Court Ruling Keeps Montclair Schools Closed. NJEA VP Spiller Agrees but Where Is Mayor Spiller?

The Montclair Local reports that a Chancery Court has denied a preliminary injunction that would have forced Montclair teachers to end their boycott of the Montclair school district’s reopening plan.  This means that Montclair schools will remain all-remote at least until March 9, when the court will hold its next hearing. Too bad for Superintendent Ponds’ reopening plan, and too bad for the Montclair parents and students who want to return to in-person instruction.  Having been all-remote since last March, they will have to wait longer.

But what does NJEA VP/Mayor Spiller think about this further delay?  We know that he previously publicly sided with the NJEA and likely emboldened the Montclair Education Association (MEA) to take a hard line.  We know that Mayor Lightfoot of Chicago and Mayor Breed of San Francisco are fighting the teacher unions in those cities to re-open schools.  Rather than represent all the citizens of Montclair – including those who desperately want schools to reopen – NJEA VP/Mayor Spiller appears content to let the MEA assert veto power over the superintendent and the district.

Given his public siding with the NJEA and his acquiescence in the face of the MEA boycott, Sunlight can only conclude that NJEA VP/Mayor Spiller’s blatant and judicially recognized conflict of interest has taken control.  That’s good for Spiller’s union but what about the citizens and students of Montclair?