Students and community members press Camden leaders over magnet-school scheduling and transparency

Several public commenters at the Camden City School District advisory meeting on May 26 sharply criticized cross-campus scheduling practices at the Camden High campus, saying forms and course-selection processes are obscuring magnet-school identities and creating confusion for students and families.

Karen Belli Luke, who identified long service at BRIM Medical Arts, said students are being "strongly encouraged to take classes across campuses rather than within their own magnet schools" and that course-selection forms no longer identify magnet schools by name. "Stop removing magnet school identities from forms. Stop pushing cross campus scheduling as the norm," she said.

Alice Comr, a freshman at BRIM, described scheduling chaos and operational opacity: counselors could not tell students who their teachers would be or where classes would physically meet. She also said students feel pressured to enroll in Rowan Early College and claimed hidden costs for transcripts. "This forced integration has caused total chaos with scheduling," Comr told the board, and she described facilities problems—restroom locks, missing soap and nonfunctional sinks—alongside high turnover among guidance counselors.

Other commenters, including Mr. Delgado and Kevin Waters, urged clearer titles and restored roles for multilingual education and asked for a stakeholder task force to study any campus changes. Some speakers framed the situation as a breach of trust and called for more transparent engagement before structural decisions are finalized.

Board members acknowledged the concerns and asked the superintendent to follow up. The board did not record a formal vote or policy change on the campus structure during the meeting; several commenters asked for a stakeholder task force to be convened to examine magnet-school identity, course forms and scheduling practices.

What remains unresolved: Whether the district will alter current cross-campus scheduling processes, whether forms will again label students' magnet schools, and the district’s response on the alleged Rowan transcript costs. Board members asked for clarity on the farmers market and other community programs during the meeting and requested follow-up from the superintendent and staff.