ruary 7th, 2025. Schedule uh and notice of said meetings has been posted um at the uh interior window of the school administrative offices mailed to the retrospect and courier post and file
with the clerk of Oakland. All of going has been done within time required by law in accordance with the open public meetings act. And uh roll call. Mr. DeMarco here.
Mrs. Love here. Mr. McMillan here. Mrs. Ratando here. Mr. Schaefer here. Mr. Staltz here. Mr. Taby here. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance.
All right. No executive session today. So, we're going to move on to item 3.01, which is our presentation for tonight. I uh the taxpayers guide to educational spending. I'm going to do it from here if that's okay because I got my microphone and I could just turn around. Um the entire
Excel uh workbook for all of this data is attached to the board agenda um in board docs for you guys. I just took out some slides like what I consider the most important slides and the ones that everybody talk about when we're working on our budget.
So what is the compare? What is the taxpayers guide to education spending? Um it's an annual publication that comes out um that Trenton updates once audits and budgets are done and it compares all the 600 plus school districts, but it compares them not only on a state
average, but it groups them with your peers. So we have some school districts that are just elementary like Oakland, right? But then they break it out by enrollment group. So Oak Oakland's is, you know, K to 5 up to 600 kids and then they go like K to 12 and all the way up
to regionals. So when I get into the indicators, I'll explain, but when when you're ranked, you're not ranked out of the 600 school districts. You're you're ranked within your peer group. And of our peer group, there's 74 school districts. And all of this data is on the Department of Ed's website. I just
go in and um call out the Oakland and Collingswood data so that I can just update these spreadsheets every year because it's good information for the board and the communities to know kind of you know how much it's costing to educate children on a per pupil basis, how much it cost for administrators for
instance like things that like you see in the paper all the time. This is where they get that information, right? The people in the paper go here. I went too far. So the first um slide I have for you here is the total cost per pupil and total classroom instruction.
So indicator one. So what it shows here I I give you guys three years of data. So as soon as it's updated for 2025, 2022 will drop off. So um for the 2022 school year, we
will ranked 34. So, we're in the middle of the road for total cost per pupil. In 2023, we were 37. Still kind of middle of the road. And in 2024, we were 33. So, we're right in the middle. We're not the cheapest, but we're not the most expensive. We're right right flat in the
middle. 21.2.2 is the type of rate. It's 1730. Yes, it is. Should be 173. Thank you. Um, and then total class classroom instruction, same thing. So uh in 22
Oakland was ranked 31. Okay. Um 2023 33 in 2024 34. Um so basically and then the very last percentage you see 59% 59.6% of that
cost per pupil is salary benefits. Okay, which it should be. Okay. Um, the next indicator I pull out is tow support services. So when Trenton calls this information, it's it's hard
for the the layman to understand what these indicator like what makes them up, right? It's easy to say cost per pupil. Everybody knows what that is. But this specific indicator support services, these are all these things that we provide to children that are not teaching. So your nurse, right? any
guidance services, child study team services, that kind of stuff, library services, that's all the extras, okay, that are not in inclass instruction teaching. So for 2022, um, we were 49.
2023 we were 52 and then 2023 24 we were 39. Okay, out of our peer group. The next one, this is the one that the papers like to go and see how much everybody's spending on administrators. So, I do like to pull this um information out. Um, and oddly enough,
when we're audited every year, this is an indicator where I have to fill out a questionnaire with the auditor and I have to verify our administrative costs and I have to verify our legal service. Like, I have to actually go, that's why I do this every year. I actually have to go to the indicator, check it, and I have to sign something certifying that,
you know, my number's my number. Um, so in 2022 we were ranked 25th in our peer group for total administrative costs. So pretty low. Uh, 2023 we're 23rd and 2024 we're 24.
And the state average um, in 23 24 um, per pupil for the cost of admin is $1,815. We're 1,830. again our denominator so small. Okay. Um and then the second indicator on the
slide is legal services. Um for some reason the state I don't know they want they just want to call out legal services separately even though it's part of admin. Um so in 2022 we were ranked 11. 23 we ranked 40. Um and in 24 we ranked
eight. So we're very low on legal services. We really don't use our attorneys very much. um just for like if we're any out of district disputes or something like that, but we're not heavily reliant. Usually doc Dr. McDow or myself can can usually figure out the
questions that the board members are asking with regards to policy just by you know checking code by ourselves. I understand that we're we're eighth out of the total I'm sorry we're eighth out of the total for that group that cohort.
