Ridgewood School Board Expected to Hire More Administrators

On the same night the school board approved his new five-year contract, Ridgewood Superintendent Dan Fishbein pitched a plan to fill out the ranks of a depleted district administration.

In addition to the hiring of a new technology director, Fishbein asked that the school board approve plans to hire two curriculum supervisors for the current year, with an additional four supervisors brought on over the next two years. A K-8 curriculum suervisor and a 6-12 curriculum supervisor would aid in furthering professional development and oversee mandated teacher evaluations beginning this year, Fishbein said. The positions had been lost when the state cut categorical aid, sending officials scrambling to "drastically" cut where they could.

Including benefits, the two positions would cost $320,000 of the 2013-2014 budget, Fishbein said.

Though school board officials agreed increased state mandates have stretched administrators thin, there was apprehension over the funding mechanism. Fishbein sought to have breakage funds (the net gain from the retirement of older, more expensive teachers and the hiring of younger, less costly educators) pay for the positions.

The prospect made several trustees nervous.

"I'm afraid to commit our last breakage money," Trustee Jim Morgan said. "I'd be more comfortable doing this if we had our extraordinary aid."

Should the district again be forced to hire additional educators or aides, it could be problematic. Special education costs soared last year and there are no one-time savings in health care – or otherwise – to save a bad situation. In other words, the district is operating on razor-thin margins and many unknowns remain, he said.

If it came to it, the district could dig deep and cover unanticipated costs from its surplus, Fishbein said.

"As a district, we're in good financial footing. We won't go out of business."

The school board elected to let Fishbein put out advertisements on the positions as it awaits extraordinary aid figures from the state, expected to arrive in the next few weeks.

The district should receive between $1.3 and $1.5 million for extraordinary aid, which would leave enough funding on hand to staff the positions, Business Administrator Angelo DeSimone said. It has budgeted just over $1 million for extraordinary aid in the 2013-2014 budget.

Trustee Michele Lenhard strongly favored hiring the supervisors regardless of the specific extraordinary aid allotment.

"We're already ovestretched," she said. "We have to make it work and take a risk with these positions...it's critical we do this."

Lenhard said the proper staffing levels need to be in place if Ridgewood is expected to continue to rank among the state's best.

If the extraordinary aid figures hit the $1.3 million mark, the hires are a go, the school board unanimously decided.

Fishbein said he's hopeful the two positions can start at the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year.