001Good evening. Welcome to the Camden City School District's December 16th, 2025 advisory board meeting. It is 5:35 p.m. The meeting is now called to order. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. United States of America to the republic for it stands one nation with liberty and justice for all. The New Jersey open public meetings law was enact enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or act upon. In accordance with the provisions of the act, the Camden City School District Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published on January 10th, 2025 and post on the district's website at www.camdensityschools.org. Published in the board's designated online media outlet newspaper, the
002Courier Post, and mailed to all persons, if any, who have requested said notice. Please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and will be broadcast on the district's YouTube channel at a future date. Roll call, please. >> Janette Alvarez, >> present. >> Gabriel Kamacho, >> present. >> Derek Galashaw. Wanda Garcia, >> present. >> Cameron Hudson. Danielle Jackson. Karen Merrick. Nam D Nelson >> present. >> Maria Perez >> present. >> We do have a quorum. At this time we will have Elijah for share outs. >> Hello. >> Good evening. My name is Elijah Vargas and I'm a senior at East High School. Um there's a couple of things I want to share out. um that the building it's been getting a little cold and we've been wondering like what's going on with like the the
003heater. That's like the main one I want to speak about today. And also the uh the extra extra security we need for our school for our safety. you know, we need extra security because we get like three securities that get called out. And also, can you tell us about the status on the weight room for the athletes? >> Elijah, uh, we are working to we did receive the weight room equipment. It is currently at east side. It just needs to be put together and due to our loss of manpower in our facilities department, they are going to take care of putting that together over the holiday break. Um the heating system, why it's cold in the building, we will look into that immediately. And your other question extra security. So, you're talking about subsecurity security
004when someone calls out, correct? So, I will ask our security office uh about substitutes being sent over to East Side when someone calls out. Thank you. Any other questions about the weight room? I mentioned the equipment, but the actual room was supposed to be cleaned out, set up for um a wait room. So, let me know if it is not. Okay. So, you should see a huge difference uh when you come back from holiday break. [clears throat] >> Thank you, Superintendent. Thank you, Elijah, for sharing. I know you're the only uh student board rep that's here. um is important um that you continue to to share those things so that the superintendent, her team um as well as the board can work together um to make sure things are addressed. Um on behalf of the
005board, I just want to respond to something that was brought up last month in reference to um Camden I and and the lunch um you know uh not being the same amount of time or or being cut, you know, 15 minutes early. I know the superintendent um has been there um to look into that and uh you know has addressed some things um myself on behalf of the board um was able to take a trip over there today um and the lunch was cut short today um I'm not sure why um but I did follow up with the superintendent who has followed up and we'll do further research um so that we can make sure and ensure that there is equality across the board um for lunchtime. So, just want to make sure that um
006everyone knows that their voices are heard and and somebody is looking to looking into, you know, all things that are mentioned. Are there any other board members that has any responses or anything for Elijah? >> All right, I'll turn it back over to Superintendent. Thank you. >> Thank you. At this time, I'd like to ask all board members to transition to the floor for the superintendence report. Good evening and welcome to our December advisory board meeting. At this time, I'm going to ask for a moment of moment of silence to recognize two of our staff members who we lost suddenly uh last weekend. for Miss Dorene Mlin from Veterans Memorial and Mr. Kyle Dabcowski from East Side High School. Miss Mlin began serving the district in 2015 and devoted 10 years to teaching and guiding
007the children of Camden. She approached her classroom with quiet strength and compassion, creating a space where students felt supported and understood. Her colleagues often spoke of her calm nature and her unwavering commitment to her students well-being. Her work and presence touched many within Veterans Memorial Family School and her absence will be felt throughout the Camden community. Mr. Dabcowski joined East Side High School in 2021 and spent four years serving our students with dedication and care. He brought steadiness to his work and created meaningful connections with the young people he taught. His students often spoke of the encouragement he offered and the way he made them feel seen and supported. His colleagues valued his quiet leadership and his willingness to step in wherever he was needed. We are grateful for the years he devoted to the
