By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
MILLSTONE The Board of Education voted Monday to fill two vacancies on the school board with the appointments of Holly Deitz and John Saxton, who will both be sworn in at the board’s next regular meeting on Aug. 23.
Ms. Deitz, of Deer Trail Drive, is a former school board member who resigned in 2009, according to district Business Administrator Bernard Biesiada. Mr. Saxton, of Mountain View Court, is an “enterprise architect,” he said.
The appointments were made by a 5-0 vote. Board members Patrick Whalen and Amy Jacobson were absent.
The two school board vacancies were created by the resignations of board President Thomas Foley on July 9 and board member Bradley Winfree on July 22. The board chose Kevin McGovern as its new president July 12.
Both Ms. Deitz and Mr. Saxton will serve until the next school election is held in April.
In other action, the school board voted 5-0 to approve an “agreement of understanding and principle” with the Upper Freehold School District for the outsourcing of 20 multi-tiered school bus routes for general education students.
The arrangement is projected to save Millstone about $300,000 a year, Mr. Biesiada said.
”We reached an agreement in principle,” he said. “The exact contract will be negotiated over the next few weeks.”
Upper Freehold held a job fair last week for the 30 Millstone drivers who have lost their jobs, Mr. Biesiada said. He said he did not know how many of the Millstone drivers will be offered positions with the Upper Freehold Regional School District’s transportation department.
Earlier this summer, the district considered outsourcing the regular education routes to a private company, but residents and bus drivers who attended school board meetings criticized the plan.
Mr. Biesiada said Tuesday that having Upper Freehold lease the Millstone buses and take over the routes was the “better of the two situations” for the former Millstone drivers. As public school employees in the Upper Freehold district, the former Millstone drivers would be enrolled in a more comprehensive health insurance plan, which they will pay for through payroll deductions, he said.
The private bus contractor did not offer a major medical plan for drivers, Mr. Biesiada said. Upper Freehold does because its employees are insured through the New Jersey State Health Benefits Program, he said.
The school board also voted 5-0 Monday to keep student activity fees at the same level as last year, Mr. Biesiada said. Parents will pay $150 for each sport a child enrolls in and $75 for each co-curricular school activity.

