Tagged: h. james wasser RSS

  • Firm hired to recruit regional schools head 

    by Colleen Curry on May 19th, 2010 | Comment

    Two veteran educators have been picked to find a replacement for Freehold Regional High School District Superintendent H. James Wasser, who plans to retire June 30.

    The district school board chose West Hudson Associates on Monday to serve as the consulting firm in charge of the superintendent search. The firm was retained for $15,000, according to a release from district spokesman James Quirk.

    William Librera, a former state commissioner of education, and Peter Bastardo, whose resume includes seven years as the Freehold Township schools superintendent, will handle the search for the firm.

    The firm will advertise regionally and nationally, conduct screenings and interviews, present qualified candidates to the school board and assist in the public process of meeting candidates. They also will help to implement plans for team building and a strategic plan when a new superintendent is chosen, according to Quirk.

    West Hudson Associates has conducted superintendent searches around the state, including in Highland Park, Newark and Paterson, according to Quirk.

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  • Wasser Retiring; Tells Critics to Move On 

    by Colleen Curry on March 24th, 2010 | Comment

    When Freehold Regional High School District Superintendent H. James Wasser retires in June, he will cap 23 years of service to the district.

    "You get up one day and you know it's time. And it's my time," Wasser told students, faculty and community members assembled at Manalapan High School Monday night for a Board of Education meeting.

    The sometimes controversial superintendent plans to retire June 30, one year before his contract was set to expire.

    Wasser, 59, of Manalapan currently earns $215,000 a year in addition to benefits such as medical insurance, a vehicle and a computer.

    He is entitled to accumulated unused vacation and sick days when he retires, according to his contract. How many of those days Wasser has stockpiled, and how much he would be paid for them was not available Tuesday. However, Asbury Park Press DataUniverse records show that as of Jan. 1, 2009, he was entitled to $89,802 in such retirement pay and $4,333 in "other compensation."

    Wasser had acted to resign as schools superintendent in September under an agreement that would have allowed him to step down into a lesser administrative post until his contract expired in 2011. Monmouth County Executive Schools Superintendent Carole Knopp Morris rejected that plan, however, on the grounds that the school board violated state statute by renegotiating Wasser's contract without holding a public hearing.

    In the case of a retirement, a hearing was not necessary, Morris said Tuesday.

    Wasser's legacy when he leaves will include a nearly two-year controversy about the validity of doctoral diplomas he and several current and former district staffers earned from the online, unaccredited Breyer State University.

    The degrees attracted statewide attention, directly leading to the introduction of legislation barring school districts from compensating employees for degrees from unauthorized universities. That legislation is awaiting Gov. Chris Christie's signature.

    Wasser, a current staffer and a former employee were ordered in 2008 to relinquish their doctoral titles. Wasser also gave up the additional stipend he had received for earning his degree.

    State and county investigations exonerated Wasser of criminal accusations, and the state Department of Education determined in 2008 that the district did not break any state laws and regulations by paying the staffers' tuition and giving them raises for their Breyer State degrees.

    At the end of the board meeting Monday, Wasser addressed the controversy head-on, noting that no fraud or deceit had been proven.

    "So nothing was done wrong. . . . This has to be a personal vendetta," Wasser told the small crowd still assembled.

    Several of his critics remained in the audience as he spoke.

    "You know, people make mistakes," he said. "But when people make mistakes, do you keep going on and on and on about it?"

    School board members should say enough is enough, and move on to talking about academic issues, such as the district's learning academies, Wasser said. "I'm very proud of this district. Don't let a few people destroy it."

    He will apologize to those he has upset, he said, adding: "Get over it. And get a life."

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    • Randi G 12:01 pm on March 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      What ever became of the time He had Workers from the Board of education painting and doing work on his moms home up north . Paint wood and our workers? Why did this story just go POOOFFFFFF
      He should have been canned years ago.Glad my kids are now grown But I still want the best for all these other kids. They are our future.He was our nightmare, He wants everyone to just forget. This will not happen.

    • Frank Lee 2:13 pm on March 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      “So nothing was done wrong. . . . This has to be a personal vendetta,” Wasser told the small crowd still assembled.

