Status of Non-Tenured School Employees Likely Released at June BOE Meetings

Copies of a yellow packet detailing the reappointments of tenured secretarial staff—their contracts are renewed for next year—was made available to the public at Tuesday night's Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board of Education meeting. 

Meanwhile, the status of other non-tenured employees, including assistant principal of athletics Rob Harmer, will be announced publicly after the BOE gets the final district budget numbers, Superintendent Margaret Hayes said.   

"It reflects only secretaries at this point. All of our non-tenured folks are currently in non-renewed status," she said, adding that the board is waiting to see how much funding is available for next year "after we get the budget essentially balanced and we know how much the town council reduced the tax levy by. We have to analyze the budget."   

The contracts of tenured employees will be renewed May 25, and Hayes said that the board will probably publicize non-tenured employee renewals during one of the BOE's June meetings. She added that the "vast majority" of these employees will have their contracts renewed, but "we're not in a position to project" just how many they can't rehire.

"At the moment I cannot publicly comment on personnel issues," Hayes said.

Last Friday, 227 non-tenured employees were given non-renewal notices informing them that their contract would end June 30. School positions are not guaranteed next year, as the district's budget has been decreased, Hayes had said in a previous article.

Eighty-two teachers, four secretaries, 11 custodians and 130 school aides were given the notice. The deadline to notify the employees was May 15. Dr. Hayes personally signed every letter.

At the beginning of Tuesday's meeting, Hayes also praised the district's scores in the state's performance review for public schools known as the Quality Single Accountability Continuum, or QSAC. As the district scored at least an 80 percent in each area, it was tagged as a "high performing" district in a letter from the Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Education. The district's highest score was a 92 percent in fiscal management.

She thanked both teachers and administrative employees for their hard work.

"This was a comprehensive review and we did very well and kudos to everyone in this district," Hayes said.

Although the superintendent noted that there is always room for improvement, "the good news is we have passed and with very respectable scores."

Taking his turn at the microphone during the meeting, Business Administrator Anthony Del Sordi announced that the outstanding balance on a bond totaling about $2 million to build the turf installed at the high school in 2008 has been reduced to $670,000. That means the district will be saving about $400,000 annually in two years' time, said President Trip Whitehouse. The balance will be paid off in about a year and a half, a "significantly shorter" period.

"Every little bit helps," he said, adding that "Mr. Del Sordi has been able to craft a faster payback."