Board of Education Regular Meeting 1/2/18: Is The Township Committee Planning To Return BOE Elections To April?

Last night the Middletown Board of Education held it's annual Reorganization meeting, which I watched via the YouTube live stream and heard an interesting bit of information being introduced.

It appears that the Middletown Township Committee will be introducing a resolution within the next few weeks that would reinstate the April elections for the Middletown Board of Education. This would mean that in November, residents would no longer vote for BOE candidates on the ballot.

If the election were to be moved back to April there would be a significant cost to residents for holding such an election, as well as a potential issue with the school budget.

I've taken the liberty to Que the video from last night's meeting to the portion in which the resolution was discussed.

I wasn't a fan of the Christie Administration moving the Board of Education election to November in the first place due to the politics that would naturally be involved as a result of the move. But to move it back to April and have residents tax dollars spent for such and election is senseless. Chris Christie had the elections moved to save taxpayer money  to cost it.

In my opinion, this is just a ploy by the Township Committee to get a say in future Board of Education budgets, by getting the spending approved by voters who will need to approve of it first, just like the old days, if the budget isn't approved, the Township Committee can make cuts to the failed budget. It's also a way for the Township Committee to have a bigger influence over who is elected to the Board of Education. Fewer voters participating in an election means better odds for Township Committee chosen candidates.

Board of Education Elections Move From April To November This Year

In case you missed it, the NJ Legislature recently passed legislation (Bill A4394) that allows school board elections to be moved to the general election in November. The new law also stipulates that the school budget does not need to be approved by the public if the budget increase is within the 2% cap. However, referendums and supplemental budget items would still require public approval.

At its 1/18/12 meeting, the Middletown Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution to move its election, normally held in April, to November. The Board terms that would have expired this April are automatically extended until November. Five spots on the Board are up for election at that time, Joan Minnuies, Michael Donlon and Leonora Caminiti are up for re-election while new members Sue Griffin and James Cody, who filled unexpired terms of resigning board members, will be listed on the November ballot.

For the record, I'm not against moving the Board of Education elections to November per say. I think the more people that come out to vote, for or against, the candidates and school budget the better. Citizen participation is a good thing.

What I worry about however is that these elections will become much more politicized than they are now, which will take away from and could be confused with, real issues that effect local governments and school systems.

Board of Education candidates will align themselves with the political parties and will feel pressure to tow the party line and adhere to the wishes of state and local party bosses, over the best interests of those in the school systems.

To run an effective municipal campaign for Township Committee, campaigns could spend in excess of $100,000 to win an election. In contrast most school board candidates spend less than $7,000.

A town's Board of Education will essentially be up for sale each year to the special interests that donate the most to the candidates up for election , it could get messy.


Last weeks edition of the Independent has an article about the Middletown Board of Education's decision to switch it's election from April to November.

Unofficial Result Of Middletown BOE Election With 90% Of The Vote Counted

With about 90% of the votes counted, according to the Monmouth County Clerks website, here are the unofficial results from today's Middletown Board of Education election:

Full Term:

- Richard Morrill 1,478 11.92%
- Barry Allan Travis 1,416 11.42%
- Bob Banta 2,609 21.05%
- Robert Superti 1,365 11.01%
- John Macrae 3,181 25.66%
- Gerald Wexelberg 2,275 18.35%
Write-In 71 0.57%
Total 12,395 100.00%

1 year Unexpired Term:

- Allan Burns 1,496 34.02%
- Ernest Donnelly 1,344 30.56%
- Leonora Caminiti 1,539 34.99%
Write-In 19 0.43%
Total 4,398 100.00%


As of this moment the results of the school budget voting are to close to call, it seem that it will be down to the wire on this one, so far there is a 1 vote difference the approval of the budget and it's defeat:

- Yes 2,930 50.01%
- No 2,929 49.99%
Total 5,859 100.00%

________________________________________________

Update 11:17 pm

Unofficial results according to the Monmouth County Clerk after 100% of the vote counted, Middletown's School Budget passed by 125 votes. The candidate results have not changed:


- Yes 3,332 50.96%
- No 3,207 49.04%
Total 6,539 100.00%

Robert Superti, Candidate Middletown Board Of Education

I received the following letter from Robert Superti, who is seeking to be elected to fill 1 of 3 - full three year terms on Middletown Board of Education during tomorrow's April 27th, 2011 school board election:

As a candidate for the Middletown Board of Education I have spoken at all four scheduled forums for the Board candidates, distributed hundreds of copies of my history of experience and knowledge. I have delivered recorded messages of my philosophy for action in the school system. I’ve returned numerous phone calls to my home and answered all questions of concerns involving our school system.

In all of my conversations of our community two main themes emerge as major concerns about our school system. One is cost (taxes) and the other is quality of education. The cost issue involves decreased funding from government agencies, loss of revenue due to individuals loss of income and increased cost of living: which increases the tax burden of those who still pay taxes.

The quality of education involves mandated legislation that was intended to improve productivity: but has failed to do so. The administration and faculty have expended time and energy to carry out those mandates.

