Mat-Ab to use $250K for technology, literacy

District officials look for reasons behind decline in ASK scores

BY NICOLE ANTONUCCI
Staff Writer

ABERDEEN — The Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District Board of Education last week approved using a portion of the $584,217 in additional state aid received in July for the 2011-12 school budget.

During the Sept. 27 regular meeting, members of the board voted 6-1 to use approximately $295,879 of the aid for technology and literacy initiatives. The remaining funds will be earmarked for taxpayer relief in the 2012-13 budget.

“We didn’t have a lot of time to make this decision, but I am confident that the decision we made was sound,” Schools Superintendent David Healy said after the meeting.

The literacy initiative would address literacy concerns by implementing classroom libraries and a guided reading program to help elementary students in grades threefive read at level.

During the Committee of the Whole workshop meeting, Jessie Zitarosa, the district’s director of elementary accountability, provided data on current NJ Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (ASK) test scores, which showed the percentage of third-grade students who scored totally proficient declined from last year.

However, she said fourth-grade students showed a slight increase in ASK scores over the previous year, while the fifth-grade scores continued to decline.

“It’s a drop down and it’s a trend for the fifth grade,” she said. “Each consecutive year has been declining.

“We are analyzing what the cause [of the decline] is, what could be some contributing factors, what specific group, what specific building, what specific programs, etc.,” Zitarosa said.

Healy said he is concerned with the language arts scores, which show that a stronger emphasis on literacy was needed.

“We had 40 or 50 students who had perfect scores in math and science, but then only one perfect score in language arts. I’m not saying we need 50 perfect scores in language arts, but eight or 10 would be nice,” Healy said.

To address these concerns, $20,000 will be used to fund an educational consultant to evaluate the effectiveness of the district’s literacy program.

The technology initiative includes providing additional laptops, Promethean whiteboards and overhead projectors and ebooks for the students, iPads for physical education teachers and expanded wireless access.

Healy said he is confident that by implementing these initiatives quickly, the school district will be successful in obtaining their goals.

“I can assure you that anything we have brought in before my arrival and since, we are going to make sure these programs are fully implemented and we are going to monitor them and evaluate the data and we are going to make changes where necessary,” he said.

Despite Healy’s assurances, members of the board had concerns.

“I would prefer that these expenditures be held in advance for six weeks until such time as we can develop a plan and identify the weaknesses in the program through the use of the consultant,” board member John P. Delaney said.

“I am just asking that since this is our one chance to do something, to make sure that we do it right. It seems to me that we should do the research before we do the expenditure.”

Board President Charles Kenny, disagreed and supported Healy’s emphasis on timelinesss.

“While I respect your opinion, I think that it is equally, if not more, important to get this ball rolling. The students in the district need to be addressed immediately. We do have the inclusion in this agenda for the consultant. In all likelihood these things will line up side by side,” Kenny said.

Board member Kenneth Aitken, the lone dissenter, repeated his previous assertion that the money should go back to the taxpayers.

“I would look at these recommendations carefully, but more of this money should go to tax relief based on the situation that people are losing their jobs in the community,” Aitken said. “I feel that we can do better with the resources that we have.”

During the workshop meeting Healy told Aitken that implementing these initiatives would save the district and the taxpayers money.

“We are spending anywhere from [$50,000 to $100,000] on one student to place him/her out of district, and that doesn’t include transportation,” Healy said. “If we can address these issues early in something as simple as literacy and the supports that are necessary to improve that literacy, in the whole scheme of things it’s a small investment when looking at long-term benefits to our district and to the children in the district.”

According to Healy, once the funds become available to the district, the board will begin implementing the initiatives.

“To wait a year is one more year that a student has to wait to get what we believe is the appropriate literacy program,” Healy said. “I believe the community has faith in me, the board and the administration.”