##VIDEO ID:bNqAs5bOzjE## Good evening. Welcome to our meeting. And please join me for the pledge of allegiance. Mrs. Sugars. Can you call the role? Please. Mrs. Chirane. Here. Mrs. Gallagher here, Mr. Greenbaum, Mr. Mayor, Dr. Rude. This is Niaz. Mrs. Tong. Mrs. Winters, here, Miss Stern. Here. Not just read the public notice. Public notice of this meeting, pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act has been given by the Board secretary. On August 6th and August the 7.th 2024, in the following manner. Post a notice on the school bulletin board at the Administration Building. Transmitted to the Courier Post, Philadelphia, and the clerk of Cherry Hill Township. Okay, so. We have noteboard. Do we have any board recognition tonight? And we have some. Presentations, tonight. Turn over to you, Dr. Morton. Alright. Thank you very much, Miss Stern. So we actually have 2 presentations this evening. The 1st presentation will be preschool. Update. Being that will be provided by Dr. Mayhan, and I know members of our pre school staff. Have joined us this evening as well, but I'll turn it over to Dr. Mayhem. Sorry we're delayed. Thank you. Sorry about that. Technical difficulties. So I would like to thank the Board and Dr. Morton for the opportunity to share information on preschool. So I always like to start with pictures. Because it is a reminder of the students that we serve. This image is a reading event, where students from our high schools went to the preschool locations and read books. So not only are we fostering the academic development and love of reading for our youngest learners, we are also providing opportunities for our high school students. To volunteer and to be role models again for our youngest learners. So I just wanted to remind you as a quick refresher, how did we get here? So here are just some quick pointers expansion, a quick snapshot. So 5 years to implement 90% of our universe. What our class size is that we converted our entire half day program to full day. In using state approved. So on this slide. I want to highlight some major accomplishments over the past 10 months which have allowed preschool to come to fruition. We were told from the beginning. That applications get rejected by the Njoe. So that we needed to be meticulous with the application. We exhausted every avenue to ensure that we had a strong and competitive. Ms. Edwards and I worked with variety of stakeholders, both in and out of the district. To present an application that reflected the high standards of Cherry Hill public schools. In addition to that, there was collaboration across departments to ensure that the preschool vision matched the facilities. Which led to the application and awarding of additional funding for preschool. These 2 things, highlight. The 1st bullet being awarded the preschool expansion. Aid funds on the 1st application. And then the second bullet, which I'll which I will continue to expand on. We were awarded additional funding for the building of 16 additional classrooms. And bathroom renovations at Malber. Again, these things would not have been possible without the support across many departments. While I highlight the work with Mrs. Sugars and the facilities department. These are only. This is, that is only one piece to a very large puzzle. I could have spoken to the Registration Department getting all the students. Or the chance to. Transportation departments, securing bus routes. Ensuring. Every bus was properly outfitted, and had an aid to support with students loading and unloading the bus. Where the Hr. Department and helping to vet teachers at the private provider sites. The list goes on and on. Which leads to my next point. We are 8 months. Into a 5 year expansion. Let me repeat myself. We are 8 months. Into a 5 year expansion. The application for preschool was submitted in August of 2023. We are now almost one year later. We were notified of the award. On October 18.th We implemented Full day preschool districtwide on the 1st 2,024 or second. As again, we are 8 months into a 5 year expansion. I think it is critical for everyone in the room and online to understand that we are in the infancy of building. Our full universe of eligible preschool students. And again I have to highlight. We continue to have a stellar preschool program. And we have been strategic and intentional in accelerating our. Enrollment over a 5 year period. So again, because, you know, sometimes I can't help myself. We are 8 months into a 5 year expansion. And what does that mean for us. That was a hundred 9 school days. And we have yet to. Enter the 2,02425 school year. So. We are on a path to preschools. And with this pass to. Comes, time for. Reflection. And it is imperative that we reflect, because again, as we are 9 months into, or 8 months into a 5 year implementation of adding months on 8 months in. There are certainly growing pains that we have experienced. And things that we certainly recognize that we need to correct. So I start with the strengths or things that we could highlight. It brings me no greater joy than to report that we have happy students. And when we have happy students, we have happy parents. And that was consistent across all of our preschool provider locations this year. The program has been implemented with fidelity, which again supports. Happy and engaged students. And then. I mentioned course correcting to excellence, because sometimes we don't have happy students. And we need to correct as we are building the program. And we recognize that in order to. Move to excellence. We have to make changes to the program along the way. A second strength is the curriculum we have been able to enhance the implementation of creative at the preschool level. That program is not new to the, to the district and or to the preschool. But we have had multiple opportunities to implement with fidelity. Provide consistency with materials and resources and training. And. Growth. In what we have seen, our students be able to do. Next, Developmental Growth. So these are things that you may look at and chuckle. But for preschool students. These are huge milestones. So when you are able to speak to a preschool student. Engaging in family style, meals. Sharing in snack. Talking and having conversations across the table. Expanding their food palette. These are major milestones. We are supporting, toileting with our preschool students. Social interactions through play is daily. And then independence. This is one that I'm not sure. They will have it. By the time they end preschool, but cleaning up after themselves. I'm still working on that in the mayhand household, you know, some decision making and just overall independence are all things that we have seen. Our students certainly grow in over the last again, 109 school days. Additionally professional development. So professional development was abundant this year. And I would have to say possibly too much, and I never thought I would say that as a curricularist, or one who is responsible for professional development in the district, because I'm always begging for more. Pd. Time. But Miss Edwards certainly put forth a professional development plan. That was. Aggressive. But necessary to ensure that we were able to implement our programs with Fidel. And I think that has helped to ensure the academic growth of our students. And again, I just want to highlight that teaching and creative curriculum are not new to Malberg, but we have been able to enhance the capacity of both of those programs. This year we also had professional development in second step, which is our social, emotional learning program. It replaced Al's pals. Which had been used in previous years. And lastly. As we think about professional development. Miss Edwards, who is the Malberg Early Childhood Center, and Soneta Braun, who is the preschool instructional coach, participated in the early childhood environmental rating scale training. It was 5 days of. And on this slide I think I captured it. Very quickly trained, observed. And the most important to this is that we passed, and not only did we pass. We pass with flying color, so that we are able to not only train our own staff, but we can also train other staff. Which is a kudos, sorry to myself and the others who participated, because again, we were told that. People do not always pass on the 1st go-around, and there is. Inner reader, reliability with all of our scores, what we are observing in classrooms, and the measures that we are expected to assess. All of our classes. The early childhood environment scale, also known as Eckers. Is used as a way to measure a range of factors that impact. A child's experience, including pre, K. Cognitive social, emotional, physical and health and safety areas. So while all of those things really highlight. Grow strength. There are certainly growth areas. So. Some areas to highlight, where we can certainly improve. Communication. So the 1st thing. Is the icon. So in the bottom right hand corner of all my slides, you see. The icon for preschool. We were sending things out, and that is. The icon that is used for Malburg, and things were saying Malberg, and we changed that because we want it to be inclusive of the other private provider sites. And when thinking about the other private provider sites. Recognizing that we are no longer dealing with one school in isolation that is, in district building. But. 3. Additional. Or 2 additional locations which we also needed to bring into the fold. So we recognize that communication needs to be more frequent, more timely, and more consistent. Across all of our locations. And I will speak to this more because, as we continue to expand, we will have additional private sites for the 2425 school year. Another area of growth is community engagement. We heard numerous times from numerous stakeholders that there was not a sense of community, and Malberg has had a very strong sense of community over the years. And that seemed to. Be a little diminished with the expansion. Families who were at the private provider. Sites felt like they were not necessarily included in all of the things that the district has to offer. So again, I will speak to this in a few more slides. But I have to give credit to Amanda Gerard, who is our community parent involvement specialist, who I will introduce shortly. For creating a calendar of events. So when you talk about, how are we? Course correcting along the way. We have a. Full year calendar of events that was shared today, not only with all of the private sites to give us input to ensure that we're all on the same page. But it is also being shared with the early Childhood Advisory Committee. It was shared today in an agenda. And asked all of those members to please take a look so that they could provide feedback. The application process. So last year we were awarded in October, and the program started January first, st and we had to get everyone registered. We began the registration process much earlier this year. And. We try to. Ensure that all of our forms. Things that we may have possibly missteped on last year were addressed this year. So 2 concrete examples, the 1st one is that we included. Do you need before and after care. As part of the registration process. That was one thing that we've included. Second thing we did was, we asked very specific questions to determine if families could potentially be categorically eligible for head start services so that we would be able to capture those families. One component of the preschool expansion grant is to ensure that we are. Outreaching to historically underrepresented populations. To ensure that they are included in the program. So again, some things that we of course, corrected for 2024, 25 registration. And the last area. That I have to highlight, and I would be not. Is. Malberg is certainly in a time of transition, so. While Malberg has had a stellar reputation. With preschool expansion. There definitely needed to be changes that occurred. Those changes needed to occur to align with the expectation of the preschool expansion. Grant. And with that. We have certainly seen some issues of trust which I can say I have contributed to, because there are things that are nonnegotiable in preschool, and my role as assistant superintendent, being as actively involved in a building is, is not typical, but in this particular instance I was there visible. Giving mandates. Saying what was non-negotiable, and also directing the building principle. So. You know, I think my communication style is different in this role than it was as a building principal. And when we're trying to implement a wholesale. Change. That can sometimes be. You know. Not always received in the way that you intend for it to be received. So that is a course correction. We had a major shift from a half day program to a full day program that is historical in. The opportunities that we are able to offer here in Cherry Hill. That is definitely a shift in what we have seen in previous years. We also shifted. To a much more academic focus. We went from a 3 h day to a 6 h day. And. Although we still have a play-based mentality, there is an academic component that cannot be. Pushed off. It is certainly an academic based program. We have also switched how we utilize some of our spaces in the building. The Ap. Is being used for gross motor activities and Ot support. So. We have also seen some turnover in staff. However, we see this as an opportunity to build a solid foundation. I can assure you, as educators, the initial training we received and the realities we face daily in the classroom do not always match. So. While there is change, and if change comes, opportunity, and I think that we have a great opportunity to continue to build upon the excellent. Program which Malberg is known for in the community. But expanding that, and not only that, across. The private provider, sites. So preschool is popular. So here's another picture. This is just one of the many activities that we had last year. We had a swim school come out to speak to our students about water safety, and you can see that. Nemo has a very captive. Audience there. So. Everyone wants a seat in Cherry Hill Public Schools preschool, and if we could go back. Again. I remind you just. 8 short months ago I would have said we need to have. 1,700 seats from day. One. Now is that. Possibility. We all know that is not the case. However. The popularity of full day preschool is definitely there. Everyone wants to get into the program, even in a private provider site, recognizes that this can be. Have a have a tremendous impact on a on a family. So, not only academically, but also financially. So we had 538 families. And we have been able to move numerous families off the waitlist and continue to move students as slots become available. Unfortunately. There are still 280 families on the waitlist. So. You need a full team. I am learning from day one for preschool, and that is certainly something that I would recommend to any other district who. Is writing a preschool. Aid application. So. Tonight. I would like to introduce. The newest members of our team. And I'm looking. Forward to working closely with these individuals. I'm a strong believer in collaboration. Critical discourse and reflection to develop a strong academic program. This was already demonstrated through the implementation of the Full Day kindergarten program, and we have really worked to replicate that with the implementation of. Preschool Expansion. So with that, I'd like to turn your attention to the audience. And I'm gonna. Call out my. I would like. Diana Polito, to please stand. She is the preschool intervention and referral specialist. She is a veteran teacher from Malberg. With, I believe, 20 years of experience in the classroom. She comes to this role with a depth of knowledge and expertise. Next, I would like to introduce Amanda Gerard, who is the community involvement specialist. She is new to Cherry Hill, but not new to community outreach and parental involvement. She is a former Dcp. And PP. Worker, who. Numerous connections to social service agencies, as well as. Private community partners. Thank you. Amanda. Next we have Katherine Briggs. Who is the preschool social worker. Catherine comes to us with experience at the preschool level. She was a former. Cpis. So Amanda's role in a different district, and but she has a background in social work. So she comes to us. With experience, and eager to join the Cherry Hill Public Schools team. Thank you. And lastly, Zenetta Bronson, who is the preschool instructional coach. This is formally known as the master teacher at the preschool. Zanetta has been in Cherry Hill now for. 5 years. And comes to us with over 20 years of experience as a preschool educator, and has transitioned into the role as preschool instructional coach. Earlier. I mentioned the Eckers Training. So I like to say that I'm pretty competitive. And I found out there might be somebody else. In the ranks with me, who is more competitive. And Zanetta pushed me and Miss Edwards to be better. I can tell you that. So her knowledge of creative. And her ability to see what is happening in a classroom is stellar. So. I strongly believe that this team. Working closely with me. Now, all of you, please stand back up again. Because when I speak to the We of Preschool, this is who I'm speaking to. So again. Just so, everyone knows we have Amanda Gerard, who is the community parent involvement specialist. Next Zenetta Bronson, who is the preschool instructional coach. Then we have Diana Polito, who is the preschool intervention and referral specialist. And lastly, Catherine Briggs, who is the preschool worker. All of these positions come directly from preschool aid, and as we continue to expand the program, we will have more. Preschool, instructional coaches, social workers. And intervention and referral specialist. So. I can tell you that with the support of these 4 individuals, I think that many of the things that I mentioned earlier as areas of. Growth. Will certainly be remedied, because when you have a full team it certainly makes a difference. So. Just by them. Being here tonight is a testament to the collaboration that has already taken place and the collaboration that is to come. So thank you so much. Thank you, but I'm not done so. Five-year growth. So in our initial application to the Department of Education, we were asked to include projected growth over a 5 year period to get our full universe of eligible 3 and four-year-olds. This is what was submitted. So I just wanna remind everyone as a district what we actually submitted. I share this because there is a notion that we are not growing when, in fact, we are growing, and as a district we were intentional regarding a slow start and accelerated enrollment in years 3, 4, and 5, based on additional classroom space and partnering with private providers. A major factor that contributes to the success of our program is partnering with private providers. We must have private providers. In order to make this successful. When you talk about 1,700 students that equates to approximately 116 classrooms. The Department of Ed and other districts candidly with us, when we initially applied the importance of partnerships and the demands. Extending outside of the school district will create. So something else to consider is that overall with preschool we did see a decrease in overall enrollment initially. Because we converted our half day program to full day. I think sometimes that's lost in the conversation, but that is where we saw a decrease. So previously, when a teacher had 2 classrooms. Up or 2 sessions of preschool with 20 students each. When we converted. Now they had one class of 15 for a full day. So that certainly impacts the numbers overall. So. Where are we? So. For this year again. I keep saying 8 months, but we've had 109 school days from our January start date. Discovery Corner had 3 classes. Malberg had 11 classes. Mosaic had 3 classes, and you see the number of students at each location. So the total preschool expansion equaled 189 students. That does not include the number of students who are receiving services through inclusion. That are also. At our locations. So a total of 255 students for 2324. I also note that these numbers do not include students in our self, contained classes. This year. We had approximately 71 students in self contained. So as I move through the next few slides, keep in mind that we are serving as many eligible preschool students as possible, but through different funding sources. So we're funding students through preschool expansion as well as through general funds. With special education funds. I highlight this, because, even though we have 5 years to meet our preschool universe in my mind. Students who are eligible for services are included in that preschool number. So where are we for 2024, 25. So. I'm just gonna start at the bottom and work my way up on this slide again. These numbers do not include students who participate in our self-contained classes, but we do anticipate approximately 80 students and self-contained classes for this coming school year. We are increasing by 8 classes, which is 120 seats. So from last year to this year. And when I say last year. Again we're talking January first.st To. Now we're adding 8 additional classes and 120 additional seats. You can see on the chart that we are also partnering with cadence Academy, new to us this year, as well as Kindercare, who is new to us this year. I also want to add. So you'll see our overall numbers in terms of preschoolption students and then students, if you include. Our inclusion. Students in that number, as well. Well. I think sometimes again lost in translation, when we share numbers. There are not actually. 