“These will be active shooting senerios that will test protocol.” – Dr. Patricia McGeehan
_________
Other matters
The Bayonne school district is expanding its life skills program for students with special needs, McGeehan said. A new life skills facility is being constructed at the high school with the help of fundraising and The Simpson-Baber Foundation. The facility will help prepare career-minded special needs students for the culinary field. The new program and facility requires new ovens and other equipment that the school hopes to raise money for.
While the district has other special needs life skills programs in the elementary schools, this one would be designed to provide training for those going into the culinary field after high school.
Through a number of donations from The Simpson-Baber Foundation, Friends of the Disabled, UNICO, and the Bayonne Educational Foundation, six sleds for children with special needs will be available at the high school ice rink, McGeehan said.
Those who can’t walk can still enjoy the ice, she said, noting that high school students can help by pushing the sleds.
All-day pre-k programs are being launched for a limited number of students. The school district would pay for a half-day – which it currently does – and parents would pay a fee for the second half, covering the costs of teachers and aides. The district hopes to start this later in February.
The district’s breakfast program will be implemented in all of the schools by the end of the school year, said Schools Business Administrator Leo Smith, who hopes to get permission from the staff for universal distribution to all 9,700 students so that every student in the district will get free breakfast before school.