The Gloucester Township school board held its first meeting since a reorganization session earlier this month, a meeting highlighted by presentations on the “Start Strong” initiative in South Jersey, as well as numbers for the Anti-Bullying Campaign in all district middle schools.
The board introduced Gwyn McGeady, who will serve as the new school nurse at Lauren Fleming Middle School, one of the three open positions in the township.
Timothy Trow, assistant superintendent of instruction, then presented “Start Strong” data, and while the board was not shocked by the results, members still expressed disappointment. The initiative was created to provide school districts with data on student support needs, especially during COVID.
“Overall, there are still challenges, which were to be expected,” said Trow. “ We just don’t recommend that these numbers be compared to other, normal testing scores [for years where students were not in virtual learning].”
There was also discussion during the public comments portions of the meeting about the township’s current COVID policy, which mandates that teachers use their allotted sick days if they have been in close contact with someone who tested positive.
Superintendent John Bilodeau said such decisions are rooted in safety.
“We make these decisions following health and safety recommendations by the state department and CDC,” he explained. “I will take these suggestions under advisement and make sure all teachers clearly understand the policy.”
To end the meeting, Grant Hildebrand, Gloucester Township’s supervisor of Student Support Services, gave a brief presentation on the school’s anti-bullying agenda. Schools must self report bullying incidents tracked throughout the year, with a score based on the amount of incidents.
Hildebrand admitted the results can be flawed, and there is no way to perfectly track incidents, but the township averaged a high score of 69 out of 75.
“We hope the schools are honest during the self-assessment process,” he added. “It’s important.”
Ann A. Mullen did report the lowest score of all middle schools, 55 out of 75, and Bilodeau asked that the township keep an eye on that number.
“Let’s make sure we are paying attention to Mullen’s score, seeing what is going on there and why that number is so low.” he asked.
The next meeting is set to take place on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at Charles W. Lewis Middle School.
