MARCH SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
INCREASED COST FOR BUDGET
Gas Bill-Why so high? The gas company installed 2 wrong meters that were metric and not cubic. The bills were very low for 2 yrs. and now it cost $15,000 in legal fees to get an interest free loan to pay off as per Dr. Binowski.
Air Conditioning-Partial upgrades to HVAC system. One of the units[chiller] is old and needs repair. The newer one is taking the burden. If it breaks they could have mold. As per Dr. Binowski.
They want to hire 2 additional lower elementary teachers because 4 classes have around 26 pupils and they do not want to reach 30.
Additional $20,000 for increased technology/hardware. Dr. Binowski said they are under contract for 26 smart boards and some new computers.
Health and Retirement-The cost will be going up along with the contractual raises.
Safety and Security-Are in need of upgrades. They want new door locks, computers, and a change to the front door systems as per Dr. Binowski.
In addition to the budget, we vote for 3 school board candidates:
Joseph Mammarella
Daniel MacDonnell
Francine Viscome
Juan Perez
Dr Binowski informed the crowd that yes Berlin wants to increase by $0.03, but that should not concern us when Eastern's budget comes out, it will be $0.03 less and we will break even. It has not been confirmed that this will happen. You can review Eastern's budget proposal by visiting their site at http//www.eastern.k12.nj.us/. Dr. Binowski was asked if the budget is turned down, how will this affect the students? His reply was we would only be able to hire 1 teacher and there would be some smaller cutbacks.
Voting takes place on April 15, 2008
2-9pm at the Boro Hall
Absentee Ballets can be found at http://www.camdencounty.com/ or the BCS office.
7 comments:
Thanks for the info! I will be voting yes.
Thanks for the info on the school board meeting, Judy.
Well, if voting NO does not increase my taxes at all, then why would I vote yes.Maybe my taxes would go down if Easterns budget goes down by $0.03. Another thing, if my gas bill was so low that I didn't notice the difference and had to pay 15,000 in legal fees to get it to be intrest free, well there would be no gas in my house for a long time.Wake up school board! Maybe it is time for a change on the board.
First of all, let me say that I am a parent of children who attend both Berlin Community School, and Eastern High School. I have always supported our educational system, but in recent years, my confidence in our school administration and school board has hit rock-bottom. It is unfortunate that more people do not attend school board meetings, to see the absurditiy of what goes on sometimes. I will be casting my "NO" vote for this school budget, and I will be encouraging all my friends and neighbors to do the same. I will also be voting for new school board members, because the ones we have are nothing more than puppets on a string. It is time that this community wakes up and takes a good look at the school budget. Our budget has increased significantly over the past 3-4 years, and each year when the new budget proposal is released, our superintendent puts on his best dog and pony show to convince us that if we don't pass the budget, our children will suffer. Our school board is notorious for "rubber stamping" anything that the superintendent wants... no questions asked. At one point, our school funds were footing the bills for high-end,personalized greeting cards that the superintendent uses to send birthday and holiday greetings!!Our tax dollars also buy things like brand new pick up trucks, fancy new office furniture, and poinsettias to decorate the secretaries desks for the holidays. Now, I am no accountant, but I would think that things like these could easily be cut from the school budget with absolutely NO impact on my childrens' education. I think our chief school administrator has built himself a nice healthy "slush fund" into that budget, and our community keeps on passing it. Attend a board meeting...watch the board "approve" every single expense they are given, no questions asked...watch the creative transfers of money from one account into another (is this even legal??) Maybe it's time that we, as a community, take a stand and make the school board and the school administrators work a little harder to find ways to cut back. We can't keep saying "yes".
Anonymous at 5:32, I could not agree more. I am voting no and choosing new members. I have been to the meetings. I witnessed a Special Education teacher quit her job and the board members did not even know. Dr. B did though. Children who attended the meeting told the school board.
Unfortunately, Mamarrella and Viscome are part of the problem. They are puppets who question nothing and only work on their own agenda which has nothing to do with what would provide the best education for our children while using our tax dollars in the wise way.
With only 4 candidates for 3 spots we will be stuck with one of them. I say Joe must go!!!!
Lets give 2 new people a chance!!
By the way....anonymous has it right. Wasted money on personalized greeting cards, plants for offices, and now NEW door locks? Aren't they all relatively new with the building projects we just finished?
ALSO the gas bill fiasco is the fault of Mamarrella, Guerrere, Quinn, Viscome, Schneider because they transfered the $$$ that was to be used to pay the bill and are now raising our taxes to pay the bill plus legal expenses. Any idiot knows that when the gas company undersetimates your bill for 3 years it is going to catch up with you! Instead they give the STUPIDINTENDENT a 14 thousand dollar raise!!!
JOE MUST GO!!!
Gibbsboro just had their council meeting 27.6% increase in property taxes. We are next!! Vote No!!! or we will be hit even harder.
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