proceeding uh to order. Uh Miss Coleman, roll call, please. Okay. Mrs. Brown here. Mr. Craig here. Mrs. Divine here. Mrs. Maya here. Mrs. Mcowsky here.
Mrs. Seltzer here. Mr. Sherman here. Mrs. Z here. Mr. McMillan here. Mr. is absent. Mr. Chu here, please rise for a pledge of allegiance.
There was no executive session for tonight. Uh so we're going to go straight into presentations and committee of a whole. Um but first welcome everyone back from from a summer break. I hope everyone had a a restful summer vacation. We're getting ready to start school. Um before we go into
presentations, I think maybe we'll open up committee to the whole and then and then go from there. So, can I get a motion to enter committee of a whole, please? So, moved and a second. Second. Um, all in favor? Okay. Uh, great. So, we'll start. First
presentation we'll start is um a presentation honoring our administrative retirees. So, good evening everybody and thank you so much for being here. Welcome back. Uh, we wanted to uh start this meeting by acknowledging
um decades of dedication and service to the children and families of Collingswood in Oakland uh by honoring uh three of our leaders. And so, we want to make sure that we read their names into the records. Um, but we also want to acknowledge that their memory will forever be seared into our hearts and
minds for the blood, sweat, and tears that they dedicated to these communities. And so to uh we have um put together a formal acknowledgement um of the retirement and the
appreciation. Uh the board of education and the school district would like to officially and publicly recognize Mr. Windsor Yamamoto for 19 years of service and dedication to Collinswood public schools 2006 to 2025. [Applause]
We would also like to recognize Dr. Karen Principado who is in attendance and we're going to embarrass her publicly for 19 years of service and dedication from 1999 to I'm sorry uh 20 26 years uh from 1999 to 2025. Dr. Dr. P
And finally, our elder statesman, Dr. Our elder statesman, uh, Mr. Wily for many, many, many years of service. Uh, Dr. John uh quote unquote Jack
McMullen. Um 45 years of education uh of service to public education and over three decades of servicing the children and families in our communities. Uh Jack, we appreciate what you have meant to so many. Uh we're going to miss you.
Uh and six months after your retirement, I'm going to be tapping your and knocking on your on your door. Uh let's give Jack a round of applause, please. So, we're uh since we're in committee a whole, I figured, you know, we could take a moment if if any board members
want to say anything to um these outstanding administrators who have had decades of experience and and just um uh blood, sweat, and tears into this district. Um and I'll just start by by just thanking um Mr. Yamoto, Dr.
Principado, and Dr. McMullen for all the work that they've done and all um the care they've put into um their work and into the students of of Kwood School District. I'll go next. You've had so many of my
children. Luckily, yes. Luckily, you missed out on the older ones who probably would have gave you a little run for your money, but thank you so much for everything that you've done. Um, I know we consider you like family does. My husband Fabian was so upset when I told him you were retiring, but we love you very much.
Thank you for everything. I wanted to thank um Windsor and you know that that's a long time to dedicate to Collinswood. So, you know, thank you so much for all of your service and everything you did for Collinswood and for Collinswood students. Um, Dr. Principata I I you know I just wanted to
say publicly you know like back in 2006 um we were struggling with my oldest and um he did not qualify for special education and I was at my wits end and um I came staggering into Garfield Elementary and she said mom it's okay we're going to take care of him we're going to give him a 504 plan he's going
to be fine and he and he's fine and he's great and it all started with that and no really it it it really it started with that and thank you so much for being so kind to a a freaking out mom and I'm sure you've done it to a lot of people and we you know really I never
forgot it. My whole family never forgot it. And um Dr. Jack, we're going to miss you, man. Thank you so much for everything just being a reassuring. You know, everybody knows it's it's it's going to be a loss, but you deserve it. And have a wonderful wonderful
retirement. You deserve it. Dr. Principado. Uh, sorry, awkward. But my first instance in Collinswood public schools was when my oldest was going into what was the three-day prek at Sharp. He didn't want to go in on the first day. You got him in without his
Crocs on his feet. We learned a valuable lesson. No more Crocs at school. But, um, that was that was the start and we were terrified and it was a great year and and this past year he was up in middle school with you, Dr. Jack helped welcome him in there and things, you know, have progressed. He's kept his
shoes on his feet. So, I thank I thank you all for that support and all the work that you've done in service to this community for so many years. Okay. I was going to say I I'll go, but I'm not sure I can get this out either. Um, I've been um educated by Dr. McMillan um
back in seventh grade when we had uh all four of our language courses and um I was lucky enough to have my daughter um in middle school this year. So um Dr. Prince I think you were assistant principal of the high school when I was there. So I have um had the experience
to have you both as educators and leaders and um I appreciate all your service and thank you and we will miss you both. Okay. Well, um you know, well welldeserved retirements. Um please please enjoy them uh before uh Dr. Mal
comes knocking. Um but thank you again for all of your service and again another round of applause, please. [Applause] Okay. So, we're going to move on now to a presentation
by Miss Coleman about the taxpayers's guide to education spending. Um, and so uh this presentation is about the comparative guide that the state puts out. I I think that this will be um important for us as a board to to see and also to present to the public given
of course that taxes increased um considerably uh this this coming year. Can everybody hear me? Okay. Kind of hard to follow that up, but going to try. Um, so and I'll I'll make sure um get this
loaded on the website and the links are active. But every year Trenton publishes what they call the taxpayers's guide to education spending. So of the 600 plus school districts, they rank us on about 18 to 19 indicators including some ratios, cost per pupil, cost of
administrative, um salaries, um you know, average class size, you know. Um so the 600 then what they they further break it down into peer groups. So there's some school districts that are only elementary, some that go through 8th grade, and then some like Collingswood that go through preK
through 12. So what I did is I um I tweaked out all the information pertaining to Collingswood and from our peer group. So in our peer group, we're in a prek to 12 peer group with enrollments of um up to 3,500 children.
So that's kind of who we're comparing ourselves to. Um and I apologize if this is hard to see, believe me. But um so the first set of numbers I always do three years because I always I like to have the history of of three years. Um
but if you look at the most recent year 2324 so what's going to happen is in this coming year they're going to get rid of 2122 and then they're going to publish um 2425 and then the 2526 budget. So the last two columns will be different but um this is the total
budgetary cost per pupil and it's ranked of our 74 peer group. So there's 74 districts of like size of Collingswood in the state of New Jersey. And the costs are ranked low to high just so you kind of know you don't want to be the worst, you know, you don't want to be the highest. So I kind of uh pull the
ranking. So in 23 24 we were ranked number 10 out of 74 um in the total budgetary cost per pupil. And then the indicator number two is our total classroom instruction. So what that includes is um teacher salary and
benefits and supplies and technology. So things that are directly in the classroom. It doesn't include like library or anything like that. Child study team that's in a different indicator. But just those items that are directly delivered within the classroom setting itself were ranked number 12 out
of 74. Here we go. Look at that technology. All right. Um, and the reason I give this to the board members and the community is I know we we're getting it's kind of early, but the audits have been completed and we're getting ready, believe it or not. I'm going to start
playing around with the budget again. So, I like to when we we throw a lot of things at out at the community like this is how much it costs per pupil and this is how much admin is. I just give you I'm giving you the information and the source from where it comes from, but I think it's a good it's a good marker of where we stand as a school district. Um,
uh, indicator number six is our total support services right over here. Oh, I am going backwards. Look at me. Here we go. All right. about middle of the road and
then uh indicator seven is support services salary and benefits. So support services are those things that we provide to the children that are not are not directly instruction. So child study team, health services, um media, technology services, anything that we
provide our children and we do a lot and in this case we do like a lot of mental health services. So those things that deal with the physical and emotional well-being of the children and the extra services we provide, that's what's considered support services. Um so again, middle of the road, not the
highest. Admin, this always gets a lot of um people look at it a lot. Um so indicator 8 is our total administrative cost. We're ranked number eight. Again, this data is already a year and a half old,
but you know, um, Tre moves a little slowly with publishing data. For some reason, they also look at our, uh, legal services specifically. I actually have to sign um, every year when the auditors come out, I have to certify like the amount of money we're spending on legal
and that I didn't move money, you know, that I not allocating things to admin and and or legal that should be allocated elsewhere. Um the state looks very closely for some reason at what districts spend on legal expenditures. Had no idea why. Um we're about number
14. And then indicator number nine is the salary and benefits of our administrators. That includes all administrators. So includes Dr. McDow, myself, um everybody in the board office, our principles and their assistants. Um
and again, we're ranked pretty low. total of total operations and maintenance of plant. Um, this is a good one because we have a maintenance reserve. We have capital reserve and believe it or not when I John and I start looking to do the budget, we always have a list of
capital projects that we want to get done in the district, but there's a minimum of maintenance and capital we have to do on our school buildings every single year um to be compliant. which is why in the fall you'll see me come before the board probably in the month of October and I'll put before them the comprehensive
maintenance plan. It's all governed like it's a it's a law of a rolling average. There's a certain amount I have to put back into the buildings every year. But there are school some school districts have put a lot more in and there also some school districts have put a lot more capital into their districts. Um so this is basically what these indicators
are. The first one is just total operations of plant. That's all the costs of all of our our building administration costs. Rank number nine, indicator 11, that's just the sal salary and benefits. We're
sort of we're we're just about at the halfway mark um ranked with our other peers. We're kind of high, but I always um remind the county offices that that does come up every fall when we have our midyear budget review. They're like, you know, we're not the highest, but we're not we're not in the lowest third. Um,
and I always remind people, we have five very small elementary schools and we require custodians to be on site when our kids are in the building. So, we probably do have more custodians than maybe some of our neighbors. Um, but that's due to the size and age of our buildings.
Uh, this is the this is the one that um I'm keeping an eye on the most and um those of us luckily we're not in the state health benefits plan, but neighboring districts that are in the state health benefits plan, people are going to be looking at this number. This is the total cost of employee benefits.
Right now we're about 31%. Um, not crazy, but just three years ago we were at 29. Next year and the year after you're going to be looking at 32, 33, 34%. You can mark my words. Um, because the cost of prescriptions are out of control in the state of New
Jersey. We had a 20% hit in the cost of our insurance plan this year. Um, and you've probably heard me say this a million times, but it's the cost of the weight weight loss drugs. Um, and from what I'm hearing from all the state meetings I'm going to, probably the
patent is not expiring anytime soon on these weight loss drugs. So, we're going to probably be looking at large increases in prescription costs for the indefinite future. So, you're going to hear this again throughout the budget because I'm already I'm already looking at these costs going into next next budget year. And then quick question about that piece
which is that's 30% of the total salary cost. Correct. Not like the total budget but the that's the percent of salary. Correct. Okay. Yep. And that's it for me. You're up. Roger. Any questions? I'm sorry from board members. I just want you guys I shared
this with the finance committee and I did the same um with the Oakland board last week because I think it's good as board members you guys kind of have an idea because people always cost about the they talk about the cost of education and you know taxes increasing and I want people to know what the numbers are.
So yeah, we went over this in Oakland last week and the ranking was a little confusing for us and I think we asked um in our meeting but lower is better. Lower is better. Okay. Yes. It's ranked low to high. Yeah. So, I'm actually gonna do my presentation uh after Kate uh Kate goes
over Dr. Dr. um Selter goes over uh our board board goals piece. So, okay. But before then, do we have any questions about the taxpayers guide to education spending? So, I just want to know is this going to be shared browwide at some point? We can put it on the website. I mean, it
is available. Somebody wants those links are live and anybody can go on the Department of Ed's website because it is it is public information. This is where the papers when you see on the front page of the Courier Post like Camden City spends $30,000 per pupil. This is where they get that information. Okay. Just with the tax increase for the
community, I mean, we're trying to partner with the burrow and this would probably be a really great thing to somehow see how it can send out burrowwide. Um, so it's the community understands where the money's going. Yeah, this is why I did this. I figured let me, you know, it's good to know.
