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Post by andrewd on Jan 16, 2007 13:10:23 GMT -5
I am hoping that this thread will generate some interest in attending the next school board meeting, which will be held on Monday, January 22nd at 7pm in the Park Ave School Library.
At this meeting, the board will be discussing the results of the recent survey that was sent out to the residents of Freehold Boro asking various questions about the district, and more specifically the last budget and referendum. As we all know, both the budget and the referendum were voted down, and then the budget vote was overturned by the county in order to allow the schools to remain operational.
I open this thread fully understanding that it will generate a lot of the same sentiment that I have read on various other threads on this site. Obviously everyone has the right to air their grievances on this site, but I strongly urge you all to attend this upcoming meeting and express your concerns there.
As of right now, I can tell you that the school board is trying to get our attorney down to the meeting so that he can also address many of the questions which continue to be raised by the public in regards to student enrollment. I have also requested that invitations be extended to several other officials with a stake in the condition of our schools.
Once again, I beseech all of you to come down to the meeting and discuss your problems openly with the board and the others who we hope to have there. Perhaps there are ideas that you can express to us that have not come up before, perhaps you will walk away with a better understanding of what the school board can and can not do. Either way, your participation in this meeting, as well as anyone else who has a stake in this town, is essential in opening up communications between the board and the public.
Let me be honest with you all...in my opinion, our schools are in dire need of help. We have a committed faculty and administrative staff who are accomplishing feats that would normally require a staff twice the size of the one we are able to support. The faculty in our schools...there just isn't a pedestal high enough to put them up on. Our problems, for the most part, boil down to one common denominator...funding. My voice alone yelling and screaming at Trenton (even though I am an "elected official") is not loud enough. Fifty or One Hundred voices from this town, all shouting in unison...that can create some waves. But we have to find a way to get together in order to fully understand the issues, the limitations of what we can currently do, and then figure out which issues - specifically - to attack with our representatives in Trenton and Washington.
We have started this process by discussing the issues on this site. We now need to take the next step and discuss these issues in person, face to face, at something like a school board meeting, with board members, lawyers, and other officials. Then we can move the process further along, and truly work towards changing the way things are. Continuing to simply express your disappointment on this site is not enough if you truly wish to get something done.
Come down to the meeting, Monday, January 22nd at 7pm in the Park Ave School Library. Let's get the ball rolling on something that will really make some positive changes.
Andrew DeFonzo
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Post by fiberisgoodforyou on Jan 17, 2007 0:23:58 GMT -5
Thank you Andrew for this timely reminder. I just looked over the new News Transcript (dated Jan 17 '07), Please tell me (anyone) what page this all important school board meeting and agenda, posted? One would think the coordinated, PLANNED effort behind this Survey, will include the printed media. This is an all important School Board Survey with a big price tag. aimed at providing the community and opportunity to glean a public review. So the main source of public awareness is your post HERE! I'll give another look at the News Transcript, as well...keep an eye out to see what will comes home in my kids school bag. So this is it, YOU Andrew, here being highly indutrious.... Be great to have the AGENDA posted here too...  www.freeholdboro.k12.nj.us/Oh...on the BOE site (above), PLEASE have the webmaster publish the School calender In English please ...it leaves a very wrong impression for the voters you expect to approve a budget! FIGFY |
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Post by admin on Jan 17, 2007 5:54:19 GMT -5
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Post by fiberisgoodforyou on Jan 17, 2007 8:16:39 GMT -5
I'll put it this way....
HALF of your property Tax go to the Schools, and the Schools want (need) more money, you can chose to move, but where ever you more too, chances are your tax's will be higher anyway, and you accomplish NOTHING! OR................ Remember Howard Beal..."I'm MAD as HELL , and I am not gonna take it any more" (the movie was network) Get your BUTTS down to the school board meeting and LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOU THINK, ... NOW (well...Monday)!!!! I hate to be there alone.... Don't be a silent voter! |
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Post by andrewd on Jan 17, 2007 16:34:24 GMT -5
Just an update...
I was at a town hall meeting held last night at the Marlboro Public Library by Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck. After the meeting, I spoke with her staff (and then again today) about getting her down to the school board meeting on Monday night. They sounded interested, but were not sure if she would be able to make it since there was another committment on her calendar.
