Opening day is Sept. 9
By Ruth Luse, Managing Editor
Hopewell Valley Regional School District’s four elementary (K-five) schools will open their doors for the 2009-10 school year on Wednesday (Sept. 9).
Recently, the principal of each school provided the following back-to-school information:
• BEAR TAVERN SCHOOL, Bear Tavern Road, Titusville — Principal Bruce Arcurio expects about 535 students, in preschool through fifth grade.
New programs and other items of interest to parents and students are:
— The Bear Tavern PTO in conjunction with the staff will continue to expand and develop the school garden. At the end of last year, many classes were working in the garden and going outside for lessons in various subject areas. “This year we intend to move forward with a composting program and further develop the utilization of the garden,” said Mr. Arcurio.
— “We also will be embarking on a Terracycling program that entails recycling items such as juice pouches and soda bottles to be used in completely ‘garbage-based’ products. You may have seen the backpacks that are made of CapriSun pouches in the stores. This is an example of Terracycling. More information will be forthcoming . . . I encourage you to check out some of the news footage on Terracycling that can be found on YouTube,” the principal said.
— The preschool program is expanding to include four half-day PEECH sessions. This reconfiguration of the programs requires no more classroom space, but provides for the needs of more children.
— “We encourage all parents to get connected with Infinite Campus in order to have the most up-to-date information regarding your child’s school experience. Infinite Campus is our new online student information system through which you can view data such as attendance, grades and other information. It also automatically links you with our e-mail lists so you can be informed about important school and district news, as well as emergency notifications. Log-in information was mailed home last May. If you still need this information, contact the help desk at [email protected] or our main office.” Mr. Arcurio said.
— This year, the school theme revolves around the letter “R” in the B.E.A.R.S! motto. The “R” stands for “Reaching.” Over the past several years, the school has focused on Believing, Experiencing, and Asking. This year’s focus will ask everyone to REACH for Success. “I would challenge both parents and children to discuss the things for which you are reaching in your family, in your education, in your home, in your friendships, etc. As I do the same, I will continue to reach for ways to develop our wonderful school community and provide the children with an amazing elementary school experience,” said the principal.
— There will be several new staff members:
Delores Van Name will teach the SKIP+ preschool class. She comes from the Pre-school Autistic program at Bright Beginnings. She has experience as a paraprofessional in various grades, a substitute teacher in all elementary grades, and as a primary grade teacher in New York.
Kim Chanda comes from Hopewell Elementary and Brynne Zachow comes from Stony Brook Elementary. “We are extremely fortunate to have two more strong teachers joining our third-grade team,” Mr. Arcurio said.
• HOPEWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Princeton Avenue, Hopewell — Principal Christine Laquidara and the staff will welcome students at 8:45 a.m. on the blacktop to celebrate the beginning of the year. Enrollment is about 444 with a kindergarten enrollment of 53. Both enrollments are slight increases from last year. There are 17 new students in grades one-five.
Those who recently moved to the Hopewell Elementary community and have school-age children should register their children immediately.
— The PTO Welcome Back Carnival will be held on Sept. 11 at 6 p.m., rain or shine. Back to School Night will be held on Sept. 23 for all grades.
— This year’s theme is “Growing Together” with a focus on the whole child using all the resources available.
— To foster meaningful learning, teachers, parents and students will be expanding the new school garden, Freddy’s Garden Patch, and using the space for outdoor instruction. This will include practical application of skills learned in the classroom in an environment that also teaches students about healthy eating. Hopewell Elementary’s parent group that has worked on the garden also will continue to beautify the school grounds.
Students will continue to have fun and enjoy meaningful activities with support from the PTO for assemblies and field trips.
— In the interest of eco-friendliness and parent convenience, Hopewell Elementary, along with the district, is shifting more and more of its communications online. Parents are advised to look for a weekly e-mail summarizing important news and announcements, along with links for additional information. To make sure they receive these important notices, along with emergency updates, parents are strongly encouraged to keep their e-mail information current through Infinite Campus.
— The Direct Appeal fundraiser conducted by the PTO will be continued this year. Parents should have received the new Appeal information in the summer packet and are encouraged to drop off their donation at the Carnival or Back to School Night. All parents are invited and encouraged to become active in the PTO at whatever level is comfortable.
