Glenn Garrison

Glenn Garrison -

I am employed as a hospital administrator in New York. My professional experiences have given me the skills and insight to serve in key leadership roles on the Board. I was twice elected Board President and chaired the Construction Committee for five years and the Finance and Operations Committee for three. When first elected to the Board, I was asked to oversee the $49 million District-wide referendum program. Despite material shortages caused by Hurricane Katrina and disputes among the various contractors, we completed all phases of the construction program within the financial constraints of the District.

Today, the citizens of Englewood can boast of world-class educational facilities for children of all ages. By carefully investing our referendum dollars, we were able to upgrade windows, doors, and our heating systems, reducing energy costs by 40 percent.  (Doing the job of the Business Administrator and Director of Operations. We have paid employees for that purpose. Get your training so you may finally learn what a School Board member actually does.)

As we moved forward, my focus changed to integrating successful practices throughout the District. We developed the Academy Prep and Ivy programs and expanded the AVID and dual language programs to prepare more of our students for the highly acclaimed Academies @ Englewood. (Again innovations that are supposed to be completed by the people we pay, the people who are trained to create and manage innovative programming.)

Our high school seniors benefit from a robust, campus-wide training opportunities internship program. The "EAGLE" (alternative) program provides students with "real life" experiences and career . Academic rigor and a positive learning environment can be found in every school. Students must perform in the classroom to participate in extracurricular activities – we now have the highest standards in the State. These initiatives have raised expectations and enhanced the education of all our children.

"The highest standards in the state". It has always amazed me the amount of camouflage heaped on top  of what is clearly not the truth. The Alternative School, which Glenn Garrison renamed "The Vincent Lombardi Educational Center" has been closed. The students have been brought back from a rushed program at Bergen Community to the high School. One wonders how many of these students are now missing in action? It was determined that the children participating in the "robust internship" program were short seat hours in Comprehensive Health, Physical Education & Safety. One hopes that all of the smoke and mirrors will dissolve soon and those who are left standing will be able to get on with the educating of our children.

The so called "campus-wide" training opportunities internship program has failed. The only real life experience Eagle Students got was the disbanding of their program, tenure charges filed against their Social Worker/Guidance Counselor and Principal. Allegedly the Principal did not check his email on Genesis and forgot his password.

10 people completed and filed petitions to run for the EPSD School Board in 2017. Among them, were Matthew Garrison, Glenn Garrison's son. Matthew did not participate in the League of Women Voter's Candidates night on October 24th. No one was surprised, because no one took his candidacy seriously. Did he? Glenn Garrison and Stephen Brown drew the short straws this year and were in columns #9 and #10. They withdrew from the race prior to the deadline. Their names will not appear on the ballot. One wonders why Matthew did not withdraw also. His name of the ballot will draw votes away from other dedicated candidates. It is no surprise. One can only hope that Mr. Garrison will find something else to do.