Yvette McNeal and David Galbierczyk, principals of H.B. Whitehorne Middle School, are proud to announce the names of those eighth grade students who have earned academic recognition during the fourth marking period of this school year 2018-2019.

These students have qualified for the honors award by attaining all “A” and “B” grades:

Jack Aiello, Victoria Aleynikov, Neva Anil, Christopher Baker, Julia Balogh, Aaliyah Best, Malachy Black, Gia Bujnowski, Marissa Carsillo, Raymond Chesney, Krystal Costa

Samantha Davis, Anthony Diaz, George Donnelly, Cameron Duffy, Kara Dunphy, Olivia Egan, Emily Esposito, Tigerlily Fischer, Xander Francis, Jack Freedman

Mackenzie Garmont, Jordyn Hannigan, Jack Huze, Sarah Knoetig, Julia Komninos, Michael Krusznis, Isabella Lachina, Frank Liggio, Madison Lipinski

Isabelle Malanga, Zachary Markowski, Sabine Matta, Verena Mikhael, Clara Nippes, Samantha Pecora, Ava Perry, Abigail Petruzzi, Nicholas Priori

Patricia Rakova, Sara Remler, Brooke Rienecker, Jake Rizzi, Grace Schulke, Rebecca Sconzo, Trevor Semeraro, James Shorten, Josephine Shust, Abigail Smith, Sean Stiefbold

Chloe Theilmeier, Marissa Torella, Dylan Toriello, Victoria Valese, Ashlee Vargas, Hannah Vargas, Amanda Visone, Kaimana Voelkl, Nandi Webb, Lyndsay Williams

The names of some students who qualified for the honor roll do not appear on this list because their parents have elected not to release personal information to the media.

Yvette McNeal and David Galbierczyk, principals of H.B. Whitehorne Middle School, are proud to announce the names of those eighth grade students who have earned academic recognition during the fourth marking period of this school year 2018-2019.

These students have qualified for the high honors award by receiving an “A” in every school subject:

Alyssa Abello, Sydney Aiello, Brooke Algieri, Gabriel Ali, Kendall Aromando, Jane Bartell, Stephen Bartell, Emily Baumgard, Trent Bednar, Andrew Boyle, Leila Brolly

Nicholas Canal, Amanda Cavallo, Izabelle Cheung, Jadyn Chu, Cassandra Collucci, Courtney Cullen, Emma Dillane, Alana Drost, Kaitlyn Dunn

Lucas Ferrara, Olivia Frank, Sophia Freda, Sofia Greco, Nicole Hagaman, Emily Heimall, Caitlyn Heimerle, Kimberly Chang Horton, Charles Kenrick, Philip Konrad-Parisi

Natalia LoCurto, Bridget Lonergan, Bridget Lonsinger, Zoe Matias, Ryan Meyer, Kayla Mroz, Amelia Niziolek, Sophia Nunez, Katherine Repoli, Nadine Sharabi, Juliana Squilanti

Erika Thompson, Jacob Vogel, Serena Warner, Fernanda Webster, Amelia Wong, Sarah Wynne, Dionisia Yanniotis, Stephanie Zimany

The names of some students who qualified for the honor roll do not appear on this list because their parents have elected not to release personal information to the media.

It was an honors chemistry class sophomore year that got Lauren Brown thinking about a career in pharmacy, but it was working as a pharmacy technician at Terry’s Family Pharmacy that sold her on it.

“I was able to see, first hand, what the career was,” says Brown, who graduated Verona High School with the Class of 2019.

Brown is headed to the University of Rhode Island this fall to begin her pharmacy education, and it will take her fewer years than most students become a Doctor of Pharmacy. Instead of doing four years as an undergraduate and then three or four years of pharmacy school, Brown has locked in to URI’s six-year Pharm.D program.

It’s a promising career choice. Pharmacists work in drug stores, and a lot of other places too, from research labs to medical centers, to ambulatory care facilities, nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals and industry. Some pharmacists work with people and some with animals. The choices are so varied that Pharmacy Is Right For Me, a website created by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, has put together a quiz to help potential students to find the path that best suits their interests.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has a fairly rosy outlook for pharmacy employment. It expects the number of pharmacist jobs to expand at a rate of 6% per year through 2026. The BLS report notes that the median annual wage for pharmacists was $126,120 in May 2018. Young people who aren’t sure about a long college commitment might want to know that the BLS also predicts 12% growth in pharmacy technicians, the job that Brown has been doing in summer and during the school year. While salaries for pharmacy technicians ($15.72 per hour on average) are lower than those for pharmacists, you don’t necessarily need a college degree to be one.

URI offers what is known as a “zero-to-six” program: Brown will complete her general education requirements in her first two years at the university and then transition to its College of Pharmacy without having to take the Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT) required to get into Pharm.D programs elsewhere. While there are many pharmacy colleges across the United States, the programs–especially the accelerated ones–can be highly competitive. Brown applied to eight schools in the northeast, and was accepted at six and waitlisted at two, including Rutgers University’s highly regarded Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.

To earn her degree, Brow will spend three years in pharmacy studies and then do a one-year clinical rotation through many of the situations where she might likely work as a pharmacist, including hospitals and retail stores. “The rotations give you a sense of where you might want to go,” says Brown, who doesn’t yet know what her choice might be.

