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Welcome to Laurie Goodman's blog. I use this space to share news and opinions about education and schools in Ridgewood, the state of New Jersey and the nation, in addition to other issues I'm personally interested in. I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, questions or opinions, too, by posting comments on any blog entry. Please observe basic courtesy -- keep your comments focused on issues, no personal attacks or bullying, please. Contact me directly at: lauriegood@mac.com

Sunday, April 25, 2010

BOE meets Monday with Village Council.

Tomorrow (Monday) the BOE will meet at 5:00 p.m. at the Ed Center, 3rd floor, for a very quick meeting to approve a staffing change and to pay some bills. Then we will adjourn and reconvene over at Village Hall with the Council. That second meeting is supposed to begin at 6:00, and the purpose will be to discuss the school district budget for 2010-11, the failure of the budget to be approved by the community, and what other information the Council needs before they can set the new tax rate.

According to the law, the Council is directed to set the tax levy. There is no presumption or direction that they must cut the levy, although the last time the budget failed, they did make a cut.

I do not know to what extent the Council will want to discuss line items of the budget or where savings might be found or why certain things cost what they do. This is my first time going through this process.

I do not know if there is opportunity for public comment in the meeting at Village Hall. I do know, however, that our abbreviated meeting at the Ed Center will include the customary two opportunities for public comment. Just in case there's anything anybody wants to say to the Board.

I also cannot tell you if the Village Council meeting is televised on Channel 77. I'm sorry, I just don't know about these things. If I find out anything more, I'll post it here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think the Council should do what is best for the students and keep the budget as is. The district has made enough cuts for one year. They're going to have to cut more next year anyway, probably, with the budget cap, so why not spread it out?

I don't know why some people still think the BOE budget is too big. It's a lot less per student that most other schools! Don't take even more away from our kids!

Anonymous said...

Hi Laurie,
quick question is the BOE still considering the creation of a relaxation center for RHS?

Laurie said...

Even quicker answer --
The BOE has not (in my two years) considered the creation of a relaxation center at RHS.

Anonymous said...

Stand up to the educrats, show that you really care about the children and cut administrators at Cottage Place.

Laurie said...

I know you like to insist the district is “top heavy” in administrators, but the facts simply do not bear that out. I will be posting in a couple hours some new data about administrators, the district’s growth over the past decade – and the risk of cutting too deeply.

And if this “conversation” is going to progress as per usual, next you will probably insist that the District should remove one particular administrator. Ahhh, your real motive – it’s not so much the “educrats” in general or the numbers of administrators, but one particular administrator. Am I right?

And then…I will have to remind you that I’m not allowed, by law, to discuss any particular employee.

I’ll be back a little later to talk about administrators and staff in general...