December board meeting to order. This meeting has been appropriately advertised. >> Miss Coleman, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Brown >> here. >> Mr. Craig >> here. >> Mrs. Divine
>> here. >> Mrs. Maya >> here. Mrs. Mcowsky >> here. >> Mrs. Seltzer >> here. >> Mrs. Sherman >> here. >> Mrs. Z >> here. >> Mr. McMillan >> here. >> Mr. Dus >> here. and Mr. Ch >> here. Please rise for the pledge of
allegiance. Uh there was no executive session for tonight. So we will move on to section number three presentations. We will start with the uh Kineswood High School magicals who will perform a selection of festive music for the holidays. So uh
please welcome the CHS magicals. [applause] The stage. The stage is yours. We are very lucky. So while people are getting rid of This is our group. Sweet. Everywhere
to hear Christmas. to every [applause] and fix and do most of
the reeer. had a very shiny [singing] nose. And if you ever close Santa, Rudolph [singing] Rudolph rede
>> [singing] >> story. And if you ever [singing] [singing] join Santa tonight, >> [singing] >> story. [applause] We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish
you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Good tidings we wish you happy. [singing] Wish you
[singing] wish a happy new year. We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. [applause] [applause] >> [applause] >> All right. Thank you to the CHS Magicals and
Miss Inchaso for that amazing presentation and and uh thank you for bringing some holiday cheer to the district and and to town. That was that was amazing. Another round of applause. [applause]
Uh we have two more presentations but I think for those presentations I think it makes sense for us to open committee the whole because I'm sure there'll be a little bit of discussion for them. So, can I get a motion to enter committee of a whole, please?
And a second. Second. Uh, all those in favor? >> I. >> Okay. So, for the second presentation uh tonight, it's going to be the board member recognition. Uh, Miss Coleman, is that
something that that you do or or I should read off? You can do it or we both can, but we just want to recognize Yeah. So, >> sure. So, uh >> All right. So, uh uh agenda item 3.02.
Okay. Sure. Yeah. And I guess I'll try to figure out how this the logistics here of how this works. All right. So, I'll just read this here for now and then I'll present the plaque out there. So, the Kingswood Board of Education wishes to thank uh Dr. Kate Seltzer for their dedicated service to the students and staff of the Kingswood School
District and uh wish to present her with a token of appreciation for her service as a member of the Kwood Board of Education. Um and so I guess we'll go up there for a little plaque presentation. >> [applause] >> Um, so today is
uh Dr. Seltzer's uh last day as a board member. She's finishing up her her term. Uh one of the reasons why I wanted to open up committee the whole for this part was I know there are probably folks who uh would like to make a few uh statements. Um I guess I'll start and
then uh for anyone else who would like to uh make a statement for uh Kate then um please feel free to jump in. So, I'm going to take a moment to thank you, Kate, for all that you have done as a board member for the Kingsson School District. For uh to folks who do not
know, Kate, or as I say all the time up here, Dr. Seltzer is an awardwinning education researcher, professor, and author in the field of multilingual learning and education. Um Kate, a while ago, you spoke to me about interviews of multilingual education advocates that
you conducted recently. You explained how a recurring theme from those interviews was that longtime advocates explained that in order to make progress, they have to have the courage to stand behind their beliefs, even though that means they won't be liked by everyone. Because the truth is,
merely stating something as simple as multilingual learners matter is enough to garner backlash from others. Kate, as a board member, you have embodied that courage to stand behind your beliefs and your record speaks for itself. As a board member, you've been consistent in pushing for more data, more clarity
around student outcomes and teaching and learning. As policy committee chair, you led the development of the restorative code of conduct, a critical first step in ensuring fairness and discipline within our district. As vice president, you've been the driving force behind our board roundts, which offer community
members more chances to speak directly to board members. Because beyond just saying that you value community engagement, you've actually worked to engage community members consistently. The board's communications have been so much more clear and impactful because of the work that you have put behind them.
Last winter, you were instrumental to helping the district secure additional funding to avoid devastating cuts. Despite the fact that you were literally halfway across the world in Asia for work, you still made the time to call daily early in your morning despite the
time difference to work on our negotiations with the burrow and on securing additional funding for our schools, our teachers, and our students. And finally, over the last several months, you've worked hard to help develop a true partnership with the burrow through our new recreation plan partnership.
To those of us those of us who know you, your commitment and hard work as a board member is no surprise because we all know how deeply committed to ensuring that all students, even those who don't often have people loudly advocating for them, receive an excellent education. While I will miss your wisdom and
dedication on this board, I look forward to all of the good work you will continue to do as an advocate and leader. Thank you, Kate. [applause] um as the the last vice president before you, um when you said that you wanted to take the role, I couldn't have handed it
off faster to you. Um it's difficult to sit up there um right at the center of the table and and be part of the entire meetings, but you've handled it with grace and you've represented this district incredibly well. I thank you so much. I think a lot of the stuff that Roger said I've marked down as well, but
your your push to make the board accessible and and to bring to make that accessibility productive so that we really can break down some complex topics and really difficult decisions with dedicated community members, but for them to hear from us as well as to
what are the the pieces of information that we're we're wrestling with and what is it that we want to hear from them and bringing that back to the board. and I think you've done a really incredible job of helping to move that work forward and the district and the students are
better for it. Um, her answering of emails from the board also always with with class despite sometimes getting emails that were, you know, a little charged. Um, and just incredibly appreciative of of the work that you've put in at the time. It's it's not an
easy position, but uh you've stepped up and poured everything into it and thank you again. I haven't known you for long, just this past year, but I do want to say I appreciate your kindness um for your community and for everything that you do here. Thank you so much. And for the
roundts, I mean, listening to the community, you know, they may come at you hard or they may come out with you with ideas and either way, you still sat there and took it and and brought it back to us and like this is what they're saying. How can we make this happen? And so I appreciate everything that you've
done and for meeting you. Thank you, >> Kate. I know that you've um probably done more work than anybody else sitting up here, but I really am most impressed by your productivity and your positivity, especially in the face of
criticism towards the district, towards our schools. Um I really appreciate your ability to see the real goodness of the work that's happening here um amid some of the fires that we've had to put out and that I think gets lost often in our
conversations especially you know facing another budget nightmare and you know the future of public education in general your productive positivity is really inspirational and I think it's going to be a huge loss um but Um, it's
been wonderful working with you. Um, I can't thank you enough for everything you've done here. >> Kate, I've said it um before and I'll say it again. I really look forward to, you know, seeing you some more and and hearing you talk. You have a lot of great ideas and a lot of great things to offer and we really appreciate
everything you've done. I'll put the exclamation point on what everybody said. um you know, I've been at it about 18 years, but I just appreciate that you lead with kindness. These jobs, you're volunteers, and it's hard to hear
what people say and take it in, but um you're always very kind to those of us that are in the trenches every day trying to do the work. And I I appreciate that. Thank you. So, I'm I'm going to conclude with what I shared with Kate several years ago when she made the decision to run for
the board. I said that regardless of the outcome of the election, you have a place of uh leadership and a voice within this community that we need and that I would um uh enjoy the privilege of continuing to work with you. Thank you so much.
>> Thank uh Thank you, Kate. Thank you uh everyone else. At this point, we'll move on to agenda item 3.03, which is the New Jersey School Climate Improvement Survey uh report. And so, the district MTSS team will present the results from uh our
first ever administration of the New Jersey School Climate Improvement uh survey. Uh, hi everybody. Uh, my name is Zach Wright. I am the MTSS coordinator here for the secondary campus, uh, middle school and high school. I'm also a callings with dad. I have a middle
schooler here in the seventh grade and a fourth grader at Tatum. Um, and I'm quite excited to uh go over the NJ Sky platform, the survey, and some of the results from that survey. So, let's start just talking about what
school climate is. Uh, school climate is the character and quality of school life that is based on the interconnected experiences and perceptions of students, staff, and families. Put it simply, it's how we feel. It's how we feel in these buildings uh from the perspective of
staff, students, and families. Uh countless research shows that schools, communities with strong culture, uh very often have strong academic achievement, strong improved attendance and graduation, decreased uh incidents of
bullying and violence, uh etc. So figuring out where we are as a community in terms of our uh culture and our climate is profoundly important. Um so this entire process was through the school climate change process developed by the school climate
transformation project which is through Ruckers University. So the entire platform that we used here, all of the questions, all of the formatting, all of the uh all of the everything uh is through uh Ruckers University and the
research up behind it. Um this was our timeline of process. So around September, myself, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. MLAN. We sat for live Zoom trainings with the NJ Sky uh leadership to go over
one what the platform is meant to do, how to use it, how to make sure you get as many voices as possible, and really make sure to break down any access barriers to make sure as many folks as possible are able to have their voices heard. We then took a voluntary extra
next step in October to reach out to some of our neighboring school communities to learn from them who have done this in past years to uh learn about the mistakes that they made and and hoping that we didn't make those same mistakes. And around late October
into November was when we rolled out the actual survey administration to students um grades three through 12. So in all of our elementary schools and in our middle and high school as well to all of the staff in all of those schools and all of the families and at school. Uh we
received the survey data in early December and sat for another round of trainings with NJ Sky to go over how to uh use the platform, how to analyze the data and how to ensure that that data is um understandable and usable. Um, I
myself then met with every single building leader to go over their individual school data to show what their students said, what their staff said, and what their family said. And now we are here ready to share that data uh with you. After the break in January,
every school will have their own action team to uh use this data to um create next steps. one to ensure that the positive areas stay positive areas as well as to uh work on the growth areas
as demonstrated uh by the data itself. So just before I dive into the data, I kind of want to show you exactly how the survey was was organized. So again, all of this is from the New Jersey School Climate Improvement Survey and they created uh a rather robust and
sophisticated uh platform. The survey is divided up into all of those domains, uh, 13 domains, and each domain has within them between six and 12 questions because the survey was different for our third graders than it was for our 12th
graders. So, not every student takes the same question. Uh, they wanted to make sure every question was developmentally appropriate. You'll notice that the dark blue uh, domains here, those were answer, those were domains answered uh, by everyone. The blue here was just for
staff. The light blue here was just for families. And down here was just for students. So, a whole lot of folks got a whole lot of different questions. This is an example of what the platform looks like. That's not an example of our
data that was pro provided to us by NJ Sky. Essentially, all questions are out of four um with one being quote unquote the lowest or the least favorable score and a four being the highest or the most favorable score. In addition, the one of
the things that NJ Sky told us was that 2.5 uh was the point of where above a 2.5 that's solid, that's strong. 2.5 or below that is something that we need to look at that could be a cause for concern. Um,
so again, closer to four is the stronger, closer to the one is the areas of growth. Uh, what I'm going to do is I'm going to go over every single school, tell you who took the survey, what the top three
domains were, and what the bottom three domains were. Um, it's one of those platforms where you can go down the rabbit hole that will take you hours and hours and hours. So, I'm just going to quickly go over what each building says. So, for the high school, we had 493 students take the survey, uh, which is
about 70% of our student body. Uh, 36 staff members, 47 families. So, a total of 576 respondents. Um, this was the high school positive area. So, these are the highest rated domains by students, staff, and families. For students, it was physical
safety, supportive staff, student relationships, and student voice. For staff, it was collegial support, supportive staff relationships, and student voice. For families, academic culture, student staff relationships, and student voice. So again, top three domains for each.
