District Newsletter

WORK SESSION March 17, 2022 7:00 p.m.

BOARD MEETING March 24, 2022 7:00 p.m.

These Board meetings are open to the public. There are no limits to the number of

people who may attend in person. Masks are optional after March 7th.

Board meetings will continue to be live-streamed as well,

but there will be no call-in comments or questions.

Link to Live-Streamed Meetings

Presentations from Recent Board Meetings:

Posted on our website

March should see the culmination of a long-term process between the Haddonfield Board of Education and the Borough of Haddonfield. These two bodies will complete a “land swap” involving the Radnor Avenue fields and a portion of the Bancroft property near the high school.

Simply stated and once this transaction is complete, Haddonfield School District will take ownership of the parcel of land adjacent to the high school ending at Hopkins Road, including Cooley Hall, the carriage house, the potting shed, and the greenhouse. In exchange, the Borough will take ownership of the Radnor Avenue fields, although our athletic teams will continue to use them.

Both organizations are looking forward to completing this transaction, which has been a complex process involving approvals from the State Historic Preservations Office (SHPO) and other state and local agencies. Lullworth Hall (not included in the swap), the carriage house, and the potting shed are historic buildings.

This is exciting news as the District will now have opportunities for future use of these spaces for instructional and other purposes. At this time there are no set plans for what that will look like; however, the Long Range Facilities Plan (LRFP) committee will propose various ideas. Certain work will have to be completed immediately so that the newly acquired land and buildings will be safe and secure. We can verify, for example, that Cooley Hall will be razed.

The discussions about the best uses of the newly acquired properties will be part of a district-wide LRFP discussion with the administration, staff, students, parents, and the community. All of these conversations will be folded into upcoming charrettes and visioning meetings designed to assist in establishing the scope of work for a September 2023 referendum vote.

Adding this property to a landlocked building in need of space for instruction, fields, and parking necessitates a significant degree of thoughtfulness. There will be many points of view and many different proposed paths forward. We look forward to the process of assessing our greatest needs, receiving input from stakeholders, and developing a plan that will maximize the usefulness of this area.

Chuck Klaus,

Superintendent of Schools

On Friday, February 18th, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Gino Priolo sent an @HSDHealth newsletter explaining the district plans for optional mask use as of March 7th. Here is a link to that newsletter.

The Board of Ed unanimously approved these plans at the February 24th board meeting. Here is a link to the @HSDHealth newsletter announcing that as well as a booster clinic and other resources.

Our district K12 summer learning enrichment program catalog will be published April 1st. Space is limited – first come, first served – so be on the lookout!

Tuesday, February 22nd (2/22/22) has been touted as TWOs-day because of its serendipitous numeric pattern, but it was also a special day in the Haddonfield School District. All faculty participated in a PBL (project-based learning) Expo Day, professional development presented by teachers to teachers on a wide variety of topics.

For the past 18 months, teacher teams, organized under the LPDC (Local Professional Development Committee) framework, have worked together to create and implement PBL projects. They used that work to plan professional development for their peers across the district.

"The LPDC is truly the backbone of the district," said Chief Academic Officer Dr. Colleen Murray. "The team is made up of administrators and teacher facilitators working together on shared goals, and it was the driving force behind this day."

During several weeks prior to February 22nd, teams shared their lesson ideas with the entire staff for teachers to chose which classes they would like to attend, crossing grade-level and subject areas in some cases. The result was an exciting day of PBL opportunities for all.

"The February Expo has been nearly 2 years in the making," said Murray. "This day was meant to be as much about our professional learning culture as the actual learning of how PBL is applied in various classrooms, as well as the interdisciplinary connections we can make to our own classes."

Much like the November articulation day, the Expo got faculty out of the "silos" that are caused by their individual schedules and the classes that they teach – to encourage mingling and exploring and creating and sharing knowledge.

Teachers reflected on the experience afterwards, making comments such as:

Shapes Museum

"Wow! I loved the passion and enthusiasm of the K teachers and their Shapes PBL project. I actually want to try to incorporate a “Digraph/Trigraph museum” into my middle-school reading program. Thank you for the inspiration!"

