as the board president is not in attendance at the meeting as the vice president I will be assuming the duties of the president at this meeting the regular notice requirement of the New Jersey open public meetings act has been complied with and that adequate advanced notice of this meeting was given at least 48 hours in advance on January 9th 2024 notice was mailed to The Courier Post Philadelphia inquire and posted on the district's website at this time can we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance at this time I'd like to turn it over to our board secretary for roll call Janette aarz Janette ararez name Naomi uh Gillespie name of Gillespie Cameron Hudson pres Danielle Jackson pres Karen mericks was Muhammed Nom Nelson five president have a quarum begin the meeting at this time I would like to invite up Senator Cruz Perez to the podium to administer the youth good evening everyone we want ask noes ER Wanda Garcia could you please come forward there so you can see hers we don't have okay okay W raise your hand and repeat after me I EST your name I Wanda Garcia affirm that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that I will bear that I will bear through faith through faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government and to the governments established established in the united states in the United States and in this St and in this state under the authority of under the authority of the people I estate your name Wanda Garcia affirm affirm that I'm not disqualified that I'm not disqualified as a voter as a voter first one first one r s to RS 19 19 4 d four D1 nor disqualify nor disqualify due to conviction due to conviction of a crime of a crime of any offense of any offense listed listed in the New Jersey Statute in the New Jersey statue 188 18a column column 12 12-1-1 I a your name I Wanda Garcia I possess the qualifications I possess the qualifications prescribed by the law prescribed by the law for the office of member for the office of member of the Board of Education of the Board of Education and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully justly justly and impartially and impartially perform all the duties perform all the duties according to the best of my abil according to the best of my ability so help you God so help me God congratulations thank you [Applause] what I bring can Maria Perez please come forward okay I repeat after me I state your name I Maria Perez affirm affirm that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that I will bear through faith I will bear true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments and to the government established established in the united states in the United States and on this this state and under this state and under this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I as your name I Maria Perez affirm affirm that I'm not disqualified that I'm not disqualified as a voter as a voter pursuant P pursuant pursuant to our to r s s 19 19 column 41 column 41 nor disqualify nor disqualify conviction due to conviction of a crime of a crime of any offense of any offense listed in the New Jersey statue listed in the New Jersey statue 18a 18a column column 12 12-1-1 I say your name I Maria Perez affirm affirm that I possess the qualifications that I I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office of member for the office of member of the Board of Education of the Board of Education and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations oh thank you you at this time is there any board members that has any comments for our new board members board member Alvarez thank you I'm VP Nelson um I actually want like to congratulate um uh Marie and as well as Wanda welcome to the team because we are a team here along with the superintendent um and welcome aboard [Applause] board member Hudson yeah I'm just I'm G speak on this side we got the cool side now but I love you all though but uh yeah congratulations uh you know just as still my first term it's just been a great experience and you know you'll have have have a lot of fun with this um a lot of work to do but you know you're going to enjoy it so welcome board member Jackson thank you I just want to say welcome to you ladies um we're excited to have you join the team we're excited for the work that we've been doing excited to see how you guys um and what you guys can bring to the table and the exciting things that you all have in mind concerning the board our students and our community as well so thank you so just echoing everything that was already said we welcome you to the team we look forward to doing the work and we're glad to have you so thank you at this time I turn it over to our board secretary good evening again uh the board will now going to close session to discuss the matters of the following nature uh individual privacy student Hib results and Personnel to to discuss confidential Personnel matters uh go Motion to go into close session motion motion by uh Mr Hudson second by by Miss Jackson all in favor okay close session start time is 5:43 uh p.m. uh expected to return to 15 minutes okay so go to close session Hudson second second by uh Miss Alvarez is that yep okay all in favor I I okay end time is uh 611 [Music] PM okay uh there any believe is a committee report for the policy committee Mr Hudson good evening everyone uh Cameron Hudson reporting from the policy committee uh spokesperson oh God whoa can we turn that on all right um policy committee is acting co-chair me and board member Jackson uh we had meetings on March 18th come on now March 18th and April 15th and it was attended by uh the last meeting was attended by myself Teresa ree Sam Price uh Kim bule Alvis and we went over we have three policy updates for first reading the first one is policy updating policy 51418 sports related concussion and head injury this revision is needed in response to a statutory update to clarify the term student athlete so that reference includes cheerleader modified language to include inter Scholastic head injury training program requirements in Li of athletic head injury program modified parental notification requirement to ensure notification occurs annually among other changes the second update for first reading is policy is updating policy 411 1.1 slash 42111 and 2224 non-discrimination and affirmative action to include a reference to the New Jersey law against discrimination as well as include language regarding how to file a complaint directly with the division of civil rights and lastly is updating policy 41 17.50 and 421 7.50 standards for staff discipline adding a statement that disruptive behavior includes disciplining a staff member or providing a negative assessment of a staff member's performance in the presence of other staff or students that will conclude my report any well any questions from board members no okay that concludes my report thank you no other committee met this month uh now turn the uh meeting over to the superintendent for a report thank you at this time I'd like to ask the board um and everyone on the uh the day to transition down to the first couple of rows thank you so much and we'll go right into our uh report for this evening [Applause] be five minutes [Applause] so while the screen is coming down we'd like to thank everyone for being here um tonight for our April regular Advisory board meeting and before we move into um the rest of the presentation I do want to take this opportunity um to pause we can go to the next slide as we provide a moment of silence for two Bright Lights uh that were taken away far too early um one a student who graduated from Eastside High School last year uh J jiar jazara Brielle Sanchez was actually a student rep who served on our um our uh student advis our Advisory Board as a student board rep who attended s Academy and also very very recently at Eastside High School Mr Jeremy Pond um a health and PE teacher who was beloved by students and staff members alike so we want to take this opportunity um to pause for a moment of silence thank you for our agenda uh you'll see we don't have very many topics but we have a lot of uh positive information that we want to share with you as well as updates that are important for the board to receive and also for the public um but before we get into the rest of that agenda we have rewards and recognition and so we'd like to have at this time our partner uh wholesome riches to come forward I believe Michelle paila is here or representative from wholesome riches it's coming forward oh Mr quay quay you're going to do the honors for us yes okay principal ch ququ um from uh brim Medical Arts High School is going to um fill in for Michelle and share just some of the rewards we found we are hearing so many positive things from our students who are participating giving back knowing the importance of service and we're going to acknowledge them at this time there you go thank you s pendant you're welcome good evening everyone on behalf of hosome riches I would like to announce that for the third marking period over 200 students volunteered for the food [Applause] [Music] distribution thank you students thank you everyone so at this time we'll call if we have student from dley family school please you may proceed this way for pictures any rap student sta from dle school thank you next we have kooper Point Family School are their students staff members parents from Cooper Point you may come down for pictures thank you next we have HB Wilson family school thank you students teachers administrator I see Miss Davis Miss manino Dr breed love thank you okay pictures please yes congratulations ADB Wilson next we have C family school are there students teachers admin parents representing C School you may come down at this time for pictures congratulations anyway move yes so moving on to vets are there students teachers other staff members admin from vets please come down for pictures thank you for your [Applause] service thank you vets congratulations and thank you next we have Creative Arts High School are there students teachers staff members admin or any representative from Creative Arts High [Applause] School congratulations and thank you last but not the least brain Medical Arts High School are there St students staff parents any representative from brain I see Miss s coming down thank you Mr qu will be joining you thank congratulations and thank you [Applause] thank you lead educator Ford [Applause] [Applause] let give another appuse [Applause] and next um in our Awards and recognition uh portion of the uh board meeting tonight we're going to share a special congratulations um so congratulations are definitely in order um can we have one representative from creative arts high school they are receiving the trophy for this month for having the highest attendance rate for the month of March so let's give creative arts a round of [Applause] applause so the trophy will be going to creative arts okay yes indeed and so it will be moved from the building where it is now to creative arts thank you so much and again pass on the word to the students and the staff that we appreciate them for making sure that our students are engaged in coming to school every day so that is excellent so we want to continue to move forward with our updates and the next slide um just as a reminder for our families that the main round results for enrollment were released on March 19th via your one Camden portal beyond the main round announcements however students can continue to register to attend Camden City schools and we welcome and look forward to families joining or returning to the Camden City school district so again um we want you to know that the main round results are in however if you have decided or have not made up your mind or want to change your mind or want to join the district you can always go to your neighborhood school and register in person the bulk of our presentation tonight will be regarding um some very exciting updates with regard to the easts Side High School um construction as you are