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The best way to cheer yourself

Well aware that many of her students have been missing their classmates, and are unhappy at the prospect of even more weeks of separation from them, Central School first grade teacher Katie Burns took a cue from Mark Twain:

“The best way to cheer yourself is to try and cheer somebody else up.”

She compiled video clips of her students singing “Happy,” written by Pharrell Williams for the soundtrack of the animated film Despicable Me 2. (“Happy” was the best-selling song, worldwide, of 2014.)

The result is HERE.

One family’s reflection on remote education

From the April 24, 2020 School District Newsletter

As week five of remote education comes to a close, we all may have reflected on the challenges of state-mandated school closings and the ups and downs of teaching and/or learning at home. The experiences of each teacher, administrator, counselor, aide, therapist and coach vary of course, just as every student and every family could share different stories about their daily lessons and school work.

What follows is just one Haddonfield story, highlighting one family’s experience with two particular elementary teachers. We know there are many, many other excellent teachers, and we have heard about hundreds of other positive remote education experiences. But the perspective of this story is a little bit different, coming from parents who are also Haddonfield teachers.

The Miller family consists of parents, Mike Miller, who teaches history at the high school and Jessica Miller, who is the Central-Middle School media specialist and technology coordinator; and two boys who attend Tatem Elementary School. Before spring break, Jess and Mike shared these reflections with their children’s principal and HSD administrative team. What follows is part of their thoughtful message.

Click HERE to read the rest of the story.

Plays & Players revises line-up

The show must go on … “in July!” says Haddonfield Plays & Players.

The local community theater released the following statement on April 25, 2020:

While the theatre is temporarily closed in adherence with state and federal guidelines, we’re actively working behind-the-scenes to adjust our season schedule accordingly.  

We’re pleased to announce that Picnic will be our first show upon reopening. Set in Kansas during the lazy days of summer, the show has appropriately been rescheduled to run this summer from July 16 through August 1. Please note that based on social-distancing guidelines at the time of the performance, this show may be converted to general admission seating to accommodate any necessary restrictions. 

Our production of Young Frankenstein, originally slated for summer, has been removed from the 2020 season. We’re looking for future dates to reschedule that production.

Given this scheduling change, the Box Office will be contacting season ticket holders and single ticket holders of Picnic and Young Frankenstein to discuss options. We appreciate your patience as we work through any necessary accommodations.  However, if for some reason you do not hear from us by May 15th and need to update your ticket arrangements, please email the box office at [email protected]

We are continuing to monitor the evolving situation and will keep you informed of any additional scheduling updates. We miss our theatre community and look forward to resuming our high-quality programming soon!

Drive-by farewell for Pastor Getman

Members of the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church are planning a drive-by salute to Pastor Bill Getman, who will conduct his last service – virtually – at 10am on Sunday, April 26.

The drive-by will begin at 10:45am, after the livestreamed service concludes.

The route for the drive-by: Turn from Lincoln onto Chestnut, then into the church driveway next to the Interfaith Caregivers building. Follow the driveway around the back of the church and past the door where Pastor Getman stands after each service to farewell those who attended the service. He will be there!

Clearly, participants must remain in their cars.

Board of Ed launches “Board Bulletin”

From the April 24, 2020 School District Newsletter

In March, members of the Board of Education (BOE) Communications Committee got together to discuss the possibility of creating a new document designed to share information with Haddonfield families and the community at large.

The committee members are: Jaime Grookett (chair), Adam Sangillo (BOE President), Lynn Hoag, and Linda Hochgertel.

Each document will be brief and will be posted the week following each voting meeting of the BOE, once per month. The “Board Meeting Bulletin” will feature information about recent votes and issues as well as upcoming topics of public interest. It is intended to be a more informal, accessible way for the community to learn about Board discussions and decisions as well as why these decisions are made.

The first (March) Board Meeting Bulletin was posted on April 3rd under NEWS on both the district website and on the BOE website. The second (April) will be posted by May 5th.

“We hope to provide the community with a quick and easy way to get a summary of the issues that are currently being discussed at board meetings,” said committee member Lynn Hoag. “Additionally, the bulletin allows us to connect those issues to the district’s strategic plans and goals.”

The district newsletter will continue to be emailed and will provide additional information, school stories, administrative news, and more details about issues and school events.

[Publisher’s Note: Links to School District Newsletters are in the Documents section of Haddonfield[dot]Today.]

Message from Superintendent Mussoline

OFFICIAL from Haddonfield School District on April 24, 2020

We have been communicating with you throughout this unprecedented time in our lives. We know you understand the Governor closed schools in New Jersey until May 15th “at least.” You all understand that he may opt to try to open them after May 15th or keep them closed. We have no idea what his decision will be. We have no guidance as to what that opening may look like. We all trust it will be based on scientific data and the health and safety of everyone.

Over the weekend, I read through the surveys you completed for Dr. Murray. They were as expected. Many praised the efforts of our school system to gear up for online learning so quickly. Many others expressed concerns such as too much work, too little work, not enough face-to-face time, the real fear of lost learning, and maybe just total disillusionment over the whole world situation we are all in where parents are expected to work at home, have the proper meals ready, quarantine inside, and help teach children. Daunting tasks; all of them.

Those of us in education knew that we could sustain this new learning system for a short period of time. A longer period of online learning would be daunting for all of us. We are a traditional school system, custodial in nature, educative by design. Children come to school each day, stay for a period of time, are taught face-to-face, and go home. They do that 180 times during a school year. Taking that system and transitioning 200-plus teachers and 2,800 students into a full, online, K-12 cyber school with one day to plan was a very heavy lift. This world was thrust upon all of us without much warning. No directional signs are (or were) up and the street lights are off all over the place in this pandemic society. So, as many of you said in the survey, this is a time to praise all of us making the best of this situation. Health care workers. Emergency personnel. Grocery store workers. Small business and restaurant owners. Truck drivers. Educators. And so many others who are trying to work through this situation, making the best of these difficult times.

