PERTH AMBOY – Educational Consultant for Literacy and Bilingual ESL education, Fred Carrigg, gave a data report at the 6/19/14 BOE Meeting focusing on the Elementary Schools.
Carrigg compared Perth Amboy Schools with Union City which shares similar dynamics.
“An intervention program is needed and the schools need to drop a second phonics program,” Carrigg said. “First grade should emphasize learning skills. Grades have gotten worse in the fourth Grade. The dual language programs are bright spots, but not good enough to make up for the poor grades. There is a discrepancy in how new words are taught in the different elementary schools in Perth Amboy. You need to benchmark the progress of the students in Kindergarten. They are five to six months behind when they are promoted to the first grade. The reading comprehension and writing are very poor. High frequency words and vocabulary need to be a priority. I used to bring people to Perth Amboy years ago to show as model of what a successful school can be. You can fix the kindergarten and first grade problems in a year. The DRA (Developmental Read Assessment) should be reinstated.”
This report sheds a liitle light as why Perth Amboy has a dismal graduation rate of less than 59%, according to the NJDOE. If students are falling behind as early as kindergarten, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to perform well in higher grades. Some of the board members and interim superintendent Vivian Rodriguez, seem disinterested and detached while the consultant announced his findings at the meeting. They should be appalled and embarrassed to have an educational authority say that Perth Amboy students a failing in Kindergarten and first grades. Could this be the result of Vivian Rodriguez and numerous school administrators failing to complete teacher and principal evaluations as mandated by the state Department of Education. If acting superintendent has not completed her principal’s evaluations and some school principals have not completed teacher evaluations, how does anyone keep track of what teachers and principals or doing their job effectively? No one is being held accountable for students failing. The acting superientendent and most of the school board members dont seem to care or take things seriously. They recently terminated HR Manager Bernice Marshall, who was responsible for oversight the last time the disctrict completed all evaluations as mandated. Ms Marshall’s HR department also recieved a score of 100% on the NJQSAC report. It was the only bright spot out of five areas on Perth Amboy’s NJQSAC. Perth Amboy Public Schools desperately needs a competent and qualified Chief School Administrator or Superintendent. The district has many needs and shortcomings that must be addressed. Since Vivian Rodriguez and the current board of education seem unwilling to ensure that ALL teachers and ALL principals perform their duties properly and at a high level, it should not come as a surprise to hear that elementary grade students are behind in learning, and the high school is graduating less than 60% of students.
As of today July 1,2014 Perth Amboy Public schools has failed to complete its Teachscape report as mandated by the New Jersey Department of Education. This report contains teacher and principal evaluations that should have been completed by May 30,2014. Perth Amboy’s Teachscape account has been frozen and archived by the stated and now cannot be completed and uploaded as mandated. And where is the superintendent? On vacation. The central office is empty because both interim superintendent Vivian rodriguez and school business administrator Derek Jess are both out on vacation this week, and the district has terminated the HR Manager. So on the first day of the new fiscal year the district has no leadership in place. Business as usual in Perth Amboy schools. the district should quickly find a permanant superintendent, and the school board should be voted out in the next few elections.
It is disheartening to have an educational authority report that students are five to six months behind when starting first grade. They are being set up to fail at an early age. Hopefully this report may help spur some interest at Perth Amboy Public Schools to ensure that ALL teachers and ALL administrators are observed three times per school year as per AchieveNJ regulations. Maybe now ALL teacher and ALL principal evaluations will be completed as mandated. With proper and competent oversight by a qualified permanat superintendent, students should receive the fundamentials they need to succeed in Kindergarten through 12th grade.