11/16/18 - Beat Vineland Edition!

Hello and Happy Friday All,

It is crazy to think that just next week is that special time of the year, my birthday… kidding of course, Thanksgiving (also my birthday if wondering). Thanksgiving is a special time for gathering with friends, family, and reflecting on all of the blessings in our lives. It is also the time of year where this community comes to together to celebrate our beloved Thunderbolts as they go against our long-time rivals, Vineland in the State’s oldest football rivalry. 

Our Bolts had a great season again. Despite getting off to a rough start – competing against some of the toughest teams in the State – they kept working and lost a tough/close game in the playoffs. As is every year, what has happened this season – good or bad – doesn’t matter now! All that matters is “Beat Vineland”. Please join us next Wednesday the 21st (my birthday) while we enjoy the bonfire and fireworks in preparing for Thursday’s Turkey Day Game.

Enjoy this week’s Shout-outs!

"Great job by the Mount Pleasant staff, students, and bus drivers as they managed a difficult dismissal yesterday during their power outage. Calm heads and bright smartphone flashlights ensured that all students got where they were supposed to be. Thanking power company as well for getting the outage repaired for this morning’s opening. Great job."
~Dr. Gentile, Superintendent

"A BIG Shout Out to Kierstin Robbins who is one of our Inclusion Preschool 3 Year old Teachers.  She  is ALWAYS full of boundless energy and a warm and friendly smile for all of her children and their families every day.  This week, on VERY short notice, she was faced with another difficult challenge.  She is tackling it with unending effort and rigor .  She has made the parents and the child feel welcome and comfortable as well as the other children in the room accepting the situation.  Thanks again for being such a positive part of our CFC family."
~JoAnn Burns, Principal

"A shout out to Kelley McAvoy for sharing about reading strategies at the Middle School Special Education Department meeting. This information was valuable for teachers as it explained common terms and how the students learn language. Thank you!"
~Vanessa Strassner, Supervisor

"Congratulations to Rob DeSantis, Joe Sino, Marissa Weatherby, Ricky Cortes and John Rilley on an award winning marching band season.  They keep raising the bar for our students and this year, our marching band had their highest score in over 20 years."
~Henry Hartman, Supervisor

"I am sending this shout out to Amy Gehringer, Barb Kern, and Donna Hoffman at Lakeside as well as Mike Schenck at Senior High School.  These history teachers planned, organized, and hosted Veteran's Day celebrations at their respective schools.  The Lakeside celebration included lunch for the Vets followed by a whole school assembly.  The hallways were decorated with posters created by the sixth grade students honoring a special veteran in their lives.  Mike thank you not only for your service to our country, but all that you did to ensure our students understand the meaning of the day."
~Pat Wulk, Supervisor

"Thank you to Dana Siniavsky, Stacey Musey, Tom DeCou, Jason Kessler and Dan Richter for volunteering their services at the 7th Annual MHS Staff vs. Millville Police Fundraiser Basketball Game on Wednesday, November 14, 2018. Your assistance was truly appreciated. Thank you for helping to make the event run smoothly."

"Thanks to the following staff members for participating in the 7th Annual MHS Staff vs. Millville Police Fundraiser Basketball Game on Wednesday night (November 14, 2018): Dominick Pontari, Colleen Hand, Mike LaTorre, Adam Carpenter, Mike Schenck, Jim McCarthy, Mike Jones and Bert Ayala. The group helped raise over $700 for the Millville PAL Basketball League. Thank you participating and making it such an enjoyable event."
~Dave LaGamba, Supervisor/Athletic Director

"Huge shout out to the Memorial High Cafeteria ladies for always doing an amazing job and for keeping us well fed!!"
~Steve Platt, Vice Principal

A huge shout out to Candy Devich and Stephanie Muhlbaier for pulling off another Feast here at Bacon.  Planning and pulling off this event takes a ton of planning, and it went off again this year without a hitch.  Thank you both for taking care of our Bacon family!"
~Mike Coyle, Principal

"Thank you to the 6th Grade Social Studies Team (Amy Gehringer, Donna Hoffman and Barb Kern) for putting on an amazing Veterans Day Luncheon and Assembly! Thank you so much for such an amazing experience for our kids and the Veterans!"
~Spike Cook, Principal

"I'd like to send a big shout out to Samantha Clarke at Lakeside. Sam's been back from maternity leave for less than 10 days and has already gotten all of her classes to complete the LinkIt benchmark pilot and implemented some in-house PD on brain-based learning (retrieval practice) the very next day. It can't be easy coming back to a group of middle school students in November after being out for the first 2 months, but Sam has it looking like she was never gone!"
~Bobby Barber, Supervisor

"A big Holly Heights shout out to Tina Dallas and Donna Wheeler.  Tina and Donna organized our Thanksgiving food donations and our Turkey Strut.  Each class makes a donation to the Help and Hope food pantry and personally deliver the items to one of their representatives.  Students also get to participate in a fitness activity after delivering their food donations."
~Steve Saul, Principal

"Thank you to John Law for his work on Rieck Avenue's communication and clock systems. Updating software, reprogramming phones & clocks and adding new features to our systems was time-intensive work that we really appreciate!"
~Brian Robinson, Principal


Have an amazing weekend!
Regards,
Dr. G.


