SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — WSOU 89.5 FM Seton Hall Pirate Radio is helping Killswitch Engage take New York City by storm with a weeklong series of concerts presented by the legendary heavy metal radio station. As a part of its 30th anniversary concert series, WSOU presents Killswitch Engage for their five-day “take over” in New York from March 6 through 11. These five shows take place at venues around New York, including the Gramercy Theatre on March 6, Bowery Ballroom on March 7, Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus Bar on March 9 and the Marlin Room at Webster Hall on March 10. The final concert takes place in Brooklyn at Rough Trade NYC on March 11.

“Killswitch Engage by far is one of the best live shows I’ve seen,” WSOU Program Director Molly Meller said in a release. “It is an honor to be presenting them for their Incarnate NYC takeover. I know our listeners and the band’s fans cannot wait for the new album and this series of New York shows.”

Information about the concert series can be found at www.wsou.net and www.killswitchengage.com.

WSOU’s 30 Years of Metal anniversary concert series kicked off Feb. 20 with Brooklyn’s own Candiria at Maxwell’s Tavern in Hoboken, performing with Old Wounds and Moon Tooth. Additional shows in the concert series will be announced throughout the year.

“2016 is a year of milestones for WSOU,” general manager Mark Maben said in the release. “Just as we wrap up our celebrations of the 50th anniversary of our sports call-in show ‘Hall Line’ we move on to celebrating the 30th anniversary of our current loud rock format. WSOU’s listeners and staff will have a lot of events to revel in throughout the rest of the year.”

SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Taxpayers can expect some big cuts to come to the South Orange-Maplewood School District — not that this will reduce taxes. According to the 2016-2017 preliminary budget presentation made at the Feb. 22 Board of Education meeting, the school district is currently looking at a budget shortfall for next school year.

Business Administrator Cheryl Schneider brought out her chart — which can be seen on the district website — showing the shortfall between projected expenses and revenues. According to Schneider, the school district currently must find an extra $3.54 million for the next school year. By the 2020-2021 school year, the district expects to see a revenue-expense gap of $20.6 million.

“We are at that point as a school district where efficiencies are harder to come by and substantial reductions have to be considered,” Superintendent of Schools John Ramos Jr. said at the meeting, adding that it will be difficult to ensure each school is “adequately funded” while focusing on floundering schools. “That will be a challenge for us and a struggle to achieve that balance.”

The school district budget is largely reliant on revenue from local sources, though Schneider did announce it will see a bump in state aid next school year of approximately $91,349 from the current school year; however, federal grants are expected to amount to a bit less.

“The big story as far as budget-resource assumptions is that our state aid figures came out last Thursday (Feb. 18) and we in fact got over a $90,000 increase in state aid numbers,” Schneider announced at the meeting.

With revenue sources such as local taxes, state and federal aid and programs, debt service, tuition, fund balance, and capital reserve, Schneider said that the proposed revenue amount for the 2016-2017 school year is $125,331,301, which is $1,736,521 more than this school year’s. Of this amount, 94 percent is expected to come from local taxes, which includes operating budget and debt service, with only 3.4 percent coming from state aid, 2.4 percent coming from federal and state programs, and 0.2 percent each coming from debt service aid and miscellaneous revenue sources, such as tuition.

“The line for the past three (to) four years has been pretty flat as to what we’ve been getting in state aid as a percentage of revenue,” Schneider said.

Some of the money the district receives from the state comes from Title I funding, which is spent to improve the academic achievement of disadvantaged students. The SOMSD has three Title I schools: Seth Boyden, Clinton and Maplewood Middle School. According to Schneider, the district has applied for schoolwide funding for Seth Boyden; if more than 40 percent of the students in a school qualify as disadvantaged, the school is allowed to run schoolwide programs that target all students in the school, not just those identified as disadvantaged. This application will not bring in additional money for Seth Boyden, but will allow the district to spend it differently.

Under state law, local taxes cannot increase more than 2 percent for the operating budget. This of course leaves the oft-used loophole that it can exceed the 2-percent cap for other areas of the budget.

At a 2-percent operating budget, the tax levy cap would be $111,317,574, but with the added debt service of $3,844,298, that percentage bumps up to 2.07. At this estimate, based on 2015 figures, the average Maplewood household would pay approximately $165 more per year in taxes, while the average South Orange household would pay approximately $216 more. Schneider pointed out, however, that when taking tax appeals into account, the numbers for the two towns become much closer, with a Maplewood household paying $186 more and a South Orange household paying $182 more.

Schneider cautioned that the per-household numbers are “not real numbers” as the budget will change and as the number aren’t finalized until submittal to the county.

The school district also has banked cap it can use. There is $409,103 of banked cap from the 2013-2014 school year that, if not used this year, will disappear. If the school district uses the banked cap, the operating and debt service tax impact increases to 2.44 percent, raising taxes for the average Maplewood household by $180 and South Orange household by $234 before appeals.

One South Orange household pays more than one Maplewood household, which is an increasingly contentious issue for some South Orange villagers, who consider it unfair that the village should shoulder such a burden when Maplewood sends more students to the schools.

On Jan. 11, an ad-hoc committee tasked with looking at school tax inequalities between South Orange and Maplewood presented its findings to the South Orange Board of Trustees. Representing the committee were Rob Sandow, co-chairman of the South Orange Citizens Budget Advisory Committee, and Richard Vader, chairman of the ad-hoc committee.

Sandow said the SOMSD is a “consolidated district” as opposed to a “regional district,” which would have more latitude in funding apportionment among member municipalities. Consolidated districts are required to use a funding formula devised by the state that is based solely on equalized valuation, thereby not taking into account factors such as enrollment.

“We’re not here to advocate or ask for any reductions in school funding; we’re not saying we think we spend too much on the schools, we’re not going in that direction,” Sandow said Jan. 11. “We’re not trying to place any blame on Maplewood. Maplewood is going to get mentioned in this presentation because there is no way to do this presentation without mentioning Maplewood.

“This presentation is not about Maplewood,” Sandow continued. “It is about the formula we are required to work with under statute.”

According to the Jan. 11 presentation, which used numbers that came from the school district, South Orange pays 43 percent of the school district’s budget while only contributing 33 percent of the school district’s students. Using figures from the Board of Education document “Tax Impact of the Preliminary 2015-2016 Budget on the Average Residential Property,” the ad-hoc committee calculated that South Orange pays approximately $20,599 annually per student while Maplewood only pays $13,544 annually per student. Vader believes South Orange is overpaying by more than $10 million.

“$21,000 per student — that is more than the tuition for any state-sponsored college or university in New Jersey. How do you abide that?” Vader asked Jan. 11, adding that high taxes hurt home values. “It is rare that a home in South Orange sells for more than $1 million; it is not as rare in Maplewood. That is because of the subsidy we are providing to Maplewood.

“Maplewood is paying less than its fair share, we’re already paying in excess of our fair share,” Vader continued.

According to Vader and Sandow, one of the only remedies would be to go to the two towns’ legislators and demand a change. Sandow explained that, as former cases show, even if South Orange residents voted to dissolve the school district, separating the two towns into separate school systems, the state could force the continuance of the consolidated district. With a district split unlikely, legislative relief is the only viable option.

Vader would like to see South Orange split from the SOMSD and create a joint school district with West Orange or Millburn, for example.

South Orange Village Counsel Steven Rother agreed that a split seems unlikely, adding that one must know the background of the district before truly considering these issues.

“It’s important to know how the consolidated district came about,” Rother said Jan. 11. “If you look into the history of South Orange-Maplewood, you’ll find that South Orange wanted to break away from Maplewood because they wanted their own district. They petitioned the Legislature but, in a sense, the Legislature double-crossed them by saying, ‘You can be a separate municipality but must maintain a consolidated school district.’ Most consolidated school districts are from where two municipalities were once one.”

“We want the Legislature to realize the mistake they made,” Trustee Mark Rosner added.

While Trustee Deborah Davis Ford agreed that the village should go to the Legislature with its concerns, she said she “was not encouraged” by this option since Maplewood and South Orange share legislators.

“We have to go beyond just elected officials,” Rosner agreed. “It does make it a very difficult path when you share legislators with the other town, especially when that town has 3 to 4,000 more registered voters.” Rosner suggested working to get residents out to vote to ensure legislators are elected who will make this issue a priority.

“This issue is further complicated in the case of the SOMA BOE because it would require legislative action to change the current arrangement,” Village President Sheena Collum told the News-Record. “We recognize that the same legislative delegation representing South Orange also represents Maplewood and that any legislative action to improve South Orange’s situation would adversely impact Maplewood. As such, the reality of the situation is that a legislative solution is highly unlikely.”

While Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, who represents South Orange and Maplewood along with Assemblyman John McKeon and state Sen. Richard Codey, did not address concerns that she and her colleagues will be unable to remain unbiased, she did tell the News-Record that she is working to reform current funding formula legislation.

“The only way that parity will be restored to the SOMSD and to K-12 funding in New Jersey is for the School Funding Reform Act to be run and to be fully funded,” Jasey, a former member of the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education, told the News-Record. “The governor has not allowed changes to the proposed education budget by the DOE, which has not used the SFRA for years by Commissioner (David) Hespe’s own admission. It is doubtful that this will change in the next year. However, I am working on legislation intended to provide some measure of relief to SOMSD and other similarly situated districts, and expect the bill to be introduced shortly.”

