Report on Board of Education meeting
of September 25, 2006.

This report has the highlights of the most recent
Board of Education meeting

President of the Board of Education Deborah Frank reported that she and Township Manager Tim Gordon and Mayor Dan Baer met and will continue to meet regarding town issues and how they interrelate with the Millburn school system. In particular Ms. Frank said they discussed the upcoming 150th town anniversary activities. She said the Township Committee members and Board of Ed representatives will be meeting again on October 18th.

Presentation

Assistant Superintendent Maryanne Doyle made a 20 minute presentation on what they did this summer regarding professional development of teachers and District program goals and initiatives.

Questions from the public

After the presentation from the Assistant Superintendent, Ms. Frank opened up the session for questions from residents. A member of WeLoveMillburn and former Board of Education Member Josh Scharf asked Superintendent Brodow if it was true that the total systemwide school net enrollment increased only 17 students from this exact time last year. Brodow confirmed this enrollment increase number by responding "Yes". It was not clear whether members of the Board of Education realized this was the total increase since the figures were only released Friday afternoon. There was only one other question which came from an elderly gentleman about school student parking then the Superintendent was asked to give his report.

The Superintendent's report

Superintendent Brodow mentioned the bond vote coming up the next day. He mentioned how much work had gone into the planning for the new bond and then he gave voting hours. He ended his report with a cute comment about it was the first time that anyone could remember that at this point in the season both Rutgers and Millburn are undefeated in football.

Previous Board of Education report is below.

Report on Board of Education meeting
of August 22, 2006.

This is our fourth report of highlights
from recent Board meetings

At its August 22, 2006 meeting, the Board of Education moved along at a brisk pace reading policies, approving resolutions and making motions regarding personnel for the upcoming year, the proposed $21 million bond referendum, and contracts for the repairs, donations, purchases, busing and maintenance of services and facilities. This report will provide highlights of the discussion of these and other issues.

Presentation by ACACIA Financial Group

Brenda White, member of the finance group, informed the public that the Board is considering using a financial firm to advise them in the event the $21 million bond referendum is passed by the voters on September 26, 2006. She introduced two members of ACACIA Financial Group, who they are in discussions with, to inform the public what their role would be. Mr. Douglas Bacher and Ms. Diana Geist explained that their company advises many school districts as to how to structure the debt based on current market conditions and how it will impact the community tax basis. They work closely with bond counsel and make sure that all investments conform to the rules set in New Jersey. In response to a question by Mrs. Landau, they advised that Millburn has a 63% debt to budget ratio and compared it to other “I” and “J” districts that were anywhere from 39% to 200% and explained that the ratios were different based on many factors including whether the district is a growth area, dates of last bonds, age of facilities etc.

Superintendent’s report

Superintendent Brodow related that summer is a time of reflection and noted that we are living in difficult times. He added that their mission is not only quality education to all students, but also to help build upon character traits of honesty, integrity and thoughtfulness. Now more than ever we need to reemphasize all of the above. Working closely with teachers, administrators and parents, we will do that this year. He reminded all that the new turf field dedication is on September 7 at 6:30 pm.

Assistant Superintendent’s report

MaryAnn Doyle, the assistant superintendent, gave a presentation addressing instruction and the goals of the newly formed Visions Committee. She explained the new procedures for teacher orientation and how the goals, training and implementation were progressing.

Business Notes

The bulk of the meeting was devoted to business concerns for the upcoming year. Poll hours for the upcoming bond referendum will be from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm. During a motion to approve cafeteria prices, Dr. Zucker recommended that the Board give Aramark a date certain for providing healthy alternatives to the menu items currently offered. The other members whole heartedly agreed. There was discussion regarding the roof repairs proposed at Glenwood and Hartshorn and whether they were related to construction problems in the 2002 bond. Mr. Zeglarsky stated that they were not related and were just necessary repairs. The balance of the business items related to transportation and maintenance contracts and all motions and resolutions were approved.

