The Hammonton Gazette 02/17/16 Edition | Page 5

Ingemi questions $39K for helmets Page 4 • Wednesday, February 17, 2016 • The Hammonton Gazette SCHOOL, from Page 1 one of our teachers could qualify for teacher of the year, but tonight to give a special recognition to one teacher from every building, it’s very special. and it’s great to see the type of people and the type of commitment we have here. You know the schools are just brick and mortar, but the heart and soul, and really the driving force of the education here at Hammonton, is certainly our faculty and staff,” board president Sam Mento said. in other board news, as stated on the agenda, the board approved the first reading of resolution No. 16 02 r (W): resolved that the Hammonton Board of education approve to introduce on first reading for the refunding of all or a portion of the outstanding callable refunding school bonds of the school district, dated October 12, 2006, issued in the original principal amount of $7,385,000, appropriating not to exceed $7,600,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of not to exceed $7,600,000 refunding school bonds to provide for such refunding. the purpose of the refunding is to incur an interest cost savings for the School District. the board approved a joint purchasing system authorizing the Hammonton Board of education to enter into a Joint Purchasing agreement with the Somerdale School District. the board approved the following amounts, as stated on the agenda: • purchase order lists for December 2015 and January 2016 in the amount of $719,532.91. • bill list for february 2016 in the amount of $522,978.84. • check lists December 2015, January and february 2016 in the amount of $1,386,416.82. the board approved the 20162017 tuition costs for sending districts. according to Mento, the rates are as follows: regular tuition (HHS 9-12) $12,185; (HMS 7-8) $11,168. the following contracts were approved unanimously, as stated on the agenda: • Northeast Plumbing Services for the pipe reinsulating at the high school in the amount of $15,180 based on education Data trade Service agreement. • Vargo associates for topographical mapping in the amount of $5,400. • Cengage Learning for aP Calculus textbooks for the high school in the amount of $5,940 based on lowest quote. • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Spanish textbooks and supplemental materials for the high school in the amount of $13,166.01 based on lowest quote. • Clencoe/McGraw Hill/ MacMillian for CP Psychology textbooks and for the high school in the amount of $15,799.00 based on lowest quote. • american tennis Courts inc. for high school running track repairs in the amount of $4,250 based on education Data trade Service agreement. • follett educational Services for the high school based on the lowest quote for english Literature textbooks, $6,617.60 and World History textbooks, $2,354. • adorama for various technology supplies for the high school in the amount of $5,899.47 based on lowest quote. • riddell Speedflex football helmets for the high school in the amount of $39,354 based on lowest quote. “Now, i’m going to probably guess this isn’t about safety because that would mean we are currently using unsafe helmets … in Hammonton, our fiscal compass is broken. We go to town council, we’re spending on eagle theatre, a dog park, community garden. We come here. We’re spending money to bring the Hawks here, and no one has ever told me how we are going to pay for the electricity and the upkeep. Now, we want to spend $40,000 for more sporting equipment. So i think these are our wants, they are not our needs. But we got a lot of needs, and i think this school has a lot of needs and addition to funding to improve our ParCC scores. We’ve got leaking roofs, we are going to have healthcare and benefit increases when the government’s toolkit expires in terms of how much the school district pays versus individual teachers. So costs are coming and there are plenty of things we need to address. So we have two options as a schoo