At its December 17 meeting, the last meeting for outgoing President Hemant Marathe, the West Windsor-Plainsboro Board of Education voted to approve the contract between the district and the West Windsor-Plainsboro Service Association (WWPSA). The Association, which had previously ratified the contract, represents support staff, including instructional assistants, secretaries, bus drivers, bus mechanics, bus aides, and cafeteria/playground aides.
The three-year agreement covers the period of July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2015, and provides for salary increases for WWPSA employees as follows: for school year 2012-13, an increase of 2.4 percent; for 2013-14, an increase of 2.3 percent; and for 2014-15, an increase of 2.2 percent. Employees’ increases will be paid retroactively.
Said Board Vice-President Anthony Fleres, who served as chair of the Board’s negotiations team, along with Hemant Marathe and Michele Kais, “I would like to thank the Board team and the Service Association negotiations team members for their efforts and interest in working through the issues until reaching an agreement. The efforts of members of this union are very important to the success of WW-P, and on behalf of the entire Board of Education, we thank them for their continuing service to students, staff, and parents.”
The Board also voted to increase its minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 per hour, in order to comply with amendments to the NJ State Constitution. Employees who will be affected by this increase include: high school students, summer student secretaries, summer technology assistants, EDP staff, and lifeguards.
The Board also unanimously approved several curriculum changes for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years.
Curriculum Committee Chair Richard Kaye explained the recommended changes to the world languages program. “We will be introducing Hindi as a language option for all incoming sixth graders. Incoming sixth graders will now be allowed to select their top three language choices, and they may choose between French, Spanish, German, Chinese, and Hindi. Chinese will only be offered starting in the sixth grade, to provide continuity of choices.”
Native speakers of any language will not be permitted to take that language option, and there needs to be sufficient enrollment in any language for it to be offered, Kaye added. The district will be offering an informational meeting for parents of incoming sixth graders to explain the changes, which is currently scheduled for Monday, January 13, at 7 p.m. at Community Middle School. The Board unanimously passed the recommended changes to the World Languages program.
Assistant Superintendent Martin Smith also gave a presentation outlining four specific curriculum changes to the high school curriculum, all of which were also unanimously approved by the Board.
“First” said Smith, “world history honors will be added as a course for freshmen. Currently, there is only one level of world history; now freshmen can choose to take the honors level assuming they meet the eligibility criteria.”
The second change also involved world languages. “No Latin I or II will be offered next year,” Smith said, “and Latin III and Latin IV will be an online course offering only. That way those few students who wish to continue their Latin studies may do so, but since only three or four students registered in Latin III and IV, it no longer makes economic sense to have the course taught in the classroom.”
“The third change,” Smith continued, “will be to allow freshmen to take environmental science, which is currently only offered to 11th and 12th grade students. Now any student in 9th through 12th grade can take environmental science, and this offers a third science option to freshmen, who currently could only choose between biology and conceptual physics.”
The fourth change involves the language arts semester courses that are currently offered to juniors and seniors. “As of next year, there will no longer be any semester courses offered to juniors, and in 2015-16, we will eliminate semester courses entirely,” said Smith. “Juniors will be able to take Language Arts III college prep, honors, or AP language composition as full-year courses.”
“There are a couple of reasons for this change. We need a more consistent course of study for Language Arts — this was one of the recommendations during last year’s Language Arts Program Review. In addition, as we understand it, when the state institutes the new PARCC assessments, there will be end of course assessments for LA I, II, and III. So if juniors and seniors are taking courses together [in semester courses] we can’t properly assess them,” Smith explained.
Other curriculum changes approved by the Board include updating the Life Skills course description to include technology and other aspects of modern life, as well as changes to AP Spanish Language and Culture; Band; Biology Honors; Chinese 4 Honors and 5 Honors; French 1 and French 3; General and Vocal Music; Introduction to Spanish Communication and Culture; Math; Orchestra; Social Studies; Spanish Language and Cultural Study and TV Production, in order to align them more closely to the state core content and common core standards.
In addition, the Board approved clarification of Option 2 [summer course] class procedures: if a student is taking a science course, it must have a lab component; if he or she is taking a language arts course, it must have a significant writing component; and if the student is taking a world language course, it must have an oral component.
Other presenters at the Board meeting included Dutch Neck students from Jeff Grabell’s third-grade class, who gave a presentation on their astronomy event, part of which was funded by the WW-P Education Foundation. The students explained how, through observations, models, and presentations, they learned about the solar system, constellations and their mythology, and other celestial objects.
Board member Michele Kaish reported on the results of the parent survey regarding the security program Eyes on the Door. “We received positive responses from the parents, and are considering expanding the program to all 10 schools. We will solicit pricing from the Davis Group [the security firm] to assess how much that would cost.”
Vice President Fleres noted that the district has been awarded the prestigious “Meritorious Budget Award” from the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO). “Only one other school district in New Jersey has earned this award-it is very hard to earn. Congratulations to everyone and especially the budget department.”
Praise was also given to outgoing Board members Alapakkam Manikandan (“Mani”) and Hemant Marathe. Superintendent David Aderhold thanked both of them for their service to the Board, as did former Board member Diane Hasling and West Windsor Council member Linda Geevers.
Said Geevers, “Hemant, we served on the Board together for several years. Thank you for your extraordinary leadership during different administrations, the building of new schools, curriculum changes, and more. The students are better off, and the staff is stronger because of all of the work we did.”
Marathe also offered thanks, to everyone who helped him during his 12 years on the Board. “To all of the superintendents, leaders of the teachers union, teachers and staff, and other Board members, thank you for making the last 12 and a half years special and fun. You are all easy and fun to work with. Even though we might not have always agreed, it was still a pleasure to work with all of you.”
Marathe will be replaced by incoming Board member Scott Powell from West Windsor and Mani will be replaced by Plainsboro resident Yu Taylor Zhong.
Nine candidates from Plainsboro have applied for the current Board vacancy (see page 16). The Board has scheduled two special meetings, on Wednesday and Thursday, January 8 and January 9, at 7:30 p.m.; both meetings will be held at Grover Middle School, to interview all applicants.
The Board will hold its reorganization meeting on Tuesday, January 7, at 7:30 p.m. at Grover Middle School, at which time a new president and vice president will be selected.
