The horse is dead. You can stop beating it

Jersey City school district, Healy ally to meet in court over email flap

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on February 01, 2013 at 4:30 PM

The Jersey City school district and a political operative working with the re-election campaign of Mayor Jerramiah Healy will meet in court this month to hash out a lawsuit the operative filed seeking emails between school board members and Ward E City Councilman Steve Fulop.

A Hudson County judge ruled this week that the two parties must meet on Feb. 20 to show cause why the court should intervene.

Adam Herbsman, owner of opposition research firm Grand Central Consulting, filed a suit earlier this month accusing the school district of withholding emails between Fulop, who is running against Healy in the May 14 city election, and Board of Education members.

Healy allies have accused Fulop of exerting undue influence on members of the board, which is dominated by Fulop allies. They say he was behind the recent change in schools superintendents and a lucrative contract for one of his political donors.

The Jersey Journal also requested emails between Fulop and board members, a request that was denied by the BOE's attorney for being overly "broad."

Fulop said he?s in favor of the district releasing the emails.

"I agree with Healy on this,? he said. ?It is obviously the campaign funny season and while I know Healy is on a fishing expedition I wish emails would be released as it will show my goal was a superintendent change as I campaigned on and I never get involved in contracts."

A request for comment from the school district was not returned.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... y_school_district_he.html

Why would the JCBOE offer someone a contract from August 20, 2012 to June 30, 2016? How stupid! Didn?t they learn from Epps? (or better yet Obama?) Here?s an idea offer a one year contract, if things improve offer another year. If things don't improve hit the road.

If she doesn?t like those terms then ..tough shi*? go to the next person on the list.

http://www.jcboe.org/newboe/images/im ... es%202012-2016%208-10.pdf

Check out Sections 1A, 4A, 4B, 4F, 6,7,8, and page 22.

Jersey City school activists critical of new superintendent appointment process point to councilman?s 2011 email

July 26, 2012, 3:03 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

A recently leaked email from Jersey City Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop has reignited fears in some quarters that acting state Education Commissioner Chris Cerf is behind the pending appointment of the new schools superintendent.

The email sent by Fulop on May 2, 2011 to about a dozen supporters and four current school board members is considered a smoking gun for critics who claim that Marcia V. Lyles, tapped last month by the Board of Education to lead Jersey City?s 28,000-student public-school district, is Cerf?s handpicked choice.

The email?s subject line is ?Cerf meeting,? and the message reads, ?Please keep in confidence as always. We are meeting at (address redacted) Arlington Ave tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6 p.m. See you then.?

BOE members Marvin Adames, Carol Harrison-Arnold, Carol Lester and Sterling Waterman received the invitation, as did local education advocates Ellen Simon and Shelley Skinner and three others. The Arlington Avenue residence is the home of a Fulop supporter.

Attendees who spoke to The Jersey Journal deny that Lyles? name came up. Fulop said he used recent school election results to show Cerf that Jersey City parents are ?more engaged? than in the past.

?The conversation at that point was that the public is voting in record numbers and that they are engaged (and) that the state needs to give back local control,? he said.

Still, for parents and local leaders who believe Lyles is Cerf?s handpicked choice, the email is evidence of back-room deals at the expense of Jersey City students.

?Why would this have to be some secret meeting? That?s what I?m asking,? said local activist Riaz Wahid, who has emerged in recent months as a frequent critic of the BOE?s selection process and of Fulop?s involvement with the school district.

The timing of the May 2011 meeting is key. Just a week before, Harrison-Arnold and Adames present at the meeting, but not sitting board members yet won election to the board, defeating two members who were partial to former superintendent Charles T. Epps Jr.

After her election, Harrison-Arnold told a group of supporters, ?Dr. Epps, you?re out!? Sure enough, within five months, Epps? December 2011 departure was set.

Harrison-Arnold told The Jersey Journal yesterday that Epps, not Lyles, was a topic of conversation at the May 3, 2011 meeting on Arlington Avenue.

?The only discussion at that meeting was getting rid of Epps and local control,? she said.

Cerf?s office told The Jersey Journal in June that he had no hand in Lyles? selection and, asked to comment about the email, Cerf spokeswoman Barbara Morgan said the May 3, 2011 meeting was nothing unusual.

?The acting commissioner has conversations on a regular basis with a wide variety of constituents many of whom are elected officials that contact him to facilitate meetings to discuss issues that are of import to the people they represent and this was one such occasion,? Morgan said.

Last week, Lyles called the idea that Cerf is responsible for her being named Jersey City?s next superintendent ?really wild.?

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... y_school_activists_c.html

As a taxpaper I would like to see the resumes of the 47 JC applicants. If you do a search on the Google on ?Boward Superintendent search? there are links to each one of the oddly enough 47 (JC had 47 also) applicants resumes in Florida.

For us taxpayers in Jersey City we got to see the resumes of what?two applicants? West Hudson/HYA were the ones who narrowed the field down from 47 to 14 then to the 8 finalists that were presented to the JCBoE. Were the other 39 applicants that bad? Who knows? Let us see for ourselves.. we paid for the search..right?

There will always be questions because of connections like this.

Quote:


I hope it all works out for the best for the children of Jersey City!

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... il_reignites_fear_th.html


If this was Healy, he'd be chased right out of town by now!!!!

You can never perjure yourself when making a statement to the media !

Lyles tells Jersey City parents state schools chief played no role in her appointment as superintendent

July 20, 2012, 3:00 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

Jersey City?s prospective new schools superintendent yesterday met with the public for the first time since the Board of Education voted to select her to succeed former schools chief Charles T. Epps Jr.

Marcia V. Lyles gave a speech at School 7 yesterday outlining her vision for Jersey City?s public schools and addressing the controversy that has surrounded her appointment.

Lyles, who declined to give her age, denied that state Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf who, like Lyles, is a graduate of the Broad Superintendents Academy had anything to do with her appointment.

Those accusations are ?really wild,? she said to a crowd of about 20 inside School 7.

?I have not spoken to Chris Cerf since June 2009,? Lyles said.

Lyles? appointment has met with a firestorm of criticism from a group of parents, teachers and local leaders, many of whom wanted the board to pick interim Superintendent Franklin Walker to succeed Epps, who stepped down in December.

Several parents who spoke yesterday blasted the ?process? by which Lyles was chosen, accusing the board of not including the community in the selection process. A few noted that their feelings about Lyles were not ?personal.?

The prospective superintendent did have some fans in attendance, including Felicia Noth, who has a son enrolled at School 5. Noth told Lyles she is ?very happy? that Lyles is ready to take charge of the 28,000-student district.

?Personally, I?m excited for new leadership in the district,? she said, adding that a ?thriving? public-school system is what Jersey City needs.

Susan Curry, organizer for parents group Statewide Education Organizing Committee, said she wasn?t impressed by Lyles? speech, calling it ?boiler plate, Broad Academy stuff.?

?This is all about politics. This is all about favors,? Curry said.

In a brief interview with The Jersey Journal, Lyles said she intends to make Jersey City the final stop in her 40-year education career.

She also addressed complaints that Walker should have been named superintendent instead.

?I completely understand people wanting to have someone they know,? she said. ?Part of my job will be, two years from now, to convince some of them that I?ve done a good job.?

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... s_jersey_city_parent.html