The Official NJ 2011 Taxpayers’ Guide to Education Spending

Click the title and as you read,
consider the question.
"How are the children?".

African American Mother's Association: Induction Ceremony

The first order of business for this newly formed association
will be to induct new members.

Mother and Son at the Beach

I hereby induct into the African American Mother's Association

All white women with black children

Especially black sons.

To all helicopter Moms

You are hereby embraced into a culture of people who realize that their sons

like the great bald Eagle are an endangered species that warrants protection.

It worries you that the world

Will not see them as they see you, but as their father's folk and that they will not be safe.

Your children see you, love you and are very lucky to have you hover.

A word of advice, make larger circles.

It may NOT be runaway trains that you see.

Welcome to our world. We are one. We are called the village.
Welcome to the Mother's Association that produced men like, Benjamin Banneker,
Frederick Douglass, Meager Eavers, Adam Clayton Powell, Alex Haley, Alvin Ailey,
Langston Hughes, Malcolm X, John A. Williams, Martin Luther King Jr. and President Barak Obama to name a few..

Know that you are the greatest hero in the lives of your children.
We embrace you
As you renew your pledge to love, educate and protect your kids.
We open our hearts to you.
You are now officially a Black Mother..

This meeting is now adjourned.

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.