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

The New Jersey School Board's Closing the Achievement Gap Task Force

 Trenton, N.J. - New Jersey State Board of Education President Arcelio

Aponte today announced that the board's Closing the Achievement Gap Task

Force has held initial meetings and soon will hold regional public

hearings to gather input on how to best address the state's academic

achievement gap.

The 10-member task force, which stems from the State Board's annual

retreat in June, was created to examine why many poor and minority

students in New Jersey do not score as well on state standardized tests

as their more-affluent and white counterparts.

"It is the State Board of Education's mission to help provide every

child in New Jersey with an excellent education regardless of their

race, ethnicity, socioeconomic group or sex," President Aponte said. "I

am confident that the State Board's Closing the Achievement Gap Task

Force will produce proven and practical methods that school districts

across the state can use to help all students achieve at high levels."

In 2010, black students in the fourth grade statewide scored

approximately 30 percentage points lower on NJASK in language arts and

mathematics than white students. The gap was slightly larger between

economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged students

on the grade four language arts NJASK, while the gap in math was

approximately 25 percentage points.

The task force's charge is to provide the State Board and policymakers

with recommendations for a statewide strategy to close the academic

achievement gap by addressing proven correlatives of poor academic

achievement. It will examine the themes of access; culture/climate;

expectations; and strategies.

"Closing the achievement gap and ensuring that all students, regardless

of zip code, graduate from high school ready for college and career is a

top priority of the Department," said Acting Commissioner Chris Cerf.

"I commend the State Board for taking this challenge head on, and look

forward to the results of this work."

The task force members include:

* James Boatwright - Former Director of Academic Support, The

   College of New Jersey;

James Boatwright pictured center in the suit and tie.

* Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago - Rutgers Board of Governors

   Distinguished Service Professor; Director of the Center for Strategic

   Urban Community Leadership; and Board Chair of the LEAP Academy

   University Charter School;

Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago

For your information: http://youtu.be/2TlFDg3Fje4,    http://youtu.be/jdTgCqFt_ok,  Outstanding Woman Magazine, LEAP Academy Ground Breaking
                         

* Richard E. Constable III, Esq. - Deputy Commissioner, N.J.
   Department of Labor and Workforce Development;

Richard E. Constable III, Esq

Richard E. Constable, III is Governor Christie's Nominee for Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs,  On the Job Training Initiative

* Robert L. Copeland - Superintendent, Piscataway School District;

Robert L. Copeland

* Silvia Correa-Abbato - Assistant Superintendent, Union City

   School District;

Silvia Correa-Abbato

* Dr. Stephen Jose Hanson - Professor, Psychology Department,

   Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey;

Dr. Stephen Jose Hanson

Dr. Hanson is also Director of Rutgers Brain Imaging Center

* Dr. Arnold G. Hyndman - Professor of Cell Biology and

   Neuroscience and Director of the Organizational Leadership Program of

   the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University;

Dr. Arnold G. Hyndman

* Carlos R. Moreno - Director of School Reform & Innovation - New

   Jersey, Big Picture Learning;

Carlos R. Moreno

* Dr. Michael Nettles - Senior Vice President and Edmund W. Gordon

   Chair of Policy Evaluation and Research Center, Educational Testing

   Service (ETS);

Dr. Michael Nettles

* Dr. Dorothy Strickland - Member, N.J. State Board of Education

   and Professor Emerita, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Dr. Dorothy Strickland

Support for the task force is being provided by ETS, the Department of

Education and the Office of the Acting Secretary of Higher

Education/Commission on Higher Education.

The task force expects to hold multiple public hearings around the state

in the near future.

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

Are Our Schools in Crisis?: A Dedicated Parent Speaks Up For The Children

Liliana Saumet (Mrs. Vasquez)

Liliana Saumet (Mrs. Vasquez) The definition of acting principal is serving as a temporary measure until something more complete and permanent can be established.  And that is not what we asked for.  Today, we have taken a 360 degree turn to take us back where we started without a permanent principal for the Middle school.  Therefore, if you thought that by giving this title to Mr. Thomas will shut us up, you are mistaken; instead you have added more fuel to the fire.  

With this action you have not only spit at his face or ours but you have spit the faces of our children.

Dr. Carlise, when you came to the district, I trusted you, I believed in you, but today I feel betrayed, because you have let my kids down.  With this nomination and the article in the Sunday Record newspaper, I have come to the following conclusions, first you are only looking out for yourself, your main concern seems keeping the board happy so you can get the $200,000.00 yearly salary that you were offered.  Secondly, this avoidance to give Mr. Lamarr Thomas the title of permanent principal for Janis Dismus school, is due to the fact that indeed some members of the board have major personal issues with Mr. Thomas.   Unfortunately, in this war of egos the only people affected are my kids. 