Public comments

The meeting was not heavily attended by the public but a few people spoke up. One resident questioned why 6 AP sections would be added while the bond referendum was related to space concerns. Assistant Superintendent Doyle explained that accelerated sections were reduced to create AP sections so there was no space considerations required. A resident of the Wyoming section stated that families along Cypress Street had been assured by the administration that they would receive bus service but they had not received their passes. Superintendent Brodow would not confirm that the service was forthcoming and asked him to be patient. He promised an answer in a few days. Another resident questioned the procedure of giving bus passes to the students and voiced administration concerns. Comments were devoted to congratulating the Board and administrators regarding the number 3 slot ion the NJMonthly magazine poll of High Schools and thanking Mrs. Landau for her commitment to address concerns regarding the school calendar and Dr. Zucker for looking out for the students’ diets. She also asked if Barker busing would consider paid busing in the Hartshorn area and Superintendent Brodow invited her to contact him or Kathleen McGowan, the director of transportation.

Another member of the public suggested that the Board adopt a class size policy and said that she believed the Board would gain great public confidence by being responsible and accountable in this fashion. She recommended that they look at the policies adopted by other towns including South Orange/Maplewood and West Windsor. She also asked what was new with the teacher contract that they kept referring to in professional development as she thought it was mandatory by law for teacher’s to fulfill a 100 hour annual requirement at their own expense. Ms. Doyle explained that now we have a 3 year contract with association rather than 1 year. It is a compromise. Some of the hours apply to their mandatory professional development and contractual requirements. No one responded to the comment about class size policy.

The final question of the night was from another resident regarding the enrollment numbers being used as a basis for the $21 million dollar bond. He stated that he had done the research looking at the projections provided to the public by the Board and the actual enrollment numbers at the High School and Middle School and he concluded that the projected increases over the next three years are 60 students at the Middle School and 220 students at the High School. Superintendent Brodow said he could not confirm and would have to get back to him. The resident requested that he respond immediately and reiterated how important it is for everyone to be operating with the same accurate information to assess the basis for the need of housing students.

The last comment of the evening was form Scott Wolff, head of the teacher’s union, thanking the Board and administration for a job well done. He also commented that the professional development time put in by staff during the three year probationary period was not compensated.

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Previous Board of Education report is below.

Report on Board of Education meeting
of July 18, 2006.

Superintendent Richard Brodow, during the July 18, 2006 Board of Education meeting, addressed the recent questions WeLoveMillburn submitted, calling them “three excellent questions that need to be asked and responded to.” The Administration also discussed the Glenwood courtesy-busing issue and recent NJ-ASK test scores, and the Board received an overview presentation from the commissioning agent hired in connection with the proposed $21M bond referendum.

Task force to address questions

Superintendent Brodow summarized the three questions (which can be found on this website) and said he would not answer now because they were “thoughtful questions,” requiring thorough answers. He said he would form a task force comprising district personnel and would have answers by the end of the summer and that the task force would reflect the views of school administrators, the BOE and colleagues in order to provide “thoughtful responses to the community.”

WeLoveMillburn President Ralph Inglese emphasized the importance of the three questions and requested a response by August 15, 2006, so that WeLoveMillburn and the community can review the response before the August 22, 2006 BOE meeting. He also asked about the form of the response and requested that some of the items involved — such as teacher-student ratios, class sizes, space utilization — become instituted as district policies.

Superintendent Brodow agreed to “put something together” by August 15 that could “form a basis” for further discussion, or a “working document.” He said although he could not bind the district over a several-year period — noting that a subsequent Superintendent may have to address these issues — he would suggest general guidelines and recommendations for dealing with potentially declining enrollments and various teacher-to-student and administrator-to-student ratios, but advised that such items would require BOE action. He also said he would provide some concrete proposals for dealing with conditions at the Middle and High Schools during construction.

Glenwood courtesy busing

Superintendent Brodow apologized for “causing any angst” to the community for the recent decision to eliminate certain courtesy busing for some residents in the Glenwood area. He said that, after further review with the transportation expert, it was decided that the status quo should remain, and so the affected Glenwood area would continue to receive courtesy busing.

