Education Department extends teacher evaluation pilot to as many as 30 more districts
New Jersey’s teacher evaluation pilot has gotten off to a mixed start, by most accounts. Now the Christie administration is tweaking its plans for next year and extending the pilot to a limited number of districts — rather than statewide as originally planned.
In a memo distributed yesterday, acting education commissioner Chris Cerf said that up to 30 more districts would be chosen to test a teacher evaluation system that uses student performance, among other criteria, as a measure of teacher effectiveness. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
Christie tees off on NJEA exec: ‘He should resign today’
Gov. Chris Christie today jumped on a comment made by N.J. Education Association Executive Director Vince Giordano in response to the plight of low-income residents who cannot afford options outside the public school system, calling on Giordano to resign immediately.
“He should resign today,” Christie said. “Life should get a lot more unfair for Vince Giordano today, and he should resign.” Christie was steaming today following his town hall about the remarks, “that level of arrogance, that level of puffed-up rich man baloney.” (Carroll, PolitickerNJ)
>Drones over U.S. get OK by Congress By Shaun Waterman-The Washington Times
Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s … a drone, and it’s watching you. That’s what privacy advocates fear from a bill Congress passed this week to make it easier for the government to fly unmanned spy planes in U.S. airspace.
The FAA Reauthorization Act, which President Obama is expected to sign, also orders the Federal Aviation Administration to develop regulations for the testing and licensing of commercial drones by 2015.
> The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows
Meltwater from Asia’s peaks is much less than previously estimated, but lead scientist says the loss of ice caps and glaciers around the world remains a serious concern
The world’s greatest snow-capped peaks, which run in a chain from the Himalayas to Tian Shan on the border of China and Kyrgyzstan, have lost no ice over the last decade, new research shows.
The discovery has stunned scientists, who had believed that around 50bn tonnes of meltwater were being shed each year and not being replaced by new snowfall.
The study is the first to survey all the world’s icecaps and glaciers and was made possible by the use of satellite data. Overall, the contribution of melting ice outside the two largest caps – Greenland and Antarctica – is much less than previously estimated, with the lack of ice loss in the Himalayas and the other high peaks of Asia responsible for most of the discrepancy.
>Cardinal-Designate Dolan: President Obama Needs To Stop ‘Intruding Into Internal Life Of A Church’ Contraception Issue Just Won’t Die Down, Much To White House’s Chagrin February 8, 2012 5:24 PM
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — There was a sharp rebuke Wednesday from Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan that put even more pressure on the president to calm a widening election year uproar. The issue at hand was the president’s insistence that Catholic institutions provide free birth control to their employees.
Dolan came to the South Bronx to bless a library, but he had no blessings — just harsh words — for President Barack Obama, who wants Catholic institutions to pay for birth control, the morning after pill and other services for people who work for them.
“The federal government should do what it’s traditionally done since July 4, 1776, namely back out of intruding into the internal life of a church,” Dolan told CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer.
Lawmakers from N.J. and N.Y. outraged over Port Authority spending, call for rollback of toll hike
Citing an audit critical of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, lawmakers from the two states are calling on the two governors to back bills intended to boost accountability at the agency.
The lawmakers — New Jersey Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) and New York State Senator Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) — are also calling for a rollback of the Port Authority toll hike imposed in September.
“Yesterday’s report on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is nothing short of an indictment of Port Authority operations,” Lanza said in a statement Wednesday. (Strunsky, The Star-Ledger)
>State Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen: Local officials created dilemma of sick-time payouts
TRENTON — A Bergen County senator scolded some of the mayors attending a conference at the Statehouse Wednesday, saying many have themselves to blame for sick-time cashouts, which can mean a $1,000 whack for the average property taxpayer in the worst-case towns.
State Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen, said local officials created huge taxpayer liabilities to public workers for unused sick pay.
“The Legislature — Republicans and Democrats — did not create this problem. Many of you, the mayors out there, through collective bargaining agreements allowed these practices to happen,” Sarlo said during the New Jersey State League of Municipalities conference, attended by about 150 local officials.
“Ridgewood school district hopes to reopen bridge.” Reader says better to replace bridge than fix it
A couple of points from this article that should be noted.
1) It has long been obvious to anyone and everyone who has had a conversation with an administrator or a BOE member about the bridge that they want no part of replacing it. They are scared to death that they will be forced to replace it and what the potential costs could be. (Can’t say I blame them.) Remember that when you try to digest their concerns about “ramps” becoming “dams.” That bridge is already a dam directly in the path of the river and greatly contributes to the flooding on Vets, Stevens and the RHS Field. “Ramps” would be outside the path of the river and would only become “dams” after the river has already flooded. That is a big difference. To try and argue that they are the same is ludicrous and indicative of how far they are reaching to ensure they do not have to pay to replace the bridge. It would also be very easy to build ramps that allowed flood water to run under them in the case of a major flood.
2) Allowing Angelo to be the person discussing things with the DEP is one more way to try and ensure that nothing gets done with the bridge. His job is to say “no,” especially when it comes to spending money. How do you think we ended up with the fake cupola on top of the HS? He thought no one would notice and the BOE could save some bucks. Thankfully it didn’t work out that way. He should not be involved in any of this until a decision is made and costs need to be evaluated. There should be a committee of people working with our elected state representatives to find out exactly what could be done to replace that bridge. The discussions should include; potential grants for flood relief, streamlined fast tracked approvals and guidance from the state and county and viable options that could be done quickly and cost effectively.
