Every September marks the beginning of a new school year. Parents, teachers and students look forward to a clean slate and a fresh start as we sail off into the uncharted territory of a new grade, perhaps a new school, a new teacher and new challenges as we set goals and seek new possibilities. As a former teacher and a parent, the fresh start of each school year was my Happy New Year with its own set of resolutions!
Now it’s mid-October, and we have settled in to the academic and extracurricular routine. It’s the perfect time to start to assess how we are doing. In mid-September, a special election allowed the taxpayers of Dennis and Middle townships the opportunity to vote on increasing funding for those districts. Both the bond issue and the tax increase were voted down. This lack of funding will most certainly affect the ability of the districts to provide the kind of academic programming that they had hoped to.
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I’m on a campaign to discover those hidden gems by finding positive, good programs in each district that I will share with you on a monthly basis.
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As disappointing as that is, maybe the time has come to look at the existing hidden gems that we have in our individual school districts and use those as a means to enrich and expand curriculum and resources countywide.
I’m on a campaign to discover those hidden gems by finding positive, good programs in each district that I will share with you on a monthly basis. I would love any leads that you would like to share with me. Along with learning more about the 17 districts in Cape May County, we may all learn more about the diverse personalities of our teachers and students. As always, the ultimate goal should be providing all Cape May County students equal education opportunities.
In November, 2023, Cape Issues created an Education Improvement Position with the following goals:
- Offer all CMC students equal education opportunities.
- Improve student performance.
- Address school budget and state funding shortfalls.
- Take advantage of current superior teaching expertise.
- Maintain high school extracurricular identities.
- Ensure adequate civics and life skills content in curricula.
It is also important to note that we have an election coming up in November with 40 school board seats in play in Cape May County. This is an opportunity for everyone to make a choice of leadership at the grass-roots level. There are also two districts that lack enough candidates to fill the positions available. Think about it!
Let’s see how we, as a community with a common goal, can make some headway this school year. That’s my New Year’s resolution. Contact me at Janemcconnell49@gmail.com.
