MINUTES OF
KEY COMMUNICATORS MEETING
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Present: Joe
Luongo, Edwinna Carroll, Lisa Hodulik, Donna Wipper,
Lisa Traina, Linda Condal, Cathy Meseck, Connie Doheny, Maria Reiner,
Lynn Nilsson, Nancy Smith, Ellen Connors, Lisa Stroud, Ana Mastropietro,
Lizz Nuzzo, Lisa Traina,
Marnie Messeri, Cheryl Cutruzzula, Theresa Gasparino, Francine
Salerno
Joe Luongo opened the meeting at 7:35 PM.
District:
Dress Code – Wearing Shorts - Mr. Luongo informed us that
the policy allows shorts from April 5th to October 1st; however
it was extended this year due to the hot weather. Capri’s
are not considered shorts.
Testing Reports – At this month’s Board of
Education meeting there will be a presentation of five minutes
per grade level of testing results. Mr. Luongo was not pleased
with the Middle School test results.
Field House Bathrooms– The ladies room is not completed
at this time. There are shower curtains that are being
used as dividers. Hopefully, the partitions will arrive
this week for installation. These partitions, we are told,
can not be scratched or written on so they will always look presentable.
High School:
.
Open House Date: There was a memo attached from Mr. O’Hare concerning
this open house. Apparently, this event has been poorly attended in the
past and Mr. O’Hare is changing the procedure. The seniors will
speak to the entire eighth grade and explain the advantages of the high school. This
will occur in January. After this meeting, Mr. O’Hare will offer
a night meeting with parents who are interested via an appointment letter.
Middle School:
8th Grade Trip – The problem has been solved. Mr.
Bolcar will be going on the trip as the school administrator. The
Board of Education is revisiting the issue of overnight trips. How
many students warrant a school administrator to attend? Also,
Mr. Luongo is not very comfortable with adults sleeping in the
same cabins as children on the various camping trips the school
attends.
Math Pilot Program - This is an Oriental based
program approved by the Board of Education. Each student
in the program is given booklets in which they work at their
own pace. This program will start with 30 students and
will run after school. Students who are at risk will be
in the program. The program will probably only run until
standardized testing dates. There will also
be a GEPA review on Saturdays. Third and fourth graders will
start a ten week course prior to testing on Saturdays. Parents
wanted to know if there was any research to support this program. There
is research to support both for and against this program. The
Board feels we have nothing to lose; we will try it and if it
doesn’t work we will not continue the program.
Room Numbers– Middle School parents complained at
Back to School Night that the room numbers are not in order. Mr.
Luongo and the Board are waiting for a diagram of the floor with
room numbers and this situation will be corrected.
Elementary Schools:
Math Prime – To be eligible for math prime a fifth
grade student must meet all of the following conditions:
- The student scores above 249(Advanced Proficient) on math section
of the fourth grade NJASK
- The Student earns an “A” average in mat in the
fourth grade.
- The student has a recommendation from one of his/her fourth
grade teachers.
Note: If the above criteria does not yield
10 students, a student score above a 239 in math on the NJASK will
be considered. Students earning higher scores will get first
preference. Presently, Lincoln School has 10 students in
math prime and Euclid has 15 students in math prime. A parent wanted
to know who approved the criteria for Math Prime. The Board
of Education, teachers and administration approved the criteria.
An elementary school parent questioned Mad Minutes. She
stated that her child’s teacher stated that 10% of their
grade is Mad Minutes. This caused a student’s grade
to be lowered. Mr. Luongo will look into this matter; as
far as he knows Mad Minutes results do not equal a test grade. A
parent questioned the need for Mad Minutes as it is just memorization. She
stated that there is research that supports the fact that it is
a sign of higher intelligence if a person can not learn from memorization. Mr.
Luongo will investigate this matter; however he stated that there
is research that proves that memorization does work.
Task Force - They had one meeting so far and they
believe that they are going in the right direction. They
are on the fact finding aspect of this committee. They
are looking at other districts and are looking at the economics
of this issue. They are well aware that taxpayers do not
want another increase. At the end of the committee’s
research they will make a recommendation to the Board of Education. At
that time, information will be made available to the public. They
do not want to give any information now because things change
and people may form an opinion without having all the facts.
Lincoln School United Nations Day– The teacher that
has been running this program no longer wishes to do so and no
other teacher has come forward to undertake this task.
