Middletown Board Of Education Race: Candidates Talk On The Issues

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Ah, the 2020 Middletown Board of Education race. With ten candidates running for three open seats, it's arguably more competitive than the Township Committee race, and for good reason: The school board decides how a $169-million-dollar budget will be spent on Middletown public schools.

The election also comes at a time of massive upheaval in Middletown: Not only has the district had to deal with coronavirus and the should-we/shouldn't-we debate of getting kids back in class, but Middletown schools have also had declining enrollment in the past decade, which led to a steep drop in state aid and the permanent closure of an elementary school (Port Monmouth) in March.

As Patch reported, redistricting is also being considered by the current Board members, some of whom are up for election.

Add on to all of that the Black Lives Matter/Spread Love, Not Hate march that was held on the grounds of Middletown High School North in June, a decision that angered some in Middetown.

In fact, the Middletown BOE race is so close and so heated, that local political parties have gotten involved, even though school board races in New Jersey are supposed to be non-partisan. The 1,2,3 slate was allowed to use the phone bank from the Middletown Republican Party and the Monmouth County Republican Committee put out a Facebook ad blasting "Progressive Pam" Rogers and comparing her to Nancy Pelosi.

Patch asked all 10 candidates where they stand on the issues and here are their responses:

The 1,2,3 slate of Jacqueline Tobacco, Frank Capone and Harmony B. Heffernan "Putting Children First"

What do you think of the school district's handling of the coronavirus overall? Anything you would have done differently? "The origin of us running came from knowing that we went through a very, very difficult time with the lockdowns," said Tobacco. "And the fact that we still aren't fully in school is very concerning for us. Decisions were made and parents don't even know how decisions were made."

"There was a big push for virtual learning as the future of schooling in Middletown," she continued. "Pam and Robin (current Board members) were sharing or tweeting articles pushing virtual learning. Well, Middletown has had two students who died in the lockdowns, one from a suicide, one from an overdose. I am hearing horrible stories about kids being home alone all day because their parents have to go to work; about sixth graders meeting to drink in the park because of the lack of structure and socialization."

"When I see articles pushed by our Board president and vice president (Rogers and Stella) saying the future is in virtual learning, that's when we started to get concerned. Here we are fighting to get our kids back in school and here our board is like, 'Virtual is great.'"

"Co-opting parents as teachers is a dangerous practice," she added. "We are ruining economies in this town. For a virus that is 99 percent survivable, you cannot destroy children's lives and parents' livelihoods."

Tobacco said it was after meeting with state Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger (R) that she was able to get special-needs kids back in school this summer.

"Pam keeps taking credit for that, but we worked for hours, days, weeks on that. Gerry called the governor on his cell phone. He's the one who got Dr. George, the NJEA (New Jersey state teachers' union) to have meetings so we could get special-needs kids back in school."

Tobacco also criticized Robin Stella, saying her position as a public school teacher is a conflict of interest as a Board member.

"Things became contentious because the NJEA wanted to keep schools closed. That's when I felt we were not fairly represented because we had a vice president on the board who was in the NJEA; she kept having to recuse herself. We needed a students' and taxpayers' voice at the table."

Did you support the Spread Love Not Hate March/BLM march held at High School North on June 28? Would you have allowed that to happen if you were on the Board? "I admire Pam Rogers' passion and activism, but it was a political event and it shouldn't have happened on school grounds with taxpayer money," said Tobacco.

Tobacco said if she was sitting on the Middletown BOE in June, she would have denied the students' request to hold the rally.

"I would have told them you have all the freedom of speech and freedom of assembly granted by the Constitution, but you cannot do it on school grounds because it's a political issue. And I am not going to be involved in it. They could have gotten permits, they could have done this in a park, all of these things without it being attached to our school system."

"I wouldn't have a pro-Trump rally on school grounds," she added.

"My main issue is I got very upset with our board for doing this when all of our kids have been on lockdown," she continued. "This was not a school-based event to have our kids come back to as a community. Instead time, energy and money was spent on a political rally. I understand everyone was upset about George Floyd but we were having a crisis in Middletown, a crisis among our students. And they (the current Board) focused on the wrong things."

The closing of Port Monmouth/redistricting: "The closing of Port Monmouth is not going to be revisited by the Board," said Tobacco. "The building is not safe for students."

However: "This is not the time for redistricting. It is clearly a top priority for the current Board and meanwhile our kids are not even back in school. To make this a priority this year (2020/21) is a disservice to our entire community. We had a mass exodus of kids to private school, and we had a mass influx of people from Jersey City, Hoboken, Queens and Manhattan."

