Yesterday I attended the State Board of Education special meeting to listen to the State Operated Districts report. The Paterson report was encouraging. Dr. Evans shared the Bright Futures Strategic plan for 2009 through 2014 and gave updates for each of the goals. He reported that the District
Read more →PEF has observed Paterson charter schools over the years as a viable option for Paterson families, but hardly a cure all. Charters will never serve all of our students. Now, we have two new charter school applications on a fast track for Paterson. Both come from charter
Read more →I’ve gone to Trenton many times over my career with PEF. It has always been to advocate for Paterson’s children. I’ll be going again in February to discuss Pateson Reads as a model for other communities to improve early learning. Ar Wednesday night’s school board meeting, when I
Read more →On last Saturday, we joined PEOC in bringing light to a national crisis: pushing our kids out of school by suspending them. It’s not just a national problem. It hurts us here in Paterson, too. In 2010-11, Paterson schools suspended over 4,000 of our children. The numbers
Read more →On Wednesday June 13 at the Paterson School Board meeting, parents will once again come out to voice their dissatisfaction with the school transformation plan. At last week’s school board workshop, School 15 and New Roberto Clemente parents joined the discussion. They want more information about the details of
Read more →“Can All children learn at high levels?” I believe they can. But I know lots of people don’t believe it. I can tell they don’t believe it when they make an argument for vouchers or charters saying, “At least we’ll help some children.” I believe in the
Read more →When you object to some of the new school reform agenda, people accuse you of being against the kids. “Even if our ideas aren’t perfect, some children will get educated,” they argue. I wish that was true. But the evidence is piling up that charters do not perform
Read more →Last night the Paterson Board of Education and the community members wrestled with the latest version of Paterson’s school transformation plan. Of the more than three hours of comment and debate, the contribution of the children stands out for me. Faced with the proposed moving of the upper
Read more →Do you know that families with children made nearly twice as much income in Passaic County than in Paterson? The new census shows that the median income [the mid point: half make more; half make less] for a Paterson family with children was $29,500; the median for Passaic County was
Read more →Happy New Year! I wish the best for you as 2012 begins. I also wish that we would stop trying to “fix” our Paterson schools with smoke and mirrors. There are all sorts of reasons to oppose the voucher legislation known as the “Opportunity Scholarship Act” from
Read more →