309 students who are going to be selected to participate this year. Why? Because the program is for 3 and 4 year olds. So if you are selected in the program as a 3 year old, you remain in the program. So. You really are taking that number, minus the number of 3 year olds who are currently enrolled in the program and then selecting the remaining seats. So every year we have to continue to add. So I just showed a slide where you could see all of the private providers that we are working with. So I just wanna take a minute for those who are in the audience, those who are online, those who are in the community and the media who is here tonight. If they would like to publish this. This is a public service announcement. We are calling all private providers in Cherry Hill. We need you to make preschool expansion. As we continue towards serving our 3 and 4 year old universe, we must partner with private providers. We have reached out to all of the private providers in Cherry Hill as well as in the surrounding areas. If you're interested, please contact me. I have to say it will be difficult for us to reach our 5 year goal without these partnerships we do not have 116 classrooms in district to house, preschool students. Cal Rostaff, who is the supervisor of special projects, and I recently met with a possible organization to partner. So we continue to explore every possible avenue to partnerships. So the next few slides are really just reminders. I want to try to wrap up. This again is the schedule. That is followed. Tentatively followed at all of our locations. We continue to implement creative curriculum and use teaching. One of the questions that I recently received was. Do we still have traditional encore classes? So. PE. Art music at the preschool level. So as part of preschool expansion, encore classes which we have had in the elementary school. And have had some iteration of encore classes at the early childhood center are actually discouraged in the PA. Grant. So PA. Wants to maximize time in classroom and eliminate transition times. So with that being said. Through preschool expansion. They want to see opportunities for complete integration in the classroom, which includes art, music, library, all. Integrated in the academic setting. So these opportunities are not separate parts of the schedule, and students are not leaving the classroom for those. Transportation. Again, all of our buses have an aid. To support loading and unloading students. Buses are equipped with built-in car seats if necessary. Transportation information will be posted in Genesis for our preschool students, just like for our K. Through 12 students. And a huge kudos out to Linda King, who is our transportation supervisor and the members of the Transportation Department in. Not only securing all of the buses, securing the bus or preparing the bus bids, securing the buses, and making sure that all of our buses are equipped not only with a driver, but also an aid to support our youngest learners. Before and after care. So each location will have before and after prayer. Care. Pricing is set by the location. Times are set by the location. For Malberg right at school will be the provider we're working to get that information finalized again. The contract was awarded 2 weeks ago, so there was information that they needed from us. We have been working with Julie Lyons to ensure that she has everything she needs. Today. Amanda, who I just introduces the community involvement specialist and I were working on a flyer with all the details for all the before and after care programs. That will be shared with parents. In their back to school. Information. But private providers have already begun to share the information with parents as requested. To my knowledge, the only location that does not have this information to date. Is the malbery childhood center which is forthcoming. Communication, so. Again, as we think about, how can we course correct to improve and Address the areas of growth. We talked about a calendar of events. Consistency planning ahead and community partnerships. A newsletter that will now be coming from. The community parent involvement specialists because we want everyone to be in the know. And then the Pta. So Malberg has had. Fluctuation with the Pta over the years, because, you know, as a preschool parent, I remember it just comes and goes so fast, and you're like, wait a minute. I didn't even join the Pta. And you want me to be the PTA. President. So. You know you're adjusting to for many of our families. It's their 1st child entering school, and the Pta may not necessarily be the priority. So. We definitely need parental support. One of the things that we are trying to bring back this year to Malber parents, not only at Malber, but also at the private provider sites, and then private provider liaisons, who will work closely with me and the directors at each of the locations. So just some ideas to ensure that we have an active and bustling Pta to support what is going on in the schools. The early Childhood Advisory Committee. We will be meeting. August 20 second, and then those are the dates for us to be meeting throughout. The academic year. And then, lastly, and I can tell you, this is this is completely my fault. I own it. So everyone heard me say it. Preschool orientation. So we scheduled. I scheduled. I won't say a week, because it's not we. It's me I scheduled orientation and K. Orientation on the same day same time. So we do that because it gives teachers an opportunity to prepare their classrooms and to welcome students into the room for the 1st time, so that they can see their classroom before the 1st day of school. I underestimated the number of families who have a preschool student and a K student. So. Parents have reached out to me. Next year we will change the times and the dates. We try to stay away from the Friday before Labor Day weekend, which is why we do them on Thursday. So. I will adjust those times next year. So if anyone has had a conflict that has reached out, I've told the private providers to please accept all of the preschool families to accept. Students either earlier or after, so that they can certainly see the location. In advance, and if that's not the case, please feel free to reach out to me because I have had several calls, and I've had even some district staff who have children who are going to preschool nk, reach out and say, like Farrah, what are you? You know? What are you thinking? What are you doing? So definitely an area of growth for. Next year. I end with just some artwork. I believe this is from. Dr. Morton's office. We had some preschool artwork hung. As we do all the time, and this is from the. Visit. So again, we always like to highlight what our preschool students are doing, and we know that we will continue to have a stellar preschool program. As we move forward. Might recognize some people in that picture. Any questions. Mr. Mayor. Not not a ton of questions. 1st of all, let me thank you. In particular, for. Not not glossing over areas of growth. I think. You know. Sometimes we tend to do that. And it's not helpful. You know. Rolling out such a. Multifaceted brand new major major initiative like this was going to. Create some issues and and speed bumps. I don't think any of them were necessarily unanticipated. I I but I really appreciate the fact that you've taken some time, and your team has taken time to. Figure out! You know. How to take those as learning moments and move forward and and to improve so. Thank you for that. And specifically for recognizing that. Even in your role, and, as as you said earlier, your communication style has to be a little bit different. That that is refreshing. And I think speaks Loudly for how successful you and this program is going to be. And I know how competitive you are. And. That you don't settle for success, and seeing that there's areas of opportunity and growth, I think. You know, it's the kind of thing that. You're going to excel it. And the program. Thank you. And for the team. Everyone that's come out here today. We appreciate that. Greatly. I do have a question. Little, more specifically. In the next. 4 months and 4 years. Assuming my math is correct. Growth is. You know that's a concern. You've talked about it. I know that you're aggressively. Trying to identify. Private providers. Can you give me a little idea of. Hey! What does that look like? Aside from from. Trying to. Just get the word out that we're looking. We'd like to partner with you. Can you? Can you give us a little more detail on. Like, how does that go? How are you. Identifying who might be out there. What is the approach. And then, more importantly, for me. If you had a magic one, what could we, as a board do to help. Support, your efforts. Bring new private providers on. Okay, great questions, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. So what is the approach? So again, we try to replicate what we did for the implementation of full day with. The implementation of preschool expansion. So I already had a relationship with. All of the private providers. In the community, because. Approximately 7 years ago I went out to all of them and said. Hi, sorry. We're gonna be implementing full day, which may impact your programs. So. We started this conversation again 7 years ago, not connected to preschool, but to full day. So what does that outreach look like. I reached out. To all of them there's approximately 40 something private providers in Cherry Hill township. We invite them into district. We meet actually in this room. I share a presentation with them about preschool expansion. What does preschool expansion include? What does it entail? What are the expectations and the requirements for the program. Some of them invite me out to their site to see if they even meet the general specifications. You know, 750 square feet minimum for classroom space, bathrooms in line of sight. Of the classroom and or in the classroom looking at certifications of their current staff. So. Then. You know we start the conversation there. If a private provider asked for more details. I will meet with them in like one on one meetings, and some of them have questions around, you know. Tell me more about the financial part. And I ask Vicki Silver, who is our preschool specialist? To come and sit in and talk to them about that. If they have questions about transportation, Linda King sits in. So we try to really target and individualize the conversations. Once we have the large group conversation, then it really trickles down to small group conversations. I also do. Site visits the those site visits meeting with the director, going over the specifications again, walking their facility. Looking at their outdoor place. Their parking lot, transportation bus potential drop off and pickups. And then they either say, Hmm! We're not really interested at this time, or Hey, it's something we'd like to explore. So. Even though I've I've probably done that 4 times since we started to pursue expansion and will continue to do that. Sometimes people reach out to me I've also reached out to. There are a number of. Private provider locations that are being built in the township. I also reach out to their corporate offices to ask them if they would be interested. So before they even accept, actually, before they're even built. They just have a sign on the property I'm reaching out to say, would you even be interested in just having your entire building as preschool expansion for Cherry Hill. So that's how we're. Reaching. The second question support the effort. From the board with private providers, I mean, if you see any signs going up, if you have any connections with private providers. Certainly share my information so that I can reach out to them. If you know anyone who has. You know, warehouse space that's already converted and outfitted. That would like to have preschool expansion. That's also an option. So. Hopefully, that answers. You're welcome. Any other. I'm a scholar. So Mr. Mayor kind of took one of my questions about just expansion. So. Malberg, specifically, looking at the number of students that are at Malberg. It shows 99 students with, Is it 1011 classrooms. Do we have a smaller enroll? Do we have a do we have a smaller enrollment in those classrooms? We do not. So. The reason why there are 99 students is because. We have. Inclusion. So 6 of the seats. So although there's 15 seats, 6 of those seats are designated for inclusion. So students who have Who are identified for special services. Okay? That makes sense. And then speaking of Malbrick as well, so as the population of Preschool increases. Do you see the concern that Malberg will not. That Malberg will not meet the needs of our preschool. Preschool. My gosh! Population pre. Special education, preschool population. Did I say that correctly? Yes, I got you. We're on the same page. So. I do not. I think so far we have been able to do a really nice job with supporting. The students. Who are identified as preschool, disabled. And again I think. Your conversation goes down 2 paths. So we have students who participate in inclusion. And then we have students who participate in self-contained classes. So. You know, as our population continues to grow, I don't. The supports that are incoming students will need. But to date. We have been able to provide all the necessary services and supports for them. Great. Thank you. You're welcome. Mrs. Winters. Thanks just to Piggyback off Ms. Gallagher's question, even though they're not preschool students. One of the things that happened when we converted from half day to full day. Was that all of our half day special education students also went to full day. So can you just talk a little bit about the benefit of the expanded opportunities for special education students. And the opportunities for inclusion that they have with the preschool education students as well. Yes, so. I think one of the things that we always talk about. In life is the gift of time. So anytime you are able to have. Students. Whether identified as preschool, disabled or not, who are participating not only in in a 6 h program versus a 3 h program certainly lends itself to having more. Academic experiences, social experiences. Developmentally appropriate experiences. So I think that's 1 of the major factors that will support. Our students not only in the preschool, self-contained classrooms, our inclusion students as well as our general education students. I think that's a universal. Can be applied universally. Benefits or opportunities for inclusion. I think that this is something that continues to be an area in which we need to do better. While there are. Certainly opportunities for all of our students to participate in programs. I think we definitely need to think about more strategically how we have. Our self-contained. And our general education students in daily interactions engaging so that could look, you know. And I'm I'm really thinking beyond. Assemblies. And things like that, but really opportunities for play, not only in the classroom, but on the playground opportunities when they are in the all purpose room for. Organize gross motor skills and find motor skills. Opportunities for reading and play based interactions. I think that's something that we certainly need to be more strategic about while those opportunities did occur this year. I think that the. The volume in which they occurred was not to the expectation that we would like. Thank you. I mean, you know, I'm Preschool's biggest fan, and I had 3 kids go through the former Barclay program and one of the greatest benefits I had. To typically developing in one special education student at Malber. And one of the benefits was the interaction between all the different populations in that building. I thought it was an ass. To all of my students growth to interact with all different kinds of preschoolers. And the building supported that. So that's something that. I'm looking forward to continuing to evolve going forward. I just wanted to also, just connecting to some of the other work we've done in Cni this year. Those of you on the committee the rest of the board. You know that we did an evaluation of the Full Day kindergarten program that Dr. Mayhan also headed years ago, and I was a parent on that committee. And one of the things that the kindergarten brought out was the importance of social interactions for our kindergartners, and how that's a kindergarten skill. And I just really believe that this preschool program is gonna support, that I think that the social interaction that kids are practicing at ages 3 and 4. We're gonna see that migrating up to the kindergarten level and strengthening that which was a core competency, that kindergarten teachers and 1st grade teachers, when we asked them called out. And I also think that the switch to second step at the preschool level. Which is the social emotional learning program that we have from K to 5, aligning that from Pre. K. All the way to 5 now is gonna help. Because our kindergarten teachers and our 1st grade teachers called out social emotional learning as a core competency, something they wanted to focus on in full day, and I think backing that up into the preschool curriculum, having it be the same program now from H. 3. All the way up through 5th grade is just gonna help strengthen those competencies for those students. And I also just really wanted to commend you for the scale. It's something that I'm very familiar with. From the work that I did years and years ago, and it really is. It's rigorous. It's thorough. And I want to commend you and your entire team for the work you put into that. It's such a key component of this program that our classrooms are set up the way they should be. Our kids are learning what they need to learn, and also that our classrooms are consistent. And I think that's it. When I, when people talk to me about the preschool program, one of the key questions I get asked is, how are we assuring that there's consistency among classrooms. Both within malber and then also. Now in our private sites, and the echer scale is the mechanism by which we measure and know that our kids who are at Discovery Corner are receiving the same Cherry Hill Preschool experience as our kids at Marlborough. Same with the new providers coming online mosaic. All of those. So I just really commend you, because that is a huge accomplishment for the district, for your team. So thank you so much. I did have just one more question. One thing that wasn't touched on the presentation, but was mentioned. Was our head start preschool students. So could you just give me a little bit of information on what are the. The special supports. And benefits that our head start. Preschool students receive as part of that program. So families who participate at mosaic. Well, let me just clarify that we have. Students at the Mosaic Early Learning Center, who are. A. Not eligible for head start. They are considered a private classroom, and then we have students who are eligible for. Head start services. If your child is assigned to Mosaic. Whether you are eligible or not, you receive access to. So some of the things that they provide are full wraparound services to support nutrition and health and wellness. They have a nutrition and wellness. Coordinator on site. They also connect families to social service agencies for additional support. Whether that is. Helping. To reinstate. Taniff or snap benefits, or needing support from a food pantry or needing support. With. Clothing, and other. You know, access to the Internet or helps paying your Psc and G bill. So they have someone similar to what we have as the community parent involvement specialists. That person is called a family worker, and their. Role is sole engagement with the families to make sure that they are supported in all aspects of their child's development. And that support reaches out even to supports for the family. So not only are they looking at the preschool child who is in the building. They are also looking at. The family makeup they do home Visits. And they provide. What I would call full wraparound services to support the entire family through a social service agency, perspective. That is phenomenal. And wonderful. Thank you so much for everything that you did to effectuate that, because I think it's really gonna be a difference maker for our families when we. Talking Cni, about some of the disparities and the gaps that we see that begin to become apparent as early as Grade 3 we were talking about in the last meeting. I think that when you back that up and you look at supporting our families in all the ways that we can, accessing every funding stream, every benefit we can get. To ensure that all of our children have the same opportunities starting in preschool at age 3 and going forward. I think it's really gonna make a difference as these children grow through the years. So thank you for everything that you're doing. I do appreciate it. Thank you. Miss Chirpine. So 1st I wanted you did a great job of shouting out your team, but I wanted to give a personal shout out to Ms. Gerald, and even Miss Case Abner, for being very responsive and helpful in their communication. So thank you. I also don't have questions, but just a few comments. The one thing that I know we did a good job of finding a provider site, for at Malberg