Red Bank Regional Dreamers club reinstated after controversial vote, claiming discrimination
LITTLE SILVER — The Red Bank Regional High School Board of Education voted to reappoint an advisor to the RBR Dreamers club Monday night, reversing a decision in August that would have caused the termination of the club.
The August 16 vote resulted in a discrimination complaint and revealed the minutia of board meeting proceedings.
The Dreamers club is an all-inclusive club that focuses on issues facing Latino students and their families, including volunteering interpretation services during parent-teacher conferences and organizing voter registration. According to Marisol Mondaca, the advisor to the Dreamers club, the club began as “a safe place to support, educate and connect DACA and immigrant students to college alternatives to further their education.”
Certain children who came to the US before 16 could qualify for DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The legality of the program has been questioned since its inception in 2012, leaving more than half a million people's legal status in a precarious situation. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled the policy violated federal law, setting up a likely battle in the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I was very surprised and disappointed,” Mondaca said. “In my mind, we have done everything we were supposed to do. Become an official club and remain and official club. Yet one vote that night had impacted the work we had done for seven years.”
The August 16 vote
On August 16, only five of the nine-member school board were present. One member, John Venino of Little Silver, voted against funding Mondaca’s advisory position. Because there were only four “yes” votes and not a majority, Mondaca was not reappointed as an advisor to the Dreamers club.
"The majority of the Board of Education has never voted to defund or disband the RBR Dreamers club," board president Patrick Noble said at the start of last Monday's meeting.
Eight of the nine-member school board were present with one vacancy due to a resignation. Seven of the members voted to reinstate Mondaca’s position and the Dreamers club.
About 100 members of the public and the entire Red Bank governing body came out to show support for the Dreamers club.
Venino said in an interview, the board denied other clubs official status including the surfers, sailors, rugby players and Young Republicans, citing budgetary concerns. He said since he was elected, the Dreamers club was the only that has sought official status and he had voted against the club in his first year, abstained from a vote of renewal the second year and voted against the club again this year.
He questioned why Superintendent Moore backed the Dreamers in their application when other clubs had been previously denied.
"On August 23, you know, the Dreamers club was permitted by administration to set up a table at freshman orientation where the clubs recruit new members from the new incoming freshman class," Venino said. "The Young Feminists weren’t permitted to do that. ... The Dreamers lost their club status. But they were still allowed to go by administration. ... So again, why is it one way for this group and one way for this group. "
According to a procedural district document titled "Creating a Student Group or Club at Red Bank Regional High School," clubs can receive approval by the board depending on budgetary constraints.
When asked how Venino would want the board to approve clubs if 10 clubs asked for official status in the next year, he said there are financial constraints and did not elaborate on how he would like clubs to be chosen. He said his issue was that money for the Dreamers club was sought after.
"An attempt was made to go discover unused monies that had already been budgeted for that weren’t being used," he said, while the same attempt to fund other clubs was not made. Mondaca's stipend for this school year is $2,256.
He denied claims of discrimination, using the term equality to describe his desire for all clubs to be treated with the same process.
When asked about the argument that groups that fulfill social needs like interpretation services for parent-teacher conferences should warrant funding, he said, "all these groups have merits and all these groups do wonderful things."
The Dreamers
Four of the RBR Dreamers club members alerted the NJ Division on Civil Rights writing that, “The Dreamers Club has been subjected to discriminatory treatment from the Board of Education members and has been threatened with losing its club status. The club has been continually singled out by the Board for reasons that can only be explained based on political ideology and the national origin/protected characteristics of the Dreamer Club and the population on behalf of which it advocates.”
Jonthan Cohen, an attorney for the club members, wrote in an email, “Although we are gratified that seven out of eight board members took appropriate action last night, the Dream4 are continuing to weigh their legal options and may pursue claims legally and/or administratively through the Division of Civil Rights.”
The club’s vice president Bethzy Vera Varela spoke about what the club meant to her Monday night.
“It wasn’t until I joined the Dreamers club where I was finally able to be proud of my heritage when I should have been proud all along.”
She said growing up, her family would be told “the most disgusting things by people who didn’t look like us. We would be told to go back to our country and to speak English because ‘In America we speak English.’”
In an email, the four members wrote that they were "There are issues at RBR beyond (Monday) night's vote."
They added, "There are silver linings to this unfortunate situation. The Red Bank community mobilized around us without thinking twice."
New district policy proposal
Because the Dreamers were not reinstated at the first vote, Superintendent Moore said, he intends to form a committee that would frame a district policy in support of equity and excellence.
“This policy will have the same legal and moral standing as do the other policies that govern this district,” Moore said.
Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Red Bank Dreamers club reinstated after controversial vote
