More HoLa Program concerns…
12
January
1/12/2009:
Another letter added to the HoLa pile!
Hoboken resident and mother Rachel Goldberg wanted to submit her point of view about the HoLA Dual Language Program:
Open letter to Board of Education
“Dear Hoboken School Board Members,
Happy Holidays! I writing to you to ask you to vote no on the Hola program. I am coming to you as an educator and as a school administrator, an active voter and Hoboken resident. Most important, I am the mother of a 6-month old daughter that will one day enroll in Hoboken Public Schools.
I am asking that you vote NO on the Hola program for the following reasons:
SEE HER COMPREHENSIVE LIST AFTER THE JUMP…
(It’s a bit too long to display in it’s entirety on the home page)
(Vote NO on the HoLa Program, continued…)
Because this program is new and untested, it will have a variety of missteps along the way. This is normal for large scale programmatic offerings, but in this case, each misstep will be capitalized on, and ultimately give reasons for your constituents to find fault with the program, its curriculum, its pedagogy, and its administration. In the end, it will go from being a bilingual immersion program to a hot topic in the next school board election or the basis for legal challenges. Our students will be the victims. If parents buy-in, they will be able to support the program throughout its development, and support the development of strong educational programs for Hoboken’s students. It is worth it to encourage the programs’ owners to take some time and address the community before rolling it out.
Education research have proven that our students success is dependent on a school system that focuses on instruction. In fact, the Harvard PELP group has identified this as the “instructional core”- the relationship between the student, the teacher, and the content. Every policy that you passes does, in some way, affect the instructional core. The question for each decision should be whether you are strengthening or weakening the instructional core. With $150,000 (just the initial cost for the “consultants”) we could provide the following for our teachers:
- 30 Teachers to take part in an intensive summer development program to build instructional knowledge at Harvard University
- All of our H.S. teachers to be trained in a week long AP course
- 15 Sessions with Tony Wagner, Bob Keegan, Richard Elmore, Grant Wiggins, or Richard DuFour (these are a few of the education sector’s leading voices)
- Two year-round Professional Development Staff Members (at 75K per member) that can guide teachers (all content/ all grade levels) in teaching ESL students
- An all expense paid trip (at least one night) to Washington, D.C. for all of our high school students (and their museum costs)
- Multiple curricula from the College Board that has already been aligned to NJCCCS and the SAT (that would save the stipends of the eternal curriculum planning project)
Let’s face the facts, our elementary schools are diverse, exciting environments, the test scores have gone up, and enrollment has climbed. At the same time, there is a clear achievement gap, and that gap only increases once our students go into the MS and HS. Our enrollment at the MS and HS has decreased. We have strong teachers that have the capacity to help our students, but they clearly need additional support and policies directed toward growing their capacity. Not enough of our students graduate with an IB diploma, not enough of our students score in the “average” percentiles of the SAT, not enough of our students pass the HSPA, and not enough of our students graduate high school. If the extra monies in our funds need to be spent, there are a wide variety of programs that we can invest in to help our high school and middle school teachers and students.
We must approach our students’ futures with urgency. I wish that we were in a place where we could offer “laboratory school” status, but our assessment results are clear- we do not have the luxury of presenting an untested program to see if it will work. Please, before we expend upwards of a million dollars, make the program prove that it is worthy of our students.
Happy Holidays!
Rachel Goldberg“
See previous correspondence from other residents below…
1/11/2009 Update:
This HoLa Dual Language program situation in Hoboken is getting a bit frenetic! I wasn’t sure whether to start a new thread – or bump an existing one. I did the latter.
Below is a letter that Barbara Martinez, a leader in the pro-Hola faction, wrote this weekend to various members of the Board of Education, as well as the Superintendent and staff. You can see that she is incredibly fixated on getting this up and running so that HER child gets this free dual-language school and she can quit paying tuition. She also makes it clear that she won’t put her kid into the regular public school. In addition, her husband, Jason Griggs, wrote the self-serving, patronizing pro-HoLa letter in yesterday’s paper.
Does this letter sound self-serving?
“I’ve taken the past two days off of work (I’m a reporter at the WSJ) because the Hola program is so important to my family. Today I spent a lot of time outside Conners and Wallace – getting signatures of people who would be thrilled to send their kids to a dual-language immersion program.
