CAPE MAY — Cape May Elementary School Board of Education approved a contract March 18 with its teachers with 4 percent yearly raises for three years.
The contract is retroactive to 2009 since teacher contracts ended last summer.
Despite a loss of $155,000 in state aid, Cape May Elementary School’s proposed 2010-2011 budget has no increase in the local purpose tax rate. The budget totals $3.9 million.
The local purpose tax rate remains at 6.7 cents per $100 of assessed property value, according to Business Administrator John Thomas.
The amount to be raised by taxes in $1.4 million which represents no increase over the past three years.
Chief School Administrator Virginia Zelenak said the school will see more federal Impact Aid than expected for children from Coast Guard families, which make up a sizable share of the school’s student population. For the last two years, Cape May Elementary did not receive all the Impact Aid that it was entitled and it will receive a retroactive payment to 2006, she said.
“The good news is we don’t have to cut any staff,” said Zelenak. “We’re very happy about that, in fact, we’re adding a couple of positions.”
The school is projecting 193 students for the next school year.
Thomas said the increased Impact Aid would offset the drop in state aid. Impact aid is totaling $864,000. Total state aid for 2010/2011 is $374,000, down from $532,000 for 2009/2010. The board approved the budget to be sent to the county superintendent before a public vote in April.
Zelenak said she is recommending the hiring of an additional teacher for second grade which will have a projected enrollment of 25 students. Hiring a second teacher will split the class into two rooms to keep class size small, she said.
The proposed teaching staff:
• Two preschool
• Two kindergarten
• Two first grade
• One third grade
• One fourth grade
• One fifth grade
• One sixth grade
A total 11 classroom teachers.
Zelenak is recommending Special Education be increased by a half time teacher. Special Ed. currently has two teachers who Zelenak described as “booked solid.”
She is recommending Special Skills instruction be increased by an additional part time position. Currently the program has three, half time teachers, a Spanish teacher who also teaches Basic Skills, a Special Project teacher who teaches Basic Skills half time and one additional half time teacher, a total of three, half time teachers.
Zelenak said she is seeking four half time teachers or possibly one full time and two part time teachers depending on applicants for the positions.
She is recommending an aide for the school’s swimming pool due to increasing class sizes.
For the Technology Department, Zelenak is recommending an extra technician one day per week. She said the school has more technical issues than can be handled through its contract with the Lower Cape May Regional School District.
The board honored third grade teacher Ann Griffith as teacher of the year. She has been with the school for 16 and half years.
Zelenak said Griffith has presented innovative projects to her students.
Due to lost schooldays from snowstorms, the school will add four days to the end of the school year. The last day of school will be June 24 with June 22, 23, and 24 as half-day sessions.
June 16, 17 and 18 will be full day sessions.
The board approved an expenditure of $19,800 to replace the school’s phone system. Thomas said the system dated back to 1993 and some phones and routing was beginning to fail. The system will include an auto-attendant system that will not require a person to answer the school’s main phone number every time it rings, he said. It will include a voice mail system for messages for teachers.
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