Here were the lowest domains for each. For students, behavior expectations, academic culture, classroom practices, pro-social student interpersonal behaviors. For staff, academic culture, classroom practices, negative student behaviors, organizational resources, and support. for families, support for
student seal, behavior expectations, and negative student behaviors. Moving on to the middle school, 243 students took the survey along with 28 staff members and 88 families. Here are the top three. For students,
supportive staff relationships, sense of safety, and student sense of belonging. For staff, supportive staff relationships, collegial support, and sense of physical safety. for families, supportive staff relationships, academic culture, and sense of physical safety. You might be noticing some trends and
some through lines here. Uh our bottom three for each uh for students, academic culture, classroom practices, negative student behaviors, and pro-social student interpersonal behaviors. For staff, academic culture, classroom practices, organizational resources and support, negative student behaviors for
families, behavior expectations, support for student, and negative student behaviors. Now moving on to each elementary school. Garfield. One thing about these numbers, if you remember, we have one, except for Tatum, you have one classroom per grade,
and you had grades three, four, and five take them. So if you think roughly 20 students per class, that's about 60 students around taking the survey per school. So students in grade three through five, 60 took them along with 11 staff members and 12 parents or 12
families, excuse me. For students, sense of physical safety, student sense of belonging and strong relationships. For staff, strong relationships, collegial support and behavior expectations. For families, sense of physical safety, strong relationships, and family support.
For the bottom, students, academic culture, student voice, and negative student interpersonal behaviors. For staff, leadership support, pro-social student behaviors, organizational resources and support. And for families, student voice and involvement and student behaviors. Again, you might see
a trend, a through line coming through here. For newbie, 62 students, 15 staff members, 20 families for a total of 97 responses. For students, a sense of belonging, sense of physical safety, and strong
relationships. For staff, support, supportive relationships, family support, and student voice. For families, supportive relationships, family support, and sense of physical safety. Bottom three for newbie. For students, academic culture, student voice, negative student behaviors. For staff,
collegial support, leadership support, and organizational resources and support. For families, supports for SEAL, negative student behaviors, and student voice. Sharp, we had 69 students take the survey along with 25 staff members and
11 families. Top three for students, sense of belonging, sense of safety, supportive relationships, for staff, supportive relationships, behavior expectations, and support for SEAL, for families, academic culture, classroom practices,
support for staff and students. The reason why there are two instead of three is that there was not enough respondents to get full data for that particular uh question. uh lowest rate for sharp student voice and involvement, academic culture,
negative student behavior for staff, uh student behaviors, organization resources and support. And again, not enough respondents for our families at Sharp. Tatum, a larger number again because two classes uh per grade. Uh 96
uh students, 21 staff members, 55 families. Uh top three for students at Tatum is physical safety, student belonging, staff relationships. Uh staff is supportive relationships, collegial support, behavior expectations. For
families, it's supportive staff relationships, students uh support for seal and sense of safety. Those are the top three for Tatum. Bottom for Tatum, students, academic culture, classroom practices, student voice, negative student behaviors, staff, student
behaviors, organizational resources and support. For families, behavior expectations, academic culture, and student voice. And then last but not least, Zay, 64 students, 22 staff members, 18 families. Top three for students, sense of
belonging, safety, and staff relationships. For staff, physical safety, supportive relationships, and family support. For families, supportive relationships, sense of safety, and negative student behaviors. For the bottom three, for students, negative student behaviors, academic practices,
student voice for our staff, student voice, negative student behaviors, organizational resources, and supports. And lastly, um, for our families, supports for SEAL, academic culture, classroom practices, and student voice and involvement. So, All of that being
said, districtwide, when we look at all of the buildings across our district, the top domains are sense of physical safety, supportive staff student relationships, a student sense of belonging, and collegial support
for our growth areas across our district. academic culture and classroom practices, organizational resources and supports, negative student behaviors, and just for the elementary schools, these third, fourth, and fifth graders want their voices heard. Uh, they are
very adamant about that. Um, what happens now is that we go into break and after break, I will go over all of this together with each building leadership. The building leaders the will then uh with their teacher leaders
within the buildings will create action plans to say okay based upon this what do we need to maintain in order to maintain those strong areas and what do we need to change or add or fix in order to address uh what our students staff
and families are saying in terms of growth areas. Um and I will take any questions. Um, how was this grant um or was this how was this funded? >> That's a great question. I do not know.
I'll punt that over to uh Dr. McDow um because I do not know the answer to that question. >> I believe this was free. Correct. From the state >> state sponsored. So yeah. [snorts] >> Um uh Zach, thank you so much for going
through all those slides as quickly. Um very impressive. Um, very good information. Curious h in the trainings or when they talked about this, how often do they recommend doing this level of surveying of of or is there is there
like a followup after action plans to see where we're at? Um, >> I personally don't recall what NJ Sky said. I know that the neighboring school districts that we've met with, they do it every year. That this is something that they do at the beginning of every year, not only to see not only to plan
for their current year, but it's the way for them to see if the interventions they did over the past year have made any impact. >> Did our I was just wondering how our um Thank you for the presentation and all this work, by the way. Um how did our
results kind of stack up with some of our neighbors? Like do you think some of these are larger regional trends or like isolated to our district? >> Well, I know that our respondents rates in ter especially in terms of our students was was higher than a lot of
our neighboring districts. We got a lot of our students to take this thing. Uh and that was through very intentional planning of when our students are going to take it and all of that. Um, I think what a lot of folks have seen across is negative student behavior and what that
when you dial into the domains, what you see is just folks aren't nice to each other. Um, that seems to be a national trend. >> Although it's interesting that the sense of belonging and safety is very high
among students. So I think An interesting uh contrast to dig into with campuses is most people, you know, most kids are saying they feel great at school. Um but they're also rating
relationships and behaviors as one of the areas for growth. So I think that will be an interesting line to walk with leaders um because those things seem to be in conflict but maybe they're not. >> Yeah. I you know it's interesting when you sit and actually take the survey
it's a it's a very much data of the moment right how we were feeling at that moment right and culture is fluid it changes it depends upon how we feel um but I I personally was very pleasantly surprised to see that in every one of our campuses really greater than 90% of
our students said that they agree or strongly agree that they feel safe and those questions are safe to and from school, safe at activities, safe in the hallways, safe in class. Adults keep everyone safe and in all of our buildings that was a very overwhelming
that was the highest domain which is lovely. I just wanted to comment. So, thank you for the presentation. Um, a lot of the areas, positive areas, growth areas weren't really surprising to me because I think when you get out and you talk to
people in the community, you hear these both for growth areas and positive a lot. So, um, it's nice that the data also supports what, you know, just community members talk about. So I'm really excited to see where the district level support is and coordination and
trying to you know um you know bring up the growth areas and also keep study the positive because those are wonderful things you know setting aside academic when your kids feel safe in school and they feel like they belong. I mean that's how it's the only way you're going to teach your kids. >> Yeah. Yeah. I was when I was thinking
about it and forgive me if I if I'm over time, but I think about Maslo before Bloom, right? You you can't teach the high academic stuff without Masel's hierarchy of needs being met. And what we're seeing here is that we're meeting Maslo. We need to do better with with Bloom's taxonomy. For sure, we need to
especially with the AC. What I also found interesting was that students and staff both agreed that academic culture and policies need work, right? So, it wasn't just one part of it. They they agreed. Um, but if I had to choose which ones I wanted positive, I I want the
Maslo positive because then I can work on the blooms. >> So, oh, sorry. No, go ahead. >> Um, I wanted to actually ask about kind of relative given that the surveys from Ruckers, are there any benchmarks that correlate to the type of change you're
looking for? Right. So um negative interpersonal and the culture particularly around classroom policies and uh I'm which one of those do you prioritize of right like if you use the construct of mas uh like I would expect
depending on how people internalize the culture it may actually be something they need but we don't know how to unpack that. So I'm just trying to understand relative to benchmarking or other in this survey portfolio do they give you a sense of work this first that
then this will follow >> in terms of like what are the next steps that you take in order to that is what I hope to learn from them when I sit down. So they didn't they didn't want to overwhelm us. So they said here's here's the meeting for how you do this in a way to make sure that you get as many voices
as possible and then the spring meeting is all right now here's how you can address it. Now within the platform itself you can say all right if this is my particular domain or this is my particular question that gets a red flag for example if I click it there's a whole bank of resources which I which is
which is very helpful. Um, one other thing that the platform does it it allows you to aggregate by gender, by grade, by race, by language. So you can see if there are disparities within subgroups. Uh what was really interesting to see was that for the vast
majority of them there were not that there was very strong alignment across. There are a few there are a few campus specific where subgroups there are differences. Um but largely there is general alignment. Do we know if the state will sponsor the
survey again next year so we can kind of review where we are with all of this once we implement these changes? >> It's hard to it's it's it's hard to assess what the incoming administration will prioritize. What I will say is that this has been uh state funded for two
years now. And so um there is growing uh utilization. Uh and I know that from the perspective of tools um when schools and districts um advocate for specific resources that
we find helpful, the state tends to tends to support those. Uh and so it's it's our hope that they continue. If not, um we will find another mechanism to collect this important data. >> I guess I I'll jump in here too uh because Miss May, I know you've been a a
longtime proponent of making sure that we we get a survey out uh to look at at school climate and culture. And this is actually one of our board goals that we uh put together um during the the board goal setting session that that Dr. Selzer led during the summer. So, I'm
really glad that we were able to get this and and the goal was not just to do it one year, right? But to do it year after year after year after year like a benchmark because I think while it's really interesting to see this one year, it'll be I think more meaningful as we get more and more years to to compare
with um I am also hopeful that the state will continue funding this because it's an amazing resource they put together. I mean they this was a really thoughtful tool that they worked with Ruckers to to develop to to norm um to test to I mean it's if you go to their website you can
see they translated to all these different languages too. Um and on top of that I think the the district we submitted a grant application I think in December to uh because the state is running a program to support districts that are just starting with using this.
