Westwood Board of Ed Meeting Was Thursday, State of District Postphoned

It was business as usual for Westwood’s Regional Board of Education Thursday night despite Superintendent Dr. Geoffrey Zoeller not delivering his scheduled state of the district speech.

School Board President Carol Mountain said Zoller had felt ill and would not be able to make the speech that was scheduled for the meeting, and would be postponed until a later date.

“He must have been pretty sick to have missed a Board of Education meeting,” Mountain said.

Keith Rosado, the board’s business administrator, said while no official date has been set for the speech to be delivered, he expected the superintendent to speak during the board’s next meeting.

As the meeting continued, the board unanimously approved various personal appointments, resignations and revised the contracts of multiple positions within the school district.

Vocal Director Lisa Bagley, new substitute teachers and aids listed in a previous meeting were appointed to their new positions, while ABA aide James Arricale and Washington School aide Brian Lamendola’s resignations were approved.

During the Public Forum portion of the meeting, Director of Elementary Education Roy McCourt stood in front of the board to commend Washington School Principal Rachelle Parker in lieu of her upcoming departure.

“In this agenda today, you will be voting on accepting the retirement of Dr. Parker,” McCourt said. “I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge what I believe is her 19 years of service to this district and thank her for her contributions.”

Mountain said the board would comment on Parker’s tenure at a later date and that she was a “good principal.”

In the Curriculum & Programs portion of the meeting, Board Member Barbra Gregory announced Westwood’s implementation of a before-school test-prep program to tutor students before NJ ASK and HSPA standardized testing.

The program, which is in the “final stages” of being completed, would be taught by teachers and was piloted in different ways at Brookside Middle School and the Jr./Sr. High School last year, but would be used across the district this year, Gregory said.

“Although many aspects of the plans remain the same because they yielded good results, this represents an important inclusion to help address student achievement in all of our schools,” Gregory said.

Rosado, who spoke after Charles Koch reported on the Buildings & Grounds and Long Range Planning, updated board members on the upcoming replacement of a transformer for the Jr./Sr. High School.

Between 6:30-7:30 a.m. this weekend the school’s technical staff will install the appliance as to not interfere with any activities the school may be hosting.

“After this, we will have no more shutdowns,” Rosado said.

Student Representative Nicole Gioe said in her report that Westwood’s student body has been making strides to branch out into the community.

Gioe said the high school’s film club announced at recent Pep Rally that it will be participating in MSG Varsity and Cablevision’s “Power to Learn Charity Champions” program, where they will present a $1000 check to the American Cancer Society – the charitable organization of their choice.

In addition, Gioe said this Sunday at 3 p.m. the high school will be the host of Bergen County Band and Choir festival, where four student choir members and two band students will perform. 

Westwood’s Board of Education will meet again on Jan. 26 in the Hurley Theatre of the Jr./Sr. High School.