January 2020 Advisory Board Meeting

001a notice requirement of the New Jersey open public meeting act has been complied with and that adequate advance notice that this meeting was given and at least 48 hours in advance on June 18 2019 notices mail to The Courier Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer notice was also posted on the bulletin board located by the reception desk at the central office in all school board building bulletin boards within the district when I call your name please say present mr. Issa Atwood miss Katherine mr. Wasi muhammad present mr. new nom de Nelson present miss Carmen Otero addressing mr. Alton Custis present miss Naima Gillespie present mr. Fawley Oh labor Martinez present miss Yolanda will be miss Martha Wilson thank you please stand with me for the pledge allegiance to the flag [Applause] we will now have the

002swearing end of student represented facilitated by the board secretary Aneesa conference we have no one to swear in tonight I'm going to call the name of the student representative Louis ekkuva and I apologize if I mispronounced your name thank you at this time the board will now go into closed session to discuss matters of the following nature litigation and attorney-client privilege I call for a motion to go into closed session a motion was made to go into closed session by miss Atwood and second by miss taro all in favor going into closed session any opposed the board will go into the board is now in closed session we'll be returning in approximately 30 minutes which means we will be back at 6:04 at this time I call for a motion to come out of closed

003session is there a motion motion come out of closed is there a second a motion was made to come out of closed session by mr. Elton Custis and second by mr. Issa Atwood all in favor any opposed we are now out of closed session Thank You mr. Coppin at this time I'm going to ask our board to transition down to the front rows to prepare for our superintendents report seeing everyone all right it's great to be here for our first board meeting of the 2020 year and we're looking forward to moving forward with productivity as we do everything we can to advance our students in the district and so we're going to begin tonight's meeting with a moment of silence and so this evening as we begin and again while we're getting set for our

004presentation and thank you so much for your patience and we want to just honor a gentleman who passed away recently mr. bill Nickerson he was a former beloved teacher at Camden High School I know during the 80s because he was there actually when I was there at Camden high school so let's just take a brief moment of silence to pause for one of our longtime educators who passed away mr. Nickerson thank you so as we move forward with our presentation again we thank you for joining us today last year and then the last talent part of the calendar year the district experienced many changes and celebrated many successes including improved test scores and higher graduation rates as a district we will continue to build on 2019 s progress this part of the school year has

005started with a new school board and you see our new school board members let's give them a round of applause through our joining we also have the development of new partnerships that both support our academic outcomes and our commitment to ensuring safe schools built for 21st century success tonight's presentation will focus on our district priorities and school highlights as always we will begin tonight's presentation with a special student of the month in collaborate highlighting our students of the month as we have been doing for the past few months in collaboration with our CEA partners so again in partnership with CEA we recognize students each month at our board meetings students are nominated by their principals for displaying outstanding character in the following areas persistence in academics teamwork behavior and helpfulness to others at this time

006I'd like to welcome our president of our CEA dr. Keith Benson along with Miss Katrina Squire who are going to come up and help us to move this part forward [Applause] good evening everyone Thank You superintendent we are excited as usual to celebrate these students of the month our December students of the month were nominated for many reasons including their strong leadership skills positive outlook when facing challenges outstanding attendance and academic achievement this month students were also noted my teachers and staff as having a passion for service and being positive role models in their schools among this group of students you'll find students who are leading their grades in math and/or reading and serving their communities one student contributed the most items for Toys for Tots we are proud of all of these students for

007excelling in academics and personal development congratulations to our students for being outstanding role models go-getters and academic achievers thank you to our educators district staff families and community for supporting our student success daily at this time I would like to recognize our students and families who are present excuse me who are present tonight please come to the podium when your name is called we'd like to give a special thank you to Mendez excuse me jackal Mendez flowers for providing the flowers for our parents let's give a round of applause for our students and hear about the car our first student of the month is Amira Barrera are you here at Mayra from Woodrow Wilson High School okay Destinee Hauser from Cooper's Point family school please come on down and you'd like to take Oh Myra

008Rivera has just come in come on down honey [Applause] for you next up is Braden Mitchell see that smile you pray Congrats you coming no one's getting our next recipient Ania Mercier Ania Mercier [Applause] Adela Johnson come on [Music] [Applause] jahnesia Jackson okay next we have Jesse er Jones [Applause] next we have Noah Martinez [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and please forgive me I've missed calling the school's name those last few we have to Sean Evans from York ship Family School here not present Alicia Chapman and we have parent and siblings accepting for her who she's on studying hi Anna McCray from Henry H Davis family school [Applause] can we have Bentley Velazquez from Wiggins college prep lab school [Applause] [Music] coming [Applause] Edward Tellez from Veterans Memorial Family School muscle [Applause] Cindy Guzman from Woodrow Wilson

009High School not perfect okay [Applause] Ellie Amy good a pronounced le unnie le unnie not so far as to Elementary and just to check do we have Zamir Lorenzo here today yes I'm sorry from creative arts Morgan village so there you go [Music] [Applause] and we're checking for one more Myra or Merritt Lopez Sheila okay well we can give all of our recipients a hand tonight congratulations to everyone we're so proud of all of our students and all of our families and I love how the families come out because it's a family affair as we're celebrating we're all one big family one big village celebrating around our young people and we are so so very proud of you so thank you parents for all that you do and all that you pour in to each

010and every one of our young people we're going to move forward with the balance of our presentation and move into our first district I continue to move forward in our first district priority area which is accelerating student achievement the related wine cream Early Childhood Center located in the center Centreville section of Camden serves all preschool age students the students love for learning is fuelled by rich meaningful hands-on learning experiences in a warm and welcoming atmosphere we are looking forward to being able to add a grade or add another grade kindergarten to cream school for the 2021 school year we have already gotten upwards of 40 parents who are very much interested in having their students to either stay at cream school preschool students who are rising or other parents who want their students to attend

011cream so if you look in the Camden enrollment website you will be able to enroll in kindergarten at cream school if there is an interest so again we just want to remind you the window is open and it will be open until March but if you're interested you can also let the school know that you're interested in having your child 2/10 cream school for kindergarten we know that unless our students are nutritionally balanced and then they won't be able to achieve as much as we would like them to academically so it's important to teach our students about healthy choices and help students to expand their taste buds eating fruits and vegetables also leads to stronger bones the ability to fight off germs and increased memory our school nutrition team launched the fresh fruit and vegetable

012program and this year this program provides healthy fruit and veggie snacks to the following schools and they're listed here Davis H B Wilson cream Wiggins mastery Cramer Hill and McGraw school on Tuesdays and Thursdays for more information on the program pre please reach out to our school nutrition team this announcement is is very very important especially for any parents who have seniors in your homes financial aid fafsa night is so very critical on next Wednesday February 5th from 5 o'clock till 8 o'clock p.m. all Camden City School District juniors seniors and their parents are invited to attend the FAFSA that's f a FSA and family doc dinner night at creative arts at Morgan village Academy juniors and parents will begin phat the FAFSA process and meet with vocational programs and college representatives seniors will complete

013FAFSA applications and create state required New Jersey fams accounts there will also be a resource fair so please RSVP with your school counselor college advisor or senior seminar teacher it is really important that we get as many of our young people registered and enrolled in FAFSA as we possibly can we don't want to go below 75 to 80 percent we would love that number to be 100 percent of our juniors and senior who have completed the FAFSA so this is one final push to make sure that we are making available an opportunity for you to come out have dinner get guidance talk to people and there will be many resources there but we really want to make sure that our district continues to rise in the area of the number of students who are have

014completed their FAFSA applications so please take advantage of that opportunity moving to the second priority a great teacher in every classroom and great staff in every role we recognize that providing our staff with the professional support needed to thrive in their respective role is vital to the health of the district and student performance this month we celebrated several educators and staff in partnership with the Camden Education Association we beliefs elebrate it our Teacher of the Year and also paraprofessional of the year at each of our district schools the district winners will be recognized this spring in addition the district is working to decrease teacher vacancies this week school support and you can see them in the picture they're partnered with Rowan University to recruit student teachers working proactively to build teacher pipelines is critical to

