##VIDEO ID:PDze7boLvWA## um in accordance with the open Public's meeting act adequate notice of this meeting has been given by posting on the door of the school administrative offices um and notice has continued to be posted to date by delivering notice to the retrospect and The Courier Post and filing with the the clerk of the burough of Collingswood this is a special meeting of the Board of Education The Bu of Collingswood um to hold our annual organization meeting all right Mrs Brown I'm just taking a tance just say here than you Mr Chu here Mr Craig here Mrs Divine Mrs Maya here Mrs molski here Mrs Seltzer here Mr Sherman here Maggie I'm sorry tell me how to say it you can just say z uh Mrs Z yeah there you go here thank you Mr McMillan here Mr dilus here okay I know we've got some new members um so these things I can have you can hit the green button to talk the light will come off when you're done talking click to turn it off because I can only have two or three microphones on at the same time or else nobody will be able to hear us so just little housekeeping all right can everybody please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please thank you very much um I will now read the results of the November election into the record um Mrs Brown 2,968 votes Mrs dine 3,99 votes and Mrs Z 3,149 votes congratulations and with that being said I'll ask our three new board members to come to the front um so I can swear you in and family members if you want to get get out your phones I'll try to s follow e [Applause] all right moving on to item three on the agenda I will now ask the superintendent to read um the code of ethics into the record and all board members you have a receipt in front of you um if you guys could sign it and send it this way for me thank you okay in accordance with New Jersey 18a uh 12-24 .1 every board member will abide by the following code of ethics the board member will uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools these desire changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing confine his or her board action to policymaking planning and appraisal and help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted with those who will be affected by them carry out his or her responsibility not to administer the schools but together with fellow board members ensure they are well run recognize that Authority rests with the Board of Education and make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board refuse to surrender his or her judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use schools for personal gain or the gain of friends hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters he she will provide accurate information and in concert with fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its School Vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties and refer all complaints to the chief Administration administrative officer and act on complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution thank you Dr mcdal moving item on to item four um I'm requesting nominations um for the office of president of the Board of Education uh I nominate Roger Chu second I'm sorry who was that who seconded okay I nominate Kelly Maya second can I have a motion to close the floor for nominations so moved second second okay um we are now going to do ballots I'm going to give everybody a slip of paper please write your name on the upper left and then on the right tell me who you are voting for for president please and then I will read them into the record for e e okay Mr McMillan votes for Roger Chu Mrs Z votes for Kelly Maya Mr Craig votes for Roger J Mrs Brown votes for Kelly Maya Kate Seltzer votes for Roger Chu this Divine votes for Roger Chu sah Sherman for Roger Chu Megan molski votes for Kelly Maya Roger Chu votes for Roger Chu Kelly Maya votes for Kelly Maya Mr dilus votes for Roger Chu Mr Chu you are elected President congratulations okay thank you uh we're going to move on to uh agenda item five uh election of Vice President uh so at this point we'll be taking uh nominations for the position of Vice President I would like to nominate Kate Seltzer second I would like to nominate Kelly Maya second at this point I'll take a motion to uh close nominations second same drill as before for e So reading into record the uh vice president vote uh Miss Brown uh votes for Kelly Maya uh Miss szer votes for uh Kate szer uh Mr Craig votes for Kate szer uh Miss jski vote votes for uh Kelly Maya uh Mr McMillan votes for Kate szer uh Mr dilus votes for Kate suzer Miss Maya votes for uh Kelly Maya Mr Chu is voting for Kate szer Miss Sherman is voting for Kate salzer Miss Divine is voting for Kate salzer Miss molski is voting for miss Ma and that that is all BCE Mrs szer congratulations okay moving on to agenda item number uh six so that's the first agenda item for public comment uh see soaring from the previous uh board president uh is the our public State uh comment statement so the purpose of this public comment section is to discuss items listed on the agenda uh additional more General comments may be made later in the meeting uh the public is minded that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaint should uh first go through appropriate staff members and administrators the intent of public comment is to give the community opportunity to provide feedback to the board we'll be actively listening and taking notes so that we can take all that is being said into consideration if appropriate clarifying comments may be made at the end of the public comment section for more detailed responses to concerns Community uh communication may go out later in the week by the appropriate staff members or administrators or be discussed by the board during future committee meetings members of the public are welcome to speak and expected to do so with the utmost sensitivity for everyone in