##VIDEO ID:s5qfiKn2fmk## here Mrs Seltzer here Mrs Sheran Celia here Mrs Sherman here Mr tab here Mr doas here Mrs Kaden here uh please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repu for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all uh there is no executive session at this time and so we will move into our presentation for this evening which is uh highlights from our student leaders and fall athletic captains good evening again everyone thank you so much for coming and happy almost Thanksgiving um tonight we are thrilled to recognize and celebrate our senior leaders for the 2425 school year along with our fall athletic captains and our band and color guard captains um in a few moments we're going to have um principal Newman and Mr whan join us at the podium and we are going going to uh call students forward to recognize them you see a long list of of names here alphabetized on uh the second and third pages of um tonight's board agenda this is the fullest of I believe nearly 60 students um at our at our high school who are formally serving in leadership roles this year and this fall and so as we conclude the fall athletic season and as we reached nearly the midpoint of the year we thought this was a perfect opportunity to pause and thank them for their leadership so far this year and ongoing this year um and the um the impact that they've already had on our school and and and district and will continue to have uh going forward this year and so um principal Newman Mr whan if you can come to the podium we're going to call those students who are present tonight to come forward and so while they're getting set up so good evening everyone um aligned with our vision 2026 strategic plan as a district we seek to increase opportunities for students to influence School climate culture and overall school life and so the senior Leadership Academy is an honors class designed to give seniors an opportunity to exercise and strengthen leadership skills seniors work with their advisers to engage students in the Freshman Class they're expected to create and teach lessons and to help develop a nurturing environment for their younger peers seniors are also expected to be uh enthusiastic complete all of their assignments and communicate with teachers while also modeling positive behavior both inside and outside of school and taking initiative to generate ideas to help best support their younger peers in addition to all of these between being uh students between being friends and peers uh they also provide mentorship and support not just at the high school but also in our elementary schools pouring into the Next Generation of Collingswood students and so this evening is just an opportunity for us to recognize the class of 2025 senior leaders uh for their tremendous campus leadership and commitment to service within our Collingswood uh community and so while they get set up could we just give them preemptively just a round of applause for their Collective efforts okay first is uh Miss Regan [Applause] Burke uh Dylan Corey [Applause] on the drums Robbie [Applause] latini Graham Reynold s [Applause] Noah Savino [Applause] dpra Angelina Stewart [Applause] Macy [Applause] straight and Amy wasikowski [Applause] is there anybody that is here that I didn't call just want to check if anyone came in late okay thank you [Applause] everybody and so in addition um we also felt that it was appropriate based on the rich tradition and pride of our student athletes and specifically our captains our team captains who put it all together and so uh we're getting ready to also uh honor and acknowledge our team captains for their tremendous campus leadership both on and off the field and so hot off the presses uh just during The Fall season based on their efforts and their teammates the boys and girls soccer teams were the 2024 division Champions this year the girls vol volleball team was recognized as the 2024 Burlington County Scholastic League conference sportsmanship uh recipient and this is given based on uh all of the officials within the the league voting on who demonstrated the leadership characteristics most attainable uh and most admirable um and our uh students uh won that uh that award multiple teams including girls soccer volleyball and field hockey made it through multiple rounds of the state playoffs we also have multiple student athletes playing in senior All-Star games for their respective Sports and we just wanted to publicly acknowledge and congratulate all of our teams for representing our community well [Applause] all right so congratulations again to all of our senior leaders and athletic captains um that's quite a long list and um congrats to all of them before we go into Committee of the whole we did want to take a um go a little bit out of order to allow for the student report which is usually section nine I'm going to guess it still is section n to the student um student board rep report if um damir if you want to do that now um hello um my name is Diego Lopez doel I am a senior at Collingswood High School and I am the board representative for Woodland and today I will be sharing with you the news and things that have been going on around the school so first of all we had our um our theater program had to be beautiful functions in November the 1st and November the 2nd the functions were an evening of Comedy which consisted of three different blocks um this is a test check please and PR mageddon then and I think based on what I've heard people really liked it we also recently had a social justice B cell and and the profit made was donated to Chari Spanish club today also had a big sale they were selling stuff I I think the profit was gone to their own fund which they will be using to make their own events around the school to celebrate Hispanic culture and different events around the year student boys will be they've been making moves and trying to set up some bullet points of what they want to do this year I'm pretty sure they will meet with the board next month and that's directed by m laen m Romero and Mr brof also um The Wellness Center is trying to get a student support group done to help support the mental health of the students around the school thank [Applause] you great job Diego Thank you and I'm apologize for calling you diir I was looking at the the wrong name PL name plate so apologies um okay so thank you for that we are moving on to section four Committee of the whole motion to enter Committee of the whole and a second second all in favor okay so at this time I am going to turn things over to Kate Seltzer who is going to run Committee of the whole for us and as folks are leaving thank you again for coming have a great night all right good evening everyone nice to see you all um so the committee of the whole tonight um is just going going to be reviewing uh a few things that came up at our uh November board Roundtable um which I see a couple of people who are here tonight were there