Flash Report on Board Meeting:

Tonight, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education, the following salient topics were discussed:


Dr. Schilder runs through some PowerPoint slides
concerning the current status of the 2013-2014 tentative
school Budget.  (Bergeron Image.)

• Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Schilder proposed an additional $230,000 to the tentative 2013-2014 budget for more security at the campus-style Bridgewater-Raritan High School.
• That sum includes $100,000 for a uniformed school resource officer (SRO); $40,000 for two security guards; and $90,00 for "door enhancements."
• The SRO would be hired and trained by the Bridgewater Township Police and would most likely be an armed officer. The two security guards would not be armed, but would be assigned to outside duties and surveillance.
• Dr. Schilder, in response to a question from a Board Member, said that he had contacted the Borough of Raritan to see if it would help with the provisioning of a school resource officer, and that he was given "a definite no."
• Approval of Dr. Shilder's proposal would increase the security contingent at the High School to five.
• The date for the release of State Aid numbers conflicts with a previously scheduled BR-BOE presentation of the tentative budget to the public on February 26. It is being rescheduled to early March by which time aid numbers are expected to be known.
• The tentative budget currently stands at $139,392,430 (Total expenditures), and assumes state aid of $9,149,043.
• With a tentative increase of $230,000 for additional security and the uncertainty as to the timing and amount of State Aid, those numbers are subject to change.