The 2023-2024 school year was full of achievement and pride.  Early this fall, we received wonderful news that our high school has been named one of “America’s Best High Schools” by US News & World Report for the 7th consecutive year.  We are incredibly proud of and grateful for all of the amazing efforts daily by students, families, and staff to continue to lead us to these levels of achievement.  Work towards this achievement begins much earlier than when a student first enters high school.  It’s a tribute to the cumulative impact of a Gloucester City and Brooklawn education and exhibits the pride we all have in our schools being cornerstones of our community.

Our activities have never been more successful.  Cold Springs School and GMS now offer more after-school clubs to students than ever before.  Gloucester High’s Consumer Bowl Team once again won the South Jersey championship.  The theater department put on amazing performances of Into the Woods (GHS) and Wonka (GMS).  The Dance Team and ROTC Color Guard performed in front of a sold-out 76ers crowd.  Our Swimming team won their first division championship in school history.  We had the greatest number of wrestlers in school history advance to the State Championships at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.  Our Softball Team won the State championship.  Our Baseball team won the South Jersey championship.  We sent more track athletes to the State’s Tournament of Champions than ever before, and Boys Track won the first conference title in well over 50 years.  It has truly been incredible to experience all of this.

Year 1 of our three-year strategic planning process was a success.  We substantially expanded courtesy bussing to Cold Springs School families, now including all families living on Broadway and west of Broadway.  Families now receive nearly all correspondences from the school district in the language primarily spoken in their home to promote further school engagement for all.  Academic achievement once again flourished at all three district schools with collaboration being an instructional focus area.  We’ve expanded both the numbers of our Reading and Math Basic Skills Instructors to further support students who are struggling.  We completed our state-of-the-art Industrial Arts Shop class, updated the Media Centers at both Cold Springs and GMS, repaved the Cold Springs parking lot, expanded landscaping to further beautify all campuses, and began work renovating our high school Life Skills classroom.  We continue to analyze and make adjustments to our Special Education program, including replacing formerly privatized positions with district positions.  We also expanded and improved our partnerships for “alternative” educational pathways for at-risk students to try to maximize the proportion of students who enter adulthood in our community with their high school diploma.

We will look to advance this work in year 2.  We are also focusing on improving the professional development that is offered to Special Education staff members.  We will continue to expand local control over transportation which will not only improve transportation but also result in significant cost savings for the school district.  We are adding a new integrated security system in all three schools and will be improving the following facilities:  Cold Springs School’s outdoor learning areas and Gloucester High’s roof, athletic fields, and locker rooms.  School security will remain a top priority.  We have Gloucester City Police Department members assigned full-time to each district school.  An officer is protecting each school any time that students are present.  The federal school safety grant that we achieved last year is being implemented now with a much-improved security camera system, upgrades to our speaker system, and door locks/readers that alert us any time one is not fully closed.  AVID, Responsive Classroom and the NJTSS Reading grant initiative will remain major focuses ahead.

We look forward to seeing many of you at one of our Back to School events.

Sincerely,

Mr. Sean Gorman & Dr. Kimberley Chiodi

Superintendent & Assistant Superintendent of Schools

GHS Graduates (Class of 1998)