Board Member Blasts SEL Curriculum Goal For Long Valley Schools  

LONG VALLEY, NJ — The purpose of the social-emotional learning curriculum (SEL) within the district was the subject of a contentious discussion during the June 20 Board of Education meeting as the board discussed the district's future goals.

Charlene Peterson of the New Jersey School Boards Association led the board in an open discussion about the upcoming and continuing goals of the school district.

The point of the goals is to help move the district forward by creating initiatives that the superintendent then evaluates at the end of the year, Peterson said.

The implementation of the SEL curriculum was one of the main goals of the school district this year, but the board had no intention of rolling it over into next year.

According to Superintendent Peter Turnamian, the district aims to continue work on the SEL program but no longer envisions it as a stand-alone goal.

Last summer, the district spent months reassessing its approach to SEL for the current school year in hopes of improving the program for the students.

In September 2022, Long Valley Middle School Principal Mark Ippolito gave a presentation on the benefits of SEL in middle school. He claimed that COVID-19's aftermath and virtual learning have been major factors in the need for SEL.

Turnamian said that he plans to keep the board informed on the developments of SEL in the district's action plan.

Following those remarks, board member John Holly questioned the SEL program's success metric, asking how the board was supposed to determine whether or not the program was accomplishing its stated objectives.

In response, board member Rob Waskis said that while they currently do not have the metrics, there would be a way to measure its success by looking at certain data points that tie into student behavior.

"We could look at things like chronic absenteeism, participation in co-curriculars, we could look at the number of HIB's and we could look at referrals. There is quite a number of things we could look at," Waskis said.

Peterson also added that the action plan, which has the SEL goal, would have already had an outlined objectives column that the board would have agreed upon as an "indicator of success."

Holly then asked if the goal of SEL was to reduce the number of HIB violations in the school district, to which the board replied that the curriculum is intended to do a variety of things within the schools.

"There are three separate programs and each program hits on a different thing," board member Jessica DeCicco said.

When Holly pressed the board on the purpose of the SEL curriculum, stating that he is opposed to its continuation in the district, DeCicco replied, "We're giving you an answer, and you're not liking the answer because of your own bias."

"There is no bias here. I just still don't understand. If you have a math curriculum and you look at the fifth-grade kids, there is a way to measure that. So, how are we measuring the success of social and emotional learning? It's a simple question. My question is not biased whatsoever," Holly said.

In response, Waskis asserted that they had already explained what the purpose of the curriculum was earlier in the evening. "I'm sorry you didn't like the answer, John, but it's not going to change."

Board President Jill Mucerino then asked if Holly wanted to make measuring the success of SEL a goal for the upcoming year and further stated that the measure of success, in her opinion, was subjective.

"I'm not sure if there is a specific benchmark, like a grade point, that could be assigned. I think it's overall just the betterment of the overall student environment," Mucerino said.

Holly then suggested that the district begin assessing HIB incidents as a way to measure success, to which Waskis retorted that he had previously mentioned the same idea and Holly shot it down.

After more back and forth between the board members, Holly proposed that the SEL program be eliminated entirely, which board member Carmine Capogrosso strongly opposed.

"When you have 25 kids in a classroom, you do not know what is inside their heads. You need programs in place to counteract those incidents," Capogrosso said.

DeCicco also mentioned a specific SEL class that teaches children how to manage their emotions and impulsivity, which has proven beneficial for students with attention issues like ADHD.

Holly then argued that while he recognizes that some kids may need the extra help, the SEL program "isn't going to give it to them."

"Can we move on from debating the merits of SEL? We are supposed to be setting district goals. That's not what you're doing. You have an axe to grind; we've got it. We understand you don't like SEL. We are setting district goals for next year, and SEL is not one of the proposed goals. Can you stop banging this drum?" Waskis said.

Mucerino agreed, saying that she did not think it was constructive to continue the discussion online or during the meeting.