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New School Board Sworn In Just In Time For State-Mandated All-Day Kindergarten
By Bill McLaughlin
The changing of the guard took place at the monthly Berkeley Board of Education meeting last Wednesday night.
Four new members - Marlana Mastriano, Thomas Guarascio, Jeffrey Suarez and Chuck Provenzano - were sworn in.
After township attorney Patrick Sheehan administered the oath of officeto the first three members, all chosen for three-year terms, Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford swore in her nephew, Provenzano, to a oneyear, unexpired term.
Ford handed her nephew a John F. Kennedy half-dollar as a remembrance of the occasion.
The newly-constituted board then chose Richard Bishop as president and Louis Tuminaro as vice president.
Guy Ryan was selected as the board attorney at a $140 per hour rate of pay. The board opted not to choose a school insurance agent until interviews could be held.
Before handing over his duties, John C. Sahradnik Jr. thanked present and past school board members for their support during his 13-year tenure as board attorney.
The first order of business for the new board was dropped in their laps by Superintendent of Schools Joseph Vicari, who said a new, costly state initiative is looming because Berkeley is classified a B district. B districts are considered slightly more affluentthan Abbot districts, many of which are fully funded by the state.
Although Berkeley receives only nine percent of its budget in state funds, it ranks closer to Abbot districts than more fully-funded neighboring districts like Toms River and Lacey.
Vicari said full-day pre-school for 3 and 4-year-olds will become mandatory by 2013, with the youngsters attending classes the same length and duration as their older siblings.
Councilman Nat Abbe rose to ask if he had an idea how much the new program will cost.
Vicari replied there would be mandated two teachers per 15- child class with between 18 to 30 classes each school year. He said 232 children had already pre-registered for the next kindergarten class in September.
"We figure the cost of each teacher (in salary and benefits)at $65,000 times," Vicari said. "Plus, we're getting no transportation money (from the state)."
He added the district will be mandated to use vans, which the district doesn't currently have, rather than the big yellow buses. He figured more expenses must be factored in, including more drivers, mechanics, fuel and insurance.
"This program starts September 2009," Vicari said.
He added that the state DOE had not indicated if the program would be included within the four percent cap or outside it.
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