001Mr Brown Brown is notified abs [Music] Mr Thompson 12 sing a public meeting whereas the Board of Education disc yes [Music] sh [Music] sh [Music] a [Music] n [Music] e [Music] he [Music] down [Music] e [Music] n [Music] n [Music] a [Music] n [Music] [Applause] n [Music] d [Music] a [Music] a [Music] n [Music] a [Music] n [Music] la [Music] sh [Music] okay [Music] n [Music] h [Music] e [Music] he [Music] h [Music] he [Music] oh [Music] sh [Music] m [Music] a [Music] n [Music] n [Music] n [Applause] [Music] a [Music] n [Music] a [Music] n [Music] n [Music] n [Music] sh [Music] sh e [Music] a [Music] St every [Music] thanks Miss gford um we will any questions or comments from the board seeing n Mr vat's roll call please all right roll call
002to amend the agenda M Rich MTZ yes Mr demarcy yes Miss Fox yes Mrs null yes Mr Thompson yes Mr peelman yes Mr boach yes Mr conon yes a motion carries thank you Mr Yates for the reading of the mission statement I'll hand it over to Mr peelman the mission of eam Township School District is to promote excellence and an environment that engages students in meaningful learning experiences in partnership with students dedicated staff families and Community the district provides a strong Educational Foundation that will Empower our students to achieve their unique potential Embrace self-directed lifelong learning develop the skills necessary for appropriate risk taking and responsible decision- making respect themselves and others problem solved individually and collaboratively become contributing members of a diverse Global Society thank you Mr peelman I will now hand the floor
003over to Dr Smith for our presentations all right so we've got some wonderful students to recognize tonight and we're going to start with the South Jersey Champion MMS wrestling team and I know their coaches are here or I hope which is uh John delvey if he's here come on up and Matt kulo good to see you good see you man you guys want to read the names that's is that me all right good luck to me all right any of the ones wen't here just I'll give them tomorrow just if the uh if the athletes can stay up here after you get your certificate because we want to do a picture at the end of everybody okay if I can have Eli blin Solomon blue Stein Connor Brown Trevor Brewer come on up Trevor Anthony
004Butch there you go Trevor great job Luke Cheeseman Trevor Trevor Luke oron Michael too Austin Cox Brian Ford Jackson DeMarco Leonard Fusco Hayden Groves I'll wait Kier hammock Micah honia Joseph imperiali Jr Bladen lsho Drew lelot Asher Miller should be Noah next Noah Miller I was hoping you was here Chris na Leo na congratulations Ryan Schultz Haled [Applause] teakle Jack Thompson Logan TIY Harper Booth sorry Alexis Lions Olivia mcne did I thought yeah I can deliver those on behalf of myself and Coach K we just want to thank our team this year no team that we've had has ever worked this hard or wanted it this much they are a true example of what we do here in the township and I and Coach could not be any prouder of each and every one of
005them in the middle and we'll get a picture here it's all right we're going to move from Athletics into the Arts we've got um a number of very fine musicians to recognize from both middle schools for various achievements they've they've they've accomplished so we're going to start with deacy students if uh Miss Goldman is here and wants to come on up uh don't know um but these students or Miss green if she's here um these students earned placement in the Olympic honors band so we're going to call them and have them come on up first Luna Alesandra Cabrera uh yeah it'd be great actually and if the students also could stay up in front here so we can get picks at the end next Leah frella Samuel [Applause] Hassan yep I'm just and now this
006next group um successfully earned placement in the all Burlington County Middle School honors band Jackson Hunter Preston Lightfoot and Jason zidas and the next these next students earned placement in the all the all Burlington County Middle School honors band and the South Jersey honors band so this is vihan Carr and Casey Liza now we're moving on to the Mustangs all right we've got these students successfully earned placement in the South Jersey honors band Karen guo and if teacher Mark White is here in the audience and could come up and join us that'd be great too um we also have have Anthony Hughes Carly Ridley Dylan Cina and elain eert and something tells me if a student wasn't here to pick it up it's because they're playing somewhere out there I think there's something going on
007at senica tonight they could be there um let's get a picture of these wonderful students all together parents if you want to come on up congratulations again to all our musicians great job yeah um so uh for the families who are here for the for the presentation and student awards you're welcome to stay we've got a big night ahead of us but also if you have somewhere else to go you're welcome no no harm no foul you're welcome to to leave we're going to take a few minute break while we get ready for the budget presentation thanks everybody [Music] sh [Music] sh [Music] slides any time we post all of our budget presentations on the homepage if you go to the tab that says departments and you go down to budget and finance you can
008find them going back uh some years there so like the J the one from January 30th is on there and we'll put this one up there too so uh budget goals as always striving to maintain the effectiveness of Educational Services while costing less money that's just the reality of where we are as we all know quick overview of our context we've been through this before state aid lost since the onset of S2 over $7 million and a budget that is the fourth leanest in terms of budgetary cost per pupil of the 76 k8s in the state a budget that is $16 million short of being average for our size for our enrollment updates since a month ago so first positive uh state aid released today didn't know if you saw but um we're getting an
009extra an additional $400,000 so which we're glad for of course um wish there was an extra zero on there but okay 400 is more than we thought we were going to get um we are discussing the best path through this additional money we just found out today right number two no additional reductions anticipated Beyond those shared on January 30th if you recall on January 30th there was um at near know the end of the presentation I talked about a 1 Point $6 million gap that was remaining which we were looking to remedy through a variety of steps but we weren't sure if we could get there um we anticipate being able to do that through breakage through savings per position these positional savings is are they estimates right but as we look at who those
010specific staff are which is um very complex work but we're seeing um some additional saving there eliminating late buses still being calculated but will get us help get us towards that 1.6 and then additional revenue from leasing Middle School space which will be freed up through the steps discussed last time um number three our district is planning to is planning to take um for those who may not be aware there is something called enrollment adjustment which the state permits districts in certain circumstances to go above the 2% cap when there is there's been an enrollment increase so for us um that is the very nice sum of $2,336 th000 3 $320 okay above the 2% cap our plan as a board is to do just that to take all of that money the tax levy
011impact is up there which shows if you don't take the enrollment adjustment on the average assess home and E sham we're looking at a $60 tax incre over 58 increased for a difference of about $122 for the average assessed home or another way to think about it is about $10 a month time now at Bears mentioning and emphasizing we are discussing what to do with that money that has not been determined and that is a complex conversation it does not mean certain things get restored it may not mean much of anything gets restored that's what we're talking out okay but I don't certainly wouldn't want there to be um an automatic assumption that taking that additional Roan adjustment translates into $2.3 million in restored positional Cuts our district has drained down many of what would
012be fiscally prudent accounts to survive to this point which essentially is like the eth year of S2 for us and uh those those are also part of this conversation as we look at what to do restoring the fiscal health of our district for the long term as we know that from a budgetary standpoint we're probably facing Cuts every year for the foreseeable future and then lastly um just as an update for anyone who was wondering uh we did a CL cost analysis so far of the preschool expansion resulting in a year-to-date estimated Surplus to the general fund of $618,000 that's so far that's not a um finalized number because the year is still ongoing but it does show a positive net budget impact from the preschool expansion um and that is again reminding everyone that
013we were awarded $3.2 million for year one of preschool expansion which was the largest Grant largest Aid amount given to any of the districts who were approved this fall Statewide that Surplus Here We Stand we're working on the 25 26 budget the year is not over so we don't know you know what that number will finally end up as so it's not going to help us for this year's budget but it certainly can help us for future budgets and our district as I said a second ago anticipates yearly budget shortfalls for the indefinite future and I'm going to pass the mic over to Mr Yates all right thank you Dr Smith good evening everybody so here we are at our February meeting but I thought I wanted to start by just recapping some of the
014things that we discussed at our January meeting so uh e sham is an S2 District what that means for us is the school funding Reform Act uh they they changed the law or changed the funding formula in 2018 and that's referred to or commonly referred to as S2 we're an S2 District that meant that we were scheduled to uh our state funding was scheduled to be reduced by over 51% over a seven-year schedule so we're now entering year eight of that we're currently in year seven we're entering year eight of S2 funds what that means for us is that our total State funding annually was reduced by up to A7 million but what it really means for us is our the cumulative effect for uh e sham has been over $38 million in cumulative reductions
015this has uh caused an ongoing Financial strain for our district and we will continue to face an ongoing Financial strain as a result of S2 we also talked in January that our expenses continue to outpace our ability to generate revenues so we can only generate revenues so much our expenses continually outpace those putting us in an annual structural budgetary deficit which means budgetary reductions so we have a need for cost cutting measures all right so tonight I wanted to talk about revenues with everyone and just T kind of touch base on each of the revenue categories that we can generate as a district our largest revenue source is tax levy so this is going to be the revenues that we collect from the taxpayers of the residents of eam uh we don't uh tax residents
016directly we send our bill to the township the township then passes that bill on to the residents here in eam our second largest source of Revenue comes from State AIDS I put State AIDS here because we receive multiple sources of state aid our largest source is the one we had just talked about which is the school funding Reform Act monies but we also receive what is called semi or the special education Medicaid initiative this is going to provide us funds for services that are provided for children uh with special needs extra services so think of things like occupational therapy physical therapy Counseling Services those type of things are funded through semi partially and we also re receive extraordinary Aid or what we call X Aid and that's additional funding provided by the state for special
017costs not typically covered by regular school funding and this might be for transportation costs or the tuition associated with students who might be placed at a district that might that's an example of X Aid it's important to note that these are not dollar Ford dooll reimbursements for us these are significantly reduced based on our costs we have to submit to the state costs and then we uh collect that money in return we also have used fund balance in this District traditionally to uh offset some cost in future budget years fund balance would be like a district savings account so this is the amount of money that we're allowed to keep from each budget year if we had some excess we cannot keep more than 2% in fund balance anything north of 2% is what is
018considered excess Surplus and we have to to use that to offset future year expenditures but all of that together we call fund balance we also can uh if we don't deposit into if we don't use EXs Surplus and we're above our 2% we can also make deposits into our Reserve accounts these are like additional savings accounts but with limited purposes to the two that e sham keeps is capital reserve and maintenance reserves so think of capital reserve as for major repairs and renovations new construction anything that's going to have significant dollars to it we can deposit in the capital reserve we can withdraw from capital reserve to help offset those costs in a future budget but keep in mind if we just like your savings account if we aren't able to put that money back
019then eventually that money there won't be any left maintenance Reserve is going to be used for required maintenance of school facilities so think of minor repairs and upkeep of our uh facility and our infrastructure and then finally if their maintenance or miscellaneous revenues is going to be anything else that we collect as a school district that doesn't fall into one of those buckets that we had just talked about so for us miscellaneous revenues would be the lease we receive for the Evans facility so the Yale rent the Sequoia rent we get money for cell towers that we have on some of our properties uh facility usage fees Chromebook insurance and interest from our bank account all gets or all would fall under this category what is called maintenance or uh miscellaneous Revenue excuse me so
020let's take a look at each one so let's talk tax levy first a couple things to talk about with tax levy that is really important tax levy it has a 2% cap on that what that means is the the tax levy that we're levying today we can only increase by up to 2% for the subsequent Year's budget so it's Capp at 2% there are some exceptions to that cap like health insurance costs enrollment adjustments and Bank cap so if we in any particular year experience and and increase in our health insurance costs above normal we might receive a health insurance cost adjustment from the state to go above our 2% Levy Authority similarly for enrollment adjustments if we see a particularly large influx of students in any given year we might qualify for what's called
021an enrollment adjustment we do have that this year and we'll talk about that tonight and then banked cap we can go to 2% banked cap is generated when we don't go to 2% so if this board were to choose not to go to 2% and they only went to 1% the 1% they left on the table would be generated as banked cap it's not money that we levied from the taxpayers but it would be money that we have available to generate in any of the next subsequent three budget years if you don't use it after 3 years it expires down below you'll just see I want to show the our tax levy as it was in 2324 what it is in the current budget year 2425 and then 2526 it's important to note the prior
022year's tax levy becomes the base for the new year applied with 2% so in 23 24 we had just over 68 million with 2% added to it and last year's special um uh we were we were given additional authority to go above 2% we were able to generate 70 almost 71 million taking 7, 89283 and just applying it at 2% will arrive at 72 m309 925 that's just at 2% all right so bear with me on this slide there's a lot going on here but the question came up on what about the additional Authority and special question that this District received and where's that money well it's here it's in the levy so if we go back to 2324 the board at that time approved the tax l of $66 m141 $141,700 190,000 that 2,
