Hudson River Flow Pattern (Winter 2018)

This is a fascinating video of the flow pattern of the lower Hudson River. This video was taken during the winter of 2018 and the floating ice allows for fairly easy viewing of the surface level currents of the lower Hudson. The 34 second time lapse video covers approximately 5 hours of actual time and was recorded around January 10, 2018. 

The lower Hudson is actually a tidal estuary, with tidal influence extending as far as the Federal Dam in Troy. There are about two high tides and two low tides per day. As the tide rises, the tidal current moves northward, taking enough time that part of the river can be at high tide while another part can be at the bottom of its low tide.



Strong tides make parts of New York Harbor difficult and dangerous to navigate. During the winter, ice floes may drift south or north, depending upon the tides. The Mahican name of the river represents its partially estuarine nature: muh-he-kun-ne-tuk means "the river that flows both ways." Due to tidal influence from the ocean extending to Troy, NY, freshwater discharge is only about 17,400 cubic feet (490 m3) per second on average. The mean fresh water discharge at the river's mouth in New York is approximately 21,900 cubic feet (620 m3) per second.

NJ Students Participate in Active Shooter Drill: An active shooter drill was held in Hoboken High School Wednesday.

Active Shooter Drill- Hoboken High School (May 23, 2018)

On Wednesday, May 23, the Hoboken Police Department, in partnership with The Hoboken Board of Education, conducted a school safety drill at Hoboken High School. This was a training exercise for first responders, school staff, and students. Various public safety resources were utilized during the drill. 
Some of the drill was reported on by WNBC-New York:



The role of active shooter drills and the impact they have on children is becoming an area of research over the past few years.

This from a recent article in The Atlantic Monthly--- Of course, general lockdown and disaster drills have a long history; a generation of Americans came of age hiding under desks from nuclear bombs. While the idea of such a maneuver protecting a person from a bomb blast or nuclear fallout became fodder for jokes, the drills themselves had insidious effects on kids’ senses of safety. Some teachers reported that students’ artwork changed to feature mushroom clouds and sometimes the child’s own death, bringing a pervasive sense of danger into the places where kids most need to feel safe.

Despite some similarities to natural-disaster and Cold War drills, active-shooter drills also mean exposing kids to the idea that at any point, someone they know may try to kill them.

Active Shooter Drill-- Hoboken High School May 23, 2018

“It’s good to do emergency drills, but active shooters are not a drill anyone should have to do,” says Meredith Corley, who taught math in Colorado in the aftermath of Columbine. “It re-traumatizes kids who have experienced violence. Getting the kids settled back into the work of learning after lockdown drills is a nightmare. That mind-set has no place in a learning environment.”

“I was slightly too young for bomb drills, but in greater Kansas City, tornado drills were de rigueur,” says Lily Alice, a Midwesterner born in 1965. “We did have tornados now and then. The difference, of course, is that no one stockpiles them to use against other people, and weather forecasts mitigated some fear.”

Colleen Derkatch, an associate professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, studies how we assess risk when it comes to our health. “The more prepared we are, the more heightened our sense of risk,” she told me. “And one potential effect we haven’t considered is how these kinds of preparedness activities affect kids psychologically, and could increase a sense of feeling at risk. They really expand the ways in which we feel increasingly under siege.”

Active Shooter Drill-- Hoboken High School May 23, 2018

To a large degree-- the entire country is feeling their way in the dark when it comes to the issue of school shootings and how to prevent them. Active shooter drills are certainly part of the "new normal" in New Jersey and around the country. Intentions are certainly good and well meaning. Hopefully, additional research may offer insights into these drills, their impact, and how our children can be best protected. 

Full Complaint: New Jersey Law Codifies School Segregation, Lawsuit Says

Proposed Flood Wall Along Observer Highway to Limit Flood Impact (2018)

It appears that the growing concern over institutional and systemic racism in the Hoboken School District may be more substantial than some members of the district would like to admit or confront. Regardless, it is clear that issues of segregation initially heard in Maplewood, echoed in Hoboken are now openly discussed across the State of New Jersey as a recently filed lawsuit makes claim. There appears to be little doubt that Hoboken will play at least some sort of role in the coming litigation. This "little story" that began in Hoboken a few months ago at Board of Education meetings is now becoming state and national news as this story has gotten picked up by major media outlets. -Dr. Petrosino

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A lawsuit filed by a civil rights coalition claims racial segregation in New Jersey schools persists more than six decades after the Supreme Court ruled the practice unconstitutional. The Latino Action Network, the New Jersey chapter of the NAACP and others unveiled their lawsuit against the state Thursday. It was announced on the 64th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling that struck down separate-but-equal schools. The lawsuit cites a UCLA civil rights report and contends New Jersey has one of "the most segregated public school systems in the country." The plaintiffs say about two-thirds of black students attend schools that are 80 percent or more nonwhite. A New Jersey governor spokesman said he can't comment on pending litigation but said "the governor is deeply committed to boosting diversity in our schools."

