Rebecca Cox | Town Topics

Historically Low Rate For School Bond Means Savings for Taxpayers

At last week’s meeting of the Princeton Public School (PPS) Board of Education, Finance Committee Chair Dan Haughton reported on the recent bond sale for which six bids had been received. The sale was completed by public auction on January 15 with the Chicago-based investment firm Hutchinson, Shockey, Erley & Co. beating competitors PNC Capital, UBS Financial, Raymond James, Janney Montgomery Scott, and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

The $10,980,000 bond comes with a net interest rate of 1.43 percent. According to a press release from PPS, this is an “historically low lending rate.”

The bond is for work slated under a special referendum approved last September. According to Stephanie Kennedy, business administrator for Princeton Public Schools, the lower-than-anticipated rate will translate into substantial savings for taxpayers.КWhen Princeton voters approved the facilities spending, the interest rate was expected to be 2.5 percent.

The 1.43 percent interest rate means that the debt service will be more than half a million dollars less than was originally projected. A number of factors led to the lower interest rate, not least of which was the district’s Aaa rating by Moody’s, re-affirmed this month after interviewing Ms. Kennedy and reviewing the district’s financials, including the most recent audit. The Aaa rating is held by only a handful of school districts in New Jersey.

“This is great news for the taxpayers,” said Ms. Kennedy. “This means that we can get all of the projects done for fewer tax dollars over 10 years than we had originally projected.” With the successful sale of the bond, the district can move forward with the planned construction projects, many of which will go out for bid in February and be completed by this fall.

Mr. Haughton commended Ms. Kennedy for her financial stewardship. He also reported on increased revenue from the JWMS pool, which amounted to $100,000 last year. Because of a hike in fees, more is expected this year.

The meeting was attended by assistant superintendents Lewis Goldstein and Bonnie Lehet as well as Board President Timothy Quinn and members: Rebecca Cox, Dorothy Bedford, Andrea Spalla, Daniel Haughton, Molly Chrein, Patrick Sullivan, and Martha Land. Absent were Afsheen Shamsi and Evelyn Spann.

The board heard reports from Mr. Quinn, several other board committees, and voted on several agenda items

Superintendent Judith A. Wilson’s “Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying Report,” was approved for adoption as was the Multidimensional Principal Performance Rubric (MPPR) for principal evaluation as required by the State. The rubric intends to promote the development of quality professional practices by supporting self-assessment, reflection, feedback, goal-setting, and evaluation.

In her report, Ms. Wilson congratulated the PHS Studio Band for its performance at the Kennedy Center on Inauguration Day and two PPS teachers at the Community Park Elementary School for winning Sustainable Princeton Leadership Awards: science teacher John Emmons and science lab teacher Martha Friend.

The budget was briefly discussed but since no announcement has yet been made by the State (awaiting Governor Christie’s budget address February 26), no action was taken. PPS received a $10,000 grant from the Asian Society’s Confucius Classrooms Network, in support of projects in its Mandarin program, as well as an additional $1,000 travel grant.

John Witherspoon Middle School (JWMS) Principal Jason Burr introduced presentations by JWMS teacher Nina Lavado and Lori Rotz, assistant principal at Princeton High School.

Ms. Rotz reported on her recent seven-day service project building a school in Constanza in the Dominican Republic, a project sponsored by Lifetouch and in coordination with the National Association of Secondary School Principals. “It was an experience like no other,” said Ms. Rotz.

Ms. Lavado spoke on the “Parent University of PPS” and about “Latinos en Progreso” (Latinos Moving Forward), the program she founded two years ago at JWMS (see story on page 7). “Latinos en Progreso” will be under the umbrella of the new overarching group “Parent University of PPS,” aimed at supporting parents whose children are enrolled in ESL; those who haven’t mastered the English language; or those children receiving academic support.

“This is a model for parent involvement,” said Mr. Quinn, who went on to ask whether more could be done to help parents with basic computer skills.

