Contract:

Continued From Page 1 when she still had three years existing on that contract?”

“I want to give everyone a little bit of the why of what we did and to do that we are going to have to go back to February of 2020 when Mrs. Pormilli assumed the role of superintendent for our district. She came on board with over 20 years of experience in education and also as an administrator and her whole life brought her to that moment,” Palmeri said.

He added, “she was excited with plans and goals that she wanted to turn the page and start a new chapter for the Jackson School District. As we all know a few weeks went by and in March of 2020 COVID-19 swept the nation and the world really. The governor ordered schools to close. The president closed the country and for two years we had virtual learning.”

“Just last year we started seeing normalcy again and students were back in the classroom. Teachers were back in the classroom. The Board started to strategize as to what we would do and what it would look like to have a plan in place to mend that learning loss, that gap of two years that our students lost due to the pandemic,” the Board President added.

He noted, “with that in mind we wanted stability. We wanted to have a superintendent that would be here long term and one that would be able to navigate us through this time. We also felt that the two years of COVID were stolen from Mrs. Pormilli. She didn’t have that opportunity to do as she wanted, to see this district prosper and grow.”

“What we did as part of the strategy was to reopen up Mrs. Promilli’s contract and we wanted to re-sign her for five years which we did in November 2022 at a public Board meeting. Her benefits remain the same from 2020,” the Board President added.

“We did increase her salary because we took stock of other school districts in similar size to the Jackson School District such as Brick, Lakewood and Toms River. We wanted to make sure our superintendent was at the medium salary as those other superintendents,” Palmeri said.

Palmeri said the Board increased Pormilli’s salary to be more on the level of her peers. “What we didn’t want was what Toms River went through for well over a year and a half where they were without a superintendent and it is not easy to find and to secure a competent superintendent.”

“We have a great superintendent now with us for over the next five years that is going to see us through to the future,” Palmeri said. He credited her dedication noting conversations he has had with her about district matters during evening and weekend hours.

Disputing rumors and false information circulating on social media that stated the superintendent’s health benefits and those of her family were absorbing thousands of dollars from the school district, the Board President stated, “Let me be very clear as Mrs. Pormilli and her family are eligible for health benefits. Mrs. Pormilli had opted out of health benefits. This is actually saving the district thousands of dollars - not costing us thousands of dollars.”

“That was the reasoning behind it so I hope this answers some of the questions out there. I think this was the best decision for our students and so does this board. I think we are at a good place with Mrs. Pormilli at the helm.”

Pormilli thanked Palmeri for his remarks about her but also noted the dedication and work of her team. “We care about our students,” she said.

New Committee Formed

Board member Megan Gardella presented a resolution that formed a new committee. “It resolves to create an advocacy and community outreach committee of the board comprised of Board of Education members, community members, parents, administrators and teachers for the purpose of - among other things - enhancing communication on matters of the school community.”

The Board unanimously voted to approve the formation of the new committee.

Remembering Long-Time Staffer

Also noted during the meeting was the passing of Susan McGinley a staff member of Jackson Memorial High School who died unexpectedly at home to the shock of her fellow staff members.

Palmeri noted the loss during the meeting saying, “Sue worked closely with students and staff for more than 20 years and her energy, humor and warmth will be sorely missed. We offer our deepest sympathy and support to Sue’s family but also to her Memorial family.”

“I express my sincere condolences to the McGinley family. Sue’s loss is felt deeply. Her shining light at Memorial High School and across the district are going to be greatly missed,” Pormilli said.

Pormilli called McGinley a “wonderful student advocate and staff supporter. We want everyone to know how much she will be missed.”

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School: Continued From Page 1

Drive would be closed and sold as a means to raise money. She expressed that such a move would present other issues and would not solve the school district’s long term fiscal problem but that all avenues would be considered in the weeks to come.

Rosenauer has approximately 237 students in grades pre-kindergarten to 5th grade with a student-teacher ratio of 9 to 1.

“This is a very difficult scenario. You have heard me say before, the perfect storm scenario,” Pormilli said. “This tentative budget is plugging numbers in so that we can submit that and continue the process of reviewing this because we do not believe this tentative budget is anywhere (close) to where we want to be. Do not think that we are anywhere near finalizing this budget.” She said no final decisions have been made and that the introduction was being done to meet the requirement of putting together numbers for the County Superintendent. She also noted that she would soon be testifying in Trenton in representation of the school district, calling for the state aid that was cut to Jackson to be reversed or reduced.

“This year finding out that we were anticipating a $2.5 million cut, which was part of the schedule shared with us when the S-2 legislation was put in place, so we were anticipating what they told us. However, two weeks ago we learned that cut was going to be $6.2 million cut. Two weeks before we have to strike a tentative budget,” she said.

“Last year we also received more of a cut than the schedule outlined shared with us and overall, we are projected to lose now $23 million over seven years which has gone up from $19 million based on these new recent larger cuts to state aid from last year and this year and who knows, we anticipate $806,000 next year based on that original schedule but looking at this pattern here. I’m not so sure it will only be $806,000,” the superintendent said.

“This budget is a reflection of six years of decimating budget cuts. We have been advocating against the S-2 funding formula which has cut our state aid more than $22 million. Cutting more than $23 million over this point of time you can not recoup. Expenses continue to rise and we have a 2 percent cap. That is as high as we can go to raise money from taxes to go toward our revenue,” Pormilli explained.

She said that the school district has been forced since the S-2 formula took effect, “to work in a cut budget model. Every year we are cutting, cutting and cutting. Always reducing over these six years.”

Pormilli noted that reduction in staff was handled through attrition and not replacing those positions. “We reduced operational costs. We’ve cut staff. We’ve postponed needed improvements to facilities. We seek additional revenue and we had a need to draw down our surplus funds.”

“Think of a surplus in a budget like a savings account at home. The surplus is what we generate at the end of the year to see what’s left of our budget and traditionally we had been rolling that over, year after year, however knowing that when these S-2 cuts came we would be chipping away at it,” she added.

She said that eventually when your expenses are climbing higher than your revenue,

“you are going to be depleting that surplus. We have now depleted that surplus.”

A bill in Trenton right now would allow districts that lost aid to recoup 66% of it. The bill passed the Senate and will soon be up for a vote in the Assembly.