BOE and Council meetings broadcast on FIOS!

Finally! I'm so happy to learn that Ridgewood has public access channels on Verizon FIOS. This is something I started working on so long ago with late Councilwoman Annie Zusy, probably in the first month of my term on the Board of Education. From a purely selfish point of view, as a FIOS customer, I wanted to watch Village Council meetings without having to go out to another weeknight meeting. As a BOE member, I wanted to ensure all residents had a chance to see Board of Ed meetings. The Village and Ed Center have now got it all worked out.

Village Council meetings will be broadcast on FIOS Channel 34. BOE meetings will either be on Channel 33 or 34 (the info I saw was unclear...I guess we'll know by the time of the next BOE meeting, which is June 13).

Both BOE and VC meetings will continue to be shown on Cablevision Channel 77.

On the agenda for Monday’s BOE meeting.

The Board of Education meets Monday night at 7:30, on the 3rd floor of the Ed Center. A few highlights from the agenda (full agenda available here):

The Board will hear an update on Special Ed services and staffing, with an explanation of needs for the 11-12 school year.

The 2010-11 Teacher Recognition nominees will be approved by the Board, in advanced of the annual Teacher Recognition award reception to be held on May 10. The teachers being honored are:
Special Programs…Patricia McVeigh
Hawes…Shirley Kolkebeck
Orchard…Christine Thielke
Ridge…Tracee Fazio
Somerville…Meredith McLaughlin
Travell…Carol Goulian
Willard…Dawn-Lyn Dolfi
Benjamin Franklin…David Tashian
George Washington…Evelyn McKinnon
RHS…Patricia Johnson
Congratulations!

The Board will gratefully accept donations, including from the Ridge HAS, the Ridgewood Ice Hockey Foundation, the RHS HSA and others.

Dr. Fishbein will present a few change orders for work at RHS, Ridge and GW. The referendum projects continue to be well under budget, as work begins on the two remaining large projects at Willard and GW.

We’ll also have regular business such as retirements, movements of staff, approval of some summer stipends, public comment, etc.

As always, the meeting will be televised on Cablevision Channel 77, webcast live on the District website, and archived for later viewing.

Public hearing & community forums on 2011-12 budget.

Ridgewood residents are invited to learn more details about the 2011-12 school budget, which will be up for public vote on April 27. The following budget events are open to the community, and questions or comments are encouraged:

Official Public Hearing on Budget @ BOE Meeting
Tonight, 7:30 p.m. Ed Center, 3rd Floor
Watch on Cablevision Channel 77 or live webcast (click here to link live).

Community Presentation
Thursday, March 31, 7:30 p.m.
GW Middle School Auditorium

Coffee with the Superintendent
Tuesday, April 12, 9:00 AM
Ed Center, 3rd Floor

Community Presentation
Wednesday, April 20, 7:30 p.m.
BF Middle School Auditorium

Don't feel like attending a meeting, but have questions? Email budget12@ridgewood.k12.nj.us

Most recent budget activity:
At the Board meeting on March 21, the BOE had a Joint Meeting with the Ridgewood Village Council, to present an overview of the proposed 2011-2012 budget and to engage in a discussion. Assistant Superintendent for Business Angelo DeSimone presented to the Village Council an updated budget spreadsheet. Revenues are flat, with the exception of the proposed tax increase of 2%. Basically, the budget is a 0% increase from this year to next year, with no personnel cuts or cuts in programs. Utility costs are projected to increase 5%. The largest increase on the line items is the 12% projected increase for Employee Benefits, which includes medical insurance. The proposed 2011-2012 General Fund Tax increase of $1,594,572 is at the 2% cap. The total projected General Fund budget is $86,775,809, representing an increase from this year of $363,441.33. The tax impact of this budget would be $23.94 per $100,000 valuation, or $190.90 on the average assessed Ridgewood home of $797,422.

BOE meeting Monday night.

There’s a lot going on at tomorrow’s Board of Ed meeting. We haven’t met for three weeks, so the agenda’s a little more full than typical. Full agenda here. A few highlights:

The Ridgewood Education Foundation will be presenting its Spring 2011 grant awards. The grants total $12,905 and the recipients are programs at RHS, Willard, Travell, Hawes, Ridge and Somerville.

