UPDATED: The Board Of Education last night approved several crucial changes to the districts elementary schools. The changes were proposed by the Ad-Hoc committee, lead by board member Joel Schwartz.
The first change the board approved last night, was the idea to create ‘neighborhood school’.
Neighborhood schools would require children to attend the school closest to their home. The purpose of the idea, says board member Joel Schwartz, is to surround children by their neighbors and friends as well as to reduce the traveling time on the school buses.
The board says that by making the schools neighborhood-based, they will also be able turn the Spruce Street school into a dedicated pre-k and Kindergarten school. This will allow some of the Pre-K children to move into a regular building and out of their trailers. “It also allows us to have a dedicated Kindergarten school to prepare our children with the tools they will need at the earliest age. The plan also provides for maximum efficiency of our school space district wide”, the board says.
Another Ad-Hoc committee proposal approved, was to add bi-lingual classes to the other schools, for the students who would now be attending school at a new location. Currently, only the Clarke Street school and the Spruce Street school offer bi-lingual classes.
A new schedule for elementary school – viewed favorably by the parents at the Ad-Hoc committee – was also approved by the board last night.
The propsal to move 6th grade students to the Middle School, will be discussed during the next school year, Schwartz says.
Also at the board meeting, the BOE has hired two consultants to help guide the district to provide the best possible services to the non-public community. Mr. Rubel, who represents over 250 school and Mosdos in Brooklyn NY, and Mr. Wizman who oversees the funded programs for the Monsey community.
“Both these men have proven to be of immeasurable value to the district in the last two months”, the board says. TLS.
good job!!!
This is America, English only.
may the kids want to get away from their Neighborhood so they have a chance of not getting to their local gangs/
ans more billingual classes? why? more expensses? when our ansesctors came they had to learn how to speak and write english.
se habla english.
the law is the districts need to provide and education? is there a law that allows funds to be spent to teach in another language other than ENGLISH.
The move to add more bilingual classes was focused exclusively at the younger grades so that these children will have a good command of the English language at a younger age, enabling them to excel academically as they move up through elementary school. This move will also help reduce the need for bilingual classes in the older grades.
I failed to mention, The concept of the bilingual classes is to transition the students from Spanish to English by the time the school year is over
Why do away with state mandated grades and replace them with Kindergarten and preschool when it is not required by law?
Look, i don’t think the BOE is looking to overextend their budget… do you think they would approve a flawed plan… They are doing everything they can to maximize efficiency. Thanks for the great work – we are looking forward to positive changes in the future!
and please help us alleviate our property tax burden!!
Who gives you the right to say English only? These kids are given a chance on what language that are born into! How would you like it if you went to a different country and were told no english. Wake up and smell the coffee this country is more diverse then ever which only builds character to our story. If you don’t like it then pack your bags and get moving.
To #3: It is obvious from your post that your grandparents failed! If you speak English the way you write it, you lose on both counts. You can’t speak English and you can’t write English.
Didn’t the members of this BOE run elections on the latform to lower taxes…..?
@ # 3 maybe your ancestors learnt the language, but you sure didn’t.
I THINK #3 SHOULD ENROLL IN THESE CLASSES AND LEARN BETTER PHASING OF SENTENCES AND SPELLING.
Like the kids in Lakewood Public Schools are going to get anything but shortchanged. Lakewood Public Schools are the state of NJs joke. Not only has my diploma from there been worthless it had been a detrament. Employers see the word Lakewood on it and you know your cooked. I’m trying to find a way to take Lakewood off it and put Rumson Fair Haven in it’s place.
Please read the research on children learning to speak English. If they have a better command of Spanish, they will learn English better and faster. In order to learn science, math, and social studies, they will learn it better in their home language. As someone earlier said, the goal is to teach them English while still ensuring that they learn the subject areas. All the latest research does show that this is the best way.
Also, they are not doing away with the older, “mandated” grades. They are simply moving the students closer to their homes. This might eliminate some busing issues, which seem to constantly plague this district! In addition, plenty of research shows that investing money in pre-k and kindergarten helps children tremendously throughout their lives, especially in later schooling, and can help avoid taxpayers needing to pay for welfare, incarceration, etc.