With the exception of a few, the Jersey City schools are absolutely abysmal. Not only do they need to improve, they need to improve drastically. I don't know how anyone can defend the status of education in this City. To do so simply perpetuates generation after generation of ill-prepared students who will not have the same opportunities in life because of their poor education. There are low-income and/or urban communities in other states that have excellent schools - it is not impossible. Epps has failed miserably.

Quote:

No. But if the private sector managed NJ ed though, I'd bet there would be no NJ teachers.

He's had I think 10 years to improve things. It hasn't happened. I would love to have 10 years at a job, with increasing salary, to improve things.

I have 2 questions: how much worse can he be? Can we really not do any better?

Maybe we can find someone who can take only half a decade to improve things. That would be a huge improvement!!

Dr. Epps is not worthy of any further evaluation. He is a joke and has to go.

Despite earning over $240,000 a year, Jersey City schools rank near the bottom performance of the state. Apparently the $240,000 he was making wasn't enough either, as he worked as an Assemblyman as well and was in Trenton typically two days a week, taking time away from the schools. Then he added a whole bunch of administrative staff for
no-show jobs, and few of them were laid off while hundreds of teachers were laid off when it came time for budget cuts. Priorities, people?

Let's not forget his trip to a conference in London where he spent $300/night on a hotel room when he could have stayed on the Oxford University campus, which was included in the conference fees, not to mention his airfare and expensive meals. That's what he got caught doing. Who knows how many other expensive trips he took at taxpayer expense?

There is no evaluation that needs to be done. He needs to resign yesterday!

dtj,
tell me....do you work for the gov's ofc????

Honestly.

I'd do the following:

1. Fire all local teachers and admin staff. Dr Epps would be first to go.
2. Sell off all local school property to pay off city and county debt.
3. Set up every kids household with free internet and free PCs/laptops, at say $500/year per internet connection, with a free $1000k PC or laptop, with webcam and video conferencing, thrown in every 2-3 years.
4. Outsource the education to teachers in a US state that charge much less than $15k/year per student charged in NJ. If we can't cut a deal for around 5k/year or less per student, I'd go overseas.
5. Spin-off schools sports programs to private firms to manage.

Overnight we could probably halve the cost of educating each student, massively improve test scores and reduce local crime/gang violence.

OK -so it's radical and over-the-top. But that's the way private companies would deal with it. And that's the way education needs to go if the US wants to regain top spots globally without going bankrupt on the back of public management and spiralling costs.

Details of Proposed Contract Extension for Superintendent Epps Remain Scarce as Tuesday?s Public Hearing Approaches

- By Chris Neidenberg ? Sep 30th, 2011 ? Category: Lead

Although the Jersey City school district has denied an Open Records request by JCI to see the proposed contract extension for superintendent Charles Epps, lawyers involved in the delicate negotiations have now agreed to at least make copies of the draft contract available to residents just before Tuesday?s public hearing on the matter.

?Since the agreement is in draft form it is not a public record as it is an advisory, consultative and deliberative document for the board to approve,? district special counsel Ramon Rivera wrote in an emailed response to JCI. ?Moreover, I cannot discuss any details pertaining to the contract until it has been approved by resolution by the board.?

However, Rivera says he worked with Epps? attorney, Maria Lepore, New Jersey Association of School Administrators? chief counsel, to cut a deal after JCI raised the issue. Contract copies, Rivera says, will be available at PS 11 before the public hearing begins on Tuesday night.

With the defeat of Frances Thompson in the 2011 school board election, the Board of Education (BOE) has a narrow majority far less sympathetic to Epps? quest to remain at the helm of the district.

Yet the new board still had the legal ad printed in the Jersey Journal in early September. It announced a public hearing on ?a contract extension? for the embattled superintendent.

However, the ad required residents interested in the controversy to fill in their own blanks. It offered no details on the length or terms of any contract extension.

Indeed, board president Sterling Waterman and board member Carol Harrison-Arnold were tight-lipped on offering any details in advance.

?I will only say the public really should attend the October 4 hearing,? says Waterman, declining to even describe how the agreement came about, though it?s clear that board members were involved in some kind of closed-door discussions with Epps.

?I don?t want to get into a back and forth on that right now,? the president adds. ?I really don?t know what?s going to happen. But we?ll see how the matter plays out October 4.?

