"The School Is On Fire"
A parent’s frustration with violence in the schools boiled over Wednesday (May 24, 2006) after a panel spent about two hours fielding questions on school issues.
Darryl Clark, the father of a girl who was assaulted at school by another second-grader, brandished a flier for the meeting that said, “The School is on Fire - Save the Children.”
“I have heard a significant amount of lip service,” Clark said. “Why wasn’t this put in every backpack?“
Clark said he only heard about the meeting the day before and personally carried it around and sent it to about 60 people.
Only about 30 people showed up at the Plainfield Public Library for the meeting.
Clark told the panel not to use words like “should,” “would,” “could,” “need to,” “have to,“ but to state specific actions to take. Others called the meeting “preaching to the choir” and regretted the lack of interest.
Several speakers said the next step should be a Town Meeting for the whole community.
Moderator Henry Rawls said he and his partner Clark Everson of The Nubian Cultural Center organized the meeting. The panel included Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, school board members Lisa Logan-Leach and Patricia Barksdale, New Covenant Christian Academy founder Stephanie DeGeneste and Adrian Council, publisher of The Positive Community magazine.
Robinson-Briggs highlighted youth activity including the April Month of the Young Child parade of pre-schoolers and youth involvement in an Arbor Day event. Logan-Leach talked about her efforts to help retain an auto shop program at the high school that was in jeopardy because of failure to meet OSHA requirements. She said it would take $400,000 to bring the program up to speed, but that car dealerships in the region might help out.
Both Robinson-Briggs and Logan-Leach had to leave early and Council arrived late, but all preached unity in addressing the problem of getting the community to uphold a common standard of decorum.
“A cultural crisis is looming in the community,” Council said, citing 17 murders of teenagers in Newark this year.
Council deplored radio and television stations that spew negative images of the black community while lowering societal standards in general.
But others said a problem is parents who will come to schools ready to fight teachers or principals who have labeled their children as problems.
The district recently began a truancy reduction program and Barksdale called for all adults to contact authorities when they see a child out of school during school hours. An alternative school has been established as well for students who are disruptive.
Some parents at the meeting called for more support for students who want to learn and succeed, with less focus on the percentage who cause trouble in class.
Although the meeting was described on a radio program Tuesday as being about how to bring a Christian influence to public education, most speakers Wednesday were careful to speak of the positive influences of all faiths.
Council, who said his magazine emphasizes a “faith-based lifestyle,“ said, “If I were to establish a curriculum, you know what I would do. We have to be able to love and embrace and know who God is.“
Council called for “freedom schools” to be held after school at churches.
DeGeneste held up two books, “Overcoming the Odds” and “Beating the Odds,“ which were based on studies that found high-achieving scholars from varies backgrounds succeeded because of their faith.
“If we don’t get back to a higher cause, we will continue to lose children,“ she said.
But some parents said they had decided to remove their children from the public schools because of violence and other problems. Rev. Michael Carr said when it came time for his oldest daughter to enter middle school, “The fear factor took place,“ and he enrolled her in a private school in Newark.
Carr said he was disappointed that the room was not full Wednesday and said speakers were “preaching to the choir.“ He said parents must get involved with their kids, but some are overwhelmed.
“Faith is the key. If you take Christ, which is the center, out of it, you will live with the results.“
Besides school violence and other internal problems, the district may soon face pressure from the outside in the form of reduced Abbott funding, Barksdale said.
Plainfield is among about 30 poor districts that receive the bulk of their school funding from the state. The local tax levy for schools has remained at about $18 million for many years, with about 80 percent of funding coming from state and federal revenues.
Barksdale warned that if character-building programs in the schools are cut, problems will increase. She urged parents to come to school board meetings and get involved in fighting funding reductions.
“When you don’t have hope, please grab on to a little bit of faith,” she said.
--Bernice Paglia
Darryl Clark, the father of a girl who was assaulted at school by another second-grader, brandished a flier for the meeting that said, “The School is on Fire - Save the Children.”
“I have heard a significant amount of lip service,” Clark said. “Why wasn’t this put in every backpack?“
Clark said he only heard about the meeting the day before and personally carried it around and sent it to about 60 people.
Only about 30 people showed up at the Plainfield Public Library for the meeting.
Clark told the panel not to use words like “should,” “would,” “could,” “need to,” “have to,“ but to state specific actions to take. Others called the meeting “preaching to the choir” and regretted the lack of interest.
Several speakers said the next step should be a Town Meeting for the whole community.
Moderator Henry Rawls said he and his partner Clark Everson of The Nubian Cultural Center organized the meeting. The panel included Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, school board members Lisa Logan-Leach and Patricia Barksdale, New Covenant Christian Academy founder Stephanie DeGeneste and Adrian Council, publisher of The Positive Community magazine.
Robinson-Briggs highlighted youth activity including the April Month of the Young Child parade of pre-schoolers and youth involvement in an Arbor Day event. Logan-Leach talked about her efforts to help retain an auto shop program at the high school that was in jeopardy because of failure to meet OSHA requirements. She said it would take $400,000 to bring the program up to speed, but that car dealerships in the region might help out.
Both Robinson-Briggs and Logan-Leach had to leave early and Council arrived late, but all preached unity in addressing the problem of getting the community to uphold a common standard of decorum.
“A cultural crisis is looming in the community,” Council said, citing 17 murders of teenagers in Newark this year.
Council deplored radio and television stations that spew negative images of the black community while lowering societal standards in general.
But others said a problem is parents who will come to schools ready to fight teachers or principals who have labeled their children as problems.
The district recently began a truancy reduction program and Barksdale called for all adults to contact authorities when they see a child out of school during school hours. An alternative school has been established as well for students who are disruptive.
Some parents at the meeting called for more support for students who want to learn and succeed, with less focus on the percentage who cause trouble in class.
Although the meeting was described on a radio program Tuesday as being about how to bring a Christian influence to public education, most speakers Wednesday were careful to speak of the positive influences of all faiths.
Council, who said his magazine emphasizes a “faith-based lifestyle,“ said, “If I were to establish a curriculum, you know what I would do. We have to be able to love and embrace and know who God is.“
Council called for “freedom schools” to be held after school at churches.
DeGeneste held up two books, “Overcoming the Odds” and “Beating the Odds,“ which were based on studies that found high-achieving scholars from varies backgrounds succeeded because of their faith.
“If we don’t get back to a higher cause, we will continue to lose children,“ she said.
But some parents said they had decided to remove their children from the public schools because of violence and other problems. Rev. Michael Carr said when it came time for his oldest daughter to enter middle school, “The fear factor took place,“ and he enrolled her in a private school in Newark.
Carr said he was disappointed that the room was not full Wednesday and said speakers were “preaching to the choir.“ He said parents must get involved with their kids, but some are overwhelmed.
“Faith is the key. If you take Christ, which is the center, out of it, you will live with the results.“
Besides school violence and other internal problems, the district may soon face pressure from the outside in the form of reduced Abbott funding, Barksdale said.
Plainfield is among about 30 poor districts that receive the bulk of their school funding from the state. The local tax levy for schools has remained at about $18 million for many years, with about 80 percent of funding coming from state and federal revenues.
Barksdale warned that if character-building programs in the schools are cut, problems will increase. She urged parents to come to school board meetings and get involved in fighting funding reductions.
“When you don’t have hope, please grab on to a little bit of faith,” she said.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 7:36 AM
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