By Jospeh L. Kuchie—

PERTH AMBOY – On May 7th, the Perth Amboy board of education held another special meeting at Perth Amboy High School to once again vote on the future employment of superintendent Janine Caffrey.

After a private session that lasted over one and a half hours, the board put the doctrine of necessity in place, a resolution that allows all board members to vote regardless of a conflict of interest. Although three members chose not to participate, the rest of the board voted 6-0 to continue the paid leave of Caffrey.

Commissioner Christopher Cerf

However, in a sudden twist, Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf overturned this vote on May 8th, allowing Caffrey to return to her position. According to NJ.com, Cerf said that the board did not have enough votes for such a move to take place and offered to supply a mediator to help settle the dispute.

The members of the board who chose not to vote on Caffrey’s future believed that certain details were being kept from them and that the timeliness of the special meeting was unlawful. According to the Open Public Records Act, meetings must be posted to the public 48 hours before the meeting is held, but in this case the details of this meeting weren’t posted until the night before.

“It was brought to my attention today that the Home News Tribune did not post this meeting until yesterday, which means it was posted under the 48 hour requirement by law,” said board member Mark Carvajal. “Based on the Sunshine Law, I think this meeting is illegal and we should reconsider what we are doing. We need to stop and get back to helping our kids.”

Board member Dianne Roman noted that there were “special meetings” with some of the board that other members were kept out of, and she believed it was unfair to vote on such an important topic without hearing the entire story.

“It would be unfair to cast a vote with anyone who was conflicted without due diligence, which includes hearing about what went on in those closed meetings,” Roman said. “Those members who were there heard things that others didn’t hear, and I think it’s unfair to take a vote as serious as this without hearing that information for ourselves.”

Parents and teachers from the Perth Amboy school district once again came out in numbers to hear the board’s ruling and comment on the situation. Although the public session was not as lengthy as the previous meeting, many words were said about the unstable school district and the cloudy future of the board.

“What you’re doing has nothing to do with the kids. Our kids are supposed to be gaining something from us and right now they are getting nothing,” PTO member Cecil Graham said. “We need to stop the fighting no matter what the underlying things are. You need to forget about this and let due process take its place.”

Mel Knight also believed that the board wasn’t really listening to the public since the vote was made before they could get a word in. She criticized the board’s lack of interest in what people were saying and judged their body language during the public session.

“I’m not understanding your general process of these meetings. Why do you even bother listening to the public if you have already made your decision? Are you even interested in what we are saying?” Knight said. “You’re body language is awful. People are talking yet you’re looking the other way, doodling. Why do we bother?”

Vice president Kenneth Puccio, who oversaw the meeting for Samuel Lebreault due to the ongoing conflicts with Caffrey, defended himself once the public session ended. He criticized those who took to the Internet to bash the board members and stressed that they were doing everything they could to make things right.

“We knew what we were getting into when we took this position… It’s very easy for some of you to get up in front of a microphone and take shots at us. You’re either taking shots at the microphone or hiding behind a screen name,” Puccio said. “If you have something to say, say it to my face. We hear you and your complaints… If you think this is easy feel free to come up here and take our place… We are doing everything we can.”

Dr. Janine Walker Caffrey

Dr. Caffrey was in attendance for the special meeting, but chose not to comment on the board’s decision. However, once the decision was made by Commissioner Cerf to reinstate her, she told NJ.com, “It definitely feels good.”