Midland Park October 3, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Two Midland Park Highland School teachers who have worked together in a collaborative fifth grade classroom for years had not been to work since Sept. 13, and several parents attended last week’s board of education meeting asking for an explanation of the situation. They were told school officials could not comment because of personnel confidentiality. “Our hands are tied,” said board President William Sullivan. “We are listening to you. We will address your concerns with our administration.” The teachers were back in the classroom on Sept. 27, but school officials would not explain the reasons for their absence nor for their return. Sullivan told the parents to contact the building principal for answers, but those parents who said they had done so, said they had met a stone wall. They said that even Fifth grade teachers not in classroom for two weeks at back to school night, when the teachers had already been absent for several days, the principal, who was in the classroom in their stead, said only that the teachers were unable to be there for the back to school event. The parents said that since the teachers – Linda Carr and Diana Grasso - had been absent, the classroom had been covered by standard substitute teachers who simply babysat and did not follow the students’ individual educational plan (IEP). “They are not real teachers. They are not special-ed certified,” said parent Stephanie Pantale. “All we want is for our kids to have stability and their IEPs met. By having subs, that is not going to be accomplished.” In a collaborative classroom , a certified elementary teacher and a certified special education teacher work School sports activities will have first priority in the use of borough-owned fields, according to the new guidelines recently adopted by the Midland Park Board of Recreation. The Recreation Coordinator, however, will only administer and schedule the town’s fields, not the schools’ facilities as incorrectly reported in the Sept. 26 edition of the Villadom Times. “The Midland Park Board of Education continues to follow district policy and regulation 7510 which details the policy and procedures regarding the use of school facilities by community organizations. School facilities should be made available to outside groups and requests should continue to be made in writing to the administration according to regulation. Scheduling of districtowned facilities and fields will continue to be handled by the administration,” clarified board President William Sullivan. The board president said that Recreation Coordinator School teams come first in field use Kathy LaMonte had met with School Business Administrator Stacy Garvey recently to discuss the coordination of facility use applications for the recreation programs so that two or more programs wouldn’t be vying for the same field/gym time. He said LaMonte will work with the individual programs to help avoid this type of conflict. Board of Recreation President Bob Sansone said the procedures were developed to assure that all groups have a clear understanding of how field use works and to avoid such problems. The priority list for the town fields set by the new policy is as follows: board of education; recreation departmentsponsored programs; travel teams with full Midland Park resident rosters; travel teams with partial resident rosters (greater than 50 percent); uniformed services groups, such as the police and fire departments; and organizations whose members all reside in Midland Park. together teaching classified and non-classified youngsters. Classified students receive additional instruction to help satisfy their IEPs from the special education teacher. The class in question has 21 students enrolled. “We want a real teacher in the classroom, and a certified teacher in the resource room, not subs with 60 credits,” said parent Carmenza Perez. “It seems you are hiding behind excuses. The kids are not stupid. They are coming home telling us the teachers are at conferences,” she told the board, noting that the children would lag behind if they are not following a program from the start of the school year. In answer to a parent’s question, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Marie Cirasella said that by state law, the district is permitted to have a classroom covered by a substitute who is not a certified teacher for up to 19 days. Kitty Kellog of Glen Avenue suggested that the other certified teachers in the school pull together and prepare lesson plans with the appropriate curriculum for the class which can be followed “by the right person.” “They could provide the structure for what needs to go on,” Kellog said.