While South Orange’s ad-hoc committee and Rosner were hoping the village would pass a resolution stating its intent to have the statute governing consolidated districts’ funding apportionment formula changed, Collum opted to hold off on that until they could speak to the village’s legislators. She told the News-Record that she will be reporting back to the Board of Trustees about this issue and her discussion with legislators at the April 14 meeting. But, as Collum does not think this route will help much, she is looking at other options.

“Given our limited time and resources, our efforts have been primarily dedicated to finding solutions that can actually be achieved,” Collum told the News-Record, pointing to the strong history of South Orange, Maplewood and the Board of Education collaborating to save money. “To date South Orange and Maplewood have successfully implemented shared services for municipal court, code enforcement, vehicle maintenance, and IT services, all of which have controlled costs and realized savings. We are presently exploring options to build on a long and successful partnership between our recreation departments, including new senior services and the two communities are in the process of commissioning a comprehensive study to evaluate our fire protection services to identify cost-saving opportunities through merger, consolidation or sharing of all or any services. We’ve also been discussing health and animal control. South Orange, Maplewood and the Board of Education also continue to study possibly options to cut employee health care expenses through a partnership.”

Maplewood Mayor Vic DeLuca similarly feels the best change will come about if the two towns work together.

“I do not support splitting the school district. I believe the system has worked well and it would be more expensive for each town to have its own schools,” DeLuca told the News-Record. “Funding for regional or shared school districts is set by state statute and, like all towns in New Jersey, based on property valuation. One of the reasons the two towns are doing a shared property reassessment in 2016 is to determine the most up-to-date values of property in both towns. This will provide us with better information.

“I think there are some issues with school funding, including the loss of ratables for Maplewood with the high school and administrative properties being located in its borders,” DeLuca continued. “I would prefer we jointly pressure the state to properly fund our district rather than having a fight between the two towns.”

While the Board of Education has no say in the tax split between the two towns, BOE President Elizabeth Baker also thinks the issue is with the law, telling the News-Record that “the tax pressure on our communities is the direct result of inadequate and flat aid from Trenton.”

“Although we continue to have increases in our enrollment and significant expenses related to aging infrastructure, PARCC and other mandates, our funding from the state is essentially flat. We receive only a fraction of the aid that we should receive under the state aid formula. This underfunding has resulted in an increased burden on local taxpayers and in school budgets where we have been cutting to the bone,” Baker told the News-Record. “The best way to address the pressure on local taxpayers and provide for our schools is for our school district’s leadership to join with the elected officials from both towns to find areas where we can coordinate programs to maximize every local tax dollar and to demand changes at the state level that will bring more resources to our district.

“These issues are not only urgent, but ones where we have common ground,” Baker continued. “The district and towns have been working together on a number of program coordination issues and the leadership of both towns is making school funding a priority. I look forward to our continued work in partnership.”

Increasing district enrollment projections are driving increases in the school district’s operating budget, with rising enrollment affecting staff and supply needs. According to Schneider’s presentation at the Feb. 22 BOE meeting, in just two years time, the school district is projected to have 100 more students, with the largest increases occurring in the elementary schools, with new students who stay long-term, or around 12 years. The tally of high, middle and elementary school students for this school year is 6,757, a figure that is expected to increase to 6,817 in the next school year.

Additionally, increased enrollment at Seth Boyden accrues extra costs as Seth Boyden’s population is the highest in the district to qualify for free and reduced lunches.

At the end of the day, enrollment is rising much faster than revenue.

The budget is also being forced to increase to accommodate special education needs; these increases are mostly due to increased referrals and out-of-district placements. Referrals cost money as an expert must be brought in to evaluate the child; the school district must pay tuition for children sent to schools out of district. Special education is expected to account for 26.4 percent of next school year’s budget, as opposed to 25.1 percent in the current school year.

“We were seeing an increase in referrals as well as an increase in out-of-district placements,” Schneider said at the Feb. 22 meeting. “The out-of-district placements, the tuition, continue to increase, as well as the transportation costs that go with it.”

Schneider told the News-Record that the district had 171 out-of-district placements for the 2015-2016 school year. According to school district documents, that number has been increasing.

Certain curriculum and policy changes will also increase next year’s school budget. For example, the Access and Equity policy that passed in the fall to much fanfare will have costs associated with it, such as making sure there are enough textbooks for the potential influx of students into higher level classes and increased professional development, among other changes.

Among other budget requests and considerations — which Schneider emphasized are only being considered at this time — are redistricting considerations; science, technology, engineering, arts and math initiatives; the continued expansion of the Montrose Early Learning Center, which will be in its second year in 2016-2017; increased paraprofessional staffing needs; and security enhancements.

Ramos added that the school district is currently looking into the elementary feeder patterns to the middle schools and is considering hiring a consultant to look into redistricting to soften the strains being caused by increased enrollment at some schools, but not others.

“We need to know where we have capacity excesses before redistricting,” Baker said. “Some schools are under capacity and others over capacity.”

Schneider told the News-Record that a redistricting consultant will likely cost approximately $15,000.

All this is forcing the district’s hand — cuts need to be made. Schneider called these reductions “very painful.” Current suggestions for cuts include not purchasing new supplies where possible, not buying any new technology, cutting back on memberships to various organizations, tightening procedures and looking at scheduling efficiencies.

Schneider also announced that cuts will be made to the professional development budget. Rather than sacrifice quality, the district is looking to capitalize on professionals who are local, which cuts travel costs.

“We’re really trying to use the resources we have here,” Schneider said.

Schneider did make it clear, however, that the district will not be tightening the budgets for athletics and extracurriculars. In fact, there may be some increased athletics costs, especially as the district will soon need to rent pool space for the swim team and is working with the two towns to enter into a shared program for field maintenance, which is likely to end up costing the district a bit more. Rather than cutting existing programs, Schneider explained that the district will be holding off on adding some activities.

According to Schneider’s presentation, in order to smoothly transition to a reduced budget, the district is looking to “re-imagine and redesign all aspects of student scheduling, use of facilities and administrative structures”; “maximize community expertise and external resources to provide multiple pathways for student and professional growth and learning”; and taking advantage of “opportunities to learn and develop skills through online resources, collaborative partnerships, collective projects, field experiences, internships, mentoring opportunities and service projects.”

BOE First Vice President Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad had some concerns about the implementation of the Access & Equity policy and the effect it will have on some students.

“We are shoring up advanced (students), but we need to make sure college prep (the lower levels) are still good, but then I see cutting of professional development, which strikes concern,” Lawson-Muhammad said Feb. 22. “As you continue to struggle with the budget, we cannot forget the rest of the students at Columbia High School. They’re not all going to take AP; they should have viable options to get them to college should they wish it.”

While Lawson-Muhammad is supportive of reducing travel and looking in-district for professional development, she cautioned that there should be a strategy for doing so, as the board “cannot have more reports of chaotic and nonproductive classrooms.”

BOE member Donna Smith was also excited about the idea of using in-district pros for professional development.

“We have a lot of resources in district that we haven’t been utilizing,” Smith said, adding that “teachers might be more excited about professional development if it is familiar faces providing it.”

Ramos added that the district is also looking for outside revenue sources to support professional development.

“We’re also looking to find external dollars beyond the budget process to support it,” Ramos said, explaining that the district is currently in talks with some universities. “We’re constantly trying to figure out how to deliver professional development that is timely and pertinent.”

School district employee salaries and benefits continue to take up a good deal of the operating budget, accounting for 73 percent.

Last year the Board of Education and South Orange Maplewood Education Association, the teachers’ union, agreed to a 2.5-percent salary increase for 2016-2017. According to Schneider, if staffing levels remain the same, that will cost the district an additional $2.5 million.

According to Schneider’s presentation, the school district added 11.8 full-time educators, or FTEs, to its 2015-2016 budget that it had not planned to add. Some of these additions resulted from enrollment increases, program adjustments, and even converting from purchased services to in-house tech trainers, which Schneider pointed out was an increase in staff but a decrease in budget.

Due to all this, the district is looking to cut 20 FTEs for the 2016-2017 school year, with 10 fewer classroom teachers and 10 fewer supervisors, administrators, and media and technology specialists. Schneider explained that most of these reductions will be the result of structural changes to supervision, high school administration and support, academic support, and media and technology programming.

A chart in the presentation showed that, while enrollment continues to rise steeply, employee figures have stayed mostly flat, never deviating beyond a change of seven staff members.

BOE member Maureen Jones questioned where exactly those 10 classroom teachers will be cut, citing Schneider’s earlier statement that paraprofessional costs have increased in past years.

Schneider explained that paraprofessionals are necessary to IEPs and 504s, which had increased that budget line, but that they are looking at scheduling efficiencies and reevaluating the referral process to reduce the need for so many paraprofessionals.

“Teachers cuts are mostly at the secondary level and mostly at the high school,” Ramos added. And, in response to BOE member Johanna Wright, Ramos said they were planning to cut administrators, though he did not want to get into particulars about names and numbers at that meeting.

