A member of the Jackson Township Board of Education, Erica Osmond, is shockingly suggesting that private schools in the state should receive additional oversight from the state.
“[W]hy would these types of religious schools be so against state testing and oversight to prove they are doing what they should be doing which is fully educating the child beyond religious studies only?” Osmond, who joined the board in January 2022, asked in a recent, lengthy Facebook post.
Ms. Osmond then went on to quote the recent New York Times articles which went after Chassidish schools in New York City, using it to make the case that more oversight of private schools in New Jersey is needed, noting that it may be different in this state, “but without oversight how do you know?”
The New Jersey Constitution does not have a provision related to public aid for private education and the state’s compulsory education law states that “every parent, guardian or other person having custody and control of a child between the ages of six and 16 years shall cause such child regularly to attend the public schools of the district or a day school in which there is given instruction equivalent to that provided in the public schools for children of similar grades and attainments or to receive equivalent instruction elsewhere than at school.”
Ironically, according to the recent performance report released by the Department of Education, which assesses student performance at New Jersey’s 2,364 public schools and serves as a “State Report Card,” all 10 public schools in the Jackson Public School District, scored well below the state average, with scores ranging from as low as 31.37 to a paltry 51.30, with 99 being the highest.
Schools in New Jersey are rated on a scale of 1-99 and are based on a variety of factors, including graduation rates, English Language Arts proficiency, math proficiency, ELA growth, math growth, and progress towards English language proficiency.
Ms. Osmond, who wrote at the end of her lengthy post that her comments were made “in my capacity as a private citizen,” was replying to a Facebook post made by another Jackson resident which was wondering about the hostile reactions among some residents regarding private school applications.
However, even though these comments were made by Ms. Osmond in her private capacity, it is alarming that a sitting member of the Board of Education would advocate for more control over private schools – especially when they have a hard enough time handling their own schools.
I agree with Ms. Osmond, but only if the private school is accepting state or local funding . I feel if they are not accepting any funding that they can educate their children as they wish.
Providing a decent secular education has no connection to aid. It’s a state law like laws concerning murder or speeding.
All private schools for all religions accept state aide one way or another.
Jackson Oversight Official Suggests State Start Ovesight of Erica Osmond
Upon learning that, according to the Department of Education’s most recent performance report, all 10 public schools in the Jackson Public school district scored well below the state average, a State Oversight committe member suggested that Jackson Township Board of Ed. member, Erica Osmond, begin receiving additional oversight from the State..
“I am told Erica Osmond spends a lot of time reading the New York Time’s opinion section on Haredim, and tending to her Facebook posts, while the public education system in Jackson is failing its school children’s educational needs miserably, ” the oversight official told reporters on Monday. “Let’s conduct a little oversight over Ms. Osmond, to make sure she’s not goofing off on the job. There are plenty of Jacksonites who would gladly fill her seat on the Jackson Board of Education, if she steps down from her post – and when I say ‘post’, I don’t mean her facebook post – I mean her Board of Ed post. Sorry about the confusion.”
As a private resident of Jackson I am appalled to discover that the school district is failing their kids so miserably.
What’s the excuse? They can’t yet blame it on the funding algorithms. I’m surprised that anyone would trust their kids to such a failing system. Private vouchers are the only solution.
A very concerned resident
The district wasn’t failing 10 years ago. Wonder what changed…
Perhaps we shouldnt let oversight into our private schools. If public education failing that bad imagine how much worse our scores would lower the average
Considering that oversight isn’t helping Jackson schools much it might seem ironic that she’d suggest this… but this happens to be tbe general consensus on the Jackson FB page.
And I think that should some sort of state testing be instituted, it’d be a real shock for them to see how well some of our kids will do… especially the girls. And technically the elementary kids are already taking standardized tests annually… so where are those scores going? And NY high schools do take regents…. so it’s not unprecedented.
The boys high schools will have a harder time… but it’s really about time we address that anyway and close the education gap that’s not helping our boys and contributing to the shiduch crisis in conjunction with the age gap and social and emotional IQ gaps.