015ensuring student achievement and continuity of instruction so we are trying many different and new strategies and we are very grateful to our team and school support for going out to Rowan Glassboro campus and really setting up shop and talking to students and letting them know why it would be a great opportunity for them to get student teaching experience right here in the Camden City School District so we are actively working to make sure that we try new strategies to fill vacancies and to avoid having them in the first place moving on to the third priority safe cool Safe Schools built for 21st century success asbestos abatement I'm going to take my time and go through this because I want to make sure that I'm very clear and what I'm about to share so because it

016is so very important for us a district to make sure that we are open and communicating transparently about very sensitive issues and this is one of them as you know one of the school districts priorities is to provide safe schools built for 21st century success this priority includes maintaining a safe clean and comfortable learning environment for all of our students I know there have been some concerns in the school community and the community at large recently regarding asbestos so I wanted I want to take some time to address those concerns here tonight in the 1940s through the 1970s asbestos containing materials were used frequently in building construction asbestos is known for its strength and heat resistance which is why it became a favorite product in so many building materials during that time period for example

017asbestos has been used in or around boilers various pipes floor tiles roofing products and many many more types of materials it commonly exists in older buildings and our schools are no exception however it is only when asbestos is disturbed that it can become a potential hazard recently there is an SDA funded HVAC project at Forest Hill the contractor on the project needed to make repairs to equipment covered by a vibration blanket because many building materials can contain asbestos the contractor had the material tested the material tested positive for asbestos and the contractor scheduled abatement of a seven square foot section of the vibration blanket to make sure that it was removed On January 18th which was over the long Martin Luther King holiday weekend that we just came out of the material containing asbestos was

018safely removed from the school in compliance with local state and federal regulations after the work was complete and independent health and safety firm tested the air quality in the school to ensure the school was safe to enter prior to students and staff returning from the holiday weekend that said although all the work was conducted according to local state and federal regulations there was a breakdown in communication between our construction management firm and the district this precluded the district's opportunity to proactively share this activity with the school community moving forward the district will take steps to prevent breakdowns in communication particularly around activities such as these and so it is very important to me that trust that we have the trust of our parents the trust of our community members our staff members and that everyone

019feels safe and comfortable in their working environment and so that is again another reason why I'm taking time to really talk about what occurred at Forest Hill because I know there were some different there were some concerns and rightfully so I am a parent as well and if I see a sign that is on a building that I was not made aware of by the school district officials or the principal of the building because she was not aware either I would have a concern as well we want you to know at no time was any staff member or student in jeopardy at no time was any staff member or student exposed to any anything that would be of concern it was done over the holiday weekend no one was in the building and all air

020quality tests were fine and came back and reasonable within reasonable limits so if you take a look at the next slide what you'll see here is I want it to be fully transparent with the final air testing results at Forest - so the occupation safe and Health Administration or OSHA has adopted a standard protocol for measuring exposure to airborne asbestos in the workplace OSHA specifies phase-contrast my scrapbook microscopy or PCM as the measurement method of choice as such PCM is currently the most widely used technique for measuring fiber concentrations of air samples and it is routinely employed at asbestos abatement sites including clearance testing for minor as abatement projects such as the one that I just explained to you that occurred at Farah still the testing process requires that at least five samples to be

021taken at the worksite and each of these five samples must test at least 3,000 liters of air in volume to successfully pass the air test not one of these five samples can be higher than 0.01 fibers per cubic centimeter and this will all be posted on our website as we pose superintendents reports all the time as indicated in red on the screen above zero point zero one zero and so we have to make sure that we are within those limits in other words there can be no more than one fiber and 100 cubic centimeters of air whether it is airborne cellulose human hair or any other fiber in addition to asbestos also displayed on the screen in green are each of the five air samples taken at Forest Hill after the abatement was completed so

022the abatement was completed testing was done all five samples tested well below the required threshold this threshold is referred to as the release criteria which indicates that the aspect the best the abatement excuse-me contractor can be released from the job and that the area is safe for occupants to enter and resume activities these results were received on Sunday January 19th well before Stu and staff returned to the school these documents are appropriately logged and on file in the Forest Hill main office and they are of course available for review upon request and so moving on also along the same vein with regard to say ensuring that we have safe schools built for 21st century success when we think about safety we know that it is all of our jobs to ensure that our buildings are

023safe this year we have started a district Safety Committee the Safety Committee brings together staff from various roles and departments from around the district to partner with the New Jersey Schools Insurance Group through regularly scheduled quarterly meetings as these meetings we are able to feel multiple perspectives that identify safety concerns we're also able to examine potential trends and then work toward solutions that ensure safe schools with regard to Camden High at hatch the SDA will begin roof repairs in February at the hatch building home to Camden High and big-picture Learning Academy middle school these repairs while temporary but effective will bridge the time between now and when a full roof replacement is slated to be installed during the summer of 2021 damage to the gym floor caused by the roof leaks to date has been

024temporarily repaired so students are able to resume its used for physical education and other activities so we are pleased with that progress and look forward to continued improvement in that facility in the same district priority safer streets at vents so every day during the arrival and dismissal of students there has been a high volume of vehicle traffic at 25th and Hayes streets adjacent to the Vettes family school this vehicle pattern presented a risk to students and parents at drop-off and pickup to resolve this circumstance the district office of safety and security led by a senior director Terry Allen held multiple meetings with school leaders parents and city officials to come up with possible solutions this joint effort was instrumental in the creation of a new safety plan that includes safety tips for students pick-up and

025drop-off procedures for parents and turning 24th and hay Street through 26 and hay Street into a one-way street this is a wonderful example of putting students first when we work together we can create change and that change can serve the best interests of our students families and community so we are very grateful to the city to our own team here our safety team to our parents to our staff members the principal at Vettes Thomas a passkey for working together and also the ops manager miss Kari grimmy who was instrumental in this process this was a definite win and it will ensure that our students are safe in that area and so the final category of district priorities that I'd like to share a couple of minutes about have to do with updating you with regard

026to our cusack continuum scores and so as you can see on the chart here and again this will be included on the district website the state has a system and a set of standards by which they measure all public schools throughout the state of New Jersey cusack is the quality single accountability continuum and it shows where we should be it's a guideposts for where we should be in the areas of instruction and program fiscal management governance operations and also personnel so last school year we created targeted improvement plans to focus on two areas that are still below 80% instruction and program and also fiscal management this fall the county office came to see how we were doing with regard to this plan at an interim visit in November we are optimistic that we have made

027some key improvements in both areas scoring scoring 40% however there is above 40% however there is still significant room for growth the county team will be back to see our progress in May and we must focus on our implementation plans for the next six months in short the next slide contains a summary so that you can see exactly what it is the progress areas that we have made and also what our focal areas are as we continue to improve in these areas and so in short summary here are the areas where we may progress during this last review and our team's focus areas between now and May instruction and program saw a 20% increase from the prior visit with gains made and graduation rates student performance and ela and math that we analyze student subgroup

028data and are operating an intervention and response system the team is working on next steps from our curriculum audit across all content areas which include integrating accommodations and modifications for all types of learners various levels of texts for each grade level interdisciplinary connections 21st century skills and integration of Career Education and Technology fiscal management saw a 13% increase from the prior visit with gains made in grant oversight budget planning operating procedure manuals capital projects accounting and health and safety checklists so we are very pleased with the progress that's been made and we thank our business office and facilities teams for their hard work and also our school support teams for their hard work on their on these progress points this information was shared at the January 8th State Board of Education meeting and so the

029state is also aware of our growth in these areas so let's give those teams a round of applause for the hard work that they have done however even though we are moving forward if you take took a look at the other slide you'll see that an instruction in programming prior to state intervention we were at 9% so we're up to 40% and we are making gains in the fiscal area as well with some ups and downs but we have not arrived and we cannot rest on our laurels here between now and May the teams are focusing on internal controls insuring our audit is complete with limited findings as well as ensuring procedures are in place so that we don't have repeat findings as well so we will continue to update you as we get feedback