      OF COURSE “NOTHING WAS DONE WRONG”, DOCTOR. THAT’S WHY THERE IS A BILL ON THE GOVERNOR’S DESK TO PREVENT PEOPLE FROM ENGAGING IN HALF-TRUTHS AND LIES AS YOU HAVE. WHAT A TOTAL DISGRACE! JUST BECAUSE YOU SAY SOMETHING DOESN’T MEAN IT IS TRUE.

    • momsthoughts 5:50 am on March 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      This picture doesn’t tell the whole story. From what I have read, Mr. Hochberg, Marlboro BOE did not stand for Wasser. The crowd Wasser hoped to have standing for his big announcement had all left once it became apparent they were being duped and used….brought to the meeting under false pretense. The announcement of his departure has nothing to do with doing the right thing – its just more simple greed – making sure he gets his pension before Christie makes any changes to it.

      I say good riddance. GO AWAY. Don’t stay here, clinging to any idea of power you think you have – don’t serve as an interim supt or a consultant – go away so we can start to clean up this district. And take the other cheats with you too!

      Hopefully the people of Howell will get rid of Lawson and we can start to turn this district around.

      I truly hope this board starts doing its job – representing the people of this district – and they find an honest, qualified supt with real credentials who operates in the open with honesty and integrity.

    • Darleen McDillion 9:22 pm on March 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      retiring on ONE HUNDRED TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS per year with full benefits paid for by whom. who is loudest and laughing last now?

    • Larry 12:58 pm on March 26, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Just glad that he’s gone by the time my son gets in to the High School district. Its so sad when someone won’t admit to their mistakes. Its just a shame we have to pay him all that money to retire..

    • Jim Jack 1:52 pm on May 13, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      We can start repairing the damage done to our district, and make sure that controls are in place to place sure another huckster doesn’t come into power.

      He said, adding: “Get over it. And get a life.”

      Classless end to a shameful tenure.

    • Jim Jack 1:55 pm on May 13, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      “So nothing was done wrong. . . . This has to be a personal vendetta,” Wasser told the small crowd still assembled.”

      I guess we’ll never know if he was:

      A) Too clueless in the education field to recognize a phony doctorate, or…

      B) Just laughing all the way to the bank, knowing full well that it would not hold up to any scrutiny.

  • Wasser Retiring 

    by Colleen Curry on March 23rd, 2010 | Comment

    H. James Wasser, the perennially-controversial superintendent of the Freehold Regional High School District, will retire this June.

    Following years of controversy surrounding his PhD from an unaccredited Breyer State University, Wasser announced at last night's school board meeting that he would step down from the district on June 30.

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    • Frank Lee 1:41 am on April 15, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      “Administrator for special projects”, a perfect job title …. for an idiot.

  • Assembly to Vote on “Diploma Mill Bill” Thursday 

    by Colleen Curry on February 24th, 2010 | Comment

    The state Assembly is expected to vote on the so-called diploma mill bill Thursday, after it was approved by the state Senate Monday.

    "The passage of this bill is essential as it directly affects what New Jersey residents are paying for school employees' salaries," state Sen. Jennifer Beck, R-Monmouth, who co-sponsored the Senate bill with Sen. Richard J. Codey, D-Essex. said in a prepared release. "While there is no problem with compensating people for hard work and additional education that only benefits our students, it is simply wrong to reward people with taxpayer dollars when no reward was earned."
    The bill was introduced after stories in the Asbury Park Press revealed that several Freehold Regional High School District employees, including Schools Superintendent H. James Wasser, benefited by obtaining doctoral degrees from an unaccredited, online university.
    The measure was previously approved by the state Assembly and the state Senate, but the Senate could not vote on certain amendments before the last legislative session ended.
    The current bill (S-826) laces restrictions on school district employees seeking compensation for coursework, academic credits or degrees received from an institution of higher education.
    The new requirements include a provision that the institution be a "duly authorized institution of higher education" as defined by state law.
    Employees would also need permission from the schools superintendent before they enrolled in any course for which they were seeking tuition assistance. School board members would have to approve a superintendent's courses, according to the bill.
    Compensation or tuition assistance would also only be given for courses or degrees related to the employee's current or future job responsibilities, the bill states.

