By Lois Staas
NEWS Correspondent
Mrs. Annette Castiglione was welcomed by the Bellmawr Board of Education, PTO representatives, parents, and residents as the new district superintendent beginning Monday, April 16.
At Thursday evening\’s regular meeting Mrs. Castiglione began by saying \”Thank you to the public, the board, and the principals for your warm welcome. I am excited about starting this new role in my life.\”
The new superintendent has been a resident of Haddon Heights since 1983 and is the mother of three adult children.
Mrs. Castiglione began her educational career in 1975 teaching elementary school and special education in New York for one year before moving to Philadelphia to teach two years in Catholic school.
Before taking eleven years off from teaching to rear her family, she taught special education in West Philadelphia to students between eleven and twenty-one years old.
Castilglione taught reading to grades 9, 10, and 11 in Camden High starting in 1991.
In 2002 she worked for the State Department of Education as Special Assistant to the Administrator of Abbott Districts. Mrs. Castiglione was also Freeholder.
\”This is a great district and an exciting place,\” continued Mrs. Castiglione. \”I will continue what you have begun and take you to the next step.\”
The superintendent concluded her remarks by reassuring everyone that she has an open door policy.
In other timely business, Business Administrator and Board Secretary Bruce B. Finkle presented a review of the proposed 2007-08 budget.
The General Fund is $10,643,431 with the local tax levy being $6,899,964. This represents an increase of 4.9 percent or 7.8 cents.
The end result would be an increase of $70.20 for the year on a house valued at $90,000.
\”According to the State Report Card our district has had the smallest increase in spending per student in the tri-county area,\” commented Finkle.
When asked by the public about administrative costs, Finkle replied, \”The administrative cost is one of the lowest in the area.\” This information is available on the internet.
\”I hope you will support the budget,\” concluded the Administrator Secretary.
The board presented the individuals for the April 17 election. The names to appear on the ballot are as follows:
Full three year term (two seats) Better Sheppard and Ron Henry and un-expired one year term (one seat) Frank R. Filipek, Jr.
In another resolution the Board regretfully accepted the resignation of several dedicated employees: Rose Ann Buttafogo, Robert Duus, Barbara Worrell, and Sylvia Grimm.
In her report Interim Superintendent and Bellmawr Park School Principal Elizabeth A. Calabria stated, \”We are thankful that state testing is over. The students did an outstanding job.
\”On March 2, Dr. Seuss\’s birthday, we began to celebrate \’Read Across America\’ with an array of literature based activities.
I would like to thank the following people for taking time from their busy schedules to read to our students:
Mayor Frank Filipek, Captain Muller of the Bellmawr Police, Two Camden Rivershark\’s representatives, Officer Moody from the Bellmawr Police, Mrs. Marie Serfling, mother of Bellmawr Park teacher Mrs. Sue Hubbard, and Mr. Richard Serfling, father of Mrs. Hubbard and former Superintendent of the Mount Ephraim School District.
Bell Oaks Principal Anthony Farinelli congratulated the chorale on their participation in the Teen Arts Festival.
Mrs. Sue DiPrinzio was awarded a $3,500 grant from the Dodge Foundation to explore past and present cultures in Mexico.
Special thanks were extended to Ms. Gancher and Mrs. Bartley for successful testing.
Adele Conner, Patti Bartley, Sue DiPrinzio, Gina Heller, Colleen Cullen, and Jen Tofts were commended for their work as the Professional Development Committee in organizing a professional day which included Writer\’s Workshop, Study Island, Suicide Prevention & Anti-Bullying.
In his report Principal Frank E. Jankowski, Jr. commended the teamwork of the district in preparing the district students for the challenging state tests.
Jankowski said, \”Also, thank you to Mrs. Beth Calabria, Mr. Anthony Farinelli, and Mrs. Lorraine Gancher for maintaining open lines of communication during this period to ensure that everything went smoothly.\”
\”Thank you to Mrs. Linda Keyek for organizing Pasta for Pennies fundraiser collecting coins for the South Jersey Leukemia Society.
\”The Summer Reading Program will again be implemented this year.
The reading lists and student incentives have yet to be determined.
Parents will be involved and ideas will be taken during PTO meetings.
The district website will have information as we get closer to the end of the school year.\”
Board Member Frank Filipek, Jr. announced that while the cafeteria committee had not yet met again, he did some work behind the scenes with the UMDNJ concerning a nutrition and activities program for next year.
Next, Board Member Jamie Casey stated that lockdown drills were in the planning stage, and that there would be some unannounced drills in the near future.
Betty Sheppard said that there still was no date for further negotiations.
During the public discussion portion of the meeting, resident George Stetser commented that Mrs. Worrell and Mrs. Grimm would both be missed at the Park School.
\”I would also like to commend Patti Bartley for all the out of district work she does with special needs children.\”
An unidentified parent noted, \”Study Island. My children love that. They cannot wait to come home and get onto the computer!\”
Resident Grace Letner said, \”It was nice to get reports from everyone of the board members. Mrs. Sheppard, you need to answer to us from month to month. As a taxpayer, I feel we deserve that.\”
Board President Ron Henry closed by stating, \”Everybody should give some report about something every month.\”
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