TLS EXCLUSIVE: (Documents in extended article). Defying Lakewood homeowners and mosdos, the BOE voted last night to award a $900,000 Preschool Contract to Tiny Tots for 120 Public School children, using non Public School funds. Members of the Kehilla, the Lakewood Associations Coalition, (LAC), and the Igud have repeatedly pleaded with the BOE to avert the pending action, to no avail. This will be the second Preschool contract awarded this year to Tiny Tots. Under its first Contract with Tiny Tots, which was awarded without bid, the BOE pays $1,250 per child, per month for day care services, for a 6 hour day. Tiny Tots charges its private clients less than one quarter, $285 per month. for this service. In other words, the District is paying nearly 4.5 times the market price, to the same agency.
Hours before last night’s meeting, the Igud made a last ditch effort to stop the Board from spending the money. It asked the BOE to return the $2 Million Title I Stimulus funds misallocated from NonPublic School (NPS) portion to Public Schools. The Board’s prepared Agenda identifies the funding as coming from Public School, not NPS Stimulus Title I monies. No clarification was provided that apparently the entire $2 Million in Title I money earmarked by the District for Preschools was diverted to the Public Schools (PS) from the NonPublic School (NPS-Mosdos) portion of the $5.9 Title I Stimulus grant. This is documented in the District application to the State for the Title I Stimulus funds. Referring to the District’s original application to the State for Title I Stimulus funds, the Igud wrote yesterday in an email to the Board, “We are totally opposed to the shift of $2 Million from the NPS equitable share to PS for preschools, or for any other reason. This application was prepared and submitted without our knowledge, without our input, and certainly without our approval.
As stated on last nights BOE Agenda, the Board was asked to “Approve a contract with Tiny Tots to provide a Title I Preschool Program for the 2009-2010 school year in an amount not to exceed $900,000 . . . The program is to begin on or about November 1, 2009 and is exclusively a public school program. The district will select the students based on approved criteria. The program operations are subject to the availability of funding from Title I – ARRA grant funds, which are exclusively Title I Public funds.”
In September, when this Preschool proposal first came up for a vote, the Igud was joined by the Lakewood Associations Coalition (LAC) in its protest. As reported previously on TLS, here and here, the LAC voiced strong opposition (see ‘Orthodox Jews Protest Board Plans to Use Money For Preschool’ by Zach Patberg in the APP), and was able to avert this mis-allocation. Seems that was only a temporary, fleeting victory.
The Igud and LAC’s protest was muffled by District reassurances that the money would indeed come exclusively from the Public School (PS) portion, not the NPS portion, and would be used to help only PS children. When the Igud uncovered that all the money earmarked for Preschools is in fact NonPublic School money, and is being used to serve PS children exclusively, it reinstated its protest, to no avail.
The only question remaining is, which money will fund this Tiny Tots contract? The $2 Million Stimulus diverted from NPS to PS, or the real Title I PS portion. Simply put, will the BOE return the $2 Million it diverted from the NPS share to our mosdos? Since the Board took no action to return these funds to our mosdos, the Igud members we spoke to say they are quite concerned.
Yoni Silver, a member of the Lakewood BOE, and also affiliated with LAC, did not attend last night’s BOE meeting. He has previously voted against the award of this contract to Tiny Tots, when it failed to pass.
In other action, ‘our’ elected School Board members voted last night to eliminate Holiday bussing for nonpublic students on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Memorial Day.
Of course give LAC some boost! THE TOWNSHIP OFFICIALS NEVER HEARD OF THEM. THEY ARE A BOUNCH OF KIDS TRYING TO BE IN THE PAPER EVERYDAY. TLS START POSTING REAL STUFF
So Tiny Tots which profides free day care to employees of a few companies (amd owned by one of them) will now be getting all this money ! Why not give vouchers for daycare ??
The LAC was the glue that got M&M elected when the block splintered like Humpty Dumpty. They first alerted the oilam to this geneiva.
have the decency to give credit where credit is due.
The elections are over bug-off with the lac, they are all back in the coffee room in yeshiva
we showed all these people what we can do in elections its time for us to get toghether and clean up the BOE!!!!
OUT WITH ALL THE SELF INTREST PEOPLE !!!!!!!!!!!
