Lorraine Ash

@LorraineVAsh

PARSIPPANY – The Parsippany-Troy Hills Education Association (PTHEA) confronted Schools Superintendent Scott Rixford Thursday night on an array of issues, including adequate time to meet state mandates, an impervious administrative culture, and acceptable styles of corduroy pants under a new dress code.

The meeting ended with the superintendent announcing initiatives that effectively bypass the PTHEA, some 100 disgruntled teachers filing out, and both sides still at loggerheads.

At the beginning of the evening, the tone was different. A total of 400 teachers in the 740-member union held a spirited half-hour Rally for Sanity. Despite the raw weather and a cold rain, they snaked around the board building, illuminating their way with flashlights, some wrapped in blankets, others clutching Dunkin' Donuts coffee cups.

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One teacher pushed a baby carriage while others held signs that read, "Let teachers teach," "We Care," and "We are a great district. Let's keep it that way."

As they walked along Parsippany Road, many motorists honked their horns in support, causing a collective cheer to rise up from among the teachers each time.

"They are circling the building to let the board of education know how many of them there are, let them see everybody," explained Damaris Delgado, PTHEA chairperson for professional rights and responsibilities as well as the grievance committee.

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"We are united to express that we need sanity back in our classrooms," she added. "We need to be able to do the jobs we were hired to do and dedicate time to our students."

Before going inside the Board of Education building, PTHEA President Joe Kyle thanked and pumped up the teachers assembled.

"I don't want Parsippany to turn into another Paterson!" he said.

Jay Duhl, PTHEA vice president, said the union's beef is with the administration, not the board of education.

A prepared statement issued by the union reads, "We have enjoyed a positive working relationship with the board, which we hope will continue as we make them aware of the deteriorating conditions and morale that the current administration has created."

After taking office July 1, Rixford, who followed Interim Superintendent John Fitzsimons, restructured the administration by appointing two assistant superintendents — Nancy Gigante, who also is chief academic officer, and David Curso, who also is chief finance and operations officer.

What bothers the teachers, according to Kyle, are what the union calls weak policies that take away from teaching as well as the indifferent or hostile tone with which the administration responds to teachers when they raise concerns.

"Things have been building up for three years," Kyle said. "We've been asking for a slowdown. We've gotten some really good things like iPads and Smart Boards. We just want time to be able to figure them out and teach more in the classroom.

"But the new administration, along with the new assistant superintendent of curriculum, just keeps adding on new stuff."

Per an administrative directive, he said, teachers must give quarterly instead of final exams, which means they're writing the extra tests on professional development days. Elementary school teachers, who need better training on a new literacy program, have been told to train during their lunch periods.

Further, all teachers must now develop state-mandated Student Growth Objectives (SGO) for groups of students and then test them at year's end. The test, Kyle said, is a way to evaluate teachers' performance.

"Instead of giving us time to do these things, the administration tells us, 'Do it on your own time,'" Kyle said. "Very few of them have experience in the classroom. We do. We know what's best for the students. What we say, though, is met by condescension and derision. We were told the other day by one of the assistant superintendents, 'If your teachers were more qualified, maybe you wouldn't need all this time.'

"So it's this attitude," he added, "that just really has to stop."

In the board meeting, Kyle and Sarah Wills, PTHEA secretary, read three-minute statements that were a collection of very short statements by a number of teachers. Parent Sandy Giercyk also spoke in defense of the teachers.

Adding to the overall discontent is a new no-jeans dress code that was implemented by the administration, according to Kyle, who said lots of teachers bought corduroy pants since they comply with the code.

"But they've asked some teachers to lift our shirts up to see if our corduroys have a certain pocket design which they're defining as jean pocket design," Kyle said. "We're asking for time to learn technology to teach our kids and they have building principals looking to see if we have a rivet on our pants, which they define as jean rivets.

"I wouldn't be able to make this up," he said. "This is akin to Nero fiddling while Rome burns."

In a 20-minute statement, Rixford referenced that the "high-level and high-profile drama" of the PTHEA are really about setting "a tone for this current negotiation year."

He said he chooses to differentiate between "teachers in the classroom" and the PTHEA leadership. In reference to the union's strategies, the superintendent said he prefers an President Abraham Lincoln quote: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

Any new dress code will requirement some adjustment, Rixford told the crowd, adding that, to date, not a single teacher or other district employee has been formally written up for failing to adhere to the code.

"No directives have been given to any building principal to systematically review their staff for adherence to the dress code, that is, until Oct. 29," Rixford said. "On that day, when this entire board, senior cabinet, and administrators were out of town and attending an important statewide conference, at the explicit direction of the association's leadership, the association ordered a sudden job action that our cabinet believes was designed to challenge the dress code.

"This was a union-initiated plan and was conducted purposely where there would be an absence of key district personnel," he added. "As superintendent, I am required to enforce the board's policies. On this day, I was forced, as a result of the association's leadership challenge, to do just that."

Rixford said he understands all the new stressors that make teaching harder and noted PTHEA literature in which it is written, "We're struggling to teach a curriculum with increasingly high standards."

"Yes, we are. All of us are," the superintendent said. "And yet the Association has to date expended its energy on planning a dress code challenge day and the huge effort of organizing this evening's rally."

According to Rixford, the PTHEA's efforts clearly have not resulted in getting the right help to the right teachers at the right time. So he announced plans for new training opportunities and luncheon labs as well as a new line of communication in the district.

"Going live this Monday morning, a specific district email has been created – teacherhelp@pthsd.k12.nj.us — and it will ensure that every staff member is provided a direct teacher-to-administrator form," Rixford said. "Like our work order system facilities needs have been implemented, this will allow for direct teacher requests for professional development needs."

He promised the board of education he will provide a monthly report of the number of teachers who share their needs and the way his senior cabinet has responded to each of them.

"We find it unfortunate the association has opted for a house divided," Rixford said at the end of his statement. "We remind you that your administration will continue to operate this district as a big tent."

He finished his speech to silence. No one clapped.

Some PTHEA members called Rixford's speech insincere and a manipulation of facts. Kyle said he plans on asking for a full 20 minutes to address the board, too.

Lorraine Ash: 973-428-6660; lash@njpressmedia.com