Our community pays a staff of experienced professional to implement our goals for education. They should not be micro-managed by outside interests to perform their duties. If good proposals are submitted by outside interests our managers should decide on how those ideas are implemented in the system.

If our managers appear not to be performing well then it is the responsibility of the Board of education to intervene to remedy the situation. The Board of Education represents the entire community: therefore representatives that consist of administration, faculty, parents, community activists, and the Board members should participate in dialog to forge a unified vision and approach to maintain and improve our system.

When I say, “Stop exploitation of our schools” I refer to the imposition imposed by negative rhetoric that emerges from representatives of government who decry that our tax burdens are primarily due to school budgets. Political negative rhetoric or spin doctoring is an effective tool to divert attention or resistance to other desired agendas.

Negative rhetoric demonizing of teachers and unfunded mandates degrade productivity in our school system.

Please vote for me, Robert Superti, line #4 in this year’s Middletown School Board election tomorrow, April 27th, 2011.

MiddletownPatch: Six Candidates Vie For Three Open Full-Term Dais Seats

MiddletownPatch this morning has followed up yesterday's article "Three BOE Candidates Seek One-Year Term" which profiled the three people who are seeking the 1 year unexpired term to the Middletown Board of Education, with a profile of the six who are seeking three - 3 year terms to the board.

Today's article "Six Candidates Vie For Three Open Full-Term Dais Seats" is very well written and informative. If you haven't seen or heard the candidates speak for yourself at the various Candidate Forums held over the past two weeks, the column on the MiddletownPatch website gives good impressions of the individual candidates.

Below is a portion of what was written, go to MiddletownPatch to finish reading:

"The three incumbent Middletown Township Board of Education members whose seats are up on the nine-member board are not running in this year's election. Vying to fill their three-year seats are six newcomers to the race.

Each has pointed to a vast number of issues they'd like to address in the district if elected.

In interviews with the candidates, everything from better budget balancing, to improvement of school facilities, to exploration of more shared services, to greater focus on academics were listed as motivations for running.

Others cited imminent district needs such as transparency, tackling pension reform and review and reassessment of administrators' salaries. One candidate said that the simple addressing of "negative rhetoric" on and around the board is critical.

All felt they had the expertise, qualifications and background necessary to make them most qualified for the job.

Voters will decide at the polls tomorrow, April 27, which of the three candidates running for the three-year terms will serve as their new Board of Education members.

In the meantime, Patch has the background and comments of each for your review ...

Bob Superti, 36 Oakwood Road

Superti has been retired from AT&T, where he worked for 35 years, since 1989, as an auditor and technological consultant. In his line of work, he said, reducing costs for customers, improving productivity and expanding AT&T’s client "enterprise" were his areas of expertise.

Outside of the corporate structure, in the political arena, for approximately three years Superti has been a county Democratic committeeman. He also volunteers his time promoting the Middletown Fire Department and working with the non-profit 180 Turning Lives Around. He is a life member of both the Red Bank Elks and the McKee Technical High School Alumni.

While he has never served on the Middletown Board of Education, Superti is a former board member of the Paramus board. He also served on the ad hoc committee for Middletown’s Building and Maintenance Committee, which was charged with studying the school facilities.

"I would bring expertise in maintenance and deteriorating facilities, and finance," he said. "I know what needs to operate a school system," pointing out that in his career he has analyzed insurance policies and understands contracts. With that sort of experience, he feels he can better help clarify and address areas of concern in the school district.

Calling himself a troubleshooter by nature, Superti also said his understanding of how spending works and past experience examining proficiencies in a company would be beneficial contributions to the board.

"I would attack all the negative rhetoric that is hurting our schools, clarify the false statements, such as demonizing our teachers," he said. "Many things that are said that are inaccurate about our schools, I would be the voice to verify some of those things," he said...."

Banta and Wexelberg, Candidates Middletown Board of Education

I was forwarded the following email from a friend who had received it from another. The email is from Middletown Board of Education Candidate Bob Banta, who along with his ticket mate Jerry Wexelberg, are each seeking to be elected to 1 of 3 - full three year terms to the Middletown Board of Education in Wednesday's Board of Education election.

The email was introductory in nature and tells the readers a little about both Banta and Wexelberg and what they would like to accomplish if elected to the Board of Education:

Parents,

I would like to take a moment to ask for your support and appeal to your sense of community. I have been the Director of Soccer for the St. Mary's Athletic Association for about 5 years now and with the program for a few more than that. I have had the privilege and honor of working with some of the best volunteers in our community dedicated to youth sports here from our SMAA Board of Directors to all of our Coaches and Assistant Coaches, as well as hundreds of the best kids anywhere! In this time, I have seen our program grow from about 35 teams of approximately 350 kids to our present 78 teams of OVER 1100 kids.