02390,000 gets added to our Levy in that year increasing our base to 68 million $231,700 so that 68 million at 2% when we were building our budget last year becomes 69 m595 692 last year per Public Law 2024 chapter 13 we were given additional authority to go above 2% this board the board at that time excuse me chose to take an additional authority of almost 1.3 million that brought our total base that year to 7,892 2083 next year at 2% we'd be at 72 mil 356 651 so we're in the 2526 right now just the base with the enrollment adjustment it will bring our total tax levy our total authority to 74 m692 n71 it's the number in Gray at the far right all the way at the top so if we use our enrollment
024adjustment that's what our Levy will be that's what the levy will be that we collect for 2526 which will also become the base that is used for applying 2% increase on top let's talk about our school funding Reform Act State funds and I showed going back to 23 24 what it was then we received in that year 6,773 th000 last year we received um an1 18,000 reduction bringing us to $ 6,754 617 this year we received some good news and our state funding has increased by $45,000 this is largely due to again they kind of tweaked the funding they didn't revamp it like they did with S2 but they're now funding special education costs higher than they were in years past we have a significant population of children with IEP so that affected our funding
025and then also our enrollment numbers impacted our funding so that in my opinion and this can change but give or take I would expect in any given year moving forward unless S2 changes again and they rework the formula that each year will receive about 7,1 160,000 so other revenues Year bye comparison so what I did here was I put our miscellaneous revenues our budgeted fund balance and our withdrawal for maintenance Reserve all on one slide the blue column represents budget year 23 24 red column is going to represent 2425 so the Year we're in and the yellow columns will represent what we estimate for the 2526 budget what we're using to estimate our revenues for next year you can see just looking at each of the revenue buckets that it's going down from 2425 to
0262526 in particular just to highlight a couple things on this slide miscellaneous local revenues in 23 24 was 3, 46822 excuse me this was largely because in that year we were collecting full dayk to tuition the very next year we no longer had full dayk tuition because that money is now in our tax levy and so it was decreased in 2425 the 2, 67,000 that number is decreasing from uh to 2526 because we no longer collect tuition from our uh preschool students we now have paa funding so we no longer collect tuition money from them so that's no longer in our miscellaneous Revenue by the way PA funding is a specialis Revenue funding it is accounted for separately from your general funding it does not help us close our budgetary Gap budgeted fund balance we
027talked about this how we use this district has used excess Surplus in years past to balance its budget per the audit from 24 or 2023 23 24 excuse me we do not have any excess Surplus next year to balance next year's budget so our budgeted fund balance anticipated $400,000 down from 4 and a half Million last year it's a significant Fiscal Cliff For Us in the upcoming budget and same thing for withdraw of Maintenance Reserve this budget the current year budget was balanced with $860,000 and we are not balancing we're not using $860,000 next year also representing a fiscal cliff all right so this is probably a little difficult to see um from down there I didn't anticipate that when we were developing this slide but uh we can certainly work work on that if
028we add up all of our revenues we take them all and we we compile them all together we will arrive at the number in the left column the 85 m5859 198 this is what we have available to spend next year we cannot spend more than $85 A5 million next year let's call it $86 million next year so when we're when we're developing a budget we can most accurately or most accurately predict our Revenue we know what our tax Lev is going to be today we got our state funding numbers we know what our state funding is going to be we can we are very close on our miscellaneous revenues number because we know what our rent is going to be we know what our sale sell Tower revenue is going to be we know with
029a good guess what our interest income is going to be on any given year so we're pretty confident that we're not going to receive much more than 80 85.5 million next year conversely when we're building a budget we look at expenditure separately we take expenditures and we say what do we need to spend what do we have today if revenues didn't exist right if we didn't have to worry about how we pay for these things and we just needed to have these things what would it cost us next year to have them with an increase and when we're doing that we do that by Consulting with our vendors and getting actual quotes and if it's not something we can get a quote on we run an analysis for it that analysis is going to take
030in historical rate increases and apply weighted uh percent to it based on recent Trends and we'll arrive at a number on our expenditures so that's what we're obligated to spend that's what we have to spend next year when your re expenditures are greater than your revenues you have a budgetary deficit we cannot spend $90 million when we only have $86 million so when we this board has a legal obligation to balance a budget with no exceptions and expenditures must equal your revenues not the opposite way around expenditures must equal our revenues so at some point we have to take the column in the right and we have to squeeze it down to fit into the column on the left that's where we're at today just for reference last year's total budget was 88 m69 388
031it's the number at the top in the gray so this board's job right now is going to be looking at this we're taking a deep dive into each of these categories we're going to determine where we need to cut from and the column on the left the tax levy does include the enrollment adjustment so this is including the additional State funding we weren't anticipating in January and this is also including the enrollment adjustment of 2.3 million we still have a $4.5 million gap that we need to account for thank you thank you Mr Yates so uh nearing the end of the presentation just going to kind of summarize the cuts and the steps that were shared last presentation about a month ago and we estimate total 4.3 million from these steps there are eight the
032first is outsourcing transportation department 800,000 estimated and would like to put as a uh an umbrella over all of these steps they underline the somber and solemn reality of tonight these are momentous steps no one wakes up looking to you know how can we create change and Outsource and reduce this is we're forced here fiscally and trying to come up with the least horrible path forward second was reduced Transportation burden 100,000 we try to do that every year that that means increasing walking essentially um Middle School sixth class instead of Team time 900,000 so if you have six teachers teaching five classes each mathematically five teachers teaching six classes each equals 30 sections Middle School class size increases those go hand in hand we haven't really been able to increase class size in Middle School
033the way we have in elementary we've increased Elementary class size each year throughout S2 Middle School class size has stayed pretty much locked in because of the house system only by getting outside the house system through the team time replaced with a six class can you increase Middle School class size Elementary class size increases step number five step number six a step we were looking at and talked a lot about about four and a half years ago four years ago basing out pair professional health benefits 750,000 eliminating Elementary extracurriculars 150,000 we are exploring a way to make them cost neutral to try to preserve extracurriculars and we'll be able to share more about that in the time ahead and then lastly step eight is use up the shift dividend which we used some of last
034year um and then that will deplete that dividend entirely the asterisk are for other steps that were that were that are in the consideration and we're looking into render take those those steps there 1 three four and five render them as um positions this type of chart we've used this every year in our budget presentations to kind of translate those steps into that looks like from a position count um and uh that would be 10 core content teaching positions um for the sixth class in place a team time 10 core content teaching positions in middle for the Middle School class size increases eight Elementary General Ed teaching positions for 28 total we have nine retirements as of in that in that Realm as of today it's those Asters are because what the situation any district
035has is um we have staff who have multiple certifications so a retirement in one area could mean a a position saved in multiple other areas and that has to be worked out based on factors like seniority which we're looking at in the non-certificated area transportation department 55 positions for a total of 83 positions in 3.2 million that's from these steps here those 1 three four and five another slide we looked at last time just to recap is uh additional projected staff reductions so you know we went through these last time uh updated the rightand column which shows retirements and vacancies as of today we always hope that that number increases only in the sense that it means as we eliminate a position a person's not losing their job um and uh so I won't go
036you know we went through those before but um all very very difficult all these steps are incredibly difficult um ideas steps please share anything that can't be used in this year's budget we carry over because this is a a never ending cycle of having to find reductions and efficiencies in order to balance our budget every year um which we foresee as our reality um which was is a difficult reality to to to look in the face but it is our reality as we move forward questions from the board okay no questions or comments from the board good thank you Dr smithk appr we will now move into item 6.1 approval of the minutes we need a motion to approve item 6.1 and 6.2 do we have a motion motion by Mr Thompson seconded [Music] by
037Miss Fox any questions or comments from the board seeing none Mr y roll call please roll call and the approval of minutes Miss buer moitz yes Mr deari yes Miss Fox yes Mrs null yes Mr Thompson yes Mr peelman yes Mr boach yes Mr conon yes that motion carries thank you Mr Yates we need a motion to approve items 7.1 through 7.7 under superintendent report and administrative items do we have a motion motion by Miss Fox seconded by Mr Thompson before we head to a vote I'll hand the floor over to Dr Smith thank you Mr canthon I'm going to keep the comments short tonight just because we've had uh some presentation and I know we have comments ahead um would like to recognize the importance of this month as Black History Month in etsd
038and Nationwide and to that end I'd like to highlight the contributions and Leadership of our board member jiren Brown who is actually on active duty right now as a member of the US Air National Guard that's why he can't be here tonight um also a huge and heartfelt thank you to the isim Education Foundation since our last board meeting they held their biggest fun Riser of the year which is the double down on eim education it's truly a village effort our district appreciates the work of that fantastic organization every day if you didn't see it there was an article on 70 and 73.com that came out yesterday about the EF I'd encourage everyone to check it out it's a great way to get involved the next big EF event is going to be on Monday
039June 2nd which is the Larry Cole Memorial Golf Classic lastly I'd like to thank all our staff for their dedication as we get through the heart of Winter the days start getting a little longer but this is a long stretch and um what you do day in and day out makes such a difference for kids and I say that acknowledging that that work and that dedication goes on even as here we sit here we talk dealing with the stress and uncertainty of yet another very difficult budget year so thank you all thank you Mr canthon thank you Dr Smith any questions or comments from the board seeing none Mr Yates roll call please roll call and administrative items Miss P MTZ yes Mr Demari yes Miss Fox yes Mrs null yes Mr Thompson yes Mr
040peelman yes Mr Bach yes Mr con yes the motion carries thank you Mr Yates moving to item eight under curriculum and instruction we need a motion to approve items 8.1 through 8.5 do we have a motion motion by Mr peelman seconded by Mr Thompson any questions or comments from the board seeing none Mr Yates roll call please roll call on curriculum and instruction Miss buter MZ yes Mr Demar yes M fox yes Mrs null yes Mr Thompson yes Mr peelman yes Mr Bach yes Mr Conan yes the motion carries thank you Miss eight moving to item nine finance and operations we need a motion to approve items 9.1 through 9.14 do we have a motion motion by Miss Fox seconded by Mr demarcy any questions or comments from the board wanted to take a moment
041to acknowledge the donation that's on the agenda tonight um Taho tur farms and Mr David Bach in particular he is a Marlton dad his children go here attend MMS um and uh he is donating their services to repair our softball and baseball fields um in particular they're donating all their services to repair our softball field here at no cost they're donating their services to repair the baseball field here and the field at deacy at cost so just want to say give a big shout out to Mr David uh and uh thank you thanks Mr Yates any other questions or comments from the board seeing n Mr Yates roll call please roll call on finance and operations Miss bura moetz yes Mr dearcy yes Miss Fox yes Mrs null yes Mr Thompson yes Mr peelman yes
042Mr Bach yes Mr conon yes that motion carries thank you Mr Yates moving to item 10 Personnel we need a motion to approve items 10.1 through 10.10 do we have a motion motion by Miss Fox seconded by miss buter mowitz any questions or comments from the board seeing n Mr Yates roll call please on Personnel M bu MTZ yes Mr deari yes m Fox yes Mrs NL yes Mr Thompson yes Mr peelman yes Mr boach yes Mr conon yes that motion carries thank you Mr Yates moving to item 11 policy we do have policy this month we need a motion to approve items 11.1 through 11.3 do we have a motion motion by Mr dearcy seconded by Mrs null any questions or comments from the board seeing none Mr Yates roll call please roll call
043in policy Miss buer moitz yes Mr demarcy yes Miss Fox yes Mrs null yes Mr Thompson yes Mr peelman yes Mr boach yes Mr Conan yes the motion carries thank you moving to item 12 committee reports are there any committee chairs who would like to share a report Mr peelman so we had uh an a meeting for the community engagement committee uh we met on February 12th and we mostly talked about paa funding there had been a lot of comments that we had received regarding paa funding so we tried to better understand it and understand how the district had been able to use the funding thus far and in what ways it was benefiting us um in past just paying for the preschool program and how they've been able to apply it Dr Smith and
044Mr yat showed that we have the $600,000 Surplus that we're expecting in the future from this year from the Pea funding um from there uh the we were also invited to a parents United Community meeting uh several board members went to that we had great conversation and were able to hear from number of stakeholders in the community um and we were really appreciative of the opportunity to come and listen to everyone and that's all thank you Mr pman any other committee chairs like to share a report seeing none we will move to Old business of which we have none new business again we have none now we will go to open public comment this meeting will now be open to the public referencing both agenda items and any items of Interest however if your questions
