Englewood Parents: Spread the word that FREE TUTORING IS AVAILABLE in Math and Algebra.
Click here for more information. Help your children prepare.
Click here for more information. Help your children prepare.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
Suggestion Box: EPSD
Dr. Donald K. Carlisle: Please wear your id. Identify yourself.
The Citizens For Public Education are making a formal request. Please have as many general assemblies as possible and introduce yourself to the students. They do not know who you are. You do not wear identification. Any child that you speak to must know who you are. This is most important since you have taken to handing out suspensions. This is the job of your selected Principal. How are we to know how well Mr. Peter Elbert and his Assistant Principals are doing in their positions, if you continue to do their jobs? This was one of the drawbacks of you installing yourself in our high school building.
You could be any old arbitrary white man targeting children. Have you been reading the papers lately?
A child's life is impacted forever when they are suspended from school. You are dealing with human beings here. Some of them are actually in awe of tall, intimidating white men with power. We do not want anymore children sent to the Vincent Lombardi Educational Center for any reason.
We are doing all we can to terminate "the obvious protest" that is being identified in our young men wearing their pants below their drawers. You, and others must understand that some young men, because of their body types have always had a problem with the pants sagging long before this fad came into being. Men of all types and all races have been identified with this problem. I have seen lots of butts in my years that were exposed because of ill fitting clothing that had nothing to do with this obvious protest movement.
Please keep this in mind when you exercise your power in the hallways of our school buildings.
We are concerned about our children. Please wear id. Identify yourself.
How are the children?
 |
| Identified! |
You could be any old arbitrary white man targeting children. Have you been reading the papers lately?
 |
| Identified! |
 |
| Identified! |
Please keep this in mind when you exercise your power in the hallways of our school buildings.
We are concerned about our children. Please wear id. Identify yourself.
How are the children?
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Fire Everyone!
A Board Member offered this as a solution to the problems in Englewood School District:
We fire all teachers. They apply for their jobs again and we hire the ones that we think are effective.
After thinking about that, I have this to say.
In July, we abolished all Teaching Assistants and Secretaries. We did to the lowest paid employees what was suggested we do to teachers. Paraprofessional and Secretary positions were abolished. Some of them were forced to apply for their old jobs with less pay and no benefits.
So how is that working out?
We fire all teachers. They apply for their jobs again and we hire the ones that we think are effective.
After thinking about that, I have this to say.
In July, we abolished all Teaching Assistants and Secretaries. We did to the lowest paid employees what was suggested we do to teachers. Paraprofessional and Secretary positions were abolished. Some of them were forced to apply for their old jobs with less pay and no benefits.
So how is that working out?
Monday, September 24, 2012
TRUST!
The supplemental educational services (SES) provisions exemplify the principles
discernable in No Child Left Behind (NCLB) that rely on accountability and competition
as mechanisms to improve education and produce better opportunities for disadvantaged students. No Child Left Behind defines SES as “additional academic instruction designed to increase the academic achievement of students in low-performing schools,” and indicates that they “must be high quality, research-based, and specifically designed to increase student achievement.”
Thursday, September 20, 2012 Sylvan Learning Center was being discussed as a continued provider of services to eligible students in the district. For some reason there seemed to be a problem as to whom the services were available. One Board member, Glenn Garrison spoke up with these remarks.
"Using the services of Sylvan Learning Center constitutes outsourcing. That is contracting out for services that are available in the district."
He was joking. He laughed at his own off color joke. His was the only laughter in the room. The children who are eligible for these services are not his concern.
That is what I remember from the School Board Meeting on 9/20/2012. I can't get those words out of my mind. They are ingrained there with the "Do we care" statement uttered last year when non compliance to the QSAC was being discussed by the same board member.
The paraprofessionals were fired with written promises of employment in their hands.
They were Outsourced. Abolished.
They are not smiling.
Some of them are being evicted from their homes.
Is the Englewood, New Jersey School Board the only one conducting business as if all the
tenets of NCLB have been abolished?
How are the children?
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
EPSD: The First Day of School
Highlights: Special School Board Meeting
Back to school packets from EPSD: The first grader's packet was almost an inch thick. The 10th grader's packet consisted of one page. Now what is wrong with that picture? The District website provided a link for parents to find out what the bus routes are for their children. In a 70% or more free and reduced lunch district, they put such important information online. What about the large number of people who do not have access to computers?
The first day of school at 7:45 am, this retired teacher was in the parking lot of Liberty School. Englewood residents assembled to find out why a School Board meeting had been called for the first day of school at 8 in the morning.
They were still firing, but they were also still hiring. They are working hard to create surplus. The hole left by the unfettered spending that went on in Dr. Carlisle's first year must be filled before EPSD is bankrupt. They have decided to fire personnel after the date the law says firings must occur. (May 15) Those pesky rules. It is illegal and it is immoral. Now I understand why we have a full time attorney. If the board insists on circumventing all of 18A and 6A, an attorney must be present in order to point out the loopholes. Is everyone getting the point that we are paying Mark Tabakin over $145,000.00 per year to find loopholes around the laws that protect our children? Is this the way we want our students to behave? Some people might even call that cheating.
The law says that employees must get a written offer of a job or a letter stating that they will not be rehired by May 15. They have beaten that poor law bloody. Paraprofessionals were offered employment and signed written promises of employment before May 15. On July 31, these employees were fired when the postions of secretary and paraprofessional were abolished. On the first day of school they were still firing employees without going through the proper procedure. There were no rice letters. The termination of these employees was discussed with others in the community without notifying the employees in writing.
At the August 16 board meeting Mr. Popkin asked if Englewood had succeeded from the United States of America. Good question. Has Englewood Public School District left the union of these United States of America?
