Ramapo Indian Hills BOE overturns more of superintendent's new discipline recommendations

OAKLAND — The Ramapo Indian Hills Board of Education overturned four more discipline recommendations made by School Superintendent Rui Dionisio on Monday, bringing the total to six out of nine so far this year.

None of the superintendent's 29 HIB or Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying discipline recommendations were overturned in 2022.

HIB recommendations are listed on the meeting's agenda by school code, but details of those recommendations are not discussed in public to protect the student or students' privacy. Recommendations may involve one or several students.

Monday's vote to overturn the recommendations was preceded by a plea from Oakland parent Kathy Laginestra that "something has to be done" about bullying and harassment in "every corner" of Indian Hills High School, forcing her to remove her three children from the school.

Three former school board members also expressed concerns with the board's previous actions to override the superintendent's recommendations.

"That's an incredibly sad story and I've heard many stories like that," said former grade school trustee Margaret Bennett about Laginestra's plea prior to the board's vote. "Maybe this board wants to think about that the next time they vote on HIBs."

The board still voted to overturn the four recommendations.

"This is about protecting students," said former Ramapo Indian Hills Trustee Marie Amparo Underfer of Franklin Lakes, following the vote. "It is about trusting the administration and the process. This is about upholding state HIB laws. This is not about personal beliefs against discipline."

"I think that's a problem for our district," said former Franklin Lakes grade school trustee Kathie Schwartz. "I think that causes a liability issue. I think it causes the superintendent difficulty. I can't even understand how five of you think you know better than everyone else as to what should happen with HIBs."

In 2022, the superintendent's HIB recommendations received 12 no-votes each from Board President Judith Sullivan, and then newly-elected Trustee Marianna Emmolo. Their votes were not enough to defeat the superintendent's recommendations last year.

Sullivan and Emmolo were joined on the board in 2023 by newcomers Tom Bogdansky and Doreen Mariani from Wyckoff and Kim Ansh from Franklin Lakes, who together have formed a "parents' rights" voting majority. Among their joint actions at their reorganization meeting was to vote down two of Dionisio’s three HIB recommendations.

Sullivan on Wednesday said "the Board of Education and the Administration of the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District follow all policies, laws and regulations concerning the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act."

Ansh's husband Joel Ansh, elected to the Franklin Lakes Council in November, speculated that HIBs could result because "some kids could be telling a joke" that is overheard by a teacher who files a HIB.

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"There's other students that take it, and they hold it as a threat against people, their classmates, if they say something, and they threaten to file HIBs against them," Ansh said. "I'd like to know exactly how that is protecting students?"

The New Jersey School Boards Association has "not heard anything that would indicate that there is a trend of boards rejecting HIB recommendations of the chief school administrator," said its spokesperson Janet Bamford on Wednesday.

"The board’s decision to affirm, reject or modify the superintendent’s decision in an HIB matter may be appealed to the Commissioner of Education, but it is our understanding that the superintendent is not a party that can appeal such a decision," Bamford said. "Appeals would typically be from the parents/guardians of the students involved."

Not every student action results in a HIB report.

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According to the school's website, HIB means "any gesture, any written, verbal or physical act, or any electronic communication, whether it be a single incident or a series of incidents, that is reasonably perceived as being motivated either by any actual or perceived series of incidents, that is reasonably perceived as being motivated either by any actual or perceived characteristic, such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or a mental, physical or sensory disability, or by any other distinguishing characteristic, that takes place on school property, at any school-sponsored function, on a school bus, or off school grounds that substantially disrupts or interferes with the orderly operation of the school or the rights of other students."

The HIB guidelines state:

• A reasonable person should know, under the circumstances, it will have the effect of physically or emotionally harming a student or damaging the student's property, or placing a student in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm to his person or damage to his property;

• Has the effect of insulting or demeaning any student or group of students; or

• Creates a hostile educational environment for the student by interfering with a student's education or by severely or pervasively causing physical or emotional harm to the student.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ramapo Indian Hills school BOE overturns discipline suggestions