June 15, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Midland Park The Midland Park High School assistant principal position will go back to full time, hopefully by July 1, according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Marie Cirasella. To effect that change, the district will be hiring a part-time athletic director and is now advertising for the position. “It’s good for the instructional program and consistency,” Cirasella said. Assistant Principal Nick Capuano has been serving as the assistant principal/athletic director since July, 2010, following the retirement of the previous long-time AD, Ed Salvi. The reduction in staff was forced by the loss of more than a million dollars in state aid for the 2010-11 school year. The bulk of that amount was restored for the 2011-12 year. “We didn’t feel the combined position was effective. It was not positive for the kids, and it was not positive for the instructional program,” said Cirasella. She said that although the additional half-time position had not been dis- Assistant principal post to be full time cussed at budget time in April, funds are available in next school-year’s budget. “We identified it as a need, and we have the funds,” she said. Cirasella would not speculate as to whether the AD job would go to a teacher currently on staff or to an outside applicant. She did acknowledge that there are some parttime teaching positions available that could be paired with the AD post to make up a full-time job. The district is also restoring the position of director of curriculum, instruction and staff development, cut from the budget following the resignation of Elizabeth Veneziano in February, 2009. She became the supervisor of English/language arts with the Ramapo/Indian Hills School District. Cirasella said she is in the process of interviewing applicants from both within and outside the district and also hopes to have someone in place by the time school ends later this month. The renovation of Midland Park Memorial Library is nearly completed, and the board of trustees has scheduled an open house to celebrate the reopening of the newly renovated public space. The event will take place on Saturday, June 25 from 10 a.m. to noon at the library for the public to see the results. Refreshments will be served. The building’s renovation, planned to update 25 percent of the floor space of the library, began in March and took about 14weeks to complete. The purpose of the renova- Memorial library unveils renovations tion was to improve access to and from the elevator on all floors, expand the area for the public by incorporating the workroom into the main desk, increase security by moving the circulation desk to provide views of both front and back doors, and better integrate the children’s room with the adult area so the library can make maximum use of staff. Also, two new ADA bathrooms were added on the main floor. The library is located at 250 Godwin Avenue.