miles Holland Stephanie Tracy Megan Dorney Samantha maiotti Wendy Lindsley Kayla Callaway meissa Degan Wendy Lynch euriah McLean Alysa mebs Matthew remchuk
Kelly GI Jennifer Campbell Christine Altin shayen trap Matthew Woods Mario detis since I know my time is coming to an end send the next minutes behind good evening my name is Eric fieldman I am an educator here at
Colwood High School it's my 15th year I'm also a 15y year member of the ca um and asach was talking about one of the things I've made working here so wonderful the last 15 years besides the students who we live and die for but
also our colleagues unfortunately as you've seen in say in award shows in memorium the list continues of colleagues we have lost over the last few years and I apologize for any mispronunciations Jessica Perez Hernandez Donna Willis Amy Willy Keith
hickinbotham nma Hixon Rachel Cairo Michael enkin Lisa pindaris Laura sski Emily Briggs Kelly Amato Jenna Bruna Matt fredman Lori Gratch pegy JB
Elizabeth label Adam Marshall Amanda Mason Erin Valais Rachel white car Erin Waller Sam zabowski Suzanne henahan Carl Lang Michelle Cesaro shanon Huff Puja
sharo Jason Snider Megan Walter Megan O'Brien and there's more Brook Dunn junor Cornelius Christen Alexi Tara Mo Alicia Perry Blake clington and please not forget staff
members who will let go during the budget crisis Megan Brogan Madison Bryant Jessica stillage Kramer Ruth Elias Kristen slash Justin cordary Jacqueline pigo Gabriel Lynch Alexis
banaa Megan switch Scott Laughlin Shannon Karo Rachel Cairo ancy leonis eron da Erica jabowski matad dasi this collinswood has been the place you want to be we urge you to make this
for our new members and our old members who are staying once again the place you want to be please work with us thank you I want to take a moment to to uh thank Miss TSH and and uh Mr fieldman for for their comments there and again for
highlighting how important it is uh for our community to invest in our school so that we have the resources to continue to retain and and also to provide um the the salaries that that our teachers deserve Marian Nolan 208 Park Avenue
um I came to also bring up the word trust the English teacher uh I'm sorry I forget her name she speaks quite often about the same issue it seems to come up every board meeting I've been at in the last couple months and every board meeting that I've watched on Zoom when I wasn't here um and now we're at the
crisis point where we're asking for $3 million I've read the correspondances between the burough and yourselves and I understand when it comes to the specific documents that they're asking what your concerns are but when we have been
telling you for months that there is a lack of trust at some point that continues to build between parents in this District the students the taxpayers in this district and this board and if we don't get this money we
we see what's going to happen those numbers are going to increase we're going to be reading more teachers names that are resigning or let go give give them give give them the documents please so they can see just how desperately we need this money maybe there's specific things that are like
need to be you know internal and kept for privacy reasons and I and I understand that but if that's if that's what they're asking for and you can sit with them and and say Here's here's what you asked for here's how we will use this
money I feel like that would go a long way um the other thing i' I've I've seen that your DS are on and miss mki and miss Divine brought up the question that has been on my mind you guys are all elected officials we're all elected to bring a different voice
to the board if you're representing this whole town how can we know that you are speaking for all of us when we only see your names and now I I know that the rest of the board was not involved in these meetings as far as how the discussions will go with the B and that's concerning because we did vote
for everyone on this board for different reasons and we want everyone to bring the views of everyone in this District when we're asking for this money the other thing is is if we knew this was was coming why did we wait until the last minute to raise this the taxes this
could have been done over the last few years it wouldn't have seemed so seemed so um detrimental and maybe we would have taken it a little bit easier instead of asking for three million we could have asked for maybe a little bit over time and it wouldn't have been this large increase at the same time that we
have um our homes reassessed and taxes increased in that regard also so we're looking at this we knew this was going to happen that was a question that I had also why now why not sooner thank you good evening I'm John Rothwell so
sorry if you can oh wait one second so I want to address a few of the uh questions that were brought up just a second ago um first is that uh the I believe the burrow requested our uh detailed budgets
on December 30th 2024 and they were provided to them on January 2nd 2025 the the thing about these numbers is is frankly you don't have to trust me at all this is from the
state you can go verify that if you want right that that these numbers are from the state and and so that is one of the I think the the really important pieces for for us to under understand in terms of of
trust all of these numbers are verified our budget office is audited every single year we just went through what's called a qac which is another a Department of Education uh review of our processes that include our financial controls our budget has to go through
