Residents Request Support Amid North Hanover Board Discussions on Superintendent
Administrator Note: We received communication from two residents in another District outside the 21st requesting that we publish the email at the end of this article regarding issues with their Board of Education and the law firm Cleary Giacobbe Alfieri Jacobs, LLC, in connection with efforts to remove their Superintendent. We have been asked to share this email and have verified its authenticity through direct contact with the author. The article prior is meant to provide some context from their perspective. While North Hanover is not within the 21st District, we believe this is an important story due to the involvement of the law firm and the potential lack of representation for many affected military families, who may not have the opportunity to vote in their local BOE elections, despite the significant concerns raised. The North Hanover BOE and Ms. Payne will be provided with a copy of the article below and be given an opportunity to respond.
A special meeting of the North Hanover Board of Education held yesterday drew a large crowd of concerned community members, many of whom voiced their support for long-standing Superintendent Helen Payne. The contentious meeting, called to discuss the potential non-renewal of Payne’s contract, followed months of escalating tension centered around allegations of a personal vendetta against the superintendent.
During the meeting, most residents expressed strong support for Payne, highlighting her significant contributions to the district, which serves a unique population with 75% military-connected students. Over her 14-year tenure, Payne has been credited with fostering exceptional academic performance despite challenging socioeconomic factors—33% of students in the district are classified as financially disadvantaged.
The meeting was convened amidst allegations that Board President Bryan Reading, whose wife Angela Reading has a well-documented history of conflict with Payne, may be driving efforts to oust the superintendent. Angela Reading, a former teacher in the district, has reportedly been critical of Payne for over a decade. Concerns about potential ethical violations were raised after newly acquired public records suggested that Reading initiated discussions about replacing Payne as early as November.
Community members and educational leaders from outside the district have rallied behind Payne. A letter from the Executive Director of the Military Impacted Schools Association (MISA) emphasized Payne’s instrumental role in securing vital grants and maintaining high standards for military-connected students. “Rarely over all my years of being the Executive Director of MISA have I been involved with a school district so important to Impact Aid,” the letter stated.
Supporters at the meeting underscored Payne’s accomplishments, including her leadership in obtaining Department of Defense Impact Aid, which has been crucial in maintaining the district’s fiscal stability and superior academic programs. “Helen Payne is not just doing her job—she’s excelling at it,” one resident remarked during public comments.
Supporters also noted that while BOE Members were elected, many families on military bases who may be in support of the Superintendent are unable to vote despite their children attending local schools as they are residents of other states.
Critics allege that Angela Reading’s involvement, which includes a history of legal battles against the district and public appearances that have brought unwanted attention to the community, has created a divisive atmosphere. Her controversial past actions, such as appearing on national media and involving legal organizations known for pursuing high-profile cases, have further complicated the local dispute.
Adding to the controversy, Payne was unable to attend the meeting due to a prior commitment at a National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS) board meeting in San Antonio. Many attendees criticized the timing of the special session, viewing it as a strategic move to exclude Payne from the discussions.
“We deserve transparency and fairness,” said Christian Janis, a local resident. “This isn’t just about Helen Payne’s job—it’s about ensuring that personal vendettas don’t dictate the future of our children’s education.”
Here is is a clip from last nights BOE Meeting in North Hanover:
01/15/2025 Update from Mr. Janis:
Last night’s meeting was an addition to the schedule by the BOE president when he requested the BOE administrator issue Payne a RICE notice. This RICE notice appeared to include something that thwarted the BOE ability to go into closed session and discuss Payne’s contract. But, Bruce Padula announced that they would go into closed session to discuss an ethics/legal issue that arose early that morning. People familiar with BOE operations have told me that the BOE president has clearly committed ethics violations so people are now working to submit those. Ms Reading wrote a letter to the BOE complaining about FB comments made by the only BOE member that supports Payne, (Nancy Morrow), and we believe she is likely to submit an ethics complaint against her.
01/15/2025 Fact Check Update by NJ21st:
As many speakers spoke of the academic success of the District as a reason to why the Superintendent should remain, we decided to check out the proficiency scores for the District.
Only 46% of North Hanover Students meet or exceed proficiency in ELA, 41% in Math and 25% in Science.
To be fair, one would need to look at socioeconomically similar Districts to determine whether these percentages are anomalous and we simply don’t know North Hanover that well. These are bad and NO District should look like this, however, until schools are managed and funded correctly it may very well be a reality. Residents would be wise to consider this data and compare them to similar schools.
