Archive for ‘In the Schools’
STAR-LEDGER:
Former school board member Angela Garretson won a seat to the township council in June, opening a seat on the school board. The nine-member board unanimously selected [George Cook III] to fill that vacancy on Thursday.
“The reason I originally ran for council was because I wanted a better relationship between the council and board of education,” said Cook. “I still want to better that relationship.” MORE
Posted in BOE '09, In the Schools, Mayor/Council '09, Township Hall | 3 Comments »
The state ethics commission decision ruling that former Hillside school board member Elbert Smith be suspended for six months for ethics violations was read publicly at a recent board meeting and the decision must be posted at the board office where public notices are usually displayed, officials said.
In April, Smith lost his bid for re-election, thereby making his suspension moot. Smith had appealed the ruling but the state commissioner of education backed the School Ethics Commission’s determination that Smith overstepped his bounds as a school board member to undermine the high school principal, who was his wife’s boss.
MORE:
• State ed. commissioner upholds ruling against school board member
Posted in In the Schools | No Comments »
Walter O. Krumbiegel Middle School will host a Teen Spring Challenge at the school at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 29.
There will be special presentations by Hillside resident Greg Hines, author of “The Boy Who Wanted Too Much” and record producer and owner of HardKandy Records Inc., as well as district substance abuse coordinator Melba Mullins, also of the Hillside Municipal Alliance.
Posted in Calendar, In the Schools | No Comments »
The state’s top education official last week upheld the School Ethics Commission’s finding that former school board member Elbert Smith violated several school ethics rules and upheld the panel’s recommendation that he be suspended for six months.
The suspension may now be a moot point, however, because Hillside voters last month kicked Smith out of office.
In November, the commission ruled that Smith committed four ethics violations between 2006 and 2007 by overstepping his bounds as a board member and undermining the authority of the principal of Hillside High School, where his wife still works as a teacher, as well as the authority of the superintendent.
(more…)
Posted in In the Schools | 3 Comments »
A fight in the halls of Hillside High School led to a faculty member being knocked unconscious and one student arrested, according to police. The incident began shortly after noon April 30, when five, 16- and 17-year-old female students began arguing in a hallway on an unspecified floor. The argument quickly led to a fist fight, according to Police Lt. Vincent Ricciardi, who would not offer more details as to where the fight took place. MORE
Posted in In the Schools | 3 Comments »
The proposed 2009-10 school budget, which voters rejected by a margin of 4 percent in a referendum two weeks ago, is now in the hands of the Township Council.
In the weeks ahead, township officials will pore over numbers and auditing reports to determine what, if any, cuts should be made to a budget that sought to raise the school tax levy by 3.5 percent.
“First, can I ask for a re-count?” Interim Superintendent Michael Roth joked last week when discussing the post-election steps for the budget proposal.
(more…)
Posted in In the Schools, Township Hall | 8 Comments »
Hillside school officials say they have taken steps to prevent any school outbreaks of the deadly swine flu, which has killed an infant in Texas and is suspected in the deaths of over a hundred people in Mexico, where the virus is believed to have first struck.
“At this time there are no indications that any of our children have contracted this flu,” Interim Superintendent Michael Roth noted in a letter sent to parents last week a day before state officials confirmed five cases of virus in New Jersey.
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Posted in In the Schools, News | 1 Comment »
June Korzeneski
At the Board of Education’s annual organization meeting Monday at Hillside High School, board members installed retired teacher and guidance counselor
June Korzeneski as president and the newly re-elected
Angela Menza as vice president.
For the first time since 2004, the Hillside Democratic Committee will not have majority control of the school board after reform candidates swept all three seats in last Tuesday’s election for the second year in a row.
The Democrats now have just three members on the panel: Nagy Sileem, Ralph Humphrey and Angela Garretson, who’s running for a seat on the Township Council in next month’s municipal election.
(more…)
Posted in BOE '09, In the Schools | 5 Comments »
Six educators, one from each of the Hillside public schools, were selected as Union County teachers of the year by the Union County Superintendents’ Round Table Teacher Recognition Program.
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Posted in In the Schools | No Comments »
DISTRICT VOTE BREAKDOWN AFTER THE JUMP
Voters returned incumbent school board member Angela Menza to the Hillside Board of Education but denied veteran member Elbert Smith a fourth term in tonight’s school board election.
(more…)
Posted in BOE '09, In the Schools | 12 Comments »
Hillside voters will get to decide April 21 whether to approve a 3.5 percent school tax hike a year after the school tax levy remained flat.
In an effort to promote awareness about the budget in a township where voters most often reject levy increases, the district is showing how the money was spent last year on instruction and school repairs, as well as listing what school officials hope to accomplish in the months ahead.
(more…)
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Even Start brings district’s generations together for learning
Monday, April 13th, 2009
Even Start participants Bella Suna, Maribel Fonseca, and her son Jesmar Mangual during a game of Literacy Bingo with senior citizens at A.P. Morris Early Childhood Center on March 19.
