Boro school officials excited about ’05-06
Sayreville has new goals, new super — and no more split lunch periods
BY JOHN DUNPHY
Staff Writer

SAYREVILLE — Time to count down the days, kids.

It’s exactly one week before the start of the borough’s school year.

While for many children, the unofficial conclusion to summer and the arrival of September brings a feeling of dread, district officials are poised to make this one of the best years for Sayreville’s public education system.

Effective today, Frank Alfano is the new superintendent of schools, a role he served on an interim basis for the last nine months.

New teaching methodologies are being implemented districtwide, a strategic planning process will begin, and a core curriculum realignment started four years ago is continuing on track.

In addition, the planning stage is well under way for renovations to the more than 40-year-old Sayreville War Memorial High School. The actual construction will begin next summer.

While all of this is toward the ultimate goal of better-educating Sayreville children, for many high school students, there is one main question on their minds — and the answer is yes, you will get a full lunch period this year.

Due to overcrowding, lunch periods were split last year; students would eat their lunch and then spend the other half of the period in the auditorium. This year, portable classroom trailers are in place at the high school to help accommodate the approximately 150 additional students during lunch.

An expansion of the cafeteria is expected to be included in renovation plans.

But while the district’s effort to bring the high school into the 21st century is high on its list of priorities, officials have said there are other goals they are looking to achieve right from the start of the school year.

“We want to take a proactive approach for where we want to take instruction over the next couple years,” board President Kevin Ciak said.

That approach, he noted, begins with strategic planning processes the district is implementing.

“Basically, we’ll be getting input from staff, students and the community regarding goals we want to achieve in the next five years and figure out what action plans we can put into place to achieve those goals,” Ciak said. “What we found was we were doing a lot of planning year after year. There was no real opportunity to look ahead and match what the community wanted to see.”

Seeking input from the public and putting together a strategy is only one component the district is implementing this year, Alfano said.

“We’re going to do a lot in the way of testing and analysis,” he said, citing the recent hire of a director of research and planning, who will serve as testing coordinator in the district.

“That is going to be a major goal of ours so we can meet the co-curriculum content standards and curriculum norms,” the superintendent added.

Much of the district’s heavy push toward better academic achievement is the result of President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind act, which requires school districts nationwide to achieve an Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goal that will equal 100 percent proficiency for every child by 2014.

Last year, the district increased AYP scores in 14 of 16 categories, a goal Assistant Superintendent Carla Sutherland is confident can be met or exceeded this year.

“Because of the results of our state tests from last year, we’re starting in an upbeat fashion,” she said. “Our scores were up significantly, and we’re hoping to make similar gains.”

Ciak agreed.

“I’m really excited about the new school year,” he said. “Having the new superintendent in charge of the district, coupled with his intense curriculum focus makes me really excited about what the year will bring.”

Does all this talk about educational improvement and curriculum focus make Sayreville’s public school children eager to get this last week of summer vacation over with?

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Michael Mosser, who will begin his junior year at the high school next week. “I want to prove to my parents I can get good grades and get into a good school.”

While Michael has thus far had a respectable academic career, he’s looking to turn it up a notch.

And it’s only one more week until the bell sounds for all of the district’s students.

“This year, we’re going to do some really good things,” Alfano said. “We have a lot of goals on the table.”