Back to school was the theme of discussion at the Aug. 31 meeting of the Voorhees Township Board of Education.
With school set to begin on Sept. 8, several members of the district’s administrative staff gave updates about projects that had been taking place over the summer and how they would impact the new school year.
As far as maintenance projects, district assistant superintendent for business and board secretary Frank DeBerardinis said there were significant projects completed in every school in the district, with repairs to the roof of Signal Hill Elementary School being the biggest focus.
DeBerardinis also said this would be the district’s second year using the new transportation school bus routing software system called Transfinder.
With last year’s implementation of the system, the software worked with the school’s data system to create routes.
“It’s a system that I believe is safer and more efficient and it really worked out well for the parents and the students and for everyone involved,” DeBerardinis said.
Moving on to the classroom, director of program development Daniel Mattie outlined the district’s basic skills improvement program.
Mattie said not much had changed since he had reported on the program to the board one year ago, with 255 students served throughout the district this past year.
Although the district provides remediation for English Language Arts and math, Mattie said the focus of the program would continue to be mostly English language arts skills, as that was the area in most need as it relates to students’ scores on benchmark assessments.
In regard to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exam, district assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction Diane Young outlined the most recent scores for the district.
PARCC, an entirely computer-based language arts and math exam, was given to students throughout the state for the first time in 2015. The exam seeks to measure how well students are prepared for college or careers after high school.
In regard to participation rates from year one of the test to year two, Young said most grade levels had significant decreases in the amount of students who did not participate, especially those in grade eight.
Per a new state law, Young also noted that this year’s current eighth grade students will be the first group of students required to take PARCC in high school in order to complete their graduation requirements.
In regard to PARCC scores, Young said the district followed the state trend in that most students in grades three through eight performed better on their language arts and math exams in 2016 than they did in 2015.
Young said PARCC was also different than past standardized assessments as it allowed a greater breakdown of how individual students, classes and groups performed on specific questions and testing areas.
Young said that information can then be used to help improve any weaknesses the district might have.
“As they (students) move along through the grades and move towards that ultimate college or career when they graduate high school, if they don’t have that foundation in the elementary school then it’s going to much more difficult to reach that higher level,” Young said.
Also presenting at the meeting was district coordinator of special projects Susan Donnelly, who reviewed the district’s annual self-assessment under the NJ Anti-Bully Bill of Rights Law.
Donnelly noted that every year districts across the state must grade themselves on the programs and initiatives they have in place to counteract bullying.
Donnelly said the district’s average score when combining all schools was 75.2 out of a possible total score of 78, which Donnelly said reflected a good environment.
“It’s been consistent, the same that it’s been for the past few years,” Donnelly said.
