By Andrew Martins, Managing Editor
The days of summer fun for the students of the Hillsborough Township School District will soon make way for school days, as the district continues to get ready to open its doors.
Starting Tuesday, Sept. 6, more than 7,000 pupils will return to the district’s nine schools to kick off the 2016-17 school year. While kids were out enjoying their summer vacations, Superintendent Dr. Jorden Schiff said the school has been working to improve conditions within the school and modernize the learning experience for its pupils.
Following the trend of introducing technology into the classroom, officials said all third and fourth grade students in the district’s six elementary schools will be issued their own Chromebooks for use in class only.
Students in fifth grade to senior year of high school have already been using Chromebooks, but they are allowed to take the devices home. In recent weeks, those same students have been going to Hillsborough High School to pick up their devices prior to the school year.
Pupils are not the only ones that the district is outfitting with new tech. Moving forward, all certified staff members will be issued a new Lenovo Yoga 260 laptop. The new devices will be distributed to replace their older Lenovo X220 tablets, which officials said will be redistributed to replace older computers throughout the district.
Along with new hardware, officials said the district will implement a number of curriculum changes and additions for the coming school year.
Starting this year, science throughout the district will be taught under the “Next Generation Science Standards,” which is a multi-state effort to provide a curriculum that is “rich in content and practice,” according to its website.
At the high school level, officials said more students will be able to participate in the district’s concurrent enrollment program, which provides pupils with the opportunity to receive both high school and transcripted college credits from Raritan Valley Community College.
American Sign Language will be also be introduced as a World Languages Class at Hillsborough High School, after Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill into law last August that made ASL an official world language in state high schools.
District-wide overall wellness initiatives that focus on the importance of total health will also be implemented this year.
Two projects that were part of the March 2016 referendum were completed just in time for the school year: the turf replacement at Hillsborough High School and a paving and draining project at Hillsborough Middle School.
At the high school, the entirety of the football field now has a fresh turf field, complete with new goal posts.
Dr. Schiff said the project came “slightly under budget” during the Aug. 22 Board of Education meeting.
As for the repaving project at the middle school, officials said a retaining wall was built and the entire parking lot was redone with new lines and an altered traffic pattern that would improve safety for students.
“Now, parents will be able to drop off their students at the middle school in the morning, instead of dropping them off at Triangle (Elementary School),” Board of Education President Thomas Kinst said.
More energy efficient heating and ventilation units were installed along the Amwell Road side of Hillsborough Elementary School in a bid to replace old ones. Dr. Schiff said the replacements were done as part of the district’s Energy Savings Improvement Plan.“(These) projects were completed on time and are great ways to welcome back students, parents and teachers,” he said.
On the administrative side, officials said the district’s new director of special services, Suzan Radwan, began at the district on July 1. A new director of the guidance deprtment, Jessica Smedley, also began her time with the district at tne end of August.
Additions to the district’s professional roster did not stop with the department heads, however, as officials said they hired more than 40 new teachers in recent months.
Dr. Schiff said the new hires were “talented teachers” who were “eager to get into their classrooms.”
To ensure they were ready for the coming 180 days of classes, officials said the last week as has been spent running through new teacher training, training exercises and in-service.
With the new school year now in sight, Dr. Schiff said the anticipation has been palpable for teachers and administrators alike.
“We are very excited for the start of the new school year,” he said. “On behalf of the entire team, we look forward to welcoming the students back to Hillsborough Schools.”
