##VIDEO ID:I8CTk19jRx4## board meeting I'd like to take this opportunity uh to welcome um we've had a transition with our school business administrator and now we have a new permanent School business administrator Miss hakha Taylor so she's serving as our SBA and our board secretary welcome uh to the Camden City school district Miss Taylor and I will turn it into your hands thank you good evening welcome to the Camden City School District Board of Education September 24th public Advisory board meeting the meeting is now called to order please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the Camden City School District board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published on January 9th 2024 and posted on the district website at www.cam cityschools.org published in the board's designated online media Outlet newspapers The Courier Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer filed with the Camden City Clerk and mail to all persons if any who have requested said notice please be advised that this meeting is being videotaped and may be broadcasted on local TV and the district's website at a future date I will now conduct roll call Janette Alvarez present Wanda Garcia present Cameron Hudson Daniel Jackson present Karen Merck vice president nanam D Nelson present and Maria Perez pres you have Quorum the Camden City School Board of educations Advisory Board presidency has been vacated due to a resignation the board organizes by electing one of its members as president and another one of its members as vice president officers Shall Serve for one year or until their respective successors are elected any member May place a member's name in nomination a second is not required but will be requested election for the office of President will be conducted by roll call vote when the nominations for that office are closed the candidate receiving the votes of a majority of the vote of the full membership of the board will be elected to office the term majority vote of the full membership of the board means a majority of all seats on the board not just the members present or currently filled the duties of the president are outlined in District policy 9121 the floor is now open for nominations for the office of the presidency a motion to nominate n de Nelson as president for school board thank you thank you are there other nominations for the office of presidency hearing none the nominations for the office of presidency are now closed I will now take a roll call vote um on n's um presidency Miss Alvarez yes thank you Miss Garcia yes Mr Hudson yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Merck yes vice president Nomi yes and Miss Perez yes congratulations congratulations to n d nson he is now the president we will now since that vice presidency is vacated we will now take nominations for the vice presidency V uh president would you like to um do the honors at this time I'd like to call for a motion to open the floor for uh nominations for vice president like to nominate uh Alvarez for vice president is there a [Music] second thank you are there other nominations for the office of vice presidency hearing none the off the nominations for the office of vice presidency are now closed I will now take a roll call vote um for Miss Janette Alvarez as the vice president Miss Alvarez yes Miss Garcia yes Mr Hudson yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Merck yes Mr Nelson president Nelson and Miss Perez yes congratul rations to Miss Alvarez you are now the vice president of the Advisory board for the Camy City School District at this time we will ask for a motion to go into closed session thank you Cameron and we will be discussing thank you for the second we will be discussing a attorney client privilege matters as well as contract negotiations I have a motion in a second on the floor all in favor any opposed any extensions perfect we will be in close session for approximately 30 minutes returning at around 6:15 closed and returned to public thank you Mr Hudson and Miss Garcia all in favor any opposed any abstentions we are now back in public we will now have the administration of the student oath of office so if if I could please have come to the podium um from east side romelo Mangum from Camden high school saai Hicks yes give it up you can meet at the podium I'll be there shortly from bpla Amaya Fussell from brim Damian irisari [Applause] and lastly from creative arts Harmony Bronson let's give it up for our student [Applause] reps how you guys doing if you could please raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name affirm that I will support the Constitution affirm that I will supp the Constitution and laws of the United States laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of New Jersey and theit and laws of the state of New jerse and will to the best of my judgment the best of my judgment skill and ability skill and ability truthfully Faithfully diligently truthfully Faithfully diligently and impartially perform and impartially perform the duties of the office the duties of the office of student board representative student board representative to the Camden City school district the canas city school district Advisory Board of Education Advisory Board ofed congratulations let's welcome the student reps I believe your seats are superintendent where their seats are yes your seats please feel free to take your seats oh thank you again let's give it up for romelo Mangum saai Hicks Amaya Fussell Damen irisari and Harmony Bronson thank you board secretary and we are so very proud and and happy and excited to be able to welcome our student board reps again so that they can share with us um the highlights and those things that we need to continuously approve improve upon to make sure that you have the best educ ation possible and so at this time um we will allow our student uh board reps by school beginning with Brim school on my far right with Mr Daman irisari to uh share anything that they would like to share at this time and you may hello good evening everyone um I'm a I'm Daman Rari I'm a senior at BM Medical Arts High School I first want to start off on saying that this year overall has been a improvement from last year uh I the security team is on it the administration across all four Schools they're on it as well um I will also say that Mo like the the E Period schedule is kind of like half and half some students like it but the students with the CTE programs at brim specifically they feel like missing six periods every Tuesdays Thursdays and Fridays is like a lot for them um so that's kind of one issue um another one would have to be well it was an improvement that we don't have the B College um collaboration with the AP class but I will kind of say that it's I guess unfortunate that the students had to be used as like I don't know like a a test that's how all students feel especially in that class because we all received a one in the AP test so it feels like now when I'm applying to colleges and I submit my test course I have to put additional information and say uh such and such things but I shouldn't have to do that and some students feel like the school system has failed them for that specific class um I also wants to say um thank you to miss um superintendent mcoles for being confident and sending out the letter that she did a couple weeks ago um because that was a lot of Courage um and I just want to say it publicly So yeah thank you thank you Damen hi good evening my name is harmony Bronson I am the student representative for Creative Arts High School I am also a senior um I would like to say that the changes this year though it's so early it seems to be improving um however for my school I don't know if it's for the same with the other schools but for my school the freshman sophomore and Junior classes they have their second period for Majors taken out so now they only have one period And I feel like with our test scores and like how high sorry I'm trying to figure out how to say this I feel like with our test scores yes we like you know some students need to study more like of course that's General but since we are a per Performing Arts School I feel like it is kind of unfair for the thing that we actually come to school for like besides learning like to also learn about our craft and our major we're being cut short not myig great but we're being the school is being cut short of their time to hone in on their craft and I just feel like that's really unfair to like all the freshman sophomore and juniors that are experiencing that um also the same thing with fundraising I know we can't really compete with the um the company that is providing a school lunch but it's it's really difficult to fundraise because we basically I know all the majors basically have to pay for everything themselves I'm in the choir um Mr Freddy and Miss farmer have to pay for a lot of things themselves us students have to come out of pockets the dance Majors paying for their own uniforms the band getting transportation and go places the strings with their instruments it's just a lot that we have to make up on our own and then especially with this being my senior year as well as many of the other Majors it's it's going to be so difficult with all of our senior dues and fundraising for our trips and competitions the things that we require for our Majors separately from our senior classes so I would just if there is any way that we can somehow figure out way to fundraise or like allow selling snacks or just little things that would be so helpful for us to raise money to provide for all of the majors to have to basically provide for themselves so thank [Music] you thank you Harmony hi my my name is Amaya fussel and I'm a sophomore at Camden big picture Learning Academy and for as for the changes in our school I would like to say that some of them are a little bit extreme but I feel like they are needed and they it is a little bit early like Harmony said but I feel like it is working and it is giving us um it is giving it's get getting us to a better place but um there are some things that I want to talk about for one funding for women of the dream now I am a member and it is my second to third gear in wom of the dream and the biggest part about women of the dream is the trips because that is what helps us get out into the real world and talk to people and it helps us on public speaking and just real life things that you have to do and I feel like without funding for that it will take away a big part of women of the dream and what it stands for my second um my second point I wanted to talk about is the schedule change because like she said I feel as though that a days and B days were a very were was a very good schedule for us I feel like it helped us be better in class it gave us more time to actually grasp what we were learning because for me I'm in all AP classes and I feel as though it is hard to learn everything that I need to learn in 45 minutes a days and B days um learn being in a class for an hour was is better especially for the um for the teacher to be able to help those kids that need a little bit more oneon-one time it gives them enough time to do that and in 45 minutes you can't get all of that done and um my last point that I wanted to talk about is Camden high um ID situation Camden high school they do not have IDs to my knowledge or at least most of the students don't and I don't understand why because without IDs you can't get into the bathroom and you need to go to the bathroom everybody has to go to the bathroom but um if there's an issue with um students themselves you guys have student rec you can see who's getting in trouble or being too long at the bathroom but there should be those kids cuz it's not everybody but there should be kids that should be allowed to have their student IDs um but uh one more point that I wanted to talk about is um AP classes and um getting making sure that they're at bpla because I know last year they weren't and I don't know if you guys have fixed that but I know that that some colleges you need to have AP classes to be able to even apply for the college so we need to be able to have that mpla so when I graduate I can go to the college that I want to thank Youk you thank you Amaya um good evening my name is Romo Mangum I'm a senior at Eau High School um well I think from a change that from going to a real high school to back to elementary school is it's like it's a big change um I I don't really see nothing bad about it but it's just like it just so cramped up um lunchroom and gym all in the same spot like um when we get in our lunches it's all crowd like it's it it's all too close together I think we need uh more space for that and yeah I just think the school is like really small for all those kids um and that's really it I just don't like how small the school is for Real thank you thank you thank you romelo thank [Music] [Applause] you hi hello my name is I Hicks from cam to high I'm in 11th grade so the good stuff I personally I actually agree with Maya about the schedule like I didn't really think about it like that at first because I was just thinking like lesser periods the quicker we go home which sounds bad hold on not like that but like when it's eight when it was eight periods I could really get into it because I knew we were going to be in there for a long time but cuz I I've always struggled with map so now that we have 45 minutes man like I'm really bad at map and like I real I'm realizing that now so you know it is half and half with the schedule but another thing is about how crowded it is in Camden high because we have I think 500 something students and there's not a lot of space at all like I'm trying we're all trying to walked our classes and we're all bumping into each other you can't even it's very crowded there's not even enough walking space you're always late to your classes because everybody's trying to rush to their classes or they're playing in the hallways lunchroom it would be better if we were a bit more organized in lunch I can admit that however it's still a lot of students for 49 minutes at lunch not to mention the fact that we always have last lunch I've been in cam high for 3 years now and since I've gone there we've always had the last lunch versus creative then bman bpla and then Camden high but Camden high students are a bit more obnoxious so I think we should get them out the way and you know let us have lunch a little bit earlier and then you know the other schools can have their calm lunches you know and what else we have a lot of vacancies actually and a lot of core subjects that we really need there's not enough there's not teachers we have Subs like um my first year Algebra 1 I had a sub the whole year it was vacancy whole year and they had us doing Ingenuity which in hindsight okay that's okay when I had to do geometry Mr ready um my geometry teacher he kept telling us like oh well if you had geometry then this would have helped you and well half of us didn't have geometry for the first year of high school and now we're in Algebra 2 and yeah so it's a lot worse now and our algebra teacher he's in for it because half of us don't even know Algebra 1 and and what else oh our schedules we have one guidance counselor and I understand the other schools also have one guidance counselor but we have way more students than every other school and she's doing her best I I'm sure however we can't get everyone's schedule changed because there's always another schedule to change you know one one person 500 something students I don't think that really makes sense wait that sounds bad but yeah you know and um I think that's it okay yeah have a good day thank [Applause] [Music] you thank you saai and thank you to all of our student board Reps for everything that um you have shared