The first image that the New Jersey Republican Party posted looked familiar.

John Quattrocchi is in his fifth term as a member of the Verona Board of Education. For a time this week, he was also a candidate for his first term in the New Jersey state Assembly.

The New Jersey Republican Party put up a splashy page on its website with the Republican candidates for all the races in this November’s election, from gubernatorial hopeful Kim Guadagno to the state Senate and Assembly contenders in every district. And there, in the Republican lineup for District 22, was a photo of Verona’s Quattrocchi.

Verona is not part of District 22, an eyebrow shaped sliver that arches across central Jersey towns from Rahway to Dunellen. Verona belongs to District 26, which sprawls from here all the way up to West Milford on the New York state border. Was our BOE president thinking of abandoning the old Verona house he’s been restoring for a longer commute to his day job in Manhattan?

No. It seems that the state GOP didn’t do its homework before it put up its website. The candidate for the 22nd district is John C. Quattrocchi, a resident of Clark. Our guy is John A. Quattrocchi. But John C. didn’t put his middle initial on his filings with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. And when you do a Google image search for John Quattrocchi, our guy comes up first.

“Looks like me — a lot,” texted our Quattrocchi when MyVeronaNJ.com alerted him to his purported candidacy. “I can assure you that I have zero idea what it is about and I’m sure I don’t live in district 22.”

So what does John C. Quattrocchi look like? We don’t know. Alerted to its mistake, the state GOP replaced the initial photo with a generic logo. We’ll wish him well, though as a Republican his chances are slim in a district where registered Democrats outweigh Republicans by about three to one.

The real candidate remains a mystery.

As the 2016-17 school year came to a close, the Verona Board of Education approved a swim team for Verona High School. In previous years, VHS swimming was recognized only at the county meet with individual swimmers who qualified to participate earlier in the season through their club teams. The newly approved swim team will be a traditional high school team in that there will be daily practices, dual meets and a co-ed team, similar to the VHS track teams.

As with many other sports at VHS, especially new ones, the Verona High School swim team will be pay-to-play and fully funded by the families participating. Similar to hockey, the expenses for this team will include facility rental time for practices and meets, officiating fees, and a coach’s stipend. While the exact cost for each swimmer is still to be determined, the goal, through fundraising, is to keep it at $500 or below. For the students who have swum in summer leagues, especially the Verona Waves or club teams, this incredible opportunity for a traditional high school swim team is more than just another winter sport. It’s an opportunity to participate in a sport about which they are passionate and build camaraderie and community with fellow high school students.

To kick off the introduction of this new sport, the Verona High School Swim Team Parents Association is hosting what they anticipate will be the first annual Swim Fest at the Verona Community Pool. This free awareness raising event will be held on Tuesday, August 22, from 6 to 8 p.m. The 2017 Swim Fest will include games, pool races, land races, contests, music and of course apparel for purchase. Anyone who has ever splashed in a pool, jumped off a diving board, or taken a ride down the waterslide is encouraged and welcome to attend. If you can’t make the event, but want to know more, send an email to: vhsswimteam17@gmail.com.

The Verona High School Marching Maroon and White will hold its annual car wash fundraiser on Saturday, August 26, from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. The car wash will be held at Verona High School, 151 Fairview Avenue. Please come out to support the marching band!

I remember the day I saw the plaque. I was walking back to my dorm late one night during my second year at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Slightly hidden along the pathway was a sign that indicated I was standing on a slave cemetery. I turned to my friends and said “Oh my God, y’all. We are sleeping on the bodies of slaves.”

As crazy and jarring as that realization was, it was also not something that was abnormal at UVa. After all, the school was founded by Thomas Jefferson, a brilliant man who helped found this country—and a slave owner. The complicated story of UVa, Charlottesville, Virginia, and the South is the story of America. That is why the events that unfolded in Charlottesville and in Washington, D.C., over the past few days have not shocked me the way they have others. Many people are proclaiming that what happened in my beloved college town “wasn’t us,” but my reaction is, “Actually, this is exactly who we are.”

I think it’s important not to lose sight of what these protests were ostensibly about: the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park in Charlottesville. Neo-Nazis and white supremacists were literally up in arms because they felt—and feel—that all Confederate statues should stay. They argue that taking down the statues is erasing history and the result of a leftist political correctness agenda run amok. This argument is pure bunk. And it infuriates me to see people who should know better—our elected leaders, for example—repeat this line of reasoning as if it were logical and made sense.

Let’s back up and remember a very important fact: The South lost the Civil War. Full stop. You do not see statues of Hitler, Goebbels, or other members of the Third Reich in Germany. It’s illegal to fly the Nazi flag in Germany. But in this country, we have statues of Lee, Stonewall Jackson and other leaders of the Confederacy all throughout the South (and the country) as if the Confederacy won the war or were fighting for the right side of history. It’s beyond time that these statues come down, and if that makes a Nazi mad, good. I’m sure my mere presence as a black woman with opinions also makes them mad.

I do want to be clear about one thing. I am not in favor of erasing history or destroying these statues. I believe that those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it. But there is a rightful place for these monuments—in museums and history books. We can’t stop folks from flying a Confederate flag if they want—like my neighbor in New Jersey did. But these statues don’t belong in our public spaces, and they certainly don’t deserve to be revered.

