So, before or immediately following submission of nominating positions I had a conversation with a fellow board member and current candidate and we agreed we didn’t want to run a negative campaign even though we weren’t running together. Well, what does that mean? To me it means to get out there and spread YOUR message and goals. Tell who you are, what you hope to accomplish, why and how. I have tried to do just that. I answer EVERYONE…even when someone asked me some non-relevant political questions. People DESERVE to hear from each candidate and are ENTITLED to an educated decision. Last week, after about 4-5 years of being a member of the Oak Valley Our Own Little World Facebook page I was suddenly deleted from the group. I was shocked and quickly asked to re-join. I posted on my private FB page and 100+ comments later I think my friends are more angry than me. After I posted (it was public) the candidate that was an administrator of the page was no more. There was even a post that she was no longer an administrator for personal reasons. I don’t know if it was the candidate that was also administrator that deleted my posts or me but it is certainly suspicious that said individual was an admin. I made a public post and shortly thereafter she is no longer a page administrator? I’ve never been a big believer of coincidence. I think I posted 3-4 times over the last month and someone else shared my blog. Two other candidates are sharing their information as well. I think it is great to inform the voters. I am relying on social media, my reputation as an education advocate and word mouth to help me get elected. Grassroots here, friends!  I mean they already got me in signs and mailers 1,000 times over. So, I was approved back to the page by the next day but only one post pertaining to my campaign remains. I had also commented on another post where a citizen was asking for more information from candidates. The candidate who posted never responded to the citizen. Today, another citizen asked for goals as well. Now the ENTIRE post is gone! So censorship! (Ironically, there was another post circulating on another Deptford page about an admin not taking down a post about a lynching and in the screenshots the reason given was in regards to NOT censoring someone. I had nothing to do with that, I’m not on that page, and it wasn’t my story to share but someone brought me up in the comments so that’s how I found out. I actually felt for the candidate and reached out because I am told it got heated and ugly.) Wasn’t going to mention it but here we are. To me that is negative and totally non-transparent. As a voter it is also worrisome to me. Pretty mailers with buzz words and stock photos purchased and made by some media or political firm look nice but are shallow (in my opinion). Why would you NOT share your vision and goals? If you post that you are transparent then prove it. Will you be transparent as a board member?

Alas, I didn’t expect do another blog post today but I’m a tad aggravated and very disappointed. Deleting me from a page, censoring and deleting comments is negative and the opposite of transparent. Something to think about…. sigh.

Good is the enemy of great. This saying really resonates with me. Essentially, if you accept good, you’ll miss the opportunity to be great. As a resident, alumni, parent, and teacher I always want Deptford to be great. That is not to dismiss the amazing positive changes and advancements that have taken place over the last 2 years. I posted some of the district’s accomplishments on the Deptford Talk facebook group and I’ll share that response at the end of this post in case you haven’t seen it. It’s pretty spectacular :) Still, the work is far from over. I don’t have the ability to send mailers to the community at large and want to express my goals and vision as a candidate with explanation, not just the WHAT but the HOW. My husband always says, “a goal without a plan is a wish”. This also resonates me. It’s great to have ideas and vision but to execute, you need a plan. I believe the same as everyone else~ child focused education, excellence, challenging curriculum, supporting staff needs, being fiscally responsible, communicating effectively,  having secure schools, updated facilities, and offering more opportunities for all learners. But how?

Well, that’s a loaded question without easy answers. Taxes! I pay them too~ ugh. Mine have gone up substantially since we built our home here in Deptford in 1998. Many NJ public schools (including Deptford) have been underfunded according to the state’s school funding formula. It is hard to take care of your house when you’re not receiving a salary, right? Same for our schools. We are finally getting more of the needed funds from the state which has given us the opportunity to finally replace a decrepit boiler but there are areas that have been neglected for many years. Our students and taxpayers deserve to have schools that reflect our vision of greatness. We now have a 5 year plan that addresses our facilities. We have a new supervisor of facilities that is truly invested. Our generous alumni donor will allow us to have a new turf, multi-use field and an 8 lane track. This could bring in revenue as well as help us retain student athletes in the district. Our community deserves facilities we are proud of! Pride in our facilities leads to a positive change in culture. I stand behind our administrative efforts to invest in the upgrades our facilities need. We, as a community must also advocate for our schools to senators, local elected officials, legislators, etc. to support the school funding formula. In these challenging times we must always be fiscally responsible, yet focus on the improvements that are way overdue.

