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At the Stafford Township Board of Education meeting of June 6, George Chidiac was approved as superintendent of schools to lead the school district beginning July 1.
George Chidiac, of the Bayville section of Berkeley Township, was approved as the new superintendent of the Stafford Township School District by the school board Thursday.
George Chidiac Stafford Superintendent noted that this was a valuable addition to the district, stating that LaGuardia “is somebody with a lot of experience.”
That item was the attendance of Superintendent George Chidiac in a doctoral program on educational leadership. Payment of the program is part of Chidiac’s contract terms and is expected to cost about $2,400 per credit, according to Business Administrator Lourdes LaGuardia. Chidiac said the program is for two years, and after the meeting confirmed it is a 18-credit program.
Despite the fact the Stafford Township Board of Education had years ago negotiated Superintendent George Chidiac’s contract to include a provision for him to acquire his doctorate degree in educational leadership, something changed between then and now and recently caused Chidiac some reservation in going forth with that plan.
Last Thursday, March 5, Stafford Township School District Superintendent George Chidiac didn’t wait on other districts to start taking limited action to help prevent the possibility of any of the district’s students or staff from contracting the virus. Once a confirmed coronavirus case in the state made it to the forefront, Chidiac called for the cancellation of multiple field trips scheduled for this month.
On Saturday, March 14, Stafford Schools Superintendent, George Chidiac announced that the Stafford School District will be closing schools for a two-week period beginning immediately until March 30.
This announcement comes just hours after the State of New Jersey announced on Friday afternoon that “the closure of all schools in order to mitigate exposure during the COVID-19 situation was inevitable.”
“Through my correspondence with the Ocean County Health Department, it’s clear the cases of coronavirus are rising, doubling each day, and knowing that is the case I wanted to give our teachers and parents time to prepare,” said Superintendent George Chidiac. “The situation’s getting worse, not better, so we needed to take more precautionary measures.”
Stafford Schools Superintendent George Chidiac reports that the district is providing educational materials for students on Mondays and meals for free and reduced lunch families on Mondays between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The district provides enough breakfast and lunch for the five-day school week. Those educational materials include 1:1 devices for the students who lack computers at home.
Due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19, several important changes recently were made within the Stafford Township School District, including a date change for this month’s regular board of education meeting, according to Stafford Township Superintendent George Chidiac.
Despite a larger cut in state aid compared to the one the district sustained for this year and a slight increase to the tax rate, the Stafford Township Board of Education unanimously approved the district’s 2020-21 budget during its public hearing on April 30.
Following its regular monthly meeting – conducted remotely with all board members connected via Zoom and streamed live on the district website – the board then heard reports by Stafford Township Superintendent George Chidiac and Business Administrator Lourdes LaGuardia regarding the upcoming budget.
Stafford Intermediate School’s sixth-grade promotion ceremony will be a virtual one, slated for Wednesday, June 10, district Superintendent George Chidiac announced last week .
“This attempt has not been very successful in ‘pushing’ change past the natural inclination of people to resist it, and so, the result is a perspective where there is a need to lead change, instead of people, so that you ‘pull’ people on the change journey,” said George Chidiac, Stafford Township Superintendent.
Southern Regional and Stafford Township school administrators have collaborated with three other districts on a fall reopening plan. The superintendents of five districts agreed Wednesday to plan for in-person reopenings.
The Stafford Township School District’s reopening plan allows parents to choose between in-person schooling five days a week, hybrid learning or remote education for their children. The plan addresses several challenges, such as face coverings, social distancing and transportation.
The Southern Regional School District’s website posted a letter last week addressing the cooperative plan of Southern and their sending districts to reopen school in September. The leaders of each district have had meetings throughout the summer attempting to address issues related to school opening in September.
According to a survey of parents in June, 86% wanted their children back in school five days a week.
“To me that spoke loud and clear that this is what they wanted. I’m glad that we can do that for our families,” Stafford Superintendent George Chidiac said.
Stafford officials will move forward with their initial plan, Superintendent George J. Chidiac told Patch. The district has allowed families to choose between in-person schooling five days a week, hybrid learning and remote education.
George Chidiac | Stafford Schools Superintendent | Stafford Township School District Reopening Plans
STAFFORD township school district will be reopening schools in September five days per week. While the fear is not out of place, We have conducted several staff and parent committee meetings prior to the NJDOE guidelines were released which have been instrumental in the planning process. Thru multiple surveys and feedback from all stakeholders, our staff , parents , and community have voiced loud and clear they want their children back in school.
As part of its routine business on Sept. 16, the Stafford Township Board of Education approved updates to policies centered on a pair of revisions to the district’s “Restart and Recovery Plan.”
One of the changes, according to Superintendent George Chidiac, involved altering the language to one part of the plan and updating the corresponding policy, while the other was the inclusion of a contingency plan, to satisfy guidance set in place by the N.J. Department of Education and Gov. Phil Murphy last month.