School Board

About 96 percent of township teachers are “effective” or “highly effective,” according to the state’s new educator evaluation system. The new system, called “AchieveNJ,” evaluated teachers and school leaders based on ” multiple measures of educator practice and student achievement,” according to a press release from the state Department of Education. According to the figures released on July 15 for …

It took nearly two hours in closed session April 23, but the Board of Education eventually turned to one of its former members to fill an unexpired term. The board picked former board member Richard Seamon of Rue Chagall to fill the unexpired term of Richard Arline, who resigned because he is moving out of state. Seamon served on the …

Board of Education members will try again April 23 to pick someone to fill an unexpired term. The board could not agree on a candidate at a special April 13 meeting, although it did whittle the field from five candidates to two. Emerging at the top of the pack after two rounds of voting were Wilson Road resident Laurie Merris and former …

“Fewer than six” of the more than 6,000 district students eligible for the controversial PARCC exams have opted out of the tests, interim schools Superintendent Lee Seitz said Feb. 26. The computerized tests – known as the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exam – will be given to students in grades 3-11. They will be administered in …

Students who refuse to take next month’s computerized PARCC tests run the risk of being marked absent from school. Or do they? The district’s strategy on dealing with students who refuse to take the controversial, state-mandated tests – the full name of which is the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exams – is not clear. That’s partly because, …

A number of township residents have formed a group with the stated goal of helping the Board of Education. The group, called “Student Achievement Through Collaborative Partnership,” was announced at the Jan. 22 school board meeting by one of its founders, Alex Kharazi. Kharazi, who unsuccessfully ran for the school board last November, said the group’s mission is to “strongly advocate …

The Board of Education elected a new leadership team at its Jan. 5 reorganization meeting. Ed Potosnak was elected board president and Nancy LaCorte was elected vice president in split votes. Both counts went 6-2 for the winners, with board members Richard Arline and Betty Whalen voting for Arline in both positions. Former board president Julia Presley did not attend …

UPDATE: The proposal to eliminate mid-term exams was approved by the Board of Education at its Dec. 11 meeting. The measure was to have been voted on at the board’s November meeting, but interim schools Superintendent Lee Seitz asked that it be pulled pending further study of grade calculations. At the Dec. 11 meeting, Seitz said that study had been …

  School district representatives looking to drum up support for the upcoming $85 million referendum received a rocky reception Nov. 17 from members of four township adult communities. Residents from Renaissance at Raritan Valley, Sterling Pointe, Canal Walk and Somerset Run had many questions – and some comments – for interim schools Superintendent Lee Seitz, Board of Education vice president Eva …

  A proposal by the Board of Education’s vice president to move the December meeting so board members could attend a Chamber of Commerce event received no support at the Nov. 13 meeting. Board vice president Eva Nagy made the proposal, she said, because the chamber has been very supportive of the school district and she thought the district should respond …