For eight years, the federal Even Start program in Hillside has been crossing early childhood education with adult literacy for low-income parents and children. Last month, the district reached out to a third generation of Hillsiders, enlisting the Hillside Seniors Citizens Center for a turkey dinner and “Literacy Bingo Night.”
(more…)
Posted in In the Schools | No Comments »
View Larger Map
With the entrance and exit ramps for Route 78 just meters away, George Washington Elementary School, on Leslie Street at Winans Avenue, is located on one of the township’s most highly trafficked intersections.
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Posted in In the Schools, Township Hall | 6 Comments »
This is second in a series looking at all the campaign literature put out by candidates in this spring’s school board and municipal elections. We’ll take a critical look at the messages and rhetoric and invite readers to comment. Here’s part 1.
We’ve only managed to pick up one piece of literature from each of the two slates of school board candidates.
(more…)
Posted in BOE '09, In the Schools | No Comments »
The Star-Ledger named the Hillside High School Comets its surprise team of the season in its Union boys basketball review.
Hillside appeared headed for a lost season under first-year coach Brian Brown by staggering out of the gate at 0-8.
But just the opposite occurred as Hillside cast away any grandiose expectations it may have had and got down to the basic business of getting better. . .
Hillside did exactly that behind the strong leadership of senior point guard Carron McCluney and surprising senior forward Lance Enmore. Hillside won 12 of its final 16 games to finish 12-12.
READ MORE
Posted in In the Schools | No Comments »
Calvin Coolidge students learn about Seeing Eye dogs
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
Jack Strangfeld and Dimples, center, from The Seeing Eye school visit fifth graders at Calvin Coolidge School.
The fifth-grade students at Calvin Coolidge School eagerly awaited two special visitors on March 17. Stopping by were Mr. Jack Strangfeld and his puppy, Dimples.
Dimples is no ordinary cute puppy. He’s a 1-year- old German Shepherd who will eventually become a guide dog for a person who is visually impaired.
Mr. Strangfeld, representing The Seeing Eye, a Morristown-based dog guide school, spoke with the students about his experiences in working with the puppies.
The students watched a video about the work done by The Seeing Eye, which was founded in 1929 as the first guide dog school in the country.
The students seemed to gain much knowledge, enjoyed the presentation, and were able to make real-life connections to a recently read story, Mom’s Best Friend, a story of a visually impaired mother and her experiences at The Seeing Eye.
Posted in In the Schools | 5 Comments »
The Hillside Board of Education last night introduced a $50.5 million budget that would raise the school tax levy by about 3.5 percent. The budget must be approved by voters in the April 21 school board election.
If approved, the school tax for a Hillside home assessed at $124,055 would increase by an estimated $60 for the year.
The local tax levy increase would provide the district with $878,879 more than last year, when the school budget remained flat over the previous year.
The budget was approved by all board members in attendance, with members Ralph Humphrey and Tori Issac absent.
Posted in In the Schools | 2 Comments »
Isaac J. Little shot an 18-year-old classmate in the leg Friday at Popeyes on Liberty and Long avenues after first pointing the revolver at the student’s chest and pulling the trigger, Hillside police said.
“When the gun didn’t fire, Little pointed the gun at (the victim’s) leg and pulled the trigger again, shooting him in his right thigh,” Police Chief Robert Quinlan said in a news release. MORE
Posted in In the Schools, Police Blogger | No Comments »
Family night of fun and learning at WOK Middle School
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
Family teams design and build containers that can hold 293 kernels of popcorn. Photos: Hillside Public Schools
An evening of math and science challenges at Walter O. Krumbiegel Middle School last week showed that learning can be a family affair — and that numbers and formulas can be fun.
The middle school hosted an evening of “Engineering and Design” challenges on March 4 during which 180 students and relatives participated in hands-on science and math activities.
Science teacher Andrew Obssuth tests a marble chute created by a family team.
The goal of the event, the school said, was to make make parents aware of the innovative ways that mathematics and science are being taught at WOK and encourage conversation about the subjects at home.
The challenges included a game called “293,” which had students and parents create a container that could hold 293 kernels of popcorn. Family teams were given just five kernels to work with and had to extrapolate using their mathematical understandings.
In a “Balloon” challenge, teams tried designing balloon-powered rockets that could launch and hit a target.
In the “Chutes” challenge, students and parents had to use paper-towel rolls, milk cartons, cereal boxes and masking tape to create a track for a marble to drop into a pan in five seconds.
WOK Middle School teachers welcome families with agendas at the registration table.
The event was a collaboration between the school district and the
Merck Institute for Science Education and the
Consortium for Achievement in Mathematics and Science (CAMS). Hillside is only one of four school districts — the others being Elizabeth, Linden, and Rahway — that participate in the consortium, whose goal is to create enhanced middle school math and science curricula that can serve as a model for other districts.
The program seeks to implement challenging instructional programs, train teachers, provide hands-on learning, and develop meetings and workshops to help parents understand the math and science their children are learning.
WOK’s team of teacher and staff volunteers was guided by Paul Ridgway, a Rahway mathematics teacher and CAMS coach who has directed family math and science nights in his own district.
