Mrs. Brown here. Mr. Craig here. Mrs. Divine here. Mrs. Maya Mrs. Mcowsky here. Mrs. Seltzer here. Mr. Sherman here. Mrs. Z here. Mr. McMillan here. Mr. Dilkus here. Mr. Chu
here. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. All right. There was no executive session tonight. Um, we're going to enter the committee a whole and then have a presentation. And so, is there a motion for us to enter
committee? And a second. Second. Tonight we're gonna have a presentation by Mr. Newman, Miss Hondbeck. They'll present the secondary program highlights for uh counseling and and programs to study updates. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me
now? All right. Um, once again, my name is Doug Newman, principal of High School. Um, Kim Holland is our lead counselor for the guidance department. Kim came on board last year, uh, midseason. Um, and she's doing a great job as far as the counseling office is
concerned. There are um tons of great things that go on within the building, but I think one of the um great parts of our high school is our counseling department and how they manage, work with kids, guide kids um from freshman year all the way through uh high school. So, what I'd like to do now is have Kim
jump in um go over some things with you uh so you can take a look at the wonderful things that are going on in our building. Thank you, Mr. Newman. Sure. I can be heard here. All right. So, um, so good evening. I'm Kim Henbeck. I'm the lead
counselor at Collinswood High School and I have a wonderful team that I work with in my office. Um, Mr. Adams is our sack, our student assistance counselor. He sees all of our students uh, from 9th grade through 12th grade. Miss Goodall
is one of our counselors who sees the beginning of the alphabet. Mrs. Smith is the counselor that sees the end of the alphabet. And then I have in the middle that I have on my case load as well. We have Miss Watt who is our secretary. She
takes care of everything. She is the magic behind all what we do. So what do school counselors do? So really we have a lot of pieces to our job.
Um our primary focus is academics and making sure that the students receive the courses that they are u required to take for graduation requirements but then also looking forward to their postsecary whether that be a college
path, a military path or trade. Um we work with students um managing their emotions and their interpersonal skills a lot of time uh guiding them through situations that may come about here and
there throughout their day. And then um like I said, we're planning for those post-secondary options. We have a lot of things that we do other than just those three things, but um that really encompasses the three pieces of what we
do. So with counseling, there's a lot of um a lot of items that we do throughout the day that people see and then there's things that we do that people don't see. Um so a lot of the things that we see um are school counselors going into
classrooms. So we make um presentations within all four grade levels. We go into uh freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors twice a year. Uh the first time is one of those times is to go over the NViance program that we have which college prep and getting students ready
for their careers. And then the other part um is going in for course selection and going over the course selection process, what any changes are for this year, and then um proceeding with meeting each one of those students one on- one to select their courses for the
following year. Um the adisement comes in there where they're talking about what careers it is they're looking at and we are helping them with what coursework would help them. deciding if that career is something for them. That's really what our electives
are for are to give them a little taste of what it is they might want to do for their future and then uh we kind of guide them that way. And then obviously the counseling part, we have students in our office constantly. We have a revolving door. There's kids coming in
and out all day uh for different reasons. So that's definitely something that is seen. Things that you don't really see that we do. We do a lot of consultation. We consultation with teachers, with administration, with parents, um with community members. We
are out and about making sure everybody is on the same page. Um with that is collaboration. So, not only collaboration with all of those entities that I just mentioned, but collaboration within our team. So, it's really important that we know what each other
is doing and we are supporting each other in what we're doing. So we have those collaborative moments that we come together and go over uh where we are, what's coming up, what do we have to plan for. Um our year is pretty much set when it comes to dates. And then we make
a lot of referrals as well. Referrals to outside resources, referrals to our wellness center, referrals to child study team, uh referrals to INRS. We sit on the attendance committee. We do a whole host of things. So there's just
some of the pieces of our counseling department. I thought it might be good to look at some data regarding our department. So we currently have 736 students enrolled at Collinswood High School. We have 16 of our of our high
school students who are currently going um and use utilizing our substance abuse counselor uh Mr. Adams for um you know substance abuse counseling, helping them with coping strategies and skills to uh
move forward from where they've been. Academic student meetings, this number really impressed me. 926 meetings with students. So, we have three academic counselors and then we have our um SAC. Okay. We have seen every single one of
our kids at least once if not twice this year individually. Um that number is astronomical. So, We're busy busy people. Um, lots of parent meetings either at the parents request, the teachers request, or the counselor's request.
Um, we have administration come in with us if needed. Like I said, we have those classroom lessons that I've already gone over with you. We have about 60 active 504 plans. So, we do manage the 504s for the building. And then we have
715 social media followers. Um, heard it mentioned at a former board meeting, but uh we do have a K's counseling Instagram page where we post all of our u college acceptances and we go over any kind of
uh trade school militaries. We do those all at once um a little bit later in the year looking at our uh counseling office from a college and career focus. So we have taken our students on four college tours and fairs and two of those
were free. So two of those the buses were paid for by the uh organization that put on the college fair for us. We've had 110 students attend those fairs. We have had 26 college representatives come to our building and meet the students. We've had 12 military
representatives. It sounds like a low number, but they've come multiple times throughout the year. the same representatives have. Uh we've had about five workforce and trade school visits come in. At the time when I created this data, which was a couple days before
spring break, we had 1,049 college applications submitted. We had 167 college acceptances. I know myself, I had gotten uh emails over break of students that were getting accepted over break. Uh May 1st is
really the decision day, so we're getting a lot coming in right now. Total amount of scholarships to date, like I said, this was right before break, 3,356, 735. That's a
lot, right? Our kids are awesome. And we have all 736 of our students on Navian and they're using it, uh, which is what we want them to do. So, it is a tool for them to use.
We um offer the PSAT and SAT during the school day in the fall. So all students 9 through 12 take either the PSAT or the SAT. Uh we have SAT prep Saturdays that happen as well. We have 16 AP courses
that are offered this year. We have 356 of our students enrolled in those AP courses. We have 260 of them registered to take the AP exams that start next week. We have 18 dual credit courses.
Um, majority of them are with Camden County College. A couple are with Stockton University. We have 688 students enrolled in our dual credit courses and we have 572 students enrolled in our CTE
courses. the pro program of study, excuse me, is also completed um in conjunction with the supervisors, with the department supervisors, but we um we kind of monitor that program of study and lead the charge on that. Um that was approved
by the board back in January and that sets the tone and the guidelines for how we do our course selection in the spring. So, um, one of the, um, pieces that have been added to graduation requirements from the state of New Jersey this year is that all students
have to complete the FAFSA. So, we have to have that in by May 1st, which is Thursday. I know it's this week. I just went through it today again. Um, so we have a few stragglers out there that haven't completed the FASA.