it's something that I think might. Arise in the future, and something that maybe we can start having conversations about is if there's any way of. Standardizing those costs across. I know we don't have jurisdiction over private providers, but. Just putting it out there that maybe that's something that we can start talking about. Given that they are kind of allowed to charge whatever they want. Essentially. The other thing. This presentation was very helpful. So maybe we can figure out how to get stuff like this into new websites and things that we're doing in the future. I think that was very helpful. Another thing, and this might already be happening, and my apologies, if it is, I don't know but. Another thing that maybe we can start talking about is how I know at Malber we have standard assessment tools that this teachers use for the students. I'm not sure if the provider sites use things at all, or like that. So that might be something that we need to discuss. And I'm gonna put another plugin for this. I said a couple meetings ago. But now that we're going to hopefully have. Hundreds of children in preschool. I know that I've. Seen a lot of children in elementary schools, and I can pick out the ones that were clearly kids and clearly ones that were not. And now that we have a tremendous hopefully in the future have, we'll have a tremendous amount of children. That have at least 2 years of some sort of. Standard or structured schooling before they get to kindergarten. Maybe that's something we can look into for enrollment in kindergarten. So this is not really necessarily. Me directing this towards you, but something I know we mentioned I mentioned last a couple of meetings ago of enrollment into kindergarten, and that cut off that we? It's a strict. Date of birth, and now that we'll have children that are hopefully more prepared for kindergarten when they come in, if there's any way that we can. Reassess that for children that might be. Beyond their kindergarten year. By the time they get to kindergarten, because of that experience. Just something again. I don't know what that looks like, but something that we can hopefully start talking about. Thank you. So in regards to enrollment. That conversation will circle back to me, because that's a policy. So now I have P. And L. And then. Ms. Branson, please correct me if I'm wrong. But we do have consistent assessment tools across the. Across the private provider sites. We use teaching strategies, goal. And that is a compliment to creative curriculum. Thank you. You're welcome. A sister. So, just. A few things. So you know. Exciting to see already how much has changed. And and for the you know how much we've learned and how much has happened. I should say. In such a short time. It's. Exciting to think about how In demand. This is which. Of course, makes sense, but it's still I don't think there's too much that's more popular in Cherry Hill right now than preschool. So, in terms of the demand and the interest and the excitement. So it's great. I wanna thank you for Providing the Eac dates, the Quarterly Meeting dates. It's something that I think would be incredibly helpful. In terms of communication in terms of stakeholder engagement. In terms of, you know, the growth areas. I do? Wanna ask? If you know in terms of the communication cause, that's always a pain point. If we, it's a pain point for our entire district, it's an area that we. You know, have a big survey that. You know, came through that, you know, showed we we need better communication across the board. Right? So I think, in terms of. The families at Malberg on that newsletter that you referenced, which is fantastic. Do you Have an anticipated date that that will go out. For those families. And and what kind of information is typically in the Newsletter, just to give us an idea. So the newsletter that has gone out this year was generated by Ms. Edwards, who's the principal of the early childhood center. The messaging goes out weekly to families, which is one of our board and district goals in terms of communication weekly with our families to ensure that we are communicating. This year we are taking a slightly different approach again. Mr. Gerard will be leading that. Up along with the other individuals in the room, but she will be taking the lead. We want to highlight. All of the locations. So each of the locations will be asked to provide something for that newsletter. That's the vision, and then there will be. Areas for the community involvement specialists to have highlights about upcoming events, opportunities for Barbc Abner, who is the preschool nurse to have like, hey! This is a quick tip for you, for. Healthy habits in hygiene for your preschooler. There will be opportunities for the social worker to talk about how we can. Miss Briggs, talk about how you can support your child from a social emotional perspective. So. And also Ms. Polito. Here are some strategies that you could potentially use to support behaviors at home. So there are, and you know, and in schools. So we already. Try to. Segment. All of the different areas that really lend itself to the overall preschool program, and then thinking about when we would insert them into the Newsletter strategically during the academic year when they make the most sense. So. That's the framework we have. It will continue to be most likely on. I want to say, canva heather esposito! Help me out. What are we. Okay, yeah. Canva there, there's some. There's a different one. Where we build the. Newsletters! And then they are distributed out to the community. So. That sounds great. Sounds like a lot of really great information. In terms of communication with the incoming families. For this year so, and I don't know if I misheard you. But. I. Thought you said that the private provider sites have had. Kind of a incoming. Family newsletter communication, but the Malber hadn't gone out, so I guess maybe I misunderstood what when. Had those families gotten information like our Malberg families, in terms of. You know. Introduction, you know. Welcome to the new school year, you know. Information all like. Has that all gone out already? Or when will that go out? If not. So consistent with the rest of the district. I believe that is all supposed to go out around the 20. Second, I have to go back and refer to the memo that Dr. Birdie and Mr. Guy prepared for us, so that communication will come out from my office with. A school calendar. Welcome to the academic year similar to what our K. 5 buildings currently send out to families. What you referenced in regards to Malberg. Information. That was only in regards to the before and after program. Not anything else. So right now our parents have received, and again, like Bus information will load into Genesis for all of our families to have. They already know the location that they've been assigned to. They have all been invited to the preschool orientation. So additional information will come out with how we share communication across the K 12 spectrum. And I guess the question. And it's it's not asking for an answer. But just the thought is, you know, is that. Because we hear so much of this. You know, there's a lot of uncertainty. These are new families to the district. Their kids are very little. A lot of them have a lot of understandable questions, concerns about their kids, riding buses and their kids. You know Getting to know their classrooms. You know, and I and I really appreciate, you know that. Ensured that those families do get to bring those kids the provider of the time of day. If they have, you know, kids visiting kindergarten, I mean, I remember my kids. Meaning their kindergarten teacher, and you know one of them just refused to walk, and he just refused to go. He literally just laid on the floor and wouldn't walk, you know. There it's there's some of them are really scared about it, so. You know, I I wondering if we wanna look at. And this is, I guess, more for the A/C committee. But you know, earlier times. Giving them more lead up time, and I think especially to thinking about. Before and after care. You know families plan months in advance. Yeah, families spend months in advance for childcare, for you know, if they're in daycare, they plan months in advance, sometimes years believe they're not, which is amazing, but and you know, after performing after care. It's just, you know, I think, understanding the needs of those families. And I think many of us here are also parents who work outside the home and understand that. So you know, really making sure that they have enough lead time. So. You know, as a as a kind of like a growth opportunity. I guess it sounds like. Whether or not it makes sense to align it with kindergarten and high school kids that their information going on I don't know, and I don't know if you know, if we know that from other. You know, other places have been doing this more than 8 months, so which hasn't been that long, necessarily, except, I guess, the former Abbot districts. They've been doing it a lot, you know, 2025 years, I guess it is. But yeah, so. Those are kind of thoughts of mine. Thank you. Point noted. Thank you. Anyone else. Thank you so much. And again, if we all I just want to say tonight, I know this was very long longer than you've probably ever heard me speak. But. We have a full team. I'm excited to work with that team. And team. You got to see what Dr. Mayne goes through with these meetings, so just know that as we move forward you will hear less of my voice and more of the team's voice, because similar to the implementation of full day. This is not. Dr. Mayhans program. This is a district program with a variety of voices helping to ensure that we have a successful implementation and program, and without the support of. A number of departments. And many of the individuals you see here in the room tonight. We would not be where we are right now. Again, 8 months in 109 school days, in so opportunities for growth. A path to excellence. And. Looking forward to the future. So thank you. Team. For supporting me this evening, and hope you took lots of notes, too. Thank you. Thank you so much to me and to the team. We really appreciate your being here enough. Summer night a few weeks before everything gets going. So. Alright, Dr. Morton, I understand we have another presentation. Absolutely. Yes, we. We have another presentation, another exciting one. Thank you so much, Dr. Mayhan and members of our preschool staff for joining us. At this point we'll call up. State. Homegrown. Mark. Is it possible that we can? We set her up with the microphone? Okay, fantastic. So we have a faith homegrown, Mr. Nora Santiago as well with us. Working along with Miss Staffin. And they are going to present Njpa data. I'll turn it over to you. Faith. All right. And everyone. Hear me! Okay, perfect. Good evening. My name is Faith Holmgren, and I work in the office of assessment along with my counterpart Nora. Formerly Santiago, or formerly small door, newly Santiago. I'm going to get it someday, nor. Tonight I am going to be presenting the results from Spring 2,024 New Jersey Proficiency assessment, which is also known as the Nj. Gpa. Before I begin and dive into the presentation. I would like to provide you with a few very key pieces of information. So the spring 2024 results that I'm presenting are compared to the results from spring. The spring 2022. Administration was a field test, and because. Of what is considered graduation ready. Changed from 7, 50 in 2,023. To 7, 20 2022, part sorry to 7, 20. 5 for 2023 and 2024. We were given the direction from the New Jersey Department of Education to not use those 2,022 results for comparison purposes. Okay, so we will only be comparing. 23 to 24. Hopefully, I will not get tongue-tied again. The New Jersey State statute requires the Njpa to be administered to all grade. 11 students. It is designed to measure the extent to which students are graduation ready. In Ela. English language, arts and mathematics. The eli component of the assessment is aligned to grade 10. And Jsls, Ela Standards. And the math component is aligned to. One as well as geometry, standards. As I just mentioned. The Proficiency Level Cut score for Ela and Mathematics was revised by the Njdo. In May of 2,023. From 7, 50. To 725. The students who take but do not meet the minimum cut score have a few ways in which they can meet the graduation assessment. They may retake the Ela and or mathematics component this coming fall. They may meet the designated cut score from the menu of substitute competency tests. Or. They may complete a portfolio. Moving into our data. Here you can find the comparison of how our district performs in the entire state. In spring of 23. As well as spring, of 2,024, for both Ela and mathematics. You will notice there are only 2 categories that our students can fall into. Graduation, ready. Or not graduation ready. For Ela. 91% of our students are considered graduation. Which is an increase. From 88.5 of our students in 2,023. 9% of our students were considered, not graduation ready for 24, which is a decrease. From 11.5% in 23. This is the trend that we want to see. Continue. For mathematics. 66.5 of our students are considered graduation. We saw a decrease in this data, from 23, of which 68.4 of our students were considered graduation ready. However. For 2024. We are still above the State average, which is 54.7. On the next 2 slides we will break down the. By school for each content area. Looking at the data for the Ela component of the assessment for our high schools. Again, you can find the comparison. Between 23. And 24. For spring 24, and east. 93.4 of our students are considered graduation ready. Compared to 95, and 20. And at west. 87.3 of our students are considered graduation ready compared to 86.3. And 20. And four-year review or information. We have also included. The student counts for each of these percentages. Moving on to the mathematics results by school. At east. 77.1 of our students are considered graduation ready. While 77.0% were considered ready, and 2023. So you will note that there was a very small increase here. But again an increase. And at high school, West. In 2024 50.3 are considered ready, while 59.5 of our students were considered graduation ready in 2,023. You have seen the comparison of how the district performed to the States in my earlier slide or to the State. I'm sorry in my earlier slides. Now on the next 2 slides. You can find the comparison between each high school. And the district as a whole. Here we start with East. You can see this data for 24. Compared to 2,023. For both Ela. And mathematics. Followed by the next slide, which includes that same data for high School West, comparing 23. For both content areas. We will now move on to the portion of the presentation that provides you with the Njdpa data by subgroup. Please note that the Blue Bar graph represents the year 2,023. And the Orange Bar Graph represents 24. Here you can find the subgroup for race and ethnicity for Ela, along with the comparison of years. The bar graph displayed at the far right of this chart indicates all students. So you are able to see. How these subgroups performed, comparable to all students. Here on this next slide. You can see that same data for those subgroups. For mathematics. Again comparing 20. To 24. The next 2 slides provide us with the data for the following subgroups. Students with disabilities. Our English language learners and economically disadvantaged. Here you can find that comparable data from 23 to 24 for English language arts. And the data for those same subgroups, for mathematics. So as we started to unpack the spring, 24 Njgpa data, a question arose around, how many of our students. We're within a close of passing this assessment. Often referred to as. Those who performed within the bubble. And we dove in and found some very interesting data which we will share over the next few slides. So here you can find this quote unquote bubble data for the district as a whole. For both Ela and mathematics. So keep in mind. The passing score for both content areas is 7. For Ela. As a district we have 17 students who performed within the 700 to 7 range. And 21 students who performed within the 7, 12 to 724 range. For mathematics. We have 91 students who performed within the 7, 12 to 724 range, and within that group alone. 26 of those students scored, either a 7, 24, or 7, 23. Here is that same data for high school, east. For both Ela and mathematics. For Ela. There were 11 students who performed within the 7, 12 to 724 range, and for math. 43 students performed within that 7, 12 to 7, 24 range, with 14. Either scoring 723 or 7, 20. And that same bubble data. For High School, West. 10 students fell into the 7, 12 to 724 category for English language arts. Well, 48. Students fell into that range for mathematics. 12 of those students. Scoring either a 723, or 724. So after combing through the data, we wanted to highlight a few notable achievements. For Ela. The district average for students who were graduation ready is above the state average. Also our students who are identified as economically disadvantaged. And graduation ready is above the state average for Ela. And is within 10% of the State average for mathematics. I also want to note that for Ela. Our Eols. Who are graduation ready, increased by 44%. And moving into the final portion of tonight's presentation. We will provide you with ways we are using this data. To provide interventions to our students. Here you can find a few intervention strategies that will be in place. For the 2425 school year for English language arts. We will use the Njgpa data to isolate specific standards that our students did not perform well on, and that we need to improve upon. We. We will use our district instructional coaches. To meet with Plc. Every year somebody asked me this question. So professional learning, community groups. And individual teachers to provide strategies for instruction. The office of Research research and assessment. We'll also support schools with data, analysis and standards. Articulation. An example of this are data summits. Which will begin early in the school year, specifically at the high schools. And for mathematics. We are continuing professional development, presented as we as they have in the past, by the folks at great minds. For both our teachers. As well as our administration. Similarly to what I mentioned for Ela. We will also use targeted interventions. Based upon this data. For our students. We will also be working with Staff to utilize the lesson, vernacular, or language that is used within Eureka, so that math teachers are speaking the same instructional language. And finally. The curriculum supervisors. Math coaches will support the data analysis during meetings with teachers, as I had mentioned through Ela in. Professional learning, communities. And they will also be implementing a multi tiered system of supports, which will we also sometimes refer to as Mtss. This will help us to identify specific needs and ongoing mathematics interventions for students in grades 9 through 11. That we identified, based on using both in-house data as well as the Njgpa data that I have just shared with you. So I know that this was a mouthful, and not as exciting as Dr. Mayhand's presentation before me. However Thank you all. And are there any questions. So. Thank you. So one of the questions that I asked when we got the presentation in our committee meeting was about the interventions, you know, heather from last year, because obviously, you know, we saw some. Things, some. Categories of students, some cohorts going in a direction we don't want to see right. So. Can you talk a little bit about the Mdss. Because. You know, in our conversation that's really kind of like an. A big change that's happening this year, right? Implemented throughout the district. And you mentioned. It's gonna be implemented for 9 through 11. I'm wondering about the 12th graders, because those are those the cohort of these kids. So we know there are kids in that cohort who? You know, we want to be. You know, have struggled right? They're struggling. So we wanna make sure that those kids are ready when they leave here. I'm gonna pass the microphone to Dr. Morton. Thank you. Thank you so much. Faith, yeah, I'll jump in on on that one I think she'll so faithfully mentioned Grace 9 to 11. As it related to this presentation, because this assessment encompasses 9 to 11. Instruction for grades 9 to 11, however. Nj. Tss, as we call it. New Jersey tiered system of supports. As presented by Missington a few meetings ago, will be implemented throughout the entire district, so every every level. Essentially what it, what it does is it allows. Teachers to have and teachers and staff to have an understanding of the specific foundational needs of individualized students and to individualize an approach. To help to to meet those needs. So if you think about. The school year there's annual progress. That a student may need to make on an on a given year. There's also catch up growth or catch up progress. Not Heinz, but catching up for those who who may be behind. It's important that we have systems of assessment and intervention that that can meet the needs of the kids when we understand what those gaps are and what they need to do in order to catch up. So that's exactly what that system does. It looks at the child comprehensively. Any type of barrier to learning. But specifically the academic. Needs that that children have. So you have collective. professionals