Marlboro

MARLBORO — Class sizes will be "moderate" as Marlboro’s K-8 school district kicks off the 2004-05 school year, Superintendent of Schools David Abbott said.

Most classes in kindergarten, first and second grade will have between 20 and 23 students. Classes in grades three, four and five will have between 22 and 25 students, while most middle school classes in grades six, seven and eight will average about 25 students per class, according to the superintendent.

The district has hired 46 new teachers and 14 new noncertified staff members — aides, instructional assistants, clerks and bus drivers, according to Sharon Witchel, the district’s public information officer. Some of the new hires will replace staff members who left the district.

Marc Edery is a new vice principal at the Marlboro Memorial Middle School and Earl Tankard is a new vice principal at the Frank J. Dugan Elementary School.

Edery has a master’s in educational leadership from The College of New Jersey and a master’s in education from Rutgers University. He taught social studies for six years at Southern Regional High School, Manahawkin, where he was also an administrative intern. The new vice principal has directed a middle school summer program at the Salem County Vocational Technical School.

Tankard was an assistant principal at the Franklin Elementary School, Westfield, for the last two years. Before becoming an assistant principal, Tankard taught in Westfield for six years. Tankard holds a bachelor’s in accounting and his teaching certification from Rutgers University. He has a master’s in education degree in administration and supervision from Kean University.

In other school news, Abbott said a new state law will have a "potentially destructive" impact on Marlboro and other school districts. The new law limits annual spending increases in a school district’s operating budget to 2.5 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is greater.

"If a district has to hire 15 new teachers to keep up with enrollment increases, that alone is $750,000 (including benefits). Health care costs are inflating at 7-12 percent, our utility costs are growing faster than inflation ... and our agreements with the unions include 3-5 percent net [annual pay increases]. All of our expenses are growing faster than inflation," Abbott said.

The superintendent said he would recommend options to the Board of Education that would allow the district to comply with the law. Meanwhile, he said he would look to work with the New Jersey School Boards Association and possibly the New Jersey Education Association, the state teacher’s union, to repeal the law.

On the positive side, the district passed all 42 criteria established by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Abbott said. Last year, the district passed 41 of 42 categories of the law, with middle school special education students falling short of the benchmark requirement on one test.

Abbott reported that third- and seventh-graders had also done well on the CTP-4 standardized tests, which compares students to their peers in other high-performing suburban school districts.

"The children performed comparably where they ought to be comparable," the superintendent said. "The children are doing quite well."

However, the test did indicate that last year’s third-graders need to improve slightly in writing skills, concept reading comprehension and auditory comprehension, the superintendent said. Seventh-graders outperformed their peers in writing mechanics and reading comprehension, the superintendent said. Students in grades one through seven will take the CTP-4 test again this spring, he added.

The district is launching several new initiatives this year, according to Abbott. In a concept called "team teaching," classes that include special needs children and nonclassified pupils will be taught by a team of one teacher with regular certification and one teacher with a special education license.

"Research indicates that [team teaching] is beneficial for all the students and staff. It reduces the amount of staff we need ... so it’s cost-effective and educationally effective," the superintendent said.

In an effort to reduce the weight of students’ backpacks, some seventh and eighth grade pupils will receive a CD-ROM version of new math textbooks. Other seventh- and eighth-graders will be able to access the textbooks through the Internet.

The rest of the seventh- and eighth-graders will leave their textbooks at home and use a classroom set of math textbooks in school. As a result, the weight of students’ backpacks will be reduced, Abbott said. A student who does not have a computer at home will be permitted to take his textbook home.

Middle school students will also be able to take advantage of a new recreational volleyball program and a competitive wrestling program this year, the superintendent reported.

"The more kids are involved in activities after school the better they do in academics," Abbott said. "We’re very excited about the [large] number of children who will be involved in both programs."