That sounds like we're near the top, not the bottom. is ranked lowest to highest. Wow. So, are they all ranked the same way? Yes. Okay. Yeah, that's how the comparative study guide works. They rank low to high within your peer group. So, we're low. Okay. Yeah. It's just how Trenton does it.
Never. I think it was at the admin retreat where I was saying like they could actually do the same exact thing with that with testing data that I'm doing now, but they just don't. Just putting it out there in the universe, but they should. Um I mean, if I you know what I mean? they they they publish this, they should be able to publish
testing data in a similar format. Just saying, folks. Um the next one, it's I like to put this in there because it is very important that we keep our buildings safe, clean, secure, and it is a it's getting more expensive to do so.
So, this is um the indicator has to do with um how much we spend on our operations and maintenance of our physical plant, basically our school building. So, in 2022, we were ranked um 25th. 2023 um 13 and 2024 we were ranked
20 and again that's out of our peer group and this is a big one cuz this number just keeps getting bigger and it doesn't look like um much is being done cuz I know the state health benefits plan is struggling but um this is the cost of
benefits so everyone knows it's skyrocketing and um there's really no end in sight but um this indicator just shows you um the percentage of benefits to salaries. Okay, so for 2022 we were third 33.2%.
For the cost of benefits um and the state average was 31.4. So we're not too far off the state average. In 2023, the state average was 32.7 for the cost of benefits. We were at 32.4. Um and then uh 2023 24 the state average
is 36.6 six and we were at 38%. So, it's just it's the cost of prescription just it's killing everybody. But I put that on there because I think some people just it's the biggest line item apart from salaries is our biggest line item and it's the one that we struggle to control
cuz we have no control. But I wanted to publish this information and get it out there so people understand this is what we're struggling with. And I believe that's it for the slides. the entire every indicator there's 16 of them um are attached into the finance
buildings and grounds um committee section. I just wanted to call out the ones that I look at when I'm doing budget development and it helps you guys to understand if you know during budget if people want to know how much we're spending or whatever it it just gives you guys the information. Any questions?
Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Mrs. Coleman. Uh, moving on to item four, committee the whole. Do I have a motion? So moved and second. Second.
All right. We are now in committee of the whole for board member topics. Just a couple general updates on my end before we get started. Um, uh, the draft for our board goals from our retreat, uh, I guess was it two
weeks ago? Two weeks, last week, two weeks. Um, uh, sent that out, share with everybody. So, I wanted to talk about those a little bit, get some feedback on that. Um, the presenter, uh, Dr. Banlo put it together for us. Um,
OEA negotiations has been a topic of of late. So, if anybody on the board is willing and able to be on the negotiations uh committee for the board, please let me know. Um, and lastly, um, we have some board vacancies coming our way um, in the November election. So,
again, if we have, uh, anyone out there who, uh, is interested in running as a write-in candidate, please uh, you know, board members, please share. and uh community members out there uh feel free to reach out to someone on the board if you're interested in writing as a run-in
candidate. Um so I'll turn over to the board if we want to start with our board goals from our retreat. Um any feedback or thoughts, changes, edits on those as everybody has. She has to look at what was attached to the board agenda
that Dr. Banlo sent over. Okay. I hear nothing. All right. Yeah. Good. Uh I think the bigger question uh is, you know, what what uh steps we want to take as a board next um in terms of putting together the action plan and and
things we want to do to accomplish those goals. Um, you know, one piece that came up uh during the retreat was for us to uh meet briefly prior to uh the opening of the public session each month to do
some planning with that. Um, you know, another thought could be to kind of restructure our committee uh meetings in terms of time a little bit and build some time into committees to do some action planning there. Um, and
then Dr. Bano did share um like a a a template for us to kind of fill out and plug in what what we wanted to work on. Um Rich, would you um just for for the record, do you would you be uh willing to like just kind of spill out what the
three goals that we discussed were really very briefly just for the public? Yeah, absolutely. Um so goal number one um as it was written uh refine uh the board of education committee reporting process to ensure efficient flow of information reduce in full board
discussions and promote informed decision-m across the whole board. So uh really talk talks about communication within the board and amongst the board particularly in regards to committee updates. Um goal two, um dedicate specific time each month for some team
building exercises and or collaborative problem solving sessions, um which the action planning could be part of. Um the strength and board effectiveness and supporting uh academic success of all students in Oakland. Um and then goal
number three um increase in community engagement and foster interd district collaboration to build partnerships, share resources and enhance educational opportunities for our students. any any thoughts on opportunities to do
some planning um as as a team to put some activities or actions into place. What did we talk about? We talked about doing a like something quarterly. It wasn't a monthly um like having an extra additional hour quarterly or something to do.