I met many Hispanic and African-American moms this morning whose faces lit up when I told them their children could be fully literate in two languages by the time they are in third grade. Many are planning to attend our information session this Sunday at Jubilee Center.
BUT I AM SO VERY CONCERNED THAT YOU ARE DECIDING TO TABLE THIS PROGRAM FOR THE TIME BEING.
The private school my daughter attends needs to know in early February whether she will be returning in September 2009 for first grade. What am I supposed to tell them?
By the way, they want me to give them $1,000 if I want them to hold her spot. Several weeks after that, I have to commit to a full-year’s tuition. What am I supposed to do?
Parents in Hoboken are making their decisions for next year NOW. If you put this off again you may lose people like me. My stomach has been in a knot for the past two months as the entire city debates this valuable program.
How much more talk is needed?
Jen and Camille have told me they are willing to walk away from the money, the contract, etc. They are stripping away all the non-essentials from their budget. There won’t be a need for an RFQ. They won’t be getting a cent.
Why can’t we put this to bed already?
PLEASE. Take action on this so we can get our school started. Or if the action is negative, at least we can move on with our lives and make other plans.
But to make us wait like this, for no apparently good reason, is quite unnerving and cruel.
Sorry to sound so dramatic – but this is really something that will affect my daughter’s future.
Thank you,
Barbara Martinez
Most Hoboken Moms disapprove
Additionally, the Yahoo Group for Hoboken Moms (over 2300 members) – recently had a poll on their site:
If your child made it into the HoLa program would you stay in the school system and send your child to Hoboken High School?
() Yes
() No
Over 76% of the mothers said NO.
You be the judge!
1/6/2009 Update:
This letter was sent to the Superintendent and the Board on Dec. 31st.
Why is Superintendent Jack Raslowsky ignoring the advice of his own legal council?
Adios HoLa?
Board Members and Superintendent Raslowsky:
Thank you for the calls and wishes during my recovery. Hope you and your families had a good holiday. Also, thank you for forwarding to me the various e-mails that you have received regarding the “Hola” program and your phone calls regarding “Hola”.
Please accept this email/letter to you in my role as the attorney for the Board and its members, and with all due respect to Superintendent Raslowsky, who has in good faith been a proponent of the Hola contract award.
As I complete my recovery, and due to the fact that I did not have the opportunity to address the Board directly due to my surgeries and illness, it has become clear to me that the all of you may not be aware of my recommendation regarding “Hola”.
While the concept of a dual language program has been identified as a worthwhile goal by Superintendent Raslowsky and many of the Board members, I do not want anything to get lost in the translation here.
Starting with the original “Hola” agenda item and vote at the November meeting, and also keeping in mind that the Board is a public body subject to intense public scrutiny, there is no question that the Board will incur litigation relative to the “Hola” contract.
Therefore, as a follow up to my conversations with Superintendent Raslowsky and Assistant Superintendent Petrosino before the December meeting, wherein I respectfully expressed my reservations in following through with the “Hola” award, and my similar my e-mail response to President Rhodes-Kearns’ inquiry of earlier this week, I am recommending that that the Board permanently remove the “Hola” contract and award from any agenda and that it be done immediately (via press release).
The listing for the “Hola” program which is currently on the website should also be immediately removed, as no such program has been approved by the Board.
I again apologize for my general unavailability during the past few months, and I of course accept responsibility as Board counsel.
However after careful consideration. there is no question that the Board needs to act swiftly and decisively as set forth above.
Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph R. Morano, Esq.
Board Counsel
Hoboken Public Schools
12/27/2008:
You remember Hoboken Committee person Ravinder Bhalla, right?
Well Ravi, who represents the 2nd Ward, 3rd District, is also an attorney, and feels that that no-bid Hoboken “HoLa Dual Language Program” has been improperly referred to as “approved for 2009″ (when it hadn’t been yet) as well as other questions regarding the qualifications of those intended to implement the program (conflict of interest, relationships, etc.)
“(The HoLa Dual Language Program) smacks of favoritism for its approval by the Board…”
Take a look the letter he sent to the Board Councel regarding Superintendent Jack Raslowsky.
