At the Haddonfield Public Schools Board of Education meeting on Thursday, May 28, Superintendent Richard Perry presented the 2014–2015 District Goal Achievement Report. At the end of the year, superintendents are required to review the district goals to their boards of education.
“This is a snapshot of what we do in regard to the goals that we establish at the beginning of the year,” Perry said.
According to Perry, this year was unusual as the district had a lot of different topics to address that weren’t in the original goals set last July for the 2014–2015 school year.
Some of the achievements not under the parameters of the goals were settling the teachers contracts, which resulted in both sides being happy and coming to an agreement; creating a strategic plan to update and maintain facilities and buildings; developing the budget under a 2 percent increase with everything else going up more than 2 percent; and increasing the district’s tuition program, especially in regard to international students, which adds diversity to the student body and increases revenue.
“There are a lot of things that we are doing that aren’t within the framework of the goals… Other districts may look at their goals and think, ‘that is it,’ but for us, that is never it. Now, as we are going into graduation we are thinking of other ways that we can progress and do that,” Perry said.
The overarching statement for the 2014–2015 year was “support educators to continue teaching in our tradition of innovation, rigor, engagement and creativity for student success.”
The goals were to “maintain or improve the quality of student academic performance at all grade levels;” “continue to recruit and retain the best staff and empower them to do their jobs;” and “implement a cost-effective, long-range plan to meet student enrollment growth and infrastructure needs in order to support our students.”
Perry broke down each goal by school and gave examples of how the schools achieved each.
The first goal was achieved at the high school through things such as providing peer tutoring and exposing students to Chinese exchange students. The middle school promoted and modeled positive communications with students’ parents and families, and teachers provided students with instruction that incorporated ethical use of technology. The elementary schools revised the social studies curriculum and writing program to align with Common Core standards and implemented a new typing program to help students develop their typing skills. For both the high school and elementary schools, the district prepared students, teachers and parents for the PARCC test.
For the second goal, the district worked with local colleges and universities to immerse staff in 21st century learning at the high school, empowering them by recognizing their individual achievements over the district email through the middle school, and provided professional development to teachers and administrators on DIBELS assessment for early detection of dyslexia in the elementary schools. It also revised its interviewing process to get the best possible candidates.
For the third goal, there was a lot of crossover as schools looked at enrollment numbers and curricular needs, accommodating tuition students and infrastructure needs.
For the full presentation and list of goal achievements, visit the district website at www.haddonfield.k12.nj.us and click on the link labeled 2014–15 District Goals and Achievement Reports.
In other news:
• Students who took the National German exam and received awards were honored with commendations at the BOE meeting. Shannon Lally, Joseph Maccarone, Katherine Warner, Thomas Repsik, Gabrielle Trimbach and Lachlan Merskey received Gold Awards on the exam. Emma Feldhake and Alexander Sperandio received Silver Awards on the exam. Hannah Pancoast, Nicolette Barranger, Evan Finnegan, Ian Reilly, Elizabeth Benedict, Nicole Furman, Megan Helf and Holly Robins received Bronze Awards. Sophomore Maccarone also was mentioned to be one of 44 students nationally to be awarded a trip to study and travel in Germany this summer.
• A presentation on an update of the elementary social studies audit was given by Craig Ogelby and others of the elementary social studies committee. The committee discussed updating the curriculum, as it hasn’t been done since the 2007–2008 school year, and are implementing TCI, which is a K-12 company created by teachers and for teachers that uses interactive social studies textbooks and curriculum. To learn more about TCI, visit www.teachtci.com. The presentation is also available on the district website labeled as elementary social studies audit.
• The next BOE meeting is June 25 at 7 p.m. at the Central School/Middle School Library.