Yeah, we talked about spreading it out. Um I think you know initially it might be a little bit more work up front because we kind of got to establish everything but once we have that initial uh guidelines in place for us then yeah we could do we could do quarterly um you
know we could for example once a quarter you know lengthen our committee meetings and you know kick ideas around there um you know uh or you know in regards to the team building and and Dr. Bano did share I I forget the district. She sent
it in an email that that does some team building and activities like that prior to the start. Was that what it was? Yeah. Prior to the start of the public session. Um so we could always you I could always reach out to someone there and and see what what it is that they're doing exactly. as well.
I I think prior to the public session might be neater because then are we if we dedicate comm lengthening committee how are the separate committees going to meet and then return because we can't
all be there for the committee portion of it. So I think I I mean all and and it's going to promote attendance too if it's either the night of committee or the night of the board. We all pretty much plan on being open for this. So, I don't
want to speak for the group. I mean, for me, it's not an imposition to get here earlier. Um, I prefer earlier personally um as opposed to later, but um yeah, I I I actually think it's neater
and a little bit more uh organized if we do it prior. Yeah, I do like the idea of having everybody together to do it. So, I definitely agree with you there. Um, and we would just need somebody really strict to be the timekeeper because half
hour goes fast. I'll have to I can I can do that. You know, maybe there we go. You're hired. Uh, you know, maybe over the next three board meetings, you know, may maybe next month we just focus on goal number one. come half hour early, talk about some
ideas for that and then goal two and then goal three um which would can't remember would kind of take us right up to the winter and reorg at that point which we kind of wanted to have those goals in place for any new folks who were coming on board at that point
anyway. So that's definitely a route we can take there. All right. Yeah, if if everybody's in agreement, then I'll start to map that out and uh send out some updates to everybody. Um All right. Any other uh
updates for the committee of a whole I do have one. Sorry about that. Um, I had someone approach me recently in the community who has a child in the prek program who really expressed an interest in starting up like a boy scout girl scouts troop
here and using the space in the school. Um, so he wanted, you know, to see if that was something feasible that we could do. Um, and I'm just bringing it to the board. I said, you know, he seemed to think this was a nice central location. It would be for boys and
girls, not just Boy Scouts of America. Um, and I know that there really hasn't been um a ton of troops locally um especially in Oakland. I know when my my son was younger, I was looking and they were kind of few and far between um in the area. So, I'm just bringing that to
the board just to say that there's this interest in the community to perhaps do that here. I got one more thing um regarding the uh open seats for this year's election. Um how how many are there and um what can
we do uh as a board and other community members to you know urge someone else to uh to run for for the runins? you know, like I like back in the co days, uh, I, you know, I said something, but that's when I was on social media, but Theice like reached out to me directly and was like, "Hey, can you run for school
board?" And I was flattered, you know, like I was like, "Oh my god, that's great." Like somebody believes in me to do something, you know, like um, so I think, you know, there's definitely people willing to do that and like step into that position, but they have to be told that, right? So, uh, if we're, you know, this is being recorded on YouTube,
but not a lot of people watch that, but if there's another way, um, you know, to get the the community involved in that. So, uh, ultimately the question was, uh, how many seats are going to be open and what can we do? We have two seats open. Um, and at this
point it um, it would probably if anybody wanted to do it, it would be a writing campaign because usually when you have like vacancies, that's what the they they do. They look to see um, if there's a lot of writeins and then they offer the state to the people with the highest number of writeins. So, that
probably be the easiest. I would probably um maybe reach out to the PGA to see if they can spread the word that we have a vacancy. I know they have they have their own presence in the school and then um they can reach out to a lot of families.
