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It does seem arrogant and politically tone deaf that it feels as if there has to be something else going on that we don't know about. Maybe, for example, Davy already is in the process of resigning, or she doesn't dare show up here because of something that's gone wrong with the school construction process.

A quick question that I hope Althea or someone else enlightened on this whole malarkey can answer- if and when the JC schools revert to local control from the state, does that mean that we also lose the 80% of the state-provided monies that are funding this huge district? (I was looking at the National Center for Education Statistics information for JC.)

And how can the top state education person turn down a practically engraved invitation to meet with concerned parents from the mayor of the second largest city in the state ?

argh! (and not in a pirate way either!)

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Davy sounds as if she if full of siht, or full of herself.
If she its answerable to parents who in the hell does she have to answer too - what was the point of writing back in the first place.

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This seems weird. I wonder if maybe this means there's already some kind of ongoing litigation or investigation, or just if she can't comment because she thinks this matters falls under some kind of Sunshine Act exclusion?

Regardless:

a) Obviously, people are right about the fact that the state ought to be more open about the Epps contract process. Maybe the guy himself is fine. If so, why make all of this a state secret?

b) I think the big elephant in the corner is Jersey City maybe getting responsibility for the schools back in the next couple of years.

It seems to me that the schools really are getting a lot better, and that that's going to be a self-perpetuating process. Once people who have a choice understand that it's fine to send their kids to P.S. 3 and 5 and 37 and a bunch of other schools, those schools will end up with more parents who have the energy and skills to make change happen, and the results will be good for all the children.

Example: just the fact that Jersey City schools have any kind of CASPER (after school) program, even if it's flawed, is a huge big deal for working parents.

But, if the schools suddenly have to cut their budgets 25 percent or some other horrible figure 5 years from now, all heck will break loose no matter how nice and open everyone is.

c) Personal priorities:

1. Require schools to offer recess in all grade school grades, even if the kids have to have recess in their classrooms.

2. Require that all healthy grade school kids have gym twice a week and 10 minutes of some kind of outside or in-classroom aerobics activity (e.g., jumping jacks, or jogging in place) on days when they don't have gym class.

3. Require that all grade school kids have some kind of music class at least twice a week and some kind of art class at least twice a week, test scores be damned. And I find it really hard to believe that cutting out art classes or music classes helps test scores.

4. Improve middle school and high school security.

5. Create some kind of really terrific intervention program for any children ages 7 to 10 who seem to be at risk for going the wrong way.

6. Require the public schools to treat the charter schools as idea laboratories instead of as smelly competitors. If, for example, Golden Door is doing a good job at helping at-risk kids stay on the right side of the law, the JCBOE should work with the Golden Door people to apply the effective Golden Door ideas to the regular public schools.

7. Figure out how to get mean, burned out teachers who regularly cuss at kids out of the classroom.

Mayor Healy wrote a great letter to the NJ Commissioner of Education, Lucille Davy, asking that she meet with Jersey City Families for Better Schools. Unfortunately, Davy has written us to tell us that she does not have time to meet with us. Even more distressing is she has decided not to answer any of our questions about our very own school system or about the State handing the City back the school system, let alone anything about Epp's contract.

Althea

I have been questioned lately about Jersey City Families for Better Schools asking for a shortened contract term for Superintendent of the Jersey City public schools, Dr. Epps. Some may view this as an attack on Dr. Epps, but below is my response. I do not view this as an attack on Dr. Epps as a person. What I do question is the process that does not allow for public review or comment. Please see my statement below:


I believe the issue at hand is that we, as parents and the voting public, have absolutely no say in what appears to be a multi year contract to a person appointed by the State even though the State is looking to hand over the school system to the City. We can get no straight answers to when the school system will be handed back to us nor what is in the contract and when the contract is due to begin and end.

No matter what you think of Dr. Epps and his record, it is undemocratic and unfair that the voices of those very people who will be directly affected by this contract will not be heard.

If someone asked you to sign off on a mortgage for a house without letting you see the terms of the mortgage or view the inside of the house, would you sign the contract? No matter how nice the people involved were nor how nice the house might appear from the outside, I would not sign. We are being asked to take on a contract of this very sort.

