NJ News & Views

[Editor's Note: At 2:09 p.m. on September 27, 2011, this story was edited for style, content and accuracy.]

Last year, an unstoppable force met an immovable object.

The immovable object was public policy enacted decades ago by the board of education in Lakewood, New Jersey's fastest-growing municipality.

A budget-busting juggernaut, Lakewood School District policy has resulted in several multi-million-dollar transportation shortfalls over the past decade that were bailed out by municipal, county and state taxpayers.

The unstoppable force was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican elected to office last year on a sweeping platform of fiscal reforms that included education.

After taking office last year, Christie urged all New Jersey voters to defeat their district's proposed increase in the school tax levy during April school elections. According to media reports, voters in municipalities across the state heeded his call in record numbers - including Lakewood.

That does not mean Lakewood school policy will be changing anytime soon. In a township where a majority of students attend non-public schools, a growing number of politically influential non-public school directors are increasingly determining how education dollars sent there are spent.

Christie may have an advantage; the Office of the New Jersey Governor is considered to be the most powerful in the nation.

Under the New Jersey State Constitution, the governor appoints the entire cabinet, subject to confirmation by the New Jersey Senate, while many other states hold elections for some cabinet-level positions. The governor also appoints all Superior Court judges and county prosecutors. As a result, the governorship of New Jersey is considered to be one of the most powerful in the nation.

Since taking office in 2010, Christie's greatest challenge could also be his greatest achievement - finding fiscal and policy reforms that ensure all Lakewood children receive a safe, as well as a thorough and efficient education, at a cost taxpayers are willing to subsidize.

Members of the Lakewood Board of Education continued to hear and discuss obstacles to reaching those goals at their September 22 meeting, which was scheduled at 8 p.m. on the same Thursday evening the Lakewood Township Committee was scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m.

The board meeting did not begin at the advertised start time of 8 p.m.; instead, it began the same way many others have been held over the years - with members of the public kept waiting.

Following adjournment of the township committee meeting, a reporter pulling into a parking space in the former Jamesway shopping center parking lot, where district offices are leased in the renovated building, was surprised by the sudden appearance of board member Yoni (Jonathan) Silver as he walked directly in front of the reporter's car while talking on his cell phone, oblivious to his surroundings.

After entering district offices, the reporter noted members of the public milling about in the lobby and meeting room. Although there are nine elected representatives on the Lakewood Board of Education, none of them were seated on the meeting room dais.

The reporter walked back outside and saw Silver exiting his vehicle in the district parking lot.

Silver told the reporter board members had delayed the start of their meeting until he could return and were waiting for him.

Five board members are required for a quorum.

Board Vice President Tracey Tift and board member Carl Fink were absent for the entire meeting.

After the meeting was called to order at 9:06 p.m., board member Isaac Zlatkin arrived at 9:19 p.m., bringing the total number of board members present to seven - two more than were needed to begin the meeting at the scheduled time.

Before the start of the meeting, the reporter asked Silver for further information about the NJBCT Corrective Action Plan scheduled for board action under Superintendent's Items on the meeting agenda.

Silver said he did not know anything about the proposed NJBCT corrective action plan.

Neither did board President Meir Grunhut, who referred the reporter to Superintendent of Schools Lydia Silva for comment.

Silva referred the reporter to a staff member seated in the audience. The woman explained the acronym, but did not provide details of the NJBCT corrective action plan reported on the meeting agenda, which the board approved without explanation either.

According to a May 2011 pamphlet published by the state Department of Education (DOE), the New Jersey Biology Competency Test (NJBCT) is a state test given to students to measure whether they have gained the knowledge and skills identified in the Biology section of the Science Core Curriculum Content Standards (CCCS).

"The CCCS, adopted by the state Board of Education, identify what students should know and be able to do at the end of various benchmark years," the DOE pamphlet explained to readers. "The NJBCT will help determine whether your child is making satisfactory progress toward mastering biology skills needed to graduate from high school. All New Jersey public high school students, regardless of grade level, who are enrolled in a first-time Biology course, or content equivalent, during the 2010-11 school year, must take the test."