One of the great things about this program is that it is made up of kids from all over Middletown, from many of the elementary and middle schools as well as St. Mary's and some of the other Catholic schools. There have been drastic budget cuts to the Board of Education's budget last year and this years budget is well under the 2% cap set by the Governor. If afforded an opportunity, I would like to make sure all the kids in our town are receiving the best education possible as well as be part of the process to ensure that these budget cuts don't translate to necessary programs being cut. I am sure that as a fellow taxpayer you may agree that all of our tax dollars for education should be carefully spent on the children's education and not wasted in areas that the kids do not receive a direct benefit from. I would also like to see that all of the youth programs in town have a better and more realistic opportunity to use the existing facilities at our public schools which all of our taxes support. I am looking forward to helping the existing board work together in one direction and use my unique team building skills to unite the other board members. These are some of the reasons I have filed the paperwork to be on the ballot for the Middletown Board of Education election this April.

Finally, I would like to let all the parents know that I am going to be running with Jerry Wexelberg in this election. Jerry is a longtime Middletown resident and has supported the education system as well as the athletic programs of our public schools for many years now. He is currently the President of the Booster Club for High School North. Jerry and I share many of the same views on many issues related to the Board of Education.

Thank you for your time and consideration and I hope we can count on your support on Election Day! Please ask as many families, friends and neighbors as possible to come out this coming Wednesday, April 27th and vote.

Sincerely,

Bob Banta
SMAA Director of Soccer

Middletown Board Of Education Approves $144 Million Funding Plan

At last night's Middletown Board of Education meeting, the school board approved a $144 million dollar spending plan for fY 2011-2012, that will be presented to voters on April 27th.

According to the Asbury Park Press's article, the spending plan seems reasonable and I see no reason for voters to reject it. The budget will increase by 1.38% which is well below Governor Christie's 2% cap on budget spending.

This budget will provide for the hiring of additional teachers this year, which will help to alleviate classroom overcrowding in a few of the districts school.

I was not at last night's meeting but from what I was told, a few who were in attendance questioned the leanness of the budget and whether or not the school board left enough wiggle room within it in case it was rejected by voters, as it was last year.

I was told that the response to this questions was that the budget was purposely put together lean in an attempt to show residents and the Township Committee that this budget, unlike previous one, was honest and reflective of the times. And if the budget was rejected, it would be devastating to the district.

The main thing that I am curious about, is how contract negotiations with the teacher's union is going. unlike in years past, these talks have been relatively quite but still unresolved over issues concerning healthcare contributions. So I wonder how the Board of Education can produce and honest, lean budget without a signed contract with the teachers?

Finally Some News About Middletown's Proposed School Budget

In today's issue of the Independent which was posted online Tuesday night, comes word about the proposed Middletown School budget.

According to the article, a special school board meeting was held on March 2nd to introduce the school budget. This year's budget would increase over last year budget by 2%, which would equate to a $2,445,064 increase in the tax levy and would support a budget that would be $145,211,537 or roughly $6.5 million more than last year.

There are a few things that were mentioned in the article that strike me in a good way and one thing that potentially troubles me.

Much of this year's budget increase would go towards restoring some of the things that were lost after last years budget defeat. Things like capital improvements to High School North, funding for technology and the hiring back of 5.5 teachers (I wonder what happen to the other half).

What I found trouble about what was contained in the article was that it mentioned that contract talks between the MTEA and the Middletown Board of Education has reached an impasse, and now both sides are waiting to hear from the Public Employment Relations Commission to determine if negotiations should resume.

It turns out that this proposed budget was put together with the idea that the MTEA would accept a wage freeze for the 20011/2012 school year and contribute more towards their health benefits, which would help to offset a $4 million increase in health care costs.

I would hope that after the beating the MTEA took last year in the public opinion of residents, they would be slightly more lenient in their contract negotiations this year with the school system for the public good and in an effort to somewhat reform their image.

Without being involved in those negotiations however, it is hard to determine if good faith negotiations and measures have taken place between the two side. So I won't pass judgement on either side just yet.

I am sure though, that as this impasse progresses and the time comes closer to having the School budget voted on in April, we'll hear an awful lot more about this.

You can read the article >>> Here

Middletown School Board Meeting Was Uneventful But Superintendent Bilbao Allowed To Leave Early

I was unable to attend last night's Middletown Board of Education meeting even though I had wanted to very much. I had a conflict in my schedule that just didn't allow me the time to make it. I was curious if anything would be mentioned about the rumoured BOE member, that has allegedly been ordered removed from the board by the State School Ethics Commission. Luckily though, I did have someone there who was able to report back to me on what happened.

From what I was told, it was a quiet and otherwise uneventful meeting that finished up early, with the big news of the night being that the BOE agreed to allow School Superintendent Karen Bilbao to leave her position within the district early. Bilbao is contractually obligated to stay on the job for 120 days after handing in her resignation, which she handed in on December 1st, but the school board waived that requirement and will allow her to leave on February 1st.

I was told that no real discussions took place at this meeting, on who would replaced Bilbao as Superintendent. As I see it, this could be a problem that I hope doesn't turn out to be something more significant.

With MTEA Union contract talks looming and the new 2% cap on property taxes that will kick in starting January 1st, it will be important to have some one who is experienced and knowledgeable leading the school district and formulation this years upcoming budget. At the moment there doesn't seem to be anyone currently capable of handling this.

