Pursuant to the open public meetings act, adequate public notice has been given to the secretary of the eam township board of education in the following manner. Posting written notice on the official bulletin board of the eam township board of education office. Emailing written notice to the Burlington County Times and the courier post and filing written notice to the municipal clerk of Eshim Township. I
will be roll calling myself tonight. Uh Mr. Bacher here. Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown is not here yet. Uh, Miss Buchoitz here. Mr. Dearcy is not here
yet. Miss Fox is a notified absence. I am Mr. Conan here. Uh, Mrs. Null is not here. Mr. Peele here. Mr. Thompson here. Thank you. We are now looking for a motion to enter executive session
whereas an NJSA 104-12 allows for a public body to go into close session during a public meeting. And whereas the board of education of EVA Township is deemed it necessary to go into close session to discuss certain matters which are exempted from the public. And whereas the regular meeting of the board of education will reconvene following the end of close session at
approximately 7:30 p.m. Now therefore be it resolved that the board of education will go into close session for the following reasons as outlined in NJSA 104-12 items 2.3 to 2.4. Do we have a motion? Motion by Mr. Thompson, seconded by Mr. Bach. Uh I guess I'm gonna call
on myself again. Okay, one second. Um, Miss Bramotz, yes. Mr. Pman, yes. Mr. Thompson, yes. Mr. Bach, yes. And I also vote yes. Uh, motion
passes. We will see you at approximately 7:30 p.m. Thank you. pretty. All those who are able, please rise for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
Thank you. Our mission statement tonight will be read by board member Mr. David Bach. Thank you, Anish. Uh the mission of the East Township School District is to promote excellence in the environment that engages students in a meaningful and
learning experience in meaningful learning experiences in partnership with the students, dedicated staff, families, and community. The district provides a strong educational foundation that will empower our students to achieve their unique potential. embrace self-directed
selfdirected lifelong learning, develop the skills necessary for appropriate risk-taking and responsible decision-making, respect themselves and others, problem solve individually and collaborative collaboratively, and become contributing members of a diverse global society.
Thank you, Mr. Bach. I will now hand the floor over to Dr. Smith for our recognitions tonight. Thank you, Mr. Canthan. It is very exciting to have such a full house of students here. We're recognizing over a 100 students tonight for different accomplishments across the arts and
academics. We're going to start with some performances and the first performance is behind the curtain up here. We're going to have Mrs. Smith come out and uh tell us a little bit about what we're going to hear. Thank you, Dr. Smith. Good evening,
everyone. My name is Sarah Smith. I'm the orchestra director at Deacy Middle School, Deacy Elementary, and Jagard Elementary. On stage with me, I have students from the Demi Middle School Orchestra who are actually all going to be recognized later tonight for making it into higher level ensembles. So, we
figured that we would play a piece for you that we actually played at our spring concert, which is called Plink Plank Plunk. And it is entirely in the orchestra world, we call this piticado, but here it's just plucking. So, there is no bow, but it's really catchy. And we hope you enjoy it.
That was fantastic. And we're going to see all these amazing students soon when they get their certificates. For now, we're going to plink plank plunk. That was incredible. Great. So cool. So cool. Yeah. No, no, take your take your time.
In the meantime, we are going to prepare for our second student performance. So, if I could have our theater MMS Mustang theater group come up. It's been amazing to watch this program grow and grow and grow. Um, and I'm it's
so exciting that this is the historic first uh ever board meeting performance by the MMS theater group. I'm going to turn the microphone over to Mrs. Anry to tell us a little bit more. Hi, good evening. Um, we're excited to be here. Um, we actually have two shows
that we do here at Marlson Middle. Um both are very student driven which means the um sets are designed by the kids and then created by the kids. Uh choreography is done by the kids, taught by the kids. Um we like to keep it we
like to keep it that way so that the kids are more invested. Um we did Frozen back in January. Um Mrs. Nina McCcluskey, oh there you are. Uh was our creative director. Um, we just performed
Beetlejuice 48 hours ago, uh, on the stage here, um, under the direction of Mrs. Michael Felder, our creative director, and Mr. Miltich has worked with Miss, he can't get away from it like me. Um, as our music director for both
shows. So, our kids are going to take the stage and perform the finale from both of the shows, starting with the Frozen finale. You'll probably recognize that one. Um, and actually you should recognize the finale from Beetlejuice as well. Um, they did bring a couple little
props um that they're going to show you Olaf and our sandworm. So, I hope you enjoy I take this warmth and it goodbye. you dark and fearless. Fill
the world with light and love. And you're surrounded by a family at last. We're never going back. The past is in the
past. Let it go. Let it go. And I'll rise like a break of dawn. Let it go. Let it go. The bit and cold are
gone. Here we stand in the light of day. Let our true love grow. Let it go. Hi, Mr.
Shora work it all the time. Shake shake shake shake. Shake shake shake shake. Shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake, shake, shake, shake. You will
find shake shake shake. Shake, shake, shake, shake your eyes. Shake, shake, mama. I go home. I go home. I come
everyone. Shake. Shake. Shake. I'm trying to break off his head. Okay, so that was absolutely amazing and we have some certificates to hand out to all of you and I'm wondering we could do this
maybe the names. Yeah, sure. We'll start with there's three there's three. So there's Justin frozen Beetlejuice and then both. Okay. All right. Um, so we're going to start with recognition for the students that participated in
Frozen. Uh, Ariel Abbate, Samantha Brimfield, Naa Greer, Riley Hansel, Angela Henan, Abigail Carney, Leila Lagardo, Olivia
Msuka, Deja Miller, Raphael Neves, Riley Otto, Jackson Paraka Julia Prasad. Julia here. No. Alejandra Rivas Lucero.
I'll make sure Audriana Rodriguez Caitlyn Schultz Savannah Schwint Mason Silverman I don't think he's here. Claire Suie she's not here.
