good evening everyone good evening everyone we're ready to start so we need everybody to take a seat no B all right I am going to call this regular meeting of the Collingswood Board of Education to order appropriate appropriate notice uh of this meeting has been advertised roll call please Mr Chu here Mr Craig here Mrs Maya here Mrs molski here Mrs Savino here Mrs Sheron selia Mr Sherman here Mr dilus here Mrs Kaden here please 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 okay so we we had an executive session prior to uh this meeting so we need a motion to exit uh executive session so moved and a second second all in favor hi okay uh we begin today with Committee of the whole um before we get started on uh a number of topics that we thought it would be important to uh to cover I wanted to give Miss Howell Turner the opportunity she's sitting up here with us for the first time to introduce herself and say a few words good evening thank you very much thank you for the opportunity to join up here this evening and um I want to start by thanking the board and Dr McDow for the opportunity to serve um I started on May 20th so it's been now just over one month for me and um I feel really lucky to be in this position in this District as well as Oakland and I want to just share a few Reflections as we get started this evening uh so in that time in the last month I've had the opportunity to visit every school on multiple occasions while we have significant areas in need of improvement across the district I want to share tonight that I'm excited and optimistic by what I've seen so far I'm going to share some examples I was in Miss Hogan's classroom at sharp a few weeks ago when her fifth graders were excited to tell me that they were done with all their fifth grade math content and we're starting to explore sixth grade and then a few weeks later I saw those same sharp fifth graders at their promotion ceremony which was almost entirely student l in both English and Spanish I attended the annual autism walk in night Park led by Mrs curlyy from zann all district elementaries came together to celebrate neurodiversity week and to highlight the strength of our special education programming prek through 12 Miss chrisa Foley has shared with me her graphic design students tremendous projects and the Paw Print newspaper full of student writing art and humor I joined Middle School Field Day and got to experience the positive camaraderie easily observed between students and staff and then a few days later I visited Elementary field day and was truly impressed with the teamwork that I saw the uh the collinswood high school student leaders supported the event and were really wonderful from start to finish Mr Mr lore and Mr Adams should be very proud juneth was honored with the first ever assembly Elementary assembly we've held for this holiday it was a collaborative effort between the buau district and ptas uh Middle School and High School graduations were beautiful ceremonies and great Testaments to the hard work of students staff and families to reach such important milestones and to be clear this list could have been much longer and I keep thinking if I've seen this much in just a few weeks what will I be able to say at this time next year at this point I visited nearly every prek through fifth grade classroom and many at the 6th through 12th grade level I've met with key stakeholders at schools and the district level along with PTA leaders and Community leaders we have significant work to do as a district I know we'll be talking about many of those areas tonight and I'm ready to roll up my sleeves but I think it's important we remember that while there's much to be done there's also much to celebrate I feel lucky to be in this role and I look forward to hearing feedback tonight about how we can continue to grow and improve to better serve our staff students and families thank you thank you Meredith we're very excited to have you yes uh we were just talking about how um you know Miss mcpartland left a pretty big um hole in in our district and we're very excited to have you on board um to fill those big shoes and we have high hopes that you will that you will be doing that um so topics for committee of the whole tonight all kind of stem from the same um need that we feel which is to to be sure to clarify and um uh talk in more detail about some of the let's say hot topics that have come up uh in the district over the the month since we've met um and to make sure that the community hears us discussing it learning from it and um making plans for what will come next and we've asked uh Miss how Turner to be up here with us as well as Dr McDow and Miss Coleman because they can help um paint the the the picture of what's been going on and and where we're going next so we're going to start with um the middle school and high school scheduling process and um starting off with the basic question to to Dr mcdell if you could answer for all of us to start with um or remind all of us why we felt the need to start the to have this process change in the first place so why why are we not just using the schedule that we had last year what was the reason for the change so first uh so good evening everybody thank you for being here first before um we begin I'd like to Echo um Miss Howell Turner's uh sentiments um so I'd also like to open the discussion uh just by publicly thanking the board of education for allowing me to continue serving our community um with the new uh contract uh as a Collingwood resident and School District Parent uh I am deeply committed to supporting the evolving needs of our school community and I'm honored to lead the important work that values of diverse voices of our school district uh over the last three and a half years we've worked collaboratively to address many of the challenges that have come our way uh and I look forward to continuing to learn and grow with our amazing staff as we collectively seek to Foster an educational environment that truly empowers and inspires every student and so yes we still have much work to do but I am confident that by working together uh we have everything that we need to achieve our mission um and so when we think about uh the bell schedule it really starts with one of the seven guiding uh strategic goals of our vision 2026 uh strategic plan which talks about uh student voice how do we Elevate student voice into our processes into our policies and into our practices and so that uh they have more of a say about their day-to-day and so one of the things that we did was we went to students and we asked um we talked to uh cohorts of students grade 6 through 12 uh we also uh talked with with staff uh we talked with administrators uh and then we looked and did a a diagnosis of what went well with the current schedule and what didn't go so well with the current schedule and we established a series of uh guard rails and guidance uh for the administrative team to then as the representative of the district in those discussions about scheduling to take back to the scheduling committee and so per the contract the scheduling committee is made up of middle and high school administrators uh faculty and staff um and the contract also uh demands that they meet no less than three times uh in order to review the current schedule to look at its impact uh and then ultimately make a recommendation and so the district's role and responsibility is to hold the administrators as well as the scheduling committee accountable uh for meeting the needs of students and so in some of the uh feedback that we received um was the level of confusion with the the different days the brevity of the the class periods um and that uh there was a lot of Confusion And so uh one of the things that we specifically asked for was to lessen the level of confusion increase the level of consistency we also asked to the degree possible not knowing what type of budget scenario that we would have uh attempt to increase the length of the period um because in many instances specifically with the uh uh the structure of the eight period day uh many students communicated that that was a throwaway day because by the time they got settled in their class they only had about 20 uh to 25 minutes of actual content and so we brought all of that feedback back to the scheduling committee we we released guidance to the administrative team in October and so I think it's important to to read the to read the guidance so that we're all on the same page and that we're all clear and so as it relates to uh budget and budget is intimately connected with the bell schedule and so they are uh parallel processes and so we began the budget planning process in October to give schools sufficient time to engage with their students engage with their families engage with their faculties and put their best foot forward in terms of recommendations which are not due until uh December and then are defended in January and so uh planning expectations number one was to identify your priorities collaborating with faculty and staff to establish budget priorities for 2425 school year number two inform your school Community please be transparent about the budget process and share with your school Community how programs and services will be determined for the upcoming school year number three review and analyze student data all schools all schools should focus on reviewing and disaggregating their local data to identify varying bands of student performance this will help schools determine appropriate supports and program offerings for the 2425 school year number four build your master schedule first all schools should work with their faculty and staff to draft a learning schedule that meets the needs of their students with a heavy emphasis on acceleration and Alignment to organizational goals and objectives specifically designing a student- centered schedule that focuses on The Daily learning experience of students not designing a schedule based on current Staffing levels factoring in collaborative planning time or common planning time for teachers and then ultimately um based on uh wide uh Community feedback eliminate the need for non-contractual early dismissal days align your Staffing plan to student needs the master schedule should drive the Staffing plan requested please make sure that decisions are based on student needs oppos to past preferences individualized approach draft the master schedule based on your school specific needs be Innovative and flexible whenever possible consider your pain points where are your areas of concern this year with the schedule or your delivery of service work with your faculty and staff to address your pain points in your updated schedule and programs for 24-25 and then ultimately uh maximizing the resources available strategic spending is not about creating winers wiers and losers but trade-offs may be necessary all funding should lead to positive student outcomes and resources should be allocated based on what directly assist students uh in the best way and so uh those were some of the core pieces of of of feedback uh that were provided in October so can I jump in real quick so so in October um if I was hearing correctly and I think I might have missed a a few the um the directions given to the in committee were to create a a schedule that was um student forward uh had built in common planning time for teachers limited early dismissals were there any musthaves other than obviously the parts about taking in the budget or the the constraints of the of the budget and Staffing and so one of the pieces was that we wanted to take a look at and in October um and this is pre-budget um the feedback was is to the degree possible attempt to increase the amount of instructional time per period okay and so that was the only guard will that we could discuss at that time and so in terms of the feedback the feedback was not provided directly to the scheduling committee the feedback was provided to the administrators who represent the district in that scheduling discussion and so all of the secondary administrators um were included in that guidance and so we knew that uh we knew that we were going to have a challenging budget cycle we did not know to what extent and so we wanted to be uh cautiously optimistic about what we would or would not be able to move forward with the resources available and so while we were determining this we also wanted to be forward- facing and so we organized uh an opportunity to take our secondary uh administrators to Monmouth County I always believe that uh we should be uh competing with the top schools um because we are not an average school and so we want to uh be in that top percentile and so we went to three of the top 20 uh uh high schools in the state of New Jersey um to just to see what they what they were doing in terms of the utilization of Time how were they providing appropriate student support just to be able to get ideas we spent the full day uh there and the request was um there current context is not uh uh identical to our current context but there's always positive ideas that we can take away uh and then use within our current context and so the purpose of that was for one to get our leaders out of the building to let them do some Vision uh casting uh see what was possible and see what other students across the state are doing uh when the flexible usage of time was employed uh and then use that in order to guide discussions uh back here at the local level when working as a member of the scheduling committee and so that took place in November we provided additional feedback in January um at the request uh of the secondary administrative team because we we continued to use the term strategic scheduling but there was uh we did not provide a lack of clarity in what that meant and so we provided examples and so in those examples we looked at across our region um specifically we looked in Cher aabon had in Township all of the neighboring districts uh as well as districts that had similar student populations to Conwood middle and high school um and curated all of that information for them to use to be able to guide their discussions um and there were varying degrees of how people interpreted time about how they assess student needs and so we were not concrete um because we wanted it to be an iterative process with the scheduling committee um and so in January uh guidance additional guidance was provided um and so the scheduling committee began meeting in December um and so they the frequency of of of their meetings U it happened multiple times uh my primary point of contact was with the secondary administrative team they kept me in the loop when they were meeting but in terms of the Nuance of what they were discussing at that particular moment in time um we did not have those discussions because I wanted them to be able to do their work so so if I'm hearing all of this correctly so the the admin the the is it the scheduling committee or the the full scheduling committee or the um the secondary admin that got both um uh like like a a field trip type example of what you know top tier high school schedules look like on the ground at those schools in addition to some samples of of schedules from local schools was that was was the the thinking that the admin um you discussed that with the admin and then the admin would bring that to the scheduling committee or did the full scheduling committee uh go with you on those trips as well my I I had one interaction with the scheduling committee um my interaction with the scheduling committee was February 29th that was my one and only interaction my monthly weekly and sometimes daily interaction was with secondary administrators uh principles and supervisors we took four um we took four principal excuse me four administrators with us to Mammoth County uh to do the the full day school visit uh and each of them were members of the scheduling committee uh and so my job was to assist with resources thought partnering it wasn't to build to build schedule right so sorry folks that um we are not as great at speaking into these microphones as we should be we will try harder thank you for letting us know um uh so um so the the scheduling committee was was kind of a committee on its own to or ran itself like they were to to meet together to to have these discussions based on the the guidance and feedback that had been given to the leadership of the committee is that a good summary of of how things were were working so it's my understanding that the scheduling committee um contractually are required to meet at least three times but I set the expectation that three times was not sufficient and that they needed to meet as much as they needed to meet in order to make a solid recommendation and so my direct interaction has always been with the leadership principles and supervisors directly and it has always been the expectation that they uh convey or communicate authentically uh what their needs are based on the information that they have and so it wasn't a situation where uh uh you're going to do a b or c it was a situation where have you considered these are some other ideas here are some additional resources to consider these are the guard rails that we're that we're attempting to uh subscribe to so then the the scheduling committee is meeting you said um you met with them in January and then they're meeting on their own from January to when do when does a a when is a recommendation when was a recommendation expected I guess I know or or maybe you want to speak to I know budget issues came into that so on February 29th I met with the uh scheduling Committee just to get a check of where they were in their developmental process um we had a discussion they provided additional context um that I did not have uh and then we stated a holding pattern because at that point we had not received the uh budget yet and so where we left it was that uh after we received the budget um additional discussion we need to take place but we didn't want them to uh waste time uh trying to come up with a schedule that may not be able to work based on limited resources and so after uh we started working through the the budget um it painted a very different picture and so um parallel to that process was trying to also build a schedule in the midst of um very challenging um staff reductions um and so that's and so it was a back and forth um because when we had known quantities those were changing pretty rapidly and so it wasn't fair to the scheduling committee or the administrators to attempt to make a concrete decision when the variables were still shifting and then so then at what point does a conc did the concrete decision get made so we met I believe um which uh uh we met on the 22nd of May we reconvened so we met on the 22nd of May because we knew that we needed to move forward um with a schedule that was going to work because in terms of timeline uh we needed to make sure that uh students would be able to uh take the courses that they needed to take that they would know what they were taking going into the summer um and uh had a plan for all of the backend work both through the actual construction of the schedule as well as through the student information uh System Genesis on the back end for programming to be able to hit that August 15th deadline um so that um we didn't want to delay any any further we knew that we were running up against the clock uh and so we asked for a recommendation to be made um we received a recommendation shortly after that meeting uh the recommendation was for a seven Peri perod day um we accepted uh the seven period day um because this was what was shared with us was that the best that that could be done moving forward given all of the conditions and so um uh it was uh shared with us that positive feedback had been received with the discussion of a seven period day and so we accepted the recommendation we began to move forward immediately after that uh announcement we began getting feedback from parents and students and so we went back took another look um at the feedback that came from students as well as parents uh we brought the administrative team in uh gave the administrative team um an expectation that we wanted to be able to maintain uh the eight classes uh and wanted to give them another wanted to give them another opportunity to submit a new proposal that would maintain the eight class structure um and then within 24 hours they did um and that's the the iteration that we're we're we accepted uh and are moving forward with um so so um Miss H Turner I know you and I talked a little bit about um how how things kind of broke down from the the email that went out to families about the seven period schedule and then um everything that happened next to lead us to the the current iteration of the schedule that we now have can you talk uh would you be willing to talk a little bit about um how that process went because I know you that was one of the first things you got to be intimately involved with as well as what you feel like we as a district have learned from that process yes um building on what Dr mcdal said uh we we began to receive immediate feedback from kids directly families community members um and we paused and listened and reconvened the um the committee to make sure that we were considering every angle um and ultimately listening to the the feedback that we were hearing um and I think the lesson learned is that well of course we want to put out a strong product for lack of a better word the first time um that should always be our operating you know expectation and Norms um when when we don't do that which hopefully is rare when we don't do that we're listening to feedback and pausing and reconsidering when it's necessary and appropriate um and I think we did that in this in this instance uh I want to you know particularly applaud the kids who spoke up um and it's you know uh I'd say that's the biggest lesson learned here is um as needed pause and reconsider and um revise as needed thank you um I appreciate um both Dr McDow and Miss how Turner giving us the kind of the rundown from from the the district side of of how um what the the behind the scenes looked like for the scheduling process because I think you know the average family doesn't know any of that um of what's going on and so I always think that that sort of peak behind the curtain can be useful um before we move on to our next topic I just wanted to since this is committee of the whole and we're all here for discussion if if anybody else wanted to ask some questions that would this would be the the time for the the scheduling portion I I have a question sorry um hopefully my mic has turned up tonight um um so can you tell us a little bit about when this schedules normally take place CU I don't know a whole lot about this either to be honest with you I don't expect most of us to know up here unless we're in the thick of it in any given school but do uh the counselors meet with the kids to pick their schedules and when does that take place and is this a little bit late in the game to be making any sort of scheduling changes like what what what was what would be the reasonable expectation to have this done well in advance so that the students have an idea of what their schedule's going to look like and when does that process get finalized just a great question so in a perfect world um January is when you would want that to take place the challenge that we have had for the last several years is that uh there is an unknown quantity and so it has been um no secret that as a school district as a state we have a structural budget gap which causes us to have to Pivot year over-year and so for the last decade um we have uh been struggling in order to maintain a degree of consistency in terms of educational experience uh post pandemic it has become increasingly more difficult to be able to do that based on increased cost and so in a perfect world a lot of this would be done in January um the uh uh budget scenarios that we're looking at it's very difficult to plan for a master's schedule when you don't have your budget yet because you need to be able to program based on the staff that you have and so without knowing that quantity it makes it practically impossible in order to build a schedule so do the counselors go through the effort of meeting with the kids even though we know that that that's all up in the air and