Students bid farewell to summer and get ready to welcome the new school year

As the summer comes to a close, schools are preparing to once again open their doors to students.

Medford School District

Parents can expect changes to the school’s curriculum beginning this fall for grades ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade.

“The curriculum department facilitated a number of curriculum revision and realignment projects to various content areas. Various grade level teams of teachers worked diligently to revise and realign curriculum documents to meet the new Common Core Standards,” said the administration via email.

Kindergarten through sixth grade language arts literacy has developed new documents as a teaching tool as a joint effort with other teachers in the area.

“In an effort to meet their goals, groups of teachers from the Maple Shade School District worked collaboratively with Medford teachers to create new reading documents to meet the expectations of the new Common Core for Reading,” the administrators said.

The Impact, gifted and talented program for grades third through fifth, received revision and writing of additional units of study, as well.

Additionally, health education for grades kindergarten through fifth grade, middle school 21st Century Life and Careers Financial Literacy for grades kindergarten through eighth grade, the curriculum for algebra I for eighth grade, social studies for grades for fifth through eighth grade and technology for grades kindergarten through eighth grade have all been revised to meet New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards, according to the administration.

The curriculum for students was not the only upgrade for the district; the classroom equipment is now up to date.

“This summer the district embarked on a major technology upgrade which will impact our instructional program. All classroom computers were either replaced with a refurbished Dell computer with upgrades to operating systems Windows 7 and Office 2007. Approximately 558 computers were replaced and upgraded in classrooms, tech labs and media centers. The district bandwidth was also increased from three to 10 megabytes at each location. Additionally, several Promethean Boards to support teacher instruction have been added to each building as well as upgrading current wireless access points to increase accessibility and mobility. This will also assist the district in getting ready for BYOD, or, Bring Your Own Device by Staff and Students to schools in the future,” the administrators said.

The school is anticipating savings, as well, a total of $300,000 through the district’s solar project. Furthermore, the district has plans on gaining revenue through advertising.

“MTPS is involved in a distinct-wide advertisement campaign to generate sustainable revenue for the future, as we have done with the district-wide Solar Project. The district has contracted an advertising firm “Advantage3” to assess the district’s advertising assets and to provide appropriate advertising as per state regulations and district policies and regulations. Additionally, the district will be pursuing funds, which will be available to promote energy efficient lighting upgrades in public schools. The New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities Schools Lighting Initiative will provide incentives covering 100 percent of total energy efficiency project costs. The lighting in each school will be evaluated during the fall to determine its eligibility,” the administration said.

“Overall, we are truly excited about beginning the 2012–2013 school year,” the administration said.

Lenape Regional High School District

Shawnee High School received physical changes in addition to curricular changes.

The bleachers were renovated, and the cafeteria lighting was replaced, equipping it with energy efficient lighting.

Other cafeteria modifications will be seen on the lunch trays. ‘My Plate’ standards for students will continue to meet the standards.

“We comply with all federal and state standards, we are always expanding healthy food options. We are implementing the USDA ‘My Plate’ five components for each lunch,” said superintendent of schools, Dr. Carol Birnbohm.

The requirements include age-appropriate calorie minimums and maximums, larger servings of vegetables and fruits, a wider variety of vegetables, including dark green and red or orange vegetables and legumes. The plan also includes fat-free or 1 percent milk, at least 51 percent whole grains, protein servings at a maximum of 2.4 ounces, a maximum of 10 percent saturated fat and less sodium.

Students can look forward to the return of the One Book, One School, with the reading of The Maze Runner, by James Dashner, which can be purchased online. The No Place for Hate program, an initiative created for activities to support all students and allow everyone to feel appreciated; will be in effect according to Birnbohm. The fall will also kick-off with new posters highlighting student leaders as “upstanders” and not “bystanders” when witnessing inappropriate or derogatory comments in support of the LRHSD Step Up and ID HIB program.

“The bullying policy was developed to align with the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights of New Jersey. The investigation procedure is meticulously outlined on pages nine, 10, and 11 of the policy. In addition to the policy we have a number of initiatives to fulfill our school district mission encouraging an appreciation for diversity and individual differences creating a school climate conducive to all students,” Birnbohm said.

The 21st Century Learner Pilot will be implemented with iPads featured in the classroom.

“Various teachers were trained over the summer on how to incorporate the iPads as they develop 21st Century learning skills,” Birnbohm said.

Additional changes to the curriculum are currently being worked on, and are ready for the upcoming school year.

“We are in year 2 of a 7-year curriculum revision cycle to develop all curriculums using the Understanding by Design model. In 2011, we wrote and received Board of Education approval for 24 different courses. This fall, we will be implementing those new curriculums for algebra I, geometry, biology, U.S. history I, and first year world languages, to name a few,” Birnbohm said.

Giving back to the community is important, as well, with numerous projects being implement throughout the district.

“The school district is highly involved in volunteerism and community service. Over the past two years, each high school coordinated a Senior Day of Service where senior students are dispatched to over 90 different locations across the eight communities, performing some type of community service for that day,” Birnbohm said. “In addition, we collaborated with Goodwill Industries of Southern New Jersey conducting a clothing drive competition that accumulated over 25,000 pounds of donations and look forward to participating with Goodwill again.”

There are plans to continue to focus on programs already in motion in the school.

“Defy the Issue, a drug and alcohol free campaign, continues to be the focus of student-to-student presentations both within our schools and with the middle schools in the eight townships which we serve. Life Squad at Shawnee did a big community presentation already and will maintain the program with smaller group student presentations,” Birnbohm said.

The first day of classes for all students is Sept. 5.