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| Superintendent Welcome to the Paramus Public Schools!
These awards and recognition are acknowledgements of the district’s comprehensive academic program, including summer enrichment and remedial programs, twenty‑three advanced placement courses, and one hundred elective courses at the high school. Our K‑12 co‑curricular program supplements the regular academic program with over 130 offerings, including drama, dance, world language honor societies, physics, and virtual stock market clubs, to name just a few. The high school interscholastic athletic program offers sixteen teams for its male and female students, including softball, baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, ice hockey, bowling, track, golf, volleyball, and cross country. These teams compete at the highest levels with many winning state, division, and league championships. The district’s pre-K-12 music program offers choral and instrumental music, as well as advanced courses in music theory and course offerings in music technology. This program has been cited by the NAMM organization as one of the 100 Best Communities in Music Education in America for seven consecutive years. In an effort to meet the needs of special education youngsters, we offer a variety of programs with preschool handicapped classes, self-contained and collaborative classes, and resource room. Students are provided services by basic skills teachers, therapists, full-time nurses, reading specialists, English-as-a-second-language teachers, and a full array of child study team and guidance staff members. The district offers an Early Childhood program consisting of five half-days for 3-year olds, a full- or half-day program for 4-year olds, and a full-day kindergarten. The Early Childhood Center program is certified by the National Association for the Education of the Young Child (NAEYC). In addition, the district provides a School‑Aged Child Care (SACC) program for elementary and middle school children on a fee basis. The elementary SACC program is offered at each of the districts’ five elementary schools from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The middle school SACC program is offered from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Each of the district’s programs is enhanced by various educational technologies. In Paramus as well as in our daily lives, technology is transforming the way we learn and the way we work. The district is entering its third year of its technology initiative, as we provide classrooms with instructional technology for teacher and student use. All of our school buildings are now fully wireless environments. In our elementary schools, classrooms are equipped with SMART Boards and interactive response technology, while our middle and high schools are equipped with tablet pc’s and interactive response technology. Teachers have been given extensive training to help them learn how to harness the power of technology to engage students and improve instruction. We have moved to an online student management system that includes a portal to give parents open access to their children’s homework and grades. Our intent is to keep our community of students, teachers, and parents well informed, engaged, and connected. Our district values community service and service learning. We are especially proud of the way in which our students and faculty work together to help families and individuals who are in need, not only in our own community, but throughout the world. The district is involved in the Gift of Life program, Wanaque Center for Disabled Children, Oprah’s Angel Network and the Peace Project, to name just a few organizations. At the same time, the community supports its schools through PTA projects, the Scholarship Show fundraiser, the Education Foundation, the Paramus Run, and professional associations. These and other organizations continue to provide scholarships to Paramus students in excess of $100,000 annually. Enrollment in our district appears to be stable at this time following a period of growth. This year will open schools with approximately 4,300 youngsters in five K-4 schools, two grade 5‑8 middle schools, and the high school. Paramus continues to be a great place to live and learn. Joseph P. Lupo, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools/Interim July 2011 | ||||||||||||
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Paramus has an outstanding student body and staff and a dedicated Board of Education, coupled with supportive parents and community members who value quality education. Because of this, we have been recognized for excellence by the state and throughout the nation with three of our schools formally designated as National Blue Ribbon Schools: Paramus High School, Parkway Elementary School, and Ridge Ranch Elementary School. West Brook Middle School was selected as a nationally recognized service learning school. Our district was also selected for the National Time for Results program. In addition, several New Jersey Commissioners of Education have awarded our district numerous Best Practices Awards as well as the Star School Award. 
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