In the last school board election, two incumbent candidates vocally supported the idea of a plastic grass field on the Roxbury Board of Education property. It was no coincidence when both of these candidates came in last and second to last in one of the largest voter turn outs this township has seen in some time.
The majority of the voters of Roxbury are not in favor of a plastic grass football field. Neither the township nor the majority of the school board will consider putting the plastic grass project up for a referendum vote, as they are well aware the results would be final and binding. Tonight we are about to witness an unfortunate attempt to push the project through anyway, without the support of the majority of voters. Furthermore, the township and the school board have strayed from the initial promises that were made to the taxpayers when the project was originally presented to the public several years ago.
Residents have recently been told in print, there will be no taxpayer monies used in this project. This is not true. As you can see on page 9 of 16 of tonight’s agenda, the school board will be contributing twenty five thousand dollars per year, rather thank the initial twenty thousand per year, plus soft costs for additional expenditures such as increased lighting usage, increased garbage collection, and undetermined maintenance costs for increased usage of items such as our bleachers, concession stand, scoreboard and other items which the school board has negotiated 100% responsibility for. As you start to add up the potential soft costs found in this agreement, twenty five thousand is not even close to the final number we are about to commit ourselves to.
Yes, some booster clubs have dedicated additional monies to offset costs, however, there is a possibility that the school board could still incur these future expenditures as we are the ones who are ultimately committing ourselves in the form of a legally binding contract with the town. Also most extracurricular activities and clubs that will be using the field are not financially self sustaining outside of the school budget. Therefore this is simply an attempt to shift money from one pocket to another. If these clubs have extra money outside of the normal operating costs of the activity, why not use those funds to reduce the overall tax burden of the taxpayer in these tough financial times?
As of just a few weeks ago, Councilman Hall stated in the Roxbury Register that this project would be bonded for 12 years. Now, as shown on page 9 of 16, this project will be bonded for 15 years.
Knowing that plastic grass fields have a known life span averaging 10-12 years, why would we consider financing such a project for 15 years?
Most importantly, regarding safety, Mrs. Miller, in this week’s Roxbury Register, stated that “Safety issues have been addressed concerning the Turf Field”. What she fails to tell you is the “so called” experts, who attended last week’s school board meeting, are being paid $20,000 by the township to oversee the turf project. Of course they are going to say the product they are advising on is safe. It is in their financial interest to tell us so.
The consultants she mentioned said “The field that we will be installing is comprised of materials that you would find in your home.” This is a true statement, however when you go home tonight, I urge you to take a look at all of the potentially dangerous items that can be found in your home, and then ask yourself if this statement still makes you feel safe? The fact is, a plastic water bottle, when left in your car on a hot day, is currently the subject of many cancer studies. So why are the majority of Roxbury’s elected officials so quick to believe everything these consultants say to be true?
These consultants even went as far as saying, “In the last few years certain northern New Jersey townships may have gone a bit too far when tearing up older lead-contaminated fields". They blamed run off water, rather than higher than normal lead levels found in the turf surface, for the contamination of these older sites.
Google the word “turf” and see how many respected studies call for a moratorium on all plastic grass fields until the scientific field can gain more knowledge about potential risks and dangers. The fact is neither our so called experts or Mrs. Miller really know the long term effects that exposure to plastic grass surfaces could have on our children.
Most independent studies urge users of turf products to “shower immediately after use”. If this statement does not bring you to an informed decision on the safety of plastic turf fields, then it is clear we are blatantly overlooking the safety of the children we are here to serve.
Mrs. Castriotta and I ask this board to rethink the poor choice it is about to make. And if this project is approved, we ask everyone on this board to again stop asking why the residents of Roxbury vote down school budgets year after year. This is yet another example as to why the public does not trust this board to do the right thing.
This statement and it's contents are not authorized by the Roxbury Township Board of Education. Furthermore, we are speaking on our own behalf and not that of the Roxbury Township Board of Education.
Maureen Castriotta and Chris Rogers
Roxbury Township School Board Members
DISCLAIMER
THE CARTEL - The Movie
BlogNetNews.com
Monday, September 21, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Castriotta, Rogers Vow To Keep Public Informed And Fight Bureaucratic Mentality On Roxbury's School Board
It's very difficult for the average Joe and Jane to find the time to go to school board and town council meetings because they're so busy working, paying the bills, and taking care of their families.
Most are lucky to have any time left over for a little bit of rest and relaxation never mind trying to be government watchdogs. This is exactly what many in power count on and what allows for so much abuse of power and corruption on every level of government including school boards.
There are just far too many in the education establishment destroying public education because their lust for power and lining their own pockets takes priority over what is best for our children and the greater good. Sometimes you wonder how bad things have to get before we start addressing the right concerns that will benefit all and not just a few.
So what can people do to change things for the better?
The single most important power we have as citizens is our right to vote.