The pamphlet stated that the basis for the test requirement was state law 18A: 7C-6.2, enacted in 1988, requiring all students that graduate from a public high school in New Jersey to demonstrate mastery of skills "needed to function politically, economically, and socially in a democratic society."

Under Superintendent Items, the agenda also called for board action on the Lakewood School District's School-Wide SIG Improvement Plan, which board members also approved without explanation to the public or the media.

The U.S. Department of Education Title I School Improvement Grant (SIG) program is designed to target funds to persistently lowest-achieving schools based on measurements such as poor scores on standardized tests and graduation rates below 60 percent.

For a Tier I or Tier II school to be considered for a SIG grant, the district must submit plans that require replacing ineffective principals and presenting a redesigned curriculum. Schools must choose one of four models of reform presented by the U.S. Department of Education.

In 2010, the DOE awarded $45.3 million to 12 schools that applied for the 3-year grant. This year, $28 million will be available to schools that apply for Federal SIG funds.

Under Federal guidelines, the Local Education Authority (LEA) that opts for the Transformation Model of school reform must implement each of the following strategies: replace the principal and take steps to increase teacher and school leader effectiveness; institute comprehensive instructional reforms; increase learning time and create community-oriented schools; and provide operational flexibility and sustained support.

Last year, two elementary schools in Camden, the Essex County Vocational School, three schools in Newark and Central High School in Trenton all won SIG grants by proposing implementation of the Transformation Model.

The Turnaround Model calls for LEA replacement of the school principal and staff. The LEA may not rehire more than 50 percent of the staff and must grant the new principal sufficient operations flexibility (including staffing, calendars/time and budgeting) to fully implement a comprehensive approach to substantially improve students academic performance.

Last year, two schools in Jersey City, one in Newark and one in Roselle Borough won SIG funds by proposing the Turnaround Model.

A Restart Model is one in which the Local Education Authority (LEA) converts a school, or closes it and reopens the school under a charter school operator, a charter management organization (CMO), or an education management organization (EMO) that has been selected through a rigorous review process. A restart model must enroll, within the grades it serves, any former student who wishes to attend the school.

In accordance with the Federal Restart Model, the Renaissance Academy High School in Newark received a SIG award of up to $4.6 million to be converted from one alternative education school with 14 separate programs to two independent schools.

A Close/Consolidate Model is one in which the LEA may use SIG funds to pay certain reasonable and necessary costs associated with closing a Tier I or Tier II school.

Reasonable and necessary costs include community outreach services, such as press releases, newsletters, newspaper announcements, hotlines, direct mail notices or meetings regarding the school closure; services to help parents and students transition to a new school; and orientation activities, such as open houses specifically designed for students.

Under the Close/Consolidate Model, students are enrolled in other district schools with higher performance records.

Lakewood has been designated a District In Need of Improvement under the No Child Left Behind Act. The designation is applied when a majority of a district's public schools are designated in need of improvement.

The SIG program was an initiative of the Obama administration to push for national school reform under the 2009 America Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which funds it.

Other Obama administration initiatives have included an effort to develop nationwide academic standards through a Federal competition for funding called The Race to the Top. The Race to the Top encourages states to reform teacher tenure and to establish teacher pay initiatives.

Last year, New Jersey's Commissioner of Education earned a failing grade for his department's performance in meeting the requirements of the competition application.

The Newark Star Ledger reported in 2010 that New Jersey reportedly lost out on a $400 million Federal education grant after the Race to the Top grant application was submitted using the wrong years' data.

On the application, New Jersey officials were asked to show that the state gives a consistent percentage of its revenue to education. The application asked for data from 2008 and 2009 to make the case - the years that Democrat Jon Corzine served as Governor of New Jersey. Instead, state education officials used data from 2010 and 2011 - the years included in the term of incumbent Republican Governor Chris Christie.

Had New Jersey won the award by reporting education funding policy enacted by the Corzine administration, it may have been more difficult for the Christie administration to make the case for public support of its education reforms.

Despite the state's loss of the $400 million grant, it has still received other grant dollars, including SIG funds for award to qualifying New Jersey schools.