choosing their schedules yes so the counselors they they meet with all of the students within their case loads they go through their process which is data collection so students go through the election process planning as if everything is going to be able to move forward um and once all of that information is is in the system uh once they start building the schedule then they they they merge the student requests with the actual mechanics of the schedule maybe this isn't the right question to ask but can is has anything been lost in the process like do you know of any programs that were or that were choices before that are not that are no longer choices as a result of this is existing schedule I wouldn't be able to answer that today I know that every year um there are going to be courses and and programs that are offered and not offered that's just the nature um student Choice really drives those decisions uh paired with the resources available um because the scheduling committee can you hear me okay the schedule committee and the teachers were you know we're putting Forth One schedule have you gotten any feedback on the the pivot in the eth period schedule is everybody on board with that any any feedback I've heard personally positive feedback both that we paused and listened and and gotten thanks on that piece of it as well as significant positive feedback around the8 period cycle um particular particularly from an an elective standpoint that was obviously a huge piece of feedback we heard and um that we listened to and um I've gotten a lot of just P you know P personally in passing um no formal no formal survey or data collection or anything like that but just anecdotal feedback from um kids families and staff that um they're pleased with the the direction here so um no that's that's not how this works sorry um so with that in mind and speaking from well sorry this was kind of a follow up to that one if that's okay um to what what both um Kelly and um Chris were bringing up that um my um my stud to be junior was one of the ones who gave me some pointed feedback about the seven period schedule and what he did or did not like about it and also made the point that as a junior he will he's had a different schedule every year he's been at Collingswood High School and so I guess the question on behalf of of him as well as myself that so if the schedule is driven a bit at least in in part by the budget um which I think is a bit also of what Kelly was getting at is there any way to guarantee or maybe not fully guarantee but how do we feel about this the current iteration of the schedule and could it be one that could live on past this particular Year yes it it it it could and so the current the current iteration provides a degree of flexibility and so there may there may be a a a tweak a minute here a half of uh a minute there but in terms of the mechanics the mechanics should hold um for at least the next several years didn't mean to jump in but I just felt like it really went off of that one but then you two figure out the next um Dr mow just so I can understand the the timeline so you said that you met you met with the scheduling committee on February 29th all right and that was prior to the information is that is that right before the information regarding the um um budget comes out from the state it's like right right about there okay um so at that time during that meeting did the scheduling committee okay sorry did the scheduling committee give you any ideas of different drafts that they were coming up with or different um uh ideas about schedules at that time or was it just a like a touch base kind of a meeting so at that time what was being discussed was to maintain the current schedule and so um at that particular moment it wasn't an outright no it was uh we needed to pause um in order to actually take a look at the budget uh to then continue with with levels of discussions but what was being recommended at that particular moment in time was maintaining the current schedule and then it wasn't until May 22nd that the committee came up with other ideas about the different schedules okay one of the pieces of feedback that we had seen recently are I guess have been coming through this year and maybe this is something that's been talked about in the past is the ability to to differentiate the schedules between the Middle School and the high school is that something that is potentially possible in the future are there obstacles there that so this was uh this was presented to the administrative team um in October the ability to untether to have a dedicated Middle School schedule and a dedicated high school schedule um our leaders they looked at the mechanics around that they also looked at the finance and due to the sharing of Staff they did not believe um and the data supported um that belief that doing that in this type of fiscal environment would in would it it would limit their ability to be able to do the things that they needed to do and so they opted not to to move forward with that in a perfect world um having a dedicated Middle School schedule would be the optimal and having a dedicated high school schedule would also be optimal um but they did look at that um and it was determined that that would uh actually take um more away from students and so the recommendation from the from the middle school and high school administrative team was to not do that has there always been a scheduling committee um or is this a is this a new committee or is there a I mean it's existed as long as I've been here I mean if you recall uh last year when we were talking about schedule uh we put an RFP uh up for approval um and uh for the district to be able to provide technical assistance and support if the school needed it um that was talked down um it was still approved but it was talked down so we never acted upon that RFP and so what we ended up having to do uh was to uh uh the interim or the acting uh counseling supervisor uh we contracted with her over the summer in order to to provide the school the support that they needed but that's always been a scheduling committee ownership piece uh with the district lending lending support whenever possible so there's always been an internal scheduling committee that has set the schedule for the middle school and the high school I'm not sure how long it's been on the contract but that was what was shared with me since since and then the there's um there is a there's faculty or teacher representation on that committee as um yes okay yes I just want make sure okay um okay thank you speaking of people on the committee I had a question um in terms of the schedules the guidance department is the are the ones that meet with the students to develop the schedules am I right about that not to develop the schedule but to do the course selection right right but to do the course selection process yes are they on the committee at at all any members of the guidance Department yes I think might also be helpful just for people because understandably this can get very confusing so we're talking about two different scheduling committees right so the the one that has been the focus of this particular conversation for the most part has been the bell schedule committee so what kind of timing length of classes uh schedule is going to be coming out but then there's another committee or you know there there's somebody who has to do the then the master schedule so that is um you know which classes will be offered and when what periods throughout the day they'll be offered and things like that so so I don't know if it helps to differentiate those you know Mary to your point you know differentiate those two kinds of uh committees because like the the discussion of a new bell schedule that's not necessarily something that happens all the time correct but but the the master schedule that's something that somebody has to come up with um every year historically the master schedule has been built by U the director of counseling um it's a very it's a highly technical um and an intimate process that takes months um and so that has always happened at the school level that's not something that at the district level that we that we do um but the scheduling committee really looks at just the the usage of time and then the and then the uh individual who actually builds the schedule does that over the summer just want to clarify do we have a a director of counseling going into next year to to help with this process so we reduced uh three administrators U this year uh one of the positions that was reduced due to the reduction in force was the uh supervisor of counseling uh however uh we have um a new opportunity that will allow a degree of continuity of support for counseling uh moving into the summer and it's on the agenda for this evening uh Dr thank you for uh talking through the process you talked about uh the feedback that that uh you received from uh and just the discussions that that you I guess uh heard from the scheduling committee about the um scheduling process uh throughout the year I know you also mentioned that uh you didn't uh consistently meet with the full scheduling committee right after the initial meeting uh but you met more with the um secondary admin team that is part of the scheding committee is that correct that's correct so um just to clarify when when you're talking about uh the your understanding of the discussions that the scheduling committee had and their recommendations your understanding is coming from your meetings with the secondary uh administrative team is that correct yes sir okay thank you any other questions about this topic before we move on to our next next one okay thanks everyone for hanging in with us um while we have a little bit of a better understanding of how we got to where we are and I'm very hopeful that uh this schedule will lead us um into M multi-year um and we won't be um changing it up again uh anytime soon with the exception of minor tweaks I think that would be great for literally everyone involved um if if we can have some continuity with that um moving on to um another topic that we just wanted to talk through a bit of the process of how we got to this particular um new PL I don't want to call it a policy necessarily but plan um and that's about the um the change in the high school Chromebook plan because we know that you know this affects a lot of families um the Middle School shifted to this plan A couple of years ago and um the high school is now doing the same but we want to be very clear about what this means for students and um families so could we first start and um Miss Coleman I'm not sure if you're the one to do this because of uh knowledge about the technology issues but but what um what started the or why why are we moving to this to this plan where Chromebooks will stay in school it was a direct request um from the high school administrative staff when they presented their budget to Dr mcdal and I um they cited um the number of um high schoolers that either a don't bring their Chromebooks so they don't have them to school um or it's like a testing day and they don't have it or it's a testing day and it's not charged and then they also cited just the the sheer number of um Chromebooks that go broken um continually broken so then they don't have them in class um so they saw the success that the middle school was having with having Chromebook carts in the classroom that were charged continually that the kids could use from or excuse me to grab from um so it was a direct request um from uh Mr Newman um thank you for that and and then um I'm not sure if this is a question for Dr mcdal or for Miss how Turner but um so that uh folks can be very clear about how this impacts their high school student who will inevitably have work to do at home how does how does that get done I know we work on the Google Suite so we've got Google classroom and and um Google Docs and all of those sorts of things um can you kind of talk about how this what this looks like for students as they go home to do the the work that they will have to do at home thank you and that's a good question and I believe some of the initial feedback that we heard was right right along those lines um and as shared in the communication that went out um for any student or family um that meets a certain um economic um threshold and requirements for uh for our district we'll have a process to make sure that those students are provided with the technology that they need in order to do their um work in the evenings outside of school and on the weekends and so um any families who have questions particularly related to that should reach out directly to their building administrators so that we can make sure that all students who need a device have a device so is that because I think the communication was was pretty great about being clear about both um if students were in um Financial need of a Chromebook that they they could um apply to get one sent home with them as well as providing some links to pretty reasonable uh computers that um could be purchased if needed is is that information um living somewhere on our website that's easily accessible and if not could we get get it there as soon as possible because I I appreciate the advanced notice that was given to families that of this change so that they could plan accordingly because a lot of us at home have a work computer um not necessarily a personal computer that we're willing to share with our children um and so you know having the time to to plan for that accordingly is is a great thing and I appreciate that but just want to make sure that that's in a place that's very clear for families and also some things to note um can uh the work be done on a non- Chromebook device yes right so so everybody isn't required to have a Chromebook in order to get their work done I think that's an important I'm not trying to be um I'm trying to be as clear as possible so that that everybody's aware of that whatever device you have at home that's working um the students could get their work done and they can especially get their work done because as long as they sign into their Google account all of the information that they had at school will then be on the computer at home for them to work with and I thought that that clarifying information um being someone who isn't doesn't consider themselves the most computer literate um Roger can attest to that that is helpful information to know for for everyone and I think you know us making sure that that's communicated to folks um so they're not panicking that um is is always a good thing is there anything I missed on the Chromebook front that this was more of a PSA I guess than a discussion item but I don't know how much of our um communication goes out in uh Spanish or a different language but I feel like there might be a lot of Spanish-speaking families that may not be a you know may not be able to understand that the Chromebooks aren't coming home anymore maybe the kids aren't not are not translating that enough I just think that um it it may not be a bad idea to do this but we just need to be mindful that you know all all the kids really do actually have Equitable access to what they need I think the communication piece is huge on that that um they may have a computer at home but they may not have be fully aware that um that's that's the new policy and always making sure to translate um important Communications like that is maybe we can have like a a review like maybe you can get together with the admin as time goes by just to see how that's working out if if the kids if there's a decrease in the amount of work that's getting done or any kind of feedback that they can provide in terms of whether or not that's working that makes sense um is this going to impact any sort of or will there be some sort of established homework policy um for the high school um I know that or I believe that there was some sort of middle school policy following the change in Chromebook access at home so I'm wondering how this will be articulated if there is one how it will be articulated to teachers I do think that the if I remember correctly and maybe um Dr McMullan can correct me but I thought that the the homework shift was a temporary thing while we were trying to make sure all the kids got Chromebooks sent home um but then it kind of went back to to expectations as usual is that he's shaking his head yes for anyone who can't see so that was correct so it was a temporary shift in the policy of like until everybody gets a Chromebook sent home the expectation that you know work is being done um we're going to soften that a little bit knowing that everyone might not have a device yet so maybe for like the first month or so while we worked all of that out um and I think that that's what the high school is trying to correct for is is having that advanced planning so that they can hit the ground running with this um first day of school in in the fall and I'm Mar if there was anything to add I was just going to add that um Sarah's question or the topic that she raised is one of the thing many things on my summer to-do list I have one more quick question um just in terms of like comparison do does anybody know how we compare to other districts like do they all send their Chromebooks home or they don't I'm just out of curiosity around us I mean there's there's number of different I mean I don't know Cherry Hilt used they have do you guys have Chrome book IP um Cherry Hilt has a bring your own device policy so students can bring in they can um bring in whatever devices that they prefer if they have a you know a Mac or whatever but um students do have access to Chromebooks if they need one and the school will issue them a Chromebook for the year that they can take home yes R cookus Valley and a number of other Burlington County Schools issue um uh uh Apple uh laptops that they use for four years and then return when their senior year um but I know a number of other ones in Brant to County also use iPads and there are more that are opening up to um bring your own devices but I think I don't know how it works here but it goes to a bit of a rigorous process of like getting it through um being able to use it at school do we have a large number of um online resources that students are expected to access um at home uh at the high school level just in terms of textbooks um you know online sources things like that that that might be U impeded for families that don't have access to devices at home yes however um just to repeat what I shared before if a family needs a device we'll ensure they have one anything else sorry hold on so just one just one point of clarification and so when we talk about need um what drives the need um is the free and reduced lunch application and so we just want to make sure that we are clear um that uh uh economic uh need uh has to be Quantified through that process uh G know I think Megan uh you reminded me of of one of the concerns that I had heard which is that um uh folks might not have internet at home um and I think that that is a concern that is I would say probably separate from whether or not we send Chromebooks back uh home with them I do know that there are definitely some uh programs out there from like Comcast and I believe ryzen also in terms of uh providing uh more affordable cost um uh internet access for for any families who who need that I would say that that is one of the many lessons learned during our pandemic virtual learning time um that there are to your point many um ways for families to get uh internet access if they don't currently and so uh when we post this in English and Spanish we can um add that um some some next steps in in that in that vein so thank you for that question and and then uh uh bethan I know you're the uh I think the technology Le so just to clarify um if you know if there are potentially any issues in terms of content that uh might currently have to be accessed using um uh School Chromebooks um is is the IT team available to to help sort that out so that folks can access uh uh their information uh in on any device yeah we kind of run through those wrinkles on a daily basis in the district but yeah our filtering system is very strict but then we immediately start getting emails from people people I need this I need this so yeah we do have to be very strong and then dial it back for specific sources awesome thank you um just one other thing I I understand the need for it to be quantifiable um but um I'm concerned about the folks who might the gap between free and reduced lunch and folks who can't maybe afford to buy a Chromebook or a computer and you're going to not being able to do work at home um so I'm wondering is there a plan for kids who are going to fall into that Gap because not you know what I mean it's there's got to be wiggle room so there there is and so the high school administrative team um they do a really good job of discerning on a case-by Case basis um we had several incidents uh or instances this year where um students were in need they fell into this gray space um and they they worked it out in order to make sure that that students had access to what they needed all right topic two down um moving on to um another um big shift um that that was happening in our district this past past month and we thought it would be helpful to to get a little Clarity on um the the teacher placement process and how that has worked um for and I'm speaking about so so we went through the process of having a reduction in force but then that's not the end of the process then the the teachers that uh remain and the the positions that some of those um teachers that were reduced um vacated all of those pieces need to be put together in order to make a fully working um uh staff and and schools so um Meredith could you talk to us a little bit about um um how that teacher placement process works and where we how you feel we are um Now set up to go into the the fall the uh the uh the contract the current contract um outlines the process to follow when this unfortunate exercise is necessary um some of that began before I started some of it has continued over my last few weeks so if I'm miss anything in the backstory please chime in Dr mcdal or bethan um so the the as I the contract outlines the process um of um and so we followed that process um specifically in terms of communicating to the impacted individuals notifying them of any currently open positions in the district and providing them an opportunity to rank their preference for those positions rank one two or three um and we were then able to um strategically um ensure that impacted staff got one of their preferences going forward um again never an ideal circumstance but grateful that we're able to um again hear their feedback and their wishes and able to to meet that for all impacted staff so so at this point do do all of the impacted staff now have a a home and they they're aware of that going into the summer and and that part is settled or is there um is there any um is that settled is what I'm asking they know their building assignments and very shortly by Friday we'll know their tentative teaching assignment yes can I uh jump in here here because I think a lot of folks who aren't in this uh like the back the administration of of of schools kind of world it's kind of confusing I think what we're talking about in terms of teacher placement um and so because of uh so so when when the riffs happened so basically when uh we had we had to lay off uh staff because of the of the uh budgetary constraints um what happens is that the uh lowest tenur or or un tenur uh uh teachers have to be um let go first like that's set in law and also in our contract and what that ends up doing is that you end up having uh positions that that still need to be filled um uh uh even if if like say you you need a you need a say math teacher uh and if if uh the math teacher happens to be the uh lowest seniority teacher on the roster they have to be let go first uh but if you still that need that math teacher position and so what happens then per the contract is that uh all the remaining teachers uh in the district if I understand this correctly get a chance to uh basically apply for that that position or or designate that they want that I would just add that you have to be C appropriately certificated for the position so the math example would be a very specific