Egg Harbor Towhship

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           The Board of Education (BOE) meeting on January 27, 2009 was a short one. Dr. McCartney turned the Superintendent’s report over to Assistant Superintendent Don Robertson to give an update on the Pre-school Expansion program mandated by the state.

Mr. Robertson began by saying a slide presentation explaining the requirements for the Pre-school program are on the district website and that the district has applied for a waiver for this year to the state. Since having the required space to house the program is not available in our district without building new schools, one solution to meet the state’s mandate is to have the qualified 3 & 4 year olds attend certified area pre-schools. 12 out of the 14 invited pre-schools met on 1/22/09 with district administration to show how they can meet the requirements mandated and the cost involved. These presentations are being reviewed at this time. District administration is also visiting other existing pre-school programs to evaluate their curriculum.

            In the public portion, I approached the BOE to inquire if they would support Project Graduation this year as they have in the past. President Gavin asked our business administrator if the funds were in the current budget and was assured by Ms. Bechtel they were. The BOE then agreed to $3000 be given to Project Graduation.

            Some members of the Engineering Team and a mom of one of the members then presented their concerns of eliminating the Engineering Team and have them be umbrella under the TSA( Technology Systems Associates). If the 12 members of the Engineering Team were to become part of TSA, under state guidelines, they would not be able to compete in competitions. BOE members were not aware of the situation and President Galvin asked that the situation be investigated. Assistant Superintendent Ms. Gruccio was assigned the task and is to report to Dr. McCartney and the BOE.

            One of the student representatives reported that midterms were that week (report cards go home on Monday, 2/9/09) and that juniors were picking their schedules for their senior year next week.

            One of the BOE members shared that Ocean City Home Bank wants to keep our business and will pay 1% interest in spite of what the Fed. Rate is.

            Under Finance/Operations, the BOE approved normal purchases and related expenses for running the district. Appointment of the Architect of Record was placed on hold.

            The 2009-2010 school calendar was approved and is available on the school’s home page, eht.k12.nj.us. School will start with an abbreviated day on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009.

            Under Personnel:

  • Erin Lichetenwainer is voluntarily transferring from the Miller self-contained to High School Psychologist, replacing M. Rush who is on maternity leave.
  • Doris Borne was approved as Assistant Principal at Slaybaugh Elementary, replacing M. Giardina who has been appointed Slaybaugh Principal.
  • Joseph Larkin’s appointment as Interim Elementary Assistant Principal at Miller School was extended to 3/3/09, due to Ms. Smith extending her maternity leave.
  • Thomas Spengler, History at Fernwood Middle School, is on medical leave of absence from 1/5/09 with a return date pending doctor’s approval.
  • Lisa Hart, Learning Resource Center, revised her maternity/child rearing leave from 2/2-5/9/09 to 1/26-5/11/09.
  • Cathleen Smith, Assistant Principal at Miller, revised her maternity/child rearing leave from 12/3/08-2/11/09 to 12/3/08-3/309.
  • Dr. Beth Ann Richey submitted her letter of retirement, effective 5/1/09.

 

At the January 20th BOE work session, BOE members had a presentation on going “green” with an executive meeting automation software which provides BOE members with immediate access to critical information in a paperless environment. This program eliminates the need for costly shipments of agenda to BOE members, saves on paper and copying costs( BOE packets can be several inches thick), and the need for staff to research past actions. The district is already using other key portions of this software.

The curriculum committee, chaired by Ms. Spiker, was held on 2/3/09. A presentation by Dr. Michele Schreiner on using FLAP (Foreign Language Assistance Program) to establish a Chinese program was given. FLAP can provide Federal Grants from $100,000 to $300,000 per year for 5 years and is looking to establish “Flagship” programs that begin in Kindergarten and continue through college. Dr. Schreiner is applying for this grant when it becomes available in March. FLAP grants require advanced proficiency by grade 12, and approximately 1320 hours of instruction (almost x3 as much instructions EHT students receive in Spanish in grades 1-12). This can be achieved through an immersion program which is where math, science, and social studies are taught in Chinese while reading and language arts classes are taught in English. Dr. Schreiner stressed the important of providing our students this opportunity as globalization is here and pointed out that 200 million children in China study English as it’s compulsory. By comparison, only about 24,000 out of approximately 54 million elementary and secondary school children in the US study Chinese. Chinese is the most widely spoken 1st language in the world and the Asian population in the USA is projected to be 33.4 million by 2050. Asian population is projected to double from 3.8% to 8%.

Since the Computer Workplace Readiness program is now started in the lower grades, a revamping of the program is needed for the 9th and 10th graders. The updated curriculum for the “High School 101” program is geared towards helping students understand learning styles, career interests, time management, note taking, study skills, test taking, public speaking, and economic principles.

On 2/7/09, principals and administrators gave presentations of their budget to the BOE members and attending public. The Public is invited to attend the next budget meeting on 2/17/09 at 7 PM in the BOE room of the Alder Ave. Middle School.

BOE meeting for February will be on 2/10 and 2/24 at 8 PM in the BOE room of the Alder Ave. Middle School.

             

 

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