Mountainside BOE Elects Ruban as President, Minks as Vice President

The Mountainside Board of Education held its re-organization meeting Tuesday May 10th.

James Ruban Jr. was elected as board president and Christopher Minks as Board Vice President.  Former Board President Mary Beth Schaumberg was also nominated for both posts.

Newly-elected Dante Gioia was sworn in, as well as returning members, former Vice President Cathy Jakositz and Carolyn Williams. Gioia and Jakositz began three-year terms, while Williams began a one-year term.

Additionally, the board assigned members to board representative and liaison positions for the year.  Gioia will serve as representative to the Union County Educational Services Commission. Carmine Venes will serve as the NJ School Boards Association Delegate, with Ruban serving as the alternate. Minks will be the Mountainside Borough Council and Legislative Liasion. Schaumberg will be the representative to the Mountainside PTA and Jakositz will be the liaison to the Mountainside Public Library.

Williams will continue to serve as representative to the Berkeley Heights Board of Education. Gioia also expressed interest in this position, resulting in the suggestion by Ruban that Williams deliver a liason report at each Mountainside BOE meeting. Minks later moved to amend the policy which dictates the format of the agenda to include the Berkeley Heights BOE report following the Chief Adminstrator's Report, to the board's approval. 

During the Chief School Administrator's Report, Dr. Jeanette Baubles gave an update on school staffing and programs. While the recently-approved budget included the elimination of six staff positions, only three positions will be eliminated, due to resignations and retirements.

Out of the three positions eliminated, two special education positions would have been eliminated due to lack of necessity resulting from a decrease in demand, regardless of budget issues. Dr. Baubles is working through the numbers to see if the remaining position can be saved through savings created by retirements, but that goal has not yet been achieved.

Dr. Baubles also noted that while a self-contained fifth grade model was originally presented for the 2011-2012 school year, the district will use a model in which the students change classes once.  The details of this plan will be more readily available once teachers receive their assignments for the upcoming school year.

Additionally, Dr. Baubles announced that letters outlining subscription bussing and pay-to-play activities will be mailed this Friday and over the summer, respectively.

The board also voted to appoint W. Daniel Saragnese as Board Secretary through June 2012, continuing his service to the Mountainside BOE.

Board members chose to table an agenda item concerning professional services, including the approval of a school attorney, school physician and labor counsel/negotiator. The individuals currently holding these positions, School Attorney David P. Rubin, School physician Ronald M. Frank M.D. and Labor Counsel/Negotiator representation from Schwartz, Simon, Edelstein, & Celso, are currently approved through June 30, 2012.  If changes are made, the board will go through the required Request for Proposals procedure.

Finally, Schaumberg announced the election of PTA Officers will take place on May 25th, at 2:30 p.m. at Deerfield School.