I think even more in depth than what uh I think we're receiving right now. And so hopefully we get that and hopefully that just a sign that the state will continue to um support this because it it's really great to be able to get uh this data. I'd like to jump in real quick. Um
again, thanks for the presentation. Um understand how it's funded. I personally, I don't know if I can speak for Chris, but I feel like it might be a little broken data set because a large portion of, you know, the uh the middle school and the high school are coming from Woodland and Oakland and they don't seem like they were involved in this at
all. So maybe if we move this into the future, if we can pull that in. >> So all we had all students take so what we the way we did it was we because we wanted to ensure that we had as many voices as possible. So what we did was we made sure that when we sent emails and letters out that they were in
multiple languages and we did them in our English classes because that was our core class that every single student took. So this data includes Collingswood, Oakland, Woodland and school choice districts as well. >> Right. But I mean the elementary school itself and the and the schools in
>> Oh, I see what you mean. Yes. >> Not not the students that are Yeah. moving from there, but we have that broken set of uh you know 20% or whatever uh that the the data set is for for Oakland and then whatever. So just in the future if we could include us that'd be great.
>> Yeah. And I think I guess I would encourage you all to bring back to your boards because I think in order to do it inside your district um you need your district superintendent uh and board to support the the implementation. But it it's free. So >> I I know him so I think we can we can do it. Awesome.
>> I I would love to very much so. >> Um I have a question for Miss Hal Turner and for Dr. McDow, but also Dr. Walker and and maybe you uh Zach as well is I think this is really important data for us as a board and for the different
campuses. But I also also think it's really important information for the community to see um because frankly I think it speaks back to some of the negative talk that exists in our district. And so I'm wondering how you envision utilizing this data with a in a
communityf facing way. Obviously this is good. We have the presentation and and community members can see it. um but really thinking about it as a like tool to maybe counter some of the negative discourse in the district.
>> So I think the most important component so we in our district we are what's called a sitebased district. What that means is that the majority of the day-to-day decisions that happen in each and every school um are made at the school level. As with this particular
process, the each specific school uh will be charged with developing a school improvement plan um with their own data, being able to speak to um the work that they would like to see manifest in their campus.
We also envision this being presented at the school level um more intimate setting, more relevant, more connected, uh more relational. Uh and so in the coming weeks when we come back from January, there'll be lots of discussion with all of the building leaders about
what comes next, what the expectations are, and one of those expectations will be um how do we appropriately share uh some pretty meaty stuff um in their respective schools. And then more importantly, um, how do we get individuals within each of our school
communities to get involved in order to help support the types of positive change that everybody says that they want? >> I'll just add a few things. Um, Kate, thank you for your question. Um, I think I can touch on your question as well as a few other thoughts in my mind, but first, thank you to Zach. Thank you to
um, Uriah Mlan, Dr. Walker, Mr. Jefferson. a lot of work behind the scenes from those leaders plus all of our English teachers as you heard and all of our home room teachers at the elementary level. Um uh Zach was sharing about a hierarchy of needs. I like to
think about it in terms of a a pyramid um that um the base of a pyramid or any structure has to be sound and stable in order to stack more on top of it. And so I see a strong school climate and
culture as an essential strong base um you know upon which then you're you're stacking and looking at instruction and sustained achievement and then at the sort of at the very capstone I would call it specialized student achievement with regard to multilingual learners and
special education students etc. And so I think we see a trend here that our base is strong and we have work to do. Um which like um like some have shared I don't think that's news to anyone here but it is confirming and affirming of what we've been doing and where we need
to head. Um two um this feedback comes in a really timely fashion right in the midst of our budgeting season. And so as schools are receiving and reviewing this data, it's simultaneous to um the um the process
that we are all under undertaking to plan and budget for next year and aligning resources to needs. Um and so that fits very well in terms of that timeline. Um and then uh uh lastly in connection to what um I think Kate's question and Dr. Mc McDow's last
comments. We already you you've heard us share before, we already have existing standing data meetings at every school. Every month there are school acceleration meetings. And so we see this um just intertwining and infusing with our exist it's not I don't see this as something else or something more.
This infuses directly with the work. Um and so um we look forward to connecting all of the dots um uh in those monthly meetings that already exist. Do we um the student participation it see is excellent
the staff is this where we'd want to be right because I do think we've asked for a lot of data to help inform and balance our perspective and feedback and is this just asking for just perspective um is this percent of the total we're looking
for and or as you're having these conversations how do you make it easier for more participation because it sounds like we really folk got our students voice and figured out how to give them the time and capacity to do this. Um,
you know, just wanted to, you know, as we keep going, I'm always eye towards the continuous improvement improvement. Just want to really try to make sure we understand how to increase the voice and data we have available. But this is a great start. Sure.
I think I'll actually jump jump onto that uh Mr. Divine and also first off uh thank you Mr. right for for the presentation the you know I do think the next steps are really important right because um the school level presentations both with the the
building leaders and with the staff members and also with the students and then what the next steps are there I think will be and families will be really important because if we're looking to do this year after year after year I think really being able to show
what these data are used for to the folks who are taking the the survey will be helpful because that that can be, you know, motivating to see, oh, okay, I see that that my responses, our responses are actually being used um to try to improve things. And so I'm really
looking forward to hearing more about the the next uh what happens, you know, in the in the new year with all all these data. Um, I also would love to encourage uh that we release, you know, as much of the data uh as we possibly
can while ensuring privacy. Um, you know, I I think it's it's helpful for for all of the community to see, you know, again, we have to make sure we're ensuring privacy while we're releasing uh the data. And so there might not be appropriate breakdowns or so forth that
that can be given given the different end sizes of of of the population. But I would encourage releasing as much of that that data as possible. But yeah, I think this is an amazing start and um it gives us something. I think the goal from the board was to
have this so that we could have a starting place to work from, right? And and that's exactly what it sounds like is happening is that this is a starting place to work from for next steps and improvements. So thank you to everyone who is involved and for uh making sure
that this took place this year. one one thought on this. Uh we our policy committee is also the culture and climate committee. Um I think while I fully understand that it's not our job to get down to the level of helping any individual building create an action plan or what have you, I think getting
regular updates on where we are in this process through that committee would be very helpful. All right. Um, any other questions or comments from folks? All righty. Um, so thank you very much for for that presentation. Um,
all right. I think that's all the presentation. So at this time, I'll take a motion to exit committee of the whole >> move. And then is there a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> All opposed. Okay. Um, moving to section
five, future dates and miscellaneous information. Here's a number of future dates including our early dismissal this week and then uh we will be going on to uh winter break
and then we'll come back uh and then um our next board meeting will be on January uh 5th which will be the reorgation meeting. It'll be here at 6:30 p.m. in Congress High School. And then um yeah, so hopefully everyone has
a wonderful holiday season. At this point, we'll move to section six, routine business. So I am seeking a motion to approve the minutes of the November 24th, 2025 regular board meeting. Can I get a motion >> and a second?
>> Second. >> All those in favor? >> All opposed. Okay. Uh and then section seven, the student board member reports. Um Mr. Uh Shamansky, all yours. >> Um is this good volume and everything?
All right. Uh good evening everyone. Uh I am alone tonight. Uh Kenny had a wrestling tournament and Naim has work so just me. Um so uh I did want to hit on a lot of things tonight because we actually did a lot of work in the last um month on some
individual student meetings. A lot of events have been going on. So, I'll cover hopefully most of it. Um, as we all know, Mr. Whan is retiring or not retiring, but leaving the school. And, um, we, uh, Miss Wayland's student council executive board hosts monthly
lunch meetings with the administration. So, Mr. Way and Mr. Newman, this one was the last one he'll ever attend. So, we just, you know, had a good lunch with him, talked about all the last things that we could get out. Um, you know, still still fixing bathroom passes on
his very last day. Um, uh, we all really, really miss him. Um, but we wish him a lot of luck at his new job. Um, one of the things we had cover at that meeting is, uh, sophomore Amelia Reynolds is has been elected to be the New Jersey student representative for the state board of education. So, really
[applause] good. And as that job, uh, something I don't envy is, uh, she's got to attend two monthly meetings. she has to attend the state meeting and then the TCJ meeting with the rest of the board. Both pretty long trips because Trenton and then TCJ.
Uh but yeah, really good for her. Um we um for our sporting events, we are switching to online tickets. Um for anyone here who's planning on attending a sporting event, um definitely consider using the online one because I think we are about to switch to full online after
the break. Um, reindeer games are tomorrow. Uh, so right after the first couple of periods, we switch to everyone goes to the gym for a pep rally type game ceremony. Um, it's, you know, just a really big every
grade participates and the staff. Um, we're so some of the events are donut eating, gingerbread house decorating, trivia, hungry hungry hippos, musical chairs, tugof-war, plenty of other games. Tug of war is one of my personal favorites because get students versus teachers is it's pretty insane. Um, and
the donut eating is gross to watch, but it's fun to watch. Um, especially considering uh Mr. Sworn wins every year. It's uh it's quite the sight. Um, you'd be surprised how fast a powdered jelly donut can go down.
