Schools

School Board to Discuss Budget, Cell Phone Policy

The board meets Monday at 7:30 p.m.

The Board of Education of the School District of the Chathams meets Monday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Chatham Township Municipal Building to discuss the tentative $56.6 million budget.

Included in the budget is a reduction of the student activities fee from $150 to $100 per student, as well as funds for five new staff positions throughout the district and four new classrooms at Chatham High School to accommodate the growing enrollment. The budget also includes the elimination of one first grade teaching position, due to the distribution of students throughout all the grades.

The board sent their tentative budget to Executive County Superintendent Kathleen Serafino the week of Feb, 28 after they approved it free of a second question. Serafino has the opportunity to recommend ammendments or vetos to the budget and send it back to the school board to make the recommended changes.

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Also on the agenda is a continuation of the discussion of Policy No. 5516 regarding the use of electronic communication and recording devices on school grounds.

The board first discussed the policy, written by Strauss Esmay Associates of Toms River, at the Feb. 28 school board meeting, but due to concerns by some of the board members it was removed from the consent agenda and postponed to Monday's meeting.

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Assistant Superintendent Dr. Michael LaSusa said that he removed some of the most restrictive language from the policy before sending it to the board. The original draft, he said, "had language in it about not allowing students to be in possession of any tool that could record either voice or video from anyone, meaning students couldn't be in possession of a cell phone on school grounds, and that just is unrealistic."

In the version discussed at the last meeting, the policy required that any student wishing to make a recording obtain permission from the teachers, students and parents of all the students who may be recorded.

Board Member Alan Routh described the policy as "overly restrictive" and "far beyond what the law requires." He said that some students might have legitimate reasons for recording a class and that forcing them to obtain permission from so many parties would be a hardship.

"This would probably have some unintended consequences," Routh said.

LaSusa said that other schools had adopted a policy that was "significantly more restrictive" than the one the Chatham school board proposed to adopt.

The purpose of the policy, LaSusa said, is to insert some privacy protections for students to prevent situations like the ones that led to the suicide of in September 2010. 

"Its goal is to disallow any recording of another individual, either their voice or their face, without their express written approval. And although I [tried] ... to make it less restrictive and more reasonable, the one item that does remain is that if a student wishes to review any portion of class, that student is supposed to obtain the permission of the teacher and the parents of every student in the class."

LaSusa said that one way to help students who might wish to record a lecture would be to send a permission form home for parents to sign at the beginning of each year, asking for permission for another student to use a recording device if necessary.

Board Member Tom Belding asked if there was any allowance for the difference between a "private" conversation that might take place in the hallways between only a few students, and a classroom lecture, which he said was "essentially public." LaSusa answered that the policy covered all recordings made on school grounds.

The only allowance made in the policy, LaSusa said, was that it "is not intended to prohibit the recording of any athletic contest."

The board will discuss the policy again and is scheduled to vote on it Monday evening.


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