The Lenape Regional High School District Board of Education hit the ground running in the new year with a strong first month.
The board declared January as School Board Recognition Month to honor all of the board members within the district who dedicate their time to the betterment of students’ education.
January is also school ranking month in which many news outlets provide various standings of individual schools and districts nationwide.
Niche.com provides K-12 and college rankings based on statistics, student and parent reviews, expert insights, state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT and ACT scores and the quality of administration and teachers.
Three of the four district high schools — Cherokee, Lenape and Seneca — ranked in the top 100 high schools in New Jersey and top 1,000 nationally. The district ranked 33 in New Jersey and 255 nationally.
However, arguably the most remarkable ranking received a round of applause at last week’s LRHSD BOE meeting. Under the 2016 district with the best administration in the nation category, LRHSD was ranked in the top 10.
“We were №9, the only New Jersey school district to make the top 10 in the nation,” Superintendent Carol Birnbohm said.
In honor of board recognition month, Birnbohm thanked the board for the hard work it puts in that allows it to receive national recognition like this.
“You’re a great board of education, and you let our administrators make great decisions for our schools,” Birnbohm said.
Birnbohm rounded out her superintendent’s report with some highlights the district has already created in 2016.
School visits and tours took place to learn about and observe the district’s new schedule.
Cherokee hosted Haddon Heights School District and Lenape hosted Eastern Regional High School District, and both were extremely impressed with the new process and the smooth transition into the new schedule, Birnbohm said.
Two of the newest features of this schedule that have led to its success have been common planning time and community lunch and learn.
“It’s really great to see the level of professionalism and collaboration that continues to take place during our new common planning time with our faculty,” Birnbohm said.
AP European history teachers Jessica Le Grange from Cherokee and Katelynn Woll from Shawnee spent their planning time sessions brainstorming a new collaborative activity that would include the AP students from their respective schools.
Students presented themselves as ancient philosophers or scientists and discussed their feelings about many topics, ranging from the role of religion to the role of science on things they learned about in their course from their person’s perspective.
“We thought about common planning time within a building, within a department, and now we are seeing teachers taking advantage of that and collaborating between two different buildings,” Birnbohm said.
The students have also taken advantage of their new period, as various clubs utilized their lunch and learn time to gather and organize items for holiday gift baskets for local needy families.
School counselors met with students who had at least one F at the conclusion of the first marking period and encouraged them to take advantage of after-school extra help sessions and extra help sessions that take place during lunch and learn.
Shawnee photo students used their free time during lunch and learn to complete work for their big annual winter photo show that takes place at Vaughan Hall in Medford Lakes. More than 100 pieces of work were displayed at this year’s show.
Seneca also turned some heads with its artwork after a student piece was featured on the brochure and all print media advertisements for the Deborah Heart and Lung Foundation Program. This is the third time in the last four years a Seneca student has been featured by this organization for artwork.
In addition to these accomplishments, students from all four district schools attended the annual Delaware Valley Consortium For Excellence and Equity Student Program.
The high school student leadership institute was held at University of Pennsylvania, and it helped support the development of leadership and academic excellence for the district’s diverse students.
“It’s great to hear all of these exciting things going on in the schools,” board President Linda Eckenhoff said. “The accolades that we’ve received are something to be proud of.”
