2013 School Taxes Down $20 Per Household on Average

Superintendent Scott Oswald made good on his promise of 'not one penny more' in taxes in the final draft of the budget, while also securing enough funds for needed capital improvements.

School Lunch Update: New Regs Throw Curveballs

New federal guidelines mean big changes for public school lunch menu planning, but students might not be buying enough to support the program at a break-even cost.

School Lunch Update: New Regs Throw Curveballs

Federal regulations on school lunches mean that districts face a number of challenges, including fewer full-price sales and calorie changes. Here's how Collingswood is faring.

In September 2012, Collingswood Patch reported on the impact of new federal guidelines for public school lunch menu planning, which took effect during the current school year. As the semester approached the halfway mark, we revisited the issue to see how things were going. Some of the hurdles of the new system that were observed at the beginning of the year—smaller portions for older teens, larger portions for younger students, the regulations about what qualifies as an a la carte meal—haven't gone away. And as students come to terms with the new regulations, they might not be buying enough lunches to support the program at a break-even cost.  Here's our update on the impact of the new program thus far. Estimating a loss Collingswood …

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Social Media Implicated in First-Half Bullying Report from Collingswood Schools

The district logged 13 reports of harassment, intimidation and bullying in the first half of 2012-13. Social media is "our biggest challenge," said Superintendent Scott Oswald.

There were 13 alleged and four confirmed incidents of bullying in the first half of the 2012-13 school year in Collingswood, and according to Superintendent Scott Oswald, social media is a big part of the overall problem. “Our biggest challenge is and probably will remain the social media stuff that happens outside of school grounds,” Oswald said at the Jan. 28 meeting of the Collingswood Board of Education. “The initial contacts there almost never happen in school.” Of the confirmed incidents noted in the Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) report Oswald presented at the meeting, the one involving cyberbullying resulted in the stiffest punishment levied by the district: an external suspension and "alternate in-school instruction" …

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School Bond Re-Fi Saves Taxpayers $1.1 Million

The sale, made during a period of record-low interest rates, officially closed December 13. It should save Collingswood taxpayers $60,000 annually from 2015 through 2030.

At its meeting Monday, the Collingswood Board of Education confirmed that a recent refunding sale of $15.6 million in bonds exceeded its financial expectations, and should net more than $1.1 million in savings to Collingswood taxpayers. The rate reduction will take effect beginning in the 2015-16 school year, and will carry through the life of the bonds, which expire in 2030, said Beth Ann Coleman, business administrator for the district. Better still: the move doesn’t extend the debt repayment schedule beyond its original date, and taxpayers will save about $60,000 annually from the move, Coleman said. According to a press release issued by The Charleville Company of Robbinsville, NJ, the average net interest rate on the new bonds will be…

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