the executive super County Superintendent we can't just pass one rly nilly right there are so many controls on our budgets that we have to go through so that's one of the things that I want to make sure we're clear about this is not just us doing whatever
we we want up here um you know there was a question I think also so there few other questions one is uh in terms of hearing voices from different folks so in terms of the board structure uh the the board elects a president and the uh
president is the one who's able to speak on behalf of the board and what I'm coming from is the resolution that we passed by unanimously to ask uh the burrow to raise revenue and provide it for our schools um there's also I think
a question about hey why didn't we ask this earlier you know as Dr M said there were discussions about uh these uh this the coming structural deficit for for years now but I I will say from my part you know frankly I did not know
that there is this ability to raise taxes uh to help fill our budget Gap until February right because you know back in October right you know I was reading the the retrospect in October 11 2024 in the
retrospect you know I read and they report that that mayor mey said we could give the district another 2 million but it would exceed the cap we're allowed to raise taxes we're not sitting on a pot of 2 million bucks the increase we could absolutely do but the increase refers to you not the burrow we would you would be
taxed more right so so there when I read that what I understood was that the the burrow actually couldn't raise that money right that's what I read from the ret retrospective that the bur couldn't raise that money and I did not realize
until February uh February 3rd when the burough introduced their uh upcoming budget that actually there is that bank cap space so in many ways yes I you know I personally want to apologize for not knowing earlier that there is that bank
cap space that we could request to be added to our budget um but we know now and we have the choice in front of us which is either to invest in our schools and in our
teachers or we're going to have to face very difficult cuts thank you apprciate very nicely said you know I agree with that but I also know what it feels like to be iced like a kicker a field goal kicker in football because man that stinks when you get iced you know they're out there trying
to win the game and they're put on hold for a second so that was a fact that that was great anyway I come here with a different perspective and if you could give me like a one minute heads up when time is sorry could you give your your name addwell 200 Hen Road had in Township 24 year teacher kwood Middle
School lifelong resident of kinwood leading up to the point that I left we moved here in 1980 my parents moved here from Northern Virginia I know members of the board some of them have slept at my house and one of them graduated from high school I love this community I love the people in it I love
the teachers here I want to support this board nobody is a bigger fan of our kids and our schools than this guy I bleed blue and gold I'm telling you right now my parents moved here and stayed here we were going to go to Ohio thank God we didn't I can't even imagine but I'm
going to tell you right now the reason they stayed is because of the schools they stayed because of the sense of community they stayed because they felt people really valued each other I am not feeling that right now I am I'm like shaking mad
people we are not respected you tell us you value us but do you value US when I have 11 Chromebooks broke into my classroom for seven days I broke down the math six hours per Chromebook it took fix that my instruction was on hold for a week so I know like I really
appreciate this because I'm not a math guy that make great sense and it was a wonderful presentation I'm telling you it made perfect sense to me but what we're failing to really grasp is the magnitude of the people that that represents the people that we're losing
and I'm sorry maybe a lot of people don't know about the flooding formula I know that it's a bear so I'm very curious if you could answer how they're going to justify infusing milli into our budget when that creates an equity issue throughout the state I heard AB
districts talk about people that don't have the institutional history don't know it's a hard formula to crack so how are they doing it I want them to I love the idea that the C track will get settled that would be fantastic it' be wonderful I'm not trying to discourage
it I'm just asking how is that possible I just don't get so I just call upon you please be transparent please please make sure you're trying to ingratiate yourself with the people that are trying to hand you3 million my God how hard is it to show
them numbers in the classroom it's easy what are we hiding qac says it all put it in front of them what are you doing can't figure it out I just can't and I'm tired of sitting quietly I've given my life to this District my parents are still here that list of
people that was read I'm telling you right now a number of them were kids that I taught that came back that to give themselves to this district and they've been chased out or forced out or disrespect to the disrespected to the point that they can't stay any longer if
you get a John rothell on that list I'm telling you right now it's getting close and that's not a threat I am marketable and in this day and age teachers can Market themselves because there aren't any get it together stop fighting
everybody who's trying to come together to make our community work we've got stabbings we've got fights we got all types of stuff I'm sorry good night thank you Mr roell Marie Desi 1124 Mansion Avenue Haden Township I'm a staff member here