so thank you for coming to both um and so we thought we would just raise uh two issues that emerged um from that conversation which we had a great turnout we even had some student representation um at that board Roundtable which was great um and it is in line with uh some of the conversation we've been having since last month's presentation which was on the testing data uh from um our um from uh Windsor Yamamoto um so we you know between that testing presentation and our uh board round table on academics we thought we would just raise some of the ideas that came up for that um so one of the things we heard um was excitement and appreciation and gratitude for for um what was going to be happening with Dibbles assessments and map assessments um so I wanted to open it up to the board to ask any questions that you have about the roll out of those processes and assessments anything you want to ask particularly um Miss Hal Turner about those since they're in the process of being rolled out um so we can maybe start there and then move on my question given that this will be information that parents will have going into particularly at the elementary level um what type of guidance or work we're doing with teachers to help make the make those reports make sense to parents in conferences thank you for your question Matt uh just sort of the broader context here although we've spoken about it many times at this point Matt is referring to our new K through five Universal screener for reading it's called Dibbles it's given three times a year with interim progress monitoring along the way for um some subsets of students um and it's part of our broader um implementation of Science of reading uh strategies at the K through five elementary level with our literacy program um and uh so Matt's specific question was regarding uh how the information will be shared with families and so at the upcoming December 9th through 12th report card conferences at all of our elementary schools in addition to the report cards that are traditionally shared at those conferences students fall Dibbles reports will be shared with families um along with progress monitoring if it applies to those students and so this is an opportunity for teachers and families to sit together and review their students overall performance in all subject areas um and then to do a spefic a more specific kind of Deep dive into their reading assessment from this fall can you um can you just clarify for for everyone when you refer to progress monitoring um but that wouldn't be for every student so what what does that look like and what does that mean for for families yep um so if students uh were scored at at Benchmark or above level essentially for um the different indicators in the assessment they would not receive any ongoing progress monitoring between the testing Windows fall winter spring but for students who had any lower areas um the teachers then give a follow-up assessment to ensure appropriate growth is occurring along the way in the interim weeks between um the fall and winter Assessments in this case um and can share that information directly with uh with families um so that they know how to continue to support support at home as well as in the classroom is it um because this is a new um because dibles is is is new to Collingswood um and because parent teacher conferences are short and obviously um you know the information that's shared there is going to be much more than just Dibbles obviously um is it would it be possible for um some sort of some screencastify or a short video or something explaining Dibbles to to families to go out just so that they understand like how it's going to change over the year because you know Dibbles the what's being asked of students changes over the year so you know they don't get the same thing over the year so it just might be helpful so that teachers don't have to use their important time at parent teacher conferences to kind of explain that um and they can just explain the data and then kind of move on to all the other things they have to talk about we we are on the same page page yes so when uh when we share out our uh family message about conferences in the next few days that's explicitly a part of it just so that we can kind of do some pre pre-work um uh before we sit down because you're right the conference goes very fast and there's a lot of questions and information to cover can just ask how long does it take between when they get when they take the test and when we get the results because this was the first was take test was given in September correct correct and we just got them in November is that typical um so the great news about both Dibbles and map assessment is that unlike a lot of the other assessments that our kids take across the course of a year particularly State Testing like njsla where it's months and months between when you take the test and when you get the results um Dibbles and map is all available almost almost immediately and so it allows for um it allows for teachers to be a lot more um reactive in real time and make strategic decisions in real time I wanted to say excuse me um that I really appreciated the feedback I got about uh my fourth grader uh it was extremely helpful I spent some time going over the website and went over some of of the sites suggestions of different strategies that we can Implement at home uh to kind of help towards some of those goals so I found it very easy to navigate and um very very helpful so thank you um I wanted to ask kind of a broader question about where you see the like the use of this data over time so like how can we expect these assessments to inform not just what happens now for individual students but you know what how are teachers and how are building leaders using this information kind of more broadly I it kind of yes I love that question it kind of aligns with what I was sharing with uh saying in response to Sarah's question a moment ago um so rather than having to wait months um to receive data that is by that point outdated and then we're just being reactionary to it um this allows us to be very strategic in the moment um and to make strategic plans in an ongoing basis in a proactive way in responsive to real-time data um to be more strategic and thoughtful about how we support our kids how we group our students how we um modify ass assignments so make them accessible for students um and then like particularly um with regards to the lags between State testing data when we take it and when it returns uh for example we're right in the midst of um budget planning and discussions for next year right by the time that state testing data comes back in mid July we're already all the way well past budget season and all of those decisions have been sort of made and and plans have been in place and so one of the things that makes me most excited about having this data available on an ongoing basis will allow us to see Trends across the dist uh across