Public School Update

IMPORTANT UNSOLVED MYSTERY: How Many Englewood Students Do We Really Have?

A Suburbanite article recently stated our public school has 2,600 students. Although we pay to educate these students with our tax dollars, a reader could assume that this is the number of Englewood students who occupy seats within the school district. They would be wrong.

One-hundred forty-five of these students are in the charter school, which is not located in the district. Another one hundred twenty-five students are in the full day pre-K, which is also outside the district. Then there about 100 students in the Academies, which is located in a separate building in the 40 acre campus of Dwight Morrow High School.

The district is composed of Lincoln, Quarles, Cleveland, Dismus Middle School and Dwight Morrow High School. The total population in those schools, i.e. the number of seats occupied in the district, is around 2,230 students. But we believe some of these students are not Englewood residents, although we pay to educate them.

Before voting on a referendum to expand the school, homeowners should know how many seats in the district are occupied by genuine students who are residents of the city.

Recently a group of well meaning Englewood residents was hired to do a re-registration search of our school population. These residents were paid around $5.75 per hour. About $15,000 was spent on this project. Unfortunately none of them were licensed to certify their findings. There was not a CPA nor an auditor nor private detective among them. This group found approximately 18 students who are not residents of Englewood. Fifty-seven student files are lost and 256 files have insufficient information to prove residency. But to our knowledge the Superintendent and the Board have not done anything about it to date.

In 1994 the Board of Ed. passed a resolution demanding clear and complete information from students registering in the schools. In 1999 to 2000, the year the EHOA lobbied for a CPA or auditor to continue the re-registration that began the year before by the former Superintendent Dr. Baynes. And 913 student files were reviewed by three high school students whose findings unfortunately were more than doubtful. (Nine students were found as non-residents of Englewood, but they were allowed to stay in our schools.)

The politically appointed board under the direction of Dr. Baynes abolished the 1994 resolution, and implemented a new one stating that only reasonable proof of residency was necessary for the enrollment of students in the public schools. Because of this resolution it is no longer necessary to present proof of child dependency through IRS tax returns. This policy should be changed.

When the auditor was finally hired, some three hundred students did not return to the school. But maybe they returned after the auditor was finished with his work. The auditor found one special education student whose out of district tuition cost was about $42,000 per annum. Although the student was not a resident of Englewood, the student’s tuition was paid with our tax dollars for several years. The re-registration project by the auditor cost $30,000, but just by eliminating the cost of this particular student, it paid for the whole project. In the special education category only a small sample of 100 students was certified by the auditor. Maybe there are more?

The auditor found six hundred student files with incomplete proof of residency. But the appointed board allowed the vast majority of these students to remain in the schools. Existing board policy does not require caregivers to provide new address documentation once they are enrolled in the district. Also this resolution should be changed.

Former Superintendent Dr. Baynes and the appointed Board hired one of the most expensive architectural firms in the State of New Jersey, the Hillier Group who presented construction plans at the cost of $92 million. At that time the board was appointed and not elected and we had no say. But that has changed: now the voters can vote to approve or reject proposed building plans.

Once more we request Dr. Greico and the members of the Board to take the re-registration seriously and to pass a resolution abolishing the one passed in 1999-2000. Creating a new resolution demanding clear and complete information, proof of child dependency through IRS tax returns for students who are enrolled or enrolling in our schools without the proper documentation, especially under the category of affidavit host. Without this resolution, and its implementation, we will never know if homeowners’ funds are being misused to educate students who do not live here.

The Board and Dr. Greico must focus on the category of affidavit hosts. Hundreds of students fall into this category. What is an affidavit host? It’s an adult going to a public notary with an form letter stating “I Mrs. X takes care of John, Maria, and Jane, and I live at such address.”

There are many times when the last name of the student is different from the adult applicant and they are not court appointed guardians or foster parents. This simple document proclaims an affidavit host. But what if they are not really their dependents? Only through tax returns, can it be known. Maybe the address given is not where they live. Only by hiring a private detective or retired policeman to do house checks, can it be known.

In our opinion, the Superintendent and the elected board should focus on the fact they could be violating the educational rights of rightful Englewood resident students by allowing the enrollment of outsiders which takes away from our students the right to a thorough and efficient education. Outsiders take away teachers time and classroom space.

For years, this issue has not been seriously taken by past superintendents and the Board of Ed. The result is clear: – disheartening test scores. And tragically the majority of our students are not being properly educated. This is no longer bearable for the voters.

The cost of public education is high and our local population is changing too fast for us to continue doing nothing about this problem. Many couples with children are leaving the city. And about 57% of school age children are going to private or parochial schools – others are in college or working and living in other cities as our population of seniors is increasing at a fast pace.

