GOODNEWSThe Ewing Public SchoolsJune 2005

Due to budget restraintsNO Summer School Programs

will be offered by the Ewing Public Schools

during the Summer of 2005.

Safety TownJune 30 - July 11

Contact: Jean Conrad609-538-9800 x1302

for application

On April 18, 2005 Ms. Chiavuzzo, Mrs. Walker and 30 Ewing High School freshmen joined several Mercer County high school and college students, and politicians to hear a presentation given by Mikhail Gorbachev at the Sovereign Bank Arena. Gorbachev was the last communist leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. During his term he instituted various policies including his political policy of Glasnost and economic policy

Ewing High Students Attend Gorbachev PresentationWhitney Lewis, EHS Freshman

Have a Happy Summer!!GoodNews will resume

with the September issue of the Observer

The recipients of the 2005 Teacher of the Year Awards were honored at a luncheon on April 29th. Jan Fay, 2004 Mercer County Teacher of the Year, was a guest speaker. 1st row (L to R): Joan Zuckerman, Principal Antheil; Sharon Solomon, Lore; Jan Fay, 2004 Mercer County Teacher of the Year; Inetta Emery, Principal Parkway; Danielle Miller, EHS; Superintendent Ray Broach. 2nd row: Darrell Jackson, Principal FMS; Donna Andreas, Antheil; Don Barnett, FMS; Betsy Turgeon, Parkway; Rodney Logan, Principal EHS.

Nearly sixty years since Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps, the now elderly survivors of the Holocaust are turning to a new generation to preserve their testimony about their wartime experiences for future generations. Holocaust survivors are steadily dwindling in number. Many have made it their mission to educate the world that anti-Semitism and racism easily lead to murder, and to speak about the horrors they and their families suffered. With the passing of time, it has become urgent to find a new generation to continue the survivors’ mission and tell their stories after the survivors can no longer do so. On April 12, the Adopt-a-Survivor (AAS) program was introduced to the Trenton area at Ewing High School. Six Holocaust survivors were adopted by twelve Ewing High sophomores. The adopted survivors—Moshe Gimlan, Vera Goodkin, Marion Lewin, Ruth Lubitz, Charles Rojer and Jack Zaifman—were originally from Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Belgium. The AAS program pairs a survivor with one or more students. The students embark on a joint journey with the survivor through discussions about life before, during and after the Holocaust. Participating students will be able to represent the survivor and tell the survivor’s story with accuracy and feeling in the years to come. In addition, each student makes a commitment to tell the survivor’s story in a public venue in the year 2045, a hundred years after the liberation of Auschwitz. The twelve student adopters are Dave Angebranndt, Tyler Barnes, Annie Cook, Liz Dunham, Emily Everett, Curtis Fornarotto, Vildana Hajric, Devon Jones, Jen Meade, Billy O’Callaghan, Nikyta Sharma and Melysa Wilson.

Adopt-a-Survivor Program Begins at Ewing High School

Teacher of the Year Recipients are Honored

of Perestroika. His policies reopened churches, released political prisoners, and lifted bans on previously censored books. The 20th anniversary of Perestroika was one of the essential themes of Gorbachev’s presentation. The policy’s main goal was to make the Soviet economic system more efficient. Perestroika involved the transfer of control from the government to the business owners. This policy

continued on page A2continued on page A2

The Ewing Public SchoolsApril 2013

All applications for the 2013-2014 Ewing Public Education Foundation (EPEF) grants are in! EPEF will announce the grantees next month at its Annual Awards Reception in May. The event will be held at the Elks Lodge, 42 Decou Avenue, Ewing, NJ on May 28th, 2013.

“Supporting creative educational programming to enhance learning instruction for our children is ex-actly what EPEF is all about,” said Executive Direc-tor, Heather Kearns-Latini. “This is an important time of year for the foundation. Announcing the awardees, celebrating ideas and success reaffirms the purpose of the foundation and its impact on the community.”

The foundation reviews and selects from nearly 45-50 grant applications each year and awards over $30,000 in grants per cycle.