There's also the option to uh have the parent sign the waiver to say that they do not wish to complete the FASA. Either one of those pieces needs to be completed in order for the student to meet those graduation requirements. Um new courses this year
that are in our program of study. So we have our second level of algebra and geometry. We have additional option two opportunities that are being offered to our students. We have aerospace engineering which is our third level of engineering. We have math acceleration
which is going to be in conjunction with the algebra and geometry one class for nth graders. We have two new music electives music and film and music as a mirror of history both being held as semester courses. We are giving our
students options for fizzed this year. So they are going to be able to choose I'm sorry they already have chosen what they want to do uh for the four quarters of fizzed next year. So one of those quarters obviously is going to have to be health. So they don't get to choose
that. We give them that. Um but the other three they were able to choose from different topics and um kind of set what it is they would like to do for phys next year. And then we're also offering next year Unified Partners,
which is a class for 11th and 12th graders that would like to work with and mentor the special needs students in our school in their fizzed class and their health class. So they would take health and fizzed with the special needs students and be a mentor or leader with
those students and uh work closely with them. So, we're really excited about these programs. Looking forward to the future, like I said, May 1st, which is Thursday, is National Decision Day. So, that is the day when students announce uh what
school they will be attending, what path they are taking, postsecary, military, or trade. Um, we have 11th grade Naviance presentations that will be held um I believe towards the end of this week and next week. We're starting to schedule those now.
Um, like I mentioned earlier, AP testing starts next Monday and runs for two weeks. We have our class of 25 graduation coming up. Very exciting. And then in the fall, we would like to put together an instant decision day where we have multiple colleges and
universities come here to Collinswood High School and talk with our students and actually accept students on the spot that day. So, that is a a goal of ours for the fall. Um, looking forward And that ends my presentation. Are there
any questions? Miss Habbec, I have a question about the instant decision day. That's really interesting. Um what do you have examples of universities that um participate in that? Yeah. So um one that comes to the top of my head is Stockton. So Stockton will send a representative here to the school and
our students have to have everything ready. So, they have to have their letters of recommendation. They have to have their transcript. They have to have their application in. Um, and the representative will come and sit with that student oneon one, look through their materials, through their scores and whatnot. And if they meet that
criteria to be accepted, they will be accepted on the spot that day. So, we could have, you know, anywhere from five to six colleges here. Um, they could potentially walk away with five or six college acceptances that day. It's pretty exciting. I always say it's a good lead
into Thanksgiving. So, you can go to the Thanksgiving table and show all the acceptances you have so far. So, Kim, um, sorry, go ahead. Uh, first, thank you so much to you and your team for preparing this. Well done tonight. Um, could you explain a little bit more about what dual credit means and what
the CTE acronym stands for just because those are maybe two terms that are unfamiliar to some. And if I could just because my question was on similar topic, maybe I can add it and you can address both. Um, I wanted to know if your department had done any kinds of comparisons with some
of our neighbors um about how we're doing stacking up regarding AP and dual credit options. That's a good question. Um I did not look at local districts, but I do meet with um the area directors
uh three times a year. So that's something I can bring up at that meeting. That's a that's a really good topic to bring up. Um so CTE stands for career and education. So that um encompasses all of our business courses, our um digital production, our TV
production. Uh my goodness talk engineering. Thank you. What else audio uh graphic graphic design? So most of those um so they're all encompassed in that career and technical education, financial literacy comes
under that um that topic that broad piece. Um the other part that you to address is dual credit. So dual credit enables our students to earn credit in two places. So dual means two. So they would earn credit at our high school for
that course that they're taking, but then they would also have the option to um earn credit at the college that we are partnered with for that same course. So for instance, if I'm a student taking um anatomy and physiology, that is a dual credit course at Collingswood and
it's also approved by uh Camden County College to be a dual credit course with them. So if I am a student and I'm taking anatomy and physiology, I am earning credit at the high school for that course and then I would pay a small fee to Camden County College and I would
be able to earn credit based on whatever grade I get. It has to be a C or better. Um and they would be able to give me the credit at that school once. um and you can accumulate those dual credits throughout your four years of high school taking those dual credit courses.
Once you start applying to colleges, um you would contact CCC and ask them for a transcript and it would list all those courses that you paid for for those dual credits. So potentially we have students entering college with an entire semester
completely done already of credits for dual credits and AP courses that they've taken here at the high school. Um the the fee is very nominal. So for those of you that have gone to college, you know college is really expensive per credit.
Sometimes a th000 to a thousand to $3,000 a credit. Um Camden County charges us $50 a credit. So the family is responsible for that. And courses are typically three credits. So it's about $150 they pay for a course, which is a
huge savings. And then I can speak to Miss Seltzer's question around AP courses. Um uh this is statewide. This is information that's included on the um annual school report card that's released every year. Um so Collinswood High School outperforms uh
the state in terms of AP courses offered not offered, sorry, students enrolled in AP courses, students taking one or more AP course, um students with a passing score on an AP exam. Um and then we significantly um uh outpaced the state
average in terms of dual enrollment course work. The state average is 26.9% and Collingswood High School is 60.1% of students participating in dual enrollment. I mean this is such a lovely way to start. So thank you. Thank you for that.
Um I wanted to ask just a bit more about like yearoveryear um particularly around scholarships and uh student meetings. Bravo and kudos to all of you because your schedules must be exhausting and thank you and because the outcomes are showing, but just what does that look like year over year in terms of the
improvement or increase the number of meetings? Like have you seen more meetings over year year over year with students? Are we touching more students more times? And then the scholarship amount was you know three and a half 3.5 million roughly um has it increased
year-over-year and also the breakdown as an academic primarily needs base or sports would be interesting if you have that. I don't have that I would be able to get that information for you if you wanted to forward that along. I'd be interested to see that as
well. Our kids are impressive. I I had a question about the unified partners. So, did I understand correctly that this is um the entire phys course would be those students working with special needs in a in a phys
like general mentorship or something like that. No, it's completely that would be um if I'm an 11th grader and I choose to be part of unified partners, that would be my fizzed class and my health class for the year. So, I am partnered with the special needs population for the year for
phys. Thank you very much. I just want to that our our student rep yeah accepted to TCJ. So, congratulations. Sorry, I didn't mean to. I just we're talking about it and you're here. So, there Thank you, Mr.
Newman and Miss Hollandbeck for the presentation. Before we close out committee whole, uh I want to mention that I think originally this meeting was scheduled to be the public hearing for the budget. Um because of all that's
been going on in terms of the the state uh tax levy incentive program and and all the changes that have to happen to the to budget. That meeting is has been scheduled for next week on May 5th. Uh and so again, that's been something that we we've had on the books for a little
bit now, but just letting folks know because originally this was scheduled to be the public hearing on the budget. That public hearing is is uh next week uh for for the budget. Um, with that, I have a motion to exit committee
hall and a second. All those in favor? Uh, moving on to section five, future dates and miscellaneous information. I'm going to point out a few future dates. I realize that the the May 5th, so the
next Monday's bill meeting uh is not actually on this list. So, I want to point that out again. So, we've uh had for a little bit scheduled next week uh here, same time, Monday is going to be our official public hearing on the budget for next school year. Um and then
also I want to point out May 8th, we have our scheduled monthly board round table, which is 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. at the Kingsville Library community room. Um and uh that's where basically we'll have a few board members there and folks come by and and we basically have
a conversation um about school topics. All right. See number uh six is routine section six is routine board business. So there's one agenda item which is 6.01 approval of minutes.