There is another meeting tonight at the Conover Road Primary School in Colts Neck (56 Conover Rd, Colts Neck) at 7:30, which will be attended by Beck, Senator Karcher, and Assemblyman Panter, so I will be talking to all of them as well.
The board has contacted members of the New Jersey School Boards Association in an attempt to get a representative to come down as well.
We are contacting our board attorney to have him down there to help answer questions.
We are contacting Councilman Jay Sims (the new liaison between the board and the council) to get him to come down.
The district is looking to get an ad in the Asbury Park Press by the end of the week to remind everyone of the meeting and what we will be discussing.
We will be sending a flyer home with students by Friday, possibly Monday.
There will be the normal postings about the general board of ed meeting in the papers and posted on the outside of the schools.
Members of the board are committed to talking to neighbors and people they see in town and letting them know about the meeting face to face.
We are also going to try and get a message up on the district website (which I am sure many of you know is still in the construction phases) as well as the agenda for the meeting.
Obviously, a representative from the firm which ran the survey will be down there to do a rather extensive presentation on the results we received. I do not have specifics yet, but I have been told that we exceeded the average number of returns that are usually received for a survey such as this.
I think with all of that, the board has done (and is doing) all it can to get the word out there and to get some people down to the meeting to both ask and answer questions.
I'll be blunt now...I am doing all that I can to get bodies down at that meeting so that we can start to work towards a better understanding of the entire situation, as well as to open the lines of communication between the board and the residents of the Boro...it's now up to all of you to show up.
Personally, I want to see the room bursting at the seems, even if it means that we are there until midnight answering questions and hashing things out. I'm ready, and quite honestly, I am excited about Monday nights meeting, but again, it's now up to all of you to show up.
Talk to your neighbors, get them to come down. Talk to other people you know in town, get them to show up. Heck, I don't want to just have the library bursting at the seems, I want us to have to move this meeting into the gymnasium!!
I am doing all I can, but neither I, nor the board, can drag people down there.
I look forward to seeing all of you down there, Monday night, January 22nd at 7pm in the Park Ave School Library.
Andrew DeFonzo
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Post by fiberisgoodforyou on Jan 17, 2007 18:16:53 GMT -5
Just an update... I was at a town hall meeting held last night at the Marlboro Public Library by Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck. After the meeting, I spoke with her staff (and then again today) about getting her down to the school board meeting on Monday night. They sounded interested, but were not sure if she would be able to make it since there was another commitment on her calendar. The board has contacted members of the New Jersey School Boards Association in an attempt to get a representative to come down as well. We are contacting Councilman Jay Sims the new liaison between the board and the council) to get him to come down. We will be sending a flyer home with students by Friday, possibly Monday. There will be the normal postings about the general board of ed meeting in the papers and posted on the outside of the schools. Members of the board are committed to talking to neighbors and people they see in town and letting them know about the meeting face to face. We are also going to try and get a message up on the district website (which I am sure many of you know is still in the construction phases) as well as the agenda for the meeting. Obviously, a representative from the firm which ran the survey will be down there to do a rather extensive presentation on the results we received. I do not have specifics yet, but I have been told that we exceeded the average number of returns that are usually received for a survey such as this. I think with all of that, the board has done (and is doing) all it can to get the word out there and to get some people down to the meeting to both ask and answer questions. I'll be blunt now...I am doing all that I can to get bodies down at that meeting so that we can start to work towards a better understanding of the entire situation, as well as to open the lines of communication between the board and the residents of the Boro... it's now up to all of you to show up. Personally, I want to see the room bursting at the seems, even if it means that we are there until midnight answering questions and hashing things out. I'm ready, and quite honestly, I am excited about Monday nights meeting, but again, it's now up to all of you to show up.Talk to your neighbors, get them to come down. Talk to other people you know in town, get them to show up. Heck, I don't want to just have the library bursting at the seems, I want us to have to move this meeting into the gymnasium!! I am doing all I can, but neither I, nor the board, can drag people down there. I look forward to seeing all of you down there, Monday night, January 22nd at 7pm in the Park Ave School Library. Andrew DeFonzo Flyer's to go home with kids by Friday or Monday??? Is this giving interested parents enough notice... Who's going to watch the kids, or.. ..will there be a BOE Sponsored activity to keep the kids busy while interested parents attend this meeting, and will you give these parents the opportunity to speak first so the can collect there kids and get them home to bed at a reasonable hour? Would you consider recruiting the efforts of the PTO to help with Parents (at the schools) who can't find babysitting at the last minute. Andrew again kudos to you! Glad to here that you personally reached out to Assembly Woman Beck too! This sounds like there is a lot of LAST minute activity to make the tax prayer's (no typo...) of the boro aware of the BOE Agenda and Meeting. Activities like this SURVEY must be run like a business with a time line and milestones with a Board member taking ownership of this project. Having not established a set of communications and press releases-activities designed to build up awareness is not a very effective, and asking a very busy Assembly Woman at the last moment, here too is not very well thought out, though it seems you where fast on your feet, catching up with Nancy last night Andrew! Was there a follow-up mailer targeting the very people first targeted with the survey, thanking them for there interest, and reminded them a BOE meeting is scheduled for the 22nd to review the results of the survey they had participated in? Did the firm the BOE hired to formulate and tabulate this survey make this recommendation about participant follow up and how to manage community communications regarding the survey? Lets expect a large turnout of interested parents and residents. ...when is the Next Boro council Meeting ? FIGFY |