attendance uh In fairness to all who wish to speak there's a strict three-minute time limit per person during public comment please remember to state your name and address for the record um seeing as there is no one coming up to the microphone for public comments uh we do I need to take a motion to to close public comments or okay so uh we'll move on to agenda item uh number 7 uh so this is um the agenda item 7.01 is official meeting dates and so these are the uh official Board of Education meeting dates uh for the year of 2025 and also the reorganization meeting on January 5th 2026 um so we're looking to move uh on the recommendation of the superintendent that the regular meetings of Congress Board of Education be held at 6m private session with a public portion beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the high school cafetorium on the fourth Monday of each month and there are some exceptions noted uh for for the fourth Monday of each month um so I will take a motion uh for approval of item 7.01 so moved second yeah so questions comments thank you um I'm sorry did you say that there that every meeting there's going to be a private session at six o'clock is that what I'm understanding uh no not at every meeting we advertise it that way in case we have to have one L we did the same thing last year I always advertised six o'clock Clos session 6:30 regular in case we have to have a Clos session gotcha thank you but you'll know in advance like we'll we'll do like we did before like y thank you any other questions or comments from board members roll call vote please yep uh Mrs Brown you'll get used to it two months you'll be a pro Mr Chu yes Mr Craig yes Mrs dine yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs Seltzer yes Mrs Sherman yes Mrs Z yes Mr McMillan yes yes Mr dilus yes and I just want to know um so tomorrow everybody will get like a from Anita who's um the superintendent's executive assistant either tomorrow or the next day like a like a Google link of all the dates and then the week before we meet in committee so we'll have all the committee dates as well and the time so you can put everything in your calendar for like the next 12 months we're going to hold you captive for 12 months I'll um I'll go ahead and for uh meeting invites to everyone for all the board meeting moving on to uh agenda item or Section 8 committee appointments made by uh president so agenda item uh 8.01 are the committee appointments so that will not happened tonight um but there is I think uh yeah everybody's got a piece of paper has a piece of paper um if you can fill that in and pass that in tonight although I think if you if you're not ready to pass that in tonight that's uh fine as well you if you want to you want to scan it and send it to me tomorrow if you can yeah rank the Committees in the order you know most favorite to least favorite yeah I guess we we'll say one is most favored uh uh four is least favored so golf scoring here um and then uh we are looking for uh rep uh state and local representation that's that's agenda item 8.02 um and there are two two uh I guess associations we're looking for uh representation uh from our board to so the first one is the New Jersey school boards Association to represent the board of education at the state level quarterly meetings on three Saturdays per year um and so for each of these there's uh we're looking for a primary representative and then an alternate representative in case the primary can't go um and so I guess we'll we'll do this by volunteer and currently serving for New Jersey school board um item one uh Mr Craig and then it was M Mary S that was the alternate just so you know kind of know who's serving currently any volunteers I will graciously give that position up to whoever would like to fill it I'll Vol I volunteers tribute I can back up says she wants to do it instead actually um yeah I will I will do this okay so then uh Miss Sherman for the representative and then miss Divine for the alternate representative and then we also have the Camden County School boards Association uh so to represent the uh Board of Education at the local level monthly uh dinner meetings um and so I believe I was the one last year is that correct I think Kelly and then you were alternate Al okay I'll do the representative thank you I'll be an Alterna thank you so miss molski for the representative and uh Mr jamski for the alternate representative uh moving on to agenda item nine special board appointments uh so this is another one uh 9.01 uh the Education Services Commission so we are um so what it reads here says be it hereby resolved that the kwood board of education has approved the continuation of the services provided by the Camden County Educational Services Commission for the 2025 school year and that the members of the board have elected someone uh to serve as a representative to the commission and someone as their alternate so this is to the camon County Educational Services Commission um I don't remember who did it last year you oh with with Chris as the backup Chris may have gone so just so you guys um so cam County of Services Commission we're a nontransporting district but we do have to have some Transportation obviously so it's a um it's a commission made up of Schoolboard members so they run like a school board but they're made up of um trustees so like a rep from each School Board in Camy County um so they provide like our bus rots and stuff like that sometimes they provide um special ed needs and special ed services on an as needed basis to District so you would be one of 28 or 30 trustees my understanding is you don't have to go to all the meetings um because just like we have right like we have 11 members not everybody has to be like on committees there um I think there's maybe two meetings that you definitely have to go to that would be like their budget meeting and probably probably their