the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Teaneck NJ, in a recent ruling, a Superior Court judge has determined that Teaneck’s Board of Education has yet to fully comply with an order issued in July regarding its public notice practices. On Monday, Judge Carol Novey Catuogno gave the school board an additional 50 days to retroactively amend its notices for meetings held on December 21, 2023, January 3, 2024, and August 21, 2024. However, the judge denied the plaintiff’s requests to nullify the actions taken in the August meeting or impose any penalties against the board members.
This complaint was filed with the New Jersey School Ethics Commission in September by five township residents, including former Councilman Keith Kaplan, former Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen, and residents Danielle Feuer, Suzanne Griffin-Garcia, and Carl Jackson. They allege that the board’s public notice practices failed to meet the legal requirements.
The Debate Over Newspaper Notices
At the heart of the case is a New Jersey law mandating school boards to publish meeting notices in two paid subscription newspapers. Free-distribution newspapers, like many local weeklies, do not meet this requirement. According to the New Jersey Press Association, newspapers must certify their average paid circulation annually to qualify for legal notices, with fees varying by subscriber count.
In the August 21 meeting, board members Clara Williams and Kassandra Reyes voiced their disapproval of the outdated newspaper publication rule, advocating for online notices. “Newspapers are kind of outdated, and those meetings were very well attended,” Reyes said. Board attorney Steve Edelstein agreed, pointing out that requiring the district to publish its full 40-page agenda would be prohibitively costly and would exceed the space in most local papers.
Instead, Edelstein argued that publishing full agendas on the district’s website serves the same purpose at no cost, making information more accessible to the public. This online approach, however, still falls short of the Open Public Meetings Act, which specifies that all meeting notices must be:
- Posted in at least one designated public space.
- Published in two newspapers.
- Filed with the appropriate municipal or county clerk.
- Mailed to anyone upon request.
A Community Divided Over Transparency
Some residents, including former Councilman Kaplan, have been vocal in their concerns about transparency. Kaplan filed a complaint in January regarding irregularities in the board’s practices, especially surrounding the dismissal of a high school principal in December. The debate highlights ongoing tensions between the board’s efforts to modernize public access and the community’s demand for compliance with established transparency laws.
As the school board moves toward compliance with the July order, public attention remains focused on how Teaneck’s Board of Education will balance legal requirements with digital accessibility. The next planning board meeting, where this issue will be further discussed, is set for November 14 at the Richard Rodda Community Center.
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