Facebook Founder To Donate $100 Million To New Jersey District. The New York Times (9/23, A27, Perez-Pena) reports that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will donate $100 million to Newark, New Jersey public schools. “In conjunction with the huge gift,” Gov. Chris Christie (R) has agreed to “cede some control of the state-run system to Mayor Cory A. Booker…officials said” yesterday. While Zuckerberg “has no particular connection to Newark,” he met Booker at a conference this summer “and began a continuing conversation about the mayor’s plans for the city, according to people familiar with their relationship.” Booker, the Times adds, “has been traveling the country…proselytizing and raising money for Newark.”

The North Jersey Media Group (9/23, Margolin, Giambusso) reports that under Booker’s authority, the Newark “school system will embark on a massive program of educational change long opposed by the state teachers union. It will include an expansion of charter schools, new achievement standards and methods for judging which schools and teachers are effective,” according to sources.

The AP (9/23) reports that Mayor Booker, Gov. Christie, and Zuckerberg plan “to announce the donation Friday” on the Oprah Winfrey Show. The AP also notes that Newark is searching for a new superintendent as “Christie opted last month not to rehire” the District’s current leader.

Obama Announces New STEM Education Initiative. The AP (9/17) reports that in line with efforts to promote science, technology, engineering and math education, President Obama “announced Thursday a nonprofit organization called Change the Equation.” According to the AP, the new initiative is “designed to bring successful, privately funded programs to 100 schools and communities that are most in need. … Former astronaut Sally Ride and current and former executives from Intel, Xerox, Time Warner Cable and Eastman Kodak founded the nonprofit organization.”

CNN (9/16) added that Change the Equation “has $5 million in funding for its first year of operation, according to information provided by the White House.” According to CNN, “The goals of Change the Equation are to improve teaching in STEM subjects, inspire student learning in those subjects and achieve a national commitment to improve education in them, according to the White House. … ‘The cost of inaction is immeasurable,’ Obama said, citing the lost participation of children who never get encouraged or exposed to education in STEM subjects.”

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In the Classroom
Fewer Denver Schools Performing Poorly In Latest Rankings. The Denver Post (9/16, Meyer) reported, “The number of poorly performing Denver schools has been cut by half since 2008, according to Denver Public Schools’ ranking system being released today.

Where: Trinity and the Pope
649 Mattison Ave., Asbury Park

When: Friday –September 24, 2010

Cost: $5.00 – Includes Happy Hour Food and 1 Drink Ticket

(Tickets purchased at the door will be $10.00)

Tickets will be distributed at Trinity and the Pope until 4:30pm.
To purchase your ticket, please see:

APMS – Lynn Librizzi
Bradley – Maureen Casey
TMS – Regina Jagoo
Barack – Annette Rios
APHS – Mia Jones- Cazeau
Alt. MS/HS – Don Cleaves
BOE – Gena Proctor
Maint. – John Kostecki
ITC – Mike Amadruto
Annex – Melanie Pelosi

For more information visit our website:www.asburyparkea.net

To: Executive Committee

County Presidents

Local Presidents

All Staff

All NJEA Consultants

From: Barbara Keshishian, President

Vince Giordano, Executive Director

By now you have likely heard that earlier today Governor Christie unveiled a list of proposed pension and benefits changes that he wants the Legislature to consider this fall. Details of the proposals are still very sketchy and so far no legislation has been proposed or introduced. While the details are critical, it is clear that this is a serious attack on the pensions and benefits of public employees, including NJEA members. We are not waiting for actual legislation to begin organizing against this attack on our members.

NJEA is gathering more information about the proposals, and is consulting with attorneys regarding possible legal action should the state attempt to make any illegal changes to the pensions or benefits of our members. That process is ongoing.

While pursuing every legal avenue available to protect our members’ interests, we will also mount a concerted organizing and political campaign. It is critical to note that all of the governor’s proposals require legislative approval. So far, reaction from legislative leaders has been unenthusiastic, but we are not relying on that.

Education Department Rejects Texas’ $830 Million School Funding Request. The AP (9/10, Castro) reports that “the US Department of Education has rejected Texas’ application for $830 million in federal money for schools and asked the state to resubmit its request without conditions.” Texas’ initial application included “a line…that said Texas’ constitution and laws supersede any assurances made by the governor in the application.” Officials in the state said the line was added because they believed the funding requirement that Texas “ensure schools will be funded at a certain level for the next three years” was not in line wit the state constitution.

