##VIDEO ID:B1yDqHe2baQ## good evening everyone the regular notice requirement of the New Jersey [Music] public you want to tell them to okay greeting once again the regular notice requirement greetings the regular notice requirement of the New Jersey open public meeting act Mr President if I may briefly excuse me members of the public excuse me may I have your attention please may I please have your attention members of the public may I please have your attention Mr dogado how you doing sir um may I ask on behalf of the campden City Board of Education for members and attendance to please be courteous and respectful of this public body so that we can call this meeting to order if you continue to disrupt this meeting we will be prohibited from conducting our business I you shut and so members of the public so we have not call this meeting to order yet however I will note that in consultation with the superintendent and board leadership the board has agreed to amend the regular order of its meeting so after the board president if you will be so polite and kind to allow him to opens the meeting the board will entertain public comment from the public in accordance with the open public meetings at so with that Minister Muhammad would you please just read the notice and the minutes will reflect that was read thank you so much the regular notice requirement of the New Jersey open public meeting act has been complied with in an adequate advance notice of this meeting was given at least 48 hours in advance on January 9th 2024 notice was mailed to the carrier Post Philadelphia inquire and posted on the district website everyone please stand for the pledge of Le [Applause] we would we would ask that you please respect the flag of our country and please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you indivisible andice for all prepare for roll call please okay roll call Janette Alvarez Wanda Garcia Naima gespi Cameron Hudson Danielle Jackson Karen Merck Wasim Muhammad na nan de Nelson there is a quorum and this and Maria Perez sorry sorry [Music] at this time at this time at this time we will move into the public comment portion of the meeting please govern yourselves accordingly I'll turn it over to our Council to read the public comments portion which is read at every single meeting please let me remind you however that we will need to make sure that everyone who has signed up has the opportunity to speak but in order to do that we must make sure we abide by the three minutes that have been allowed for each person and that if we are going to respect one another we have to do it if you want your voices heard it cannot happen unless there is mutual respect for voices that have come to sign up to speak so at this time I'll turn it over to our Council to lead us through the Public Public comment portion of this meeting thank you in advance for your cooperation thank you madam superintendent the camon 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 three minutes you will 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 three minutes the microphone will be cut off and we will end your comment we will 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 and again please direct your comments to the superintendent or board counsel 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 comments unless we deem it necessary if a a member of the public speaks negatively about a staff member Interruption may be necessary to caution the speaker of the danger of slander and a potential private cause of action against that or by that employee after the public comment period is closed the superintendent or her design will address your questions to the extent provided by law as there are several individuals signed up for public comment this evening and the time frame in which to provide public comment has been extended we request everyone to be mindful of the time clock again three minutes per speaker displayed to ensure there is an adequate opportunity for everyone to speak and Madam superintendent we have 36 individuals signed up this evening to speak uh the first speaker is Mr Keith Benson Mr Benson thank you wel um I had come with some planned uh agenda to speak on but I'm going to give you that in paper form and I'm going talk off the Record let everybody in the board get a copy of that but when I came in you guys I got here early you guys were playing gospel music so it kind of changed my um Direction I actually wanted to go to the Bible because of the gospel music that I was hearing this whole evening the situation reminds me of three verses I'm glad I got three minutes because I one minute per verse the first one you might have heard of is Matthew 16:26 what does it profit someone to gain the whole world and lose their soul I'm saying this board must have lost its soul to endanger our children with somebody we had to pay $2 million for it and you expect us to accept that that's verse number one I think I'm under my two minutes the verse number two is Luke 17 and2 where Jesus himself said it would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around your neck didn't harm one of these little children he's talking to you boy and the third one that really brings it home is Romans 128 it says and that they did not like to retain God in their actions God gave gave them over to a reprobate mind so that they would do the things that are disgraceful it is utterly disgraceful that you would know this man's record and tell him you're going to make him the board president here's the here's the ask and the demand he's not going to have anything to do with school board or anything with do with the school district and any elected official that militates against that which is the voice of the people I want to thank you all because it's been 30 years I've been trying to organize this community guess what we're organized around this we're organized around this so thank you for helping us you either do the right thing like Spike says or you'll deal with the public thank you have a good evening the next speaker is Troy Oglesby Troy [Applause] Oglesby members of the public can you please refrain from interrupting the meeting Mr Oglesby the floor is your thank you I'm here to really give a message that's pretty difficult for anybody that's in the servitude at as you guys are here you guys are elected officials and I can just tell you that when you took your oath to adhere to the community and do the best for our community we entrusted you with that and when we entrusted you with that you accepted it so that we laid back and we just let whatever your actions do represent what we do it's very difficult when you have a coworker that does something that you might not agree with you don't have to not stop liking him or loving him but when the consequences become greater than your ethic responsibility to our community then at that point your integrity and your ethic code everything comes into play there's a price tag there's a price tag on what we can afford to allow to happen in our community unfortunately when it gets into the millions of dollars that optic is something we can't reverse you just can't reverse it's a lot of times we ask the person who causes that kind of damage to take it upon themselves to relieve our friendships so that we won't make a difficult decision I'm not asking anybody on this board to not love or like brother Muhammad any differently but I'm asking this board to look at your respon responsibility to the greater that's bigger than you in the seat right to look at the community this is a gathering of people voicing their opinion and it just can't be discounted you can't just write that off you just got to accept that whatever decision that is hard in front of you you have to make it and we'll continue to do whatever we can to make sure that decision always going to be in the best interest of our children of our school of our city and of our community I hope that you guys make the best decision I hope that you understand that it's very difficult to make those decisions but that's why we elected you thank you thank you the uh third individual who signed up to speak um