Um but yeah, that's where I would start. I think word of mouth uh you know maybe we put out a little blurb on uh Oakland Family News. A lot of people seem to go on that uh on that page. um just in
regards to to the writeins um because you know if you look at the results every year there's a couple of random write-ins that get like three votes and they could potentially win in a situation like this. So you know then as Bethanne and I discussed earlier right the the county would then
and what I would probably do if if you're having conversations with people if you're going through the PTA I would encourage people to go to New Jersey school board's website to make sure that they're eligible to run. Yeah. Uh 18 years old, right, Aiden? 18 years
old or more. Um and you have to live in town for at least a year. Okay. Because you I know a lot of people are new moving in, but you have to be here at least a year. Okay. So, those are the requirements. Yes. So, what happens then is that then the county themselves reach out to the
writing candidates, right, to confirm that they would accept the candidacy. Yes. Back in the day, I would have to do it, but I believe it's all handled by the um part of the county clerk's office. I would just get like a letter of the people like basically who won. Yeah, the elig eligibility piece is
definitely something to keep in mind. We've had folks in the past who who have uh wanted to run but been uh one in particular I'm thinking of and then they didn't live in Oakland for a year, so they were unable to. Yeah. All right.
All right. Any other thoughts for committee the whole? All right. Can I get a motion to adjourn committee the whole move? Second. Sorry. Moved and seconded. All in favor? I
opposed. All right. Closing out committee the whole. Uh moving on to item five. Uh future dates and miscellaneous information. Um upcoming uh events are outlined there. First day of school uh September
4th. Um and that is an early dismissal. Uh moving on to do I need to approve that or is that Yeah. I'm moving on to item six, routine board business. Uh looking for a motion to approve uh minutes from uh August uh
uh what is that? August 5th or June 17th. Um and then the board will shoot on August 5th. Do I have a motion? So move second. Motion and second. Um all in favor? I. All right.
And moving on to item seven. This is our first public comment section for the evening. Um all uh participants are reminded to stand, state your name and address uh and uh keep your comments to 5 minutes or less. Uh the purpose for this public comment section is to
discuss items listed on the agenda. Um additional more general comments may be made later on in the meeting. During the second public comment section, public's reminded attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints should go through appropriate staff members or administrators. Any public comment from
out there? Nope. All right. Hearing none, we will move on to the superintendent report. Good evening everybody. Um section 8 uh includes the enrollment report. Uh June of 2024 enrollment is 267. June of 2025
is 273. Uh 8.02 is the school safety drill report and that is attached. Um and uh 03 and 04 there is uh nothing to report. Um this morning we had our um administrative our second administrative
retreat which helps um our school leaders. They all come together. We begin to set the uh academic agenda for the year. Uh we provide resources. Um we redistribute um our continuous improvement guides,
our academic calendars. um specific dates, objectives for the school improvement plans that schools will be working on. Um and then making sure that schools are um uh supported in terms of uh opening day uh whether that be
facilities um ordering of materials and so forth. uh leaders had the opportunity to reflect on the previous academic year uh with uh their um choices and some of the student performance. And so uh of
note uh one of the things that we are uh extremely proud of is that in Oakland we focused on uh math instruction. uh and we saw significant improvements in uh math uh proficiency uh both in Oakland as well as the middle school uh and the
high school. And so that data will be presented publicly uh in early October. Um but we are extremely uh proud of the work um that our staff continues to do here in this building. Uh we made math a focus uh and they got it done. Um, and
that is large in part to the leadership uh of Oakland from Miss Balden and Miss Saloway uh and the tremendous work of the teachers um who took it upon themselves based on the schedule that was co-constructed by admin and teachers
uh to add additional time to our fifth grade cohort and then uh make sure that they embedded uh a math focus uh schoolwide. And so what we have uh been able to do um academically is we've been
able to sustain a a continued trajectory of academic growth in both literacy and math, but we saw a pretty significant increase in math proficiency from last year uh to this year. Uh I remember this time last year um we were having very
different conversations because the universal screeners that we were using were not directly aligned and they were not giving our teachers um accurate information. And so uh we piloted a new universal screener this year uh and and
in part we saw a pretty significant jump in in achievement and so we'll be uh gladly sharing that very very soon. um in addition to being um getting ready for opening day. And so opening day for
our staff uh is September 2nd. And so we will have all faculty and staff for all schools uh in the auditorium at the middle school. um we will come together, we will uh laugh, cheer, um clap out uh
some of our folks for the accomplishments uh that they did during the previous year in preparation for the upcoming year. We will set the academic agenda um goals and priorities, many of which are going to be very similar to the current year in terms of our key
