Op-Ed: Reserved Seats, Diplomas and the Problem With Special Privileges

Sai Akiri is a resident of Berkeley Heights

Yesterday was a perfect summer day with a cool breeze for a middle school graduation ceremony. When I arrived, I bumped into a few friends and their parents.

Within moments of arriving, I noticed several seniors trying to get to the front three rows near the podium to get a glimpse of their young graduates. But the first three rows on both the right and left sides had reserved signs plastered on them. Upon inquiring, I was told the three rows on the right were blocked off for staff and the three rows on the left were for PTO, BHEF, administration and winners of a few contests.

It made me wonder: what is the rationale for reserved seating arrangements at graduation ceremonies?

I noticed similar reserved seating at music concerts at Columbia Middle School over the last couple of years. These seating arrangements in gyms and at graduation ceremonies have always made me wonder whether we take elderly grandparents and people with disabilities into consideration. We arrange for golf carts for easier transportation for graduation ceremonies at Governor Livingston, but we don’t seem to think about allocating designated spaces up front for seniors.

As witnessed yesterday, at the Columbia Middle School graduation, it was distressing to see seniors with walking canes denied access to the three front rows of reserved seating on both sides. It seemed inconsiderate. I wonder who is responsible for deciding to block off three entire rows of seats.

And how is it reasonable to turn away seniors, many of whom are grandparents of graduates? If anything, I believe we should be reserving seats for seniors and people with disabilities, since they need to be closer to the dais.

Why couldn’t these seats simply go to parents?

I also learned that seats are being reserved for local politicians. So we are making exceptions for a few people, even after the district went to great lengths to define a policy on handing out diplomas at graduation ceremonies.

I wonder when the district started reserving seats for town council members and politicians.

How are local town council members even being considered?

What have they done to earn this privilege?

Is it the fiasco they created with the Columbia Middle School field?

Was it their decision to lock out the high school tennis team from the tennis courts over a made-up insurance issue last year?

Is it their continued practice of witholding pilot dollars from our schools while, at the same time, bending ordinances to favor developer-political Donors?

Is it their wild insistence that the District cover police benefit and time off costs?

Was it the misinformation they spread in attempting to prevent the BOE in making transportation more equitable for working families while defending a policy that saw arbitrary gifting of free transportation to some while others either paid or had their transportation taken away with no transparent process connected to the decision making?

Where does the buck stop with these decisions to reward individuals for titles instead of actual contribution? Who is in charge of making these decisions – can any administrator arbitrarily decide this?

The Board amended Policy 0149 so that the administration would not have to make the decision regarding Board members, yet with local politicians, it’s all good? I opposed this policy and asked that, minimally, BOE Members with validated ethics complaints not be allowed to participate. The policy was unfortunately approved without this provision, however there is no language in the policy giving the mayor or Council a benefit that no other parent has.

And since this policy has now apparently opened up to just anyone, what is the process for a parent to be considered for this honor, or is this benefit simply reserved for people with titles and political connections?

These are my thoughts and opinions as an individual and do not represent the opinion of the Berkeley Heights Board of Education.

Submitted directly by the author; content reflects their own views