all very much aware we we are very grateful for all of the work that was done collaboratively on many levels starting with Congressman Norcross Senator Cruz who was here today swearing in board candidates our mayor our uh assembly assemblymen from the fifth legislative district as well as Council our Advisory Board everyone advocating for a new building a new Eastside High School and we are moving forward with the next phase and we want to make sure we come back and keep everyone updated on what is happening so if you go to the next slide there just a few key areas that I want to share some information with you uh and they are listed on the the slide for you planning and design process for the rebuild swing space which is the announcement we want to share tonight and our transitional phase so where will our students and staff from East Side be located um while the building is being built and then conclusion and timeline so on the next slide what you will see is just a snapshot of something we' shared previously but want to share it with everyone again to Anchor you in what we are so excited about so again we're excited to announce that the new Eastside High will offer expanded opportunities for Career and Technical education focused curriculum with the inclusion of several Cutting Edge Career and Technical education spaces our vision is to provide students with practical skills and Hands-On experiences that prepare them for success in the workplace to support this initiative the new school will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and resources that are tailored to CTE programs this includes and that you can see them listed here specialized classrooms workshops and Labs dedicated to Fields such as technology engineering health Care and More our students will have the opportunity to engage in real world projects and gain valuable experience in their chosen career paths Additionally the district has already begun forging Partnerships with local businesses Industries and Community organizations to enhance current CTE offerings and preparation for the new Eastside High School through internships apprenticeships and mentorship programs our students will have more opportunities to apply their skills in professional settings and build networks within their chosen Fields the next slide just gives you an overview of the construction project timeline and so on this slide what you'll see are some of the Milestones connected to the timeline and all of this information will be available on our website we also have a new um feature on our website uh section where you can just click on Eastside High construction updates and you'll be able to get this information as well um and so the Milestones that you see here I want to just call out a few so programming and concept design that's the phase we are in now and that started in February and it will last until June and then we'll move into the programming and concept design and hopefully complete that phase by by August 2024 bridging and design phase begins in the fall of 2024 and then we'll have opportunity for district and Community feedback on the Design Concepts and that will happen in the winter and spring of 2025 the designs will be submitted once we have Community input and have uh fully vetted it with stakeholders March 2025 will be when those designs will be submitted and the bridging design will be complete in September 2025 and the construction will begin in December 2026 the substantial completion of the new Eastside High will be slated for February 2029 and we hope to have occupancy as a district in the spring or summer of 2029 and we hope that the Eastside High school will be open to students in the fall of 2029 now this timeline is a timeline that we as a district don't control uh we work with the schools Development Authority and so it is our hope that this timeline can be accelerated but we are looking at a 3 to fiveyear window and um depending on you know what happens during construction and how everything moves along we could be um seeing the new building come forward before the September 29th date but want to just give the Max and so we want you to take a look again remember there there are going to be ample opportunities for Community input and that is what is so very critically important so be on the lookout uh for opportunities that you can participate and speaking of participation on the next slide we list as a part of the planning process we have convened East heide High School steering committees and there are six subcommittees these committees will initially be responsible for completing the required space planning questionnaires for the schools Development Authority and The Architects to allow them to create the initial programming designs and you can see them listed right in front of you um there are six subcommittees ranging from the instruction and programming committee all the way through to Athletics and historical artifacts every single phase of this project is so critically important and that's why it's going to take um a team effort to really make sure that this new high school is what the community Community the students um and the residents want it to be next slide and so this just gives you a little bit more information about one of the phases that I just talked about the programming and concept design phase so the district submitted an organizational overview questionnaire to the schools Development Authority at the end of February this document outlines the district's overall vision for the new Eastside High campus a Additionally the district is responsible for submitting dedicated space space questionnaires for every space in the building from classrooms to the auditorium to restrooms to the principal's office each subcommittee is responsible for completing assigned dedicated space questionnaires which are submitted to the Camden County Improvement Authority the school's Development Authority and D Architects the District meets with this team every 3 weeks to present the dedicated space questionnaires and answer any questions about the submission so it's a very very collaborative process and so on the next slide you'll see the Camden County Improvement Authority who I mentioned before is managing the demolition of the current Eastside High building and demolition is set for the fall of 2024 and because demolition is set for the upcoming school year we must find a swing space location and we have uh found and identified what that location will be and we want to share it this evening um at this board meeting so the new Eastside High swing space will be Kramer school and starting in September 2024 Eastside High School staff and students will be relocated to the Kramer school and we know that that is located at 2800 mckel street right here in Camden and it is one is one of our district properties that um unfortunately we had to close a few years back but it is in our possession and so this decision was made with careful consideration and in close collaboration with the Camden County Improvement Authority and the schools Development Authority to ensure that Kramer school is equipped and ready to serve as a welcoming and supportive environment for our staff and students during this transition period on the next slide you'll see where the location of Kramer is for those who may not know where it is located um when deciding on the location of the new Eastside High School swing space we prioritize considerations of transportation and distance if you take a look at the slide you will see the distance between Eastside High and Kramer school it's not very far away at all so students won't have to be dis from um the neighborhood where they're School current currently um exist for the next 3 to 5 years and that will reduce any concerns when it comes to uh Transportation costs as well and on the next slide uh you'll see some of the anticipated Renovations at Kramer so because Kramer was a scho is a school that was closed before and has been sitting for a few years there is work under way now in order to make sure that it is ready and we are looking forward to working collaboratively with the school's Development Authority who will reimburse the district for the monies that we put out in order to make sure that Kramer is ready and suitable to receive our students so here you see a list and I won't read them for you of exterior Renovations and interior Renovations that we are anticipating uh having done uh for the Kramer building and so it is again important this slide just underscores the work the finances the funds the resources that are being put into Kramer even now in order to make it that wonderful space that it will uh need to be for our students and we're so grateful to have the collaboration of the principal at Eastside High School uh Miss Gloria uh Vega as well as um our central Office Team and many many others that I've identified previously who are making sure that this building will be suitable for our students and on the next slide you'll just see a couple of images um just just a few of the images of what Kramer is shaping up to look like walls have been painted so it's much brighter um there has been work done changing light fixtures um there's much work to be done that's why we left an image that actually has the scaffolding up so you can see it's an active active process to get the building ready and our facilities team has been doing an amazing job of going in they are dedicated and they are committed to make making sure uh that Kramer school is ready and so again we are very excited uh for the temporary because it's just a temporary home but we we know it's important for our students who will be residing in that temporary space and our staff members that we make sure that we do everything possible to have it be a a uh positive experience and a positive learning environment and so the next slide shows you just some additional photos of the exterior of the building uh the parking lot space on the south side of the building um has been identified and we are going to also be adding some modular uh or Annex spaces um bringing them on so that we can have a suitable cafeteria space as well as adding on additional classrooms so we will have Annex spaces that will be delivered and um set up uh in the parking lot of the building so the parking spaces will be um around the perimeter of the building so Kramer used to be a school before um and there was ample parking and we are going to be working very closely and collaboratively with the city in order to make sure that there are no concerns we will have Town Halls so that the residents in the neighborhood um will be able to know in advance um that the school is coming to that neighborhood and will be reopened uh and the parking is available for staff members there so we are looking forward to um partnering to ensure the success of every aspect of this project and the next slide take a look there just want to make sure I'm looking at the same yes space planning for Kramer school um this slide just gives you a little bit of the information on you know how are we moving from Eastside High into Cramer where are the classroom spaces going to be as I said before there's been lots of collaboration lots of teamwork that's gone into making sure uh we are putting classrooms in a position and spacing that will uh make sense and so if you take a look at this slide you'll see the space planning for Kramer School we've worked closely with principal Vega and the Eastside High administrative team to assign rooms throughout Kramer we've conducted several walkthroughs already to ensure we didn't miss anything and here is what we have come up with the ground floor at Kramer will house the music band health and PE office temporary kitchen Spanish and World language classes the first floor were housed CTE and special areas including cosmetology and business entrepr business entrepreneurship Ed Pathways graphic design and CAD the second floor will house Ela social studies jrc bilingual classes for Math and Science and the third floor will