Happy New Year! I want to thank the Township residents for the honor of extending my service to the Board for another three years along with my running mates and fellow public servants Sue Bourdin and Jenny Perez. We are excited to get to work in the new year. As is customary, I will recap this past year’s progress in the Woodbridge Township School District.
With a strong emphasis on early intervention and ensuring our newest students get off on the right foot, the district implemented a new cap on all kindergarten class sizes. Building off success from federal aid, the district extended a high impact tutoring program to help students in need of extra attention in math and language arts.
One of the Board’s core responsibilities is ensuring that your property taxes are spent wisely. This year's school district budget is historic because it achieves three significant things—first we are finally receiving our fair share of School Aid from Trenton. Secondly, for the first time, the district will be spending at "adequacy", a state Department of Education metric for what districts should be spending on its students. Finally, this budget’s most unique feature is a tax levy cut. While it’s a modest $13 cut for the average household, the board budgeted prudently and found itself with an opportunity to use a portion of its budget surplus to pay down debt. In the end, the school portion of your tax levy was reduced for the first time in recent memory.
We broke ground on the final and largest piece of the 2020 school referendum—the major $24 million dollar expansion and renovation of Avenel Street Elementary School #4/5. In partnership with Mayor McCormac and our municipal partners, we initiated the first steps to construct a new elementary school #10 in the Hopelawn section of the Township, providing tangible and intangible benefits for the students and families in the southern end of town. More to come this year.
We maintained labor peace by renewing our contract with our largest union, the Woodbridge Township Education Association (WTEA) which represents teachers, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, secretaries and other certified education specialists. Notably, the WTEA contract includes additional professional development training requirements for staff to stay current and sharp on our curriculum and technology offerings to perform their jobs at the highest level.
We maintained our commitment to successful programming such as the Higher Education Financial Assistance Night, Middlesex County Magnet School (formerly Vocational-Technical Schools) Night, and the Summer Enrichment program in partnership with the Recreation Department. After several years on the shelf due to COVID, we brought back the high schools’ Student Advisory Committee meetings to provide our Board and administration direct interaction and feedback from our students—what’s working, where could we improve, et cetera. We continue to tinker with reviving the Presidents’ Council to provide parents informal avenues of staying up to date with school happenings.
The President’s Council, the district’s umbrella parent advocacy group is holding its next meeting on Wednesday, February 12 at 7:00 pm. The meeting will be virtual. The meetings serve as an opportunity to hear from district leaders such as Superintendent Massimino and myself as well as Mayor McCormac on programs, services and issues affecting your children. It’s also an opportunity to ask questions and offer thoughts in an informal way outside of an official School Board meeting. To sign up for the ZOOM link, please email PresidentCouncilWB@gmail.com. The final meeting of the year will be May 7th.
I have one housekeeping reminder. Please note that the district will be closed to observe the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Monday, January 20th. Classes will resume on Tuesday, January 21st.
The Board will hold its first regular meeting of the year on Thursday, January 16th at 6:00 PM. The Board will meet in the gymnasium of the Ross Street Elementary School #11, 110 Ross Street, Woodbridge. As always, you can view live or read up on all previous Board meetings through the district’s website or Facebook page. The new yearly Board meeting calendar will be available shortly.
Should you ever require my assistance, I welcome your input at one of our monthly Board of Education meetings. You can also e-mail the full board at board@woodbridge.k12.nj.us or call the Board Secretary’s office at 732-602-8536. As always, Dr. Massimino welcomes any questions at Joseph.Massimino@woodbridge.K12.nj.us
On behalf of the Board, I wish the entire Woodbridge Township School District community a happy and healthy New Year and the best of luck in the second half of the 2024-2025 school year!