NJ Education Report

This morning at a New Jersey Department of Education Division meeting Assistant Commissioner of Student Services Carolyn Marano announced that she is retiring on August 1st.

This is good news for New Jersey parents of students with disabilities (and their parents), as well as others who fall within the Students Services purview.

For those of you playing catch-up, Marano was Director of Special Education in Vernon Township where staffers filed grievances against her for harassment. Her next stop was at Asbury Park Public Schools where the district’s superintendent Lamont Repollet hired her as Director of Special Education. There she cancelled mandatory programs like Extended School Year, decimated the Early Childhood Education program, and interfered in Child Study Team decisions.

When Governor Murphy appointed Repollet as Commissioner, Marano came with him as Assistant Commissioner of Student Services. During her tenure she has misallocated Title 1 funds (sometimes by order of Repollet — see here and here), destroyed morale, and created an environment that some describe as “racist.”

Upon her announcement this morning, sources told me that everyone was “unanimously thrilled” at her pending departure. Marano sounded thrilled herself, saying she “needs to enjoy herself” and “go to the beach.”

Meanwhile, rumors swirl about Repollet’s departure. (He wasn’t in today so no news about whether he had comments about Marano.) Some speculate that newly-appointed Assistant Commissioner of the Division of Early Childhood Education Cary Booker (Cory’s older brother) will take his place. But, again, that’s still in the realm of hearsay.