Hawthorne Public Schools January 2013 Washington School This newsletter is designed to allow a “snapshot access” to activities and important district initiatives. By design each section will be brief and to the point, thus allowing parents and residents ease of access. The Superintendent’s comments will focus on district initiatives. Hawthorne Public Schools has implemented a nut free regulation for all of our pre-school and elementary facilities. Any foods containing peanuts and tree nuts (almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts etc.) will not be permitted in our pre-K through grade 5 schools. All existing protocols to minimize potential exposure by children allergic to peanuts and tree nut products will remain in effect. Because of the age and the level of awareness for middle school and high school students, there will be a voluntary ban on peanuts and tree nut products in the middle school and high school. Students in Lincoln Middle school and Hawthorne High School are being asked whenever possible to avoid all foods containing peanuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts, etc. Please note that the ban on peanut and tree nut products is in effect for all school and non-school activities conducted on our premises. Your understanding is critically important to our joint goal to ensure the safety of our children at all times. These regulations will be put into effect on Monday, February 4, 2013, in all six public school facilities. On behalf of the children with these allergies and
their families, thank you for your anticipated cooperation.
Board of Education As a part of our continuing effort to improve the communication between the community and the schools, I am pleased to introduce the first edition of the Hawthorne Public Schools Enewsletter. We believe that it is time to recognize and celebrate the many successes of our students and faculty and invite you to join us in doing so. This periodical will be published several times per year and will highlight various happenings around the district. Abigail Goff Public Relations Chairperson “The Hawthorne Board of Education’s search for a new superintendent is well underway. I’m pleased to report that board trustees have diligently been reading through all of the applications, and are ready to finalize their top candidates. In the next few weeks, the full board will conduct the interview process with the hopes that a new superintendent will be hired to start in the district on July 1st.” Michele Hyams BOE President
Washington School Washington School is looking forward to an educationally exciting month to kick off 2013. Everyone is revived and refreshed from the holiday break and looking forward to learning about many interesting topics in class. It begins with promoting good character as students and teachers participated in No Name Calling Week and Cap Day for the Caps for Kids organization. During No Name Calling Week, the students and teachers helped raise awareness of the importance of
kindness by creating a Garden of Kindness. The entire student body constructed flowers with a personal note written about kindness in the center. All the flowers were gathered to create a garden in the school entrance. In addition, Washington School congratulated Elias Rodriguez for being recognized for Honorable Mention in the 2013 Passaic County Poster Calendar Contest. Elias was honored at a ceremony on January 15th at the Police Academy in Wayne. A special thank you is to be given to our fourth grade teachers and Ms. Bazelmans, our art teacher, for their efforts in the student submissions. Looking ahead, February promises to be a month full of special activities based upon reading. The traditional “Let’s Celebrate Reading” festivities will begin on Wednesday, February 6th. We are looking forward to hosting many guest readers including community leaders, parents, and staff. Activities
scheduled for this year include an Author Visit, Annual PTO Book Exchange, and Have a Heart Day.
Special Programs Enhancement of building security at the Pre-K program at the Wyckoff facility is continuing. Over the past several weeks a thorough review has been completed and several key security procedures have been upgraded and new ones implemented. Following a series of meetings with the district administrators, officials from the Abundant Life Reformed Church, Wyckoff Police Chief, Benjamin Fox, and the Pre-School programs staff, the following security procedures are now in place. All classroom doors will remain locked at all times. The security camera system will be switched on each morning. A security person will be in place at the main entrance to the school and all other doors to that facility will be locked. Currently, we have 2 operational walkie-talkies, one at the entrance door and one in the nurse’s office. We are considering the purchase of inexpensive walkie-talkie units for each classroom so that the staff could be notified in case of emergency. Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox, like Chief Scully and Captain McAuliffe recommend that we deal with this security issue but not go overboard. Chief Fox felt that our solutions need to be reasonable, affordable and most importantly practical. Essentially, Chief Fox felt our response to date meets all three of his criteria. He did however suggest that the local police number for Wyckoff be available for quick access rather than the 911 number. All staff has been given the direct phone number of the Wyckoff Police Department and regular emergency drills are performed each month.
Lincoln Middle School "Paws for a Cause" The LMS Student Council hosted a fundraiser to benefit those in need due to Hurricane Sandy. The student council members sold paper paws during each lunch period for a week. Each paw was given to the purchaser to write their name in it. All paws were posted on bulletin boards for the entire school
to view. Included in their purchase of a paw was a chance to win a hand-made "Gwen" bear. A total of 4 bears were raffled off and the students who won were very excited to receive their prize. A total of $500 was raised for this worthy cause. In addition to the chance of winning a "Gwen" bear, students also had a chance to participate in a faculty versus student volleyball game held in the LMS gymnasium on Thursday January 10, 2013. Spectators were welcome free of charge. The LMS Student Council sold drinks and snacks. All proceeds were donated to those in need due to Hurricane Sandy. As a special surprise, one lucky spectator received a "Paws for a Cause" volleyball "Gwen" bear with a volleyball that was signed by all the players. Students from all three grades competed against many teachers and administrators from
LMS. A special thank you goes out to all who helped make this event such a success.