In just the short time since the Feb. 22 meeting, two petitions have been created on Change.org opposing teacher cuts. The first, “Cut Costs Don’t Cut SOMSD Teachers,” already had 134 votes as of press time March 1 and the second, “Save the SOMSD School Libraries,” which opposes cutting librarians and media specialists, already had 573 votes.

But, the school district has lowered its health insurance costs by switching from the State Employees Health Benefits Program to Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield.

“Health care costs continue to go up, but we have been able to start to alleviate some of that,” Schneider said. “We’re going to be looking at pretty much flat figures going into 2016-2017.”

In 14 months, the school district will have saved approximately $697,000. Schneider did explain, however, that the net savings are more likely to come in at $600,000 due to opt-outs. Full-time employees who choose not to have health coverage through the district can opt out and receive an opt-out payment.

Schneider told the News-Record that other districts do pay opt-out fees, but that the payment numbers vary. As of press time, Schneider did not have the exact numbers for the opt-out cost this school year.

Board members requested looking into whether it is possible to stop paying opt-out fees.

“I think when we’re saying that we’re looking under every rock and at every opportunity for savings and we’re trying to avoid cuts in the classroom, I think that’s a place we need to look,” Baker said.

The health insurance cost is also expected to decrease as employee contributions will be increased to Tier 4, the top tier in employee contributions, which will likely garner savings of approximately $500,000 to $750,000, according to Schneider.

That being said, there are factors that could lead to increases in the health insurance cost. For instance, under the Affordable Care Act, the school district must offer insurance to all full-time employees and, if the school district does not meet ACA requirements, it could face a hefty fine.

“We did not budget for any of these fines because we do feel that we are meeting the requirements for the ACA and we do not think the fines will be a problem for us,” Schneider explained.

There is also the planned “Cadillac tax,” a 40-percent tax of the cost of plans that exceed a predetermined threshold.

“The Cadillac tax, named after the luxury car, is the planned levy on high-cost health-benefit plans provided by employers to their employees,” Schneider explained to the News-Record. “A central piece of the Affordable Care Act, it imposes an excise tax of 40 percent on health plans whose value is more than an established threshold, with the tax only on the amount exceeding the threshold.”

The school district will hold a community forum to discuss the budget on Monday, March 7, at 7 p.m. in the district meeting room at 525 Academy St. in Maplewood.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations has announced the appointment of Dean Andrea Bartoli to the board of trustees of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark.

As a member of the board, Bartoli will collaborate on the overall governance of the organization, which plays an important role in the community by housing much of the city’s homeless, supporting at-risk youth, and providing job training, outreach to the elderly and affordable early childhood education.

Seton Hall University is part of the Archdiocese of Newark, and Bartoli expressed excitement at the opportunity to help “fulfill the university’s goal of servant leadership,” according to a release from the school.

For Bartoli, the Catholic Charities represents “the social justice end of the Catholic Church, which has a long tradition of serving the poor. Seton Hall’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations is proud to serve in this larger mission, particularly in Pope Francis’ “Holy Year of Mercy.’”

Bartoli has served as the permanent representative of the community of Sant’Egidio to the United Nations and the United States since 1992. Sant’Egidio is an ecumenical community rooted in the Catholic Church, which works to aid the homeless and vulnerable, diminish the spread of HIV/AIDS, and has served as a mediating organization in peace negotiations. In this role, Bartoli has been involved in many successful diplomatic activities. He has served in numerous peacemaking processes including in Mozambique from 1990 to 1992, Guatemala in 1995, Algeria in 1995, Kosovo in 1998, Burundi from 1999 to 2000, Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1996 to now, and Casamance from 1994 to now.

Dean Bartoli has also been a participant in the U.S. State Department’s testimony on Religious Persecution Abroad before Congress and was a member of the Department of State’s Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group in 2012. The dean also leads Seton Hall’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations’ Catholic Peacemaking Intensive Summer Study Program, which familiarizes students with the inner workings of Vatican diplomacy and of the non-governmental organizations dedicated to peacemaking.

Head varsity coach Joe Fischetti

SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — All four of Columbia High School’s baseball coaches were rehired by the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education for the upcoming 2016 season during the Feb. 22 board meeting, days after a former player filed a lawsuit in Essex County Civil Court alleging that he was repeatedly bullied by the coaches during his time on the varsity and junior varsity teams.

Head varsity coach Joe Fischetti and assistant varsity coach Matt Becht were each reappointed by a 6-3 vote, with BOE President Elizabeth Baker and members Johanna Wright and Chris Sabin voting against it. Assistant junior varsity coach Sam Maietta was rehired unanimously while freshman coach Steve Campos’ reappointment was approved by a 5-4 vote, with Baker, Second Vice President Madhu Pai, and members Annemarie Maini and Maureen Jones dissenting.

The board members did not comment during the meeting as to why they voted as they did, though it appeared obvious that none took the decisions lightly. Some hesitated before casting their votes, and both Pai and Sabin acknowledged that the choice was not easy.

“(What we had to vote on today), to be honest, was not a win for anybody including myself, having to make that hard vote,” Pai said after the decisions had been made.

And the situation is far from resolved. Prior to the vote, Superintendent of Schools John Ramos Jr. announced that the school district has retained an independent professional to investigate all open-ended Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying cases and report back to him within the next two to four weeks. If HIB violations are found, Ramos said the district will take “appropriate action.”

Also, the board unanimously passed six policy changes related to HIB in athletics, including one that explicitly forbids members of the athletic department from engaging in or tolerating HIB.

But Jeffrey Youngman, the lead attorney representing former CHS baseball player David DeFranco in his lawsuit, said the district and board should simply enforce the NJ Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act as well as their own HIB policy to protect students — something the suit alleges they did not do. Pointing out that there are 10 verified HIB complaints against the coaching staff in addition to the litigation and years of complaints from parents, Youngman said he does not understand why the coaches would be reappointed to work with children. What is evident to him is that the district and board are not putting the students first, he said.

“This school is circling the wagons around the coaches instead of the children,” Youngman told the News-Record in a Feb. 26 phone interview. “Where do the children come in? It’s amazing to me.”

The 10 verified complaints to which Youngman referred were all incidents involving the baseball program that were judged to be HIB after being brought to the district’s attention between August 2014 and August 2015. The incidents — all experienced by either DeFranco or his teammate Alex Nathan — included allegations that the coaches created a hostile environment for Nathan by talking about him to other players and benching him when all others played, that the Booster Club asked the DeFrancos not to attend the end-of-year of banquet, and that the coaches at one point cut Nathan and DeFranco from the team after Nathan’s father and DeFranco complained to the district about the coaches’ treatment of the team in general.

According to Youngman, nine of those complaints were not ruled as HIB when initially investigated by the district — only one incident in which the four coaches allegedly locked DeFranco in a room and yelled at him for complaining to the district about them was judged as such. But in letters sent to the DeFrancos and Nathans on Aug. 27, Ramos officially reversed those decisions not found in their favor. He also promised to work with the state Department of Education to ensure all CHS athletic programs are in compliance with the Anti-Bullying Act and vowed that “appropriate messages also have been delivered and understood” by staff.

“In taking these actions, on behalf of the district, I apologize to you and (David or Alex) for any violations under the act,” Ramos said in his letter, a copy of which was provided to the News-Record by father Randy Nathan. “I also thank you for helping us work to establish a culture and climate of tolerance, fairness and fun in our athletic programs, consistent with the act’s mandates.”

Considering that Ramos himself verified most of the 10 HIB complaints, Youngman said he does not know why the superintendent has now launched a new investigation, essentially contradicting himself. And while everyone has the right to their own opinion regarding the coaches, he said no one can deny the confirmed complaints or Ramos’ own words.

“Nothing will change the facts, which are in black and white and sitting in front of me, that these coaches engaged in Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying,” Youngman said. “I’ve got the facts. I’ve put them in my complaint. They’re there for anybody to read. They can reject them, but they’re going to have a tough time when they’ve already backed everything that I’ve said.”

The lawsuit does indeed contain many of the incidents from the verified reports in addition to many other issues DeFranco allegedly experienced throughout his time playing baseball for CHS. In the suit, he alleges that Fischetti, Becht, Maietta and Campos used “lewd, racist and vulgar” language and addressed him and his teammates using expletives. After being cut and then reinstated, he was allegedly often told he would be playing in games only to be benched, with the coaches later joking about how well he had played. He also alleges that the coaches at one point did not remove an offensive sign about another player that someone had put up.

All the while, the lawsuit claims the district and board did not take sufficient action to stop such behavior despite the fact that they knew, or should have known, it was occurring.

DeFranco, who graduated from CHS last year, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages plus interest, attorneys’ fees and the costs of the suit, though the total amount is unspecified in compliance with state law. But according to the plaintiff’s other attorney Luanne Peterpaul, the real goal of the litigation is not money — it is about changing the culture of CHS athletics so future students will not have to go through what her client allegedly did.