Texas’ American Statesman (9/10, Alexander) reports that on Thursday Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) Chief of Staff Ray Sullivan said “that the state is keeping its options open, including potential legal action, to ensure that money will eventually come to Texas schools.” The American Statesman notes that “Texas is the only state whose governor must assure that state education spending will hold steady for the next three years. The other states must provide that assurance for only one year.”

Editorial Director Mike Norman wrote in Texas’ Star-Telegram (9/9) that the dispute between the Texas Education Agency and the US Education Department “can’t be very amusing for people who are trying to run Texas schools and need to know how much money they’ll have this year.” Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott on Friday sent the state’s “application for $830 million to Duncan,” agreeing to “two of the three conditions.

Racial Violence Prompts Changes At Philadelphia High School. The AP (9/6, Washington) reported, “Fueled by rumors, a group of” mostly black South Philadelphia High School “students roamed the halls searching for Asian victims until one was attacked in a classroom.” Ultimately, “30 Asians were injured” last December 3 and “seven went to hospitals.” According to the AP, following a weeklong boycott of the school by around 50 Asian students, the “district installed 126 security cameras. A ’50-50 club’ took Asian and black students on group outings” and the district hired more “bilingual staffers” and “Principal LaGreta Brown was forced out on the eve of a faculty no-confidence vote after a local newspaper discovered her certification had lapsed.”

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In the Classroom
More Schools Adopting Singapore Math Curriculum. The Lafayette (IN) Journal and Courier (9/6, Mack) reported that in a growing national trend, “Math in Focus, also called Singapore Math, made its debut this year in K-5 classrooms at” Tippecanoe School Corp. “and Lafayette School Corp.” in Indiana. According to the Journal and Courier, “According to the Math in Focus website, the program teaches fewer topics in greater depth.

Educators Criticize LA Times Teacher Performance Database. The Los Angeles Times (8/30, Song) reports, “National and local teachers unions sharply criticized [The Los Angeles Times] on Sunday when the newspaper published a database of about 6,000 third- through fifth-grade city school teachers ranked by their effectiveness in raising student test scores.” The rankings are based “a ‘value-added’ analysis” that “looks at previous student test performance and estimates how much a teacher added to or subtracted from a student’s progress.” United Teachers Los Angeles officials say that making teacher rankings public could “create mistrust among schools and parents.” On Sept. 14, UTLA plans to “protest in front of the Times building.” UTLA President AJ Duffy said of the plans, “We want to make a public statement about our concern for our members who are being singled out.”

ABC News (8/29, Bruce) reported on its website that Education Secretary Arne Duncan supports using value-added data “to evaluate teachers.” In an interview on Sunday, Duncan told ABC, “Teachers want to get better. It shouldn’t take a newspaper to give them that data. The district, the union, the education stakeholders have to work together to empower teachers. This should be a piece of how teachers are evaluated.”

Study Criticizes “Value-Added” Teacher Evaluation Method. Valerie Strauss wrote in a blog for the Washington Post (8/29), “Student standardized test scores are not reliable indicators of how effective any teacher is in the classroom, not even with the addition of new ‘value-added’ methods, according to a study released today” by the Economic Policy Institute.

Good morning, and on behalf of the APEA, I want to welcome ALL of you back to the start of a new and very challenging school year. As members of the APEA, we are like family; and just like any other family, we may not always see eye-to-eye, but we are connected and need to support each other in good times and bad. We’re here today because we ALL have ONE fundamental thing in common; we’re ALL educators, and we’re ALL proud to serve the children of the Asbury Park School District. The work we do during the school day, after the school day ends, on nights, weekends, and even during the summer is VITAL to the future of our students, and to the future of society. That’s an ENORMOUS responsibility and one we proudly accept, despite the challenges we are facing.

Our world has changed considerably since this time last year. In September 2009, we had a governor who supported public education. He increased school funding during a recession and was the only governor in 16 years to PUT money into our pension system. A year later we have a governor who constantly uses CONFRONTATIONAL, rather than COLLABORATIVE tactics in dealing with school employees and their representatives. He has called us “greedy” and accused us of using children as “drug mules.” He and his accomplices in the Legislature are attacking our salaries, benefits and collective bargaining rights. This governor’s budget cut $ 1.2 billion in school funding. Our schools are cash-strapped. We are being asked to do more with less. Programs are being cut. Class sizes are increasing.