the district across student groups and to be much more strategic as we're going through that winter budget process as we're doing right now um so that part makes me particularly excited just one uh I don't know if it's a question or a comment but um you know the great thing about these assessments to it allows us to track student growth over the course of the year so um you know if it's if it's possible it would be great to share some of that data during the board meetings um so that we're moving beyond just the state testing and that one snapshot but for for us to have a chance to see how students you know K all the way on up do over the course of the year so perhaps a mid year after the winter benchmarking see all right here's where we started in the fall here's where we are now um I think it would be uh meaningful for the board and the community and since we we've mostly been talking about dibles maybe we can also just touch on map assessments and you know um maybe that's because a few of us have Elementary age children but we can also talk about the map testing as well perhaps uh so just I'll do a kind of the the preface and then I'll get into a little more specifically so um nwaa map is our new 6th through 12th grade Universal screener for both Ela and math um the secondary admin team and I spent a lot of time together this morning getting all of the logistics uh organized um in order to do our first testing window uh which will be coming up in uh December 4th through the 13th um in a typical year we would take a beginning of the year midyear end of year map assessment um our implementation uh was a little bit uh later coming this year um and so our our first testing window will be coming up right after the Thanksgiving holiday um and uh again very similar to what I said regarding Dibbles um we're excited to have actionable live data to use to make strategic plans for kids it's also highly predictive data um and gives uh very accurate previews of how students might be predicted maybe predicted to perform on state standardized test ACT SAT PSAT Etc and so I Envision us having a a lot of fun digging into this data will will the results of those be sent be shared with families as well or is that not quite the same as an elementary situation yeah the hope is that in both instances the more that we can Empower families to have an understanding of how their kids are um successful currently and where their growth areas are currently um you know parents are our partners in this work we have to collaborate with families and so yes the same the same mindset is there a quick question on the Dibbles assessment since it's the one that we've already started with what has the feedback been from the elementary teachers on the use of this tool I'm in Elementary classrooms almost almost every day watching um instruction live in the moment um watching the teaching in action I saw progress monitoring happening today in a third grade classroom um and then I hear feedback both directly from teachers as well as funneled up through their principles to to me um I would say in general it's a uh easy to assess gets data quickly um it it we bought the full M class is the name of the full data platform that goes along with it so that teachers have access to see a full dashboard of their uh of their class individually and as a whole um and so all of those things I would say are the positives that we've heard so far um as with any new program we were learning a new learning a new program figuring out the bumps along the way with implementation at the start of the year um and so certainly there were questions and needs that bubbled up along the way that we've been troubleshooting throughout um just a logistics question about the map assessment data since I assume the results will come after conferences uh is there a plan for disseminating that information to families well map is for 6 through 12 only I didn't it's okay but yes sorry well playing off Sarah's question how will that information be related to parents we'll work through with building leaders guidance counselors Etc to TurnKey that information is the plan also to share any of that feedback with the students themselves since they've got a bit more agency in in what they could do with that information than a typical Elementary kid might have one of the uh one of the best parts about map I think is exactly that um it's all growth based data and so in a typical setting when you're taking talking about kids performance it's often about who is the highest in the class and who was the lowest in the class and where were you in comparison to did you get an A or did you not so I think in a lot of Senses it's kind of tricky to navigate how we share data like that with kids directly and certainly we find creative and and thoughtful ways to do that um but because map is all growth-based um it's a really easy way to publicly talk about kids and celebrate kids really openly and honestly directly to them you know individuals but also as a as a group um because typically kids who have the most Room to Grow are the ones that are going to have the highest amounts of growth and so it's a really fun way to publicly publicly ackn publicly acknowledge kids get them motivated about understanding like where they're at currently what skills they need to work on before the next testing window so I've seen a lot of um great things done in in that regard with empowering kids to understand their sort of their pathway okay if there are no other comments or questions thank you very much Meredith for all of that great information um just one more thing that we wanted to share that came up at the Round Table um that we are not going to talk about in-depth right now but we're sort of thinking about it as a board and we will be talking about it both at the January Retreat that we have every year um as well as a future Round Table in the spring um is that we had a conversation about um really working on retention of students in District after middle school so really thinking about some of the issues that have been raised to us as board members individually these conversations we know are going on um it's on our radar it's something that's very important to all of us and we're really looking forward to digging into it and then opening it up to community input in the spring for a round table um so this is just another plug for these roundtables they're I think those who come you know have given us feedback that they're good conversations they're much more uh informal right than than public board meetings and it's just a really nice small group conversation so um we probably will not have one in December because of all of the events that are going on uh but we will keep you informed about future roundt dates okay all right thank you everyone a motion to exit Committee of the whole so moved and a second second all in favor I um speaking of the all of the things that are going on in December we're moving