performance indicators as well as uh school culture. And so that's going to be the through line. Um, how does school culture support academics and how does academics reflect school culture? Um, and that concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. McDow. Uh, moving on to
item nine, business administrator, board secretaries report. All right, it's been a very busy summer. Um, but the audit has been complete. So tonight um I do have the final June um financial statements as well as the July
financial statements. So the budget year has been closed and we are up and running. So 9.01 is a listing of the budget transfers for the months of June and July. Uh 9.02 is the um your financial statements, your board secretaries report and cash reports for
June and July. Uh 9.03 is the listing of the purchase orders issued for the month of July. Um and 9.04 is a listing of the warrants that will be paid tomorrow morning pending approval this evening. All right, moving on to uh item 10,
finance, buildings, and grounds committee. Do it. You do the or Sure. You want to do the whole thing? Yeah. Yeah. All right. I'll take this and Rich will take Teresa's report. Um so items 10.01 through 10.0 06 are those items that I
just mentioned, your financial statements, warrant, and purchase order approvals. 10.07 is um I've updated the business office standard operating procedures manual for both Collingswood and Oakland. Um and further down is the
explanation why, but basically the the state every so many years the treasur and the governor, they have the ability to raise your um your bid amount if you have a qualified purchasing agent, which I am. So the old purchasing manual um referenced the old bid amount. So I
changed all the documentation and our operating procedures. Um 10.08 is your budget development calendar um which every month of the year starting back actually starting in July um shows what we are doing to uh to build a comprehensive budget uh for Oakling.
10.09 is approving um our idea uh grant. Luckily, we did not get cut. 10.10 um is approving our ESA grant accept acceptance. That's our title one, title two, title four, title three. Um 10.11
and I apologize for this. This was approved in June and I sent the application packet to Trenton. This is your food service management company. We went off RFP and did the whole thing and I have to send everything to Trenton electronically for approval. They didn't like my board resolution because I was
missing a couple words. So, I had to reapprove it. So, you've seen this before. I just added the the last the last little blurp there about the scoring rubric and the form. Um, so just reapproving that so I can send this
off um to try and finally get approved. 10.12 is that item that I previously mentioned. That's the raising of um the bid limit up to 53,000 and that also changes my quote amount. So any purchase over 7950 we would need to get quotes
but it gives us a lot of leeway in between. Uh 1013 is just approving it's a an agreement with Gloucester County special services. It's their crest program. So any children we send there and they need um various professional services like OTP auditory um the fees
are attached. 10.14 is approving power plus translators and that's somebody to come in and do translation service on an as needed basis who usually mostly use that for child's typing for IEPs so they can communicate with the parents um 10.15 is use of facility for um Panthers
basketball 10.16 is Oakland Cougars football and 17 is the soccer club and the last one little league 10.18 so approval of items 10.01 01 through 10.18. Do we have a motion to uh approve these
items? So move. Second. Um any comments or questions? I had a couple updates to share. Just find that. Um now for the use of facilities request
there were some items that were outstanding during committee um insurance certificates. Um is that yes it's believe it's been remedied. Um yeah they were late getting the paperwork to the board but they wanted to start their program like this week or
last week. I told them they couldn't start until we had board approval. Um but yeah they had to get their insurance certificate updated. Okay. Um and then just two uh discussion points we had uh during committee as well. Um I think it was last our last
board meeting we mentioned uh growing partnership with the Oakland Fire Department um which is continuing um and uh we'll include some ongoing formal training for uh our firefighters in the building so that uh should there be any type of emergency they have a real solid
understanding of the facilities and the layout and that type of thing. So that um has continued. Um and our railing on the ramp good to go. Yeah, that has been installed. So we're rocking and rolling there. Any other uh comments or questions on uh
for finance buildings and grounds, you know, on the uh on the soccer request, uh there was no certificate of insurance attached and I don't see it in here now. Is that uh has that been received? I'll go through the files, but I have
everything right here. Okay. Yeah, I think yeah, soccer was missing insurance piece and then little league was a little bit late, but we they made it onto the agenda. So, yeah. Uh Rich, you mentioned the um training for the firefighters to kind of have a
better uh layout or understanding of the layout of the facility, which is great. Um made me think of another kind of question. Um, do police are they in any training or how's do we have any update in terms I mean god forbid that they should you know ever have to be here and
and you know kind of know the the ins and outs and layout of the building is do we have any knowledge or update in terms of police training to go along with the firefighting training. Yeah. Or at least maybe we can inquire about that. Yeah. Anything Dr. McDow on that front?
