TIMES
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS, INC.
T H E JAC K S O N
Vol. 17 - No. 18
PARCC SCORES UP IN JACKSON
By Jennifer Peacock JACKSON – Jackson’s PARCC scores mostly saw a marked improvement over last year’s numbers. Schools Assistant Superintendent Dan Baginski gave a brief overview of the district’s Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers assessments during the Board of Education’s meeting on September 20. An in-depth presentation will be given on October 18. The scores were from the spring 2016 assessment. “Evaluating the results from PARCC testing can be a helpful tool in measuring your child’s success in school, and it is just one of the many ways our teachers [and] administrators can determine whether he or she is on track to being college- and career-ready New Jersey has had statew ide tests for decade s, and they have served as a small, but important part of assessing our students’ annual progress,” school superintendent Stephen Genco wrote to parents recently. “We are pleased that we are receiving these scores from the state much sooner than we have in the past. The faster turnaround gives educators a greater opportunity to use the results of these and other assessments and observations to tailor classroom instruction to support individual students.” Participation was up in the district from 2015’s test participation, Baginski said. For example, 96 percent of district high schoolers took the spring 2016 assessments, up from the lower 90 percent range last school year. Students across the grade levels and state “opted out” from taking PARCC last year. According to NJ.com, the state department of education did not count opt-outs, but instead recorded 130,000 non-tested students, which were either absent, had a medical emergency, or (Score - See Page 5)
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Inside This Week’s Edition
Business Directory........................23 Classifieds ....................................24 Community News......................9-14 Dear Joel.......................................28 Dr. Izzy’s Sound News .................18 Fun Page ......................................25 Inside The Law .............................25 Letters to the Editor .........................8 Wolfgang .....................................31 WWW.MICROMEDIAPUBS.COM
October 1, 2016
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Jackson’s Friday Night Lights
By Catherine Galioto JACKSON – The 2016 varsity football season is already one month in the bag, and both of Jackson’s two high schools hope to finish out October’s games with more in
the win column. Jackson Liberty’s varsity football schedule for the remainder of the season: October 1 at Lacey High School, 1 p.m. October 7 at Barnegat, 7 p.m.
–Photos by Steve Peacock and Val Mills Jackson Liberty’s recent away game against the Piners, above, and Jackson Memorial’s against Central Regional at home, left. October 7, the Lions play Barnegat and the Jaguars play Southern Regional, both away games. October 14 against Freehold Township, 7 p.m. October 21 at Point Pleasant Boro, 7 p.m. October 28 against Pinelands Regional, (Football - See Page 5)
Pet Ministries Bless Four-Legged Friends
–Photo by Lois Rogers Pastor Alan Darby blesses a search dog as part of the annual Blessing of the Animals.
With the
By Lois Rogers The fifth annual Blessing of the Animals, Pet Fair and Pet Adoption Day unfolded on the wide green lawns behind St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Herbertsville Road, Brick, with scores of critters and the “service humans” who gathered with them for recognition of their place in God’s creation. One-by-one and sometimes two-by-two, as in the case of a couple of pooches who rode a cart to receive their blessings from Pastor Alan Darby, the critters reflected the peaceable kingdom at its best. The sense of tranquility continued even after the pets – mainly dogs with a sprinkling of cats – received their blessings. Settling in
shady spots, the pets munched on treats and slurped from huge water bowls thoughtfully set out by members of the congregation’s Pet Ministry which sponsors and coordinates the community outreach event. Among four and two-footed friends relaxing after the blessing were Susan Keenan and Xena, her canine partner in rescue operations with a team based out of Wendell, North Carolina where she has taken many training classes. Keenan, Brick, is a retired Elizabeth police officer. This is the second year she and Xena, a stately, rescued Belgian Malinois, have come for the blessing on their rescue missions.
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(Pets - See Page 5)
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