Comments on Aberdeener: Marlboro Contract Negotiations – A Case Study

Marlboro Contract Negotiations – A Case Study IN W...

2010-01-29T05:28:26.068-05:00

Marlboro Contract Negotiations – A Case Study IN WHAT NOT TO DO!!!!

Marlboro school system has one of the finest reputations in the county. People move there for the school district. However, what happened in our neighbors' town tore apart a community and did some serious damage. Why Joey, would you want to use what happened in Marlboro as any kind of model for how this community should embark on teacher negotiations. What happened in that community was a travesty, perpetuated by a nasty Board of Ed who sought to divide and malign, rather than unite and build. I think the community of Marlboro had its eyes opened to these tactics, and will see to it that not a single sitting board member will be re-elected. If that is the model you plan to follow, then I can tell you plainly Mr. Warren...you do not represent me! I believe there are many other hard working parents and community members who feel the same way. There are serious problems to address and tight times to get through. This economic climate puts a strain on all aspects of a community. We do not need to add to that strain by setting into motion a scenario like what took place in Marlboro. Starting so early to create discord and pick a fight is not how we want to begin the negotiations process.
You represent the community Mr. Warren, not your own personal agenda. I am all for accountability and transparency, and I believed up until now that is what you pursue as a school board member. But I can tell you that I have no faith at this point that you represent the entire community and have no desire to see you sit on the negotiations committee. It is obvious that you are hell bent on a fight, and costing the taxpayers untold dollars in legal fees. Buy books, not billable legal hours Joey!

FA200, Haven't heard back from you, yet. Don&...

2010-01-27T21:24:27.615-05:00

FA200,

Haven't heard back from you, yet. Don't forget to contact me so we can have our public debate.

"BOE Member Debates Recent MRHS Graduate On W...

2010-01-27T10:49:00.122-05:00

"BOE Member Debates Recent MRHS Graduate On Who's To Blame For Most MRHS Graduates Attending Brookdale And Then Dropping Out"

Sadly, this would probably be more productive than the actual BOE meetings...

And, someone may actually watch Channel 12 or 21, whatever that crappy TV station is...

I would love a debate. My only requirements are th...

2010-01-27T09:05:11.902-05:00

I would love a debate. My only requirements are that it be public and videotaped.

Email me your contact info and we'll work out the details.

I would love to have a 1 on 1 debate with you in p...

2010-01-27T08:59:03.500-05:00

I would love to have a 1 on 1 debate with you in person. You are a Board Member, not a student. Do you know teachers do offer extra help, even if the union is against it? No, because you never attended MRHS, you attended a school where your Math teacher thought you were slow and you explained this story at your first meeting. Speaking of accountability, why can't I say that administration should be held accountable? Because honestly, they get paid twice as much and aren't doing anything. The teachers and student's morale is at an all-time low, mainly because administration isn't providing a comfortable environment. So, you can talk about all you want when it comes to MRHS and schools, but when it comes down to it, you are a board member, not around during school hours and rely on the info administration gives you. You preach the situation, but you really know nothing about this District. Let's have a debate, unless you are afraid your reputation will be damaged even more..

FA200, Thanks for responding. I asked what change...

2010-01-27T07:50:56.971-05:00

FA200,

Thanks for responding. I asked what changes would you make.

Your initial response was "How can you blame the teachers for this?" Not exactly a solution.

You then say "All teachers there are 100% willing for extra help . . ." I wish that were true. As a board member, I know of several instances where the union has objected to teachers providing extra help without compensation.

"and offering more challenges if the student wishes." So you think part of the solution lies in children asking teachers for more work and tougher exams?

"Honestly, why doesn't Michele Ruscavage face any questioning for this? It seems to me that teachers are scapegoats here." Remember, we're looking for solutions now, not playing a blame game.

"Contrary to popular belief, Brookdale is a great path for several reasons:" You feel we should encourage kids to go to a school that has a 70% dropout rate?

"How would I try to help students eventually go to a 4 year school? Make school more enjoyable." So, you feel the way to get more students college ready is to make school more fun. This is your solution.

