Thirty Berkeley Teachers Given Pink Slips

Although 30 teachers in the Berkeley Township school district were given pink slips earlier this month, most of their jobs are not in jeopardy, school officials said.

"We are not laying off 30 people," Board of Education President John Bacchione said today. "I can say that much."

The Berkeley school district must follow a certain protocol when it comes to layoffs, since Berkeley is a Civil Service town, schools Superintendent Joseph H. Vicari said.

"Of these 30, my goal is to bring back most of them," he said.

Both Vicari and Bacchione are hopeful that the district's Gifted and Talented program can remain intact.

"My preference would be the gifted and talented program," Vicari said today.

The Board of Education's finance committee will discuss the matter further at a June 6 meeting that is closed to the public. Bacchione, who chairs the finance committee, said he will announce the committee's recommendations at the regular June 9 board meeting.

School officials and board members have been grappling with staffing issues ever since voters turned down the $26,512,541 tax levy portion of the $32,022,145 budget by a vote of 2,101 to 1,929. Roughly 17 percent of the township's registered voters went to the polls, Vicari said.

Vicari and other school officials had hoped it would pass, since the amount to be raised by taxation dropped by $168,721 from last year to $26,512,541. A property owner with a home assessed at the township average of $204,100 would have seen a decrease of 52 cents for the upcoming budget year. The proposed school tax rate was 51.5 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation.

"More people should have voted for the budget," Vicari said. "There was an actual decrease in the tax levy."

The defeated budget called for nine positions to be eliminated - including two gifted and talented teachers, two resource center teachers, one psychologist, three classroom teachers and a speech therapist.

Pink slips were sent to 28 non-tenured teachers and two tenured teachers earlier this month, Vicari said.

If the gifted and talented teacher positions are cut, the current gifted and talented teachers would still have jobs, since they have tenure, Bacchione said.

"They will not lose their jobs," he said. "They will just be put in another classroom. I'm going to try and find the money to keep it status quo."

The classroom teacher positions at risk also include two Spanish teachers, Vicari and Bacchione said.

The district is looking at the possibility of replacing the Spanish teacher positions with Rosetta Stone software technology, Bacchione said.

"It's a subject we have discussed several times," he said. "The Rosetta Stone apparently is successful and much less expensive that hiring teachers."

The school psychologist position is currently vacant and will not be filled, Bacchione said.

The speech therapist position has been funded by a federal grant, which is slated to run out, so that position has been eliminated, he said.

Vicari had previously served as superintendent for six years. His contract was not renewed in 2008, a move Vicari has said was politically motivated by some board members and local and county Democratic organization officials. He left the district in June 2009, when his contract expired.

Vicari had offered to return free of charge late last year. But state law requires that certified school administrators be paid a salary. So he took the minimum salary possible - $18,500, with no benefits. He returned to the district on April 1. Vicari has said he returned to save the district money and jobs.