Piscataway superintendent outlines literacy, career-pathway and AI priorities; board learns state will issue device-guidance

Superintendent Erskin R. Glover used the Jan. 8 Piscataway Township Board of Education meeting to set out five central priorities for the district: student success; safety and security (including social-emotional supports); recruitment and retention of staff; operational excellence; and strategic partnerships.

Glover told the board the administration will roll out "intensive effort and...interventions, remediations, accelerations, and advancement for our students in grades three and four around the areas of language arts, literacy, and math" within the next 60 days, and emphasized expanding engineering pathways from elementary through high school so design and career-focused coursework becomes routine rather than exceptional.

He highlighted partnerships and workforce connections, saying the district is pursuing internships and apprenticeship conversations with local employers and community partners. Glover also described low-cost tools to improve parent engagement, citing a translation device as an example of operational fixes to make events more accessible to families.

On state policy, Dr. Tom Connors gave a legislative update: Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill that "requires the New Jersey Department of Education to develop guidelines on student use of internet-enabled devices and would require each board of education to adopt the policy consistent with these guidelines," he said. Dr. Connors noted Piscataway already maintains age-appropriate school handbooks and will align local policies with forthcoming state guidance.

Why it matters: the superintendents timeline for targeted literacy and math interventions is immediate and could lead to curriculum and budget decisions; the state policy on internet-enabled devices will require boards to review and possibly revise local policies.

Next steps: the district will publish details about the literacy/mathematics interventions as they are developed and the board will await New Jersey Department of Education guidance to update any district device policies accordingly.