Tuesday, June 19, 2012
But Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano says Hopatcong would consider any evidence that could aid investigation into suspended high school teacher Hilary Gorzelnik.
Hopatcong schools Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano said Monday the district would consider any evidence from the public that could help the investigation into the suspended high school teacher alleged to have violated the district's code of ethics. But he also said the district doesn't have it out for 31-year-old physical education teacher Hilary Gorzelnik, who was suspended with pay June 6. "If someone were to send it to us, we would embrace any bit of evidence," Maranzano said. "But let's also say this is not a witch hunt." Last Friday, NJ.com reported Maranzano said he had "very serious concerns" that the physical education teacher could have been involved with possibly improper emails and text messages with male and female students…
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Hopatcong High School
2 Windsor Ave, Hopatcong, NJ
/articles/superintendent-teacher-investigation-not-a-witch-hunt
1267471
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Monday, June 11, 2012
Hilary Gorzelnik, a physical education teacher, was suspended with pay last week as administration investigates whether she violated the district's code of ethics.
A Hopatcong High School physical education teacher was suspended with pay last week as administration investigates whether she violated the district's code of ethics. The Hopatcong Board of Education voted unanimously last week to suspend high school physical education teacher Hilary Gorzelnik with pay. The vote came during a special meeting early Wednesday morning at the administration building. No criminal charges have been filed against Gorzelnik, a 31-year-old girls soccer coach in her seventh year at Hopatcong. Gorzelnik, a Jefferson High School graduate, declined comment when contacted by Patch Monday. Hopatcong schools Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano said he couldn't comment on the Gorzelnik investigation due to state privacy …
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-74.6708
Hopatcong High School
2 Windsor Ave, Hopatcong, NJ
/articles/hopatcong-high-school-teacher-suspended
1267471
/locations/7189678
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
High School seeks new principal after Board of Education reconfigures administration.
The Hopatcong Board of Education voted to hire a new high school principal for the fall and for a wide-ranging administrative reconfiguration Monday, upsetting several parents. High school Principal Emil Binotto will remain at his post through June before transferring to the middle school in September, supplanting Lou Benfatti, who will take over as principal at the fourth- and fifth-grade Durban Avenue School. That school's principal, Brian Byrne, will assume the post vacated by Dr. Joanne Mullane at the second- and third-grade Tulsa Trail School. Mullane, who spent just a year as a principal, will return to her role as a curriculum supervisor. Tracey Hensz of Hudson Maxim School, which offers kindergarten and first grade, was the only …
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Signups are limited.
- NEWS
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Wednesday, April 18, 2012
There's till time to sign up for the Hopatcong's Earth Day Nature Hike at 10 a.m. Saturday, sponsored by the Hopatcong Environmental Commission. Guided and narrated by Cliff Lundin, the hike will take participants through Roland May Eves Mountain Inlet Sanctuary in the Northwood section of the borough. Hikers will meet in the parking lot. Call 973-779-0461 to sign up. Rain date: April 28. Cost: Free. Signups are limited, however.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Borough tells schools it can't afford to lend officer for 10-week instruction.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Thursday, March 29, 2012
It seems more and more likely that for the first time in years the Hopatcong school district won't host the Drug Awareness Recognition Education, or D.A.R.E., program. Board of Education President Cliff Lundin said at Monday night's meeting that borough officials once again said the municipality couldn't afford to move an officer from the roads and to a school for the 10-week program. Lundin said a Monday afternoon meeting between himself, school board member Sue Madar, community policing officer Robert Haffner and Mayor Sylvia Petillo yielded few results. Several weeks ago, Petillo confirmed that the borough police department, due to retirements and tight budgets, couldn't give the schools an officer to conduct the program. "The borough …
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Despite concerns and confusion from some Hopatcong school board members.
