Jersey City Public Schools is known for dysfunctional school boards but last week’s public meeting was one for the books. How crazy did it get? At one point, as board members tried to oust both the president and vice-president, Then the favorite for new veep announced that, in the the absence of legal counsel, “they would be using ChatGPT if a legal issue arose.”

Here are the highlights, dutifully recorded by Hudson County View:

• Board members discussed President Natalia Ioffe’s filing of an ethics complaint against member Dejon Morris, who acknowledged, in deference to the district’s priority of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), he had allegedly met privately with a “diverse” legal firm just before the board was to vote on who would serve as legal counsel.

Jersey City Education Association president Ron Greco chimed in, ”if you go out do dinner and you’re bragging about that the board got a hotel at Borgata and these people are buying you dinner, well it raises a red flag.”

Morris, a city police detective who was put on a 90-day suspension for failing to record a video of a stabbing, didn’t dispute the dinner, saying the board should hire a diverse law firm because the district was so diverse. Referring to the former status of the district when it was under state takeover starting in 1989, he said, “anyway, get in the room and pick a law firm without screaming and yelling in public because you look like fools. You don’t want to invite the state back here and you’ll have no one to thank but yourselves, good night.”

• Then board member Younass Barkouch moved to remove Noemi Velazquez as vice president. President Ioffee replied that this motion violated Roberts Rules of Order, the handbook boards often use for following proper governance procedures. Barkouch replied that the board’s annual reorganization meeting, where they choose officers, had been done incorrectly. Ioffee said she would allow the board to vote but it was a decision that wouldn’t hold up. The crowd started yelling and Ioffee called for a recess. The board secretary left and board members wondered whether any vote would be legal anyway.

• Then the board voted to appoint Morris as president and Barkouch as both vice president and board secretary. The board also voted to appoint the law firm Morris had met with in Atlantic City.

On the district’s website, Ioffee and Velazquez are still listed as board president and vice president.

In response to the board’s disarray,  Ward E Councilman James Solomon said,

“Last night’s #JCBOE meeting was a disgrace. As a JCPS parent, I am angry and embarrassed. *All* involved need to look in the mirror – if they keep behaving like this, they risk losing the control of the district the state recently gave us back.”

Former NJ governor and candidate for Jersey City mayor Jim McGreevey said,

“Last night’s sad and tragic devolution points to a culture of unaccountability, irresponsibility, and a basic lack of concern for our children, their education, and our teaching professionals and staff, who work tirelessly and diligently every day on their behalf.”

This is not the first time the Jersey City school board has faced challenges. In 2020, Jersey City Board of Education president Sudhan Thomas was indicted on charges of wire fraud for embezzling money from his 2019 campaign; and bank fraud for stealing checks issued by and to another school board candidate’s campaign in 2018. He eventually pleaded guilty. In 2019 a former Jersey City school board member told me, “what’s clear is that the Board is operating in a semi-lawless manner and they would prefer for an insular group of six board members to choose my replacement themselves rather than allow the democratic process to proceed as it should for the people of Jersey City.” When the state took over the district, it was because the school board was  ”hopelessly divided among warring factions and self-interested cliques.”

Some things never change.

Note: This story originally identified Dejon Morris’s profession incorrectly. He is a Jersey City police detective.