Families are anticipating the school year following the end of the summer and the schools are preparing to welcome students back with new programs and initiatives.
Tabernacle School District
“We are excited about the quality and scope of the educational programs and services students will return to this September,” said superintendent of schools George Rafferty. “These educational programmatic enhancements are all tied into the initiatives listed our website homepage.”
Early childhood programs will get an update this school year, with plans to improve the quality of care for students with autism.
“At the preschool level, our supervisor of special services, Abbie DiMenna, has worked diligently since the end of the last school year, with newly assigned staff by providing extensive training in strategies for addressing preschoolers with autism and behavioral challenges through the consultative services of Bancroft Neurohealth and the use of the Rethink Autism curriculum. In addition, planning has been underway to implement an evidenced based preschool program through the adoption of the HighScope Preschool Curriculum,” Rafferty said.
Children facing developmental and educational disabilities will be provided with a higher level of care, as well.
“The Tabernacle School District’s preschool program is designed and equipped to address the needs of preschoolers with an array of developmental and educational disabilities, including autism, as well as typically developing children ranging in age from three through five. The preschool program has received significant support from the Board of Education in the form of teacher training, funding, and administrative attention,” Rafferty said.
Additionally, the schools underwent some physical changes. The gymnasium floors in both schools were refinished, the soccer and field hockey fields were regraded and leveled and an additional topcoat of gravel was applied to the elementary school parking lot. Essential computer networking infrastructure into the district’s emergency generators was done to avoid a disruption of service in the event of a major power outage, replacement of worn and unsafe tiling in the elementary kindergarten classrooms, and bus maintenance were all carried out, according to Rafferty.
The schools also have initiatives to continue to serve healthy lunches for students, and to help students maintain a healthy diet.
“There have been some changes to the federal health and nutritional guidelines which our cafeteria service provider, Nutri-Serve, is responding to and adapting school menus to meet. Letters will be going out to parents concerning the shift in some of the food choices students will have this school year. Nutri-Serve has served our school lunch program in an exemplarily manner and always stays ahead of the curve by providing healthy choices for our students. Maria Baran manages our lunch program and always formulates decisions with student input, which I think is excellent,” Rafferty said.
Seneca High School
Seneca High School received physical changes in addition to curricular changes.
The visitor bleachers were renovated and are ready for the upcoming football season.
Healthy eating initiatives will again be meeting criteria in an effort to keep students on track with a healthy diet. “My Plate” standards for students will continue to meet the standards.
“We comply with all federal and state standards, we are always expanding healthy food options. We are implementing the USDA ‘My Plate’ five components for each lunch,” said superintendent of schools, Dr. Carol Birnbohm.
The requirements include age-appropriate calorie minimums and maximums, larger servings of vegetables and fruits, a wider variety of vegetables, including dark green and red or orange vegetables and legumes. The plan also includes fat-free or 1 percent milk, at least 51 percent whole grains, protein servings at a maximum of 2.4 ounces, a maximum of 10 percent saturated fat and less sodium.
Students can look forward to the return of the One Book, One School, with the reading of The Maze Runner, by James Dashner, which can be purchased online. The No Place for Hate program, an initiative created for activities to support all students and allow everyone to feel appreciated; will be in effect according to Birnbohm. The fall will also kick-off with new posters highlighting student leaders as “upstanders” and not “bystanders” when witnessing inappropriate or derogatory comments in support of the LRHSD Step Up and ID HIB program.
“The bullying policy was developed to align with the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights of New Jersey. The investigation procedure is meticulously outlined on pages nine, 10, and 11 of the policy. In addition to the policy we have a number of initiatives to fulfill our school district mission encouraging an appreciation for diversity and individual differences creating a school climate conducive to all students,” Birnbohm said.
The 21st Century Learner Pilot will be implemented with iPads featured in the classroom. “Various teachers were trained over the summer on how to incorporate the iPads as they develop 21st Century learning skills,” Birnbohm said.
Additional changes to the curriculum are currently being worked on, and are ready for the upcoming school year.
“We are in year 2 of a 7-year curriculum revision cycle to develop all curriculums using the Understanding by Design model. In 2011 we wrote and received Board of Education approval for 24 different courses. This fall we will be implementing those new curriculums for algebra I, geometry, biology, U.S. history I, and first year world languages, to name a few,” Birnbohm said.
Giving back to the community is important, as well, with numerous projects being implement throughout the district.
“The school district is highly involved in volunteerism and community service. Over the past two years each high school coordinated a Senior Day of Service where senior students are dispatched to over 90 different locations across the eight communities performing some type of community service for that day,” Birnbohm said. “In addition, we collaborated with Goodwill Industries of Southern New Jersey conducting a clothing drive competition that accumulated over 25,000 pounds of donations and look forward to participating with Goodwill again.”
There are plans to continue focus on programs already in motion in the school.
“Defy the Issue, a drug and alcohol free campaign, continues to be the focus of student-to-student presentations both within our schools and with the middle schools in the eight townships which we serve. Drug Squad at Seneca did big community presentation already, will maintain program with smaller group student presentations,” Birnbohm said.
The first day of classes for all students is Sept. 5.