008children of Camden and for the positive influence he had on so many lives. At this time, we will have a moment of silence. Thank you. As with all board meetings, tonight we are going to focus on some key topics to highlight during this December meeting. And you can see the outline of the topics. So, we're going to talk a little bit about open enrollment, important dates. December 9th, main round applications open. February 13th, last day to apply in the main round. March 17th, main round application results will be released. We ask our families to visit our schools in person, ask questions, and learn more about their options. Our district solution center is available to support families throughout the enrollment process as well as our schools themselves. Any parent who needs support with Camden One or
009just wants to enroll their student, feel free to go to the school of your choice. At this time, I'm going to ask Mr. Elvin Martinez to come up and talk to you about our enrollment trends in the district. Good evening everyone. >> I'd like to introduce myself for those who may not know. I'm Elvin Martinez, senior director of enrollment and data analytics for the school district. Uh we work on enrollment, assessa, registration documentation of our students uh paperwork, making sure that our students are Camden City residents. Uh just wanted to give an update on our enrollment trends. These are f fouryear enrollment trends. These are our ASSA October 15th counts that we have every year. October 15th counts are very important because they let the state know what our funding should be for the next
010year. Uh from the year 21 to 2023, we had three consecutive years of enrollment growth for the district. Uh that could be through a myriad of factors. We had some uh mom and pop charter schools that did close. Um so we did see some of those students that went from those mom and pop shops go over to the Renaissance schools. So it kind of kept our district enrollment uh leveled or increasing at that time. Those increases that we saw over those years were in prek and were also in special education. and we continue to see kind of those trends moving forward as we continue uh seeing the district kind of mold as the way that it's becoming right now. Um this prior year we had in uh enrollment losses of 4.33% or 239 students. Uh
011so we did see the highest kind of loss that we had as a district this current school year. Um we're anticipating to uh work together to kind of make sure that these things don't continue uh to go down. Our enrollment um we are working within our district with our uh school enrollment management meet group. Uh we meet every two weeks to just talk about how our enrollment is doing, what's going on. We work with one Camden. We review our one Camden portal applications to make sure that students are applying, that students are actually being called if they're waiting at home uh to be placed at a school. So, we've been doing a lot of work in the district to make sure that we are attacking the enrollment issue that we're seeing. Um we have seen
012some specific growth and I want to call out uh ECDC or Martha Wilson ECDC um because they had an 18% growth from prior year. they added a kindergarten there which really helped enrollment in that school building. So we have seen some growth in some of our buildings even though we are seeing a net enrollment loss um for this current school year. Uh so we hope that next year we do not see um a decrease of this uh magnitude. Um but these are where we are currently and the environment of our district right now. So, we'd like to share with you some of our district highlights. I know many we're so excited about Camden High School w winning the uh championship. Very proud of Camden High School's football team. [applause] We were able to participate in
013an amazing event. The city within a day put it together uh so that we could be part of the treelighting parade and activities. So it was a lot of fun. Um, very exciting and fun day with the mayor and the advisory board and our students, our amazing students. Upcoming events. Save the date for Friday, December 19th from 5 to 8, Winter Wonderland Festival at Roosevelt Park Plaza. We hope that you can all come out. Santa will be out there, food trucks, pre- rides, and I have to say the tree is absolutely beautiful down there. So, please partake in Camden City because when you go down there, it is beautiful for the holiday season. So please, especially for the little people, it's really beautiful and big old people like me too because it does bring out
