Also, teachers and school district nationally recognized
The lending library at Thomas Jefferson Elementary school allows students to exchange books throughout the summer each week. Teachers throughout the school district were also nationally recognized for their work and talents, while the candidates running for Board of Education seats were named. Check out some of the top stories from the past week in the Weekly Roundup.
Lending library curbs summer slide, keeps kids eager to read
Each week, 25 to 30 students walk through the school’s library doors between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., Principal Gary Breen said. The three-year-old program aims to enhance student-reading abilities during the summer while they are out of school, allowing access to a variety books for free to take and return. At the end of the 2016–17 school year, kindergarten through fourth-grade students at Thomas Jefferson took home a bag of books, purchased through scholastic book dollars donated by the PTO. Students were invited every Wednesday throughout the summer to exchange their books.
Five candidates running for three seats on Washington Township Board of Education
Board of Education President Ginny Murphy and board member Julie Yankanich will be running for re-election, joined by three new candidates — Dominic Ruggiero, Raymond Dinovi and Thomas Gleason, vying for three open seats in the Washington Township Public School District Board of Education. The three-year term positions will be put to a public vote alongside the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
Berlin woman pleads guilty to armed robbery at township gas station
Natashia N. Johnson, 33, of Berlin was sentenced on Monday, July 31, to five years in state prison after pleading guilty to participating with two others in an April 23, 2015 armed robbery of a Washington Township gas station. In the holdup, a male held a handgun on a station attendant at the Gastrol station on the Black Horse Pike while a female took cash and cigarettes. They fled in a car.
Two elementary teachers to present at New Jersey Council for the Social Studies Conference
Bells Elementary School fourth-grade teacher James Cho and Wedgwood Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Donna McGough will team to present “Infusing Literacy and Technology into Social Studies” at the New Jersey Council for the Social Studies’ annual conference on Oct. 23 at Rutgers University.
Middle school parent cyber program earns WTPS “District of Distinction” award
Hoping to up the number of parents of middle school students who were participating in important discussions, administrators in the Washington Township Public Schools decided to take the information sessions to the parents. The district’s efforts recently earned a District of Distinction award from the editors of “District Administration” magazine.
