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Star Ledger - Sen. Ron Rice vows to block Christopher Cerf's confirmation as next N.J. education chief
"A spokesman for the governors office stood behind the nomination and blamed Senate Democrats for blocking it. Cerf could remain acting commissioner for the duration of Christies term as governor and would have all the same legal rights and responsibilities as a permanent commissioner..."
njspotlight.com - Two Troubled Charter Schools Are Quietly Put on Probation'
Sen. Ron Rice vows to block Christopher Cerf's confirmation as next N.J. education chief
Published: Friday, March 11, 2011, 7:30 AM Updated: Friday, March 11, 2011, 11:06 AM
By Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger 
Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf, seen in this March 1 file photo. N.J. Sen. Ron Rice has vowed to block the gubernatorial nominee. TRENTON — State Sen. Ron Rice is no longer a potential problem on Chris Cerf’s road to becoming New Jersey’s next education commissioner.
He’s now an outright road block.
Rice (D-Essex) said he will invoke one of the Legislature’s oldest and most effective prerogatives by exercising senatorial courtesy, a maneuver that allows senators to block gubernatorial nominees who reside in their home districts or counties without giving reason for their disapproval.
Rice fired a warning last week when he said he would use the privilege against Cerf unless Cerf agreed to appear before the Joint Committee on the Public Schools, a legislative panel that Rice chairs and includes state senators and assemblymen.
Rice said then that Cerf, whom Gov. Chris Christie named acting education commissioner in December, misled him about his relationship with Newark Mayor Cory Booker. The mayor has said Cerf served as an informal adviser to him.
According to Rice, Cerf said he did not know Booker when obviously he does. Rice is concerned Cerf has already advised Booker on several controversial issues such as vouchers and charter schools.
Rice now says he is invoking his senatorial privilege no matter what Cerf does.
"Acting Commissioner Cerf prevaricates. He doesn’t tell all truths," Rice said. "He may be here now, but he can’t stay forever, and he will not be permanent at this point. The governor will have to find someone else."
A spokesman for the governor’s office stood behind the nomination and blamed Senate Democrats for blocking it. Cerf could remain acting commissioner for the duration of Christie’s term as governor and would have all the same legal rights and responsibilities as a permanent commissioner.
"Senate Democrats need to stop with the nonsense and work out the dysfunction in their caucus that is obstructing the confirmation process for Mr. Cerf, a highly qualified nominee, from moving forward," Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts said.
Cerf denied misleading Rice about his relationship with Booker, saying he and the senator have had several "open and candid conversations about a range of issues."
"I have always been forthright with the senator," Cerf said.
State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said Cerf’s "acting" status will not impede the governor’s education reform effort, which includes tenure reform, merit pay and expansion of school choice. He also suspects Rice will re-consider his decision.
"Cerf is very able and well regarded, and I hope in the fullness of time, Ron will reconsider (Cerf’s) abilities to help kids in Newark and everywhere get the fairest chance in life," Kryillos said.
Some education experts say this latest scuffle adds to the confusion and contention that already surround some of the governor’s education reform plans. Joseph DePierro, dean of Seton Hall University’s College of Education and Human Services, said not approving Cerf will "impede" the governor’s proposals from being successful.
"You have to keep in mind, we have one commissioner who was fired, and now we have another one whose appointment is in dispute," DePierro said, referring to former Commissioner Bret Schundler who was let go by Christie last year. "That does not spark confidence in Christie’s educational agenda, especially in terms of his method."
Rutgers-Newark law professor Paul Tractenberg said Cerf finds himself under a "big cloud" that is "at least partly of his own making." It’s as if the state is lurching from one commissioner of education crisis to the next, Tractenberg said.
"The cumulative effect starts to weigh on people," Tractenberg said. "Here is someone who can’t hold a commissioner, or get a commissioner to do the job in a way the Senate thinks is appropriate. It raises questions about what’s going on with education in New Jersey."
njspotlight.com 'Two Troubled Charter Schools Are Quietly Put on Probation'
'A letter of probation, rather than a press release, awaits charters teetering on the edge'
In a state now with 73 operating charter schools, the list of schools that didn’t make it over the last 15 years is about half the length: 35 charter schools that either saw their charters revoked or gave them up. Another five never got off the ground.
Now add at least two more that are teetering toward the edge, two schools that the state quietly put on probation in the last week for a host of problems, ranging from lack of required services and accounting to low student achievement.
It didn’t draw a press release, not like those that announce new charter schools, not from an administration that has made expanding charter schools a centerpiece of Gov. Chris Christie’s education agenda.
But even the probationary letters speak to the challenges faced by both the charter schools and the state if it intends on promoting successful charters and holding accountable those that are not.
One of the two put on probation is Trenton Community Charter School, a school that has long struggled with low achievement levels. Last year, just 42 percent of its eighth graders passed the state’s achievement test in reading, and that was the high-water mark. The low point was just 15 percent -- one in seven students -- passing in fourth grade.
"Develop a plan and timeline to address the school’s low levels of student achievement," read the state’s order to the school, giving it 15 days to submit a remedial plan and 90 days to show progress or potentially lose its charter.
But that was just the start. The school was cited for not having proper services for students with disabilities or even a full curriculum in place and available to teachers.
One order appeared particularly damning: "Develop a plan and timeline to address the proper functioning of a full Board of Trustees."
The school's director yesterday acknowledged there is a lot of work to do, and in a short period of time. But principal Christi Pemberton said the state’s concerns are fair and she was confident that the K-8 school would show the necessary improvements.
"This isn’t the first school to go through this, and unfortunately probably not the last," she said.
The other school placed on probation is University Academy Charter High School in Jersey City, located on the campus of New Jersey City University. Its list of concerns was even longer, although more in the depth of programs than outright deficiencies. They included concerns about the quality of professional development for teachers, the need for revisions of its curriculum and the lack of effective ways to track student achievement through data collection and other means.
The school’s leaders yesterday could not be reached for comment.
The head of the state’s charter school association this week said the state’s actions to hold charter schools accountable are critical to the movement’s success.
"All schools should be measured by one criteria – student outcomes," said Carlos Perez, executive director of the New Jersey Charter School Association. "Whether it’s a traditional public school or a charter school, the state needs to look at whether its continued operation is in the best interest of the students."
