Pat Demarest, with 1,294 votes, claims the seat on the MARSD school board being vacated by Tom Gambino. Jeff Delaney, the incumbent, successfully defended his seat with 1,254 votes. The Reverend Thelma Gattis came in a distant third with 885 votes. (Source: APP)
The school budget failed to be ratified by Matawan and Aberdeen residents, with 2,189 against the budget and only 1,645 in favor, a 544 vote difference.
Most online comments this evening suggest that the Libertarians among us are happy to have their way and to pocket a few extra dollars in the process. But their hopes to strip more administrators and union-protected teachers from the school system are simply unrealistic. We'll probably just lose more young, untenured teachers and lose some sports programs. Be sure to thank your neighborhood Tea Party member when someone asks you what it was like when the Huskies competed in a full range of sports.
My kid is in MAMS. Already they are having lots of cuts in school services.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know what services will be affected by the budget disapproval. Although I am against the waste(which may be happening), Education is so important, especially with Global compitition. If we can not invest in kids, then what are we planning for?
Way to go Matawan residents ! We have defeated the bloated budget . Maybe now the greedy O`malley will realize the public anger at him for accepting a RAISE in this economic environment !!! He could have done the " right " thing and accepted a modest pay cut it the midst of this depression economy not to mention 78 of his staff facing the axe , he has some set of balls. And the teachers should WAKE UP , accept a freeze on their salaries for 2111 and save their fellow teachers. We all need to tighten our belts and live within our means , and if that means budget cuts , so be it . You can`t just keep adding to the public`s tax burden , and the result of this vote speaks volumes.
ReplyDeleteYou know i agree we all to to suck it up we can not pay anymore gas, food, taxes when does it stop. im sorry but i cant keep up with all this and yes i want my kid to have a great education but enough is enough!!
ReplyDeleteWhen you have a lot of money, kids get free education.
ReplyDeleteWhen you have less money, kids get less education.
when you have no money, kids get no education.
Take a pay freeze "for the children"
ReplyDeleteTeachers come on, you already only have a 9 month work year, six and a half hour workday, come on, you guys make a good salary as is.Just take a pay freeze till things get better,wtf
ReplyDeleteI agree, take that pay cut, for the children! You all say how important the children are, Take that pay cut! Ha, they won't, they will just blame the voters why kid's don't do well instead of blaming themselves!
ReplyDeletewhy does matawan avenue middle school have three principles? they need a principle for each grade? come on,this is not needed. one principle can run the school. when i went to high school one principle ran the school.this is a middle school. talk about wasting tax payers money and driving up our taxes. the cash cow days are over. start lay offs at the top administrators, cut the top salaries now and hire young teachers just out of college.you can hire 6 young teachers with the salary one principle makes. so 2 x 6 = 12 new teachers for the children. isn't that what it is all about? or just save the money.
ReplyDeleteit's great to be a resident of a city that get's it. Last year I did not get a pay raise. In fact I got a pay cut. Why should these priviledged teachers not only work a half a year and enjoy full pension and health care benefits but not be effected but hard economic times. Wake up and smell the coffee the world is changing and if you do not change with it you will be left behind.
ReplyDeleteThe budget includes contractual increases for the MRTA and Matawan Regional Administrators Association (MRAA), a 25 percent increase for health and prescription benefits, and a 7 percent increase for dental coverage for the full year.
ReplyDelete“Although we are amidst these tough economic times, we still need to stay focused on our fiscal plan and to maintain as many programs, staff and financial opportunities that remain possible for the future,” said Superintendent Richard O’Malley.
Thank you Matawan for voting "NO" to the above.
I think that we all need to ask ourselves what is necessary for a quality education. While it is tempting to think that by offering the students a breadth of classes and fields to explore we are improving their education, I suspect it is doing the opposite. By offering the kids so many different classes we are minimizing the time they spend on the fundamentals: math, science, effective communication, critical thinking, problem solving.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I think it is time that we, as a community, address the pervasive notion that unions and tenure are essential for quality education. How is it that the US is second in spending (I think Switzerland is #1)per student but has the dumbest kids amoungst the industrialized nations?
Did the town committee and board ever come to a final agreement on budget cuts after the budget vote? haven't seen anything in the paper about it or did i miss it?
ReplyDeleteYou bloggers are truly very narrow-minded and terribly naive. Even if teachers accepted a pay cut, it was already decided that 78 personnel would be gone, so there was zero chance that a pay freeze would have saved those jobs, or kept the custodians from being privatized. Now you have a Superintendent for the next four years starting at $180,000 and getting a minimum 4% raise each year, a new principal at the middle school for $120,000, when a VP at the high school could have kept a job by moving them to the middle school at, perhaps $100,000 or less, no regular custodians, no librarians, and no rigor in the classes because any teacher that dares to hold to an objective grading platform is either labeled as mean to students, or a problem for administration because it will mean a higher failure rate, at least for the first quarter or so until the students get the message that they need to be prepared for class, study and, yes, actually bring a pencil, notebook and calculator to class. For demanding these things, teachers find themselves out of a job. Well, you have made your bed, now you get to sleep in it. Enjoy yourselves.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're directing this at those making the preceding comments and not the blogger, who agrees with you in large measure. They've certainly made their bed.
ReplyDeleteAnon 7/1,
ReplyDeleteYou're clueless. With every savings, we preserved jobs, like the three custodians and the librarians. None of the contract employees (including the superintendent) have guaranteed 4% raises - you're referring to the unionized staff (i.e. teachers and administrators). We hired the best applicant for the principal position, period. And principals are on the administrators contract and earn far more than $100,000. As for rigor, this is the first administration in many years to introduce rigor to the classrooms and the test scores show that. As for teachers losing their jobs in our district because they demanded too much rigor, that's insanity. It never happened on my watch.