By Dana Drake
Welcome back students and staff to the 2015-16 school year! Lawrence Township Public Schools (LTPS) open Thursday, Sept. 3 for students. We look forward to what the new school year brings both in and out of the classrooms.
Before getting into the new school year, I’d like to take a moment to recognize a few of our LTPS administrators, staff and students who did some pretty amazing things over the summer.
Superintendent Dr. Crystal Edwards and Judy Bronston, former LES principal and now Director of Personnel, presented overseas in Malta at an International Learning Summit, Unlocking Learning Potential.
Dr. Edwards, who presented the keynote address, “Unlocking Learning Potential through Educational Reform,” wowed Board members with a quick re-cap at the July 15 board meeting. Judy presented a two-hour Best Practice workshop on using the LML Process.
K-3 Gifted & Talented teacher Jeanne Muzi took part in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Teacher at Sea Program, a program that bridges science and research through real-world research experiences for teachers. While aboard the Thomas Jefferson, Jeanne spent 12 days assisting scientists as they conducted a hydrographic survey along the U.S. East Coast.
School Spanish teacher Alyssa Katz and 11 high school students volunteered with “Students Helping Honduras” for a service trip to help build schools in Honduras. Our students spent hours each day working with Honduran crews to mix cement, lay bricks, plaster walls, etc.. We are very proud of those who volunteered and all their hard work!
The board is also proud to recognize student Nicole Lusardi who represented New Jersey at the 2015 Special Olympics in Los Angeles this summer. Competing as a cyclist, Nicole and won 4th place in the 500M, 6th in the 1K and 7th in the 2K. Congratulations Nicole!
As mentioned in previous columns, students and staff will see changes to the leadership teams at four of our seven schools — Lawrence High School (LHS), Lawrence Intermediate School (LIS), Lawrence Elementary School (LES) and Ben Franklin (BF).
Former LIS Principal Dave Adam has returned to LHS to replace Jon Dauber as principal. At LIS Cindy Westhead has moved up from asst. principal to principal. Replacing Cindy as LIS asst. principal is Amy Amiet, former EPS music teacher.
Melissa Lockett, former K-6 Supervisor of Science & Math, has replaced Judith Bronston as LES principal. And last but not least, at BF replacing Christopher Turnbull as principal is William (BJ) Meurer. On behalf of the Board, I’d like to welcome BJ who joins us from Montgomery where he was an elementary asst. principal.
The first several weeks of the new school year are usually full of activity with Back to School Night, Student Picture Day, PTO events and more.
Be sure to keep yourself updated on district events by visiting ltps.org and clicking the quick link “District Calendar.”
The full 2015-16 school year calendar is also posted online. Please be advised that the tentative last day of school will be June 17.
In the event that Mother Nature requires emergency closings those days will be made up at the end of the school year. (June 20 – 22) If we require more than three snow days they will be made up during spring break.
School will be closed Monday, Sept. 7 for Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 14 for Rosh Hashanah, and Wednesday Sept. 23 for Yom Kippur.
Dana Drake is a member of the Lawrence Township Board of Education.