the one thing I want to reiterate is everyone keeps bringing up trust I sit on a board of education and the fact that you're going to meet with the Commissioners and eliminate some of these people is shameful should be a public meeting it should be a meeting where
every one of these elected people have a voice in my district that doesn't happen the meeting that you had your retreat should have been announced that it was a public meeting because you were all in attendance and it's a shame because everyone here should have been there you
need to be transparent with the Commissioners I know that Cusack looked at your books but you need to let them look at your books you need to let them see what's happening in the district you are asking them for a huge amount of money and they deserve to see that they
need to see that to support what you are asking for and it is shameful to try and disclude some of these people and I ask you to change it to a public meeting so the Commissioners can hear everyone even though you all voted unanimously I'm
sure that there was a lot of discussion behind the scenes that some people did not feel real comfortable making an ad unanimous vote but that's what's expected in front of the public and I know that so I'm sure some of these people had a lot more questions give them the chance to ask those questions
and to talk with the Commissioners thank you I'd like to be clear that the board retreat uh was advertised um as a public meeting uh as as it as it must be um if it were not I
I want to be clear in terms of the the Border treat it was advertised um and this is one of the things that where we have to follow the rules right and so statements like the board has not advertised
properly meetings when those statements are very clearly inaccurate right we we have to be careful and be be very accurate in our statements because because the fact is we have rules that we have to follow and
they were followed in terms of what we had to do for for the board retreat hi Robin Hogan CA president so tonight I've heard um a couple words used repeatedly transparency and trust and how there is
a lack of it and it's very discouraging and it's sh and it's and the effects are felt in our in our schools in our culture and our climate and how teachers are feeling and what is happening so I
really think the bottom line is we need to do whatever it is that we have to do to rebuild trust Okay so and I'm you know I went through and I saw the I saw the Burrow's website and I looked at all the documents and I read
everything and once again I became very concerned about our the lack of transparency and the lack of information that is shown and shared by the board so you know I not everybody knows this but I was asked to come into the office and I was
asked um if I could meet with Mr Chu and with Dr McDow and the topic was going to be to talk about efforts to bring in more funding and to ask the ca to provide its support for this effort okay so and you ask the same of other bargaining units not just not just the
ca okay so and after consideration I spoke in support at the February fourth meeting okay um and I spoke in support of a partnership that haven't seen happen yet and then I see correspondents where
somehow it offends you that the ca is coped on correspondence I don't know why what's the problem we're part of the process if this does not work it is the cea membership that is going to Bear the
brunt of what happens and it's the students who are going to pay the price and yet you are offended that we're copied where's the partnership where's the trust I don't I just don't get it you had an opportunity to build trust with
the staff and with the community and but you didn't take it okay the board's response only deepens the cea's lack of confidence in the leadership of this board during this financial
crisis Mike Puchi vice president for the high school of the cea resident um parent in the district taxpayer uh a couple things here first of all last last spring we had a lot of cuts of Staff members and even the board members
that we feel as a CA and as a staff um haven't been the most supportive of us knew enough to keep their mouth shut and just realize that people were hurting during that time Mr Chu you were the only one that ran your mouth at the end of that and got defensive and wasn't directed at you and this time we're up
here trying to solve this problem you're talking about about the shared combined experience of the people on the board that doesn't even pale in compar that pales in comparison to the experience of the people sitting in this room the people that teach your kids every day and the people that have left because of
the way this District's been managed all right we are in this situation because of this school board all right the threats at the state level the cuts at the state level are very much a real thing they're absolutely a real thing but you don't have the trust because of
decisions that were made because of backhanded and underhanded things that were said about people because of promises that were made that were not kept right now we are paying as of October $33,000 to rent room dividers a Good Shepherd that's half the price that's half the salary of a special ed
teacher that we could have in back in our elementary schools we're supposed to take you seriously when those are the kind of decisions that are being made it's like in Dumb and Dumber when he says when they run out of money and he says only get the the essentials and he comes out of the grocery store with a case of bearing a foam cowboy hat and pin
