HAMMONTON—The Board of Education approved a letter of retirement from Superintendent of Schools Robin Chieco during the Sept. 14 Board of Education meeting at the Samuel A. Donio Memorial Library.
Board President Sam Mento III called the meeting to order and all board members were present at the Samuel A. Donio Memorial Library. Jordyn Colasurdo, the new student representative, joined the meeting later because she was cheerleading at the football game.
During the superintendent report, Chieco thanked the Hammonton community.
“On this evening’s agenda, you will see my letter of retirement effective June 30. I just want to take a few moments to express my gratitude to the Hammonton community for the opportunities that I have been given in my 36 year career in this district,” Chieco said. “To say the role of superintendent is challenging is a bit of an understatement, but I cannot imagine doing this job in any other district.”
During the meeting, Assistant Superintendent Tammy Leonard presented the Spring 2023 New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA) Results. The NJSLA is administered to students grades 3-9 in English language arts (ELA) and math. For science, the NJSLA is given to students in grades 5, 8 and 11.
According to the data, the school district’s NJSLA results in ELA and math meet or exceed the state’s percentage.
Board member John Lyons asked Leonard what the district is doing to address the science course.
“None of these tests have been graduation requirements, none of them. And partly I think the reason behind this, and this is just my opinion, is because they although all students take the same math sequence not all students take the same science sequence, so we are evaluating our science curriculum and trying to address those concerns so we are making changes,” Leonard said.
According to Leonard, for the 11th grade test, the curriculum was redone this summer and she thinks they will see improvements.
During committee reports, Waterford representative Roe Hunter said Waterford Township Superintendent Dr. Michael Nolan brought over a new therapy dog named Lucy.
“We have Lucy who is going to be living with our guidance counselor, so Lucy’s been out there every morning greeting the kids, and they’ve been getting a kick out of that,” Hunter said.
Board member Barbara Berenato discussed the school dress code during her committee report.
She said that during the last board of education meeting she misspoke and gave the wrong information.
“It would be up to the board of education to decide whether or not someone is going to be able to opt out of a dress code; not up to an individual parent, so I misspoke about that,” Berenato said.
Berenato said she found a place that supplies uniforms to see how much it would cost.
Mento said the idea of possibly having uniforms at the schools or changing the dress code is “just as early and as preliminary talk as it gets.”
He said the board will discuss it more during committee meetings.
Board member Kelly Donio suggested surveying parents to see how they would feel about a dress code or stricter enforcement/punishment if students break the dress code.
Later in the meeting, Lyons said he is a fan of uniforms and the board should look into it.
Berenato also discussed item No. 14 on the agenda: “resolved that the Hammonton Board of Education approve the purchase of upgrades for digital camera located at the turf field from Advantage Security in the amount of $4,558.45 based on Hunterdon ESC Co-Op # HCESC-Tech-R22-07.”
“The camera is there and it will be able to pick up any violations to the use of the field, leaving trash, whatever damages, but I want to stress because it was mentioned that the camera was going to be there and I don’t want people to think that the camera is there to record games,” Berenato said.
Next, Lyons gave the finance committee report.
“There are two change orders for all one project at the ECEC [Early Childhood Education Center], both are within the planned for tolerance in terms of change orders mostly things that happen once we open the ground up and start to do the work,” Lyons said. “One related to soil underneath the project; another related to some security fencing to just give us a little bit more assurance while the project’s ongoing and there’s so much happening around campus.”
During the meeting, Board Vice President Linda Byrnes said “we are still in need of some part-time aides.”
If someone has 60 credits and is interested in being a part-time aide, they can speak with Chieco.
During the buildings and grounds committee report, Mento said they are looking to hire an additional grounds person.
After committee reports and public comment, the board voted on finance, personnel, programs/students/miscellaneous items on the agenda. All items were approved by the board.
The board also approved finance, personnel, programs/students/miscellaneous items on the addendum.
The next school board meeting will be held Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Samuel A. Donio Memorial Library.