The Asbury Park school board cut 27 teachers, aides and other jobs “due to economic issues” in a vote Wednesday night following recommendations from the district’s acting superintendent.
The layoffs will take effect July 1, according to an agenda listing the eliminated positions on the Asbury Park School District website. Several staff members, former employees, parents and community members spoke out against the cuts during the school board meeting and urged local officials to lobby state representatives for more state aid to restore the positions.
The cut positions include: two elementary teachers; two reading specialists; three special education teachers; two teacher’s aides; and one social worker.
MORE: N.J. school funding winners and losers: See how your district fared under new plan
Four positions were also abolished: the central registrar and communications coordinator; the director of human resources; the director of special services; and one cosmetology teaching job.
The list of cut positions came from recommendations by Asbury Park Acting Superintendent Mark Gerbino. He has been serving in the post since Feb. 22, when Superintendent RaShawn M. Adams was placed on paid leave by the school board for unspecified reasons.
Gerbino declined to comment on the staff reductions.
It’s the first time “in many years” there have been cuts to both unionized school staff and supervisors in the district, said Asbury Park Education Association President John Napolitani.
“I’m not going to say the cuts he made were non-essential because they were not non-essential. I lost a social worker. I lost a literacy coach. I lost reading specialists. These are all positions that help the students — they’re there on a daily basis,” Napolitani said.
In a letter sent Wednesday to the school board, Asbury Park School District Human Resources Director LaShawn D. Gibson alleged the staff reductions were “retaliatory in nature, focusing on employees who were either hired by Dr. RaShawn Adams and/or were perceived as supportive of his mission and vision as superintendent.”
Gibson said employees were called to a meeting Monday with Gerbino and the district’s assistant business administrator. There were no representatives from human resources or the Asbury Park Administrator and Supervisor Association present at the meeting, Gibson said.
“The employees were not given advance notice about the purpose of the meeting. These employees were informed that they would be non-renewed for budgetary reasons or, in some cases, reduced in force. Each person was asked to sign the same sign in sheet as each employee prior had signed. These acts violated the employees’ privacy and Weingarten Rights to representation,” Gibson alleged.
The acting superintendent declined to comment on Gibson’s allegations.
Napolitani, the teachers’ union president, said he did not believe the staff reductions were retaliatory.
“The cuts for the first time were fairly done across the board,” Napolitano said. “I lost people too. The acting superintendent started here as a teacher and he cut people who are friends of his. It’s unfortunate, but he’s got a job to do.”
Asbury Park is one of several local Monmouth County school districts slated to lose millions in state aid under Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed 2025 budget.
The Asbury Park school district is slated to receive more than $16.5 million in state aid during the next school year, under Murphy’s plan. That is more than $4 million less than the previous year, or about a 20% cut. The district has the sixth largest dollar loss in funding among the state’s more than 600 school districts, according to an NJ Advance Media analysis of the funding numbers.
The state budget proposed last month would fully enact New Jersey’s new school aid formula for the first time, with a record $11.6 billion in direct aid earmarked for public school districts.
The new formula, which the state first began rolling out about 15 years ago, includes a new way of calculating how much money each of the state’s nearly 600 school districts should get from the state budget. The complex formula considers the size of the district, how many low-income and special education students it enrolls and numerous other factors. Some districts will see major increases in state funding under the plan, while others can expect far less.
Under Murphy’s proposal, 422 districts would see an increase in state aid during the 2025 fiscal year. Another 137 school districts would see cuts, and 15 districts would see no changes.
School districts in New Jersey’s 11th Legislative District, which covers much of Monmouth County, are set to lose more than $16 million in state aid in the coming fiscal year, according to lawmakers.
Napolitani said he’s working closely with the acting Asbury Park superintendent and state Senate Education Committee Chair Vin Gopal, D-Monmouth, to lobby for a change in the funding formula.
The staff cuts follow a tumultuous few months in Asbury Park schools. Adams, who was appointed superintendent in the fall 2021, was placed on paid leave Feb. 22 without explanation.
The school board’s decision was welcomed by members of the Asbury Park Education Association, the district’s teachers’ union. Adams had faced criticism from the teachers’ union. His recommendation to eliminate 28 district employees and withhold salary increases in April 2022 was condemned by union officials.
Adams is also facing a pair of lawsuits — filed by a former school security manager and a current administrator — accusing him of giving preferential treatment to younger employees.
Adams previously declined to comment on the lawsuits and his administrative leave.
Stories by Jackie Roman
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
NJ Advance Media data reporter Katie Kausch contributed to this report.
Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com.