"Establish a family type environment in the school. Have motivational rallies! Make certain goals and let the students and teachers know that this goal is obtainable." So, no accountability. Just lots of cheering "You can do it!"

"The students must be motivated. Even watch the movie Lean on Me."

FA200, I'm very sorry to say this but I believe you're part of the problem.

How can you blame the teachers for this? All teac...

2010-01-26T23:32:46.623-05:00

How can you blame the teachers for this? All teachers there are 100% willing for extra help and offering more challenges if the student wishes. They are following a dated curriculum that was approved by administration at one point. Honestly, why doesn't Michele Ruscavage face any questioning for this? It seems to me that teachers are scapegoats here. If a student wanted to go to a 4 year school, I believe they would find a way to improve and go. You can't force a person to want to go to a 4 year institution. Also look at the NJ Stars program. Many students go to Brookdale for the financial reasons. Contrary to popular belief, Brookdale is a great path for several reasons:
1. Money
2. Stay at home longer(possible separation issues?)
3. Brookdale is one of the best Community Colleges in the U.S.
4. Famous people have attended Community College and achieved success. A perfect example is Gwendolyn Brooks, who won the Pulitzer Prize.

How would I try to help students eventually go to a 4 year school? Make school more enjoyable. Every year for Spirit Week, attendance increased and Discipline write ups were almost non-existent. Make Administration act like they care about the kids. Mr. D'anna would walk in classes and wish us all a safe and enjoyable weekend. That made us feel appreciated.

The Administration cannot take a back seat in a project that is as motivationally driven as this plan that you are talking about. Establish a family type environment in the school. Have motivational rallies! Make certain goals and let the students and teachers know that this goal is obtainable. These students can learn. These teachers can teach. However, the teachers can't make the students do everything. The students must be motivated. Even watch the movie Lean on Me.

If you ask me, I believe that starting at Brookdale and going to a 4 year school after isn't a bad option either. Believe it or not, Administration urged me to go to Brookdale, I made the decision myself to go to a 4 year school. I am my own person, as is all of the students in MARSD.

FA, Since we're both online at the moment, le...

2010-01-26T20:24:23.990-05:00

FA,

Since we're both online at the moment, let's try a discussion.

Are we both agreed that at least half our graduates should ultimately obtain 4-year college degrees? If so, what changes would you make to accomplish that goal?

You are right, I believe it was 6-3? But it was a ...

2010-01-26T20:08:25.038-05:00

You are right, I believe it was 6-3? But it was a mistake. He doesn't care about the students, and neither do you. If you did, you wouldn't project negatives about the school on a website that lowers the student's morale..Trust me, it affects them.

Are you aware that their aren't enough books a...

2010-01-26T20:05:43.544-05:00

Are you aware that their aren't enough books at MRHS, I mean, copies of books are being made, which is illegal. Don't you think Irons's raise could have went to books and other materials that helped the STUDENTS instead of the administration...AGAIN?

FA200, Are you new to the neighborhood or do you ...

2010-01-26T20:05:32.397-05:00

FA200,

Are you new to the neighborhood or do you not live here? O'Malley never got nine votes on anything to do with his contract.

Maybe idiots do make the world go round, I mean, 9...

2010-01-26T20:00:41.342-05:00

Maybe idiots do make the world go round, I mean, 9 people voted O'Malley as Superintendent right?

Former advocate will oppose JW? Get on this elect...

2010-01-25T09:51:54.965-05:00

Former advocate will oppose JW?

Get on this election slate if you want to add to the school leadership or shut up. The two proposed idiots attached to Barbato and Zavorskas are just tools of those who failed miserably and then skulked away. And idiots think we should let them back on the school board to fail again. Idiots you are if you think that way.

Then again people voted for Tag and the others. Maybe idiots make the world go around.

Right Mr.K?

Ah, another super-fool immune to the powers of fac...

2010-01-25T06:37:50.978-05:00

Ah, another super-fool immune to the powers of facts and reason.