Dr. David N. Gentile
Superintendent of Schools
“Lead Learner”
@drgentile_mps (Twitter)
856-327-6001

#MPSWC (MPS World Class)
#greatdaytobeabolt

Published by Spike Cook, Millville, NJ

11/2/18 - Friday Fall Edition

Photo by Ibrahim Rifath on Unsplash

Good afternoon all,

TGIF!!! Another great week in the #mpsworldclass District! Come out tonight and support our Bolts who have been on a roll since having a tough season opening. Tonight is round 1 of the Group 4 State Playoffs and our Bolts are prepared to leave it all on the field. Lets make sure we press the advantage of hosting the game! #homefieldadvantage

Last week I attended a Legislative Session where the panel included Senator Sweeney and many other NJ legislators. Although the panel was not accepting live questions, they did address several topics of major concern to all NJ Educators. I want the Phenomenal Friday to remain a positive beacon focused on highlighting all that is great in Millville and education. Therefore, I am only going to encourage all of you to get involved with this year’s election and political happenings. According to the panel, and our experience here, the State’s financial situation is strained. In order to bolster the State’s budget outlook, Senator Sweeney is demanding that educators (all of us) pay more. According to him, our pension system in unsustainable. I hold personal beliefs as to how our pension system became at risk, but again, going to keep it positive here. In addition to our pension and benefits coming under scrutiny, the funding for District’s like ours is only going to get worse.

I have shared before that the Millville community’s taxes support about 10% of our school budget (a budget of more than  100 million dollars). According to the State’s formula, this community’s ‘fair share’ is greater than 20%. I am not certain how they came to that number, I am quite certain it is not from coming here and visiting the community. If they did, they could see that a high percentage of the good people of Millville are struggling economically. The State’s plan, however, demands that this District’s ‘fair share’ double in the next 7 years. Their plan will reduce the aid we receive by 10%. I honestly cannot foresee a future where that is possible. I will continue to lobby and fight for more for this great community. The students of Millville need you to make your voice heard as well. The Senator all but said so by his referencing Kingsway Public School District as a community that was underfunded and made their voice so loud they demanded to be heard. The result was a substantial increase to Kingsway’s State Aid. Their increase came at the expense of our (and other former Abbott School Districts) decrease. We have barely held on over the last 9 years where the State Aid has been flat. That flat funding resulted in a 3 million dollar per year reduction in spending just to stay solvent. Any decrease in the future puts our future in jeopardy.

I apologize for sharing such news in what is a positive outlet for Millville School News, but this is that important. We need to all join together.

Now for the positives:
SHOUT-OUTS
"An enormous shout out needs to go to Amanda Gaunt for orchestrating the Miss Holly City ceremony this year!!  Though I have attended it a number of years, it was not until this year when my daughter, Megan, was in it that I realized the absolutely huge amount of work that goes into having a successful program, and it is work that started way back in May.  From picking the theme to picking the outfits the girls wear in the opening number to the 6:30 A.M. practices to creating the program and mostly to giving these girls lifelong memories, Amanda Gaunt has done it all with a smile on her face and a love for the girls she is working with in Miss Holly City.  As an educator, and even more as a mom, I love that my daughter and all of these girls have such an amazing role model in Ms. Gaunt and a teacher who dedicates so much time to her students and our district.  We are blessed to have her in Millville!!"
~ Melissa Sooy, Teacher

"To Jeremias Bermudez for all of the work that he and his team did during the recent Data Center outage. They did a mountain of work behind the scenes."
~Dan Wright, Chief Information Officer

"To Graham Gant and Jason Harrington who have created an exceptional learning opportunity for our German Foreign Exchange students as well as our Millville German students.  They have arranged host families for our visitors to stay and provided unique experiences for all of our students to appreciate each other's cultures."
~Henry Hartman, Supervisor

"Kim Henry and Danielle Hyson for continuing to be patient and nurturing with their three year old class.  They continually provide opportunities for their children to grow and learn especially in the social emotional domain.  New children and their families are greeted with warmth and made to feel they are leaving their child in a safe and loving environment.  Children are challenged with open ended questions and problem solving skills to build a better community of learners."
~ JoAnn Burns, Principal

