JC Board of Education's resolution endorses partnership with PCUE to improve environmental safety

Please click on the link to enlage and read the resolution.

PCUE AND UMDNJ APPLY FOR FEDERAL GRANT TO IMPROVE ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY IN JC PUBLIC SCHOOLS

PCUE AND UMDNJ APPLY FOR FEDERAL GRANT TO IMPROVE

ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY IN JC PUBLIC SCHOOLS

In follow up with our healthy school campaign, an application was submitted to the federal government (National Institute of Health) for funds for a collaborative project between SEOC-PCUE and UMDNJ (University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ) School of Public Health/Safe Schools Program. The centerpiece of the this project is community involvement in improving health and environmental safety of the our schools.

This funding would support a four-year project that consist of three main components:

1. Data Gathering: Collecting data on the health-related school environment that we don't already have clear information on
2. Education: Based on data collected, educating staff, parents, and students about the importance and results of this investigation
3. Using what we learn and find: Making recommendations and, if necessary, mounting political pressure, to get the school district to fix potential health hazards
   

The data collection piece will have two main parts:

1. We will use the newly-adopted health-and-safety school report-card proposed by PCUE. UMDNJ-Safe Schools would train parents, community members school staff who volunteer to conduct walkthrough in the schools in teams using the report-card.
2. We would use the UMDNJ-Safe Schools scientific expertise and equipment to test dust (how much is there and what materials are in it), ventilation, temperature, and humidity. They would also train us to be able to help with this data collection too. The research would be done in a scientifically random sample of 12 elementary schools, three middle schools, and three senior high schools.

Support from School District

The success of this project partly depends on school district involvement and cooperation. With assistance from Suzanne Mack, PCUE-SEOC and Dr. Derek Shendell from UMDNJ held a meeting with a few board members, Dr. Epps, and several of his staff. This meeting was followed by a few emails and telephone conversations. At first, there was concern about parent/community involvement in school walkthrough and data collection and possible public implications for the school district. In our communications, we were able to succinctly address the reservations and concerns expressed by the school district about the project. As a result, Dr Epps agreed to write a letter of support and committed to collaborate with this project.

Jersey City Education Association Supports PCUE-UMDNJ Project

PCUE-SEOC also met with Thomas Favia, President of teacher's local union (Jersey City Education Association) to discuss the proposal and seek their support and collaboration. A second meeting took place with Roy Tamargo who heads the Health and Safety Committee of the union. He was extremely complimentary of PCUE's efforts and achievements and recommended to his union's executive board that they provide a letter of support. The union President did write a letter of support and pledged to collaborate with the project.

A third letter of support which was the easiest part was a letter from our President, LueElla McFadden!

This collaborative effort between PCUE-SEOC and the UMDNJ with support and commitment from the school district and teacher's union has been only possible because of PCUE's year-long campaign to improve health and environmental safety in JC public schools, legitimacy of our demands, outreach to the community and interested parties, and our track record to obtain tangible improvement in the schools, and support from the public.

Thanks to everyone that made the successful completion of this application possible.

Next Step: If our application is approved, our work would begin with a year of planning to start in the fall 2009. This planning we envision would be a collaborative effort among PCUE, UMDNJ, JC school district, and teacher's union.

Facility Committee of the BOE Reviews PCUE Healthy School Proposals and Develops a Framework for Progress

To Superintendent Epps and all Members of the Board of Education:

The Executive board of Parents and Communities United for Education would like to thank you for the Facility Meeting held on the 28th of January. It was the first time that we felt welcomed to any of the meetings that we've attended thus far.

We were very pleased about the outcome of the meeting. The open dialogue used for this meeting was especially appreciated and we all learned something from each other.

As you may know, we have been meeting with members of the board and we would like to continue doing this. Parents and Communities United for Education is a strong, dedicated and knowledgeable group of parents and community members to make our schools, safe, clean, and improve our academics. This is going to take a lot of work on both our sides. We won't agree all the time of course, but we also don't have to be at war.

Below you'll find our understanding of the discussion that occurred at the Facility Committee Meeting last Thursday, January 28th. We think this is a great FRAMEWORK for progress.

• The Walk through would start immediately for all forty schools.
• The State checklist and the proposed PCUE checklist will be one form.
• We were told that there was no reason that the walk through couldn't be done twice a year. Although there was no definitive commitment.
• There was openness to parent involvement in the walkthrough, including having a parent representative from each school, forming a Parent Advisory Committee, and also PCUE participation.
  
• There will be follow-up meetings.
• Parent notification was not discussed, but we understand that it will be part of the framework.
  

Again thank you.

LueElla McFadden, President
Parents and Communities Unite

2007 QSAC Report : JC School District Fails to Complete Annual Health and Safety Checklist for Each School

To see the report click on the image above:

NJ Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC), under Operation and Management regulations, requires that JC Board of Education conduct an annual evaluation for each school building using health and safety using a checklist. The report shows that JC school district is not complying with the state regulations regarding school facilities.