Quality staff! We have them, we must retain and attract them!!!! There is a nationwide teacher shortage. We MUST continue to remain competitive in terms of salary and respect the experience we already have. Professional development and data are BIG buzz words in the education world. I support PD that allows are teachers and staff  choice and turn key training. Collaboration and sharing ideas among our talented staff is paramount in building a great district. We have so many wonderful teachers and administrators that have such outstanding talent and ideas. We should always encourage and provide time to collaborate and share innovative ways to increase student engagement. I appreciate “outside the box” thinking. My philosophy is “let’s give it a try”. The worst thing we can do is go with the old,”that’s the way we’ve always done it”. Last year, teachers had an inservice day that offered choices of PD around the district. It was so well received, let’s do more of that!  This summer our secretarial staff all met together for the FIRST TIME EVER for a training and they were so grateful. We need to survey our staff periodically and address their needs. Those facilities matter here too! Our staff should be in a safe, comfortable work environment. I am so thrilled with the way our current superintendent interacts with and respects our staff. More of that, please :)

Student voice! Our learners, even the youngest ones, deserve a voice in the place they spend most of their day. They deserve GREAT! But, who are we (the adults) to assume we know what that is? I support bringing back student liaisons to our board meetings to express the feedback they are hearing from their peers. I also support volunteer student surveys. What is your favorite school meal, are there enough recess activities, what will make your school day better? Do you feel heard? I truly believe students that are heard will foster a better culture and school pride.

Opportunity! This is so important to me and has so many facets. When I was first elected to the school board one of my first questions to the superintendent at the time was why do we still only offer Spanish and French for foreign languages? That was the offering when I graduated DHS in 1991. To compete in a global market we need to offer more opportunities. Mandarin, German anyone? Of course, this would require staff and space but it is an area we have neglected to expand on. Technology!!! This has been an issue I have been behind since 2013. I am thrilled to say we are almost 1:1 in terms of devices.Technology in the hands of every student is paramount in a digital age. I don’t mean for our students to spend the day behind a screen. I am a technology coach and my job is to help to integrate and infuse technology into the curriculum. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality allow students to visit places they never could before through virtual field trips. Students can perform virtual surgeries and visit historical sites. Technology allows differentiation. Assistive technology such as text to speech allows special needs students to be successful. Screen background color changes helps students with ADHD attend to reading taks. Non-fiction articles and biographies can be adjusted to Lexile levels so lower level readers can still engage in the same content as their peers but on their reading level. Google Docs allows for peer editing and online collaboration plus more frequent teacher feedback. I am super proud that we have begun to bring back trades to our high school through our carpentry academy as well as launch music and arts academies. I envision our students being able to produce and engineer music in our school, explore digital animation and intern more in their fields of interest. We have so many businesses in Deptford that we can partner with. I support the administration in beginning these partnerships and expanding opportunities for free college credits and careers in trades. We have great kids in Deptford and am proud to support the feedback to address their wants and needs. I am currently working on (as a parent) reviving the Special Ed Parent Advisory Group and creating a Buddy Program for our special needs students.

Communication! I do feel our new website and Facebook page have improved communication but remember the Good to Great? Our Parents for Progress had it’s first meeting earlier this month, KUDOS to our awesome Supervisors of Curriculum for getting that off the ground. I LOVED the survey idea….more of that too, please! The next meeting is Nov. 14th at 6:00 in the high school media center. Come and give your feedback. Communication is paramount for buy in. We want to collaborate with all stakeholders. If you don’t have children in our schools this is a great time to find out what’s happening around our district.  I’d also like to see us do more community outreach, especially with our senior citizens. I know from my in-laws that taxes are rough and it’s frustrating when you don’t reap the benefits. As a student at DTHS we had a Thanksgiving dinner for our senior citizens that we, the students, served. We also invited them to a free performance of our school plays. I think the experience for me was priceless. I also support continuity across the district in terms of schools and students. I never like to hear people tell me they feel like the “have nots”. We are doing better so let’s go with that momentum.