Mr. George Garrison, in the same article you stated that Dr. Carlise was brought in for being the best choice for a low ranking District.  I ask myself, was the best overlooking a person that has served the District for 16 years, have been a good teacher, and has proven what he can do during his tenure as a vice-principal for the high school, and instead brought someone first from the Hackensack district that ranks low like us and whom turned the position down, and then overlooked him again by bringing someone that came from a charter school with a student body of less than 100 children and she left too.  Tuesday night was the honor roll ceremony at the middle school, where the student body is approximately 430+ students, and that night 216 students received a honor roll certificate.  Some people will say, that it was due to the changes implemented this year by Dr. Carlise and Mr. Macchia, but a lot has to do with the job that Mr. Thomas is doing everyday motivating and guiding our children, since if we don’t have a strong leader to implement the changes nothing would change.  So I asked the panel today, if this is not the best, what is your definition of the best?

When I fell in love with those kids at McCloud last year I committed myself to them.  It would be very easy for me to just take my child and move to another school and avoid all this conflict.  But unfortunately, I cannot abandon my kids, if no one will fight for them, I will.  Therefore, since I do not believe in gray areas, I will tell you the following.  I will not give up my efforts until Mr. Lamarr Thomas is made principal of Janis Dismus Middle School, even if that means going to President Obama himself. 

I will make it my personal crusade to make this submissive community wake up and smell the coffee and make them aware that yes their vote or lack of vote does not affect them directly, but it does affect their children.  I know that you are the giant now, but remember in the bible David defeated the giant.

Are our Schools In Crisis?: Even the Children Know the Answer

My name is Jonathan Vasquez, I live at --- Engle Street, and I am a student at JDMS.  Two weeks ago I heard my mom ranting to my father about injustices, broken promises, submissive community and so on.  What really caught my attention though was when my mom said that if no one was going to watch out for the kids in the school, then who will?  I thought, and I believe I am talking for the entire school population, that Mr. Thomas was our actual principal.  My reasons are that in structure, schools are run as the country, and when the president, in this case the principal who happened to be Ms. Ortiz, steps down from authority the “vice-president”, in this case Mr. Thomas, would take over.  This did not happen though, and now we are stuck without a leader for the school, and as far as I know, Mr. Thomas has the qualifications to become a principal and he is well liked and known in the community, so really the only reasons that certain board members will not vote for him is because of personal reasons, and that is not right.

As adults, people are always asking us to do this or to do that, telling us how we should act and what their expectations of us are and so on.  But the problem is that, most adults hear us but do not listen to us, they look at us but do not see us.  That is what makes Mr. Thomas different, he not only listens and see us, but he motivates us every day to excel with his positive attitude and messages.  Mr. Thomas treats everyone the same with kindness and respect.  He shows us with actions and not words that he really cares about us and wants the best for us, he shows us how to be better students and better people. 

Therefore, I am respectfully asking you the board members, for Mr. Thomas to have the title of principal for JDMS.  I know that everyone in the district main wish is for the Englewood Schools to become one of the bests in the state, but for that strong leaders are needed to lead us there.  Archimedes once said “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world”.  To me and I truly feel is the same thought of most of JMDS student body, Mr. Thomas is our lever.  Thank you.

                   Jonathan's actual speech to the Board of Education

                               *               *                *                 *

The statement above was read by the author, a 7th  grade honor student, at the November 17, 2011 school board meeting. Before listening to this young man and a group of Janis Dismus children speak, I did not think one way or the other about Mr. Thomas. I did not have any first hand information about his leadership qualities or abilities. I did know that  he did not enjoy the confidence of the Board President, because of remarks made by Mr. Garrison outside of the Municipal building after one of the "Meet the Candidates" sessions. A group of students from Jan Dismus Middle School attended the meeting and spoke up for the man that they thought was already their principal. These young people demonstrated great pride in their school and in their principal. It was obvious that Mr. Thomas was doing a job that was satisfactory to them and their parents. I was impressed with the children. We encourage and support education, not indoctrination.

Mr. Thomas has been running the middle school since September. The candidate suggested and appointed by the Board of Education and Dr. Carlise turned down the job after attending a meeting in the middle school during the summer. At this meeting, concerned parents were very vocal about what they thought was a poor plan for their school. Mr. Thomas was forced to step in and explain the plan and strategy utilized in reorganizing the failing school. Mrs. Ortiz (the appointed principal) does not hold a standard New Jersey Certification and works in a school with less than 100 students. Perhaps the challenge presented by Janis Dismus was slightly over her head and beyond her skill set.

   How are the children? If this young man is any indication, they are well.