Moorestown BOE Passes Preliminary Budget, Amends School Calendar

MOORESTOWN, NJ — This column is later than normal because the board meeting scheduled for March 20 was delayed a week due to snow. Nevertheless, March was still productive and included the passage of the preliminary budget, a presentation on a revised middle school schedule, and an emphasis on school security.

At the March 27 meeting, the board passed the preliminary 2018-19 budget. This passage sends the budget to the county education office for review, but changes can be made prior to final adoption. Currently, the budget calls for a $92 tax increase on the average assessed home of $450,470, or about a 1.9% increase after debt service is factored in.

About 80% of the budget is for salaries and benefits, or $57,963,680. Moorestown was fortunate to receive an additional $306,665 in state aid. Several members, including myself, expressed a desire to look at different ways to use this aid prior to the public hearing and final adoption.

A presentation was given on the new schedule for the William Allen Middle School. The revised schedule increases student/teacher contact time by 12 minutes per day, re-integrates writing and math to core content curriculum, supports students with unique learning needs, better utilizes teachers within their content, and streamlines exploratory arts and cycles. This schedule results in students starting 12 minutes earlier (7:35 a.m. vs. 7:47 a.m.) and having seven 51-minute periods with a 40-minute lunch. I encourage you to view the full presentation online.

The board approved a revision to the 2017-18 district calendar because of school closing for snow. This lowers the number of student days to 180 from 182, but staff days will remain at 185. The revised version can be found at www.mtps.com.

The board made a number of personnel approvals, but one to note is the approval of Shawn Counard as the Supervisor of Physical Education and Health and Athletic Director for the District. His position becomes effective on July 1, 2018.

Save the date for the first part of the Board’s new Community Engagement Series on Wednesday, April 18, 7 p.m. in the William Allen Middle School Media Center. These programs will take place 2-3 times per year as a way for the community to have a dialogue with members of the board on relevant school topics. The topic for the first program will be school safety and security.

This topic remains a key focus for Moorestown. Recently, staff attended an in-service on school security to discuss plans and procedures, hear from the Moorestown Police Department, and listen to a keynote speech by John-Michael Keyes of the “I Love U Guys” Foundation. The district plans to continue this emphasis moving forward with training, exercises, and drills.

The next regular meeting of the Board of Education is Tuesday, April 17, 2018, 7 p.m. in the William Allen Middle School Media Center. It would be great to see you at an upcoming meeting and please do not hesitate to reach out to the Board or myself at any time.

The views and content in this column do not necessarily represent those of the Moorestown Board of Education as a whole or any other individual member.

About this column: In this column, Moorestown Board of Education Member Brandon Pugh provides monthly updates on what's going on in the school district and on the BOE.