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High school English teacher Jessica Daniels almost lost her job at last night’s board of education meeting. But after more than a dozen of her students and colleagues spoke to the board about Daniels’ accomplishments and her relationships with students, the board voted to keep her in her position.

Under the budget approved at last month’s BOE meeting, three English teachers and three Math teachers are to be terminated before next year. Officials have said they are making these cuts due to low student enrollment. Daniels is the first teacher to find her job on the chopping block.

Superintendent Denise Lowe and state-appointed fiscal monitor Lester Richens both recommended Daniels’s termination.

“It’s nothing personal against Ms. Daniels but the district has a fiscal responsibility and the board has a fiscal responsibility,” Lowe said. “[Because of union regulations,] we can’t say let’s keep Ms. Daniels and get rid of someone else.”

Daniels [pictured above, at last night’s meeting with students who came to show support] was hired in March 2007 and is lowest in seniority among the tenured staff, district communications officer Christina Coloma said. Daniels was one of the teachers to help implement a new English teaching plan which helped students improve their standardized test scores by 31 percentage points over three years. Three years ago, students were 33 percent proficient in language arts literacy on the statewide High School Proficiency Assessment [HSPA] tests. Last year they were 46 percent proficient and this year, they were 64 percent proficient, she and other APHS faculty members said at last night’s meeting.

“Since the inception of these courses, our students’ test scores have markedly improved each and every year,” Daniels said to the board at last night’s meeting. “These courses, which are full-year courses, were designed solely with our kids in mind — their interests, their needs, their lives. Because of this, these kids have found a level of success in English classes that we have not seen for 10 years.”

The district is planning to cut English and math class time in half for students next year, hence the teacher layoffs. Starting next year, students will no longer receive an additional semester of remedial “intervention” English and math courses, according to Colleen White of the guidance department, who was speaking on behalf of Lowe. The school will continue to give students one semester of English and one of math each year to fulfill state-imposed graduation requirements. In past years, the school also gave students “intervention courses” to improve their basic skills. These courses did not count toward graduation.

The district is doing away with the intervention courses in favor of giving students more options for world languages and electives, White said on behalf of Lowe. Students will also have the option of taking Perkins courses for college credits, work-study experience or certifications from institutes of higher learning. The students have expressed interest in taking electives and world languages, she said.

The district does not feel the removal of these courses will negatively impact the students “because it is still with the same English curriculum,” White said. “The district wouldn’t make a decision that would jeopardize our increasing test scores. That’s our primary focus.”

At last night’s meeting, Daniels spoke of her personal attachment to her students.

“The job of teaching literature at Asbury Park High School means more to me than you could ever imagine,” she said. “These kids are my world. I love them with every ounce of myself.”

Daniels taught students from this year’s graduating class for a full year when they were in both ninth and tenth grade, she said, and “they have scored higher than any graduating class has in Asbury Park in almost 10 years. Why would we take this opportunity away from the future students of Asbury Park High School by changing what has been proven to work?”

Teachers and students also spoke out against Daniels’s termination.

“One of my concerns is that I’m really unsure about what the administrators and board members actually value in Asbury Park,” one high school senior said. “Of course it would be great if athletes from Asbury Park went on and played professional sports … but it doesn’t happen too often.”

That student and several others quoted Daniels as having told them, “We can only go as far as our brains take us.”

Later, another student who had come to the meeting in the uniform from her part-time job said she would not have the job if it were not for Daniels, who helped her create a résumé. Students also talked about how Daniels helped them get into college by proof-reading their application essays.

“She comes here and does her job,” another student said. “I know seniority comes into play, but why fire someone who’s willing to work?”

State-appointed fiscal monitor Richens also recommended the board terminate Daniels when it came time to vote.

“[Daniels’s position] was not budgeted for in this budget,” Richens said. “You’re losing your best and your youngest teachers who really identify with students and the students relate to but unfortunately, before the governor’s reforms come into play, the board’s hands are tied.”

Board member Barbara Lesinski also spoke before voting.

“I understand my fiscal responsibility but I also am concerned about the effect it may make on the high school’s strides in literacy,” she said, to applause. “I think learning is literacy. If you can’t read or write you’re going to inhibit the way you can learn or are educated.”

The board unanimously voted against terminating Daniels’s position. The district must now examine other options for balancing its budget for next year.

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