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    • Marc LeVine 5:55 pm on February 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      This bill MUST pass and send the right message that Educators, above everyone else, MUST actually do the work > to get the degree > to get or keep the job and > earn higher pay.

      People like Wasser are supposed to be educational role models for our kids. What kind of message does it send to a child when hears that his/her top school administrators went out and bought their certificates just to hang on the wall?

      Why would any child want to deal with the pressures of post secondary education, when they learn they can avoid all this buy purchasing a phony document?

    • Carrol Babbison 6:30 pm on February 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      So very well said Marc.

      I see your posts all over the internet. You have such a command on every topic related to local current events.

      Do you have a fan club?

      -CB

    • Marc LeVine 11:03 pm on February 26, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Hi Carrol:

      Thank you for your kind words. A fan club? No. But I DO have a blog you can subscribe to at http://www.icanewfriend.com/blog where I discuss social media, mostly.

      Please feel free to stop by and take a look.

      Regards,

      Marc

  • Wasser-Inspired Bill Dies in Legislative Process, Awaits Next Session 

    by Colleen Curry on January 21st, 2010 | Comment

    Press file photo.

    The Freehold-inspired "Diploma Mill" bill proposed in the NJ state legislature died this week before it could get approved in the lame duck session, according to the APP.

    The bill, drafted in response to Freehold Regional High School District's Superintendent James Wasser being paid additional salary for an unaccredited, online doctoral degree, could be [...]

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    • freedom 12:19 pm on January 23, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      This is the wrong bill. It should read “all degrees are to be earned at accredited 4 year and graduate institutions. NO on-line or mail order degrees or certificates will be accepted as educational credit. Recepiants must take all coursework on the campus of the confiring institution and show legitimate graduate level admission (GRE, etc.).” This bill would then really eliminate ALL of the phony education credits not worth the paper they are written upon.

  • Wasser, FRHSD Inspires Statewide Ban on Diploma Mills 

    by Colleen Curry on January 6th, 2010 | Comment

    wasser

    -Kim Predham-

    Legislation placing new rules on the kind of course work for which school district employees can be compensated could be put to a vote next week.

    Both the state Assembly and Senate are expected to hear a modified version of the measure Jan. 11, according to one of the sponsors, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, [...]

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    • jmt1972 1:49 pm on January 6, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      I suppose it’s every superintendents dream to leave a lasting legacy. Kudos to Wasser and the FRHSD for your valuable contribution to edcuation and education law.

      • jmt 5:17 pm on January 6, 2010 Permalink | Reply

        Thanks. I put stuff out there and it’s great to be recognized. Sadly, I caught the grammatical error too late before publishing.

    • Lisa S 6:16 pm on January 6, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      jmt, your comment was a sound one, well written. Who cares about a couple of minor typos on (not “in”) an informal blog site?

    • Dr Kevin Cooper 11:38 pm on January 18, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      This is a move in the right direction to improve the validity and acceptability of online distance learning courses.

    • Anonymous Blogger 1:10 am on January 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      What an “Inspiration” Wasser is … he inspires me to clean up the Freehold Regional HS District administration. I just need a lot number of Charmin mega rolls.

  • The Battlefield: H. James Wasser 

    by Mike Rosseel on December 15th, 2009 | Comment

    monmouth-battlefield-map.med

    The situation involving H. James Wasser to me, is a sad example of people scamming a system. Not only was the "diploma" Mr. Wasser had from a uncredible institution, but the work he did to receive that degree is below the minimum standards excepted for his title.

    What kind of example is that for the children,  is Mr. Wasser telling [...]

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    • Brian Sullivan 3:29 pm on December 15, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      This is the first of the battleground series that Collen has asked for. Another site participant had suggested the Wasser “scandal” as a good first topic so Collen asked Mike and I to do a write up on our thoughts.

      I am doing this one totally off the top of my head. Usually I write out a lengthy post before posting it to ensure it is a better read. Beyond that, I have a confession- I have not kept up with the issues at the regional level as much as I should have. I had to go back and brush up on this subject.

      For a first battleground topic, I find myself largely in agreement with Mike. Lets start off with the basic facts:

      1. Wasser was one of a few people who obtained a degree which gave him a pay boost and ultimately cushioned his pension. It turned out the degree was not one that was accepted for this raise in pay and benefits. I understand he lost the title but kept the pay? If that is the case, it should not have happened. The pay should go back to the tax payers. In my book, that is fraud.