certificate uh um nearly in this yes you're correct in process but in this instance nearly every impacted staff member was elementary facing and therefore has that General Elementary certification um but yes you're correct that that that would happen at the high school level but in terms of prefer if that were to play out right if you preference that you would also have to be certified to teach that right and then and so basically then from that process uh again seniority ranks so um the the highest seniority uh folks get basically uh I think they're get sort of like First Choice almost in terms of positions is is that kind of the the process there um the the contract lays out four or five um different considerations that we should use in terms of decision- making gotcha gotcha right so anyway so that's the that's like this this process of I think when people talk about hey we have our staffing but then um there's still that placement process that has to happen that's why it takes additional time is to to work through um all the different uh uh positions that need to be filled and uh ensuring that uh uh teachers are able to exercise their rights per the contract um as we fill them and so that is if I understand correctly what we were talking about here in terms of te the teacher placement process yes thank you for putting that into a bit more layman's terms and than I started it off with that's um that's always useful and and I think the important part that we wanted to just ensure was that like I said like all of our teachers are finding um a home somewhere um in our district and and that we feel like we're also um set up to to to meet our students needs in the fall so would you say we we're feeling good about all of that at the moment it's never good to uh have to lose um your friends or your colleagues and so I wouldn't say that's not the term I would use I would say that we are uh confident that uh between now and September we will have worked through the logistics and some of the details uh in order to make sure that our students get what they need in their classes thank you for correcting that my apologies I did not mean for that to sound callous at all um because losing teachers is never um something that any school building wants and so I'm sorry that I I phrased it that way because that is not what I how I intended it um so thank you Dr McDow for noticing that and and calling it out um any other um questions or comments about the the this particular topic before um we continue on um excuse me when it comes to the um you know the reallocation of of staff and everything so you said the staff would be able to find a home obviously which is very important um I know there's been some some concerns regarding um students and uh um you know student support like one-on-one p out and support um I know specifically uh we were given um we're going to be looking at seven of those pullout teachers in our elementary schools this year and and I know in this coming year and I I know there were there were numbers of several hundred students who are used to giving those kinds of uh one-on-one um sessions so I just wondered uh what kind of progress has been made to toward determining um which students will be prioritized to get those sessions and how IEP 504 consideration and accommodations will be uh taken into account there as well thank you um so this question thank you Megan um is a top priority for me um is one of the key components of my entry plan in this first month and going into the summer um and ensuring that kids who need support will get support um is personally very important to me um I've begun working with a team to draft uh a plan and a model that um prioritizes two things student data and student need and the staff that we have available to support the students who need it based on their current performance um that plan's not done yet um and we'll be working on that over the summer months to ensure it's ready to go prior to the first day of school um I would just ALS Al want to clearly delineate that students who have an IEP that requires a separate type of support will continue to receive it because we're legally obligated to do so as well as for any student who has any particular academic accommodations listed in a 504 plan where also that is a legal document that we're beholden to um so I think I just want to call out those two SE well three SE separate um types of student supports 504 on IEP we're obligated obligated and mandated students who received general education students who received additional support um will continue to receive it if the data indicates that they need that level of support going forward and we're working through the Staffing model to figure all of that out um so actually thank you um so to that point so if we're talking about students which I think there's significant number of them who have gotten Services through the inrs process um if those Services cannot continue will those families be notified that that those services will not be continuing into this next school year just due to just sheer numbers and obviously having to prioritize um the the services that are to which we are legally bound I'm sorry I forgot to click off my thing so I hope everyone heard your question um yes if there were students in the inrs process at the end of this year that's carrying over into next year um we would continue to serve them at the level um you know there's like tiers and levels to the type of support we offer um we would continue um to provide those students with that level of support into September and October of next year thank you uh any other questions all right um thank you very much for and thanks to everyone for hanging in with us um through all this we're we're we're almost done with with the list that I have in front of me here um so we just wanted to do a she's going to do a very high level um overview for folks kind of a preview of what to expect and and hear about in more detail come um September and October but this summer um the during our curriculum committee meeting uh Meredith was talking to us about some uh curriculum Audits and work to U make sure that our uh curriculum is aligning with the new standards which we had talked about a couple of meetings ago so she was just going to give us a very um high level rundown of of what work that the curriculum team is going to be doing over the summer and what to expect to hear more details about in the fall uh thank you um so three big projects that um my team and I are working on this summer um the work has kicked off already uh pending your approval tonight the folks who applied to uh work work over the summer as curriculum writers mappers Auditors Etc uh pending your approval that will go into motion on Thursday of this week um so three big buckets and I'll just keep it high level and then answer any other questions but at the K through five level um there will be a an audit of our literacy program programming um if you'll recall a SE several board meetings ago an RFP went out to do that work potentially from an external provider uh we have determined that we can absolutely do that internally and it's a more fiscally responsible approach and so uh we have folks who will be tackling that work this summer along with the um New State learning standards going into effect at the K5 level for Math and Ela um and then then additionally at the sixth through 12th 12th grade levels um new standards going to an effect in certain grade and content areas there that will be updated um as well as just our general cycle of course updates and then just the last thing can you um you mentioned just for the rest of the board in the curriculum committee meeting of of a new um platform that that would be not just um internally facing but also externally facing that would uh help everybody kind of have a more clear understanding about what the curriculum is in in their um child's class can you tell us a little bit about that real quick yes um so we are already in the process of migrating all of our district curricula um to something called encourse a platform called encourse this will be both internally facing for District staff and externally facing for families to access as well right now our resources are housed in two or three different places and it's fairly clunky um and so we're going to be migrating it to a more userfriendly um userfriendly system that uh families will have access to as well and and I remember incorrectly that you said not um the the nice thing about this new platform is that it also can clarify for folks because we've had a lot of people asking questions about you know how do I know where some of these various crosswalks from um Amistad to the climate change curriculum where that's sh up in in my kids curriculum that makes um this platform kind of spells that out for folks more clearly uh we had the um uh option to build our own template uh for how we want to present this information um so we created that ourselves and so uh and and in doing so we explicitly called out um the crosswalks and so yes to answer your question um but we we deem that a real priority and so we called that out specifically on the the the formatting of how we'll present the information both internally to staff and to families thank you so does anyone else um particularly those that didn't get to hear any of um this information on the curriculum committee have any questions that they um they would like to ask at this time all right you made that really really clear so well done um and then uh finally tonight so first just thanks again to everyone I know I keep saying that but I know this was a fairly long Committee of the whole uh we just felt it was important for the full board to discuss um a lot of these uh fairly significant changes that have been happening over this last month um and we wanted to um to do that as a full Group which is what committee of the whole is all about and publicly for the the transparency that that all of you folks could hear us um talking and learning about some of this as well uh the this last topic isn't so much um one that we can have a discussion on we do have three um conflicted uh board members when it comes to uh the negotiations process that only means that they are also NJ njaa employees which means we have three wonderful teachers on our um board uh but we did want to just take a moment to the the last big topic that has been um consuming School news in in this past month has been how things are going um with the the ca negotiations and uh so miss Sheridan Celia who is one of the the members of the the uh negotiating committee along with Matt Craig Roger Chu and myself um was just going to read the uh the statement that we did send out to the community um to be sure that uh folks have have heard where things stand um this isn't like I said necessarily something that we can have or that we should have a discussion about um during Committee of the whole but this was just a place bless you excuse me that uh that it would fit in um for us to to just kind of clarify things um before moving on to the rest of our agenda so miss sharan Celia all right um this was sent out on June 14th 2024 so some of it may refer to the school year still being in process but it obviously is not can you hear me now all right I will how's this better all right I or is going down hello hello I will project um sorry dear Collingswood Community as you may be aware the Collingswood board of education has been engaged in negotiations with the Collingswood Education Association the ca for an unupdated collective bargaining agreement since February 2024 once agreed upon this updated agreement would be the new contract for teachers and educational support Professionals in our district as the board's negotiations committee we write to provide the community with an update on the current status of negotiations the board has been f focused on ensuring that the district can meet the needs of our community's children as best as possible given the current difficult economic realities of our school budget this year our school district was one of many across New Jersey where lack of appropriate State funding and legal limits on how much tax revenue can be increased have combined with continually Rising costs to create budgetary shortfalls unfortunately these shortfalls have required difficult layoffs of teaching and administrative staff even in the midst of these difficult cuts the board has remained committed to continuing the district's existing practice of providing annual raises in line with the county average to its teachers and staff indeed over the last several years the board has amicably negotiated and agreed upon salary increases in line with County average for all of our collective bargaining associations including in June 2022 with our principes and supervisors Association in March 2022 with our buildings and services Association and in February 2021 with the CE a more recently in June 2023 Oakland Public Schools our sister District which shares the same superintendent and business administrator agreed to salary increases in line with the county average since February the board's negotiations committee has met jointly with the cea five times on February 28th March 14th April 17th May 6th and June 13th as reported in the June 14th 2024 is issue of the retrospect the cea unilaterally declared an impass during that May 6th meeting the ca subsequently filed a request for mediation with the public employment relations commission perk the board's negotiations committee did not agree with the cea's Declaration of impass and expressed to the cea the board's willingness to continue direct negotiations while we met once more with the cea on June 13th our next negotiation will be led by a perk mediator in August per ca's request the board's negotiations committee believes that our offers made during negotiations have been fair and made in good faith while the ca has rejected our offers we would be unable to meet demands for salary increases s significantly higher than the county average because doing so would necessarily lead to additional layoffs and cuts and programming starting in the upcoming 2024 2025 school year during these negotiations the board has remained hopeful that an agreement could be reached before June 30th 2024 however the likelihood of this timeline now seems slim we recognize that there may be concerns within the community about what this lack of agreement will mean for the children of Collingswood when school begins again in September as fellow Collingswood residents community members and parents we understand these concerns and we want to make clear that despite statements to the contrary the district's current contract with the ca remains in effect until a new contract is agreed upon no contractual or legal barriers exist to the regular operation of the school district including Sports and extracurricular clubs come September 2024 as we approach the end of the school year the board remains hopeful that a mutual agreement can be reached with the ca we remain committed to the collective bargaining process and will participate fully in good faith with the next steps in the process thank you Miss sharan Celia a motion to exit Committee of the hold so move and a second second all in favor moving on to section four our future M dates and miscellaneous information it is clearly summer because there are only three on there um the our esy program our an administrative Retreat and a new staff Academy um our board meeting isn't on there and I don't off the top of my head know the date um but we will make sure that it is on the website um it would be the end of August section five routine business uh 5.01 is the approval of the minutes of the May 20th 2024 regular board meeting 5.02 is a report of contract so as required the school district contracts reported or or report by the school business administrator is submitted to the board and and that is um attached for our view is this something that we need to um roll call bethan yeah I apologize there's no motion or a second but need a motion um so motion to approve items 5.01 and 5.02 and a second roll call please you can do an all ey on that one all in favor okay uh we are now at section six which is our first opportunity for public comment the purpose for this public comment section is to discuss items listed on the agenda additional more General comments may be made later in the meeting the public is reminded that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints should first go through appropriate staff members and administrators the intent of public comment is to give the community the opportunity to provide feedback to the board we will be actively listening and taking notes so that we we can take all that is being said into consideration if appropriate clarifying comments if appropriate clarifying comments may be made at the end of the public comment section for more detailed responses to concerns communication may go out later in the week by the appropriate staff members or administrators or be discussed by the board during future committee meetings members of the public are welcome to speak and expected to do so with the utmost sensitivity to everyone in public um to everyone in attendance excuse me um please remember that public comment is to be directed toward towards the board since this is our official meeting and and not towards the audience In fairness to all who wish to speak there's a strict three minute time limit Miz uh Coleman has her timer queued up and she puts it on pretty loud so you'll be able to hear it but um I will thank you when your three minutes are up and that's how you'll know you're done um please remember to state your name and address for the record Wayne Rossy 114 East Palmer ra um so I'd like to start by saying that I do think that um Collingswood historically has unfortunately not paid its teachers well enough and I think that that that the that's been recognized um I I do want the teachers to be paid better uh I also don't want to be in a situation where I have to watch my daughter see another one of her favorite uh teachers get let go because there's no money in the budget for it and one of the things I'd encourage everyone here to be part of uh is that there's now efforts uh being organized by people here and Haden Township and elsewhere around the around the area to work on solving the Statewide budget problems that that are going on because I think that without that unfortunately something's got to give in the in the budgeting process and that that's um something I'm I'm personally invested in uh the second thing I wanted to mention tonight was to make sure that uh our emphasis stays you know while the negotiation process is contentious we stay with an emphasis on the kids on the people who are at the center of education and that uh we don't lose sight of that and we don't get bogged down in uh in pettiness that this is important for everyone uh the third thing I wanted to bring up there is a really good program that I saw it's elevating student voice I believe later in the agenda it's um a really positive program from what I understand and that bringing out leadership particularly among students of color is something that's really important and I hope that everyone uh will be a be backing that because I think it's a really great program uh the last thing I noticed was that uh this is a little more personal the computer science teacher resigned and I hope that that's a position that's going to be replaced uh personally it meant a lot to me that I had a really good computer science teacher in high school and that went on to my personal professional career uh for the last 20-some years so um I I would encourage the board to uh make sure that that's filled and done well uh that's what I had for you this evening thank you good evening my name is Lisa Hall I'm a 20-year veteran math teacher here at CHS I'm here to express my I'm here to express my deep concern about the reduction of Staff within the high school math department this department of 10 teachers having a cumulative experience of 156 years in the year of 2223 has been instrumental in shaping the minds of our students and fostering a love for mathematics has been reduced to five teachers with 87 years of experience at the close of this school year 2324 the performance of the impacted staff has been nothing short of explor explor achieving an impressive NG NJ GPA 58.7% pass rating that represents a 4% higher represents 4% higher than the state average a testament to their education to their dedication and Effectiveness the loss of this experienced team has have could have serious consequences firstly it will significantly impact the quality of Education the depth of knowledge and the teaching methodologies honed over the years cannot be replaced overnight secondly it could lead to a larger class size reducing the individual attention each student receives this is particularly detrimental in a subject like mathematics where personalized guidance often makes a difference between understanding and confusion moreover the loss of these experienced Educators means losing mentors who have guided countless students beyond the realm of textbooks instilling in them problem solving skills and logical thinking that are invaluable in today's world we understand the financial constraints and challenges the board faces however we believe that the long-term success of our students and the reputation of our school should be aramont I urge the school to explore other avenues for cost reduction that do not compromise the quality of Education we hope this message will resonate with the public as well highlighting the importance of experienced Educators in our school system we encourage parents students and community members to voice their concerns and join us in advocating for the preservation of highquality mathematics Department thank [Applause] you Matt fredman school counselor Collingswood High School items 124 and 1221 uh I applied to another District the day I realized the director of School counseling services position would be eliminated to potentially save money this bothered me for two reasons the position and the person a school district cannot function properly without an experienced person in this position position leing home standardized testing Master scheduling organizing a comprehensive School counseling program my office has had to present and even fot a case for how valuable this position is for three years lack of consisten lack of consistency and support for this position has been challenging for my office to deal with but we carry on the person Kim henck she started in November of 2023 and I feel like she's been with us for years she adapts to any situation solves problems with a level head and truly knows her stuff the buing staff also quickly fell in love with her I should feel happy that after being let go she will be coming back in a new position as lead counselor I am happy that this boting will not be losing Kim as we've already lost too many good people like her I'm glad that while I will not be there the am amazing counselling office which contains two staff members who have gotten staff member of the year the last two years um will not be losing another crucial member but pardon me while I thrull back the curtain a little bit when I resigned I joke that Administration would take the opportunity to eliminate a position as we've seen a lot lately and that's kind of happening Miss albeck will be the lead counselor I believe she'll be replacing me and take on a portion of my case load don't worry my students will be in excellent hands but she'll still be in charge of most of the her current responsibilities including Master scheduling a master schedule that will be losing six electives um that is an unfair and challenging position to be put in not to mention her move from director to counselor probably results in less financial compensation and this is how our good people are treated that is so foul uh give twice as much responsibility with half the value the rest of my office will suffer too my other C two counselors case loads will increase the whole office will take on more special projects to reduce Kim's responsibilities because that's what we do this office is not being supported they're being set up to struggle and it doesn't take a special investigator to figure