Jaqueline Plunkett and Dennis Hassis each served for more than a decade
The Cinnaminson Board of Education said goodbye to two members at its final meeting of the year, making way for the newly elected to assume their seats in 2018.
Jaqueline Plunkett retired from her position on the board, where she served for 18 years. Dennis Hassis, who lost re-election in November, served from 1997 to 2003 and joined the board for another term in 2014. Challengers Kathleen Quinn and Ed Kenney will be sworn into the vacant three-year seats at the Jan. 4 reorganization meeting.
Superintendent Stephen Cappello thanked Plunkett and Hassis for their dedication to Cinnaminson students and acknowledged their stoicism during times of diminished state funding and increased statutory and regulatory demands, the implementation of several standardized tests, new federal and state learning standards and the district’s capstone renovation projects.
“They served during a very difficult time in our state, and they stood alongside teachers and administrators, defending them against critics of public education, and have seen the district through a host of challenges,” Cappello said. “Throughout all of these challenges, they have acted as pillars of the community, and I’m very proud to call them colleagues here on the board.”
Former superintendent Salvatore Illuzzi made a special appearance at the meeting to join Cappello in his praises, joking that Plunkett and Hassis were the only reasons for his attendance after he swore in June to “never attend another Board of Education meeting” for the rest of his life.
Illuzzi recounted the story of a 1999 BOE meeting that led to a landmark contract settlement that continues to impact the district, giving a nod to Plinkett and Jackie for their roles in the decision.
“Only four people in this room were at that meeting, and Jackie and Dennis were two of them. These two are shining examples of all that is good in Cinnaminson. We are very grateful, and this community should be most appreciative of all they have done,” he added.
In other news:
Educators Nyssa Dougherty, Karen Sweet and Forrest Harding presented the district’s new K-5 TCI Science Program rolled out this September. The program, according to Harding, emphasizes an active, hands-on approach to learning and allows students to realize the scientific process in real time.
“This was prompted by the adoption of the next-generation science standard by our district and districts all across the United States,” Harding explained. “It’s an upgrade of science goals and objectives in order to meet the needs of an increasingly demanding population.”
TCI Science is an improvement upon older methods in that students have the option between hardcover textbooks and an e-book, eliminating the need to haul books to and from school. There is also an experimentation kit that is available in the classroom, and the students learn by not only reading and looking, but by doing, Harding said.
Sophomores and juniors at Cinnaminson High School can also look forward to a new robotics course in the 2018–2019 school year. Starting in 2018, female students in grade 12 can opt to take a self-defense course taught by local police officers and a martial arts instructor during second-semester physical education.
