Are Our Schools In Crisis?: What are Ethics Violations?

Vocabulary
Ethic - a set of moral principles
Ethical - relating to morals, morally correct,
Ethics - the science of morals in human conduct
The School Ethics Act - Everyone should read this. Learn to identify unethical behavior when demonstrated by school officials. Everyone in a society has rules they must live by. That is the way human beings maintain order, otherwise there would be anarchy.

Anarchy - disorder, especially in government, lack of government in a society

How are the children?

Anarchism - a belief system that proposes that all government should be abolished.

Anarchist - an advocate of anarchism, or political disorder

We now have lack of order in Englewood. Rules, due process and protocol have been ignored. Our board of Education swore an oath that is the School Ethics Act. The importance of this was covered in an earlier post. Click here and see that the information comes directly from the state government of New Jersey. I am not making it up as others would have you believe.

Okay, we will begin with (b) of the Act:
b. I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability, race, creed, sex, or social standing.

A plan is in the works that will further segregate the Englewood School District. Now they wish to remove even more students from the traditional learning evironment, because they have given up on them. Click here to find the proposal to do this.  Pay close attention to the criteria for removing students from the learning environment.

1. low self esteem in a school setting
2. Self fulfilling expectation of failure or minimum grades
3. Little or no motivation to attend school
4. High anxiety relative to meeting daily classroom participation expectations
5. Low parental involvement in student's education
6. Failure to pass State Assessments
7. Grade level retention or multiple summer school courses to qualify for promotion
8. Strong association with a social network that places little value on school success
9. Involvement with substance abuse (use, possession or sale)
10. Very weak reading comprehension or even decoding skills
11. Minimal skills in Arithmetic and working with numbers

#1 if you remove all children from the traditional learning environment that have low self esteem, the building would be empty. All teenagers have low self esteem, even the high achievers. As educators, it is our job to help students with these issues. We do not punish, ostracize or imprison them in some far away place out of sight and mind because of it..

#2 Do we place a student in a substandard environment and building because they are afraid of failure? How many of you have ever felt that way? I know I have. Many times. They know that the establishment does not want to teach them. Read this post on Bigotry. The School Master was ignorant to the fact that his bigotry had driven his best student into a stable to teach the students that he had refused to teach because of his own bigotry.

#3 Who among you wants to go to school when you are reminded every single day that you do not belong?
Would you feel good about going to school in a place where it has been made clear that you are not wanted? They may be young, but they are not stupid.

#4 When a child is placed in in-school suspension, gets a whipping from his father when he arrives home, and is put back into suspension when he arrives at school the next day for the entire day for simply tapping his fingers on another student's desk....where is the hope?

#5 This one is the kicker. This one should have every parent marching around the board offices holding a sign. Now they wish to remove your child from the traditional learning environment, because you are not involved in his education. Are you going to sit down for this?  Do you understand that they are telling you that they give up your child, because you are not doing anything? What have they asked of you? Has any school teacher or official asked you to do something that you refused to do? Are you going to let them get away with this? Remember, they are just like you, and just like me every minute that they do not sit behind that long table treating us like second class citizens.

#6 Failure to pass State Assessments - For those of you who do not know. Any student who has not passed state assessments has been scoring poorly on Tests since 3rd grade. Nothing has been done to help them since then. Now they want to put them in a separate school and label them unteachable. Where are the
services and the support systems that are supposed to help them at a very young age? The Federal Government has given Englewood a Title I classification. This means that the money to remediate and help the identified children has been there to help them all along. Why are punitive measures being taken now?

#7 Retention....Where are the Title I services that are supposed to be in place to help support children who might otherwise be in danger of failing? Why did this child not get these services when signs were first noticed? What, if anything, was done to help the child to succeed and feel comfortable in school?

#8 A strong Association with networks that do not hold school important. People, they are talking about GANGS. Is your child in a gang? Why do you think children are drawn to gangs? They are looking for a place to belong. Just like any normal human being on earth, they want to feel wanted. Okay, lets just say they are all herded into a place off away from everyone else. Tell me, who has really created that gang? You are right. Ostracized students will find themselves thrown together in one place where they will  bond  and share the contempt they have for the establishment. So is the Englewood School District in the business of creating GANGS?

#9 Involvement with Substance Abuse. Okay, no one wants a drug dealer in school. But we also do not want anyone punished because of suspicion. If a student is involved in the sale or distribution of drugs, they are involved in criminal activities. The law takes care of that. That is the job of Law Enforcement. The school board has no business ostracizing anyone without DUE PROCESS. (Even teachers have medical plans that help them if they have an alcohol or drug problem. They get help.)

#10 Very Weak Reading. Okay. A child has repeatedly scored low in the area of Literacy since 3rd grade and has not gotten any Title I reading classes and no support from the school to help. Do  we segregate him/her from the rest of the school population?  Interesting. What about the new little ones coming up? Do we have a holding pen all ready for them, because their reading scores are low? Wake up people, there is a pattern here. The system is sick.

#11 Low Math Scores...Same as reading. Do we really punish children, because the system has neglected them and failed them miserably. Oh, and the salary of the Curriculum and Instruction person continues to go up. Why? You have failed the children. For whom are you working?

Back to the School Ethics Act Letter (c)
c.  I will confine my board action to policy making, planning, and appraisal, and I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them.

Do you understand what that means? It means that the state says they must consult us first because we are the ones who will be afftected by the proposals or policies. And they have sworn to this. Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education for the United States of America describes this problem as " A Civil Rights Issue." I agree with him. I am willing to bring the situation  here in Englewood to the attention of the Supreme Court of the United States of America if that is what it takes to make the Board of Education of Englewood listen. They must begin to listen to the recommendations of the State of New Jersey. These CAPA REVIEW recommendations have been outlined in other posts within this newsletter. Read these recommendations and decide for yourself whether or not the Englewood School District has followed or even read them before going to such drastic measures concerning your child's schooling.
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To the parents of Englewood children:
If this proposal is approved and your child is identified as one who must attend the new tool of segregation, you are  not alone. We are Parent Advocates. We are retired teachers, former Englewood School Board Members, Parents working in legal professions and just plain folks who care. We stand with you. Use this email address and tell your story if you feel that your child has been treated unfairly. The Education Law Center is there to help.

CHARTER SCHOOL PARENTS: Regardless of how you feel about public schools, charters are public schools. Our tax dollars are also paying for your child's education. You are in effect a public/private school already. We know why you have abandoned this system. We feel your disappointment. If your child is not already slated for private school, your children will be herded along with ours when he/she finishes the 5th or 6th grade. Prepare for your child's future now. Stand with us!  Help us to hold this Board and this Superintendent to the rules (ethics). We do not want anarchy. Attend our school board meetings and we will attend your school board meetings. We all want the same thing. We want a good education for our children.

 

We know that business is booming, facilities are beautiful, and profits are high, but how are the children?