New Ridge High PAC Coordinator Hired Despite Objections

A relatively light summer agenda for the Bernards Township Board of Education proved to spur several moments of debate among the members as funding challenges continue to affect the district.

The board voted 6-3 to approve the hiring of a new coordinator for the Ridge High School Performing Arts Center (PAC), a position that will be paid for by credit from Bernards' professional services contractor Aramark.

The new employee, former auditorium Chatham High School auditorium supervisor Dave Kern, will oversee all of the center's activities, coordinate production logistics and help bring in new revenue. Supporters of the move said the new hire will help the PAC to run more efficiently, while actually saving the district money due to a quirk in the way his contract will be paid.

In the 2008-09 school year, Bernards asked its professional services contractor Aramark, which provides janitorial services, facilities management and other work for the schools, to help run the PAC.

Because PAC coordinator duties, which include managing the facility after school hours while concerts and events are held, were not part of Aramark's contract with the school, the district was charged an hourly rate for the service. The total cost came was well in excess of $60,000, according to Bernards school district Business Administrator Nick Markarian. This led the district to ask that the service be included in the next contract, which went to bid in 2009 and was awarded again to Aramark.

This past year, Aramark employees again handled the task of PAC coordinator, but complaints about the efficiency and quality of the service led the district to explore new options for the upcoming school year. Aramark agreed to refund the district approximately the cost of a $60,000 salary plus benefits from the current service contract since it will no longer be providing the work done by the new, full-time PAC coordinator. The new position will be paid approximately $50,000 with benefits from money the board gets from the credit, giving the district a small amount of savings with the new employee.

"This is not really a new position. It's coming out of the Aramark contract. We're just shifting the way we pay for it," Board President Susan Carlsson said.

The contract for the new PAC coordinator is a one-year contract, meaning the Board will have to decide whether to continue to fund the position in 2011-12 once the Aramark credit has expired.

Dissenting votes came from Board members Ken Wilke, Susan McGowan and Michael Byrne.

Wilke said he could not support the new hire because he did not know enough about the position prior to being presented with the opportunity to vote.

"I don't know about the demand for this position," Wilke said. "There seems to me to be a disconnect between having a part-time theater-drama teacher and a full time PAC coordinator … It's hard to sit here and support it when you don't understand (the need for) it well."

Byrne expressed concerns about the size of the salary and full-time status of the position, citing funding challenges as a reason to oppose creating the new position.

Superintendent Valerie Goger said that Markarian and she spent a lot of time with the previous PAC coordinator, and that the new hire was needed.

"In terms of the approach and the model of how this person is being used, (Kern's) willingness to work and to be flexible is what is needed in this position to make any person in the ole successful," Markarian said. Kern has already given the district two weeks of work without pay, according to Goger, and he took a pay cut from what he was making in Chatham before being laid off due to budget cuts this year.