This was done by the LAC, and if lakewooder 4:14pm is a VAAD member who should have done this, he should crawl back into his hole. Sorry VAAD, the new kid on the block has done more in a year than you have in 12 years!
The LAC is scared they will be sent to Tiny tots to get some schooling..
OUTRAGES
this article was not written by he Lac. it was with our consent but was submitted by the mosods. Congrats to the Igud for fnally taking a Public stand against the BOE!
Who owns Tiny Tots?
I give credit where credit is due. If they start working on lowering our property taxes and cleaning up corruption I will think about voting for their canidates in the next election.
It is totally laughable for the lac gang to take even a masehu of credit for getting M&M re-elected.. Even if their name didn’t exist the results would’ve been the same.
“the BOE pays $1,250 per child, per month for day care services, for a 6 hour day. Tiny Tots charges its private clients less than one quarter, $285 per month. for this service. In other words, the District is paying nearly 4.5 times the market price, to the same agency.”
How do they get away with this corruption????????
about time they do something for the public schools in lakewood.
I know for a fact that the Lac is putting a stop to corruption all over town. Hold on to your hats, very soon they will be going public with earth shattering revelations. From the LDC (uez) to the BOE. From the inspecton dept to the police. All of these things cost us hardearned tax dollars. give them credit for getting down into the gutter for all of us.
Well, it seems as if pre-school is getting funding. We can start holding “back” all the 1st 2nd 3rd graders etc. in pre-school! 🙂
To TLC…
It is about time you changed the boe picture to the new one at the chemed building.For the 30,000.00 dollars they pay a month rent they should at least have their new picture posted
Ok rabbosei its time to vote these guys out the next time there are boe elections we are going to make a revolt regardless of what the entrenched think we should do
the 1250 per kid that Tiny Tots gets is for special Ed children that go in a self contained class with a special ed techer. mainstream children to not get funding for pre school. If some knows for a fact that this is not correct please speak up
that is untrue. any child that requires 3 hrs of therapy a week gets 1250 a month paid for them. the special ed teachers are paid for separately by the boe under a different line item
i know that for a fact its regular kids. and even if they need a certifeid teacher, in Lakewood they only pay them about $20,000 so they are still whay over paying.
Why was Yoni Singer not there when this important vote was taken?
Yoni was out of town on business. the meeting was scheduled on purpose when they knew he wasn’t going to be there.
I can only guess where the $20,000,000 tjhat the VAAD letter said tehy obtained for Lakewood Scholl district from the state went. WOW imagine what are yeshivos would eb if they actually received that money. Is it or is it not supposed to go to the schools? Or only the “special ed” part. I am starting to think what makes “Special” ed so special is that lots of tax $$$$ gets thrown there and………
Tiny Tots does NOT charge only $285/child per month for 6 hours a day to it’s private clients. It’s closer to 3 times that amount.
Just when we needed him most, LAC Yoni was AWOL.
vote the bums out of office
Yoni Silver, (not Singer) was there the week before and made sure this same contract was voted down. MI brought it up again when YS was away. And TT gets all the services paid for separately by the BOE.
Lastly, double check TT rates for private clients. I did. The 285 is correct. How do they get away with it. Simple, we elect the BOE puppets. Year after year.
CLEAR MESSAGE THIS IS NOT WHAT WE WANT TO SEE. THEN YOU ASK US TO SUPPORT YOU. THEN YOU ASK US TO VOTE FOR YOU, THEN YOU ASK US NOT TO GO AGAINST THE VAAD. THEN YOU TELL US IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE TZIBUR . ABOUT HAKARAS HATOV . THANK YOU TLC FOR BEING THERE FOR US . ITS ONLY BECAUSE OF U THAT MAY DETER THESE PEOPLE FROM THEIR SHENANEGANS. IN THE END OF THE DAY WE ALL PAY FOR IT . BE CAREFUL BOE CHRISTY READS THIS BLOG . AND YOUR DAY MAY COME UP .THEN YOULL SHRY CHAI VAKAYUM THE RASHA GOITE .
i thought the BOE got “the center” to do it and match the TT bid. i heard “the center” backed out. whats pshat?
285 may be for a shorter day.
360-375 would be the 8:30 -3:00 option.
