of Welcome to the Winslow concert board meeting for tonight April 9th 2025 where academics and winning is done on a high level public notice of this meeting was given to all board members and associates in a notice stated
1 19205 adequate and electronic notice of this public meeting was provided specifying the time place and manner in which this meeting is being conducted it was advertised in the carrier posted in
all schools the administration office the municipal building the library the Bub Dooall center Edgewood Acres Amtown and the Winslow Township Post Office and our mission statement is the mission of
the Winsow Township School District a large diverse and growing community is to educate all students to become independent lifelong learners critical thinkers and caring and confident members of their community the district in partnership with the community and in
a climate of cooperation and mutual respect will provide an academic environment which values excellence and diversity encourages students to strive for personal excellence and assist them in acquiring the knowledge skills
attitudes necessary to contribute positively to a rapid changing world roll call mr clark here miss Dreen here miss Glo present miss Martin present mr
mcmanis good evening miss Peterson present miss Pittz Miss Pittz will be absent today thank you mr thomas present and Mr shaw mr shaw will be acting today thank you can we stand for the pledge of
allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all
good 2024 2025 district goals number one student achievement continue to implement best practices for delivering instruction to students this shall include A conduct weekly administrative walkthroughs to monitor teaching and
learning b consistently review student assessment data to guide and redirect teaching c continue to provide supplemental activities for example tutoring enrichment periods to en to address student deficiencies d benchmark
assessment for 9th grade math and language arts number two create a safe and positive learning environment for students and staff a strictly enforce the district's student code of conduct b focus on upper elementary school students to modify student behavior in
the early grades c reinforce positive behavior in a specific and genuine way d approach discipline with care respect and the desire to see the good in all students number three increase parent caregiver and community engagement in
education a provide opportunities for two-way communication with district stakeholders b continue with communications consortium c focus on refining our communication methods and messages to better market our schools d continue with our public relations with
the community well read there Mr clark will there be any awards and presentations tonight uh Mr president we do not have any presentations this evening however I do
have a u uh item I would like to read we as you well know we are now uh advocating for the renaming of our wonderful uh track and field at this point in time we're not voting on or for we just want to involve the community
and the stakeholders to be part of this process in any way so what we have done we have posted on the website for your comments and concerns on this topic we now have three uh individuals that was
considerations we previous got a letter from a Mr robert Johnson who was naming a Mr dennis Mitchell as a candidate we also got a letter from Miss Marcy Thomasello who was na naming Russell
Bates as a candidate and I just received a letter on Tuesday April 1st 2025 from Mr harold Smith Edgewood Grad uh recommending uh Shenica Brown i would like the board to to make a motion that now that we have three names that could
be considered once we're not asking for any vote nay or yay we're just asking to close nominations so we can begin a conversation to discuss in which capacity and which way we will go uh if that's okay with the board I'd like to
ask for a motion to close the nomination for renaming the athletic field motion to close the nomination for renaming the athletic field mr clark second i got a motion uh made by Mr
clark and I got a second by u Miss Dreen uh any questions comments yes i don't I think that we should close it out because it hasn't really given the community enough time to really even make any nominations for any other names
for the field and closing it out limited limits um the community and the stakeholders and shareholders were being really truly a part of naming this this field um because it came to my attention that some people instead of naming a name they said why couldn't we name it
Edgewood um Legacy Sports Complex so it doesn't single out any single person it actually includes all of the legacies from the Edgewood era and bringing it towards us so not letting the community come in and give other nominations prior to this coming up from last meeting I
think is unfair to the to the community point of order um with a nomination second i think that requires a vote uh we can we can say no to it or just table it for another would that be correct you have a motion and a second now it's time
for comment appropriately it been tossed to the board by the vice president for for comment which we are now receiving okay after this um we will proceed with a roll call vote on whether we're closing the nominations with the three
names that Mr thomas has announced earlier so here here's where my question and I do I do agree with Miss Glaw that that I do like that Edgewood aspect to it but here's my question so now that we this has been on the table since November of 2024 from the previous uh
board of uh president who diligently put a committee together and we're carrying out the policies and the procedures of that of that role now all we're doing now is trying to make sure that we fall in line with the process and the procedure now you can still come in uh it'll be posted up till June so you got
till June to come in and make every comment for against or whatever suggestion at that point so what I am just seeking for now is a vote that we can have this conversation with communication and not really make a decision on which way this is going just to be able to have a conversation with
the community so can we get any more questions or comments before we go to a roll call vote yes I do go ahead so what you suggested on the mo asking for the motion it asked to have those three names Mr mitchell Mr bates and um Miss
Brown as the nominees that closes off any nominations for the future am I correct yes yes it does and that's what I'm trying to that's what I'm trying not to let happen so would you suggest would you be okay
if we leave it open for another month yes okay so can we amend that motion asking that we close the nomination and give it a 30-day from today for anyone that wants to uh put in a new nomination or any other conversation about this uh
uh subject can I get a motion no a question you cannot close nominations you're asking just to extend the deadline date extend the Right and essentially you are closing them effective one month from
today but that's no further action required but it would require an amendment to the original motion and a second but it has to be that it's extension of the date it's not where it couldn't bring bring in other discussions like what
u the board member had indicated so somebody in the next 30 days can make a nomination for person or idea yes yes that's what that was should be the motion so are we closing the original motion no we would ask whether or not
there's Whoever was it you Mr clark yes sir are you inclined to amend your motion sure and was it you Miss Dreaden are you inclined to second that amendment okay so we have on us before us on the table a motion to approve the closing of the nominations 30 days from