      2. There was also a ta-do about a really nice SUV that the tax payers were paying Wasser to drive around in. I do not have the facts, but did he get to take that SUV home? I am assuming so. This is a very nice perk for a high paying job. It is also a topic that has hit many other governing agencies, often for good reason. tax payers are right to question it.

      3. There have been multiple reports that Wasser has displayed a bad attitude that included a berating of a student for not calling him Doctor Wasser.

      4. We do have to account for his overall performance for the district as a factor.

      I think I got the basic above. Like I said, I have not paid as much attention to this as I should have. With what I am aware of, I have to make judgements based on not just one incident, but the whole package. Is there a pattern that has developed? I would say yes.

      I am a firm believer that we have to hold our public employees to a higher standard than what may be found in the private sector. The schools are a prime example of that. Unlike a bad experience we may have at a private business, we do not have the option of taking our money elsewhere. (At least not without moving out of the district, but we should not have to do that for these sort of reasons.) Because we have no choice but to continue sending our money to the district, we have every right and reason to demand full accountability and transparency. It is our money and we are the bosses. Wasser, and all other public employees, do answer to tax payers.

      During the last BOE election, the district was in the hot seat. All incumbents lost. That is the voice of the people showing dissatisfaction. This was only after many people had run into bad attitudes. I understand that Wasser gave up his degree, but kept the money. That is wrong. I also understand that he is to have his contract renewed. With the greatest of caution, I say that is wrong too. The reason I say he should not be renewed is because of the multiple reports of a bad attitude from Wasser.

      AS far as Wasser’s performance, I cannot comment due to lack of facts, but as mentioned, that should be a factor.

      Anyway, those are my thoughts in a nutshell. I would be interested to hear feedback from readers on this. Especially those who support keeping Wasser and those who are willing to correct any alleged facts I presented that are wrong.

      • Cowboy 3:10 am on January 7, 2010 Permalink | Reply

        Breyer State University is a legitimate school which just so happens to be unacredited.

        Seems to be that the writer of this article is just some kind of elitist. Just somebody trying to make some political capital over nothing.

        • mikerosseel 8:50 am on January 7, 2010 Permalink | Reply

          Cowboy,

          Assembly’s Education Committee doesn’t seem to agree with your comments on Breyer State University. Seems the worked required to recieve that bogus degree is far below the standards they set. I guess the Assembly is trying to make some political capital over nothing too!

    • Colleen Curry 4:58 pm on December 15, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      This issue has been a hot one around here for more than a year now. Besides losing his title, should Wasser be punished further? I wonder if not enough was done to send a clear message to district officials. What do you think?

      Interesting thoughts, gentlemen. Thanks for posting them!

    • mikerosseel 9:07 pm on December 15, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Colleen,

      I honestly believe he committed fraud. He used a phony degree to get more money and a better title. They should strip him from all his pension and make him leave his post right away! Possibly make him pay back all the money he wasted, that would be a great message to any corrupt people out there!

    • michefra7 1:26 pm on December 16, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      This man is a crook – and cares nothing about the students he purportedly cares about. I had my run in with him and he ruined my son’s High School experience, which my son will carry with him for the rest of his life. I hope he rots in hell.

    • eric foster 3:10 pm on December 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Please stop beating a dead horse with incorrect data. Wasser did nothing against the rules nor illegal. He has made our district one that GREAT COLLEGES look to for potential students. Unfortunately, those who want a “yes man”, or a Supt. that has no spine do not like him; tough! He has done the job he was hired for and we should be thankful we have him on our team.

    • mikerosseel 3:23 pm on December 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      my mistake i mean freedom

    • Colleen Curry 3:33 pm on December 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      I’ve had to unapprove a recent comment in this thread because of… yep…name-calling.

      Let’s keep the discussion respectful, folks. Can’t have any productive conversation when things devolve to name-calling.

      If your comment was taken down, feel free to re-post it in a more respectful manner.

