lost teachers article

[adefonzo]

13 teachers accept offer to leave district
Freehold Borough board expects to hire new staff members at lower salaries
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer



Thirteen teachers have decided to accept a separation of services agreement that had been offered to all staff members by the Freehold Borough Board of Education.

The Freehold Borough School District has three schools and an approximate enrollment of about 1,400 pupils.

The acceptance of the separation of services agreement by the current employees will free up approximately $340,000 that will be used for new teacher positions, current salaries and to bring back some positions that had been cut in the 2007-08 budget.

The teachers who accepted the separation of services agreement are Sharon Berenson, Leslie Daley, Kathy Denison, Lynn Ducker, Chris Giunta, Shelia Hirschfield, Maureen Landosky, Susan Lattman, Diane Shapiro, Ken Speer, Sue Summers, Rita Weitzner and Corliss Welch.

According to school board President Jim Keelan, the separation of services agreement was available to any staff member and offered credit for unused sick leave that is capped and then paid out over a period of three or four years.

Although the deal was offered to anyone in the district regardless of their age or the length of time they worked in Freehold, many of those who accepted the incentive are veteran teachers with a great deal of time invested in Freehold's schools, according to Business Administrator Veronica Wolf.

"We offered a plan to pay per diem for unused sick days up to a maximum of 90 days," the business administrator said.

Wolf said anyone who accepted the buyout offer is eligible to work in another school district if they choose to do so. She said many of the Freehold Borough employees who accepted the offer were contemplating retirement in the near future.

According to Wolf, school administrators took the salaries of the people who accepted the buyout offer and added the cost of those employees' benefits to the amount. They then figured the cost of a replacement teacher plus benefits. The difference in the two columns - old vs. new - came to $340,000.

The money owed to the teachers who accepted the buyout will be paid over a period of time, according to Wolf.

She said that as the years progress and new teachers acquire tenure, the amount of savings will change. New teachers may also opt to sign up for family benefits when they receive tenure, changing the figure further.

For now, however, the separation of services agreement that was accepted by 13 staff members will free up money the school district needs to provide today's students with opportunities for success.

According to Wolf, $115,000 of the $340,000 difference will immediately be applied toward salaries.

"We had a reduction in our No Child Left Behind Title I allocation. Besides using the Title I money for required items, we anticipated using the money for salaries. Because of that shortfall, we will take the $115,000 and apply it to salaries," Wolf explained.

Two new physical education and health teachers, one for the Park Avenue Elementary School and one for the Freehold Intermediate School, will be hired in order to be compliant with New Jersey core curriculum standards. In addition, administrators will increase a half-time world language teacher to full-time and restore fourth and fifth grade teaching positions that were eliminated in the original budget.

The budget for the 2007-08 school year totaled $16.7 million prior to an announcement by state representatives last week that an additional $550,000 in state funding would be provided to the district.

When asked if offering the buyout plan to employees had been prompted by the school district's present budgetary constraints, Wolf said that was the reason it was offered. She said the idea to offer a separation of services agreement to employees was suggested by state education administrators as one way of coping with the realities of the budget.

Wolf said Freehold Borough has received more than 800 resumes from teachers. She said the district held a job fair on June 9 at which time previously screened applicants were invited to be interviewed. Some of the applicants were asked to teach a demonstration lesson while school was still in session.

Wolf said there are many teachers seeking work at the present time due to many factors, including the fact that many school districts have been forced to reduce their teaching staff. She said the market is flooded right now with elementary teachers.

[sonofsilencedogood]

adefonzo said:

When asked if offering the buyout plan to employees had been prompted by the school district's present budgetary constraints, Wolf said that was the reason it was offered. She said the idea to offer a separation of services agreement to employees was suggested by state education administrators as one way of coping with the realities of the budget.

...just so we're all clear on this...the state education officials, and the county education officials for that matter as well, know all too well what condition the schools of Freehold Boro are in, and have been in for a number of years now.

They know that one very large reason for the problems is a lack of a state funding formula that works.

They know that another very large problem has been state mandates that go unfunded.

They know that the state is largely to blame for the problems in Freehold Boro...and what do they do???

The County Superintendent suggested the administrative staff cut art and music, which they did somewhat, much to our children's dismay.