across school that meet ongoing. Identify targeted needs of the kids, develop action plans for them. Implement them throughout the course of a cycle. Then reflect on the pro process and continue that process. Moving forward. The reason we included data about. Bubble kits is because. The. This process allows us to identify those kids at the outset of the year and to provide support and target and support and target support and target. So when the children are going into. The assessment. They'll have had. Systems of intervention and support. That, you know. We'll we'll prepare them and make them ready. The staff. And if you, if you can mention just a few more things about 12th graders, and how we segue that forward for these children who aren't. Graduation ready at this present time. Gonna learn how to use the microphone for the 1st time. Did I do it? Good evening. So Wanted to talk a little bit. So we know that there's multiple pathways for our seniors to meet their graduation requirement, and one of them is portfolio. And we start to dig into the data. A large population of these students who are seen as not graduation ready on Nj. Gpa. End up making grad that graduation requirement through any of. This, this tests that are acceptable. Right? So SATP, SAT. NGPA. They have an opportunity to sit again for a makeup session in the fall, but in addition to that is the. Portfolio, and one of the things to consider with portfolio is, the students are in a seminar class as seniors. It could take them all year to complete their portfolio assessment, because they're really spending time focusing on the skills. That the Njgpa assessed, and that the State has deemed really what they need to walk away with in understanding math concepts. So. In doing this they have 8 different response. Tests that they must complete that will focus on the areas of numbers and quantity. Functions, algebra, geometry, and statistics, and probability, and in doing that they have to demonstrate that they know exactly what to do. With this mathematical content, in order to. Complete a constructed response test and task in order to meet that graduation requirement. And there they do this. They have instruction. They're relearning things, and the constructed response is a multi-tiered. Prompt. So it's a question that continually builds and adds the mathematical thinking. The additional mathematical. Opportunities. So it's not a straight algebra response. They have to do numbers and quantity with it. They have to add geometry to it, based on the way it's built. So. This isn't kind of a 1 and done where in Junior you demonstrated that mathematically you haven't met that cut score of 725. There's a whole other opportunity for instruction through the portfolio process. And in many cases our students are also in an additional math class. So they're continuing with their math education, as well as really honing in, and fine tuning. This specific skill set that this particular assessment is requiring of them in their senior year. Yeah, and just and just one additional note as well. So Nj, Gpa allows our students. To demonstrate. Graduation, readiness. As it relates to the criteria for all high school students that they meet the standardized testing requirement. Right. So this Njpa. Is the 1st opportunity for them to do that. This other opportunities that they have as well. The staff have mentioned. Act SAT. And the Portfolio assessment as well. So if you were to look at our data for the the past few years. By June. 100% of our students. Every year that this criterion has been in effect. Has actually met their graduation requirement. 100. We have never had a student, not graduate. From one of our high schools. Due to not meeting the graduation readiness. Benchmark. Thank you. That's really helpful. What is the notification process for these students and or their families? In terms of you know where they landed, the ones who are not meeting the standard and haven't. Demonstrated that in other ways. And are there any supports that are also just information provided specifically to the parents and the families? You know, just as they. You know, I I realize that you know. Most. Parents of 12th graders are not super involved with their kids. As a parent of 2 of them right now. But you know, but nonetheless. I think parents want to know. You know, a lot of parents do want to know and are interested. So and obviously, the students need to to know. So what's the outreach on that. So. A letter does go out when all the individual school reports are uploaded into Genesis, all parents are notified that that school report is available, and in the letter it indicates that there will be for students who didn't meet that cut score. There will be an opportunity to do a makeup assessment in the fall of the Nj. Gpa. And prior to that there would be preparation class that they would be placed in in order to help support that testing. And then to help them through the entire process, to make sure that they are able to meet this. Mandatory graduation requirement. So, and it kind of outlines for them what all those steps would be if we're going portfolio, the other assessments that they're eligible to take as well. After they take that Njpa again in the fall. And if I could just add, we actually take an extra step to ensure that our parents, who possibly have a child who is not considered ready. One of the ways that we also notify them is, we do send letters, but then Mark is very kind, and helps me within Genesis, for there to be an extra alert in which the parents must check a box. In order for their child to log in to Genesis, because we want to make sure that parents are reading the letter. You know. Oftentimes I have many high schoolers myself, and I just skim through and quickly move on. But we it is very important that we send that specific notification to parents, making them aware that their child is sitting again for the assessment in the fall. And here are, you know, if your child is to not pass the assessment again. Here are the other menu of competency tests that they could possibly use to meet their graduation assessment, and then it also explains exactly what the portfolio is. And the other part of that is, the counselors are available throughout the summer, so if they want to contact the school directly and talk directly to a counselor. It may not be their child's direct counselor, but there is counseling staff available throughout the summer to help answer these questions. And kind of alleviate any of the anxieties that that letter may cause. I will tell you that I did have parents reach out to me as a result of that, got them that information, and then they were in touch with the building level, counseling staff as well. So those scores have have already been uploaded into Genesis. We are required within 30 days of receiving the physical scores in district to upload them and provide the parents with that informative letter. So we receive the scores in district June 13.th By July 13th they were already uploaded to Genesis, and here we are. Meeting in August, because we are required to then provide the public. Within 60 days. Thank you. Mr. Email. Thank you. So I had a number of observations and questions. I'll I'll try to limit them for now. But. They kind of center around? Where? Where students doing well, where do they need additional supports? And do we know why. Right. So in in no particular order. One of the areas of concern last year was English language. Learners were performing. Much lower than their peers. I think it was a smaller cohort, but it was still obviously an area of concern. We saw huge improvement this year. Do we know what accounts for that? And can we keep doing that? So it's it's again. It's a different cohort of students. So it's that would really be comparing apples to oranges. So I can't speak to specifically to that. But, like yourself, I am also very proud of the success of our ells. On the assessment this year, I mean, they really perform. Very well. And those ell teachers do participate in those data summits now, so that they have an opportunity to look at that data. And they're able to kind of narrow in as they're supporting. The L. Population in their regular class as well as their. Ell support. Course. So there's that. There's that. Constant back and forth with that, with the information between the English teacher and the L support teacher and helping to help our L. Population be and feel comfortable. I mean, it's very intimidating to take these tasks right for any student. So we make sure that that those teachers understand what that assessment looks like. So they have an opportunity to work with their students to help them. Alleviate some of the concerns that the standardized test may. A cause. That's fantastic. Thank you. And I'll I'll do one more question before we move on. One of the areas of concern that I think stood out to a lot of folks is meth proficiency at high School West. There is a decline there. But something I noticed, and I'm glad you spent some time on. It is just the number of students that are on the bubble. There. You know, we about not look like a drop about 9% being proficient. But we see 30% around that bubble. That's a lot of kids. Do we know? What that looked like last year. Did we do a bubble analysis? Do we know how it compares? He actually did not. This is the 1st year that we have completed that And we we absolutely can do that, though, just to see the comparison between the 2. But we just when we started combing the data and looking into it further, Dr. Morton brought up a great point of just casually one day said, how many students do you think are actually on the bubble, and we started looking at it. It was just vast amounts of students, not only within, you know. The 7, 11 to 724 range, but even that 723 to 724 range. It's a. Great amount of students that fall into that category. Okay, thank you very much. Yeah. That was because that was something I thought was interesting. It's it's concerning to see the. The drop in the number of students that are proficient, but. Knowing that we could put the right interventions in to help as many as 30%. Get to be where they need to be. To be proficient is. Very promising. Alright. Thank you. Mr. Mayor. So following up primarily on Mrs. Stearns, question about communications to parents. We? You know the interventions. That you have in place. You've identified. I mean, really, those are levers that we can use, or you use really to affect students. Outcomes once they're in school. Right? That's that's what they're. I'm wondering, aside from simply communicating with. Of. Who aren't quite there yet. Are there any. That that administration or staff have. To. Assist parents in any other ways more than just the the heads up, that there's a problem. And I'm asking that really, because I've always been concerned about. You know there. There are cohorts of students. Whether it's culturally. Economically. That that maybe don't take these tests as seriously as others. And that that because of that, the scores that they achieve probably don't reflect. The ability that those students have. So I'm just wondering, aside from again, just a heads up. And and the reminders and the importance of that, so that the parents can begin to take. More of an active role. Some won't right. Wh? What else do we do? What else can we do? To engage more parents, especially parents, in those communities. And those cohorts. That can have. That much more of an impact on on their families, on the kids even before they come in. So they can truly be partners. With the staff in in. In their children's education. Isn't there? That's that's actually a great question. So. Njss process when the process works properly. Again, it's proactive. It's from the outset. And it allows information to be known and shared, and then it allows for collaboration. So parents are engaged in that process. From the outset before any assessments are taken, or anything else. When what's what we call pre assessments are done. So once those results come in. This staff members would work. Or teams would work with parents to bring them in to make them a part of that process, and. The Action Plan. For their children. So what that looks like is in school. Here are the interventions that are taking place, and here are the instructional strategies being utilized. Our teachers do a great job. And also providing parents with additional resources at home, to say. Here are books that you can focus on. Here are some strategies that you can utilize at home to support what we're doing in school. So when when our process is at full fidelity and it's working well, you'll see that across the board at every level last year our goal was to assess our readiness for Njtss. This year. Our our goal is. Implementation. Of it. Njss. Across the board at every school and in the district. So you you can expect to see that this year. And if I could add one or one other thing, the curriculum office we've already started talking about some of those maths. So parents understand. What our math curriculum looks like, that scope and sequence. And opportunities that they can also support their children at home. Miss Gallagher. So. Kind of looking at West math scores and just kind of math scores in general through the district like. Obviously, these scores and some of the other standardized tests. Kind of we kind of lag in math. And I'm curious if You guys have ever done any kind of like root cause as to like if there, I know we've changed curriculums over the years. I know Covid has impacted a lot of things and. I know that this test hasn't been the Njpa. And I guess some of the other ones haven't necessarily been long term testing to kind of see. Long term changes within the district, but. It just always feels like math is something. That we're like that. It kind of has low. Our scores are kind of lagging in math, and I'm just curious. I don't even know what my question is exactly. Yeah, the the question is a great question. I clearly, and I clearly understand it. So Covid didn't do any favors. The pandemic lockdown didn't do any favors to children mathematically. If you study with the national data assessment and educational progress, naep assessment that's given to kids nationally. You see, there's a major dip in mathematics, outcomes for. Cater. 3 grades, 3 to 12 students across the entire country. It's a. Almost crisis type. If you look at mathematics results across the State, you see a similar reflection. If you look at our mathematics, results here within the district. It's no different. It's no different. So. So we're digging out of the pandemic still, quite a bit from that. I think. You know, it's gonna take a focused, intentional, concerted effort from, you know, all involved. For us to. Engage students and and making that catch up progress as we talked about. So it's annual progress. And it's catch up progress. We're gonna have to be Very focused, and ensure that this this. This tiered system of supports that we are mentioning here is is implemented with fidelity, so. Critically important. This is Winters. So I was gonna talk about this in the in the Cni report because we we had a preview of this presentation and Cni. But we grappled with the exact questions that you're asking Ms. Gallagher, and one of the things that we came. To understand among the committee is that this particular cohort of kids, as we tried to understand, who are these 11th graders. There would have been the ones taking algebra one and geometry during the pandemic. That's this cohort that's being tested. So I think. Is a big piece of why you're seeing. What you're seeing Mr. And brought that out, and I wish we were here, because he really spoke a lot about that. During the committee meeting, but as we try to understand, because, as whole room said, like it. And Dr. Roots has this every year. It's when you you want to look at trajectories over time. But also it's different cohorts of students, right? So it's really hard to. Compare, you know, like last year's to this year's, and we only have 2 data points right now. But what I'm hopeful is that as. We move away from Covid, and also as we implement Eureka, because this cohort of kids. They weren't doing. Eureka squared algebra. That's coming as the years go on, that we're gonna see that change makes a difference in this, because they're only testing. Algebra one, and geometry here. So again, like it doesn't completely explain it. But just to to acknowledge that you're completely right, and to give you a little bit of what the committee, when the committee discussed. That was one of the things that we talked about. Solomon, would you like to say something. Question. Just looking at the comparisons like with race and ethnicity. Just noticing that there's a huge achievement gap, it seems to me like with. Black and African American students and Hispanic or Latino students. So why do these students tend to fall behind? If there's any like? If there's any clear reason. And like, when do the signs of achievement gap like 1st appear? And does it have to do with maybe the tracking like the. Educational paths. Certain students are put on like, I was just. Because it's very A parent, especially in math, but like also in English, so. I was just wondering. Yeah, that's a great question. That's a million dollar question as well. That is confounded. Educators for decades. At this point, I can tell you, having done a tremendous amount of research on the, you know, opportunity gaps that exist between various demographic groups. It. It surfaces. As early as kindergarten. The gap is evident in kindergarten, and what happens is that continually and progressively, as the students move up and and grade level, it widens Unless. There are intentional efforts that are focused. That are focused on. The annual progress and and catch up progress. So for us. So why preschool is important for us. Because. You know, the the gaps exist in terms of language, in terms of vocabulary, in terms of exposure to opportunities, general knowledge about the world. When those unlimited children are unable to make the the connections that allow them to to foster additional and new learning and things along those lines. So. It's a big question, so I can't give you a definitive. Answer as to you, know what we do about it, but I can tell you that we we are aware of it. We acknowledge that these gaps exist. Within the district, and we're focused on aligning with the research to try things. That will help to close those gaps, and and Njtss is is a primary one. Hi. Dr. Morton. Just from a board member's perspective, having. Kind of gone through some of the stuff this year, you know, just to share some So there's a few things that right off right off the bat jump out at me so. We're trying to stop early. Started early, right? So preschool. Right, and I don't know if you. Picked up on it necessarily in the presentation. But we have. There's extra effort that we put to families who qualify Due to finance are the financial situation, and there's overlap sometimes as well as other, being part of other groups. Right. For them to qualify for. To be prioritized for preschool, and not only do they get. You know. Publicly funded preschool, but they also get extra services. And in being in that program. That help the families. Beyond just that one child, but will help the entire family make sure they're getting other resources. See, when you start that early at age 3. And you capture those families and those kids. It makes a huge difference as part of why this board and this administration has pushed so hard. Despite all the challenges, has pushed so hard to implement. The publicly funded preschool cause. It's just that important. The other thing is. And it was in our. July, C. And I meeting, I think that was an hour and a half. Trying to remember back a instruction meeting. There are new curriculums being rolled out in English. Specifically. And in math the English ones actually incorporate a lot of subjects. Dr. Morton was just talking about this kind of idea of like Access to information beyond. Just, you know, learning how to read or learning. It's also about the curriculum includes information that has, like. History involved in it, or science or math is part of the general curriculum that there are younger students are learning. So they may have been. Previously. Their families may not have been part of our educational system, or, if they they may have, you know, gone to school somewhere else. We we meet a lot of families that grew up in other areas that had very different educational experiences from Charihil. But those same students, even though their families may not have. Had those opportunities, or that information. Those students are learning them as part of their everyday learning. Part of their curriculum. All kinds of different information, and that prepares them more kind of broadly and holistically, as learners. So that helps them so hopefully, I got that hopefully do that right. Did I get it from the meeting? You got it? Thank you so just to kind of. You know there are so many aspects. And then the last piece which. I'll just keep coming back to. Is this multi-tiered system of support? That's a best practice, and there are 3 tiers. Am I right? 