014the holiday spirit. Makes you feel good. So save the dates for the month of January. January 1st, New Year's Day. We have an administrative closure on January 2nd, Three Kings Day January 6, and Martin Luther King Day on uh January 19th. And no school for students or or staff on those days. At this time, we ask everyone to transition back to the stage. You pronounced that I think you feel You got to hold it. You got to keep holding it. We will now turn the meeting over to President Nelson for acknowledgement of retirees for his design. >> At this time, I turn it over to board member Perez. >> Okay. And congratulations to our retirees. We have Hope Edwards Perry, a lead educator with 37 years and 11 months. Thank you. >> [applause] >> We
015have Kalia Wear, one of our teachers with 25 years and 7 months. Congratulations to both [applause] All right. Good evening. The Camden City School District welcomes the attendance and comments from all members of the public at its meetings. This public comment period is your time to present your comments to the board and the state district superintendent. Each person who signed up to comment will have three minutes. You will be notified when your three minutes are up and you cannot yield your time to another person. When it is your turn to speak, please state your name and address for the record. And please address all of your comments to either myself or the state district superintendent. Please be courteous to your fellow community members and keep your comments within the time allotted so that everyone has
016the opportunity to speak. At the end of the three minutes, the microphone will be silenced and your comments will have concluded. Please [snorts] conduct yourself in a respectful manner. The first amendment is not absolute and the board can prohibit language that is inappropriate in accordance with board policy 1121. We may interrupt, warn or terminate your statement, question or inquiry when it is too lengthy. If a member of the public speaks about a staff member, interruption may be necessary to caution the speaker of the danger of slander. For anyone whose comments or actions harass, intimidate or threaten the safety of any person, we will provide you with a warning or immediately end your comment time. We may request any person to leave to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum. We may
017request the assistance of law enforcement officers in the removal of a disorderly person when that person prevents or disrupts a meeting with an act that obstructs or interferes with a meeting. We may call for a recess or an adjournment to another time when the lack of public decorum interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting. And finally, we may wave any of the rules when necessary for the protection of privacy or to maintain an orderly operation of the board meeting. After the public comment period is closed, I will turn it over to the state district superintendent. And just a reminder, please allow her 24 to 48 hours to respond to your questions or comments via email. All right, our first speaker is Kevin Walters and then Miss Belli Luke. Good evening. Uh Kevin Waters uh
018322 Senson 322 Sienna Drive Cson. Um so let's get to Well, first I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a tremendously blessed 2026. So let's get to it. Again, it's very clear that the um Norcross regime feels empowered in Camden. He wants to put his influence on education in Camden. We kind of see that desire all around Camden and this board. Maybe not some of you or maybe not some of the newer members have been complicit in his ideology of how an education in Camden should be obtained. So he's figured out a new strategy. His next strategy suggests it begins at the earliest way education is presented and that would be preschool. However, the district already knows how to do that. The new strategy is to deploy a Russian bot in the
019form of center for family services to assess what is best for preschool readiness in Camden. Again, Camden City School District already knows how. Now, see if this makes sense. In the book of Proverbs, this warning emerges. How long will simplicity be the direction in which this district overlooks Norcross's agenda to destabilize traditional public education in this city? Proverbs further intimates those who capitulate hate knowledge. Norcross wants it all knowledge. Number one, what plans does the district have to counter the grant proposal from center for family services to assess a kit preschool in its building? It's clear a new cross agenda is to separate ECDC from the district. Now any disagreement amongst this board that Norcross is unapologetic about his agenda will obiscate of course and point out the lack of transparency of that board member.
