Destination Englewood? Did only Certain People Get The Memo?

Destination Englewood? This letter was emailed to the 4th Ward Gazette by a very dissatisfied resident who recently moved her family to Englewood.


October 8, 2014


Good day:

I am writing in regard to a recent insulting experience as a patron of Selena's Perfect Nails on Palisades Ave, Englewood, NJ.

Having been serviced here in the past, I was quite surprised by such dismay from the owner. The same owner that shared a compliment with me in regard to my daughter; that has also frequented this establishment for years. She expressed that my teenage daughter is always very courteous and pleasant.

Today, I entered for a mani/pedi to a rather empty salon and she tells me it will be an hour wait.

I reply "ok" and continued to select my polish.. Another woman walks in 10 minutes later and she asked her politely to sign in.  She said the young lady will be right with her?

Am I chop liver? I politely ask her "Why am I told an hour and the other walk-in gets serviced immediately?"
She tells me that no one wants to do my nails at her Salon? Yet, the workers all greeted me with friendly hello's and smiles?

I ask her if she no longer wants my business and she proceeds to tell me NO!!!
She doesn't need my money? The nerve! After I have patronized this business with my daughter and myself for years?

I said as you wish and proceeded out the door!
I am disgusted by business owners that don't respect or value my money in Englewood.

Residents and taxpayers should be treated with dignity and respect.
Without us, there is no you!

Englewood, you have got to do better!

Sincerely,
Disgusted Taxpayer

Selena's Perfect Nails
97 W Palisade Ave, Englewood, NJ 07631
(201) 227-7100

Unadorned Facts And Statistics...

"...This is not a 1 Year Phenomena....." 

Michael Roth, Interim Superintendent of the Englewood Public Schools - Addressed the public at the Englewood School Board Meeting, October 16, 2014.

This is what the Interim Superintendent had to say about Test Scores.

"Since we received the scores, we’ve been very concerned. We have been taking them apart trying to find out, what went wrong, what is not going right. However, there are 2 particular areas.

1 is from 3^rd to 4^th grade in Language Arts. The other one is going from 6th to 7^th grade in mathematics. 

Where the other scores went up a couple of points or down a couple of points, those 2 specific areas fell off a cliff. They didn’t go up or down by 1 or 2 points. They went off by almost 30 points. We’ve been trying to pull it apart. 

We’ve gone back to approximately 2006 so far.

That’s been happening in Englewood every single year. I don’t wanna give you a glib, answer. Right now, I am as confused as you. It doesn’t make sense that on the other years, there is fluctuation of a couple points, which is normally what you expect.  If you’re getting better, you’ll see a certain trend going upward. If there is a problem you will see a certain trend going downward. You never see a 30 point drop. I mean, it just doesn’t happen, and yet…

I don’t accept that as an answer this is not a one year phenomena. This has been happening, or close to it, for every single year. There is always a reason. There is a cause and effect. We’re going to have to find it. We are going to work to find it and I don’t want to give you a glib answer. I just don’t know. 

That’s why I wanted people to see unadorned facts and statistics. So we can dedicate ourselves to doing something about it. It doesn’t do any good to not face the facts. And that’s what it is…it is a very fair question. And I’m going to have to come to you with some answers. But I just don’t have them now. I don’t have them now."

Stephen Brown was School Board President 2006 - w/vice President Glenn Garrison

"                              "     2007 - w/vice President

Glenn Garrison was president in 2008 - w/vice President Stephen Brown

Henry Pruitt III was president in 2009 - w/vice President Stephen Brown

Stephen Brown was also President of the Board of Education in 2012 - 2013 and spearheaded the Outsourcing of irreplaceable student support staff.
The people of Englewood voted Stephen and Glenn off the School Board in 2013.

These 2 SEEK members are the architects of the present situation and cannot be trusted to 
correct it. They are clearly part of the problem.

History cannot be changed simply because 2 SEEK Candidates want to turn back the sands of time and rewrite it for themselves.

The graph below was copied from a page from 

FAST = Fiscal Accountability Starts Today

http://www.dontbankruptus.com/efast/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/New-Jersey-District-School-Spending-and-Ranking-Analysis.pdf

 ",,,,And how are the children?"

Look Back and Learn from Past Mistakes

History is a good teacher. Some people still do not know the FACTS. There is a formula for how

Superintendents are paid in the State of New Jersey. We have just gone through nearly 4 years of SEEK Board Members refusing to follow the laws of the state of New Jersey.

