LRHSD BOE approves three-year employment contract
The Lenape Regional High School District Board of Education approved a three-year employment contract at last week’s meeting with the Lenape District Support Staff Association, which represents district bus drivers and custodial staff, according to a LRHSD release.
The LDSSA ratified the contract on July 10, following negotiations with the LRHSD BOE.
According to the release, the three-year contract includes an average salary increase of 2.3 percent and was updated to be in compliance with current statutes governing public employee contributions to health insurance.
“This contract is good for the district and our employees,” said LRHSD board member John Heitmann Jr., who chairs the negotiations committee. “We reached agreement in a timely manner, which helped keep morale high for everyone involved. The board and LDSSA share a commitment to maintaining the quality of our schools and the safety and security of our students.”
“We hammered out an agreement in a remarkably short time and our members had no complaints when we ratified the contract,” LDSSA President Victoria DeSantis said. “We’re members of the community and take pride in our jobs. We also recognize the economic needs of the district and we were willing to work within their budget to reach an agreement.”
In other news:
The state Department of Education office of Fiscal Accountability and Finance audited the district, reviewing binders on record, according to Chris Heilig.
The audit did not uncover any fiscal problems, and the district will not have to return any funds provided through grants. However, 16 procedural findings were reported, according to Heilig.
“A couple examples include not properly documenting how we did business with vendors,” Heilig said. “We need to issue purchase orders before services, just as an example of what they found.”
The district’s next step is to appeal or create a corrective action plan.
“The corrective action plan is an easy solution for us,” Heilig said. “Since there were no monetary findings, we don’t need to appeal.”
According to superintendent Carol Birnbohm, some of the procedures were already corrected at the end-of-the-year evaluations in the spring.
Board members will review the report to discuss additional corrective action.
The board will vote and certify there was a discussion at the next meeting.
The next meeting will be held Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the administrative building, located at 93 Willow Grove Road in Shamong.