Ava Cesmir, Emma Unex, Hadley Whitfield, Belle Wolf, do you mind? Okay. All right. So, our participants that were in just Beetlejuice, Sky
Allen, I don't think I saw her. Teddy Cardi Chase Danella. Thank you. Mia Donado, Ayla Francis, Alyssa George, Olivia Headley, Gavin Akarino, Lillian Ian
Manzy, Chloe Marovski, Kevin Pausnik. Yeah. Sarah White. And then our final group. All right. And our final group is those that participated in both Frozen and Beetlejuice. Matthew
Aani knock. Jessica Bama. Great job. Engineer. Congratulations. Alloria Balanu, Juliana Burgerer, Genevie Bernstein,
Sydney Big, Brielle Bonudi Nice job. Congratulations, Brendan Brown. Gabriella Brown. Nice job, Jenny Butramoitz. Lily Ber, don't think I saw her.
Marissa Carverissulations Maya Cordera Mahmud. Congratulations. Emily Cummings, Dominic Deansky, Sydney Glasser, Chris Govart, Hana Krishnan Susi, Nina Hattoovva, Leila Honeywell,
Kalista Craft. Great job. Great job, Skyler Lord. Terra, Ellie Lutz, Juliana Manino, Ben Murvine, Abby Metsinger, Ben
Nettleton. Good job. Good job. Annieola Oanubi, Emilyn Olivieri, Ashlin Park, Lillian Pekka, Oriana Rune. Yeah, that's right. Wait, hold on. Leah Savage,
Avery Tierney. Camry Williams. Congratulations, Giana Wolfson, Samantha Ziegler. Is it sticking? Oh, here it is. Mia Donado. Mia Donado. And last but not least, Lucy Amato.
Uh, I just want to take a second and thank um, district administration for their overwhelming support of our program here. Um, the reason that we do a second show is because two years ago the kids basically petitioned, they did research. They said if sports are
available year round, so should theater. So, um, we appreciate that and thank you for all of your support, Mr. Hoffman and Dr. Smith. Beautiful. I I can't imagine how fun those rehearsals were. Just the energy and the the spirit. I mean, amazing. I
bow. I bow. Um, so we're going to move on to uh the next round of recognitions and we hope to see those of you who aren't moving on to Cherokee, see you back on the stage next year. And those of you are are moving on to Cherokee, I see Mr. Physicero in the back. We'll hope to see you on the stage at
Cherokee. So, thanks again so much. What else? So, next up, uh, we are going to present the Elks essay contest winners. And I see Mr. Matches here. No, thank you, Mr.
Kennington. Thank you for being here. Come on up. The um as people are and uh we have so many recognitions tonight that if people need to leave before we're done, I just want to point out there's a table that's selling 50/50 tickets for the EVAM Education
Foundation raffle. The drawing is on June 2nd at the Golf Classic. All proceeds go to our school district. Um so you can take a look at that table on the way out. Um, and um, so our next uh, portion of the recognitions is our Elks essay contest winners. And I'm going to
turn over to Mr. Kenny a bit from the Elks to talk about that. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Um, one of the recognitions that we do uh, at the Elks, which is a fraternity order, we help out
homeless vets. We do special needs. We do uh a lot of youth activities like batter up uh basketball at the blue barn. I guess you know where the blue barn is. Uh and then soccer shoot. So one of the things that we do is is we're
very involved in the community. We're on Eastboro Medford Road. I'm from Cherry Hill. What do I know? Um but I mean we're we're so involved in the community and we're so involved in the next generation. I mean, just to be here
tonight is an honor. Seeing all that energy. These kids have a lot of energy. I call them young folks. I don't call them kids, but I could go to sleep right now. So, um, but anyway, uh, it it's a great organization. We do a lot of
stuff. And for the batters up, we do that in the spring. Please come out. Uh, it's all different age groups. It's from 5 to 11, I believe. We do a soccer shoot. Uh and we do the basketball. The basketball's in the winter. Uh soccer
shoots in the um um spring. Sorry. Um so anyway, uh I would like to honor some of the the the young folks for the essays they did on America. Um I I couldn't be so proud
because the way the Elks is structured, it's local, district, and state. Uh sort of like a a government. Um so we had so many winners in our district. I believe
we had about eight district winners, which is phenomenal because uh no other district was able to uh accomplish that. and I and and we went to districts with
our essays and then we went to state and believe it or not we had a second place winner and a third place winner in the state finals and that's a lot to be proud of. So, I'd like to call the folks up, the young folks, as like like to call them,
and stand up here first and and wait until we're done with everybody so we can give them a nice round applause. So, let's see here. Now, I broke my glasses. And look what I got. I look like Ben Franklin.
So, if I'm uh if my wording is incorrect, I apologize. Uh these are the wrong ones. No, because I have a different list of names. Sorry folks, we got a technical uh
Yeah, we have a honorable mentions, too. Oh, honorable mention. Okay, nobody tells me I guess I didn't read the memo. Sorry. So, Yeah. So, yeah, I'll let him read it because these glasses are
horrible. Yeah. I'm so glad, by the way, that you pointed out that you another district maybe didn't win as as much of this as we did because not that it's a competition, but you know, it definitely feels like we crushed it this year. Um, and I just I'm glad to get that official
acknowledgement from the Elks that we crushed it. So, just saying. Yeah, we did. We did. Um, so we're going to have uh Adeline Yeetman come on up. She's here. Adeline won honorable mention in the Elks essay contest. And I loved your idea to have them all everyone come up and stay
standing up here. So, great job. And we've got Haley Schmid who also won honorable mention. Then Cooper Levine. Cooper Leavine, if you can come up. Honorable mention. We've got Gavin Quinn. Honorable mention.
And then next up, we've got Ethan Zang, who won first place in the local Marlton Elks U area and then also first place in the Southwest District for fifth grade. Ethan Zang. We've got a gift card for him. So, don't
want to lose that. And we got Matthew Broadbent who won the Elks contest. Second place in the Southwest District, fifth grade, second place for the local lodge. Matthew, come on up. Great job. Then we've got Anna Proise
Melikova. She's here. Come on up. Anna won third place in the Southwest District in fifth grade and third place in the local Elks Lodge. Thank you. Awesome. Then we have Abby Metsinger.
Come on up. Come on up. I think you were up here before for the uh theater awards. Great job. Um and she won third place in the Southwest District, sixth grade, first place in the local lodge from for the Elks. Thank you.
Ashvvic Gupta, if he's here, come on up, sir. We've got third place in the state, 7th grade, second place in the Southwest District, first place in the Marlton Elks. Congratulations.
