Spring 2012

In this issue….

Teachers of the

Year……………...….pg 2

National Certified

School Nurses….…..pg 2

Arbor Day…………..pg3

NJASK Pep

Rallies…….…………pg 3

United for Stafford...pg4

Spring Concerts….pg 4

Preschool Update…pg 5

Looking Toward

Next Year…………...pg 5

Extraordinary

Events……………….pg 6

Springtime

Photos………..…….pg 8

2012 Summer Academy

The Summer Academy is a varied selection of 43 classes designed by

teachers and offered for a fee to district students entering Kindergarten

through those entering 7th grade. This program is self-sustaining (fees pay

for the program) and classes run based on sufficient enrollment. The pro-

grams include cooking, dancing, singing, science, reading, math, crafts,

sports, art, and more. There are three-, four– and five-day programs and

the PTA and Producers have generously donated $10 per student, per

course to reduce the costs for everyone. All classes will be held at the

McKinley Avenue School.

Bridges

This is the district’s program for identified students currently enrolled in

Kindergarten through 5th grade who require additional summer instruction

to keep them on track for the coming school year. It provides a “bridge”

from one academic year to the next and focuses on Language Arts and

Math.

Extended School Year

Extended School Year (ESY) is for district students who are classified

and are in jeopardy of not retaining the skills they have learned during the

school year unless given additional support during the summer months.

Those students eligible for ESY will receive an individualized program to

support their learning as well as retention of already acquired skills.

District Summer Programs:

Abundant Opportunities for Students

Summer Camp

This is a fee-based summer camp program for district students entering preschool to those entering

7th grade. This year it will also be open to out of district students for an additional fee. It will be held

at the McKinley Avenue school from 8AM - 4PM, Monday through Friday. Parents can choose the

number of days a student attends and students can stay all day, or just a half day (morning or after-

noon). There are also are extended day hours available prior to and after the program. There will be

scheduled activities every week to keep things exciting and fun.

Page 2

Teachers of the Year

Each year, the district honors a Teacher of the

Year from each of our five schools. The selection

process begins with a request for nominations from

parents/guardians, students, and district staff. Then a

selection panel, consisting of administrators, parents,

teachers, as well as honorees from the previous year,

reviews the nominations and makes their selection.

The five staff members who were chosen to repre-

sent their school as Teachers of the Year were hon-

ored at this month’s Board of Education meeting at

STAC. Receiving this distinction were Clark Hudec

(Intermediate 6th grade teacher), Diana Adanatzian

(McKinley 4th grade teacher), Lisa DiBernardo

(Ocean Acres Guidance Counselor), Jennifer Lowe

(Primary Learning Center Kindergarten teacher), and

Shirley Gehringer (Oxycocus School Nurse).

Applause! Applause!

Kathryn Bates (top) and Shirley Gehringer are among

a select group of National Certified School Nurses.

Teachers of the Year (L-R): Diana Adanatzian, Shirley

Gehringer, Lisa DiBernardo, Jennifer Lowe, and Clark

Hudec

National Certified School Nurses McKinley School Nurse Kathryn Bates and Oxycocus School Nurse

Shirley Gehringer recently achieved National Certification!

The National Board of Certification of School Nurses is an inde-

pendently incorporated organization established for the purpose of de-

veloping and implementing the voluntary certification process of

school nurses. Its mission is to advance the quality of school

health services by providing a rigorous national credentialing

process to validate competency based on professional stand-

ards of preparation, knowledge, and practice.

There are 68,000 school nurses in the United States and

roughly 5% are Nationally Board Certified. There are only

43 in New Jersey and we are proud that Kathryn Bates and

Shirley Gehringer are among them.

Congratulations to all!

Page 3

Over 50 Plantings at Ocean Acres Arbor Day Event

Thank you! Special thanks to the following for their generous

donations of trees, soil, flowers, manpower, and

T-Shirts for the students:

The Home Depot

Lowes

Marchioni’s Pizza

Speakeasy Pizzeria

Shade Tree Commission

Jetty

Ocean Acres Staff

Ocean Acres students celebrated Arbor Day

with a day-long event that included both indoor

and outdoor activities.

Students learned

about bees, butterflies,

and bird songs. They

played games such as

green bingo and created

leaf rubbings, handprint paintings, and tree

cookies as they rotated classrooms in the first

and second grade wings of the building.

