Un-Earned Credits and Degrees

The contract between the Matawan-Aberdeen School District and the teachers union states the following:

Salary guide column changes, based upon newly earned degrees or credits shall be effective on February 1 of each calendar year, where full documentation is submitted to the administration by January 15th of the same year. This shall in no way affect the practice of granting column change credit for September 15th payrolls which are fully documented by September 1 of each year.

Here’s the scenario:

A teacher submits a transcript from Walden University, a virtual college accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, demonstrating he has completed the necessary coursework to entitle him to an upward adjustment on the salary scale.

The contract demands that he submit “full information” of the “earned degrees or credits”.

Has the teacher satisfied the conditions of the contract to warrant a raise? I say no.

At last night’s Committee of the Whole meeting, I argued that Walden University does not authenticate the website user beyond a simple username and password. Therefore, we have no idea who submitted the coursework or participated in classroom discussion.

In a brick and mortar school, we know who is attending the class and submitting the work. At Walden University we simply have no evidence whatsoever that the person “earned” the credits or degree.

Since we have two weeks before the school board takes any action, I suggested the board advise the administration to request additional information from the teacher. I said I would be satisfied with any “smidgen” of evidence that the teacher had done any work towards her credits. For example, the teacher could email her work assignments to the administration or the university could provide information that her classes included some element of “in-person” participation as well.

Ultimately, only Mr. O’Connell and Dr. Delaney agreed the administration should inquire if there was any evidence the credits were “earned” but we were rebuffed by the majority. (Interestingly, O’Connell, Delaney, and I also comprise the technology committee.)

Dr. Gambino felt we didn’t have grounds to distinguish between a brick and mortar school versus a virtual school. I believe the situations are entirely different. We are not measuring how much effort is necessary to “earn” a degree. If a person attends one class, he has theoretically “earned” his credits. In an online environment, however, we have no evidence that he ever “attended” a single class or submitted a single assignment.

Anybody with the username and password could have done everything on the teacher’s behalf. Considering the ease, the financial incentives, and the anecdotal evidence of online abuses, this isn’t a farfetched scenario.

Mr. Ruprecht suggested that requesting additional information was nearly akin to accusing the teacher of fraud. I objected to that characterization. We are merely adhering to the plain language of the contract that the teacher provides “full information” that the credits were “earned”. If a teacher’s “word” is sufficient, then why does the contract require “full information”? Why not “any information” or a teacher’s “written notice of completion”? Why shouldn’t we stick to the plain language of the contract?

Mr. Ruprecht also held the board had already established a “past practice” by approving prior online degrees and credits without requesting additional information. I argued that “past practices” could only be established upon informed consent. Since online degrees are a relatively new phenomenon and the board was unaware that teachers could receive credits and degrees without actually doing any work, no “past practice” had been established. On the contrary, approving the current request could establish a past practice and bar us from ever requesting additional information.

I plan to revisit the issue at the next board meeting when we’ll be able to receive guidance from the board attorney. In the meantime, those teachers planning to enroll at cheap and easy online schools should be forewarned. Salary guides are determined by contract and the current contract expires on June 30th. There’s no guarantee the school board will recognize any school of low standing after that cutoff date. After all, the raises for earned credits and degrees were designed to encourage teachers to help students, not to help themselves at taxpayer expense. >>> Read more!

Does the Blogger Have No Clothes?

“My friends are not worth the powder and shot it would take to kill them! ... If there were two Henry Clays, one of them would make the other President of the United States!” – Henry Clay

Okay, that quote is a bit harsh and unfair to the Aberdeen Republicans.

Although my name wasn’t on the ballot, the local Republicans’ sound thumping at the polls is being characterized as a defeat for the Aberdeener. Well, those who know, know better. I’ve been quite restrained this year because my first responsibility is serving on the school board, I happen to like Tagliarini and Lauro, and my only hope was to break the democratic monopoly by electing at least one republican. Although the gap was wider than expected, the result was not; the Republicans ran a poor campaign.

Does that mean this blog’s role in local politics is an illusion? Au contraire. Last year, I endorsed Ken Aitken for the school board and he lost by a larger margin (percentage-wise) than the Republicans did this year. Then site traffic dropped precipitously when I barred anonymous comments. By autumn, everything was in full swing again and the rest is history.

Since I’ve been serving on the school board, I haven’t submitted a single OPRA request. I haven’t been to a single town meeting. I haven’t met with a single town official. But there’s nothing stopping me. If the need arises, I can return.

For now, I will keep crossing items off my to-do list.

To Fred Tagliarini, James Lauro, Margaret Montone, and Gregory Cannon, my congratulations. May God’s grace direct you on the path of honor. You have my support to uphold your oath of office.

A vigilant citizenry is the best guarantee of prosperity. Aberdeen’s best days lie ahead so long as the people hold their representatives accountable. >>> Read more!