Awesome. And lastly, and certainly not least, with second place in the state for eighth grade, second place, we've got Annabelle Black. if she'd come on up. First place, Southwest District, first place local lodge. Congratulations. Congratulations.
What a group. Okay, if we can kind of move together because we're gonna This is the photo op part right here. Have your mic for a minute. I'd like to thank this young group. A lot of
knowledge and a great job by them all. Let's give a round of applause, please. Thank you. Thank you very much uh for your time and allowing us to uh be with these folks. Thank you. Oh, thank you so much. One thing I'll
point out too and uh and in the letter that invited parents to uh come with their kids tonight to get recognized for their amazing achievement in the essay contest is we also want to start trying to we want to create a little website attached to our uh homepage that'll showcase their essays totally voluntary
if a family and students wanted to share it. But, you know, when I see to see these essays, they're incredible and it just feels like to try to give them a little bit wider audience um just truly profound uh thoughts you've had on the topic and uh so just thank you for
representing our district so well. Yeah. All right. We're going to move on now um to our music award winners. So, we've got if I could have
uh Mrs. Smith kind of join me here and I'm and Mr. Canton and Mr. Bach come on up too. We've got um three different categories here. Yeah. So, um, first we're going to recognize the students who were, uh,
achieved all South Jersey orchestra. So, Victoria Lee could come up. I'm gonna I'm gonna give you want to hand out the shake.
Next up, we've got Oliver Lieberman. Then we have Jason Pace. Congratulations Harsha Pramud. Inmie Kalicharian. There you go. You got all the names in this.
Not me. There you go. Elong Wang. Preston Lightfoot, Cameron Murashig Arnav Seti I think that's it. Yeah. Yes. Okay.
All right, we're going to move on to our South Jersey Honors Orchestra. Risha Parathi, Henry Cunningham, David Yang, There he is. Elizabeth Miller, Faith Vizakaro.
Maria Ibrahim Juliet Howard Brent Navoa. Good job, buddy. Jackson Hunter. Arjun Balani, who unfortunately could not be here tonight. He's in Iceland, I believe. Yeah, I know, right? It's nice.
But congratulations. The rest of these are still elementary honor are still honors. You still want to do the all of them. These are all honors as well. Do you want to? Yeah, we have more honors orchestra students. These students are actually from um partially
Deacy Elementary and Deacy Middle. We have more Demi Elementary, Jaggarded, and I believe a couple other of the elementary schools as well. Sophia de Julius Na Thatton Candy. It's a long walk. Don't worry. We
got you. Braden Abbar. Von Mahalra. Good job. launch. Ian Tyler, Landon Burke. Good job. Okay, we still have more honors orchestra. It is a big group in case you
hadn't noticed. We have even more honors orchestra students, which just sings praises about the orchestra program across across the district. Owen McGrath. Great job, Gwendalyn Pro. Avery Gush. Oh, that's okay.
Great job, Nora Kerber. Shivani Sankar. Great job. Great job, Laya. Holden, great job. Aiden G. Okay. I don't think he's with us
tonight. Yeah. Alexis Gregory Brisbane. Charlotte Moranski. You might want to join that side. Charlotte, Angela Oani. Great job, Angela. Brian and Joran.
Brian. Brian, maybe go on that side so it's a bit more even. Okay. Gabriel Hurland. Shane Mcdana. Great job. Lori Lee. All right, Evangelina Tori, Zanabel Lee
Megan Cotch, Lena Choy. Great job. All right, these students all actually had a concert two weekends ago. Um, and they were divided amongst three ensembles because I think in every single ensemble there were about 90
students from all over New Jersey, um, South Jersey actually. And they were incredible. They had their rehearsal and performance on the same day and it was out of this world. So, if we could give them another round of applause. Thank you. If we could have the students gather
together here, all South Jersey, huddle up. Let's let's bring it in for photos. Incredible. I mean, what an amazing thing. So many amazing musicians. And then maybe we kind of like come this way a little bit more.
Congratulations again to our all South Jersey students. Did you do this one already? We still We didn't do these yet, right? Yeah. We have two additional music students to
recognize who are achieved all state in orchestra. All state. So these um two students that we're about to recognize auditioned against students from all over the state of New Jersey. Um and they were selected as two of the best well one of the best
violists and one of the best chists in the state. Um so it is a huge honor. I got to hear them play and they sounded like a professional orchestra. It was absolutely incredible. Um, so the first one is Cameron Modig. Good job, Cameron. Yes. Yep. And Arnav Seti
We're going to do a photo with our two all state musicians. And as we move together uh for the photo, um just want to point out um I got to see a video of uh these two gentlemen, fantastic musicians, playing with Mrs.
Smith. One of my favorite pieces, Death in the Maiden, Fron Schubert, getting ready for the the just incredible. Incredible. Um, so Congratulations again to you both. We have one more student winner to
recognize and then we have a few staff. If is Lawrence Lynn here? Lawrence Lynn. Oh, fantastic. Lawrence won. Congratulations. The Leroy
Homer Memorial Award, which the township of Eve Sham offers to honor Leroy Homer and Lawrence won that. And that's an incredible achievement. the uh congratulations. Great job.
Fantastic. Great job, Lawrence. Lastly, if um we have a number of staff to recognize tonight, and you're not going to be surprised that it's related to the quality of our music programming here. Our school district was recognized as
one of the top 2025 best communities in music education nationwide for outstanding support of music education. It's an incredible This is and to do it again for a second time. We won this award two years
ago. It takes music programming across many areas. And Miss Mcgul, do you want to do you want to come up for this one? Because it's curricular. Okay. I'm totally pull I'm pulling an audible on her.
So yeah. Yeah. I mean it's it's music falls under curriculum department and I want to give a recognition to her curriculum department as well. So uh if we have Vincent Paggleio here, these are our teachers representing the instrumental music
program. Miss Maddie Goldman, if she's here, Joe Malammed also uh wait Vince yeah stay instrumental as instrumental that's a um act you know kind of a
serendipitous word play there instrumental as well in u making sure we completed the application thank you very much thank you and Mr. Mark White, he's here. Congratulations. Yeah. Next up, representing the general
music program, Miss Katie Clawson. Yeah. Yeah. And then we've got Miss Gina Cresenzo. She is here. Cool, cool, cool. Come on
up. It's It's fun seeing you outside Jaggered. Fantastic. Miss Mr. Eustace in the house or Mr. Garinger if he's here. Come on up. Probably planning to more great lessons for Rice. Miss Kane, if she's
here. All right. It is. It is. It's longer than people think, right? Congratulations. And Miss Lden. Getting loud for Miss Laden. All right. Or Mr. Militic if he's here. I saw Listen, he's been here.
all night because directing the theater performance as well. Congratulations. Yep. And Mr. Synthicosas. Fantastic. Congratulations.
