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NJ Spotlight - New School Year in NJ Already Looks Like One for the Books… From beefed-up evaluations, to revamped curriculum and testing, to takeovers of urban districts, there will be interesting days ahead.
Star Ledger - With the unofficial end of summer, N.J. campaigns for U.S. Senate, governor kick into high gear
South Jersey Times - N.J. public schools turning to school uniforms
NJ Spotlight - New School Year in NJ Already Looks Like One for the Books… From beefed-up evaluations, to revamped curriculum and testing, to takeovers of urban districts, there will be interesting days ahead.
John Mooney | September 3, 2013
The 2013-2014 school year is here – and it’s not likely to be easily forgotten by New Jersey’s 100,000-plus teachers, for good or ill.
After years of debate and discussion, a new statewide evaluation system will for the first time measure teachers by their own and their students’ performances.
The change comes at the same time that new national curriculum standards continue to make their way into New Jersey’s classrooms and to reshape the state’s approach to testing.
Add the ongoing financial pressures on schools and the range of new and revised government mandates.
That doesn’t even include the special pressures on the state’s most troubled districts -- including Camden, the latest district to come under state control.
And did we mention November’s election for governor and the full Legislature, the results of which are likely to touch off even more changes?
So, in honor of the new school year and the uncertainties it brings even in less-eventful times, here are a few questions about what lies ahead for New Jersey:
How big a difference will the new teacher-evaluation system make in this opening year?
It’s been talked about since the new teacher tenure law was enacted in the summer of 2012 -- the day that every school district would need to have in place a system to annually grade teachers on a four-point scale from “ineffective” to “highly effective.”
Ready or not, that day is here. Now the question is how districts will incorporate the evaluations into their schools’ daily operations and ultimately bring more accountability to their teaching forces.
A big part of the equation will be determining how well each teacher’s students perform, be it on state tests or based on new “student growth objectives” that in many cases are still to be decided.
Even with the deadline here, this could still take some time -- especially when it comes to the student performance measures, which have yet to be really tested, let alone verified. State officials have said that not all districts are necessarily even prepared to implement new classroom observation systems.
Officials in many of the districts that had a head start on the process say that, at the very least, the discussions about teacher and student performance have proven fruitful in changing the climate and culture of their schools.
But that was before the actual ratings started to be handed down for individual teachers, which will happen at the end of this school year, with teachers’ tenure protections now at stake.
In this first year of state control, what impact will the Christie administration and its new, young superintendent have on Camden public schools?
It’s put-up time for Gov. Chris Christie and his pledge to improve what is arguably New Jersey’s most troubled school system, with the state’s takeover announced last spring and his August appointment of 32-year-old Paymon Rouhanifard as Camden’s new superintendent.
Coming with a $210,000 salary, the appointment was an interesting choice. Rouhanifard was a central office administrator in New York City’s vast public school system, followed by a one-year stint in Newark. Including two years spent teaching, he has had all of six years of experience in public education.
But hand-picked by the governor and his education commissioner, Chris Cerf, Rouhanifard drew wide praise from a range of reform-minded groups as the kind of innovator needed to turn around a district where only about a third of the students pass the state’s tests and virtually all of the schools are among the state’s lowest performing.
The reaction has been polite but cooler from the Camden community, although with none of the hostility that greeted and continues to dog the state’s takeovers elsewhere, especially in Newark.
What and whether Rouhanifard learned from his short stay in Newark and how he interacts with the Camden community will be an early test.
Given the timing, he’ll have to hit the ground running. The administration has done some advance work, with five new principals already on the rolls, a full inventory and budget analysis completed, and a number of other programmatic changes at least under way.
But he’ll also have the extra challenge of overseeing a district that will likely be shrinking before his eyes.
In 2014, Camden will be home to the first of the state’s “renaissance schools,” a new form of charter-like schools slated to ultimately draw more than 2,000 city students. The continued growth of more traditional charter schools is expected to further deplete enrollment in the public-school district.
This isn’t foreign territory to Rouhanifard, who oversaw charter school co-locations in New York City, but the flip side is it will also mean far fewer resources will be available for the district schools he is charged with improving.
If reelected, where does Gov. Chris Christie go from here with his education agenda?
Although other issues have gotten their share of attention, education has certainly drawn a bright spotlight in Christie’s four years as New Jersey’s governor.
