Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Ron Barbarulo, a master plumber with a passion for coaching youth sports, is running for re-election to the Fair Lawn Board of Education.
This is the first in a series of profiles about each of the six Fair Lawn Board of Education candidates. Three educators with advanced degrees, a financial risk expert and a lawyer comprise this year’s stable of Board of Education candidates. And then there’s Ron Barbarulo, the master plumber with an assertive, tell-it-like-it-is approach. Barbarulo, who went straight to trade school after graduating from Paramus Catholic in 1981, believes his unique background has brought a breath of fresh air to the board during his three-year tenure. “I don’t think you need a board made up of all educators,” said Barbarulo, after a recent board meeting. “I think you need a variety of people on the board to help because it takes a variety of items to run…
Monday, August 27, 2012
Entering her second year as a fifth-grade teacher at Warren Point in September, Lisi-Neumann said she's hoping for more parental involvement in her classroom endeavors.
With the first day of school less than two weeks away, Patch will be introducing readers to some of Fair Lawn School District's reigning "Teachers of the Year," as well as district educators who are moving into new roles in the district or who are simply new to the district. Each has been kind enough to answer a few questions we've posed to them about their teaching philosophy and what has informed their approach over the years. Kathy Lisi-Neumann is a fifth-grade teacher at Warren Point Elementary School and its 2011-2012 Teacher of the Year. She was born and raised in Maywood, where she lives with her husband, Gary, a general contractor who owns One-Seventeen Builders and serves as Maywood's assistant fire chief. Kathy and Gary have four…
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
The superintendent will respond to a series of resident-submitted questions submitted about the school budget and taxes at a public meeting in late September or early October.
The cost-conscious group of residents who call themselves the “Unhappy Taxpayers of Fair Lawn NJ,” are in the process of gathering school spending-related questions from within their ranks to pose to the district’s superintendent who has agreed to provide answers at a special public meeting next month. Members of the group, whose stated mission is reduce taxes by reining in school and government spending, expressed concerns with the district’s teacher salaries and per pupil costs at the Board of Education meeting on July 19. They had approached the borough council asking for similar municipal spending justifications earlier in the month. Board members responded to the group's concerns by explaining that in many cases the district’s …
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wayne Robbins of "Inside Fair Lawn," speaks with food pantry coordinator Liz Twiggs about the pantry's needs this time of year
It's hard to believe, but it's already getting to be time to start doing your Back to School shopping. Wayne Robbins of "Inside Fair Lawn," visited the Fair Lawn Food Pantry this week to chat with pantry coordinator Liz Twiggs, and a few food pantry volunteers. Besides the everyday items that the food pantry can always use, Liz and her team are also in need of school supplies for this coming school year. Backpacks, multi-subject notebooks, folders, erasable pens and items for middle and high school students are most in demand. New or used graphing calculators are also needed for Fair Lawn's older students. Donations can be dropped off at the municipal building's Health and Human Services Department, located in Room 112. For more …
Monday, July 23, 2012
Other district capital improvement projects planned for this summer include the replacement of the Edison School boiler and the high school band room's roof.
The Board of Education awarded bids on four major capital improvement projects Thursday at a total cost of just under $500,000. More than half of that half-million will go toward the third and final phase of bleacher repair at Sasso Field, the high school's football field. "This will complete the replacement of all sections of the bleachers on the home side," board member John Mancinelli said. "We have not come up with a plan to dispose of, or do anything with, the visitors side." The bleachers, deemed unsafe, were scheduled for a full replacement five years ago, but financial constraints have forced the district to fix them in phases. Portions of the bleachers still awaiting repair are roped off from spectators. Roselle Park-based …
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Fair Lawn School District spends just over $17,000 per student annually.
- SCHOOLS
-
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Modified from NJ Spotlight: Fair Lawn spent 5.5 percent less per student on education and other costs related to running a school district last year, but it was still slightly more than the typical New Jersey school district spends -- $17,079 compared to about $16,6000 for the average district. Like Fair Lawn, most districts spent less per pupil in 2010-11 than in 2009-10, in part because of tough state-imposed spending caps and aid, according to data from the 2010-11 New Jersey School Report Card issued earlier this month by the state Department of Education. The state this year changed the way it reported total per-pupil spending to include items not previously calculated, including employee pension contributions. State officials say …
Thursday, June 7, 2012
This week Patch takes a look at a number of district educational trends revealed in the Department of Education’s annual Report Card, released May 31.
When Superintendent Bruce Watson scans Fair Lawn’s School Report Card – the district performance overview issued annually by the state -- he sees growth. Fair Lawn is right up there, if not better, than its socioeconomic peers and even socioeconomically wealthier districts when it comes to test scores, administration/student ratio and per pupil cost, he said. “There’s only one thing I’m not happy with, never have been,” Watson said after poring over the School Report Card. “The comparison of instructional time.” Fair Lawn’s daily instructional time trails the state average at the middle school and elementary school level. Watson said he’s most concerned with the instructional time gap at the elementary level, where during the 2010-2011 …
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
This week Patch takes a look at a number of district educational trends revealed in the Department of Education’s annual Report Card, released May 31.
Contrary to the public perception that Fair Lawn has too many high-paid administrators in its school district, this year's annual state School Report Card finds that the district has actually had fewer administrators per student than the New Jersey average for at least the past three years. Released Thursday, the School Report Card provides a district-by-district overview of public school performance across the state, with information on student demographics and performance, staff information and district financial data for the 2010-2011 school year. Fair Lawn employed 23 administrators across nine schools during the 2010-2011 school year, or about 2.5 administrators per school. By comparison, the average New Jersey school district had 26 …
Monday, May 14, 2012
Natalie Lacatena will replace interim assistant superintendent Judith Moran on July 1.
It’s not often that Memorial Middle School principal Natalie Lacatena turns down an opportunity to try something new. “There’s not very many things that I’m going to say ‘no’ to,” said Lacatena, who on a whim after 9/11 agreed to dress as a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and has kept up the gig for the past 11 years. “Why not try things? What’s the worst that could happen?” Knowing Lacatena, it’s not surprising then that when she was approached about replacing Judith Moran to become the district’s next assistant superintendent she jumped at the offer. A former special education teacher, Lacatena has worked as a district principal since 2003 -- first at Radburn Elementary and then for the past two years at Memorial. She’ll …
Thursday, May 10, 2012
New Jersey Arts Education Census Project surveys nearly all schools to compare arts education offerings.
- SCHOOLS
-
Thursday, May 10, 2012
As a district, Fair Lawn scored in the 'Above Average' range in a statewide survey of arts education programs in New Jersey, but some schools within the district fared better than others. The survey, released Thursday, found a correlation between schools with more arts education programs and greater proficiency scores on the language sections of the state's High School Proficiency Assessment. Forrest and Westmoreland Elementaries scored best among district schools, individually receiving a "High" ranking, the top ranking possible in the survey. All other elementary schools and Thomas Jefferson Middle School received "Above Average," marks. Fair Lawn High School was rated only "Average." Memorial Middle School was not included in the …
Isaac Finkelstein
1:03 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
From the article: "If reelected, Barbarulo said his goal is to find money in the budget to bring back a number of the music programs the district has had to drop in recent years due to budget cuts. He’s also hoping to eventually find funding to install lights and artificial surface at the football field, and work with the FLHS Athletic Hall of Fame Committee to find a dedicated home for the … more ›