So motion to approve the minutes of the March 24th regular board meeting and the April 8th and April 10th 2025 special uh board meetings. Do I have a motion and a second? Uh is this all in favor?
Um so now we get to section seven student reports. Mr. Coder will have a report. You hear me? All right. Um, so things have been going well. Uh, uh, spring sports have been going on for a couple weeks now. Uh, prom tickets have
been going on for juniors and seniors. Um, but I believe my role here is to talk about the minds of students in the school and I do not believe they are being
uh, thought about as much as they should be. Um, over the last four years here I don't believe I have heard a good thing about this school. This is not against anyone on this
board. Great. But I do not believe there is something good I've heard uh from students and teachers alike. Um students are scared of uh classes they're taking being cut. Uh they're scared
of things going on just in general. I believe students are confused that their teachers are not being able to get funding for their contracts. They're not getting help outside the school because they're not getting these contracts. And I know
there is problems with the government budgets, but this should have been dealt with. I feel I feel like we're not being represented enough. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Coder. Uh section 8, superintendent report. Okay, so good evening everyone. Thank you uh for being in attendance. Um we just like to Thank again Mr. Newman and Miss Henbeck for uh
not only putting together a robust presentation but thanking them again for just the work that they do. Um as a former high school principal of high school is is not an easy task. Uh the individualized needs of 736 students um
is a daily grind. Um but as you heard uh our students uh are are growing, our students are thriving, our students are moving forward uh despite the challenges that we collectively face as a community. Um and so I just wanted to publicly thank uh our counseling team,
our our teachers, our staff, our principal uh for the tremendous work that they do to support our high school students. One of the questions that was asked um was about uh scholarship funding. And so we haven't done the year-by-year analysis, but what I can sh
uh scholarship hall was about $4.27 million. Uh and so we're currently on pace uh at the 3.35 uh to do something very similar. Um and that represents about 90 uh% of graduating uh seniors uh
they were able to receive some form of scholarship dollars. And so our students are working incredibly hard and we just wanted to bring positive attention to that. Um per uh the announcement from our board president uh we are still currently waiting for approval uh from
the New Jersey Department of Education with regards to the tax levy incentive program. So this month the New Jersey Department of Ed informed the school board as well as the district of the tax levy incentive aid program which represents a one-time opportunity to exceed the 2% tax cap law and raise our
local tax levy. Due to the increased cost of programs and services, school districts across New Jersey are experiencing significant budget uh shortfalls. Our district currently faces an $ 8.7 million funding gap for the 2526 school year, but ultimately
resulting in a $3.6 million structural deficit if additional funds are not uh received this year. Over the last three and a half years, we have already reduced almost $5 million based on this structural budget
gap that has existed in our community. Uh it began in 2009. It really cranked up in 2013. Uh we have detailed the structural reasons for the deficit in previous communications. Um and uh more information is housed on our school district website. Uh we'd like to uh
just bring some positive attention to Newbie PTA. They have started their book fair today. It lasts for the remainder of the week. Uh the PTA at Newbie is sponsoring a book fair at Inkwood Books over in Hadenfield. Uh please be sure to mention Newbie during your visit or your
online order. Uh we'd also like to uh publicly acknowledge the tremendous efforts of the Zay North PTA's readathon. They just finished this month as well and there's a lot to celebrate. The Zay Northstar showed up and they showed out. Over 33,500 minutes were read and over
$13,000 were raised to support student enrichment and activities. With every minute being logged and every dollar being raised, we're extremely grateful uh for our families and we're extremely proud of our students. Uh we'd also like to bring attention uh for Odyssey of the Mind
Collingswood. Three Collingswood Odyssey of the Mind teams will be heading to the world finals uh May 21st through the 24th at Michigan State University in East Lancing, Michigan. These talented teams will represent Collingswood and New Jersey on an international stage,
joining competitors across the country and competing directly against students from countries including China, Germany, Poland, South Korea, and the like. Odyssey of the Mind is a global student-driven competition founded in 1978 that challenges students from
grades 2 through 12 to solve open-ended creative problems through storytelling, engineering, and design. On April 5th, 11 College teams competed across five problems and three age divisions at the New Jersey state finals in Edison. Three teams placed third in their division and
three advanced to the world finals. Uh team Space Rats, they are uh were crowned New Jersey state champions in division three problem five. Team Larry Khan placed second in division three problem two and team hamsters placed second in division
one problem five. Uh to support their trip for world finals. The teams are currently raising uh funds to offset travel and registration costs. Uh and we will be uh sending out tomorrow uh the direct link uh for a GoFundMe page to support these talented students.
Um in addition uh tomorrow morning at night park we will have our annual autism acceptance walk. Uh students and staff from across the district will participate as we celebrate neurodiversity in our school community. We would like to publicly thank Mrs. Curley for her tremendous effort to
organize this important annual event. We would also like to uh congratulate the 2025 World Language Honor Society inductees uh a number of Collingswood 11th and 12th grade students who have shown excellence in either French, German or
Spanish uh over a multitude of years as well as achieving the New Jersey seal of bi literacy were honored in our library media center with a brief ceremony uh this past month. It was followed by a lunchon. Uh current members uh participated and were honored guests. We
are especially thankful to Miss Zayn, Mr. Oers, Miss Luwellyn, and M. Romero. And we're extremely proud of our multilingual students. Uh and finally, um as always, we would like to uh bring positive attention to our Colleingswood Panther
Pantry. The mission of the food pantry is to provide individual students and families of Collingswood, Woodland, and Oakland with supplemental nutritional support. Uh we support uh the mission through generous donations uh from faculty, staff, and
community members like you. Uh you can donate non-p perishable food items or hygiene products at your students school or in the back uh with our talented Miss Nisser who runs this uh successful program. And that concludes uh I'm sorry section
8 uh is the enrollment report. March of 2024 enrollment was 2254. March of 2025 is 2216 that is attached. 8.023 and 4 are the safety drill suspension and bullying report.
