A funny thing happened on the way to this morning’s blog…

Trentonian online editorial glitch says it all

This was going to be an entry about Trenton mayoral hopeful Alexander Brown. Mr. Brown, currently Vice-President of the School Board, has launched the website for his upcoming run for the city’s top seat in 2010.

The Trentonian had an article in this morning’s edition about the website and we went to the online version of the paper to reference it as we began composing this post.

Unfortunately, when we clicked on the link to the story, this is what came up:

Mayoral hopeful’s site offers great expectations
Published: Tuesday, September 1, 2009
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By Trentonian Staff
TRENTON — That nitwit, grinning, needle-toothed alligator that has taken up residence in the pond on the Island’s Stacy Park is making us all look like fools!

Not the story we expected, but perhaps by some twist of editorial fate (or incompetence) it is still apropos to the point about Mr. Brown’s candidacy: it’s a joke!

Circular Logic

The Facility Advisory Board (FAB) of the Trenton Board of Education (BOE) met Wednesday night to discuss and clarify the recent round of funding promised from the School Development Authority (SDA).

The Save Trenton High Coalition posted an update on the meeting that addressed the status of the Early Childhood Center, MLK/Jefferson, Roebling and Trenton Central High School:

Mr. Dwayne Mosley of the FAB gave the presentation and Mr. Alexander Brown of the Board of Education (BOE) facilitated the meeting. Representatives from the School Development Authority’s (SDA) and the State Department of Education (DOE) were not present. Approximately 15 members of the public and two BOE members were in attendance.

A significant amount of time was devoted to discussing and deciphering the SDA’s decision-making “process” as presented by the FAB and BOE, specifically as it relates to Trenton High and Roebling. Apparently, it borrows heavily from the chicken and the egg theory. It goes something like this:

1. The SDA has told the BOE they must make a decision soon on either renovating or replacing Trenton High and Roebling.
2. The SDA has refused to provide the BOE with a cost analysis or feasibility study on renovation and replacement in order to make an informed decision.
3. The only way to get the SDA to provide any information to the BOE in order to determine the best alternative for the students (and this is where we were told to suspend our disbelief) is for the BOE to vote on a resolution to “abandon” Trenton High and Roebling and build brand new schools.

That is precisely what the BOE is going to do. On Monday, July 28 the BOE is going to vote on a yet to be written resolution to “abandon” the landmark Trenton High and build a new school that serves only 1300-1500 students, all in the name of studying its renovation.
The FAB and the BOE attempted to pacify the public by explaining that this is how the SDA’s “process” works. Possibly by September the SDA will complete its analysis, and another FAB meeting will presumably be held to the present to the public the results of renovation versus new construction.

Extremely confusing, yes. But if this is truly the “process,” it is apparent that the SDA is still incapable of managing school construction projects. By forcing the BOE to scrap the existing renovation plans and start from scratch there is a very real risk that the limited amount of funding will disappear.

The meeting reportedly concluded when Mr. Brown abruptly adjourned it while one member of the public tried to ask a question.

So, if we understand this as presented, only if the Trenton Board of Education votes to abandon the idea of renovating the existing Trenton High School and build a new facility that serves fewer students will the School Development Authority provide cost estimates for new construction versus renovation.

One could conclude that the SDA would take their cue and make the financial case for not renovating the existing Trenton Central High School because the Board has to vote that way in order to get a cost estimate.

This is not just wrong, it is absurd.

If the money is designated for the city of Trenton, shouldn’t the responsible body be able to determine how it is to be spent? And shouldn’t the funding agency be mandated to provide the information needed to determine how it should be spent…

…prior to the Board of Ed making that determination?!?!?!

Not one to give our BOE a pass, but should the state really hold us hostage because it failed to rein in the waste and corruption of the SDA’s predecessor, the School Construction Corporation?

The BOE will vote on this new resolution on Monday, July 28.

Let’s hope the powers that be shake some sense into the SDA before then. Let’s get realistic and comprehensive cost comparisons for renovation vs. new construction and give the Trenton BOE the opportunity to make an informed decision.

It’s the very least that should be done for the citizens of New Jersey who are footing the bill for whatever is done here.

Meanwhile, over in the schools administration building

"Dumber than a bunch of rocks."

The Trenton School District has had another glorious week.

First, there was the story of conflicting understandings of what actually occurred at a meeting between District Officials and representatives of the Schools Development Authority (SDA). In an article by reporter Lisa Rich in the Times, (Mix-up swirls around TCHS), readers were "entertained" to learn that the fate of the city's 75 year old high school was still up in the air because the participants in the private meeting walked away with completely opposite understandings of what was said.

That's right. Trenton School Officials and State Representatives couldn't even agree on what their stated positions were with regard to the ongoing drama of trying to save Trenton's iconic central high school building.

This morning we were treated to another telling article by Ms. Rich wherein the school officials claim that the district's failing grades on the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) test are misleading. (Trenton district says AYP data misleading)

Mandated by the Federal No Child Left Behind rules, the AYP doesn't account for fact that many of Trenton's schools house elementary and middle school students. The elementary students are improving, but the middle schools are not and that is dragging down the systems scores.

But if the elementary school kids are showing Adequate Yearly Progress, why isn't that translating into the middle schools as those students are promoted through the system?

Another 'New Year'

There is a hazy recollection of late night conversation in a college dorm room about how one "visualizes" the calendar: straight line; circle; spiral? And what was the starting point of one's personal, visual timeline: January 1; Spring; Birthday; Post Labor Day/Back to School; or something more traditional as in the Jewish Calendar?

