Our Schools Are In Crisis: To the Editors of FAST

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    It is time for everyone to stop
    depending on hearsay. It is time to get involved. Do the research and stop parroting what people have told you because they are embarrassed by the mistakes they have made. Help them to understand that these mistakes must be dealt with at the source.
    
    
    Englewood Residents: Please do not allow the FASTarticle to inflame you or turn you from your course. It is written in earnest. I have not seen the authors at little more than one School Board meeting. They get their information from Board Members themselves. The content of the article demonstrates the disconnect between that group, the board and the rest of Englewood. You would think that people who have so much money and control would also have a passing acquaintance with the truth. 
    
    
    The Englewood Board of Education has failed us all. They have failed the residents of every single ward. People in all 4 wards must come out to the board meetings. Regardless of what anyone says the Englewood Public School District has been mismanaged. Outsourcing secretaries and Paraprofessionals will not raise test scores and will not bring the cost of educating students down. 
    
    
    There is a formula used in calculating cost per pupil that involves everything from the cost of teachers, food service, operations & maintenance, secretaries, nurses, principals, Superintendents, all salaries and finally facilities. Simpy stating the cost merely shows that having money does not equate to being informed. 
    
    
    Test scores will not go up until the school system begins to focus on students and not buildings. Test scores will go up when the focus is shifted to programs and curriculum instead of facilities and fat salaries and packages for teachers, not the lowest paid employees in the district. 
    
    
    Regardless of how the article suggests that persons have been involved in creating unrest, the fact remains that the board has been irresponsible with taxpayer dollars. They have folded to special interest groups and have maintained salaries and programs that are not in the best interest of children or taxpayers. They have created unsustainable programs that support apartheid education and that serve to polarize a school system and a community. 
    
    
    The text of this article proves the point. The article includes misinformation served to a population that has been duped by a group of people they trusted. Well, join the rest of us. We were fooled also. 
    
    
    To the Editors of FAST: A forensic audit will show that the people you elected and trusted to keep your taxes down have failed you and squandered your dollars. I challenge you to put your elected officials to the test. Sign the petition. Call for a forensic audit. In the big picture the issue of outsourcing is merely a diversion. Wake up and get involved in your Community. It is time for you to come down off the hill if you truly care.

    
    

    
    
  • Another thing, the cost of renting and renovating St. Cecilia School just increased the per student cost.
    

    
    
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Read the article: http://www.dontbankruptus.com/efast/?p=462&cpage=1#comment-230


                    How are the children? 

Separate and Unequal Still Alive and Thriving In Englewood Education

The problem of the polarization and apartheid education in Englewood is at the highest point right now. Some people may be very happy that the students in the Eagle Program have a new home in St. Cecilia's School. I am not. Even though the building has a cafeteria and a gym, it is still a substandard facility. Does the state of New Jersey know that EPSD has leased another substandard facility for our children? The building is not Handicap accessible. The lease states very clearly that any modifications that must be made to bring the building up to code must be paid for by the Board.

The terms in the lease are not favorable to the taxpayers of Englewood. It is also not favorable to the teachers and the children in the building.

Why are we paying over $300,000.00 a year to rent yet another substandard building? I thought we had a money problem. Is this further evidence of the spending problem? Why is it so important to keep the children separate? What happens if no more children transgress to a degree that they must be placed there? There are rumors that some students are there because they uttered curse words and others because their pants hung down below their boxers.

Behind a chain link fence are children capable of learning as
well as any others. Why?

In my humble opinion, Dr. Carlisle seems desperate to avoid another Sharpstown. That is his motivation, but what motivates the Board? Are there clandestine plans underway that will insure that St. Cecilia will always have students? Is this the true purpose behind the "Credit Recovery Program" and the "5 Year Plan"? This way there will always be empty seats for "school choice" students. The Department of Education has already asked the million dollar question of why so many African American and Latin American males are in special education. I would also like to know the answer to that question. How many of the students in St. Cecilia were exiled there because no attorney looked over the paperwork that put them there?

Inside all of the subterfuge we find another problem. The Law says that taxpayer money shall not be used to improve or renovate property that does not belong to the Board of Education. What about property that is owned by an Archdiocese? That is the epitome of mixing Church and State. There are repairs and renovations going on right now that are contrary to the law that ruled in the case below.

In Wildwood Crest, Cape May County the Board of Ed was simply improving a sidewalk owned by the City.

Petitioning Board contested the Department’s determination (resulting from an audit) that petitioner exceeded its authority in purchasing materials for the construction of a sidewalk on property not owned by the school district and in waiving the Borough’s obligation to pay contaminated soil removal costs in return for labor which was supplied for such sidewalk construction.

The ALJ found that the legislative scheme permits a school district to improve its own   

property but not that of the municipality. Therefore, the ALJ found that a school district may not expend public funds to construct a sidewalk improvement on property which is not owned by the board but is municipally-owned in order to jointly develop and construct a recreational field. Thus, the ALJ concluded that there is no statutory authority that would permit the Board to make the sidewalk improvement in question at its expense." 