Roosevelt School As the winter days roll by, the learning community at Roosevelt school is busy with so many exciting educational activities. Students and teachers at all grade levels have worked very diligently this month as we near the mid-point of the year. Aside from their regular curriculum-related work, all students will be taking part in the Mad Science program later this month with in-class presentations. Our amazing PTO has provided funding for this event. In addition to Mad Science, the PTO recently organized a family game show night. Families participated in various events inspired by the Minute to Win It game show. Our fifth grade leadership groups, known as Roughrider Nation have been busy with a number of projects aimed at improving our school. Some of the highlights include a presentation by the Beautification Brigade to the Buildings and Grounds Committee displaying our vision for transforming the courtyard into an outdoor classroom and student lounge. Our Anti-Bully Crew has been spreading weekly messages during the morning announcements to combat negative behavior and has also been spreading their message by posting student created “bulldozers” as part of their “Bulldoze Bullying” movement. It is has also been an award winning month at Roosevelt School. At the direction of our Art teacher Mrs. Watson, all of our fourth grade students entered artwork in the Passaic County Poster Contest. Two of our students were selected; Sabrina Rogers’ poster won honorable mention and Hannah Olah’s poster won a spot on the calendar. Congratulations to their teachers, Mr. Patula, Mrs. Ross and Mrs. Watson but most of all to the families and students themselves.
Finally our staff has been working extremely hard learning about the new Core Content State Standards as well as the new teacher evaluation
system that will go into effect next year. With all of these things in mind it is obvious that many challenges lay ahead of us. However, considering all the great things our staff and students have accomplished already, we welcome these challenges with confidence.
Jefferson School The New Year of 2013 is well underway at Jefferson School. Many plans are developing to make this the best year yet! The Character Education/Kindness Committee has announced their new project for Kindness Week: the adoption of the
Students in all classes honored the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. in a variety of ways. A school-wide assembly sponsored by the PTO and presented by Bright Star Touring Theater Group, Struggle for Freedom: The Life of Dr. King was held on January 22nd. Teachers also read stories, and writing assignments focusing on “I Have A Dream” were assigned. There were discussions centering on peace and artwork was done to complement assignments. Jefferson is proud to announce an accomplished student artist, whose poster was selected to be the month of September on the Passaic County Historical Poster Calendar Contest. Abby Kedl, a fourth grade student in Dr. Herriott’s class and art student of Mrs. Watson, accomplished this wonderful feat! An award’s ceremony was held on January 15th at the Police Academy Complex in Wayne to honor Abby and other students of Passaic County who were winners in the Calendar Contest. Way to go, Abby! The Hawthorne Education Foundation has announced the winners of the HEF Grants for 2012 and the following Jefferson teachers are recipients: Mrs. Siss, Mrs. Ferraro, Mrs. Cunningham, Dr. Herriott and Mrs. Fisher. A total of $1,281.69 in mini-grants has been approved for Jefferson School, which is almost half the entire amount given in grants this year. Congratulations to these Jefferson teachers!
Hawthorne High Hugh J. Boyd Jr. Elementary School in Seaside Heights. Having been devastated by Hurricane Sandy, the school’s families are in dire need of many things. Carnations will be sold on Valentine’s Day and a benefit volleyball game will reap funds to hopefully alleviate a small part of their needs.
School Grade 11 to be Introduced to College Searching and Game-Plan During the week of January 28th, the high school guidance counselors will be giving eleventh grade
students an overview of Naviance during the students’ English classes. College Search is a tool that will help students to research colleges. The Game-Plan is a survey indicating what the student plans on doing after high school
Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Congratulations to HHS on setting the Guinness World Record for the most people popping bubble wrap at one time.
Evan Ramos Captures 100th Wrestling Win Senior Evan Ramos recently registered his 100th career victory and has moved into second place behind twin brother, Ethan, for most career wrestling wins. Lady Bears Win Weehawken Girls Holiday Basketball Team The Lady Bears won the Weehawken Girls Holiday Basketball Tournament as junior Mallory Noordeloos was named tournament Most Valuable Player. “Singing in the Rain” Coming to HHS Play Director Mrs. Jill Hackett announced that this spring’s musical will be “Singing in the Rain.” The show will run from April 25th to April 28th. High School to Host Bubble Wrap Guinness World Record Setting Event on January 28th On Monday, January 28th approximately 400 students will attempt to set a Guinness World Record for bubble wrap popping sponsored by Sealed Air, the present makers of bubble wrap, which was invented in Hawthorne over 50 years ago. All proceeds from the event will support Sandy
Technology During the months of December and January, the Hawthorne Technology Department was very busy continuing the network printer rollout, beta-testing Windows 8 and Office 2013 and researching
wireless access points. We’ve also closed 128 helpdesk tickets and started testing End-Point Protection. We are in the beginning stages of implementing beta-testing the grade-book for the elementary schools, continue to support parents with the parent portal, and continue to update data in Power-school and NJSMART. We are working with OASYS for configuration of evaluation management software. A load balancing of our servers was done to provide a higher bandwidth to clients on our network. A shared network drive was given to the math department, which will allow them to collaborate on documents together.
Upcoming Events HHS Market Pick up Day-Feb. 2nd Princeton Review SAT Classroom CourseFeb. 2nd Italian Club World Nutella Day Feb. 5th Italian Club Carnevale- Feb. 12th Senior Superstars- Feb. 15th LMS Grade 8 superstars- Feb. 1st Grade 8 Valentine’s Dance-Feb. 8th Jefferson School Kindergarten registration-Feb 6th Kindness week- Feb 11-15 Roosevelt School Kindergarten registration-Feb 6-8 Spirit Day- Feb. 15th Washington School Celebrate reading begins-Feb.6th Kindergarten registration- Feb. 6-7