Highlights since our last board meeting:

Current Enrollment Figures 

Village School – Halloween was a hit - the three parades went off flawlessly thanks to the great weather.  Red Ribbon Week was another great success as students learned about healthy living and making good choices.  The parent volunteers organized an event/activity per day.  The food drive raised over 1,000 lbs of food; the "Penny Wars" raised over $500.00 which will go the Heroes for Cool Kids mentoring program at Indian Hill.  Report cards will go home on November 23^rd.  All of the teachers are participating in Professional Learning Committees.

Indian Hill – The 4th graders had a wonderful time on their field trip to Huber Woods which was an educational outdoor experience.  The students recently had their assembly to elect their 6th grade officers. The student body really thought long and hard to determine who they thought would best represent Indian Hill for the coming year.  The assembly and vote the following day was a tremendous success.  Lastly, Indian Hill had their first lockdown drill of the year.  The staff and students did a commendable job following all procedures designed to keep everyone safe.

Satz School:  One of the 7th grade teams at Satz (Mrs. Williamson, Mrs. Weiss, Mrs. Howard, and Ms. Asaro) collected $250 from student and teacher contributions to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in memory of Mr. Ceriello.  This year was a stellar year for the annual Thanksgiving Food Drive at Satz School.  Besides collecting hundreds of boxes and can goods and dried food, this year the students also collected a total of 69 whole turkeys which weighed in at over a thousand pounds.

Holmdel High School –Congratulations to the high school music students who represented Holmdel at the recent All-State Performances.  They performed with the All-State Chorus at the NJEA Teachers Convention in Atlantic City in early November, while one student performed with the All-State Jazz Choir this past weekend. Bravo!

The Holmdel High School Walk Team for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation raised $1820.00 at the Walk in Avon Beach, in October.  We look forward to having underclassmen continue this worthwhile club/tradition next year. 

Holmdel High School Sports –The Boys and Girls Cross Country teams placed 4^th at the sectional championships and they have moved on to compete in the Group II State Championship meet.

A senior on the Boys Cross Country team, and a student at Hi-Tech High School, has been named one of twelve national finalists for the prestigious Wendy’s “High School Heisman” Scholar-Athlete award. He and his family will attend an event in mid-December at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City for a live broadcast on ESPN, where the national winner will be announced.  Both schools are proud of his accomplishments, and of the recognition he has earned.

Progress Towards Reaching our District Goals:

The Ad-Hoc World Language Lab Fund Raising Committee has a dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer committee comprised of representatives from the Foundation, the Board of Education, the schools and the community. Their first meeting took place on Tuesday, Nov 17, at 1:00pm in the WR Satz Library.  Their first order of business is to share creative fundraising ideas & prepare a time-line and action calendar.

The committee members are:

Co Chairs; Teresa Graw/Doreen DeMarco
HFEE Trustees: Barbara DiNicola, Vicki Entwistle, Robin Ceriello, Amy Stark, Luke Kealy, Joyce Magriples, Pam D'Aleo

BOE: Robin Wetmore, Chiung-Yin Liu

HHS/Satz: Bill Loughran, Kevin Bals, Art Howard, Jackie Peters, Sean Dowd

Community: Annmarie Pontone, Jen Montana, Lisa Polivka

The high school administration is pleased to report a recent innovative use of cell phone technology in the classroom. In one world language class, students were able to record spoken dialogue which was then sent to an account where the teacher could evaluate each student independently.  This is yet another positive example of the district’s stated goal to infuse technology more effectively into classroom instruction.

 Presentation:

At the December 16^th Board of Education meeting, there will be a presentation to acknowledge and honor the eight Holmdel Veterans for their dedication and sacrifice to our country. The Veterans and their families will be presented with a certificate and the DVD of the special veteran’s telecast produced by the Holmdel television studio under the supervision of Roger Benedict and Mary Pomarico.  There will be a coffee and cake reception following the presentation.