today which would be somewhere around May 8th I think correct roll call mr clarks yes miss Drean yes miss Gloyd yes miss Martin yes mr mcmanis yes miss
Peterson yes and Mr thomas yes motion has carried what is the next so to uh clarify the first meeting in May or would you bring that i mean it probably will be what is what's the date of our first meeting
14 at that at 14 you want to close it well this one I mean you still use your 30 days but at the 14th that's when you want to take your vote to Okay that's fine that's fine that's fine all right we're going to move on to the agenda to number seven will there be any
correspondents for tonight yes um Mr vice President just had it in my hand yes we have one piece of correspondence you'd like to read sure uh it reads
"Good evening Dr pot my fellow board members administration staff and all stakeholders in our district first I would like to apologize for my absence from tonight's meeting but while work pulled me away from Winslow this week my
heart needs to address something everyone in Winslow and our entire state should know we all love sports and all of Winslow Township's countless championships and accolades but today we
need to celebrate our arts theater music departments and the many accomplishments they deliver recently many of us have had the pleasure of sitting in the Sarah Gordy Auditorium at the Winslow Township High School and watched or should I say
be downright aruck by the performances of a diverse cast of players whose talent just left you constantly catching your breath or giving them a huge ovation you cannot find this diversity in talent in most school districts and
yet Winslow does it year after year winslow Township students bring more than athletic talent they are theatrical allstars championship marching bands and all state or all South Jersey chorus members and they all start in our lower
elementary schools come check them out you will never be disappointed and this is from Mr john Shaw president of the board of education great letter from our president Mr shaw we should have had him on the screen and did a a virtual thing so he could come
in for that great letter and I I agree totally with that so we're going to move on to our minutes i am seeking a motion to approve our regular meeting minutes of March 26 2025 open session peterson to move for approval of our March 26
2025 open session open and close oh open and close can I get a second second McManis to approve the minutes for the regular meeting and the closed session meeting from March 26 okay moved by Miss
Peterson second by uh Mr mcnis any questions comments roll call mr clark yes miss Dreen yes miss Gloyd yes miss Martin yes mr mcmanis yes miss Peterson
yes and Mr thomas yes the motion has carried thank you moving down to our board committee reports would there be any reports from our athletic committee not at this time thank you will there be any reports from our citizens advisory committee not
at this time thank you Miss Martin will there be any report from our education committee yes the education committee will be meet on the last Tuesday of this month at 4 pm via WebEx thank you very much will there be any report from our
illustrious marketing committee well yes Mr acting chair President McCain um marketing committee convened on March 29th 2025 in attendance was one uh then
um vice president of the school board Joe Mr winslow Joe Thomas and one Jared better known as Jerry McManis we began at 12 uh 1:45 p.m uh discussion centered around the uh the marketing committee believes in an effort to continue to
reach out to the entire community and make board the board itself visible the board should be represented at the upcoming Junth celebration the fifth annual June 7 I'm sorry the fifth annual Junth festival in Winslow Township will
be held on Saturday June 14th 2025 at 1300 Winslow Avenue offering a day of celebration music food and community honoring the end of slavery in the United States uh we should set up our our tent and be staffed by board members board members i I tried to draft Michael
Clark there was this is an editorial to my to my notes here uh Mr clark is uh going to be best man in a wedding that particular day so I couldn't draft him but myself I'll be there for the entire day to greet the community and I would invite the rest of the board members as
they see fit to come and join me i'm hoping to uh I'll have the mini waters and maybe some breath mints because I drink a lot of coffee and uh what else we got meeting ended at 12:15 p.m next meeting is scheduled for the 19th of April 1:30 uh
1:30 p.m uh at the McManis House with uh rumor has it a cream cheese pound cake sir any questions for our Mr mcmanis chairperson of the marketing committee yes I I have a question sure um this students festival is who's sponsoring
that in the past we have usually done that and we actually set up our own date no no no i'm saying is this the Wings Township okay so let me correct the um information on it then okay all right it's the 4th annual Junth um festival it's going to be held at New Brooklyn
Park um on Saturday the 21st June 21st from 2:00 p.m to 8:00 p.m really good the information online was incorrect then okay saturday the 14th or the 21st you
said it's the 21st thank you yes and can we also make sure uh Dr that we have all the instruments that comes along with the tents we've been doing it so often the eagle is Can we get the eagle sure as long as
it's not 95 degrees okay good good thank you then uh Mr mcmanus for your illustrious report will there be any report from our negotiations committee no report none tonight right yes thank you how about our operations committee any report from our operations committee
none at this time any report from our policy HR committee no report all right thank you uh we're going to move down over to page three i'm asking for a motion to approve our superintendent
report that starts on page top of page three number 10 and goes all the way to the middle of page seven can I get a motion to approve that superintendent report peterson move for approval of superintendent report recommends
approval of the following items A and B 1 through 27 found on page 3 through seven thank you can I get a second can I get a question sure okay uh McManus would second that
pending questions okay moved by Miss Peterson second by Mr mcmanis any questions sir yes um superintendent's report page five number 18 uh there's an anti-bullying uh assembly uh scheduled
for the 29th of April from I believe 9:30 to 10:30 is that attendable by school board members in most cases the building uh the board member that is assigned to that school in most cases yes that person would
attend uh but usually these uh assemblies are targeted for the students right um and hopefully we'll be able to address whatever kinds of concerns they may have at this time but the person who's assigned to the building I don't
think that would be a problem to the person who's assigned to the building yes who's assigned to school six miss Brown School no school school board member assigned to school six at our reorg school
maybe one of our absentee folks oh it could be Miss Could be no she's the early child but boy let me remember who's assigned but anyway Mr mcmanis whoever is
assigned to to school six thank you guys more than happy to attend thank you uh second question that I have uh page uh six number 23 of pen relays yes um is that a networking event or is that just for the for the uh the I know that the
pen relays uh I didn't know if that's as Miss Lane being the athletic director that that would also be a networking event well not necessarily networking um we attend the pen relays every year for as long as I can remember uh we usually
