Superintendent’s Report

January 2023

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Each month I will be highlighting the accomplishments, activities and district endeavors that make our district unique and special! Enjoy!


Christopher Kinney

Superintendent

Medieval Mustangs!

The 7th Graders in Ms. Drummond's Social Studies class finished their unit on the Manor System by creating their own knight shields. In groups, students chose colors and symbols that represented them. The colors chosen were matched with characteristics that they represented during the Middle Ages and each student chose symbols that either represented them as a person. After, the groups presented their shields to the entire class. The 7th Graders did such a great job!

Kindergarten is shaping UP!

The Kindergarten classrooms used many different avenues of exploration to discover the vast amount of shapes there are. Fun was had by all!

To BE or not to BE!

Students in Ms. Storti's class engaged in Reader's Theater. They made creative decisions together about blocking and props. They had the opportunity to work on fluency and literacy skills in a fun and low-stakes way. They had so much fun working as a team and producing a great piece of student work.


You can see their production below in the video.

Art is everywhere at Garwood Public Schools!

5th Grade Optical Art: The fifth grade students were introduced to optical art and how it is defined. They read about M.C. Escher, a well known optical artist, and we looked at various examples of optical art. I modeled how to create an optical illusion with straight lines, curved lines, and precise shading. The students followed the directions and the guidelines on their rubric to create their own colorful, optical art.


8th Grade Split Self Portraits: The definition of a self-portrait was given to the eighth grade students with examples. It was modeled on how to draw a head, neck, shoulders, and facial features. The students practiced on rough draft paper and then moved to final drafts.Half of the face was going to be as realistic and true to form as possible. Students were encouraged to bring in a mirror or look at a photograph of themselves. The other half of the face was to feature things that they love or things that they are interested in. For example, if they love football and hockey, their eye could be a football and their eyebrow could be a hockey stick. Students ran away with the project and each face, image, and idea is unique to them!


See the video of the display of artwork below.

STEAM class is back at Lincoln School this year.

STEAM is an educational approach that incorporates the arts into the more-familiar STEM model, which includes science, technology, engineering and mathematics.


In Ms. Cafiero's class, students learned the basics of electricity and how circuits function by creating paper circuit scenes, low-voltage electronic circuits that are created on paper using conductive copper tape, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a coin-cell battery.


Ms. McGuire’s 6th grade STEAM classes have covered many different activities, which included creating a water filter, a pulley system, and projects that called for collaboration, thinking outside the box, and having fun - all while working within time and material constraints.


Our Lincoln School students have risen to the challenge and gained valuable experience solving real world problems!

PreK Picassos!

Mrs. Hak’s Preschool class has been working on our drawing and art skills. We are following models and creating our own designs. The students are proud of their work and so is Mrs. Hak.

Safe and Secure!

Safe and Secure!

The Garwood Public School District endeavors to remain a safe and secure environment for children to learn and for staff to educate. We will continuously look to add to the security measures that we have already in place. Additional cameras are currently being installed at various, strategic locations throughout the district's property. Additional communication devices are now in place in order to ensure key staff members and departments have what they need to implement security protocols.
Safe and Secure!
Business as usual!

Business as usual!

The Board of Education, along with the Superintendent, is in the process of hiring a new Business Administrator/ Board Secretary. Interviews have begun and we are hoping to have a final candidate for hire in February. We'd like to take this time to thank Mrs. Krasny for all of her hard work and dedication during her time with us. Best of luck to her in her future endeavors!
Business as usual!
WIDA Assessments starting

WIDA Assessments starting


What is the WIDA test for?


WIDA Screener is an English language proficiency assessment given to new students in grades K–12 to help educators identify whether they are English learners (ELs). It is a flexible, on-demand assessment that can be administered at any time during the school year.


Student can exit out of the ESL programming with a competency score that meets the criteria.

WIDA Assessments starting
Measures of Academic Progress Mid-Year Benchmark Assessment

Measures of Academic Progress Mid-Year Benchmark Assessment

The NWEA MAP Test (Measures of Academic Progress) is an adaptive achievement and growth test. It creates a personalized assessment experience by adapting to each student's learning level—precisely measuring progress and growth for each individual student.


Students in grades K through 2 will be taking MAP Reading Fluency & MAP Growth math.

Students in grades 3 though 8 will be taking MAP Growth Reading & Math


The window for these assessments start in late January and run through the first week in February.

Measures of Academic Progress Mid-Year Benchmark Assessment

Mustang Hoops Season in Full Swing!

The boys' and girls' basketball teams have been practicing hard and playing even harder. The have a full schedule of home and away games under the guidance of veteran head coach, Mr. Burke.


The boys have wins over Winfield 44-32, Montclair Kimberley 44-34, and Roselle Park 52-32. Losses have come against Kenilworth 30-29 and Greenbrook 56-25. The team is led by 8th grader returning players Jack Pellino, Noah Gibson, and Russell Tortorici. 7th grader, Roman Malsky, our point guard, is our leading scorer averaging 16 points per game.


The girls team also has a record of 3 wins and 2 losses. Wins came against Winfield 30-15, Montclair Kimberley 28-10, and Roselle Park 36-21. The two losses were against Kenilworth, 33-8 and Greenbrook 23-19. The team is led by 8th graders, Caity Marcazo, Analisse Ortiz, Julianna Ferraz, Lia Simitz, & Olivia Blanche. Analisse Ortiz is the team's leading scorer averaging 8 points per game.


For the upcoming week of January 16, the team plays home vs Winfield and away vs Roselle Park.


One of the main goals for each team is to get to 10 wins, so we can hang a banner in the gym.

HIB Reporting

As of today's date, for the 2022-2023 school year, there are seven Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying reported investigations that have been completed.


The latest two completed since last Board of Education have the following results:

One was found to be a violation of the Student Code of Conduct and the other was found to be student conflict followed by a violation of the Student Code of Conduct.

District Advisory Committee Participants Needed

District Advisory Committee Participants Needed

Once every 2 months starting in February, the District Advisory Committee will be meeting after school at 3:30. We are currently accepting those stakeholders that would like to be considered for this group. Please email Mr. Kinney at ckinney@garwoodschools.org if interested.


The concept of this group is to discuss topics brought up from staff, students, parents and community members. The group will offer opinions and ideas as to how to move forward and address these topics. NOTE: There is no decision making in this group; only discussion and feedback.

District Advisory Committee Participants Needed
Superintendent's Coffee Talk

Superintendent's Coffee Talk

Please join Mr. Kinney, our Superintendent, and the PTA in an informal gathering to get to know him and his vision for the district. You will also have a chance to talk on a personal level.


The first Coffee talk will take place January 25th at 7pm in the multipurpose room and then stay for the PTA meeting afterwards.

Superintendent's Coffee Talk

Dates to remember:

January:

1/19 - No Homework Night

1/19 - Winter Concert @ 7pm

1/20 - PTA - MS Volleyball Night

1/24 -1/26 - PTA Scholastic Book Fair @ 6pm

1/25 - Family Book Night 6-7pm

1/25 - Coffee with the Superintendent @7pm

1/25 - PTA Meeting @ 7:30 pm

1/27 - 2nd Marking Period Ends

1/30 - Early Dismissal - Teachers in Service


February:

2/3 - Report Cards Issued

2/10 - MS Valentine’s Dance

2/14 - PTA Bake Sale

2/17 - 2/20 - Presidents’ Day - No School