Asbury Park Public Schools leads almost all New Jersey school districts in the relative amount of resources it takes in, boasting more administrators per student than any other similar district and spending $37,192 per student per year. The results for students belie that rich diet: According to the New Jersey Education Department database, 7% of third grade students are proficient in reading and 10% are proficient in math; among eighth-graders, 6.6% are proficient in reading and 1.3% are proficient in math.

Adequate school funding, as someone once said, is necessary but not sufficient for an effective education. Nowhere is that wisdom more apparent than in Asbury Park.

Fifteen months ago the school board, with encouragement from the local teachers union, put Superintendent Rashawn Adams on administrative leave and replaced him with long-time principal Mark Gerbino. One of Gerbino’s mandates was to trim administrative obesity (there were six “Supervisors of Curriculum and Instruction” for about 1,400 students) but, according to board minutes he’s simply replaced former administrators with others under similar titles, sometimes at higher salaries. Said one staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, “Gerbino promised to do everything differently but it’s more of the same. We need more competent teachers, not more supervisors. It should be all hands on deck! Our kids can’t read and write!”

A group of insiders has been keeping a running tally of administrative changes, which show little thinning of the top-heavy organization chart or, for that matter, in payroll because some of the new hires are making more than staff they replaced. In addition, the district has hired several outside consultants to augment services previously provided by regular staff members.

Example:

• At the April 24 school board meeting, members approved a Reduction in Force (RIF or lay-offs) of 18 staff members and abolished three administrative positions: the Central Registrar and Communications Coordinator (a position that doesn’t exist in most districts); the Director of Human Resources; and the Director of Special Services. In addition, three administrators resigned: the high school principal, the business administrator, and the “Confidential Data and Communications Systems Manager.” 

• At the June 2024 meeting the board approved a new Director of Operations, a new Athletic Coordinator, a new middle school principal, a new Data & Communications Manager, a new Supervisor of Early Childhood, and two new Supervisors of Curriculum and Instruction. The board also approved two new “job creations”: a Teaching Math/Science Supervisor and a Human Resources Manager (different, for some reason, than a Director of Human Resources).

Result? After all that the district is employing just as many administrators as before. Same bulk at a higher price.

Reportedly some of these new administrators are inexperienced. Therefore the district has contracted with outside consultants to get them up to speed. From the July 25th school board agenda:

“Upon the recommendation of the Acting Superintendent, the Board approves the amended MOU between the Asbury Park School District and Bobby Ashley Consulting Services. Bobby Ashley Consulting Services will provide 15 days of Leadership Development to Principals from July through September 2024. Total estimated cost not to exceed $37,500 Account: 20-488-200-300-074-20”

(Note: Staff members say the total contracted to Bobby Ashley is $73,000.)

From the September agenda:

“Upon the recommendation of the Acting Superintendent, the Board approves the amended resolution and agreement between Asbury Park Board of Education and CJMarano Consulting, LLC to reflect the corrected date of services, total cost and accounts. CJ Marano Consulting, LLC will provide services at a rate of $750 per day for up to three days per week beginning July 1, 2024 through September 30, 2024. Total Cost not to exceed: $32,000.00 Account: 11-000-219- 320-072-41; 20-488-200-300-074-20 (Attachment C.8)”

(Note: C.J. Marano was Asbury Park’s former Director of Student Services who then followed former Superintendent Lamont Repollet to the state Education Department when he was appointed Commissioner by Gov. Phil Murphy. Her current total this year from the Asbury Park school board is $60,000. In an article in the Coaster, Gerbino said “the district has already saved costs by slimming in-district special education administration by ending the position of Director of Special Services, incorporating those duties into the existing Supervisor of Special Services position as of this summer.” Note that the entire K-12 enrollment of the district is the size of a typical high school, hardly requiring both a special education director and a special education supervisor. )

Asbury Park is currently on the hook for paying out the remainder of the former superintendent’s contract as well as Gerbino’s current salary of $209,000 a year. But it is treating staff and administrators to “somatic snacks for reset”: 

 “Upon the recommendation of the Acting Superintendent, the Board approves an agreement between Bloom Body Mind and The Asbury Park Board of Education to district employees and administrators’ somatic movement education. Bloom Body Mind will provide sixteen hours for the month of September including drop in one-on-one consultation, small group sessions, scheduled somatic snacks for reset, online and recorded resources and individual cohort coaching sessions four hours, four Fridays for the month of September 2024. Total cost not to exceed $20,000. Account: 20-491-200-300-074-20“

Where is the State Department of Education on the poor outcomes for Asbury Park students, as well as the district’s fiscal morass? It has appointed a State Fiscal Monitor, who regularly overrules the school board but has not managed to curb excess. (“He’s a nice guy,” said one community member, “but he doesn’t do anything.”)

Meanwhile, former Superintendent Adams and four former administrators are suing the district, all alleging, in Asbury’s latest iteration of the 64 Floor, “their contracts were not renewed after they exposed a system where student records were falsified, attendance rates forged and high school diplomas given to teenagers who did not meet requirements.”

Asbury Park remains Asbury Park.