Resident Blasts 'Delaying Tactic' on Regional School Study

Editor's Note: This letter was sent by resident Brian Cavanaugh via e-mail.

Township Committee members have been responding to emails sent by some of you concerned citizens.  I have seen these responses.  I also noticed that the Township finally posted its long-promised "Mission Statement" on its Web site Thursday. I have reviewed that "resolution." I want to take this opportunity to point a few things out. 

Committeeman Strobel has stated in emails to multiple residents that the Township Committee "voted unanimously in support of funding a study at our last meeting." What he leaves out is that the Committee has not yet resolved to appropriate any money for this year, as it has been asked to do for the past 11 weeks. The Committee has only resolved to circulate a Mission Statement it has drafted to the other governing bodies and k-8 school boards taht it will require at least 2 other governing bodies and 3 school boards to execute prior to the Committee's deciding to "resolve" to appropriate funds for this study.  Since the study is only to be funded by the governing bodies, we don't to take the time, at this juncture, to obtain sufficient school board support (although, we will need that support later to propose an alternative to the State DOE).  Also, the two other required governing bodies have already appropriated money for this study, with conditions that are considerably less stringent, but entirely consistent with, than those contained in the Committee's "mission statement."  I see this entire Mission Statement, especially given the 9-week delay in simply drafting, approving and publishing this mission statement, as simply one more delaying tactic. 

Moreover, Mr. Strobel appears dead set against the Township contributing more than $10,000 (we have asked for $15,000) of the minimum of $30,000 required to fund this study, despite the fact that the Township stands to gain approximately half of the $97 million of present value savings from succeeding in this endeavor. 

Sam Tolley, in his emails, has claimed that "we" (the Township Committee, I presume) "have funds in the budget" and that "arguing about specific amounts is premature." 

So, it is true that $10,000 is "in" the 2012 budget, but the Committee has not yet appropriated the funds for the 2013 budget.  Unfortunately, that is a fact.  Also, he seems to be open to the $15,000 amount, which I'm happy to see, unlike Mr. Strobel.  However, this is the time to lead by setting our appropriation at $15,000, if we want to communicate to the other towns we need that we are serious about being a good partner.  Commit to the $15,000 now.

This is, of course, all a tremendous waste of time and Township resources, an obvious attempt to convince Township residents that the Committee has been "working hard" to "do things the right way,"  while continuing to pursue their strategy of delaying this process as much as possible in the hope that we cannot get an initiative on the ballot by Election Day, Nov. 5. 

Again, what we want is for the Committee to adopt the resolution, appropriating the $15,000 requested, and the RFP that I have publicly proposed.  (This Committee, by the way, has elected not to comment on my RFP in the 2 1/2 weeks since I provided it to them. More time wasting.)

The last issue that Mr. Strobel seems to make, echoing comments I've heard from Committee members, is the following -- this should not be just about money, but also about education.  I agree wholeheartedly -- its about both.  I have consistently maintain that we should make sure that our High School educational quality maintains it current level at a bare minimum, but that my intent is to redirect some of our own tax dollars that are currently spend on Central HS to improve education at Mendham HS. We derived no benefit from being linked to Central HS. We may derive a benefit from being linked to certain people, including Mackey Prendergast, associated with the Regional High School District. With alot more money to invest in education at Mendham HS, we can afford to have the best, whatever that is deemed to be.  It is simply not rational for anyone to argue that the level of education will become worse at Mendham HS if we have more resources to invest in its educational programs.

There are arguments both for and against the performance by Mackey Prendergast and the District administration. I can go through those arguments that I've heard, and seen supported by independent data, if you are interested.  Suffice it to say that, whether or not individuals associated with the current regional high school administration are involved with Mendham HS going forward, the fact the Mendham HS will have access to significantly greater (technically, up to 33% more than currently available) financial resources will provide it the ability to invest as necessary to have the best, without costing our communities a dime more than we currently pay in aggregate already.  Of couse, the high school does not likely need anything close to this much additional funding, so substantial tax reductions, particularly in Mendham Township are certain. 

I've copied the Committee members on this email so that the know, in advance, what issues I have with their latest gambit.  I don't want them wasting more time in the meeting trying to ascertain what exact problems exist with their "mission statement" approach. 

Let's insist the the Township Committee stop squandering the precious time we have remaining -- our first chance in 25 years and, perhaps, one that will be gone forever again next year if we don't act now -- to lower our taxes and improve our high school.  Our children deserve a better high school, our taxpayers (including our elderly on fixed incomes) deserve lower taxes.  Those thinking about selling their homes deserve the higher property values that will result from better schools and lower taxes. Let's take back our town this Monday night (at 7:30 p.m., if you want to attend and be heard) and start moving forward again.

Brian Cavanaugh

Mendham Township and Mendham Borough