Um, yeah. So, we got a lot of uh a lot of cool things happening tomorrow. Um different events have been happening around town and uh in the school with um we had our staff breakfast two weeks ago. Yeah, two weeks ago. Um all the students get here at 6:30 in the morning
and serve the teachers and staff uh breakfast and the magical come out and sing. Uh the magical have been all around town like previously mentioned. Um I've been to three of those concerts now so I know the whole routine. Um,
we've had pajama day, ugly Christmas sweater day, tomorrow is Clark class shirt day. Uh, last week we had choir concert and band concerts. Um, all really great events all around the school. Um, now into some of the more technical stuff of the student body. Uh,
we had a student AI meeting. Um, as I brought up last meeting, um, AI policy was a little bit of a concern of the students. Um, me personally and several other students. So, Mr. Mr. Way, um,
Mr. Klein, Miss Madden, um, we all went up to the library. It was open for both, uh, lunch and flex periods, and we were all able to discuss just how we feel about AI. So, it started off with how technology is a part of our everyday
lives, how students use their phones, um how they wake up with it, how they have it for their alarms, do they set rules for themselves, do the parents set it for them, do they have screen time limits, um everything like that. Do students get out of hand with it? Do they recognize that maybe 10 hours a day
on your phone is not a good thing? Do some have really good habits? Um all different things we went over. Uh we moved into Yonder and Chromebooks. How does Yonder our daily lives. Are we noticing good things for ourselves or do we still not like it? Um, some people
were like, you know, no yonder, but I can just pull out a Chromebook and still be disconnected from the classroom. So, it's at that point it becomes a student choice of do I want to be social or do I want to keep to myself? Um,
one of the concerns was that uh students with lighter workloads, maybe people have study halls, seniors who are, you know, taking an easy their last year. Um they become bored. They have nothing left to do. Student teachers don't have enough work to keep them engaged for the
full 55 minutes four days a week. Um so that that's another concern of you know what do students do after they're done? Um sit there in silence you know especially without disrupting other kids. Um
so then we moved into um really discussing the as AI side of it. Um it was just open. Um you know students could admit, yeah, I cheat. Um or I've never touched AI in my life. I'm afraid of it. So we talked about how do
different students use it? Um what are the common uses? Where do you where do students personally draw the line on I shouldn't do this. This is cheating. I'm copying. or am I like yeah I needed some help. I didn't have a teacher available to me. So I asked it some questions and
it helped explain it to me. So we we drew a common ground of AI is a tool for everyone for the teachers for the administrators for students and actually the information I pulled this from was a
summary from Mr. Whan made by AI. Um, I mean, I was in the meeting, but he recorded the audio, had AI summarize it for him, and he sent it to me, and he was like, "Use this." So, my report, not my whole report, but this section of it,
I typed out from AI. So, it's a tool. It's um, it's definitely something that can be very helpful for a lot of students, definitely staff. Um, Mr. Klene openly admitted he uses it to help him grade. He uses it to help him create assignments. Um, I've had multiple
teachers say, "Yeah, the assignment you're doing right now, I didn't make it." But he's like, "I'm going to watch your grades. I'm going to make sure you're paying attention to what we're doing." And um and and it can go both ways. Is you know, like is it too far to say your assignment that you've given us
is impersonal and out of the blue from AI or is it like you you guided it, you helped make it and assigned it to all of us, and you're watching what happens to see if we all use it properly? Um, Mr. Klein was very on board with it's a tool, you know, students should
be able to use it as a tool. Teachers should be able to use it as a tool. Um, so when it comes to the policy for teachers and students is it has to be applied equally across the board. Is we need to watch how students are using it.
Are they truly just copying and pasting and cheating or is it a helpful tool? Um, and one of the very um interesting things I thought Mr. client suggested was um being able to site AI as a source meaning you prompt it you ask it questions and when you're done and you
want to use that as your as your information in your resources slide site your conversation with AI is it'll be your conversation is the the evidence you used which could be quite helpful for
um summarizing many different things instead of spending hours searching the web for literally the same information. Um, so that was yeah, that was the summary of AI is it's a tool can be used for good and bad. We got to really watch
how we use it, but good look good things for the future hopefully. Um, now to the forms that were sent out to the students. Um, as mentioned in the last meeting, uh, enrollment rates were concern. We saw in the student climate and what I actually thought was really interesting is, uh, Mr. rights
information and mine that I pulled from the forms kind of matched up in um students feel safe there, you know, they feel fine in the hallways. Um I have the question loads. I have the question right here. Um it was do you feel safe in the
hallways or you know is safety a concern? And it went well above the um the average was well above halfway as students feel safe. But later in the um later responses. They definitely
mentioned um like the student behavior is an issue is um you know words fly around that are pretty harmful is it's safe but it's not like it's not a a cool environment. Like it's it's like why
would you say that? Why would you do that? Maybe it's not full-on fights but it's kids shoving each other into lockers and it doesn't evoke, you know, administrative um intervention, but it's it's noticeable and it's felt throughout the
halls. Um, which is definitely what was seen in that in that uh survey taken by all the schools. Um, yeah. And then there was um concerning the enrollment rates is we all had the question of what's the reason, you know, why aren't
students coming back? Why are they leaving halfway through the year? Why is it eighth grade to high school? Some of them just jump ship. Um, and one of the things that I pulled was, um, they were offered to anonymous anonymously state whatever the reasons
they might have, they might be considering leaving, they know someone who left, and, uh, what were those reasons? Um, some of the common themes were a large numbers of teachers leaving, uh, the school's history of violence, education, classes being cut, yonder pouches deterred some this year,
um, language programs being cut. All of these were right from the students just um pulling the the common themes of their responses um which I mean which we've all all brought up is the certain programs being
cut, languages being cut, um teachers leaving. It's all things that have been mentioned and the students are feeling it too and that could be some of the reasons why they personally choose to head out. Um but yeah, that is uh that's everything I have for tonight. Thank
you. [applause] >> Thank you so much for your >> I was gonna say can I Chris I'm I use AI so I know like it's a cute little tool like when people come for public comment when sometimes it's two hours long I can't I can't keep up. So this like doesn't tell I write down everybody's names but it catches the conversations
and it summarizes it for me sends it to my phone and then I email it to my secretary. So um I use it responsibly but no I use it too. >> Yep. Exactly. Yeah, >> Mr. Thank you again for for your presentation. I'm sure all of us have a
a lot lot of questions. Um, and uh if you don't mind answering a few of them. The you know, I think the what's interesting to me is one that that your survey mirrors what was presented before. I think oftentimes it's uh
whenever you look at any sort of research, it's not one measure that that people like to hang their hat on. repeated measures showing consistency, right? And so that that's really uh interesting and I think really helpful to to know that perhaps there is actually some consistency about how
students feel safe, but then that there are still maybe interpersonal behaviors that that are an issue. Um I find it really interesting the the the statement about language classes being cut because I think the the last time that we we lost a language class was 2022
2023 which was which was Latin. Do you do you know specifically um like did anyone provide specific in terms of languages? So, like Latin was definitely a thing. Um, and I heard from multiple seniors um last year
who were like, I'm in this class just because, you know, I lost Latin. Um, and not not specifically all the languages, but the um inconsistencies in the Spanish class with teachers being out on sick leave and maternity leave and it it turned into a I'm not really learning
Spanish. I'm just here to get an easy grade. Um, so not necessarily that they're being cut, but that they're on a on a decline in the class. And this year, um, from what I know, it's been doing much much better than years prior. Um, but definitely the the Latin heading
out was an issue for some students. And, um, the French teacher leaving and getting a new one, it it always upsets some students, but it's it's not the the biggest of things. um it was more of the the Latin and then there was um like
computer science and some other different classes being cut that just you know deter students sometimes but yeah no that that's helpful. Thank you. Um the other thing I I want to mention is is I think you're I was really intrigued by your presentation about the
the AI um discussion and for for a few different reasons. first even just separate from the whole discussion about AI is if I call correctly you mentioned that this discussion happened during the lunch and flex time correct so so that's that's uh I think for the folks who don't know the schedule um there is a
backtoback kind of block in the middle of the the school day this was a change implemented I think to great uproar um two years ago where basically there's a like a lunch A and a lunch B and then so you know half the students are at lunch A half the students are in flex and next
uh then it flips then the half hour on flex is now on lunch and so forth. Um so my first question there is this seems like this is a time that that students are and and staff are using to
to interact and to discuss and to and to just uh do different things that maybe there were was not time for previously in in the schedule. >> Uh yeah definitely the lunch and flex is used for science labs this year. Um last year was a little iffy but this year we
have students who go to chemistry labs, physics labs um during these periods uh AP environmental science labs and then there's um what Naimm is a part of is the student voice action committee. They meet during this per uh during the flex period um one or two times a week. So
yeah, it's definitely being used a lot better this year. Um and I believe there are some availability for students to go to the gym and play basketball and just get some energy out during that time. So yeah, it's being much better used. I mean, I uh I went to a high school that that had that type of flex time in the
middle of the day and and it was in my opinion really helpful for building culture and also for interacting with with um teachers outside of the the classroom environment. And so I and I know that was very much so. Dr. from D and I actually had a lot of conversations about that uh being one of the reasons
right the culture building the giving uh people more time to interact to socialize to build culture together to get support that they need um was one of the big reasons why that sort of flex time has been a I would say a best
practice amongst high school scheduling now recently and and one of the reasons why that was built into the uh schedule and so I'm really glad to hear that that is actually sort of picking up uh in the second year of of that. Yeah. And then the last thing I'll say
is I think with when it comes to AI, you know, I don't know that anyone has nobody has the the the right answer right at the moment. And so first I just want to commend you basically for I think the right answer which is having dialogue around it, right? And that's I
think the best we can do right now is to dialogue about it to try to figure out what it is because no one no one knows. And that was what was brought up there is um is is for um like Mr. Wayland said it himself. He was like for us AI has been around for three years. It's not a
lot of time. There's no data on it. There's no how does this there's not very much on how it affects students. But for a junior like me, it's been around for my entire high school career. It's always been a part of it. Um and even some of us don't know how to react to it. So it's just talking about it how
it affects us is definitely important. Um, I was going to say something really similar. I just really commend you for having the conversation and and to the high school administrators for for hosting that and facilitating that. It's that kind of dialogue is so important. And I would just say for future policy
discussions at the board level, that's an important perspective to to keep in mind is if these kinds of conversations are ongoing, that's information that should make its way into board policy is the perspectives of students on AI. So definitely part of the conversation to
keep going. So thank you for the great report. My district is struggling with how to deal with AI right now. Um and just the simple fact of getting students together and hearing those voices like Roger was saying like that dialogue I think is
absent from a lot of districts. Um and so I commend the school leaders also for having that kind of safe space for students to talk about it. There's been millions of articles in news and Atlantic and economies about like you
know how it's changing college but um there hasn't really been as much discussion about what it looks like at middle and high school levels and like you said you it's been around your entire high school career um so I'd love to get you know information about how you facilitated that to bring it back to
other districts I'm sure others would like to set up some sort of meetings we're in the middle of writing policy right now but it's from the perspective of teachers. Um and so any you know any tips that you have for facilitating that would be wonderful and we can connect later if possible.
>> Yeah. Um I just uh before I presented it at the last meeting I brought it up to Mr. Wayland asking if this was a decent topic to bring up and he was like yeah definitely. Um provided him with some of the examples that um we were seeing from students and teachers and he was like
yeah definitely let's get on it. He was like there was a couple years a last year that we were working on that kind of fizzled out and then got to after I presented he was like all right yeah it's let's start it and we just we got together during that flex and lunch period and it it took off and hopefully
even though he's leaving it'll continue with Mr. Klein Melville and Miss Madden. for my fellow Gen X members of the board who may remember having to use encyclopedias and actually physically open them up. Um what what struck me about your your
uh the summary of the meetings about AI was that this isn't really a new problem. It's an very new and much more complex face on an old problem. Um, so I think there's definitely some things that we could perhaps even learn from the past on how to I hate to say
regulate the use of AI, but to to better guide students in how to use AI, like you said, responsibly um, as we go forward. And I think two, it's we're not going to get it right the first time. Having something sooner in place is
going to be better than trying to hit perfection right away. And also, Thank you for your regular very thoughtful reports and thank you to Nia and Ken as well. >> One thing I forgot to ask about, did I hear correctly that we have a state board of education rep?