September 6: It seems 3 people were hired, one security officer resigned, one guidance counselor was fired for reasons of economy, one guidance counselor was sent back to the high school and another was reassigned to the middle school as a Science teacher. Harley Ungar came up out of her silence to explain to concerned residents that the guidance counselor they were concerned about did not make a "memorable impression on any of the admissions officers" in any of the schools that students eventually attended after graduating from high school. It was a very insulting remark regardless of her intentions or detached tone. She spoke to the audience as if we were in grade school. That is generally her tone.
Stephen Brown talked a lot. The question was posed as to how high school students were to get credits toward graduation for taking a middle school course. Mr. Brown had no answer and seemed genuinely perplexed when asked if the Culinary Arts Course was state approved for high school credit. New courses must have a written curriculum submitted to the county executive superintendent for approval before implementing. This is especially important when the teacher is not certified to teach the course. Mr. Brown admitted that he did not know if the course was state approved. Note that there is no description for Culinary Arts included with descriptions of Small Learning Communities courses. It is unacceptable that courses be thrown to DMHS students in such a haphazard manner.
There was a lot of talk about seniority and tenure and how the rules regarding these had to be adhered to at all cost. Gerald Akridge had seniority over all other employees with the same title, yet he is fired and others are still there. In the middle school, 2 counselors were fired and they both had seniority over another staff member that was retained. Now what is really the criterion for keeping your job in the Englewood Public School District? Perhaps the answer is in how well you kiss up to Dr. Carlisle in his office when no one else is around.
Glenn Garrison insisted that he wanted more job cuts. Voters should remember this in April. Glenn, no doubt wants to make sure that enough money is there to build the shed/office building that he has promised to build in our wetland area adjacent to the little league field across the street from Grieco School..
At one point, Mark Tabakin, the board attorney displayed open intimidation towards David Matthews. He called the police. Stephen Brown threatened to take away our freedom of speech at public school board meetings. We hear this speech whenever Stephen is tired of listening to complaints from the public.
How are the children?
Back to school packets from EPSD: The first grader's packet was almost an inch thick. The 10th grader's packet consisted of one page. Now what is wrong with that picture? The District website provided a link for parents to find out what the bus routes are for their children. In a 70% or more free and reduced lunch district, they put such important information online. What about the large number of people who do not have access to computers?
The first day of school at 7:45 am, this retired teacher was in the parking lot of Liberty School. Englewood residents assembled to find out why a School Board meeting had been called for the first day of school at 8 in the morning.
They were still firing, but they were also still hiring. They are working hard to create surplus. The hole left by the unfettered spending that went on in Dr. Carlisle's first year must be filled before EPSD is bankrupt. They have decided to fire personnel after the date the law says firings must occur. (May 15) Those pesky rules. It is illegal and it is immoral. Now I understand why we have a full time attorney. If the board insists on circumventing all of 18A and 6A, an attorney must be present in order to point out the loopholes. Is everyone getting the point that we are paying Mark Tabakin over $145,000.00 per year to find loopholes around the laws that protect our children? Is this the way we want our students to behave? Some people might even call that cheating.
The law says that employees must get a written offer of a job or a letter stating that they will not be rehired by May 15. They have beaten that poor law bloody. Paraprofessionals were offered employment and signed written promises of employment before May 15. On July 31, these employees were fired when the postions of secretary and paraprofessional were abolished. On the first day of school they were still firing employees without going through the proper procedure. There were no rice letters. The termination of these employees was discussed with others in the community without notifying the employees in writing.
At the August 16 board meeting Mr. Popkin asked if Englewood had succeeded from the United States of America. Good question. Has Englewood Public School District left the union of these United States of America?
September 6: It seems 3 people were hired, one security officer resigned, one guidance counselor was fired for reasons of economy, one guidance counselor was sent back to the high school and another was reassigned to the middle school as a Science teacher. Harley Ungar came up out of her silence to explain to concerned residents that the guidance counselor they were concerned about did not make a "memorable impression on any of the admissions officers" in any of the schools that students eventually attended after graduating from high school. It was a very insulting remark regardless of her intentions or detached tone. She spoke to the audience as if we were in grade school. That is generally her tone.
Stephen Brown talked a lot. The question was posed as to how high school students were to get credits toward graduation for taking a middle school course. Mr. Brown had no answer and seemed genuinely perplexed when asked if the Culinary Arts Course was state approved for high school credit. New courses must have a written curriculum submitted to the county executive superintendent for approval before implementing. This is especially important when the teacher is not certified to teach the course. Mr. Brown admitted that he did not know if the course was state approved. Note that there is no description for Culinary Arts included with descriptions of Small Learning Communities courses. It is unacceptable that courses be thrown to DMHS students in such a haphazard manner.
There was a lot of talk about seniority and tenure and how the rules regarding these had to be adhered to at all cost. Gerald Akridge had seniority over all other employees with the same title, yet he is fired and others are still there. In the middle school, 2 counselors were fired and they both had seniority over another staff member that was retained. Now what is really the criterion for keeping your job in the Englewood Public School District? Perhaps the answer is in how well you kiss up to Dr. Carlisle in his office when no one else is around.
Glenn Garrison insisted that he wanted more job cuts. Voters should remember this in April. Glenn, no doubt wants to make sure that enough money is there to build the shed/office building that he has promised to build in our wetland area adjacent to the little league field across the street from Grieco School..
At one point, Mark Tabakin, the board attorney displayed open intimidation towards David Matthews. He called the police. Stephen Brown threatened to take away our freedom of speech at public school board meetings. We hear this speech whenever Stephen is tired of listening to complaints from the public.
How are the children?
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