house predominantly all of our math and science classes as I spoke before additionally we will be adding an Annex with four classrooms on the sides of the building to be installed in the 2425 school year as well as a cafeteria and kitchen Annex also to be installed in the 2425 school year you will get a closer look at the space in uh coming slides sore Academy which currently um exists on the East Side High campus now will be moved to another location pending determination there was just not enough space in the building to accommodate accommodate the program so we are working very closely with uh Miss Butler who does an excellent job of leading sore as well as our um teams that focus on alternative education and uh principal Vega in making those determinations the self-contained uh special Edge students and there are six that have been identified six students not six classrooms but six students may be moved to the Camden high campus depending on programming availability and so the next slide I know there may be questions about what's what's going to happen to Athletics to our our Sports gr program because we have a very rich sports program at East Side at East Side High School so athletic spaces behind behind the building will continue to be used throughout demo and new construction plans are being put in place to ensure continuity of services and accessibility for athletic teams during construction uh so there will be no disruption to the athletic programming we've been working with our team has worked with uh ad Phillips as well as um Coach Brown and others at the campus as well as Brian Greg who leads us the uh athletic committee and so many others just I would uh we're all working together but there has been uh time spent thinking about what's going to happen and they're being there those plans are being refined to ensure that there is no disruption to our athletic programs the next slide something that's very important um there are so many Rich memories in uh connected to Eastside High School and so there has been time taken through the historical uh artifacts committee to make sure that those items that are valuable that are precious um those items from uh years and years ago trophies plaques all kinds of historical pieces and components um will be able to be salvaged and that we can utilize them to uh create a beautiful space in the new Eastside building that gives homage to some of that history and so the Eastside High community members and staff they have been involved with identifying items to be salvaged from the current building some of those salvaged items will be incorporated into the design of the new building the district is planning to work with the Camden County Historical Society to curate displays for the new building that will provide an overview of the history of Eastside High School so we want to capture and celebrate and make sure we keep alive the very rich Legacy of Eastside High School and this slide just shares you know why Kramer Why now when we made the difficult decision to close Kramer in 2020 we were navigating a very different Financial landscape as a district with the building operating at less than 65% capacity and like Eastside High being over a century old it seemed the most prudent decision at the time however the financial position of our dist district has improved since then prompting us to reconsider how to best utilize our resources and infrastructure and so in this context the choice of Kramer as the swing space for Eastside High is both strategic and Forward Thinking rather than investing in the temporary leasing of an external facility a solution that offers no long-term benefits to our district we have chosen to allocate those funds towards renovating a property that we already own this approach not only provides a temporary home for Eastside High that minimizes disruption for our students and staff but also revitalizes a building that holds potential for significant future contributions to our community so our vision extends beyond the immediate needs of the Eastside High construction process we see this as an opportunity to create a versatile space that can serve various Community needs in the future after Eastside High is re rebuilt such as possibly a senior care facility or a health clinic if you take a look at this slide this concept mirrors the successful transformation of Wiggins which is another school that we had to close but Wiggins has been transformed into a restorative justice Hub and a health clinic and and that has been achieved through our partner parip with the city by offering services to our community like open gym nights food assistance and tutoring program so again there is long-term potential for the Kramer building after we you know put money into it Revitalize it money that will be reimbursed by the SDA then there's a future for that building in that community in that neighborhood um and so we are looking forward to uh seeing what the future holds um in the in the long term and now just a few more slides the new Eastside High swing space timeline just so you have um a bit of understanding so what does this transition look like Renovations have already started over the next few weeks we will be we will be working closely with principal Vega to schedule staff tour dates once the renovations are complete this will be an opportunity for staff to familiarize themselves with the new environment before the start of the new school year and I will um close we have a very special message from our mayor um who was definitely also very excited about this project greetings to our eai students parents and eai families I am Camden mayor Victor Karen one of my main priorities as mayor of our city is to ensure our children are getting a 21st century education inside spaces that are Equitable to their peers in the suburbs and that no Cam and child is Left Behind I want the students of today to have the same access and opportunities that I had growing up as a graduate of the Camas school district and that's why I'm excited to join you today as we prepare for what will be a generational investment into our school system and in our students an investment of more than $15 million in state funding to build a brand new easts Side High School the Reconstruction is being supported by funding from the New Jersey schools Development Authority and was included in the 2023 State fiscal year budget approved by Governor Phil Murphy I was proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Congressman Donald Norcross Senator Neil s Cruz Perez assemblyman Bill Spearman assemblyman Bill mowen city council president and health wines and council members along with superintendent Katrina mcoles School Advisory board members and all of our Camden strong team to deliver the news that a new high school is on it way and fully funded this is an exciting project for the students and families of Camden and will be the second new High School built in the city in less than 5 years when complete students will have a modern space we're talking about a media center a special education life skills classroom a new Auditorium cafeteria and a new gym as well as several trade Labs that are including construction Medical Arts cosmetology welding performing arts and more more in short this will be a gamechanging development for our city and you can imagine a major part of this project involves Community engagement and input sessions to ensure that the new school aligns with the needs and aspirations of the community we're committed to working with our residents e side students and families to make the new East Side High School the best possible learning environment for everyone while the new east side is being constructed let's all work together to make a smooth and successful transition to the renovated Kramer school we would like to truly thank the entire ESI Community for your contributions and advocacy for the city's most priceless asset our youth your voices are being heard and you have a hand in creating a bright new future at East Side High School thank you and so again as you can see we are all rallied together to make sure that everything from swing space to construction to design to input to engagement that we're taking an approach that will be beneficial for all parties involved and so we are grateful um and the next slide we're going to share a bit of information from the teaching and learning division um and before I um move forward I'm going to ask a person to stand and she does not know this is going to happen um but since we're moving into um some areas that she oversees as our assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction I'd like to ask christe if she would come forward at at this time just for a moment I don't know where christe oh there you are christe all right if she would come forward for a moment and if you've taken a look at the board agenda already you'll see that we have a very Bittersweet um bit some bittersweet news to announce Christy you can come up Christy I know she's like please leave me alone lady Christy is going to be um retiring from the Camden City school district so if you would please join me in giving Chrissy a round of applause yes and you can see from her team and everyone [Music] [Applause] else how valuable your service has been to our district not real for me and Christy has been in this district for almost 18 years serving our district but in total 27 years serving children serving children making sure their curricular needs are met um doing so many different jobs um but all focused on leading our students down a brighter path so we want to thank you and this space to publicly acknowledge you and just to let you know openly how much we appreciate and value the work you've done thank you thank you so much thank you and so we'll move into some highlights um from teaching and learning division and this area is wow when I read this highlight that was submitted to me by the team I was overjoyed and so the Camden City school district would like to congratulate Mr William bakanowski Middle School MTH teacher at HB Wilson is Mr B Ali here oh Mr balowski is here can you please stand up and wave give him a round of applause and I'll tell you why later I'll tell you why in a second um also Middle School a fifth grade math teacher at Cooper's Point Miss Christina Christina roio is Miss roio here no okay but let's give her a round of applause and also fifth grade teacher of math at cat Miss Tiffany Johnson was Miss Johnson yes Miss Johnson woo rock stars okay so now I'm going to tell you why I was so Overjoyed um so the three teachers who I just mentioned had the top three msgp scores out of about 60 teachers in the district who received an msgp one an msgp MS gp1 is msgp I'm sorry is one of several measures used to examine the work of Educators under achieve and J the MSG counts for 5% of each qualifying teachers and 10% of each qualifying School leaders and Lead Educators evaluation so Mr bakanowski had the highest msgp score in the district the highest at 68.5 Mr B's seventh graders last year showed tremendous growth from the prior year when they were in sixth grade two of Mr B's students scored in the 95th percentile and that is Applause worthy worthy and what that means is that compared to all of the seventh graders across the entire state of New Jersey who had a similar sixth grade test score from the prior year his two students grew more than 95% of those other students in the state Miss roio had the high the second highest msgp score in the district at 67.5% Cooper's points fifth grade team had the highest combined msgp score between math and Ela this team was led by Miss Christina roio in math and Miss Denine Ducket Edmonds in ela and last but not least Miss Tiffany Johnson had the third highest msgp in the score in the district cat's fifth grade team had the second highest combined msgp score this team was led by Miss Tiffany Johnson in math and Miss Leslie golden in El Ela three three of Miss Johnson students are in the 99 Club the 99 Club and what is that the 99 Club is