Deptford school district coordinator Michael Nicely (right) reports on HIB grades during the Oct. 14 board of education meeting.
The school district’s Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) grade for the current year and the Deptford Township Foundation for Educational Excellence (DTFFEE) were topics at the board of education meeting on Oct 14.
The HIB presentation was given by the district’s coordinator on the topic, Michael Nicely. The schools performed their own self-assessments on safety and implementation of the state’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act (ABR).
“Each school must be consistent with the associated information and data collected by the district and data reports submitted to the NJDOE (New Jersey Department of Education),” Nicely explained. “The school grade is a raw score of data and the sum of the ratings for all indicators within each core element for the 2024-2025 school year.”
Those core elements include board of ed training, as well as HIB and training programs. Each element addresses a school’s ABR requirement, with a maximum score of 78. The anticipated average score for the district in the 2024-’25 school year is 70, slightly lower than the previous year’s score of 73.
“We have been pretty consistent across the board,” said Nicely. “Out of the eight schools, we’re averaging with the high 60s to the 70s, and that is pretty consistent for the last three school years.”
The board voted to approve the HIB results and will send a statement of assurance to the NJDOE in the near future.
The meeting’s other presentation focused on the DTFFEE and was given by its chairman, Matthew Huminski. He offered an overview of the foundation’s focus and its purpose.
“Our primary mission, for those who don’t know, is that we provide grants, small grants, to teachers who apply through the course of the year,” Huminski pointed out. “We give them small grants for things they want to try in their classroom. Things that aren’t covered by the budget of the school.”
According to Huminski, the foundation has awarded over 125 grants worth a total of more than $137,000 since its creation in 1999.
“We also just recently started giving out scholarships,” he noted, “$500 scholarships to students interested in becoming teachers. Since we started that in 2017, we’ve given out nine … We were really happy that we’re able to do that.”
The next board of ed meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 6:30 p.m.
