Parents And Officials Blast Jersey City School Board For Mother's Arrest

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Parents held a rally outside a Jersey City school board meeting Thursday night, a week after the mother of a child with special needs was arrested at a meeting.

Parent Emily Pecot was handcuffed at last Thursday's meeting, prompting comments of outrage from local officials and other parents this week. (See what Pecot had to say here.)

Pecot, the mother of a student on the autism spectrum, had spoken about services for special needs students as a member of the group Parents United for Special Education Reform.

In the week since the arrest, parents and local officials have said the board has cut the amount of time parents are allowed to speak at meetings down to one minute, and have criticized the board's transparency in general.

Criticism This Week

Jersey Councilwoman Eleana Little posted on social media on Tuesday that after she wrote to School Board President Noemi Vazquez on Friday to address the previous night's arrest, Vazquez responded by saying Little had "avanger syndrome" (sic) and said, "Upon my return next week, I will be addressing your desire to reprimand and offer a corrective plan about an issue on which you are clueless."

Little told Patch on Thursday, "I'm disappointed that the board president resorted to personal insults instead of engaging in good faith on the very real issues — parents being silenced and their children's needs are not being met. This is another example in a long string of incidents where board leadership has treated people who disagree with them with contempt."

She said she planned to attend Thursday night's special Board of Education meeting.

Vazquez did not respond to three requests from Patch for comment on the arrest since Monday, nor questions on the nature of her response to Little.

The parents told Patch they would ask the board for several changes, including:

• Drop the charges immediately against Pecot
• Provide full budget transparency, including a clear and accessible breakdown of school funding allocations and expenditures
• Guarantee a minimum of three minutes of uninterrupted public speaking time per speaker, including during high-attendance meetings
• Establishing a formal process for acknowledging and responding to issues raised during public comment.

'Call Out The Chaos'

On Wednesday, two more Jersey City council members weighed in on the arrest.

Ward B Councilman Joel Brooks and Ward D Councilman Jake Ephros released a statement saying, "Our job as city councilmembers is not only to legislate and deal with issues pertaining to municipal government. It is also to show up as leaders in the community, and every leader in Jersey City should clearly call out the chaos surrounding the BOE.

"It is unacceptable that a member of Jersey City’s special education parent community was forcibly removed from last
week’s meeting. This arrest comes on the heels of a long fight for transparency and accountability in the JC Public Schools special education curriculum and programming."

They added, "Ahead of tomorrow’s BOE meeting, we encourage a strong showing of parent, teacher, and general community support for these efforts to make our BOE more responsive and our schools more just."

More Details

The meeting was scheduled to be held at the board offices at 346 Claremont Ave. Information is here.

Read previous reporting on Jersey City Patch: Mom Addresses Her Arrest At Jersey City School Board Meeting

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