Evergreen First Graders - Helping Their Community!

First Graders in Ms. Dube's Class Participate in a Service Learning Project!

As part of one of Ms. Sherwood’s (classroom aide at Evergreen) graduate action research projects, Miss Dube’s first grade class spent the last three weeks actively engaged in a service-learning project.

The project was called “Lemonade from Lemons”, and it was based on the quote, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade”. The project was inspired by Alex Scott (founder of Alex’s Lemonade Stand) and aims to teach Alex’s inspiring message of making a difference, helping others, and overcoming obstacles to school-aged children (K-5) through children’s literature and service learning. The main focus of the program is to educate children on the value of philanthropy and the value of service to others.

The students spent time reading about young philanthropists and writing about how one person can make a difference. The service-learning project was paired with a character education component as well. The students read Heartprints by PK Hallinan and were challenged, as a class, to perform 100 deliberate acts of kindness at school, home, and in their community.

After one week of doing nice things at home and in school, the students took the project to the community level by organizing a penny drive. They wanted to involve their friends, family members and teachers in their efforts to give back to their community. After one week, the students, families, and faculty at Evergreen Elementary School raised $500 to be donated to the Emmanuel Cancer Foundation (ECF) located right here in Woodbury, New Jersey. The money will be used to help families care for children diagnosed with cancer by providing emotional and financial support.

Public Hearing on Budget : TODAY

A special meeting of the Woodbury City Board of Education will be held today at 7:00 p.m. The meeting will take place in the auditorium of the Jr.-Sr. High School.

The purpose of this meeting is to hold the Public Hearing on the 2010-11 school budget.

(Reminder to school staff: There is a 3:30 p.m. meeting today in the auditorium for all who are interested in hearing a preview of the information that will be part of the public hearing on the school budget. This time will allow for staff specific questions regarding the budget.)

VOTING INFORMATION -- PLEASE NOTE:

Tuesday, March 30th, is the registration deadline for the BOE vote.

The League of Women Voters is reminding state residents that the deadline to register to vote or to submit a change of address for School Elections is Tuesday.

Registration forms are available on the League of Women Voters of New Jersey's Web site, www.lwvnj.org.

Driver Education - New Driving Laws for Teens

DID YOU KNOW???

CHANGES TO THE GRADUATED DRIVER LICENSE (GDL) LAW TO TAKE EFFECT - MAY 1, 2010

What restrictions are placed on my teen driver with the New Jersey GDL Program ?
Drivers holding a GDL license have the following restrictions placed upon them:
· May not drive between 12:01 and 5:00am.
· May not have more than one friend in the car
· May not use a cell phone (including hands free) or any other hand-held electronic device (Note: GPS systems - portable or built in - and iPods connected to a vehicle's sound system are permitted, but a teen should not make any adjustments to these devices while driving)
· Must ensure that they and ALL of their passengers wear seatbelts
· Face a fine of $100 and possible license suspension for violation of GDL law
· May not plea-bargain any point carrying offense

What do I need to know about the new decal requirements?
The NJ Motor Vehicle Commission is charged with designing and distributing the decal, which must be displayed on a vehicle's front and rear license plate when a permit or provisional license holder under 21 years of age is driving. The decal will be:
· Affixed with a velcro system to allow for its removal when GDL holder is not behind the wheel.
· Reflectorized so it can be seen at night
· Non-descript (it is intended for law enforcement purposes)
· $4 per pair at MVC agencies (Note: MVC is developing a bulk purchase program for driving schools, high schools, police departments, and other organizations)

FOR MORE INFORMATION

WEB RESOURCE: www.teendriving.com

New Jersey's online resource for all things teen driving.

March Board of Education Meeting -- Today

The regular March meeting of the Board of Education is scheduled for today, Monday, March 22nd. The location of the meeting will be the auditorium of the Jr.-Sr. High School. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m.

This month, there will be a presentation to the Board of our new Teachers of the Year, an update on the district Strategic Plan, and board discussion of the budget for the 2010-11 school year. There will be a special meeting next Monday, March 29th, for the annual "Public Hearing" for the school budget.

The agenda for today's meeting is posted on the district's website.

Have a good day and week!

1.1 Million Dollar Cut

The state aid numbers were released late yesterday.  Woodbury City Public Schools will work with 1.1 million dollars in state aid LESS THAN what we received for this current school year.  That represents a cut of a little over 9%.

The board will be finalizing its budget proposal based on this information.

You can find out about the state aid numbers state-wide by checking out this New Jersey Department of Education link:  http://www.state.nj.us/education/stateaid/1011/.

Still Waiting

Though the Governor's budget address confirmed that the state budget proposed would cut $819 million dollars of funding to schools, the impact that this will have on individual districts is still not clear.

There was word that we were to get our state aid number for the 2010-11 school year yesterday, but that did not happen.  We hope to get it today, though the requirement is to have the information out to districts within two days of the address.

Therefore, we wait to understand the full impact of this cut to the Woodbury City Schools.

FYI -- The overall cut of $819 million represents a little over a 10% cut in state aid, state-wide.

Budget Address/Board Meeting

Governor Chris Christie will give his budget address tomorrow afternoon.  School districts have been waiting for this date, since it is expected he will give indication of the level of school funding for the 2010-11 school year.  (The official state funding numbers for the schools are not required to be released until two days after the address.)

