JACKSON – The Board of Education and school district administrators told the public that the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic would continue to loom over the new school year.
Superintendent Nicole Pormilli said administrators and other staff have been busy with aspects of the new school year. “I visited many of the schools throughout the last few days and weeks and had the opportunity to see students really excited in learning. The energy was great and there is a lot of positivity happening.”
“It is wonderful to see our students back and engaged in activities and that is what we want to see. Obviously, it has been a lot difficult than we had hoped for but still very positive in many ways,” the superintendent added.
Pormilli said that the district has had more “quarantining than we had hoped for and more positive cases that we have seen than we were hoping for but I wanted the board and public aware that we have – for full transparency – started our COVID dash board which is posted to our district website so you can observe any positive cases that have occurred in our schools.”
“The quarantining is still a challenge for us” even though there is a rule that you don’t have to quarantine if you were wearing a mask and are six feet away, she said. “However there are areas in our schools that is not possible to do. Anything under three feet, we still need to quarantine students who have been exposed.”
Pormilli said the district is continuing to review its Road Forward plan and “it is likely that we may be changing that instructional model. Conversations are happening this week with our staff and administrators. We will tweak what we feel we need to meet the needs of our students.”
Student Representative Reports
Per tradition, Pormilli introduced this year’s student representatives from the school district’s two high schools, Jackson Memorial and Jackson Liberty. Both will be making reports to the Board and the public during the school year regarding activities of their respective schools.
This year’s representatives are Brooklyn Silvan representing Jackson Liberty and Dakota Calcaterra – the representative of Jackson Memorial. Pormilli said “it is always an exciting time to hear from our high school students.”
Dakota noted that “for the past month Jackson Memorial High School has had a successful start and resumption of student life. It is clearly remarkable to see such a bounce back after the last 18 months which I think we can all agree have been anything but stable.”
He said the school’s five-day, full schedule has been welcomed by students and that extracurricular activities within the school have also returned. “One of the most impressive was the painting of spots in the senior parking lot. That was a resounding success as I’m sure many of you have seen outside.”
“Murals ranging from album covers to paintings of the universe now cover the lot expressing the uniqueness and individuality of our student body,” he added.
The JMHS student also said that freshman orientation “also returned without a hitch. We’ve also seen our DECA and business clubs resume activity. Our National Honor societies have begun to pick back up and I’ve been asked more and more each day what does it take to be a part of these great organizations.”
Regarding the high school’s athletic program, he added that “we look forward to a challenging and rewarding fall season.”
Brooklyn said, “there is a lot going on at Jackson Liberty. Everyone is glad to be back in the classroom fulltime and getting back to some sense of normalcy. Picture day is coming up soon for the yearbook for the underclassmen and will be held on October 11 in the auditorium.”
She noted the school’s football teams victory over Point Beach “beating them 13 to nothing” in the home opening game. The Field Hockey team defeating Donavan Catholic in Toms River recently. The girls’ volleyball team remains undefeated 4-0.
“Our band made headlines after their return to competition after a year’s hiatus because of COVID restrictions. They took home the title of best overall band and awards for best overall percussion, music and visual. With all these sports fundraising is very important. Soccer teams have turned to online fundraising due to COVID. Check your e-mail to see if any athletes e-mailed you asking for donations,” she added.
She noted that the “Class of 2022 held a fundraiser to paint their parking spot. It was a great opportunity for seniors to show their creative side along with helping out their class. The class of 2023 are selling apparel and tumblers.”
More student representatives?
Board member Gus Acevedo presented an idea to the superintendent that when the position of student board of education representative was created “we had one because we had one high school and then we had two so we had two members.”
“I’m suggesting we have a boy and a girl, a male and female from Memorial and a male and female from Liberty so an extra person gets the honor to their college resume but also so we get the input of both genders at both high schools. It is something for you to consider,” Acevedo added.