I I know they'll do that in my experience that the PD will come in and and do drills and things uh within the school. We did hours in Belmar where I work uh you know over the summer. They were just in last week or the week before for some training. Had the opportunity to tour a building, do some
drills. Um I don't know if we've done that in the past here, but it's certainly something we could do. for our department. Yeah, I can send a message. Thank you. All right. Any other questions or
comments? Uh, what happened on the certificate of insurance? It's not in my folder, but I'll check with my secretary. It's not in your folder. It's not in the folder. As far as we know, it doesn't exist at this point. I believe they I my understanding was they were getting it. They sent a screenshot of where they were in the queue with their insurance company as
far as like having it issued, but I don't know if it came across the fax machine today cuz we were in a retreat, but I'll check tomorrow. Okay. There it's usually not a problem. They usually get it. Correct. It's usually a pretty simple thing, but yeah, it's missing. I understand. But it's also
people are rushing to get their paperwork in. they wanted to start their program was in August. We did tell them they had a deadline to get it in. They submitted what they had um cuz we didn't want to harm the children. So now if you don't want to approve it, then I told them we don't start the program. That's kind of where and that's what they were
told. Either get your paperwork in or don't start. Um so all the organizations that rush at the last minute to get their stuff in, we told them, you know, um you can't start until you have board approval and I need a complete packet. Um but that insurance certificate is not in my folder. So if we vote to not approve them, they just won't start
until September. So there's no other option like if we if we abstain or push that off, it has to go until the next board meeting. It can't go through. Uh we can we can vote yes pending insurance or certificate, but we usually always get the insurance. We usually get
insurance certificates like a conditional approval. Right. and they were all warned that I needed complete packets um because some of them was like the day that we were building the actually the day of the committee some of the stuff was coming in. So my Yeah. So we usually get it. So if you
want to vote no or if you want to vote you know pending insurance um that's fine but I can follow up with um your message tomorrow. I don't know if you do you know if we got it. I received it. Yeah. We're just waiting. Okay. We have systems and procedures in
place and we go to great lengths to put all this stuff in in black and white. I understand every year and if they don't So then we don't do it. We just tell Oakland soccer they don't have soccer. Hey, I'm sorry. Okay, then vote no. I mean, that's it's there to protect Oakland school district. I understand what it's there for.
I do. Okay. Thank you. I'm just looking at the start dates there. So, it's uh August. August. Yeah. I think they want to start this week. Gotcha. Practice. I don't think we play start
until Saturday and Sunday after. It says August to November. That's what it says on here. They want to have practice. We asked them for an insurance certificate and a schedule. We actually asked them for a schedule, too, right John? And I don't think we got a schedule from them either.
So, again, we can vote now. They just don't have soccer. I mean, it is what it is. All right. Um, on roll call, Mr. DeMarco. Yes, Mrs. Love. Yes.
Sorry, fell. My microphone just Okay, Mr. McBillan. Yes, except for 1017 pending the certificate of insurance and schedule from the uh Oakland uh Collinswood. Sorry, I'm taking notes.
Okay, Mrs. Roondo, sorry. Yes, for everything 10:17 pending the um them furnishing us the schedule and the insurance. Mr. Schaefer. Yes, but pending insurance on item 10.17.