for students who reach the 99th percentile the highest possible percentile this means these students grew more on the state assessment than everyone in their peer group across the entire state of New Jersey that is noteworthy this is the highest achievement you can have when it comes to growth measures on the New Jersey state assessment Miss Johnson also had nine students who scored in the 90th percentile or greater which was 22% of her students so what a great accomplishment and testament to the diligence and dedication of our teachers and students and let's give these Stellar remarkable Educators a round of applause again we thank you we thank you we salute you Mr bakanowski We Salute You miss roio and we salute you Miss Johnson awesome and and why that is so important and I'm going to be quicker with the rest but it's important for us to pause because we see that we can achieve greatness and Excellence right here in our district and so we what we are charged to do now is to take a look at what these star Educators have done um and figure out how to replicate that so we spread it across the district so we will be talking about not just three teachers next time not just uh several students but more and more students but what you have shown us is that it can happen with our young people right here in Camden so we can expand and scale up so again thank you and thank you to the team for working to ensure that they had the support they needed thank you again and uh on the next slide we're going to shift into a topic that um is something that's so very important when it comes to our students who have the opportunity to take the AP assessments and the AP college board uh advanced classes we want to make sure that we're supporting them so in order to provide our students with additional support who are going into their AP exams in May the district offered an after school AP tutoring program to any student enrolled in an AP English History math or science course and this came about also some of the feedback that we got from our student board rep um share that they needed more support in being able to be successful with the AP process so tutoring sessions were held every Tuesday and and Thursday students who participated in tutoring were able to take a practice test on their specific AP course content and then receive an individualized report of where they needed additional support using study.com AP exam series students could then complete many lessons based on their areas of need District AP teachers served as tutors to provide additional support and to review core AP Concepts that apply across content areas next slide is our March Focus which involves our parent advisory councils this month our parent advisory Council received updates about our upcoming election and parent leadership training sessions and there will be more shared um in the future as to how those sessions have been going next slide so we want to take a look at the updates from our division of talent and Labor Relations who have been working non-stop diligently Around the Clock in order to um try to uh combat the teacher shortage and the um retirements that are happening not only in our district but Across the Nation so we currently have a 7% teacher vacancy rate and if I'm not mistaken that's down by one or two percentage points from last month um which when when it was at 9% so the team is working hard and moving in the right direction our highest numbers of vacancies remain in the following subject area special ed science ESL and physical education but our team remains committed to recruiting as many teachers as we possibly can and we see it through the second annual hiring Fair which was held and it was a tremendous success the team has completed the spring recruitment calendar and they have started focusing on our efforts for recruitment for this school year and the upcoming school year thus far the team has attended for career fairs at the College of New Jersey Ryder University Ramapo College New Jersey school jobs virtual Fair Temple University Stockton so many more and they are looking for other opportunities we also advertise on many many different um job boards indeed School New Jersey school jobs K12 job spot LinkedIn handshake they are working overtime and I can't even read the whole list but we're doing everything possible to make sure that we are attracting um excellent Talent into our school district and on the next slide not only do we have to attract that talent but our chief Talent officer uh Miss Reese always reminds me we have to make sure we retain them so once we get them in the door we have to make sure we keep them here and so DTLR continues to strengthen our retention efforts through the staff connections program this permanent initiative is designed to deepen staff connections and investment in the district to dat the staff connections program has hosted over 20 districtwide Employee Engagement events with more planned for the future additionally on-site visits by e AP that's our employee assistance program comsite are being organized to increase awareness of the benefits offered by our EAP comsite program we are excited to report that this initiative has provided District Leaders with a platform to plan up to two employee events these events are designed to both increase engagement and show appreciation of for our employees from February to April we've held over over 18 Employee Engagement events and we are planning over 30 districtwide events in total there is some direct feedback coming from this initiative direct feedback from Mr Salo Roman CWA president highlights the impact of these efforts his he is quoted as saying this is a fantastic thing to show that the custodial and maintenance staff are really appreciated and all the work that we do is noticed we really do appreciate it HR has partnered with leaders at each School location to assist in identifying best practices for creating thriving employee centered activities we are ensuring that these events are planned in and in place before the end of this school year so again we' like to we will be uh continuing to provide periodic updates to highlight the great work being completed through this very important initiative and on the next slide we are so excited to announce that through the partnership between Rowan University the New Jersey Department of Education and the Camden School City Camden City school district the teach Camden initiative is expected to launch in May 2024 which is right around the corner and again teach Camden the teach Camden program is a Camden specific grp grow your own teacher initiative designed to assist par professionals who are currently employed with the Camden City school district and who have earned their bachelor's degree to become certified as a teacher by December 2025 through an 18month intensive program and so that is amazing that that is absolutely amazing a lot of hard work has gone into that area kudos to miss Reese and the team and uh just Dr Wright everyone working together uh Rowan University to make this happen 19 staff members are being considered for admission into this program and will receive a full scholarship to participate in this accelerated program in exchange the district is requesting each of these participants to commit to remain employed with CCSD and a teaching role for 5 years the funding yes and so that that speaks to a um a career path where it is uh consistent and sustained the funding for this program has been secured and theou is currently being reviewed this initiative allows CCSD to make a substantial investment in our existing staff by growing our own teacher pipeline next slide and so 27 par professionals initially submitted their application to teach Camden however 15 have met the minimum requirements to be considered for this initiative we are awaiting the decision from the Department of Ed on four Paris who are still in the review process bringing it to that 19 number we talked about the selection process is completed in conjunction with the New Jersey Department of Ed to ensure that those individuals who have signed up meet the requirements for admission and pre assessment of certification programs offered and then once this process is completed all applicants will receive notification regarding their admission status those applicants who are admitted into this program will also receive a welcome packet outlining next steps which will include an orientation session for this program and we will keep you updated um as we continue to uh announce more information about this exciting Innovative program and last part of the presentation and my favorite District highlights so again um we want to just show you images of our students in action so this first highlight is our EMT cohort update over the past two weeks our EMT students have been focusing in on Orthopedic Trauma skills they have successfully learned how to apply pelvic binders and traction splints demonstrating both understanding and Proficiency in these critical areas additionally they were able to take advantage of the beautiful weather by practicing stretcher skills Outdoors we are pleased to report that the cohort is progressing well and showing a commendable level of dedication and skill in their training next slide this is Autism Awareness Month and students participating are participating in many different activities for fine and gross motor development sensory processing attention concentration and socialization and you can see some of the images of our students and staff members um enjoying and honoring and observing Autism Awareness Month this next slide is also a powerful slide girls rewire the industry so this month we partnered with girls rewire the industry presented by bam Electrical Contracting in partnership with the Girl Scouts of South Central Southern New Jersey and Turner Construction this collaboration allowed 50 Middle School young ladies to gain thrilling hands-on exper experience in the field of construction led by women and for women led by women and for women students rotated through various electrical tasks such as distribution rough in pipe bending communication and estimating and bidding thank you to Darnell rip and Asia foran for introducing our district to the these incredible partners and career opportunities for our young people and that is such a powerful image next slide this month we celebrated the $10 million reconstruction project on 27 Street and it's renaming after the legendary woodro Wilson now Eastside High alum Mr Mike Rosier Heisman Trophy winner and it was an amazing amazing day um and you can see how happy and pleased everyone was for not only honoring Mr Rosier but also that the path and the road um was being repaired next slide financial literacy month kickoff as we continue to highlight financial literacy month we were honored to partner with the Hill Family Center for college access at Ruckers University Camden and Mr Kaden Harris he was so remarkable a remarkable 13-year-old high school graduate 13-year-old high school graduate and CEO who took the stage as a keynote speaker at The Dudley Family School literacy a financial literacy Symposium and he was such a um a focused young man but he was able to engage the students so it was a really really powerful um uh display and it was so great to just celebrate Kaden and also see him motivate his peers to do even greater next slide congratulations to our Camen High cheerleaders um for their second place win at the 2024 national black cheerleading championship in North Carolina uh it was their first time going and they got second place so we don't know we we know what will happen next time um but we were so very proud of our young people people who always are um just so amazing in their representation of their school and their District next slide middle school cheer Expo was held at Eastside High School and it was a wonderful wonderful event and I tell you it was so wonderful and Veteran School took home first place but you know what every person who participated um you just saw the smiles