e e good evening it's loud tonight um this meeting will be called to order this is a regular meeting of the Oakland Board of education adequate meeting um oh excuse me adequate notice of this meeting has been provided a schedule regular meeting so the Board of Education was adopted at our reorganization meeting in January and uh scheduled notice of said meetings have been posted maintained in the interior window of the um front door there um of the administrative offices as well as in the retrospect Courier Post and filed with cler of The Bu of Oakland um now we'll go to a roll call Mrs Ezekiel here Mr STS here Mrs Rando here Mr McMillan here Mr Mrs Maran here Mr schaer here Mrs buo here uh please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance okay there's no executive session at this time we're going to move right into presentations uh first up we have Dr White House um for the cpeg presentation this is the special education parent Advisory Group Dr White House credibly dedicated um to the students in our district um there are many things our department is doing well um and we're seeing a lot of student progress and one of the areas we have identified as in need of growth is inclusion and we're going to about that a lot tonight um we have found some pockets of really strong inclusive practices in Oakland um but we also recognize that we're in need of a comprehensive approach um to really move this work forward so doing this effectively involves a lot of diser Partnerships and we've started to develop some this year first is our special education parent advisory group tonight um we've been working with the building principal M golden thank you the New Jersey Coalition for inclusive education has been doing some professional development with so we really appreciate um the Partnerships here to talk about some of the work we've been doing in our group and build thanks Beth hi everybody um I'm Ali hugley like Beth said I'm the parent leader of the Collingswood and Oakland cpeg um this is our group uh vision statement the Collingswood and Oakland cpeg is an empowering inclusive partnership between stakeholders that supports students with disabilities so pretty simple um our group uh includes parents and caregivers um teachers educators administrators um that are uh related to special education what is cpeg um it's an Acron that stands for special education parent advisory group we're a parent L group um working in partnership with the district um so like I said we have Beth at our meetings um I lead the meetings but we also have a lot of teachers and um par professionals and other people that um case managers and things that attend so we really welcome that partnership and that um sharing of ideas um in our group we meet monthly um and we have a membership of 80 plus members this is Collingswood and Oakland combined um we have about 20 people that regularly attend the meetings to work towards our goals and we focus on systemic issues related special education so that means we're not really like a support group talking about individual issues with advocacy we're talking about kind of big picture issues and how we can work together um to benefit all students and who should join like I said parents and caregivers of students with an IEP or 504 Educators students community members interested in issues related to disability rights and special education so these are the things that we do the primary kind of pillars of our work um like Beth said number one kind of focus area is promoting inclusion and advocating for students with disabilities in our school Community we serve as a resource to our community Through meetings um events and social media presence um if you have Facebook or Instagram you can follow us at calls Oak cpag we have some content going on right now because it's neurodiversity celebration week so that's one way that we can serve our community as bringing some of that content to people and we also advise The District administration on policies practices and programs for students with IEPs and 504s and that's more of that collaborative partnership so talking about inclusion and what we mean by that um how do we measure inclusion um all the metrics that measure inclusion are based on this uh Benchmark of 80% or more of their day in the general education setting so that means we're talking about students with um often um intellectual or um developmental disabilities um so thinking things like autism Down syndrome Etc um so students with those disabilities often are in self-contained classrooms um um which that would affect their their placement and that would not qualify as an included um student so this is The Benchmark that we use and the national average in 2022 um the average inclusion rate was 66% so now we're going to look at some data that was shared um Beth mentioned njcie um we're fortunate in New Jersey to have this wonderful um organization working towards inclusive education and working with districts um so they shared this data with us and now I'm going to share it with you um yeah so how are we doing um this data is showing Oakland um the the rate for including is just under 43% um and you'll see New Jersey is um low uh we've been around 45% since 1995 um for a little history lesson uh 1990 was um the idea Ada like Disabilities Act so um we've been pretty stagnant since then here in New Jersey um and Oakland is you know right in line below the um New Jersey rate and I just wanted to also say that um the some other data that she showed showed that you know New Jersey is highly ranked for Education general education overall and um that's fantastic but um we're ranked almost dead last for inclus inclusive education um and she showed a lot of data to with other states that are also in the top 10 for Education overall that are doing a great job with including so it's not like you can't have one without the other in fact um inclusive education practices really are shown to benefit all students not just students with disabilities so this was a eye opener for me this data and it really kind of motivated me to um let other people know where we are so that we can kind of you know realize the Baseline and work together to move move forward um so I've been doing this work with the cpeg since January 2022 um and we've really been focused on developing more inclusive School culture we're thinking about the things that we can do right now with the people we have in the buildings for free um and trying to be proactive about that from the parent group side so um the the things we wanted to focus on that we identified as a group was normalizing support needs um using the language that's preferred by the disability Community um developing parent and self- advocacy skills and um promoting staff learning opportunities so the two main ways we've done this in the past two school years are our celebration weeks inclusive schools week and neurodiversity celebration week um just to elaborate on that quickly um neurodiversity celebration week's happening right now um we sent around a packet of resources to all the School principles so that's all the building principles at the elementary schools in Oakland and Collingswood um Collingswood Middle School and Collingswood High School and gave them resources to introduce this content about um neurodiversity autism ADHD in like a strengths-based proactive way it's sort of our updated idea of like an Autism Awareness Day um with a little bit more content and meaning behind it or a lot more oh thank you Beth okay so this um she was able to find some track down some photos um this was the uh hexagon activity from inclusive schools week from this year um and this is um this is