New Faces, Same Democrats

This election season has been quite a disappointment. Election campaigns have only three objectives – 1) Build your support 2) Demolish your opponent 3) Get your supporters into the polling booth. Looking at both campaigns, it’s impossible to say that either the Republicans or the Democrats made any major advances on any of those fronts. As the opposition party and underdogs, the Republicans failed to educate the voters. As the party in power for over a decade, the Democrats had to either run on their record or break from their past policies.

For the last few months, I’ve been waiting for some sign, anything, suggesting the Democratic candidates would break from their party’s history. They have not. Despite Tagliarini’s and Lauro’s stellar personal histories, all evidence suggests they have been engulfed by the borg that is the Aberdeen Democratic Party.

• Rather than disassociate themselves from Councilman Vinci, they used his deep connections to garner support from longtime residents
• Rather than defend or criticize a $457,898 pension deferral, they have promoted it as a spending cut
• Rather than refuse pay-to-play, they’ve taken money from all the usual suspects but circumvented financial disclosure rules by running each candidate as a separate campaign
• Rather than apologize for having never developed the Church St. senior center, the transit village, Anchor Glass, or Aberdeen Forge, they again issue news releases that development is just around the corner
• Rather than issue an action plan for shore development, they use it as a photo op for their campaign literature
• Rather than congratulate the library for funding its capital budget so that it can eventually move to larger quarters, they accuse the library of being over-funded

During Tagliarini’s short tenure on the town council, he never broke with his party or initiated any action. He supported appointing as lead developer an ex-con who attempted to bribe an IRS auditor and cost Matawan hundreds of thousands of dollars in a vindictive lawsuit that had no merit. Tagliarini also allowed the township’s powers-that-be bury the draft pay-to-play ordinance.

What’s most disturbing is that Tagliarini and Lauro didn’t need to do any of these things to win the election. Given their name recognition and reputations, they could have bagged the election by just using their rolodexes.

Therein lies the problem. Have Tagliarini and Lauro given us any reason to believe they’ll govern differently from their predecessors? Once in power, they’ll have a lot of IOUs to cash and, being men of honor, you know they will. >>> Read more!

Friends of Donna C.

Friends of Donna C. Foundation
84 Idolstone Lane
Aberdeen, NJ 07747
EIN # 27-1047919

To whom it may concern:

I'm writing on behalf of the Friends of Donna C. Foundation. Our group is a non-profit organization raising funds for Donna Calicchio and her family. Donna is a long time resident of Aberdeen, NJ. She is a loving mother, devoted wife, and thoughtful friend. Three months ago, Donna suffered a brain aneurysm. She has been in the hospital since then and has had multiple brain surgeries. Although she has shown signs of recovery, she has also had major setbacks. As of late, her husband, Tony, has found out that their health insurance reached its maximum and will no longer cover the medical expenses. Since Donna's traumatic injury, Tony has not been able to return to work full-time. He has he been daily by Donna's side and is caring for their 10-year old daughter. We need to raise funds to help relieve some of the monetary burden that the Calicchio family will be encountering in the weeks, months, and years to come. We are working hard to raise these funds.

We need your help with our upcoming auction on December 6th, 2009, to benefit the Friends of Donna C. Foundation. We need items we can offer as prizes for our auction. We'd appreciate a donation of any value to help us achieve our goal for this fundraiser, which is $20,000.

Your generous donation will be publicly acknowledged at our event through promotional announcements, fliers and a prominent note in our program. We feel that your business will benefit from the community goodwill generated by your kind donation to our group.

To learn more about our group or our event, please contact Michael Donohue, Treasurer, at 732-547-3872 or 732-970-3066, or the contact information listed below.

Thank your for your consideration of our request, and we look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Sincerely,

Jenny Cox
Volunteer, Chairperson
27 Fierro Avenue
Matawan, NJ 07747
732-583-1722

PS - So that we may better plan our event, would you kindly let us how your decision by November 15,2009. Thank you. >>> Read more!

Clarification on the School District's Stimulus Funds

At last night’s meeting, Dr. O’Malley clarified the details swirling around the use of the stimulus funds for balancing the budget and funding the RTI program.

Last March, the state informed the Matawan-Aberdeen school district that funding would be flat. Dr. O’Malley then presented a zero tax-levy increase budget based upon the state’s assurance that state funding would remain at the prior year’s level.

In September, the state informed the school district that federal stimulus money had been used to fund the state’s obligations to the school district. The federal government was now requiring a report as to how many jobs were “created or saved” through the use of the federal stimulus funds.

Dr. O’Malley recommended we report to the state that the funds were used to “save” the RTI teaching positions.

Moving forward, however, Dr. O’Malley does not expect that funding will be available next year. That means we’re likely looking at a $1.7 million revenue shortfall for next year.

Next month, the district will provide a review of the RTI program. Undoubtedly, a $1.7 million revenue shortfall will entail program cuts somewhere or everywhere. >>> Read more!