I have heard from several people that the likely candidate to replace Karen Bilbao as Superintendent of Schools is James Stefankiewicz, the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum due to ties that he has within the Monmouth County Department of Education.

Whoever the new Superintendent is I hope that they are in place relatively soon, but only after a well thought out and intensive search for the best possible candidate. The upcoming year will be a challenging one for the Middletown school district and a truly qualified individual is needed to lead it.

How Many Emails Did Middletown Receive When It Requested Resident Input Into Defeated School Budget? Not Close To 700 That Scharfenberger Stated

Well it seems that Middletown's sorry excuse for a Mayor, Gerry Scharfenberger, has been caught yet again in a gross exaggeration of facts, which leads to the impression that the additional $500K over and above the previously agreed to $1.6M worth of budget cuts that the Board of Education presented to the Middeltown Township Committee back on May 3rd and May 6th was politically motivated.

This latest example comes from the many emails that were sent to the township's website, after Sharfenberger came up with the brilliant idea to fore go an open public meeting to discuss further budget cuts that should be made to the Middletown school budget which was defeated on April 20th.

Scharfenberger stated at the May 17th Township Committee meeting and was quoted by all of the local newspapers that cover Middletown, that some 700 emails were sent to him via the suggestion portal that was set up on the township website for residents to voice their opinion on what items should or should not be cut from the school budget. Three days later a press release was posted on the township website stating that thanks to the residents for their input and that only 600 emails were gathered. Now after obtaining a copy of all those emails from the Township, I come to find out that the really number of emails sent in by residents was 501.

That's a pretty big difference if you ask me, more so if you consider that many of the emails seem to be duplicates or have nothing whatsoever to do with suggestions on how to trim the defeated school budget, like spam and self indulgent compliments on defeating the budget. After looking through them, it really looks as if only 300 or so could be considered as legitimate.

Which leaves the question of exactly how many residents sent suggestions to the portal? Were only 50, 100 or 501 residents responsible for sending them all of those emails? We'll never know for sure because only a small percentage of residents decided to sign their names to them, which was after all their prerogative, considering that the Township suggested that comments be left anonymously.

For anyone interested in reading all those emails themselves you can do so by clicking >>> Here

Note: For those that thought that their comments and suggestions would be kept confidential I am sorry to inform you otherwise, your comments are part of the public record for all to see whether you supported further school budget cuts or requested that the budget should stand as was at the time of the April 20th vote. Anyone could submit an OPRA request and receive the same information that I have.

Middletown school board to vote on final spending plan

Good job by Jennifer Bradshaw of the Asbury Park Press reporting on the Middletown school budget that will be voted on at tonights Board of Education meeting (I included her report at the bottom of this post).

The meeting agenda and resolutions were posted on the BoE website late Monday afternoon , I didn't see them posted until shortly after noon yesterday, but I was unable to post about it until know.

There are a number of things that I found interesting and that pertain to tomorrow night's meeting that will be open for discussion:

1. The Meeting Agenda - Page 5 of the agenda lists the reductions in the budget that the BoE will be moving forward with. As Jennifer Bradshaw reports in the article below the BoE did not follow the township committees suggestion to eliminate two vice principals, an assistant business administrator or a directors position for a savings of $347,000. Instead they found savings (breakage) from teachers that announced their retirements since the budget was first proposed.
2. Personnel Committee Report - This report lists the names of district employees that have announce their retirements, resignations or leaves of absences and contains the resolution which authorizes the further reduction of the work.
3. Certified Staff - This is a list of all the certified staff members that are being recommended for rehire with their salaries( I was happy to see some names that I am familiar with and disappointed in not seeing others)
4. Tenured Transfers Reassignments - A list of tenured teachers, guidance counselors and CST's that have been transferred to other schools or who have had their positions within the school district reassigned
5. Superintendent Compensation Freeze - Superintendent Karen Bilbao has forgone her contracted raise for the upcoming year and due to the recent change in state law will be contributing 1.5% of her salary towards health benefits. Currently Bilbao contributes $1,200 towards her benefits, that will now increase by $463 for a total of $1,663 inwhich she will have to pay towards her benefits.

I have to give the Board of Education some kudos here because unlike the Gerry Scharfenberger and the Township Committee, in a true showing of transparency, the BoE released the revised budget with all of the important information that pertains to it before their open public meeting tonight. By doing so, the BoE has allowed those interested in their child's education to see how the additional cuts to the budget will effect them and then allow those parents a chance to speak informatively at the meeting.

The Board of Education should also be commended at this time for not presenting a "doomsday" budget even though funds are tight and the budget is bare-bones, I didn't see anything about the need to cut sports programs or extracurricular activities at this time, which is a good thing. But we'll have to wait it out to be sure.

MIDDLETOWN — The Board of Education will vote on the final school budget numbers at its 7:30 p.m. meeting Wednesday night in the auditorium of High School North, 63 Tindall Road.

As part of a more than $2 million reduction ordered by the Township Council, $150,000 will be through a change in nursing services; $803,000 will be through a change to the district's health insurance carrier; $58,117 savings came from the elimination of a night watchman position; $136,796 through reductions to individual school budgets; $250,000 was saved through salary breakage related to six retirements; $140,000 through attrition; and $16,204 through the elimination of a PR position.

