##VIDEO ID:iRQkw_EW6eM## Isa Taylor business administrator and board secretary welcome to the Camden City School District Board of Education January 3rd reorganization meeting the time is now 5:35 the meeting is now called to order please rise and join me in the flag salute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty andice for all 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. Camden schools.org published in the board's designated online media Outlet newspapers the career post and the Philadelphia Inquirer filed with the Camden City Clerk and mailed to all persons if any who have requested said notice please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcast on local TV and the district's website at a future date the offical IAL results of the annual School Board election held on November 5th 2024 and these results were provided by the county clerk are as follows Janette Alvarez received 9,28 votes nanam de Nelson received 8,979 votes Cameron Hudson received 856 [Music] votes and those ballots and elections were for three-year terms the next two um elections were for unexpired terms Wanda Garcia received 10,531 votes Maria Perez received 10,191 votes [Applause] [Music] congratulations to all of our newly elected officials we will now have the administration of the oath of office Mayor Karin will join us at the podium with Janette Alvarez and her family for the administration of the oath of office let's give Janette and her family one more round of [Applause] applause let me see that like there you go hello hello know you all are happy excited everything all the above congratulations Janette um I am here to redot and uh first of all to all of our elected officials in the crowd I see commissioner Dyer Pell commissioner commissioner Kane he might be switching up in the day too uh Council uh councilman Barkley I just want to give shout out to everybody that's here uh oh Council pre there you go CP there you go all right we going to do our swearing in you know you repat to me I you state your name and then we go from there ready I I Janet Alvarez affirm that affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established to the United States and this state and this state Under The Authority Under the authority of the people of the people I I Janette Alvarez affirm that affirm that I am not disqualified I am not disqualified as a voter as a voter pursuant to pursuant to RS RS 19 19 four 4-1-1 nor disqualified due to nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime conviction of a crime or any offense listed or any offense listed in njs in in njs 18a 18a 12-1 12-1 I I jenet Alvarez affirm that affirm that I possess the qualifications prescribed I possess the qualification prescribed by the law of for the office by the law for the office of member of member of a board of education of the Board of Education and that I will and that I will Faithfully faithfully and partially and partially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of that of that office according to office according to the best of my abilities the best of my abilities congratulations thank you mayor appreciate it thank you m really Mom sorry did you get it on face can I have my sister and absolutely my godson can I have the elected officials come up as well absolutely can I have um commissioner come on down we going to have a nice picture come on up um Arthur Barkley and Council PR as well [Music] let's give board member Alvarez another round of applause here [Music] or you can put [Music] next up if we could have Cameron Hudson and his family and friends to join us here on the stage yes please take your seat on the deis board member Alvarez testing hey y'all don't get too comfortable with them seats I like your all right good to have you here cam you going to repeat after me CAM I I Cameron Hudson affirm that affirm that I will support the Constitution support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I I Cameron Hudson affirm that affirm that I am not disqualified as a voter I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to pursuant to RS RS 19 19 4-1 4-1 nor disqualified nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime due to conviction of a crime or any offense or any offense listed in listed in njs njs 18a 18a 12-1 12-1 I I Cameron Hudson affirm that affirm that I possess the qualifications I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office for the office of member of Board of Education of member of Board of Education and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly perform all the duties and justly perform all the duties of that office of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God [Music] [Applause] congratulations we'll take some photos we all family going to the middle just the get in get in there congratul congratulations Mr Hudson please take your seat on the Das and finally we have with us virtually nanam de Nelson he is with us via Zoom mayor car staren you ready now how you doing Mary God you're it's up there too can you see it okay he's everywhere he's up there you're the omnipotent today n excuse me P I [Music] didn't I I N Nelson affirm that affirm that I will support I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith in allegiance to the same and allegiance to the Saint and to the government established in the United States to the government established of the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I I N Nelson affirm that affirm that I am not disqualified I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant voter pursuant to RS to RS 19 19 4-1 one or- one nor disqualified due to or disqualified due to conviction of a crime conviction of a crime or any offense listed or any offense listed in njs and njs 18a 18a 12-1 12-1 