College recruiters visiting our students at our high school,

continued success on state assessments, special visitors partnering

with and acknowledging our academic program, over 90 percent of

the Class of 2010 attending colleges/universities, PTOs bustling with

activities to enhance our educational programs, national honors re-

ceived, the best music, art and drama programs in the State, the 2010

football program astounding the home fans as well as their oppo-

nents, parents volunteering in our schools and participating in the

district’s Parents as Partners initiative among many, many other aca-

demic and co-curricular activities—yes, it has been a very active and

exciting 2010.

In our current newsletter, you will see a sample of just some of

the many things happening in our district such as a salute to our Vet-

erans, information regarding our special services program, and

events such as our National Honor Society induction under the direc-

tion of Mrs. Elaine Maresca, and our National Blue Ribbon honors.

Please visit our district website at www. narlington.k12.nj.us to see

an extensive list of highlights, activities, pictures, and programs at

each of our schools, along with other important information for our

educational community-at-large.

As the holidays are quickly upon us, we hope you have had

the opportunity to jump into the spirit of the season by attending one

or more of our holiday musical extravaganzas at each of our

schools. Our students diligently practice their craft throughout the

year and welcome the opportunity to serve the community by sharing

their gift and passion for music.

Partnerships make us strong. We actively encourage partner-

ships that will help our students and district achieve our goals. And

you, our parents, are our most cherished and needed partner. Please

continue to communicate with your child’s teachers and school.

On behalf of the Board of Education, and the entire North Ar-

lington Staff, I would like to wish you and your families a truly beau-

tiful holiday season and a healthy and happy New Year!

Dr. Oliver W. Stringham

Superintendent of Schools

Superintendent’s Message

OU

R S

CH

OO

LS

NO

RT

H

AR

LI

NG

TO

N

PU

BL

IC

S

CH

OO

LS

Volume 1 Issue 2

December 2010

Page 2 OU R S CHOOLS

The Board of Education under the rec-

ommendation of Superintendent Oliver

Stringham several years ago began plan-

ning the creation of two new classrooms

in Washington School. These class-

rooms have allowed the district to edu-

cate young autistic students within the

school district allowing them to be edu-

cated in their home town. Additionally,

this has reduced the cost of out of district

tuitions and transportation costs that

would have had to be paid to educate

these students. Two more classroom

conversions will be completed before the

end of this school year allowing even

more out of district students to be edu-

cated within our school district at addi-

tional savings. Students have the ability

to get specialized instruction within the

context of the school community, and if

appropriate as indicated in individualized

education plans, are also mainstreamed into

the regular classroom setting. New Child

Study Team Coordinator Walter Curioni

reports with excitement the progress stu-

dents continue to make in these pro-

grams. Additionally, Mr. Curioni reports

that he is impressed with how our district

works each day to help students appreciate

that need to respect each other and assist

one another. As has occurred in the past,

the district will be having a series of parent

workshops at night regarding a number of

interesting and informative special educa-

tion topics. In November, the district held

a meeting for parents where a transitional

counselor presented information regarding

transitioning from high school to adult

life. Saturday school has been available for

middle level special needs students through

the past few years and North Arlington

has been one of the few districts in the

area that has had its total and special

needs population achieve Adequate

Yearly Progress goals on all state as-

sessments. Dr. Stringham, indicates,

“We work with our special needs stu-

dents and all students each and every

day to help them as much as possible to

respect themselves and others and of

course achieve academically. This is

not a one day lesson; it is a lesson that

goes on in a lifelong manner. We are

very proud of our special needs pro-

gram, while always looking to discover

additional best practices to improve and

enhance all of our programs.”

North Arlington Schools-Special Services

The North Arlington Public Schools held many different learning

activities regarding Veteran’s Day, Thursday, November 11,

2010. Meaningful, respectful events and discussions happened

at each of our schools. We were also honored to have veterans

visit our schools during November and on Veteran’s Day to

speak with our children and be part of activities which honored

our veterans and their sacrifices of time and life so we may be

here as free Americans. The students and teachers were deeply

appreciative of their service and the sacrifices of all veterans. On

Friday, November 12, 2010 we lowered our flags to respectfully

honor one of our recent fallen New Jersey service men stationed

in Afghanistan.

Pictured are SPC. Gregory Appleyard, U.S. Army, BUCN. Justin Heyler, US

Navy, and Mr. George Lewis , U.S. Navy, and proud member of our local VFW. Mr. Appleyard is veteran of Iraq and Mr. Lewis is a World War II veteran

and served on the USS Hornet in the Pacific. Students pictures from left to right

Left to right: Daniel Di Gangi, Carlie Mullins, Alexis Tetto, Edward Walters,

Aidan Gill and Joel Collazo, in front

Veteran’s Day

Students Return with Great Success The district is pleased to report that the students returning to

district earned high marks in the first quarter. Previous

schools attended include the Visions Program in Emerson,

South Bergen Jointure, and Shepard Academy. The district

believes that students can learn best in their home commu-

nity. Students returning to district are closely monitored and

supported throughout the transition process. The district

believes strongly that all students can learn and that it is

important to develop individualized education plans that

recognize students’ strengths while ameliorating areas of

weakness.

