President Walser moved to dismiss the complaint, as frivolous and requested sanctions. The Ethics Commission received responses from the parties on the motion and issued it’s ruling on May 3rd.
Decision of the Ethics Commision
The Decision of the State Ethics Commission indicates that they denied the motion (to dismiss the complaint as frivolous) and denied any requests for sanctions..
Based on the foregoing, and in reviewing the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party (Complainant), the Commission voted to denythe Motion to Dismiss in its entirety. Notwithstanding this determination, the Commission notes that, because the Complainant agreed to voluntarily withdraw all allegations against Respondent Arjumand, Respondent Walser is the only remaining Respondent. The Commission also voted to find that the Complaint is not frivolous, and to deny Respondents’ request for sanctions.
The Teaneck Board of Education hired Whitehall Associates, Inc. to conduct an independent analysis of the effects of new development on the Teaneck Schools. The analysis (available below) projects enrollment based on particular projects and to the overall school system through the 2023-24 school year. Some of the numbers are projections (as the pre-k and K classes haven’t been born yet), but the rest are based on trends and the scientific methodology is outlined in the report and consistent with NJDOE practices.
From the Report:
Whitehall Associates, Inc. is considered a qualified demographer by the New Jersey Department of Education
Whitehall Associates, Inc. states that the demographic report it prepared for the Teaneck Board of Education was prepared in
compliance with the appropriate law and administrative code.
Bernard Piaia, at the NJDOE Office of School Facilities, has agreed to accept this report for review and consideration, if it is submitted in its complete final form, with an original signature, along with the NJDOE cohort survival worksheets for the Long Range Facility Plan.\
The original of this report is on electronic file at the offices of Whitehall Associates, In c. and is available for examination by the appropriate
authorities.
Whitehall Associates was retained by the Teaneck Board of Education to prepare a demographic study for the Teaneck Public School District. The information in this demographic report is suitable for inclusion in any document to be forwarded to the New Jersey Department of Education for matters concerning school facilities.
For those that want the bottom line up front: The Teaneck school enrollment number for total students in 2018-19 is currently 3,504 students.
In 2023-24, that number is projected to be 3,599 students. An increase of 95 students across 13 grades.
We have received questions from residents regarding several recent actions taken by the Board of Education. This post will focus on the lease of Christ Church by the Township for its pre-k program.
At the last regular Board of Education meeting of 2018, the Board approved item #19 on the agenda:
Excerpt from Dec. 12, 2018 Board of Ed agenda
Teaneck Today has confirmed that this approval, for a lease to rent the Christ Church for use as a pre-school was done without the Board of Education trustees having seen any lease documents.
Having three kids, the parks and recreation facilities in Town are a large part of our family’s life. We moved to Teaneck for the programs and the commitment to the open space it provided. But as we grow, our kids, our parks, and our greater community should be permitted to adapt and grow as well.
A mini-library sits on Warwick Avenue in Teaneck
Signs for parks inform parents in shopping districts in MA
A mini-library available outside municipal parks in MA
One very simple proposal I brought up as a member of the Parks, Playgrounds, and Recreation Advisory Board (PPRAB) was to add signage to our residential areas indicating locations of parks as well as mini-libraries for residents to share books.
Some residents have already taken this up themselves. On the right, you can see a mini-library set up with a bench on Warwick Ave. here in Teaneck.
We have wonderful facilities and many of them are underutilized throughout the Township. Let’s harness available technology to let people know is available and what the Township has to offer.
Another proposal is to adopt an online sign-up system for programs in the Rodda Center and for parks around the Township. As demand for use of our Votee Parks sportsplex and other areas increase, it becomes increasingly complicated to know what is available, when, and how to request use of facilities.
Let Children Play
As my children start to grow into their own independence, they have started to ask to walk to the park alone.
When is the right time to start allowing our kids to have that independence and who should be in charge of making those decisions?
Teaneck is hardly unique when it comes to this question and in some towns, merely allowing your children to walk to the park has led to arrests, the involvement of children’s services and worse.
I reached out to the Township Manager, the Chief of Police and the School Superintendent to determine how Teaneck deals with the age of kids and the parents’ ability to decide if they are old enough to venture out on their own. The responses can be found here: School Superindent Response Police Chief Response
As a member of the PPRAB, we have heard about issues that have surfaced over the years when students and children were accosted in parks and questions were raised as to whether they were permitted to be in the parks alone. I made a motion, which was unanimously put forward to council to consider a change to the code which would enable parents, to be the ones that get to determine the age in which their children were mature enough to play unsupervised.
The proper role of government here is to defer to parents.
If parents, in their role as custodians of their children, feel that their child is old enough to earn a degree of independence, we must defer to their decision. This doesn’t mean that police and other services cannot deal with legitimate and well-founded cases where danger or neglect exists. But it does mean that we should let borderline cases, in which judgment calls could be made, default to the will of parents.
Since the decision by the PPRAB to advise Council to create such an ordinance, Utah has created the first legislative code to enable this on a Statewide basis. You can read about the efforts on the LetGrow website.
We should foster our kids’ independence and the parents’ role in crafting it. Children live in our world and it’s a very safe one (statistically, every crime metric is down from when we were kids).
Let’s give our kids the same opportunity to play that we had growing up. We all deserve that.