Yeah. Okay, Miss Kil. Yep. Miss, we're moving on to orchestra. Miss Kimler, if she's here. No. Or Miss Smith. I saw I know she's here. So, she she may be outside with her students. We'll make sure she gets that. And Mr.
Wester probably planning. Moving on to theater. We've got Miss Cordino if she's here or Miss Colus. Mr. Eustace
again wearing many hats. Miss Bitner, Ms. Valentina, Valent Valenta. And then we've got uh Miss Mayo, Miss Abdala or Ms.
Ravi and um Miss Hawthorne. Nope. Miss Collins and Missky I know is here. There we go. Congratulations, Miss McCluskey.
Ms. Mikkelfelder here still like awesome. Come on up. Congratulations. Yeah. Yeah, Mr. Turner. Congratulations. And Luke, we saw over
there. And uh just um I don't know Miss Milan if you wanted to just say a little bit because I mean it's uh so this um recognition is through um it's it's a national uh organization
and um Miss Kane and I filled out an extensive application um with lots of uh questions regarding our program and why we feel that we have one of the best music communities in um in the state. and um we thought we filled it out pretty well. Um they asked for lots of
different programs that we run and we think our program is pretty special. We offer a lot of things that a lot of districts around even in this area don't do. Um so we think that and we pride ourselves on this wonderful music program. So we're very very honored to have this award and this recognition and
um we plan on applying you for it year after year because we think so highly of everybody that's a part of this music program. So congratulations to everybody. Thank you. And the the the timing of being able to recognize our staff tonight, our music staff on the same night that we had the musical
performances is just um really speaks as an example of what exactly what you're talking about. So, um Miss Smith. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, I was I was gonna uh you're you're in here somewhere. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. There we are. Okay.
After hand after handing out so many certificates, it has to be officially handed out to you. Okay. We can't skip that. So thank you. That concludes our recognitions. That is um probably a record I feel like um a
fantastic record. We're going to take five minutes for a break. Folks who were here for the recognitions are welcome to stay through the rest of the meeting. This is traditionally where I also say if you have other things to attend to, we understand and thank you for having
come out. So, we'll be back on in five resume. Now, as we have done with our previous couple meetings, we're going to consolidate our public comment into one public comment section, which will be now. Um, so this meeting will now be open to the public referencing any items of interest. However, if your questions
or comments pertain to litigation, student or personnel items, or negotiations, we would ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting. Since we do not discuss these matters in public, please limit your comments to three minutes per person. Would anyone like to give a public comment about any items of interest? Good evening. My name is Amanda Gaunt. I
have three children at Rice Elementary. I'm here representing the parents for improved literacy outcomes. I'm going to keep my remarks to the point tonight because the numbers speak for themselves. One, when I first raised these concerns, Dr. Smith told me I was just one person. He asked if I really
thought change could come from just one voice, one concern. 500. Our advocacy group has grown to over 500 members. One voice has become hundreds. Few. The number of curriculum department administrators and supervisors standing
in the way of our children reaching their literacy potential, clinging to outdated, ineffective practices despite overwhelming body of research supporting proven evidence-based literacy instruction. 70. The percentage of
students requiring explicit systematic instruction in order to become proficient readers. 100. the percentage of students who benefit from such instruction. Yet, Eve Sham continues to deny most student access to this
essential researchbased method of teaching reading, reserving it for only a very small percentage of students. Zero, the reliable and valid data points you have demonstrating the effectiveness of the core tier one early
literacy instruction you are providing our children. 40. The percentage of third grade students meeting proficiency in the state ELA testing over the past two school years is under 40%. This is a direct reflection of the
early literacy curriculum being used. This data speaks volume about its effectiveness. 25 over 25% of your student population is currently being served by the special education department. That number should raise
serious concerns. Effective core one tier 1 instruction meets the needs of at least 80% of students. When a quarter of students require special education services, which doesn't even include those in general education intervention programs, it's a clear sign that general
education curriculum is falling significantly short. 15 million $15 million tax levy and zero commitment to allocate funding towards desperately needed updates in the literacy curriculum. We strongly
advocate for EAM to move away from relying on so many self-created materials. Instead, we urge the district to invest in proven literacy curricula that have undergone the rigors of research and development to ensure their effectiveness and alignment with best
practices. In closing, these aren't just numbers. They represent real students, real children who deserve better. Our ask is simple. Acknowledge what the data is telling you. Acknowledge what research and evidence is telling you. And take action. Improve curriculum, improve instruction, and improve
outcomes. because our children cannot afford to wait. Good evening, members of the board and district administration. I'd like to take a moment to recognize and express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Bland, director of special education, and Dr.
Clayton, supervisor of special education, for their responsiveness and collaboration with parents through the special education parent advisory group. or CPAC. Their efforts to incorporate parent feedback from the CPAG survey
into the planning of meeting topics have made a meaningful meaningful difference. I had the privilege of presenting at Monday's CPAC meeting on the topic of emotional regulation and I commend their willingness to foster open communication
and build genuine partnerships with parents. I share this example in the spirit of collaboration and in the hope that similar engagement can be established between our parent advocacy group, parents for improved literacy outcomes and the curriculum department.