Test scores

Some residents asked about the recently received NJ-ASK test scores — how the district performed comparably among the elementary schools and to other districts in the state. Board member Marc Zucker also queried the Administration on how the district has performed over time and comparatively.

Assistant Superintendent MaryAnn Doyle said data do not arrive timely enough to provide comparative analysis, but said she recognizes the community wants this analysis. She added, however, that the time spent performing the analysis is not “proportional to what is gained„ and that “we perform at or near the top” of all similar school districts. Superintendent Brodow said because test forms have changed, it was difficult to provide comparative analysis, but said he would “try to put something together.”

One resident noted that among the elementary schools, Hartshorn, with the district’s largest class sizes, received lower scores, while South Mountain, with smaller class sizes, received higher scores. The resident asked whether there is an effort to equalize class sizes throughout the district. Superintendent Brodow said he would respond to that issue as part of the answers to, presumably, the three questions posed by WeLoveMillburn.

Commissioning Agent makes first presentation

Jones Lang LaSalle of Parsippany, New Jersey, has been hired by the Board to keep a watchful eye on any building programs that get approved — and to address concerns of WeLoveMillburn and Board members Scott Kamber and Brenda White that had arisen during the prior bond referendum. Dennis Squilla, a managing director of the firm, discussed his firm’s experience in supervising large construction projects in New Jersey and for the Port Authority. Mr. Squilla said his firm will, among other things, manage the construction team, monitor things for the Board of Education, provide monthly updates, review the Board's contract with the architect, recommend savings ideas and monitor “change orders" once work begins — all part of what he called “value engineering.”

Previous Board of Education report is below.

Report on Board of Education meeting
of June 19, 2006.

At its June 19, 2006 meeting, the Board of Education again considered several issues of significant importance to the community, including curriculum, district policy for courtesy busing, the proposed $21 million bond referendum, and compensation of the District Superintendent. This report will provide highlights of the discussion of these and other issues.

Curriculum report

Mary Ann Doyle, the assistant superintendent, gave a presentation addressing curriculum, instruction and technology. She updated the presentation given last fall regarding differentiated instruction and how the goals, training and implementation were progressing. She noted that AP sections have increased by a total of six for the coming school year.

Courtesy busing for Glenwood residents

The bulk of the meeting concerned a letter sent to some Glenwood residents by the administration announcing that their children would not receive courtesy busing to the middle school. The first questioner complained about the timing of the letter and the lack of information supporting the decision. He also asked if courtesy busing was legal, whether there was discretion to change the decision, if it was being retained anywhere else in the District.

Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Richard Brodow, responded that the timing was such because he waited for a report from the police department that was dated June 6, 2006. He reminded everyone that there would be a meeting on Wednesday June 21 where he said he would stay until all questions were answered. He said courtesy busing was not being eliminated everywhere in the District. He said this was an issue of fairness because the affected families lived less than 1.5 miles to the school. He stated that a traffic expert, Richard Blomberg, had been retained to do a traffic study, a traffic safety subcommittee had done a report and that his intent was to be “equitable.”

Basis for busing decision

There were other questions about whether the decision was final, the basis for the decision and safety. Dr. Brodow responded that he drove around many routes and decided that the Glenwood route did not meet the requirements for courtesy busing. He also said he would consider the safety issues and communicate to the community by the end of July as to whether he would change his decision.

Board member Sam Levy stated that the law is very clear regarding the entitlement to courtesy busing and he said that the entitlement is based strictly upon distance. When asked if his own child received courtesy busing as a result of a report he had written, he responded his home was located more than 1 mile from the Hartshorn School and therefore his child qualified for courtesy busing and board policy at the time. Dr. Brodow added that the decision had nothing to do with “Board politics.”

Request for Improved Process for Bond Referendum

During the first public comment session a member of the audience commented that she already sees a failure of process for the September bond referendum. She asked the Board members and administration to know the facts and be honest and forthright with them. She said she believes the bond should pass on its own merits not based upon fear mongering and misinformation. She asked the Board to acknowledge and learn from past mistakes, to stop telling the community that previous bonds were on time and under budget, to get rid of the architect and to give the community accurate information about student class sizes. She showed pictures of the poor workmanship of window construction currently underway at the middle school. She also noted the incorrect statements that Board members Camitta and Reidenberg had made about class sizes at the last meeting.