EPEF grants help broaden innovative educational pro-grams that further develop effective and creative critical thinking and enable our children to become dedicated citizens and inspired leaders in our community.

“The broad-based corporate and community sup-port continues to support the foundation’s success in

helping to improve the quality of education for our children,” said Wayne Staub, President of the Ewing Public Education Foundation. “With the support from parents, educators, alumni and friends, we have completed another successful year.”

Among last year’s grant awardees was Antheil's Elementary, Music Makes a Difference Program which established a music residency program with the Trenton Community Music School to give elementary students with autism the opportunity to learn the elements of music.

Other projects funded by the EPEF grants have encouraged reading, math and science learning; promoted peer tolerance with bullying awareness programs; taught the importance of volunteering; and inspired healthy living by creating walking/exercise clubs.

Anyone interested in getting involved in the Ewing Public Education Foundation, support with a donation or receive guidelines for next year’s grant application process may contact Heather Kearns-Latini via email, Heather@EPEF.org or visit www.epef.org.

Ewing Public Education Foundation to Award 2013 Grantees at May Ceremony

Grants Support Creative Programs Promoting Excellence in All Subjects

The students of Antheil School send a big thank you to parents Mr. Kwak and Ms. Kick for shar-ing their passion for science with our school. As a biologist and chemist, respectively, they have turned their passions into careers. Their desire to share their enthusiasm for science brought them to invite the Franklin Institute Traveling Science show to Antheil. The children were thrilled to have such an engaging science program, which was successful in piquing our students' interest in the science field of meteorology.

Lightning! Twisters! Hail! Oh my! This science show revealed the science of weather to the extreme. During the assembly, the children learned where weather comes from, and what factors make it a sun-ny day or a blustery one. The sounds of amazement could be heard as a cloud was made right before their eyes. As promised, there was a stormy ending to this show as the awesome power of a tornado was demonstrated. The show tickled the students’ funny bones and educated them at the same time. The

5-4-3-2-1…the bottle of diet soda is set up in the courtyard, the Mentos can-dies are carefully dropped in, the student scientist retreats and voila!... You have a soda geyser.

Approximately 40 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students participated in Parkway School’s Annual Science Celebration. Each student reported on an experiment they hypothesized about and conducted at home.

During the event, students busied themselves with cleaning pennies, inflating balloons, making objects ‘disappear’ and discovering that strawberries have DNA. Building principals, district supervisors and teachers assisted with the judging and, at the end of the day, the winners were announced. Visit Park-way’s website for a list of the winners.

show was packed full of information presented with a strong backbone of comedy.

In addition to an amazing assembly experience for students, the contribution to Antheil by the Kick/Kwak family was matched by their employer, Bris-tol Myers Squibb. These funds will be devoted to the annual Hands-On Science Night where the students and staff of Antheil will share their love of science with the Ewing community.

New Jersey Judge Speaks to Ewing High StudentsOn February 26th, Trenton Municipal Court

Judge, the Honorable Gregory E. Williams, stopped in to speak with Mrs. Bailey-Williams’ sophomore English class at Ewing High School, following their reading of A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. Set in 1940s Louisiana, the novel centers around a young man who is convicted of a crime that he did not commit. Judge Williams hosted a question and answer session about the judicial system and offered insight into the life and career of a lawyer and judge. Alex Vogel, a student in Mrs. Bailey-Williams' class, said, "His life shows that if you work hard, you can reach goals that you have." Sophomore Chiemeka Okoro concurred, saying, "I thought it was very interesting because, even though he had hard times as a child, he was still able to become successful." Sophomore Melanie Butera says, "His speech made me a little more interested in criminal justice."

Celebrating Science With a ‘Whoosh’!

The Ewing Public SchoolsFirst Grade ‘Dresses’ for Seuss

In recognition of Read Across America, the first grade students at Lore School celebrated reading with some of Dr. Seuss’ classic tales. Each day, the students dressed to impress, in honor of a selected Dr. Seuss ‘Book of the day’.