Dr. Fishbein will update the Board on the 2009-10 Audit Report and Corrective Action Plan. Presumably we’ll hear how the software corrections are coming to correct the reporting glitches.

We’ll get a report on the Community Planning event that was held last month. That was such an interesting experience, I’m looking forward to seeing the ideas and suggestions put together into a report, and using the findings to inform our priorities for the coming few years.

The 2011-12 budget will be updated. Hopefully you saw Dr. Fishbein’s column in last Friday’s Ridgewood News, where he outlined the upcoming budget process, including opportunities for public input. (The online story (see link) includes a chart showing Ridgewood's financial efficiency compared to other districts.) Tomorrow night, the Board will be asked to approve the Preliminary Budget, which we must do in order to make the deadline for submitting to the Executive County Superintendent. The Preliminary budget is just that – not set in stone. I’m sure you heard about the approx. $850,000 in state aid coming to Ridgewood for next year. Before you start dreaming about where to spend this “windfall,” keep in mind that our initial budget showed a $650,000 deficit, so we’ll have to fill that hole first. Not sure what the administration is going to recommend with the rest. We’ll see tomorrow night.

We’ll have some more discussion on the updated Fields Use Policy, talking about questions and feedback we have and which we’ve received from the public.

Those are the meeting highlights. (You can watch live online by clicking here.) In terms of my personal BOE activity this week, I’ll be at Monday’s meeting, an Executive Session to discuss negotiations, Fields Committee meeting Wednesday morning, a webinar on social media in schools, and Federated HSA meeting on Thursday.

What’s going on with the Board of Education this week?

Here's a snapshot of some of the things going on with the BOE this week.

Regular Public Meeting Monday at 7:30. Some highlights from the agenda (click here for full agenda):

• Discussion of RHS partnership with Stevens Institute through the National Science Foundations GK12 program.

• Reps from the Joint Village-BOE Fields Committee will present the draft revision of the Fields Use Policy. This policy will specify hours of use and conduct of users, among other things, at athletic fields throughout the Village. (You can read the draft policy as part of the agenda -- click here.)

• Discussion of the Board's new Legislative Committee, which will involve BOE members and interested residents to follow legislative activities and inform and advise the Board and public about opportunities for advocacy on issues that affect Ridgewood students.

• Discussion of a possible page for Ridgewood Public Schools on Facebook.

I'll visit a couple of HSA meetings on Tuesday.

The Board's Negotiating Team will begin meeting with the REA regarding the teachers' and secretaries' contract.

Board members will make our annual cameo appearance in Jamboree, Wednesday-Saturday nights.

In other words, another busy week. Any questions or comments, please let me know.

On the BOE agenda for January 24.

Updated 1/24/11 @ 12:42 p.m.

The Ridgewood Board of Ed will meet tomorrow (Monday) night at 7:30 p.m. As always, the meeting is open to the public and we have plenty of seating available :) so come on down. You can also watch live on Cablevision Channel 77 or webcast at this link.

A few highlights from the agenda:

• Dr. Fishbein will give an update on referendum budgets and costs. Good news – we’re still under budget!

• We’ll get a presentation on middle school schedules and the 6th grade world languages program.

• Dr. Fishbein and Mr. DeSimone will present the first pass of the working budget for 2011-12. This is an in-process document, but it’s important to share with the community so you can see where things are as of right now.

• The Communications Committee (Sheila Brogan and myself are the BOE members) will discuss the document responding to neighbors’ concerns regarding RHS and Stevens Fields.

• Finance Committee (Michele Lenhard and Bob Hutton are BOE members) will report on the 2009-10 audit and the status of software corrections.

• I will give a brief update on the status of the revised Fields Use Policy, currently being worked on in the joint Fields Committee. (Please note: the revised Fields Use Policy itself will not be presented or reviewed tonight. There may be general discussion, but the committee is not presenting the revised policy tonight.) (Updated 1/24/11 @ 12:42 p.m.)

Any questions, let me know.

On the agenda for January 10 BOE meeting.

