franksinatra
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On the article Meet Zak Koeske, New Editor Of Hoboken Patch
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On the article School District Loses Some Summer Programs Due to Budget Cuts
franksinatra
12:18 pm on Friday, May 31, 2013
ReplyPuzzle -- a little googling would have told you that SPMT/I&RS stands for School-Parent Management Team/Intervention & Referral Services. So as I suspected, three of these charges are for year-end dinners for the volunteer parent-teacher committees that each of the schools have. Or they're for the teams or committees that handle intervention and referrals of students--in other words, special education students. The other charge covers a year-long period and, as I said, probably covers meetings with the super or any of his administrators with outside officials or applicants. There's no indication that any board members were at these dinners, but even if the super and the board president, for example, met for dinner to discuss school board policy, that's certainly legitimate. Under Kids First, KF board members have been known to do breakfast, lunch and, yes, even dinner with the various supers we've had since 2009. There's certainly nothing wrong with that--it's perfectly acceptable as long as the expense don't get out of control. The expenses you list here certainly are not out of control.
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On the Blog Post Ways for Hoboken Teachers to Save in the Classroom
franksinatra
2:48 pm on Wednesday, May 29, 2013
ReplyWhat are you talking about? I've never been on the BOE, or any BOE! And I certainly don't hate teachers. I just think their union is far too powerful. The budget problems in just about any town are the result of teachers' union getting too big a share of the pie. You could argue that the real problem is the board, which as we see year after year in Hoboken, caves in to whatever demands the unions make.
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On the article School District Loses Some Summer Programs Due to Budget Cuts
franksinatra
2:48 pm on Wednesday, May 29, 2013
ReplyNot sure what your point is with these citations. Are you saying the old guard board members regularly gathered for steak dinners--and probably some red wine--and had a grand old time charging it all to the taxpayers? That would be a new allegation. The allegation has been that this happened once and somewhat longer ago. Anyway, as you must know, it's illegal for the majority of a board to gather outside of an advertised meeting, so the idea that the old guard was gathering at such a high-profile location as F&J's seems unlikely. And only one of these dates is a Tuesday. In any event, all sorts of expenses are labeled Hoboken BOE, not just outlandish dinners. Perhaps the super was interviewing an applicant for deputy super or BA, or perhaps entertaining a visiting state superintendent of education, or some other visiting dignitary or delegation. Most of these look like school-year-end or year-end parties for parent/teacher/admin committees. Theresa Minutillo was on the board back then and received a copy of each year's audit, so if these dinners really were for old guard board members, she certainly would've raised a stink, especially in her re-election campaign the following spring. But she didn't, probably because this had nothing to do with board members. But you raise a good question: why is anyone from the schools going to F&J's and charging the taxpayers?
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On the Blog Post Ways for Hoboken Teachers to Save in the Classroom
franksinatra
5:52 pm on Sunday, May 26, 2013
Replywhat are you talking about? Hoboken teachers don't pay for school supplies, not when we spend $24,000 a student, the second-highest-spending k-12 district in the state. Patch -- this is bogus. This is just a generic post that you're running all over the country and subbing in each town's name. and while I'm at it--some teachers in some towns may be forced to buy their own school supplies, but they have only themselves and their union to blame. If teachers weren't so greedy in shaking down taxpayers for enormous salaries, on average, and especially benefits--grabbing the lion's share of the school budget--there would be money available for supplies.
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On the article School District Loses Some Summer Programs Due to Budget Cuts
franksinatra
8:02 am on Friday, May 24, 2013
ReplyOne more thing, I am. I know that Kids First likes to perpetuate myths like this steak dinner fable that you mention here, but repeating these stories kills your credibility on anything else you say. What you're referring to has nothing to do with the school board, either under KF or the old machine. A long time ago--at least 12 or 15 years ago--a committee of teachers (and perhaps parents, but not board members) that had met throughout the year in some sort of unpaid advisory role--went out to a year-end dinner. Perhaps steak was on the menu, perhaps a few of them ordered steak, but no board members were involved. Not exactly a scandal.
As for "playing in AC at taxpayer expense," you're wrong about Leon. Leon and your other KF buddies have taken full advantage of the annual School Boards Association convention in Atlantic City--paid for in toto by the taxpayers. The machine did it for years and the so-called "reformers" of KF continued to feed a this trough without batting an eye.
And speaking of Leon and ethics, you should be careful about who you're defending. You must have missed this on 411: "He’s under investigation for getting his apartment painted at a discount after helping the guy–a pal of his from his coffee shop hangout–get the contract for painting Demarest. Hard to tell whether his board career will end in handcuffs but it certainly would be fitting for this intolerant and obnoxious loudmouth who consistently votes to hurt the schools and raise taxes."