great this is where as the students all designed hexagons with different qualities about themselves and then found common edges and kind of put it all together to show that you know even with our differences we can all connect in a different way and we're all better together there so it we just kind of talk about these messages of um accepting differences and being inclusive to all um a couple areas other areas that we're working on as a group in cpeg um are building Community Partnerships um hosting guest speakers and putting together District events so these are the um the kind of three ways that we're tackling that we um shared an inclusive book list at callings with Book Festival this year so that's just like a step towards um showing inclusivity in the community um we've also had talk about like having like a sensory tent at the farmers market and things like that so we're always open to those kind of ideas and just like using the connections that people already have to um send those messages um guest speakers like I said we were able to host the guest speaker from njcie with that eye openening data um and just a wonderful Resource One of the greatest things about that was a lot of seeing a lot of teachers attend to get that information which was really um encouraging and then we're hoping to plan a a district walk to night Park this spring um for autism so we're working with the special education teachers to coordinate some plans for that then I just have this um inspirational quote to share um I won't read it to you but um the idea here is um this is dual we can do this together um and I am a very positive and hopeful person it's been a tough few years for optimists but I'm still going um so just the vision for um what it means to have high expectations for every student and not limiting students um opportunities based on their disabilities so looking ahead we're looking to you um members of the board um um to help us with this work that we're trying to do on the policy side since we're working kind of on the more cultural aspect um so we are looking at implementing an inclusion team as a part of broader Dei initiatives um collaborative development of inclusion road map um this this involves um reviewing the data of where we are now taking accountability for that raising awareness and then um establishing measurable goals of how to move that at 43% metric um and an inclusion pledge um a lot of districts will have this as sort of um part of their standard you know that just centers inclusion as part of the mission for um our work and continue utilizing the njc ciee opportunities um I know Dr White House has had some success and um there is money out there around this and um we are going after it and we're going to keep going after it um Collingswood and Oakland are both communities that value progress and um inclusivity and Equity so um definitely taking advantage of those opportunities um and getting ahead of cve um so that is all from me I um thanks for listening and I'm more than happy to answer questions if you have any thank you um is do you have to have a confirmed diagnosis to be included in that table or is it any I'm just trying to understand what the group is is it a percentage of children on IEP or do they have to have confirmed diagnosis it would be it would be um it would be IEPs because it would be um kids that are in self-contained placements or more any placement that's more restrictive than a general education classroom for 80% or more of their day okay so I mean that would be an IEP to necessitate that placement there the the population that we're focusing on are students with disabilities documented disabilities that are already receiving supports at school but are often receiving their supports in segregated SE settings away from any um of their grade level peers and only in with disab with disabled peers yep any other questions I just wanted to make a comment um so my son is in middle school now um but when I came when he was three um started with an IEP um there was a CPAC group at the time in Oakland um and I attended all those meetings with Dr White House and we were really happy if we got three parents there and so I'm so impressed with the work that you've done in just a little over two years and getting growing this group to where it's at so thank you for that anyone else and we're gonna move on to the counseling seal update uh this is Miss Barnett we're we're switching okay we'll move on to the this the Spanish program update all right sorry so miss Balden uh I'm going to introduce Mrs Julie Schneider um earlier in the year our board had asked for some additional presentations to get to know a little bit more about the different programs within our building so we did one on stem with Miss Vistas and now we have um Mrs sh schneer here to present on our world language program which is Spanish Avery is GNA pass around a handout um is actually that one there which is why learn everybody I did want to share um these are actual guidelines for World Language so again it's more than just words right vocabulary it's about communication about cultur connection comparison all of these are part ofar and very useful for our students um and then I also have and how to get there you'll see the very bottom is novice and that's where most students defitely Elementary School and they'll hang out at novice for quite a while right the goal is to up that these are some of my goals I'm not going to read everything um but I would say um some things that I definitely think are the most important are um making connections with other learning so connecting to what's going on in their other classes to keep it relevant is really important um keeping in mind the diversity of the Spanish speaking world so going knowing that know beond Cancun and Mexico right there's a lot of Spanish speakers in the world from all different countries um and that's really important thing to keep in mind um and then the last one there desire to learn more Spanish other languages and about other cultures and count so again the goal is that it expands beyond the classroom and it could expand Beyond Spanish and that's great I have students that are super interested in Japanese and I think that's awesome um so definitely the idea to say that it's I'm not a speaker but I am fluent and they can become thatle and it's notan um so these are some of the things we do umly more than just things um try to keep it enjoyable and doable a lot of I have a couple pictures um so this is in the name of collaboration with the music teacher we have um those of the second grade students and they learned in Spanish they know all the lyric which I'm very proud of and then they also are playing it on instruments and singing at the same time and one thing I did had lyrics for them and they pictures understand what they're singing which is really important um their pration is excellent and have Pard and I will say the influence of from Black History Month um we had students just at collaboration um she got a bunch of books and and found their birthday and it was also learning to find the timeline in some pieces to find you know they didn't always understand that so on the birthday and they were able to write the birthday in Spanish and then we did presentation um and what's cool about that is some students came up on their they wanted to um and some were nervous and other students volunteered to go up with them of help they needed help I thought list to this book then they were able to read it in Spanish a lot of repti and then they used it ideal day so it Froman and then they also ITN they have first they still havean okay I accept that um some of them put recess