Tomorrow night the Ridgewood Board of Education will meet for a regular public meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the Ed Center, 3rd floor. (Come on down and watch in person, or watch live on TV Channel 77 or online click here.)

Some highlights from the agenda:

We’ll see a presentation of the middle school program of studies for 2011-12. It’s basically the exact same program of studies as currently, but with a change to the 8th grade algebra course for special ed students.

Dr. Fishbein will update us on various referendum projects, mostly work on the additions at Ridge and Hawes schools.

The Board will be asked to approve the school calendar for 2011-2012. I participated in the Calendar Committee – along with teachers, other staff, parents, students – and let me tell you, it is harder than one would think to come up with a calendar.

The Board will be asked to approve the disenrollment of a student found to be in violation of the District’s residency requirement.

Members of the BOE will discuss our response to the Planning Board’s invitation to a hearing regarding the lights at RHS Stadium and Stevens Fields. We will also discuss the list of RHS neighbor concerns and progress that’s been made to date.

Those are the highlights. You can see the entire agenda by clicking here.

On my BOE radar this week.

Sorry I’ve been posting a little less frequently than normal…it’s been a busy time around Thanksgiving, I had my mother and her husband visiting for 10 days, and my workload for clients has been extremely heavy. But just because I haven’t been blogging much, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been consumed by Board of Ed business as well. There’s always plenty to do in that area!

Tomorrow night the Board will have a regular public meeting (7:30 p.m., Ed Center, 3rd floor; streaming live click here). A few highlights from the agenda:

• Sheila Brogan and I will present a report on the Facilities Committee meeting which we held last Monday at Ridgewood High School, to listen to concerns from the RHS neighbors regarding the fields and lights. The Board will discuss neighborhood concerns and consider next steps.

• Asst. Superintendent Regina Botsford will present the Districtwide Testing Report for 09-10.

• Dr. Fishbein will give us an update on referendum construction projects

• We’ll get an update on meetings to develop the 11-12 district budget

• The Board will review and approve some course changes at RHS.

• As always, there will be two opportunities for public comment.

Other than tomorrow’s BOE meeting, I have some other Board business I’ll be taking care of this week:

• Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be watching the film Race to Nowhere along with the RHS faculty. The movie, sponsored by the RHS Home & School Association, is being presented to Ridgewood parents at 7:00 p.m. at GW Middle School, but since we have a BOE meeting, some of us will be watching with the faculty. I wonder if it will be a different experience to watch with teachers vs. parents?

• Tuesday night I will join a couple of other Board members and Human Resources Manager Gary Hall at a presentation of the New Jersey School Boards Association, titled “Negotiations and the Toolkit.” This is a roundtable discussion about “negotiations, superintendent contracts, and other employee relations issues in this changing legislative environment.” Supposedly, we’ll learn how the governor’s proposed "toolkit" of bills can affect our negotiations efforts with the REA.

• Wednesday morning I’ll be at the Fields Committee at 7:00 AM – I suffer through these early morning meetings but I have to admit – it’s kind of cool how much time I still have left in the day to get things accomplished.

• Thursday I’ll be at the “You Make a Difference” Breakfast at RHS at 7:15 (another early day!). This breakfast is hosted by Principal Jack Lorenz to recognize students who normally may not receive accolades but who have accomplished small victories at school. After the breakfast I’ll attend the Federated HSA meeting with the presidents of all the schools’ Home & School Associations. Then after that I’ll go to the Somerville Holiday House Tour fundraiser. Whew…busy day Thursday!

I’m telling you my BOE schedule this week just to report on what I’m doing. I’m sure some of you wonder…what does she do anyway, besides attend those boring meetings twice a month? Now you know. As a BOE member, there’s a lot more to do than I originally understood. I truly love being around the schools, though, so when I can, I’m eager to take part in activities that get me into school buildings and that give me a good view of what goes on every day. (My clients aren't quite so enthusiastic about our schools, so sometimes I have to play a little hooky...fortunately as a freelancer I have the flexibility to catch up on work later...sometimes much later...like a few minutes from now.)

