Since last July,the Roselle Board of Education and I have been diligently working to first establish viable educational systems within Roselle in every area of the District.We have been developing a comprehensive team of professional educators by determining the administrative needs. This has been followed by seeking out the best qualified staff for the various positions. We have hired an Assistant Superintendent; a Director of Human Resources; a Director of Guidance; a Director of Technology; an Elementary Principal; and a Supervisor of CTI and Genesis.
These staff members hold the necessary certification,with all but one being certified as a principal and one certified as a school supervisor. These individuals have all taught and are expert in their areas of responsibility. They have been uncovering numerous concerns regarding the effective and required operation of their offices. Every staff member is working to ensure that every child wants to come to school every day and is receiving a thorough and efficient education.
It is important to note that our staff, this year, for the first time passed the curricular area of the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum (NJQSAC). This is a major factor in the State determining that a school district is designated as “high performing”and providing a “thorough and efficient public education.” We do know, however, that we have a long way to go so that all of our students really achieve their maximal potential for a truly successful life after leaving the Roselle Public Schools.
We have moved dramatically to work to meld all staff into a unified system of education by first holding monthly meetings of all administrators with agendas and minutes provided to all and by implementing a new staff evaluation system which affords the administrators to provide timely, constant and consistent support in the area of pedagogy. The special services and general educational programs are being coordinated so that staff and services are more effective for the education of all students. The entire curriculum is being systematized and mapped with professional development being tailored to the needs of the students as indicated by data analysis.In addition, we have brought to our schools a Rutgers Professor who has had tremendous success in building positive school behavioral conditions so that students and staff are afforded a more supportive and accommodating educational environment through social/emotional learning methods.
Equal Opportunity Employer Visions of Excellence!In order to have an effective learning environment we have worked to make the buildings and grounds more conducive to student achievement. Staff and resources are experiencing greater supervision and accountability. Weekly reports are being provided by staff,and buildings are becoming more conducive to educational purposes. Consistent with the point of accountability, we have lettered our vehicles to identify them as Roselle School automobiles and trucks. Too,we have worked to assure that the schools are safer and that we are only educating children who are residents of Roselle. We will be doing a whole district re-registration this Summer so that a thorough process is done,which will account for our residential realities.
In addition to all of these building and grounds issues,we have been meeting with Borough representatives so that the re-building of the Arminio Field is completed,so that our athletes and others have the facility which is greatly needed. This has been a chronic issue which we are attending to so that another fall season doesn’t require our home games to be held outside of Roselle.
Technology is another domain which has been problematic. Our new Director and Supervisor of Genesis have been going to all of our schools to assure that all are trained and able to work our systems. We have analyzed present systems and have saved the district thousands of dollars by either consolidating systems or eliminating them completely.
This technology has been utilized to recover and correct our records in all areas to include personnel, student data and teacher data. We have been able to successfully complete State reports in a timely and cost effective manner.
In line with this synopsis that I have just provided we will be presenting more comprehensive information to the Board at our Retreat and will also ask the staff to provide more in-depth information on their areas of responsibility.
Respectfully,
James C. Baker, Ed.D
Interim Superintendent of Schools