Thursday, March 21, 2013
The public will vote on all three items on April 16.
The Board of Education approved the 2013-14 school budget with two extra questions by a unanimous vote of 7-0 Thursday evening. The vote came after two contrasting comments from Gordon Brown and Nabil Mouline. Brown spoke first, saying his last child left the district in 1988 when his taxes were $3,862 per year. Now, he said, he and his wife pay $8,134 per year. "In between, we have paid $124,717 into the school system, and no one has been in school from our family," Brown said. "I call this legalized extortion, paying a lot of money and getting very little back for it." Brown criticized the Mandarin program at Chatham Middle School and Chatham High School, and recommended those who want to learn Mandarin purchase a Rosetta Stone program …
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
The Board of Education will meet to vote on the budget Thursday night.
The Board of Education will meet Thursday to cast a final vote on the 2013-14 school budget. As currently drafted, the budget includes a tax levy increase of 2.6 percent over the prior year, which is inside the allowable exceptional 4.13 percent increase of student enrollment, health insurance costs and banked cap. A 2.6 percent increase in the tax levy means an additional $1,404,134 will be raised in local taxes over the 2012-13 amount, for a total tax levy of $55,409,234 for the operating fund. Another $827,475 will go into the banked cap fund for potential use over the next three years. According to the agenda for the Thursday meeting, the budget includes two additional questions, one for enhancing counseling staff in the district and …
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Several say they'd rather see security as part of the base budget and not as a second question at all.
The Board of Education of the School District of the Chathams got some feedback on its plan to submit two second questions to the voters in this year's school elections. Superintendent Michael LaSusa said in his presentations to the various school PTOs, he received feedback "regarding first the proposed addition at the high school and the desire of many parents to try to be as aggressive as possible, ... and (to) perhaps expand the scope of the addition." Chatham High finished an expansion project in 2012 which added four new classrooms, with a maximum capacity of about 100 students. These classrooms have the capacity to support a second floor with four more classrooms on top. According to a demographer's report, enrollment at the high …
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
The school board approved a preliminary budget with two additional questions.
The Board of Education of the School District of the Chathams approved a preliminary budget for the 2013-14 school year which includes a 2.6 percent increase on the local tax levy and a second and third question for the voters in April. The estimated expenditures for the school district in the 2013-14 school year total $65,131,110. With a tax increase of 2.6 percent, the total amount to be collected through local taxes will be $55,409,233. At this rate the average borough household would pay an additional $209.90 throughout the year, or $17.49 per month. The average township household would pay an additional $17.06 per month or $204.75 over the year. This proposed budget pays for additional staffing and extracurricular activities in the …
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Chatham Education Foundation's annual fundraiser was held for the first time in over a year.
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Saturday, March 9
The Chatham Education Foundation held their 12th Taste of Chatham fundraiser Friday night. This event which features dishes from some of Chatham's favorite eateries, was moved to spring for the first time this year. Every year before this, the event has been held in October. Funds from Taste of Chatham help the Chatham Education Foundation's mission of providing private funding to supplement public education in town. So far this year, the foundation has awarded over $41,000 in grants to the School District of the Chathams. In the 2011-12 school year, the Chatham Eudcation Foundation awarded $66,000 through 26 different grants. Add your photos from the Taste of Chatham! Click "Upload Photos" above.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
The annual fundraiser will be held at the Brooklake Country Club in Florham Park on Friday.
Get ready to taste some of the best Chatham has to offer. The Chatham Education Foundation (CEF) will have their annual fundraiser, Taste of Chatham, in March this year. This year's Taste of Chatham, the 12th ever, will be at 7 p.m. Friday, March 8. This will be the first time the event has taken place since October 2011. CEF decided to move the event to spring, when many other towns such as Morristown and Madison have their events, and from a Monday to a Friday. If the season for the Taste of Chatham has changed, the location has not: The event will still take place at the Brooklake Country Club in Florham Park. "This year will be a true taste of our town and surrounding area, not just with the taste of local restaurant fare, but also …
Thursday, February 28, 2013
The state Department of Education said state aid will remain level from last year.
Superintendent Michael LaSusa expressed disappointment at the news that state aid to the School District of the Chathams would remain flat from the 2012-13 school year. "I'm disappointed because we have been told in past years by the Department of Education that the goal has been to get us to the funding level in place prior to the drastic cuts of [2010]," LaSusa said. Gov. Chris Christie sharply reduced aid to schools for the 2010-11 school year in many districts throughout the state. Aid to Chatham was reduced by $2.58 million, or 86.3 percent from the levels they had in 2009-10. Some districts, including Madison, saw their state aid eliminated entirely. "This is the first year since those drastic cuts that we did not receive an increase…
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Growing enrollment requires a growth in facilities and staff, and a commensurate investment in extracurricular activities.
Dr. Michael LaSusa, superintendent of the School District of the Chathams, proposed three different potential paths for the Board of Education to take in planning the 2013-14 school budget at his presentation Monday. LaSusa proposed several scenarios with tax levy increases from 2.14 to 3.41 percent, plus one option with a second question for increasing school security. Priorities: Staffing, Activities ... Priorities for the next school year include additional staff at the high school to teach math, science, social studies, English, Chinese and art for a total investment of $535,000. "Those last two don't have to be full time staff," LaSusa said. LaSusa also proposed additional extracurricular activities at both Chatham High School and …
Monday, February 25, 2013
Superintendent Michael LaSusa proposed three different paths for the upcoming school budget.
Dr. Michael LaSusa, superintendent of the School District of the Chathams, proposed three different potential paths for the Board of Education to take in planning the 2013-14 school budget, including putting a second question to the voters for enhancements to school security. His proposed scenarios call for a budget increase of between 2.14 percent to 3.41 percent, or allow the Board of Education to propose a different path. The board will select a budget plan and vote on it on March 11 following another Open Finance Committee meeting. LaSusa said the district qualifies for a health care adjustment over the 2 percent state tax levy cap, plus banked cap from the last three years which cannot be touched until the full health care allowance …
The two incumbents from Chatham Township also filed.
Chatham Borough residents will have a contested election for the Board of Education this year. For the single, open seat representing the borough, incumbent Philip Franz filed a petition to run. Franz was appointed to the seat after Stephen Barna resigned in September. He is challenged by Edward DiFiglia, who announced his candidacy on Feb. 19. In Chatham Township, John Nonnenmacher and Matthew Gilfillan both filed to keep their seats on the board. No other challengers filed petitions to run, and theirs are the only seats opening in the township. The filing deadline was 4 p.m. Monday. Elections will be held from 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 16. Chatham Borough residents will vote at Chatham Middle School; Township residents will vote at …
John Chatham
5:33 am on Wednesday, March 27, 2013
That was Parisian for move some where se more ›