Debbie and the Wonder Bar have offered me an opportunity to raise funds for the benefit John Key’s family. John Key was a teacher in the Asbury Park School District since 2000 and most recently, took a position as an assistant football coach for the Blue Bishops in the Fall of 2011. John was a past coach in Ocean Township and Monmouth Regional as well as stand out athlete in the Ocean Township School System as a proud Spartan.

John was tragically taken from us in the early morning of Sunday, October 16, 2011, when he was hit by a car trying to help another individual. John not only left behind his parents, but he also left behind two small children ages 8 and 10.

Function 11, a fantastic band, will be performing the evening of Saturday, November 19, 2011, at 8:00pm. Advance ticket sales are $20.00, with ticket prices of $25.00 at the door. A portion of the door sales will go directly to the benefit of John’s children through his parents. There will also be 50/50 ticket sales as well as other gift prizes, which will benefit the children and also help the APEAPF provide a scholarship in John’s name in the Asbury Park School District to be given out in June.
If you are unable to attend, but would like to donate to this worthy cause, please send a check to:

The Asbury Park Education Association Philanthropic Fund (APEAPF)
658 Cookman Ave. Suite 19
Asbury Park, NJ 07712
(In the memo section, please write: FBO John Key)

We look forward to seeing you at this very worthy cause.

This is an article from the Asbury Park Press, here is a link to the article:

ASBURY PARK — The Board of Education is moving ahead to get a new synthetic turf football field installed by the end of the school year, and hired Leon S. Avakian Consulting Engineers to get bidding documents ready and to supervise the project.

The board Wednesday night awarded a $145,000 contract to the engineering firm.

Geoffrey Hastings, school business administrator, said Avakian was chosen after getting quotes from other firms. The total cost of the project is expected to be in the range of $1.1 million, school officials said.

Board President Gregory Hopson said the board has planned to get a turf field for some time because of the Canada geese problem on the field adjacent to Deal Lake.

“We do have the finances to put our turf in,” Hopson said Wednesday.

School officials also asked families to come to a 5:30 p.m. meeting Thursday, Oct. 27 to learn how to support their children’s education through the Title 1 federal aid program that gives additional funds to districts with at-risk students to ensure that all children have a fair opportunity to obtain high quality education.

That meeting will be in the Barack Obama Building at 1300 Bangs Ave., which is being refurbished for its new school and community uses now that it is no longer operating as a neighborhood school. The district has reopened the Dorothy McNish Parent Center at the Obama Building.

This is an article from the Asbury Park Press, here is a link to the article:

LAKEWOOD — – The Lakewood School District has received notification that it will receive a federal School Improvement Grant – worth about $6 million over three years, said Michael I. Inzelbuch, school board attorney.

The money is part of $11.6 million given to New Jersey from the federal government. School districts were awarded money competitively based on compliance to a strict set of guidelines.

When announcing the application process during a board meeting in the spring, district Superintendent Lydia Silva said the money would be used to help turn Lakewood High School around and improve the graduation rate, which was 37.6 percent for the 2009-2010 school year. The monies will be used for new technology in the classrooms, educational tools for students and teacher professional development programs, Silva said.

“When a school continues to perform in the bottom five percent of the state and isn’t showing signs of progress or has graduation rates below 60 percent over a number of years, something dramatic needs to be done,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in an April news release.

In 2010, the federal government provided $546 million in SIG funds to turn around the lowest performing schools, according to the release.

The Lakewood School District received notification July 15 to send three administrative representatives to a two-week daily seminar in Jamesburg that will prepare them for the regulations and stipulations regarding the funding, Inzelbuch said.

 This is an article from the Asbury Park Press Website, here is a link to the article:

Written by NANCY SHIELDS

ASBURY PARK — School Superintendent Denise Lowe Wednesday night was once again rebuffed in her effort to get the school board to accept her reorganization plan that would create early childhood centers of preschool up to third grade at two elementary schools and have fourth- and fifth-graders go to a third elementary school.

With six of nine board members present, the result was a 3-1 vote with two abstentions. The proposal needed a majority of the board, or five votes, to pass.

Lowe did not ask for a vote on a backup plan to close Barack Obama Elementary School, which also could result in bringing the district’s youngest children together in two locations.

It appeared likely, however, that some change will take place because Bruce Rodman, the state monitor who works each day in the district and has the final say on all fiscal matters, announced he was reserving the right to take action. After the meeting, Rodman said he has not yet made a final decision but plans to implement what is best for the district. Lowe said she and Rodman are working very closely.

A significant loss in enrollment the past eight years and lower standardized test scores for elementary students are driving the need for the district to make significant changes in how students are taught and in the use of district buildings.

At the meeting, board president Gregory Hopson and members Gregory Brewington and Garrett Giberson supported the superintendent’s plan. Connie Breech voted no.

Atlanta Public Schools Put On Probation. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (1/19, Torres) reports, “One of the nation’s top accrediting agencies placed Atlanta Public Schools on probation Tuesday, giving its fractious school board nine months to shape up or force the ultimate penalty on thousands of students: loss of accreditation. The announcement, which set off a chain reaction of worry and condemnation in one of Georgia’s most visible school systems, had nothing to do with the system’s academics. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools focused entirely on the governance of the city’s school system by its elected board, which was warned in October that members’ infighting had reached a dangerous level.”

The New York Times (1/19, Brown) reports that announcement by AdvancED “followed months of public power struggles between two groups of board members for control of the board. Atlanta is the largest school system that the accreditation group has ever placed on probation, according to its spokeswoman, Jennifer H. Oliver.”

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In the Classroom
New York City To Set Aside $10 Million To Provide Students Extra Help.