Culture! This is near and dear to my heart. My husband, son, and I love spending Friday nights under the lights for football. It is a pleasure to watch and cheer on the boys and GIRL on the field, the band and cheerleaders. Once a Spartan, always a Spartan. I envision a stadium of students with their black and gold body paint cheering on their team. I also feel so strongly about restorative practices. If you haven’t heard of this, PLEASE Google and check it out or read more here. Yes, students need consequences but we live in a society that sometimes lacks empathy. Instead of always punishing, restorative justice/practices is a proactive means of promoting a positive, healthy, and orderly school environment, where everyone involved learns and practices self-discipline, empathy, and accountability. Our district has dabbled in some restorative practices and I would absolutely support more of that! I also am proud that many of our teachers and administrators are expanding upon mindfulness and social and emotional learning. Our students can only learn if their emotional needs are addressed and met. We must provide those coping and healing tools to our students and staff. All of the above topics will support a more positive school culture for everyone.

Wowsers….this was way longer than I intended…ooops! I just LOVE where our district is going :)   I may edit to add more but for now, Commitment, Community, Collaboration!

Stacy

*****Facebook post from Deptford Talk, addressing a comment regarding our schools deficits and being below average (I disagree with that statement btw.

Our district has seen massive improvements in just the last 2 years. If you received the mailer from our Council you will see we had 21 students receive perfect scores on the NJSLA and 2 students were named National Merit Scholars. I believe we also had 2 last year. We had the biggest increase inn the county on our state test scores for the middle school. To quote the Mayor and Council, “We are proud of the excellence that our schools achieve every day and celebrate their efforts”. In the past few years we have had students go off to Cal. Berkeley, Princeton, several other competitive colleges (including Ivy League), West Point, and all branches of the military. We have many students earn scholarships for trades as well and our high school now offers several AP courses when others in the area do not. We have a High School Options program and this year students are taking FREE college credits at RCGC. Our STEAM and Bio-Med Academies are taught with PLTW which is a nationally recognized curriculum. We have an outstanding AVID program in the middle school and high school. I don’t agree that we are below average. As far as the bathroom facilities, I am unaware of which are out of order but will gladly pass it along to the administration if you could tell me where and in which school. That should not be the case. As far as textbooks, if you email the teacher they should be able to provide you with one at home. Our district does subscribe to several online versions as well. We are also in the process of piloting Canvas, a new student management and grading system where modules, videos and assignments are streamlined in the Canvas interface. Our hope is to eventually use Canvas as a virtual learning environment on snow days (with the state’s OK) We just purchased a new and more efficient boiler for the high school and our superintendent has made sure each classroom has a window unit air conditioner.I am not aware of swipes so if you can give me more info on that I will inquire at our next BOE meeting. We have also purchased over 1,000 new chrome books and Promethean boards and are close to a 1:1 initiative. Our BA purchased buses (almost brand new) from another district at a drastically reduced cost. We are working hard to improve not only the facilities but the culture of the district. Our staff are happier, our leadership is humble, approachable and outstanding. Our students are excelling.I am really proud of the direction we are headed. We can’t do everything at once but we have a vision and goals and are focused on building a great future.I’m really glad you asked because it felt great to reflect on all of the positives! (And I know I’ve missed many other accomplishments-this was just getting home and off the top of my head) Can you tell I love our district and being a part of the BOE? Please feel free to ask anything else.If you are interested, the 2nd Parents for Progress meeting is Nov. 14th at 6:00 in the high school media center. All are welcome :)

Ironically the train wreck today in Paulsboro followed one in Deptford last night!  Last night’s Board of Education meeting was certainly eventful AGAIN, to say the least!

