Calm Or Conflict? Brick School Board Meeting Could Bring Either

BRICK, NJ — If you have been to any Brick Township Board of Education meeting in the last nine months, it's not difficult to see the simmering tensions among board members.

From the moment four new board members — John Lamela, Victoria Pakala, Stephanie Wohlrab, and George White — were sworn in back in January and promptly ousted many of the district's professionals at the reorganization meeting, the stage was set for ongoing friction between the new additions and the more established members of the board.

And while Lamela, the board president, has repeatedly reminding board members and the public that he sees the board's primary responsibility as ensuring Brick Township students are taken care of, he, like Sharon Cantillo before him, has had his hands full.

The tensions — rooted what many view as behind-the-scenes partisan politics — boiled over earlier this month and resulted in a full-fledged shouting match at the end of the meeting between two board members and an argument in the back of the auditorium at Brick Township High School.

What is unclear is whether the conflict will continue at Thursday's board meeting, or will have been brought under control in the three weeks since then. The board meets at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Brick Township High School.

One of the points of irritation has been the project to replace windows throughout the school district. The project, budgeted at $2.9 million, has cost the district more than $4.3 million.

Pakala, who has been harshly critical of a multitude of decisions made by the previous board, has brought up the project repeatedly in the last several months, questioning the costs and the decision-making on the project, which has installed replacement windows at several schools in the district.

The windows chosen for the project were Kalwall windows, which Walter Campbell, a former member of the school board who served on the facilities committee, said were chosen for several reasons, including energy efficiency and enhanced security. Campbell was on the Brick school board from June 2011 to December 2012, and after his term ended, was appointed to the facilities committee as a volunteer to assist with ongoing capital projects.

It is Campbell's service as a volunteer that Pakala has repeatedly criticized over the last few months, and at the Oct. 6 meeting — a reschedule after the board lacked a quorum due to illness and personal emergencies of board members — Pakala went after Campbell in her remarks at the end of the board meeting.

The board members' remarks are the last portion of the meeting, before it is adjourned, meaning anyone in the audience is not afforded the opportunity to respond.

Pakala, reading from a typed statement, said she decided to look into the project because of a third change order the board had been asked to approve at the Oct. 6 meeting. She noted the change order and the revised budget would mean the project is $1.3 million over budget.

"I believe the taxpayers deserve an explanation for this and they deserve to know how this happened," she said.

She then laid the blame squarely at the feet of Campbell, a retired science teacher who is running for a seat on the school board this November, saying it was his decision that led to the purchase of the Kalwall windows and that the choice of those windows over what Pakala contends were in opposition to the recommendations of the district's architect led to the cost overruns, which have included the necessity to replace a number of air conditioners that are not compatible with the Kalwall style.

On a videotape of the board meeting posted on YouTube by the school district, board member Karyn Cusanelli can be heard reacting to Pakala's comments.

Earlier in the meeting, Cusanelli had shared minutes from 2014 facilities committee meetings where the windows project was discussed, and noted those minutes show that while Campbell made the suggestion for the Kalwall windows, the actual decision to go with those windows was made after Cusanelli and board members John Talty and Frank Pannucci Jr. had an opportunity to visit schools where those windows already were in use and get feedback from students and staff. Cusanelli and Talty voted in favor, while Pannucci voted against.

"She can't do that," Cusanelli can be heard to say. As Pakala continued to read, Cusanelli objected and interrupted her.

"This $1.3 million financial disaster was avoidable and we are in this mess because someone made a decision lacking understanding, experience or knowledge about the window replacements for our district and the potential costs to our school district."

Cusanelli interrupted Pakala, saying, "You're perpetuating untrue statements right now."

"I'd like to rebut her statements," Cusanelli said to Lamela, who tried to halt the argument, to which Pakala shot back, "I believe my statements don't need to be rebutted."

The back-and-forth continued with both Pakala and Cusanelli talking over Lamela, continuing their argument despite his efforts to halt it.

Finally, he had enough.

"Can we stop the arguing and bickering like third-grade children?" Lamela asks, noting that the argument was taking place during the district's "Week of Respect."

Pakala talked over him again, attempting to adjourn the meeting, at which point Lamela said, "No. I have a statement to make."

He then apologized to Sharon Cantillo over a statement he made at the meeting where the board lacked a quorum, saying it was not his intent to make it sound like she was to blame for the meeting being adjourned. Cantillo was one of four members unable to make it to the Sept. 28 meeting (Cusanelli, John Barton and Stephanie Wohlrab were the others), and Lamela after that meeting made it a point to say he did not blame anyone for the issues that prevented them from attending that day.

"Things happen," he said to the Patch that evening. "I am not here to judge."

But Lamela said someone texted Cantillo accusing him of blaming her for the adjournment, and addressed them directly:

"To the people here with the quick fingers who want to make a board divided, can we stop with that pettiness? Just like the arguing between us. Just stop," he said. "You've both made your point."

It's unlikely that the bitterness will be resolved that easily, however. Conflict has been a near-constant at meetings since the May 2015 arrest of Superintendent Walter Uszenski on charges he helped arrange for what prosecutors say amounted to taxpayer-funded daycare for his grandson. Uszenski was indicted in the case in September 2015, but a final disposition of the charges has not yet occurred.

Here is video of the Oct. 6 meeting:

Photo via YouTube video of the Brick Board of Education meeting