Tuesday, April 23, 2013
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney will address Rowan University's 88th graduating class.
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Tuesday, April 23
Rowan University submitted the following news release: New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney will be the keynote speaker at Rowan University's 88th undergraduate commencement ceremony on Friday, May 17, at 10 a.m. on the Glassboro campus' University Green. "Senator Sweeney has been an ardent supporter of the University and instrumental in helping transform our institution and the region," said Dr. Ali Houshmand, Rowan University's president. "Our graduating seniors can learn much from Senator Sweeney about vision and leadership from his anything-is-possible outlook." Sweeney, who represents the 3rd Legislative District, was first elected to the State Senate in 2001 and has served as its president since 2010. He sponsored the New …
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Nearly 200 volunteers were recognized by the board of education Tuesday, and the board also accepted the resignation of one of its members.
Nearly 200 volunteers were recognized by the Cinnaminson board of education Tuesday for their contributions to the school district. Door greeters, room parents, volunteers with the Drama Club and Home and School, and more, were presented with small gifts—a token of the district’s appreciation. “It really is just a token, because there really isn’t anything we can give to express our gratitude to these people,” said Superintendent Salvatore Illuzzi. “In all honesty, this district would not be as good as it is, without the help and support of these folks.” Board Member Stephen Kenny remarked that, with nearly 200 volunteers, the district had roughly one volunteer for every 10 students. “I never realized the depth of commitment,” he said. (…
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
The state's Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending is out. Find out how the district has been using your money, including why per pupil spending spiked last year.
Per pupil spending for the Cinnaminson School District jumped from 2011-12 to 2012-13, driven largely by significant increases in special education, employee benefits and maintenance, according to Superintendent Salvatore Illuzzi. According to information provided by the state Department of Education in its "Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending," the budgetary per pupil cost in Cinnaminson climbed from $13,269 in 2010-11, to $13,373 in 2011-12, and to $14,463 for the 2012-13 school year. Illuzzi pointed to a $900,000 increase in special education costs, a more than $400,000 increase for employee benefits and a $500,000 increase in maintenance and operations—among other factors—to explain the jump in per pupil spending from 2011-12 to …
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Cinnaminson School District officials are working on a plan to add more security cameras inside and outside all four school buildings.
Cinnaminson School District officials envision a school security system which would allow police officers—as well as school staff—to patch into live security camera feeds at all of its buildings. District staff, including business administrator Tom Egan, as well as Cinnaminson Police Director Mickey King, met with a representative from a Pennsylvania-based security company last week to discuss the district's plans to install more security cameras inside and outside its buildings. Egan said the company will soon do a walk-through of each of the district's four buildings and provide proposals, breaking down the costs for exterior and interior installation. In addition to the cameras, the buildings will also be outfitted with the hardware …
Cinnaminson is lagging in several areas—while excelling in others—of the state's School Performance Report, released this week.
The state's School Performance Report paints a less-than-favorable picture of Cinnaminson high school and middle school, showing them lagging compared to other districts in several categories, while Rush Intermediate School outperforms many other schools in the state. According to the report, Cinnaminson Middle School lags—in some cases significantly—behind its peers and the rest of the state in several categories, particularly Academic Performance and College and Career Readiness. But Superintendent Salvatore Illuzzi questioned the validity of the report, noting that it erroneously omits the eighth grade NJ ASK scores in one section. "So obviously the scores are incorrect," he said. The high school also lags in a couple categories, …
Friday, April 5, 2013
Probably not, which is why Cinnaminson's Rachel Henry is headed to the National Geographic Bee at Rowan University and you're not.
If you'd asked Rachel Henry a couple years ago whether she was interested in geography, she would have given you a resounding "No." Fast-forward two years, and Rachel, 14, is ready to represent Cinnaminson Middle School in the state finals of the National Geographic Bee at Rowan University Friday. Rachel attributes her unexpected interest in the subject to a geography course she took at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University two years ago. It also doesn't hurt that her family logs a lot of frequent-flyer miles. "It's nice to learn about something in a book, but it's always better to be there," said Rachel's mother, Elise, who noted that the family is taking a trip to Europe this summer. "We definitely encourage the kids' learning as much as…
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Cinnaminson hopes the governor will release money in a re-election year so the district can improve its schools—but it'll still need permission from voters.
A referendum to upgrade Cinnaminson High School, along with the other district schools, could go to voters this fall—assuming the governor decides to be generous. During Tuesday's public hearing regarding the 2013-14 school budget, Superintendent Salvatore Illuzzi said the board of education is still waiting to see whether the state will provide funding for the proposed improvements. Since it's a re-election year for Gov. Chris Christie, Illuzzi said the board is hopeful the money could be released this year. "(Christie) is sitting on tons of money from a sale of bonds years ago," said the superintendent. According to Illuzzi, the state has about $500 million in construction funding that has yet to be released to districts. The total cost…
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Cinnaminson Township High School
1197 Riverton Rd, Cinnaminson, NJ
/articles/absolutely-no-commitment-from-state-for-school-upgrades
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Friday, March 29, 2013
The board of education has plans to make Cinnaminson's school buildings safer next year. Is it enough?
The Cinnaminson Board of Education is dedicated to improving school safety and security before the start of the next school year, according to Superintendent Salvatore Illuzzi. Included in the $44.3 million budget the board approved earlier this week is a $200,000 line item for capital improvements—specifically adding more cameras to all four schools, as well as the technology to support them. "What the board is looking at is adding more cameras to our schools that would look at the periphery, as well as inside the buildings," said Illuzzi. Some schools are already equipped with cameras, and some are not. But Illuzzi declined to go into specifics, for security reasons. He said the district is meeting next week with the company that set …
The Cinnaminson Board of Education approved a budget Tuesday that will increase taxes on the average assessed property by $107.
A combination of drastically reduced state aid and an alarming drop in the value of Cinnaminson's ratables has been a major contributor to the increase in school taxes township residents have felt in recent years. The board of education unanimously approved a budget Wednesday night for the 2013-14 school year that will raise the tax rate 3.8¢, to 1.576, or roughly $107 on a home assessed at the township average ($283,562). In presenting it at a public hearing Tuesday, Superintendent Salvatore Illuzzi explained the budget was as lean as it could be without cutting back on important services and programs, like athletics and transportation. "When folks say there's fat in the budget—there's nine board members and a county executive …
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Cinnaminson School District's new preschool program will provide a rich learning environment for both general and special education students, according to one educator.
A new preschool program at Cinnaminson School District will offer a rich learning experience to both general and special education students. Beginning in the 2013-14 school year, the district will launch an integrated preschool program for 4-year-olds, bringing general education students and those with learning disabilities into the same classroom. Presently, a learning-disabled preschool student in Cinnaminson whose Individualized Education Plan (IEP) calls for them to be part of a general education classroom is taught outside the district, because Cinnaminson doesn't have a model for integrated preschool, said New Albany Elementary principal John Layden. With the new program, those students will stay in-district, and be taught by …
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New Albany Elementary School
2701 New Albany Rd, Cinnaminson, NJ
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Kristi Simpkins
9:13 pm on Sunday, April 28, 2013
Jeremiah, Let me guess. Green is not your favorite color. BTW Shawn graduated from Rowan back in 2001. more ›