Electrical Issue Forces Evacuation at Perth Amboy High School
By Joseph L. Kuchie—
PERTH AMBOY — The Perth Amboy Board of Education was forced to cancel their latest meeting midway through due to a fire scare that forced an evacuation at Perth Amboy High School.
The public meeting was brought to a halt when a lighting fixture above the auditorium began to sizzle and blow out above the audience. Board President Mark Carvajal requested a five-minute recess to assess the situation, but the police officer on duty ordered a complete evacuation right before the fire alarms sounded.
The Perth Amboy Fire Department arrived at the scene minutes after the alarm went off and quickly entered the building to find the source of the issue. Unable to return to the building until it was deemed safe, Carvajal and Superintendent Janine Caffrey decided to call off the meeting while waiting with spectators outside.
Things were heating up before the fire scare when Dr. Caffrey once again put the subject of AMIkids on the agenda for approval.
According to the agenda, Dr. Caffrey requested “the approval to enter into a contractual agreement with AMIKids, Inc. to provide Alternative Educational Services and support for at-risk students at a cost not to excess $2.6 million for the 2013-2014 school year, funded through special education budgeted funds and federal funds”.
The biggest concern was the amount of money the school district would be investing into the controversial service. Jean Franza, a teacher at the Richardson School, was neither for nor against the program but was concerned over what would be lost by giving the money to AMIKids.
“If we only target high school students we are not proactive at reducing the at-risk students at the other levels,” Franza said. “If we are spending $2.6 million for the AMIKids program will we have money to spend on initiatives to positively impact the students and their families?”
Board member Maria Garcia also believed it was a big investment that the board was committing to without having a full understanding of what AMIKids would do. She believed it would be best to speak with community members before making a tough decision.
“Before we proceed with this I suggest we form a committee of all interested people including teachers, parents, administrators, and board members,” she said. “We have to understand what we’re doing. We’re spending $2.6 million that everyone has to be comfortable with.”
Board member Anton Massopust also believed that there were too much information that wasn’t certain and urged the rest of the board not to pass the vote unless things were better understood.
“There are too many questions about this program about financing and staffing,” he said. “We did do this program in house very successfully for many, many years and I agree with my other board member that we shouldn’t pass this tonight.”
There was also a question of whether or not there was a conflict of interest between AMIKids and Dr. Caffrey. Caffrey spent 10 years as the Education Director with AMIKids and both her husband and children have contributed to the program as well.
After a long discussion with nearly every board member having a say, a motion was made to table the item until the board could have a better understanding of the process. However, the motion to table was denied after the vote was split four to four.
Dr. Caffrey defended her decision to put AMIKids on the agenda, but after hearing the complaints from the crowd and the board’s worries about the issue, she withdrew the item from the agenda once the motion to table did not pass.
The board also tabled two other items in order to better understand where the district’s money was going and how it would be used in the next school year. The continuation of the meeting was held on June 25th.