I resent that this will be shoved down my throat without any say! I do not accept this, I believe that this process is not only unethical, but completely dishonest. And the people that this hurts the most are the people least able to effect change or move out of this City if their children are failing. I can move out, I could probably even scrape enough money together for a private education if I so choose. I consider myself extremely lucky to have this option, but the majority of parents in Jersey City do not have this option.

However, I have chosen to stay and fight. I have chosen to be a part of the system and have a say. I do not believe this can happen until the process is opened up to the public. Nothing less then a transparent system that respects the views of the public and truly welcomes the involvement of all parties concerned, parents, teachers, administrators, government officials, taxpayers, and not least of all the children attending or soon to attend the schools.

The contract is being negotiated right now and will be a done deal by September. We will have to accept it whatever it states without recourse unless we act now. So of course we are concerned with all the issues, ESPECIALLY school violence, but the urgency of this issue relates to a definite time deadline and not to how we may view Epps as a person or a professional.

I don't think Dr. Epps would sign a contract without seeing its contents, why should we?

Sincerely,

Althea Bernheim
Co-organizer
Jersey City Families for Better Schools


P.S. Note that I do not live in downtown and that this group is anything but downtown based.

He just did !!! He was in HP last week

I heard Epps speak at the McNair graduation last Tuesday - How'd this effing guy become school superintendent? He can barely speak English. Plus his facts are all wrong - stated that McNair Academic is Number one in the country. This guy smoking or what?

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Why? He might attack and kill a chihuahua?

Isn't there a law about unleashed superintendents? He better not come to Hamilton Park!

Will our schools ever get better?

Downtown parents' group wants to know what happens after state relinquishes control

Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter staff writer

Skinner is the founder of JC Families for Better Schools (JCFBS), which was formed in April to pursue the goal of improving the Jersey City school system. The group has about 150 members.

Skinner is married with a 4-year-old daughter and a 7-month-old son.

In a May 17 letter to state officials, which she titled "Demand Reform of Jersey City Schools," Skinner noted that test scores "remain some of the lowest in the state and only three Jersey City schools have been rated as 'highly successful schools' as definied by state standards."

She asked what will happen when Jersey City's schools return to local control, and recommended that current Superintendent of Schools Charles Epps only be given a one-year contract with a requirement of annual progress reports next year, rather than a three-year contract. The city schools were taken over by the state in 1989.

The district has six high schools, including one for academically talented students.

Skinner said the letter was e-mailed to the state's Education Commissioner Lucille Davy and Deputy Commissioner Gordon MacInnes, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, and members of Jersey City's City Council.

So far, she said, City Councilman Steven Fulop reached out to her, and last week, the Mayor's Office reached out to her and scheduled a meeting for this week with her, Healy, and his staff.

"This is not a 'shame on you' exercise," Skinner said. "We need to get a good sense of how our schools will be like under local control. I don't see this as an unreasonable request as a parent and as a taxpayer."

Any responses?

A spokesperson for the state's Department of Education said recently that Davy had no comment on Skinner's letter and that her office is currently reviewing it.

Skinner said she received a phone call from the office of James McBee, director of Abbott ("special needs" district) services for the Department of Education, who offered to meet with her on Davy's behalf.

"I sent a very nice letter to his office saying, 'I respectfully decline,' " Skinner said. "My feeling was that any decisions on Dr. Epps' contract stops with Lucille Davy."

Dr. Epps, when reached on Thursday as he was leaving from the Board of Education meeting, said he had "no comment" on the letter and that he had not seen it.

Fulop explained why he responded to Skinner's letter, and said that he also sent a letter to Davy's office on behalf of Skinner and her group.

"I have been involved with the group since they formed and communicating with them since on a variety of educational issues," Fulop said. "I feel this parents' group has a thoughtful approach and they just want answers."

Fulop continued, "I agree with them that if the city is ever is going to move forward, it has to start dealing with a school system in which 27 of 33 schools are failing to meet state standards. And what happens when the schools go back into local control?"

Major concerns

Skinner started JCFBS with several like-minded parents who are concerned about the state of Jersey City schools but want to stay in the city instead of moving to an area with a better school system.

"Since we formed the group, we have made it our business to be as informed as possible about how the schools are run in this city," Skinner said.

The group members communicate with each other via the Internet at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jcschools/#ans on a variety of topics.