Hot Lunch – The numbers at the end of the year were very
low – less than 20. Anthony’s Bagel which provided lunch
is no longer interested because of the numbers. A parent stated that
it was not hot lunch just cold sandwiches. A parent stated that they
know of a company that is willing to provide hot lunches to the end schools. Mr.
Luongo said to give the information to him and he will have someone contact
this company. Mr. Luongo stated that he is receptive to a hot lunch program.
Fire Alarm Suspension- Parents wanted to know why the student at Lincoln
School who deliberately pulled the fire alarm was suspended and the student
at Euclid School was not. The only answer given was that they were two
different incidents with two different conditions.
Lincoln School – front door aide – There is an aide at the
front door from 8:20 AM – 9:00 AM. At this time, this aide is not
assigned to a child. A Euclid school parent stated that they
would like an aide at the front door. This is totally at the discretion
of the principal. Parent wanted to know why they have to ring the bell
to gain entrance to the school when there is an aide at the door until 9:00
AM. Ringing the bell is to notify the office that someone is entering
the building. There was a lot of discussion as to what time can a parent
enter the building without signing in at the office. If it is before
or after school must a parent sign in at the office, obtain a visitor’s
pass before proceeding to their destination. There was nothing definite stated
at this time. Mr. Luongo said he will discuss this with the principals. A
parent wanted the Board of Education to hire two people, part time, to check
ID’s at the front door. Mr. Luongo stated that this would be a
temporary situation and that money spent would be better used if it is saved
towards moving the offices down to the first floor.
District Nutrition Policy– This was a question that a parent
had for the Board of Education. It was stated with the state’s
mandated nutrition program coming into effect in 2006, what is this district
doing. It was understood that we are not mandated to follow the guidelines
because our district does not qualify. However, this parent would like
the district to make some nutrition guidelines for all the schools to follow. Another
parent felt that nutrient begins at home and maybe we could send guidelines
home to the parents. Mr. Luongo said that he would bring this request to the
Board of Education.
Lincoln School Custodian – A custodian walked into the girls’ room
to clean without announcing himself. The custodian has been given directions
as a remedy for the situation. Mr. Luongo will find out if the custodian
knew the proper procedure before and if training is needed upon hiring custodians. Parent
of the child was contacted.
Class link– It is operating at this time..
Euclid & Lincoln School Emergency Supplies – There are emergency
supplies in both schools for one day. Mr. Luongo and the Board of Education
feel that the supplies that the district has is efficient. A parent questioned
whether the PTA should purchase emergency kits for every classroom. Mr.
Luongo stated if they wanted to purchase a flashlight for each classroom but
other than that nothing else is necessary. Prior to the district purchasing
the emergency supplies, they counseled with the Emergency Management team in
town.
Open Discussion:
A parent talked about communication with teachers in the Middle
and High School. It is very difficult with working parents
and the teachers schedule to actual get phone conversations. The
website is wonderful; however do not put a teacher’s email
contact information if that teacher has not intention of responding
to their email. Parent stated they would love to have all
the teachers use email to communicate because of time efficiency. Mr.
Lungo stated that he does not want teachers responding to emails
during instructional time and this is very difficult to prevent. Therefore,
he can not make it mandatory for teachers to use email as an avenue
of communication. He did ask teachers to sign off on whether
or not they will communicate with email. The only email addresses
on the website will be of those teachers that will respond via
email.
A parent questioned the district's narrative. She went under
the New Jersey Department of Education, Report Card Narratives
and was questioning why our districts first priority is safety
and health of the children. One third of the way down the
page education is finally listed. Her question is that other
districts have education as their first priority. She had the district
narratives from the following districts which all listed education
as their first priority: Woodridge, Fort Lee, Ridgewood,
and Glen Rock. Mr. Luongo and another parent
stated that children must feel safe in order to educate them. However,
another parent felt education should be first priority. She
gave Mr. Luongo copies of other towns’ district narratives.
A letter went home today to parents regarding head lice. A
parent wanted to know if there was an incident. There was
an incident in Lincoln School.
Parent wanted to verify that the problem last year regarding the
HSPA packets being counted as a test grade has been corrected. Yes,
it was corrected the packets count as homework.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM.
Next meeting date is Monday, November 28, 2005 at 7:30 PM.
Minutes submitted by Donna Wipper