NJ Spotlight--Opinion: New Jersey’s Tangled History of Debt and How It Got that Way
Part two of an examination of capital planning and budgeting in the Garden State, the long and the short of it
In a previous article I suggested New Jersey does poor planning and budgeting for its capital investments. It follows an ad hoc process whereby the state makes decisions based on the cause of the day. One day it is $300 million for State House renovations; another day it is water projects and another day it is vocational and community colleges and K-12 safety projects.
Richard F. Keevey | May 21, 2018
Star Ledger--These 25 school districts have the fewest white students -- a lawsuit says that's illegal
A lawsuit filed last week calls for the desegregation of New Jersey schools, a potentially game-changing legal challenge for minority students across the state.
But how segregated are the state's schools?
Just 0.3 percent of the more than 6,700 students in Irvington Public Schools are white, making it the most non-white school district in the state, according to data from the nonprofit Center on Diversity and Equality in Education
http://www.nj.com/education/2018/05/njs_most_segregated_school_districts.html#incart_river_index
Adam Clark and Carla Astudillo| Updated May 20, 7:25 AM; Posted May 20, 7:06 AM
Star Ledger--Jersey's segregated schools and America's racist past | Moran
Charity Haygood is a respected educator who has taught in Newark for 20 years, in three different schools, and has never had a single white student.
In New Jersey whitest suburbs, you can probably find teachers like her who have never had an African-American or Latino student. New Jersey's schools, like New York's, are more segregated than those in Mississippi or Alabama.
We may not have Sheriff Bull Connor spraying fire hoses and beating demonstrators. But we get the job done.
So, what should we do about this?
Tom Moran| Updated May 20, 9:51 AM; Posted May 19
Education Week--AnotherAmerican School Is Devastated by Gun Violence
Another American school has been devastated by gun violence—this time in southeastern Texas—after a 17-year-old male student opened fire inside Santa Fe High School on Friday morning, killing 10, most of them students and at least one teacher. Ten others were injured.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/05/18/another-american-school-is-devastated-by-gun.html
Arianna Prothero| May 18, 2018 | Updated: May 18, 2018
Education Week--Parkland Survivors and Other Youth Activists: 'You're Going to Listen to Us' on Gun Violence
In an emotionally charged session at the Education Writers Association's national seminar, student activists from Parkland, Fla.; Newtown, Conn.; and Chicago urged the media to keep the national spotlight on gun violence and not let their tragedies fade away.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rulesforengagement/2018/05/student_activists_gun_violence.html
Madeline Will on May 17, 2018 7:49 PM
Press of Atlantic City--Does New Jersey's anti-bullying law address racism in schools?
A Camden County lacrosse team’s season was canceled this month after students from Haddonfield uttered a racial slur at a member of the Sterling High School track team in Somerdale.
In a similar incident last weekend, members of Linwood’s Mainland Regional High School boys crew team were accused of taunting a black rower on Absegami High School’s crew team during a meet at Lake Lenape in Mays Landing. The punishment for those students has not been disclosed by the Mainland superintendent, but The Press has been told the boys involved have been removed from the team.
State data show such incidents are on the decline in schools, which many attribute to New Jersey’s anti-bullying law. The 2010 law established procedures and reporting requirements to help districts deal with harassment, intimidation and bullying, known collectively to school officials as HIB.
But under the law, how punishments for those incidents are doled out is entirely up to the school district.
CLAIRE LOWE Staff Writer| May 21, 2018
New York Times--Things Have Changed Since Sandy Hook
Santa Fe, Tex. — The makeshift memorials were growing larger by the hour outside Santa Fe High School on Saturday, the balloons holding up valiantly while the floral bouquets were already beginning to wilt in the early summer heat.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/21/opinion/sandy-hook-santa-fe-gun-control.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
Mimi Swartz| May 21, 2018