Enrollment Up in Two Grades; Brick BOE to Hire Teachers
Special meeting will take place Wednesday night
The township Board of Education will meet Wednesday night with the intent of hiring new teachers.
The special meeting is set to take place at 7 p.m. at Brick Township High School.
Additional teachers needed to be hired before the start of the 2012-13 school year because enrollment for kindergarten and first grade classes will be higher than expected, said Board President Sharon Kight.
Kight said theories behind the influx of students to the two grade levels include parents transitioning from private, full-day kindergarten programs to public school first grade classes, as well as parents choosing to enroll their children in public school rather than private school due to economic considerations.
The district will add one kindergarten class and two first grade classes this year.
A demographer has been hired to complete a study so the district can map out long-term enrollment trends and plan accordingly, Kight said.
michelle start
8:22 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
wow...why did they wait so long...they r going to confuse the poor little first graders who r ready by 12 to go home because they had have enough but they r in school till at least 3....i wonder wht schools they r talkin about for 1st grade....school starts in 13 days ..way to go ms knight
Kathy Bottone
9:03 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Michelle, part of the reason is that parents don't register their kids early enough, even though Central Registration is open every day until 4 all year long. Central Registration is at its busiest in August, even staying open until 7 one night a week to handle the influx. The district can't open classes in the hopes that kids will be registered just because they are aware the kids live in Brick, so this is the result. It has happened in the past, it is nothing new.
JD
8:23 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
What a waste of time and money for a demographer..
They did a study a few years ago...
If there are 10,000 students in the entire district, there are approximately 800 per class.
So what an extra 25 1st graders... That is within the standard deviation of what a demographer will predict... you can be up 25 one year or down 25 the next on incoming 1st graders.
Complete waste of money.
TRN Graduate
9:34 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
If Brick had full day kindergarten and a passed budget, maybe we wouldn't have these issues. Parents would send their kids to our home district instead of tuitioning them to other districts with better ratings.
Daniel Nee
11:37 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Full day kindergarten doesn't come for free, though, especially if the PLC is to be kept open. We did a story on the financial impact a few months ago. If you'd like to read it, follow this link: http://brick.patch.com/articles/should-brick-schools-offer-full-day-kindergarten
TRN Graduate
3:50 pm on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
I understand there is financial impact. My child is currently enrolled in a private school for a full day kindergarten. That too is a financial impact. :) Thanks for the link to the article
Lil'DragonMom
12:42 pm on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
There is pending legislation for our district factor group...possibly effective 2013-2014
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2012/Bills/A3000/2927_I1.PDF
they could redistrict some areas to other schools to accommodate, or they could utilize the PLC for the higher populated schools and the under enrolled schools could house their own kindergarteners.
TRN Graduate
3:51 pm on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Would love if this passes.......but I won't hold my breath ;)
jennyb
9:15 pm on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
That legislation is great if it passes. These days it is a joke to only offer half day kindergarten. There is so little that a teacher can impart in students that age in 2 1/2 hours. Once you factor in all of the other stuff like unpacking, packing up, bathroom breaks, etc....instructional time is less than 2 hours. Then the kids come to first grade already behind the game.
rick from brick
10:51 am on Friday, August 24, 2012
Well, said.Half day kindergarten is a joke. I wish the public school system had half of the concern for the quality of our kids education as their lip service suggests.
Colleen C
10:36 am on Saturday, August 25, 2012
I went to the PLC and I turned out perfectly fine. I loved my teacher and honestly, that is where most of my memories from Brick lie. Why overwork the kids who are just starting school and are trying to get the feel of school. We are talking about children ages 5-7. I think half days are good to start out with and when they jump in to first grade at least they know, "okay, it's work time." Even if they went for a full day, they're only going to sleep half of the day during nap time and in first grade, you don't get a nap time. So, what is that really telling your kids? It's okay to sleep during school?
rick from brick
10:41 am on Saturday, August 25, 2012
I wasn't aware that kids are entering kindergarten at age seven.
Colleen C
10:48 am on Saturday, August 25, 2012
Do the ages really matter. I'm sorry, let me correct myself, ages 5-6? Is that better for you, Rick? Do we get the point of my post now?
MAJ
1:31 pm on Friday, August 31, 2012
Full day makes sense in many ways. The only way our children are going to get smarter is to work more and harder. The United States is falling behind. Also, I hear we do have full day for 'specific students' - and I am NOT talking special needs.
As a parent with 4 kids in Brick Schools I am all for school improvements. It just amazes me at some of the crap that goes on.
As for quality of Brick Schools - Like anything - You get out of it what you put into it. My children all take honors classes and do quite well. We've got to push a bit harder - and stop with so much Politically correct crap. It ain't working!!
TRN Graduate
2:23 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Heard from several people brick is definitely going full day next year? Dan....can we get any confirmation on that?
keith
6:45 pm on Thursday, September 6, 2012
I heard that too...."off the record" from an administrator. I'd love to know for sure since my son will be in kindergarten next year.