01/16/2025 Update from Mr Janis- Response to Fact Check:
Hi John, to address the fact checking that can be misleading, some educators reached out to me to ensure some things were better understood. These educators are not just from North Hanover, in fact most were not:
“We need to be very careful is using test scores (in isolation) to paint a picture about a school/districts success/capability”, several teachers & education professionals that do not teach within North Hanover. Let’s also consider this change: https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2024/09/nj-changing-evaluation-school-districts-more-student-growth-emphasis/
Within the above linked article, we see “A district’s performance on standardized tests is correlated with its wealth. During public testimony on the changes last month, superintendents said relying on standardized test scores alone does not give the full picture of school effectiveness. The changes to this section will increase the number of points dedicated to student growth in math and English Language Arts, giving growth more weight than achievement.”
Test scores in North Hanover are very, very similar to all of Burlington County. As a county, only 2 districts passed science according to the tests. Are those that “do better” according to the tests teaching to the test or are their students genuinely growing? No matter what, the test scores in Burlington County are still seen as problematic and, as a county, the problems are being addressed.
The prior changes in achievement data happened and declined for all districts from NJASK to PARC and then another drop from PARC to NJSLA. Both of these changes changed the achievement by 10-13% as the questions were higher rigor.
In an “apples to apples” comparison, North Hanover students outperform their “like” peers, and do especially well with sub-groups that are typically less well-served. This is evidenced by the email from Executive Director of the Military Impacted Schools Association (MISA) when he states “I believe this grant funding and the other superior programs that the district has in place due to Ms. Paynes leadership has brought in very good test scores for the children at North Hanover.”
We need to be very conscious of comparing “apples to apples” when looking at test scores as when you look at the “average” student that moves on from North Hanover to the regional middle school, they do at least as well as their peers from surrounding schools like Chesterfield, Springfield, and Mansfield (who all attend the same regional MS and High school). I can tell you that many residents of North Hanover have made the same mistake of trying to “compare scores” to the schools in the towns mentioned above. As a resident of North Hanover and with a wife that has been a well-respected teacher for 22+ years, we can confidently state that we are very happy with the education our children have been getting within this district. People send their children to private school all the time and only some choose to take these same tests, correct? So what criteria are they using to choose the private school? The same that we use to judge a school like North Hanover.
Does North Hanover have some challenging kids to meet the needs for? Yes, but the school has a lot of support to meet them. North Hanover must find the “recipe” to educate kids that come to their schools and sometimes that recipe is a bit unique.
A school with a very high percentage of military students also deals with high student turnover. In fact in the words of a teacher within the district “military student turnover is crazy high”. Some detail to help people better understand the dynamics at play here:
- Military families are stationed at JB-MDL from 1-6 years with 2-3 years being the most common timeline at JB-MDL
- Depending on where their children are in their education timeline they may be impacted by multiple other school systems for good or bad
- A quote from a military family: “My oldest graduated elementary school at her 5th school in her 5th state, so attributing her 5th grade test scores solely to the Fort Leavenworth public schools is not accurate
- North Hanover faces complex challenge that no other school system in New Jersey faces based on the percentage/size of their military connected student population
- Comparing test scores without comparing student turnover presents an inaccurate measurement
Also, in my own opinion just to help paint a picture, when I go to the annual Halloween parade at the elementary school, it is evident there are a higher number of special needs students with their own support staff than you would see at other schools. These are mostly military children and part of the aid that North Hanover receives is to cover the needs for these special needs students. It is my understanding that (almost all) special needs students standardized test score are included within the aggregate scores assigned to the school.
If we want to use an apples to apples comparison, this would be a good place to start taking a look: https://www.af.mil/Portals/1/documents/2021SAF/09_Sept/External_CASH_single_map_file_v4.2.pdf . Unfortunately, it is very challenging to figure out how to figure out an adequate way to judge and compare the education one gets at schools that are military connected, especially those with such a high population of military connected students.
In summary, the North Hanover School District faces a combination of challenges that no other school district faces in New Jersey:
- High percentage of military impacted students leading to a very high turnover rate with students that may have jumped around from school to school having their test scores count for North Hanover
- High percentage of local students that are considered to be economically disadvantaged, which has notable impact on test score performance (Citation: https://www.nassp.org/poverty-and-its-impact-on-students-education/)
- Based on comparison to appropriate District Factor Groups (DFG) ELA, Math, & Science scores are at or above public school performance in New Jersey public school districts (as an aside, the science assessment appears to be lacking in effectiveness to evaluate students competency): (Citation of presentation to the North Hanover BOE in 2024: https://cdnsm5-ss18.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_286693/File/Departments/Curriculum%20&%20Instruction/Assessments/Fall%202024%20NJSLA%20Board%20Presentation.pdf)
Email from Concerned Residents
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