Teachers and staff honored while two positive reports shared at Board of Ed meeting

It was an evening when teachers were honored and two reports provided positive takeaways when the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional Board of Education held its public meeting on Tuesday November 15.

The media center at Bridgewater-Raritan High School was the setting where Superintendent Bob Beers and Dr. Dan Fonder, the Assistant Superintendent for Personnel, announced the names of school district teachers and staff who were honored for three separate distinguished feats .

The three categories of recognition were for staff members who received:

●     Advanced degrees

●     Tenure

●     Earned 25 years of service

Here are the names from each of the three categories. Included are their titles and building locations.

Advanced degrees:

Doctorates:  Sandra Lynch, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Stefanie Martelle, Eisenhower Intermediate School; Sarah Martin, Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School; and Cheryl Pieroni, Bridgewater-Raritan High School

Masters: Eileen Boosmann, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Kimberly Cook, John F. Kennedy Primary School; Samantha D’Elia, Bradley Gardens Primary School; Carla Fernandez, Bridegwater-Raritan Middle School; Concetta Fischer, Hillside Intermediate School; Rachel Freeman, Hamilton Primary School;Craig Miller, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Sandra O’Hare, John F. Kennedy Primary School; Dana Rogers, Adamsville Primary School; Donald Scazafave, Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School; and Eve Wasserman, Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School.

Tenure recognition:

Dr. Laura Bassett, Supervisor of Fine and Performing Arts; Wade Administration Building/Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Lindsey Blake,School Counselor, Adamsville Primary School; Catherine Butler, Teacher of Music, Eisenhower Intermediate School; Jackie Coleman, Teacher of Students with Disabilities, Bradley Gardens Primary School; Suzanne Collins, Secretary B, Hillside Intermediate School; Dolores DeLuca, Speech Language Specialist, Milltown Primary School; Patricia Farina, Teacher of English, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Michelle Favatella, Teacher of Physical Education, Adamsville Primary School; Rachel Hadley, Teacher of Students with Disabilities, Hamilton Primary School; Nicole Hennelly, Secretary B, Wade Administration Building; Paige Hering-Boehme, Elementary School Teacher, Hamilton Primary School; Melissa Kardos, Elementary School Teacher, Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School; Jennifer Loeb, Secretary B, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Adrienne Lutz, Teacher of World Language, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Carrie Oliver, Teacher of Students with Disabilities, Milltown Primary School; Kathryn Sikanowicz, Secretary B, Wade Administration Building; Lauren Smith, Teacher of Music, Eisenhower Intermediate School; Sean Smith, Teacher of Students with Disabilities, Hillside Intermediate School; Samantha Sugarman, Elementary School teacher, Adamsville Primary School; Imrinjeet Thind, School Counselor, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Risa Trinker, Learning Disabilities Teaching Consultant, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Kimberley Turse, Learning Disabilities Teaching Consultant, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Shannon Williams, Teacher of Social Studies, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Susan Winters, Elementary School Teacher, Bradley Gardens Primary School; Nicole Wisniewski, Elementary School Tescher, Eisenhower Intermediate School; and Sarah Wolf, Supervisor of Science and Social Studies, Wade Adminsitration Building.

Years of Service:

David Anderson,Teacher of Language Arts, Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School; Brian Blanford, 5th Grade Teacher, Hillside Intermediate School; Valerie Bonnet, Teacher of Science, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Tara Dreossi, Intervention Specialist, Eisenhower Intermediate School; Concetta Fischer, Teacher of Language Arts, Hillside Intermediate School; Jennifer Geiger, Resource Room Teacher, John F. Kennedy Primary School; Susan Harwick, Elementary Teaching Specialist, Van Holten Primary School; Hiliary Hodgman, Third Grade Teacher, Milltown Primary School; Bernice Hornchak, School Counselor, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; Allen Kurdyla, Teacher of Social Studies, Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School; Susan Lazar, Elementary Teaching Specialist, Hillside Intermediate School; Lori McLain, Teacher of Language Arts, Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School; Jennifer Potito Teacher of Mathematics, Bridgewater-Raritan High School; R. Bruce Turnbull, Teacher of Science, Bridgewater-Middle School; Alexander Urban, Teacher of Physical Education, Bradley Gardens Primary School; and Maren Vitali, Media Specialist, Eisenhower Intermediate School.

Meanwhile, at the start of the Special Education report, Dr. Dan Silvia, the school district’s Assistant Superintendent for Special Services, introduced Gary Molenaar, who is the Assistant Superintendent for the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey (ESCNJ).

According to the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey’s website, the organization

provides statewide excellence to students in partnership with New Jersey school districts and coordinates cost-efficient purchasing opportunities for educational institutions and municipalities to limit the tax burden on New Jersey residents.

Mr. Molenaar explained that he and his team completed an extensive review of the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District’s Special Education Department that had begun in March of this year and was performed through the end of the summer.

His team interviewed and met with the child study team, teachers and administrators and conducted surveys with students and parents that covered all 11 schools in the district.

Mr. Molenaar and his staff recommended an increase in the areas of professional development, recruitment and retention. He also stated that the ESCNJ evaluation suggested continuing to enhance the extracurricular activities and sports.

But overall, the ESCNJ team was pleased with the operation of the Special Education program.

“There are many things that we highlighted that were robust and that you should be very proud of,” Mr. Molenaar said. “Your team is really looking for the best place for the best programs and your counselors regularly meet. And the support at the building level should be commended.”

He added.

“You are doing many things very well.”

Dr. Silvia reported that the school district is targeting to expand the extracurricular activities and that the unified basketball program at the high school will begin competition against other schools.

Jason Mauriello, who is the school district’s Director of 21st Century Learning and Data Analysis, followed with his results of the district testing from the past year.

According to all of his reports, Bridgewater-Raritan performed at or above the state average in all assessments at every grade level.

“It was nice to see that,” he said.

After his full review of all areas of the testing, Mr. Mauriello provided his own crucial assessments.

"While overall BRRSD performed above the state averages, not all subgroups are performing at a comparable level. This is an area we will continue to address, \" he said.

Actions that have been taken and have delivered positive results were, “providing multi-tier system of support, creating before- and after-school tutoring, implementing summer learning programs, offering accelerated learning opportunities, prioritizing more important content and standards as well as social-emotional learning, returning to small-group instruction and offering more opportunities for students.”

Moving forward, Mr. Mauriello shared that he results  will be used to identify appropriate interventions to help individual students, inform professional development for staff and bring attention to possible areas in the curriculum that may need to be adjusted.

He concluded that there will be five scheduled assessment testing periods that will occur this school year.

For a complete viewing of the entire board of education meeting on November 15, including the Special Education and District Testing reports, visit the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District’s website and go to the Board of Education.