have girls and boys participating the athletic director along with the coaches usually assem uh uh go along with them uh in this case the athletic director pretty much want us uh to know that she will be uh participating but normally
just the coaches and athletes would go okay no further questions thank you and I and I want to add to that I can say that we we are a favorite at that relay so moving right along uh can we get a a vote on the acceptance of the
superintendent's report mr clark yes miss Dredden yes miss Claude yes miss Martin yes mr mcmanis yes miss Peterson yes miss and Mr toms yes motion has carried
thank you very much now I'm looking for a motion to accept the business administrator report it starts at the bottom of page seven and goes all the way to the middle of page
13 peterson moves for approval of the business administrative board secretaries board A and B page 7 through 13 can I get a second mcmanis second that moved by Miss Peterson second by Mr
mcmanis any questions yes sir go ahead um uh report page eight number eight um there is a list of items that were to be disposed of is this through ordinary wear and tear or vandalism wear and tear
wear a lot of old materials at this point beyond their useful life to just discard okay and this is a common practice to list we have to specifically list them under this law before they can be disposed of yeah okay thank you and
then if I could ask one other question sure okay on the bill list uh page 86 I believe I'm going to say I'm not sure if it's either A or B there's an individual check made out for world class vacations to the total of $40,000
i believe that's a student activity check i'm going to look at it but it's for the senior class trip okay and um that's the cost that's a partial cost full call is any is any amount of that
being reimbured by any of the students or is that the the school district pay that senior no no and let me pull because I just want to make certain Mr mcmanis i don't want to shoot from the head what page was that Mr mcmanus that was on uh it was on the
the secretary's report okay it was um I can dig it up for you real quick disney did you want to give the specifics dr m mcmahon is Dr caramo can give you the particulars thank you that's an
organization that we don't plan trip to Disney World okay so the trip is paid for by the students the account is a student activity account the money is the positive fear and then the check written by the board appreciate that thank you doctor
okay thank you very much can we get a roll call Mr mr vice President page 11 number 14 go back which which one page 11 number 14 of the competitive contract
request for proposal for internet service i just need some clarification um is that to improve the services that we currently have or to replace them that is to uh well we put out a bid a
competitive contracting uh bid this was the loan provider that responded to the bid okay i believe it's the one that we currently have uh and I also uh and I think we had discussed this during the operations committee we only awarded for
a year with the option to renew so that way we have time to do the um the audit and see what comes up okay so if they say that this vendor is an issue we'll deal with them for a year and then we'll do what we need to do if they say then
we can renew okay thank you all clear yes outstanding roll call mr clark yes miss Dre yes miss Glo yes miss Margin yes mr mcmanis yes miss Peterson
yes and Mr thomas yes the motion has carried thank you so much we're now at the page of 13 in the middle of number 12 our personnel report that starts in the middle of page 13 goes all the way over to the top of page 15 can I get a motion peterson move for approval of the
superintendent recommendation of the following items that are found under personnel number one through six page 13 through six yes a second McManus
moved by Miss Peterson second by Mr mcanis any questions um Mr president it was brought to my attention that there is an incorrect date on Mr davis number
two it should say 2526ers it says in the body as a heading it should be 25 2017 so moving forward with that amendment we can proceed with the roll call if there's no other comments Mr vice
President Mr long say moving forward with that amendment we can proceed with the roll call if there's no other comments roll call vote please did we get the motion yes okay mr clark yes miss Dreen yes miss Glory yes miss
Martin yes mr mcmanis yes miss Peterson yes and Mr thomas yes motion has carried now we're moving over to our addendum it's a pink slip that we have been placed in our folders it's a one-page addendum beginning with number one and
going all the way through through that through that number one page can I get a motion peterson move for approval of the business administrative board secretary report that approves the following
action items under A1 through 4 second uh second McManis moved by Miss Peterson second by Mr mcmanis any questions roll call
mr clark yes miss Breen yes miss Floyd yes miss Martin yes mr mcmanis yes miss Peterson yes and Mr thomas yes motion has carried we're moving right along now we down to the open
public records act and request is there any open public action records and or requests uh I believe not so we had none that we responded to during this time frame outstanding thank
you so much dr poti will there be anyformational items tonight yes yes um Mr thomas members of the board and community I have a few information items for this evening uh first of all as you well know we have been discussing uh the
possibility of providing onetoone Chromebooks for the high school and the middle school so I'd like to give you an update uh the high school would need uh 92 Chromebooks and let me explain why
410 are beyond their useful life 492 have one more year of life or useful life so um rather than just get just enough and uh for us
to accommodate all of the students we would uh be recommending that 92 Chromebooks be provided for the high school the middle school only needs 200 Chromebooks with those totals at each school um we will be able to provide one
to one Chromebook to each child and um with a life a useful life uh that would extend uh two to three years now at the middle school they have 600 plus uh Chromebooks
now but I think a few of them is maybe one year away from their useful life but Mr shrapshshire said 200 would be his number at this point so that brings us up to where we are and of course it will be up to the board to decide in which
direction you want to go keep in mind that in as much as you have enough for one to one uh you always need some additional Chromebooks in the event someone breaks theirs or someone forget to bring to school you want to make sure you have enough Chromebooks so it doesn't interrupt with instruction all
right any questions in reference to u that update i just like to say thanks for getting that information i know the board has been trying to get that information for a while thank you and the administration for providing okay any more questions or comments orformational items for anyone
doctor yes sir um was was there a dollar value attached to that um no um at this point um if you want to move forward um then you know we can attach a dollar amount to each school that's not
anything difficult it won't take that much time we can get a dollar value to you that's not a problem at all and then the if I if I have my math correct you're looking at like plus or minus 1100 units yes yes thank you uh and
again keeping in mind that uh you don't want to just purchase to the number you always want to get some additional ones so you can have additional Chromebooks on just in case yes and is that for them to keep or for them to have that will be their
