Thursday, April 8, 2010

The School Board's Three-Legged Race

On April 20th, three candidates will vie for two seats on the Matawan-Aberdeen school board – Incumbent John (Jeff) Delaney, former board president Patricia Demarest, and Reverend Thelma Gattis. Only one will lose. Tragically, the booby prize will likely go to Rev. Gattis; a comeback for Demarest is a setback for the rest of us.

Historically, voters unfamiliar with the candidates tend to vote for those at the top of the list and Rev. Gattis will appear last on the ballot. Worse, Rev. Gattis is little known beyond the Cliffwood community, where she has been pastor of the St. Mark A.M.E. Zion Church since 2004. Additionally, voters may be wary of supporting someone who only changed her legal residence to Aberdeen in 2007, has had minimal involvement with the school district, and doesn’t pay property taxes. Nor is there any indication of Reverend Gattis running a strong campaign.

A Gattis victory would require very high negatives for her two opponents, which simply don’t exist beyond this blog.

Dr. Delaney’s main negative is his friendship with me. (Full Disclosure: Although I have not participated in any campaign meetings or made any campaign contributions, I do intend to support him.) Delaney is a highly credentialed longtime resident with an amazing personal story who’s been deeply involved in our school district for several years. During the past year alone, Delaney co-authored two of the board’s three goals and got our school policies in compliance with state law. (Our district scored 100% on QSAC.) Although he did not vote for Dr. O’Malley’s raise, last year, Delaney has been a strong supporter of our superintendent.

Ms. Demarest is presenting herself as the “everywoman” candidate. If you like Dr. O’Malley, she can point to her work with him during her term as president. If you don’t like him, she can point to her vote against his appointment. If you want low taxes, Demarest can point to the small tax increases during the “O’Malley” years. If you want more spending, she can point to her earlier years of large spending hikes.

Unfortunately, a Demarest victory would send a terrible message that our community is either oblivious to what happens on the school board or just doesn’t care. Here is the Demarest record:

A vote for Demarest is a vote against everything our district has achieved under Dr. O’Malley’s administration. Writing programs have been integrated with class curricula. For the first time, every school made AYP (adequate yearly progress) under No Child Left Behind. We’re now above average in state testing for our District Factor Group in over half of the exams. Spending levels are falling. We’ve reduced out-district placements by 10%.

Yet, Demarest opposed O’Malley’s appointment and still does. And for those who don’t think there’s reason to be afraid, remember this – One year ago, Demarest represented the majority.

Those who forget Pat Demarest’s history may doom our community to repeat it. And those who want Dr. O’Malley to stay shouldn’t be giving him reasons to leave. >>> Read more!

65 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow...what an "amazing" story about Dr. Delaney. I have goose bumps all over my body.

Aberdeener said...

Maybe you should ask Dr. Delaney about the time he confronted the Klan with guns drawn and then tell me if you have goose bumps.

Anonymous said...

Even though Delaney is probably a decent guy, you almost certainly cost him a lot of votes by endorsing him, possibly his reelection. Yes Joey, you are more hated than Kauff, hell, you may be more hated around here than that baby raper Coren.

Aberdeener said...

You flatter me :)

In all seriousness, this blog has never affected an election outcome and I doubt it will now. In case you forgot, Kauff and Co. won big.

Demarests 15 mins is over said...

Politics is politics. Just the same as dirt is dirt. Neither leaves you clean. Ms. Gattis along with Ms. Demarest have been nonexistant and very silent on major issues over the past year. Where were they over many major issues and programs before the most recent janitorial and staff layoff sitiuations. MISSING.
Where were they on many other integral and important decisions. MISSING. Where were they on many other issues or critical decisiosn or input on the schools. MISSING.
So why do they want to run. The answer is easy. They needed to get their names out their to continue to not be involved. MISSING is the desire and involvement that they should have put in the past year during a turbulent time. As for Ms. Gattis perhaps she needs to do something in our backyard to address the lack of participation in volunteerism, cleanups, neighborhood watch programs and more she should be championing. She wants to be involved. Where is she about the affordable housing that the crooks on the council are trying to shove down our throats. MISSING. It seems Ms. Gattis only comes out when her true prerequisite of caring involvement is obviously MISSING. Let her get that building torn down by milu if she wants to be involved in our community. Her dedication is good. Her occasional attempts or the filling of a spot on a ballot I reject. As for Ms. Demarest revenge and the need to cause turmoil is not a prerequisite for leadership. Her 15 minutes is up.
Mr. Delaney asks prudent questions and is experienced. Obviously he deserves his spot at the table. Two will win and we should wonder where the person to join Mr. Delaney on the board really wants to be and why. I am also still waiting on Jans ethics complaint to be disclosed and finalized. i am sure she is hoping it does not call for her resignation. I hope it does. Who will she shakedown for money next time. The janitors and teachers again. Some people don't learn from there mistakes. Do they Jan.