I just want to make sure I'm clear. Lower is better. Correct. If there's a ranking of one to 74, help me extrapolate that. So there sometimes we're ranked nine, sometimes we're eight, sometimes we're 35. Correct. Just so is that median if you're 35.
Right. So I'm just trying to understand. Yes. You're in the middle of the range. We need to Yeah. You don't want to be the highest because when you're looking at other peer groups that I looked at peer groups and we look at state averages. So what this did is it looked at the state average. So within our peer group, the state average, we're like middle of the road. So we're not the highest spender
cost per pupil in any category. We're about middle of the road in most of them and some we're very low. And the the comparative group uh is I believe um prek through 12 so comprehensive districts with enrollment
of I think 1,800 to 3500. Right. So so it's not it doesn't include really small really small districts. So um you know we're what 23 24 so yeah about 2200 and change some something like there um and so yeah so you know with 74 districts what 30 3
um7 would be the the median. Yeah. Yeah I think I would offer as more this is pushed out giving some context around that so people know how to digest this these numbers would help because I was trying to remember and each time we looked at one so just offer that.
Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, it's on the tippy top of this. Right at the top of each page was was that info. I'm glad we're lower, but I I think it correct me if I'm wrong. We should expect to be lower because we're a smaller somewhat smaller district. Correct. And this data is old. So like
going forward, I expect probably 25 26 and 26 27. This was before we settled the teachers contract. So we're looking at old budgetary information, right? So now everything's going to be like it's going to be writed, right? Well, you know, because we went a year, so it was very low. And and the the piece about it being
lower because we're a smaller district. That's not precisely there because the the rankings are done by the per pupil cost. So it's the average cost, you know, uh so it's the cost divided by the number of pupils we have, right? So that so it's and we're also low ge because geographically, I mean, the costs in
North Jersey for some reason are like astronomical, right? So compared to what they are down here. But it's not because like, you know, of course, if you're a district with a thousand pupils versus a district with 3,000 pupils, you'd expect a district with 3,000 pupils to have a bigger budget, right? And bigger costs. But
that's not what they're not comparing the the um uh absolute cost. They're comparing the the unit rate, right? The the cost per pupil. The the interesting piece there too is that I believe theoretically if you have bigger
enrollment, you would expect to have um a lower per people pupil cost in things like administrative uh costs, right? Because you would be able to uh uh spread administrative costs across more students rather than small. That's why a lot of smaller districts, for example,
like Oakland, um, contract out their say superintendent business administrator services because it is way too costly for a district of that size to have their their own. Um, and so I think that's one of the important things for us to to understand there with with
these rankings. Um, the other thing I would mention there too is considering that we're we're low in many areas. I think uh Miss Cole, what you you say about how we don't want to be the lowest, we don't want to be the highest, I think is really important because, you know, I don't know that it serves us to
be the the the most cut rate um uh district in in any uh area, right? Um but at the same time I think seeing that we are low in so many areas I think goes back to the point which you've made multiple times which is that um you know
our our our per people costs are are low compared to all our comparison districts and what that says is that we're trying to do a lot right with um less right so we're trying to stretch our resources as as much as possible. It's not as if we have this massive uh
amount of money per people that we're spending and that we could use more efficiently. We're clearly trying to do as much as we can with um as much as we have and I think that's something for us to um keep on striving towards. Of course, I think everyone here on the board would would agree with that.
Any other questions or comments from board members here? Uh so then thank you Miss Coleman. Um I was going to pass it to uh Dr. Seltzer to talk about uh our board retreat and um about the goals that we we discussed
during the board retreat. Good evening everyone. Um so on August 4th uh a good number of us, not every single one of us but a lot of us uh met for a few hours to do some uh collaborative goal setting for the 25 26
academic year. And uh these are goals that sort of we use as a board to set our priorities for for the for the school year. They help us link to accountability, right? What are we really looking for over the course of the school year in terms of meeting of
goals and of course we want them to align with the district's priorities, right? What the district is working toward, we would like to align our goals, too. Um so the three that we agreed on over a couple of hours of work together and these may sort of shift a little bit in terms of wording but the
general sense is the first is that um all students will have access to rigorous academic pathways that are clearly articulated internally and communicated externally to students and families. The second is that we will um seek uh in the district to develop,
implement and standardize periodic student, staff and family culture and climate benchmarks uh really to get a sense of how people are feeling across the district and across different groups in the district. And lastly um we will look to see developed a consolidated
proactive and responsive communication protocol uh both in district and beyond uh meaning burrowwide communitywide um that ensures accessible and inclusive understandings of message right so for example if we are sending out communication about the budget or about
facilities or about academics uh we are doing our best to communicate those things clearly and to multiple audiences. Uh so those are the three goals that we came up with. um as a group and hopefully we will see and check in with them throughout the school year.
So I I know that Dr. Sal sent those uh like the full wording of those goals to all the board members. So I think if if yall have any more comments about those and and maybe want to adjust some of the language, you know, please uh let her know and then hopefully we can maybe uh you know put this out so that everyone
can see the formalized goals. um once that's uh solidified and I just want to thank everyone for for their work on those goals and and also um uh Miss Coleman, Dr. McDow for for helping during that retreat.
Okay. Uh so then I want to do one more presentation during committee hall. Uh and this is I think a a cost of celebration which is um that uh we today on our agenda have uh up for approval um the uh long-awaited uh new contract for
the CA. So I was going to present um the pieces of of that the contract um uh the the terms that we've come to agreement with uh and then um yeah so that the whole board can be formed and uh and yeah and let let the community know basically what we've been working on um
with the CA for for a while. Okay. So, let's see. Um, okay. So, for this presentation, I'm going to go over uh the just the quick highlights and then we'll go into detail. Uh, you know, one of the things that I thought about was whether or not, you know, how much detail to go into
given that a lot of this stuff is really technical, but I figure since um this has been, I think, a really important part of of um town and district discussion uh for a while now, I think it's it's important for us to understand uh the details of of um the the contract
as uh it stands now. So, um just quick highlights. So, the CA contract, uh, it covers three years, um, which is, uh, last school year, which I know is confusing because we're we're passing it today, uh, this current school year, and the next school year. So, it's a
three-year contract. I'll go over a little bit more about what it means to cover last year, uh, in a in a a bit. Um it includes all what's called certificated staff uh and uh which is teachers, psychologists, guidance counselors, basically folks who who need
a a type of certificate in order to uh uh be employed and but not supervisors for example. Um and then administrative assistants and instructional assistance. Now I put a little asterisk there next to instructional assistants but because not all of our instructional assistants are part of the the CA. Um some of them
are uh part uh hired through the uh ES I believe educational services um uh group and so they are not part of the CA. Um so a few things one historically large raises for CA staff. So this is something I think all of us here are are
really uh happy about. So average 3.89% per year over the three years of the contract. We have large raises for administrative assistance. Um, so that's, you know, in the first year 4.45%, second year 5.61%, last year 4.97%. You know, this is
something that I think was brought up uh multiple times by by members of of the public and uh uh by uh staff. And I think we're we're I know I'm personally um quite pleased to be able to have these large raises here. And then starting salaries for teachers among the highest in the area. So I'll talk about
this a little bit more in a minute. Um also there's a shorter step guides for all CA staff. I know that's step guides is kind of a term of art. So I'll explain what that means in a second. Um back to school night and graduation are added to the contract as required
activities. Uh and again I'll talk a little bit more about this in a minute. So those are the the just contract highlights just overall. So the details first off there's a a bit of just technical language changes uh in
the contract and so things for example like changing lunchtime to lunchroom uh just some specific uh wording pieces kind of to update the the contract um uh and so so these are just technical changes that you might expect through um
you know most contract renegotiations. Uh there's also a creation of a joint elementary CA and admin committee on school schedule uh miring the existing joint secondary committee. So currently there in the current contract there's a language for basically a joint committee between secondary teachers. So that's
you know middle school and high school and and administrators to talk about the school day schedule. And so uh one of the pieces that um we agreed to was adding similar language uh for the elementary um uh school day schedule as well. that's for elementary CA members
and administrators come together uh to form a joint committee on on school schedule. Um we also uh agreed to reimbursement for the cost of lensure for teachers hired through the provisional license or emergency certification process. Um and
so we know that at times uh we may be hiring teachers who have either provisional license uh or have an emergency certific uh certification and and they want to go and and get their full lensure. right? Their standard certificate and so uh we are uh agreeing
to reimburse the costs for those those teachers to basically become uh full teachers in that sense. Um increase in pay rate for teachers who teach summer programs. Uh you know I think it's important to make sure that we keep updating that pay rate to make
sure that we're we're keeping up with um uh uh pay as the contract ages. uh there's $500 bonus per semester for teachers who are mentoring a student teacher. I think that's important. I my understanding is that you know student teachers are one of the ways in which uh
we can get a pipeline to new teachers within uh the district. And so it's it's you know I think this behooves us to be able to uh at least you know have a stipend a bonus for for teachers who are willing to to mentor uh new student teachers.
a $500 bonus for CA members who refer candidates uh who are hired as as part of CA positions. Again, you know, trying to make sure that we continue to have a pipeline of of candidates there. Um and then we also have raises for
extracurricular stipens. So, in this school year, so 2526, we're adding uh $10,000 collectively uh to uh how much uh the extracurricular stipens we're paying out to CA members. and then next year an additional uh $15,000
collectively. So that's increasing basically um those after school activities uh um like uh sports teams or uh the play um you know musicals things like that this is this is where that money is going and I'll talk a little
bit more about collectively uh the term collectively in a second. Um so CA salary increases this is I think one of the the biggest pieces. So just to kind of set the stage for folks who who aren't uh used to this. So raises for unions are negotiated
collectively. And what that means is we're not talking about individual people in individual raises, right? The whole point of of um a union is to make sure you're negotiating collectively. Um and so what we do is basically generally the the raise percentage is a average
raise across the union. So we say okay this is how much union salaries are. we're going to negotiate overall on average this is a percentage amount that the the staff will get. Now what this does mean though is you know depending on how the money is distributed some
members receive a higher percentage or a lower percentage depending on their position length of service but overall when we talk about salary increases with unions we talk about the the average percentage um across uh the entire union.
