It’s funny how things work out. Originally, last week’s editorial was supposed to be how we felt it was inappropriate for some School Board Members to be looking at their electronic devices during their meetings. We had suspected that statements read from their computers may have been prepared by someone else.

During the 5/7/14 Board of Education meeting, Barbara Skokan comments read from a prepared statement. After the meeting was over, I asked Ms. Skokan if I could have her statement to put in the paper because a majority of what she said were things that we planned to write in the next editorial.

[Read Barbara Skokan’s statement here]

Before reading her statement, Skokan made it clear that these were her own personal opinions. We agree  with her about certain Board Members who are always burying their nose in electronic devices. These Board Members seem to always bring up the same issues over and over again. It’s hard for these Board Members to deviate from what they are reading on the screen. Something is not passing the smell test here.

Ms. Skokan also states that the PA Ed System is under a microscope. I had a conversation with an acquaintance of mine. They told me that they have friends from out of town who watch our Board of Education Meetings on television for a laugh. This is insulting and an embarrassment.

The personal attacks going on between the Board Members have nothing to do with the students. A lot of these issues stem from issues involving the Superintendent who is now on paid leave. One would think that once that person was removed from power that the Board Members would go back to business of the needs of the student population. Boy, were we wrong!

Some of the past Board of Education Members have been criticized because of the insurance fraud that happened on their watch. $2 million in funds were misappropriated (disappeared). There seems to be a lot of money being spent on new programs. When teachers or administrators speak on whether or not these programs are effective, there is not a definitive yes or no answer.

I’m not saying that the Board of Education not have accomplished anything positive, but a person who is blind, deaf and dumb can feel the tension in the last few years.

Something that bothers me that is not in Ms. Skokan’s letter is the way the Board Members nonchalantly move around either leaving the Meeting while proceedings are going on or sometimes going into the audience to speak to someone. Then we have our famous sidebars where all of a sudden Board Members have get up to speak to the attorney before making comments. Yes, we know that is their right, but the frequency that this happens is unusual. At a previous Meeting, the Board Attorney  spent at least 20 minutes going over the Board of Ethics Rules to the Members. Even after she read those statements, a Board Member committed an infraction at that same meeting.

Did the Attorney waste her time reading these Board of Ethics Codes? To add insult to injury one of the Board Members suggested to the Attorney that she didn’t know her job at the 5/10/14 Meeting. This Board Member, as in the last meeting disregarded the instructions of the Board President and would constantly shout out the Robert’s Rules as if they only apply when that Board Member was talking.

Why does a Board Member need to bring up where petitions can and cannot be signed? Perhaps they are comparing the petitions that were circulating at the Richardson School to support the current Vice-Principal to become the permanent Principal.

Vanessa Fernandez (wife of Board Member Anthony Bermudez) spoke at that 5/7/14 Meeting. When her husband was running for the Board of Education, they had to follow strict guidelines as where they could have petitions signed, which she said they followed. Yet, Board Member Ortiz has to bring this up a year and a half later? To top this off, Ortiz is still bringing up the fact that ethics charges were filed against another Board Member and this has yet to be resolved. What does this have to do with what is going on now? NOTHING! Board Members should learn to address the present issues at hand. Do not go off on a tangent!

These past issues are well documented. Why drum them up? It’s time for Perth Amboy’s Board of Education to stop being the laughing stock and serve as entertainment of others. You need to get serious or perhaps the statement that Mel Knight made come true and the State may have to take over.

Remember Barbara Skokan’s statement – these children are our future leaders. After we are gone, they will be here, some sitting in your seats. Will you leave them a legacy to be proud of?

– C.M.