"Nick (DiFranco) made a statement recently saying we we paid for this plan; we've had it on the table for six years. But to continue to force something because it's been a 'strategic plan' right now is a disservice. They are making decisions not based on reality, moving ahead with redistricting when kids are not even back in school."

The budget: "We saw some decisions that we definitely did not agree with. Such as the superintendent's salary. This is not personal at all, it's just very questionable to pay a brand-new superintendent a record-breaking salary; she is making more than Dr. George," said Tobacco. "We would not have done that, absolutely not. Our kids are not in school, state aid was cut and she gets all that money."

"Frank is running with me because he is strong at seeing where we are wasting money. For example, we have buses going to Middletown North every day empty. And we are paying for those buses. We want to propose elective opt-outs for seniors who don't want to take the bus, and then renegotiate those contracts."

“Since 2017 our transportation costs have risen by over $1.5 million. From March through June, buses sat idle," said Frank Capone. "Did we receive a credit or an adjustment on the next contract? I can see we did not! And here we are 2020-2021 transportation cost AGAIN are up $600,000. There is no transparency to the taxpayers at all. We have become fiscally irresponsible. It’s clear to see a dance teacher, a school teacher and technology personnel do not have the business acumen to lead a $170 million budget," he said, in a jab to the current BOE members of Rogers, Stella and DiFranco.

Tobacco said her slate also has an idea to change the way Middletown teachers get their health insurance — "It's self insurance, the same program the Township uses. We would become the insurer. It's a huge cost savings."

"We can really find some savings and revenue with selling or renting all the unused buildings and land in the district, including the land where Port Monmouth sits," she said. "And have one centralized purchasing department for the entire district instead of one at each school."

"We are the outsiders who would bring parents' voice and the taxpayers' voice to the table," she concluded. "We bring the real-world perspective."

Independent candidate, Raymond Jankowski, #4 on the ballot

What do you think of the school district's handling of the coronavirus overall? Anything you would have done differently? "I actually think the BOE executed the plan they implemented in August well. They did not fall to pressure not to open. I would have liked to open fully, but due to the student population, this was not feasible while still complying with the state mandates for social distancing.

The one area that came up that I would have dealt with differently would have been the timing of air filtration and working on best/worst/most likely scenarios. I would have had those scenarios completed by June and would have worked on air filtration in the school over the summer. It seems the air filtration was a last-minute process. The district did get this complete, but I think it caused a lot of unnecessary worry."

The closing of Port Monmouth/redistricting: "I do have all the information on the closing of Port Monmouth school closing. I would have to review the numbers to see if the payback on reopening would be worth the cost of maintaining and running the school.

I understand the children were displaced and actually need to pass Harmony on the way to New Monmouth. I think that needs to be corrected. School redistricting would assist in having students in K-8 attend a school closest to their home.

I have been consistent on redistricting: The immediate solution would be to redistrict. This is an unpopular decision and that is why the BOE has not addressed it in the 12 years my children have been in the school district.

The Milone & MacBroom Demographic Presentation shows that the school district population is increasing over the next 10 years. There are two reasons for this increase: The addition of two housing complexes (Heritage at Middletown and Middletown Walk) to contribute 347 students and the increase in birth rate, up 15% from 2016 to 2018. Based on this information redistricting would be the solution.

My fear is that this shows an upward trend over 10 years and other board members will see the 10-year number as a final increase. The report does not take into account the COVID impact of families leaving urban areas and moving to Middletown, a future increase in birth rates past 2018 or future development outside of the two mentioned. So redistricting needs to happen in the short term. The report needs to be updated with the three factors mentioned above in five years. Not the entire report, just those three factors mentioned - to keep costs down - and then a decision needs to be made on consolidation of facilities."

Did you support the Spread Love Not Hate March/BLM march on school grounds in June? Would you have allowed that to happen if you were on the Board?

This question goes to the heart of, "Do I believe the BOE should be political activists?" I do not. I think a consistent non stance would have been appropriate.

Besides taking a political stance, I am not sure why the organization requesting use of the facilities was not treated the same as any other organization requesting use of the facility. I sat on the Board for AYF youth football in town. In preparation of the town installing a new turf field at the Croydon Hall location, we reached out to the BOE for use of the athletic field for home games. Youth football was not able to make that work due to it being cost prohibitive for all the security, maintenance and janitorial services required by the BOE.

So the fact that the district subsidized this function goes against precedence that I am familiar with while on the AYF Board.