Which brings me to our current president. In his unhinged (even for him) press conference, he tried to equate Lee with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson because the latter two also held slaves. He asked if their statues would be next. Well, nice try, Trump, but that’s almost a bigger false equivalency than comparing Nazis to the anti-hate counter-protestors. Washington and Jefferson fought a war to create this country and won. The fact that they held slaves has no bearing on the Civil War because they weren’t alive to be a part of it. But if you want to have a conversation about how all of our faves are problematic, we can do that too. Just not now.

I don’t understand how it is so hard for people—mostly white people—to come to grips with the fact that people who led the South in the Civil War were wrong. There’s no “many sides” to be had here. One side fought to end slavery, one fought to continue it and lost. The problem is that this country never truly went through a reconciliation process like those that happened in other countries torn apart by civil war. We moved from the end of the war into a brief and failed reconstruction and straight into decades of legalized oppression of African Americans via Jim Crow across the entire country. This, of course, is a legal and structural oppression still felt to this day.

I’m not sure how we move on from Charlottesville and other incidents of hate when we have a president who can’t seem to condemn white supremacists without entertaining some “both sides” nonsense. But I do know that we have to start with acknowledging and recognizing our truths.

I loved my time at UVa. But I was never unclear about who Thomas Jefferson was, who actually built that school, and the racist past that is a part of Charlottesville’s history. As a nation we can’t move forward until we fully come to grips with our past. A good place to start? Get rid of the damn statues.

Daniella Gibbs Léger, a 1993 graduate of Verona High School, is a former special assistant to President Obama. A graduate of the University of Virginia, she is currently the senior vice president for communications and strategy at the Center for American Progress. Follow her on Twitter @dgibber123. This column is reprinted, with permission of the author, from “Glamour” magazine.

Steve Bass (back row, center) did his senior Capstone with Sustainable Verona, helping with its Green Fair this spring.

Up in Binghamton, N.Y., the trees are beginning to think of turning orange and red. But for for Steve Bass, a Verona High School Class of 2017 graduate and incoming freshman at the State University of New York at Binghamton, the world will always be green.

Bass picked SUNY Binghamton because of its emphasis on environmental studies. While almost every American college and university has an environmental major these days, Binghamton has a whole world of them, with seven specializations that run from ecosystems and environmental chemistry  to earth sciences and natural resources, public policy and law, environmental planning, ecological anthropology and Bass’ choice, environmental economics.

The major, which Bass will officially declare next fall, builds on interests that he developed as a student in Verona’s public schools. As a VHS freshman, he participated in an Earth Day cleanup of the Peckman River organized by the Verona Environmental Commission.  He then went on to take AP Environmental Science (and many other Advanced Placement classes).  The VHS Senior Capstone program also gave Bass some real life exposure to environmental economics.  Working for the Township of Verona under the direction of Steve Neale, he assisted with Sustainable Verona’s spring Green Fair, worked on the Sustainable Essex Alliance website, and also worked on a website for collecting information from firefighters in relation to climate change, among other things.

“It was really cool working with all these organizations like Sustainable Verona and the Sustainable Essex Alliance,” Bass says, “because I was able to see all of the behind the scenes work and cooperation between different communities and the departments within them to make all of the programs available to residents.”

Bass also went through Verona’s comprehensive economics curriculum, which includes AP Microeconomics. The environmental economics specialization at Binghamton looks at economic and policy issues relating to the environment, helping students to understand how to efficiently allocate natural and environmental resources.

“The reason I want to dual major is that I want to keep my options open and explore my interests across both fields,” Bass says. “If I end up liking more of the economics field or more of the sustainability field, I know that they will be mutually applicable. I’m currently interested in sustainability consulting, which entails creating not only cost effective, but environmentally friendly solutions for any business.”

That is important because while the Trump administration is working hard to undo decades of U.S. government progress on the environment, the American business community remains largely committed to it. Big businesses–even some energy companies–had urged President Trump not to abandon the Paris Agreement on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, and when he pulled the U.S. out of the multinational pact in June, they were quick to condemn the move. The CEOs of Microsoft and Apple both said their companies remained committed to the pact and Elon Musk, founder of the leading electric car company Tesla Motors, stepped down from Trump’s advisory councils. Bass should also have no problem getting a job in government or academia: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has formed a coalition of American cities, states, companies and universities that are pledging to stick with the greenhouse gas emissions targets set for the U.S. under the Paris accord.

Green is already where the U.S. economy is: According to the U.S. Department of Energy, nearly 3.4 million Americans were were directly employed by the clean energy industry alone in the first quarter of 2016, more than the 2.9 million jobs in the fossil fuels industry. That report also found that the solar and wind industries are creating jobs at a rate that is 12 times faster than the rest of the U.S. economy. For current VHS students who want to see where sustainability is headed, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics now tracks green jobs in fields from construction to transportation.