030from the county we are on the right track we just have to stay focused and continue to move forward so another bright spot with regard to our financial financially responsible and fiscally sustainable goal is that our school nutrition department was selected for an administrative review this year and completed it with minimum corrections and highlights so that's minimal findings and so we minimize fruit and vegetable options from two to one with larger portions however the school nutrition team will revert back to different multiple offerings offering a variety of fresh produce to choose from there will be an increase in Whole Grains options to remain compliant with state and federal guidelines our school nutrition team will be partnering with our school support team for cross departmental initiatives to improve resources for not only our students but our

031families as well sharp school will be implementing an approved share table this year as we plan to implement share tables across the district to minimize food waste meal claiming opportunities are being evaluated so please stay tuned for more information at a later date on some other areas of focus please know that our school nutrition team has been commended for their overall performance other school districts are partnering with our school nutrition team and are encouraged to use our services while improving services while we are improving services across the city so this is a big win for our food services department we know it's a revenue generator for us and so as we stay in good standing it's only going to be able to help us to continue especially as we are facing some financial challenges so

032again we are very very grateful for the work of our nutrition school nutrition team and finally district highlights so we have some great highlights that I want to quickly share with you before we transition back to the board to acknowledge our well deserving retirees in December we celebrated our crossing guards for the important roles they play and getting our scholars to and from school safe each and every day a special thank you to our Community Partner st. John Church ministries for providing the holiday dinner for our crossing guards and they were so very appreciative of the appreciate of what we shared and of being just acknowledged for the work that they do students and staff at Kramer started the year celebrating three kings day this day remains an important tradition for the Hispanic community in

033Camden thank you to the bilingual staff and students at Kramer who took the time to teach us about three kings day as I've already alluded to earlier this month we welcomed our newly elected board members miss Naima Gillespie if you could stand yes mr. Fawley la Bob Martinez and mr. Elton Custis congratulations to our new board president mrs. Martha Wilson and also to our newly elected vice president Minister wasing Mohammad we are looking forward to again moving the work forward as we hold each other accountable for what is supposed to happen in our district today's readers tomorrow's leaders Veterans Memorial Family School in partnership with a New Jersey Department of Education hosted a reading event in December students were treated to a read aloud with superintendent McCombs and mayor Moran and special performances thank you

034to dr. Abraham Barretto of Lee and Lowe books who provided all of the students with multicultural books free multicultural books also thank you to our special guest dr. Anthony Wright from the Department of Education and our advisory board members who showed up and really supported this effort and as you can see we had a good time at vet school reading and receiving and students were able to select the books that they wanted so they were able to build their at-home libraries and finally coach Dewayne savage head coach of the Camden high school varsity football team was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles as its nominee for the 2019 Don Shula NFL high school coach of the Year award yes representing the best at the high school level coach savage was nominated for the national award named

035after the Wayman winningest coach in NFL history for his character and integrity his devotion to serving the community and its commitment to player health and safety on and off the field and so we are definitely definitely proud of Coach savage our athletic program across the city and we are we are just in a very good place when it comes to our athletics so again hats off to Coach savage and at this time we'll return to the the podium and at that time I'll turn it over to President Wilson who will designate someone to acknowledge our retirees if she doesn't do so herself thank you for your your attention at this time vice president Minister Athene Muhammad will recognize that our retirees thank you madam president on behalf of the school board in the district as

036well we want to acknowledge these wonderful school leaders in our in our district when the first thought missed miss Clara Chavez paraprofessional 31 years mr. okay mr. Charles Dickens custodian see 14 years Delores Gibbs teacher of education 25 years and I apologize in advance if I pronounced his first name incorrect but hagh we apne con teacher of special education six years Maggie Miller paraprofessional 24 years William read custodian a 16 years and wander Shou guidance counselor 29 years on behalf of school board president myself and the school board members we want to thank those wonderful individuals for serving our community and wish them the best of luck in their next stage of advancement that they choose thank you very much Thank You Minister I seen at this time we will have miss Anissa Compton business

037administrator swearing the student reps would miss Dianna King from Woodrow Wilson High School meet me at the podium Diana would you mind right raising your right hand and repeating after me Isaiah no King affirm that I possess the qualifications for the position of student board representative for the Camden City School District and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of the position to the best of my ability thank you and welcome aboard at this time I like to request any questions or comments about my presentation from the advisory board members first you want to ask the students if they have any comments the student reps no problem we can start with our student reps and then we'll go to board members Thank You President Wilson um good market afternoon this

038is Louis like a variant from creative arts I just want to say number one it is a privilege to be in front of all of you today and I just want to say some of the good things that have been going on in my school which is um the environment my school is a wonderful environment is a harmonious environment um we are led by our principal dr. the vehicle Brockington and she is a wonderful principal our staff and our students get along very well we also see a lot of bonding with between students something that I believe you we should work on is more PSAT and SAT prep I believe we as students need to prepare ourselves to these type of tests due to that colleges see and examine all these different type of tests

039and they look forward to seeing our tests so I think is a district we believe I believe that we should study more on those things thank you and have a wonderful day thank you hello my name is Ayana King from both of us or a couple of highlights teachers and students have a good bond just like you said teachers been really good assets and the students lives anything personal that they need to talk about they're there to help like counselors yeah they just been you know a second family to us best over in like a smaller group so they've been really fun it's my second year and I will be graduating this year a couple you know things we need to work on um seniors need to really work on applying for colleges and you

040know getting that extra push to graduate high school and be in college or if they don't you know enough next step to be like you know dog yoga dog so I really think with this change in the upcoming events that's going on though we're gonna have a great school year in better things for our seniors yeah thank you miss can at this time you have any questions from the board members on the superintendent's report mr. Nam Nelson sure so uh not a question but just a statement so Thank You superintendent for the update for asbestos you know also just to the community thank you for your feedback and your concerns please I encourage you just one behalf of the board you know we take these things seriously it was a collaborative effort and a quick

041response from the superintendent and her administration when it was brought to her but if we didn't received information then we couldn't have inquired and then after you receive feedback if you still feel like you know it's not sufficient and I encourage you to continue to acts and make sure things is right so without a voice we have nothing so please continue to communicate continue to utilize us and thank you super incentive for your feedback and just making sure we have the information and as you say communication is very important any other questions or concerns or any questions about the report from any other board members yes ma'am thank you I just would like superintendents for you to stressed as you talked about the Cusick Cusack to the to our parents in our community the importance

042of Cusack scores and how it relates to returning local control to our district and what it means for them so that we can de-stress what this is all about as we take in steps going towards that if you don't know absolutely I don't mind at all thank you for that question and as Minister Waseem shared the gateway to into and out of local control is QC so our cusack scores in the areas that I shared instruction and programming governance fiscal how we handle our operations etc all of those areas plummeted us into state intervention over five and a half six years ago and so in order for us to get out of state intervention and to regain local control where the where the board this wonderful group of people who we're going to work together

043and leading this district but the board would also have their voting authority return back in the area of governance the way to do that is to make sure that we score 80% or above in each of the five areas that I shared and so we're almost there in governance we've scored about 83 percent in operations and personnel we're at 80 percent but the two areas that I stress tonight instruction and programming which has to do with curriculum and also our student achievement which is measured by the NJ SLA assessment formally known as the park as well as in the area of fiscal accountability making sure that we're reducing audit findings and that we're operating with strong internal controls to make sure that we are becoming better and better stewards of every single dime that we

044receive that is very important so we're at about 40 percent a little above 40 percent in each of the areas of an instruction in programming and in our fiscal area as we continue to push we're looking forward to our May visit from the county superintendent and her team as they evaluate us to see what progress we've made from November until May getting local control returned is the decision of the commissioner and the State Board of Education and so as we continue to work and as we continue to collaborate with the Department of Education because we are a state operated district we are moving every day closer and closer to gaining local control I hope that's helpful and parents so the question also was how can pair so it's you know everything that you do like