>> So, um, Amelia Reynolds, so, uh, it was early October or late September, we went to TCJ for a meeting. Um, and it's all the high schools of South Jersey. Um, it it alternates by year, North Jersey, South Jersey. Um, and this one was all
of South Jersey gets to go and they get to go to different um, it's it's different places where you get to go. Um, the they bring in a motivational speaker. They have the current um, like I guess the board it's it's not the
board reps, but it's like the um, the student council of the state is what is what's there. And uh, those students spoke to us. They were talking talking to us how to get into it. Me, Amelia, and a couple other people. We went in and attended a secondary meeting on how
we might be able to be a part of this. And they there's nine positions, which is um like two executives positions. There's president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and then there's the state board of ed rep. And that's the only position that requires two
meetings per month. And Amelia ran for that and was uncontested and got it right away. And yeah, so she's she's into that now. >> That that that's awesome. That's amazing. Yeah, it's really great. Yeah. Any other I guess questions or comments?
Thank you again, Mr. Shamansky. Um, and you're welcome to stay or or go or, you know, as as you as you please. So, yes, [laughter] we're moving to section 8, the superintendent's report. Dr. Mattel.
>> So, good evening again. Thank you uh for all those in attendance and all those watching online. Um section 8 uh 8.01 is the enrollment report. uh December of 2024
uh 2222 uh was the enrollment numbers and uh December of 2025 there are two numbers uh there is 2186 uh for November 2025 and then uh 22 uh
recent students that just started with us at uh Parkview uh campus preschool campus and those reports are attached 8.02 02, 03, and 04 are the safety drill, suspension, and anti-bullying report.
Uh, and just a few uh just state general thoughts and and and announcements. And so, we'd like to publicly thank all of our elementary schools for their holiday concerts on the AV this uh season. We'd also like to thank our phenomenal music department for preparing our students to perform.
The theme uh was holidays around the world. And so, uh, I was very fortunate to be able to go to several, uh, of the events. Students did a really great job. Um, families and observers, uh, were
impressed with, uh, not just the, uh, professionalism uh, of the staff uh, including our buildings and grounds uh, and our music team, but also just a tremendous talent that our children have in our community. And so, we just like to say thank you.
And we will hear another radio uh announcement uh from Mr. Goldberg later today. Uh we'd like to also thank again our magical. Um they have had an extremely busy season this year of performances. Uh and so we would like to just thank
again all of the students for their commitment to their craft. Uh not just during this season but uh throughout the year. Uh, and then a special thanks to Miss Intricaso and the music department for supporting our students as we celebrate and embrace um the diverse cultures within our community
during the holiday season. Um, this week over 50 students gathered in the library media center to participate in an over 2,000 year old tradition of spinning drreidles for chocolate coins. Uh, we'd like to thank uh Mr. Wright and the high school staff for bringing this event to
fruition. Um it was enjoyed uh by all who were in attendance and uh we look forward to uh next year. Mr. Wright, we'd also like to say congratulations to uh Collingswood High School senior Julian Maxwell on being selected for the
2025 a few good men award. Julian was selected by coach Mchuan and principal Newman as an ambassador who represents the character, values, and way of life that when emulated by others makes the school, community, and world a better place. He joins a select group of young men from 800 student athletes
representing 15 New Jersey high schools that were uh selected this year. And so over the course of the season, our own Collinswood Panthers football team enjoyed weekly sessions facilitated by Principal Newman discussing topics on time management, health and wellness, leadership, and financial literacy. And
so congratulations uh to Mr. Maxwell. Um on December 18th, Comicswood High School hosted instant decision day in the library media center. eight uh talented and motivated seniors were accepted into
universities like Shippenberg, Gwinned Mercy, Monmouth, Rowan, Kain, Ramipo, and Stockton um on site. Uh special thanks to our high school uh counseling department for organizing this event and congratulations to to Nana Jackson, Jun
Narie, uh Mia Isabelle Vauovich Gartlan, Adelaide Arvo, Cassidy Moore, Samantha Black, Elijah Dixon, Dixon, and McDalia Morales for a job well done. We're extremely proud of you. Um and we are looking forward to hearing about what uh
happens within your next journey. Uh we'd also like to thank again um our MTSS team. Um it takes a lot to organized district-wide initiatives and so uh the effort, the energy it took not only to administer the survey but to
also communicate with families to get the participation and then to be able to disagregate and tabulate the data and then organize it in a a digestible way. uh and then continually going through training in order to prep individual schools for what comes after. Um this is
a pretty a pretty significant task. And so we would just like to publicly thank our MTSS team uh for doing this this heavy lift. We would we would also be uh remiss um as uh committed to the the
continued mission of supporting those in need within our community. Um at the rear of our uh meeting, the Panther Pantry is here with Miss Nisser leading the way. And so the mission of our food pantry is to provide uh students and
families of Collingswood uh Oakland and Woodland with supplemental uh nutrition um uh personal care products, supplies in a confidential uh in a non-judgmental manner. Um this is uh led by staff but
it is run by students. And so we just want to commend our students who in multiple groups this year. They did not only uh uh food drives but they also did food prep. And so this speaks to the heart and the commitment to service that
our students have within this district. And we just wanted to say thank you. And that concludes my report. >> Thank you Dr. McDow. At this point, we'll move to section nine, the first section for public comment. Uh the purpose for this public comment section is to discuss items
listed on the agenda. Additional more general comments may be made later in the meeting. The public should remind that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints should first go through appropriate staff members and administrators. The intent of public comment is to give the community opportunity to provide feedback to the board. We'll be actively listening and
taking notes that we can take all that is being said in consideration. Um, 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 both sensitivity for everyone in attendance. In fairness to all who wish to speak, there is a strict three minute time
limit per person during public comment. Uh, and Miss Coleman will assist by keeping the time. Please remember to state your name and address for the record. Uh, and the floor is open. Hi, Claire Carlson 21B. I'm here on behalf of Missazo. She had to take her
son home, so that's why I'm here. Um, I'm one of the magicals. You heard I'm one of the magicals you heard sing earlier. And a while ago in this meeting, we did our whole piece, so I'm happy you enjoyed it. Um, I'm here to tell you a bit about choir at Colinswood
High School in the Magical. Um, The entire CHS choir program has about 112 students, which is over 15% of the school's population. We're very proud of that. Recently, we held a concert on December 18th with the middle school choir, which had over 125 students as
well, which is a lot for the middle school. We showcased songs like Carol the Bells, which you heard earlier, White Winter Himnel, Schmukenu, which is entirely in Hebrew, had a solo during that one. Very proud of it, and Making Christmas from The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. The program has continued to grow and at the December
concert, we had quite a turnout like I'd never seen in my three years here. As for the magicals, there is about 22 kids in this audition program and we sung at the Cathedral Kitchen in Camden, the town tree lighting, which had I think this year like a turnout of like over a
thousand people. Um various elementary schools today including Sharp, Garfield, and Zane, and many more events. There is so much talent within our choir community and I'm personally so happy to have had the opportunity to grow in my understanding of music with Miss
Interasso, my classmates. Our next concert is March 4th at 700 p.m. I hope to see you all there. Please come. [applause] Nothing. Nothing. Okay.
I look forward to that every month. >> Look like there are uh any more public comments? I guess I'll ask really quickly. March 4th and it's at >> where? Well, where >> middle school auditorium. >> Okay. And so the Kingswood Middle School
choir will also be there. So March 4th, 7 p.m. Kineswood Middle School Auditorium. It will be the Magicals and the Kingswood and the Kineswood Middle School choir completely free. All right. Thank you. Okay. So, uh, moving on to section 10,
business administrator, board secretary report. Miss Coleman. >> All right. Item 10.01 um is u your November monthly budget transfer report. 10.02 is your monthly financial statement. So, it's your board secretaries report, treasurer's report, cash report. 10.03 is your student
activity cash report. 10.04 is the food service financial statement for the month of November. 10.05 05 is the listing of the of the purchase orders that were um issued during the month of December and 10.06 is a listing of the warrants that will be paid tomorrow morning. >> Thank you. Section 11, Finance,
buildings, and grounds committee. Mr. Craig Cherson will present. >> Thanks. 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 we
are seeking approval for the following items this evening. 113 to 1110 is the board secretaries report as it was just presented. 1111 is agreements for homeless student tuition with Camden School District. It's the last district of residents who are fiscally responsible for the rest of the year. Uh
1112 is an outof district placement for a student. 1113 is updating our minimum wage for 2026 to make sure that we are in u compliance with the law. 1114 uh onetoone nursing care for the rest of the school year with a student. Uh 11:15
is as needed services and evaluation contract with Neurabilities Healthcare. Uh 1116 to 1118 are shared service agreements with Haden Township, Somerdale, and Clemonson respectively. Uh 1119 is approval of the mental health screening grant. This is in its third
year. Uh and then 1120 is a um instrument donation accepting that of a KTOU DRS French horn uh from Mr. Jim Wooten. Uh we thank you so much for your generosity. Um so we are Did I Did I
skip one? So we are seeking approval for agenda items 11.03 through 11.21. Can I have a motion, please? >> There's 11.25. Maybe that's not supposed
to be on there or It's under underneath the uh the ones that are uh public and so we're going to get clarity and bring it back next next month. >> Okay, great. All right. Sorry. So then only 11.03 through 11.21 as stated did
there I think. And so >> I didn't get the second. I got the first motion. I didn't get the second. >> Oh. Oh, and the second. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> Questions or or comments from board members? And I'll just mention as always, you know, thank you to our uh buildings and
grounds team for their work on the shared service agreement. It's a way for us to be able to um bring in more revenue to help support the the district and and the students. So, so thank you to ours and Grounds team there. Um without any other questions or comments, roll call, please. Miss Coleman.
>> Mrs. Brown, >> yes. >> Mr. Craig, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dine, >> yes. >> Mrs. Maya, >> yes. >> Mrs. Makowski. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Seltzer. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Sherman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Z. >> Yes. >> Mr. McMillan. >> Yes. Except for we're required to abstain.