Administrative position cuts suggested by the council do not appear on the final cuts — the council had suggested the elimination of two vice principal positions at the high schools, for a savings of $130,000 each, the elimination of an assistant business administrator position for a savings of $91,000, and the elimination of a $126,000 director position.

The final numbers will have a 2.2 percent increase on township taxes, according to the agenda....

It's your Town Newsletter Volumn 2, Issue 10 For 5/17/10; Resolution 10-151 Outlining Defeated School Board Budget Cuts Included

The latest edition of It's Your Town Hall Newsletter is >>> Here.

In this edition the township bill list for the month is includes which makes the newsletter rather long. Also included are ordinances and resolutions that were voted on during the May 17th 2010, Middletown Township Committee meeting. These are at the end of the newsletter and can be reached using the links provided. The links are underlined in blue. There are links in the resolutions to bring you back to where you were originally.

Perhaps the most controversial resolution of the year, Resolution 10-151, which instructs the Middletown Board of Education to cut an additional $2.1M from its previously defeated school budget is also included. You can read what members of the Township Committee had to say about this resolution when it was introduced and voted on, as well as comments from members of the public that expressed concerns over the size and necessity of the additional spending cuts imposed.


As always, if you would like to be placed on a mailing list to have the It's Your Town Newsletter sent to your inbox, send an email to itsourtown@yahoo.com and request it.

It is important for everyone to know how our local government is being run and most of all, how our tax dollars are being managed.

Correction - At the top of page 2 of It's Your Town Newsletter the statement attributed to Deputy Mayor/Committeeman Tony Fiore is not accurate, it should read as follows:

"Committee looked very hard and tried not to cut that which would impact the children."

not

"Committee looked very hard and tried not to cut that which did not impact the children."

It was pointed out to me that a double negative was used in the sentences which
altered the meaning of what was said at the meeting. Sorry if there was any confusion.

Unfortunately The Common Point Of View About School Administrators Is Wrong

I received a very good counter comment by an anonymous writer on the blog post "Middletown school officials unhappy with $2.1 mill...": earlier today.

The commenter took exception to what another anonymous commenter had to say about teachers and what the responsibilities of assistant principals are.

I posted below the comment that the first poster left in red below followed by the comment from the person who took exception to their snarky and ill informed opinion of members of the Middletown school system.

I thought it was such a good response that I should post it on here on the main page of the blog for everyone to read:



"I am so tired of all of these things about the teachers. all they do is get get get.

The Superintendent of schools make more than the governer of the state of NJ. thta is crazy. the high schools have more than two assistant princapals, that is nuts!!! how much work can each one possibly do all day. and the taxpayers have to deal with this...."


"Unfortunately, that is a common point of view. “There are too many administrators”, that is the new mantra being repeated by the citizens of Middletown. I hear it everywhere, from all types of people with one exception. People who actually know what administrators do, how important they are to the education of our children and how hard they work. I’ll be kind and just say that the people who think that there are too many administrators in Middletown are either ill informed or uniformed.

“When I went to school we had one principal and one assistant principal” is something else I hear. You know what else you had? Thirty year old textbooks and carburetors in your car. Who do you think is responsible for making sure that our students are keeping our students curriculum current? Assistant principals. Who was responsible for this 30 years ago? Apparently no one.

Superintendents are paid according to the law of supply and demand. Governors are not. Christie will make more on his first book deal than most superintendents could make in ten years. He has already made it clear that New Jersey is not a good place to pursue a teaching career, he is about to make the same thing true for administrators. He will be limiting the amount of compensation that superintendents can receive. He is changing the pension formula so that it is calculated on the last five years of employment instead of the current three years. This will encourage eligible teachers to retire before the law takes effect, saving school districts money now. But the long term effect will be that the highest paid teachers will remain on the job an additional two years in the future, costing districts and the state much more. It is a short-sighted policy. "

What do you think? Feel free to comment as you wish, I'll post whatever comments come in.

The Arrogance Of Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger Hiding Behind A Website

The following was sent in by a reader who attended last night's Middeltown Township Committee meeting and wanted to get something off their chest. This person supported the school budget and did not think it necessary, fair or honest of the Township Committee to impose further cuts to the school budget after apparently agreeing to ~$ 1.6M proposed by the Board of Education without first informing the school board of it.

At last nights committee meeting the township committee finally approved the resolution to cut the school budget. The budget was defeated on April 20th by an unprecedented number of voters after the Governor in an equally unprecedented move had called for the defeat of school budget state wide.

After completely ignoring the invitation of the school board to hold a joint meeting in public ensuring maximum transparency to the process. The Mayor insisted on closed door meetings to discuss the defeated budget. At the workshop meeting resident after resident pleaded with the committee to hold an open forum were residents to discuss their concerns because roughly $10,000,000 had already been cut from the school budget prior to its defeat.

