School district aims for improvement

MILLSTONE — The school district unveiled 11 goals and 59 objectives for 2009-10 at the Sept. 14 Board of Education meeting.

Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Donahue said the Board of Education adopted the goals in July, and the administration began working on the objectives for each goal in August.

The goals fall into three categories — education, community involvement, and finance — with some overlap.

The first three goals include enhancing communication among the community, schools and Board of Education; increasing the community's understanding of district activities to gain public support; and increasing community understanding of school finances.

Other goals include seeking alternative financial resources for the district, providing and improving a safe and efficient educational environment, and managing district resources in a fiscally responsible manner.

One major goal is to establish a new send/receive relationship with the Upper Freehold Regional School District. Since Millstone has no high school, students are sent to Allentown High School, where they make up more than half of the student body.

Providing a highly qualified staff, promoting academic excellence through curriculum growth, enhancing civic responsibility and developing a strategic plan for educating special needs students are additional goals.

Among the many objectives are regular "Coffee with the Superintendent" meetings, which would be open to parents and community members who would like to discuss issues and ask questions. The board also aims to seek funding for improved video and sound recording equipment to enhance the quality of the Cablevision broadcast of its meetings.

As room permits, each grade level will accept tuition-paying students. The district also plans to seek additional revenue by renting unoccupied classrooms.

The district will also pursue the possibility of using leftover referendum funds to purchase additional surveillance cameras for the middle school. Using the district's health services personnel, the district plans to initiate an intensive disease prevention program.

Curriculum in music, physical education and world languages will be revised, and curriculum in science, mathematics and language arts will be updated. The middle school library program will be expanded to include instruction on writing research papers.

Civic responsibility and awareness programs appropriate for the elementary school will be researched. The district will also expand its work with local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to provide a school-based venue for community service projects.

A committee consisting of school and community members will be created to conduct a district-wide special education needs assessment program.