And that concludes uh my remarks. Thank you, Dr. McDow. We are now moving on to section nine, which is the first section for public comment. The purpose of this public comment section is to discuss items listed on the agenda. There is a uh
additional second more um section for more general comments later in the meeting. The public is reminded that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints first go through appropriate staff members and administrators. The intent of uh public comment is to the community opportunities to provide
feedback to the board. We will be actively listening and taking notes so that we can take all that is being said in consideration. We will also take note of any questions and if appropriate do our best to address them at the end of public comments. Uh members of the public are welcome to speak and expect
to do so with the utmost sensitivity for everyone in attendance. Uh in fairness to all who wish to speak, there is a strict three minute time limit per person uh during public comment and Miss Coleman will assist by keeping time. Please remember to your name and address for record. And this is the public
comment section. Good evening. Can you guys hear me? Is that all right? All right. My name is Lori Ledwick and I am the music teacher at Mark New Elementary School in addition to the band director for both the middle school and the high
school. It's my turn to speak to you today on behalf of the colleagues in the music department. It is our mission to provide every student with the opportunity to grow through a high quality ability appropriate universally accessible music
education that inspires the continuing study of music in May. Sharp Z and Garfield elementary schools will be holding their spring art and music showcases. These building based events will be made up of student musical
performances and an art show curated by our elementary art teacher, Mrs. Susie Emanuel. All five of our elementary schools will be represented in our district elementary ensemble spring
concert. The concert will take place in middle school auditorium and feature district band sentatonics district choir and district orchestra in the same auditorium. Collingswood High School's coral students will be presenting their
pops night concert. For more information about these events, please feel free to reach out to your school's music teacher. is it own form of art and its own form of language that
delivers the concepts of time and space like a musician. The musician must have an appropriate level of emotional maturity to deliver their message effectively and those messages through music tell the story of our human
history. No matter where we are from music connects us through diverse backgrounds while enhancing our ability to function in [Music] other ultimately music is the study of
human. Thank you for your time. Good evening. My name is Karen. I've been a teacher at the high school since 19 ever. Wow. I have been um a teacher employed at the
high school since 1998. And for the first time that I'm addressing the board, I have a formal written statement that has the support of the approval of all the teachers who will be mentioned in the statement. Everyone knows that public education runs on unpaid labor. Students and
parents may have noticed the absence of teachers at theater production, sporting events, and other school activities. Events that teachers have traditionally attended but attending due to a lack of a fair contract. These public facing activities are part of what makes Collinswood school district feel like a
home to students, parents, and staff. However, there are equally important but less visible acts of unpaid labor essential to student success. Over the past year, high school teachers have spent endless unpaid hours writing letters of recommendation required for
college applications. The following teachers are just a few who have dedicated significant personal time to writing letters of recommendations for students in the class of 2025. Mrs. Balaban wrote 13 letters of recommendation. Mr. Fielden wrote four
letters of recommendation. Mr. Klein wrote 10 letters of recommendation. Miss Creel wrote nine letters of recommendation. Mr. Pa wrote 17 letters of recommendation. Mrs. Silverman wrote 14 letters of recommendation. Mrs.
wrote 15 letters of recommendation. Mr. Sworn wrote six letters of recommendation and Mrs. Whan wrote seven letters of recommendation. Writing these letters is not a part of the curriculum that we are contracted to teach. Nor are we given time during the school day to complete them. We do this work at home
and on weekends without compensation because we believed that there was a compact between the school board and teachers. The board would do its best for us so we could in turn best for the students. This year, it has been made
clear that no such compact exist. Whatever the board's intentions may be, they do not align with what is best for teachers or students. Fewer tenure teachers, fewer classes, and larger class size is not in the best interest
of any. This year, these teachers along with their colleagues wrote all of the letters of recommendation that helped our students outside of contract hours. a fair contract. This will not happen next year. Can you hear me? Make sure I'm not
too loud or not. Um Kate Ke. I am one of the few remaining middle school math teachers. Uh last few years we've had two retire, two people cut, and another two resign. We're not that big a department middle school. Um, last
meeting you heard my good friend Erica Han, another one of the few remaining middle school math teachers speak to the hurt that we feel, how it feels personal. She begged for your empathy. Now, I'm not sure you all know this, but since we all care about the test scores,
that same teacher that Erica Han had 100% passing rate last year. That means 100% of her sixth graders met or exceeded expectations in math. That is no easy feat. Oh, and that was after she was given a brand new curriculum
combined with sixth and seventh grade topics to cover, a new book to navigate, and once again, a new bell schedule that we didn't vote on. Um, she's not just a good teacher, she's a great teacher, and had the courage to come to this mic a few weeks ago and lay it out on the table. People are looking elsewhere.
People do not want to sit around tok with the kind of disrespect you clearly have for our staff. She asked if you could empathize. She spoke from the heart. I had to write this out because I'm not good like that. But there are dozens of other Ericas in our district
that have given, sacrifice, perform miracles in the classroom. I've sat in this room and watched parents, community members, students, one behind me right here, um show up and say how teachers have changed their lives. That teachers show up at to give them work that they
missed or cards from their classmates. I didn't even know that was a thing. Middle school, we don't visit houses. I mean, I don't, but elementary, that's what they're doing. That's amazing. Um, I literally held back tears in this room knowing the goodness in our district and our teachers and our nurses, our counselors, our administrative assistants. I kept thinking, dang, those
people also have their own families to take care of. I have my 2-year-old. Can't put him to bed tonight again because I need to be here to get what's fair for us. Now, let's bring us to the last meeting. Mr. Ch said over and over again, "Let's settle this. Let's settle this. If the bur's 225 will settle it,
let's do it now. Let's do it now." Now, regardless of how unprofessional it was to say that in a public meeting as opposed to reaching out to our negotiations team, a lot of us still had hope that you would meet and you would actually follow through on your word. But you know that scene with Charlie Brown and Lucy and Lucy holding the ball
and he runs up to kick it and Lucy keeps pulling it back. That's exactly what keeps happening to us and we keep falling on our face. We keep hoping it's not a trick. And man, if we don't keep falling for it. You repeat the phrase, you can watch the tapes. Let me be very
clear. Let me be very clear. Let me be very clear. You say it over and over again. But your statement to the community was anything but clear. It never is. You said you would use the 225,000 to settle the contract, but you had a loophole ready, a way to make the union look like villains when we said no
because the offer wasn't on the up. when you decided to manipulate the money and not give 100% to the teachers toward this contract where it belongs where it was promised. Hello, my name is Abyro and I come up
here to talk about how students aren't being impact teachers that were cut last year including Miss was one of the most impactful math teachers that I've ever had in my whole
life. She stayed after school and before school every day to help the students, anybody who needed extra help with sheated for the equipment for the to help us excel and she never treated me differently whenever we had a disagreement unlike teachers that
I've made in math department has been so extraordinary and everything that she's ever done for any student has been shown in the fact that every single time I had a math class there were so many students who came into her room to ask for help to be there for her just to be their friend and she loved them with all her
heart just like they loved Miss Walter is another teacher that left and she was such a wonderful add to the English department. Every day she would be helping me personally and with my work and she would always make me