“The climate and culture of the athletic system, as it’s laid out in our complaint, is ‘boys will be boys,’ and that attitude has changed,” Peterpaul told the News-Record in a Feb. 26 phone interview. “Columbia has to step up and look into the future about what athletics is all about. And it’s not just about winning. It’s about teaching respect, it’s about integrity, it’s about being able to communicate, it’s about discipline, it’s about diligence and teamwork — it’s all of that. But what we’ve seen and what David experienced was none of that.”

District spokeswoman Suzanne Turner issued a statement to the News-Record emphasizing that, while the school system cannot comment specifically on the lawsuit, the district and the board are “taking every measure” to ensure they are compliant with HIB law and its related procedures.

“It is the board and the district’s intention that all district programs provide constructive experiences for students, and that we foster an environment where students and parents can come forward to report concerns without fear of reprisals and retaliation,” the statement reads. “The health, safety and wellbeing of all of our students — whether in the classroom or on the field of play — is our highest priority.”

Fischetti told the News-Record he was advised not to comment on the litigation. Likewise, district counsel and anti-bullying coordinator Phil Stern, athletic director Larry Busichio and CHS Principal Elizabeth Aaron — who were all named in the suit along with the coaches, the board, the district and former acting Superintendent James Memoli — said they were unable to comment. Members of the board who were contacted either did not respond or told the News-Record they could also not comment.

Booster Club President William Krais, who was also named in the suit along with CHS Baseball Booster Inc., similarly said he was unable to talk about the litigation. But he did issue a statement to the News-Record denying the allegations.

“The Columbia High School Baseball Boosters is sorry that Mr. DeFranco and his attorneys have chosen to misuse our court system by filing their baseless complaint,” Krais said in his statement. “But since Mr. DeFranco has chosen this approach, we will let the facts develop in the context of the litigation, not through the press. We are certain that the facts will prove beyond any doubt that the Columbia High School Baseball Boosters did nothing wrong or improper to harm Mr. DeFranco.”

Krais also pointed out that nearly all of the returning players from last year’s baseball team signed a petition supporting the coaches, while coaches, administrators and staff throughout the state and district have written letters in favor of them.

The coaching staff indeed has plenty of supporters despite the allegations. In fact, most of those who spoke during the public comment portion of the Feb. 22 Board of Education meeting praised the coaches and urged the board to rehire them. These speakers included former baseball parent Jerry Auriemma, who recalled that Fischetti never retaliated against his son despite the fact that Auriemma would often criticize the coach for not playing his son more. Busichio’s secretary Amy Singer also said that she knows firsthand that Fischetti and Becht exude professionalism and respect and urged the board to support their staff instead of caving into the demands of some angry parents.

Former pitcher Jesse Evans additionally shared how Fischetti was always there for him after he was hit in the face by a line drive, even after deciding to quit the game out of fear of returning to the mound. And when Evans eventually did decide to come back, he said the entire coaching staff supported him immeasurably.

“With the help of all four of the coaches — Fischetti, Maietta, Campos and Becht — I was able to get my confidence back,” Evans said. “Throughout the next three years not only did I become a better player, I became a better person. And I became someone who will work harder than anyone when they want something bad enough, and I owe that all to them.”

The current CHS baseball players were also a presence at the meeting, with the teammates all wearing “TEAMplayer” shirts in support of their coaches, and two players addressed the board. Reid Evans said the coaching staff cares for every player on the team, shaping them into better people, and supported him when he was depressed about his own academic probation. Sam Berkley said the coaches have made him a better person in the years he has played for them.

Though he acknowledged that the coaches do yell, Berkeley said they never bully any of the students. Instead, he said they have taught him a lot.

“They’ve all been tremendous mentors for me in many ways,” Berkeley said. “I learned accountability, respect and discipline from all of them, and I’ve learned about how to deal with adversity and how to handle the curveballs life throws at you with maturity and dignity.

“They are not only concerned with winning games, but with creating winners in all aspects of life,” he continued. “I would take these four coaches over any of the others in the world.”

Not everyone is so supportive of the coaches, however.

Brian Clark, whose son Brendan was a catcher for the team until graduating two years ago, told the News-Record his boy experienced an “extraordinarily abusive” environment that he has seen drive away numerous players from South Orange-Maplewood baseball entirely. According to Brian Clark, the coaches would constantly scream at Brendan Clark whenever he was in position near the dugout. On one occasion, the yelling was so bad that a West Point graduate who witnessed it told Brendan Clark it was “brutal.” And yet — in email correspondence forwarded to the News-Record — when Clark suggested a different coaching style, Fischetti responded that he feels he was “way too easy” on his players.

In addition, Brian Clark said Fischetti often badmouthed his own players to opposing coaches within earshot of his son — something Brian Clark said he never would have done during his own 10 years coaching baseball in community leagues. When Brendan Clark refused to attend the end-of-year banquet out of disgust with the coaching staff following his senior season, Brian Clark said he learned that his son was never even mentioned at the event, despite the fact that he had been a four-year varsity starter, indicative of what kind of people they are.

“They’re the most petty, childish, petulant, churlish people I know,” Brian Clark, who added that his younger son attends Seton Hall Preparatory School partially to avoid the CHS athletic program, said in a Feb. 27 phone interview. “It’s astounding to me that these so-called adults are allowed to coach young men because they’re less mature than many of the kids on the team.”

Susan Kraham told the News-Record her son Louis was never targeted by the coaches, though she did have an issue with Fischetti after her boy suffered an injury during college recruiting season. Though Louis Kraham’s medical condition should have been confidential under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, Kraham said she was dismayed to see that the coach had spoken to a reporter about the injury. Her husband expressed his grievance about the situation to Fischetti, but she said the coach responded that he was not willing to hurt his credibility by refusing to speak with the media. After that, Kraham said her family did not seek the coach’s help with the recruitment process because they felt Fischetti was more interested in benefiting himself than his players.

Meanwhile, Kraham said she finds it “ridiculous” that the four coaches were rehired with 10 verified cases of HIB against them. It does not come as a surprise though — she said she no longer trusts the district or the board after seeing how they have failed to hold the athletic department accountable after years of complaints about the baseball program. She said she does not send her younger son to CHS because of this.

Of all the parents who have alerted the district to their concerns about the coaches, few have been as vocal as Randy Nathan, whose son Alex was involved in some of those confirmed HIB cases. But things were not always so bad for his son. Randy Nathan — an anti-bullying speaker and author — told the News-Record that his son did not have any problems with the coaching staff the first year he played on the team. But after Randy Nathan spoke with Aaron and Stern regarding the general culture of the program at the request of a few other parents in August 2014, he said things changed.

At the start of the next baseball season Alex Nathan was cut from the team, and though he was reinstated after Randy Nathan met with the coaches and administrators, he said his son was treated poorly and received little playing time, resulting in him resigning from the team in April 2015. Additionally, Randy Nathan said the district violated the Anti-Bullying Act by allowing Busichio to conduct the HIB investigation requested by Randy Nathan when the law requires that only the anti-bullying coordinator can investigate. In February 2015, Stern agreed to conduct the investigation, though this was months after the law-mandated deadline that investigations take place within 10 days of the original complaint and that parents be informed of the results five days after the superintendent reports them to the board. Through it all, he said no action was taken against the coaches to stop the negative behavior.

Randy Nathan grew so upset over the situation that he asked the Essex County Office of Education to conduct its own investigation into the school district, which was completed in August 2015. According to the results, the district did in fact violate the Anti-Bullying Act due to its failure to follow procedure, though the county office could not determine whether Alex Nathan’s termination from the team was actually a retaliatory act, as Randy Nathan believed. As a result, the district was required to send its next five investigation reports to the county plus provide evidence that the district has an anti-bullying coordinator and that all staff know anti-bullying policies.

Today the coaches have 10 confirmed cases of HIB against them due to the complaints filed by Randy Nathan and the DeFrancos. But Randy Nathan said he wishes the district would have just complied with the Anti-Bullying Act from the get-go to correct what issues were there while saving him and his son a lot of grief. Since that did not happen, he said he is grateful to David DeFranco for filing his lawsuit, which will hopefully bring about change. Ideally, he said he would love to see all coaches and administrators involved out of a job, the DeFrancos remunerated, and for David DeFranco and Alex Nathan to receive apologies from the board for all they have been through.

Whatever the result, however, Randy Nathan said there will be no winners.

“The whole thing is very upsetting,” he said in a Feb. 25 phone interview. “This is about young student athletes who only wanted to play ball with their friends and people who cared more about protecting their own than doing what was right by the law. And that’s sad. That’s very sad.”

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The South Orange Board of Trustees members will soon take over as the Board of Health. The trustees voted Feb. 22 to pass an ordinance on first reading that would dissolve the current Board of Health and allow the BOT to absorb its responsibilities.

The BOT voted 5-0 — Trustee Deborah Davis Ford was absent — to pass Ordinance No. 2016-03 on first reading with the Board of Health’s metaphorical blessing.

“During our strategic planning meetings throughout the summer and fall, we kind of looked at efficiencies throughout the village where it appeared we weren’t operating as efficiently as we could be and one example of this was the Board of Health,” Village President Sheena Collum said at the meeting. She explained that although the village only has two full-time health employees — the animal control and the health officers — there were 16 people overseeing them between administrators and Board of Health members.