But the mayor who steadfastly refuses to hear the residents speak on regular committee issues prior to the committee voting, has been hiding in plain sight for years from the public, just as the majority of the committee has, unlike Democratic Committeeman Sean Byrnes, who has strived to make the committee operations more transparent and open to the public.

Finally after realizing the public could not be ignored the township set up a link so that residents could email concerns. It was a feeble attempt designed to once again hide in plain sight by receiving emails but refusing to hear in public or discuss residents concerns. While both the mayor and the deputy mayor championed the idea it demonstrated that they were only willing to receive the equivalent of a “Dear John” letter without facing the issue with the voters.

Not surprisingly they also stuck to the same pattern of hiding from the public by failing to place the resolution on the website, as was done with every other resolution of the evening. You have to wonder what the committee was trying to hide. It was not until after the vote and after the public was finally allowed to make statements that they finally disclosed the amount cut to a roomful of anxious school budget supporters.

They cut $2,090, 894 dollars from the school budget.

Ignoring all the information supplied by the superintendent and the school officials that they would be unable to cover state mandated requirements and insure student safety they cut more assistant principals from the already understaffed high schools.

But to add insult to injury they did not even have the courtesy to send a letter to the superintendent or the board president notifying them of the amount of the cut. It was just another example of the arrogance of the Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger not even to have the decency to notify school officials or the public about the cut.

Hiding behind a website is not transparency Gerry, its cowardice.

"The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them."

- Patrick Henry, American colonial revolutionary

"Government ought to be all outside and no inside. . . . Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety."

- Woodrow Wilson

“Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it is a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety”

- Pres. Woodrow Wilson

Middletown Board of Education Blindsided By Additional Cuts

In yet another example of how arrogance and political posturing has overtaken sound judgment and honesty, Mayor Scharfenberger and his crew blindsided the Middletown Board of Education last night with Resolution NO. 10-151, which details the further budget cuts that the Township Committee expects the Board of Education to make to its 2010/2011 school year budget.

I say blindsided because until I posted details of Resolution NO. 10-151 on this blog, members of the Board of Education had not been given the courtesy a head of time of knowing that most of the cuts outlined were going to be included.

From what I have been told, the members of the Board of Education that sat down with Gerry Scharfenberger and Pam Brightbill for their two meeting on May 3rd and May 6th presented ~ $1.5 million worth of cuts on their own to the Township representatives that were in attendance. They had thought that there was agreement between them and that no additional cuts would be needed. These cuts came from savings in the employee health insurance plan ($803,878), the refinancing of a bond ($465,829), modifications to the nursing services contract ($150,000) and a change to the summer guidance program ($70,000).

Boy, were they wrong!

Stating that the Committee relied on the hundreds of suggestions that they had received through the Township website, the mayor said that he felt obligated to seek out more on his own. So without further correspondences with the BoE and little knowledge as to how further cuts would affect the school system, he stated last night that he feverishly scoured the budget over the last days to find additional cuts. What he came up with was another ~ $600K, all of which seemed politically motivated and consisted of the elimination of Classroom supplies ($58,000),1 Night Foreman position ($50,117),1 Public Relations position ($16,000),1 Assistant Business Administrator ($91,000),1 Assistant Principal HS South ($130,000),1 Assistant Principal HS North ($130,000) and1 Director Position ($126,000).

What’s funny about this is that after mayor Scharfenberger’s open and public sparing match with the MTEA, which contributed nothing to the process other than to further alienate anger and poison resident’s opinion of the teachers union, he seemed to have given up on that fight. Instead the focused turned to comments left on the website over the past few days, sparing the teachers from additional cuts.

The question remains though, were these addition cuts really necessary? According to those with knowledge of the school budget the answer is No. They said that these additional cuts will have devastating effects on the school system regardless of the spin that Gerry Scharfenberger or his deputy mayor, Tony Fiore place on them. Fiore made the following comment after the resolution was introduced “My hope is that this is a meaningful cut… these cuts, they do not cut one teacher, they do not cut one program."

While that may be the intent, the reality is something far different. I was informed that members of the school board told Scharfenberger just that during their meetings. Cutting more administrators from the school budget would have crippling effects on the quality of education that children receive in the classroom he was told.

The Assistant Principals at the high schools main functions are supervisory; they oversee the curriculum, evaluate teacher performance and act as disciplinarians to maintain order in schools that have close to 2000 students each. After already eliminating seven positions district wide previously in the failed budget, equalivent to 14% of the administrative staff, the loss of two more cannot be tolerated without having a direct, long term effect in the classroom.

And what about the $58K further reduction in the budget for classroom supplies? I was told that that line item was already trimmed previously by 10%, did more really need to be cut? I guess so if you don’t expect to need new text books or expect parents to purchase more supplies for their kids than they already do now.

Even though the school board is now bound and obligated to reduce the school budget by an additional $2.09M by the Township Committee, I would be surprised if they implemented their recommendations fully.

In my opinion, I think that the district will be looking into the possible layoff of a handful of more teachers, the possible elimination of non varsity sports programs or a sports program that will be based on a pay-to-play fee system and the possible closure of a district school, which I was told could not be fully implemented this year but could happen next year.