on their faces so we're doing everything possible as a district to make sure we're engaging our young people in ways that mean that are meaning ful to them um and so these are some of the activities that are growing out of our um our engagement office and our climate and culture office that is working diligently to keep our young people involved especially that critical Middle School age group and just two or three more slides um on the next slide you'll see um a highlight of read Across America day and again we didn't meet last month but we wanted to highlight um that cream and ecdc had several distinct uish guests from the Camden County Hall of Justice um CCSD central office and Advisory board members who visited their school in honor of read Across America so we wanted to thank publicly judge dorch who came to read to our young people judge schwitzer Miss cameline Nathaniel Dr Tracy Thompson uh our acting board president nanami Nelson and Mr Orlando pedigree for reading to our cream cats for read Across America we we would like to thank CA fast for planning an awesome literacy Event Event it was a very very wonderful event um from what I am told I was not able to be there but it was uh the word that came back was so powerful and we must continue to encourage our young people to love reading today we are also recognizing all of our CCSD bus drivers for taking care of our Precious Cargo during the school year happy school bus bus driver appreciation day we truly appreciate them and our district real mentoring program on April 19th our Scholastic real mentors um visited Forest till to read aloud to our students it was wonderful to see our partners Community leaders and high school students come together not only to read to our younger students but also to engage in and create activities that help our students understand and comprehend what they are reading we also had superintendant who came from Newark who came from North Jersey schools um and other surrounding school districts just to learn what we're doing here in Camden City school district in partnership with Scholastic and our mentoring program um so this is really um again we want to ensure our young people know how special and valuable it is to love Literacy for a lifetime save the date we are excited to announce that stem Camden will be hosting stem Saturday on April 27th from 9: to 12:30 at Morgan Village Middle School it's an awesome event I went last year and please tell your friends tell your family the students will love it there are so many hands on Hands-On science activities um for grades K through 12 and it is free so we hope to see you there save another day the Camden City school district will be hosting a youth basketball clinic to help improve your basketball skills and to learn the fundamentals of the game the next Clinic is tomorrow actually Wednesday from 6: to 7:30 we're looking forward to seeing you and the QR code is there let's make sure we get this information out to our young people we're posting it we're sending it home we're doing all of that but if you have young people who you know would benefit from being in a fun safe space um please let them know we want them to be engaged and we are working diligently to do just that graduation who can believe that we are almost um at the time period of graduation so we wanted to share the graduation schedule and again all this will be on the website Monday June 24th creative arts will have its graduation at 2:00 p.m. big picture Learning academ Academy will follow at 3:30 p.m. and Camden high will have its graduation at 5:30 p.m. and on the following day Tuesday June 25th brim Medical Arts will have its graduation at 2:00 p.m. and we will close out with the last graduation that will be held at the Eastside High School location and that will be at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday so again um save those dates and let's come out and celebrate our young people for making it across that that finish line that first Finish Line in their careers and their future endeavors uh say the date for the summer we're looking forward to bringing back our swag uh program and we are and this is our Summer Youth Employment Program offered by the Camden City school district for students who attend Camden City school district schools the swag applications and that's students working to achieve greatness that's what swag means those applications will open up tomorrow April 24th through May 10th for more information please visit our website at www. Camden cityschools.org uh we want to employ as many young people as we possibly can because we know that they love it you should hear the testimonials and maybe we'll have them come and talk to you about what their experiences are like and there's another plug for AP tutoring I talked about it but we are excited to announce that CCSD is offering AP tutoring as an additional support ahead of the upcoming AP exams for all district students enrolled in one of the following AP courses and these are our advanced placement courses language and composition AP Literature and composition AP African-American studies apus history apus government and politics AP pre-calculus AP AP biology AP environmental science and these are offered every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30 to 4:30 um right here on the cam High campus any student interested is encouraged to come check it out and report to the following locations in the creative arts wing of the building um c2116 for AP science 225 for AP History C c228 for AP math and c226 for AP Ela courses that information of course will be available at the school level and on the district website and thank you so much for your attentiveness as we close out that portion I'd like to ask every want to transition back not everyone just the board members and those who are on the stage to transition back to the stage where we will have our Advisory Board um uh acting president or his design to salute our retirees thank you so much for your attention [Music] [Applause] [Music] congratulations to the following retirees Christine abery for 25 years of service Angela Adams for two years and N months Jean doy for 20 years of service Maria espanosa Jordan for 7 years and 9 months of service Sher ly hall for for 17 years and 9 months of service Estella Hicks 26 years and 8 months of service Sylvia Hicks for 34 years and 9 months of service Kathleen Kimbro for 25 years of service John cruel for 9 years of service Linda Lumpkin 27 years and 8 months of service Kathleen medley aaria for 24 years of service Mall Salis for 31 years and 8 months of Service Gary Thomas 32 years of service Angela Thomas 7 years four months of service Laray vaugh 15 years of service and Lisa Wallenberg 36 years and 9 months of service Angel Hamilton 17 years and 8 months of service Jacqueline rentas for 35 years and 9 months of service Olga estas MCC or McMurry I'm sorry 35 years of service Renee candelori for 25 years of service Michael Cannon for 33 years of service Miss Dolores Turner Lewis for 35 wonderful years of service at Cooper's Point um Anna Laro for 35 years of service and to our very own Miss Christy whitel for 17 years and 6 months of dedicated service to the canas city school district thank you so much thank you to all of our retirees and um Christy I just want to say that you do or have done should I say an excellent job in working with you the past year and some change that I've been working with you you come you're dedicated you serve with a smile and you are always ready with answers and you're not you're not uh hesitant in being able to find the answers that you don't necessarily have the answers to so we thank you for your commitment and your [Applause] dedication at this time I'll turn the meeting over to our general councel for uh the public comments portion of our meeting thank you superintendent the Camden City school district welcomes the attendance and comments from all members of the public at its meetings this public comment period is your time to present your comments to the board and the superintendent each person who signed up to comment will have 3 minutes uh you'll be notified when your 3 minutes are up and you cannot yield your time to another person when it is your turn to speak please come to the podium and address all of your comments to the superintendent or general counsel please be courteous to your fellow community members and keep your comments within the time frame allotted so that everyone has the opportunity to speak at the end of the 3 minutes the microphone will be cut off or we will end your comment we also request that you please conduct yourself in a respectful manner the first amendment is not absolute and the board can prohibit language that is inappropriate or vulgar for anyone whose comments or actions harass intimidate or threaten the safety of any person we will provide you with a warning or immediately end your comment time we will not interrupt you during your 3 minutes of comment unless we deem it necessary if a member of the public speaks negatively about a staff member Interruption may be necessary to caution the speaker of the dangers of slander after the public comment period is closed the superintendent or her design will address your questions to the extent provided by law I will Begin by calling the names of the individuals wishing to provide in-person comments before reading the written submissions um as a quick reminder all written public comments read aloud during the board meeting are the views of the person submitting public comment and are not the views of the superintendent The Advisory board or the Camden City school district thank you and the first individual signed up for public comment this evening is Michael A Wiggins sorry good evening all certainly recognizing Madame superintendent to The General Counsel everyone in the sound of my voice good evening my name is Michael Anthony Wiggins and I the proud owner of progressive Traditions leadership and coaching our mission as a company is to coach Our Youth and convince them the value of adding and seeing value in themselves subsequently once you see value in yourself you then have the obligation you can see the importance and significance of seeing and being valued and having the opportunity to add value to yourself how do we achieve those objectives as a coach a certified coach public speaker and a trainer we have a curriculum that is geared towards teaching our youth youth Centric youth focused the importance of growing and being a positive reflective role model of themselves and their Community we do that with curriculum that is centered on social and emotional competencies we have lessons that speak on the power of influence for example understanding that you're being influenced every day of your life and that influence absolutely affects your self response your self-confidence your selfawareness likewise when you are being influenced you have the ability to influence people around you which speaks to your ability and fact to socially be aware of what's going on and what your actions what your demeanor what your conduct what value that has on the community we have an opportunity to talk about understanding what a growth environment is a growth environment that is conducive for your own personal growth our youth are put in situations where sometimes the environment is not so conducive we teach them how to manage those circumstances I teach them how to create an environment that is absolutely conducive for your growth what does that look like who do you have in your circle of friends who do you have as your mentors your advisors your friends how do you manage your social networking creating a environment for growth is absolutely positive for our youth and that's what I specialize in we talk about other topics smart goal setting values based grow setting how to accomplish and get over failures how to learn from a failure how to turn that into a positive at the end of the day all of my students all of my classes that I've taught in they understand