Glen Ridge School Board Substantiates Bullying Complaint, Hears Renewed Wi-Fi Complaints From Parents

The Glen Ridge Board of Education, meeting remotely by Zoom on January 25, 2021, voted to accept the superintendent's findings on two separate Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying investigations. One complaint, Report 20-21 RAS #2, was found not substantiated, but a second, Report 20-21 HS #3 involving the high school, was found to be substantiated. Both votes were unanimous among the members present.

The board also accepted, "with regret," two resignations: Mckenzie Cuccia, an aide at Forest Avenue School, effective January 19, and Kay Scheren, who worked in the guidance office at Glen Ridge High School, effective January 15.

Two donations were accepted with thanks. The Glen Ridge Educational Foundation gave $725 to cover fees for the district's virtual high school AP Chemistry lab; Board President Elisabeth Ginsburg thanked Fran Wong of the foundation for the gift. Separately, the Epstein family donated $1,500, divided equally among the Glen Ridge High School hockey, football and boys lacrosse teams, in honor of their son Teddy Epstein, a member of the Class of 2004. The board also approved routine bills and claims of $413,446.67, payroll and related bills totaling $1,164,787.43, and an open purchase order report of $320,247.77 for the 2020-2021 year.

Superintendent Dirk Phillips fielded a question from a board member about the district's holiday calendar after a request came in from the community to give students the first two days of Rosh Hashanah off, rather than the district's current practice of simply avoiding tests and homework around the holiday. Phillips said the state's 180-day school-year requirement, combined with the growing number of religious holidays observed across an increasingly diverse student body and staff, makes it difficult to add any single holiday without cutting into other breaks or extending the calendar. He noted the last major change to the calendar under his tenure was revising the February break, and said any further changes would need to go through the board's policy committee. For the coming school year, he said, the calendar the district already adopted will stand.

Two parents pressed the board and Phillips on ongoing struggles with in-person instruction. Kristin Rodriguez, whose daughter is an 11th grader at Glen Ridge High School, said that as more teachers have been out, more students have been sent to the cafeteria to work — and that unstable wi-fi there means her daughter effectively cannot participate in class when that happens. Cindy Manzo, who has three children in the Glen Ridge school system in 7th, 8th and 11th grade, said she had already emailed high school staff about the same wi-fi problem and wanted to know whether it was actually being fixed. Phillips said the cafeteria wi-fi issue was the first he was hearing of it and that he would follow up with the high school and the district's director of technology, while noting that attendance numbers had already improved compared with the prior week and that students in the cafeteria are being kept socially distanced.

Phillips also reported that 53 school staff members were quarantined and four had COVID-19 the previous week, and thanked staff for covering for absent colleagues. He said the high school's PSAT testing, scheduled for the next day, could be scrapped in favor of an all-virtual day depending on the weather forecast. Ridgewood Avenue School kicked off its Great Kindness Challenge for the week, and the district is moving forward with music productions at Ridgewood Avenue School and the high school, remote for now with hope for a live performance by late spring. First Vice President Jocelyn Gottlieb reported that the Forest Avenue and Ridgewood Avenue Home and School Associations are collecting Valentine's Day baskets for support staff.

The board also acknowledged written communications from Yasamine and Mark Viehland on returning to full-time in-person instruction, and a letter of appreciation from Tom Johnston for the district's efforts to keep schools open. Ginsburg reported about 34 people were logged into the Zoom meeting, including 13 or 14 board members and administrators, and noted that President Biden had released a plan to reopen schools within his first 100 days in office. The board also approved an amendment to its flexible spending account plan allowing employees to carry over unused 2019-2020 Health and Dependent Care FSA funds into the 2020-2021 plan year, and raising the maximum age of eligible dependents from 12 to 13 for the Dependent Care FSA. The board had opened the evening in closed executive session on personnel, negotiations, confidential pupil matters and possible litigation, returning to public session at 6:12 p.m.; member Mr. Campbell attended only the closed portion.

Action items

• Accepted the superintendent's findings on two HIB investigations: Report 20-21 RAS #2 not substantiated, Report 20-21 HS #3 substantiated
• Accepted the resignations of Mckenzie Cuccia (aide, Forest Avenue School) and Kay Scheren (guidance office, Glen Ridge High School)
• Accepted a $725 donation from the Glen Ridge Educational Foundation for the virtual AP Chemistry lab and a $1,500 donation from the Epstein family, split among the hockey, football and boys lacrosse teams in honor of Teddy Epstein, Class of 2004
• Approved bills and claims of $413,446.67, payroll-related bills of $1,164,787.43, and an open purchase order report of $320,247.77 for 2020-2021
• Approved an amendment to the flexible spending account plan allowing carryover of unused 2019-2020 FSA funds and raising the Dependent Care FSA eligible-dependent age limit from 12 to 13

Watch key moments

• 8:28 — Resident Kristin Rodriguez says her 11th-grade daughter is missing class time because unstable wi-fi in the crowded cafeteria keeps cutting her out of remote instruction.
• 18:10 — Parent Cindy Manzo presses Superintendent Phillips on whether the same cafeteria wi-fi problem is actually being fixed, saying she'd already emailed staff about it.
• 21:14 — Phillips explains why the district won't add Rosh Hashanah as a full day off, citing the state's 180-day rule and the trade-offs of altering the school calendar.