The Board of Education should hire a private detective or a retired policeman to do house checks to see if students and the affidavit host are residents. Montclair has such a person and so does Teaneck, Fairlawn, Fort Lee, Palisades Park and many other districts throughout the State. And it works!

How in good conscience can voters support a referendum for construction that will cost homeowners and taxpayers anywhere from $24 to $27 million if we don’t know how many genuine students we truly have?

A strong board policy about residency is one of the best ways to reduce the high mobility rate which destroy the test scores of our good students. What is mobility rate? It is the amount of students that leave the district during the year and the amount of students that come back late in the school year. In the schools the mobility rate has been as high as 33% of the student. No one can run a successful district with this kind of revolving door.

ARE MORE SEATS REALLY NEEDED?

The schools buildings may be old, but not overcrowded.

At the planning board we heard the testimony of Katherine Gregory who is a planner. She met with Dr. Segall who is in charge of registration of students in our schools. Her testimony offered the following information: On average there are fifteen students per class in our three elementary schools, 20 to 25 students per class in Dismus Middle School and approximately 562 students in Dwight Morrow High School, which has a capacity for 1,500 students.

Dozens of first, second and third graders have left the school system this year and are enrolled in St. Cecilia’s, St. Joseph, Mt. Carmel, St. John (Leonia) and St. John (Bergenfield). Middle and high school students have enrolled in private or parochial schools as well.

The Superintendent obtained the consensus of the Board to spend $2 million more on a new pre-K building on the Quarles school. The cost of having the pre-K will add thousands of dollars to the school budget. The district will have to hire certified union teachers for 3 and 4 year old students at a very high cost. Is it really necessary for these very young students to have certified teachers? Is the full day pre-K simply a free daycare program provided at homeowners’ and taxpayers’ expense?

The majority of school districts in Bergen County dedicate their efforts to thoroughly educate students from kindergarten and up. Teaneck for example only provides a half-day program for 3 and 4 year olds. The law mandates only half a day for pre-K. But in Taxwood, former Superintendent Baynes and the appointed Board of Ed. implemented a full-day pre-K. Open to every three and four year old student in the city. Before there was a full-day pre-K on a lottery basis. Only fifty students attended.

Maybe the Board of Ed. will change their minds and leave the pre-K out of the building plans.

THE BILL

The cost of Dr. Greico’s team to the homeowners and taxpayers is $828,390. The team is composed of a total of sixteen people and only two are teachers.

The school has about 453 employees, and the majority are tenured.

Will the test scores go up? With costs escalating to the heights of Mount Everest, we certainly hope so. We expect test scores to be in 100% percentile in English and Math, just like the fourth graders who attend the charter school attained in their new test scores. The charter school students are all minorities, and in the free-lunch program. There is no excuse for the district to continue failing. Once again we ask the superintendent and the elected board to concentrate on education.

Most public school districts are cutting costs, but not here in Taxwood.

To the Superintendent we say: Please remember that our city does not have 100,000 homeowners and taxpayers. We have about 5,600 single family homes citywide (source: the tax assessor’s office) and around 1,500 are located in the East Hill (source: our Chief Financial Officer). Office buildings and many commercial properties have not been reassessed since 1994. It is an outrage! (Office buildings are taxed according to their net profit which, unfortunately no one thoroughly checks.)

The legislation that implemented the school of choice will end by 2005. This legislation provides about $1,000,000 to the Academies. By 2005 there will be 400 students in the Academies. Who is going to pay the bill?

We the homeowners cannot afford it!

The cost of educating each student in the Academies was estimated by the superintendent to go down to $15,000 per student by 2005. Now it is much higher. It is about $25,000 per student. And last year, when the Academies opened, it was about $27,000 per student

In 2005 the contract of Dr. Grieco and his team ends. Will the state continue to give $3 million for the Academies? Where will the 400 students in the Academies have their classes? Will the King Hall building located at the Dwight Morrow 40 acres high school campus be enlarged? Or will the Academies move to the Dwight Morrow building that has a capacity for 1500 students? Or will the Academies disappear?

Also the state passed legislation this last June where our school district has to come up with matching funds in order to get state aid. This year our councilman gave from our city tax dollars $2,500,000 hopefully to cover matching funds for two years. Will they continue doing so every year? Or the matching funds may have to come from the school budget. In reality it doesn’t matter. It’s all our tax money.

The truth is if we have superb test scores our home values will go up. But if they don’t, is putting more and more money the solution?

Money is not the issue, the real issue is the proper allocation of funds.

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