Each of us needs to vote in every election and vote out elected officials who are not representing the will of the people. That's exactly what the people in Roxbury did in the last school election. The largest number of them agreed with the campaign we ran and demonstrated their confidence in us by tossing out two long time incumbents, electing us into office, and voting down an irresponsible school budget. Although it's unfortunate both the majority of the school board and town council ignored the voters' wishes and didn't make the budget cuts that would have given our community members much needed tax relief, we truly believe the tide has turned.
All elected officials in this town have been put on notice by the citizens of Roxbury who are fed up and will not forget just who is and who is not working on their behalf. People may not be able to make school or township meetings to protest bloated administrative costs, excessive union demands, and ever escalating property taxes, but they will have their say again come election time. We're absolutely confident the good people of Roxbury will once again make their voices heard through the voting process and outnumber the special interests groups in this town that have had a stranglehold on our schools and our lives for far too long. Change does not come easy...it comes little by little and takes perseverance, but it can and will happen if the people want it enough.
Meanwhile, we are not only committed to doing our best under the constraints of the law to keep the public informed about our positions on the issues in Roxbury's school system, we will continue our efforts to free dollars from bureaucratic overhead, stop wasteful spending, and make sure tax dollars go for the betterment of our children's education.
Maureen Castriotta and Chris Rogers
Roxbury Township School Board Members
mcastriotta@roxbury.org, 973.398.2386
cjrogers@roxbury.org; 973.975.8383
Most are lucky to have any time left over for a little bit of rest and relaxation never mind trying to be government watchdogs. This is exactly what many in power count on and what allows for so much abuse of power and corruption on every level of government including school boards.
There are just far too many in the education establishment destroying public education because their lust for power and lining their own pockets takes priority over what is best for our children and the greater good. Sometimes you wonder how bad things have to get before we start addressing the right concerns that will benefit all and not just a few.
So what can people do to change things for the better?
The single most important power we have as citizens is our right to vote.
Each of us needs to vote in every election and vote out elected officials who are not representing the will of the people. That's exactly what the people in Roxbury did in the last school election. The largest number of them agreed with the campaign we ran and demonstrated their confidence in us by tossing out two long time incumbents, electing us into office, and voting down an irresponsible school budget. Although it's unfortunate both the majority of the school board and town council ignored the voters' wishes and didn't make the budget cuts that would have given our community members much needed tax relief, we truly believe the tide has turned.
All elected officials in this town have been put on notice by the citizens of Roxbury who are fed up and will not forget just who is and who is not working on their behalf. People may not be able to make school or township meetings to protest bloated administrative costs, excessive union demands, and ever escalating property taxes, but they will have their say again come election time. We're absolutely confident the good people of Roxbury will once again make their voices heard through the voting process and outnumber the special interests groups in this town that have had a stranglehold on our schools and our lives for far too long. Change does not come easy...it comes little by little and takes perseverance, but it can and will happen if the people want it enough.
Meanwhile, we are not only committed to doing our best under the constraints of the law to keep the public informed about our positions on the issues in Roxbury's school system, we will continue our efforts to free dollars from bureaucratic overhead, stop wasteful spending, and make sure tax dollars go for the betterment of our children's education.
Maureen Castriotta and Chris Rogers
Roxbury Township School Board Members
mcastriotta@roxbury.org, 973.398.2386
cjrogers@roxbury.org; 973.975.8383
Monday, August 3, 2009
Another Reason Why Roxbury Votes Down School Budgets!
Residents of Roxbury surely remember the recent teacher contract settlement which gave members of the Roxbury Education Association (a subchapter of the NJEA) an 18% increase over four years. Soon after, the voters of Roxbury voted down the 2009/2010 school budget.
After reviewing the 2009 / 2010 failed budget, the majority of the Roxbury Town Council recommended $550,000 in potential cuts that would not affect the educational needs of our children. Ignoring the suggestions of the Roxbury Town Council, the majority of Roxbury School Board surprisingly found a second and completely different list of expenditures totaling $550,000 that would also not affect the educational needs of our children.
On Monday night, the majority of the Roxbury School Board voted to give a yearly salary increase of 4% to the Superintendent of schools, a yearly salary increase of 4% to the Business Administrator and a 2% salary increase to the Assistant Superintendent after only six months of employment with the district.
These contracts include perks such as 16 plus paid holidays annually, between 25 and 30 vacation days annually, between 10 and 16 sick days annually and the ability to carry over, accrue or sell back many of these days. Additional personal days, insurance buy backs, travel allowances, cell phone and laptop expenses, professional growth and membership fee reimbursement and in at least one contract, the option of a tax sheltered annuity.
As the new school year is about to begin, we ask the Roxbury School Board to take the first step in setting a new expectation from the top down for contractual compensation. We should recognize the struggling economy and take steps to provide the residents of Roxbury some much needed financial relief.
