Politics & Government

Parents Upset with Oceanport-West Long Branch Special Ed Shared Services Plan [VIDEO]

Oceanport seeking to cut Director of Special Services and share position with West Long Branch, feasibility study to discover other possibilities for shared services with similar school districts nearby.

A proposed plan for Oceanport and West Long Branch school districts to cut costs by sharing a Director of Special Services was met with contention by Oceanport parents concerned the position would be too much for one person to handle.

The plan, which was discussed at the Oceanport Board of Education's public workshop meeting at on Thursday night, calls for the dismissal of Oceanport's current Director of Special Services, Robin Dunikoski, to share West Long Branch's director Lolly Yaconi.

Oceanport would in turn share their Network Technician, Louis Pelissier, with West Long Branch, which currently does not have a technology officer.

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The Director of Special Services is responsible for facilitating a team that helps students with disabilities, students with English as a Second Language and students who require Basic Skills Services in Language Arts and Math. They also work directly with students, teachers, case managers, paraprofessionals and parents.

Under the proposed agreement, Yaconi would spend one or two days a week between Oceanport's and . Oceanport and West Long Branch school districts both serve approximately 85 full-time special education students, which combined would put nearly 170 students under Yaconi's care.

Find out what's happening in Little Silver-Oceanportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Oceanport Superintendent Andrew Orefice said he also intended to replace Dunikoski with a full-time Learning Disabilities Teacher Consultant (LDTC) to be in schools five days a week who would also serve as a case manager. The district currently has two special education case managers, School Psychologist Dr. Donna McCartin and School Social Worker Stacy Liu.

Dunikoski has served as Director/LDTC since the LDTC position was cut for the 2010-11 school year, and has been in the schools five days a week for the past four years.

Orefice and Board of Education President Colin Soyer said the state has been putting pressure on districts to find ways to save money and asked them to take a look at sharing the Director of Special Services position through efficiency standards released by the New Jersey Department of Education two weeks ago.

"I can't continue to pick pennies out of the corner. I can't continue to pull rabbits out of a hat. We are where we're at. Two years ago, we had $500,000 more in our budget and we don't anymore," Orefice told parents.

Orefice estimated the district would save $60-70,000 a year by cutting the position. He said a new LDTC could be hired for an annual salary of $50-55,000.

The board's legal counsel R. Armen McOmber said the plan has not been finalized, though it is anticipated to be debated and may be voted on at their next regular meeting on Dec. 15.

If passed, Dunikoski would be terminated after the expiration of a 60 day termination clause.

Parents who spoke during the meeting's public portion said they believe the reduction in force will result in special education students "falling through the cracks" and not getting the level of support they need.

"What’s $60,000?" Parent Wendy Bagett asked. "You may be saving something now, but what’s it going to cost these students for the rest of their lives?"

Orefice expressed sympathy for their concerns, noting that he himself is the parent of a special education student and a former child study team director. He pledged that he would not let any children "fall through the cracks" on his watch.

"The hallmark of my career, what I am very proud of and take very seriously, are our special education students. I've helped many of you sitting out in the audience, I've helped people who are not here. If you have a different perception of my reputation, I'd be happy to talk to you about that," said Orefice.

"There are children falling through the cracks, and there are parents that are unhappy," said parent Robin Kelly, whose sentiments were echoed by parent Holly Miller.

Orefice disagreed with the characterization, inviting both parents to speak to him later about their specific issues.

Board member Mark O'Neill spoke out against the proposal, saying he believed the board should take a harder look at their ancilliary spending.

"I'm the first one to want to cut budgets and we argue about it all the time and I'm embarrassed by this. I mean, we argue about crap like starting another preschool and I don't know how many tens of thousands of dollars that cost us. We argue about all this crap and then you have something like this where it seems like if we hadn't argued and saved money there, we wouldn't be doing this."

Former Board member Bob Huber said he had an alternative plan on how to save money. McOmber would not let Huber present his idea as it was not on the agenda, but said  Huber could distribute written copies of the plan to anyone who was interested and the board could discuss it before action is taken.

“I do not have a special needs student, but these parents do," said Huber. "They voted for you, they stood by you. Now it’s time for you to stand by them.”

Orefice said Friday that he was moved by the parents' concerns and that the board is taking them into account and will think of other possible solutions.

Local Districts Looking to Share More Services

The approval of a feasibility study with , Monmouth Beach, and West Long Branch school districts was also discussed at the workshop meeting. The comprehensive study, which is to be done by an independent firm and will not exceed a cost of $6,000 to each district, will take a look at administrative positions within the districts.

Speaking only for himself and not the board, Orefice said he would be open to the idea of a shared superintendent, but also acknowledged the study could cost him his job.

"The region is open to a marriage of the entire central offices," said Orefice. "It is a real thing for our region and it is definitely being talked about."

What do you think? Tell your neighbors in the comments and poll below.


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