My takeaway from the Board of Education meeting on 4/8/21 is that, in general, the residents and parents of Berkeley Heights have very different ideas from the administration and Board of Education in terms of what is the BEST way to start the 2021 school year. While I appreciate the time spent on the presentation there is a lot of information needed to better understand the impact of the scenarios. I have included my email to the Board of Education and Superintendent and the responses to the questions I received. While I am grateful for both the information provided and the timely response, there are a lot more questions and holes in the details that I would like to hear before any plan is surveyed and ultimately voted on.
Hours after citizens praised scenario 3 during the 4/8/21 Board meeting, an email was sent dismissing the plan as not viable due to the annual $500,000 extra staffing costs. After reading the email I was left wondering why the plan was presented if it was so unreasonable. Scenario 3 (moving 1st grades to their local elementary school and redistricting the Murray Hill residents from Hughes to Woodruff) presented the least amount of change for the greatest amount of families and students while also providing space for full day kindergarten (“FDK”).
Below is my email (from 4/12/21) communication with the district. Please note my email is in plain font and the district’s replies are in bold font. I have exported the unedited text directly from the email chain.
Dear Ms. Kapuscinksi,
Question number two will take a considerable amount of time to answer. I'm going to answer the others below in red.
On Mon, Apr 12, 2021 at 9:39 AM Laura Kapuscinski wrote:
Dear Dr. Varley and Members of the Board of Education,
Thank you to all who spent time on the presentation of possible scenarios for our elementary schools. I would like to request detailed information to the questions listed below to fully understand each of the scenarios 3, 4 and 5. This information would be helpful to provide publicly prior to the town hall session on Wednesday.
1. In the 4/9 email from Dr. Varley, she states “scenario 3 would necessitate a minimum increase of $500,000.00 annually in staffing because this configuration would require additional special education and related arts teachers and would also severely inhibit our ability to share staff.” Would someone please clarify what specifically this means and HOW only scenario 3 makes such a financial impact? No mention of any financial impacts on staffing or other expenses were mentioned or listed in the plan for scenario 3, 4 or 5.
When you have five grade levels in one school, it makes it difficult to create a schedule that works for all levels. Therefore, the district would need to hire a minimum of 6 teachers. There would also need to be multiple lunches, thus hiring more lunch aides. 500K was a rough, low estimate.
The fewer grade levels there are in a school, the more flexibility there is in scheduling staff members, four and five also help us with teachers with similar expertise. We can currently hire part time staff members. We could not with five grade levels in one building. Thus scenario 4 and 5 will have less of a financial impact. Also, because there will be less busing, these scenarios are less expensive.
2. Reading through scenarios 3, 4 and 5 in conjunction with the current enrollment, I have made the chart below. Please list expenses for each scenario as it relates to the current expenses, please be advised of my note regarding sections for MKM:
https://tapinto-production.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/24361/PastedGraphic-1.pdf
3. Please provide line items for projected FDK expenses, including, but not limited to:
-Bathrooms (it was mentioned 4 rooms at MKM need to be converted) We budgeted $507,800 for construction costs
-Classroom supplies $65,000 was budgeted for classroom supplies and furniture
-In-room technology These classrooms already have technology
-Please also list all relevant expenses for outfitting these rooms including salary expenses for FDK staff We budgeted for 3 additional teachers - salaries & benefits - $246,000
4. Would you please explain under scenario 3, 4 and 5 what the projected class sizes (student per grade AND per section) for each school will be?
Right now, in our K-5’s class sizes range from 15-25 (K-2, 15-23) 3-5 (16-25) In the new projected model, class sizes would range from K-2 17-20, 3-5-21-23
5. How many UNUSED classrooms that already have bathrooms do our elementary schools have? If construction is not complete by September 2021, is there a back-up plan? Also, what is another plan for FDK that does not include upfront construction - where do we have space and where else could we make this work?
There are no unused classrooms with bathrooms. Construction is necessary as the state requires kindergarten classes to have bathrooms. We have identified the best physical locations for the FDK classrooms.
6. How will each of the scenarios 3, 4 and 5 impact traffic in town? Traffic surrounding the areas of MKM and TPH is a problem and it seems under plans 4 and 5 traffic will have the potential to impact the Woodruff area. With the cancellation of courtesy bussing this will continue to be a persistent problem for both families and residents of BH. Have you consulted with the BHPD to discuss traffic patterns? If so, please include the comprehensive traffic study for public review.
We do not anticipate a traffic problem in the Woodruff area as there are various drop off locations that parents are currently using will be able to continue to use under the new plan. Additionally, there will continue to be 2 buses arriving with students who live further than 2 miles away.
MKM will have less students arriving and departing as compared to our current scenario. During the pandemic, parents have been responsible for transporting their children and although there are more cars entering and exiting the parking lot, there have been a few changes to the way that students are dismissed which has lessened the congestion and made the overall dismissal shorter, thus, leaving less cars waiting on Mountain Ave.
There was no commissioned traffic study. Woodruff would be the only school with increased traffic. We did consult with BHPD.
7. Would you please clarify, under scenario 5 the transition for students entering 1st grade this fall. Would they continue staying at their elementary school for 2nd grade or would those students move back to MKM or Woodruff for grade 2, then move to MP or Hughes for grade 3, causing these students to transition to 3 schools in 3 years? If so, would you offer these students to stay at their elementary school for 2nd grade in the 2022-23 school year similarly how you offer rising 5th graders to stay at their current school for the fall?
Students in grade 1 in the fall would move to their home school for grade 2. Half would stay at MKM the other half would go to WW. Under the multiple scenarios, we could only leave the 5th grade at their “home” school.
8. After the public session at the 4/8 Board meeting it was quite clear the BOE, Superintendent, Parents and BH residents have very different ideas about the best rollout for 2021-22 school year. Would you please list pros AND cons for scenarios 3, 4 and 5 so we can fairly weigh all of the possible scenarios? It was a very biased presentation only listing the benefits of plan 4 and 5, because after reviewing all 5 scenarios and the presentation (multiple times) I can personally formulate pros and cons for each scenario.
The presentation lists the pros and cons. We know that students will be impacted and have to move schools. The only other con would be the loss of courtesy busing.
As always, I appreciate your commitment to being transparent and for providing the aforementioned information. I look forward to Wednesday’s meeting and working together to find the best plan with the least impact on our children for this fall.
Thank you!
-Laura Kapuscinski
While some of my questions were answered, many of my questions were left unanswered or did not contain the detail I was asking and hoping for. I requested pros and cons for all scenarios presented, if you refer to the presentation (link below) there is nothing positive listed for scenarios 1, 2 or 3 and nothing negative listed for scenarios 4 or 5. The information provided along with the lack of essential details regarding the scenarios that will require major changes to our schools this fall has left me with another question. Has the district spent a proper amount of time formulating, analyzing a complete budget, and understanding the effect each plan will have on the families and community of Berkeley Heights?
BOE Presentation on Reimagining K-5 Education:
"Many" - Google News
April 13, 2021 at 09:19PM
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Many Unanswered Questions - TAPinto.net
"Many" - Google News
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