Are Our Schools In Crisis? Is State Aid For Englewood City In Jeopardy?

Special Meeting of the Englewood Board of Education...December 19, 2011
The hour is late. Getting straight to the point. The Englewood Board of Education is still NOT in compliance with the State Board of Education's mandate. They are instead gearing up to fight the state. They are listening to that discordant drummer again.

Teachers and parents attended again to support teachers who have gotten pink slips telling them that they are going to be laid off. Those of us who watched the parade of new hires are not surprised. We watched as the Candidate for Superintendent and the Board of education hired one after another until they were seriously overstaffed. This board and Dr. Carlisle are still hiring when faced with some serious fiscal issues. We were there when these new teachers were promised a full year of work. They deserve the full year of work.

For almost a year now, the energy of the board has been focused on Dr. Carlisle and his lack of a contract.  We have listened to the excuses given by the board. Now the State Department of Education has given an order to a group of people that generally do not follow orders or the law...

The following is the last paragraph of a letter to the Englewood Board of Education detailing the actions that the state is prepared to take if the board does not comply.


Excerpt of letter from Robert Gilmartin
Executive County Superintendent of Schools


December 12,2011

"....Therefore and in accord with the caution given to the Board regarding non-compliance in my correspondence of November 18, 2011 be advised that, due to the Board's failure to comply with my directive, the commissioner shall direct that the state aid payment to the district scheduled for December 22, 2011, in the amount of $439,846.00, will henceforth be withheld until the Board complies with the directive in my correspondence of November 18, 2011, which, as noted above, required "a proposed superintendent contract containing an amount for total annual base salary not higher than $167,500". Finally and in closing, be advised that, so long as the Board continues to be non-compliant, future state aid payments may also be withheld at the discretion of the commissioner."


                                    How are the Children?

Governor's News Service: "Season of Service"

Governor's Education News Service
Department of Education and Department of Military and Veteran Affairs
collect more than 125,000 holiday cards from students for US military
service men and women as part of Governor Christie's "Season of Service"

For Immediate Release:
Contact:
Justin Barra
Allison Kobus
Dec. 16, 2011
609-292-1126

Trenton, NJ -As part of Governor Christie's "Season of Service," the
Department of Education and Department of Military and Veteran Affairs
announced today that they have collected more than 125,000 holiday cards
from across the state for U.S. military service members. Acting
Education Commissioner Chris Cerf and Col. Mark Preston from the
Department of Military and Veterans Affairs collected letters and
participated in a "Holiday Greetings to the U.S. Military" school
assembly today at Greenwood Elementary School in Hamilton Township.

"These cards and letters are incredibly meaningful to our service
members stationed overseas and they provide an opportunity for us to
show our appreciation for their service to our country," Acting
Commissioner Cerf said. "Just a couple of weeks ago, we asked schools
across the state to consider participating in the holiday cards and
letters project. The overwhelming response we received from our school
children is a heart-warming demonstration of patriotism and
volunteerism, showing that New Jerseyans truly care and support our
friends and neighbors in the U.S. Military."

"The holiday season is especially difficult for those service members
who are unable to spend it with their loved ones," said Brig. Gen. James
J. Grant, Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. "Although nothing
can extinguish the pain of being away from family during this time, our
troops will find comfort in the children's holiday cards and know that
Americans recognize their selflessness and commitment to our nation's
security."

The Season of Service was inspired by 8-year-old Aiden McManus, a New
Jersey Hero who has been devoting his time and hard-earned money to feed
the homeless and those in need in Burlington County. Nearly 1.5 million
New Jerseyans are already positively influencing communities across the
state by volunteering their services through local groups, houses of
worship and civic organizations.

In addition to the event today, Acting Commissioner Cerf has
participated in several public service events in the month of December.
On December 15, Acting Commissioner Cerf tutored high school students in
Irvington as an example of ways that community members across the state
can give back to their public schools. On December 2, Acting
Commissioner Cerf participated in a holiday coat drive in Trenton.

