At the meeting, the interim superintendent announced the decision by the Executive County Superintendent to determine the president and vice-president after the deadlock votes earlier in the month
The Voorhees Township Board of Education held its first regular meeting of the calendar year Wednesday, Jan. 30, at Signal Hill Elementary School.
Starting the meeting was the announcement regarding the board of education president and vice president by interim Superintendent Barry Galasso. The board was unable to nominate and agree on the two positions at the reorganization meeting Thursday, Jan 3.
“There were two candidates for each position. In that event, the executive county superintendent is charged with the duty of interviewing the candidates for the positions and then making recommendations for leadership at the local level,” Galasso said.
Galasso said he received an email from Executive County Superintendent Lovell Pugh-Bassett the morning of the BOE meeting. After having interviewed Richard Nelson and Dawn Wallace for president, and Monica Watson and Bruce Karpf for vice president, she selected Wallace and Karpf for the positions, having taken “all factors into consideration, coupled with the amazing candidates that were placed before her.”
Karpf was sworn in as vice president after the announcement. Wallace was not present at the meeting, and is expected to be sworn in as president at the next board meeting.
Karpf announced the service award honorees during the meeting, recognizing Cari Cooper, MariBeth Holliday, Tracey Redfearn and Principal Sharon Stallings, who all work at Signal Hill Elementary, for their 25 years of service with the Voorhees Township Public School District.
According to Galasso, the district is preparing for QSAC, a monitoring process by both the county and the state.
“I think it’s going to be an opportunity to showcase the excellence in Voorhees, its wonderful facilities, its great curriculum, outstanding teachers and kids, and we really look forward to their visit,” Galasso said.
The process is expected to begin in late March, and the board hopes to be able release the results of the monitoring process to the public around May or June.
During the meeting, six students at Signal Hill Elementary School briefly showcased and discussed the projects and experiments they’ve completed thanks to the iPads in the school.
Stallings introduced the six students, allowing Liam Keet, Neev Dadhania, Kaleigh Blackmore, Jenna Baron, Christiane Johnson and Caleb Moore the opportunity to show videos and pictures of their work to the board and those in attendance.
The projects included the making of a video book report using a green screen, the development of an app to increase productivity for the Husky Pride initiative and the learning of programming using dots and dashes.
“These kids are incredible,” Stallings said. “You teach them the basics and then they soar. You teach them just enough that they can use their creative minds, the intelligence they have, the lessons they’ve been taught by their teachers, and then there’s no stopping them.”
“They are creative thinkers, and that is hard to teach. When it comes to technology, it’s just endless creations from them,” Stallings added.
Lastly at the meeting, resident Craig Petit inquired about the potential influx of additional children to the district if additional housing units are built around the Voorhees Town Center, as the Redevelopment Plan passed last week seeks additional homes.
Galasso said the board has met with township officials regarding the redevelopment and discussed the potential changes.
“Current projections are that the current functional capacity of all the schools will be able to handle that new population,” Galasso said. “The question becomes, is there a redistricting necessary or grade assignment necessary, and the board will be looking at that over the next couple of months.”
