By Amy Batista, Special Writer
HIGHTSTOWN – The East Windsor Regional School District Board of Education Superintendent of Schools Dr. Richard Katz updated the board and public regarding the budget and the district’s goals during the board’s meeting on Feb. 8.
Dr. Katz said a preliminary budget has been sent to the county office, which will review it and get back to district officials. The preliminary budget is due on March 22 to the state and he said he anticipates receiving the district’s state aid numbers by Feb. 25. That would give the district nearly a month after receiving its state aid numbers to adopt a preliminary budget.
Dr. Katz then transitioned into a report on class size, which shows that some grades are growing larger than the district would prefer.
“One them being our rising eighth grade. Our current seventh grade, which is a bubble, it is our biggest grade in the middle school now,” said Dr. Katz. He added there are some grades in the elementary schools that have bubbles as well.
“I would like to see what we can do to reduce some of those increasing class sizes,” he said.
He said officials are looking at options for World Language requirements at the elementary schools.
“This was something that was a victim of budget reductions in the significant budget cut year ’09 and ’10,” he said. “We are looking to meet those elementary World Language requirements again at our elementary schools.”
The district is also closely looking at its special education as well as security and safety in the schools.
“Those are all really in the planning stages,” he said.
In the area of the five goals that the district has established as it moves forward through the school year, looking into establishing full-day kindergarten continues to be among the priorities.
“We are looking at all aspects of what we need to do to not only implement full-day kindergarten, but also make sure it is going to be sustainable into the future,” said Dr. Katz.
Among the issues being investigated were space and staffing.
“It’s not just about planning for ’16, ’17 school year,” he said. “It’s about making sure we can sustain it on an on-going basis.”
He said that the principals are also working on their building schedules for next year.
“We are getting the ball working with our staff on transportation, on proper facility needs, on food service needs,” he said. “There are a few things that will change for all our kindergartners to eat lunch.”
He cited the number of lines, number of registers, number of tables, and possibly some time changes to those lunches.
“Certainly last but not least, developing the philosophy for the curriculum and structure from a curriculum standpoint,” he said.
Dr. Katz said that Darlene Nemeth from the administration’s Office of Curriculum and Assessment and Grace N. Rogers School Principal Heather Gladkowski are leading a committee of teachers from each of their schools.
“We are using the New Jersey Kindergarten Guidelines as a guide for us to start that conversation,” he said, adding that the committee is going to start meeting within the next few weeks. It’s important that all teachers are part of the process, he added.
“We are also using team meetings to be able to make sure that all of our staff is included in the development of these goals,” he said.
Improving communication was another one of the goals, and to that end, Dr. Katz has been sending out district updates to the staff and parents. And he added that he plans to establish a Twitter account to help get information out quickly.
“I will be tweeting out news that happens here at our board meetings, events that recognize our students and our staff accomplishments, some school specific things, and then possibly about news and generally speaking about education that will have affect on our students and our school,” he said.
On Feb. 12, a letter was sent home updating the EWRSD educational community in which Dr. Katz invited them to follow him on Twitter @EWRSDsup.
He said that he is also setting up meetings to try and meet with students in each school between now and the end of the school year.