um we look forward to being able to continuously work with you and hear from you we took copious notes but before I respond I want to be able to open it up to the board um so I turn it to the board president just to see if the board members also have any questions you did an excellent job articulating your points they're very clear um some of the uh the statements that you shared we have um responses for we anticipated that but there are some areas that you brought up tonight that of course we have to go back because we want to give you an honest answer not just give you an answer just because we're in the public but you were absolutely outstanding please give our student board reps a round of applause for speaking their truth to all of us thank you for your courage I'll turn it over to the board president sure thank you Superintendent at this time I would like to open it up to any board members if you have any comments thank you board president um I would like to congratulate you all for stepping up to the plate you are all leaders you should be proud of yourselves for um you know being the voice of your schools um so just thank you um and I'm looking forward to um seeing you guys in the meetings um every month any other board members I just want to say welcome back to those of you who are coming back welcome to the ones who are new to the board I did take notes you guys will notice I'll take notes at every meeting um just to make sure I'm understanding you guys correctly so I'm going to start with Mr Arizer I'll probably go in the order that you guys spoke Mr Arizer so am I to understand that during the C process or CTE process right you guys were like the pilot like you said you kind of felt like the guinea pig so you guys were the first ones to go through it so you missed instruction every Tuesday Thursday and Friday for how long so I'm not in the CTE program all my friends are okay but they miss specifically for the pharmacy tech program for Tuesday Thursday Friday they missed the first six periods so like they still have their sixth period classes but they have to like remake that work right so I'm asking for how long now how long was the C classes so did they do like the the pharmacy tech class for 6 months did they miss every Tuesday Thursday and Friday you know what I mean how how long was the whole process that they missed all this instruction I would I don't know okay specifically but I think it's I think I believe it's for the remainder of the Year okay can can we research that for me just so we can get a a c answer on that um what else AP testing is there nothing and this is more towards the administration and the superintendent is there nothing that we can do for those students who all scored the one on their AP exam is that just it for them taking that AP exam or are we allowed to provide them the services and the support that they need to get them where they belong because I do feel like that is a disservice to them and that's something that they could not help so if we're not educating them in the areas that we need them to be educated we can't act like we don't we don't feel their angst or an xiety by scoring a one all the way across the board for all of them that I feel like that's a little bit insane so I'm not sure if everyone across the board received a one in their AP classes however yes I also received a one for my um my AP English sorry I also received a one for my AP um English class for The Bard program when I went on I checked and it was a one so I just also agree with Damian's point Thank you thank you thank you so much and so yes board member um Jackson we will take a look at what can be done I'm not sure so I don't want to give you an answer that's not correct but we can take a look at that to see if there is anything that can be done after the AP exams are taken to my knowledge there are not but I'll collaborate with our curriculum team just to see if there's anything else that can be done after the um tests have been taken thank you okay Miss Brunson all right so you're all right so I'm a creative arts of Love ni so I'm getting ready to dig all the way into the business because this is personal so you're saying and I'm going ask all you guys the same questions so you're saying freshman seniors and juniors have now gone from two periods of instruction of their major to now just one yes okay I wouldn't have survived Creative Arts with just one period of my major you know what I mean and there are students who come in and I'm this is for everybody there are students who come in with no training whatsoever but they have a passion and a heart for what they want to do so that that definitely we need to take a look at that because that doesn't make sense again I would not have survived four years with one period of my major it's it's kind of impossible you know you go you have to get ready for auditions you have to learn the the the translations and the the the language to what it is that you're trying to do how can I go and take a music class for half half the time that I need and now I get in this audition and I can't do scales I can't do any of that because I'm lacking that knowledge so that is something I would like to take a look at as well thank you so much and especially um I know for my major personally for the because you're supposed to start learning AP Theory um I I don't remember if it's in sophomore year or in um junior year but sorry you're supposed to start learning theory and then you go to AP Theory and it's so difficult to like take a transition from that when you barely know vocal as it is so to learn theory and then jump straight to AP Theory and for the string majors and for the instrumental Majors as well dancers might not know all of their choreography creative writing fashion like it's so much that you are missing out of especially because our periods are now only 45 minutes the fact that they are no longer getting two periods it's like it's it's not fair to them okay and then can we find out if this is a policy or if this is just a new rule like is this is this set in stone across the for the school entirely or is this something that we can absolutely take a look at since it's only September no I'm just saying can we can we research that absolutely and I can give some more details about why we went in that direction gotcha thank you Miss Fussell okay let me see funding for women of the dream so what I hear you saying is it is instrumental in your instruction it's something that you absolutely feel is a need yes um and so in what ways do you guys maybe need some funding assistance is it just for like you said for trips do you guys need supplies what is it that you need um there is one more point that I did miss that I do need to talk about before I answer your question yes ma'am he reminded me about BM and bpla lunch we have we are two schools that is a one a 9th to 12th grade times two in one build in one room that's not as big as this and that is a lot and I also feel like lunch is a free period And I understand that they're trying to keep everything on loock but I feel as though there should be something set up so that way not all of those kids are in that room because we can't all be in that room some people don't have seats because there's not enough space for all of us so I feel like there should be just something in place where okay if you don't want to stay in the lunch room you can go here and do this activity or do something else because not everybody can stay in that one room thank you Miss fle so we want other alternatives to lunch so that you guys are not all cramped in there two schools at one lunch and then we also want better alternatives to what you can be doing if you can't fit in the lunchroom right yes okay I got your notes thank you Mr romelo all right so I don't have any questions for you but what I can say is this it is a process I will say Kim Den High had to go through that same process of being squished in over a hatch it is uncomfortable but what I can say is take everything you can learn from this situation and our most uncomfortable moments is where we experience the most growth so look for the Silver Lining and what it is that you can kind of do to keep it pushing or to boost the morale of your fellow students um you know hey guys it's only temporary hey y'all we don't have that much longer to go you know what I mean and then also I guess if we can look for some other alternatives for you guys to maybe do outside of the school or are we utilizing you know the the black top are we utilizing everything or all of the spaces so we can kind of look at that see if maybe some parks are available to be able to walk to or anything like that but we can definitely look into some other alternative so you guys don't feel as cramped for such a long period of time but definitely look for the Silver Lining definitely know that you're not going M okay I would like to [Laughter] ask Miss Hicks I'm almost finished I promise let me let me finish my last one and then you can jump in I swear um so you're saying the schedule changes um you guys are feeling a little bit overcrowded and that's just making you kind of late to classes yes um I do agree with you on the lunch thing if you are three years here now and you have had lunch last for three years I don't think that that is fair I do believe that lunches should alternate um if we're going to have all of these schools or four schools on a campus it has to be fair across the campus and campus wide so I think that maybe we can kind of look into that I'm not sure if we can change that effective however soon but I do think that we should be able to alternate lunches I you see you got something else to say go ahead um yes so another thing sorry I forgot don't apologize um we didn't have a classroom for English well we didn't have a classroom for English or Spanish so bpla was kind enough to give us a classroom on their side and at first it was Spanish but then they switched it over and gave Mr pescatelli our English teacher that room however about that um bpla is a little unwelcoming so to say because they don't have a guard posted outside the bathroom and when we first went there there was a guard standing in that hallway route which okay cool now that we're you know settled in and they officially gave Camden high that classroom 2 use they removed the guard from that hallway so for the 45 minutes that we are are in that period we cannot use the bathroom because our English teacher he can't keep stopping his lesson to run back and forth to open the doors for students who have to use the bathroom and there's no guard posted outside to open the bathroom for us and about another thing about bpla is instead of having us go through the main entrance right here they have us go all the way around to the back of our school up the staircase down the staircase and down another staircase just to get to our classroom and we're always 5 to 6 minutes late to get to English and I just think that's very ridiculous because we could get there really fast if we just took the main entrance but they don't want us to walk around in their hallways because they don't want us to quote unquote disturb their classes however I just think that's really I just I don't I don't like that because last year even this year when when bpla has lunch before us and we're in classes they're running around in our hallways and our teachers aren't really doing anything about that so it's a problem on both sides because I do think our teachers should be a bit more strict about them running around when we're supposed to be learning however they're very strict and unwelcoming about us being on their side like we want to be over there and it's just a matter of us not having enough classrooms and they're and now there's not even we can't even go to the bathroom for the 45 minutes our our teacher actually told us he told us that we might not even be able to go to the bathroom because he can't keep stopping the lessons and we might just have to hold it however when you get to lunch sometimes there's not even a guard posted outside or at least when we have lunch because they're all in the cafeteria with us so you have to go looking around for the bathroom or if you're lucky enough Mr pescatelli will stop his lesson if we're all reading and he'll open the bathroom for us but I just think that's very ridiculous I think they should have a guard posted outside like there was the first couple of times we went there before they moved the guard you know okay thank you thank you Miss Hicks and I took notes so we'll get back to you on some updates for all of that that's it for me you guys thank you thank you board member Jackson first of all I like everyone else what an excellent job how lucky the schools are to have you represented but my question is for eai of course um I just it's not even a question I just want to let you know that what a brave young man you are to be here because I know that the struggles that are happening with you guys are so real but I want you to know that nothing that is done goes un unnoticed I know that you're struggling now but think about the future of ESA think about what an example you guys as seniors are setting for the other students that are still there I just hope that once you do graduate that you come back and hold their hands and carry them through the struggles that you guys are going to encounter this years so thank you thank you and thank you thank you any board other board members I just want to say congratulations to all of you great job keep up the good work and thank you for expressing all your concerns thank you thank you and keep up the good work [Applause] congratulations I want to tell you guys um welcome back and congratulations for the ones that's here for the first time um I'm just looking forward to helping you guys with your concerns and issues and um I just want to start working with you anything you might need or whatever we're here for you we heard everything you said you heard what we said and we're ready to like step up to the plate and assist you guys and thanks for coming back thank you uh I Echo everyone else's sentiments you know welcoming you and uh welcome back and welcome to the you know those of you who are new um I think Civic engagement is very important in understanding you know these different systems and how they work especially in a um uh City where you know uh voter turnout isn't great um so you know these are opportunities for you to educate yourself and exercise your leadership and grow into these roles and set examples for uh your peers and just be that voice for them um you know especially those who don't feel comfortable uh speaking up for themselves so I always admire your strength your courage enage um your um you know your voice so you know any any way that you know we can be helpful you know we're here thank you thank you board members um again thank you all our student reps please continue to speak up and speak out and uh we appreciate you thanks I'm turning back over to superintendent absolutely thank you and thank you to our board members for the questions that were asked and whatever we don't have an answer for tonight we'll make sure that we get those answers out so that everyone is aware of where we are um one of the big themes that came up and I want to respond to you before some of you may have to leave um to make sure that you hear uh the responses one of the big themes that came up across several of the schools had to do with schedules um and and scheduling at the campus we're in such an a unique place right the vision for this campus was there for there to be um four separate kind of learning community spaces um with with the national teacher shortage and with trying to make sure that we minimize the number of substitutes that you do have even