045or comments pertain to litigation student or Personnel items or negotiations we would ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since we do not discuss these matters in public please limit your comments to 3 minutes per person and state your name and address at the beginning of your comments okay everyone as I stated I'm just going to run through the ground rules uh it's been a while since we've had a meeting um that has had this many people here and I don't know how many people have never been to a meeting before so um as Mr Pon stated everyone is limited to 3 minutes her comment there is a timer up on the screen I will start that timer after you introduce yourself and tell us where you're from um and then you can
046proceed to your comment when the timer goes off please finish your sentence uh and be seated I am not trying to be mean or um you know upset anyone but I have to keep everyone to the same rules uh or else there could be an issue so and also there is no yielding your time to anyone else and please try to keep the out the comments the loud comments um to a minimum um when you are speaking please address the board you should actually be addressing your comments to the board president please do not turn and face the audience you're not here to address the audience you're here to address the board um this is public comment not a Q&A so while you can absolutely pose question questions to the board um please do not
047think that people are being rude when they do not respond to those comments um it's just not a Q&A session so if you know at the end somebody is able to uh answer certain questions um you know they will do that possibly um or maybe it's a situation where somebody will reach out to you regarding that specific question at a later time um so again please just be respectful of everyone here as I stated previously um while everyone gets their 3 minutes everyone is anticipated you will only go once um and the latest that we will be keeping public I mean we may not need this but the latest that we will be keeping public comment open it's till 10:45 because we do need to close public comment and wrap up the meeting by 11
048o' so um all right I think that is everything so go ahead and you do have the right to vote to extend it as it's been done many times in the past those that are new I just want to make sure they know that that's a rule they do know that and that has they have been advised of that but we do not anticipate that being the case tonight okay so you starting my time up is it up there so um it's perfect it's up there but I'm goingon to start it after everyone once you say your name and address that's when I'll start it great all right good evening my name is Tracy Brown I'm one of the vice presidents for the E Township Education Association and also a teacher here at MMS it's
049difficult to believe for all of us that we're here to talk about budget cuts yet again uh somehow we went from 7 million to 4.3 million but the cuts are all the same so that's an adjustment to what I was going to say that's a little bit confusing um one of the proposed Cuts will privatize our transportation department we brought our transportation inhouse we built an entire Transportation Center to save money for our district but now we're told it costs too much privat privatization means we will lose most of our drivers some of these drivers live in town they pay eam taxes and have a vested interest in the well-being of our students many of these drivers have worked in our school district for over 20 years and our etsd staff has taught some of
050their children and their grandchildren including board members these are our children these are our people due to your Cuts they are now losing jobs and health benefits after all of these years spent serving our community will privatization truly save money for our district is this really the best option I hope the Board of Ed members have asked good questions and have been able to see some detailed facts and figures to prove this the other item I want to discuss is the restructuring of our middle schools and the increase to class sizes as well as the very drastic increase to the number of kids we will teach each day if you go through with this budget cut you will be responsible for changing the landscape of our middle schools forever and that is definitely not something
051I would be proud of if I was in your position sitting there right now this will affect every current and all future etsd students without the team concept kids will slip through the cracks your proposed restructuring and cuts to Middle School teaching staff will leave content Area Teachers with six classes up to 180 190 students a day no team no no independent study to catch up with the students along with a host of other problems that my colleagues will gladly share with you tonight what might look good on paper is not reality we can't allow our budget to be balanced on the backs of our students education before my time is up I do want to publicly thank miss buter mowitz Mr demarcy and Mr peelman for attending last week's community meeting at the library
052we truly appreciate you that you afforded extra time in your busy schedules to come listen to the con concerns of the community and our etsd staff I also want to thank Dr Smith and our principal Gary Hoffman for arranging time for those three Board of Ed members as well as Mr conon to visit my seventh grade team at Marlon Middle and observe some of our classes this week though the kids were truly on their best behavior I hope you do know that um I think it is very very important for you to see this great system here at the middle schools that we have in place and everything you risk us losing and these children losing forever with this budget cut there's a way to increase some class sizes without cutting a team thank you
053for your [Applause] time okay yes sorry had to figure out how to turn okay good evening my name is Brian whitz vice president for the eham township Education Association I stand here tonight as an exhausted educator I am exhausted as we sit and listen to another year of proposed cuts to our programs which will reduce staff and in turn harm the achievement of our students I believe I speak for the entire membership by saying we are exasperated by this the reduction in staff which will lead to increased class sizes in elementary schools places a burden on both our teachers and students larger class sizes mean teachers can't cover the curriculum as intended small group instruction will become more infrequent leading to less individual Iz the attention to all students specifically our needest students this will
054create a greater need for interventions and referrals however these programs reading recovery supplemental support and interventionists are all also on the chopping block furthermore High achieving students will not get the differentiation they deserve in the classroom as the pullout tier three program is also slated to be cut to continue the elimination of all elementary school clubs deprives our students of extra chances to thrive beyond the boundaries of the academic school day should they remain to be cut additionally Dr Smith is proposing reductions to crucial areas of our school district counselors our students need more not less ta positions our students need more not less also all the proposed reductions in related arts and Spanish will further deprive our students of opportunities to grow lastly we fought long and hard to retain benefits for our most
055experienced and dedicated power professionals it saddens me tonight to see that these will be phased out what does it mean that they will be maintained for those with the most seniority as was discussed on last month's slides how will that be determined we risk losing so many good Powers who have given many years of service to this District many of whom who are residents and have raised children in this town these powers are not easy to replace I urge the board to carefully consider these proposed reductions please become curious and ask the tough questions and be aware of the irreparable damage these proposed Cuts will do to our students thank [Applause] you just GNA hold it if that's okay Holly Miller Marlton Elementary uh fourth grade teacher I'm also a union rep I'm reading a
056statement prepared by ETA president Russ BS Russ wanted to be here this evening but is out with the flu I stand before you tonight once again watching this District suffer under another destructive budget season during Dr Smith's preliminary presentation he was very clear about where the cuts would be but far less transparent about the one where the money is actually going other than Mrs Mr yates's detailed breakdown of electricity increases the other justifications were vague at best one particularly misleading statement claimed that salary increases exceed 3% per year while ETA May settle for a 3% increase annually retirements significantly impact the actual expenditures typically allowing the district to use only about 60% of that amount to fund movement on the guide and teacher raises another budget pressure cited was the rising cost of Health Care
057with double- digigit increases however it's been communicated to us that the state of New Jersey allows districts to exceed the budget cap as you spoke about tonight for health care costs this year health care costs Rose by 14% And part of that increase can be incorporated into the local tax levy preserving teachers counselors benefits clubs activities transportation and ultimately a better educational experience for Eve sham students could that money have been from our 4 and a half our 4 and a half million gap been offset by taking the once in a lifetime money available last year $3 million that was left on the table it saddens me that in just five short Years Eve sham has gone from being one of the top districts in New Jersey to one that is far less desirable it
058is devastating to witness this decline I urge this board board to hold the administration accountable for these decisions is it completely their fault absolutely not I urge everyone in this room to pick up their phone and call our local legislators and tell them to fix the funding formula to the Board of Ed earlier this evening you spoke of the district's mission to allow students to achieve their unique potential but how is this possible when educators are denied the tools necessary to make that happen when class sizes at this point Have Become unmanageable the answer is simple it's not you're failing in your mission and Eve sham students are paying the price thank you uh good evening uh my name is m Hayes I'm a parent of a first grader at Marlton Elementary School I'm also
059a 10e professor at a local University here uh who studies education finance and policy and so one of my research questions that I've done in my own research is can schools how are they utilizing the resources right one way to save money is be more successful with the resources the scarce resource we have right and so if we look at our school district's school performance report we do not see success specifically in English language arts so if you were to go to the New Jersey Department of education's website they have a school performance report for every school school district and you can look at their English language their math and their other types of standardized test SCS results in our school district almost 50% of students are not meeting expected language arts skills one out
060of two students is not meeting their reading skills at their grade level so we have to ask ourselves why is that happening what are we doing maybe there's external factors right research suggests there's plenty of things that are outside the control of a school district but there are many things inside control of a school district so we need to look at our current reading program our current reading program utilizes a whole word learning approach right to teach kids how to read in other words we're just asking kids to memorize site words we're not actually teaching them how to read how did they code words how did they code and actually sound out words so when we see almost 50% of our students not meeting expectations for reading in this school district we have to evaluate
061what we are doing with our reading program we're not teaching phonics I don't even know if many parents have the ability to teach phonics because maybe they were taught a whole we learning approach so I would ask this school district to look and evaluate the current reading program I've reached out to all school school board members via email including the the school administration our superintendent and I've kind of gotten some great responses from two individuals but everybody else has ignored those and I understand people are busy but this has to be addressed 50% of our students almost 50% of our students are not meeting English language art skills if we don't do this what's the point of spending all this extra money if we can do better with the resources we have we can have
062call savings and deal with our long-term uh structural deficit that are everybody dealt with here so I encourage you to do that I think this is a big challenge I think you're up to that challenge if we're asking our kids to take on the major challenge of learning to be a good and proficient reader I think the school board and I think our school administration can do that themselves as well so I challenge you to this and let me know how I can help I guarantee this community wants to be part of that as well thank you very much once you say your name and where you're from I'll start it okay all right um my name is Renee Pico I am from Marlon I am forgive me for being so nervous um okay so
063good evening members of the Board of Education my name is Renee Pico I am a reading and interventionist with 24 years of experience also a mother to a bright loving sorry hardworking first grader in E sham I am here today to advocate for my son for all the students in eam and for the teachers today I want to talk about something that has the power to change lives the way we teach reading like many parents my husband and I are average Working Class People Who deeply value education that's why we made the significant financial sacrifices to move to E am believing it would provide our child with the best possible education my son adores his school he adores and loves his wonderful teachers and he is excited every day to attend school although imagine my
064dismay when I discover that balanced literacy and outdated and disproven Method Remains the foundation of reading instruction in Eve sham despite my te my son's wonderful teacher who is dedicated and committed to his success Eve sham does not have a reading curriculum that is able to support his reading development we as parents made the decision to hire a reading specialist trained in the Orton Gillingham science of reading method this instruction is a major financial burden for my son burden for us but my son's literacy is non-negotiable it is because of this added instruction that he is showing growth and success in Reading he has been learning the code of reading he is being taught not to guess or look at pictures to figure out an unknown word he's being taught how to read read real
065words this is not the fault of the teachers the teachers and Eve sham are loving and kind and caring and dedicated and we thank them all the time this is a problem with the district the curriculum coordinator must provide the teachers with with an effective up-to-date curriculum teachers need tools they need a district that provides these tools so that they can effectively instruct their students teachers need outside professional development to to study the science of reading the science of reading on the other hand is not a trend or a passing educational fat is a body of research spanning decades backed by cognitive science neuroscience and educational studies it tells us that reading is not a natural process like speaking it must be explicitly taught and the most effective way to do this is through structur
