Interview with the Superintendent, Part 2: Enrollment and Student Achievement

New to the district last May, this is Jason Bing’s first full year as Bloomfield School Superintendent.  In the second of a 2-part interview with Patch, Superintendent Bing discussed his goals for the 2011-12 school year.

Patch:  What is your top priority this year? 

Bing:  One of our main goals is to raise student achievement.  We have six schools that failed AYP last year. (Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, measures student academic achievement based on the No Child Left Behind Act.) We need to work on raising our test scores. 

Our focus is getting some kind of continuity and consistency between the schools.  This year we’re introducing a lot of new technology into the schools. 

Two of our schools now are Lighthouse Schools.  We’ve partnered with [Lighthouse education company, Renaissance Learning Inc.]  to aid two of our lowest performing schools, and .  We’re using their technology and their products district-wide, such as online screening tools, math interventions tools, Accelerated Reader, which is a reading comprehension web-based program, and also a one-to-one computer initiative from grades two through six.

Every classroom in grades two through six are actually getting one-on-one computers.  Every classroom will have a classroom set of NEOs, which are very similar to laptops.  At the high school they have projector cameras and white boards. 

I think you’ll see some improvement this year.  Right off the bat, we’ll be getting three times more information on our kids [progress] than we ever had in the past, in regards to where they are compared to New Jersey state standards and where they are reading level-wise and math level-wise.

We’ve got very good teachers in this district.  When given the proper resources and tools . . . I believe in the next 2-3 years you’ll see significant improvement in our test scores and achievement district-wide.

Patch:  Will the district be focusing on any other areas of concern this year?

Bing:  Our top priority, aside from student achievement, is enrollment. Right now all our schools are packed.

In this district, the first two weeks of school, we were looking at an average of thirty new registrations a day.  There was a line around the block outside the building for the last two weeks of summer.  About fifty a day.  

We’re getting a large increase of special ed population because we have a pretty good program and word gets around.  We’re also getting a large influx of Newark and Paterson and East Orange families . . . that have been hit by the economy.  We’ve got families living with families living with families – due to the economy.

Our top priority as a Board, aside from improving student achievement, is to figure out where to put all these new students. We’re looking at a variety of options currently.

Patch:  Such as?

Bing:  Renting space, leasing space, redistricting.  In perfect world we’d like to have a 5-6 school [for students in grades five and six.]  We’re having trouble finding space, because we’re looking at somewhere in the area of 1200 kids.

Patch:  What are you doing in the meantime?

Bing:  Hiring more staff.  Such as aides, teachers.  At Franklin Elementary they’re out of classroom space so we now have -- not trailers, I’m sorry: classroom education modules.

In a lot of our buildings the art room has been taken away.  The music room has been taken away.  Instrumental band is done in the gym. 

Patch: What is the average class size in the district?

Bing:  23, 24.  At Franklin we were at 28.  From an education standpoint, class size makes a big difference.  The smaller the class size, the better you’re able to educate your students.

Patch:  What is your longterm outlook for the district?

Bing:  I’m just starting to get a feel for this district, just getting to know all the staff and students. There’s a lot of passion in this district.  Not only in the district but the whole town.  What’s unique [about Bloomfield] is that a lot of the students’ parents and grandparents went to school here.  There’s a large investment to make [the educational system] good.

We’re all learning, we’re doing a lot of new stuff.  We’re taking on new initiatives to improve this district.  We’re going to work collectively.  We’re going to be okay.

of the interview with Bloomfield School Superintendent Jason Bing.