at the end of the day I was kind of a good idea right um so it was kind of a cool so have Avery to read the book in Spanish and then we have going translate it e excellent all right and then K is to read the book that she made for her her ideal e so again they got to refle but they got to chose to a representation of that Spanish to describe person was they sear person they already knew right we were able to here em question e um is e for e e e e e e e so e e e e Che e thank you so much three wonderful presentations tonight particularly love having the students here so thank you all for that thank you parents too all right we are going to move on to Committee of the whole is there a motion to go into Committee of the whole so move second second all in favor all right we are now Committee of the hold I'm gonna ask Dr Mel a quick question on the side real fast we're going to talk about um the budget but we're going to do that a little later on um in the meeting Dr mcdow's going to give us an update on where we are with state aid and some of our advocacy efforts um I have just a couple of announcements um and then I wanted to see if anyone else had anything to discuss we move on to the me of our agenda um so uh comment for tonight uh later on in the agenda we're going to be talking about um I'm sorry voting on the academic calendar for the year um so I just um wanted to note that our board struggled to reach a consensus in our committee meetings um I've asked Dr McDow to make his recommendation on what he thinks is best as superintendent L Lin um which is typically what we do and um so the way the calendar is now um the recommendation that we'll be voting on um aligned very closely with colinwood um but we will vote on it um in section 11 so just wanted to make that update there um just um another update um shortly before the meeting um Todd and I received an email from the Oakland Police Department um they're trying to reach out to it about cameras and so going to ask Mrs Coleman and Dr mdow to follow up with it about that so that we can get that issue resolved um and I think that's it that I have and I wanted to see if anyone else had anything that they wanted to bring up at this time for committee as the whole all right hearing none is there a motion to come out of Committee of the home no move second all right moved in seconded all in favor all right we are now out of Committee of the whole uh moving into section five important dates um there are some activities coming up here gym night on Friday um next week starts spring break so there will be an early dismissal here in Oakland on Thursday March 28th then we'll move into Spring Break um and then there's some other PTA activities there and the next board meeting is April 30th here in the library at 6:30 and that is when we'll do our full budget hearing for um next year so um now we are moving into routine board minutes excuse me section six uh is there a motion to approve the minutes of the February board meeting so move moved and seconded um I have a question actually a correction so I believe when I looked at it yesterday so I don't know if this been corrected yet that it mentioned that the counseling update that was originally on the agenda for last month um I just want to make sure that that is taken off and that the counseling update happened tonight and not in February so just not that correction um all in favor of approving the board minutes with that correction I okay approved thank you uh section seven uh we are up to our first public comment section um please stand state your name and address and keep your comments to five minutes or less uh this particular public comment portion is for items on the agenda only so if you have any um comments to make about the agenda this is the time or um there will be another public comment section at the end of the meeting for other issues all right hearing then we are moving on to section eight uh for the superintendent report Dr McDow so good evening everyone um and as our students are walking out thank you again for presenting thank you so much and so uh section 8.01 is the enrollment report which is attached uh as of as of February 2023 enrollment was 275 February 2024 is 266 um the ASA enrollment report is also attached um for um solidifying back in October in addition to to the current principal's report uh for the month of February uh 8.02 is the school safety drill report uh and 8.05 is the attached uh child study team report I just have a few um updates for the community that we want to make sure go on the public record and so um earlier this month uh we reached out to our various School communities to share information uh regarding significant reductions in state aid to Oakland despite the state's announcement to significantly increase overall educational spending uh in addition to the rising cost of educational services for students um as a board um as a community we're extremely disappointed to receive to receive this news and have reached out to the New Jersey Department of Education as we are are unclear as to the reason for the state's uh continued decisions we will continue to advocate for our school Community as we plan for the upcoming school year we will like to publicly thank um our board members um this evening uh Mr McMillan and Miss bko specifically for their partnership advocacy and public hearing testimony in addition we'd like to thank district 6 state Senator James Beach assemblyman Lewis Greenwald and assembly woman Pamela lampit for listening to school districts that were affected uh as well as advocating on our behalf at the state level uh there will be continuing um hearings uh leading up to uh the formal vote and the approval of the governor's budget uh because we are one of 140 uh school districts across the state uh that saw pretty significant reductions in state aid despite almost a billion dollar increase in educational spending um so we were equally surprised and disappointed by the financial Cuts amid the lurking fiscal cliff due to the expiration of covid era Federal funding this September so over the coming weeks and months we will continue to explore actions to appeal our decreases in funding as well as chall Alles associated with the state's flawed school funding formula we are coordinating our advocacy efforts with surrounding districts that are similarly affected and our state representatives uh we must currently accept our uh fiscal situation as being difficult and it will require us to make tough financial decisions in the coming weeks um in April uh we will be able to communicate in detail uh the impact uh of this financial challenge to our school community so as we review continued requests both at the school level and at the department level uh we will continue to prioritize the needs of our students as well as the retention of our staff uh and so although we will be submitting a preliminary budget U this evening to the Camden County Office of Education uh it will take us a little over a month in order to have a firmer grasp of what the actual impact will be and so over the next month we're going to be working with the leadership team on this campus our association uh leaders ERS ship and Community Partners in order to finalize a budget that honors the values of our community we understand this is not what we were hoping for um but time and time again in Oakland um we have proven to be resilient um despite what gets thrown at us and so we'll get through this um together in the interim um tomorrow uh we will be sending out a request for our community uh with templates and uh contact information for local and state representatives asking for your support to Advocate on our