File/First day of school 2020 in Margate.
District to return to full-time in-person instruction in September
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
MARGATE The 2021-2022 school budget sent to the Atlantic County Executive Superintendent of Schools for review includes no new taxes for Margate property owners. Business Administrator Jennifer Germana presented an overview of the preliminary budget at the Board of Education meeting Wednesday, March 5.
The budget maintains all educational programs for the district's 386 students and includes capital improvements at the William H. Ross Elementary and Eugene A. Tighe Middle schools. Current enrollment shows an increase of 29 students over the last two budget years.
The $13.9 million operating budget is up $563,404 over the prior year, but a $37.6 million increase in net valuation ensured the tax levy remained at $10,498,077. Taxpayers will pay education taxes in the amount of $321 for every $100,000 of assessed valuation.
Germana said facilities projects that were unable to be completed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be completed this year. Projects include HVAC, roof, fire alarms, stage lighting and curtain replacement at the Performing Arts Center, along with interior and exterior upgrades at both schools.
We have a lot of projects that need to be done, she said.
A reduction in expenses from facilities projects, changes in out of district placements, clubs, athletics, field trips and utilities increased the budgeted fund balance to $2,028,980, up from $1,339,697 last year.
The district may have to add teachers next year to accommodate social distancing protocols, she said.
Tuition to Atlantic City High School for 52 students, including nine special education students, is being reduced to $785,912.
Superintendent Thomas Baruffi said the Board of School Estimate will hold a meeting on the budget 4 p.m. Thursday March 25.
The board also approved the retirements of nurses Diane Grassi and Nancy Palamaro, and teacher Debby Klepac-Gaskill.
The board also fielded questions from parents regarding returning to full-time in school instruction.
The district currently has all students in school until 12:15 p.m., but they are able to return to school from 1:30-3 p.m. to get extra help in their studies and participate in some socially distanced activities.
Ryan Pizagno said he is disappointed the district is not bringing students back full-time.
I greatly feel our children would benefit from full-day instruction, he said, pointing to other districts that are attempting full-time in-person instruction. We should look at it as how much more can be done for our children in those additional three hours.
With the highest cost per student in the county, the district should get creative and find a solution, he said.
Parent and educator Celina Kurtz said she is currently teaching virtually and able to assist her child with schoolwork.
If I was back in my classroom, it would be very difficult for me to go to my full-time job with my kids being in the classroom until 12:15, she said. If we don't stand for opening up this year full-time are we going to do it in September?
The schedule we put together was all about creativity, Baruffi said. These districts that are opening are finding ways to distance their students, which is not a problem for the Margate schools. For us to change at this point and upset the schedule and no longer continue to distance the children, would be a big mistake for us.
He said the district had four COVID-19 positives in the last 10 days, which requires quarantining and shutting down cohorts, which is able to be accommodated due to the district's current schedule.
It would be a big mistake to no longer provide those mitigation strategies, he said. We do have every intention of coming back in September.
Baruffi said other districts may be experiencing pushback from teachers who are concerned about returning to a potentially unsafe environment.
We have been able to provide that and I am not interested at this point in saying we are going to relax our standards, especially with the fact that we know there are cases out there and variants we are hearing about. We have had zero cases of community spread, and we are not willing to take that chance. The plan is to be back to normal, hopefully, in September.
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