What does a student do in Teaneck to join an AP or Honors Class?

Soldier @Monument

Answer: Register, get a parent signature, and start going to class.

Watch the videos made by the students of the EAGLE Program. Listen to what they have to say about Dwight Morrow High School and education in general. It is clear that they have a firmer grasp on the "TRUE" Englewood problem than the adults. Listen. They know it. They speak on it. "THEY SEE YOU!" Again, I ask you, 'how are the children?". We are here for the children.

Men and women only slightly older than the students in the Eagle Program are putting their lives on the line everyday so we can sit down at home and wallow in indifference instead of standing up against what we know in our hearts to be wrong. How are the Children?

Let us not compare ourselves to a town that is fighting to stay afloat themselves.

They are trying desperately NOT to become "LIKE" Englewood. The thing that made them different is not test scores. Students are at Liberty to make some very hard choices about the course of study. They have their town behind them.

I read an article the other day that was filled with suggestions and fear that America was becoming a "Third World Country". Well, as quiet as it is kept, America has always been a third world country. Amerigo Vespucci and Christopher Columbus did not find white Anglo Saxons on these lands when they arrived. We are here and we are staying, now see us!

"How Are The Children!"

Sometimes you just have to run things up the flagpole. The following is a conversation generated on FACEBOOK in response to the article above.

Alice Twombly
Lucy, there's something also about teacher approval for AP classes.

Lucy Walker

Even that is more liberal than here. I remember once Jim and I had an argument because I wanted to know why a particular young man was in AP. I was concerned that he was clearly NOT what I thought was AP material. Jim laughed and said, "he has a right to fail. We shouldn't stop him from trying." Jim and I had our disagreements, but he was right. The young man did not fail. He got a C. I learned something very valuable that year about students and choice.

Alice Twombly
It's a bit different today, but the end result is the same. Kids get recommended to AP by their teachers, and the guidance counselor also weighs in on the situation-- but Jim's old standard, I think, still prevails. Incidentally, I want to show you a senior project on the Teaneck Schools that a senior at Dwight Englewood just completed on "The Achievement Gap." Let's get together.

"How Are The Children?"

May 12, 2011 Reorganization Meeting of the Englewood Board of Education. The most disappointing thing happened later when I was going over my notes. I remembered the look on my neighbor's face when she realized that not one of the new hires was an  African American, Latino, or Asian man.  Not one of the new hires looked like the young men who had just won first prize. She kept saying that the young people in the District would never call on those folks for help. We just saw more people with empty offices and large salaries. I thought about those Eagles@Liberty children, the school Psychologist and the Social Worker new hires. And I wondered, "what is he thinking, and what were they thinking?" The new hires may be fantastic at what they do, but we all know that this new hiring was not intended to benefit the mainstream of Englewood's student population. How do new board members  in clear conscience vote on new hires when they have not been trained as board members yet? The new hires and the new board members are in for a very bumpy ride.

I was also disappointed to learn that a promise of No Layoffs had been broken.  The question was asked and put aside. The question needs an answer.  Look to article b. of the Ethics Code.

  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.

In previous meetings, 'before the elections' a lot of lip service was given to "0 % Layoffs" and "No Tax Levy". Do we also have a tax levy coming our way? Oh, and off subject, but not really, NJ just found millions of dollars. Now we have a surplus. Transparent. Transparent. Transparent. Transparent.

An Eagle@Liberty Soars!

The most progressive thing about Englewood Board of Education's reorganization meeting on May 12, 2011 were the smiles on the Eagle@Liberty students as they posed with their plaques for winning 1st prize in a video contest. 

In the top photo they are pictured posing nervously with their instructors.

In the second from the top, I got an odd response when I asked them to strike a "homeboy poise" for me. They smiled and gave me what they knew I wanted, which was a more relaxed pose featuring teenage contest winners.

They cheered when I asked them to pose in front of a collage of President Obama. In unison, they all said, "Yes We Can!" They were proud to echo the message presented on the board at Grieco Elementary School. You had to be there.

Students enrolled in Englewood's E.A.G.L.E School recently entered a contest at The Center For Alcohol and Drug Resources: A Program of Children's Aid and Family Services. The winning video chosen was created by the Eagle Alternative High School Program which is part of the Englewood Public School District. Congratulations to Natalia Rodriquez, Aziz McCullum, Michael Chin, Domonique Pleasant, and David Naranjo. Natalia was not in attendance at the meeting.