though some of you still have subs and some I know I can't see past you I'm going to stand up so I can see your eyes um some of no it's okay you don't have to lean over I'll stand up some of you still have subs and that is something that our division of talent and Labor Relations has worked diligently on um and Al has also increase the substitute rate to make sure that we as a district are more attractive to people who want to come and substitute um so we know we're working against a national teacher shortage and other other pieces that's not an excuse what we've been able to do by making sure that the master schedule at the Camen High campus is uniform is and there are implications and we're going to work through them um but is to make sure that um the schedules are done in such a way that teachers can be shared across schools if necessary um so that has helped us to minimize the number of substitutes that you have but it has not eradicated it for the whole so we know that the tension here is that we have to figure out how to make sure that each and every school still maintains its own identity um and is able to still move forward in the way that they have on this campus just speaking about this campus for now and then I'll go to East Side um and doing so in such a way that we're minimizing the number of Subs that we have so we will continue to go back to the drawing board to figure out how we do this in a way that is not going to um we don't want to take away from um your experience as students and what you're exposed to we also don't want you to have so many substitutes and we're dealing with a national teacher shortage so what I want to say is that uh just want to give a few quick pieces of factual information and then we can go back and continue to work through to make sure that everyone um is aware of what's been happening so why did we transition to a straight eight schedule um so last year there were many concerns and many um complaints and some of them came from um not only students but just in general that the periods were too long and and students um were not um feeling engaged for the whole time um in their uh classes that's one reason but the real reason as I said before has to do with just wanting to make sure that we maximize the number of uh teachers in front of students and imize the number of Subs so during the Spring there were multiple meetings with the campus principes here at the Camden high campus and District administration to discuss scheduling for the 2024 2025 school year at that time there was agreement amongst the entire leadership team that collectively the campus would move to a straight8 scheduling model which means students have 45 minute classes that meet every day with no alternating days some factors that were considered included student achievement results chronic absenteeism the ability to share teachers as I said across the four schools if and when needed which has helped to ensure that some schools do not have substitutes and vacant positions the ability to schedule all three lunches without anyone having a split and students personal feelings that block courses were too long so that was something that was shared as I I I shared before a deeper analysis included a calculation of instructional minutes and it was determined that the modified block schedule would actually yield 1,080 fewer minutes per year so during the ab schedule actually yielded less time less instructional time by 1,08 fewer minutes per year this happens and I'm I'm open-minded I'm not I'm not closed this happens because when the block schedule when um this happens because with the block schedule there are some weeks that classes meet twice and other weeks where classes meet three times while as a district we are vigilantly fighting chronic absenteeism and we have made some strides but our numbers are still too high it is still a battle and with block scheduling if a student is absent two days they could go a full week without going to all of their classes offered on those days a traditional schedule affords all students with the opportunity to more easily recover when they are absent with chronically or simply absent for limited understandable reasons the last factor is that when classes run daily there are simply more opportunities for students and staff to build strong relationships through daily interactions so for Creative Arts especially I do want to highlight that students major creative arts courses are still blocked also nth grade students whose eighth grade scores were below grade level proficiency also have two sections of math and two sections of ela and sometimes these supplemental courses are blocked backto back which yields 90 minutes lastly the creative arts master schedule currently has 13 AP courses which is excellent however as we are now past the first 10 days of school we will review these courses for efficiency and some will be closed with very few or no students so we want to make sure we're maximizing the opportunity for our students to have AP um courses with regard to um Amaya the concern about AP courses at bpla The Advisory period which is um a big part of the bpla model creates some limitations and there were three AP courses on the master schedule for this year but we will revisit perhaps there are more opportunities for taking courses across the campus like we have done with the Camden with Camden high and places where there are vacancies so again it's difficult when operating a campus like this we try to individualize student needs but we also have to consider the complexity of cohabitation of being in this space together all this to say that we're going to go back and look at it but I do want to make sure that it's clear that decisions were not made in isolation they were not made in a silo um and we rely on our leaders um to be able to work with the um central office leads in order to make these decisions but we will um as was asked by several board members go back and take a look at what can be done um with it while not um totally upending the master schedule which would not be beneficial um at this point so we're going to take a look at that and this is a work in progress continue to hear your concerns and continue to um figure out what we can do to ensure that everyone is getting um what they need uh and so I won't go into detail on a lot of the others but I do want to make sure um that you know for Camden high school I just want to make sure it's shared with regard to ID badges um ID badges are scheduled to be completed by this Thursday the machine overheated I am being told uh next year we are already planning to move move Camen High lunch earlier but unfortunately we can't change it this year because it would completely upend the whole master schedule I am I am sorry personally if you feel unwelcomed when you go to any part of this building I think that was a camon high students and I who was talking about going to bpla and feeling unwelcome that is not acceptable ever because on this campus we all strive to should be striving to make sure that every student feels like they're part of this entire campus and so we will do some more work um with having conversations with those adults who set the tone for our buildings to make sure that no child regardless of where you are in this building feels like you're getting in the way of another school um so thank you for sharing that and we will definitely take a look into that as well bpla does offer an alternative setting to eat lunch all students do technically fit in the lunchroom we are not at capacity but some students um prefer to stand and that's okay so we will continue to monitor that but as we have been walking through it's um it seems that that space is okay we may need to just modify a little bit more um when it comes to AP classes Camden big picture Learning Academy is offering AP pre-calculus this school year um while we're hoping to offer additional AP English courses this year teachers were unable to complete um apsi training over the summer um due to some personal reason so we will be opening up more opportunities there and so there are some more um pieces again that we will continue to touch I won't be redundant and repetitive but I like to do what I can to make sure you um know what what that what you say matters fundraising that was another big piece and then I'll close it out with regard to fundraising um this is a a topic that we've Revisited um on several occasions with our school nutrition team so we will take it back again to see what we can do in order to support you um I know that through my discretionary fund and other um donors we try to make sure we can offset the cost of class strips uh we sent students to Puerto Rico last year and the string spring uh the String Band and we we continuously get donors but we will also work with our team to see what we can do if we can do anything about fundraising because I know this is something that comes up each year and there are some restrictions so I'm going to um stop right there but I want to thank you this is not the end of the conversation it's the beginning thank you for our East Side representative thank you thank you thank you for what you have shared um and as board member Jackson shared hang in there but we are going to be walking through tomorrow again so I hope to see you when we're walking through and then we can have a further conversation um about some of your concerns as well let's give our board reps a round of applause they gave us a lot to talk about and that is absolutely what this process is about um and so thank you so much uh uh if we spend all our time talking and listening to our students I am absolutely fine with that thank you at this time we will transition into the superintendent's report so I'll ask our board members um to transition to the audience um so that we can hear the report thank you upfront and in advance um that the superintendent's report while I try to tailor it it will be a little bit long tonight because um there are some carryovers some statutory requirements that we have to share in public that were not able to be shared last month uh and so I apologize in advance but we do have to make sure that we are in full compliance with what the New Jersey State Department of Education requires but we are excited about this month um this is National Hispanic Heritage Month and so good evening everyone happy Hispanic Heritage Month and Welcome to our September board meeting as I shared before we are very excited to celebrate the start of Hispanic Heritage Month which is celebrated from September 15th through October 15th this is a time to honor and to recognize the rich culture the contributions and the achievements of our Hispanic staff students and families throughout this month we have planned a series of events activities and educational programs that will not only showcase the incredible achievements of Hispanic Americans but also provide an opportunity for our entire camon city school district family to learn and grow together so I do look forward to sharing with you all the things that have happened in the school district since our last meeting and to bring you bring you highlights as we prepare to welcome um our student as we have already welcomed our students back to the 2425 school year here and before we move further um one of the things that we were not able to do last month is to uh have a moment of silence um there are four individuals from our Camden City school district family who uh have transitioned and they were beloved they are Mr Edward King Miss Linda Carter Mr Alfred Bentley and one of our students Mr Jamal Stewart let's have a moment of silence and then I'll just give a brief highlight of each of these beautiful individuals thank you Mr Edward King has been had been with the district since September 1st 2000 for 20 years he served as a mechanic electrician and he served the District well Miss Linda Carter her tenure with the district began September 1st 2000 nearly 24 years she served in many capacities and her last assignment was as a manager of school safety and she served the students families and the district with honor Mr Alfred Bentley's tenure with the district began January 1st 2006 8 and A2 years as a custodian C and his entire tenure was spent serving the Veterans Memorial School family where he served his district and the staff well and last but not least Mr Jamal Stewart was one of our students who attended an outof District placement at Lark school but was still a CCSD student and he transitioned um and so we honor their leg Legacy and we honor their lives and we will miss them very deeply as we shift gears and move into uh the remainder of the agenda as with all board meetings tonight we're going to focus on some key topics to highlight during this meeting and you can see them listed on the slide it's okay to be different car show check presentation the Invincible Heroes will be presenting a check in the amount of 7 $7,000 from there it's okay to be different car show held in April These funds are to be designated for use at the Martha F Wilson Early Childhood Development Center to support autism classes at this time I would like to call Miss Elizabeth Martinez to the podium from it's okay to be different car show be care you can come this way be very careful okay there you go take your time thank you yeah good evening [Music] everyone thank you all for your time the Invincible heroes are excited to be here again for the second year in a row seeing the fruits of our labor last year we com we communicated how our enormous car community in one who longs to rebuild its name and I am proud to prove that that is exactly what is happening our organization made a goal last year with the it's okay to be different Cara to help autism schools and classrooms in the kemen school district as you may remember many of um our members struggle with this disorder in our personal lives and with the autism autism diagnosis rate getting higher every year this is the best way we know how to give back to our community the second annual annual it's a g to be different car show was hosted on Sunday April 7 2024 at the Silver Diner the car show included all year makes and models of cars trophies music face painting Raffles t-shirt and even um game bus provided by some of our sponsors the Invincible Heroes put a lot of time into recruiting sponsors making raffle items purchasing trophies and Essentials coordinating the entire event so that it could be enjoyable familyfriendly event this is something that our car Community is Happy willing and ready to do to give back to our community and we intended to continue that it's okay to be different car show for the third year this coming April we encourage you all to come and enjoy this event with us soon last year proceeds in the amount of $11,000 were chosen to be distributed to Forest Hill Elementary School to contribute to their fight with autism I am proud to announce that this year proes will be distributed to the Martha F Wilson Early Sho Development Center in the amount of $7,200 on behalf of the invisible Heroes car community and all of our General sponsors we want to thank we want to thank you for all the hard work and dedication you put into our children and helping these tiny superheroes overcome autism thank you thank you so much thank you so much can we get a picture together over here can come right yeah you can feel free to come over all right thank you principal Ford for coming on down thank you so much so you can be in this picture and also I know you're excited to receive this check for your school Community let's give a round of applause to um principal rakia [Applause] [Music] Ford a [Music] Greatful thank you thank [Music] you again as I said to them we are definitely grateful um and this is not just the first year