Kindergarten Registration Process Begins Today

Parents in West Deptford can begin to make appointments to register their child for kindergarten on Tuesday morning.

Kindergarten Registration Process Begins Feb. 19

Parents in West Deptford can begin to make appointments to register their child for kindergarten on Tuesday morning.

Registration for kindergarten in West Deptford may not be until April, but parents will need to make their appointments to enroll their child very soon. Starting on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 8 a.m., parents can call the West Deptford School District's curriculum office at 856-848-4300, ext. 3214 to make an appointment to register their child for kindergarten at any of the three elementary schools. Registration for new kindergarten students for the 2013-14 school year will take place on April 9, 10 and 11. However, parents must make an appointment in advance to register their child on one of those days. After making an appointment for registration, parents will be mailed a packet with all of the information about the registration process. All of …

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Dear Mr. President

On the eve of the inauguration, one fourth-grade class shares their advice for President Obama as he contemplates his second term.

Last time around, they didn’t have much to say about it. After all, my daughter Libby and her classmates in Mrs. Buyser’s class were only in kindergarten when Barack Obama took the oath of office as the 44th president of our country. Back then, they were too busy adjusting to their half-day schedules and remembering the rules of Safety Town to pay attention to the inauguration, which was probably broadcast during their nap time, anyway. But, as our country knows, a lot can change in four years. These kids are now fourth-grade students at Green-Fields Elementary School, and they have started to form some very real opinions about what is going on in the world. In fact, they have so much to say that when their teacher, Jennifer Buyser, …

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Occupant

7:32 am on Monday, January 21, 2013

How fast these children will learn ... from this president, "You can't always get what you want"   more ›

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Christmas After Newtown

We may not feel the tinsel and trimmings of the season, but we still need Christmas.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." – John 16:33 And so it is Christmas. Yesterday, I opened a card from my high school best friend which had a poem inscribed on it. It was a cutesy Hallmark kind of thing, but its last line haunted me like Jacob Marley did Scrooge on that Christmas Eve night. “We are all ready. We hope you are too.” Just a simple reminder that I needed to hang some more mistletoe, buy a few gifts, perhaps bake a cookie or two. But those words stared back at me, and I realized I had never been so “not ready” for Christmas. Well, at least not since 1998, the year my mother died a couple of days before Thanksgiving. …

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Toy Gun on Bus Prompts Letter to Green-Fields Parents

The plastic gun wasn't used threateningly, but principal Jon Cohen wanted to reassure parents.

A student riding bus 5 to Green-Fields Elementary School Thursday morning was spotted with a plastic toy gun, sparking a letter from the school principal to parents. Just six days removed from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, CT, West Deptford officials acted knowing that concern might run higher than normal.   Principal Jon Cohen sent the letter to all parents whose children ride bus 5 to avoid misunderstandings.  “Given that your child may come home and report seeing a gun,” Cohen wrote, “I wanted to take proactive steps, by calling you this morning, to reassure this was, in fact, a plastic toy and it had not been used in a threatening manner.”  Superintendent Kevin Kitchenman said it’s not uncommon for a child to …

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Want to Hear Something Really Scary About West Deptford?

From pumpkin patches to zombie nights, the township is alive with fall festivities.

The signs are lurking around every corner, ready to pounce with a shouted, “Boo!” My kids have dotted the lawn with silly gravestones, and a plastic count with graying fangs greets us at our front door. There are cobwebs on my neighbor’s bushes and toilet paper floating in their trees.  Ah, yes, 'tis the season. The haunting season. Actually, I don’t know when Halloween became a season. When I was in my “trick or treat” stage, Halloween was just one day—one very long day, marked with treks around our neighborhood, our friends’ neighborhoods, our grandparents’ neighborhoods and then, finally, whatever neighborhood had the latest curfew. We’d wear out sneakers and burst the seams on pillowcases in our never-ending pursuit of a full-size …

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West Deptford Schools Holding Week of Respect

West Deptford School District continues to educate its students on bullying and how to prevent it through educational events during the Week of Respect.

At last week's school board meeting, West Deptford Superintendent Kevin Kitchenman unveiled a safety plan for West Deptford Middle School as required by the state of New Jersey's revised HIB (harassment, intimidation and bullying) laws. While the district was not happy to see the middle school put on a warning list due to the amount of HIB incidents last year, the administration is using it as an opportunity to better educate the students on bullying. One of the ways they do this is with the Week of Respect. The Week of Respect, which started Monday and runs through Friday, is a time in which the students from across the school district participate in events that teach them about the dangers of bullying and how to prevent it. Kristin O'…

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Looking Forward to 40

West Deptford Little Theatre ends its 39th season with an awards ceremony and a lot of looking forward.

Tonight, the stars of Hollywood will gather to honor some of their own during the 64th annual Emmy awards. But the kids at West Deptford Little Theatre will tell Hollywood it’s too late. The important honors were given out last Sunday at RiverWinds, when the theater group closed its 39th summer season with a celebratory awards ceremony. Now, I can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic—and, yes, old—as I sat with my friends at the ceremony. You see, I attended a similar event a lifetime ago, when WDLT was ending its first season. That was back in the day when we met in a backyard on Cromwell Court, when sets were painted by parents and friends in our driveways, and when every “older member” of the group had a job. Anne Cassabian, whose parents …

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Summer's Swan Song

The curtain comes down on another season—but there's still time for an encore.

Despite the fact that I’m still a week away from my annual vacation in Ocean City, I have been noticing some very disturbing signs recently that indicate summer is coming to an end. Oh, sure, the thermometer is still registering 90 plus and flipflops remain our footwear of choice (if we’re forced to wear shoes at all). But all around me, I’m getting distinct messages that summer of 2012 is quickly becoming one for the history books. And I know I’m going to sound ninetysomething for saying it, but I can’t resist: hey, where did the season go? It seems like just yesterday we were getting home from our Dancing in Disney trip and looking forward to the Fourth of July. But yesterday I wrote a check and realized the date was actually the …

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Green-Fields Fourth-Graders Score Presidential Certificates

Students moving up from fourth grade took home top academic honors.

One hundred twenty-six Green-Fields fourth-graders earned academic honors this year, via the national President’s Education Awards program. The program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, recognized 39 Green-Fields students with gold certificates for getting all As during the year. Another 87 students received silver certificates, for getting at least a B in every subject through the course of the year. The full list of students honored is below: Gold award winners: Silver award winners:

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