wheel like this is this is serious stuff these are people's livelihoods that we're talking about every time you extend our contracts you are are fail to come to an agreement for our contract you have to pay a lawyer and that costs a lot of money combine that with the room dividers we'd probably be through
this already and have a contract there's not space for pettiness I don't know what the deal is is it to pad your resume to say you did it we have kids in this district and we have teachers that that want to work every day get serious does not matter what you can say you did
the referendum failed two to one and we need it godamn it we need critical Capital repairs in this District the stealing tiles are falling out in my classroom get serious I don't care if you don't like mey I could I don't care I don't care about the proxy war you
support mey you don't support mey you don't like them you he's the mayor and you have to work with him this is terrible politics to ask for $3 million and then make a bunch of Demands I don't care who the mayor is it doesn't matter
this has to end you're complaining about four-hour board meetings they shouldn't be four hours they should be 60 to 90 minutes like they always used to be this is ridiculous all of these people the few that made it out they have kids of their own most of them they
want to get home like this is absurd it's absolutely absurd that we can't come to an agreement on this obviously you don't respect the teaching staff and the support staff in this building in this District or you would have settled if it was a priority it would have been
done thank you Mr paluchi okay if it was a priority it would have been done I'd like to address once more uh as we have stated multiple times that uh the uh boards negoti negotiations committee has
offered above average County bases we are willing and eager to settle uh we have also even asked to see if there would be a meeting at this point the next meeting is uh on April 3rd with the states appointed uh public
FactFinder that process will conclude with a public report that will include the recommendations of the fact find ER for uh a settlement that will be public uh for the community uh to read seeing as there are no more uh
public comments I'm going to move on to the next section uh section eight the superintendent report so good evening again uh section 8.01 is the enrollment report uh January
2024 uh enrollment was 225 7 January of 2025 enrollment is 2233 uh and that report is attached uh 8.02 03 and 04 are the safety drill suspension and anti-bullying report I
just have a few uh comments uh for the for the public um and so first uh just a public acknowledgement uh this weekend uh Collingswood uh uh School District
hosted um the uh a a pretty significant wrestling tournament a verbal and physical altercation involving parents from St John's V high school and West depford High School occurred in the stands at The District 25 wrestling
tournament on Saturday February 22nd Collingwood police and event staff along with officers from aabon Haden Township and Oakland responded to the incident the gym was clear to Spectators and the tournament concluded with the final four matches fortunately no Collingswood
students or staff were involved in the incident and the tournament was able to finish special thanks to our Athletics uh Department uh and our event staff for their leadership during an extremely tense situation um we are pleased to announce that on tonight's agenda uh the board of
education's commitment to supporting all students with the approval of core values and so uh the core values State as such as a board of education we believe that the continued education of student staff and Community to support inclusive excellence and social justice is an essential investment equity and
inclusion are the fundamental elements of all decision-making and curricular development learning opportunities should incorporate and mirror the diversity of the 21st century so that students are prepared to participate in a global economy the Colwood board of education is dedicated to supporting
practices that promote dignity and respect for all people regardless of race ethnicity religion differing ability sexual orientation gender identity and expression family configuration socio economic status or immigration status um and that is uh
will be voted on uh later this evening uh I commend the board uh for taking a public stance uh and this is consistent with the core values that were already approved by our sister District the Oakland Board of Education uh previous to this
meeting um uh you heard uh about the the budget and so I won't go back into that all all of the uh information that was shared uh this evening will be sent out uh not only posted on the district website but will be sent out to All Families uh and all community members in
our um mailing lists uh and so we just wanted to uh commend again all of the students who were celebrated this evening uh in response to Black History Month our schools honored Black History Month in a variety of meaningful and engaging ways throughout the month of February and so Black History Month was
embedded uh primarily in the Arts and in in writing and so across the district assemblies read aloud student research and presentations help to ensure uh that black history was continually centered in our learning for this month we'd also like to thank the opportunity to thank all of our uh school ptas for their
support with these many activities your partnership is instrumental in being able to provide our students with diverse learning experiences um academic support uh continues to be uh an area of focus through cycles of continuous Improvement