California Governor Announces Plan Not To Appoint Education Secretary. In a front-page report, the San Francisco Chronicle (1/7, Lagos) reports that California Gov. Brown (D) plans to eliminate the office of Secretary of Education, even though his predecessors “have appointed secretaries of education for decades.” The move is seen as part of Brown’s “desire to flatten bureaucracies.” Education policy experts even viewed the office as redundant, given that the electorate chooses a State Superintendant, while the Governor chooses a Board of Education, leaving the Secretary of Education with little power. The Chronicle adds that California Teachers Association President David Sanchez applauded the move.

The Los Angeles Times (1/7, York) adds that an announcement about the position could have been made as early as yesterday. Gubernatorial spokesperson Evan Westrup, however, would not confirm nor deny speculation about the future of the position or the office. The “11 employees in the education secretary’s office were already packing boxes and have been notified that their office has been targeted for elimination.” The article also provides some background on Brown’s intentions with the office and noted that during his campaign, he targeted it for removal and cited it “as an example of bureaucratic redundancy.”

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In the Classroom
Mentoring, Scholarship Programs In Pittsburgh Aim To Prepare Students For College, Careers.

New Law Labels Interns “Highly Qualified Teachers.”
The AP (1/5, Chea) reports, “Civil rights advocates are blasting new federal legislation that allows states to classify teaching interns as ‘highly qualified’ teachers and regularly assign them to schools with mostly poor, minority students. The measure, which remains in effect until the end of the 2012-13 school year, was signed Dec. 22 by President Barack Obama as part of an unrelated federal spending bill.” The AP adds that the “legislation nullifies a Sept. 27 decision by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that California illegally classified thousands of teachers in training as ‘highly qualified’ in violation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.”

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In the Classroom
More Schools Using iPads In The Classroom. The New York Times (1/5, Hu) reports, “A growing number of schools across the nation are embracing the iPad” as an education tool, though “spending money on tablet computers may seem like an extravagance” amid fiscal crises in many districts. Also, “some parents and scholars have raised concerns that schools are rushing to invest in them before their educational value has been proved by research. …

Obama Signs Child Nutrition Bill. The Washington Post (12/14, Henderson) reports, that President Obama on Monday signed into law the child nutrition bill, “capping months of advocacy by the first lady as part of her efforts to reduce childhood obesity.” The legislation “will expand the number of children in school lunch programs by 115,000, increase the reimbursement rate to school districts for meals by six cents, and replace the junk food available outside the cafeteria, such as in vending machines, with more healthful options.”

The Los Angeles Times (12/14, Muskal) reports that “the bill reauthorizes the federal nutrition program, a $4.5-billion measure that expands free school meals for the needy.” First Lady Michelle Obama with regard to the bill, “We can agree that in the wealthiest nation on earth, all children should have the basic nutrition they need to learn and grow. … Nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our children. Nothing.”

USA Today (12/14) reports that when he signed the new law at Harriet Tubman Elementary School in Washington, D.C., “President Obama paid joking tribute to its most prominent supporter: first lady Michelle Obama. ‘Not only am I very proud of the bill,’ the president said, ‘but had I not been able to get this passed, I would be sleeping on the couch.’”

CNN (12/14) also quotes the President as saying that “the bill is about ‘giving our kids the healthy futures they deserve. …

San Diego School Board Sets New Restrictions For College, Military Recruiters. The AP (12/1) reports that the San Diego, California, school board voted Tuesday “to rein in aggressive military and college recruiters.” The district’s new policy “allows recruiters to visit high school campuses twice each school year,” but restricts them to designated areas within schools. Also, “recruiters can pass out contact information but can’t collect a student’s contact information.”

The San Diego Union Tribune (12/2, Persinger) reports that the new policy aims to balance “post-graduation recruiting efforts across the San Diego Unified School District.” Leading up to the school board’s vote, much of the discussion among parents and students focused on “the presence of military recruiters on campus, some of whom have had – until now – unfettered access to students as they determine their post-high school plans.” But, “Board member John de Beck, who introduced the policy two weeks ago, said despite all the fuss on military recruiters, the policy was never meant to eliminate them from campuses.”

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In the Classroom
Mock Wedding Stresses Healthy Relationships.

Survey Indicates Improved Academics, Behavior For Students In Single-Gender Classrooms. WLTX-TV Columbia, SC (12/1, Harvin) reports that “a survey released by South Carolina’s Department of Education shows single-gender classes have amazing results in boys and girls confidence, motivation and participation.” Also, the majority of the nearly 7,000 students who participated in the survey “said the classes have improved their academic performance and classroom attitude,” with 79 percent reporting “increases in their classroom effort, and 83 percent” saying “they were more likely to finish high school.” Of the 1,120 parents surveyed, 94 percent “said their children were more likely to graduate from high school, and 85 percent of” 760 teachers surveyed said they “saw increases in effort with school work” in single-gender classrooms.

WACH-TV Columbia, SC (12/1, Stone) notes that despite the positive reviews, the number of schools offering single-gender classes in South Carolina has declined over the past two years as a result of budget cuts. “Two years ago 214 schools offered the classes, but that is down to 125 this year.”

The AP (11/30, Adcox) adds, however, that South Carolina “still leads the nation in public single-sex programs.” On Tuesday, outgoing state Superintendent Jim Rex “cautioned lawmakers not to disrupt what’s working.” He pointed out that “single-gender is a relatively inexpensive choice to offer, compared to others, but it does require an adequate number of teachers, and some training costs.”

The Anderson (SC) Independent Mail (12/1, Carey) quotes Rex as saying, “We’ve said all along that when it comes to learning, one size does not fit all.