While Dr. Tara Beams is busy writing a letter to the state Commissioner of Education and seemingly outright lying that she is representing all three boroughs and their boards of education involved in the school regionalization issue, parents of children in all three schools in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands are still highly dissatisfied with how Dr. Beams oversees the education as superintendent and fearful nothing is being done to address their concerns.
Parents are also fearful of making their concerns public, so more and more of them are writing VenividiScripto and asking for help in making public their belief. Beams is definitely not the right person to provide the best education for their children.
Kris Frazier is one concerned parent who not only has written to the board of education but also shared her letter with VeniVidiScripto as a last resort effort to have someone address their concerns she has for education in the local system. Some of those concerns were included in an earlier story.
Ms. Frazier, in trying to follow the new rules put in place that all concerns have to go through channels before they reach the board, directed a letter to Dr. Beams and, dissatisfied with having to write the very person she was criticizing then wrote a second letter to the board expanding on her original letter for which she had never received any formal response.
In this letter, Mrs. Frazier accepted that the board could only respond to some of her concerns and while Dr. Beams did respond to a letter Mrs. Frazier sent, Mrs. Frazier pointed out having the superintendent answer the letter complaining about herself “is a non-biased review of what’s happening in the school.”
Stressing information she is still seeking, the parent said “It is a fact our community is unique …- this school and this district are special.” But, she pointed out, “there is no emphasis put on the school environment and the perception of that environment for current and future parents.”
As examples of her concern, she wrote that programs have been removed, teachers are leaving and her fear that in the Atlantic Highlands elementary school, students will not be prepared for middle school.” She hastened to add that fact “is not by any fault of the teachers” stressing it is rather “because of the system put in place with the current leadership.” The explanation that the problem is definitely at the very top of the level, and the teachers are not to blame nor are they inferior. That has been the hallmark of almost every letter VeniVidiScripto has received form parents in the local schools.
Mrs. Frazier described the system as “choking the air out of a school that was soaring.” She added that the reason parents are ” pulling their children from the district is because we know what is possible here and we don’t see it returning.”
Expressing further concerns, to the board of education, Mrs. Frazier added in her letter that “no programs have been added that make this district competitive for high school…you’ve taken away the programs at the elementary school level that did enable children to be challenged.” She continued “You’ve taken away our programs in theater and art. We shouldn’t be taking programs away because students leave. We should be adding more programs to make it possible for them to stay.”
Looking at local school district history, Mrs. Frazier pointed out the district has not been elevated in its academic platform the last two years but rather an environment was created that leaves no space for parents, teachers or students to have input into moving the district in the right direction.
She pointed out that when she expressed these concerns to Dr. Beams, the answer was it is entirely the teacher’s responsibility to provide differentiated instruction, though in the past it was supported by programs at the school.
She can blame the former superintendent, Mrs Frazier said, but pointed out to board members ” it is uniquely Dr Beam’s responsibility to understand the standard and spirit of the district she works for. And to respect it and push it forward. ” She said the superintendent explained that the focus on gifted students is inappropriate, teachers have a lack of specialized teaching certificates, staff scheduling has gaps are the reasons for the structure change in the 5th and 6th grades.
“All I hear as a parent are inadequate explanations.”
This week, VeniVidiScripto also heard from parents of students in the Highlands elementary school reiterating the same complaints. One parent wrote “the same holds true at Highlands,” citing the math curriculum is horrendous, science is treated as special, and even worse, “history would be non existent except for a handful of resourceful teachers”
That parent agree that “the children are capable of so much more, the teachers are as well, if given the chance.”
In addition to blaming the boards and the superintendent a Highlands parent added her belief that “if the state Department of Education were not such a bureaucratic machine, we parents would be heard.”
The administrative leadership of the district is too heavy-handed, the parent wrote, and as a result, the teachers are suffocated, the very capable principals in the school cannot run their schools to the best of their ability, and in the end, it is the children who are suffering and looking towards a dismal future, should Dr. Beams continue as superintendent.”
Let the board members know what you think
https://hhrs.tridistrict.org/board_office/board_of_education_members
https://hhrs.tridistrict.org/board_office/board_of_education_members