Although we recognize these raises and perks are not uncommon in the Morris County school system, someone needs to take the first step in acknowledging that we cannot continue to further burden the struggling taxpayers we are elected to represent. The day needs to come when these out of touch compensation packages are reigned in to meet the equivalent of those offered to the taxpayers who pay the bills.
If this board continues to vote for contract increases such as the ones we saw Monday night, please do not continue to ask "Why do the voters or Roxbury continue to vote down budgets?" We already know many reasons why the voters vote down our budgets, and this is yet another example.
Maureen Castriotta and Chris Rogers
Roxbury School Board Members
After reviewing the 2009 / 2010 failed budget, the majority of the Roxbury Town Council recommended $550,000 in potential cuts that would not affect the educational needs of our children. Ignoring the suggestions of the Roxbury Town Council, the majority of Roxbury School Board surprisingly found a second and completely different list of expenditures totaling $550,000 that would also not affect the educational needs of our children.
On Monday night, the majority of the Roxbury School Board voted to give a yearly salary increase of 4% to the Superintendent of schools, a yearly salary increase of 4% to the Business Administrator and a 2% salary increase to the Assistant Superintendent after only six months of employment with the district.
These contracts include perks such as 16 plus paid holidays annually, between 25 and 30 vacation days annually, between 10 and 16 sick days annually and the ability to carry over, accrue or sell back many of these days. Additional personal days, insurance buy backs, travel allowances, cell phone and laptop expenses, professional growth and membership fee reimbursement and in at least one contract, the option of a tax sheltered annuity.
As the new school year is about to begin, we ask the Roxbury School Board to take the first step in setting a new expectation from the top down for contractual compensation. We should recognize the struggling economy and take steps to provide the residents of Roxbury some much needed financial relief.
Although we recognize these raises and perks are not uncommon in the Morris County school system, someone needs to take the first step in acknowledging that we cannot continue to further burden the struggling taxpayers we are elected to represent. The day needs to come when these out of touch compensation packages are reigned in to meet the equivalent of those offered to the taxpayers who pay the bills.
If this board continues to vote for contract increases such as the ones we saw Monday night, please do not continue to ask "Why do the voters or Roxbury continue to vote down budgets?" We already know many reasons why the voters vote down our budgets, and this is yet another example.
Maureen Castriotta and Chris Rogers
Roxbury School Board Members
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Anne Colucci - Stop Playing Politics!
After having had a chance to read former Roxbury School Board and Town Council candidate Anne Colucci’s letter to the editors in theRoxbury Register on Thrursday, July 30th and in the Daily Record on Friday, July 31st, I feel it is important to correct the many inaccurate comments Ms. Colucci has made in an targeted effort to tarnish my character.
I think it is also important to know that Anne Colucci has unsuccessfully attempted to gain seats on the Roxbury School Board and the Roxbury Town Council several times. I would hope that if Ms Collucci continues to seek elected office she would spend less time playing politics, and more time trying to find solutions regarding how we can force our government to spend less money on extraordinary expenditures such as the attorney fees she mentions while allowing the public to see all public documents they are rightfully entitled to view and obtain.
In 2007, my open public records request was part of a larger inquiry I had made with the Roxbury School Board regarding the board’s decision to hire a new school board attorney. See Florham Park Attorney Draws Court Reprimand The attorney being hired, Alan Dzwilewski of the firm Schwartz, Simon and Edelstein, Celso and Kessler, was reported to have been reprimanded by the NJ State Supreme Court regarding an ethics complaint involving a real estate transaction in which he earned an illegal finder’s fee.
My inquiry requested the emails of several school board members over several months for the purpose of finding out which school board members were aware of the ethics charges but still voted to hire the attorney anyway. See email to School Board Member Carol Scheneck Two years later, the Roxbury School Board is not currently represented by this particular attorney, but the firm he worked for is still the law firm who represents the Roxbury School Board.When making an Open Public Records Request (OPRA Request) it is not required that the member of the public making the request inform the government official as to why the request is being made. Therefore, I did not release this information to the school board.
Coincidentally, the law firm Schwartz, Simon and Edelstein, Celso and Kessler, is also the law firm who represented the Roxbury School Board in this matter and made a profit of $22,000.00 in legal fees to convince the Government Records Council that the emails requested should not be released.
At no time have I ever declined to pay fees for copying which can range from 10 cents to 75 cents per page. To date, I have paid for all of the records requests that I have been supplied from the Roxbury School Board office. My dispute only questioned the validity of a “special service charge” which was to be based on the hourly rate of the records custodian and computer technician. In my opinion “special service fees” should not be charged as it is already the job of the records custodian to honor requests for public information. In other words, we already pay someone to furnish documents when a member of the public makes a request. They will earn their salary regardless of how many records requests are made. In the case of the Roxbury School Board’s records custodian, Ruth Ann Quinn’s compensation is about $725.00 per day when you take into account her salary and benefits package.