>> Mr. Dulkus. >> Yes. Except we're required to abstain. >> Mr. Ch. >> Yes. Move on to section 12 curriculum committee. Miss. Sherman. Chairperson will present. >> The curriculum committee oversees and approves the district curriculum and assessment programs as well as field trips, home instruction, and
co-curricular programs and the school calendar. seeking approval for the following items. Um actually first uh I'm sorry I'm gonna um kick it over to Miss Hal Turner to present a curriculum update. >> Thank you very much Sarah. Just a few quick notes from me. Um first uh Chris
uh as others shared, thank you so much for your very thorough student board report tonight and always we appreciate your perspective and how you're collecting the perspective of your classmates. Um, I would just add with regard to the world language, um, this year we were able to expand down to 8th
grade and offer a full section of German, eighth eighth grade German and a full section of Spanish, um, which sets us up for a five-year um, pathway for those students who choose to to continue through five years. And some of those
students will will may ultimately choose if they feel ready and and able to sit for the seal of biiteracy assessment. Um, we just had that that um assessment for students last week that would allow students to pass with uh a certificate of fluency in a in a second or or
multiple world languages. Um, and so I just wanted to um add that bit of additional context um for uh for this evening. Um second, um believe it or not, we are right after the holidays, we'll be kicking off our um planning for
the 2627 academic calendar. Um and so as we did last year, I put out a I put out a call to all Oakland and Collingswood staff and leaders um to form a working group. Um and we'll we'll be convening on
several occasions immediately following the the winter holidays. um to to map out next year's um school calendar. So, please um stay tuned for further updates that on that in future board meetings that will ultimately come for come up for your approval in a few months here.
Um Dr. Seltzer, as others have shared, thank you so much for your leadership and and service. And like Kelly said, um we look forward to continuing to see and hear your your expert voice supporting our our students and our district. So, thank you. Um, and then last but not
least, um, tomorrow begins a very, uh, welldeserved winter break. And so, just to our staff who are here tonight or who are listening, um, at home, I I wish you a great and welldeserved, um, break and thank you for your hard work and leadership every day. And we'll see you in the new year. Thank you, Sarah.
>> Thank you, Miss Hal Turner. Um, very short curriculum agenda this evening. Um, item 12.04, 12.05, 12.06 six are field trips at the different levels. In elementary, we have many of Mr. Trody's seeing class going to the library. Um and then the high school level, we have
many field trips, including the mock trial um group is going to the Camden Court system and our choir trip to New York City. Uh 12.07 and 12.08 are um uh out of uh home instruction placement programs, both medical and so seeking
approval tonight for items 12.04 through 12.08. >> Do we have a motion? >> So moved. and a second >> questions or comments from board members. >> Um I actually had a question. I wasn't sure who I could um direct this to, Miss
Herer. Um the discussion regarding the changes to the grading policy. Uh is this something that is going to be implemented um this year after the break or would this be the 2627 school year? >> Um just to give some context, did we talk about that publicly last month? I
can't recall, but I can give some. Okay. Um and so um as part of the board's approval of our 2627 program of study um that is our high school um course guide um that lists all
of the offerings that students may be able to choose from. Um, we will be including that a an update and um a more detailed overview of our high school grading policy in particular um how
students are um what what counts as a failing grade, what is the ceiling or the floor for a failing grade. And so um we are working with the high school guidance office to research um and make a proposal to Dr. McDow and myself and
others for review and then that will be included in the program of study for the board's review and a vote at the January meeting. U Megan, >> I just want to say I'm looking forward to the calendar updates. Um I think that
you did a phenomenal job last year with that and I think that process really seemed to be effective and everybody uh participated and it was great. So, thank you. >> All right. Uh, seeing no more questions or comments board members, roll call, please. Miss Coleman. >> Mrs. Brown.
>> Mr. Craig. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Divine. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Maya. >> Yes. >> Mrs. McCowsky. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Seltzer. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Sherman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Z. >> Yes. >> Mr. McMillan. >> Yes. Except for we're required to
abstain. >> Mr. Dulkus. >> Yes. Except we're required to abstain. Mr. Chu. >> Yes. 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. Tonight, seeking approval for the following items. Uh 13.03 uh is a retirement. We thank Mr. Pence very much for his many years of service in the district. 13.04
uh to 13.06 6 are resignations. We thank these staff members as well for their service. 13.07 is a lateral transfer of a preschool teacher. 13.08 to 13.12 are
various leaves uh FMLA, NJFLA, um and medical leaves. Uh 13.13 is a contract for a high school interim assistant principal. Um 13.14 is uh the hiring of an elementary nurse.
13.15 uh through 13.18 are a series of long-term and replacement teachers. Uh 13.19 is a contract for a secondary permanent building sub. 13.20 20 is um
approving Steven Burns as interim acting business administrator with a stipend um to cover for a staff member. 13.21 um is um uh stipens for the child study team um 13.22
is um um the afterchool mosaic club at sharp uh paid for through a title one grant 13.23 23 is the approval of PAC staff. These are folks who are part of the Panther Ambassador Advocacy Committee uh
who are being paid a stipened to work on some professional development that will then be turnkeyed to the rest of the staff. Um 13.24 to 13.25 are high school and middle school winter athletic stipens. 13.26 is um a student teacher
placement revision and you can see the revision below. 13.27 27 is a minimum wage revision um raising it starting January 1st. 13.28 is a rejection of a CA grievance level four. 13.29 are a few
substitutes and tutors. Um and 1330 is the travel expense form. So seeking approval for items 13.03 to 1330. >> Can I get a motion, please? >> So move >> and a second. um questions or comments from board
members. A quick reminder for our NJA members uh for agenda item 13.28 to uh recuse yourselves from from that uh per guidance from our uh board lawyer. Um right, seeing as there are no
questions or comments, uh can we get roll call, please? >> Mrs. Brown, >> Mr. Craig, >> yes. Mrs. Divine. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Maya, >> yes. >> Mrs. Makowski, >> yes, except for item 13.28 where I
abstain. Gotcha. >> Mrs. Seltzer, >> yes. >> Mrs. Sherman, >> yes, except for item 13.28. I abstain. Mrs. Z. >> Mr. McMillan. >> Yes, except for required to abstain.
>> Mr. Dulkus. >> Yes, except we're required to abstain. >> Mr. Ch. Yes. Okay. Moving on to section uh 14, the culture, climate, and policy committee. Miss Maya Chpersonson will present.
>> Uh the policy and regulations committee reviews all updates and changes of district policies and regulations. Uh tonight there are no policies up for a first read. The only policy is 14.03 3 which is uh up for a second read and that is the what we discussed uh last
month in committee of the whole 0155 board committees and committee of the whole revised and so we are looking approval of item 14.03 3. Yeah, that's it. >> Can we get a motion, please? >> So, moved >> and a second. >> Second. >> Uh, questions or comments from board members.
>> So, I have a comment for the second reading of the policies. Um, while I really appreciate all of the board getting on board with transparency, I did have a lot of questions which I was told I could ask. Um, and then I know
the policy committee discussed, but then it was made out to those questions could not be answered until we all met and decided those things. So, I'm not against committee of a whole, but without some of those questions answered
or details, I'm not sure how it's going to work and how to kind of vote on something like that without details. Um, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable voting yes for something without knowing the details. So, that's just my comment there.
Um would would you like to I guess ask those questions here and then we can uh see if there are any details that can be provided. >> Sure. I don't have them on hand. Sorry. Um but my I think the biggest one was you know what is it going to look like? Um how you know what days of the week?
What are we do? You know like how and the next biggest question was more how do we discuss kind of um any personnel things that can't be discussed? I think that was my biggest question. Is that going to be a third meeting? Is that going to be
executive session? Um, obviously I'm fully committed to the board, but we also have to take into consideration this might be two, threehour meetings, you know, so just some of those details. Um, they might all look different for our board. Um, but some of those details
would be helpful. >> Sure, please. >> I can address some of it because I had some questions just because Yeah. Um, I currently have depending how the vote goes. I have three versions of the calendar, the the board member calendar, the beating
dates, because we could do we could probably do it one of two ways, right? So, depending who the board president is, it then we would decide that. So, we're not going to exactly know, but the first would be um we have the the committee of the hold the week before the meeting and then we would come back a week later. So we're out two nights
and one night would probably be like long like a three or four hour meeting and then second one would be I'm hoping substantially shorter so we're all not like bogged down a lot. Um so I got one calendar that's doing that and the other one um kind of doing it like the old way
where we do everything in one night. So um I hope that answers one of your question. So depending who the board president is I guess they would decide kind of how we're going to like distribute the calendar. I know what they I know the dates of the board meetings, right? So if we go to committee the whole the week before it would we would just pick the because
right now I think personnel's on Monday and finances Wednesday. So I think we tried to do most of them on Mondays I think but like we we would just pick like the one day and just do it all on that one day. Um so that's kind of already drafted because I know like when we go after we have reorg we have to hit
the ground running with that. So I kind of already have drafts of that. Um Anita was kind enough to sit with me to do that before she retired. Um, same questions with personnel. Um, obviously we probably have to do a lot in close session if there's questions that the board members have
because obviously we can't discuss names and and obviously a lot of information, but if it's something where a name has to be mentioned or an explanation has to be provided, we'll just have to go into close session either at the beginning or at the end of the meeting to like answer all the questions that we can't like say out loud.
