Students, Parents Fearful of Potential Reductions to Vocational Classes

Dozens of students, many wearing cosmetology smocks, attended last night’s board of education meeting to ask that the high school’s vocational education program be spared from budget cuts.

The board president, meanwhile, told students and parents involved with the popular program that it will continue, but potentially will be altered.

“The board of education is not eliminating vocational education. The question is whether it will continue as it is presently constituted,” William Freda, the board president, told the audience.

He also stressed that the district’s $59 million budget is preliminary and no final decisions on vocational education or any other spending have yet been made.

“The budget is very fluid” right now, Freda said.

Earlier this month the board approved a tentative budget that includes a separate referendum question asking voters to approve $302,000 for vocational education. This means voters will have to approve those funds specifically in order for them to be awarded.

The main budget question, if approved by itself, would result in no tax increase. If both questions are approved, there would be a slight tax increase, according to the tentative school budget.  

But the budget now being considered by the county superintendent may still be changed, a point Freda made repeatedly last night. The county superintendent could recommend changes to the tentative budget  or the board itself could still alter it before the budget goes before voters April 27.

There will be a public hearing on the budget March 28. Board members last night deferred most questions on the spending plan until that meeting.

Belleville voters have a history of defeating school budgets. In the past, boards of education have tried to break out individual items from the budget and place them in separate questions, essentially giving voters more options other than rejecting the entire spending plan outright.

The students and parents who spoke last night, however, are fearful that voters won’t approve the additional vocational funds -- potentially leaving them in limbo.

Jacqueline Cerca, a parent who holds a teaching degree but is unemployed, told the board that the high school’s vocational program provides students with marketable skills -- skills that might be even more valuable than a college degree.

“They are going to need the vocational program to set up their economic future,” said Cerca, whose son is learning auto mechanics. “It’s a services-for-the-public world out there.”

A cosmetology student, Alexandria McNish, asked the board if students now partly through the multi-year vocational programs would be able to continue next year. She also lashed out at the board, blaming it for making poor spending choices at the expense of education.

“Where is the money going? You guys are spending it on [security] cameras, IDs. I see books from the 1980s.”  

Board member Vincent Strumolo, who took vocational education himself at Belleville High, defended the program, saying he was able to get “a nice career coming out of here” because of what he’d learned.  

He also expressed concern that should a vocational education question appear on the ballot and be defeated, the funding could not be restored for at least a year.

Other board members, however, said that given the economic climate, they had no choice but to give voters the option of passing a budget without a tax increase. Board members also pointed out that crafting a spending plan likely to pass is a very difficult challenge, a point Strumolo conceded.

“Any decisions we made were not taken lightly,” said John Rivera, who chaired the budget committee. “...[I]t’s not easy to scale back.”   

“I don’t have the numbers but home foreclosures are up,” said board member Joseph Longo. “We are trying our best to deal with these things.”  

Board vice-president Peter Zangari, meanwhile, told the students and parents they may have to “get your message to the voters” in order to spare the program from cuts. Longo also said students may be able to attend Essex County’s vocational education program, if cuts are ultimately made to the BHS program.