Criticizing 'Inner Circle,' Maplewood School Board Member Resigns

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — A member of the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education resigned over the weekend, saying the board isn't inclusive and that "With an exclusive inner circle and a marginalized minority of independents, the board fails our most precious treasure — the children of our district."

She said in a subsequent statement that she was unable to change the "climate and culture" of the board.

Kamaljit Kaur Zubieta — a Maplewood parent with an MBA who was appointed and elected to a seat last year after a member resigned — said in her initial statement over the weekend that "The board majority is moving in a direction away from my focus and my conscience."

The district has dealt with a number of heated issues over the past few years. These included, most recently, continued failures to reopen the buildings for on-site learning, after various setbacks.

Before that, in August 2020, the board voted unanimously to settle a lawsuit with the Black Parents' Workshop, promising to address racial iniquities in the district. READ MORE: Black Parents' Group Discusses Lawsuit Settlement

Apparently, the board is still divided over other matters about which Zubieta declined to elaborate. She did, however, issue a followup email (below) to the press after inquiries.

Below are Zubieta's initial statement and then her followup.

She declined to comment further after that.

Zubieta's original press release from Monday:

Effective today [Monday] at 11:27 a.m., I formally resigned from my position as a member of the South Orange Maplewood School District Board of Education. The focus of my work is on the children of our district: their social, emotional, and mental health; their learning gaps after more than a year of remote and hybrid learning; their access to supportive, effective, and equal education; and their families’ livelihoods. The Board majority is moving in a direction away from my focus and my conscience. Now more than ever, during a time of international crisis, our children need an inclusive Board to be their advocates. However, with an exclusive inner circle and a marginalized minority of independents, the Board fails our most precious treasure — the children of our district.

Kamaljit Kaur Zubieta

Subsequent response to press inquiries:

I made the decision to step down from the Board with considerable thought and a heavy heart. As a Board member, I have demonstrated that I am 100 percent behind the District’s integration and equity work, the imperative that we make every child and family feel welcomed and supported, and the need to recognize and effectively respond to the impacts of the pandemic on our children.

To create an equitable, integrated, and truly inclusive school community, our Board needs to lead by example — recognizing that every Board member has been elected by our community to represent them. As such, we are each entitled not only to be treated with professionalism and respect both in public meetings and behind the scenes, but also to have our concerns, questions, and lived experiences considered and not policed or silenced, with the goal of achieving consensus where possible so that we can lead our community effectively through this difficult work.

The classic tactic of divide-and-conquer-the people-of-color is both colonial and repugnant. While I am not going to get into specifics, increasingly collegiality has not been my experience on the current Board, and given the current dynamics, it is not possible as an individual to work from within the Board to change the current climate and culture.

Kamaljit Kaur Zubieta

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