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Post by admin on Jan 17, 2007 18:26:21 GMT -5
Fiber,
All your points are good, but do not forget, this is just one of many BOE meetings. Maybe there will be a little more advertising and initiative in getting people to future meetings.
I also emailed all of the HRC members and asked that they too get the word out.
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Post by fiberisgoodforyou on Jan 17, 2007 22:38:59 GMT -5
Fiber, All your points are good, but do not forget, this is just one of many BOE meetings. Maybe there will be a little more advertising and initiative in getting people to future meetings. I also emailed all of the HRC members and asked that they too get the word out. Thanks Brian, considering the importance of this meeting agenda...lets hope that we have a strong turn out so that all views will be heard! |
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Post by andrewd on Jan 18, 2007 15:55:43 GMT -5
Is this giving interested parents enough notice... Who's going to watch the kids, or.. ..will there be a BOE Sponsored activity to keep the kids busy while interested parents attend this meeting, and will you give these parents the opportunity to speak first so the can collect there kids and get them home to bed at a reasonable hour? Would you consider recruiting the efforts of the PTO to help with Parents (at the schools) who can't find babysitting at the last minute. Andrew again kudos to you! Glad to here that you personally reached out to Assembly Woman Beck too! This sounds like there is a lot of LAST minute activity to make the tax prayer's (no typo...) of the boro aware of the BOE Agenda and Meeting. Activities like this SURVEY must be run like a business with a time line and milestones with a Board member taking ownership of this project. Having not established a set of communications and press releases-activities designed to build up awareness is not a very effective, and asking a very busy Assembly Woman at the last moment, here too is not very well thought out, though it seems you where fast on your feet, catching up with Nancy last night Andrew! Was there a follow-up mailer targeting the very people first targeted with the survey, thanking them for there interest, and reminded them a BOE meeting is scheduled for the 22nd to review the results of the survey they had participated in? Did the firm the BOE hired to formulate and tabulate this survey make this recommendation about participant follow up and how to manage community communications regarding the survey? Lets expect a large turnout of interested parents and residents. ...when is the Next Boro council Meeting ? FIGFY I'll admit...much of the efforts that we are putting forth right now seem like last minute efforts. However, it was never our intention to bring in Karcher, Beck and Panter because we do not want this school board meeting to turn into a town hall meeting. I felt it would help to have them in the room so that they could see the results of the survey. Whether they are there or not, the results will be discussed with all three of them in the very near future. As for our advertising of the meeting...there was the article back on the 7th in the Transcript, and yes, we did miss the opportunity to have the Transcript drop in another article this week. To be honest, it has been my experience (personally, professionally and all other "-ally's") that notifying people too far in advance does no good, because people simply forget. Notifying parents on Friday, they have the weekend to try and line up either a babysitter or some other way to have their children tended to while they come to the meeting. Setting up some "Board sponsored activity to keep the kids busy..." is not something that can be arranged. I have requested that the meeting format be altered slightly so that we have the presentation right away, and then open the floor to comments on the presentation only before we get to the rest of the business that is to be conducted that night. Then we would have the normal public comments portion at the end of the meeting for any other concerns. This has not been confirmed yet, but I don't see any reason why it would not be done in this format. As for what this firm has done in regards to contacting individuals...there was a question on the survey that specifically asked about interest in becoming a "key communicator" within the town in regards to education issues. One of the goals of this survey is to help in starting the formation of committees made up of board members and local residents in an effort to work in together on communicating educational topics and issues with the town. The exact parameters of these groups, who will be on them, when they will be formed, etc etc will all be determined after Monday's presentation. It's important to realize that while this is a very important meeting, it is only meant as the first stepping stone in opening up lines of communication between the town and the board that are obviously long overdue. Yes there are things that we could certainly have done better, but for the most part, we are still new to a lot of this, and we'll get better with time. Once more, I'll remind everyone that the meeting is Monday January 22nd, 7pm at the Park Ave School Library, and I look forward to seeing you all there. Andrew DeFonzo |
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Post by fiberisgoodforyou on Jan 18, 2007 16:53:24 GMT -5
ALL salient points Andrew!