045the display tonight parents coming rooting their children on joining arms with us as we are trying to do everything possible to make sure that our students succeed being engaged and involved in your school's team's making sure that you're asking questions that all is going to help to hold us as educators accountable in order to make sure that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing not that we need you to do that for us to do what we're obligated to do but it does help to ensure that there's an accountability so continue to be involved continue to ask questions continue to ask the hard questions because that's going to help to make us a better district in the in the end and put us safely back into sustainable local control because when we

046get local control we don't want to come back this way ever again and so that's what I claim that we clean everything up right now so that when we move forward we will continue to grow and progress as a district and be an example for the nation of what can happen to even a traditional public school district as it comes out of local control enters into local control yes welcome to our new student rep you know we welcome you to both of you we appreciate your feedback from glows and grooves and we'll make sure we work with the superintendent to make sure the PSAT and SAT prep as well as applying for colleges is something that you guys have so thank you and then I just quick lastly um to go along with the highlights

047in the past week you know I had the opportunity to visit two schools that I think represented the district very well on pride Academy and you know we think that you know that's the school where more of our challenging students go when you walk through the hallways you know as one of our our better schools and things are very organized structure and you know definitely a great learning environment so um you know I think that's a wonderful representation of the administration they're a product at as well as York ship and again this was just in the past week you know again excellent leadership and the administration you know it just looks pretty good as you walk through the hall we see the kids learning the interaction I mean things just being organized in a structure

048so I think it says a lot along with you know a lot of the things that's going on in the district but just want to highlight those two schools for the past week thank you yes I would like to commend the you guys going after and doing the accelerated student achievement the family aid financial aid night my question in common would be is how many more of these would we have before the end of the year being the fact that our student representation mentioned they need more support as seniors I see FASFA is right in the middle of that so what else are we doing after our February 5th event how many more events would we have throughout the year so that's a quick that's a great question our senior director of student support services

049mr. Larry James and his team worked to put this event forward seeing a definite need to bring some excitement and energy to our families and our students and really motivate them to get involved in the FAFSA night after we have this FAFSA night what we will be able to do is take a look at okay what percentage of students are left in the district juniors and seniors that we have to to make sure that we get enrolled and then after we find out that information we'll be able to plan other events we also utilize our guidance counselor's in order to help us with our college and career readiness work and so we will use them to help plan accordingly for each of the schools but that's a great question their team is working on it

050sure one more piece to that shilla is this information also being put out in Spanish that is a very good question I'm going to lean I am NOT waiting the answers yes I didn't have my glasses on so that's why I couldn't see my team but my team is always here ready to answer questions but yes that's a great question no problem madam superintendent can you share with the public details on the status of state aid absolutely so with regard to emergency aid I know there have been we have been providing many different updates around emergency aid going on about eight or nine months now and we have been working very collaboratively with the Department of Education along with the County superintendent's office and the County Business Administrator to really ensure that the state is

051confident in exactly how much money we as a district need in order to close the deficit so we submitted an application back in the spring and we were asked for supporting documentation and we were have also been asked to put forth two to three plans on how we can minimize the deficit for this school year by cutting in areas any areas that we can so that the state is able to have a number that they are confident in that they can advocate for us to the governor to be able to receive last week we met with the Department of Education along with our team here at the district office and we met for from nine o'clock until 2:30 I'm only saying that because I want you to know that the state is rolling up their

052sleeves with us and working in collaboration to drill down to the numbers to ensure that they're caught they're pleased with them this Thursday as a follow-up meeting so last week we met with them and this week Thursday they will be coming back to Camden where we sit down right in the conference room with our teams and continue to dig deep and we are hopeful that once they are confident in the number that we need in order to close our deficit even though we've given them that but they have to do their checks and balances that we will be able to receive that so we're still waiting long story short I just want to be very transparent we're waiting but we're working as weaning and we're collaborating as we're waiting and were being fully transparent with

053where our finances are because as I said before we don't want to be in this situation next year as we are looking at our budgeting so that's kind of where we are thank you no no problem thank you thank you madam president madam superintendent how do we as a board participate in reviewing and updating new policies before it gets approved by you so that's a great question as new board members coming on to the team and also as we think about our history and going from not from having no from from having low scores and governance to now having scores of 80% in government we know that governance we know that we are on track in that area to receive local control back so what I'm saying is we are poised to be able to

054receive that so as we are becoming a collaborative board my idea is to work toward the goal of making sure that all of our board members have all of the certifications that they need as they have all of the training that they need and so myself along with Miss Anne price our general counsel I know that she has already set up a mini retreat that's going to be coming up and in that discussion and that retreat there will be discussions about how board members can engage in many processes and so at this time I would say that if there are any questions about policy if there are any questions about updates if there is anything that people want to board members would like to give input in that they can definitely direct that to our

055senior counsel yep that's a great question Thank You mr. Custis and can I respond please I'm superintendent I have met with the superintendent and Sam our counsel and reference to some questions in reference to our board in reference to our training and the dates that those things are taking place I have given the names of the shops the locations so those things will be presented to you as well and also just to let you know that as a board and working with the superintendent that we are in a position that if we need we will write a letter to the commissioner and to the governor on behalf of this board on behalf of the Camden City Board of Education our students and families that we represent thank you any other questions from board members yes

056last thing I have Madame superintendent is that uh I would like to know what we are doing first of all thank you for exploring the interest of adding kindergarten for a letter cream I went to grammar school there so it's really important that we continue to serve that community I've been in that community for the last 20 years of our lives right and I want to understand what are we doing as a district and what families are we going after being the fact that there is new development of new families that are going to be moving in so they're gonna probably be moving in mid-year so how are we gonna kind of make sure that before these families move in if they move in and then are the classes or the space is going to

057be closed for the families that are moving there or what are we doing to make sure that we're servicing the right community for that that's another excellent question and so although all of the questions are excellent but um what I will say to that is that prior to even making the decision to convert the créme school from a k2e pre-k to 8 to a pre-k only school we did have conversations with the housing authority and also some of the members of the authority to find out exactly what the plans were for the redevelopment of that area and so getting that information actually helped us to see what demographic would be moving in and so that is part of what we use to say okay we need to make sure we have strong early childhood opportunities

058in the area and as we are continuing to assess and reassess and get information from the Housing Authority and do our own outreach because under the direction of Marquita Nesmith who's our director of early childhood and miss Tanya Gillespie who's our outreach specialist they are constantly looking at trends and constantly going on foot even knocking on doors to figure out what it is that we will need moving forward and so we continue to engage in that process to make sure that we are being responsive in how we staff the building with the anticipated needs coming in so so we will continue so until we refine that number you're welcome okay thank you thank you so much for all of your comments and for your questions and at this time I will turn the meeting over

059to our general counsel for the cub public comment portion thank you 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 be heard on the agenda items in the meeting each person who signed up to comment will have three minutes you'll be notified when your three minutes are up you cannot nailed your time to another person when it is your turn to speak please remain at the podium and address all your comments to the general council or the superintendent at the end of the three minutes please be advised that the microphone will be cut off please conduct yourself in a respectful and courteous manner the board can prohibit language that is inappropriate or harassing so for anyone whose

060comments or actions either harass intimidate or threaten the safety of any person we will provide you with a warning or immediately end your comment time in addition if you curse use vulgar language or make personal attacks we will provide you with a warning or end your comment time after the public comment period is closed the superintendent or her designee may address your questions to the extent provided by law our first commenter tonight is Karen Morelli Luke good evening Karen Borelli Luke from brim Medical Arts High School I'm coming before you I haven't been here for a while because I didn't feel that there was a need for the longest but I'm very frustrated I'm very confused and I'm very concerned I told everybody to hold tight that have faith in the system we knew back