and so for February all of our schools are currently working on implementation of their tier one interventions to support learning for all schools are reviewing data and actively making instructional adjustments to accelerate their student progress and our schools are all identifying areas of academic
growth and areas of high need that remain we also wanted to announce that prek uh and uh prek through five conferences uh information will will be coming out tomorrow and so prek and Elementary families will receive information regarding the upcoming
conferences that are going to take place the week of March 17th this is an important opportunity for families and School staff to come together to continue supporting student growth families will receive hard copies of their child's report card their Dibbles reading report and their winter math
growth report conferences will be held in person with afternoon and evening time slots available please stay tuned our Collinwood preschool Lottery has been live for almost a week now the lottery opened on February 18th and at
this point 85 District families have already applied and are excited about the opportunity uh to participate in the 2526 preschool program if you have an age eligible preschooler uh three or four uh for the 25 26 school year we encourage you to visit the district's
Registration site to apply for our highquality program applications will continue to be accepted until Tuesday March 18th so please do not wait in addition kindergarten registration is also underway if your child is not
currently enrolled in our preschool program and is age eligible for kindergarten during the 25 26 school year we encourage you also to visit the district's uh registration website in order to enroll uh we look forward to welcoming our community's youngest learners for
the 2526 school year and joining Colin food families on their children's at educational Journey continuing with our Focus to elevate student voice um we are announcing that there is an eighth grade dialogue event taking place the Camden County School boards Association is
hosting this event on Wednesday March 12th at pens and high school this event is a celebration of eighth grade students who Inspire us all with their demonstrated exceptional character determination leadership and community service the honores are people who
confidently communicate and are actively involved in their school Community Kingwood Middle School student Isabelle asena has been selected to participate at the event Isabelle will be accompanied by her family and friends we believe that Isabelle will be an excellent representative of the Collingswood School community and look
forward to hearing about her experience after she returns a few quick uh winter sports updates winter track we had seven student athletes uh make it to se make it out of sectionals and are on their way to the state championships uh James Cannon broke the
pul Vault record School record this year in wrestling kood high school we are the colonial Conference champions We Beat Paulsboro in their gym for the first time since 1967 boys basketball despite having a challenging uh Sports season um we are
pleased to announce that 20 of 27 players and managers are currently uh on the honor Ro or higher um this uh constitutes uh a great AC mic season for our student athletes in Bowling senior
Max Hess had a season best High game of 266 Juniors Aubrey Gerard and Cole Brown improved their averages by 15 and 18 pin respectively uh and Cole also logged a personal best of 190 freshman Jackson
Helms uh averaged a solid 126 uh throughout the season having never bowled before freshman Isabella consalvi had a personal uh best High game of 195 the girls team won the first round of the playoffs and while they didn't make it to the second round they were
recognized by uh judges within the conference of being the friendliest and most positive team in the league our swim team finished seven uh uh for seven and five this year with a win against Gloucester and the team logged 260 time drops this season significantly more
than last year with four students qualifying for sectionals girls basketball there is a game to tomorrow um and uh beginning on Thursday the uh state tournament uh we'd like to uh announce that coach Nancy O'Neal will
Coach her final home game of her 33 career 33y year career tomorrow at four o'clock uh please come out to show your support for girls basketball and for the contributions of Coach O'Neal uh included in our uh Community update that you'll be receiving uh
shortly after this meeting uh will be uh a of direct feedback that came from our school Community check-ins and so in the month of December and January we met with diverse groups of students uh at every school um and we met with uh
available staff members at every school we collected their feedback um and our school uh administrators are currently working on uh an action plan to address the feedback provided by students and staff which will also be uh released uh
in next month's meeting uh but the summary of their feedback uh will be sent out publicly so we'd also like to make uh an announcement around our Collingswood public school's Panther Pantry so the mission of the school district's food pantry is to provide individual students and families of of
the Collingwood School District with supplemental nutritional uh support um in a cheerful welcoming confidential and non-judgmental matter manner uh we support the mission uh through generous donations from Collingswood staff and community members
like you um effective this meeting and in all future meetings you will be able to donate non-p perishable food items and hygiene products either at your child's school at the uh Collingwood Police Department or at Board of Education meetings uh a list of non-