So looking at what we have in this contract. So for 202425 uh the raise was 3.9%. This current year 3.9% next year 3.8%. With an addition of uh a uh $10,000 for
this year specifically earmarked towards administrative assistance. Another $5,000 for next year specifically earmarked for administrative assistance. All right. And so what this is again is is an average over the entire group. Now
of course the the 10,000 5,000 are specifically earmarked for uh raises for administrative assistance. Um and and so this is when I talk about collectively right that's what I mean is is again when we look back at the extracurricular stipens that's the the total amount when you look at all the
extracurricular stipens you know that's uh let me see that's you know that's how much we've increased uh uh those amounts. Now something that's important to note is well you know we're passing this
contract you know this school year. What do you mean? It's it's it covers last school year. Well, u because it took a while for us to get the contract agreed upon. Uh what happens now is that uh CA staff will receive their 2024 2025 raises retroactively, right? So it's
it's not like uh we ignore, you know, the last school year. Basically, once we as a board pass uh um the contract, then my understanding is that the business office has teed up ready um the retroactive pay and that should go out
uh very shortly to uh CA staff. So that basically the raise that they should have gotten over the school year from last year they will they will get um uh I believe basically end of August. Right. I believe that's the last point here. Yes. So one thing I mentioned was
this historically large raises. Um you know one of the things that this this was something that I uh the graph I made um towards the end of last year and one of the things that I think we should as a board um uh be excited about is that we are able to uh uh give um a raise
that I think is higher than what we've done in in the last decade worth of contracts. And so what you see here is the red line is the Camden County average raise. Um, now just a note, this line piece right here uh probably has
adjusted since I made um this graph uh end of last school year, but basically this is basically the average raise over uh all of Canon County in each of those years. The blue line is uh the raises
that we had within our uh contract uh the CA contract for each of those years. And so what we'll see here is that for uh this new contract for all three years, we are we are well above the the county average. Um whereas before it
seems basically we we started the county average and then kind of held it flat. And so as the county average raised um uh you know we dipped a little bit below the county average for those years. Um step guide length. So this is a term of art that I was talking about previously. So salaries for CA members
are determined by a defined step guide and this is actually linked inside the uh agenda if you want to go look at it. So generally a step guide is is I describe it as a table that lists how much someone makes depending on their position and up and also upon their
years of service or or step. And so here's just the example. I know it's a little small but the example from the the new step guide for year two. So this is this year and this is for certificated staff. So again, you know, teachers, uh, psychologists, you know,
guidance counselors and just to because I know this is kind of potentially a confusing topic. So basically what this says is if you're a teacher with just a bachelor's degree and you're on steps one-3 in this year, you will make this much money. If you're on step four,
you'll make this much money. Step five, you'll make this much money, etc. This has been kind of confusing for us as a district in the past because we've had steps and years and steps don't always correspond with years. Sometimes, you know,
a step might span multiple years. And so what we've done here, even though it says step one through three, uh what we've agreed to here basically is that uh basically, you know, this is a single step, then the next is single step. So if you're in your first year of service, you'll get this. Next year you'll get
you'll go to step four, etc., etc., etc. All right? And so that's how you kind of read it. So if I have a master's degree, you know, uh, and I'm starting at the very beginning, no experience, then, you know, that's what I would get. And that's how you read uh, a step guide. So this is important because a step
guide kind of determines how long it takes to get the top of the step guide. Top of the guide is something that people will say. And that that means kind of maxing out um uh your salary for for that position. And so the uh CA contract includes step guides for
certificate staff. So that's teachers again, psychologists, guidance counselors, you know, administrative assistants and instructional assistants. Um and all three step guides were shortened during this contract. So fewer years to reach the top step for for all three groups.
um you know so for certificated staff you know 2023 24 at the end of the prior contract it was 20 years. So what that means is if you started as a brand new teacher no experience in the district it would take you 20 years of continuous service to reach the top of top of the
guide the the the highest salary for that uh position. Um what we negotiated and what we agreed to was for last year we'd keep it 20 years but starting this year next year we would uh go to 18 years. So now we've we've basically cut
off two years. So it takes uh two few years to reach the top of the guide. And just for those of you who are interested, that's why you'll you'll see kind of the one through three, you know, step compression. That that's why it's weirdly named that way. But that's how we cut off two because even though the
step will be step 20 plus, it really takes 18 years to get there. Um for administrative assistance again prior contract 15 steps. Uh this contract for for all years uh nine steps
um instructional assistance 15 steps nine steps. All right. So so uh shortened uh guide step steps for for um all three kind of subgroups within the CA contract.
Um high starting size for teachers too. So, one of the goals that that I think the CA expressed uh during board meetings u and to us and one that I I would believe the board we share as well is that we want to be able to attract um new teachers to the district through competitive salaries, right? And one of
I think the concerns was the lower stling salaries for for teachers. And and while I don't think that um we could say that every piece of the the salary guide is uh exactly where everyone wants it, one thing that we can I think highlight and be proud of is that we do
have high starting salaries now for teachers with this contract. Um so you know our new uh contract increases are starting salaries. um and looking at so many surrounding districts, we are actually quite high now um and maybe on the top end. And I think that's going to
help position district well uh in terms of attracting, you know, new um uh teachers, you know, coming right out of school. So looking here, here's an example. So Collingswood is is the very first row up here, and I've also highlighted in green uh the highest of
that column. And I've put some districts here that are, you know, around and what I think folks often uh talk about in comparison with Kingswood. A little note, I have little dash marks here because I put Hat and Hides here even though I put dashes across because
essentially uh these contracts for these school districts for those years aren't yet publicly posted. I think Haten Heights uh they're probably still figuring out their their um their uh step guide right now because they just got the MOA in place. Cherry Hill. I
think uh they agreed back in March or April, but I couldn't find it online. Uh so there it is. So basically what we can kind of see here is you know at the very first year we're this is kind of I think representative of where we've been kind
of in the past sort of not the very bottom but but you know not the top um in terms of of our starring salaries. And as we go and and uh through you know negotiations with the CA and and collaboration there we're able to raise that starting salary a good amount um
and so by 2026 27 at least in this group of of of districts and and with the data I was able to find we would be among the highest in our area in terms of starting salaries for new teachers and and that I think u uh should hopefully position the
district well to recruit again uh new teachers. Um so there are also some newly codified duties. One of the things that we heard a um from uh some I think parents and families was was how important back to school night is. Especially when it
comes to you know if your student was in the fifth grade and now is going to middle school, right? Or middle school, not going to high school. there's a different campus, different responsibilities, different you know maybe you know subculture of what's going on there within the district and back to school night is really helpful
for uh what we heard is really helpful for parents to understand hey what is my student experiencing what you know uh how do I support them etc and so one of the uh things that we agreed to was that back to school night is now a required duty for all teachers as part of the CA
contract so previously uh that was not uh within the contract now it is uh part of the contract is a required duty. Um uh and so we can expect to have that uh each each year and and hopefully that helps meet the needs of of parents who uh you know are especially when they're
switching basically schools. Uh there are also two other newly qualified duties. One is that middle school teachers will be required to attend middle school promotion ceremony and also that high school teachers were required to attend the high school graduation ceremony. And again, one of the things that we heard there was that
uh these were really important cultural pieces to the uh experience of uh um students and families uh and of of really building and maintaining and celebrating the culture within the school district. And so uh one of these so right here just setting that
expectation clear that that those uh celebratory moments would would be uh should be you know had by the entire school I think is really important and those are two newly codified duties as well inside the contract. So finally um you know next steps. So
the CA contract is up for approval from the full board tonight. So that's agenda item 15.03. Um, and in fact, what uh I'm likely to do is because of just a few technical pieces, it's better if we actually do agenda section 15 earlier. So, after our first couple of comments, I'm going to actually move that agenda
section up so we can get that uh approval um uh done uh early. And um yeah, so you know, I know this is the first time I've presented to the full board about all the nitty-gritty details, even though, you know, I've sent I think the MOA and so forth to
folks. Um, are there any questions from from board members about the the contract details or anything before we I guess eventually go on to to put up for vote? Um, thank you for your presentation, Roger. Will um, retirees be eligible for
retropay? Yeah, so that was one of the uh pieces that that we talked through with the CA. Um if you served and uh during uh so if you were a uh member during 2024 2025 last year uh and you retired you would
get retropay for um your service. Yes. Mhm. And you said um that was going to be uh paid out by the end of August. You said in like one lump sum. Yeah. So yes. So my understanding if I don't want to speak but if I'm correct
basically the business office has those that retrop paid calculated and the idea is that it would once we approve it then they can uh push it out and that should I believe uh go out Friday as one lump son is that correct yeah Friday as one
lump sum to each uh of the CA membersh and and one more the uh the 10,000 and the 5,000 for the administrative assistance for 25 26 and 26 27 that just goes onto their existing salary they have the so it remember that's a collective
amount so it basically gets dispersed across um uh their guides and so one of the pieces if you remember from the highlights let me back up back up back up back up here we go this piece right here so if you notice you know the average percentage is around 3.9% per
year but if you look at uh uh the just pulling out the administrative assistants by themselves this is the percentage there and that's part of what helped boost up um uh their raises which again was an important piece because um uh you know I think we heard rightfully
how the administrative assistants uh were lower paid considerably compared to uh uh neighboring districts. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's that's great that that we focused on that and gave some some effort. But the 10K is collectively across the entire
district uh in across the entire uh group of administrative assistants. Yes. Got it. Okay. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Can you post this? Yeah. Okay. Just because it's it's nice and it's bulleted and it's you know like if if people have questions, this is a
really nice thing to reference. Okay. Yeah. Abs. Absolutely. Yeah. And that was my intention was to get this out to um uh Dr. Don and Miss Coleman so it can be posted. Yeah, absolutely. Any other questions? Not a question, but I just wanted to say
I really appreciate and I think um other teachers will the the new start the higher starting salary in order to attract additional teachers. um there's fewer and fewer, you know, graduates, especially at the secondary level from gradu um from education
programs. Um and so states like New Jersey are going to be gobbling them up. Like the schools in in this state are going to be gobbling them up as quick as possible. So having a really attractive higher starting salary is I think going to hopefully make a big difference. Yeah.
Um I just want to say uh thank you Roger for this presentation. and um like Maggie said, nice and and laid out and I'm sure the community will appreciate it too. And just want to weigh in and say, you know, we know that this was not an easy process, but to see so many wins for for the for the teachers in the
district, I think um is a really great way to sort of end this process and to start the school year fresh with it um is great to see and I think our community will be really appreciative. Okay, great. Um I think that that's it for me.
Okay. Um, with that, could I get a motion to exit committee the whole? So moved. And a second. Um, all those in favor? Okay. Uh, so now we'll moving to section five, future dates and miscellaneous
information. So uh many future dates coming up uh including you know I think kindergarten meet and greets and you know reminder Labor Day school and then school opens uh on September 4th. Uh one thing that is not
in here yet is the uh board roundt for September. So we're we're still getting dates for that and we will uh announce that hopefully you know with a full schedule of um dates. Yeah. Yeah. Um they will ideally be back in the
library community room again this year. Um we're just waiting on confirmation from the folks over at the library, but as always they are about two weeks the Thursday about two weeks before our board meetings. Um and uh those were were great last year. A good opportunity
to just have another um access point to to board members. Um and we look forward to those again. Okay. Thank you. And so then moving on to section six, routine business, uh approval of minutes. So a motion to approve the minutes of the June 23rd,
2025 regular board meeting, the uh June 2025 uh sorry, June 25, 2025 special board meeting and the August 4th is 2025 board retreat. So moved. So moved. Uh is there a second?
Second. Um is this all? Yeah. All in favor? Hi. Hi. Uh, move on to section seven, student reports. So, we will, uh, we don't have any student reports at the moment because I think there they are still selecting student board members. Um, so we'll move on to section eight,
the superintendent's uh, report. So, good evening again. Um, thank you so much for joining us this evening. Um, section 8.01 01 is the enrollment report. June of 2024, enrollment was 22.49.