3 main tiers and the middle tier. Probably an area that. Some of these students like they're in that. Probably they're in that bubble. And so if we're capturing that that group because we now have. In intervention. They're they're not our students who need the most help. And they're not our students who need no help. They're kind of in the middle that captures them throughout. So like, I, I do think that that, like. When you want to kind of walk. Actually, one of one of my. Feedback in the meeting in our committee meeting was, okay. That's great. We're doing. We know we're doing preschool. We know we're doing 3rd in a reading on grade level by 3rd grade. We know we have all these benchmarks, you know. But what about these 12th graders, you know. But you're talking about also the very important question which is specifically these groups. Which we've been talking about for a long time. So I'm excited that. We got a lot of approaches. Does that help. Yeah, it definitely helps. Thank you for like taking it seriously. I don't know just taking this test like. A few months ago, actually wasn't a reason. I took this. Just I don't know just to see these communities kind of. Falter or like not reach the same standards definitely personal to me. So yeah. But thank you for the response. We. 2 years ago we met with Latinx families because we wanted to understand the process of understanding where we, where we, falling off with those families, and you know, I mean, I sat with. You know, a mother and her her teenage daughter I mean the mother. Was not an English language speaker, you know. Her daughter was translating for her. Her daughter talked to us about Teaching her younger siblings when they moved into Cherry Hill, because the school district they came to they did not have the same. Type of education, and and her not only learning in elementary school, but teaching her younger siblings. Because her mother couldn't help them with English and their homework. So you know, we know our fan. We have families from all areas in Cherry Hill, and we want to make sure we're always. Providing all of our students with, you know, the excellent education that people move here. So. And that's, you know, the exact that family that mother was very clear. That's why she moved here for excellent education for her kids. And that's what her kids are getting. So it's nice when you see that be successful. This is true. I had 2 questions, but I forgot what the one was. But the other thing, the one that I do remember, and I. Th- I think it's also important to note that it's not just demographics of race that are have consistently low. Scores here think economic disadvantage. And also students with ieps are clearly trending downward from all students. I'm wondering if you're able to compile this data. To show overlap in a lot of those categories because my thoughts are maybe it's not necessarily just one. Type of one very narrow demographic or type of student, that how many of them fall in multiple of these categories that maybe the support isn't necessarily. From one area. Maybe it's. Parents don't understand the very specific needs of their students. I'm just wondering if there's a way to actually look at data like the data like that. Yes, absolutely so. When when we think about demographic groups, we don't, we don't think specifically about racial and ethnicity like. So we're looking. Things. Gender and mathematics and science courses. You know that things who takes the higher level Ap level, you know, science and mathematics courses. Typically, there's a there's a gender. Differentiation that you see. So we're we're looking at all different. Types of. Demographic Configurations. Typically for us. Economic disadvantage is a huge indicator in our data across many lines. So that's absolutely a group that's validated. That's, you know, considered in this as well. Yes, and. So. Looking at the the data comprehensively and holistically, is important. And this is why. An effective. High quality data dashboard is so important. Because it allows us to quickly manipulate data. And the data tells us a story. And you know, hopefully, we can get to a point where we're able to identify root causes. As Miss Gallagher suggested, that that's that's the intention identified. A root causes make determinations about what those root causes are. And now we can put some some systems of support in place to do something about it. So. Other questions or comments, or. Thank you so much. Would you like me to turn this off or keep it on. That's Mr. Plovinski's area, not mine. Okay, so great presentations. Thank you so much. No administrative reports. And we move on to correspondence. And, Dr. Morton, I understand you would like to start kick off with correspondence. Absolutely. Thank you so much. I wanna just take an opportunity to To share the. 10 candidates will apply for the vacant board seats that will be available. As part of the November 5.th Election. You want to take an opportunity. If you're in the room. You can feel free to stand if you choose. You can raise your hand if you'd like to, but we definitely wanna acknowledge your presence and thank you for your interest in serving the community. Just going down the list. Actually, if you're online as well, you can, you can raise your hand online also. Going down the list. Omar. Alkali. David Berkovic. Kirk, Brad. Norris, Choudary. Dean drizzle. Ava fidel. Samia, Mian. Kwazii and Diaz. Bridget, Palmer. And Harvey Vasquez. Thank you all. Okay. Thank you. Good luck to you all. And the folks who were not in the room. Good luck to them as well. And I just mentioned I there were no hands online that I was looking, but no hands were raised online. So. Okay, other board members have correspondence. Okay, Mr. Mayor, who's it going to be. Either one or I lost. I'm not sure So I did have a chance. Along with Mrs. Winners, to attend the This month's Lmc. Steering committee meeting. Again. Another very productive meeting of the Lmc. Leaders in the district. This one was more than just talking about. You know particular new issues that are coming up and coordinating. That we had 2 guests. Speak. To the Lmc. This past week. They were Mike Ritz and Amanda Adams. They're both with NJEA. And specifically they were there to talk about a partnership. That they are proposing with the district, with their. Nj access. Partnership essentially what that is is. Relatively intensive. Consulting partnership where Nga would send in. 3 consultants. They would work, build business, building base. Starting with the. Middle schools. For period of between 3 and 5 years. Most of the engagements are 5 year engagements. They are on site between. 6 and 8 times a year, during 6 and 8 months. A little heavier during the initial phases. And then a little less time after that. The focus of the work. Is professional development teacher wellness and also helping. Teachers understand the importance and the effects. Of trauma, not just trauma for teachers, but also for students. Specifically aces which are. Childhood experiences, and how those experiences. Affect learning outcomes for students. So. One of the things that they do. One of the many things that they do is. Work, with. Staffs to help them understand how they can. Better appreciate and understand those and how they can implement tools and programs. To make them more resilient, better teachers in the classroom, but also identify issues with. Some of their students that maybe otherwise wouldn't be identified. They they are doing this work statewide. Partly because they recognize that behavioral issues. Are up, state. And. One of the things that they want to do is to. Provide staffs. Throughout the State with the tools and experience. In order to. Try and counteract that. When they were first.st Was proposed that maybe they would work with Cherry Hill, you know, wrote down a couple of the comments specifically that Mrs. Adams. Mentioned, she said specifically that. They're very excited to work with Cherry Hill because of the reputation that Jerry Hill. Teaching staff has as professionals and teacher leaders throughout the State. And and specifically that Jerry Hill district is a district that. That you they want to work in. They would love to work with. So. Really, very positive. They were also made it, you know. Try and make it clear that. While it is important work, and it's a lot of work. It is not work that takes time away from student teacher, interaction. All of the meanings are. During regular school time. And and they make it work with the, with the various buildings. So it's not. Not a heavy lift for the staff involved in order to participate. And also includes an element of programming and assistance to parents. To help them understand the work they're doing and how they can be partners. With the staff and with the students. So we look certainly look forward to to learning more and understanding more of the specifics that they that they propose for for Cherry hill, and but it's really exciting. Along with that. Because. They appreciated. And this is an appreciates. How successful the Lmc. Program is working here. They would like to use our. Program as a template and a hub to spread Lmc. And use the Lmc. Dynamics throughout all of South Jersey, through other districts, and using us as. As the model. So we're gonna have a kickoff meeting in a couple of weeks to understand. You know, how that might work, how we can assist. And that's. That speaks to. How well this group is working together, and Dr. Morton, for. Spearheading that and you know I know Mrs. Winters will. She'll speak for herself, but I'm you know, proud to be part of that, and. To assist in any way that we can. Dr. Birdie, if I missed any of those points with regard to energy access, feel free to jump in. I guess my notes were clearer to read than I thought they were. Well, that's that's my correspondence. Mrs. Winners feel free to. Fill in the gaps. Or make it more exciting. Think you did? Great. That's it. Okay. We also discussed the calendar again. Oh, my gosh! Don't talk about the calendar. I won't talk. It's like we don't talk about Bruno. 1st 1st rule. No, thank you for that summary, Mr. Mayor. Perfect. Any other board members have correspond. Mr. Green. So kind of along those lines be a much shorter correspondence. Item. But I joined Mr. Mayor and. Mrs. Winters, and 1st meeting of contract negotiations. So you know, just had some basic introductions with board members, administration, Cga representatives and set some dates over the next few months. To continued discussions. One passing comment that was that came up. That I did want to share is one of the representatives shared that they've already seen the positive impact of the changes to the pay scale. Which resulted in retention of several teachers that may have been looking elsewhere just because we weren't where we needed to be on that pay scale. So. I'm counting on that being a good bargaining chip. But also, you know, seeing that that was the right choice. And that we're able to retain some good teachers. It's really nice to hear that feedback. Thank you. Other Board members have correspondence. Okay. We will move on to our work. Session. And. Sorry I'm on the wrong screen. Oh, my! Gosh! Thank you, Miss Coward. Almost skipped over public comment. Thank you. Thank you for the save. We're going to 1st public comment. In case I. Just was testing to make sure we were all awake. Okay, there we go. There are 2 opportunities for public comment this evening. This is the 1st public comment session, and it is for board action items 18 through 21 only. For the adults. If you are a student in the room and want to make a public comment or online, you get to talk about any topic. In the school related to our schools. There will be a second public comment section for any topic related to our schools at the end of the meeting. Yeah, if you are a student, and you'd like to speak please approach the podium. We always give students. If you were a student online and would like to speak, we encourage you to raise your not just to raise your hand, but to also put an S after your name, so we can identify you as a student. So when you speak, please identify the agenda. Item that you're clearly that you're seating about speaking about clearly, state your name and your municipality, and we alternate between speakers who are here in the room and those who are online. Each speaker is given a maximum of 3 min to speak, which should be reflected on the timer that will be on the screen. Public comment is the opportunity for members of the community to comment on matters relevant to the operations of public school district or within the authority of the charitable Board of Education. The Board welcomes diverse opinions on relevant matters under established Federal law, governing reasonable restrictions on speech and public forums. Statements which demean individual community members or groups, or which are irrelevant to the operations of the school district, or are not permitted. Community members who would like to present, not relevant to the school district are always welcome to communicate directly to the District Superintendent Board, President and all board members via email or other alternative means. So we start in the room. You don't see anybody at the podium. Oh, we have someone at the podium. Okay? So if yeah, I think you know the drill. And I. I'm sorry, could you? Just oh, there we go! It's on, and I horn in Jersey. Just wanna congratulate Barbara Wilson. 20.2. On her deferred retirement. I've known her for many, many years, and it's well deserved. And I hope she has a lot more fun when it occurs. Thank you. Are you saying? It's not fun to work here. Okay, more fun to be retired alright. And then we go online. And there's 1 hand up online. It's a phone number that ends in 7 8. If you could. Please state your full name, municipality and the agenda item you're speaking on. My name is Jeff Pottow. It's 19.6 resolution to requested that the return of unexpected funding from capital fund to the capital reserve account, and the amount of $4,719,000, as of June 32,024. Please vote. No. Is this capital fund really having to do with bond. Bond money. So why don't we use that money to. To to. Yeah, we're gonna be paying off that 4.7 million dollars for years. Why can't this fund used to be to pay off some extra principles of the bonds early, or on the other end. Just don't, I mean, just don't sell but another 4.7 million, you know it's 363 million dollars total. Subtract the 4.7 million. On July 23, rd 2,004 number 14.10, the School Board authorized transfer of 12 million dollars from the Capital Reserve Fund. Alright, and I said, Well, gee! Why don't you hold back 3 million. Well, now, you're gonna be adding another point 4.7, which means the total addition to the capital reserve is 16.7 million dollars. The other money you could have held back 3 million, you know, for any use of the general fund. But now everything's submitted to the Capital Reserve fund, which means, if there's any shortfall. It's going to have to come out of general fund, but not capital reserve. Why did you put the full 12 million in the switch all full 12.1 million. It doesn't make any sense to me. So vote no on this. Just vote no use the money for something else. Just take it off of the top of the bond, or something. Pay off the bond part of the bond early. Meanwhile you committed now 16.1 million. Additional to the capital reserve, 12 million should have been put. In the 1st place, this just compounds it. Thank you very much. Vote no. Okay, we go back to the room. If anyone would like to speak, please approach the podium. Please state your full name, your municipality, and the action item you are speaking on. Rachel. Rickshaw. Rick Short. Cherry Hill. 21.1 or 21.2. Don't always agree with the years. Family. I'm friends with them, but. Has Mrs. Jeres. Audited or vented the calendar. Because every year. Miss years. Find something wrong with the calendar. So the question is, has the calendar been vented? Yet. Thanks. Okay, we go back to the line. And I. See one hand up online. And it's Dr. Iona Tanya's. Please state your full name. Municipality and the action item you're speaking with. I guess it was action. Item, you're speaking. Sure doctor Yoniaris. Cherry Hill. I'm talking about 21 1.st I did some math, and I can't tell you that I'm not a certified math teacher, but I'm deeply concerned that I think I see well, over 10. Teachers who have well experience from the Malber, who have now left. As a fresh feature myself. I can't tell you how important. Teachers of experience around. And especially as a district is building out this program to see this number of teachers leaving. Is disturbing. I also know that that definitely has dramatically impacted. The special education students which my child is one of them. Due to this mass. Turnover. So I am very concerned about where that's going. And I think, coming, I am good to go. Thanks. Okay, where's the double header? I don't see Mrs. She's not on the line. Usually we get a double header. Maybe second, pump account. Okay. Back to the room. Anybody else like to speak. Please podium. Okay, and we don't have anybody at the podium. We don't have anybody else online. So now we will close. Our 1st public comment, and now we will move on to our board session. So. Going to ask Dr. Morton, if you can. Please speak to the Item 11. The approval of appointments. Absolutely. So these items appear here. They were formally assigned to an administrator who's retiring. And they're appearing on the agenda again. Due to her pending retirement. September first.st So yeah, it's nothing we can do about it. Okay. I'm sorry. I. Lost my board. Docs. Hold on one second, please. Did you lose your suit? Okay. Good. So we're just. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We move on to our curriculum. Mrs. Winters, can you give the report? Please? Surely I am not going to talk too long about the Njgpa presentation that you all just received, because we received the preview of that presentation in the Cni Committee. Many of the same points that were raised by the full board were brought up by the committee. We talked about. Some of the wonderful things we saw. We also talked about the challenges, especially in math. As I mentioned before, we talked about this particular cohort of 11th graders and things that may have affected their scores. We talked about root causes? And how, if we take this cohort of children and look. Backwards in there. Academic career? Where were there points that. We could have had, we could have had support. When you 1st start to see this disparities, all the conversations we had in here. So it was a robust conversation. I want to thank the committee members for engaging with it. Dr. Rud especially brought up. You know, making sure that kids feel comfortable and confident with math, which he feels like is a key problem, that if you start to see kids who. Between late elementary school and middle school, who are not confident in math. They. Save it. Math is hard, or that they're not good at math. Then that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. So he really felt that we need to emphasize. The importance of math for all of our students, I think, having the math pathways in high school, and giving children. Options of different math courses that may spark their interest may go a long way towards that. So that was the committee's discussion around Njpa. We did have a policy on 1st reading that we received from Pnl. It's policy 200. It was in the current, Strauss, as may packet that PL. Received. It is just an update. Basically, it takes out. Some old language with respect to common core, which is no longer a thing, and inserts the New Jersey student learning standards which are the current iteration of what we follow. So it's a pretty quick And painless swap. There. We also talked about the fall plays for High School, East and High School West. I will admit that I had several people text me following the committee meeting, asking what the plays were. Apparently there was a big audience of people who sit around and wait for the play announcement to happen. So I will tell everybody right now that East is doing a trip to the moon. And West is doing rocky. A musical. So mark your calendars. Get the popcorn. It's gonna be really fun in the fall. And then we had a little bit of new business every year. We have to approve the virtual remote learning plan. I know nobody wants to think about it, but. God forbid we ever need it, but we do have it. And the committee received the plan for. To take a look at and approve. To any other. C. And I. Members have anything to add. No. All right, and I'm pleased to say that I did hold the meeting to an hour, for possibly the 1st time ever. So, Miss Staff, and help keep me honest on that one. Thank you. Move on to Mr. Green. If you could. Please give the business and facilities, report. Thank you. So we have a lot of good stuff to share. So I'm gonna be a little more verbose tonight. But. The meeting started with representatives from Aramark coming out to discuss our food service program requirements, nutrition standards. So I wanted to share some of the highlights. This is a discussion I've been I've been waiting to have for a long time. I thought it was interesting as a large corporation with tremendous power meals and Allocart items have to meet Usda nutrition standards, and they're often different from what you would find on the supermarket shelf. We've had this discussion before. I think it was about Pops last time, but you know some of the examples given were the Doritos are different than what you'd have in the store. Doritos have reduced fat and whole grain box cereals have reduced sugar, chocolate milk gets reduced, sugar. Even