Anonymous said...

Jan Rubino and that ethics complaint is still not settled?-is Barza must have something planned for her replacement if it comes to that. Maybe Barbat-robot-o will come back for his second bite at O'Malley. God knows we don't need Zavorski-psycho back to just blame the big bad old boys for everything again.

?more hated then Norm? said...

That cant be. Norm takes millions for his friends at cme and Warren reports it for you to decide. Come on people Norm is the devil and the devil costs all of us plenty.

Anonymous said...

It would be good if O'Malley was challenged once in a while instead of being rubber stamped on every move. His biggest challenge to date is this budget and a lot of the decisions on where to cut may prove detrimental. One example would be where the superintendent and board of educations priorities are. They should be on education and the classroom first and they are not. Matawans co/ex curr activities and school sponsored athletics budget after cuts will be $978,163 next year. Holmdels is $805,952. Hazlets is $878,735. Middletowns is 1.5 million for two high schools with a $150 million dollar budget. If they can do it for less, why can't we? If this area was managed better we should be able to do it for $200,000 less and be able to put four more teachers in the classroom. Of the teachers cut, how many were physical education teachers? Why are field trips still being paid for by the district? Why is the MOST program still being funded by the district? Do we really need that many secretaries? Administration is still over budgeted. Do we really need a business administrator and an assistant business administrator at over a 1/4 million in salaries and benefits? Do we need a superintendent taking raises or one that shows leadership and sets an example for others to follow. We need more people questioning some of these decisions whoever that may be and the focus needs to be in the classroom.

Jim said...

Anon 9:57,

Do you have some per-student or per-capita numbers for that?

Aberdeener said...

I agree there should have been more cuts to athletics but I disagree that we haven't challenged the administration. Between goals, emphasizing classroom rigor, writing programs, and objecting to funding failed programs, I think we've done more than most boards. Of course, more remains to be done. Also, our administrative overhead has been cut by about 10%.

Anonymous said...

Hey Anon 7:17 AM
If you want answers about the "ethically challenged" Jan Rubino, why don"t you ask the "horizontally challenged" Ken Aitken. You know, the guy that got his ass whipped in the school yard by a girl and couldn't take it. And blames everybody but himself.

Anonymous said...

If you agree that the priorities should be in the classroom and athletics are over budgeted, why isn't it cut more. Who disagrees with our assessment? Keep four teachers in the classroom and cut it another $200,000. What about the other areas? If you want people to support this budget, all should be done without waste and keep teachers.

Aberdeener said...

I pushed for more cuts to athletics and the administration agreed to cut golf. I pushed for more cuts to the administration and an additional administrator was cut as well as some secretaries. I also pushed to eliminate certain programs that will be either cut or reduced.

However, I would like to save the following: summer school, the librarians, and the child study team. We can save summer school by taking the teacher aides off the state pension but the librarians and CST will depend upon approving the budget.

Additionally, I'd like to eliminate the assistant principal position and reassign everyone as supervisors. Supervisors have specific responsibilities. As far as I can tell, an assistant principal just does whatever the principal tells him to do.

Anonymous said...

How about shifting the instructional assistants to part time to save the benefits. Golf, thats it? Priorities of an inexperienced leader. Most? Over 1/4 million in two peoples salaries in business office? Phys Ed teachers over academic teachers? Field trips? CAP? This budget should fail as it will!

reality is here said...

