Submitted by Jennifer Andrews
Watching the latest Board of Education meeting on June 11 had me wondering aloud, has it been a BOE problem all along? Maybe the BET wasn’t ALL to blame?
The biggest take away for me was that the BOE and superintendent Dr. Toni Jones do not listen to teacher/student feedback, full stop. Karen Hirsh seems to be the only one really caring and paying attention to teacher feedback. The President of the GEA gave a moving statement using their recent survey, which showed awful morale and job satisfaction, to back up her claims of teachers not being heard by the BOE, and seemingly not willing to listen. Dr. Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony solidified this sentiment perfectly by basically replying using the words of Ariana Grande, “Next, and….”
Later in the night he stated they take the results seriously, and have included staff satisfaction in next year’s Board goals. A milktoast response at best for such a serious issue.
Next up, the PTAC President also referenced the survey, stating they are deeply disturbed by this. She also addressed the cell phone bell to bell ban on the agenda, stating that there isn’t broad support for this on the teachers/parents/students end, and the pocket system we are using now works very well.
Toni Jones later presented her slide show and studies that show cell phones can be a detriment in the classroom. Since when does the BOE/Administration suddenly care about studies? A great deal of money and time was spent on the School Start Time Study, that moved the high school start time an hour later to benefit the student’s mental health. You can read all about it here:
https://www.greenwichschools.
The vote to ban phones bell to bell, including passing time and lunch, was 5-3.
The BOE has yet to address community dissatisfaction with the buses; the parking issues, bus lateness etc. They implemented a tracking App for the last couple of months of the year, but none of the parent’s students are recognized by the system. They have not gone to the BET to ask for more money if needed to resolve any of these issues, even though we now have a more willing to listen and reasonable BET. One has to beg the question why?
The meeting ended with an extremely awkward discussion about Dr. Toni Jones’ contract. The vote to extend her contract for the 2028/2029 school year failed with a tie vote. This was justified by some wanting to implement a better evaluation process.
If any of these things are important to you, please let the BOE know by emailing them at BoardofEdMembers@greenwich.
Jennifer Andrews, D6 RTM Member, all views are my own and not a reflection of the district.