Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • March 12, 2014 Midland Park Board cancels full February break for 2015 Students in Midland Park’s public schools will have a shortened winter break next February as the board of edu- cation tries to avoid a repetition of this year’s problems in dealing with emergency closings due to snow or other situ- ations. The board last week approved a new calendar for the 2014-15 school year which not only limits the February break to Monday, Feb. 16 and Tuesday, Feb. 17 instead of a full week, but also identifies which days will be used as makeup days, should they be required. A new month by month format was used, which the board hopes users will find more helpful. “This enabled us to include three snow days and keep the traditional Friday night graduation,” said School Board President William Sullivan. He added that some parents had reached out prior to the meeting with the thought that spring break was more important than the February vaca- tion. As adopted, the calendar provides for 186 days for stu- dents and 189 teacher days, including three snow days. Board policy requires 183 student days, although the state minimum is 180. The calendar cautions that plans that cannot be changed should never be made to include week- days in June. Should additional emergency days be needed, Feb. 17 will be used, then Feb. 16. Additional days would then come from the spring break, with March 30 used first, and so on down the week. In 2015, the spring break is scheduled for March 30 through Good Friday, April 3. Graduation and the last day of school for students will be June 19. The last day for teachers will be June 22. School will start on Sept. 4 for students, and Sept. 2 for teachers. The Christmas break is scheduled from Dec. 23 at 12:30 p.m. through Jan. 2. This school year, there have been six emergency closings due to snow, but only two had been built into the calendar. Though it became apparent prior to the February break that additional makeup days were needed, the board was unable to shorten the winter break because no regular meeting was scheduled before that time and the situation did not qualify for an emergency board meeting, according to Sullivan. The schools were closed due to inclement weather on Jan. 3 and 22 and Feb. 3, 5, 13, and 14. The board decided last month to cancel the four vacation days in April preceding Good Friday. All schools will now be open for full days on April 14, 15, 16, and 17, 2014. ASB hosts Pajama & Book Drive Atlantic Stewardship Bank is hosting a Children’s Pajama & Book Drive to support the “One Million Good Nights Pajama Program.” Bank customers are invited to donate new, unused pajamas (a complete set or night- gown) and new books for children in need. The collection will be held throughout the month of March at all branch locations. Atlantic Stewardship Bank will be collecting for chil- dren ages six through 12 and teens from 13 to 18. Sizes up to adult XXXL are needed. Pajama Program, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, provides new pajamas and new books to children in need. For most chil- dren, bedtime is a time of comfort, love, and security, but for millions of children living in poverty in America, a good night is a luxury they do not often experience. The Search firm (continued from page 4) salary on the number of students in a school district. The superintendent salary in the RIH district, with 2,350 stu- dents, is capped at $155,000, plus a stipend of $2,500 because the district includes a high school, and a potential 15 percent bonus if certain merit goals are met. One Million Good Nights campaign will allow the Pajama Program to essentially double its current capacity to dis- tribute an additional one million new pajamas and one mil- lion new books to reach more children in need throughout the country. For more information about the Pajama Pro- gram, visit http://pajamaprogram.org/WordPress. Atlantic Stewardship Bank maintains banking locations in Midland Park, Montville, North Haledon, Pequannock, Ridgewood, Waldwick, Westwood, Wyckoff, two offices in Hawthorne, and three offices in Wayne. Established in 1985, ASB is a full-service community bank serving both individuals and businesses. The bank is a subsid- iary of Stewardship Financial Corporation trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol SSFN. The bank’s website is http://www.asbnow.com. When Schoen resigned in 2013, she was being paid $197,500. She accepted a similar position in Mahwah’s K- 12 school district, which serves 3,253 students. The maxi- mum salary for her new position is $165,000, plus $2,500 because the district includes a high school, and a potential 15 percent merit bonus. Palestis is receiving $606 per day for the days actually worked, but not more than an annual salary of $157,500, plus the potential of up to 15 percent if certain quantitative and qualitative criteria are met. Fences (continued from page 5) use the current ordinance to address any situations. “This ordinance should give us the ability to say in cer- tain situations that something needs to be done,” Bivona said, adding that the ordinance pertains to new fences but, if existing fences are dangerous, the borough can go after them in a constructive way. Before the ordinance was introduced, Dogwood Trail resident Debra Fabbio voiced her concern about spiked fences and her support for the ordinance. She said she is concerned that something will happen to a child and the borough will then look back and say, “We should have done something.”