Monday, November 26, 2012

At Long Last, Test Scores

Better late than never? I wonder.
We have been requesting this information for months. They are finally releasing this most important data.
It is in your/our best interest that we fill the room. Before attending the meeting, visit this website and learn about  FOCUS SCHOOLS and what it means to be designated as one. Find out what we mean when we say that the  "RACS" are here. 

Visit the NJ Department of Ed. site and learn about FOCUS Schools before attending this meeting. We want you to be able to understand the relationship between these scores and the designation of Dwight Morrow High School as a FOCUS school. Learn about the RACS. It is extremely important to have this information while listening to this presentation. Formulate your questions before arrival. If we are not allowed questions on Wednesday,  there will be another chance to ask questions at Thursday's Board meeting at 8 pm in Grieco School.
The New Jersey Department of Education Official Website.
http://www.state.nj.us/education/rac/pres/info.pdf


The Message from EPSD:

Presentation on Student Academic Progress on Wednesday 11/28, 8:00pm at Grieco School

On Wednesday evening, the Board of Education has called a special meeting devoted to a presentation on the most recent state testing scores. Everyone in the community is encouraged to attend.

Regulations require that students be tested annually in grades 3 through 8. New Jersey requires that high school students also demonstrate proficiency through state testing. In Englewood, students in all schools with the exception of the Quarles Early Childhood Center take state tests, and we have placed an emphasis on improving our students' proficiency, especially in language arts and math.

 At the meeting, you will hear from the principals who will discuss the students' academic progress. Each will present test scores and explain progress made and obstacles that are being addressed.

The principals also will discuss goals they have set and plans to meet them.Academic Progress Presentation Wednesday Night
We hope you will make an effort to come to this important meeting.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Suggestion Box: EPSD

Englewood Parents: Spread the word that FREE TUTORING IS AVAILABLE in Math and Algebra. 
Click here for more information. Help your children prepare.


Friday, November 9, 2012

Suggestion Box: EPSD

Dr. Donald K. Carlisle: Please wear your id. Identify yourself.

Identified!
The Citizens For Public Education are making a formal request. Please have as many general assemblies as possible and introduce yourself to the students. They do not know who you are. You do not wear identification. Any child that you speak to must know who you are. This is most important since you have taken to handing out suspensions. This is the job of your selected Principal. How are we to know how well Mr. Peter Elbert and his Assistant Principals are doing in their positions, if you continue to do their jobs? This was one of the drawbacks of you installing yourself in our high school building.

You could be any old arbitrary white  man targeting children. Have you been reading the  papers lately?

Identified!
 A child's life is impacted forever when they are suspended from school. You are dealing with human beings here. Some of them are actually in awe of tall, intimidating white men with power. We do not want anymore children sent to the Vincent Lombardi Educational Center for any reason.

Identified!
We are doing all we can to terminate "the obvious protest" that is being identified in our young men wearing their pants below their drawers. You, and others must understand that some young men, because of their body types have always had a problem with the pants sagging long before this fad came into being. Men of all types and all races have been identified with this problem. I have seen lots of butts in my years that were exposed because of ill fitting clothing that had nothing to do with this obvious protest movement.

Please keep this in mind when you exercise your power in the hallways of our school buildings.

We are concerned about our children. Please wear id. Identify yourself.

                                             How are the children?

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Fire Everyone!

A Board Member offered this as a solution to the problems in Englewood School District:

We fire all teachers. They apply for their jobs again and we hire the ones that we think are effective.

After thinking about that, I have this to say.

In July, we abolished all Teaching Assistants and Secretaries. We did to the lowest paid employees what was suggested we do to teachers. Paraprofessional and Secretary positions were abolished. Some of them were forced to apply for their old jobs with less pay and no benefits. 

So how is that working out?

Monday, September 24, 2012

TRUST!

The supplemental educational services (SES) provisions exemplify the principles
discernable in No Child Left Behind (NCLB) that rely on accountability and competition
as mechanisms to improve education and produce better opportunities for disadvantaged students. No Child Left Behind defines SES as “additional academic instruction designed to increase the academic achievement of students in low-performing schools,” and indicates that they “must be high quality, research-based, and specifically designed to increase student achievement.”

Thursday, September 20, 2012 Sylvan Learning Center was being discussed as a continued provider of services to eligible students in the district. For some reason there seemed to be a problem as to whom the services were available. One Board member, Glenn Garrison spoke up with these remarks.

 "Using the services of Sylvan Learning Center constitutes outsourcing. That is contracting out for services that are available in the district."  

He was joking. He laughed at his own off color joke. His was the only laughter in the room. The children who are eligible for these services are not his concern.

That is what I remember from the School Board Meeting on 9/20/2012. I can't get those words out of my mind. They are ingrained there with the "Do we care" statement uttered last year when non compliance to the QSAC was being discussed by the same board member. 

The paraprofessionals were fired with written promises of employment in their hands. 
They were Outsourced. Abolished.
They are not smiling.
Some of them are being evicted from their homes.

Is the Englewood, New Jersey School Board the only one conducting business as if all the
tenets of NCLB have been abolished?

                                                    How are the children?