By clare MARie celano
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — Having children learn to read better is one of the primary goals of the members of the Board of Education and hiring a language arts literary specialist is a part of their plan to accomplish this goal.
Meeting on Oct. 21, board members voted 8-1 in favor of the new position. Voting for the hiring were President Lynne Coulson, Vice President Stella Mayes, Ron Reich, Matthew Weismantel, Rick Quinones, Peter DeFonzo, James Keelan and Annette Jordan.
Board member Theresa Hicks voted no, stating that she was not convinced the district needed the position.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Janet Kalafat explained that the position has been created as a part of the federally funded "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) program. Kalafat explained that the program is geared toward "at risk" students, those with disabilities and those who are Limited English Proficient.
The plan proposed by the administration consists of hiring a district-wide language arts literacy specialist who will perform model lessons, develop in-service programs for staff training and develop curriculum. Additional English as a Second Language (ESL) and bilingual staff will also be hired as part of the proposed plan to keep pace with increasing enrollment.
Kalafat said the new program will also create a partnership with parents to help them to become more involved in their children’s education.
According to the superintendent, NCLB is a directive from the state to research different options to address and improve the literary skills of at-risk students. The ultimate goal of the program is to raise the standardized test scores of all students.
"This program is all about training," Kalafat told board members. "This position goes hand in hand with our timeline. This instructor will be hired to design benchmarks."
Kalafat said the language arts literacy specialist will be training teachers with new ideas and programs to develop better readers and hopefully improve the children’s standardized test scores. The superintendent came up with a proposed timeline for the NCLB project. According to the timeline, the literary specialist will be hired by November, as will additional ESL and bilingual staff. December will bring the development of in-service programs, after-school programs and developing "parents as partners."
By February, the plan calls for the development of a summer school literacy program.
Coulson said the new instructor will "bring the level of our instruction up a notch" and that the person hired "will bring expertise and ‘know-how’ and many new things to the classroom.
"Sometimes, teachers go along teaching at the same level of their graduation or at the level they have been in-serviced at," said Coulson, who is a teacher.
"Although the district does a good job keeping teachers up to speed, sometimes it’s difficult to implement things unless you see them in action."
Coulson said teachers will actually be able to watch and observe as the new literary specialist implements teaching methods in his or her classroom.
She said teachers will learn how to better construct their lessons and tailor them to meet the needs of the students in their classroom.
The borough school system does not have a curriculum coordinator, which is common in smaller school districts, according to Coulson.
The new instructor will act as a resource person who will be available to school officials and students.