The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The Board of Education at its August 25 meeting completed its annual exercise of creating new goals for the upcoming school year.
Board members unanimously adopted the following six goals:
- Health and Safety: Continue to ensure the health and safety of students and staff through policy,
procedure, promo on of wellness programs, and facility upgrades that enhance safety and security measures. Seek out and support those who would benefit most from positive behavior programs and mental health supports, and bolster social-emotional programs to protect and support students, staff, and community. - Equity: Continue the elimination of systemic racism and lingering white supremacy, and remove
access barriers so all students have equal access to rigorous academic programming. Ensure that all races are included in the structure of the district and any attempt or practice to dominate a race or highlight another unfairly will not be tolerated. - Staffing: Support current staff through high-quality professional development and opportunity for
growth while recruiting and sustaining a diverse, high-quality workforce. - Rigorous Programming: Support policy and programs that address learning gaps, learning recovery, and learning acceleration to assist students in reaching their full learning potential. Identify, engage and support students who show the need for expanded levels of rigor. Continue the expansion of innovative college and career readiness programs.
- Sustainability and Green Initiatives: Support and create policies to reduce waste and lower energy
consumption; foster environmental awareness among staff and students; and encourage the school community to engage in environmentally-sound projects, with each school achieving Sustainable Jersey certification. - Community Engagement: Work to further relationships and incorporate a multitude of strategies to
connect with and listen to stakeholders in order to celebrate and proactively promote the school
district within the community at large and to ensure family engagement of students attending the
Franklin Township Public Schools.
Board members said the process of hammering out the new goals was long, but worth it.
The meeting during which the Board deliberated over the goals was “one of the most stimulating Board meetings that we’ve had, and these goals were really worked over for longer than we expected, and it was worthwhile,” Board member Bill Grippo said. “It was good to have the back-and-forth with the Board members and the administration, and to carve out what we think is best for the district.”
“We as the Board members really took a deep dive into these goals and took a long consideration along with the superintendent and his staff,” Board member Dennis Hopkins said. “And hopefully, we have met the mark for the public, but we did not leave this room without addressing each individual goal very thoroughly.”
Board president Nancy LaCorte said the discussion was “robust,” and “probably one of the longest goal-setting meetings we’ve had in a while.”
“I felt that everybody was very mindful of what the community wanted, and we had a thorough discussion and it produced amazing results and I hope that it is what the community wants, and our students benefit from it,” Board member Nishita Desai said.
