Board of Education

The Jan. 6 schools closing over the bus contract crisis used the last of the district’s four “snow days,” schools Superintendent Edward Seto said in a message to parents. If schools need to be closed for the remainder of the school year, the district will have to take away scheduled vacation days, he said in the message, posted Jan. 10 …

Stung by criticism that they needlessly waited until the last minute to decide to close schools on Jan. 6 due to concerns over the district’s main bus contractor, district administrators have released more details about what happened during the time leading up to the decision and its aftermath. Schools Superintendent Edward Seto late in the evening of Jan. 5 decided …

Julia Presley was re-elected president of the Board of Education and Eva Nagy was elected vice president during the board’s rescheduled reorganization meeting. Presley and newly elected board members Christine Danielsen and Nancy LaCorte were sworn into their terms during the meeting. The meeting was originally scheduled for Jan. 2, but had to be postponed due to the snow storm. …

Two hectic days of meetings and negotiations – highlighted by an apparent revolt by bus drivers against their former company – ended Jan. 6 with the Board of Education transferring the contract for the bulk of the district’s school bus routes to a new company. The move means that schools will be open on Jan. 7. If board members breathed …

The school district is in search of a temporary personnel director. The former director, Gail Reicheg, left earlier this month to accept a similar position in the Moorestown, Burlington County, school system. Schools Superintendent Edward Seto said he already has a number of resumes from people interested in the job. The Board of Education at its Dec. 19 meeting instructed …

School district officials are waiting to see what happens in the bankruptcy proceedings of the Staten Island, N.Y. based bus company that transports nearly half of the district’s 8,000 students. Atlantic Express Transportation Corp., which has an office in New Brunswick, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month. The company is offering itself up for sale, but, according to …

Schools Superintendent Edward Seto on Dec. 19 was given the green light to study privatizing the school district’s 125 paraprofessionals next year. The approval came in the form of a Board of Education resolution which also included direction to study all other possible cost-cutting measures, including limiting the use of consultants. Board vice president Eva Nagy cast the lone “no” …

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, and there’s no definite date …

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 – teacher’s aides – serve mainly …

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. 9, district spokeswoman Mary Clark …