This is a letter to the editors of the Asbury Park Press, here is a link to the article:

In response to the May 12 article regarding the Asbury Park Board of Education offices (“Asbury’s office decision questioned”), let me clarify a few points that were not written.

The board has people “bamboozled” into thinking that there is a required cost to renovate this building in the amount of $1.6 million to $2 million.

For the record, the Early Childhood Department and the Child Study Team have been working in that building for this entire school year at a renovation nowhere near the figure that was stated for the board move. The Alternative School is slated to move into that building this September.

I toured the second and third floor of that building to see the preparation made to have this building up to specifications. Those two floors never looked better. The staff did an outstanding job of preparation, only to be told that the board will not be moving there.

Here are a few questions that need to be answered:

• Why an exorbitant cost of $1.6 million?
• If our neighbors in Ocean Township can utilize an older school building for their central office, why isn’t it good enough for Asbury Park, when they have cut union staff for five years now?
• Why do they need to be on Mattison Avenue, the farthest point from the majority of the schools within the district?

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

ASBURY PARK — Asbury Park High school staff members have made a public vote of no-confidence against Colleen White, now finishing up her second year as a director of guidance in the Asbury Park School District.

John Napolitani, president of the teachers’ union, told school board members Wednesday night that “your staff has had enough” and that of 67 staff members who voted, 64 agreed to a vote of no-confidence in White. Two staff members disagreed with that vote and one abstained.

Napolitani asked that the vote “not be taken lightly.”

White, who attended the board meeting and was reached at her office at the high school Thursday morning, declined to comment. According to the school district website, she oversees guidance, assessment and testing and is the anti-bullying coordinator.

Union members asked that White not be renewed for next year. According to paperwork Napolitani gave board members, they listed a number of grievances about her direction and administration.

White, who has one more year before she would gain tenure, was up for renewal on a list of tenured and non-tenured staff that the board voted on Wednesday. But the board was unable to complete the process of getting staff members approved before a May 15 deadline to notify those not renewed.

Lester Richens, the state fiscal monitor working in the district, who has the final say on hiring and firing and all financial matters, said that because the board did not approve the appointment list, he would act on it by Friday to meet the upcoming deadline.

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

This is an article from the Courier Post Online, here is a link to the article:

But less state funds for low-income areas
TRENTON — State school aid figures unveiled late Thursday showed that Gov. Chris Christie’s administration plans to take money away from urban and low-income school districts and provide additional funds to suburban areas.

Camden City, for example, is set to lose $5.5 million compared with last year’s aid, under formulas that would be adjusted by the state Department of Education. Asbury Park would receive $2.4 million less than last year. Still, Camden would get $276 million and Asbury Park, $55.2 million.

Meanwhile, the Freehold Regional district in Monmouth County would be the big winner in the state, with $3.4 million more, for a total of $51.2 million. Cherry Hill is slated to get $12.7 million, up $1.4 million over last year.

Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf said the changes were necessary to better equalize educational funding and help foster better schools in low-income areas.

“These recommendations, along with the new policy aspects, will serve disadvantaged children in the state better than they’ve ever been served before,” Cerf said. “We are all living in a universe where we’ve been led to believe that you equate effectiveness with dollars. I don’t think the evidence supports that at all.”

The Legislature will review the proposal as part of the budget process.

School aid and property taxes have been the most contentious issues in the state for nearly two decades. Under a series of state Supreme Court decisions, regularly criticized by Christie, 31 low-income school districts received the majority of state funds for years.

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

TRENTON — New Jersey’s top education official said Tuesday there is much he likes about a Democratic-sponsored teacher tenure reform bill, although he stopped short of endorsing the measure.

Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf said he is glad the bill, if enacted into law, would end tenure as lifetime job security, and require that teacher ratings play a significant role in determining who would be let go during layoffs.

But Cerf acknowledged that the bill does not contain provisions for merit pay, long advocated by Gov. Chris Christie’s administration. Instead, Cerf said, he hopes merit pay will be allowed by the Legislature and then eventually become embedded in teacher contracts through the local negotiation process.

Cerf made the comments during a meeting with the Asbury Park Press editorial board, one day after state Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, introduced what, if approved, would be landmark teacher tenure legislation for New Jersey, although about half of the states have enacted some form of tenure reform.

Ruiz has been meeting with various interest groups, including the state’s largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, for about a year. Ruiz has been praised by Christie, a Republican, and Cerf reiterated that praise on Tuesday.

“Let’s give a lot of credit to Sen. Ruiz. I’m a Democrat, this is a hard issue for Democrats to carry,” Cerf said. “She is carrying it ably, thoughtfully and well.”

That the bill would create a mechanism for teachers to lose tenure protections if they are found to be ineffective is “a big deal,” Cerf said.

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

Newly released test scores show some success in Asbury Park schools, which are among those in 31 select low-income districts which annually receive billions of dollars, and more than half of the state local education aid.

The high school and Bradley Elementary School met federal standards for adequate yearly progress, Superintendent of Schools Denise Lowe said. Still, only 21.1 percent of Asbury Park High School 11th-graders were proficient in math; 78.9 percent failed. In language, 58.2 percent were proficient, 36.4 failed and 5.5 percent tested as advanced.

