Franklin Principal Postive About Year

As the heat subsides and the streets become more crowded with children back from vacation, school staffers are in the thick of working on the coming year.

Eileen Cambria, the principal of Franklin Elementary School, and her staff have been working on several initiatives which will transform how the school functions and the learning environment of students. According to Cambria, Smartboards is one of the main programs that Franklin plans to develop this year.

“Thanks to the fundraising efforts of a dynamic, committed PTO, we recently completed installation of Smartboards in all of our second grade classrooms.  Interactive whiteboards have dramatically changed the look and delivery of instruction in grades three through five,” said Cambria.

According to Cambria, the interactive whiteboards “provide ways to show students anything which can be presented on a computer's desktop.”

Another agenda Franklin is expanding on is the “Franklin Goes Green” program. Cambria and the staff at Franklin are determined to make Franklin one of the “greenest” schools in the town. Part of Franklin’s green plan is to keep parents informed on school events electronically.

“Communicating electronically saves us from printing thousands of paper flyers, thus eliminating the use of hundreds of reams of paper each year," Cambria said.

Franklin School is also working hard to reduce the use of plastic bottles, so they are encouraging parents to pack their children lunches in re-usable plastic containers. Also, re-usable plastic bottles are available for purchase through the PTO according to Cambria.

However, even though a new school year can bring a lot of energy and excitement, a certain amount of anxiety comes along with it. For Cambria, the anxiety comes in the form of possible additional budget cuts from state officials. She worries about the impact on her parents.

“Westfield is considered a wealthy community, and for that reason, we get very, very little money for education from the state of New Jersey," Cambria said. "This places a tremendous burden on the taxpayers of Westfield."