Paterson NJ school board approves New Orleans trips for members
PATERSON — The city school board voted Monday night to spend $30,000 for six of its nine members to attend an education conference in New Orleans later this year.
The approval for the travel plans came the same day that NorthJersey.com and Paterson Press published a story about other trips taken by Paterson school board members to conferences in Miami, San Diego, Orlando, Los Angeles and Atlanta.
Several Paterson Board of Education members will also be attending a conference in Chicago this week.
‘Who’s paying for the trip?’
Community activist Cameo Black asked school board President Nakima Redmon about the Chicago trip during Monday night’s meeting.
“This question is for you, Nakima, you say y’all taking a trip,” Black said. “Who’s paying for the trip?”
“To answer your question, the board has a budget that the board commissioners go through,” Redmon replied. “The board commissioners have their own budget to travel for professional development.”
“I was waiting for you to say that,” Black responded. “It’s amazing to me y’all got money to always travel.”
The district on Tuesday provided a fiscal report that showed $100,000 had been set aside for conference travel by school board members, an 8.84% reduction compared with the $109,700 for the trips in the 2022-23 budget.
In condemning the travel by board members, Black talked about the difficulties faced by Paterson students.
“Do you understand these kids are in distress?” Black said. “They not learning anything.”
Board of Education travel:Why did Paterson schools let lame-duck board members travel to a Miami conference?
How did the Paterson Board of Education vote?
The vote approving the New Orleans trip was 7-0, with two members — Manny Martinez and Kenneth Simmons — abstaining. Both men were among the members listed to go to New Orleans for the National Alliance of Black School Educators conference from Nov. 29 through Dec. 3.
But Martinez said he won’t be going, and never planned to attend the event. He said he was included as part of a routine “blanket” approval given for such conferences.
“I just think our focus and priority should be on providing professional development for teachers and administrators,” Martinez said.
Simmons also said he doesn’t think he will attend the New Orleans conference. He is one of three incumbents running for reelection in November.
In 2022, the Paterson school board sent two members to a convention in Miami in December even though they were lame ducks who had lost their reelection bids. Officials defended the expenditure, noting that the conference originally was scheduled for before the election, but was postponed because of a hurricane.
Simmons said that if he loses the November election, he may go to the New Orleans conference and pay his own way. He explained his decision by saying he had come to know several school board presidents in the New Orleans area.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com