I wonder if this great super power derives from their anonymity.

Joey, what a hypocrite! You complain that Malboro ...

2010-01-25T02:25:53.566-05:00

Joey, what a hypocrite! You complain that Malboro Teachers get raises for doing nothing, meanwhile you voted for O'Malley to get a raise after being here 12 months. Joey Warren will get a wake up call one day, when everyone tells him to shove it, and when I oppose you for your future re-election seat.

I agree with MRHS 76. Military service builds char...

2010-01-14T18:29:14.332-05:00

I agree with MRHS 76. Military service builds character and self reliance and much more. What we have lately coming out of college or staying in college just because life is just so hard, do not have the same gumpshun we had to get up and go out and make our own way in the world. Get a job and work hard for what you want has been replaced by, I don't want to face reality. That is our catered society.

Ask yourself how old were you when you got your first job. Don't try and give me that things have changed bullshit either. Priorities have changed and the strict home environment no longer is allowed to make its point sometimes at the snap of a belt or the back of a hand. Some of these kids just need a good kick in the ass. We came out all right for the most part and most of us deserved the punishment or strict guidance we got.

Both Anons, Thank you for your comments and I apo...

2010-01-13T13:47:35.158-05:00

Both Anons,

Thank you for your comments and I apologize if my response seems a bit long-winded.

I agree that college is not for everyone but we must give every student the opportunity to make that decision for himself rather than having that choice forced upon him. Students prepared for college are far more likely to choose college than those who aren't.

Additionally, mastering the skills and knowledge necessary for college will instill a work and study ethic that would benefit every person whether he attends college or not.

Let's make sure our kids don't dig themselves into a hole and then "choose" to stay there because they can't get out.

As for the issue of struggling students who reject extra help, this is a communal issue and only the community can fix it. When students feel social pressure to excel in the classroom, they will.

Till then, all we can do is raise the bar and hold our students accountable.

Joey, While I agree that the BOE, teachers, admin...

2010-01-13T12:39:49.496-05:00

Joey,

While I agree that the BOE, teachers, administrators and the community at-large must accept responsibility for our schools' shortcomings, the ultimate responsibility is on individual students and their parents to achieve success. I graduated from MRHS several years ago. Among those that I graduated with, the two biggest factors in their ultimate success at college and finding employment were: 1) the individual's work ethic, and 2) the level of support they received from their parents.

Indeed, we all had the same teachers... some great, some good, some bad, and some downright terrible. However, these teachers did not follow us to college, they did not prevent us from learning on our own, and they do not come to work with us everyday.

I recognize that, as a BOE member, you have a responsibility to provide the best possible facilities and educators to MARSD's students. I commend you for undertaking that responsibility. However, there is nothing you can do to make sure parents support their children's education, nor can you force unwilling students to learn. Sadly, your recent satire "A Modest Proposal for the Unfit" is probably the best solution the BOE could arrive at.

Of course, I do not find it to be a feasible or morally responsible solution, but the reality is that students only go as far as their own ambition and parental support will take them. As such, I merely ask that, as a BOE member, you balance your aforementioned responsibilities with the cost of force-feeding education to those who do not embrace it.

The cost of babysitting unwilling students and substituting the school's resources for parental responsibility is a heavy burden for taxpayers to bear. Especially those taxpayers, like myself and my cohorts, who found MARSD to be a sufficient environment to nurture our success if you were willing to put in the effort yourself. We chose to return after college to live (and pay taxes) in this community because of that experience and the wish that our children could experience the same. However, that wish is jeopardized by the ever increasing costs of the nanny-state, and it appears that a significant amount of those costs are controlled by you and your fellow BOE members.

Please keep this in mind when contemplating future programs for the "unfit," and again, I thank you for your service.

Mr. Warren...long before you moved here we had a h...

2010-01-13T12:21:55.387-05:00

Mr. Warren...long before you moved here we had a hs that was geared for preparing our children for the future. Our community is extremely diverse. It is not in everyone's DNA to go to college. When I was a student at MRHS, there were vocational classes that taught skills to be used for those who chose the "blue collar" route. These were removed over the years to a point where there are just a few of these classes still remain.