Skinner discovered in her research on the public schools that a state audit of the city's school system done earlier this year found millions of dollars wasted on salaries and outdated services.

Skinner said the money should have been used to improve a failing school system.

"The audit that was done, and what was discovered, was shocking to me as a parent and a taxpayer," she said. "You have to wonder why state control and state funding has not equaled academic excellence even though we have a $635 million budget."

Skinner and members of her group also discovered that since 2000, when Epps came into office, the amount of superintendents serving directly under him increased from nine to 35, and the average annual salary of the school administrators was $111,000.

Skinner took pains to say that her questions on Epps' contract were not a "personal attack" but a demand for accountability and new leadership.

Epps has been criticized in the past for running for office while serving in his position, and for making an expensive business trip to London on the taxpayers' dime.

"We need an independent-minded reformer with a strong educational background, someone who isn't an Epps underling, who isn't tied to the teachers' union," Skinner said.

Skinner said that ultimately, her group would like to see a public meeting of officials and residents by the end of the year to discuss the future of the school system.

Addressing the board

Skinner spoke about the challenges the public schools face at the Jersey City Board of Education's monthly meeting at Public School 11 Thursday night.

She recounted a conversation with an unnamed elected official about the possibility of the school system going back to local control. She said the official told her, "It's just like Vietnam; nobody knows what's going to happen."

Then Skinner asked the school board, "What is the vision for the next few years of this district?"

She mentioned the influx of new families moving into the city and possible changes in the schools' state funding.

Board Chairman William DeRosa responded, "[The school board] asks those questions every day, and we are waiting for answers."

DeRosa also said that the Jersey City school district is going through a monitoring process known as Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC). This involves the state investigating the school district for signs of progress in five areas: instruction and program, personnel, operations management, school governance, and fiscal management.

If the QSAC officers determine that adequate progress has been made in any of these areas, the state can return control of them to local officials.

DeRosa said a team of QSAC monitors visited the district earlier this year and the board is still awaiting the QSAC report.

New board member and former Jersey City Mayor Gerald McCann told Skinner that a task force was set up in 2000 to explore returning schools to local control, but that most elected officials "do not want local control."

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com

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Althea:


Our goddess of Learning and Knowledge

You point the way and we will follow.


DTG



P.S. ? Oh. maybe that was Athena .Regardless, point the way

Please don't tell me you're surprised. Just use his words against him.

The Jersey Journal strikes again! While I love the coverage, I resent that tis is being called a downtown JC based group. Last time I checked I do not live in downtown! Nor do most of our members.

AND for the record, I LOVE how our City officials feel like they have he right to say anything they please.

Mayor Healy has never so much as acknowledged our existence! Yet he claims he offered to help us???? Is he trying to use telepathy? How can you say you are offering help when you have never spoken with us?

Wow, I am finally seeing the ligt. So this is what it comes down to... we say what we want but don't actually have to back up our words if we are backed by the right people.

Sincerely,

Althea

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If he was working for a private company and had those results for that sort of income, he would have been FIRED long ago.

Call to limit Epps pacts to one year

Thursday, June 14, 2007
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A newly formed parents group is pushing a one-year contract for Jersey City's schools chief Charles T. Epps Jr. when his latest three-year deal expires next June.

The Downtown-based Jersey City Families For Better Schools urged state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy, in a letter, to put Epps on a short leash.

"While there has been some success in the schools," the group wrote, "test scores for Jersey City students remain some of the lowest in the state."

"It is the recommendation of this group that Dr. Epps receive a one-year contract with the ability of the state . to require an annual progress report before any further term extension," they added.

Last Friday, state Director of the Office of Abbott Services James McBee called Shelley Skinner, founder of the group, and offered to meet, but Skinner turned him down.

"Ultimately, this is a decision the commissioner has to make so we are going to continue to pursue a meeting with her," Skinner said yesterday.

The $230,000-a-year schools' chief was appointed by the state to run the system in 2000.

In March, Epps, who doubles as an assemblyman, announced he wasn't seeking re-election so he could devote his entire energies to the district. He told Board of Education Chairman William DeRosa he's seeking another long-term contract to run the district.

Asked to respond to the group's call, Epps would only say through a spokesman that he welcomed their involvement with public schools.

Downtown Councilman Steve Fulop has endorsed the group's position and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez have offered to help set up a meeting between the group and Davy.