Parent Meetings The district held a workshop on transition on November

18th, 2010. High school parents had an opportunity to

speak with transition counselor, Cheryl Kavanagh, about

college, vocational, and military pathways. Parents re-

ceived a number of handouts and materials in each of

the aforementioned domains. The night was a great suc-

cess. Light refreshments were served. Parents are en-

couraged to contact Mr. Walter Curioni for future work-

shop dates and topic choices. His contact information is

wcurioni@narlington.k12.nj.us

V OLU ME 1 ISS UE 2 Page 3

Blue Ribbon in Washington DC!

In mid November, Dr. Stringham met up with retired principal

Claire Greene and retired Roosevelt teacher Dolores Badiola, in

Washington DC at the National Blue Ribbon Award Cere-

mony. The event began with an address by US Secretary of Edu-

cation, Arne Duncan as well as others. There was a wonderful

luncheon and then each district was called in alphabetical order by

state to receive their plaque and a flag honoring the school as a

National Blue Ribbon Award recipient. Not many school’s

throughout the country have won the nation’s highest award –

Congratulations Roosevelt School!

E Edition of the Record Newspaper

The North Arlington Learning Community now has access to an

electronic edition of The Record newspaper. The e-Edition lets students navigate an exact replica of the printed newspaper. You can flip through pages and skim headlines, view articles, photos, games and comics with the click of a

button, and even print out stories and photos in "clipping" format!

http://hackensackrecord.n j.newsmemory.com/nie.php

Username: NIE35915 PW: narlington

Holiday Concerts and Winter Re-

cess

Middle School Dec. 8 7:00 PM

Washington Dec. 13 9:00 AM

Roosevelt Dec. 14 9:00 AM

High School Dec. 14 7:00 PM

Jefferson Dec. 15 9:00 AM

Half Day Dec. 23

Winter Recess Dec. 24-Jan. 2

School Reopens Jan. 3

NAHS National Honor Society

On November 11, 2010, North Arlington High School held its annual National Honor Society Induction Dinner at the Fiesta.

The evening was successfully coordinated by NAHS Honor Society Advisor Elaine Maresca and was a respectful tribute to each

of our new inductees.

This year’s inductees were Alfano, Sara (11); Allen, Kristen (12); Alrabaa, Sandra

(11); Attaalla, Kyrillos (12); Cao, Anna (12); Castanteen, Valerie (12); Centanni,

Joelle (11); Donofrio, Gabrielle (11); Fiore, Gabriel (11); Gamarra, Erik (12); Ga-

vieres, Eunice (11); Glarner, Matthew (11); Gwiszcz, Rafal (12); Haffouda,

Eddie(12); Hislop, Virginia(11); Lozada, Emely (12); Matos, Tiffany (11); Mon-

cayo, Frans (11); Namnama, Megan (11); Paiva, Breno (12); Paredes, Elisabet(12);

Prado, Shantal (12); Sanchez, Tiffany (11); Sierra, Stefany (11); Trias, Beatrice (11);

Trochez, Gisselle (11); Vigliorolo, Erica (12); Warchol, Aleksandra (11).

Important Dates

Pictured

Mrs. Greene, Mrs. Badiola, and Dr. Stringham in

front of the White House

222 Ridge Road

NORTH ARLINGTON

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Phone: 201-991-6800

Quality Schools Equal Quality Communities

We’re on the Web!

www.narlington.k12.nj.us

North Arlington School District’s

Mission Statement

The mission of the North Arlington

School District is to strive to develop

high student achievement through the

systemic implementation of a rigorous

PreK-12 curriculum aligned to the NJ

Core Curriculum Content Standards.

Through this curriculum, the

integration of technology, and extra-

curricular activities, the district will

strive to develop student character,

self-awareness, and higher levels of

performance so that students are

prepared to make better personal,

academic, and life decisions.

District-wide Professional Development

The North Arlington School district has developed a strong, coherent

professional development model that allows teachers to engage regularly

in authentic teamwork focused on explicit, common learning goals.

On December 2nd , the North Arlington teachers met as professional

learning communities to engage in discussions around teaching and

learning. A professional learning community is a group of teachers who

work as a team to identify essential and valued student learning, analyze

current levels of achievement, set goals, share best practices and create

lessons to improve achievement.

Representatives from the elementary, middle and high schools were in-

volved in PreK-12 Science and Math teams to review and assess our

needs with curriculum alignment to the 2009 NJ Core Curriculum Stan-

dards. Other departmental groups met to discuss curricula in their re-

spective areas. Additionally, teachers were given the opportunity to meet

by grade level to plan upcoming lessons together using the newly

adopted lesson plan templates. Educational research by Fullan, Darling-

Hammond and Little(1990) found that when teachers work collabora-

tively on a continuous basis focused on student work through assessment,

it leads to increased teacher confidence and, not surprisingly, remarkable

gains in student achievement.

North Arlington

Board of Education

Mr. George McDermott, President

Mrs. Karen Palatella, Vice President

Mr. Anthony Blanco, Trustee

Mr. Joseph Ricciardelli, Trustee

Mr. Stanley Titterington, Trustee

Dr. Oliver Stringham,

Superintendent of Schools

Mrs. Kathleen McEwin-Marano,

Secretary/Business Administrator

Ms. Valerie Haag and Ms. Noreen Mack deciding on appropriate PreK and

Kindergarten Science skills

Ms. Justine Crismale and Ms. Marti Verrier

mapping Science curriculum.

Ms. Kathy Malanga, Ms. Colleen Mc Crea

and Ms. Hilda Northrop collaborating

on lesson planning.

“Man’s mind

stretched to a

new idea never

goes back to its

original

dimensions.”

~Oliver Wendell Holmes