Friday, July 22, 2011
Few area schools left to play against because of budget problems, superintendent says
Resident Sean Van Liew admitted to Central Regional Board of Education members tht he had an ulterior motive for wanting to reintstate freshman sports. "I'm absolutely guilty, because my son plays sports," he told the board at the July 22 board meeting. "I don't understand how we can do away with freshman sports." Van Liew even volunteered to coach freshman baseball and basketball for free. "I'll do anything," he said. "I'll shake a can at Wal-Mart to pay the umpires." The board reluctantly cut freshman sports from the district's $33,252,531 budget after voters defeated the $27,489,154 tax levy portion in the April 27 school board elections. "Our sports teams did take the biggest hit," he said. "Times are changing. I hated to do it. …
Friday, May 27, 2011
Board members slam Seaside Park officials for lack of cooperation in budget process
Held hostage. That's how some Central Regional Board of Education members said they felt tonight when they voted 5 to 4 to accept $815,239 in cuts to the 2011-2012 budget. "I think it's a damn shame our kids and staff are the victims of this," longtime board member Denise Pavone-Wilson said before she cast a yes vote. "Because of one town, we have to make major cuts. I'm disgusted. Now it's hitting the kids and our employees." Board members had two choices. Either accept the cut, or appeal it to the state Department of Education. School officials did not say where or who would be affected by the cut. "We still need time to digest a number that large," Business Administrator/Board Secretary Kevin O'Shea told the audience. "We are going to …
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Berkeley schools superintendent says savings from his salary could keep several teachers on payroll
There’s still hope for the Berkeley Township School District’s gifted and talented and Operation Schoolhouse programs. If Superintendent Joseph Vicari has his way, both will be reinstated at the June 9 Board of Education meeting, Vicari said in a recent interview. “If I stay at $45 a day they could save those jobs,” Vicari said. He referred to nine positions that were cut in March, before the budget was defeated by voters on April 27. Vicari returned to the district on April 1, at a salary of $18,500 a year. A superintendent's salary could run upwards of $180,000 a year, he said. Vicari had offered to return free of charge. But state law requires that certified school administrators be paid a salary. So he took the minimum salary possible…
Friday, May 20, 2011
Meeting scheduled with Ocean County schools superintendent on Monday
The Central Regional Board of Education has refused the proposed $815,233 in budget cuts suggested by the five towns in the sending district. The board also held off on sending the budget to the state Department of Education for review, a move schools Business Administrator/Board Secretary Kevin O'Shea has said might result in an even bigger cut. Board members last night asked O'Shea and schools Superintendent Triantafillos "Tom" Parlapanides to review the district's staffing and programs again for potential cuts. O'Shea and Parlapanides have scheduled a meeting with Ocean County schools Superintendent Thomas Dowd on Monday to discuss the district's options, O'Shea said. "By law, the Board of Education has 10 days to appeal, so they will …
Thursday, May 19, 2011
School and municipal officials want to avoid sending budget to state Department of Education for review
The Township Council tonight unanimously approved a $815,233 cut to the defeated Central Regional school budget. The cut was the only item on the agenda for the special council meeting. "I really did not want to vote," Council President Karen Davis said after the meeting. "Central asked us to. They wanted to not make things any worse." Central Regional schools Business Administrator/Board Secretary Kevin O'Shea said earlier today that if the five sending towns failed to agree on a cut, the defeated budget would go to the state Department of Education. The Central Regional Board of Education went behind closed doors tonight to decide whether to accept the cut or send the budget to the state. The $815,239 cut comes after hours of tense …
Final meeting slated for tonight, deadline to certify budget is today
Officials from the five sending towns of the Central Regional school district have agreed to cut $815,239 from the defeated school budget. The Central Regional Board of Education will meet tonight to discuss whether to appeal the cuts to the state Department of Education or accept them, school Business Administrator/Board Secretary Kevin O'Shea said today. "A lot of cuts are on the table," he said. "We haven't finalized them yet." The $815,239 cut comes after hours of tense discussions in closed session during two previous meetings and phone calls on Tuesday and Wednesday. Township officials from all but Seaside Park had originally agreed to no cuts. But Seaside Park started out at $3 million, then went to $1.5 million. If Board of …
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
New start, end times for two schools
The Berkeley Township Board Education adopted its 2011-12 budget Tuesday night with a zero tax increase. The Township Council cut an additional $50,000 on May 10, after voters rejected the tax levy portion of the original budget at the polls last month. “Every line item was reviewed in great detail,” said Business Administrator/Board Secretary Laura Venter. “The town found an additional $50,000 due to a new prescription plan. We got a quote on prescriptions from a different carrier so that would make for the cut,” Venter said. The budget now totals $31,972,245. The local tax levy - or the amount to be raised by taxation, is $26,462,541 plus $1,885,43 for the debt service fund. Voters turned down the original $26,512,541 tax levy portion …
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Central Regional budget negotiations 'stressful, annoying, draining' Board of Education president says
Longtime Central Regional Board of Education member Denise Pavone-Wilson could not sit still. She paced almost continuously after officials from the five towns in the Central Regional school district went into closed session to discuss the defeated school budget. "I just got a number and that's why I'm stressed," she told Central Regional Education Association President Susan Hopson. "It's not good." Pretty soon after that, Hopson was pacing herself. "It's terrible," she said. "There's so much at stake. We are so desperately poor here. We are on a shoestring as it is. We are at the bare minimum We do the most with what we have. It's really going to hurt the kids." The budget as it stands now calls for the elimination of 10 teaching …
Monday, May 16, 2011
Seaside Park has moved from $1.5 million, but no details available yet
Municipal officials from the five sending towns of the Central Regional school district were unable to come to an agreement over cuts in the defeated school budget after a three-hour meeting Monday night. Central Regional Board President Keith Buscio began the meeting promptly at 6 p.m. Officials from Berkeley Township, Island Heights, Ocean Gate, Seaside Heights and Seaside Park went behind closed doors to negotiate. Municipal officials from Seaside Park had budged from the $1.5 million in cuts they had originally proposed, but the exact figure was unavailable tonight. "We did not settle," Mayor Jason J. Varano said. "We all came back and adjourned the meeting." Come back to Berkeley Patch for a full story later tonight.
Meeting gets under way at 6:00 p.m. in presentation room at Central Regional High School
One more time. Officials from all five of the Central Regional school district's sending towns will sit down again tonight to see if they can come to an agreement on how much to cut from the defeated school budget. They were far from coming to a resolution at the first meeting earlier this month. Central Regional has five sending towns - Berkeley Township, Island Heights, Ocean Gate, Seaside Heights and Seaside Park. Officials from all but Seaside Park agreed at the meeting not to cut anything from the defeated budget. Seaside Park officials started with $3 million in cuts, then came down to $1.5 million. Although voters in Island Heights, Seaside Heights and Ocean Gate approved the $27,489,152 tax levy portion of the Central Regional $33,…
skizma
8:26 am on Saturday, July 23, 2011
Even better idea....let's all vote on the state's budget!!!! How many would say YES???? common.....what bs. No reason whatsoever that we can't vote on ALL the budgets if the school budgets are up for vote. Schools have elected officials JUST like government to represent them and run them. Nothing is different. Why isn't everyone crying to vote on ALL the budgets????? could you only imagine. But… more ›