Categorized | News, Schools

Special Perth Amboy Board of Education Meeting

PERTH AMBOY — On Dec. 3, 2012 there was a special meeting called at McGinnis School. The meeting was held because of the resignation of Board Member Kurt Rebovich. Rebovich accepted a position on the State Board of Education in Trenton.

A resolution to accept the letter was moved by Obi Gonzalez and seconded by Milady Tejeda.

Board Members present at this meeting were: Board President Sam Lebreault, Board Members: Milady Tejada, Obi Gonzalez, Janelle Rodriguez, Israel Varela. Absent was Kurt Rebovich, Dianne Roman, Vice President Kenneth Puccio, Mark Carvajal. Also not in attendance were the Board Secretary Derek Jess, Asst. Superintendent Vivian Rodriguez and Superintendent Janine Walker Caffrey.

During the public portion of the meeting newly elected Board Member Maria Garcia spoke. She will be sworn in this January. Garcia criticized the Sitting Board for holding this special meeting which she felt was a waste of taxpayers money.

Garcia stated that the agenda for this special meeting was not published on the Board’s website and the information was incomplete. She said, “This Board has sixteen special meetings in the past year. I would like to know the rules and regulations that you’ve had in the past to replace resigning Board Members.”

Jeanette Gonzalez who has children in the school system said that she did not have a problem with special meetings being held. The advertisement about the meeting did not say that legal action will be taken. Gonzalez also said that there were meetings that were cancelled which caused tutoring for students to also be canceled.

This was due to the fact that there were programs on the agenda of canceled meetings and those programs couldn’t be implemented because they could not be voted on.

Board Member Israel Varela said “I’m glad that Ms. Gonzalez brought up this problem.” Varela said, “In the past phone calls have been made to Board Members to vote on agenda items that were on meetings that were cancelled. This was necessary, especially when it pertained to programs benefiting the students.”

Gonzalez said, “There are some things that cannot be voted on by phone.”

Local Resident Stanley Sierakowski commended the Board Members who followed the stature of the law. “It’s important to have special meetings to take care of issues relating to students or personnel.” Sierakowski also wanted to know when did Kurt Rebovich start negotiating with the State for this job? Did they approach him or did he initiate seeking the position for this job? If he approached the State for the job, did he have a conflict when voting on agenda items?

 

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