feel when I had a question with English and she would always help me. She even helped me try to start a club but she couldn't because she left. her impacking. Mr. Lachland is also a teacher that left because of he was a
new teacher that was added because of the teachers that were there started to love it. I was captain of the football team last year and even though I
He always made me feel like I had a team and I had someone I just wanted to make it known that there was aole that the absence of the teachers that have left it students aren't being scared that their teacher
won't have a lot of other Hello, my name is Nikki Charles on social med 25 years. This is the first meeting to have this conversation because I think I want to express the impact that this teacher
contract has long term. My sorry my son wanted to be a teacher. He applied to multiple colleges as a math teacher major. He's wanted to do this since his fifth grade teacher in
elementary school and two months ago he changed his mind because he didn't like the environment that the teachers were working in. He did not want that to be his life. So he his whole life just went in a whole another direction from this experience that he has had as a senior
watching the teachers go through the things that they go through. Not only did his trajectory change and he decided that he didn't want to be a teacher because didn't seem like a good job anymore. He's missing out on a lot as a senior. I've shephered five children now through
this district. Even though I only have two, I've shephered three other children that are not mine through this district. And in the time in 20 years, I've always been proud of the education my kids got. I've loved the teachers, most of the
teachers they've had. Not every teacher gets along with every child or whatever, but we've had a great experience here. And I've just watched it year over year change in a lot of different ways. But it breaks my heart that I watched my son who had this life plan completely
changing because he was affected by the unfairness or the environment or the culture that his teachers were working in. So I want that to go on record that this is not just you know the teacher contract. All these kids are watching. All these kids are watching how we
handle this. All these kids are watching what the adults do. They're watching and it's not from my 17-year-old senior's perspective. It's It's not okay. And his life has changed because of it. I did tell him to minor in
mathematics so he can maybe decide to be a teacher later when he gets a little older because I don't want him to lose his passion. But this affected and I just want to make sure everybody knows. Thank you. Uh seeing as there are no more public comments, uh I think there are a couple
of things to address here. So first is the uh discussion about the ongoing negotiations with the teacher contract. Let me just be very clear that the board and the um the board and negotiating
committee and the CA negotiation committee did meet. Um there is an offer on the table right now with our previous offer and the additional $225,000 on it. Um there is a MOA in the hands of of uh the CA's negotiating
committee that that states exactly that the $225,000 added to the board's previous offer. Um now the other thing I want to mention is is I think all the comments that uh
were were stated here about the impact that the teachers and and the staff of the kind of district have on on students um absolutely true and this entire board is 1,00% uh very grateful for all the
work that that has happened here and I think this is why we've been uh for months now trying to address this school funding uh issue that has been uh
building up year after year after year after year. you know, when we're talking about cuts to programs, losses, uh, cuts to teachings. Yes. Last year, about a year ago, uh, from
today, we had to lay off 21 staff members because of lack of school funding. The year prior to that, we couldn't fill 11 uh uh, spoken positions
because of lack of school funding. And so one of the things that I think this board is very committed to doing is addressing this school funding issue so that we can afford a teacher contract, one that
we've offered that is significantly above county average and so that we can bring some stability to the uh courses and and the teaching staff and the
community um by trying to plug this hole in our school budget. I think also there's there's another really important point here which is it seems as if when we're talking often times it's an idea that we as a
board are are for some reason trying to hold out on people or refusing to to do right and I I think I was talking to Dr. about this. I think she she had a great point about that. Um good evening
everyone. Um so for those of us and there are many of us on the board um who are classroom teachers who um I'll speak for myself. I'm a university professor but I work in teacher education. So I work with people entering the field. Um and you know
hearing Miss Charles talk about her son who doesn't want to be a teacher anymore. Hearing from students it's heartbreaking. It's really difficult to hear, but we do hear it. Um, and I just wanted to sort of add that, you know, we are almost all of us parents in this
district, too. Our kids are in your classrooms. We have absolutely nothing to gain by not settling this contract, right? Our students are experiencing the same thing that we heard from our student rep and the student who just spoke in public comment. Um, we are
doing our best in a very difficult situation. Um, we are not out on anyone and I think all of us here are very committed to getting this done and we hope to do that soon. Thanks. So just to wrap up again, I think this
all of this I think uh strikes the core re uh I think the core issue which is that we have to shore up district finances in order to be able to avoid future layoffs and to uh be
able to do the work to correct years and years and years of of contracts that have led us to where we are are now. And in order to do that, we have to bring in more revenue. And again, that's that's I think one of the discussions, one of the big pieces that that we're going to have to have um during the public hearing
next week. Um but it's something that this board has been very dedicated to uh working towards finding ways to bring in more revenue to bring stability for the students, the families, uh and the staff of this district. So with that, I'd like to
close out public comments and move on to uh section number 10. Okay. So, Bethan will do uh section number 10, annual appointments and approvals. I apologize in advance, those of you who come every year. Um, this is a long section, but I'm going to speak
as quickly as possible to get through it. But back when we used to have our old reorganization meetings, this is when we do all of our like annual reappoints. Everything is required by law basically. Um, so in item 10.01, it's uh appointing our architect of
record. Um, and that would be Garrison. 10.02 appointing uh secretary of the board, the auditor, um the school doctor and uh the attorney. 10.03 is the broker of record for our health insurance. 10.04 is the
broker of record for our non health insurance, so like our workers comp and liability. 10.05 is the official banks that were approved to do business with. Um 10.06 is a listing of our official newspapers. 10.07 7 is a listing of the
um signature um basically who who can sign um what checks and for what bank accounts. Um 10.08 is a reapproving me as a qualified purchasing agent and the u bid amount is still at $40,000. The governor has not increased it. 10.09
um just authorizes me to purchase CDs and bank notes for investment purposes when funds permit uh mostly for unemployment. Um 1010 authorizes um me to transfer wires when appropriate basically for payroll. Um 10.11 um
allows me to um pay bills when they come due mostly in the summer when we don't meet I pay and then um in August I'll send everybody a list of everything I paid um uh during the month of July when I'm closing out the prior year school year. Um 10.12 um establishes um petty
cash fund in the amount of $250 and then at the end of each year it's redeposited um as per law. Uh 10.13 appoints me as the custodian of records. Um 10.14 um approves John Longo. He's got the biggest uh item
here, but he's as management officer, health and safety designate, IPM management coordinator, chemical hygiene officer, and a hear coordinator. That's a lot. 10.15 um authorizes myself and John to be the um right to know in the PIOA officers for the um school district
for the state New Jersey. 10.16 um approving me as the public agency compliance officer. 10.17 is approving um Windsor Yamamoto as the compliance action officer and that's for affirmative action. Excuse me. 10.18 is
approving Joe Gersik as the complant action officer for 504s. 10.19 is just approving um the Omni Group as our third party administrator for our 403b um investment plan in the district. 10.20 approves Maria testing as the homeless
liaison. Uh 10.21 um approves me as the um issuing officer for the working papers. 10.22 um approves Windsor Yamamoto as the title N coordinator. 10.23 um is approving um the school safety and
security plan and that includes the emergency operations plan, crisis prevention and response procedure and the emergency management plan. 10.24 um is approving Michael Jefferson as the district school safety specialist. 10.25 is approving Dr. White House as the
Americans with Disability Act officer. 10.26 just authorizes um us as a school district to collect and maintain student records in accordance with state law. 10.27 is a listing of all of our special education programs in the district.