behalf for an equitable school funding formula that prioritizes and values the needs of all students in the state of New Jersey uh and so that will uh be coming out uh to our community members tomorrow um and so I don't I don't like to lead with challenges but due to the magnitude of the state's decision it was important um that we uh enlist our community in the assistance of this effort um so that our kids are not negatively impacted by their decision um in celebration of neurodiversity uh week uh we just want to thank uh cpag we want to thank uh the leadership team on campus want to thank the office of special services for their continued leadership these are districtwide initiatives and it's an important step towards making our school Community more inclusive and so uh I'm not going to recap what was shared during the presentation but what I will say uh is is that uh we are extremely excited about what is going to take place in each of our classrooms this week uh as our launching pad and as our celebration of all different kinds of Minds that are here in our in our school uh we'd also like to give a uh gentle reminder that the preschool Lottery is uh live and so for uh Community uh members with the children ages three and four uh they are eligible for full day preschool without charge for the 2425 school year if your child is eligible we encourage you to visit the registration page and complete the application prior to April 1st uh we'd also like to give a plug um our students at the Call's theater uh will be presenting Shrek the Musical this week uh so it starts on March 21st tickets are still available at www Collingswood ticks.com um it's a 2our show we have over 50 uh talented uh secondary students and production St and this is a show that you don't want to miss um in addition uh we would also like to recognize uh that we had students at our um at Collegewood High School participate in a four-day long Model United Nations convention in Philadelphia uh colinwood high school was one of 16 schools in the country to participate the students engaged in these conferences um were focused on international issues they practiced public speaking academic debate and critical thinking we'd like to uh thank our adviser Mr goldurn and all of the parent volunteers for supporting our student leaders um in addition in celebration of neurodiversity week our ignite program which is for uh students ages 18 to 21 uh with learning differences uh participated in a trip to deled Regional High School to spend the day with pen pals so students spent the day socializing participating in engaging activities including a scavenger hunt tour of the school they met with the administration and shared a meal together and our students did an amazing job representing our school and what a great day a great way to spend time with new friends we'd like to publicly thank Mrs Williams and Miss O'Brien for leading this important effort uh we'd also like to uh acknowledge that uh our high school Renaissance program which represents performance motivation recognition and pride was established to recognize and honor students for positive academic and behavioral contributions and so I think that we can all agree that the demands and desires of students in this day and age are changing as the world rapidly changes around them students are on a constant quest to U surround themselves with experiences belong to something greater and then establish who they are as Future Leaders and ultimately find the success and so this is achieved through the recognition of efforts and achievements of teachers and students and rewarding their academic performance through incentives on campus and so we would just like to uh publicly U congratulate the 194 students who earned this academic distinction for the second marking period and they were each celebrated uh celebrated by grade level um this past month during an assembly um we would also uh like to say happy anniversary to the wellness center um at our secondary campus it has now been open for one full year we originally started in the high school and have fully expanded uh grades 6 through 12 and we have now integrated social emotional learning as well as academic and behavioral support and since its grand opening we have supported over 250 secondary students and continued to grow uh the wellness center collaborates with the counseling team child study uh middle school and high school Administration teachers students and families uh and we are thankful to have a resource uh that allows the whole child to be seen heard and support and that concludes my report for this month thank you very much for that update moving on to section nine uh the business administrator board secretary repard Mrs colan great not um item 9.01 is the listing of your uh February monthly budget transfers 9.02 are your financial statements it's your board secretary uh report your Treasures report and your cash report 9.03 is a listing of the purchase orders that have been issued for the month of March 9.04 is a listing um of the warrants to be paid tomorrow morning pending approval right thank you moving on to section 10 Finance report uh hi good evening um so 10 10 or 10.01 is uh a recommendation from the superintendent for the transfers uh that was been spoken about 9.01 uh 10.02 is board secretary certifications of non ere expenditures 10.03 is the board certifications of non expenditures 10.04 is approval of secretary and Treasurer reports 10.05 is purchase orders as mentioned in 10.03 10.06 is warrant approvals 10.07 is the submission of the 2024 to 2025 budget to the New Jersey Department of Education uh 10.08 is the submission of 2024 and 2025 preschool budget to the New Jersey Department of Education 10.09 is the submission of amendment to the art Professor Grant 1010 is shared preschool instru struction Services agreement 10.11 is the campon County Educational Services Commission 10.12 is the request for proposals 10.13 is the use of facilities the healthy kids as attached 10.4 is the use of facilities the Oakland Little League also attached and then 10.15 is the use of facilities by the steal uh staff Wellness Health Fair which is a a new thing that's happening um so we're looking for approval on 10.01 to 10.15 thank you yes is there a motion to approve those items so moved moved and seconded are there any questions about those items yeah believe it or not I have just a couple uh on on the budget uh a couple of items number one uh one of the things to balance a budget uh was a reduction of $30,000 in the the maintenance work uh I question whether or not that's prudent at this point in time in view of Keith's uh comments last week about the water intrusion in the front of the school so uh I I think it might be a mistake to cut uh cut money out of that uh and the other thing is the supplies we're cutting $107,000 out of the supplies uh understand that we're we're going to spend the money from this year's budget for next year's for supplies but if we have $107,000 of extra money in this year supplies why do we have that do we tremendously over budget last year for supplies I can answer those questions the first one the cut to maintenance I still left 30,000 in the budget for maintenance um and that's the maintenance line that's in your shared service agreement for Collingswood in case something breaks but the additional is what I took out so I didn't zero out maintenance completely um but again we had to we made Cuts prettyy much in every category um as far as supplies it was all Grant funds that were going to expire anyway so it wasn't a draw to the budget of 100,000 that was in last year's budget or this year's budget it was all grant money