Thursday, February 28, 2013
District will be given an additional $14,000 for the 2013-2014 school year. Tentative budget will be adopted March 6.
UPDATED 9:30 p.m.- Hasbrouck Heights schools will get a small increase of $14,449 in state aid for a total of $1,101,186 for 2013-2014 as per figures released by the state Thursday. Now that state figures are in, the board is in the process of finalizing the tentative budget which will be adopted Wednesday, March 6 at a special meeting set for 7:30 p.m. Governor Christie pledged Tuesday an additional $97 million would go into state aid for 378 districts for the upcoming school year and that there would be no cuts in aid to any district. Bergen County received $2,853,507 which was divided amongst 20 of the 77 districts including Hasbrouck Heights. Many Bergen districts will not see any increase for the coming year. The Hasbrouck Heights …
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
School district is using one of its two final snow days, if they remain unused, to make the last day of the school June 20, the day of graduation.
The school calendar for the year has been updated once again to reflect the use of the two final snow days, if not used, so that the last day of school will be June 20, the same day as graduation. Four snow days are built into the calendar each year. Two were already used to make up for days lost following Superstorm Sandy which kept the school shut for a full week due to an extended power outage. Now the district plans to use the final two days on May 24, the Friday before Memorial Day and June 21, the day after graduation, Mark Porto, superintendent explained. Originally the second snow day was planned for June 14, but June 21 made more sense so students do not have to return to calls the day after graduation, Porto explained. A copy…
Monday, January 28, 2013
More anti-bullying efforts, character education focus will be put towards the middle school level where most incidents occur.
Hasbrouck Heights school district reports a 10 percent decrease in HIB incidents for the first three months of the school year compared with figures from the start of the previous school year. Superintendent Mark Porto told parents Thursday there were 42 investigations conducted from September to December, 12 of which were deemed HIB (harassment, intimidation and bullying). The previous school year, which was the first year district's were mandated to conduct HIB investigations, there were 64 investigations of which 24 were deemed actual HIB incidents, he said. Porto said the district can not be certain if the decrease is indeed attributed to the character education and overall awareness of anti-bullying and harrassment the schools have …
Friday, January 25, 2013
A group of parents has come forward looking to work with the school board, police and local officials to find ways to make the schools safer for their children following the Newtown tragedy.
Parents and school board members came together Thursday night in complete agreement that school safety is the top priority facing the district right now. The topic dominated discussion at the Board of Education meeting as members of a newly-formed parent group Hasbrouck Heights Parents for Safe Schools came forward expressing the extreme need to put safety first and their willingness to work with the board, police and local officials to help do whatever it takes. "We all agree school is an extension of our homes and people should not have to feel scared to drop their kids off at school every day," said parent Denise Eggert. She stressed that one can not think what happend in Newtown can't happen here pointing to the numbers of public …
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Main entrance at the middle school/high school will be the only access to the building after 8:05 a.m. each day.
More changes in security are being implemented into daily school routines as the Hasbrouck Heights administrators continue to take a close look at the schools security measures, re-evaluate and make some changes following the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy last week. Parents were notified by letter Thursday that new rules will go into effect on Friday, Dec. 21 regarding student access to the middle school/high school building at the start of the school day. The school has mulitple entrances which will now only be accessible between 7:30 and 8:05 a.m. for students to enter school, as per the letter. After 8:05 a.m. only the Main Entrance on the Boulevard will be utilized the rest of the day. The letter states that students reporting at 7 a.m…
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Heights schools administrative team has begun making some changes this week to its regular safety practices and is working on long-term solutions.
The Hasbrouck Heights school administrative team has already begun re-evaluating its routine safety practices in the wake of Friday's horrific tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. As per a letter sent to parents Monday, schools administrators have outlined some of the immediate measures they plan to put in place to improve safety. They are also working with the borough's police department officials seeking their input for some possible long term solutions. Beginning Tuesday the schools now ask parents who need to drop off items to their children, such as lunch or books, to only do so between 9 and 10 a.m. This measure is being taken in order to limit the amount of visitors in the schools so they can better keep …
Friday, October 19, 2012
Principals of all four schools and the director of special services spoke on test score analysis and what is being done to help students continue to improve.
The Hasbrouck Heights schools administrative team gave a detailed report at the Board of Education meeting Thursday night on students’ progress based on recent state test scores while also outlining the many actions that are being taken to further increase proficiency. At the elementary level, state test scores are being analyzed in comparison between both schools Euclid and Lincoln and how they compare with the district factor group which represents the average in similar districts. Score analysis shows some differences in students’ performance between the two schools at some grade and subject levels which principals Michael Sickles, of Euclid, and Joseph Colangelo, of Lincoln, want to change. They have been bringing teachers of both …
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
See how Hasbrouck Heights district compares to past year's and those of nearby districts in violence, vandalism, weapons, substance abuse and HIB incidents according to state report.
Numbers continue to decline in the areas of vandalism and violence from year to year in Hasbrouck Heights schools according to the state Violence and Vandalism Report released last week for the 2011-2012 school year. The results of the state Department of survey for school districts across New Jersey showed statewide, the total number of reported incidents is up about 50% from 17,386 in 2010-11 to 26,139 in 2011-12, the report said. The state attributed the increase to better reporting mechanisms, as 2011-12 was the first school year during which districts were required to report confirmed incidents of harassment, intimidation and bullying. The chart below shows how incidents the areas of violence, vandalism, weapons and substance abuse …
Friday, October 5, 2012
High school Drama class students put on improv skits from the middle school students, an anti-bullying educational exercise.
Hasbrouck Heights Middle School students got a special anti-bullying lesson from their upperclassmen Thursday. Members of Erin Schneeweiss’ high school drama class put on a series of improv skits for the sixth, seventh and eighth grade students acting out scenarios of bullying and peer conflict. The sketches gave the younger students the opportunity to be able to differentiate between the two by watching these scenarios in action. Between each sketch the middle school students discussed the actions they saw with Nicole Fried, school psychologist and anti-bullying coordinator. Fried got the students thinking about what makes bullies do what they do. “When someone is bullying, it really isn’t about the victim, it’s about the bully and his …
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Hasbrouck Heights School District brought in a cyber bullying expert to address parents on the role they can play in helping their children and in dealing with the HIB law.
Parents listened closely Monday night to a presentation designed to get them thinking about what they should be aware of when it comes to this electronic world their children live in and how bullying and therefore the HIB law come in to play. The Hasbrouck Heights School District brought cyber-bully expert Drew D’Onofrio back to speak to parents about what the HIB law entails and the role they should play in gaining their authority back when it comes to this law. The former police officer and Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office investigator, who now does consulting work, spent more than an hour addressing parents on bullying and how the technological world these children live in today comes into play. D’Onofrio, who is a parent himself, went…
Chris Peters
1:48 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013
The Collaborative Parents Committee (CPC) is also supporting efforts for an new inclusion program that will be geared towards the 3rd to 5th grades. Research has shown that 64% of victims of bullying in schools are students with special needs, hence why this is one of the goals of the CPC. more ›