PHOTO: This past Wednesday, UNITE met with NJ Education Commissioner Chris Cerf, his Chief of Staff Dave Hespe, Public Policy Director of Congressman Chris Smith Jeff Sagnip and Dr. Mario Barbiere – who will run the Regional Achievement Center (RAC) Lakewood is a part of – in an effort to improve the BOE in the district.
UNITE tells TLS the lengthy meeting covered a broad range of topics affecting Lakewood’s public schools, including leadership in key positions and decisions made by the Lakewood BOE.
“One of the key points was a commitment by the State to not only hold Lakewood’s leadership accountable for what is happening, but, with the help of the RAC provide much needed support and concrete consequences for failing to adhere to recommended plans to improve the district”, UNITE says.
Go for it !!!
I thought once there was a new Board ,new Administration , and new attorney there was no more problems ?
In a letter dated August 20, 2012 to Commissioner Cerf, the Educational Law Center (ELC) addressed the new accountability standards for schools such as Lakewood High School (LHS) and their accompanying state “mandated closure, replacement or other actions” if they “fail to demonstrate” the DOE level of improvement. I have written that LHS is a valuable asset, the jurisdictional hook that will one day bring education opportunity to all our children in the place of their choice and provide relief to Lakewood taxpayer by bringing in tens of millions in state aid once all our children are counted. We cannot afford to lose LHS.
The rules and consequences of schools subject to the RACs are new, broad and uniform enough to come under the scope of the NJ Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The APA triggers agency rulemaking procedures under these circumstances. As of date, the DOE had not codified these rules into the administrative code and not has been open for public comment as a precondition for rulemaking. Although I welcome the help of the DOE in improving LHS, if we will be subject to closure, we must hold the DOE accountable to the law.
The surer path to success is making everyone in Lakewood into a stakeholder of LHS. Then the morale and achievement of LHS students will improve because they will belong to something important to the people. They will be able to say, “We are somebody, We are Lakewood.” (My comments, as always, represent my own views, and in this case, in part, that of the ELC, and do not represent the views of the district).
Was there anything that addressed undocumented families?
The only difficulty with undocumented aliens is getting them jobs. My vision is to connect LHS students to the social and economic vitality of this town so that student work becomes part of student achievement; that businesses in town look to Lakewood High School for our students, rather than picking them up on Clifton Avenue, so that work and study can be integrated to raise achievement and provide a 21st century workforce for Lakewood.
Unfortunately, we cannot do this with undocumented students. The good news is that the large majority of students were born in the US.
Let’s be honest, this is a complete joke. Not one board member or administrator was invited to this meeting except inviduals who happen to be against everything the current board stands for. The picture says a million words.
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO HAVE ONE OF OUR OWN IN THE CENTRAL OFFICE, SOMEONE IN TOUCH WITH THE PEOPLE OF LAKEWOOD, WHO CARES ABOUT MY KIDS AND THOSE OF MY NEIGHBORS?
Why was no one advocating on behalf of the dire situation in our town? Does anyone in the central office even know the burden of our people? 23,000 kids, over half of whom cannot access high school courses just lost the only opportunity they had for high school credit. They do not count. People patronize our community members by saying that we have a choice in not attending the public schools, but it has never been a choice for any Lakewood family. The only choice is which yeshiva to attend, not whether to attend the public schools.
We send our kids to yeshivas to get a religious education. That should not be the sole reason why they cannot get a general education like the child of everyone else in this great nation. Your SIG application only said, “Heretofore, Lakewood High School has been using APEX Learning Systems for credit recovery and drop-out prevention. We recognize the importance of using on-line learning as a tool for credit recovery, remediation, and prevention, as well as for advancement. . . ”
Nowhere do you mention that we have a multitude that cannot access courses, that APEX was bringing already education to dozens of kids who had no opportunity before. Shame. See below for that which I wrote Ms. SIlva when the SIG story broke in May. Why are the people of Lakewood going have to wait until November 2013 for justice? Let us get working on this now. A Lang
when was the last time one of these individuals were in a public school. Does anyone have a clue how Lakewood has been turned around. The pastor and his pals just like to complain.