Ms. Wilson announced that there will be a public forum on the school’s budget at the next meeting on March 5. There will be no meeting in February. For more information, including ongoing updates on the referendum work, visit: www.princetonk12.org.

Board and PREA Are Still at Odds Over Contract Talks

Although the Princeton Regional School District (PRS) and teachers in the system have been described as “being close to an agreement” on a new contract in the months since the previous contract ended on June 30, that goal remains elusive. At last week’s Board of Education meeting, comments by Princeton Regional Education Association (PREA) president Joann Ryan and other PREA members were deemed inconsistent with the evening’s agenda and out of order.
“Anyone attending the Board meeting on December 13 witnessed first-hand, the disrespectful treatment by Board of Education (BOE) President Rebecca Cox, as she attempted to quash comments from members having to do with negotiations claiming that it was not an agenda item,” said Ms. Ryan early this week. “The BOE President clearly commented on negotiations during item D of the agenda, the President’s Report,” she continued. “For her to try to shut down further discussions of negotiations by claiming it was not an agenda item, when she commented on negotiations during the President’s Report was disingenuous and disrespectful to the PREA membership.”
Teachers’ comments to the contrary, however, School Board President Rebecca Cox has asserted that “Teachers who are working with expired contracts are NOT working ‘without’ one.”
In a PRS statement released after the meeting last week, Ms. Cox pointed out that “Union members still have all of the protections and benefits of the expired contract,” noting, however, that “salaries have to remain at last years’ level until a new contract is ratified, and starting July 1, health-care contributions had to comply with new state law.”
Teachers came to last week’s meeting bearing signs like “Princeton Teachers Want to Settle Now.” “The PREA leadership is frustrated,” said Ms. Ryan on Tuesday evening. “We have heard the Board say publicly that they want to settle our contract and yet behind closed doors, there is no evidence of that fact. Instead of working collaboratively on a solution that is acceptable to both parties, the Board is demonstrating a disrespectful attitude toward our negotiations team and our entire membership.”
Ms. Cox’s statement emphasized the “new environment” in which school boards, teachers and community members now find themselves. The last time a contract was negotiated was in 2008, before the economy crashed, she noted. “The unemployment rate is still high, the economic recovery is fragile, and the state government continues to make major decisions that impact New Jersey’s school districts, sometimes in negative ways.”
“A lot of these changes are directly affecting our district,” continued Ms Cox. “Three years ago, the cap on the property-tax levy was twice as high, health-care contributions were lower, and raises statewide were double what they are today. Now we are in a new fiscal reality in the state, in the nation, and in the world. The state tax-levy cap is now 2 percent and recent settlements around the state reflect that. In contrast, three years ago the cap was 4 percent, and the settlement rate was about 4.5 percent.”
“Actions speak louder than words,” said Ms. Ryan. Quoting Superintendent Judy Wilson as having recently said that “‘We know that children’s levels of comfort, confidence, and trust matter every bit as much as academic achievement and excellent instruction,’” Ms. Ryan wondered about what “happens when trust and confidence in district leadership are lost? What happens to that ‘excellent education?’”
In the meantime, PREA members have begun daily after-school demonstrations on the sidewalk near the Valley Road Building, where the PRS administration is housed. “We want to make sure that we’re not forgotten,” said Littlebrook science teacher Martha Friend on Monday. Ms. Friend noted that groups of about 25 teachers from all the district schools would be taking turns each afternoon, excluding pre-holiday Fridays.
In the midst of contentiousness, both teachers and the district have expressed interest in working together. “PREA and the Board of Education should be partners, supporting this district of excellent teaching and learning for all our students,” said Ms. Ryan in her comments at last week’s meeting. “This is about all of us working together to reach a resolution,” Ms. Cox similarly observed in her press release. “We are ready with our proposals and looking forward to our next mediation session on January 5.”