U.F. school district seeks volunteers for task force
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

UPPER FREEHOLD - The regional school district wants help in addressing budget, staff and overcrowding issues.

The Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education is seeking volunteers to serve on two task forces, according to interim Superintendent of Schools Robert E. Smith.

The first task force will deal with the school district's budget and staffing. This group's responsibilities will include studying local facts and statistics regarding the ability to deliver desirable levels of instruction and student services, according to Smith.

The budget and staffing task force will review class sizes and total daily student loads, as well as the adequacy and roles of both support-staff and administrative-staff/supervisor positions, according to Smith.

The task force will also study staffing levels and staff responsibilities in comparable school districts and then make fiscally responsible recommendations to the superintendent of schools regarding their discoveries, according to Smith.

The second task force will address the use of the school district's facilities prior to the opening of the new middle school. This team will study projections for enrollment, class size and educational service while becoming informed about facility capabilities and current utilization, according to Smith.

The facility task force will have to identify facility needs for 2007-08 and 2008-09 along with opportunities to advance program improvement, according to Smith. The team will have to read selected research and literature on the topic, identify options for the use of current facilities and make fiscally responsible recommendations to the superintendent about those discoveries, according to Smith.

Each task force will be made up of three parents, one representing each grade level, kindergarten through fourth, fifth through eighth and ninth through 12th. Three certified staff members - also one from each grade level - will make up every team as well. In addition, the teams will have one support-staff member, two students from grades nine to 12, two community members without students in the schools, three administrators and two Board of Education members.

Those who are accepted to the task force will be appointed by Oct. 18. for the studies scheduled to begin on Oct. 23 and end on Nov. 30. The teams will compose a report on their findings in time for a special public forum at the Board of Education's Dec. 6 session, its Dec. 13 public meeting or its Dec. 20 special meeting, according to Smith.

Smith cited several benefits that result from using a task force to assist with planning a major initiative and implementing those plans. He said task force members bring additional talents, skill sets and perspectives from additional constituencies to the tasks at hand.

Task force members become "key communicators" who can disseminate the final outcomes of the group's work, Smith said.

Those interested in volunteering can e-mail TaskForceVolunteers@ufrsd.net and along with their names are asked to include an e-mail address, mailing address and phone number.