The report outlines current students enrollment levels, new staffing hires during the summer, recent professional development undertaken by staff and more.
It’s about a month into another school year in Mt. Laurel and that means its time for another annual Back to School report from Mt. Laurel Schools.
The district typically releases the report around the time of the first Board of Education in September of each new school year to give members of the public an update on the return of students and staff to Mt. Laurel’s lower schools.
The report outlines topics such as student enrollment levels, recent professional development that staff underwent during the summer break and any new hires that were made since the end of the prior school year.
For the first day of school for the 2018–2019 school year on Sept. 7, the district an overall enrollment of 4,221 students, which includes preschool students through students in grade eight, as well as out-of-district placement students.
The figure is in line with enrollment numbers at the beginning of recent school years, as the 2017–2018 school year for Mt. Laurel Schools started with 4,256 students and the 2016–2017 school year began with 4,229 students.
On the staffing side, the district also held its orientation for new teachers from Aug. 20 to Aug. 23.
During that time, 29 new teachers met to undertake mentoring and review topics such as harassment-intimidation-and-bullying prevention, special education programs and the Responsive Classroom teaching approach, which works on the theory of perceived link between a students social/emotional growth and their academic growth.
New staff also participated in individual training sessions related to the areas of content they teach.
Similar to past year, this year’s Back to School Report also included information on previous year’s Nursing Service Plan for the district.
The plan showcases statistics on students’ use of school nursing services.
For the 2016–2017 school year, three students were ranked “Level 1” or “nursing dependent” where they required constant skilled nursing care, assessment and intervention.
Next, 256 students were ranked “Level 2” or “medically fragile” where they had complicated health-care needs such as severe seizure disorders or diabetes.
After that, 428 students were ranked “Level 3” or “medically complex” where they required daily treatments or close monitoring for conditions such as cancer, immune disorders or moderate asthma;
Finally, 1422 students were ranked “Level 5” or “health concerns” where these students had minor health concerns in which occasional monitoring was required.
