Clinton Township Newsletter

1 2 d e c e m b e r 2 0 2 4 W W W . C L I N T O N T W P N E W S L E T T E R . C O M Spruce Run School Bread! Spruce Run Students are learning all about bread! Children's favorite meals often include bread or foods like bread in pizza and pretzels. Students will explore bread and find out about types of bread they eat, how it is made, the shape it comes in and how we can eat it. The children will also develop thinking skills as they observe, investigate, ask questions, solve problems and make predictions. In December, classrooms will also be talking about the different ways of giving to others to get us into the holiday spirit! We are happy to welcome Lee DelGuercio to our Spruce Run family as a Teaching Assistant. Lee is very happy to be a part of the Clinton Township School System. She is a grandmother to four grandchildren and three dogs and is so happy to share her life with them! She loves the beach, dolphins and horses. Patrick McGaheran School The halls of PMG are alive with learning and leadership as we move into the winter season and wrap up 2024! Our K-2 students are showing what makes Clinton Township's youngest residents so special. We recently had a visit from Annandale Hose Company to raise awareness about the importance of fire safety, promoting life- saving practices and home fire safety education. We also had a visit from Sparky the Dog who reminded students of fire safety tips. We are very thankful to the firefighters in Clinton Township for what they do each and every day to keep our school and community C L I N T O N T O W N S H I P S C H O O L N E W S www.ctsdnj.org www.ctsdnj.org I N O U R S C H O O L S : A MESSAGE FROM DR. STAGER, CTSD SUPERINTENDENT: Clinton Township School District prides itself on offering a quality education to all of its students. Our goal is to help each and every student reach their full potential to set them up for success in secondary school and beyond. To do this well, careful attention needs to be paid to the budget process. As many are aware in New Jersey, school tax rate hikes have been capped at 2% except in certain circumstances. There is also the reality that almost every other cost has been growing well above the 2%. Transportation, insurance, energy, and services have all increased in price. We also have to increase the salaries of our employees, many of whom live in the community, to ensure we retain quality staff members. Before 2020 the CTSD community had a lot of years with zero percent tax increases. As a result, there was a lack of investment in critical infrastructure. That is why we are replacing boilers and roofs, and working on becoming more energy efficient. Unfortunately, many of these things can not be postponed in order to continue to educate our children in a safe and compliant environment. We also face threats from a bill S477/A3648 that was passed in 2019 that opened the statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse. These suits are based on incidents that were reported from the 1960s and 1970s. Despite extensive searching, our district was unable to find proof of a viable insurance provider from that time. This means any settlement of judgment will have to come out of our general fund, or be voted on by the taxpayers. We have discussed the concerns of these issues at some of our Board of Education meetings. We have also gone to New Jersey School Boards, and reached out to our local legislators as we have grappled with these lawsuits that occurred prior to the current Superintendent's arrival. So far, we have not heard back from our elected officials with a plan of action that will not leave our local tax payers and the school vulnerable. The district's budget is about 33 million, and initial requests for these law suits came in at more than triple our budget, much more. While we believe any past victim should be made whole, we do not want to do this by impacting the education of our current and future children. Quite frankly, this unexpected and unknown cost is seriously impacting our planning and our current legal costs. We do not believe the Bill was intended to hurt local taxpayers, but we are not the only district across the state dealing with these unknowns. This is a weighty topic, but we wanted our community to be aware. You as a taxpayer are welcome to advocate for funds or another solution with your elected officials at the state level. Clinton Township School District is an asset to the community. You can see this every day by walking our halls and seeing the bright, happy, polite and engaged students. We will continue to balance providing a quality education with the realities of being a Hunterdon County taxpayer. Please feel free to reach out to me by emailing: mstager@ctsdnj.org with any questions you may have. – Sincerely, Dr. Melissa Stager, Ed.D Superintendent, CTSD safe! Thank you, Annandale Hose Company!!! Student leadership is active at PMG through our Friendship Council. Members help plan s c h o o l e v e n t s a n d p r o m o t e a culture of kindness, as our young students take an active role in decision-making and community building. D e c e m b e r b r i n g s s p e c i a l m e m o r i e s a s o u r s t u d e n t s w i l l j o i n t o g e t h e r f o r o u r t r a d i t i o n a l A l l S c h o o l Sing, an opportunity for our school community to share in the winter spirit together during the school day. These school-wide celebrations help build the strong sense of community that makes PMG such a special place.

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