It's that time of year again. The first Sunday in June is the Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale.
For those who have already registered, I apologize but must ask that you register again due to a glitch in the system. (My fault for not monitoring the system - it's designed/hosted by a third party.)
Registration is completely free and I will not share your email addresses with anybody. Also, you don't need to register to have a yard sale. Nor does Aberdeen require any permits or the like. If anybody in any of the neighboring towns wishes to participate, you're welcome to join us.
The key to success is traffic. Even if you're listed on the site, I strongly recommend you promote your spot with signs at major intersections.
The date is Sunday, June 5th, from 9AM to 4PM. Best of luck to everybody. >>> Read more!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Reminder - Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale
It's that time of year again. The first Sunday in June is the Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale.
This is the fourth year and we'll keep it going for as long as people continue to show real interest. (Note to township - The site costs me $77 per year to run. Would sure be nice if the township could take it off my hands.)
Registration is completely free and I will not share your email addresses with anybody. Also, you don't need to register to have a yard sale. Nor does Aberdeen require any permits or the like. If anybody in any of the neighboring towns wishes to participate, you're welcome to join us.
The date is Sunday, June 5th, from 9AM to 4PM. Best of luck to everybody. >>> Read more!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale
It's that time of year again. The first Sunday in June is the Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale.
This is the third year and I expect it to be another success. All past participants will be notified and I expect most of them to participate again.
I apologize for not announcing it sooner but I'm using another person's software and there are still some minor glitches, the worst being it takes about 30 minutes for a new listing to post after being approved. I'll let you know when it's fixed.
Registration is completely free and I will not share your email addresses with anybody. Also, you don't need to register to have a yard sale. Nor does Aberdeen require any permits or the like. If anybody in any of the neighboring towns wishes to participate, you're welcome to join us.
The date is Sunday, June 6th, from 9AM to 4PM. Best of luck to everybody. >>> Read more!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Reminder - Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale on Sunday, June 7th
The Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale is this weekend on Sunday, June 7th. So far, we have over 50 registered garage sales.
Last year, our biggest problem was people couldn't find the garage sales. So, to help with that, I've added two changes (albeit a bit late). First, I'll be emailing all registrants an editable PDF that you can print and post to help drivers find your garage sale. (If the font is too big for your address, try writing the address in a different font size in your email or a separate document and then do a copy and paste.) Secondly, I'll be editing the data on the website so that all homes will be grouped together according to area and street.
Another problem we had last year was the page had difficulty loading all the garage sales on a single page. We now list all the garage sales on two pages (be sure to check the second page).
The forecasts predict a perfect day. Best of luck to everyone and thank you for participating. >>> Read more!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale
Our second Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale is in three weeks on Sunday, June 7th. Last year we had nearly 100 participants. The more people who participate, the more everyone will benefit, and the more we can promote our community. So, let's get out the word and please tell your friends that the Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale is happening on Sunday, June 7th.
I have set up a website at www.AberdeenGarageSale.com. Registration is free. Anyone residing in the Greater Aberdeen area is welcome to participate.
Here’s how it works:
I’ve not checked with other municipalities but Aberdeen Township does not regulate garage sales. If other areas are regulated, please let me know. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to promote the community-wide garage sale.
Of course, I’m doing this on a shoe-string budget so I’ll need all the help I can get. Please be forgiving if the site has some bugs. Suggestions for improvement are most welcome.
Last year, our biggest problem was signage - people couldn't find where the garage sales were taking place. This year, we'll be sorting the directory according to area and provide PDF pages that you can print and post in your area. The pages will have arrows (green tip, red end) and a place to insert your street address.
If you are a local resident, business owner, or organization, and would like your website promoted on www.AberdeenGarageSale.com, please let me know by emailing me at Aberdeener@gmail.com or posting a comment on this blog.
Spread the word! Sunday, June 7th, is our second annual community-wide garage sale. >>> Read more!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
School Crimes and Misdemeanors
NOTE: THOUGH THE HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL FACTS REPORTED BELOW ARE CORRECT, SOME OF THE INFERENCES AND LEGAL POSITIONS ARE NOT. ALL READERS ARE URGED TO READ QUESTIONS FOR QUINN AND CO. AND MARSD, WE HAVE A PROBLEM FOR THE COMPLETE STORY.
The year is 2003. Bruce Quinn is a few months into his new job as Matawan-Aberdeen’s Superintendent. Cathy Zavorskas has been elected President of the Board of Education. The voters have defeated a proposed 10% school tax increase. And the dreaded redistricting plan is underway.
