Referendum Vote, Board Elections and Budget Talks Highlight Month for Moorestown BOE

The month of October has been a busy and productive one for the Moorestown Board of Education and the school district.

October saw the passage of the Building Excellence Referendum, initial budget discussions, a school board candidate forum, and various special activities.

At the monthly Board of Education meeting on Oct. 21, Board Secretary/Business Administrator Lynn Shugars gave a presentation on early budget projections for 2015-2016. The presentation included potential budget numbers based on assumptions, usage and availability of banked cap, enrollment numbers and health benefits, among other items.

It is important to understand that these are purely initial discussions because several elements are still unknown, including likely health benefit increases and state aid.

Updates in the budget process will be included in future editions of this column. A copy of the presentation can be found here.

The BOE Curriculum Committee announced that a new standards based report card was developed by administrators, teachers, parents and BOE members to evaluate students in Grades Pre-K through third.

This report card will provide information on students’ progress related to the Common Core Standards, which provides strengths and weaknesses specific to each content area by using five performance indicators (not evaluated and ratings of 1-4).

Sample report cards and specific assessed components can be found on pages 181-196 of the BOE October Exhibit.

Also as many know, both questions of the Building Excellence Referendum held on Sept. 30 passed. Next steps include selecting a civil engineer and a construction manager, closing on bonds in December to take advantage of low interest rates, and scheduling/planning projects to ensure minimal impact on normal operations. Progress on the projects will be covered in this column until completion.

On Oct. 20, the Moorestown Home and School Association in conjunction with the League of Women Voters held the 2014 Meet the Candidates Night, during which all seven candidates for the Board of Education spoke. Each candidate is seeking a full term, which will start in January 2015 and end in January 2018. The candidates in ballot order are Frank Gilanelli, Maurice Richard Weeks III, Peter Palko, Andrew Roberts, Ann Marie Casinelli, Caryn Shaw, and Jack Lance. I encourage all to vote on Nov. 4.

On Nov. 2, the second annual Paige’s Green Dream 5k walk in memory of Paige Holland will take place at the Moorestown High School, which supports the Epilepsy Foundation of America. Contact Robin Leibman at robin98@comcast.net for more information.

Finally, be sure to check the district calendar at www.mtps.com because there are numerous days off and delayed openings in November.

The next regular monthly Board of Education meeting will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the William Allen Middle School Media Center. It would be great to see you at an upcoming meeting. In the meantime do not hesitate to reach out to the board as a whole, or myself if you need anything, or have any questions.

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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.