Was the meeting scheduled in advance? If so, Silver had an obligation to be there, even if this item wasn’t on the agenda.
okay m&m, we voted for ya, now your up to bat. A. are you gonna let this slide B. are you gonna get a logical explanation C. are you gonna protest or D. are ya gonna do nothing if its D. then the vaads credibilty will go completely out the window. the people do not forget these things . I love this blog I can vent and express my feelings . it very theraputic for my blood pressure.
Help!!! All of us Catapult teachers are suffering for years. We had no one to help us. Hopefully you people will realize that Yidden have been suffering from the BOE for years and years.
Yiddishe Mamas who are just trying to feed their children cry out for your help. Please help us!!!
ok i guys i help all of you threw my foundation one of my partners live in lakewood i will contact tls to post a time and date to meet all the leaders and heads of organzations and we will try to help evrybody and you should all know its because of my partner i am doing this. stay tuned for more info
Who told us to vote for the other members? That voted for this?
On the street this is known as the three card monte con trick. The BOE knows the public will not allow Mosdos (nonpublic) money to be used to enrich their friends at Tiny Tots. So first they move $2 Million from the mosdos share to the “public” share, claiming the mosdos agreed to shift the money for “preschools”. Now they know no one will approve a contract to Tiny Tots, but everyone loves the Special Children Center, (SCC), so they steal the contract from the true low bidder, Step Ahead, and awards it to the SCC.
Lastly, when the fix is in, they lean on SCC with all kinds of restrictions and conditions, till they force them out. Walla, they back out, and they turn around free to award this “Public” money to their favorite, Tiny Tots. What do you have against the clowns on the BOE, the rest of Lakewood is no smarter!!
9AM TILL 2:30 A PRE SCHOOL KID PAYS$285.00, full day of 830-400pm the cost is $350 for private none special ed kids.This is alot less then $1250 !!!!!!!!!call tiny tots and you will see for yourselves
This was a special meeting called because these items failed to pass last week!And no board member is OBLIGATED to be there if they cant make it one night …HENCE 9 members……..a quorom is 5
The vaad did
would seem that we owe tiny tots yasher koiach for bringing down the cost. they were lowest bid by few hundred alufim. saving kehila groiser gelt. lets be mechazek them to keep bringing down the prices so we can save kehila money and lower our taxes.
While no Board member has a legal obligation to attend every meeting, they do have an obligation to their constituents. If they’re not there, they can’t represent our interests.
lets ask tiny tots to put in bids to lower the catapoult company so they can save the kehila big money like they saved us with preschool. its about time we have another bidder to go up againt catapoult. go tiny tots go.bring in more competition so we can drive down the costs.dont let a few nisht farginers slow u down.
Correction needed, con artist. True Low Bidder was not Step Ahead. It was Tiny Tots. The rest of your analysis is on the money. Step Ahead did all the research, and was strung along to design a preschool program using Title 1 funding, then dumped for Tiny Tots. Clever. Very clever. Too clever.
the center couldnt make enough money at the price that tiny tots was willing to bid so they pulled out
the posts on this story are so off the mark it is pathetic. The money is title 1. Nobody saved the kehillah a dime. They may save Obama a few dollars, not us. Catapult is the same story. Catapult does cost us about 4 million but that is a whole different story. Putting up competition would not help that. The teachers suffer form catapult, true, but they would not get better treatment elsewhere. besides, look at their salaries and benefits, most “poor mothers trying to feed their family” dont make half. The transfer form NPS to PS was not done now, it has been done for the past 10 years. there is a flaw in the dispersion of title 1 funds. The center backed out because of the restrictions and low money. TT is willing to “invest” this year on the hope that next year they wil get a better deal. Hoping that next year the oilam will not notice.
Please get your facts straight before posting.
lac has now merged with smartgrid energy and predict 2010 the entire lakewood would be running on new enrgy and the saveings will be more than $1250 perchild per household we are now looking for private investors if intrested pls contact #################
” thank you ” scary you laid it out very nice and said how it is. I take my hat off to you. please step up to the front row. You are a mentch, and you know how to handle situations very well. i have very similar common values and i would realy like to meet you one morning for a coffe good night and thank you
Catapult is employing more then 300 families in Lakewood. Would who ever takes over pay the same salary and give the same benefits as Catapult does? Would all the money go for the children that need the help or would it go to build more large buildings?
how in the world can they get nearly five times the going rate?