Last year, the Lakewood board approved numerous personnel changes in district schools, possibly qualifying district schools for SIG funding under the Turnaround Model used by the Federal government.

According to a report by Assim Johnson, Lakewood High School Senior Class President, there are other problems at the district's public schools that also need board attention - and funding.

Assim told the board that on Tuesday, September 20, he and a female friend were outside the high school building when a woman and her two young children trespassed on school property. He said the woman asked to speak to his friend, Keishla, then began yelling at her.

"She did not belong on school grounds," Assim said of the woman during his report.

Assim said the verbal altercation soon escalated into a physical one. While the fight ensued, onlookers videotaped it and posted the recording online.

Silva interrupted Assim's report. She said she was unaware of the fight he was now discussing publicly.

"Right now, there's a lot of things we don't know about the incident," Silva said.

Board Attorney Michael Inzelbuch attempted levity after hearing the disclosure.

"Is there anything good going on at high school?" he asked.

Not four years ago, when another fight broke out there.

On November 12, 2007, a fight erupted outside Lakewood High School that morning, escalating into a full-scale riot inside the building.

"Nearly 150 students attacked each other, innocent bystanders and even police," Star-Ledger reporter Maryann Spoto reported the following day. "The first officers to respond to the scene were set upon by combatants and needed to call in backup from several surrounding towns. Students said the fight was precipitated by rival black and Hispanic gangs, who had been sparring in recent days."

Spoto reported that police in full riot gear and using pepper spray and dogs finally restored order after 20 minutes of intense confrontation. During that time, attackers randomly chose their victims, including bystanders, students threw chairs and tables and some officers were pinned to the ground.

"Worried parents summoned to the school by cell phone calls from their children found it in a state of siege, and some were arrested when they refused to obey orders from police," Spoto reported.

The headline to Spoto's report was "Riot Erupts At Lakewood School, Nearly 150 involved in fight that students blame on feud between rival gangs."

Following the riot, Lakewood Board of Education member Ada Gonzalez advocated for a public school dress code to reduce gang induction and violence. The board approved the dress code, but parents last year told board members that most students did not observe it and school administrators selectively enforced it.

At the September 22 board meeting, members approved "Policy 5132, Part E: Gang Related Apparel" on first reading. No one on the dais told the public how the policy was changed from four years ago.

The board must approve all proposed policy changes on second reading to enact them.

After the 2007 high school riot, the board installed heightened security measures there and in other district public schools. However, documented proof posted on the Internet, proving that those security measures failed to protect students and personnel on public property, exposes taxpayers to liability.

Prior to adjournment of the board meeting, board member Isaac Zlatkin attempted to motion for the reappointment of Inzelbuch to his "second position."

Since 2002, Inzelbuch has not only served as board attorney, but as board employee, which allows him to receive a state pension - a program Christie has proposed for reform.

Inzelbuch told Zlatkin that the reappointment was the superintendent's job, which she declined to recommend at the meeting.

"We will discuss it first," she said.

Inzelbuch will not suffer financially from the delay.

Before adjournment of the meeting, Inzelbuch announced that Lakewood legal costs exceeded the state average by 130 percent.

In a September 23 e-mail, NJ News & Views asked interim Business Administrator Arlene Biesiada how much the board had budgeted for legal expenses at the start of the 2010-11 school year and how much the board was billed for legal expenses at the end of the 2010-11 school year.

Biesiada said in her e-mail response that the board had budgeted $350,000 at the start of the school year, but spent $424,856 by the end of the school year.

After adjournment of the September 22 board meeting, a reporter asked Inzelbuch to what he attributed the increased legal costs.

Inzelbuch replied, "Extensive litigation."

The board is expecting its legal expenses to go up this school year as well, according last week's meeting agenda.

During the meeting, board members approved the hire of Stillwell Investigations Services to provide surveillance services during the 2011-12 school year at $110/hour; interviews and court testimony at $120/hour, with all reports written and presented in DVD format; and mileage at $.50 per mile.

Although the board was scheduled to hold a September 22 hearing of charges against Durham School Services, LP, which services its Lakewood school bus routes under Murphy Bus Service, the hearing never took place.