that they've done it so we appreciate their commitment to the children of the Camden City school district um we're going to move into uh the next por um of our presentation and in order for our students to thrive academically and socially and emotionally from grades prek to 12 we must ensure they feel safe and fully included in their learning environment as a school district we are required to report to the public twice a year on our student safety data system or ssds our last Midway report was shared in January and this evening I will report on the second half of last school year next slide all public schools in New Jersey as well as all approved private schools for students with disabilities must report annually the student safety data system we must certify that all CCSD schools in the district have reported at the end of each reporting period And as I shared before the data we are sharing tonight uh covers reporting reporting period two that covers January 1st through June 14th 2024 these reports were combined and submitted to the New Jersey Department of Education Home Room reporting system this summer next slide incidents are reported publicly by the New Jersey Department of Education in the following five categories violence vandalism substance offenses weapons offenses and confirmed HIV harassment intimidation and bullying next slide this slide shows the total District count for this reporting period and that total count was 53 this slide shows the data by school and category the blue bar represents the total number of incidents the red portion shows incidents that were reported as violence the gold captures vandalism the green shows substance offenses the burnt orange represents weapons the light blue highlights other incidents and again this will be posted on our website so that if you want to dive deeper into it you will be able to see it it will be public on our site next slide and I know this is kind of tiny here but for the 2023 24 school year the district had a total of 117 incidents incidents include violence vandalism substances weapons and other incidents next slide this slide reflects harassment intimidation and bullying during this reporting period there were 49 districtwide HIV investigations this chart shows the breakdown of the percentage by school and you will only see those schools of course that had uh reports next slide for the January through June reporting period 18% of the Hib investigations were founded as harassment intimidation or bullying next slide of the 49 HIV investigations nine were founded the following charts will provide an overview of the details by School per month and this is a part of the required report reporting next slide while it is small this monthly information has been presented at each board meeting it captures the school the results of the investigation and who conducted the investigation next slide this data from March and April this is the data from March and April where there were 14 total investigations two of which were founded and 12 were unfounded next slide here is the data for May there were six investigations two were founded four were unfounded next slide and this is a data for June nine investigations one founded five unfounded three active investigations the next slide will summarize our totals for the year so there were a total of on the next yes on this slide there were a total of 72 Hib investigations during the 2324 school year of the 72 investigations 11 cases were found to meet the criteria of Hib so of course just as important as capturing the incidents is determining how to get in front of them to help our students and to be proactive and Vigilant annually all staff members must complete Global compliance Network training for district level administrators District level anti-bullying coordinator School level administrators School anti-bullying Specialists and teachers our training is focused in the following areas anti-bullying Bill of Rights Act characteristics or needs of individuals or groups at risk for HIV including those who bully victims of HIV and bystanders conflict resolution cyber bullying HIV consequences Hib intervention HIV preventions parent involvement in HIV cases peer relationships or peer social norms School climate and culture Improvement social norms social skills relationship Improvement and critically and suicide critically and suicide prevention next slide and again these are some of the interventions and the programs that are being put in place so in addition to training which I detailed on the last slide we want to highlight some additional programs I won't read the list to you again they will be posted on our website establishing Norms building relationships the implementation of mtss which is our multi-tiered systems of supports or the New Jersey TSS in all schools the utilization of Comming rooms and spaces mentoring pbsis in-house suspension with restorative practices dedication to seal the initiation of the HERO program Summer Bridge oportunities and Community Partnerships such as the one we have and Amaya let us know the importance of this one with the women of the dream and parent University next slide and addition in addition to the ssds data that has just been shared we are also mandated to share the New Jersey graduate proficiency assessment results based on our spring Administration from last year so our next area of business again is to present the results of the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment from the spring this slide is the overview from the New Jersey Department of Education to summarize the New Jersey gppa is a required graduation assessment this assessment is given first to all 11th grade students and if students do not meet the cut score we administer it again to them in the 12th grade if a grade 12 student missed taking the New Jersey gppa they must take it before moving to any other pathway towards graduation next SL Slide the scale scores for NJ gppa range from 650 to 850 with a scale score of 725 as the graduation ready scale score next slide this slide captures I'm sorry this slide compares the percentage of District graduation ready students by way of the New Jersey gppa with the state average additionally this slide includes the percentage of students graduation ready in 2023 in 20124 34% of our tested students met the minimum score of 725 in ela and 88.8% met the minimum scale score in mathematics next slide this slide captures the increase in the number of students who took the New Jersey Gap as you can see in 2023 we had 106 students take the NJ gppa and in the spring of 2024 619 students took the ELA assessment and 640 took the math assessment also you will see the number of students who met the graduation ready requirement doubled in both subject areas in math the number of students increased from 23 to 53 and in ela the number of students doubled in their display of graduation ready requirements from 106 students to 212 students in ela next slide this slide displays the number of students who completed the assessment in each high school as well as compares the average scale score in those schools to the district average scale score next slide this slide compares the average scale score and mathematics to the district average scaled score next slide this slide displays how different subgroups within the district scored as compared with the state and District average in ela next slide and the subgroup level comparisons in mathematics is captured on this slide next slide notable achievements our notable achievements for last Springs New Jersey gppa Administration are one we increased our participation by more than 140% and that is to be commended our school leaders um our central office team work together to make sure students were tracked as well as excuse me our attendance team to make sure students were in school so every um when we have chronic absenteeism and treny it impacts everything we do as students are starting to come uh to school more and as our chronic absenteeism rates drop we will continue to see a rise in the number of students taking assessments so that we can get a true um assessment of where they are to drive our instruction also the number of students in both subject areas doubled and we offered the assessment in July to for the first time to to Rising seniors who did not meet the graduation ready score to give them that other opportunity and many of our students took advantage of that and the next slide so what now what we know what the scores um showed in that one New Jersey uh gppa uh assessment these are the intervention strategies for all that will be utilized and the bullets on this slide share some just some of our intervention strategies as a district so we will utilize the NJ gppa evidence statements for pacing curriculum developments and District unit assessments we will offer monthly professional development centered on differentiation and we will expand enrollment in our after school programs next slide intervention strategies for English the next two slides which again I won't read pulls out our interventions in ela such as creating Readiness class and use of supplemental resources like news Ela and listen wise um in addition to the other strategies utilized in English that we've already begun for math we have similar strategies where teachers will Target common assessments to monitor student progress we will continue to move in the direction of fewer students needing the portfolio process to meet graduation requirements and now we will go into uh a few other updates from our uh from for this month's board meeting and so Eastside High School our student R from Eastside talked about um his experience right now at the Kramer uh location so we want to just provide some images of what's happening at Kramer as we continuously work with the staff and and principles and and students to make sure that their experience is a great one the first day of school at e Side High at Kramer was a huge success as you can see from the slides our students are engaged if you take a look at the picture of there's a young man who's playing his saxophone um you can see how he is playing music for his peers as they wait for their rise after school um and also in that picture you can see that the um outdoor picnic tables and they have umbrellas up to but they weren't captured in this Slide the tables are black The Umbrellas are orange they look very nice students are able to eat outside um so that's another space that we're able to um allow our students to kind of uh get out of that small space that our student board Rett was talking about in the multi-purpose room um which will change once our modular units come in um so this is just a temporary um inconvenience for them next Slide the Eastside High physical education courses so turning our attention to this slide here's a highlevel overview of our current physical education courses at Eastside we have partnered with both the Croc center and the city's North camon Community Center to provide physical education classes to our Eastside High students while we install the kitchen module units which will free up gym space in their building currently on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays we utilize The Croc center space and on Tuesdays and Thursdays we utilize the North Camden Community Center I'm happy to report that after speaking with both of our partners the city as well as the Croc center they are very pleased with how smoothly our transitions have been and that's a thanks to our staff members our students uh they have just been enjoying these um other spaces until they get their new space and it has been um an improvement in many instances for them both staff and students arrive and complete their physical education classes as planned and our own District buses shuttle uh our students and staff back and forth uh from to and from these locations next slide East Side High School construction project timeline here is a very highlevel overview of the Eastside High timeline again this will be um posted on our website so that you can see it but I want to just highlight that by the fall uh during the fall of this year I'm sorry we will see our modular units for our instructional spaces begin to be installed we are just waiting on PS they are they've already been out they're they have their plans but they just have to um put the electrical in infrastructure in and so this fall we will see um some of that TR transitioning over into some of the other spaces um again just a reminder the new Eastside High School substantial completion is scheduled to be um during the summer of 2029 uh and so just want to continue to remind us of of where we've been where we are and where we are going next slide just a few highlights in our teaching and learning um section of the board meeting of our board presentation tonight it came up with our student board reps as again I want to say with regard to our AP uh college board advanced placement programming and so following the announcement of the AP expansion Grant in June the district hosted its first AP student summer workshop for students enrolled in AP courses this year 10 students participated in the two-e program which focused on building skills like document analysis Socratic seminars and test taking strategies to prepare them for the demands of AP classes by the end students reported feeling more confident and better prepared for the upcoming school year with many expressing interest in future Workshops the grant also enable the district to expand AP course offerings and provide AP teachers with professional development through college board's AP summer Institute this summer 16 advanced placement teachers receive training for new or existing courses for the 20 2425 school year the district now offers a total of 27 advanced placement courses across its five high schools including eight new courses the lineup includes eight advanced placement English courses six advanced placement history courses six advanced placement math courses three advanced placement science courses two AP World Language and two AP Arts courses with over 170o students enrolled and we want to continue to push equity in that area as we expand the number of courses as well as the number of students who are able to be exposed to high level and high quality instruction in those areas um so we can combat what we heard our students saying um before um and feeling uh a lack of preparedness next slide New Jersey gppa updates um again just another announcement CCSD Project Graduation a quick reminder an announcement attention to the class of 2025 all 12th grade students must take the NJ gppa to fulfill the graduation assessment requirement seniors who have not taken who have not yet completed one or more components of the NJ gppa and are expected to graduate with a class of 2025 must take the necessary components during this fall 2024 Administration which will be October 7th through October 18th attendance is mandatory for all seniors who still need to meet their graduation requirements next Slide the preliminary sat and National Merit Scholarship qualifying test also known as the PS nmsqt season is upon us as always we will be participating in the PSAT for grades 9 10 and 11 the PSAT is an assessment that acts as a baseline for college readiness that allows our district to check in on our students academic progress the test will be administered starting on Monday October 28th and conclude on Thursday October 31st how is the preat time this is a question that we have received our ninth graders will be taking the PSAT 89 the test is broken down into 55 minutes for reading 30 minutes for writing and language arts and 60 Minutes for math our students will see about 42 questions of for t or tasks or for reading 40 for writing and language arts and 38 for math our 