so when we saw um what the state was doing to Oakland we met um Jen bold and Dr McDow myself and my assistant and went through and that's why the amendment to the grant is in the agenda tonight we amended the grant to use it to spend for curriculum items that Mrs Balden needs to run her building next year so all that is going to be spent up on items that are needed for the school out of Grant monies okay not sure I fully understand that but uh I I'm going to vote tonight to approve this approve submitting the budget uh with the understanding that this is not the final approval the final approval will be in April and I may well change my mind between now and April and I'm sure I'll have additional questions between now and April so I'm voting yes tonight but don't read too much that at this point time thank you anyone any comments all right on a roll call thank you Mrs Ezekiel yes Mr STS yes Mrs Rondo yes Mr McMillan yes Mr tab yes Mrs marmian yes Mr schaer yes Mrs buchko yes all right a question for you y uh and I I should have asked this faster but item 10.15 the use of facilities uh one of them is the uh staff Wellness Health Fair which is going to have a number of uh I don't know whether they're call them presenters or they're going to have a booth or they're going to hand out things or whatnot do we have certificates of insurance from all those people that are going to participate um I'll check we had the I I will check with the the nurses I'll check the paperwork okay but it's going to be open to um staff and call coling in Oakland all right thank you um moving on to section 11 the curriculum of personnel committee Mr schaer all right good evening so uh item 11.01 we're looking for uh approval of a few field trips that you can see attached there uh for first second and third grade item 11.02 we're looking to uh approve uh for an assembly for the preschool students about West African drums item 11.03 uh we're looking to approve the uh proposed calendar for the 2024 2025 school year um you can see the decision that was made regarding uh rashishana that is noted there um that was mentioned earlier item 11.04 we're uh looking to approve a contract for Randy Woods Early Education high impact intervention tutor you can see the right there uh and that would be paid uh through the eser grants would be effected March 4th through June 18th and uh item 11.05 is a correction um for the after school club hourly rate from 5049 to 5094 so just that little clerical uh correction there uh item 11.06 we are looking for tuition reimbursement um for Maria sether there you can see the amount listed and 11.07 we're looking to approve uh a travel uh expense uh that was completed by one of the staff MERS uh for professional development that she attended so we are seeking approval on items 11.01 through 11.07 thank you is there a motion to approve those items so move second moved and seconded um do you want to ask if board members have any comments about any of those items or questions just a uh just a comment I know obviously we had some discussion never came to a a I guess consensus with with the calendar um but just moving forward right we we don't have to always align with Collingswood just something to keep in mind I it's worth considering uh and there are times where I think we we need to consider where the days are um but you know at the end of the day we have to do what's best for Oakland and for our students so um again it's not that we disregard the Collingswood calendar I think there are times where certainly we want to align especially if it involves professional development uh and if staff will be joining together but um as we continue to make those decisions moving forward just you know to keep keep that in mind thank you I just want no go ahead okay I I I'll Echo Todd's comments so Oakland has always gone to Great Lengths to prove that we were not the same district as calling we try to maintain our independence because at some point in time if we're in lock step with calling on everything that we do there's no reason for us to exist uh and the state might come to that conclusion too uh so I'd like to avoid that uh but the other thing is also we're giving an extra uh vacation day to the staff uh the staff has to bargain for the vacation they do that every time the contract comes up they give us their requests we give them our requests and then we argue back and forth and we decide What's Done we've done that at this point in time now we're giving them an extra uh vacation day that's not bargained for and I think that's a tremendous mistake but that's me I'm CH in real fast I just want I just feel like we have to have some type of consistency with this um with the rashash yamor the days that now you have juneth they were off before they're not going to be off for that um I just feel like it was all over the place um you know someone came up here and said you know they wanted that day a half day a day off something like that um um I feel like we're taking away from a day where the kids are learning and we added a day that they're just going to show up doesn't mean anything um so I personally don't understand it um yam kapor I also saw is on a Saturday next year I'm not sure why we have a full day off on Friday for Yam kapor so I'm kind of trying to understand that also how something falls on a weekend and we're taking the day off for for it it starts at sundown of that Friday um so you know a half day was one thing it still counts as a day the kids are still coming in they're getting something now it's a whole day off um I I don't I just feel that there has to be some type of consistency going forward with these days because like I said we've had offer Jun before now we don't I don't know how you prioritize what's important and what's not to which group honestly so just my thoughts I just want to time and say it's hard to have consistency when the holidays do not fall on the same day of the week so I think we need to be a little flexible in that regard when we were presented with the last three years of the holidays many of them did fall on weekends so we didn't have to make difficult decisions but I will say that I think it would be helpful earlier in the process to have conversations with our fellow board members in Collingswood and to be in a little more locked step of the conversations that are happening I'm not saying that we have to align but I'll bring up what Miss Bolton did say in our committee and I'm not sure if she said it in each committee was that we do have at least one sorry I should know this Collingswood District classroom in this building and then it gets extremely confusing for parents three three it's been a long day um from the preschool obviously um so that you know this is it the drop offs and the pickups are confusing enough the days that the kids are in or out is also confusing so I think absolutely I hear everyone's points but that's another point to consider from the person who administers this building just as an aside the if colle fo has a day off and Oakland doesn't that just means you go up 3 empty classs it's not going significantly affect arrival in the mar think I'm oh okay um just if I can speak about it so a lot of community members including myself Denise has been there has been there where we have Elementary School students in Oakland and we have middle school high school students in collinswood that's the drop off confusion that she's talking about it you know we can have a day where we have to take off work because one of our kids was off school and the other one's not so that's the consistency and the alignment that I would like to see I understand what your hesitation is but because