on to section five future dates and miscellaneous information uh you can see there all of the wonderful uh winter events from Winter concerts to singing on the Avenue um that are taking place in the next month so please be sure to check some of those things out uh section six routine business I need a motion to approve the minutes of the October 28th 2024 regular board meeting and a second all in favor hi uh this brings us to our first opportunity for public comment the purpose for this public comment section is to discuss items listed on the agenda additional more General comments may be made later in the meeting the public is reminded that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints should first go through appropriate staff members and administrators the intent of public comment is to give the community the opportunity to provide feedback to the board we will be actively listening and taking notes so that we can take all that is being said into consideration if appropriate clarifying comments may be made at the end of the public comment section for more detailed responses to concerns communication may go out later in the week by the appropriate staff members or administrator or be discussed by the board during future committee meetings members of the public are welcome to speak and expected to do so with the utmost sensitivity to everyone in attendance and In fairness In fairness excuse me to all who wish to speak there's a strict three minute time limit um during public comment M Coleman will have her timer ready please remember to state your name and address for the record sorry about that um Wayne Rossy 114 East Palmer ra um so I noticed on the agenda there's a new consultant for um diversity equity and inclusion um I I know that previously uh there had been a different Consultant Group that was used um and that this appears to be new training I'd like to hear more about um what that is during the um during the committee presentation there um and specifically like whether any kind of um whether it's trying to like build again any kind of group among faculty and and staff that's really focused on on this I think it's really important to have a lot of Buy in to this work because it's so important um I I do think it's it's a an important and a good priority um on the other hand I I understand that there are ongoing budget struggles and I I would wonder if there's also any um attempts that have been made to uh find other funding sources for for things like this because well like I said I do think it is a priority and something that that we should be spending money on it also is a chunk of money um and I I you know would like to see things like this done you know as much as possible outside of I guess the normal budget process um yes that was what I had thank you good evening my name is Mr Berg music teacher at the Garfield and Tatum elementary schools here in Collingswood I here today proudly speaking on behalf of the district music teachers Miss Carlson Mr gross Mr Hartong miss incasso miss lwig and myself it is the mission of the Collingswood Public Schools District's music department to provide every Collingswood student the opportunity to grow through a highquality ability appropriate universally accessible music education that inspires the continuing study of music coming up next month you can look forward to a packed season of performances join Tatum and Garfield as they honor diversity and inclusivity in their Winter concert production of holidays around the world Zay North newbie sharp and Garfield elementary schools storm the stairs of the old Zay North building in their annual singing on the Avenue Community presentations roles are then reversed and hilarity ensues in the Middle School Musical Freaky Friday finally our most experienced singers take the stage in Collingswood High School's Winter concert for details feel free to reach out to your school music teacher I am now thrilled to announce that it has been another record-breaking year of Elementary instrument enrollment a decade ago only 40% of eligible students across the district were enrolled in the elementary instrument lesson program after a decade of steady growth since then that number is now more than doubled at a remarkable 86% enrollment a special shout out to Mr gross for his school Zan North which this year has reached the jaw-dropping mil Stone of 100% enrollment every fourth and fifth grader at Zay North including all those who receive special services is taking instrument lessons this year Mr gross's determination to create a program for all students is what led to the creation of our scholarship instrument program this program has been collecting band and orchestra instrument donations from the community for the purpose of lending out to families who would be disproportionately burdened by the standard rental fee back when we originally started this program 10 years ago the music team was only able to help six families in need last year we helped over 40 families in need but wait this year the music team awarded school-owned instruments to over 70 families in need every student who wanted to learn an instrument this year is now learning an instrument for anyone interested in contributing an instrument or funds to the scholarship program please reach out to your school music teacher thank you [Applause] I want to be him when I grew up by the way great oh my God phenomenal um I'm Mrs Tanner I'm an English teacher over at the high school and I appreciate how difficult rolling out new testing platforms are it is I really don't need it but that's okay I know that it's incredibly incredibly difficult and I and I applaud the idea of having more data out there but from a teacher perspective the map testing roll out has been a bit of a black box which we haven't been given the keying um we were told we went to an inservice that was really more of an ad um we were supposed to in that inservice be told how to use the plethora of data because when we had map testing before that was the problem there was so much data and we really didn't know what to look at the inservice never got to that part they never showed us how to set up our classes when I spoke to somebody else who was a new teacher they said oh well I didn't have to set up my classes when we use Mac testing it was done by the tech department I'm supposed to start testing on the 4th the Tuesday after Thanksgiving I don't I haven't been in there to play around yet all of the links that were part of the presentation were blocked because of um the ad blocker so we couldn't even see any of it and we got the invitation to start doing it today and we were told that there was going to be more information coming I I already have all next month plans like I really want to plan and I do feel like that there's this pressure that I'm supposed to give this test and then know what to do with this data when I haven't been given access to that information um and I'm