10th and 11th graders will be taking the PSAT msqt the test is broken down into to 60 minutes which is allotted for reading 35 minutes for writing and language arts and 70 minutes for math our students will see about 47 questions or tasks in Reading 44 in writing and language and 48 in math and please parents um how can you uh help our students prepare make sure our school leadership team um will send out a list of topics that will be covered on the PSAT please make sure that you have a conversation with your child and read over those topics that will be covered in addition to this list each school will also send home test taking strategies in Spanish and in English with a sample test kit that your child can use to help them prepare for the PSAT the night before the test parents make sure of course we say it over and over but make sure that your child gets a good night sleep free from distractions all students are expected to be in school on test day please schedule any appointments after school so that your child is present for testing and students should arrive early on test day to get breakfast and to settle down before testing begins any questions or concerns that our families may have about testing or our students please reach out to our family operations coordinators in each building or our school guidance counselors next slide so what is Rise Academy after re-evaluating both of our alternative education programs we have decided to combine sore Academy and Pride Academy into one program to ensure that no preference is given to either program and there's Equity across we have named the new program Rise Academy this combination not only aligns with our commitment to help students overcome obstacles but it also allows us to be more efficient with staff placements Rise Academy Fosters resilience in creativity and a lifelong love of learning ensuring that each student is prepared to make meaningful contributions to their community and to the world we are excited to have launched this program and as seen in the pictures our students feel a true sense of belonging I believe some of the videos capturing our students experiences have also been posted on our social media Pages as well so it's good to hear from students what their experience is and we are almost there next slide professional development plan as we continue to focus on the improvements of teaching and learning tomorrow the district will submit our 2024 2025 District level professional development plan each plan will be shared with each school's Improvement panel and incorporates School level PD plans our main priorities for this year include building the capacity of teachers and administrators to meet all state required training requirements aligning instruction and assessments with the New Jersey SLS providing quality inclusive instruction with a focus on Equity tolerance and diversity supporting the needs of multilingual Learners providing differentiated instruction and providing differentiating differentiated PD opportunities we will continue to monitor both district and school funds as well as title funds to sure our staff have continuous learning opportunities next slide and there are just a couple of updates from our division and talent division of talent and Labor Relations program that are import that it's important to share with you this evening CCSD mentoring plan as we welcome students back we have also welcomed new staff members each year we submit a statement of assurance in New Jersey home room that captures our agreement and commitment to new teachers as they gain their standard certification our vision with new staff is to support them professionally academically socially and emotionally we held our new teacher orientation for two days in August and we will have ongoing sessions with new teachers at the district level and of course new staff have daily support in their individual school buildings from their mentors and their colleagues next slide this provides again each board meeting we we share a vacancy snapshot thus far 20 teachers along with 16 power professionals have started for the 20 for the school year 20242 and DTLR is currently working to continue filling teacher vacancies the team will be attending a number of hiring events including ruter Newark and stock Stockton University fairs we will also be hosting a virtual event to identify additional candidates for openings and assist with expedited onboarding the team will be holding interviews throughout September and October in an effort of filling additional vacancies next slide uh and these are we're ending on a few uh District highlights on a August 28th I was joined by mayor car staren Advisory board members and the entire Hamden strong team and preparation for the first day of school community members came together to clean up the area surrounding the temporary home of Eastside High and a big thank you goes out to everyone involved as you can see our students were in were uh very much excited to be able to be a part of this endeavor and we just had an overall good time so we're grateful to the city to all the volunteers from the many different corporations who came just to give a helping hand and it was wonderful to see our neighbors who were also glad to see the extra tender loving care that was placed in their neighborhood next slide and on August 28th of 29th we hosted our 2024 back to school kickoff and it was truly a day of community with over 50 community Resource Partners our 450 Camden School nutrition farmers market participants and more than 800 families showed up to participate the event was a huge success and we are incredibly grateful to all of our partners who helped make this day so special and indeed it was next slide these are just some highlights some photos from the first days of school um we see our beautiful students faces as they came back together and just were so grateful to be back in school and it's been a very um successful and smooth start of the school year this next highlight I want to um take a moment to share because as we talk about the national teacher shortage and the vacancies and we heard our students talk about the impact of having substitutes in their classrooms our district and our uh DTLR team under leadership of our chief Talent officer Miss Teresa Reese working with the state and uh the New Jersey Department of Education Dr Anthony Wright who was also here and Rowan University really came together to see what we can do about this so on September 16th the Camden City school district district and Rowan University proudly announced the launch of the inaugural inaugural teach Camden program designed specifically for par professionals aspiring to become certified teachers this Innovative initiative aims to support and Advance the careers of dedicated par professionals within the Camden Community the teach Camden program offers a unique pathway for par professionals to gain the necessary skills credentials and support to transition into teaching roles by leveraging the expertise of both expertise of both Camden City school district and Rowan University the program provides a comprehensive educational experience including Hands-On training mentoring and coursework tailored to the needs of future Educators we are excited to launch the teach Camden program which represents a significant step in developing local talent and enhancing educational opportunities in our schools this not only supports the professional growth of our paraprofessionals but also strengthens our commitment to providing high quality quality education to our students and we look forward to to those 19 uh par professionals and staff members um earning their teaching certificate and being able to teach uh right here in the city of in Camden City school district and so we want to also give a shout out to our cea the Camden Education Association who were very instrumental in helping our par professionals complete the application process um and are Contin to continuing to encourage them to reach the end of this wonderful Endeavor next slide save the date celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month on October 10th 2024 from 11: a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Dudley school we are looking forward to seeing you there and next slide don't miss out and for you to ask uh as a way for to stay connected and up to-date with all of our daily activities please follow us on social media there is a QR code here and we are also on Facebook and Instagram so again just scan the QR code go to our district website Facebook Instagram there are multiple ways to stay connected with what is happening in addition to the robo calls and emails that we send out and so thank you for your attention I know that was lengthy but we got it done we got the business taken care of at this time we're going to transition back to the stage um and acknowledge our retirees uh president Nelson or his design will do that for us thank you for your attention oh I have the presentation for the retirements for for the 92424 board meeting Michelle Austin teacher prek 13 years and four months William coyaso manager facilities maintenance 25 years and one month Joanne Johnson teacher Miss English l a 26 years and four months lyia Nick Booker par professional a prek-k 26 years congratulations to [Applause] all thank you at this time um I will turn it over to our attorney our general our interim general counsel Miss Ashley Zimmerman um to uh remind us of the the rules for public comment thank you 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 superintendent each person who signed up to comment will have 3 minutes to speak 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 coms ments to the superintendent or myself 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 and 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 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 member of the public speaks about a staff member Interruption may be necessary to caution the speaker of the danger of slander after the public comment period is closed the superintendent or her design will address your questions to the extent provided Ed by the law so it is my understanding that the first two speakers no longer wish to speak so we will be starting with speaker number three Amira Kae 22 22 that's some are no longer speaking I got my workout for the week all right good evening um my name is Amir XC and I'm a proud parent of the Camden City school district um as we move forward it's essential to tighten up the smaller issues to set the tone of Excellence within our school district I want to address the importance of keeping our students mindful of our dress code policy um the other day I was out giving out uh informational packets on what educ educational grooming looks like and what I observed was a lot of our young girls wearing skirts that fell above their longest fingertip um and if they bent over they would expose their entire backside um I also observe many cars going by beeping at them cat calling and that's just not really saved um especially now that we're in the fall season it's about to get dark soon we have late buses we just want to make sure that our students are protected once they get out of school um and on their way home it's it's really about Bridging the Gap between school and home for me um so it's important to promote respect and focus on um learning while in school as well and how our students present themselves plays a crucial role in this I believe that every student has the right to express himself creatively and uniquely however I want to be sure that we protect them and ensure their best interests are prioritized um with this matter and any other matters um it's going to take responsible adults in our community um to step up to the plate and to support our students in every aspect when they're in school um so and then I Al also want to emphasize that our district prides our students who Embrace Sports and arts um and I feel like creating programs that will also um Foster and instill self-confidence and high self-esteem in our students is also necessary so we can create some type of programming with school-based services that can um you know put mentorship back into our students um in that level um that would be appreciated so um and then I also have two questions um I'd like to know if there has been any training for our Educators um when recognizing or that it will help them to recognize educational grooming um and if there's a uh vehicle or some type of system that we have where they can report that if they do see it um then I also want to see um oh background checks as well that's also on my list but um one last thing is is there an initiative in our schools for students to report um anonymously any cases of grooming that they may see or sexual um harassment from a a staff or student um what is that and how are we being pro pro proactive in the school um when calling things like that out thank [Applause] you thank you uh next up is Speaker number four Josie good evening everyone here tonight uh for the new board members my name is Jos oaso from parents Invincible let me share with you a little of what we do and hope that we can work together and create a good relationship to help serve our students and parents throughout the district schools parents Invincible represents parents across the city regardless of school type we ensure that they access to they have access to resources and information required to make the best choices for their child or children we built relationships with school officials and and encourage parents to be active and very engaged with their students and schools we also encourage parents to Advocate and voice concerns or accomplishments for their child and help others do the same on another note we have all always encourage parents to come to board meetings if they cannot attend to email their testimonies the form the form to emails testim testimonies hasn't been updated since April and so no testimonies can be submitted I'm not sure where an update for the new process of submissions can be found on how parents are informed about the new update since then if our testimonies are being read by board members can they or we at least receive an email or call with feedback or followup procedures on issues addressed many parents we encourage to speak or write in have not followed up with with about their concerns I hope we can collaborate and focus on what's important for all students to achieve at the top thank you all for your time and please contact me at any time thank you next up is Speaker number five Gabby Gonzalez and on Deck is Speaker number six uh Karen berelli Luke um good evening superintendent and Advisory board members um as we Embark this new exciting school year I wanted to also take a moment and introduce myself my name is gavy Gonzalez I am also a community outreach organizer with parents Invincible a nonprofit organizations that's dedicated to advocating for parents and students in our wonderful city of Camden I am thrilled to be here with you as we kick off another year filled with potential and Promises our mission is to Foster strong connections between students parents and the community we conduct community outreach make calls to encourage participation in school events and provide valuable resources to support our families we are eager to work collaboratively with schools to create impactful opportunities for our students I encourage each of you to reach out to us as we we are here to also support you guys as staff as we recognize that you guys also play a huge role in our students lives and you guys can always reach out to us we are here to also support the staffs in the schools and also the parents as we believe that our schools is our children's second home and it does take a village to