THE LMUA said NO more money for the Lacey Board of Education

I need to say thank you to the Lacey Township Committee for saying NO to taking more money from the LMUA’s surplus funds to give to the school district- I forget which commissioner said it- but he said the School District needs to stand on its own two feet!!

I’ve been saying that for the past two years.

I think by now it’s no secret that I find the $92 million dollar School District referendum slated for March 11, 2025 a little out of line. Also these big bucks in the referendum CAN NOT restore the cuts to Courtesy Bussing- I hope everyone realizes that. It is also not going to provide AC in all 6 buildings- it is replacement HVAC items -not upgrades.

After what happened in 2008-2009 with the previous solar referendum- promised at no cost to the taxpayers- that line fell through the trap door!

The District wanted to own their solar panels to reap the SREC’s- solar renewable energy credits. The problem was solar was beginning to take off. At the onset, the SREC’s were very profitable- and this was why the public was TOLD the project would pay for itself- the SREC income was supposed to cover the bond payments.

But as luck would have it, this was like playing the stock market. A few years after the project settled in, yes the District was getting ⅓ of their electricity from the solar panels- BUT the SREC values tanked!! This is when the taxpayers were stuck paying nearly the full bond payment. The SREC’s were anticipated to last at an unrealistic value- and I didn’t learn that till much later in the game.

So here is the School District now proposing to throw your money in the trash by discarding the solar panels- and going back to the grid for full price electricity when they couldn’t afford that bill back in 2009!! Makes you wonder??

Something is terribly wrong with the pricing of this referendum and that’s why I’m against it. It’s not that I don’t know the roofs need work- but where’s the breakdown of anticipated costs? I think FVHD has taken lessons from DiCara Rubino and inflated all the costs.

The taxpayers are still stuck for 20 years with $3.5 million in interest against the overborrowed $8.2 million from the $19.8 million dollar solar project. (read about that here)

https://www.nj.gov/comptroller...

This is 3.5 million reasons not to trust this $92 million dollar referendum.

Please also try and remember, the 2008-2009 referendum was the brainchild of Mr. Starodub and Mr. Savage. Our old retired Supt and BA. The current administration - interim Supt Zylinski - was hired by Mr. Starodub and worked under Vanessa Clark Pereira who was somewhat trained, hired and mentored by Rich Starodub.

Where is Vanessa Clark Pereira now? She “retired” from the public school system, a year earlier than her contract expiration, and she is now working at Red Bank Catholic High School as principal. She didn’t really retire- she is now working on a new pension with the Catholic archdiocese if she stays long enough. Who ran the Lacey School District since Mr. Wigley left? Vanessa. Then Will, her Assistant, got the Interim Job.

When Mr. Starodub left and Dr. Sandra Anthony (Brower) came in as Superintendent, one of the first things she did was remove Will Zylinski as principal of the High School. I went to talk to her about the goose dog on staff (she didn’t know the District had a 4 legged employee)- and she hardly believed me but I had proof…

She then told me why she had to remove Will as principal and that she would have fired him if he wasn’t in the union. Let that sink in.
She also told me she created the District Supervisor position so he could stay.

The School District has a long history of fiscal incompetence (which I witnessed) and bad decision making which has led to where we are right now. The $92 million dollar Referendum in its current form is unsupportable and unsalvageable except for those who have this one track agenda. The school district can gaslight all they want with why we are at this juncture. Ultimately it really is time to put up or shut up. The taxpayers of Lacey really need to stand up and show up at this election.

Send a strong message to the School Board and District that they are totally misguided in their actions. The lesson they need to learn is the buck stops here with the taxpayers!! Live within your means!

Be sure to vote on March 11, 2025.

Respectfully submitted,

Regina Discenza, former 2 term board member

Forked River NJ
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