December 19, 2006. It took a New York Times article to turn the tide on the posts supporting Kearny High School teacher David Paszkiewicz.. Ironically, the Kearny Board of Education met this past Monday just as the tide of support shifted. The Kearny Board of Education members missed the boat a long time ago that would have nipped this issue in the butt. They did no better on Monday night.

The publication of an article in the New York Times has brought the focus of the nation and the world on Kearny, New Jersey. The question still remains the same "What are the members of the Kearny Board of Education doing to address this issue? Kearny residents and the rest of the nation (and now the world) are waiting for an appropriate proceeding to determine whether there was a violation of conduct by the teacher and/or student and the appropriate discipline (if any)."

The founder of this website envisioned a place where individuals could come and exchange ideas affecting their community. It is our policy to error on the side of allowing everyone to express their view. If there is an inappropriate comment or an error in logic, our members usually balance out the post by posting an opposite view or pointing out the error. The anti-LaClair posts appear on the pages of the Discussion Board are a result of that policy.  The pro-LaClair posts now outweigh the anti posts.  Our policy works.

Kearny is not as some say in the suburbs of New Jersey. Kearny is bordered by the Cities of Newark and Jersey City. It is a community of mostly blue collar workers from many ethic backgrounds a short distance from one of the greatest cities in the world (New York City). One part of town has great lawns while the other side of town has homes side by side on 50' x 100' lots and yet another side is an industrial / warehousing area.

The views expressed by some should not reflect on all the residents of Kearny. That being said what is not excusable is the inaction of the Kearny School Administrator and the Kearny Board of Education members. It is fairly clear that Kearny teacher David Paszkiewicz crossed the line. In KOTW’s opinion, teacher David Paszkiewicz should have followed his own teachings and admitted he was wrong, accept an appropriate punishment, and moved on. What David Paszkiewicz. and school officials expected was that the issue would die on the vine. Although the local press covered the story (and has been improving of late), West Hudson lacks a strong press. In a prior opinion piece on ‘Corruption: It’s Caused By’, it was noted that one of the reasons corruption thrives in Hudson County (New Jersey) is because of an inactive press. Those who could have stepped up, simply did not because they expected the issue to die as many others have in the past.

Examples of issues that have died on the vine are:

The Kuehne Chemical Plant security issue. KOTW dedicated a complete page to the Environment. As recent as this year, Fox news ran a story about how not much has changed to secure the plant. There has been no outrage at why Kuehne won’t retrofit the plant so its not a threat as it has in its Delaware plant. (See Chemical Plant Security: Missed Opportunity below).

New Jersey Transit’s removal of perfectly good train service servicing Kearny for over a century. KOTW expressed outrage over the fact that a public meeting was held to discuss the issue of whether train service would be halted AFTER the train service had already been pulled and the tracks removed to prevent another train company from taking over the service.

The alleged illegality of the Harrison Redevelopment Agency which is changing the landscape of Harrison and its removal of long time residents and business owners. Ancillary to the Harrison Redevelopment is the bonding of $40 million dollars by the Town of Harrison to fund the purchase and remediation of the former Crucible Steel/Guyon Pipe complex in Harrison on behalf of the Red Bull organization (formerly MetroStars).

I urge you to explore the above issues and join the discussion. What do you think about the above issues? What should we have done? What can we do now? Let us know.