”There are many opportunities to participate in your child’s education at Hopewell Elementary,” said Ms. Laquidara.
— The only new staff member is Terese Maiorana, special education. Ms. Maiorana is transferring from Bear Tavern to teach the self-contained class.
Mary Yeomans, the district K-12 science supervisor, will be based at Hopewell Elementary this year.
• STONY BROOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Stephenson Road, Brandon Farms — Principal Steve Wilfing expects about 463 students.
”As members of the Stony Brook community, each of us is held accountable for being a person who is; Reasonable, Respectful and Responsible to everyone, in all places, all of the time.
” It is also expected that everyone will do their part as we pursue the endless Search for Truth, joyful Appreciation of Beauty and the selfless Demonstration of Goodness,” said Mr. Wilfing
. The school’s mascot is “Rocky the All-Star.”
— The “Walking School Bus” will continue this year. The previously established “bus stops” will be used. This is where students can meet up and share the walk to school. On Wednesday mornings “celebrity walkers” (including teachers, the principal, police officers, and other surprise guests) will join the students on the walk. “We encourage anyone who does not ride a bus to school to join us,” said Mr. Wilfing.
— Constellations – This is a bi-monthly project that places 10-12 students from across each grade level (one-five) into a group that meets with a teacher from the building to engage in language-arts based, community-building activities.
New staff members at Stony Brook include:
— Carl Corino comes from Toll Gate Grammar where he has taught for the past six years. He will work in the collaborative fourth-grade classroom.
— Jayne Mangino, counseling services, comes from Hopewell Elementary. She has been in the district for 24 years.
— Kristyn Friedlich, who is new to the district, will join the second-grade team. A graduate from Tufts University, she brings six years of teaching experience to Stony Brook, including two years at Cambridge School in Pennington.
— These teachers will be taking on new assignments this year: Sherrie Dudich, advanced level math and reading for fourth and fifth grades; Maria Russo, fourth grade; Lesley Geller, Gifted and Talented students and third-grade Basic Skills students; Jaclyn Scullin, special education team, Resource Room teacher.
• TOLL GATE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, South Main Street, Pennington — Principal Dan Umstead expects about 311 children.
The traditional opening day festivities will take place on the school’s blacktop on at 8:45 a.m. Parents are invited to attend a PTO-sponsored “Welcome Back Coffee” in the school cafeteria, immediately following the Opening Day celebration.
The school theme is “It’s All About Respect.” In their daily living, students use the R3 philosophy — be respectful, responsible and reasonable when making choices. “This year, we will spend the year celebrating the positive impact we have when treating ourselves, others, our school and our environment with respect,” said the principal.
Toll Gate teachers have been involved in curriculum-writing projects, seminars, workshops and classroom preparation to ensure that the academic program “remains top-notch,” said the principal.
Custodians have working to ensure that classrooms, hallways and school grounds are in “top form” and secretaries have been working to coordinate all that is necessary to begin a new year.
Parent volunteers have been working on “freshening up” the front entranceway.
The professional staff will be developing collaborative teams to study, work, plan, and take action collectively in behalf of increased learning for students. “These teacher teams, called Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), are united in their commitment to student learning. They share a vision, work and learn collaboratively, and participate in decision making. The benefits to our staff and students include reduced isolation for teachers, better access to the talents and expertise of colleagues, and will result in increased academic gains for students,” said the principal.
”Another important development this year is an increase in student access to powerful educational technology. We are excited to announce that the Toll Gate PTO’s generous gift of five new interactive whiteboards (i.e. Smartboards®) has arrived and will be installed for the opening of school. Interactive whiteboards provide a means for teachers to share educational software and Web sites with small and large groups of students and create opportunities for students to interact with these applications in meaningful ways,” said Mr. Umstead.
The “construction phase” of Toll Gate’s “Garden Gate,” the organic schoolyard garden situated behind the school’s primary wing, is close to completion, thanks to parent volunteers. PTO representatives have been involved in preparing the gardens and will work with teachers throughout the year to develop opportunities for students to visit and learn in this “outdoor classroom,”
The school will welcome back fifth-grade teacher, Pam Weltz, who has returned from maternity leave.
Also coming back is Linda Bradshaw, who will join Sarah Paluzzi and Kathleen Belton in providing art instruction.
Etta Bray, physical therapist, also is returning this year.