The Moorestown board of education will preview the state of next year’s proposed budget at an upcoming workshop.
“I expect that to happen at some point before our March meeting (Tuesday, March 19) because the budget will be up for, at least, preliminary approval at our next regularly scheduled March meeting,” said board President Mark Villanueva. “So everybody, keep your eyes on your calendar for when we lock in that date.”
Following Villanueva’s remarks at last month’s meeting, interim Superintendent Joseph Bollendorf gave a general update on various community topics.
“ … Again, thank you to home and school (association),” he said. “I continue to go to all these meetings in all the buildings and it’s a great opportunity to meet our parents up close and personal. For them to ask questions, it’s really building a great basis of connection and relationship and support in working with them.
“As we’re working through so many of the things that we’re trying to do moving forward in this district,” Bollendorf added, “getting real parent input and helping to build support in that way is really truly special and helpful.”
After the recognition of recent retirees and board committee reports at the meeting – as well as board member Danielle Miller’s report for the curriculum committee – Bollendorf updated the reunification agreement for Moorestown schools.
“When I first came to the board I attended a meeting with the Office of Emergency Management here in Burlington County, and at that point, the district was building plans for reunification plans,” Bollendorf explained.
“But the plans were specific to something called a Green Reunification, which essentially means if we have a bomb scare or there’s a gas leak and you bring all the kids outside and then you can’t get them back in the building, the parents come and pick them up. That’s a Green Reunification.”
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), reunification is the process of ensuring that children return to the care of their parent(s) and family as quickly as possible after an emergency.
“ … There needs to be a place where we can gather in a school as large as the high school,” Bollendorf pointed out. “We started investigating where some of those sites could be and we were able to get the new owners of Players Courtyard (pickleball club), and the owners of that facility have been so incredibly gracious.
“It’s really, quite frankly, the most ideal setup where it’s (the club) situated in that industrial park, how the roads could be controlled allowing parents in and out and multiple rooms that could be used for multiple things …”
The board approved the reunification agreement later in the meeting, among other agenda items.
“I just think the community needs to know that you have great people like this amongst you that are willing to put their business out there for the purposes of something of this nature, which is not something any of us want to think about,” Bollendorf noted of the agreement.
“But it’s an unfortunate reality that we need to be prepared, so it’s a good thing (reunification) that will hopefully never be used.”
For other board matters, visit www.mtps.com or search for the Moorestown board of education meeting on YouTube.