June of 2025 is uh 2201. Um 8.02 um and 8.03 are the uh school safety drill reports as well as the suspension reports. Just have a few um general statements. uh we
will be sending out um a public uh meeting highlight uh which talks about back to school. It also talks about information that is covered in this evening's board meeting. Uh and then just general notes uh pointing families to their uh child's school uh and all of
the upcoming dates as we get prepared to welcome students back next week. Uh, as I had to share with my wife, the first day of school is Thursday. Our lovely um teachers and staff will be joining us on uh Tuesday uh September
2nd where we will have um a large convocation of all faculty and staff uh here in this uh building in the uh middle school auditorium where we will be reflecting and celebrating u the 2425 school year. We will be identifying the
district uh priorities for 2526 school year. Uh and there will be a lot to celebrate. We'd also like to note uh and thank our uh new staff academy coordinators uh for an amazing job. They
welcomed 34 new staff uh this year. um in our new staff academy. These are all uh talented, energized, and dedicated uh new members of our team. Uh we'd also like to acknowledge our school and
district leaders. They participated in two leadership retreats this summer. One in June reflecting on the 2425 school year and one last week really identifying goals, objectives, and um estimated outcomes for the 2526 school
year. and our school uh leaders did a phenomenal job of throughout the entire summer of screening and interviewing and selecting really strong candidates that are joining our team. Uh we'd also like to uh publicly acknowledge uh Mr. John
Longo and our buildings and grounds crew for their phenomenal work in all of their summer projects this year. Um, not only did they get all of the schools uh clean and ready to receive students and staff next week, um they also had major
uh construction uh projects that were going on uh concurrently. And so you will also hear more about that uh when we send out a public uh announcement with photographs of their collective work. Um, and so, uh, we would also like
to, uh, gently remind our community that we have a wonderful, uh, leader in the back of our space, uh, Miss Nisser and the Panther Pantry. And so the Panther Pantry is a student and staffled initiative that helps to
provide um uh nourishment and uh personal care uh products to needy families in Collingswood, Oakland, and Woodland. Um and so we're extremely proud and you'll hear more about that uh throughout the course of the year. and they will be a permanent fixture in all of our our public meetings as a gentle
reminder uh of how fortunate we are uh and that when we come together we can also take care of those who are less fortunate. Uh and that concludes my report. Thank you Dr. Mcdal. With that we'll move to section 9 public comment. Uh so
this is the first uh public comment section. The purpose of this public comment section is to discuss items listed on the agenda. Um, additional more general comments may be made later in the meeting during the second public comment section. Um, so the public is reminded that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints should first go
through appropriate staff members and administrators. Uh, the intent of public comment is to give the committee opportunity to provide feedback to the board. We will be actively listening and taking notes so that we can take all that is being said into consideration. Um, and we will also take note of any questions and if appropriate do our best to address them at the end of public
comments. Um, members of the public are welcome to speak and expect to do so with the utmost sensitivity for everyone in attendance. Um, and in fairness for all who wish to speak, there's a strict three minute time limit per person during public comment and Miss Coleman will assist me by keeping time. U,
please remember to state your name and address for the record. Uh, the floor is open. I'm getting there. Okay. I just had a question about the enrollment. Oh, Stacey DeMarco, uh 524 Jessimine. I have two student two
children at Sharp. Um I had a question about the enrollment. It looks like it has gone down in a year of 48 students. I just wanted to know where those students are going. That that 48 um because Collingswood seems to be like a
booming town and people are moving here. So, why are there less students at our schools? Um, you would think there would be more, especially because we're adding preschool classrooms. So, that's just a concern that I noted. That's it. And I
will hobble back to my chair. Okay, it does not seem as if there are any more uh public comments. Um, you know, I do want to note the the question from Miss DeMarco. Uh, and I think we'll that's something that
we can probably get back to to the folks about. All right. So, uh, with that, we're going to move on to section 10, the business. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Good point. Let's let's so let's actually skip ahead and do
section 15. Um uh I think I think I can just move that. Yeah. So I'm we're just going to move Yeah. So we're just going to move section 15 first. Thanks. Thank you Miss Coleman for that reminder. So section 15 is uh m the miscellaneous section. And
so there are three items in uh the miscellaneous section. So 15.01 01 is the H report from the previous month month which is actually June um not July. Uh and then 15.02 are some new job descriptions. Uh and then 15.03 is the
CA contract agreement uh which I just presented on. So at this moment I am seeking approval for items 15.01 through 15.03. Can I get a motion please? And a second. Uh questions or comments from board
members? I have a question about the M um MTSS coordinator. So, um these individuals will be they they'll be doing the one-on-one in addition to um because that that's the way I I read it because at first I wasn't sure if they were just
developing the program, but then it said they will be providing instruction to students. Could you clarify please? Good evening everyone. Thank you for your question. um continuing to grow and evolve our secondary MTSS program is one of our top priorities at our 6th through
12th grade level. Thus, the posting that you see and the um job description here for your approval tonight. Um there is a main priority on building the system and serving kids if needed. And so um dual dual roles, dual dual hats if needed. Um
but a huge focus on um using the the tools and the resources that um uh you have approved in in prior meetings such as our universal screener for MAP um the branching minds MTSS platform that you approved last spring and really bringing
that fully to life going forward this coming year. So, in the job description for the special assistant, uh, part of that was MTS coordinator in there and then there's a separate description for another MTS coordinator. Are they both going to be doing similar things like you just said, M,
the special assistant supervises the coordinators? And so, the MTSS coordinator is a retitled position. And so, we currently have staff members in the role. It's MTSS instructional coach. Uh it was requested by um the staff uh for us to
be more in alignment and more consistent with other titles uh which was more accurately reflect what they actually do which is coordination of services. Um so I have a question. We're also hiring I think for all four of these positions today and approving. Is that
basically we're doing it at the same time because we didn't have a meeting in July? Okay. Yeah. That's also one of the reasons why you wanted we moved it up. Okay, that's what another Okay, thank you. Okay, no further questions. Uh, roll call, please. Mrs. Brown,
yes. Mr. Craig, yes. Mrs. Divine, yes. Mrs. Maya, yes. Mrs. McCowsky, yes. Mrs. Seltzer, yes. Mrs. Sherman, yes. Mrs. Z, yes. Mr. McMillan, yes.
Mr. Yes. Okay. Let's return to our uh regular order here. So, now we will move one one quick can we get um we got beat up for the last year. Um we just approved and ratified the contract. Can
we just take a moment to celebrate that we've just uh removed that. [Applause] Um so moving to uh section 10 uh the business administrator and board
secretary report. All right I will be brief. Um busy summer as usual. 10.01 I have your June and July um monthly budget transfer reports. Item 10.02 are your June and July business admin business
administrator treasurer um reports and board secretaries reports. 10.03 are your June and July student activity cash reports. 10.0 04 is your June financial statements for Neutraerve. 10.05 is the listing of the purchase orders that have been issued in July and August. And then
10.06 um a listing of the bills paid in July which we will ratify. And then the August bills list that will be paid tomorrow morning pending approval this evening. Uh we're moving to section 11 buildings grounds and finance committee. Uh Mr.
Craig the chairperson will present. Thank you. Uh the 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 are seeking approval for the
following items. Uh 112 to 119 is the board secretary's report for the last two months of financials as was just presented. 1110 is are transfer transfer approvals for ESS aids and subcosts from last school year that were over the 10%
threshold. Uh 1111 is accepting FY2026 IDA grant funds. Uh 1112 is approval to go out for RFP for LDTC services. Pause. We have a winner of that RFP. 1113 is accepting the outcome of that uh
for uh for this company to provide ser those services for students. Uh 1114 uh QPA limit revision due to changes in the law. So see we're having uh updating that to uh reflect those the new thresholds. Um 11:15 is a contract for
athletic transportation services for the school year. Uh 1116 is the 2627 budget calendar. 1117 is the business office SOPs. 1118 is updating uh the purchasing manual. Uh 1119 is the annual submission
of waivers uh for for toilets and buildings requiring those waiverss in order to make sure we are compliance and serving students. Uh 1120 is application for a room in Tatum to serve dual access dual academic uses. 1121 is a Xerox copying lease
copier lease. Uh 1122 shared athletic agreement with Woodland for students to play middle school sports here. 1123 and 1124 are shared service agreements for maintenance. Uh one with the burrow for cleaning services and another one with Chiselhurst uh school district uh for as
needed maintenance that we can provide. 1125 through 1137 are various agreements with companies uh to provide as needed services throughout the year. Uh, typically these come over the course of the year and we are approving them as they are needed. If we
can't source them, staff has to kind of get ahead of us. It's been over a couple years, so this will allow staff now to already have these agreements. If they need them, they can go out and get them and not have to wait on us. Um, but there are a lot of them. Uh, 1138 is the 2526 ESS EA grants and their amounts
seeking to approve those approve accepting those. 1139 is approving or accepting of the 2526 Perkins grant amounts. Uh 1140 is the 2526 special Olympics grant which we will host again
this year. Um 1142 1141 and 1142 are two different settlement agreements that the district has reached with complaintants. Uh 1143 is a New Jersey water infrastructure grant and then 1144 is a facilities request uh that all I see is
gold use uh wrestling uh program use our wrestling gym. So I am seeking approval tonight for items 112 to 11:44. Is there a motion? And a second. Questions or comments from board members?
Matt, I just had uh 11.37 had caught my eye and um you did touch on it, but could you just explain a little bit more? So, um I was just looking at this particular one when I was reading the attachment. Um I just wasn't sure what the difference was between that form of consultancy and the child study team,
but if you're saying it's it's it's a matter of uh you know having a having a bunch of services ready for the staff uh if they need it. Um you know so in a nutshell um we were trying to source our own LDTC this summer and Dr. White House had a hard time. Um so she
came to me um I guess beginning of July and I said well you're going to exceed my bid limit of 53,000 so we're going to have to RF RFP it. And a lot of it too is um we may approve these people and let's say I I'll call Dave Oliver tomorrow and be like Dave I just approved you. Can you source for
somebody? A lot of these places won't start sourcing for a person until you approve them and then when you go to call them they don't have anybody right so um a lot of this comes at a child site team as you know if and a lot of a bulk of these are um besides the few
LDTCs a lot of these are for uh translation services we approve a lot of them because a lot of times we call and they just don't have anybody who's available so this way it gives child study team a lot of options to get the services done so that's why we did it that that's a great explanation Thank
you. I had one quick question about um the use of facilities 11:44. Sorry, Matt, trying to find you. Um the it says the All I see is Gold Wrestling Academy was using the high school gym from July 31st to November 26th. Have they been held
back at all by because we haven't been able to approve this or No, we approved it. Um I sent it to um uh Mr. Craig and Mr. to and members of the committee to just get approval in the meantime. Um because they didn't get their paperwork in on time and we didn't
want our wrestlers to be penalized um because they the we've had this program here for at least half a dozen years. They just didn't get the paperwork in on time. Yeah. Be because this because this was somebody that had we'd been in partnership and been working with in the past who felt
comfortable saying we we could get this. I agree. I just wanted to make sure they weren't impacted by it. Yeah. And and I think another thing too also is one of the questions we asked was if their insurance uh work was and all that stuff and uh kind of um and uh the answer was yes. And so again because of that ongoing relationship, you know,
I think you're concerned. Exactly. We didn't want them to be um hampered uh if if it was needed. We had a similar situation in Oakland uh last week and just I I would say we just want to make sure that you speak to them
about making sure that their paperwork's due in on time next year. So when this group came in, they realized their paperwork was late. I literally came in with everything and the check the day it came in and that's when I had emailed um I actually asked for an
apology first um on behalf of the buildings and grounds guys because they just showed up and we weren't prepared for them. So, and then once they said they were sorry to Mr. Longo, then I let the board know. So,
I have I have a question and I'm not sure if this is where I'm supposed to place it or not, but I've been a lot of parents and kids have been asking me about the phone pouches. Would that be under this category? No. Yeah. Okay. So, sorry, we we can we can take a motion to to
talk about that. Okay. In a minute. Yep. Thank you. Um Okay. Uh so, yep. Uh Roll call, please. Miss Cole. Mrs. Brown. Yes. Mr. Craig. Yes. Mrs. Divine. Yes. Mrs. Maya.
Yes. Mrs. Mcowsky? Yes. Mrs. Seltzer? Yes. Mrs. Sherman? Yes. Mrs. Z? Yes. Mr. McMillan? Yes. Mr. Chu? Yes. Um, I think this actually probably goes pretty well with the curriculum committee. So, why don't we take a
motion to discuss the the phone pouches um policy right now? Do you want to give that motion? So motion to discuss the the phone pouch policy. Say moved. Motion. Oh, so moved. Okay. And can I get a second, please? Second.
