County superintendent orders
change in FRHSD voting points
By dave benjamin
Staff Writer
Marlboro’s representative will see a slight gain and Freehold Borough’s representative will see a slight decrease in their votes on the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education, according to a directive from the Monmouth County Superin-tendent of Schools.
In an Oct. 16 letter to FRHSD Superin-tendent of Schools James Wasser, county superintendent Michael Maddaluna outlined the two changes. The county superintendent’s office is the local representative of the state Department of Educa-tion.
"The decision to change the (voting) apportionment is predicated upon careful review of the population changes and the decision of the United States District Court in Marlboro vs. Freehold Regional Board of Education," Maddaluna wrote. "The Marlboro vote will be increased from 1.4 to 1.5 (voting points) and the Freehold Borough vote will decrease from 0.9 to 0.8 (voting points)."
Maddaluna said the change will become effective on Nov. 15.
With nine members on the school board, the FRHSD panel casts nine voting points to conduct business. Prior to a 1998 court decision, each board member cast one vote. The 1998 decision changed the system to voting points weighted according to the population of each of the district’s eight sending municipalities.
Howell has two representatives and the other seven towns have one each.
The recent letter from Maddaluna to Wasser is a change from what district administrators said Maddaluna ruled in late 2001; that based on the 2000 census there would be no change in the voting points.
According to Maddaluna, the board’s remaining voting points will stay as they are: Howell, 2 points; Farmingdale, 0.5 points; Freehold Township, 1.4 points; Colts Neck, 0.9 points; Englishtown, 0.5 points; and Manalapan, 1.4 points.
The population of the eight sending towns are as follows, according to Madda-luna’s letter: Farmingdale, 1,587 residents; Howell, 48,903 residents; Freehold Borough, 10,976 residents; Freehold Township, 31,537 residents; Colts Neck, 12,331 residents; Marlboro, 36,398 residents; Englishtown, 1,764 residents; and Manalapan, 33,423 residents.
The FRHSD enrolls approximately 10,500 students in six schools.
Wasser reacted to the directive from Maddaluna, saying, "I am concerned when it is going to affect any one of my towns. In this case it’s taking away from (Free-hold Borough). I’m a regional superintendent and I don’t want to see any of my towns affected."
Wasser said the calculations are made by the state and the regional district does not have any say in the matter.
Board member Bernice Hammer of Freehold Borough said she wasn’t sure if the county superintendent had the authority to make the change.
"Since the reapportionment was originally mandated by the court, I don’t know where Mr. Maddaluna gets the authority to change it," Hammer said. "That, I’m questioning. If he should have the authority, projecting my concern, what happens to the small towns which are more or less landlocked as far as growth is concerned? Are they going to continually have their representation shaved? That’s the way I look at it."
Board member Bonnie Rosenwald of Marlboro said, "As a member of the board, I do not have any part in the decision making" regarding the vote apportionment.
Elected officials from Marlboro have a federal lawsuit pending in which they are seeking to change the voting apportionment from all eight FRHSD towns. Arguments in that action are scheduled to be heard in court on Nov. 4. The lawsuit claims the invalid voting apportionment was used by the board in September to approve a redistricting plan and asks the court to set aside that vote.