Read more: http://www.state.nj.us/education/legal/commissioner/2000/73-00.pdf 

My Father would call this jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. I think I would like to see the paperwork that alters the Long Range Facilities Plan and adds this new substandard facility. Speaking of the contents of that Long Range Facilities Plan. How many schools do we have again?

Why?

Why is it so difficult for this Board of Education to follow the law? Two lawyers sit behind that long table during Board meetings.                




                        How are the children?  

Our Schools Are In Crisis

Englewood Residents: Study the Report Card for Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, New Jersey. Note that there is no separation of the students listed into programs or academies. They are all Dwight Morrow High School students. There is no Eagle Academy and there is no Academy@Englewood. Everyone must let go of the fantasy so we may move on as a district. I am still trying to find the wisdom in the tendency to separate the student population. Apartheid education has no place in the City that collects my property taxes.

Englewood Teachers: I know that some of you have been allowed to play roles as if you live in feudal times. There is no room for nobles here in Englewood. Those days are over. I will personally institute charges against anyone that I witness saying that they object to teaching all children. Those of you who do not wish to TEACH IN THE NORTH BUILDING need to RECOGNIZE where you are. Let this post serve to put you on notice with a promise. The beginning is near. Expectations are set by teachers. Curriculum is driven or not driven, by teachers. Curriculum needs to be written and used by teachers. We must see that you will fight for more than your SALARY and BENEFITS. We must see that you fight for all of the children, not just the ones that you like. There is a climate of neglect at play here and it is HIGH TIME that the Board of Education, Teachers and Administration accept their own part in the malignant neglect.     

http://education.state.nj.us/rc/rc11/rcreport.php?c=03&d=1370&s=040

Our Schools are In Crisis: Too Many Unsettled Contracts!

Curriculum Now!
Student Rights Now!
Test Score Report Now!
Accurate and Timely Reporting Now!
More Preparation for Standardized Tests Now!
Pre - Kindergarten for all Now!
Proper Use of Grant Funds Now!


Fiscal Accountability Now!


New Law Firm Now!


Forensic Audit Now!

Dwight Morrow High School Alumni Educational Alliance
Annual Picnic 

Come stand beside us in support of a Free Public Education Now!



Education should not be a debt sentence!


The amount of money in the budget 
shall be enough to fund the programs
necessary to provide a
Thorough and Efficient Education!


Put on your comfortable shoes and
Join us in a rally for a Thorough & Efficient 
Education For All Children
Thursday, July 26, 2012

Meet us at Liberty School at 5:30 pm
Get to know the dedicated Secretaries and Paraprofessionals
who touch the lives of children everyday.
Walk with us in solidarity 
Talk with us about the Achievement and 
The Needs of our children.




Stand with us in the cafeteria of Grieco School 
as we give the Board of Education of Englewood
some new faces to remember.



                               
                       
                     
       
How are the children?  With your help, they will be well.

The Auditor Warns EPSD again. Stop spending.

I am quite frankly still waiting for item number 1 on the CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN to be completed. Dr. Carlisle's contract is still not legal. How are they conducting negotiations without a Superintendent or an Assistant Superintendent? Who is restructuring the failed Educational Model that is draining the resources and polarizing the district? Who is making recommendations to the Board about staffing and streamlining the Educational Model that the District cannot afford? In 2003, the state of NJ told EPSD that they generate enough money in district to support this program without state aid. Of course, we know the rest of the story. EPSD blackmailed the state into giving them $30 million dollars by suing them. What did they do with all that money from the state plus the tax revenue collected from us? That is the $9 million dollar question.


Dr Carlisle...Earn your money. Redesign the model. I challenge you. It is not that difficult. EPSD. You made this mess, stop trying to make the public the bad guy. You know what has to be done. Stop trying to get others to do it for you. You made the mess. Sit down with that expensive Candidate for Superintendent and fix it.

The School Board never stopped spending after hearing this report. What happened to the $5 million dollars from the sale of Liberty School? I hear that there is still one million more to come from the City.

Just to be clear, some of us know that there are 3 programs that are a drain on the district. The one that was created to make space for "school choice students" should be assessed as well. The culture and climate of a school or community is NOT changed by ostracizing certain groups from the larger one. That action serves to polarize a community. That separation may be traced down through the grades to the Ivy Program (begins in 4th grade) and through to Pre-Kindergarten. Common Core Standards and the stipulations in the St. Cecila lease. How rich?! If the Board was anticipating the deficit of $4 million dollars, why would they sign this crazy lease?

Reckless and irresponsible.

There is very little mention of children and achievement in this whole scenario. What is going on in the classrooms? When are we going to hear Dorian Milteer's presentation on test scores? We are waiting.