Mr. thoughts. I want to explain my position a little bit first in in that I was one of five individuals that founded Collins with Oakland Soccer Club back around 1980. So, it's near and dear to my heart. It's not something I've read about, but
again, their systems and procedures are in place to protect the school district of Oakland. If it doesn't make any difference, we shouldn't worry about anything. We're going to get a certificate or we're going to have an opportunity to review the certificate before we say yes. the fact that he sends a certificate in, uh, if it's ABC
Insurance Company or Joe's insurance company, that doesn't mean anything. It's only a piece of paper. We should make sure that it's with an adequate I do it every time. I make sure it's an additional assured and they have the minimum required by law. You Yes, that that's part what I'm telling you that the name of the
insurance company, if if it's credential insurance company, it's a name that that's uh well understood and it's a financially sound company. If it's Joe's insurance company, you still got the same piece of paper. You still got the same additional insurer, and the piece of paper is probably worthless. So, if
you're checking the ratings of the insurance companies, that's great. Uh, but if you're not, it's we're we're So, you're now asking you to add checking the ratings of all the insurance companies? No. My vote is no. I'm just asking, but you guys obviously don't care about
it. So, whatever you want. Well, we're trying to do what's best for children and let them have a soccer program. So, I voted in favor of doing what was best for the kids of Oakland. But you can vote now. Feel free forward with the vote. I just did. Okay. Actually, you didn't. You said you wanted to explain yourself first. I
don't have a vote. I did and then I said no. You said no. Okay. Which has nothing to do with kids or Glenn. Mr. Ty. Uh, yes. For all items, uh, no on 10.17.
Uh moving on to item 11, curriculum and personnel committee. Mr. Schaefer. All right. Good evening everyone. So uh item 11.01, we're looking to approve the preK to 5 curriculum uh which is aligned of course with the New Jersey student
learning standards for the 2526 school year. And you can see all the uh courses listed there for preschool or elementary uh as well as the modified curriculum and the curriculum crosswalks which are some um additional um
uh curricula that are infused uh at points in the school year. Uh item 11.02. So there was a uh we're looking to approve the revised 2526 calendar. Um it's a minor change just to the uh I believe it was the drop off time uh for
middle school students. So that has been corrected. There were no changes to the the days or uh the dates or anything like that. Just the correct uh drop off time. I believe it was for middle school. Um so we're seeking to approve that correction that was made there. Uh item 11.03
looking to uh approve the affirmative action team. Um sorry about that. um looking to affirm the comprehensive equity plan as needed uh which allows the firm of action team to conduct the needs of assessment and develop the plan.
Item uh 11.04 is the actual 2526 comprehensive equity plan uh that we're looking for approval on. Uh item 11.05 um hopefully something we never need, but it's to approve the virtual emergency closure plans. Uh so we need
to have them in place, but let's hope we never see them. Item 11.06, we're looking uh to enter into contract with the New Jersey uh Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired uh to provide services during the 2526 school year from September 1st through June 30th uh for the following students there
that are listed uh as well as the cost per student. Item 11.07, 07. We're looking to issue a contract to Caitlyn Lynch, uh, resource teacher at BA Step 3, effective for the 2526 school year. Item 11.08,
uh, we're seeking approval for a contract to Ashley Gorino, fourth grade teacher, BA, step one for the 2526 school year. Item 11.09, 09 we're seeking approval to issue a contract for uh Samantha Koshi kindergarten teacher BA step two uh for the 2526 school year
and 0 11.10 approval to issue a contract to Carly um McMenan uh second grade teacher uh masters step five effective for the 2526 school year. Item 11.11, we're seeking approval to issue a
contract to Jennifer Oeta, uh, special education support teacher and kindergarten LT teacher, BA step 5, proate, uh, prrated effective, uh, January 1 through June 30th. Item 11 U 12, we're looking to approve
the following substitutes for the 2526 school year. Item 11.13, we're looking to approve the following voluntary staff transfers uh which are listed there for you. There are four um transfers that are happening.
Item 11.14 looking to approve the following subs and tutors. Should be a familiar name to you there. And there are no travel expenses at this time. So we are seeking approval on
items 11.01 01 through 11.15. All right. Do we have a motion? So moved. And a second. Second. All right. Um on to comments and questions. Just some updates from committee um for the
board and community. Um uh just in regards to the middle school start time. For those who might not be aware, previously uh start time did not allow for students to have a lunch or a breakfast uh period. It was just kind of grab and go and shove it down your
gullet. So, um this will allow the students to have a little bit of time to start their day in a calmer fashion and and have a good kickoff uh for the day. Uh just wanted to give a shout out to Miss Balden. Um have a lot of new hires on there. um many of which are both dual
certified meaning they have uh certified to teach both general education and special education. Um it's a great uh thing to have in our toolbox here in our school. So really exciting. Um and then just a couple of quick uh updates on
instruction uh that was discussed. Uh fourth grade this year will be uh embarking on a new initiative um by departmentalizing. uh fifth grade has done it in the past and it's worked out quite well. Um so fourth grade will be uh following their lead uh where uh one
teacher will focus solely on reading, one solely on math. Um and to that end uh uh last year as Dr. M. Dow mentioned we rolled out the NWA MAP uh benchmark assessments for math. Um and so seeing
how that effective that was this year we'll be rolling it out uh for uh reading as well. So we'll have some benchmark data there um in addition to the doubles data that we've been collecting and uh we'll see some updates on that in the winter long before state
testing which will be good. Um yeah any other comments or questions for the curriculum and personnel committee? All right. Uh, roll call. Mr. DeMarco. Yes. Mrs. Love.