that out my request before I leave be kind to this staff and support them lay down your ego show your genuine appreciation I'd recommend asking the counseling office their preferred candy and coffee orders because they're going to need your love over this next year please openly communicate and value the staff if you continue the way these ways I feel you'll struggle to attract new Dynamic Educators and continue to lose the ones you neglect [Applause] uh Jeff Herman I work here at the high school um cols with grad uh teacher of eight years um so just when I thought that I was out you guys pull me back in June 24th didn't think I was going to speak tonight but uh there's been a lot of talk about the scheduling committee and that is something that I have been partaking on for the past two years um so I just came up here to clear a few things up um um this year specifically uh we were tasked by Dr mcdal and the scheduling committee to come up with a new schedule for both the high school and the middle school campus I was a little surprised but not uh overly um this High School uh now going into next year um will be receiving its fourth bell schedule in four years so um I'm not sure what other High School in the area is experiencing that but our Rising seniors next year will be on their fourth new schedule um so we were t with coming up with something um that would essentially fix some of the issues and feedback that were received uh we took a look at every uh schedule for schools across Camden County across New Jersey not every school but we looked at many schools in New Jersey um we looked at other states other schools across the country pretty much every schedule that you can look at we we we investigated to to some degree and what we found out is logistically there is not that many options when you're asked to fill in um the high school and the middle school into one schedule we were also told that eight periods with 40-minute classes was a no-o because 40 minutes is not long enough so when you're when you're talking about a a contract 7 hours and 15 minutes for the teachers and then trying to squeeze in that day and make longer periods it just is not logistically that many options available so we met in December we went over all these things um and basically we met handful of times uh de December January and February ultimately we emailed Dr mcdal our recommendation um that we felt uh was necessary going forward as the schedule that we would like to present to him he emailed us back uh with feedback as well as provided some of the admin um with some verbal feedback on our schedule we met with him February 29th we presented the schedule to him and then he proceeded to tell us that this is the first time he has seen this schedule so okay back to the drawing board so we then after February 29th met again um pretty much went back to the the feedback that he had presented us tried to make some tweaks to the schedule and then it was pretty much crickets after that um my involvement past that point past May um sorry March 7th was that was it I didn't have any more involvement some couple of the scheduling committee people U met with Dr McDow I believe at the end of May and I heard bits and pieces but in terms of us recommending seven period schedule that was not anything that we recommended we were eight periods across the board um especially with the schedules that we sent directly to him uh and then seven periods was what I believe we were told we were going with and then kind of in the last last minute we were thank you Mr Herman thank you for providing [Applause] that my name is Adrianne Earl I'm a school counselor at cm I also work on the Middle School master schedule over the summer in that regard I would like to offer some insight on the work done by the secondary scheduling committee throughout this 23 24 school year uh by contract the ca cpsa scheduling committee is required to meet three times each year during the 23 24 year we met seven times December 4th January 1st January 25th February 7th February 29th March 7th and June 11th Dr mcdal T us for the Crea a new bell schedule that included protected teacher time in order to eliminate halfday plc's classes longer than 40 minutes healthy social socialization time for students flexibility for teachers to provide Duty coverage such as Hall Duty and consistency during our first four meetings we worked collaborative collaboratively on this task and on February 29th we met with Dr mcdal to review our 8 course bell schedule proposal which we felt met the outlined requirements and had been reviewed by all of our CMS C staff to conclude the meeting Dr mcdell asked for more time to review our proposal um we met again on March 7th and agreed that we needed to wait for Dr mcdow's response before any further action could be taken on May 22nd a meeting was held between Dr McDow Miss Hal Turner and some secondary admins and myself since I do the master schedule at the middle school the purpose was to find out the bell schedule for 2425 in order to move forward with scheduling after teaching staff reductions had occurred Dr mcdal informed us that we did not not have the structural capacity to run eight periods and decided that we would reduce our program to seven courses um on May 30th Miss Hal Turner emailed the middle school high school admins asking for confirmation that we agreed with seven periods Dr McMullen responded with feedback and concerns presented by our committee on June 3rd Miss Hal Turner emailed Dr McDow secondary admins and scheduling staff that we would officially move forward with a seven period schedule on Friday June 7th the counseling dep at the high school met with the District administration to again outline concerns about the negative impact of moving to a seventh period schedule later in that Day on June 7th Dr mcdal sent the district email announcing that we would be moving to a 7even period schedule um saying that the scheduling committee had worked collaboratively over many months um and that teacher and student feedback was extensively considered that was all true but the next paragraph stated we are thrilled to implement a new seven period instructional day for the 2425 school year um and went on to cite positive aspects of that this statement may have been misunderstood so I think it's worthwhile to clarify that our scheduling committee did not create or propose the seven period schedule as part of our process rather as previously stated we were informed by District leadership that after staff reduction seven period was necessary due to laal structural capacity run eight periods and that fact alone is why we decided needed to implement a seven period schedule on June 10th we were informed that Dr mcdal requested for our committee to take one more crack of formulating a schedule that would allow students to be programmed for eight classes thank you for providing some context hi I'm Bridget bewick I'm biology teacher here at the high school for 21 years I just wanted to say that I was part of this scheduling committee as well and I agree with everything that Jeff and Adrien stated [Applause] hello I'm Flora let valz from 728 Belmont AV and as a former student of collinswood high school I just graduated I felt the need to stress just how important School Chromebooks are without them students would not be able to efficient efficiently learn School Chromebooks are a guarantee that everyone will be able to receive all of their classwork and turn it in on on time it includes online tools such as Google classrooms which allows students to access their classwork and notes from anywhere at any time and allows teachers even when they are sick to still post class work so no one ever falls behind without student Chromebooks people who aren't able to afford devices or don't have the time to go through all the paperwork to get a school device would struggle severely and even if sometimes kids forget to charge them or forget to bring them they'll still be at home ready to be used and charged for use whenever necessary and I honestly can't imagine a school year without School Chromebooks considering I relied on them so he heavily all throughout Middle School and High School especially during the online years and as a side note about the scheduling I obviously don't ever understand everything about the process but considering the fact that two separate communities managed to make what seemed to me like functional schedules with a classes I don't see why we need to shorten that to seven classes because seven classes would be very detrimental students wouldn't be able to have nearly as many opportunities to take electives and explore what they like I was able to enjoy the full a class schedule and take a variety of classes ranging from engineering to Art to literature to science and I'm so glad for that opportunity and I want my younger sibling to have the same opportunity especially because with that wide variety of classes it will open more doors for students to go to whatever college or trade school that they like thank [Applause] you good evening uh Eric fieldman I am a 14-year special educator here at the high school as well as teaching an elective class um some of the things I wanted to talk about my my peers have already mentioned um one thing I did want to say though was uh speaking I think I can speak for our entire faculty and staff why we're going through these negotiations or lack of negotiations um there is no fear there should be no fear about the dedication of this staff whether we have the contract or not that the children of this District are in good hands with us and we will fight for them and teach them as as we always do the contract deide so please feel free that knowing that we are here for your children that's what we're here for but also just to clear up I think some misunderstandings and misstatements earlier as was stated earlier uh the understanding is that uh the negotiating committee for the SCH the bell schedule never recommended seven period day um the idea of getting the schedule done before electors were chosen uh electors were already chosen by most of the students before the schedule uh came out um the electors which for the past three years have been uh year-long courses were changed this year back to semester classes however the faculty and staff has never been informed of that we found out from the students when they said Oh I thought your class was a full year class now I don't know what to take um we still have not been informed on that um if that's a decision by the district or the administration that's fine but I think it's important that the faculty know this I know in the social serves Department there are two teachers uh who were teaching new electors this past year because of Staff uh changes last year who were not informed that after teaching a new class for a full year now have to rewrite it for half a year it would have been nice if we had known that so I think the lack of communication is kind of apparent to the climate in the school in general um also the idea that uh a lot of the electors were were dropped because of lack of student interest uh from my understanding if from speaking to students and counselors at least uh one or two of the most requested electives have been has been dropped so where that comes from I'm not sure and if there's someone can clarify that for me I would appreciate it so thank you again for your time and remember we are here for your children hi I'm Karen taner I've taught English at the high school for an eternity more than 20 years and I actually have questions um and I know everyone's doing their best and I know that we're all passionate about our students but I have some just logistical questions um and the first one has to do with quite honestly something that has nothing to do with my content it has to do with gra graduation requirements um we had the State graduation requirement of financial literacy is of course that all students have to pass um several years ago um really aggressive academic students did not want to waste a whole year on a semester level course and so we introduced for them um an online option for financial literacy um and it worked pretty well I mean every once in a while I as the AP teacher would get a list of names from the financial literacy teacher saying could you tell them to do their work and I would do and I would do it and they would do it because they're great kids I was told this year that all financial literacy classes are going to be online which is troublesome because kids are going to get Chromebooks in classes but there's not going to be a class for financial literacy so when will they have access to use the Chromebooks that they need to use to take the online course um while academically the online course worked very good for these very bright ambitious students all they needed was a little prodding and reminding from Mrs taner um this year when I taught the um appeal class which is designed for or transitional English which is designed for students who have not met the GPA requirement I spent a great deal of my time in that class once we met those requirements doing financial literacy for kids who had failed the classroom one and so they were forced to take the online one and they knew they had to take it but these were students who are struggling they're struggling with organization they're struggling with understanding and they kind of needed me to say give me 10 minutes let me look at the unit okay here's all the vocabul let me put them on the board and we can talk about them to expect all students including special ed students to take this alone when they're not even going to have a class to go to to get the Chromebooks from so when are they supposed to get the Chromebooks to do the online classroom for I'm just really concerned that we are going to have a lot of students who are going to be ineligible to graduate because of this change um and again I know this seems like a really minor change because we already had this online course but for students who struggle online courses are often a quagmire and I please ask you to reconsider that and I'll get back in line for my other question later thank [Applause] you good evening I am Tara moot I am a 19-year special ed teacher here um in Collingswood and I'm currently at Mark newbie Elementary School um I'm here to talk about um the loss of some teachers we have lost and are still losing some amazing staff to other districts two of my um special ed Dream Team currently at Mark newbie School uh left for other districts and are now we are doing more with less and um you are now asking us to do less with less less helping needy students with less staff so um you just were talking about up here and I'm just like Jing this down about you know accelerating all students but what about the students who need our help not just the special ed students but there are several students in general that are in the whole mtss process um you're expecting us to be able to um help these students with less and at newb School alone this year we had two learning acceleration teachers one t mtss coach myself and even Mr Smith at times our principal all doing tier 2 and tier three interventions and you are now going to be cutting us back from five adults doing interventions for multiple students and now we're going to have one and a half adults and after our June mtss meeting we will be starting the 2024 2025 year for just tier 2 and tier three interventions that would add up to 11 hours of inter ventions in one day and that is more than one person can do they cannot do that alone so my questions were will be to you how do you decide who is more needy because I as a teacher and a grown-up and I know my current um staff members we can't choose so somebody is going to have to make that decision and if that is going to be the way that it's going to turn then Dr mcdal then my job is GNA get harder because then special ed numbers are going to go up so we need to not do less with less thank [Applause] you hi Sue angelucci 130 Woodland terce snow Glen um I'm Miss tan pretty much asked my question my child is taking Financial lit online next year she was given a uh study hall to do the work in the class she doesn't have a Chromebook how's that going to happen will there be Chromebooks in study halls for the kids to do the assignments um Miss Coleman Dr McDow you know there's a budget deficit but you two took some Hefty raises and that's shameful we could have saved more teachers with the money that you took [Applause] my name is m and I go to Mark new school I think it's a problem that there's not going to be as many support teachers because then I won't be able to go in small groups and that's a problem because small groups help me focus and learn Miss K is a really nice teacher and I think she should stay at newbie plus it's going to be very hard for Miss Philly to work with the whole building and not every kid will get what they need [Applause] hi my name is Melissa Hellwig I live at 115 East Browning Road I'm here to speak again today regarding the loss of the academic support teachers in our district because as mapel just said it's going to be a problem while I realized budget cuts needed to be made I just cannot understand why cutting important teacher jobs is the decision that was made when you look at the numbers it just doesn't seem possible for students to continue to get the necessary support they need to succeed and Miss Mo made it even more clear with her numbers and I'm going to add to that um not just I don't know all this specific but at least for academic support or learning acceleration whatever they've changed names a lot um for the last 10 years there's been around 135 students at Mark newbie school during that time there's been two of those academic support teachers at least next year there's only going to be one in that specific role one teacher handling the same number of kids as two have historically done for at least 10 years now the only way that is possible for those kids in need of the most support the only way for this to happen is for those kids in the in who need the most support to get less time receiving services that will help them succeed this keeps going back to the same theme of less teachers are expected to do more with less kids are expected to succeed with less this does not promote a healthy learning environment for anyone you have all claimed that Dei is a priority and I agree it should be yet I fail to see how this decision is anything but exclusive to the children in the district district with the most need the result of this decision is going to lead to the loss of more teachers because they are being asked for too much they already give so much of themselves to these kids and to the community it will also lead to more students falling behind those who would get services from the academic support teachers as well as those who don't because there will be more of a struggle for the classroom teacher to get to all of these kids themselves while I heard that IEPs and 504s will be prioritized I worry about those kids getting inrs interventions because if there's no time left after 504s and IEPs are followed according to law then they will not get what they need it will also make getting new interventions for students nearly impossible again putting pressure on classroom teachers to do more with less support this decision will cause more families to leave the district and this town which I've already been hearing a whole lot of in search of a place that can give their child the help they need and deserve I look forward to hearing a specific plan regarding how all of our students will get the support they need but I truly don't see how it is possible good evening my name is Claudia betran I am a parent I have two c CHS um students and I'm also a taxpayer so I want to talk um as both a parent and a taxpayer because it feels to me that we uh have been hearing a lot of discussions about the bond referendum uh this is not the topic of tonight's conversation but there is a a connection between that discussion and everything we are hearing tonight and we have been hearing over the last few months which is we have a a a budget a challenging budget to deal with and a lot of issues that are related to that um we are not the only community in New Jersey facing that issue and so many other communities that are facing challenges with their budgets have found Creative Solutions um to address those issu issues in my letter that I sent to you um I think last week I mentioned a few examples of communities that have addressed their uh budget shortfalls and and cuts by raising taxes now none of us want to see taxes raised we don't like to raise taxes we don't like to pay higher taxes but honestly if we have to pay higher taxes I would rather pay higher taxes to pay teachers to pay for programs to pay for us to go back to a stable School District than to pay for the purchase and sale of buildings so I think our priorities I think our priorities needs to be realigned um and this Board needs to really think about what we should be doing this summer and what we should be doing for the year 24 25 and now 26 in terms of prioritizing where we put our resources our energy if we have to raise taxes raise taxes for something that really makes a difference for every schools uh for every student and every family in this community thank [Applause] you um BR molski 124 East not have I would like to begin by saying that I'm very worried about the teachers leaving our schools for other jobs specifically Miss Bruner Miss Bruner meant a lot to me she always supported me through my three years of middle school and helped me and I will never be able to see her again or talk to her again she was extremely dedicated to our school and our students she loved everyone that came to her classroom or even walked past her in the hall this issue was hitting the hearts of many Clos people that I know and impacting them in very negative negative ways also Mr Freedman was going to be my high school counselor I know he would have been a good one because he was my brother's counselor and he always talked about how much Mr fredman supported him and this is yet another teacher who no one thought would ever leave and now he's going to another District my little sister who's going into fourth grade will not be able to have the same teachers that will make such an impact on me plus Miss stiglet who was going to be her teacher next year but she was let go so who knows who will be the fourth gr teacher at Garfield this goes to show that the teachers who are now leaving meant a lot to everyone of this school and will need and will be missed very much as our leaders you need to find a better way to keep our dedicated teachers here because that is what is best for all of our students thank [Applause] you hi good evening Lauren Robbins 114 Washington Avenue I have a son at the middle school and another son at the high SCH school and we acknowledge that there are a lot of challenges currently facing the district and it's times like that in general in life when you're facing multiple challenges at the same time that you want to have trust con and conviction um that you've got leaders who can guide you through those challenges and put plans in place to address them um I personally don't have that conviction currently right now and what's even more concerning to me is my perception that many of the teachers and the staff and in the district also do not feel that way in public forums including Board of Ed meetings we've heard teachers get up and speak about how they do not feel valued how they feel unheard and how they feel unclear in certain decision-making processes multiple resignations are noted in the agenda tonight including High School Math middle school language several special education teachers and a high school guidance counselor that I think we heard from earlier as a parent teacher retention is a serious concern I want to know what the superintendent and board are doing to attract and retain quality teachers and staff to the district who are the Cornerstone to deliver meaningful diverse curriculum and quality instruction teacher retention is fundamental and it will enable us to address the Myriad of other challenges across the district I believe when teachers are engaged empowered and supported they will stay and parents like me