For now, though, Bass gets to focus on green studies, green exercise and green eating. He was lucky enough to get into a new class on farm-to-table food production at Binghamton this fall that includes hands-on training at Binghamton University Acres, the school’s pesticide-free farm that is maintained entirely by students and volunteers. (Binghamton’s University Dining Services sources 57% of its food within 250 miles of campus and almost all of the rest from within New York state.) He can cover his phys ed requirement with a class in hiking, backpacking or outdoor skills. That’s easy on a campus that covers more than 900 acres of land, over 600 of which remains in its natural state.

The green space at SUNY Binghamton includes an on-campus organic farm and a 182-acre nature preserve.

“What’s Next” is a series of profiles about what members of each Verona High School class intend to do after graduation. MyVeronaNJ has been publishing the series since 2010 and you can read all of them here.

The Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit‘s Gathering Sunday, when the full choir and music director are back singing more regularly and Sunday School classes return, is Sunday, September 10. Students of all ages are encouraged to bring their backpacks to church for its 10 a.m. worship service.  A special blessing will be offered as a new academic year commences.

For the first half of the service, kids (Pre-K through 8th grade) will participate in an arts and craft project to kick off the new semester. For the second half of the worship, the students will join their parents and guardians as the congregation celebrates Eucharist together.

After worship, all attendees are invited on the front lawn for a special outdoor potluck coffee hour, where the kids will be able to enjoy some activities created just for them.

For more information, email office@holyspiritverona.org or call (973) 239-2850. Church of the Holy Spirit’s website is www.holyspiritverona.org.

The new school year is about to start and, with six schools scattered across town, Verona needs a lot of school crossing guards. The town is looking to hire more of them this year, so if that interests you, read on.

Crossing guard responsibilities include aiding children in safely crossing the street, and helping children develop the skills necessary to cross streets safely. In addition, crossing guards serve as a visual alert to drivers about the presence of children.

Applicants for the position must be a citizen and resident of the New Jersey; be sound in body and of good health; be of good physical condition, including sight, hearing, and ability to move and maneuver quickly in order to avoid danger from errant vehicles; be of good moral character; and not been convicted of any criminal offense involving moral turpitude.

Interested candidates must get a job application in person from the Verona Police Department Records Bureau, 600 Bloomfield Avenue, 2nd Floor, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Applications will not be mailed or emailed. The last day to apply is Friday, September 15.

The salary range is $15 to $19 per hour, and guards work a maximum of 12.5 hours per week.

Verona’s public schools open for the 2017-2018 school year on Wednesday, September 6. School hours are pretty much what they’ve always been, but if you have a student in H.B. Whitehorne Middle School, you’re going to have to get used to some new drop-off rules.

Because construction at the Verona Public Library has closed the exit from the HBW driveway onto Gould Street, the district is urging HBW parents to not use the driveway for drop-offs. Drivers should use the municipal lot behind the Chase bank branch or a designated area on Gould. 

As for schedules, Verona High School opens at 8:00 a.m., while HBW and Verona’s four elementary schools and special education elementary classes start at 8:30 a.m. School ends at 2:45 p.m. for VHS and the elementary schools, while HBW students must stay in their classrooms until 2:52 p.m.

If your students are not yet registered for school, you need to go to the office at the school they should be in. Pupils entering school for the first time must present an official birth certificate and a doctor’s certificate showing required immunizations. Pupils transferring from another school district should present report cards and immunizations records.

The student-designed posted of what we stand for in Verona.

Each of you has dedicated yourselves to what I believe is the most noble profession, one which keeps our students at the center of every decision. So it is most fitting to kick off each year with our students leading our Convocation ceremony. At this time, I ask that everyone please stand. Please join me in welcoming our VHS students with a round of applause.

(Pledge of allegiance)
(National Anthem)
(Opening performance)

Thank you to our students for sharing your talent with us. There are 300 adults in the audience this morning that have collectively supported you to where you are today. I speak on everyone’s behalf when I say we are proud of you and how you represent Verona. Thank you for working so hard and good luck this year. Please join me in giving our students another round of applause.

Many of you have had a busy and enjoyable summer. You spent time at the beach, hiking, and traveling. Some of you managed to sneak in a little summer teaching while others were content in catching up on some well deserved sleep. And now we are back.

I would like to welcome our new staff members to Verona. Would all of our new staff please stand? Please join me in giving them a warm welcome. To our new faculty, I encourage you to lean on the experienced staff in your new schools, as mentors and friends. They will be there to support you this year.

Many of you have already had an opportunity to return to your classrooms. And if you have done so, you know that our schools look amazing! Here are just a few photos to show you what I mean.

There is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into getting this place ready for day one. Our entire staff has been hard at work and accomplished a great deal this summer. Please join me in thanking our custodial and maintenance staff, administrative assistants, IT staff, and our administration who have done an incredible job in making sure our schools are ready for opening day.

As we begin a new year, what we know for sure is the work that you do, teaching and learning, is very complex. I could get up here and talk about test scores, metrics, programs, and goals. But I won’t do that.

Instead, I want to share with you some reflections I find to be far more worthy for us and for our students. Each child in front of you tomorrow will sit in your class, each with their own set of strengths, while having unique areas where growth is needed. There is no doubt that you have already set plans in motion to help each of your students to mature, develop, and learn.