reor like we have our reor right that's why we have our own item item nine because we actually actually have to send them an official board resolution naming our trustee to the Services Commission which is why we do it this way so it's yeah it is it's two required meetings one is for the budget one is for bork where a subset of the representatives are then elected into the president vice right executive board that has to meet then I think monthly exactly so any volunteers I can uh the representative thank you and just see they're in CL clemon so they're not St too far and they they have a virtual uh um attendance option as well then an alternate so Mr Craig as the the representative to the C County Educational Services Commission and Miss sulzer as the alternate uh moving on to agenda item or sorry uh yeah agendum item 10 policies and bylaws uh so then we're looking at 10.01 which is the adoption of policies and bylaws so move on the recommendation of superintendent that the policies and bylaws of the district presently in existence be adopted and continue to review the policies as proposed uh agenda item 10.02 adoption of job descriptions so move on the recommendation of the superintendent that the job descriptions uh presently in existence be adopted and so we're looking for approval of items 10.01 and 10.02 so mov second roll call Mrs Brown yes Mr Chu yes Mr Craig yes Mr Vine yes Mrs Maya yes M molski yes M szer yes Mr Sherman yes Mrs Z yes Mr McMillan yes Mr delus yes moving on to uh section 11 miscellaneus so agenda item 11.01 is the public agency compliance officer move on the recommendation of the superintendent to appoint uh Beth Anne Coleman as public agency compliance officer for the 2025 2026 school year um looking for approval for item 11.01 so moved second roll call sorry questions and comments okay roll call could have SW somebody was goingon to ask what a paco was I was ready to explain it um Miss Brown yes Mr Chu yes Mr Craig yes Mr Divine yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs mulski yes Mrs Seltzer yes yes Mr Sherman yes Mrs Z yes Mr McMillan yes Mr doas yes section uh 12 of the second public comment so this is again uh public participation um so for uh this section it's uh about uh I guess all any topic doesn't have to be on the agenda I won't go through the public comments statement again uh just a reminder that you know in all fairness to those who wish to speak there's a strict three minutes time limit per person during public comment uh and please remember to state your name and address for the record okay uh seeing as uh no one is approaching the microphone um Alexandra guidos Smith 311 Lake View Drive um I wanted to conrat congratulate uh the board and Mr Chu on um the presidency and Miss Seltzer again um and uh Charlotte Smith also of 311 Lake View Drive uh I am hoping that the board can continue with the work that the last session had left off of um I'm thinking back a year ago when a year and a half ago when um the students of color in the high school walked out because they were not feeling heard and listened to and understood and of late the discrepancies that have been uh brought to light about different schools different um our inclusion rate all of those things this district has made unbelievable strides really come so far from when this one started in preschool and um we really look forward to seeing that the trajectory that our district is on continue tackling those difficult truths and not going backwards thank you and congratulations hey Steve sylves 439 Haden Avenue uh good evening members of the Board of Education and congratulations to those uh of you being sworn in tonight thank you for stepping up to serve our schools and Community your time and effort and dedication to this role are deeply appreciated I want to highlight an issue that requires this board's attention uh the substantial Gap in local tax revenue that directly impacts our District's ability to function effectively when the state of New Jersey calculates the funding formul they use what they believe the district should be receiving in local tax revenue but the actual amount Falls well short of that amount to put this in perspective our local tax revenue being allocated for our schools is lower than nearly every surrounding similarly sized school district and significantly below the state average this Gap over time has amounted to Millions causing significant strain on salaries meeting the needs of all students and future improvements the good news is that there are Concrete Solutions across New Jersey there are examples of burrows and municipalities working collaboratively with their school districts to bridge these funding gaps through legal mechanisms such as pilot agreements or allocating borrow Surplus revenue and anticipated revenues to schools communities have crafted effective strategies to increase school funding these Arrangements show that it is entirely possible to address the shortfall when there is shared commitment and collaboration between local government and school districts I encourage board to reach out to the burough Commissioners to begin an open and productive conversation about this issue in particular addressing this Gap will require our willingness to collaborate by building on an existing relationship with the borrow we can explore Innovative and impactful ways to secure additional funding for our schools this partnership has the potential to transfer our District's Financial landscape and provide the resources our students and Educators need uh thank you for your service and for considering this important step forward seeing as there is no one else for public comments uh we'll close the public comments uh section and so moving on to section uh 13 adjournment uh so taking a motion to adjourn the meeting the second second right thank thank you we have to do all in favor all in favor all right thanks