020Two, what assessments have been conducted which determines ECDC is no longer able to provide kindergarten readiness in a mile in in a you know in in in ways that prepare all preschoolers for kindergarten. Northcross Kips preschool is presumed better to prepare a preschooler and to enter kindergarten. However, it cannot. But that's not the point. The Center for Family Services is now charged with determining why ECDC needs competition to provide preschool education in Camden. This is again a cautionary moment. Board, it's a cautionary moment. Be clear who your bedfellows are. Be clear who your bed fellows are because sometimes they're not operating in your best interest. Um also for the last 20ome minutes um district uh superintendent is what is there a rumor there is a rumor that the district is going to be closing some
021schools and I guess from that report of the enrollment maybe that's not you know hopefully it's just a rumor and that you all won't allow this to continue to take place. Norcross is not really a friend of the city of Camden. Thank you. Up next is Miss Luke and I apologize I can't read the last name but it looks like John something with a C is up next. Good evening Karen Belli Luke Dr. Charles Brim Medical Arts High School. Concerned the campus is a new building. There are three Brim classrooms that need controllers. Um, the art teacher had to move over into one of the health rooms because of the controller and spark and there's an electrical issue. Right now, we're in PE, but we're going to be moving in February into uh the BRIM
022area and we're going to need all of our classrooms like for health. So, hopefully that can get rectified soon. Um, I bring this up a lot. We have one contract stipens. Some are all over the place. We need to follow the contract and procedures. Um, and I'm just going to leave that there. I also say this all the time, communication. We need to embrace trust and move together. Include, not exclude. We are the example to our students. On the note of the campuswide Olympics that I brought up last um board meeting, we're working on it. There are some obstacles, but we the staff and the students need this. And hopefully by the end of January, we can pull it off. Each person, each building along with the district needs to promote their school. Our future
023depends on our creativity and energy with enrolling students. This is not just a leadership thing. This is not just a oneperson task. This is all of our task. A personal note. Kyle Dowski from East Side is a loss is a loss to the school and district, but also a loss to the health and PE teachers in our district. Kyle was more than a coworker. He was my friend. His energy and humor made you laugh and embrace the day. In the words of Mr. Dowski, every day is a fun day. Thank you. Hey everybody, thanks for having me. Uh, so my name is John Clottworthy. Uh, 104th Street, Brook Law, New Jersey. Um, you first of all uh, you know, just to introduce myself, I was a four-year 5-year school board president where I live. Uh,
024now I'm a city council person. I came into a snack. I mean, all the microphones work. I mean, this is unbelievable. You guys are doing a great job here. It's well done. It's lit up. I mean, uh, 99 times better than what we do. So, great job. Um, my name is John. My wife's name is Asia. Uh, we own, uh, you Westbrook Lanes right in Brooklyn where I think it took me five minutes to get here. I live in Brooklyn. Uh, really, I'm here to offer, you know, any partnership that we can offer. Um, I, uh, I'm always happy to come in, speak at any career days if you guys want to ever have any job shadowing. We do a number of kind of special needs programs. we host the Special Olympics. Um I have
025been in touch with a few of your um athletic directors, but would love to host any programs. Um I actually know, you know, one of your board members, you know, relatively well. Uh we've done plenty of fundraisers in the past. And really for me, um I went to Ruckers Camden for my undergraduate degree. I was able to grow up just kind of right down the street. It's important for me and for our business to be a part of your community. Um I love what you're doing here. This is a magnificent school. I mean I mean this is crazy. Like this is really nice. Um, so anything that we can do to be a better partner would be fantastic. Um, you know, donations and sponsorships, you know, you for your teams, you know, anything like that.
026Um, you know, you're speaking to the top of the company so we can open up early, we stay late. Anything that you guys ever need, we'd like to be a partner. Uh, I have some business cards that I'll drop off. I think, uh, they're in my pocket right here. I'm going to leave them up here so I don't approach. Um, if you guys ever need anything from me from Westbrook Lanes, feel free to reach out. You guys are doing a great job. I love seeing, you know, you what's happening here and uh all I want to do, all we want to do is just be better partners since we're right down the street. Thanks for all you do. Keep up the great work. [applause] >> All right. Up next is Mr. Delgado. Good afternoon. uh
027reflecting uh on this month December, I was thinking about where we are and how we got here and I remember when I was on the board of education or right after there was the urban hope act, we created the Renaissance schools. Then there was a state takeover and that whole thing and there's a document that verifies what I'm saying was basically to destroy the public school district as we know it and we're in the middle of it. We're near the end. They're almost there now. They're coming for special ed and some of the other specialized areas to take them over to make a little bit more money over uh from the district. This involved the governor Whitney uh uh Governor Christie, the mayor Dana Red, some of the council people chucking and jing in front