But how do we, together, ensure that all of our students’ needs are being met? Teaching can be quite an isolating profession, one where you are limited to collaboration with colleagues most of the day as a result of being in your individual classrooms.

This past summer, I stumbled upon an article that highlighted research where Google set out to discover the most important variables that influence high performing teams. They came up with these 5 factors:

#1​ ​-​ ​Dependability
Effective teams get things done on time and meet the high bar of expectations. Team members learn to apply what they know and do not procrastinate their work.

#2​ ​-​ ​Structure​ ​and​ ​Clarity
High-performing teams have clear goals, and have well-defined roles and plans within the group. These teams track only a few things, stick to those goals which they have identified as most important, and then go accomplish them.

#3​ ​-​ ​Meaning
The work you do has personal significance to each member of the team. That’s an easy one for us. What motivates your work is seeing the fruits of your labor, and positively affecting children every day.

#4​ ​-​ ​Impact
The group believes their work is purposeful and positively impacts the greater good. Team members believe their work matters and creates change. You clearly see this in both the short and long term with your students. So those are only four factors that contribute to high performing teams. The fifth is the one that stood out to me the most.

#5​ ​-​ ​Psychological​ ​Safety
Team members feel safe to take risks and be vulnerable in front of each other. They feel comfortable and trust that no one will embarrass them for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea.

We all remember learning about Maslow: basic needs, psychological needs, and self-fulfillment needs. And that the basic needs must be met in people before we can expect psychological needs to be possible. In turn, psychological needs must be secured in order for self-fulfilling needs to be achieved.

Google found that teams with psychologically safe environments, where everyone is safe to take risks, voice their opinions, and ask judgment-free questions, had employees who were less likely to leave, more likely to harness the power of diversity, and ultimately, who were more successful.

So I imagine the same must be true if we not only create this sort of environment for each other, but most importantly, for all of our students. After all, our mission statement challenges us to help each child to achieve their full potential. The only way to help our students reach that goal is to support their psychological needs so they can attain self-actualization. What if all of our students felt safe, all of the time?

I happened to be watching the MTV video music awards last week. Although the majority of the VMA’s was a bit of a blur to me, there were two memorable moments that struck me. The first was by Logic, a rapper, whose top chart hit entitled 1-800-273-8255​, is intentionally the same number as the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, raising awareness on this important issue and acceptance of people of all backgrounds.

The second, was a message by musical artist Alecia Beth Moore, who we all know as Pink. She was an honored award recipient and gave a moving acceptance speech to her daughter about loving yourself for yourself.

This past summer, I had the opportunity to read a new children’s book that was recommended by Dr. Bangia. The book is entitled Wishtree, a simple yet important message intended for audiences age 10-14. It was a quick and easy read and I know that the copy of this book is currently circulating with our librarians. Wishtree is a beautiful story about family and community.

The author, Katherine Applegate, spreads a message about wishes, people’s wishes. The narrator of the story is Red, a wise and optimistic oak tree. On May 1st, each year, people in the community write down their hopes and wishes and attach it to the branches on Red the oak tree.

One wish in particular comes from Samar. Samar is a young Muslim girl whose family is the target of a hateful act from one of their neighbors. Samar has a wish to have a friend. Red, the optimistic red oak tree, wants to do everything possible to grant Samar her wish. The story is simple. It is a beautiful, touching, and real message of friendship, inclusion, and religious tolerance. This message is so apropos today, perhaps more than ever, and we are all more closely related than some may think.

“This should be compulsory. There would be no such thing as extremism in this world if people knew their heritage.” An open world begins with an open mind. That is my wish for our students.

As educators, we have an ethical responsibility, perhaps today more than ever before, to make sure our students, the future generations of our world, understand acceptance and let go of labels. We need to nurture a community where our students accept all people for their differences. Our students must get to know them before we judge them. That’s what we want all of our students to learn. And if we are successful, then they will all feel safe every day.

Last year, our students wrote down their own wishes as one of the outcomes from our district action committees on Code of Conduct & Respect and Mental Health & Suicide Prevention. These wishes could easily have been hung from Red, the oak tree. But instead, our students helped design the poster you see on the screen, a visual representation of what we stand for in Verona.

So it is with these WISHES from our students, those which help ensure their psychological safety that Google identified, that no matter how different we are from each other, be it race, religion, sexual orientation, or anything else for that matter, that we will continue to come together as a team, and teach our students what it means to be a good person.

Verona Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Rui Dionisio delivered these remarks to district staff at Verona High School on September 5, 2017:

The Verona Board of Education announced at Tuesday’s meeting that it has signed a five-year contract with the public school district’s paraprofessionals. The agreement is the first collective bargaining agreement for the paraprofessionals, who are now a unit of the Verona Education Association (VEA), which also represents teachers. It is retroactive to the 2016-2017 school year, and ends with the 2020-2021 school year.

The contract will provide raises to all of the student aides and teacher assistants, beginning with the lowest paid first. Before the contract, aides’ salaries had ranged from $12.25 to $18 an hour. Now, rates for 2017­-2018 range from $13.50 to $17.10 per hour, and will increase to $15.40 to $18.05 per hour in 2020­-2021. A higher minimum salary will be established each year. The contract represents a $140,000 increase in costs to the district over five years, Board of Education President John Quattrocchi said at the meeting.