That same year, the school board approves three staff changes. The changes appear minor and pass unremarked. Yet, those three changes, five years later, may launch the school district into its greatest legal jeopardy in living memory.
On December 15th, 2003, Helen Rappaport was demoted from Director of Special Services to Supervisor of Special Services (page 11). Present at that board meeting were Bruce Quinn (Superintendent), Catherine Zavorskas (then BOE President), Patricia Demarest (current BOE President), Jan Rubino (current BOE Vice President), Joel Glastein (Deputy Superintendent, Director of Personnel), Michael Gross (School Board Attorney) and current BOE members, Lawrence O’Connell, Gerald Donaghue, and John Barbato.
Ms. Rappaport was demoted because, despite her credentials, she lacked a New Jersey Board of Examiners certificate to be a director. As a supervisor, she lacked the authority to oversee child study teams (CSTs).
Yet, despite a board vote to change her position, Superintendent Quinn maintained Ms. Rappaport as a Director of Special Services and the board looked the other way. The vote was a charade to bypass the numerous state safeguards against a school district employing a person in a position for which that person is unqualified.
The New Jersey Administrative Code (N.J.A.C.) § 6A:9-17.4 states “The chief school administrator of a district shall notify the Board of Examiners when . . . a certificate holder fails to maintain any license, certificate or authorization pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:9-4.1(b) that is mandated in order for the holder to serve in a position.”
New Jersey also mandates that all districts submit a matrix report, listing each staff member’s position. The state matches that information against its database to flag any person who is not properly qualified for his position.
The board vote allowed the district to inform the state and county that Ms. Rappaport was no longer a director of special services. The district’s matrix report lists Ms. Rappaport as a supervisor.
In addition to submitting fraudulent documentation to the state and county, our district also perjured itself in court. In numerous court hearings involving cases of special needs students, the district submitted sworn affidavits from Ms. Rappaport.
The affidavits attest to the facts that Ms. Rappaport was a Director of Special Services and oversaw the Child Study Teams. Her signature lies under the statement “I hereby certify that the foregoing statements made by me are true. I am aware that if any of the foregoing statements are willfully false, I am subject to punishment.”
Our board attorney will need to explain how, as an officer of the court, he allowed false statements to be submitted to the court. As a matter of conscience, our Board of Education will need to explain how they allowed an unqualified person to oversee our neediest students.
Imagine the following: Ms. Rappaport knows she is unqualified for her position. She knows the administration knows. She knows the board knows. She knows the state has multiple safeguards against her maintaining that position. Why did she feel so secure in her position that she never pursued certification for the director’s position?
We can only wonder but here are some possibilities –
One thing we know for sure, Ms. Rappaport’s case was not an isolated incident.
At the same December 15th, 2003, BOE meeting, Ms. Caroline Pond was also demoted from Director of Testing and Special Programs to Supervisor Planning/Research and Evaluation (Testing). Considering that performance is never used as a basis for demotion, we can surmise that she, too, lacked the qualifications to be a director. Sure enough, the district continued to use her as a director and, two years later, she retired as such.
But the prize for sheer outrageousness has to go to the case of Barbara Cholewa.
Ms. Cholewa never received any college degrees. Rather, she is a graduate of Matawan Regional High School, was active in the teachers union, and was once Bruce Quinn’s secretary (and reputedly the godmother of one of his children).
On April 28, 2003, the same day as the school board reorganization, Quinn cleverly concealed Ms. Cholewa’s appointment by including it in a staff array with hundreds of names. On that day, the board elevated Ms. Cholewa, a high school graduate, from secretary to Director of Technology.
By law (N.J.A.C. § 6A:9-5.1) “The district board of education that is considering employing the individual shall assure that the candidate holds all necessary licenses, certificates or authorizations.” Zavorskas wasn’t only the BOE President, she was also on the board’s personnel committee. Plus, like Cholewa, Zavorskas was a lifelong resident of the community, spent lots of time in the administrator’s office, and had a cozy relationship with the teachers union. It’s inconceivable that she was unaware that Cholewa was a secretary who never graduated from college.
Even if Zavorskas (like the other board members) hadn’t properly reviewed the staffing list, how long did it take her to realize the board promoted a secretary without a college degree to Director of Technology?
In this instance, Quinn never needed to fake the matrix report. Director of Technology wasn’t included on the certificated staff list. Rather, her name continued to appear on the non-certificated staff list along with the other secretaries.