When making a determination regarding the dispute, at no time did the Government Records Council state that the documents I had requested were not accessible to the public. Further, if I were to split my request up into several smaller requests, each smaller request would have to be honored at the normal copy fee rate.
Regarding the other two disputes filed, the first request was denied even though the documents DID exist, but were not available in the paper format that I had requested them in. It was NOT denied because of a potential security breach as Ms. Colucci suggests. The second was denied because a former school board member, Robert Badini, had admittedly DESTROYED the document that I had requested, which is why the document did not exist. Therefore, the Custodian of Records could not be held responsible to supply the document.
I would also like to point out that none of these matters EVER entered a court of law, as Ms. Colucci states in her letter, nor was the Roxbury School Board ever exonerated of any wrong doing by a New Jersey court of law. The Government Records Council is a entity formed by our state government to mediate and determine disputes between government entities and members of the public who request public information. I specifically decided NOT to take my dispute to New Jersey superior court in hopes that the New Jersey Government Records Council would do what it was originally formed to do; specifically see to it that the public's right to view public documents remained a right of the resident's of New Jersey. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
Recently, the Government Record's Council lost a battle in a real court regarding a complaint filed against itself. A Mercer County judge held on July 17 that the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government is entitled to full copies of 69 requested e-mails in their unredacted form and that the GRC must turn them over by Aug 14. It appears in this case, the council was ordered to obey the law it was created to enforce. Source: Mary Pat Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal 07-28-2009.
Furthermore, since my disputes were not filed with New Jersey superior court, there was no need for the Roxbury School Board to spend the extraordinary amount of $22,000.00 for attorney fees. There was never a lawsuit filed, nor did this matter ever enter a court of law. The Government Records Council does NOT require either party to a dispute to be represented by an attorney. The records custodian for the district, Ruth Ann Quinn, could have communicated with the GRC on the school board’s behalf and provided responses to the council without spending much more than $20.00 on postage and copies. I did not retain an attorney in this matter, therefore my total out of pocket expense was lower than $20.00.
I believe the larger problem that has been brought to light as a result of these findings is the fact that local school boards and township governments have unrestricted access to their appointed attorneys, and have an unlimited amount of taxpayer money to spend on legal fees with little oversight from the public. This is clearly yet another example of how your local government and those who are elected to serve the public are not always acting on the public's behalf. Sometimes there is information our elected officials do not want us to see, and clearly they have the financial and legal resources to keep the information from being seen.
Former Roxbury School Board candidate Anne Colucci, stop playing politics and join me in fighting for limits on excessive school board attorney fees and real open public records reform for our local governments.
Chris Rogers
Roxbury School Board Member
I think it is also important to know that Anne Colucci has unsuccessfully attempted to gain seats on the Roxbury School Board and the Roxbury Town Council several times. I would hope that if Ms Collucci continues to seek elected office she would spend less time playing politics, and more time trying to find solutions regarding how we can force our government to spend less money on extraordinary expenditures such as the attorney fees she mentions while allowing the public to see all public documents they are rightfully entitled to view and obtain.
In 2007, my open public records request was part of a larger inquiry I had made with the Roxbury School Board regarding the board’s decision to hire a new school board attorney. See Florham Park Attorney Draws Court Reprimand The attorney being hired, Alan Dzwilewski of the firm Schwartz, Simon and Edelstein, Celso and Kessler, was reported to have been reprimanded by the NJ State Supreme Court regarding an ethics complaint involving a real estate transaction in which he earned an illegal finder’s fee.
My inquiry requested the emails of several school board members over several months for the purpose of finding out which school board members were aware of the ethics charges but still voted to hire the attorney anyway. See email to School Board Member Carol Scheneck Two years later, the Roxbury School Board is not currently represented by this particular attorney, but the firm he worked for is still the law firm who represents the Roxbury School Board.When making an Open Public Records Request (OPRA Request) it is not required that the member of the public making the request inform the government official as to why the request is being made. Therefore, I did not release this information to the school board.
Coincidentally, the law firm Schwartz, Simon and Edelstein, Celso and Kessler, is also the law firm who represented the Roxbury School Board in this matter and made a profit of $22,000.00 in legal fees to convince the Government Records Council that the emails requested should not be released.
At no time have I ever declined to pay fees for copying which can range from 10 cents to 75 cents per page. To date, I have paid for all of the records requests that I have been supplied from the Roxbury School Board office. My dispute only questioned the validity of a “special service charge” which was to be based on the hourly rate of the records custodian and computer technician. In my opinion “special service fees” should not be charged as it is already the job of the records custodian to honor requests for public information. In other words, we already pay someone to furnish documents when a member of the public makes a request. They will earn their salary regardless of how many records requests are made. In the case of the Roxbury School Board’s records custodian, Ruth Ann Quinn’s compensation is about $725.00 per day when you take into account her salary and benefits package.
