NJ Education Report

All Budget All the Time:

School district budgets are the focus of much media this week, with many districts slashing programs and laying off staff to produce a budget that both meets D.O.E. adequacy formulas and is palatable to voters.

Layoffs include, for example, 55 staff members in West Orange, 90 in Camden, 60 in Wall Township, 60 in Woodbridge.

Anything for a Dime:

In what may signal a new trend to counter tight funds, Robbinsville Public Schools has hired the Middletown-based Corporate Marketing Association to sell ad space. The Trenton Times reports,

Modell’s Sporting Goods already has an advertising deal with Red Bank Regional and Old Bridge school districts, and they’re interested in Robbinsville because the company has a store in Hamilton, Gulluscio said. He said it may be the first corporate sponsor brought to the Robbinsville Ravens.

Footing the (Big) Bill:

Bergenfield Public Schools is in court over the residency of autistic twins whose educational costs come to $500,000 per year. The parents are divorced and live in separate townships, reports The Record. The boys are in a residential setting. Which township is responsible for footing the bill? Options, besides Bergenfield, include Howell and Freehold.

More Debate on Teacher Tenure:

Fred Snowflack of the Daily Record reports on a school board candidate forum where the subject of debate was whether teacher tenure is obsolete.

James Lytle Named in Student Suit:

Sixteen students who attended the scandal-ridden Sherman campus of Trenton Public Schools have sued the district, according to The Trentonian, “alleging the fiasco denied them the education they needed to get jobs or go to college.” Ex-Trenton administrators named in the suit include Dr. James Lytle, now a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, former principal Priscilla Dawson, Sherman campus principal Al Williams, Sherman vice principal Melvin Cummings and Maria Azzaro, who was an interim principal at TCHS.