"Karen Cossaboon has such great positive energy and optimism for all of the students at MSHS.  For the past two months she has been case managing and working with all classified students while we wait for a new social worker to start next week.  I appreciate and admire your dedication and willingness to take this challenge head on!"
~Steve Matusz, Exec. Director Special Services

"To Jennifer Backman for coming back over to Rieck Avenue School from the Millville High School for the first couple of months of the school year. She jumped into the role of being our school nurse as we transitioned to having a new nurse. Jen's willingness to pitch in, her kindness to our students and her professionalism are just some of the reasons she is such a great nurse and a great person. THANK YOU!"
~Brian Robinson, Principal

"Thank you to Dana Siniavsky and Megan Finney for leading the work with the PBIS committee for the high school. From fundraising to planning pep rallies and beyond, your efforts to encourage our students and to raise school spirit is greatly appreciated. #ThunderBoltPride"
~ Bridget Borlak, Dept. Chair

"History was brought to life by the eighth grade Social Studies team at Lakeside this week.  Casey Clifford, Tim Garrison, and Cody Hand exemplify a cohesive team who created an engaging Revolutionary War Spy two day lesson.  Students were actively engaged both days deciphering codes as they worked in cooperative groups.  Casey, Tim, and Cody led the sessions throughout the day with each of their classes dressed in period outfits. Thanks to this amazing team!"
~Pat Wulk, Supervisor

"A big Holly Heights shout out to Sanya Brown and Lorraine Swaim.  Sanya and Lorraine have been with us since the start of the school year doing maternity leaves at grades 3 and 5.  Both have done an excellent job and are going above and beyond to provide a positive educational experience for their students."
~Steve Saul, Principal

 "I'd like to give a huge GREAT JOB and shout out to Amy Gandy and Tim Trout, our two newest teachers here at Bacon.  Amy has done nice work in 1st grade, and she puts time and effort into making the quality of her instruction the best it can be.  Her transition into teaching has been smooth, and we are happy to have her on board.  Tim has also done a nice job.  He is bringing excitement to the chorus and band, and he has worked very well with our staff to ensure the music program here runs effectively.  Both Amy and Tim are welcome additions to our Bear family.  Keep up the great work!"
~Mike Coyle, Principal

"A Big Silver Run Shoutout goes out to Nicole Portik who procured a Young Audiences Arts Education Scholarship for the 2018-2019 school year.  Silver Run was one of eight schools selected across New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. The scholarship is for $5000 and will be used to further the arts education of our students. Thank you for going above and beyond in serving our students."

"A million thanks goes out to the Silver Run PTO (Heather Garrison, Michelle LeDent, Ashley Martinez, & Joanna Hackett) and the Holly City Development Corporation for all their handwork and dedication in making our Fall Festival a tremendous success.  An event like this requires a massive amount of planning and produces an equally large amount of anxiety.  However, the team’s success could best be measured by the smiles on the faces of the students and parents who attended that evening.  The event was truly a gathering of the community.  It was exciting to bring a Silver Run event into one of the neighborhoods we serve.  Thank you to the staff whose efforts made this event possible: Danielle Cosgrove, Shannon Silvestri, Lenny Corbin, Patti Nedohon, Cheryl Ismail, Susan Groover, Lindsey DeFrancisco, Gretchen Andrews, Brandi Welch, Lisa Baran, Nina Crain, Sueann Irwin, Tina Stiles, Camille Howard, Gary Guadalupe, Danielle Williams, Donnie Garrison, Christine McCarron, Melody Billek, Dawn Dolan, Christine Armington, & Charlotte Phillips."
~Eric Reissek, Principal


"This shout-out goes out to the guidance staff. Their support and care for our students is needed more than ever. Like in many areas across the District, everyone is being asked to ‘do more with less’ as funding for our State continues to be an issue. In addition, the school social workers are equally talented and in high demand. What goes misunderstood in Trenton is how very important the services of counseling and home-outreach are to this community. Unlike affluent towns and cities in our State, our parents are working multiple jobs just to provide the barest of essentials. Our guidance counselors and social workers go above and beyond to help supplement the resources available to our students’ parents. I could not be prouder of their efforts!"
~David Gentile, Superintendent

Have an outstanding weekend!

Regards,

Dr. G.

* Saturday night/Sunday am set your clocks back and enjoy what feels like an extra hour of sleep!!!!!


Dr. David N. Gentile
Superintendent of Schools
“Lead Learner”
@drgentile_mps (Twitter)
856-327-6001

#MPSWC (MPS World Class)
#greatdaytobeabolt

Published by Spike Cook, Millville, NJ