Let’s do this in the next few days. Take some time to thank your child’s teacher(s). Take some time to thank your child’s principal(s). Take some time to thank a Board of Education member. Go out of your way to do that. I know you all know this fact, but everyone above took a brick-and-mortar, traditional school system, and transformed it into an online learning environment overnight. They did it without review packets, without paper assignments being laboriously sent home, and without saying we are simply going to review while we are not learning traditionally. The people above created a total cyber environment where we are continuing with lessons to the best of our abilities, picking up where we left off over a month ago. Again, I know you understand this, but what your Board of Education, principals, and teachers created was nothing short of a miraculous learning environment in your school system. Because of the teachers, the principals, and the Board, Haddonfield is a leader in their pandemic educational plan in the state and even the nation. Take some time to thank them all for their forward-looking leadership and work in these unparalleled times.

There is a lot of information [in the April 24, 2020 School District News] for you to read over detailing the unrivaled environment we are all experiencing. Enjoy the newsletter. In the next newsletter, Mr. Chuck Klaus will take over this column. I can’t tell you how excited I am about that fact. Chuck is as honest as the day is long and as skilled a leader as I have ever seen.

Best wishes to you all.

Larry Mussoline PhD
Superintendent of Schools

Saturday livestream will feature local businesses

A new initiative to support local businesses – Haddonfield Here For Good – caught the attention of Jeremiah Kobelka and Pip Haxby-Thompson of JFKLiving, a Weichert Realtors team based in Haddonfield.

They’ve invited 15 Haddonfield business owners to participate in a livestream on Saturday, April 25 from 10am to 2pm.

Each participating business will be featured for 15 minutes, and address, present, and demonstrate a variety of topics. Here’s the lineup:

  • 10.00 – Pip and Jeremiah of JFKLiving
  • “Welcome to the Haddonfield Here For Good Live Stream”
  • 10.15 – Bob Hochgertel of Kings Road Brewing Company
  • “Why Haddonfield Here For Good?”
  • 10.30 – Andrea Marcellé of Maison Marcellé
  • “Keep Your Chic Meter High (from the Waist Up!) During Quarantine”
  • 10.45 – David Hunter of Haddonfield Today
  • “How to Get the Goods and Services you Need, for a Fraction of the Cash Cost”
  • 11.00 – Kate Filiberto of Skintegrity
  • “Time to Get Serious about Your Skincare!”
  • 11.15 – Lainey Gallagher of Haddonfield Fitness
  • “How to Stay Fit and Healthy During Quarantine”
  • 11.30 – Andrea Ranno and Teresa Morrone of The Paper Trail
  • “Ballooning Around Town with The Paper Trail Girls”
  • 11.45 – Madison Ramirez of Meraki Market
  • “How to Cleanse the Energy in Your Home”
  • 12.00 – Lisa Netz and Lyndsay Williams of The Lavish Loft
  • “How to Find Cash in Your Closet”
  • 12.15 – Reece Wilke of Garaguso Classical Martial Arts
  • “Martial Arts Moves Online”
  • 12.30 – Kate Whitfield of The British Chip Shop
  • “Dine & Donate to Support Interfaith Caregivers”
  • 12.45 – Melissa Crandley of Mecha Chocolate
  • “How to Make Sesame Oil Truffles at Home”
  • 1.00 – Robin Morrow of Play@Art
  • “Rock Painting for the Kids”
  • 1.15 – Danielle Madrano of Zaffron Mediterranean Cuisine
  • “Serving Up Our First Responders”
  • 1.30 – Mitch Gorshin and Carl Foot of Ends of the Earth
  • “Cocktails with Karl the Fire Chief”
  • 1.45 – David Murray of Denim BYOB
  • “Keeping the Cupboards Stocked”

To watch – and show your support for these local businesses – click HERE to connect on Facebook, or HERE to connect on YouTube on Saturday, April 25, just before 10am.

We’re in this together! Haddonfield Here For Good!

Video of School Board meeting

A video of the Board of Education’s meeting on Thursday, April 23 is available HERE.

The next meeting — the annual Budget meeting — will be held (virtually) on Thursday, April 30 at 7pm. That meeting can be watched, live, on the Board’s YouTube channel, HERE.

Haddonfield COVID-19 update

The number of Haddonfield residents identified as COVID-19 positive has remained unchanged for seven days, at 25. Over the same period (April 17 to 23), the tally in Camden County has risen by 624. from 1,808 to 2,432.

The highest number of cases reported is in Camden: 620 (8.02 per 1,000 of population). The highest number per capita is in Woodlynne: 12.09.

The deaths of two Haddonfield residents were reported on April 18. The fatality tally for Camden County stands at 97.

New Jersey cases are just 11 shy of 100,000, at 99,989. The state has recorded 5,368 deaths. New Jersey ranks second in both categories, nationwide, to New York (>263,000 and 15,740).

“Haddonfield Sings from Home”

The Haddonfield Memorial High School Choir will present “Haddonfield Sings from Home” on Wednesday, April 22 at 7pm.

The performance will be shown on YouTube Livestream on the HMHS Choir Channel.

Click HERE to watch”Take On Me,”: performed recently by the HMHS Show Choir. It’s had more than 5,500 views since it was uploaded on March 25, 2020.