I want to thank all of you who came to the meeting on Wednesday night and voted in the Executive Board for the 2016-2017 school year. The complete board is:
Sheila Cheney, President
Christie Engel, Vice-President
Kim Leonard, Communications Vice President
Rachel Callahan, Assistant Communications Vice President
Laura Henry, Treasurer
Paula Rush, Assistant Treasurer
Betsy Flaim, Volunteer Coordinator
We are all very much looking forward to another great year at Franklin Elementary School, filled with the many activities and assemblies that make the experience at Franklin so special! It will be an especially exciting year as our children will have access to the new outdoor Reading Garden and the opportunity to participate in the school musical. A formal kick-off meeting for the musical will be announced shortly; stay tuned! As a board, we are currently brainstorming our hopes, ideas and goals for next year, and look to share them with you before the year ends. In the meanwhile, if you have any hopes or ideas for the PTO, please feel free to email them to me at smccraith@hotmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
I also want to thank Superintendent Chang for joining us. Three highlights from his state of the district are:
- Jennifer Ambrose has been named the Director of Elementary Education, a recently created position. For complete details, go to the district website, https://www.summit.k12.nj.us
- The district is looking into bringing International Baccalaureate (IB) classes to the high school; these classes would exist in addition to AP classes.
- The district is exploring the installation of a green house on top of the middle school. Students in all grades would have access to the greenhouse and if installed, it would be the first green house on the roof of a school in New Jersey!
Likewise, I want to thank Principal Mirrione for joining us, and for making it a great year! Just three of the many highlights from the year are:
- The completion of the school addition and renovation (only a few punch list items remain!) Yeah! The ribbon cutting ceremony this past Thursday officially marked this achievement and reminded us all of what we have gained, such as: dedicated classrooms for art music, and Spanish, specific classrooms for our Resource Room teachers, a computer lab and the ability to have all classrooms of the same grade grouped together.
- The successful integration of the new math program, made in part by the extra technology and training resources Franklin received.
- The increase in communication between the school and parents (weekly letters from Mrs. Mirrione and weekly emails from the teachers) and the enhancement of the comments in report cards, two needs Mrs. Mirrione identified from the survey parents completed at the beginning of the search for a Principal last spring.
And lastly, but not least, I want to thank our outgoing President, Clara Jenkins, whose commitment to the excellence of our children’s experience is second to none and an inspiration to all of us on the Board; Lisa Betz, our outgoing Treasurer, who didn’t just focus on the budget, but also on finding innovative ways to fundraise and Ms. Stochaj, our outgoing teacher representative, who always goes above and beyond to support our programs. Thank you ladies!
All my best,
Sheila Cheney
