I read your editor letters fairly regularly with a varying degree of interest.There are days that I read them, and merely shake my head in wonderment; with others however, I find the content so preposterous that I must in good conscience reply. I find the topic of late to be one of those subjects, and the last letter from Mr. William Connolly, has finally pressed me into dialogue about his subject matter.
The topic of the Paterson Board of Education rears its ugly head precisely around election time. Where, however, are those so called very concerned citizens when a school board election is not around the corner? Mr. Connolly talked about being a product of Eastside High School and a life long resident. To those two statements, I relate to as, I am too. After those two statements though, we go down a very different path. He may be a nice person whose heart is in the right place, but he's running for office and I am not, never would. I say that simply because as a politician, one must say what you think your constituency wants to hear. Perhaps though, those words are no where near the truth.
The Board of Education has been a political stepping stone for as far back as I can remember. It's a place to make a name for oneself, with enough visibility that perhaps your name and face becomes recognizable on the street, but in reality, with state control in place for such an extended period of time, to delude yourself into thinking that a board member really makes a difference, is utter nonsense. Perhaps to a few families who know you because of reaching out to them, you may make some small difference in a child's life. Unfortunately though, we're not talking about?a?child, we're talking about the vast multitudes of kids who are not being reached out to, to give them a chance. For some kids, the schools here seem to do their job. However, through my work in this community for over four decades, I've seen the situation with the schools through a different lens as I truly do pro bono publico work; not because it's a stepping stone for me, but because I love my work, and the teenagers with whom I work. For these kids, the school system has been a dismal failure, thus making them into failures too. Granted it's not the schools alone that have failed, it's a multitude of issues beginning with families who are broken too. It would be so easy to place blame solely at the doorstep of 90 Delaware, but in all fairness it doesn't begin and end there. However, as some of us know, the fish does rot from the head down, and if the leader is not on track, no one else will be either.
Mr. Connolly asked, "Where is the commitment to our children"? That commitment died long ago in the early 70's when a different administration was in, and the Board was in local control. That was a far different time with a different culture, and Paterson was a much more unified community, as Mr. Connolly and those of us who are natives, know. I believe Mr. Connolly and other current Board members who write to this on line site truly believe that parents read it. However, although I may be wrong, I believe those of us who read here are those who are involved in the community in various ways. That being said, citizens who run for office, whether as Board commissioners, or other elected offices are talking not to the masses, but rather to each other. Perhaps this is part of the problem. Maybe you need, instead of writing, to go out into the heart of the community to talk to the citizens to find out what their needs and concerns are, especially if you want to be their voice for their children.
It's not alone the Paterson Board of Education that is a failure, it is a national one, and if we as a society can't fix it, how can we possibly expect it to be better here? We can't. I appreciate the hundreds of hours the commissioners give of their time and effort to the Board, but in reality they have no real power, and in order to institute change, that's what they must have. As long as this is a state run school system, the decision making power as to education, school buildings, personnel changes still rest not with the commissioners, but rather the administration. We have had way too many years of seeing how that is working out! When kids "graduate" from high school not knowing how to read on level, or know how to write a sentence correctly, or know how to think analytically, there must be an understanding as to the why of it. This is at the very core of the issue. That is what our concerns need to be as they are the burning issues of a school system gone bad. The fact that the school board has been, and continues to be, a stepping stone is merely an aside.?
Jackie Ross
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