Avia Kahanow is the executive director of Tiny Tots, call ask Mrs. Kahanow all you questions
None of this money can be used for anything other than remedial work for students . The issue is the 40 % markup that we pay to Catapult . If we got rid of Catapult and did everything in house ,we could pay everybody the same and help 40 % more kids . Its as simple as that .
It,s sad to see this everybody child deveres a education.My child got accepted into lakewood pre-k and i’am not jewish and it,s sad to see this all these negative comments. This would be the reason lakewood is filled with so much hatred.If all of us worked together this would become the town it once was.
response to “this is sad” poster. I do not see any hatred on these posts all I see is people seeking the truth. Please do not come with a “Hatred” message. We all just want a better and more efficient Lakewood.
The fact that hundreds more children could be served with the same funds if not for Catapult’s and Tiny Tots excessive “overhead”, due to no bid contracts, costs our Kehilla “nothing”?? Just because these funds are federal they can be ripped-off? The fact that special ed techers in Lakewood are paid half of surrounding districts, so they leave as soon as they can, leaving our children with entry level teachers, costs our kehilla “nothing”?
You are sadly and badly mistaken.
There is much more that’s corrupt in this enterprise called the Lakewood BOE. Not for this space.
The only scam going on here is that the mosdos are skimming off the top. The mosdos charge “rent” to catapult for the tutors to tutor in the school building. This forces the overhead way up on the program and robs our needy children from additional tutoring hours. This is the only district in the state and I believe in the nation that has to pay rent for title 1 Tutors.
It is wrong to post personal names of employees. Have the same respect you would want other people to treat you with.
Has anyone bothered to enlarge and read the posted documents? They prove the BOE is shortchanging our children by $Millions. Deliberately. It will be interesting to see if and how the District will answer these charges. If they don’t, who WILL clean-up Lakewood?
Lets figure out how much $$$ these mosdos are charging for “rent” and how many hours of tutoring our children are being short changed. I heard that this year the mosdos tried to increase the rent and catapult said no, so the igud is looking for another provider that is willing to play ball with them. This is a mega scandal that the mosdos that are supposed to be in charge of our children’s chinuch are stealing resources from our weakest children.
Has anyone bothered to enlarge and read the posted documents? They prove the BOE is shortchanging our children by $Millions. Deliberately. It will be interesting to see if and how the District will answer these charges. If they don’t, who WILL clean-up Lakewood?
its funny how most of you bloggers have no idea what the TT program is about. My child is in the program and BH is doing great. I spoke to the director many times and she confirmed All the services listed is included in the $1250.
• 1. Fully equipped therapy rooms
2. An education director that follows my Childs IEP and progress
3. A shadow for my child
4. Social worker for behavioral issues
5. Certified teachers in the classroom
6. Teachers aides in classrooms that know more about teaching then most moras in basements
7. Teacher training and workshops that happen on a weekly basis
8. Toys in classrooms that teach mechanical and sensory skills.
Before the district created this program which is run not only in Tiny Tots, but in Ready Set and Grow, and the Macedonia church (they all get $1250 a month) the only option was schi or stars and your child was placed in a self contained class room with other children with disabilities. Most of the kids would learn from the other children with disabilities and would never learn how a normal child behaves and only a small percentage would be able to function in main stream yeshiva class room. The goal of the program is to mainstream your child .The district offers the parents the right to choose which program you would like your child to attend. Overall the program saved us the taxpayers mega bucks vs. the cost of schi and stars
response to geshmakerr all i,am saying is all children in lakewood deserve a education public and private schools.One day my child to go to college and get a job and pay taxes.And he or she deserves the best education that they can get.And as a parent that should be all of our concern.They are our furture.
Hey TLS can you please get the other side of the story. I would love to hear what one of the BOE members who voted on this has to say. So far most posts have been one-sided. In the interest of “Fair-reporting” I think it would behoove TLS to obtain some statement from BOE on why this was done.
Thanks!
Why are BoE funds being used to fund PRESCHOOL age children in any event, special ed or otherwise???
This has been posted for a couple of days. BOE members have responded here in the past, so did their lawyer, why not now? There’s your answer. They have NO answers to these questions. They refuse to open their mouths just to change feet.
I challenge them to respond. If not Shtika Kehodaah. That is unless they’re Pleading the Fifth!!
does MI own tint tots?
havent lichtenstein and Miller been elected twicw before the LAC even came to town. whats up with this taking credit when not due