Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

 
     GSCS Statement Condemning Violence Motivated by Race, Ethnicity or Sexual Orientation
     Latest Testimonies and Letters
     Virtual and In-Person Meeting Calendar for 2023-2024
     GSCS Critical Issues
     3-28-24 Education in the News
     3-27-24 Education in the News
     3-26-24 Education in the News
     3-25-24 Education in the News
     3-22-24 Education in the News
     3-21-24 Education in the News
     3-20-24 Education in the News
     3-19-24 Education in the News
     3-18-24 Education in the News
     3-15-24 Education in the News
     3-14-24 Education in the News
     3-12-24 Education in the News
     3-11-24 Education in the News
     3-8-24 Education in the News
     3-7-24 Educaiton in the News
     3-6-24 Education in the News
     3-5-24 Education in the News
     3-4-24 Education in the News
     3-1-24 Education in the News
     2-29-24 Educaiton in the News
     2-28-24 Education in the News
     2-27-24 Education in the News
     2-26-24 Education in the News
     2-23-24 Education in the News
     2-22-24 Education in the News
     2-21-24 Education in the News
     2-20-24 Education in the News
     2-19-24 Education in the News
     2-16-24 Education in the News
     2-15-24 Education in the News
     2-14-24 Education in the News
     2-13-24 Education in the News
     2-12-24 Education in the News
     2-9-24 Education in the News
     2-8-24 Education in the News
     2-7-24 Education in the News
     2-6-24 Education in the News
     2-5-24 Education in the news
     2-2-24 Education in the News
     2-1-24 Education in the News
     1-31-24 Education in the News
     1-30-24 Education in the News
     1-29-24 Education in the News
     1-26-24 Education in the News
     1-25-24 Education in the News
     1-24-24 Education in the News
     1-23-24 Education in the News
     1-22-24 Education in the News
     1-19-24 Education in the News
     1-18-24 Education in the News
     1-17-24 Education in the News
     1-16-24 Education in the News
     1-12-24 Education in the News
     1-11-24 Education in the News
     1-10-23 Education in the News
     1-9-24 Education in the News
     1-8-24 Education in the News
     1-5-24 Education in the News
     1-4-24 Education in the News
     1-3-23 Education in the News
     1-2-24 Education in the News
     2023-2024 Announcement Archive
     Older Archives
9-6-17 Education in the News

NJ Spotlight--Unsafe Lead Levels Found in Drinking Water at 400 NJ Schools

Results confirm lead leaching from old fixtures and pipes is extensive problem facing state’s district and charter schools

Nearly 400 schools reported finding lead in at least one drinking-water outlet in their buildings, according to data compiled by the state Department of Education from mandatory testing of all districts.

The results further amplify an initial compilation of lead-testing results compiled by New Jersey Future, an analysis that found the state’s problems with lead in drinking water are so pervasive that the contaminant is found in school districts of all types and sizes, and all geographic areas of the state.

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/09/05/unsafe-lead-levels-found-in-drinking-water-at-400-nj-schools/

 Tom Johnson | September 6, 2017

 

NJ Spotlight--At First Day of School, Newark Also Celebrates Soon-to-End State Control

Mayor Baraka and state-appointed superintendent Cerf both acknowledge significant gains district has made in past few years

In the shadows of one of the city’s most successful high schools, the beginning of the end of New Jersey’s long-contentious oversight of Newark public schools unofficially started yesterday.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and state-appointed superintendent Chris Cerf together hosted a small gathering outside Newark’s Technology High School to both open the school year for the district and to mark what in all likelihood will be the last such opening under state control.

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/09/05/at-first-day-of-school-newark-also-celebrates-soon-to-end-state-control/

John Mooney | September 6, 2017

 

Star Ledger--These 43 N.J. school districts have fewer than 200 students

New Jersey has more than 1.3 million students in its K-12 public schools.

Some attend schools in large districts -- Newark has more than 35,000 kids in schools. But the vast majority of N.J.'s students go to school in much smaller districts.

Based on data from the state Department of Education from the last school year and the Census Bureau, NJ Advance Media made a list of the smallest of the small school districts in the state, excluding charter schools and specialty institutions.

Is your child's district among the smallest in the state?

http://www.nj.com/education/2017/09/njs_smallest_school_districts.html#incart_m-rpt-2

Posted September 05, 2017 at 07:30 AM | Updated September 05, 2017 at 07:31 AM

 

New York Times-- Will the Trump Era Transform the School Lunch?

ATLANTA — On a sweltering morning in July, Sonny Perdue, the newly minted secretary of agriculture, strode across the stage of a convention hall here packed with 7,000 members of the School Nutrition Association, who had gathered for their annual conference.

After reminiscing about the cinnamon rolls baked by the lunchroom ladies of his youth, he delivered a rousing defense of school food-service workers who were unhappy with some of the sweeping changes made by the Obama administration. The amounts of fat, sugar and salt were drastically reduced. Portion sizes shrank. Lunch trays had to hold more fruits and vegetables. Snacks and food sold for fund-raising had to be healthier.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/dining/school-lunch-trump-obama.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Feducation&action=click&contentCollection=education®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

KIM SEVERSON| SEPT. 5, 2017

 

The Atlantic--Americans Have Given Up on Public Schools. That’s a Mistake.

The current debate over public education underestimates its value—and forgets its purpose.

Public schools have always occupied prime space in the excitable American imagination. For decades, if not centuries, politicians have made hay of their supposed failures and extortions. In 2004, Rod Paige, then George W. Bush’s secretary of education, called the country’s leading teachers union a “terrorist organization.” In his first education speech as president, in 2009, Barack Obama lamented the fact that “despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we’ve let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us.”

President Donald Trump used the occasion of his inaugural address to bemoan the way “beautiful” students had been “deprived of all knowledge” by our nation’s cash-guzzling schools. Educators have since recoiled at the Trump administration’s budget proposal detailing more than $9 billion in education cuts, including to after-school programs that serve mostly poor children.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/10/the-war-on-public-schools/537903/

Erika Christakis| October 2017 Issue

 

Education Week--The Nation's Teaching Force Is Still Mostly White and Female

Teachers tend to be white, female, and have nearly a decade and a half of experience in the classroom, according to new data released Monday by the federal government.

But there are signs that the nation’s teaching force is gradually growing more diverse. It is also more heterogeneous: The nation’s charter school teachers look significantly different from teachers in traditional public schools.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/08/15/the-nations-teaching-force-is-still-mostly.html

Liana Loewus| August 15, 2017