Clinton Township Newsletter

1 4 J u l y 2 0 1 7 www.ClintonTwpNewsletter.com t h e C l i n t o n t o W n s h i p F o u n d a t i o n F o r e d u C a t i o n a l e x C e l l e n C e Please consider partnering with the Clinton Township Foundation for Educational Excellence by commemorating your child's educational journey with the purchase of a seat! Personalize your inscription in the In Honor Of section to make it extra special! To do so, please visit the Foundation's website: www.ctsdnj.org/ resources/the_clinton_ township_foundation_for_ educational_ex. Thank you in advance! Clinton Township School District Mission Statement: The Clinton Township School District, in partnership with the community, achieves excellence for each child by ensuring a meaningful and challenging educational experience in a supportive environment, developing life-long learners who are responsible and productive citizens. Clinton Township School District Gina M. Villani, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools P.O. Box 6 Annandale, NJ 08801 (908) 236-7235 Dear Clinton Township Community Members, Below is a communication dated June 12, 2017 delivered on behalf of the Board of Education. The Clinton Township School Board would like to thank Clinton Township Mayor John Higgins, who confirmed in a recent statement that the municipality has the intent and resources to meet the schedule of future payments to the school district. In the spring of 2016, the School District was put into a precarious position when scheduled payments were not made on time. The payment schedule is similar to many school districts throughout the state and is designed to correspond to the School District's monthly expenses, which would ensure that teachers and staff could get paid, and that the school year could go on as planned. After the Township was either late or inconsistent in making regular payments due to the debt it incurred over the years, the Board was prepared to take legal action. Fortunately for all parties, it did not take the courts to resolve this conflict. In October 2016, we met with the mayor and he agreed to the payment schedule and would honor the timelines set forth. We have achieved a similar agreement on a schedule for the upcoming 2017-18 school year. As we all know, Clinton Township's student population is not growing, and in fact has declined. That is why both the Township Council and the School Board need to cooperate and be realistic for the sake of our children and their education. The School Board is pleased that this issue has been resolved amicably and that Clinton Township is working to get its fiscal house in order. We look forward to being able to provide the highest quality of education to our students, support our teachers, and work with Clinton Township in a renewed spirit of cooperation. Happy Summer I hope that you and your loved ones have a happy, safe, and healthy summer. Remember to take time to enjoy the relaxed pace as well as those around you. May you create memorable times with your family and friends. Thank you, Gina M. Villani Gina M. Villani, Ed.D Superintendent of Schools C L I N T O N T O W N S H I P S C H O O L N E W S www.ctsdnj.org A L e t t e r f r o m Gina M. Villani, Ed.D, Superintendent of Schools I N O U R S C H O O L S : Su R Scho Congratulations to all of our SRS fantastic readers! Students at SRS did a great job this year working to read each and every day. Summer is a time to enjoy family fun in the sun! Although the next school year may seem far away at this point, it is important to help children maintain an academic focus and stay ready for the upcoming school year. A great way to do this is to spend time reading every day over the summer months. A trip to the library is a fun family event, and an opportunity to check out exciting stories to read together as a family, as well as independent reading opportunities for children. Please be sure to visit the Hunterdon County Library or local bookstore, and please continue to read every day! Please visit our website to access our Summer Reading Program at Spruce Run School. We know our SRS students are fantastic readers, and we look forward to hearing about all of their reading adventures in the fall! Paick McGah Scho WordMasters Challenge Champions! A team representing Patrick McGaheran School recently earned Highest Honors in the 2016-17 WordMasters Challenge, a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 150,000 students annually. The team, instructed by Mrs. Diane Chelminiak, scored an impressive 192 points out of a possible 200 points in the last three meets this year, placing third in the Nation. The team also placed first nationally in the overall competition with a cumulative score of 560 points out of a possible 600! Competing in the difficult Blue Division, Molly Cokeley, Kathryn Wolf and Kevin Zhang each earned a perfect score of 20 in the recent meet. Nationally, only 52 third graders achieved this result. Other students at PMG who achieved outstanding results in the last meet of the year included Sahashra Datla, Jack Haring, Rylan Jessop, Odin Llull, Natalie Olson and Julia Rhinehart. T h i r d g r a d e r , K a t h r y n W o l f a l s o e a r n e d individual Highest Honors in the overall competition with a perfect cumulative score of 60 points. Highest honors are reserved for students who place among the top 10-15 finishers in their division. Congratulations to our students!

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