perishable non uh expired items will also be sent out to the community with any questions uh to uh be going out to our program uh lead uh Miss um we just wanted to also just say again
uh to commend uh the student uh Xander stman that was recognized earlier in our meeting for his dedication to scouting leadership and service to the community um and that concludes my report thank you uh there section nine student reports uh there are no student
reports today so we'll move on to section 10 business administrator board secretary report all right this evening 10.01 is a listing of your January 2025 monthly budget transfers 10.02 is your um board secretary's report uh your financial
statements and related um cash flow statements 10.03 is the Student Activities um cash report 10.04 is the neutral serve um financial statement for the month of January um 10.05 is listing of the purchase orders that have been issued
during the month of February and 10.06 is a listing of the warrants to be paid section 11 buildings grounds and finance committee uh Mr Craig the chairperson will present thank you the uh Finance buildings and grounds committee reviews all financial
statements purchase orders and warrants on a monthly basis committee also reviews and approves all contracts with outside service providers and oversees all maintenance and capital Improvement projects districtwide uh tonight we're seeking approval on the following items 112 to 11 119 is the board secretary's report as it was just presented uh 1110
is the tuition rates uh for next school year 1111 is a tuition contract with Camden City Board of Education uh for some homeless students uh 1112 is a transportation agreement with the state of New Jersey uh for transporting a
student 11113 is the uh RFP accepting the RFP response and selecting Remington and berck as the district engineer 11m 14 accepting uh year four for the building capacity Grant funds 1115 and 1116 are use of facility requests one
for a wrestling camp and the other for a private school to make use of our track uh so seeking approval for items 112 to 1116 is there a motion can I ask a question that okay wait what a motion I a motion yep is there a motion do you want to give a motion motion okay and is
there a second second and then question I just have a question real quick um on a big line item for the one of the warrants and I just it's for it looks like it's like AIDS and um subs and things like that maybe is that ESS yeah is that like um is that that can't be
one month right is that okay okay very expensive okay yeah I saw that and I was like that has to be like six months okay no I wish no that's one month okay thank you yep and then can I sorry say one more thing about because uh buildings around we talked about the internet for the last couple
months uh or couple weeks sorry um I at least have to report from my own home that I have three kids that are telling me that the internet has back and really good and so thank you and did they took everything down one weekend and put everything back up everybody is experiencing that but from my one little
you know pot of children um they said it's been wonderful so thank you I just wanted to give that any other questions or comments I do I had a question um about the uh recommendation for the to set the tuition rates can you talk a little bit about that how you set those
rates and because we owe money back now this year do you can you expect maybe owing some money back next year with these rates or how does that how does that factor um yeah tuition is like another one of those areas it's very wonky but basically um when I start the
budget process and the software is available last year's audited expenses I have to upload all that information to the doe so all that information is available as well as our our enrollment so the in the soft software it has a um a tuition
calculation right so that calculation is our ceiling and then um so that's the first thing we look at the second thing is um again after my audit's done Trenton usually sends us a letter and it's usually end of January um letting us know like after they have our audited
expenses how much it it actually cost us per pupil by grade level and somewhere in the middle between what it actually cost us last year and that ceiling is like the sweet spot for tuition um it's it's not a fine it's not a fine
art we were getting really good I was getting to within $100 per pupil but the last few years with us shifting so many of our expenses to Esser like our curriculum and stuff it did have a dramatic impact on our cost excuse me our cost per pupil I don't agree with
how Trenton comes up with it but if you've known me long enough you know I don't agree with a lot of what Tron does there there's more than just your local budget that goes into the cost per pupil we have a lot of Grants right we have Ida we have title one so there's a lot of monies coming into this district from federal sources and other sources that
contribute to the cost of what we're doing in the classroom and so what they spit out to me is basically fund 11 so it's not really a true cost per pupil but that's kind of the handcuffs that I have to work within so every year I kind of look um again if it if my cost per
pupil is less than what I charged I have to give it back in the next year which would be next year um if the opposite happens then I get more money back which is what happened last year this year we had the trifecta you know like last year I had more money this year I have to give money back and then our cost cost per pupil went down so this is not a
