Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Staffing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Superintendent reports strong applicant pools, summer reading plans and continuing staffing gaps
Summary
Superintendent Diane D. Jeppi told the board graduations were successful, that the district has robust applicant pools for many openings but only one candidate for a middle‑school special‑education math post, and outlined detailed summer reading assignments and fall projects by grade.
Superintendent Miss Diane D. Jeppi told the Verona Board of Education that recent ceremonies — the HBW transition and Verona High School graduation — were "memorable and inspiring," and she praised staff and student accomplishments. She reported the district is receiving many teacher applications across postings but identified gaps in specific areas: an elementary kindergarten opening, a middle‑school special‑education math opening with only one applicant, and retirements that will require replacements.
Jeppi said the district had 65 applicants for a kindergarten posting (up from 58 earlier in the day) and 23 applicants for a special‑education posting at Landing; she noted one applicant for the middle‑school special‑education math vacancy and said that position will be reposted and pushed to top job‑board listings. She also listed ongoing hiring needs for paraprofessionals, lunch aides, day substitutes, bus drivers and part‑time custodial and maintenance positions.
On summer learning, Jeppi outlined grade‑by‑grade summer reading assignments and projects intended to maintain literacy gains: incoming fifth‑graders choose one fiction novel; incoming sixth‑graders choose two titles from a 17‑choice list; seventh‑graders compare a fiction and nonfiction text and prepare writing centered on themes of resilience and empathy; eighth‑graders examine heroism and civic character; high‑school students have individual summer assignments in math, language arts and AP classes. Jeppi cited research that students can lose up to two months of progress without summer reading, and said the district's media specialists and teachers prepared the summer reading hubs on school websites.
Board members thanked retiring staff, discussed the sequencing of replacements and expressed appreciation for the summer assignments. Jeppi said surveys of incoming kindergarten families yielded only two volunteers (of 61 respondents) willing to shift placements voluntarily to balance class sizes.
