By Frank Mustac, Special Writer
PENNINGTON — From new laptop computers and software tools to solar panels to providing better academic support to students with concussion injuries, several changes are in store at the Hopewell Valley Regional School District this year.
The first day of classes is Tuesday, Sept. 8, for the 3,662 students enrolled in the district.
The schools are staffed with a total of 414 teachers this year, according to Superintendent Thomas Smith. Among the instructors are 24 new teachers, while the district saw 13 retirements at the close of the 2014-15 academic year.
Among the longest-serving instructors is Robert O’Boyle, a fine arts teacher at the high school. This will be his 35th year of teaching in the district.
“He’s very good. He’s very well respected,” Superintendent Smith said.
To assist teachers in communicating better with students and their parents, the district is rolling out a new web-based student information system called OnCourse.
“It’s an online system for parents, teachers and students to track student progress,” Dr Smith said. “We’re also piloting what’s called a ’learning management system.’ ”
A feature of the learning management system software, he said, is the ability for teachers to post and grade students’ assignments online.
“We have about 30 teachers piloting that,” Superintendent Smith said. “We took teacher volunteers from kindergarten through 12th grade and all different subjects. It’s pretty exciting.”
This year, students in eighth and ninth grades are receiving Chromebook laptop computers.
“This will be year two for our Chromebook roll-out,” Dr. Smith said. “Our goal is to have Chromebooks in our students’ hands — sixth grade through 12th grade — over the next several years.”
Once they get a Chromebook, students will keep them for the duration of their tenure in the school district. For most, that means until the end of senior year in high school.
“The device is important, but that’s really not what it’s about,” the superintendent said. “We’re in year two of changing the way we deliver education in the district. We’re moving toward an inquiry-based or student-centered approach to education, and that’s really making the classroom much more collaborative, much more dynamic”
“Virtually everything students do then is online and collaborative,” Dr. Smith said. “That’s the big push.”
In an effort to constantly improve writing skills, he said, the school district is continuing with a program called the the Reading and Writing Project developed at Columbia University’s Teachers College in New York City.
“It’s a program that provides a balanced approach to teaching elementary students reading and writing,” Dr. Smith said. “We’re in year three of that four-year roll-out.”
In science instruction, he said, the district is bringing up the programming to reflect the next generation of science standards, which are coming from federal level.
“We’re at a pretty good place there,” the superintendent said.
The superintendent also talked about what he described as an important issue of providing consistent academic support for students with concussion injuries.
“Obviously concussions is a major area of concern right now,” Dr. Smith said. “We have to take this very seriously.”
A set of concussion protocols were developed with the help of Emil Matarese, a neurologist and director of the concussion program at Capital Health Medical Center.
“It’s really to support our students academically and make sure their getting the accommodations they need, for example, if they need extra time,” Superintendent Smith said.
Improvements to buildings and grounds, he said, include resurfacing of the running track and tennis courts over the summer, and the installation of new cabinets in the family consumer sciences (home economics) classroom at the high school.
General maintenance is also being performed on buildings and facilities.
“We have three school buildings that are almost 100 years old and two that are well over 50 years old,” Dr. Smith said.
Hopewell Elementary and Toll Gate Gammar schools, he said, are both approaching the century mark, the district administration building is just about as old, while the high school and middle school were both built in the 1950s.
“We’re in a constant phase of work to keep those buildings up to par,” Dr. Smith said.
A new addition to the high school is a solar panel canopy over one of the parking lots.
“That’s going to bring in money for the district that is actually revenue, because we’re leasing that space to PSE&G,” Superintendent Smith said. “It helps us reduce our carbon footprint, but also provides energy back into the electrical grid.”