061in April we were losing a science teacher to retirement dr. Lewis left and that was in October we haven't had anybody in that classroom for those seniors since October except for substitutes as the second VP for the Camden Education Association I'm privy to some conversations we were told that there's not a freeze for science math and English yet we haven't had any science teacher since October then I'm being told on another end from another admin that there is a freeze and we're not going to get a teacher so I'm getting confused and then I'm looking in the detail or report we have money for promotions and even other hires outside of those content areas so I'm confused I'm concerned because now admin came and it's going to have an art teacher a health teacher and

062in-class support teacher and an English teacher now take over those classes and they're not going to be science the seniors already sent out their transcripts that say clearly science course but now it is not going to be a science course and what topic are we going to teach advanced health whatever that is because there's no curriculum there's no book and this class starts on Monday and we have to do lesson plans and a lesson clearly nobody's going to care what as long as there's a teacher standing in front of these kids or a substitute and that's not caring about our students that's not caring about our staff that's not caring about trying to move forward to get a science teacher at brim Medical Arts High School where the kids get doubled in math and double

063the signs I don't know who that's fair for so I'm really like standing before you as I'm just very ashamed that I told everybody to have faith in the system because I believed in the system and I'm shame on everybody here that we have not pulled enough together our resources I see other people being transferred middle of the year to other schools consolidating other classes and everything and we can't find a science teacher thank you Miss Borelli [Applause] dr. Brown Bartlett good evening thank you for having me speak this evening I'm dr. Brown Bartlett I'm known in the district as dr. BV I'm a proud Camden City educator for the past 21 years I'm here this evening to advocate for our middle school student athletes the Board consolidated the position of health and physical education

064supervisor three years ago in the last year that mr. Kasparov is ran our athletic program at the middle school level was 2017-18 for the past two years at that point in time a small stipend of about a thousand dollars was offered for a middle school coach to step up and organize all the athletics in a district at that time none of us did for a thousand dollars so the position was then offered to the two 80s from Camden High on Woodrow Wilson at 18,000 dollars apiece the 80s the high school athletic director's priority should be their high school athletes I am a product of someone that got a college scholarship due to my high school ad who helped me significantly so needless to say the Athletics of the middle school have fallen through the cracks

065for the past two years I'm talking about a lack of communication last-minute changes in the format of programs being offered to our athletes inequity of the time and distribution and attendance between Renaissance charters in traditional public schools I have emails and dates and times that I could I don't have I have a one minute and 49 seconds so I can't say all that to you right now but let me give you a quick examples so last year in the spring we were ready for our middle school fitness competition which had been postponed twice traditionally our fitness citywide it is offered in February for our middle schools it didn't occur in February it was postponed until March in March it was postponed until May so May comes we have all our athletes in the front hallway

066dressed and ready at York ship school to get on the bus and no bus shows no communication comes about the bus and then we reach out and make phone calls and find out oh yeah a transportation got messed up there's not going to be a fitness competition this year additionally last year in the middle school track and field day was canceled was postponed the elementary boys track and field was postponed the elementary girls was postponed and mr. Hixon and mr. phillips combine them into one one-day event where we had students come out to the high-school field and run in all this disorganized just wrong age groups yesterday our basketball season was supposed to start last week last year we were told there was no basketball season originally in 2018-19 we were told no basketball season

067York ship didn't get physicals for their students they were disappointed we started to run an in-house intramural program one day a parent approached me in the hallway and asked why we're not playing in the City League and I said I was told there was no city league miss Perry waits till the parent walks away and says to me Bibi they started a City League but we didn't get informed so that's the lack of communication the format change this has been going on all week about the volleyball tournament was supposed to be a double elimination you're torn a minute for the middle school athletes and it's been chained it's going back and forth I don't even know what tomorrow's at volleyball tournament is going to look like thank you damn dr. Brown Bob Ehrlich Keith Benson

068I'm good evening board members so I think the first unveiling of the new board members was earlier in January and I missed it but I got some text and phone calls about it so one thing that sort of stuck out to me on a day that I welcome the new board members you know some of you guys I've known in fits and starts over the course of a few years but on a date I should have been sort of really non-eventful apparently some comments were said that that really rubbed people the wrong way like essentially that the unions should stay in their Lane and I think had had the person who actually said I think as Minister Muhammad actually knew all the things that we do you would never say anything that ignorant and stupid

069not to mention the fact that you and I are neighbors so you had any problem at all about the things we were doing as a union you know you could simply knock on my door and talk to me Sorensen please direct your comments to myself and the superintendent thank you but having instead of doing that the moment when new board members are coming on board now we want to have the moment to say you know what the unis to say Darlene so here we are should we stay in our lane when folks were in our union dollars when families are need for funerals that we donate should we send our Lane then she would stay in our lane when we're donating toys hats and coats should we stay in our lane when folks who are

070doing entrepreneurship competitions are knocking on our door asking us for donations sue said on laitanan so we sent our lane then when folks who are rendered homeless due to fires call me ask for collection should we stand on laying then should we stay in our lane when we are working with community members to try and help us get a right to vote back which got the new board members here should we send our lane then I would submit that as worse as you're saying we're saying our lane anything that impacts kids anything that impact schools which is varied and vast is our lane I would also say if the board was doing their job prior to mr. miss McCombs arrival our budget wouldn't look the way it does we become up here for years asking

071the board members say yo ask pay mount questions about his appointment what he's doing with our budget and the board refused to but being I have 20 seconds 20 20 20 seconds left I will ask the board members if when you are asked to vote on new Canada high becoming a Kip how will you vote you guys don't know this Kip was pre-approved from the prize superintendent for two new high schools where do y'all see two high school being built so you guys will be asked I would like to know what your answer would be when that time comes thank you thank you Miss Watson Bryan Martin [Music] good evening superintendent board members my name is Brian Morton 113 State Street Camden New Jersey coming tonight much like I did at the previous meeting it's

072sort of like the open secret that you know no one's rallying around yet you know and I know we spoke about the budget but as the principle was shared as this principle Ramana shared as a number of families we know that have seen some cuts to their programs have shared with me it the impacts are starting to be felt and I know we're acting in good faith with with the governor and the commissioner and I know they probably you know have our best in mind but having having me in your mind does nothing to solve the day-to-day struggles happening within the classrooms has nothing to do with the fact that the reality is that we are not fiscally sound so we're going to be applying for new aid in four months when May comes because

073the budget comes back up again in May so as a new board I would implore you to put that lawyer to work and see if she can put a pen to pad on your behalf employ your board secretary the superintendent I believe has to appear next month and Trenton should be a cook like we need to rally together Keefe I think this is like one of those like star-crossed moments when there are elements of common alignment and the best interest to advocate not just for students but for funding because it impacts facilities and impacts jobs and impacts what the teachers and principals can do every day it is going to take a village to advocate it is going to take a village to advocate for us to get on sustainable fiscal ground and so I

074know why oftentimes we we we do get caught up in some of our differences and our nuances I do believe this is one of those times when we can all agree that this is in the best interest that we speak out on behalf of our district and on behalf of the funding that we need because we see what's happening I do have one question earlier in your superintendents report you had mentioned that hatch was getting a full roof rehab in 2021 and I just wanted to well there's two questions one is why 2021 if can the high is back online and in the building may potentially be empty and the second part of question is is that tied to the funding SDA was supposed to dedicate to those buildings that were serving as transition units

075and if so we need to call SDA out on giving money to a building Thank You mr. Martin Sara Jocelyn 1234 Ford Road in Cherry Hill I want to welcome the new board members I'm glad that you are willing to serve and I expect that you'll continue to ask good questions I wanted to be thankful here to see that HP Wilson students are going to visit canva I think it's great to have kids from a younger school going to see the older schools in the district and of course they're going there for a Black History Program so that is a very positive thing for them to do I see that also the students I believe from Davis are going to visit City Hall in the New Jersey State House to learn about government it stated