Okay. So, um, do you want to ask your question? Um, I don't feel like I have a lot to be a um, knowledge to be able to answer a lot of the parents and children, not just my children, but children in the community that are asking me to be able to answer this question about the phone pouches. Um,
and the concern from many parents and I kind of have that concern too is, you know, emergency in the school and them being able to contact me or things like that because their phone would be locked away in a pouch that isn't unlocked until the end of the day. So, this is something that I also heard
from a family that I know. Um, so basically, just to give more people more context, I believe this has to do with the high school um testing the those the yonder pouches. Yes. Um, and and the cell phone policy. So, I don't know if if Dr. D or Miss Alurn wants to talk a little bit more about the policy and how it's going to work.
Uh, Fred, I'm happy to include that as part of my curriculum update here in one second and you can chime in with anything. Is that okay? So, I have a couple of updates and I I just added that as a bullet to the list if that's okay, Danielle. Okay. Okay. Can we clarify that? Is that part of a grant that we're being that that we're
using to pay for those yonder patches pouches? Okay. Um I actually don't know how to end this. Is this I guess we just move on or make a motion to motion to close motion to close discussion.
You guys are making me earn my money tonight. to close discussion on this point. See, I would just let Meredith do her report and move in and a second. Okay. Uh and so now we move to section uh uh 12 uh curriculum committee. Um uh
and so uh Miss um Sherman, the chairperson, will present. Got it. Got it. Got it. Okay. Uh the curriculum committee oversees and approves the district curriculum and assessment programs as well as field trips, home instruction, co-curricular programs, and school calendar. Seeking
approval tonight for the following items. We'll start uh 12.02, a curriculum update from Miss Howell Turner. I just turn it over to her. Good evening again, everyone. And I will get to the yonder topic in one moment, but I wanted to just touch on a few
things prior to that. Um first, I see Dr. Jack is still here. And I will um say to Windsor and Karen who maybe are listening at home and Jack who's here before me, I think um we only had the opportunity to overlap for one year. Um
but I will say that I think it's perhaps a test a testament to your leadership that even after three decades at this, I was still surprised when you told us you were retiring, which shouldn't be a surprise, right? But I was still surprised. And so, um, I'm grateful that
we had the opportunity to overlap for a year and for your, um, wise counsel that I will perhaps continue to lean on going forward. And we wish you a long and happy and healthy retirement. And I expect to see you zipping around Night Park on your bike for many years to
come. Um, we I will also just add that we have a long agenda tonight that uh, tease up a great year ahead. staff began setting up classrooms today. Principles are
putting finishing touches on their welcome back um presentations to their staff. Data is being analyzed. Goals are being set. Um and as Dr. McDow said a few minutes ago, staff return a week from tomorrow on the 2nd for two days of
staff professional development before students return for half days on September 4th and 5th. If you are a Collinswood parent like me, you are counting down the minutes until that moment. And so we look forward to the start uh of another great year ahead. Um
and so much of what you see in se uh section 12, the committee or curriculum and section 13 is putting all of those pieces in order for a great year ahead. um uh to um to uh to to touch on the question regarding um uh the Yonder
pouches, which is a Collingswood High School only at this time only um uh initiative. Um I'll go back to last summer here in Collingswood. Um Dan Whan, our uh one of our high school um
assistant principles, led a um an optional book study um leading uh some book talks around the getting some gaining some popularity around the the the book The Anxious Generation um that folks may have heard of here. Um, and I
believe that really kickstarted here locally, um, in our in our district at the high school. Um, a real conversation about what is or isn't working in terms of our current school cell phone technology policy for our students. Um, we have had for many years um,
limitations on student access to their devices during the school day. um and and I can tell you um in in many instances uh the classroom time, learning time currently or in the past um has been quite free of cell phones in
the in the way that one would one would hope that kids are able to focus and and and attend in the classroom and teachers have done an excellent job of managing those those um those potential battles. Um uh but there's so much re research
and and information coming out that it's hard to ignore that we need to go further as a district um to to reach the point of a distraction-free campus. Um and that's the that's the evolution of where we've been and what's working and where we are are heading um to ensure
that our students can focus during school, our teachers can teach. Um, and I will say just personally, one of the things that I'm most excited about is the um the the hopeful shift in social
interactions between kids. Um, you know, I would say right now students are allowed to use their phones during passing time transitions in between classes or during study halls or in the cafeteria. Um, and the building is often really quiet and not the good kind of
quiet, the kind of quiet where kids are staring at their device rather than talking to each other. And so I'm really excited about the the work the high school team has put into getting this in order. As you can imagine, it's a a ton of um preparation, logistics,
communication. Um, they formed a task force to um implement the protocols. Communication went home over the summer. Um there was an orientation last week for students um and other forthcoming uh orientations to make sure that um staff
are well prepared. We've allocated time on those professional development days next week to ensure that staff are well equipped with the shift. Um, and included in those communications are, I think, the very reasonable questions you have around like safety and how to communicate with your with your child
during the day and how students can communicate with their families during the day should some kind of unexpected need arise. Um, and we will continue to obviously um reflect and and tweak as needed going forward to make sure that it's a smooth and efficient um implementation.
Is this a this pouch this yonder pouch? Do they carry that throughout the whole day? I didn't answer half of the questions you asked around payment and what was the sorry so so we'll let's let's hold the questions we have to get through I think the the agenda items open motion to pass and then we can discuss
yeah sorry sure thank you alterer um items 12.3 and 12.04 are uh middle school and high school field trips are mostly um the MD638 program trips throughout the year um 12.05
5 um out of district placement. These are medical placements. Um 12.06 is a uh calendar revision and this is actually it's not like a date change. It's um the start time for the middle school. It's been changed. Um and that's actually kind of nice because now middle schoolers can sit and actually eat
breakfast. Um 12.07 um our uh district, this is an annual approval of curriculum across all levels. So 12.07 7 is at the high school and you can see all the um the curricular uh projects or all the different curriculums for various uh
core content classes and electives being approved or up for approval. 12.08 is the middle school sixth, seventh and eighth grade. Um and then 12.09 is uh elementary school including um two um classrooms with pilot reading
programs. Um they're listed at the end there. Should be really interesting to see. um how those how those turn out. 12.10 is um the statemandated uh and 12.11 are part of the comprehensive equity plan, statemandated multi-year evaluations. It's just submitted to the
county. Um 12.12 um is a state requirement to submit a plan that we will hopefully never ever have to use, but what to do should schools close for extended period of time. 12.13
um is uh support from the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired to serve four students within our district. So, I'm seeking approval uh for items 12.02 to 12.13 tonight. Can I get a motion? So, moved and a second and then we'll
turn it over to Miss Brown to ask her questions about the yonder pouches. Thank you. Um I guess the question of the funding for the yonder pouches and then this Well, you want to answer that first? Yes. Uh that is paid out of title grant
funding. Is this pouch carried with the children all day? Is it kept in their locker? How does that work? Uh I believe that every student receives one pouch. It is their responsibility to
maintain with them inside or outside of school if they if they wish. So, it couldn't leave leave with them. Um, I will triple check the specifics on that, but I'm pretty certain. And then I believe there um is a process if the pro the pouch gets lost or damaged for um
getting a new pouch in its place. Um but the the device physically I think to answer the question, it their phone stays with them. It's not like it gets taken away during the day. Um the pouch stays with them. It's like a heavy duty kind of neoprene um sleeve. um uh that
I've tested out myself. Yeah, I've I've actually been to a comedy show where we had to do that like Kevin Hart and we had to put our pouches in there, but coming out they had That's what I was wondering. How do you unlock it? How would they be unlocking at the end of the day?
Yep. Um so there is a device that comes with the uh the uh the subscription to to Yonder. Um there will be multiple unlocking stations. um throughout the buildings to facilitate a smooth exit so
that there's not, as you can imagine, like a a back a log jam of kids trying to all get to one device. So, um uh so that's just like part of the exit protocol is to pass by one of those stations and unlock your yonder pouch and then the pouch goes home with them,
right? Um I think the second the last thing Yeah. is is if this goes good with the high school this year, is it the plan to move it like to the middle school and then on to elementary schools? Do you have a plan for that?
So, historically um so the middle school has uh implemented um uh a a modified um cell phone plan several years ago. And so the incidence of students uh violating the cell phone policy at the
middle school was dramatically lower. And so it was not it it wasn't as pervasive. And so we didn't see the need uh to move it to the middle school level because the existing practices at the middle school were working um and there were minimal uh disruptions using the
phones at the middle school campus. Um, in terms of elementary, uh, we don't see widespread cell phone usage at our elementary schools, and so we don't envision needing to expand beyond this. Um, and this is, uh, we're we're piloting this.
So, the subscription to Yonder, is that covered also with the grant with the pouches? I don't know if subscription was the right word of me. I was trying to think of the right word to describe what we what we've contracted with them, but it physically pays for the the boxes and
the locking and unlocking devices. Um, sorry, Kate. Um, in the past, I think they've been able to use their phones like when they were going to check in for the bathroom breaks and things like that. Um, how's that going to work now? Uh, they will they will not be using
their phones during those times of the day. And so that the high school team has worked through alternate plans for how to issue issue passes and uh things of that nature. How long is I'm sorry, Kate. No, you you
go. Um this is actually not not so much a question um and just sort of a broader context comment which is that um you know this is going to become something I think that will eventually be some top-down policy from the state. Um, New York State just passed a
statewide policy for toward distraction-free schools that New York City has adapted pretty much in in, you know, in full. Um, and we know from from the past that what our neighbors in New York do often
kind of comes over to to New Jersey and vice versa. So, you know, I think this is going to be the wave of the future in terms of of campuswide um attempts to kind of control the distraction that comes with with devices. So, I think we can we can aim
to see this happening in more than just Collingswood for sure. So, paired with that Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. paired with that is uh the governor made an announcement several months ago that um they were uh seeking school districts to pilot uh this type
of uh not necessarily the yonder but to the distraction-free schools um wasn't nearly enough based on the actual need but they allocated about a million dollars um statewide for early adopters school districts that had already done the work in the previous year and were
ready to implement and so We fully um to to Dr. Seltzer's point, we fully expect there to be um a draft uh state expectation that will probably be covered in superintendent uh roundts which start back up uh in September. Uh
and then a plan of implementation statewide. And then I was just going to add to Fred's last point. Um the the high school team has been strategically reaching out to other um area districts in South Jersey who have maybe been a
year or two ahead ahead of Collinswood on this um journey. And so they've met um met with staff and I believe students too from some neighboring school districts just to understand um what what's working, what's not um how you know what what we should be thinking about in terms of our implementation
process. And so it's good to have, you know, u brainstorming partners in the in the area to uh for for the high school team and for for us to be able to bounce ideas um off of as well. If if I can throw my hat in the ring real quick, um to what Kate was saying,
I saw a map over the weekend and I think there's only like four or five states in America left that does not have mandatory by the state. Um and we're one of them. Um which was kind of surprising. Um but uh with that said,
just really briefly, how will the morning work? Like how will the kids come in, put them in the pouches? How are they mandated to do that? How are they checked to do that? What's their punishment if they don't do that? Is there a rigging for the system? And a yes or no question, does the pouch uh
block cellular transactions, right? Like does it is it like the foil hat or is it just or is it just like it's in there, you can't see it? I can say when I used it, it still rang. They want you to turn it off, but my phone would still buzz. I
didn't turn it off obviously, but it still it still I could still feel it vibrate on, you know, in the pouch. So, Danielle, are you saying this is a plan for you? Uh, you asked a lot of questions. I think um I can gen you repeat some of
them or in the order that you want me to The only thing I'm I'm wondering is what the what the procedure is for walking into school in the mornings. That's the main thing I want to answer on same uh the just the reverse of what I described in terms of the exits. So um like uh stations set up strategically
and I believe uh this is the main main and only point of access in the morning for students other than those who are late. And so, um, that will just funnel through here as as usual, um, with the the locking devices, uh, on the way in. Jimmy, that was a great question of, um,
can they rig it? Like, can they I will not speak that into existence. I don't know. Is there where there's a will, there's a way? I don't know. Your other great question that I want to follow up on is, um, is there um, some sort of what's the protocol if they um,
don't want to do it or they refuse or, you know, things like that? Yeah, good good question. We uh imagine that this is new and different for students and so that's why the communication to kids and families started over the summer to help to um
you know shift shift the mindsets coming into the school year. Um and um we'll uh we will lean on our restorative code of conduct as we would with other non-compliance uh AC across the building. So it's not like a separate or
different reaction. Um we will hand it handle it as would other disciplinary nature. I think it's great that they're bringing the anxious generation into the conversation and talking about it with the kids and the staff. I I mean if any of you haven't read the book, I have it if you want it. It's phenomenal.
