Rockaway Township schools present five-year strategic plan; district officials report gains in multilingual and SEL work

Superintendent Richard Corbett told the Rockaway Township Board of Education that the district is moving forward on a five‑goal plan and a concurrent five‑year strategic plan covering academics, culture and infrastructure.

Corbett opened the presentation by saying, “When I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools, I see students that are learning and having fun,” and asked the administrative team to outline progress toward district goals and the district strategic plan.

District leaders presented five explicit district goals for the year, including a target to increase the share of students meeting or exceeding expectations on the NJSLA in English language arts and math by 5 percent over the 2023–24 baseline, expanded consistent learning experiences in math, literacy and science, and work to improve climate and reduce chronic absenteeism. The fifth stated goal is planning and implementing a facilities referendum to address capacity and long‑term educational needs.

Alfonso Canelo, identified in the meeting as director of curriculum and instruction, described a push to improve coherence across curriculum and assessment. “Our numbers have skyrocketed from 63 students last year to 107 this year,” he said, referring to multilingual learner (MLL) enrollment; the district increased MLL staff and adopted Lincoln assessment tools and descriptors to track student ‘can‑do’ skills. Canelo said the district refreshed its curriculum documents (131 updated items) and instituted a curriculum‑revision cycle intended to keep materials current.

Administrators described a district‑wide reboot of i‑Ready and new use of LinkIt and Lincoln tests for grade‑level common assessments; principals and the superintendent conducted targeted data reviews with teachers. Katie Pietrowski, director of student services, said the district completed a first year of the Character Strong social‑emotional learning (SEL) curriculum and aligned SEL lessons into the revised curricula. She also said Birchwood completed the New Jersey Preschool Inclusive Education project and the district will add a seventh integrated preschool classroom next school year.

Technology and security upgrades were described as ongoing. Technology director Abraham Elder listed network, server and disaster‑recovery work (switch replacements, virtualization, lithium‑ion UPS units) and an Incident IQ help‑desk rollout. The district reported expanded family controls such as the GoGuardian parent app, multifactor authentication for staff, a visitor check‑in system (Raptor), and a virtual hall pass system that the Copeland principal credited with improved hallway behavior. Elder said future work includes new wireless access points, a new phone system, and security camera upgrades.

Buildings and grounds updates included completion of three roof projects (KDM, Birchwood and Copeland) and pending partial reimbursement discussions with the School Development Authority. Facilities director reported mechanical repairs across schools (boiler and condenser work, water‑heater replacement, railings) and completion of a district long‑range facilities plan to inform the planned referendum.

Administrators described community outreach tied to the goals: 10 academy nights, PTA events, a community wellness fair and multiple student leadership and service projects. Corbett closed the presentation thanking staff; he asked that the slides be posted to the district site for community review and said the work will continue at the building level.

Ending: The presentation ran roughly 40 minutes; board members scheduled follow‑up committee meetings to review details and next steps on curriculum, finance and referendum planning.