'This Is An Embarrassment. This Is A Circus.' Bridgewater-Raritan School Meeting Erupts

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Emotions ran high as a Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education erupted into shouting on Tuesday night.

The meeting began with Superintendent Robert Beers giving an update on summer school construction projects, followed by delegate reports.

As the meeting opened for public comment, that's when the meeting took a turn.

Board member Jeremy Li got up to speak at the podium.

"Can I ask what you're doing up at the podium?" asked Board President Michael Pepe.

"I'm a member of the public," said Li.

Pepe called a short break after saying he wanted to confirm the board was handling the situation properly.

"Mr. Li, I respect your potential right to do this. I just want to make sure that the board is doing things by the book,” Pepe said before the recess.

He added that he did not want to "jeopardize any individual board member or the board as a whole."

When the meeting resumed, Pepe said he had spoken with board attorney Douglas M. Silvestro.

"His opinion is I can't stop you," Pepe said. "Certainly, speaking as a member of the public during a board meeting of which you're a member of the board is unusual. He considers it improper and a potential ethics violation."

Li then used his public comment time to criticize how debate has been handled at board meetings and to object to recently approved policies.

During his remarks, Li asked, "Will you explain why I was silenced repeatedly?"

Pepe replied that public comment was "not a back and forth. It's not a question and answer."

Li called the Board a "puppet majority" who "continuously uses its delusional power, masquerading as blindly trusting the administration and the bureaucracy to squash dissidents and to bury debate."

He also went on to claim the Board passed 50 pages of policy in "the dead of summer" when most families are on vacation.

Much of the remaining public comment centered on district policy, parent notification and school governance.

Several speakers criticized Policy 5756 for Transgender Students and urged the board to rescind it. Others defended school practices or called for more respectful conduct at meetings.

Most of the people who spoke and criticized the Board were not from Bridgewater but from towns including Hanover, Manalapan, Chatham and Florham Park.

One Bridgewater parent, Carrie Jensen, criticized behavior at recent meetings.

"The ignorant claims that the whole community is on vacation, combined with your incessant, argumentative retorts and points of order, are infuriating to us parents and community members who are here for the students," said Jensen.

She continued that "There is a respectful way to share our thoughts. I suggest the board reread the code of ethics in your bylaws and possibly brush up on Robert's Rules of Order. In order to be treated with respect, one must treat others with respect. And that includes turning off your microphone when asked, amongst other things, such as not interrupting."

A clip of a Board meeting in July shared by Li on his facebook.com/JeremyLiForBOE was also highlighted.

Jensen said the clip was "incredibly inaccurate."

"Anyone who has seen and attended meetings they understand that that was a small snippet in a very long meeting. And that small snippet does not show what happened in the entire meeting and the histrionics that previous meetings have endured. It shows that there is a certain agenda for a board that is supposed to be non-partisan, and that is a huge red flag that there are partisan affiliations that are shown to the public from certain board members," said Jensen.

Later in the meeting, Superintendent Robert Beers also addressed the clip stating that "What I suspect many of you took from it was that our libraries contain sexually explicit materials at the primary school levels. They do not. Sexually explicit books are not in our primary, intermediate, or middle school libraries. The assumption is false and the allegation behind it is false."

Beers said district library collections are selected by certified school library media specialists and said the district's curriculum documents and materials are available to the public.

He also said there had been threats of physical harm following the post last month. Because of those threats, Beers asked some school officials not to attend the Tuesday meeting.

"I was not going to ask employees who have given their careers to this profession to sit in a public meeting and be described in terms that are not true and to be threatened with physical harm," said Beers. "There were threats of harm, physical harm to those seated at this table, myself and other administrators. That is unacceptable."

Beers continued, saying that "We're going to go after school librarians. I'm not tolerating it here. And I don't think the people of Bridgewater Raritan are going to tolerate it either. This is an embarrassment. This is a circus. And I am telling you as a superintendent, I am proud to represent the people, the students, and the employees here."

The meeting later turned to an amendment Li proposed to the library materials policy.

Li said the measure would expand parental control and require faster review of challenged materials.

"This policy amendment seeks to balance the compliance with stringent requirements of the out-of-touch Trenton politicians with undeniable parental empowerment. It's going to require this amendment that all communications, removal request forms, library databases are written in a clear, plain language so that any family can understand them," said Li. "It seeks to define exactly what developmentally inappropriate means by setting clear objective boundaries for elementary, middle, and high schools."

Board members raised concerns about the amendment, including the implications for librarians, whether the proposal conflicted with state law and district procedure.

"I know the librarians in this school district. I know how thoughtful they are. I know the programs that they teach their children. I know them as the people they are personally know them. And these accusations, that have been made tonight, have been abhorrent to the people who are good, decent, wholesome people that are responsible for my children," said Board member Jennifer Loughran.

She added that the school staff "have been dragged through the mud via commentary here and commentary on social media. We do not deserve to be held hostage to your political narcissism where somehow you always end up being the victim," said Loughran.

Loughran also pointed to the social media post with threats of violence that she described as "terrifying."

"We are all stuck in this web of insanity created by one board member and it's resulted in things where a mother actually has to fear for her own safety for the safety of the people who work in this district for their dignity," said Loughran.

Li did not address the comments or allegations made about his social media post. Instead, he continued to advocate for his policy amendment.

"This is about making sure that parents are notified if books that are challenged are being checked out by their own students. This is about making sure that we as a board exercise our authority to make sure that the work being done by the administration is in the interests of what the board wants," said Li.

Board member James Maloney clarified that "The policy that we have in place currently has a whole procedure for reviewing library materials."

After discussion, the amendment failed on a roll call vote, with Li and Dr. Lucy Li voting yes and the remaining members voting no.

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