I I the N Nelson affirm that affirm that I possess the qualifications I possess the qualifications prescribed by the law by the law for the office for the office of member of the Board of Education of member of Board of Education and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially partially and justly perform justly perform all the duties of that office all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God it help me God congratulations President thank thank you Miracle you want to take some pictures everybody come up take some pictures with you congratulations Mr Nelson thank you honorable mayor next up we're going to have father Adams please join us on the stage with Wanda Garcia let's give Wanda and father Adams a round of [Music] [Applause] applause thank you abely I okay yes ma' right all set I I Wanda Garcia affirm that affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments and to the governments established in the United States established in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I I Wanda Garcia affirm that affirm that I am not disqualified as a voter I am not I affirm that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to pursuant to RS RS 19 19 4-1 4-1 nor disqualified nor disqualified due to conviction due to convictions of a crime of a crime or any offense or any offense listed in listed in njs njs 18a 18a 12-1 12-1 i i Wanda Garcia affirm that affirm that I possess the qualifications I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office for the office of member of a board of education of of a member of the Board of Education and that I and that I will faithfully and that I will Faithfully imp partially imp partially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of that office of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability Right congratulations thank you congratulations please join us on the stage for a photo opportunity thank [Music] you every picture you talking about you guys my elb man [Music] talk stick my head in right [Applause] council president anhel Fuentes please join us on the stage with Maria Perez to administer the oath of office let's give Miss Perez a round of [Applause] applause yes please take your seat on the de come on so Maria when I get you the RS 911 okay uh and and you agree with just using oh affirm okay that's fine I I Maria Perez affirm that affirm that that I will support I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will and that I will bear truth Faith bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the government and to the government established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I I Maria Perez affirm that affirm that I am not disqualified I am not disqual qualified as a voter as a voter pursuant to I'm sorry pursuant pursuant to RS RS forget about the 911 194 D1 19-1 nor disqualified nor disqualified due to the conviction due to the conviction of a crime of a crime or any offense or any offense listed in njs list listed in njs 18a 18a 12 12-1 d one I I Maria Perez there you go affirm that affirm that I possess the qualifications I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law the office of member the office of member of a board of education of the board of educ ation and that I and that I will Faithfully will faithfully and partially and partially and justly and justly gosh we can sing about this um perform all the duties perform all the duties of that office of that office according according to the best of my ability to the best of my ability congratulations thank [Applause] you congrat conratulations photo opportunity come on on stage all the 10,000 people can come up you want to we [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I will now conduct the roll call Board member Alvarez board member Gabriel kamacho board member Derek gashaw board member Wanda Garcia board member Cameron Hudson board member Daniel Jackson board member Karen Merck board member nanam D Nelson board member Maria Perez at this time I invite board members and then the superintendent to share any conr congratulatory or welcome remarks after which we will conduct President and Vice President elections board members y board members any congratulatory remarks thank you superintendent good evening everyone um I just actually want to begin by congratulating uh board president Nelson as well as my fellow um um running mates and board members um I would also like to acknowledge a few individuals who are in the audience today and I will Begin by acknowledging my family um my children and my amazing granddaughter thank you for your support and your unconditional love with us you I wouldn't be who I am and sitting here today um i' also like to acknowledge um individuals who I am proud to say are my mentors are people who've been instrumental in my career path people who are the epitome of public servants and that is commissioner director lwis Capelli commissioner Melinda Cain who's like a mother to me and commissioner Aly that's like a father to me although Al don't get upset you're not old um I appreciate you all uh Council man Angel fences thank you for all that you do I greatly appreciate you um and um thank you to the Camden City committee as well as the Camden City residents that without your support I wouldn't be sitting here today thank [Applause] you good evening good evening everyone first I would like to thank uh good evening all the elected officials here tonight I would like to thank you out all for coming out tonight and show your support I would like to thank all of my colleagues here tonight superintendent mcoms would like to thank you for your continued support and to my spiritual Mentor father Adam who is always there every time I ask him he says no he never says no to me he's