respectfully I cannot read your name but whoever has number three will you please come to the mic and state your name and address for the record thank [Applause] you I'm Reverend Dr Russell Owen live in Pine Hill New Jersey Camden County respect to my elders behind me respect to the community members respect to the youth behind [Applause] me deep love for my community as I sit here and I look I see that there's conflict in some of your faces you didn't ask for this but what I really want to speak to is integrity ask yourself is this board full of Integrity right now no perhaps not because if one piece is broken that means the whole will is damaged that's right did you sign on to serve something that didn't have integrity I speak to your leadership and I ask you to consider this today I know many of you have children do you have daughters I stand in the Gap right now for that young [Music] lady s [Applause] [Music] Robinson I don't need 3 minutes while you're asleep she's tossing and turning that's right while you're moving on with your life she's conflicted right is that right is that fair it's time for us to bring Camden out of the [Applause] ashes since when do we stand for Injustice I'm going say it again since when do we stand for Injustice we were told to I remember reading about Martin Luther King Jr while he was in the Birmingham Jail for nothing and they kept telling him wait why is it always wait come on Sir why do it always have to be wait how long why not right here right now tonight because I'm looking at many of your faces and I know you don't condone the actions that happened and all I'm asking is for you to rise up with courage because if it was your child you would be standing where we're at today silence is [Music] [Applause] betrayal thank you our next speaker is Miss nadina brown nadina brown and while Miss Brown is making her way up to the podium just to I guess manage the expectations of the public uh just please note that the Camden City Board of Education the members of this board of education pursuant to State Statute do not have the power or authority to remove a board member under these circumstances um similarly the governor of the state of New Jersey does not have the authority to remove a board member similarly the commissioner of educ nor the state appointed superintendent Dr Katrina momes does not or do not have the authority to remove a board member under the circumstances thank you sir M [Applause] Brown Excuse me [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you good afternoon um superintendent camon City Board of Education my name is Nina Brown I'm a school nurse within the district within my time here in canas City Schools I have served at Whittier bonsel York ship and recently I moved with the York ship Middle School to Morgan Village Middle School on August 14th I received an email stating I will be moved to Dudley Family School due to the nursing department losing a school nurse position and what is best for the district I have great respect for the deadly principal and understand their need for a full-time nurse it was not until I learned that a newer Early Childhood nurse would be then taking my position at the middle school that I asked for more clarity on the reason behind the involuntary transfer what I learned was that being moved to Dudley that I was being moved from from Morgan Village to Dudley involuntarily because I am a stronger nurse further that there were fear that the newer nurse who would be taking my position would drown if place at Dudley my response is at this reasoning is not my fault and not the students and families of Morgan Village Middle School's fault either if the district hires nurses that cannot fulfill the job of any of our schools the burden should be on the district to supply supports the B burden and responsibility to pick up the pieces should not be placed on the strong staff members or the students which will be affected that's right in April of this year 2024 the Supreme Court made a ruling in response to the mro case which defined when a title um five discrimination claim for involuntary transfer can be S from the ruling an employee must show that the transfer brought about some harm with respect to an identifiable term or condition of employment harm can include a longer commute to a different School building in the district a different population of students a larger class size number of students and others which do not imply in this case discrimination can be based off of age experience level or even if one is felt to be better at their job than another change from Morgan Village to Deli will result in a longer commute a different population and an increase in the number of peuples potential punishment for being a stronger nurse in perk citation he number 20033 29 NJ p43 the cam City School District was found to have violated the New Jersey employer employee relations act njsa 3413 a in this case the administrator was involuntary transferred from 1 bill to another within 2 months after she brought complaints to the district and Union about interview process for the position the administrator was seeking on June 25th I had a meeting with the District administration over similar concerns regarding a hiring process for which nurses receive places over summer months much like the administrator mentioned above two months later I am facing involuntary transfer time is everything is what's written in there within my time at mvms all my evaluations have good I've coached the boys basketball team and been into in and featured in articles for such I work hard and Excel at Morgan Village because it's where I'm meant to be I love these kids I'm respectfully asking for the superintendent and board to table my transfer next speaker is Damen ireri Damen [Applause] ireri you got your ticket it's okay okay it's okay it's okay okay children hello you already know who I am I be here every every board meeting and I'm going straight off the Dome because I said at the last board meeting when we found out that everything that happened that I did not want to see that man right there I'm shaking because I'm angry you know why because every single one of y'all told us that we could come to y'all if we need any help well guess what the students are coming to y'all to protect us from a rapist we going to keep that clear okay okay because I'm really sick of everything that be happening and that be going on in this District because if you would go down the highway to the white people districts this wouldn't be happening okay they will get him out if our own Governor said that for him to resign and since he runs this board since we're a state district how about y'all listen to him and y'all was talking about that oh the board people can't vote him off for the governor well guess what we don't care we don't give a damn how about that okay cuz if we got to go to Trenton to fight this we will okay all right if I have to have a meeting with Phil Murphy himself I will do that you know why because I take my job really well I be a student board representative for almost 3 years now I speak for every student in this building and and I speak for every school middle school and everything if my sister stands up right now she is a little girl if anything happens to her I'll be damn I swear to God my mom she is a victim she's a victim of being raped my best friend is the victim of being raped our own students in this district is victims how would you think if they be told that our own board president is a rapist how would they feel how would they feel Miss momes you said that the last board me and that you were a victim of yourself how do you feel with standing next to a rapist let us know [Applause] now it's really crazy so can I just ask the public just you'll have your time sir um direct your comments to the superintendent but please respectfully don't make them personalize thank you [Applause] this is crazy why do we have to be having this conversation right now there should be if someone rapes a child why are they for working with children his Facebook post said that he was eager to come back to work with the students and the