Um you said pilot. Does that mean one year or we're not sure in terms of the the length of of the the pilot? So, the policy, there's been a no cell phone policy in the district for many, many years. And so, the district
has uh schools have interpreted um said policy a little kids bedtime. Sorry. You need a yonder box, sir. Uh I'm an adult. Uh and and so, um at
the end of the day, um phones are not permitted in in class and they're not supposed to be seen in school. And so when we say pilot, we mean pilot the current strategy that they're trying to employ. That that's what I meant. I mean, how long is the grant for?
Oh, well, we're using title. I mean, we we get we get title every year. And so the every single year they have to update the uh the grant based on the needs of the school. And so I would envision that we as long as necessary.
And uh my other thing and and believe me, Danielle, I I appreciate um concerns of parents. Uh I like just being able to coordinate with with my son when he comes here and you know, pick up your little sister and all the things. Um believe me, I do get that. But uh I also
think that for parents who are nervous, we we there there are lots of parents who maybe don't remember back in the day where if you had an issue, you called the kids school and there are people who work at the school who will find your kid. It's it's, you know, it's it's liable, right? We need to know where all
the children are. Um, but understandably in this day and age, and I'm I'm I am guilty of that myself, that we're so used to being able to instantly get in touch with our kids. But I think maybe some messaging to parents who are concerned about that, reminding them, sending out phone numbers if there is a problem. These are the people who are in
the office who you can call direct phone numbers. I think that would that would add a layer of of um, you know, comfort to to any kind of anxiety about that. paired with what Megan just said is that just so just for public record, there are phones in every single classroom in
our district. Um there was life before phones. Um there will be life after phones. And I think at the end of the day, um the emphasis on distraction-free, we did um focus groups with students last year when they implemented u the
current plan that they're seeking that they're evolving. And the number one thing that students of uh all ages uh all academic backgrounds and demographics said was that they saw and appreciated a dramatic increase in
engagement in classes. And that it also significantly decreased the amount of social media drama that had been um contributing to some of the uh conflict among some students on campus. and that
they wanted us to crank up uh with fidelity making sure that phones were not part of the the school day. So I we are there's already a policy in the middle school seems to work really well. I love that I actually can't get a hold of my kid because she keeps it in
her locker. Um why not implement that at the high school? Um and then it sounds we spent a lot of money and it also sounds like it's could be a complicated process. Kids lose it. There's going to be issues. it's not going to be streamlined across the entire district.
So I guess my thing why not just implement what we have in the middle school in they tried they they they did exact so the middle school I would say Dr. Jack is maybe four years now, five years, give or
take. Six or seven. So maybe six or seven years. Um for the last two years, the high school has tried to implement what the middle school um has figured out. Um and we were not seeing the types of progress and the types of outcomes that we
experienced in middle school. And so we needed to evolve. No disciplinary action was successful. No taking away phones. I mean it seems like there should be a rule the students you know sign that code of conduct and
if they break the conduct they have to I I understand but when you have 800 um young people uh one of the other pieces that contributes to a distraction is putting our teachers front and center with conflict um every 51 minutes about
cell phones. And so um for the sake of the order, for the sake of consistency and implementation, uh the elimination of some of the variability was necessary. I think also one thing that is interesting is that like this is true of
a number of high schools. Very few high school students don't use their locker anymore. Like they don't have a communal space that they put or a common space that they put their like in middle school where it's encouraged like use your locker. High school students don't use lockers. They just carry their stuff
with them the entire time. So, and it's it so like you you can't like that would be the only thing they put in their locker and they're not going to put it in there like the middle school program has. It's a weird like no high school kids use their locker anymore. Do you know any um like of the other states that are um having these
restrictions in place? Like do they pay for this stuff for the districts? Can we anticipate New Jersey taking this on as an expense and we don't have to take that on? It's really hard to determine with a gubernatorial race coming up. It's very hard to determine what's going to happen
coming from Trenton. I I'd also just like to say that I think this is a worthy investment for us. Um removing distractions so our teachers can focus on engaging kids and not have to battle a phone um in the short amount of time that they that they have in front of kids is huge. And I think we
saw what was happening with the uptick in violence and fights that were happening that were coordinated on cell phones. Um we saw people rushing with their cell phones to videotape these things which was drawing more people to come in. I think if we're not investing
in this, what where are we? And I I so I I understand we want to be fiscally responsible. I understand we just put a big tax burden on the town, but these are the types of things that we need to feel comfortable as a board saying this is where we want to invest our money in
keeping our kids focused and safe. I'll I'll add that this definitely is going to be like a culture change for the you know the the high school the students and and clearly the families right and um uh at least personally from from my perspective you know I I am
someone who uh is diagnosed and is currently treated for ADHD and sometimes you just need someone to to force your hand in terms of distractions like and it's it's really it's like you can try as hard as you want to not be
distracted by something but unless someone makes you right it's very difficult and so I would I'm hoping that in many ways you know this is a way for some students who maybe have similar you know challenges that I
do at times um this can help them with with their studies and with their focus during their school day and again I think that the social interaction piece I think is really important because um again that's I think not not to be like you know get off my lawn I you know like you know the type of like like you know
whatever but like you know it clearly social interaction is a very important p piece as we learned during the pandemic and so that piece you know face to face I think will be helpful I'll just maybe close this portion by saying that um Woodberry was one of the districts that implemented a
distraction-free school I believe uh high school I believe two years ago at this point and I'm going to misquote the student here Uh but you'll get the gist just basically the student was quoted in an article and said well if we have to be at school and we can't be on our
devices we might as well do our work and the superintendent of Woodbury cited some astronomical increase in the number of students on the principal list on the honor role etc and so um I anticipate that we can look forward to similar um
positive ripple effects here. I have a um curriculum question for the middle school. Did I Did I miss choir in there? I am looking now. And if it's not included, that was most certainly an oversight because Mr. Olive, the middle
school principles in front of me and I can tell you that Mr. Hartung's choir classes are very full and so we will um amend that amend that oversight and good catch by those those eyeballs here. I got to give Magg credit for that one.
Whomever whomever noticed that. Can you can we have this online by any chance? This I'm sorry. like the the course offerings. I mean, as a middle school parent that my kid doesn't communicate with me. Um, I did go on to their curriculum and I and I saw that choir
wasn't on here and it's on my kid schedule, you know. So, this is what just sparked things. I go on, but I didn't see any class offerings. I know it's, you know, slim, you know, for for six, seventh, and but it would still kind of be nice to have that under the curriculum page if it's something that
could be uploaded in the beginning of the year or whenever it's finalized. Um, I think I don't I know some middle school parents would appreciate just seeing what's there. So, if that's something that Sure. That's no problem.
Should we do a motion to to amend that that agenda item? Yeah. So, let's have a motion to amend um agenda item 12.08 uh which is a district curriculum for middle school to include choir for all three grades.
uh for all all three grades for so choir under grade six, grade seven and grade eight. Um can I get a motion and a second questions or comments from board members? Okay. So then we'll take
we'll we'll take a roll call vote on the submotion. So just the motion to add choir um It looks like none of the music programs are actually on on here. High school ones. Sorry. But for but for
middle for middle school. Does middle school have band too? Actually, but they don't have band either. Okay. If you I was going to say if you give me 30 seconds I can reference what may have been inadvertently left off here. Give
me I don't know if I can have 30 seconds. Can we just do a blanket approval to add whatever courses are missing from here rather than trying to figure out which it's a visual and performing arts, right? Um shoot. I don't have my my Robert Fool's
book with me today. Uh let's um take a roll calling. Okay. So, let's amend this motion. So, let's amend this. Amend. We already We already took the motion to change 12.08. So, I need to um So, I'm just going to
read adding I'm going to motion to amend 12.08 to include all the missing visual performing arts. Well, so the and I need to roll call the change to the agenda. So, we have a motion right now being considered to uh amend it to
include only choir. So, do we pass that first and then do a second motion to uh um do the visual performing arts section? The one day I didn't bring my Roberts book. Right. I I think we can just go with the
ladder. I think I can just cross choir. Okay. And just change it to visual performance. So, it's corrected reflectly. Okay. correctly reflected in the minutes. So, okay. So, let's let's let's back up a little bit and let's have the motion for uh adding the visual and performing
arts section. Yes. Uh to uh uh agenda item 12.08, which is middle school. So, let's let's have the motion be on that. So, can we have a motion for that? So, moved and a second. Second. Okay. So, this is a motion to add the entire visual performance arts section
to the middle school curriculum, which I believe was inadvertently cut out when it was added to the agenda. Um, can we have a any questions or comments from board members? Okay, a roll call, please. Miss Coleman. Mrs. Brown, yes. Mr. Craig, yes.
Mrs. Divine, yes. Mrs. Maya, yes. Mrs. Mcowsky, yes. Mrs. Seltzer, yes. Mrs. Sherman, yes. Mrs. Z, yes. Mr. McMillan, yes. Mr. Sure. Yes. Okay. Any further questions or comments from board members?
Okay. So, this is a roll call vote on the main motion, which is to pass all of these curriculum uh committee items. Miss Coleman. All right. We got Mrs. Brown. Yes. Mr. Craig. Yes. Mrs. Divine. Yes. Mrs. Maya? Yes. Mrs. McCowsky?