The theory of a "new year/fresh start" has great appeal to the American psyche and one could suggest that after 12-16 or more school years that begin in September that we "turn the page" on a new year then. The laid back summer daze draw to an end. Schedules adjust to back to business, books and such. Shorts only appear on weekends, long pants are the dress of the day.

We get "serious" about our work/studies. We buckle down for 10 or 12 weeks of work before the year end holidays set in and we once again become grateful hedonists.

Of course, the revelation that Trenton Central High School students have returned to the books with no class schedules to greet them indicates that some people may have been a little too laid back this summer. Reportedly, an administrator who formerly oversaw the scheduling process was not rehired for this year. The company retained to straighten out the district's computer system and work on student scheduling spent too much time on the former and the latter was overlooked.

And so the students' "new year" starts off in the hole. Nothing new here.

As the business at hand beckons, the posts on this blog may come with a little less frequency. There may be a little less railing at the inadequacies and excesses of our local government. Hopefully because our leaders will also "buckle down" to tackle the tasks before them effectively. But that's not a given.

Hopefully, too, there will be more positives things to chat about. The Thunder have won the first in their "Best of Five" Conference Championship series against Portland. Maybe this is the year that we'll make it past the first round of playoffs. The local hockey team has a new moniker (Trenton Devils) honoring their shared ownership with the NHL's New Jersey Devils.

The arts scene in Trenton is readying a harvest of events: watercolors at Ellarslie; Photography at Gallery 125; "Dangerous Woman" at the Mercer County College Gallery in West Windsor; and more.

Let's hope the scheduling snafu (and you do remember the derivation of that term as an old armed forces acronym for Situation Normal: All F****d Up)gets corrected before the Christmas decorations appear in the stores and the turkeys are displaying their oven roasted tans on our dining room tables.

Happy New Year!

Not What I Had Expected

The original purpose of this blog was to post musings on life in and around Trenton. The idea was to be a digital representation of what one might be thinking about while observing the world. Hopefully there would be some discussion (via comments), but mostly just an expression of those rambling ideas and fleeting inspirations that come from everyday experience.

The blog was never intended to be as political as it has gotten. And it wasn't meant to dwell on the ample negatives and sometimes preposterous situations that seem to arise every few minutes.

So it isn't really surprising that there was an unsettling sense of disappointment sitting on my shoulders after reading this morning's newspapers. No murders overnight (thankfully!); no additional Newark Police Department refugee retirees landing lucrative gigs here in T-town (so far); and no new revelations about underhanded doings in the school system or city hall. Even our city council members seem to be at peace with each other for the moment.

There were also no ads of public apology from outspoken citizens to thin-skinned public officials in either of the local dailies (but there is a very clever advertisement for placing one in the September Downtowner). We're all waiting with baited breath for that next development.

There was a dog-baiting incident in Mill Hill Park last evening that left one animal seriously wounded (and reportedly it had to be euthanized) and could probably be expounded upon in this space. Certainly that is fodder for thought and commentary, but we don't want to rile up one of Trenton's "most decorated scribes" and get another sermon on how Trenton (especially here in "toney" Mill Hill) don't care about the right things or the right people.

Maybe inspiration can be found elsewhere this morning.

For your consideration

Best line of the day (so far)
Commenting on the story in this morning's Times about Mayor Palmer participating in an Esquire fashion pictorial featuring members of the Conference of Mayors a poster to the NJ.com Trenton forum said "It's a shame he takes more time picking out quality clothes than School Board members." ---Eddie353

Dressed for Excess
On that story, does it surprise anyone that Mayor Palmer would volunteer to take part in this pictorial that will just happen to hit the newsstands one month before the Conference of Mayors holds meetings in Trenton? He says in the article it's all about Trenton, but we suspect it's really all about Doug.

School Board Approves New Positions; Changes Governance Style
News reports stated that Trenton's School Board voted to create three new positions and to do away with the four year old process that held the Board more to an advisory position than hands-on management. As someone who sat through the presentations explaining the process, I thought it made sense and held promise for our failing school system. As an outsider it is hard to say for sure, but one wonders if the process failed because it was inherently flawed or if it wasn't followed. That is, was it too difficult for members of the School Board to keep their hands off and did their meddling get in the way of education professionals doing better?

Good Sense
Mill Hill resident Dan Dodson has posted some thoughts about the recent vandalism and crime in general in Trenton.

He's absolutely correct that these kids and/or their parents or whatever adult is responsible for them should be held accountable for their misdeeds. Monetary restitution (a lot of City resources went into the cleanup effort not to mention the police work in identifying and capturing the suspects), community service, and a face-to-face apology to those whose property was damaged are in order.

The kids should have the opportunity to learn that there are consequences to their actions and that when they act responsibly they will be treated fairly and given second chances.

More Blue
Trenton's Police Academy will graduate 24 officers this month. Among them will be the son of a current TPD Detective. If the son is half as good a cop as his father, we will all benefit.

Assuming all 24 graduates stay with Trenton, it should help ease the manpower crunch and hopefully ease the mandatory overtime that has been exhausting and demoralizing patrols. Of course, the new officers will need seasoning (we often overlook the significance of losing years of experience when our officers retire or transfer to other departments) but the feet on the ground will help.

Further word, mainly through Councilman Coston's blog, is that the new class starting in November will have 50 members. We may be on our way to having a full compliment of officers in the TPD once again.

Kudos to all the individuals and groups who spoke up and contacted the administration and elected representatives about the Police manpower issue. It would appear your voices were heard.

Anybody Home?
Well it is August and there still doesn't seem to be anyone living in the Broad Street Bank building.

What's the holdup now?