The Board of Education’s first meeting of the school year welcomed students and provided updates.
Report of the Superintendent of Schools
Superintendent Dr. Rosetta Treece reported on the beginning of school year highlights, ways parents can get involved, District goals updates, and suicide awareness month support.
“We are getting off to a great start. We had convocation, which was a wonderful ceremony with a DJ and a wonderful guest speaker, who spoke with teachers about forming relationships with students and the importance of doing that, parents walk-throughs, orientations, we are working very closely with the Digital Wellness Committee to reset the District’s policy of ‘off and away’ to keep the electronic distractions out of the classrooms, fall sports and clubs are all in full swing, PTO meetings already happening,” said Dr. Treece.
For parents and caregivers who would like to get involved, the District offers many opportunities including PTOs, Hopewell Valley Education Foundation (HVEF), Principals Councils/District level committees, Music and Theater Parent Association (MTPA), and various TMS and CHS sports team and extracurricular clubs.
Earlier in 2024, the District setup four goals, student learning autonomy, facilities and finance, health and wellness, and communication, with the assistance of almost 300 community members. Dr. Treece reviewed each goal and provided advances the District has made thus far. She mentioned that the BOE will provide quarterly reports to continue updating the public on how the District continues to expand on these goals.
Dr. Treece concluded her report emphasizing Suicide Awareness Month and reminding parents that the District offers support, including financial support and counseling services, to families in need.
Central High School New Student Representative
The Board of Education welcomed the new student representative, Erin Lee, a Central High School student. Lee is a student assistant, a musician, and planning to major in music education.
Through her music studies, most recently in Korea, Lee acquired experience she shares with other students in her student assistant role.
Lee provided a report on the CHS school year kick-off, which included transition activities for incoming freshmen and new students, class meetings, extracurricular activities, and fall sports kick-off, including a recent victory for the CHS football team.
Curriculum and Instruction
The Office of Curriculum and Instruction (C & I) supports faculty professionals, designs instructional programs based on the standards of New Jersey Department of Education. and monitors student learning through standardized and District wide assessment.
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Vicky Pilitsis presented the Department’s four key areas of focus:curriculum development, District liaison with local universities and colleges, coordination of staff development, and seeking and applying for grants.
Dr. Pilitsis also provided C & I vision for this school year based on three goals: responsive practices, integrating data to drive instruction, and effective tier one instruction, and elaborated on each of them.
Additional explorations under C & I include rolling out a new English Language Arts (ELA) standard, and adoption of the new elementary ELA program and elementary science program.
Some of these items are not costly however, adopting a new elementary ELA program is estimated to cost between $150,000 – $200,000 per year. The new programming will align with New Jersey’s new ELA standards.
For additional information and a full report, click here.
Public Comment
A member of the public spoke to the Board’s responsibilities to create and update policies that govern the District.
The member’s request is that the Board considers updating the Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students policy number 5756 language to revise the definition of sex and gender. The member also provided additional resources the Board can utilize to assist in the policy revision process.
Dr. Treece addressed the member’s request and asked that the Board Policies and Regulations committee review this policy as it was approved in 2016, and has not been revised since.
Board of Education Vacancy
The Board of Education appointed Sarah Tracy to fill a vacancy after Lydia Liu left the board due to moving out of the HVRSD.
Tracy served on the school board from 2018 to 2020, and is back as a member until December 31, 2024 to finish Liu’s term.
Any qualified Hopewell Township resident interested in serving the children of our school district as a board member, should submit a letter of interest and personal resume to:
Robert Colavita
Assistant Superintendent/Board Secretary
425 South Main St.
Pennington, NJ 08534
[email protected]
Letters of interest and accompanying personal resumes will be accepted through Monday, January 22, 2024 until 4 pm. While the Board of Education will review all applications, they reserve the right to select those who will move forward to the interview process. For information on requirements and qualifications, click here.
The HVRSD Board of Education meeting recording can be viewed here.
The next meeting will be on October 14, 2024.