Chromebook based on the recommendation for them to take back and forth home with them so at the end of the year what happens they return them so that they can either be repaired replaced recharged you know cleaned because you want to make sure
they're usable beyond next year so what we would do is assign them the same Chromebook the following year um so if they're in ninth grade when they come back 10th grade they get the same Chromebook oh they get their their I'm sorry if I'm out of turn um they get
their that exact same Chromebook that they used before okay thank you yes it's only fair that they maintain the same one yeah um because if I'm really taking care of mine then I want to make sure I get the same one back the following year all right um the next update I would
like to give you as you uh have directed me to uh move forward with securing a technology audit uh we have a possible vendor uh through our co-op we are waiting for some documents to be completed um and at this point uh once
that is done uh we ask that uh that uh vendor come before this board and give a presentation on the scope of work uh so that we all on the same page and at that time of course we'll be able to move forward with some uh finalizing
everything that needs to be done so at this point uh once we get all the paperwork that uh we are requesting uh then we'll move forward and we will have the vendor the company for the board to give you an update on what they're doing why they're doing it that sort of thing
so everybody would understand uh what's happening from that point of view okay and this is the the vent if I may this vendor is going to define the scope of what needs to be done based on the information we have provided them um
what they have come into the district and do their own assessment in addition to what our needs are and then based on that information they will compile an assessment or scope of work to review with the board and hopefully you know
they'll give us uh an estimated cost of how much that assessment would uh once it's complete thank you all right um earlier in the school year uh members of the board you may recall uh that I uh
had recommended that we initiate girls volleyball at the middle school uh do you remember that conversation um I would like to continue to put that before you uh in order for us to get all the equipment and the stands and coaches
pay for referees we're looking at $8,200 um so I just want to keep that in front of you um because I think that is something that is needed that we continue to expand our offerings at the middle school u so I just want to remind you of that particular recommendation
okay i have a question yes um in regard to recommendation for the volleyball is that something that um was being requested highly from the middle school students so that if we do move forward to make a motion for this that it would be something that we can have a successful program for them oh absolutely uh there are a couple things
yes we need to put as many athletic programs and clubs in the middle school as possible because they don't have enough plus uh the volleyball program at the high school is doing very very well but we don't have a feeder system awesome it's not in place so we can
start preparing our young ladies early on they can move into the high school with some skill set to help the program to grow so that would be the primary reason for the recommendation all right if you don't mind me asking sure making
a statement i think that would just increase Winslow winning with a absolutely with a well we we would like and and more importantly um the middle school need some additional activities and uh I think that would be uh one that will give the young ladies an
opportunity to participate cool all right um I also have uh one more recommendation and again this is just a recommendation i would like to reinstate field trips to all of our schools uh it's been a long time since we've
invested money into our schools for field trips um our young people um and with the conversations I've had with the building principles and teachers uh would like for the school district to invest some monies into the schools so
that our children can go on field trips um and basically set it up for example the kindergarteners every year will let's say go to Philadelphia Institute of Arts or something uh the first grade will go somewhere else third grade that way we
don't duplicate the trips but every year the young people will have an opportunity knowing that when I get in third grade we're going to go to uh the art museum or Fields Planetarium or whatever it may be um uh the teachers um have made it very clear that we missed
that the young people uh haven't had and then and on the other hand ladies and gentlemen young people can't afford uh to go to these trips and we hate to just take a handful of young people who families can afford and leave all the other young people behind so I think
we're at the point where we need to invest more into our children as far as field trips concerned it's been a long time i think it's time to reinstate all right and uh my last information item uh ladies and gentlemen I would like to
personally on behalf of the administration and the board to congratulate Daniel Asa 11th grade student at Winsow Township High School for winning first place in the C-SPAN student documentary competition wow um
he won the he won the high school Eastern division for his documentary Saving Sedan US Aiding in the Forgotten Crisis um Mr asa now this is a national award
um last year as a 10th grader he also won a national award um if for those of you who went to the play uh Daniel Asa was uh portrayed one of the husbands uh during Mama Mia and he was the shorter
of the three excellent job very intelligent very talented young man um um he has represented Winsow Township School District the high school in this community on a national scale for years
and this is a very bright young man as a matter of fact uh comes from a very bright family he has a young sister who has also been able to establish herself academically so uh we want to again uh thank uh Daniel Asa for representing the
school district this community in the best possible way um the high school has his uh documentary uh on their website i will post his documentary on the district's website and Facebook page tomorrow uh but I wanted to let you know
um very intelligent very non-assuming don't want a lot of fanfare uh but I told him that uh we need to celebrate him and his family uh for what he's been able to do and um I am going to assume at this point that this young
man is going to continue to represent the school district his community in the best possible way so congratulations Daniel Asa for a job well done that concludes our information items uh Mr thomas for the seat thank you there Dr py moving now we really appreciate
that moving now to hold business will there be any items on the old business mr vice President could I make a comment sure thank you um hot off the presses from a Las Vegas business trip mr shaw has school six and is apparently
watching us okay oh well I I can appreciate that because the silence got me a little puzzled mr shaw is loud and clear through from Las Vegas why is he watching us and he's
in Las Vegas that's for another time all right so no so no business on so how about new business any information on Mr president sure i want to place a motion on the floor um Peters moves that the board demonstrate their endorsement of
continuing uh to support our district goal three through providing the educational and emotional support and now the board members individually and collectively