Specifically, we would welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively with Miss McGullik, director of curriculum and Miss Mindy Coffer, supervisor of literacy to enhance our district's literacy curriculum for the 2025 2026
school year. One suggestion we would like to propose is the creation of a district-wide curriculum survey to gather meaningful community feedback on the current literacy curriculum and instructional practices. This would help ensure that the perspectives of families
and educators are considered as the district plans for future improvements. On May 8th, our advocacy group sent a detailed email to Dr. Smith, Miss McGullik, and the board of education outlining our concerns and questions regarding how the district plans to meet
the requirements outlined in PL 2024 C52, a law signed by Governor Murphy that reaffirms the state's commitment to improving literacy outcomes. Unfortunately, we have not yet received a response or acknowledgement to support districts in meeting these new
requirements. NJ doe has announced the funding is available through the focus grant. Esham Township School District has been awarded $17,960. I'm excited to see that item
9.5 on the agenda was to approve Eastam Township School District's grant application to the NJ DOE for this amount. And our advocacy group applauds the district for this important step. We hope this grant will help support the curriculum department in taking a
proactive road toward improving literacy instruction and outcomes for all students in ESHAM. We hope to hear more about the district's plans and would welcome the opportunity to schedule a collaborative meeting to continue this important conversation. Thank you.
Good evening. My name is Emily Jervisy. I live at 40 Paddock Road. In the meeting minutes tonight, it states that the lease agreement for Demacy Elementary and Marlton Middle School is pending final legal approval. Let me be perfectly clear. The parents at Deacy have no problem sharing facilities with
Yale. A representative came to our PTA meeting and walked through logistics and answered our questions. Our school would be open to any student. Diversity and inclusion is what makes our community stronger and helps grow our children into empathetic and kind adults. However, the decision to rent out Deacy
Elementary classrooms is wrong because these were not empty classrooms. Now, two fifth grade classes and one fourth grade class will be moving to windowless special rooms, which not only impacts those students and their teachers, but will where will other grades have art
and computer specials. Disci already has to share special teachers and now we don't have dedicated space like every other elementary school in the district. Before the pending legal review is finalized, I would like the board to question why this situation is here.
This is a square peg round hole situation because Green Hall in the middle school fell through during the preliminary budget discussions. This contract was originally brought up because the district thought a pod in the middle school would be available. Now it's not. We are making this work to
the detriment of our own students. This week, Dr. Smith told us at our PTA meeting that we as parents need to teach our children to be flexible and open to change, which I 100% agree with. But I am also teaching my three sons that when something is being done that is wrong,
they need to stand up and try to be the change. Thank you. My name is Moren Hullbrook and I am a teacher at Deacy. I also want to be clear that the issue that DEES has is not with sharing a space with Yale. We
would be happy to do so and we welcome anyone into our school. Our issue is the big fat lie that Dr. Smith has told when he said that there is space. There is no
space. Okay, we do have space. if a dozen teachers have to relocate or worse lose their classrooms altogether, which is what is happening. Dr. Smith originally said Yale would go in a section of Greenh Hall. Elementary was
never brought up. Now, because of the extra funding, that plan has changed. And again, we are putting a square peg into a round hole just to make room for Yale. We did meet with Dr. Smith and offered other options and they were
completely ignored as he already had a deal made. I teach kindergarten through sixth grade. I have a 3D printer, Chromebooks, and dozens and dozens of STEM supplies from robots to Legos. Today, I was told I'm going to be doing
my job on a cart again. I left a school last year that I loved for eight years because I was forced to do my job on a cart. And here I am finding myself on a cart again. It's not right. I understand
Dr. Smith promised Yale Space at Deacy. He also promised me a classroom. He promised to put our kids first and provide the best education for students of Esham Township, not move them around like pawns in a chess game and shuffle dozens of teachers for his shady
backdoor real estate deal. Eshim invests a lot of money in tech through the district in order to instill proper usage of the tools which are no longer limited to just Chromebooks. Tech should not be on a cart. Please put our kids
first. Hello, my name is Matthew Broadbent and I am a fifth grader at Deacy Elementary. I'm here today to talk about two things that mean a lot to me. My teachers and my bus driver. Both of both my fifth grade teacher and my math teacher will likely be people moving out of the fifth
grade pod to make room for the Yale students. I absolutely love both of my teachers. They are so kind and it means so much to me that they get the right classrooms next year. I don't think they deserve to be moved at all, especially not in an art room and a tiny room that used to be our computer lab. The art
room is not very big other than it does have a giant storage closet, but last I checked, I don't think fifth grade requires a walk-in closet or the kiln that lives there. The old computer lab is even smaller than the art room. It has tables and a spot for the teacher to
stand. And that is literally it. I'm not even sure 21 desks would fit in there, so I don't know how kids would actually do anything but sit there. And then this poses the question, where will art be next year? And while we have access to a kil, my art teacher is also an amazing teacher. And I think the art room is a
perfect room to do art class in. We can store the many supplies needed and just the perfect environment to do art. My art teacher doesn't deserve to be moved either. Why should all of these kids from Deceit? For the last six years, I have a
wonderful bus driver named Miss Pam. She always smiles and brightens my morning. She always announces everybody's birthday and congratulates everyone when they have an accomplishment. She's patient with my slow sister every morning. And that is very hard to do. I have many subsidy bus drivers, usually
from Hillman's bus service, that have missed people's stops, driven through our neighborhood the wrong way, and yelled at kids who try helping them. In these moments, we always mi miss Pam. Please keep our Eve Sham bus drivers. You will never find another driver like Miss Pam. Even though I will not be at
in the elementary school next year, I wanted to speak to you tonight to make sure everyone next year has the same wonderful experiences I had in fifth grade this year. Thank you. I don't really want to follow Matthew. Awesome job, Matt. I'm Kelly Welk. I
live at 28 Paddock Road. And I'm asking you to please rethink the plan that the Macy PTI heard this week for our fifth grade students. I understand that y'all will be taking over three classrooms in one of our elementary school pods. The current plan is disappointing because it
doesn't provide a positive learning environment for our students. Placing our two fifth grade classes in a noisy hallway where middle schoolers pass regularly is not an optimal learning environment. We've all heard how wonderful the arts are tonight. Why
would we displace our art teacher? Will we have a new art room somewhere? Will we have art on a cart? Do fifth graders really need a kiln in their classroom? Like Matt, my son's first thing was, "There's a really big closet in that room and a kiln. Will I never get to use
the kiln? Please put our students first. Let them keep the premium classroom space in a pod. Spread the Yale classes throughout the Macy's school. Put one in each of the hallways, the elementary hallway, the green hallway, and the red
hallway. I know that these are K to5 students, but our students and their needs should always come first. Thank you. Good evening. Um, I just wanted to My name is Sean. I live in uh where we
live in the Bernard Run. Um, I just got to take up something that happened last week by some of the board members when some of us who work with kids with disabilities were given our views on, you know, our experiences of
how we, you know, some childrens that we some children that we dealt with. We weren't dis we were told we were disparaging those kids. We were told we should be ashamed of ourselves. Why should we be ashamed of ourselves? We're giving given our personal experiences. My son is on the spectrum.
