Gloucester City Board of Education Hires Local Resident for Superintendent Position
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
By Anne Forline
Gloucester City News
April 17 CNBNEWS NOTE: According to Mr. Rafferty the length of his contract and his salary are still being negotiated. That information will be announced when it is available.
After returning from Executive Session during its April 4th meeting, the Gloucester City Board of Education (BOE) approved a motion to appoint Joseph Rafferty (photo) as the new Superintendent of Schools.
Beginning July 1 Rafferty, who lives in Gloucester City, will serve as superintendent for the nest three years, conditional upon an acceptable contract to both parties.
Rafferty will replace Superintendent Paul Spaventa, who contract was not renewed last year.
School Board members not at the meeting were Adam Baker, Bruce Darrow, Patrick Hagan and Ed Hubbs.
Since 2006, Rafferty has been the Mount Ephraim Superintendent of Schools.
A 1979 graduate of Gloucester Catholic High School, Rafferty had been a teacher at both Gloucester Catholic and Gloucester City high schools.
Also, he had been the Assistant Principal at Mary Ethel Costello School in Gloucester City.
In other business, the BOE approved the following resolutions:
A motion to approve the request for a sick leave transfer to another employee per the information received.
A motion regarding homebound out-of-district programs as listed.
Various motions to approve personnel action items as listed, workshops, field trips and fundraisers, new hires, retirements, salary adjustments, leaves of absences and substitute teachers as listed.
Concerning curriculum, a motion was made and approved for the “Journeys”
reading program for first through fifth grade.
Also approved were motions regarding a School Resource Officer for the 2012-13 school year, tuition contracts for homeless students, the sale and disposal of certain equipment at the high school and Highland Park Program For Success, and to re-allocate No Child Left Behind SES funds.
The School Board okayed a resolution approving the official appointments and professional services to carry through to the January 2013 reorganization.
Members said reorganization will be delayed since school elections will now take place in November.
During the meeting, Superintendent Spaventa congratulated Gloucester City High School (GHS) girls’ basketball coach Sean Gorman for being recently named the Gloucester County Times “Girls Basketball Coach of the Year.”
Student representatives from the Highland Park Program for Success, Mary Ethel Costello and Cold Springs School addressed the BOE and gave reports.
Raquel Cannon is appreciative of the second chance that the Highland Park Program for Success has afforded her, and said the school has changed her mind about her education and allowed her to improve herself.
Raquel is grateful to the teachers who pushed her to succeed, and she has hopes to not only succeed academically, but also in life.
The students are looking forward to their upcoming field trip to Camp Edge in Alloway, where Raquel said, “We will be out in the woods learning team-building exercises.”
Fifth grade student Ryan Beswick represented Mary Ethel Costello. He was a member of February’s Character Club and enjoys many activities, such as ice-hockey, playing pin-guard at recess, and spending time with his family.
Ryan said, “All of the Mary Ethel Costello teachers are intelligent, nice and great.”
His favorite subject is math because students are always learning strategies to help solve difficult problems in a fun and competitive way. Ryan hopes this math program “stays the same forever.”
He said that the “Jump Rope for Heart” event was successful and fun. The students jumped rope at recess and helped raise money. Also, Ryan said the teachers won the “March Madness” basketball game against the sixth graders, 25-20.
Representing Cold Springs School was third grader Charles Stewart, who said he is enjoying gym class where they are learning how to square dance and do the Irish Jig.
In Language Arts, students are learning how to write stories with quotation marks. In his gifted and talented class, they are working on projects about habitats. In computers, the students are learning about the food chain.
Upcoming events at Cold Spring School are:
On April 16 and 17, the Kindergarten classes will attend the “Fur, Feathers and Scales” assembly presented by the Academy of Natural Sciences.
Also on April 16, there will be a School Leadership Committee meeting at 3:30 p.m. in the Media Center.
April 17 will be “Family Night.”
On April 20, the Pre-K classes will visit the Gloucester City Library.
On April 23, 24 and 25, there will re-registration for pre-K. Also, the parent involvement activity “Treasure Hunt with Mom or Special Guest,” for Pre-K3 will take place.
April 24, the Kindergarten will have their parent involvement math activity.
April 25, the Pre-K4 will host its parent involvement activity, “Treasure Hunt with Mom or Special Guest.”
The BOE will have its caucus meeting Thursday, May 3, at 7 p.m. and the regular meeting will be Tuesday, May 8, at 7 p.m.
Both will take place at the GHS Media Center.
source Gloucester City News Inc.