On Dec. 22, the athletic field at Montville Township High School, home to, among others, the school's football team, marching band and field corps, was as close as it has ever been to being upgraded from grass to artificial turf, thanks to a referendum scheduled to be voted on by township residents at the end of January. On Dec. 23, it was back to square one. The cancellation of the Board of Education's referendum due to an increased taxpayer burden ends the most recent effort to replace the grass field with artificial turf. "It's a shame," Board President Dr. Karen Cortellino said. "It's …

The Montville Township Board of Education made the somewhat controversial decision earlier this month to outsources the district's custodial needs to Tennessee-based GCA services. The district's contract with the custodial service company, which begins in late December, calls for the removal of 37 current full-time employees to be replaced with GCA staff and is expected to save the district more than $300,000 this year and about $617,000 on next year's budget. The decision is just one of many recent moves by the Board of Education to try and pair down its budget, which has been seeing reduced…

Montville Township High School senior, Scott Davis had the same feeling that a lot of students had at the beginning of the 2010-11 school year when they found out their clubs had been cut: disappointment. "I know [my club] has a large, active membership, and I was disappointed that we might not be able to do our projects," he said. Davis is a member of the International Concerns Club (ICC), a community service, humanitarian-minded group that was one of the many organizations eliminated by the Board of Education as part of cost-saving measures for the current school year.  However, unlike many…

For the Montville Township School District, eliminating extracurricular activities at all levels of public schooling is a reality of operating under difficult budget constraints. At the high school level alone, the district eliminated 13 clubs to cut costs for the school year. One of the clubs eliminated was the Make-a-Wish organization, a group that Montville High School senior Dianna Saccomano was looking forward to being the co-president of. "I was very disappointed to learn on the first day of school, when I went to [the club's advisor] and she said 'haven't you heard, the club has been …

The Montville Township Board of Education began receiving public feedback on its activity fee at it's meeting on Aug. 31. One of the first people to ask about its nature was Mustang Association Co-President Cheryl Meytrott. She wanted to know if every student, regardless of participation, was required to pay the fee. She also asked about cuts from the freshman girls soccer team, an issue that " a lot of people were upset about." Board President Dr. Karen Cortillino addressed her questions in the public portion of the meeting. Even then, admitted that the fee was an imperfect solution to the …