Parents, Students, Educators, and Community Members AGAINST the ILLUSION OF INCLUSION in Newark, NJ!
Newark Board of Education, NJ Department of Education, Governor Murphy, Essex County Elected Delegates
For the past few years, parents have been asking the Newark Board of Education to be included in their child's educational experience but to no avail. From writing emails to speaking at board meetings, the Newark Board of Education has selected certain parents to respond to. Recently parents and community members have been questioning data given at board meetings however the information has been kept a secret. During COVID19 the state of New Jersey required school districts to refrain from in-person learning to remote learning as to understand and slow down the spread of a deadly virus that claimed the lives of many. This brought many concerns as nobody was prepared for this unforeseen pandemic.
Moreover, students returned to in-person learning for the 2021- 2022 school year as required by Governor Phil Murphy without the input from individuals it directly impacted residing in Newark, NJ. More specifically, parents, students, educators and without the choice of remote learning. This has caused a great amount of stress for teachers, parents, and students since the return happened without resources in place to blanket the trauma and grief caused by the pandemic. We understand there were executive decisions being made however those decisions did not include the parents, teachers, and students.
In Newark, parents were already being excluded from full information of committee reports of board members, threatened by some district officials if parents were vocal about their child's learning opportunity, banned from receiving services to accommodate IEPs & 504s, barred from receiving desirable food for lunch & breakfast, and now being banned from entering schools. While there are far more incidences that warrant an investigation to a violation of title 18A statute, violation of public trust, and failure to adhere to the parent & family engagement of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), we call on the Newark Board of Education to remedy the ongoing psychological warfare & attack on parents, families, and community members across the Newark Board of Education School District.
To:
Newark Board of Education, NJ Department of Education, Governor Murphy, Essex County Elected Delegates
From:
[Your Name]
We urge the New Jersey Department of Education, elected delegates, and Governor Murphy's office to investigate the lack of transparency from the Newark Board of Education toward the families & community it serves.
In addition, we ask that an immediate representation (parent, student, community member)from the Newark school district be appointed on the task force created by Gov Murphy that will represent the needs of our school district and community. Note that we consistently bring our suggestions and concerns to the monthly board meetings however they go unanswered and then our Newark elected school board by the people have selected to cut out business meetings which means that information we are entitled to is now being suppressed from parents teachers students and community members. Since the Sunshine Law was created to protect our right to information, the NBOE is now in violation of those rights. We NO LONGER DESIRE THE ILLUSION OF INCLUSION! Note too, we currently questioned the appearance of a conflict of interest of a sitting board member & her application and acceptance for a position on a charter school board considering NBOE recently had ongoing litigation with KIPP that reached the Supreme Court. While we all have legitimate concerns, we ask that our concerns be immediately remedied according to New Jersey Title 18A: Education and Every Student Succeeds Act: Parent & Family Engagement, and all ethics codes in existence for the protection of the public.