Last night, the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education conference room at the Wade building in Martinsville was filled to capacity. There was standing room only: People lined the walls and spilled out into the corridor. The main topics discussed were: 1. a review of the status of the recently failed $17.4 million March referendum and, 2. what, if anything, to do about the 8 laid-off library assistants, resulting from the voters’ rejection of the school budget on April 17th.
1. The Referendum: A six-page PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Schilder, superintendent of schools, led to a dynamic exchange of views between the administration, board members and the public. Very wisely, board president, Al Smith, allowed people to participate freely and informally by speaking from their places in the audience, without anyone having to step up to the mike.
After one hour of community input, it became abundantly clear from the feedback that to place another referendum before Bridgewater and Raritan voters now would be to invite near-certain defeat. The board and administration prudently decided to step back and to redo their homework.
Although no date was set to propose an alternative, the sense was that the board does not have the stomach to come back to the public trough any time soon. The timeframe bandied about by the board for a resubmittal to the public ranged from 1 to 5 years, with no consensus on an exact time.
Next blog post: 2. The 8 library assistants
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