"Educator of the Year"! No wonder our school's are as bad as they are.

I feel terrible for Mr. Wilkins and his family.I thought he was great for our school.

I am surprised at the forgiving attitudes of the prior posters. As a parent of Red Bank children, I don't feel his indictment is a footnote to his achievements as principal. It's not simply "he was a great principal but for this one thing". I feel this potentially wipes out his achievements. As a principal, I feel he’s held to a higher standard because he’s a role model for our children. A postive influence?! I could forgive failure to pay employer taxes on a summer nanny maybe…but not arson to avoid a contractual obligation. I have to wonder what this might have led to if he'd not been caught and his monetary needs extend beyond a lease payoff (acknowledging here that he's not yet been convicted).

I agree with lurker, Everyone says how great a man he was and what a great job he did… boo hoo!
he makes $111,992, and he couldnt afford the extra charges, Maybe he should learn from the MATH department at the school to figure out how many miles he was driving to and from work. what a moron.

He has charges against him for arson.

Lead by example, if this guy does go to jail then good for him.

Arson puts everyone involved at a huge risk factor. Firefighters put their lives on the line just trying to get to this car to extinguish it, If one firefighter was killed, even in an accident trying to get the firehouse to respond to this call, this guy would be charged with manslaughter!!

In fact even if a firefighter has a heart attack 24hrs after responding to the call,then this arsonist would have been charged with his death too.

THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU DO BEFORE YOU DO IT!!

A very poor decision may cost this man his career and cause irreparable harm to his family. Our schools will be fine - the rest of the staff will make sure of that! I can't say the same for Mr. Wilkins. It is very sad, and dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. I feel badly for our great students, our fine staff and the Wilkins family. Tragic, truly tragic.

No matter what he did, he still did wonders for the Middle School and its unfortunate he will lose his job because of this. I really hope he dosent get jail time for this he is a good man he just made a mistake that he most likely regrets.

Some of the greatest people in the world make mistake. Mr.Wilkins has only helped our daughter go through her first year in the middle school. How many middle school principal do you know will email his student and help her get adjusted to middle school life. He is always there for her.

Very sad.

I agree with mr.prown. Also i dont know any principals that take there teachings and help after school hours if he ever saw a student outside of school he would always make it a point to stop and have a chat and he never turned anyone down that just needed to talk. They wont be able to replace this great man and im sorry to hear about the whole situation even though he probably wont see this
Good Luck Mr Wilkins you helped a lot of students and hopefully you can continue doing the same.

Its always the same, You here of these so called HERO's and everyone claiming that they cant believe they would do something. its always the same story.

As for the guy that the this so called "HERO of the schools" emailed his daughter, are you nuts? Thats not great teaching or supervising the schools! thats a communication with a child that should have been looked into. A good teacher or princible would communicate with the parents only, not the child!
you gotta be kidding me!

hey albert,i don't think priest's should be doing what they've been doing.it's much more wide spread and far more damaging.

I know Terrence personally. I went to school with him. He is not a bad person who is out to hurt others. Of course, he is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Terrence is the type of person who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He is good man who goes out of his way for others, loves helping others less fortunate and has committed his life to service. Let us remember that none of us are without sin, no sin is greater than the other. I mean people can be so self rigthoues when they comment about others-think about if you were in this situation. And yes he was and is a great educator. Why esle would he be given such an award? Let the good work he's done speak for him! You can't deny him of that. But also let him have his day in court and keep the bad comments to yourself. None of us know what really happened because we weren't there.

Look im very suprised my princpal mr.wilkins im a young 5th grader and i think everyone make errors in life nonones perfect he wa the best principal in the world i would like him to come back right now im in shock i dont understand why the school would do such a thing but when presedent did all the bad things he did they naver fired him and what about that other govener hes not is jail is he. my principal mr wilkins only commitited one error in the whole school year and this happens who ever fired him has done somthing bad toon right like i said he is innocent in my ways and i would fight back to get him back in our school im going to pray every night so my principal mr wilkins will come back and i dont care what happens but ill make everyone have respect to him!

Jeff,

There is no personal issue raised in my post. I think a court, not a blog consensus, should determine his guilt or innocence. My comment is that the RBMS "Student" posting here does not have basic writing skills.

