It’s official — board has no ties to Initiative
Potential legal, ethical conflict cited as reason for ending involvement
By libby kesil
Staff Writer

Red Bank’s most prominent educational institutions are no longer officially involved with the Red Bank Education and Development Initiative.

Last week, the Board of Education unanimously adopted a resolution severing its relationship with the Initiative. Red Bank Regional High School Superintendent Edward Westervelt has also removed himself from the Initiative.

In both cases, issues of political involvement by the organization were cited as the reason for breaking the ties.

W. David Tarver, president of the Education Initiative, said he regrets the loss of involvement by the borough’s school board in the program.

Relations between the board and the organization had been tenuous since the board suspended its participation in the Initiative in September 2002, leaving a list of questions in a memo from one of its board members as a clue to its motivation for the action.

Active participants in the Initiative attended the school board’s Jan. 21 meeting in an effort to convince the board to re-engage with the organization.

According to a press release issued by the board, the action to sever ties was taken "based on the advice of its legal counsel."

The board said it had received a copy of an e-mail dated Jan. 6 which had been forwarded to a number of Initiative members.

According to Tarver, the e-mail in question was a memo from its program director, Dr. Diana Salvador.

In that e-mail, according to the board’s press release, the Initiative "identified and prioritized certain ‘new services.’" One of the services is "to galvanize the community to make the Red Bank Board of Education ‘responsible and accountable for educating the children of Red Bank.’"

The e-mail states that "once the community is informed and educated, new leadership will be groomed and developed to replace nonfunctioning board members."

According to the board’s press release, the e-mail also listed a new service sponsoring "a new political organization for educational progress."

According to Tarver, the e-mail is a record of a progress meeting held on Dec. 19, 2002. He said Salvador records what is said in meetings and that suggestions are made which do not necessarily reflect the intentions of the Initiative itself.

"I would like to make it clear that [the Initiative] is not taking a different role," said Tarver. "At these meetings, you have 40 or 50 people in a room expressing different opinions. We try to record what people say and distribute these notes."

"Our attorney is writing a letter to go on record that [the Initiative] has not changed its focus," Tarver said.

He added that the Initiative would be in violation of its charter as a 501 c3 nonprofit if it became involved with political advocacy.

Tarver said he thinks the action by the board is unfortunate and reflects a lack of knowledge about the Initiative.

"The board is not present to know what goes on at an Initiative meeting," said Tarver. "The assertion that the Initiative is changing direction and involving itself politically is absolutely false."

In the press release, the school board’s attorney, Richard D. McOmber, was quoted as saying, "The new direction of the Initiative, to replace members of the Red Bank Borough Board of Education, coupled with the intention of the Initiative to involve itself in political activities, precludes the membership of the Board of Education in the Initiative. It would be unethical and illegal for the board to continue to participate in the Red Bank Education and Development Initiative."

McOmber could not be reached for further comment.

According to Tarver, McOmber did not contact him or the Initiative’s attorney to seek clarification of information "read second-hand in an e-mail."

Dr. John Krewer, superintendent for the borough’s public schools, deferred to McOmber when asked about the board’s action.

"On the advice of our attorney, it would be unethical and illegal for the board to participate [in the Initiative]," he said.

Tarver said that the Initiative is still leaving the door open for the board to re-engage.

"If they would like to participate, we’d like to have them," Tarver said.