District criticizes state, feds over NCLB, bullying mandate

School board hears revised-policy proposal.

By: Matt Chiappardi
   HIGHTSTOWN — Officials from the East Windsor Regional School District took an opportunity this week to cement their strong distaste for some policies handed down by state and federal lawmakers.
   Specifically, some members of the board and Superintendent Ron Bolandi directed their frustration at Monday’s board meeting toward the federal No Child Left Behind Act and a revision to the bullying policy mandated by the state that must encompass so-called cyber-bullying during Monday’s board meeting.
   This comes about a week after the district was notified that three of its schools — Hightstown High, Melvin H. Kreps Middle School and Perry L. Drew Elementary School — are on the NCLB "schools in need of improvement" list released by the state Department of Education.
   The High School made the list five years in a row. The DOE compels schools in year-5 status to create a restructuring plan in order to continue to receive Title I federal aid money. Since the High School does not get Title I funding, Mr. Bolandi said last week that this is not an issue.
   "The No Child Left Behind law was designed to hurt the districts with the most diversity," said board member Bruce Ettman.
   "The more categories you have, the more opportunities you have to lose. If you go to an all-white school, or an all-black school, they don’t have the same difficulty," he added.
   New East Windsor Education Association President Ellen Ogintz agreed.
   "Originally, it (NCLB) sounded like a good idea, but in practice it turns out to be punitive," she said after the meeting.
   NCLB evaluates schools based on standardized test scores. Those scores are broken down into the racial designations used by the U.S. Census Bureau and into three other overlapping categories: students with disabilities, students with limited English proficiency, and economically disadvantaged students. If even one category fails, the entire school is put on the SINI list.
   In all three district schools on the list, enough students from the general population passed the test for the schools to be considered adequate. But they landed on the SINI list because not enough Hispanic students, students with disabilities, or students with limited English proficiency passed.
   Mr. Bolandi weighed in on the discussion by saying, "the hidden agenda for the law was to support the voucher system," referring to an oft-proposed school-choice policy that would allow taxpayer money to be used to send students to private schools if their parents so choose.
   Board member Bonnie Fayer said she would like to counteract what she perceives as bad news from the federal evaluation.
   "We should be issuing a good-news report; let the public know where we succeed in all our test scores," she said.
   As for the revised bullying policy, Mr. Bolandi directed his disdain at state lawmakers.
   "I’m amazed that the state has one again legislated what should be legislated at home," he said.
   A law signed by Gov. Jon Corzine earlier this summer mandated revisions to all state districts’ bullying policies to include consequences for any harassment, bullying or intimidation that takes place by electronic means, whether or not it originates from district-owned equipment.
   "We’ll now be responsible for people’s home computers," Mr. Bolandi said.
   "How do I know if an e-mail is real (or forged)? I don’t have that technology. We don’t have time in a school’s shortened day for this," he added.
   Ms. Ogintz offered her opinion after the meeting, saying, "I’m worried about how we can enforce this. It’s intrusive."
   She added that she wouldn’t want to see a district getting involved with searching a private computer used for cyber-bullying.
   "I don’t want to see what’s on someone’s computer, and I don’t want them seeing what’s on my computer,’ Ms. Ogintz added.
   DOE spokesman Rich Vespucci said Tuesday that the types of concerns expressed by East Windsor Regional officials "would be best addressed by the school district working with local law enforcement."
   State DOE officials have defended the mandated policy revision by explaining that it is not a brand new policy, but a policy clarification.
   Gary Vermeire, DOE coordinator for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Unit, explained last week that school districts currently have the authority to discipline a student for any harassing behavior that takes place off school property, so long as there is an association with school activity.
   "The new policy model makes it clear that we are also talking about electronic communication with this," he said at the time.
   The board heard the district’s revised policy Monday, which incorporates the suggested clarifications from the state. It must adopt either it or another one that complies with the new regulation within 90 days, according to the state law.
   If the board fails to do so, the DOE’s statewide policy model automatically becomes district policy.