Is It Time for the District to Re-Evaluate Its Services from a Politically Entangled Municipal Government?

Jan 26, 2025

The current Agenda for the next BOE Meeting includes an SLEO Contract Amendment.

In Berkeley Heights, the District pays the full $37.45 per hour for each Special Law Enforcement Officer (SLEO), and now the township is asking the District to divert even more funds from classrooms to cover additional costs like sick time and overtime pay along with an increase in regular pay (to 38.20 per hour).

SLEO’s are retired police officers and you can consider that Berkeley Heights currently has no cap- no limit as to what can be spent on this jobs program for retired police officers already receiving hefty pensions. Also, they along with teachers, recently became eligible for higher social security benefits on top of their pensions.

The average monthly pension payment for NJ retired police officers is already 65% of their working compensation for state police.

As working and middle class families are struggling to stay afloat, NJ Towns are already scrambling to keep up with these generous plans while the Berkeley Heights Mayor and Council (two of whom are retired police officers themselves) want to further burden our District.

In New Providence, the School District covers only 50% of the cost of police services—and only for services that are actually provided. This arrangement excludes additional benefits such as sick leave and vacation time.

Similarly, Linden does not cover sick time or overtime costs either.

Additionally, most of the contracts from these and other Districts include specifics on what SLEOs are allowed to do and get paid for, while ours lacks any meaningful detail.

Lastly, looking at the Mountainside Contract – we see that there is a cap as to what can be spent; interesting that the last Mountainside representative never mentioned that in any of the discussions on this issue last year.

Why can other Townships provide this information while ours continues to remain secretive?

Why would our township expect the District to shoulder these additional costs when others do not?

An important point before machines attempt to spin this “omg the children!!!111” – the Township CANNOT pull SLEO’s out of the school as the current contract goes to 2028.

Let me repeat.

The Township CANNOT pull SLEO’s out of the school as the current contract goes to 2028.

Back to the original point.

The approach by Linden, New Providence and other Districts makes sense, as police officers are township employees, not district staff. The District simply contracts for their services on an as-needed basis. If the town wants their employees to have sick time and overtime they can pay for it – that’s how it works in almost every other context.

So, why would our township expect the District to shoulder these additional costs?

Is this a petty power play tied to the turf field debate or a retaliatory move connected to the fallout from a disastrous Board of Education election involving the Mayor’s husband?

As we approach a new budget cycle, it’s worth scrutinizing whether all our agreements with the township truly serve the best interests of our District and its students. Recent history suggests this review is overdue, especially as some local political figures appear to be using their positions to create problems for our schools, potentially as a springboard for political gains by their allies.

For instance, the District might consider taking over areas like fuel and field maintenance contracts, negotiating directly with vendors instead of relying on the township as a middleman. Streamlining these processes could reduce costs and improve efficiency.

It’s important to understand: these services are not provided out of generosity. Taxpayers are already footing the bill.

Reallocating these expenses to the school budget would promote greater transparency and ensure that negotiations are free from undue influence by campaign donors or special interests. The township, in turn, could return the funds it claims to allocate for these services directly to taxpayers.

Perhaps the township could also start directing some of the PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) funds to our schools. After all, the developers benefiting from PILOT agreements provide no financial support to our classrooms. Future agreements should include revenue sharing—especially after the township’s recent attempt to strong-arm the Board of Education into surrendering school land through a misleading and disingenuous referendum question.

Is it finally time to prioritize students and taxpayers, ensuring that every dollar spent reflects their best interests—not the political ambitions of a few or their donors?

Is it time for our Mayor and Council (including the two retired Law Enforcement Officers serving as members) to recognize that our schools don’t solely exist to provide employment for retired police officers?

Maybe they can use the money they spend on terrible “training” in Atlantic City to cover these costs.

Do you really want more of your money going to a service with no cap, no parameters to benefit politicians, the unions that support them and programs with little to no evidence as the District tries to recover from three years of incompetent leadership?

Aren’t resources for your children just as important?

Will this jobs program for retired police officers help you pay for college?