Phillipsburg school district's plan to eliminate 18 aides meets heated, public outcry

PHILLIPSBURG | Green Street Elementary third-grade teacher Ann Marie Ball says she cannot imagine what classrooms will be like next year with the district's elimination of 18 full- and part-time aides.

Ball said the accolades that Green Street earned last year as a New Jersey Title I Distinguished School will be hard to repeat without the "invaluable" help of district paraprofessionals.

"The service that they provide is well worth the money being spent; it's worth more than is being spent," Ball said Tuesday. "I know my average kids will do fine. I do fear that the ones we were able to pull up (last year) are not going to be pulled up."

Latching on to $1.3 million in federal stimulus money coming to the Phillipsburg School District, Ball was one of nearly a dozen teachers and parents who voiced concern Monday before the school board about the decision to slash 25 certified staff and 18 aides to help meet a $2.3 million budget shortfall.

District officials maintained that the aide reductions were part of state mandates to reduce nonessential staff.

Phillipsburg Education Association President Barbara English said the state is willing to waive the elimination of aides if their effectiveness is backed by independent, research-based data.

English lambasted the board for claims that the stimulus cash the district is eligible to receive cannot be used to maintain jobs.

"When they originally said they did not have the money for these people, we could understand that," English said. "But now that they have this money, they need to "tell us what they're going to use it for," she continued.

District: Cash has rules

Of the $1.3 million Phillipsburg is eligible for, $543,558 is designated Title I funds to help at-risk youth, and another $771,533 is meant to help children with special needs.

According to New Jersey Department of Education spokeswoman Beth Auerswald, the money must be used under their specific guidelines and its use can differ from district to district. Auerswald said some districts have been able to use funds to avoid instructor layoffs.

School board President Paul Rummerfield said the administration has been receiving information from the county on how the funds can be spent, and personnel has not been an option.

"We get our direction and unfortunately, we have to abide by that," Rummerfield said Tuesday.

He said one problem with long-term use for the funds is that after two years they will dry up, leaving the district without a steady flow of financial assistance.

Helping students adjust

Judy Vliet-Lavin is a Phillipsburg parent with four children scattered in different grades throughout the district. She said classroom aide cuts would affect her kids, even though none is a special-needs student.

"I feel like every time they pull a paraprofessional out those children that don't act out or need the special help, they get overlooked," she said.

Vliet-Lavin said she has spent numerous years volunteering in the classroom and has seen what can be accomplished in a classroom, where aides help adjust to different learning curves.

Kristal Thomas, of Phillipsburg, is another parent who spoke out Monday.

She said afterward she was shocked to hear about the aide cuts and wants to see the board try harder to retain the extra help, not just in classrooms but in the nurse's office and library, too.

"I just wanted them to try harder, go back to the drawing board and see what they can do," Thomas said Tuesday.