Middletown Board
of Education round-up
By josh davidson
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN — Voters will fill three Board of Education seats and decide on a $113.6 million school budget on Tuesday.
The budget reflects a school tax increase of 5.8 cents and includes textbook cost increases and cuts in building maintenance allocations, attorney fees and utilities costs.
After adopting its tentative budget, the board eliminated $70,000 each from its photocopier and transportation budget lines, and added one new guidance counselor and a substance awareness counselor to its the middle schools.
Each counselor would be paid $55,000 in salaries and receive $20,000 in health and medical benefits if the positions are approved.
An additional $10,000 will be used to pay George Obermeier, a district consultant, for substance abuse and awareness education.
The addition brings the total number of elementary school guidance counselors to five, a more acceptable ratio to handle 5,000 students, Business Administrator/board Secretary William Doering said.
Included in the budget is a $725,000 increase in textbook supply expenses for new elementary school programs.
The district budgeted $45,000 less than last year for utilities, gas and communications. The utilities decrease includes water, sewer, gas, telephone and Internet connection services. The district negotiated a lower flat rate with its long-distance provider accounting for the decrease, Doering said.
Switching to a geothermal energy program saved money on heating and cooling, he said.
Superintendent of Schools David L. Witmer said he is optimistic that the budget will pass.
The budget is 2.6 percent higher than last year’s $110.7 million budget.
Three, three-year Board of Education seats will also be filled April 15.
Board member Sherry Gevarter is stepping down and not seeking re-election.
The timing was right not to run, Gevarter said, but she will continue attending and speaking at meetings.
The job was not always easy, but that was overshadowed when she met district students, Gevarter said.
The two remaining seats belong to Michael Roberts, who is running for re-election, and Judith L. Arendt, who passed away from cancer in February 2002.
Joan Minnuies, was appointed to Arendt’s seat and will also seek election.
The other candidates are Carolyn Sue Self, Edward Schumann and Iris Procopio.
Phone calls made to Procopio, of 106 E. Roosevelt Circle, with a mailing address in Red Bank, were not returned.
Roberts, 52, 422 Main St., will finish his first term this year. If elected, he hopes to move the district’s educational programs forward, he said.
A good school board member is fair, even keeled and insightful, he said.
"We have to be aware that we’re here to take care of the children of our district educationally," he said.
Minnuies, 45, 628 Bray Ave., Port Monmouth, has served a one-year term. If elected, it would be her first full term.
Board members should follow Witmer’s lead and make themselves visible to teachers, Minnuies said.
People will trust board members if they can see them, she added.
"Treat people how you want to be treated and they’ll treat you back that way," she said.
Witmer knows how to talk to people and treat them with respect, she said.
"So far, I’m really pleased with how he’s come in," she said. "He’s kept his word about going from school to school."
Carolyn Sue Self, 60, 450 Everett Road, with a Holmdel mailing address, taught mathematics in the district for 33 years.Self taught at Thompson and Bayshore middle schools and High School North until July of 2002. This gives her insight on the district’s problems and assets, she said.
Self said she wants to help move the board in a positive direction.
The district has been through truly rough times with a strike in December 2001, an economic downturn and the events of 9/11, she said.
The seven-day strike resulted in the jailing of 228 teachers and support staff for violating a state Superior Court judge’s return-to-work order.
Tough times mean tough choices for district officials, she said.
"I believe that our children are our most precious possession," she said. "I know it costs a lot to educate them, but they are our future and we must not shortchange them."
A good board member is "someone who cares about the students and their education, and is willing to put in the time and effort to see that the best is achieved for our students at the best cost," she said.
Edward Schumann, 77, 58 Dogwood Road, was on a referendum ad hoc committee about five years ago.
He said he got to know the referendum system after being led to the conclusion that the board was misinforming the public about its six-year, $78.4 million project through the newspapers.
That project renovated the district’s middle and high schools.
Schumann was chairman of Middletown’s sewer authority on and off for 11 years.
The authority produced two sewer systems while being under budget, he said.
"We didn’t produce any monstrosities like the coffee can on top of Thompson School," he said.
The latest addition to Thompson Middle School is a waste, he said.
Its brick balcony railing is exposed to the earth’s atmosphere and the inside is poorly made, he said.
In the future, Schumann hopes to make sure the projects meet state regulations, he said.
Schumann has been involved in a number of contract negotiations, he said.
"If I were doing the negotiations on either side, I wouldn’t want a third party," he said.
Elections will take place 4-9 p.m. Tuesday.