“The agreement mutually satisfies the concerns and objectives of both sides of the bargaining table,” Quattrocchi said Friday in a prepared statement. “For the Board, the main objectives were to assure the paraprofessionals of their compensation structure for five years to give certainty and commitment to the staff. In addition, the allocation of settlement pool is skewed to those lowest compensated staff.  This structural concept is important to the Board so that we can fairly compensate more staff more quickly, over the five-year term.”

“This agreement respects the essential role that Verona paraprofessionals have in the education of our students,” said Christopher Tamburro, VEA president, in the joint statement. “The fair contract will result in increased retention rates and consistency in our classrooms. The Verona paraprofessionals will continue to distinguish themselves as dedicated members of our school community.”

No one from the teachers’ union or the paraprofessionals attended Tuesday’s meeting, a sharp contrast to the packed room that the BOE faced on May 10, 2016, after it had sent a letter to the VEA saying that the BOE was “considering” the outsourcing of both the district’s teacher’s aides and its tech support staff. At the time, the VEA had asked to have the aides and tech staff join its union. Temp aides from a private company had been showing up in some schools, and the aides were weighing unionization to improve their job security and give them benefits.

The new contract will not provide benefits because the aides work fewer hours than what is required for healthcare coverage. Paraprofessionals will, however, be compensated for sick days and will have modest paid time off for urgent matters. They will be entitled to due process protections similar to those of other non­-tenured staff, and will have professional development and training programs.

Aides are a key part of meeting the needs of Verona’s large special education population. Roughly 300 students, or just under 14% of the entire student body, were listed has having a disability in the 2014-2015 school year, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

You can read the full text of the statement by the Board of Education and the Verona Education Association here.

Socrates would have felt right at home in Verona’s newest business, Acton Academy.

The private elementary school, based in a wing of Calvary Lutheran Church, requires its students to use the Socratic method to, in essence, educate themselves. The school mixes students from first through fifth grade in the same classroom, where they talk, reflect and talk some more to come to a personal understanding of a subject. In place of a teacher, Acton Academy has an adult “guide” to lead students through their daily activity in school, the “studio” in Acton’s lexicon.

One other thing: There are no tests, no grades and no homework in an Acton Academy. “After the school day ends here, they can be children,” says Kai Olderog, who owns the license to operate Acton’s Verona location.

Acton Academy takes its name from Lord Acton, a 19th century British historian who wrote extensively on the history of liberty. It was founded in Texas by Jeff Sandefer, who had built his fortune in the oil fields before turning his attention to what he believed were teaching problems at Texas’ state universities. Sandefer taught business school classes in entrepreneurship, which is where Olderog first met him. “His philosophy was that discovery is more important than lecturing,” says Olderog, who has made a career in running and fixing businesses. “Those were powerful lessons that have served me well.”

Acton now has 25 licensed schools in the United States and several foreign countries, and another 15 set to open. They are not charter schools, so they won’t take state funding away from Verona’s public school district. But when the Verona Board of Adjustment met in August to rule on variances needed for the school to operate from the church building, some nearby residents couldn’t understand why Verona public school students would want to go to the private school.

Olderog believes that his Acton location can draw students from many different towns, anywhere where parents are looking for an alternative to the standardized test-driven public school environment. According to the Council for American Private Education, private schools educated 10% of all K-12 students in 2013-2014, a growing share of them in nonsectarian schools like Acton. While Catholic school enrollment has been falling, nonsectarian schools have been gaining ground: Rising from 13.2% of all private school students in the 1989-90 school year to 21.3% in 2013-2014. Though not part of Montessori, an Acton studio would be familiar enough to a Montessori preschooler to be a natural transition. (The Children’s House is a Montessori preschool that operates from the Verona United Methodist church just down the block from Acton.)

Kai Olderog (right), with some of the students at the new Acton Academy in Verona.

What’s a day like at Acton? It might include block on lip dubbing, a technique for creating music videos. Students did their performances in turn, giving each other feedback on what was–and wasn’t–working. When their efforts hit a wall, they stopped to talk about why that happened, and concluded that the feedback they were giving each other wasn’t hard enough. (They also noticed that when they slacked off, they weren’t on their best behavior.)

The Acton approach allows students to stay with a subject until they have mastered it. “I had a problem with multiplication,” says Beatrice, one of the students in Verona. “Now I have all the time to work on it.” Entrepreneurship is also woven into the Acton curriculum, which is set by headquarters in Texas. Verona’s students will be given a budget and then take six weeks to be the architects of their studio’s playground.

Though it intends to eventually educate students through 7th grade, Acton Verona will never be a big school: Enrollment is capped at 35 students. There are just five students now enrolled now, including two of Olderog’s children. Tuition is just under $10,000 for the 11-month school year, which Olderog says he hopes he will be able to reduce in the future.

“The goal is to help students discover how they can motivate themselves to be lifelong learners,” says Olderog. “In a changing world, we think it is important to learn how to learn.”

