BRIDGEWATER, NJ - A meeting of a Bridgewater-Raritan board of education committee with the interim superintendent regarding the issue of school start times apparently rankled some feathers at the most recent board of education meeting.
Interim superintendent Thomas Ficarra mentioned at the board’s Nov. 17 meeting that he had met with school board president Jackie Barlow, vice president Jill Gladstone and business administratorPeter Starrs, who he said had “brought him up to speed” on the much-bandied issue of school start times, and the options that had been outlined by former superintendent Russell Lazovick and the start times committee.
Ficarra added that there had been a review of the start times matter during the previous year until COVID-19 struck, which caused study of the issue to temporarily cease.
“The next steps are for Peter and me to meet with the transportation consultant (about) the costs of the various options,” he said.
Last year, the board went over multiple transportation options of varying costs if the starting times for schools were altered, but none were adopted as the board continued to study the feasibility of changing start times for the sake of student health and well-being, starting classes later in the mornings, especially at the older grades.
Ficarra said the start times committee met on Nov. 11 to “bring me up to speed.” He reiterated that the next steps are to assess the profile of new starting times and related costs, to bring them to the community, and then listen to the public at subsequent town halls.
“We really do want public input,” Ficarra said.
He added that the administration wants to get more starting times feedback en route to making a final recommendation, including re-bidding on the district’s busing contracts.
Board member Lynne Hurley asked about the deadline for the next school year, and Ficarra replied that it would be “probably no later than the end of March,” at least when it came to the busing bids. Board member Barry Walker inquired about the financial implications, including next year’s school budget, being brought to light as soon as possible, and Ficarra said that would be included in any presentation he made.
Questions of transparency on the matter arose during the old business portion of the full board meeting.
Board member Ann Marie Mead said she was "taken aback" by the recent school start times committee meeting, and said she felt that board transparency and leadership “would have been nice.” She then said to Ficarra that the change in start times would be a “major change” for the district, especially with a March deadline, as it was now almost December.
“I feel we’re going to be rushing things again,” she said.
She cited the current daily turmoil of COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, along with a lack of district resources, and said she would like to see the effects of hybrid and virtual learning on student learning and mental health.
“Keep in mind what other schools are doing,” she said, regarding areas such as athletics and coordination with the vocational school, if school start times were changed. “It’s going to be expensive to do some changes.”
Gladstone spoke about transparency, and said that Ficarra had said he would inform the board during the meeting, which she called “the most transparent way” to do it. Mead replied that she was just sharing her concerns, and that the board needs to communicate with each other, and not just the superintendent.
Barlow added that the goal was transparency, and that there were “multiple ways” the situation could be handled.
At the board’s Oct. 27 meeting, board member A.J. Joshi had asked when the board would re-start the school start times committee discussion. Ficarra, who succeeded Lazovick in July of this year, said he hadn’t been around for the beginning of the start times discussion.
The primary goal of the district since the emergence of COVID-19 has been to keep the schools operating.
“So much has changed daily,” said Ficarra at the time, with school closures and the like due to the coronavirus.
Asked about changing the high school starting time, and possibly sharing staff with the middle school, he said it was a domino effect, with the high school having had to be closed for two weeks at the time following several positive COVID-19 tests, just after local school buildings had been re-opened on a hybrid basis beginning Oct. 12.
Joshi said at the Nov. 17 meeting that he believed the district could “walk and chew gum at the same time” when it came to again incorporating school start times into its current workload, while Mead reiterated that she was concerned about the aforementioned March deadline.
Hurley said she also feels that March is “aggressive,” and said it had been indicated at the previous board meeting that changing start times was something the superintendent did not need to look at right now. She also said she was “taken aback this happened,” and thought she would have gotten an email or some other form of communication about it.
Ficarra said he had been asked that day if the start times matter had been placed in the board’s weekly brief, and said that had been his fault.
“I was focused on putting it in my report,” he said, of his preferred method of operation. “My apologies.”
Board member Zachary Malek said he also feels the issue is being rushed, and that the board needs to be careful and take more time, while also studying how COVID-19 could impact the budget and even taxes. He said the community is “dealing with tough times,” and believes the board should have a referendum, with tax implications.
Bridgewater resident Jessica Levitt, who will join the school board for a three-year term beginning in January and has championed the school start time change, asked about the citizens advisory committee for school start times. She cautioned that although COVID-19 and potential vaccines to help re-open the schools are important, "all other issues must not come to a standstill" in the meantime.
"Our students are not getting enough sleep and it is impacting their health right now," said Levitt, who also offered her assistance. "If we want to ensure all different stakeholders have input, we must move forward now to work toward a solution that is best for everyone."
A statement sent by the administration two days after the full board meeting acknowledged that a more realistic start date for changing school times, if that is decided, could be September 2022.
"At the meeting of the board of education on Nov. 17, the superintendent discussed the district’s plan for school start times and the possibility of implementation with a target date of September 2021,” the statement read. “After a more in-depth review, the superintendent realized that if approved, the district could aim for September 2021, but given the timeline for the necessary input from the community, addressing budgetary concerns, redefining schedule changes, bus routes, etc., the decision could not be made any earlier than March 2021 and a more realistic implementation date, if approved, is September 2022."
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December 01, 2020 at 09:00PM
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