Brown’s coursework at VHS, which included the notoriously difficult AP Chemistry class, as well as AP Calculus and Statistics, bolstered her application, as did her work at Terry’s. “They said it was good that I already had experience in the field,” she recalls of one application interview. One change she would have made to her high school classes: Take AP Bio before senior year, so it could have shown up on her college transcripts.

Brown wants Les Gwyn-Williams, who has owned Terry’s for the last 35 years, to know how grateful she is for the experience at the store. “Thank you for allowing me to have this opportunity,” Brown says. “I don’t think I’d be where I am without it. It prepared me for the future.”

“Lauren has proven to be a very capable pharmacy technician,” says Gwyn-Williams in return. “We have come to rely on her knowledge and easy going manner in the pharmacy department. Her work ethic is excellent. She shows up on time, ready to work, and we have never had to ask her to put away her cell phone, which in this day and age is almost incredible. Lauren’s communication skills enable her to explain medication directions to our elderly customers in a simple way they can understand and put them at ease. She will be an asset to her future employers and a success to any task she tackles.” That’s already the case: With Terry’s closing, Brown found a new summer job at Livingston Pharmacy, another independent retailer. “They were impressed with what I know,” she says.

Science classes and a heavy work schedule didn’t prevent Brown from doing other things as a high school student. She was a cheerleader all four years at VHS and was involved with the Youth Group at Our Lady of the Lake Church. Brown’s message to the students she leaves behind at VHS: “Try your hardest from freshman year. Take classes that will help you in college.”

“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.

Photo courtesy Terry’s Family Pharmacy

The Verona Public School district is one of 34 school districts nationwide that were recognized as “Districts of Distinction” in the July/August edition of District Administration magazine. Verona earned the award for its efforts to improve mental health services.

In December 2016, in the wake of a student death by suicide, the Verona Public School district created two action committees to examine two aspects of its learning environment. The Mental Health & Suicide Prevention and Code of Conduct & Respect action committees looked into separate aspects of mental health and wellness in the district and what it would take to improve the district’s handling of these issues. The committees’ work resulted in a ballot question asking voters to approve $550,000 to be added annually to the district’s budget specifically for mental health services.

The question, which was approved, has added three mental health clinicians to Verona’s child study team to deliver services all all six Verona schools. The “Why Mental Health Matters” also led Verona Public Schools to host presentations for students and the community on suicide by Kate Fagan, the author of What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen. The district also held sports games for suicide awareness in 2017 and 2018.

“We are eternally grateful to all of our community stakeholders for their dedication and partnership,” Superintendent Dr. Rui Dionisio said in an email announcing the recognition this morning. “With their support and insight, these opportunities are now possible to create a better tomorrow for our students.”

According to Dr. Dionisio Districts of Distinction was established by District Administration magazine to honor school districts that are leading the way with new ideas that address challenges. Honorees are selected based on quantifiable results and the replicability of their initiatives. The 34 school systems recognized, located in 19 different states, had launched programs that ranged from partnering with outside organizations for career training to improving literacy to using music to support at-risk students and English language learners.

Emily Andersen, Verona High School Class of 2019, will be going to college in Bergen. Just not the Bergen that’s closest to Verona.

In August, Andersen will be heading to Bergen, Norway, to begin a journey that she hopes will take her to a master’s of physics without the tuition debt that burdens so many American college students these days.

According the U.S. Federal Reserve, about 69% of students from the Class of 2018 took out student loans, and their average debt balance upon graduation was $29,800. These debts constrain the lives of graduates: The Pew Research Center found that 21% of adults ages 25 to 39 with outstanding student loans work more than one job, and only 27% of people with student loans say they are living comfortably, compared to 45% of those without outstanding loans.

Norway’s public universities do not charge tuition at the undergraduate or graduate school level–even for international students–and there are no SAT tests for admission. “I had to explain to my dad what those were,” Andersen says with a smile.

Andersen’s father came to America from Norway at 19. She has visited his home country and her relatives regularly over the years and, while she speaks Norwegian, she’s not, by her own admission, fluent enough to take physics classes in the language at the University of Bergen. UiB is an internationally recognized research university located on the west coast of Norway surrounded by mountains and fjords, which are a big part of its appeal to Andersen. “I like the town because it is nature focused,” she says. “It’s very outdoorsy.” UiB is a fairly large institution, with almost 17,000 students, about 1,900 of which are international students like Andersen. (StudyinNorway.no, a website created by the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education, has more information on the college process there.)

While Bergen, Norway is much farther north on the globe that New Jersey, its winters aren’t as harsh because of the warmer currents that come off the Norwegian Sea.

But living in Norway can be expensive and student housing is scarce. Andersen will live with an aunt and uncle in Bergen for a year while she improves her Norwegian enough to pass the university’s language proficiency test. Andersen has Norwegian citizenship, but if she didn’t she would have had to show proof of financial resources to get a student residence permit.

Those aren’t the only challenges to doing college in Norway. High school there is five years, not four as it is in Verona, so Andersen had to close the gap with Advanced Placement tests. “I had to take three AP classes and get a 3 or better on the test to qualify or do a year of college,” she says.