Acton Academy Verona
23 South Prospect Street
Open 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday-Friday
862-277-0346

Alison Sprong, a 2012 graduate of Verona High School, was recently profiled on the website of the Culinary Institute of America, where she is pursuing an associate degree in culinary arts at its Hyde Park, N.Y. campus. MyVeronaNJ.com first wrote about Sprong’s interest in a food career in our July 2012 “What’s Next” column. Here’s what she’s doing at CIA:

How did you become interested in food?
I have always been in love with food. I realized at a young age that working with food is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Do you already have a degree from another college?
Yes. I earned my bachelor’s in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management from the University of Delaware.

Why did you choose the CIA?
I wanted to be where the best chefs were. I wanted to be in a community that was unlike any other. I knew that if I wanted to be my very best, this is where I had to be.

Have scholarships and/or grants helped you reach your goal of getting a CIA education?
Yes, I have received several merit scholarships during my time here.

What do you like best about the CIA?
I love that everyone is passionate about what I am passionate about. Going to a different school first, my friends always looked at me funny when I would gush about a chef or get excited by a cooking technique. Here, that type of conversation happens all the time!

Do you belong to any clubs or participate in any activities/sports on campus?
Yes, many! First, I am the group leader of my class and have been the leader for both pre- and post-extern. Pre-extern, I was an orientation leader. Most notably, I am the editor-in-chief of our school newspaper, La Papillote.

What is your favorite dish to make?
I love making fresh pasta with bolognese sauce. I come from an Italian family, and I remember eating it growing up. Now I make the pasta and it was always my late Pop’s favorite.

How has your CIA education prepared you for the business side of food?
All of the professors outside the kitchen are incredibly knowledgeable. Their stories and experience alone gave me a glimpse into the business world of food. In the classroom, we make menus, create business plans, and do demographic studies. Having a restaurant is not all about good food! The CIA definitely gives a well-rounded look into the food industry.

What is the best lesson you’ve learned while at the CIA?
A chef told me “You can’t compare yourself to others. The only person you need to be better than is yesterday’s Alison.”

What are your career goals and how will your CIA education help you get there?
I would eventually love to teach future culinary students. The incredible CIA faculty has not only offered advice and guidance on this path, but they have offered wonderful examples of what I strive to be.

What advice would you give to a new student or someone who is considering attending the CIA?
Get involved! The CIA experience is so much more than what happens in the classroom. And enjoy every minute; it goes by way too quickly.

Reprinted with permission of the Culinary Institute of America.

Brookdale Avenue Elementary School will be holding its annual Fall Festival fundraiser on Saturday, October 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will be held rain or shine and will include pony rides, inflatable bouncers, a petting zoo, face painting, games, pie eating contest, prizes and more.

There will be fall mums for sale, a 50/50 raffle and plenty of food and drinks for the whole family.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at www.eventbrite.com/e/brookdale-fall-festival-tickets-37164118880 or at the event as well.

All tickets sales benefit the Brookdale Avenue School SCA (School and Community Association.) Please join us for this fun family event. For more information or questions see this Facebook page.

Minette’s Angels, a Verona-based foundation that supports breast cancer patients and survivors, recently presented $1,000 scholarships to two members of the Verona High School class of 2017. The foundation offers scholarships to Verona students entering the medical field.

Karen Lavery presented one check to Olivia Lucanie (right), who is a pre-med major at George Washington University. The other scholarship recipient was Stephanie Aloia, who is pursuing a nursing degree at Stockton University.

The Minette Grosso McKenna Angel Foundation was founded in 2004, a year after Minette Grosso McKenna passed away from breast cancer. Her courage, strength and determination during her 10-year battle inspired many and, as a nurse, she continued to offer assistance and support to other cancer patients throughout her own battle.

The foundation changed its name to Minette’s Angels in 2011. Its mission is to keep the spirit of Minette alive by supporting breast cancer patients and survivors. It provides assistance to those in treatment, supports research and promotes breast health awareness, which is vital to saving lives. In addition to its scholarships for Verona students, it also provides a scholarship to Seton Hall University for a second-year nursing student.

For some children, the demands of a modern classroom can be overwhelming. So overwhelming that they can’t focus on the language arts, math and science that they are there to learn. To help them, Verona’s special services professionals have teamed up to create sensory rooms–small, therapeutic spaces at Laning Avenue School and H.B. Whitehorne where children can re-establish their focus on learning.

“In some students, their sensory system is disrupted because of permanent or temporary situations in their life,” says Diane Conboy, M.S., CCC-SLD. “They can become dis-regulated. Taking a walk down to the water fountain with all the sound reverberating off the walls won’t necessarily calm them down. The sensory rooms are a way for getting children to be self-regulated so that they can return to the classroom and be available for learning.”

The schools were chosen to house the rooms because of the services they provide to Verona students. Laning is home to the district’s LSS (learning, sensory and social) program, while HBW delivers all special ed programs. The rooms, however, are not open only to special ed students; any student can request to go to them but must be accompanied by a teacher or paraprofessional.

“Some students specifically work to earn a break in the sensory room by completing a task or a lesson,” Conboy says. “Or they can be scheduled for a break as part of their ‘sensory diet’.” The indoor room at Laning complements an outdoor sensory garden that Conboy established eight years ago.

