Board adjusts new schedule at two schools
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

JACKSON - Parents of children who attend the Johnson and Rosenauer elementary schools kept up their criticism of the Board of Education last week. The parents are upset over a change in school times from the 2006-07 school year to the 2007-08 school year.

Superintendent of Schools Thomas Gialanella said the situation is a result of the continuing defeat of school budgets and the need to cut $300,000 once the budget for the 2007-08 school year was rejected by residents.

School board President Marvin Krakower placed some of the blame on state legislators who have left in place a school funding formula that he said underfunds Jackson's schools.

The board met on July 17 at Jackson Memorial High School.

"After looking at every possible avenue, including dismissing the changes entirely, the board and administration were able to alter the schedule to shorten the time difference between the current (2006-07) schedule and the new (2007-08) schedule," Gialanella said in a letter to parents.

During the 2006-07 school year, children at the Johnson and Rosenauer schools attended class from 9:05 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

The initial schedule announced by the administration for the 2007-08 school year would have had the children in those two schools attend class from 9:35 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Following an outcry from parents, the administration has revised the schedule and pupils at the Johnson and Rosenauer schools are now expected to attend class from 9:25 a.m. to 3:35 p.m. beginning in September.

Gialanella said the 10-minute change will help some people and still produce the needed $300,000 reduction.

Resident Kevin Quattrock did not agree with the change and said the board is "not helping anybody by cutting down the time by 10 minutes" from a 9:35 a.m. start to a 9:25 a.m. start.

He said he would go door to door and ask parents who have children at the Johnson School to bring their youngsters to child care early in the morning. He said the 10-minute change from a 9:35 a.m. start to a 9:25 a.m. start will not help his wife leave for her job as a preschool teacher.

Quattrock said people pay enough property taxes as it is and taxes keep going up.

"Now parents will have to pay for child care," he said. "The majority of Jackson is a two-income township. [Those] 10 minutes do not do anything for anybody. It's chicken feed to keep the chickens quiet. This has to be revisited. You have to sit down [again] and go over the budget."

Quattrock said his daughter will have to miss the last period at her elementary school in order to go to religious instruction. He said she will also miss extracurricular activities.

Gialanella said given the realities of the budget, administrators are going to have to examine the way children are transported to and from school.

Krakower said transportation is the only place in the budget where administrators can save a significant amount of money without enlarging class size.

Resident Ann Garr said school administrators have to take a more aggressive stand in identifying how to get people to come out and vote on the budget in the April school election.

"People don't understand what role the board plays and how important the vote [by parents] is," she said, adding that parents should know how their children will be impacted, whether it is sports or some other extracurricular activity.

"These are the things that get the students into colleges," said Garr. "On the other hand, if the bus times are bad, the kids can't stay to do athletics or be on a team."

She suggested that before the next school election is held in April 2008, administrators should let residents know what areas of the school district's operation have been impacted by the budget defeats of recent years.

"To me, if you don't go out and vote for your kids, there are other people who will go out and vote against our kids," Garr said. "Only a small percentage of people go out and vote and then there is an issue like this about busing."

The turnout for the school election - when the budget for the coming year is voted on by residents and school board members are elected - is generally between 8 percent and 10 percent of registered voters in most New Jersey communities.

Krakower said the problem is a funding issue.

"Jackson has been cheated for the last six years because we have not received the correct amount of state aid," he said. "We would not be in this room together if we had received the aid we should be getting because of our student enrollment."

Krakower said residents have to address the issue with their state representatives and they have to write to Gov. Jon Corzine.

"I met with the governor, along with many board presidents, and [state officials] were supposed to change the funding formula in 2008," Krakower said. "But they're not going to do that.

"You have to start writing letters to Gov. Corzine and say we need it now because we are being cheated. They will keep the same system for another year and another year unless there is pressure from us," he told the residents in attendance at last week's meeting.

Parents asked for help in what to write and do and Krakower said there will be a sample letter on the school district's Web site www.jacksonsd.org with names and addresses of people to write to.

"We want to do the best for our children," the board president said.