people why is he so eager to come work with us he has his own School his own any everything he should be able to go there give him his own pension his own check whatever y'all do and get him out the door it's not that hard and if he don't want to resign well guess what think why does he want not why does he don't want to resign because he want to keep all worker with kids so that he could keep on doing the things that he do with kids okay thank [Applause] you speaker is Kevin Waters [Applause] [Music] [Music] Waters uh good afternoon so arrogance is a sickness when you make a decision to hurt on I don't care nothing about so what I want to First do is say that to the board our new construction that's taking place for the new East Side High School our gymnasium should be no shorter than what it is right now C to high was it was a shame how their gym was too small it's a middle school gym our gym should be just as big as it is right now so parking shouldn't be an issue either so I am a therapist who works with young people come on now I've been here for 32 years and in those 32 years I've had to deal with young ladies who have been molested by adults not only within a school setting but in their homes the understanding that I have about what can happen in terms of he doesn't want to resign you're not going to make him resign because you're afraid of the Optics so don't Fe the Optics do what's right your heart has to be put in this I'm probably going to have to talk to someone this school year who has been sexually molested by an adult and they're going to expect us to take care of them to protect them that has not happened in this situation so I probably am wrong but I understand that there is someone up there who can put forth a petition for the President to resign he should do that she should do that it should be done and you shouldn't be afraid to do it this is not personal resigning is the greater part of humanity and what has happened to that young lady was not a Humane gesture it was a brutal gesture that turned that young lady into a victim that she has has to be traumatized for the rest of her life now what you want to do is make sure that this doesn't happen again that's what you want to do I've held back on a lot of what I want to say because it's what happened was terrible and you just have to have some heart is Judith Graham Judith Judith [Applause] Graham Judith Graham is M Graham [Applause] [Music] [Applause] present and after miss Graham speaks the next speaker will be Karen belli Luke Okay I uh maybe a couple weeks ago wanted to know what this person everybody was talking about look like everybody up there knows who I am and you know how I feel about each and every one of you with the exception of one you janky every last one of you when I Googled you and your face came up I said sweet baby Jesus I went to school with your sister te I've been in your house I sat at your table I was served a piece of cake by your mother every time I seen here for years out in the street we would hug we would talk she's a lover and I know she's in heaven and I know she is looking down on you with such utter disrespect you need to be ashamed of yourself all your sisters all your brothers all your children people know I looked at you and know who your K folk are and it makes me sick that you could walk into any building any any day anytime and see a little girl and make her your victim and let me tell you why I'm really here real quick I sent that podcast to every last one of you to your email and anybody that would listen to it I listened to it and when it got to the end the lawyer was talking and he was talking about how years and years after you been molested it could come back to you full force I'm sitting there I heard you took that young lady into one of those sex dens you made her have sex with a stranger why you pleasured [Applause] [Music] yourself and then you took her home and she ran away from you I was molested as a child I smelt experiment through my phone screen when that when that lawyer was talking I automatically froze up and start crying that's not a story I like to share but it if it'll get a nasty Don Diddy Walker Predator out of the Camas City Board of Education I will tell it to anybody that wants to listen Mike thank you Karen belli Luke and after Miss burelli Luke the next speaker is Jose [Applause] dogado Miss BR Luke thank you and after Mr Delgado will be V uh NES I believe it is Neil my apology I'm trying to read your handwriting my apology by the Neil thank [Applause] [Music] you floor is [Music] [Applause] [Music] yours good evening Caren belli Luke teacher there are a number of things I wanted to address I've been teaching in in this district for nearly 40 years I have seen and heard so many things I been attending board meetings since I first came into the district have things changed Community involvement and parents voices used to be welcomed in fact encouraged now this Administration says they want Community involvement parent voices but actions show otherwise even down to removing the opportunity for the community to write in comments to to this meeting abolished there is a total disrespect and disconnect with utilizing inhouse skill sets to better serve the students and Community admin allows personality clashes to interfere with progress there is per preferential treatment and where there is justifiable hardworking staff there is jealousy and targeting staff are afraid to speak out and tell the truth of some of the dis disturbing inner workings of the district and buildings I want to point out on the board minutes Camden high submission for their stien positions that were listed with value amounts that are incorrect according to our CA contract and there are stien positions listed with a value that didn't even exist in our contract there are other some other alerts and it should be looked at and adjusted prior to approval I brought up concerns of the esad PE class I understand that some of the concerns have been met however there is a lot that has not been dealt with you never brought the the few people in the district that have dealt with similar situations to a table to assist or discuss admin would rather deal with hypothetical than reality we that have a peer have skill sets that come with a training and instruction they should not be ignored lastly I like Mr muham it as a person but what I can't wrap my head around and infuriates me a little over a year ago I was accused of something placed on administrative leave for 10 months and I was later found innocent of any wrongdoing yet I was uprooted from my school of over 20 years transferred to another school and this district is now going after me to withhold my increment all within the legal system now but my point I was innocent yet faced with all these consequences and 40 years in the district yet Mr Muhammad was accused found guilty and cost this District over $2 million and no consequences where is the equity maybe if I graduated from Camden high or played basketball for Camden high I would be treated fairly too thank you thank you Mr Delgado [Applause] [Music] is good evening everyone I want to begin by telling Wasim that he has no business to be on the stage because the jury found you liable and I'm paraphrasing or in quoting the jury for committing and engaging in outrageous conduct that maliciously harmed and violated the rights of a student under your care a teacher cannot be hard with that on their record that's what a jury found yes now I'm here today to call about to talk about a different type of outrageous conduct and militias that maliciously violated the rights of our community students and teacher I'm speaking about the superintendent you called a meeting on June 4th with the promise of a community meeting open dialogue up at the tearing down of Eastside High School and which would in turn Force students to be sent to Kramer Elementary School for 5 years students came there with a petition opposing that proposition teachers attended to voice their concerns and community members such as I came to protest the placing of children in a school that you characterize as being