After tomorrow night’s BOE meeting – maybe by Tuesday or Wednesday – I’ll write something about the Board’s discussion about the fields and lights (one of the more popular topics in my inbox lately!). Have a great week!

BOE and Village working on arrangement with Verizon FIOS to broadcast BOE and Council meetings.

I'm told by the Ed Center that a deal to get Village Council and BOE meetings broadcast on Verizon FIOS in addition to Cablevision is being wrapped up, and this WILL be happening. I didn't get any kind of an ETA, but I'll check into it after a month or two (if I don't see the meetings on my FIOS).

This will give another alternative to the webcasts for BOE meetings, which are problematic for a few people. (And of course the Village Council doesn't webcast, so adding FIOS will be a great improvement in public access.)

On the agenda for the 10/18 Board of Ed meeting.

The Ridgewood BOE will meet at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow (Monday) at the Ed Center, third floor. A few highlights from the agenda:
-- Annual report on school violence and vandalism, presented by Basil Pizzuto, Assistant Principal at Ridgewood High School. Mr. Pizzuto will also review school activities designed to reduce and prevent violence
-- Approval of out-of-district placements for 2010-11. There are a total of 93 students placed in non-Ridgewood schools, primarily for special education needs specified in the students’ IEPs (Individual Educational Plan).
-- Acceptance of various donations, including $25,000 allocated by the Fields Committee for the RHS field lights.
-- Approval of agreements with West Side Presbyterian Church for parking for GW staff, and with the Ice House for ice time for RHS hockey
-- Approval of various change orders for construction projects

As always, the meeting will be broadcast on Cablevision channel 77, and webcast on the District website (click here).

Monday's Board of Ed meeting: what's on the agenda.

Monday the Ridgewood Board of Education will meet and the agenda doesn't look too unwieldy -- mainly because we just met a week ago. Some of the highlights (full agenda available by clicking here):

-- Recognizing Ridgewood High School's National Merit and Advanced Placement scholars
-- Presentation on some of the math routines our kindergarten students participate in every day
-- Info on crisis management in our schools
-- Approval of our submission of a Grant Application to the Bergen County Historic Preservation Fund for funds to replace the Ed Center's slate roof.
-- Review of some proposed revisions to BOE by-laws and Board policy.

As always, the Board of Education meeting can be viewed live and in person at the Ed Center, 3rd floor, at 7:30 p.m. You can watch the meeting on Cablevision Channel 77, or you can view the live webcast by clicking here. Later, you can view the archived webcast by clicking here.

Community planning process on the agenda for 2010-11.

I'm sorry to be brief and infrequent in my posts lately, but I'm really under water on some work projects, with many deadlines crashing down at the same time. (Wow, such violent -- yet accurate! -- imagery!)

Anyway, one thing I wanted to tell you about was the discussion at the Board table Monday night regarding one of our goals for 2010-11. Originally Dr. Fishbein had suggested a "strategic planning" process, to create a five year plan. That sounded pretty good to me, especially when we talked at our August 30 meeting about involving the community in the process. Over the past couple of weeks and at our meeting last Monday, the goal has evolved into a "Community Planning" process. This is also a good thing.

Mind you, I think an in-depth strategic planning exercise would be good, but I do understand some Board members' and Dr. Fishbein's concern that a traditional strategic planning project can take many months, require substantial resources of time and energy (and money), and often results in a giant binder that sits on a shelf gathering dust for a few years, until the next strategic plan update. That's not something we need.

What evolved during Monday's meeting was a Community Planning process. In a nutshell, it means inviting 50 or so members of the community -- parents, Village leaders, business owners, non-parent taxpayers, students, teachers -- to come together and brainstorm goals for school district and action plans for achieving some of those goals. It's not an in-depth analysis of what we do and what we can do differently or better -- although those conversations are certainly part of the activity. But I do think it will be a positive and productive experience for our schools and for the Village.

More detail will be forthcoming on this, but I wanted to let you know it's on the horizon. You can watch the recorded webcast of last Monday's discussion by clicking here. (Click on Board of Ed Webcasts down toward the bottom, then click on 9/27/10 -- it's not posted yet, as of today.)

