JACKSON – Meagan Gardella, who recently ran for a seat on the Board of Education, was one of several parents who spoke before the Board of Education about a recent conversation she had with one of the officials of the Ocean County Board of Health “and we concur there are a lot of gray areas left open for interpretation by local school districts regarding COVID recommendations, regulations and procedures.”
“What was interesting is that he couldn’t answer the questions I had on whether a district adopted a tested return format to reduce quarantine time along with who enforces and reports to the district if they choose this route regardless of our (COVID classification) color. He did inform me that he believes information is not streamlined from the state offices to your office and he agreed that it could cause frustration,” the Peacock Lane resident added.
She recommended to the Board and administration one of two options: “either hosting a question-and-answer session for parents with someone from the Ocean County Health Department or create a citizens advisory committee that includes parent reporters to meet with admin, Board members, educators and possibly the Ocean County Health Department.”
Gardella said, “I know there is a woman on the Board who is a nurse in Jackson. The committee would review currently safety protocols among other items with the hope to give suggestions for the Board to consider things like more outdoor dining at the elementary level or reduce lengths of the lunch periods so we could reduce quarantine of students.”
Christine McGinley of Cook Road said she had spoken to several parents and friends who are teachers “and we all agree that many students have fallen behind in their education and social development since the pandemic hit.”
She said that special education students in particular were suffering from this. “Are you aware that at Johnson Elementary up until this school year the current fourth grade students were dispersed between three classrooms.”
McGinley asked, “are you aware that even with our knowledge of the losses our students have suffered both academically and socially, that now this same grade level has been shrunk to just two class rooms?”
She also asked if the Board and administration was aware that as parents this grade level change from three to two classrooms was due to families moving from our district? Well it seems that this was not completely truthful.”
McGinley said the “social distancing confines, the regular small group instruction that many IEPs (individualized education plans) call for, cannot take place because in a classroom of 26 students there is now no physical space in a classroom to accommodate that?”
“Last month Superintendent (Nicole) Pormilli shared with enthusiasm how the district had obtained a grant to expand pre-school offerings. Here is the real reason why my son’s grade level is now bursting at the seams in only two classrooms. Special Education teachers in team teaching classrooms are being called away from their students to cover other classes when there are no substitutes available,” McGinley said.
“I’m sure you are now aware that the State Department of Health commission would like to have you take even more time and energy away from our students to coordinate vaccination clinics. Considering the current challenges facing our students and school personnel I suggest you leave that particular venture to the state,” the parent added.
She added that “instead of focusing on new ventures during this pandemic that you direct all your time, energy and resources to getting our kids where they need to be now and do right by your existing students before touting bringing in more students.” She also wanted to know what the district was doing to solve the problem of a lack of substitutes needed in the school district.
“This particular grade level that has now been shrunk to two class rooms. The pandemic hit during the critical literary and mathematical foundation period. That was second grade, So half of second grade was missed almost all of third grade and now we’re in fourth grade and instead of trying to make a situation where they are learning this year to be optimum you’ve gotten rid of one their classrooms. There are 26 and sometimes 27 kids in these classes,” McGinley said.
She suggested Board members take a tour of some of the classrooms. Her comments drew loud applause from the audience.
Pormilli responded saying she would discuss Gardella’s suggestions with the Board. She said that McGinley was correct about class sizes. “There are some large class sizes at Johnson Elementary and some of our other buildings as well. I would like to address the fact that comes from two reasons: one is that we had a $4 million budget cut which we had to lose 40-something staff members last year.”
She added, “this was on top of the year before that losing the same number of staff of about a hundred all together that we have lost to the S-2 (state aid formula) budget cut so after a while those compound.”
“The other piece of that is due to some very late enrollments” in our district. That preschool program is a wonderful resource. “It also offsets our existing pre-school budget as it will now be covered by grant money which will help us prevent having to further let go of district staff,” Pormilli said.
“There are a lot of different pieces to the puzzle besides what you presented tonight,” Pormilli told McGinley. “It is absolutely our focus, academics and closing the achievement gaps and social/emotional elements of our students.”