that they are leaders and a leader has two responsibilities the first responsibility is to lead themselves that's the personal growth second responsibility is to lead others and that's the service to others so I've submitted a proposal to the board thank you Mr Wiggins next person signed up to comment is Mr Jose Delgado good afternoon everyone uh I'd like to direct my comments to the superintendent as you probably know uh Miss scons I um I met and exchang emails with members of your staff concerning the proposition uh that the school system put together a districtwide um curriculum that addressed African-American and Latino culture uh across the uh subject areas and grades in other words infus it completely uh I met with some members of your staff like I said with Miss Lola Moore and Mr Theo Spencer we had a very nice discussion they were supposed to get back to me I haven't heard from them in months uh as a result of that meeting uh I got a copy of the African-American curriculum and the Latino curricul culum curiously named latinx and after reading the Latino curriculum I was shocked and disappointed that ignored the Latino experience in the United States in New Jersey and in this city for example I search a few words word search and I searched for Puerto Rico Puerto Rican Dominican Dominican Republic nothing came up though and other relevant words that you would expect to see in a curriculum of those types were not there they talked about Argentina they talked about everything else that had nothing to do with the African-American experience with the Latino experience in Canada the curriculum the Latino curriculum is an insult to my community because it ignores our contributions to this nation this state and this city this career curriculum is so devoid of relevance to our students that it can actually harm them psychologically they're not there I don't want our students to experience that I wouldn't want my son or daughter to have to go sit through a class being directed through such a curriculum I also respectfully uh uh respectfully point out that the African-American curriculum though is much better than the Latin American Community uh curriculum does not in my opinion do justice to the rich and important contributions made by the African-American Community to this nation state and city I request in the most strongest way possible that you please and panel a committee or committees representative of our city to develop curricula that does Justice to our respective histories and cultures thank [Music] you thank you Mr lado the next person setting up for comment is Miss rajha dick Dickerson hey good evening everybody how y'all doing rcha Dickerson so I wanted to respond to um this is for the full school board members Eide High I hear you being very transparent about the process but I think that we probably need to do a learning exchange with the students because I think there were some missteps and I think you can learn a lot from this campus As you move on to the next campus and then I also think that we what we should do is move sore and pride into its own building together I think we should stop taking space up from our schools particularly at Morgan Village Middle School take that program out that school and allow that school to be a thriving 68th grade component and move those people over into those people excuse me students over into um um when you get finished with uh the school that East IH high will be in move them there because I think that that just speaks to our schools being full but it's not full of students that we need to be inside that school um I'll move on to Camp City Public School enrollment our traditional schools are in need of support when you see enrollment dropping is an indicator that we're not getting type the type of financial support we need so I'm asking again as a Public School parent traditional Public School parent what are you doing to ensure that enrollment stays high in traditional Public Schools where's the funding where's the the the advertisement where's the commercials where is it cuz our parents need to feel like our schools are thriving as well the next thing I'll speak on and I want to emphasize Morgan Village again and farest Hill their numbers are declining because you're not supporting the school uh the next thing I want to speak about is qac so we have I'm be on this for one second qac um has been updated to 2018 we are due for a report and on April 29th of 2024 superintendent I know you've been going up and back and forth to the state describing what's happening here in this District but we're very concerned on how do we get from under being lower than our the standards of qac 80% is our 80 is the number or 80% we need to be there I was looking at the numbers for State takeover from a report Jersey City was under State takeover from 1989 to 2022 that's 33 years Patterson was under State take over takeover from 1991 to 2021 that's 30 years nor was underst State takeover from 1995 2020 that's 25 years we've been under State takeover from 2013 till now that's 11 years do we have to get into the 20s can we get this right and what can we do as the community to help us get there I know it's a state fiscal monitor here but we are done with CC I know it's something that has to be in standard in New Jersey but we should be compliant I see that we're growing in some areas but how come we can't get over the home and that's what concerns me because that would change a lot of things that are happening here from The Advisory Board to a state appointed superintendent so we can have our own superintendent that's that we have in Kansas City to other things so I'm very concerned about what we can do to make sure that we get from under the Chokehold of qac from being in um from not being compliant right now based on an article that went out the DPR area for governance is now at 94% and instruction program is now at 61% based on what was said that came out recently we need to get there so I just want to make sure we can make sure that happen sooner than later thank you m thank you [Music] the next individual signed up for comment is Karen Burell Luke oh well good evening Karen belli Luke so I've been in this district for a pretty long time nearly 40 years seen some good Bad and the Ugly and we seeing repeated process as Rancho brought up about transitioning here um we saw some mistakes and transitioning getting ready for Eide one of the huge things that you talked about was the athletic program you know in preparation but what we didn't discuss and is a concern is my content area is the health and fizet it's a 4-year requirement for graduation it is not something you can put in a classroom and it's not something that you can put in the gym size of Kramer there is no outside room all of which I'm very familiar with at the old brim on copewood and what we did there and what I'm also concerned with you have people with experience that have gone through this and could be part of that planning that have the expertise in that content area that could share that with you there's a lot of ideas that could you know rather than reinvent the wheels since we some of us have been through that before um to use some ideas in doing that um I just think that that would be a little comforting to staff at the B you know at east side and especially the health and fizet people because from what we understand there's like one Health classroom and of course a gym that is the size of a box um you know and having taught at the elementary level as well I know exactly having taught at Davis like how many high school bodies can fit effectively and safely in there and that's just not going to work so there has to be Alternatives and you know I just think it's better to be part of the solution it gets rid of the hype um of what's going on and some of the hysteria um having been through some of that myself going from the old cop with Brim to this one there wasn't as much planning as there should have been with the health and the fizzed cuz you had four schools coming together to share I just think even just going there there we can avoid some of that if we just do that that's all thank [Music] you thank you the next individual sign up for comment is mangalo okay I can I give this here to the board pre board member yeah that's fine I think Miss Beman is Gonna Come Take copies for you and uh superintend thank you thank you m b my uh comment is the director to the active president you had made a comment about the the area over there by ACDC school and uh what's the name uh the uh far seal school about cleaning that up if be 100 years before you can clean up that that stuff that's Monsanto Monsanto kills the weeds Monsanto throw uh uh stuff on the Korean uh Vietnam War where the crops will not grow for a 100 years that stuff is there it's 4T down when they took and uh built the other school replaced the uh a DC School 4T down and they put uh vers in dirt then they put a slab on it then they said they were going to put air monitors up in there if when if it cracks or anything the fumes come up there and they'll know about it they didn't do it those kids are emotionally and physically and mentally Disturbed and they come from the city and from the suburbs oh and by the way all the teachers that worked in the uh what's that the de building they're dead they drinking that water and if you look on that there that number four number five that's talking about HDC look at that there 351 po po BS per billion that's arsic anything over 15 you're dead CER Hospital nor and they just laying back making the money our kids are dying our children having B our our young daughters are having babies and the babies encased in the water if you're not drinking the water from the source it ain't no good American water is in here to buy the uh water wells there that's what they're going to do and they're going to take and raise your rate they already raised your rate so we're not going to pass the rate on to the citizens but who's going to pay for it the citizens and there is still l in the drinking water in the city of Camden and I asked him at Ruckers and he said I'll tell you but he didn't but we can get that information over request you can make a over request to get anything like close sessions we can get we can op that what you talking about in there it's been done and if I got to get a lawyer yall wind up paying so those open set close session that you do that's not enough on the second page tell you the impact of all that stuff you know what is this here the impact of all this here work the other thing you made saying about those jobs thank you Mr mango thank you Mr mongalo you want to those jobs for the kids they should get prip and New Year working in the union that's what you do we do have your R Mission as well we will make sure to review it million 20 years ago thank you sir and they only train five people and only three of them got jobs in the city of C I'm going to call up the next individual comment for our young people you understand what I'm saying yall do a lot of talking but you ain't walking right thank you sir the next individual for public comment can I have you come up to the microphone is Patricio acelo you do not put your hand on nobody yeah I I hear what you say what what what did you say oh I hear that there I know that but yeah yeah but what you going to do all right I heard what you said I'm just trying to finish up what I said so that ain't no problem and Madam thank you sir you rude cuz last time you did it you allowed some students to talk over that their time so if you're going to be consistent be consistent thank you sir okay yep and we have your written submissions we'll make sure we review it amen have a good evening sir I live here how many of you all live here do I think Mr Patricio you don't do don't do okay thank you Miss per it's my home I'm been fting in this home the last person we have signed up for public comment this evening is M white take care of my babies or you going to lose your job you don't want to do that I I'll be waiting