BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer
MILLTOWN — The school district’s recent efforts to keep employees and students safe have been rewarded.
The New Jersey School Boards Association Insurance Group presented its 2004 Safety Award to the district Oct. 21.
According to interim Superintendent of Schools Jim Sheerin, the insurance group is in place “to make sure that you create an environment that is safe for your employees,” something that the state feels the district has become quite good at.
Out of 336 school districts in the state, only 21 of them received the award.
Sheerin said the district formed a safety committee whose work has already paid off.
“The safety committee met during the year, and they surveyed the facilities [and] were constantly monitoring the facilities in the area of safety,” Sheerin said. “They were looking for unsafe conditions, and to be able to rectify those conditions.”
To be eligible for the award, school districts must have a low number of workers’ compensation claims as a result of safety programs implemented by the district.
The Milltown School District had only one workers’ compensation claim this past year.
“I think that the key here is the fact that the school district is taking a proactive stance in reducing accidents, which is proactive for the people they have employed here, and also reducing the amount of time that people have away from their jobs,” Sheerin said, adding that the safety of everyone in the school buildings should be of paramount importance to the district.
“If you have a safe working environment for the people employed here, you have a safe working environment for the kids and anybody that comes into the building,” he said.
Sheerin said that if the schools are safer, the education of the students will also improve.
“If employees are not out, then you have a program that goes on without any interruptions,” Sheerin said.
Reduced accidents, and therefore a lower number of workers’ compensation claims, will also lead to lower insurance premiums, less money paid to victims of on-site accidents, and less money that is needed to pay substitutes if an injured teacher was unable to work immediately after an accident.
All this, Sheerin said, amounts to less money the district would need to raise through taxes.
“So it has a lot of good ramifications. I think it’s a good program, it’s good that the [state insurance group] recognizes districts that are taking proactive stances,” Sheerin said.
The award was presented to representatives of the district at last weekend’s annual school board convention in Atlantic City. Sheerin said the district has invited a member of the insurance group to the Nov. 9 Board of Education meeting to present the award in a more personal setting.
Because of all the emphasis the district has put on safety, receiving the award wasn’t too surprising, Sheerin said, but it was encouraging.
“I think that it didn’t come as a shock, but it certainly was a pleasant feeling. It’s nice to be recognized for doing positive things,” he said.