BOE approves staff to retire, listens to district goals
Art teacher John Dinkey and physical education teacher Frank Eufemia will be retiring at the end of the 2022-23 school year.
This year’s BOE and district goals were also approved at the meeting.
At their meeting Monday night, the Pascack Valley Regional High School District Board of Education approved staff retirements, this year’s goals, and listened to reports about each academic department.
John Dinkey and Frank Eufemia will be retiring at the end of the 2022-23 school year from Pascack Hills. They are the school’s art teacher and physical education teachers, respectively.
This year’s BOE and district goals were also approved at the meeting.
“They might seem a little familiar because last year’s goals were a great start and we want to build on them,” said Barry Bachenheimer, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.
For the district, the four goals for the year are to (1) continue working with the elementary and middle school students in promoting wellness, (2) measure internal and external aspects for student benchmarks, (3) incorporate real-world learning to all subjects, and (4) promote inclusivity in the district.
The two BOE goals for the year are to (1) listen to input from students, staff, and parents and (2) have all members attend one professional development event to promote student and educator achievement.
Each department supervisor for their respective subjects reflected on curricula, goals, and data from last year and their plans to build on it for this year.
“How blessed are our children to be in such a district where they have so many opportunities…it really amazes me,” said BOE vice president Gini Varghese after the presentations.
BOE member Kristin Martin added, “I share the enthusiasm of our staff here.”
The new softball coach for Hills, Lauren Brown, was also approved in addition to interns, athletic appointment changes, and bills.
At the end of the meeting, BOE member Debra Stephans asked about the renovations being done to the girls’ locker room. Superintendent Sarah Bilotti said that they asked the architect questions and should be hearing back with further details and plans in less than six weeks.
“I think we’re on a good path for [the locker room],” Bilotti said.
Briana Keenan is a senior at Hills. She joined the Trailblazer her freshman year as a staff writer and edited for the In-Depth and School News sections her sophomore and junior years, respectively. This year, Keenan is looking forward to being the publication's Editor-in-Chief and continuing to write, edit, and manage stories for the Hills community.
Fun fact: Over the summer, Keenan went to the School of the New York Times for two weeks.
