Attendance at the first board of education meeting with Cheryl Balletto as the interim superintendent was standing room only. Parents, faculty members, and residents watched as the Board presented highlights and accomplishments of the previous school year.
"As Henry Ford said, ‘Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success,’" Balletto said. "Our team is made up students, staff, the Board members, parents, and the community."
Some of the district’s principals highlighted previous accomplishments and talked about the future.
"We have an endless list of progress," said Rosemary Giacomelli, principal of the Lewis F. Cole Middle School. "We’re on our way to a successful year. And the Parent Teacher Association helped tremendously. This is a clean slate. What’s past is behind us now."
Balletto said that working together is a necessity if the district is to improve.
"We depend on community involvement," Balletto said.
Parental involvement in fundraising efforts, student and family events, and donations also contributed to a successful year, the Board said. District officials highlighted some of the positive achievement from the past and talked about the future.
"Our Latchkey program introduced an educational component that covered everything from math to cooking," Balletto said. "We completed contract negotiations so that everything would be finished when teachers come back in the fall. And we hired a new superintendent."
Despite the recent retirement announcement by Jean North, director of special services, after a controversial tenure, the Board described improvements in that area.
"We appointed an in-house person for the occupational therapist position," said Balletto. "We save money and the children see the same person each time instead of someone different every time."
Balletto clarified some of the figures involving the special education program. The state mandated that special needs children currently attending other school districts be brought back to the Fort Lee School District starting in September.
"We are bringing back six to eight children from out of district this year," said Balletto. "We have a total of 68 children currently out of district and a total of 318 children altogether in the program. We hope to bring back as many as possible over time."
The Board has not started interviewing candidates to replace North but did begin to advertise for the position this week.
