This is an open letter that caught my attention on Facebook, directed to the state monitor who is now assigned to the Belleville school district, Thomas Egan.
The author, Richard Bini, kindly agreed to have it re-posted here to share with everyone.
On a side note, anyone who would like to submit an open letter to NutleyWatch for consideration is welcome to get in touch with us using the Contact page.
Dear Mr. Egan:
I went to a rally Monday evening in support of the Belleville Teachers’ Association (I am not a teacher now, but I taught in and managed a corporate education group for 15 years). What the school administration is doing in this town is just despicable. Not only have they exceeded their budget by over 4 million dollars, but they are trying to bust the teachers’ union by suspending its president (without pay) on trumped up charges and trying to take away his tenure.
The schools in this town are in dire need of books, supplies, desks, etc., but the school board carelessly ignored those basic needs in order to purchase and install a 2 million dollar surveillance system which requires teachers and students to carry with them at all times an ID badge equipped with a GPS chip. (George Orwell couldn’t have made this stuff up!).
This system is intrusive to the point of having the teachers lounges monitored with both video AND audio. It also monitors classrooms the same way. I can think of no other logical reason other than to spy on the teachers’ and kids’ activities and conversations throughout the day. The system offers no protection from school invasion (its alleged purpose) other than to video tape any carnage that might happen.
These are only the most obvious offenses though. The shameless nepotism and indefensible hiring and disciplinary practices of this administration are, at best, embarrassing, if not illegal. All of this chaos can’t help but undermine our children’s education. It is an embarrassment to our teachers, to our town, it lowers property values, and has basically made the Belleville School system a laughing stock in this state. I am a graduate of the Belleville school system and have been a Belleville resident for 57 years and through all the petty political “scandals” and tribulations during that time, I cannot say that I was ever embarrassed to say I was from Belleville. I am now!
I’ll not make any inflammatory accusations of illegal or criminal conduct that could certainly be speculated in this mess, however any other explanation would have to indicate abject incompetence, callous indifference, stunning ignorance, or outright stupidity, none of which are acceptable for this or any other school administration. This has to be remedied NOW! The state has appointed Mr. Thomas Egan, to oversee the business of this administration (another embarrassment for Belleville).
Please Mr. Egan, help us get our schools system back to caring about education. We citizens of Belleville are IRATE and have had enough.
Our kids deserve better and we, the tax payers demand better.
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