066literacy we must ask ourselves why would we continue to use a method that is s that science has disproven when we have Clear research-based Solutions that work the answerers clear it's time for eam to embrace the science of reading we owe it to our children every single one of them to give them the best possible foundation in literacy we owe it to the wonderful teachers of eam please provide them with the PD and updated tool so that they can help our kids when we teach kids when we teach reading the right way we are not just teaching words we are unlocking doors to opportunity confidence and success thank you good evening my name is Danielle Palmer I'm a parent to a first grader at Rice Elementary I'm here tonight to speak on behalf of my
067child and the children of e sham School District who deserve an equitable comprehensive and research-based literacy education structured literacy as Renee had just pointed out is an evidence-based approach that systematically teaches phonemic awareness phonics fluency vocabulary and comprehension structured literacy is not just about what is taught it is about how it is taught it is delivered explicitly systematically sequentially and cumulatively ensuring that students build strong foundational skills step by step instruction includes ample opportunities for guided practice with immediate corrective feedback to reinforce learning frequent checks for understanding and Mastery are critical for monitoring progress and identifying students who need additional support this approach is a stark contrast to our current literacy curriculum yet if structured math were a term IAM Township School District would already be implementing it just as we do not hand students
068a sheet of math problems with M mixed operations of varied complexity and expect them to figure it out along the way we must stop approaching literacy instruction this way the foundational literacy instruction our children are currently receiving is scattered fragmented and inconsistent lacking the structure or progress monitoring needed for True Mastery my son like I said as a first grader in the district and I've been using youly with him at home since kindergarten it's affordable and ALS supporting materials can be found on their website it's designed for all students structured and takes a scaffolded approach my son doesn't struggle in reading and writing I'd love to give this credit to his two wonderful teachers he's had at rice and yes while they're absolutely wonderful I have to credit his hard work at home youly or
069a similar program should be available to him in his primary classroom he shouldn't have to come home from an 8 hour school day and sit with me and do a reading lesson this should be provided to all students kindergarten through 3D by providing him early and explicit instruction in key phonetic and language structures my son doesn't struggle to read or write and have that added stress he would probably like more time at home after a long school day so I urge you to please take a look at replacing your old outdated approach with a more structured approach to teach literacy thank you my name is Amanda G I have three children at Rice Elementary I'm here on behalf of the parents for improved literacy outcomes advocacy group to address a critical issue in education Equity
070access to structured Literacy for all students in December I urged the board to examine the differences between balanced and structured literacy I hope you've had the time to do so but if not our group is ready to provide additional resources Decades of research show that structured literacy benefits all students and is essential for some the failure to provide structured literacy disproportionately harms marginalized students this includes lwi income students multilingual Learners and those with disabilities worsening long-term academic and social economic disparities the latest data from nape confirms this troubling Trend disadvantaged and lower performing students have experienced the steepest declines in achievement this downturn has further widened the achievement gap between the highest and lowest performers UND underscoring ing the shortcomings of current educational strategies and meeting the needs of marginalized students groups unfortunately this disparity
071holds true locally as reflected in esam's performance data so what steps is eam taking to close this Gap eam is doubling down on the use of inequitable and ineffective methods justifying these methods by describing them as traditional reading pathway and referencing the surrounding districts continuing such practices your traditional methods aren't working it's time to closely examine your own declining literacy data and take action it's time for eacham to forge A New Path forward by implementing evidence-based best practices and literacy that will reach all Learners what's needed is the commitment to make structured literacy the foundation of ean's curriculum this requires training Educators investing in resources and prioritizing Literacy for all students it begins with a commitment from the administration to Prior prioritize evidence-based reading instruction and make decisions that truly serve the best interests of
072students now is not the time to reduce interventionist positions instead we should focus on expanding interventions with programs that can effectively reach and support more students amid budget challenges we Face our group has already proposed cost-effective solutions for the district additionally providing high quality core literacy instruction tackles issues early on reducing the need for costly intervention Special Education Service services and Remediation later this proactive approach not only enhances the educational experience for students but also ensures more efficient use of District resources the Administration has largely ignored our advocacy for over a year even as our children literacy rates continue to decline if the administration refuses to acknowledge the glaring deficiency in its curriculum then it's imperative that the board seek expert Guidance just as we have the board must hold the administration accountable for the
073quality of instruction our children receive anything less is a failure to our [Music] children good evening my name is Christa ianelli I have three kids within the district I stand before you tonight representing ISM Township parents for improved literacy outcomes I would like to share a recent experience I had with my daughter who is currently in kindergarten she came home home beaming with excitement waving her reading level certificate that indicated she was now reading independently at level a based on the Fontanel Benchmark assessment administered by her teacher in her reading pouch she had a level a book titled marshmallow the pony which she was eager to read and log in her new reading log that evening as we sat down at the table she began reading the predictable pattern I blank my pony which she
074had already memorized she navigated through the text with ease reading words such as Ride Clean feed comb brush kiss and barn I quickly noticed when she encountered these unfamiliar words instead of attempting to decode it using the actual letters her gaze automatically shifted to the pictures on the page when I covered the illustrations she was unable to read those same words leading to to frustration and tears as an educator myself I recognize that the phonic skills embedded in the level a independent book were things such as the long e sound long vowels the sh diagraph the silent B following M the floss Rule and the Bossy R they are all phonics Concepts that should be taught explicitly in first grade not in kindergarten no wonder why my daughter relied on the illustration to decode because
075she couldn't read it yet this was her independent level and for the record my daughter's teacher is absolutely phenomenal I share this personal moment to highlight the shortcomings of the fontas and panel leveling system as it pertains to our youngest Learners I urge the board members to re-examine the literacy approaches currently in use within our district by making simple adjustments and adopting effective literacy practices such as providing all students with access to developmentally appropriate decodable readers will help us save money in the long run implementing the costeffective ufly phonics programs for all students not just tier two on a final note I want to acknowledge the unwavering dedication of our remarkable teachers counselors nurses nurses and teacher assistants they are in the trenches every day and deserve more support not less through cuts and reductions
076as a parent I can sense the low morale among staff members which is undoubtly influenced by decisions made at the top increasing class sizes and reducing support sta support staff only exacerbates the challenges they face every day our staff and students deserve better hello everyone um I'm Maria kitus I teach seventh grade language arts at the Macy Middle School I wanted to start out first by saying congratulations to our wrestlers and our musicians they are such positive representatives of our community um I only hope for all of our students that the incredibly excuse me valuable experiences offered during and after school can remain we must not lose sight of our children as the priority our children must come first they depend on the adults in their lives to work together in order to make decisions
077that are in their best interest with the proposed budget however our children will be denied the time attention instruction and activities they are entitled to and deserve they will miss out on the special and meaningful connections with teachers that are forever remembered and for me that's the most special part of my job is the relationships that I build with students everything that each TSD is will be reduced to numbers and loss the numbers of teachers bus drivers and support staff to be lost the loss of the team concept time available for teachers to gather together collaborate and discuss the needs of children the number of children in our district struggling with mental health who without the team of their teachers will lose the nurturing and care that has always been there for them the loss
078of teams means the loss of independent study and I know you've heard that a thousand times but I can't stress how important that period is um it's a period where children get the time that they need and time is everything to receive extra help to make up work if they've been absent um to review concepts with their teachers some additional numbers to consider if we're talking about of classes of up to 35 students it breaks my heart to think about children who may not material or ever get a question answered and whose names may not even be known by their teachers because we're 35 students Next Period 35 students Next Period and again those relationships to me or everything and to all of our teachers the deficit state aid is a grave issue making it
079seem as though the proposed budget is the only way there are other Alternatives sell or lease the admin building bringing administrators and teachers together on under the same roof working thank you working together side by side for the good of our children there would be nothing more rewarding than having our supervisors our superintendent um all of that stuff together so they can see that the day-to-day of what we do but leasing out Middle School space is being proposed I'm going to end with this and Dr Smith I appre appreciate the words that you wrote to parents um when you first joined our district you said during times of uncertainty these values kindness love listening collaboration are our anchor we will not just rise to rise to these challenges but become stronger and better because of
080them more communicative and collaborative more intentional in our decisions all aligned to the goal of helping our children and I appreciate those words thank [Applause] you hi beg waren I'm an eve sham resident and a third grade teacher at jagard as both a Marlton resident and teacher I'm deeply concerned about the devastating cuts for our proposed budget and the implications that they'll have on our students class size increases at the elementary level are not conducive to Quality instruction while best practices and teaching rely on differentiated small group instruction how much individ individualized attention will the students get when their small groups are six or more it's also important to note that the average class size doesn't include special education pushin students for morning meeting related arts and other subjects already at jagard my third grade
081class is a size of 30 students during these mentioned times with the new suggested sizes my class would have 35 or more students for morning meeting or related arts quality teaching starts with developing personal relationships with students first how is a teacher supposed to get to know each individual child meet their needs and meet with them in small groups with a class of that size many of our classrooms won't even comfortably fit that many students I'm also concerned about the proposed cuts to the intervention support for our struggling students these are students who have been identified by teachers who would benefit from additional instruction all res search points to Early Intervention which gives students the best possible chance to catch up to their classmates and I've seen students successfully make academic games from these programs
082I've also seen students confidence grow in school unfortunately removing these programs will put students even further behind with a bigger class size of peers and less intervention support these students will be left struggling and that Gap will only widen with each passing year in addition removing tier three instruction for our gifted and talented students put puts yet another thing on our teachers to take on and implement the creative project-based instruction that these students receive once a week is not something that can be instructed in the classroom please remember with all of these budget cuts that we are only one person while the teachers in this District are some of the hardest working teachers in the profession increasing Elementary class size while removing intervention and tier three support will not provide the quality education that our
083students deserve while I certainly understand that many of these budget cuts are coming from the state and you as the board only have so many options I strongly encourage you to think of the implications that some of these proposals would have on our students and our Town's reputation for outstanding schools thank [Applause] you hi my name is Anastasia trellis um I'm a Marlton resident and I'm an alumni I went through the district I was VanZant I was right through Dey and Cherokee I used to be proud of Marlton I used to tell people I pay my taxes gladly because I know our school district is amazing and I'm not so sure anymore I have a four-year-old I'm terrified I don't know 30 plus six-year-olds in a classroom maybe some of you have forgotten what it's
084like to teach and how many can be in a classroom at a time but there's not a chance I also have questions if any of you have actually looked at the occupancy of these rooms 26 so are we going to just be paying fines or they going to sit on each other's laps it's ridiculous you're going past the fire code it's not making any sense when you're putting up these beautiful presentations and your budget cuts you're forgetting about the students that's what I want to see on this when you're presenting to the parents and the teachers and everyone here how is it affecting these students the class ratios there's not a single statistic on there showing about the education and how it's affecting the students you cannot put your students first if you're going to
