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Bass River Medford Medford Lakes Pemberton Pemberton Borough Shamong Southampton Tabernacle Washington Woodland
Vol. 1 - No. 35
Southeastern Burlington County’s News Leader
Pinelands Regional School District Sends Layoff Notices to Five Teachers Parents Fear Move Will Jeopardize Wildcats Football Program
Varsity Pinelands Regional Wildcats football team. By Douglas D. Melegari and Thomas Lohan Team Coverage
LITTLE EGG HARBOR—It’s been an unsettling month filled with confusion and apprehension in the Pinelands Regional School District. Five non-tenured history teachers, four of whom coach Pinelands Regional High School’s varsity football program, received contract non-renewal letters on April 1. The letters served as the first notice to the teachers that district decision makers were planning to propose layoffs for the 2017-2018 school year. On April 3, hours before a regularly scheduled Pinelands Regional Board of Education meeting, word that the non-renewal letters had been distributed had somehow leaked out to parents. Parents and community members showed up in droves to the meeting, demanding answers as to what was going on.
PHOTO BY MELBA LOSIEWICZ OF ASAP PHOTOGRAPHY
Despite the large crowd and the many questions that were asked, district decision makers refused to confirm the news to parents. Instead, they repeatedly told the audience that they can’t discuss personnel matters. The non-tenured teachers, whose jobs were rumored to be on the line, were also silent. A large crowd of parents and community members showed up again to another board meeting held on April 19. Susan M. Ernst, president of the board, recognized the unusually large crowd for a district board meeting. She read a statement into the record which did not provide any details on the district’s proposal and avoided confirming that the district is proposing a budget calling for the elimination of five positions. “As a board, we have a responsibility to provide a safe, thorough and efficient education to all of our students,” Ernst said. “But we also have a fiscal responsibility to this district and to
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our community.” She said the board is examining their responsibilities and that the student-staff ratio is less than 10 to 1 based on state statistics and an independent body. She also said that the district’s buildings are in desperate need of repair and that the board is extremely grateful to voters for passing a $53 million bond referendum allowing the district to make the repairs. “Our student population continues to decline,” she said. “Since Superstorm Sandy, we have lost 300 students. That’s more than an entire grade level. Two years ago, we lost 50 students. Last year, we lost 70 students and this year we’re down another 27 students. Up until now, this board has tried not to make cuts in staff and instead, what we’ve attempted to do, is manage through retirements and resignations. Unfortunately, we are now at a point where that is not enough.”
LAYOFF>>PAGE 18
April 29-May 5, 2017 Shamong Board of Education Decides to Outsource Teacher Aides By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
SHAMONG—Almost 200 people gathered in the Indian Mills Memorial School cafeteria on April 25 to hear a presentation and sound off on a budget which was later adopted by the Shamong Township Board of Education for the 2017-2018 school year. The attendance for a board meeting here was the highest in years. Superintendent of Schools Christine Vespe, Ed. D. earlier in the day told the Pine Barrens Tribune that there would be plenty of seating available for meeting attendees. In actuality, there were only enough seats available for about half of the people who showed up for the public hearing on the budget. At stake were 13 teacher aide and assistant positions at the township’s two schools, Indian Mills Elementary School and Indian Mills Memorial School. The aides and assistants received notice on April 7 that their positions may soon be outsourced. Vespe proposed the outsourcing of the positions after township voters narrowly defeated a $5.4 million bond referendum on March 28. The referendum was held after the board spent four years completing a comprehensive review of all district facilities. The review uncovered a number of physical and logistical problems requiring improvements in the district, the cost of which cannot be addressed through the district’s operating budget without significantly cutting academic staff and programs due to a state-mandated cap. Many of the identified problems have been deemed serious and critical by district administrators. Building construction projects that include replacing a well pit and installing a generator at the middle school have been deemed the most critical by district administrators. A difference of five votes decided the special election which only saw a 19% turnout. 314 voters said “no” and 309 voters said “yes” to allowing the district to borrow money to finance improvements designed to address the problems. Only 623 of the township’s 4,862 registered voters chose to participate in the special election. Business Administrator Laura Archer discussed the details from the budget prior to the board conducting the public hearing. She highlighted many other aspects of the budget besides the outsourcing component. “We are planning for our future for the school district as a whole,” she said. All existing programs, co-curricular activities
OUTSOURCE>>PAGE 19
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