FRANKLIN TWP. | Warren County
Technical School administrators have warned students they will
face consequences if they stage a walkout this week over plans
to not renew four teachers' contracts.
When rumors of the walkout and
plans to attend the board meeting got back to administrators,
they met with the student body Friday. The school also sent
home a letter to parents Wednesday.
The teachers have been informed
of the school's intention not to renew their contracts but the
school board has yet to take action, Chief School Administrator
Robert Glowacky said.
"This is just a normal process
that occurs in schools. This just might be the first time they
see it happen," Glowacky said. "Everybody is somebody's favorite
teacher and (students being upset) is inevitable."
Students are encouraged to attend
the board meeting and express their opinions but any protests
that disrupt the school day will result in disciplinary action,
he said.
The administration is recommending
not renewing three nontenured teachers' contracts, Glowacky
said. He declined to identify the teachers until the board takes
action but did say they teach social studies, cabinetry and
gym.
It takes three years to gain
tenure in New Jersey.
"We hope to find a better teacher,
someone who is a better fit to the vocational school," he said.
"I try to let them know it's not that you are a bad teacher.
I told them I am willing to give them a recommendation."
One tenured teacher is not being
renewed because his program, machine trades, is being eliminated.
Most machine work is being shipped overseas, and there isn't
enough demand for the class, Glowacky said. That doesn't mean
the program won't come back in the future in an updated form,
he said.
Thanks to a 20 percent increase
in state aid, the school will be replacing three of the teachers
and hiring four more. The school is likely hiring an extra math
teacher, a nurse for the new expanded health science program,
a child development teacher for a new program and possibly another,
Glowacky said.
New Jersey Education Association
representative John Ropars said districts normally have until
mid-May to make the decision not to renew contracts. He has
instructed the vocational school teachers to ask for the specific
reasons but it is within the school's rights.
Ropars said there have been a
high number of nonrenewals this year for untenured teachers.
That is strange since many districts saw increases in aid, he
said.
School board President Harold
Warne could not be reached for commen