A board of education meeting on Wednesday, April 24 was packed with faculty members, students and parents protesting a slew of changes recommended by Superintendent Denise Lowe for the 2013-2014 school year.
Board of education [BOE] members were set to vote on shifts in administration and contract renewals for tenured and non-tenured teachers and staff members. The rejected most of the recommendations, but state-appointed fiscal monitor Lester Richens has since overturned most of their decisions.
Richens overturned the board’s votes against transferring Gavin McGrath from high school vice principal to Bradley Elementary School Vice Principal; the withholding of a salary increment from a teacher and the abolishment of the position of assistant director of the alternative school.
Lowe also recommended that Thurgood Marshall Elementary School Principal Mark Gerbino be transferred to the position of Vice Principal at the Alternative School Academy, and that Kathy Baumgardner be reassigned from Bradley Elementary School Principal to Alternative School Academy Principal.
Staff members attended the meeting to protest the changes to Gerbino’s and Baumgardner’s positions, and BOE members voted to reject the recommendations. Currently, Richens is considering overturning the vote, Lowe said today.
Lowe also recommended that reappointments of non-tenured and tenured staff members be approved, and district community relations coordinator and Title I bilingual parental involvement associate Christina Coloma was not on the list of non-tenured staff members.
Coloma and others protested her termination, and the BOE decided to table its vote on the list of non-tenured employees until the next meeting, set for May 8 at 7 p.m.
STAFFER: ‘IT’S PERSONAL’
Coloma spoke during the public comment session to protest her non-renewal.
Lowe has informed Coloma that she is not recommending renewal of her contract “due to poor performance,” Coloma said.
“By the sound of this comment and after reviewing in detail my evaluation, I am forced to realize that this is personal, not based on actual performance,” Coloma said. “There seems to be another motive.”
Coloma distributed a 16-page document to the board that outlined an evaluation she received from Lowe. Coloma received 23 out of 26 competent marks on the evaluation, she said. She asked BOE members to review the packet she gave them in order to gain a better understanding of her job responsibilities.
When contacted after the meeting for comment, Lowe said she could not address Coloma’s employment because it is a confidential personnel matter.
John Napolitani, who is a teacher and president of the district’s teachers’ union, also spoke out against Coloma’s termination.
“Christina Coloma is being fired tonight for… I don’t know why,” he said, after naming several other issues. “I don’t know what’s going to go on after tonight. Labor relations are a joke.”
Stephanie Dias, of Neptune, worked alongside Coloma in the district.
“She has been responsible for many translations for early childhood,” Dias said during public comment. “She’s also responsible for going door-to-door to parents’ homes. She’s responsible for getting parents out in droves. She’s an asset to this district and an asset to our program.”
A senior at the high school also spoke about Coloma, saying she helped him and his fellow students with the spring musical this year.
“She put in so much work for us,” he said. “Why would you take her away? She could do so much next year. I just can’t fathom that at all.”
PRINCIPAL REASSIGNMENTS
Katie Lee, of Spring Lake Heights, spoke out against reassignments of the principals, Gerbino and Baumgardner.
“The definition of a principal is a person who’s in a leading position,” she said. “A leader is a person who has a commanding influence. To myself and many others, Ms. Baumgardner can be described as all o the above.”
Another teacher, Kiera DeSouza, asked that Baumgardner be kept at Bradley Elementary School, and said she was aware of an overcrowded class with 26 students. She also said nine students in another class had to sit on the floor for the first days of school in September 2012 because their desks had not yet arrived.
Lowe said today that that class has 25 children, and the district likes to keep classes under 23 students. If she had been notified of the issue earlier in the year, she said, she would have rectified it.
Kim Brightman, an English teacher at Asbury Park High School, also was upset by the proposed moves.
“I have had eight principals in 10 years,” she said. “Every year it’s a new learning experience because they all want something different. I don’t know if you realize you’re affecting the teachers.”
Larry Daniels, technology coach at the high school, also asked the board to reconsider the switches in placements.
“[Baumgardner] supports our teachers to make sure that each and every child that comes to that school gets a good education,” he said. “We need stability. We need people who love and care about our children.”
Third-grade teacher Sean Hamilton also spoke against the changes.
“When Marc [Gerbino] came to Thurgood Marshall, I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s been one of the most pleasurable years I’ve had at Asbury Park,” he said.
STUDENTS: ‘WE PLAY CARD GAMES IN CLASS’
A group of high school students attended the meeting to talk about their English teacher, Michael Zajac.
Zajac was removed temporarily from the classroom one week before the meeting while an investigation was completed, Lowe said. Prior to the meeting, the district intended to place Zajac back in the classroom the next day, Lowe said, and he was restored to his position that day.
Students said the issue stemmed from a disagreement between Zajac and Prinicpal Reginald Mirthil.
One student asked the board how she could graduate without a grade in English, in the event that Zajac could not return. If Zajac did not return, students would likely receive pass-or-fail grades instead of number or letter grades.
“I shouldn’t be stressed out,” she said. “School should be a place for kids to be safe. This is a problem and it should be dealt with.”
Another student said she is ranked third in the entire senior class and worried that her ranking would fall if Zajac was not restored to his position.
“If I do not pass, I will not graduate,” she said. “I refuse to stay another few months and graduate in January because my teacher was removed over a personal conflict with my principal.
Another student said the class has been playing card games and doing no school work since Zajac left.
“We’ve been in class for the past week playing Uno,” he said. “How is that helping me? I have to take my college placement test next week. I need English 4.”
Some parents also spoke about Zajac’s removal.
“I am distraught and dismayed,” said Lauren Golden, a parent who is also a teacher at the high school. “Mr. Zajac is far beyond an English teacher. He is a mentor. He is a leader. He is a shoulder to cry on. It is unacceptable that he is not in the classroom.”
Several other teachers and parents talked about issues with long-term substitutes who are unable to finish the school year at times. Those teachers are required by state statute to leave the post after 40 days if they aren’t properly certified, Lowe said today.
TEACHERS’ ISSUES
Lynn Johnson, a teacher at Bradley Elementary School, said the district is “spending money in the wrong areas.”
“We need a lot more resources to meet our needs,” she said, then suggested students should have Spanish and library classes year round, instead of alternating halfway through the school year.
Another teacher said the school needs tutors and reading specialists to help children who cannot read at grade level — or cannot read at all.
Lowe said today that the district is working on training teachers so that tutors and reading specialists are not necessary.
“The best intervention is a highly qualified teacher,” she said. “We’ve been looking at strengthening the quality of reading and writing in the classroom. There is no resource that indicates that sending children out to reading specialists increases achievement.”
The next BOE meeting is set for May 8 at 7 p.m. at Bradley Elementary School.
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