ATTENTION!  ATTENTION!

The LOCATION OF The Englewood School Board Meeting has been changed

New location: Greico School
Durie Ave. Across the street from Winton White Stadium
Thursday, June 16, 2011, 8pm
MAJOR CHANGES ARE BEING PROPOSED!
PASS THE WORD AND BE THERE...!


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The next School Board of Education Meeting is scheduled for:
Thursday, July 21, 2011

Closed session: 6:30 PM

Open session: 8:00 PM

Russell C. Major Liberty School

12 Tenafly

k -5 Singapore Math Nights
Introduction to Singapore Math has been cancelled. We will get back to you with updates when they become available.

Are Our Schools In Crisis?: Are You Sure That The Revolution Is Not Being Televised?

                                Times have changed ...the

Revolution will be Televised

An incident happened at the Wellness Activity on Friday, June 10,  that left us infuriated. Students from the Eagle Program were removed from the premises by the administration of the high school. The students were accompanied by their teacher. What possible reason could there be for not allowing them to attend? Why were they not invited? I am yelling now? Why did you alienate them? Why are you further segregating the population of Dwight Morrow High School? The diploma that each of these students will earn will bear the name of Dwight Morrow High School. This is rather scary since a board member questioned the importance of the school being named after Dwight W. Morrow to my face.

My anger at the establishment is being directed onto more important things. About an hour ago, a former student sent me a link to the enclosed video. I always smile when Dave leaves me a link on Facebook. He is the perfect example of someone that adults totally misunderstood.  He seemed a regular James Dean, rebel without a cause sort of guy. He wore a black leather jacket with all manner of silver chains, (it was a great jacket) black boots, ripped tee shirts, black jeans worn soft. Sometimes Goth, sometimes not. Got the picture? He is now a Teacher in California.  I have been listening to Sir Ken Robinson all day. In his own unique way he speaks on the various areas of education as I have documented within this blog. If we are able to convince even 1 Chief School administrator to adopt a even a limited similar mindset when supervising schools we will have travelled one giant step closer to the goal.. It is just a way of looking at the problem that is in touch with today.

Sir. Ken Robinson: Bring on the Learning Revolution
Spanish Translation and Subtitles available

If you are confused, watch again, listen this time.

Oh, and we know that business is fine, but how are the children?

More information about Sir Ken Robinson may be found in the resources below.

Listening to the entire series was very enlightening.

Ken Robinson: Author & Educator

 Wikipedia Biography 

Ken Robinson: The Hammer Lectures - on youtube

Ken Robinson: The Changing Paradigms - on youtube

Creating Tomorrow's Schools Today: Education-Our Children-Their Future

Arts in Schools

Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

Elemento (Spanish Edition)

 How are the children?

Mount Calvary Baptist Church

of Englewood

presents

Children & Education Weekend

Saturday, June 11, 2011 - Sunday June 12, 2011

Saturday, June 11, 2:00 PM

Education Forum: Creating a Culture for Academic Success

Representatives of Englewood and Teaneck Boards of Education will participate in the discussion.

Saturday, June 11, 6:00 PM

Worship in Song, Dance and The Word

presented by special musical guests and our MCBC Teens

Sunday, June 12, 9:45 AM

Education Sunday/Children's Day

We celebrate the Academic Achievements of our

MCBC Family.

Location

90 West. Demarest Ave. Englewood, NJ 07631

Dr. Vernon C. Walton, Senior Pastor

Rev. Thurselle Watts, Youth Minister

See you there!

Are Our Schools In Crisis?: Bigotry

Albert Abraham Michelson
1852 - 1931

I love Westerns. Bonanza was one of my favorites. I just watched an episode that aired in 1962. It was titled, Look To The Stars.

In this espisode a school teacher refuses to recommend a young man to the Naval Academy. He is openly hostile to the young man and basically refers to  him as rowdy. Ben Cartwright is confused why the teacher will not refer the extremely intelligent and gifted young man. He decides to champion the lad even when the young man's father does not want to make waves.

Finally, Ben calls the town together and announces that he is charging the School master with bigotry. The town is outraged. They warn Mr. Cartwright of the seriousness of his charges. Ben continues on his course. He produces a slip of paper from his pocket and hands it to the teacher. He asks him if these are the youngsters that he has expelled from the school. The teacher defends himself. He claims that the boys on the list were very disruptive in school. Ben pushes on. He brings in a young Mexican boy. He asks  him where he has been attending school. The young man confesses that he attends school in his father's stable. The teacher is perplexed. Ben goes on. He asks the boy who teaches him. The boy will  not answer. So Ben answers for him. As Ben speaks the room fills up with a motley crew of young men. They are all from different cultures. None of them are white.



Albert Abraham Michelson was the teacher. He was the young man that was generally endangering everyone with his experiments with light. The children had gotten together and decided that they did not need the adults who were hell bent on separating them because of their differences. Albert Abraham Michaelson gathered all of the Native Americans, Asians, Mexicans and anyone else that the School Master had refused to teach, because they did not look like him, in the stables of the Mexican stable boy's father. He was their teacher. The School Master was very embarassed and started to leave. Ben asked him to stay. The town did not want to keep him, because they were now embarassed. Ben asked them to be understanding, because we all have some prejudices in us.