Pt. Uses low, fat mozzarella, and whole grain. And it might sound strange to refer to these items as healthy options, but they'd meet Usda nutrition standards and are healthier than the versions you'd find in the supermarket. I still advocate for my kid to eat more whole foods and less things that come in donut or nugget form, but I can't always. Tell him what to get. He gets what he wants. We also talked about some near term updates to Usda nutrition requirements for school lunch. There'd be additional limits on added sugar in 2027 additional limits on added sodium. And something we talked about is just no reason we can't comply with them ahead of time. Many offerings already do. There's a hallway conversation that. Excuse me that Mrs. Tongue had about certain cuisines and certain types of food, and the answer was, There's too much sodium in that sauce. And it's it's good to hear that reinforcement of. Focusing on healthier options where we can. Something that was near and dear to my heart was a little more in depth discussion about the breakfast program. Nutritional requirements. I've heard from many families wanting healthier options available for breakfast. For some it's a matter of convenience just being able to send their kid and say, Hey, pick something up before class for others. It's something they rely on for nutrition in particular, families that qualify for free and reduced meals. I thought, it's interesting to learn that only about 10% of our of our student body participates in the breakfast program. So. For smaller elementary school with 200 students, for example. We might only be looking at 20 kids getting breakfast, and they only have 5 to 7 min to grab it. So you know, it might not make sense to have an omelet station, for example, for 20 kids who have to figure out how to cook it and eat it in 7 min. But we did discuss a number of healthier options. One interesting statistic that came up and. It's certainly open to interpretation. What this means? When they stopped serving donuts with breakfast. There's a 60% drop in breakfast. So you know, it kind of left me wondering because I don't like what's offered, or they just not grabbing a sweet snack before class. I don't know if we know the answer to that, but it certainly was food for thought. But that being said, I definitely want to give a big thank you to the staff at arm, who came out to share this helpful information with the Board. I know I learned a lot about school nutrition. And I look forward to continuing this dialogue throughout the school year, and continuing to encourage our kids to make healthy choices. From there I'll move on to a brief discussion we had about capital projects cleanup. This is something we haven't done since 2,018. Going into the pandemic, we lower capital reserves a bit. As a result, we appropriated funds into a capital projects fund. And as we're using more fund balance in the budget, it's good to have a healthy capital reserve account, and the Board will be voting on this and our Bnf. Action. I believe 19.6. And then, lastly, I wanted to give a brief construction update. We had no formal meeting this month with our contractors, but. Through different memos the board received a number of construction updates. I wanted to share. So the the lessons learned from last summer have been implemented to make for a smoother process all around. The projects. All projects are on track to be completed, to allow Staff to return to the buildings on time in August. The Kurusi abatement work for asbestos has been completed, and the staff have already been able to move back into the building. Did. Opening is scheduled for August 20, second, for the preschool projects at Kilmarnellberg with expected completion about 18 months after that bid is accepted. Apr. Construction work continues with progress becoming much more visible. If you're driven by any of our elementary schools. Most of them look like Aprs. Now. And they're they're much bigger than I thought they would be. But it's very exciting to see they're getting really moving along. And then, lastly, just kudos to the facilities and custodial staff, and everybody else working hard to preparing our buildings for the return of students. In a few weeks. And I think that wraps it up. Are there any comments or questions from other committee members or other board members. Mr. Greenbaum, if I may, I would like to. Provide some clarification on the capital reserve account, based on one of the comments that was made during public comment. So. What we are doing is we are cleaning up unexpended balances. We can, in fact, use it to pay. Yeah, we can use it or projects that I know I'm part. And the reason, you know. So that's part of the reason why we're doing this. And this was a discussion that we had during budget time. As we see. The use of our funding balance increasing significantly in the 2425 budget that's going to give us less opportunities to put money into the Capital reserve account. So, being trying to be proactive. Right now I feel that we should be needing to do it. We should be moving money back into the capital reserve account. We may need it for a debt payments. We may need it for other things in the future. The resolution that was passed at the last the meeting in June with the 12 million dollars does not mean that we have moved to 12 million dollars into the capital reserve account. It means that as we close our year out, we have the opportunity to do that. If there are funding left over. And the reason we do that is because we try to control. Best we can and how much fund balance we're using. You don't want to create a situation where, if we don't move that money into the capital account. It creates sort of an undulating effect, with cap with fund balance. So. Had a lot of fun balance in one year and put it into your budget. You may not have it available in the following year. So you don't have the fund balance available and you get a 7 million dollars cut and stage. You have a double whammy effect there. So we're trying to be strategic and planning, and how we use our reserve accounts to make it. As smooth of a road as we can. Forward! And that is our only intention in the resolution that we are presenting this evening. Thank you very much for that clarification. And just to reiterate. Transfer 12 million. It was up to 12 million, and that amount is still to be determined. And that's just part of our normal. Business rhythms with the with the budget. Correct. Yes, it's part of our annual closeout process. Thank you very much. Just wanted to make that clear. It's. Not necessarily 12 million. It's just approving up to. To leave room as that amount gets determined. Okay, any other comments or questions before we move on. Alright. Thank you very much. I'm sorry, Mr. Grim. I'm just. I'm sorry. One more the in-depth presentation. Presentation we got about the food program. Part of that was also the discussion about like every other area of our district, working on communication, and I know Aarmark said that they would like to bring be able to come to like zone Pta meetings. Perhaps. To really. Have a nice chance for a dialogue regarding the food program. And also I thought it was great. They had regional representatives who came in from out of town. You know, just to present at our meeting. They really put a lot of effort with a very robust presentation. So I thought, you know kind of seeing that we're. You know You know. They wanted to make sure we we had a opportunity to really understand, and also hear our questions and concerns, and. You know. We have the opportunity to, you know. And you know, to to voice on behalf of the students. And you know our, our, the district the families. You know what what people are interested in in terms of who program. I know that board members talk about that. You know, wanting to. Always improve wherever possible. The access to, you know, higher quality options. So. I was glad to get that. Me, too. Thank you. We move on to the Human Resources Report, which I'm always. Very careful about giving, because most of what we talk about is confidential. But I can say that in our last human resources. Committee meeting. We did talk about recruitment efforts on hiring and retention, and very excited to say that we are. In a much better position in terms of hiring. We have many vacancies than we've had in quite a couple at least a couple years that I know. We looked at the numbers couple years back. I think the you know, hard work of. Mrs. Lieber and her department, and you know all the. Staff, who are administrators who are involved with hiring, have been working really really hard, and are very busy. You know, hard to, you know, respond to emails and such because they're working so hard to make sure they're they're hiring and getting people in place. So I'm excited for that. We talked about some updates of our job descriptions. Which is part of our district goals. We talked about. Some policies that You know we were asked to look at, and we'll be. Specifically on suicide prevention, training. And that will also go to, I believe. T and LC. And IC, and I thank you. Okay, And. That's basically all I can talk about. So anybody from our committee have any other. Okay, very good. Alright, seeing none, we move on to policy and legislation. I don't know is that Mrs. Winter is going to get the report. Okay. I would love to. So I got to be Joel in P. And L. Which is very exciting. I would just like to say not as funny as. But you guys nowhere near as funny as you. I do. Wanna thank Mr. Greenbaum for at the last minute, hitting and coming to P. And L. As well as yes, it was. It was funny somebody was in the room, and they said, What committee is this? Because it didn't look anything like Pnl. Usually does. But thank you to everybody who Who came in. I was cursing Joel because it looks like it was a 300 page policy update that I had to get through while he was on the beach, relaxing, but in good news. Many of those policies are actually sent to the committees where the subject area expertise is for review. So while Pnl went through them, not all of those policies are actually going to have to be. Coming through P. And l@leastatfirstst They went to C, and IHR. All the different committees, so those committees will be discussing them. So we went through that a lot of them were just updates and. From Strauss me, and, like I said, some of the substitive questions will go through the committees. The calendars did come back to haunt us, and I want to explain why, because I know everybody is as tired of the calendars as I am. It is because we needed to adjust the graduation date. To June 20.th The reason for that is that Pennsylvania celebrates Juneteenth on a different day. So if we were to hold our graduation on the day we originally scheduled it, it would have been Juneteenth and Leo Core Center. We would have had to pay in an. Large amount of money to the staff there, I believe it was time and a. So that is something that we're obviously not interested in doing good stewards of our funds. So instead, the district will celebrate Juneteenth on June 19, th and graduation will occur on June 20, th which will also be the last day of school. The updated version of that calendar is on the agenda tonight. So that is why we did that, and I'm hopeful that that is the last time we will see. The 2425 calendar. The last thing that we talked about. Was in old business. I raised the implementation of our brand new cell phone policy student use of wireless communication devices. And how that rollout is going to look in September. Dr. Birdie and I had some conversations about how the Board. Wants to ensure that the information given to families is both accurate and consistent among the schools. Because I feel like that is. That is what we were going for. A lot with. The cell phone policy was to look at consistency among our schools and also to make sure that as families and students adjust to the new cell phone policy, which, if you're keeping track, does go into effect with the new school year in September. That all families were well prepared and had accurate information going forward so that everybody understood. What the cell phone policy does and does not do. So that information is going to be rolled out both from the building principles and from the district as a whole, and that process has already begun, and Pnl. Is going to be keeping an eye on that. To see what that looks like, and make sure that everybody is comfortable with the communications that go out. And so we all have an understanding of what that cell phone policy looks like. Cause I know it is a big change. Especially for some of our high school students who have gotten used to having access to their phones. All day long. This is going to be different, and different is always hard and challenging. I'm just gonna throw it to Mr. Meyer for a minute to talk a little bit about the hib work that Pnl has been doing as well. Sure. So with with regard to that you know, we we recognize that as with every you know, every program, there's opportunities for improvement, and some of those. Some of those opportunities focus on communication. And we have made a point. To take a look at the types of communications that. That do go out to families that are involved in the process. And take take a hard look at those. Make them more user friendly. Make them more. Understandable. Ensure that they're timely. Just an effort. To make it That much. To make it make sense to, you know, to coin. To coin a former board members. One of her favorite statements. And in that regard we had an opportunity just briefly, just to meet with With Mr. Green. And and start. Start attacking some of those letters and cleaning them up and. But doing so in a way that does not do any violence to the required statutory elements that have to be there. But there's there's generally a way to make the language. A little easier to understand, and hopefully that. Families involved will appreciate that, and we'll make that work just. You know a little bit easier for all of us on the board. No, it's that. That's a continuing effort. We we, and fully anticipate and expect that those new communications will be ready to go before the school year. Does anyone else have any other. Thoughts related to Pnl. Questions about Pnl. And capture it. Mr. Green. I think so. Now I'll add one comment just to reiterate, when when families inevitably start asking, Why is there a day off from school before the last day of school, which is only a half day, as a decision made to save the district between 16 and $20,000 for a simple decision of just moving the graduation date. So I think that's that's all. Goodness and. That'll be the answer we give in. In June, when people start asking. I did appreciate that you were there with me to have that conversation, because I feel like as soon as you heard the financial impact. You said, Nope. It would make it an easy decision. For us. It's always, you know. I, and I do think I do think people will question why, there's a Thursday off, and then a Friday last day of school, but it just made sense financially. So that's what we're gonna do. And everybody'll have a happy graduation day. Any other Pnl thoughts. No, all right, and that's it for P. And L. Great. Thank you. And strategic planning. I think that's Mr. Grimm's gonna pinch it on that. Alright, I'm up again, and we had a lot of really great stuff in strategic planning. So this would be a little verbose again. But, as usual, I'll try to get through it quickly. So we started with elementary school redistricting a great 1st meeting of the Community Collaborative Committee, which consists of a diverse group of stakeholders across the district and community. We heard they're very engaged. Ask good questions. Brainstormed, and some of the non-negotiables were the currently focused on elementary school redistricting. But this committee is expected to collaborate on other important district incentives as well. Initiatives. There's also a meeting of the redistricting Steering Committee. Which consists of individuals from across the district representing all areas of the school district, and they discussary redistricting, using data driven data driven, based approach based on enrollment data and demographic projections. And they're starting to look at elementary school boundaries, building capacities and realistically what problems we can and cannot solve. Through redistricting. Next we looked at. We got a report out on the website, redesign work. If you weren't aware. The district website is getting a complete overhaul. And this is working from the communications audit using examples of websites from other districts and incorporating community feedback. The homepage is expected to be more graphic, with less copy at the bottom, with a focus on displaying much better on mobile devices. Mr. Plovinski is leading this effort, and this is expected to roll out in December over winter break. So, looking forward to that, and hopefully some great improvements with usability. Next we had. Report out on the strategic plan this. These are following activities from our communication audit. And these are based on 6 strategies. Evolved from reactive to proactive leverage. Existing communication assets prioritize and enhance staff communication, standardize and strengthen building level communications with families. Improve communication engagement with non-english speaking families and maximize community partnerships. Action steps will be completed according to deadlines. Between September 2024, and September 2025, beginning next month. And then, lastly, we got a report on community Relations plan. And this focuses on Strategy Number 6 of the Strategic Communication plan which is maximizing community partnerships. This is another opportunity to work with community collaborative Committee. And one of the recent examples where this has already come to fruition is, the district is currently working with Cooper Hospital to develop opportunities for collaboration. And a big thank you to Mrs. Chirane for for helping to facilitate this opportunity for some of our Otc. Students at High School West. And this and other opportunities for career development and experiential learning are expected to expand in the future. And then, lastly, a big thank you to all of the administration that came to the committee meeting to provide. Just report out on some of the great work that they've been doing. So. Thank you very much for that. Alright. Any comments, questions. Alright. Thank you. Thank you, and we move on to our special action agenda. Mrs. Winters, can you please move the curriculum agenda. Certainly superintendent recommends that I move the following 18.1 approval of attendance at conference and workshops for the 2425 school year. Do I have a second. Ms. Stern. Are there any questions about the Cni agenda this evening? Seeing no board member questions, Miss Shippers, please open the voting. Board members, you may cast your votes. Oh! To yes, to that. Do we have a unanimous vote. Okay, Mr. Grimm, can you please move the business and facilities agenda? Thank you, the superintendent recommends, and I move the following. 19.1 approval of bill lists, 19.2 resolutions, 19.3. Resolution for the award of bids. 19.4 resolution for the award of competitive contracts. 19.5 a Resolution Improving Services Agreement between the Board and College Board to provide professional development for Ap. Workshops and training. 19.6 capital projects balances returned to capital reserve. And 19.7, authorising the use of contracts with approved national cooperative for vendors to provide goods and services. Do I have a second. Mrs. Stern any questions. Okay, seeing none. Mr. Sugars, please open the voting. Remember she make has 2 votes. We have a unanimous yes, vote motion carries. Okay, I will move the human resources. Agenda the superintendent recommends, and I move the following 20.1 termination of employment certificated. 20.2 termination of employment non-certificated, 20.3 appointments certificated, 20.4 appointments non-certificated, 20.5 assignments certificated. 20.6 assignment salary change, non-certificated. 