April 13th 2009 - 14:47:55 |
Grizzly wrote:
Grizzly, it must be hard to walk around with your head up your ass. See post #195 for a comprehensive list of why HoLa was doomed from the get-go. You (and those like you- Ms. Martinez, for example) dumb-down the debate by accusing Kids First and their supporters of “envy” or “prejudice” and never see the flaws with the ethics of the no-bid award to 2 non-educators, and the many other points that “concernedhobokenite” listed so well.
No, Kids First are a bunch of sour-pusses that crapped on your dream and THEY must be stopped, whether by calling them “envious” or “racists” or “envious racists”… that’s right, leave the field clear for a Raia majority to hand 150K to the first schmo who feels qualified to run a school program of their own making: whatever it is, whoever it benefits, however much it costs, and whatever the credentials and qualifications of said-schmo may be in the field of education. And make sure anyone who objects is maligned as an “envious racist”.
Go, Poopie!!!!
Login or Register to reply
April 13th 2009 - 14:48:24 |
“The private school my daughter attends needs to know in early February whether she will be returning in September 2009 for first grade. What am I supposed to tell them?
By the way, they want me to give them $1,000 if I want them to hold her spot. Several weeks after that, I have to commit to a full-year’s tuition. What am I supposed to do?
Parents in Hoboken are making their decisions for next year NOW. If you put this off again you may lose people like me. My stomach has been in a knot for the past two months as the entire city debates this valuable program.
How much more talk is needed?”
Barbara Martinez
Barbara,
Were you there when the Superintendent admitted there was never a pot of money–It was all just on paper??? http://vimeo.com/4068411
Raia sits on the Budget committee with Jack. They began the budget process in NOV. Didn’t you listen to what the BA and Farina said? All new programs would be cut FIRST, if there were a shortage. They all knew there was no money. Additionally, what does that say about Raia’s ability to understand budgets??DUH!!! Check the tape..it’s all outlined there for you.
Raia and his majority have had 6 years to show us what they could do. They have proven their inability to keep costs down, hire the best qualified people to run the district and improve our schools. It is time for a new majority to make the changes this district needs.
Login or Register to reply
April 13th 2009 - 14:56:19 |
Regardless of whether or not people have children in public school, private school or no school at all — most people want their tax dollars spent in the most efficient way. You have no idea of how I feel about teachers’ salary, but certainly wanting lower taxes is usually neither controversial nor selfish. I think we all want value for our dollar and I think that many agree that the current per pupil cost is way too high.
Again, keep in mind that a public school system is a professional system, in which adminstrators and teachers are certified. That means we believe that they have had the training to be able to teach, administrate, etc. Schools are not a free for all where parents can come up with an idea that works for them, and get it implemented.
I do believe that educators simply have more experience with educational programs — what works and what doesn’t, than people who have worked in corporate jobs and who haven’t even had children in the public system. Again, not a controversial statement.
Login or Register to reply
April 13th 2009 - 16:16:36 |
Grizzly wrote
“it was new idea that added public school seats. If you have a clue about finance, an option, especially a free option, has value.”
If you had a clue about finances, you would know this is not a “free option”. Want to buy a piece of the Bkln Bridge?
Seems, Raia needs a lesson in budgets 101. Raia sits on the Budget Committee.
If there is no money for a new program, you can’t afford it. They are cutting 20 staff for next year. Raslowski and Raia have the cuts figured out already..see budget doc.
Grizzly wrote
“I am not here attacking these women and putting up pictures of children at an HOLA event, which is an absolute invasion of privacy”
That pic was from the Hoboken Reporter, you may want to write to them explaining the “invasion of privacy” issue.
Grizzly wrote:
“the status quo satisfactory?”
Apparently, you have not attended the meetings. The HBOE has great programs. They need to be implemented throughout the district-not only in the k-4 grades. New programs should be used to improve scores for the students IN THE DISTRICT.
Again, this goes to show the Lack of focus and ability by a temporarily certified/inexperienced superintendent. Look where uncertified inexperience has gotten our middle and high school students.
Grizzly wrote:
“what the hell does “non-educators” have do with anything? We’d probably be better off with business people managing (NOTICE: not teaching, but managing) our schools anyway”
This is a violation of State Law but then again Raia and the majority violate rfp/q so what’s one more rule???
