Up Next: RIH BOE June 29 Meeting
- Kathie Schwartz
- Jun 27, 2023
- 2 min read
The 49-page agenda for Thursday's meeting has been posted.
There are 2 items I find of particular note, items which are NOT recommended by the Superintendent:
1- There will be a vote on a hiring a new law firm (Item OP18), to replace the law firm the Board terminated in January and their successor who quit the Board.
2- There will be a vote to spend $29K of your taxpayer dollars for a "Communication Consortium" (Item OP19) to share an employee with a school district in Camden County (?!).
Both of these items are NOT being recommended by the Superintendent. This is HIGHLY unusual, and I would argue quite alarming. This looks to me like a Board going rogue to override its Superintendent.
For the new legal counsel there is an odd fee arrangement with a significant increase in the hourly rate. The new law firm is $210 per hour for every attorney (a 20% plus increase over the Fogarty & Hara's $175 per hour for partners and $155 for associates and a 24% plus increase over Busch Law rate of $170 per hour). So much for Judy Sullivan's claims of fiscal responsibility. The fact that the law firm is not being recommended by the Superintendent makes this seem like another Judy Sullivan power grab to override and control the Superintendent she claims to support.
And why does the Board want to spend $29K of your money for a Communication Consortium with a Camden County district? The Superintendent is doing an excellent job of communicating what is going on in the schools. Who will the Haddon Township employee work with in our district, since the Superintendent doesn't want his services? Is this an attempt to repair the Board's damaged reputation (brought on by the Board's own actions) ahead of Judy Sullivan's campaign for re-election? Taxpayers should not be on the hook for this Board to repair its reputation.
In addition to the routine resolutions for this time of year, the board will be approving a new contract with the teachers' RIHEA union, interestingly for only a 1 year term.
Please attend the meeting on Thursday, ask questions and hold the Board accountable.
Here is link to the June 29th meeting agenda:
Here is link to the June 29th meeting addendum:
