Testing Info for 2023

Thinking ahead and making sure all testing information is out there. 

Semester 1 Assessments

Semester Assessment Information

(Schedule)

*All semester assessments need to be submitted by 8am on Thursday, January 12.  

Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Period 1 - 9:02 - 11:03
Lunch 11:04 - 11:54
Period 5 - 11:55 - 1:56

Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Period 2 - 9:02 - 11:03
Lunch 11:04 - 11:54
Period 6 - 11:55 - 1:56

Thursday, January 26, 2023
Period 3 - 9:02 - 11:03
Lunch 11:04 - 11:54
Period 7 - 11:55 - 1:56

Friday, January 27, 2023
Period 4 - 9:02 - 11:03
Lunch 11:04 - 11:54
Period 8 - 11:55 - 1:56

Delayed opening with a 9:02am start and an early release at 1:56pm for all students
*For 1st semester assessments, all classes will meet whether they are giving an assessment or not. Example Related Arts, PE, electives, etc.

Spring Testing Dates
With only one grade level testing at a time, we will not need to run any delayed openings during state testing. This is a change from years past. 

April 20, 2023 PSAT 10

AM Testing Only 8 - 11:30am (Approximately)

Grade 1o will be isolated for testing (Cafeteria)

All other grade levels will follow our normal bell schedule

NJGPA Testing Grade 11 (Testing dates 3/13 - 3/16) 
AM Testing Only 8 - 9:55am (Approximately)
Grade 11 will be isolated for testing
Cafeteria/Media Center/Media Center Lab/Room 425 will be used for testing
All other grade levels will follow our normal bell schedule

NJSLA Testing Grade 9 (Testing Dates - 5/1 - 5/4)
9th Grade - ELA (3 sections) 90 minute units 
9th Grade - Geometry & Algebra 1 H (2 sections) 90 minute units

AM Testing window each day 8 - 10am
Grade 9 will be isolated for testing
Cafeteria/Media Center/Media Center Lab/Room 425 will be used for testing
All other grade levels will follow our normal bell schedule

NJSLA Testing  Grade 11 (Testing Dates 5/11 - 5/12)

11th Grade - Science (4 Units - 60 minutes each)

AM Testing window each day 8 - 10:30am
Cafeteria/Media Center/Media Center Lab/Ro0m 425 will be used for testing
All other grade levels will follow our normal bell schedule

All dates and info is also posted on The Answers - HS Testing Calendar 22-23

WHS Staff News - Week of 11/28/22

I hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving and enjoyed the four day break!

It’s back!!! “10 days to the Holiday Break” will start on Monday, 12/12. See link for all the details. A few things might get added before the 12th. Start planning! 100% optional, 100% fun!

10 Days till the Holiday Break - 2022  


Let's all keep an eye on the exit door by 309 going out to the temporary classrooms.

• If you walk by and it’s open, close it.
• If you are walking back to the building and there are no students behind you, close the door.
• Art wing hall duty teachers, please check the door before you take your post.

On Tuesday, during lunch we have a guest speaker for students. Please share this info.

• Thinking about a Career in Law Enforcement
• Presenter - Bergen County Prosecutor
• Careers in Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice
• November 29, 2022. 11am - Media Center (Lunch Meeting)

If you are interested - Free Wellness Series for Waldwick Staff & Community (Presented by Hackensack Meridian Health)

Letting Go of Stress: How to Adapt, Cope, & Thrive
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
3:15pm - 4:15pm

This presentation will discuss the nature of stress, types of stress, and gives language to the emotions associated with everyday stress. Effective coping skills and relaxation techniques will be shared with detailed instruction to offer new ways to respond to stress. Through experiential learning, participants will discover strategies to improve overall health and well-being.

The Global Awareness Club is selling Waldwick sweatshirts to raise funds for the Grace Project in Kenya. Everything will be delivered before the holidays! Blog post with links to order. 

WHS Staff News - Week of 11/14/22

That's one marking period down and Phase 1 90% complete! 

For those of you that were part of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 moving last week, THANK YOU! It was a crazy few days and I know it was stressful but we got it done.  I also need to thank Andy Gamper and the custodian staff for going the extra mile.

Senior Wing Teachers - What's still to come in your rooms 

• Blinds - Hopefully getting an answer later today on the timeline 
• Permanent HVAC unit - Hopefully getting an answer later today on the timeline
• Card access locks  
• Room number signs - Hallway/Windows/Inside room 
• Additional white boards will be going up 
• In the back corner of each room - small bulletin board (Under Clock) for evacuation map/room number/announcements 
• We need to bring the rooms to life with pictures/posters/etc. Let's start thinking about what you want. Let's start the conversations. 