I need to get back to work. I hope to have some time in the next day or so to reflect on some of the reforms and changes which were proposed by Governor Christie yesterday. Lots of talk and not much substance, that's all I can say for now...

I also wanted to write about developments or conversations I've had and heard following last week's Federated HSA meeting regarding Valley Hospital. For now, I'll just say that Patch.com's article shows the problems of reporting a news story based on a transcript alone, without follow-up interviews with the participants. The description of certain elements does not match my recollection of what I saw or heard.

Have a great day!

BOE Meeting tonight.

You can tell how busy my work is by my less frequent posting on this blog. Sorry...as much as I would love to spend all day, every day on education and the Ridgewood Public Schools (and quite honestly, most days I would love to do that), I do need to make a living. Work is very busy right now.

Tonight the BOE will meet at 7:30 p.m. and as always you are invited to join us! You can also watch the live webcast by clicking here, or view the live broadcast on Cablevision Channel 77.

Quick agenda highlights:

-- Financial Report on Ridgewood Community School
-- Discussion of Strategic/Community planning process
-- Referendum projects update
-- Discussion of Board and District goals for 2010-11

The full agenda can be viewed by clicking here.

News from the BOE

What's that? You didn't watch tonight's meeting on webcast or on Cablevision Channel 77? Here's a little bit of what we covered:

Dr. Fishbein presented the Opening of School Report, the key fact of which was how much the District's enrollment has grown since last year.

Enrollment Figures as of 9/10/10*
(9/09 figures are in parentheses)

Glen (36) 44 +8
Hawes (408) 409 +1
Orchard (323) 340 +17
Ridge (478) 496 +18
Somerville (533) 540 +7
Travell (410) 408 -2
Willard (456) 501 +45
TOTAL ELEMENTARY (2,644) 2738 +94

BFMS (687) 694 +7
GWMS (675) 693 +18
TOTAL MIDDLE SCHOOL (1,362) 1387 +25

RHS (1,666) 1692 +26

Total Enrollment (5672) 5817 +145

*These numbers can be expected to change a little still, as families who moved away are removed from the rolls.

Also at last night's meeting, Dr. Fishbein recognized Jane Blakely, who was the recipient of the 2010 Ashby Award for her contributions to Ridgewood High School over the past 26 years.

Michele Lenhard read a list of all donors to the Ridgewood Public Schools for the 2009-10 year. It's a long list (maybe I'll post it here later), but the total was $546,695. That's amazing! Thank you, Ridgewood!

The Board's new Student Representative, Max Z., reported on the opening of the high school. Bottom line: the new lockers are a big hit.

We had a great presentation from our architect, engineer, and construction managers on the status of various referendum and capital projects throughout the District. The detailed report, complete with photos, amounts spent and percent complete, will be posted on the website, hopefully tomorrow. I'll post a link when it's there.

Business Administrator Angelo DeSimone presented the reorganization of the IT (formerly MIS) Department and described some of the many projects that department has been busy with all summer. Right now, the big effort is in getting all students and families set-up in Skyward, the new student information system. There were some "glitches" with the initial mailing of instructional letters to parents: apparently there were old, out-of-date address still existing in the old SASI system, and they were mistakenly imported into Skyward. So about 250-300 letters were unable to be delivered, and those parents are having to correct their information (and prove residency, if their address has changed). It's definitely a lot of work for everyone (including parents), but they are working through it and the system is going to be a huge improvement once it's all in place.

Mr. DeSimone also spoke about many hardware projects completed or currently underway, including replacing 350+ computers and upgrading our wireless internet service. When it's complete, there will be full wireless service in every school -- no more hot spots or dead zones. And, I was glad to hear that students will be able to access the internet eventually, once they can install good firewalls that can't be hacked, with students trying to get in and change grades, etc. Full wireless access in our schools -- especially the high school -- will be a great step forward in terms of our students' connected learning.

Sheila Brogan gave a legislative update, and said the Obama administration has announced a third round of Race to the Top grants -- will the third time be the charm for New Jersey?

