What's Wrong With This Picture?
editorial by Jim Gerrish
03/10/18 - If you work for the
city of East Orange, there is nothing wrong with this picture. If
you work in the East Orange school system, there is nothing wrong
with this picture. But if you pay taxes to East Orange, including
taxes that pay for the schools that the city likes to pretend are
separate from property taxes, but aren't, then this little
celebration, that was held in the city of Orange (because East
Orange never celebrates in the city of East Orange) on February
21st, without advance notice and with no fan-fare (notice the
small number of people that showed up for it) and which was just
announced on March 10th by the fake news media "The
Alternative Press" or TAP, which only publishes good news
and rarely tells the truth, then you ought to be able to
see what is wrong here.
In case you missed the story
(which was intended by both the City and the School system who
have not mentioned it) you can read it at the source and see more photos of this embarrassing
event.
The bare facts are: The East Orange Educational Association
FAST Committee held an Annual "Keepers of the Dream"
awards dinner at Bella Italia Restaurant in Orange, February 21,
2018. This year’s honorees were the East Orange Public
Library, Dr. Kenneth King, the Family of Priscilla
“Penny” Burke and the Men of Essex organization. Each
was selected for a contribution toward educational excellence to
the students, faculty and families that attend and populate the
East Orange School District.
Let's examine
that educational "excellence" that you pay for and that
is being celebrated in the above photo.
School
Year 2012-13
Complete
Report: http://www.nj.gov/education/pr/1213/13/131210035.pdf
School
Year 2013-14
Complete
Report: http://www.nj.gov/education/pr/1314/13/131210035.pdf
School
Year 2014-15
Complete
Report: http://www.nj.gov/education/pr/1415/13/131210035.pdf
School
Year 2015-16
Complete
Report: 2015-16
Now the
State Report gets tricky- They change the format of reporting so
it is more difficult to compare results from year to year.
School
Year 2016-17
Complete
Report: 2016-17
Yet
another change of format so it is more difficult to compare
results from year to year.
Just as a "benchmark" I
went back to 2012 because recently elected Third Ward Councilman Bergson Leneus was appointed to the School Board in that year. He ran
on a campaign promise of "Increasing
overall academic achievement" even though all those years spent on the Board of
Education seemed to have accomplished nothing.
When the East
Orange Educational Association Half-FAST Committee was planning
their annual awards ceremony, you would think they would have
been able to find ONE person in East Orange who actually
deserved the award.
I propose that
unless and until every school in East Orange can
demonstrate REAL and GENUINE "educational excellence"
that these foolish self-serving awards givers stop calling
attention to the incompetence of every member of the
School Board, every Teacher and Administrator in the East Orange
School System, and every member of the East Orange Educational
Association.
Contact with corrections or additional information for this
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Death threats are automatically referred to the
F.B.I.