At the start of the 2011-12 school year, The Lakewood Scoop (TLS) reported that the district was declining bus service to parents of non-public school students applying one week before the start of classes. The district reportedly told parents that drivers needed time to learn the routes before adding new stops to them.

Shortly after the report was posted, The Lakewood Scoop also reported that Durham stranded 400 students, mostly those attending public schools, after the district changed bus route start times.

"Officials tell TLS the district is considering several options which will resolve the issue 'within days'," the Scoop reported on September 13. "The issue, which still leaves several hundred children without busing at this time, was caused...when the public schools switched their dismissal time from 2:15 PM to 2:45 PM, affecting the 3:00 PM routes, some which include private schools."

The following day, the Scoop posted an e-mail from an unidentified district administrator that may have been board attorney Michael Inzelbuch.

"Please Continue To Report Any And All Issues To Gus And Patty So We Can Have The Factual Support We Need To Win," the unidentified administrator told readers in the posted e-mail. "Win Meaning Getting Our Kids--Public And Non -Public- To And From School In A Safe And Timely Manner."

The e-mail's author indicated that the reports were not only being sought as the basis for improvement of transportation service, but as evidence that could be used in a court of law.

"Thanking You For Educating Our Future And Understanding That The Board , Transportation Staff , And Administration Will Not Stop Until We Get What You Deserve," the e-mail continued. "While The Avenues Of Redress Are Being Actively Pursued Please Be Formally Advised That There In All Likelihood Will Continue To Be Issues. Please Notify Gus Or Patty In Writing So The Board Has Ample Evidence To Pursue This Matter In The Appropriate Legal Forum ."

In a September 19 report, the Scoop told readers that the board's September 22 hearing of the Durham bus routes would focus on renegotiation of the accepted bids for routes the bus company failed to service according to its agreement with the district.

No court will be hearing the district's complaint against Durham and neither will the public at a board meeting, according to Inzelbuch and the district transportation director.

On September 22, Inzelbuch asked Lakewood Transportation Director Gus Kakavas to publicly explain why the board would not be holding a hearing of charges against Durham. Kakavas said he was satisfied the issues had been worked out.

Kakavas did not explain why the negotiations were not made public or why the board was not holding Durham accountable for failure to fulfill its contract with the district, which is subsidized by taxpayers.

By reportedly changing public and non-public school route times, the district changed the terms of its contract with Durham.

While the board may not have chosen to litigate a complaint against Durham, parents could still choose to sue the board.

According to the Scoop, Durham was not the only bus company that could not service routes the board continued to change.

"TLS has also learned, that there were at least two other bus companies which were having trouble servicing the routes which they bid on, but ended up accommodating the district," the online news service reported. "One of those companies' owners were seen driving a route himself."

One person commenting on the Scoop indicated that bus companies bidding on the routes should have anticipated problems servicing them.

"what can u posibly do?" Some 1 commented in a September 20 post. "whos taking over 150 runs that are in for 9:00?"

Another comment charged that the district created its own transportation problems.

"(T)he BOE DOUBLED the routes and changed the times for the middle and high school, for starters," Bus Driver Speaks Up said in a September 20 comment. "And you have HOW many schools in Lakewood that are in for 9 AM? If you think you can do a better job than me, the go get a CDL (Commercial Driver's License) and drive a bus."

School Bus Operations Manager said in posted comments on the Scoop that he or she worked for one of the district's other school bus contractors.

The posts reported that Central Bus Service and Jay's Bus Service were servicing school bus routes Durham had failed to service. They also reported that the board had approved adding numerous additional stops along the routes that increased the length of the trip for many children.

By increasing the number of stops on each school bus route, the district can reduce the cost of the service by operating fewer routes.

"(E)very single school wants a 9:00 am start time," School Bus Operations Manager said in the September 20 posts on the Scoop. "There are approximately 280 buses on the road at 9:00am. THAT IS INSANE. I find that the Board needs to put its foot down and tell the non public schools to either go in at a reasonable time OR find other funding for transportation."

That may be difficult to do. Many non-public school directors are instructing many board members how they want them to vote on meeting agendas.

The September 22 meeting was no exception.

