Schools

Freehold Borough School District Translator Hired as Grant Facilitator

The translator position was eliminated in the 2011-2012 budget.

A Freehold Borough School District translator whose position was eliminated in the 2011-2012 budget will serve as a grant facilitator. During Monday's Board of Education meeting, the governing body approved a two-month term of an employment for Alyssa Hostnik at $30 per hour for an amount not to exceed $6,000. She will coordinate the districts Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act grant money for students on free or reduced lunches. Board President Annette Jordan voted against the hire.

The agenda item originally called for Hostnik’s employment to last from July 1 through December 31 for an amount not to exceed $20,000. Board member James Keelan offered an amendment to the original terms of hire after others on the governing body questioned the expense.

“It just seems to me to be a lot of money for a six months,” Board member Kevin Tennant said.

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According to Superintendent Elizabeth O’Connell, the $85,000 grant was supposed to be two-year grant but was condensed into 18 months because of unforeseen hurdles.

“The original grant was written to involve community partnerships to a greater level. However at the end of year one, districts were reporting they couldn’t involve the community outreach people to the level they wanted to because we couldn’t share student records,” O’Connell said.

Find out what's happening in Freeholdwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Hostnik played an active role in facilitating the grant last year because of her involvement with students and families and her access to student records in her role as translator, according to the superintendent.

“The facilitator has much more to do in the last six months of this grant [because of that]. She has to do in six months what we really should have had 18 months to do,” O’Connell said.

The position was advertised internally and Hostnik was the only one who applied.

Keelen recommended the term of employment be shortened to two months, at which time the board can reevaluate whether Hostnik would be need for the full six months or the district’s new supervisor of instruction, Cecilia Rizzo-Zimmer, could assume responsibility for the grant within her office.

Jordan said she voted against the hire because she thought $20,000 too much to pay for a six-month position.

“We have to be responsible. Yes, it’s grant money, but it’s still taxpayer money overall, no matter how you cut it,” Jordan said.


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