we're a split District like that it it gets confusing with people with multiple kits I don't think we're giving the people in our district a lot of credit to just use some common sense it's not I I get it it's you're running around in the morning and trying to figure it out but if people really can't follow two calendars I don't know how we as a board are GNA fix that so I just just to clarify that wasn't my point Jimmy thank you I appreciate you that wasn't my point was I was reiterating not a point that I personally made it was one that Miss Bolton made in our committee Jen I think you heard it that it's difficult to that that poses a difficulty for the administration and staff of this building just making that point I don't think that in every situation we need to be lock step with callings but that's not what I'm saying I'm just bringing up something that I because it was said in my committee I'm not sure it was said in all three that's all you thank I'm just going to wrap it up and say we don't align on half days we haven't aligned on half days um I rather like that Oakland um does the lineal half days um there's been a lot of half days in coling with this year um I'm going to leave that part is that I just want to make the note that the calendar as it stands right now has 181 days in it um so that is in alignment with contracts if there is if we do not use a snow day then we would give back a day and end school on the 19th so that all is dependent on the weather if we use multiple snow days the makeup days would be what was listed here which would take away from spring break so we would not be going past June 20th on the calendar as it is now um all right so I'm just going to wrap up that discussion if there are no snow days why would we give the extra day back no I'm sorry if we don't use a snow day yeah right so why wouldn't we go 181 days why why do we have to have the minimum as the maximum it's not going to hurt the kids to give them an extra day of school sorry I don't want to give you a hard time about everything right I'm going to move on if this are there any other questions about other excuse me items in this committee and if not we'll move on to roll call Mrs Ezekiel yes Mr STS uh yes except no on item 11.03 Mrs Ronda yes abstain from 11. Mr McMillan yes Mr T yes Mrs Maran yes Mr schaer yes Mrs bushka yes thank you um moving on to section 12 um this is the school community relations policy committee M Mar hi uh item 12.01 is the report from Collingswood from Mr Tav uh good evening everyone I have uh our updates from February's uh Colwood board meeting have some updates from last night as well just didn't get send out yet so I can share that as well um so going back to February uh we had a plethora of uh presentations uh got to see a sneak preview from shk the musical uh the kids were amazing so highly recommend uh going to check that out uh we saw uh some black history monou performances and presentations um the ssds report was presented by Mr gersc uh CPAC committee presented as well some interesting data that we got to see tonight uh and also uh there was a presentation on the secondary counseling um and programming uh through middle school high school um all those links were included in my email uh student reports uh in February uh that was that the blood drive had a great turnout um and they just provided some uh activities updates that included black history muu updates on the bowling team and the mock trial team Comm the whole uh Congressman board talked about uh teacher retention turnover facult team morale upcoming dates uh most of which have already passed at this point but uh just another quick commercial for Shrek the Musical when I do send out the uh notes from last night I did put a hyperlink in to the website so if you want to purchase tickets you can do that um uh building grounds and finance committee updated uh tuition rates uh shared services agreement uh for the assistant principal for prek our building um and a Cooperative swim team agreement with Autobon um ccum committee uh just uh some some class trips for the middle school and high school also some updates to the high school program of studies of note um uh there's some changes to students who take and pass AP courses that will receive uh reedit credit on their transcripts um regardless of whether they actually take the exam or not which is great um also there will be a a tweak to the math curriculum at the high school um there'll be a two-year algebra one geometry one uh combined course um the goal for that is to provide students um some extra time before taking the um algebra one the required algebra one assessment for graduation um students will uh who are taking honors algebra and those other uh courses that those will continue as as they always have been um Personnel committee uh uh approved uh the new director of buildings and grounds um and new superintend of curriculum instruction and the culture climate and policy committee um is uhing to provide some research and updates and feedback uh on an updated code of conduct and that's it from February uh moving forward uh we had uh Our Round Table uh was it last Thursday night I guess um uh which uh the con board does uh informal sessions with the community um to talk about different topics um I had to honor of uh presenting on curriculum specifically uh the science of reading research that is all the rage right now um so the meeting was uh really uh enjoyable and productive uh we were able to talk about some of the programming uh was able to brag a little bit about uh some of the initiatives here at Ops um so that was always fun as well um things we doing to support there um that was a productive meeting um and feedback uh from the community was provided uh to District administration all right last night uh uh only one presentation last night on the SLO program um that's the schoolly aison officer um one of the really uh promising pieces of data is that uh there has been over the course of this year a reduction in calls for police support from 117 to 79 so there was a dramatic decrease in calls um due to the uh additional layer of cor coordination um and and I think the consensus was also that uh situations that were handled were handled with uh more discretion and understanding as a result of the relationships that that have been built up um and and the officer's understanding of the school and the routines and the staff um and most importantly the relationships that they've built with the students um and we'll be uh looking to continue with that program next year there'll be a new SLO and and that search will go on over the course of the summer from the superintendent report um Dr McDow uh just uh shared his uh statement on the state of the budget um neur diversity celebration week um did I mentioned Shrek the Musical that's coming up uh we had a group of uh student athlet that receed various Awards as well um and our red Assad students are doing fabulous as well um on uh THS up upcoming events of note uh Thursday April 18th um we have the high school uh Broadway musical at at 7 pm April 23rd is uh CMS PTA meeting and April 25th uh is the high school World Language Honor Society induction ceremony for students who may be participating in that um much like us Collingswood uh submitted their uh budget for County approval um updated the uh Mental Health Services grant for year two and uh some additional Grant submissions uh that our students will benefit from um one includes uh grant for Teacher climate culture and Innovation and one for uh bike Ms and the uh curriculum committee uh approved some field trips uh approve their uh calendar for Kingswood as well um and uh the Personnel