Gov. Christie Meeting Focused on State Education Reform - Not Bloomfield

A closed-door meeting with Gov. Chris Christie Tuesday gave eight select Bloomfield High School teachers a glimpse into the state's educational system, according to BHS principal Chris Jennings.

Jennings and teachers Ken Ates, Elizabeth Petranglie, Susan Connolly, Jessie Gima, Dr. Michael Doyle, Tony Todaro, John Kohn and Debbie Barowski sat down with the governor and Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf for a two-hour long "open and honest dialogue" concerning education reform.

The group discussed Christie's recent proposal to rate teachers based on student performance in wake of the state's budget crisis. Jennings said that while he didn't agree with everything Christie and Cerf had to say, he did appreciate the governor's frankness.

"They presented facts about pensions and benefits that supported their argument but understood the concern on our part that it's going to affect our well-being and our job status," said Jennings.

Jennings said the conversation did not include specifics about the Bloomfield school district, whose teachers have been embroiled in a contract dispute with the Board of Education after their previous one-year contracts expired last June.

"It was generally discussing policies on education as a whole," said Jennings.

The meeting by Interim Superintendent Catherine Mozak who said she never signed off on the private get-together and only learned about it late last Friday. Because of this, proper protocol was not followed, she said.

Mozak told Patch Tuesday it was unclear who had initiated the meeting. But Jennings said Christie's office set up the meeting and may have done so after the school had earlier invited the governor to a celebrate its 2010 National Title I Distinguished School honor in May.

"This is only an assumption that with the letter on somebody's desk … somebody suggested Bloomfield and he called us and asked if we thought that would be appropriate," said Jennings.

"I'm not going to go back and forth with the superintendent through the newspapers," he said. "We've talked about it and that's all I'll say."