20.7 other compensation certificated. Do I have a second. This is winters. Are there any questions? From board members before we vote. Okay, Mrs. Triggers, can you please call the vote. Board members, you may cast your votes. Mrs. Sugars. I need to abstain from 20.1 to avoid a conflict of interest. Okay, other than Miss Stearns. On 20.1, maybe unanimous. Yes, vote motion carries. Okay, Mr. Mayor, can you please move the policy and legislation. Oh, I'm sorry I can wait. I'm sorry before we. Before we do that I apologize. Dr. Morton. Wants to say a few words. Absolutely. Thank you so much. I appreciate the time. I just want to take an opportunity to To bring to everyone's attention and recognize the fact that this evening the Board just approved the recommendation for Mrs. Heather esposito to be appointed as the. Assistant Principal new Assistant Principal at Cherry Hill High School, West. Replacing. I miss. Roscoff, who? Who's moved over to the district office. Zspo is an individual who, I know. Very well. I've had the the privilege and the pleasure of working with her. For a number of years. Her passion for her students, her passion for learning, her passion for learning, innovative and identifying innovative and new ways for educating our kids is, truly remarkable and inspiring. It's been an honor for me to to work with her. For over 10 years now. Over 10 years, and to see her progress throughout her career. So I'm so proud and happy to introduce Heather just to share a few words. Everyone, and thank you so much. Dr. Moran. I'm excited and honored to be appointed tonight. I am happy to be returning to the place that was my second home for 20 years. Where I built relationships with students staff in the community. And dedicated myself to advancing student voice and achievement. In the past 4 years, working as the districtal technology coach. It allowed me to partner with educators and students across our district to foster innovative teaching and learning practices. And meaningful technology integration. These experiences have given me a deep understanding of our schools and the unique challenges and opportunities we face. As I step into this new role, I'm excited to bring my passion and experience to the table. This district has given me so many wonderful opportunities as an educator. And now I look forward to giving back. In service and leadership. To our students, staff and families. Thank you so much for your support. Thank you. Congratulations. This is busy, though, and up, and the other thing just wanted to mention before we move on is just a a. Very. Big Thank you to Barbara Wilson, who is. Moving to on to deferred through deferred retirement. She's our public information officer. She is the voice that all of us. Our kids are excited to hear because she is the voice that we hear when schools are closed for inclement weather. And you know behind the scenes. She's our social media Guru and You know. The just does a lot of our. Heads up all our media stuff so she'll be sorely missed. And wish her best wishes on her next endeavor. Alright, and with that we move on to the Pnl. Agenda. And with that I will pass the baton over to Mrs. Winters to move the agenda. Since. She was kind enough to take my seat last week. Thank you. The superintendent recommends, and I move the following. 21.1 approval of waiver of policy, 5 1 1.2. And 21.2 approval of 2,024, 2,025 school calendar. Do I have a second. Mr. May. Are there any questions about the Pnl agenda. Has everyone counted all the days on the calendar. We're good. Miss Sugars, please open the voting. Board members, you may cast your votes. Unanimous. Yes, vote the motion carries. Okay. We don't have any more agenda items to vote on and strategic planning. So we'll move on to new business. Do any board members have any business. Okay. We'll move on to old business. Then do any board members have old business. Okay. We move on to second public. This is the second public comment period. Anyone who would like to speak on any items related to our school district. The Board of Education. This is your opportunity to speak. If you'd like to speak, please approach the podium or you may Raise your hand to speak online. If we have students who would like to speak. We ask that you please put an S after your name if you're online, or if you're in the room and you'd like to speak you always have the opportunity to speak first.st Public comment is an opportunity for members of the community to comment on matters relevant to the operations of public school district or within the authority of the Charterhill Board of Education. The Board welcomes diverse opinions on matters relevant. To the the district under established Federal law, governing reasonable restrictions on speech and public forms. Statements which demean individual members or groups. Orbit are irrelevant to the operations of the school district, or our repetitis will not be permitted. Community members who would like to present information not relevant to the school district are always welcome to communicate directly to the District Superintendent board President and all board members via email or other alternative means. I'm gonna start in the room. You will have 3 min. Whoever would like to start. You may push the podium first.st And we will ask you to state your full name and your municipality as soon as the timer goes up. Harvey, Vasquaville. 1st of all, good evening to everybody. I just wanted to touch up on 16.1 elementary redistricting. In your notes. It was discussed that. The non-negotiable topics need to be more defined. Yet the rest of the community are like me with access to bare minimum information. I'm sure the majority of us have no idea what those non-negotiable topics are. I understand there's a collaborative community working together on these details. But that group are the few compared to the many. Many of you, as stakeholders, have requested a copy of the Full Grip report. And what we have been in return has been a presentation that was prepared by the administration. Highlighting some areas of the report. I've had the opportunity to review the 20 report. And in comparison to that report, there's much to be desired in your presentation. Which, by the way, this presentation, as I understand, is the same information that has been provided to the collaborative community which Job is to brainstorm. This topic. Of redistricting. Not sure how the Administration can expect on its dialogue with your stakeholders when the full picture is not provided. I asked the distinguished members of this Board work with the Administration. And making the full report public for those of us trying to understand the issues with redistricting. It's only fair that this be provided without the need of an opaque request. As we all know, information is knowledge. Knowledge that we all are entitled to as stakeholders. Thank you. Okay, we go online. And the name online is Michael. I hope I get the pronunciation. Faculty. I hope I said it right. If you could. Please state when the timer goes back to 3 min, your full name and your municipality. Preston Turner. Thank you. It's actually. Precedence. Thank you. It's actually it's Michael Fetti. I'm a resident of Fox Woods and a lifelong resident of Cherry Hill. Since June of 2023 my wife and I have. Pretty much tried to reach out to anyone who listened to us regarding the conditions of the athletic field. Specifically the Varsity baseball field at Cherry Hill east. More recently I sent an email to you. I also caught, send another email to Dr. Morton, and I sent more, have sent multiple emails to the athletic director. I wanna read those emails to the board this evening. My wife and I, Stephanie, and this was sent to Dr. Morton yesterday. My wife and I, Stephanie Zane, are residents of Fox, Hollywood and Cherry Hill, a mere stones throw from Cherry East. In fact, I've been a resident of Cherry Hill all my life, having attended Clara Barton, Corusi, and Cherry Hill West. Graduating in 94. Our daughter Emily graduated from East in June of 23 was a 2 time state champions, swimmer, and a recognized all American. In swim. Currently she's division. One athlete at in the Sec. For South Carolina is a rising sophomore at Cherry Hill, east, and was a varsity swimmer. Winning freshman of the year and varsity baseball player, winning second team all conference during his freshman year. We appreciate the importance of high school athletics and the opportunity same provide for our students. To that end. We also understand the need for top notch facilities. Please note that while the email was sent yesterday, it is a culmination of multiple conversations and emails that began in June 2,023. When my wife 1st reached out to the athletic director. When my wife reached out in June 2023, it was to bring to the attention of the athletic director. The fact that the entire field on the newly sided field was completely dead, and not being wood. My wife continued to email and verbal communications with the athletic director regarding the conditions, despite assurances from the athletic director that corrective actions were being taken. Ultimately nothing was done, and the playing conditions at the field this past season were deplorable at best, and unsafe. At worst. Dr. Birdie, who also has a son, that who is my son's age, was over at the fields. He can attest to the conditions that were there. I've I've sent photos to the ad. I've sent photos to Dr. To Dr. Morden. I've sent photos to you, the responses that the the minimal responses that we receive from the Ad. Which completely are baffling is that the grounds crew that is responsible for the condition of the field does not report to him. I put it to the board. How can you have an athletic director who doesn't oversee the the. Persons who are directly responsible for getting the fields into condition, so that our students have a safe. And Place to play. I thank you for your time this evening. Okay. And we go back to the room. If anyone would like to speak, please approach the podium. An Einhorn, Cheriho, New Jersey. So I just want to go to my 1st question is, can we get in the public. And organize an organizational chart for pre-. Cause. I have lost Count. Count of the. Names and the number of positions that have now been associated with this program. I'm really confused. And that would also, in my eyes include. The off. People, and who the liaisons are. To the district office. From those sites. It's it's become very difficult. To keep track of what's going on. With employees. I would like to address. Do we still have a Spanish teacher. Or If. We don't. That's fine! But I've come to understand, on the unfortunately grapevine of Cherry Hill. That we may be reduced to doing remote learning. And I would be curious to see how far along with that. When it comes to strategic planning. There is community buzz. You may not see it on Facebook, but. Of how exactly were the Community Collaborative Committee members. How are the District Steering Committee members chosen. And we're still going back to how the elementary. Ding committee. People were chosen. It's my interpretation that. Some people feel neglected or slighted. Because number one, we don't know who's represented on these committees. And are the schools that are most grossly affected. Currently on these committees, and I think it's only fair. That the public have an idea of. How do you choose these committees? Because there really wasn't a public. Ask of the Board or the Administration for these committees that I'm aware of. Salon, salon. Salam. Thank you. I hate risk pronouncing names. You asked the most important question. Statement of the whole meeting. Because as much as we talk about Pre. K. And you know, we're giving the foundation to be great learners by 12.th Those 12th graders this year the covid kits that some of us have been asking, How are we supporting them? So thank you. The Pre. K. Kids. If they stay here we'll have 14 years in our system. Big advantage compared to this graduating seniors. And I would like to know that if we're supporting them, are we hitting the ground, running. September. Or do we have a month delay? We identify the kids. Blah. Because if your reports are accurate, which I suspect that they are from. The presenters. Then they should be getting support from day one. Thank you. Okay, we go back to the line. And it's a phone number that ends with 7, 8. And is Jeff Potow and I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. What I'm doing this is about school funding like I talk about a lot. I want you to read what the superintendent of the Tom's River School district said or stated on July 3, rd 2,024. His name is Michael Theta, and read what he said. He's talking about Thomas River, and I believe Tom's River sued the State. Sued the state about what's happening with them, Nos paying in taxes only 70% of what the State says it needs to local fair share, whereas Cherry Hill, we're paying 118% in our tax dollars of what the State. Says we. Need to. As far a district profile. You can look at the numbers yourself right now. That does not even include our 360 million dollars bond whose principal and interest with total will total approximately half a billion dollars. That's 363 million with our legal debt limit, that's the most to say would allow. At the time calculated by the State. We are literally being taxed to the maximum. Cherry Hill. Our community has already last year, without the new tax increase, providing maximum effort. To our school district. That is, our community has been doing that already. From what Mr. Said, all right, all right. He wants. And he wanted to reiterate that and no uncertain terms, that the State of New Jersey has only created this problem for our district. That's Tom's River, as well as their neighboring districts, they have done nothing short of legislative. Child abuse and neglect, and same thing has been going on for 25 to 30 years in Cherry Hill. The fight is with the DOE and the State of New Jersey, where decision makers have created these policies to harm our students, teachers, staff, and. And community exactly what's happening in Charry Hill. And it happened for 25 to 30 years. All right. Already we have local politics attempting to step in all right and and cause divisiveness exactly what is happening in Cherry Hill. As we fight for funding, all my team members are, including myself will freeze our salaries. And work under last year's contract and agreement. We're expanding. Whatever. Okay, this is a superintendent the way he talks and he talked, believe me, stronger than I just said, if you read the whole, if you read the whole thing or listen to him. All right. It's calling on their elect officials in the district and the district and community, and even county to help. We need leaderships like that, folks. That's you. We need you to say what he. He's saying about our community and talk to. Thank you. Dr. It's your time is up. Thank you. We go back to the room. Please state your full name and your municipality. When the timer goes up on the screen. Rick Shorchari Hill, New Jersey. I report tonight is a very sad night. I've lost all hope. And Dr. Morton. As a superintendent. I've lost all hope. And Mr. Green, in charge of. The bond. Ladies and gentlemen. May 20. May, May 2023, there was a letter sent to Dr. Mort. From 12 other family members. Asking for basic security. Basic safety. 4 and a half years ago. I sent an email. About interior. Hardening. To Dr. Morton. He did nothing. He did nothing again. We have 300 million dollars earmarked for money. And we're not ready for an active shooter in. I sent it 4 and a half years ago, and you ignore it. We can't even do basic perimeter fencing. You ignore it. Mr. Meyer. What happened with our big Pta. Bus. Safety. Bus, auto bike, safety. Nothing. You did nothing. You failed. What happened? We have a teacher. Saying, Pray for healing, pray for healing, pray for healing. Doesn't anything sink in your head. That you should care about the safety of our children. Now the big. Let's talk about. The big. Restorative justice. Scam. Yes. You guys play us. Like I mean. Race, I mean. I've said this before. This is America's. Greatest race bading school in America. It's there's no one else like us. How do you do it? I mean. Dr. Morton said it right under the Sun article. He said. You know our teachers are always giving too much discipline to this. This the people of color. What a bunch of baloney. Put a bunch of baloney with like 7%. That's basically saying that all our teachers and staff are racist. You guys play the race card like you wouldn't believe it. And then on top of that. You play this race card. You want to change everyone's thinking. 2, that. We must accept. Privilege we must accept that whites are privileged. You are using. Our teachers. Teachers to teach our children that there is white privilege. There is privilege for Christians. There's privilege for all these different people. There's pre privilege for middle class. You guys are playing the race card on our teachers. And it has to stop. Finally. There were sort of just numbers that are going to come out are going to show. That there's more violence. Your restorative justice is causing more violence. Mr. Short, your time is up. While you are. Allotted free speech rights. I will say that I find your comments to be extremely divisive and not reflective. Of our students. Our staff or this community. You go back to the line. We have a name. Jack B. If you could please state your full name and your municipality. Jack B. You'll need to unmute if you'd like to speak. How about now? Yep, we can hear you. If I could get 15 seconds back. But. Good evening to everybody. I think you know. August first.st Was the implementation of title 9. And Would you please state your full name? Yeah. It's Jack Brandon. Willowdale. And your municipality. Cherry Hill. August 1st was implementation of title 9. And My request is that you put out an explainer or an information document, or put something up on the website on how this is going to be implemented. In the school system. Because there are parts of it that are similar to 57, 56. However, 57, 56 is guidance. We're. Title 9 is mandatory. So this is something that the school system has to do. And in the prior version of title 9 it had to do with discrimination based on sex. Sex, being boy, girl. Male female. And it talked about. Boys, locker rooms, girls, locker rooms, boys. Girls, sports, etc. But with the new title, 9 that we're living under now, and all of New Jersey. It's not just. Cherry Hill. Sex has been expanded to mean sexual orientation. Gender identity or expression. Not sure what expression means. Pregnancy or related conditions. So. What used to be the boys room and the girls room. I think you need to. Explain what is going to be now, because this does affect. Bathrooms. Locker rooms. I mean, even maybe labeling. I I don't even know. That's why I think we need an explainer. Sports teams. Overnight accommodations for field trips, you know, to Washington, DC. Now is. There's no boys and girls. It's gonna be based on gender identity. The staff. Is compelled. To address an individual by their preferred pronouns. What is different now than the old title 9 is where a complaint and the old one could be lodged against a student. You can have actual charges. A claim. Against a student. So. There on my point is, there are some major changes here. That's a little confusing how we're gonna transition. From the old title. 9. To the new and my request is, if you could put out a document or something like that. Thank you. Okay. We go back to the room. Please state your full name. Braddock, Cherry Hill, Charleston. I think I'm sorry. Could you, Cherry Hill? I think Charleston is the name my neighborhood? People who have been here before. Mini is the guy that runs out to get wah in the middle of meetings. Not tonight. I got it before I came tonight. I want to introduce myself to somebody running. For the Boe this year. I'm a teacher and a researcher have been for 15 years. Currently a professor at American University in DC. And rather than run on, I figure, I guess, give some brief positions that I have related to what I've heard. At some of these meetings over the last year or so. Number one. And I've become very heartened, especially tonight. I'm a big believer in data, driven decisions and things that I've heard from, especially in relation to the preschool. And things that I saw in relation to the Gpa. I really like what I see. I like what I've seen on social media and data driving the decision about mobile use and things like that. Second, I really believe in the need to protect kids right to read what it is they wish. So I would want to bring that to the board. And 3, rd I want to facilitate an environment safe and promising for all students of all types, all races, all cultures, backgrounds. Lgbtq status. Neuroticality, neuro divergence, everything. I think we need to take into account every possible category and make sure all those students feel safe at school. Very quickly. I want to give kudos to the preschool, as I have a new baby, and she'll be using it in 2 years hopefully. Unless we end up in the lottery. And this is a godsend, because I need to grade paper sometimes. And more specifically, I want to talk about the Nj. Gpa. Results on that. The data were great in relation to outcomes. It's clear that everything, except maybe Math and West. Is moving. The right direction. I wish, Faith, I'm sorry I forget. Her last name was still here, because I would ask about data in relation to process. What interventions are having the most effect? Where should we bring our resources. Because it's cool to see that we're getting better. But it'd be great to see. How or why. We're getting better. Number 2. Something I would take issue with is that I believe she mentioned. You can't compare to year. I disagree. If you have a big enough sample size from one class to the other. You can assume those classes, assuming they're coming from the same school, have the same basic socioeconomic status and other kinds of issues. Across both. You can compare them, and then you can identify. What it is. It's causing them to improve. And finally, I want to get at what Dr. Morton called the big question. I think Miss Gallagher and. Salam. Mentioned, I think. Everybody said, this is the important question. But there are ways to look at these score differences and identify why these changes, or why there are differences in certain categories. I won't get into the weeds of it. But things. If you could pass on to Faith. Logistic regression. Neural networks are ways to compare different groups, to see what's working what's not. When it works, when it doesn't. But we need data on students. So I'll recommend a faith. And the board try to collect data on students. So you can do that analysis and identify why students succeed. If that's boring, I'm sorry, but. That's