Trustee Mark Rosner also pointed out that, not only did the BOH sometimes have trouble getting a quorum, but most of its actions were simply mandated by state law anyway.

BOH President Dean Kameros agrees that the change is right for the village.

“The South Orange Board of Health has a long and distinguished record of serving the community by addressing critical public health issues for the town,” Kameros told the News-Record. “During our last meeting, village President Sheena Collum and Trustee Jeff DuBowy articulated their desire to reduce some of our local government inefficiencies by making the village health department accountable solely to the Board of Trustees.

“Currently, a small number of health department employees are responsible to multiple governing bodies,” Kameros continued. “The members of the Board of Health had a productive and collaborative discussion with Sheena and Jeff on the issue during our last meeting in February. Personally, I think the transition of Board of Health administrative responsibilities to the Board of Trustees makes sense for the reasons they articulated.”

At the Feb. 22 meeting, Collum added that the village is looking to incorporate current BOH members into village affairs through volunteering.

“In terms of next steps, the Board of Health will meet one more time as a statutory board in March,” Kameros said. “We will discuss whether we want to continue on as an advisory board on public health to the township, but without any administrative or statutory responsibilities. Should the board decide not to continue on as an advisory board on public health, some current board members expressed the desire to volunteer their services in other areas. Sheena and Jeff mentioned they would be happy to help us identify other volunteer opportunities that suit our respective skills and interests.”

South Orange’s Board of Health will soon operate as Maplewood’s does: as a board composed of the town’s elected officials. And this change could be happening as soon as April.

“Legally, the ordinance will become effective upon publication in accordance with NJ Statutes,” Collum told the News-Record. “The public hearing and possible adoption is currently scheduled for March, so we would envision the BOT assuming those responsibilities on or about April 1.”

SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — South Orange and Maplewood fire departments took part in ‘Cooked and Uncorked,’ a food and wine festival in Edison on Feb. 29, in support of the New Jersey State Firefighters’ Mutual Benevolent Association and the Burn Center at Saint Barnabas. The evening ‘put fire to good use’ with a cooking competition among participating firehouses. South Orange’s firefighters were some of the event winners.

SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — In honor of the Community Coalition on Race’s 20th Anniversary, the CCR is bringing race relations expert Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum back to the community to revisit the topic about which she spoke to the community nearly 20 years ago. Tatum, a clinical psychologist, professor and recently retired president of Spelman College, is author of “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” and “Assimilation Blues: Black Families in a White Community.” She will lead the Conversations on Race forum on Wednesday, May 11, at 7:30 p.m.; location to be announced.

Tatum has led workshops for educators looking at issues of race and racial identities as they manifest themselves in schools and has led workshops and written extensively about racial identity development in teens and its impact in the classroom. In her writing, she argues that straight talk about race is essential and that racism affects everyone.

Tatum was one of the earliest and most popular speakers engaged by the coalition for Conversations on Race. Her writing had a natural tie to the integration efforts in our community and her appearance in the two towns resulted in a community gathering of hundreds of residents.

For nearly 20 years the CCR has engaged the community in discussions about how we face race, how we build relationships across racial and cultural barriers, and how our perceptions of race affect our day-to-day experience in our towns. Conversations on Race is an annual event that serves part of the Community Coalition on Race’s mission to provide residents with opportunities to engage in honest dialog between racial groups.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The South Orange Performing Arts Center was recently voted Favorite Small Performing Arts Center in the 2016 JerseyArts.com People’s Choice Awards. According to ArtPride New Jersey, the awards, which take place annually to honor the work of New Jersey’s vital, vibrant and diverse arts community, saw more than 21,000 ballots cast statewide — the greatest number of votes since its inception in 2008.

“All of the nominees in the 2016 People’s Choice Awards should be very proud of the work they’re doing to bolster arts and culture in our state,” Adam Perle, president and CEO of the ArtPride New Jersey Foundation, said in a release. “To be nominated by one’s peers is to wear a badge of honor that signifies ‘great art happens here.’ With more than 100 truly outstanding nominees, it’s easy to see how much exceptional art takes place right here in New Jersey.”

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Seton Hall University’s Joseph A. Unanue Latino Institute and Stillman School of Business will welcome Andy Unanue, founder and managing partner of AUA Private Equity Partners LLC, to discuss “Investing in the U.S. Emerging Market” in his keynote address at the Integrity and Professionalism Convocation on Tuesday, March 15, at 6:30 p.m., in the Jubilee Hall Auditorium.

“We are delighted to have Mr. Andy Unanue, an expert in emerging markets, address the students at Seton Hall University,” Denisse Oller, executive director of the Joseph A. Unanue Latino Institute, said in a release. “His entrepreneurial background and experience uniquely qualify him to speak about the importance and increasing influence of the Latino population in the U.S. economy.”

Unanue will discuss his expertise, emerging markets, as well as touch upon his unique experience with the Latino market. Unanue’s journey includes various positions with Goya Foods Inc., most notably that of chief operating officer from 1999 to 2004.

The Integrity and Professionalism Convocation reflects on the Stillman School of Business’ core values of integrity and professionalism. The convocation provides the Seton Hall community with the opportunity to learn more about entrepreneurship directly from the source. As the keynote speaker, Unanue joins an impressive past speaker list of business, cultural and political leaders, including Eric Casaburi, founder and CEO of Retro Fitness and Let’s YO Yogurt Corp.; Betty Manetta, CEO and president of Argent Associates; Denise Morrison, CEO of Campbell Soup Company; John Nash, Nobel laureate; Carla Harris, vice chairwoman of global wealth management and senior client adviser at Morgan Stanley; Tim Gunn, chief creative officer at Liz Claiborne Inc. and mentor on Bravo TV’s “Project Runway”; Gov. Chris Christie; U.S. Sen. Cory A. Booker; and Mary Higgins Clark, author and entrepreneur.

For more information about the Integrity and Professionalism Convocation, please click here or contact Leigh Onimus at leigh.onimus@shu.edu or 973-313-6058.

John Paitakes

LaShelle White-Corley

James Plousis

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — In celebration of National Criminal Justice Month, the Seton Hall University community and the public are invited to join an informative panel discussion from the Criminal Justice Program on the topic of prisoner reentry on Tuesday, March 15, at noon in the University Center Room 210. The panel will feature professor John Paitakes; LaShelle White-Corley, a Seton Hall alumna and social worker; and James Plousis, New Jersey State Parole Board chairman.

National Criminal Justice Month is an opportunity to reflect and consider the current state of our system of law and order and its efforts to rehabilitate former offenders, according to a release from SHU. As the nation considers criminal justice reform this year, including mandatory sentencing and the most effective means to deal with minor level criminal offenses, the topic is of the utmost importance.

The panel will feature an extensive discussion of the most salient means of addressing these issues. Panel members will examine efforts such as prisoner education and vocational training to provide them with job relevant skills and counseling to promote a smoother integration into their new community, according to Paitakes.

For more information, contact Paitakes at 973-275-5886 or John.Paitakes@shu.edu.

SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — South Orange, Maplewood and a local nonprofit organization have received a total of $297,753 from the Community Development Block Grant Program, an initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered through the Essex County Division of Housing and Community Development that provides monies to projects benefiting low- and moderate-income populations.

Of that total, South Orange was awarded $118,216 to fund the construction of an ADA-compliant entrance to The Baird community center; Maplewood received $171,637 to pay for the reconstruction of Van Ness Terrace; and the South Orange-based Electronic Information and Education Service of New Jersey was given $7,900 for operating costs. The two projects and the service were chosen by the county after meeting either the program’s income qualifications or its standards for ADA and senior citizen projects.

While it was no surprise that the towns and nonprofit won the money — locally, the CDBG Program gives funds of varying amounts to Essex County municipalities and charity organizations yearly — South Orange Village President Sheena Collum said the grant it received is certainly welcome.

“The Board of Trustees is incredibly grateful to our partners in Essex County,” Collum told the News-Record in a March 7 email. “Every dollar received through grants and alternative revenue sources helps offset tax increases, which is incredibly important to controlling costs.”

Collum said the construction of an ADA-compliant entrance for the Baird was selected by the town for funding this year because the recreation center’s current entrance does not meet ADA standards and is also deteriorating. Also, she said the Baird has a high volume of traffic and many visitors come for the senior programs, so creating a new entrance was a priority.

According to Collum, the project will entail completely removing the current serpentine ramp and front entrance, replacing the porch and installing a new ADA-compliant ramp and doors. After receiving all bids for the project on March 8, she said the village will likely accept the lowest one at either the March 14 or March 28 board meeting. The project is expected to be completed in June or July, she said.

Maplewood is also happy to receive its latest CDBG grant after a long history of using the money to fund community-development projects that the township would not have been able to otherwise afford, Mayor Vic DeLuca said. The reconstruction of Van Ness Terrace is one such project; DeLuca said that the long roadway, which runs between Boyden Avenue and Stanley Terrace, is in need of a repair, but the town did not have the funds to carry out the project on its own.

Thanks to the grant money, DeLuca said the township is now able to mill the existing pavement and put down new asphalt. He said portions of the road may be closed down periodically as that work is done, although detours will be set up so that traffic flow is not impeded. The mayor added that the township will go out for bids in the spring with the project expected to begin in the summer, lasting for approximately one month.

