School Board Member Says Governor Should 'Leave Us Alone' on Education Reforms

The Ridgewood Board of Education won't be outright endorsing Governor Christie's  appeal for support on education reforms, but that doesn't mean it has nothing to say – "Leave us alone" is the message one board member had for the hard-charging governor on Monday night.

"We see your vision as primarily being most helpful to those schools that are failing," said member Charlie Reilly. "We are not those failing schools. We are performing very well. To that extent, primarily we would say to you: 'Leave us alone.'"

Though Reilly said he agreed the porous state of some schools was a "major issue," he advocated for fewer state mandates in high-performing districts.

"Until you as a state deal with the schools that are failing . . . after you've done that, come back to us and see what you can do for us. Until then if you could lessen up any restrictions on us, we'd appreciate it."

Reilly further asked why issues like tenure and teacher evaluation have to be decided by a state mandate.

"Why can't a district that's performed well decide those things on its own? The more ability you give us for us to decide those things, the better off [we'd be]," Reilly said.

Longtime school board member Sheila Brogan said that while there were some aspects of the reforms she agreed with, others were murky and lacked enough supporting data to warrant her full endorsement.

"You need information to see what this is really going to look like," Brogan said.

Supertindent of Schools Dr. Daniel Fishbein, when prompted by Board President Michele Lenhard, said he had not heard of any prospective responses from colleagues but reported that five calls were made to the state to learn more information. Each attempt hit voicemail, he said.

Lenhard remarked that governors haven't asked for endorsements in the past, so a response is appropriate even if it's a letter noting certain objections.

The board members will be putting together their individual thoughts and Lenhard will draft a letter with board approval.