uh provide financial support of the Lewis Johnson family of which three of their children are students here at Rowan excuse me here at Hinsel Township the fourth is an infant who these four
children lost both parents almost three years three weeks ago so if the board pleasure if they would like to make a financial con contribution to the family I second that motion
any questions just the amount the amount could be whatever moves you whatever moves whatever moves us individually i did have one board member former board member that text me today and she wants
to um contribute to and that's uh Miss Cindy Moore now Mrs peterson are you asking that we present that money to you i mean how how are we if you would like and then I can get a gift card and we can count the money up and get a gift card if those
that do not have cash they can give me a check and I'll present it to the family and I would ask that uh board member Wanda Claw go with me to present it thank you so much Miss Claw thank you
all in favor of this uh endeavor i I have it now we're moving to um Mr president I say something in your business um I wanted to say I went to the play Mama Mia it was excellent
superb um you can ask for no better actresses and actors and singers i enjoy I enjoy them all but I enjoyed it it had me laughing it had me sad it just was a excellent excellent play and you can ask
for no better i mean everyone should come they They're like professionals we have the greatest theater plays that you can present i really think they should do a play outside of our school district because
that's how good they are so I just want to commend them uh and all they do and I want to commend the ones that are teaching the ones that in the musical part of it all the ones that are are are teaching them how to dance and how to
act i commend them all they all deserve really they deserve the greatest praise we can give them thank you Mr after appreciate that testimony we're now moving to public comments mr
thank you madam hold on yes um Miss would like to revisit informationational items number one um yes i'd like to revisit theformational items that were presented by Dr potit i'd like to make a motion um for the f the first motion I'd like to
make is that he he's able to go ahead and move forward to get us the price so that he can present the price for the oneonone technology for the 112 um Chromebooks for the students for so that we can look look at this so we can be prepared for the 202526 school year
that's my first motion i'll second that motion and that's all in favor all in favor i I my second my second motion I'd like to make is that we go ahead and reinstate the field trips for all schools i can second that one yeah absolutely
any questions all in favor i I may I just interject one statement sure would not interfere with what has already taken place um the amount would be based on size of school of course you would high school
middle school would get more than school one and two because of numbers so but we haven't established uh how much that would be what we would like to do is uh have teacher input like where would you like to take the first graders third graders how much that would potentially cost and then I would be able to come
back and say school one x number dollars school two three up through the high school and I do sincerely uh mean the high school um those young people still also deserve to go on field trips because most of them are educationally
uh inclined and they need to get out and get that exposure and a lot of them the only way it's going to happen is through the school district so whatever we able to come up with an amount that we can attach to each school I'll be able to present it to you outstanding okay but I
appreciate your support thank you and and my next one um I'd like to make a motion that um we support um moving forward with the girls volleyball at the U middle school i can second that motion
all in favor i have it thank you doctor if I may yes please um just a question regarding the individual field trips as far as a per uh per event the cost that is brought before the board for approval
yes all right thank you the amounts yes yes any more any more questions all right we'll move to public comments thank you Mr vice President the Winslow Township Board Bo board of education highly values the input of citizens and making important decisions that affect
the children of our community we also believe in the rights of citizens to observe board meetings to ensure that all of our citizens have the opportunity to attend schoolboard meetings and offer comment and to ensure that the board can conduct the important business of the district we'd ask that the speakers
follow the guidelines for making public comments the board secretary will recognize those individuals in the audience who wish to make comment and we'd ask that you kindly respect the following procedures one all members uh of the public attending schoolboard
meetings must treat each other and the board with respect two please state your full name and town of residence three please limit your comments to four minutes or submit your questions in the event we're unable to answer them this
evening to the board with your name address telephone number and preferably email address where you can be contacted and your questions will be answered within a reasonable time frame and lastly individuals offering citizen comment are not permitted to make
personal attacks on any district employee board member or other testifier or member of the public thank you at this time for a motion to open up public comments peterson move for approval to open public comments second by McManis
moved by Peterson second by Miss Mattis all in favor i miss Paul do we have anyone on the list at this time yes we have Debbie Murphy good evening board members um I'm Debbie Murphy and I live in
Serville so the marching band competed on Sunday at the wood at um Williamstown um the band placed first with a score of 75.5 and the guard placed second with a score of
85.6 and so again we're winning so we're still winning um um there's only two more vocal competitions before we head off to the championships in Wildwood so you guys have a couple more chances to come see our show cuz we're really doing good
things um we compete Saturday at Gateway the band performs at 12:10 and the guard goes on at 5 and then another thing have you guys looked at a mil a lacrosse team for the
middle school i feel that it would be popular no we we have not and um uh Miss Murphy I think u you know we take it one step at a time um maybe we can reconsider and look at that for next
year um so I think if we do one at a time make sure it's affordable and do it right the first time maybe next year we can look at that uh but I think the idea is great because we believe the better programs we provide at the middle school is going to enhance what we do at the
high school and uh most of those sports we do not have a feeder system uh the young ladies and young men are going into the high school and those non-traditional sports uh let's say in ninth grade playing it for the first time and when they're in that situation
we're not very successful so uh it would be my recommendation that we consider it uh the following year so that we can eventually at some point touch all of it so recommendation will take ahead thank you thank you
[Applause] i believe it's Sha Wal it's Shima but my question was answering the agenda so thank you okay patrick Oats good evening board members can you guys hear me yes okay good so I'm a proud
graduate of Eduette hey good i said I think I know you too back in 1983 so uh in the board in general I thank you for giving people their flowers that was the saying for mother give people their flowers while they're living so they just do that so let me work backwards
