Interim Superintendent of the Ocean City schools Thomas Baruffi prepares to address the crowd at the community forum.
By MEDIAWIZE
The Ocean City school district, which includes 57 Margate students attending the high school, hosted a community forum at the Ocean City Public Library Tuesday, Nov. 9.
The event was moderated by Interim Superintendent of Schools Thomas Baruffi. The forum's objective was to focus on various topics concerning the school district.
The well attended event got contentious at times as the subject of mask mandates drew the ire of many in the crowd. Baruffi urged the crowd to take into consideration that it is a state of New Jersey mask mandate and not complying with the emergency orders would impact the district's funding.
The school did a great job communicating the standards, but honestly, it's out of their control, parent Brenda Mirsky said. They risk losing funding and must comply with the rules that Governor Murphy has put in place whether they agree with them or not.
At times, the forum was prolonged by not staying on topic to the subject matter that was most meaningful to those who attended the event.
Director of Academic Services Curt Nath attempts to answer questions from the crowd.
Director of Academic Services Curt Nath spoke at length throughout the forum, but seemed to provide very little in the way of substantive answers to the questions that arose from the crowd, while Baruffi extensively covered topics including the district's ability to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic while focusing on school safety and the district's desire to eliminate vaping in the schools.
The evening's most heated debate related to New Jersey's new mandates that will include controversial curriculum for social and sexual health. The crowd largely opposed the new curriculum, while some supporters of the curriculum saw value in discussing these uncomfortable topics.
I hope that it was clear how much parents want to have the authority to teach their own values and morals to their children about controversial topics such as gender identity, sexuality and more, parent Kevin O'Brien said. I hope that the Ocean City school district will push back on the New Jersey Department of Education, letting them know that there are many parents who believe that the new curriculum has gone too far.
Baruffi said additional community forums would be scheduled to continue to provide updated information on topics that are pertinent to the school district.