Outside, they planted trees, participated in a

fun recycle relay, and read stories.

Over 50 trees and shrubs were planted for this

spring school beautification project.

When you think of standardized testing, you don't usually think of loud music, dancing, or cheering

students. But that is exactly what was going on at the recent NJASK Pep Rallies at STAC.

At the Intermediate School pep rally, students were dancing and singing

along to songs...but the lyrics had been changed to review test taking strat-

egies they learned. Teachers put on skits and created videos to get students

excited for the test.

At the McKinley School event, videos and

musical selections were used to remind stu-

dents to check their answers, write neatly,

and not spend too much time on one question.

Both schools were very creative as they encouraged students to “Do

your best for the test!”

NJASK Pep Rallies

Page 4

United for Stafford Offers Scholarships

To District Families In Need

This month was filled with concerts that highlighted our won-

derful district programs and the talents our students have devel-

oped. The Intermediate Band, Intermediate Choir, Ocean Acres

Chorus, and McKinley Band, Choir and Strings program held

school-day concerts for their peers and evening concerts that were

open to the public. They were all very successful events that

showcased the effort and creativity of our participating students.

United for Stafford is a fund-

raising committee dedicated to

providing scholarships to fee-

based programs within Stafford

Township School District. This

is made possible through fund-

raising events, staff member

contributions, and the spring

student portraits.

We are happy to announce

that United for Stafford will be

offering Summer Academy

Scholarships to district students

wishing to attend one of these

programs.

The committee will also of-

fer a limited number of schol-

arships to the 2012/2013 Af-

terschool Enrichment Pro-

grams offered to district stu-

dents. One of these enrich-

ment scholarships will be the

Debra Frisina Memorial

Scholarship, in remembrance

of a staff member who passed

away this year.

In addition, to assist stu-

dents attending the district Pre-

school Program, United for

Stafford will be offering a lim-

ited number of partial scholar-

ships for the 2012/2013 school

year.

United for Stafford is plan-

ning to run a BJ’s Membership

fundraiser in the fall and the

proceeds will be used to fund

future scholarships to help

Stafford families in need.

Spring Concerts at STAC

Calendar Changes

The 2012/2013 school calendar has been post-

ed on the district website. Please be aware that

some entries are different than they have been in

the past.

We will no longer have conferences or early

dismissal days during Thanksgiving week. Some

teachers have expressed that November was too

soon for conferences given that ISG Confer-

ences and Back to School Nights are held in the

fall. As a result we may be scheduling mid year

conferences in late January or early February.

You may have also noticed that there are no ear-

ly dismissal days listed on the calendar. These

dates, the marking period dates, and the confer-

ence dates are still being finalized and will be

added to the calendar shortly.

Please note that the district will continue to be

Page 5

Changes Coming for Next Year

closed for the NJEA Convention, which is No-

vember 5-9 this year. Also, in conjunction with

Southern Regional, Spring Recess is scheduled

for March 25-31.

Administrative Offices Moving

Have you heard? The district’s administrative

offices will be moved to the Oxycocus School in

time for the start of the next school year. This

includes the staff members from both the Ad-

ministration Building and Education Center

Building, including the Superintendent, Business

Administrator, and Board Attorney in addition to

Human Resources, Curriculum and Instruction,

Special Services, Business Office, Community

Liaison, Enrichment Programs, Buildings and

Grounds, and Purchasing. All of the offices will

be housed together in one wing, separate from

the preschool classes.

Beginning in September, the

district will be offering pre-

school classes Monday through

Friday at the Oxycocus School.

There are a number of options

available to suit the needs of

our families, including five full

days, three full days (M-W-F),

as well as morning and after-

noon sessions on those days.

Preschool Update

Within preschool, students

will explore and investigate

many important pre-kinder-

garten skills. Students will

have the opportunity to learn

about and be exposed to a va-

riety of concepts:

Math - routines, numbers,

patterns, categorizing,

classification

Science - independent in-

quiries, prediction and hy-

pothesizing, critical think-

ing, making connections

Language Arts - letters,

literature, sequencing,

rhyming, storytelling

Social Development - co-

operating, sharing, waiting

turns, following directions,

resolving conflicts with

words

Each class will be taught by

a certified early childhood ed-

ucation teacher and a teaching

assistant will be assigned to

each class. Our preschool pro-

gram will be using a state-

approved curriculum and class

size will be between 15 and 18

students. A new playground was installed at Oxy-

cocus School this year.