Due to the fact that this information will be critical to finalizing a school budget and since school budgets need to be approved by the local Board of Education prior to submitting it to the New Jersey Department of Education County Office for approval, the regular meeting of the Woodbury City Board of Education has been moved from this Wednesday to next Monday, March 22.  

A public hearing on the school budget is slated for a special meeting of the Board of Education set for Monday, March 29th, at 7:00 p.m. in the Jr.-Sr. High School auditorium.

High School Musical

Fame.  If you missed the high school musical last night, you have three more chances to catch the performance:

Friday -- 7:00 p.m.

Saturday -- 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Enjoy!

World Affairs Council -- Model United Nations

Advisor, Cheryl Federline, reported that our high school students competed in yesterday's Model United Nations debate.

Ms. Federline reports that, once again, one of our resolutions was accepted for consideration at the event. Over 100 resolutions were submitted this year, and eighteen were accepted for debate.  Our successful author was Michael Ulmer, who submitted his resolution on the topic of the "Illicit Trade of Small Arms and Light Weapons" -- representing the country of Egypt. We had six students participating this year, representing Egypt and Australia.

For more information, see World Affairs Council.

Woodbury Library Presents . . .

Presents

THE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE

at Woodbury City Public Schools

Join our invited students. educators, administrators, and Board members as we discuss the experience and goals of education in the Woodbury City Public School system.

All programs will be held at the Woodbury Public Library and are free and open to the public. You may attend as few or as many as you wish.

Please call the library at 856-845-2611 to reserve a seat.


All programs are Thursday evenings 7:00pm to 9:00pm

March 11: Secondary School Experience
Jr.-Sr. High School Students, Educators, and Administrators

March 18: Elementary School Experience
Evergreen, Walnut, and West End Educators and Administrators

March 25: Leaders in Personalizing Education
Woodbury City Board of Education Representatives and Superintendent



Woodbury Public Library -- 33 Delaware Street -- Woodbury, New Jersey 08096

856-845-2611
Programs, events, and classes are photographed or videotaped for library promotional purposes.

High School Spring Musical

The members of the Woodbury Education Association

invite the

Senior Citizens of Woodbury

to our

Fifth-Annual Senior Citizens’ Luncheon

to be held on

Saturday, March 13, 2010

in the High School Old “Blue” Cafeteria

at

11:00 a.m.

A FREE luncheon will be provided

Compliments of the

WOODBURY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

and each Senior Citizen will receive

a complimentary ticket to the High School Musical,

FAME

Compliments of the

WOODBURY HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA CLUB

Performance begins at 1:00 p.m. in the High School Auditorium

 

Please R.S.V.P. to Sharron Knauss at 853-0123 ext. 248 or sknauss@woodburysch.com by March 6^th

(The show will also run Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:00 p.m.)

TIcket Update for Boys Basketball

The boys will play Pennsgrove tonight in the next round of the NJSIAA state playoffs.
 
Game time:  5:30 p.m.

Location:  Salem County Community College Gym (Pennsgrove has an issue with their gym floor)
 
$3 Adult; $2 Senior Citizen/Student

Tickets will be on sale during the school day for students/staff.  Then, tickets will be sold at the Woodbury High School gym starting at 3:00 p.m.  We anticipate that there should be tickets available at the door -- doors open at 4:30 p.m.  Obviously, it is possible that the game sells out.

Our Athletic Director, Grant Shivers, is organizing a student fan bus.  Tickets are $7 and that covers the cost of the transportation and the ticket into the game.  These will be on sale during lunch.

 

Boys Basketball Playoff Update

The boys play at Paulsboro tonight -- Wednesday evening.  It is Paulsboro's call for how tickets will be sold.  And, they have a girls basketball playoff game right before our game.

Girls game at 5:00 p.m.

Boys game  at 7:00 p.m.

Paulsboro has decided that they will sell tickets at the door.  Doors will open at 4:00 p.m.  The gym will  NOT be cleared between games.

We worked with Paulsboro during the course  of the day Tuesday to get  them to agree to sell tickets to the boys game in advance and empty the gym between games, but there are reasons why they have decided against this course of action.

We suspect that many Woodbury fans will go to see the Paulsboro girls game at 5 p.m. to ensure that they get in the gym for the game that follows.  It is unfortunate that this is how this next round has played out, but the specifics were beyond our control.

Playoff Basketball

Congratulations to the girls basketball team for their performance in yesterdays first round of the NJSIAA playoffs against Gloucester City.  Though they lost to a tough opponent, they finish a year playing stronger team basketball and ready for the next season with many returning players.

The boys basketball team came away with a victory over a tough Clayton team last night.  The second round game will now be played at Paulsboro on Wednesday night.  I will put a posting up here to update the ticket situation for that game once we hear from Paulsboro about how they intend to handle ticket sales.

Again -- congratulations to both basketball teams.

Blood Drive Success

Congratulations to the Woodbury High School National Honor Society for success with their recent blood drive.  

The report received from the American Red Cross was as follows:

• The High School Drive you had 62 donors present and 64 were productive which will help save 192 lives.
  
• With the Community Drive, you hit your Goal!!! You had 29 donors present and 31 were productive which will help save 93 lives.
  
• Woodbury High School help save a total of 285 Lives on February 19^th, 2010. Please let the students know how well they did and how appreciative we are for their support.
• Thank you for all of your help, you’re a great group to work with.

Great work!