Ramsay: Report says HHS test scores second in county
Page 4 • Wednesday, October 15, 2014 • The Hammonton Gazette
BOARD, from Page 1
years in the district.
“I was fortunate enough to grow up four
doors down from Mrs. Young and her family. I’ve known her my entire life… She
changed so many lives in a positive way,”
board member John Lyons said. The rest of
the board echoed similar sentiments saying
they were sorry for the loss to her family, the
student body and the community.
Official business of the meeting began
with a presentation from Hammonton High
School Principal Tom Ramsay on the state
of the high school. Citing a report by the
magazine Inside Jersey, he said Hammonton placed second out of all schools in Atlantic County trailing only behind Mainland
Regional High School.
“Our average HSPA was four or five
points behind the average Mainland HSPA
score. Our average SAT score was nine
points behind the average Mainland SAT
score,” Ramsay said.
According to Ramsay, the high school
made substantial gains in its scores on state
assessments, including the HSPA and AP
exams. In nearly every category, the high
school exceeded state and district factor
group averages.
Ramsay also reported on the district’s efforts to meet standards set by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for
College and Careers (PARCC).
“We sincerely believe that Hammonton is
ahead of the curve in its PARCC preparations,” Ramsay said. He continued
saying that the school has made a
large push to integrate technology
into the classrooms and for the first
time will offer the PSAT to all sophomores free of charge during the
school day.
Ramsay closed his presentation
with a short video made up of recent
graduates reflecting on how HHS
prepared them for their post-secondary education. The video can be
viewed on the home page of
www.hammontonschools.org.
Assistant Superintendent Robin
Chieco followed Ramsay with a report on the state assessment scores
in the elementary and middle
schools.
“In summary, Hammonton outperformed other District Factor
Group B schools in 83 percent of
the categories in English/language
arts, 94 percent of the categories in
mathematics and 100 percent of the
categories in biology,” Chieco said.
Compared to last year, Chieco said
the schools improved 7 percent
compared to district factor group
averages and 4.5 percent compared
to state averages.
Following the reports by Ramsay
and Chieco, the board moved onto
the action items. The first was a
vote to approve the Doctrine of Necessity, a resolution that allows
votes on pertinent matters in spite
of conflicts of interest. Board members with conflicts include Eric
Weiss, John Lyons, Thomas Attanasi, Barbara Berenato and board
president Joe Giralo.
The second item on the agenda
was a resolution to approve the
Hammonton Education Association
contract including a Memorandum
of Agreement. Board member Sam
Mento explained that under the Affordable Care Act the district would
be required to provide health benefits to teacher aides. The Memorandum of Agreement limited the
employees’ total hours to come
under the threshold that would mandate coverage.
Trick-or-Treat
Oct. 31 hours
HAMMONTON—Hammonton
Town Council approved trick-ortreat hours on September 22, according to town clerk April
Maimone.
Trick-or-treating will be held in
Hammonton on Friday, October 31
(Halloween) between 6 p.m. and
8:30 p.m.
“We have reduced the hours that the aides
will be working, but at the same time we
were able to increase their hourly rate so that
it will come out to the same salary,” Mento
said.
In other board news, the board unanimously passed the purchase order lists for
August 2014 in the amount of
$1,741,851.66. It also ratified the bill list for
October 2014 in the amount of
$1,267,464.84, the check lists for September/October 2014 in the amount of
$600,387.71 and the September 2014 payroll in the amount of $2,779,717.61.
The board also awarded