I also would not be surprised if the Board of Education appealed this budget to the Monmouth County schools superintendent in the hope to overturn the addition $600K worth of cuts that the Township Committee imposed on them without their previous knowledge or input.

If that happened then there would be little need for further layoffs of any kind, the possible elimination of any extracurricular programs or the possible closure of a school. Let’s hope that the County Superintendent agrees.

It's your Town Newsletter Volumn 2, Issue 9 For 5/03/10, Details Discussions Over Defeated School Board Budget

I'm a little late with posting the latest edition of the Middeltown newsletter "It's Your Town", but as they say it is better late than never!

Issue 9 of the newsletter details the Monday May 3rd, 2010 Middeltown Township Committee Workshop Meeting that despite having and overflow crowd in attendance, was held in the small conference room located by the Clerk's office instead of being moved to the more spacious court room.

Some of the items discussed included:

– Fire Department Audits
– Recycling Ordinance
– Citizen Service Act
-Community Development Consolidation Plan
-Shadow Lake Bond Ordinance
-School Board Budget Amendment

A large portion of the public comments portion of the meeting dealt with concerns over the defeat of the school budget and what type of recomendations the Township Committee would make to the school board in order to further trim funds from it's defeated budget.

You can read all about that as well as the other items listed above by clicking >>> Here for the latest copy of It's Your Town Newsletter.

Middletown Seeks Public Comments On School Budget

The Middletown Township Committee lead by Mayor Scharfenberger, seems to have no clue on how to address the defeated school budget after two meetings with members of the Board of Education. Rumor has it that the Township Committee is leaning towards the recommendation that an additional $1M be cut from it.

After stating at last Monday nights workshop meeting that they have no intention on holding public hearings on the matter, which runs contrary to what Middletown School Superintendent Karen Bilbao stated, there now appears on the Township website a link that is asking members of the public for comments on how they should handle the school budget.

That's pretty rich after all the blustering Scharfenberger has been doing on the subject.

After all, they can't figure out what to do about the town budget, let alone the school budget but at least the school budget is for the coming year, the Township budget year is almost half over with and we still have no budget.

Maybe Scharfenberger and crew should post a link to the website asking residents for suggestions on the township budget next.

I encourage you all to submit your comments to let them know what to do about our children's educational dollars. You can find the form at:

http://www.middletownnj.org/schoolbudget/

Hazlet Committee To Hold Open School Budget Discussions; Why Not Middletown

According to the article posted on the Asbury Park Press website it was announced at last night's Hazlet Township Committee meeting that there will be an open and transparent public meeting before its next scheduled committee meeting to discuss proposed cuts to the township's school board budget.

What a novel idea! Why can't Middletown do the same? Could it be that Mayor Scharfenberger is afraid that the meeting will get out of hand and uncontrollable like the ones that had angry residents protesting the installation of turf fields at West Front Street Park?

At Monday night's Township Workshop meeting after being questioned by a resident, former mayor Pam Brightbill stated that she was against holding a public meeting on the school budget, which runs contrary to what School Superintendent Karen Bilbao stated after learning that the school budget had been defeated two weeks ago.

Why wouldn't you want residents input on something that will have such a large and potentially adverse effect on the lives of so many people that live in the community?

I think instead, Scharfenberger and Brightbill would rather lurk in the shadows and issue inflammatory press releases and letters to the editor, taking a page out of Chris Christie's playbook by stroking the anger of residents against the teachers union in order to gain some sort of political advantage come November.

They didn't even tell other members of the Township Committee that they planned to meet with four members of the Middletown Board of Education before the workshop meeting Monday night.

Committeeman Sean Byrnes was never informed of the meeting but found out about it over the weekend because someone from the Board of Education asked if he would be there. And newly elected Committeeman Steve Massel announced during the workshop meeting that he had not been informed of any meeting either.

So what are Scharfenberger and Brightbill up to? Why the need for secrecy, is it because there really isn't anymore dollars left in this bare-bone school budget left to cut after Governor Christie already eliminated $11M from it and they are afraid that if they hold open meetings people will see through the ruse of pitting residents against the teachers and their union.

I guess we'll have to wait and see, just like those other members of the Middletown Township Committee, until after Gerry and Pam meet with members of the Board of Education once again later today to hear what type of cuts THEY recommended to the school board.

TRT:M'Town School Budget Fails...Blah, Blah, Blah

I have to give another well deserved shoutout to Ryan Fennell, the reporter who covers the Middletown beat for the Two River Times. It seems that out of the 3 or 4 reporters that regularly cover the happenings at Middletown Committee meetings he seems to be the only one interested in reporting the whole story, not just the rantings and diatribes of an appointed mayor.

At Monday night's Committee meeting when the discussion got around to the defeated school budget, he didn't simply rely on two previously released press releases and a personal letter issued by mayor Scharfenberger over the last 10 days that were written to chastise Middletown teachers and their union into accepting a wage freeze like others have recently done. He actually reported what was said by another member of the Committee that doesn't happen to sit in the majority, fanning the flames of residents displeasure by attempting to turn this years defeated school budget into a political campaign issue.

