Nutley Will Transfers Teachers

The Nutley Board of Education has approved transferring up to 17 staff members among its district elementary schools, Superintendent Russ Lazovick said at this week's board meeting.

A packed crowd of parents heard at the June 11 public meeting that the transfers are taking place and that the details would come later.  In a related issue, another large crowd was told at a May meeting that Lazovick is addressing the transfer of students from one elementary school to another during the superintendent's first full year on the job.

Both issues have been the subject of rumors and concerns among parents, according to a parent at the meetings who asked to remain anonymous.

Lazovick said of the teacher transfers, "Change is not always comfortable," but the moves are necessary because, "student performance had plateaued" with the existing structure of school staff.

"Transfers of teachers in the past have been seen as negative," Lazovick said. "We will put together the best possible teams, and make the right decisions the right way for a number of years."

The movement of teachers is needed because school populations are shifting, with some schools getting more students and others less, he said.

Details about which teachers are going where are still being decided, Lazovick said.

Lazovick said the transfers of teachers were decided after he and a committee met with elementary school principals about estimated growth in kindergarten enrollment.

At the previous meeting on May 21, Lazovick talked about the movement of students from one school to another, called "variances."

He said the transfers of students were a practice in place before he took over as superintendent in July 2011.

Lazovick said the variance policy is in place to allow parents who shows that it is a hardship for their child to attend one school to move the child to another school considered a better fit for the child but a further distance from their residence.

"This policy has taken on a life of its own, without checks and balances" he said. "It has grown in ways it is not supposed to grow."

The plan for variances is to clarify the process about how and why the policy is used, and stress the need for documentation and a clear timeline, Lazovick said.

"The goal is to protect the instructional environment," Lazovick said at the May 21 meeting. 

Both the transfer of teachers and students has been affected by two factors. Groups of students may "age out" of elementary schools and there are "enrollment bubbles," where one or more schools see a spike in kindergarten enrollment, Lazovick said.

Also, Nutley's elementary schools are older and have a limited capacity for a large increase in population, he said.

More details about enrollments and teacher transfers will come in the weeks and months this summer, Lazovick said.