    • eric foster 3:34 pm on December 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      mikerosseel:

      While this venue seems to be good for your ego, didn’t your mom teach you respect for others? You have an emotional issue with Wasser, not a factual one. Check the facts, then write please. Wasser broke no law nor rules…

    • Brian Sullivan 3:57 pm on December 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Freedom,

      Can you cite what Wasser had done good for the school system? What has he done that is worth all of the really bad publicity he has brought upon us. Many people have been fired up with very valid concerns. Are people wrong for their concerns? An issue, like the Wasser ones that spent so much time in the papers, must have some merit.

      I do not ask these questions with any hostility, simply to foster better dialog. You seam to be at peace with Wasser and it would be great to hear more of what you have to say. Too often we hear too mcu from one side and not the other. As I mentioned in my initial post, I have not paid close enough attention and I had no comments on his overall performance.

    • mikerosseel 5:26 pm on December 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      freedom, i certainly dont think many people agree with your Wasser support, so because he has done good for the district we can look past his phony degree. FYI-presenting false documents to enhance position or title my friend is called fraud, which is 100% against the law.

      you can think this is an ego thing for me and thats fine, i just dont think me not appreciating you puttting down my parish on another post and having a different view here, warrants anything with my ego!

    • eric foster 12:03 pm on December 18, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      mikerousseel,

      If you read the post you are referring to, it only asks an honest question about OUR parish. Good logical discussion needs to be unemotional…

    • mikerosseel 12:32 pm on December 18, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Freedom,

      2 points….

      1. if you are a active parish member then you would know all the various activies for the community that our church is involved in. We help a variety of organizations in freehold and the surrounding area and other countries!

      2. Why is that the only parish you called out? why not the freehold jewish communtity or any of the several other parishes in freehold.

      i dont agree with your unemotional comment, not saying your wrong but I disagree. Passion is part of life, people are passionate about every topic there is, and with passion comes defense. I understand you support Wasser, and you feel i have no bases for my attacks, well please give me some examples of the good this man has done, besides people look up to him because thats merely an opinion. It seems most of the posters on here are passionate about this topic, i would love to hear your thoughts on the pro-wasser side!

    • notallofus 1:37 pm on December 18, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Whether he broke a law or not….I do not know. I do know that he probably knew exactly what he was doing when he got his diploma at a diploma mill. And that he did it for one reason and one reason only…money. Not to better his education, not to better the kids at the schools…but to better his pay. Like a few other responses above, my family has had personal dealing with this guy. And from my own personal experience, in my own opinion, he does not think of the students as his top priority. Holding such a high position, people usually expect more. Breaking rules/guidelines/laws or not

    • Bewelleducated 3:07 am on January 6, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      The last comment on this posting was entered on December 18, so maybe no one is reading it anymore; however, I had to comment on the funny situation I observe here because I just happened upon this posting today. It’s both funny and, as the author above writes, a “sad example.”

      Is it ironic that an author criticizing the educational credentials of an employee of the FRHSD writes his criticism using incompetent English? I couldn’t believe it when I first started reading it. At first, I assumed that, perhaps, the writer was doing it purposefully to make some point, but it seems that that’s not the case. In this short item I counted no fewer than NINETEEN violations of the rules of English. I won’t bother to list all the examples, since you are free to review the paragraphs above and see them.

      Is it ironic that an author criticizing the educational credentials of an employee of the FRHSD writes his criticism in a form that would earn him perhaps a “C” or a “D” in a class given by that high school district? Or is it, instead, a sad example?

      Maybe it is a very sad commentary about the state of education that countless people read this posting and readers posted 13 comments, but, apparently, no one noticed. It could also be a commentary about our current society (or maybe just a commentary about the owners of this website) that someone not competent in writing a coherent sentence in English is given a job writing for a newspaper website.

      It certainly hurts the credibility of an author who writes that Wasser’s work was “below the minimum standards” and wonders if students will take Wasser’s example as a message that “you don’t have to really go to school” when the essay itself is below the minimum standards for passable English.

      Did H. James Wasser read this posting and laugh? Perhaps he is saying to himself, “Well, maybe I do have a degree from a no-name institution, but I have a command of the English language.”

