Montclair School Budget: Scary Consequences

Remsen is no Obama supporter:

"I'm hearing things I haven't heard in a long time...a push for change...and that scares me," Remsen said.

I love that a push for change actually scares Remsen.

This dude is just now detecting the sentiment??????What was his first clue. Maybe it's the boo's and hisses he and his cronies get during the July 4 parade. Maybe it's the endless postings here and on watercooler and elsewhere. Maybe, just maybe....the guy has two brain cells not fighting with each other......Nahhhhhh.

I am delighted he is telling the Board of Ed. to cut the budget. The whole town council...and the whole town...should be doing the same.

If you care on the budget issue, mark your calendar for the March 17th meeting.

Does anyone know where to get a copy of the budget?

Is Remsen related to Bush?

(I thought Bush cut taxes. And the Dems want to raise 'em back up....)

He's more like Corzine than Bush.

Rubber Chicken,
Cary Africk posted it on the Watercooler in PDF, as the BOE was too inept (or just didnt want) to do it themselves.

I don't know how close the vote was the last time Montclair residents considered an elected school board. But I suspect it would stand a damn good chance if it were voted on today. It is important to remember that we have Remsen and Russo to thank for the current board. They appointed these people. I have had dealings with the board and Alvarez. They possess the unfortunate combination of arrogance and incompetence. They fail to realize we have reached the tipping point. Do I hear the theme from Exodus?

"Remsen said he has detected a reemerging sentiment among township residents to replace the current Board of Education that is appointed by the mayor with a board that is elected by the public."

'Bout time. Also, good move scheduling a meeting on St. Paddy's Night.

They could do it on Nantucket in August...

They should get rid of football. Only morons care about football. That would probably save a lot of money.

The late JMO was a big supporter of an elected School Board -- does anyone know what it takes for the citizens of Montclair to get a referendum going addressing such an issue?
Is there enough time for it to be placed on the May ballot?

Or does the council -- current or future -- have the power to make it an elected board?

Hey! Football builds character!!

Doesn't it..?

No question the BOE is out of control and out of touch with reality. However, be careful what you wish for. Consider the possibility that we, the people, would only be about as competent electing a school board as we have been at electing the Township Counsel and county Freeholders. Also, consider that after they were elected, this BOE would also be beholden to campaign contributors - people with interests in commercial contracts and jobs - and to whatever voting special interest groups supported them - which could be families with children, or others. Communities with elected boards of ed are not known to have high or broad voter participation or turnout for those elections. That type of scenario is usually the perfect environment for political and commercial opportunists.

Take a hard look at Newark before and after changing to an elected school board. For the almost 40 years since the change, the only people who have NOT gotten anything of value from educational system have been the children. (And it was people who looked and spoke like them who were exploiting them.) Believe me, the people screaming when the state took over Newark BOE were NOT students and their parents.

Why not just make education policy a more central part of the Montclair council election debates? Why not insist on a forum or commission to examine the Bd of School Estimate or other processes that are supposed to represent taxpayers' stake in BOE finances?

Since education and its costs are central to Montclair's economic vitality and quality of life, shouldn't we be asking council candidates the hard questions about their qualifications, knowledge, ideas and proposals on public education and property taxes? The "tradition" that councils and BOE's exist in separate parallel universes is outdated in the Alvarez-Scales type education regimes.

If not an elected board, the taxpayers should certainly be able to vote on all BOE capital expenditures and on the overall budget.
I guarantee if this happened, we wouldnt be talking about the million dollar baseball field moved 17 ft nor the "donated" fieldhouse that has cost the taxpayer $2 million and counting.

Listen to jimmy229 ya'll...good point!

One more thing - Switch to an elected BOE and the teachers' union will own Montclair like it owns Newark. Don't misunderstand. Teachers unions have many honest, hard working, highly capable educators, who sacrifice everyday for their students, mixed in with the people who actually run it.

Shit. Now I gotta join the Witness Protection program.

Oh Jimmy? The million dollar move the home plate 17 feet deal? Last Friday I was told the drainage was done wrong and on at least one occasion the field couldn't be used.

Moe, Larry, and Curly at it again!

Nana,

I know of at least one campaign that would love to have YOU running with them! C'mon! You've SOOOOOOOO much to contribute! I even know some people who will go out and help you get nominating petitions signed, in time for the March 20th deadline!

Curm

Curm,
Youll love this one. The football practice field on Essex behind the bleachers that hasnt seen one student walk on it yet?
The sand layer (that replaced the "contaminated soil" wasnt laid right and is draining out from underneath the soil cap and spilling onto Essex Ave. When someone walks on it, it is questionable whether it will collapse with no underlayer. If you dont believe me, drive down Essex toward Champlain and look to the left about a hundred feet from the construction site for yourself. Youll see the eroded sand spilling into the street.
Moe Larry and Curly couldnt have done a funnier job.