When making a determination regarding the dispute, at no time did the Government Records Council state that the documents I had requested were not accessible to the public. Further, if I were to split my request up into several smaller requests, each smaller request would have to be honored at the normal copy fee rate.
Regarding the other two disputes filed, the first request was denied even though the documents DID exist, but were not available in the paper format that I had requested them in. It was NOT denied because of a potential security breach as Ms. Colucci suggests. The second was denied because a former school board member, Robert Badini, had admittedly DESTROYED the document that I had requested, which is why the document did not exist. Therefore, the Custodian of Records could not be held responsible to supply the document.
I would also like to point out that none of these matters EVER entered a court of law, as Ms. Colucci states in her letter, nor was the Roxbury School Board ever exonerated of any wrong doing by a New Jersey court of law. The Government Records Council is a entity formed by our state government to mediate and determine disputes between government entities and members of the public who request public information. I specifically decided NOT to take my dispute to New Jersey superior court in hopes that the New Jersey Government Records Council would do what it was originally formed to do; specifically see to it that the public's right to view public documents remained a right of the resident's of New Jersey. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
Recently, the Government Record's Council lost a battle in a real court regarding a complaint filed against itself. A Mercer County judge held on July 17 that the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government is entitled to full copies of 69 requested e-mails in their unredacted form and that the GRC must turn them over by Aug 14. It appears in this case, the council was ordered to obey the law it was created to enforce. Source: Mary Pat Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal 07-28-2009.
Furthermore, since my disputes were not filed with New Jersey superior court, there was no need for the Roxbury School Board to spend the extraordinary amount of $22,000.00 for attorney fees. There was never a lawsuit filed, nor did this matter ever enter a court of law. The Government Records Council does NOT require either party to a dispute to be represented by an attorney. The records custodian for the district, Ruth Ann Quinn, could have communicated with the GRC on the school board’s behalf and provided responses to the council without spending much more than $20.00 on postage and copies. I did not retain an attorney in this matter, therefore my total out of pocket expense was lower than $20.00.
I believe the larger problem that has been brought to light as a result of these findings is the fact that local school boards and township governments have unrestricted access to their appointed attorneys, and have an unlimited amount of taxpayer money to spend on legal fees with little oversight from the public. This is clearly yet another example of how your local government and those who are elected to serve the public are not always acting on the public's behalf. Sometimes there is information our elected officials do not want us to see, and clearly they have the financial and legal resources to keep the information from being seen.
Former Roxbury School Board candidate Anne Colucci, stop playing politics and join me in fighting for limits on excessive school board attorney fees and real open public records reform for our local governments.
Chris Rogers
Roxbury School Board Member
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The Code of Conduct - 24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week and 365 Days a Year?
Everyday, we, as residents, taxpayers, and parents, lose a little bit more of our liberties at every level of government. This past Monday night's Roxbury School Board meeting proved to be no exception.
The revised Roxbury High School Student Code of Conduct approved by the majority school board states the following: "The Code of Conduct is in effect beginning on July 1 preceding a student's freshman year and concluding with the pupil's graduation from Roxbury High School. It is in effect for twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year including periods when school is in recess or is not in session".
This code wrongly crosses the line into parental authority by giving school officials the responsibility for the care and custody of the students each and every minute of the day all year round. Therefore, we voted "no" on the approval of this code of conduct.
To be clear, we are not suggesting no action be taken when acts of misconduct are committeed by our students. To the contrary, we believe school officials have a duty to assign discipline to pupils when their conduct substantially interferes with the safeguarding of school operations. If it is proven by a preponderance of evidence that a student has committed an illegal act when school is in session, we would expect our administration to notify the child's parents and the proper authorities and impose the appropriate consequences. In fact, we already have policies in place that require us to do just that. But we do strongly oppose school officials policing the conduct of students through third party sources, hearsay, or social networking webistes such as Facebook and MySpace on a year-round basis.
In our opinion, parents, not school administrators should have sole responsibility for their children's behavior when school is not in session and the Roxbury school board should seek ways to work with parents on this issue, not against them.
Maureen Castriotta and Chris Rogers
Roxbury School Board Members
The revised Roxbury High School Student Code of Conduct approved by the majority school board states the following: "The Code of Conduct is in effect beginning on July 1 preceding a student's freshman year and concluding with the pupil's graduation from Roxbury High School. It is in effect for twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year including periods when school is in recess or is not in session".
This code wrongly crosses the line into parental authority by giving school officials the responsibility for the care and custody of the students each and every minute of the day all year round. Therefore, we voted "no" on the approval of this code of conduct.
To be clear, we are not suggesting no action be taken when acts of misconduct are committeed by our students. To the contrary, we believe school officials have a duty to assign discipline to pupils when their conduct substantially interferes with the safeguarding of school operations. If it is proven by a preponderance of evidence that a student has committed an illegal act when school is in session, we would expect our administration to notify the child's parents and the proper authorities and impose the appropriate consequences. In fact, we already have policies in place that require us to do just that. But we do strongly oppose school officials policing the conduct of students through third party sources, hearsay, or social networking webistes such as Facebook and MySpace on a year-round basis.