For EIES of New Jersey, a service for blind people, production manager Jeffrey Taylor said getting grants like the one from the CDBG Program is more than just beneficial — it is essential.

“It’s our lifeblood,” Taylor told the News-Record in a March 4 phone interview, explaining that EIES is totally dependent on grants. “If we don’t get these types of grants, we don’t continue to broadcast, which means we’ll eventually have to the doors. So each grant is so important.”

Taylor said the $7,900 received from the CDBG Program will go toward funding staff salaries and paying off bills. In effect, it will allow EIES to continue its work allowing blind people to experience the printed word through its reader program, an initiative in which sections of prominent newspapers including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are read and broadcasted to blind listeners via the Internet and EIES’ special transmitters.

According to Taylor, EIES connects the blind to the outside world through richness of depth found only in newspaper articles. And while numerous other similar services have disappeared through the years due to the economy, Taylor said the generosity of the county and other benefactors have allowed the organization to stay afloat and continue to make a difference in people’s lives.

SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Following the Feb. 22 Board of Education meeting in which the business administrator announced proposed cuts to the school district and a tax increase, the public schools budget has remained a heated topic of discussion, bringing out a crowd to the March 2 Board of Education budget workshop.

Superintendent John Ramos Jr. boiled the budgetary struggle down to one question on March 2: “How do we deliver a 21st-century education in a fiscally hemorrhaging environment?”

Ramos said the South Orange-Maplewood School District — in addition to every other public school district — is facing this fiscal cliff due to the 2-percent cap mandated on tax increases, a stressed tax base, inadequate state funding and constantly increasing costs.

“In the case of South Orange-Maplewood, you have in fact been experiencing this critical point for a couple of years now, but you’ve had some opportunities for efficiencies within the system that were perhaps less painful to achieve than others. We have now reached what I would call clearly a fiscal cliff here in South Orange-Maplewood,” Ramos said.

According to business Administrator Cheryl Schneider, the South Orange-Maplewood School District is facing a budget shortfall of approximately $3.5 million for the 2016-2017 school year — and will face an even larger one of approximately $20 million by the 2020-2021 school year.

Ramos cautioned that while the 2020-2021 school year may seem distant, it’s “when our current eighth-graders are ready to graduate high school, so it’s not like it is a million miles away.”

As previously reported, with revenue sources such as local taxes, state and federal aid and programs, debt service, tuition, fund balance, and capital reserve, Schneider said the proposed revenue amount for the 2016-2017 school year is $125,331,301, which is $1,736,521 more than this school year’s. Of this amount, 94 percent is expected to come from local taxes, which includes operating budget and debt service, with only 3.4 percent coming from state aid, 2.4 percent coming from federal and state programs, and 0.2 percent each coming from debt service aid and miscellaneous revenue sources, such as tuition.

Under state law, local taxes cannot increase more than 2 percent for the operating budget. This of course leaves the oft-used loophole that it can exceed the 2-percent cap for other areas of the budget.

At a 2-percent operating budget, the tax levy cap would be $111,317,574, but with the added debt service of $3,844,298, that percentage bumps up to 2.06, according to Schneider on March 2. At this estimate, based on 2015 figures, the average Maplewood household would pay approximately $165 more per year in taxes, while the average South Orange household would pay approximately $216 more, though Schneider explained in February that these numbers would likely equalize after the appeals process.

The school district also has banked cap it can use, though Ramos said March 2 that using the banked cap would be a “painful option” for the district, as it would add to the operating budget — an addition that would likely need to be maintained the following year without that banked cap on which to rely. There is $409,103 of banked cap from the 2013-2014 school year that, if not used this year, will disappear. If the school district uses the banked cap, the operating and debt service tax impact increases to 2.44 percent, raising taxes for the average Maplewood household by $180 and South Orange household by $234 before appeals.

According to Schneider, the SOMSD has been containing costs by increasing faculty contributions to health insurance; establishing special education programs, such as the Montrose Early Childhood Center, in district, which prevents more out-of-district placements and which Schneider said posted more than $1 million in savings this year; sharing services with South Orange and Maplewood; instituting energy conservation measures, such capital improvements like the new windows at Clinton Elementary School and Maplewood Middle School, and ongoing work to decrease energy costs, which have been going down overall in recent years, despite a small bump in the past two years due to the arctic temperatures; taking advantage of cooperative purchasing with other districts and consortiums; purchasing through a bidding process, which allows for competition; purchasing contracted services, though the district did hire three tech trainers this school year as it was discovered that it would be cheaper to add them to district personnel than to contract those services; obtaining grants, such as the PEP grant; using in-house transportation services; and renting out facilities, which doesn’t bring in much money but is revisited each year.

Increasing district enrollment projections are driving increases in the school district’s operating budget, with rising enrollment affecting staff and supply needs. According to Schneider’s presentation at the March 2 workshop, next school year the district is expecting to serve 6,939 students — 59 more than this school year. Enrollment data shows that, in just the past 10 years, the school district has seen an enrollment increase of more than 800 students.

The budget is also forced to increase to accommodate special education needs; these increases are mostly due to increased referrals and out-of-district placements. Referrals cost money as an expert must be brought in to evaluate the child; the school district must pay tuition for children sent to schools out of district. Special education is expected to account for 26.4 percent of next school year’s budget, as opposed to 25.1 percent in the current school year. Schneider explained that this school year 18 percent of enrolled students are out-of-district while only 14.94 percent were out-of district in the 2010-2011 school year.

Ramos added that the school district is currently looking into the elementary feeder patterns to the middle schools and is considering hiring a consultant to look into redistricting to soften the strains being caused by increased enrollment at some schools, but not others.

At the March 2 meeting, Schneider told the board that a redistricting consultant will likely cost anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000.

As enrollment and operating costs are increasing more quickly than revenue, cuts need to be made. Current suggestions for cuts include not purchasing new supplies where possible, not buying any new technology, cutting back on memberships to various organizations, tightening procedures and looking at scheduling efficiencies.

Schneider also announced that cuts will be made to the professional development budget. Rather than sacrifice quality, the district is looking to capitalize on professionals who are local, which cuts travel costs. Schneider also pointed out that the district will be taking advantage of free professional development provided by the state.

According to Schneider’s presentation, the school district added 11.8 full-time educators, or FTEs, to its 2015-2016 budget that it had not planned to add. Some of these additions resulted from enrollment increases, program adjustments and the three new in-house tech trainers.

While Schneider had announced in February that the district was looking to cut 20 FTEs, that number was downgraded to 19 — 10 fewer classroom teachers and 10 fewer supervisors, administrators, and media and technology specialists — at the March 2 meeting. Schneider said that most of these reductions will be the result of structural changes to supervision, high school administration and support, academic support, and media and technology programming.

“Reductions will be obtained through attrition and remaining supervisor responsibilities will be covered (by) current staff,” Schneider wrote in her March 2 presentation.

The district is looking to phase out the English/language arts supervisor for kindergarten through eighth-grade and the math supervisor for grades nine through 12. The responsibilities of the phased out supervisor positions will next school year be handled by various other supervisors within the district.

“Are you sure the other supervisors will be able to handle the additional responsibilities of that job?” alternative student representative to the board Filip Saulean asked.

Ramos answered that the supervisors would undoubtedly be busy, which was “a downside,” but that the district would keep an eye on the supervisors to make sure everything proceeds smoothly. He added that, while some supervisors teach classes now, they may not be able to do that next year.

At the high school, the district plans to reduce the number of guidance counselors from 11 to 10, and to reduce the numbers of deans from two to one. Disciplinary work will instead mostly be handled by the assistant principals for grades 10 through 12, while the remaining dean will work primarily with students in grade nine. In light of these changes, the dean support staff will be reduced from three to one.

Schneider also explained that one of the two media specialists at the middle school level will be let go; next school year, just one will cover both middle schools’ libraries.

All in all, the elementary schools will see a personnel reduction of one person, the middle schools two people, the high school 14 people and non-school-affiliated district personnel will see a reduction of two people. The banked cap could potentially save four FTEs.

A chart in the presentation showed that, while enrollment continues to rise steeply, employee figures have stayed mostly flat, never deviating beyond a change of seven staff members.

Ramos also explained that the district would take a look at existing but underutilized curricular and extracurricular activities, saying, “That’s just something we have to look at in this cliff.”

“In the face of growing needs, which we all are pretty clear about, this budget calls for us again to do more with less,” Ramos said. “Obviously when we have a shortfall of this magnitude — approximately $3 million — something has to give. And there will invariably be community angst no matter what we cut.”

Since Feb. 22, three petitions have been created on Change.org opposing some of the proposed cuts. The first, “Cut Costs Don’t Cut SOMSD Teachers,” already had 136 votes as of press time March 8 and the second, “Save the SOMSD School Libraries,” which opposes cutting librarians and media specialists, already had 693 votes.

The third petition, “Save the Columbia High School Swimming Pool,” had already garnered 1,839 votes as of press time. At the end of this school year, the school district had been planning to close the CHS pool and repurpose the space, though the board discussed March 2 possibly keeping it open for another year or two.

