Long Branch School Year Kicks Off With New Initiatives

Long Branch School District Superintendent Michael Salvatore believes students are in store for great things for the 2011-12 school year.

Between new teaching initiatives and increased use of technology, Salvatore said he wants students to "get excited about learning."

On the third day of classes at the Amerigo A. Anastasia Elementary School, which encompasses children from Pre-K through fifth grade, teachers are making full use of the new initiatives and technology being implemented this year.

Kindergarten teacher Betsy Keli, is back at the Anastasia School after teaching elsewhere for the last few years.

Keli said she has been making use of a SMART Slate and SMART Board. Anything that is written on the slate displays on the board. 

Salvatore said 486 SMART Boards have been installed throughout the district's classrooms in the last two years.

"They allow teachers to be out in the classrooms with the students and not just have their backs turned to them at a blackboard," Salvatore said.

"I can use the SMART Board to demonstrate how to write letters and lines," Keli said.

Fellow kindergarten teacher Michele LaPiana said she has been making good use of the school's updated web site. Each member of the faculty and staff has their own page, and are encouraged to update it throughout the year with information about what they will be teaching in class and also by posting pictures of student activities and projects.

"It's great, because parents are going to see what we are doing," LaPiana said.

"We want to get more parents to see the sites, and it appears to be working," Salvatore said. "We've had 46,000 hits on the home page alone in the first week."

Salvatore said some teachers have even gone as far as to upload digital textbooks to the site and have started student blogs.

Salvatore also said the new web site has a translation feature that allows visitors to view it in 15 languages.

The district has also been using laptops in classrooms, and teachers are making full use of the technology.

Fifth grade teacher Mary Mazzacco said students in her class are allowed to use the school laptops for the first time.

"The technology is a very big part of what we do," Mazzacco said.

She said students do most of their work from the classroom but can also bring them home to complete writing assignments.

Allen Godinez, 10, said he is looking forward to using the laptops, which will be used for the first time next week.

"It's going to help me with my work," Godinez said. "Instead of going to the library, I can look stuff up on there."

Salvatore said he has spent a lot of time this summer identifying strengths and weaknesses of the district and will be starting some new initiatives this year.

He said he would like principals to spend more time in classrooms to observe students and teachers and said they have been asked to chart how much time they spend doing so.

Salvatore said programs such as Study Island allow teachers to see how their students are testing in real-time.

"Programs such as this allow teachers to make adjustments," Salvatore said. "We want start improving students learning and quality of education."