Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Stella Worth Jones was born in Melrose, Mass. in 1888 and seems to have hit the ground campaigning.
As can be seen in this photo of Stella Worth Jones in about 1917, she was an enthusiastic suffragette. The banner across her dress asks for JUSTICE and her sign says: “The men of twelve States and Alaska have given their women the ballot. Will you not be as fair as those men?” A 1917 Melrose, Mass. article about Stella notes that “Miss Stella Worth Jones of 245 Porter st, daughter of City Clerk W. de Haven jones, has gone to New York to conduct a two months’ campaign, under the auspices of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. She will later return to do Americanization work in this State. Miss Jones has been (an) organizer for the Boston City Suffrage Association.” A 1918 Connecticut newspaper article further noted that: "Miss Stella…
Monday, March 5, 2012
NJ Spotlight: Roughly 10 percent of school districts across the state have not moved elections into November.
They have become the holdouts, the handful of New Jersey school districts that have gone against the grain and decided to keep their school elections in April, at least for now, according to a report in NJ Spotlight. Under a law passed this winter, districts were allowed to move their elections to November as a way to boost voter interest. What started as a trickle quickly became a torrent: 468 districts -- nearly nine in 10 -- have made the move. The big lure was that those making the switch would not be required to put their annual budgets to the voters, as long as they stayed below the state’s 2 percent property tax cap. But for a scant handful of districts, just 71 in all, that apparently wasn't enough. [In Essex County, those holdouts…
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Board did not change previous vote; still talking about Feb. 13 meeting.
Members of WeLoveMillburn on Monday asked the Board of Education to overturn its earlier vote to move school elections to November, saying the board has some ethical problems with its vote two weeks ago. First, they say, the board did not give the public fair notice of the vote and secondly, three of the members who voted in favor of the move are up for re-election and had a conflict of interest and should recuse themselves. Jeff Diecidue and Josh Scharf, both members of the group, asked the board to rescind their vote from two weeks ago and put the question to a public vote in April. They also suggested that if the board refused to do that, WeLoveMillburn, a grassroots community organization, would have no choice but to file an ethics …
Monday, February 27, 2012
School Board will meet on Monday and Thursday to discuss the budget.
Board of Education budget discussions continue this week at a regular meeting tonight and again at a special budget meeting on Thursday as the board pores over the $77.5 million spending plan for the coming school year. Superintendent Dr. James Crisfield presented a preliminary budget with a 2 percent tax increase “as a placeholder” until the district found out how much it was getting from the state, and school board members have said they want to come in under that amount. The district learned last week that it will get $353,748 more than last year from the state. The Board of Education's finance committee will meet on Tuesday night to go over the package that will be presented on Thursday, March 1, at a special budget meeting, when the …
Sunday, February 26, 2012
WeLoveMillburn writes about the Board of Ed's decision to move elections to November, eliminating the public's chance to vote on the budget in April.
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Sunday, February 26
Posted Feb. 24, 2012 On Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, Millburn awoke to its own St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Six of the nine members of the Millburn Board of Education the night before unilaterally usurped our right to vote on our school budget and school taxes – essentially forever. Rather than allowing the TAXPAYERS to decide whether they wished to give up an inherent property right in voting for school taxes, a majority of the Board of Education – under the cover of darkness, without providing the township proper notice or a hearing – implemented a barely month-old New Jersey law that moves BOE elections from April to November, but also eliminates the right to vote on budget tax levies so long as the tax levy is below the state-mandated 2 …
Friday, February 10, 2012
School Board wants public opinion on the change. What do you think? Weigh in with our poll.
Updated Feb. 10 Millburn Board of Education will soon decide whether to use a new state law that allows school districts to move board elections to the November ballot and pass budgets without voter approval. The school board is encouraging the public to attend its Feb. 13 meeting which will begin with a public comment session dedicated to discussion of this new law. The board is seeking input before making the decision. Board members discussed the legislation at its Jan. 23 meeting, seeing both the pros and cons of such a move. They tabled the discussion until Feb. 13. (If you want to weigh in on the Patch Poll, you can vote at the bottom of this story.) The following information was published after the Jan. 23 meeting: School board …
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Students will no longer have foreign language teachers but will learn with an interactive computer program.
As part of the Board of Education's budget cuts, elementary schools will no longer have World Language teachers or a curriculum, but board members say that will be replaced with a program like Rosetta Stone. “The World Language program as it is now is ineffective,” said Board Member Scott Kamber. “We decided we could look for a better program and were confident we could wind up with something better than it is now.” Business Administrator Steven DiGeronimo said the cost savings in losing $268,000 in salaries and benefits of four full-time equivalent positions, but there is not a figure for how much the new language program will cost yet. In addition, staff will be moved around, so it is not clear yet which teachers will lose their …
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Board reduces fees and hardship allowance for subscription busing but keeps program; Public will vote on budget April 27.
Despite the concerns of parents whose children would have to walk long distances on what they called hazardous routes, the Millburn Board of Education eliminated courtesy busing Monday night when members unanimously adopted a budget that increases taxes 1.35 percent. In an effort to compromise on the busing issue, board members tweaked their original proposal, allowing for a cap on fees for multiple children in a family and doubling the income threshold for qualifying for a hardship waiver. “Like any compromise,” Superintendent James Crisfield said, “no one will be happy with all of it.” Crisfield predicted correctly. Many parents, especially those whose children were redistricted out of their neighborhood schools, expressed frustration …
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
February break would still be two days, but the half days would be converted to full days in a new proposal.
More changes are on the way for the 2012-13 school calendar, but February break is expected to be kept at two days. The Millburn Board of Education put off its vote on the calendar during its meeting on Monday night. The proposal that was supposed to be up for a vote would have cut February break to two days while the remainder of the week would have been half days. Scott Kamber, program committee chairman, said more changes were being made to the calendar, and among them would be to convert the three half days into full days. Kamber made his comments after Kathy Monahan, a parent, said she thinks the half days are a bad idea. "Nothing will happen in school," she said. "The kids won't be there. Spread out the days over the year." By having…
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Several board members said the increase should not automatically be 2 percent.
Millburn Board of Education members disagreed over by how much they should increase taxes during budget deliberations at Monday's meeting. The board is moving toward closing the $6.5 million gap between expenses and revenue, which will need to be done before the proposed 2011-12 budget is approved for county review on March 14. The final budget proposal will be approved to send to voters a few weeks later. School officials have already cut approximately $4.8 million from the proposed budget. The figures assume the board increases taxes by 2 percent, which is the maximum allowed increase under state law. If taxes were increased by 1 percent, the gap would be $7.2 million. At no increase, there would be a $7.9 million gap. School board …
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Anonymous
8:42 am on Tuesday, March 6, 2012
That's quite a stretch. Don't think the governor was ever going to be on-board about giving local taxpayers the right to turn down a Charter School, and he doesn't need this law to justify his position. more ›