085put your teachers last that is the most important thing I also want to say that both my sisters are teachers one in this very district and I'm so disappointed people used to love a you're a teacher in Marlton that's so amazing I would love to do that and now they're second guessing why why am I a teacher every year I have to fear for my job and you wonder why there's such a there's such a definite with teachers they don't want to teach anymore they're so passionate about their students but you're taking their passion away let them do their job support them and be there for them thank you my name is Kelly oh my [Music] I know I'm sorry my name is Kelly Walsh I've been a social studies teacher here at MMS for
086almost 20 years I understand the financial hardship and challenge Alles that the board is facing how I however I need to stress the detrimental impact of losing the house Concepts increasing and increasing class size to up to 35 students I currently teach 127 students here at eam my largest class of 26 my smallest 23 and that includes a combination of 45 IEP 504 and intervention students increasing the class size to a 35 will significantly impact the classroom in the following ways some of you have come to visit my room this week I currently have 30 desks in my room and three large totes to put all their computer bags in so we can safely navigate the room board members who came in on Tuesday could see it would be a tight fit to put five
087more desk and then actually put small adults into those seats creating seating charts for 25 kids let alone 35 to foster a positive Learning Community is difficult and Ever Changing risers Rising numbers will make it more difficult to Str Strat strategically create a positive learning community that minimizes distractions and meets the individual needs reduction of collaborative activities there is no way possible that we can break 35 kids into four groups of four and have eight or nine collaborative groups and keep them engaged and on task teachers will need to incorporate catch-up time into our weekly schedule to accommodate students who have been absent or require additional time and support as outlined by law in their 504 and IEPs without the house concept we will no longer have independent study or time with the students due
088to varying schedules this will reduce time spent on curricular um content decreasing the ability to quickly identify students who are not just struggling academically but mentally or socially especially if they don't advocate for themselves we do that at team we talk every week about the children in in the East sham District we talk about who do we have concerns do we have things in common we talk to the VP we talk to guidance we try and make a difference in them to make school a better place for them and if you take that away your children will fall through the cracks we will not have time to have these interactions with them anymore opportunities for personal connections will be reduced and sadly some lost meetings will um students will have more time with substitutes as
089teachers that will now be attending identification IP meetings um iron RS meetings will now happen during instructional time not team time teachers will need parents to be more diligent about looking at Genesis to check student progress It's not feasible for me to send 180 emails to your students to to my students and your children less opportunities will be given to demonstrate understanding of Concepts because I cannot possibly grade 188 papers in a a school week it's impossible in closing you're consider adding 50 more students to the current teachers case load your middle schools have reached the point where we cannot continue to do more with less you have to find a solution that is better than what is being proposed [Applause] today um good evening my name is Cara Hutchinson I am a sixth grade
090teacher at Marlton middle school and I've had the pleasure of teaching 11 and 12 year olds over the past soon to be 27 years before I begin I would like to thank the elementary school teachers of e sham school district for doing the work of angels since I am a middle school teacher please understand that I only know middle school so therefore please don't take my please tonight as a slight on your efforts I sat down over the weekend and crafted a letter to you all on why the proposed budget mainly cutting 28 teachers 20 of them from the Middle School doing away with the team model and adding an additional class to Middle School content content teachers was not a great idea when I'm when I was done I realized it would have taken
091me about 15 minutes to read all of my concerns when I only have three to speak so I cut out the part praising the team model and how it does nothing but benefit and make lives easier for students and parents I also cut out the part about the support that I get from my team and how grateful I am that I have that system in place for me I took out of the number of things I do in one day to make my classroom function and to make my students feel welcome and safe that doesn't include actual teaching as well as the part that discussed the long hours it takes to plan teach reach and grade the 125 students that come in and out of my classroom every day this includes work that is done
092before during after hours and often at home adding 25 30 40 more students I can't even imagine again it was still too long so I trimmed some more I took out the part about a teacher's life outside of their job caring for babies making sure our kids are set with their hund 100th day of school outfit dealing with our own health issues um the constant worry over our College AED children or caring for aging parents yet still being able to come to work every day all the while Never Letting our struggles at home and the toll they take on our lives outside of school affect what we present to our students but still it was too long sadly I finally deleted the part about the months of worry we as teachers have each and every
093year over the budget and how it will affect us in the future over the past few years the worry has been more palpable in the halls and is visible in every face of every colleague that is here with me tonight yet we show up and we do our jobs because after all we are here for the kids our worries have to be set aside until there is time to think whenever that may be so after all the revisions here is what I have left teams work middle school children and families need consistency teachers need consistent and genuine support and each other we are not chess pieces or machines or numbers we are people this plan will break your teachers and in essence the heart of this school district I humbly ask and say with the
094utmost respect please try again thank you so much really really quickly before we get to the next speaker I just want to point out that if you do have a longer statement I know that this is shared at pretty much every board meeting but if you do have a longer statement that you would like the board to see you can feel free to email that to either the board or to uh Mr Yates who is the board secretary so just know that that's an option thank you hi I teach seventh grade language arts Laura Davis here at Marlton Middle School language arts is a state tested subject and highly scrutinized subject at that but let me be clear I actually teach two subjects reading and writing I in my 28th year of teaching middle school
095with 26 of those here at MMS while some people may focus on class- siiz numbers tonight or money or dismantling teams I'd like to take a minute or three or 240 at this point to focus on how an increase in class sizes and or overall numbers of students I teach each year will have an impact on the education of the students and this may kind of go directly in line with some of the language arts stuff that's been mentioned for 26 years I've been having individual conversations with all of my reading students every week during readers Workshop we talk about such exciting things as storylines literary Concepts why they chose their individual books but we also talk about the individual struggles and goals each student may have I can generally do this well with 20ish
096students in a class in years where the class sizes have been up to 26 or 28 it's far more difficult and at times impossible to fit a meaningful conversation in with every student every week let's talk about writing when the students submit a piece of writing I tell them and the parents at back to school night in September to please be patient with getting the grades on those I read and give written feedback to every student so that they understand what worked well with their writing and what they need to continue to work on it is Meaningful individual feedback that is direct guidance to them to becoming better more capable writers when you add more total students to my classes whether it's through bigger classes or by adding a sixth content period that feedback diminishes
097and becomes less comprehensive and meaningful because I have that many more to do and the students deserve to get them back in a timely manner the amount of evaluation planning and preparation that I have with both subjects forces me to do a large amount of work outside of my school day one prep period a day doesn't come close to being enough to evaluate the five classes worth of essays plus book reports plus tests plus quizzes plus short answer responses or anything else we do let alone actually plan and prepare the lessons please don't mistake what I'm saying as complaining I chose my profession I chose middle school because these seventh graders are at a pivotal point in their lives and I felt I could help them navigate that and learn to and help them learn
098and grow in such a tough year I'd like to think that over the course of my entire career I've done that what I am saying and what my point is is this when you ask add more something has to give because teachers care about our students we will give and give and give and give of ourselves most people won't even see this happening because we are professionals eventually though it will affect the students through the individual attention we are forced to scale back on we will be forced to sacrifice quality for quantity not to mention the diminished energy and enthusiasm we the teachers strive to bring to the classroom every day please take that into [Applause] consideration uh Jen Van Horn I teach at Marlton Middle School good evening my name is Jen Van Horn
099and I'm a math teacher at Marlton Middle School I grew up in marleton and I received an excellent education here I had phonics and grammar both I grew up in Mar uh 25 years ago I was hired to be a teacher here and I was extremely proud to call myself a teacher in Eve sham Township fast forward 25 years and I'm now witnessing the quality of Education here crumble before my eyes with these proposed budget cuts I understand that cuts need to be made but I also know that in the past some of the proposed Cuts have been reconsidered well I'm up here to beg this school board to do everything in your power to stop class sizes from increasing to an unacceptable level any budget cut will have a negative impact somewhere but these
100increases in class size will have devastating consequences to every single student in this district for years to come I want to paint a quick picture of a typical middle school classroom several of the students have documented specialized learning plans with many accommodations in place to help them be successful yet other students have those same learning difficulties but they are undiagnosed or do not meet certain criteria and therefore no plans or extra supports are in place for those children several of the students in the classroom also have documented ADHD anxiety behavioral challenges and other mental health concerns that require additional support several other students have also these same exact struggles however because their needs have not been previously addressed there's no plan in place to help them either in fact some of these students currently in
101this classroom should actually be placed in a smaller group setting that could better meet all of their needs but for one reason or another that has not happened sometimes we are told there's just no room for them there one of the middle school students in this class reads on a second grade level one of them cannot figure out the answer to six divided by two one of them speaks very little English one of them is crying because they're being bullied at recess but they don't want to make the problem worse by telling the teacher or the guidance counselor one of the students just moved here from another district and is completely overwhelmed another student just refuses to do any work on a daily basis a different student is shutting down due to an ongoing family
102crisis yet another student just returned from being out for a week with the flu and doesn't know where to even begin she sits next to another student who's chronically absent almost all year for unknown reasons now of course there's also several students in this class who are average Learners and who do not need accommodations but now some of them are even starting to struggle because of distra distractions in the room and I don't want to forget the multiple students in this classroom who are above average Learners and are extremely bored because they already finished their regular work and the extra challenge problems I gave to them this classroom already exists all around our district and not just at the middle school level ask any teacher at any grade level each year the diverse needs of
103our students grow more and more however I'm not up here describing the classroom to so that you feel bad for us teachers yes it's overwhelming yes we're asked to do more we'll be giving less support every year including next year but we are adults and we will do our jobs to the very best of our ability I'm describing this classroom because right now my average class size is in the mid 20s and despite all the challenges that I just described above I'm still able to do a pretty good job of teaching them math however I'm going to keep going however you have to stop you cannot cannot keep going well somebody else I'm going to finish my sentence it's nauseating it's suffocating it's the children who are going to suffer I have one final question
104when you ruin the quality of education do you want your child to have a one out of 35 chance of getting help in their [Applause] [Music] classroom I'm going to break it to you I know it's the last one right okay perfect thank you that's why we need to teams we work better together hi my name is Amanda sisy and I'm an eighth grade teacher at maralon Middle School um I'm not going to speak about the team model but I want to start by saying I agree with everything my colleagues have said um but I am going to speak to something different I've learned not to prepare my statements so I can speak to what I hear at the board meetings um as our elected officials right it's your job to listen your constituents and
105we all know the budget is a time-sensitive issue um and I find it highly concerning that at the beginning of the board meeting we were told that the board would most likely choose not to vote to extend the board uh the meeting if needed in order to allow all who wish to speak um in a public forum to do so and then we were told the same thing again at the beginning a public comment when Tracy asked for clarification um we know that sending private private emails to the board is not the same as us being able to speak here publicly in front of everyone um yes we can send our emails to you but speaking here in front of an audience where everyone can hear us not the same um additionally public comment being
106moved to the end of the meeting large timers being in front of us projected on a screen um just seems like a lot I can't claim to know your intent um but what I can tell you is that as a teacher I often explain to my students that while intent matters the way others perceive our intent is just as if not more important um right now I just would be remiss if I didn't stand up here and say that my perception is that decisions have already been made and that there are at least some not all but at least some sitting in front of me right now that don't want to hear the voices in the audience um which is just really sad to me um don't worry though I'll be back next month as