The Hopatcong school district will fund the marching band and high school golf team in 2012-2013. Both programs were inserted into the $34 million spending plan, which the school board passed unanimously at Thursday's meeting at the administration building. That was news to several board members after the meeting who thought the future of the programs would depend on separate votes. Marching band and golf have been either fully or partially parent-funded since both were eliminated, along with a slew of other programs and 24.5 staff members, when the district lost $1.7 million in state and another $730,000 at the hands of the borough council after a failed public vote in 2010. Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano said he was to blame …
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
As district faces three-quarter-million state aid reduction for 2012-2013 school year.
Hopatcong schools will have to cut staff or programs if the state doesn't restore some of the three-quarter-million dollars it reduced from the district's 2012-2013 state aid, Board of Education President Cliff Lundin said. "I don't want to cut people and I don't want to cut programs," he said at Monday night's school board meeting. "But something is going to happen." The warning came five days after the state Department of Education announced Hopatcong would receive $11,102,061—or $764,329 less—state aid in 2012 than it did in 2011, when it got $11,866,390, despite Gov. Chris Christie's pledge to give New Jersey public schools $200 million more. Hopatcong's preliminary budget proposal, which must be submitted to the state by Monday, is …
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-74.670617
Hopatcong Borough Schools Offices
Windsor Ave, Hopatcong, NJ
/articles/hopatcong-school-programs-staff-could-be-cut
752354
/locations/6475085
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Of 12 recorded incidents, only one was physical, report says.
- SCHOOLS
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Hopatcong recorded 12 incidents of harassment, intimidation and bullying during the first half of the 2011-2012 school year, according to a biannual report released Monday. The incidents were contained to the middle school (10) and high school (two), the report said. Borough elementary schools reported no instances of harrassment, intimidation and bullying, the report said. The report was the first of its kind the borough since the state implemented an anti-bullying law forcing schools to crack down, record and follow up on incidents of harassment, bullying and intimidation—even if they occur off school grounds or on the Internet. The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights also forced districts to establish anti-bullying committees in each school. …
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
School district to ask governor directly to excuse four days missed after October snowstorm due to power outages.
The Hopatcong school district hopes the governor will reconsider the state's initial refusal to excuse the district from making up the days it missed due to power outages after the late-October snowstorm. A freak pre-Halloween snowstorm ravaged Hopatcong, leaving thousands without electricity for days while downing trees and power lines, even causing Gov. Chris Christie to declare a state of emergency. The entire district missed four school days—and one school missed five—as Jersey Central Power & Light worked to restore power. Hopatcong will send the request directly to Christie, state Department of Education Acting Commissioner Christopher Cerf, Sussex County schools Superintendent Rosalie Lamonte, Sen. Steve Oroho and Assemblyman Gary …
Friday, October 28, 2011
Hopatcong's school superintendent initially turned down the idea of a 24-hour event at the high school track proposed by three borough residents. But he says he'll reconsider after hearing support from a school board crowd after a detailed presentation.
A large crowd's impassioned support and a detailed proposal from three residents seemed to push the Hopatcong school district to the verge of hosting a 24-hour cancer fundraiser at Thursday night's Board of Education meeting at the administration building. Hopatcong graduates Tim Fahy, Christina Skowronski and Tara Rossy asked the board to support an American Cancer Society fundraiser called Relay for Life that would take place at the Hopatcong High School track after being initially rebuffed by Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano. Fahy said the group hoped hold the event in either May or June 2012 and wants to raise $55,000. Skowronski said the group tried explaining its plan directly to Maranzano, but he turned down its requests via …
40.92743
-74.6708
Hopatcong High School
2 Windsor Ave, Hopatcong, NJ
/articles/public-support-helps-cancer-fundraiser-rebound
1267471
/locations/5697860
Kellie Schmidt Battaglia
8:36 pm on Wednesday, June 20, 2012
It is never appropriate for a teacher to be texting students, ever. When I first started teaching, I was 23 years old and I had 17 and 18 year old students in the classes I taught at Hackettstown high school. I also had a 20 year old boy on my track team. I was always sure to act in a manner that would never allow anyone to question my professionalism. If I could figure it out at 23, then this "… more ›