September brings new school, programs, staff

BY JOHN DUNPHY
Staff Writer

JEFF GRANIT staff South River Superintendent of Schools Ronald Grygo visits a classroom in the new Primary School as second-grade teacher Tara Randall readies her bulletin board for the new school year. SOUTH RIVER — It’s back-to-school time.

While for some children, September arrives with a feeling of absolute dread, not everyone is looking at Tuesday, the first day of school in South River, with a weary eye.

Jennifer Drager sure isn’t.

“I’m extremely excited,” the new fifth-grade teacher at South River Elementary School said of the impending start of classes. “I can’t wait.”

For Drager, a Monroe Township resident, this will be her second year of teaching in the borough. Last year, Drager finished her bachelor’s degree requirements at Rider University by student teaching in the district.

“I’ve actually been around the community for a while,” having attended Corpus Christi Catholic School on David Street as a child, she said. She decided to return to South River full time this year because of the warm reception she has received from the community.

“I did a lot of my practicums in other districts,” Drager said. “I never felt as comfortable and welcomed by the teachers, students, administration and community as I do in South River.”

Drager isn’t the only one starting fresh this year. Some 28 teachers are either joining the district or will be starting new positions within the district.

Superintendent of Schools Ronald Grygo is also excited about the new year for a number of reasons. Not only is the district debuting a new K-2 primary school on Johnson Place, a number of new academic programs will be introduced.

Singapore Math, a new form of teaching mathematics, will be implemented in grades one through four.

For high school students, the district will be offering advanced placement (AP) courses for the first time in South River.

“We’re going to offer them in language arts and sciences,” Grygo said. “We’re starting out with two and hoping every year to expand the program into other content areas.”

The district currently has a similar program in place called the Middle College Program. Like AP courses, qualifying students will take college prep courses and can earn credits toward college.

With AP courses, which will run alongside the Middle College Program, students will be able to gain credits for almost every college in the country, whereas there are only about 100 colleges that will accept credits from the Middle College Program.

“It’s like a head start,” Grygo said of the programs. “They have the depth of curriculum a college course would contain. We have many, many bright kids who deserve that opportunity.”

The middle school will adopt a block scheduling program for language arts and mathematics, something Grygo said will double the amount of instructional time for those programs, from 40-minute classes to 80 minutes.

“This will give the teachers an opportunity to work individually with particular students who need to have the attention of the teacher,” he said. “It also provides the ability to do a greater degree of project-based and problem-based learning activities that are of high interest to the students.

“What’s often frustrating,” Grygo added, “is that the students begin to get immersed in a project and then the teacher says it’s time to clean up. Eighty minutes allows a greater amount of time for continuity.”

Drager, who is currently working toward her master’s degree at Rutgers University, will be part of a similar program in her fifth-grade class. Her homeroom class will be with her for the first half of the day, then another teacher’s class will come in for math and science classes.

“I think it’s a wonderful transition to middle school,” she said. “The students still maintain a close-knit class and community.”

As the clock rapidly approaches zero hour, there is a great deal of enthusiasm for South River’s 2005-06 school year.

“I can’t wait to try everything I learned in college and from student teaching,” Drager said. “I’m emphasizing a class and community filled with respect — for themselves, each other and for the classroom.”