Look back and remember why Glenn Garrison and Stephen Brown were not re-elected in 2013. These 2 people have no remorse for wrong decisions made in the past. Both of these people spent 9 years on the Board and watched the Test Scores drop so low that our High School is now designated a FOCUS SCHOOL.

The decision to Outsource deprived children of vital in class support. Test Scores dropped even lower. These 2 are the manufacturers of the "failure factory" that they created through neglect while they spent time on everything except student academic improvement.

The people who created the problem cannot be trusted to correct it. Do not be fooled by these 2.

http://4thwardunited.blogspot.com/…/life-in-engleworld-who-…

                                      "....And how are the children?"

Friends Across Party Lines: Is it Possible?

Professor Dierdre Paul

It was Monday night, October 27, 2014.  I had just finished another day of battening down the hatches outside my home. The pool boy quit and the lawn man is under paid. I was tired and drained by a hard day's work. A friend called and said that her husband wondered why no one from Englewood was in attendance at a political forum. Truth be told, a forum was the last thing I wanted to witness. I was all set to watch this week's episode of The Good Wife while enjoying a massage in my ijoy chair. I said, yeah, sure, I know why folks aren't there.

Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr.

The event had been billed as a meet Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. type thing. I mean, why? So I had not planned to go. Another friend called and gave me a whole new perspective. He said that Dr. Dierdre Paul was going to debate Congressman Pascrell. Now that is a horse of a different color altogether. I threw overlarge jeans on over my pajamas and rushed to the church with my camera. This, I wanted to see.

I wanted to witness this intelligent, well spoken African American woman and Professor at Montclair State University debate the seasoned over the hill Congressman. Yeah, I said that. My blog, my opinion.

Dierdre speaks with a Teaneck Resident

Dr. Paul's wrap up explained what type of Republican she is. I agree, Dr. Paul is a different kind of Republican. Congressman Pascrell is a different kind of Democrat. Listening to the 2 of them go back and forth, it was difficult at times to decide who was the Republican and who was the Democrat. In my ripe old age, I am becoming a much more discerning voter. I vote people and issues, not parties. The old man did not seem to understand that much of his talk when referencing the Home Mortgage and Student Loan situations show him to be too much Republican for the Democrat in some of us. His language was condescending at times and so were certain responses.

Pastor Taylor looks on.

I guess that is the way some male politicians respond to intelligent African American Women. Right, Mr. Skurnick? Some politicians really need to polish up their filters or just get some,especially since they find it really easy to criticize the populace. I was not impressed by him or his message. What was his message anyway? (Crooked Bankers are a fact of life so make sure you can afford that home before taking out a mortgage.) Someone please tell Politicians that the middle class is disappearing? Or is it gone already? How many families actually make that much money today? $250,000 per household, per year. That means that teachers are not middle class. Are you middle class? If not, just understand that 98% of the Politicians are not addressing us. Are we chopped liver?

Is that the reason that the people in attendance  were not from Englewood? I wonder.

John Babb, Pastor Taylor, Theresa Thomas, Richard Stanard

Dierdre and I have had conversations about Vouchers and we do not agree. That is the nature of friendship. Individuality is a virtue to some. Pascrell supports Charters and I don't like those either. Neither of them seem to get the fact that both of those institutions are financed by the same special interest groups/private industry that fund PARCC and the Common Core. Rich folks making money off Public Education. Every Tom, Dick and Jane thinks they can run a Charter and do a better job than the Public School System. Where does that leave the public schools that everyone seems more than willing to watch decay?

I am proud of my friend. It is not everyday that an African American Woman decides to take on such a fight when she knows full well that she lives in the middle of Democrat country.

I wish she was still a Democrat so we could fight together on issues other than education. Even Education seems to be going partisan lately. I also wish that the conditions that drove her to the other side did not exist. Oh Well. I have never voted the way my union or anyone else told me. I have always voted the way I wanted based on the people and the issues. I hope that African Americans will begin to read and vote the issues as well. There are far too many Liberals who see themselves as our natural born saviors and leaders or who feel they know better than we who should be our leaders. I prefer to choose my own, thank you very much.

Good luck, Dr. Dierdre Glenn Paul. I know that you are a different kind of Republican  and I am proud to call you friend.

".........................And how are the children?"