107I'm sure many of the people sitting behind me will be too thank you my name is Andrea tyy I'll share my address privately I am a parent of three children in the district um I I first I I'm actually going to speak um from other than what I prepared I want to say thank you for choosing to um take advantage of the opportunity to use the enrollment increase um I know it doesn't cover everything but um as a parent I appreciate that you're taking that into consideration um and that's where my speech was originally intending um but I do want to talk about where we go from here okay I understand there is a deficit we can't make money but we do have to start getting creative and and what we saw tonight can't be
108the end of where we go with this there are Creative Solutions that you can seek out and you can explore to try to minimize the class size that our teachers are going to endure um Mr Bach you actually commented last night on social media on a question that I had asked someone else regarding the budget and you had commented that litigation is expensive I couldn't agree more with you okay so I think we really need to take into consideration how much litigation we might wind up in when we can't stay in compliance part of the way that teachers are able to stay in compliance with the needs of IEPs and 504s is that they are able to manage the amount of students that they have and that is going to not happen or you're going
109to have teachers who quit in the middle of the year because they are overwhelmed and they're new to the career and they decide I can't do this I talked to a parent this past weekend who talked about how the district was out of compliance with their daughter when she was in first grade and as a teacher she knew they were out of compliance and before they took it to litigation they were able to settle but it cost the district a significant amount of money so I ask you to be creative don't stop at just the idea of we can cut teachers and it's just going to go away it's not it's going to be a huge problem and to speak on the issue of literacy I am one of many parents that spends my afternoon
110sitting at the Burlington Center of Dyslexia tutoring center and the other parents sitting with me are from Marlton multiple parents from Marlton that's not something we should be proud of that should be a glaring red sign that we have an issue with our instruction okay if you're going to ask teachers to work with less you got to give them the best tools that they can work with so please take the time to really scrutinize this and take the time to work with us we want to work with you we want to advocate for you we are stronger together if you come together and you we are side by side with the teachers who are phenomenal I could not speak higher of the teachers of this District they are creative they are smart and they are
111they are experts in their field come together with them let's work to find solutions to really minimize the impact that these class sizes are going to have thank you hi good evening Carol Larson Baron 114 Deerfield Avenue um I come before you and and as a lifetime resident of Isam Township a concerned taxpayer of 34 years and a disheartened employee of just about 19 years I'm very concerned about all the proposed cuts um and how it will impact our students and staff however power professional benefits particularly concern me um approximately 21 years ago my child attended rice preschool and had a wonderful experience not until then did I realize the importance of the power professional staff as a result I just decided to leave the banking industry and to give back to my community um
112by taking on a position as a par professional the majority of my time has been spent working with the autism students watching them learn overcoming significant challenges growing is such an amazing feeling words can't describe uh especially knowing that I played a significant part in that during my years at eam I've attended many many continuous education courses to expand my skills in order to support the classroom teacher and related Services through direct instruction my direct instruction including feeding therapies communication therapy behavior intervention and developmental education just to name a few now as I round the corner and and closing in on my retirement which is six years away my benefits are now in Jeopardy eam has invested in me to become a more effective parah in return I've given All of Me All of I
113have and have taken a great deal of pride in the work and and progress that the children have made within my eam school Community my only hope is that you will stand by the promise that was made your years ago to maintain our benefits please find a way to maintain our benefits as we are just as important as any other full-time employee of the school thank you and consider my plate good evening Dr Smith and board members disrespected diminished deflated discriminated these these are some of the emotions that I felt after the January 30th board meeting Deja Vu as we all know is a feeling in which we've experienced an event before here I stand before you speaking and imploring you to spare our par benefits again there's one big difference this time I have
11421 years of dedicated service to my students now and yet I must anguish again over the possible loss of my health benefits ripped right out from under me I can make make one promise to you if I lose my health benefits I will be forced to leave I cannot afford the significant loss of my compensation and my special education classroom will suffer from the loss of 21 years of experience I am a senior member of the power professional staff at Rice School I have extensive experience in classroom management behavior management and yes helping my teacher to teach effectively but I love my job it's a shame to think about leaving but that's what I will be forced to do if we lose our benefits Dr Smith board members do you know the worry and angst
115of losing your benefits after nearly 21 years of dedicated service I hope that you never do in closing I respectfully ask you to use your moral compass and let it guide you in the right direction and spare the power professional benefits I'd also like to finish with a question Dr Smith and board members we transition to a full day preschool program in January as we all know and it has we have received a sizable Grant is there any reason why we couldn't that couldn't be used to spare benefits and Par benefits thank you again for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight good evening Dr Dr Smith board uh my name's Edward Beck I'm a uh Marlton resident um my wife Susan who you just heard spoke is a full-time power professional at Rice School
116in the special education program uh I could tell you sue mentioned something she loves her job Sue does love her job I have to tell you I've seen it over the 20 years she's been doing it uh she's got over 20 years years with the district over 20 years in the preschool special education program at Rice um unfortunately I guess 20 plus years doesn't mean what it used to mean it's really hard to believe that we're back here again with this discussion uh the same discussion about the cut in the health benefits for a group that really is so vital to the education system in this District also I have to say they're probably one of the lowest paid groups within the district and yet uh their health benefits are being talked about phasing out
117the health benefits are a key component of their total compensation package that they earn and I I I have to emphasize that they earn that package um I I see the impact every evening uh on what a day in the classroom is like for my wife so I I'd say before you make these benefit Cuts I'd like to ask the board and the administration to just take some time and maybe observe a few hours in my wife's classroom I think your decision to cut their benefits would be different you realized you realize the vast experience that they bring and the hard work that they do for this District that actually many folks don't want to do and you'd realize how lucky we are as a district as a community to have them do what they
118do the past month I've been on the phone I've been emailing state representatives our congressman's office on the funding the budget cuts um I'm hearing that there's legislation coming so hopefully I to keep calling uh many of the Paras are not going to stay if their benefits are gone and you can't replace those years of experience with part-time St you just can't you can't do it so again I'm asking the board I'm asking the administration take a hard look at the decision uh take some time visit the class understand what it is you're voting to come thank you hello my name is push carvi and I'm a student uh in seventh grade at decy middle school and at the beginning of the board meeting you said that you want students to Excel and be great
119but this will not happen if class sizes increase I speak on behalf of the entire student body when I say that we do not want this I feel like my classes are already large and 35 students will be chaotic especially in lower grades and if class sizes increase students will not have any opportunity to interact with the teachers if they need help or have a question which will lead to lower grades and failing education lastly cutting teachers will make this problem infinitely worse as less teachers mean less people for students to rely on if these things happen all the problems that will come will be pinned on the board thank you hi my name is Jacob peelman I'm a seventh grader at deacy I might not understand all those numbers about State a or tax
120levies and revenue but I do understand one thing class sizes matter having class sizes be 30 kids or I guess maybe more depending on the class is too large by raising the class sizes you eliminate the student teacher connection students will no longer be able to ask the teacher for help with something emotional or just with homework because to their teacher they're just another kid when they're teaching a 30 to 35 kid class classes will be too crowded and harder to focus another subject of concern I would like to mention is the music program I deeply care about the music program I just came from a band competition at senica music is something that you can do to find your true self something fun to do can be a passion helps you meet new people
121having less music teachers in the music department will cause the program to make changes that will negatively impact the students and if less students participate in the etsd music that will have a direct effect and impact on the high school programs too I understand enough from these slides to know that we have a huge deficit and the budget has to be balanced somehow so I'm sure some things we all don't like will happen next year I would like to ask for two promises tonight A promise that the administration will advance on on we will Advocate on the state level to get those funding formulas to change please set up trips for parents and kids I would love to go speak on behalf of the kids and a promise from the board Administration that if painful
122Cuts have to happen that you will be creative dedicated and leave no stone unturn to restore all of the best things of the school district kids deserve small class sizes to learn and Thrive Transportation they can count on clubs where they can make peer connections and the additional supports that they have to great have a great educational experience my sister is only in second grade so again I say if Cuts have to be made please promise you will work tirelessly to bring it all back thank [Applause] you hello there my name is Harry stos I live on Stone Mountain Marlton been here for 10 years almost um I have a son who's in second grade he's got autism spectrum he's nonverbal transportation to the school is very important to me we were taking him to
123uh rice in kindergarten and Mrs Zody convinced me to let him get on the bus so I did and ever since had great experience we have great drivers that come to the house and I feel comfortable that that's a big thing for me I've been in a transportation business for 30 years I've heard all the Outsourcing there's other costs that come in later and we won't even talk about litigation issues safety accidents you get what you pay for so there were so many great points brought up maybe we can be creative as a town to get more revenue or find ways but people are here that you know perform well and I just going to double down I feel comfortable with my son who's nonverbal getting on that bus every day and coming home thank
124you hi my name is Shen Bea I'm a bus driver in town I have two kids here I live here I moved here tooran 5 years ago in the middle of the pandemic I left my job of 16 years teaching preschool and came here for a year and a half I commuted for 18 months well 18 months I commuted an hour and 45 minutes to work and back until I made the decision to become a driver here where I felt like I was fulfilling my purpose working with children children just not in a classroom setting right now have any of you ever been on the bus to observe what happened on a daily basis I assume it's a no right for the last almost four years of being a driver we've had many meetings with
125you Mr Smith and Mr Yates and maybe a few more of you guys I'm not sure um but do you guys understand the role the important role we play as drivers to be the first face once those kids exit their homes to get to school right we have voiced our concerns in the department for years but have anybody listened it's beyond just the budget have you worked with us to restructure the system to make it more efficient for the drivers AIDS and the families reservice do you understand that we're the ones called to go pick up little Johnny because he misses his bus because the other outsourc company did not turn around do you understand that we have to turn around when the kids miss their bus do you understand the passion we put out
126every day to wait for little Johnny who's having a rough morning to get his shoes on but because he sees Miss Kim on the bus oh that's a familiar face she's probably going to have some toy on the bus to keep me entertained until I get to school or it's going to be the conversation what did you do on the weekend with one shoe one one one shoe in hand handing it to the bus Aid or the bus driver so little Johnny can get himself to school we're important the personalized relationships we have built with most of the families within the district as an eam Township school um eam Township School District driver will be lost and now our children will be a generic child just riding on some Outsource company bus that has their
127own rules and policies that may not coincide with the goals we have in District I have not heard any options for restructuring the department to make it work within the budget available what I heard is our district trans a department is incompetent not important or unnecessary and would make the district save a few dollars if they the drivers AIDS and position um and AIDS positions are eliminated but who suffers the children the families who rely on us to transport their children safely to and from school every day so maybe that's a lot of stuff for you guys to really think about hello my name is Franchesca Grace I have three children 16 13 and 7 years old I live at that shouldn't start until I'm done I live at 5302 Baltimore drivein Marlton um I've
128been here for 20 years and been attending these meetings for 18 of them over the years I've witnessed on numerous occasions the people teachers and staff of this town stand up against proposed budget and budget cuts it makes me wonder why I ver it what our voices may look like if instead of fighting with each other Town against the board if the boards across the area pushed back against the state and express to them that these cuts are unacceptable and they are not a functioning amount year after year we as a community that means our superintendent the board all of the staff all of the students all of the parents all of the families make hard choices and sacrifices that we'll have lasting negative impacts far beyond the years of their schooling and will follow