will develop the confidence and Trust in the leadership that we need to then bring together as a community to address our other issues thank you hi Nina Anastasia 170 Fern Avenue uh my son went to Tatum and he is now will be a seventh grader um at the middle school it's a tough time for public education and Collingswood is not immune to the issues facing many or even most districts right now old infrastructure needs to be fixed classrooms are overcrowded we struggle to incorporate technology in a way that's healthy for kids scheduling is a nightmare students fight and so importantly we continue to work we continue the work of creating rigorous inclusive and safe spaces for all of the children black and brown lgbtq white girls boys special needs everyone all of the kids all under our charge these issues are all important and we need to be creative and dynamic and multitasking in our approaches to all of them and we also need fully staffed schools in order to do this full disclosure I speak tonight as a teacher in a neighboring district and I can assure you that 100% necessary in attacking these challenges and all of the ones I've mentioned in any district is the presence of a staff that feels not only properly compensated but valued for their opinions and truly heard by their administrative teams tonight I'm here to ask why are so many seasoned teachers leaving our district what is the plan for attracting new d dnamic staff to our district what are the incentives for keeping the amazing staff that we already have and what is the plan for fixing the budget issues that our district faces as a parent a member of the community and a teacher I'm asking you to remember value our staff please consider what I'm asking we need fully staff schools with quality teachers teachers who are happy and proud to be part of our schools who are happy and proud to work on behalf of the children in our district and to continue to face the ever grown growing challenges presented daily in our Public Schools teaching is not a job for the faint of heart it's hard and it's heartbreaking but speaking personally it is the absolutely most rewarding job out there and for me there is nothing else I would rather do no teacher becomes a teacher to make a ton of money but it's hard to justify a middle income when you're work when you work in a place where perhaps you don't feel valued you don't feel seen you don't feel connected you don't feel part of the solution I'm not sure what's going on gone behind the scenes but I am hopeful that we are treating our teachers with the information we all know is true that our district can't and won't function without them thank you for your time he everyone Rob Carlson 21 Avenue I've got two high schoolers with Garfield grit I'd like to talk about communication transparency and accountability specifically in terms of scheduling and the referendum on June 4th many kids heard they were going to be losing an elective they received this info from teachers who' had apparently been relayed this by School administration students and their families were not told about this formally by the district let's be clear this was a bad idea that penalized every student by putting them in a disadvantage with students from other districts even if this idea had the slightest Merit communication and transparency behind this was poorly executed by June 6th parents started asking questions no word came from the district on June 7th in the afternoon an identical letter came from both CHS and CMS that spoke of being thrilled to offer a seven course schedule later that evening a letter with the same terminology came from the superintendent there was no mention of the hardships for the students nor that this was a tough decision it was sent as if it was something great and it wasn't why something that would impact students and their plans so drastically was not discussed publicly with students and parents and not announced months prior is a mystery keep in mind the students received their confirmed schedule late March early April instead students were panicking about what courses they would have to drop guidance counselors were faced with the task of having to talk to hundreds of kids with two weeks to go half of those being partial days thankfully many parents got involved and this decision was reversed as of June 10th notably a letter announcing the reversal was mentioned that the scheduling committee was directed to make a new schedule given the evidence doesn't seem fair to place the blame on them accountability is also what seems to be lacking in the proposed referendum this idea was formulated without public Outreach entrusted solely to the parties who stand to profit the most it is a real estate purchase in search of a justification while the justification may seem Noble the plan is detrimental to the community incurring a massive increase in debt and taxes with little or no benefit to our children's education I'll spare you the laundry list of why this is a bad idea that said this is another decision made in a silo without transparency and without the benefit of in inut from those affected most the teachers the students and the parents it's a not productive way to go about our business it's time to reset this I'm an emphatic no on this referendum and an emphatic yes for paying teachers more with a public question on the ballot a public question not a [Applause] referendum hi my name is Liz Young I'm at 158 New Jersey and I have a Tatum a child at Tatum currently as a parent I trust my child's education safety and well-being to the school district on a daily basis as such I expect the educators of the school to consider the education safety and well-being of my child and all of their peers at all levels to be the priority of their concerns there's never been a doubt that any teacher my daughter has had or any other teacher Specialist or administrator in her school for that matter has prioritized the students in their care what does concern me is that for the better part of this past school year teachers have repeatedly stood at this very spot to voice their concerns for feeling unsupported and undervalued by the board and high level Administration this is further evidenced by the amount of teachers leaving the middle school and high school I've lost count of how many teachers have left the district and not to leave the profession but to find better districts does the Board of Ed and administration even have a total of that number despite the number of times staff has stood here and informed the board of their issues and concerns we have never heard a response from the superintendent or the board board with their plans to address these issues when other issues have Arisen recently we've received Communications addressing them be it racial tensions in the high school too many half days or new middle school and high school schedules our staff is crying out to be heard and there is silence a new contract has stalled in negotiations and all we have received is an email passing the blame to the union for the standstill under the administration of the last three superintendant not once has the teachers contract lapsed prior to establishing a new one staff has paid via grants with no future budget considerations to absorb their salaries resulting in staff cuts and reorganizing teachers into new roles if we can't be given an actionable plan for how you the Board of Ed and superintendent are going to start supporting our teachers then I and I'm sure others like me will continue to think that you simply do not care about the education safety and well-being of all of our children [Applause] hi Robin Hogan president of the Collingswood Education Association and proud teacher at Sharp Elementary School first we'd like to thank the parents across our school Community for the support that they have shown us over these recent weeks it has meant so much to us and we are grateful rest assured that the teachers and staff will continue to show the same dedication to our students regardless of the status of NE negotiations in the board's negotiation team email the district's budget concerns were referenced and a budget is more than numbers a budget projects the priorities of the board both the board and the ca have stated have a stated goal to attract and retain teachers and staff and I think we can all agree that it's absolutely critical that our children have consistency in their teachers and School staff members so that they can reach their full potential however the salary guide do not support this goal education is changing and it's critical that Collings would be able to attract highly qualified staff the kwood teacher salary guide is consistently ranked in the lowest one-third of Canden County Schools it is not only a teacher salary guide that needs Improvement but the salary Guides of administrative assistance and instructional AIDS they desperately need to be enhanc to keep up with inflation and to compete with neighboring districts whether we like it or not we are competing for teachers and for staff members a comparison of Collingswood administrative salaries just to Oakland our closest neighbor shows that Collingswood administrative assistants are paid significantly less than Oakland counterparts on every salary step so you can see how the county average will not lift kwood salary guide out of the bottom onethird let alone address the cumulative inflation rate of the past few years I have faith that when the board makes something a priority things happen and they achiev their goal I've seen it time and again one simple example is the board the board's um when the board uh bookkeeper retired the board made hiring an assistant ba instead of another bookkeeper their priority at an additional cost of $30,000 this is just one example out of many of a priority set by the board and a priority met Collingswood has work to be done if the district hopes to be competitive and attract and retain highly qualified staff not just now but in the future as well because education is always changing the ca is looking forward to the future so for the sakes of our students collinswood needs to be in a strong position to attract highly qualified [Applause] staff good evening Rachel Hennessy 1112 East nirth uh parent at Mark newbie Miss how Turner in your opening statement all of the positives that you make uh that make you optimistic have one thing in common our Educators I sent a full letter to the board in May but will summarize as I have limited time also any concerns I mentioned do not negate any other issues that we are facing as a community in today's world data and statistics and bottom lines are the center of focus well data is great but that is not that does not take into consideration the intangible assets that the Educators and support staff in our schools bring to our children by eliminating in Las the learning accelerated Specialists from each School the extra help our children need will be squarely on the teachers and one one Las for sixth grade levels that is unacceptable my oldest child is in third grade now and has not has only had to navigate her early school years through virtual prek and social distancing but also watched her family transition out of the military and moved some where we had zero friends when she was in kindergarten they were hybrid until November and she struggled with letters and word formation during kindergarten and first grade years she was able to go in small groups with Mrs fely and the help was invaluable she now reads above her grade level and loves it our teachers work tirelessly to help our children understand the work gain positive social skills and how to respect authority when one child just doesn't get it that is where our lasas has come in and they're able to break it down while the children are still able to progress along with their classmates losing one lasas in the school will be detrimental to our kids and their ability not to follow behind I understand that there are two sides to every story and that financials are above my comprehension however I see the int intangible value of the L's like Mrs fely and Mrs kek daily I love this town I love the friends my children and I have made since living here I want nothing but for us the community to thrive in and be successful we didn't want to go to Cherry Hill Haden Township haddenfield we chose Collingswood our town is losing its sense of community as someone who has spent the last 15 years of my life serving or working with the military in some capacity this is very disheartening I have seen the value of love one can feel when they have men and women to their left and right who would do anything for each other as a parent trying to get the best for my children and the others in my community I'm here to bring a voice to some concerns I see multiple sides of every art arent but do not know how to find a middle ground or how to get people to unite for the betterment of our community I worry that everyone is too self-absorbed and stuck on what they think is right or how things have always been done that we are at a stalemate and nothing will be done to bring our community together and our school district will continue to struggle and decline thank you hello I am G jaac fourth grade teacher at Zay North and callings a graduate for the past two years we had an MTS coach teacher and two academic support teachers or accelerated learning Specialists I've had the privilege of working with all three amazing teachers but next year we will have only one academic sport teacher had seen I can never remember one academic support teacher in 30 years I'm here to sing the Praises of the two academic support teachers we are losing at Zan Annette kesy has been in a district for 22 years 18 years at Z North as an academic support teacher and that works with students in literacy and math the students who need academic support in the classroom to be successful and that is the reason students move from well below grade level to grade level and Beyond she is loved as much in kindergarten as she is in fifth grade for my class she single-handedly turned my kids into readers kids who hated reading are now asking me to get the newest book for them this is the power of a great teacher her support for students is truly remarkable she's a master of small group instruction data collection and communication and that goes above and beyond for her kids she never misses a celebration and goes out of her way to bring pure joy to everyone at Zay North and that is the heart and soul of Zayn Trish Jordana has been in the district for 17 years seven at Zayn North Trisha came to Zayn after Kathy Joyce my dear friend colleague and beloved second grade teacher passed away suddenly from cancer this was not an easy task to fill the shoes of Kathy Joyce it had to be a special person Kathy taught all three of Trisha's girls at Zay North Trisha was the perfect fit for zaye she she came to our school with open arms and a heart of gold I know Kathy would have been proud to have Trisha as her successor two years ago Trisha moved to academic support with the grant of mtss for the past two years she's been academic support in both literacy and math having Trisha in my classroom for the past two years to provide math support has been nothing short of incredible students who barely passed math assessments were understanding concepts and most of all feeling confident that they could be successful in math thank you Trisha for driving all all the way from oan City each day to support our [Applause] students thank you Anette and Trisha for being here for the staff and students so that we can meet the needs of our students as a teacher for over 30 years in this District this is only the second time I've spoken at a Board of Education meeting I asked last time for you not to cut academic support we know how that went um we're going to miss Anette and Trisha Z North for they've given everything they have for the students and there was no time for a proper goodbye to either Anette kesy or Trish Jordana as they were told on the very last day of school that they would not be back at Z North I want to personally thank them for all they've done not only for the students but for the staff we love [Applause] you my name is Jennifer Hayes I live at 108 East Madison Avenue I'm aent of two Collingswood students I'm also a taxpayer and I am a 20-year uh School counseling veteran in a school district where I feel extremely valued and supported um and I begin tonight with a question which is do you value our callings with teachers do you value our callings with students and I ask this because of the current state of affairs um it does not reflect an affirmative answer to this so let's start with our teachers the salary schedule here is appalling very much less than surrounding school districts our teachers go above and beyond doing many things beyond their um contractual obligations with absolutely no compensation the constant blame is being put on state aid Cuts well state aid cuts are happening across our County and across our state but I'm not hearing about this across our County and across our state in fact in Cherry Hill Dr kwami Morton and the Board of Ed has recently made a statement that they will be putting $1.5 million into the current teacher salaries before the current contract expires by the end of 2425 school year and it's being done along with a C Cha Association because Dr Morton has stated that the teachers are the district's most valuable asset and should be treated as such and then there are students how are our students supposed to learn with access to less teachers less supports um with some children taking virtual courses as we had heard um earlier tonight because there aren't enough teachers to teach the classes not to mention learning in classrooms and buildings that don't match 21st century Learners and then sending our children home for an astronomical amount of half days this past year disrupting their learning um and putting more burden on the families in our community and then blaming our teachers for saying they were the ones that wanted this when in fact they were not so here's my answer to my original question which is in Collingswood whether it is true or not it feels as though the teachers are not valued by the board and Dr mcdal and it feels as though our students are not valued by the board and Dr mcdal as well and we all know this is which is why our teachers are choosing to leave as well as student students and families are choosing to leave our school to go to private education or to move to different um districts and if things continue along the same trajectory you're going to lose an additional two amazingly talented and intelligent students thank [Applause] you uh Kate kemy I'm teacher at Collingswood U Middle School I teach math H we are as you everyone knows one of the lowest paid districts in our County that's always been the case though teachers staying Collingswood for the support because we felt listened to and valued teachers aren't leaving for the money if they were they would have left a long time ago consider the math math teacher uh neighboring districts paying 5 to 10,000 more at that same level of experience adds up to at least $100,000 over someone's career let that sink in we were willing to give up that kind of benefit to our families and our lives because we believed in Collingswood in its mission in its values that it's the place where you want to learn we felt like a true family amongst our co-workers our principles our supervisors obviously the value and respect is no longer as strongly felt as in the past so many staff that became our family are leaving or have left someone asked what that number was 141 have left in the last 3 years 108 of them resignations the mission the goal of our district is broken I did an informal survey of 66 honors algebra students that I teach 24% of them told me their plans for next year included attending a school other than Collingswood that's about one in four one in four of our high achieving students don't want to be are not going to Collingswood next year um we provide as much rigor as we can attend to all of our students and these are the kids that seek it out uh the motto of it's where you want to learn is clearly no longer true with a broken District Mass Exodus of teachers plus the ones that have been cut let me ask you who will be left to teach our children I commend those staff who were brave enough to leave and start over when they didn't feel valued or listen to some after 20 years of being in this District I'm not that brave of my years of teaching 14 have been with Collingswood and I'm not starting over I'm not leaving my family this is where I'm staying um but I plan to go down with the ship because this boat is drowning right now in loss or maybe we can write the ship work together and not against each other listen to one another and be transparent together make callings with a place where students want to learn and teachers want to teach [Applause] good evening Julia syy 439 had anav uh also just wanted to extend a welcome to miss H Turner I found your explanations and observations really helpful this evening uh I'm holding my own budget uh conversations in my organization and one of my colleagues said today parity and Equity are hard um and yes they are but in this District I think we're closer together than we are farther apart students have voiced that they do not feel safe and feel valued and they deserve to teachers are voicing that they do not feel valued and they deserve to be paid fairly all of our consternation at the district level isn't what's going to change the tide on the whole for for this work I am encouraging the board to keep sharing opportuni ities to make sure we're using our advocacy resources at the state level and I know that there is opportunities to engage I know Miss Coleman was on one today and that this Collective urgency and angst that we feel can be put to really good use in fighting for a fair funding formula which gives us the best chance at longterm solutions to the problems we are absolutely facing today [Applause] tall hi J moscowitz uh I'm a former teacher with 18 years experience and some of the things that I've been hearing today are are appalling I'm sorry 906 Colin a I'm a taxpayer uh I left New Jersey teaching after being in several districts because of shenanigans like this and spent a decade teaching at charter schools in Philadelphia they're hiring by the way and they pay a lot better and you're going to leave you're going to lose them you're going to lose your best asset I hear the comments that you assign these teachers to committees with no intention of respecting the recommendation even going as far as misleading the public that you agree with their decisions that your decisions are their decisions you're line if you are looking for places to cut the budget they should be coming from upper Administration level the the very last place to cut in any school district that truly prioritizes students in learning and please note here that I'm talking about the student experience I'm not trying to defend hold the teachers but you should but the very last place to cut when you value student experience is the instructional staff the best schools that have struggled financially and moved on to great success are the examples of this best example gamp in Philadelphia that principle forwent his I'm sorry that principal and founder of that school forent his salary for two years just to make sure that he didn't have to lay off a single teacher schools where Upper Administration took voluntarily larger pay cuts to help the schools survive and succeed beyond all this the most shameful thing that I've experienced tonight is the Blas indifferent and uncaring attitude of several members of this board most of you some of you have seemed just bored with having to listen to the truth of the repercussions of your actions some of you have refused to meet the eyes of the people people talking to you instead looking down looking at your computers look at the people you are hurting if you truly care about being a competitive District like Cherry Hill where I'm an alumni from haddenfield or any of the other excellent schools that you visited you will recognize that the path you are you committed to follow long before this meeting started is the wrong one [Applause] all right hi John heinel I'm 21 