Lowe said she realizes there’s much more work to be done. She said she believes progress has come from district efforts such as the institution of a written curriculum. The district didn’t have such a guideline for teachers when she arrived three years ago, Lowe said.

The district updated its teacher evaluation system last year. The last time it was updated was in 1988, Lowe said. It has also increased professional development for teachers, she said.

Expanded wi-fi service and an iPad pilot program for preschoolers also will be launched soon, she said. Lowe said she believes the technological advances will be key to enhancing education.

“The board has supported the efforts (of the superintendent’s office) in really making these systemic changes that position us now to see more improvements for our students,” Lowe said.

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

IRVINGTON — Gov. Chris Christie told an inner-city audience Thursday he has high hopes his education reform agenda will boost overall student performance but conceded challenges remain in working with children from broken and dysfunctional homes.

“Kids who are not responding (and) don’t have the hunger to learn, as governor I can’t do anything about the parents. I can’t pretend I can go into every home and say, ‘Why don’t you care about your child learning?’ ” Christie said. “I don’t have any business going into somebody’s home and judging them. I don’t think they’d listen to me anyway.”

Christie went on to tout ideas on overhauling teacher tenure and increasing school choice during his town hall visit to the Christian Love Baptist Church.

Still, Christie said it will be difficult to turn around the failure of children where problems can be traced to parents who aren’t in the picture — because of working multiple jobs or being jailed or being deceased, he said.

“There are going to be a certain percentage of children (failing) because of their environment because their parents either don’t care or aren’t present,” the Republican governor said. “My problem is all those things are used as excuses for not getting at one of the things we know can be fixed, which is to make sure we have a quality teacher in front of the classroom.”

The event was held in the old church and was packed to capacity, with perhaps close to 500 people in the main worship area and a basement auxiliary room.

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

VOORHEES — A vocal foe of a planned charter school in Cherry Hill got under Gov. Chris Christie’s skin during a town hall meeting here Wednesday.

About an hour into a session that had been cordial and laced with applause, Cherry Hill resident Alan Erlich interrupted Christie as the governor was answering a question about the school, Regis Academy. Emotions quickly escalated.

“I don’t have a solution for every problem,” Christie said to Erlich immediately after the interruption. “You had an opportunity to speak before. Here’s the bottom line: I don’t have a solution for everything.”

But after Erlich charged the charter school’s approval was a favor for a Christie supporter, the governor denied the claim.

“Who are you talking about?” asked Christie, who went on to say he does not know Amir Khan, a pastor who is organizing the school at a church complex in the Ashland area. “I haven’t given one friend a charter school.”

After the heated exchange with Erlich, Christie briefly turned back to the woman who had questioned him and told her he’d get back to her in a second. He then continued his ire toward Erlich.

“It’s guys like you who are rude and yell out in the middle when I’m trying to answer this woman’s question that does not allow for civil discourse in this state,” the governor said, drawing applause from some audience members.

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

Gov. Chris Christie has declared war on the public school system and the teachers who work there.

First, he started his propaganda that the teachers were responsible for the economic crisis in the state. As absurd as this is, many people chose to believe it. Why? Because when things get complicated and scary, people want to find an easy target for all of their angst, anger and hardship.

The governor was eager to offer up the teachers as this target. He cut school aid and proclaimed that these cuts would not result in any loss of teaching jobs, nor affect the quality of education.

These claims were patently absurd, yet many believed. The laying off of teachers began immediately, and many students suffered a decline in their educational programs.

The governor declares that teachers are responsible for poor academic performance. This is also absurd.

It is not a coincidence that the majority of failing schools are in inner cities and/or economically deprived areas. If only teachers could cure all the ills of society — addiction, crumbling infrastructure, crime, poverty, families in crisis — they surely would.

Despite the research to the contrary, the governor has declared charter schools to be the answer. Beware the red herring. The vilification of teachers serves to keep the public from asking the real questions and demanding answers.

What happens to the millions in lottery sales? The economic crisis in this state was caused by the downturn in the economy and the failure of government to be good stewards.

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

NEW BRUNSWICK — A scholar who studies and blogs about education finance says improving the state’s urban schools will take more money — and that merit pay is not likely to help.

Bruce Baker, an associate professor at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education, spoke with The Associated Press for an occasional series of interviews on public education reform in New Jersey.

Baker’s work is more often cited by those skeptical about the so-called reform movement in education. He’s skeptical about whether students’ standardized test scores should be incorporated into decisions about which teachers should be laid off and which should make more money. Those are among ideas promoted by President Obama, Gov. Chris Christie and New Jersey Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf.

Baker, a former middle-school science teacher and tennis coach, has done research funded in part by teachers unions. But he’s also quick to point out that he once did consulting work for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination and is a critic of teachers unions.

AP: What’s the state of New Jersey’s public education system?

Baker: It’s strong. It’s strong for some reasons within its control and it’s strong for other reasons that are just the luck of being geographically where it is and having an affluent, educated population.

Part of what’s made it strong is the state has put financial effort into its schools.