Westwood Police Chief Runs For School Board Amid Book Kerfuffle

Westwood Police Chief Michael Pontillo. | File photo

WESTWOOD, N.J.—Police Chief Michael Pontillo and another recent Westwood Regional School Board critic are running for a seat on the board.

The Bergen County Clerk’s office confirmed Pontillo and fellow Westwoodian Michelle Sembler, an electrical contractor vice president and a former teacher, are challenging Roberta Hanlon, who is an independent banking professional as well as a local crossing guard and former Westwood councilwoman.

Hanlon is chair of the board’s committees on finance and facilities and negotiations.

Board Vice President Joseph Blundo of Westwood did not file for reelection, according to the Bergen County Clerk’s Office.

Making a bid for a school board seat representing the Township of Washington is resident Matthew Perrapato, principal of Roosevelt Elementary School in the Ridgefield Park School District, who said he’s eager to help the administration build on successes.

Washington Township school board incumbent Joseph McCallister also is not listed as running for reelection Nov. 5. 

Whoever wins will sign on for a three-year term.

Pontillo, 44, a father of three, was sworn in April 2018 as the borough’s youngest police chief after he rose from sergeant to replace veteran chief Frank Regino.

Pontillo recently criticized as insufficient the school administration and board’s stance on partnering with the borough to improve traffic flow in the neighborhood of Berkeley Elementary School—a view the administration counters politely. [See “Residents Urge Council Give Up One-Way Streets Plan,” July 29, Page 1.]

Pascack Press is not aware of any sitting police chief serving on an area board of education. Retired Emerson Police Chief Donald Rossi served on his school board as a police officer before his final promotion.

In the Westwood Regional School District, police officers from Westwood and the Township of Washington regularly engage  in daily traffic control at the high school, conduct periodic building walkthroughs, participate in school security drills, and are reintroduced in the elementary and middle school classrooms via the LEAD program. 

Rejects school board’s plan on contested middle school books

These three books with mature themes and language have the potential to do irrevocable harm and should be pulled from school, a group of Westwood Regional Middle School parents have argued.

On his own time Pontillo has been fighting alongside Sembler—herself a mother of three—and a handful of other district parents in trying to get three gritty young adult novels removed from the middle school, saying they’re inappropriate for the age group.

The parents had said they should get permission slips sent home when a child requests mature or sensitive materials.

The parents also allege that the school’s response to formal complaints is marked by a conflict of interest in that key personnel involved in inviting author Todd Strasser to meet students, and then bringing the books to the classroom, also served on the advisory committee that “cleared” them.

The school board agreed July 25 that the books are part of a vetted range of materials that overall are suitable for the age group, that the contested books should stay, and that parents should get more information about all the books kids have at hand via the Genesis Parent Access portal.

Further, Superintendent Raymond A. Gonzalez named five of the six members of the administration’s ad-hoc advisory board empaneled after parents complained.

The challenged books are “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher, and “Boot Camp” and Can’t Get There From Here” by Strasser.

“Boot Camp” (2006) is about a boy who is subjected to physical and psychological abuse when his parents send him to a boot camp. “Publishers Weekly” says “Strasser offers no easy answers, and nimbly navigates a host of moral gray areas.”

“Can’t Get There From Here” (2004) is reviewed as a powerful and disturbing look at teen homelessness, complete with abuse, abandonment, cold, hunger, and constant danger.

“Thirteen Reasons Why” (2007) is the story of a young high school student as she descends into despair brought on by betrayal and bullying, culminating with her suicide.

The book spawned a Netflix series (not being shown in the middle school) known for its graphic treatment of suicide and its aftermath. In July, two years after the show’s debut, Netflix removed a controversial, explicit scene depicting that suicide.

Pontillo, Sembler, and others said there was no way for the school to know which students were too immature—or too vulnerable—to tackle the books, whose spines are set off with black tape to indicate mature content.

Pontillo suggested to Pascack Press that the black tape would add appeal and draw in kids who nevertheless aren’t ready for the content.

All parents who complained and who Pascack Press spoke to said the issue is not about book banning or censorship.

Parent Virginia Carey, whose family is rising into the middle school, spoke at the July 25 school board meeting, saying in part, “I would like to see the books removed because you don’t have parental consent and you don’t have specific educational reasons for these titles being in the school.”

She added, “I get that we can’t sugarcoat life for these kids, but we don’t need to expose them to things that speed the process.”

The parents have been speaking on the issue since spring, asserting that the titles collectively “glorify” suicide, prostitution, sexual assault, and other violence and fail to provide opposing views.

With the board hearing them out but ultimately backing the administration in keeping the books—Strasser’s books stay put; the Asher title will be available only at the media center—Pontillo and Sembler separately said they were considering appealing to the state education commission.

