WAMS Chorus Honors Country, Jokes with Phanatic at Phillies Game

The William Allen Middle School choir took the field at Citizens Bank Park recently to sing the 'Star-Spangled Banner.' Check out the photos uploaded by a reader.

WAMS Choir Sings National Anthem at Phillies Game

The William Allen Middle School choir took the field at Citizens Bank Park this week to sing the 'Star-Spangled Banner.'

Congratulations to the William Allen Middle School choir, who serenaded the crowd at Citizens Bank Park Monday during the pregame of the Phillies matchup against the New York Mets.  Check out the clip above to watch their performance. 

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Outsourcing Rumors Bring Out Para Supporters

Parents and teachers are concerned the Moorestown School District's paraprofessionals could be on the chopping block during budget talks.

A bevy of teachers and parents passionately defended the school district’s paraprofessionals Tuesday night after rumors have been swirling that the board of education was contemplating outsourcing. Moorestown’s paraprofessionals—often referred to as “paras”—are primarily responsible for educating and looking after the district’s special education population. Many para supporters made the case that replacing the district’s dedicated, in-house paraprofessionals with outsourced educators—who earn even smaller salaries than the current paras, with few, if any, benefits—would lead to a lack of consistency and dilute the students’ education. “Continuity in special education requires that there are no revolving doors,” said Nicole Hampton, chair …

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'Classroom Close-Up' for WAMS Science Students

Students in William Allen Middle School's WeatherBug class visited Palmyra Cove last fall, with a camera crew in tow.

A group of William Allen Middle School (WAMS) students are about to enjoy their 15 minutes of fame. Eighth-grade students in the school’s WeatherBug class visited Palmyra Cove Nature Park in October for a comprehensive science lesson, while a video crew from the New Jersey Education Association’s Classroom Close-Up—a magazine program focused on projects happening in public schools throughout the state—tagged along. Click here to read more about the district's WeatherBug program. WeatherBug teacher Melissa Lock said the primary purpose of the trip was to give the kids real-world, “hands-on” experience to stoke their interest in science, and particularly meteorology. “It was a great exposure to give these kids an opportunity to take what …

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BOE Promotes Middle School Principal

William Allen Middle School principal Carole Butler was selected as the district's new director of curriculum and instruction.

The Moorestown Board of Education promoted William Allen Middle School principal Carole Butler Tuesday, then named her replacement. Butler takes over as the district's director of curriculum and instruction today, replacing Kate Burke Reilly, former assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, who retired at the end of last year.  Butler was one of approximately 20 people—both within and outside the district—who applied for the position when the district advertised for it in December, according to Superintendent Brian Betze. Former administrator Jane LaMare has been filling in the position on a part-time basis. Betze said Butler was chosen because of her success at the middle school, where she's spent the last six years as …

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Our Town

11:58 am on Thursday, January 24, 2013

It's an easy glimpse to compare the level of spending at performing districts against under performing districts to discover that the performance problem of the students has nothing to do with the amount of money thrown at the problem. Parental and societal involvement is crucial to the success of the performing districts. Unfortunately, those are things that money cannot buy for the under …   more ›

'Teaching Is a Lifestyle' for Young WAMS Educator

Lauralee Richardson's early struggles with reading planted the seed for her dream job as a teacher.

Lauralee Richardson probably didn’t appreciate her struggles with reading when she was in elementary school, where she grappled with the subject through first, second and third grades. But had it not been for those early struggles, she likely wouldn’t be the woman she is today. “After I went through that, it was pretty life-changing, to struggle with something like that,” said Richardson, seated in one of her seventh-grade student’s chairs at William Allen Middle School, the words “Soar To New Heights With a Great Book” stenciled above the whiteboard behind her. “Once I grasped it, I just loved it … The fact that I was able to grasp it, to master it, and teach it to others, it was amazing.” Richardson was always driven to help others— “…

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Holly Myers

3:32 pm on Friday, January 11, 2013

INSPIRING !!! Thank you LauraLee, for sharing yourself, and Rob for being the facilitator who brings us information we wouldn't otherwise know about. There's such a beautiful perfection to our journeys... Your early challenge with reading, LauraLee, is such a great example of turning a struggle into a gift. THAT'S a topic I think would make a fascinating series. I can think of MULTIPLE examples I…   more ›

UPDATE: Middle School Evacuated Due to Strange Odor

Superintendent Brian Betze said it was determined the odor was coming from outside the township, and students have returned to the school.

UPDATE: Sgt. Lee Lieber, of the Moorestown Police, said Burlington County emergency personnel are in the process of trying to track down the source of the odor that caused the middle school evacuation. "They haven't determined the source, but they're saying it's not toxic," he said.  Lieber said the department has received multiple reports from people around town who have noticed the smell. The middle school was the only public building that was evacuated. Burlington County Central Communications fire dispatch indicated the odor may have been drifting up from Camden County, but they're still unsure at this time, Lieber said.  _____________________ School officials evacuated William Allen Middle School earlier after several people reported …

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WAMS Staff Talk Inappropriate Behavior With Students

William Allen Middle School faculty plan to host another pair of assemblies to talk about what is and isn't appropriate student behavior.

Faculty at William Allen Middle School has taken a proactive approach to dealing with the student body’s overactive hormones by holding separate assemblies for boys and girls the past two years. “These are their middle school years,” said principal Carole Butler. “The children are becoming aware of themselves …  and they’re just noticing boys and girls for the first time.” It comes as a shock to no one that this adolescent development sometimes leads to inappropriate interactions between students—often with boys as the culprits and girls as their targets. Butler said the past few years school officials have noticed an increase in these types of incidents—including a pair of episodes last fall that got two students suspended from school for…

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A Wizard of Oz for All

A look at the integration of Mooretown's Special Needs Camp with Parks and Recreation's Summer Theater Camp.

If you were fortunate enough to attend the summer camp production of The Wizard of Oz at William Allen Middle School either Wednesday or Thursday afternoon, you might not have realized some of the actors were children on the autism spectrum, campers from the township’s special needs camp that for the past two years have participated in Parks and Recreation’s summer theater camp. Children with special needs have never been excluded from participating in the summer theater camp. And although it’s true the camp counselors, all previous campers themselves, must sometimes speak more slowly or repeat directions more often, those seem to be the only modifications they make when working with children who may need a little extra help and direction …

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Moorestown Theater Company Remakes Popular Show

Eight years after its first production of "Footloose," MTC is revisiting the teen-heavy show the next two weekends at William Allen Middle School.

Hot on the heels of its last crowd pleaser (The Little Mermaid), Moorestown Theater Company (MTC) is going back to the well to revisit one of the most popular shows in its 10-year history. MTC’s production of Footloose opens at 7 p.m. Thursday and runs for the next two weekends. The theater company first performed Footloose in 2004 and producing artistic director Mark Morgan said it was an obvious choice for a repeat performance. “If you asked anyone who’s been around all of the shows … to a person, they’ll tell you, ‘Yeah, Footloose was the most fun show we’ve done,’” he said. The show—a story about a city boy who arrives in a small town where rock music and dancing have been banned—features a heavily teenage cast. There are 73 total cast…

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