Conboy planned the rooms together with Verona’s other speech/language specialist, Kathleen Wrobel-Thomas, CCC-SLP; occupational therapists Vasi Givas and Andria Rosenberg, and Hannah Brandt, a 2005 graduate of Verona High School who runs the design company Hannah Jo Designs. “She helped us to figure out how to put everything in one room without it being overwhelming,” says Conboy. Not an easy task given that the two very small rooms were once a storage closet and an office. The district provided some funding for the work, but other support came from Verona’s learning disabilities support organization Children Having Learning Differences (C.H.I.L.D.), David M. Azzati and Mark V. Buneo.

The room at Laning blends saturated paint colors with a variety of different tactile surfaces, from flat rubber mats to a bit of artificial grass on the walls and “mermaid” pillows that change color and feeling depending which way the sequins on them are brushed. There are soft things to hug and weighted blankets to drape around students and hug them back. There are pillows to sit on–and sit inside of. A fan generates white noise to blunt the hallway signs, but the room is also equipped to play music.  The materials can both calm students down or energize them, Conboy says, depending on what their sensory system needs. The rooms are not age or gender specific.

“The rooms are a great opportunity,” says Frank Mauriello, director of special services for Verona Public Schools. “We have great therapists in town who come up with great ideas about how they can reach students on many levels.”

Even when they are not in the sensory rooms, he might have added. Conboy bought extra mermaid pillow fabric so she can put a bit of it up in the hallway outside the room as well. “Students are usually told to not touch things in the hallway,” she says, “but this can be a way to have an artful sensory experience there too.”

Sponsored by the Verona Environmental Commission (VEC), on Wednesday, October 4, the district celebrated Walk & Bike to School Day.

This year marked the 20th anniversary of National Walk to School Day, which was first organized in 1997 to raise awareness of the need for safe, pedestrian-friendly communities. Students across the country are encouraged to walk to school in an effort to promote healthier habits, as well as to reduce our dependency on cars. Since its inception, participation in this one-day event has grown to include more than 5,000 schools across the country.

Students and faculty from Forest Avenue School gathered at 8 a.m. at one of two locations along Forest Avenue, where they were met by Walk to School committee members who spoke to students about the benefits of walking and the importance of pedestrian safety.

The VEC also held its annual “Walk & Bike to School” poster contest, which was open to all Verona public school students and offered a $50 prize to the winner. The poster contest theme was “How Can We Stop Climate Change in Verona?” Students who chose to participate carried their poster submissions with them as they walked. Posters were then collected and displayed inside the school.

The Forest Avenue SCA would like to thank all of the students, parents and staff who participated, as well as Verona Mayor Kevin Ryan, Town Council members Ted Giblin and Jack McEvoy, and a number of former Forest Avenue students from Verona High School for joining in the event.
Photos courtesy Liam Holland and Kelly Lucente.

The​ ​Verona​ ​High​ ​School​ ​French​ ​Club,​ ​along​ ​with​ ​high​ ​school​ ​librarian​ ​Maria​ ​Mayo, will​ ​be​ ​hosting​ ​a​ ​book​ ​drive​ ​for​ ​children​ ​in​ ​Haiti​ ​starting​ ​on​ Monday, October​ ​16. The book drive will benefit a new school library in the town of Ouanaminthe, located in the northern region of Haiti.

The club is looking for gently used books for children ages five to 12 in English, French, and Spanish. Collection boxes will be located at the VHS lobby, the VHS Learning Commons, and all school libraries in Verona.

You can also participate even if you don’t have books of your own to donate. The French club is partnering with Educa Vision, a Florida-based of multicultural and multi-lingual educational materials that can ship books directly to Ouanaminthe. To learn more, and if you would like to contribute any amount of money to be used toward the
purchasing of a multilingual book, please visit http://educavision.com/make-a-gift to make a donation.

“Salmon River Inlet”, by Verona artist Ann Taylor, will be part of the exhibit.

As part of a year-long commemoration of its 125th anniversary, Mount Saint Dominic Academy (MSDA), the all-girls, private Catholic college preparatory school in Caldwell, is hosting an open house celebrating the artistic talents of its students, alumnae and women of West Essex community. “Opening Doors to the Sights & Sounds of the Arts”, taking place on Sunday, October 22 from 1 to 4 p.m., is an exhibition of fine and performing arts on display throughout the school’s Rosary Hall and Doris M. Byrne Performing Arts Center located at 3 Ryerson Avenue in Caldwell. The event is free and open to the public.

The fine art on display will feature work by MSDA students and alumnae alongside work by women from the surrounding towns, including Verona. Media on display will include works in oil, watercolor, pen and ink, photographs, acrylic, sculpture and more. The performing arts showcase will feature performances by MSDA alumnae as well as a live painting exhibition by Caldwell resident Lisa Palombo.

“For the past 125 years, we have been building creative minds of the future here at Mount Saint Dominic Academy,” said Sister Fran Sullivan, head of school. “We are thrilled to be showcasing not only the amazing work of the women of the Mount student and alumnae community, but also the wonderful creative talents of the women of our surrounding towns. We hope our friends and neighbors will join us on October 22 to celebrate the talents of so many local women and help us build an even stronger bond between the Mount and our local community members.”