Board of Education Adopts PCUE Healthy School Report Card

Click on the images above to enlarge and read the report card:

Health and Safety Report Card

Beginning in October, 2008, PCUE focused its efforts around the collaborative development of a health-and-safety report card that could be used on a semi-annual basis, with the help of parents, to identify elements in the physical school environment that could negatively impact student health. With assistance from the NJ Work Environmental Council, an initial check list for a report-card was circulated by SEOC-PCUE among the members of the Jersey City Board of Education. At the urging of PCUE parents, the President of the Jersey City Board of Education, Mr. William DeRosa, who had taken an interest in the issue, drafted a sample report card to be reviewed by PCUE. Leaders of PCUE revised the report card and refined it with the help of the UMDNJ-SPH and the NJ Safe Schools Program (Dr. Shendell); the process involved three drafts between November, 2008 and January, 2009. The health-and-safety report card developed through this collaboration, which can be used as a self-administered walk-through survey by one person or a team of people in classrooms and other buildings on campus, was adopted by the Facility Committee of the Jersey City Board of Education on January 25, 2009. SEOC-PCUE's crucial role in this process revolved around generating the community interest and political will necessary to make this a priority issue for the school board, and receiving science and engineering based input from UMDNJ-SPH.

Press Advisory: We want school health and safety report card

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2002

Parents Assemble at Board of Education Meeting

6p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008

The city’s grassroots public school reform organization, Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE), will call on Jersey City Schools District Superintendent Charles T. Epps and the Jersey City Board of Education to adopt and implement PCUE’s proposal for a semi-annual health and safety report card, previously submitted. The advanced age of the city’s public school buildings – most are several decades old and some are over hundred years old -- calls for urgent attention to creating a healthy and safe school environment. A healthy school not only contributes to the comfort, health, and well-being of students but also allows students to perform better academically.

What: Parents assemble with signs in their hands to bring public attention to the need for school walkthrough and health and safety report card. Parent leaders will address the board and the public present at the meeting.

When: Thursday, Dec, 18, 2008 at 6pm

Where: School # 11, PS Martin Luther king, Jr.

886 Bergen Avenue, Jersey City 07306

Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE) is the Jersey City chapter of the Statewide Education Organizing Committee (SEOC). PCUE is a grassroots and direct action organization working to improve Jersey City public schools. Since March of this year, PCUE has launched a campaign for healthy schools. Thanks to the effort of hundreds of parents and the community at large, school officials tested all our schools for lead in the drinking water, notified parents and the community of the testing schedule and test results, and provided water coolers to all schools until the lead remediation takes place.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Luella McFadden, PCUE President: 201-918-2918

Loyda Goldston, First Vice-president: 973-204-4121

At the Board of Education meeting, parents demand health and safety report card.

On Thursday, Nov. 20, more than 30 parents and a dozen children assembled at the Board of Education meeting to tell Charles Epps, Jersey City School District Superintendent, and members of the Board of Education that parents have a right to know the health conditions of the schools their children go to. At the meeting, parents told the Board to adopt PCUE proposal for health and safety report card for each school in Jersey City.

Below you can read PCUE statement at the meeting. The pictures from the PCUE action can be viewed in the next two blogs.

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Dr. Epps, Members of the Board, Parents, and Visitors

Hello,

My name is LueElla McFadden. I am President of the Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE). I am also a great grandmother of a child in School # 38.

Dr. Epps, we received your letter yesterday (hand delivered to our office) regarding the lead remediation. We are glad that the facility department has been taking care of the lead problem and a second set of testing is planned to take place. Dr. Epps, we thank you and all board members and also all our hard working maintenance and custodial workers who do their best to keep our schools in good conditions.

One thing we would like to see happen is that we want PCUE to be notified of the progress being made in regard to the water situation. But the most important thing here is to have parents be notified through internal flyers sent home by school students and it should be done in a timely manner. This is a must. We would like you to ensure that all principals in the district have these flyers go out with the students, and we will, of course, notify all our parents that we are in contact with on a daily/weekly basis.

We would like to extend a special thanks to Mr. DeRosa, Ms. Sue Mack, Mr. Dehere and Mr. McCann who met with us to talk about our proposal regarding a Health and Safety Report Card for each school. Why is the report card important? It is important because it will ensure that the parents and students are notified and aware of the conditions of each school and to bridge the communication gap between our parents and the School District.

Our goal is to have the report card put into policy to ensure that all Jersey City schools are safe and healthy for our students. A mere adoption is not enough. We want it to be a policy so that there is accountability and that it can be enforced. We understand that there is a process involved in bringing such an idea to fruition and that it is a collaborative effort, but we need you to realize the importance of the policy to the parents.

We need you and all board members to know how important it is that parents are and must be involved in the school walk-through. We also want to make sure that this report card is issued semi-annually.

The creation of this report card is very important to all concerned. It will bring the kind of healthy and safe environment that is urgently needed in our public school system today.

Thank you and we are looking forward to working with you to make our schools a better place for all our children.