10.28 um is approving the educator practice rubrics as required and that's the Charlotte Danielson framework. 10.29 29 is the our annual enrollment in New Jersey State Intercolastic Athletic
Association. 10.30 is approving all of our policies and bylaws and they are all listed on the school website. 10.31 is setting the substitute rates um for next school year. 10.32 is um listing the athletic
event staff rates and um yeah, believe it or not, people, we have to have approvals for every single one of those. So, um, does it need approval for items 10.01 through 1032? Is there a motion?
Is there a second? Um, questions or comments from board members? Okay. Roll call, please. Mrs. Coleman. Mrs. Brown. Yes. Mr. Craig. Yes. Mrs. Divine. Yes. Mrs. Maya. Yes. Mrs.
Mcowsky. Yes. Mrs. Seltzer. Yes. Mr. Mr. Sherman. Yes. Mrs. Z. Yes. Mr. McMillan. Yes. Mr. Dilus. Yes. Mr. Ch. Yes. Miss. Coleman. I think you're up again for section 11 business administrator report
secretary report. Yes, sir. Um item 11.01 is um our month uh excuse me, our March 2025 monthly budget transfer report. Sorry, I see a typo in there. Um 11.02 2 is the March 2025 board secretaries
and treasures report um and all the related backup for the financial statements. 11.03 is the March 2025 student activity cash report. Um 10.04 is the um our food service financial statement. And then 10.0 excuse me 11.05
is listing of the purchase orders issued during the month of April. And 11.06 is listing of the warrants to be paid tomorrow morning pending approval this evening. And Thank you. Section 12 of buildings grounds and finance committee. Mr. Craig, chairperson will present. Thank
you. The finance buildings and grounds committee reviews all financial statements, purchase orders, and warrants on a monthly basis. The committee also reviews and apps all contracts with outside service providers. Oversees all maintenance and capital improvement projects nationwide. Uh seeking approval to the following
items. Uh 122 to 129 is the board secretary was presented. 1210 is accepting grants funds to support career and technical education. 121 naming the Harden Insurance Group as the risk management consult recommendation. 1212
continuing use of real time information technology to provide their internet based system. 123 is approval of special education tuition contract with Kansas City School District for student facility requests. um for
Odyssey of the Mind as they practice finals worlds. Best of luck to them recital for sound music studio use of our fields for the Fourth of July fireworks by the burrow and then for a
vendor to be able to sell food outside on that day and wrestling also for camp. So seeking approval of items 122. Is there a motion and a second? Second. Questions
or comments from board members? Right. Roll call, please. Miss Coleman. Mrs. Brown. Yes. Mr. Craig. Yes. Mrs. Divine. Yes. Mrs. Maya. Yes. Mrs. Mcowsky. Yes. Mrs. Seltzer. Yes. Mrs. Sherman. Yes. Mrs. Z. Yes. Mr. McMillan.
Yes. Mr. Dus. Yes, Mr. Ch. Yes. Section 13, curriculum committee. Miss Sherman, the chair person will present. The curriculum committee oversees and approves the district curriculum and assessment of programs as well as field trips, home instruction, co-curricular programs, school calendar tonight,
seeking approval for the following items. Uh 13.02 many elementary school field trips including to class institute Museum of American Revolution 13.03 high
school trip 11 12th grade anatomy class institute um 13.04 is for project grad on June 20th at big event in cherry health 13.05 are out of district uh 13.06 home instruction uh
for high school students um 13.07 This is approval for a um one to one to a student to assist that student um at Garfield Academy. Um 13.08 is the approval of
committee to support Mr. Brown in projects. This is coming out of the grant 13.09 special education program changing categorization of MD class. Um it will better meet the needs
of students. Um so additional Is there a motion and a second? Questions or comments from board members? I have a question
about access but my understanding for our discussion was that it's better serve those students who are already categorized with language disabil Yeah, just ditto what Miss Sherman just
shared um in reviewing um the current students in the program and sort of the trajectory of um districtwide needs. This more closely aligns to the current classifications of the student in students in those programs and allows us more capacity to serve um those students
at SHA. All right, roll call, please. Miss Coleman. Mrs. Brown, yes. Mr. Craig, yes. Mrs. Divine, yes. Mrs. Maya, yes. Mrs. Mcowski, yes. Mrs. Seltzer, yes. Mr. Sherman, yes.
Mrs. Z, yes. Mr. McMillan, yes. Mr. Dulkus, yes. Required. Sorry. Mr. Chu, yes. Section 14 personnel committee. Dr. Selzer, chairperson will present. Personnel committee reviews all recommendations for teaching and staff
employment. considers co-curricular employment and considers all professional development opportunities for staff members. Tonight I am seeking approval for items 14.02 which is a resation. 14.03 to 14.07 have to do with um
employee leaves um medical FMLA and JFLA. Um 14.08 is a revised contract. 14.09 09 is um a long-term subcontract. 14.10 is um the
recommendation to approve hours for uh tutoring coordinator for our financial literacy program. Um 1411 to 1412 are curriculum writing stipens. 14 uh.13 to 14.14 are social
work interns um paid and unpaid. uh 14.15 we have a uh student from Germany who is would like to come and volunteer with the district uh both as part of the German program at the high school um also the swim team. Uh
14.16 is the recognition of six retiring faculty and staff members. We thank them very much for their service. Uh 14.17 um is uh substitutes and tutors for uh the rest of this year. And 14.18 is our
expense form which has a few um professional development opportunities for staff. So I'm seeking approval uh for items 14.01 to 148. Is there a motion and a second? Questions or
comments from board members. Right. Roll call, please. Miss Coleman. Mrs. Brown. Yes. Mr. Craig. Yes. Mrs. Divine. Yes. Mrs. Maya. Yes. M. Yes, Mrs. Seltzer. Yes, Mr. Sherman.