Yes. Mrs. Seltzer? Yes. Mrs. Sherman? Yes. Mrs. Z. Yes. Mr. McMillan. Yes. Mr. Chu. Yes. Uh, moving on to section 13 personnel 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, because this agenda covers two months and particularly a very busy period of the school year regarding personnel, uh,
buckle up. We got a long one. So, um, 13.0 03 to 13.04 um are the retirements that we um uh had some kind words about earlier. So, Dr. McMullen, since you're still here, we wholeheartedly say thank you for your
service. Um 13.05 to 13.11 are uh a variety of resignations. 13.12 to 13.14 are revised or rescended contracts. uh 13.15
um to 16 are leaves FMLA NJFMLA um 13.17 to 13.19 are uh voluntary transfers so those are um transfers from within district right from one school to another school uh
volunteered by teachers within the district um 13.20 20 to 13.54 are lots and lots of new folks but also some not new folks in new positions including uh Mr. Olivy congratulations
uh 13.21 21 interim middle school principal. Congratulations. Um uh so we welcome all of those people. Um wish them a wonderful year here in Collingswood. Um 13.55 to 13.59 are approval of stipens. Those
are district stipens, athletic and non-athlet athletic stipens. Uh 13.60 is the approval of afterchool clubs. Let me make sure I'm keeping up here. Sorry. Okay. Um 13.61
is the approval of ath uh athletic event staff. Um 13.62 uh to 64 are the approval of a tutoring coordinator, a family liaison at sharp school. Uh and interpreting service is for uh Spanish speaking families. Uh
13.65 65 to 67 are uh the approval of interns uh psychology and social work interns. 13.68 is the approval for a uh staff member to present a virtual session as part of a PLC day on NWA and MAP. 13.69
to 1377 uh are the approval of of various kinds of summer work. Um 13.78 to 13.79 uh are the placement of student teachers. 13.80 is the approval of substitutes and
tutors. 13.81 is the travel expense form. We have um a few folks in the district going to conferences and trainings. And 13.02 and 13.03 03 are the approval of Miss Hal Turner and Miss
Coleman's contracts for the 25 to 26 school year. Uh so I am seeking approval of items 13.02 to 13.83 tonight. Is there a motion and a second? Okay. So, I'm going to jump right in
here uh because I I emailed the uh to inform the board earlier today that that we actually need to do a couple of uh secondary motions here to amend a couple of uh items. So, um we're going to do two different motions here. Uh they are to amend the items so that they are
we're hiring acting uh people in those positions and this will allow us to uh properly post their positions uh for 10 days and then uh and then we can permanently appoint them in in September. And so the first motion that I'm seeking is a motion to amend agenda item 13.39
to be for an acting literacy coach part-time. Uh not so so that changes by adding acting before the position literacy coach. Um can I get a motion to amend agenda item 13.39? So moved and a second questions and comments from board
members. And that's because this person was in the district last year and is that I mean I read the email but I just want to make sure that I am that's the reason they were here they resigned and but they so the the specific position I don't know how much I can speak about the
specific uh person in the position but uh essentially the the reason why we're adding acting is to give us time to post the position the the actual permanent position for 10 days uh before we approve the permanent position. So this is kind of a stop gap measure to make sure that we have someone in that spot
uh right now for the school district uh for the school year to start while we're also then posting that position uh full um uh for 10 days before we approve like the permanent position in September. Was this not done originally just because of a time constraint? Okay.
And similar for the XY. Okay. So roll call please on this uh secondary motion. Mrs. Brown. Yes, Mr. Craig. Yes, Mrs. Divine. Yes, Mrs. Maya. Yes, Mrs. McCowsky. Yes, Mrs. Selzer. Yes, Mrs. Sherman. Yes,
Mrs. Z. Yes, Mr. McMillan. Yes, Mr. Chu. Uh, yes. Um, and then uh so now another secondary motion. So, motion to amend agenda item 13.56.
uh and specifically because that is an agenda item with several siphons, but uh specifically for the siphon for STEM department coordinator to be acting STEM department coordinator. Uh can I get a motion, please? And a second. Um questions or comments from board
members. Okay. Uh roll call, please. Miss Coleman on the secondary motion. Mrs. Brown, yes. Mr. Craig, yes. Mrs. Divine, that was loud. Yes. Mrs. Maya. Yes. Mrs. Makowski, yes.
Mrs. Seltzer, yes. Mrs. Sherman, yes. Mrs. Z, yes. Mr. McMillan, yes. Mr. Chip, yes. Okay, so now we're back to the main motion, which is all the personnel committee items. Are there any questions or comments uh from board members about
um the regular personnel committee agenda items? Uh I wanted to ask uh well, just I guess make a statement about um item 13.21. um this new position. Um I realized that we we did approve the job description, but all the job descriptions were together.
Um so I didn't I didn't feel that we could talk about it individually, but um uh I just have concerns. Uh I realize that we had some resignation some some some retirements and um I appreciate that there is work to be done but um I think considering
the situation we're in and Miss Coleman you did a fabulous presentation and I appreciate and I understand a lot more about uh you know the the tax presentation but uh you know according to the data we're doing well but I think we can do even even better. um we asked
the community for a pretty significant tax hike including senior citizens and I think um hiring another non- studententf facing position um is is not maybe the best idea right now. So um I I did want to say that and I also had a question about the job description for this
particular position. Um it did mention um something about the the it was a statement the merger of the secondary campus and I just wondered if you could explain a little bit about what exactly that means uh going forward. So, at the end of the day, I think that
um two things can be true. Um and so when we look at the the data as it relates with our investments, Collingswood um school district has the uh some of the lowest administrative cost um not just in the uh 74 comparable districts, but across the state of New
Jersey. And in terms of net foret, we're actually uh decreasing overall administrative expenditures this year. um unfortunately due to the retirement of some of our um veteran administrators. And so we will see a net decrease in administrative costs. In
terms of net positions, um we dissolved uh uh one administrative role and created a more all-encompassing role. Um and uh in terms of cost, the actual cost is less uh for a more comprehensive
position. And so, uh, we're seeing an overall decrease in administrative costs. We're not increasing the net number of administrative positions, uh, because we will still actually be light one administrative position given actions that this board is taking this
evening. um as we're seeking to grow our own develop one of our classroom leaders into a future administrative leader uh with a goal of actually filling that spot in the middle of the year once they've completed the certification process. And so we're actually starting
the year um with uh one administrator less than what we had last year even with this um transition. The community has been asking for multiple years u I would say uh decades uh that we need to we're making uh academic progress year
over year. Our teachers are working incredibly hard. However, we are not making the same strides as it relates with subgroup populations. We're not seeing the increases amongst our children and of color. We're not seeing the increases in terms of our students
with IEPs and we're not seeing the same degree of of improvement in progress with students with uh uh multilingual challenges. And so we need additional support and leadership and data in order to help us make better decisions so that
our teachers aren't um having to do uh the heavy lifting in terms of the data analysis, in terms of seeking and trying to find the data. uh we have to have um we're replacing some of our existing systems to be more efficient and more
nimble so that we can get better supports and more timely supports to students. You also uh uh heard about the MTSS coordinators. And so when we talk about targeted intervention, we're talking about making sure that every single child in our district gets what they need. And we need leadership in
order to help us to be able to actually do that while also coaching leaders, while also supporting teachers, while also bringing us the timely information. And so this role is um not only needed but we believe that we have a mandate based on uh what the community has been
uh asking for us to do which is to to more aggressively influence student achievement specifically among our diverse populations. And could you speak to the uh the merger of the secondary campuses please? Uh so we'll be um announcing with staff
uh next week. Uh we won't get into that this evening um because we want to make sure that we've had the opportunity to talk with staff first. Uh but paired with conversations that we had last year during the tax levy incentive aid, we talked about uh what would the
implications of not uh approving or receiving the additional funding, what that would be and conversations around uh consolidation of elementary schools, merger between uh the middle and the high school, loss of uh co-curriculars
and paytoplay. All of those core pieces is part of this. And so what we believe is that uh in an effort to um acknowledge the fiscal challenges that we have had in our district for many many years while uh seeking to not
decrease degrees of service and support to our students. Uh we need a more uh streamlined approach. The campus is already physically connected. Um there are artificial barriers with having the separation that we need to address. Uh, and so we're going to be working um with
our community, with our staff to help design um what comes next. And so staff will hear about this next week. Staff will be uh invited uh to uh actively participate and represent uh their collective campuses. And then shortly
after, we'll be sending out communication to families letting them know how families and community members can actively participate in the process with an overarching timeline. And so we'll be releasing all of that next week. So I just want to point out that I'm
obviously very sad about the three admin that are retiring, but there are nine total retirements or resignations on the agenda that I've counted and that's significant. We need to figure out a way to um retain the people that we have. I understand that we're doing a lot to um incentivize new people to come on, but
we there's a reason why these people have stayed here for so long. Um, so I want us to focus on retention as much as possible this year. Um, I also have the same concerns about Megan that Megan had in terms of um, you know, the cost of things. I do understand everything that
you said, but right now given that just it feels like yesterday we were talking about a nuclear option in the district and I know that there's an upcoming bill um, going on in New Jersey right now that that is adjusting the funding formula, but it doesn't change the structure of it. the changes, some things that makes it a more streamlined
process, but we're still potentially facing um a lot of heartache and hard decisions in the coming months. So, I have concerns about what we're spending right now and how that looks to the community. Just putting that out there. Um I just um want to echo something that
that Matt said earlier in the meeting, which is the importance of investment. Um and I think you know we as a board will have I think the the kinds of difficult um decisions ahead right I mean this is not a problem that is going
away right the the financial burden that is on districts increases every year and so that's why I think it's even more important to be strategic about where we're making investments and leadership is incredibly important for the direction and overall health of a
district um you know take the example of of this campus merger, which I know we're not going into tonight, but to have that done very very well, is super important for the health not only of of our districts, but of the individual students across those two campuses,
right? So, an investment in doing these kinds of shifts and and leadership well is, I think, money well spent. I'm not opposed to the investment um per se. Um just uh you know the optics of it doesn't look great to the community and I think that um you know we just need to
be careful of how fast we're spending the money and and and long and I know we need to invest but at the same time we also need to be mindful of where that's going to put us in three or four months when we're talking about the budget again. Right. And I think what Dr. McDow said about lowering the overall
administrative cost is a good stat to say to people who ask that question. I'd also like like to jump in here and say that I don't think it's a very good look to the community for us to be the only district that doesn't have a leader
uh in looking at data and performance metrics. I I mean if you look at any high performing district anywhere these days um they all have high level leadership focused upon uh uh data and
performance metrics because that's so important for uh helping to support teachers to drive student performance. And so if we're expecting our teachers to to use data to improve uh uh their instruction to improve the outcomes of
our kids, then we need to listen to our teachers who said they need support. And this is an integral part of providing uh uh support for teachers who are uh being asked to use data in a data-driven world
to accelerate the growth of students. Um, you know, and and one of those things which is I think M. McLolsey brought this up, you know. Yes, of course, I think we can always be better in terms of of trying to be as efficient as possible. You know, this is something that I think was brought up several years ago by Dr. McDow that that we have
to be more efficient. And I'm I'm glad now that as a disorgass community, we are um uh open and eager to have the discussion about efficiency, not as a bad thing, but as a a way for us to be able to uh do more for our kids given
the rising costs of of of education, right? Of course, you have to be more efficient, but we also need to make sure that we have the supports in place for our staff so that our students uh can learn, so our staff can can uh can grow their their skills. And I I do think that this is a worthwhile investment,
especially considering the fact that uh overall um our administrative costs are decreasing. Now, one of the I think unfortunate parts about our school budget challenges is that it is not
frankly in some ways it's it's not because of these actions that that were going to be in a school in a budget crunch, right? It's not because of that last year. It's not going to be because of of that this year. It's because of structural
uh uh challenges to uh school funding, right? Remember, we're normally locked to 2% increase in uh uh our tax levy, which is less than 1% of our school budget, right? So, every single year we can raise around 375,000 additional
dollars uh in terms of our budget. But we know inflation just large, you know, the uh is what, like 3.5% right now, right? We we know that that uh that um uh that costs are rising faster than that. And and that's one of those things
where that is the bigger picture that we're definitely going to have to look at. The other thing I I want to mention because Miss Maya brought this up is is yeah so I didn't do the counting but yes there's so there are about nine I think we said resignations. You know one thing I want to highlight is we have uh from
my count 28 new faces to the district uh uh being up for approval during this agenda item. I think one of the challenges that we have to have as a board is both appreciate and honor uh
and respect the the um long history and culture right of of the district here and and the hard work that has come before right for example again I'm going to embarrass Dr. McMullen here, right, of how much work uh that the folks who have been here have put into
uh building this district, right? But our goal cannot be that nothing ever changes in this district because if that's the case, then we can expect nothing ever to be better for the next students and the next students and next
students. And what I've never spoken to a parent who has said, I don't want better for my kid. So our goal cannot be that we never change. Our goal should be that we continue to improve. And I think we have
to do that even in the face of these really difficult, you know, inflationary pressures and budget season. I think that's a huge challenge and and uh and you know, I'm appreciative of all the work that the folks on the board and the administration and schools are doing to
help us meet this challenge. I mean, I I just want to make sure I'm really clear. We've spent time discussing two investments in making sure that our teachers can focus on teaching, right? We had a lot of teachers and staff come up to the mic,
push too far to crunch data and have to do more and more and more. We have to invest in letting them teach. We have to invest in not making them phone police, right? Like that is a critical dependency. I 100% agree and that's part
of why we have goals around retention and growth and investing. That has to happen. But I am really excited we're investing in like letting teachers teach and not do the stuff they've just had more and more to take on. We just have
to create the space for teaching to happen and growth, right? Like that will happen. I do expect us to hold the bar high around is this balanced in our budget? Can we afford this? Answer at this point is yes and we hope it stays
that way. Um but we're investing in create in meeting the expectations that were laid before us month after month. We cannot expect you to do more and more and that we have to respond with we aren't right. Right? Like so I I I think these are a mechanism for us to hear
that and think innovatively about how to get there without just blowing through money because I don't read these as that. I do want to make sure I'm understanding that. But I I'm hearing that we it was really with intention and a reduction of expense that we're trying
to move forward. I I really appreciate you saying that that idea of just letting teachers teach because since the pandemic, any teacher will tell you that more and more has been put on their plate, particularly when it comes to data and all of the learning loss that many many districts
have faced after the pandemic. Um this position it like Roger said is pretty common in most competitive districts. Um, and so, uh, I think while it might not be studentf facing, it is an investment in our students in the long
run. Um, it sucks to have to pay, you know, to say like, oh yeah, we're spending money on another administrator, but that is a crucial, it's works handinhand with a director of curriculum instruction. Like you have to have a testing coordinator, data specialist alongside your curriculum coordinator.