supposed to start doing it on the 4th so um while I I I love data I mean I I teach AP I roll around those numbers all the time I roll around all I do the appeal I have all I've I love data but I feel like I'm I'm being asked to do something that I haven't really been explained so I feel a little loss and it is nobody's fault I know that there were Tech issues and then there were roll out issues and I understand that and I do applaud getting this data because it's super important but from a teacher's perspective this is an incredibly stressful place to me for me to be standing right now to know that on Tuesday I am expected to do something that I don't know if the classes have been set up do I have to set them I don't know and I like I said I plan a month in advance I'm really not good with not knowing so um and again I understand that you're doing everything you can but unless we're going to be giving that data we may want to push back the start date um just from like a logistical point of view thank you so much um okay I know Dr mcdal you wanted to clarify one of the things about the the um item agenda item about the building capacity Grant yeah um so with the building capacity Grant uh in in response to uh Mr Rossi um that particular item will be tabled for the November board meeting it'll be placed back on the agenda for December uh the board uh wanted more time in order to dig into some of the very questions that you were asking for um and so uh you also referenced about uh funding and so there is no line item for any of the equity or the uh extra uh training support or or Innovative items that we've done for the last several years all of those uh initiatives including uh what you heard about ear from our student representative the elevating student Voice work that is all Grant funded um large in part based on the uh Grant team uh at our middle and our high school that have gone out and helped us bring in additional revenues and so all of these new initiatives are not in the general fund uh budget they're all grant grant funded thank you Dr Mel and Miss H Turner did you um want to speak to the um the map testing piece perhaps uh yes yes thank you uh first I want to say thank you to Eli and the music teachers for that wonderful overview of the upcoming programs I do wish Mr Goldberg could just do all of the speaking for us because I think it would be so much more engaging so I just could listen to you all day long and um El Eli shared the 100% uh outcome at Zan but I happen to know that he could have shared at every Elementary School um over the last 5 to seven years significant growth from 40 and 50% I'm giving ballpark here but 40 and 50 percentile participation rates to above well above 80 am I right on that in that range thank you so just yes to Zan 100 but a good great outcomes for our participation across our entire Elementary program leading into our middle school and high school program so I just first wanted to say thank you for lifting that up Eli and thank you to the music department leading that leading those efforts Karen thank you for your questions about map I appreciate your questions um a couple just uh quick uh quick reactions and responses so um the testing window is starting on the 4th which is the Wednesday after we come back from the break so we built in just a little bit more of a buffer um to give the the school administrators time to build out all of the testing sessions which was in action this morning no ma'am her question was does she have to build the testing sessions and the answer is no um so we uh we were implementing all of the tech tech Logistics this morning to get that all in order a um detailed but userfriendly how-to document is coming out um tomorrow uh I'll say before the Thanksgiving holiday um to make sure that you have everything in order going into to the break and then there'll be those two days for um prep following when we return on the second and the third um but essentially from a teachers's perspective for those who are here tonight or are listening at home you'll log in through clever click your 12th grade English class and start begin testing session and the students have an icon on their desktop that will begin as well um so um I'll just say that Oakland is also piloting map testing in their District third fourth and fifth grade this year and they uh we had we strategically had them test first thank you to our partners in Oakland they have less than 150 stud students to test and we have 1,29 students who will test at the 6th through 12th grade level so they went ahead and did the uh jumped in last week and it's been a very very smooth testing session um thus far and so I feel very confident that you'll feel the same Karen you're welcome thank you Miss Hal Turner um moving on to section eight the superintendent report Dr mcdal will present so good evening again um section 8.01 is the enrollment report October 2023 is 2256 October 2024 is 2221 and that report is attached uh 8.02 3 and four are the safety drill suspension and anti-bullying report uh and I have just a few um announcements U to be to uh to accompany that um and so first and foremost we uh this is uh what we are uh calling the season of gratitude uh gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation for the good things in life and we hope that all families in our school Community are well and looking forward to this extended break before the hustle and bustle of the holiday season uh begins to take hold we would like to pause to reflect on all of the positives that continue to take place in each of our schools uh we'd also like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude for the tremendous efforts that so many are displaying this particular Market term as we reflect on our school year so far it is not surprising to acknowledge the collective work of students and staff as we shift our Focus from academic recovery to rigorous instruction I've had the opportunity to visit our schools and observe meaningful progress taking place daily so despite the challenges that our schools face our students are hopeful and actively engaged in their future and during this specific season we'd also like to highlight some of the other things that our students are engaged in uh our character strong implementation which which is our new seal curriculum at the elementary level has been a positive addition schools kicked off the year with kindness and they are now focusing on what it means to be grateful um there have been wonderful conversations taking place across all of our campuses and we would like to specifically highlight bless you highlight the work of the elementary Wellness team for leading this important work we'd also like to highlight Pajama Day many of our Elementry schools annually support uh this time honor tradition of a pajama day fundraiser with all proceeds going to chop please see your child school for details we'd also like to acknowledge the buildings and grounds