As New Jersey commemorates January as School Board Recognition Month, District Superintendent Victoria Kniewel presented a resolution honoring all nine board of education members at the board’s meeting on January 10. But for a few minutes the notion of town government and the school board working together seemed worlds apart, as a mild suggestion from West Windsor Councilwoman Linda Geevers spurred a contentious exchange.
Geevers, a former board member herself, began her public comments by thanking the board for their dedicated service. She then spoke about the potential for having a get-together with council, the board, and other officials as budget season draws near.
“Instead of having all the elected officials meet with the board on the night of the official budget hearing, if there could be a meeting earlier with elected officials to get their input that might be helpful rather than getting the budget presentation a couple of hours before the public hearing,” she said.
Geevers’ comment was met with a question from board member John Farrell, who asked her how exactly the board and council can get together. Farrell suggested that council members could attend the board’s finance committee meetings to get a closer look at the formulation of the budget.
Board President Hemant Marathe followed by saying that the board will send an invitation to council members for an upcoming finance committee meeting. “Let’s see how many of them come,” he said.
A tense exchange followed as Marathe compared the value that the board has given to the community versus higher tax rates that the townships have implemented.
“It is a complete mischaracterization to say the school board doesn’t work with the townships. [Superintendent] Victoria Kniewel meets with both mayors several times a year. It is very fashionable to come here and bash the school board simply because the school budget is voted on. Look at the school board taxes versus the county taxes and township taxes. Nobody has any right to stand there and lecture the school board! Township taxes went up in dollar terms and percentage terms many, many times the school board taxes. It’s not a question of whether we are meeting with the council — it’s a question of bashing people who are doing the best job!” Marathe said.
“Who is bashing you? I just thanked you,” Geevers said. She further explained her motivation:
“We could preview some of the challenges that are coming up. Eighty percent of the budget is contractual and there are changes in legislation to consider. It would also be an opportunity for council members to pass along what they’ve heard,” she replied.
Geevers gave one example of a new council member’s strength that could benefit the school budget formulation. “Bryan Maher brings in-depth financial analysis as part of his background, and he would critically be looking at the budget numbers,” she said.
Later the councilwoman said she was “really taken aback” by Marathe’s tone, and tried to remind the board that she is on their side and elaborate on the reasons for further board-council dialogue.
“I didn’t get the warmest reception from the board president. Was I being attacked for bringing up an idea, something they can think about? [Hemant] was screaming at me and I felt like whatever words were coming out of his mouth were things I never said. I just thought it was way over the top. This isn’t the best way to talk to residents who come to make public comments,” Geevers said.
Days afterward Marathe contacted the WW-P News via E-mail to explain his position:
“As president of the school board I should have made my point more diplomatically in public, and I am disappointed for having lost my temper. Ms. Geevers was present at the board meeting in her official capacity since she introduced herself as liaison to the school board. In my personal opinion, it is inappropriate for an elected official in one body to publicly comment on operation of another body,” he wrote.
“It is important to note that I was not referring to any other council member except Ms. Geevers since she is the only one who has made public comments about the school board budget and contract negotiations over last several years,” Marathe wrote.
Geevers later added her own reflections on what transpired. “John Farrell handled it fine, and he came up to me afterward maybe because he felt thing got a bit over the top. Nobody apologized, but I think they seemed to soften their tone when I spoke about shared services and legislation or different things than the budget. When I first got on Council we invited our state legislators like Linda Greenstein and Bill Baroni to a meeting to discuss issues. It was beneficial to council,” she said.
At recent council meetings new West Windsor Councilwoman Kristina Samonte also expressed her interest in examining the school budget. Councilman George Borek also said the Council’s involvement could be productive for both sides.
“The board is their own entity and they’re not obligated to do anything, but look at it from this perspective — we just get a document of the formulated budget. After seeing what happened last year with the budget going down and us having to deal with it and see how we were going to cut, I think having us sit and listen to the discussion on the budget would not be so inappropriate. I think it would be positive. Dialogue is always good,” Borek said.
Borek, a four-year veteran of council, says gathering more people for discussions leading up to the budget review would avert the chance of “contentious meetings over the issues.” He said a broader understanding of how the school system runs and works could be brought to light. His goal is having council gain a thorough understanding of the school budget, “just as with the municipal budget.”
“I understand my [township] budget and I look at all the line items. But when we get a big budget like the district does, sometimes it’s difficult to understand everything. I’d like to understand their budget process better than just what we get with the overview at our annual dinner meeting.,” he said.
Members of the public spoke about other issues as the school board considers costs before formulating the budget. Kathy Lane of Danville Drive in West Windsor said that when the board weighs its budget constraints, a slight amount should be adjusted for outdoor education to better fit in.