The first year, it was largely about funding of public education, with Christie cutting more than $1 billion in state aid at the same time as implementing tight caps on property tax increases and superintendent pay.
Along the way, he angered the state’s teachers unions and fired his education commissioner over his failure to win federal Race to the Top funding.
Since then, his non-financial reform agenda under Cerf’s leadership has taken on more prominence, including the appointment of a new superintendent in Newark and what is likely to be Christie’s education capstone -- the new teacher tenure reform law.
But that leaves the governor plenty of unfinished business if he is reelected in November and sets his next sights on the White House, as many predict.
Will Christie renew his push for school vouchers, the one key reform proposal that he failed to win in the last four years? Will he take another try at eliminating teacher seniority protections, known as “last in, first out,” which was left untouched under the new tenure law?
A bigger and more lasting impact could be Christie’s ongoing quest to remake the state Supreme Court, with his crosshairs especially on reversing or at least watering down the Abbott v. Burke school equity rulings that have largely dictated education funding in the state for close to 30 years.
So far, Senate Democrats have stalled Christie’s top court appointments. But will that logjam hold after the election?
Of course, all bets are off if Democratic challenger Barbara Buono pulls off the upset in November and brings her own yet-to-be-defined education agenda to the Statehouse.
In all, it leads to a school year – and a year for schools -- that should bring plenty of drama and intrigue to a public education system that in recent years has seen more than its share already.
Star Ledger - With the unofficial end of summer, N.J. campaigns for U.S. Senate, governor kick into high gear
By Christopher Baxter/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger
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on September 03, 2013 at 6:00 AM, updated September 03, 2013 at 7:56 AM
TRENTON — As New Jerseyans fired up barbecues and hit the beaches for one last taste of summer Monday, the state’s leading political candidates fired up supporters as they hit the pavement to kick their campaigns into overdrive.
Buckle up, it’s going to be a wild ride the next few months.
With less than seven weeks until the special election for U.S. Senate, Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Republican challenger Steve Lonegan barreled ahead with jam-packed holiday weekends focused on getting face time with voters.
The candidates for governor showed up at some Labor Day mainstays, with Republican Gov. Chris Christie crossing paths with his rival, state Sen. Barbara Buono, (D-Middlesex), at the annual South Plainfield Labor Day parade Monday morning.
And from Bergen to Burlington counties, the Highlands to the Pinelands and south to Cape May, state lawmakers wooed voters in their districts in hopes of pulling off a win when all 120 seats in the Legislature come up for a vote in November.
"Typically in the summer there’s relatively low voter interest, and this summer has been pretty consistent," said Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State
University. "Now you’ll see the campaigns kicking into high gear."
Booker barnstormed the state to cement his lead in the race to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Frank Lautenberg. The most recent Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll, released Thursday, put him on top by 28 percentage points.
Monday, Booker walked in the South Plainfield parade before heading to the Rutherford Street Fair.
"We’re here to celebrate Labor Day," he said. "Despite all the display of signs behind me, this not about the candidates."
On Saturday, Booker walked the boardwalk at Long Branch with erstwhile foe U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.) before heading to the 25th annual Whitesboro Reunion in Whitesboro where he teamed up with Oprah Winfrey.
On Friday morning, Booker kicked off Labor Day festivities with the 119th Annual Peter J. McGuire Labor Day Observance in Collingswood. He spent the rest of the day meeting voters in Red Bank, Belmar and Asbury Park.
"Last Labor Day, I think I was hanging out in Newark, eating in the Ironbound," Booker said last week. "This Labor Day, I’ll be all over New Jersey."
Challenger Steve Lonegan attended the Mendham parade and street fairs in suburban Bergen and Morris counties Monday. His campaign said it will "continue ramping up" after the holiday and is "planning events with high-profile national figures."
Trailing Booker not only in the polls, but also in the money race, Lonegan has two fundraisers lined up later this week, and his campaign said it had purchased its first television advertisements last week.
"Mayor Lonegan’s schedule is going to get busier, and days are going to get much longer for our staff and faithful volunteers," campaign spokesman Will Gattenby said, adding Lonegan will continue to reach voters "at a grass roots level."
Christie greeted supporters at the South Plainfield parade before climbing atop a float to ride the route.
"Theme of this is an important one that we’ve been saying about the state making great strides," Christie said.
Campaign spokesman Kevin Roberts said the governor will be packing his already busy schedule with even more campaign events in the coming weeks to tout his record.
