Not-so-public info

It’s often obvious when a government entity is resisting the public release of information, particularly if that info could be controversial or related to a hot topic. Officials might offer flimsy excuses or seize on a technicality to justify a delay.

Which brings Middlesex Borough taxpayers to the recent student reregistration conducted by the town’s K-12 school district.

That reregistration had a stated deadline of June 25. By that date, the families of all returning 2024-25 students were asked to reregister them for the new academic year that starts in September. Documentation was required to verify borough residency.

Since then, attempts by Inside – Middlesex to learn reregistration totals have been brushed aside by the district’s administration. 

An email was sent to Business Administrator Annette Giordano and Superintendent Dr. Roberta Freeman on June 27. That email asked for reregistration numbers and invited Freeman to comment.

It received a district response three days later advising that an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request needed to be filed for the desired information.

An OPRA request was submitted on June 30. The district’s response, received via emailed letter on July 10, was that the OPRA filing was “overly broad” and sought “information rather than identifiable records.”

To sum up, the district received an email asking for reregistration numbers. It responded by saying a formal OPRA request was necessary. The OPRA request was filed. The district responded a second time, saying that the OPRA filing was denied.

“Please be advised there are no records responsive to your request,” the district’s OPRA response concludes.

What should have been the simple release of a few numbers, turned into an example of bureaucracy at its not-so-finest. By stating, there “are no records,” is the administration implying no one in the district offices has reregistration numbers at this point?

A person or two in the administration might feel they’ve cleverly thwarted a request for info they didn’t want released. Episodes like this one, however, erode their constituents’ trust.

The email and subsequent OPRA filing sought the following:

• The number of students successfully reregistered. 

• The number of students found to not qualify for a Middlesex Borough education by being unable to prove their residency in the district.

• The number of 2024-25 families/students the district had not heard from regarding reregistration.

• The number of successfully reregistered pupils broken down by next year’s grade level.

Perhaps a mention of reregistration numbers will occur in the coming days. The board has public meetings scheduled this week on Tuesday, July 15 and Wednesday, July 16. The recent responses to the information request infer that the administration is concerned with shaping the narrative around a topic of community interest.

Suggestions that a reregistration be conducted began circulating in the community in early 2024. They appeared to coincide with Freeman’s public comments claiming the district was running low on classroom space.

Some community members suspect there are students being educated in Middlesex schools who are not truly borough residents. A reregistration conducted about 15 years ago turned up about 69 non-resident students, according to persons involved with that effort.

A demographic study received by the Board of Education in 2024 found that the district’s total enrollment of roughly 2,060 pupils is expected to remain stable through the 2028-29 academic year. But within that total, ebbs and flows are anticipated at certain grade levels.

Reregistration was discussed briefly at a board meeting in February 2024, according to minutes of that session. When a board member suggested it, Freeman cautioned that reregistration would need to be done over a period of years because the department involved comprises only one staff member.

Parents were notified of the recent reregistration requirement on May 5 via the district’s Genesis online communications portal. An online letter was sent to parents explaining the reason for the effort.

“The reregistration process helps to ensure that all students attending school in the district are residents of Middlesex Borough,” Freeman wrote.

Freeman did not respond to a May email asking about her apparent change in thinking from the prior year on the need for reregistration.

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