Yoga and violin are in, and Home Ec is making a comeback.
Hoboken students return to class this week, and while some new subjects are being introduced, the new administration says it is emphasizing scholastic achievement.
Classes begin earlier than usual this year, before Labor Day. Teachers report to work on Monday, Aug. 31 and students start classes on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Students will be dismissed at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The school district will be closed on Friday, Sept. 4 and Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7.
Interim Superintendent Peter E. Carter said his focus – and the children’s focus – will be on academics this year.
“I’m looking for a strong academic year for all grades,” he said last week. The district endured a rash of deficiencies in standardized test scores last year.
Book it
Dr. Lorraine Cella is building traditions at the high school. Her junior students – every one of them – contributed to a publication last year, and this year’s class will be no different.
Last year, students from Hoboken and Demarest high schools wrote “My Square Mile Life,” a book published with the help of Columbia University’s Student Press Initiative. Some of the stories were very personal and emotional, while others were more comical and colloquial. But each student involved themselves in the writing process from first draft to final product, Cella said. The project also helps students prepare for the written portion of state standardized tests.
Seniors will also continue a tradition of working on a senior service project. Students provide a service to some segment of the community during their final month in the school year, Cella said.
“I’m looking for a strong academic year for all grades.” – Peter E. Carter
________
Connors offers yoga and violin
Connors Primary School will offer a violin program for students in grades three through six and a yoga program for K through 6, in addition to some other programs.
Officials could not confirm the exact start date of renovations on the school that are scheduled to begin in the summer of 2010. The district will have to do some shuffling at that time, using external trailers and possibly the space that the Hoboken Charter School uses in the Demarest building while renovations are ongoing.
Baby boom
The Brandt School, previously used for pre-K, third, and fourth grades only, will accommodate five new kindergarten classes this year due to an increase in enrollment, according to school board member Theresa Minutillo.
“It shows more of our population [is] putting their kids into the public school district,” she said.
The district is also using a new early childhood provider, Catapult Learning, in addition to its other providers, Mile Square Day Care and H.O.P.E.S. Head Start. Catapult offers extended hours allowing for late pick-ups, Minutillo said, which many district parents requested.
Year 1, DC
Carter spent his formative years in Brooklyn and the Bronx, so he said in a recent letter to the district that he was happy to be closer to “home.”
He said: “So let us begin what I shall be calling the DC (During Carter) phase of the operation of the school district; BC (Before Carter) shall soon be behind us.”
“We plan to hit the ground running, knowing that there are several ruts in the road, and so we might trip from time to time,” he wrote. “We realize that there are a myriad of political issues which are rampant in the city, and that lines may have been drawn, and sides taken…I suspect that the non-voting members of the community, the students under the age of 18, may not be on a side. They may very well be in the middle. That is where my ‘team’ and I are and shall stay – focused on education, and in the middle.”
For more information about the district, call (201) 356-3600.
Timothy J. Carroll may be reached at tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.