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Post by fiberisgoodforyou on Jan 23, 2007 9:52:14 GMT -5
Calling all parents AND residents! www.freeholdboro.k12.nj.us/Index.htmThis is the new web site URL for our BOE and Schools First off, there were many interesting statistics presented at last nights School Board meeting. The focus of the agenda (again..) was the Boro Survey. A good turn was there but THERE COULD HAVE BEEN MORE darn it!!!! Aprox. 2700 surveys’ where mailed out, 239 qualified surveys retuned, about 75 of these where from households with kids in our schools.  The most common concern expressed about the schools being overcrowded and the need for more classrooms was no one wants new tax’s and (illegal) immigrants! So there are still the same questions, nothing suprising, and now a process of answering these questions to move forward. A few quick answers that seemed apparent, and ACHIEVABLE…MORE COMMUNITY INVOLVMENT!!! It’s easy to heck and haw about the problems, but all concerned citizens need to become part of a community wide effort to being part of the Solution!!!! So…Start with going to more Schools board meeting, REGARDLESS of the fact that you do, or do not have kids in the Public Schools (remember ½ of your property tax goes…to the BOE regardless of this fact). Get to more PTO Meetings, and stay in touch with more of your fellow School parents, beyond the parking lots and play grounds. The more folks get involved with the schools, the better the appreciation you WILL get from the value a FUNTIONAL School systems provides to all it’s citizens! The more folks get involved with the schools the clearer to the message becomes to the Board Members as to what we want done with our tax dollars, and some programs can involve “Stuff” greater community to benefit by. Adult dynamics and politics need to be put on the sidelines, BOE is about the Kids, and our Future Remember JFR’s prolific quotation that I will shamelessly spin, …” Ask not what our schools can do for you BUT…” yata, yata, yata (you know the rest). You have the new URL, there are email address to the BOE, meetings are OPE TO THE PUBLIC…don’t just vote, tell them what you think, what you want…,just be realistic, fair and honest! |
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Post by LS on Jan 23, 2007 10:32:17 GMT -5
Aprox. 2700 surveys’ where mailed out, 239 qualified surveys retuned, about 75 of these where from households with kids in our schools. The surveys were geared to provide the answers the BOE wanted. The lack of response (8.85% returned) shows that the public did not trust the surveys. It reflects the feeling that things are lost and that a simple survey will not only fail to address the problems, but that the results will be skewed to reflect whatever the BOE wanted to hear. Let's see, the most common concerns were: overcrowded classroooms and illegal immigrants. Didn't we already know this before the survey? Did the topic of "the survey was a waste of money" come up at all? |
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Post by admin on Jan 23, 2007 11:47:00 GMT -5
Where to start? last night was my first BOE meeting. I honestly can not claim that I was surprised at the outcome.
The first thing that comes to my mind is apathy. That was a recurring theme last night. The response to the survey, the attendance at BOE and PTO meetings, voter turn out etc. I am well reminded at what Lybian Sybil wrote about having the government we deserve. Last nights meeting had about twenty five people, not including children and press. Truly a sad turn out. If ever, last night was a night when that room should have been standing room only.
Before I go any further with my ire, I have to make clear that the BOE and the few other people who are trying to make positive improvements deserve a great deal of credit. They are, with out doubt, fighting an uphill battle. That, again, is a common theme through out the town.
When I hear the parents crying for more money from my pocket, I will have less sympathy for them. The lack of parental involvement is an absolute disgrace. The lack of tax payer involvement is a disgrace. We all have a vested interest in seeing the schools succeed.