129them into the future we know is a community of intelligent people that studies show that music and arts improve areas of mental health cognitive function social skills and academic achievement they improve self-esteem brain function memory and overall academic performance students are less likely to drop out of school score higher on standardized test and are more likely to graduate college we know that larger class sizes lead to less student engagement and increase in behavioral problems increased classroom management issues lower academic performance higher difficulty assessing student student progress and increase teacher stress we know that removing extracurricular activities can lead to a decreased sense of belonging reduce Social Development potential academic decline missed opportunities that can potentially impact their overall well-being and future prospects we know that the state has consistently cut our budget by millions year
130after year and you our board in this community somehow make it work enough is enough we continue to work with the limited scrap that the state has been sending out to the school systems why would they stop the cuts if we make it work it is not us that needs to stand firm against you we should be working together it's all districts that need to stand firm against the state and it states it starts with boards like you saying no and it starts with communities like us not protesting and fighting at our local meetings but as a district paired with other districts pushing back on the state demanding the kind of budgets that are necessary to properly fund our schools and educate our children in environments that are focused on learning and furthering the education
131of our young people my family has personally been supported in crucial Ways by the very items that you are threatening to cut and before the increase in class size and devastating changes to the Middle School structure under the workings of these proposed changes I don't dare imagine what the potential outcome could have been under these changes my oldest two are thankfully acade academically sound but as the years went on and the reading program these parents here spoke of I saw with my seven-year-old firstand when my first grader couldn't read I noticed it in kindergarten and the teachers didn't see it and that was before the increase in student size I noticed it working with him at home and thankfully because of these programs he's a second grader barely meeting benchmarks our program today needs to
132our program needs to change you begin with sports and arts recognition yet propose cuts to these very programs I encourage you to vote no to this budget and these Cuts you have a responsibility to our children good evening my name is Colleen Ellis I am a marleton resident I'm also a speech and language pathologist in the New Jersey public school system and I have two children in the elementary schools here in eam one is on an IEP one is on a 54 uh they will both be affected in enumerable ways by these proposed Cuts but I'm not here to talk about my kids because this goes beyond my kids I'm here tonight because I think I speak for a lot of parents and staff in this District when I say we're sick and we're tired
133the situation with state aid is Bleak yes Cuts have to be made but this Administration expects parents and teachers to blindly accept these cuts that will do drastic harm to our kids and to this District when the district has a lot to answer for what if you delivered effective science-based reading instruction so that children are not being identified as learning disabled when they simply aren't being taught to effectively read thereby being classified as special education and putting a strain on already critically underfunded special education programs in this District What If instead of scapegoating rising numbers of students being classified as special education students in this District as a strain on our budget you took a look to figure out why those numbers are spiking you mentioned at the last board meeting the strain on resources
134it is to send kids out of District what if you invested in appropriate special education programs to keep them here how much money does this District spend on legal fees for mediation and due process hearings because parents have no other recourse to make this District do the right thing by our kids because whatever it is and I encourage the board to find out it's going to Skyrocket when these Cuts go through because there is no way that these teach are going to be compliant with 504s and IEPs how much money is being spent having contracted staff from the Educational Services Unit come to deliver special education to dyslexic students because your staff is either not equipped to do it or stretch too thin to do it how much are you paying for teachers to see
135students one-on-one in Reading recovery programs when they could be more effectively seeing them in groups to deliver phonics based interventions these are the questions that the board should be asking because here we are facing yet more devastating cuts and after your teachers and you offer your teachers and staff Zero Solutions as to how they are supposed to handle overcrowded classrooms lack of meeting time to discuss students in counseling or special ed or inrs lack of substitutes for when those meetings are scheduled during instructional time increased social and emotional needs from our students with fewer counselors the list is infinite and I would really like to see this District address the ongoing systemic issues at the heart of some of its budgetary problems before pulling out the machete to make drastic Cuts while expecting the families
136who pay taxes to help this District to smile and eat what we're [Applause] served good evening Trev har Marlton resident mine is of a different uh it's a non agenda item so it's in regards to your board retreat that is listed on board docs for this Saturday so I see it's a closed meeting and you're discussing the budget as well as District goals so I would like to just uh give you some food for thought I was a little disheartened to read that it's closed when you're talking about something that's addressing the district what I'm hearing here tonight is an opportunity for the taxpayer you've you've asked us to swallow a tax increase with your free kindergarten request last budget you're asking us again with this budget as a taxpayer to swallow another tax increase
137while I can uh appreciate that you don't give me the opportunity to sit with you and discuss District goals and ways that we can roll our sleeves up together you're asking me to bear the cost but you're not considering my opinion or my suggestions by offering me an opportunity to come as a taxpayer and rolled sleeves up to together and work on ways to fix your challenge I hope that you will consider a strategic goals kind of a meeting between the town the taxpayer and the board and administration we did that a couple years ago and we had towns folk from you know retirees we had uh teachers we had board members we had Parents we had whole plethora of different types of people coming together and sitting at tables mixed tables sharing ideas and
138coming down and developing a strategic goal so while I'm not asking you to do that per se I am asking you that while you're asking us to Bear some of these costs to help you balance your budget you give us the opportunity to come and meet with you and come up with some solutions you're getting some suggestions here let's not have this confrontational situation but a more collaborative working together kind of initiative thanks [Applause] hi Rose Mary bori I'll just kind of piggyback off of what Trish had kind of said you know this whole budget development it's a process and you know that would her idea too with the strategic planning it kind of came out of last year's session as well when we came to you guys and said you know we we had
139Parents together we came up with ideas and one of the things that we left you with was really to come up with strategic planning so that we wouldn't be in the situation um for this year I'm here again because um we were here again it's a process you know you unveiled the budget in January I came up to the microphone excuse me and I asked for you know what are the details in the $7 million deficit um I I asked the question and U Mr yat uh swear to answered me but not really so I followed up with an email because I really need to know the details if you want us to advocate um for TR in Trenton we have to be able to tell the story I need to know what those details
140are what makes up the $7 million and past prior in past budget presentations we would have that list of line items and would say Hey you know instructional costs are going to be uh x amount of dollars or you know health care costs are going to be over the percentage we could tell that story special education maybe we got new students in that year or something but without knowing the details of the $7 million and actually Russ's comment also alluded to that fact we need to know what's in the $7 million you know you ask us to you're solving this problem is $7 million okay so we not got additional state aid so now we can subtract out that $45,000 4 $45,000 you guys are going to go out with the um going against the
141uh increase the tax levy so now we have another 2 million we can subtract out so we still need to know what is going what makes this $4 million uh what is in this $4 million because here's my question again it's a process and we're going to have these conversations but at the end of the day what's going to happen next year this is honestly really concerning to me because this $7 million figure I've been doing this a long time we've never had $7 million and if we're at $7 million today what is next year's and I'm very concerned about that um the other two things that I just want to bring out as a point question regarding the budget is the Education Foundation negotiated the deal with the um to save tier 3 we
142had the um agreement so I want to make sure the tier three is still saved and also to um sorry one more uh crap uh there was another oh for we went out with the bond referendum for when we did Kindergarten we also went out for mental health counseling that was $193,000 that was so I understand there's counseling services that are being reduced so that's concerning too so those two questions I would like to ask but honestly if you could just give me a spreadsheet that tells me what makes up the $7 million that would be great thank you very [Applause] much hello uh my name is Brian Connelly I'm a math teacher uh seventh grade at decy and I am also a parent in the district um I wasn't going to speak tonight because
143honestly I feel like everyone's addressed most of my concerns but I was inspired by two students who I teach students who I know really [Applause] well students who I know very well and have gotten to know throughout the year because of the class sizes being what they are and the team concept I've been able to work with them during independent study I've been able to pull them when needed and I worry that enlarging these class sizes and losing team many students are going to fall through the cracks students who need it that's honestly my biggest concern as a students as a parent as well I don't want my child to fall through the cracks that can't happen so I don't know what you need to do but it needs to be done we cannot have
144these class sizes increase we cannot let these students fall through the cracks so I'm not I'm keeping it short I'm gonna end here please figure it out don't let my child or any of these children fall through thank you good evening my name is Shela I live in the Marlton area I recently moved from Philadelphia where the school district is trash and I don't want to feel like this school district is going to be trash um I've been here for four years I have a kid that went to two different schools um in the beginning I realized that he wasn't able to form certain words took him to one school and they're like well we had program in the school but you guys pulled it out that school to put it in a different school
145which made him have to go to another school van Zan which they're doing a phenomenal job helping him and it just baffles me that why pull a um a program out of one school to put in another school and then now you want to increase class sizes not only does that affect my son it affects that gentleman right there that has a kid that's nonverbal you're going to you're going to increase those type of things things those classes his kid could be using an AAC device you know how long it's going to take them to raise his hand for that teacher to get his attention while he's pointing to what he wants to do go to the bathroom do another do something else it prohibits him from learning even though he's nonverbal he is still
146able to learn that's one thing I have a kid again in this District that has phological disorder a parent said earlier she covered her child's work and and her child couldn't recognize it because she couldn't get it together with literacy y'all want to increase class sizes but these kids are not getting the help that they need the parent professionals I commend you guys I'm an educator myself work I work with kids with autism again I work with kids with autism and a lot of the autistic kids are in this District that's one per professionals you do not go unnoticed at all they don't and I don't want them to feel like they're going unnoticed you're pulling let's see health benefits do you guys know that these kids depend on these parap professionals if they get
147sick something happens to them they can't come in the kids are screwed that they help the teachers get these kids together in the beginning of the day and at the end of the day let's talk about the busing I'm going I'm going all over the place but the busing thank you for what you do um I had a a situation this morning this afternoon a bus driver from Hilman blows the stop sign but you guys want to have Hilman take over their routes unbelievable I was in a crosswalk with my son when she blew through that stop sign could have hit me and my boy but you want to use outside sources to take our kids around absolutely not it's disgusting it's a disgrace it is unbelievable what they have to go through it's unbelievable
148my kid in the beginning of the school year when he when we moved to New Jersey he didn't get home till 2 hours late following Hillman but you're going to use them when our kids are getting home late and we have to go to [Music] [Applause] work di Brown par professional so par professionals play an essential role in supp in both students and teachers the loss or reduction of these positions severely limit our District's ability to meet the needs of students particularly those who rely on one-on-one support many of us work with students who require frequent R Direction and without our presence these students will struggle significantly unfortunately short-term Solutions such as Ro rotating the first 15 and the last 15 minutes a day are inadequate consistency is critical for the students success ongoing budget
149cuts not only jeopardize the quality of support available to our students but risk driving away dedicated pair professionals from our schools personally as a new hire I make less than a new hire at Taco Bell while I deeply appreciate the administration at my school and the opportunity to work alongside exceptional teachers the lack of career advancement livable wages and adequate benefits make it difficult to remain at this pos position long term I urge you to explore every available Avenue to secure funding to support our roles I encourage collaboration with local districts to develop Sustainable Solutions we must act now before the end impact they devop by our students particularly those most vulnerable uh good evening my name is Ben gini uh my statement tonight is twofold uh first I wish to share my heartfelt thank
