Breakfast has ALWAYS been offered in the schools. Previously, it was offered from 8:00-8:30 in the school cafeteria. Officially breakfast is now served from 8:30-8:45 in the classroom, but in actuality it is 8:40/8:45. In the elementary schools, children are picked up from line outside at 8:30, they proceed into school and into their classroom and then eat breakfast. This typically is about 8:40-8:45. There is no official end to breakfast this way, but most kids finish up between 8:55 and 9:00. Instructional time starts at 8:45. We are assigning work to be done while they are eating (journal writing, review pages, problem of the day, etc;), but let's be honest...how many 5 and 6 years olds (or even some 12 and 13 year olds) can eat a bowl of cereal and work productively at the same time.

The reason for the change is that not enough students were coming to school at 8:00. Now they are all "in school" at 8:30/8:45 and we can increase breakfast numbers. I am in full support of no child being hungry, but can we acknowledge that children need time to eat and not count that time as instructional time and demand I am actively teaching and the kids are actively working while they are simultaneously trying to peel an orange?

Sorry, but your Union doesn't want us to treat you as bad and good teachers. Your Union wants us to see you as all the same, different only by how long you teach. This is how we are supposed to pay you, this is how we are supposed to fire you in case of the budget cuts, etc.

So, we can't single you out and say "hey, this one is smart and decent, and has a good judgement, let's allow her to make her own rules!"

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Except that isn't actually true...it's what media and anti union factions want you to believe. For the first 3 years (4 now) as an in tenured teacher, you have a final "summative" conference with your principal. Many more teachers than you realize opt to resign and find another career after these conferences....bad evaluations plus a little career counseling with the principal often convinces people that teaching is not for them. Many of these new teachers are 22-25 years old and in the way of young people think "no big deal, I'll try something else". I'm sure statistics about this are kept somewhere, but I am not privy to them.

Once we achieve tenure, we still have that summative conference. It reviews your performance, your formal observations and evaluations and your overall professionalism. At this point, principals can (and have) said "I cannot recommend you for re-employment" and many teachers opt to resign rather than go through the process of being fired. If a teacher does not resign, they are entitled to what is called a Donaldson hearing. THIS IS WHAT TENURE IS...not job security! Tenure ensures that if a principal wants to fire you, he/she cannot do it arbitrarily. You must have a Donaldson hearing where the principal is supposed to present the evidence he/she has as to why the teacher should be fired. As part of the hearing, the teacher has the opportunity to offer rebuttals. Additionally, the principal must prove that he/she identified the situation early (assuming it's bad teaching we're talking about and not something illegal/immoral) and offered intervention, support, and remediation. What happens at times is that the principal cannot prove they tried to help the teacher improve his/her teaching. If the principal cannot prove that they tried to help and the teacher is still bad, then often times the teacher is not fired because it cannot be proved that the firing is justified and not retaliatory or just because the principal doesn't like the teacher. So when the media reports that teachers aren't fired-blame the administrators that didn't do THEIR job to make sure the teacher was supported and still failed.

I agree that the process of having the hearing takes too long and needs to be streamlined, but I do believe in the process, and the idea of tenure. THis means that a principal can't just fire me because he doesn't like me, or because I make too much money, or I failed some important parent's kid. I can only be fired if I am bad at my job, my boss identified that I am bad at my job, and tried to help me learn to get better but I still didn't. If a principal thinks I am ineffective, they should call in another observer/evaluator to make sure that it is not a personal bias, have content supervisors meet with me to make sure I understand my curriculum, have master teachers or supervisors model lessons and/or co-teach lessons with me, etc. If after all that I still suck, and the principal can say "hey, I tried and she is still terrible", then I can, and will be fired. 4 Jersey City teachers were fired last year, and there is no public count as to how many resigned.

And please pardon the typos I just noticed. It is 5:30 in the morning and my fat fingers don't type so wonderfully on the little iPhone keyboard :)

I know in advance that I will get slammed for this, because I don't post enough, and evidently only those who post often are entitled to an opinion around here. I'm also a teacher, which seems to discount everything I say for some....

I have been teaching in JC for 18 years. I was born in JC, raised in JC, married in JC and am raising my family in JC. My children go to public school in JC...our neighborhood school, not my school or one I've hand selected for them. As a parent, I am satisfied that my children are doing ok in school. I'm not happy with the current curriculum or the focus on testing, but I truly see how the majority of teachers care for my children and are trying to do right by them.

As a teacher, I can honestly this is the worst year since I've started. The current curricula is a script, with little room for deviation based on the needs of my students. Math in. Particular is completely developmentally inappropriate, but technically if I am "caught" deviating from the script to address my class's unique needs, I am "ineffective". All lessons are geared towards passing the test with very little Science, SS or creative, artistic integration. How terribly boring for an 8 year old! 10 years ago I was told to teach my special needs students on their FUNCTIONAL level and assess them accordingly. Now, must instruct and assess on their chronological age, regardless of functional level. The 5th grader who reads on. 2nd grade level with an IQ of 75? Too bad, must take the 5th grade test. But he gets extra time and I can "clarify the directions".

Are there bad teachers? Yep, just like there are bad lawyers, bad doctors, bad McDonald's workers....but as a general rule,,most of us are decent at what we do and have the children's best interests at heart. I am proud to be. PROFESSIONAL (I graduated from an college honors with a 3,9 GPA and hold 2 Master's degrees) who would like to have my judgement as how to best instruct my class valued. I have seen my ability to think for myself in the classroom taken way over the past 18 years. Now it's more important to have the right number of charts on the wall (yes, this is really being assessed via district staff walkthroughs) than to know my kids and adjust instruction accordingly. For this reason, I will be supporting Gerald Lyons and Angel Valentin in the board elections. Both of these men have demonstrated that they are willing to think about what is best for students and treat teachers with professionalism. I may not always agree with them, but I do believe that they are working to find the best solution for our district's problems and value the input of those if us actually working in the field. Something is not right if 18 years in I'm wondering if this was the right career choice. Teaching used to bring me pleasure and fulfillment beyond description. Noe I feel like it has become an exercise in paperwork, jumping through hoops and experimentation with out kids because it looks good on paper. I believe Lyons and Valentin will put the focus back on the CHILDREN of Jersey City.

I'm basically a lurker and reader, but wanted to say how proud I am of my nephew and his classmates. I am so excited for them. I know some of them and they are just beside themselves with excitement. The work they're doing is amazing and I'm glad they're being rewarded for it. They won an all expense paid trip and beat out over 10,000 students with their project. They have a website that I know my nephew works on

www.projectreservoir.weebly.com

Great job PS 28!!

In this age of negative press about schools and education, I wanted to share some good news about one of Jersey City's schools...PS # 28 in the Heights was named a state winner in the national Disney Planet Challenge competition. This school was also named a national finalist in the Intel Corporation's Schools of Distinction competition in the fall.

Disney info: http://www.jcheights.com/pdf/PR_2011_ ... Reservoir_PS8_contest.pdf