always there for me I would like to thank him Denise and Rick kuso my godon that's out there all my family and friends that came out and my bestie that's out there Valerie we've been through thick and she's always there for me as well and I would like to thank the community for your support and believing in me and having the confidence in me so that I can take on this task is always all for the children everything is for the children the children are the future and I would like to thank everyone for coming out tonight thank you again I love you all thank you thank you thank you um I am really honored to be here tonight um there's so many people I want to thank but first and utmost I want to thank God for allowing me to be here tonight um special thanks to our mayor um and all the elected officials that are here um I also want to thank the Camden County Democratic um committee for doing such a great job um they surely had us running everywhere um and as you can tell by the numbers of the people that voted for us we did a good job so thank you everyone I promise I I will give him my best to live up to the expectations put towards put forth for to me thank you put the mic down I know right uh good evening everyone just I also would like to you know Begin by thanking God um and thanking the community for you know instilling the trust and faith uh in us to continue this you know this service in serving our children um thank you to the elected officials that all came out um and to my colleagues my running mates I really truly appreciate you all and just look forward to and my family um who couldn't make it tonight cuz they're all Educators and um you know at to work but uh I just really appreciate the superintendent her Administration and just look forward to working with you all for the next three years all right all right I hope you all had a happy New Year all right so I I'll just um very quickly say uh Happy New Year and I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season but I am so glad to see our board members back and those who have been um I like to say it more than a swearing in but just taking that charge that oath again to make sure that we continue to do the work of putting students first thank you for all that you do thank you for your leadership for for your Council for your guidance although an Advisory Board you operate um in a way that um allows us to begin to see um that shepherding toward sustainable local control so again thank you for the hard questions the tough questions continue to ask those and continue to always protect the children of this District thank you so much and it is an honor to be on the day with you this [Music] evening so like to say thank everyone um thank you mayor thank you to all our elected officials um congratulations to my fellow board members and looking forward to continue to do the work and thank you everyone Us in the audience support the Camden City School District Board of educations Advisory 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 successor is 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 vote of the full membership of the board will be elected to the 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 I would like to nominate uh n Nami Nelson for president second I'll second [Music] that are there any other nominations for the office of presidency hearing none the nominations for the office of presidency is now closed I will do a roll call vote to nominate nanami Nelson as the president of the Camden City school district Advisory board for the 2025 calendar year Janette Alvarez Gabriel kamacho Derek gashaw Wanda Garcia Cameron Hudson Danielle Jackson I believe board member Daniel Jackson is on Zoom Karen Merck nandi Nelson yes Maria Perez congratulations nandi Nelson you are now the board president returning board president for the Camden City school district Advisory board board president Nelson would you like to preside over the nominations for the vice presidency board president Nelson would you like to preside over the nominations for the vice presidency or would you like someone here to do it sure I'm just looking at uh the agenda right now just trying to get the [Music] space my apologies guys did someone did you guys call my name already for a vote Yes we did call on you for a vote for the presidency yes so noted thank you board member Jackson we're on page four board president Nelson Midway the floor is now open for nominations for the office of Vice President presidents I'd like to nominate Janette Alvarez for vice president is there a [Music] second I'll second that thank you Cameron Hudson and marz are there are there any other nominations for the office of Vice President hearing none the floor is now closed for nominations for the office of the vice presidents presidency I will now take a roll call vote to nominate Janette Alvarez as the vice president of the Camden City school district Advisory Board Janette Alvarez yes Gabriel kamacho Derek gashaw Wanda Garcia yes Cameron Hudson yes Daniel Jackson yes Karen Merck yes nandi Nelson yes Maria Perez yes congratulations congratulations Janette Alvarez you are now the vice president for the 2025 School uh calendar year for the Camden City school district Advisory Board we will now announce the board committees and delegates [Music] board president thank you the board establishes the following committees and delegates for the 2025 calendar year with the following members teaching learning and student supports chairperson Karen Merck members Wanda Garcia and Derek gashaw policy and governance chairperson Cameron Hudson members Danielle Jackson and Gabriel kamacho committee finance and operations chairperson nandi Nelson members Maria Perez and Danielle Jackson committee legal compliance