Also, 2014 CHS graduate and former swim captain David Cutler has started a page on Generosity.com, a crowd-funding website, to save the pool. As of press time, the campaign had raised $1,155 from 14 contributors.

On Nov. 18, 2013, the BOE had voted unanimously not to build a new pool to replace the current one, which is in dire need of repairs. A new pool would have cost approximately $8.1 million and the board decided that, in light of the looming fiscal cliff, a new pool was not a feasible option.

On March 2, however, board member Elizabeth Daugherty, who was board president during the pool vote in 2013, said that the Finance, Facilities and Technology Committee would consider keeping the pool open for a bit longer provided there are no health risks associated with it.

“We know how important the swim program is and the idea of using it another year or two,” Daugherty said. “It’s a matter of how much money we have to put into it. If we can and it makes financial sense, we will.”

SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Inspired by Isaiah Sheffer’s Selected Shorts at Symphony Space, “Likely Stories,” formerly known as “Celebrity Readings,” is an evening of storytelling presented by the South Orange-Maplewood Adult School. Each year great short stories are “performed” by celebrated actors and this year’s event features local luminaries Charlie Pollock, Ami Brabson and Emily Zacharias. “Likely Stories” will be Monday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia High School Auditorium in Maplewood.

To purchase tickets for “Likely Stories,” visit somadultschool.org or call 973-378-7620.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — South Orange area families with children who need a little more time and attention before starting kindergarten can enroll in Explorers, a transitional pre-K offered by Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel’s Iris Family Center for Early Childhood Education. The program is open to all families whose children have completed preschool, and registrations for the 2016-17 school year are now being accepted.

TSTI’s Explorers is a year-long program that offers two options: full day or from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. This child-directed program — led by a certified teacher with a master’s degree in early childhood development — combines academics with interactive play and cooperative games. The curriculum, which follows state-mandated guidelines for early childhood education, includes various knowledge areas presented in weekly units, and will be guided by the students’ interests and questions they pose. Knowledge areas include science, technology, engineering and math. Classroom content also covers family and community relationships, literacy and physical education as well as the creative disciplines of art, music and cooking. Teachers guide and facilitate learning as they help the children explore paths of interest on their way to becoming independent learners and problem solvers.

The Iris Family Center also offers an after-school enrichment program that allows students to extend their day until as late as 3 p.m. For more information about these programs or to enroll a child, call Director Carol Paster at 973-763-4600 or visit www.tsti.org.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The Joseph A. Unanue Latino Institute presents U.S. poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera reading from his featured bilingual works, including “Notes of the Assemblage,” at Seton Hall University on Monday, April 11, at 6 p.m. in Jubilee Auditorium.

The son of migrant farm workers, Herrera was appointed the nation’s first Mexican-American poet laureate in 2015, also serving as California’s poet laureate from 2012 to 2014. A performance artist and activist on behalf of migrant and indigenous communities and at-risk youth, he writes passionately about social issues. His influences include Allen Ginsberg and Luis Valdez and his own immersion in the Chicano civil rights movement.

Herrera’s work crosses creative genres, including opera and dance theater, such as “187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Borders,” which chronicles his involvement with spoken word and street movement performance troupes across the country.

“As a Latina I feel very proud that the outstanding and prolific work of this humble Chicano has been recognized by the Library of Congress, making him the first Latino to receive this distinction. I can’t wait to listen to his poetry both in English and in Spanish,” Denisse Oller, executive director of the Joseph A. Unanue Latino Institute, said in a release, inviting the community to this free event.

This event is being presented in collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Lecture Series, Poetry-in-the-Round, the Department of English, Latin American and Latino/Latina Studies, and the School of Diplomacy and International Relations. Following the reading and discussion, there will be a book-signing with the author. Seton Hall University is located at 400 South Orange Ave. in South Orange.

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The State Repertory Opera of New Jersey will present one of Mozart’s most beloved operas, “The Marriage of Figaro,” on Saturday, April 2, at 2 p.m. in Memorial Auditorium at Montclair State University, 1 Normal Ave. in Montclair. This semi-staged production is a collaboration between State Repertory Opera and the Society of Musical Arts orchestra of Maplewood.

The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles for translation. The production will showcase the distinguish talent of Mark Fitzgerald Wilson of South Orange. Also performing is a young, and energetic cast who will delight the audience with their beautiful singing and terrific acting.

The production is under the guidance of South Orange resident and Artistic Director Dita Delman, along with conductor Stephen Culbertson and Stage Director Stephanie Godino.

Order tickets online at www.njsro.com or call 973-763-7969.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The South Orange Board of Trustees members will soon take over as the Board of Health. The trustees voted March 14 to pass an ordinance on second and final reading that dissolved the board and allowed the BOT to absorb its responsibilities.

The BOT voted 5-0 — Trustee Jeffrey DuBowy was absent — to pass Ordinance No. 2016-03 on second reading, with the Board of Health’s approval.

As previously reported, the decision was made to confer village BOH responsibilities on the trustees, which will operate similarly to the Maplewood Township Committee, for the sake of efficiency. Collum said at the ordinance’s first reading Feb. 22, and again March 14, that the BOH constituted a lot of oversight for a relatively small department. The village only has two full-time health employees — the animal control and the health officers — but there were 16 people overseeing them between administrators and Board of Health members.

Trustee Mark Rosner also pointed out at both meetings that the BOH sometimes had trouble getting a quorum, and was only able to meet seven times in the past 12 months, when there should have been 12 meetings.

The BOH members were supportive of the change, with former BOH President Dean Kameros agreeing that the change is right for the village.

“Personally, I think the transition of Board of Health administrative responsibilities to the Board of Trustees makes sense for the reasons they articulated,” Kameros previously told the News-Record.

In the future, the village is working with the former BOH members to see that they are still involved with the village’s health, whether in an advisory or volunteer capacity.

Collum previously told the News-Record that the board would likely be taking over BOH responsibilities in early April.

Photo Courtesy of Joshua Siegel
From left are James Plousis, LaShelle White-Corley and John Paitakes.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Marking National Criminal Justice Month, more than 80 members of the Seton Hall community participated in the Criminal Justice Program’s panel discussion on prisoner reentry on March 15. The panelists included James Plousis, the New Jersey State Parole Board chairman; Seton Hall alumna LaShelle White-Corley, a social worker and licensed clinical drug and alcohol counselor; and Seton Hall senior faculty associate John Paitakes, who served 29 years as a probation officer and was appointed for six years to the New Jersey Parole Board.

“Felons face major barriers during societal reintegration, including: obtaining housing, securing stable employment and finding acceptance within the community,” Paitakes said at the event.

The panelists shared their knowledge on rehabilitation and prisoner recidivism, providing career insights into emerging efforts to reintegrate prisoners into society.

“Can we uphold the rights of the offender who violated the rights of a citizen?” White-Corley asked at the event.

Exploring the balance of punishment, rehabilitation and productivity, she shared that 95 percent of prisoners are released at some point, so it is important to consider models of effective treatment during incarceration. Also affected are the children of inmates, who often lack a voice during the process and struggle to come to terms with the consequences of an incarcerated parent.

“The best way to give them a voice is to have a conversation with them, expose them to support groups and networks of other children contending with the same situation so they know they are not alone,” she said.

White-Corley discussed Michigan’s system of services designed to promote a smoother integration into inmates’ former communities as a model for the nation. Michigan’s prison reentry initiative combines a number of community programs such as faith-based counseling, a family support system and job training.

Plousis shared his experiences as U.S. marshal for the district of New Jersey and Cape May County sheriff as well as his current position as New Jersey Parole Board chairman. He credits New Jersey with its innovative drug courts for “substantially reducing our prison population.”

He explored the changing landscape of the debate over criminal justice reform. For example, in earlier years while running for sheriff, people would ask about college courses for inmates or what food they were served. Now there are powerful conversations and changes taking place.

“New Jersey is leading the way in reducing recidivism and has created programs to redress traffic tickets and child support, so previous offenders do not face additional charges when reentering society,” he said. “Many families have been directly impacted. People are becoming much more compassionate about the process and the act of rehabilitation.”

Paitakes agreed, noting, “New Jersey has been a trendsetter to reducing the prison population from 35,000 inmates 15 years ago to an estimated 21,000 at this time.”

For more information about prisoner reentry and Seton Hall’s Criminal Justice Program, contact John Paitakes at 973-275-5886 or John.Paitakes@shu.edu and visit the website here.

SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The South Orange-Maplewood School District has hired an independent professional to conduct the investigation into the Columbia High School baseball coaching staff that was announced at the Feb. 22 Board of Education meeting, after a former player alleged in a recent lawsuit that he was repeatedly bullied by the four coaches.

The district has retained LeRoy Seitz, who currently serves as the interim superintendent of schools for the Parsippany-Troy Hills School District, to look into whether head varsity coach Joe Fischetti, assistant varsity coach Matt Becht, assistant junior varsity coach Sam Maietta and freshman coach Steve Campos engaged in harassment, intimidation and bullying — in violation of the state’s HIB law — as the lawsuit suggests. According to his contract dated Feb. 26, Seitz will be compensated for this work at a rate of $125 per hour with a maximum total of $5,000, plus travel and other customary expenses.