"We’ve been going full bore since post-primary," Roberts said. "Partly it’s a function of modern campaigns, you can’t just build a voters contact operation in two weeks."
With voters’ attention divided this fall between the Senate race and the usual November Election Day, Roberts said it will be even more important that the campaign work in double time to get the message out.
That will probably come in the form of television ads. Both Christie — who has been the star of a $25 million, federally funded ad campaign all summer touting the Shore — and Buono are expected to hit the airwaves this fall.
For her part, Buono paid visits to the South Plainfield parade before heading off with Booker to Rutherford as she kicks off the most important leg of her underdog campaign.
Recent polls show her closing the gap, but still well behind Christie.
Asked at the parade about Labor Day being the traditional start of fall campaign, she said, "We’ve been campaigning for little bit already." But polls also show few people know Buono and she is hoping they will start paying attention now.
"Our message is resonating," Buono said at a rally last week. "Why do you think the polls have changed — 10 points — in the dog days of August? It’s not something you normally see. Normally you see a big change after Labor Day."
Buono and Christie will participate in two debates, one at William Paterson University in Passaic County, and the other at Essex County’s Montclair State University. The time and dates are still to be determined.
"The sparks are already flying in the Senate campaign, but as Election Day nears the level of negatively typically increases," Harrison said. "That will probably also be ratcheted up as the gubernatorial election approaches."
Star-Ledger staff writers Tom Haydon, David Giambusso, Jenna Portnoy, Salvador Rizzo and Jarrett Renshaw contributed to this report.
South Jersey Times - N.J. public schools turning to school uniforms
By Rebecca Forand/South Jersey Times Gloucester County Times Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on September 03, 2013 at 6:30 AM, updated September 03, 2013 at 6:37 AM
Students across South Jersey are preparing to go back to school this week. From pencils and backpacks to sneakers and wardrobe, there’s no shortage of expense for parents, but with school uniforms becoming increasingly popular, some districts are trying to cut down on the spending.
Uniforms are nothing new. Private and Catholic school students have worn uniforms for centuries, but implementing uniforms in public schools is a topic that has become more popular over the past 10 to 20 years and is always fraught with controversy.
For school districts that have implemented uniform policies in the past, their benefits seem to have outweighed any criticism they had brought.
The Penns Grove-Carneys Point School District has required its elementary and middle school students to wear uniforms for more than a decade. Students must wear beige, navy or black pants or shorts and white, navy, light blue or red polo shirts, dress shirts or turtlenecks without insignia.
“We have found it to be very productive,” Superintendent Joseph Massare said. “It’s minimized competition. Kids are getting to school on time ... It’s now normal procedure.”
Having children wear the same, or similar, clothing each day can help to eliminate bullying based on their appearance, remove distractions and be more economical to purchase than designer clothes or full wardrobes, according to Massare.
Vineland’s public school system is just starting a uniform policy this year, which the administration hopes will help “improve the school climate.”
For the last few years, some of the district’s schools have had uniform policies on a voluntary basis, but after two years of discussions, focus groups and research, they decided to expand it to a district-wide initiative.
According to the district’s public relations officer John Sbrana, having all students in uniform is a safety issue. It will help to identify students immediately and, therefore, immediately identify outsiders in the buildings.
Vineland’s uniforms are similar to those at Penns Grove-Carneys Point: Red, black or white solid tops and black or khaki pants or shorts. Girls also have the option of wearing skirts in the same colors.
“There was a lot of run up to it. The Board of Education did a lot of research and had open forums and parent surveys,” Sbrana said. “This was a two-year process that started with some schools doing a voluntary program and finding it worked really well.”
While the number of public school districts with uniform policies is still small in South Jersey, multiple districts are currently discussing the option.
In addition to Penns Grove-Carneys Point and Vineland, the Salem County Special Services School District and Vocational Technical District, as well as Paulsboro have uniforms for their students, but recently the idea has been brought up at Millville and Washington Township.
“We’re mulling it over and we’ll see if it fits our district,” said Millville Board Member David Ennis. “There are many families today that are being challenged to keep up with the growing cost of clothing and so forth. We just looked at the cost of clothes in today’s economy and the fact that there are several people who are having a financial difficulty, but we’re just mulling it over and we’re doing it collectively as a team.”
Contact staff writer Rebecca Forand at 856-845-3300 or rforand@southjerseymedia.com.
