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NJ Spotlight--Senator Calls for High School Students to Undergo Annual Addiction Screenings
Proposal would expand use of an evidence-based screening and referral program now in place at some healthcare clinics to all public and private high schools statewide
New Jersey’s high school students would receive annual addiction-risk assessments under a new proposal designed to reduce substance-use disorders among young people and improve their chances for a healthy, productive life as adults.
Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), a longtime champion of efforts to curb addiction and limit the harm associated with drug use, introduced a bill Monday that would expand the use of an evidence-based screening and referral program now in place at some healthcare clinics to all public and private high schools statewide. The process is already used in several other states including Massachusetts, staff said.
Hours later, Vitale announced he would also partner with Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Sen. Tom Kean (R-Union) to craft legislation to advance several plans Gov. Chris Christie outlined recently to address the growing opioid epidemic. Christie devoted some two-thirds of his State of the State address earlier this month to New Jersey’s addiction crisis.
Lilo H. Stainton | January 24, 2017
Star Ledger--Christie wants former teacher for education commissioner
TRENTON -- Gov. Chris Christie has nominated acting Education Commissioner Kimberley Harrington to formally serve as the state's school chief during his final year in office.
Harrington, who has been acting commissioner since September, is a former teacher and administrator. She began working for the state Department of Education in 2012 as director of academic standards.
Prior to working for the state, Harrington spent 16 years in the classroom, teaching every grade from kindergarten through eighth. She was also director of curriculum and instruction for three years.
Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com| January 23, 2017 at 6:01 PM, updated January 23, 2017 at 8:36 PM
Education Week--6 Key Federal Policy Areas to Watch Under Trump
President Donald Trump said less about education on the campaign trail than almost any major-party nominee in recent history, except for a high-profile proposal on single issue: school vouchers. But his ascendance to the White House could upend K-12 education in ways that are felt from the U.S. Department of Education’s headquarters in Washington to urban schools that serve big numbers of immigrant students.
In his unconventional bid for president, Trump—a real estate developer and TV personality who had never held public office—promised he would deport millions of immigrants, eliminate or scale back the Education Department, and create a $20 billion school voucher program.
After his election, he picked as education secretary a school choice advocate and Republican mega-donor, Betsy DeVos, who seems likely to help him try to deliver on that voucher promise.
And in his inaugural address Jan. 20, Trump did little to allay the anxieties of those concerned about his view of the nation’s public school system, decrying “an education system flush with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge.”
Trump’s inauguration last week came at a time when schools are already experiencing significant changes and anxieties. Children from racial minorities now collectively make up a majority of the public school population. Technology is remaking instruction. Aid for education in many states still hasn’t recovered from the Great Recession.
And a new federal K-12 law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, gives states and districts more control over testing, accountability, school turnarounds, and teacher quality than they had in more than decade under the law’s predecessor, the No Child Left Behind Act.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/01/20/6-key-federal-policy-areas-to-watch.html
Alyson Klein|January 23, 2017