Let’s start with the good!  The STEM program seems well on it’s way to becoming a reality!  This program will be a huge academic asset to the High School.  It has the ability to offer an amazing and unique opportunity for future students in our district as soon as next year.  The update was very encouraging!  The Anti-Bullying coordinator is investigating some research based Character Ed./Anti-bullying programs to be implemented across the district…..excellent news for our children and staff to address the bullying epidemic in a proactive way.  Speaking of bullying, John Halligan will be presenting on Monday evening and sharing his son, Ryan’s personal and touching story of suicide as a result of bullying.  I had the privilege to hear Mr. Halligan speak and he is so poignant and passionate!  If you can make it, I strongly encourage you to go.  Finally, there was a huge crowd present and hope that continues in the future.  Unfortunately, they were NOT happy but all board members should be happy for that turn out because problems can’t be addressed or solved if they aren’t made aware of them and that is their job after all!

The bad…… many of the community were band members and their parents and directors.  I am sure everyone is aware of the amazing band program and the immeasurable success of this year’s group.  They surely are spectacular!  I saw them perform at half time at the Homecoming game and have heard them from my home since the summer during their nightly practices.  Unfortunately they were unable to compete in Hershey as the number 1 seed due to the trip being cancelled because of Sandy.  The sad part is the other districts were allowed to go and Deptford’s chance of competing in the championship was gone. For the first time in the 52 year history of the school district, the marching band was in FIRST PLACE going into marching band finals at Hershey Park – SEVEN TENTHS OF A POINT(a huge margin in marching band) behind the Second Place school. It was a contest that EVERYONE on every level wanted to see- two great bands going head to head in what was easily the most anticipated “play-off” of the entire East Coast. A week earlier they had captured the first South Jersey championship in the school’s history and 2nd state championship.  This is a very special “family” and last night was truly heartbreaking- especially when a student read a letter and the situation was seen through their eyes.  They found out when arriving at the school dressed and ready to go that they were not allowed and the whole group was devastated.  Such a sad ending to a fairytale story.  

And now for the UGLY!  At this point nothing really surprises me but I still get annoyed by the blatant, unethical moves that are made that provide little to no foresight for the academic progress of this district.  First, we continue to appoint more interims.  This needs to STOP!!!!  It is to the point of beyond ridiculous.  We desperately need some new blood, people with a vision for the future that is in this for the long run, not 2 years.  We’ve already had over 2 years of interims and still no distinct plan on when and how to hire some permanent administrators.  There is no prospective hires or even interviews set up as of this blog post.  They mentioned waiting until reorganization in January to START the searchES!  So, Ross is moving on to Monroe, Gary Loudenslager is the interim superintendent at $500 a day (moving from interim principal of Pine Acres-since September) and Rebecca Tribbett will move from an interim position at New Sharon School to interim principal at Pine Acres at $375 a day.  (psssst…I don’t know Mr. Loudenslager personally so I can’t comment on anything related to him but I am a HUGE MRS. TRIBBETT FAN- you will LOVE her Pine Acres :)  Next- former board president Berglund was hired as Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds at $89,000 effective December 3rd 2012.  He also gets benefits, vacation, sick time, and some sort of tenure under the Deptford Township Administrators and Supervisors Association Collective Bargaining Agreement.  Many in attendance were furious and commented as to how shady it was.  Remember, I blogged earlier about this possibility as several people said it was coming.  Here is why there is such disdain on the public’s part and frustration on mine.

1- Board members must be separated from the BOE for 6 months before acquiring a position from the district.  He attended the May 23, 2012 meeting then his resignation letter was read and accepted at the June 26, 2012 meeting.  See GC Times article with comments and facts regarding this.

2- Last night it was surprisingly reported that he actually resigned and his letter was dated May 23rd (weird-why not at the actual meeting the night before 5/22? but I digress)  According to Mr. Ross the board members were never privy to this information and were under the impression that he resigned in June. This was verified by Rachel Green’s question in reference to when he resigned and does it qualify as June-November is only 5 months????  Something is fishy——keep reading!