committee approved uh administrator contacts for contracts M Coleman Dr Dow and is it Dr how Mrs how who's the new assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction and uh I will send out an email uh with all those updates uh and a link to the musical as well that's it can I ask question um so I saw there was an email about upcoming meetings about referendum um can you share the dates uh for the uh well there's there'll be a special board meeting um the uh Tuesday night the 26th at 6:30 pm at the you know in the uh col cafeteria as always so that's where uh you know the Community got the full rundown the official rundown on that um and then there'll be informal informational uh sessions throughout the month of April um and those will take place in M collinswood Community Center uh those will be at 6:30 pm um on April 9th and April 12th oh 16th sorry got uh so the 9th and the 16th got you the 12th is my birthday was looking forward to I was going to bring a cake and everything question can I ask a question on this uh the new SLO we're replacing the SLO after five or six much that's a question so um so the uh officer who was filling the role of the school aison officer resigned from the Collingswood Police Department uh and and left the department uh and so uh he is no longer a police officer in Collingswood and so we made the decision in in partnership with the buau uh we made the decision that due to the the the decline in activity and the systems that we had put in place uh we did not believe it was um prudent to place an individual in the role um first that had not been trained and two did not select to be in in in that particular role and so we're reverting we're suspending the program for the last uh two and a half months of school uh in order for them to identify um a new officer get that individual trained uh for us to actually uh potentially restart the program in September and so what happens is is that the existing memorandum of agreement between LA the law enforcement uh and schools kicks back into effect uh and so we will be um we're still operating with the same Mo MOA um we're just going to be changing some of our processes uh for the remain of the school okay the thought is not to do away with the position just to replace the officer it's currently uh we're currently evaluating and so the police department will be submitting uh additional data on activity uh one of the things that we did preemptively was that we moved the SLO funding out of the general fund we secured a federal uh Safety and Security Grant uh last year uh which will be paying for the role and so the funding is still there uh and pending the outcome of interviews and the selection um of a new candidate that'll determine whether or not we move forward okay doesn't sound like a yes uh the other thing you uh uh yeah it was mentioned that there were 70 7 some calls to the colle police department so far this year is that that sounds like an awful lot of calls to me there were 120 last year oh oh good that's no serious that's not good 70 calls is incredible we're only two-thirds of the way through the school year so you have to also be mindful of there are incidents that per state statute require a phone call to law enforce sometimes it's through simple notification so for example when the high school administration confiscates Contraband on campus um they have to put in a a a technically a call they're not dialing 911 they actually have to call the department so that the cband can be uh picked up uh secured by a uh law enforcement officer uh if a um weapon is located on Camp campus or or or found somewhere that also has to be secured by a local law enforcement officer um if there is a um Handle With Care notification due to an incident that took place over the weekend um not on campus that constitutes a call uh from law enforcement where they have to come to the school notify the school that there was an incident requiring law enforcement intervention with one of the students and then a conversation with School administration and so there are a lot of different categories of call um and not all of them are 911 emerging calls I toly understand that but you know coming to school to pick up a weapon uh that causes me a little concern on the surface it just it just sounds like an incredible number of contacts with the police department and if the one of the students involved in something over the weekend and the officer has to come tell you about it that's a problem too because that student is now in school Monday morning with all of our kids and unless it's one of our kids and so it's not always an incident that um and so without divulging the privacy issues for example if there was a family dispute that took place over the weekend um the law enforcement per state statute would need to come and notify the school so that a level of care support and additional resources can be provided uh to the student so it's really more of a check-in mechanism when things do happen and so that's that's what the law dictates and you can explain all you want on this stuff I I'm still in 70 calls uh one heck of a lot of calls for this point in the school year and it's an improvement that's that's good but last year was a little bit of a disaster too so there should be some improvement and our SLO who might might have some effect on this uh why the number of calls are down isn't there anymore I understand but I I would like to also challenge the characterization around disaster and so in terms of the number when we have 1500 individuals on a on a campus at any given time if you break that down that is seven incidents um seven to eight incidents per month um and you know one incident is is is one too many but you know at the end of the day um there are a lot of opportunities and there are a lot of categories that we are tracking data that we didn't historically track and so I think that the information what the information shows is that we're moving in the right direction what the data shows in the partnership per the words of local law enforcement is is that it is a dramatic uh increase in positive School culture on the secondary campus to the people that sent you an SRO to and and advocated for it so them saying that it's a positive effect I'm not sure I would characterize that as an honest evaluation see that is a bay it's moving in the right direction that's true uh that that's all good uh I still think it's a lot of thanks Mr Barett do you have something to add of which we have 250 students receiving Services student mental health and that may well be maybe it's not the SRO that had anything to do with it maybe it's your work that uh uh is causing a reduction well I I'll give you credit for it but uh that unfortunately we talk about all this and things are moving in the right direction and all this is good until the first kid shows up with a ar16 uh you know it's it's and I'm not suggesting that's going to happen I'm just suggesting that if you have enough incidents sooner or later one of them's going to go bad and that's probably be under control bill can I just I mean just not I'm not offering another opinion just a question data means nothing to me without just a number I mean thank you for breaking it down by month how does that compare to four years ago how does that compare to neighboring districts how does that you know I mean you Bill you all often ask how we compare to everyone around us um I think Mrs Barnett's point of you know a mental health crisis is a good one and I'd also challenge us to rather than fear-mongering ask what what what else are you suggesting than we're not doing or can we do no I I unfortunately I'm an answer for that