Tensions Remain High at Board of Education

Tensions remain high at the Millburn Board of Education, especially after this week's meeting, when board member Jean Pasternak resigned from the school liaison committee and again when she raised a question about how the evaluations of administrators are handled.

In resigning from the liaison committee, Pasternak said she did not like that Board Member Rona Wenik, as chair of the committee, had changed the process for communicating with students during the meetings between students and board members.

Rather than allow board members to ask students at the Middle School and High School questions directly, Wenik changed the process so that principals of the schools can screen the questions to make sure they are appropriate.

Pasternak said she felt that the change was significant and improper because the purpose of the committee is to serve as “an open dialogue between BOE members and students on the committee.”

She also said that by changing the process, Wenik had changed the focus of the committee in a way that would negatively impact the effectiveness of the board. She added that by changing the process, she set a precendent for other committee chairs to make similar changes, which could amount to a "fundamental change in governance."

Wenik said the change "is appropriate and made in the best interest of the kids,” who may not feel comfortable being grilled with questions by board members.

In addition, she said, as the chairwoman of that committee, it is her prerogative to change the structure, and that the change is minor and basically how the committee has worked in the past.

“Board members can still ask questions and still get feedback from the students,” Wenik reiterated after the meeting. “The only change really made was to have the board simply present their questions in advance so that [the principals] can decide which ones to ask.”

Pasternak said she had sent Wenik several emails what prompted this change after doing it differently all year but never recieved a response and still did not have answer to why the change was needed so she resigned.

Wenik said she did not want to get into the details as to why she made the change other than it was in the best interest of the students.

Some board members were surprised by Pasternak’s decision to resign from committee, especially being made to from the special services committee earlier this year, and they said Wenik’s change was appropriate.

“I support Rona’s actions as the chair of the committee,” said Board Member Jeff Waters after the meeting. “It’s important that that committees not be used to advance board members’ personal agendas. Rona showed strong, appropriate leadership in this.”

Pasternak was also concerned about the evaluation process for Chief School Administrators in which she said that Assistant Superintendent Christine Burton and Business Administrator Steve DiGeronimo sat in on meetings to evaluate Superintendent James Crisfield.

The attendance taken on the minutes of those meetings show that on April 9, when board members discussed Crisfield's evaluation, Crisfield stepped out of the room, but the other administrators were present, and on April 30, when board members reviewed Birnberg's report, all the administrators were there.

Pasternak said she intends to request a review and clarification of the board’s policy on administrative evaluations because allowing them in the meeting can hamper the board members’ ability to have an open and frank discussion.

"The presence of any administrators in a closed session of the Board, when the CSA evaluation is being discussed, would naturally have the effect of stifling an honest conversation," she said at the meeting. "I can only speak for myself, but I believe their presence had that impact."  

Some board members did not see it as hampering discussion and more of a signing off on Board President Michael Birnberg’s written evaluation of Crisfield, based on the board members' previous input.

Reporter Kristen Kubilus contributed to this report from Monday's meeting.