Storm Repairs, Contentious Equity Audit Dominate Glen Ridge School Board Meeting
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The Glen Ridge Board of Education approved a $55,043 emergency contract with Rapid Recovery Services LLC on Sept. 27 to repair flooding damage from Tropical Storm Ida, covering drywall replacement and dry-outs of the computer lab, STEAM room and lower gymnasium at Ridgewood Avenue School, a small-group instruction room at Linden Avenue School, and the gymnasium at Forest Avenue School. Superintendent Dirk Phillips said the Ridgewood Avenue lower gym floor will need to be fully replaced, a process complicated by material delays and insurance coordination, while a damaged computer-room wall there was expected to be fixed by the end of the week. Blacktop on the Central School playground was also damaged in the storm and has been roped off pending repair. A resident had written to the board suggesting the district use an Oct. 11 professional development day to help make up the two days Ida forced schools to close, but Phillips said that decision would depend on how much snow the winter brings, since the district has only one such day built into this year's calendar.
In public comment, resident Vincent Cusumano raised a separate safety concern, saying he regularly sees a class of students sitting on towels in a driveway near Central School along High Street with no security barriers protecting them from traffic. "Somebody had a bad evening" and drove up onto the curb, he warned, "they could kill 40 children easily," urging the board to consider bollards or converting part of the adjacent parking lot into a grassy play area.
On personnel matters, board member Mr. de Leeuw, reporting for the negotiations committee, announced the district had reached a new contract agreement with the Administrators' Association after a longer-than-usual negotiation, crediting administrators for their work through "unprecedented and very difficult times." The board subsequently approved revised 2021-2022 contracts for district administrators. Other personnel items were handled, as usual, in closed executive session because they involved confidential matters.
The meeting opened with recognition of four Glen Ridge High School students — Mia Ehatamm, Tyler Johnson, Shoh Nishino and Evan Rossi — named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, an honor earned by roughly the top 1% of PSAT scorers nationwide. Phillips also spotlighted Ridgewood Avenue School fifth-grade teacher Jerry White, whose children's book "Nightbooks" is currently a featured movie on Netflix.
The board also adopted a revised policy, P 1648.13, implementing the governor's executive order requiring all school employees and outside vendors who regularly work with students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 18 or submit to weekly testing. Phillips said about 90% of staff are already vaccinated and that the state is arranging an on-site testing vendor for the unvaccinated by mid-October. He reported that four students at Forest Avenue School and one at the high school had tested positive over the preceding weekend — numbers not yet reflected in the case counts he presented — though the district has not traced any transmission to inside its buildings. Masks remain optional during recess for now; resident Steve Lord urged the district to keep it that way, calling masks harmful to young children, while a separate resident's letter had asked the board to require them.
The bulk of the evening was devoted to the findings of a $25,000 districtwide equity audit conducted by Olive Branch Educators, presented by the firm's CEO, Dr. Diana Artis. The audit drew on survey responses from 475 parents, 65 high school students and 76 employees, plus focus groups, and identified seven themes: communication, cultural competency, curriculum, staff diversity, monitoring of academic success, parental agency, and the value placed on diversity, equity and inclusion. Artis said parents of children with special needs and of color reported feeling unsupported, that only about 10% of Glen Ridge staff over the past five years have been people of color, and that Home & School Association leadership can feel inaccessible to some families. The district has already revised its middle-school reading list to favor more diverse authors and shorter works over full novels, stocked every elementary classroom library with more diverse titles, and added handbook language barring derogatory language at school.
The presentation drew a long, emotional public comment session split between support and sharp criticism. Resident Vincent Cusumano called the effort "a charade" funded by "$25,000 of our tax dollars" and said he tells job applicants to "check your sex, gender, color at the door," calling diversity-conscious hiring "reverse discrimination." Residents Mark Cunningham and Maryellen Cusumano, a former auditor, questioned the audit's methodology, with Maryellen Cusumano arguing it lacked hard numbers to support its recommendations, and Cunningham warning that similar initiatives elsewhere have led to cuts in advanced and gifted classes. Board member Anthony Bonnett pushed back directly, telling commenters that "bias is not racism" and that he had never heard the board discuss hiring based on race over qualifications. Other speakers backed the initiative: resident Sarah Scalet said it was "painful" to hear the fear in some neighbors' voices but thanked the board for the work, while resident Christina Kozma described her son receiving a homework pass for a Jewish holiday and his English class being invited to debate whether a book containing a racial slur belonged on the curriculum. Central School Home & School Association president Carol Florczak urged the board to also focus on supporting new diverse hires once they are on staff, not just recruiting them. Board President Elisabeth Ginsburg and Phillips said no outcome was predetermined and that next steps — expected to focus first on staff professional development and hiring practices — will be prioritized with input from the equity committee and shared publicly on the district website.
In other comments, resident Phil Johnson asked the board to add volleyball posts and floor striping when the damaged Ridgewood Avenue gym floor is replaced, and resident Mike Pensak asked whether the district planned to retain Olive Branch Educators beyond the audit; Phillips said the $25,000 engagement covered only the audit itself and that the district would weigh other vendors for ongoing professional development.
Action items
- Approved a $55,043 emergency contract with Rapid Recovery Services LLC for storm cleanup and repairs at Ridgewood Avenue, Linden Avenue and Forest Avenue schools following Tropical Storm Ida.
- Adopted revised policy P 1648.13, requiring school employees and regular outside vendors to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 18 or undergo weekly testing.
- Approved revised 2021-2022 contracts for district administrators following a new agreement with the Administrators' Association.