District spokeswoman Suzanne Turner said Seitz was hired after an RFP was issued for the position. Turner said an outside professional had to be brought in because the district does not have enough personnel to allow one of its own employees to conduct the thorough investigation the situation warrants in a timely fashion.

And according to Turner, Seitz is quite capable of handling the task.

“He’s a former superintendent, so he has lots of experience doing all kinds of things like this,” Turner told the News-Record in a March 18 phone interview, referring to Seitz’s stint as permanent superintendent of Parsippany and Troy Hills schools from 2006 to 2013 before his return as interim superintendent last year. “He’s very familiar with how internal investigations of this kind of thing go.”

Turner said she believes Seitz has begun his investigation, though she is not sure when exactly he started. He should have his findings within the next two to four weeks, she added. The contract states that he will review all provided documentation, interview witnesses and consult HIB policy before writing a detailed report as to whether HIB was perpetrated by the coaches. He will also meet with the board and district administration to discuss his findings.

Even though the investigation has just begun, there is already some controversy concerning it. Anthony DeFranco — father of David DeFranco, the former CHS baseball player now suing the coaches and district officials — told the News-Record that no one in his family has been contacted by Seitz regarding the investigation.

Likewise, Randy Nathan, an anti-bullying consultant who also claimed that his son, Alex Nathan, was bullied by the coaching staff, said no one from his family has been interviewed despite the fact that the district has verified 10 cases of HIB perpetrated by the coaches against his son and David DeFranco between August 2014 and August 2015. Those cases included allegations that the coaches created a hostile environment for Alex Nathan by talking about him to other players and benching him while all others played, that the Booster Club asked the DeFrancos not to attend the end-of-year of banquet and that the coaches at one point cut Alex Nathan and David DeFranco from the team after Randy Nathan and David DeFranco complained to the district about the coaches’ treatment of the team in general.

Randy Nathan told the News-Record that he does not understand why the district hired Seitz to conduct the investigation when superintendents do not traditionally look into bullying incidents — a district’s anti-bullying coordinator is supposed to handle that task, as mandated by the New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act. Therefore, Randy Nathan said he wonders just how familiar with HIB policy Seitz truly is. He said he would have preferred for the district to contract with an expert in bullying law such as David Nash, director of legal education for the Foundation for Educational Administration.

Overall, Randy Nathan said he is not optimistic about the investigation after seeing the way it is going so far.

“It is no different from things that have happened,” Randy Nathan said in a March 17 phone interview, referencing his disgust about the way the district has responded to his complaints about the coaches since he first voiced his concerns in August 2014. “I’m somewhat reluctant to believe that this so-called independent investigator really is an independent investigator.”

Randy Nathan’s doubts about Seitz’s impartiality stem from the fact that Phil Stern, the SOMSD’s counsel and anti-bullying coordinator, was at one point employed by the Parsippany-Troy Hills School District. Stern resigned as labor counsel on Jan. 22, 2009, according to the minutes of the Parsippany-Troy Hills’s Board of Education meeting from that date, so he was working there during the time Seitz was superintendent. As a result, Nathan said he is worried that Stern will somehow influence Seitz into ruling that no bullying took place.

Seitz and Stern did not respond to requests for comment before press time March 22.

Turner confirmed that Stern was employed by the Parsippany-Troy Hills district to handle one matter, but it was only for a brief period of time during which Stern and Seitz never actually worked together. She further stated that Stern’s past employment does not make Seitz’s hiring a conflict of interest because Stern is not the subject of Seitz’s investigation.

But Jeffrey Youngman, the lead attorney representing David DeFranco in his litigation, said it is “absurd” to suggest that Stern will not be investigated. Though Youngman said Stern’s work history would not necessarily make it a conflict of interest to have Seitz conduct the investigation, he stressed Stern will have to be interviewed since he was the one who looked into all past complaints against the coaches. Just because Stern is not the one being accused of bullying does not exclude him as someone in the thick of this situation, he said.

Youngman also finds it bizarre that he recently learned the board had rejected three HIB complaints against the coaches supposedly regarding David DeFranco, even though he said neither his client nor anyone related to him ever filed those complaints.

“If there were actual HIB complaints filed with respect to these three incidents, I’d like to see them,” Youngman told the News-Record in a March 18 phone interview. “How did they suddenly appear in February or March of 2016, when my client graduated last June? Is he filing HIB complaints now while he’s in college? I don’t think so.

“It seems rather convenient that after suit is filed on behalf of David DeFranco,” he continued, “that they come out of the blue. I find it very strange.”

When asked about these three new HIB complaints, Turner said the district cannot comment on issues of student and staff confidentiality.

As for the ongoing investigation into the coaches, Youngman said he finds it “ridiculous” that the district is going through with this “sham” of a process when it already has the 10 verified cases of HIB against Fischetti, Becht, Maietta and Campos — nine of which were confirmed by Superintendent of Schools John Ramos Sr. himself, reversing Stern’s original rulings that no HIB was involved. Regardless of what Seitz finds, he said the lawsuit will be what really matters.

“I don’t care what they do,” Youngman said, adding that he would object if the district tried to use the results of the investigation during the trial. “The police are policing the police. Let them do whatever they want. I’m in the judicial branch — I’ll let a judge make that determination, not some ‘independent investigator.’ I’m going to rely upon the courts.”

Meanwhile Randy Nathan said he wants the investigation to be conducted as fairly as possible, though at the same time he would just like to be done with the entire situation. At the end of the day, he said he should not have to be in this position at all.

“They have 10 verified cases of HIB,” Randy Nathan said, adding that this investigation “shouldn’t be happening in the first place.”

According to Turner, it is too premature to say what the district will do if Seitz finds that the coaches did engage in bullying, though she added that the district would act quickly to ensure that the baseball season is not disrupted. While the investigation is taking place, the spokeswoman said the coaching staff will continue to work with the players since all four are presumed innocent. She said the district is not worried about any HIB incidents taking place for the time being.

“If we had any concerns, we would not have allowed them to be reappointed,” Turner said.

David DeFranco’s lawsuit contains many of the incidents from the 10 verified HIB complaints, including a time when all four coaches allegedly locked the student in a room and yelled at him for complaining to the district about them. David DeFranco also alleges that Fischetti, Becht, Maietta and Campos used “lewd, racist and vulgar” language and used expletives when making reference to himself and his teammates. After being cut and then reinstated, he alleges that he was often told he would be playing in games only to be benched, with the coaches later joking about how well he had played. He also alleges that the coaches at one point did not remove an offensive sign about another player that someone had posted.

The lawsuit comes after several parents voiced their concerns about the coaching staff to the district and board during the past few years, with some speaking out at the board meetings when it came time for the board to reappoint Fischetti, Becht, Maietta and Campos for the 2015 and 2016 baseball seasons. But many parents and players have also come to the coaches’ defense, denying that the four had ever engaged in bullying. Most recently, nearly all of the returning players from last year’s baseball team signed a petition supporting the coaches; coaches, administrators and staff throughout the state and district have written letters in favor of them.

Seitz enters this situation a few years after experiencing some controversy of his own. In 2011, Gov. Chris Christie called him the “poster boy for greed” after discovering that the then-superintendent of the Parsippany and Troy Hills schools had agreed to increase his own pay to $212,000 per year in 2009. Since that raise conflicted with Christie’s 2011 salary cap of $175,000 for state and school employees, the district reduced Seitz’s salary, leading to Seitz unsuccessfully petitioning to recoup lost funds before resigning in 2013. He was then named interim superintendent in November 2015 following his successor Scott Rixford’s departure in the fallout of an unsuccessful new middle school schedule.

Photo Courtesy of Seton Hall University
From left are Luis J. Diaz, chief diversity officer of Gibbons P.C.; Michael Reuter, director of the Gerald P. Buccino ’63 Center for Leadership Development; and Patrick C. Dunican Jr., chairman and managing director of Gibbons P.C.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The Gibbons Diversity Initiative, an award-winning corporate initiative promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, has presented its Trendsetter Award to Michael M. Reuter, director of the Gerald P. Buccino ’63 Center for Leadership Development at Seton Hall University’s Stillman School of Business. GDI presented Reuter with the Trendsetter Award at its quarterly meeting at the Gibbons headquarters on March 18.

For more than 20 years, Reuter has been an executive coach and mentor who has cultivated many successful management initiatives. Through his efforts and leadership, the Gerald P. Buccino ’63 Center for Leadership Development was ranked the No. 1 Educational Leadership Program in the nation by HR.com for the past two years. Reuter has co-authored several papers and has had many engagements as a motivational speaker on the subject of leadership, including the weekly newsletter “Three Minute Leadership.” He has also taught human resources classes at Centenary College. Reuter is the board chairman for WitnessHOPE, executive chairman of the board of trustees of the Raise Hope Foundation, and a member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Institutional Advisory Board. He is also president of Michael M. Reuter and Associates LLC, a leadership consulting firm.

“This is an important recognition of the extraordinary work of the Buccino Center in making Seton Hall and the Stillman School of Business a place where new generations of business leaders learn,” Reuter said in a release.