Grizzly wrote:
“please find EDUCATORS and start a new charter or public school that has an interesting emphasis and I’d support you”
Hmmm, so concernedhobokenite should find EDUCATORS but Hola was fine without them—Interesting.
Login or Register to reply
April 13th 2009 - 17:31:37 |
Looks as if they’re still trying – now they want an HOLA charter school, pending state approval. Does Hoboken really need a “3rd” charter school? Even though charter schools get state funding, plus they do fundraising, they still get a few million from the Hoboken BOE public school budget (not sure of the specifics – but sure someone will chime in with a comment). Should the state really decide or should it be voter approval, when we already have two. With the financial situation in this town and at the BOE, can we really afford this extra expense? If we have no choice, where will the (BOE required funds) come from? Which programs and/or teachers will have to be cut in order to support the elite?
Login or Register to reply
April 13th 2009 - 23:06:06 |
what is the districts responsibility when these mislead parents put their kids in the HoLa charter and they are not reading english in 3rd grade and they get frustrated and put them in one of the other charters or public school? are the other schools now responsible for bring this kid up to speed? is it the public schools fault when this kid fails the standardized test?
this is a free country and the kids first ladies as citizens had the right to go to board meetings and speak against HoLa as did the 30 other parents that showed up with them against HoLa. In the end it was Raia’s board that voted it down. In the end Raslowsky (just watched it on tape, thanks poed) said there was NEVER any money. so all that the HoLa fiasco achieved was letting jack hide the lousy test scores until it was to late to have the tutor in place to get us in a decent place this year.
Oh wait, HoLa did achieve one other thing, it let us see what a vindictive nasty b*tch Barbara Martinez is. I feel sorry for whatever school is stuck with that one in the PTA.
Login or Register to reply
April 14th 2009 - 12:58:49 |
This is insanity. I didn’t sign up for this when I bought my condo and agreed to pay taxes that were already high 2 years ago. Now this? I see these kids when the school day is over. I had an 8 year old curse me and my 4 month old (in his stroller) out for no reason. He was hanging around with his mother (presumably) about an hour after school let out (instead of doing homework). He literally called me the worst name imaginable – in English – right in front of his mother, who did nothing. Doesn’t exactly give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about the group my tax dollars would be supporting with this Hola program.
Login or Register to reply
April 14th 2009 - 13:26:56 |
truth1 wrote:
I am a new mom who grew up in the 80’s, and began learning proper written and spoken Spanish in the 7th grade. I was told by my teachers that I would use it someday. I don’t even want to put in writing what I’ve used my Spanish language knowlege for since then.
Login or Register to reply
April 14th 2009 - 13:41:38 |
Yes.We.Can. wrote:
That.
Is.
Amazing.
Very well put!
Login or Register to reply
April 14th 2009 - 17:16:53 |
I just don’t understand how any reasonable person could believe that a program that would bring in 50+ new students was going to cost the district in total $30K as B. Martinez claims in her letter to the Reporter, considering that it costs almost that to educate one child in the district today? Wouldn’t this new program have required teacher training, special textbooks, etc. Who was going to pay for this? But the Hola people didn’t really care, because we were all going to be sharing the load, I guess.
I also had a concern about whether this program was right for this district. These dual language programs work best when you have a fairly high level of kids fluent in both languages. Most people in Hoboken who classified as Hispanic don’t speak Spanish as their first language. So how was that going to work?
I think getting a charter for this is going to prove very difficult. Wonder if the Hola ladies have gotten real educators to plead their case in Trenton.
Login or Register to reply
April 14th 2009 - 18:05:23 |
styles333
I’m fascinated. What school was the child from? What would prompt a kid to curse at you and your baby in front of his mother? Was the child wearing a uniform? There has to be more to this.
Login or Register to reply
April 14th 2009 - 19:33:30 |
It’s a very simple story, really. I was walking past the park, and about to cross the street with my stroller when I heard some pretty vile language. I turned around, and there was the child looking right at me. His mother (or a female caregiver) was right there next to him, but talking to another woman in Spanish. She was not phased at all by the scenario. I was pretty startled, so I just gave the kid a look and kept moving.
Login or Register to reply
April 14th 2009 - 19:34:10 |
Forgot to answer your question. He was not wearing a uniform.
Login or Register to reply