For Wednesday, 11/16 there will be no formal DLC meeting.  Teachers can use the time to re-organize their space that they just moved into. We also have the Volleyball tournament going in the gym. 

We found out late yesterday that QSAC is now coming on Friday, 11/18 at 9:30am.  Can't make it up. 

Looking ahead to next week: 

Wednesday, 11/23 - Minimum Day

Thursday, 11/24 - No School 

Friday, 11/25 - No School 

Recent blog post:

New Genesis Links 

WHS Staff News - Week of 10/17/22

We made it through last week.  Thanks to everyone that proctored either the Start Strong or the PSAT's.  I'm glad that week is behind us. 

PDP's (Due on Friday, 10/21/22)
I know some departments have had conversations about their department goals. Please have them finalized by this Wednesday and entered into Genesis by Friday, 10/21.

For PDP's ... three goals total are needed:

• School Goal
• Department Goal
• Department Goal or Personal Goal

*Crossover staff can replace a department goal with the MS school goal. You only need to have three goals total.

If any department wants to do two goals, that's fine. Those department members will not have a personal goal.

The school goal for the 22-23 school year will focus on Gratitude and how each staff member can bring a little gratitude into their daily lives.

Teachers will focus on:

• Being an active listener with your colleagues and students
• Take a moment each day to put a smile on someone's face (send an email, write a positive note, send a text or make a phone call)
• Find different ways that work for you to show gratitude and appreciation for others

You may be thinking, is this really a goal? The NJDOE might not think so, but I don’t care. As I said in our first meeting about Gratitude …. As individuals, why don’t we focus on this more? Shouldn’t we? Let’s try!

People fail to understand how gratitude can change a life and change one’s perception for the good. A life without gratitude is often an unhappy, unfilled life. The thing with gratitude is that it actually helps you way more than the person you’re showing gratitude towards. We all need as much good in our lives as possible, so let's help each other make that happen.

Wednesday's Assembly with Kevin Atlas 

See link for schedule 

All staff should remain in the gym for the entire presentation.  Please find a seat in the bleachers.

Senior picture on the hill

Seniors will be taking their Class of 23 picture around 2:05pm on Friday.  Students will be called down from last block.  

WHS Staff News - Week of 9/26/22

Back to School Night is behind us. Thanks for putting on a great show. The parents that I spoke to throughout the night all had good things to say. What's the future of BTSN? I don't know, but I welcome ideas and suggestions because I'm not sure the current format is what we need any more. I will be discussing this topic with the ScIP Committee.

Testing week (Start Strong and PSAT/NMSQT) - 10/11, 10/12 & 10/13
The "All Doc" has been updated and included in my email.

Week of Respect - 10/3/22
Student Council is planning a few things for the week. More to come on what they have planned.
Monday, 10/3, wear blue to commemorate the national color for anti bullying
Friday, 10/7 wear orange for the Waldwick anti-bullying color
*Staff can wear Jeans on Monday & Friday


Spirit Week is coming - Week of 10/10/22 Spirit days will be released next week.

Update on Letter of Recommendations
The Bergen County Directors of Guidance recently shared information for teachers and counselors on letters of recommendation and a shift in how they are written and what college admissions officers are preferring.
See link for information on bulleted letters of recommendation. In discussion with many college reps, they prefer this type of letter over the narrative version. More importantly, it’s easier for counselors/teachers.
Google Folder with Letter of Recommendations Resources
I am not saying you need to go back and change what you have already written, but consider this new format moving forward.

Also, as a reminder: Teachers need to have their letters of reference (PDF format) uploaded in Naviance and their common app teacher forms completed and saved in Naviance by Oct. 12.

Duty Period Assignments
Next week I will be pushing out an updated duty assignment for hall duty teachers with locations. Lunch duty locations might be changing as well. No periods or times will be changed.

Recent Blog Posts

PSAT/NMSQT Testing for Juniors (Class of 2024) - October 12, 2022

NJDOE Start Strong Assessments - Schedule for the Fall 2022

Handle Hard Better

WHS Staff News - Week of 9/12/22

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Last week Mr. Clancy, Mr. Mayer and I had grade level meetings with the 9, 10 and 11 graders. Seniors will be this week. 

Start Strong will not happen as scheduled on 9/20 - 9/23.

