March 21, 2010
Before I make another stroke on this keyboard, I wanted to make sure you are all aware of the Trenton School Board’s meeting schedule. Meetings are held the second and fourth Monday of each month, at the Board headquarters, at 108 North Clinton Avenue. The meeting on the second Monday is the Board conference, starting at 6:30pm. During this meeting, agenda items for the fourth Monday’s meeting is established. Also, any questions raised during meetings of the Board’s various committees in the weeks leading up that second Monday are introduced. Reports and presentations on anything from truancy, to a new computer system a company may be trying to sell to the District are usually given at this meeting. The agenda agreed upon is carried out during the meeting on the fourth Monday, which starts at 7pm. The public, especially parents of children attending Trenton Public Schools, is invited and urged to voice opinion and ask questions in an intelligent, non-disruptive manner.
That reminder given brings me to an admission: along with getting a firsthand look at one half of the checks and balances that is the decision-making machine for our City’s schools, it will also be my first opportunity to watch my mother-in-law, Diane Campbell, PhD., preside over a Board meeting. That relationship, the result of my marriage to Dr. Campbell’s first-born, Monifa, came up during my first meeting with the managers and writers at The Trentonian last week. We all laughed about it, for I never thought who my mother-in-law was could have any bearing on the subjects on which I intend to write, or the manner in which I will seek input from citizens and professionals and get answers to questions that arise as a result of my research or responses from all of you. Then L.A. Parker, whose journalistic insight and skill is a model to be followed by yours truly, said, “You know you gotta include that?” Editor Aaron Nobel concurred, not to name drop, but to maintain the transparency that will make this space an objective, above-board opportunity to get answers and exchange ideas. And I can’t see her ducking me, her first son-in-law, after bringing a Board meeting to a close, for I plan on attending a few.
Skip Harrison is an educator, freelance journalist, and parent who resides in Trenton, New Jersey.
