The Kids Perspective: Update

This statement was written by a 7th grade child who attended the League of Women Voters

Candidate's Night with his parents on Thursday, October 30, 2014. When I learned that this young man was in attendance, I sent him a message and asked him to write his impressions of the Candidate's Forum. It is entitled, The Kid's Perspective.

"At the debate Mr. Glenn Garrison made me very mad and made me feel to shout out that his statements were false. Coming from a twelve year old kid means you can infer about the lies he was telling. During his statements he was talking about the buildings but mentioned nothing about the kids. That made me mad because isn’t the board of EDUCATION supposed to be about the kids? Never talking about the kids shows that he does not care for anything that is happening with the school system. Making false statements that even kids can tell are lies? That is just cold. He is trying to bring down the school systems and get all the kids in our schools to go nowhere. And Mr. Stephen Brown agreeing with that? This shows that neither of them care about our school system and are not trying to help the families within the community. Helping the kids would open people up to new opportunities but, with no help the kid have no connections and gets “stuck in the mud” and is able not to escape. So, with that please do not vote for Glenn Garrison and Stephen Brown who do not care about the kids, but want to gain power and mess even more things up."        

Even the children can see the lies. Is that not even the least bit embarrassing? The child is very intuitive in his assessment that Mr. Garrison cares more for buildings than for children. Review the events connected with the construction of the so called shed in the wetlands area across the street from Grieco School. Where is the permit from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for Encroachment upon the shoulder of a stream or riparian zone?

The land from the rear of McCloud School down to the railroad tracks as well as the land on which Grieco School stands was given to the Englewood Board of Education for one dollar by Malcolm S. Mackay and his wife Helen Raynor Mackay. This Deed is dated March 18th 1922. Below is an excerpt from this deed. This deed was on file at the County and has been part of the public record for nearly 100 years. 

"...This conveyance is made upon the express conditions that the property hereby conveyed shall be used for such public purposes as the said Board of Education shall deem advisable. In the event however, that the Board of Education deems it inadvisable to use said property for school, park or athletic purposes then the title to this property shall revert to the City of Englewood to be used for the purposes of a public park and in no case shall the said property or any part thereof be used for commercial or business purposes..."

The excerpt above is what is called a DEED RESTRICTION.

Note that on the application below someone checked no to the question asking if there were DEED RESTRICTIONS on the property.

"The Board of Education saves money by performing all of its own maintenance and not outsourcing the work to contractors. As a consequence, the Board needs additional space to store its maintenance equipment. The City's Department of Public Works also makes use of the Board's equipment. Thus, the construction of a maintenance shed would benefit both the school and the community."

Glenn Garrison was sworn in and gave what appears to be false testimony to the Board of Adjustment on August 19, 2010. Below are minutes from a regular meeting of Englewood's Board of Adjustment.

"...Sworn in and giving testimony was Glenn Garrison, member of the Englewood Board of Education. Mr. Garrison gave testimony regarding the structure of the board of education. Mr. Garrison stated that all school land is considered parkland. The BOA is responsible for snow removal, shoveling, equipment and all school buses..."

The child's words ring true in so many ways. The money spent on the million dollar shed could be used to build more classrooms at Quarles School where they have trailers. It could also be used to build a place for the Eagle Program students who have been kept in substandard temporary buildings for nearly 10 years. In statements at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Stephen Brown chastised the present Board Members for keeping children in temporary school buildings. Stephen and Glenn blame 3 new Board Members for this situation, but I have watched their remaining SEEK Colleagues control the vote for the last year.

Their SEEK Colleagues are the ones who created the need for the trailers, when they failed to consider recommendations made by the Principal of Quarles School. It suits their purposes to anger the residents surrounding the Quarles school so that they may collect their votes later.

Meanwhile, this shed/office building is supposed to be a prefabricated building seated on a concrete slab. Take a walk over and judge for yourself. Is that what you see? It is planned to have 3 bathrooms, an office, a break room and a 2nd floor mezzanine. Since when does a shed used for storage need a mezzanine. It also seems they have decided to add a basement. Go look for yourself.

The 2 bathrooms with outside access are said to be used by the Little League Field. This is supposed to give the building Recreation Status. Supposedly, this recreation status is what got them the variance approval. Good try, but no cigar. Little League is not Recreation. It is a Private entity. Are they renting the field? That constitutes a business deal. The rental of parking spaces to the hospital also constitutes a business deal. I see that as a Violation of a DEED RESTRICTION, just like selling those 2 houses were also part of the DEED RESTRICTION.

The plans say that the building is to be used by 16 grounds and maintenance personnel. The grounds and maintenance personnel are employed by Pritchard. We have only 1 employee engaged in that type of work and that is Michael Hunken. I do believe that even Mr. Hunken's Secretary is employed by Pritchard. I mean, she must be, since the Englewood Public School District abolished the position of Secretary in August of 2012 along with the position of Paraprofessional. These positions were outsourced like the positions of custodian, grounds and maintenance people.

I already had these documents in my possession when I asked the Board of Education who was responsible for grounds work and maintenance. I already knew that Pritchard handles all grounds and maintenance work. Before Pritchard, there was a company named Control. I know custodians, maintenance and grounds workers who loss their jobs when these services were outsourced over 20 years ago. Yet, page 5 of the variance application above states specifically that "the Board saves money by performing all of its own maintenance and not outsourcing the work to contractors."

Watch the video and learn who is really

responsible for grounds work since

the outsourcing of that personnel.

This is our rain forest in 2011. Isn't it green and beautiful?

Only Mike Hunken seems to know how this green space
got suddenly blacktopped. One day there was green
grass and the next there was this. It was as if
there was an IM Mission and everyone
went mute.

Take a look at the excavation below . Is that a basement they are building?

What will be stored in that basement?

The answer to that question is WATER!

When this ditch was dug we thought they were just 
planning a ditch for plumbing. Even that is against the 
rules of encroaching upon the shoulder of a stream 
in the Wetlands.

When will the legacy of lies end? 

When will we have had enough of these lies?  The child said it well. We do not want Glenn Garrison and Stephen Brown back on the School Board where the attention will be focused, once again on buildings and not on children.

Is this a concrete slab?

Is this a concrete slab or a foundation for
a regular building?

The most important word in the description of this expired permit is "existing".  Why is it that the schematics from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection show that the construction is being done of the West Side of the wetlands protected stream and NOT on the East Side where there is less space?

Oh, what a vicious and tangled web we weave, 
when first we practice to deceive.

Wash the dirty laundry, Engleworld. Alice is falling down the rabbit hole and will be arriving soon.

        "........And how are the children? It seems that they are not well. They have caught the adults in too many lies.........