Millburn Education Association (MEA) President Lois Infanger suggested at Monday’s meeting that teachers have had little to no input in the decision-making process for the new policy. Infanger expressed dissatisfaction at the exclusive nature of the process. She pointed out that, at a meeting this past summer concerning the rolling-out of the policy, other members of the administration were involved, but teachers were not. “The teachers have not been fully involved in this process by any stretch of the imagination,” she added. She did point out, however, that teachers met with Acting Superintendent Kathryn Diskin and her team twice over the past month to share their feedback. Nonetheless, one township resident was “shocked” to hear Infanger’s comments, as they were very different from what she and other parents had heard previously.
It’s not just the teachers that have been left out of the decision-making process –- some suggest that the rushed timeline for the new policy has prevented feedback from parents and students as well. A township resident detailed the timeline for the rolling-out of the policy. She pointed out that high school educators were informed of the immediate implementation of new grading guidelines on August 27, 2024, and that students and parents were informed of said implementation on August 28, 2024 (which was days before the first day of school on September 3).
“Have the school administration and the BOE held sufficient public hearings, discussions, forums that include all stakeholders, including but not limited to students, parents, teachers and the community during the decision-making process for these significant changes? The answer is no. The school administration and the BOE have not conducted sufficient public hearings, discussions and forums with all stakeholders,” she said
Dr. Diskin responded, claiming that the policy is a work in progress. “The Board has made the promise that this is something that we are going to be working through in the first marking period. We’re going to get metrics and data to see how well it’s working, and we do value the community and the teachers’ feedback,” she remarked.
Later, some Board members commented that it was more important to roll out the policy than it was to focus on obtaining feedback from the community. According to Board Member Cynthia Longley-Richards, "To suggest that this was rushed or pushed through is ludicrous, when we were elected to make these changes in January. These issues have been going on for years and years. The reason that teachers weren’t really a part of it was because the teachers really aren’t working over the summer.”
Another Board member, Asaf Farashuddin, reported that the Board has in fact already heard enough from the stakeholders. “Insofar as stakeholder input, one would recall that the high school auditorium was filled at the open forum in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. These are the constituents. We have heard from them, and the work has been done.”
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