In our opinion, parents, not school administrators should have sole responsibility for their children's behavior when school is not in session and the Roxbury school board should seek ways to work with parents on this issue, not against them.
Maureen Castriotta and Chris Rogers
Roxbury School Board Members
Friday, June 5, 2009
Why do the voters of Roxbury continue to vote down school budgets?
On Monday, June 1st the Roxbury School Board voted 7 to 2 to reappoint the Director of Human Resources, a newly created central office administrative position which was recently recommended to be cut from the defeated school budget by the Roxbury Town Council. In addition, the majority of the school board voted to increase this administrator's salary after only six months of employment with the district. We were the only two school board members to vote against this resolution.
In our opinion, the administration and the Board must work together to find solutions that work with the taxpayers, not against them. For example, we suggested the central office administrators freeze their salaries for one year and instead, use the money to fund after school late buses, a service that was once offered to students who participated in after school activities. Unfortunately, the administrators and the majority of the Board did not agree with us, so it is very likely parents will be charged a fee to reinstate this service.
We ask our colleagues on the Roxbury School Board to stop asking the question, Why do the voters of Roxbury continue to vote down school budgets? We already know the answer: Unchecked spending on administrative salaries. What we need to ask ourselves is, "How do we continue to provide an education for our children, without financially strangling the taxpayers who pay the bill?" Then, and only then, will we regain the trust of the taxpayers who have entrusted us with their money and their children's future.
A schedule of public school board meetings can be found on the Roxbury school website. We encourage members of the public to get involved and attend the school board meetings as often as possible. The next meeting is on June 15th. We hope to see you there.
Maureen Castriotta and Chris Rogers
Roxbury Township School Board Members
In our opinion, the administration and the Board must work together to find solutions that work with the taxpayers, not against them. For example, we suggested the central office administrators freeze their salaries for one year and instead, use the money to fund after school late buses, a service that was once offered to students who participated in after school activities. Unfortunately, the administrators and the majority of the Board did not agree with us, so it is very likely parents will be charged a fee to reinstate this service.
We ask our colleagues on the Roxbury School Board to stop asking the question, Why do the voters of Roxbury continue to vote down school budgets? We already know the answer: Unchecked spending on administrative salaries. What we need to ask ourselves is, "How do we continue to provide an education for our children, without financially strangling the taxpayers who pay the bill?" Then, and only then, will we regain the trust of the taxpayers who have entrusted us with their money and their children's future.
A schedule of public school board meetings can be found on the Roxbury school website. We encourage members of the public to get involved and attend the school board meetings as often as possible. The next meeting is on June 15th. We hope to see you there.
Maureen Castriotta and Chris Rogers
Roxbury Township School Board Members
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Statement on 2009 / 2010 School Budget Reductions
First, we want to commend Councilmen Richard Zoschak and Gary Behrens for recognizing the $551,000 reduction recommended and approved by the town council fell short of the voter’s expectations and for voting no against the council’s resolution.
The school budget presented to the voters on April 21st consisted of a 6.3% or 2.8 million dollar increase to the tax levy for the 2009/2010 fiscal year.
The so called CUTS that have been presented to be made to this school budget are rather REDUCTIONS to the increase in this year’s tax levy.
We want to make clear… there are NO CUTS in the amount of money our school district will receive in the form of a tax levy this year as compared to what they actually received last year.
The truth is, for the 2009/2010 school year, the residents of Roxbury will be forced to pay an additional 5.1% or 2 and a quarter millions dollar for the school portion of their property taxes. Cuts BELOW last years tax levy funding level were NEVER discussed.
In one of the worst economic crises since the great depression… while other school districts ARE cutting back on spending… and while the New Jersey School Board’s Association has announced they are “Doing More With Less” and have released details that it will cut it’s own spending budget by 5.2% this year... the Roxbury Board of Education continues to allocate increased funding for the cost of administration and contract settlements.
To put it simply, this year the majority of our school board and the administrative team choose to spend money faster than it could be taxed.
Let us also make clear, no one campaigned or went to the polls to take away funding from school children as presented by our administration. As stated by Mayor DiFillippo, a vote against the budget was not an attack on education. There was, however, a campaign against bloated administrative costs and excessive union demands.
The reality is, those who have sought and defended bloated administrative costs and excessive union demands are the ones who take away funding from school children. As we saw at last week’s joint council/school board meeting, our children were used as pawns to further the financial gain of others and we as residents allowed it.
In our opinion, throughout the last few weeks, administration and employees of our school district used the students and the public to spread inaccurate information for one and only one purpose - to see to it that administrative costs would NOT be cut and tonight, if the Board approves this resolution, they will have succeeded - no significant cuts will be to administrative costs.