membership to be established committee Communications and parent engagement chairperson Janette Alvarez members Wanda Garcia and Cameron HS New Jersey school boards Association delegate mam D Nelson alternate Janette Alvarez Urban school boards delegate Janette Alvarez alternate Danielle Jackson Camden County School boards Association delegate Wanda Perez alternate Karen Merck at this time I like to turn it over to our board secretary for the reading of the code of ethics thank you board president njac 6A 32-32 requires uh there are the requirements for the code of ethics for District Board of Education members and Charter School Board of trustee members each District Board of Education and Charter School Board of Trustees shall discuss annually the school ethics Act and the code of ethics for school board members pursuant njsa 18a 12-21 at a regularly scheduled public meeting two adopt policies and procedures regarding the training of District Board of Education and Charter School Board of Trustees members in understanding the code of ethics and three provide documentation pursuant to B below that each member of The District Board of Education or Charter School Board of Trustees has received and reviewed the code of ethics each member of The District Board of Education shall sign an acknowledgement of receipt of the code of ethics for school board members contained within njsa 18a 12-21 the acknowledgement of receipt requires each District Board of Education member to read and become familiar with the code of ethics we will we will now allow the board members to each read a section of the code of ethics starting with uh Miss Merck we'll start with with you if you don't mind and then we'll just move around the table it starts with I will uphold and enforce the law I will uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools desired challenges shall be thought about only through legal and ethnical procedures B I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of the children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing I will confine my board action to policym planning and appraisal and I will help to frame Poli policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well-run I will recognize the authority rests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use a school for personal gain or for the gain of friends I will hold confidential all Mars pertaining to the school which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the school in all other matters I will provide accurate information and then where concern with concerned with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the uh inspiration of the community for a schools right I will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative off officer board member Jackson do you have the code of ethics in front of you on the board report okay Miss Merck okay I will support and protect School personnel and proper performance of their duties I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints of public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution thank you board members for reciting the code of ethics I will now highlight the reorganization agenda items designated newspapers Advisory board meeting dates and again these are all found in the agenda current policies and regulations parliamentary procedures uniform minimum chart of accounts purchasing Authority purchasing with the state division of purchase and property Cooperative purchasing and I'm on page six if you're following line item transfers of funds appointment of the board secretary appointment of the treasurer of school Monies board attorneys District Physicians architect of record District Auditors District Risk Managers or Insurance Brokers District compliance officers Bank depositories bank signatories payment Authority authorization to invest health benefit program curriculum read-option New Jersey school boards Association membership tax shelter annuity providers and lastly tax shelter third party administrator we will now turn it over to interim general counsel for public comment if there are no questions 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 concerns to the board and the state district superintendent each person who signed up to comment will have three minutes you will be notified when your 3 minutes are up and you cannot yield your time to another person when it is your turn to speak state your name and address for the record please address your comments to the state district superintendent or myself 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 your microphone will be silen and your comments will have concluded 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 state district superintendent or her designate will address your questions to the extent provided by law and I believe only one person signed up to speak and that is Jose Delgado hi you're welcome pardon my back thank you congratulations to the uh all the individuals that were sworn in today I'll be brief uh I want to quote uh policy um uh in the district 3260 it says any District property designated for donation or unsold may be offered offed without cost to charitable or nonprofit organizations having a use for such property I understand that policy was extended to the Dominican Republic which is a good thing but it's rather disappointing that this benefit was not extended first or otherwise to district schools charitable organizations nonprofit organizations or students of Staff of the Eastside High School school family this is just one more example of the lack of either lack of awareness of dist policy or the continued willful pattern of disregarding policies is this oversight going to be corrected number two on two separate occasions I requested copies