Highlights since our last board meeting:

Current Enrollment Figures

Village School –kicked off the Village School Post Office with an assembly last Friday. Mr. Porto, a retired postal worker spoke to the children about the history of the mail and how it has changed over the years; the children received an overview of the school post office and the grade specific jobs, for example, the preschoolers and kindergarteners are delivering the mail to the school postal office from the mailboxes. The first graders will be cancelling the mail. The third graders will be sorting the mail. Second graders will be delivering the mail to the classrooms.  All classes have buddy classes with which they will be pen-pals. The students were treated to a reenactment of the Jolly Postman.
Jump Rope for Heart was another great success - the students raised over $20,000! Kudos to the PE staff for putting together fun and exciting jumping activities.

Principal Brian Schillaci Reports: “Thursday, Feb. 4th Indian Hill School had a fundraiser for Haiti.
 We would like to thank everyone for their help and support in this tremendous effort. The students did an amazing job of collecting over $4,100 during the course of the week. We had a great time culminating in a pie throwing event. The children handled it beautifully. Of course, we were the ones who were a mess! The most important piece was knowing the students understand they helped those in need. We are all very proud of them in the way they stepped up to help others.”
 Thursday Feb. 18th Indian Hill School held their annual Talent show. It was enjoyed by all.
 Knowledge Masters results are in!  5th graders came in 2nd in NJ and 18th in USA--
6th graders came in 1st in NJ and 25th in USA

Satz School - the Math Counts team placed third overall at their most recent competition. One student was the best in the school for this competition. He ranked number 11 out of 136 students.

Twenty two schools competed at the regional competition on Saturday, February 13, 2010 at Union County College. Each school was allowed to send up to eight students. We are very proud of the team’s outstanding accomplishments. Our team is moving on to the next level in the Math Counts Competition.

A seventh grader at Satz School, just won his first National Opens Title in both Singles and Doubles tennis at Latham, NY during President's weekend. As the result, he was awarded two USTA (United States Tennis Association) National Champion Gold Medals. He is ranked 37th in the 12 year old boys age group.

Holmdel High School – HHS Supports “Cinderella’s Closet”
The HHS National Honor Society donated its time recently in support of “Cinderella's Closet” of Monmouth County, an organization committed to making prom dresses available at reasonable prices to less fortunate students around the county. Our students did a fantastic job in assisting their efforts by modeling, selling raffle tickets, decorating cookies, and wrapping auction items. The organizers were very impressed by their commitment and dedication to the cause.
 
 
Holmdel High School in the News
Kudos is extended to Mr. Harkness and to Dr. Blaha for the recent articles in the Asbury Park Press highlighting their classes. Additionally, look for the special section entitled “A Day in the Life of Holmdel High School” which will appear in print, and online (www.app.com), on Thursday, Feb. 25th.

HHS Alumni News - Allen Gannett, member of the Class of 2009 and a freshman at George Washington University, is set to appear in an upcoming episode of “Wheel of Fortune.” He says, “the episode airs on Feb. 26t h (7:30 pm – ABC). I can't tell you how it went, but I think you'll be proud!”
Bayshore Educator of the Year!
Congratulations to Matt Goetke, who was named “2010 Bayshore Educator of the Year” by the Caesarea Lodge of Masons in Keyport. Matt will be honored formally at a ceremony on Monday, March 1st, and is in the running for the district and state award that will be announced later this month. This is a well-deserved and well-earned honor for Matt, and we wish him luck at the next level!
Student Artists Recognized - Two Holmdel students, were awarded “Gold Key Awards” recently by the Montclair Art Museum. A jury of professional artists, curators, and arts educators spent 20 hours reviewing over 1700 works of art submitted by over 700 individual student artists from across northern New Jersey. The student’s artwork is on display now thru March 7th. Congratulations!
Music Department Honors
Congratulations to a student for her performance on oboe with the All-State Wind Ensemble this past weekend, and to another student for his performance on drums accompanying the All-State Jazz Choir.

Congratulations also to the Jazz Band for its recent performance at the New Hope-Solebury High School Jazz Festival. The band received a rating of "Outstanding" and also won an award for having the "Best Saxophone Section."
 
HHS Sports:
HHS Senior Football Captain Tommy Nolan will be honored this Thursday, February 25, 2010 at the Vince Lombardi Awards Dinner. For the second consecutive year, Tommy Nolan as been Holmdel's Recipient of the Vince Lombardi Block of Granite Award. Tommy has also recently been awarded the Tuggle Award in recognition for overcoming personal adversity.   Both Tommy Nolan and Head Football Coach Frank Papalia will be speaking at the dinner.

HHS Graduate Connor Nelson (HHS '08), currently a sophomore at Villanova University, was a member of the Division I - Football Championship Sub-Division Villanova Wildcats NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP team. Connor, a second-year linebacker at Villanova, was a two-way standout for Holmdel's 2007 National Division Championship Team.

HHS Graduate Jason Hyland (HHS '09) is currently a freshman and at Div. I-AA Wagner College, where he is a Linebacker/Defensive Back for the Wagner football team. Jason was one of only six Wagner Football Players to be named to the "All North East Conference (NEC) Commissioner's Honor Roll", which is awarded to athletes who make a significant contribution to a varsity sports program and achieve at least a 3.75 GPA.


Guidance:
A sample of 100 seniors took a National Assessment of Educational Programs (NAEP) test. The NAEP is a congressionally mandated project overseen by the National Center for Education Statistics to continuously monitor the knowledge, skills, and performance of our Nation's youth. Representatives from NAEP had wonderful things to say about our students.

 The High School Guidance Department has been meeting with our students to log them onto Naviance. Naviance is a new program available to our high school students that assists them in college searches and career profiles. It is an excellent tool that the Guidance Department is very excited about.

 HSPA testing takes place next week for all of our Juniors. We are confident that our 11th graders will do our school proud once again.
 
Progress towards our Goals:
 
At Indian Hill  - a Character Education Committee was formed. There were several ideas discussed at the last meeting. One idea that has been put into place is the day starting with a song (We Are The World) and a piece of advice (i.e. - smile at someone today). We want the staff and students to begin their day in a good mindset. So far the response has been positive, as they move through the week!

Progress From Principal Howard: In support of the character education goal, on March 2nd there will be an assembly on “Bullying” hosted by Sgt. D'Amico from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office for our 8th grade students. He is also speaking to the 9th graders at the High School.

 
From Susan Alston, the Supervisor of Humanities:  Three 4th grade teachers continue to meet weekly with Marilyn Bellis and Susan Alston to plan the lessons for their reading workshop. Learnia Assessment B is scheduled to be completed in March at Satz. The grades 6-8 writing samples for Honors placement in English are taking place on February 25 and March 4 at Indian Hill and Satz Schools.
Satz Social Studies teachers will be attending the NJ DOE workshop on implementing the new standards in March. Literacy teachers in grades 4-8 are working on practice in persuasive writing with their students. Grade 11 English teachers are preparing their students for next week's HSPA exams.