This past June, following Dr. O’Malley’s recommendation, Cholewa was reduced to Manager of Information Systems (i.e. secretary), earning $87,000 plus benefits.
According to the grapevine, Cholewa has retained Frank Campbell to sue the district. Campbell is the former law partner of school board attorney, Michael Gross, who called Dr. O’Malley a misogynist at a recent board meeting and was urged by Susan Quinn to continue speaking.
What’s next?
There is ample evidence the district knowingly assigned people to positions for which they were unqualified. There is ample evidence of violations of the New Jersey Administrative Code. There are the fraudulent documents submitted to the state. False affidavits submitted to the courts. But worse of all is the civil rights violations against scores of families with special needs children.
In time, we will learn the legal consequences of our school district’s conduct but no amount of time will wash away our sins. The best we can do right now is to launch an independent investigation to find the truth so we can stop this from recurring in the future.
Note: Special thanks to Board Attorney Michael Gross for showing me NJSA 47:1A-10 that states "data contained in information which disclose conformity with specific experiential, educational or medical qualifications required for government employment or for receipt of a public pension, but not including any detailed medical or psychological information, shall be a government record." >>> Read more!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
O’Malley Leads, BOE Follows
“Goals – by the end of the 08-09 school year, 10% of the partial proficient students will achieve proficiency on the state assessments while maintaining our advanced proficient student percentages.”
- - - Matawan-Aberdeen BOE Special Board Meeting to discuss goals and objectives, June 12, 2008
Last Monday’s school board meeting marked many firsts for our district. The board, in the face of strong opposition from the school unions, supported the superintendent’s recommendation to remove from office a high-ranking, 30-year veteran. Then there was the district’s first frank assessment of student test scores with sufficient detail and background information to allow the community to evaluate the data. Lastly, we got our first acknowledgment that many of the online degree programs, so popular with our staff, are not the equivalent of traditional degrees from well-regarded universities. What do I call this? A great start!
To understand the power of the teachers union, consider this little factoid – from 1996-2005, exactly 47 tenured teachers (from over 100,000) were fired from their public schools. A tenured New Jersey teacher is more likely to die this year than be fired. Our local union, the Matawan Regional Teachers Association, is reputed to recruit the board member’s child’s teachers for picketing in front of the board member’s house. That the BOE voted 8-1 to terminate Ms. Rappaport’s position of Supervisor of Special Services is simply remarkable. (That her sterling performance reviews make no mention of a long history of parental complaints sadly is not.)
As for the student assessment scores, the faculty presentation marked the first time in history that our school district has publicized the fact that proficiency only means a score of 50% and that advanced proficiency only requires 75% (Slides 7, 66). Put simply, advanced proficiency is not “outstanding”.
The next sacred cow to be skewered was the school board’s vaunted goal of getting more students across the 50-yard line (proficiency) but not pushing beyond that (see above). The administration, however, took their cues from Dr. O’Malley and stressed the district’s need to improve performance at all levels – more students achieving advanced proficiency, higher SAT and AP (Advanced Placement) scores, and more AP enrollment. In fact, in sharp contrast to the board’s goal, the administration regarded any advanced proficiency rate below our District Factor Group (DFG) as an “area of concern”. Either the school board was too oblivious to notice or too ashamed to comment but nobody mentioned the discrepancy.
Our final break with the past was marked by Deputy Superintendent Glastein who acknowledged that degrees from online schools such as Walden and Marygrove were not equal to degrees from schools such as Rutgers and Seton Hall. Rather, the granting of equal pay raises to those degree recipients was “purely contractual”. At a prior board meeting, BOE President Demarest stated that the board did not distinguish between institutes of higher learning so long as they had regional accreditation. Once again, the administration has chosen to ignore such nonsense.
Although this signals a brighter future, we mustn’t forget the troubles we have today. SAT scores are below the state average (Slides 77-80). A third of our seniors failed a HSPA exam last year (Slides 71, 75). We have 6 AP courses that have fewer than five students taking the AP exams. Not a single student took AP Chemistry or AP Computer Science(Slide 63).
Even though 18% more students took 30% more AP exams in 2008 than 2007, the total number of 4 and 5 scores actually dropped to 89(Slide 64). (Though 3 is technically passing, many universities do not grant full credit to AP scores below 4.) The number of 4 and 5 AP scores was so low that, had my senior AP scores been added to the total, I would have personally accounted for over 4% of the total 4 and 5 AP scores for the entire district.
