Genealogy Essay contest winners were honored at the February 15, 2012 meeting of the Manchester Board of Education.  Other highlights were an announcement of a new before and after-school program at Whiting School, a grant for in-house high school testing for Ocean County College, a review of the Teacher of the Year program, and an update on the progress of next year's school budget.

 

Teachers of the Year           

Superintendent of Schools, David Trethaway, thanked Kevin Burger and the district's Teacher of the Year Committee for their work in choosing six outstanding teachers to be honored.  "They take a lot of care in this, it's not just a popularity contest," said Trethaway.  "The teachers are selected by the peers and that's the best recommendation you can get."  Burger also thanked the committee and said that the selection was very difficult with such an outstanding slate of nominees. Manchester's 2012 Teachers of the Year are: Abigail Clark, MTHS & District Teacher of the Year; Loreen Reiman, Whiting School; Jamie Rinella, Ridgeway School; Irene O'Reilly, Middle School; Lisa Michallis, Regional Day School; and Alice McGlynn, MTES.  All of the Teachers of the Year will be honored at the May Board of Education Meeting.

 

New Childcare Program at WS

A new before and after school care program, run by the YMCA, is in the works for Whiting School, Trethaway announced.  He said that in the past Whiting has not had enough students to run a program under the same group that runs it at MTES and RS, but the YMCA has committed to start in the spring.  They will hold an open house on March 7 and information will be sent home with students and posted on the school website.

 

New Parent Portal Coming to Website  

Mr. Trethaway also announced that parents will be able to track their child's progress online beginning in the fourth marking period when a PowerSchool Parent Portal becomes a part of the district website.  Grades and attendance are among the things that will be available for viewing.  He encouraged parents to use the district website often as a resource for district and school news, forms and flyers, and the calendar. "I even have a blog on the website - so I guess I'm an official blogger," he remarked.  He noted that the Principals are also blogging.  Parents can register on the website to receive updates and alerts - go to the Site Help section under Resources for instructions.

 

HS Gets OCC Grant for Pre-Testing  

Kevin Burger, Director of Student & Administrative Services, announced that the high school received a grant from Ocean County College forAccuplacertesting that will allow students who plan to attend OCC to pre-test at the high school for weaknesses late in their junior year so that they can work on those weaknesses during senior year in order to avoid having to take remedial courses at OCC.

 

Budget Update

Business Administrator, Craig Lorentzen, briefly reviewed progress being made on next year's school budget.  The district is waiting for state aid figures, which will be announced by the governor on Feb. 21 and should be available within 48 hours.  "We've heard lots of rumors - that it's going to decrease, be flat, and even increase, so we are developing different scenarios," he said.  "One thing we are sure of is that we are losing $218,000 in federal jobs act aid that we used last year to keep employees and we have to find some way to maintain those positions."  He said that the budget is still subject to a 2% cap and there will no longer be a vote for anything under that cap.  Should the district need to exceed that, any amount over 2% would be subject to a vote in November.  The tax ratable base in the township has also decreased by about $115 million due to successful appeals by some of the larger retirement communities and this will have an impact on taxpayers, he said.  The budget has already been reduced by $400,000 from its original total.

 

BOE President, Donald Webster, Jr., remarked, "Obviously the school district doesn't control re-evaluation, and I suspect going forward there will be a complete township reevaluation.  In the meantime, we have to deal with ratable reduction and take into consideration the impact on taxpayers, but I can tell you that our educational programs will continue to be our primary consideration."

 

[See Complete BOE Highlights Article]

 

[BOE President's Report]      [Feb. Agenda]