LPS Spotlight

At its meeting on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, the Livingston Board of Education recognized the 2024 Governor's Educators of the Year, Educational Services Professionals of the Year, and district staff members of the year. READ MORE HERE!

• CALENDAR NEWS: LPS Closed for Memorial Day, 2024-2025 Academic Calendar

• Upcoming Board of Education Meetings

• 6th Grader Places 1st in Investwrite Competition

• HMS FBLA Attends State Leadership Conference

• Naisa Bhagashra Receives Proclamation

• US Kids Golf News

• LHS Junior Presents Poster at ISPOR Conference

• HMS Reports Super Season on the Slopes

• GT Art Show

• District Art Show

• Celebrating Heritage Months

• Lancer Chess Classic

• READ: "Female flag football coaches learn & teach, all while shattering gender barriers"

• COMMUNITY NEWS: LWV Event, Tribune Graduation Section

LPS schools and offices will be closed on Monday, May 27 for Memorial Day.

The Board of Education approved this 2025-2026 Academic Calendar at its May 14, 2024 meeting.

Please note that the Livingston Board of Education meeting that was originally scheduled for Tuesday, May 28th, has been canceled. Upcoming public meetings are scheduled on:

• June 11
• June 18
• July 16
• August 13

A team of Livingston High School students including Harsh Akunuri, Timothy Wu, Nathan Zhang, Kevin Zhang, and Olivia Mei placed third in the M3 Math Modeling Competition! With 655 teams across the UK and US entering the competition, this is an amazing finish! With their third place finish, the students received $10,000 in scholarship money and attended an award ceremony at Jane Street Financial Company, receiving a tour of the facility and swag during their time there!

The competition involved the students being presented with a real-world problem (homelessness and its effect over a course of 10, 20 and 50 years) and having to solve related questions. The students chose a 14-hour window over a weekend in March to work on their problem, arrive at the best solution, and submit a 20 page executive summary and brief.

The students were advised by Cheryl Coursen.

According to the SIMFA Foundation, Mt. Pleasant Middle School sixth grader Anushka Nikhil created a high-powered investment portfolio that could make Wall Street proud. Her investment strategy placed her first in the state and ninth in the nation in the SIFMA Foundation’s Fall 2023 InvestWrite national essay competition! READ MORE...

Members of Heritage Middle School's Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) attended the State Leadership Conference on April 8, 2024 at Kean University. There were a total of 48 students who competed in both objective and performance competitions, with 41 of those students winning awards. Subsequently, 25 members qualified to move on to the competition at the FBLA Nationals later this year in Orlando, Florida.

When students were not competing, they participated in workshops with topics such as networking, money management and public speaking. The FBLA chapter at HMS also was recognized with awards for its contribution to the organization.

Future Business Leaders of America inspires and prepares students to become community minded business leaders in a global society through relevant career preparing and leadership experiences. Business education teacher Cindy Cooney serves as the HMS FBLA advisor.

Shown in the photo are Prisha Das-Khan, Angelina Fernandez, Eshaal Farhad, Rhyna Patel, Myra Dhawan, Naisha Bhagashra, Annika Raj, Sanaya Jhaveri, Tara Sarode, Mayuri Narang, Tegan Lin, Aashrita Bhagashra, Jessica Niu, Anya Dugar, Charlotte Shi, Esha Agrawal, Anirudh Ganesh, Rayna Thomas, Riddhi Chandra, Sanvi Agarwal, Charlotte Lennon and Aashi Kohad.

The following students also won awards: Zoe Barnes, Asmi Barve, Neil Batra, Evaan Bitta, Mahi Biswas, Gauree Chakroborty, Revisha Dudeja, Vidhi Dugar, Garv Goyal, Aanya Gupta, Aarush Gupta, Kruthy Mellacheruvu, Yuvraj Patel, Jason Qi, Aanya Rajsharma, Elisha Rao, Meghna Sampath, Sara Thomas, Arin Walli, Luke Wang, and Jeffrey Xiong.

On May 12, 2024, Naisha Bhagashra, a 8th grader at Heritage Middle School was awarded a citation from Alfred Anthony, Mayor of Livingston, for her work on an FBLA research project. Naisha is a member of Heritage Middle School's Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) who competed in a career research competition this past March at Kean University. The subject of her research was a career in politics. During her research, she sought out Council members, the Mayor, and all officials with Livingston. She even shadowed Assemblywoman Rosaura Bagolie.

Naisha has a strong interest in transitional leadership and pursuing a possible career in politics. She placed first in the FBLA state competition and will be attending the National Conference in Orlando in late June. Livingston township officials were so impressed by Naisha that they wanted to award her a citation for all of her hard work.

Congratulations, Naisha!

READ MORE HERE!

Four LPS students earned a “Top Five” finish in their age groups at the U.S. Kids Golf, North Jersey Local Tour this Spring: Kyle Kaplan (Boys 6 and under), Enzo Lizardo (Boys 9), Daniel Baskies (Boys 12), and Carolina Lim (Girls 11-12). The Tour consisted of six golf tournaments throughout New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, in which over 100 kids competed from around the region. The Championship round took place at Hopewell Valley Golf and Country Club on May 5, 2024.

