Real Estate vs. Education

How is it that The Englewood Board of Education just built one brand new building(Grieco), created a gigantic complex out of another (McCloud), added a new wing to another (Quarles) and still did not build a place to house central office? Where is the intelligence behind that bit of business?

Exactly why is it that we do not have a building available to
house our board of education?
(photo courtesy of Kenneth Walton)

How is it that they have sold 2 school buildings, but still do not have enough space to house itself? The word on the street is that Mr. Hunkin has performed his duties so well that the stadium is being renovated into a complex with a state of the art office to house his many activities. Exactly what activities are those since we outsource custodians? Does this man have a workforce that reports to him? To whom does he report? It seems he reports directly to a board member. How weird is that?

Just how effective will Central office be when it is no longer central and it's pieces are spread all over the City?  Folks, we have enough of a mess already. Are you trying to see just how much stuff you can mess up at once? Is this the real reason you are allowing the Cowboy to move his office into our high school?

Where o' where is the money going that is collected from facilities rental? Seems like enough to fund, lets say, the After School Program. Oh, perish the thought. That might actually help somebody. It will be very interesting to see what is done with the money just allocated by Christie.
We see you.

Business is booming, Grants are rolling in, Facilities are rented on the regular, Folks are smiling, shuffling and keeping time, but how are the children?

The Englewood Way...

                     ENGLEWOOD TODAY                        HAVE YOUR SAY, THAT'S THE ENGLEWOOD WAY

1) Fees for the towns pool memberships have tripled. That increase was decided at the city council meetings. (From NJ.com)

• Individual swim club memberships in Englewood are increasing from $15 to $55.
• Family memberships are jumping from $60 to $220, more than a 250 percent hike.

2) Many of our young people are not working this summer and are walking the streets. At least 80% of our kids should be working, attending summer courses or camps. There's a 9th grade enrichment program going on right now but what happened to classes/workshops for grades 10-12?

 

2) At the last school board meeting, Donald Carlisle (Superintendent - with no signed contract) threatened that he was going to outsource the school districts nursing staff. Carlisle was angry that the school nurses spoke out of turn at a prior board meeting asking for summer jobs in front of the general public. Basically, he was trying to scare them for speaking out in public. So what was the district saying about bullying? It starts at the top and trickles down.

 

3) Peter Elbert, former middle school principal who was removed from Janis E. Dismus Middle School for failing test scores for 5 consecutive years has been chosen by the new superintendent of schools, Donald Carlisle, to become the principal for the same children he failed now at Dwight Morrow High School. He seems like a nice man and the kids like him but what does that have to do with their education? They're failing on the statewide tests. Which means that they can not compete successfully for jobs, college scholarships, internships, etc. Does anyone even care that this means their children will have been screwed over twice? Militeer is being kicked to the curb to make room for Elbert. The same way that Joe Bell was almost kicked to the curb to make room for Elbert when NJ state mandated that he be moved out of the middle school. Joe was saved because the parents came out and spoke against it. Why does our superintendent and board think Elbert is more impressive than Militeer or Bell?

 

4) Our district has a Mandarin language program (yes, spoken in China). We received a grant for the program. Three members of the board, Shirley Smith, Glenn Garrison and Stephen Brown are going to China. Only a small portion of the cost will come from Englewood's budget, about $1K per person. That's not much money really, except that it should be spent to send three children in the Mandarin program and one parent per child to China. Isn't that what immersion is about? Why aren't the children in the program going on the trip instead of the Board Members getting a free trip on our dollar. Seriously? Who does that?

 

5) The Eagle Academy, the alternative school in Englewood is where kids that disrupt learning in some way, shape or form are sent indefinitely. It seems that it's also where our teachers and principals are sent when they anger someone on the Board of Education or Administration. But that's not such a bad thing, because that means that there is good leadership and educators like Joe Bell, Jamila Scott, Malva Wise-White. They're a blessing to our kids at the Alternative School. I've heard that one of our best and brightest, Wayne Stackhouse (excellent math teacher from Dismus), has been exiled to the Alternative program for this coming fall. What do all of those people have in common. Brains, backbone, balanced? What else? And by the way, the ages for inductees of the Alternative School have been lowered to allow 7th and 8th graders to be placed there. Low self esteem can land your child there. That's one of the criteria for admittance. Wow.

 

Keep an eye on the hiring that's going on in your town and school district. Have your say and make your suggestions. Attend the city council and school board meetings. We can make sure that our schools do better, that our town does better. Go to www.espd.org, www.cityofenglewood.org and http://plumwalk2-justsaywhen.blogspot.com, for more information on Englewood, meeting schedules and what's going on in town.