for you madam uh superintendent to finish up our dialogue for the meeting it didn't happen okay right oh man God still here Mr White ma'am are you prepared to provide your comment yeah yes um good evening U my name is Officer white Mark White um I'm I'm a representative of security I'm the union rep for security uh I'm coming here on the behalf that we received a letter that I'm asking the superintendent to take a real good look at the letter that we received through our department of searching um I think you should go back and re uh resend that letter because searching is very critical to high schools because if you know anything about security um when kids come in they come in with marijuana cigarettes um Vape pins that don't rent so it's hard for us not to catch it if we don't physically touch them to see where it's at and if you don't know about 3D printer the guns and plastic knife they don't ring either so unfortunately we did had an incident there but I'm not going to get into it but we did have an incident there hoping that you can resend that letter that we had got because already you cutting us off at the hands you you took away the handcuffs okay we dealt with that now you taking away this what else y'all going to take away y'all saying we the best that y'all got then give us the tools to have what we got cuz right now y'all taking everything from us what's next the X-ray machines metal detectors you know I'm just here try to keep the kids and the staff safe that's my job that's why I was bardhe for to do my job and right now y'all cutting us off at the hands now I always keep in contact with my my boss now we talking about a new system to put in place with the new high school but we talked about it it's too much money okay it's um Evolution I'm correct no huh evolve involve evolve evolve my fault thank you sir it's called evolved um many colleges many uh colleges campus have it many stadiums have it it's very very up to date it let you know what you got in your body it keeps track of everything uh what you bring in who brought it in and everything and he gives you a red flag if the same person try to bring something Us in so if y'all want to take us into the future this is something that y'all need to look into and invest in because right now y'all just really cutting us off at the hands and we really can't do anything if y'all keep cutting us off at the hand we like to do our job to the best of our ability thank you Mr White there are two written comments this evening the first is from our student um board rep Damen ereri who was unable to be here this evening oh okay just go ahead and read it great hello good evening my name is Damen izari I a junior and a student board representative at brim Medical Arts away from um away from being an A+ student at brim I am a Camden High cheerleader I just want to publicly thank Miss Katrina momes for making it possible by playing for the Camden high cheerleading team to travel to North Carolina to compete in the national black cheerleading competition your contribution made all of us happy and been exposed to amazing opportunities by me attending I've realized how impactful it can be by being a male cheerlead cheerleader but I've also realized how world changing it is to be a male cheerleader that shakes so thank you for giving us the amazing experience we all here experienced at campon high high school cheerleading here at brim and on the campus it has been the same since the last board meeting there are no cons and there are no new Pros only thing I would say that would need to be fixed here on the campus is when there is a fight multiple security from various places are required to come to end the issue but it also leaves those places they were stationed at uh not to be monitored which I also which I would also say needs help at Eastside High due to there was a a video of kids fighting and it took longer for security to come unlike here on campus they are there in a blink of an eye we should have the same Ex two expectations and security willing to uphold those expectations at both campuses thank you for your time thank you Mr arari um the final BR submission is from Griselda Ruiz hello my name is gelo Ruiz I am a mother that has two children that attend brim Medical Arts I've been having issues with communic the school only emails me in English and I don't speak English or read English I brought this issue to the school and someone at the school mentioned that they will see if they can start sending the emails in Spanish but it's been 3 months and I still receive them in English I would like to see if something can be done regarding this matter because I have to continue to contact parents Invincible Miss Carla to read my school emails I don't want to continue to call them just to read my school's emails I hope you take this into consideration thank you Miss Ruiz for your comment and superintendent that concludes public comment I will turn it over to you for responses thank you thank you very much and thank you to everyone who uh participated today and who uh shared your voice and your concerns as well as Solutions I heard a lot of solutions that were recommended um in um coupled in with the written comrad so we appreciate the definite Solutions oriented approach um so I'm going to just kind of go through uh the comments and give some responses um so Mr Wiggins if you yes you are still here Mr Wiggins thank you so much for taking the time thank you for much so much for taking um the opportunity to come and share with us information on your program and very specifically and thank you for sending information to us um so that we can review it and see how it fits into um what we're offering um with regard toal competencies goal setting um uh as well as coaching um we know it's so important for our students to have mentoring as well so please know that that is being taken um under consideration and review and we thank you for coming to this meeting today to share um your program with the entire board um I want to also respond um to um Mr Delgado thank you for being here Mr Delgado thank you as always for your input um for your feedback and for um just the questions that you ask and provide us with the opportunity to think through and make sure that our practices are those that we can um ensure are going to support our young people's growth and development um so we do thank you for your feedback you that you've provided tonight as well and we will re-evaluate um both those curricular areas that you discussed both the African-American studies and latinx studies curriculums they were put together by teams that included multiple stakeholders uh the text and resources were also evaluated by these same stakeholders but we will um also follow up I I um understand that you did not have a followup from the last conversation you had with our team we'll make sure you have that followup as well and take a look also at um our curricular areas um and thank you again for the solutions oriented uh response um Miss Dickerson she still here no she had to step out okay that's okay so I want to thank you though I want to make sure it's on the record um yes we should definitely try to learn from our missteps um when it comes to the um building of this school and we have done that in our conversations with SDA um just to make sure that there are um things that are not repeated um but thank you for that feedback uh thank you for your suggestion around uh a possible solution for sour students um who are currently attending Eastside High School um during the swing space um we are definitely putting more um emphasis on our marketing um but we are continuing to grow our our strategies our Advisory Board also pushes us to make sure um that we are doing a better job with getting the word out about the great things happening in our district so we are looking at innovative ways looking at our or chart we um have some changes that will be going into effect that would help us to be able to be more effective in that area um and with regard to CAC the comments there we um are definitely in agreement we want our district to be shephered back into sustainable local control and we have our qac visit coming this Monday um and where we are now uh in each of the areas we are doing pretty well in with the exception of operations where we score 75% and also um curriculum and instruction where we're at 61% and the reason for that in inp is in curriculum and instruction is uh because of State assessment scores so once our state assessment results improve then we can gain more P points in the curriculum and instruction area right now we've maxed out um and we have revised our curriculum everything is as it should be but when it comes to Performance that's where we're losing the point so to that question what do we need to do to really move to local control everything right now hinges on our students achieving um our finances have been cleaned up all the other areas are cleaned up We've Got to Now make sure that our young people are exceeding um and growing and demonstrating that growth so that is the area that is holding us back um Miss burelli Luke are you still here wave your hand thank you Miss barelli Luke for your feedback and comments and being Solutions oriented um yes so our engagement I'm not sure if you heard my full presentation but there will be opportunities for teachers staff members community members to to be involved in providing feedback um for the new Eastside High and we will definitely make sure that we take into consideration those concerns around health and PE not only in and now the swing space we're a little bit limited but we can kind of figure out some uh Solutions there uh and are open to any thoughts and suggestions that you may have um but definitely want to make sure that our um critical stakeholders who are teachers are a part of the planning process and there will be that opportunity afforded Mr mangaliso um did he step out oh hey Mr mangaliso I'm sorry the table is in the way that's why I couldn't see you um thank you for the information that you uh shared with us this evening I will have to take another look at it because I'm just getting it um and I was not privy to some of the information here so please allow me just to do some research and take a look um at what you shared [Music] um I want to um assure you that we've had all of our testing for our water complete uh and if you need to have I know you asked me for some information before we can get that from our facilities team so that it is up to dat um but again we are definitely concerned about um our young people and want to ensure that environmentally um everything that is coming into their bodies is going to help them to grow and Thrive so again thank you for um sharing the information thank you for being willing and available to walk me through this um I'm saying that Pro Pro actively because it's the first time that I'm seeing it thank you m okay thank you so much and I will do that Mr White you still here Mr White Mr White Mr White oh he left okay so that's okay I saw Mr White earlier today when I was over at East Side High our team was there we had a chance to walk through the lunches talk to students talk about the swing space with our students um on the heels of a staff meeting that we held uh virtually today and so I do want to make sure that um you know and I officer Fletcher also has some questions for me um but I will have that I will take those pieces into um consideration in consultation with our general counsel as well as Dr Smith um because there is a desire to see us pull back on our guidance around um uh who has searched and what we're searching for so I understand the complexities but let me um talk to council and we will talk with um your leadership to ensure that we're moving forward and any new uh equipment that's brought into the building that's vetted through the um senior director of uh security as well as um our lead for um that operations department so we will definitely Circle back and I believe that was the last comment uh