speaking of that Miss P you talked about the for the board members uh what's the possibility because my heart just went out when you said that maybe setting up a GoFundMe page or someone to do that so local community members can contribute to that so you just mentioned that um
they are actually the village of Camden County yes they're setting up uh a distribute if you want to contribute a gift card or whatever and I don't I can't remember the barberh shop so we're doing a the village of Kingdom County is
doing a gift card fundraiser for every Friday and Saturday drop off at the R Barberhop um if you need more information after the meeting is over with I can give you the contact number of the person that if you want to contact if you want to drop it off prior but every Friday from 5 to 8 you can
drop it off at the R Barber Shop in the Winslow Center or Saturday morning from 8 to 11 you can drop off a gift card and there's all just gift cards we're just asking for gift cards that way the family can use those gift cards throughout the year for the kids for all their needs um I have actually worked
with a lot of community um organizations in our community in Winslow and when I tell you we're coming together as a major village for this family we are um we just um Mario um parte of the pantry of Cichlavville he's working with his his suppliers and we're going to make
sure this family is 100% taken care of and every year the village of Camden County is going to do a major fundraiser for this family because this is not just today is going to be until th that baby is 18 years old and that baby's only eight months old right now so we're going to make sure that we cover the
expenses or do do things for this this family as much as we can and we'll do it for any other families if any tragedies tragedies happen like this as well but there is a gift card fundraiser every Friday and Saturday you can drop it off at the barber shop until the end of April that gives everybody Delta Sigma
Theta uh New Jersey Garden City alumni is collecting they gave us a listing of what they needed and uh we have a location in Stone Hollow and that uh Denise uh Crystal uh Johnson will be
picking or we will we're going to need a truck move okay thank you for that that's a great organization that you're talking about so that was the one uh the second thing about the naming of the field so I'm a proud Edward graduate so has the board thought about maybe a
share responsibility for the field like for instance um I used to run track play basketball for Edgewood uh right where the tractor supply is in in Berlin we used to run from here to there years ago was called the chickenburg i don't know
if remember that or not but we used to run track and I say that as Mr bass was a hard driver but he taught us a lot of responsibility as young men and women and from his teaching in leadership
uh produced a lot of good athletes and business folks such as myself and my suggestion is maybe name it Batesfield name the track Mitchell Way maybe some type of shared responsibility so they
both can get credit and if you want to throw Edgewood in there make the Ped make it Edgewood Lane as you go to the track or something that way we can incorporate all the things so that's one and then the last thing this is for Dr potit as you were talking about the 101
technology you did answer my questions on the life expectancy the other questions I have of that is how are they uh the laptops or Chromebooks being updated are the students responsible for updates no u school districts school districts so you have your IT staff that
best push out so they would have to how would they get the updates would they get it because the students are going to have them home and then once they hit the network well they're expected to bring them to school every day and um we would we would do the other things as we do now we keep them in the
school let's say they may have to leave them overnight when we want to do some things we have those uh charger cabinets where they just put them in okay but yes but it will be the responsibility of the school just take care yeah because I notice sometimes when you're doing updates during the day it's going to slow it's gonna slow down the Right yeah
okay so that's good uh and that's beyond Okay and far as that with the laptops are are there any type of rules or behaviors that the students have to sign when they have the parents would have to sign for them and be uh responsible for
any cause or damage of those Chromebooks we are as part of the conversation looking at insurance uh for those Chromebooks but at this point without any of those um things being available um the financial responsibility would be
that of the parent okay all right the last question I have you mentioned a technology audit can you share a little more about that i have a question about it didn't know if it was a physical security audit meaning that as far as information technology are you looking
at uh securing like server rooms or is it more of an administrative thing as far as standard operating procedures how you do your business every day all of the above okay um we're looking at a in internal infrastructure we're looking at
cable lines that run through the district building to building out to our uh through our service out to um let's say Comcast and whomever provides um why connectivity is not working let's say in
a building and then uh right next door in that classroom they don't have connectivity is down and you go right across the hall is working I mean there are litany of things that need to be done across the board and we're trying to find answers to why certain things are happening
during the course of the day uh so what they we've asked them to do is to be very thorough uh everything everything I've said to you we put on the table plus they've asked us questions do you want us to do this or that so at this point uh we looking at a toz okay we
want to be very thorough a site survey where they come out at Yes they they going to come out we want them to interview teachers uh those people who are in those classrooms who are identified with some of these issues talk to our vendors as to why certain
times are just shut down we can't find the problem internally and then a lot of times we find this externally um so there are litany of issues that we're dealing with at this point um based on my conversation and our internal team we
met with them briefly and uh the proposal that I saw thus far is very very thorough that's why we would like for them to come in do a presentation for the public and the board and we have any questions to ask them but I think at this point they're going to cover quite
a bit thank you thank you Mr thank you anybody else no mr oak is there anybody else uh in
the waiting room no yes can you just come back and sign for us please okay would you like to sign afterwards yes okay hi everybody uh my name is Jacqueline Buck i'm the one who started the petition i wanted to talk a little bit
about why this petition was started to begin with and why it's turned into something that's just become super older and aggressive and I don't really think it had to get to that point and I wanted to ask about the emails that I had sent originally when I was just trying to
donate to the schools and if the fire marshall had responded i had done a little bit of research um I had actually spoken with teachers when I had first went for my son who had started in the preschool early intervention program see I have one son in kindergarten and I