>> Okay. I think I'll I'll jump in and I think some of the stuff that we discussed during the pause committee too was that you know some other districts might do everything in one night but they might have the working session and then the board meeting raford or to pass
it. Um and at least I know I think we are mostly in agreement in the P committee that likely for us we would want to do the committee of the whole a week before right because um I think a lot of us would like to have the discussion then have some time to you
know ruminate on it before voting and also in case we have feedback that the administration then needs to go in and uh work on update give it some time there. Um I also in terms of the personnel committee piece, Mr. Divine, did did you want to share I think a point that you made about about that
that I thought was really uh I think important. >> Yeah, I think in our conversation around personnel, I really would actually ask that we move towards making decisions that are really around policy and not the who. Um sometimes I actually sit in a space that I'm I've been on other
boards, we don't you don't get to know who. that isn't the privilege or right of a board and I do actually think we need to get to that level of it's not our business to know um and it it and so I'm really asking that we move towards that approach because I actually get
deeply uncomfortable knowing the level of who what sometimes so I would actually think it's a good practice to move towards does this make sense yes or no you shouldn't need to know who to be very so you all can imagine in your own professional experiences you don't need
that level of detail. So that is something I do think we can do and practice pretty with ease in this setting. But would ask that we move in that direction which obviousates some of the concern around the personnel conversation because it shouldn't be
about a person necessarily. >> Yeah. No, that makes sense. I've never I not on that committee so I wasn't really sure how it works and obviously since they're committees you can discuss more things than you can publicly. So that makes a ton of sense. >> Okay. >> And that and just for I think the public
who might a little more context there is that you know when we look at the personnel committee we approve a lot of leaves or medical absences and so forth and uh I think what Mr. Vine which is making a point that I I fully agree with which is that in in many ways that that should be a decision on the board on
policy and not at all about who is request requesting that leave. Right. And so in fact, we should be able to have those type of um discussions uh often times or or or look over those agenda items often times in public without needing to go into executive
session because we will not be discussing any individuals there. Um but then in there are of course going to be times in which maybe a student issue or a um staff issue might come up that needs a little bit more specific discussion and in those cases it will
have to be executive session and and my suggestion would be that that would be an executive session at the end of the committee whole. Therefore, you know, uh the public can be can know the consistent start time of committee the whole and then then then the uh
confidential discussion can happen uh at the end. Um any other other questions? >> Yeah. Can you clarify uh the public comment section as well because I know you said that that would go down to one public comment section. >> Yeah. So I uh the because the committee
a whole would be a public board meeting by law. But we are required to have public comment section for for any public board meeting. Um and I think the the idea would be especially with the committee the whole session being a a it's a working session, right? So it's
for the board to come together to work um and the the public to have uh open view of it, right? um we wouldn't we don't have to have two comment sections and I I don't uh necessarily think it makes sense to have two uh comment
sections especially during the the uh the working session um and so uh likely there would just be one um and I don't I don't know I be open for discussion about you know should be that very beginning should be at the very end
maybe it makes sense to put at the very beginning again so folks don't have to you know, stay around for hours or maybe it makes sense at the end so that folks can, you know, let us know what they feel after we've said. I I'm not really quite sure there. But then I think if uh
then the board were to move to a consent agenda type of of agenda for the like this meeting, right? uh that helps speed things up because the consent agenda would really be one one big motion to to
pass the entire uh agenda. And of course, that doesn't mean you have to vote yes or no on everything, right? Again, we just like we do now, we would pull out stuff if we want to vote differently on different things, but it would speed that thing up. And when it's that kind of sped up, it might not make any sense to have a public comment at
the beginning and at the end. It it might just be let's just have a public comment, right? And if that's the case, there's one, my suggestion would be that that one public comment of course happened before the votes because I'm sure the public would want to um uh let
their voice be heard before we took any action. And so that that would be my my suggestion. >> And if I could reiterate what Dr. McDall said is, you know, we can't confuse that this is a business meeting held in public and it's not a public meeting. You know, we're not we're not looking to
engage the public in bound. we're having a meeting that is properly done in public. So, um that was just something you had mentioned uh that I think we have to keep in mind. >> Yeah. And and just to com to add on to that, right, that's that's I think the
difference between say the board roundts where it's really is therefore engagement, right? Back and forth engagement. This is we have a lot of you know by law we have to deal with business and so that's really what these meetings are. Um, and I think in terms of the time and capacity, right, there
will still be two total public comment opportunities, but it right. So I is they're broken up by different days, so people actually probably have more time to really have a perspective on the dis and see the discussion. Um, the other piece is ideally once smoothed out the
total time even across our committees, it is equal to this one consolidated conversation. So then we're all having one conversation instead of and so I I do it took me a moment to like wrap my head around like this may be a marathon and may will get more efficient over
time but we'll certainly longer and a more compressed by virtue of the discussion just will be slightly bal more balanced. Just a logistical question with the drafted potential dates. Does that include I was just thinking of like some
Woodland, Oakland, Oak Oakland. Is that all staggered out? Okay. I uh I appreciate everybody's comments and having this conversation in public. Again, I just want to reiterate that I think that this should be a conversation that we have in January with the uh new board with reorganization in all three
towns coming together. Um, but I do appreciate the conversation and I am for the idea overall, but I suggest that we wait. Just saying. >> Um, and I would like to um echo that actually. Thank you, uh, Kelly. Um,
I don't think anybody here does not favor this idea about transparency, but just I think just the very and and I'm thinking to myself, okay, not sure, but I think even just the nature of this very helpful conversation with, you know, Roger, as you said, my suggestion would be we could do we could try it
this way, we could try it that way. So, it's starting to become a little bit more clear to me, but there are voices that are not here that are not engaged in this conversation. And to Maggie's point, I think if we're going to vote on something, we should know exactly what we're voting on and what this is going
to look like. Um, and that would be best a vote in January. Thank you. >> I think we did talk about this last month, but the timeline of if we push this back and it is it is a voice, right, because we have one board member
who was turning over. Um so considering within that um if we delay this until the end of January I think we we said we wouldn't be starting this until or no that at this point because we've gone through the readings. >> Well this would usually be the ideal time because January is where we
at the reorg meeting we set the dates for our board meetings for the whole next year and then I advertise it for the whole year and it goes on the website. Every school district in state of New Jersey sets their calendar in January not February. So, this would be the time to do it in my professional opinion.
>> I just want to clarify if if um I wasn't just talking about one board member that we have here like all three towns reorganized. They all pick a president and vice president. They pick their reps for their, you know, respective towns. Um so, there's more than just one person that's turning over. It could be multiple factors that are turning over.
Um to your point, but I appreciate that. Um, and in terms of the calendar, Bethanne, I can't thank you enough for all the hard work that you put into putting that calendar together and prepping for that. Uh, but I do, um, I did ask this before and I just want to clarify. If for some reason we decide to
do this and it it's not working for us, how would we go about changing the calendar and changing that, you know, from there from that point on. Um, I have to talk to school boards just to make sure I'm right. But like my Well, if it's not working, obviously
we would probably have to >> obviously redo the whole policy. >> Yeah, we'd have to redo the whole thing. It'd >> be a change of policy. >> Yeah, we'd go back to the basically what we did like four to six weeks ago, we would have to do in the middle of the school year. >> A quick question about the history of this. Has this ever been done before in
the past year? >> I've been here 18 years and it's always been committee. So, It's a new adventure for all of us, including myself. >> Um, I I do I do also want to be clear that this has been done in many districts and actually townships and
burrows and municipalities uh including our neighboring districts. Uh, Miss McCol that there it seems like there are some specifics about the implementation of this um that uh that maybe need still to
be clarified. uh what what specific implementation pieces uh do you have questions about that need to be clarified? Um because as I understand what you've said, you're you are for this idea, but um you're not clear about the the specifics and so what are there
specifics that we can clarify right now um to uh help you with your your comfort level? >> Well, sure. I mean, I think some of there have been some ideas that have just been hashed out and that sounds great, you know. Um, and Beth, you even said we could do it this way with, you know, the the two meetings or we could
do, sorry, or if I wrote it down correctly, you know, we're still talking about may maybe close sessions, maybe we wouldn't have to have closed sessions. If we moved into the uh the the identification numbers the way you said, I mean, this is all very helpful, but, you know, we're still going to need attorneys present to find out exactly um
how this is going to work. Um, this is going to take, according to what some people have said, but nothing official yet. uh could take a couple of months of attorneys being present at these meetings. >> I would think I'm I'm hoping just one. Okay. >> To get us through the first personnel >> because I'm going to be on high alert to
make sure that [laughter] >> I'm not saying anything I'm not like, you know what I mean? Because we just we get we get into our habits, right? So, I would want to make sure like as I'm policing myself, somebody's pol, you know, like and then hopefully we'll get into the swing of things. I'm hoping it's only one >> and and to to be clear, we this would
not require attorneys to be present. uh I think it's a re recommendation for us to have attorneys present early on so we get used you know they're they're helpful there to make sure that we are uh working with the bounds of of privacy laws that we have to adhere to. Um I
guess if there is uh uncertainty about how this would work in the new year, the I think the most uh logical way to do this would be to
have be for the Monday board meeting the week before Monday would be our committee the whole working session if needed uh for any specific uh privacy related issues that to discuss that we would have a then executive session at
the end of that working session uh in order to discuss those items. Uh then the following week we would have our uh regular board meeting. And so that would that's the setup. Monday uh the week before working session with a executive session at the end if if need be and
then the following Monday would be the regular boards uh board meeting. So might I ask just I and maybe because at the reorganization meeting I don't walk in clear on what could happen. So maybe I'm not sure what we're trying to put in stone in this moment. But I would ask
that we give some flexibility because we can at times have an energy for long meetings potentially have the exact meeting before the second meeting. Right. just as we do now. The week of or week before, we're told come at for
close session ahead of time. You have a week in advance to get your life together and end your day hopefully on time and get here. And I think we could at least try for that level of flexibility. But the reality is the reorg meeting none of us know uh like we get a schedule assuming our lives work
for that um to be very transparent. Um a lot of us that's just what reorg is. So maybe I'm not one like I sit in a space of we're juggling a lot. Um, and I don't know walking into the fifth we have any more certainty than we would with our
current structure than we do to moving into a new one is I guess what I'm also framing and that I do think the policy itself doesn't lock us into okay we're moving exact to this state versus this state right like I think that that is
still the policy is not that level of spec specific it is around are we prepared to sit at this table and have conversations so that we aren't in a space of well I wasn't in the conversation so I'm not sure what I heard or that others are thinking we're
h right so I think that is the the intention here and that reorg will define the parameters and how we will use our time most efficiently is I think really earnestly asking that we all really think of it in that frame it has taken me a long time and praying that we
do not end up in these 10 hours of gauntlets um in a month which I don't anticipate if we all like we right can show up in a way of being productive and likely sitting in front of a screen far more because that is what committee looks like right guys it won't look pretty for