I wanted to work the testing schedule with as little interruption as possible but that's not going to work with some of the state mandates related to testing procedures. I promised you 21 start days and I am keeping that promise. Penny and I are working on schedule for the second week of October. More details to follow.

Tuesday, 9/13 - Special Schedule 

We have a lot going on in the gym during the day.  School pictures will be in the Greenberg Center.  All staff should stop by at some point for a picture. 

Wednesday 9/14 - DLC Time 

All departments should get together to talk about:

*PDP's and department goals

*Needs/wants for the 10/10 delayed opening PD Day

Goodell Tree on front lawn

I asked Mr. Goodell to open up part of the fence around the tree so classes can sit out there during the day.  We wanted to protected it from the contractors. 

Upcoming 

Back to School Night - 9/22/22 (In-Person) 

*Donna will work on posting bell schedule. 

First Day reminders / things I forgot

 

WHS Staff News 22-23 SY  (See link for a few reminders - Waldwickschools.org account only) 

WHS Staff News - Summer Update (Almost that time)

Summer Update 22-23 SY

Opening day for staff is Thursday, September 1! Teachers are off on Friday, 9/2. The buildings will be open till 12pm on Friday. 

Agenda for 9/1. My goal this year for the 1st day was to give you as much TIME for yourself as a could.  We will get together as a staff at 10:15 in the Media Center. 

The entire district will not be coming together this year to kickoff the school year. There will be a WEA meeting at 11:30 in the MSMPR for HS and MS staff.  The WEA is providing breakfast and lunch to all staff. 

Here is my blog post that went out to students and parents. Welcome Back 22-23 School Year.

What to expect for the first day with students:

Tuesday, September 6 we will follow a Special Schedule where all classes will meet. The rotation will start on Wednesday, 9/7, with Day 1.
*Note Tuesday, 9/13, will be another Special Schedule with all classes meeting. We needed to do this for picture day/school bus evacuation drills/Chromebook registration and senior gown fittings. The Physical Education Department will take care of all of these things.

The entire school year has been planned out related to the rotation schedule. See link to the calendar for the year: 2022- 2023 Rotation Schedule

Like last year, we continue to post monthly calendars for staff and parents. You can find the link on The Answers.

New Staff joining us at WHS

Dr. Cynthia Burmaster - Chemistry
Joseph Petrosi - Chemistry

Danielle Ramiccio-Special Education
Caitlin Ernest - Special Education

Melanie Moore - School Counselor
Liz Beck - School Social Worker

Nicole DeMatteo - School Nurse
Stefanie Gosse Batory - Media Specialist (Leave Replacement)

Judy Lowe - Instructional Aide

Student Teachers /Interns
Ashley Lewis - School Counselor
Maryellen Van Alter - School Psychologist
Madeline Hawkins - Social Studies
Bridget Powers - Math

Resources
The Answers - Your staff manual for everything you need to know related to WHS. Here you can find the ... Master Schedule, Duty List, Agenda for 9/1, Meeting dates, Emergency drill procedures and much more!

Safe Schools & BOE Policies - Reminder: The courses you need to watch need to be completed by 9/9
Policy Acknowledgment 2022-2023 - Complete by 9/9

Back-to-School Night will be on Thursday, September 22 (In-person) 7 - 9pm

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday.  I hope you have plans for the long weekend! 

WHS Staff News - Week of 4/18/22

Welcome back!!! I hope you are ready for the final push! This year has been filled with a lot of ups and downs, frustrating moments but at the same time we have had some great moments and worked hard to rebuild relationships and get students back on track after the pandemic. 

PS - I survived Disney. We had a great time! I only lost me cool once!?!

We have 41 school days left this year. Yep! 41!
April 10 days / May 20 days / June 4 days of classes / 4 days for assessments / 3 days minimum days. 

Let's use those 41 days to be that educator students can't forget! 41 opportunities to make a difference. Check out this powerful video. 

“Thanks for Being the Teacher I Couldn’t Forget.”

Student Council Sprit Week take two!
April 18th through April 22nd:
Spirit Week
Monday — Beach Day/Snowcone Monday
Tuesday — Dress Like A Teacher Day - Best Teacher Outfit Wins Prize (Teachers Dress Like Students)
Wednesday — White Lies Day
Thursday — Color Wars (Staff wear Blue)
Friday — Crazy Day (Shirt, Socks, Outfit)


**Sprit Rally will be Thursday, 4/21 at 2pm (Period 5).

WHS Staff News - Heading into Spring Break

Spring Break ... here we come! I hope everyone gets to enjoy some time off.  If you are going away have a great time, if you are staying local then just enjoy the time and relax!  I am off to Disney to have a MAGICAL time! I will relax when I get back! 