New Jersey’s schools are among the top six most racially segregated in the country; there is a 17 % higher proficiency rates on state standardized tests among third graders attending a diverse school; there are 270,000 Latino and black students attend public schools that are attended by more than 90 percent children of color and 80 % of black and Latino children attending racially segregated schools in New Jersey come from low-income families.

How is this related to the Hoboken School District: The litigation will likely need to obtain key information from the State of New Jersey Department of Education and various school districts.

Links: Inclusive Schools NJ; Read more about this story in The Wall Street Journal; US News and World Report; The New York Times
More related links: Black Parents Workshop; 

The Black Parents Workshop, Inc. announced in late April the establishment of a Hudson County Affiliate – the South Hudson (SoHUD) Black Parents Workshop that will focus on school districts in Hoboken, Jersey City and Bayonne, New Jersey.

   Segregation Lawsuit by Anthony Petrosino on Scribd

Invitation to Attend May 17th Press Conference: School Desegregation Lawsuit Moves Forward

There are a number of parents of children of color in the Hoboken Public Schools who have expressed various degrees of frustration, displeasure, and/or outrage concerning claims of institutional and systemic racism in the Hoboken Pubic Schools.

On April 26, 2018 The Black Parents Workshop, Inc. announced the establishment of a Hudson County Affiliate – the South Hudson (SoHUD) Black Parents Workshop that will focus on school districts in Hoboken, Jersey City and Bayonne, New Jersey. 

On May 17, 2018, the 64th anniversary of the Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas a planned lawsuit will be filed in Trenton, NJ on behalf of the plaintiffs in the planned school desegregation lawsuit.
This issue is gaining increased attention statewide as well as by local media outlets especially after Maplewood/South Orange agreed to a $127 million remediation plan for the segregation occurring in their schools (Full story CLICK HERE). The lawsuit against the district earlier this year, claims a wide range of racial issues in the district, including segregated lower grades and a tracking system in the high school.

A call has gone out to the parents and grandparents of children who are plaintiffs in the upcoming lawsuit. Specific details follow:

To Parents/Grandparents of children who are Plaintiffs in our School Desegregation lawsuit: 

As I believe we have discussed, we are planning to file our lawsuit against the State of New Jersey challenging the constitutionality of school segregation on Thursday, May 17, 2018, the 64th Anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. 

On that day we have organized a Press Conference to which representatives of all newspapers, TV stations, blogs and other media will be invited. The Press Conference will be held in the State House in Trenton, beginning at 10:30 AM, in Caucus Room L 103, which is a conference room directly opposite the Senate Chamber. 

All of you are invited to attend, along with your children/grandchildren. If you plan to attend, I would urge that you arrive early to allow time for parking behind the State House and finding Caucus Room L 103, which is on the first floor of the State House. 

If you attend without your child/grandchildren, you may wish to bring along a picture in case members of the press ask about photographs. Please send me an email before May 17 and let me know if you plan to attend. 

All good wishes. gary stein 
email: gstein@pashmanstein.com


 

Petrosino et al. (2018) Using Collaborative Agent-Based Computer Modeling to Explore Tri-Trophic Cascades with Elementary School Science Students

This paper investigates an in-service teacher and her student’s abilities to utilize, implement, and enact a participatory agent-based modeling program, developed as part of the group-based cloud computing (GbCC) for STEM Education Project funded by the National Science Foundation. In this first cycle of design-based implementation research with an in-service teacher and her 300 students, we examine student participatory learning and teacher experience. By implementing models with teachers, we intend to 1) improve iteratively the GbCC learning technologies and 2) develop more informed and aligned pedagogies for teaching in socially mediated and generative learning environments.

Petrosino, A. J., Sherard, M. K., Harron, J. R., & Stroup, W. M. (2018). Using collaborative agent-based computer modeling to explore tri-trophic cascades with elementary school science students. Creative Education, 9(4), 615-624. doi:10.4236/ce.2018.94043

  Petrosino et al. (2018) by Anthony Petrosino on Scribd

The Black Parents Workshop Network Expands into Bayonne, Hoboken, and Jersey City- April 26, 2018 Press Release

The Black Parents Workshop is a group of parents and community organizers whose primary purpose is to advance educational equity in public schools. They work to represent the voices of Black parents and to hold educators and administrators accountable for serving Black children. They
work to ensure that Black children have access to the tools necessary to advance their educational or career interests. You can read more about the organization by clicking HERE.

