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BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON, NEW JERSEY—The Westwood Regional School District welcomed members Darlene Mandeville, Stephen Kalish, and Susan Swietkowski to new three-year terms at its Jan. 10 reorganization meeting at the high school’s Hurley Theater.
Moreover, Westwood residents Joseph Blundo and Swietkowski were named board vice president and president, respectively.
Swietkowski takes over for township resident Mandeville in that role.
Raymond Gonzalez was reappointed Superintendent of Schools, Keith A. Rosado was appointed school business administrator/board secretary, and Debbie Carpino was appointed treasurer of school monies.
FKA Architects is architect of records. You’ll see that name again as the district follows through on deeper planning for a greatly expanded grades 6–8 middle school in Westwood, which voters approved in a Dec. 12 referendum seeking $24 million.
Fogarty & Hara Esqs., are named as the board attorneys. Their rate is set at $175 for partner, $155 for associate.
Machado Law Group, LLC, is special education attorney and special legal counsel (at a $165 blended rate for partners and associates and $75 for paralegals).
The board next meets at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 28 for its budget work session; March 15 for an adoption of a preliminary budget; March 29; then April 26, for the annual budget hearing.
Student artwork and overall achievement honored
The meeting was enlivened by the display of artwork produced by Middle School students under the direction of Karen Bloch.
The artists are sixth graders David Barrantes, Anthony Batelli, Isabella Bedoya, Michael Carcich, Cameron McPherson, Jonathan Rehm, Julia Sisti, Joseph Terzano, and Duilio Vidals, and seventh graders Victoria Bermeo-Vargas, Luke Burns, Jackson Goldflam, Nicholas Kawasaki, and Nicholas Sandiford.
Addressing themselves to these and other fine students attending district schools, the board recognized and congratulated the following students of the month for December 2017:
Allaine Lara, sixth grade; Ava Van Auken, seventh grade; Daniel Lin, eighth grade; and Isabelle Mignanelli, 12th grade.
The board also congratulated and recognized John Saunders, 12th grade student, for earning the rank of Eagle Scout.
According to reports from Board of Education Student Representatives Eric Kopp and Sydney Lewis, academics, the arts, athletics, and clubs and activities are well under way as the first semester of the year winds down. Here are highlights:
Academics
- Purvik Patel’s Fabrication and Design 1 class is creating picture frames of different sizes. Students choose from cherry, maple, and oak stock to create aesthetically appealing and functional frames as gifts.
- Elizabeth Collier’s Marketing class is learning about product placement. For their final project, students are placing products and objects in movies or television shows to demonstrate how companies market their products without audiences necessarily knowing it.
The arts
- The Woodington Players are excited to rehearse for their spring musical “The Addams Family,” which will be performed March 22–23 at 7 p.m., and March 24 at 1 and 7 p.m. For ticket information, including a preview for seniors, write woodiestickets @gmail.com.
- Two students performed with the Music Educators of Bergen County Band on Jan. 15: Nicholas Napier was principal alto saxophone and Gabby Dunay performed on the English horn. Napier plays with other honors jazz groups around the state.
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Athletics
High school athletes have a lot to be proud of as the season progresses.
- On Jan. 13 the boys basketball program hosted the 5th Annual Cardinals vs. Cancer game, raising funds for young students Ian Brown and Joey Bulger, as well as teacher Ellen Attanasio’s family, for their battle with cancer. Included were donations for Ian Brown who is recovering from brain surgery. [For more information, see Pascack Press’s Jan. 22 issue, “Cardinals Vs. Cancer, page 1.]
- The wrestling team has enjoyed a solid season, recently beating North Bergen 38 to 19. Westwood student-athletes Benny Dahdah and Cole Pfeufer both won by pins in the third period. Trent Furman won by technical fall, 17-0, to give Westwood a convincing lead.
Clubs and activities
- The Book Club held its Chipotle fundraiser on Jan. 15 and 18. The club is planning to use the proceeds to offset the cost of attending BookCon on June 2 and 3. Students will meet and learn from the authors of some of their favorite books.
- The senior class is having a Panera fundraiser on Feb. 6 from 4 to 8 p.m. A portion of your total bill will be forwarded to the Senior Class.
- The annual senior tubing trip is planned for Feb. 26.
Audit, technology, and self assessment reports
At the meeting, the board reviewed its School Self-Assessment for Determining District and School Grades Report; heard a report on the state of technology at WWRSD, presented by Michael Rightmire and Jeffrey Bradbury; and heard a report on the 2016-2017 district audit, presented by Robert Haag of Lerch, Vinci, and Higgins, LLP, district auditors.
The technology review is available on the district website.
“The auditor did a verbal overview to the board confirming that we received an unmodified audit report that represents the highest rating and that there were no repeat audit findings,” Gonzalez told Pascack Press.