Mayors: Mendham Twp. Stalling Education Process

The ongoing attempt by officials from Washington Township, Chester Township and Borough, and Mendham Township and Borough to explore alternatives to better the education for students in those municipalities hit another road block, according to four of the five mayors.

The mayors scheduled a follow-up conference to their July meeting for Aug. 16 in Morristown, but called off the session when Mendham Township Mayor Frank Cioppettini arrived with a member of Citizens for Better Schools, although the meeting was closed to the public.

"It seems as though Mendham Township has a different agenda than the rest of us," said Washington Township Mayor Ken Short. "This whole process seemed to start with them, and now they want to back away. It's my hope that a (Mendham Township) representative will still be able to bring a level-headed approach to these meetings."

The four mayors crafted a new letter to explain their findings thus far, in addition to the events that unfolded on Aug. 16. The following is a statement from the officials, posted in its entirety.

Dear Editor,

As we had acknowledged in our , there is ongoing concern among some of our citizens regarding the cost and quality of the education in the West Morris Regional High School District (WMRHSD) as well as the structure of the entire school district, including our K-8 schools. We had also stressed in that statement, the significant importance of having all five towns of the WMRHSD district work together to assess the facts which may be fueling the concerns and, if proven necessary, work toward a resolution.

While Mendham Township Mayor Frank Cioppettini did not agree with our initial course of action discussed at our June 30 meeting, he had announced publically at a Mendham Township Committee meeting in July that he would still be open to meet with us to discuss this issue in a constructive manner. An invitation was extended to Mayor Cioppettini to participate with us in a briefing by County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kathleen Serafino and County Schools Business Administrator Ralph Goodwin on August 16. Dr. Serafino and BA Ralph Goodwin were prepared to review the various sets of financial numbers regarding our high school district being circulated to members of the public as well as answer specific questions posed by an elected official at the June 14 educational summit regarding the allocation of the regional school budget expenditures by school. Dr. Serafino was also scheduled to review the legal process required in the state of NJ to effect any change in the district formation and/or funding in the WMRHS District. 

This meeting was intended to be a private meeting for the Mayors, our moderator Christine Myers, Dr. Serafino and Mr. Goodwin to review the numbers and the legal processes, ask questions and learn about this very complicated issue. Our intent was to educate ourselves, request any additional information we felt necessary, and then hold a public meeting later in the fall to report on our findings and update our citizens on our progress. We feel  strongly that our citizenry be provided  accurate and complete information in order to make an informed decision on any potential change in our High School District that may be proposed. 

Unfortunately the meeting ended before it started. Mayor Cioppettini brought along an individual whom he introduced as his lawyer, aide and confidant to observe the meeting.  We requested the attorney remain outside the briefing, as this was not open to any other staff person beside our moderator, but Mayor Cioppettini refused to accommodate our request. We felt at this point, Mayor Cioppettini broke the integrity of the meeting and we decided to cancel the meeting due to this reason. It also should be noted that during the brief time we were together that day, Mayor Cioppettini announced to the group that both he and this attorney are members of the political action group known as Citizens for Better Schools (CBS). He has also made it known at various points in time during the last several weeks that he and the Mendham Twp. Committee no longer support having Christine Myers serve as our moderator.

We have watched Mayor Cioppettini twist the facts regarding the first Mayors' meeting; we have heard his attempts to discredit and displace our moderator and have witnessed his release of documents provided in Executive Session without our knowledge or concurrence. We have also asked Mayor Cioppettini several times to put forward a plan of action on how to educate our constituents of all the facts as well as outline for us proposed educational goals and solutions he is seeking if he in fact could not agree to our steps to go forward on how to accomplish this.  To date, he has not offered any alternatives. We now recognize that it is time to take a more public position on his actions so we can continue our work without further distractions.

1) Let there be no mistake, the remaining four mayors have agreed to continue to work collectively and collaboratively until we find a suitable solution to the issues of funding, educational quality and value, and the best configuration of our schools to support the changing needs of our children and our families. We recognize the need to have all five of our towns involved and welcome Mendham Township to join us at any time as long as they come to the table with an open mind, a willingness to work co-operatively while respecting the opinions of others and have no pre-determined agenda. 

2) Now that Mayor Cioppettini has admitted to being a member of CBS, we feel he has a conflict of interest and can no longer meet our agreed upon requirements to be objective and to present all information in a fair, accurate and objective manner. (Members of Citizens for Better Schools have acknowledged they support one configuration: two K-12 school districts). We would ask that members of the Mendham Twp. Committee replace him with another member of their governing body who is not a member of CBS. If all the members of the Township Committee are also members of CBS, we request a Township citizen be appointed to fill the role of the Mendham Township Mayor.

3) Prior to our first meeting on June 30, all five mayors (including Mayor Cioppettini) supported Ms. Myers as our moderator. The remaining four mayors continue to support Ms. Myers as we move forward: she is fair and objective and is quite capable of serving our needs to pull together information, take accurate notes during meetings, facilitate productive conversation among the mayors and arrange meetings with key local, county and state officials. She has already introduced our group to Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, Jr. and worked hard to bring him up to speed, and initiated a legislation concept with our full support. Ms. Myers is a volunteer who has spent innumerable hours to support us and our entire high school district.  We are incredulous that Mayor Cioppettini views Ms. Myers as being in a conflict situation, while, as Mayor, responsible for representing the diverse interests of his township does not see that by failing to admit to his town or to us that he is a CBS member, he has a conflict of interest.

While we continue to wait for a response from Mr. Jamie Button on the state’s funding commitment to complete an updated study which he announced during the June 14 educational summit, and for the first time in 40 years, we will continue to work towards determining the best configuration of our schools that optimizes the quality of education while leveraging the most equitable funding for our towns. Our primary concern remains the quality of education and finding ways to maintain the quality of education while identifying any associated costs or savings. Our short and long term goals regarding this complex issue remain the same: to provide our citizens with accurate information in order for them to make informed and educated decisions on the future of our schools.

 Sincerely,

Mayor Ken Short
Washington Township                        

Mayor William Cogger
Chester Township

Mayor Robert Davis
Chester Borough

Mayor Neil Henry
Mendham Borough