028of a television. We're going to take over the district. And they did. And this is what we've got. this more than a rumor, but there's going to be I think four schools are going to be closing. I have the names, but I don't want to say them because I'm not sure what they are, and I don't want to cause any kind of bad feelings by anybody. But we are here because local elected officials, mun municipal people didn't complain. The advisory board did not complain, didn't say anything. Not these individuals. And it wasn't because they didn't care. They care. Everybody cares about the kids. But when it comes to advocating for kids, they're very, very selective in how they do that. Now, the goal, as I said, was to destroy the school district, meaning that the
029school district will be very small and they will only get those kids that the charter schools or the Renaissance didn't uh get. So now we have situations where the kids currently are getting screwed royally by the lack of services. Schools are not being cleaned because of lack of money. Uh, a prime example is East Side High School. The alarms on the third floor was reported last month don't work. They had to pick up the meals in the in the school, walk over even in a cold day like this, even in the cafeteria. The school is not set up for an east side for a high school. And they the last superintendent said it right here. That school is not made for a high school uh population, but they went ahead and did it. There's no
030dignity. There's no equal opportunity. This is a bad situation. And you look at the scores. Don't look at the bottom line. 5,000. What is the population of individual schools? That's what decides whether a school stays open or not. So you're looking at four more schools being closed. So of course, I'm expecting at some point miracle upon miracles that the advisory board would collectively say something publicly. I know you do a lot of work behind the scenes. The community needs for you to collectively get together, say something. My goodness, what has to happen for you to say something? Thank you. Right. Up next is Miss Still and then Rondelle Braxton. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening everyone. My name is Kiana Still. I'm a resident of the Parkside area of the city. Um, specifically 1239 Kenwood
031Avenue. My son Jaden Still is a senior at Big Picture Learning Academy. He is a member of Camden High School's football team. Congratulations to our players, our coaches, and the families on this recent championship. He's also a part of Kim High's state ranked 4x1 relay team, the 4x4 relay team, and also holds gold medals in both the 100 and 200 meter races. I say all this to say because those accolades were accomplished under the guidance of Coach Miller, who has dedicated his time and talents as a coach, a teacher, a counselor, and a mentor to the students of Camden for over 30 years. I believe it's safe to say that everyone in this room knows that relationship is more important than resume when it comes to the education and cultivating the talents of Camden's youth,
032specifically our young men. So, it was extremely disheartening to learn just two weeks ago that the district has decided not to bring Mr. Miller back on as a track coach when he has done nothing but proven his worth to this district, our city, the children that we serve, and all of the families both within this room and within our city. Um, we haven't been given a reason as to why he would not be brought back as a coach. Many of our student athletes are extremely upset, some of them even deciding not to participate in the upcoming track season because their coach will not be coming back. And again, we all know the importance of relationship. Having someone within the school, not who just knows the kids, but who's with them on a day-to-day basis, who
033speaks to them during the day about their academics, as well as checks on them in the evenings, during the weekends, in the summertime when he's off the clock, not employed by the district, but building that relationship continuously with these boys and being ripped away from them in such an important time when many of them are seniors, when many of them are looking to receive scholarships in their athletics and they no longer have the guidance of people that they trust and respect. Thank you. [applause] Good evening. My name is Rondell Braxton. Um my son Christian Braxton, he is a senior this year. Big picture. Uh he is also at student athlete and he's been on this year's 2026 state championship team. Sure. Better. All right. Yeah. Um, basically everything that this young lady just said is
034is what I was going to say. Take it back off for her. Uh, Miller, he's [clears throat] off work. He's reaching out to the kids. Prior to this uh this prior to last season, I don't think they wanted I don't think they did anything with the track team at all. He's taken four kids and won a state championship. Uh the the football team has won a state championship. You don't lose your job for not I mean you you don't lose your job for for winning. This guy is a proven winner. He won he took four kids. And that's basically all I have to say. [applause] >> Up next is Kenneth Miller and then Chase Robinson. Good evening everyone. Um, I'm Kenneth Miller and my address is 306 Byron Court, Cichlville, New Jersey. Um, as some