I wouldn't disparrage or disrespect him or put him down or put anybody down like that. We were just given our experiences and I and you know what I I it really made me mad. It made a lot of other people mad that you guys would sit up there, not all of you, but some of you
would sit up there and talk to us like we're some little kids and that we should be ashamed of ourselves for publicizing our personal view or our experiences. I I can't speak for everybody else, but I know for me, if I was going to say everybody was like that, I would just
say it. But I didn't say that because I know not every kid on the spectrum is like that. My son, he goes to Bronson County Special Services. He has kids that are farther on the spectrum than he is. I just want everybody on the board to remember that we put you there. We
elected you. The people elected you there. And as easy it is to put you there, it's easy to take you out of there. I hope you guys enjoy your night and I and I want to say I get it. You guys are professionals. You have other jobs. I'm a professional. I I have a
career. I I know it's not easy doing this. I know it's not. And I don't mean any disrespect to anybody up here, but I just want people to maybe remember that we're the bosses. You guys are doing our work for us, but we're the boss. I appreciate you guys and you have a good
night. Hello board members. I'm Kelly Broadbent. Um I live in Colts Run. Um and I have three children that go to Demacy Elementary. Um my head and heart are still reeling after our Democy Elementary PTA meeting on Tuesday night where Dr. Smith shared the Yell
situation. Um, I want to make it very clear that our problem is not the Yale students coming into our school. We very openly welcome differences in people at our school. Our problem is that our children's classrooms that are currently
being used um are being rented out and this has been done without the consideration of or the input from the Demacy teachers, the staff, the students and their families. The classrooms slated for Yale in the contract are our
fourth and fifth grade class graders classrooms. And the proposed change is to push these classes to the current art room and a tiny windowless room that is currently used as a room for the middle school. Our children should not be pushed aside at all. Especially not for the sake of
people who don't go there. Sorry, I lost my spot. Our fantastic teachers and our 20some students shouldn't be packed like sardines into tiny rooms while Yale's 10 students per classroom enjoy what should
be our children's larger classrooms. Our children should not be pushed aside into smaller classrooms, classrooms without windows, and classrooms in a noisy, bustling hallway that middle schoolers pass by all day just for the sake of
yell. It would be this agreement is simply fitting a square. Here we go again. Square peg round hole. It would be nice to get the income. Yes, but not at the expense of our children. We are the taxpayers, the same taxpayers that are now carrying the additional
financial burden of the tax levy increase. It is only right that our children get precedents in our own school. For those of you unaware of the layout of Demacy, our elementary kids take up one large hallway and one pod. The pod is where a couple fourth grade classrooms and all of our fifth grade
classrooms live. It is tradition that the big kids in the school get to move into that pod, utilize it for activities, get to use the lockers, etc. And they look forward to it. Uh when we mentioned this to our soon to be fourth grader, it was met with tears. The kids greatly look forward to getting to be
the big kids in the school and getting to experience that space. Deacy always tends to get the short end of the stick in this district. Due to budget reductions, we've lost our elementary school assistant principal, our secretary, our SRO, and we've had to deal with traveling special teachers and
more. We continuously carry the financial burden of the township, and we have had enough. I urge you to please vote against this lease agreement tonight. With an abundance of money from the tax levy increase and a lot of people invested in finding a solution for our students and our beloved
teachers, let's please to come together to find a better way. Please keep our demise children in mind tonight as you discuss and vote. Thank you. Hi, my name is Laura Cottz. Um, and I am a resident of Marlton whose children also attend to Macy. and I am up here to
express my immense fr frustration, confusion, and sadness that our fifth graders will be displaced next year to make room for out of district students. I am a special education teacher in another district and I've spent time in the autism self-contained classroom in my school. So, I'm very familiar with
the type of students that Yale serves. Just like everybody else has said, that is not my issue. I truly believe that this could be a wonderful situation to have Yale students come. I think it could help t further teach our children about inclusion and acceptance. However,
I do have a huge problem with the fact that our fifth grade students are being displaced to accommodate Yale students. According to Dr. Smith, the contract between Eve Sham and Yale was signed when he thought there would be 10 open classrooms in
Dece. But due to the increased tax levy taken on by us, the taxpayers, um those 10 classrooms are no longer available. So, as a result, we have nowhere to place the L students, or so we thought, and our Demacy students are paying the price. As a parent of both a
fourth and a second grader, I am beyond exhausted for having to go to bat for my elementary age children so often over the last few years. I'm tired of having to calm their fears and ease their anxiety about their school possibly closing or now the fifth grade being
removed from the pot. What would you do if this was your child? Honestly, I I know you can't answer me, but I truly would love to know because I know you would be up here fighting for them as well. I understand the importance of having Sorry. Um, this may seem like a
silly thing to feel so passionately about, but as a teacher, I understand the importance of having a secure and dedicated space for children to have extra time to finish work, to collaborate in small groups, as well as have space for fun events with their peers. Moving the fifth graders to an isolated hallway without a pod removes
most of these opportunities. Though I do sympathize with the problem of where to put the L students, it is so frustrating that the needs of the Demacy students are not coming first. The situation has changed and there are no longer classrooms available. Yet Dr. Smith thinks the appropriate solution is to
displace our fifth grade classes as well as other teachers. And he told us to approach it with a glass half full attitude. What he apparently fails to understand is that this change will affect so many aspects of the children's day, not only next year, but for years to come. Aspects that are likely not
considered by the decision makers, decisions that only the teachers and students would notice. Hallway noise for middle schoolers, changing classes, not being able to coordinate and engage in activities with their pod, not having that easy access to the pod area to have extra time to complete work or have a
spot to go to work quietly, being isolated from the rest of the school. These are just a few of the problems. I am trying to remain positive with my fourth grade son in order to help make the change a bit more seamless, but he is incredibly upset to be removed from his pod environment. Deacy was specifically built with a pod learning
environment in mind. I'm almost done. And it has served as an incredibly positive learning experience for the population over the years. To have it taken away needlessly seems to be short-sighted and irresponsible. I do not see where this decision shows fairness or consideration to the Demise students whom this will affect and whose
home school it already is. I am begging you to take into consideration the effect that this decision will have on so many students. Students who count on and rely on you, the board of ed, and the superintendent to protect and support them. Please help protect and support our children.