On April 26, 2018 the Black Parents Workshop published the following press release that should be of interest to parents and community members of southern Hudson County, New Jersey:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

April 26, 2018  

Black Parents Workshop Network Expands into Hudson County

South Hudson (SoHUD) Black Parents Workshop Affiliate Announced

  

(Maplewood, NJ) – The Black Parents Workshop, Inc. has announced the establishment of a Hudson County Affiliate – the South Hudson (SoHUD) Black Parents Workshop that will focus on school districts in Hoboken, Jersey City and Bayonne, New Jersey. SoHUD – Black Parents Workshop will hold a general organizing meeting for parents at 6:30 pm on Thursday May 10, 2018 at the Mary McCleod Bethune Life Center at 140 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive in Jersey City. The Black Parents Workshop, Inc., (BPW) is a Maplewood based not-for-profit organization, founded in 2014 with the mission of representing Black parents and their children for the purpose of advancing equity in elementary and secondary education. The BPW focuses on racial disparities in student access to courses, student discipline and teaching staff, as well as culturally competent curriculum and the treatment of students with special needs. 

  

Black Parents Workshop Chairman Walter Fields said, “We are excited and encouraged by the formation of our new Hudson County affiliate. It represents an important development in tackling issues that are the function of structural racism in public education. We believe Black students in Hoboken, Jersey City and Bayonne deserve better than what they are currently receiving in their schools. SoHUD - BPW represents a very important step in giving Black families a voice and a tool by which to advocate on behalf of their children.”

  

Hoboken parent-advocate Courtney Wicks said, “Between Hoboken, Jersey City, and Bayonne, we all are taking on the same issues but there are definitely nuances with each Board of Education that differs for each city. The experience with the Board of Education has been mixed depending on which South Hudson City.  In Hoboken specifically, the Board of Education is made up of entirely parents who currently benefit or have benefitted from racial tracking and segregation and as a result there has been stages of escalation that started with pacifying these issues, then denying these issues, to outright hostility and the use of various forms of intimidation. Ultimately, we feel the Hudson County Department of Education should be holding all of these districts accountable for their discriminatory practices and lack of a comprehensive plan for realizing true equity and access in each district.”

  

SoHUD leader Courtney Wicks, a parent with a child in the Hoboken Public School District, will join the Board of Trustees ( https://blackparentsworkshop.org/board-of-trustees) of the Black Parents Workshop, Inc. Chairman Fields pointed out the significance of the new Trustee. “For too long, the Black community in New Jersey has allowed the fragmented nature of the state’s hyper-segregated system of public education betray our common interests. We may have over 600 public school districts in our state, but we stand united with one mission – the education of our children. As parents, as taxpayers, we are demanding that Black children throughout our state’s 21 counties receive the quality education prescribed by the New Jersey Constitution and federal statutes.” 

  

Wicks noted, “Since the Brown vs. Board of Education decision 64 years ago, we still have not truly realized the promise of a quality public school education free of discrimination and it falls   on our shoulders to provide pushback, a counter narrative, and to fight to make the country better for our children.”

  

In recent weeks, the Black Parents Workshop has filed a federal lawsuit, Black Parents Workshop v. South Orange-Maplewood School District (Case # 2:18-cv-02726) in U.S. District Court in the District of New Jersey and appealed to the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools on behalf of Black students in South Orange and Maplewood, New Jersey. The launch of the South Hudson affiliate is the first of several expansions currently underway in and outside the state of New Jersey.

  

Jersey City Political Blogger Bruce Alston states, “Ultimately, we feel the Hudson County Department of Education should be holding all of these districts accountable for their discriminatory practices and lack of a comprehensive plan for realizing true equity and access in each district.” He further notes, “There is no way to correct the societal issues plaguing the Black community unless we dismantle all the forms of discrimination and segregation in public education.” Jersey City Parent Advocate, George Fontenette further draws parallels to the climate in the three Hudson County communities represented by the new affiliate of the Black Parents Workshop. “We are seeing that the failure of Black children is not only accepted but baked into the system- Black excellence is the exception instead of the rule where policies such as using discipline, classifications, and homeschooling are used punitively, the use of leveling to racially track Black kids into lower level academic courses, school segregation to separate and then marginalize the emotional, psychological, and academic growth and performance of Black children.” 

  

Fields added, “Though our work originated in a predominantly White suburban school district, the issues we are confronting are systemic in nature and are not limited by the boundaries of any one community. The challenges in South Orange and Maplewood that Black students endure in their fight for a legally entitled education in a nondiscriminatory environment, is the same for Black students in urban school districts, such as Hoboken, Jersey City and Bayonne. We are building a movement for systemic change in public education. Our intent is to ensure that the legacy of the Brown decision endures in New Jersey and that this generation of Black children are educated in school districts that are integrated throughout school buildings, in classrooms and in a manner that prepares them for productive lives as adults.”

Over the next two months, the Black Parents Workshop Inc., will be working with its South Hudson affiliate to evaluate conditions in the three school districts and make a determination as   

to the appropriate course of action to remedy grievances that currently exist and racial disparities in student achievement. The Black Parents Workshop is weeks away from launching its Union County affiliate and currently in the preliminary stages of working with parents to organize new affiliates in Colorado and North Carolina.