And now the ever so reliable and honorable State officials, it now seems, were the ones that suggest we find a way to get rid of some of our veteran teachers, who have put years into our district, shaping and molding countless children's lives...and as we saw and read back a couple of months ago, this was also much to the dismay of the children in our schools.

Don't get me wrong...I am not trying to blame the administrative staff of the schools or the BOE.

There is certainly the possibility (and the hope) that some of the new teachers that will be coming into the district will provide years of dedicated and magnificant service to our children.

There is now (with the money they'll be saving, plus the new money the state is coming up with - albeit not even half of what our schools needed) hope that art and music will make a full return to the district...school is not just about reading writing and arithmatic.

The thing that really irks me about all of this is how cavalier the county and the state are in this whole process, and it's something that carries through all phases of government lately, from the Town Council all the way up to the Federal government.

Without getting too wordy here, government and the representatives who make up our elected government, are showing more and more disconnect with the people whom they are supposed to be representing.

They are showing less and less concern about the fact that they are in an elected position, and they have to rely on the votes of the people to retain their jobs.

They have become more and more inclined to believe that being re-elected is some god-given right that will continue so long as they put their name on the ballot.

And for the most part...they have been right...because "We the people" refuse to exercise our right to vote these people out of office!!

I have gotten way off topic here. This is supposed to be about the schools...this is supposed to be about our children...this is supposed to be about the future of our town, our state and our country - which in case your guessing, means our children. We can no longer afford to let politicians use our children as political pawns in an election year just so they can get re-elected.

We have to remember that these same officials who are patting themselves on the back now for getting Freehold Boro less than half of what we needed to get our schools up to a respectable level, are the same ones who left us floundering for the past number of years.

We have to remember that these same officials who are congratulating themselves while chastising the one politician who actually got the whole ball rolling (Jennifer Beck) are a part of the same leadership that suggested we eliminated programs and veteran teachers in order to make up for their shortcomings.

We just have to remember.

[guest 2]

The quality of applicants your district attracts will be weak, and you have a Principal position opened too.

When forced attrition starts, the quality teachers along with a quality education goes downhill fast. The work culture for the faculty will be none existent. Districts in your shape attract the only the mediocre high 2 to low 3 GPA recent teaching graduates, and teachers that cant hold a jobs.

Has Borough leadership been working with your BOE? Your circumstances issues a very poor reflect on any town, and spells out how town leadership values having a good quality public school system.

Your BOE website jokingly reads ..GREAT SCHOOLS - GREAT COMMUNITY. This is too Rosie, has your BOE look at your districts ranking? This is an unfortunate inference with GREAT SCHOOLS - GREAT COMMUNITY. This is the kettle calling the frying pan black.

Freehold Borough has serious inner city school problems that may be better resolved with closing the schools and issuing vouchers.

[richardkelsey]

The real travesty is that Freehold borough -- and all NJ schools are over-burdened with regulations and mandates that do not permit them to act as a business would. There are innumerable strategies that could be implemented - if the schools were not captives of the education industry.

No one likes to lose good employees -- veterans or otherwise. Great veteran teachers, in particular, really help a system with institutional knowledge and the trust they build in a community over time. Let's not kid ourselves, however, that every veteran fits that description -- or that any person is irreplaceable.

Offering buyouts is a great business move that is good for all involved.

The Borough does need, however, to be able to attract and retain the teachers it wants -- and that is a part of the equation that will be difficult.

While Freehold has a very diverse population -- and a population heavy with immigrants -- it is not as one has described -- an "inner-city" school system. (To me that is code for minorities)

The Freehold school system has always had great diversity -- and that can be a strength. With the needs of many non-English speakers, it does more often, become a burden.

The Borough school system, however, did what it had to do -- and I think it will be pleasantly surprised as it seeks younger, eager, new teachers to join the team. That process is the natural order of any business -- service oriented or otherwise. This is the type of move that more bloated school districts should consider. In this case, it was done from necessity.

Teaching in Freehold is not the plumb job of Rumson, or other elite communities -- but it is a wonderful community that does not present the type of safety issues and other problems seen in some school districts in New Jersey. Recruitment should be fine.