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Bordentown superintendent lays out data-driven plan to boost literacy, expand course access and redesign school day
Summary
Superintendent presented district test scores and gaps — citing a 94.3% high-school graduation rate, 37.4% high‑school ELA proficiency and 25% of students reading below grade level — and proposed redesigning study‑hall time, protecting literacy blocks and expanding AP/course access to improve outcomes.
The Bordentown Regional School District superintendent used the board meeting to present a data-driven "state of the district," outlining strengths and gaps and urging a redesign of the school day to better target literacy and course access.
Dr. Alabello told the board the district has "momentum" in several areas: K–5 standardized test scores are above the state average, middle-school literacy recently rose above the state average, and the high-school graduation rate is 94.3% with chronic absenteeism at 1.8%. But he said persistent gaps remain: "25% of our students currently are reading below grade level," and the high‑school proficiency in English-language arts is 37.4%, below the state average of 53%.
The superintendent attributed part of the gap to limited course access at the high school. He said the district currently offers 14 AP courses (compared with a 20-course state average) and an AP participation rate of 27% (state average 36%), arguing that "access not ability is the gap and we can control access." He presented the district's Burlington County rating (47.37 on a 1–100 scale) to show how Bordentown compares with peer high schools.
Central to the presentation was a proposal to redesign how student time is scheduled. Dr. Alabello urged protecting a continuous literacy block in early grades, expanding co-taught inclusion sections (general and special education teachers together), and moving away from a structure that leaves students with a daily 40‑minute AE/study‑hall period that he said too often fails to provide interventions. He quantified cumulative lost instructional opportunity from that period, saying the daily blocks amount to roughly "20 days a year" of time across multiple years that could be repurposed for instruction or targeted support.
On safety and supervision, the superintendent highlighted a staffing concern: mornings at the high school currently place roughly 700 students in the building with three administrators, a configuration he called a scheduling and safety issue that a redesign could address.
Dr. Alabello sought to reassure the public that the district's recently passed budget preserves arts programming: "That budget fully funded all of the arts programs…Not one penny was reallocated from it," and he cited recent program expansions — a girls' golf team and a cooperative swim agreement with Northern Burlington — as evidence the district is expanding opportunities rather than reducing them.
Board members did not engage in extended public debate during the presentation; the superintendent said design work will continue over the summer and "once those decisions have been finalized we will share with the community all of the information."
