West Orange BOE Pens Letter To School Community About ‘Needs’

WEST ORANGE, NJ — Editor's Note: The following letter was sent from the West Orange Board of Education to local parents, teachers and the West Orange community on March 19. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here.

On behalf of the Board of Education, we want to thank you for speaking out at our Board Meetings. Our Board hears you very clearly, as you have expressed the need for:

• Improved communications, empathy and tonality
• Accountability and follow-up on improving Special Services
• Addressing our teachers’ concerns about support, respect and a desire to be heard on issues including:
• The need for a new elementary school reading program
• Securing greater input from the teachers on the front lines, and more advanced planning when implementing new programs or initiatives
• Recognition of time allocation and priorities that impact instruction time and lesson planning
• Avoiding over-testing that stresses teachers, students and parents
• Approaches, as requested by parents and teachers, to “heal” our school community.

Leaders and members of WOSEPAC, WOCAS, Essex Rising and the COPTA have emailed us or called to offer support, and to ask about our plan for the process of healing, and our approach to school-community partnership, in order to advance student achievement.

To begin the process of healing and strengthening our partnership with you, we are implementing the following Board initiatives:

• Expansion of the PR Committee to become a PR/Community Relations Committee, chaired by our Vice-President Mark Robertson and Board Member Ken Alper, whereby we are inviting parent/community organizations to the table to work with us on solutions
• Regular Special Services Progress Reports at Board Meetings and WOSEPAC meetings
• Follow-through on previously proposed Board initiatives to ensure parent, teacher and community input, including but not limited to:
• Town Hall Meetings with breakout groups for various high interest topics, and more public forums and listening sessions where your voice can be heard and your ideas put into action
• Climate Surveys for Parents and Teachers with safeguards for confidentiality and curtailing duplication
• Adding a Student Representative to the Board of Education
• New Board Committees, including a Safety & Security Committee (and possibly Finance and Curriculum)
• Diversity Training by a certified company and a Diversity Recruitment Job Fair (2019).

Thank you for your patience and partnership throughout the process. We welcome your partnership, and we will be reaching out to you.

Sincerely,

Ron Charles, President

Mark Robertson, Vice President

Ken Alper, Board Member

Sandra Mordecai, Board Member

Irv Schwarzbaum, Board Member

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