14 candidates are vying for seats at this table. Why?
The first big mystery about the Plainfield Board of Ed's meeting to adopt a preliminary budget for the 2010-11 school year last night was WHERE WERE ALL THE PEOPLE.
Having become accustomed to wall-to-wall audiences of 150 or more, it was a shock to find just 15 people sitting in the audience when I arrived, several of whom were board of ed candidates. Over the next 45 minutes another 5 people came in.
Where were the crowds? Do they only come out for soap opera moments and not for a whopping $154 million budget proposal?
District PR person Eric Jones was busily photographing the widely dispersed audience and making sure every single person in the room signed the attendance sheet that was headed 'Preliminary Budget Hearing' -- presumably to prove to the state the public was involved in the process.
(On a positive note, trees everywhere can be thankful they didn't have to sacrifice as much for last night's agenda, which was a merciful 2 sheets of paper, two-sided.)
The next mystery: WHERE ARE THE BUDGET DETAILS? Answer: Come back next week.
Memo to self (and readers): Don't ever confuse the school budget process with the city budget process. While there may be more transparency in the city process (although that may be more appearance than reality), the school budget is still the closest New Jerseyans can get to direct democracy: the voters get to approve it or defeat it directly at the polls.
Mystery Number Three: DISTRICT ENROLLMENT.
I thought I misheard BOE member Wilma Campbell when addressing a question to Dr. Gallon she referred to 'educating our 6,400 children'.
6,400?
The last figure I remembered was when Dr. Larry Leverett was superintendent and as the city's public information officer I was routinely given '7,200' as the number to be used in press releases, etc.
That is about a 12% decrease.
But my perception is that the number of residents (and by extension, the numbers of school-aged children) has only INCREASED in the past ten years -- the Census' 2008 estimate notwithstanding.
So, where have all the students gone? Can it be that they have all been absorbed by the Charter Schools? Are more students attending parochial and private schools? (I am told the state knows the answer to the second question, but good luck you ever finding out!)
But this leads to an even more interesting question: SHOULD THE SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSIDER CLOSING ONE OR MORE SCHOOL BUILDINGS?
What are the enrollment projections five years out? If enrollment is really down by this kind of number, and likely to remain so, what is the ECONOMIC SENSE of having so many buildings and all the related expenses?
Is a partial answer to Gov. Christie's challenge to the state's public schools staring us in the face?
-- Dan Damon [follow]
Posts
5 comments:
When I was on the BOE, we had close to 8,000 students. If Mrs. Campbell's number is accurate, and we have lost students to the charter schools, private and parochial schools, it is a sad testament to the confidence parents have in our public school system. On the other hand, that means that the class sizes should be much smaller which means more attention afforded each student. That would also mean less administration (which seems to be useless anyway) needed. BUT, the big question is, have the test scores improved??????
Thanks Dan for this post. At least I know I am not crazy thinking that we are staring at underused buildings. I am finalizing a post on this topic, I just hope I can get the true numbers from "official sources" rather than "off the record" ones. Thanks again.
Last year didn't education commissioner Davey come to a city council meeting and inform us that even though we voted against the school budget, the State could overide the vote?
And save the taxpayers money by closing schools and decreasing the number of Administrators needed to do nothing?
The Superintendent and theBoard of Mis-Education would not allow such savings to take place in Plainfield. It wouyld be too much like right.
I stopped attending BOE meetings WAY BACK in 2001, when it made no difference what the Public Comment was, they had already decided the vote before they sat to table.
Looking at the present Board members, and being a life-long member of Plainfield, and a former BOE employee, as has been repeately said. You get what you elect.
The main reason for the Plainfield Public Schools is just to be a place for the parents to keep their kids for 8 hours during the day. If there was some way you could keep them longer, they would be pleased. It's not about education, it about doing the DayCare thing for those too old for Daycare.
Nothing interesting, so no one has any reason to go to the BOE meetings. Besides, LOST is in it's last of the Final Season. Which do you think the majority of the Plainfield parents think would be more important?
This is why Plainfield is in the shape it is in. Not enough tax payers gives a hoot about how the schools or local government is run so the people in positions of high authority do what they want to do and get away with it because nobody give a shoot.
This is why Hellwig's slap on the wrist will not go any further than that.
Post a Comment