150you to the amazing reading recovery team at Mees more more specifically Mrs Morgan uh the thoughtfulness professionalism and determination that they give to all their students has been proven year after year to be Beyond un successful the reading recovery program hosted at all six elementary schools has been a has been a supported and much-needed program within the district for over 20 years utilizing a combination of a reading specialist and an interventionist these teachers work Hand inand by creating a successful game plan for each student needing intervention without this program it' be impossible for the bottom 20% of the first grade children whom struggle with learning to read to obtain and be successful at any portion of the school district's mission having uh read the pimary budget and seen it this evening right uh this historical
151and fundamentally needed program is suggested to be cut is overwhelmingly disappointing and wildly inappropriate if this program were to be cut or reduced it would have long- lasting effects students would forever be behind and in my opinion that would be the school district failing those students at the very basic form of school which is learning how to read I hope you take into consideration the profoundly successful program you have currently you you have currently and that you've had over for 20 years not only embrace the amazing staff that you have as it pertains to reading recovery but allow them to continue to help our students develop the skills to empower them to and you probably understand this and heard this before achieve their unique potential Embrace self-directed lifelong learning develop the skills necessary for appropriate
152risk taking and responsible decision- making respect themselves and others problem solve individually and collaboratively contributing members of a diverse Global Society this reading recovery team helps them do that simply by helping them learn how to read thank [Applause] you Bruce alright Marlton resident you know I sat here tonight and listened to all the issues from lower class sizes reduction of staff loss of health benefits so let's talk about the special education department and the power professionals that are the backbone of that department they make the least amount of money in the district and yet you're going to take away their health benefits when most of them have over 20 years in the district and each year as they retire there are less of them the bulk of the power professionals will be gone in four
153years yet you're going to take away a lifetime of hard work and the love of those children that they give and just take away their health benefits do you think they're going to stay they're not they're not going to stay they're going to leave you have a plan to replace all those people I doubt you do and I doubt you're going to find them off the street for part-time work with no benefits do you know how hard that job is I doubt most of you even know I doubt you know it's a disgrace what you're doing an absolute disgrace it's a betrayal they were promised to keep those benefits and I've heard before when we went through this four years ago as Mr Smith quoted it was stated that no such promise was made and
154I know that's false a promise was made to them so the word is betrayal and I've already you know expressed to my wife who spent 22 years in this District to leave if you take away her benefits there's no reason for her to stay and you know who suffers the children and let's talk about the bus drivers right I live right by Hillman they drive like lunatics I see it every day and that's what you're going to use I'm hearing hman good luck with that it's about the safety of the children the bus drivers that work for this District make sure our children are safe when they get to school and they're safe on the way home and the bus drivers for the special needs kids okay they they know what they need they help
155them they make sure that their trip is safe and that they're taken care of on the way to school on the way out so this buzzer presentation and what you came up with it's awful I give the administration and this board an F hello my name is Donna I've gone on 10 years as a bus a with the Ean Township I have nothing prepared to say tonight only to say that none of you realize how much an aid does for your children in the town they take on many different roles they're mothers there's helpers they wipe noses tears listen to them help them ask questions they answer they want to know things and when you came in and said buses were uh bus AIDS were all going to be gone as though we didn't mean
156anything to this town you have no idea what you did to these AIDS and alls I have to say to each one on the board if that's how you feel I ask and invite each one of you to ride the bus all day and see what is done on those bues I don't think any of his real ize what goes into getting these children to school thank you good evening I'm Joyce Luchi I'm a bus driver in the district for 25 years so I've seen a lot of things going on I've seen more Hillman drivers here and yes they do run stop signs they do things that us drivers wouldn't do or if we one of us did we would tell our uh coordinator what is going wrong but you have no one to answer
157for hman Hillman's not going to come and tell you oh that person did this or this person did that and we've taken care of so many children over the years I've not only have taken care of children I think I've canceled them some of the time they would get on upset and I'll say what's the problem today oh I don't like my mom today um she's mean to me and well we'll talk over all right well you know sometimes moms have a bad day and I talk over them with the a little bit on our ride to school or my Aid would do that also but you want to get rid of someone that's here to be your eyes and your ears and put out there to something that they can do whatever they want
158The Out Source company you're not going to see that nobody else is going to see that they're going to do what they want and yeah they're going to give you a good price this year but I guarantee you the next time they're going to raise it a lot and we've seen that over the years millions of dollars that hman has raised for you guys and it's put you in a bind and you have no other choice but to pay it because there's nothing else to do with it and with the bus AIDS and the pars I've seen pars be kicked they have protective garbs on their arms so that they don't get scratched I've seen one power fall on the ground and get scratched in his face because the child was unruly and she couldn't
159had to try to pick him up so he wouldn't get hurt I've seen some of my own students the Paris had to help protect me against a child that didn't want to get on the bus that day so we had to try to help Coke someone to a bus because he didn't want to go home and the parent couldn't come and get him because they had no transportation for him is himman going to give them that much attention no not at all I can't emphasize what aara does and the bus AIDS do to help us out as far as driving and that par is helping your Stu the students of this District every day to get through a school day especially with the new preschool program that's a full day and they had it 10
160with these students all day long I've seen it just the little bit of time that I've seen them outside with them trying to coordinate them and get them on buses and calm them down a little bit I've even had students that wouldn't get on a bus if they didn't see my Aid or myself one there because we take careing the kids so much put Outsourcing them is not going to help thank you hi my name is Patrick Bryan I live in Heritage um my daughter is in the preschool program here um I grew up in this town I went through the district I moved back here because I thought it was a good District but from what I heard tonight it doesn't sound that way I have a younger daughter who I wanted to continue
161and follow her sister through the program but sounds like one of them is going to learn to read and the other's going to have problems and that's terrifying as a parent um I was scared to send my daughter to school just because it's my first kid it's a scary thing and her bus driver's here I don't think she would have kept going to school if he didn't provide the quality of service that he provides I wouldn't have been I wouldn't have come here to tonight if he didn't implore us to you know come stand up and and fight for some of this stuff I wasn't you know my kids four I wasn't aware of all this going on this is terrifying it can't possibly get better based on the history that you guys are showing
162in this presentation um but I mean I was inspired to talk by her bus driver and two of my teachers from when I was in Middle School are still teaching at the at schools here and because of how much they care about their students and you're going to put the burden on them to work so much harder take away their free period where they can work with students and ultimately the kids are going to be the ones that suffer and it's just not right I I can't imagine that those are the those are the only options you know my daughter's in the preschool program and the Paras are so important this it's hard dealing with two toddlers at home can't imagine a class of 15 or more if the size of the class gets bigger
163the teachers can't do it without the Paras and if you cut their fun their health benefits how can you expect them to stay especially with 20 years of service under their belt and it's still going to get taken away it's just it's not right there's got to be something else that we can do um and it seems Seems silly that we started with you know Sports and music and and those types of programs are going to be getting cut should have left that until the end so that all the parents that were proud of what their kids accomplished would have stayed and heard what was happening because they probably don't care or know they just blind to it and you know the kids should see it it was so impressive that the two students who
164spoke tonight I don't think that all the kids understand what's happening and I I think that you know there'd be more people who would voice their opinion and stand up if they knew so I I don't think that that was the right choice thank you for the [Music] time hi my name is Corine halabura um I'm from Marlton I'm also one of the power Professionals in the district I'm also one of the um Union reps um I just want to say that again I'm up here speaking I'm very disappointed in the budget that was proposed um all of these Cuts affect kids the bottom line is it is affecting kids I'm disheartened to see I have grandchildren myself that to have strangers driving our kids to from school I know after 24 years in the
165district what it's like to have the bus drivers with a friendly face and somebody that the kids actually recognize and know and it is important um also I'm certainly disheartened about our benefits being taking away again um after 24 years we as power professionals we are the lowest paid and we work really really hard um special needs preschool um all of the students can benefit from us and to have these benefits taken away is devastating to a lot of families um and again Middle School classes the kids aren't going to get a good education here in Marlton Marlton used to be the best we used to have the best special education program people moved here because of our school district and I just I I think maybe we need to go back to the drawing
166board and figure figure something else out I don't understand our taxes were raised last year over 2 million you want to raise the tax levy again and yet you're cutting cutting cutting it I'm not good at math but it just doesn't make sense to me so please try to do better thank you good evening my name is Kelly Huber I'm a sixth grade science teacher here at Marlton Middle School these budget C are having a profound impact on the middle school and it's heartbreaking to see how many vital programs and supports are being compromised the loss of 35 teachers and other important staff members coupled with the increased class sizes and changes to the team concept will definitely strain the ability to meet students needs in meaningful ways the team concept is not just a
167structure it's a Lifeline that supports both students and teachers with reduced access to independent study students who need extra support whether it's catching up with absences after being absent receiving more one-on-one help or getting additional testing time are going to be severely impacted these Cuts could lead to an environment where students particularly those struggling the most don't get the support they need and risk falling through the cracks this time allows students to be challenged and enriched in their learning the loss of the time for collaboration between teachers the guidance counselors the administration could also hinder the efforts to address student concerns early leading to more students being overlooked the personal connections and relationship building that were once possible in a more manageable setting like having smaller class sizes and consistent team time will be incredibly
168difficult to maintain when teachers are spread so thin for sixth graders the opportunity to learn life skills like self-regulation self- advocacy and goal setting during independent study even practicing opening lockers could make a huge difference in how navigate Middle School the no place for hate lessons and growth mindset discussions are critical to developing well-rounded empathetic students who feel supported both academically and emotionally this situation speaks to a deeper issue about how schools balance budgets and ensure that educational quality is not compromised at the cost of the students development it is going to take a concerted effort from the community teachers parents students and policy makers to advocate for restoring these programs and ensuring that students best interests remain at the Forefront thank [Applause] [Music] you is there anyone else who would like to speak seeing
169none will close public comment we'll move to board member announcements is there a board member who would like to share an announcement Mr dearcy thank you Mr Kon um first I just want to uh obviously EF they were mentioned at this meeting um the amazing work they do the article that was out there if you got the chance to see it a lot of the stuff uh they do to help fundraise for the district um I I encourage everyone if they can to get involved with that organization they do great stuff uh so thank you to them um but one other thing uh I wanted to say thank you to a lot of you I know a lot of you have been very involved with the efforts to Lobby our state legislators to talk to
170uh the policy makers and threatened trying to advocate for additional resources to make um our budget situation even just a little bit better right uh I'll be honest I fully expected to go into every year after um losing funds from the state just because that was the trend that always has been the trend uh so the news that comes down from Trenton's a little positive and I could share that um I I had a couple conversations with some of our LDA legislators and I asked them I said uh how many calls do you get from eam every day and he just looked at me and he smiled and he goes you guys are doing a good job over there so they're hearing it um and thank you to everyone who put an email in put
171a call in uh cuz I really do believe it makes a difference in actually telling the state what we need from them so thank you thanks Mr dear Mercy is there any other board member would like to make an announcement Mr pman I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone that came out tonight and thank everyone that spoke tonight um we're all up here to listen and to learn from everything you have to say and it means a lot and it's not easy to do and we appreciate what you have to say Thank you Mr peelman any other board member like to share an announcement seeing none motion to adjourn motion by Mr pman seconded by Mr Mary all those in favor thank you e for