Tuesday, May 7, 2013
State school committee tells school board that the Middle Schools "gaps" in test scores are improving, while school officials await budget cuts.
The Belleville Board of Education heard Monday night from state officials that Belleville Middle School academics are improving, while the Township Council is charged with reducing spending on the defeated 2013-14 school budget. The Belleville Township Council on April 29 discussed how much funding to cut from the defeated $63.5 million 2013-14 school budget, with one council member suggesting the budget should be cut so the average $277 tax hike is reduced to a zero increase. School officials declined to comment on the budget Monday night, instead focusing on the middle school's improving situation. School board members Joseph Longo and Peter Zangari, Jr. both said that the presentation should put residents' concerns about the school …
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
The Belleville Board of Education passed the $63.5 million school budget, despite the board vice president screaming that voters should reject the spending increase.
Spending increases prompted two screaming matches Monday night during the Belleville Board of Education's passage of the $63.5 million school district budget for the 2013-14 academic year, a plan that raises taxes an average of $277 for a home assessed at the township average. Officials did not give the specific home assessment value during the chaotic budget public hearing, which also saw a shouting match between school board member Joseph Longo and frequent school critic Vincent Frantantoni. The board is spending $507,000 on armed security officers and other equipment upgrades for each district school, a subject that spurred a screaming match between Longo and Frantantoni. School Board Vice President Patricia Inaugurato yelled to the …
Thursday, March 21, 2013
School board budget committee looking for all possible cost savings before unveiling final 2013-14 school budget at March 25 public hearing.
Belleville Board of Education members are meeting twice to try and prevent a tax increase before the public hearing March 25 on the 63.5 million school district budget for the 2013-14 academic year. School board member Joseph Longo said Tuesday that he and board member Bill Freda are looking to reduce spending in the budget. Longo said the committee's goal is always to keep taxes from increasing. "We're trying to keep the tax impact as small as possible," Longo said. "It helps that we got a bump in state aid, but there are still a lot of issues to resolve." The total state aid for kindergarten through grade 12 in the district for fiscal year 2013 was $25,130,065. The projected total aid to Belleville in fiscal year 2014 is $25,630,065, or…
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
One incumbent, two newcomers are the only residents to have taken out petitions needed to run for April 16 Board of Education election, with the deadline approaching on Feb. 25
With the deadline for candidates to file their petitions to run for a Belleville Board of Education seat five days away, three candidates have officially taken out petitions, according to officials. Incumbent John Rivera and residents Raymond Kuebler and Lillian Torres have taken out petitions as of Friday. A fourth resident, Ralph Vellon, took out petitions but said in a statement he does not plan to run. None of the potential candidates could be reached for comment. Any candidate for the April 16 school board election must file his or her petition by Feb. 25, 50 days before the election, officials said. Current board vice-president Patricia Inaugurato and three-term board member Vincent Strumolo, Jr. have yet to take out petitions. …
Friday, February 15, 2013
New Security measures appear to have broad support.
In reaction to the Newtown school shootings, the Belleville Board of Education have commissioned armed security officers to guard the front doors of Belleville public school. At Monday night's school board meeting, school officials told resident that the armed security guards were placed at the schools on Feb. 4. In addition, a special security company is completing a comprehensive audit of all the schools and will recommend improvement to security measures, including video cameras, phone systems and door locks, school officials said. This change came just weeks after the school board hired former Belleville police captain and mayor Bill Escott as school security director. Escott said he personally supervised the hiring of the security …
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
The Belleville Board of Education members will look at making sure children having their identifications while riding a bus to field trips, give special recognition to school counselors.
A parent's concern Monday night about students wearing their school ID's on buses during field trips spurred the Belleville school board to reexamine the district policy. At the same meeting, certificates were awarded to some school counselors in recognition of National School Counseling Week, which runs from Feb. 4-8. Patricia Dolan told the board she is worried about students not wearing their school identification badges on buses at certain times. "There are no student ID's being worn by children on trips," Dolan said. "God forbid there is an accident, it would be much easier for police to notify the proper people if they had the ID's. I know they're not allowed to wear them at shows, but they could just put them in their pockets. …
Friday, January 25, 2013
One of the early rock n roll all-girl trio's vocalists is on hand to accept an official commendation from the Belleville Board of Education, official installation at BHS in October.
The Belleville Board of Education cheered an early pioneer of rock n roll girl groups, recognizing one of the three Belleville women from the Delicates, who will be installed in October on Belleville's Wall of Recognition. School Board member Joseph Longo presented a plaque to Delicate's vocalist Arleen Lanzotti-Gonnella at the Jan. 14 meeting. The Delicates had a string of hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the biggest being "Black and White Thunderbird,” released in 1959, while also performing the theme song for legendary early rock n roll deejay Murray The K. Their hit "Black and White Thunderbird" has had an entire second commercial life, featured on the soundtracks to Disney's "Cars" and Cars II" movies, a source of pride for …
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Belleville School officials say they take any reports of bullying seriously and urge parents and students to come forward.
It may be summer vacation, but school bullying is still on the minds of some parents. Santos Martinez, a parent in Belleville, told the Board of Education that he has concerns about bullying going on in School No. 4 and is worried about his daughter and her friends. "I think everybody needs to come together," said Martinez, a Belmont Avenue resident. "Everyone remembers a time when either they were bullied or they saw someone being bullied." He said he’s heard about girls from ages 9 to 12 being bullied and had asked the girls on his daughters’ softball teams to write about their experiences with bullies and found their answers troubling. "Every single girl involved said they were either involved in bullying or were bullied themselves," he…
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Board supports tenure reform, opposes two other proposals.
Joseph Longo brought suggestions from the New Jersey School Board Association before the Belleville Board of Education at Monday night's meeting, leading to three resolutions being passed that included tenure reform. Although the resolutions passed do not constitute definite change, the Belleville BOE's collective stance will be forwarded to, among others: Governor Chris Christie, State Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney and both the New Jersey and Essex County Education Associations. Seconded by BOE Vice President Patricia Pisano-Inaugurato on all three resolutions, Longo's opposition to New Jersey Senate Bill 1872 and Assembly Bill 2810 regarding the Opportunity Scholarship Act passed with a unanimous 7-0 vote. Essentially, the Act is a…
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Belleville Township High School
100 Passaic Ave, Belleville, NJ
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Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Two consulting firms contracted to help proficiency scores; BHS Marching Band places 12th nationally.
After delivering a PowerPoint presentation detailing the school district's Adequate Yearly Progress in relation to its performance on the NJASK tests, head of curriculum Michael Meyers said at Monday night's Board of Education meeting the district has contracted two consulting firms to help continue improving students' scores. Although the Washington Township (Morris County)-based Standards Solutions is in its third year of working with the township's elementary and high schools, the district is in its first year of using Levels of Teaching Innovations, Inc. (LOTI) of Carlsbad, Calif., to help them improve proficiency levels in language arts literacy and mathematics in elementary (grades 3-5), middle (6-8) and high school (11). According …
40.803874
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Belleville Township High School
100 Passaic Ave, Belleville, NJ
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743118
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Jeff Mattingly
5:51 pm on Wednesday, May 8, 2013
If the Middle School is doing so well then why is the state here in the first place and comparing us to Camden? Where is the data to show years past vs. seemingly sudden and recent declines? Why were the very effective domicile investigators fired and how many children are now in the system? If there are substantially more children in the schools, that has been fairly consistent over the years, … more ›