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Laura Correnti

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  1. Monday, June 16, 2008 Good Evening: This is an open letter to the elected members of the Board of Education and the voting residents of Kearny, NJ, and may I add emphasis to the very words elected members and voting residents. Tonight a decision was made regarding a woman that is not only my mother, but a woman who has given the voting residents of this town and their children 30 years of unblemished, dedicated and selfless service. Barbara Correnti began her career with the intention of guiding and teaching those from her hometown and has never looked back. For 30 years she has taught students skills in home economics and child development classes that they will utilize for a lifetime. She then moved on to the guidance office where she scheduled classes for hundreds of students and guided as many more down career paths that they will be forever grateful for--some of these very students are children of current board members. Currently, she is presiding as Department Chairperson of the Reading Department with the immense responsibility of ensuring that the entire student body is tested in accordance with state policy to meet graduation requirements. Her career has hardly been thankless, in fact if you could stack the Christmas gifts, event invitations and "thinking of you" notes she has received from current and former students alike, it would rise far higher than the 1800 HSPA materials sitting on my dining room table. Barbara Correnti gave up many nights of her life and my childhood to attend night classes at Montclair State University after a full day of teaching to pursue her dream: to become Director of Student Personnel Services in a building that has become her second home. I could never understand why someone would want to dedicate their entire life to the same town in the same building with the same people, yet I never questioned her dedication because it speaks for itself. See not only is my mother on the payroll to perform her contracted job description, but she has volunteered for various parent associations and athletic organizations, held bake sales, led the National Honor Society, woke up on Saturday mornings to teach at the KEEP program as well as monitor SAT testing, and headed up the Ski Club--all while raising two children and continuing her education to pursue her dream. Thirty years of service to get to one tabled vote to be determined by nine individuals that will go on with their own careers and dreams tomorrow not deterred by that which they took away from my mother tonight. As a product of the Kearny school system I can confess that it was more so my mother's guidance and experience in not only scheduling and planning, but in guiding and suggesting that has given me the confidence to open doors to pursue my dreams. While the Kearny school system has given me ample opportunities to enhance the same, it was this woman and her academic and work-related experiences that provided a solid foundation. The Board's decision tonight has jeopardized the sharing of such an experienced foundation with 1800 students who may not have the opportunity to begin school on time because of selfish and outlandish personal agendas in conjunction with backdoor politics that have come to surface in the preceding weeks. My mother gave me the opportunity to learn about public service when I attended American University in Washington, DC where I worked on Capitol Hill for a current Senator. In an office of service, where citizens are elected to serve the people and not their personal gripes, I am educated enough to understand that elected members of this Board of Education's first responsibility is to serve the students they campaigned to represent. Tonight, the Board's vote indicated the abhorrent opposite. The hiring practices of this BOE scream "politics as usual" for Kearny yet again. The Director of Student Personnel Services position was posted for 90 days as opposed to the prototypical 30, but ELECTED members of our Board refused to vote while serving on a committee that asks to do just that in order to make a sound recommendation for hire. Why refuse when it was so easy to yell NO this evening? In doing such, this Board's 6 opposing voters sent a clear message to the public: in Kearny it's politics first, voters and well-deserved career advancement second. Interviews were held in which my mother presented a 15-point plan that would organize the current guidance department and move it in a progressive direction to adjust and conform to the current state of our town and its student body. This plan encompassed unprecedented objectives to address the diversity that exists and the need to integrate departments to better serve students' futures, for example. An “outsider” or anyone within the district that lacked Kearny High School experience could not have created this blueprint for success. Barbara Correnti brings a resume of qualifications and a backbone of administrative support to the table that her counterparts could not match. And yet, I waited for two plus hours of closed-session deliberations to watch elected officials sell out on the best interests of the student body they have been voted in to serve, and rather be moved as pawns in the political game that never ceases in this town. I am not one to become involved in local political issues, as they are often self-serving power trips and retribution for age-old personal vendettas. However, this is personal and public. As a member of the voting public, I may campaign for and choose to elect whomever I feel best suits the position and may express this in the form of a sign or two, phone calls, or the simple pull of the lever in the voting booth. I do this with the trust that those who sit on the Board of Education will fulfill their duty to serve the public. Civil service is a call to action, not a call to settle personal scores. Civil service is a call to elect the best candidate for Director of Student Personnel Services, not leverage to hold out on appointing such because of issues that are off-the-record. 1800 students will inevitably get to go on with their academic careers at some point next Fall, but sadly enough 1800 students will not be privileged to benefit from the knowledge and experience of the most qualified candidate recommended by the Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent and High School Principal to the board this evening: Barbara Correnti. 1800 students will eventually have a Director of Student Personnel Services, but sadly enough 1800 students have been exploited to satisfy political agendas at Barbara Correnti's expense. 1800 students will be tested by Barbara Correnti nonetheless as she resumes her current position as Department Chairperson, but sadly enough 1800 students will never be guided by her experience. 1800 students will surely want to know what their Fall class schedule is, but sadly enough 1800 students will not question an extended summer vacation. And to those 1800 students that will soon become alumni and members of the voting public, I can only hope that you are informed of the unethical and misguided decisions made for political and personal gains that were put on display by six members of the BOE this evening when local school elections resume in Kearny. Concerned, Laura Correnti
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