SCOTCH PLAINS — The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board of Education voted to approve its tentative $119,551,636 2024-2025 school budget and authorized it for submission to the Executive County Superintendent of Schools for approval at its regular meeting on Thursday.
The tentative budget was presented at the board’s last meeting in March, and the public was welcome to speak on the final budget prior to the vote. One resident expressed concern about the spending plan after noticing a mistake in the budget presentation at last month’s meeting.
“For those who were here at the last meeting, it was brought to our attention that there was a mistake on one of the slides,” Fanwood resident Gary Morris said, referencing an error that was included in a public presentation about the budget that took place earlier this year. “I don’t understand how we had a tentative budget approval with a mistake and that the vote should have been postponed until that was corrected for transparency,” he said.
The board responded by stating that there were actually two versions of the presentation; one that contained the mistake and the other that did not.
“Every number was fully vetted, but it was the wrong presentation,” Business Administrator/Board Secretary Christopher Jones said. “We provided 50 to 60 documents to the county which they reviewed in detail, and they raised questions about anything that didn’t look right.”
During the public-comment portion of the meeting, Mr. Morris also shared a letter he had received, written by resident Brad Herman, about a scheduling conflict regarding a religious holiday. The letter stated that four events were scheduled between the eve of Passover and the second day of Passover and that the scheduling of these events should have been during a different week.
“This goes against the spirit of the district’s and the state’s policies towards students and staff who are absent due to religious observance,” the letter read. “Any one of these events could have been scheduled during a different week that would have been safely away from Easter, Good Friday, or Passover. In the future, the district should consult with the public prior to scheduling such events.”
Superintendent Joan Mast, Ed.D., responded by stating that the scheduling was not done intentionally, and that the district does its best to prioritize religious holidays.
“I think part of the challenge that occurs is when changes are made to the calendar and I think I agree with Mr. Herman that certainly in the evenings of Passover from when the celebration begins there should have been no events scheduled,” Dr. Mast said. “We will really work on that and this year it was particularly challenging since Passover is a time where we usually have spring break. We will do better but we did send out letters to teachers to be respectful of students who are observing religious holidays and to abstain from scheduling homework or tests during that time.”
Also on the agenda for the evening was approval of the submission for the New Jersey Schools Insurance Group (NJSIG) Safety Grant Application in the amount of $6,222 for security cameras, and the board authorized purchases of goods and services from Open Systems Integrators, Inc. for security cameras for up to $25,000. Funds will be withdrawn from the safety grant and general fund. Contingency funds were used for some items, including the re-approval capital reserve release authorizing the Open Systems Integrators, Inc. The board also authorized the Nickerson Corporation in an amount not to exceed $300,000 for the high-school bleachers, and these funds also will be withdrawn from Capital Reserve.
During a second public-comment section of the meeting, Scotch Plains resident Len Zanowitz asked the board to consider re-naming a school gymnasium after his father, teacher and coach Len Zanowitz, who worked in the district for over 30 years. He provided board members with two letters of recommendation in support of the proposal.
