LTSD Mission Statement from Matt Shea on Vimeo.

Vicki Pede, Superintendent

It may be hard to believe, but it is truly that time of year when our school hallways and classrooms
will finally include that wonderful sound of children again! It has been a busy, but rewarding summer for all of us; I’m sure you’ll notice the enhancements we have incorporated as part of both of our schools, both inside and outside. Hopefully, you have all had the opportunity to spend some quality time with your families in some unique summer activity that included the creation of special memories that can only be created when a family is together!

At my house, it was wonderful to have our son home from his college studies, and to go on a family vacation that included the four of us relaxing together. Special memories were created that I will cherish forever, and as always, I am quite thankful that I had some quality time to spend together. In my last article, I shared that I would be sifting through the pile of summer reading that I had set aside during the school year. This reading included some of the novels on the Middle School Summer Reading List, some of my favorite or recommended adult novels and even some professional educational books. Needless to say, I am still going through my pile as my aspirations seemed to reach higher than the time I had put aside to tackle them! No matter, some quality literature was read and on vacation I was able to finish a memoir that had been on the best seller list before the opening of the movie last Friday. What a treat to see the movie with our daughter, and of course, the book was better than the movie (seems that’s always the case)!

This year, we are maintaining our partnership with the National Writing Project through our involvement with the professionals at East Stroudsburg University (Northeastern Pennsylvania). Our district continues to support these efforts through the first cohort of teachers while adding a second cohort of teachers divided evenly between our two schools. We embark on this journey already in August as a part of our best researched practices that we continue to incorporate into our classrooms. As parents, you will be pleased to see the addition of specific and targeted language arts literacy programs that build upon the foundation we have already begun. Parent training will also be a component of the process so that we can share the information with our families in an effort to provide the best education possible for the children in our care. We hope we can count on you to be a part of our continuing strides toward greater student achievement, a goal of each and every one of us throughout the district. To add to our already talented group of teachers, we have spent a great deal of time this summer interviewing for the positions that were available through either retirement or resignation. In her book, Hidden Gems (Naming and Teaching from the Brilliance in Every Student’s Writing), Katherine Bomer offers a quote authored by Jonathan Kozol. This quote exemplifies a portion of what we look for in the educators in our classroom, and is certainly reflective of our hiring practices. Mr. Kozol states the following, “Kids are almost as good as William Faulkner at telling stories. If you can wade through all the run-on sentences, there’s a hidden treasure there, and good teachers know to begin there for motivation.” I believe we have better than good  teachers in Lopatcong, and our “bottom line” is that our educators (all of us) have high expectations for our students!

Elementary School Buzz
Kindergarten Visitation Day & Bus Information
All Kindergarten students will be bussed to school. B and K Dalrymple Bus Company will provide a “practice” bus ride during Kindergarten classroom visitation day on Tuesday, August 31, 2010.
AM Visitation: 9:00 – 9:30
PM Visitation: 9:45 – 10:15
Please note: If you or a designated person are not at your child’s bus stop at the
drop off time, the bus driver will keep your child on the bus and your child will be
taken back to school at the end of the bus run. Bus riding privileges will be revoked
if you continually fail to be at the bus stop at your child’s drop off time.
 

Pictured here is our new group who attended an orientation session in August in order to better understand our policies and procedures, as well as our expectations for our students. Please help welcome these new teachers to our district, and offer your positive comments to help make them an integral part of the Lopatcong community. The new certificated staff members for this school year are
as follows:
Ms. Noreen Stansberry – 1st grade
Ms. Kerry Winfield – 2nd grade
Ms. Amanda Dalrymple – 3rd grade
Ms. Kelli Cherry – 5th grade Language Arts
Ms. Jennifer Pearson – 5th grade BSI and
7th grade Special Education
Ms. Lisa Beenders – 6th grade Science
Ms. JoAnn Mitch – 6th grade Social Studies
Mr. Stephen Genzale – 8th grade Math
Ms. Debra Decker – Special Education
Ms. Tracy Rivera – Reading Specialist/BSI/
Special Education (ES & MS)
In closing, may I remind you to please check
our website (www.lopatcongschool.org) on a regular basis; we attempt to include as much information there as possible to keep our families informed. Please also note our efforts to reduce the amount of paper that goes home, and to that end we are even intending for this newsletter to be available predominantly through email for your reading pleasure. I ask that you be involved in your child’s education, no matter his or her age…yes, it is that important! Reach out to us if you have questions or comments as we continue our efforts to become even better. Welcome back to our school this year – we are anxious to see you all on September 1st!

Living and Learning in Lopatcong,
Vicki Pede, Superintendent