Saporito also discloses raw data on district schools’ security report
All 12 of the district’s elementary schools will have full-day kindergarten beginning next September, Superintendent Joseph Meloche said at last week’s Cherry Hill Board of Education meeting.
Director of Curriculum Farrah Mahan, alongside township resident Gina Winters, gave a presentation immediately following Meloche’s announcement. The presentation laid out the framework for discussions on various issues that would be necessary to implement full-day kindergarten: social and emotional learning components, occupational and physical therapy considerations, logistics related to ESL/bilingual learners, as well as the usual budgetary concerns.
A committee to discuss these issues was formed in 2017, and is comprised of parents whose children attend district schools, and other education experts. Lindsay Abesh, another local who serves on the committee, did not attend the board meeting, as she was expecting a child.
Public Information Officer for the district, Barbara Wilson, stated the cost for implementing full-day kindergarten across all 12 elementary schools would be between $900,000 and $1.2 million. She added that no physical plant upgrades would be planned to any of the 12 buildings for that purpose.
Director of Security Anthony Saporito then presented to the board raw statistics from the 2017–18 school year via the Violence, Vandalism, Weapons and Substance Abuse Report. For the last completed school year, the report broke down incidents into six distinct categories: violence, vandalism, weapons, substances, HIB (Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying) and a new category created for last school year, alleged HIB.
Contained within the raw data were signs of increased safety district-wide. Reports of violence decreased from 40 to 29 in the five-year period between 2013–14 and 2017–18, issues with substances dropped from 19 to 13, and reports of vandalism sunk from 24 to just eight in that same time frame. One statistic that stood out in the presentation, was the 236 reported incidents in the new category of alleged HIB.
Saporito pointedly mentioned the expansion of police presence throughout the elementary and middle-school levels, and revealed a memorandum of understanding between the district, Cherry Hill Police and Camden County Police regarding information sharing. He did not have a time frame for when the official report would be released.
In other news:
- To start the meeting, in front of a standing-room only crowd, Meloche, along with district public information officer Barbara Wilson, presented several dozen long-time employees with certificates honoring their service to the district. Honors were bestowed on those celebrating 20, 25, 30 and 40 years of work. Each honoree in attendance shook hands with and shared kind words with all board members and school board employees who were present.
- During public comment, incoming board member David Rossi thanked board president J. Barry Dickinson, board vice president Eric Goodwin and all other board members for their hard work. Rossi, along with Sally Tong and Laurie Neary finished with the most votes out of the 11 challengers in the election on Nov. 6, and will begin their tenures in January.
- Cherry Hill Special Education PTA president Jennifer Naddeo also addressed the board during public comment, urging it to include accommodations for all special-needs students within its plans for physical plan upgrades.
