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Metuchen schools outline five district goals, emphasize information literacy and responsible AI use
Summary
Superintendent-level district presentation reviewed five goals and a homegrown 1–5 progress scale, highlighted information literacy and a measured approach to classroom AI, and cited strong NJSLA participation and school-level examples.
Doctor Caputo presented the Metuchen Public School District—s five goals on Nov. 18, telling the board the district—s motto for the year is "every moment matters." He described a locally developed 1—5 rating scale used to measure progress, saying 1 means no progress and 5 indicates significant evidence of student-level impact.
Caputo said the district—s goals cover classroom and community engagement; building forward together around construction and realignment; "Sky's the limit" family and student collaboration; information literacy; and social-emotional supports under a "best me" theme. He gave school-level examples: Moss established a green team and applied for an NJEA sustainability grant, Campbell is collecting community feedback for plantings, Edgar—s environmental club is working on a courtyard project, and the high school—s tree-ambassador presentation was reviewed with the district—s landscape architect.
On information literacy, Caputo said the district is teaching students to evaluate sources and assess reliability, citing activities from media-literacy week such as lessons on propaganda, political cartoons and banned books. He previewed an AI plan that district staff will present and emphasized instruction on "responsible AI use" rather than a ban, saying, "We did not take the approach of banning AI just like with cell phones." He and Doctor Herzog said the plan will include staff development on prompt engineering and classroom guidance.
Caputo also cited survey and participation figures the district will publish, saying there were "almost 500" responses from grades 3—5, "almost 1,100" responses from grades 6—2, just over 200 staff responses and nearly 400 parent responses to district surveys that inform goal actions. Board members praised the information-literacy focus and asked how priorities map to goals; Doctor Herzog explained priorities are used across hiring, new-teacher orientation and professional development.
The board opened for questions after the presentation and was told the slides and an all-staff summary would be posted to the district website the following morning. The presentation did not include formal action; it was an informational update the board accepted for the record.
