Montague weighing school options

From the New Jersey Herald
by Eric Obernauer

The Montague school district is exploring a proposal that, if approved, would entail sending students in grades 9 through 12 to High Point Regional High School rather than Port Jervis High School, in Port Jervis, N.Y., where the township's students in grades 7 through 12 currently receive their education.
"No decisions have been made at this time," said Board President Beverly Borrego.

A criticism voiced by some residents concerns the tuition charged by Port Jervis to Montague, which some complain has gone up as much as 3.75 percent annually some years. Critics say that because the Montague school district is required to stay within the state's 2 percent cap, the difference comes out of local school programs and facilities maintenance.

Tasha DeGeorge, a 22-year Montague resident... sees the issue from a different perspective. As the parent of two children, ages 9 and 10, she feels "it's smart to look into every option."

When the discussions began, DeGeorge said, she had no particular opinion. But as she looked further into it, she said, she became alarmed upon learning that Port Jervis's graduation rate was about 73 percent. By contrast, she said, High Point's graduation rate is 95 percent. While she feels Montague students can do well at either school, she said about 80 percent of High Point's students ultimately go on to college.

"That's a higher percent than even finish high school in Port Jervis," she said. "It's not that we have a bad opinion of Port Jervis; we don't. But we just see a better opportunity at High Point."

Read the full story here.

Time Warner and PJPride.com

UPDATE 7/20:  The new equipment Time Warner supplied us with, against my advice (the problem was at the pole, like I told them a month ago), isn't compatible with the equipment I use to get the meetings onto the web.  Until I can find a solution, I will not be able to post local meetings.

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UPDATE 7/12:  Time Warner has FINALLY, after a month of back and forth, apparently solved our signal problems.  Now, we are beginning discussions on the rebate we were promised a week ago.   A week ago we were promised a reduction, now their phones and supervisors are, somewhat predictably, silent and unavailable.

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UPDATE 7/6:  Today is the final day in which Time Warner Cable, by agreement with one of their supervisors, told that our signal problems would be corrected.  Having not heard back from said supervisor, despite assurances that, one way or another we would be informed, I can only assume that Time Warner is , through incompetence and neglect, unable to correct the signal problems that affect our cable service.

Therefore, as we can no longer provide the main focus of this website, we must begin plans to cease its operation.  Thank you.

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UPDATE 7/2:  A three day time frame has been established in order for Time Warner Cable to solve the signal problem.  A final decision on the fate of this website will be made on 7/6.

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During the past several weeks, we have been having signal problems with Time Warner Cable. Because of this we have not been able to post the local council and school board meetings.

After three weeks and many, many telephone calls, Time Warner seems to be either unable or unwilling to solve the problem.

As a result, we are considering switching to DirectTV. If we do, we will not be able to provide the local meetings and will shut down the website.

It’s been a fun run and we would like to continue, but we can no longer tolerate the lack of service from Time Warner Cable.