Post by admin on May 7, 2008 5:15:13 GMT -5
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Freehold Borough school district earns state kudos
Board president says district is making strides despite shortfall in state aid
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
Tom Tramaglini says many people perceive the Freehold Borough K-8 School District as an "underdog" in the scheme of things.
A recent report from state Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy that deems Freehold Borough to be a High Performance School District is one more step in administrators' ongoing effort to get the district to be the best it can be and change that "underdog" image.
Tramaglini said he is proud that the district is moving in the right direction. He said administrators are addressing areas that need attention.
Freehold Borough Board of Education President Jim Keelan said, "This assessment was no rubber-stamp approval for the district. It was a detailed look into all the operations of our district. … The assessment just reaffirms to the board all the great things the administration and staff continue to do for our school district, while still operating well below adequate funding levels. I look forward to raising our 'A' average to an 'A-plus' when we are reassessed and properly funded by the state."
A letter from Davy, which included the determination of the district's placement on the Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC) performance rating, was sent to Superintendent of Schools Elizabeth O'Connell on April 24.
Davy congratulated district administrators upon achieving a score of at least 80 percent of the weighted indicators in each of the five areas in the QSAC review process.
According to Tramaglini, who is the district's director of technology, math, science and professional development, the five areas the district was scored on were:
• Instruction and Program, which received a score of 83 percent;
• Fiscal, which received a score of 91 percent;
• Personnel, which received a score of 95 percent;
• Operations, which received a score of 100 percent;
• Governance, which received a score of 100 percent.
The process started in July 2007 when O'Connell was informed by the state Department of Education that the district was being monitored by QSAC. She said she had until September to prepare for the process, which included the formation of a committee for each of the five components of the QSAC application.
Committees were made up of administrators, principals, members of the teaching staff, school board members and parents.
The process involved a lengthy self-assessment document of scoring sheets that list more than 300 indicators that must be addressed by school officials. School board members who served on various committees were Ron Reich,Adam Reich,Andrew DeFonzo,Audrey Evans and VickyMuller.
"You give yourself the score, but you must have documentation to support it," O'Connell explained.
After the application was filed, the district was visited by representatives of the state Department of Education in January. Those officials reviewed the data on the application and forwarded all of the information to the commissioner of education.
O'Connell said the QSAC process "gives us a perspective of where we are in those areas and gives us a sense of what to improve."
Tramaglini, who chaired the instruction and program committee, said this monitoring system, which he called a "fine, limited audit," can also be considered a "state of the school district" report.
"It's a performance audit," he said.
He explained that his committee had to have updated curriculum in every one of nine core content subjects ready and waiting for review.
In one case, administrators had to show that all lesson plans were aligned with state standards. Tramaglini said 10 or 12 lesson plans were pulled by state Department of Education representatives at random for review.
Another area consisted of examining state mandated programs the district must offer, such as programs for gifted and talented pupils, early childhood programs and bilingual programs.
"You have to have proof that you have those programs and that they are functioning," he said. "There was no way to fake this."
The governance component addressed policies and procedures related to the provision of educational programs. It also addressed upholding and enforcing laws, training for school board members, and providing policies for the health and safety of students.
The personnel component addressed the hiring of staff, background checks, recruiting and retaining teachers, and evaluating non-tenured and tenured staff members.
The fiscal component addressed writing policies and procedures for a budget and financial planning process as well as health benefits and long-range capital projects.
The operations component addressed areas such as long-range facilities planning, health and safety as well as heat, maintenance, electrical, mechanical and structural issues.
After the individual committees met, a self-assessment final review committee was created to go over all of the information and scoring before submitting the application.
Tramaglini said the school district is "transparent and honest" with the community. He said O'Connell has "an innovative approach to ensure that all kids are successful. She really and sincerely cares about the kids. We have done more in the last two years with less, and our students have achieved huge gains."
Freehold Borough school district earns state kudos
Board president says district is making strides despite shortfall in state aid
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
Tom Tramaglini says many people perceive the Freehold Borough K-8 School District as an "underdog" in the scheme of things.
A recent report from state Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy that deems Freehold Borough to be a High Performance School District is one more step in administrators' ongoing effort to get the district to be the best it can be and change that "underdog" image.
Tramaglini said he is proud that the district is moving in the right direction. He said administrators are addressing areas that need attention.
Freehold Borough Board of Education President Jim Keelan said, "This assessment was no rubber-stamp approval for the district. It was a detailed look into all the operations of our district. … The assessment just reaffirms to the board all the great things the administration and staff continue to do for our school district, while still operating well below adequate funding levels. I look forward to raising our 'A' average to an 'A-plus' when we are reassessed and properly funded by the state."
A letter from Davy, which included the determination of the district's placement on the Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC) performance rating, was sent to Superintendent of Schools Elizabeth O'Connell on April 24.
Davy congratulated district administrators upon achieving a score of at least 80 percent of the weighted indicators in each of the five areas in the QSAC review process.
According to Tramaglini, who is the district's director of technology, math, science and professional development, the five areas the district was scored on were:
• Instruction and Program, which received a score of 83 percent;
• Fiscal, which received a score of 91 percent;
• Personnel, which received a score of 95 percent;
• Operations, which received a score of 100 percent;
• Governance, which received a score of 100 percent.
The process started in July 2007 when O'Connell was informed by the state Department of Education that the district was being monitored by QSAC. She said she had until September to prepare for the process, which included the formation of a committee for each of the five components of the QSAC application.
Committees were made up of administrators, principals, members of the teaching staff, school board members and parents.
The process involved a lengthy self-assessment document of scoring sheets that list more than 300 indicators that must be addressed by school officials. School board members who served on various committees were Ron Reich,Adam Reich,Andrew DeFonzo,Audrey Evans and VickyMuller.
"You give yourself the score, but you must have documentation to support it," O'Connell explained.
After the application was filed, the district was visited by representatives of the state Department of Education in January. Those officials reviewed the data on the application and forwarded all of the information to the commissioner of education.
O'Connell said the QSAC process "gives us a perspective of where we are in those areas and gives us a sense of what to improve."
Tramaglini, who chaired the instruction and program committee, said this monitoring system, which he called a "fine, limited audit," can also be considered a "state of the school district" report.
"It's a performance audit," he said.
He explained that his committee had to have updated curriculum in every one of nine core content subjects ready and waiting for review.
In one case, administrators had to show that all lesson plans were aligned with state standards. Tramaglini said 10 or 12 lesson plans were pulled by state Department of Education representatives at random for review.
Another area consisted of examining state mandated programs the district must offer, such as programs for gifted and talented pupils, early childhood programs and bilingual programs.
"You have to have proof that you have those programs and that they are functioning," he said. "There was no way to fake this."
The governance component addressed policies and procedures related to the provision of educational programs. It also addressed upholding and enforcing laws, training for school board members, and providing policies for the health and safety of students.
The personnel component addressed the hiring of staff, background checks, recruiting and retaining teachers, and evaluating non-tenured and tenured staff members.
The fiscal component addressed writing policies and procedures for a budget and financial planning process as well as health benefits and long-range capital projects.
The operations component addressed areas such as long-range facilities planning, health and safety as well as heat, maintenance, electrical, mechanical and structural issues.
After the individual committees met, a self-assessment final review committee was created to go over all of the information and scoring before submitting the application.
Tramaglini said the school district is "transparent and honest" with the community. He said O'Connell has "an innovative approach to ensure that all kids are successful. She really and sincerely cares about the kids. We have done more in the last two years with less, and our students have achieved huge gains."