Yes. Mr. McMillan. Yes. Mr. Ratando. Yes. Mr. Schaefer. Yes. Mr. Staltz. Yes. Except item 11.14 where I abstain. Mr. Taty. Yes.
All right. Moving on to item 12, uh, school community relations and policy. Uh, we're going to kick it off with 12.01, uh, Collingswood updates with Mr. McMillan. Good evening. Um, we have not met uh, since uh, July, but we did have a, uh,
retreat on August 4th. Um, we're meeting for committee tomorrow and then two weeks we're meeting for board meeting. But uh during the uh during the uh retreat that we had uh we discussed issues, resolutions and goals which focused on culture and climate setting
academic goals and bettering communication uh within within staff, student and community. So that's uh that's about all I got. Uh moving on to uh 12.02, 2, our PTA
leazison report. Miss Ratundo, thank you. Um, they had an executive the PTA met for an executive board meeting on August 6th. Donna Gribbach um mentioned this I think when I did the June update is the new president and Laya Andar is continuing to help Donna
transition into the role. The first general meeting date is not set yet, but as soon as they do so, they plan on doing it this week. They will get that out to the public. Um, there's a Spirit Wear t-shirt sale that's going on and
that'll continue through September 19th. Um, the PTA page has uh ordering information. So, if anyone wants to do so, they can go to the PTA page as well as Oakland Family News or they can contact the Oakland PTA via their Gmail,
oakland pta@gmail.com. And then when the kids start, they will also receive paper flyers in their folders. Then they're kicking off their first ice cream social on September 26th, 6:30 behind a school and they'll sell various
options for a dollar each. It's a way for it's really a nice way to, you know, mingle at the beginning of the school year. They want to invite all of us to be guests at the ice cream social. So stop by if you can do so and then um
they will discuss more that I can share at our next meeting at their first membership meeting of the year. So more to come on that. Thank you. Uh 12.03 is OMAC. Um I don't have any updates this month but I will circle back to Adam Sher uh for our next
board meeting and find out what's new with OMAC for the upcoming school year. And lastly, uh, 12.04, uh, our Oakland Ed Foundation, Mr. Schaefer. Any updates? Uh, no updates for the summer months.
Hope to have one for you in September. Right. And, uh, item 12.05, we have, uh, several policies up for first reading. Um, just looking at uh, my notes here. item
or policy 1570 um in particular was something we discussed during committee pertains to internal controls. Um one change that has been added um is to address that uh while third party contracts involving student staff or uh
parent personally identifiable information um must include a signed data agreement unless the vendor um does not sore or process that data. So that was a big point of conversation, but everything else uh on there was in order.
Do we have a motion to approve uh uh item 12.05? So moved. Second. Second. U any comments or questions? All right. Uh roll call. Mr. Demarco.
Yes. Mrs. Love. Yes, Mr. McMillan. Yes, Mrs. Ratando. Yes, Mr. Schaefer. Yes, Mr. Staltz. Abstain, Mr. Ty.
Yes. Moving on to item uh 13. Under miscellaneous, we have our HIV report. June. Yeah. Yes. From June. All right. Do we have a motion to approve item uh 13.01?
So move. Second. Second. Any comments or questions? Not a roll call. Mr. Demarco, yes. Mrs. Love, yes. Mr. McMillan,
yes. Mr. Ratando, yes. Mr. Schaefer, yes. Mr. Stz, yes. Mr. Ty, yes. Moving on to item 14 is our second public comment section for the evening. Um, participants are reminded to please
stand, state your name and address, and keep comments to 5 minutes or less. Um, this public comment section is for any items. However, the public's reminded uh that attempts to resolve any concerns should go through the appropriate staff members or administrators. Any public comment?
All right. Hearing none, we will move on to item 15. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. Moved and second. All in favor? I. All right. Good night.