deplorable Madam superintendent you lied I wish there was another way of saying it cuz deeply inside I think you're a very good person but in this in your capacity in that instance you lied instead of the promise of an open dialogue you ran a pep rally you did this despite vice president Nelson alerting you to the Public's expectation of participation not only did you lie but you also stole from us the right to speak in a gym located in one of our schools our school not your school our microphone not your microphone you then the next day had a meeting with the student with two politicians you ambushed them in a little meeting aside where they would no support from the community I served at a board of education that was fully empowered and accountable to the public you would have been you would be dusting off your resume on June 5th the day after if you had done that doing one of those boards there would be no way that a board would have tolerated the disrespect that you demonstrated on June 4th but in today's reality you represent the New Jersey Department of Education not the best interest of students and teachers Wasim is not the only person outside our ability to control framing this deplorable situation in our district is this Advisory board that has failed to discharge his duties from the very beginning you have failed to advocate for your students we what what is this Advisory board about the state decided to tear down a perfectly fine School you didn't say a word they talked about putting our children in a school an elementary school you didn't say a word there was no meeting no nothing Miss vited Neil and the next speaker will be Tammy Wilson good evening uh board members with the exception of Minister Wasim I want to say good evening superintendent school with the exception of that attorney I want to say I think you give out bad legal advice I want to start out by saying the worst day I ever had in my life was Thursday when you people set up here here and watch this man here the narcissist bring his minions in here wreaking and smelling of drugs and called me every kind of name that my mother didn't name me and you set up here and the cops surrounded me while he called me names that I have never spoke in school you know who you are because my mom taught me better see I'm going tell you like this here the same individuals that came up here were all men that cursed me out called me names woke up to sleeping dragon in the community because my community came out to protect me that's right and I thank you address the board thank you and I thank don't tell me who to address I said could you please address the superintendent thank you pursuant to the board bylaws and can claim my time can I can I reclaim my 10 seconds can I reclaim my 10 seconds you like to talk when everybody else is talking I'm going need you to be quiet and set that clock back they owe 10 seconds I want my 10 seconds back I reclaim my time I am reclaiming my time you need to go back to that town you m at cuz we don't want you here but let me tell you something to have men attack me like that in the public setting and not have any nobody do anything to them they did it to me another thing I want to talk about is this man's KS here we they say Metro is the best police force in in in in the United States at least with the technology we have school uh uh security why are these kids here this can be very ugly see because his kids was all behind me and so was him y'all wasn't paying attention if you think I don't got people in this city that's called family that love me you don't want to wake them up that's right you got barricades down here for us but the barricade should be made like a jail around him he should be behind these barricades let me tell you something everything you do is for the people from The People by the people this is public land we on the land and we own you and if you don't do our will we're going to get rid of you and the narcissist vice president too thank you Tammy Wilson the next speaker is Tammy Wilson [Applause] the speaker after Mr Wilson my apologies sir if I mispronounce your name the next speaker will be Aira kanaine Mr Wilson the time is yours first and foremost it's terrible that y'all don't have the morality to eject this man from Office it shows that maybe y'all his co-conspirators maybe y'all working together per first and foremost the school districts not doing good y'all don't care y'all just want to put us in prison I'm a young man and in the classroom there about a couple students with ankle monitors [Music] on but y'all want to put the youth in prison but don't want to put that man up there in [Applause] [Music] prison Amir K and this speaker after Miss Kain is Sheila green that's air XC good afternoon or evening my name is Amir X Kane and I stand here today as a concerned Community member and as a Muslim woman to publicly denounce the actions of President excuse me wasi Muhammad it has been revealed that Mr Muhammad caused Reckless harm to his former seventh grade student Selma Robinson with the intent of damaging her well-being even worse he committed a sexually he created a sexually hostile environment for a young girl who should have been protected what message are we sending out to our children if we allow someone like Wasim Muhammad to stay in leadership are we saying their dignity and their well-being is valued less and more and less important than someone's position yeah this cannot stand let me be clear this is not a Witch Hunt against my brother but this is the community standing and saying we will no longer be silent the suffering of our people is here it's being executed right now the silencing of us this is about holding you accountable and standing for something and not living for nothing AR you children have the potential to be fierce leaders who can guide us toward freedom justice and equality we cannot be complacent with our current leadership we must stand up and demand decency and moral responsibility for the sake of our children the most honorable Elijah Muhammad taught that where there are no decent women there are no decent men and that the woman is the mother of civilization what does that say about our community when our men here cannot leave with decency that's right that's right it is now the duty of the school board to call a motion to at least vote him to resign excuse me vote for him to be removed to do otherwise would expose your true intent who your true allies are and when your loyalty lies I want to talk to you Bim your name means handsome goodlooking praiseworthy you fit that description none whatsoever what I'm doing is I'm going to make a a self-proclamation to now address you by the character that should submit and repent to Allah himself remove Donnie Walker remove Donnie Walker remove Donnie Walker remove Donnie Walker until it's done Walker thank you next speaker is Sheila green and after Sheila green the next speaker who signed up is Anthony Dillard Miss greenion of New Jersey education should be again good evening all this is very hard I'm going to start off by letting you know that PTSD is forever in children it starts whenever it starts and it never dies they will grow up and be adults and they will go through these changes for the rest of their lives it will affect everything in their lives I wrote a lot of things down but my heart is telling me to say other things we should not be disrespectful because we are the parents and the Guardians of the children that we're here to defend our children does not have the right to vote we are the reason why you are there not because of them because of us we decided what we wanted from you we decided to trust you as the Educators as the Guardians as the administration to watch over our children that's your job it's just a job but when you put your heart into it that means that you do the job with the integrity and the trust that you were given from the day you were born and what your parents taught you as you grew up it's a lot of disdain that's going on here but what I feel is this the right thing to do is the right thing that you do when nobody is looking be a person of Integrity