Quality Public Education for All New Jersey Students

 

2-8-18 Education in the News

The Record--Is your school on the list of 'State Schools of Character'?

Respectful, optimistic, compassionate, kind and empathetic team players have earned a Denville school a spot on the State Schools of Character list.  

The Riverview Elementary School, along with 21 others from New Jersey, will be honored this spring by the New Jersey Alliance for Social, Emotional and Character Development. 

Also on the list from the northern New Jersey area are: Montville’s Robert R. Lazar Middle School, Apshawa and Westbrook elementary school in West Milford as well as West Milford High School and Unity Charter School in Morristown. 

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/morris/2018/02/07/did-your-school-make-list-state-schools-character/316721002/

Gene Myers, Staff Writer, @myersgene Published 6:11 p.m. ET Feb. 7, 2018

 

The Record--Phil Murphy campaign promise tracker: On minimum wage, PARCC testing, NJ Transit and more

Gov. Phil Murphy made a lot of promises while running for governor. Now he has to try to fulfill them. The Record and NorthJersey.com have compiled a list of those promises and is publishing them here as a way of informing the public and to hold Murphy accountable. 

This list is comprehensive but not exhaustive, and is culled from statements Murphy made during the campaign or posted on his website. The Record will update this list as needed with the status on these promises as Murphy moves through his tenure. 

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/governor/2018/02/08/phil-murphy-promise-tracker-minimum-wage-nj-transit-and-more/1034208001/

Dustin Racioppi, State House Bureau, @dracioppi Published 5:45 a.m. ET Feb. 8, 2018

 

Politico--How Betsy DeVos softened her message on school choice

Trump’s most controversial Cabinet member backs away from divisive rhetoric.

Betsy DeVos became famous — and infamous in some quarters — as the leader of an education movement that pushed for public funding for private schools, including religious education.

 

But a year into her tenure as President Donald Trump’s Education secretary, DeVos generally steers clear of the words, “school choice,” a phrase she once used often that's freighted with racial, demographic and religious implications. Instead, she opts for gentler terms such as “innovation” and “blended learning,” and speaks of coming together and “finding solutions.”

DeVos has by no means backed off her push to fulfill Trump’s promise to inject $20 billion into expanded private education options for kids. But one of the most divisive figures in Trump's Cabinet, hated by teachers unions and progressives as Public School Enemy No. 1, has figured out how to market that effort differently.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/07/betsy-devos-school-choice-education-397633

KIMBERLY HEFLING and CAITLIN EMMA 02/07/2018 07:01 PM EST

 

Education Week--Betsy DeVos: A One-Year Progress Report

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos took the oath of office on Feb. 7, 2017, which means that this week marks her first anniversary as the head of the Department of Education. Her first year in office has been a bumpy ride.

DeVos had decades of experience championing school choice before joining the Trump Cabinet. She'd been the head of the American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy and political organization, but she had no experience working professionally in government, or in public education.

Her confirmation hearing—in which she appeared not to know what the main special education law was and suggested teachers may need guns to ward off "potential" grizzly bears—was the most controversial of any education secretary in history.

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/02/07/betsy-devos-a-one-year-progress-report.html

Alyson Klein| February 6, 2018

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