In short, we’ve got lots of work ahead of us but we’re definitely moving in the right direction. As for the three board members who took public stances against Dr. O’Malley’s appointment, I’m still waiting to hear an admission of error. >>> Read more!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Garage Sale Recap
Wow. 88 houses, more than double anyone’s expectations. By most measures, the Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale was a success but there were definite shortcomings as well and lots of room for improvement. However, I first need to thank everyone who participated. To those who sold and those who bought, I offer my gratitude for reviving our community spirit. Aberdeen has a great future because we have great people and, together, we can do great things.
I’d also like to offer my special thanks to the following people: First and foremost, thank you, Erin Stattel, for publishing an article about the garage sale in the Independent. Nothing I did garnered as much publicity as your article. Next, I’d like to thank Sametta Thompson for listing the event in the Asbury Park Press and Alyssa Pessaggio for promoting the garage sale on her blog. Thank you, Karen Ventura, for listing the garage sale on the township website and being a constant help to me in all township matters. Thank you, Mary Giaimo, for creating and broadcasting advertisements on Huskievision. Thanks to all my readers who posted helpful advice on how to improve the event. And thanks to my wife, Jennifer, whose constant support and advice made it all possible. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people.
The garage sale had two objectives – To promote Aberdeen and foster community spirit. At the same time, people have garage sales to sell. In that last regard, the garage sale was very uneven. Some people have reported low traffic and dismal sales. Others had an outstanding day. In retrospect, I realize I made several mistakes and hope to do much better next year.
First, I believe I overestimated the utility of the maps. While printing addresses may be sufficient for the locals, the out-of-towners need something more. Additionally, many people like to simply drive around and stop at any garage sales they find. Hence, garage sales with more exposure did far better than others.
Next, there’s an old business saying – Prepare for success. I wasn’t prepared. When the site reached 80 locations, the browsers began having trouble loading so many maps. Also, the listings weren’t in any particular order. And, I discovered belatedly, the site could only handle 99 addresses.
Lastly, word-of-mouth advertising was woefully inadequate to promote the event.
Here are some of my ideas for improving the Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale for next year.
As always, I’d love to get feedback and suggestions.
Thanks again to everyone who participated and helped. Can’t wait to see you next year. >>> Read more!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Reminder - Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale on Sunday, June 1st
The inaugural Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale is in three weeks on Sunday, June 1st. So far, we have sixteen registered garage sales. I'd really like to have 25 to consider this a minor success. The more people who participate, the more everyone will benefit, and the more we can promote our community. I'm broadcasting two ads on Huskievision, submitted announcements to local newspapers for the community calendar, and will begin posting notices around town. Still, nothing helps like word of mouth so please tell your friends that the Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale is happening on Sunday, June 1st.
I have set up a website at www.AberdeenGarageSale.com. Registration is free. Anyone residing in the Greater Aberdeen area is welcome to participate.
Here’s how it works:
I’ve not checked with other municipalities but Aberdeen Township does not regulate garage sales. If other areas are regulated, please let me know. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to promote the community-wide garage sale.
Of course, I’m doing this on a shoe-string budget so I’ll need all the help I can get. Please be forgiving if the site has some bugs. Suggestions for improvement are most welcome.
If you are a local resident, business owner, or organization, and would like your website promoted on www.AberdeenGarageSale.com, please let me know by emailing me at Aberdeener@gmail.com or posting a comment on this blog.
Spread the word! Sunday, June 1st, is our first community-wide garage sale. >>> Read more!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Announcing the Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale
Please Note: The date has changed to June 1, 2008, the first Sunday in June.
To promote our community, have some fun, and make some money, please join me in promoting our inaugural Greater Aberdeen Garage Sale on the first Sunday in June. I’m hoping we’ll have dozens of local garage sales on Sunday, June 1, 2008.
I have set up a website at www.AberdeenGarageSale.com. Registration is free. Anyone residing in the Greater Aberdeen area is welcome to participate.
Here’s how it works:
I’ve not checked with other municipalities but Aberdeen Township does not regulate garage sales. If other areas are regulated, please let me know. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to promote the community-wide garage sale both online and through the local newspapers.
Of course, I’m doing this on a shoe-string budget so I’ll need all the help I can get. Please be forgiving if the site has some bugs. Suggestions for improvement are most welcome.
If you are a local resident, business owner, or organization, and would like your website promoted on www.AberdeenGarageSale.com, please let me know by emailing me at Aberdeener@gmail.com or posting a comment on this blog. I only ask that you mention www.AberdeenGarageSale.com on your website as well.
If successful, I think this will be a great boon to our community. If it’s a failure, it will be my failure, alone. >>> Read more!