Why did Paterson schools let lame-duck board members travel to a Miami conference?

PATERSON — Blame it on Hurricane Ian.

That’s the explanation officials are giving for why the Paterson school district paid about $7,500 for two lame-duck members of the Board of Education — Emanuel Capers and Corey Teague — to go to a conference in Miami last year.

Capers and Teague, along with three other Paterson school board members, originally were planning to fly to Florida for the National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education convention from Sept. 29 through Oct. 1, 2022.

But the conference organizers postponed the event because of the looming hurricane and rescheduled the gathering for December. In the meantime, Capers and Teague had lost their reelection bids and would be leaving office in a few weeks. The district sent them to Miami anyway.

“We couldn’t tell them they couldn’t go,” said Nakima Redmon, the current president of the Paterson school board, who was vice president last year. “They were pre-approved.”

Paterson Press learned of the lame-duck Miami trip during a review of more than 450 pages of public records involving travel by city school board members during the past three years, documents that include resolutions authorizing the trips, hotel bills, Uber receipts and reports that officials filed after they returned to Paterson.

In addition to Miami, the list of destinations included Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Diego, Orlando, Washington, D.C., and, of course, Atlantic City. School board members do not get salaries or stipends for their service. At their meetings, the school district pays for food for the board members and administration staff.

Paterson Press on Aug. 24 sent the school district various questions about travel spending for board members. As of early Friday, the district had not provided any response.

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Where did Paterson Board of Education members travel?

Between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2023, the Paterson school board authorized about $190,000 worth of travel for its members. But not all that money was spent, because sometimes board members change their plans.

For example, the Paterson board approved spending about $24,000 for seven of its nine members to go to Chicago this week for this year’s version of the CUBE conference. The trip prompted the board to change the date of its September workshop from Sept. 13 to Sept. 11.

But at least two of the seven people who were supposed to go to Chicago told Paterson Press recently that they would not be making the trip.

The state’s administrative code includes “accountability regulations” that speak about restricting the number of members of a school board who go to a particular convention.

“Out-of-State travel events shall be limited to the fewest number of district board of education members or affected employees needed to acquire and present the content offered to all district board of education members or staff, as applicable, at the conclusion of the event,” the code says.

Under those accountability provisions, the state Education Department must approve travel spending for local school board members for any events for which the total cost for all attendees exceeds $5,000. Department officials confirmed recently that they had given approval for seven Paterson board members to go to the Chicago conference.

“This is professional development,” said Paterson board member Dania Martinez, one of those making the trip to the Windy City. “It helps me become more proficient as a board member. I bring back information to the district.”

Martinez said she serves as a steering committee member for CUBE and as vice president of the Passaic County School Boards Association. She said those groups encourage board members to attend conferences to learn more about education issues and their roles.

Martinez said she will be serving on one of the panels at the Chicago CUBE conference and will be speaking about “diversity, equity and inclusion in education.”

The Paterson school board had approved Martinez to attend two conferences in July that overlapped by two days: the California Association of Black School Educators in Napa, California, from July 9 to 12 and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials at the Marriott in Times Square in Manhattan from July 11 to 13. Martinez said she decided to go to the conference of Latino officials because it was closer and provided important networking opportunities.

What did board members say?

Board member Kenneth Simmons, one of those who said he changed his mind about going to Chicago this week, described the CUBE convention as particularly relevant for Paterson education officials.

“We learn a lot from talking to board members from other urban districts dealing with similar issues,” he said.

Simmons noted that board members must file “post-travel reports” with information about what they learned during a conference. Those reports ask board members about key issues addressed at a conference and how the event was relevant to improving the Paterson district.

In his post-travel report from last October’s New Jersey School Boards Association convention in Atlantic City, Simmons wrote, “I learned best practices that can be applied to the district.” He also listed three key issues:

• “Helping board members avoid ethical minefields.”

• “Designing school entryways for identity and security.”

• “Creating a strategic and long-range plan for your district.”

Simmons did not elaborate on those answers in his post-travel report.

Board member Manny Martinez, who said he decided not to go to Chicago this week because of a family wedding, said the district should implement measures that require more accountability when it comes to traveling to conferences.

“We need to have some type of deliverables that can be shared internally,” he said. “We need to show how this is impacting or improving student achievement.”

Paterson Press asked board members about the possibility of not sending those up for reelection that year to out-of-state conferences as a way of preventing 2022’s lame-duck trip to Miami.

Redmon said she didn’t think that was fair.

“Every board member should have the same opportunity to go to these conferences,” she said.

Redmon also said there was value in sending the two lame ducks to Miami because they could continue functioning as education advocates in the city after their terms ended.

Teague said that during his trip to Miami he learned about a food vendor that provides vegan meals for school districts. He said he lobbied unsuccessfully for the district to hire that company to expand the meal options offered to Paterson students.

Teague said parents continue to contact him and ask for his assistance even though he has left the board.

“I’m still an advocate for education, so I went [to the conference] to get the information to help people,” he said. “I was still on the board when I went down there.”

Capers’ and Teagues’ terms ended last Dec. 31, or 21 days after the conference. Capers told Paterson Press that the district already paid for his travel accommodations before he lost the election last November and would not have gotten full refunds.

“It’s not like I lost the election and then said, ‘Hey, let me go on this trip,’” he stated.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

What did Paterson's Board of Education spend on travel?

Between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2023, the Paterson Board of Education authorized:

• $190,000 worth of travel for its members.

• Travel by board members to Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Diego, Orlando, Florida, Washington, D.C.. and Atlantic City.

• Spending about $24,000 for seven of its nine members to go to Chicago this week for the annual CUBE conference.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson, NJ: Why did lame-duck school board members travel to Miami?