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On the article School District Loses Some Summer Programs Due to Budget Cuts
franksinatra
8:02 am on Friday, May 24, 2013
ReplyI am: Of course I saw that Patch story in Feb. I commented on it at the time. Why don't you make sure you know what you're talking about before YOU fly off the handle! In my comment then, I cast serious doubt that the schools were losing any money due to sequestration, and now, 3 months into sequestration, that serious doubt remains. As far as I can tell, Hoboken has not yet lost any money to sequestration and neither have most other school districts around the country. Hoboken is budgeting $425,000 less in federal funding for the 2013-14 year (not $600,000, as you mistakenly say), but Toback hasn't been told he's losing that money. He's merely budgeting conservatively. Accounting guidelines say that each year, you should budget for only 80% of the aid you got last year. Toback is budgeting for exactly 80%--we got $2.25m for this year (not sure why you think that's not a little amount of money in a $64.3m budget bloated with easily $20m-$30m of waste) and he's budgeted for $1.8m next year. But no one has told him that the schools are losing any money--often more money than expected comes in throughout the year. So you're wrong--we're not "clearly" getting less than expected. In this current year's budget, we actually got $475,000 less in federal aid, even without a sequestration. But this year Toback and Leon Gold decided to make a big push for a tax hike (being the tax-and-spenders that they are) so they sized on sequestration as an excuse. It's bogus-don't fall for it.
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On the article School District Loses Some Summer Programs Due to Budget Cuts
franksinatra
11:29 pm on Wednesday, May 22, 2013
ReplyToback has no credibility on this issue. Claire--you must make him provide evidence that Hoboken has lost any federal money. There is no hint of that from what I can see. He'll use sequestration as an excuse for tax hikes and cutbacks forever unless he's called out. Hoboken gets so little federal money that even if there is a cut, there's no way it could be $450,000. And even if it is, how about cutting some of the vast waste in the school budget--the overstaffing, the bloated salaries and benefits, a football team full of ringers that spends like it's an NFL team, the revolving door administrators, bonuses for Toback (never mind he never meets his goals). Toback and Board President Leon Gold (and don't forget their partner in crime Irene Sobolov) just rammed through a completely unnecessary 4% tax hike. To fool the public into going along, they made up three bogus reasons--alleged sequestration cuts, lunchroom deficits that turned out to be phony, and money to cover another grade of kids at Hola charter school (which they vastly inflated--they budgeted an extra $1 million when perhaps $300,000 was needed). When are Toback and Kids First going to be held accountable for misleading us over and over?
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On the article Local Mayors Oppose 10 Percent County Tax Increase
franksinatra
8:20 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2013
ReplyDemo -- you obviously didn't go to one of these three best schools because you never learned how to read. Who said anything about closing those schools down? Where did you get that from? I'm talking about reining in their outrageous costs. They spend more than three times the state average. There's obviously tons of waste. Let's get their budgets somewhere closer to the $12,000 to $15,000 per pupil range. Money has nothing to do with how good those schools are. Have you've seen their facilities? They're good because the brightest kids in the county go there. They'll still go there after the layers of fat are trimmed. Or maybe, Demo, you're in favor of the 10% county tax increase and wish that Dawn shut up about it???
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On the article Local Mayors Oppose 10 Percent County Tax Increase
franksinatra
12:16 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2013
ReplyGood going, Dawn! We need you and the other mayors to hang tough against the county on this one. One place the county can cut: the outlandish money that's spent on the three county schools--Hi-Tech High, County Prep and the Explore 2000 middle school. In Hoboken we think the $24,000 per pupil cost are out of control. But that's nothing compared with the $40,000-$45,000 the county is throwing at its schools, and they don't even have a sports program anymore. The schools are patronage cesspools and without an elected school board, no one is really minding the store.
franksinatra
7:27 pm on Monday, June 3, 2013
That's interesting, Indiecom, about the memorial for the fire victims. Thanks for sharing that. It's a very worthwhile idea. One thing that's never been clear about this sad episode is exactly what spurred these fires. Some say gentrification but that seems unsatisfactory because the fires were not in the gentrifying parts of town. Some say rent control, which seems more likely because it had started just a short time earlier and was taking away a lot of the value of landlords' property. Others say the fires were set in revenge as feuds between landlords played out. Perhaps the museum can delve into this if it puts together an exhibit.
And welcome Zak. You'll have great fun sorting through all the stories here. And ignore the mostly silly criticism of Claire. Any reporter worth her salt is going to collect some enemies.