There are other ways of holding down the high cost of college and VHS students do use them. Some go to lower cost community colleges like Middlesex and New Jersey’s Bergen for two years and then finishing their degrees elsewhere. Others, like Francesca Cortese, VHS ‘18, have gone to countries with free or low-cost colleges where their family had roots. Ben Jung didn’t have ties to Canada but the VHS ‘13 grad earned a bachelor of science in bio-neuroscience at Canada’s McGill University in three years instead of four because he got full credit for one year of studies because of the AP tests he aced at VHS. He’s finishing a fellowship at the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health and is headed to a doctoral program at Brown University in September.

Andersen is comfortable with being among the college outliers, even if it meant she had to improvise on VHS’ college acceptance day, when students wear the t-shirt of the school they will be attending. Norway’s universities don’t have shirts like that, so Andersen donned a pink sweatshirt with Norway’s flag on it.

“I hope that more people choose to venture out,” she says. “There’s a whole world out there and now’s a perfect time to explore it.”

“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.

Jim Day and Glenn Elliott are seeking re-election to the Verona Board of Education, and they will be challenged by Sara Drappi and Lynn Halsey. All four filed candidate petitions by Monday’s deadline. There are two three-year terms up for election, and the vote will be held on Tuesday, November 5.

Day will be going for his third term on the BOE. A resident of Verona since 2003, he was first elected in 2013, defeating Elliott who was then seeking a fourth term.

“I am running for the Board of Education to continue to advance the school district above and beyond where it is today,” Day said by email. “Working with the board and administration for the past five years, we have expanded the academic offerings to students, improved the technology in the schools, enhanced the district mental health program, and increased security for the six school buildings. As a result of these efforts, the district received numerous accolades and awards in recent years, which elevated students for academic achievement and helps Verona to be a desirable town to live in.”

Day ran again in 2016, as did Elliott, and both were elected. Elliott is now looking to build on that comeback.

“Serving the great people of Verona and the Verona School District for almost 15 years has been a tremendous honor,” said Elliott by email. “In the face of so many challenges, we’ve accomplished great things in the areas of curriculum, facilities, mental health, staff development, strategic planning and technology. The results speaks volumes, and the recognition the District has been receiving at the local, state, and national level only serves to validate what we’ve achieved. But the work is never done, we can always strive to be better. So I’m seeking another term…another opportunity to serve our community. There is nothing more important to a town than it’s schools, and the experience, knowledge and passion I bring to the position will serve the District well.”

Halsey filed to run in the 2018 BOE election, but withdrew her candidacy before the vote. She is a Verona resident since 2011, and was the director of sales operations for NBC Universal before obtaining a master’s in social work. Halsey served on the BOE’s Strategic Action Planning Committee and has two daughters in Laning Avenue School.

“Our family has gained so much after only having joined the Laning family three short years ago,” Halsey said by email. “Verona schools are truly the heart of this caring and involved community and I would love to have the opportunity to give back by serving on the board. My passions and ideas are a result of a unique intersection of experience in media sales operations, women’s healthcare, and mental health work with vulnerable communities. I would love the opportunity to use my dedication to researching and implementing evidenced-based practices as a way to ensure that our kids, of all ages and grades, are prepared to deal with the unprecedented stressors of today and the ever evolving world of tomorrow. Advocating for the needs of our youngest learners by supporting smaller class sizes, improved conflict resolution programs, a fully integrated mental health curriculum, and a strong technology program is essential to continuing the efforts that Verona voters already put into action last year on Election Day. I am excited to begin meeting with the residents of Verona so that I can gain a deeper understanding of their education priorities and expectations of the board.”

Drappi is a Verona native who attended Verona public schools from kindergarten through 12th grade and went on to get a bachelors from Indiana University-Bloomington. She received a masters in education and  a certificate in special education from Montclair State University and has been a special ed teacher for eight years. Drappi’s two daughters will be attending Laning, the same school she attended. She is a member of Sustainable Verona, a coach for both recreation softball and this year’s inaugural girls’ field hockey team. In addition, Drappi was co-lead of last year’s drive to get voters to approve full-day kindergarten.

“As an educator, I believe that the school board has a responsibility to serve every student equitably,” Drappi says. “My professional experience as a teacher in special services allows me a unique perspective on how to use the quickly growing special services budget as effectively as possible to ensure tax dollars are used responsibly. Furthermore, as our town continues to grow, collaboration and communication between the school board and the town council will be essential in managing infrastructure concerns before they occur. I am incredibly proud to be a life-long Hillbilly and look forward to helping all Verona students succeed at every level.”

From the photo, you might think the two men were neighbors at a house party. If you were told one was a chief of police and the other a lawyer, you might think they were professional colleagues. In fact, they are lunch buddies from 50 years ago, a time when elementary school lunch in Verona got very complicated.

Christopher Brickell, left, is now the chief of police in Brandon, Vt., a small town mid-way between Brattleboro and Burlington. But five decades ago, he was a student at Forest Avenue school whose family hosted a student from Newark as part of the Verona Board of Education’s “sharing plan”. Carlton Smith, right, was that student. He’s now the assistant general counsel at Munich Reinsurance America. And amazingly enough, the two still get together for a meal, most recently at Brickell’s house in Vermont.

