Enrollment will exceed 11,000 in high schools

Enrollment will
exceed 11,000
in high schools
Howell High School
will welcome 1,800
students, new principal
By dave benjamin
Staff Writer

The Freehold Regional High School District will crack another historic plateau this fall. More than 11,000 students are expected to fill the classrooms of the six schools in the district.

Ninth-graders will report for orientation on Sept. 3 and classes will begin on Sept. 4 for all students. New staff orientation will begin today, Aug. 27, with a district-wide orientation meeting and new staffers will report to their home schools for a new staff orientation tomorrow. There will be an in-service program on Sept. 2 for all staff and all staff will report on Sept. 3.

"The opening of school each September is an exciting time to reflect upon the accomplishments of the past year, while establishing new challenges for our wonderful staff and students," said Superintendent of Schools James Wasser. "This year is no different. We will continue to focus our energies on our mission statement, ‘Charting a Future of Excellence in Education.’ "

Although district administrators must deal with another defeated budget, the focus will be on the outstanding and talented students to be greeted very soon, Wasser said, adding that the FRHSD will continue to maintain its excellent reputation throughout the county and the state.

Wasser said a construction project at Freehold Borough High School will be completed by winter. This is the final phase of a $69 million referendum voters approved several years ago for upgrades and additions at district schools.

"As a result [of the referendum], all of our high schools have state-of-the-art facilities that will accommodate our students, staff, academic programs and extracurricular activities," Wasser said. "The central office and high school administration have been busy during the summer preparing the facilities and hiring the necessary staff. We have been fortunate to recruit some of the best teachers, support positions and administrators to add to our growing staff."

The superintendent said it has been anticipated that 500 new students will be entering the FRHSD this fall, bringing the total number of students to a figure above the 11,000 level.

According to enrollment figures provided by the district, there will be 1,400 students at Colts Neck High School; 1,280 students at Freehold Borough High School; 2,060 students at Freehold Township High School; 1,800 students at Howell High School; 2,250 students at Manalapan High School; and 2,300 students at Marlboro High School.

"This year all schools are faced with new educational mandates from the federal and state governments [known as] No Child Left Behind," Wasser said. "These mandates will place a tremendous burden on all schools to close the educational achievement gap even though many schools have defeated budgets. We have been planning this past year to meet the challenges and provide creative educational programs to meet the needs of our students."

During the summer months, staff moves and changes have been made at most of the high schools in the district.

Zina Duerbig will be the new principal at Howell, replacing Barbara McMorrow, who retired. Duerbig was formerly an assistant principal at Marlboro.

Dawn Forgerson will be an assistant principal at Marlboro. Norman Mopsick has moved from Howell and will be an assistant principal at Colts Neck. Richard Allen has moved from Marlboro and will be an assistant principal at Freehold Borough.

Kathy Taler, who was formerly the district supervisor of science, will now be an assistant principal at Howell. Kenneth Baum joins the district as a new assistant principal at Howell.

Supervisory changes have also been made. Linda Abrams is now the special­ized learning center supervisor for inter­national studies in addition to her exist­ing assignment as district supervisor for social studies and building supervisor for social studies at Freehold Township.

Cynthia Baumgartner is now the dis­trict supervisor for English. She will also be the building supervisor for English at Freehold Township, having moved from Howell.

At Manalapan, Kim Fox will now be the specialized learning center supervi­sor for science and engineering in addi­tion to her assignment as building su­pervisor for science.

Daniel Green will now be building supervisor for English in addition to his existing assignment as specialized learning center supervisor for performing arts and humanities at Howell.

At Freehold Borough, Nicholas Mennuti is now the building supervisor for science and the district supervisor for science in addition to his existing as­signment as specialized learning center supervisor for the medical science pro­gram. Mennuti will no longer be the specialized learning center supervisor for science and engineering, and will only be assigned to Freehold Borough.

Moving from Freehold Borough to Colts Neck will be Denise Scanga, who will be the building supervisor for sci­ence.

Gary Wojcik is now the supervisor for elective programs at Howell, including applied technology, business administra­tion, life science and technology, art and music.

At Marlboro, Fred Zuck will be the specialized learning center supervisor for business administration and the building supervisor for social studies.

Schools will be closed on the follow­ing dates: Oct. 6, Yom Kippur; Nov. 6-7, NJEA Convention; Nov. 27-28, Thanksgiving; Dec. 23 at the end of day through Jan. 4, 2004, Winter Recess. Schools will reopen on Jan. 5.

Schools will be closed Jan. 19, Martin Luther King Jr. Day; Feb. 16, Presidents’ Day; April 5-11, Spring Recess. Schools will reopen on April 12. Schools will be closed for Memorial Day, May 31.

The last day of class for students will be June 16, and the last day for staff will be June 17. Graduation is scheduled for June 16.