 

Read - Learn about Englewood and what's going on in your town

'Worst economic recession' says Englewood mayor about city's financial situation

http://www.northjersey.com/news/125265574__Worst_economic_recession__says_Englewood_mayor_about_city_s_financial_situation_.html

Englewood finance report make dire prediction

http://www.northjersey.com/news/125328713_Englewood_gets_warning.html

Passow: Hall of fame basketball coach, Gerald Akridge, deserves better

http://www.northjersey.com/community/124758544_Akridge_deserves_better.html

Englewood Schools May Expand Chinese Language Studies

http://www.northjersey.com/news/125124103_Schools_may_expand_Chinese_language_studies.html

Englewood To Hike Swim Membership Fees

www.northjersey.com/recreation/124148068_Englewood_s_pool_fees_rising_sharply.html

Taking economics out of standardized http://www.northjersey.com/news/125123593_Taking_economics_out_of_standardized_testing.html

To have your say, email me your suggestions, comments, questions and news. Please feel free to forward this email to all of your neighbors and friends in Englewood. We can make Englewood a better place to live.

 

Donna Sumler

thedenofalioness@hotmail.com

Are Our Schools In Crisis?: Do we have a Chief School Administrator or not?

...And what did we have to give up in order to hire him? Does our Board of Education understand what the process is when hiring persons with a Certificate of Eligibility? (Carlisle has a CE) Rumors are that the state has told our board that if we want to pay him more than CAP that we must give up some State Aid that generally goes for pupil services. In this town, that is not so unthinkable. We are a failing district that accepts Title I funds, but we do  not provide much needed title I Reading and Math classes to students that obviously need them. That is the main reason we are a failing district. So what else is new?

Our almost Chief School
Administrator called me an
Arm Chair Quarterback,
because I maintain
this blog and I speak up for all
of the children.  If exposing
corruption and indifference in
a sick, and festering educational
system makes me that,
then so be it. And my chair
is also pink.

Pardon me, but I agree with our Governor on the point that Superintendents make far too much money. They are grossly overrated and overpaid. Unless they are terrible micromanagers they have a workforce of some pretty powerful and well educated people who really keep the ship afloat. They take 10 minutes to access who will not oppose anything they have in mind. Those folks who do a lot of kissing up for whatever reason have job security. Those who dare to have an opposing opinion or an original thought that was NOT given to them by the person in power suffers. An insecure Superintendent quickly emasculates anyone who has the credentials to do the job that he has landed. It has just happened in this town. Decisons were made that had absolutely nothing to do with children or education.

I noticed on the last Board Agenda that only 1 person was listed as highly qualified. I am hoping against hope that this was a joke of some sort. This one person was nearly fired outright. Teachers and students showed up at board meetings to support him, but he was still moved out of a building that desperately needs not only him, but more men like him. In my old district, I was one of the people assigned to make sure the people in my department were highly qualified. It was not a hard job. Those who were not were quickly moved to jobs they were qualified to do and others went back to school to earn the needed credits. The District complied. What is Englewood doing? Do we have the largest number of unqualified teachers on the planet or is someone blowing smoke in our eyes?

Don't be confused by the term higly qualified. All it means is that the teacher is certified to teach in the area in which they are employed. Points are given to those who have worked successfully in an area for so many years, points are given for workshops, classes etc. People, that is not a difficult concept. No Child Left Behind was created to HELP parents. Don't get it twisted. EVERY teacher should be HIGHLY QUALIFIED. If they are not NCLB gives you the right as parents to protest that person teaching your children. That is as it should be. So how many teachers in Englewood are NOT highly qualified? I want an answer to that question.

Lately, I am getting the impression that there is a movement to dumb down NCLB. Dumb down to what? Districts like Englewood have ignored the tenets of NCLB anyway. They give lip service to it. They lead parents to think it is a bad thing only because they don't want them to examine what it really is. Take care Arne Duncan and others who are looking to make things more comfortable for school districts who complain about NCLB. They were probably NOT going to abide by its tenets anyway.

Sometimes Superintendents arrive in town with an entirely different workforce than the one already in place. What do you do with the people who are already working hard to keep the schools afloat? Some people are so full of themselves that they make unrealistic demands on Boards of Education having to do with deals under the table. They bargain for complete control of hiring and decision making. They take the Board on Retreats with the express objective of training them to be a more amicable body of policy makers. "Just let  me do what I want." They make announcements in public that suggest that the public should stay out of the business of the school board. They suggest that the New Jersey School Board Association training is not needed. Rest assured, it is needed. If for no other reason than to let Board Members know for sure when they are breaking the rules and deceiving the public whom they have sworn to serve.

