HUDSON REPORTER - Will our schools ever get better?

Reporter Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com
ŠThe Hudson Reporter 2007

Downtown parents' group wants to know what happens after state relinquishes control

WANTS ANSWERS ­ Downtown Jersey City resident Shelley Skinner, the
founder of JC Families for Better Schools (JCFBS), wrote a letter to the
state recently about the future of the Jersey City school system.
Downtown Jersey City resident Shelley Skinner and her civic group want
Jersey City's public schools to improve so they can enroll their kids.

Skinner is the founder of JC Families for Better Schools (JCFBS), which was
formed in April to pursue the goal of improving the Jersey City school
system. The group has about 150 members.

Skinner is married with a 4-year-old daughter and a 7-month-old son.

In a May 17 letter to state officials, which she titled "Demand Reform of
Jersey City Schools," Skinner noted that test scores "remain some of the
lowest in the state and only three Jersey City schools have been rated as
'highly successful schools' as definied by state standards."

She asked what will happen when Jersey City's schools return to local
control, and recommended that current Superintendent of Schools Charles Epps
only be given a one-year contract with a requirement of annual progress
reports next year, rather than a three-year contract. The city schools were
taken over by the state in 1989.

The district has six high schools, including one for academically talented
students.

Skinner said the letter was e-mailed to the state's Education Commissioner
Lucille Davy and Deputy Commissioner Gordon MacInnes, Jersey City Mayor
Jerramiah Healy, and members of Jersey City's City Council.

So far, she said, City Councilman Steven Fulop reached out to her, and last
week, the Mayor's Office reached out to her and scheduled a meeting for this
week with her, Healy, and his staff.

"This is not a 'shame on you' exercise," Skinner said. "We need to get a
good sense of how our schools will be like under local control. I don't see
this as an unreasonable request as a parent and as a taxpayer."

Any responses?

A spokesperson for the state's Department of Education said recently that
Davy had no comment on Skinner's letter and that her office is currently
reviewing it.

Skinner said she received a phone call from the office of James McBee,
director of Abbott ("special needs" district) services for the Department of
Education, who offered to meet with her on Davy's behalf.

"I sent a very nice letter to his office saying, 'I respectfully decline,' "
Skinner said. "My feeling was that any decisions on Dr. Epps' contract stops
with Lucille Davy."

Dr. Epps, when reached on Thursday as he was leaving from the Board of
Education meeting, said he had "no comment" on the letter and that he had
not seen it.

Fulop explained why he responded to Skinner's letter, and said that he also
sent a letter to Davy's office on behalf of Skinner and her group.

"I have been involved with the group since they formed and communicating
with them since on a variety of educational issues," Fulop said. "I feel
this parents' group has a thoughtful approach and they just want answers."

Fulop continued, "I agree with them that if the city is ever is going to
move forward, it has to start dealing with a school system in which 27 of 33
schools are failing to meet state standards. And what happens when the
schools go back into local control?"

Major concerns

Skinner started JCFBS with several like-minded parents who are concerned
about the state of Jersey City schools but want to stay in the city instead
of moving to an area with a better school system.

"Since we formed the group, we have made it our business to be as informed
as possible about how the schools are run in this city," Skinner said.

The group members communicate with each other via the Internet at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jcschools/#ans on a variety of topics.

Skinner discovered in her research on the public schools that a state audit
of the city's school system done earlier this year found millions of dollars
wasted on salaries and outdated services.

Skinner said the money should have been used to improve a failing school
system.

"The audit that was done, and what was discovered, was shocking to me as a
parent and a taxpayer," she said. "You have to wonder why state control and
state funding has not equaled academic excellence even though we have a $635
million budget."

Skinner and members of her group also discovered that since 2000, when Epps
came into office, the amount of superintendents serving directly under him
increased from nine to 35, and the average annual salary of the school
administrators was $111,000.

Skinner took pains to say that her questions on Epps' contract were not a
"personal attack" but a demand for accountability and new leadership.

Epps has been criticized in the past for running for office while serving in
his position, and for making an expensive business trip to London on the
taxpayers' dime.

"We need an independent-minded reformer with a strong educational
background, someone who isn't an Epps underling, who isn't tied to the
teachers' union," Skinner said.

Skinner said that ultimately, her group would like to see a public meeting
of officials and residents by the end of the year to discuss the future of
the school system.

Addressing the board

Skinner spoke about the challenges the public schools face at the Jersey
City Board of Education's monthly meeting at Public School 11 Thursday
night.

She recounted a conversation with an unnamed elected official about the
possibility of the school system going back to local control. She said the
official told her, "It's just like Vietnam; nobody knows what's going to
happen."

Then Skinner asked the school board, "What is the vision for the next few
years of this district?"

She mentioned the influx of new families moving into the city and possible
changes in the schools' state funding.

Board Chairman William DeRosa responded, "[The school board] asks those
questions every day, and we are waiting for answers."

DeRosa also said that the Jersey City school district is going through a
monitoring process known as Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC).
This involves the state investigating the school district for signs of
progress in five areas: instruction and program, personnel, operations
management, school governance, and fiscal management.

If the QSAC officers determine that adequate progress has been made in any
of these areas, the state can return control of them to local officials.

DeRosa said a team of QSAC monitors visited the district earlier this year
and the board is still awaiting the QSAC report.

New board member and former Jersey City Mayor Gerald McCann told Skinner
that a task force was set up in 2000 to explore returning schools to local
control, but that most elected officials "do not want local control."

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