State evaluates Millstone Township School District

The school district did well on the Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC) report.

QSAC, conducted by the New Jersey Department of Education, is a monitoring and evaluation system for public school districts. Superintendent Mary Anne Donahue gave a presentation about the school district's most recent QSAC evaluation at the May 11 Board of Education meeting.

"We did extremely well," Donahue said.

In fiscal management, the district received a score of 91 out of a possible 100 points. The state reviewed the district's budget planning, financial and budgetary control, efficiency, restricted revenues and annual audit.

The district received a score of 100 points out of a possible 120 for operations management. The state had looked into the district's operations management of facilities, student conduct, school safety and security, student health and support services.

Personnel policies and professional development were also reviewed, as was the district's governance regarding student achievement, board training, ethics compliance, policies and procedures, communications, and school board/administration collaboration. For both governance and personnel, the district received 100 out of 100 points.

For its instruction and programs, the district received a score of 91 out of a possible 106 points. In these areas, student performance, curriculum, mandated programs, early childhood and high school/graduation were evaluated.

In discussing the instruction and programs category, Donahue said that the school district lost points for not meeting its goals for language arts literacy and mathematics proficiency. She said at least 95 percent of the total student population achieved proficiency in language arts literacy and at least 95 percent of the total student population achieved proficiency in mathematics this school year.

"Since this includes all Special Education and English as a Second Language (ESL) students, the district did not meet this goal," she said. "Our district goals always include a continuation of achievement, and we will continue this goal."

In the fiscal management category, the district lost two points for receiving an audit exception for a report filed late in 2006, and lost four points for filing a federal grant report late in 2006.

"We are working with our budget software vendor to correct the areas in need," she said.