Fisicaro looks to keep up with improvements to the school district for educators, parents and students alike
By KRYSTAL NURSE
The Sun
Superintendent Robert Fisicaro hopes to build off the success of 2018 into the new year as support continuously pours in from the community, board, parents and educators alike.
With the start of free, full-day preschool in the district in early December, Fisicaro said Sewell School, the district’s early education building, is fully equipped with the tools to support the 4 year olds and provide a quality education to the kindergarteners as well.
He added the district worked diligently from the point of receiving the grant until the Dec. 3 start date to make necessary building changes.
“We wanted to be proactive so we can see where the challenges were,” said Fisicaro. “So I think the first thing that we’re looking forward to is working through some of the challenges with adding 75 preschool students to the district. Some of the challenges are the arrival and dismissal team and also adding transportation for our new preschool students, which is part of the preschool expansion aid from Gov. Murphy.”
The district, he said, is also looking to make its buildings handicapped-accessible for anyone who uses them — the main focal point being the castle section in the back of Sewell School that currently houses some kindergarten classrooms.
Fisicaro went on to mention the safety of students and teachers being a priority and having School Resource Officer Jim Fellon in the three schools has helped them. Jennifer Connell, principal at Sewell, added Fellon’s been a great addition and “the kids are so used to seeing him and interacting with him.”
As the schools’ security has been enhanced in the past year, Fisicaro said focus will shift to the administrative building in 2019 with the addition of cameras and implementing the visitor protocol from the schools to the building (buzzing in through an intercom, stating name and person being visited and providing a government-issued ID).
“We also have a school district safety committee that Robert Miles heads,” said Fisicaro. “They’re meeting monthly and they’re going to be coming out with some recommendations in the spring that we could be looking to implement next school year.“
With the 2018–2019 school year being the first year of the district having grade-level schools, Fisicaro said full results of how effective the change is for the teachers and students won’t be known until the future, but, he said, collaboration and teamwork help the teachers know what does and doesn’t work to provide a higher quality of learning to the students.
Sewell School was the only school affected by the transition as every student is new to the building. First and second graders moved on to Centre City School.
Connell added she’s been working with a local music company to add music therapy in the preschool curriculum, which is scheduled to begin within the first full week of January.
Additionally, Fisicaro said he and the board will meet to discuss the idea of making changes to the Centre City reading curriculum so “materials stay current in the area of reading and writing instruction.” They are also looking to improve their character education with increased pet therapy, service learning, mindfulness and movement instructions — all of which helped them achieve the National District of Character distinction in May 2018.
With the anticipated changes and discussions coming in 2019, Fisicaro said they will seek to keep taxes as low as possible, but to still provide a quality education.
Each school, Fisicaro said, has its own unique events throughout the school year to recognize it has elementary-aged students and to include enjoyment in each school day in some fashion.
“But district-wide, we’re all looking towards the Big Night Out which is usually the first week of June,” he said. “It’s really a celebration of community.”
“The partnerships we have are growing stronger each year,” said Fisicaro. “That’s what’s making the district work: the effort of the community, staff, parental support and administrative team and I are extremely thankful of that.”