What we all need to know is that our districts teachers, staff and administrators salaries also carry an additional $20,000.00 in health benefits on average for each person. The 1.5% is not a great cost or burden to bare. If it is to much for any of the above they should get the hell out of those positions. Next will be the paid firemen, police officers, municipal employees and others to share such costs. And don't forget the sacrafices that our senators and political leadership should make as well. Not one of them should reach into any of our pockets or purses without sacraficing and doing their fare share. Have you heard even one elected official in Trenton or in town hall talk about what they will do in this effort and what sacrafice they will make?

Anonymous said...

Get your info right. AYP means adequate yearly progress. As a board member you should know that.

Aberdeener said...

You're right. I'll correct the post.

Anonymous said...

Stop spending time minding others buissness and non sense and do you school board home work, alot of wasted energy on a blog that is only comical and misinformable

Give me an F'n break said...

Comical and misinformed. Next thing you will tell me that Norman kauff is a modern day Robin Hood. Let me guess Kauff robs from the poor taxpayers and gives to the rich. The rich like various developers seeking to build and run, CME Engineering, Attorneys and many other varied Kauff connected professionals is also money well spent. Then you will tell me that paying an athletic director and Ass-istant Principal $145k a year is also money well spent. Give me a F'n break.

Pat said...

What are the math and policy issues precluding an offer of early retirement for teachers over 50 (or some useful figure)? A teacher in that age group from another school district told me a week ago that he'd jump at such an offer. Wouldn't the salary savings be significant in our district, where many of our teachers have peaked on the pay scale? BTW, is there any effort to limit the number of tenured slots? Is that an item negotiated between the district and the union or is it an unanticipated consequence of a series of separate personnel decisions? It might be worth planning long-term on tenure if that's not being done already.

Also, I'm hearing that one or more of the school libraries will go bookless and librarianless, relying on media centers with online databases overseen by teachers on planning periods. Keep in mind that many of our databases come through the NJ State Library, which is also experiencing significant cuts in state aid that promise to end all of its subscriptions to online databases and various other online resources, many of which our schools use. Those services will be gone by this summer.

Anonymous said...

That is four assistant principals at the high school alone. Talk about giving the taxpayers a f-n break. O'Malley and the board need to look at that really closely. If a pricipal and one assiatnt principal cannot get it done at the high school fire them and get two people who can. Rascavage has always been afraid of her own shadow anyway. Not like she should have been given tenure anyway. O'Malley regrets that deal you can be sure. She should have been shown the door. Her, Spells, Joel G. and many others who take up oxygen and needless space.

Anonymous said...

Look between Joel, Wayne and a few others that is wasting over a half million dollars. Janitors work their asses off and those scum just take up space. It is simpler then 1+1=2. Hit the road for the rest of them low lifes.

Anonymous said...

What the hell? Why in the world is there so many asst. princ. at the damn high school? The kids in the district are not that bad that we need so many. I just can't believe that.

Anonymous said...

Looks like the Aberdeen utility department has mailed out the June 2010 quarter invoice and the rate has jumped 17% from $136 to $159 per quarter. Aberdeen Township and you, perfect together. Unsustainable, unsustainable, unsustainable. Tax, tax, tax.

Anonymous said...

O'Malley dropped the ball big-time when he accepted his raise. He should have refused it and set the tone for the other employees in the district.

F N K said...

Campaigns are expensive enough never mind a Norman Kauff campaign. Everyday political campaigns require significant monies that is widely known. Corrupt campaigns like Kauff runs are very very very expensive. I mean what they have to pay just to keep Vinci happy is enough to feed a family of four for a month. Then their is the Vic Scudeire share for the democratic county thieves. Then there is Normy himself and his printer and his computer guy all who live on Normies street by the way. They all have to be fed by the taxpayers. So Normy needs to feed the kitty so the increase in utilities and many more increases that may be coming is just a small price to pay for the Kauff campaign fund. You can bet that the utilities will not be the last increase you taxpayers in aberdeen will see and utilities will not be the last. What is next for Normy and his den of thieves? You can bet it will not include reductions in professional fees or a reduction in developmental reviews and cme study after cme study where nothing ever gets built.

Right Nomy?

Aberdeener said...

Pat,

An offer of early retirement would need to be negotiated with the union. It might also make sense to wait a bit longer before making offers, if we go that route. That's because several senior teachers are already retiring without a buyout.