On Tuesday, the children dressed in red, white and black to celebrate the beloved stories The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. On Wednesday, they celebrated the hilarious Wacky Wednesday! With their clothes inside out, backwards and mismatched, they added a new style and exuberance to the Lore School hallways. Some friends wore polka dots and stripes, while others wore two different shoes. What a ‘wacky’ day it was! On Thursday, they celebrated feelings and emotions with My Many Colored Days by wearing a combination of brilliant colors that illuminated the halls and classrooms. On Friday, they celebrated the exhilarating tale of Fox in Socks, a classroom favorite. The children wore 'silly socks' in an effort to captivate the energy and humor this story depicts.

On Friday, students also participated in the third annual ‘Readers in Socks’ reading event. It was a special time for them to kick off their shoes, bare their ‘silly socks’, relax and engage in active read-ing with their peers. The first graders really enjoyed this Dr. Seuss author study and will continue to be inspired by his excellence as writer and mentor.

Mrs. Stevens first graders and Ms. Clugston's Kindergarten students very much appreciate the donated books that Parkway School received from Paperback Book Swap.

Books Galore

Literacy Café at LoreOn February 19th, 24 first grade students in Mrs.

Hoh and Mrs. Mocarski’s classes participated in a Literacy Café where they shared their personal nar-rative writing with parents, siblings and staff. The school library was transformed into a celebration of writing. Children took turns reading aloud their favorite published stories, while our visitors provided feedback and constructive criticism. The Café culmi-nated with a fun treat and time to enjoy each other’s company. It was a wonderful morning for all!

On the evening of March 7th, many Antheil School students and parents returned to the classroom to celebrate their accomplish-ments as read-ers and writers for the annual Literacy Festi-val. Everyone was greeted at

the door by Dr. Seuss’ Thing 1 and Thing 2, who were the hosts for the evening. Students in pre-kindergarten classes were able to enjoy a few Dr. Seuss favorites such as One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, The Cat in the Hat, and Dr. Seuss’s ABCs. Kindergartners and their parents enjoyed story time in their pajamas, and Kindergarten writ-ing projects were displayed in the hallways. Those who entered Antheil’s gymnasium became part of the first grade Living Museum, which was the celebration of a long unit of study focused on in-formational reading and writing. Anyone traveling through Antheil’s halls found student projects dis-played, and all student work was accompanied by an explanation of the project and a list of the Com-

mon Core State Standards highlighted through the completion of the project. In addition to the stu-dent projects displayed in the second grade hall-way, students and parents were invited to listen to the read-aloud of several wonderful Jan Brett books including one of the students’ favorites, The Mitten. Third grade students worked diligently to create stories with well developed, realistic char-acters, and anyone looking for a good book could have reviewed the book recommendations posted on third grade students’ lockers. Anyone perusing the fourth grade hallway was able to read amaz-ing personal narratives written by students, and it was obvious that students really worked to 'show' rather than 'tell' the story. Fifth graders worked to write personal narratives as well but, in addition to writing stories with feelings and emotions, fifth graders focused on the conventions of writing and grammar. As they developed their personal nar-ratives, fifth grade students applied the individu-alized feedback provided by their teachers and made their writing even better. Like we always say, “When you’re done, you’ve just begun!” The Antheil School PTO organized the school’s Book Fair which was held in the cafeteria. Not only were students able to purchase books, but a nice reading area was created so students didn’t need to wait to get home to begin reading. The Antheil School Literacy Festival was an amazing success, and we can’t wait to see what our students prepare for next year!

Antheil’s Literacy Festival

Mr. Breiner Wrote a Book!

Fisher Middle School sixth grade science teacher, Mr. Harry Breiner, has written a children’s picture book. A Boy and His Bike explores the bond between a boy, his bicycle and the imaginative adventures they share.

“Providing A Foundation For Life”

All Things Medieval!Swords, daggers, shields, catapults, castles... and

the list goes on! As part of the 8th grade curriculum on Medieval Times, the students in Mrs. Riehl's social studies class demonstrated their creative side by making models of all things Medieval!

