Glen Ridge Board Confronts Racial Incidents at Ridgewood Avenue School, Approves $352,000 Roof Repair

Superintendent Dirk Phillips opened the June 6, 2022 meeting by offering his sympathies to the students, staff and families of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and reminded the community that the district had completed an extensive school safety audit in February 2019 and continues to train staff on security procedures, with a meeting scheduled that month with the district's safety consultant to review its safety plans. Board President Elisabeth Ginsburg reported that after resident Christina Kozma wrote to the board on May 25 expressing concern about increased police presence near the schools in Uvalde's wake, Phillips had been in communication with Glen Ridge Police Chief Sean Quinn, and the district increased police presence around the schools' vicinity.

The dominant topic of the night, however, was a series of racial incidents at Ridgewood Avenue School. Ginsburg read an extended statement responding to emails from residents Lavi Ragavan and Bernice Clarke-Bonnett concerning use of a racial slur and mocking gestures directed at students there, and elsewhere at Forest Avenue School. She described the district's restorative-justice approach to discipline, the process under the state's Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) law, and said the HIB portion of the district website would be updated over the summer. Phillips added that fifth and sixth graders received additional guidance lessons on respect and understanding, and that Ridgewood Avenue has started a new "Peace Award" recognition program.

During public comment, Tricia Akinwande, speaking on behalf of the Glen Ridge Diversity and Inclusion Association, detailed two specific incidents: a mocking-gesture incident targeting an Asian American student at Forest Avenue School reported to administrators in December 2021 was not communicated to the school community until May 2022 — six months later — and racial-slur incidents at Ridgewood Avenue School were not communicated to the school community until after a parent posted about them on social media. She called for swifter, more transparent communication about HIB findings and outcomes regardless of whether a complaint is deemed founded, and for scrutiny of what she described as a culture problem at Ridgewood Avenue School developed over the last ten years. A longtime resident said that when she asked her son, a senior athlete at Glen Ridge High School, about the slurs, his response was simply "yeah mom, it's Glen Ridge." A resident named Liliam said her fifth-grade son at Ridgewood Avenue School was called a racial slur twice, unprovoked, in his classroom, and that the district did not respond publicly until she posted about it on social media. Resident Greta Sawa, who said she has raised concerns about the Ridgewood Avenue administration for seven years, told the board that families can also file bias complaints with the state under the Law Against Discrimination, and that the state's HIB law requires investigations to begin and parents to be notified within specific timelines that she said are not always followed. In response, the district's Communications Committee, per Ms. St. Auburn's report, said it would spend the summer reviewing website protocols and ways to keep the wider community better informed when incidents occur.

The board voted to award a $352,000 emergency contract to VMG Group for the Lower Gym Partial Roof Replacement at Ridgewood Avenue School, after the original low bidder, A&M Contracting, withdrew its $270,000 bid; other bids had ranged as high as $638,000.

The board recognized four retiring staff members with a combined 109 years of service: Duke Mendez, a health and physical education/driver's education teacher and longtime football coach who joined the district in 1985 and was described as putting "hundreds of teenage drivers on the road"; Lillian Serghides, a French and Spanish teacher since 1987; Paulette Cinotti, a sixth-grade science teacher at Ridgewood Avenue School for 21 years, known for her squid-dissection lesson; and Pamela Urban, a pre-K and kindergarten teacher who spent 17 years at Linden Avenue and Central School. The board separately accepted, with regret, the resignations of Emily Reyes (Orton Gillingham, District, effective 7/22/22), Alex Lopes (Teacher, Ridgewood Avenue School, effective 6/30/22) and Joseph Mazarella (Guidance, Glen Ridge High School).

On the financial side, the board authorized transferring up to $1,000,000 in unanticipated year-end revenue into the district's Capital Reserve and up to $500,000 into its Maintenance Reserve; renewed student accident insurance with Philadelphia Insurance Company for $15,463 ($12,291 primary plus $3,172 catastrophe coverage) for 2022-2023; and accepted a $636 donation from the Glen Ridge Kids Book Swap for primary school classroom libraries. Ms. St. Auburn also reported that the Glen Ridge Educational Foundation has provided more than $182,000 in program funding over the past two years and had just approved roughly $23,000 in new grants for the fall.

Jack DeWitt, Director of Student Services, recognized eight teachers — Christine Coppola, Pamela Horton, Michelle Kanasky, Rosemary Matar, Rachel Patterson, Lisa Petruzzi, Francoise Spano and Kim Waldron — who completed a two-year Orton Gillingham reading certification program through Fairleigh Dickinson University, funded by the Glen Ridge Educational Foundation; DeWitt said the effort yielded roughly 800 hours of one-on-one tutoring for students. The board also recognized GRHS golf team member Emily Renoff, a sophomore who took second at the state sectional tournament, advanced to the girls' NJSIAA Tournament of Champions and was named to the second team All-State All-Group; noted that the Glen Ridge Middle School Drama Club was named winner of the outstanding middle school musical production in New Jersey by Montclair State University's Department of Theater and Dance; and highlighted the Class of 2022's college acceptance list. Phillips also thanked residents Lavi Ragavan, Anne Moyer and Lynn VanDisto, president of the Forest Avenue Home & School Association, for organizing a series of assemblies celebrating Indian American culture at Forest Avenue School for AAPI Heritage Month.

The board approved the second reading of a number of revised district policies, including a revised Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying policy (P 5512) and a new Postnatal Accommodations for Students policy, along with several facilities- and health-related policy updates.

In a second round of public comment, resident Phil Johnson asked what concrete steps the district plans to take on its equity audit recommendations before the start of next school year. Phillips said he would meet with administrators over the summer, gather input from town organizations, and continue consulting with the board. Another resident urged parents to document concerns over email to formally start HIB timelines, noted the process for requesting HIB investigation records through the state's Open Public Records Act, and again urged the board to offer HIB training for parents, an idea she said she has raised for six or seven years.

Action items

• Awarded a $352,000 emergency contract to VMG Group for the Lower Gym Partial Roof Replacement at Ridgewood Avenue School after low bidder A&M Contracting withdrew its $270,000 bid.
• Approved the second reading of revised district policies, including a revised Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying policy (P 5512) and a new Postnatal Accommodations for Students policy.
• Accepted the resignations of Emily Reyes, Alex Lopes and Joseph Mazarella.
• Authorized transferring up to $1,000,000 into Capital Reserve and up to $500,000 into Maintenance Reserve from year-end revenue.
• Renewed student accident insurance with Philadelphia Insurance Company for $15,463 for 2022-2023.
• Accepted a $636 donation from the Glen Ridge Kids Book Swap for primary school classroom libraries.

Watch key moments

• 40:26 — A tribute to retiring kindergarten teacher Pamela Urban: "she started off as a lion, she's going out as a cheetah."
• 57:44 — Tricia Akinwande's detailed public comment on behalf of the Glen Ridge Diversity and Inclusion Association, laying out a six-month delay in notifying the school community about a bias incident.
• 1:10:33 — A mother named Liliam describes her fifth-grade son being called a racial slur twice at Ridgewood Avenue School before the district responded publicly.