The Jersey City Independent "

Share/Save

The latest public meeting held on the ongoing superintendent search took place at School 11 on Friday with the prospect of a snowstorm looming.

School Board Member Marvin Adames presided over the nearly two-hour forum. Two of the three board members on the ad-hoc search committee, chairwoman Carol Lester and Carol Harrison-Arnold, were present and the third member, William DeRosa, was absent. Franklin Walker, the interim superintendent, participated as well.

“We went to various communities – weekends and different hours,” Adames told the two dozen people in attendance. “We gathered information on what people would like to see in a superintendent.”

He told the audience that a timer would not be used to limit questions, and said they could ask questions from their seats.

Most people at the forum voiced opposition to the state’s appointment of Cathy Coyle to oversee some functions of the school district. There was concern that Coyle’s appointment was the state’s method of taking back some of the local district’s control.

“You are a lame duck board,” one member of the community commented. “Cathy Coyle doesn’t like Jersey City. Cathy Coyle is the worst thing that happened. An unofficial takeover has taken place.”

“If Cathy Coyle walks into my classroom, I will show her the door,” a Jersey City public school teacher in the audience remarked.

Walker, the interim superintendent, said that the state could have appointed a person for the position at any time, but only chose to exercise that right now.

“The state intervention to bring someone in now in that area… can work with the interim superintendent toward local control,” he said. “It was their choice to provide resources and support to be in compliance to work with the interim superintendent.”

Several members of the public commented that the two search firms selected to find candidates for the position have close ties to the Broad Superintendents Academy, which trains business executives to run urban school districts, and that the Broad philosophy supported charter schools to the detriment of public education. Lester responded that many Broad candidates understand the nuances of how the process works and added that she was surprised that the search firms had such a high percentage of Broad graduates.

But the chosen search companies, West Hudson Associates and HYA Associates, will be given explicit search criteria that could possibly exclude Broad candidates. Lester added that the purpose of these meetings was to elicit from the public what the selection criteria should be.

Franklin Walker added that he was approached by Broad several years ago to enroll in the superintendents academy. One of the benefits that was offered was that Broad provides assistance in placing superintendents. Walker said that he declined the offer and chose his own path.

Board president Sterling Waterman attended the meeting but did not sit at the panel or participate. Lester announced toward the end of the meeting that Waterman asked her to mention that the search firms will be instructed to advertise a public meeting to discuss the search process.

Photos by Steve Gold