Ria Maqsudi, owner of the Wade Max Gallery in Montclair and Manhattan, will be curating the exhibit. Judges for the exhibit include Morgan Peck, MSDA alumna and valuations administrator for Sotheby’s; Renee Powley, former registrar of the Montclair Art Museum; and award-winning photographer Marilyn Stevenson.

Artists who will be exhibiting include Verona residents Mary Byrne, Karen Collins and Ann Taylor; Mount Saint Dominic alumnae Grace Barrett ’17 (Caldwell), Sister Donna Ciangio ’67 (Caldwell), Nicole Denise ‘00 (South Orange), Norah English ’72 (Bay Head), Catherine O’Brien ’17 (Roseland), Lenore Schleuning ’75 (Roseland), Krystyn Wypasek ’12 (New York City), and Veronica Yankowski ’92 (Bloomfield); as well as artists from other surrounding towns: Caldwell — Rita Marie Cimini, and Lisa Palombo; Englewood — Patricia Malarcher; Essex Fells — Lauren Barretti, Louise Hatch, Anne Smith and Karol Sullivan; Fairfield — Sue Weinberger; Montclair — Joyce Korotkin and Jennifer Moses; North Caldwell — Marsha Henry; Parsippany — Donna Read; Totowa — Anna Macaluso; West Caldwell — Carol Crump; and Woodland Park — Mira Mitrova.

For more information, visit the Mount Saint Dominic Academy website.

On Tuesday, October 24, the Verona Conference of SCAs will hold a forum for the two candidates running in the November 7 Board of Education election. There is one seat up for election.

Lisa Freschi, the BOE’s current vice president, is seeking a second term. A 19-year Verona resident who had three children graduate from Verona public schools, Freschi had leadership positions on SCAs at all school levels and worked in district as a paraprofessional for seven years. Her challenger is Connor McCann, a 2015 graduate of Verona High School who is a junior at Montclair State University majoring in political science. He is a member of both the Verona Fire Department and Rescue Squad, and works part-time for Verona’s Department of Public Works.

The Candidate’s Forum will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Verona High School Learning Commons. The public is welcome to attend and will have the opportunity to ask questions.

September 2017 students of the month (l-r): Tawana Brown, Maggie Kousoulou, Ryan McKeown and Jordan Warner.

Verona High School recognized its September 2017 students of the month at the October 10 meeting of the Board of Education.  The September 2017 students were Tawana Brown, grade 9; Jordan Warner, grade 10; Ryan McKeown, grade 11; and Maggie Kousoulou, grade 12.

In presenting the awards, VHS Vice Principal Thomas Lancaster said that Tawana Brown had had a great first month of high school. Her classes include Honors English I, Honors World History, Honors Biology, Financial Literacy, Spanish I, Physical Education, and Algebra I, and she had perfect attendance for the month of September.  “Tawana consistently demonstrates initiative and responsibility, two of our core values,” Lancaster said. He noted that Paula Ramos Santiago, the VHS biology teacher who nominated Brown, said that she very hard. “She volunteers consistently in class and works extremely well with others,” Ramos Santiago said. “A true example of what we want in all of our students.”

Sophomore Jordan Warner’s classes include English II, U.S. History I, Honors Chemistry, Spanish II, Driver’s Education, Honors Geometry, Drawing, Painting, & Collage, and Choir. Lancaster said that Warner “arrives to school promptly each day, prepared for success,” and that she “consistently demonstrates diligence and respect, two of our core values.” Warner was nominated by VHS art teacher Terry Sherman, who said, “Jordan has displayed leadership qualities in helping me set up the Verona Chapter of the National Art Honor Society this year. She is totally reliable, responsible, displays good judgement, is generous with her time, enthusiastic, and knows how and when to take the initiative.”

Junior Ryan McKeown’s classes includes AP English, AP U.S. History, Honors Physics, Honors Chemistry, Spanish IV Honors, Physical Education, Honors Pre-Calculus, Band, and Chamber Choir. Lancaster said that, in nominating McKeown, his English teacher Dr. Marie Meyer said, “Ryan is genial and insightful. He is a leader in class discussions and makes every class more pleasant.” McKeown had perfect attendance for the month of September, and Lancaster added that “he consistently demonstrates collaboration and responsibility, two of our core values.”

Senior Maggie Kousoulou takes English IV, Journalism II, AP Psychology, AP Biology, Physical Education, AP French, and AP Calculus. She was nominated by math and computer science teacher Rich Wertz, who noted in the nomination that, “It has been a pleasure to have Maggie Kousoulou as an AP Calculus BC student this year. Maggie has been a model student. She completes her homework and classwork diligently, asks thought provoking questions during class discussions, and exhibits an uncommon enthusiasm for learning. As she has progressed from her freshman year to her senior year, she has challenged herself at each turn in her academic path. She serves as an exemplary role model for the young men and women who aspire to follow in her footsteps.” Lancaster added that Kousoulou, who arrives to school promptly each day, prepared for success, consistently demonstrates the VHS values of diligence and responsibility.

VHS Principal Joshua Cogdill began the student of the month award with the 2015-2016 school year. Students are selected from nominations made by VHS teachers.