Board of Education Goal Setting for 2012-2013 School Year Delayed

At a recent Board of Education meeting, Alfred Annunziata, Field Service Representative from the New Jersey School Boards Association, met with the Board members to discuss their goals for the 2012-2013 school year. Board President Jimmy Park said that goal setting is usually done sooner in the school year with input from the Superintendent, but this school year "that hasn't been the case."

Annunziata said that once the district goals are established they become the basis of the superintendent's evaluation.

However, Superintendent Steven Engravalle submitted his resignation to the Board effective March 4. His time off to attend his wife's funeral this summer, along with his two-month leave of absence and inclement weather, played a role in delaying the goal setting meeting. Given the fact that the school year is coming to an end, Park recommended that the Board prepare a modified goal setting to take the district to June 30. 

According to the New Jersey School Boards Associations, because Boards of Education represent the interest of their communities in the operation of the public schools, setting educational goals and policies is critical.

The process of goal setting occurs with the Board and the Superintendent setting educational goals. The Superintendent then adopts those goals and completes an action plan for implementing them.

During the discussion on goals, Dr. Sharon Amato, newly appointed interim Superintendent, said the district should continue to close the gap in student achievement between special education and general education district wide. Also, the Board should continue to review and revise Language Arts curriculum K-12 and math curriculum K-8. Additionally, the district should continue to address and resolve overcrowding in the classrooms and continue to focus on repairing facilities and infrastructure.

The district's goals and curriculum implementation can be found on the Board's website.

Board member David Sarnoff said that given the passage of the $30 million referendum, repairing the infrastructure should be a top priority of the district. He recommended that this be a goal, not only for this year, but for future years as well.

According to officials, by summer of 2013, the district may be up to 10 projects that are referendum items, including the Lewis F. Cole Middle School addition.

Another goal is to increase parent and community involvement. Park said that the Board is always looking for new ways to reach out to parents and encourage their participation.

Amato informed the Board that she had just initiated a parent reach-out group for both Spanish speaking parents and Arab speaking parents. She is also planning on initiating an advisory group for parents of children with disabilities.

The Board will meet during the summer to set the goals for the 2013-2014 school year.