uh uh crew for their holiday food drive they are actively collecting donations um in partnership with students in each building November 4th through December 13th of non-p perishable food items to help Collingswood Oakland and Woodland families during the holidays deliveries will take place on Saturday December 21st the the Collingwood High School interact Club will partner with the Collingwood Education Association for pictures with Santa on December 7th from 11: a.m. to 100 pm at the Collingswood Community Center the cost for participation is two non- perishable items with proceeds benefiting the local food bank uh please bring your own uh cameras and uh the interact Club is also collecting socks for the homeless with their happy de feat initiative they're accepting new unused socks and donations until December 16th with all proceeds going to local homeless shelters with the main recipient being the Joseph's house in Camden and so we would just like to honor and thank our students for their commitment and service to our communities we'd also like to just to give another reminder uh which we'll be putting this out uh in addition this week is that all schools will dismiss early on Wednesday November 27th with the districts being closed Thursday and Friday uh to observe Thanksgiving uh Elementary conferences uh will also be taking place and you will uh get more information from your child school about sign up and Reserve time our new Elementary biking policy began on Monday November 11th with elementary students now being able to bike to school and enjoy their new found Freedom uh we would like to thank our buildings and grounds Crews for preparing schools to safely receive new writers and a special thanks to the Colwood Police Department for their increased presence during arrival and dismissal as students travel to and from school if you are a family in need of a bike helmet or or uh need to know if the helmet that you uh have is fitting properly uh please reach out to Cross County Connection uh November is National Native American heritage month and it is celebrated to honor the culture traditions and achievement of Native Americans Alaskan natives native Hawaiians and Affiliated Island communities interactive classroom resources is Rec curated for our students by our Elementary media specialist Miss hav Vistas and additional displays and reading selections honoring indigenous Americans at the library media center at the middle school and high school were curated by our secondary media specialist Miss Madden the Collingwood and Oakland cpag in partnership with the special services team welcomes all schools to participate in inclusive schools week December 2nd through December 6th this districtwide initiative is an important step towards our goal of making our school communities more inclusive grade level appropriate guides have been developed and outline daily themes discussion questions and classroom activities for teachers to complete with students each day and we look forward to all students um and all schools participating in this initiative and so what are the goals of inclusive schools week it's one is to celebrate the progress of schools in educating an increasingly diverse student population acknowledge the hard work and commitment of schools families and communities in creating inclusive opportunities for all children regardless of disability gender ethnicity language health status or Etc encourage reflection on how culture policies and practices in schools can promote inclusive education and then Pro to promote action to increase capacity of schools and communities to meet the needs of all Learners on November 19th we are pleased to announce that 41 colinwood high school students were inducted into the National Honor Society the National Honor Society is one of the oldest largest and most widely recognized co-curricular cular student organizations in American high schools with 1.4 million members the purpose of the National Honor Society is to create enthusiasm for scholarship to recognize outstanding students to stimulate a desire to render service to promote leadership and to develop character membership in local chapters is an honor bestowed upon a student by The Faculty Council and is based on four pillars of the National Honor Society scholarship character leadership and service and so uh we will be uh sending out the names of all of our uh new uh inductees uh the 41 11th and 12th graders um to be able to recognize this outstanding group of students and we just would like to congratulate them for this exceptional accomplishment you heard earlier about our senior leaders uh but we wanted to continue uh to promote uh that we have a talented group of student leaders that are doing lots of positive things on our campus but we would also like uh to acknowledge all of our advisers first the adviser for the National Honor Society Miss mcdevit and the senior leader advisers Mr lar Moore and Mr Adams for supporting all of our students with all of these amazing activities in addition to our our coaches uh that are supporting our young student athletes also aligned with our vision 2026 strategic plan is our focus and our efforts of helping all students reach their full potential while preparing them for post-secondary Success Through a very holistic approach over the last three years we have implemented sat school day to better inform plans to increase student access to Advanced coursework on October 22nd 660 Colwood High School students participated uh in sat school day and will be receiving their performance reports shortly these reports will help to identify areas of strength as well as growth as our students pursue academic proficiency and College and Career Readiness schools have also received AP potential reports identifying additional students who could also benefit from their participation in advanced coursework just a few statistics for the 23 24 school year Kingwood High School offered 17 advanced placement courses uh in addition to a series of credit bearing dual enrollment courses in partnership with multiple colleges and universities for the 2324 school year colinwood high school had its highest advanced placement participation and performance in five years with 75% of all AP students earning qualifying scores for college credit for the 2425 school year Collegewood High School is currently offering 20 advanced placement courses across all content areas and so we would like to publicly acknowledge our uh Advanced students as well as to thank our counselors as well as our AP teachers for continuing to move our students in a positive direction and finally uh we would just like to send just a gentle reminder that the 2024 Collingswood holiday parade is back on the Avenue on Saturday November 30th beginning at 10:00 a.m. name the best Main Street Experience in South Jersey Magazine with Lively entertainment marching bands dancers holidays our schools and marching band will be uh