good year I don't I don't expect our cost per pupil to go up all that much next year either because we did have so many Cuts in 2425 um but I am I am watching it very closely and again it's only it's only as good as what you're spending and you
don't want to spend 100% of your budget you want to retain some of that so it's kind of like a fine kind of Walk the Line basically with tuition so I hope that exp it's very confusing and I apologize to finance committee because I kind of throw all of this at them and they look at me but it is it's like I probably
like I think I had maybe five spreadsheets that all kind of come together into one massive mess basically that's fine thank you I just thought the public would it would be helpful to know since we said we were gonna have to give money back this year yeah that and that's the hard part yeah it's nice that we generate tuition Revenue but if we don't you know if we SP if we spend less
then yeah I have have to give it back to the town that sent the money so any other questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr Craig yes Mrs dine yes Mrs
Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs Seltzer yes Mrs Sherman yes Mrs z Mr delus yes Mr CH yes uh moving on to section 12 the curriculum committee Miss Sherman the
chairperson will present the curriculum committee oversees and approves District curriculum and assessment programs as well as field trips home instruction co-curricular programs and school calendar tonight seeking approval for the following items uh 12.02 through 12.04 are field trips including um an
elementary self uh field trip self-contained classroom going to middle school theater uh 12.05 is uh Mr Chu's favorite preschool big wow the Vorhees um it's a free presentation by the Vorhees uh animal shelter to our um pre-
program um 12.06 through 12.08 are outer District placements for medical reasons um sorry home instruction um and 12.09 is uh tuition free for students
for um per the ca contract this is for uh staff members children to attend um collinswood uh High School uh so seeking approval for 12.02 through 12.09 is there a
motion and a second second okay questions or comments from board members right uh roll call please Mr Craig Mrs dine yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs Seltzer yes Mrs Sherman
yes Mrs Z yes Mr delus Yes except required to abstain Mr chill yes moving on to section 13 Personnel Comm uh committee Dr Seltzer chairperson will present the Personnel committee reviews all recommendations for teaching and staff employment considers co-curricular
employment and considers all professional development opportunities for staff members um tonight I am seeking approval for the following items 13.02 through 13.05 are retirements and we thank these four people um very much
for their service to the District longstanding um service to the district uh 13.06 through 13.08 are leaves FMLA and jfla um medical 13.09 and
13.10 um are um revised contracts and offering of a contract for buildings and grounds uh uh employees uh 13.11 13.12 are trainings um 13.11 is one for um
sharp teachers which is paid for through Title One funds and 13.12 is a Handle With Care training for the prek staff um for several prek staff members um 13.13
is uh Middle School PLC leader 13.14 is the um approval of a facilitator for the building capacity for career Pathways Grant um 13.15 16 and 17 are um athletic and
non-athletic stiens 13.18 is a student teacher practicum um placement for the Elementary art teacher um a student will be with her uh 13.19 similarly is a student internship agreement between Rowan and uh
Collingwood board of education for unpaid internships from 2025 to 2028 1320 is um a few new substitutes and tutors um 1321 is the travel expense report uh and there are uh two sets of
trainings uh actually one is a conference for Miss Coleman and um Mr Burns to attend their um uh professional conference and the other is that prek training so I am seeking approval for items 13.02 to 1321 so moved and a
second are there questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr Craig yes Mrs dine yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs Seltzer yes
Mr Sherman yes Mrs Z yes Mr doas Yes except we're required to obstain Mr chill yes section 14 culture climate and policy committee Miss Maya chairperson will present the policy and regulations committee reviews all updates and
changes of District policies and regulations so tonight up for our first read our two policies High School School graduation policy 5460 and 5516 the use of electronic communication devices revised uh the core values I think we're going to revisit in the miscellaneous section so that's in there okay uh and
then uh policies that are up for a second read were policies that we went over last month harassment intimidation and bullying 5512 policy 5533 student smoking H policy 7441 electronic surveillance and school buildings and on school grounds policy 9320 cooperation
with law enforcement agencies and then the regulations that are up for review tonight um for a first read are 5533 student smoke smoking policy 7441 electronic surveillance in school buildings and 9320 cooperation with law enforcement agencies so we are seeking
approval for uh 1402 to 1404 do we have a motion and a second second questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr Craig yes Mrs dine yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes
Mrs Seltzer yes Mrs Sherman yes Mrs Z yes Mr doas yes Mr CH yes section 15 miscellaneous 15.01 is the hi report for the previous month 15.02% between the education and uh law
enforcement officials so this is the the standard agreement uh that is signed yearly um 15 03 is the Board of Education core values document which I'll speak about a little more um bit more in a second so is there a motion to