Livingston High School junior Siddharth Sanjeev was selected as the only high school student across the nation to be a poster presenter at the International Society of Health Economics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) conference held on May 6th in Atlanta, GA. Siddharth is an Honor Roll student and plans to study engineering in college. He is thankful to his mentors from his Science Research class, Dr. Dorine Starace and Mr. Michael Coleman, who have helped him hone is research and presentation skills over the past two years. He says this accomplishment would not have been possible without their support. The topic of his poster was "Residents’ Perceptions and Concerns about the Effects of Air Pollution in Maharashtra, India." ISPOR is the leading professional society for health economics and outcomes research globally. The Society's mission is to promote HEOR excellence to improve decision making for health globally.

The newly formed Heritage Middle School Ski Club was a huge success this school year with four fun trips to Camelback Ski Resort. HMS health and physical education teacher Shyella Mayk recounts how the club came to be, as well as how the first season went! READ MORE...

We are excited to announce that the application window is now open to express interest in both our Elementary Gifted and Talented Art Program and Gifted and Talented Music Program.

These programs are for students who will be entering grades 4 and 5 in the 2024-2025 school year.

Students previously enrolled in either GT Art and/or GT Music do not need to reapply.

All applications must be submitted electronically no later than Thursday, May 23, 2024.

Detailed information for both the Elementary GT Art and GT Music Programs, along with the applications for both programs, can be found at the links below:

GT ART Application Elementary Schools

GT MUSIC Application Elementary Schools

Livingston Public Schools annual Elementary and Middle School Gifted and Talented (GT) Art Show is on exhibit at the Livingston Public Library through May 28, 2024. The work of more than 100 students is on display. Congratulations to all of our artists!

READ MORE AND SEE MORE OPENING RECEPTION PHOTOS HERE!

An opening reception for the annual district art exhibit, "Art Through the Ages" was held last Wednesday, May 15. The exhibit, which includes the artwork of LPS K-12 students, will remain on display on the upper and lower levels and in the center court of the Livingston Mall through Sunday, June 2, 2024.

Across the district, LPS schools have been highlighting AAPI Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month in May. Some of the ways that students will be learning about the history, culture, and contributions of AAPI and Jewish Americans in the United States this month include informational bulletin boards, themed advisory lessons, educational morning announcements, Choice Board options, Media Center displays and broadcasts, and more! In addition, over the last few months, many of the HMS band and choral groups have learned both Korean and Jewish folk songs. Also, the LHS School Counseling Department suggests the NJ4S program "Mental Wellbeing ub the AANHPI Community: Explore cultural strategies for navigating mental health challenges, fostering understanding and building a supportive community." See link below!

See below for some educational resources provided by the LHS Media Center!

• A Proclamation on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month, 2024 | The White House
• Why do we celebrate AAPI Heritage month?
• Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
• Asian & Pacific American Heritage Month

• Jewish American Heritage Month
  
• The Jewish Museum
• Jewish American Heritage
• Jewish American Biographies (Compiled by HMS ASE.)

• This NJ4S program is recommended by the LPS School Counseling Department. It's free and open to all!

IT'S TIME TO SECURE YOUR SEAT!

The district provides free transportation for in-district students who live more than 2 miles from school in grades K-8; and more than 2.5 miles from the high school. Subscription busing is available for students who are not eligible for free busing. If you are unsure if you qualify for free transportation, please call the Transportation Department at 973-535-8000, x8013, BEFORE filling out the form.

VIEW THE 2024-2025 SUBSCRIPTION BUSING FORM.

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Livingston Public Schools is committed to providing students with excellent educational experiences for students of all ages this summer! Check out the district's offerings for Summer 2024!

• VIEW THE 2024 LPS SUMMER ACADEMY BROCHURE.
• VIEW REGISTRATION FORM.

The Lancer Chess Classic will be held on June 8th at Livingston High School! Check in is at 9AM. Trophies will be awarded to the top five competitors in each section: K-3, U800, U1400, Open!

VIEW THE FLYER HERE!

Burnet Hill Elementary School principal earned her doctorate while battling breast cancer! Read more about Dr. Lisa Sama-Barreto's amazing achievement HERE!

Matthew Ross, Voter Choice NJ, will speak to the Livingston League of Women Voters, Wednesday evening, May 22, 7:30, about the change in format of the June Primary Ballot, Rank Choice Voting. It will be on Zoom. If you want to join this free public meeting, go to the League website, hittps://www.livingstonlwv.org/ and there will be a link.

It's that time of year again! Livingston High School's Class of 2023 is gearing up for graduation, and so is the West Essex Tribune!

On June 27, the Tribune will publish its annual pull-out, keepsake LHS graduation section, featuring color yearbook photos of all of the graduates. Families and friends of the grads can run congratulatory ads. The deadline is June 21!

Questions? Email WETribune@gmail.com

LHS alumni and student baseball/softball players will be running an All Star Baseball/Softball Clinic Fundraiser for Team Jake at Meadowbrook Field on June 2, 2024 at 4:30PM. The clinic is for boys and girls age 5-12 , and will support Trial Blazers for Kids Foundation and celebrate Jake’s love of baseball.

REGISTER YOUR CHILD HERE!

The Livingston Public Library has something for everyone! Learn more about the library HERE.

LPS Spotlight

2023-2024 School Year / No. 18

Michelle Bent

Manager of Communications

Livingston Public Schools

(973) 535-8000 ext. 8036

Email: mbent@livingston.org

www.livingston.org

LPS Spotlight is the official e-newsletter of the Livingston Public Schools.

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