BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
TENAFLY, N.J.—Here’s a primer on the Tuesday, Jan. 29, 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. “Coffee and Conversation with the Superintendent” meeting, where Tenafly Public Schools Superintendent Shauna DeMarco will host a roundtable discussion on school-related topics and issues.
Anticipated topics such as 2019 district initiatives, a draft school budget, and a recent decision not to recommend the hiring of armed officers—known as special law enforcement officers—in the district’s six local schools, are likely to surface.
Coffee and light refreshments will be served.
This is the second public “coffee and conversation” event DeMarco has hosted since she was hired in July 2018, replacing acting Superintendent Barbara Laudicina, who retired in late September. Laudicina replaced interim Superintendent Geoffrey Gordon, of Haworth, who offered his resignation in February 2018.
After a long, detailed and at times divisive Dec. 10, 2018, school board meeting where DeMarco recommended hiring special law enforcement officers for each of Tenafly’s six schools, most of the 17 residents who spoke that night opposed hiring armed officers in schools, citing studies showing potential harm from guns in schools and emphasizing the minuscule chance for a local mass-shooting event.
At the Jan. 7 school board meeting, DeMarco said she would not recommend hiring six officers, noting the “the timing is very important…It is never my intent to try to change people’s beliefs and core values. The last thing I would want was to have a super-close board vote for people [officers] being hired into positions that are then super-controversial,” she noted.
On a related matter, the Tenafly Police Department is currently considering candidates to replace former School Resource Officer (SRO) William Barnes, whose recent promotion to sergeant leaves the position temporarily unfilled.
Tenafly’s SRO patrols the high school and middle school.
About the event
WHO: Schools Superintendent Shauna DeMarco.
WHAT: “Coffee and Conversation with the Superintendent,” an informal roundtable discussion for parents and residents to discuss school issues directly with the superintendent.
WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 29, 9-10:30 a.m.
WHERE: Tenafly Public School Offices, 500 Tenafly Road, Tenafly.
WHY: DeMarco began an ongoing series of informal breakfast gatherings with the first one held Oct. 2, 2018. The goal was to offer parents a chance to raise issues of concern and hear from parents on pressing and important school-related topics.
BACKGROUND: These informal roundtable “coffees” offer DeMarco a chance to elaborate on local public schools’ curriculum, teaching, programs and her views and educational philosophy. At the first session, she addressed her views on armed law enforcement officers in schools following the 2018 board decision in May not to hire such officers.
The school board in May decided not to budget for new armed officers in schools despite an acting superintendent recommendation that such officers were a “viable solution” to Tenafly’s school security challenges.
Much of the debate about hiring armed officers followed the February 2018 massacre of 17 people, including 14 students, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. One student killed was a former Woodcliff Lake teenager, Alyssa Alhadeff, who had relocated to Florida.
Approximately 40 Tenafly parents joined DeMarco Oct. 2 to discuss diverse topics including school security, the value and role of armed officers in schools, student drinking, perceived racism, requests for more parental involvement, and a lack of sports teams at the middle school.
Other topics included testing, teacher evaluations, grading, homework, awareness of student food allergies, alleged binge drinking at the high school, what to do about cyber-bullying, and how to raise a complaint at the school and district level.
On Dec. 10, DeMarco laid out a host of 2019 initiatives in a PowerPoint presentation, “Weaving Social and Emotional Wellness into the Fabric of Safe Schools: A Vision for Tenafly Public Schools,” which is available online.
She listed three 2019 objectives for the 3,681 students in Tenafly schools, including offering instruction in social and emotional wellness at all levels; to actively engage educators, parents and community members to teach responsible, productive citizenship; and to offer supportive and safe school climates in all schools.
DeMarco said at the first “coffee” meeting that “parents serve as the role models, the lifelong educators” of their children. “In the way that [kids] watch a parent or another parent handle a situation, that can speak volumes beyond what it is we’re saying should be done or ought to be done or how the situation should be handled,” said DeMarco.
DeMarco was unanimously approved by the school board June 11 for a three-year contract, following a four-month superintendent search.
DeMarco’s contract runs July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2021, and starts at an annual salary of $196,584.