076local levels visiting with the mayor and so forth I encouraged them in those at that time to talk about the importance of census 2020 they're going in February 4th this is a very current topic it's an important topic for Camden and that certainly should be among the items that are talked about both at a local and a state level I did have some other comments cusack for instruction and program also includes the attendance and I would like to see the attendance accountability data we know that if you have chronic absenteeism that's a negative effect and so I think as we go through the year we should get some kind of update as we go along so we can understand where we are on that point of course graduation rate is another important factor that goes

077into that and we all want to see our students graduate I want to also talk about the update of the revised curriculum and remind people that you can give input the the posted curriculum is online if you look at the student learning standards I should I should correct that the student learning standards are online and that they already have four of them up there we will be reviewing as a state all of them but anybody parents board members and so forth I refute I refer you to the State Board of Education website to look at these draft student learning standards public comment will be from late February into early March so there is a time for giving public comment on these standards I do not know the status of the equity plan that Camden submitted

078I know that it was pending and you are waiting for feedback again I thank you for the report I appreciate all that is being done and I welcome the board met new board members thank you thank you mr. Roslyn Janelle McCray good evening I have a long list everyone who knows who I am the first thing I have an issue with is the number of vacancies that was addressed but one of the things that I'm noticing is we have a lot of teachers who are leaving the district and as one of the teachers who recently left the district asked me to ask you why is there no exit interview for those who are leaving the districts so that data can be compiled to identify exactly what the issue is and why these teachers are leaving

079the second thing that was brought up to my attention is with the lack of Perkins funding approved programs in the district how much money have we lost with Perkins due to poor scheduling and what steps are you guys implementing in order to prohibit any more depletion thirdly next month February is CTE month I've yet to see any publication of exploration for our students regarding that also with the upcoming presidential election where is the political education curriculum in our secondary scheduling one of the biggest issues that has come across me this season from a number of teachers is the school safety I remember back in October one of the parents who was here today also with the parent I do not see address the issues of safety and students inside of the school since then there

080have been a number of accounts teachers being attacked students being permanently injured and I just want to know how are we not fostering the preschool to Prison Pipeline due to the lack of disciplinary structure within a district students are not being properly disciplined and they then leave us and have this unrealistic conclusion for their actions next how can a teacher receive department chair position without credentials I just feel as though that is a poor placement decision especially when it deals with a very important segment of our population we've already discussed Cusick once again I would like to know where is the research development in the English curriculum where does the district stand with the implementation of the LGBTQ history curriculum that the state just approved also are there any plans to incorporate intensive health mental

081health training and a protocol for certified personnel to execute and last but not least with the new school board members what segments of es ése are you concentrating on to partner with the superintendent in order to make our school systems better thank you miss McCray Sean Brown oh good evening first I just want to say to miss Yolanda Nandi I can't see her hello I don't really know you but um this is my first meeting since you've been this my first beany that both of us have been so so congratulations I think I know everybody else but congratulations and I look for it having a weekly lunch with you like I do with all the other board members they'll tell you about it later it's just not sure I was just a joke second I

082also want to congratulate Anna Mae for being look at her face uh Vivian acting chief of staff I've gotten to know her in the last few years and I think that she's very she's brilliant she gives extremely good feedback and when she's in her zone amazing things happen I enjoy the limited work I get to do with superintendent Holmes team and I know how much pride you take and having a strong team with huge challenges and I would I know that position is so critical because it touches just so many things and I just wish her great great success and and then the last thing I want to spend the rest of my time on is uh to ask where she goes that's the one question maybe mr. McCray didn't ask and hers which I

083thought was very thorough detailed and important Madame superintendent and your report when you talk about Cusack and when a curriculum and instruction section my understanding is that through quick kindergarten to 12th grade in every subject area there should be an updated and approved curriculum for the content areas but beyond that my also understanding is that it should match not only the federal and state standards and the community needs of what should be taught but also match textbooks technology teacher training it all has to be aligned so I know we've had a conversation we've had conversations about summit learning for example I think that this as this district faces serious questions about its budget and look for it looks for opportunities what I what I did and I know it's just one month's report what I

084didn't see in this month's report and maybe I'm completely off on this and if so you'll tell me at some point is does the district have curriculum teams that are able to update the areas that have not been updated in the last five years so for example I know for a fact that social studies for high school was because I had talks with people in those teams and the social studies curriculum is stellar it could be it could be a national example in terms of how it includes African American history and the questions that it has and they're prompts that it has for teachers it's just really really strong but I know others other subject areas probably have an opportunity for growth in that process we should see again how it corresponds to the technology

085and other things that are used so either tonight or at some point I think it would just be good to have an update on that thank you I wish you all success the work is tough ahead and I will just figure out where we're gonna go - Thank You mr. Brown Jennifer Perez [Applause] good evening my name is Jennifer Perez I'm here today to speak about the emergency a funding and money to know you can provide an update from the last board meeting with the budget free with the budget being freeze how long would the finish last and what changes for the parents have to look forward to the upcoming school year thank you thank you mister class Aretha Torrington good evening my name is Aretha Turlington I'm a parent advocate leader for parents for

086grey Camden schools and I'm here also to talk about the arm the budget cut because my daughter goes to Camden High she's in 11th grade she's a teen mother and she had a program in her school from school base and I mean I'm sorry yeah school base and the program was took out of her school and it was a program that my daughter really needed as a teen mother because they did like counseling classes in their own with the program and I just wanted to know is that the reason the program was looking out because of the budget and when the budget comes back in will the program be put back into her school Thank You mr. Arlington a day Ingram [Music] [Applause] good afternoon board members hello my name is a day Ingram and

087I am a parent advocate leader working with parents for great camera schools back in December emergency aid was given some many other districts except Camden having a deficit taking place means that Camden schools are not being considered from for any money which will put a strain on many schools my main concern is that transportation will be taken away from the students and parents who depend on Commission bus transportation no transportation means poor attendance in schools poor attendance in schools will result in students not being able to go to the school of their choice my question to the school board is what is the plan for our children's education if the deficit isn't fixed when are we getting the money that we was promised and will the Commissioner update the families thank you thank you Miss

088Ingram Tanisha Parker [Applause] hello good evening board members my name is Tanisha Parker I'm a proud parent advocate I wanted to speak about the past deficit as things are looking we made a bigger hole from keeping that's open if we do not get emergency funding from the state has anyone thought about what happens next because I certainly have well we have to in turn maybe close additional schools or have to stop the preschool programs altogether honestly neither one is an option I am speaking as a mother of preschool age children we are halfway through the school year and I still have yet to hear about any solution well solutions of any kinds about this over thirty five million dollar deficit a freeze where the funds is not a solution to me there are still teachers

089that need to be hired we cannot just sit and wait until the last minute to have solutions we need answers now the time is now to figure this out our children depends on these schools and this money thank you Miss Parker that concludes the public comment portion of tonight's evening tonight's meeting I will now turn it over to the superintendent well I thank you Sam and thank you to everyone board members included as well as our parents and community members for all the questions that have been raised as always we will take the opportunity to address as many questions as possible here and if there are other questions that we have to go back and research we will do that and I'll be sure to get in touch with any individuals who need a follow-up

090or my team will get in touch with you in their areas of expertise and so with regard to with regard to there was many a few questions that came up around financial aid and the FAFSA night that we discussed I wanted to just address some of that with more input from the team the financial aid night will take place again on February 5th so if anyone was not here it's really important that you help us spread the word we will hold an additional financial aid night based on the completion of numbers after February 5th all juniors and seniors are required to attend so they have been given that a requirement robocalls have been sent out we've posted it on social media and just really been canvassing all over to get the interest up we are

091also visiting every high school and doing a full audit and holding staff accountable for raising the FAFSA completion rates so it is a definite collaborative effort there were a few many questions that came up with regard to staffing concerns whether it was whether it was on the line of vacancies or on the line of thinking about what what we can do for the future to diminish or to minimize vacancies and the impact of those vacancies so while we do have a spending freeze that is still in effect we are still actively working to recruit for science/math special education and bilingual positions these subject areas are hard to fill positions which we continue to find very difficult to fill across the district and this is not just the first year this is also something that's being