Posted in In the Schools | 1 Comment »
UPDATE: TUESDAY, MARCH 3: Despite yesterday’s snow storm, Shelby Robinson managed to get her petitions to the board office and certified, making her the sixth candidate in Hillside’s school board election on April 21.
The six candidates will likely form two competing slates, with incumbent Elbert Smith, Diane L. Murray and Jamar Cherry on one, and incumbent Angela Menza, Danny Santos and Shelby Robinson on another.
The Smith slate would have the backing of the Hillside Democratic Committee and its township machine. The Menza team has the backing of mayoral candidate Joseph Menza (a cousin of Angela’s) and school board veteran Nathalie Yafet.
The Hillsider will profile all the candidates for school board. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: FRIDAY, FEB. 27: Our source got it wrong. Salonia Saxton has not filed to run in the school board election. She only notarized a petition.
Instead, we should have reported that Diane L. Murray, who runs her own insurance agency, had filed as a candidate.
Danny Santos, who will run with Angela Menza, has turned in his petitions today.
FEB. 24: School board incumbents Angela Menza and Elbert Smith have filed for re-election in April’s election.
Menza, a cousin of mayoral candidate Joseph Menza, will form a slate with Shelby Robinson (who placed seventh in a field of 10 school board candidates last year), and Salem Street resident Danny Santos, sources said.
Jamar Cherry, who ran for school board last year and lost, has filed for this year.
Cherry and Murray will most likely form a slate with Smith, who in the past has ran with support from the Democratic committee.
A few months ago, a state ethics panel recommended that Smith be suspended from the school board for six months for unethical actions. Smith’s lawyer has stalled the suspension with an appeal.
Posted in BOE '09, In the Schools | 2 Comments »
UPDATE — April 30 — Sandra “Sandy” Cureton announced April 20 that she would no longer run on the Daniels slate.
Andre Daniels came onto Hillside’s political scene in 2004 — but he wasn’t running for office or supporting a candidate then.
Daniels was with a group of parents seeking to reinstall Hillside’s Pop Warner football program, which had been inactive for eight years. Despite some friction from Township Hall, they persisted.
“When they said we couldn’t start up Pop Warner four years go,” Daniels told a crowd at his mayoral campaign kick-off last Saturday, “We did it.”
(more…)
Posted in In the Schools, Mayor/Council '09, Township Hall | 16 Comments »
Hillside administrators should look for a “no-nonsense disciplinarian” to take the helm in the district.
Parents and municipal officials offered the advice during a community input session presented by Gwen Thornton, a field representative for the state school board — the association aiding school administrators in their search. MORE
Posted in In the Schools | No Comments »
Students at 10 New York-area high schools, including Hillside High, will learn “life skills” from the U.S. Army under a program coordinated by Academics in Motion, the Associated Press reports.
Jim Presbrey, co-founder of Academics in Motion, said the program “isn’t about getting kids in the Army. It’s about helping kids develop their life goals and come up with a game plan to meet them.”
MORE
Posted in In the Schools | No Comments »
UPDATE // FRI. JAN 30:
The public input session has been resecheduled to Monday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. in the High School library.
UPDATE // WEDS. JAN 28:
The public session scheduled for today has been postponed due to the weather. The district has not scheduled a new date yet. We’ll post the new date and time when the information becomes available.
The Board of Education is asking the public to attend a “critical issues input session” this Wednesday evening to help in their search for a new superintendent.
The information gathered from the session will be used “to set criteria for the background, training and experience necessary for the new superintendent of schools,” according to statement released by the district.
At the session, the school board’s search consultant will explain the search procedure, the roles played by the board, the district staff and the public in the process, and the calendar for the actual search.
Officials plan on discussing strengths, concerns, issues and future initiatives which will face the new superintendent.
The session will be Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Hillside High School Library.
The school district has been run by Interim Superintendent Michael Roth since August, when former Superintendent Raymond Bandlow chose to leave Hillside for Fort Lee.
Posted in In the Schools | No Comments »
The Hillside Chamber of Commerce and the Hillside Board of Education is sponsoring the 10th Annual Groundhog Job Shadow Day next month and are asking township businesses and organizations to sign up by Friday, Jan. 30.
On Shadow Day, students from the high school spend a school day at a local business or municipal government or school office.
“This initiative demonstrates the connection between academics and careers, exciting students to learn by making their class work more relevant,” the Chamber’s executive director, Irene Goldie-Petras, said. “It builds community partnerships between Hillside High School students and local businesses, school personnel and Township of Hillside government departments.”
Students who sign up with at the high school guidance office will be assigned to businesses who sign up with the Chamber. Forms can be obtained by calling Chamber Chairwoman Queen King at 973-926-1773, President John Kruse at 908-964-6659, or Goldie-Petras at 908-964-0998.
Students will report to their assigned businesses on Tuesday, February 10 to meet their mentors. On Wednesday, they will report to their businesses instead of going to school. The students will be provided with disposable cameras provided by Costco to record this day. Businesses do not have to be members of the Chamber to participate.
Posted in Calendar, In the Schools, News | No Comments »
