New board members sworn in; board approves grant, hires and routine finance items

The Berlin Township School District board opened its May 7 meeting by administering the oath of office to incoming member(s). The chair led two swearings in which one person identified themself as Wojeman and another as Kyle Voschmidt. "Welcome to the board," the chair said after the oath.

At roll call the board established a quorum and the body approved minutes from the April 23 and May 7, 2026 meetings after a motion and second and a voice vote. The board then moved to routine business and the superintendent's report.

Mister Lee reported on district safety and security drills, April bus evacuation drills and monthly administration reports. He told the board the district received a Focus Grant award of $2,040 to support its AIMSweb universal screener and proposed creating an elementary literacy teacher coach position. Lee described the coach as a classroom teaching position that would work with teachers to implement interventions and provide some pull-out instruction for students who need extra support. When asked whether funding for the literacy teacher coach was included in the budget, Lee said it was.

Lee also listed personnel items on the agenda: new hires, approval of student interns for next school year, a resignation of a part-time instructional lead and the upcoming retirement of the middle school principal after 20 years.

On finance matters the treasurer's and secretary's reports for April 2026 showed no line items overexpended and stated there are sufficient funds to meet district obligations for the remainder of the year. The board approved payment of bills and several monthly disbursements, including cafeteria disbursements for April totaling $65,385.67 and care disbursements for April totaling $11,637.11. The board also approved out-of-district placements for next year (including ESY), budget transfers to cover home instruction and fuel costs for district vehicles, and a slate of annual general/professional services contracts (Camden County Ed Services Commission, Gloucester County Special Services School District, Burlington County Special Services School District and a list of outside consultants for child study team needs).

The chair described a draft resolution urging relief from rising public school employee health care costs and said the board would consider forwarding it to the state assembly and governor to request reform.

Motions to approve the superintendent items and the business and finance items received motions, seconds and affirmative voice votes from members present and passed. The chair announced the board would enter an executive session; no decisions were taken after the executive session and the board adjourned that night.

Actions recorded on the agenda were procedural approvals and routine operational items; no new policies or binding contract changes beyond annual approvals of service-provider contracts were adopted during the open session.