General Category > Hackensack Discussion
School Superintendent Search
just watching:
Looking at old posts, it looks like "Anthony" is bringing up the same theme that he has battled with other readers again and again. And that theme is to blame the leadership and the system instead of the socio-economic factors, as the cause of declining test scores. There are a few heroic examples of Charter schools that have bucked the trend, but 99% of all school systems follow the curve of expected test scores based on socio-economics. The wealthiest communities in New Jersey have the highest test scores, the poorest cities and rural towns have the lowest, and the working class and middle class suburbs fall in between. The correlation is direct and definitive. Almost without exception, this is universally true.
We have old apartment buildings in Hackensack (anything with a fire escape) that USED TO BE filled with senior citizens. But now there are impoverished immigrant families living there, putting many kids in the schools. These buildings are located around Anderson Park, and on Prospect Ave between Atlantic and Essex, for example.
We have 100 year old houses that used to be owner-occupied single-family houses with middle-class families whose kids performed well on the tests. Now the owner lives in Northern Bergen County, and the house is divided into two or three apartments with low-income or working-class tenants. Some of these kids do well, but if you take the average of 1000 of them, the test scores will be lower. This is true all across New Jersey, wake up folks !!! These are all examples of socio-economic decline. That is the root cause of the falling test scores. If everything else remains the same, test scores will rise or fall in parallel with socio-economic changes.
This is not to say the school system and the school administrators are totally without blame. I totally take them TO TASK for continuously failing, over the course of many decades, to get involved with the zoning and planning of this city. The Board of Education should start demanding changes that will positively impact the socio-economic equation. But they aren't, and that is their biggest failure.
itsme:
Both Mr. Jones and Mr. Montesano have given their all to Hackensack but both are retiring and Hackensack needs to move forward in a positive and new direction. I congratulate them both and thank them for the years of service they have given our community.
itsme:
Our new Superintendent should be familiar with the demographics of a district such us ours and knowledgeable of programs for academic success such as those implemented in districts like Newark's North Star School. These programs together with programs already successful in Hackensack should go a long way towards moving us to a "blue ribbon" district in which all of our children can be successful with an added economic plus where our property values would increase enticing more people to move into our district.
just watching:
Well put. Nobody is going to disagree with that.
FYI, the incredibly successful Charter School in Newark is called the Robert Treat Academy. http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/51147
This school was founded by Essex County political king-pin Steve Adubato, Sr., who still lives on the same block of Clifton Ave in Newark. The school is 77% Latino and the overall minority enrollment is over 95%. 1/4 of the kids qualify for free lunches. It is currently the 4th highest ranking school in NJ on standardized test scores (this is comparing all schools, not just Charter Schools). Many students come from the upscale "Forest Hill" section of Newark which looks just like Ridgewood, and the school generally attracts the best and brightest from all of Newark. Many students also come from poor neighborhoods as well, as indicated by the 1/4 who qualify for free lunches. Hundreds of families apply every year, and they literally select the positions by lottery. The only criteria is that the students must live in Newark. Well, I guess that families who "don't care" if their kids learn also don't take the initiative to apply for the School selection lottery. Therefore, to some extent there is a selective force at play in which families that don't really care about their kids' education don't place kids there. This should not diminish the success of their programs. This is a miracle school.
Families with children who "win" enrollment automatically qualify to enroll all younger children. There are families who are deliberately staying in Newark or buying bigger houses in Newark instead of moving to the suburbs, just to keep their kids in this school. Imagine that. People wanting to live in an urban center for the school system, how ironic is that ???
Supposedly, the entire focus of the school, right from the first day of Kindergarten is to prepare children for PUBLIC SPEAKING and LEADERSHIP ROLES. This school is nationally aclaimed as a "miracle school". It's one of very few schools ANYWHERE that buck the demographic trends.
Hackensack would be smart to look into what this school does, and try to duplicate their magic in a public school environment.
Editor:
http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/trustees-seek-superintendent-1.1687624
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MTDTTHL
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