raise a child and so we're here to help not only our parents and students but also every everyone that um takes a part of their education you thank you Miss Luke is up next and on Deck is Mr Delgado speaker number seven I don't know good evening Karen burelli Luke teacher uh Camden City uh first thing to address under superintendent report um it said initiate the sale of cat's School I believe it's under the wrong address I believe you have 3100 Westfield when it should read 2930 Saunders Street unless you're selling the new cat school I don't know but it was under the superintendent report the other thing was I addressed last board meeting in August about the stiens to be amended for Camden high school you amended it not once but twice and it's still wrong and it should be according to our contract it'll just open up the contract and read what the stiens say you'll see the proper amounts it's still not correct and speaking of the new contract um we would greatly appreciate if sitting after sitting on the negotiations team going back and forth I know we're just waiting for a few things but if CCSD could get their act together and work a little bit quicker more efficiently we can get our members together and we can ratify that contract but we're still working working with no contract so I would like to see that happen um also bringing up the fizzed you know you said that until they can move the stuff out of that space where they're eating now that we can have fizzed there's no way fizzed can happen in that space that they're eating that's barely that they're eating in that space But what would I know I just have 41 years as a fizzed teacher um speaking of also the bilingual resources for Eide um for the staff and the students I think there could be better support systems in place for the teachers and it should be better uh than just getting um by it should be so that those students have what's equal to everybody else to educate and Empower them the same as every student um I believe we can also get the community more involved to um assist with the bilingual students as well um we need to utilize what we have in our communities and among our staff we have better um skill sets that we can utilize instead of just you know putting our personal agendas out there and um you know putting people that don't have a clue you know I think it's better those coin phrases follow the money connect the dots as has never been more true than it is today with CCSD thank [Applause] you okay good evening uh Jose Delgado um first of all I want to for for your help um you're not a public body The Advisory Board is not a public body as defined by the open public meetings act just to let you know um a couple about a week week and a half ago I um I decided to put on my ex Board of Education member hat and so I opra I requested documents from the district I requested a certificate of occupancy for K school as you know people come in and they they evaluate the school and they give you a certificate of occupancy I asked for certificate that it meets the American Disabilities Act um the state certification the department of educations whether the um it's has a ability to provide a secondary um curriculum educational curriculum and also I asked for the contract cont for the Croc center I received some papers that did not provide any of that obviously what it means means to me is that you have no certificate of occupancy there's no report even in the documents you did provide there is no evidence that the far Marshall came in there's no evidence that there was any kind of Investigation for lead pain for the water there was no none of that done um in this particular case uh the health department did a preliminary preest in other words the kitchen had not been certified all of those things should be done before a child puts their foot into the door based on the information that I received from M simmerman uh the attorney none of those um certificates and documents have been provided they don't exist because I don't think she would not give them to me um uh the other problem is you have kids in the basement without a secondary exit if something happens down there there's only one way in and one way out the es English language Learners uh do not have sufficient books um and the resources for them are very very bad you 30 about a third of the students in that school are are English language Prof Learners the resources in that school are horrendous as one of the students pointed out the school is too small the bathroom in there is like onethird the size of the bathroom at C High you got two bathrooms on each floor I mean one bathroom in each floor they're about 125 100 square fet that's all you have you got big boys in there I don't know how they do it the situation that we have at e high school was created but the students are paying the price thank you up next is Alicia FAL Falcon speaker number eight and on Deck is Miss V A Neil hi School member school board members and superintendent congratulations to the new president and vice president my name is Alicia Figaroa Falcon and I am the ex I cutive director parents Invincible um and I'm just looking to positive trajectory for this new school year um I'm a product of Camden City school district the reality is that the Camden City schools have amazing Educators followed by a very family oriented Community those two aspects were probably the only reasons I made it to College the harsh truth is that academically I was underprepared for college this caused me a lot of depression always feeling loss not able to connect with other students and ultim timately led to me dropping out I did go back I spent countless hours in tutoring worked multiple jobs and became a graduate but I had to work three times my classmates I'm here because I don't want that for our students now I want them to experience college like they deserve what's important here is that we identify that our kids are still underperforming and comparison with surrounding surrounding counties they are still incarcerated at a higher rate and they face adversity that no children should face even though there have been improvements we still have a long way to go I say this all to say we are here to work together to make things better on average parents Invincible connects with over 10,000 parents a year we Pham Bank canvas survey and host resource Fair we've run research to find Solutions and we're here to uh and we hope to hear I'm sorry and we hope to be able to share these Resources with the district as well I wanted to note that the child mentioned the AP classes um how they were receiving ones so to to get college credits for any University you have to have at least a three on a AP exam that's most schools but schools like Ruckers cam then it's a four so a one is basically they took that class essentially for nothing that time could have been spent on something else and that's unfortunate for me I made I took a I had a two and that didn't translate to me being College ready um it translated to me being underprepared for college and having to take zero credit courses just to get to the same level as everybody else so it was unfortunate to hear that still 10 years later um students are still facing the same issues with these AP courses uh just a recommendation I know that a lot of colleges and universities are willing to partner with our school district um and I think that maybe those classes should be taught by college professors and not the high school teachers just a point of recommendation um and last but not least we just want to be here to support you in any way that we can so if that means helping you guys research connecting with parents to survey them to see what are the biggest issues impacting them because school really starts at home and if home is not 100% that's not going to translate into education so we're just here to support shared a little bit of my testimony just to so you guys can know what kind of drives our pack my passion towards the students in the city so I hope to connect with you more [Applause] thank you up next is V Neil and on Deck is Miss Divine speaker number 11 good evening board members superintendent mcom um my problem with this board is is functioning the same way the last board did under new leadership I want to say that um I don't know how Janette could be the vice president when she's missed at least four meetings she should have been voted off just like Wasim Cameron you missed four meetings you should be voted off all of you are taking money from cam to educational fund to fund your campaign against the Citizens and we wonder why we can't get normal people in here that know about education now I want to know each one of your educational levels and don't tell me nothing about where you want cuz I want to a college too but I didn't graduate I want to know what degree levels each and every one of you have on this here to day cuz I believe that not only do you not have degrees you don't live in Camden Janette you're not a Camden resident a whole lot of you are not camed residents and you're doing a disservice to education a disservice to our children and you should not be here let your conscience be your guide these people are empty vessels you don't care about education and another thing why send the student reps out they might point out of the dumb stuff that y'all doing uh while they here why send them out it's not because of our Behavior it's because you don't want them to hear what you're doing it's important that our student reps stay for the duration of the meeting and while miss F was strolling down the street when I see people on top of the roof trying to fix the air conditioner it don't shut off it's broke it's time for the heat that's why we all up in here we're people of color we don't need all this hair get the air conditioner fixed while we're in here that is an emergency and if there's any classrooms where the kids are freezing like this I feel sorry for them to have to sit 45 minutes to an hour and another thing one major what college are they going to go to with one major are you in business to educate our children or de educate them I had to have four majors before I for Majors for 4 years what is this milck you people are doing with education for our [Music] children what are you doing you s up here and told the story about when you want the creative arts or whatever but what you did didn't tell them is you didn't want through what they're going through now start telling them about hopes and dreams and all that well you know what I hope and I dream that every last one of you get off this board we don't need a board amen we don't need to advise we board you are not working for the citizen Janette you were the state representative is a or something wasn't you Neil I tell you right into nor either myself president or well didn't I ask y'all not to speak when I speak [Applause] [Music] hi hello I'm not sure if this is hello hello hi everyone my name is aav divine I am a parent um of a student at Forest Hill Elementary when my daughter started school in September she was in a class room of 16 students I received a letter Friday that not only is her um class being changed I did not meet the teacher who she was going to be seeing and when I went in there today to look at the classroom there are over 20 children in a small classroom not only is there about 24 to 25 kids they all are on different levels and the teacher has been removed from the class as as um as an educator who is pursuing a doctoral degree right now in environmental designs in education not only is that an issue when it comes to the students but the stress that the ad the teachers are going to experience is not healthy for the students or the administrators not only that I'm also a part of the PEC at Forest Hill none of us were informed about any changes that was going to be happening at Forest Hill and I am a very active parent at Forest Hill I would like for us to come to some type of medium where we are informed of these changes and get a say in what what is happening um that is all I wanted to say and I would like to see if there's any way I can get more information on why the fourth grade classrooms are being join uh joined together why the teachers have been dismissed and also it was projected that Forest Hill will only have 280 kids that was going to be enrolled and they suppressed that by 60 there are 30 and about 40 kids so how are we looking to address the need for the new students that are coming there and one more thing I'm aware that Forest Hill is a community school so with this two classrooms in fourth grade now have a 24 kids that means they can't take in any more students who may transfer thank you up next is Jose Delgato want to hear me again oh listen there were two delgados signed up this is he left okay all right next up is Speaker number 14 roncha I can't read the Dickerson my apologies and on Deck is Mercedes Hayes all right this Co is here all right rcha Dickerson Camden residence let's get into some things want have questions about um number one the new ba Miss Walker was her job posted and did she interview there been a very inconsistent position and we want to know why this position is always being moved around but also the process of having a new ba we want to find out we need answers If She interviewed and was that job posted before she received the job second thing is can you give can you confirm that board member Naima gillespi has resigned cuz that has not been made public so another vacancy we have on the school board um this other thing about the scheduling issue at on this campus the parents were not notified so I get it superintendent that you are addressing how you are trying to solve it but you never y'all never send anything out to a parent cuz I'm a parent in the school and I never knew about it so that's one that's a huge problem secondly you all have to take accountability of what you did to this campus you ruined this campus and now you are making the students pay for it and the students and the school should have a economy of how they build their schedules so I have to address that in a different way and please do not take our advancement placement classes because our children need to get full rides for academics as well as Sports so before you start rendering a decision let us make sure that number one we are taking accountability for what we did by stuffing four high schools on one campus and then secondly not informing the parents about what was going on in a school and consider at an art school you do need more time to do your majors so that's that part so I want I one the questions to that and then the last thing I want to ask you all have comments to the children but when's the last time you visited one of these Schools board members like not when not not for a political invite but really coming to the school to visit you got to be in here to see what these kids are going through like come up to the school y'all got car blanch come up here and visit the school now let's get into the policy part first we talking about is QC now everyone knows that QC is a quality single accountability Continuum the new NJ Department of Education is their grade in performance for all New Jersey Public Schools it's the way to keep their foot on our neck Camden has been under qack for many years now there was a report done back in October the four areas fiscal 87% operations 75% instruction and program and remember is 61% governance 94% and Personnel 81% we're supposed to stay above an 80 80 or above there was not where's the last report from the superintendent about CAC CAC is what's holding us under local control we do not have I'm sorry to us under State Control if we deal with Cusack we can get rid of the advisory we can get rid of the corruption we can get rid of the