A Historic Home in Morristown is a Must for Historic Homes and Garden Lovers

Who says you have to travel far to experience designer made interiors and grounds?  And while we are lucky to be home to many historic houses here in Plainfield did you know that Morristown has a magnificent example of a Tudor that this year is serving as a fundraiser for the Women's Association of Morristown Medical Center?

Sixty of the best interior and landscape designers have donated their talents to this month-long event, May 1 to May 31, so why not take advantage of this opportunity and take a day to escape into a dream-like setting that is so close by?

More information HERE.  

2 Good Deeds Opportunities Today

Volunteers are welcome today for the Library Grounds Clean Up that councilwoman Rebecca Williams has been organizing for the past few years.  Volunteers will meet outside the library starting at 9 AM, the clean up goes for few hours and any help you can provide is welcome and appreciated by the library staff and users alike (we, the library neighbors, also appreciate your efforts and time :-)

Today is also National Day of Food Collection for our local letter carriers.  Leave non-perishables in a plastic bag by your mailbox, or drop you donations at any post office of your convenience.  For more information on today's collection from the National Association of Letter Carriers click HERE

Doing good today is as easy as saying 1.2.3!

Field Trip: Longwood Gardens

What better excuse than a day off from school and Mother's Day coming up to plan a "field trip" to Longwood Gardens?  If you have a mom to celebrate, think of taking her to this beautiful place!  Coffee and "powder room" stops are allowed (and a must). 

Philadelphus Manteau d'Hermine: A Must for Fragance

Mock Orange, along with Jasmine and Lilacs and Fringe Tree and....well, you get the picture, is a must if you enjoy fragrance.  Mine just came via USPS from Oregon (ahh!  online shopping at its best!).  The supplier:  Joy Creek Nursery.  Down a small short clip of Mock Orange (Philadelphus) from across the pond.  Now, if only I could capture the fragrance of Mock Orange to share it with you via this blog!

Plainfield's High School Graduation Rate Released by NJDOE

The Christie administration released last week, via the NJDOE, the new way to rate high school graduation rates in NJ.  The press release offers two rates for Plainfield as both the Plainfield High School and the Barack Obama Academy are rated individually, both schools then get averaged into one single rate.  The ratings are as follow:

Plainfield High School:  70.12%
Barack Obama Academy:  30.91%

District Total:  65.62%

Here is an excerpt from the press release that explain how graduation rate has been calculated:

...for the first time, New Jersey has calculated its high school graduation rate using a new federally-mandated methodology for the 2011 cohort of students. This new methodology, called the “four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate,” is required of every state in the country and presents a more complete and accurate way of calculating the high school graduation rate. Under this new methodology, the statewide graduation rate is 83%. 

Transitioning from the previous methodology to the “four-year adjusted cohort” methodology has required a significant level of collaboration and effort across the state. Over the past two years, the Department of Education held trainings in each county and worked with over 200 individual districts on the change in methodology and the requirements for districts to track all students in NJSMART. NJSMART allows districts to track each student for every year they are enrolled, and allows districts to update a student’s history from 9th through 12th grade with the click of a mouse. In this way, a district can update a student’s status in real time based on a transfer or other change in status. In order to ensure that the data collected over the past four years was correct, the Department worked on over 7,000 student level appeals from districts in the fall.

The press release by the Christie administration is HERE.