This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

School Board Meets Amid Honors, Promotions and Fundraising Plans

The district considers a relationship with Cooper Health System.

Mayor Tish Colombi attended Thursday's school board meeting to declare July 14, 2011, Noah Tennant Day in the borough. She honored the outgoing middle school principal with a proclamation that described him as “irreplaceable.”

“The middle school has been blessed for the past five years under the leadership of Dr. Tennant, who has always displayed professionally high standards of courtesy and respect,” Colombi said.

Tennant’s departure saw a pair of internal candidates promoted to new positions within the district. J.F. Tatem School principal Gino Priolo will take over as the middle school principal, yielding his post to Karen Joy Schultz, a third-grade teacher at Elizabeth Haddon Elementary.

Find out what's happening in Haddonfield-Haddon Townshipwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Superintendent Richard Perry said that in their new roles, Priolo and Schultz would help lend continuity to the transition during Tennant’s exit.

“The positive thing about promoting within is that they’re familiar with Haddonfield academic culture,” Perry said. “They’re attuned to the district goals and objectives.”

Find out what's happening in Haddonfield-Haddon Townshipwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Asked whether he was concerned that Haddonfield would have difficulty retaining top-tier talent like Tennant in the future, Perry was unfazed.

“You have top people in this district; obviously they’re going to be recruited for other districts,” he said. “Dr. Fegley was here for almost 20 years; before him, Barry Ursek was here for almost three decades.”

As grateful as they were to Tennant for his contributions to the district, several parents commented on that turnover in leadership positions exacerbates existing challenges in the district.

Michelle Taffet of Upland Way is mother to a special-needs child whose attention-deficit disorder was worsened by instability in the classroom during her kindergarten year.

“They had a revolving door of kindergarten teachers,” said Taffet, who was among about two dozen people who attended the meeting. “When they finally got a substitute teacher who was consistent, she got rid of a lot of the distractions in the room and it was better.”

Jane Broder of Clinton Avenue described how her daughter, who is not a special-needs student, suffered extreme anxiety about attending school because of the chaotic nature of her full-to-capacity classroom.

“It doesn’t seem as cut-and-dried as I feel like it is when I come to these meetings,” Broder said. “It’s been a really rough ride. The class size, once it got reduced, really did impact our kids and what they were getting.”

As a mother of four children who will attend Central School in the upcoming academic year, Michelle Smith of Colonial Ridge Drive said parents who participate in the public comment sessions need to feel that their remarks are heard by the Board.

“Our kids, we have to speak for them,” she said. “We’re their advocates. We work our tails off at budget season to get the budget passed; we’re just here on behalf of the kids.”

Superintendent Richard Perry said that although the board recognizes parents’ individual concerns, realizing budget priorities without cutting positions or services is a delicate act.

“We want to have small class sizes too,” he said. “In terms of equity, we have to be equitable throughout the whole district. We’re doing the best we can with the circumstances we have.”

One such challenge the board faces is finding sources of alternative income. Perry presented a proposal from Cooper Health System offering professional medical services for Haddonfield athletes. In exchange for promotional considerations, including the right to display Cooper-branded advertising at Haddonfield athletic events, the district would receive baseline concussion testing and a medical presence on the sidelines of home and away games.

“We’ve talked this over with our athletic trainer and our athletic director, and we think this is a good program,” Perry said. “What we like about this program is the articulation between the levels of position from an orthopedic physician to a neurologist that work together in getting our students in that pipeline as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

“Haddonfield is a name that has a lot of weight to it and I can see why Cooper would want to form a partnership because of our reputation and the level of athletic competition that we have,” he said.

Some board members questioned not whether such an arrangement was appropriate for the district, but whether Haddonfield was getting full value in the deal. The board tabled any movement on the proposal pending a conditional review of the arrangement.

“What we’re doing is stepping into that pond, which we should step into, of getting revenue for our brand, which we’ve talked about,” said board member Joe Ehrhardt.

“Are we getting the revenue that we want, be it in money or services, such that a private organization can use us in their marketing literature?” he asked.

Ehrhardt said that any alternative revenue streams should be tapped to provide capital for much-needed infrastructure improvements around the district, including repairing the roof of Elizabeth Haddon school. That project will be re-bid in mid-August, as submissions thus far have all exceeded the funds allocated for this task.

“We need to have a serious board discussion on the state of our facilities,” Ehrhardt said. “Painting is not just for beauty, it’s for protecting stuff so it doesn’t fall apart. I want to hear some presentation on what our plan is moving forward.”

Questions about potential sources of revenue for those repairs included discussions about the possible use of some $300,000 earmarked by the state for Haddonfield. Although line-item budget cuts by Gov. Chris Christie have been austere throughout the state, Perry says every little bit helps.

“When we receive state aid it’s always something that’s extremely welcomed,” Perry said.

Still, Perry said it’s things like the Haddonfield Summer Academy and gratis consultations with Rutgers MBA candidates that help the district do more with less in tight fiscal times.

“When you talk about marketing the Haddonfield name, it’s really a community effort, not just a school district effort,” he said.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?