like the school and I brought Akan in because he has special needs well I had brought him in and I had told talked to them about his health concerns and the teacher informed me that summer is rough and if he's going to have issues he's
not the only one and it gets really hot in those classrooms so I said "Hey I'm gonna donate like let me donate some fans." They told me to talk to Miss McBride i did and now I reached out to you guys i've gotten a lot of backlash i've gotten a lot of aggressive messages
people threatening my children i'm trying to do good by the school i did my research i saw the HVAC program for the high school i saw the HVAC back program for school five i see that it's still not have any responses received my
question is is okay if the HVAC AC program can't happen right away if the funds aren't there why can't we address the electrical issues and do the fans instead of making them sit there because when I had asked Miss McBride and other
teachers in the school they said that they can't cover the windows because the police need to be able to see in they can't use fans for little fingers they can't use fans for a for electrical reasons um what other options are there for these kids i I'm actually very concerned
i don't even think I'll be able to send my son and I know other parents have reached out to me about not wanting to send their children for health reasons they talked to me about this i've had a lot of messages about it and the comments were shut off because things were getting out of hand this was
supposed to be something good for the children and that's why I'm coming to you i mean I'm still waiting to see what the fire marshall has to say about donating the fans may I intervene at this point sure did you get my email i responded to you about the fire department i had not received a response
in regard to the fire marshall i sent you one okay i did respond did he say anything in regards to accepting donations no no i was asking the fire marshall to respond to the inflatable
um fixtures or inflatable tents that you were recommending for each of the classrooms i also stated to you that fans were a concern of mine because particularly around little people and since those inflatables sat on the floor
they could easily stick their fingers in um so the fire marshall pretty much said that uh those inflatables and fans do not meet codes and they would be very very uncomfortable with those kinds of inflatables in the classroom for a lot
of reasons um the texture whether they're flammable uh any inflatable if they deflate while children are inside i mean there are a lot of safety concerns with it um I also uh spoke to uh the
fire department about um you know why and of course they went on to say just based on their review of the information you sent me they do not need code at all and having them in the classrooms would not be safe so what options are there there aren't any options and let me give
you a couple reasons um we just put out a bid for air conditioning for schools five and six not one company bid on two $6 million projects not one company submitted a bid why because the tariffs
that are now imposed uh would put them in a position whereby they put in a bid let's say for the $6 million they can't get the equipment and when the equipment comes it may be much much more expensive than they anticipated so now they have
underbid a project that they would have to eat and pay more just to do the work and be underpaid so we anticipate that um any air conditioning projects that we have will probably go unbid because of
the uncertainty um window units is not even an option uh you're talking about cost efficient we either going to do central air in our buildings or none at all um we're talking about over a thousand classrooms and to put um window
units in the thousand um not only will we have to upgrade the electrical and u it's just not cost efficient it's just not an option so at this point um we have tried to do as much as we could without going to this
community to ask for an increase in taxes or to do a referendum uh we have always been cognizant of taxes being raised particularly now the other issue that we have at this point um is that we continue to try to do all of these
projects using our operating budget year after year after year so at this point we do not have any immediate solutions to that situation we're just going to have to do the best we can and even with schools five six in the high school we
have no idea when uh these projects will be addressed um COVID knocked out the high school we started at $6 million that high school project is now $17.5 million these $6 million projects at
schools five and six after these tariffs we may be looking at $10 million and each time the price goes up takes us a little longer to generate those funds without going to the community asking them to raise taxes or going out for a
referendum because we are cognizant and sensitive to taxes being raised under these conditions there are no other options at this point Miss B i wish I had a solution but we have no other solutions at this time okay so can I ask
the permission to continue a GoFundMe to donate specifically to certain schools individually to try and get us a little bit more funding for the children um you don't need our permission and the district wouldn't give you permission to
establish i received a protocol from municipality so I and I had spoke to them so they told me that I need to follow up with you guys somebody called me from the municipality we we do not get involved in GoFundMe u in terms of on behalf of the school district no we don't do that that's not
something we get involved with all right well thank you for your time is there anybody else oh Miss Buck can you Is there anybody else or that concludes
hi I'm Justine Myers i live um in Cedarbrook um now to piggyback on what what Miss Buck said um back in 2020 during COVID there was a grant or something that happened where the school
systems were given HVAC or work done to their ventilation systems now that was labeled as HVAC so where where did that go
it went to upgrading all of the uh heating uh systems throughout the school it also gave us an opportunity to bring in um clean air systems uh in each of the classrooms that's where part of that
money went to upgrade air circulation in all of our schools and to up uh to upgrade any of those units in the buildings that are now providing heat to make sure that we had proper air circulation uh as a matter of fact we
had every unit ventilator in all of our schools received an upgrade so that we can uh ensure proper air circulation okay and does that go that could be ran as kind of like even in your home where you just set on the fan to like
ventilate air so there's some type of air flow that could be happening in the classrooms right right and we were able to we were able to do that yes okay because when you're in there it doesn't feel like anything's moving when it's hot okay yeah so I wonder if maybe we
could talk to like have um a heating and air person come out and have them teach them how to control what they do have in their house well we have uh not only our own people on
staff we have outside uh vendors coming in working with us and at this point uh the circulation has met the uh state guidelines however uh when you have a hot day and it's
humid there's very little that you're going to be able to do with the present system so I guess the other question would be um because it wasn't clear okay so did the fire marshall say you are allowed fans as long as they're up high
no the fire marshall has been very clear on fans itself okay um we have allowed um our teachers to bring in fans but they have to make sure that the courts are not in okay the egress etc where