Lane brought up specific finances for the board to consider. “Self-directed learning, problem solving, and teamwork all apply with outdoor education. With the anti-bullying legislation it’s also a great way to teach sixth graders how to treat others. The October minutes say the cost would go up to $250 per student. So I did some math, and if you put the schools together it takes about $152,000 to send our kids to outdoor education. Divide that by 700 kids and it comes to $217 per kid. I am worried that the burden will fall on the parents, and if the board can reduce costs by $15,500 that would bring it back to the $195 cost that we saw last year. Don’t let .01 percent of the budget affect all of our sixth graders,” Lane said.
In other matters acted upon by the board:
– Saint Peter’s University Hospital has been contracted for neurodevelopmental evaluations at a rate of $550 per evaluation. Also, in a correction from October’s announcement, Dr. Kapila Seshardi has been appointed to provide neurodevelopmental evaluations at a base rate of $485 per evaluation.
Neuro-developmental evaluations by a specifically trained physician are required by the New Jersey Administrative Code for a child to be classified as autistic, explained district spokesperson Gerri Hutner.
“According to the New Jersey Administrative Code students have protection in the evaluation procedures — which include tests and other evaluation materials that are selected and administered so as not to be racially or culturally discriminatory and are provided and administered in the language and form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally and functionally,” Hutner said.
– School psychologist Richa Sharma of New Hope Psychological Services was brought in to provide bilingual educational and psychiatric evaluations for Urdu-speaking students at a rate of $800 per evaluation. WW-P hired Sharma to serve one child’s needs this year, according to Hutner.
“Currently we have a student who needs a bilingual Urdu evaluation so we have this consultant approved,” she said.
Hutner says in addition to serving the current Urdu-speaking residents of West Windsor-Plainsboro, the school district’s intention is to be prepared for future families that may move to the area, having an Urdu service under contract if and when the need arises.
– Bruce Roller of B&B Therapy Solutions was hired to provide occupational therapy to a student attending Eden Institute at a rate of $115 per session and $65 per half hour plus $450 per evaluation.
– Speech language specialist Jean Lovejoy will provide speech services an additional 1.5 days a week from April 1 through June 4.
– A student transportation contract was announced for High School North’s Washington, D.C., seminar this spring. Stout’s Transportation Services will receive $4,600 per bus for three buses over five days.
Also announced at the January 10 meeting, James Stives was named the director of buildings and grounds. Stives, who served as co-director, will earn a prorated salary of $101,000 per year, with $99,000 in base salary plus $2,000 in longevity pay.
Stives takes on full-time duties as Howard Bodine, the other co-director, retired on December 31.
Hutner explained the method behind the change. “We appointed Todd Amiet in December as assistant director of buildings and grounds. We have used this model – director/assistant director – in the past and believe, at this time, it best serves the district,” she said.
In other personnel news, the board approved a trip for 10 administrators to attend the Association for Curriculum and Development conference in Philadelphia from March 24 through 26. The trip will cost $259 per person plus mileage and tolls, but final approval from the Executive County Superintendent is still required.
The end date for High School North special education teacher Carol Greenfield-Dubin, who served as 100 percent leave replacement substitute for Joan Resnick, was changed from January 21 to January 24. Greenfield-Dubin earned a prorated salary of $52,220.
The end date for Village School vocal music teacher Oksana Kessous was changed from January 30 to March 14. Kessous has been a 100 percent leave-replacement substitute for Amy Carter and has earned a prorated salary of $57,110. Carter’s leave of absence, scheduled to end on November 24, 2011, was extended without pay and benefits.
Grover Middle School speech language specialist Veronica Christenson also had her leave of absence extended without pay and benefits from January 1 to March 13. Her fill-in, Jamie Wall, has also worked at both Village School and Dutch Neck Elementary as a leave replacement substitute for Marjorie Laurence, earning a prorated salary of $53,990.
Lauren Johnson and Laura Kobus were appointed as instructional assistants at Maurice Hawk to replace Diane Basile, who recently retired. Two new assistants were also appointed for special education at Hawk for three and a half hour shifts per day. They are Amy Immordino, who was also appointed as a substitute teacher for $90 per day, and Rosemarie Barkenbush.
Twenty-one people were given $100 stipends for their participation in the district’s “Big Idea Module,” which took place on December 3. Funding came from a Connect-Ed Grant.
Forty staff members from special services were paid stipends ranging from $40 to $50 for their participation in the “Handle With Care” workshop.
Four stipends of $2,010 each were awarded for mentoring at Dutch Neck Elementary for the following individuals: Tina Carr for mentoring Nicole Roth; Melissa Fisher for mentoring Nikki Aspinwall; Brenda Frounfelker for mentoring Stephanie Burnett and Gwen Rogala for mentoring Linda Churinskas.
The board approved a $1,911 stipend for lunch duty for Karen Bhame at Grover Middle School, which will be paid in March.
The district also approved stipends for boys basketball coach Jeffrey Fisher and girls basketball coach Megan Pisani, both volunteers.
