GBCS board mulls anti-idling resolution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW BRUNWICK, N.J. (Oct. 21, 2008) -- The trustees of Greater Brunswick Charter School would like parents to turn off their cars while they wait to pick up their children from school.

The Greater Brunswick Charter School Board of Trustees introduced an anti-idling resolution at its meeting Thursday night at the school. Based on model resolutions proposed by Randall Solomon, executive director of the New Jersey Sustainable State Institute, the measure calls on parents and school bus drivers to turn off their engines if they will be idling for more than 20 seconds.

"With gas prices reaching the $4 mark this summer and still hovering uncomfortably around $3 a gallon, it only makes sense to save fuel and turn the car off,” said Rob Agree, education director of the charter school. “This is about more than simple economics, though. As a school, we believe that conservation of energy and reducing pollution are important practices to teach our children, who learn positive values by what they see adults modeling.”

A car left idling for 10 minutes burns as much fuel as it takes to travel 5 miles, and can waste more than 27 gallons of fuel a year. Idling for more than merely 10 seconds uses more fuel and produces more pollution than turning off a warm engine and starting it up again.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children’s exposure to diesel exhaust should be decreased, and recommends keeping idling to a minimum in places where children live and congregate, to protect their health.

In New Jersey, up to one in four school-age children are asthmatic, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, making it the leading cause cause of school absenteeism.

On the web:
www.cleanwateraction.org/node/140

School community turns out for work day

They came by car, they came by bike, and they came by foot. They came by the dozens, and they came out for their school.

Forty-seven parents, plus children and staff, showed up at Greater Brunswick Charter School at 10 a.m. Oct. 12 for a six-hour work party at the school's facility on Joyce Kilmer Avenue. The volunteers pulled weeds from the school's flower beds, performed basic maintenance inside the building, and repaired the school's greenhouse, among other chores.

Most importantly, the corps of volunteers connected with one another, across grade groups, across profession grade groups and income levels, and across other seeming barriers, because of the commonality of the school their children attend.

"The best part was breaking for pizza, because it gave us all the chance to talk and chill out together,” said Patrick Mulhern, the school's director of operations. “It just felt like a community, and it was beautiful to see.”

Greater Brunswick has a total enrollment of 265 students this year, in kindergarten through eighth grade. The student body reflects a broad cross-section of the area, comprised 55 percent of Hispanics, 20 percent of African Americans, 20 percent Caucasians, and 5 percent Asian Americans.

Family involvement in the school community is foundational to the charter school's philosophy. In addition to trimesterly parent-teacher-student conferences, families are expected to provide 10 hours of volunteer time each school year, which parents do by serving on school committees, volunteering in the classroom, helping out in the office, or in other ways.

Large-scale volunteer efforts are managed by Ana Calderon, the school's family services coordinator.

Savon Baity of New Brunswick, a student at Greater Brunswick Charter School, tends one of the school’s flower beds during a recent school work party. Maintaining the gardens is one of the many ways students and their parents contribute to the charter school.

Merancas Foundation funds ESL program at Greater Brunswick Charter School

$6,000 grant pays for two sessions of adult education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW BRUNSWICK (Oct. 16, 2008) — The Merancas Foundation has given a $6,000 boost to the Family Literacy Program at Greater Brunswick Charter School.

The grant, awarded Sept. 29, will provide full funding for the program, which is free and open to the general public. Three classes will be offered to immigrant parents in each session: at least one English as a Second Language class for beginners, and one Advanced Conversation Group. Overall goals for the program include helping adult students to bolster their English proficiency, to increase their understanding of school systems and procedures, and to become more involved in the education of their children. Specific goals will be set by the adult students themselves.

In addition to the program for adult students, the charter school will offer a concurrent program for school-age children that will provide help with homework and other activities to support the English and literacy skills of the children. More than half the students at the school are Hispanic, many of whom are first-generation children of immigrants whose families speak Spanish at home.

Classes will be held from 6-8 p.m. Wednesdays for eight consecutive weeks, beginning Oct. 29. A second session will be offered in the spring. Both sessions are organized by Daniel Scibienski, the ESL instructor at the charter school.

"The generosity of the Merancas Foundation has made it possible for Greater Brunswick Charter School to fund our entire Family Literacy Program this year," said Jessica Tomkins, chairperson of the charter school's board of trustees. "Our Spanish-speaking members have been very enthusiastic about the ESL classes we have offered them over the past two years, and many have expressed their desire to improve their English in order to help their children in school, communicate more effectively with native English speakers, and achieve personal success in the United States. Thanks to this gift of the Merancas Foundation, their success and their progress in English will continue to grow."

Classes for both adults and children will be led by staff from the charter school, with the assistance of middle school students from Greater Brunswick whose personal learning goals include community service or working with children. Childcare for preschool children also will be available.

Founded in 1998 in accordance with New Jersey's charter school law, and located at 429 Joyce Kilmer Ave., Greater Brunswick serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade, from its founding districts of New Brunswick, Edison and Highland Park, as well as from more than a dozen other school districts. Now celebrating its 10th year, the school is preparing to embark on an expansion project that will double its available space and that will raise its enrollment from 270 students to 360.

For more information, call Education Director Rob Agree at the school, at (732) 448-1052.

On the web: www.greaterbrunswick.org

www.merancas.org