In case you missed it, here is what happened around Montclair this week, from a financial turnaround at the school district to a new brunch spot’s opening week in the South End.
School District Reports Projected $1 Million Surplus After Budget Crisis
Montclair Public Schools is projected to end the 2025-26 fiscal year with a positive unreserved fund balance of about $1 million, a turnaround from the $12.7 million unreserved fund balance deficit reported in the district’s June 30, 2025, audit, Superintendent Ruth B. Turner told the community in a message following Wednesday night’s board meeting.
Turner credited the turnaround to the community’s approval of the $12.6 million special election tax levy combined with nearly $1.8 million in expenditure savings generated through the year. “Those savings did not happen by chance,” she wrote. “They are the result of months of thoughtful planning, careful monitoring, and responsible decision-making across every department.”
Turner was careful to frame the milestone as progress rather than a resolution. “While our work is not finished, we should all take pride in this important milestone,” she wrote.
School District Hires New Communications Chief
The Montclair Board of Education has confirmed Eshaya Draper as the district’s new Executive Director of Strategic Communications and Community Engagement. Turner introduced Draper at an Aug. 5 board meeting, toward the end of a five-hour meeting.
Draper spent two years as director of communications for the South Orange-Maplewood School District and previously served as public information officer for the Middlesex County Magnet Schools and communications manager for Lawrence Township Public Schools, in addition to more than five years organizing New Brunswick Public Schools’ print, web and digital communications. He holds a bachelor’s degree in communication and media studies from Thomas Edison State University and is president-elect and vice president of programming for the New Jersey School Public Relations Association. The hire steps Draper into a role Turner has leaned on heavily throughout the district’s fiscal crisis.
Township Deputy Manager Exits Amid Cost-Cutting
Township Manager Stephen D. Marks confirmed that Deputy Township Manager Brian Scantlebury no longer works for Montclair, and said the post will not be filled soon, according to Montclair Local. Marks did not say whether Scantlebury resigned, was laid off or was terminated.
The departure comes as the township cut six positions overall to save money, including two layoffs in the fire department, two in public works and one in code enforcement, Marks said. The cuts are part of the township’s effort to find roughly 5% in spending reductions across nearly every department to offset rapidly rising employee health insurance costs. Scantlebury previously served eight months as acting township manager following former manager Timothy Stafford’s abrupt 2022 departure, then returned to the deputy manager role in 2023; he had also previously served on the Township Council, including as deputy mayor.
Pig & Butter Has Soft Open in Montclair’s South End
Pig & Butter, the New York City brunch spot relocating from the East Village, opened its Montclair location at 401 Orange Road on Friday, Aug. 7, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Mayor Dr. Renee Baskerville, followed by live music, kicking off a three-day soft opening that ran through Sunday, Aug. 9. Regular service begins Wednesday, Aug. 12.
The restaurant is led by chef and owner Sherry Grimes, who locals may remember from her time as executive chef at Anderson’s 1949 on Glenridge Avenue. “It feels good to be back home,” Grimes told Montclair Local of the opening. The South End location follows Pig & Butter’s move from its longtime home at 42 Avenue B in Manhattan’s East Village, where it served its last day of business Dec. 7.
New Jersey Bans Surveillance Pricing at Grocery Stores
Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed the Fair Price Protection Act into law July 23, prohibiting retailers from charging shoppers different prices for groceries based on personal data such as past purchases, browsing history, location or biometric information. New Jersey joins New York, Connecticut and Maryland in restricting the use of personal data in retail pricing.
“Surveillance pricing weaponizes your data against you,” Sherrill said at the bill signing at a Newark grocery store. “Companies figure out where you live, where you shop, and even what you’re Googling, and they use that data to calculate specific, often higher, prices for items you need without your knowledge.” The law also imposes a one-year moratorium on new electronic shelf labels while the state studies their impact, and treats violations as consumer fraud, punishable by fines up to $20,000 and enforceable by the state attorney general or by consumer lawsuits. Most provisions take effect Aug. 1, 2027, so the practical impact on Montclair grocery shoppers is still more than a year away.