Yes, Mrs. Z. Yes, Mr. McMillan. Yes, Mr. Dilus. Yes, except the required. Mr. Chu, yes. Section 15, culture, climate, and policy committee. Miss May, chair person will present
the policy committee um and regulations committee reviews all updates and changes of district policies and regulations. Tonight, we don't have much on the agenda. There are no policies up for a first read and uh 1502 and 1503. There are four policies up for a second
read. Academic integrity, student grievance, uh food services and spectator code of conduct for interic events. So tonight we are seeking approval for items 1502 to 1503. Is there a motion in a second? Questions or
comments from board members? Roll call, please. Miss Coleman. Mrs. Brown. Yes, Mr. Craig. Yes, Mrs. Divine Mrs. Maya. Yes, Mrs. Makowski. Yes, Mrs. Seltzer. Yes, Mrs. Sherman. Yes, Mrs. Z.
Yes, Mr. McMillan. Yes, Mr. Dus. Yes, Mr. Ch. Yes. Section 16, miscellaneous. Item 16.01. That's the HIP reports for the previous month. And so we're going to move on the recommendation of the superintendent to approve the
anti-bullying report presented during the March 2025 meeting of the board of education. And so can I get a motion to approve item 16.01 and a
second questions or comments for board members? Roll call, please. Mrs. Brown, yes. Mr. Craig, Mrs. Yes, Mrs. Maya. Yes, Mrs. Mcowsky. Yes, Mrs. Seltzer. Yes, Mrs. Sherman. Yes,
Mrs. Z. Yes, Mr. McMillan. Yes, Mr. Dus. Yes, Mr. Ch. Yes. Oh, we now move to section 17, discussion, which is the second section of public participation. So, this is the uh second section for
more general uh comments. Doesn't have to be about items listed on the agenda. Um the public is reminded that attempts to resolve all concerns complaints should first go through appropriate staff members and administrators. Uh the intent of public comments is to give committee the opportunity to provide feedback to the board. Again, we will
take note of any questions and if appropriate do our best to address them at the end of public comments. Um and once again, there's a strict three minute time limit per person during public comment and Miss Coleman will assist by keeping time. Please remember to state your name and address for the
record. Evening. My name is Tim Phillips, 828 Stokes Avenue in Collingswood. I've lived in Collingswood for over 30 years, and I've never been this disappointed with our board of education. As a teacher of over 40 years, I'm well aware
of the issues of funding good schools. I'm also aware of the tensions that have historically burdened interactions between with school board and the town council. I attended a town forum after we received notice that our taxes would
be dramatically increasing due to shortfalls in school funding. I have not been supportive of town council over the years, primarily because of the pilot grants. They directly took money from the school district. I saw this as a
slap in the face to an awesome teaching staff. However, I attended the meeting with an open mind. The council members were open to ideas presented by a diverse group of people. They opened themselves up to looking at the
situation using different paradigms so they could work with you to find solutions to the funding dilemma. You met with them the next day. After reading about your dealings with the mayor and council over the past few
months, I was reminded of the typical games that school boards often play during contract negotiations, including things like negotiating the contract out in public tonight. But you are continuing to play
with callings with teachers. As you have heard tonight, it destroys morale, which hurts the educational process. the public gets one face and the teachers or the council get another. I was so happy to see that a
reasonable solution had been developed through the collaboration with the town. It would mean an increase in taxes but not nearly as much and a possible referendum in the fall. And it meant that two government entities that are rightfully separate would collaborate on
solutions that would affect all residents of a small town. But you didn't it that way. You chose to tell us that you have the power to dramatically raise our taxes even higher than the original plan. My taxes are going up
over $1,200 with your plan because we elected you. No need for the citizens to vote. We already did in November. No need for town collaboration. You rejected a plan
that would put some of the funding to a possible vote and saw settling the teachers contract as a priority as voiced to you by the public. The fundamental American value of holding elected officials accountable to their constituents applies to you as
much as it does to anyone on any level of government. The New Jersey School Board's Association uniform recall election law gives us quote a process to redress public officials who have not performed to the satisfaction of the
electorate. Mr. Phillips, Mr. My name is Christina Grunlock. I live at 901 Avenue. I'm here to share my experience today with the kindergarten age exemption process and my concerns for its future impact. I have been in education for 17 years, 13 as an LDTC in
a neighboring district and four as a special education teacher. My son was born 5 days before the October 1st cut offended program for two years where his teacher and I had frequent conversations about his social, emotional, and behavioral
needs. His teacher even advised me on the phone that he would likely struggle in kindergarten until December was unacceptable to my husband and I. We chose to place him in a transitional kindergarten program outside of the district, a decision his teacher told me she approved. After a successful TK year
and feedback from his current teacher and pediatrician, we believed he was ready for kindergarten. I initiated the process and during my first call with Jen Floyd was assured parents are always happy with the outcome and she would treat my son as her own. My son sat for the assessment but it took three emails
to receive his results. At our followup meeting before any discussion, Jen informed me I could appeal if we disagreed. She then stated within 90 seconds my son would be skipping kindergarten based on his assessment scores which ranged from 30th to 50th percentiles. I reminded her our primary
concerns were social emotional, not academic. She dismissed those concerns, relying only on his report cards that did not match the frequent behavioral incidents his teacher and I had documented via text over the two years. When I tried to present the evidence, I was told repeatedly, "Include that in
your appeal." rather than having a collaborative discussion. We submitted a thorough appeal on March 24th, providing three pages of evidence and 13 pages of documented text from his teacher solely from March to June 2024. You can imagine the abundance of text if I had access to
more of those. After delays, Meredith Turner denied my appeal late on a Friday evening without any further discussion. My son cannot read or write at grade level, yet he's being pushed ahead to first grade. Research and legal precedence affirm that kindergarten is a
critical foundation, especially for young boys with late birth. Skipping it strips students of vital academic and social emotional development. I do not take this appeal lightly. Yet throughout, my concerns have been dismissed and the process prioritized paperwork over professional judgement
and real world observations. I respectfully urge the board to reconsider this process. It does not align with your district stated commitment to supporting a whole child. Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration. Hi, Lisa Steinhower, 1033 Park Avenue. Um, I'm also here to make a
comment on policy 5112, the entrance age policy. Uh this is the third year that the district is going through the entrance age exception process that was put into place starting in 2023. Uh at the time of the policy update, I and many other parents came to provide comments at schoolboard meetings on the
strict interpretation of grade placement that prioritize age. While I agree that having a process for entrance age exceptions is essential, I do not believe that the current process is benefiting anyone involved. To my understanding, this is the first year
that at least family has had their entrance age exception request denied and are being told that their child must skip kindergarten. This is unacceptable. I currently have a child in kindergarten and he is building foundational skills that cannot be skipped. Currently, there
are no options within the school district for students not ready for kindergarten. The school by default is pushing all kids to kindergarten from the preschool program and relying on kindergarten teachers to retain students for another year of kindergarten. The current entrance policies further
limiting options for families with kids close to the cuto off date that would thrive with some extra time. Families are blindly making decisions to hold back kids even if the child is in the school district for prek. The school has shown an unwillingness to collaborate with families who voice concerns about