I wish I did uh and I'm not trying to fearmonger uh I my I started out when I thought 70 incidents of police activity in the school year at this point in time which was a lot I don't know how we're doing compared to surrounding districts maybe we're doing terrific maybe we're doing terrible uh but the the fact that there's a national mental Mental Health crisis doesn't make me feel at all better that things are going well in Collingswood now I'm sorry sure um well I just wanted to say comment um rich thank you for being so communicative about and sending reports and links really helpful links especially from the callings with Town Hall that was really great um item 12.0 two is the pton report Mrs Ronda thank you just bear with you guys because I think I might be losing my voice just a little bit but the PTI did meet on March 5th it's a energized group they covered a lot of grounds and was it like an hour hour and a half but there was a lot of uh good stuff covered um namely things like the pretel sales from February where they were very successful the talent show was all the rage at the meeting everybody raved about how successful it was and um the money that that brought in from the treasurer's report um it also reported that a few new staff members have joined to bringing the memberships up they applauded our room ambassadors for doing such a great job with Valentine's Day Celebrations um and always checking out with the teacher to see what it is that they need Miss baling gave an update um she covered a lot of things coming that were upcoming at the time at the time of me sharing this they're now in the past like things like Lego night were uh getting ready to start um senior scholarships omac events she communicated the schedule that we have both this week and next being not the typical full week schedules um thees and my tag team doing an update from AR group here they reviewed other past events such as the book fair the blood drive uh Hot Wheels various other events from February there were DIN and donates uh on was for fifth grade promotion that was at Mulligans and there were I think it was a General D and donate for the PTA they um really cool they celebrated that 60 readers at that time had registered for readathon and it was still pretty early in the program and they had already had about $33,000 raised and all of the money they decided has raised as part of that will come here to the library um the fifth grade promotion committee gave an update they're going to be working on yard signs skate party blue and gold night swim party so a lot of things going on for the fifth graders um shared some dates for the the Civic associations doing the uh the bunny pictures and that's the 30th of this month pretty early in the in planning phase but they're looking at June 7th for the adult dinner night and went into a little bit about omx gym night that was coming up that had just passed and they talked about some board positions coming available and that includes a Treasurer a Tre that includes a Treasurer and then a possible maybe hybrid uh role between uh a membership and a recording secetary their next meeting is April some 9th nth it's on our yeah and um yeah I was glad to have attended it was really an informative meeting and they're really excited about what they do they do a great job that's what I got for that thank you for that great report and sorry about your voice um item 12.03 is the omac report from M butko so there will be a gym night on Friday night uh it will not be a celebrity gym night there was hope that it might be at one point but it will just be a regular gym night um still lots of fun uh omac has submitted the grant for next year to um they're looking forward to possibly co-sponsoring an assembly with OBS and Adam will be in touch with you miss Balden that's my upate thank you thank you um item 12.04 is the Oakland Education Foundation um happy to report that the board members are trying to schedule a meeting on Thursday of this week and I know an item uh to discuss is ways that the foundation can fundraise and support the schools budget or things that are being taken out of the budget um item 12.05 are policies for first reading we have five here um 1140 is educational Equity policies affirmative action being revised 1523 comprehensive Equity plan revised 1530 equal employment opportunities revised 1550 Equal Employment anti-discrimination Practices revised and 2260 equity in school and classroom practices revised and just in light of the cpag um presentation I am making a note that I want to look at what policies do exist for inclusion if we have any I'm I'm embarrassed that I don't know um so I'd like to add that to the agenda for our um April committee meeting and so we are seeking approval for items 12.01 through 12.05 thank you is there a motion to approve those items so moved second moved and seconded any questions from board members all right so roll call this is Ezekiel yes on all but 2260 no what ah Mr St Excuse me yes this is Rando yes Mr McMillan yes Mr tab yes Mrs marm yes Mr schaer yes no on policy 2260 this is B yes right moving on to section 13 um this is miscellaneous uh 13.01 is the February hi report um so this will be for um our approval tonight is there a motion to approve that item move second seconded any questions numers Mrs Ezekiel yes Mr STS yes Mrs Rond yes Mr Millan yes Mr Tav yes Mrs Maran yes Mr schaer yes Bush yes all right section 14 uh this is the uh second public comment section uh this is for any items you wish to bring to the board please stand state your name and address and keep your comments to five minutes or less all right hearing none um before we adjourn just quick announcements for the board um i' I would like to go into an executive session to talk about um a topic on uh shared service agreement and then um we're going to move into our mini retreat which I will try not to be too long but the purpose of the mini retreat is to discuss um Bo goals around communication I know we've all been here a while so it'll be fast but I um we've talked about the need to do this seems like Tuesday nights are the best night for us all to come together so I would like to do that tonight so um we're going to make a motion to adjourn it be to adjourn this meeting and then go into an ex s okay can I can I ask one question sorry that I didn't get to in a prior section how um Dr Mel how are you communicating about advocacy that for support of helping us get more funding from the state tomorrow you had said it's tomorrow how's that being communicated it uh it'll go out uh to family's email okay I would suggest text also we've talked about as a reminder it will be a text to to go to their email but there'll be documents with a uh letter template right and representative contact information that you can do online kind of like okay great fabulous thank you can I ask another fast question too this is one that we've already done and I missed it but I think that we were told the sign that we have out front which is great uh would would cost under $1,000 and the check we issued tonight was for $4,000 we weren't all that okay I missed it then I'm sorry we did review the the quote in it might have been Community relation I'm sorry yeah that was that was a different sign that was a different sign that theres and I Ved sorry okay I apologize but yeah that was um that was an early version that um we need okay um so we're going to do is there a motion to go into an executive session so move second all right move and seconded all in favor okay so we are now in executive session so this is for board members only um the recording can you turn that off thank you thank you everybody right take