Phillipsburg School Board cuts security in addition to teacher, phys ed administrator positions

PHILLIPSBURG | The Phillipsburg School Board on Monday laid off 14 security guards to save $90,000, formalized 16 other job cuts to help save another $800,000 and approved the district's final 2010-11 budget.

The board voted unanimously to adopt a $50.9 million spending plan for next school year. The budget calls for the owner of an average district home to pay an additional $179 per year in property taxes.

Voters last month defeated a budget with an average $195 tax hike. Handed the budget to recommend cuts, town council told the school board to cut $90,000 in spending.

The school board voted 6-3 Monday to find those savings by laying off security guards next school year.

The district "is exploring other options" for school security, including hiring a private firm, said board President Kevin DeGerolamo. Using private guards would absolve the district from paying guards' health benefits.

School Business Administrator William Bauer said the security layoffs were the least likely among potential cuts to affect students.

But the security change could be "a disaster, a real disaster," Phillipsburg Education Association President Barbara English told the board. She doubted a private firm would perform as well as district guards and noted only three guards used district health insurance.

The laid-off guards, she said, "are your neighbors, your friends. They know you. They know your family. They know the kids in the district. You won't know what you have until they're gone."

She said the laid-off guards were encouraged by the district to apply at whatever security firm might be hired.

Board members Rosemarie Person, Cathy Morgan and Christopher Wittman voted against the security layoffs.

The school board also formalized layoffs of 10 teachers, five staff workers and a member of the Phillipsburg School District administration: director of physical education and discipline.

Those positions were among $800,000 in cuts Warren County Executive Superintendent Kevin Brennan ordered in March and became official with adoption of the budget.

District Superintendent Mark B. Miller said the teaching cuts came from a variety of district schools. He declined to say specifically what grade levels and subjects those teachers taught. He said that information would identify employees affected by the personnel decision.

The district's budget actually calls for a tax cut from $1.28 per $100 of assessed property value to 88 cents. But a townwide reassessment last year boosted the taxable value of an average home from $89,661 to $152,515.