Superintendent's Message

Greetings to All!

As your Superintendent of Schools and on behalf of our Board President and Trustees I would like to welcome you to the 2013-2014 school year!

Here in Central Office this summer we were hard at work planning and preparing for the implementation of the many new initiatives that will take place this school year. One of our most exciting ventures is the opening of an additional school building which will house our Freshman and Sophomore high school students. St Joseph’s HS, formerly a private Catholic school that closed in 2009 will become part of our public school infrastructure. The building is directly across the street from our existing Memorial HS which has become very overcrowded. The state department of education purchased the school for us and now we are renovating it for our students. Many repairs and technology updates are in progress so we hopefully anticipate opening in January of 2014.There are new science labs on the way, an extra gymnasium, a swimming pool and much more. The new addition will hopefully help create a campus-like atmosphere giving our students a college type of experience.

I am happy to report that this summer many of our students were very busy as well, reinforcing and reviewing to be ready for school in Sept. Our Summer programs were innovative and creative and ran in every elementary school throughout the months of July and August. They included Early Childhood classes, classes for students with special needs, Math classes for upper grade students, a new Enrichment Program that included teaching content through theater, art and hands on experiences, and a new “JUMP” program to assist our 6th grade students with their transition from elementary school to middle school. They each had culminating festivities whereby the students demonstrated what they learned and how much fun they had in those classes.

We continue to maintain, upgrade and expand our contemporary 21st century classrooms offering our students the opportunities to learn through the use of cutting edge technology like tablets, laptops, and promethean boards. Our School district continues to house six Elementary Schools, Pre-Kindergarten through 6th grade, one middle school, one high school with an additional building on its way, two stand-alone Early Childhood buildings and fourteen private provider sites for three and four year old students. We continue to provide before and after care services via the Catapult Program in our early childhood classrooms throughout the district. Many of the other new ventures that we are embarking on this year are as follows:

• The full implementation of the new Teacher Evaluation System, The Danielson Framework

• The management system, named Teachscape to support and track evaluations and “walkthroughs” for the Danielson implementation

• The full implementation of the new administrator’s evaluation system, The Stronge Model

• The management system, named Oasis to support the observations and evaluations of the Stronge Model

• Principals and Teachers will be developing student growth objectives (SGO) for students to measure their growth throughout the school year. Pre, Post and cycle tests have been developed in every program as a measure of student growth. Other objectives will be measured via portfolio assessments and work sampling system.

• New Jersey is leading the way in assessment innovation by developing new “next generation” assessments with other states as part of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers consortium. (PAARC) The West New York School District has just been selected by the Department of Education as one of the school districts to participate in the 2014 PAARC Field Test this coming Spring. These new tests will be on English Language Arts and Mathematics based on the new Common Core Standards and will all be administered through computers. There will be no more paper involved. This opportunity for field testing will grant WNY’s students and staff the opportunity to experience state assessments through the use of technology which is the official way it will be done for all states involved in the year 2015.

• Our enrollment continues to rise and therefore we have opened several additional classrooms in order to keep our class sizes to a number that is most conducive to learning and success for our students. We continue to interview and hire highly qualified teachers and paraprofessionals for these classrooms.

• Our district website has just been reconstructed to be more user-friendly.

Please note that while we are totally committed to the academic success and well-being of every student, we need YOU to share this commitment with us. Please make learning a priority in your home. Your partnership with our schools is necessary for our vision to become a reality for all. You can do this by making sure your child attends school every day that he or she is able to, by asking them questions about what they are learning, and by becoming involved in their school life overall. Discuss education at home and let your child know that families and schools are teams that work together to make them reach the “unreachable.” We are eternally grateful for your support and hope that you and your child/children have a wonderful 2013-2014 school year!.

Thank you,

John Fauta

Superintendent of Schools