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Mountainside board honors teachers and staff, corrects calendar and votes to start meetings earlier
Summary
At its January meeting the Mountainside Board of Education recognized multiple staff members for teaching and support roles, agreed to correct meeting dates on the 2025–26 calendar, and voted to change future meeting start times to 6:30 p.m.; the board then entered a second executive session and did not return to public session.
The Mountainside Board of Education opened its meeting with recognition of teachers and support staff across the district and later approved routine agenda items and a change to meeting start times.
Superintendent Janet Wong presented multiple staff awards, naming Jennifer Smith of Beechwood School as teacher of the year and Christine Delaney of Deerfield School as that school’s teacher of the year. Wong praised Smith’s classroom energy and Delaney’s 19 years of special‑education service and described both as having strong connections with students. "She consistently comes up with new and creative activities for her preschoolers," Wong said of Jennifer Smith.
The superintendent also honored educational support professionals — Amanda Summers Goracio (Beechwood) and Christina Boris (Deerfield) — and support staff including Antonio Negron (Beechwood) and front‑office staff at Deerfield for their work supporting students and families.
During district updates Wong said the board’s five‑year strategic plan is posted on the district website and described midyear iReady benchmarking for grades 1–5 and other data‑use work intended to inform instruction ahead of NJSLA testing.
On procedural items, the board approved minutes and multiple consent items (administration, budget/finance, personnel, curriculum and policy blocks) by roll call. The superintendent and board members discussed the draft 2025–26 school calendar on the agenda; members asked for corrections where future‑year dates on the published draft did not match what the board had previously approved. The superintendent said she would revise the publicly posted calendar to reflect the board‑approved dates.
Board members debated the timing of meetings and executive sessions and a motion to change the meeting start time to 6:30 p.m. (from 7:00 p.m.) was made, seconded and put to roll call. At least one member recorded a 'No' vote while the remainder voted 'Yes' and the board agreed to advertise a 6:30 start time for future meetings.
After opening a public‑comment period and seeing no speakers, the board moved into a second executive session and did not return to the public meeting that night.
What happened next: the board took multiple routine approvals and set follow‑up items (calendar corrections and staff recognition). The substantive governance decisions of the night were the scheduling change and the personnel item on the agenda (the superintendent’s retirement letter), which the board will address in its minutes and subsequent meetings.