Construction Update: 

Things are starting to move along.  You might have already noticed more construction people around, then will only increase over the next few months.  The sequence of the work should be locked in over the next few weeks which I will share with everyone when it's set.  The contractor who was awarded the bid, thinks he can move the timeline along quicker then what was presented.  That would be amazing if possible, but we will see.  Supply chain issues was a big worry a few months ago, but according to the contractors we are in much better shape and they don't expect any major delays. 

Student Council Sprit Week take two! 

April 18th through April 22nd:
Spirit Week
Monday — Beach Day/Snowcone Monday
Tuesday — Dress Like A Teacher Day - Best Teacher Outfit Wins Prize (Teachers Dress Like Students)
Wednesday — White Lies Day
Thursday — Color Wars
Friday — Crazy Day (Shirt, Socks, Outfit)

**Sprit Rally will be Thursday, 4/21 at 2pm (Period 5).

Upcoming Events 
Bring your Child to Work Day - April 28th (Save the Date)

I could use some help in organizing the day so if anyone wants to help out please let me know.

 

WHS Staff News - Week of 2/22/22

If you believe in things like certain dates matter, this might be one of those days ... 2/22/22.  Might be a good day to play the lottery! lol

I hope everyone had an enjoyable long weekend! March is coming quickly and hopefully, there will be some nice Spring-like weather here before we know it.  I don't know about you, but these cold temperatures are starting to get to me.  

Here are a few updates: 

State Testing Change for the NJGPA
My plan to test in the morning and afternoon for NJGPA is not allowed by the NJDOE. I tried! So the new plan is we will be testing for 4 straight mornings instead of 2 during the week of March 14. All other grade levels will follow a normal schedule. Penny is in the process of updating the proctoring schedule. Donna will update the Google Calendar. 

HIGH SCHOOL TESTING CALENDAR 21-22 SY 

AM Testing Only 8 - 9:55am (Approximately)

Tuesday, 3/15 - Day 3 (ELA Unit 1)
Wednesday, 3/16 - Day 4 (ELA Unit 2)
Thursday, 3/17 - Day 1 (Math Unit 1)
Friday, 3/18 - Day 2 (Math Unit 2)

Blog for parents - State Testing 

Senior Cut Days - FYI, I sent this to senior parents this morning:

Senior Parents/Guardians,

Over the last two weeks we have had two days where a large majority of seniors have taken the day off. Parents call the school letting us know that their child is taking part in senior cut day. Senior cut day is not an excused absence and is not something the school condones.

I understand the right of passage that seniors feel they are entitled to a senior cut day, but not multiple days throughout the year. We have an attendance policy that will be enforced and these days are not excused absences.

Keeping seniors motivated and on task as we head to June is always something we deal with. In the past when parents and the school work together on emphasizing the importance of finishing the school strong, we have seen great success.

There are a lot of senior events that will be coming up over the next few months and I don’t want any student to miss out because of attendance issues.

Heart Screening 

Heart screening will be done this year on Wednesday, 3/23 - Friday, 3/25.  This service will be offered to all 9th and 10th graders for free because of the Sean Fisher Memorial Foundation. More details will be shared with the students/families later this week. 

WHS Staff News - 1/10/22

Finding the joy and purpose in the present moment. Yes, things are a mess right now with teacher's being out because of COVID-19, students absences, quarantine lists and the list goes on and on but lets try to find the joy. Use your time and energy to bring joy and smiles to yourself and others. We are all dealing with this pandemic, let's try to make the best of the moments.

Schedule change for Friday, 1/21. We will make up Friday's snow day (Day 3) and eliminate the all classes meet that was scheduled for 1/21. I believe most staff members are not fans of the all classes meeting anymore. Donna will update the calendar. 

For the month of January there will be no working Wednesday's.

PD Day on Monday, 1/17: Dianna and I will be posting the schedule this week but most of the time will be used for curriculum work. No new big incentives, just some collaborating, writing, organizing and using the time wisely.

If you did not receive an email or phone call on Thursday night (delayed opening) and/or Friday (school closing) please let Donna know.

Reminder - End of the 2nd marking period is, Friday 1/21. Laurie Cassidy will be posting the timeline for the second marking period grade submission. Make sure Gradebook is up to date.  It saves stress at the end of the marking period for you and the students.  Make sure you are communication with parents and they are aware of any struggles.