Unrest

Most New Jersey school board meetings pass quietly without a discouraging word. Middlesex Borough Board of Education sessions have likewise tended to be uneventful. That is, until recently when the spotlight got turned on.

Fueled by the Hazelwood School’s longtime principal’s reassignment and an unresolved teachers’ contract, there were uncomfortable questions for board members at two meetings this week.

They began at the board’s committee of the whole session on Tuesday, Sept. 17, continued the next night at an action meeting, and have spilled over onto community Facebook pages. The concerns even have some using the R-word – regionalization. Would the Middlesex district be in a better position to navigate its issues if it merged with one or several nearby districts?

The Sept. 17 session opened with a roughly 30-minute executive session. While the board convened behind closed doors, two Middlesex Borough police officers entered the high school’s media center. It gave the impression that the BOE and its top administrators were concerned about the audience they would face.

The unease was apparent once the meeting’s public portion began. The audience included a sizable contingent of district teachers. Board member Sharon Schueler gave an update on the board’s contract talks with the Middlesex Education Association.

The union’s prior contract expired on June 30. Only two board members – Schueler and Todd Nicolay – are negotiating the deal as six BOE members have union-related conflicts.

During the following evening’s action meeting, MEA members and their supporters packed the media center, with some standing. Several teachers pulled no verbal punches.

Hazelwood teacher Elizabeth Cerebe urged the board to take more time to mull a principal switch at her school. Longtime Hazelwood Principal Rich Gianchiglia is being shifted to a “principal on special assignment” role in which he’ll be focused on district security.

Cerebe noted the move also has taxpayer implications. The district will now have seven principals and six schools. “We don’t need another principal,” she said of Gianchiglia’s successor. “We have one and he is exceptional.”

The board, however, stayed the course and later hired a new Hazelwood School principal on Sept. 18. Dr. Roxann Clarke-Holmes was appointed at a $158,160 annual salary, which includes a doctoral stipend. The vote to hire Clarke-Holmes was 8-1 with board member Shannon Quinn the lone dissenter.

That same meeting, MEA President Carolyn Muglia said she was disappointed by recent contract negotiations. Muglia said she “felt a line drawn in the sand” by the board. There is a current “crisis” in filling educational positions such as bus drivers, secretaries and custodians, she said, as well as teachers. Muglia urged the board to make MEA members feel “valued and respected.”

Schueler commented that the board and Superintendent Dr. Roberta Freeman have worked to address issues such as low standardized test scores and security concerns. Some of the decisions being made, she told the audience, have been in the works for a year to 18 months.

That left some wondering why Gianchiglia found out only recently of his reassignment.

The Tuesday meeting saw roughly 20 people speak during the public comments portion. Most addressed Gianchiglia’s status. Others talked about taxation and spending. 

One called it a “slap in the face” to currents teachers when others are hired from out of the district at higher salaries. Another speaker questioned the $6,500 he now pays annually in school taxes. “You guys really need to get your act together,” he told the board.

Greene Avenue resident Laura Thomasey, who is a former district teacher and past Borough Council member, addressed several topics. 

Thomasey objected to the ongoing procedure wherein Freeman answers meeting inquiries via email in later days. “We get nothing (at the meeting) and that’s very, very frustrating,” Thomasey said.

She also urged board members to speak up and answer constituents’ meeting questions. “You don’t have to surrender your rights as a citizen,” Thomasey told board members.

Despite Thomasey’s urging, the board pretty much sat stone-faced and silent for both meetings. The few explanations given were left to Freeman with Board President Danielle Parenti and Schueler chiming in occasionally.

When Freeman explained her email reasoning on Sept. 17, it appeared to irritate some audience members. It was fair to leave the meeting believing that the board doesn’t understand constituent engagement.

Taxpayer concerns might spread to the November general election. When the summer candidate filing deadline came and went, four candidates were running for three, three-year seats. Another was running unopposed for a two-year unexpired term.

The four-way race has become a five-way contest. Joining the field as a write-in candidate is a Middlesex High School senior Vincent Pileggi, who regularly attends board meetings and questions district policies and decisions.

Pileggi was among the audience-questioners at both meetings. In the coming election, he joins the field of candidates seeking three-year terms which includes Schueler and fellow board members Parenti and Jeanette DeJesus, as well as Greene Avenue resident Thomas Thornton. Board member Patricia Reynolds is running unopposed for a two-year unexpired term. 

“Our community deserves a school board that listens, acts with accountability, and spends taxpayer dollars wisely,” Pileggi wrote on his candidate FB page. “I’m running to bring fresh, practical leadership to our schools with a focus on transparency, fiscal responsibility, and putting students’ needs first.” 

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