ort Terrace so we've lived in Kingswood since 2006 that's a relatively a long timer to a lot of people that I know and have kids in school um I grew up in North Jersey went to a far better School District than colinwood is when we moved in you know the New Jersey Jersey rankings the New Jersey monthly and all these other things said oh KS was like 300th something like that not too good but I didn't have kids didn't think much of it well now I have kids I have kids that are going on to middle school so go and look at this right people have talked about rankings and ratings con with Middle School 301 out of 1300 in the state you can tell me US News and World reports is wrong or that the professional Educators know something better or that what's the what's the misalignment here that's the number that says the high school 228 out of uh something like 400 dis 400 uh schools in in 300 something districts then you go on New Jersey monthly or new jersey.com they say well the state reported all the their numbers and we did this data analytics and out of 350 schools school districts this was related to the high school I'm not I'm not poking the high school don't get me wrong please um it we're ranked 300th out of 350 re real numbers not not hey what's going on here real numbers so I don't see that we've had much improvement now what we've always leveraged on is oh school districts are getting better oh we've had great experiences in the collegs with schools and we've tooken their word for it and that's fine and that's that's been what we've always heard and I believe it but now I see this Mass Exodus of teachers so we're already rated poorly for whatever reason it is and then we're losing staff and I get it look 2.2% property raise right you can only you can't squeeze dollars out of nothing you can't do that the money has to match I get it and this is not the only District where teachers leave my wife works in a far higher rated School District just down the road and they have a substantial number of teachers going to Vorhees going in Char Cherry Hill going other places but my request to the school board I understand the super works at the pleasure of the school board so my request to the school board on behalf of myself and any other taxpayer is this I would like to see end durable communication written signatures real real documentation from everybody what is your plan to improve the ratings of the schools to improve our rankings to improve our outcomes on behalf of all of our children and of every last penny that we pay in taxes what is your your look at how you're going to do this the tangible steps that you're going to take to do this and not not the politics you write in your shirt or the sign you have in front of your yard the tangible actionable steps that you are actually going to take to improve the educational outcomes of our children for every dollar that we spent thank you thank [Applause] you uh hi my name is Tom Howard I live at 16 Fraser Avenue I am am a resident obviously but also I'm a teacher uh it's my just finished my 24th year not at Collingswood but elsewhere um and I just want to Echo what a lot of people have already said uh obviously the district has a retention problem has a problem with staff not feeling valued uh I've been to a number of board meetings over the last year and the there's been a repeating theme uh of many people who have been brave enough to speak up uh who who work in the district saying that they don't feel valued they're not they don't feel like they're being taken uh seriously as professionals things of that nature and then we're see we've seen the results of that which is the number of Staff who have chosen to go elsewhere um number of people have left um to go to other districts and gen and again when that happens it's as somebody said before it's not about the money it's about the the value feeling like you're a professional feeling like you're you're cared for and it doesn't seem like that is the impression that many are getting in the district and so one way to maybe um take a step toward improving that is to sooner rather than later settle a fair contract for the staff pay them what they deserve because the longer the longer this this contract does not get settled the more you're are going to have a problem with teachers feeling less and less valued and you're going to have more people leaving so please I implore you sooner than later settle a fair contract pay the teachers what their deser what they deserve and please if you are sending out future communications about the progress or lack thereof of of negotiations don't imply that's the union that put you into this situation [Applause] hi my name is Angela kek I was an Las academic support teacher at Mark newbie for 11 years I was told on May 6th that my role was being dissolved and would be transferred it is still hard to believe that I am leaving my second family at Mark newbie maybe it will feel real when I learn of my final placement specifically grade level so I can spend my summer preparing myself to return as a classroom teacher I've spoken at the past two board meetings sharing the data my role across the district sharing the data of my role across the district and even specifically at newbie at the May 13th meeting I shared that across the district there were about 430 interventions being implemented by 17 teachers and that number was now being reduced to seven or maybe eight based on the new job description for one of our mtss coaches why are we accepting this plan or truly a lack of plan for these needy students this plan was put into place before anyone asked about our case loads after newbie final mtss meeting in June we ended with 23 tier 2 or tier three interventions this does not include our push in tier 2 interventions again no one has asked us for these numbers when planning for next year how will you inform the families whose child will no longer be able to receive Services because of this reduction in staff what will happen to those I I who I already have who already have action plans like the 23 I mentioned I have families asking me what will happen with their child's education and I have no answer with my new role in callings with of classroom teacher on the horizon I am anxious about deepening my understanding of that curriculum once I learn that grade level but I am even more anxious knowing I will be doing this with less support teachers finally if you would like a personal account of how I've been given or not given information the transfer preference chart that I completed twice or how senority played out for me since that May 6th meeting about my involuntary transfer transfer please feel free to reach out to me at AEK at cqu 12.org [Applause] good evening um Mike plui I work here at the high school and I am a resident as well um so a lot of people have gotten up and spoken tonight about um teachers not feeling valued or appreciated and I just kind of want to clarify for some people because that sounds very general right and cliche and I want to kind of explain what that means and of course it's not just about the money I've made this point to you guys before that's not to say we don't need a raise we do but um you know to make teachers feel valued is very important it's important for any organization it's not really this is not unique to education now put yourselves in the position okay and this is because there's some misinformation about uh you know in town amongst the chattering you know folks in town and also some things get lost in communication between you know in this format put yourself in the position as an employee right where times are tough at your organization and so what do you do when those things happen we've experienced tough times before I've been here for a long time what do you do you roll your sleeves up you band together you try to get through it right you try to weather the storm so how are you going to get people to roll their sleeves up and work on committees and put extra time in sometimes before school sometimes after school on their own time and then have your efforts misrepresented publicly that's not a recipe for success that's what that's what people are talking about and it's tough because not you know people people can't really say it but you have to understand what people are saying at this point when they say these things you know it's it's counterintuitive to us to think that you know that that's really what's happening but that's what's happening speaking of my as myself you know my record of Integrity speaks to itself talk to my colleagues talk to my students I'm I'm totally fine with that honestly talk to my neighbors you know um there I I have if I have nothing else I have my reputation um you know those kinds of things it's it's the way things are done it's the way things are done I I have a summer job full-time um I work for an organization the food bank of South Jersey it is a robustly diverse staff with people of various people of color people of various uh gender identities and sexual orientations it is a mix of all different types of people differences are valued culture is uh individuals cultures are appreciated and heightened we had an excellent juneth ceremony or celebration lunch in on Friday and it the the culture and climate in that building is phenomenal and we have to ask ourselves what we can do different here um to improve ours as well thank you good evening my name is William Lutz I'm at 728 Belmont Avenue collinswood New Jersey I've been here for since 2004 brief background I've worked in government many different levels State County Municipal I even helped out federal at one point that's a story in itself I've known many people I worked with many senators and congressmen over the years free holders it's an old term among other my primary experience has been to sit listen learn observe and well prior tonight's meeting I've been doing that and a couple things I observed between people who work here who are taxpayers and citizens and elsewhere I have a two children one's graduating another's in high school and others who feel the same way right now there have to be a lot of changes made we recognize that but maybe the way you're going may not be advised you speak of a referendum coming in September that may not be wise I say this because I see the same thing happened before when we had a discussion about having football stadium I remember back then speaking with the former board president the mayor and a few other people and the consensus was it's going to pass and I said it's not going to pass of course you know you know being who I'm Mr Lots kind people dismissed me come that night it failed 3 to one and nobody expected it except me I say that my years experience knowing people I worked in constituent Services I've listen to people over the years I'm reminded of a story funny story there's a guy named Jose John his name was Captain Smith and the ship he was on hidden Iceberg and a famous powerful woman came up to him and sir I demand to know what you're doing and his response he turned about and said Madam were merely stopping to put on some ice the ship was Titanic the referendum could be considered analogy to that I suggest may want to rethink your approach you have an opportunity I would suest you do that before it's too late just my humble opinion my observation by the way I placed a bet on that previous one the football stadium made a, I have to go I don't want to take any more of time I have Ru canel tomorrow and they go hit the potty thank you very much Leah foran 50 1 South Vineyard Boulevard um I think it's wonderful that we have so many passionate people advocating for our schools and I think it's also wonderful that everyone's advocating to pay teachers more um and I would advocate for the same thing teachers do need higher salaries I think that we are looking in the wrong direction I think that we had a meeting today with Kelly hle from Haden Township that was a really productive meeting about how at the state level to advocate for more funding because at the end of the day the number that we have is the number that we have and we want everyone to be paid fairly um we don't want to lose any more teachers we don't want to lose any more staff we don't want anyone to have to take a pay cut um and we really need to start looking up and not looking directly in front of us and if we don't do that I don't really know where we're going to get um so I'm hoping that if anyone wants to join um pushing the state to revise the funding formula to give us a fair share of funding to fund actually fund education because I don't think new jerseys actually funding education properly that they should join us um it's clear that we all want that we all need that here we need the support it's also really strange to me that we would talk about stand up here and talk all night about how we need more mtss coaches and more people supporting our students and that would not support a consolidation of our resources into fewer buildings um I think that that doesn't make any sense to me personally and I think that if you are advocating to have all of those things in place you would want a consolidation you would want us to be able to have more in each building more fre each student um my student very much would benefit from having an mtss coach to having that support and I think the way that we move forward is to be able to get that get that support more teachers in the building with the students um and lastly I heard a lot about climate and culture and working in a school um that always came from my building administrator I never expected my superintendent or my CEO to impact the climate and culture my building administrator did and so it's clear tonight to me personally that I think we have a problem with our building administrators and how they're executing climate and culture thank you ex I'm just going to be clear that everyone is allowed to to make public comment and we can clap at the end or not clap but that's as much as we can do thank you hi I'm Kate nicely I live at 209 Lincoln AB I have a middle schooler a high schooler and I work at Tatum Elementary and I really prefer to listen and not speak but I can't sit quietly again it doesn't feel like you're telling the truth you're following the same pattern you're placing blame on others you put a policy or a plan out and it goes poorly and it's not thought out or organized well so you try to make it look like like it's someone else's fault but everything that comes out of your offices feel disorganized and causes a mess one of the early discuss decisions you made Dr mcdal was to not let the middle schoolers take home their Chromebooks and you said that they would have access to a school computer and a computer at home so you told parents to let you know if we needed one at home and then you went silent for months and we didn't know what was happening or if we were going to get a computer at home and teachers couldn't give homework and had to change their plans and I hear you saying that you're learning and listening but it's every decision I need you to bring something good not this continuous mess um we didn't even get a snow dat right the students shouldn't have to get a new schedule handed to them and then they become the ones asking is this going to affect my GPA and then within a week you come back and say we're listening to you that schedule should never have come out you made a huge mess again this is why we feel we can't trust you the superintendent's job is to unite the board the teachers and the parents we are so divided we are so on edge we're not seeing decisions and plans that give us confidence in you these continuous examples make me wonder if the budget problems you reference are fully true I've wondered along the way if maybe the teachers are just stuck in a mob mentality maybe they're being too negative I'm trying to be fair and figure out what needs to happen to get us on the right track I don't fully have an answer yet but what I do know right now is is that I'm trusting our teachers they want to be able to come to work and follow their calling to teach children love them make them feel safe and form a society with responsible respectful and smart kids that is why they're here that is why I'm here and you're not helping that cause you're making it really difficult what I've heard from teaching peers is that we need to try to succeed not because of your leadership but in spite of it you cannot keep saying that you're listening when teachers have been pleading with you for months at these meetings and in private to change leadership not add more Administration and use of the budget but to make a change I'm not sure how you can gain the teachers trust back at this point but that needs to be your number one [Applause] priority all right my name is Julie Schneider I live at 819 Migel a um I kind of feel like I'm from the same position as the math teacher who's like I'm on the boat and I feel like the boat is sinking but I really don't want to get off the boat I want to help the boat get afloat um and that's why I'm speaking today um I do want to speak in support of the teachers one thing that I noticed is I I wish that negotiations had started earlier because it seems like it was only a five maybe a five month window if I'm right um and I think that could have helped understanding that it was probably going to be a little bit of a more difficult um negotiation um the very beginning of the meeting one of the things that were talked about was the schedule that came out and what lessons were learned from that um and for me one lesson is that there was no Community feedback or engagement with that um so um one of the takeaways was that we need to now pause and reconsider and consider all the Angles and those were some wise words from somebody up there um um and so I think this would be a good time when we're talking about teacher retention and how we're interacting with the teachers and listening to the teachers to do just that pause reconsider and consider all the angles is it really going the way it should be going when it's been going this way for a while um and since it was mentioned um I think it's the same with the plan for the referendum um it has come out there has been feedback um and I would really appreciate it if the board would pause reconsider consider all the Angles and maybe make changes before um it's too late to make them I guess um but thank you I I believe we're all here for the same reason we're a very small community um and I believe what you do matters um and so that's why I think that advice to pause reconsider and consider all the angles is that much more important right now take some time to reflect is it going the way it should be going and if not what can each and every one of you do to change that to to improve that thank [Applause] you hi my name is Kate Hill 117 East night AV I'm the PTA president of Garfield Elementary and also Collingswood Middle School I don't get up and talk often but honestly I am exhausted about this topic I'm tired of talking about the schools you'll be hardpressed to find a more overly involved parent with the schools on a daily basis than me my board member families and the daily com topic of conversation is what is happening to our schools we are baffled daily I'm there every day every single day the morale the shift of morale and happiness in the last few years is gut-wrenching to me and has been for some time I'm not going to repeat everything that everybody keeps going on and on about because it doesn't seem to make a huge difference at the moment but what I will say today is that at this point you are not only losing phenomenal teachers and staff and promising students but you're going to lose your feet on the ground dedicated parents who are here doing the behind thescene work families are leaving we're opting for other districts private and public because we're not willing to wait out whatever is going on to the detriment of our high school age kids it breaks my heart and my wallet honestly to even have to consider sending my kids to another District the school spirit that I have for this community is sadly dwindling down which I never thought would happen I don't don't have a guarantee that where I'm going to be sending my kids to school over the next few years and I actually do have the back of this quality staff members 100% while other people say that they do but I actually do I am in the buildings all the time with them I'm hearing what they're saying I'm seeing the difference it is not just coming from Administration it is coming from above they do not feel supported we're losing the staff members because they don't feel heard and supported losing people like Bruner Jacobson stigl Brian and the list goes on and on no matter the circumstances is an immeasurable loss and should not be happening in our schools hi I'm Steph Hong 741 Park Avenue um as of several days ago I guess I'm back to just being a taxpayer um I uh guess I just want to start by saying thank you to the teachers the staff the administration um in Collingswood because uh I've had two two kids go through from first grade through 12th grade and I am eternally grateful um to all of you uh for the time the energy the enthusiasm um that you have invested in my children um and uh thank you um I've been listening to the discussion tonight and I think most of the things things that I would want to say have already been said um the one point I want to add is that there is a momentum to what's happening um it feels like for the past few years we've been on a sort of predetermined path like we realized yes we have a structural budget Gap um maybe we need to be really clear about how where that's coming from but uh um but it feels like we've basically decided okay whether it's through attrition or whatever we're going to resolve our budget Gap by chasing people off and um it seems to be working in that respect um a lot of the teachers that uh my kids um loved and um were just entirely broken up about leaving um you know it's um it's really unfortunate that they feel like they need to go um so the point I want to make is there is a momentum to what's happening here um once you lose the trust of teachers once the morale as was just mentioned has gone down um yes people leave and yes you can hire more people um but it's going to be harder to attract dedicated teachers to these positions that are being vacated um it's going to be harder to attract families into our community who want to send their kids to these schools these schools were great for my kids but if the momentum continues the way it is now it's snowballing and it's um it's going to be impossible to stop it after a certain point so whether we're on a predetermined path or not I don't know but I think the sooner we start trying to push back the better and it begins with rebuilding trust however much it's possible to do so however you have to do it um with the teachers who I agree are the biggest asset we have in this District thank you Mr Rossy is your topic different than the one you already spoke on it is okay just checking um yeah Wayne Rossy 114 East palav I just wanted to speak real briefly about uh the schedule because um it it something I I don't know I don't know if folks don't remember like back to the beginning of the school year but I actually recall that this year it was my daughter's first year of middle school and the block scheduling was not liked by the students and it was not liked by the teachers that was the distinct impression I remember getting it back to school night and I remember raising it at one of the board's open forum forums and um hearing you know that the the current schedule wasn't well liked and the the new schedule doesn't seem I I mean I guess like the class lengths are different and stuff but it doesn't seem that different from a moving what period you're having each uh day like it's a it's a different list of periods every day um and my my daughter like when I mentioned that they were going to have a seven period schedule with the same um w w with the same classes every day was actually Overjoyed by that idea um so I I don't know I I've I I don't know or understand anything about all the process and the ins and outs and the politics of it I'm not concerned with that but I I actually have found the response surprising because I I I had I had heard negatives about