Finally, Regina Botsford reported that, while we are waiting for official scores, it appears that Hawes Special Ed students may not have met AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) in Language Arts, which would place Hawes on the "Early Warning List." I'll write more in the next few days about what this means, but it appears we will have plenty of company from some very high performing districts. (The last time Ridgewood had a school on the Early Warning List was RHS in 2005-06, again due to special ed students' scores in Language Arts). More to come on this...

Board of Ed Agenda for Sept. 13

The Board of Education will be meeting tomorrow night (7:30 p.m., Ed Center), and here are a few highlights from the agenda:

We'll have several presentations, including the official Opening of School Report with attendance figures. (Here's a hint: good thing we're expanding some buildings!).

We'll get a report on maintenance projects completed over the summer, and an update from our architects and engineer on referendum projects.

We'll review the new organization chart for the IT (formerly MIS) department.

The Board will have the first reading of revisions to Policy 7250 (School and Facility Names), which you can read attached to the agenda (click here).

We're approving the enrollment of a couple of tuition students: one at the high school and one at Hawes and, yes, they will be paying tuition. I don't know if I'm allowed to discuss their reasons for attending Ridgewood schools (it's probably confidential student info), but their enrollment was approved by the building principals and Dr. Fishbein.

Various changes of assignment, appointments, leave of absence, etc.

The Board will acknowledge the total donations from various groups and individuals over the 2009-10 school year.

Hmm...doesn't sound like too late a meeting, does it? We'll see! You are welcome to attend -- there are seats for everyone! Or you can watch live on Cablevision Channel 77 or see the webcast at click here. (Webcast can be viewed live or go to the website any time to view archived webcasts!).

On the agenda for Monday’s meeting of the BOE.

Tomorrow night is our first BOE meeting since mid-July. There are several business items on the agenda, as well as our annual “Board Retreat” where we discuss our self-evaluation of the Board and discuss goals for the 2010-11 school year.

Please note: unlike what is stated in the agenda, we will begin at 6:00 with Board business FIRST, and then move on to the Board Retreat items after 7:30 p.m. (Our representative from the New Jersey School Boards Association will be facilitating the Retreat section, and he cannot be here until 7:30.)

Agenda highlights (click here for full agenda on RPS website):

Update on referendum projects, including status and estimated completion dates for the various projects currently underway.

Approval of new curriculum, which was worked on over the summer. Some of the new curriculum is for Math in grades K-2. (Remember, we previously started with grades 3-5 with EnVision Math. Now it’s time to phase in Grades 3-5.) There is also new curriculum for several new courses added at the high school. Whenever new textbooks are purchased, there is a need to review and make sure the curriculum guide matches up. You can see the list of new curriculum guides at the end of the agenda on the website.

Approval of several appointments of new staff, including our new Supervisor of Wellness/Athletic Director, several new teachers, many changes in staff assignment, co-curricular stipends, new substitutes, etc.

Acceptance of donations for the athletic field lighting.

Approval of change orders for various referendum projects. The agenda includes descriptions of each change, along with the status of the bid and what the change order means to the project’s total budget. All of the change orders are for unforeseen construction issues, such as discovering the wrong (not per current code) type of wiring inside the Ridge ceiling, discovering the water main under Stevens Field, discovering rotted wood inside Willard’s roof, etc. This is why there were contingency funds included in every project’s budget – because we knew that when we opened up some of these buildings, we would undoubtedly find things we didn’t expect, but that need to be fixed.

Discussion of the revised policy for School & Facility Naming Rights. The Board believes there is a potential for raising some funds with naming rights for facilities such as fields, etc. We have been approached by some interested parties. This new policy spells out how it would work. We’ll talk about it tomorrow night.

As always, you are invited to attend our Public Meeting, which begins tomorrow at 6:00 PM at the Ed Center, 3rd floor. It will also be broadcast on Channel 77 and webcast on our website (click here). You can also watch the archived webcast later.

Any questions, comment here or email me lauriegood@mac.com

Tomorrow’s BOE Meeting agenda.

Some of the topics on tomorrow’s Board of Education agenda:

• Recognition of various parent volunteer groups, including Jamboree, Federated HSA, Super Science Saturday, Dads’ Night…as well as celebration of the RHS Girls’ Lacrosse Team for winning the state championship.