Study Skills

"Great job highlighting the need to scaffold study skills from the elementary through HS,

and getting a reading from staff which skills are most important."

Science

"I learned a lot about how we can learn from the 'bad' results of a design choice as

a way to ultimately get to the optimal design. A really great way to

think about learning from 'failures' or difficulties."

In September, officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®) announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, including JAMES P. DUNCAN, a senior attending Haddonfield Memorial High School.

PHOTO: Principal Tammy McHale and James Duncan.

Earlier this month, Duncan and the HMHS staff were notified that he has met all requirements to advance to Finalist standing in the competition. All Finalists will be considered for National Merit Scholarship awards to be offered in 2022.

The selection of some 7,500 Merit Scholarship® winners from the group of more than 15,000 Finalists is now in progress. In March, NMSC will begin notifying scholarship winners by email, with confidential notification sent to their high schools. Congratulations!

Earlier this month, HMHS German language students were awarded Gold, Silver, Bronze and Distinguished Achievement Awards for outstanding performance on the 2022 National German Exam (NGE) for high school students in levels III-IV, sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG).

Gold Medal: Junior Chloe Genzel; Sophomores Dane Anderson, Cole Bauman, Ava Galbraith, and Connor Whalen

Silver Medals: Juniors Ella Fuller and Sophia LaPointe; Sophomores George Bisirri, Ella Goodworth, Peter Landis, and Katharine Mulvihill

Bronze Medals: Juniors Christopher Carr, Julia Hart, Kevin Muller, and Nina Stephens; Sophomores Allison Goode, Loudon Vest, and Jack Walters

Achievement Awards: Juniors Anne Baxter, Jenna Curley, Henry George, Molly McDonnell, Macklan Plunkett, Jack Subramanian, Nelson Thayer, and Parker Williams; Sophomores Abigail Cutter, Anne Earp, Olivia Green, Peter Hoag, and Jacob Siegel

Chloe Genzel scored the highest within the Southern New Jersey AATG regional chapter for the second year in a row! All five Gold Medal winners are eligible to apply for the 2022 Summer Trip award, a three-week study trip to Germany.

Overall, 55% of all 2022 NGE participants from Haddonfield Memorial High School were honored by AATG for their outstanding performance on the exam. Congratulations!

At the January 20th Board meeting, Superintendent Klaus shared a presentation about the Profile of a Haddonfield Learner. This was the culmination of a yearlong effort by a committee during the 2020-21 school year and describes what traits and competencies our community believes to be most important for new alumni to carry forward into the world.

These traits are unique to Haddonfield and specific to grade-level divisions of our schools, and they influence instruction, curriculum, activities, student voice and student opportunities.

The committee sought input from all stakeholders including students, educators, parents, recent alumni, community members and Board members.

Although a more formal roll-out will occur in September 2022, each school has hung posters to begin to share the common language of our profiles. The learners' traits are specific to each of five academic divisions (preschool, K-2. 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12) and are displayed in the branches of the tree that is part of the Haddonfield School District logo.

The HCA (Haddonfield Civic Association) is hosting a "Community Connect" on Tuesday, March 1st at King's Road Brewing Company from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. This event give everyone an opportunity to meet our newest Board members, pictured below.

Haddonfield Memorial High School’s Drama Club is presenting Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella on March 18, 19, 20, 25 and 26 at Haddonfield Memorial High School.

On March 18, 19, 25 and 26, the performance will be at 7:30 p.m.

On March 20, it will be held at 2 p.m.

Tickets are on sale now at hmhs.booktix.com, $12 for general admission and $10 for students and seniors.

Tickets will be sold at the door for an increased price of $15 for general admission and $12 for students and seniors.

The show is recommended for all ages. At this time, visitors are also required to wear a mask in school. Seating is being offered at full capacity.

Specialty themed concessions and souvenirs will be sold at all performances. Princess/prince packages for your little ones as well as flowers for your favorite cast/crew member can be pre-purchased online at hmhs.booktix.com.

The HMHS 50/50 Club for Gender Equality is hosting its fourth "Through a Woman's Eyes" art show on Saturday March 19 at The Haddon Fortnightly. This year, women artists will exhibit works related to the theme Honoring Hidden Women.

