The Eastern Camden County Regional School District Board of Education held its final meeting Wednesday, Dec. 18, discussing a new course offering through Stockton University, as well as its solar power sales for the year, the development of its 2020 budget and more.
Business Administrator and Board Secretary Diana Schiraldi reported at the top of the meeting that the district sold 651 Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) through six different sales over the course of the 2019 calendar year, totaling nearly $149,000.
Additionally, Schiraldi noted the board is currently assembling the budget for the 2020-2021 school year while also awaiting estimates for upcoming summer projects, which have not yet been announced.
Superintendent Robert Cloutier stated he attended two separate meetings with the sending district K-8 schools of Voorhees Township, Berlin Borough and Gibbsboro.
First, Cloutier announced the inter-district data team has been assembled, with personnel representing all four of the school districts. The team meets to discuss how they can better share data to meet state education standards while identifying students’ strengths and weaknesses.
According to Cloutier, the data team hopes to work on addressing various aspects of student life, such as attendance and potential areas of improvement regarding curriculum.
Secondly, Cloutier said he attended his third meeting of the year with superintendents from the sending districts. In collaboration with the other schools’ top administrators, Cloutier says the group is currently working on aligning all the school’s 2020-2021 calendars as much as possible, while also discussing strategic planning and curriculum.
On the meeting’s agenda, the board passed an education item that approved a new course, “Topics in African American History and Culture,” to the 2020-2021 Curriculum Handbook. The new dual-enrollment course will be offered at Eastern through Stockton University, making it the second course Eastern offers with Stockton.
According to Cloutier, Eastern had students take a record number of 268 dual-enrollment courses last year through Camden County College, and is currently looking to expand its offerings. After offering its “Holocaust, Genocide & Crimes Against Humanity” course two years ago with Stockton, Eastern was recently able to align the new class to Stockton’s standards.
Upcoming, Cloutier says Director of Academic Programs and Student Performance Kristin Borda is working toward aligning Eastern’s “Future Teachers” course with Stockton in order to offer students the same three dual-enrollment courses the university does.