Parents and students press Paterson board for transparency as closures move forward

Dozens of parents, students and community groups urged the Paterson Board of Education on March 11 to halt or better explain plans to close four district schools and to provide a public review of the district’s transition to a middle-school model.

Rosie Grant, speaking for the Patterson Education Fund, said the middle-school model ‘‘has the potential to strengthen academic outcomes, improve school culture, and better support young adolescents,’’ but asked the district to hold a public session outlining implementation goals, timeline, supports and the metrics the district is using to measure progress. ‘‘Transparency and communication are essential,’’ Grant said.

Several speakers directly criticized the school-closure process. ‘‘Closing these schools feels like the voices of families and the needs of our children were not fully valued in the process,’’ said Ileana Vargas, a parent with a child at Alexander Hamilton Academy. Student Shahida said the change ‘‘isn’t just about a building. It’s about our futures,’’ and warned that forced transfers could harm students’ emotional well‑being and academic performance.

Community member Sonia Shabazz urged the board to ‘‘pause for a moment and think about what is truly best for these children’’ and questioned the district’s outreach. She said many parents have already moved children to charter schools and quoted a per‑pupil charter cost ‘‘roughly $13,800 to $15,400 per student per year,’’ asking how much revenue the district stands to lose. She also raised legal concerns, asserting that closing schools ‘‘without proper board approval or meaningful parent involvement is not just wrong, it is illegal,’’ and referenced state rule language the comment identified as NJAC (as stated during the comment).

Several commenters tied the closure debate to ongoing litigation and personnel disputes. Alexander Cardillo read from depositions and alleged a former administrator ‘‘lied under oath’’ about who participated in a reduction‑in‑force decision; Joanne Cardillo urged the board to examine public records related to Cardillo v. Paterson Public Schools and questioned whether past officials committed perjury.

Superintendent Dr. Newell had earlier used her report to describe school visits, Black History Month programming and a district screening of the documentary Counted Out at International High School on March 26; the transcript of the meeting records no substantive response from the board or administration to the public commenters’ requests for additional data or a public implementation review during the session.

The public comment period closed by motion; later in the meeting the board approved routine minutes and a package of resolutions. The board approved previous minutes and a slate of resolutions later in the agenda (see separate coverage for vote tallies). The meeting then moved to committee reports and adjourned.

What happens next: Public commenters asked the board to schedule a dedicated forum reviewing the middle‑school rollout and to provide enrollment and fiscal analyses showing the projected impact of the closures; the transcript does not record a commitment to hold that forum during the March 11 meeting.