of the district's English language learner three-year uh program plan for 2021 2024 the district response indicated that they couldn't produce that plan because it didn't exist the district eventually sent me what I could best describe as an incomplete work document it would had all kinds of missing information and so forth and so on I was also sent the New Jersey Department of education's 27 page instruction package meaning that the district knew exactly what they had to provide in terms of information I also received the New Jersey Department of education's approval letter of the plan on August 15 2022 on 12 13 2024 I sent the New Jersey Department of Education a opah request requesting the same doc doent about a week ago after two weeks because I sent that the 13th uh last week they told me they they need an extension they couldn't find it either if you're thinking how can that be how can the district not have in their hands rily available that District plan I'm still waiting for an answer uh I'm not asking I am here asking for the board Advisory Board uh to help me conduct an investigation as to how the district is actually failing to meet the needs of the English language Learners in the district I have brought this matter in a very low-key manner to the attention of the superintendent and even to board members and the whole board the Constitutional and civil rights of hundreds of children are being violated daily the kids need your help the parents need your help I need your help to write this wrong this Injustice this is exactly the kind of issue that The Advisory Board was created to address read the statute read the administrative code please contact me any one of you just one of you contact me so we can get together and begin to address my concerns Maybe I'm Wrong I doubt it [Music] thank you Mr Delgado I have uh duly noted your concerns um with regard to policy 3260 uh the district did follow that policy um and we did um through our business office operations we followed all of the steps um we also did offer the um items that are unused in and we knew were unsalvageable at Eastside High School um we did make sure that first we um did our due diligence so that the district schools we could see if any schools needed that those items and then we also um went through a brief auction period and so we did follow that um and we can provide if you are requesting it um a documented and detailed um stepwise um overview of how we followed policy 3260 um with regard to your other two items thank you they are so noted and we will continue to to uh follow the requirements of the open open public records act to make sure that you receive the documents that you requested um and you addressed your final comments to the board and not to not through um the state district superintendent or counsel so I won't comment on that thank you very much I'll turn it over to our board secretary would board members like to have any comments are there any board members that have any responses thank you board president um I just wanted to say that I am deeply honored and blessed to I have been sworn in as the first afro Latina vice president of The Camin City School Board and I I forgot to mention or I didn't get to mention that I sincerely thank the mayor for um administrating the oath of office um and thank you for his support um and his commitment to our great city of Camden um thank you and have a blessed and healthy 2025 are there any other board members that would like to [Music] speak again I would like to thank everyone again I would like to also again thank Father Adam my spiritual Mentor thank you very much father Adam thank you and many blessings and thanks everyone for being here and superintendent and my colleagues thank you and happy New [Music] Year there any other board members that would like to speak yes um I'd like to congratulate um all my board members all my colleagues um I know you guys for a good fight that election you guys are really dedicated to running you know with the t-shirts and all and um so I know I'm looking forward to continuously working with you guys and I want to congratulate um Mr gashaw and um kamano on the team and I want to also congratulate uh Janette Alvarez for being vice president again and um I also like to um congratulate our our president nanami Nelson and our administrator and the administratives and Katrina mcoms the superintendent thank you thank you there any other board members that have anything to say um I would just like to congratulate board member Alvarez um and board member Nelson on getting reappointed as President and Vice President also thank you um to the mayor for swearing swearing Us in and for his leadership of his great city um and thank you to everybody here for being here yeah that's it thank you thank you any other board members so I would like to Echo everything that my fellow board members said again congratulations to everyone um thank you for everyone's support um unfortunately I to hear all of uh Mr delgado's uh question so I'll make sure that I go back and follow up give uh Mr Delgado a response on behalf of the [Music] board if there's nothing else at this time I turn the meeting back over thank you thank you president Nelson the last thing I will say before we adjourn I have distributed the oath of office for each board member's signature I have also distributed the code of ethics um as I read it is requir that those are signed and returned so if you could please sign um both the oath of office for the newly elected officers and the code of ethics and return those to me um that would be great if nothing else is there a motion to adjourn motion by Mr Hudson seconded by Miss Garcia all in favor any exensions oppositions wonderful have a happy New Year and good evening