Harrison-Arnold, who has publicly called for Epps? resignation and is one of the two newest board members, echoes Waterman and urges concerned residents to turn out on Tuesday.

?I can say the board does want to give members of the public a chance to offer input into the issue. This hearing is going to determine where we stand with Dr. Epps,? she says, before offering her own legal disclaimer. ?I?m duty-bound not to discuss any substantive issues before the hearing, upon the advice of our legal counsel.?

Making contract copies available for inspection at the meeting is an improvement. Yet inquiring residents wishing to question any of the document?s specifics will have little time to bring themselves up to speed.

Rivera first told JCI the parties were within their legal rights to withhold extension details, despite the advertised public hearing. Yet when then asked how residents would know what trustees were voting on, Rivera conceded validity to the point.

He then said he would seek Lepore?s approval to release contract details to the public. Rivera now says a deal was struck, but that the contract can?t be made public quite yet because negotiations are ongoing.

?The reason we can?t release any details before Tuesday night?s hearing is because we?re still finalizing them,? Rivera says.

Lepore, Epps? attorney, did not respond to requests for comment, but Rivera notes Epps originally insisted on keeping the agreement?s details confidential.

In a separate but related matter, parties involved in a legal dispute over last year?s board vote on a three-year Epps contract extension got a state administrative law judge in Newark to delay their hearing Wednesday.

Kevin Mitchell, lawyer for the plaintiff?s group led by Ward E councilman Steven Fulop, explains the decision gives the parties more time to develop their issues in better informing Judge Margaret Monaco before deciding the case. No new hearing date has been set.

Mitchell notes the decision is unrelated to the upcoming contract extension hearing. He says his side will keep pursuing its own case, within New Jersey?s Office of Administrative Law (OAL), regardless of Tuesday?s outcome.

Shelley Skinner, part of the group fighting last year?s vote by trustees in the OAL, praises the 2011 board?s efforts to now seek what she views as a proper public vote on Epps? contract.

She has joined Fulop and residents Elvin Domenici and Anthony Sharperson in challenging the board majority?s June 2010 vote. They contend it did try granting Epps a three-year extension, in a manner violating New Jersey?s Open Public Meetings Act.

More specifically, Skinner?s group maintains the act violated state law mandating school boards give public notice, and hold public hearings, before altering superintendents? contracts.

The group had an early victory when Monaco ordered the hearing and denied the district?s motion for a summary decision upholding the controversial vote.

Skinner says she feels this year?s board is doing its best under difficult circumstances.

?The board?s deciding to hold a public hearing on Dr. Epps? contract is certainly a welcome change from the events of last year,? says Skinner. ?I know it?s tough on them, given Dr. Epps? desire to remain. What?s important to me is that parents and all segments of the community be given the opportunity to make their feelings known, in an open public forum, and this hearing is a positive development.?

Skinner, founder of the parental advocacy group, Jersey City Families for Better Schools, has made clear she is no fan of Epps. In April, she led a group of parents in attempts to get a meeting with Gov. Chris Christie on Epps? future. The push came after Epps made what many felt were insensitive comments regarding female students to a local ministers? group.

Still, Skinner encourages those disagreeing with her to attend the hearing.

?I don?t feel the district is moving forward under this superintendent, but I?m only one member of the community,? she says. ?It?s important that the board seek public input, from parents and other interested citizens throughout Jersey City, regarding Dr. Epps.?

But Skinner?s lawyer, Mitchell, wants to assure Epps doesn?t have an out. He vows the OAL matter will proceed ? even if the new board grants Epps a more limited extension Tuesday.

?We want that 2010 vote entirely invalidated,? he says. ?In our view, last year?s board acted surreptitiously in granting Dr. Epps a three-year contract extension without the required public notice.?

?And while the board tried claiming later its vote only approved entering into further negotiations on an agreement, we have evidence showing a deal was already in place,? Mitchell adds. ?The members approving it tried changing their story ? only after they were caught and there was a public outcry against it.?

Rivera, who is also assisting the district in the OAL challenge, adamantly denies those charges.

?The laws were fully complied with regarding all notices in connection with the contract,? he says. ?It was legally advertised.?

The public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, October 4 at 6 pm at PS 11 (886 Bergen Avenue).

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/ ... ublic-hearing-approaches/