Two Asbury Park school board members, Barbara Lesinski and Jesse Ricks, have publicly asked for aid from Senator Vin Gopal and Assemblywomen Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul “to step outside the shroud of politics and think about our children.”

According to the Asbury Coaster (no link available), the two members say they have been “blacklisted” by the seven other board members who are determined to get rid of Superintendent Rashawn Adams, who is currently on administrative leave. He has been replaced, at least temporarily, by Acting Superintendent Mark Gerbino, with whom Adams had a long-running feud.

The president of the Asbury Park Education Association, John Napolitani, responded, “I find it ironic that Lesinski is making an accusation against her colleagues, yet it was fine for her to waltz into Central Office anytime [under Adams] and make decisions.”

The president of the Asbury Park Board of Education, Kenneth Saunders, said,

“We are a diverse group of individuals and at least seven of us are proud to have come together as a Board It is budget season and we are laser-focused on a) creating a budget that meets our students’ critical needs and b) advocating to Governor Murphy, the Department of Education, and our state legislators against the massive state state funding cuts that have been brought to bear on the backs of Asbury Park residents. The children and residents of Asbury Park should expect nothing less from their elected school board officials.”

Lesinski and Ricks responded that students are “collateral damage in a vindictive conspiracy to settle a personal score that has nothing to do with kids.”

Currently 3.8% of Asbury Park third-graders can read at grade level and only 1% of Asbury’s sixth-graders are proficient in math. Districtwide, proficiency levels in Asbury Park compared to the rest of the state rank 436th out of 436 in language arts and 425th out of 425 in mathematics

In other Asbury news, tonight is the monthly public board meeting. Last night all staff members received the following email from Napolitani, which references “Rice” notices, a warning of pending lay-offs.

Good Evening,

As most of you are aware, the Board agenda was released today and much to my chagrin, there were a multitude of staff positions being cut. This is extremely disheartening to see as most of the staff being cut are friends of this Executive team. This becomes personal for all of us because we know the importance of every position being lost tomorrow evening.

Therefore, I am urging all staff to attend the board meeting tomorrow evening to fight for our colleagues. We are losing extremely valuable positions that are essential to the wellbeing of the students we educate. It is imperative that you try to attend to let the Board of Education know that these cuts need to be reconsidered for the sake of the student’s need for these additional services.

Our team has been on a multiple of calls with Senator Gopal and Assemblywomen Donlon and Peterpaul to lobby for more funding. These calls and meetings will continue until the State of New Jersey passes the budget. It is also important for other staff to contact our legislators as well to tell our story.

In closing, our school district has been through this many times over the years. I am cautiously optimistic that we will be able to regain some of the positions lost in the RIF. I assure you that we will continue to fight for all our positions just as we have done in the past and will continue in the future.

In Solidarity,

John P. Napolitani Sr.
APEA President