Of course he reported what the mayor and deputy-mayor had to say about the teachers, their union, the potential wage freeze and the effect it would have on the Township and school system if enacted, but their comments really just amounted to a rehash of the earlier press releases and letter.

Blah, blah,blah...wage freeze...blah,blah, blah...layoffs...blah, blah, blah...union...blah, blah,blah...pay freezes....blah blah,blah...voter anger at teachers....

Instead of ending his article there, with a one sided, biased, anti-teacher/union spin designed to make the members of the teachers union look bad and glorify the righteousness of the mayor's attempt to play hardball, he adds the following passage that included the level headed and practical comments by Committeeman Sean Byrnes, who feels that there are more important long term issues that need to be addressed, that would have a much more significant impact to taxpayers if addressed now instead of squabbling over a temporary wage freeze for teachers:

"...Committeeman Sean Byrnes said that he is in favor of the teacher's union accepting a wage freeze for the coming year, however, does not believe that a wage freeze will solve the problems of the long term.

"Even if we secure a wage freeze, I haven't seen a recognition that the budgets problems facing the Board of Education and the town are long term and call for significant structural changes to our budgets and to our organizations in town," Byrnes said. "A wage freeze will help in 2010. It will not solve the budget problems that we have."

Byrnes said that he is proposing the formation of a budget review advisory committee that would consist of the Township Committee, the Board of Education, and the Library.

The advisory committee would specifically look for ways to consolidate, share services, and approach the town's obligations from a "one town" perspective.

"I would prefer that we not approach or discuss things with the MTEA in a political manner," Byrnes said. "I think it makes sense for the Township Committee, with the assistance of the Board of Education members, to have some discussions with the MTEA. But my preference would be that we not have that exchange through press releases. It doesn't encourage a resolution to do that."...

Being a parent with two kids that attend school in Middletown and who have learning disabilities, it angers me that Governor Christie lied to voters throughout this state while on the campaign trail, telling them that he supported and valued the state education system only to turn his back on it once elected by slashing over $800M worth of state aid to local school boards and declaring war on the teachers and their union.

It's unfortunate that Middletown's ruling party, lead by mayor Scharfenberger and his cronies, have decided to follow in Christie's footsteps by demonizing teachers instead of looking for long term, common sense solutions on how to deal with rising property tax rates.

Level headiness with a keen eye towards the future is what is needed by elected officials in the state, as well as here in Middletown.

Instead of politicising the school board and the school budget for short term gains and political advantages, Scharfenberger and Co. should listen to Sean Brynes for once. He is the lone voice on the committee with practical budget experience and common sense enough to make proper decisions in regards to restructuring how government operates in Middletown.

He has very valid ideas that should be listened to, not ignored and then taken, like so many are by the mayor and his republican friends.

Scharfenberger taints budget negotiations with rhetoric before sitting down with school board.

It's been 13 days since Middletown voters turned down the township school budget and during this time Middletown's mayor has attempted to take a page straight out of Governor Christie's playbook.

With a press release and a personal letter directed at the MTEA and it teachers he issued an ultimatum, take a wage freeze or face further spending cuts to the school budget that was defeated on April 20^th.

Scharfenberger's letter that was published today in the Atlantic Highlands Herald and read aloud on radio station NJ101.5, took acceptation at being rebuffed by the teacher's union stating, "… the MTEA did not even afford me the courtesy of a response. I find this extremely distressing..."

Really? What I find distressing is the fact that today, before meeting with representative of the Middletown Board of Education to discuss the pending school budget; Scharfenberger felt it necessary to fan the flames of discontent with needless rhetoric in an attempt, I suppose, to try and gain the upper hand during the review process of the budget.

It's too bad that Scharfenberger thinks he needs to play politics by taking on the local teacher's union in order deflect attention away from his own mishandling of the turf issue and the Township's own $5+ million budget deficit.

At the very least, before opening his mouth and inserting his foot, he should give the process a chance to move forward positively without the taint of inflammatory rhetoric before the whole Township Committee has had a chance to review and make recommendations on how much money can or cannot be sliced from the school budget, because when he fails to cut a significant portion of the $3M from the school budget that he said could have been avoided only if the teacher's had excepted a wage freeze, he will be exposed as the partisan hack politician that we all know that he is.

When you consider that the Township uses the gimmick of deferred taxes to help balance the township budget, Gerry can afford to cut an additional $3M from the school budget.

For those that don't know what deferred taxes are a simple way to explain it is this, after each school budget is approved the township starts to collect the new school tax rate immediately before the old school budget has expired. This enables the township to use the revenue from the newly approved budget, which generally has a higher tax rate; the Township could be collecting the difference between the old and new tax rate for as much as 3-4 months and use it to offset the municipal tax rate. This money rightfully belongs to the Middletown Board of Education however they never receive it.

Currently, after some 20 years of practice close to $60M is owed to the school board and it looks as if it will never be repaid even though the line item grows every year and appears in township budget documents.

So Gerry can bluster all he wants about cutting the school budget if the teachers refuse a wage freeze but the bottom line is that the township relies on that money just as much as the kids in the school system do.