The football field hasn't been walked on because state rules governing such things prohibit the players from practice thus stopping schools from turning into football factories. And I don't think they should get rid of football. Let's just get rid of the morons who are not spending the money given to fund the teams. They are the ones making the mistakes. Not the players.

Amen Nana, Aaaaaamen!

It's who who have opn the board, not how they got there.

The BOE is appointed by the mayor. Two thirds of the BOSE is made up of council members One is the mayor, I'm not sure if the other two are appointed by the mayor or by the council as a whole. One would think that there would be co-ordination between the two bodies. Instead the council sat mute whent the manager decided to abolish the Joint Capital Finance Committee, whose job it was to oversee and co-ordinate captital items among the town, the library and the BOE. After all, both the town and the BOE build and maintain (among other things) athletic fields and buildings, and use each others facilities. Remeber the "School with a Pool". The BOE wanted to put a community center inside of the new school, but I never heard anything from PRCA about how it would be used and administered, or if it was even needed or not.

We need to elect a mayor and council that will appoint members to the school board who will work with the town government to co-ordinate and consolidate services and work with the JCFC to co-ordinate large capital projects (and to tell the manager that if he doesn't like it then he can find a job in a town that does't have one).

"The football field hasn't been walked on because state rules governing such things prohibit the players from practice thus stopping schools from turning into football factories."

No, it hasnt had anyone walk on them because it was finished after football season ended, but I agree with the rest of what you said.

Well, actually you said what I meant to say but didn't. The team is not allowed to practice in the spring and the summer. They can go to the weight room etc. The field was finished after the season. A season where many folks couldn't watch the championship-team because lights - even one day a week - is considered to be anti-community. Noise disturbances, cars parking, people gathering together....That's for dog parks, littering Watchung Plaza etc., and, it would seem, our money on the BOE's senseless expenditures.

I couldn't agree with you more. Forcing lights into people's windows is anti-community. The team does have practice lights and they do practice after dark with those lights. The Woodman neighborhood shouldn't have to put up with night games as well. They put up with it all day every weekend and most evenings until 9pm. What do you put up with?
Cut your whining about the lights. This isn't Texas and Woodman isn't a stadium. Football attendance has been dropping every year like a stone, even this past winning season. If you havent noticed, the lacrosse team is bigger and twice as popular.
Stop acting like a petulant child. The Woodman area has been carrying the town's water for years.

What are we bitching about here? We need to focus on getting these little bas*&%$# up to speed with cities like Verona! I think we need to appoint someone from our neighboring community to give us a little instruction on how to bring value to the hood!

Better yet, have Verona run the schools and pay them because obviously we suck at it!

I still don't understand why anyone who is interested in their child's education sends their little darlings to a public school in Montclair!

Out with the board, out with the Mayor, let's Outsource!!!

Youre right LL. This BOE wierdness has gone on too long. Time for a change.

Attendance to games have been dropping because they are held at times when people work! The practice lights are insufficient. I bet you live near Woodman and not near any of the places listed where even worse noise and auto pollution exists. The Bored of Education etc. could have saved a bunch of money by just renting MSU or some other stadium with lights and parking so the townspeople could use resources and enjoy a game. O well. I bet the water that comes.....Oh never mind.

"The BOE is appointed by the mayor. Two thirds of the BOSE is made up of council members One is the mayor, I'm not sure if the other two are appointed by the mayor or by the council as a whole. "

It's all the mayor. Himself, his two appointees from the council (only his decision) and even the two BOE members who either he appointed to the BOE, or Russo did before him.

Making the BOE an elected office and have public votes on major budget items can only bring more accountability. The current arrangement reeks of back room dealings and wheelings and brings us such glorious achievements like an initial 56 mil elementary school proposal.

"Remember the "School with a Pool".

Thanks Bitpusher, for reminding us to ask mayoral and council candidates about whether they advocated for those capital additions to a school that would be two blocks away from a brand new multi-million dollar non-profit with similar facilities. Whomever asks should make sure you know the answer first, just in case the candidates can't remember.

Hey Nana,

If you'd run against sandee lang. I'd vote for you and so would many others. You have 10 days to get your petitions in.

Please do it!

Nana,

You have very good ideas. But, please, rather than pitch ideas, and hints, and things for us to guess at, please consider becoming part of the process! Go over to the Watercooler where people have real names. Find someone who is running for office or who can make things happen. Talk to them.

In the meantime, please, please tell us WHAT brand new multi million dollar non profit with a pool exists close to the new shcool? The YW on Glen Ridge?

Also, what do YOU think should be done about the new school? Should the $35, or $45 or whatever millions be used for other purposes?

I think that Nana IS on the Watercooler. Aren't you Nana?