Two Bernards Elementary Schools Named as NJ 'Reward' Schools

Two school receive recognition, although no cash.

The state Department of Education has released its list of "Reward Schools" for 2013, and both the Mount Prospect Elementary School and the Cedar Hill Elementary School are included among 112 schools around the state. Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian said he was aware that the two schools had been included as Reward Schools. However, he added that he does not believe the accolade will translate into additional funding for the schools. A Reward School is a school with outstanding student achievement or growth over the past three years, according to information from the state Department of Education. The DOE said the types of Reward Schools are: •    Highest-Performing: schools that are the highest-performing in the state, in terms of …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (2)

First and Only Mount Prospect Principal Retiring This Month

Judith Slutzky opened the first new elementary school in decades in Bernards Township and made diverse school homelike.

It's been a very busy couple of weeks for Judith Slutzky during her remaining month as principal of the Mount Prospect Elementary School — busy enough, she says, that she hasn't had time to really think about retiring from the school that has known only one principal in its 14-year history. Slutzky recalled that it also had been a frantic and exciting time when the school itself opened, bringing together some staff from other schools — Slutzky herself had been principal at the Oak Street Elementary School — and new teachers and children, along with students from The Hills who had been attending the Liberty Corner Elementary School. The building had just received its certificate of occupancy before Labor Day and the entire staff put in an …

•  5 Comments
• Photos (7)

Middle School Administrator to Become Mt. Prospect Assistant Principal

Paul Ciempola, assistant principal at William Annin Middle School, will make move to elementary school in February.

The new assistant principal at the Mount Prospect Elementary School early next year will be Paul Ciempola, who has been assistant principal at the William Annin Middle School since 2007. Ciempola will make the move to the elementary school serving The Hills section of the township next February, said Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian. Judith Slutsky, principal at Mount Prospect, is due to retire in January. After that, Joanne Hozeny, who is Mount Prospect's current assistant principal, will move up into the position of principal at the elementary school, at the same time Ciempola arrives at Mount Prospect. Markarian said that the school district is looking to hire another assistant principal at William Annin within 60 days to replace …

• Photos (1)

View Finder

International Day Returns to Mount Prospect School

Public invited to multicultural dances on Friday at 7 p.m. and International Day Fair, with food, at 5:30 p.m.

Mount Prospect Elementary School is the most international of Bernards Township's four elementary schools, and some of the flavors of that world-view are on display on Friday. On Thursday, the third grade performed dances from Russia, Mexico, Kenya, Japan and Scotland at an assembly for students. The dance performances will be repeated for the public at 7 p.m. on Friday, following an International Day Fair for the public — including food — at the school cafeteria, beginning at 5:30 p.m. School Principal Judith Slutzky said she had always wanted to hold an international day, but last year launched the program the help of dedicated parent volunteers Riham Elkashef, Achint Kaur, Helen Woo and Denise Zangara. The Mount Prospect PTO provided …

• Photos (13)

New Mount Prospect Principal on Familiar Ground

Joanne Hozeney has worked alongside retiring principal Judith Slutzky at elementary school serving The Hills.

When Joanne Hozeny moves into the office of school principal at the Mount Prospect Elementary School in February, she will be on familiar ground. As the school's assistant principal since August 2007, she has worked alongside Judith Slutzky, who retires in January. Slutzky, who has been Mount Prospect's principal since the school opened 14 years ago to serve The Hills development, described Hozeny as "the perfect choice" to become the school's second principal. "She knows the school, she knows the students, she knows the curriculum," Slutzky said of Hozeny, who in previous years was a teacher at both the Mount Prospect and Oak Street elementary schools. "I am both thrilled and honored to become the principal of Mount Prospect School," …

• Photos (3)

Mount Prospect Principal Retiring in January

Judith Slutzky announces pending retirement this January; lauded at Board of Education meeting.

Judith Slutzky, who has been principal at the Mount Prospect Elementary School since it opened in 1998-99, on Monday announced she will retire at the end of January. Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian announced at Monday night's Board of Education meeting that he had received a white envelope from Slutzky just that morning — "which is never a good sign." Nevertheless, Slutzky, hired by the district in July 1993 to become principal of the Oak Street Elementary School, was presented with flowers on Monday night, and thanked for her hard work on Monday night. Markarian praised Slutzky's boundless energy and said that even in the past year she had never tired launching new programs and events at the school, such as International Day and the…

•  2 Comments
• Photos (2)

MORE PHOTOS: Harvest of Health at Mt. Prospect

Mount Prospect Elementary School students also decide to donate the bounty of their garden to a church food bank in Bernardsville.

With a boost from a $7,000 grant from Rutgers Cooperative Extension, students in prekindergarten through fifth grade at the Mount Prospect Elementary School have gotten an opportunity these last few months to see how their garden grows. The project, part of a schoolwide initiative to encourage children to eat and live healthily — with the foods they eat, through exercise and other healthy habits — will be highlighted with harvesting of the garden's vegetables this week. Fifth grade teacher Katie Paul, who will have students out in the garden on Wednesday morning harvesting produce, said that preparing for and growing the garden resulted in multiple lessons for children. Paul said the children planted the seedlings in their classrooms in …

• Photos (8)

Fourth Graders Present Case Against Texting & Driving

Reading project turns into campaign involving local police.

A reading support specialist at the Mount Prospect Elementary School and her fourth grade students decided to turn a persuasive writing assignment into approaching an issue that affects the whole community, especially at Ridge High School — the problem of driving and texting. "They worked with the local police department to identify an issue that needed attention, which was texting while driving," said Sloane Castleman, an instructional support teacher specializing in reading. About eight fourth-grade students were involved in researching the topic before sharing the posters and the essays with the community, Castleman said. For example, she said one of the posters is at McGrath's Paint & Hardware off Hills Drive in Bedminster. The …

•  5 Comments
• Photos (1)

Mt. Prospect Students Donate For "Golden Turkey" Award

Also, students in the Bernards Township elementary school donate food and collect funds for multiple service projects before Thanksgiving break.

On the day before Thanksgiving, students and staff at Mount Prospect elementary school in The Hills had collected almost 1,600 food donations that were waiting to be picked up by someone from the Food Bank Network of Somerset County. For the past few weeks, students at the preK through grade 5 elementary school had shown up for school carrying canned items and other nonperishable food items. The items were sorted by grade level as part of a competition to see which grade level win this year's "Golden Turkey" award. The award, consisting of a trophy and a certificate to be put on display, went for a second year to the school's second graders, last year's first graders, who brought in a combined 309 donations, said Mt. Prospect Principal …

• Photos (3)

Back to School 2011

Girl Scouts Donate 'Peace Pole' At Mt. Prospect School

Yearlong project calls for peace in four languages, earns junior girl scout troop a bronze award.

A "Peace Pole" that was the result of a yearlong project undertaken by Girl Scout troop 61152 from The Hills was unwrapped on Friday at the Mount Prospect Elementary School, with students gathered outdoors in the bright sunshine to see the result. The cedar pole has "May Peace Prevail on Earth" written in four languages on narrow plaques attached to each on each side. The languages are English, Hindi, Chinese and Spanish, and troop leaders said the ten fifth graders involved in the project last year researched the most commonly spoken languages in the K-grade 5 elementary school. "This is the beginning of many other activities we are going to do for the garden," said Mount Prospect School Principal Judith Slutzky, referring to a Learning …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (5)