The following is a letter Dr. Petrosino sent to the Curriculum Committee on Friday, March 13, 2009...Dear Curriculum Committee,
I wanted to send a general update on where we are concerning the curriculum project and how I would like to proceed. There is much to cover but I will try to make it as concise as possible.
1) The push we had recently was very successful and many of our subject areas are now completed. Thank you for all your efforts.
2) We still have some areas that are in need of improvement and articulation. This includes technology, music, theater and science.
3) I believe it is safe to say that we are finished with the initial draft of the curriculum and we did so by the mid February deadline.
4) We are now in the process of soliciting both internal and external review of the mapping and the curriculum. I’m hoping this process takes about 1 month.
5) When we receive comments back from the reviewers, I would like to count on another quick iteration of incorporating feedback into the curriculum writing process.
6) My goal is to have a finalized curriculum ready for submission to the Board of Education by the May meeting.
Some other items:
a) I would like to have a series of presentations of the curriculum to the community. My thought is to use the auditorium in Brandt for some opening comments and then have the curriculum teams go up to your individual rooms on the 3rd floor. Community members (mostly parents) will then go to each classroom (subject area) and talk about the curriculum I call this the “parents night” model---similar to how we usually do Parents Night in the district. I am in the process of planning this and will be in contact soon with more details.
b) In your next pay check should be any “retro” money you should receive due to your new contract. This will include hours submitted after July 1, 2008. If you have any problems with this please e-mail Carol Whalen asap and I’ll be sure to address the matter.
c) As part of Institute Day next week, I am coordinating with the Principals to give an overview of the Grade 4-8 curriculum to all district teachers. If you would like to help out as a representative of the Curriculum Committee I would really appreciate it. Please e-mail me and let me know if you are interested. This is essential and vital work.
I will e-mail you early next week with more specifics. I would like to schedule a general meeting with everyone as soon as possible.
Have a nice weekend and congratulations on completing the initial draft.
All the best, -P
Dr. Anthony Petrosino
Assistant to the Superintendent of Schools
1115 Clinton St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030
(201) 356-3604
anthony.petrosino@hoboken.k12.nj.us
Picture: In the Harper's Weekly of 15 October 1859, a spread was devoted to two games being played on Hoboken's Elysian Fields. Across the top was an image of a cricket match. Across the bottom was this image of a baseball game.