With this said, I would not have allowed it for two reasons:

1. I would not want to back any political movement because the BOE is not suppose to be partial to any political party. 2. I would not subsidize a function that was not run by and for the students of the district.

5, 6, 7 Current Board members Robin Stella, Nick DiFranco and Pamela Rogers, running to keep their seats:

This slate directed Patch to their website on the issues.

"(The issues) we feel are most important right now are transparency and communication with the public, supporting our special-education community, and achieving equity and lower class sizes throughout the district by staying true to our strategic plan, which the public has been involved in for many months," said Rogers, referencing the Board's moving forward on redistricting.

The closing of Port Monmouth/redistricting: "As far as the accusations from Mrs. Tobacco, she did already attempt to promote her idea that it is not time to redistrict at High School North's Meet the Candidates Night," said Rogers. "Her position fell flat that night with those members of the community who attend board meetings on a regular basis and have been through the strategic planning process. The problem with her position is that the board sent out a survey to the entire community this year. 2,700 people filled out the survey. We held eight strategic planning sessions, open to the public, where members of the public voiced their opinion on this matter. The public has spoken and the majority of the district has chosen for the board to rezone in order to lower class sizes and redistribute enrollment equally throughout the district. As board members, we are to make decisions for the majority of the public, and not our own special interests."

"Mr. Capone stated at the High School North forum that he is not in favor of redistricting because people 'buy their houses in certain areas for a reason,'" said Stella. "This is a very negative message that only exacerbates the North/South divide. Thousands of stakeholders in the district answered survey questions and gave us feedback at forums. We learned that the majority of the town wants to address the overcrowding and class size issues in Middletown and favor a redistricting plan. If we don’t move forward with the Strategic Plan, what is their plan to address class sizes, overcrowding, and equity across the district? We do not need Board members who will kick the can down the road, as it has been done for years."

"Regarding redistricting, the community has made their support of a re-evaluation of our attendance zones clear via the Strategic Planning process," said DiFranco. "Implementation of such a plan is not an instantaneous thing. The administration and Board will be considering alternatives provided by our demographic consultant and weighing them via public discussion at our Board meetings. Just as in any consideration of alternatives, one option will be 'No Change,' and the impact of 'No Change' will be viewed alongside all other proposed alternatives. Finally, once a decision is reached on a preferred alternative, there will still be the question of when to implement. So it makes no sense to stop the evaluation of redistricting - the underlying issues of enrollment imbalance, high class sizes, and opportunity gaps in our elementary schools is not going away, and our community demands progress toward a solution."

The district's handling of coronavirus: "That brings me to Mrs. Tobacco's accusation that Mrs. Stella and myself are promoting full virtual school for our students," said Rogers. "The district also sent out a survey in regards to how parents in our district would like us to address their children's schooling during the global pandemic. Eighty percent of our public chose in person instruction of some kind. So, the administration worked tirelessly to accommodate Middletown families. The hybrid model they've come up with is the best chance we have of keeping our schools open and achieving our goal of having all students in school five days per week (phase 6) by December of this year. As we've seen with other districts, sending students five days full time all at once does sometimes result in having to close down the entire school and send all students to virtual learning full time, due to quarantine rules as per the state Dept. of Health. Because the board and administration know that students are best served live, in person five days a week, we are committed to the hybrid model, which is a phased-in plan to get us there safely for lasting success. Mrs. Stella and I serve the public and support our administration and their hybrid plan."

"Mrs. Tobacco has been sending our superintendent and myself emails and tweets for months about how masks do not slow the spread of the COVID 19 and how she'd like students to be live, in school, five days a week with no social distancing and no masks," Rogers continued. "The president of the United States has admitted that the reason he contracted COVID is because he forgot to wear a mask. Wearing a mask does slow the spread of the Covid 19. Period. The Department of Education and the Department of Health have set guidelines that our administration is following. Our board supports our administration because we are responsible members of society. We are exactly what Middletown needs right now. Middletown needs elected officials who are stable and have the strength to stand up to false accusations such as those of Mrs. Tobacco. Stella, DiFranco and Rogers have proved that we can and we will."

Regarding the special-needs kids, DiFranco said that while Tobacco "has been a huge advocate for her kid, and other kids, the administration made the decision to bring the ESY (extended school year) kids back. This was really an administrative decision. There's a lot beyond having a parent and a politician call the district saying, 'Hey, you need to do something.'"

For her part, Stella responded to Tobacco's criticism of a conflict of interest by saying:

"Educators serve on school boards all the time. I don’t expect her to understand, as she has attacked teachers and the NJEA (New Jersey Educator's Association, the state teachers' union) on social media consistently. She should consult the New Jersey School Board Authority for correct information. The vote she is referring to was a Memorandum between the BOE and the NJEA. I have only abstained from a vote a few times in my years on the BOE."