It is a short video that runs less than 2 minutes and may be viewed at the organization's site.  http://www.tcadr.org/programs/psa-contest.html 

I must make note that the EAGLE Program's school building has been condemned for many years.

Code of Ethics for All NJ Board of Education Members

The School Ethics Act requires all school board members

to abide by the following Code of Ethics:

a. I will uphold and enforce all laws, rules and regulations of the

    State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools.

    Desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and

    ethical procedures.

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.

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

d. I will carry out my responsibility, not to administer the schools,

    but together with my fellow board members, to see that they

    are well run.

e. I will recognize that authority rests with the board of education

    and will make no personal promises nor take any private action

    that may compromise the board.

f. I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special

   interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for

   personal gain or for the gain of friends.

g. I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools

    which, if disclosed, would needlessly injure individuals or the

    schools. In all other matters, I will provide accurate information

    and, in concert with my fellow board members, interpret to the

    staff the aspirations of the community for its schools.

h. I will vote to appoint the best-qualified personnel available after

   consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative

   officer.

i. I will support and protect school personnel in proper performance

   of their duties.

j. I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and

   will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure

   of an administrative solution.

As Parent advocates and Community Members we must hold each School Board Member accountable or to his/her OATH. The New Jersey Constitution promises and assures us that our children will be provided with a thorough and efficient education. Each board member is required to attend training that prepares him/her to serve on the school board. Perhaps it is time we encourage them to go above the requirement and aspire to higher heights. Does that sound familiar? It has been suggested that we compete with surrounding Towns that have higher test scores. I suggest that we compete with ourselves to be the best that we can be. Towns that we seek to best have board members who are very active in the New Jersey School Board Association.


Certificated Board Member (CBM) - the requirement
Master Board Member (MBM) - the second level of certification
Certified Board Leader (CBL) - the highest level of individual certification

Recipient boards must demonstrate an emphasis on Student Achievement in their board actions.
Board Certification (BC)
Board Recertification (BR)
Carole E. Larsen Master Board Certification (MBC)

The Gift Of Education

The Gift of Education
© 1972
Christmas came early this year
Rocker fella played Santa Claus
Bought politicians and changed the laws
President made a lot of promises
About how things are going to be different

But empty stockings still hang
On my Johnny’s classroom walls
My son and yours still fight
In a strange school's halls

My child needs the gift of Education
It does not matter
Whether the term applied
Is integration or segregation
You cannot integrate a person’s mind
With blind, brute force

That is not the solution

Put your hand in your pocket
Stop squeezing the eagle
Send my child to school
In his own neighborhood

Busing my child away cross town
Will not achieve the integration
That I seek
Not while bias minds fight to keep his beauty down

I pay taxes
But my child is still getting hand me down clothes
Hand me down books,
Hand me down looks,
Hand me down schools
Hand me down teachers
Boys fighting boys and their father’s too

That is enough!

Put your hand in your pocket
Stop squeezing the eagle
Build my child
A Good school
In his own neighborhood.

For the past week I have been reading the various Doctoral Dissertations written about the over 50 year attempt to integrate Englewood Schools. Dr. Leroy McCloud's stuck with me the most. It is probably the most controversial. I dug back into some of my activist poetry from my college days in the early 1970's and found the piece that I share above. I guess Dr. McCloud and I had more in common that I ever knew.

In 1980, I moved back to Englewood when my daughter was in the 4th grade. She was getting taunted a lot in the Fort Lee School she attended. At Cleveland School, her first marking period report card had all A's. It was just too good to be true. I felt in my heart that she would do better when more of the children looked like her, but that was too much of a change. At the parent conference I questioned her teacher about the A's. She exuded pride while extolling my daughter's great qualities. Mind you, I love my daughter, but I have always been realistic in my expectations. I asked the teacher to describe the child for whom she had written that glowing report. She described someone totally different who shared the same first name as my child. That wonderful report card was for someone else. She had neglected to add my child to her class roster. When I complained to Dr. McCloud, he was only a little perplexed. He insisted that my daughter keep those great grades for that marking period and that teacher was to start fresh with her the second marking period.

It was my first experience with the Englewood School system as a Parent. That incident did a lot to shape the way I interacted with my own students for the next 27 years. I was determined to know all of my students, even the ones I supervised in Study Halls and other activities. Everyone needs affirmation and recognition. Children need it most of all. Getting or not getting affirmation shapes their lives for years to come.