The July 26 meeting will also be open to any school or borough issue.
COLLINGSWOOD -- Borough residents will have a chance to sound off on the recent flap between educators, police and the county prosecutor's office over law enforcement investigations will get a chance to do so later this month.
In a letter to parents and guardians, schools Superintendent Scott Oswald said the joint forum will address both the new reporting protocol as well as any other school- or borough-related issue.
The focus, however, will be on the outcome of a late-May meeting between school district officials, borough police and the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. The meeting reviewed a state-mandated requirement that schools report criminal incidents to police after the district reportedly failed to inform police about a potential crime.
Teach students their legal rights
School officials said they came away from the meeting with a directive from the prosecutor's office to call 911 for even the most minor incidents, like playground bullying or racist remarks made during a third-grade class party about a brownie.
While the prosecutor's office has since said that they never directed the school officials to go beyond the normal procedures, parents -- who started a petition to urge the mayor to look into the issue -- said police were being called to the schools to interrogate their kids for routine play fighting.
The joint town forum will be held on July 26 at 7 p.m. at the Collingswood Senior Community Center, located at 28 Collings Avenue.
Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook.