PARSIPPANY — The Parsippany Board of Education formed an ad hoc committee consisting of Board of Education President Andy Choffo, Vice President Susy Golderer, Ms. Michelle Shappell, Mrs. Allison Cogan, Mrs. Robin Tedesco, and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Sutter. The ad hoc committee met on July 17.
The ad hoc committee aims to address specific, temporary issues that require focused attention and solutions. In this context, the committee is tasked with:
- Negotiating Pilot Revenue Sharing: The committee is engaging with the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills to negotiate revenue-sharing agreements related to Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) programs.
- Exploring Shared Services: Considering the potential expansion of shared services between the board of education and the municipal government to improve efficiency and service delivery.
- Facilitating Collaboration: Improving cooperation between the board of education and the municipal government to serve the town’s residents better.
- Communicating Public Concerns: Informing and engaging the public about the district’s impacts of PILOT programs, including the increase in student enrollment and associated costs.
- Strategic Planning: Reviewing demographic reports and formulating plans to address the anticipated increase in student enrollment due to PILOT projects over the next three to five years.
The committee acts as a focused group to handle these specific tasks, aiming to find practical solutions and facilitate better communication and cooperation with the municipal government.
The committee discussed the next steps to continue engaging the town in negotiating PILOT revenue sharing, the potential expansion of shared services, and how the Board of Education and the Municipal Government can better work together to serve the residents of Parsippany.
“We have, individually and through the district administration, reached out to the Mayor to schedule additional meetings. Unfortunately, those meetings have not been scheduled yet, and we really have had no dialogue with him about scheduling that third meeting. We’ve had two so far this year. In an attempt to re-engage them, we’re going to do a couple of things,” said Board President Any Choffo.
“We’re going to send Mayor Barberio a letter, and we’ll make this a weekly endeavor to ask for a meeting. Negotiating a topic takes two sides, and we cannot move forward without working with them. The committee also discussed various ways to communicate to the public the adverse effects of PILOTS on the school district and make no mistake that high-density residential housing, whether they’re under a PILOT or not, will impact the district with additional students that will require additional space that will have operational expenses for teachers and resources associated with them. We will ensure that our district website and the FAQs are updated. We will have some press releases that we’ll put out, potentially board resolutions, encouraging the township to come back to the negotiating table, and you’ll see there’s a large poster board over there, and perhaps for the next meeting, we can maybe put it on these little, you know, behind us so it’s within the camera. I’m not sure if the camera can see that or not. To make sure the public’s aware that, you know, the PILOT issue has not gone away. The Board of Education has been silent on it because we believe we were making headway with negotiations with the township. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be the case any longer, so we will have to ramp up our communications efforts to ensure the public is aware of what’s happening,” he continued.
The Ad Hoc Committee also reviewed the latest demographics report, and the district administration is formulating a plan to address the increase in student enrollment that will occur due to these PILOT projects over the next three to five years.