This school board and those who were placed as guardians to see that taxpayer’s funds are being spent wisely should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen.
As elected officials, we should NOT continue to ask ourselves year after year, “Why does the public vote school budgets down in Roxbury?” We already know the answer. Rather, we should ask the question - "When will the school board listen to and respect the voters message, fix the problem, and start spending our tax dollars responsibly?"
Maureen Castriotta and Chris Rogers
Roxbury School Board Members
The school budget presented to the voters on April 21st consisted of a 6.3% or 2.8 million dollar increase to the tax levy for the 2009/2010 fiscal year.
The so called CUTS that have been presented to be made to this school budget are rather REDUCTIONS to the increase in this year’s tax levy.
We want to make clear… there are NO CUTS in the amount of money our school district will receive in the form of a tax levy this year as compared to what they actually received last year.
The truth is, for the 2009/2010 school year, the residents of Roxbury will be forced to pay an additional 5.1% or 2 and a quarter millions dollar for the school portion of their property taxes. Cuts BELOW last years tax levy funding level were NEVER discussed.
In one of the worst economic crises since the great depression… while other school districts ARE cutting back on spending… and while the New Jersey School Board’s Association has announced they are “Doing More With Less” and have released details that it will cut it’s own spending budget by 5.2% this year... the Roxbury Board of Education continues to allocate increased funding for the cost of administration and contract settlements.
To put it simply, this year the majority of our school board and the administrative team choose to spend money faster than it could be taxed.
Let us also make clear, no one campaigned or went to the polls to take away funding from school children as presented by our administration. As stated by Mayor DiFillippo, a vote against the budget was not an attack on education. There was, however, a campaign against bloated administrative costs and excessive union demands.
The reality is, those who have sought and defended bloated administrative costs and excessive union demands are the ones who take away funding from school children. As we saw at last week’s joint council/school board meeting, our children were used as pawns to further the financial gain of others and we as residents allowed it.
In our opinion, throughout the last few weeks, administration and employees of our school district used the students and the public to spread inaccurate information for one and only one purpose - to see to it that administrative costs would NOT be cut and tonight, if the Board approves this resolution, they will have succeeded - no significant cuts will be to administrative costs.
This school board and those who were placed as guardians to see that taxpayer’s funds are being spent wisely should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen.
As elected officials, we should NOT continue to ask ourselves year after year, “Why does the public vote school budgets down in Roxbury?” We already know the answer. Rather, we should ask the question - "When will the school board listen to and respect the voters message, fix the problem, and start spending our tax dollars responsibly?"
Maureen Castriotta and Chris Rogers
Roxbury School Board Members
Friday, May 8, 2009
We need your help one more time!
DISCLAIMER
This blog post and it's content are not authorized by the Roxbury Township Board of Education. Furthermore, I am speaking on my own behalf and not that of the Roxbury Township Board of Education.
Chris Rogers - Roxbury School Board Member
UPDATE - the May 13th Town Council and Board of Education Meeting has been moved from Town Hall and will convene at the Horseshoe Lake Gymnasium, beginning at 7:45 pm.
Hi everyone,
We need your help one more time!
It seems as though some school board members are trying to over turn the will of the voters by encouraging some members of the public to show up to the council meeting on Wed, May 13th at 7:30pm and put pressure on the council members to make little or NO cuts in the budget increase presented in this year’s defeated school budget. It is my opinion that we must make sure the council knows that we did not vote NO on the 6.3% or 2.8 million dollar increase to simply have the council turn around and make little or NO significant cuts.
Please read the email below from Roxbury school board member Greg Somjen.
Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 13:53:52 -0400From: gsomjen@optonline.netSubject: School BudgetTo: gsomjen@optonline.net
Friends, Fellow Parents and Fellow Taxpayers,
Some of you may have seen online the daily record article. Allegedly Deputy Mayor Jim Rilee has suggested the town council will be recommending $1.1 million in cuts to our school districts budget. This represents 1.5% of our budget and would be devastating to our school system.
For years our budgets have failed and instead of building on prior years budgets we have to cut and end up taking two steps backwards.
On Wednesday, May 13th at 7:30 PM in the Municipal Building on Route 46 in Ledgewood there will be a joint meeting of the Town Council and Board of Education. Check the town and Board of Education web sites to confirm this meeting time and place.
I urge you to get a baby sitter or bring your kids but be present, these discussions will impact our kids significantly.
Greg Somjen…..a concerned Parent and Taxpayer
Please understand that no one is asking the school district to operate with less money than they had last year. The question is how much should we increase the budget? 2%, 4%, 6.3%?
Deputy Mayor Rilee and the rest of the council are NOT considering cuts in teaching staff, and will actually ADD one more teacher to the district. However, the council may have found several areas of administration and operating expenses to further examine.