As for the math, it may make sense in the long term but probably not in the short term. A senior teacher costs about $40,000 more than a new teacher and a buyout may cost more than that. Additionally, you have to factor the likelihood of someone already planning to retire but now postponing that retirement in expectation of a buyout.

Also, given the budget cuts among support staff and the increased scrutiny in academic performance, I suspect we'll be seeing a steady stream of retirements.

However, if we were able to offer buyouts to select administrators and then not fill those positions, I think that would work.

Regarding the middle and high school libraries, the librarians are slated to be cut but not the clerks so the libraries will still be functioning. However, I share your fears that the libraries will morph into media centers. If the budget is approved, I will try to have the librarian positions restored.

Duke said...

Anonymous said...
Stop spending time minding others buissness and non sense and do you school board home work, alot of wasted energy on a blog that is only comical and misinformable

April 9, 2010 7:51 PM


Hello, Norm.

I know Norm said...

The last FNK posting was right on the mark. No not that Mark. Although I am glad that it will be another fearful day of watching out for Mark Corens own ass in the big house. Don't drop the soap in the shower Mr. Coren. Perv! You got what you deserve you low life child predator scumbag. With friends like Mark Coren no one has to ask why people hate Kauff so much. He is a predator of another kind. Taxpayer perv that he is. F U Kauff from one who hates himself for ever knowing you. You should rot in hell for your crimes against the citizenry.

anon said...

Joey,
Please address Pat's comment re. the libraries slated to go bookless. I have also heard a rumor from someone "in the know" that O'Malley plans to follow the "Hazlet model" which is to go librarianless and bookless in the middle and high schools. So, 1, is O'Malley planning that? And if he is, 2, will it make a difference that you and Donahue and Kenney and Rubino oppose cutting the librarians? Will O'Malley get his way? Please address. Also, I emailed Donahue (the guy that's running for reelection - isn't that his name?) 4 days ago, asking him those questions and he has not responded. It'd be great if he responded to voters. What is the best way to get answers from y'all? I'm not asking that rhetorically, just as a parent who is wanting to get answers. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Joey,
A previous poster asks a great question. Why wouldn't you shift instructional assistants to part time to save $20,000 per employee on benefits and take that money to put more teachers in the classroom?

Kauff and his indians are coming said...

Kauff is great i want all kauff all of the time. But please don't forget the 10 little indians.

Mayor BIG CHIEF Tagliareni
Dep. Mayor MONEY HUNGRY BEAR Vincie
Councilwoman PROPERTY $$$ Gumbs
Councilwoman KISS UP2 KAUFF Montone
Councilman BIG WIG UP THERE Drapkin
Councilman KNOWS CORRUPTION Lauro
Councilman NO LEGAL EAGLE Cannon
Dave BIG $$ FOR KAUFF FOR 0 Samuels
CME is CHIEF MONEY YOKER
Assorted LI"L LEGAL WORK FOR BIG $$

This comprises the Kauff faithful who make much war on the merchants and settlers of the Aberdeen tee pees. Soon no tee pees will be left since the Kauff tribe will leave nothing but bloodied scalps. Could be very good for Councilman BIG WIG UP THERE Drapkin though.

Circle the wagons Aberdeen. Kauff and his band of renegades is coming after you.

Anonymous said...

F'n hilarious councilman wig up there. Laughed so hard i peed myself. Money hungry bear was good also.

Aberdeener said...

Anon,

The libraries are not slated to go bookless but I question how much of a "library" experience students will get without librarians. Discovering information in the library is very different from the internet.

As for the teacher aides, we have the option of privatizing them. However, the board has been extremely reluctant to make any "cuts" in the classroom.

I'm pushing to privatize them but keep the same aides at the same pay and benefits. The one difference is they'd lose their state pension contributions. That savings would be enough to fund summer school and, given a choice between the two, I'd prefer summer school.

Anonymous said...

I have 500 gals.of the blackest dye ever made, 1 gal of this shit will dye the bay jet black. Anyone know of someone who might be interested in this stuff?

Ret AT Emp said...

Is someone hinting that we may have a hair dyer in our midst? Next thing you will be telling us is that everyone has their own hair. *Lies* *lies* all *lies*.

*Not only am i the hair club club president i'm also a customer*.

