Eight positions cut from V’land school district
Vineland Public Schools' Board of Education voted this week to eliminate eight Vineland High School administrative assistant positions from the district's organization chart, The Daily Journal staff writer Deborah M. Marko wrote.
Seven administrative assistants will lose their current position effective June 30. They are: Michael L. Adams, Edward Benish, Madeline Galan, Erika Kirschner, Tammy Monahan, Jeffrey Perez and Eric Reissek.
Carol Rothman is also affected because she was to be appointed to an administrative assistant position that has now been eliminated, said Superintendent Maryann Banks. She will remain in her current VHS teaching position. Their salaries range from $60,592 to $89,650.
Administrative assistants have divided their time between classroom instruction and overseeing the administrative responsibilities of a specific VHS small learning community of about 400 students each.
The seven administrative assistants will remain district employees but in other capacities, board president Frank Giordano confirmed. They will be given the opportunity to move to other positions under N.J. tenure laws.
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Giordano confirmed that none of the administrative assistants would go without another job.
"They have bumping rights," Banks said.
Those who will not be rehired to make room for a "bumping" employee must be notified by May 15, according to Vineland Administrators and Supervisors Association officials.
Administrative assistants Adams, of arts, and Reissek, of math, science and engineering, both spoke proudly of their small learning communities and acknowledged they understood the district's financial constraints. Both spoke of their respect for Banks and the school board members, noting no one envies the person who has to cut jobs or programs.
Board member Diamaris Rios cast the lone opposing vote.
Student Government Association members told board members they believe administrative assistants are a valuable asset to students.
VHS junior Aaron Berry called the administrators "the glue of VHS" because they hold everything together. Many serve as "father figures" to students. Berry compared cutting the jobs to "taking a father away from a child."
John Howard, a VHS senior, offered some cost-cutting options to save the jobs, such as consolidated bus routes and reducing some sports teams by merging freshman and junior varsity teams into a single entity.
Howard also voiced concerns that without the administrators the small learning communities would fall through the cracks.
The job duties are not being eliminated, Giordano said, noting Banks plans to meet with school staff to talk about how the responsibilities will be handled in the future.
Board members also endorsed Banks' recommendation to abolish the assistant-superintendent-for-business job title, currently held by Kevin Franchetta, and create the new title of school business administrator effective immediately.
Other job titles -- assistant superintendent for secondary education and special jobs, high school executive principal and high school associate principal -- were swept from the books. Those jobs were vacant.