Since I have become more involved, I have read a lot about the relationship of Boards of Education and Superintendents. It is very interesting that the board is expected to give the Superintendent objectives that he/she is expected to accomplish. Okay, so who gives the objectives to the Board? What if the Board is so involved in it's own agenda that they have no idea what an objective is? What if the Board of Education as a whole has no clue as to what makes a good school system? What if they have no idea and do not even look for examples of best practices in the surrounding towns that have been more successful in producing high achieving students? What if the Board has demonstrated that they only care about a small percentage of students (their children and the children of their friends and neighbors) that have been separated out from the herd? Are we really proposing to lift the rules that make these people pretend to care?

Business is booming, Grants are rolling in, Facilities are rented on Sundays, Folks are smiling, shuffling and keeping time, but how are the children?

ATTENTION! ATTENTION!: Beware of the Grant Junkies

Across the country states are deciding to tie pupil progress on standardized tests and overall achievement to teacher tenure and salary. In New Jersey a Task Force was created to research how this might be done in the NJ schools. This Task Force was discussed in an earlier post where I questioned the efficacy of the idea. Governor Christie has established a program that will award 1.1 million dollars to 9 school districts selected to pilot the program. That is roughly $100,000.00 per district selected. If you are anything like this author you are wondering how this will affect the school district that is poorly run and failing miserably. You are also wondering how an administration that has been documented demonstrating terrible bullying attitudes may be trusted with such an important assignment.

We fight for everyone's grandchildren.

Oh no, not another program that uses our children as guinea pigs! What ever happened to schools being a safe, welcoming place for children? This town does not need less State mandates. Several Doctoral theses have been written on how this town's Board has demonstrated a history of deceiving and ignoring state recommendations without repraisal from the state department. It would be a fearsome thing to give this Board and this almost Superintendent more unsupervised power. The state hopes that Educators from pilot districts will be fully engaged in the program and will receive ample training. Englewood has a way of perverting programs that have proven successful in other towns into a poor, ineffective replica of the real thing. The AVID program is a fine example. A program designed to lift underachievers is actually being used to segregate students that have been tracked since they entered school. When parents complain, their children are removed. Who will watch the watchers? Who will evaluate the evaluators?

The up side of this initiative is that the State Department wants to know what you and I think about the idea. The Governor’s Education Transformation Task Force will hold two public hearings next week to solicit input for its review of the state’s education regulations. All members of the public are welcome to attend. Before attending, please follow the links below to increase your knowlege of the idea prior to attending.

Monday, July 11, 3:30pm, Pittsgrove Municipal Building, 989 Centerton Road, Pittsgrove, NJ
Tuesday, July 12, 3:30pm, Seton Hall University, McNulty Hall, Amphitheater SC101, 400 South Orange Avenue, South Orange, NJ.

Description: Excellent Educators for New Jersey (EE4NJ) is an initiative to pilot a new teacher evaluation system in several LEAs in the 2011-2012 school year. Governor Christie established the Education Effectiveness Task Force through a September 28, 2010 Executive Order. Nine members, with experience in and knowledge of education policy, administration, and teaching, were selected on October 28, 2010.

http://www.state.nj.us/education/EE4NJ/

Link to the New Jersey Educator Effectiveness Task Force Interim Report

Read this report carefully.   Something like it  may be coming to your school district.

http://www.state.nj.us/education/educators/effectiveness.pdf

Link to Grant announcement of the Pilot program. Christie Administration Announces $1.1 Million Competitive Grant Encouraging School Districts to Participate in Teacher Evaluation Pilot Program. Pilot System Drives Districts and Educators to Innovate and Improve
http://www.state.nj.us/education/news/2011/0621eval.htm

Link to the announcement and invitation. The Task Force also welcomes input on a next-generation accountability system for districts and schools that demands results while encouraging innovative approaches to improving student learning
http://www.state.nj.us/education/news/2011/0707hear.htm

After examining the above information, use the email address below to express your opinions and or attend the public hearings listed above.

regreform@doe.state.nj.us

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

Are Our Schools In Crisis?: What is Your 2011 Graduate Prepared to Do Now?

Parents! Where do you stand? How do you rate your child's readiness for dealing with college, a trade school, employment or other post high school experience?

The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, is a study conducted by Harris Interactive, each year since 1984. It explores teacher’s opinions and brings them to the attention of educators, policy makers and the public. The Survey findings also inform MetLife Foundation’s support for education.

The study shares the views of public, middle and high school teachers, students,  parents, and Fortune 1000 business executives about the priority that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and careers. It offers opinions on what being college- and career-ready entails, and the implications of this goal for teaching. Compare reports from the past to those of today.

The study contains some very interesting, though not surprising insights into student preparedness at high school graduation.