Although seven board members attended the meeting, only six voted to approve the meeting agenda with changes to it.

During the vote, board member Yisrael Friedman was not seated on the dais. Instead, members of the public told a reporter for NJ News & Views after the meeting that they observed him talking outside with a man they pointed out to the reporter inside the meeting room.

The reporter asked the man his name. The man declined to provide it. After the reporter attempted to ask the man a second time for his name, he turned around and addressed the reporter from a safe distance at the other end of the room.

"You need to comport yourself with more dignity," the man told the reporter, then left the building.

According to board member Isaac Zlatkin, the man was Rabbi Sanders.

Yonoson (Jonathan) Sanders is the dean and founder of Bais Tova girls school in Lakewood.

The reporter asked Friedman to respond for comment.

Friedman denied that he and Sanders were discussing board business during his absence from the dais.

Members of the public told the reporter that board members frequently texted on their cell phones during the meeting, or laughed and conversed with one another while seated on the dais.

Members of the public said board members showed contempt for them by their actions.

Friedman's absence from the dais during the board vote did more than demonstrate contempt for members of the public; by failing to participate in the board vote, he disenfranchised every citizen of Lakewood he failed to represent.

Friedman told NJ News & Views his absence during the board vote "was a mistake."

As Lakewood grows from a township to a city and the number of children attending its public and non-public schools increases, members of political interest groups will continue to influence board votes anytime, anywhere.

This year, Deputy Mayor Steven Langert attempted to become one of them.

Although members of the township committee review defeated school budgets proposed by members of the board, Langert endorsed a slate of three candidates for election to the board.

School directors endorsed a different slate, which voters elected.

Two of the three candidates that Langert did not endorse for election to the board were Friedman and Zechariah Greenspan.

Voters defeated the board's proposed school budget for the 2011-12 school year, which members of the Lakewood Township Committee voted to cut - including Langert, who did not abstain or recuse himself.

In a May e-mail, a reporter for NJ News & Views asked Langert to respond for comment.

"Mr. Langert, I attended the board of education meeting following the adjournment of the township committee meeting on Thursday, May 12," the reporter wrote Langert. "During the board meeting, Lakewood Superintendent of Schools Lydia Silva rejected the township committee's request not to eliminate the community school."

Committeemen said during their meeting that it was not necessary for the board to make any further cuts to the defeated school budget since the district had realized the same amount in savings that the committee had cut as a result of district lay-offs that, in turn, reduced the cost of health insurance premiums.

"Following (Silva's) recommendation that the board reduce the defeated school budget by eliminating the community school, the two new board members you did not endorse in the school election motioned and seconded for a vote, which a majority of the board approved," the reporter told Langert.

The reporter asked whether he believed his endorsement was to blame.

"Do you believe the board would have acted on the committee's recommendation not to eliminate the community school had you not attempted to influence the outcome of the school election?" the reporter asked Langert.

Langert, a Republican seeking a second 3-year term on the Lakewood Township Committee in November, did not respond for comment.

He should.

All New Jersey elected representatives, including non-partisan members of a board of education, need to demonstrate to voters that all children's needs come before their own political ambitions - even if that gesture comes after the fact.

New Jersey does not require all children living in the state to meet the benchmarks of the No Child Left Behind Act. In an increasingly global marketplace, however, all children benefit by participating in the program's academic goals. If legislators and the most powerful governor in the nation supported such a change, citizens living throughout the state, not just in Lakewood, would also benefit from their actions.

Next year, New Jersey's governor could seek higher office as the nation's next president.

Fifteen years ago, the wife of another man that held that office stressed the importance of educating all children and everyone's role in ensuring their place in America's future.

"Right now, there are dedicated teachers preparing their lessons for the new school year," First Lady Hillary Clinton told attendees of the Democratic National Convention on August 27, 1996. "There are volunteers tutoring and coaching children."

The work of educators alone was not enough to ensure each child's future success, Clinton told her audience.

"To raise a happy, healthy and hopeful child, it takes a family," she said. "It takes teachers. It takes clergy. It takes business people. It takes community leaders. It takes those who protect our health and safety. It takes all of us. Yes, it takes a village - and it takes a president."