people are in and out of those buildings for any purposes and it have to be away from the children u because in most cases you know somebody gets curious and stick their hand in there so fans are
not um encouraged however uh on a very hot day and you put a fan in there it's not going to cool the room it's just going to move that heat around to get the relief yeah yeah if that's a solution um but I would have to make
sure uh that before we just arbitrarily tell all the teachers just bring in your fans just go i would have to make sure because safety is our priority and we have to make sure that before we uh entertain any type of uh electrical
device in the classroom it has to meet all safety and fire code uh regulations proceed with common sense basically without question um okay so now with the budgeting I know with the um threat of
the tariffs right now could be putting things on hold hopefully doesn't last forever um but when I saw your budget for the year roll out I don't understand why other priorities are
sitting present over such as what such as the the air conditioning or anything when it comes to education our teachers we're losing teachers like because 75% staff okay well um I don't want to
debate the issue because I think I've made myself clear um but I think I also said that we have three schools where the money is already set aside to have those schools added progress right and I'm not understanding what you mean about the
budget well okay so is the the building that's going to be at the high school for athletic is that storage or an athletic storage storage storage and how much is that going to be spent
800 800,000 yes 800 right right what size building is that i don't know the measurements but it's pretty big and one of the one of the reasons uh we have about 20 or more athletic programs and
we have equipment all over the place right and we have to store that equipment for a lot of reasons one so it can be maintained from year to year right um so that we can have a place that's specified for each of those individual sports and uh we are in a
position where uh we can do that now and again that was a project um that we had put on our long range plan and now we're in a position to financially do that okay let me let me point out something else to the community because I think
it's important we we are probably one of the few school districts not only in South Jersey but in the entire state that we're using operating funds to do all the work that we have done um just to think we set
aside $17.5 million to air condition or HVAC uh equipment for the high school $6 million for school five $6 million for school six and the barn and we have not
gone out and asked for one additional dime in taxes or referendum right we believe that we are looking at our budget and our operating funds and doing the best we possibly can um so at this point uh to look at our present budget
and say that the district should be doing more i don't agree with that i wasn't saying that i was saying maybe different priorities well that's why I'm questioning right well we based on what I have been able uh to gather from this
community as well as my leadership team we have prioritized um those projects that we thought was most important particularly those schools that had second floors uh if you're in any of the buildings that have two floors you know the second floors
are usually um the ones that have um the most difficult time when it comes to heat yes and and we are and we have already done the things we felt necessary to address those issues so at this point I'm not sure what else you
can ask of of us in terms of budgeting and uh being good stewards of our tax dollars because I think we've done the best anyone could possibly ask of us without asking the community for any additional monies i would say the only
thing to be asked of is maybe um the the prices seem I mean a little astronomical or if you look at like silly things like um the busing and the parts if you look at if you go online
and look up that part that that bus needed it's only like $100 but then yet you guys pay $5,000 for that one part so is there a way that we could get better bidding or better
um quotes on things maybe save a book here and there so then when you do have your you know it's just a thought yeah but we're controlled by the uh public school uh contract law when we go out to
bid um anything over a total cost of $44,000 um can be bid it's a competitive bid it's and and if you meet the criteria and in technical specifications we are mandated to award to the lowest
price if they've provided a responsive bid that gives us what we seek um between uh under anything under $44,000 we get three quotes every time um I think it
goes down to a couple thousand before we don't have to do quotes but that the sort of that that middle part we get three quotes uh in every situation we're required to do that and maintain them okay so in every situation they're
always looking for to either bid at the lowest price and award to a responsible bidder right or get through three quotes from from on the minor things to still try and save some money right now is that
public information absolutely the roofing and all that like is it all Yeah it's advertised the contracts are publicly bid okay anybody can come in and the qualified bid for them the other biders ask to see what everybody else
bid including who are in competition with them we we deal with that all the time we don't have any this month but you'll frequently see those types of matters under section Roman numeral 14 open public records act request we get those requests all the time okay so the
big part would be online and this is just the breakdown okay well thank you for your time you're welcome anyone else all right looking for a motion to post public comment if there's something that ma'am if
you're going to speak I'm sorry but you have to get up and give your name and town of residence please and then come sign when you're done um I actually wasn't really gonna speak about pull want to pull down the mic thanks thank you appreciate it um I My
name is Shar i'm from Winsow Township um I I had something I wanted to touch on but it's kind of personal so I wanted to know if there was another way that I could touch on it without speaking in public always the building principal or
administration right well um is it something that is school related have you spoken with the building principal um then the next thing to do is to um speak with either Dr caramo who is the
assistant superintendent thank you and um I would be the next person if that situation is not resolved but I'm confident that your situation can be resolved um through Dr caramo and of course we would always include the building principal back into the issue
because that's where we will go to find out what the concern is we do not discuss personal issues in the public meeting right that's why I wasn't even going to stand up because I wasn't even going to bring it up okay but reach out to Dr caro before you leave and we'll
try to assist you right okay thank you so much do you still need me to sign yes anyone else on the public comments well members I'm looking for a motion to adjourn public comment peterson move for approval to adjourn public comments
can I get a second mcmanus yes sir second by McManus to end public comments motion was moved by Miss Peterson and second by Manners all in favor i will there be executive session no sir
no executive session no folks I'd like to thank everyone for coming out i'm going for a motion now to adjourn this board meeting peterson move for adjournment of this second move by Peterson second by meeting a journ once again thanks to
everyone for coming out tonight