School board briefs

By Eileen Oldfield Staff Writer
Quality report, audit approved
   Approval ratings are through the roof, at least for the district’s audit report, the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability (QSAC) Continuum, and the 2009-2010 school calendar — the board approved the three documents at their Nov. 17 meeting.
   The district’s annual audit returned with no recommendations, Finance Committee Chairman Greg Gillette said during his committee report at the board’s Nov. 10 meeting. Though accepted at the Nov. 17 meeting, Mr. Gillette reported the auditor’s assessment a week prior.
   ”The results are that he has no findings for this year,” Mr. Gillette said. “… We are absolutely in compliance with everything and everything is good.”
   Mr. Gillette mentioned one potential concern regarding the method the district recorded student activity accounts, which he said interim Business Administrator and Board Secretary Jeff Scott discovered the board could record more efficiently.
   Though the recording process was not a cause for alarm, current Business Administrator and Board Secretary Aiman Mahmoud and Assistant Business Administrator and Board Secretary Gerald Eckert fixed the accounts before submitting the district data to the auditor.
   The board approved the district’s QSAC report for submission to the state at the Nov. 17 meeting as well, with the state conducting its own district inspection at a later date. The report included the district’s self-assessment, where board members, district personnel, and school staff rate the school in various areas.
   According to District Superintendent Edward Forsthoffer, the district must score at least an 80 percent rating in each of the QSAC areas, including operations management, instruction and programs, governance, fiscal management and personnel.
   ”I’m happy to report that we scored above 90 percent in all our areas,” Dr. Forsthoffer said.
   The district must complete a QSAC evaluation every three years, Dr. Forsthoffer said.
   The public offered no comments on the QSAC report.
School calendar set for 2009-2010
   The board approved the 2009-2010 school calendar, a document board members debated at the Nov. 10 meeting.
   At that meeting, Dr. Forsthoffer presented a calendar akin to the countywide calendar suggested by the county superintendent’s office.
   Board members expressed concern over the late start and end dates for school in the proposed calendar, as well as the initial three-year commitment to the county calendar. Dr. Forsthoffer opted to follow a similar — but not exactly congruent — calendar for a year, to see how the schedule worked.
   School would start Sept. 8 and end June 23 under the approved calendar, with the district scheduling two snow days during the year.
   The board accepted the calendar unanimously.
   District student Michael Zhang, who asked about a school holiday for Asian students celebrating Chinese New Year at prior meetings, inquired about when the district would vote on another calendar, so he could present his proposal again. Board President Neil Hudes said the board would not discuss calendars again until around Nov. 2009.