Fairfield Parents Protest Presence of NBC Film Crew Inside Closed Churchill School – TAPinto.net
FAIRFIELD, NJ — On Tuesday, Dec. 1, a crew from Universal Television, LLC, filmed a scene for the NBC program The Equalizer at Churchill School. When parents learned of the crew’s presence at the school, many of them voiced their disapproval.
Since school was closed due to the coronavirus, and students were denied the privilege of using the gym for recreational activities, parents asked why this crew was allowed to be inside and outside the building.
Parents were never notified of this film crew being allowed on school property to film outside and to have access to classrooms and the bathrooms.
The parents started a petition on “change.org” requesting that Superintendent of Fairfield Public Schools Dr. Susan Ciccotelli be removed from her job because she permitted the filming on school property and because of her decisions to continue the school’s remote learning directive. As of this writing, there were 118 anonymous people who signed the petition, but only 10 wrote comments and signed their names.
The parents said that Fairfield is the only school district in the West Essex area of Roseland, North Caldwell and Essex Fells that is closed. The petition states, “Our children are suffering mentally, emotionally and educationally, and our requests continue to fall on deaf ears. Dr. Ciccotelli lacks in her communication with parents and when communication is occurring, parents feel attacked, bullied and forced into agreeing with terms that are not within their children’s best interest.”
Other parents and residents have supported Ciccotelli’s decisions and praised her efforts on leading the school district through this pandemic.
In a letter to the parents of Stevenson and Churchill Elementary Schools, the Fairfield Education Association, including teachers, aides, secretaries and custodial staff, wrote, “Dr. Ciccotelli has always had the best interest of our children and staff, their health, safety, and well-being in mind. We have EVERY OUNCE of CONFIDENCE in her ability to perform her job duties as our superintendent and educational leader. A global pandemic is something that no school district has ever had to face before. As stated in the board’s letter, the decisions made regarding opening schools (and to what degree) are bound by county and state regulations. Dr. Ciccotelli has gone above and beyond to keep our safety, the safety of our students and the community as a whole, as her top priority; i.e. cleaning schedules, cohorts, shields, virtual meetings, health forms, sanitizers, etc. We feel fortunate to work in the Fairfield schools where our health and safety are paramount. Dr. Ciccotelli has been proactive in creating the most viable learning environment for our students.”
In response to the petition and social media posts, Ciccotelli sent an email out to the parents that only angered them more. Parents did not like the tone of the letter, saying they felt as if they were being scolded.
In Ciccotelli’s letter to parents, she stated, “To my dismay, I have been notified by many individuals claiming there are rumors being posted on the Fairfield Families Page as to why the district is remote. Furthermore, I was contacted by the county superintendent, as well as the Channel 12 News, that they have been contacted to ‘report’ the district was not being honest as to why we are remote. It is beyond disheartening that people believe the appropriate avenue to take is to use social media to spread false information and to call the county and news channel without contacting my office if there was a question or concern about the in-person closure and/or what was happening at Churchill School today. Additionally, it is upsetting to have to spend precious and limited time to address gossip. Although I am quite appalled with the approach parents took to spread false information without contacting the appropriate people for the facts, I will share the timeline of events that took place leading up to today.” And in her email, Ciccotelli continued to explain how the filming came about.
Robert Ivers, a parent, in turn, wrote a letter to the Fairfield Township Board of Education (BOE) explaining his concerns and also wrote a Letter to the Editor in Tap into West Essex, where he listed his questions.
In response to Ivers’ questions and to angry parents, on Dec. 8, the Fairfield BOE sent a five page email to the community responding to their questions. Parents seemed to be pleased with the response but still felt apprehensive about the BOE’s actions and honesty, especially concerning following their own policies.
In the BOE’s email, they said that no policy was violated. However, Ivers, in his letter to the BOE, sited the board’s policy. He wrote, “Paragraphs A.1 to A.3 of District Regulation 7510 – USE OF SCHOOL FACILITIES (M) clearly classifies the organizations and individuals allowed to utilize school facilities in priority order. Class I is for school activities. Class II is for Township recreation and club activities. Class III is for ‘Out-of-district groups for athletic, cultural, civic, educational, recreational and social purposes, approved by the board of education, in which more than fifty percent of the participants are residents of the West Essex Regional District.’ More importantly, Paragraph A.4 clearly states “No other organizations or individuals will be permitted to use school facilities.” With this knowledge of the policy, parents saw the BOE’s actions as a violation of their own policy and saw the BOE denying it.
In the question and answer option on Zoom, Board President Jeffrey Didyk stated, after receiving Ivers’ email, the BOE sent the email to their attorney. Her response was “no violations.”