Asked if his run was tied to the book issue, Pontillo said he was running for a variety of reasons that he would explain when making his official announcement.

Sembler told Pascack Press, “I was stunned that several of the board members were willing to accept the committee report as is. Thankfully, there were some that believed it wasn’t sufficient. I’m hoping they can all come together on this issue soon and focus on what’s best for the students.”

AShe added, “With all the information provided to the board over the last few months and dialogue with other district parents, I was expecting a better outcome sooner. … The whole thing lacks transparency, is irresponsible, and promotes an improper culture in the school.”

Parents should expect outreach

Meanwhile, the administration said it would connect with families at the start of the school year on its plan, which calls for integrating classroom libraries into the school library database, which will show families titles, descriptions, reading levels, and flags for mature content. Hanlon put in at the July 25 meeting that the administration’s plan was sound.

“Having a list such as this is a great tool for the parents. With all due respect to working parents, nonworking parents, it’s their child and our children. It’s all our children.”

She said, “It’s a great addition to the district … Now [parents and guardians] have an additional tool, which is great.”

Gonzalez told Pascack Press on July 31 that the district was working with its library database vendor to have work completed by the end of the first marking period.

He added that he would remind parents of their ability to notify the school when they do not want their child to read particular books and would clarify the district’s approach to middle school literacy, including reading and writing workshops.

He said this includes promoting student choice, matching students to their “just right books” using a leveling system, and otherwise working with teachers to maximize student learning.

Asked about the school’s book clubs, which draw on titles not necessarily tied to curriculum, he said a book club promotes student engagement through peer discussion. 

“While students lead the discussion, teachers remain a vital part of the experience by supervising and helping students learn to share ideas and listen to others in order to grow ideas,” he said. 

Gonzalez said that after the middle school titles are added work would begin on folding in classroom libraries at the elementary and high school level.

He said in part at the meeting, “Not that I anticipate a [large] number of book clubs on subjects on sensitive themes.” 

He extolled independent reading experiences in the classroom and said he was committed to having students engage in literature together. 

“Gone are the days when we’re all reading the same book and now [the teacher says] ‘turn the page.’ We want to create personalized experiences,” he said.

Gonzalez said that should a family opt out of a student reading and discussing a book the others in the group were taking up he would generally defer to the teacher on student accommodations.

“Not to go color a ditto but to find a comparable experience to enjoy,” he said.

Library director says contested books are thought-provoking

According to Gonzalez, members of the administration advisory committee, secret until July 25, were Middle School Principal Shelley LaForgia; English teacher and now Middle School Assistant Principal Barry Albert; School Board Township of Washington representative Darlene Mandeville, who leads the board’s committee on curriculum and programs; former Middle School Assistant Principal Ken Russo, who supervised the Middle School Language Arts Department; Westwood Public Library Director Martha Urbiel; and a “teaching staff member” who asked Gonzalez not to reveal his or her identity. 

Asked her view, Urbiel told Pascack Press she accepted the invitation to give her reaction to the books as they might or might not conform to the district’s policies, which were forwarded to her by LaForgia.

Urbiel said she read the three contested books and attended one committee meeting at the school. She said she found the titles appropriate within a range of materials available to varied student reading levels, interests, and maturity.

“I thought they were thought-provoking. I thought they would lead to discussion and I thought that was part of what they [at the school] were trying to do,” she said. 

“If you pick material that’s going to generate discussion, that’s going to be reasonable to a certain age group, it can’t be too easy and can’t be too hard; it’s got to be the right level, and also it can’t be too benign,” she added.

She said she was not asked to weigh in on policy. The group, she said, simply discussed the books with an eye to how they met the district’s stated standards. 

When Pascack Press asked Urbiel to speak to concerns that the books do not present opposing views on social issues, she said she understood district policy to mean that students should have access to a wide variety of views within the overall media collection. She said that was the case in the middle school.

“That’s true in our library too. If you have material on WWII you try to have lots of different books on WWII, not just one side. So when I look at that … the collection should have mixed opposing views on whatever they’re discussing, whatever the social issue is,” she said.

Urbiel explained, “I read a lot. Obviously, I try to read a lot, and I was very familiar with Todd Strasser. He’s just a longtime well known writer.

Scholastic says Strasser, who has written 140 novels or novelizations including “Free Willy,” “Jumanji,” and “Home Alone 2,” “writes his books largely out of his own experience or remembered feeling, and always with his readers in mind.”

Board wasn’t sure how to proceed

The school board referred several times to legal counsel it had received, and said it was advised offering an opt-in option was problematic.

The board voted on the issue intending to uphold the recommendations, then bogged down over what it had actually voted for, based on guidance they had reviewed in closed session. 

The board recessed and tried to reach counsel, then resumed with no additional guidance. Any ratifying vote, if necessary, was tabled.