3- Now I understand why the meeting was moved from last Tuesday to this Thursday!  Last Tuesday would have only been the 20th and THAT would NOT have been 6 months.  And here I thought Thursday was just a better night to go out and celebrate Mr. Ross’s retirement than Tuesday ;-/

4- I asked who signed the diplomas in June as board president? (come to think of it-did we really NOT HAVE a board president from May until July????  And how come the craziness that went with the new president being chosen didn’t happen until July 5th???? I think because the resignation WAS JUNE 26th, like the paper said)  How could none on the board NOT know their President resigned?  Why would that be a secret?  How come it was never corrected as the proper date in board minutes, or quoted in the article?

Sorry-back to the diplomas- Did he sign them?  He said NO!  In fact his name IS on them and is listed in the programs as Board President.  And, before you say well maybe they were already printed- I checked and was told they are ordered a couple of weeks prior to graduation for various, obvious reasons.  The calendar/handbook even had new board member Gentile in them in September and he was sworn in the end of July and they are much more detailed than the diplomas.

5-What about the guy who’s been doing the job up until now?? The grounds look pristine to me!  I wonder why that gentleman didn’t get to keep the position?

6- In my opinion and maybe yours this REAKS of pay-to-play when you look at the fact that he is quoted in the GC Times article as naming himself as the present board president’s (and my opponents) campaign manager and he also told me that he got them their signs.  Conflict of interest much??????

Well……according to many this is immoral and unethical but is it illegal?????  There are many that are investigating, so stay tuned!  As a side note, this is OUR fault…..yours, mine and everyone else who fails to do their due diligence and show up at board meetings or at least read the minutes and stay informed.  When the cat’s away-the mice will play, so they say!  It’s never to late to  BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE!  Come to the next meeting and the ones after that.  It is apparent you can not just go on blind faith and trust.  Think of it as your civil duty or a holiday gift to the board….just show up and stay informed….share the good, bad and ugly….that’s how we move forward! Have a great weekend!

Deptford BOE President Steps Down

Deptford Board of Education President Walter ‘Butch’ Berglund steps down

Published: Thursday, June 28, 2012, 6:00 AM

 By Jessica Bautista/Gloucester County Times 

Photo providedWalter “Butch” Berglund leaves school board position

DEPTFORD TWP. — Board of Education President Walter “Butch” Berglund has stepped down from his position after four years of service to the district.  Berglund said he came across a business opportunity that wouldn’t allow him to finish out his term on the board.

“I had to step down. I didn’t want to, but I had to,” Berglund said Wednesday.

Berglund, a former township councilman, said because of professional obligations to fulfill with his full-time job and the hours required, he wouldn’t be able to properly carry out board member responsibilities.

The business prospect is expected to last about eight months, according to Berglund, during which he said he would continue to be heavily involved with the district and volunteer his services when possible.

Berglund said he was especially looking to continue negotiations on a prospective cost saver — which would be to purchase the Delaware Valley Junior Academy, a private school that seems to be serving only a handful of students, for the purpose of relocating New Sharon School students there.

“This was not an issue of whether or not I want to be on the board,” said Berglund, who said he was in the vending business.

He said he is not opposed to running again in the future when he has more time again.

“Butch was a good president, he was on top of the issues, and he was very knowledgeable of the policies,” said Interim Superintendent Ralph Ross. “Butch will be sorely missed.”

Ross said the administration will have about 60 days to fill the vacancy. The board expects to advertise for the position as soon as possible.

“I think it’ll be a fluid transition. All the other board members have been around for quite a while,” Ross said. “We shouldn’t miss a beat.”

Contact Jessica Bautista at 856-686-3729 or jbautista@southjerseymedia.com.

 http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2012/06/deptford_board_of_education_pr.html

Campaign Manager Article

http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2012/11/deptford_board_of_education_pr_1.html

Quote from article-But Butch Berglund, former BOE president and now campaign manager for Wilson,