What is that image below? It’s a Facebook post from Carritta Cook, the President of the Asbury Park Board of Education. As such, it’s not so surprising that an elected official whose role, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association, is to inspire empathy, lead by example, and “keep their cool in hot situations,” leads this particular Board. One could even argue that Cook has violated the Asbury Park social networking policy, which specifies that district staff and representatives who use social media ‘are held to a higher standard than the general public with regard to standards of conduct and ethics.” And we haven’t even gotten to the meat of last night’s school board meeting.

On to the meeting.

To understand the agenda, you need to know about the Asbury Park High School football fiasco. Earlier this month the new principal of the high school, Bridget O’Neill, had to cancel the first football game of the season because only eight team members of the Blue Bishops met state eligibility requirements, which include passing courses and showing up for classes. Yet a week later a miracle occurred: suddently 18 players were eligible.

How did that happen?

Adams said the ineligibility of 10 players was just a “breakdown in communications.” Actually, teachers changed grades to raise athletes’ GPA’s. 

Yet a price must be paid. Hence, the primary sacrificial lamb listed on last night’s agenda:

Mark Gerbino, Director of Athletics will be reassigned as Administrator on Special Assignment effective September 23, 2022.

Gerbino and Adams have a long-standing feud because 1) the majority of the staff voted for Gerbino to get the superintendent slot and Adams came in last; 2) Adams overturned Gerbino’s recommendation for head basketball coach for murky reasons described here.

Gerbino’s administrative secretary, Yvose Damour, was reassigned to the Central Office. It’s an Athletic Department purge!

In addition, I’ve been told the secretary for the high school Guidance Department, Tyshell Belemy, was suspended with pay. She is the staff member who was told to make the grade changes for students who were ineligible for football. Changing their grades, with teacher approval, made them eligible, enabling the Blue Bishops to use 18 players and not have to forfeit games.

Also on the agenda:

Resignation
Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, that the Board approves the resignation of the following
employees:

a. Janice Kroposky, Supervisor of C & I, effective October 31, 2022. (PCR# 1710-500-010-00001)
b. Sharlene Pinto, Supervisor of C & I, effective October 31, 2022. (PCR# 1710-010-010-00001)

Asbury Park staff are dropping like flies.  Kroposky is a member of what Asbury Park/Department of Education/Kean University staff members call the “Repollet Tree.” Just last month she was spearheading a $78,280 program for English Language Learners and, of course, she was an invited guest on the taxpayer-funded trip to Ghana to enstool Lamont Repollet, former Asbury Park superintendent/Education Commissioner and current president of Kean University, as a Ghanian king.

Sharlene Pinto was singled out in a letter sent by former and current Asbury Park staff members who were disconcerted because Pinto was evaluating their performance using the Danielson rubric even though she told them she had no training in that method. (Her previous job was in special education and, upon her hiring this past June, hadn’t supervised anyone, according to other teachers. She’s leaving to lead the special education department at Cliffside Park School District.)

On the bright side, Asbury Park is down to only one Director of Curriculum & Instruction instead of five [correction: a source says there are currently four] unless Adams goes on another hiring spree. The lone survivor is Edwin Ruiz, and he’s not going anywhere: an acolyte of Repollet dating back to Carteret High School, Asbury Park put itself through contortions in April 2021 to save his job. Sources tell me that upon his appointment he had no background in curriculum and instruction.

What about the 1,700 kids left in this shrinking district? According to the most recent data,  51% of students were chronically absent, 91% of high school students failed the most recent state Algebra test, and 84% of 4th-graders failed the reading test.

That’s what you get for (according to new calculations) $41,079 per student per year.