the few people in the audience it'll look like us looking at our screens um but that's just what it is right is in my understanding the essence of this policy change >> uh that's an excellent question that you brought up in terms of looking at screens because on our regular meetings
we are not allowed to have our personal computers on our phones So will be will we be able to have our personal computers in front of us for those meetings? >> Yeah. So I would I would I mean I would suggest that we continue to use the the district uh divi the district Chromebooks. Um uh one of the reasons so
one of the reasons is that um the conversations amongst the the reason why I think that that that practice put in place for for our board was that uh we were warned by New Jersey School Board Association and by our own lawyers that uh there is a risk if we're having kind
of conversations back channel during the board meeting that folks could be like oh that should be open in public and so one of the nice things about having the district Chromebooks is It's a district Chromebook. We'll be logged into our accounts. We'd be, you know, for example, we might be using our email here, but that is all public
recorded by uh by the district. And so, um I would say that we would we we would need to have our the Chromebooks for sure. Yeah. But I think, you know, yeah, I think part of this is is working through and it will probably take a little bit of time, you know, to get
used to uh the most effective way to to do this. Um, I also just want to comment. I've been in personnel with you for this past uh, you know, this past year. You're very professional and I don't think you ever go out, you know, say anything that's inappropriate in any way, shape
or form. So, I don't want people to sit here and think that we're talking about them in any way. That's not what happens and you're very professional and I appreciate that. So, thank you. Um, so I think that this is a very useful conversation, but I guess my follow-up question is, so some of the
things that we're saying right now, like we can do this on Wednesday, we can do, you know, we can do it this way, we can do it that way. Is is this official? Like when when would these Right. That's what I'm thinking, right? So So I'm thinking when are these when are these conversations going to happen where we
can kind of iron out the fine details? >> Once we have a a school board president. So like normally what we do reorg, right? We come back in January 5th. I run the meeting because we at that after this meeting we really we have like a month of like not even two weeks of no president. Um so what happens is um the
dates for the board meetings are set right. So just like we've done in the past um whoever the board president is they'll um probably a couple days after Briorg, you know, we send that calendar out like here's the dates of the committees. Now,
it'll be here's the dates of the comm our our committee our working session because I I know the dates of the board meetings. So, it's going to be obviously be the week before either on Monday or Wednesday. So, that email will go out to everybody. I'd like lock your calendar. Here's the the time and location of every committee the whole meeting for
the whole year. Um the last so many years it's been here's your committee assignments and your and the dates. And I think it'll just be here's the dates of all the committee of the holes. Um but that's kind of how I anticipate that going out. And I guess I guess the last thing I'll
say about um the timing is you know I appreciate that you know Beth and you say every school district releases those dates and I appreciate that but um and I know that a lot of school districts do their meetings in this format. I work for one so I believe me I get it. I
think it's a good idea. Um but I will again maintain that um you know the idea to go to this um came up at like the end of November. So, and okay, great. That's a good idea. We're going to change course. But when
there's that kind of a late in the year, post election uh unveiling of an idea of this magnitude, you know, I still think it's reasonable to think that there is going to be, you know, maybe it's not a good idea to rush it to be ready to go um if uh you know, for the beginning of
the reorg if there are still questions. I think that that's I just think that's a reasonable not everybody has to agree with me but I think that's a reasonable suggestion. I my only comment would be it actually demonstrates the ability of how quickly we can undo this decision
right I just transparently right there's a concern of how fast can you change course do a pilot is this a pilot are we committing or right uh um so so I actually think it points to we can very quickly make decisions and
do change with some meats right like I right I do think it actually requires ires that we are going to make a decision and make a decision if this isn't working and quickly undo that decision within nove what uh six to
eight weeks like I I feel like that gives the answer to the question well how do we undo you put a proposal out there to change the policy we vote on the policy we read it one more and twice and then it's changed right so so I do think we have that answer and it doesn't need to be a protracted exercise I do
also want to point us back to several all of our conversations we've had around kind of leading with like the like our students and staff top of mind and positive intent of how we're moving into this. So I want to just make sure that we sit in a space of I am actually
as a I will speak for myself happy to have one conversation instead of having to keep up and catch up and hope I understand the nuance of minutes. And so I I just think we all can probably breathe a bit and have the same
perspective going into conversations more than I think we perceive we are today. Right? Like right because I just think that it will help us all and I I sit in a space of why not? Um I don't think there would be any perfect time if
we made this change right after we voted on the budget. Would that be a better time if we made this right? Like there's no good time transparently from we're always making some critical decision. So I also just I I don't know if there's a better time other than
serendipitously aligning with the calendar we were going to get anyway on the 5th, right? It wasn't like there was a vote on which day, right? Um so I'm I'm trying to like compel us to feel really confident that we are part of this decision and can inform it over
time for sure. Right. >> And I really think that that you and I are saying the same thing and we believe the same things. Um my concern comes with having all voices who are going to be impacted by this decision at the table. >> Any other questions or comments from
board members? >> All right. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Brown, >> yes. >> Mr. Craig, >> yes. >> Mrs. Divine. Yes, >> Mrs. Maya. >> I am going to say no on 1403.
>> Mrs. McCowski, >> I am no on 1403. >> Mrs. Seltzer, >> yes. >> Mr. Sherman, >> yes. Mrs. Z, >> yes. >> Mr. McMillan, >> yes. >> Mr. Dilkus, >> yes. >> Mr. Chip,
>> yes. All right. Uh moving on to section 15 miscellaneous. 15.01 is the HIP reports from the previous month. 15.02 is the NJAC district improvement plan. Um so we are seeking approval for items 15.01
through 15.02. Can I get a motion, please? >> Uh and a second. >> Second. >> Questions or comments from board members? >> I did have one question about 1502. Um, so I was reading through it and um I was just just kind of unclear on on some of
the intricacies of of the plan. Miss Herner, would you just be able to kind of summarize it a little bit? >> Uh, New Jersey QAC. >> Sorry, just I'm not asking you to resummize the entire thing because I know it's I know it's late. Um, the timeliness of reporting it was was the
the primary concern. Is is that how I understood it? >> Um, I was just going to like give a 30 second. what is QAC and then yeah so um QAC is a triannual state level review of most everything um
that is led by the county superintendent and her and her team um and so that occurred this isn't that occurred last February um and we received the results just a bit ago um and if um there are five
different indicators that uh are sort of the overarching um you know umbrella categories of all of the different um instruction and programming operations uh personnel finance what am I missing something else governance thank you um
and if your summitive score falls under an 80% uh in any of those in any of those five categories you're required to submit the improvement plan that you see attached to the board agenda tonight. Um and so uh we fell under 80% in two
categories, instruction and programming and operations. And you're required to um lift, you know, lift out the specific indicators um where the county gave specific feedback um and create an an
action plan to ensure that those are addressed and rectified going forward. Um and so um you know there were I think uh maybe 11 or 12 different categories in which we convened as a team looked closely at the county's feedback and ensured that going forward processes are
in place to um address. >> Does that answer your >> Oh sure it does. I guess um I I understand what the purpose of the improvement plan was but um can you just give an idea of of what what some of those processes were or is that something that's being developed? like are we given the green light to develop
the plan or is the plan already developed? >> You are um approving the plan tonight. That is what is attached there. So I'll give you an an an example. Um so um um this documents for um security drills
have to be board approved and then submitted to the county in a timely fashion. If we hadn't done that in the past, we had to come up with a plan to ensure that we are closely looking at the calendar to make sure that we get the items completed, approved, submitted. Um, and so most of the
feedback fell around that type of feedback of like, oh, you did the thing, but it was due within this cal this timeline on the calendar and you didn't meet the sometimes very tight deadlines. And so most of what we were doing was triple-checking our own internal
processes to make sure that um if there was something that was supposed to be reported out to you twice a year, did we do it do in that fashion and do we get it then to the county office in time? So um I would say probably eight or 10 of the pieces of feedback on the improvement plan are related to just
that type of follow through. Not that we weren't doing the thing, but oftentimes weren't meeting the exact um timeline. Sometimes we're talking about a number of you have this many days to do a thing and so um uh yeah we are reviewing internal processes to make sure that um
we are meeting those required timelines. >> Thank you. Just for a little comical relief we have to submit this to the state right because we missed something like by a day or two but they were out last February.
So, I just note the timeliness of which the county office and the state get gives us feedback. Um, it's not it's not reciprocal. That's all. Merry Christmas. >> Um, any more questions or comments from board members?
Roll call, please. Miss Coleman. >> Mrs. Brown. >> Yes. >> Mr. Craig. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Divine. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Maya? >> Yes. >> Mrs. McKowsky? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Seltzer? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mr. Sherman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Z, >> yes. >> Mr. McMillan, >> yes. >> Mr. Dilus, >> yes. >> Mr. Chu,
>> yes. Moving on to section 16, our second section for uh public participation. I don't believe I see anyone new in the audience. Uh so I won't go through my whole spiel. Uh but uh as a reminder, there is a uh strict three limit time
limit um for public participation. Please state your name and address uh for the record. And this section can be on on all all topics. Um so uh the floor is yours. >> Thank you. Uh Cara Boiler, 9 East
Somefield Avenue. So um I this has more to do with the um the policy um reading. Um so I was curious as a a public member and I don't know if you if you can't answer this tonight, that's that's fine. um for the committee of the whole
meeting um would there be an agenda released um and my thought was that if there was um as somebody from the public um it might be nice to be able to give comment at the beginning so I could dip out if I wanted to um if there was no agenda released and I didn't know what
you were talking about um then um it might also be nice to be able to talk about it at the end because I might have a comment about something discussed throughout the evening um And then I was curious then also um for um if you're
going to have public comment at both is there the when I guess as a public p uh person speaking from the public when would be the time that you could speak about something off the agenda versus on the agenda. That that's not entirely clear to me. So that was kind of my only
thoughts about the reorganization of the policy. Thanks. >> Okay. Okay. I don't think I see anyone else coming up for public comment. I I uh Miss Boy a expert at public comments. Um thank you for your your questions. I think that those are things we can
actually address right now. Um so there would be a an agenda released because it's a it's a public uh board meeting as well. Um and actually the uh feedback from the our lawyers has been that uh we
what other districts have done is essentially the same agenda twice, right? So so whatever this our agenda looks like today that would be the same thing during the uh committee of the whole discussion. Um, and then, uh, note
that a lot of districts only have one public comment section, which means then that the public comment section is just public comment, right? And the way that we have it right now is to, um, means then that we've restricted the first one to items on the agenda, uh, which
frankly, I think, you can blame me, has sometimes been loosely enforced, and then the second public comment section, uh, being general. So hopefully that answers the questions from the public. Okay. Uh at this uh right before we move
to adjourment, I would like to take just one uh moment to wish our staff, our students, our families a wonderful holiday season. Um thank you for being with us uh this this school year. I want to thank my fellow board members for all the work uh that we have done over the
the last year. Um, I think it's been a a tough year, but but really appreciate all the work that's h uh been happening and and uh and I would like to say thank you for uh um allowing me the the the privilege of being the board president for this past uh year. I'm looking
forward to uh coming back on January 5th uh uh and working again with everyone here hopefully to um continue to improve our our schools uh for the community. And so, happy holidays everyone. Uh, can I get a
motion to adjurnn? >> And a second. >> Second. Uh, all those in favor? >> Uh, all those opposed. >> Thank you.