NBOE Board Meeting
1/25/22
Peace and blessings. I hope you all had a safe, blessed, and prosperous New Year.
2022 requires changes so NBOE students, families, faculty, and staff can progress and prosper.
The first of these changes are for the Board to embody its governing power with only one employee, the Superintendent, Chief Academic Officer. Responsibility comes with that power and you all need to govern appropriately. Poor governance will lead to Newark losing it under QSAC and NJDOE will appoint a superintendent. You all are responsible for the proper allocation of its resources. Appropriate support and resources are necessary for success. The amount of funding received for mental health services was squandered on services that do not address mental health. The consequences of that squander will be felt in the lives of students, families, faculty, and staff for years to come, SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL LEARNING is a tool and does not replace a mental health professional who can provide appropriate supports to the students, families, staff, and faculty. Some of those supports are treatment, education, referrals, and consultation in times of crisis. SEL DOES NOT DO THAT. Board you all signed off on that because you drank the kool-aid. It is a disservice someone would think that was appropriate to allocate funding to SEL instead of mental health services which is a sustainable solution. I am disgusted this happened and it perpetuates mental health stigma and shows the negligence of your fiduciary responsibility as a Board Also, it creates an impediment to learning and academic success. Again, which one of your friends or someone in your network received that contract? Inquiring minds want to know. The community fought hard to acquire full local control and FULL LOCAL CONTROL is necessary to maintain and sustain. You all need training. Your responsibility and accountability impact people’s lives. It is a matter of life and death. Hopefully, you all know the consequence of losing Governance and will make the necessary changes for governing NBOE.
Second is Josephine Garcia still needs to resign from the Board and be held accountable for her disrespectful remarks towards the community as she is elected to serve. Do not re-elect her.
The third is my main point, community schools. This model encompasses the school as the hub of the community. If the community had input about the allocation of those funds received for mental health services, the propaganda would not have won for SEL services and actual mental health professionals would be in the school providing the necessary supports to students, family, staff, and faculty. One of those supports is helping people be respectful to others starting with executive leadership. There are behavioral health treatment providers here in Newark. There needs to be a Social Worker with a social work degree supervising School Social Workers, which needs to change immediately. Again, I’m disgusted with whoever squandered that money. NBOE disregards the voice of the community because the school is no longer the hub especially under the neoliberalism auspices of “choice” The current One Newark Enrollment plan needs to be immediately dismantled. Families being required to choose 8 schools is not a “real choice”. As a community, we must reject the neoliberalism notion of choice because it is destabilizing our communities.
The Board needs to have more transparency and include the community in making decisions that impact the lives of NBOE students, families, staff, and faculty. Collaborate with parents and invested community members for the success and safety of NBOE schools. It is a matter of life and death.
Practice social distancing, wear a mask, wash your hands for 20 seconds, get vaccinated, get boosted. The remaining 2022 board meetings need to be virtual as a matter of safety.
Peace and Blessings
sistateacher 