"To the best of my knowledge, there is no factual evidence to support an allegation of 'pushing an all-virtual agenda' by any Board member," said DiFranco.

"I have never pushed for an all-virtual platform," said Stella. "I have stated repeatedly that I am committed to the safe reopening of schools. Teachers deserve our respect. To state that a teacher is not suited to serve on a Board of Education is not only untrue (see NJ School Board Association guidelines), but also a slap in the face the the staff of the Middletown Public Schools. We need Board members who respect education."

Stella said her platform is:

1. Reduce class sizes and ease overcrowding.

2. We must strive for inclusion and use evidence-based practices to achieve this goal.

3. Close the achievement gap through varied course offerings, data-driven instruction, teacher training, and wise utilization of our resources.

4. Continue to be fiscally responsible. We have eliminated four high-paying Administrative positions and consolidated two schools. In my first year serving on the Board, Middletown had the lowest tax levy in Monmouth County. We must continue to be fiscally responsible as we face continued cuts to state aid.

On the Black Lives Matter/Spread Love, Not Hate March:

"The Board of Education would have had to have a majority of its members vote to stop the superintendent from allowing the Spread Love/Not Hate unity mission to gather in the High School North parking lot on June 28," said Rogers. "The board would have to do so, knowing that these students and alumni had been bullied in our schools for the color of their skin."

"The board would have to take this action despite media coverage on 'Good Morning America' and NBC, where our High School North valedictorian implored us to support an anti-racist district, while other towns in the area were having similar marches and rallies," she continued. "The board would have to have sunshined a special public meeting in order to take action."

"I would hope that we do not live in a town where our Board of Education would take action to suppress black individuals from speaking their truth in a majority Caucasian town. The Middletown I know is kind, empathetic and inclusive. Our board members should be, too."

Kelly Brodin, Pam Smith and Patricia Reed, the 8, 9, 10 slate of "Unifying Middletown"

The slate said you can learn more about their platform here: https://www.facebook.com/Brodi...

"We are active parents in the Middletown school district that have been attending BOE meetings for the last few years," said Smith. "We are looking to increase communication and transparency with the community. We would like to see the workshop meeting brought back, which gives the public increased time to digest the voting agenda items and to communicate with the board. We will support a strategic plan that balances class sizes across the district for all students. We would like to see a thorough analysis of the budget to ensure every dollar spent is to benefit our students and support reaching out to other districts to look for synergies to save money. We will bring our knowledge of the school district, professional experience and teamwork."

What do you think of the school district's handling of the coronavirus overall? Anything you would have done differently?

We feel the district did the best they could with the strict guidelines from the state. They were very quick to pivot to online learning in March to ensure our students still had connection with their teachers. Given the large class sizes, the phased in/cohort approach was the only solution to meet the state mandates. We have since moved to stage 4, which includes increasing the number of students in person, which was approved by the State Department of Health.

Though it hasn't been perfect, we feel our district and teachers have gone out of their way navigating these uncharted times. Teaching synchronously was not something anyone would have foreseen and has its challenges. One thing we would have done different is given the smaller class sizes (due to cohorting) have students attend full day, having lunches inside their classrooms. We feel this should have been explored during the creation of the plan.

If elected, would you reopen Port Monmouth School? What are your thoughts on redistricting?

As far as we are aware, the state approved the closing of the building and it would be required to be brought up to ADA compliance to reopen. Though we would love to have the school reopened, it would cost significant amount of money to bring it up to code. We would not like to see any other schools closed in the way Port Monmouth was, without transparency and respect. We believe that redistricting is necessary to balance the class sizes across the district. Now that the demographer's study is complete, we hope to see a plan that supports all Middletown. This plan needs to prevent the practice of moving our special needs children to make room for general education students. All students of Middletown should have a stable and secure school environment.

Did you support the Spread Love Not Hate March/BLM march on school grounds in June? Would you have allowed that to happen if you were on the Board?

We did not attend the march on school grounds in June, thus do not have firsthand knowledge of the event.

We have heard that district funds were used for security and if true, we do not agree with this. PTA's and other school organizations are required to raise funds to cover security for their own events and this policy should have been followed.

Don't miss a minute of local Middletown news! Click here to get Patch email updates and follow Middletown Patch on Facebook. Have a news tip? Email the Middletown Patch reporter, Carly.baldwin@patch.com