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 Tuesday, January 10. But for a few minutes the notion of town government and the school board working together seemed worlds apart, as a seemingly 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 members 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 if council members chose to do so, they 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 ensued with Marathe compared the value that the board has given to the community when compared with 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 doing it or not doing it (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 legislature to consider. It would also be an opportunity for council members to pass along what they’ve heard,” Geevers 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.
The councilwoman said later 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.
Before the board went into closed session at the conclusion of the meeting, Farrell went up to Geevers at her table and said he only meant to pose a legitimate question.
“John Farrell handled it fine, and maybe he came up to me afterwards because he felt thing got a bit over the top. Nobody apologized but I think they did get a little concerned. They seemed to soften their tone on the idea when I spoke about shared services and legislation or different things than the budget,” Geevers said in a later phone interview.
At recent council meetings new West Windsor Councilwoman Kristina Samonte also expressed her interest in examining the school budget. In a telephone interview with the WW-P News, 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. Let me know the means of how you got there. You’re at A, how do you get to X,” he said.
Borek said he has not been in contact with school board members regarding the idea.
Members of the public spoke about other issues at the meeting, several of which had to do with the formulation of the annual budget.
Kathy Lane of 57 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.
– School psychologist Richa Sharma of New Hope Psychological Services was brought in to provide bilingual evaluations in Urdu for $800 per evaluation.
– 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.
In construction updates, a change order was enacted amending the general construction contract of Integrity Roofing from $674,00 to $658,500 due to a credit balance for unused allowances. Roofing projects at the district’s schools will be decreased by the following amounts: $7,500 for Millstone Rover School, $5,000 for Maurice Hawk and $3,000 for Dutch Neck Elementary,
– A student transportation contract was announced for High School North’s Washington Seminar trip this spring. Stout’s Transportation Services will receive $4,600 per bus for three buses for round trips and local travel in Washington, D.C. over five days.
Also announced at the January 11 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 of buildings and grounds, retired on December 31. WW-P spokesperson Gerri 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 ten 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 subsitute 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 there 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.