non-democracy we can get rid of all those things if we address qack last thing I say real fast is what money was put towards ex president Muhammad's uh fees we are in depth 800k what took y'all took money out the operation budget we want to know an itemized report about how much money is taken from our programs and that's all the time I got thanks thank you Miss Hayes you're up next and on Deck is Elizabeth [Applause] Martinez Mercedes Hayes she left she left okay Elizabeth Martinez okay Miss fle number 17 and on Deck is Janelle [Music] mcra good evening everyone board members superintendent momes it's a lot of you people in here that I know um I am Monifa Fussell I am Amaya fussell's mother you're one of your advisories from bpla um I have questions I have concerns um I am a lifelong citizen of the city of Camden and this whole four four schools in one campus it it scares me scares me ridiculously I am now an employee here at cam high school now I am the new lunch lady and I want to tell you that bpla brim creative arts lunch is wonderful with them Camden high school is out of control out of control absolutely out of control loud obnoxious rude don't want to follow instructions um just you know little things that make lunch inconvenient for them as well as for the employees my main concern is that 45 minute classroom time my daughter and I had a conversation last night she said to me I don't know how I'm going to do this mom I said what's wrong she says we have 45 minutes to learn and it takes 20 minutes for the entire class to settle down and this is her geometry class Mr nus I love Mr nuse Mr nuse is a very nice man he is from erria if I'm not mistaken he has a very thick accent so a lot of the kids are not paying attention I don't know if we need to get more Security in the school I don't know if we need to get security in the classrooms however I do know that if 20 minutes is being taken away from them for learning from their learning time how are they going to learn effectively in turn how are they going to be able to complete the things that they need to complete to get rather than a one on this this test that they're getting that they have to take um a suggestion was made to me and to my daughter if there's not a resolution for this simple problem that she should go to another school I have been a parent for 31 years I have a daughter who graduated from Morristown friends that was what was put on to that was what was suggested to myself and my child um I graduated from Candon High School in 19 92 we were the first freshman class to have an overnight trip this can be resolved if we were able to take that trip and we were able to be the band that went to London this can be resolved I'm absolutely positive of it I need for parents to be more active in their kids' lives a lot a lot a lot of parents need to be more active I'm the lunch lady I do the late breakfast thank you up next is Janelle McRae and then on Deck is Theo Spencer good evening board uh first and foremost um it's a welcome sight and thought to see the the stage as it is this evening in comparison to our last meeting however I am concerned about the appointment of leadership um as a citizen who who comes to the board meetings and realize who's here and who's not it's kind of disheartening when you appoint people who don't show up um for those who truly been in this movement for some time this behavior is what was the Catalyst to why we ended up under State control for those who have been around in this district for more than 20 years as myself has been um when board meetings were meeting down at front and Cooper we had board members who just said they weren't coming and to see that kind of behavior still exist decades later and to know that these people are the same ones whose seats are up and are running under running for a nonpartisan position but everybody has the same email address at info at camd Democratic committee. org um that's kind of shap if we if we can all think about it um Miss Dickerson already addressed qac for me um as an educator who was in this district for over a decade I've watched students learn I've watched students grow and these numbers that I see on the screen are truly disheartening especially when we should be able to know the difference between then and then you know when you see things like that come across in an educational form it's disheartening to the community it's disheartening to know that our students are sent out of here because they do need to hear what the community has to say and how we support them because we do understand we listen to our students we listen to our children and they should have been here this portion should have been available for them to be here to understand that they do have Community backing them um in regards to the substitute situation When I Look up the word substitute it says a person or thing acting or serving in the place of another when we think about all the classes that have substitutes 15 years ago I got before this board and I said there's no reason for us to have four separate schools if our schools was combined as one school first and foremost students would learn from one another all these behavioral issues that you have put in one area will probably be decreased and you will probably have the teacher capacity in order to make sure that each and every one of our students learn thank you up next is Theo Spencer speaker number 19 and on Deck is Miss Craig speaker number 20 Mr Mr Spencer is not here miss Craig and on Deck is Tracy medley hello to all of you um I am a parent of a dance major at the creative arts school um I want to address a few issues uh my first one is concerning her schedule as it has been changed three times so not only has it been changed three times they have now reduce the time for Majors um not only that the dance Department assumes 100% responsibility for the finances of the enrichment of the production and the performances this is the only Department that assumes 100% responsibility which to me shows that we feel that this department is less important than all the rest of the apart departments um I have talked to a lot of the young girls and the gentleman in this department and they have all basically told me that this department serves as an outlet a safe space and a place of creative expression they come from all over New Jersey this is not just young girls and boys coming from Camden they come from clemon they come from Blackwood they come from balmore they are needing a creative Outlet this is one of the only locations in the than the New Jersey area that gives opportunity for Creative Arts Majors um I feel that this should be poured into a little bit more my child was Rec relocated not once but twice she was in Creative Arts actually in the Middle School when it was located on Morgan Boulevard removed out of that and placed into a regular middle school because it became a high school then crammed into this school with three other schools just to be told that she will only have 45 minutes for class and then get points ticking off when they get can't get to class on time because the hallways are too squish these girls and this young gentleman have to take their clothes off put their clothes on and still try to get to class with no grace period and then suffer Five Points off for being late it's unfair um I feel that this decision to down siiz has limited other children who would want to be a student here at creative arts it reduces the amount of seats so now we have limited amount of people able to even come to the school because it is so small and now they can't explore that passion a lot of us parents and students feel that it is very necessary for a bigger location that's just the bottom line we need more space My Hope Is that we find a solution um that we can help support them that we can fund that we can give more of our time voluntarily I am heavily evolved and my child's academics and um her her performances I give my time I give my money I give my resources and I think that that is just unfair for all of these students thank you thank you up next is Tracy medley and our last speaker will be Samir Nichols all right good evening everyone um my name is Tracy medley millennium skate world we're located at 19 00 Carmen Street Camden New Jersey in December it'll be 24 years that we've been here we have a wonderful stem program thank you all our stem program ties in math and science with roller skating and we encourage the Camden schools to be able to come out and support our program it's a daytime school trip some of the lessons that we offer is the science of roller skating motion and skate design music math and roller skating Super Sound Acoustics the science of lighting are invited to participate in The District parent advisory council meeting the next meeting will be held on October 17th at HB Wilson from 4: to 6 each school also has parent meetings throughout the month so that's just another way to um to be able to stay involved but we hear you loud and clear and we will be um looking into those areas as well miss Craig uh dance um funding is supplemented via the Perkins via Perkins funding resources have been purchased for the program and we will examine the District budget for equity and opportunities to provide more um to the dance program and all of our programs that support our amazing Learners um Mr Nicholls if you're still here thank you so much for your offer um and we will be in touch to have um more conversations in that area I may have missed a few but I I tried to take the notes that I could I'm not sure hold one moment yes air Nichols um I'm sorry yes um I thought I addressed that but I think maybe I did not but Mr Nichols thank you for what you shared with us um and for offering your resources please connect with principal uh Brockington and also Miss Tanya Wilson who's a senior lead educator who support fors health and PE um so that we can figure out how to get that Arts Round Table um definitely in place and there was a question and my last point before turning over to the board president to take um questions and comments from the board with regard to our student board reps and why they're not here so it's always been our practice um it's not new to make sure that our student board reps are able to be dismissed and get home to prepare for the next day um and some of them have other uh things that they need to take care of so we didn't do anything that we haven't done in the past and we'll talk to our board reps to see if they want to say it's no problem um but typically they have to leave so we did not dismiss them we just want to make sure that they get home and get ready for the next day um Etc um but thank you for for that feedback we'll take it into consideration I'll turn it over now to our um board president who will take any comments from the board thank you Superintendent at this time I would like to open it up to any board members that have comments I will start with board member Jackson thank you president Nelson um same way I did with the kids I kind of took notes on what everybody was saying and so I have some feedback um Miss Kaine Amira I heard what you said about the dress code policy and different things like that what stuck out to me though was the first day of school you all passing out your literature it's not a problem problem that you're passing out literature the kids should be informed but there is a way to go about it um it's sensitive content rape whistles are a sensitive thing to be passing out to students and I am a parent of a student at this campus I didn't get a notification saying hey I wanted to talk to you guys about giving your kids some information so just be aware of you can pass out information what you're giv is knowledgeable but there is a way to go about doing it now saying that you can't it can just be done a little bit better um Josie Gabby and Alicia parents [Music] Invincible I just wanted to thank the ladies from parents Invincible for um all of their support that they give to our parents our students into our Administration um from there Karen berelli Luke who it seems has left um what I will say is Miss Luke I will say it again I've said it before but you don't come from a school that has always had a gym and so in situations like this we have to learn to adjust you've only had a gym at Kim to high for what 3 years brim has never had a gym it didn't have a gym at the old site so we can um I think that we can make some adjustments and be okay with being bust to The Croc center and having all our Al Alternatives we can't keep beating the same drum and this is every meeting for the past almost a year um that's all I had to say about that Miss Neil um I took notes on a lot of what she said the board function in a different way um what degree level do any of us have are we camed in Residence are you let's be very clear we can't keep coming in here and expecting our board not to be human you can't listen you you give it and you get it the way that you guys give it and we have been taking a lot since January it's a hard thing to walk into this room and we hear that we hope your kid gets touched next let's be very clear you all have been just as disrespectful and I have said nothing so so today I'm I'mma say it now I'mma say it now is it narcissistic or am I speaking my truth board member Jackson board member Jackson understood but I won't be but it's not to go back and forth so we could stop for a second Miss Divine we heard what you said um B um superintendent momes absolutely um responded to you about the 23 student limit uh Miss Tracy before you go I absolutely love what you guys are doing with the stem program um I did want to kind of catch you before you left I would love love love to hear more about that thank you uh Miss rasa I absolutely loved your questions I absolutely loved your questions um and there are also some questions that I would like to know as well so we're going to keep you posted on some of that um Miss fussel welcome as a new lunch lady here at Camden high we are glad to have you it's it's very rare that we see parents who want to be active um in working with the district as well as being an active parent in the district so kudos to you for being willing to step up and fill in the gaps uh where you see needed what else I think that was pretty much it Mr Nichols thank you for offering those wonderful Alternatives we look forward to hearing from you and all that you have to offer as far as creative arts and how to bridge the gap for some of that funding thank you for the district absolutely so thank you thank you board member Jackson are there any other board members that would like to say anything all right so I'll just take a minute thank you um for everybody that has come out I also want to say thank you to um the superintendent and our Administration during challenging times keeping the main thing the main thing which which is our young adults um stay in Focus um I want to say thank you to all the parents all the community members all the Guardians who have come out um I encourage you to continue to come out there's nothing that we can do alone um it takes a collective effort um we may not always agree on everything but I think when we are able to communicate with one another um respectfully a lot more gets done um again I want to reopen the door um to a open lines of communication if we are put in students first um the only way it works is if we can communicate with one another so again some people may not agree and and that's okay um but how do we effectively move forward that's something that's important and it's okay everybody has their opinions um but if we are being the example for our young adults then we'll lead by example and I can say that you have a committed board up here that's willing to work as long as they're