do the right thing when nobody is looking this is between you you and God it's not between you and us God's going to deal with you accordingly according to what you've done according to what you didn't do because only the two of you really know what happened but at the end of the day at the very end of the day the PTSD is being is being exposed by that young woman that whatever she's going through I as a woman as representing any female in this audience we all know what it feels like we all know that when it does happen it does not go away you can say no all you want and if he's still coming at you it's still happening she's married she's with children she's an educator herself now I follow the story I am not here to denounce or to De to demonize anybody I'm just asking you to do the thing that you actually signed up to do I remember when you sat on the corner of the board now you're sitting next to the superintendent I remember who you had been I need you to be who you had been and who you truly are because right now what I'm beginning to see or what they're showing me this is not who I know so I just need you to do what's Integrity wise take care of what you need to do it's just the board let the school do what it has to do let the children know that this is the right thing to do because if this was in any other community if this was in any other Community this would be really really bad right this would be really bad so I just ask you to do the right thing and make sure that the children understand that Integrity always comes first thank you thank you Anthony Dillard and the next speaker after Mr Dillard is Kevin Barfield asalam alum uh Madam superintendent members of the board uh good evening I would like to say Mr Walker Haven only damaged the lives of young girls he has also damaged the lives of many young men here in the city of Camden right and I'm here to speak on the behalf of myself and my son whose name is Camden this matter that we here for is is old this matter has already been adjudicated in the tribunal in the real Nation of Islam among Minister farakhan and his constituents this is why Wasim pardon me thean this is why Donnie Walker is not in the Nation of Islam and has tell made his own religion you don't see any of the young brother you don't see any of the brothers you don't see any of the brothers where's brother Kenyan where where brother Jasper where brother James where he at he has t made a religion for his family that is not Islam you destroy all um I was a member under the Tage of Donnie Walker and under that Tage we are given restrictive laws in the Nation of Islam and what I have found that Mr Walker wasn't practicing what he was preaching that's right um I'm one of those young men that was damaged Charly and morally and ethically under the guidance of Mr Walker that's right and it took years for me to get this closure here tonight and to uh travel my path to find Real Islam under the to of imim Leah um and I stand here today as a upstanding husband my wife attest to that every day I stand here to her as a great father my children attest to that every day uh all Praises are due to Allah alhamdulillah um bro you know what's going on go ahead man step down Kevin Barfield and the next speaker after Kevin Barfield is Joe borer excuse me if I mispronounce your last name next speaker is Joe burer after Kevin Barfield [Music] good evening everyone Kevin Barfield um I've been a volunteer first of all this is my first time being here in four years since the late Miss Martha Wilson passed away anybody knows me know that I've been in the school district given my time for 15 years being president of the p uh past president of the cam of the district pent advisory Council the special needs advisory Council and the um the Early Childhood advisory Council since my boy started in 2004 up until 2019 from Miss Wilson passed so this is hard for me because I would say that one of the reasons too is because I know you as Donnie Walker I watched you grow up I followed you you know I admired you when you was a young man doing your thing for representing cam High School I see you when I go get my haircut you know so I always respect to you so it's hard for me to stand up here today not only being here in the in the memories of Miss Wilson but having to see here and speak against you being in the position you're in so again Mr Wilson always was about the children and the parents and if she was here today whatever you're saying is the solicitor she would make a way that he would not be in leadership representing this school district the fact that when you guys did a remoral y y named a school after her y'all talked about her Legacy and these things of this nature and knowing Miss um Miss mome superintendent that it's been many times that you know we was battling fighting for the the parents and the funding and the one reason why I refus to come to this school district is because it's like nothing has ever changed it's like the same old thing I haven't missed anything and I refuse to come back and see the business as usual especially did you bring back the solicitor um again the recent decision that was made violating the New Jersey protection act and this school district being liable something happened something happened and shows some wrongdoing and I would say that I will hope that somebody comes up with some political courage to do the right thing because again we have a school named after someone that I know for a fact she' be in the back room tar things down to keep something like this to happen the community should not have to come out because like it's been mentioned there's no way that this will happen in any other community and back in the day you know you did anything against a child a white woman as a black man you would be lynched castrated and anything other than so again this this has to change Joe buer and after Mr burier the next speaker is Jeff Fritz thank you [Music] good evening Madam superintendent members of the board my name is Joe bouier I appreciate the opportunity to comment tonight I am an attorney I handle sexual harassment uh cases and I have met with and represented victims of sexual assault sexual harassment the emotional trauma is something that lasts a long time I'm appalled that Mr Muhammad is allowed to serve as president of this board I believe you sir should resign in shame I agree with the comments of so many here who have spoken and I feel for those who have talked about how they were victims of sexual assault I keep going back to the question what is best for the children of Camden that is your responsibility as a board the best for the city of Camden and the children of Camden is certainly not to have an adjudicated sexual harasser as president of the advisory school board and let's look at this as for what's best for the school district itself Mr Muhammad is now an extreme liability risk to the school district and to the children of Camden if similar conduct occurs again in the future the school district will be required to pay an even larger legal award than $2 million and this only hurts the school district and the children so what should the school board be doing everything in its power to remove Mr Muhammad and even if they feel they don't have the legal authority to fire him they should be going around getting signatures on recall petitions and all of you should in front of this group of people should tell Mr Muhammad that you think he should resign if you don't do this how are we supposed to believe that you were in favor of the school children in the district of Camden I have nothing further to say thank you the next speaker is Jeff Fritz Jeff Fritz and after Mr Fritz the next speaker is Jay McCrae good evening I'm the attorney for Selma Robinson who in the early 1990s was a middle schol middle school student of at that time Donnie Walker at Cooper be hatch Middle School this is her in eighth grade remember [Applause] it first I'd like to set the record straight on the recent trial and the verdict where Sela and I produced evidence that your Advisory Board president Mr Muhammad groomed Sela as a child in order to sexually