Councils walk out of board meeting
Township, borough
cut $914K from
Mat-Ab budget
A meeting last week at which the Matawan and Aberdeen town councils were slated to present their proposed cuts to the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional Board of Education quickly degenerated into a public shouting match among angry municipal and school officials.
Held Thursday at the Board of Education central offices in Aberdeen, the meeting was intended to be a joint session of both councils, meeting in conjunction with the school board, at which the public would have an opportunity to face all three bodies at once after learning how much the councils decided to cut from the defeated $46.7 million 2002-03 school budget.
However, opening remarks by Board of Education President Gerald Donaghue had barely begun when an argument broke out between Donaghue and Aberdeen Township Manager Mark Coren.
Immediately afterward, Coren announced that both councils would not meet in the main meeting room with the school board unless the school board agreed to turn off the video camera which tapes the meeting for broadcast on a local cable access channel.
Coren and Matawan Borough Administrator Joseph P. Leo said later that both councils would be violating existing policies against appearing on camera since neither municipality has an ordinance in place to allow it to do so.
Despite the protest from the councils, the board refused to relent and to shut off the cameras, drawing loud cheers from the capacity crowd.
"This is our house, and we’ll do things our way," Donaghue said at the meeting. "All our meetings are televised, and we are not about to change that now."
In response, the councils proceeded to hold their own meeting in a small workshop room immediately off the main meeting room as the school board meeting went on in the main room.
However, the joint session of the councils was interrupted by the angry outbursts of several irate members of the public and angry board members, some of whom periodically stormed in to berate the councils for what they said was an attempt to hide from the public what was going on.
"I deserve to hear what you have to say," said one angry Aberdeen resident, who burst into the councils’ session and took the mayor and council to task.
Shortly afterward, Matawan school board member Lawrence O’Connell entered the room where the municipalities were meeting and called the council members "cowards" for refusing to face the public in the other room.
"It is not a public meeting unless you come out and get on the microphone," O’Connell said angrily.
After the joint session of the councils concluded, the bloodletting continued as the majority of the municipal officials proceeded down the hallway and out of the building with several angry residents shouting at them to face the crowd.
In response, municipal officials said that the school board had set up to take the fall with an angry public.
"Clearly we were not welcome here," said Aberdeen Mayor David Sobel, who called the meeting a "charade."
"I had thought that over the years, both municipalities made some strides toward a better relationship with this school board," Sobel said outside the building.
"This meeting was organized for the sole purpose of embarrassing both councils," he added.
Matawan Mayor Robert Clifton said the school board’s stance on the cameras differed from past practice, where the cameras were always turned off for the councils.
"They were looking for us to violate our own rules," said Leo.
Although the majority of the municipal officials departed, four members of the Matawan council stayed at the meeting, listening to whatever the public had to say.
Matawan representatives present at the remainder of the meeting were Council President Debra Buragina and council members Michael Cannon, Joseph Penniplede and Paul Buccellato.
Councils cut $914,000
Jointly, the councils agreed to cut $914,000 from the school budget, recommending cuts from five different line items.
The most significant savings were realized through a $420,000 cut, which eliminated the school district’s five-year-old full-day kindergarten program.
Other areas affected by the cuts were:
• textbooks, with the councils suggesting $200,000 in savings through the implementation of a lease-purchase program;
• elimination or postponement of a new administrative position at the high school level, which would save $85,300;
• $80,000 in savings in reduced health benefits costs due to a reduction in the number of kindergarten teachers if the district returns to half-day kindergarten; and
• $120,000 in anticipated savings from four expected retirements.
Although the councils can make recommendations as to where the board can make cuts, what ultimately stays in the budget and what is eliminated is the school board’s decision. The board may choose not to cut other areas of the budget, but the amount cut must equal the total dollar amount cut by the councils.
Board members said cuts, particularly those of full-day kindergarten, would be devastating to the district.
Schools Superintendent Michael Klavon said recent gains made in test scores at the elementary school level would be jeopardized.
School officials indicated at the meeting that they do not intend to accept the cuts and will likely appeal for restoration of the money to the state commissioner of education.
Coren defended the cuts, saying they represented less than 2 percent of the board’s total operating budget.
With regard to full-day kindergarten, he said the state does not mandate that program for a "thorough and efficient" education unless the school district is a special-needs school district.
"If they wanted to save full-day kindergarten, they should have worked with us," Coren said on Friday, referring to school board members. "If you don’t want to make a tough decision, you push it to somebody else."
He added that because the program is not mandated by the state and is not a necessity for a "thorough and efficient" education, any cuts to that program would stand if the cuts were appealed to Trenton.
Donaghue said the board found the depth of the cuts unacceptable.
"In a nutshell, we were looking for a lower number," he said.
In explanation, Cannon got up to address the meeting and explain why the councils made the choices they did.
"I’m not afraid to be videotaped," Cannon told the crowd to loud applause, adding that he wanted to "set the record straight."
He also told the board that although he personally voted for the budget, the overwhelming majority of voters that he represents did not.
"The voters came out 2 to 1 [against passing the budget], and the law says that when it fails, we have to take it on," he said. "We played the hand we were dealt."
"No matter what decision was made, no one was going to be happy," he added.
"Personally I hope it goes to the commissioner [of education] and that he restores the entire amount of money," said Cannon.
Buragina later echoed his sentiment when asked by the crowd to explain why such a large amount was cut.
"Because of the turnout and what the vote was, we decided that it had to be a significant amount, not just a penny," she said.
The total amount cut represents approximately 7.5 cents on the tax rate, with approximately two-thirds coming off the township’s share and the remainder coming off the borough’s share.