Manalapan-Englishtown to lay off elementary school Spanish teachers

ENGLISHTOWN — Pupils in the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District’s elementary schools will learn Spanish from a computer next year instead of being instructed by a foreign language professional.

At a meeting on March 16 in Englishtown, the Board of Education voted to lay off five women who teach Spanish in the district’s elementary schools. Officials said the move was made due to current budget pressures facing the district.

Regular classroom teachers will instruct pupils in grades one through five using a Spanish language computer program, according to administrators.

The children get one 40-minute period of Spanish per week, according to Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum-Human Resources Joanne K. Monroe. She said the system of instruction meets the letter of the law.

“I am not happy to bring this proposal to you. Our situation is dire,” Monroe told the board and members of the public.

The board’s resolution laying off the Spanish teachers states that the decision can be modified if financial circumstances change. After the cost of purchasing the computer software is accounted for, the district expects these five layoffs to save about $300,000 per year, officials said.

However, more reductions in force and cuts in programming could be made in the coming week as administrators develop a final budget for the 2010-11 school year. Deep cuts in state aid are expected. A tentative budget approved by the board on March 16 includes 22.5 fewer teaching positions (seven lost to retirement and 15.5 as a reduction in force), according to school district Business Administrator Veronica Wolf.

The board’s tentative budget for 2010-11, which is subject to change when school aid figures become available on March 18, amounts to $79.6 million, an increase from the 2009-10 budget of $76.7 million. The local tax levy to support the budget has risen from $51.6 million in 2009-10 to $53.6 million in 2010-11.

The tentative budget indicates that the K-8 school tax rate in Manalapan will increase by 3.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, and the K-8 school tax rate in Englishtown will increase by 6.3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

More specific information about the tax impact on property owners will be available after the board adopts a final budget for the upcoming school year and before residents vote on the budget in the April 20 school election.

The projected 2010-11 tax levy of $53.6 million could increase if the district receives automatic waivers from the state as an adjustment for an increase in health care costs and a reduction in the total state formula aid.

Board member Joseph DePasquale voted no on a combined motion to seek those two automatic waivers — which would amount to an additional tax increase — and to adopt the tentative budget. Seven other board members voted to apply for the waivers and to adopt the tentative budget.

Board member Diana Stafford-Napier was absent from the meeting.

The board will meet on March 19 to consider additional reductions in the budget. A public hearing on the 2010-11 budget will be held at 7:30 p.m. March 23.

The situation surrounding the Spanish teachers was an emotional one for administrators, board members and the teachers, who were in attendance at the meeting.

Alexandria Canals, who teaches Spanish at the Clark Mills School, said students will lose a teaching professional and told the board, “This is not a step forward for our district.”

Several parents complimented the district’s foreign language program and wondered aloud if replacing the Spanish teachers with the Rosetta Stone computer program would benefit the children.

Former board member Michele Stipleman, who is running for a seat on the board this year, said she believes the district will lose some quality in the area of foreign language instruction, which will now be left in the hands of regular classroom teachers at the elementary level.

It was noted that a classroom teacher’s familiarity with Spanish or even with computers could make a difference in the way Spanish will be taught from one class to another.

Before the panel voted on the resolution, board President Donna Formoso said, “A computer can never replace a teacher. The things happening to this district are devastating. This (going to the Spanish language computer program) is the lesser of an evil. I am going to have to support this. This is only the beginning. We have to do something … we need to come together as a community and support our children in these horrible times.”

Board member Joanne Orr, who is a teacher in another district, echoed Formoso’s comments, saying, “This is only the beginning. It’s a sad state for the state of New Jersey.”

Board member James Mumolie, a frequent critic of state legislators who, he maintains, have not kept their funding promises to New Jersey’s school districts, said, “If you think the governor supports education, you’re on another planet.”