School Chief to Donate $300 to Cub Scouts

Hopatcong schools Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano said Monday night at a Board of Education meeting he would personally write a check to cover a borough Cub Scouts group's school facility usage fees for the upcoming year.

Four representatives from Cub Scouts Pack 88 said the group would have great difficulty affording the district's fees, which pack Master Marshall Speizer said he estimated would be around $300, and hoped to discuss the fees with the Board of Education.

Then Maranzano offered the group a donation.

"I'm going to offer this to you, and I've done it in the past: I will pay, myself, your per-use fee if it's in the range of $300," he said, drawing applause from the usually large crowd.

Speizer said he was very thankful for the donation.

"He's never helped us like this before," Speizer said. "But making a donation like this just fanastic. ... It goes a long way."

Nancy Boehem, a Cub Scouts parent, said the group has recently had to cut its membership dues to keep children involved.

"I'm thrilled," she said. "It's the kindest thing. He really cares about our scouting and he really cares about the Scouts."

The announcement came moments after Board of Education President Cliff Lundin said he would ask the facilities committee to meet with Business Administrator Theresa Sierchio to review the tier-based fees, where were implemented last year after the district lost $1.7 million in state aid and had its preliminary budget trimmed $730,000 by the borough council. Non-profits like the Scouts fall under the second tier and would be charged $10 per use or $200 a year per building.

Maranzano did defend the board's policy on usage fees, however.

"I don't want you personalize this because I heard some of that," Maranzano said. "It's not that we're trying to put it on you. It's that we're trying to be consistent across the board here. Those people who come in for profit are spending thousands of dollars for an event. Everybody else is paying $10."

"The problem is this: We're charged with providing a balanced budget, and [Sierchio is] on the front line of that every day. She does a remarkable job for us. But these are tough decisions the school has to make and we're trying to do it in everyone's best interest."