Berlin Community School hosted its July board of education meeting last week, with school officially ‘out’ for a month.
The upcoming school year caught the attention of Superintendent Joe Campisi, who joked that, “After the 4th of July, summer just flies for me.”
With little on the agenda, board members discussed the passing of a bond referendum to be voted on in December. The measure still needs approval from taxpayers.
As discussed at a May meeting, details of the referendum project’s costs include
“$19.8 million, per Garrison Architects. Renovation costs include soft expenses of eligible projects at 40 percent of the state’s share. The current estimated state share is $7,931,716, and taxpayers’ share is expected to be $11,897,573.”
Campisi discussed the addition of an ESports team that students in grades five through eight can join. The school is set to compete in the 2022-’23 season in the Garden State ESports League.
The league is run by full-time state educators, whose mission is to create high-quality, student-centered experiences through scholastic esports to help students grow socially, emotionally, and academically.
“This league really provides an opportunity for students who do not go out for sports, for band, or for theater,” Campisi said. “It gives them another opportunity to take part in an extracurricular.
“In June every year, they have the finals for the league and [host it at different locations]. This year, it was held at Rider University.”
Another matter of note for the school board is the upcoming search for a business administrator, the result of interim administrator John Scavelli’s retirement. Campisi said the search will start this month, when the board will begin accepting applications and recruiting candidates.
Campisi expects to have more updates to come as the school year begins and interviews have been conducted.
“We’ll see who applies,” he noted. “I have different resumes from job fairs, and as long as the job is posted, we can reach out and recruit … I try to contact colleges with MBA programs and see if anyone is interested in a business administrator job.”
The school’s next board meeting will be on Wednesday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. Students will start classes on Sept. 6.