3) The fact that the current “Specs” demand (taking Angelo’s word which is very risky) that there be 84′ of ramps on both sides in order to raise a simple pedestrian bridge over a small stream shows just how out of touch Trenton and government as a whole has become. Governor Christie has pledged to bring common sense back to environmental restrictions. If we really want to address the bridge and the resulting flooding it would probably be good if we reached out to Christie’s office and got some direction on who we should be talking to at the DEP and get them to the site and find out what kind of options we have. There are always options when you refuse to take “no” as the answer the first time you ask. I am sure there is another way to build a small pedestrian bridge without constructing 168 feet of ramps for a 15 foot wide stream.
If we don’t get the DEP to the site and find out a way to replace that bridge we’re going to be paying $50,000 a clip to clean and renovate the fields every time we get a significant flood and then we are still going to have to pay to have it replaced because it is going to continue to erode and deteriorate no matter what the BOE thinks. We should spend the bare minimum on the bridge to get it re-opened for the short term and we should start immediately working on getting a plan together to replace it or we’re going to have the same conversations in another couple of years when the bridge needs yet again more repairs.
By mid-summer, hospitals and doctors’ offices across the state will provide information on how insurance company coverage denials can be appealed.
A bill requiring such disclosure was signed into law last month by Gov. Chris Christie and celebrated Tuesday afternoon at a ceremony at Jersey Shore University Medical Center on Route 33.
Two of the bill’s sponsors – state Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, R-Monmouth, and state Sen. Diane Allen, R-Burlington – were on hand with hospital officials and Casagrande’s husband for the ceremony. (Bowman, Gannett)
Open-government advocacy group says local governments should protect public’s right to record meetings
A statewide open-government advocacy group says the Plainfield school district’s restrictions on video recording school board meetings is an example of what not to do.
The Citizen’s Campaign on Tuesday unveiled model policies it says school boards and municipal governments should adopt to protect the public’s right to video record government meetings.
The policy offered by the organization calls for virtually unfettered access to videotaping proceedings, a proposal that is at odds with the rules in Plainfield, which the group named in its statement Tuesday, and other school districts and municipalities. (Bichao, Gannett)
> ““the Telephone Pole Solar Panel Rip-Off”” : Readers comment
Ellie Gruber , just had to comment on this story:
There are numerous errors of commission and omission in the blog.
1. NJ has better sun than Germany but German panels are producing year round- (better in the summer but even in the winter as long as they are not totally snow covered).. PV panels work well in low sun conditions- they do not need direct summer sunlight in order to produce energy. NJ has about 15-20% more sun than Germany on an annual basis
2. The structure and costs of the NJ solar program and the German program are very different. Germany has been more aggressive for longer than NJ and has more capacity on a per capita basis. Germany has been able to reduce peak usage in their grid and reduce peak energy costs by hundreds of millions of dollars.
3. As opposed to fossil fuel technologies, the cost of installing solar is dropping- last year prices were 30% less than 2009. The NJ solar progeam is making solar more competitive with fossil fuels while cleaning the air and providing jobs for thousands of NJ residents.
>Ridgewood Co-op Hosts Movie Day at The Warner Quad Feb 22nd
Looking for something fun to do on Feb 22nd? Join The Cooperative Nursery School of Ridgewood for Movie day at The Warner Quad at 190 E. Ridgewood Avenue in Ridgewood. The featured movie is Rio and starts at 10:00am. The cost for tickets is $8. Children under 2 are free. The price includes unlimited popcorn and drinks. All the money raised will go to support the Co-op. If you have any questions, please call the school’s office at (201) 447-6232 or email ridgewoodcoop@gmail.com .
>Ridgewood BOE approves solar panels on the roofs by Verterra Renewable Energy
The Board approved the submission of the project to install photo voltaic cells (solar panels)on the roofs of the buildings listed below, by Verterra Renewable Energy, to the Department of Education. The Board will not be seeking a ROD grant for this project. This project was not included in the 2005 Long Range Facilities Plan list of projects to be completed; therefore, the Long Range Facilities Plan does need to be revised.
o Glen School o Hawes Elementary School o Orchard Elementary School o Ridge Elementary School o Somerville Elementary School o Travell Elementary School o Benjamin Franklin Middle School o George Washington Middle School o Ridgewood High School
Interesting to note that Glen school made the list.
Residential developers aim for piece of proposed $1B Urban Transit Hub expansion
Residential real estate developers are playing a key role behind the push to pump another $1 billion in incentives into the Urban Transit Hub tax credit program, according to people familiar with the process.
“The one question I have (of this bill) is how much of the added tax credits will go to residential development, since the majority of the approved credits are going to commercial,” said George Vallone, president of Hoboken Brownstone Co. and builder vice president of the New Jersey Builders Association. Adding more tax credits “is a great idea, but I hope the new credits will be allocated to urban multifamily developments — which our cities could use.” (Burd and Eder, NJBIZ)
The first team of state investigators is expected tomorrow at Woodbridge’s Avenal Street School, one of nearly a dozen schools singled out last summer for irregularities and possible cheating on state tests.
What raised the red flag? Avenal is one of nine schools that had among the highest erasure rates on the tests in 2010.
In each case, an extraordinary number of answers were changed from wrong to right — as much as four times higher than the norm — according to Robert Cicchino, a former State Police commander who now directs of the department’s Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