approve items 15.01 through 15.03 so moved and a second so just just briefly the core values piece uh uh 15.03 that is the document that Dr mdal spoke about during his report um I want to also take
a moment to thank the Oakland board of education for um being so gracious as to share that with us they passed this I believe last year after they worked through it and and it I think it really does reflect very much so the the shared commitment um and and core values that
we have as as a board alongside Oakland's board and so it's nice to be able to follow I think Oakland's lead lead for once here and and so that's kind of my statement about that any other comments or questions from board
members roll call please Mr Craig yes Mrs dine yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs Seltzer yes Mrs Sherman yes Mrs Z yes Mr doas yes Mr Chu
yes mve on to section 16 our second uh section for public participation uh so I'm not going to go through the entire statement but basically this section is uh for you know more General comments doesn't have to be about the agenda um so last I'll
say is In fairness to all who wish to speak there's a strict three minute time limit per person during public comment and Miss Coleman will assist by keeping time please remember to state your name and address for the record good evening my name is Bruce Smith my address is 311 Lake View count
311 Lake View in July of 2020 I was asked by Brian kulac the principal of Tatum to be a community liaison for the anti-racist anti-racism work that was taking place in our district that role morphed into the collinswood Dei committee and that
led to me being asked to join an ad hoc committee that worked with the Board of Education and the superintendent on the referendum somehow the referendum has turned into a dirty word that people have chosen to identify me online and in private conversations as the guy who
worked on the referendum the quote unquote self-appointed leader of the Dei committee they have also chosen to identify my wife as the wife of the guy in the referendum in the name of transparency online and in private my involvement was never hidden and I am
proud I am proud of the work that we did going into the referendum a referendum that would have made our classes more diverse more inclusive and more Equitable the referendum went down to the one yes the town made a choice and I will always continue to fight for the kids who I think need did the
most as will Al in Guida that is for Alexandra Nicole Guida a 25y year educator who has spent the last 18 years as a reading specialist fighting for services for her school kids who need it most after a weekend of debating online
debating with an anonomous poster and a board member the same board member who has chosen to disparage me online and in private conversations Alexandra walked into her school to find out someone emailed her superintendent and principal to say she was bullying people online
and that she should be teaching kids and they cannot believe that she is an employee of the boarding Town School District she does not need me to stick up for her but the truth needs to be told she doesn't talk about what she does but she volunteers her time and has supported me and the Dei Community work
in this town she is direct and she will Advocate and she doesn't think she is a martyr or a queen she is like all the parents who choose to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves especially in this time and in this space and in this community everyone to be advocating for themselves there's
always talk a lot of talk about process a lot of talk about in intention as a town it is not enough to say that we are different we should be different it is not enough to say what you are for you need to do the work and if people who support you keep attacking people of
color and you are in the room when someone attacks people of color and you do nothing it says more about you than the people who are using the words in short if you don't want people to think you or this town is racist than stop attacking people of color as James Baldwin said in any case it is not
enough to be liberal that is something that people have a great deal of difficulty with it is not enough to be liberal to have the right attitudes and to give money to the right causes you need to know more than that and you need to be prepared to risk more than that thank you
can you help me out here St there thank youi best I didn't okay all right um Robin Hogan CA president okay so to be clear I would like to um talk about the fact finding
process because this is what it looks like Okay so April 3rd we have a meeting with the FactFinder who's going to try to mediate a settlement okay if no settlement is reached then they will set another date probably two or three
months off okay for a hearing okay at which point we will present a binder and board's very expensive attorney will will also be preparing documents and a binder okay after that hearing the
FactFinder has three to six months mons to write a report so there isn't going to be a report at the end of April more staff are going to leave looking for districts that first are stable and second value what they do because it doesn't feel like this District does so
I want to be very so I want us to have a clear understanding of the fact finding process a lot of money invested in it and effort that could probably just go into finding a settlement thank you all right seeing as there are no more public comments I'm going to move to
section 17 adjournment uh is there a motion to adjourn and a second all those in favor right thank you and have a good night