the the current block schedule so I I I don't know if like the the new one is seen as a major Improvement um so again that's just been a point of confusion for me because it seemed very unpopular earlier in the year this is my second question it is a different topic it's totally a different topic um I feel a little awkward because there were so many very eloquent things said that were kind of summing up and I'm kind of going back to the ne gritty um and we talked a lot about the schedule and the Seven period schedule was what we needed because we let go of all those teachers we didn't have enough bodies to actually staff an 8 period schedule now we have an eight period schedule back and we'd love to get those we'd love to get those electives back but in my department we killed four El Ives and doing that allowed us to get rid of one English teacher so are we bringing back an English teacher to get those electives back like I'm very confused that we did all of this riffing and then we had to get this seventh period schedule because we did all this riffing and now we have an eight period schedule back are they all just going to be study halls like like how are we actually going to staff those electives those year-long electives that were cut into halfe electives because of the seventh period schedule so I'm like I I guess I mean I would love my elective was kind of a dinking one and probably needed to go anyway but there was kids who loved creative writing and there were kids who really needed public speaking and those classes are gone journalism was essential those skills are essential for our for our civilization and really really necessary for our school newspaper that course is gone kids wanted those classes those classes disappeared the teach so the way we balanced that was we got rid of everybody's electives that was one teacher I'm not sure how we're going to write the ship how are we going to bring back those electives if those teachers are gone thank you that's that's it [Applause] I'm Alexander guidos Smith 311 Lake View Drive um I am speaking here today also in support of our teachers I am a 24y year Public School educator proud Union member um and I fully uh believe that my children Thrive as as well as they do because of the support and the love that they've gotten from their teachers um Mrs kesy I can speak to um she came into our our kindergarten classroom and she gave my little uh she entered kindergarten at 4 late September birthday and Mrs kesy was wonderful she and Mrs cotch were a fantastic team and they provided a lot of support for that whole class so um we are here my husband and I are enormous supporters of of public education and being an interventionist uh in a different District I often look at the parallels between where I work and where we live we educate the same amount of children uh we uh we're my district is a little bit better off uh socioeconomically but not too far off and I listen to the difficulties that you know the number of mtss teachers that we have I am a reading specialist and an interventionist and there was a parent up here who said and now this teacher is going to have six grade levels by herself and I thought for a minute and I'm like I serve as six classrooms by myself but it's not the same grade level because I work in a prek to2 building so I have kindergarten and first grade and they're all in the same place so I can grab kids and go and work with them they're all from different classes they're all from different grade levels if you took those six classes and put them in six different rooms my head would spin I couldn't service those kids as efficiently as I'm able to do now and I think that a lot of our issue to bring it back around comes from the fact that we have these micro schools and I thank you for the forethought of putting a referendum together that puts our students in classes in schools together where they belong it gives teachers the flexibility to be able to group children based off of ability based off of need based off of personality we don't have that now and our teachers deserve that our children deserve that so thank you um settle the teachers contract give them a fair wage and let's keep working toward an equitable inclusive school system that our children deserve thanks thank you to everyone who took the time um to come up and speak today I did try to to get some things into um groups or topics that that seems like important things that we should um clarify so uh first I'm going to start with um the can um I think an important sorry I think an important point to to make clear um because I heard it a couple of different times about the budget um shortfall that we are or the budget Gap that we currently have and how to um write that um I'm going to ask Miss Coleman to be more specific because that is um her wheelhouse much more than mine but I can say we absolutely would have loved to have been able to go out for a public question to solve this problem um but correct me if I'm wrong we asked and that was not allowed can you get more specific with that yes um and thank you for those parents that sat on on that call today um with Haden Township um we are trying to form a group of people who are going to try to advocate in Trenton um yes it's true we can go above our 2% but the state in their wisdom always adds caveats to that so the caveats are [Music] um we cannot go out above % we can ask for a separate proposal to do so but we can't do it for anything that's currently in our building so I know it was said by somebody put teach increase in teacher salaries out above 2% I'm not allowed to do that anything that's currently in our district is out of bounds um I did reach out to the or what excuse me what treat and determines a thorough and efficient or now they call it adequacy but a thorough and deficient or adequate budget and that's to be determined by the county superintendent so being that they don't fund Athletics or co-curricular that's purely out of my my local budget and not funded by the state I asked the county superintendent I'm like well hey you don't fund that and we have a very vibrant program can I put that out as a separate question and then it solves like half of our problem right and if they come back with a resounding note because was already in our budget so each year when they do publish the budget guidelines they usually allow for for what's called a cap adjustment so we're we have 2% cap they usually say if there's certain costs go above what they predetermine um I guess what they consider a reasonable cost so this year um we did we were able to go above 2% in the area of health care because of our our our our excuse me our prescription renewal um but that was it um in years past we've been able to do it if we saw a bump in enrollment so right now those are really the only two that the legislature authorizes um I've been arguing with my State Association because they're uh they're obviously working on the funding formula in Trenton that I feel like if there are costs that are outside uh a town or a school districts control and I purposely throw the bus companies literally under the bus no pun intended at every chance I get but that's something that's literally out out of my control um that if it's the cost that I'm being quoted and being charged to bus our children places I should be able to anything above the 2% I should be able to ask for um so we're trying to work on ways but we did ask the state about to go above the 2% um we we we were unilaterally um denied um and as far as the structural budget deficit I mean we all know it we all have our own budgets at home just all the costs are going up literally everything's gone up there's not one line in this budget I mean I mean health benefits supplies everything Transportation everything the costs are just through the roof and 2% on our taxes is only about $500,000 um which is great but when the state holds you flat I got no more increase in state aid so I've got costs going up of to$ 3.8 to $4 million with a $500,000 increase you know we can do the math um it's getting increasingly frustrating uh excuse yeah increas inly frustrating sitting in this seat because nobody wants to be in this position year after year Trenton cons considers us fully funded but I can honestly tell you we 100% are not because they predetermine what they're going to put in the budget for State funding and they back into what everybody gets it's like no real rocket science how they do it um they say they factor in such things as socioeconomic and special ed and so forth but they only look they only fund special edit 2third they start at 2third and then they carve away so they don't really fund fully fund any category at all the way I read it they start at a dollar amount and then they kind of peel it away to what you're going to get they used weighted averages instead of actual enrollment so why do I send them enrollment every October 15th with literally the exact number of children in every single classification in this District I send every October to to have them not use those numbers very frustrating um I could go on forever but but yeah we I every budget trick I had to to generate as much as I could we have done and I will continue to do so but um yeah we've exhausted all of our ability and so your you know expert opinion on this particular topic what um some of the the community members were talking about with the the group that is forming um a Coalition in Camden County to um advocate for uh full funding of the the formula is that the best option for us at this point right now yes I feel there are groups who Lobby treaten who are loud and they're seen and they get attention and I think we need to be equally so um and I think the more that like districts kind of band together again you know the the Abid districts they had their their lawsuit and their cause but you know there's a we're not the only District in Camy County of this size you know Haden townships right next door and they're having the same you know the had Township Board president trying to put this together because they're banging their head against the wall um so I think the more we join together the louder we are um and you know it can't hurt we just we just can't continually try to make it work with pittens when when my costs are through the roof so so just to to finish off that I think it'll be important once that group kind of gets a bit more formalized and there's more um actionable steps that can be taken that we will put those on the website and we will send them out um via email communication and text to to make sure that that folks are aware of those things um also just to reiterate um that uh the question about the schedule with the electives being offered um correct me if I'm wrong um M hell Turner or Dr McDow that the the electives that are um being offered or that we when we refer to electives at the moment for this particular schedule what we're talking about our our things like uh the the music program so choir and band and Orchestra uh the various art classes the um the engineering uh courses that you can take from engineering one to engineering I don't know are we up to four yet I'm not sure I think we're just up to engineering three um the TV production courses the digital engineering courses um am I correct in that that that's the there are electives we haven't cut all of our electives and there aren't any to to be added into the schedule so it's it's it's it's twofold and so we have nine um elective Pathways which includes music um music the Arts uh stem um and so you're you're you're correct and so music production there's a four-year trajectory television and film there's a four-year trajectory all of the three major fees within our music are also trajectories and so it's important to acknowledge and provide Clarity local site based decisions are uh what every school is empowered to make and so at the district level we provide uh guidance we provide information but in terms of the Nuance of what is or is not offered year-over-year that is a local decision based on student need based on enrollment and based on the resources that are available and so one of the things that was extremely important to the uh middle and high school leadership was to have a robust set of offerings for students and so that is what they fought for and so when you look at the the pathways um which are electives uh we believe that there are robust offerings at both the middle and the high school because our administrators as well as our staff they believe that having a well-rounded education is extremely important and so it is very easy to get caught in the Nuance of the cherry-picking of specific courses we have not reduced we've reduced one course in three years and that was a a Foods course uh that is no longer offered and so all of the other courses year over-year are evaluated by the local teams local administrators in conjunction with their staff to determine what should or shouldn't be offered year-over-year and so the program of study or the course catalog has not uh necessarily changed what happens and this is very similar to what you see in college some semesters you will offer some courses and some you may offer them every other year or whatever the case may be that is driven by student demand and uh and Staffing that's available so I just wanted to make sure we provided that Clarity yeah and it's and it sounds like um very much unfortunately my son took journalism with Mr paluchi and and enjoyed it very much um but that sometimes due to Staffing which I think is the the the truth for for some for the creative writing or the journalism courses those be offered next year due to Staffing it doesn't mean those courses have permanently gone away necessarily is that what you're you're saying it means that right now they have with the hope of you know all of these budget things that we're talking about are can uh improve and in the future we can bring courses like that back that we all know kids enjoy so that's correct one of the things that uh specifically our high school leadership team valued and fought for was making sure that there was a 4-year learning trajectory um as the foundation and that if there was flexibility to have one-offs or some of those unique uh courses they would try to factor those in and so I know that as they're building the schedule if there is flexibility to factor some of those popular courses back in I have full faith and confidence that they will attempt to do that thank you and then one um one last thing that I thought would be useful and then I think the rest of the the the things for the time being um we're we're just going to move on because it's getting pretty late um the financial literacy requirement can you just kind of clarify how um how we are fulfilling that requirement and what that looks like I'm I'm not able to speak about that at this time okay so that communication will go out to to families um from presumably from the high school since that's where it's happening uh over the summer or so we have an administrative retreat tomorrow with all of our administrators um in our grade band or our grade level uh breakout sessions um that'll be a topic of discussion so further communication will be coming out this summer um with any uh changes that the schools may or may not be thinking about just one quick clarifying if let's say that the financial literacy course is is on someone's schedule and they're in a study hall just to be clear the Chrome I mean if it's an in school course Chromebooks would be provided to those students during that course yes yeah okay um okay with all of that um and we've got another public comment section so we'll we'll wrap it up for now uh moving on to section seven the superintendent report Dr McDow will present so I'm going to try to be uh brief but due to the end of the year there's a lot uh to present publicly and I want to make sure that uh the community hears this um so section uh 7.01 is the enrollment report um May of 2023 enrollment was 225 55 as of 2024 it's 2262 uh 7.02 03 and 04 are the safety drill reports uh suspension reports and anti-bullying reports um and those are attached and so just a few uh highlights for the year um to really talk about some of the tremendous work of our students and our staff across our district and so uh you heard from our um assistant superintendent of business and operations um who by the way uh has worked in our district for 17 years is a nationally recognized uh expert in school Finance uh and sits on state level advisories and works day in and day out in order to make sure that every potential dollar that is available from whatever Source goes to support our kids and our staff uh and so I just wanted to publicly thank uh bethanne for her tireless effort uh and and helping to lead the charge specifically as it relates with state level advocacy which uh future information will be coming out within the next week about how our community can partner with us and others uh in order to make the necessary appeals to the state legislature uh on behalf of the school district focused on a fair funding formula and so just so that I illustrate the point um the average cost per pupil for New Jersey is $ 27,7 127 where whereas Collinwood receives 16,477 per pupil this includes a South Jersey uh reduction um don't they've never been able to explain that and uh as mentioned previously this the full State funding formula is not fully funded there's different carve outs and Provisions to be able to reduce it um and so moving on we really want to acknowledge the collective efforts of our entire community to celebrate juneth and so leading up to juneth a series of activities took place in our schools Collingwood and Elementary uh excuse me Colin Hood and Oakland Elementary staff received a slideshow of grade appropriate activities to complete the week of June 10th activities included short videos discussion questions read alouds and a uh a districtwide art project to be displayed at the CommunityWide event um a Special juneth Assembly which provided a live presentation for elementary students they took place at uh the sharp campus as well as the Zayn campus with it being recorded and distributed to uh students at schools who were unable to attend in person we'd like to publicly thank the Zay PTA the burough and our grants team for supporting this uh important experience for our students Middle School also received resources for that week um as well as our high school BSU working with the Collingwood Community Dei committee and their active participation in the weekend celebration and so on Sunday June 16th the bureau sponsored its second annual juneth celebration as part of our unity in the community initiative residents and Friends enjoyed a beautiful day filled with history music food and fun thank you to the buau school district students and staff volunteers and vendors who participated a special thanks and a shout out to the tremendous efforts of the Collingswood Community Dei committee for their tireless efforts to not only plan but execute this important event and thank you for all those who attended and we look forward to next year also as part of our unity and the community initiative the Collinwood community resource Hub is the newly established One-Stop destination for empowerment support and growth this is in collaboration with the Bureau of Collingswood the school district and our community partners with its mission of fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion for every resident please check out the resources housed on the burough website um we'd also like to give a shout out to our Collingswood Odyssey of the mind this year was a historic year for uh the students for the first time in the program's history three teams won the honors at the state champions um four Kingwood teams advance to the World Finals in Ames Iowa placing 7th 9th 12th and 17th this year marked the third straight year where three of our high school teams Advanced special thanks to all of the student participants and all of the volunteers who have made this program so extremely successful for our uh senior leaders we'd like to celebrate and acknowledge the senior leaders Leadership Academy of 2024 the cohort this year was dedicated to making positive changes in the school Community these student leaders accumulated over 500 hours which included over 65 classroom lessons 14 elementary school trips successful P mediations and over $5,000 raised to support their passion projects this amazing group of young people they set the bar extremely high so we'd like to publicly thank and acknowledge Paige fice Emma Fox Camille Luby Kathy Rodriguez pton Murray Mar musano key Sullivan Adriana Varga Evelyn Celia Cole Leck Michelle Newton Jordan Kirby Aliana Carr Daniel Heredia Lila Carmona Miranda Murphy M ly Vargas Zion Herring Micah anger poy marish Ali rudo Emma Hastings Emma McGee Olivia mcdevit and Delany Smith we are extremely appreciative for their leadership and their impact to our school Community will never be forgotten we'd also like to thank Mr lour and Mr Adams for serving as advisers to this year's class and finally as we close out the school year we wanted to thank uh our community for allowing us to serve students as we reached the end of the 2324 school year I've had the great honor of attending our closing ceremonies across our schools each ceremony was unique and each has been a true celebration of school culture collaboration persistence and resilience our staff members thoughtfulness compassion and care for our students have made all of these moments possible uh on uh the uh this past uh last week we were excited to wrap up the Year by honoring 185 graduates of the Collingswood High School class of 2024 this special group was awarded 5,1 128,648 [Applause] scholarship process began with 53,000 applicants with an acceptance rate of less than 1% and after a rigorous process which included essay submissions multiple interviews Zion was one of 750 Scholars Nationwide selected to receive funding to cover 100% of their college expenses we'd also like to recognize the outstanding performance of the class of 2024 valedictorian Micah anger who will attend Dartmouth in the fall and salutatorian Wesley Wilcox who will attend the University of Vermont in addition we'd like to honor and recognize the 35 National Honor Society graduates and their classmates who were all accepted into some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the country including Boston University Brown Carnegie melon Clemson Dartmouth Georgetown Georgia Tech Indiana James Madison MIT Montclair State Ohio State Penn State Syracuse Temple Alabama Yukon University of California UMass USC and West Lan University to name just a few the class of 20124 has shown their resilience and perseverance and we're extremely proud of what they've achieved and as they move on we are confident that they are well prepared to handle whatever comes their way in addition to their continuing academic success they also represented the Arts in exceptional ways the kleinwood panther marching band was the top 10 finalist at the Atlantic coach championships and with the indoor percussion Ensemble placing third at that same competition PA TV senior Amilia Tri received the 2024 student Emy award for outstanding talent in news anchor with senior Enzo damasi receiving a 2022 Emy for producing the holiday show PA TV seniors Charlie gella Lydia Anderson Michael Tanner and Enzo received Emy nominations for producing good morning Collingswood news magazine Lydia and Char were also honored with nominations for their documentaries Panther ignite and the Panther football culture Jacob ederton received an Amy an Emmy nomination for his documentary on Odyssey of the mind and Lydia also won first place at the Camden County teen Arts Festival and Charlie Enzo and Amilia were honored for their film at the New Jersey 10day Film Festival our student athletes were also honored this year for their outstanding achievement the boys uh baseball team were Conference champions girls lacrosse were Conference champions and the girls soccer team won the Jim Black sportsmanship award boys basketball team leader Tomas money scored 1,4 149 points over his four-year career and broke the school record for the most points scored in a single game track and cross country team leader Elijah Forest won the group two state