Kindergarten teacher Christine Temple gets to know her new students at the Switlik Elementary School in Jackson. At top left, Temple helps the youngsters onto their bus during kindergarten orientation. PHOTOS BY REBECCA NOWALSKI School is back in session for almost 9,000 students in the Jackson School District. The 2015-16 school year began on Sept. 2.
“I have been in education a long time and the excitement of the new school year never goes away,” Jackson Superintendent of Schools Stephen Genco said. “We are all looking forward to continuing to move the district forward.”
Genco said this year will feature new strategic initiatives to better serve the students and the community.
“We are embarking on the second and final phase of our strategic planning process,” he said. “We have implemented a number of needed facilities improvements and we are excited for our students to experience key curriculum updates we have put in place.”
The 2015-16 school year marks the debut of full-day kindergarten for 5-yearolds.
“This is a way for us to offer the strongest foundation in learning,” Genco said. “It has been a long time coming and to know that this year begins that new era for our youngest students is very satisfying.”
Administrators are implementing curriculum changes at various grade levels.
There will be updates to the English/language arts and social studies curriculum in kindergarten through fifth grade; in world language instruction in grades three through 12; and health and physical education for all grades.
Starting this year, students will be able to enroll in Italian language classes. District spokeswoman Allison Erwin said the selection of Italian was the result of a survey of middle school and high school students.
As a result, German will be phased out. Erwin said interest in that language has waned in recent years.
Spanish and French remain as foreign language options.
The district will provide an advanced Spanish course for eighth grade in both middle schools and online textbooks for Spanish, French and Italian courses at the high school level.
To help students improve their comprehension of the English language, a special Readers and Writers Workshop will be offered.
Erwin said the workshop is the product of a collaboration with the Teacher’s College at Columbia University in New York City.
In addition to changes in the classroom, officials said a number of major additions and upgrades to the district’s facilities also took place in preparation for the new school year.
Earlier this year, officials approved a capital improvements budget of $1 million for the 2015-16 school year. Administrators said the money funded numerous projects, including repaving the student parking lot at Jackson Memorial High School; refinishing the gym floors at Jackson Memorial High School, Jackson Liberty High School, the Goetz Middle School and the McAuliffe Middle School; painting the auditorium ceiling at Jackson Liberty High School; district-wide sidewalk repairs; and rekeying all interior doors with more secure locks at Jackson Memorial High School.
Erwin said this year will be the first time that Jackson Memorial High School will have a majority of the building cooled by a modern air conditioning system. Included in the budget was the district’s portion of an agreement with the township to provide two school resource officers to the district.
Looking forward to the rest of the school year, Genco said he and the district’s staff were excited for what will come.
“We’ve got a good team, all of whom are focused on what is best for students, how we can support our staff and how we can provide the kind of classroom experiences and academic excellence our parents expect,” Genco said. “It’s going to be a great year.”