092echoed by County superintendents so other superintendents other of my colleagues in the in Camden County have been talking about this as well as across the state and so these positions are a I said that a need statewide but it doesn't mitigate the fact and or the need that we have vacancies in some of our classrooms that does not dismiss us from the obligation of making sure that we do everything possible to develop those recruitment and retention efforts and so this is an area that we are tirelessly working to solve across our classrooms the promotions and transfers and other content areas and administrative positions are happening simultaneously with our search for science teachers not in substitution of we continue to review and source our candidates source for candidates we appreciate your continued support and flexibility and

093your roles at brim as well as to the second vice president of CEA and to Tim missus varelli who spoke earlier to the question about off boarding we are preparing an exit interview process and we'll roll it out by the end of February and so when it just pause here too just to clarify a little bit the hiring freeze is is in place it was one action taken to see how we could lower the deficit internally within the depth within the district so looking at every single vacancy that we have and figuring out which vacancies we need to prioritize however even those these these areas that I cited like high vacancy areas in math science ped bilingual we will lift that we have lifted that freeze as needed even if there is another position that

094is outside of these areas I have directed my staff to let me know and we have constant communication about which positions are most critical that need to be filled even if they are not amongst the high needs areas and so we are still sourcing for candidates any vacancies that exist some of them are because these are persistently challenging areas and we don't have candidates who can fill the positions and so again we will continue to keep you updated we will continue to share with you the nuances that are occurring with regard to hiring freeze but I want you to know that we are look we are prioritizing those areas even the areas that are not in Heinie's areas as they have impact on our schools so we will continue to bring you updates in these

095areas with regard to brim miss Pirelli Luke you have been an advocate for brim and as we are I hope you're able to work with the school leader and the school Support Officer that's assigned to that building to continue to advocate for the needs of brim we are still we know and are very much aware of the science vacancy that exists there and we are doing everything possible able to try to fill that vacancy and and along with many others across the district and so we asked for you to continue to advocate we asked for you to continue to to if you have individuals who you know of who could be good for these positions to let us know our team has also our DTL our team is also conducting monthly hiring fairs at the

096central office where we are hiring people on the spot we are promoting our positions in different places and so we won't stop doing whatever it is that we need to do we won't we don't even complain about it because our students deserve that and that much more but I just want to be very honest with you about what we are doing what gap we know continues to exist with our vacancies and we are still advocating to make sure that we close as many of them as possible so the impact is minimized we will continue to bring more information in the area of staffing and vacancies to your attention with regard to middle ports thank you Miss Brown Bartlett for sharing I'm not sure if you're still here yes thank you for sharing your concerns around

097middle school athletics I just received an email thread last evening I believe or early this morning when I was checking with some information that is probably similar to what you're talking about so middle school athletics has certainly been a concern over the last couple of years thank you for your advocacy in this area the information made its way to my staff just this week and again as I said it made its way to me very recently and we are working now to determine next steps to ensure that middle school athletics is straightened out as soon as possible thank you for the feedback with regard to our high school athletic directors they have a lot that they are juggling and they've been very open with me about that they are doing everything that they can to

098support us but you're absolutely right when we had to cut back on positions as enrollment decreases we have to cut back on certain positions there are some positions that we cut back on and now we're seeing that we to figure out another way because our idea of having the high school athletic directors be able to help to develop a pipeline of great opportunities and athletics for our middle school students so we're cultivating that talent as they move up and they're ready for high school that was the impetus for us utilizing them but we're finding out every plan that you put into place it doesn't always work out the way you want and so now we have that information and that feedback and we are taking it back to figure out what we can do differently

099in this area while we're under tight financial constraints to also meet the needs of our students not only their academics but their athletic pursuits and that's a tall order to follow in the financial climate that we're in but we continue to move forward and we'll keep you updated as more information not just you when I say you I mean everyone updated as to the progress that we will make in middle school sports with regard to the new Camden high school there was there were was one mention of this the new Camden High School will be a traditional public high school and with regard to hatch the roof will receive temporary repairs now meaning as soon as the SDA can mobilize a contractor the roof ultimately needs to be fully replaced this is a very large

100project for which the sta needs at least one year to plan design and procure the necessary resources the district plans on keeping hatch in its building inventory so even though the building will be vacated that building will still be district property so it is still our district property and we have to decide what it is with the engagement that we're going to begin doing with the community to figure out what is the best usage of hatch moving forward once it's vacated so the district plans on keeping hatch in its building inventory and so the roof repair for the longer term will still be necessary with regards to advocacy for funding and emergency aid update thank you all for your advocacy we we appreciate your advocacy we appreciate your desire to want to advocate and so

101in my role because this is a state operated district of course I'm working in collaboration with the Department of Education because I report to the Commissioner of Education and so as we are working we appreciate the parallel process of advocacy and planning for Avice advocacy that is happening and so parent and community advocacy on behalf of our students is always a powerful tool it is also a fundamental right of each citizen I don't think there is much for me to state we already know it we're already aware of it but I just want to make sure no one feels that their advocacy rights are being pressed down upon it's just a parallel process I have to our team has to do what is necessary and working with the department but we also know that parents

102and community members have every right to advocate but as I've shared earlier and will continue to do so until we get a firm answer from the state the state does continue to work very closely with us they are working side by side to ensure that our request for aid is fully vetted remember that the district's deficit is not a new one nor is the financial distress we face a new situation the state in good conscious consciousness must use strict scrutiny and ensuring that a request for aid is not being done frivolously as our financial house we know is being put back in order we welcome this scrutiny because it also forces us to ensure that we are putting strategies in place that are not just appropriate for the short-term but also for the future long

103term sustainability in our fiscal house so there is room for all of it for hard work collaboration rolling up our sleeves and advocacy it's a both/and process and so we look forward to keeping you updated so you will know how to guide your advocacy efforts with regard to curriculum we have prioritized curriculum work and we'll have pacing guides and accommodations and modifications included in our curriculum by the beginning of next school year in grades 3 through 8 in regards to our CTE program we are working closely with the state to correct scheduling issues in terms of CTE also we have been auditing all programs our school support team has let has been at the forefront of auditing all of our program clusters and addressing issues with state accreditation we look forward to promoting our CTE

104programs next month as well and so with regard to CTE and we know that there have been several conversations over several years and there is much frustration with regard to the status of CTE in the district we know that we have to make sure that we are equipping our students with multiple options upon graduation so that whatever pathway they choose whether it's college career to eat all of that that they have been given the opportunities to be able to make those choices wisely we do know also that we are overhauling our CTE program new leadership has been put in place in our CTE program there are areas that we know that we need to work on with regard to our CTE programming and we are doing that also in collaboration with the state and so

105already we have had programs that we thought were in a certain place of approval to be fully approved and we're working on getting more of those approved so that by the end of this school year were able to to have more of those programs fully approved and accredited we are not working in a silo anymore with getting CTE back on track we are working along with the support from dr. Karen Campbell who is over our grants area and our contacts in the Department of Education not limited to miss Michelle dowdy in order to make sure that everything is in place and so this is an area that is definitely critical I want to make sure I have not missed there there have been many comments have come up though regarding the impact of emergency aid

106and whether or not we as a district team are really thinking about critically what would happen if we didn't get emergency aid we've been having that conversation since the spring we laid out fully for the state and fully for the county that if we don't get emergency aid a B C and D are going to happen number one our student achievement the gains that we have made the steady incremental gains we would backslide we would move back in that area because we would not be able to have the intervention and supports and the staffing models in place to drive instruction we have been very vocal very open and very transparent with everyone from the Commissioner on down to what that would mean number two it would mean that we were attributing to an inequitable system

107of education in the city of Camden New Jersey meaning that we would be leaving one school type behind without the funding that is necessary I have said over and over and over again every parent has the right to choose whatever school type they desire to have their child to attend but there must be equity and so we must continue to push for equity and we have shared how we would be creating a caste system of Education in this city if our if our district is not able to prop itself up with the soup to be propped up by our own efforts and with the efforts of the state because we are a state operated district and there's a responsibility that the state has to us we are the only state operated district that is fully