The survey itself was not a great surprise. Three themes--taxes, immigration, and a third--unfunded mandates.
This brings me to my first point. Last night there was no mention of the word illegal. A very key word when discussing immigration. There is a distinct difference between legal and illegal immigration. Maybe the schools just can not say that. This ties in with unfunded mandates. Illegal immigration is the biggest unfunded mandate that our town has. While Washington and Trenton fiddle, Freehold burns. Don't believe me? Take all of the kids from illegal immigrant households out of the schools system and the need for more space will disappear. Yes, I know, that will not happen. I just make mention for illustrative purposes.
Another omission last night was the recent revaluation. The referendum did come at a bad time for about one third of our residents. When some of us saw our taxes go up quickly and drastically, we could, not entertain more taxes, It is simple economics. My property taxes went up about twenty five percent. Maybe when I get my next three percent pay increase, I will then be able to entertain another twenty percent property tax increase.
On a more positive note, the person who did the survey presentation did say that a ten percent return of surveys is high. That in mind, our puny eight percent was not so bad. We were also told that even with all of the three concerns, people do care, even those without kids in the school system. The problems are in the solutions. I am a firm believer that the solutions lie in Trenton. Washington should also chip in a couple of bucks considering that they are forcing us to take on the burden of other nations poor population.
The BOE is meeting with elected state representatives soon. I hope they drive the message home that we can afford to have the yo-yo's in Trenton, holding hand and singing Kumbhya, pay us any more lip service. They need to pick up their lazy buts and provide some real answers and relief. The answers will not come from within our town.
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Post by grrrrrr on Jan 23, 2007 16:25:56 GMT -5
Hot off the APP press: Freehold educators to meet with officials on school funding Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/23/07 BY NICK PETRUNCIO FREEHOLD BUREAU FREEHOLD -- Freehold Borough School District Board of Education President James Keelan, Superintendent Elizabeth O'Connell and representatives of two minority groups will meet with Sen. Ellen Karcher and Assemblyman Michael J. Panter Jr., both D-Monmouth, Wednesday in Karcher's office. Keelan said the group will discuss the "state of our schools.'' The meeting is not open to the public, but Keelan said information about what is discussed will be shared at the board's next meeting, set for 7 p.m. Feb. 5 in the media center of the Park Avenue Elementary School. "We need help in getting additional funds,'' Keelan said. "The way they fund education in this state is broken,'' he said, adding that the governor and lawmakers need to come up with a plan, fund it and implement it. Joining the school district representatives will be members of the Latino Leadership Alliance and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. (And who, if I may be so bold, will represent the 50% of the boro's populace that is neither black, nor Latino?) Immigration is a major issue in the overcrowded school district. |
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Post by grrrrrr on Jan 23, 2007 16:29:28 GMT -5
Survey taps into Freehold parents' concerns about schools Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/23/07 BY NICK PETRUNCIO FREEHOLD BUREAU FREEHOLD -- Immigration issues, high taxes and poorly funded government mandates were the three major concerns that came out of a Freehold Borough School District survey. The survey was conducted late last year in response to twice-rejected ballot questions about a $7.8 million building plan intended to alleviate overcrowding. The district is over its functional capacity by 251 students, according to Oct. 15 enrollment figures. The district's functional capacity is 1,120, and its total enrollment is 1,371. The purpose of the survey was to understand why the proposals were defeated and to better understand borough residents' perceptions about the schools, according to a report from Sparta-based Zander Consulting, the firm that conducted the survey. The district is reviewing the data and will be coming up with different options to solve the problem.
(Options like holding meetings with state officials and no one present to represent the interests or concerns of half of the town's residents, apparently.)
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Post by LS on Jan 23, 2007 16:56:02 GMT -5
p.s. I posted about the secret meeting under a separate thread...
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Post by andrewd on Jan 23, 2007 18:12:32 GMT -5
Alright...let's see what I can do to stir up some emotion here...
First of all, I want to thank the people who came down to the meeting last night. I was pleased with the turnout, but more pleased with the fact that most of you actually stood up and gave some input about the survey and other concerns with the district. I stated earlier that I would love to have seen the room bursting at the seems (which obviously did not happen) but it was certainly a great thing to see new faces, and I hope to see you all again at future meetings.
