The Rundown: Tuesday's School Board Meeting

The Manasquan Board of Education's Tuesday work session meeting included two presentations on the district's special education program and its preparations for new standardized tests set to be implemented in 2014. 

The board also voted to accept the job description for its new paraprofessional and rescinded its recent motion to report a monthly log of Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests at meetings. 

Members also discussed whether or not to send requests for proposals to have a parcel of district-owned land on Sea Girt Avenue appraised for a possible sale. 

Here's the rundown: 

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The district's special education supervisor, Margaret Polack, said during her presentation to the board that she expects the number of special education students in the high school to rise next year. 

As 38 students graduate in June, next year's freshman class is expected to have 51 special education students, which would bring the high school's total to 189 students, Polack said. 

The district plans to implement an 11th grade math class next school year for those students to better prepare them for the HSPA test, Polack said. 

The expected total of special education students in the elementary school next school year is 91, with ten more kids considered "potential," she said. 

Polack said beginning next school year the district will ramp up its co-teaching and inclusive practices to teach as many special education students alongside general education students as possible. 

Classrooms would have paraprofessionals teaching alongside gen-ed teachers, Polack said. 

Studies show that special education students taught under co-teaching programs achieve higher test scores, are more social and better behaved and create more durable friendships than those students taught seperately, Polack said. 

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Schools Superintendent Geraldine Margin led a lengthy presentation on the district's preparations and goals ahead of a new state-wide standardized test that is scheduled to be implemented in fall of 2014. 

The new Common Core State Standards will be assessed on New Jersey schools through the new Partnership for Assessment of College and Carreer Readiness (PARCC) test, Margin said. 

The new standards will encourage more independent reading and boost expectations in math proficiency, Margin said. 

Students will be expected to learn more in less time, and those who fall behind will have to receive supplemental instruction, Margin said. 

The PARCC test, which is to be taken online, will replace all current standardized testing throughout the state and district, Margin said. 

The district's current third-grade students will be the first class to have been put through the entirety of the new standards and assessment program, Margin said. 

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Board Member Christine Muly will represent the district at the New Jersey School Board Association's upcoming delegate assembly. 

This will be Muly's third such trip to the assembly, which will be held May 19 at the Wyndham Conference Center and Hotel in Plainsboro. 

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The Code of Conduct Committee is still reviewing its proposed 365-day student conduct policy. 

Board President Michelle LaSala said the administration and committee, which she chairs, are suggesting High School Principal Rick Coppola look into the logistics of implementing a policy that would hold students accountable for their behavior in and out of school. 

Officials are still "tweaking" the rough draft of the policy, LaSala said. 

The president also recommended officials contact other schools that use similar policies to gauge best practices and results. 

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The state's new formula for calculating graduation rates has dropped the High School's rate to just below 92 percent, Superintendent Margin said. 

The formula takes a school's average daily attendance rates into consideration instead of the old formula that measured just enrollment and graduation numbers, Margin said. 

The new formula also looks at the current senior class and how many were registered as freshmen. It subtracts any students the district can show transferred to another school and add any that moved in, Margin said. 

But it also includes all special education students, who may not graduate after just four years. Those students who do not graduate after four years, while still in the system, count against the school's graduation rate, Margin said. 

"It's not as if they're a failure or that we failed them," Margin said. 

In addition, a new student data tracking system was not implemented in time for the state to use more accurate information to see whether or not a student transferred out of the district or simply dropped out, Margin said. 

Now every student has a state identification number and schools must register each student, Margin said.

"It's really simply data, accurate data," Margin said. 

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The board voted unanimously to approve the job description of the district's instructional paraprofessional, which is tasked with assisting classroom teachers in "maintaining appropriate classroom activities and environment, in order that students may learn effectively."

The paraprofessional must also have knowledge of the diverse needs of children with disabilities and appropriate special education classroom practices, according to the job description voted on by the board.  

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The Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) has purchased an Apple iPad Learning Lab with 30 iPads.

The cost was $16,219, which the PTO will reimburse the district.  

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The board voted to rescind its recent motion to compile monthly reports of OPRA requests received by Board Secretary and Business Administrator Margaret "Peg" Hom. 

Hom said the additional work preparing the reports was taking time away from responding to requests and other day-to-day operations inside the board office. 

Members Jim Smith and Trisha Brown, however, said they wanted to give the new policy another go before abandoning the plan. 

Brown said it was important to know how much work OPRA requests were creating for Hom. 

Smith added that the reports were informative and helped him see what members of the community were interested in knowing. 

Board President LaSala said she agreed with Smith that the reports were helpful in finding out what people wanted to know. 

Superintendent Margin said she and Hom would try to work out a new plan that may involve forwarding each request electronically to the board. 

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The board discussed plans to have a parcel of district-owned land on Sea Girt Avenue appraised as some proposals to purchase the land have come through the district office. 

Some board members were concerned with the resolution on Tuesday's agenda that would have binded the district into awarding a contract after receiving bids for the appraisal job, so they decided to just vote to accept proposals without having to award a contract. 

Officials said there were no set plans to actually sell the land, but the board and administration just wanted to explore their options before making any decisions. 

Only Board Member Christine Muly voted against both changing the language and the resolution itself. 

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That's the rundown. We'll have more in-depth reports on some of these tidings throughout this week and next.