This year, the team had serious discussions about whether we would shut down, keep doing what we were doing, or expand. Given the level of disinformation and the collusion of powerful groups in this community around issues, we did not feel we had a choice but to continue. There is no way that accurate information would get to anyone about the local government if we did not exist – which is why – if you pay attention – all the predictable voices are coming out of the woodwork again.
We feel we can’t give this up until both bodies of government show a genuine tolerance for disagreement, run candidates who provide detailed/specific proposals, demonstrate real transparency, and the vindictive and misinformed attacks on residents who question or criticize those in office stop.
Our third year was productive. The community elected two pro-transparency, pro-evidence-based decision-making candidates to the School Board, and a highly problematic Superintendent stepped down.
These changes weren’t about influence – they were about facts.
They were not about vengeance but creating a community deterrent to government officials and high-level administrators making harmful decisions behind closed doors – not just in our community but throughout the state.
And yes, communities heard the message loud and clear as surrounding districts carefully discussed impactful changes to their schools in detail and well in advance.
BHCW (now NJ21st) reported on the modest turnaround in academic proficiencies that we fought tooth and nail for two years ago. During this time, many of the same special interests and political voices bemoaning our existence today dismissed our concerns until new numbers rolled in, and the trouble was evident. We advocated for and succeeded in having the District include proficiencies in its planning documents and plan of action. The District finally saw the first signs that we are moving in the right direction for our students, as reported in this year’s NJ Performance Report Results.
In that process, we exposed the failure of Building Thinking Classrooms even more, and the District reported scaling it back significantly, comically denying that we were ever a Thinking Classroom district.
We provided extensive coverage of the transportation issue, detailing the history of hidden decision-making, unclear criteria, and working families having to pay $1000 while other families paid nothing for no rhyme or reason. We are proud of the coverage and attention we gave to this issue. We exposed the layers of disinformation, fought back the false arguments of former BOE Members and yet another “report that does not exist” (ranked transportation list), and provided the public with a clear framework to provide feedback with one resident even taking the State Department of Education to Court and winning. While we do not collectively agree on the decision reached, we saw more information being brought to light than would have occurred without coverage of the issue.
We were one of the first outlets to raise the alarm on the attack on OPRA and partnered with various organizations throughout the state. For our part, we initiated email and petition drives, wrote several letters to legislators, and provided coverage of the hearings in Trenton. While our collective efforts successfully fought back the harmful bill two times – it passed on a third pitch as the state waits to find out whether Governor Murphy harms his legacy by signing this bill.
We continued our coverage of the District budget, exposed the Business administrator’s decision to submit our Audit without Board or Public review, and provided parents with a spending comparison to other Districts and a breakdown of where their money was going. We demonstrated very questionable decisions that should have prioritized student achievement for a District with the highest per-pupil cost compared to other comparable Districts.
We also informed the public about the CMS Field discussions, the Land Use Ordinance, Westminster, and other issues.
As the number of contributors and users of our content increases, we expect the machines to step up their attacks. Part of it is fear—this is the one outlet they do not control. We don’t rely on their money or influence and don’t care about attending their events or getting their awards – we put everyday people above those in positions of power.
We are NJ21st, and, for this year at least, the light will remain on.
