Teachers and parents urge action on NJROTC pay inequities and bus‑access rules

Several members of the public used the citizen‑comment period to press the board on personnel and access issues.

Michael Dyer, a Granby High School teacher, urged the board to address what he described as unresolved pay inequities affecting NJROTC teachers and contrasted that delay with the board’s own proposed pay increase. "Let's make sure that this is the last time I need to be here fighting for what was already promised," Dyer said, calling the unresolved payments a long‑running equity issue.

Morgan Crowder, a parent, described how an administrative transportation rule prevented her six‑year‑old son with ADHD from riding a school bus to a babysitter 0.9 miles away, even though that same bus route passes the babysitter’s address. Crowder said the family has lost multiple school days because of the rule and urged a policy change to allow such routine accommodations without additional resources.

Other public speakers raised governance and transparency concerns. Charlotte Smith Worley described a culture of disrespect on the board, saying a newly elected member received a cold welcome; Lisa Walker, a reading specialist, criticized the treatment of associate teachers and called for clearer policy and timelines for the superintendent search and for right‑sizing decisions.

Superintendent and HR staff responded to some questions in the meeting record: staff framed the bus‑access question as an administrative procedure (not a board policy) and encouraged appeal processes; HR outlined supports for associate teachers but acknowledged the division’s first year implementing the associate role was a learning year and described timelines and scholarship support for licensure pathways.