School Board Member: Probably No Referendum Until September 2014
It’s looking as though the school district’s planned $85 million referendum won’t be held until at least September. Board member Richard Seamon told his colleagues at the Dec. 12 meeting that the district had not yet heard back from the state Department of Education on grant requests that would help offset the project’s largest costs, […]
Seto to School Board: Consider Privatizing Teachers’ Aides
For the third time in three years, schools Superintendent Edward Seto has suggested privatizing the district’s paraprofessionals. Seto made his latest suggestion at the Board of Education’s Dec. 12 meeting. The board will discuss the proposal at its Dec. 19 meeting, board president Julia Presley said in an email. The district’s roughly 125 paraprofessionals – […]
Update: District Poised to Fire Former Elizabeth Avenue Elementary School Assistant Principal Following Hunterdon County Drug Arrest
The former assistant principal of Elizabeth Avenue Elementary School was going to be fired had he not resigned on Dec. 8, according to the district schools Superintendent. John Norton notified the district on Dec. 8 that he would be resigning his position for “personal reasons,” and sent in a letter stating the same on Dec. […]
School Board Member: Board Is ‘So Fractured, We Cannot Function’ (Updated)
Deep divisions among groups of members and a feeling of overall failure permeate the 2013 self-evaluations completed earlier this year by the Board of Education members. “We are so fractured we cannot function,” one board member commented. “Plus, we are forcing the administration to spend time and money on board related in fighting (sic). My […]
Schools Superintendent: No Pay Increase for Substitute Teachers
The school district administration will not support a requested reversal of a pay cut instituted this year for substitute teachers, schools Superintendent Edward Seto said Nov. 14. Nor will the administration support a previously promised bonus for those substitute teachers who worked more than 120 days in the 2012-2013 school year, he said. “I’m not […]
Substitute Teachers’ Pay Cut to be Re-Examined by School Board
Pressured by two months of lobbying and calls to organize, the Board of Education will take another look at a pay cut that has angered the district’s substitute teachers. School board president Julia Presley said at the Oct. 17 board meeting that the board’s personnel committee will review an earlier decision to cut the teachers’ […]
School Board Approves $8.4 Million Energy Saving Project
The school district is preparing to embark on an $8.4 million project predicted to save about 30 percent of the district’s energy costs. An “Energy Savings Improvement Program” was approved by the board at its Sept. 26 meeting. Through the program, the district is predicted to see cuts in energy as well as service and […]
Teachers Readying New Portable Classrooms
Teachers are busy getting their classrooms ready in the 12 new portable units in place throughout the school district. The portables, which have been leased for five years at a cost of about $3 million, are needed to handle overcrowding in the schools, said schools Superintendent Edward Seto. Sampson G. Smith School received its first […]
School Board Mulls $85 Million Referendum for New School, Grade Realignment
The Board of Education is preparing to “market” to residents a proposed $85 million referendum which would result in a new elementary school and a realignment of elementary and middle school grade configurations. Plans are drawn for the work, which includes about $45 million for a new Pre-Kindergarten to 5th grade school on Claremont Road […]
School Board Studies Lowering High School Passing Grade
A move to lower the passing grade for Franklin High School students from 67 to 60 is being studied by the Board of Education. The board at its August meeting pulled a proposed policy that would do just that, saying it needed more time to study the issue. The new policy, if adopted, would not […]