Page 6

Back in October, for Make

A Difference Day, the McKin-

ley Avenue School raised

$10,000 for American Recrea-

tional Military Services

(ARMS). As a thank you,

ARMS recently presented the

school with a U.S. Flag that

was flown on a combat mis-

sion in Afghanistan aboard an

F-16C+.

Congratulations to our five

bus drivers who competed in

the Annual School Bus Ro-

deo: Debbie Rolenc, Dan Sul-

livan, Linda Westover, Nina

McCord and Aggie Fix. Nina

and Aggie finished 2nd and

3rd!

Twenty-five students and

ten teachers recently finished

a 5K race as part of the Girls

Helping Girls afterschool en-

richment program run by 5th

grade teachers Jennifer Martin

and Jessica Perry. This group

had the first and third place

finishes out of 44 entries in

the Under 20 Female category.

Congratulations to everyone

who participated!

Sixth grade students recent-

ly learned about local govern-

ment and the top scorers on

the test were chosen to partici-

pated in Stafford Township

Student Government Day.

They spent the day with the

Mayor, Council, and other

Township employees and

toured buildings and depart-

ments. They also had the op-

portunity to participate in a

simulated court case and

Mayor/Council meeting.

Congratulations to all of the

district students who won an

award at the Township Arbor

Day Poster, Poem and Essay

contests. The contests are

open to all schools in the

township, and our students

took first, second and third

place in all but two categories

for every grade K-6. That’s 62

winners in all!

Congratulations to the three

students who on the Elks

Americanism Essay contest

and to the seven semi-finalists.

The essay topic was “Why I

am proud to Pledge Alle-

giance to Our Flag.”

Lift off, Sodexo’s superhe-

ro, recently visited students at

the PLC and Ocean Acres

School during their lunch peri-

ods. In addition to high-fives,

the students received coloring

pages highlighting nutritious

meals.

Congratulations to the 5th

grade students who participat-

ed in the Ocean County Math

Extraordinary Events

Page 7

League Challenge. Stafford’s

5th grade team placed 3rd in

the county! The Ocean County

Math League Award Ceremo-

ny will be held on June 6 at

7PM at STAC.

United States Air Force

Tech Sergeant Gerard P.

Sheehan, who has a child that

attends the PLC, recently pre-

sented Mr. K and the PLC

staff with a flag that was

flown aboard an F-16C+ dur-

ing a combat mission over Af-

ghanistan. Sheehan, an avion-

ics specialist, explained that

pilots often fly these flags as a

give back to their support staff

for keeping things running

smoothly. He, in turn, wanted

to give back to the support he

received at home during his

deployment.

A penguin was recently

seen walking around at the

Oxycocus school! The stu-

dents learned about penguins

from a representative from

Jenkinson’s Aquarium at this

PTA sponsored assembly.

The highlight was meeting

Kapuki the 7-year-old African

penguin.

Fifth grade students have

been learning financial litera-

cy concepts such as economy,

taxes, banking, and personal

finances. Their culminating

activity was a day-long project

where they ran all aspects of a

mock town – iTown. They

worked as employees and con-

sumers, putting their class-

room lessons to work in this

simulated town.

Ocean Acres students invit-

ed local veterans and active

service members to their an-

nual Support Our Troops as-

sembly. The event started with

a breakfast provided by Ocean

Acres staff members and then

students entertained the guests

with patriotic songs and po-

ems and presented them with

cards and thank you notes.

Early in the year, the Kin-

dergarten students at the PLC

set a goal to collectively read

for a million minutes. As an

incentive Mr. K, would allow

one student from each class

throw a pie at him if they

reached the lofty goal. They

surpassed their goal and Mr. K

lived up to his side of the deal.

As a matter of fact, he was so

pleased with their efforts that

they were also treated to a

special viewing of Walt Dis-

ney’s Pinocchio at STAC.

Extraordinary Events

Springtime at Stafford Schools For quite some time, our students and staff members have been making use of the school grounds for

a variety of learning experiences that also enhance the aesthetic appeal of our buildings. Below is a

sampling of what their efforts have produced.