Anyone ever pull on Norman's hair? I mean other then Coren when they were playing ride the wild pony. Naked of course.

Who do you think is playing that game with Coren now?

Jealous Norman?

Thought you would like this one Rocky.

Take care brother.

Hair dye delivery to said...

Please deliver the black dye to the third to last house on Washington Street. If you need a location point or something to look for when you get in the area it is the only street in the entire town with two DO NOT BLOCK INTERSECTION street signs posted at the end of the road. Selfish bastard that he is. You can be sure your hair dye donation will be put to good use. I can almost hear him singing "it makes me feel so young" already.

Long live Ronald Reagen. Only his barber knew for sure.

Anonymous said...

As every good superintendent has done, what has O'Malley listed as potential areas for reduction if the budget is defeated. This budget as presented does not seem to make every effort to minimize the negative impact on students to protect core areas as others have pointed out. There are many areas of this budget that should have been reviewed prior to staff reductions and if it was, it wasn't presented well enough for all to understand the impact. Why doesn't anyone answer the question of how many P/E teachers or non-mandated co-teaching positions are eliminated? How many nurses got cut? Athletic budget only cut 5% when most schools are cutting up to 25%. Non-essential programs still being funded. It will be hard for anyone who doesn't have a personal interest to support this budget as presented with so many unanswered questions and the priorities misplaced. O'Malley has failed us and this budget will fail.

Anonymous said...

Maroon and Steal would have hung O'Malley if he cut 25% from athletics. Don't you know that this school is known world wide for winning athletic competitions year after year. My bad that was under Barry Rizzo ages ago. Never mind!

Anonymous said...

I went to go deliver the dye but I was chased away by an old guy in a red explorer who kept yelling that he was in charge! What do I do now?

Aberdeener said...

We're the only K-12 district in Monmouth County to present a 2% budget increase.

Anonymous said...

Warren are you seriously looking for a pat on the back here? How many people are gonna lose their jobs? You are such a pompous ass!

Aberdeener said...

If the budget doesn't pass, more people will lose their jobs. Maybe you should focus on that for now.

Anonymous said...

You would love for that to happen wouldn't you?

The anonymous genius answers are said...

It is so easy for the anonymous to tell Joey what to do. So all of you anonymous geniuses where would you cut the budget? Remember too you idiots that scum like Joel G. and Spells cannot be let go since they have administrative TENURE. Next move is yours geniuses. I am waiting.

Anonymous said...

OK...Here is my next move...Ready??? I am voting for Demarest, because she hates Warren, and that's enough for me.



Your Move...

Anonymous said...

The majority of the budget is salary and benefits. The only way you have any chance of achieving meaningful budgetary reforms is with serious salary and benefit reforms. Anyone who feels that a 1.5% of salary contribution towards health insurance is meaningful is not in touch with reality. 1.5% is a joke - plain and simple. We will continue to see one time gimmicks and maneuvers (ie: not making the districts monthly insurance plan payment) until salaries and benefits are made to conform to current "real world" standards.

Vote = defintion said...

Demarest, Zavorskas, Barbato, Williams and Quinn bring them all back if you want. You will vote for Demarest because she hates Warren? Great mindste then we can increas the budget another 20 million dollars while test scores plummet. Then do yourself a real favor. Look up the word "idiot" in your dictionary. There will be a mirror on that page so just stare into it and you will be looking at the truest definition of the word.

Thx for the funny said...

The 10 little indians post was outstanding. Thanks very much for the funny. That was almost as funny as voting that bird brain Dumarest back in again. That was really hysterical.

Anonymous said...

Aberdeener, If two seats are up for election in Aberdeen, other than Dr. Delaney's seat, who else is not running for re-election?

Aberdeener said...

Dr. Gambino is not seeking re-election.

Anonymous said...

They didn't agree with DR. Gambino and threw him out of town. What side was he on Mr.Aberdeener?

Anonymous said...

You cut librarians AND the computer teachers. Whose going to mind the store (hundreds of thousands of $$ in computer equipment)? Or teach these kids how use the computers for legitimate research and not to use them for social networking gone bad? You are doing a great disservice to all of our children in preparing them to technologically advanced in the 21st century when the technology is advancing daily. You better not spend one dollar on new computer equipment if you aren't going to teach my child the CORRECT way to use them in school.