Damien thank you for being here he left oh Damen you're there you're there thank you for your comment and also thank you for your um feedback with regard to the fight security we will definitely um look into that as well and I know Miss Ruiz may not be here because she submitted a written comment um but we will definitely speak with and work with the uh staff at brim Medical Arts because there is no reason that we're not sending inform there should be no reason that we're not sending information out uh in English and Spanish we have the capability and so we definitely um want to make sure that the coaches are working with the leaders there to ensure that that happens um and I want to thank everyone at this time I'll turn it over to our board um acting Vice acting president to uh share any um feedback that the board has or comments thank you Superintendent at this time are there any board members who have any comments I'll start off with board member Jackson good evening everyone um just want to say thank you for everyone who came out gave a comment um first I want to say thank you to Damian who always shows up shows out even after the game he was able to still step in today still able to give some comments um so we thank you for that and congratulations for you guys going all the way to South Carolina and bringing home the trophy for us so thank you all for representing um and doing it with Excellence I saw the videos you guys killed it um my last and second comment comment um is for miss Karen belli Luke is she still here okay she's not here but I will still make my comment just so that it is on record um I went to the former creative arts high school and I know that Miss berelli Luke taught at the former brim High School neither high schools had a gym and we made it work and so whether we were busted to gym whether we still had health in our classrooms and had gy elsewhere we still were able to make it work and there were no complaints and I do believe that Miss barelli was at that previous location as well so as proactive as we were back then we're going to need to be as proactive now because this is only a temporary situation we're not saying that the kids won't have a gym forever they will be tempor and they do have a gym at this site so we're again we're talking about two schools that had no gym whatsoever to where this school has an actual nice size so if we're breaking down the classes how we need to and we're just being again proactive being creative with how we can make it work and still be able to execute that for our students I don't think that that should really be an issue or a problem um um I I would like more solutions than problems um when our our Educators come to the meeting so I don't I don't have a problem I don't have a problem with issues please let us know what you're feeling what you're thinking and what's going on but also be proactive and let us know how we can help in fixing it is everything is workable everything is figureoutable there is no such thing as know and there's no such thing as I don't know we can figure out everything we are resourceful um and so I would like to have all of us keep that in mind when it comes to our students thank you thank you board member Jackson are there any other board members board member Alvarez thank you acting board president NY Nelson um I actually want to um congratulate uh chrisy um and say you will be missed thank you for all your dedication and hard work so many years that you've dedicated to cden City school and the students and the parents um and best of luck on your endeavors I also want to acknowledge parents Invincible although they're not here the two representative um they've they're always involved with the parents and the students and I just want to thank them for everything that they do thank you thank you board member Alvarez any other board members board member Hudson thank you uh thank you acting president Nelson uh I Echo this sentiments to chrisy uh your retirement thank you for everything that you've uh done for our district for our kids your investment in our community um you know they say uh to be retied means that uh you were tired before and you going to be tired again retired so um but congratulations I hope you you know wish you uh much success on your next Journey also uh I wanted to give a shout out to Wholesome riches I was able to attend their their food distribution yesterday uh it was just a really amazing amazing energy um seeing them give back to the community I think they served over uh well we served over 25 families um and our kids from vet school were really really engaged um and it's just amazing to see that cuz Camden is the uh the largest food desert in the state of New Jersey um you know so there's much need here but it's it's good to see that uh our kids identifi the problem and they're all hands on deck on addressing it uh whichever way they can and having a support in the presence of the teachers the school the staff and uh pastor Matt and and Pastor Michelle who's leading this effort um you know it was just just amazing uh so I was very happy to be a part of it and also wanted to shout out Mr Anderson from vet school who's a bilingual math teacher he had some of his students out there and they just love you know he's he's uh he speaks some Spanish but he was really engaging with his uh with his kids um and allow me to to get to know them as well so you know thank you so much for letting me have that time with them and I also wanted to shout out uh Miss Reese you know for this for this teach Camden initiative because I've always spoken about this like we you know we do have a need there's a national teacher shortage is everywhere it's just not a Camden problem but um she's been since she's been on board working very hard with the rest of the staff uh on addressing and recruiting uh you know teachers and I know sometimes per profession as per professionals you're hesitant or reluctant to take that next step to become a teacher because you don't know how or you think you can't pay for it or you know other barriers and challenges that that you face so just this is a really accelerated program I'm really excited about it and uh you know just looking forward to you know giving uh them the opportunity to serve our students on the next level so thank you for thank you thank you board member Hudson any other board members so I Echo everything that all the board members already said I want to um just start off by um saying I thank you uh to the board members for all you do um I think it was last week we had three events in one day 9:00 10:00 and I don't know another time um and again this is volunteer so thank you and I appreciate you for everything that you do also you know I just encourage people in general to be mindful of how we speak to people you know think about how you want to be spoke to when you speaking you know to others especially those that are supposed to be working for you I know for me personally if you holling and screaming I mean I'm not going to receive it well it's not going to make me work harder I'm not talking to one individual I'm talking in general so how you want to be spoken to you know I encourage you to speak to people the same way sometimes you get better results um you know I want to say thank you to all our school staff every Department because you work hard a lot of times when people come up which is important accountability you know we hear a lot of complaints um but you know when I look at where we were at and where we are today and you know some of the improvements and and things that um have gotten a lot better um it comes from those that's doing the work so thank you to everybody from security to teachers to Administration um you know operations things couldn't be done with everybody without everyone working together as well as our students giving their input um so we definitely you know appreciate you and um you know it's a lot being done I mean if you look at the highlights there's a lot of positive things that's taking place it doesn't mean that it's not a lot of work to still be done but I want to remind people that we didn't get here overnight so a lot of things won't change overnight you know things take time so you know we do appreciate everything you know that that you do I want to say thank you to our superintendent and her team um for being accessible you know a lot of times we don't come come up here and talk about the things that come to us because a lot of times it comes to us confidentially so if we come up here and say Hey you know uh miss kesie you know brought this to me you know what would that do um so you know I'll just share things that come to us you know marij marijuana usage staff concerns parent/guardian concerns bus issues safety concerns staff increases all these things are things that we speak about with our superintendent and her team you know Del prior to the meetings you know these are things that are talked about talked about on a regular basis so you know when you meet when you hear a team that works behind the scenes this is your board you know your board works behind the scenes even when you don't hear or when you don't know about it it's not just saying it you know when you know things come to the table is something that we do all the time as our responsibility uh Mr mongal Lisa I know he spoke about the cleanup um and I'm not sure actually in what nature um but I'll speak about the cleanup in reference to ecdc so one when parents bring issues to us or Guardians you know things that we can address or take care of you know this is what we do so what happened at ecdc you know parent brought a concern of trash so we reached out to operations who in turn you know um address those concerns and then the property that's right across from ecdc um there was trash there that's not the city's property it's not an area that's gated up it's not an area that's that's cut off or excuse me separate from the school and it's trash so if I'm wrong personally for picking up the trash or having somebody pick it up then you know blame me for that and in turn what it did was caused us to look into whether there was any toxic things or you know if that was an area that we shouldn't be in because again if that's what what the situation is and that's what we know then people should be making more noise cuz that's the situation that's been for years and it's not an area that's gated off so if we want to be in an area where I'm sorry we want to have our kids look at trash and our parents look at trash again it's still a safety issue however you look at it until my knowlege our superintendent has taken the initiative to start doing some research and look into things and as of right now she hasn't found or the team hasn't found anything which does not mean that's not the case but we would rather know and protect our students our staff and our parents than not know let's not try to put somebody down that's doing the work we complain about people not doing the work what about the people that's doing the work on that note thank you everybody [Applause] I apologize uh board member Hudson I'm I'm sorry um I just for the record want state that the next posit committee meeting was May 20th that's all thank you and at this time I would like to turn it over to our superintendent thank you AP Nelson at this time we're going to um I'll turn the me meeting over to the board secretary to present the agenda items I present the business office agenda items for approval which includes the bill list and the resolutions and as the board member have any questions on the business office agenda items any board members have any questions no questions okay turn it back over to the superintendent thank you board secretary and accordance with the powers vested in the state district superintendent under title 18a I hereby approve today's superintendent's agenda items and business office agenda items I turn it back to the board secretary for adjournment call for a motion toj the meeting I'm sorry [Laughter] I got you next thank you