Verona principals: How can we improve the schools?

With the school year winding down, each of Verona’s principals examined how they can, going forward, make the Verona School District better.

The principals of Verona’s six schools explained areas they want to improve upon during a Tuesday, May 23, Board of Education meeting. The results came from surveys of students, parents and faculty, and since some of the questionnaires were given in past years, actions were already set in motion to address some of the concerns.

Brookdale

Principal Nicole Stuto said one area to grow for the school was parent involvement and their role in decision-making.

“Our conversations basically all led back to communication,” noted Stuto.

The School Community Association, or SCA, was key to that, but Stuto said that parents who regularly attend the meetings are those who already participate. The important part would be alerting more parents about the meetings and helping them become involved.

One tool that helped communication was the school’s increased use of Twitter, according to the principal. Stuto tweets photos of school activities, and she said the teachers followed suit and are now all on the social media site.

“I think it’s a really great form of communication,” she said. 

Brookdale officials also want to examine how to make all homework meaningful, and increase after-school activities for students.

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Forest

Principal Jeffrey Monacelli said there was plenty of positive feedback from the climate surveys for all of the schools, but that they focused on the areas of improvement on Tuesday. One topic at Forest included kids who felt like they were picked on by their peers.

In September 2015 the school implemented a conflict resolution program. It started a few years earlier at F.N. Brown Elementary School.

“It had tremendous success," said Monacelli, "so the other three elementary schools jumped on board, had teachers trained, formed character [education] committees.”

The conflict resolution program helped with discipline referrals and led to less incidents of harassment, intimidation and bullying, according to the principal. 

“I think that’s a real positive and it came the same time as implementing this program,” he observed.

At Forest School, Monacelli said, they also looked at the nutritional value of their hot lunches, more time for staff collaboration, and the condition of the blacktop behind the school. 

F.N. Brown

Principal Dr. Anthony Lanzo highlighted three areas of growth: seeking ideas about the school, training for support staff, and increasing common planning time for the employees. 

“Our students want to be heard, and so we had to decide how we would do that,” Lanzo said.

Fourth-grade students create their “memories” at the end of the year, and Lanzo said they’re using that as an informal assessment to see what the students enjoyed, such as the big second-grade picnic. 

Members of the support staff who received training included paraprofessionals and lunch aides who learned about HIB policies so they would be consistent with the teachers, Lanzo said. 

Laning

The condition of the multipurpose room was the main focus for Laning, according to Principal Howard Freund.

“We’re making great strides to making it a better, great environment,” Freund said. “The multipurpose room was a terrible space.”

The lights have been replaced to make the room brighter, but Freund said the sound is the biggest problem now. He described it as “cavernous,” and that one person sounds like a crowd in there.

“We have an incredibly supportive SCA,” Freund said. “They are willing to invest as much as it takes to continue working on that room.” 

The principal said they have estimates from some companies on sound treatments, and they will continue to work with Facilities Supervisor Joseph Trause on fixes.

Freund also wanted to provide more access to technology for the staff, offer more extra help and enrichment opportunities for students, and examine student behavior at lunch and recess.

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H.B. Whitehorne

The middle school is the only building in Verona with two principals, as it follows a house model of dividing the school into two groups, or “houses.”

The principals examined bullying, as 18 percent of students responded in a survey that they thought it was a problem.

“That’s an issue, it’s a huge concern,” Principal Yvette McNeil said.

The house model can help as teachers share groups of students in ways they otherwise would not, so they are able to work together, according to McNeil. The school also uses a site called HIBster to track cases of HIB and tell if there are repeat offenders, she said.

After noticing an increased number of HIB cases that involved race, religion or gender, McNeil said the school started using some faculty meetings for professional development on how to handle those cases.

The teachers also attempt to weave anti-bullying messages into the English curriculum, according to Principal David Galbierczyk.

Verona High School

Principal Josh Cogdill went a visual route and put together a slideshow of photos of the facility upgrades at the high school. The pictures depicted the fields, the music room, a water-bottle refilling fountain and more.

“Thanks to the Board of Education, the Facilities Department and the people of Verona, we’ve gotten a lot of upgrades to Verona High School over the past few years,” Cogdill said. 

The principal noted how the high school students improved their punctuality with less late arrivals, and he also wanted to examine homework. Cogdill had a meeting with the AP teachers to review the schedules and on how to let the school community know about the homework and summer assignment associated with the classes.

Email: jongsma@northjersey.com