At its Aug. 28 meeting, the Voorhees School Board was presented with numerous figures regarding updated test scores, including 2018-2019 data, as well as an update regarding summer projects and more.
At the start of the meeting at the district’s Administration Building, each board member was provided a summer projects update, recapping the finalization of more than 20 projects that took place across the five schools in recent months.
According to the report submitted by Director of Buildings and Ground Clark Mathes, some of the summer projects included the installation of hard surface flooring in school cafeterias and gyms, the installation of bottle fill water fountains, indoor air quality testing, repainting and power washing of indoor and outdoor classrooms, as well as the inspection of all fire alarms and fire sprinklers emergency notification systems, on top of additional projects.
Additionally, Business Administrator Helen Haley said a new playground is nearly complete at Osage Elementary School.
Haley also reported the district is now offering an online application for the first time for free and reduced lunch for students.
“This year we’ve instituted something new. Usually the free and reduced lunch applications are paper applications; we do have them available, but we also signed up through our lunchtime software, where people can go online to sign up,” said Haley. “So far, we’ve had over 30 people do it, so we’re excited about that.”
The website for signing up for free and reduced lunch can be found at https://mealapp.lunchtimesoftware.net.
Furthermore, in an effort to encourage more residents to not use paper, Haley said the district is hopeful more parents will start using the “Voorhees Township PS” app more frequently, as well as the lunchtime app to put money on children’s accounts digitally.
In his first board meeting as superintendent with the district, David Gentile said he is continuing to take time to learn and understand the buildings, teachers and relationships already existing, such as with the Voorhees Township Police Department.
Gentile said he will be working with the board’s president and vice president over the next few weeks and months to develop his superintendent goals for the 2019-2020 school year as he continues to learn about the district.
The board was also presented with data regarding district test scores from the final year of PARCC testing, as well as an annual report from the previous school year.
In other news:
- Board member Richard Nelson was presented with an award for 20 years of service by the New Jersey School Boards Association.
- The Voorhees Township Public Schools website underwent a redesign over the summer with the hopes of making it more user-friendly.
- The district sold Apple iPad Air Devices for a total of $126,560 to eReplacements.
- Voorhees Township Public Schools will be hosting two learning session this week, with the final one being Thursday, Sept. 5 at Osage Elementary School from 7 to 8 p.m.