In further detail the board’s letter explained that “the filming was limited to the outside school grounds, but bathroom and classroom access was provided. The filming took no more than 2 1/2 hours with approximately 40-50 people on site. The original request was for the use of the outdoor basketball courts at Churchill School. Once it was determined that no students would be in the building, the additional utilization of classrooms in the corridor closest to the outdoor basketball courts (rooms 20 and 21) and the bathrooms between the two classrooms were approved. Despite the approval, it was confirmed that there was absolutely no filming inside the building. Nonetheless, NBC’s team completed the proper sanitization of the restrooms and classrooms on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020 by 12:00 p.m.”
It was said that if school was in session, the parents would have been notified, but because the school was closed for virtual learning, the parents were not.
On Thursday night, there was a virtual Fairfield Board of Education meeting through Zoom, where the BOE allowed Fairfield Police Chief Anthony Manna to address the public on what occurred concerning the filming. Manna went through all communications with the production company and explained that the company needed a township permit to film, and his job was to “assess how the film production might affect traffic, parking, crowd control, overall security and public safety.”
In correspondence, he found out that the production company wanted a building that could fake as a juvenile detention center with a yard that they could transform with barbed wire fencing. The location manager informed Manna that they were looking for someplace that had a basketball court. Different sites were considered, but they chose Churchill. Manna told them that if the school wanted to permit the filming, then the police department would assure that the site would be controlled.
Manna put the production company in touch with the superintendent’s office so that they could speak and make any decisions about the use of the school. On Nov. 23, Manna was informed that permission was granted by the school district. Additional agreements were made with the Red Cross building, Hollywood Associates and Air Bound Aviation Center.
He stated that no state mandated COVID-19 protocols were violated, and vehicles from out of state have a business exemption. Manna said, “NBC Universal had extremely stringent COVID-19 protocols for the entire production company, including the presence of a COVID-19 testing trailer, compliance officers and a COVID-19 crew that sanitized the entire location before, during and after the production at each location.”
Manna stated that Ciccotelli’s decisions were always “made with the safety and best interest of the students and staff.” He praised Ciccotelli for having foresight in hiring armed retired police officers in schools to enhance security even before New Jersey created the position of Class 3 special police officers.
Afterwards the parents were allowed to comment on topics not on the agenda. The first parent to speak was Robert Ivers. He thanked Chief Manna, the teachers and school staff for their hard work under such unusual conditions. He also commented that he believes that if parents were informed of the filming before the event, there would not have been a backlash.
Ivers main concern was, in his opinion, the board did not follow their own policy of no other organizations or individuals being permitted to use school facilities. The school district received $8000 in payment for the filming. The money will go in the general fund. Ivers recommended that the money go to purchasing more technology for the teachers.
Michelle Hartman expressed concerns about the safety of the students since outsiders were allowed in the building and now know the floor plan. She said that she feels unwelcome in her own children’s school, while outsiders were allowed in. The environment is not “happy and loving.” She said, “We are made to feel very uncomfortable.”
Manna responded to her question saying that no floor plans were given out, and he does not feel it is a security issue. There are security cameras on the premises and filming only took place outside.
One parent said that she is struggling with how things are communicated. She did not feel that parents were given recognition, and she believes everyone needs to work together, but she also feels that someone has to say maybe we have “dropped the ball in communicating” with the parents. She appreciated Didyk explaining the reasons for remote learning at a previous board meeting. She said that whether she agreed with him or not, she got accurate information, and he took the time. She would like to hear more of this type of communication. She stated that many people called, and it’s “anger inducing to not get recognized. We just want to know what is happening and why?”
Another resident expressed wanting an apology from Ciccotelli for the condescending letter she wrote to the parents. Many agreed that words should have been chosen wisely.
Board member Brian Egan said that board policy was not broken by allowing NBC to film on school property because there was “no commercial advantage.” He said that he believes there has been more communication and transparency since the pandemic and that there is transparency in board policy updates. He explained that the board makes the policy, and the superintendent makes the regulations based on board policy. He defended the board in terms of having a plan since one resident stated that parents need a plan and are not seeing one. Egan said that the board had a plan, but COVID-19 changed it. He believes as circumstances change, the policy from hybrid to virtual learning must be evaluated each time.
A resident was concerned about the 13 percent COVID-19 positivity rate in Fairfield and is concerned with the opening of schools on Dec. 14. Ciccotelli said that she does not make rash decisions. She is in communication with other schools, school physicians and health officers. A decision concerning the opening of school would be sent out soon.