This statement was not printed correctly in the 11/3/21 issue of the Amboy Guardian

PERTH AMBOY – Since there wasn’t a Board of Education meeting in September, I felt I needed to address what happened on September 1, 2021, at the October 19, 2021, Board of Education Meeting, since so many Staff Members were upset about that evening.

I have worked in Perth Amboy for almost 31 years, and I was never more upset with this District than I was on September 1, 2021. This was the night that Tropical Storm Ida hit New Jersey. That night, New Jersey was under a: tropical storm warning, flood warning, tornado warning, and state of emergency declared by the Governor. It was also the night of Preschool and Kindergarten Orientations…

As I safely ate dinner at home that night with my family, all five of our phones kept blowing up with emergency notifications. The box for my alarm system in my house also continued to go off all night long with warnings to take cover.

I ASSUMED (silly me) that the call was made to cancel Preschool and Kindergarten Orientations. I never in my wildest dreams thought that our Staff, students, parents, and Building Administrators would be out in such a dangerous situation! I was absolutely HORRIFIED the next day when I learned that the Preschool and Kindergarten orientations were NOT canceled!

Tropical Storm Ida was the second deadliest storm in New Jersey history. 23 people in New Jersey lost their lives in flooding that night.

I am still haunted to this day by the recklessness of the decision to still have those orientations that night. Many of our Staff live very far away and had to travel home in absolutely treacherous conditions! Many returned home to catastrophic damage, some couldn’t get to their homes, many were terrified driving, but what’s worst is that everyone’s lives were in danger that evening being out on the roads…

I reminded Central Administration that the Staff of the Perth Amboy Public Schools puts their trust in them to keep them safe. We keep hearing how Staff safety is of the upmost importance, but it ABSOLUTELY wasn’t that night…

On a less upsetting note, I made a formal request for all messages that are sent out as an “all call” to be in both English and Spanish. Many of our Staff and Parents do not speak English, and they could be missing important information.

I also requested that if an “all call” goes out with important information about a change in schedule for the Staff, that it be sent out with as much advance notice as possible since many Staff Members travel a great distance to get to work.