Board of Education Meeting 11/17/2014

By Margaret Sararco

We are fighting to maintain a creative approach to teaching in our classrooms. Everyday we are fighting for our students.  Things are so rosy when we come to the Board of Education meetings, but our truth, the one we live everyday, is different than that.

There is an ever-growing climate of harassment, intimidation and silence. We see it here at these meetings.  If you want more clarity on what goes on in the district, I am asking that you invite schools to present at the meetings again.  Otherwise,  you exclude the educators’ voices that do not reside in Montclair.  Silence is golden, is an out-dated proverb and has no place in our progressive town.

There is a disconnect between information shared with parents and teachers.

We still do not have quality professional development, instead we have trainings that many are asked to turnkey without sufficient understanding about what they are training.  Then we receive an onslaught of documents from Central Services.

I am saddened to report that this is not the town I moved to 22 years ago. The focus of the district no longer embraces programs we held dear to us. Instead its focus on data mining, testing,  testing protocols and testing in general are draining our students, teachers and parents alike. We do not have any complaints with our son’s teachers, who work tirelessly to meet their students’ needs, but teachers are burning out all over the district. Morale is low, ladies and gentlemen.

Enough, is enough. Stop trying to break us. We need the support of the Montclair Board of Education to change this dynamic.

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