Berkeley Heights Board of Education Moves to Restore Programs, Staff

Working from a list guided by Superintendent Judith Rattner, the Board of Education decided to restore a host of programs and staff at the board of education meeting at Columbia School on Thursday night.

Board President John Sincaglia said the district has unanticipated money from lower health costs, additional retirements, extraordinary aid, and income from a settlement between a court ruling on a tuition issue between the Berkeley Heights and Mountainside school districts.

"After the finance committee met on Tuesday night this week," Sincaglia said, "we still had more than $300,000 that we had not allocated in the 2011 budget."

In addition, the district received $426,000 in aid when the state budget adopted on June 30, meaning the district will have surplus next year of $750,000.

“There will be a significant amount of surplus,” said Sincaglia, as he introduced the list of items recommended by Superintendent Judith Rattner for restoration. “If we do all of them, it won’t use all of it.” 

Restoration deliberations included four educational program restorations, coaching positions, a technology enhancement and several safety roles.

On the education front, programs included restoring a half-hour of instructional time for kindergartners, back to three hours, a world language instructor for third grade, and stipends for the arts, technical deduction, life skills special education at Governor Livingston.

“The change was made for instructional purposes,” said Sincaglia of the new kindergarten model," which will remain in place with an extended day. “Savings was a byproduct."

"(The three-hour Kindergarden program) provides opportunities for students to be involved in math exploration, writing workshop and instructional choice time such as literacy centers and project based learning," Rattner said.

In technology, Rattner asked for the increase of network capacity to 10 megabytes from 1.5 megbytes."That will allow for better educational use for computers in the classroom," but she added, "I consider it a bandaid." She said she is working on delivering a presentation to board in October "to really look at significant changes (in technology)."

In other budget considerations, the board agreed to restore two coaching positions for supervision purposes - one for wrestling and one for spring track.

"Last year in spring track we had over 120 students and in wresting we had a significant number of students," Rattner said.

And finally, Rattner asked for the return for courtesy bussing for all kindergarten and first grade students.

She cited concerns over drop off and pickup at Mary K. MacMillan Early Education Center. Although she had met with Berkeley Heights Police Chief Michael Mathis, she said "I did not feel confident that he wasn't telling me I would be safe."

The cost of programs and staff restored came in at roughly $281,000. The board voted unanimously (8-0) to use the funds. 

“I’m still monitoring enrollment very closely,” said Rattner, when asked why she did not recommend additional staffing to decrease class sizes. While she expressed specific concern over the Woodruff school second grade class sizes, Rattner said, “I feel comfortable moving forward.”

Rattner and Sincaglia said the district had worked hard to create the surplus funding.

"Because we worked hard we were able to save that money," Rattner said.  

“It’s not necessarily our goal to spend every last penny,” said Sincaglia, explaining that the board initially eliminated many items from the budget but would have preferred not to. “There’s an opportunity to put some of these things back.”

Parent and Governor Livingston PTO President Sue Johnson cautioned, however, that many in the community may not see it that way. 

"All of this is great -- they say we save, but there are two ways to perceive that we are saving money," she said. "There are other people who aren't going to think its great that it was saved -- that you should have known that going in."

"There is a perception by some who don't have all the facts who characterize anything we do with suspicion," Sincaglia said. "It used to be that the (surplus) money went right to the taxes. It's a shame that a school district gets criticized for being efficient," he said. "This is also the issue of dealing with large numbers."

The district's $750,000 surplus is roughly two percent of its $41 million dollar budget. 

"A 98 is usually an A+," Sincaglia said.

The Board also officially accepted a donation of $27,500 from the Parents for Middle School Sports to be put towards the restoration of middle school sports programs. 

With the restoration of the middle school sports programs, residents raised the question of sixth grade students being allowed to try out for sports, which they are currently not allowed to do. 

As well, the board was confronted with rumors of higher grade-level students being given preference over others for spots on teams. 

“All students have an equal opportunity to make a team,” said Athletic Director Stephen Hopkins, assuring concerned parents that all eligible students will receive a fair try-out.