A message from the Superintendent –
Dear Parents, Guardians, Students, Staff and Community Members:
On behalf of the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District Board of Education, welcome to the 2013-2014 school year! We are looking forward to a great year for our students, staff, parents/guardians, and communities. We are proud to report that both North Hunterdon and Voorhees High Schools were listed this year among America’s Most Challenging High Schools in The Washington Post. In addition, Inside Jersey, a Star-Ledger magazine, listed both of our high schools among the Top Performing Public High Schools in New Jersey. We are pleased that our schools have been recognized among the best in the state and country, and we congratulate our staff and students for all their hard work and commitment.
As all students headed back to school on August 29, we would like to share the goals towards which our administration, Board of Education, and staff members will be working during the 2013-2014 school year:
- Implementing evaluation system for all certificated staff using the Stronge Evaluation Model, a state approved model.
- Continue to work towards developing a common calendar with our sending elementary districts and identifying common dates for articulation meetings. This is a Strategic Plan goal. For the 2013-2014 school year, six out of eleven sending elementary districts have matched the high school district’s calendar. We have also identified two dates for articulation meetings during this school year.
- Incorporating new technologies with a 1:1 initiative through which incoming freshmen will be issued tablets, phased in over the next four years. More information to come on this topic. This is also a Strategic Plan goal.
Though we are entering a new school year, please take a moment to review some of the accomplishments of the last year, which included:
- Graduation of 436 students from North Hunterdon and 281 from Voorhees on June 13, 2013.
- Meeting the requirements for Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind Act for both high schools.
- Obtaining determination of “meet requirements” from the N.J. Department of Education with regard to implementation of special education requirements for the 2011-2012 school year.
- Alignment of all curricula to the most current New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards in each subject area.
- Helping our students to increase their exam scores on the SAT and HSPA.
- Ratification of a new three-year contract with the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Administrators Association.
- Hiring of new administrators to fill open positions at North Hunterdon High School and in the district administration office.
- Creation of Facebook pages for each high school (a Strategic Plan goal). If you have not “Liked” our pages, please visit: www.facebook.com/northhunterdonhs or www.facebook.com/voorheeshs.
We anticipate that the 2013-2014 school year will be filled with notable accomplishments. Please check our district website, www.nhvweb.net, periodically for news and updates as well as the individual high school websites. Our Board of Education and administration thank you for your continued interest, involvement, and support of our efforts on behalf of our students. Have a great year!
Sincerely,
Charles M. Shaddow, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools