4/15/21 Board of Education Meeting
By: Katherine Massopust
PERTH AMBOY – The 4/15/21 BOE Meeting was called to order at 5:41 p.m. The meeting took place in-person at Perth Amboy High School, Eagle Avenue and through teleconferencing on Zoom. All the Board Members were present in-person except for Board Member Stephanie Márquez-Villafañe who participated via Zoom and Assistant Board Secretary/Business Administrator Michael LoBrace who also participated via Zoom.
Before going into executive session, Superintendent Dr. David Roman noticed there was a woman with two small children present in the auditorium who wished to address the Board. Dr. Roman requested that she be allowed to speak now due to the fact that the closed session was estimated to take around 90 minutes and it would be unfair to the children to make the woman wait to speak. The Board agreed to allow the woman to speak.
The woman spoke in Spanish. Board Member Stacey Peralta translated. “I am worried about the children in the community. The state approved marijuana. I am here today tonight because children are mattering less than everyone else. I want everyone here who doesn’t know if the Board of Education is aware that there have been many meetings. Many Pentecostal Churches are getting signatures. Get parents and educators to sign with them. I believe that to go before the council and achieve that goal. Congress is not worried about students. They only care about the money. The apparent situation that if this passes, what happens to our students? I am a single mother with a 16-year-old. I am adopting two more children who are with me here. That is the reason I am adopting – because of what is passing. A lot of students are lonely working by themselves. These drugs are being given now and sold. There is going to be a march and I want educators and parents to join. If we join forces, we will show how these students are more important than money. Perth Amboy is not in good condition.”
Superintendent Dr. David Roman answered the woman. “We are going to be referring to the statute legally on this summit. The Board of Education has a responsibility as a public entity. How we will implement the marijuana as required by statute. We are transparent. We hear you. We understand your perspective.”
Board Member Junior Iglesia stated, “Thank you, Dr. Roman for this clarification. Legally marijuana is classified as a drug schedule 1. All institutions must follow federal law. Certainly there is a lot of concern. We move together on this. The number one priority is to make sure the students are safe.”
The Board then went into executive session at 6 p.m. They returned around 8 p.m.
Public Portion:
Only two people spoke during the public portion: Perth Amboy Federation President Pat Paradiso and District Representative for the Perth Amboy Federation Lynn Audet. There statements are below:
Pat Paradiso:
I am speaking on behalf of my staff members. I would like to remind this Board of Education that you cannot love your students if you do not love your teachers and staff. It has never been clearer than now, that you do not love your teachers and staff. We are the second-class citizens who are expected to stand at a podium teaching with a mask on for five hours straight without as much as a bathroom break. We are the second-class citizens who are expected to supervise the dismissal of students on our own long-awaited lunch breaks. We are the second-class citizens who are expected to cover classes without extra compensation, so the district does not have to pay for subs. We are the second-class citizens who ask questions of our administrators only to be lied to, yelled at, or told, “I don’t know”. Does that sound like love?
This district has had a year to prepare for bringing students back into the buildings. A year. The report on district ventilation was done in March 2021. We had to beg to see it. We still have issues with the report, and they are not being addressed. The Federation has an obligation to our members, and our members have an obligation to their students.
Middle school teachers were told this week by their principal that students will have three chances to be non-compliant about wearing masks in the classrooms before it will be addressed by administrators. Do our parents know that? You need to wear a mask to go to Walmart, but our students get three chances to get their classmates sick? We hope that this is re-evaluated.
Middle school teachers were told this week by an administrator that their union approved their ridiculous schedule. That is a bold face lie and your staff members know it. No one has the right to speak on behalf of the Federation except the Federation.
Elementary school teachers asked an administrator if the windows in the building were fixed and were told that if they opened last year, they probably open this year. The district has had a year to fix the windows in the building.
Staff members were told this week that students will not be expected to do the health screening before they come into schools. All year, staff members had to fill out that form to go into the buildings. Lynn and I had to fill one out for every building we surveyed this year. Now that we are going to have more people in the buildings, health screenings no longer need to be filled out. Do our parents agree with that? All other districts are doing that. You act like our parents are less capable than the parents in other districts. I would find that insulting if I had students in this district. We hope that this is re-evaluated.
Staff members are as excited to see their students as the students are to see them. But the lack of consideration, communication, and transparency make everyone apprehensive. This district continues to be dismissive of all our concerns, and different principals are telling staff members different things. We need a central message that applies to all buildings, and we need it in writing.
I know at some point tonight someone is going to imply that I am a liar and that you all really do love our teachers and staff. But I can assure you in advance, that not one of us believes you. As one teacher told me today, “Prisoners have more rights that we have in this district.”
Junior Iglesia used to express concern at every Board meeting that the district was losing teachers month after month. He was the only one. Now no one seems concerned. When you treat staff members unfairly, or badly, they leave. That is why we are so short-staffed this year.
One final note, I would like to thank the secretaries in Human Resources for their work getting our staff vaccinated. Reports are that you were always kind, and always helpful. We greatly appreciate that.
Lynn Audet:
Good Evening, Lynn Audet, Perth Amboy resident, 30-year veteran teacher, taxpayer, and voter. I am also the District Representative for the Perth Amboy Federation.
Tonight, I would like to discuss the opening of schools for the hybrid model, and some situations that I would like to make the Board aware of.
I am requesting that the parents of our students be informed of the protocols about what to do if their child or someone in their family tests positive for Covid or becomes ill from Covid. I realize that parent expectations were sent out several months ago, however, I am requesting that this information to go out to the parents again so that children are not sent to school having been exposed to Covid. Also, if a student goes to a program for their remote days, and that student’s cohort is quarantined because of a Covid outbreak, parents need to understand that their child cannot come to school either until the quarantine period is over.
