Bring Dignity Back to Schools!

A group of Dwight Morrow High School Students are being railroaded, again. They fought in the School Cafeteria. They have been removed from the learning environment for over a month now. Those who planned to attend the Prom were denied the thrill. Enough is enough! The Administration is so far behind that they just had the hearings last week until 3 in the morning.

The Students should be afforded the same consideration as "real people" adults in the real world. They should be given the benefit of "Time Served" and allowed to walk in the graduation if applicable. They have already been denied participation in the Prom, in addition to being suspended out of school for a month.

The District has also put a one size fits all package together for these young people. That is also against policy. Since when is that fair?

Please sign the petition to return the Students to school on Monday, June 3, 2019.

A vote will be taken at a Special School Board Meeting on Monday, June 3. The Superintendent wants the students suspended through June 20. They have already been out of School for a full month. The punishment is far too severe, especially considering the Superintendent and the BOE did not follow policy based on NJ Statutes and Regulations regarding suspensions and expulsions when dealing with the students. The Administration is criminalizing the events instead of moving on and tightening up the ship on their end. 

"...You can’t be suspended for:

• ◼ Being late to school or class, or being absent
• ◼ Dress code or uniform rule violations
• ◼ Minor behavior infractions, like insubordinate behavior, defiance, disobedience, disrespect, or disruptive or rowdy behavior

Suspension length is limited

• ◼ In-school suspension cannot exceed 2 consecutive school days per incident, or 4 total days per school quarter or marking period
• ◼ Out of school suspension—the removal of a middle or high school student from school—cannot exceed 4 consecutive days per incident or 8 total days per school year
• ◼ An extended suspension cannot exceed 25 consecutive days (unless required by law)

"...Know that this booklet is based on New Jersey state law. While your school’s code of conduct can give you more rights than this, it cannot give you fewer. Be sure to review your local code, and contact the Education Law Center if it does not comply with state law.
If you or your student is facing a suspension or expulsion, please turn to the Know Your Rights section on page 4 and the School Discipline Checklist on page 26."

"...read your local code of conduct—it can give you more rights than our state law, but it cannot give you fewer. Bring these next pages with you to make sure your rights are respected. Make sure you read the suggested questions to ask the Administration about your child's particular consequences on pages 29, 30 and 31.

https://edlawcenter.org/…/pub…/Student_discipline_manual.pdf

Visit this website as well. 
http://dignityinschools.org/

Are You Tired Of Being DISMISSED!

The events of this week have clearly shown us two things.

1. People are tired of being blatantly dismissed. People are feeling disengaged, disempowered, and ignored. 

2. There are elected officials who have personal agendas and what the residents want is not important to them. They have shown to have an alliance with individuals versus the community.

So what do we do about it? How do we get people engaged and ensure that ALL of our elected officials are held accountable?

First, you must start attending meetings. BOE, Council, Planning Board, Board of Adjustment, etc... This is how you know what is being planned for your community. Of course we understand that it is extremely difficult to attend all these meetings because, after all, we have this thing called life, however we must start to work together. I am sure each one of us has at least 4 friends. Each person take a meeting and report back to the others.

Make sure you are informed on who your respective council person is so that based on the reports you can email your councilperson with your thoughts.

Secondly, we must educate ourselves about the candidates running for various positions. We obviously cannot afford to blindly elect people just because they are in the first column or just because they are our neighbor, or just because. We cannot afford to re-elect people simply because they are the incumbent. Having the position today does not mean you will be the best person for the job tomorrow. Know your candidates.

Now, knowing your candidate does not mean you may not end up supporting the “wrong” candidate. I am guilty of this. The person I supported turned out to be all the way wrong!! It’s okay though. Lesson learned. I certainly won’t vote for them next time.

Thirdly, thing we absolutely must do is actually vote. This is where our power lies. We literally have the power to hire and fire by pushing a button. 