As MyVeronaNJ.com reported in May, in the 1968-69 school year, the Verona BOE invited 40 Newark elementary school students to attend our schools to ease overcrowding in Newark and show support for civil rights initiatives. The students were bused to Verona each morning at Newark’s expense but, because there was no lunch service in Verona’s schools, they had lunch at the homes of their Verona classmates. It was an experiment in education, but as Brickell and Smith recall it, the education wasn’t just about textbooks in a classroom.

That’s because the Brickell and Smith families made an effort to show their children more of each other’s lives. Brickell recalls visiting Smith’s relatives and going bowling with Smith’s family until late at night. Smith was at Brickell’s house when Brickell’s grandfather died and saw how the family processed its grief. But mostly, it was the small slices of life that we often don’t see as consequential. The Brickells ate dinner together, but Smith’s father worked two jobs and didn’t get home until after 10 p.m., making family dinner time all but impossible.

“I stayed over at Chris’ house and we went to the movies,” Smith recalls. “We went to the Verona movie theater and saw ‘Hello Down There’. There were no other black faces in the audience and I remember thinking, ‘How are the Brickells going to explain me?’ “

Explaining participation in the busing program was often difficult for Verona host families. The program split neighborhoods and congregations. Playdates disappeared, BOE members and program supporters were threatened and racism was never far from the surface. Smith doesn’t recall receiving any threats but he does recall not understanding why he had to get on a bus and go so far from his school, and why no one at his new school looked like him. “It was different from what I had grown up with,” he says.

The busing plan lasted only one year, and everyone went back to their previous lives. Smith’s family moved briefly to Montclair, and then to South Carolina. In a time before social media, connections were lost. As an adult, Smith found himself in Verona again, and was able to find Brickell’s house, but the Brickells had moved from Verona by then. Then about thirty years ago, Brickell also got the urge to reconnect. “I called every Carl Smith I could find,” he recalls. He eventually found the right one, and the two men and their families had dinner. A few months ago, Smith let Brickell know that he was coming up to Vermont, and they got together again.

Smith isn’t sure what impact his time in a Verona school had on his future, and he is careful to note that his memories of the time may not be the same as those of his classmates from Newark, which included his sister. But he does believe that it was beneficial. “If you place children in a positive environment, they will grow up positive,” he says. And he notes that, while his daughters were growing up, he made family dinners a priority, just as they had been in the Brickell household.

Smith says that if he could do the year over again, and could do it with the same family, he would. “I appreciate all that his family did and the impact it had on my life,” Smith says of the Brickells. But he believes that a better course for his Newark classmates would have been to improve their neighborhood school. “The perfect formula,” he says, “is to pump money into under-represented schools.”

Rep. Sherrill with the winner of the 2018 NJ-11 Congressional App competition

Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) announced that her office is hosting the 2019 Congressional App Challenge (CAC) for students in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, and the submission portal is now open.

“The technical skills and innovation highlighted by the Congressional App Competition are crucial not only to the competitiveness of our future workforce, but to solving the biggest challenges we face as a nation like election security, climate change, and healthcare access,” said Congresswoman Sherrill. “I can’t wait to be inspired by the creative spirit our New Jersey students bring to the 2019 challenge and to see which issues they choose to tackle with their apps.”

The competition is open to middle school and high school students who live or attend school in NJ-11. Students with all levels of coding experience are encouraged to participate. This is an excellent opportunity to develop the skills and innovative spirit needed to create your own apps. The CAC accepts computer programs (or apps) written in any programming language, for any platform (desktop/PC, web, mobile, raspberry Pi, etc.). The full set of eligibility rules for individual and team entries can be found at www.CongressionalAppChallenge.us.

Winners will be selected by a panel of judges from New Jersey’s 11th District and honored by Congresswoman Sherrill. Their apps are eligible to be featured on display in the U.S. Capitol building, on house.gov and on the Congressional App Challenge website.

Students are encouraged to register online by September 10, 2019, before submitting their app by the November 1, 2019 deadline. Visit https://sherrill.house.gov/congressional-app-challenge for more information.

On Tuesday night, the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders honored Verona’s superintendent of schools, Dr. Rui Dionisio, as the county’s superintendent of the year.

The award, which was announced earlier this summer, is given to a superintendent who exhibits leadership for learning, communication, professionalism, and active participation in community involvement with an understanding of regional, national, and international issues.

Dr. Dionisio was presented with the award by Freeholder-at-Large Patricia Seybold (above, right). Verona’s current and past presidents of the Board of Eduction, Lisa Freschi and John Quattrocchi, were also there for the recognition.

Francis Lavery did the artwork that is on the cover of the newest Verona school district magazine.

The U.S. is the world’s largest market for the fashion business, with $406 billion spent on apparel and accessories annually. New York City is the fashion capital of the world, with companies that generate 185,000 jobs and $2 billion in tax revenue. If you want to learn about the business of fashion, and get a job in it in the future, there’s probably no better place to do it than the Big Apple. Which is why Francis Lavery, a 2019 graduate of Verona High School, is headed to the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) this fall.