Undefeated Teams at FMSThe Fisher Girls Basketball Team finished a fantastic

season with a 12-0 record. This is the first undefeated season for the girl’s team since 1988. Every single girl contributed to the team's overall success this season, with great enthusiasm, skill and love for the game.

FMS Intergenerational Club Fisher Middle School is proud of our Intergen-

erational Club, where 7th and 8th grade students have the opportunity to ‘adopt grandparents’ among the senior adults residing at Monroe Village in Jamesburg. It’s exciting for our ‘grandparents’ to interact with a younger generation, sharing their acquired skills and knowledge and, at the same time, enjoying the energy, creativity and vitality of young minds. Our programs vary from educational to recreational, with plenty of meaningful discus-sions throughout.

The Ewing Board of Education has seized an opportunity for savings. In February, the Board authorized School Business Administrator, Dr. Brian Falkowski, to refinance some of its outstanding long-term debt. The refinance, called a bond refunding, sought to lower interest rates on $19,490,000 of outstanding debt.

As part of the bond refunding process, Standard and Poor’s Rating Services assigned its AA-long-term rating and school issuer credit rating (ICR) to the Ewing Township Board of Education. Sherry Tracey of Phoenix Capital Advisors spoke about the rating in a recent email to the School Business Administrator, “that [AA-rating] is fantastic and the highest I have seen for any NJ school or municipality”. Standard and Poor’s rating reflects their opinion of the district’s: (a) mature, primarily residential area with good access to several regional employment bases, (b) tax base, which has remained relatively stable during the recent economic downturn with no concentration among leading taxpayers, (c) good to very strong wealth and income indicators and historically below-average unemployment levels, (d) stable financial operations with currently strong overall reserve levels, and (e) low to moderate debt burden with manageable capital needs.

As a result of the excellent rating and current economic conditions, the bonds were fully refunded on March 7, 2013 at a savings of nearly $1.3MM over 7 years, amounting to over 6% in savings.

“The strong bond rating is testament to the orga-nization and efficiency of our business office and the great work that they do,” stated Superintendent Mike Nitti. “Their efforts have allowed us to save a considerable amount of money in the future that will be beneficial to both the district and the taxpayers."

Bond Rating Leads to Savings

Fisher Family Pasta NightFisher Middle School

April 4th from 4-8pm Food, gift basket auction,

good times!

Proceeds benefit FMS students.Call 609-865-9869 for information

New Jersey State Testing Revisions The State of New Jersey is moving to a new testing

program within the next two years, known as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessments. Next year will be a pilot year with the new testing program being fully implemented in two years. The new testing program will be an on-line format with testing windows instead of specified testing dates. Students in elementary and middle schools will be tested in the areas of mathematics and language arts. High school students will test at the end of a course in the areas of mathematics, language arts, science and social studies with specified end of course tests over the four years.

Currently, the State of New Jersey’s graduation requirement includes students passing a State test. For the past several years, the High School Proficiency Assessment has been the investment utilized and will continue to be the same assessment for all New Jersey current seniors, juniors and sophomores. Beginning with the Class of 2016 (current freshmen), the new on-line end-of-course tests will be administered prior to graduation. For more information on PARCC assessment, visit http://www.parcconline.org/contact.

The Fisher Boys Basketball Team finished the year with a perfect 12-0 record. The highlight of the year was when the boys overcame a 15 point deficit with 3 min-utes to go, and an 8 point deficit with 1 minute to go to score the victory over Kreps Middle School on Decem-ber 13th. All year, the high-powered offense came to play averaging an incredible 76 points per game while only giving up an average of 43 points per game.