The show is open to the public from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and there will be refreshments and live entertainment. Admission to the show is free but there is a suggested donation of $10. All proceeds go to Girls Learn International to support human rights and educational equity across the globe. In past shows, students have raised a total of $8,000!

High school students and community members can enter their art pieces by March 1. Please see our website for information about fees, how to register, and more: https://hmhsfeminism.wixsite.com/mysite

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Twice a week after school, certain first- through third-grade students at Central Elementary School are having fun becoming "young engineers." Working with a representative of an organization called Robotech, these students learn basic engineering principles such as the relationship of gears and motors. Using LEGO parts, they build a robot, then use simple programming to make the robot walk.

Kindergarten student at Elizabeth Haddon Elementary School were very excited to celebrate the 100th day of school last week. Among other activities based on counting to 100, the children brought in a variety of collections of 100 items, such as goldfish crackers, fruit loops and LEGO blocks.

In the photo below, Ms. Wallace's class shows off their "I am 100 Days Smarter!" certificates.

All of the fourth-grade students in Señor Bayona's Spanish class have learned an action and movement to go with each of a long list of words for food. For example, "leche" (milk) includes drawing your finger across your face where your "milk mustache" might be. This technique, called Total Physical Response (TPR), reinforces the language learning, but it also adds fun as the students compete to name every item on the breakfast table. Finally, they have to use "con" (with), "y" (and) or "de" (made of/made with) as they describe their meal, such as "café con leche" (coffee with milk). ¡Muy bueno!

Four middle-school students have correctly answered Challenge 1 of Scholastic's Hardest Math Problem contest! The successful students are seventh-graders Chloe K. and David W. and eighth-graders Erik M., and Brandon S.

The contest is open to all fifth-, sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students. In order to advance to the second round, students had to provide an explanation as well as a correct answer.

Our students are eligible to compete in Challenge 2 for a chance to win a laptop and $5,000 for a college savings account! Additionally, the teachers of the Grand Prize-winning students will receive $500! Challenge 2 answer entries are due in March, and the winners will be announced in May. Good luck to all!

Haddonfield’s Chief Academic Officer Dr. Colleen Murray has been working with the administration at Camden County College (CCC) to implement a dual credit program for our high school students.

​​At this time, 16 current HMHS courses have been identified as college-level classes; 8 are AP classes, and 8 are not. To receive college credit for any of these classes, students will be asked to register with CCC and pay the registration fee of $150 per course, and will be required to earn a passing grade of a B or a C, depending on the course.

“The partnership between Camden County College and Haddonfield Memorial High School will be a positive one with many benefits for our students,” said Superintendent Chuck Klaus. “I look forward to watching this program develop.”

HMHS hosted a virtual Parent Information Night in February. The CCC-Haddonfield Dual Registration form was also made available in February and is due in March.

Read more/register here.

HMHS parents and students: if you have questions please contact your counselor.

As of February 28th, the following positions are open:

FACULTY & STAFF

Anticipated Part Time Health Teacher - Tatem

Substitute Art Teacher - Middle School

Substitute Special Education Teacher - Middle School

Speech Pathologist - District Wide

Anticipated Physical Education Substitute Teacher - Tatem

Extended School Year - Wilson Certified Teacher (Elementary)

Extended School Year - Special Education Teacher (Elementary)

General Anticipated Elementary Openings 2022-2023 School Year

Elementary School Educational Assistant

Substitute School Nurse

COACHES

Track and Field Asst. Coach - High School

Freshman Girls Lacrosse Coach

Freshman Boys Soccer Coach

Intramural Field Hockey Coach - 6th Grade

Assistant Wrestling Coach - Middle School

Field Hockey Assistant Coach - Middle School

Crew Club - Assistant Coach

Please review the positions and apply on our website. Applicants must have an active certification or sub certification before applying.

District Twitter: @HaddonSchools

District Facebook: @HaddonfieldSchoolDistrict

New pages on website:

Gifted and Talented Student Projects

Social-Emotional Health pages, under DISTRICT here

• Read the latest @HSD Health newsletter.
• Look for your school's Twitter feed.
  
• Your student's team or club may also tweet.
• Our PTAs have a presence on Facebook and/or Twitter.