Highlights from Monday Night Board of Education Meeting

The Board of Education met Monday night and discussed topics ranging from replacing the outgoing principal of Glen Rock High School, to the borough's sister city in tsunami-ravaged Japan.

Absent from the meeting, which lasted just over an hour, were Business Administrator Michael Rinderknecht and Trustee Barbara Steuert.

Below is a quick list of some of the issues discussed at Monday's meeting:

Elementary Bike and Walk to School Day in the Works?

Board President Rona McNabola, speaking on behalf of the BOE's Policy Committee, said the group hopes to draft a policy stating "that we like the idea that kids bike to school."

She also mentioned that Green Up Glen Rock — a community-wide group of volunteers with the goal of reducing Glen Rock's carbon footprint — is having their annual elementary school walk to school event on April 28.

Shifting Responsibility for Field Lines

Trustee Carlo Cella reported that at a Recreation Advisory Council Meeting last week he, on behalf of the BOE, rejected the town proposal to shift responsibility for lining athletic fields.

Board members say they still haven't seen in writing any definite plans of action from the borough on the issue — and different borough sources communicated disparate messages on the issue to board members.

At a Feb. 28 meeting, McNabola told the board and community members that on Feb. 18 she received a letter from the Borough Council stating they would no longer be responsible for maintaining the lines on athletic fields across the borough.

Cella said that the board discussed the matter in closed session before Monday's BOE meeting and they "rejected the concept."

"In our view this is just reverse shared services," he said. "It's really just moving money from one budget to another budget, and it's not going to save the tax payers any money."

Cella said that, with salary and benefits, the man-hour costs shifted to the schools could be up to $20,000-$25,000 per year.

High School Principal Search

School Superintendent David Verducci reported on finding a replacement for GRHS Principal James McCarthy who will be leaving at the end of the school year.

Verducci said that internal postings have gone up, as well as advertisements in the Bergen County Record, Star Ledger, the Journal News (that serves Rockland County in New York) and Education Week, as well as with various other school organizations and universities.

According to Verducci, the application deadline is Friday, April 1.

"We're hoping to move this process along," he said. "I'd like to have a nominee to the board in time for the reorganization meeting ... my absolute goal is to get that vacancy filled on July 1."

Public Discussion Session Wednesday

The Community Relations Committee, headed by BOE trustee Randi Blumberg, is sponsoring a Rock Talk Live event this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Room S114 of the Glen Rock High School science wing.

Blumberg reinforced that anyone unable to attend the meeting is welcome to submit ideas to the board via email to schoolbudget@glenrocknj.org. She stressed that person sending the email must include their full name and address — as one would have to at a public question session at a Board of Education meeting.

Japanese Sister City Safe for Now

Just before closing the meeting McNabola said that Glen Rock's Japanese sister city, Onomachi, was safe for the time being.

According to McNabola — who spoke with someone in touch with residents of the city — Onomachi is inland and was "not severely affected by the tsunami but definitely affected by the earthquake" that struck last Friday.

The city is only 30 miles away from the nuclear reactors that, as of Monday night were in danger of causing a "nuclear catastrophe," according to the New York Times.

Glen Rock has had an exchange program with the Japanese city since 1992. The program is organized by borough residents Kristen Stewart O'Brien and her husband Stephen, according to an article published last year in the Glen Rock Gazette.