      I looked around on the blog to see what biographical information exists about the author, but there is very little. Thus, I don’t know if he is presently a high school student or if he has already graduated. My advice, if he is in high school, is to pay closer attention in class and ask his teacher to critique his writing so that he can learn what he is doing wrong. If he’s out of school, then perhaps a trip to Barnes and Noble to buy a book on basic English grammar would be useful. It would certainly help him not to write such embarrassingly bad prose. Either way, I hope he improves because I do feel bad for him.

    • BrianSullivan 12:17 pm on February 11, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      bewelleducated,

      I have to disagree with your elitist comments for a number of reasons. First, I run a local site as well, and I learned a long time ago that spelling and grammar is of the least concern when having people post. It is far more important to have their views present and respected. People should not be penalized because they do not live up to your expectations. Quite the contrary, they should be welcome.

      I also have to defend those with bad grammar because I am the king of typos. Being a very sloppy typist certainly should not disqualify me from expressing my views, should it? No, that is not the purpose of a site like this. This is a place that any person with a civil view should come and be welcome.

      For you to actually spend the time to criticize someone on their grammar is a deflective waste of space. If Wasser laughed and believed as you did, then it is all the more reason why he does not belong there in his position. Elitism is a disgrace.

      Not everybody works in a profession where writing is needed. I don’t. As a result my own skills have suffered. Are we to only allow people with certain skills to participate? That would be absurd. As I always say, every voice counts.

    • Lisa S 12:52 pm on February 11, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      “Bewelleducated,” I totally agree with Mr. Sullivan. I know him personally and he is quite intelligent. Beyond written mechanics, he expresses himself, his ideas and his opinions extremely well.

      To denigrate a person about his or her lack of command of the written English language, especially in such a long-winded diatribe, suggests you have no valuable argument. It is merely a digression, but one tainted with a nasty veneer.

    • Bewelleducated 6:37 am on February 18, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      One problem with written postings is that it is easy for people reading to misconstrue the tone of a posting because the auditory cues that are part of speech are missing. As a result, the readers may infer a meaning that was not intended. You probably have noticed that yourself as you read items either in email that people send to you or in articles on the Internet.

      At the risk of extending the discussion I began above too far, I post this additional comment regarding the answers my posting has received because it seems that some people may have misunderstood. I thank you for your comments and I want to clarify what I said so that you can understand my point.

      Lisa S says my comments have a “nasty veneer”. It’s unfortunate that she thinks that and that belief may stem from the lack of tone of voice that one would hear were my comments to have been spoken aloud. Certainly my intent was not at all to be nasty. It may be just that when people read any comment that is critical they may interpret the intent of the writer to be nastiness. So many blog comments are mean-spirited that perhaps everyone now assumes mean-spirited motives behind EVERY web comment because it’s so common. Before I posted my original comment I took care to read it over to ensure that I did not call Mr. Rosseel any names or that I was not overly harsh. Lisa S also defends Mike Rosseel by saying he is “intelligent” and she uses the phrase, in reference to my comment, “to denigrate a person.” It is clear that she misinterpreted what I wrote since in my original comment I made no statement about Mr. Rosseel’s intelligence.

      Mr. Sullivan says that my writing was “elitist comments”. I’m not exactly sure what his meaning is there with the word “elitist”; however, it may be that his point is that I am saying that someone who cannot write grammatically correct English is not entitled to write anything on the web, even comments on a blog. I believe that that is what he means because he says, “Quite the contrary, they should be welcome.” He makes repeated reference to that idea in his comments by talking about “people with certain skills to participate” and “every voice counts.” My comment had nothing to do with that. Mr. Sullivan seems to have missed my point. If Mr. Rosseel were writing about the ability of a baseball player to play baseball or the ability of Hugh Grant to act well in a movie, maybe Mr. Rosseel’s poor grammar would not be as relevant and we could ignore it; however, in an article specifically criticizing a person for his educational credentials, writing ability is more relevant. That’s why I mentioned in my posting that it hurts the credibility of an author who writes that Wasser’s work was “below the minimum standards” to himself write in a manner that is below the minimum standards. That is why we are especially harsh in our judgment of a police officer who drives drunk and crashes his car into the front of the Tiffany store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan. That police officer, if he is to issue tickets (which are, in effect, criticisms) to drivers who break the rules, should follow the rules himself.