108still in state intervention and so again yes if you want to know if we've been advocating absolutely if you want to know if we're frustrated absolutely if you want to know that we still have to go in and continue to to collaborate and continue to provide every single document and piece of information that's being requested of us financially absolutely we will continue to do that and of us as I said before and forgive me for being repetitive but I want to make sure this is clear that does not cancel out anyone elses need for advocacy or desire for outright to advocate on behalf of our students I just have to do what we need to do and you have to do what you need to do this is a prop this is a collective effort

109it's not a pointer finger thing because that's not going to get us a that's not going to get us what we need for right now and so again I just wanted to make sure that's clear because I want you as parents to know that we are not just sitting back and waiting we are working and we are doing what we can and and so again I think mr. Morten shared I'll be preparing before the State Board of Education that's been moved to March now and that information will be shared out so that you will know when I will be able to make it when I will be making a report to the State Board of Education and March on our progress it's an annual report so that you can also come in and make your

110requests known to the State Board of Education mr. McCray if you're still here you ask the laundry list of questions are you still here mr. McCray she left okay ask the laundry list of questions I mean our team will get those questions answered and hopefully we can get a contact information for her so we can provide not only for her because I know other people are interested in the responses but at this time I would rather be accurate then try to just to go through a list and give a pat answer for each area I want to thank you all for your attention and at this time I will turn the meeting I will open up for a mime board members for any comments that you may have so I'll turn it over to our

111board president to facilitate that portion any comments regarding the public portion or anything else any board members have any questions or responses miss Atwood yes I just want to tell the parents that were all in this together and you certainly are free to write the Commissioner of Education the Department of Education and express your concerns as we have drafted a letter that we're going to send out soon as well thank you miss Atwood thank you anyone else at this time I'll turn it back over to did he respond thank you madam president and we thank you in the whole community for your advocacy for state funding so that we can continue to educate our children but however since my name was publicly called out and I usually don't respond and I will always respond with

112class style and dignity because not only do I represent this this uh August body up here and the board I also represent the community and also as a parent and have children watching but I just want to first say I was educated in the traditional Camden Public Schools at Camden High School I wouldn't say privileged to be educated and a private school as an executive of a private school but I was educated in the Camden traditional Camden City Public Schools Parkside elementary school Hach middle school and then Camden High School and I think the product that the traditional public schools at that time put out was a excellent product that allowed me to take my talent and skills but my academic talent I can talk about now onto University of New Mexico where I graduated

113a proud graduate in four years after playing major college basketball with that robust schedule it's still graduating in four years however this gives me an opportunity to you know as our parents and students are watching and we as adults are modeling behavior because education as I always say always just don't is just not in the classroom it's the responsibility as we as community members neighbors and parents that the process of education goes on 24/7 so since certain things were done in the public that is just not a great idea to name-call I think we learned that in elementary school to call because I don't want to allow anyone to allow me to model a bad behavior of attacking individuals I think we do better as a community when we go back and forth with ideas

114and principles rather than individuals that we don't make it as personal because when you attack persons and just just as me this is just standard I stand on that I would never attack persons that I attack principles and ideas in people's behaviors because we can leave the names out because attacking individuals is showing younger people the students that's watching some of the students reps that made still be here whereas they turning on channel 19 they can see better behavior modelled from adults and that part of Education and how we had public discourse that we can disagree with one another based on ideas and not individuals but I would never allow anyone anybody in the community to allow me to break my principles of that I live by that I don't go after the individuals that

115I will attack principles and ideas but not people and I think that is what we would call the American Way or the unamerican way but I don't think this is not a good idea and I just wanted to respond to that but I will not respond to the person because I don't attack persons i attack ideas and principles thank you Thank You Minister Waseem I would just like to take this opportunity to say that this isn't new what we're going through right now in 2005 2007 this process started it began but we had to start thinking about vouchers that was the first thing that came up against us that was coming up against our budget we worked together as a team then we're going to continue to work together as a team now as a

116parent as a president of the district Parent Advisory Council we marched not only in Washington we also marched in Trenton we went to the Statehouse we went to the courthouse and we stood and we advocated on behalf of our children within this school district because they are worth it we are not going to lay down on it now this isn't the first time as I said it's not just the board the unions we all have been in this situation and had to work together to make it happen we're not going to turn our back first of all we have a state appointed superintendent who was going through hell to make sure that everything that she needs to get done that made it possible for the state to work along with us to give us the

117funding now if we give her the opportunity first of all to make that happen remember she stayed appointed by the commissioner he's working with her this didn't happen overnight it's not going to go away overnight there are things that have been showing up in the audits for years that have been brought forth and it didn't just start so they have to make sure that those things are intact before we can even get through Cusack and that's the main thing that you have to understand we are a public school district but the funding that we have within this district now this isn't just for public schools as it was in the past we are now talking about charter schools we're talking about Renaissance schools we're talking about transportation to get our students to those schools the

118parents have made choices for their children we understand how feels because we have students who are still walking 2.5 miles to get to a public school so we are all in this together so I don't think that we should take the opportunity to start pointing fingers or turning on one another what we need to do is to come together collaborate when and where we can and do the best thing on behalf of our children our parents and this community because education is what is going to help to get our children out of these schools psychologists or in technical schools whatever it is that they decide that they want to do that is going to be the way to be able to provide not only for themselves their families and their children so we have to

119remember we're not just starting something very new history will repeat itself but what we're trying to do this time is to make sure that when we put it in place it's done properly according to 18 a and 6a which is the governance that we have to go by to make sure that we put things in place for our children and our students so thank you all thank you mrs. Wilson if there are no other questions or comments from board members at this time I'll turn it over to our business administrator to present the business office agenda items I would like to present the January business office agenda items for approval they include the build list and the resolution are there any comments from our board members yes I have have a few questions on the

120bill list items number number nine 23 and 24 I do appreciate that we have staff going out to conferences to further educate themselves my question and ask is that is the board going to be receiving a recap as to what we're learning at these conferences and what are we bringing back to our district to empower our children can I continue asking questions I'm sorry I'm new at this but I have a few number nine 23 and 24 that's I was on conferences my next question on bill lists is number 25 I wanted to ask the parental rights and special education and administrative code is that booklet also going to be purchased in Spanish I just wanted to know if that's going to be going out in Spanish and available in Spanish for that community we

121we currently do have the copies that we have we do have it in English and in Spanish and what's happening is is because we've been hosting the meetings for the DPAC the bilingual and the special needs they're now ordering new books more books to come into the districts so that the parents will be able to receive well have some final question oh good last and final question is on resolution number 139 which is being amended I wanted to know what triggered the change of $25,000 from the first proposed resolution I was not here for that first resolution but I just wanted to know what changes happened and why did we increase $25,000 so I like that I'll let Aneesa handle that one and I'll answer I'll jump back and answer one question you had about

122professional development it is the expectation that when staff members go out to receive training that they will come back and they will turn key that information if they are our teachers they have to fill out a form to get approval in advance and share how they're going to bring the information back in turn key it if they're an administrative position then the expectation is definitely they're going to come back and turn key it if you would like to be apprised of any of that training as a board member just let us know and we can provide the updates no problem the resolution that you reference I believe is number 25 is in reference to our nursing services so we're required by law at the student has an IEP to provide them with nursing services sometimes

123those services are for one-on-one nurses or for aides and at the beginning of the year when we develop our budgets an estimate we're not we don't know for sure the number of students that may require these service so what's happened in this case is that additional funds were required we submitted a resolution to address those additional funds and have them approved by the book by the board just to clarify you're talking on resolution 139 correct not on number 25 correct yes so again the answer was the that there was additional expenses that we were not forecasting is that is that correct that's correct any other questions any other questions on any of those items or okay and so if there are no further questions in accordance with the powers vested in the state district superintendent

124under Title 18 a I hereby approved today's superintendent's agenda items and business office agenda items