Eagle Scout Honored
The Manchester Township Board of Education, at their January 20, 2010 meeting, honored Kevin Rembach., a 2009 graduate of Manchester Township High School, for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Kevin's Eagle Scout project was to build picnic tables for the township's soccer field on Colonial Drive. [see related article]
New Courses for High School
Alex George, Principal of Manchester Township High School, reviewed for the board several new courses proposed for the 2010/2011 school year. He said that one of the goals at the high school has been to expand upon the existing honors and advanced placement course offerings. Two new honors level courses would be offered: Honors Biology I and Honors Modern World History/Cultures I. Based on the popularity of the psychology course that was offered for the first time this year, the high school would also add Advanced Placement Psychology for 2010/11. In keeping with the new state mandated course requirements, the high school will also offer more half year courses next year. Introduction to Art, Music Experience, and Personal Finance Literacy will be offered as 2.5 credit semester courses. All of these changes can be made with existing staff, George said. He added that he hopes to offer several more semester courses in 2011-2012, including some in the business area. There was a question about the possibility of an AP Physics course, and Superintendent of Schools, David Trethaway, said that the administration would look into the feasibility.
Literacy Coaches Presentation
Dr. Judith Nappi, Director of Curriculum, introduced the district’s new Literacy Coaches, Kate Hoppe and Barbara Bastian, who made a presentation about their work so far this year. “We know that building a strong literacy foundation will help our students have more success overall, and these coaches are helping our teachers build that foundation,” said Nappi.
Hoppe and Bastian described some of the new strategies and programs teachers are using, including new assessment tools to identify strengths and weaknesses and target instruction to better meet student needs. Students in basic skills instruction are now being divided into groups based on their reading levels, with a goal to move each child to the next level. Hoppe said that one weakness that was identified was phonics decoding, so a new phonics component has been added.
“The main idea is to create literacy programs that are successful with no holes,” said Hoppe. “We are trying to catch problems early and target intervention.” Bastian said their goal is to find ways to increase every child’s level of reading.
Superintendent Trethaway said that the feedback he is receiving about the Literacy Coaches has been very positive and that he was impressed by some of the new programs he observed in the classroom. “The children were obviously very engaged and excited,” he said.
Budget Process Underway
Trethaway reported that the 2010-2011 budget process is underway and presentations by principals and department heads will be made to the board on Feb. 8 and 9 at 6:00 p.m. at Ridgeway School.
Business Administrator Craig Lorentzen reported that the district held its bond sale for the referendum project on Jan. 12, securing an interest rate of 3.78%. “We had estimated 4.5% so this is a very good rate and will save us over $700,000 in finance costs over the life of the referendum,” he said.
Lorentzen told the board he is very concerned this year about the impact of the state budget deficit on school funding. “Ideally, it stays flat, and we can work with that, but it could potentially mean a $1 million revenue shortfall,” he said. “It’s going to be a very challenging budget year and we don’t expect to get state aid figures until mid-March, just before our deadline to present the budget.”
