The Verona School Board said it will tighten its rules about chaperoning class trips after a group of fathers supposedly held a party in a cabin during a fifth grade camping trip.
H.B. Whitehorne Middle School Principal Yvette McNeal emailed details of the incident in a letter to parents of all fifth graders earlier in the week. Additional details were learned at Tuesday night’s meeting, including information the fathers, who were supposed to be chaperoning the 10 boys, left them without a chaperone while they lit fires and drank alcohol at another cabin during a five-hour party.
The Verona Township Council and Verona Board of Education commended each other for their unique working relationship at last night’s joint meeting at the Verona Community Center.
“Most towns do not have the kind of relationship we have in Verona,” stressed board of education President John Quattrocchi, who presented a review of the relationship and the benefits the community receives as a result.
In most towns the council and the board of education operate in complete isolation, he asserted, whereas in Verona the two overlap.
Starting this summer, high school students from Verona and surrounding towns can enroll in one of three college-level courses being offered by the district.
For the first time this year the district is bringing the Summer Enrichment Academy (V-SEA)program to the high school where students in 10th through 12th grades have the opportunity to not only take challenging courses, but also to earn college credits.
Through partnerships with area colleges, the high school will offer a history course, an English course and a culinary course, all of which can be taken for high school credit, college credit or both with the program’s duel enrollment option. And the best part is students can get a college education not to mention credit at a fraction of the price it would cost on a college campus.
Tuesday night, Verona Schools Superintendent Steven Forte presented the final $32.865 million 2012-13 school budget at the district’s board of education meeting.
The budget represents a 2.37 percent increase, or $248,347, over the current budget, Forte said, which will be used to maintain existing staff and academic programs, fund curricular enhancements, support strategic goals and address some needed facility repairs.
Verona School District Superintendent Steven Forte considers himself a “very competitive person,” something that makes any undertaking he’s involved with a personal challenge.
Forte’s next challenge is looking into the possibility of moving the district’s current after-care program now run by the Montclair YMCA under the control of the district, something he believes the district can run better and maybe even turn a profit.
In the short time Forte has been at his post he has taken on the issue of extended kindergarten, arranged for college courses to be taught at the high school, sought to overhaul the district’s technological infrastructure and is now contemplating taking control of the after-care program.
Up to the challenge
These issues, rather than appear daunting to Forte, pose challenges, and he seems up for it.
It turns out, everything you need to know to be successful in life you learn in preschool. I heard that on NPR the other day. Unfortunately, that ship has sailed for me. I flunked out of preschool. I couldn’t hack it. I cried all day until the teachers called my mom to pick me up.
But for the next generation, this is good news. Just about every kid today spends at least a little time in preschool before graduating on to kindergarten. And, it is at that tender age their future success can be determined according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study, conducted by a team of researchers who tracked a group of 1,000 people from birth until age 32, found a relationship between the level of self-discipline demonstrated at an early age and troubles later in life. In fact, preschoolers who struggled with self-control were more likely to have a criminal record, more likely to be poor or have financial problems and more likely to be single parents.
This Thursday, October 6, the Montclair Cooperative School will host best-selling author of “Queen Bees and Wannabes” Rosalind Wiseman at its first free community event of the academic year. Wiseman, an internationally recognized expert on children, teens, parenting, bullying and ethical leadership, will speak on Navigating the New Realities of Girl World and Boy World.
With the recent release of the fully revised and updated edition of her original ground breaking book, Wiseman addresses the massive transformations in the adolescent landscape over the last several years. Her original book unveiled the realities of teen life from frenemies to bullying and formed the basis for the movie “Mean Girls.” The new edition investigates how changes in technology and media have impacted that reality.
Dr. Warren Farrell hugs Dean Ada Beth Cutler calling her "the dean of mothers and the mother of deans."
Many might be unaware of the boy crisis in America, but Montclair State University alumnus Dr. Warren Farrell is determined to change that. As Chair of the Commission to Create a White House Council on Boys to Men, he is looking to bring the nation’s attention to this quiet crisis.
Last week he returned to his alma mater to discuss the troubling topic as part of the lecture series presented by the College of Education and Human Services.
Dean Ada Beth Cutler opened the lecture, “Boys to Men: Transforming the Boy Crisis into a Boy Opportunity,” by introducing Farrell as one of the world’s top 100 thought leaders. He’s been named such by the Financial Times as well as been featured repeatedly in Forbes, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal and on such programs as “Oprah” and “Larry King Live.” He has authored many books including two award-winning, international best-sellers, “Why Men are the Way They Are” and “The Myth of Male Power,“ and currently, he is co-authoring the book, “The Boy Crisis,” with John Gray, author of “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.”
“His work is considered provocative, controversial, thoughtful and engaging,” Cutler announced before turning the floor over to Farrell.
“I’m going to start out in the provocative mode,” Farrell laughed. But he then went on to reveal some startling statistics and discuss the historical socialization of men, which he said has left them unprepared for and ill-equipped to deal with changes in the modern world.