Anonymous said...

Aberdeener
However, I would like to save the following: summer school, the librarians, and the child study team. We can save summer school by taking the teacher aides off the state pension but the librarians and CST will depend upon approving the budget.
April 9, 2010 11:32 AM


Aberdeener
As for the others - CST, guidance, anyone not required by law to be an employee, I say outsource.
February 26, 2010 2:41 PM

Make up your mind hypocrite...which one is it?

Aberdeener said...

Outsource is not the same as eliminate. We're about to lose a child study team.

You owe me an apology.

Anonymous said...

Aberdeener,

If you can, please elaborate on what will happen if the Child Study team is eliminated? To whom would this be outsourced to? As a parent of a child who receives special services in this district (going on 5 years now) I can not say enough about the team and what they have done to determine, implement and follow through on his IEP. This is very very scary to me. They really "know" my child. Friends and family are amazed when I tell them about our school district, specifically this area of it.

What a shame.....

Aberdeener said...

Anon,

The lost child study team won't be outsourced, we'll just have one less.

I'm not well versed in special ed but I believe we have one CST for each building, excluding the admin building, which is served by one of the other teams.

One less CST means the others will need to pick up the slack. I'm guessing the elementary schools will share their CST's.

The only way to save the CST is for the budget to be approved.

Anonymous said...

Aberdeener,
Has the MRTA made any attempt to negotiate?

Anonymous said...

I heard the teachers have made numerous attempts to negotiate but all have been canceled by the Board negotiator. Too bad- the teachers could have had a settled contract and potentially saved us some $ and some programs/jobs. But now it will look like the teachers are bad guys because public perception would be that they didn't want to settle. Gov. Christie wants people to vote down budgets in districts where teachers don't take pay cuts- it looks like our budget will be defeated because of misconceptions and even MORE programs/people will be cut. There goes any potential gains we were beginning to make.
:-(

Looks like we are headed toward bigger class sizes and less services for our kids in need. It's nice you bring special needs children back into the district to save money but then cut services (child study team) that would help assure their success.

It's great that you want all students to apply for college then cut librarians when students need the resources and guidance to gain admittance.

It's also great that we spent tons of money on laptops, computers and smart boards yet you fire the computer teachers who train the students.

You get rid of golf ( a pittance) yet most of those kids got scholarships to college - statistics that make our district look great.

The list goes on and on, but I WILL vote for the budget to retain what's left of the good programs we still have in place. Defeating the budget means cuts will get worse... and I can't imagine them getting any worse.

Anonymous said...

You heard wrong and have been talking to the cool aid drinkers. The teachers union IS the bad guy and more should lose jobs over greed.

Anonymous said...

the teachers union isn't the problem. You have been brainwashed by Trenton career politicians. All that crap about the union bankrupting the state is smoke and mirrors. The Trenton politicians ran this state into the ground for years. And if you believe teachers taking a pay freeze is going to save us all you breathed in the smoke. The big problem is what's going on under the big dome in Trenton. My dad always said the guy that yells the most or talks the loudest has the most to hide- that man is Christie who won't keep the tax on the rich because they paid to get him in office. Christie is a bully and that's another reason to vote for the budget- to show him he can't fire our teachers and screw up our public schools just to push his private/charter school agenda.

Anonymous said...

Christie didn't fire the teachers the unions did. The taxpayers have had enough and will prove it come Tuesday. The days of tax and spend are over.

Anonymous said...

Punish unions that refused pay freeze. Vote NO.

Anonymous said...

Everyone should vote yes. These kids will be the next lawyers, doctors, Politians, etc. We need to stand up and not let the government tell us how to educate our kids. We should decide as a community.

Anonymous said...

Aberdeener said...
Anon,

The lost child study team won't be outsourced, we'll just have one less.

I'm not well versed in special ed but I believe we have one CST for each building, excluding the admin building, which is served by one of the other teams.

One less CST means the others will need to pick up the slack. I'm guessing the elementary schools will share their CST's.

The only way to save the CST is for the budget to be approved.
April 16, 2010 12:23 PM

If you're not well-versed in special ed, perhaps you shouldn't be commenting on what to do with CSTs