championship for his two- mile event and football team leader Shakur Carter broke multiple records with a season record of nine interceptions 57 receptions and a career record of 115 receptions 1,800 uh plus yards and 21 touchdown receptions our student athletes were also recognized as all stars in the colonial uh conference uh the county conf the South Jersey County conference the South Jersey Interstate swim league and the South Jersey Interstate lacrosse league and the Burlington County sports leagues so during the summer all of our schools will reflect on their successes and identify uh items in need of improvement for September so looking ahead to the upcoming school year we will refine our long standing practice around site-based leadership we believe that Educators closest to the challenge are best positioned to identify and recommend Solutions it is also important to note that as school culture on each campus evolves site-based leadership will continue to play a dominant role our vision for Equity is to ensure that all students feel included and welcome have a deep sense of belonging and feel cared for and are treated with dignity and respect to fulfill this Vision we will Elevate the voices of the newly established Elementary and secondary Equity councils as they help lead discussions on their campuses about Equity culture and climate work in their schools this also includes leveraging their feedback in the development of the 2425 restorative code of conduct to be released in September and led by our new leader of school culture Mr Mike Jefferson beginning this summer we will also be working with a diverse group of students on a project entitled elevating student voice the goal for this project is to build capacity for Collegewood high school students to actively particip ipate in improving their schools culture and climate through training and action research grounded in social justice to create a culture of unity belonging and pride by providing sustained and systemic opportunities for students to inquire about root causes of problems in their school or community and take action to address them by working with the adults in the building to develop and Implement Equitable and inclusive policies practices and activities on the high school campus so as we Embark upon new learning schedules at the elementary and secondary level we believe leveraging the expertise of our staff on their respective campuses it's critically important that we work collaboratively to identify and reduce timec consuming tasks not connected to teaching and learning school-based staff and academic support will be involved in the development of systems and structures needed to modify small group instruction and targeted intervention to Aid in this effort all schools will be provided additional collaborative planning time daily to ensure that our Educators have the time that they need to make key instructional decisions and work closely with their colleagues we look forward to continuing to learn and Lead together as we focus on efforts as we focus our efforts on providing rigorous learning environments with a continued emphasis on school community and culture thank you thank you Dr McDow um we don't have uh students here since it is their summer vacation uh so we're going to skip over Section 8 student reports and move to section N9 the business administrator board secretary report I will be brief um this month I have your May uh 2024 budget transfers for approval your May 2024 board secretary Treasures report uh your May um Student Activities report your uh may neutr serve uh cafeteria financial statements and a listing of the June purchase orders um and a listing of the June warrants to be paid tomorrow morning pending approval this evening and just FYI um yes it's summer but this is when I get really busy so um the Auditors will be out um end of July and August and so I hope to have at the August board meeting at least an update um on the audit and um our final June financial statements um in August thank you Miss Coleman moving on to section 10 the buildings grounds and finance committee Mr Craig will present the uh Finance buildings and grounds committee reviews all financial statements purchase orders and warrants on a monthly basis the committee also reviews and approves all contracts with outside service providers and overseas all maintenance and capital Improvement projects districtwide seeking approval on the following items this evening uh 102 to 109 is the board secretary report it was just presented uh 1010 is resubmitting the budget with the stabilization Aid that was given back to us by the state uh 1011 uh is moving money back into capital reserve for future projects uh 1012 is the submission of the capital reserve documents the Department of Education by our board Architects on behalf of the Park View pre uh 1013 is the lease for that property uh 1014 is a lease renewal for the Collingswood Early Childhood Center which is Methodist Church uh 1015 Reserve account deposits for maintenance reserves 1016 solicitation of bids for athletic Transportation uh 1017 is a parent contract for student transportation 1018 is ESS Support Services on an as needed basis extending our contract through the next year 1019 is uh special education placements dist uh 1020 is uh joint busing agreement for a displaced student 1021 through 1024 acceptance of various grant funding uh 1025 to 1026 uh shared services with both Haden Township and Oakland for communications and trash removal uh respectively 1027 is agreement to continue the use of special education Management Systems uh 1028 is renewed agreement with Frontline education for the next school year uh 1029 is a service agreement with gler County uh School Services uh Crest program on an as needed basis 10:30 is Ed consultancy to provide ldtc services this summer and next school year as needed uh 10:31 are University affiliation agreements with five area universities 10:32 to 1036 are use of facility requests and 10:37 is approval for um board uh board Treasurer to ENT bethan to enter into contracts pay bills and other necessary activities over the summer um before our August meeting so seeking approval for the items 102 to 1037 that was impressively efficient uh motion to approve set items and a second questions or comments from board members Matt um or anybody um the prek lease at Park View just want to make sure that that's covered by the prek grant yes it is any other questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr CH yes Mr Craig yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs saverino yes Mrs sherid and Celia yes Mrs Sherman yes Mr dilus yes Mrs Kaden yes uh section 11 is the curriculum committee uh Mr Chu will present the curriculum committee oversees an approves the district curriculum and assessment programs as well as field trips home instruction co-curricular programs and the school calendar uh up for approval today is item 11.02 which is uh a couple of Elementary School field trips that we're approving um uh they've already happened um 11.03 is a overnight field trip for cheering camp that will happen uh in in August 17th uh through 20th um 11.04 11.05 are are some uh out of District home construction placements uh for some students um 11.06 is uh some I believe summer uh uh yeah I think touring or just Suare education programs for a few students that comes out of the high impact touring Grant or the title one uh funds um if the high impact Tu Grant uh is exhausted 11.07 um are a few uh tuition free student approvals and so these are uh this is in line with our policy five uh 111 which is basically um has to do with uh families that have moved out of the district late late in the school year we let them finish out the school year here uh 11.08 is the approval for the 2024 Middle School fall musical which is freey Friday one act Edition um so I'm seeking approval for items 11.02 through 11.08 uh thank you Mr Chu motion to approve that items so move and a second questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr Chu yes Mr Craig yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs saverino yes Mrs Sheridan Celia yes Mrs Sherman yes Mr dlas Yes except we're required to obate gotcha Mrs Kaden yes uh section 12 the Personnel committee Miss sharidan Celia will present uh the personal committee reviews all recommendations for teaching and staff employment considers co-curricular employment and considers all professional development opportunities for staff members this evening I'm seeking approval for agenda items 12.02 through 12.56 items 12.02 through 12.10 are resignations uh items 11 I'm sorry 12.11 through 1213 are various leaves and a a correction to a previous leave that we had approved 12.4 is revised contract 12.15 is the appointment of a Spanish teacher 12.16 is another revised contract cont ract 12.17 is the appointment of an elementary long-term substitute teacher 12.18 a high school secretary appointment 12.19 the appointment of Ruben Al Alisia I'm sorry I butchered your name as a lead security officer um I'm sorry um 12.20 is the appointment of a preschool principal 12.21 lead counselor 12.22 um um the various Elementary transfers 12.23 Auto AB text 12.2 for um the next crop of Psych interns for next year 12.25 um employee referral stien um 12.26 um the 23 24 Special Olympics United school Grant stiens 12.27 through no 12.27 is preschool Summer Staff 12.28 is the summer hours for the mental health under the mental health screening Grant 12 29 are social work interns for the next school year 12.30 our child study team stip anded approval 12.31 summer hours for the leag counselor 12.32 through 12.35 are various um eight um extra duty pay stiens 12.36 um enrichment clubs 13.37 through 13.49 are various summer positions 13 50 our various employees are going to be doing AED training 13 sorry 12.51 is elevating through 12.51 through 12.53 I think we've touched on this before um various we have two advisor co-advisors and some teach students are going to be undergoing tra training for uh elevating student voices over the summer um 12.54 the list of substitutes and tutors 12 .55 is the travel expense Forum there's not much on there this uh summer 12.56 um let's Dr MCD will offer summer offers employment contracts to successful candidates during the summer months and for our consideration and approval at our next regular scheduled board meeting in August so again I'm seeking approval of agenda items 12.02 to 12.56 this evening thank you motion to approve set items so moved and a second questions or comments from board members um I have some comments um so over the last two weeks I also attended a number of six I was able to attend six of the um the promotion promotion and commencement ceremonies um and I I agree that it is clear that we have uh a lot of Staff who truly care for and support our students um and it really shows in those ceremonies as well as just the joy that I saw in so many of our students as they went through those ceremonies uh I definitely agree that it is our responsibility um we we've stated many times that a goal is to attract and retain and support staff and I think that it's important to to heed some of the comments today and and I would like to um I don't I don't know what the answer would be uh have a meeting an executive session or something to discuss some of these issues that were brought up tonight I think is very important um also uh since we spent so much time talking about this during the committee of the whole um I did notice that under that idea of of supporting um different perspectives of Staff members there do seem to be some discrepancies regarding the timeline of the work done by the scheduling committee so I would like to hear at some point some clarifications Since the situation had such an impact on the staff uh as well as the students in the community thank you any other questions or comments from board members about items listed on the agenda for the committee uh yes um I know that I just I've seen nine resignations or retirements on here uh for this month I just want to revisit that again and tap off with Megan um tap off what Megan said I know we talked about this a great deal at our Retreat about teacher retention and and a lot of different things that maybe we can do to kind of help people stay here and want to work here and and um I feel like we maybe need to revisit that conversation again and see where we are with the things that we talked about um and how we can help the situation any other questions or comments from board members I have a question that I I'm not 100% sure that I can ask so I'll keep it purposefully vague um because I just not 100% sure uh if a if we are ensuring that an individual who has moved out of uh one role and put into another role um that there are safeguards put in place so that that um they only have the new role to take on and they are no longer expected to do the other role does that make sense um as a district we're ensuring that that is that that occurs does that I'm I'm hoping that I'm keep I think that question makes sense I'm seeing okay Miss how Turner shaking her head yes any other questions or comments from board members roll call please oh sorry yeah um I wanted to thank uh uh Miss May and Miss uh molski for for bringing up the retention piece I I I agree I think we we need to think about and and and figure out the the pieces needed to continue to retain our teachers I mean out of the I think over 220 staff members that we will have next year you know about 100 a little bit more than 100 of them have been in the district for 10 years or more and about 40 have been in District for 20 years or more and it's really important for us to uh figure out you know how do we keep that that group of teachers right that that have been that that big group of teachers have been in this district for a long time uh uh you know part of District and make sure that we're retaining them and so I agree with that sentiment I appreciate they bringing that up any other questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr Chu yes Mr Craig yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs saverino yes Mrs sherid and Celia yes Mrs Sherman yes Mr dolas Yes except we're required to abstain Mrs Kaden yes uh moving on to section 13 the culture climate and policy committee uh I will present in place of Miss Seltzer uh the policy and regulations committee reviews all updates and changes of District policies and regulations 13.02 are two second readings of uh policies for vandalism and notification of J juvenile offender case disposition and that is it uh so motion to approve item 13.02 so moved and a second questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr Chu yes Mr Craig yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs saverino yes Mrs sherid and Celia yes Mrs Sherman yes Mr dolus yes Mrs Kaden yes uh section 14 miscellaneous 14.01 is the uh approval of the Hib report um that was presented or or that was on the agenda excuse me for the May 20th meeting um so we are we are appr approving the previous month's hi report um as we always do it's late and I'm starting to ramble and not Mak sense 14.02 are a list of job descriptions lead counselor director of school culture lead School climate officer instructional supervisor K to 12 Elementary support teacher and mtss instructional coach um motion to approve items 14.01 and 14.02 so moved and a second second uh questions or comments from board members I actually want to just make one clarifying question H ask one clarifying question the job descriptions are these four folks in the district that you were referring to that we've just we've um we're we're updating the job description or creating them but they are not new hires these are not new hires um it's just uh updated language okay any other questions or comments from board members I do you mentioned that Mr Jefferson is going to be taking over um as the Director of school culture right is he still also going to be uh the vice principal of the middle school no okay will there be a vice principal of the Middle School Mr gersic will be stepping into that role okay any other questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr Chu yes Mr Craig yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs saverino yes Mrs Sharon Celia yes Mrs Sherman yes Mr dilus yes Mrs Gaden yes uh section 15 is our second opportunity for public comment this um section is for General comments um the purpose for public comment or the public excuse me is reminded that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints should first go through appropriate staff members and administrators we will be listening and taking notes as we've been doing um all night and if appropriate um comments clarifying comments will be made after uh the public comment section ends in fairness to all who wish to speak there is a strict three minute time limit M Coleman has her Tim already and you will hear it so that's pretty clear please remember to state your name and address for the record gr Ki uh 920 Grand Avenue callings with New Jersey I wasn't here for the whole other comment so I wanted to I was a at a work meeting um just wanted to reiterate my support for our staff um our building Administration um and uh I think you've heard I really hope you listen to the Myriad of voices you heard um I had a question about uh guidance counseling uh since we've had some resignations will a list come out of who is assigned to who since we there's nothing on the website who are the guidance counselors still there's really not a lot of communication I keep asking why is this not on the website why is it very shrouded as to who our staff is who's in our departments and I'm speaking specifically for high school I understand younger it's very it may be a little more muddled but you should be able to tell us who your high school staff is who your who your your your guidance counselors are who your other administrators are even you know I applaud you you finally put up the the phone number and the address for the elementary schools but that's I mean this is the bar is the floor right now we need more information we need more communication again I'm I'm also imploring you if we're paying someone as a shared Communications person with hat in Township I think we looked at it they're getting $30,000 for so many days what are we doing with that we need to pump up how great our schools are because our staff is killing themselves with less I don't mean less they're amazing but they're now going to have to do more because there's going to be less of them in a lot of the places please put out what they're doing that is phenomenal thank you Wayne Rossy 114 East Palmer R um the I wanted to bring up because I think it's um I think communication is important and I had thought that the town hall experim or not Town Hall like I guess you they were roundtables uh experiment last year was pretty successful and it helped sort of take out some of the um animosity that that can like build up around town uh uh about whatever the latest issue at the schools is and I I had felt that that was successful and I feel it's a shame that that's not an ongoing thing I think we should I think it would be great to have them again I would definitely uh take part um and I think it's good also because there there's a back and forth It's not this one way where we're staring at you and you guys have to sit there and and you know I I couldn't um sit there with a straight face for three and a half hours while people said all kinds of things so I I do applaud you on that um but I I do think that having that again would be a really positive asset and I do agree that communication is something that that is important and that is important to get right thanks hi uh Tom Howard again uh 16 Fraser Avenue uh on on the issue of communication uh just a maybe a request uh going into the next school year if it would be possible to post the board agenda um earlier than the morning of um the the board meeting um the district I work in we often have the agenda posted online sometimes a week in advance um and that allows for uh the community to really know uh what's on the agenda and what's going to be talked about and allows people to be better informed when they come to the board meetings to make comments and to know what is discussed um and so if we're talking about having better communication with the community that's just something to possibly look into thanks um very quickly before I I I close out because I'm looking at our agenda I should not actually adjourn is that correct we we've got a little bit of a different sit situation going on we're going back into executive session I want to make sure I do it we need a motion to go back into Clos session and the second and then exit stage left please thank you Miss Coleman yes um before before we exit stage left um I just wanted to you know we've got a lot to think about we've heard from a lot of community members we've heard from a lot of teachers um in um in the past couple of months um on a on a range of issues and I understand that in this um awkward format that we're in it doesn't it's very hard to believe that we're taking it in and listening um because it almost feels like it was designed that way to keep us to keep us all separate and and so I was kind of struck as I was thinking about all this and you know was some of the the teachers that were coming to speak have have taught my kids or are going to teach my kids and I'm looking forward to that and and you know community members that I know of that are neighbors and or or you know parents of my kids friends and um I think that kind of brought me to this feeling of what a couple of people more than a couple of people have said tonight which is we've all got to come together figure out a way to come together and do this better because at the end of the day I do really truly believe that every person sitting up on this I think this is called a deis um and every person sitting in the audience and every person that got up to speak tonight and every person that couldn't get up to speak tonight and every person that is listening um I'd be shocked if anyone's still listening to us but may listen to it later which is something that will forever fascinate me that folks will that's like the dedication of this town that people tell me that they Co and listen to our board meetings days later um what a thing like what a community Spirit to have that you are willing to to go and listen to a YouTube board meeting um we all want what is best for the kids in this District in this town um both and we all want to find a way to create the most well-rounded the most supported the most enriching rigorous education that we could possibly can for the kids who live here and come to this school district and I don't I can't believe I have to choose hope I can't believe that we can't figure this out and I know that things have gotten hot and I know that um tempers have flared and folks are feeling incredibly frustrated and it's starting to kind of feel like we're not all sure what to do at least I'm speaking for myself a little little bit and I but I like I said I'm going to choose hope and believe that we the weather's gotten nicer we can maybe all take a day at the beach and just think try to regroup and find a way to come together and figure this out because we don't really have a choice um we're all here I don't believe most of us want to not be here and you know the the the folks that are talking about leaving they're talking about that they don't want to leave and we need to find a way to come together we need to figure out a way for all of us to come together and get closer to on the same page nobody needs to be totally on the same page and I believe that we can um so I'm going to end us on a hopeful note um thinking of all of the amazing accomplishments of our students we have the most incredible kids that come to to our schools and um that needs to be our Northstar I believe that always is our Northstar um so I will just Clos this out before we motion to go back into executive session with happy pride month to everyone um and uh I hope that everyone finds uh a way to relax uh this summer while also thinking through how uh we do better um so with that said a motion to go back into executive session soov and a second second all in favor I thank you very much everyone