?Superintendent’s Office609-538-9800 ext. 1102

E-mail: cpankiewicz@ewingboe.orgWebsite: www.ewing.k12.nj.us

For Questions or Information,Please contact:

GoodNews is an official publication of The Ewing Public Schools

©2013 GoodNews

Design and Layout by Daniella Crescente

The Ewing Public SchoolsApril 2013 Schedule in Ewing SchoolsApril 3 TEMPO Ex Ed @ 7:30pmApril 8-12 FMS - Book FairApril 10 TEMPO Gen Mtg @ 7:30pm Parkway - Spring PicturesApril 11 Family Math Night Grades K-1 - 6-8pm @ AntheilApril 13 OotM States @ EHSApril 18 FMS - FPA Mtg @ 6:30pm Antheil - PTO @ 6:45pm EHS - Junior Parents Night @ 6:30pmApril 19-21 Lore - Camp BernieApril 22 Parkway - 5th Grade Parents Mtg @ 6:30pm; PTA @ 7pmApril 24 Lore - Vocal Concert @ 9:30am & 7pmApril 25 Schools Closed - Staff Development April 29 BOE Meeting @ FMSApril 29-30 NJASK Grades 7-8

Board of Education Mrs. Stephanie Staub, Mr. Carl Benedetti, Jr., President Vice President Ms. Maria Benedetti Mr. Kenneth J. Bradley Mr. Kevin J. Ewell Mr. Anthony D. Mack Mrs. Karen A. McKeon Mr. Anthony F. Messina

Mr. Bruce J. White

The Ewing Public Education Channel (FIOS Channel 31 and Comcast Channel 19) displays district and school information as well as airing concerts and awards ceremonies as they are taped. DVDs are available for purchase from the videographer by contacting cpankiewicz@ewingboe.org.

The Instant Alert system is an important communication tool in The Ewing Public Schools. A link is available on our website under Site Shortcuts/School Closings/Instant Alert. Information about managing notifications/profile settings, categories, updates and logons is posted here. It is the responsibility of the parent/staff member to manage the profile for receiving alerts. If you are receiving alerts and are not a member of the Ewing Schools Community, please notify us and we will remove your number from the system (538-9800 X1102 or cpankiewicz@ewingboe.org).

Virtual Backpacks, Calendars and Headlines pages on the website are where you will find up-to-the minute information on district-wide events, deadlines, fundraisers and interesting stories about our schools, students and staff. Mercer County and Ewing community events, such as Ewing Recreation information, are posted on the VBP/Community Info page. On the website, school-specific events are posted under the calendar page on each school website. Although the district prints and distributes an annual calendar/handbook, we maintain the web calendars with up-to-the minute events. Be sure to check VBP, headlines and calendars daily for important information!

Residency Investigation Hotline 538-9800 x8999 Anonymous Tip Hotline 538-9800 x1199

Policies and Regulations: All current policies and regulations for The Ewing Public Schools are available on our website under the Board of Education/Board Policy/Regulation tab. Documents under review by the Board of Education are also listed.

Safety Town 2013Safety Town begins on Monday, June 24th and ends on Friday, June 28, 2013. This is a safety program designed for children who are entering Kindergarten in September 2013. The program is open to all children of Ewing Township. It is co-sponsored by The Ewing Board of Education and The Kiwanis Club of Ewing Township. Space is limited. Please visit the district website homepage for additional details and the registration form.

Please visit our website daily for up-to-the minute information.

Ewing Twp Recreation InfoPlease check the Virtual Backpack link under our website homepage headlines for important information pertaining to Ewing Rec opportunities and events. Details and registration forms are posted on the Virtual Backpack/Community Information page of the website.

The Ewing public Schools TweetThe District uses Twitter as a means of sharing ‘what’s happening now’ information. The Twitter page for The Ewing Public Schools can be found at www.twitter.com/TheEwingSchools.

The EHS Boys Varsity Bowling Team had an incredible year winning the Liberty Division Championship of the Burlington County Scholastic League with a 13 - 3 -1 record. Matt Post, Patrick Jones, Connor Orr, Donald Trabosh and Justin Dempsey also made 1st Team All-Stars in the league. The team qualified

for the Central Jersey Group II Sectional Tournament and won the New Jersey Group II State Championship. They ended the season third in the entire state of all high schools and all groups.