JAMES F MURRAY 38

Our school, James F. Murray P.S. #38, is the beginning of our students future. Our teachers foster high expectations for academic performance and behavior. The staff strives for effective communication between school and home. Administrators, teachers and students collaborate to develop strategies that enable students to achieve success. Structure and order support our school, enhancing an atmosphere for learning.
P.S. #38 truly embodies the credo,"KIDS FIRST". Common planning time is provided for grade level and cross grade level meetings. Collaboration for specific goals and objectives permit open lines of communication and consistency for teaching and learning. We continue to focus on skill proficiencies which correlate on each grade level to the Grade Eight

Proficiency Assessment (GEPA) and NJ ASK. The District Code of Conduct, our disciplinary document, is effectively implemented and enforced with incentives provided for excellent attendance, academic, artistic, athletic, and musical achievements. Our marching band, replete with uniforms, along with our choir, are additional sources of pride. More than one hundred fifty students participate. Our annual Holiday and Spring Concerts, including evening performances for parents, have been outstanding.

The James F. Murray School embodies the spirit of co operation between the school and the community. Our PTA sponsors many events and fund raising activities. Some of these include our Pre Kindergarten and Kindergarten Tea, to welcome new parents, providing chaperones for field trips, assisting families in need, inviting speakers to address parents, attending Board of Education meetings, and organizing workshops for parents. Our PTA maintains direct communication with the principal, presents parental recommendations and concerns to the administrators, teachers, and central office, and expends time and effort for the benefit of all pupils and staff.

Close communication with parents is maintained via on going progress reports, letters from the principal, the school newspaper, and a parent/student handbook. Parents are encouraged to visit school for conferences, questions, or concerns, to attend assembly programs, to volunteer, or to accompany children on field trips.

Our school frequently avails itself of the community?s resources to enrich our curriculum. We participate in a comprehensive partnership with the Jersey City Police Department for Gang Resistance Education and Training in grades 3-5. Representatives from the Jersey City Fire Department and New Jersey Transit address safety issues during our assembly programs. The close proximity of our school to New Jersey City University, Liberty Science Center, Liberty State Park, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty affords our students with rich cultural and environmental experiences.

Our students will comprise the workforce of the twenty first century. When they graduate from this school, they will have a strong academic foundation on which they will build during their high school years.

Core Curriculum Content Standards have been implemented in the areas of the Performing and Visual Arts, Career Education, Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Math. These standards broadly describe a core of knowledge and skills which all students will be expected to master.

Here at P.S. #38, the professional staff is focusing on specific skills and strategies in each discipline to ensure competency and scholastic excellence. School level plans, developed collaboratively by our School Leadership Council (SLC) which is comprised of parents, instructional and non instructional staff, include activities and strategies to improve skills in reading, writing, and math.

During common planning time, grade level and cross grade level meetings, teachers confer to determine progress of stated objectives, to discuss pacing, time on task, to analyze student performance, and evaluate techniques.

The following educational and specialized programs and services are available to our students: Special Education classes, Guidance, Intervention and Referral Services, Child Study Team, Resource Rooms, World Language Program (Spanish in grades Kindergarten 8), Programs that Maximize Potential (PMP accelerated program entitled HOPE Honors Opportunity Potential Enrichment), Mustang Monitor (school newspaper), NJASK and Math, Writing/Reading Test Preparation, Technology Driven Reading Test Preparation, Yearbook, Science, and Scholastic Bowl. Included as well, are weekly assemblies and special programs ranging from science to Shakespeare.

In its efforts to prepare students for the challenges of the competitive society of the 21st Century, the Jersey City Public Schools have developed grade level competencies and student performance standards. These competencies and standards are consistent with the current New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards, Cross Content/ Workplace Readiness and establish high expectations for all students.

State Core Content Curriculum Standards - these indicate the knowledge students should acquire and the understanding they should develop as they progress through grades Pre K - 12.

Cross Content/Workplace Readiness Student Performance Standards - these are considered lifelong learning standards expected for students across all subject areas. The curriculum is further developed to provide indicators of student achievement at designated grade levels, called benchmarks, specifically at grade 2, 4, 8 and 12. Furthermore, career orientation and workplace readiness standards will be infused across the curriculum. The use of technology, so critical in modern society, will also be a major thrust across the subject areas.

The districts curriculum modifications, adoption of future instructional materials, assessment procedures, scheduling practices and student progress reporting will be directed by the State Core Curriculum Content Standards and Cross Content/Workplace Readiness Standards. These expectations for students will be reflected in the District Strategic Plan and in the goals for student achievement as reflected in individual School Level Implementation Plans.

Indeed, our staff is focused on high academic standards clearly defined to satisfy the needs of the student body and to prepare our pupils for the rigorously competitive world. It is our profound belief that all children can learn and, with this goal in mind, we remain dedicated to the children and the highest ideals and standards for teaching.




Sandra Jones
201-915-6620