represented at the event the parade will begin at Zayn uh Avenue and continue to West Lindon Avenue through historic Collingswood uh please come out to support our students for this time honor tradition uh and that concludes my report thank you Dr mcdowald uh moving along to section 10 because we had the student report earlier the business administrator board secretary report by Miss Coleman all righty um 10.01 is a listing of your October 2024 monthly budget transfers 10.02 is your October 2024 board secretary's report treasurer's report 10.03 is your food service financial statement for October 10.04 is a listing of the purchase orders that have been issued um through the month of November and 10.05 is the listing of the bills that will be paid tomorrow morning pending approval tonight and a 10.06 is the Student Activity cash report thank you Miss Coleman moving on to the next section the buildings grounds and finance committee Mr Craig will present thank you the finance buildings and grounds committee reviews all financial statements purchase orders and warrants on a monthly basis committee also reviews and approves all contracts with outside service providers and overseas and M all maintenance and capital Improvement projects districtwide uh tonight we are seeking approval for the following items 112 to 119 is the board secretary's report as it was just presented uh 1110 uh we are going to be asking to table do I have to read in what it is um I just need a motion and a second to table and then I'm going to roll call to move it off the agenda do that now yeah might as well okay uh I would like to make a motion to table uh item 1110 second second who I who seconded you didn't Chris I Chris okay I guess if I made the motion oh he made the motion he seconded it we're all good okay all right with a roll call Happy Thanksgiving everyone Mr Craig yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs Savino yes Mrs Seltzer yes Mr Sheridan Celia yes Mrs Sherman yes Mr tab yes Mr dilus yes Mrs kadon yes and like Dr McDow said um this will be back on the agenda for December thank you so 1111 is um approval of free therapy andal instruction um and group session youth group sessions in the wellness center uh provided by uh nj4 s through the Center for Family Services 1112 is a shared service agreement with clemon uh 1113 and 14 are tuition agreements for displaced students in Mount laurl and Camden respectively uh 11:15 uh thank you to uh Miss Patterson believe she is here but donated a clarinet and a flute to newbie uh and then 1116 and 1117 are use of facility requests for Collingswood recreational basketball and wrestling uh so seeking approval for items 112 to 1117 motion to approve set items so moved and a second second questions or comments from board members quick question about uh 11:15 um those donations are the same just when uh Mr Goldberg was talking about the number of donations that we had gotten um I just want to make sure that we are acknowledging those yeah normally the day after we send a letter um this way if they want to put down their tax return as I said donation they have a document from the school district yeah just again publicly if they are willing to like to to celebrate that thank you uh any other questions or com I have one question um I just want to confirm that you just said to Wayne that you know we Ted that but it is Grant funded when it's on the budget for next where's the what Grant are we using for that just have curiosity the wellness center car uh carryover funds any other questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr Craig yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs sain yes Mrs Seltzer yes Mrs sherid and Celia yes Mr Mrs Sherman yes Mr tab yes Mr dulus yes Mrs Kaden yes uh moving on to section 12 the curriculum committee Miss Sherman will present okay first time here okay the curriculum committee oversees and approves the district curriculum and assessment programs as well as field trips home instruction co-curricular programs and school calendar um first uh there's number of field trips 12.0 two Elementary School field trips including walking field trips um uh 12.03 is Middle School field trips including the community center trip um which I believe is next month 12.04 is um the high school field trips there's several trips planned including trips for the 18 to 21 year old program holiday trip choir 12.5 to 12.7 are out of district and home instruction placements for students um 12.8 to 12.9 are out of District placements for students um 1210 is the big wow flare Dance Company visit sorry I know that's not as big as uh Roger's excitement for that but we'll do it instead um this is for the the prek program um 12.11 and 12.12 are uh sharp after school programs one is the uh after school program and the second is let grow play program funded by Title One funds uh 12.3 is the uh 20 2025 to 2026 preschool plan and projected enrollment um from the New Jersey Department of Education the office of early childhood education um and so I'm seeking approval of items 12.2 through 121 sorry 12.10 through yeah 12.2 121 you did it almost did it without any issues um so yeah so it's 12.02 to 1213 tonight motion to approve said items so moved and a second second questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr Craig yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs mulski yes Mrs saino yes Mrs Seltzer yes Mrs Sharon Celia yes Mr Sherman yes Mr tab yes with exceptions uh when required Mr dois Yes except we're required to abstain Mrs Gaden yes uh section 13 the Personnel committee Miss Sheridan Celia will present the Personnel committee reviews all recommendations for teaching and staff employment considers co-curricular employment and considers all professional development opportunities for staff members this evening we're seeking approval of items 13.02 through 13 13.22 items 13.02 through 13.07 are resignations of faculty and staff 13.8 08 through 13.09 are two different leaves um 13.10 is approval of a preschool teacher 13.11 approval of a high school special education teacher at 1312 we have a long-term substitute and replacement teacher as well as at 13.13 13.14 are appointment of one Elementary pre permanent substitute um 13.15 is the mental health screening Grant the appointment of a mental health endless screener for the current school year 13.16 um the third culture and climate Grant positions with the ESS staff to work with the culture and climate Center this year uh at 13.17 and 13.18 um call back to the prior um approvals for sharps programs for the let grow play and after school programs that's at both 13.17 the appro appointment of staff and at 13.18 the approval of the program organizers and directors for both of those programs at 13.19 and 13.20 are high school and middle school athletic assistants and volunteer coaches respectively 1321 um approval of two new substitutes for I'm sorry four substitutes and tutors and finally at 