We have several officials up for re-election this year

Ward 2 Michael Cohen
Ward 4. Wayne Hamer

Board of Ed (should they chose to run)

Kim Donaldson
Angela Midgette David
Elisabeth Schwartz

Think about what these candidates have done for you during the last three years? 

• What changes have they supported in our city? 
• What impact have they made? If you don’t know you have every right to reach out to them and ask. They are applying for a job and you are the hiring manager. How else would you know who is the best candidate without interviewing them?

Now, are you ready for change? Are you ready to make a difference? Are you ready to take back the power that rightfully belongs to you? You should be. It’s your life that’s being impacted. 

It’s your child’s life being affected.

If you’re not ready, why not? 

What will it take for you to get ready? 

How can we help?

Amy Jones Bulluck

Faith on A Dead End Street

To some, this may look like a regular parking lot for a car dealership. At first glance one does not even ask why a street is running  through this parking lot.

When one looks closely, one notices the white on the blacktop. 

Yes, that is the remains of an old cross walk. Look at that little spire in the distance. That is the steeple of a Church. Late July of 1967, I arrived on this street, which connected to Forest Avenue. Children were playing stick ball and running about. The car drove through slowly giving the children the road. There is now a fence across the end of this former thoroughfare that denies access to the Community and the House of Worship beyond. The gate in the foreground rolls to close and lock.

This is Humphrey Street complete with sidewalks and crosswalk at the entrance. It was sold to a car dealership some years ago. This is Humphrey Street. The selling of this street cut off direct access of members to The Englewood Church of God in Christ and from Forest Avenue. The way finding system to this House of Worship now only consists of a sign on a traffic signal to turn left/north, but there is not sign on Van Brunt Street saying where to turn left to arrive at the Church.

This is the other side of that fence that protects the cars and the Dealership. I am in the middle of Humphrey Street looking south. South of the fences are cars to the left and cars to the right.

How do you sell a street and block off access a House of Worship? Imagine that request. I wonder how much a 4th Ward street goes 

these days? Elmore Avenue may still be on the list to be shortened. 

The last thing that a Funeral procession wants is be forced to navigate around on a Dead End street. This action represents the

gross disrespect that is generally shown "our places" in the 4th Ward.

Maybe someday, the owner of this Dealership and this lot will grow a heart and give the street back to the neighborhood.

A Dash of Machismo

Ricardo Whilby addresses the Englewood City Council

Each and every elected official on this council takes an oath to do the people's work. No preference is given to any religion or ethnicity, no preference is given to the have or have not's. We only hope that our elected officials will serve the interest of each and every one of their constituents fairly, without harm or malice to any group under the constitution of the United States Of America and the state of New Jersey.

I attend meetings regularly as a concerned and outraged citizen that has had enough of being a spectator to the systematic corruption, racism, and xenophobia, with a dash of machismo by cowardly, scared little boys stuck in the bodies of useless old men. 

No elected official should be intimidated or threatened by any citizen to circumvent the collective will of the people to serve the single desire of special interest groups eager to expand their selfish agendas by any and all means. We are a society of laws and we expect each and every member of this governing body to abide by the law and not operate above it. 

This includes the residency previsions of our city charter which Michael Cohen currently violates. 

I hope that this new President of the City Council will spear head an investigation into this, and all matters of corruption that have destroyed hope here in Englewood for the disenfranchised. This fraud has made the ugly underbelly of a permanent culture of corruption standard operating procedure for many. 

The most transparent thing about this house of cards is that it will collapse under the might of right. The unwavering courage of brave dissenters will never cease to shine the light of truth on the workers of evil.

Chapter 70"...For the purposes of this subsection, a person may have at most one principal residence, and the state of a person's principal residence means the state

 (1) where the person spends the majority of his or her nonworking time, and  

(2) which is most clearly the center of his or her domestic life, and 

(3) which is designated as his or her legal address and legal residence for voting.

 The fact that a person is domiciled in this State shall not by itself satisfy the requirement of principal residency hereunder..."

https://www.state.nj.us/csc/authorities/faq/NJ%20First%20Act.pdf