Let me get this out of the way quickly, because I am a bit concerned that my statement last night was not fully understood. For those of you who were not there, I made the comment that we need to find ways to get more of the community involved, but especially the parents of this district. I was not my intention to say that parents do not have a difficult time finding the time to attend meetings, I am certain it is very difficult for a good number of parents. However...we have seen it time and time again, at meetings, at the polls, and again with the results of this latest poll...the overwhelming majority of parents in this district are not showing up. Parents find time to attend awards ceremonies, concerts, sporting events, etc...and with very good reason. But if they're able to find time for all of those events, how difficult can it really be to find 30 minutes to go and vote on a school board budget one night out of the entire year?
I'll be completely honest with you all, as some of you may know, I am not married...I do not have children, so it can be argued that I don't have a real understanding of the issues that parents face, and that's true...to an extent. No one will ever be able to convince me, however, that it is simply impossible for more parents to get out and vote, to have spent some time on a weekend to fill out the survey we sent out, or to at least make it down to the occasional board of ed meeting.
Since I try to pride myself on always speaking my mind, no matter who I may upset or who might not agree with what I am saying, let me put it to you all this way. As I said, I am not married, I do not have any children...and yet I am on the school board trying to make our schools better so that the kids will get the best education possible. Again...I don't have a stake in this and yet I am dedicated to it...so you'll have to forgive me if I am quite frankly baffled by the apparent apathy of the parents of the districts 1300+ students. And I am not alone...there was a representative from the Intermediate School PTO at the meeting last night who said she feels the same frustration with the lack of involvement in her organization.
Since I have been on the board, I see the same two parents showing up at the meetings, and I thank Mr Miller and Mrs Laberdee from the bottom of my heart for their contributions. Aside from them, however, it's usually staff members who make up our audience at meetings (which in my eyes is just another sign of the dedication of our faculty to the education of the children in this district).
In an effort to find ways to make meetings more accessible to parents who want to get down to them, the board is going to look into several options, starting with contacting the three PTO's that we have and asking for their assistance in setting up some sort of baby-sitting service for nights that we have board meetings, just like they do when they have their meetings. I hope to have something in place before the next meeting on the 5th of February. We'll also be looking into altering the scheduling of meetings to find ways to make them more accessible. If anyone has additional ideas as to what we can do, let me know, I am open to anything that will get more warm bodies down to our meetings.
Let me move on before I aggravate too many people...
I want to address the post made by LS earlier today. First of all, this may come as a surprise to you, but hearing from my father before me (who was on the board for a number of years) and witnessing it first hand in my 9 months on the board, but there were and quite frankly still are a number of board members who never wanted to acknowledge, let alone discuss the issue of illegal immigrants in our schools...let me explain why. First of all (I know you're gonna love this) the overwhelming majority of "immigrant students" in our schools are legal citizens of the United States, since they were born here, therefore they are without a doubtentitled to a public education. So that means that the issue is primarily with their illegal parents. I have tried to get this message out there time and time again, but it seems that with some people, it just never sinks in...the BOE is not a legislative body!!! We can not enforce immigration laws!!! And no matter how many letters I write to our state and federal legislators, unless they either do something about it, or get voted out of office in favor of someone who will, the illegal immigrant issue will never die. I'll be posting a note on another thread (not as a board member, but as a regular citizen of the Boro) that will get more in depth with my opinion of the whole illegal immigration issue, but here I am a board member, and I must keep my personal opinions separate from my BOE responsibilities.
What I think many people who are fed up with the BOE fail to realize is that there are those of us on the board (not all of us, but some of us) who are just as fed up with the situation in town as you all are, but we are on the BOE for one simple reason, to provide the best possible education for the children in this district in accordance with the current laws and to the best of our abilities. Discussions about political topics need to be saved for political arenas. As "Fiberisgoodforyou" stated earlier, and as my father told me when I first mentioned that I would run for the board, it's all about the kids, plain and simple.
