As the new school year starts, Superintendent of Schools Dr. George Solter highlighted important details at the Aug. 28 Board of Education meeting.
North Bergen School District is now active on the app called “Realtime.” The app allows parents to view student grades, be notified of absences, and stream school events from a smartphone. Parents can also communicate directly with teachers if there is a disciplinary problem.
“We have been making strides to improve our online presence and digital communication within the department,” Solter said. “All schools will have their own social media accounts and websites with teacher pages that include their picture and contact information. This is another step toward our goal of transparency and open communication.”
The app, which launched this summer, requires students’ ID numbers. It can be downloaded for free on Apple and Android app stores.
High school expansion
The board hopes that the renovation required to transition students in grades 7-9 to the former campus of High Tech High School will be complete by the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year.
As The Hudson Reporter revealed, the expansion plans were suspended by litigation during and after the May 14 municipal election season.
“The lawsuit ended in August, and put us behind considerably by about six months,” Solter said. “Preliminary work will begin soon.”
Solter said that the school’s roof was leaking, which will require emergency repairs before the board requests proposals the full construction project. He said that the soft deadline of September 2021 is an aggressive goal that the board believes can be met.
Committees will brief teachers, outlining future changes in curriculum, staffing, security, facilities, transportation, and several other facets of the plan. There will be updates for parents and students as the project progresses.
This year’s goals
Solter mentioned a few benchmarks he would like to see teachers reach this year.
“The first goal is to support educators to recognize the increasing diversity of the student populations, and we want to develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes to promote culturally responsive practices that promote each student’s academic success,” Solter said. “We also want to create systems for standards-based curriculum design. We’ll be working with grades k-4 on that.”
Standards-based curricula involve practices that inform students of what they should know by the end of any given lesson.
“The third goal is to implement an environment that focuses on social-emotional learning,” Solter said. “Each child has issues, and we want to make sure that we serve every child based on what their needs are.”
SEL curriculums are being pushed by the New Jersey Education Association and State School Board Association. SEL is an umbrella term for lessons that involve social and emotional development, and creating a positive school climate and culture.
Last, Solter said that he wants the district to incorporate “formative assessments,” which involves teachers getting intermittent feedback from students regarding how well they understand course material.
“It could be as simple as a thumbs up or thumbs down during lessons,” Solter said.
Tentative agreement reached on teachers’ contract
The North Bergen Federation of Teachers reported on social media that it reached a tentative agreement on a teacher’s contract, after months of deliberation between a negotiating team that included union representatives and those speaking on behalf of the Board of Education.
Some 150 NBFT members attended a Board of Education meeting in June to urge the board to approve a new contract. It was a telling sign that union reps and school administrators struggled to see eye to eye on certain undisclosed issues.
“I wanted people to come here tonight so that you could see the people you are dealing with,” said NBFT President Elizabeth Lynch at the June meeting. “Sometimes we get caught up with the negotiating team. It’s not just the negotiating team, these are the people I’m representing. These are the people we’re at the table for. These are the people that live in North Bergen, many of them. They work in North Bergen, they go to your stores and shop in your shops, pay taxes and vote in your town.”
Hours-long sessions continued for several months, beginning in late 2018. It’s unclear what contract issues the team was struggling to settle. All parties agreed not to discuss the negotiation publicly.
The former contract started in September 2016 and was set to expire on Aug. 31, 2019. The agreement was reached just three days prior to the old contract’s expiration, on Aug. 28.
The expiration of a contract without the prospect of a settlement creates problems that school districts and teachers want to avoid.
One of three things generally happens during an impasse. A teacher’s union and school district might agree to extend an expired contract for a fixed or indefinite period, teachers might agree to work without an contract, or some form of a strike might occur.
While the agreement is being described as tentative, it’s a sign that the negotiations have likely concluded, and a new contract is almost certain. Lynch couldn’t be reached for comment by by press time.
This story will be updated online.
For updates on this and more stories check hudsonreporter.com or follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Mike Montemarano can be reached at mikem@hudsonreporter.com.