Hi, I'm uh Jason Hoy. I live in Cambridge Park. I have three kids that go to the Macy. Um I was at the PCA meeting the other night. I asked uh Dr. Smith the question of were the teachers consulted prior to the decision on those rooms and and not just was there a no.
Uh there was later followed with a if I would have consulted teachers and parents they would have just said no. And it stuck with me like that a person saying they know so much better than the people on the ground than the parents
raising the kids that they in their infinite wisdom decided not to consult those people because they would have come up with a different answer than the answer they had already. And I appreciate you guys being on the board. You're up here.
You're doing this work for free. And the reality is you get to be consulted, too. And we're asking you to be consulted, to think about this, and and hear the parents and the teachers and what their opinions are because I I assume that's
what you do. But that's the answer I got the other night was only sometimes and maybe in the future, and that's just not an acceptable answer. So that's it. Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to make a public comment? Seeing none, we will close out
that section. Moving to item 6.6 for annual appointments and approvals. We need a motion to appoint to approve items 6.1 through 6.2. Do we have a motion? Motion by Mr. Thompson, seconded by Mr. Dearcy. Any questions or comments from the board? Seeing none, Mr. Yates, roll call,
please. Roll call item six. Mr. Brown is absent. Much Mr. Dearcy, yes. Mrs. Null, yes. Mr. Thompson, yes. Mr. Peeleman, yes. Mr.
Bach, yes. Mr. Compton, yes. The motion carries. Thank you. Moving to item seven, approval of the minutes. We need a motion to approve items 7.1 and 7.2. Do we have a motion? Motion by Mr. Thompson, seconded by Mrs. Null. Any questions or comments from the board? Seeing none, Mr. Yates, roll call,
please. Roll call on the approval of minutes. Mr. Mowitz, yes. Mr. DeMarcy, yes. Mrs. Null, yes. Mr. Thompson, yes. Mr. Peeleman, yes. Mr. Bach, yes. Mr. Conton, yes. The motion carries. Thank
you, Mr. Yates. Moving on to item eight, superintendent report and administrative items. We need a motion to approve items 8.1 through 8.6. Do we have a motion? Motion by Mr. Thompson, seconded by Mr. Peeleman before we vote. I'll hand the floor over to Dr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Canthan. There's nothing more eloquent
that could be said about uh our schools than seeing the students perform tonight be recognized. Um, I was planning to just leave it at that, but I just the one other thing I wanted to say just as
a slice out of a typical day, a window into a typical day, uh, today would be this morning at Deacy, right? So this morning at the Macy um in our seventh grade classrooms, they were treated to a
wonderful workshop facilitated by the Museum of Tolerance, which is part of the Simon Wheatenthal Museum in Los Angeles. And that was an opportunity uh made possible through the collaboration of our both our middle schools. Uh Marlton Middle also had that same
seventh graders there had the same opportunity earlier this week. Um and uh we are grateful to the Rob Goodman Center and Helen Kirbomb and Cherry Hill for for helping with those arrangements. It ties directly into the seventh grade curriculum about tolerance and as they
learned about the Holocaust. Um and uh the topic of the workshop was combating hate online which is of course super relevant for everyone. Um the kids were engaged, thoughtful and reflective and um that was just just this morning, you
know, and then in the same same breath to be able to walk down the hallway in the same school, walk into the cafeteria and to see our fifth and fourth graders from Demacy Elementary gathered there in the cafeteria listening to a speak a
guest speaker from Malawi who is talking about the work he's doing having grown up in an orphanage. um and now uh trying to pay it forward um and do great things. Um and the questions they were asking were fantastic of him. It was
clear the impact that was being had and uh that was just great to see them them gathered there in that space. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Smith. Any questions or comments from the board? Seeing none, Mr. Yates. Roll call, please. Roll call. Administrative items.
Miss But yes. Marcy, yes. Mrs. Null, yes. Mr. Thompson, yes. Mr. Peeleman, yes. Mr. Bach, yes. Mr. Conton, yes. The motion carries. Thank you. Moving to item nine, curriculum and instruction. We need a motion to approve items 9.1 through 9.6. Do we have a motion? Motion
by Mr. Dearcy. Seconded by Mr. Thompson. Any questions or comments from the board? Seeing none, Mr. Yates. Roll call, please. Roll call on curriculum and instruction. Miss Bowens. Yes. Mr. Dearcy. Yes. Mrs. Nolan. Yes, Mr. Thompson. Yes, Mr. Pelman. Yes,
Mr. Bach. Yes, Mr. Conton. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Yates. Moving to item 10, Finance and Operations. We need a motion to approve items 10.1 through 10.17. Do we have a motion? Motion by Mr. Thompson, seconded by Mr. Peeleman. Any questions or
comments from the board? Anish, can I real quick? I just want to point something out that uh I did hear back from the attorneys for Yale like midafter afternoon today um giving the final okay on our suggested changes so we should be good. Thank you very much
Miss Gford. Any questions or comments from the board on item 10 finance and operations? I are you I wanted to ask a question about art. Is art going to be on a cart?
No, our art our will be moving to and this screen here. I just want to make sure the staff know this so I'm not Am I sharing something right now? Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. I'll just I'll just leave it like that, but but they'll I don't I'm hesitant to share something that I'm
sorry to ask your question. Very important. We don't want art on a cart here. What about computers? Yeah, computers, as was explained, will be on a cart. Yeah. Oh, computers are okay. Not a designated room. Okay. Yep.
Any other questions or comments from the board? Seeing none, Mr. Yates. Roll call, please. Roll call on finance and operations. Much mowitz. I want to get this right. Um, so
yes to everything except 10.16. Correct. No to 10.16. Yes to the rest, Mr. Dearcy. No to 10.15 and
10.16. Yes to everything else. No to 10.15 and 10.16. Yes to the rest. Mrs. No, no to 10:15 and no to 10:16.
Oh, I'm sorry. And yes to the rest. I'm sorry. So, no to 1015 and 1016. Yes to the rest. Mr. Thompson. Yes. The hall, Mr. Peeleman.