“I will be able to wake up every day and be happy with what I am doing,” he says.

FIT is part of the State University of New York system, and it has been located just south of New York City’s garment district since 1946. It delivers an education to roughly 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students in everything from accessories design and cosmetics marketing to textile development and toy design.

Lavery’s intended major is fashion business management with a concentration in product development, which will take him deep into fashion marketing, buying and planning, sourcing, styling, fashion management and forecasting, and the technology that is shaping so many industries now: artificial intelligence, social media and analytics. He’ll have field trips, internships and capstone projects in NYC’s leading fashion businesses, and can even study fashion abroad in places like London, Paris, Rome or Hong Kong.

“They say I’ll be getting six to nine internships before I’m done,” Lavery says. “That’s a lot of connections.”

From Lavery’s portfolio: A riff on the Hillbilly logo and Verona’s large music program.

Verona High School no longer has classes in sewing, but it does have an extensive curriculum in graphic design and fine arts, and Lavery made the most of it, taking every single art class that VHS offers, including digital illustration, photography, fashion design and print design, as well as drawing, painting, ceramics and mosaics. He did the artwork that is on the cover of the newest school district magazine. Lavery credits the robust portfolio that he developed under teachers Helene McKelvey-McLaughlin, Christina Sciacchitano and Terry Sherman for his acceptance into FIT.

“Mrs. McKelvey showed me how to use all the design programs and, senior year, she took me under her wing to do advanced projects and showcase work,” he says. McKelvey also took VHS students on a field trip to FIT. “She showed me that design is a thing,” Lavery adds. “Even if I do not go into design, I can always use what I’ve learned.”

He also did a poster to improve recycling in Verona.

Lavery has a strong fashion sense, which he says was the product of a growth spurt in middle school. Like many a younger sibling, he had spent his early years in hand-me-downs. His older brother, CJ, was deeply into sports, so that meant a lot of sports-themed clothing. But when Francis hit the growth spurt that would eventually send him up to 6’3″, hand-me-downs were no longer an option. He began to focus on what he likes to wear. “It’s what made me feel confident in who I am,” he says.

Lavery applied to fashion business programs at the University of Delaware, Marist and Johnson & Wales as well as FIT, his top choice. He got into all four, but FIT’s late April 1 decision kept him on edge until very late in his senior year. Lavery says that after word got out that he would be going to New York to FIT, underclass students came up to him and said that they, too, wanted to go into the arts. His message to them, and to all Verona students with an eye on the arts, is one of encouragement.

“Go for it and don’t let people discourage you,” he says. “And let the colleges know that you want to be there. Show them that you have what it takes to be the best.”

“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.

Francis Lavery, Verona High School Class of 2019

Verona High School’s Marching Maroon & White will kick off their 2019 marching band season with a car wash fundraiser.

This year’s car wash will be held at the H.B. Whitehorne horseshoe on Saturday, August 24, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 100% of the proceeds will go to the band.

The car wash is the kick-off for the Marching Maroon & White’s band camp, six packed days of work on the fall show. You can stop by VHS to listen and follow all the fall competitions on the Verona Music Parents Association’s website.

It’s time to get ready for another school year. Verona’s public schools reopen for the 2019-2020 school year on Wednesday, September 4.

School hours are 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. at Verona High School (grades 9-12), 8:30 a.m. to 2:52 p.m. at H.B. Whitehorne Middle School (Grades 5-8), 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. for grades 1 through 4 at all elementary schools and 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for kindergarten classes.

The special education elementary classes run from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. The pre-school program’s a.m. groups are 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and the p.m. group is 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The pre-K all-day class is 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

School offices will be open to register students for the new term from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and from 1 to 3 p.m. on August 28, 29, 30, and on September 3 in each school.

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.

When it becomes necessary to close the Verona Schools because of inclement weather or other emergency conditions, parents will receive a call from the district’s School Messenger System, our website will be updated, an announcement will be made on the television shows “Good Day New York” on channel 5, and on News 12 New Jersey. In addition, arrangements have been made locally to sound the fire horn when schools are closed. There will be three blasts of the fire horn at 7 a.m. followed by an additional three blasts at 7:05 a.m. In the event that a delayed opening is necessary, each parent will receive instructions as to time schedules following the commencement of school.

Supervision of the elementary school lunch program will be provided on the first day of school, Wednesday, September 4.

We can craft the perfect classrooms
School supplies neatly arranged
Bulletin boards that deserve awards
But it’s our hearts that need to change.

Lesson plans are all aligned to standards
Chromebook lessons set to go.
Google Apps? We have it covered.
But there’s something else we need to know.

Why does Joey seem so lonely?
Why doesn’t Anna have a friend?
Patrick stopped by to chat with me.
Is he avoiding lunch again?

Why is Carmine so impulsive?
Something about Ella doesn’t seem quite right.
I’m worried about John again.
What happens when he goes home at night?

Future doctors, authors, and lawyers
They’re all sitting in our class.
So, too, is that child who’s struggling
Who just can’t seem to meet the task.

Sometimes when we think about students
We think that their problems must be small.
They don’t have mortgages or bosses.
Sometimes I think we don’t know our kids at all.

