NJ Education Report

Everywhere I turn, Julia Sass Rubin seems to be talking for Camden’s poor. Just last week she told one of the state’s largest newspapers: “People in abject poverty don’t have the bandwidth to even evaluate charter schools. It’s just not going to be high on their list.”
Excuse me? That deeply offensive comment toward low-income families in Camden shows not only her complete disregard of our families, but a dangerous misunderstanding about what our families want.

Arthur Barkley, Camden City Council, in the Courier-Post.

Rutgers professor Julia Sass Rubin, seemed to blame poor parents for not getting more of their children into urban charter schools, saying, “People in abject poverty don’t have the band-width to even evaluate charter schools.” 

Speaking on behalf of more than 1,000 families who made the choice to send their children to the LEAP Academy charter school in Camden, we have had the bandwidth to evaluate the education available to children in traditional public schools in cities such as Camden, Trenton and Newark. In spite of the thousands of dollars that poured into these districts, even when they have been under state oversight, the results have been atrocious and simply unacceptable.

Marlene Gonzalez and Hector Nieves, LEAP Academy Parents Council, Camden, Star-Ledger

NJ Spotlight reviews the results of Tuesday’s school board elections, particularly voters’ reluctance to approve budgets above the 2% tax increase cap: “The vast majority seeking additional spending above the tax cap were rejected, while voters were more supportive of separate construction projects.”

The Star-Ledger and NJ Spotlight cover  Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson’s appearance before the State BOE. NJ Spotlight quotes Anderson’s statements about the impact of public charters on traditional district schools: “she said the One Newark system [the universal enrollment system that lets parents choose among charters and traditionals] could help set what she called as a middle ground between districts that had fully embraced charters and those more resistant. “Let’s say there will be a third way, where we get the best of the innovation, and the best of what district has to offer,” she said.

Standardized test scores across the state stayed flat, in spite of districts’ conversion to the Common Core State Standards.

There’ll always be a Lakewood:  “All of the candidates endorsed by the council of religious leaders won seats to Lakewood Township Committee and to the Lakewood Board of Education, according to complete but unofficial results released Tuesday by the Ocean County Clerk’s Office.” (Asbury Park Press.)

A [Bound Brook] high school math teacher has been suspended without pay for 120 days for using his district-issued laptop to send offensive emails and nude photos of himself.
The school district had sought tenure charges against Glenn Ciripompa for both the use of the computer and inappropriate conduct toward female staff members.
But an arbitrator reduced the penalty to the suspension, finding that Ciripompa’s behavior toward the other staffers did not rise to termination level.