Guest Column
Working together is the only way borough can help students achieve educational success
W. David Tarver
Guest Column
Working together is the only way borough can help students achieve educational success
Last week, 40 to 50 members and supporters of the Red Bank Education and Development Initiative attended a Red Bank Board of Education meeting. These supporters all came out to express support for the initiative and the schools, and more importantly to ask the Red Bank borough schools to re-engage with the initiative effort.
Included in this group were parents, teachers, representatives of community organizations, and borough officials. Several of these people spoke to the board to indicate why, from their own perspectives, they felt it was important for the Red Bank schools to participate with the initiative.
I want to publicly thank all of the people who gave up an evening to appear at the school board meeting. The hours they spent that night are just an indication of the many hours initiative volunteers have contributed in support of Red Bank children. I also want to publicly thank Dr. John Krewer, the recently appointed superintendent of schools, and the Board of Education for hosting us that night and for accommodating our presentation.
Why were we there? Because the key issue facing Red Bank today is the success of its students. According to 2000-01 New Jersey state test results, roughly three of four Red Bank children leave the eighth grade without being proficient in one or more subject areas.
This places them at a severe competitive disadvantage in high school, where they face high-performing students from Little Silver, Shrewsbury and other communities.
At the meeting, we heard excellent presentations from Dr. Krewer, Dr. Betsy Keshish (curriculum director) and teachers regarding sweeping changes the district is embarking upon to improve results for borough school students. Everyone I spoke to afterward was impressed and encouraged by these presentations.
We applaud Dr. Krewer for his stated commitment to educating all children well. We also applaud him for embracing all eight of the initiative’s recommendations for Red Bank schools, and all seven of the points in our stakeholder pledge.
The board, administration and staff are to be commended for taking important steps to improve the schools. Sweeping changes were needed, and sweeping changes are now being made.
I am sure borough school officials are aware these changes are only the beginning, and the challenge now will be to make the changes stick, and to infuse an entire community with the idea that we can and must achieve quality learning for all Red Bank students.
That brings us to some key questions. Will we work together as we seek to bring about change? Will Red Bank organizations, including the borough schools, the Red Bank Charter School, borough government and community organizations confer and coordinate with each other regarding improvement plans and strategies? Will we work together for the benefit of Red Bank children, even as we may disagree on particular strategies or tactics?
If the answer to the above questions is "yes," then we may indeed have a new day in Red Bank.
W. David Tarver is president of the Red Bank Education and Development Initiative