Teachers, as we are heading back to school
I have one wish. I have one prayer.
If we do just one thing well
Let it be the way we care.

Let it be the way we arrange seats
To help our students make a friend.
Let it be the way we show patience
When Mary forgets her work again.

Let it be the way we keep going
Even when life has dimmed our smiles.
Let it be the way we show grace
Even a teenager’s just a child.

So as we start another school year
We may wish our paychecks had another zero.
But remember our real value
Is to be somebody’s hero.

Jennifer Kleinknecht has been the media specialist at H.B. Whitehorne Middle School since 2007. She writes about life as a school librarian on her blog, “The ‘Yes’ Librarian”. (Photo by Kat J on Unsplash)

The school year starts soon here in NJ. For some it may have already started. It’s been 30+ years since I’ve been in a traditional classroom. (But I still continue to learn…we all do…we all have the ability to keep learning from a wide variety of sources IF we want to and IF we open up our minds to the possibilities life has in store for us.) Whatever grade you are going into; whatever age you; where ever you stand in life, here are my words of wisdom…

If you want to do something…DO IT. Don’t let fears or social “norms” (whatever they may be…trust me there really aren’t any norms), hold you back. You want to do something; you want to TRY something; go on and DO IT.

If you are girl and you want to play football, do it. Try it. If you love it, DO IT. It may not be easy and you may face challenges and close minded people who say that you can’t…IGNORE that. If you love it; do it.

If you are a boy and you want to play the flute; do it. Try it. If you love it, DO IT. It will probably not be easy and you too will face challenges and closed-minded people who say you can’t…IGNORE them. If you love it; do it.

If there is something you want to try, try it. There is no shame in trying something and NOT liking it. There is no shame in trying something and liking it but not being good at it. Do what you want to do. Do what makes you feel good. Follow your passion and ignore those who waste your time by sharing negative thoughts and not positive encouragement.

Find your passion. Find your passions. Try something you’ve always wanted to try. Do something you’ve always wanted to do.

(Disclaimer: This is not to tell you to go out and do something dangerous or foolish. We all are given brains…use yours when you follow your passion. If you’ve always dreamed of swimming in the Olympics, I say follow your passion, but learn how to swim first! If you want to be a NASCAR driver, you need to learn how to drive first and follow the law to get a license.)

And if you are not “THE BEST” what you love; that’s okay too. It’s not about being best; it’s about being YOU. Doing what YOU love. Following YOUR passion and not what someone else thinks you should be doing. (Although you should never turn away from a new experience. You might find you love something you didn’t think you would. If you don’t; you’ve tried and now you know!)

Don’t let ANYONE tell you that you CAN’T do something. (Within reason of course! You did read the disclaimer paragraph above, right?) You CAN. It doesn’t matter what sex you are. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is. None of those things that people might say matter, really matter.

What matters is that you are YOU. What matters is trying. What matters is finding what you love and doing it.

And when someone gets all negative on you…I’d say ignore them. But that’s hard to do. Try it. And know that you always have a support system here.

I mean that…you want encouragement…I’ll give you all the encouragement you need. Because this crazy blogging lady believes in YOU. I believe in humankind and YOU are a part of that. I know that I’m not the only one; although it may feel like it at times. There may be haters, but you’ve also got a squad of cheerleaders…don’t be afraid to look for them and to listen to them.

So here I am with my pom-poms…I’m rooting for YOU! Go out there and TRY! Go out and DO! I believe in you…and so should you!

Beth Shorten is a life-long resident of Verona. For more than five years, she has been chronicling life here on her personal site, Bfth’s Boring Blog.

The Verona Police Department has added two three-way stops by Laning Avenue school.

It’s back-to-school time and if you’re a parent, you’ve probably said those words to you child (or children) more than once. You need to pay attention in class! Focus on your school work!

As parents, we want our kids to do well and excel. We need them to pay attention to their teacher (or teachers). We need them to focus on their work. Education is an important thing and most of us stress that (maybe too often).

But it’s not just our kids that need to focus and pay attention; we need to do so too. We ALL (not just parents) need to focus and pay attention, particularly when it comes to getting behind the wheel.

On Wednesday, I received a text and an email from the Verona Police Department letting me know of two new three-way stops in the Laning school area. There are now stop signs at Elk and Laning as well as Overhill and Laning. So when you are driving on any of these roads, we need to focus and pay attention. (Even if we’re late for work!)

Thursday morning I was out doing my daily walk. Yes, I’m the crazy lady who is out the door around 4:30 in the morning and returns home around 6. To get the time and miles in that I feel I need on a daily basis, I have to get up early to walk. It’s what works with my schedule and I’ve come to accept that. I try to vary my route from day to day (although I almost always start with a lap around Martin Road) and while I was walking by Elmwood Road, flashing lights caught my eye. The northbound stop sign at Overhill Road flashes. (As does the southbound stop sign at Elk Road.) Because there are not too many flashing stop signs in Verona, I decided to turn on Elmwood and check it out.

