By: Katie Wagner
Staff photo by Mark Czajkowski
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| Sixth-grade
social studies teacher Ariana Erickson sets up her classroom at the Montgomery Lower Middle School on Thursday, left. |
MONTGOMERY Bobbi Kahn is just putting the finishing touches on her first-grade classroom in Montgomery Lower Middle School this week.
She’s already decorated bulletin boards with photos from her family’s vacation to Europe, pushed student desks together to make cooperative learning tables, hung up posters with reminders of classroom etiquette and discussed plans for the school year with her partner teacher for her two classes of fifth-graders.
Although the first day of school is approaching, Ms. Kahn isn’t feeling nervous about starting her new job.
"I’m ready to go. I’ve just really been looking forward to the day since I was hired in the spring," she said. "The thing that’s most overwhelming about being in a different school is just learning the everyday procedures, like fire drills and lunchtime runs."
Ms. Kahn, who will be working as a fifth-grade language arts and social studies teacher, is filling one of the seven new instructional positions created this year in the district.
"We’re lower on new positions this year," said Rich Hartz, the school district’s director of human resources. "The district was growing so rapidly that for many years we had quite a few new teachers needed to be hired. We’re still growing, but the growth rate has slowed."
Another of the new positions went to the high school’s guidance department, which is experiencing several changes this year.
Tina Renga, one of last school year’s high school guidance counselors, has been promoted to supervisor of the department. Jessica Ritson filled the new guidance counselor position added to the school district’s budget and the district’s hiring of Keith Glock has brought two new people to the department himself and a male presence.
The district has hired a total of 49 new people this year, including 32 instructors and five administrators. The remaining 12 hires will be serving support positions.
The total student enrollment in the district for the school year is 5,470 with a student-teacher ratio averaging 21-to-1.
New academic approaches in the district are being highlighted through implementation of the RxeSearch Science Program sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb, American history instruction under the Nathanael Greene Liberty Fellowship program and an assessment for learning approach to teaching throughout the district.
More than just new interior wall painting will be visible at some of the district’s schools.
Part of the Lower Middle School’s library has been converted into a classroom.
The Orchard Hill Elementary School’s parking lot has been repaired and expanded. The school’s chalkboards have been replaced with whiteboards. It’s also received new boilers and cinder block walls.
At the Upper Middle School, the fire alarm system has been upgraded.
Classes in all the schools are scheduled to begin Sept. 10. Even the Village Elementary School, which is located inside a site where much demolition and asbestos removal work was conducted this summer, seems ready to go.
"The Board of Education is confident that the interior and exterior of Village Elementary School is completely safe," said Frances Chaves, district spokeswoman.
"The work that has been done has been closely monitored," she said. "Laboratory results confirm that concentrations of materials being monitored have not exceeded site action levels."

