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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

Monday, May 10, 2010

BOE meets with Village Council tonight

The Board of Education will be meeting again with the Village Council tonight, regarding the 2010-11 school budget. The Board delivered our recommendation to the Village last week: our recommendation is that, for the good of our schools and our children, the current budget, a reduction from this year's budget, cannot be cut further without harm. (The full letter to the Council will be available after the meeting.)

Anyone who has an opinion about what the Village Council should do with the budget is encouraged to attend tonight's meeting and make your comments in public.

Tonight's meeting is a "work session" meeting, so no action will be taken by the Council.

The meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. at Village Hall. (No, I do not know why the meeting was set for 5:30. My guess is that they scheduled it before our customary Board meeting at 7:30, however tonight the BOE does not have a Regular Public Meeting scheduled.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

They should reduce the school budget by the amount of the salary increase the teachers' union was unwilling to give up. So as not to harm the children, the BOE should eliminate things like the extra salary teachers receive for after school and overnight activities. All of the cuts should directly effect the teachers and administrators and have no effect on the children. It's all for the children.

Laurie said...

The only way to eliminate the "extra salary that teachers receive for afterschool and overnight activities" would be to eliminate the afterschool and overnight activities themselves, thereby affecting the children. The District is legally obligated to follow the terms of the existing contract with the Teachers' Union, and stipends for club advisors, etc., are part of the contract.

The fact is, any additional cuts made at this point will adversely affect students' education on a daily basis, or impede our ability to communicate effectively with parents and the community.

Anonymous said...

The teachers refused to give their increases. They should voluntarily continue to work at the afterschool and overnight activities without pay. It would go a long way to reducing the ill will that parents feel towards teachers, and believe me, there's alot of ill will in Ridgewood.