Do you think for one moment they care about the children of Lakewood?
The bottom line is they want it there way just like Burger King
Under the Copyright Revision Act of 1976, I do not have to affix notice of my right to my own work. The Fair Use doctrine allows excerpts for the purpose of criticism and public debate, but it does not allow reproduction of material in its entirety.
The above was sent to Board members and community leaders for the purpose of voicing my frustration over the loss of the SIG grant, which paid for our APEX program, putting the full LHS curriculum online. Several high school boys and young adults took advantage of this golden opportunity. I purchased 10 computer netbooks with my own funds to help the young people of Lakewood access free authentic coursework. I was hoping that this year we might contract with Aventa Inc. which would enable us to offer our whole curriculum without the medium of the internet.
The argument that our leadership had no connection to the political, social or economic life of this town over the last decade, that they never had the “pulse of Lakewood,” was to be formally presented in a level-headed article, which again, is my property. It was scheduled for publication today on TLS. I asked TLS to wait until after Yom Tov.
I will be responding to a recent letter to the editor published in the Asbury Park Press.
If the UNITE group met with these State representatives it must be because they have concerns about what is going on in this district of corruption. Everyone in Lakewood know that the town is one sided, when other elected officials come to town to meet with the other side it’s ok, but this public advocate group can’t meet with a few state officials without being criticized. I think that is hypocrisy..
what Unite and other organizations don’t like is the LBOE is finally doing the right thing and they have nothing to complain about. It’s a funny world, look around and see the people killing others and still justifying why it’s ok to do it for one reason or another.
Look at the schools, the children- if you don’t see a difference you have blinkers on. Maybe that’s what Unite and it’s follower’s really want.
I think the U.N.I.T.E. group has done a wonderful job over the last few years in addressing the main issues that were impeding the education of the public school children. If it wasn’t for U.N.I.T.E. sticking to the task of constantly going to the board meetings and bringing the issues to light I don’t think there would’ve been all this change.
Yes there are progress/changes in the schools and everyone can see that, but that doesn’t mean that they should lay down and say nothing. The situation is not fully up to par as yet, so they have to keep the board members feet to the fire.
Who knows what was said in this meeting they had with the state officials, it could be praises for the new board or complains, no one knows.
All I can say is, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK U.N.I.T.E., we need you around.
What has changed? Every year we have a new program and new principal. We had Schools That Work, Best Practices, Small Schools, Instructional Frameworks, Charlotte Danielson, and the list goes on. Now we have Turnaround Principles and the RACs.
This is what has changed: Our faculty. We have lost our most experienced teachers, the backbone of our institution. Has the routine dismissal or replacement of senior teachers who have taken positions of leadership and responsibility changed? Is the BOE going to cease putting teachers on leave for trivial incidents coerced out of unharmed students or for incidents recorded by a vindictive student on his Iphone? Will students no longer lose their teacher for weeks or months at a time?
What has remained the same? The few teacher who have stuck it out and remain year after year. The BOE, all the quick fixes and slogans, have never made a difference in any district other than by supporting their teachers. Improvement comes about in the same way it always has: though the selfless devotion of teachers, especially those with tenure, those who have become part of the culture of the school, some of whom have taught every member of a student’s family, from their siblings to their grandparents.
to # 10 and all-
let me say this very blunt, there should not be sides when it comes to the children of Lakewood or any other city.
If I recall, two errors don’t make it right. Both sides failed to invite board members.
It seems the BOE is interested in the kids dress code rather than education. Here’s why I say this. When a student is out of dress code, they are placed in the auditorium for the day or until they comply. That student just missed an opportunity to learn.
and that child schould know the school district has a dress code which is to be followed. #15, ignorance is something of the past. Get with the program.
To 16.
So so soooooo glad you’re retired ….. your focus should be on the curriculum at hand.