13.22 I think we have one item on the travel expenses for this month so I'm seeking approval this evening of items 13.02 through 13.22 thank you motion to approve set items so moved and a second questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr Craig yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs Savino yes Mrs szer yes Mrs Sharon Celia yes Mr Sherman yes Mr tab yes with exensions where required Mr dolas Yes except we required to abstain Mrs Kaden yes uh section 14 the culture climate and policy committee Miss Seltzer will present the culture climate and policy committee re reviews all updates and changes of District policies and regulations um we have uh one policy up for a first read at 14.02 um and that is 9181 volunteer athletic coaches and co-curricular activity advisers and assistants uh no big changes there just some revised language and what seems to be a change in protocol regarding TB testing um at 14.03 we have two polic is up for a second reading those were on the agenda last month and uh 14.04 we have four regulations up for one reading um and no big changes again in those policies uh same uh idea regarding TB testing revisions 3160 and 4160 physical examination and 5200 there is a new excused absence category uh students in grades 6 to 12 up to one per year can attend a Civic event um as an excused absence so uh I am seeking approval for items 14.02 to 14.04 thank you motion to approve set items so moved and a second second questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr Craig yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes M Severino yes Mrs Seltzer yes Mrs sherid and Celia yes Mrs Sherman yes Mr tab yes with ob sections were required Mr dolus yes Mrs Caden yes uh moving on to section 15 miscellaneous uh 15.01 is the recommendation to appoint uh Joe gersi as the compliance action officer for um 504s for the 2425 school year and 15.02% the previous month's so October's um anti-bullying report uh need to uh have a motion to approve 15.01 and 15.2 and a second questions or comments from board members roll call please oh sorry go ahead I apologize I I apologize I I overlooked this did we not have someone for this 15.01 or was is this a new we we did we just we didn't do official board action so he's been Ser he's been serving in the role understood thank you any other questions or comments from board members roll call please Mr Craig yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs mulski yes Mrs Savino yes Mrs Seltzer yes Mrs sherid and Celia yes Mrs Sherman yes Mr Tav yes Mr dulus yes Mrs Kaden yes uh moving on to section 16 our second opportunity for public comment um the public is reminded to that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints should first go through appropriate staff members or administrators um we will be actively listening and taking notes I think everybody's heard my speech by now um In fairness to all who wish to speak there's a three minute time limit Ms Coleman has her timer um please remember to state your name and address for the record hi my name is Grant can and I live on 120 East Madison F so my thing was so at the like round at the round round table at the round table meeting at that um there was another issue that I don't think Kate mentioned it was the thing about the teacher shortage because I feel like last year there was all these like specialist teachers from what I know and now this year atfield I we only have like one last year we had like three four and now we only have one and and we just losing all that because I think when we had more the opportunity to give Less on like less on all the teachers Minds everything all the time I think it it was a lot easier when we had more specialist teachers all around [Applause] thank you thank you grant hi um it's fine yeah it's really okay thank you I mean I could I could you know I'm I'm my name is Tom Howard I live at 16 Fraser Avenue um I just wanted to say a few words uh about actually something that was said last uh board meeting um at the very end I know Miss Kaden made made a comment um uh commenting about sort of the 10 the tone and and and whatnot of of meetings and I agree that sometimes things get uh heated um and I don't envy the position that you guys are in as as uh board members uh but at the same time I was a little taken aback um because it sounded like there was some a little bit of an admonishment of people being civically engaged uh there was a comment about uh not remembering growing up not knowing who board members were who superintendents were and then a lot of people learn a community now obviously know that and I same thing with me when I grew up I didn't I knew who my superintendent was but I didn't really know anything about the board members but I think it's a good thing that people know who everybody is because it's better to have a civically engaged public than a disinterested public um and true sometimes emotions can run high and sometimes can uh go over the edge but it's also understandable why people sometimes get upset because you're talking about children um you're talking about their future um you have the you know major many issues that that we've had in our district uh from the racial tension to um the teachers without a contract now for all the way into the school year um to the obviously the various points of view with the referendum um it's understandable people get upset and it's not an excuse to be to attack people personally and that should never be the case but I think we should be encouraging people to be uh civically engaged rather than kind of um doing the opposite and and also um um you know you guys all ran for for office and so when you run for office I mean you become a face for the district and that means people can question and people should question um and of course they shouldn't obviously go over the line but um I know you guys are volunteers in the sense you're not getting paid but everybody did run everybody who was a board member did run and did seek to run and volunteer to run um and wanted to run for for the best interest of the school so uh I'm hoping that in the future we do have better tone um but also we don't want to discourage people from coming out and voicing their concerns and their problems um because you know people have a lot of uh a lot of a lot of uh care and that's a good thing so thank you [Applause] hi uh Cara Boer 90s Summerfield Avenue uh I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge Miss Moe uh who's resigning um she was very instrumental in helping my older two children at Mark newbie uh through um some challenges that they had and I just wanted to thank her for all her service and her time at Mark newbie and we wanted to let her know that we really appreciate her we're going to miss her thank [Applause] you uh thank you everyone moving on to section 17 motion to adjourn this evening's meeting and a second second have a great Thanksgiving everyone you don't