MINUTES OF
KEY COMMUNICATORS MEETING
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Present:      Joe Luongo, Connie Doheny, Lisa Hodulik, Lillian Romano,Lizz Nuzzo,  Donna Wipper, Linda Condal, Bev Masiello, Vicky Viola, Marnie Messeri, Jodi O’Connor

Joe Luongo opened the meeting at 7:45 PM.

District:

Depken Field–    Mr. Luongo stated that we should be able to play our football on Friday on the new field; however if it rains we will not be able to because of the track not being finished.  Ravine Avenue is too narrow for buses to turn around.  Therefore, the police have arranged for visitors buses to park on Franklin Avenue and walk around.  Recreation football bought portable bleachers for visitors and they will use them on the dirt by the score board.  Otherwise, we have bleachers on the one side of the field only.  There will be no skate park possibly a fitness center.  There are three cameras being installed and will have a direct link to the police station.  There are some negatives with the field.  One being the width between the bleachers and the gate around the field, it is narrower and will make it difficult at times to move with all spectators on the same side of the field.

RenWeb – Tentatively it is ready to go once the teachers are trained.  Mr. Luongo and the technology committee are recommending to the board on Thursday to approve three ½ days, October 22nd, October 29th and November 6th.  On those days the teachers in the district will be trained and start inputting their information.

District Calendar - The calendar is in the hands of the printer and hopefully we should have it shortly.  There were a series of errors and Mr. Luongo feels very positive that everything has been rectified.

Automated Phone System -   The Board of Education is hoping to have figures for Thursday’s meeting and approve a vendor.

Bomb Scare Procedures - Teachers all have emergency crisis response manual which states exactly what steps to take in any partial emergency.

E-Mail Addresses- All teachers have email addresses however not all of them access to them at this time.  This is being worked on and should be corrected shortly.

Peer Grading - There was a complaint that students are grading other students’ papers.  Mr. Luongo stated that in English peer editing is OK; however he needs to know what grade and subject this is occurring in and will investigate.

Homework Grading - A complaint that 7th grade some students did not know all of the answers to their homework and left some unanswered.  Students received a zero for homework because the teacher stated it was not completed.  Teacher would not give partial credit.  Parents felt that if students do not know the answer to all questions on the homework the teacher should review those questions in class.  There should be no repercussions to the students’ grade since the students did attempt to complete all of the homework.  Mr. Luongo will investigate that partial subject in 7th grade.

High School Graduation -  The Board is researching the possibility of having the graduation at the Bergen Academy.

Hitchcock Field Gate - Parents want the gate on Oldfield Avenue unlocked when the field is being used.  Parents stated that the gates are always locked; however they were unlocked all of August when the football team was practicing on the field.  With the new entrance fence, it is very difficult for parents with carriages or wheelchairs to gain access to the field if Oldfield Avenue gate is locked.  Mr. Luongo states that whoever signed the permit to use the facility should have a key to unlock the gate during the event and lock it upon completion.  He will check into this matter and advise.

High School:

Sprinkler System -  There was a question to how much the sprinkler system cost and the cost of the water bill.  The front and back cost $6,500 and the entire water bill for the building is $600 per month; $100 for Depken Field per month.

Middle School:

Back Packs - A parent stated that parents have weighed their child’s back packs and they weighted 17 – 19 pounds.  One of the problems is that the 7th grade team requires separate binders for each subject.  The following is a list of class books:

            Grade 6
            Math & Social Studies – yes
            English & Science – Need

            Grade 7
            English & Math - no due to teacher movement
            Social Studies & Science – yes

            Grade 8
            Social Studies – yes

Bullying - There was a problem with a student getting beat up, not on school property, and another student taping it and putting it on YouTube.   School did take action against the child.  Several parents told of several incidents of egging that have occurred recently and on school property.  Mr. Luongo said he was not aware of this and no one has put a complaint in writing either to the school or to the police.

End Schools:

Class Size - There is 352 students at Euclid and 416 students at Lincoln at this time.  There was a very large registration over this summer and there is nothing that can be done at this time.  Students are being placed in classrooms that have the room.

Gas Leak at Lincoln - It was a confined leak.  PSE&G, police and fire were notified.  The fire and police department determined that the building not be evacuated.  Parents questioned why the children were not evacuated immediately while waiting for the police and fire to determine the building was safe.  Upon looking in the district’s crisis manual, the procedure states to evacuated the building immediately and than notify police and fire.  Mr. Luongo will advise building administrators to review manual.

4th & 5th Grade Concerts -    The Education Committee discussed this at length and this is the final results because of the 5th grade testing being later in the year.  Euclid and Lincoln will each hold their concerts in their respective buildings.  The winter concert will be performed by the 5th grade students and the spring concert will be performed by the 4th grade students. 

Euclid dismissal - It was discussed that Euclid school dismissal procedure involves teachers having a check list and checking off who picks up the child.  Parents are questioning what will occur when the weather conditions are not conducive for standing outside waiting for each child to be checked off the list.   

Next meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 15th, at 7:30 PM.
Meeting adjourned at 9:33M.

Minutes submitted by Donna Wipper.