NJ Spotlight--Is NJ’s $1.2B School Transportation System Ripe for Savings?
School districts spend more each year ferrying pupils than on school administration and capital improvements. A new report suggests big economies are possible
New Jersey’s school districts spend well over $1 billion annually on student transportation. That’s more than they spend each year on things like school administration and capital improvements.
But taxpayers could see annual savings of as much as $146 million with better use of technology and more consolidation of student bus services, according to a new report that analyzes everything from how the state’s school districts hire bus drivers to how they design daily routes.
John Reitmeyer | February 20, 2019
On Deck: An Effort to Make Student Athletes Aware of Addiction Risks
Studies show an elevated risk of opioid addiction for student athletes from injuries suffered in football and other high-contact sports
Before starting their sports season this fall, high school athletes in New Jersey will be required to watch a video designed to raise their awareness about the dangers of becoming addicted to prescription pain medicine. And the parents of players under age 18 will have to watch it too.
Lilo H. Stainton | February 20, 2019
The Atlantic--The Gun Violence That’s a Bigger Threat to Kids Than School Shootings
Mass killings on school grounds account for a very small percent of victims, but they capture far more public attention than other shootings.
Gun violence has killed nearly 1,200 children in the United States since the school massacre in Parkland, Florida, one year ago. Few of these deaths became the focus of the nation’s attention. Maybe that’s because these killings were so mundane, so normal, in the 21st-century United States.
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/02/gun-violence-children-actually-experience/582964/
Alia Wong| Feb 19, 2019
The Hechinger Report--Teacher shortages force districts to use online education programs
When the computers are in charge, students complain ‘ain’t nobody really teaching’
ROSEDALE, Miss. — On most afternoons, Jeremiah Smith, founder of an afterschool and summer program called the Rosedale Freedom Project, can be found sitting side-by-side with his students as they peer at laptops, trying to get through their assignments. Posters with uplifting quotes by Henry David Thoreau, Maya Angelou and Mahatma Gandhi decorate the room, but sometimes those positive messages aren’t enough: Smith can spot the exact moment when his students begin to despair.
https://hechingerreport.org/teacher-shortages-force-districts-to-use-online-education-programs/
Kelsey Davis and Aallyah Wright| February 20, 2019