Albert's father was the first to accept the teacher back. He explained that in his faith folks are allowed their mistakes. Albert Abraham was Jewish and had quite possibly established the very first Charter school in order to fight the injustices in Public Education that he saw in his town. This story is based on a true story. Albert Abraham Michelson did go on to the Naval Academy.  He also won the Nobel Prize in 1907 for his work in the field of Phyics. 

Business is thriving.   "How are the children?"

Photo from Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901-1921, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1967

 "Albert A. Michelson - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 10 Jun 2011 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1907/michelson-bio.html

This episode of Bonanza was supposed to have aired in 1962. I was a Bonanza addict and do not know how I could have missed it. It is well worth the watch and does a good job of exposing and examining bigotry in the west.

Are Our Schools In Crisis?: Will The Real Avid Stand Up!

June 10, 2011

Dear Dr. Carlisle,

On May 24, 2011 I emailed Ms. Martinez regarding the appearance of a notation on PowerSchool from Elizabeth Cifuentes citing a "Signed Letter of AVID Cancellation" (see attached emails). In my email I stated that I was not contacted regarding a letter of cancellation and inquired what this was about and requesting a meeting with you to discuss. During a meeting two weeks ago with Ms. Seitel, she asked if Elijah was reapplying to AVID. I stated that as far as I knew there was no requirement to reapply to AVID. When Elijah applied for AVID last year, it was explained to me that there was the one-time application and that it was a 2-year program. Ms. Seitel did not offer me an application at that time, but merely responded that she didn't know that.

Ms. Martinez replied to my email (see below) and asked if Ms. Seitel had responded and I stated that she had not. When I stopped into your office on Tuesday with Lucy Walker, I asked Ms. Martinez about the appointment and she scheduled a meeting with you for next week.

Elijah brought home the attached notification from Mr. Murphy stating that Elijah did not take his AVID application for next fall semester and requesting a signature endorsing this. It states that this was discussed at the May AVID Parent Task Force meeting which I did not attend as it was planned on the same night as the EPSD board meeting.
I learned at tonight's school concert that an AVID meeting for parents was held yesterday, Wednesday, June 8, 2011. The parent I spoke with stated that the invitation for this meeting was mailed to the parents of IVY and AVID students. She also stated that the AVID parents expressed dissatisfaction with the AVID program. I believe that my exclusion from the meeting was intentional. This is not the first time that I have been excluded from AVID parent meetings. Mr. Murphy works with Mrs. Robertson on these meetings. Mrs. Robertson is the head of the AVID PTO and also works at Janis E. Dismus in the library. There is a conflict of interest there.

I saw Mr. Murphy at the concert tonight and inquired about my exclusion from the AVID meeting. Mr. Murphy stated that the invitations came from the district and not from the school. I've had the same address in this district for the last 16 years. I also informed Mr. Murphy that Elijah did not receive an AVID application. He stated that the students were told that the applications must be picked up by them, filled out with their teachers and returned to the school. He stated that the teachers fill the applications out with the students. If this was the case, why didn't anyone notice that Elijah did not have one. At what point will the teachers be held responsible for doing their jobs. Absent still from the AVID program is organization, communication with parents, and teacher participation - all of which were promised at the beginning of the school year.
At our last meeting with the teachers and yourself, I voiced my experiences of poor teacher communication. This is a major example of what I was referring to. I never received notification from Mr. Murphy, Ms. Cifuentes, Ms. Seitel or Mr. Alarcon regarding the reapplication requirement. I sent an email cc:ing Ms. Seitel asking what the mention of AVID cancellation letter on PowerSchool meant. No response from Ms. Seitel was received.

Elijah's exclusion from the AVID application process is harassment. Mr. Sumler's and my rights as parents have been denied by excluding us from the AVID meetings. This neglect is direct retaliation against Elijah, an 11 year old, because of my complaints regarding the way the AVID program was implemented this year. The AVID program has not been implemented as outlined by the national AVID program. The teachers do not work as a team. Ms. Cifuentes told me that this was not the fault of the teachers but of the administration because no time had been allocated for the teachers for collaboration with each other. That is not the fault of the students. It was a poorly delivered program this year. That does not mean that I want to withdraw Elijah or that he should be denied admission by not giving him an application. The AVID program should be fixed. If implemented properly, the program has value. This program was made for students exactly like Elijah. Elijah deserves and has a right to a good, fair and equal education.

The Englewood Public School District is notorious for leaving children back unnecessarily, wrongly placing children into Special Education programs and having them categorized as Special Needs. It is no mere coincidence that I have three (3) sons and at some point in each child’s educational career in Englewood, it has been suggested that they either needed to be left back or placed in special education. When placed in the Catholic School or private sector, they excelled, sometimes honors. What is it that the private schools can do that the public school can not. It is not smaller class sizes. Their classes are larger. Many of their teachers are not certified. What is the difference?

My work week starts tomorrow so I am unavailable and will be unable to visit your office until next week. Mr. Sumler, Lucy Walker and possibly Elijah's godmother - Sheila Petty will accompany me.

Thank you.

Donna Sumler

(AVID Parents: I have written a letter to the National AVID center requesting an Assessment of Englewood's version of the program.  Contact AVID yourselves.)