By the Pennsauken Board of Education: Nick Perry, President; Dung Nguyen, Vice President; Armando Diaz; Michael Hurley; Diane Johnson; Allyson Meloni; Leona Moss; Meg Snyder; and Joann Young

As the school year is now well under way, the Board of Education would like to take the opportunity in this month’s Board Bits article to highlight School District accomplishments that have occurred over the last 15 months. It has been a challenge, but through hard work and collaboration between the Board and our dedicated administration and staff, progress has been made toward achieving the mission and goals of the Pennsauken School District.

Just over a year ago, the Board of Education approved a change in our administrative staff. The Board voted to appoint our former chief administrator, Dr. James Chapman, as interim superintendent. Dr. Chapman’s experience in the school district has spanned over four decades. In addition, the Board also welcomed a new interim business administrator, Mr. John Deserable, who has had many years of experience in school districts within New Jersey, as well as a background in law enforcement. The central administrative change has provided the school district with much needed stability, while focusing on updating our programs and improving instruction in order to improve our student success.

Together with its new central administrative staff, the Board revisited the mission, beliefs, and goals of the district, updating them to reflect the Board’s emphasis on student success.

In addition to these key central administrative positions, several other administrative positions were vacant in July 2014, some for more than one year. We now have new directors, supervisors, principals, and vice principals who have “hit the ground running.” Also, through careful budgeting, we were able to bring back much needed instructional coaches in literacy and mathematics; and technology coaches were also added.

Along with new personnel, the Board approved the purchase of new literacy and mathematic programs for grades kindergarten through eight that are aligned with the Core Curriculum Standards. Our teaching staff, alongside our administrative teams, participated in choosing these new programs. These accomplishments are in line with our goal of improving student achievement through improved instruction.

The Board of Education’s crowning achievement was the completion of our policy manual. Over the past 15 months, working with the full cooperation and guidance from the Central Administrative Team and other applicable administrators and staff, the Board’s policy committee updated the Pennsauken Board of Education Policy Manual to reflect current statutes, administrative codes and best practices. As of our October meeting, 340 policies, 37 bylaws, and 140 regulations were adopted. The Board of Education looks forward to sharing the completed policy manual electronically on its website and within the Pennsauken School District Administration Building offices in print form in the near future.

An achievement related to the aforementioned accomplishment that deserves a special mention is the adoption of a new, updated residency policy for the Pennsauken School District. The policy committee, along with the entire Board, worked diligently to update the residency policy for the district. We know that residency issues are a concern of all members of the Pennsauken community and are of special importance to the Board of Education. This policy was updated in March 2015 and has already been in use in the district for the last six months. In addition to a clear policy based on New Jersey law, we have hired another investigator to assist with residency and truancy concerns.

Throughout the year, the Board of Education also had various building projects that were ongoing. Examples of approved projects included new windows and heating and air conditioning systems at Burling School, installation of air conditioners at Roosevelt and Longfellow schools, and a roof and window replacement project at Pennsauken High School. The Board allocated funds in our budget to assure that our facilities are conducive to a safe learning environment.

Another goal of this Board has been to improve communication with the community. This monthly column, Board Bits, is an example of one method we have employed to keep everyone current. The communications committee is currently exploring a new district web site that will not only improve communication, but also showcase our district accomplishments. We have also created a “bridge” of communication with Pennsauken Township officials in order to streamline some services, such as placing security officers in our schools and helping with important safety and security “drills” to ensure preparedness in case of emergency.

The past 15 months have flown by. It has proven to be over a year full of change, challenge, hope, promise and success. We are excited for the year ahead and look forward to sharing more of the Board news with you in next month’s article. As always, we encourage all community members to come to our meetings. All dates can be found on our website – www.pennsauken.net – under the Board of Education tab.