035of the parents just said, uh, I was the winter track coach last year. Um, seems like a a year ago I was here because I came to the board meeting to speak about the accolades that these young men have have accomplished last winter season. Um, we have one young man who broke a school record, a county record. The relay team last year um broke won the state championship in the 4x2 relay, but also broke the state record. Um, and I'll just say that to say me and my and my assistant coach who's not here, Julian Pratt or DJ Jew, y'all might know. Um, he ran track for me in high school as well. And he was elated to know that I was coaching again and to join me in coaching. And in during that season,
036which is last last winter, the two previous seasons, the attended uh the particip the participation level was low. It was like four kids that was on the team. Um last year when I came out, we had over 20 kids. And this year, before I found out all this news, more kids were coming out. Um I had support from the parents, people from community. I was ready for the season and then all of a sudden I found out that I'm not the coach. Um, and coach is not all about winning. Like one of the parents said, it's about building relationships. Um, I have a good rapport with the kids. We talk about everything and and and um and and everything. I am a school counselor, so that's part of what I do. and I bring all
037that um to coaching. Um in March 1st, I would have been in this district for 32 years. I've been at Cam High since 2004. I started coaching back in 2011 and then came back last year. And I'm going to say I just I just feel really disrespected and unappreciated for all the hard work that me and my staff put in to these kids to bring positive light to Camden. We had nationally ranked relay teams last year. We was number one in South Jersey. We was number two in the state. We traveled to Boston. We went to New York. We went Manhattan, Staten Island. We went to places that most these kids never been to before. And I can say this once the one one one track me when we went to New York so many
038kids have never been to New York City just to see the skyline and all that. It just it just something that they not going to forget and these are experiences that I don't know if they're going to still continue to have. So I just want to know like I just need some answers because I really feel I feel some type of way. Thank you. [applause] Hi, my name is Chase Robinson and I am on the Camd High track team. I am on the national nationally ranked 4x2 team, 4x4 team. We went US number three and we went US number eight in a 4x4. And all the stuff that my coach, Coach Miller has done for us is unexplainable. We went from states, we went all the way to Boston all on Miller. We drove with
039Miller. Everything Miller does for us is just it's incredible. I can't I can't even express it enough. Honestly, I don't understand how I could go from a coach that's really loving and really creates relationships with his with his students, with his athletes, all of that. All his peers, he never complained, never said nothing. He just doesn't do he in my eyes, he doesn't do wrong. We we went from going to all these different states to now only being only going to one one place. One place we got to go to the bubble to run and that track it's not even good. So I'm just confused as to how you fire a coach and rehire a coach that can't even be there or the practice is 45 minutes. We have a 45minute practice and now we
040don't even go nowhere. We going to one meet this entire year, one location, one destination, just different different times and different deeds. So it's like we not experiencing nothing. We not getting we barely getting better cuz we're inside for 45 minutes. We're not doing it's just in my opinion this just not how it should be. We didn't get recognized for nothing. We had to beg. We not big. We had to ask to be posted on the social media page and that's all we got. We didn't get nothing for winning states and we didn't win it once. We won it twice. Sophomore year we won sectionals. So it's just like I feel like it's just a big slap in the face to everybody to the students to my coach and to even to my other coach
041Julian. He these two guys they just they just love it. They love what they do and they don't do it for the money. They do it for the relationships and to really build people to be young men. But that's all I got to say. [applause] >> All right. Our final speaker is Christian Braxton. Hi, good evening every everybody. My name is Christian Braxton. I'm a senior. I attend Big Picture Learning Academy and um I'm a student athlete. I ran track last year outdoor and indoor and I play football. Um, you know, we just won a state championship in football and uh last year track we had a lot of uh success as well and um a key part of that was like you guys heard uh from coach Miller, Mr. Miller and um it just
042the news when I found out it was really like like really like disheartening like when I found out that Miller wasn't going to be the coach this year because you know last year we had like a lot of success and um we did things that hasn't been done for the uh specifically the Kim High indoor track team in a in a in a very long time. So, you know, coming off a season like that, I just thought, you know, things were going to be the same, but I guess not. But, um, yeah, like like my fellow uh teammate Chase Robinson just said, like Coach Miller is really a good guy. Um, he really showed us things that, you know, we never got the chance to see yet. And um so I just we were just