• Approval of a variety of staff changes for 2010-11. Many of these are due to the “bumping” that occurs when positions are eliminated and the tenured staff in those positions have bumping rights to other positions in the district. It’s a lot like musical chairs and it’s impossible to predict up front where everyone is going to land. We’ll also approve the resignation/retirements of several long-time staff members.

• Many of the construction bids are in for the Referendum Projects, and we’ll be approving several of them tomorrow night. The bids are mostly coming in below what was budgeted, so that’s good news! Very exciting to think about all the work that will be taking place beginning this summer.

Wow, it doesn’t look like a big agenda when I list it here, but those are big, detailed topics. As always, you are all welcome to join us at the Ed Center, 3rd floor, at 7:30 p.m. Or, watch on Channel 77 or online at the District website.

On the agenda for Monday’s meeting of the BOE.

Tomorrow’s Regular Public Meeting of the Board of Education will be preceded by our special meeting with the Village Council at 5:30 p.m. at Village Hall. At that first meeting, we will learn what the Council has decided to do with our district budget – cut it more or leave it as proposed. The VC will make a resolution and vote. Then at 7:30 the BOE will reconvene at the Ed Center (third floor) for our meeting.

Some of the items on the BOE agenda:

-- Approving another set of revised/updated policies/regulations.
-- More staff changes, appointments, resignations, retirements, etc.
-- Approval to move the BOE’s banking services to Columbia Bank (taking advantage of a higher interest rate)
-- Approval of bids for asbestos remediation at Willard, replacement of the “window wall” at Glen, Locker/Bathroom renovations at RHS
-- Approval of any budget cut from the Village Council

Discussion items will include the state of New Jersey’s latest application for the Race to the Top, the district-wide Parent Survey proposed for later this month, charter school applications, Valley Hospital and the BOE member committee assignments.

As always, the BOE meeting will be broadcast on Channel 77 (Cablevision) or live webcast on the District website (click here).

On the BOE agenda for May 3.

A few highlights from the agenda for tomorrow night’s Board of Education meeting:

First of all, there are really two meetings tomorrow night. First we have the Reorganization meeting, which is when Michele Lenhard and Charlie Reilly will be sworn in to their three-year terms. Then the Board will elect a President and Vice President. And then the Board will go through a long list of approvals, which are required by law to take place at the Reorganization Meeting. This includes adopting the Policy Manual and the NJSBA Code of Ethics, appointing our architect, auditor, general counsel, Board secretary, etc., etc. We also approve the complete list of textbooks and the schedule of BOE meetings for the 2010-2011 school year.

After the Reorganization Meeting, we will hold a Regular Public Meeting. Some of the highlights from that meeting include:

Approval of summer programs. Remember, this isn’t summer school at the high school, which was eliminated last year. But we do still offer a summer program for preschool special needs students, K-5 special needs students and the RIse program, an elementary enrichment program (fee based) and the Summer New Players program (fee based).

Staff changes for 2010-11. We will approve the renewals of non-tenured staff and will approve the abolishment of positions which have been cut as part of the budget process. There will be approval of a few new positions, which are the result of positions being combined due to budget changes. We will also approve the termination of tenured employees due to Reduction-in-Force, and changes of assignments and transfers of staff to different positions. There will also be a list of resignations and retirements, and the usual type of changes of assignment and supplemental pay due to extra-curricular activities, field trips, etc.

New medical insurance provider. We will (finally!) be approving the contract with our new medical insurance provider, Cigna HealthCare. The Cigna contract represents an overall average increase of 17.4% vs. the 29.51% proposal from Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield. This means that list of restored cuts in our proposed budget will no longer be “tentative” – those items (Full-time librarian staffing, Public Information Officer, Middle School music teacher, Middle School assistant principal, Elementary instrumental music, high school library and learning disabled teachers) will be restored.

The full agendas for both meetings are available now on the District website (click here). You can see more detail of the things we’re approving for the new year, including staff changes and salaries.

As always, the meeting will be viewable on Channel 77 or live on the district website. You can also view the webcast later at this link. And, of course, you are welcome to join us at the Ed Center, 3rd floor, at 7:30 p.m.

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.