here I also want to say uh there was a question about whether board member Gillespie has actually resigned and I will say she has resigned and I would like to take an opportunity to publicly thank her for all of her Services if we could give her a round of applause even though she may not be present it is not an easy task to always serve and there's a lot of things that we don't always see and work that that's done that's not always exposed so I thank everybody for their hard work and a lot of people bring a lot of things to our district and we want to continue to work together um as a united front and how we move forward to accomplish those things especially during challenging times truly shows our strength and at the end of the day actions speak louder than words so please hold us to those actions you know call us out we together with us but I ask you to call us out in a respectful Manner and in a way that you would also want to be spoken to as well so on that note again I say thank you I think thank you to everyone who does the work um again congratulations to Janette thank you to all our board members thank you superintendent and all your staff and we're looking forward to a great school year at this time I'll turn it back over to the superintendent board president I'm sorry for yes I would like to begin um um by congratulating you as president and also thanking you for stepping up to the plate as acting president you've done a phenomenal job and you should be proud of yourself we are all grateful for everything that you've done um I also would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to my fellow board members for the trust and support um that you've bestowed upon me as I take this role as vice president I want you all to know that I don't take this um position lightly I understand that it comes with a lot but we have a an amazing team up here we're very dedicated um and I thank you all for this opportunity um and have a blessed night i' like to turn it back over to your superintendent thank you thank you so much um at this time I'll turn the meeting over to the board secretary to present the agenda items thank you superintendent momes there is one walk-in item which is the resignation of board member gesy I will read it into your hearing therefore be it resolved that the CCSD Board of Education with regret accept the resignation of board member Naima Gillespie effective on Monday September 23rd 2024 so that is a walk-in item added to the agenda and with that as the new business administrator I see that the um I am to present the agenda items and ask ask if there are any questions and luckily I have Peg sitting behind me um uh to assist so if there are any questions as it relates to any board agenda items please feel free to share are there any board members have any questions all right no questions thank you thank you I now turn the meeting which focuses on um specifically how do we in fuse Arts education back into the curriculum from K through 12 so if if any board member or if any committee uh whether it be from school support to the superintendent office if you're willing to have some offline conversations I'm willing to help you guys fund raise and bridge the gap for the creative arts high [Music] school thank you at this time I will turn the meeting back over to superintendent momes to address any questions or comments thank you and and thank you everyone for um your comments took a lot of notes during this meeting um and we'll get to uh provide some responses but some of them will not be immediate but I do want to let you know um that we took the time to take down what was shared the concerns um and also to think about um some solutions as we're moving forward which may not be shared here because we have to go back and make sure they're fully baked but your concerns your voices sharing the information that you did share um is extremely important and so before I open it up to board members by turning it over to our board president I do want to take the opportunity just to addressed a few address a few um of the issues that did come up um so I want to thank um thank you Miss Kaine for um your comments and we would like to share that our staff members I'm not sure if you're still here but but we do want to share yes that our staff members do receive required training annually on child abuse sexual harassment and affirmative action but this is not to say we will not continue to add additional trainings as well as we are going to explore our policies in those areas our Young Learners are receiving ongoing workshops with the New Jersey child assault prevention program on New Jersey cap and can receive tier three intervention support from NJ 4 S and daily support from our school-based youth services team also within the health curriculum there are age appropriate lessons on sexual assault however we will continue to focus on keeping all of our students safe and and we know that we cannot do enough to make sure that that is the case additionally and newly implemented all School leaders have been trained on utilizing the help me h e lpme uh platform which is used for anonymous reporting during back to school night the district also launched the help me app that allows students and staff to connect directly to trained crisis counselors from the helpl line app I'm I'm sorry from the help me app the crisis text line provides free 247 highquality Anonymous text-based mental health support and Crisis Intervention volunteers to support people in their moments of need using get help P students parents and staff can directly connect with school and local based resources as well and ask for assistance during stopit Reporting System some things that are encouraged to be reported are domestic violence mental health needs bullying anxiety as well as everyday needs such as food Transportation clothing shelter or medical needs you will see posters throughout our schools and information explaining the app will be is sent home already but we'll also make sure that it is um on our social media platform and and prom more prominently on our District web page so it's easy for um parents as well to access so thank you and we will continue to look for other platforms that will help to make it um safe for students to anonymously share um and also to get uh support um thank you also for your concerns you shared around our student dress code policy we'll take a look and revisit that um the length of the scours that you discussed is not a part of our policy but we do know that we have to um Circle back and make sure that we're getting that buy in from our students and families to um uh follow the dress code that does exist because we don't want to create chronic absenteeism so we get a balanced View and we will work together to find a solution that makes sense um thank you for those individuals who came from uh parents Invincible um uh Josie uh after April we return to our traditional public comment format which requires attendees to be in person to provide public comment however our Solution Center our parent Solution Center is always available to address concerns as they come up in real time and they can be reached at 856 966 2507 to miss Gonzalez thank you for offering your support we welcome it we agree that it will always take the whole village to raise a child and what you um provided or shared with us is the spirit in which we want to continue to move forward collaboratively with our families I'm Miss barelli Luke thank you um for sharing I jotted down a few additional comments but thank you for sharing your comments we will make the change regarding the Catt School address to the old Catt address it address it was a mistake and an error um so thank you um it should have list been listed as 29:30 Sounder Street we will also investigate your other comments and concerns and take appropriate actions if necessary and please know that we also um as a district um are are excited that we are almost there with the settling of the contract and we look forward to that being um resolved um in the very near future Mr Delgado thank you for uh remaining the multilingual learn and for the comments that you provided for us the multilingual Learners are provided with instructional resources that are aligned to the state standards and meet their linguistic needs in both native language Spanish and English the curriculum team continues to work collaboratively to ensure that all students have access to Equitable instructional resources to meet the rigorous standards and the various needs of our multilingual Learners we will continue to work with our school leadership team our central office staff to make sure that all of that is getting to each of our students as necessary um excuse me for one moment yeah go back okay all right so you did raise some questions Mr Delgado with regard to your recent Oprah request um I know for certain that we have the materials that you discussed so we're going to go back to see why you didn't get the full materials but I just did a quick sidebar but we'll make sure that we follow up accordingly in the appropriate way for communication but a certificate of occupancy the fire department all of the electrical um um I'm it's escaping inspections thank you um inspections have been had been completed before our students um moved in but we will make sure that you have that information um thank you very much and I can assure you the SDA the schools Development Authority also um came down and was a part of the process as well as the Camden County Improvement Authority and the county walking through weekly just to make sure that we passed all of our inspections so again we will make make sure that you get um the information as as requested through the open public records act um Miss Falcon thank you for sharing your experiences falcon or Falcone I'm sorry if I'm pronouncing it wrong thank you for expressing and sharing your experiences and offering your support we will continue to examine our AP classes and research data and opportunities we do not want all of our students to we do we do want our students to earn those threes and fours and be able to earn college credit that is a shared and it's not something that we're just going to want but we're going to go forward in a goal oriented way to make sure that it does happen um thank you for uh the the comments that were shared um Miss Divine I'm not sure if you're still here but thank you for being an active parent in your school's parent advisory Council and for sharing your concerns the state limit for fourth grade this was with regard to Forest Hill the state limit for fourth and fifth grade classrooms is 23 the classes are within the state guidelines the current fourth grade allocation was for two classrooms the two teachers assigned Miss Anderson and Miss G Miss gusk are currently still there please speak to your school's uh FOC Miss Tracy Allen or School leadership to help connect you with the teachers there was Al also a scheduled meet and greet during back to school night we're also currently monitoring student enrollment at farest hille but just want to make sure that you get your concerns addressed and if you do not please feel free to reach out to the parents the dist District Parent Solution Center um Miss Dickerson you still here I have my glasses on I hear you but I don't see you it's okay the lights are bright so miss Dickerson thank you for your questions and for your concern thank you for your questions there you are I see you I see you're standing I thought you were still over here where you were um for your concerns and your questions um we will definitely be looking into and for everyone who had the concerns about scheduling not just at creative arts but at the Camden high campus I know Miss Fussell brought it up as well again I think you heard my comments earlier we're going to look into um seeing what we can do to be Solutions oriented um in that area um thank you for your questions with regard to I think you yes you asked a question my note said um you wanted to know about the new SBA if they were hold on glasses did you say the new SBA ba ba the new yes you said ba right the school business administrator I'm sorry yes Miss Taylor did I'm sorry okay Miss Taylor the new school business administrator Miss Taylor did um go through the uh complete interview process um and all of the necessary steps that were necessary um in order to make sure that she was qualified to serve as our district school business administrator the transition we have had a lot of transition in the area of um our school business administrator role um quite a few and so we are excited that we have someone in the role who will serve as a permanent our most recent SBA was U Miss Peg McDow who's here this evening who served as our interim she served as our interim before and has been really the glue holding things together as we move forward which is why we are still able to have three only three audit findings um and have done um a tremendous job with qack I want to address qac as well as soon as we receive our scores from the state we will be able to share a presentation as to where we are now we did a full we were um cacked or had a full qack review in the spring of last year we have yet to receive those scores once they go to the state boards then they come to us so then we will definitely share as we typically um do um when it comes to miss Fussell thank you so much for sharing your experiences and for um for your beautiful daughter sharing her with us as a school board rep um as well and for your Vantage Point as a uh School uh Food Service nutritions uh Services worker at the campus um we will take uh what you shared into consideration looking at the climate and the quality of what is happening in our um lunch especially with Camden high and our parent back over into the hands of the superintendent thank you so much and before um I just read the approval statement um to move the business forward I do want to make sure that I go on the record and also say that I'm greatly appreciative um for the leadership of of Mr Nelson who served as our acting president from J January all the way up until um last month's board meeting who from that time he and Miss Gillespie who stepped up as the vice president um made sure that the business of the board was moved and truth is truth and so I have to speak it make sure that everything was moving made sure that they held um whatever was needed to be held accountable they visited schools they walked through they had questions they asked questions they communicated with board memb MERS so I want to thank you Mr Nelson and thank Miss Gillespie and her absence I have already thanked you in private I've already done what I need to do but in public um as we um move forward toward healing it is important also to make sure that that's grounded in truth so I just wanted to make sure that I I said that publicly congratulations to um Janette for um stepping into this new role and as we move forward and turn page I can't wait to see we already know we have so much work to do hey just from this one meeting um we know that there are so many areas but it's okay because our students are worth each and every last moment each and every um conversation each and every question um so that they know that we care and value them so I want to thank you and so at this time as we move forward to closure in accordance with the powers vested in the state district superintendent under the tit under title 18n may I hereby approve today's superintendent's agenda items and business office items turn it back to our board secretary to adjourn thank you superintendent momes is there a motion to adjourn the meeting thank you um board member Perez and board member Garcia thank you all in favor any opposed any extensions consider yourself adjourned