News

Over 300 Attendees Support 36th Annual Title I Parent Conference

Director Michelina Thornton, Deputy Superintendent Nicole T. Johnson, Acting Commissioner Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillan, Superintendent Roger León, Board President Dawn Haynes, families and staff participate in the parent conference
Director Michelina Thornton, Deputy Superintendent Nicole T. Johnson, Acting Commissioner Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillan, Superintendent Roger León, Board President Dawn Haynes, families and staff participate in the parent conference

On November 15th, the Newark Board of Education hosted its 36th Annual Title I Parent Conference at the NJIT Campus Center. It was exciting to host this conference in-person again. Stakeholders collaborated to create this year’s conference theme, Let’s Go to Work: Reconnect, Revitalize, Reimagine. With a focus on parental engagement, Title I Parent Conference keynote speaker and New Jersey Department of Education Acting Commissioner Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillan shared, "Research tells us that family engagement is one of the most powerful predictors of a child's development, academic growth, and overall success in school and life."District staff and community organizations presented dynamic workshops for participants on a variety of topics such as the High School Redesign Strategy, Early Childhood Conception to Cradle, Mental Health, Extended Services for Students, Motivating and Boosting Self-Esteem and FAFSA.

Quoted best by Deputy Superintendent Johnson, “We know that successful parent engagement requires a strong partnership between school, home, and community, and we are committed to strengthening our partnership and creating a culture of endless possibilities!”

NBOE Announces School Safety Patrols in All Middle School Grades

Safety Patrollers in action directing students along the way
Safety Patrollers in action directing students along the way

It is with great excitement that the Office of Safety and Security shares that the Newark Board of Education, in partnership with AAA, now has an active School Safety Patrol program in all middle school grades! Volunteers for the AAA School Safety Patrol are students from middle, junior, and upper elementary schools who are sponsored by their school. School Safety Patrol members complete training in traffic safety, teach fellow students about traffic safety, and serve in other leadership roles under the direction of school officials. The initial training is conducted by AAA and thereafter, the Office of Safety and Security conducts the follow-up training with all patrols to ensure compliance and provide additional support.

Patrollers help direct students, not traffic. On a peer-to-peer basis, patrol members teach other students about traffic safety as school-age leaders in the field. Additionally, younger students look up to them as role models. Quoted by Executive Director of Security Services, Levi Holmes, “Our program teaches students civil responsibilities and fosters opportunities to have an impact on their community.” School Safety Patrol responsibilities include ingress and egress process, lunch patrol, ushering during events, and monitoring student activity. Students are excited about participating in this leadership opportunity and wear their brightly colored belt with great pride!

New Voice Over IP Phone System Will Take Communication with Schools to a A New Level

The district has initiated the replacement of its legacy phone system with Avaya Voice Over IP (VOIP) system that will significantly improve communication with the district’s schools and Central Office departments. The new system utilizes contemporary communications protocols over the Internet and offers an array of features that will not only enhance communications, but will also ease staff mobility, as well as quick turnaround in provisioning phone services for newly hired staff. As part of the new solution, the district is expanding the phone system to classrooms by providing phones and voice services to all classroom teachers which will enhance teacher reachability as needed. The new system will also be used as an intercom solution within the schools as well as a notification system in situations such as inclement weather announcements. The district has provisioned redundancies at different levels of the new phone system to allow the system to continue to function even when certain components of the system experience outages.

The new Avaya solution has been implemented in multiple schools including the newly opened schools. Deployment to other schools in the district is in progress starting with schools that have historically had major phone system outages due to the age of the legacy phone system infrastructure. The funding for the project has been provided through Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) and American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds. The district plans to implement the solution in all district schools by the end of the 2022-2023 school year.

NBOE Receives COVID-19 Pandemic FEMA Payment

11-Finance

It is with great excitement that the district announces reimbursements of approximately $3,000,000 from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)/ New Jersey Office of Emergency Management (NJOEM) since the start of the school year. These reimbursements came from two funding sources, the Cares Relief Fund Grant 2020 and the COVID-19 Pandemic Grant 4488. During the process of submitting for reimbursement from FEMA, the district was advised that over $2,000,0000 of purchases for the pandemic on Grant 4488 were not eligible for reimbursement, but an alternate funding source was available if all documentation was submitted before the deadline. The district shifted gears and worked diligently with the New Jersey State Police Department of Emergency Management to ensure all documentation was provided so that this reimbursement opportunity would not be missed.

Due to this collaborative effort, the district’s first reimbursement in the amount of $2,000,402.52 was made on September 22, 2022. Upon completion of this time sensitive grant submission, the district continued to work on grant 4488 which resulted in a second reimbursement in the amount of $916,978.22 on November 10, 2022. These types of grants are available to most school districts, but in many cases, are overlooked due to the time and effort needed to provide the required documentation which may include forced account labor, contract services, purchase orders, pay stubs and/or check payments made to vendors.

The district is currently working on an additional reimbursement request in the amount of $320,000 through Grant 4488 along with the initial submission for obligation through Grant 4614 which is for expenses incurred as a result of the remnants of Hurricane Ida.

AeroFarms Takes Root in Central High School

AeroFarms Team inspecting the installation of vertical farms in Central High School
AeroFarms Team inspecting the installation of vertical farms in Central High School

AeroFarms is an award winning company that aims to solve many of today’s most pressing agricultural needs by building vertical aeroponic farms in sustainable models across communities. On November 9th, 2022, AeroFarms Chief of Staff and Director of Community Farms Jason Ginsberg arrived with his team to inspect the installation of the two farms located in Central High School’s greenhouse, as well as the units housed in George Washington Carver, Sir Isaac Newton, and Michelle Obama Elementary Schools.

According to Director Ginsberg, each farm uses standard electrical inputs and is capable of producing up to 550 pounds of fresh produce annually. In partnership with Central High School’s Environmental Studies Academy, students will soon be able to select among a variety of seeds to plant and harvest. Students can select from baby greens, such as baby kale, watercress, and bok choyto micro greens, such as micro arugula, broccoli, and kale—which can be harvested in just two weeks of planting.

The first priority of the harvests is to provide students with healthy servings of vegetables to take home, produce that replicates farm to table models without any use of chemical pesticides or other harmful inputs used in commercial farming. Other priorities include the educational component of sustainable farming and how modern technologies can improve age-old practices. We look forward to AeroFarms’ partnership growing and providing Central High School’s students with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities to be forward, creative thinkers ready to solve our world’s most pressing needs.

NBOE Volleyball Tournament Champions 2022

Congratulations to Barringer girls volleyball team!!!<br>Barringer defeated Science Park 2-1 in a hard fought match to capture their first district championship in girls volleyball! Go Lady Blue Bears!!
Congratulations to Barringer girls volleyball team!!!
Barringer defeated Science Park 2-1 in a hard fought match to capture their first district championship in girls volleyball! Go Lady Blue Bears!!