On Wednesday, May 13th at 7:30 PM in the Municipal Building on Route 46 in Ledgewood please attend the joint meeting of the Town Council and Board of Education. Check the town http://www.roxburynj.us/ and Board of Education http://www.roxbury.org/ web sites to confirm this meeting time and place.
As you see, those who want to see little or NO cuts are being rallied and will show up to exert their influence.
I hope you are able to attend and speak your mind as well. There must come a day in our township's future when the public regularly votes in a favorable way upon fair and fiscally responsible school budgets. In my opinion, if elected officials continue to disregard the will of the voters, we will never come close to achieving that goal.
Please forward this post to everyone you know!
I hope to see you there,
Chris Rogers
Roxbury School Board Member
This blog post and it's content are not authorized by the Roxbury Township Board of Education. Furthermore, I am speaking on my own behalf and not that of the Roxbury Township Board of Education.
Chris Rogers - Roxbury School Board Member
UPDATE - the May 13th Town Council and Board of Education Meeting has been moved from Town Hall and will convene at the Horseshoe Lake Gymnasium, beginning at 7:45 pm.
Hi everyone,
We need your help one more time!
It seems as though some school board members are trying to over turn the will of the voters by encouraging some members of the public to show up to the council meeting on Wed, May 13th at 7:30pm and put pressure on the council members to make little or NO cuts in the budget increase presented in this year’s defeated school budget. It is my opinion that we must make sure the council knows that we did not vote NO on the 6.3% or 2.8 million dollar increase to simply have the council turn around and make little or NO significant cuts.
Please read the email below from Roxbury school board member Greg Somjen.
Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 13:53:52 -0400From: gsomjen@optonline.netSubject: School BudgetTo: gsomjen@optonline.net
Friends, Fellow Parents and Fellow Taxpayers,
Some of you may have seen online the daily record article. Allegedly Deputy Mayor Jim Rilee has suggested the town council will be recommending $1.1 million in cuts to our school districts budget. This represents 1.5% of our budget and would be devastating to our school system.
For years our budgets have failed and instead of building on prior years budgets we have to cut and end up taking two steps backwards.
On Wednesday, May 13th at 7:30 PM in the Municipal Building on Route 46 in Ledgewood there will be a joint meeting of the Town Council and Board of Education. Check the town and Board of Education web sites to confirm this meeting time and place.
I urge you to get a baby sitter or bring your kids but be present, these discussions will impact our kids significantly.
Greg Somjen…..a concerned Parent and Taxpayer
Please understand that no one is asking the school district to operate with less money than they had last year. The question is how much should we increase the budget? 2%, 4%, 6.3%?
Deputy Mayor Rilee and the rest of the council are NOT considering cuts in teaching staff, and will actually ADD one more teacher to the district. However, the council may have found several areas of administration and operating expenses to further examine.
On Wednesday, May 13th at 7:30 PM in the Municipal Building on Route 46 in Ledgewood please attend the joint meeting of the Town Council and Board of Education. Check the town http://www.roxburynj.us/ and Board of Education http://www.roxbury.org/ web sites to confirm this meeting time and place.
As you see, those who want to see little or NO cuts are being rallied and will show up to exert their influence.
I hope you are able to attend and speak your mind as well. There must come a day in our township's future when the public regularly votes in a favorable way upon fair and fiscally responsible school budgets. In my opinion, if elected officials continue to disregard the will of the voters, we will never come close to achieving that goal.
Please forward this post to everyone you know!
I hope to see you there,
Chris Rogers
Roxbury School Board Member
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Thank you Roxbury!
I would like to thank the taxpayers, residents and parents who came out to cast their vote in this year's Roxbury School Board election. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve our community by working towards a better education for our children, while balancing the financial burden on the taxpayers. I do hope to be effective in my role and to stay true to my dedication and commitment to serving the people of Roxbury, rather than the interests of other third parties.
I would like to congratulate my running mate, Maureen Castriotta, on her successful re-election. I do intend to look to her for guidance regarding solutions to many issues this coming year. The voters have clearly pointed the school board in a new direction, and I look forward to walking with Maureen and the rest of the school board down this new path to success.
Lastly, I would like to congratulate newly elected board member Annette Brooks, as well as thank Hildi Libby and Robert Badini for their years of service on the Roxbury School Board.
I do look forward to seeing everyone at the next Roxbury School Board meeting on Monday, April, 27th.
I hope to see you there!
Chris Rogers
I would like to congratulate my running mate, Maureen Castriotta, on her successful re-election. I do intend to look to her for guidance regarding solutions to many issues this coming year. The voters have clearly pointed the school board in a new direction, and I look forward to walking with Maureen and the rest of the school board down this new path to success.
Lastly, I would like to congratulate newly elected board member Annette Brooks, as well as thank Hildi Libby and Robert Badini for their years of service on the Roxbury School Board.
I do look forward to seeing everyone at the next Roxbury School Board meeting on Monday, April, 27th.
I hope to see you there!
Chris Rogers
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