It has been brought to the Federation’s attention that parents are not required to fill out a daily health screening for their child, to confirm that their child is symptom free and has not been exposed to Covid 19. A temperature check is simply not enough. I am asking that the Board will reconsider, and have parents fill out daily health screenings for their children.
I wanted to make the Board aware that teachers at the Middle Schools have been told that they may be covering classes on their PLCs due to lack of substitutes, so teachers who are covering will not be able to use the bathroom during their PLC period, and despite what some people may think, teachers are not paid extra for covering a class during a PLC period. The district set the schedule up this way, so they would not have to pay teachers to cover those periods. Teacher prep periods are at the end of the day when the students are gone for the day. That would have been the time teachers would be paid a class coverage rate if they covered a class.
I must also point out there will be cross contamination of classes when you have teachers covering classes on their PLCs. I am also concerned that if a substitute cannot be found for a teacher for the day, that classes will be split up and students will be placed into other classes. That would further cross contaminate the classes.
Teachers at the middle schools have also been told they can use the rest room during 5- minute transition times which is not practical because it may leave students unattended and could result in several teachers all needing to use the same bathroom at the same time, with only 5 minutes for them all to use it, which is not a safe practice due to Covid 19.
Also, the elementary teacher’s schedule has the students being dismissed at 12:45, and the teacher’s lunch beginning at 12:45. If there is even one parent late picking up their child, that teacher has now lost time from their lunch period. There is somewhat of a plan to solve this issue, however, the Federation is requesting a written schedule that ensures our teachers will have a 45-minute uninterrupted lunch that they are entitled to receive.
Additionally, I just wanted to make you aware that at lunchtime when students are dismissed you are going to have all teachers in the middle schools running to use the bathroom at the same time because they have been standing at a podium for 4-5 straight hours without a break.
What is also very disturbing about the schedules, is that we have gotten multiple reports from some schools that staff was told the AFT Leadership approved the schedules, or they would not have been put out to the staff. I am going on record right now to say that statement is completely untrue, and a deliberate attempt to try to make Union Leadership look weak to our membership. The truth is the Federation would never have approved for our people to go 4 or 5 straight hours without a break. We would never have approved our teachers losing time from their lunch breaks. We would never have approved entire buildings full of teachers to all have to rush to use the bathroom at the same time when students are dismissed. Please understand that some buildings have over 180 staff members. The truth is we found out the schedule at the same time as everyone else, in an email.
I must note that all of these scheduling issues could have been avoided if Central Administration had collaborated with AFT Leadership in the first place. We wish to be part of the decision-making process. We want a proactive open line of communication, not just a line of communication when problems arise.
My next concern is about staffing and for staff who have asked for accommodations. We are still being contacted all day every day by staff who have requested accommodations or requested a leave of absence. I want to point out that most of these staff members put in requests months ago for when we return in person. Many were extremely upset about how the entire process went with getting a meeting to discuss their accommodation. Many had to send multiple requests for meetings. Many were given last minute meeting appointments and had to make decisions very quickly which caused a tremendous amount of stress for some of our staff members.
I must again point out that there are currently classes being covered by paras, teachers covering two classes simultaneously, and multiple teachers teaching out of their certification. I must ask, are we truly going to have enough staff to reopen safely? Will there be enough nurses to man the schools for both a regular nurse’s office and an isolation room? Are we going to be able to handle covering absences once we are hybrid when a staff member is ill or takes a personal day?
Lastly, I see that the calendar for next school year is on tonight’s agenda. I wanted to make you aware that the first two days of school are Rosh Hashanah, and there will be many staff members taking off the first two days of school, and that is not good for our students.
After the public portion was closed, Board Vice President Tashi Vazquez said, “On Monday, we will be opening the door for our students. We have worked hard to welcome you to a safe building. Not only did we meet CDC Guidelines, but we exceeded them. We partnered with Hackensack Meridian to give our staff vaccines. We want to keep everybody safe and help shape our future during these difficult times. We met with OEM (Office of Emergency Management) and thank them for their efforts.”
Dr. David Roman said, “I keep hearing what others are doing. It’s disheartening. The leaders of this district care.”
Board Member Junior Iglesia asked, “Who played a significant role when establishing the Student Code of Conduct?”
Dr. Roman answered, “It was created over the last couple of years.”
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Vivian Rodriguez said, “Staff, students.”
Dr. Roman said, “Children have areas of infractions modified. If students will not wear their mask, under the Code of Conduct it is critical – it is what is Perth Amboy all about.”
Board Member Junior Iglesia said, “Communication is one of the most important tools to this public body and the staff. This important document should be placed on the website.”
Board President Ken Puccio agreed it was an excellent idea.
Board Member Junior Iglesia recognized all the retirees and how they met the needs of our students.
Board President Ken Puccio stated, “We believe in this community. We believe in this district. At the end of the day, we have resolve in what we do.”
The 2021-2022 School Calendar was approved by the Board. Board Member R.L. Anderson was concerned because the first and second day of school fall on Jewish holidays which would start some students off with substitute teachers.
Board Vice President Tashi Vazquez stated that the needs in our district changed because of the pandemic. Vazquez gave out the vaccine hotline for Perth Amboy residents: 732-324-3521.
Board President Ken Puccio complimented Vazquez, “Our Vice-President is a force!”
The meeting adjourned at 9:04 p.m.
