The Green Bank School is likely inching closer to an eventual closing, due in part to reduced state payments in lieu of taxes on state owned land. This could ultimately lead to all Green Bank students attending Mullica's school. For the full Press of Atlantic City article, click here.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Green Bank School threatened by reduction in state Open Space Funding
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15 comments:
So if all the kids come here,will that bring in more money for Mullica from the State?
It will increase our class sizes but all the teachers and the administrators won't have to travel back and forth. All the extra money they were paid can go back into the school.
RE 512pm
The Greenbank School can take kids from other districts,too. It's a beautiful new building.
What if the "powers that be" decide to send a couple of our grades over there?
The Administrators and teachers will be able to keep all the extra money they make.
I guess we'll all see what's being cooked up.
Closing the Green Bank School and bringing their students here on a tuition basis today makes a lot of economic sense, both for Green Bank and for Mullica. This was the eventual plan of previous Mullica boards, who saw our schools becoming increasingly unaffordable for many taxpayers. Now that the state is no longer giving Green Bank a free ride, their cost of over $20,000 to educate an elementary school student in Green Bank is no longer viable.
RE 512pm
I don't see this happening. Our public schools are in a deepening financial crisis. There would be no logical reason for the school board to make such consession. Why continue to operate two underutilized schools in this poor economy? Consolidation is the only answer. The beautiful new building is a white elephant.
re 8:40 am
You're forgetting that this is Mullica. Many things went on for years in the town for no logical reason.
It all depends on who is in charge of the decisions that will be made and who will benefit.
Taxpayers were always on the bottom of the list until this past year.
We'll have to wait and see if the new people in the town government and school throw us back under the bus.
"Taxpayers were always on the bottom of the list until this past year." If this statement was true, then the voters have been voting against their best interest for a long time.
There has been and are school board members who have worked hard to try to keep school costs down and introduce reforms, while maintaining and improving instruction quality. Many good members are eventually thrown out on the whim of the voters or decide not to run again in disgust with the overall impenetrable system. Unfortunately, other interests, such as the taxpayers' inabilty to pay more, often forces the quality of the education to take the back seat. Mullica is no different than other communities. It probably has had more independant board members than most towns have had in the region. There have always been and are good board members, and useless ones too, and the voters put them all in, the good with the bad.
The only people that get "extra" money for Green Bank are the primary school principal, the superintendent and the business administrator. No teachers/ child study team members make a dime. Will they let the Green Bank teachers go or we will have to pay for their salaries too?
The middle school principal gets additional compensation since he covers both buildings when the primary school principal is in Green Bank---despite the fact it doesn't require any additional hours or travel. Close Green Bank and start busing them over and these compensation deals should go away.
Others get stipends for Green Bank.
RE: Will they let the Green Bank teachers go or we will have to pay for their salaries too?
Probably teachers with the least amount of tenure from either school district would be the first to go with any consolidation of classes. I can't see the NJEA agreeing to anything less.
Washington Township may eventually be forced to close their school and send their students to Mullica Township. The tuition for these students should be calculated from the Mullica cost per pupil as it would be with any tuition student. A concession could be made if the Green Bank School were to be used by Mullica for some purpose such as primary grades or special ed. Tenured teachers would be retained based on seniority and they would be placed on the Mullica Salary guide in accordance with their years of service. The district would have the option to retain or rif the non tenured teachers from either district.
10:01 Where do you get your info from? Not correct at all.
"A concession could be made if the Green Bank School were to be used by Mullica for some purpose such as primary grades or special ed."
Why should the taxpayers be forced to pay more than is necessary? The Mullica School is large enough to handle both communities. You don't need to maintain yet another building.
6:23 Poster.... I went through this process in another school district. What do you find wrong with what I have said in my posting?
RE; 7:54 AM and 8:40 AM
"Now that the state is no longer giving Green Bank a free ride, their cost of over $20,000 to educate an elementary school student in Green Bank is no longer viable." Your comment here is false. It does not cost Green Bank over $20,000 to educate each child, and it was not the STATE giving Green Bank School a free ride. It was the town council's choice to give the funds to the school. The funds are most likely from the state's in lieu of tax payment. Now that the state has taken that away, this is why the school is in the shape it is in. It is sad.
Next comment, no consolidation is not the answer. If the children of Green Bank School end up going to Mullica, it would be on a send/receive basis which is not even close to the concept of consolidation. Funny you call the new building a "White Elephant." I have heard it called that before' by those very much opposed of its existence from the start...
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