In addition to the Mercer County assembly, Holiday Greetings to the U.S.
Military events are taking place in six schools around the state with
members of the State Board of Education.

Concurrent Event - Bergen County

Municipality, County - Woodcliff Lake, Bergen County
School - Woodcliff Middle School
School - Dorchester Elementary School
Events -assembly
NJDOE Representative - NJ State School Board Vice Chair Ilan Plawker

Concurrent Event - Essex County

Municipality, County - West Orange, Essex County
School - Gregory School
Event -assembly
NJDOE Representative - NJ State Board of Education Member Dorothy
Strickland
NJDMAVA Representative - LTC. John Langston

Concurrent Event - Warren County

Municipality, County - Oxford Township, Warren County
School - Oxford Central School
Event -assembly
NJDOE Representative - NJ State Board of Education Member Jack Fornaro


Associated Event - Hunterdon County

Date and Time - Monday, Dec. 19, 2011, 2:30 to 3 p.m.
Municipality, County - Annandale, Hunterdon County
School - North Hunterdon Regional High School
Address - 1445 State Route 31, Annandale, NJ 08801
Event - Military personnel will attend Interact Club meeting, members
consist of over 400 students

Associated Event - Union County

Date and Time - Monday, Dec. 19, 2011, 10 a.m.
Municipality, County - Kenilworth, Union County
School - Warren G. Harding Elementary School
Address -426 BOULEVARD, KENILWORTH, NJ 07033-1529
Event -assembly
NJDOE Representative - NJ State School Board Member Jack Fornaro

• 
  

NJ Department of Education Violence and Vandalism Report for 2009 - 2011

Trenton, NJ - The Department of Education today released the Violence
and Vandalism Report for the 2009-2011 school years. The report is
produced each year to transparently share self-reported incidents of
violence, vandalism, weapons, and substance use and possession from
districts. To support districts as they work to reduce incidents of
Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying, the department also provided
additional guidance to aid districts in implementing the new law,
P.L.2010, Chapter 122, known as the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act.

You may access it here:
http://www.state.nj.us/education/news/2011/1216vandv.htm

Will the Confucius Classroom make Englewood Students College and Career Ready?

On December 1, 2011, a special meeting of the board of education was called. While the community at large waited impatiently for our board of education to comply with orders from the State Department of Education, EPSD was  preparing to embark on yet another experiment in which our children will be the guinea pigs.

Glenn Garrison, the board member in charge of the facilities committee gave a presentation summarizing his trip to China. The presentation seemed out of place in a board meeting. It was more like something to be presented to the Department of Commerce. He was very impressed with himself though. After the meeting, I questioned him about the feasibility of burdening the little ones in pre k and kindergarten with 3 languages. Once again, I strongly suggested that children should learn to read and write in English. Mandarin has been in the curriculum for over 2 years and the literacy scores have fallen tremendously. Mr. Garrison was clearly NOT concerned with this. He suggested that children should be able to read and write before attending school. He suggested that their parents should teach them. He also made it quite clear that he was not concerned with those that did not learn to read before first grade. This blogger is quite disgusted with Mr. Garrison's lack of interest in closing the achievement GAP that the Governor's Task Force has been set to investigate ways to close.

What will the Confucius Classroom do to help close the Achievement Gap? Will students read and write more efficiently? Will Math scores go up? Will students learn to be deep, critical thinkers? Will more students be college and career ready?

Will the program pay for itself? Will the Confucius Classroom mirror the national ones or will Englewood work the magic that it does so well and Englewoodize it? This process generally renders a program ineffective. We have examples of that here waiting to be evaluated.

How many programs do we currently have? How many of them have been assessed for effectiveness?

