ORANGE, NJ — On May 13, Undersheriff Fitzgerald J. Figliuolo and Detective Lenny Jackson, from the Essex County Sheriff’s Department, came to the STEM Innovation Academy of the Oranges to receive boxes of personal protective equipment from the Orange Township Public School District.
This contribution was approved by the Orange Board of Education at its meeting the previous night, on the recommendation of Superintendent of Schools Gerald Fitzhugh II.
Present at the handoff of the PPE were Trooper Michael Ma of the New Jersey State Police; Orange School’s director of mathematics and science, Tina Powell; the K–12 supervisor of science, Henie Parillon; and Fitzhugh.
The board approval authorized the contribution of PPE requested by the New Jersey Department of Education, in collaboration with the New Jersey State Police and the New Jersey Department of Health. The request asked school districts across the state to participate in “a commitment to assist.” This effort was to provide front-line workers with vital protective supplies needed for them to continue to treat New Jersey citizens in the fight to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The Orange Public School District collected items from its nurses’ offices and science labs across the district, including 150 goggles, 2,500 pairs of surgical gloves, 475 masks and 35 aprons, among other requested supplies.
Ma coordinated the procurement of items from the school district. Powell and Parillon organized equipment from the various science labs. Fitzhugh received a receipt for the items and a commitment from the NJDOE to replace materials when the pandemic is over.
Photos Courtesy of Joan Purkiss
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