MESSAGE FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT

Maywood Family: I hope your summer has been relaxing and enjoyable. I simply wanted to touch base prior to the beginning of the school year on September 9th. As noted in a letter sent to you by Dr. Otnisky, I was appointed interim superintendent for the time period of September 1 through the completion of the search process. I would like to thank everyone for their support during this transition and for their kind words and well wishes over the past few weeks. I wanted to update you on some of the activity over the summer and take a look at the objectives for the upcoming school year. As noted at the end of last school year, we researched a better alternative to the SMARTBOARDs called the Mimio. We were able to purchase six per school and they will be infused into the classrooms this year with training. The Mimio is a device that can be attached to any whiteboard and transform the whiteboard into a SMARTBOARD with the use of an LCD. It is portable, lightweight and very user-friendly. We have also continued our subscription with Study Island and the IDE Portal. We have successfully revised fourteen curricula, the district crisis management plan, the nursing service plan, six major job descriptions and we are in the process of revising all of the remaining district job descriptions. We have successfully joined a coalition of Bergen County schools in a professional development partnership through the South Bergen Jointure. We will take advantage of the many opportunities they offer along with continuing our relationship with the MSU Clinical Faculty Program and IDE Differentiated Instruction training. We will partake in Phase 1 of the NJ Professional Development project in September and October through teacher attendance at state sponsored training. A few staff members and I had the chance to attend sessions this summer hosted by Mr. Alan November. We are working to bring this incredible educator and speaker to our district. We have been working on the details of the QSAC monitoring that we expect to take part in this fall. It is quite intensive. I will update you throughout the beginning of the year as we venture through the process. As of now we are scheduled to have the self assessment completed by November 15, 2009 and the corresponding on-site visit scheduled thereafter. Our state assessment NJASK scores have come in and there has been an improvement across all grade levels in both language arts and mathematics. 3rd and 4th grade scores arrived but as was the case last year when grades 5-8 testing changed, the current 3rd and 4th grade tests must be calibrated by the state. There is still work to be done but progress has been made through everyone's concerted efforts. We thank everyone involved for the coordination and successful implementation of the summer day camp and music enrichment camp, both of which were hosted at Memorial School. With the new year comes change. Mr. Keith Timmins has been transferred to MAS and Mr. Mike Halligan has been transferred to Memorial. Mr. Halligan will assume the PE/Health responsibilities at Memorial and Mr. Timmins will teach PE/Health in the AM and assist with administrative responsibilities in the PM at MAS. We wish both well in their new positions. District level committees will be formed/convene in the following areas: * Master schedule revision planning committee *Curriculum revision committee to address mathematics, language arts, science and social studies *Technology *Professional Development *QSAC Planning Committee *Best Practices Committee The state has put forth a tentative calendar for core content standards revisions. In line with this calendar we will work to revise the language arts, mathematics, science and social studies curricula this school year and into next school year. We will look to expand upon the NJASK after school tutoring program and consider a summer program as well. We will work as a district to research the possibilities of reshaping our daily schedule to maximize teacher contact time in ways that students learn best within and we will focus on what we do best through best practice forums and teacher turnkey opportunities. Most importantly though, I would like to use my time as interim to foster dialogue between and among our schools, the community, the Board of Education and myself through open lines of communication, the sharing of information and the use of forums. We have an incredible faculty in this district and we should all strive to get involved with the education of our children as a valuable support mechanism for our outstanding staff. I am here to support you. I am here to represent you, and I am here to work in unison with you to make our educational program the best it can possibly be. Although sometimes what we all want may not happen, you will have a voice. I would have it no other way. Who better to be a part of the vision and future than the people who are ultimately responsible for all of our kids everyday-you. As you, I love kids. Each and every one of them is unique in their own special way. Regardless, they are why our staff has chosen this profession. I know our teachers respect our students because I was respected when I was a student in Maywood. I know our teachers care about our students because they cared for me. I also see this now each and every day. We will continue that because it is our way. Respecting our students is not the full package though-they must learn to respect us and their peers. We live in a world that fights this very cause. Although we cannot change the world we work to create schools that are safe havens, places where kids want to be, and places where respect, character and compassion are valued. We can do this, but we can only do this well if we do it together. I look forward to working WITH you this year. Sincerely, Michael Jordan