Request for balanced view on bond referendum

Ralph Inglese spoke on behalf of WLM and stated that the bond referendum process could be a positive experience or a negative experience and hoped that we would get a balanced view from the Board in order to make it a positive one. He pointed out that enrollment and birth rates are declining. He asked the board to consider those facts and ask whether the proposed bond is a good value. He said the community wants the answers before the need to ask questions. He asked the Board to convince the community that this proposal makes sense. He pointed out that the plan does not address current needs and short term needs such as disparate class sizes at Hartshorn and Deerfield. He also asked the Board to be forthright and honest during the next three months.

Janet Landau responded to Mr. Inglese by asserting that he had supported the proposed bond during his campaign and should be “accountable” rather than putting Board members in a defensive position. Mr. Inglese responded that his position had always been supportive of the bond with some positive enhancements. He said that there have been no positive enhancements and that his comments were not about his vote, but rather about the public supporting the bond based on the Board’s making its case.

Board voted to hold bond referendum

The business meeting resumed and the Board passed a resolution to send the Bond to the polls on September 26, 2006 and also passed a resolution to have the polls open at 6:00 a.m. rather than at 2:00 pm.

Board voted to increase Superintendent salary

The Board also voted to increase Dr. Brodow’s salary by 4.5%. Board members Landau and Zucker abstained stating that, as new members, they had not had the opportunity to assess his performance. Board member Levy stated that he would vote for the raise because he had worked closely with Dr. Brodow on the Traffic Safety subcommittee. Board members Frank and Marcus gave positive reviews of Dr. Brodow’s performance.

Conditions for support for bond referendum

The second public comments section opened with a response to Dr. Zucker’s question at the June 6, 2006 meeting as to what members of the public needed to gain their support for the proposed bond. The questioner identified five conditions needed for the Board to have support from him and other concerned members of the community:

1. He asked the Board to set minimum class sizes. He noted that the community needed to know that when the bulge in students passes through the school system that the district would not then reduce class sizes to 12 or 14 students per class because of the existence of excess space. He also asked that the Board publish accurate class size numbers and noted that Board member Camitta’s statement at the June 6 meeting that 30% of core academic classes had 25 students or more was contrary to the numbers provided by the School District.


2. He asked that the Board make and publish its plans for what it will do with the excess classroom space when enrollment declines. He asked whether the Board expected to rent out the excess space, to leave it empty, to sell off school buildings as the District had done in the past or to use the excess space to reduce class sizes.


3. He asked that the Board set student-to-teacher and student-to-staff ratios so that when enrollment decreases, the allotted teachers, staff and associated resources reduce accordingly. He asked for this so that the community would be comfortable that increasing classroom space did not indefinitely increase these costs.


4. He asked that the Board look at the entire district holistically and address the imbalances that exist currently at the elementary schools. He noted the current overcrowding at Hartshorn, while there was excess space at Wyoming and South Mountain.


5. He asked that the Board present the community with an alternative to the proposed construction bond in the event the proposed referendum fails, so as to give the community a realistic choice.

Dr. Brodow responded that he believed these were good questions, and he would attempt to provide answers to the community.

Balancing class sizes between elective and core classes

The next commenter reminded the Board that she had done an analysis of class size, and she pointed out that during many of the same periods there is a large academic class there are also electives with many fewer students. She stated that a better balance needs to be maintained and the priority should be on core academic classes.

[Report on Board of Education meeting of June 5, 2006.]

WeLoveMillburn.com
June 22, 2006

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WeLoveMillburn, Inc. is a non-profit, grassroots, informational organization made up of involved residents. This mission, as we have stated on our website, is to help all residents to be better informed about the issues that affect our community. We do this in a positive spirit of informing one another about what is happening, what is not happening and what is possible. We are all neighbors and this is our town.

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