assault her Mr Muhammad his supporters and his lawyers have attempted to say that he was somehow exonerated by that jury that's just not true a jury from this community found in Selma's favor and I have the verdict sheet right here I brought copies for [Applause] everybody the jury heard from numerous Witnesses including Mr Muhammad himself and found that he committed acts of intentional infliction of emotional distress that means that they found he intentionally or recklessly caused Selma severe emotional distress through his extreme and outrageous conduct so with that finding it is inconceivable that I'm standing before you with Mr Muhammad serving as the president Camden deserves better secondly I am here to read a statement from Selema Robinson I wanted to be at the meeting today but I had to make the tough decision to prioritize my mental health every day is an intentional effort for me to function as a mother wife and educator I am plagued with memories and nightmares of being sodomized by Mr Muhammad nightmares of him luring me into a filthy bathroom in a porn theater and having someone there waiting to rape me so he could watch the jury's verdict was made in May and I have nothing at all to gain for sharing these words I say in the hopes that you board and the superintendent may make a decision to put the children and families of Camden first and remove this man from his duties I join today with other concerned citizens Governor Murphy to beg of you to prioritize Your Allegiance to the safety and protection of students in Camden thank you J McCrae next speaker is J McCrae and the speaker after J McCrae is El Moore say her name say her name say her name good evening everyone as a lifelong resident of Camden this action of continuing under the leadership of this said president I will not mention his current name is disgraceful and truly a disservice to the city's constituents as a woman who had the privilege of being educated in the Camden City School District as a woman who went to the school with his victims as a woman who remembers witnessing the anguish of one of his victims upon hearing of certain incidences during that time as a female teacher in the district who listened to accounts of students who had experienced Uninvited advances and abuse many children suffer from numerous adverse childhood experiences also known as Aces which are trauma and they do it daily and a number of girls have suffered them at the hands of a member who you choose to not release from his position to the women on the stage remember when you were in middle school and maybe had a childhood crush and I emphasize the word childhood crush on a teacher but as the adult who was charged to do to be in local dep parentes which means in place of a parent instead he turned to be a mentally ill creeper instead of being able to enjoy years of memories that would be smiled upon later in life girls in Camden now bow their heads in shame remembering the grooming they endured at the hands of someone who was hired to be a role model but instead was a predator our girls deserve to be valued they deserve to be protected in closing don't let Donnie do it to another daughter of ours out El Moore is the next speaker and after El Moore is Theo [Music] [Applause] Spencer who's next L [Music] Moore number 19 is El Moore president okay the public please if you want to speak you could have signed up U Miss more the floor is yours thank [Applause] you good evening good evening this was a place I had never plan to come again to address the residents in the city of Camden after having done it for so many years but you know life has a way of telling you what you want to do what you're going to do when you you don't know what you're going to do I've always said things happen in caming that don't happen nowhere else in the [Applause] world and you all have just proven that to me tonight but I feel sorry for the young people for the children because that's why you're here I've attempted to watch one board meeting with I guess you new board members and it was I was it was so sad I couldn't finish watching it because there was nothing you don't know what you're doing you don't even know why you're there I don't know how you got there it is so [Applause] sad and I know because I went to board meetings in the the city of Camden for many many years but I was just baffled I said I can't do this and I never wanted to do this again I say to you the person of interest tonight have you no shame have you no shame I'm not going to condemn you I'm not the that's not my place to stand up here and condemn you but I just simply say have have you no shame to listen to these people to look around and hear all of these people getting up speaking you know children are our future and we have we have a responsibility to protect them and look out for them I've contacted your superintendent she doesn't bother to respond back to me either but you know what you need to know you paid for her to get her master's degree as you did a whole lot of people in this Town teachers and what have you Camden has done a momentous job in helping people and helping Educators and myself I wouldn't I wouldn't have achieved what I've achieved had it not been for the city of Canon and these people here and I thank you for that but we need to get it together you need to do a better job I never expected miracles from you Kina because I knew you were always an elementary person and I knew dealing with the high school was not your Forte but but you can do better and and let me and and I and you can you can is James Johnson sorry the next speaker is Theo Spencer and after Mr Spencer is James Johnson hey what's going on Theo Spencer 1382 Hatton Avenue uh former Schoolboard member um Miss Moore talked about shame and I don't believe there is any shame on that board um I think as a former board member I would be remiss if I didn't State what the board could do the board can absolutely entertain a motion to remove Mr Muhammad as president that doesn't mean that he won't be on the board but he wouldn't have the title of President any board member could make that motion to remove him and nobody has and so and so that that kind of speaks to um how how educated this board is on their role and responsibility and what they can do and what they can't do um one of the other things that I want to mention is um it is correct uh unless Mr Muhammad resigns he cannot be forced off the board you can't elect somebody to the board and then you know just forcefully remove them the only thing that can do that is a recall petition and so what I've done with a few other concerned community members I've started submitting the paperwork for a recall Petition of Mr Muhammad so if there's anybody who wants to um do what is the legal thing to remove him from Office uh we certainly can sign up for the recall petition we can go out and get signatures and we can put it on the ballot and allow the residents who put him on the board to take him off the board so uh I think lastly um as we've got all this interest in the board and and you see um what the board is doing and what they're not doing um I just wanted to make mention of there are five seats that are going to be on the ballot in November for the school board all of these people that are on the board right now are running unopposed so as a community if if we think that we can do better or we need better on the board we can start by at least having a wrting campaign for five people to replace this board especially if they can't see fit to do what is in their power which is to make a motion to remove Mr Muhammad as president so thank [Applause] you thank you next speaker is James Johnson and after James Johnson is Reverend Tim Merill [Music] time good evening I'm the 21st speaker and anything that I have to say has probably been said already uh the onus has been put placed uh been pleaded to that y'all somehow removing uh Mr Muhammad right now the thing is yall an Advisory board right I don't know how much power that is don't sound like it's too much power right but we can use a lot of common sense here right we can't have a person in any capacity