Why is it such a bad thing to not want to go to college. There are many successful citizens in our community that never spent a minute in a college classroom.

Anon, The overwhelming majority of our students g...

2010-01-13T07:48:04.158-05:00

Anon,

The overwhelming majority of our students graduate unprepared for a rigorous college education. When does our community begin accepting responsibility as well? How about pointing fingers at ourselves and acknowledging we've done a terrible job of preparing our children for the future.

When we begin accepting responsibility for our actions and inacations then we can begin expecting our children to do the same. After all, they've developed their outlooks from watching us.

You seem so eager to blame a former high school st...

2010-01-13T07:42:08.799-05:00

You seem so eager to blame a former high school student for a teacher possibly not doing their job? Get real. How can you even suggest that the student should have gone to complain and request a move out of the class. This is not the first time that such accounts of that teachers teaching skills or responsibilities were questioned or exemplified. Yet you put the blame on the student?

How about blaming the fellow teachers who knew the problems existed yet said nothing. How about blaming the administration who said nothing and just moved the teacher around keeping him busy monitoring the hallways. How about the teachers union actions that would have been expensive and exhausting to protect and defend that same teacher and his possible ineffectiveness.

Don't blame a student when that student was failed by the teaching and administrative processes along with the union that would have gone to the hilt for a teacher that should have stopped teaching a long time ago.

I find it ironic that while putting the blame on the student you did not address the lessons in manners given instead of preparing that student for college. Was not that the job of the teacher and the school administration to ensure the subject matter? The too long in teaching respect shown to this teacher was damaging to many if the instruction was ineffective as described. I think it was and many knew it and said nothing.

We should all respect the teachers dedication. Likewise the insuring that the time he was instructing should have been more effective in preparing and the use of the instructional time. It was not and many people knew it. To blame a student is short sighted and offensively defensive of a possible insider who also knew.

Slippery, Did you ever go to the guidance office ...

2010-01-13T07:11:27.736-05:00

Slippery,

Did you ever go to the guidance office and as to be moved? Ever say to someone all I'm learning is to be polite and I would really like to know how to put an essay together? Bet not- you were happy to sit in a class your senior year and relax. Hopefully before you graduate college you will grow up and learn personal responsibility.

What is really silly is that when people do stand ...

2010-01-12T18:09:20.963-05:00

What is really silly is that when people do stand up the criticisms fall way short. People like Joey, Joe, Ken and some others seem to put community first before politics unusual. So what do they get for caring for their community in such a vocal manner. From many posts on here all they get is abused, defamed and worse by those who skulk around in the dark of their purposefully typed anonymity. Should such people be treated like that for caring about their community, seeking positive change and perhaps fighting for a little bit of accountability from our elected officials and the controllers of how our tax dollars are spent. Is that so horrible?

In a state that has most people seeing politicians in the same way they see cockroaches or other pests. Why is it then that men and women who speak out end up being targets from the dark voices held out to ridicule and scorn?

It is obvious they fear little as they speak out in spite of the defaming and worse they receive. I say good for them. Keep it up.

Submitted by Blackberry NJCL NJT

Yeah like Mr.Lloyd should get on the school board ...

2010-01-12T16:35:28.828-05:00

Yeah like Mr.Lloyd should get on the school board so he can fall to sleep at school board meetings like he did in my class. I had Mr. Lloyd in senior english and learned about proper manners and holding out a chair for a woman. When I got to college I fell behind from what I was not taught about report writing and other things. Those were the things that I should have been taught in my senior year. Maybe to be prepared for college?

I did know how to open the door for a lady though. All thanks to Mr. Lloyd.

Slippery Rock Rules !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope Mr. Lloyd runs against Joey and kicks his a...

2010-01-12T10:50:13.747-05:00

I hope Mr. Lloyd runs against Joey and kicks his ass at the polls! That old guy is badass!