That's just how every competitive successful district works. Period. And I would want to jump in just make sure we're clear. This is not another administrator in that sense. This is replacing a retiring administrator. Any other questions or comments from board members?
Um yeah. So for 13.82 and 13.83. Um is there an increase in that contract from last year for both of those contracts? So I'm assuming those are uh the uh assistant superintendent and the assistant curriculum instruction. Yes. Yep. There.
Do we have a percentage? We've got the same percentages as the P PSA. The 3.5, correct? Yes. 3.5. Okay. I had a question um kind of kind of similar to what we were just talking about just in terms of investment. And believe me, I I am all about investing
in student success, but I also think a lot of that investment has to be first and foremost in student facing positions. Um, I see and and I I wasn't sure and obviously we can't divulge um any kind of personnel information, but I do see, you know, we had nine resignations. I am also seeing nine
long-term substitutes. So, I was wondering how many of those substitutes are due to the fact that we haven't been able to find uh full-time staff for some of those resignations. Um, what does that look like just in terms of filling those student facing positions? Um, you know, and I don't know if anybody can
speak to that because that's a concern as well. Um, I also heard I don't I don't know if it's if I just wanted to clarify that, you know, due to the loss of of our our very long-standing um high school science teacher that um certain AP classes are going to be online due to the fact not being able to replace that
position. So, you know, that all I think goes in hand with concerns about rigor, academic success offerings for students, uh especially students who are, you know, according to the data struggling. So, you know, I think I think that's part of the conversation as well. And I was wondering if if anybody could answer to that
at a high level. I I will I won't get into the details, but um all of the long-term subs are based on either medical or maternity leaves. And so the reason why they're long-term subs is because we actually have staff members. That's their position. And so it's a
long-term sub uh that's filling in while they are um not on campus. And and I appreciate that that's a concern and and it didn't specify. So that's what I was wondering about that. Thank you. Great. And uh I believe that's it for questions and comments. Uh roll call
please. Miss Cohen. Mrs. Brown. Yes. Mr. Craig. Yes. Mrs. Divine. Yes. Mrs. Maya. Yes. Mrs. Makowski. Uh yes. Except for 13.21 where I vote no.
Mr. Seltzer. Yes. Mrs. Sherman. Yes. Mrs. Z. Yes. Except for 13.21 which I vote no. Mr. McMillan. Yes, except for where I'm required to abstain. Mr. Chu.
Yes. Okay. Uh, moving to uh section 14, culture, climate, and policy committee. Miss my chair person will present. Where are the policies that were listed there earlier? They're not here. Um,
okay. So, the policy and regulations committee reviews all updates and changes of district policies and regulations. There were a few on there, but I don't see them right there listed. Um, I do know that there was one change to I think um, policy 1570. There was one addition that was recommended by
Miss Coleman that was um, something uh, to vet third party uh, service providers for data security, which is something that is already uh, part of our practice anyway, but I think everything else was pretty standard. Um, I tried to pull it up on the computer, but I couldn't.
Yeah. So it uh are you referring to 5111 and all those the old ones? Yeah. So uh I guess let's have a let's have a motion to pass uh 14.02 and then and then we'll we'll we'll address
that. So a motion to pass 14.02 first reading and a second. Okay. So I'm looking online. Essentially what happened was all that content is only administrative content. And so what uh so it is on online but it's it's not
in the public yeah it should have been in public comment and so um the the policies are uh uh 0 or sorry 0173 duties of public school accountant revised uh 0174 legal services revised
0177 professional services revised uh 1570 internal controls revised and 1620 administrative have employment contracts uh re revised. Um and those are uh
those are um uh revisions that are either mandated or recommended by our policy organization that does the schoolboard policies straight I think they're called. And then um and then uh
there's one bit in the um I forgot was it is it inter internal controls piece that that that uh Miss Maya mentioned which is uh uh an addition basically that Miss Coleman added from our insurance provider about just the cyber
security controls um and just vetting processes for our cyber security pieces. And just so you know Dr. McDow just moved that moved it up so it should be in view of the public now. So it's it it's all there in the public. So folks should be able to see that all in the public.
Do we need to have like a secondary motion to amend that item? Yeah. Okay. So So I guess we're just going to make a motion to approve uh 14.02, which is what we're in right now already. So anyways, uh questions or comments
from board members? Okay. And again, this is this is should be publicly viewable now. This was in locked in administrative content accidentally. Uh so, um roll call, please. Miss Coleman. Mrs. Brown, yes. Mr. Craig, yes. Mrs. Divine,
yes. Mrs. Maya, yes. Mrs. McCowsky, yes. Mrs. Seltzer, yes. Mrs. Sherman, yes. Mrs. Z, yes. Mr. McMillan, yes. Mr. Chu, yes. Uh we've already done section 15.
So we're going to move to section 16 which is the second uh section for public participation. This section public participation uh is for general more more uh more general comments. So this can be about anything. Doesn't have to be about uh items on the agenda. Seeing as I don't think there anyone
anyone new uh uh here tonight um I'm not going to say this you know blur again but reminder to please state your name, address and the time limit is 3 minutes. Uh, the floor is open. Hi, Cara Boiler, 90th Somefield Avenue, Collingswood, New Jersey. Um, I just had
a quick question. It might be maybe something Miss Hal Turner can answer. Um, and if you can't, then I'll just address it with the administrator, but since we were talking about it, um, I thought it might be you might be able to answer publicly. uh for the yonder pouches. Um there was uh I've been also
be kind of fielding some parent questions and a lot of the um uh our parent access to our students which was kind of addressed for emergencies has a really nice workaround but there's some um like when we drop off if a student
forgot their lunch or forgot money or forgot gym gym uniforms aren't the case anymore. They're they're uh not needed. There's a lot of reasons why we might a student might reach out to us and say, "Mom, I left this at home." Um, and you know, maybe they can email or something,
but then when a parent goes to drop it off, the re um we kind of ring the bell and they say, "Please leave it in in the cubby in the vestibule, text your student, let them know it's there, and they'll come get it." So, I didn't know if you could address that. If you can't, I can certainly send out a message to
Mr. Newman, and hopefully he can kind of relay that information to parents as well. Thank you. David Olivary, incoming CPSA president. Um, just a couple things to say. First off, thanks to Dr. McDow, Miss Coleman, Miss Hal Turner for the opportunity to be the interm principal this year at the
middle school. I'm really looking forward to it. And also a big thank you to three people that are retiring tonight. Um I know Mr. Yamamoto and Dr. Prince Pado aren't here, but they helped me tremendously. I learned a lot from them. And of course the legendary Dr. Jack. Could never have done it without
him. So thank you. [Applause] Happy 2025 2026 school year. My name is Mr. Goldberg, music teacher at the Tatum and Garfield elementary schools. I am here today speaking on behalf of the district music teachers, Miss Carlson,
Mr. Gross, Mr. Hartung, Miss Intriccasso, Miss Lewig, and myself. It is the mission of Collingswood Public School District's music department to provide every Collingswood student the opportunity to grow through a highquality, ability appropriate, universally accessible music education
that inspires the continuing study of music. Music stayed alive this past summer through the continued efforts of your friendly neighborhood music team. Right down the hall in the middle school auditorium, Collingswood Youth Theater gave us a jolly holiday performing Mary
Poppins Jr. Hats off to music teacher Mr. Brian Gross for his supercalifragilistic musical direction. Brava to Sanatonics co-director and youth theater director Miss Marian Dockerty for transforming
our mob of over 60 squirmy kids into a cohesive production of precision and order. Getting everyone to step in time was an amazing feat from our returning expert choreographer and Collinswood alumni, Miss Erin Daly. And a big thank
you to all the parents and community volunteers working behind the scenes to ensure our students looked and sounded as sweet as a spoonful of sugar. A few blocks down, a handful of our students could be found at the Rich Theater Summer Arts Camp Macob
production of Sweeney Todd, Demon Barber of Fleet Street under the music direction of Collingswood's very own Mr. CJ Hartung. For now, I'll spare you from more of my goofy musical puns. I have been told I have the worst puns in London.
Finally, Miss Liz Carlson, secondary orchestra teacher, ran a novel strings program that we all hope will become a staple of our town summer offerings. Both beginner lessons students and the advanced summer strings orchestra held their culminate culminating performance
on July 30th. Kudos to all those involved. We are fortunate here in Collingswood to have music teachers who continue teaching music well after the regular school day when it whether it be the affforementioned summer arts programs or after school activities
during the year such as magical sanitonics the spring musical and more. This community enjoys a variety of opportunities that many districts simply don't have. I can tell you firsthands from districts that send kids home at dismissal then lock the doors behind
them. Kids find far less constructive outlets to spend their time. The arts provide a safe place, a place for continued enrichment, a place to belong. The music team looks forward to another year working with this board and administration to make Collingswood a
place where students and community members want to be. Thank you. [Applause] Uh, seeing as there are no more public comments, do you want to address the young pouch?
I will also attempt to respond only with Mary Poppins references. Just kidding. Um, Ms. Boiler's question regarding um, family communication during a school day. Um, I I won't get into a ton of
specifics other than to say the the the sort of the the resounding theme tonight is just more communication to families at the high school about the the shifts and how you can go about safely communicating as needed throughout the school day with your with your children.
Um, so I I have a note to follow up on that. Okay, with that, uh, for those of you who are at home, you might not know, but the I think for costsaving measures, the AC in this, uh, uh, cafeteria has turned off for, I think, the last hour. So, it
is quite warm. So, I will take a motion. I was cold to adjourn. So moved. And a second, please. All in favor? Thank you. uh have a good start to the