Lakewood Schools consultant fires back at 'twisted' and 'skewed' state report

LAKEWOOD — An education consultant hired by Lakewood Schools to review its operations claims a recent state report ripping school management and policies was off base, calling it “twisted” and “skewed.”

Elizabeth Keenan, hired by the district for $22,800, delivered her findings at the April 17 Board of Education meeting and declared the district’s operations to be commendable.

“No district is going to be perfect but you are a district that supports your students,” Keenan told the board. “A district that really wants to take care of each other and support students and the students feel that. You are doing a lot better than most districts.”

The school board hired Keenan – a former school administrator in Chicago and St. Louis County, Missouri – after the New Jersey Department of Education on March 1 issued a scathing report that accused the district of violating a long list of policies, suffering from poor morale, and experiencing “high levels of distrust.”

More: Lakewood teachers' union, LEA, claims student misbehavior, low morale affecting work

“Staff reported not feeling respected and fear retaliation from the administration if they speak out in a critical way,” the report from former State Education Commissioner Kimberly Markus said, in part. “Instances of unresponsiveness or unclear communication from the district contribute to a perception of inadequate support.”

The report, portions of which were obtained by the Asbury Park Press, was released March 1 to both parties in the Alcantara case, a 10-year-old lawsuit filed on behalf of parents against the Department of Education seeking to improve state aid to Lakewood schools.

Markus was appointed last year to conduct the district review by then-Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan after Allen-McMillan received a court order to formulate a plan to improve Lakewood aid.

Allen-McMillan, who has since left the post, announced that Markus’ review would help her office create a new state aid plan.

Among the state report’s findings:

• Board meeting practices do not align with practices of comparable districts or follow recommendations from the New Jersey School Boards Association.

• Board meetings lacked policy discussions and use “outdated and/or ill-informed” policies.

• Board involvement with budget development was minimal with “no observed board meetings that discussed financial issues or presented detailed information regarding budgets.”

• There appears to be “no urgency or accountability for the district’s financial situation by leadership.”

Two weeks after the report was sent to the district, Lakewood Superintendent Laura Winters penned a response to the Department of Education blasting the findings as “riddled with inaccuracies.”

Her letter claimed the report “was written without proper fact-checking and was riddled with inaccurate information, based largely on hearsay, personal opinion, and undocumented and contradictory statements,” Winters wrote in a letter to state officials in March, later adding that they “ignored easily accessible supporting evidence to the contrary that was provided by the district. The result of this report is to the detriment of students, staff, and the greater Lakewood community.

“Because of these concerns, this report should be immediately withdrawn with prejudice. Lastly, it is important to note that the Lakewood School District was not given the opportunity to review and respond to this report prior to publication.”

More: Scathing state report rips Lakewood schools' backroom decision-making

The board then hired Keenan on March 15 to conduct her own review, which included three days of focus groups with 235 district staff, including principals, teachers, assistant principals, supervisors, and employees in finance, security, and transportation.

“The focus group questions were general questions as well as specific questions about interventions, student expectations, curriculum and curriculum writing, and walkthroughs,” the report said.

Keenan also visited five to six classrooms in each school.

'Deep dive' reveals concerns with state review

Keenan countered the state report with a point-by-point presentation responding to each issue raised by the state review. Her report contends the state used misinformation and faulty reviews to criticize the district.

“After a deep dive into the (state report), it is very clear that the comments are based on subjective interpretation and not an understanding of schools, school boards and communities,” Keenan wrote in her report, later adding, “the number of conflicting and subjective criticisms on practices and policies are unlike any other report.”

State Department of Education officials declined comment on Keenan’s findings, citing the ongoing litigation.

As to the state’s claim that board agenda items were not properly reviewed, specifically consent items often voted on all at once, Keenan said they followed the law.

“Boards have a right to run their board meetings as they want to,” she said. “That really was skewed in terms of how the board is open to people … You have a right to pull items from a consent agenda but if you do not do that it does not mean you are violating the law.”

Keenan also dismissed state claims that the district’s organizational plan was incorrect, that curriculum was revised too often, and that special education programs and kindergarten admissions were improperly handled.

“This was puzzling that they brought this up as a concern,” she said about the special education critique.

Staff retention issue draws dispute

Among the most prominent state criticisms was related to staff retention, which has been a problem for the past few years.

Winters, the superintendent, cited the issue in October when the district received a $50 million state loan, saying such financial uncertainty has affected teacher stability.

“We hire teachers and they love it, but it is always in the back of their mind, will there be a loan?” Winters said then. “The stability for the kids and the staff is needed.”

Since 2019, more than 100 staffers a year have left the district. With about 500 on staff, that means 20% are leaving annually, nearly triple the state average of 8%, according to a recent Department of Education report.

Winters said at the time that 12 teachers hired over the summer for the current school year changed their minds and went elsewhere before school started because they feared a lack of job security in Lakewood.

More: Lakewood Schools' auditor says poor state aid makes finances 'tricky'

“They were worrying about what will happen next year,” Winters said. “They called and told me they got a job in another district and they wanted a district that is more stable and doesn’t have to take loans. I have had teachers cry that they love it here, but they want more stability with another district.”

The recent state report pointed to the retention problem, claiming, “the district reports struggling to hire staff to fill all their vacancies each year. Lack of competitive salaries with neighboring districts was cited as a key barrier, yet several current practices may impact staff morale. New staff are hired at a higher pay rate than veterans and 77 teacher contracts have been non-renewed in the past five years. School administrators reported frequent building reassignments, with limited communication or notice.”

Keenan said that such a claim ignores data in the same report that indicated Lakewood Schools have a 93% retention rate, slightly above the state average of 92.4%.

“The district has a great retention rate, especially after COVID where many districts continue to struggle with retaining staff,” she wrote. “In addition, in the focus groups on March 18, and 19 2024, it was reported in more than one focus group that staff know they can go to other districts but choose to stay at Lakewood because of the support, the professional development and the reflection of learning culture.”

District leaders did not indicate what they might do with the report to counter the state claims.

Spokesman Michael Inzelbuch, who is also board attorney, said, “I think we move on, it is what it is. We have been living with this for some time, move on, it is quite clear.”

Superintendent Winters did not respond to requests for comment.

Joe Strupp is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience who covers education and several local communities for APP.com and the Asbury Park Press. He is also the author of four books, including Killing Journalism on the state of the news media, and an adjunct media professor at Rutgers University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Reach him at jstrupp@gannettnj.com and at 732-413-3840. Follow him on Twitter at @joestrupp

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Lakewood Schools consultant report responds to criticism from NJ