Brian, I noticed you mentioned the fact that we did not talk about the recent re-evaluation that was done just before the budget and referendum vote. You're right, it was not mentioned last night, primarily because the board knew this already. I remember standing in Boro Hall waiting for the polls to close and the votes to come in. Standing there with my father and several others, as we started to see numbers coming in that showed the budget and referendum were soundly defeated, the first thing mentioned was the recent re-evaluation. Fact of the matter is this...school budgets are the only budgets the public gets to vote on. State budgets, county budgets, and municipal budgets all just get passed without an ounce of input from the public. So when we continue to see our taxes going up and up and up...the school budget is what tends to suffer because it's the only spending the public has some say about (although, yes, the budget can be overturned by the town or state...but that's a different conversation)
Next, let me say something in response to "grrrr" about their concern for the percentage of the population that will not be represented. Let me try to make something clear here...this is not an attempt by the BOE to get those groups in our corner and forget about the rest of the community. The fact is that I am not sure exactly who is going to be in that meeting, but it's not just the NAACP and the Latino Advocacy groups. And if you're still worried about the "rest of the community"...let me ask you a question...do you not feel that at least between Senator Karcher and Assemblyman Panter that your best interests are being looked out for?
Look...as I said before the meeting, last night was just the first step in what will hopefully develop into a more involved community and better relations and lines of communication between the BOE and the community. Hopefully, this will come to fruition.
Let me just add in closing that I will be at Jennifer Beck's town hall meeting tomorrow night at the Hightstown High School (see the thread under the General Board with dates, times and locations). I encourage anyone capable of coming down to see me there. I'll be making some comments about my thoughts as a regular citizen, not necessarily as a BOE member. We just have to keep fighting the fight.
Andrew DeFonzo
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Post by grrrrrr on Jan 23, 2007 20:03:18 GMT -5
let me ask you a question...do you not feel that at least between Senator Karcher and Assemblyman Panter that your best interests are being looked out for? Couldn't the same be said with regard to the Black and Latino residents of Freehold Borough? Are their interests not adequately represented by the Hon. Karcher and Panter?  ? (And after having read Marc LeVines's account elsewhere on this board of how Rep. Smith "looked out for my best interests" my response is no, I don't think that Karcher or Panter (or Beck or for that matter any elected official above the level of Borough gov't) give a hoot about the "best interests" of any Freehold Borough homeowner. All evidence points to them being beholden to the same people who pull Smith's (and the Freeholders') strings - the "investment property owners", landscapers, developers and contractors, cleaning service operators, etc. who view this town as a conveniently located labor camp and a place to make a fast buck in an underground, cash-based non-taxed economy. |
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Post by fiberisgoodforyou on Jan 24, 2007 0:24:24 GMT -5
"I'll be completely honest with you all, as some of you may know, I am not married...I do not have children, so it can be argued that I don't have a real understanding of the issues that parents face, and that's true...to an extent. No one will ever be able to convince me, however, that it is simply impossible for more parents to get out and vote, to have spent some time on a weekend to fill out the survey we sent out, or to at least make it down to the occasional board of ed meeting. "
Andrew, stand up, be proud, and make no excuse!!! You have a highly qualified quality....you've gone through our schools, you are a product of the Board of Ed, and now you serve on it.
MAYBE THERE ARE OTHERS LIKE YOU IN TOWN, I think that’s called School Pride!!!
How to get parents involved???
Board members need to get into the schools when its PTO meeting night, when there are PTO events in ALL the schools, like this Friday BINGO at FLC (HINT).
Weekly letters fom Liz with solid points "that hit home", and begs for feed-back through questions, that go home in the school bags!
PUT more messaging on the NEW WEBSITE! Have the Survey PPS on the Web site for example! Make the Website a "DESTINATION" for parents!
How to get parents involved??? Board members need to get into the schools when its PTO meeting night, when there are PTO evens in ALL the schools, like this Friday BINGO at FLC (HINT).
Little League starts in April, board members should make an effort to drip in every now and then… get more visibility, more familiarity, get parents to want ask more questions.
Problem is, most parents think what they have to say does not matter and will make no difference to the Board, so the Board needs to make this feeling change
FIGFY!
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? (And after having read Marc LeVines's account elsewhere on this board of how Rep. Smith "looked out for my best interests" my response is no, I don't think that Karcher or Panter (or Beck or for that matter any elected official above the level of Borough gov't) give a hoot about the "best interests" of any Freehold Borough homeowner. All evidence points to them being beholden to the same people who pull Smith's (and the Freeholders') strings - the "investment property owners", landscapers, developers and contractors, cleaning service operators, etc. who view this town as a conveniently located labor camp and a place to make a fast buck in an underground, cash-based non-taxed economy.