No to 1016. Yes to the rest. Mr. Bach, uh, excuse me, no to 10.16, yes to the rest, Mr. Bach, no to 10.16, yes to the rest. No to 10.16. Yes to the rest. Mr. Compton.
Yes to all with the exception of 10.16. Uh regarding 10.16, the board is still interested in pursuing additional negotiations with the collective bargaining unit regarding the transportation department. No to 10.16. Yes to the
rest. All motions carry with the exception of 10.16. Thank you, Mr. Yates. Moving to item 11, personnel. We need a motion to approve items 11.1 through 11.11. Do we have a motion? Motion by Mrs. Null, seconded by Mr. Thompson. Any
questions or comments from the board? Seeing no, Mr. Yates, roll call, please. On personnel, Miss Bramitz, yes. Garbage. Mr. Dearcy. 11. That's what we're voting on. 11. Personnel. Yes. Yes.
Mrs. Null. Yes. Mr. Thompson. Yes. Mr. Peeleman. Yes. Mr. Bach. Yes. Mr. Con. Yes. That motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Yates. Moving to item 12, policy. We have no policy. Moving to item 13, committee reports. Do any committee
chairs like to share a report? Miss Moes. Yes. So, I want to speak on behalf of the curriculum, sorry, the curriculum committee. Um Tracy Fox is the chair of that committee. Um and she this is a statement that she had prepared for the last meeting that she
didn't have with her. So, I'm going to read it tonight. This is a report from what came out of the meeting two meetings ago and then I'll talk about this current meeting in a second. So the committee uh curriculum committee in November um I'm sorry in April the committee members reviewed and discussed
all the items up for approval at tonight's meeting as well as the district goals. The drafts of the new district goal for 25 through 28 that the board originally looked at during our annual winter retreat were revisited. Discussion on the final stages of the
current ELA goal was also reviewed. As a reminder, the district finalized revisions to the updated ELA document in the September in the summer of 2024 and all updates are being fully implemented this school year. Revisions included increased opportunities for small group
instruction through an emphasis in guided reading, word study, phonics, and book clubs to ensure the needs of all students are being met. These updates increase the amount of time the teachers have to address specific literacy concerns and provide targeted instruction. The word balanced, which
continues to be used in the document, emphasizes that all five literacy blocks are important and are part of the ETSSD structure literacy program. Each block is designed to include explicit instruction via protocols and units of study that
incorporate phonomic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Feedback on the updated word study, phonics resources from our teachers has been positive. These resources include an updated word wall, standard lessons, and assessments, parent communication,
and a new primary word study program. The program includes a systematic sequence of whole class lessons, an implementation guide to asssure all 100 lessons per grade are taught, and a differentiated resource for word study to be implemented during guided reading. In addition, ETSSD students continue to
have access to level texts as well as authentic literature which allows for teachers to see the application and transfer of isolated skills and context. It remains the district's goal that students have large repertoire of strategies to utilize to attack unknown words in both reading and writing and to
understand what they are reading. Extensive practice utilizing strategies and context assures the students are able to apply principles and are being taught that are being taught and allow teachers to monitor progress and professional development sessions also
continued to be provided to the teachers this year and identified areas such as text analysis, written composition, word study, phonics and using textbased evidence to support reasoning in both reading and writing. Now this last meeting we talked a lot about the focus grant. We did
apply for it. Um, and I we did also speak Tracy and I and Dave and Aiden about the importance of collaboration about getting a meeting together and we did speak about it and Mrs. Mulik did agree. So, we were going to try to get that on the calendar for um like a
similar collaboration as you have done with the CPAG group. And I apologize I couldn't be at that meeting. I was supposed to be um but I had a conflict. But um but yeah, I'm interested very much in collaborating with with your group and working for progress for the students.
Thank you, Miss Bramotes. Any other committee chairs like to share a report? Mr. Pilman, I just wanted to give a brief update for community engagement. Um something that we have been talking about for a while. Um is that we are planning to have a uh strategic planning initiative for the
district starting in the fall. Um, it's something that we've not had for a little while for a variety of reasons, but we want to get back to it. So, we will spend much of the summer planning for that, getting ideas for it, and then rolling out the process in the fall of the new school year. Thank you, Mr. Pelman. Would any other
committee chairs like to share a report? Seeing none, we'll move to old business, of which we have none. New business, we also have none. Uh, board member announcements. Would any board members like to share an announcement? Uh just something real quick. Uh the
young gentleman who received the Leroy Homer Jr. uh award um I uh you know I I look looked on that as as as something that was uh when I was in 8th grade here at MMS. Uh I applied for the same
version of that award and you know the the winner of that award gets to go speak at the township building during the Memorial Day event. Um, and you know, it's a very special ceremony. I encourage everyone to go there uh this coming Monday. Um, you know, not only does it remember our fallen troops, but
it's, you know, it's a good way of our community coming together during that holiday, but uh the young gentleman who who received the word who will get to speak at the at the ceremony, you know, I I remember at that ceremony was where I met one of the uh adviserss of the
youth advisory committee who, God rest her soul, Deb Hackman. um you know she got me involved in in local community civics and and and it's uh it's the very reason as to why you know I sit here
right now. Um, so you know, I know we had a lot of students here today, but you know, just for the record. Uh, so you know, in case you know, bring it back to your kids, bring it back to, you know, your neighbor's kids. Um, you know, if you have an interest in in history and social studies and in, you
know, in community, then, you know, even if there's some kids who are just love their town or or, you know, love their friends and and want a good place to go, the youth fighters committee is a great spot uh for for them to be able to participate in a lot of those ways. Um, and and a lot of these events they
participate in and and they do a great job. So, um, kind of thinking about, you know, how I got here and and, you know, that that young gentleman who who applied for the SA, uh, I just wanted to kind of allude to the fact that, you know, we have a great group in town who does great things. So, spread the word
to any kids that you think would be interested. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dearcy. Would any other board members like to share an announcement? Seeing none, motion to adjourn. Motion by Mr. Thompson, seconded by Mrs. Null. All those in
favor? I