End of an era: Haddonfield school board awards contract to new child-care provider

The Haddonfield school board has awarded a contract to a new child-care provider for the district, ending a longtime relationship with a program started by parents in 1985.

By an 8-0 vote, the board on Thursday selected AlphaBEST Education Inc. to provide before- and after-school child-care services beginning July 1. The company will pay $55,000 to use the district’s schools to house the program.

AlphaBEST will replace Haddonfield Child Care, a nonprofit created by working parents to serve 250 pupils in kindergarten through eighth grade. Haddonfield Child Care agreed to continue its extended kindergarten child care for about 50 students for the 2020-21 school year.

Kathy Morris, president of the Haddonfield Child Care trustee board, said she was “disappointed and saddened” to see her program’s partnership with the district end.

In other business Thursday, the school board appointed Charles Klaus as superintendent of the 2,500-student district, effective July 1. Under a three-year contract, he will be paid $180,000 a year.

He replaces Larry Mussoline, who announced his retirement last month.

Klaus was named an assistant superintendent in June 2018 when his predecessor took a medical leave and became the permanent replacement in May 2019.

Klaus joined the district in 1994 as an English teacher after a teaching stint in Maple Shade. He was Haddonfield High School’s varsity wrestling coach from 1993 through 2009 and also coached track and cross-country. He was inducted into the South Jersey Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2011.

The board also approved a $34.7 million proposed budget for the upcoming school year, a 2% increase. If approved by voters, the owner of a home assessed at the borough average of $500,000 would have an annual property tax increase of $62.