Superintendent's Message August 25, 2010 |
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Board of Education Meeting
Superintendent’s Report Wednesday, August 25, 2010 Highlights since our last board meeting:
Village School - is ready to open its doors on September 7th for our youngsters! The office staff, custodial staff, and building administrators have been hard at work to finalize ordering, placement, and scheduling. Everything is coming together seamlessly to make this another great year for all at Village School!
The Village Rain Garden is complete. This will be a wonderful area for our children to enhance their knowledge about helping our environment during their science instruction. We are very excited to partner with a number of organizations to make our Rain Garden a successful learning tool for the children.
Indian Hill School – Ms. McGinty and Mr. Saponaro have been diligently working on scheduling and appropriate student placement. Thanks to the fine custodial staff, the building is ready and looking wonderful for the new school year. The administrative staff has been kept busy this summer getting everything in place for a successful first day of school. Welcome to 4 new staff members and 3 new district transfers. The Ground Crew is still working on beautifying the front of the building, replacing pavers that needed repair. Finally, I’m delighted to welcome our Interim Principal, Ms. Susan McGinty, to this excellent school.
W. R. Satz School - the Satz administrative team is prepared for the opening of school. Schedules have been mailed to the students, and all the last minute changes with placement and teachers are being addressed by the administrative teams, supervisors, and guidance staff accordingly. Our maintenance crew has done an excellent job with the preparation of the school building for opening. Our head custodian and his team have done a tremendous job and the grounds crew has worked hard landscaping the front of the building planting the new bushes and shrubs donated by Dearborn Farms.
Holmdel High School - Congratulations to Marianne Connelly who was awarded a scholarship by the English Speaking Union to spend a week at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon. Ms. Connelly, the only educator chosen from the United States, joined her peers from around the world in the study of Shakespeare. They immersed themselves in a week of Shakespeare’s plays, as well as, lectures, discussions, and workshops devised and delivered by Shakespearian experts. The emphasis was on enjoying Shakespeare’s work, from academic and theatrical points of view; the goal for participants is to share what they learned and experienced with others upon their return home.
Congratulations also to Josephine Blaha who was awarded an ACS-Hach High School Chemistry Grant in the amount of $1485 to support her proposal entitled Biodiesel in the High School Laboratory. Congratulations to a HHS 12th grade student who attended the Middlebury-Monterey Chinese Language Academy this summer at Oberlin College in Ohio. The Academy is a rigorous, four-week, total immersion language program in which students spend the duration of their stay speaking the language they are studying including during meals and extra-curricular activities! Congratulations to a HHS 10th grade student for earning a 2010 National Moto Cross Championship the “Supermini” Division!!! This is the 3rd National Moto Cross Championship in Nick’s career!
Advanced Placement Exam results are in and we are proud to announce that 90% of all HHS students who sat for an exam earned a passing score of “3” or better, with 44% earning perfect “5” scores! These percentages are well above national and state averages. Congratulations to all of the students, as well as to their teachers and parents, for this tremendous accomplishment.
New Jersey Monthly has released its latest rankings of the top high schools in the Garden State, and Holmdel is once again ranked #1 in Monmouth County! Bravo!
Holmdel tied for 4th highest SAT scores in the New Jersey (along with West Windsor/Plainsboro North).
To see the complete list, click here: http://njmonthly.com/
Administrator’s Retreat The Administrator’s Retreat took place over 2 days in August. A wide range of topics were covered. A detailed review of the retreat will be provided at the next Board of Education meeting.
New Teacher Orientation The orientation for new teachers took place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, August 24-26, 2010. The new teachers were greeted by members of the administration and the Board of Education on Tuesday. With the support of Mr. Gattini and the Technology team, the new teachers successfully found their e-mail, the student management system, and the many resources housed on our district server. They created unit plans and lesson plans using the “Understanding by Design” framework with the support of Dan Griesback, a Holmdel “ Teacher Leader”, Dr. Joseph Corriero, a Monmouth University Professor, and Mary Beth Currie, our Assistant Superintendent. They worked with Ms. Mandie Peart, our Human Resources Manager, to finalize all of the necessary paperwork and mandatory personnel training.
Our new teachers also met with their respective principals and supervisors to prepare for the first day of school.
Progress Toward District Goals
Technology Goal - Holmdel’s first classroom to implement HP and Microsoft’s latest thin client and desktop virtualization solution will be taking place at Indian Hill School this year. Microsoft developed the MultiPoint operating system software that runs on HP’s hardware.
Microsoft’s Multipoint Server allows multiple users to simultaneously share one computer, thereby increasing access to affordable computing in educational scenarios like classrooms, labs and libraries. Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 is an operating system that allows multiple stations to draw their processing power from one traditional desktop PC, providing each student an independent monitor, keyboard and mouse.
If all goes well with this pilot project, the district plans on using this technology in at least 9 more classrooms at Indian Hill next year. The savings are substantial and, in today’s economic environment, you can’t ignore savings that can be 35% or more over conventional student PCs. Other benefits include a whisper quiet environment with a reduction in heat and the devices only draw 2.5 watts of electricity compared to our older PCs that can consume 240-280 watts of electricity.
Thanks to a generous gift from the Holmdel High School PTSO, all high school classrooms are now equipped with full-size projection screens and whiteboards!
Character Education Goal - In alignment with our character education school goal, the W. R. Satz School Core team has begun arranging assembly programs for the 2010-2011 school year. We are currently in the process of scheduling Dr. Michael Fowlin to come to Satz to speak to our 7th and 8th grade students.
Differentiation of Instruction – As part of our Memorandum of Agreement, we are very grateful for the support of Monmouth University. Our new partnership demonstrates the value of community and university collaboration. During the coming school year, our novice teachers will benefit from the regular support of our administrative team, our “Teacher Leaders” and Monmouth University.
Ms. Alston attended the NJ Summer Literacy Institute in July, where many workshops and guest speakers addressed a variety of issues related to differentiation of instruction in grades K-8 literacy. The practices and resources will be shared with staff at team and department meetings.
Ms. Alston worked throughout the summer with Ms. Bellis to define, establish and chart a framework and scope and sequence for grades 4-5 reading workshop. This will be shared at team meetings and articulation meetings during the school year with staff.
World Language Goal - construction of the computer lab dedicated to World Language instruction, fully funded through the wonderful efforts of the Holmdel Foundation for Educational Excellence, is moving along nicely and should be ready for use in mid- to late-September.
Be Well and Stay Safe. | |||
Barbara Duncan |