WILDWOOD — Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. said he remembered a time when the Wildwood district schools hardly had any parent participation.
Those times certainly have changed according to recent reports given by school administrators and Home and School representatives. And the mayor, in attendance at the district’s Dec. 19 Board of Education meeting, said he “was amazed by the number of parents showing up.”
A November Home and School meeting drew 157 people.
Gladys Lauriello, principal of Wildwood High School, told the board that December’s winter concert held in the school’s auditorium was “packed.”
“It was wonderful to kick off the holiday season with that many people in attendance,” she said.
Wildwood Middle School Principal Mary Beth Clevenger said that a winter assembly brought a large group of parents into the school.
The increase in parents showing interest in the school has rubbed off on the pupils, according to teachers.
Carol Ann McDonald, president of the Wildwood Education Association, added that it would be impossible not to get excited about the amount of “good things” that have been going on in the district.
“The kids are happy and excited to be going to school,” she said.
“This is a good school,” Troiano said. “People read about it being a ‘drop out factory’, but I don’t think enough people know about all the good things that go on here.”
Wildwood High School was one of 13 New Jersey regular and vocational high schools that ranked as a “Dropout factory,” where 60 percent of students who enroll as freshman don’t make it to their senior year, according to a review conducted by Johns Hopkins University Education Department.
However, school officials argued that the district’s large transient population and lack of data on students who move away are the primary sources of those dropout rates.
“All it takes is a story like that to really kill a kid’s enthusiasm,” Troiano said.
The mayor suggested that the board think about bringing in a publicist in order to get the word out to the media about all the positive things that are done in the district.
Contact Suit at: (609) 886-8600 ext. 25 or lsuit@cmcherald.com
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