uh serving in our school district from a janitor to whatever right but we can have a president doesn't make very much sense right uh another thing that doesn't make very much sense to me is how educators that we entrust with our childrens right our future right are being ignored they being they looking at yall with shame how could this possibly be right but what I'm going to do what I want to do right here is I'm going to take the onus off of The Advisory Board and I would like to uh place it directly on Mr Muhammad Mr Muhammad has done a lot of things with a lot of people and a lot of segments of the community and Camden there is no doubt at one point Mr Muhammad right has done good things he's a good man he had been a good man right so the Advisory board right should just turn their heads right turn their heads first to look at him and second to look away from him and leave it on Mr Muhammad to do the right thing because I am convinced I don't know but I strongly believe that if this was another individual and Mr Muhammad uh had to sit in judgment or had to protect the children I think that he would do it right so knowing or feeling that much I think that Mr Muhammad should just simply man up and just resign well the the the the thing is right I have listen I have listen tonight right and I have friends resign please do the right thing thank you sir next speaker is Reverend Tim Merill and after Reverend Merill is Reverend Roy Jones let me put it on there good evening uh sister mcoles my late father Reverend Richard Merl my late sister Joy Merl who invested in you as a young woman uh are looking down from heaven rooting for you to do what is courageous and what is right and I trust that you'll do so uh Minister Muhammad uh I've always respected you and I account you as my brother and if you were my brother by birth and I I grew up with your brother Jesse Mustafa Walker from classmates from first grade up if you were my brother by birth I would give you the same counsel and ask you tonight to please step down uh we need healing in our community and and I hope you hear all of the pain and all hurt and anger that our community has suffered you can help us in healing this community that would be the best for us the best for you the best for this body and most of all the best for our children that need a spirit of healing to the your fellow board members no we realize that you do not have the illegal authority to remove Minister Muhammad from his uh office as a board member you do have areas where you can weigh in the first is that we need you we need the mayor of our city the city council the commissioner of Education the governor anyone with power to make the personal statement that we cannot have questions about the Integrity of those Who oversee the Education Health and Welfare of our children you all have the ability and I feel that the community is saying that you also have the responsibility to do so and I'm disappointed that until now none of you have done so but I have confidence in you that tonight tonight what Dr King say how long not long that tonight we can have the motion for you to ask Mr Muhammad to humbly step down as the president of this body that is only right right now right now President Lincoln in his final his address in 19 1862 to Congress said that history will not forget US History will not forget or forgive you said no your significance your insignificance has no status in how you will be remembered this is a historic moment that you have to stand up and say this would not happen in pensal in Cherry Hill and mfield in Chicago in Pittsburgh in karach and Johannesburg and Moscow and Beijing nowhere else but cden and it can't happen here and we won't have business on you thank you sir next speaker is Reverend Roy Jones Reverend Jones and after Reverend Jones the next speaker is anet Mills or miles excuse me Roy Jones Reverend Jones I'm one of the um folk in the room that can also say that I know Minister Muhammad and most of us know him and I'm going to speak to him personally first I would have never put this before my family to allow them to hear all of this this is something I would have never brought had my family have to experi so I want to tell you personally that it's very important that we as black men and I'm talking to you as a black man I'm talking to you as another minister of the Gospel you know the Old Testament I know the Old Testament and the word of God is clear amen for all us that might have issues about uh there may not be a resolution tonight or some other things the word of God says this threaten not because of evildoers nor envious against the workers of iniquity for they will be cut down like the grass and wither like the grass so I want to share with you a warning from the word of God yes we may not be able to remove you tonight but there's a high Authority that would judge us and judge all of us so I'm speaking to you as as a man a black man as another me Minister we have to set an example we have to be clear and to this board you should have the courage if you know anything about God if you heard anything about God you should have the courage to speak up when there's evil in our community when there's tragedy in our community when there's things out of order in our community you should have the courage to do that if not you also are comp a conspirator in this deal so I urge you I plead with you as a man a black man to for us to not set this example for our young black men or for our women or for the future of this community I get calls from all over the country your name is all over the news all over the country and we need to I'm asking you to just step down so that this issue can be put to rest and I want to share another piece of of a word with you and that is this we have a responsibility to protect our children to love our children and to keep them safe yes we will do remember that we will do the word of God says how you treat the least of these you treat me how you treat the least of these you treat me please thank you the next speaker is anet Miles and after antonet miles is Valerie [Applause] Baylor uh thank you uh board members for allowing me to speak this evening um my name is anet Miles I'm the state director for New Jersey Working Families we are an organization that is a coalition of unions advocacy groups and Community organizations across this state and we believe in equity Justice and accountability which is why I am here tonight I really wish that I was not here tonight I would rather be here in a meeting hearing about the tremendous work that our young people are doing hearing about the marching band which I got to see their practice earlier hearing about all the great things that our community is doing except we are here tonight where our community is pleading and hurting for this board this body to respond to its demands for Mr Muhammad to resign and so Mr Muhammad I don't know how you can leave this meeting here today and think that you have any other choice but to do what is right and to resign from your position and to the board members it seems that you continue to say that you have have all the power to do nothing and no power to do anything and that is a disgrace to this community and it's a disgrace to the office that you serve there are people here giving you the legal out he has missed three consecutive board meetings if I leave it to you to determine whether it for if it was for good C cause or not there are people who are telling you that you can remove him as board president at the minimum right and I don't want to say the statute cuz I can pull up the receipts myself but you can remove him as board president this evening and so I wish that you would and I urge you to act with the authority that these people in this audience and this community has invested in you because if you don't I believe that this community is activated and organized and will remove that Authority from you I want to be abundantly clear I want to be abundantly clear about some things nowhere in the state of New Jersey would this be happening nowhere in the United States would this be happening except for maybe our