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Students and residents urge clearer notices, restricted staff messaging and cleaner schools
Summary
Student representatives announced spring events and fundraisers; public commenters asked for consistent meeting notice, limits on non‑urgent staff communications during the school day, and cleaner school grounds. A resident thanked the board for maintaining a 2% cap on spending.
Several members of the public and a student association leader addressed the Bayonne Board of Education during the public‑comment period.
Miriam, introduced by the presiding officer as the first public speaker, outlined student‑organization activities: a spring dance with a DJ and photo booth (contracts distributed March 10; tickets on sale March 11), a charity volleyball event on April 2 from 3:30–5:30 p.m. to raise funds for a five‑year‑old named Gabriella, and donut and hot‑chocolate sales during homeroom (donut $2, hot chocolate $3). She said further updates would be posted to the group’s Instagram account listed in her remarks.
Bernadette Leon said she had received inconsistent notice of board meetings (she received a phone call before one meeting but not another) and asked the board to clarify how members of the public can sign up to speak. Leon asked the district to limit non‑urgent teacher and nurse communications to specific daytime hours so that parents are not alarmed by vague mid‑day calls. "I received a call in the middle of the day from the school nurse ... I'm freaking out," she said, arguing that non‑urgent messages should be withheld outside a proposed window.
Jean Woods thanked board members for maintaining a 2% spending cap and asked them to consider the teachers’ statements about science labs during future deliberations.
These public comments were recorded during the March 18 meeting; the transcript does not show a board response or a staff report adopted in open session addressing the communications policy or the cleanliness concerns raised.