043like kind of confused that you know coming up coming off a winning season and a successful season for the first time in a long time. Um you just don't get the job again. So we were uh we just wanted answers like as far as to what that was about and you know but that's that's pretty much it. Um yeah. Uh thank you >> [applause] >> I will now turn the meeting over to President Nelson for comments from the advisory board. >> Thank you, Superintendent. At this time, are there any board members that have any responses, comments? All right. Uh, one, I want to say, uh, congratulations, uh, to our football team, uh, for the state championship. Uh, definitely something welld deserved. I also want to say um thank you to our superintendent and her administration
044um the city, all those um the police department, all those that were involved in bringing together a motorcade along with the tree lighting um in such a short notice um opportunity for our community to come together and celebrate a great cause. Um thank you. Also, I see John just walked out. Um, thank you to Westbrook Lane who is a good partner um and uh support the district. Um, we would love to uh, you know, continue to work with Westbrook um, just to service our students. Uh, thank you to the superintendent for her report. [clears throat] Um, I know we spoke about enrollment declining. Um, it is also uh been asked and requested um for the board members to speak up, which I don't feel like is ever an issue. Um, I'll speak on behalf of
045the board right now. Nobody wants to see our enrollment decline. No one wants to see our schools close. if it was anything that we were able to do and I think it's a collective effort, you know, we would love to do any and everything that we can uh to keep our schools open. I know often is fingerpointing and that's okay. Um I don't think that we we get anywhere with fingerpointing. I do think things are very much more effective with communication. Um, some things that take place now, um, for those that aren't clear, is you have board members that walk the halls, that see what's going on, uh, with our students, with our staff, that meet on a regular basis, with our superintendent, that give feedback, that make suggestions, that show up wherever they're able
046to. Again, all in a volunteer position. We don't know everything. We take advice. We have meetings, whether it's with previous board members, community members. We take feedback. We go to our yearly trainings, New Jersey school boards. We educate ourselves. We try to apply the things that we learn. We don't always get everything right. Yes. the Urban Hope Act back in 2012 where again this board wasn't a part of but yet we continue to learn and try to figure out how do we undo things or how do we help stabilize things. So again, you know, this may not be all the conversations that we speak about every board member, but these are the things that's done on a daily basis. Regardless of who comes up to the mic to speak on it, we have the same
047concerns. If there are ever suggestions or recommendations, we're open. I know I'm always open to have conversations outside of this meeting. I make myself available. Other schoolboard members make themselves available. The reality is we're in a situation that's terrible. So, how do we get out of that? How do we save our school district? How do we save schools? I think that's an ongoing question. It's conversations that we have on the regular. I meet on a weekly basis with our superintendent. We talk several times a week. So, I just share that, you know, for those that may not know, our board members work hard, and it's okay. We are elected. we chose to be up here. So again, whatever it is that you know comes our way, we we sit in this position. But if we
048have other members that that know something different or better and want to communicate and share, we're always open to feedback. I don't think anyone up here claims to know everything. Like I said, we've sat with previous school board members and taken suggestions. It hasn't rectified the issues. Happy holidays everybody. Thank you. At this time, we will have our interim board secretary highlight the December board agenda items. This evening's agenda includes approval of board actions for the month of December, including uh the minutes for the November Board of Education meeting, financial reports for the month of November, a listing of bill payments for the month of December, uh numerous service and tuition contracts, and the Department of Talent and Labor report of appointments, recall, separations, uh various stipens for grade level and department chair. fairs and
049other extra work and various field trips, fundraisers, and travel request. >> At this time, I'm going to turn it back over to board president Nelson. >> I apologize. I forgot one thing. I definitely want to acknowledge um our track team, our students. I know we did have a conversation um before. Um, we want to make sure our track team is recognized as well. Um, so that that will be something that will be done in the near future. Thank you for sharing. >> Yes, I concur. We look forward to celebrating our track team and coach Miller. in accordance with powers vested in me as the acting state district superintendent according to NJSA 18A 7A through35. I hereby approve the November 2025 board agenda items. If nothing more, board secretary, please call for a motion to adjourn
050the meeting. >> Is there a motion to adjurnn? Second. Uh all in favor? Any opposed? This motion, this uh meeting is adjourned.