Because the days are getting shorter, it is dark out when I walk. For now, it’s just getting light when I’m in the home stretch of my walk, but soon it will be dark even when I return home. As a result, I wear a florescent pink safety vest so that I am more visible. As I headed towards Overhill on Elmwood, a SUV passed me. I don’t know if the driver saw me or not, but he/she definitely didn’t see the stop sign with the flashing lights. At least I’m assuming they didn’t because they didn’t stop; as a matter of fact they barely slowed down. I didn’t see if this person stopped at the intersection of Elmwood and Elk, but if I had to make a bet, I’d guess not.

Less than a minute later, another SUV drove by. This person DID make a full and complete stop at Overhill/Elmwood. This person also stopped at the Elk/Elmwood intersection, as well they should have. A stop sign means STOP. It doesn’t matter if it’s five o’clock in the morning and there’s no other traffic on the road, stop means STOP.

Verona schools will be in session starting on Wednesday. There will be kids, big and little, from all over town heading to our elementary schools, middle school and high school. We encourage them to focus. As adults, we know they won’t always. Being excited or nervous, they might dash out in a place that we might not expect. It is up to us, to be focused when we are behind the wheel. No matter what time of day or night, we need to pay attention. Our kids, and this early morning walker, are depending on it.

Beth Shorten is a life-long resident of Verona. For more than five years, she has been chronicling life here on her personal site, Bfth’s Boring Blog. The Verona Police Department is rolling out a “Set the Pace for Safety” campaign to get parents, grandparents and caregivers to be more mindful as they drive, park and drop off near Verona’s schools.

Crossing guard posts for the 2019-2020 school year.

Verona’s public schools reopen for the 2019-2020 school year on Wednesday and the Verona Police Department is rolling out a new campaign for traffic safety around our six schools.

Called “Set the Pace for Safety,” the campaign is aimed at making anyone transporting a student more aware of the rules for parking, drop-off and crossing near schools, as well as speeding.

“Detective Joel Martin and Sergeant John Lecreux are prepping hard to ensure safety in and around the schools,” says Chief Christopher Kiernan. “Please be mindful that there are potentially 2,200 school-aged pedestrians out on Verona streets beginning next week. The Verona Police will be present at all schools next week and we are anticipating your cooperation. Traffic safety can begin with you. If you’re driving the speed limit, the traffic behind you will be as well. ”

Through its annual research, the VPD has revised some of the spots where school crossing guards will be posted. Det. Martin is urging parents, grandparents and caregivers to take advantage of the crossing guard posts by dropping students off close to them, rather than in front of the schools. That, he says, will cut down on congestion in front of schools and potentially unsafe crossings. Instead of drop-offs in the loop in front of H.B. Whitehorne Middle School, Martin suggests that drivers consider the Walgreens parking lot or, if they are coming from the south side of town, Montrose Avenue.

The speed limit is 25 miles per hour by all Verona schools and curbs have been painted yellow to clearly indicate no-parking zones.

“We don’t want to have uniformed officers handing out tickets,” Martin says. “It’s up to residents to set the pace for safety.”

Erik Lynch, the director of bands at Verona High School, sent MyVeronaNJ.com a note and asked that we share it with the community:

“After two days of mini camp and six days of band camp defined by family, hard work, and artistry, and a bit of Beyonce, the Verona Marching Maroon and White performed our field show ‘Rings’ for the community on Thursday setting the standard for an exciting 2019 season.

“Feel free to visit Veronamusic.org to follow the band and join us for one of our upcoming competitions.

“VHS HOO-RAH!

Students in two Laning Avenue School classrooms are going to be relocated to other spaces in the building because of concern over sagging ceilings.

Superintendent Dr. Rui Dionisio sent out an email this evening about the problems in Rooms 108, 109and 110. He said that, earlier this summer, the district discovered a sagging plaster ceiling in nearby Room 110. “At that time, I requested a precautionary inspection of the entire school, which resulted in no additional structural issues or safety concerns,” Dionisio wrote. The district initiated repairs on Room 110, and the contractor is close to completing that project.

But Dionisio wrote that, this morning he was informed of potential problems in Room 108 and Room 109. He said that vapor pressure causing the nails that adhere the plaster lath to the furring strips in the ceiling to become detached. Laning Avenue is Verona’s oldest existing school building, and recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. Dionisio said he ordered another inspection of the entire school and found no other safety issues.

“We take the safety of our students and staff very seriously,” Dionisio said. “Based on my conversations with building professionals and engineers, I have made the decision to relocate both classrooms as a precaution until the identified issues can be properly repaired with an inspection that deems the classrooms safe to return.” Dionisio said he has ordered a full inspection of all Verona school buildings with a certified structural engineer, which he expects to take place soon. “In the meantime, we will continue to monitor our buildings closely but we have no reason to believe that there are any safety issues at this time,” he wrote.

“I recognize that this situation is not ideal. There is no doubt that this circumstance is unfortunate and inconvenient. However, we will work through this issue as we do all others – in a constructive, efficient, and productive manner – to ensure the safety and well-being of our students and staff. I have discussed this matter with Laning Avenue School Principal Mr. Freund and members of our Laning staff. We reviewed alternate options to temporarily relocate both affected classrooms until the ceiling issue can be appropriately remedied. I can assure you that Mr. Freund and our teachers are making the necessary adjustments to the school day until the appropriate repairs are completed. We anticipate these repairs to be completed within two weeks.