      Are Mr. Rosseel’s grammar and spelling bad? Yes they are. That is a fact and not an opinion. Are they below the standards expected of an 8th grader? Yes they are. That is a fact and not an opinion. Would I accept that level of poor grammar in my own 13 year old son? No I wouldn’t. If my son had written an essay as rife with violations in English I would be dismayed and I would ask him to correct it before submitting it to his teacher.

      The truth is that writing (or speaking) in coherent, grammatically-correct English is a valuable skill and regarded as important for every American. That was true before I was born and it’s still true. If that were not true the schools wouldn’t teach students how to write in every grade from 1st grade through high school. If that were not true every magazine article and website about writing a resume and cover letter wouldn’t emphasize the importance of scrupulously reviewing those documents to ensure they have no violations of English rules (here’s one of a thousand web pages that say just that http://www.jobweb.org/Resume/help.aspx?id=858). When people read writing with poor grammar and spelling do they assume the writer is not intelligent? Yes they do and it seems to me that Lisa S knows that or she wouldn’t have found it necessary to say that Mr. Rosseel is intelligent when I didn’t say he wasn’t.

      As I mentioned in my original comment, I feel bad for Mr. Rosseel because his writing paints him in an unfavorable light. Maybe he has already taken my advice and bought a book on English grammar and is improving as we speak. Aren’t all of us who are reading the posting about Mr. Wasser in favor of education? Aren’t we in favor of our children learning all their skills well? Don’t we ask our children about the textbooks they are using, the homework they are getting, and the details of their classes in an attempt to gauge the quality of the educations they are receiving? Should we be happy if our children graduate from high school, after 18 years on this Earth and after 13 (or more) years of schooling, unable to spell words correctly or put together a proper sentence?

      Is it unreasonable to ask that Mr. Rosseel write articles using correct English? In my opinion it is not unreasonable to ask that. Mr. Rosseel has accepted a job, essentially, to write articles and I believe that one of the requirements for a job as a “writer” is to be able to actually write in English, especially if he is to criticize others as part of that job. In my opinion it is a minimum job requirement. By the same token, my boss expects that I understand the concepts of derivative, integral, divergence, gradient, curl, Fourier Transform, and vector and she would rightly denigrate me in my performance review if I couldn’t handle those concepts.

    • mikerosseel 7:49 am on February 18, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Bewelleducated,
      I find several parts of your post to be very funny. First off, you certainly have a I’m better then you attitude, which is fine but your not. Thank you ever so much for telling me what you would or wouldn’t allow your children to do. Thank you for going over my writting and spelling. My guess is your a teacher, possibly english, am I correct?

      Can I now tell you what I wouldn’t let me 8th grade child do? I wouldn’t let my 8th grade child post comments on any internet site without there name, its called personal accountability! Second, I wouldn’t teach my child to defend a cheat like the above stated. So maybe I need to take the time to do a spell check and grammar check, but maybe you need to take time and do a reality check. You see, unlike you, I’m not here to put anyone down, I read the posts and agree or disagree no matter what level of writting the person has. This is not my job! You are WELL SPOKEN, obviously very educated, I can not take that away from you! You do have a greater then thu attitude, similar to what I imagine Wassers to be. My grammar my be my issue but unlike your friend Wasser, I can sleep at night knowing that my issues haven’t robbed a district! State your name and we can speak again, until then and I hope this is spelled correct, Bye-Bye!

      Please go over this with a red pen so I can learn to maybe achieve the 9th grade level!

    • Lisa S 3:07 pm on February 18, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Bewelleducated, there’s no doubt that you are a stickler to save the English language — and I’m right beside you with that passion. I am very protective of my good friends, and I may have reacted harshly to what I thought was a criticism aimed at one of my two great friends who posted above you.

      But, I really would hope that you can find a way to get to those teens and those in their young 20s who are so impaired when it comes to expressing themselves. My pet peeve? The abuse of the word “like.” I mean, if parents and teachers are not being firm about use of proper English in speech and writing, perhaps people like you, and me too, can help! It is, in my view, epidemic.

    • PDDDan141 6:05 pm on April 16, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      All you people should wake up and get a life. It is no longet the Freehold Regional Board of Education it is the Wasser Board of Extorcian. He hollers and the Wasser Board falls in line and replys YES SIR
      Daniel M Savino

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