If you feel that your head has been involuntarily thrust into sand, rest assured, it is not your imagination. The sands of deceit have risen above our heads. Our district does not have a leader and the folks at the helm are desperately chasing flying dollars. Few are focused on the bottom line. What are the children learning?Children must learn to read and write in English. The tests are given in English. These test results chart the very lives of our children.

Which programs are working? Which ones are not working? Why do we insist on piling on more new programs that require new high priced teachers when we do not know how well the ones that we have already bought into are working? Perhaps we should invest in more calculators and make sure each board member has one and knows how to use it.

It is becoming more and more difficult to listen to board members lie outright about taxpayer money. People, we pay the salaries of the Mandarin teachers. The money from the Chinese government does not cover all costs. As you can see from the agreement they do send in materials such as books, software and other supplies, but the salaries are left to us. Why is there no freeze on hiring?

RESOLVED, the Board of Education approves the acceptance of funds from the Asia Society Partnership for Global Learning to be used for the Confucius Classroom.  Program Description Amount               

Project IMAGE– Mandarin Language Immersion Program  (Confucius Classroom) $10,000.00

Page 5 of 16 October, 11, 2011 agenda. (Ten thousand dollars would not pay half of 1 teacher's salary.)

Asia Society: Partnership for Global Learning (Website)

http://intlschool.org/wp-content/uploads/confucius-selectioncriteria.pdf

The Model Agreement (standard form)

http://college.chinese.cn/en/article/2009-08/29/content_22394.htm

                                   How are the children?

2 Public Hearings of the Achievement Gap Task Force:

The Department of Education announces 2 December public hearings of the

College and Career Readiness Task Force - one in the north and one in the south

Trenton, NJ -The Department of Education today announced that the

College and Career Readiness Task Force will hold two public hearings in

December. 

• One will be conducted on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. in the Student  Community Center-Davidson Room at the County College of Morris. 
• The second will be held Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. in the New Campus Center at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

The purpose of the hearings is to gather input from the public on
educating students to the level of college and career readiness. The
public input will inform the recommendations in the task force's final
report which is due to the NJ Department of Education by December 31,
2011.

The College and Career Readiness Task Force is a group of K-12 and
higher education practitioners and business community representatives
that have two main responsibilities: clearly articulating the knowledge
and skills that students should master to be "college- and career-ready,"
and ensuring that New Jersey has the appropriategraduation requirements
and high school assessments in place to evaluate the mastery of these readiness standards.

Input from the public should address these critical questions that the
task force is charged with answering for the NJDOE in its final report:

1. What does college and career readiness mean?
2. What is the appropriate way to assess this level of student
    achievement?
3. What graduation requirements should be required, including
    comprehensive examinations and end-of-course assessments?
4. What process, benchmarks and timelines should be established to
    guide transition from the current system to the new system?

The Career and College Readiness Task Force will accomplish this 
charge by doing the following:

* Evaluating the degree to which the New Jersey High School
   Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) and Alternative High School
   Assessment (ASHA) are appropriately gauging college and career readiness;

* Reviewing how other states are defining and evaluating college
   and career readiness;

* Recommending specific educational standards, course offerings,
   learning outcomes, graduation requirements, college entrance and
   placement requirements, and workforce readiness requirements;

* Identifying the means of measuring success for schools and
  districts including assessment tools to measure school completion and
  college entrance readiness that can be relied on by P-12, higher
  education and employers as a valid indicator of student readiness. The
  review will include recommendations concerning a new comprehensive
  exam and end-of-course assessments;

* Identifying data needs related to NJ demographics, school
   learning outcomes, completion and assessment, college entrance,
   retention and graduation, and demonstrated national best practice
   aligning school and college completion; and

* Establishing a state-level transition plan and timelines for moving from the existing system to the new system  
   including:

• establishing a structure and process to support implementation of the school/college completion agenda;
• engagement of appropriate constituencies, including teachers,college faculty, business leaders and others;
•  identifying the need for professional development; and field-testing the new assessments.

http://www.state.nj.us/education/news/2011/1208gap.htm