$83.7 Million School Budget Passes

Fair Lawn voters passed an $83,673,140 school budget on Wednesday that includes a $73,158,200 tax levy—representing an increase of 1.75 percent from 2010—and a savings of about $240,000 through the potential elimination of seven of 63 custodial positions.

Superintendent Bruce Watson said that if cut, the custodians would be replaced with "prospective third-party company employees." The school budget takes the projected savings from custodial cuts into consideration, but the cuts have not been finalized, Watson said.

Three Board of Education candidates, Susan Gioia (2,165 votes) and incumbents Elyss Frenkel (2,295 votes) and John L. Mancinelli (2,165 votes), won uncontested races for three-year terms. Board member Lisa Yourman chose not to seek re-election. Not including absentee ballots, there were 2,329 votes in favor of the budget and 1,360 against. Frenkel said that "for this to happen, by such a margin, that's really incredible."

Gioia is an elementary school teacher in Palisades Park who has previously worked for school districts in Alpine, Upper Saddle River, Tenafly and Newark.

"I have a very varied background and I believe I can bring a lot of positive things to the table," Gioia said.

Fair Lawn schools received a for 2011, following a $4.1 million decrease in 2010.

Mancinelli, who won his seventh term on the board, said Fair Lawn's last two school budgets "have presented the most difficult decisions that I’ve ever seen this district have to face, and it really brought to mind for me the oath we take when we become board members," which is "to deliver the required educational services to the children of the district and strive to do that in the most economic way possible."

The district's proposal to privatize custodial services drew impassioned reaction from attendees when the board as well as a pre-hearing protest outside of that night.

Watson said at that the privatization of custodial services "is not yet finalized, but if we do have to move forward in that direction, nothing will change with regard to the safety of our students.” He said that if the cuts are indeed made, the board’s attorney has a proposed contract in place for incoming third-party employees, who would be subject to background checks and other scrutiny.

“We don’t want to cut back staff, but unfortunately, it may be a step we have to take in order to preserve educational programs,” he said.

Gene Kuffel, president of the Fair Lawn Education Association, said at the March 28 protest that "when you take a look at custodians in any school, I think it's important to know that anyone who comes into a school is part of a family."

"It's just like a house," Kuffel said. "You don't let a stanger into your house to just stay there, and so we want to make sure that the students and the staff are safe and secure, and to do what needs to be done for their education."

Before the board adopted the budget March 28, resident Diana A. Mele said the school district's lowest-paid employees—such as custodians, food handlers, and transportation workers—have become a "target" during tight budget times even though they "work hard to serve our children and take pride in the school system as well."

Gene Packer, a former Board of Education member, explained that night how the board also explored privatizing custodial services while he served on it.

"If we outsource custodial work with a private contractor, we will lose control over who is inside our building," Packer said.

Mancinelli, who has served on the board for 18 years, said that during tough economic times, the board should not give up its "vision of where we’re going to be in the next 18 years."

“You don’t want to abandon the improvements that you put togther with the [school district's] administration just because the dollars aren’t there,” Mancinelli said.

Frenkel, who has been on the board for 16 years, said she is "overwhelmed, and proud, and excited to be a participating member of this community."

Gioia, who lived in Glen Ridge for 15 years before returning to Fair Lawn (where she lived since age 1) in 2008, said she had a "very positive" experience as a student in the borough at , , and .

"I still talk about some of those teachers," said Gioia, who is also a sales associate for Coldwell Banker in Franklin Lakes. Specifically, Gioia recalled her first grade teacher, Mrs. Levy, who she said "inspired me to love school" through activities such as making potato latkes with the class. Gioia said she has stayed in touch with a first grade classmate, Sau Lan, who currently lives in Branchburg.

The board of education "is a machine of human beings who must work together interactively and supportively of one another, and in this human-being intentisve activity you’ve got to put together the right people all the time," Mancinelli said.

Here is a table with key figures from the 2011-12 Fair Lawn school budget:

REVENUE

EXPENDITURES