Get A Grip,

I for one think your husband and you made a wonderful choice by sending your children to RBMS. I agree with you. I feel sorry for people who are quick to judge and condemn others because when the shoe is on the other foot their the same ones who are expecting compassion,understanding and forgiveness. We're all human and I think sometimes we forget that.

"JUDGE NOT LESS YOU BE JUDGED"

1.)"Why do you have to validate your educational choice for your children by demeaning the choice I made for mine?"-Stop putting words in my mouth. I've made my choices, you have made yours. The principle of my children's school was not indicted this week, yours was.
2.)"If you continue to promote the idea that the schools are bad then you don't have to admit to why you really send your kids elsewhere. And most of us know exactly why that is."-Do tell oh Swami, what do you know about me and my decisions, or my reasons for making them?
3.)"There are a whole lot of imperfect educators and they are employed by whole lot different kinds of schools - private, parochial, public."-I agree-and they should ALL be held to a higher standard.

I would guess that Mr. Wilkins is a great guy, but not knowing him personally, I cannot make any judgments about that. BUT, if you truly believe that this situation is not a black mark on the Red Bank school system, then, your judgment is either severely flawed (or your crystal ball is foggy), or you are just being stubborn.

This man will pay for his crime if he is guilty. As well he should.

But remmeber.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

I hope this principal is suspended without pay until his legal problems are resolved.

I think Mr. Wilkens is one of the greatest principals I have ever met. He truly cares about the students.
I think he deserves a fair hearing, just as he would do to any of his students. He has not been proven guilty and I only hope this is some terrible mix up.

I am a student of mr.wilkins. He is the best principle in the whole world. I had a problem with in school and mr. wilkins helped me get through it. I think Mr. wilkins is not guilty of this crime. Wilkins would not do this crime he is a good man. Just like Bill clinton he got married and had an affair. LEAVE MR.WILKINS ALONE. I want him back. YOU ROCK MR.WILKINS.

Cumulative standardized test scores are not an objective measure of the quality of instruction - although they are often used in that way. Children living in poverty generally don't score as well as their more affluent peers - it's a fact although there are cases where educators manage to defy the odds. Private and parochial schools don't even use the NJ statewide assessments - which are quite rigorous compared to those used in other states - so you can't even compare results. I know of many parents who live in highly regarded neighboring districts who pay to send their kids for private tutoring. It just isn't publicized. Recently NJ was cited for being at the top in terms of student acheivement on nationally-normed tests so our public schools are doing quite well. Mr. Wilkins' situation unforunately can be used by those who want an excuse to make disparaging remarks about our schools and our students. We know it and it just adds to insult to the injury of being disappointed by his alleged actions.

Thank you "M" and "Swami".Good information.

I'm a parent and here is what I care about in a school -
Are my children doing well? Are they learning? Are they nurtured? Do they feel safe? Are they surrounded by caring adults? Are they challenged?

The answer to all of those questions, for my Red Bank Middle School children, is "yes". Their test scores are just fine. We have tried other school options (including private) and I have no doubt that we made the right decision putting our children in RBMS.

M, of course the average test scores mean something for the total school population, but as RB Swami pointed out, the scores are skewed because of an overwhelmingly poor population. For the type of child whose parents can afford private school, who has all of the advantages at home that comes with that, they will do just fine (or better) in Red Bank Public Schools.

And, as opposed to the typical private school experience, I'm glad to have them in an environment where the clothes they wear, the size of their house and flat screen TVs, and the material things they have are not so important. They are surrounded by people (kids and adults) of different colors and origins, which is much more representative of Red Bank and the world we live in than any other school in the area.

For all of these reasons, I think everyone who is associated with RB Public Schools are justifiably proud of the schools, the staff and the kids.

How did this again become a thread about the quality of the schools? Oh, I see, an adult criticized the principal and schools, apparently based on errors found in a note from an upset child. Nice.

I am sorely tempted to point out that adult's misspellings and sentence fragments, but I will refrain.

Alexander a,

Pick on someone your own size.

What are you talking about alot of kids should be in the RB schools it is the most safest and cleanest school you daughter or son should ever go to. EVERYONE SHOULD LOVE THE RB SCHOOLS.