“I would like to acknowledge the professionalism, flexibility, and resilience of our staff as they modify their plans and make accommodations to provide our students with the best possible learning experience. Their positive attitude and efforts are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to contact me should you have any further questions or concerns. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation. Wishing you and your family a wonderful school year.”

A federal district court judge has ruled against one aspect of a suit brought against the Verona Board of Education by Lou Racioppe, the former Verona High School football coach. The ruling is not, however, likely to end the suit, which could potentially be refiled at the federal or state level.

On August 29, Judge John Michael Vazquez issued an opinion that there was not a federal civil rights issue in Racioppe’s complaint against the BOE. Racioppe, who was represented by Greg Mascera of Bannon, Rawding, McDonald & Mascera in Verona, had asserted that the BOE had violated his due process rights in its investigation of complaints brought against him and assistant football coaches in the fall of 2017.

Vasquez wrote that Racioppe “appears to plead that his due process rights stem from the New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act…”. The judge disagreed with that, writing that “the Court does not construe the Anti-Bullying Act as creating heightened due process requirements under the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Racioppe’s legal argument had also asserted that his reputation had been damaged by the BOE’s actions. But the judge ruled that “reputation alone is not an interest protected by the Due Process Clause.” The BOE put the former coach on leave while it carried out its investigation and did not not reinstate him before the end of the 2017 football season. Racioppe could have re-applied for the head coaching position in 2018, but the judge’s decision says that he chose not to.

The ruling will likely not be the end of the litigation. The judge’s opinion said that Racioppe could file an amended complaint with the federal court, or it would send the matter to New Jersey state court. The former coach has 30 days from August 29 to make a decision. His lawyer, Mascera, declined to comment on the case.

Verona’s superintendent, Dr. Rui Dionisio, also declined to comment. He is named in the suit along with the BOE and former BOE members John Quattrocchi and Michele Bernardino.

Christopher Lakin thinks he knows how to make solar power cells more efficient: It’s all in the quantum physics. The Verona High School senior made a video to explain it, and if you think he’s done a good job of illustrating his idea, you can help him win $400,000.

No, we’re not kidding.

Lakin is one of 30 semi-finalists worldwide in the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, a global science video contest for students ages 13 to 18. In it, students create videos to demonstrate difficult concepts and theories in the physical or life sciences, which are then posted to Facebook. The video with the highest number of likes, positive reactions and shares will win the contest’s Popular Vote and jump ahead to be one of only six contestants in the final round of judging. If Lakin is ultimately declared the grand prize winner, he’ll be honored at an awards ceremony in Palo Alto, Calif., in November and be showered with a lot of money: $50,000 for the teacher that inspired his thinking, $100,000 for a new science lab at VHS and $250,000 to pay for college.

No, we’re not kidding.

The contest is the work of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. It has posted videos from all 30 students on its Breakthrough Facebook page for people all over the world to vote for their favorite. Lakin’s fellow contestants are equally global, hailing from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Iraq, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, the U.K. and Venezuela, in addition to the U.S. This is the fifth year for the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, and this year’s competition attracted more than 11,000 registrants.

Lakin’s physics teacher at VHS, Alexander Cali, thinks he will rise to the top. “The three best words I can think to describe Christopher are inquisitive, deep-learner, and intuitive,” Cali says. “These three qualities feed into each other in this order, strengthening each other in a positive feedback loop of continuous insight into his topic of interest. Christopher refuses to accept without questioning, which naturally leads him to develop a deeper understanding with the content being studied and it is this deeper understanding that leads to his intuition about the content as well. With greater content intuition, this allows Christopher to ask more informed questions that probe even deeper, into either the current content or related content to come.”

The questions are sometimes a challenge, Cali concedes. “There have been many times as a teacher where I would have to ask Christopher to hold on to his questions until after class so we could continue with the lesson–and he would,” Cali says. “If he was unable to ask me after class I would know to expect an email in my inbox with him probing deeper into the content, asking multiple questions, and unabashedly offer his own thoughts/comments/guesses as to what was happening underneath the surface explanation provided. It would usually take me multiple emails to temporarily satisfy Christopher’s thirst for understanding.”

To aid the understanding of quantum physics in his video, Lakin enlisted some creative clip art and video techniques–and three of his fellow seniors. Henry Wertz, Michael Sluck and Chloe Mathewson have been pressed into service to explain energy transfer and quantum coherence, the latter by swinging on somebody’s backyard swing set.

It’s now up to the voting public on Facebook to decide if all of that worked. The Popular Vote challenge ends on Friday, September 20, and Lakin has to convince a lot of people that he knows his stuff. Past Popular Vote winners had between 25,000 and 44,000 likes and shares, so Lakin is shooting for 62,000. “Why not aim higher than necessary, even if it’s not reached,” he says. “Eighty percent of a lot is still a lot.”

“Photosynthesis is the quantum magician,” Lakin says in the video. “Yes, in every leaf on the planet, quantum mechanics is what enables the largest source of free energy on earth to enter the food chain. That’s why I think that quantum biology is really cool.”

He hopes you will too.

You can watch the video and leave your reactions here. Voting is open until Friday, September 20 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time.