SCHOOLS

In a unanimous vote, the Highland Park Board of Education has accepted the bid of Temco Facility Services to provide facilities management to the borough's public schools. The decision at Monday's board meeting was cheered by more than a dozen custodial and maintenance employees and their supporters.

The vote in favor of a new contract with the East Rutherford firm marks the formal end to the district’s contentious relationship with Sodexo, the nation’s largest provider of facility services.

The Highland Park school board approved individual 2011-12 salaries for the district's 192 returning professional staff -- teachers, counselors, classroom assistants and support staff -- at their June 6th meeting.

Full-time teaching salaries increased by the contracted rates of between 1.4 and 2.3%, according to the district's salary resolution published at http://www.highlandpark.k12.nj.us/board/agendas/agendate/6%206%2011.pdf.

Despite a hint of drizzles and lingering gray skies, students of Irving Primary School and their families were nonetheless cleared for take-off.

"It’s not that we’d like to stop charters or control them, but there was a feeling we would like to have more local say," says Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association.