their child moving to kindergarten. I was one of those parents. Personally, I talked extensively with the school about my concerns and was simply told my kid should move forward to kindergarten. When I went through the entrance age exception process, none of the information I present to the school was
considered because they already have data on him from preket. Personally, I would have appreciated real collaborative conversations with the school where my input and feedback was valued in the decision process. Finally, the current process is burdensome on parents and and the school. Parents are
being required to gather extensive documentation that is not being considered by the school. Then having to coordinate testing for the child during school hours and finally having the option to receive the school's decision in person during school hours only. This says a cost of time and money to
families. It's also burdensome to the school to have staff time to to spend staff time on an extensive screening process, funding for students to repeat grades, and possibly additional resources to support students. pushed ahead before they are ready. These are all costs that seem especially
unnecessary as we work to address a budget shortfall. As I asked two years ago, I am asking again the board to consider amending policy 5112 on entrance age to reduce the burden on all parties and add an exception for students who started their schooling,
including preschool elsewhere, to continue to the next available grade level without disruption of missing or skipping a grade level. Thank you. Hi Becky 10:30. I've got two kiddos at Sharp, a second grader and a preschooler. I want to talk about the
tax le incentive program. I want to start out by saying I genuinely understand why this entity has applied for it. While I do believe the timeline and the process from the state leaves something to be desired, I do understand that we have needs that need to be
filled. So I come with three apps. The first is that throughout this process, if the state does provide an opportunity to spread this increase out over three or five years to make sure that we do not bury taxpayers and one swell swoop,
please do that. The second ask is you mentioned this in the last meeting is that there are a lot of people who do not know this is happening still and those tax bills are going to hit much faster than anybody wants them to. Please go out and talk to community members, not just the people directly
around you, but talk to community members to make sure they know what is happening, why you are asking for what you are asking for from the state and what results you would expect to see based on that increase in funding. While you're doing that, I would also encourage you, we have community members
who rumors or not, are deeply concerned that this is going to subvert the will of voters from the fall. So being able to say that this is not going to be used or being used to buy good sheeperd and decommission sharp would go a very long way to building back that trust that has
eroded over the last year and my third ask is that and I'm hoping it does not come to this but if you do get approved for and take the full 5 to6 million in one installment that is increased our teachers need to be making a lot more
than the county average they cannot continue to be some of the lowest paid teachers in county we going to invest in that way. It has to go into the pockets of the people in front of our kids every day. Thank you. If I may finish my comments from there's
nobody else here to speak. I have three. Understand? And unfortunately, I think it's it's once per uh once per Thank you. Wow, he's got great curses, by the way. Okay, Robin Hogan, president of CA and
proud teacher at Sharp Elementary School. Okay. The fundamental American value of holding elected officials accountable to their constituents applies to as much as it does to anyone else at any level of government. The New Jersey School Board Association uniform recall
uh election law gives us a process to redress public officials who have not performed to the satisfaction of electorate given the reasonable opportunity to do so. The people of this town have given you more than a reasonable opportunity to listen, to confer, and to hear us. We can't change
the decision that you are shoving down our throat, but we can for the recall of Roger 2 as a member of our board of education Rogers 584 Washington Terrace. I just wanted to take a minute and thank those CA members that have given their entire lives work to this district um
because they weren't mentioned before. Patricia Butler, 26 years here in Collingswood. Joseph Carolyn, 27 years here in Collingswood. Deborah D. Castenza, 23 years here in
Collingswood. Lorie Jackamck, 38 years. Michelle Maguire, 36 years. Nancy Maserich, sorry, Michelle. Clap for Michelle. Nancy Maserich, uh, 23 years.
And Nancy O'Neal 35 years here in Hollingsville. Thank you all so much. Hello, good evening. My name is Ray Meers Spearman, Camden City School District, Camden County representative. I would like to speak in um terms to I
guess it's 1031 10.31. Um being an educator myself, it's important. It's important. We don't live off the air. Okay. Our educators, not just the teachers, our ESPs, our
parents, the secretaries, everybody, they deserve their fair share. And if you look at it, uh points here. the especially around the tax levy incentive. We would in order to avoid the bureau having to be involved uh in
district finances. The you know before this tax levy incentive program came out we had a a one-year stop gap opportunity uh through partnership with the burough
that would have uh plugged our hole for one year that would have plugged $3.6 million for one year which would have prevented you know 30 to uh layoffs of our staff, a closure of a elementary school, making all of our
extracurricular activities fully pay to play for our families along with other uh cuts to programming. We would that would have helped for one year. And in order to do that, the bur would have borrowed money of up at a rate of up to
8.5% interest that would be paid back by times with taxpayers in future years. There is no such thing as a free lunch. What that opportunity didn't
provide was consistency. Consistency that we've heard from so many people today is needed. Consistency to know that we won't have to lay off staff in the following year because we've only plugged the hole barely for
one year. And so, uh, this tax levy incentive aid program gives us the opportunity to bring consistency to, uh, district finances to help us avoid those cuts. It lets
us afford the teacher contract that's been been offered. Let's be clear. Understand, we laid off 21 staff last year. the year before we didn't fill 11 positions. That means that we could not
afford our contracts. That that's just plain simple truth. In order for us to be able to afford these contracts, we have to bring in more revenue. even if it's the hard thing to
do. And we as a board are committed, I am committed to making sure that this district has the funding so that the students of of all of my colleagues up here and of this community have the teachers that and and have the supports that they deserve even if it's hard to
do because that is the right thing for us to do is to support our schools. Dr. I also just wanted to address to uh Miss Sie's question about going out and talking to community members. Um even
though we don't have the reach that the uh bureau has in terms of communication, uh we are partnering with the bureau to send out some information about the tax levy incentive program and we also have a board round table uh coming up as was stated on May 8th. That's a good
opportunity. Uh if you know folks who have questions about the tax levy incentive program who do not get our communication through dis through district uh communication, please point them in that direction. Um that's a good place for them to come and get questions answered as well. And I als I also want
to mention that uh with collaboration with the bureau um our administration was able to collaborate with the burrow and a mailer a postcard was sent out I believe to to every single um every single house every single um residents in Kwood that arrived uh on
this past Friday. And so that's an attempt for us to make sure that we're reaching everyone as best as we can about this program. on our website is is a bunch of information, slideshows, one pages, FAQs about our our program. Um, and I think uh there all those questions
I think can be answered on our website. Uh you can email us or you can come to those programs. Um and uh you know this is a really needed program and and I we understand absolutely the the impact that this will have on on the community and we also think about the impact that that it can have on these schools and
and not doing this will have on our So with that we're going to move on to final section which is section number 18. Is there a motion to journ this
meeting and a second? Second. Good good timing. Right on time. Uh yeah. Is there uh all in favor? I thank you. Have a good night. That's my alarm to read.