the kind of thing I'm gonna run on data. Thank you. Alright. We go back to the line, and I do not see any hands on lines. We'll go back to the room if anyone would like to speak. Please approach the podium. You state your full name and your municipality. When the timer comes up from Cherry Hill. I just wanted to commend the Board on the recent policy regarding cell phone usage in your schools. I'm the founder of the South Jersey Chapter of Wait until 8.th It's an organization that advocates for waiting. For your children to adopt the unlimited use smartphones. That have been proliferating since 2,010, and I'm sure you considered, and whenever you discussed this rule. The incredibly tsunami of mental health problems, and I firmly believe that. The access to social media with the attention. Bullying the sort of thinning of relationships and. All of the other negative implications. It's it's clear to me. And the previous speaker referenced it. I think the data's there. It's it's been published in recent books. The anxious generation which came out in March, Jonathan Hype being the most recent one, think that should be required reading for anybody that has parents of small kids. Myself. I have 3. Under 9. And so maybe my one question and I'm maybe late to the game is. I think that a ban of cell phones throughout the entire school day, instead of just within the instructional periods. And that's at least how I interpreted the rule. Would have been maybe even preferable. And I have my brother-in-law teaches in a high school, and he talks about how. Their zombies, just walking from class to class in their phones and. To get rid of the access to these phones throughout the school day. Maybe that's something the Board can consider as you're evaluating the efficacy of the change. Just wanted to let you know that within the wait until Jersey chapter. It's very new. So if anyone's on the phone and is interested in the room in partnering, we do have a goal to have pledges and and within. Wait until 8.th You can. Make a pledge that you're not going to give your kids these phones. When 10. Families in a particular grade. In a particular school sign up, it becomes public. And what you're doing is forming cohorts of like-minded families. That will say, we're not gonna. Kind of give into the pressure of getting my kid an iphone or android with unlimited Internet and unlimited use. Our goal is to have a an active pledge. In every Cherry Hill, and actually South Jersey Elementary school. Class. Every school, every class, from kindergarten until 8th grade. By the end of the year. So it's a very audacious goal. No idea. The Feasibility. It takes only 10 per grade. So we are very excited to partner with your Pts. And your other family members, other schools, administrators. Bottoms up grassroots hopefully to get a movement so that it'll be okay for kids to wait until after 8th grade. Doesn't mean any. Phone, not against all technology, just this specific technology which is ruining our kids. Mental health. Thank you. We go back to the line. I don't see any hands online. So we come back to the room. You could please state your full name when the timer goes up. Good evening, David. Cherry Hill. I would like to. Congratulate the fellow candidates in the room. I myself am running for board this year. And additionally ballot position was announced. This today. So congratulations on anybody who did not pull number 8 on the ballots. I I'd like to briefly comment on some things the board discussed at this meeting. So first, st I'd like to commend Miss Winters and Mr. Greenbaum on moving the the graduation day to save money. While, you know, $20,000 might not seem like a lot. I mean teacher over time or just I mean, it's. It's a significant amount of money that can be used within the district. I feel those types of decisions are critical for our school district. And with that said you know the discussion regarding. Addressing the non-graduation. 11th graders at West. There was a lot of discussion on. On the program. Nj, Tss. And it certainly promising to providing some measures to. You know, early intervention and Cisco analysis and small cohorts of kids in the different levels. It can all be great. I'm just cautioning the board. That can also be a huge constraint, and suck on the budget. And we're just going through a tax increase. For property owners. People. It's people are hurting, you know. It wasn't a huge increase, but it it hit people's pockets. And you know, as we, we budget out for this coming school year, and we. Look at programming like Njtss. We should be mindful of the potential impact it can have on the budget. And keep an eye on it. And And with that. My comment. Thank you very much. Okay, we go back to the line. I don't see any hands online, so we'll go back to the room. Anyone else like to speak, please, approach the podium. And when you do, please state your full name, and leave for the time. There we go. Okay. My name's Bridget Palmer, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. I live in the Dellwood neighborhood. So, as a few other people have noted tonight and was announced, I am running for a seat on the board, and I do I want to congratulate and thank the other candidates in the room for their willingness to stand up. And put ourselves out there for what is ultimately a volunteer position, but is, I think, one of the most important positions in the community. I am a mom. I have 2 fantastic twins who are rising 7th graders at Carusi. And for that reason, you know, this is this is personal for me. This is this is my family, and this is my kid's future. So They're really, when I think about what. You know what I want from the board and what I want my district to look like. Really at at the heart of of what I want to see in the future is better communication. More effective communication. It's it's clear to me that all of us in the room tonight are aware of that. And I'll use the school district that the cell phone policy as a. Prime example of that, because I think. It is a long, overdue policy. I think it's a fantastic policy. Definitely needed, but as a parent the rollout was clunky, to say the best, or, to say the least. You know the communication that I got from my my school principal. Was. I thought significantly different from what I ultimately saw come out from the district. And I guess the way that my school is implementing it is is. Different from. The way that I read the district policy. So. You know, I think clearly it's something that you're all aware of. I would challenge the Board to kind of keep working, to improve. Because in my mind that is the number one greatest area for improvement. I will say I have seen a significant credit to Dr. Morton and the administration that he has in place. I think, where the district has fallen short in the past, is in acknowledging. When there are shortcomings, when there is opportunity to improve. So again, I hope that will continue, because we are all human, and there is always room for improvement. You know. 3, rd I I hope. The Achievement gap and the Opportunity gap. That. Exists in our district is not something that we necessarily like to talk about, but I think the numbers that were presented tonight. In graduation readiness show how far we have to go. There. So you know, hopefully, eventually, I have the opportunity to help solve those problems or address those issues. But in the meantime, you know, I thank all of you for the work that you do. I do challenge you to just keep going, and and continue to try and make this district the best that it can possibly be for for all of our kids. I mean, we wouldn't. We wouldn't be in this room if that wasn't the ultimate goal. So, no matter what. Our backgrounds are positions, are. You know, at the end of the day I think we all have that shared goal. So thank you all. Okay, we go back to the line, and I don't see any hands up online. So we come back to the room. If anyone else would like to speak. It's a year. Full name and municipality. When you get to the mic. Dr. Ioni. Aristocari, held this time in person, not running for the board. I inadvertently not acknowledge Barbara Wilson earlier. She succeeded someone who also was a legend in her position, and I don't think anyone has ever seen a job change more, you know, for her time period than she has from the evolution of social media. But I think when she started we still had Channel 19 going on. And now that's long gone. However, like, what's channel? 19. So. Just acknowledge that. It's definitely a challenging position and definitely. I'll be interesting, as we evolve to see what that position evolves into public information officer as well beyond. What it used to be. It's actually for districts of our scope. Based on what the Presentation heard earlier talking about summer communication from Malber. That none has come out. I, however, received 3 emails from Caruzzi and 2 emails from my principal over at Kilmar. There has been 0 communication from Malbert, and this has been a steady trend. Our other principals, who are all 12 month employees, have all sent out communication. Once again Malberg remained a death of. I also feel that the special education has become a second class citizen. Through the preschool expansion. There has been no town halls, no meetings held to bring the special education community together, to talk about their concerns. We have seen the most loss of educators who were there for education. Since this expansion took place, since it's a leadership change evolved at that school. The school has gone down tremendously. It has become toxic in there as a parent. We've been in that school since we came back to Cherry Hill in 2019. And I'll question if we were going to send our youngest there. It has varied upsetting to where that school has gone to. And is deeply concerning to me as a parent who have sent multiple children there, knowing that each child experience will be different. Things evolve, things change. I will discount my daughter, who there was there for the pandemic. But I can tell you that the teacher had did incredible for that, and we now lost her at the last meeting. And more and more we have lost these past teachers. Who would be able to bring on and help integrate these new teachers and build community. I don't know if there's a community in that school left. Thank you very much. Okay. There is a hand. That raised online. It is Laura Pendergast. If you could kindly state your full name and municipality when the timer goes up. Hi! This is Laura Pendergast, Cherry Hill and I just wanted to call into. Follow up on something that Dr. Farrah Mayhan had said. And her presentation at the beginning, which I'm actually really excited about. One of the things. That I heard her say was, that there's gonna be a focus at Malberg. In increasing opportunities on a daily basis for students. And self-contained classrooms to interact. With with Jen students? Not in their non disabled peers, and. I just want to say I cannot express enough enthusiasm for that idea. My son went to Malber and was in self, contained a couple of years ago. And our experience at Malber was phenomenal. It was very good. We had an amazing team. My son learned so much there, and came so far. But the one thing that, like we had, you know, we had our ipt meeting, and we had a lot of back and forth about. Was inclusion. And it was that I wanted him to be able to interact with Jen. And that at that time wasn't available. There it was. There wasn't a way to make that happen, and my team was pretty awesome, and we got creative and had some back and forth and figured it out, and they made it happen, which was awesome. And but not every parent understands how to do that, or knows that they're able to have those kinds of conversations. And so the more that we can do to create opportunities for inclusion. To happen naturally. And be a part of the system, I think the better. The research on inclusion is very clear. It greatly benefits. Both kids with disabilities. And they're typically developing peers. Especially at the preschool level. The preschool level is the most important time. To be utilizing inclusion, because that is when the gap between kids with disabilities. And they're typically developing peers will be the smallest. So that's actually the easiest time to start inclusion. And to, you know, allow kids to benefit from getting to know each other and have those friendships with each other. So I just wanna. And that's all I have to say. Thanks, so much. Everyone. 'kay we go back to the room, if anyone else would like to speak, please approach the podium. And when the timer goes up, please state your full name and municipality. Alaniara, she her Cherry Hill. I think we should institute having people state their pronouns during public comments, so you can refer to them directly the way they would like to be referred to, that's all. Thank you. You have 2 min and 43 seconds left. If you want to use. Okay. Okay, I don't see any more hands online. I don't see anybody else at the podium. So we will close public comment. I will make a quick comment on cell phone. Policy on behalf of the Board. I would say. You know, it's another very exciting Item that we've, you know, are moving forward, the effort based on surveys of our community, our staff, our students. And family members, and from that survey there were a lot of differing views. And and you know, in a school district of almost 11,000 kids. That's what happens. And families. And from that the decision was made. That this is a starting point of our cell phone policy. This is where we're starting. Cause. There are a lot of different views on on all sides of the topic. But certainly, I think you know a lot of us up here, and a lot of our administration and our teachers, I think, in particular, very, very happy, that we're starting at least with at this point. So we appreciate the community support. I think there's been a lot of positive reaction in the community. In general about the fact that we have a policy now, and we're rolling it out. And there is a lot of media attention coming about cell phone policies with kids and schools. So. Pretty excited about that. So. This is. See where it goes. We'll see what improvements we can make. And to be really clear for the record. The policy applies to. Phones. Earbuds. Right smart watches right. So. Wireless communication devices a lot covers a lot. So You know. I think we're we're excited to see where this goes, I'm sure. I will yet again get railroaded at my own house by my own kids. But that's okay. Alright! Dr. Morton. Superintendent Comments. Yes, thank you very much. So yes, in reference to The cell phone policy. The intention was to respond to the data and to have an understanding of what. Our community saw fit in how to move forward. I can tell you from the data and the surveys that we that we conducted 85% of the respondents felt something needed to be done. From the most stringent. Implementation of total bans to. What we actually eventually landed on. Think the number was 54, 56% of the respondents felt. That. There needed to be. Restrictions. On cell phone usage, but just during instructional time for a host of other reasons. So you know, the the thinking was this was the 1st step. You know, we'll see how this goes if there's a need to ramp up and to become more stringent. And more restrictive. We can always do so and moving forward. But, I commend the Board for listening, for being responsive. But more importantly, for acting, and it's a board of action. That is willing to put themselves out, to, to make changes. And the benefit of our kids and our community. So the the last several weeks I've had an opportunity to to get out and visit schools. Even though the buildings are still empty. There's something about this time that's exciting for me. I haven't been a principal for so many years. There's a smell to the building. Miss Roskov loves the smell. Of of rooms being freshly waxed and renovated. There's a definite smell, and there's an there's an energy and enthusiasm as well. So if you think about it. For my my 10 children for each one of the children. Their experience, and whatever grade level they were in was the 1st time they experienced that. So, in spite of the fact that my wife and I may have gone through. 10 kindergarten orientations, and Tim kindergarten 1st days. For Colin Number 10 in our family. It was his 1st experience, so the enthusiasm has to be there for us. So I'm always reminded of that. We have new kids coming to the Yard family can can identify with me here. But I'm reminded of that. And it's it's always, you know, just so refreshing. And it's exciting, just to to welcome new kids. To the district, and new kids as they transition up in grades So September 3rd is only about 21 days away. Just in in counting. Fully you know, our kids will be. Back in no time, and the buildings will be full. So we are exciting. But with that there's about 3 weeks left for students to complete summer reading. If you have not done so already. So please ensure that summer reading is done, and you take advantage of the additional time that's available. Another exciting note we heard about preschool orientation, but orientation. Experiences are coming up as well. Tours for schools, and just an opportunity to begin. To step into the step into the New Year. There are many exciting things that are happening. As I've as I've traveled around with. You know the directors and Raskoff as well. There's a ton of construction across the district. And it's very exciting to see these construction projects come into fruition. Again. Kudos to. The sugars and the entire maintenance team. Buildings are prepared and just about ready to go while the construction is taking place. We literally see the you know, buildings being transformed right before our eyes. It's important that we that we hear from you. We want to hear your voice. We want you to be involved. We are sending surveys out, you know. We send thought exchanges out. You know, I've I've heard at times to refrain that people say, Oh, it's just another survey. I don't wanna. Participate because they're not gonna listen, anyway. We're actually listening. We. We are listening. We want to hear. From you. We have. To. Hugely important efforts that will be going forward this year elementary redistricting, which was which was referenced earlier. And strategic planning as well. 5 year Strategic plan that will determine our direction, our vision. For moving forward goals and everything else along with that. This. Th. These processes are at the infancy stages. We're at the early stages. So there was a comment about, for instance. Nonnegotiables, and not being transparent. We're being as transparent as possible. These are initial conversations. That are happening. So we want the community to be a part of the process, and to be fully aware. They aren't refines yet. They are continuing to be mapped out. It is only a 1st phase where we are engaging with the community group. How we selected this. We've selected various individuals who we've engaged with over time individuals who are deeply Committed to seeing our district get better and improve, and not people who just agree with everything that the Administration believes in. But detractors as well, you know, for You know, for for things that haven't gone as well. It's important for us to gauge with this group. We'll continue engaging with other groups and other committees as well as we move forward. But this is just one instance. But you know, as we move forward in the process. We anticipated. Around January, February we'll be reaching out to. The community to have larger Town Hall meetings. To really hear your feedback. On a wide scale, and to understand how to adjust any recommendations that will be made to the Board. Just to follow up with a couple of things as well. If there are concerns about particular staff members that falls under the purview of the administration. Please bring it to the administration again. We're listening, we hear, and we and we respond accordingly. We can't tell you necessarily what's happening. But understand that there's there's a response. That is that is happening. And reference to the grip presentation. That presentation was not developed by the Administration. That presentation was developed by Dr. Grip himself. And that information was intended to be presented in a way that was clearly. That you know individuals could could read and understand all of the information that's contained within his verbose, verbose Written, summary. Did receive an email and reference to the field have not had an opportunity to follow up on that. We will follow up on that email as well. And just into the the information, Mr. Short. You quoted me this evening, and the information that you presented is a lie. This misinformation. And what you quoted me is saying is not something that I did say. Again. As you know, I've reached out to you in the past to work on solutions, to work on things and to, you know, work to make things better. That's what I'm all about. You know. So if you want to work to make things better and benefit. Of this community, and our children. I'm game for that. But if not, please quote me correctly in terms of what I said and what I'm all about. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Morton, appreciate all your comments, and you're inviting everybody in. Been fantastic, and it continues to be. Make a motion to adjourn. Do I have a second, Mr. Green, all in favor. Motion carries, meeting is adjourned.