School Board Approves Part-Day Kindergarten, 8-Period Day at RHS

The Board of Education officially voted 7-to-1 Monday night to reduce full-day kindergarten to about two hours and 30 minutes and to change the schedule at Ridge High School from nine periods to an eight-period day, starting in fall 2011.

The changes will save the school district about $338,560 next year, and more in additional years, according to school figures presented at the meeting.

School officials said additional cost-cutting must take place in order to make up for a reduction in state aid and  a stricter 2-percent state budget cap to go into effect next year.

The district faces an anticipated $1.4 million shortfall for 2011-12, assuming that the governor does not further reduce state aid, which was already cut by about $3 million in 2010-11, school officials said.

The board already expects to hold its first informational hearing on Jan. 24, Board President Susan Carlsson said.

"The things we are voting on tonight represent a small portion of where we need to be," Board Member Bev Darvin Cwerner said.

"Yes, there is great value in full-day kindergarten," Cwerner told the audience. "Personally, it breaks my heart," she said of the need to reduce programs.

The board vote was preceded by some insistent comments from the public that the board "think outside the box" before cutting basic programs.

The township police were called to the William Annin Middle School when one resident refused to stop asking questions even after the public comment period had ended. Police arrived but no action was taken.

For example, Janina Hecht asked that the board consider cutting the kindergarten to four full days, rather than five part-days, which she said also would not require the additional busing costs that will be created when some students arrive or leave mid-day.

Board member Elaine Kusel, the one board member to vote Monday against approving the changes, said she felt the vote should be delayed in order to at least give the public more time to feel comfortable with the board's decision.

School officials acknowledged that there are still details to be worked out regarding the impact of Monday's moves.

Board Member Michael Byrne said advanced placement science classes would not really reduce lab time because class time will be lengthened with fewer periods, and teachers will be able to schedule one more lengthened lab period once a week.

However, he said he is concerned that other honors and college prep science courses could not have as much lab time, and an additional lab period might need to be reinstated for those classes. 

When the potential program changes were discussed at the  school officials tentatively proposed a "wraparound" kindergarten program, to be taught by certified teachers through the Somerset Hills YMCA, that could keep children at their elementary school for a full day. School officials estimate signing up for that program would cost parents about $310 per month.

Some parents asked the board on Nov. 8, and again on Monday, whether they could instead choose to pay part of the salaries of the district's regular kindergarten teachers to offer an optional full-day program.

Schools Superintendent Valerie Goger said no district in the state ever had reduced its full-day program, and then charged parents part of the costs of the same program offered previously.

The board's attorney, Phil Stern, said that state law, as now written, would not permit such an arrangement.

Nevertheless, several members of the public said the board should look elsewhere more carefully to try to find funds before cutting core programs.

One mother said that the board seems to be contradicting itself by last month with Goger for just over an annual $200,000, while making such drastic program cuts.

A proposed state cap on salaries for school superintendents would limit pay for a superintendent in a district the size of Bernards to $175,000.

Board member Ken Wilke had said earlier in the meeting that the proposed cap would still allow an additional 15 percent bonus and a $2,500 add-on for school districts with high school, on top of the $175,000. 

Carlsson added the school superintendent had frozen her salary level for three years in the contract. Carlsson said the board members had no doubts that they wanted to keep Goger as superintendent in a difficult time period.