In other news from the board’s March 13 meeting, the calendar for school year 2013-’14 was approved. Bob Johnson, chairman of the board’s administration and facilities committee, said the details were finalized on March 12. The full calendar is available on the district’s website, ww-p.org.
The committee also considered implementing two new special education programs in-house: a behavioral disabilities program at Community Middle School and an expanded pre-kindergarten program at Town Center Elementary for multiple-disabled and autistic children.
“We expect that bringing these programs in-house will net us some savings. That’s not the principal reason but it’s always our preference to not have students sent out if we can provide a program for them. If we can do that with a cost saving, that’s an extra benefit,” Johnson said.
Johnson also announced that his committee reviewed and approved the High School North baseball boosters club’s donation of a cement slab for the baseball batting cage.
In personnel news social worker Leslie Sacks will retire effective June 30. Sacks spent 25 years with the district. Board President Hemant Marathe took time at the end of the meeting to thank her for her dedicated service.
The board approved payment of $18,226.06 for Village School fourth grade teacher Frances McDonough for unused sick days, per contract.
At Town Center Caitlyn Wylie’s status was changed from a 50 percent kindergarten teacher to a 50 percent kindergarten and 40 percent elementary teacher. Wylie replaces Kathryn Welsh, who transferred.
Three staff members — Sanaa Benbrahim, Giovanna Cantatore, and Szilvia Fejes — will receive $47.09 per hour, not to exceed 90 hours, for curriculum revisions to French level II for work starting March 15.
At High School South, special education instructional assistant Ramon Garcia will be on an intermittent leave of absence from March 12 through June 30, unpaid with benefits.
At High School North Social Studies teacher Mary Jenonki will be on a maternity leave of absence, unpaid with benefits, from September 1 until November 25.
High School North teachers Elizabeth Drews and Colleen Spicer will receive $47.09 per hour for homebound instruction from mid-February through June. Drews is teaching Algebra II (up to 32 hours) while Spicer is teaching health (up to 10 hours).
Community Middle School teachers Jennifer Davis and Heather Mitchell will receive $47.09 per hour for their work in an after-school tutorial program, not to exceed 200 hours. Funding will come from a Title 1 grant.
Erika Arenger has been appointed as leave replacement IRLA teacher for Jennifer Boutros at Grover Middle School. Arenger will receive a prorated salary of $54,740 for January through June.
Kristin M. Palombit was appointed as a certified substitute teacher, effective March 14.
In athletics new girls’ lacrosse head coach Megan Pisani will receive a salary of $2,844.24 for her first season. Salaries of $3,792.32 were approved for Terence Glover, boys’ assistant track coach at High School North and Jenna Christie, boy’s assistant volleyball coach at South. Also at South Laurent Lassance will receive $1,564.33 and Terence Thomas will receive $1,422.12 for athletic fitness supervision. Lassance has five years experience while Thomas is new.
The board approved pay of $18.76 per hour to High School North special education instructional assistant Keith Ponader, who accompanied a special-needs student for 18 hours on an overnight field trip March 2-3.
Also on March 13, the board approved a $78,500 professional services contract with Wiss and Company of Livingston to perform an audit for the current year. The amount reflects a 1.16 percent increase over the cost for last year’s audit.
WW-P will submit a grant application to the state Department of Education for $14,856 for “continued improvement of the district’s teacher evaluation system, part of the Race to the Top grant program.
The board voted to affirm the superintendent’s recommendation for disciplinary consequences and/or remedial actions for nine cases of harassment, intimidation and bullying which have occurred during this school year.
Dates for the High School North music trip to Berlin, Germany were changed from November 6 through 13 to November 5 through 12. The cost of the trip will also increase from the originally proposed amount of $2,095 to $2,215 per student (WW-P News, January 6, 2012).
The board approved a trip for High School South’s marching band to attend the YMCA Camp Fairview Lake in Newton from August 24 through 28. The cost will be $250 per student.
An addendum to the district’s transportation agreement with Irvin Raphael bus company was announced. As a result of temporary relocation of classes at Town Center School due to a fire in the building, the route cost was adjusted to reflect a mileage increase.
#b#In professional development news, the board approved the following#/b#:
– One district supervisor to attend “ELL achievement of the Common Core State Standards” at Kean University on Thursday, March 22 at a cost of $149 plus mileage.
– Two district administrators to attend the New Jersey Association of School Business Administrators annual conference from June 6 through 8 in Atlantic City. This cost is not to exceed $225 per person.
– Two district administrators to attend the “Transporting Students with Disabilities” professional series in New Brunswick on five Saturdays; May 19, June 2, 9, 16 and 23. The cost is not to exceed $607 per person plus mileage.
Finally, the school board voted to approve professional development opportunities through the Reading and Writing Project at Teachers College at Columbia University for $750, funded through a 2012 No Child Left Behind Title II grant. Richard Kaye, chairman of the curriculum committee, said the district has been involved in the professional development program for many years.
“We support this very strongly because professional development is the basis by which we move the district forward. It’s shown tremendous returns in quality of student work,” Kaye said.
The board also approved a bus transportation cost of $475 for 28 teachers from the district to attend a free professional development workshop at Columbia University on Saturday, March 24.
“The teachers would like to go, and we say it’s appropriate to help by providing transportation. Besides, they will get good time for talking on the bus, which adds to the time on task,” Kaye said.