former president of the United States at the federal level to allow this conduct to be happening I think that we need to send a message to our children that those who are in seats of power when they are held liable when they have had charges against them brought forward that they will speak with conviction and integrity and remove themselves from office and remove themselves from positions of power otherwise what message are we sending to our children and so I urge you here today Mr Muhammad to please resign and board make the motion make the motion to suspend him as board president is that simple make the motion the motion [Applause] Valerie Baylor next speaker is Valerie Baylor and after Miss Baylor is roncha Dickerson all right good evening I am a parent I am a grandmom and I'm here on the behalf of Camden parent Union Student Union that's a position that I hold very very proudly because we represent the students of Camden City Public Schools as well as the parents when they don't have a voice we give them a voice so I stand here today to just say a few words humility responsibility it's missing I mean Mr Walker I don't know what title to give you right now I've heard them all but how do you sit there and listen to all of this we will gladly excuse you as you leave your seat to leave because that's what you should be doing you should be leaving the fact that this is something that's happening in our city in a city where it goes without saying our school systems are down here because we're losing all our public schools and that's seems to be overlooked because it's all about money okay it's all about money and there's a song for that and ain't a damn thing funny you know but it's just ridiculous that we are here there's a lot of residents here a lot of people that care about this city and to be nationally known for all of the bad things all of the foul things that come out of the city is not representing us we deserve and we demand better right please leave because we are fed up and fired [Applause] up rcha Dickerson and after uh Miss Dickerson is shab Muhammad motion motion good afternoon or good evening everyone roncha Dickerson yeah this is heavy so I think the questions that we have to ask to you all is that how much more do you think we can take think about it when we fought to get the school board to write the vote back y'all all said vote Yes we said vote no then y'all all got behind all the people that we were running against and gave them money for their campaigns to to run us out so so now we have no one on the school board who represents us let's go back to the beginning y'all were taking money from the Democratic committee and putting that money behind these campaigns and then y'all were running on the tickets with the mayor y'all were showing your power flexing on us and the community was struggling cuz we didn't have the money but we had the will we won that no vote 80 to 20 because we were trying to show y'all the community needed a voice on the Schoolboard but y'all don't want to talk about that when yall look at y'all running again all of y'all are entitled cuz we did the work y'all sting no seats cuz we did the work it was our names it was our names that was on the lawsuits we got the bullseyes on our back but y'all reap the benefits of sitting in the seats y'all reap the benefits so let's talk the truth now how much Morey you think we can take that's right I'm not going to address the situation at hand I'm going to talk about what get get ready to happen y'all get ready to sell our school district out and we know it y'all have to have somebody sitting at the head that's going to sign the check that's going to do the approval y'all gave the school district away Ren renon schools has vacuumed all of our children out of our schools and now y'all letting us sit here Feud them with different parents of different schools you're shutting down School saying that you're about to re remake those schools and we get this instead we get C in high school that's busting at the seams that's weeding the hallways that cannot even do things like this y'all they can't even make their own schedules now because the schedule had to go through someone who was just hire on a school district so now schedules are coming from these people not from our principles it is starting to be some kind of problem here candid has a problem and I'm not going to address not near one of y'all but I tell you one thing when your time come to speak you better not disrespect us cuz we're tired of that too every time we come up here to speak to y'all y'all come back at us like we wrong y'all got all of our numbers y' can call all of us and y'all never call us y'all never ask us one question y'all never talk to us and we're humans y'all put us in categories and put us to the side and say they and them but let me tell you something y'all not like us y'all not like us they not like us you're not like us they not like us thank [Applause] you shabri Muhammad and after shabri Muhammad is Dr Nicole Muhammad shabri Muhammad thank you good Afternoon brother Minister Wasim Muhammed The Advisory Board superintendent members of the public can you please please respect each individual speaker no one interrupted others when they were speaking please give other members of the public the same respect thank you good Afternoon brother Minister Wasim Muhammad The Advisory Board superintendent and Camden City school district my name is Sister shabri Muhammad I am a proud wife of brother Minister W Wasim Muhammad I am a proud graduate of Camden City Public Schools and I'm the director of the University of Islam number 20 the University of Islam is a private school Under the executive direction of brother Minister Wasim Muhammed particularly why he's here and I want to share some of the successes of the Camden City students that we're all here for before I do that I want to thank the district and its policies for keeping me a happy healthy and safe alumni most important certainly thank you for giving me the gift of being able to read and comprehend under the direction of brother Minister Wasim Muhammad and his leadership talents of 16 years our students have grown into you responsible law abiding Community citizens and they have participated in various areas that make us as a successful Community our students have been sent to Morgan State University with degrees in accounting fairly Dickinson Rowan University achieving busu University achieving degrees in culinary arts Community activist city government employees Virginia Union University technical apprentices Harrisburg University of Science and Technology I'll wait members of the public can you please stop interrupting other speakers thank you the young lady in the back could you please stop screaming and disrupting the meeting okay all right members of the board can we um entertain a motion to go into Clos executive session to discuss matters of personnel attorney client privilege personel and other matters exempt from public disclosure under the open public meetings act minutes will be taken and released to the public if and when the need for confidentiality no longer exists and action may be taken by the board when it reconvenes in public session members of the public the board will come back out and we will uh entertain another section of public comment please note that under the law all is required is the board to set aside a portion of the meeting for public comment that portion has been set aside the board has met its legal obligation due to members of the public consistently interrupting this meeting we are suspending public comment at this time thank you we're in close session actually can we get a [Music] motion motion by Mr Nelson second by Mr Hudson all in favor all in favor all right we're in close session thank [Applause] you this is so silly [Applause] [Music] here for for excuse me members of the public who are still assembled in attendance um it is now 6 or excuse me 7:31 p.m. uh August 27th uh the Board of Education we no longer have a quorum uh so legally this meeting cannot proceed so tonight's meeting is adjourned thank you we'll be back next time