Any name you choose, the generation following millennials remains a mystery to those who will end up being their bosses.
But the oldest segment of Generation Z — somewhere in the age range of 17 to 21 years old — is hitting the workforce in the fashion of full-time employment and internships. Businesses and trend followers hope to get a better feel for what they’re all about.
“We don’t fully know their generational essence,” said James Hughes, an economist and demographer at Rutgers University. “We don’t have a good handle on them yet because we don’t have much experience dealing with them.”
Hughes said the post-millennial generation has been examined in several marketing studies, but they have not been the subject of true academic research.
“You can say they’re a connected generation. More than any other generation, their smartphone is their tie to everything else. They’re certainly technologically savvy, even more so than millennials,” Hughes said.
Updated on June 7, 2017 at 8:31 PMPosted on June 7, 2017 at 5:46 PM
BY ADAM CLARK
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
TRENTON — New Jersey is clamping down on private schools that serve disabled students four years after a Star-Ledger investigation revealed numerous cases of nepotism and questionable spending paid for by taxpayers.
The state Board of Education on Wednesday approved new restrictions that freeze maximum salaries, lower the maximum spending cap on administrative costs and require schools to disclose business transactions with relatives, among other changes.
The move comes despite heavy opposition from the schools, which charge steep tuition from public schools to teach severely disabled students traditional schools can’t serve. Dozens of parents from the more than 150 affected schools packed earlier state board meetings out of fear that any changes at the schools could have negative consequences for students.
By Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Updated June 01, 2017
Posted June 01, 2017
Gov. Chris Christie once took a hard line when it comes to the way the state funds its public schools: Spend the same amount — $6,599 — per pupil in every district. He promised it would lower property taxes, but opponents say it would decimate urban schools that lean on the state for support.
His proposal, dubbed the “fairness formula,” was considered dead on arrival by the state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature, which is now squabbling over a new plan.
New Jersey funds its public schools through a formula passed in 2008 that determines how much each district needs to spend and considers each community’s ability to raise revenue through property taxes. More state aid goes to poorer districts.
New Jersey spends big on education, but Christie has regularly underfunded this formula for school aid by about $1 billion annually, forcing budget cuts and higher property taxes in some districts.
The school funding problem will pass on to the next governor in January. Here’s what the Republicans and Democrats seeking to succeed Christie would do.
The public is invited to attend the meeting, or watch it live on Fios channel 33, Optimum channel 77, or on the “Link in Live” tab of the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us.
A significant decline in the number of NJ high school graduates who will be seeking college degrees should be a major concern for the next governor and other leaders
Daryl G. Greer
New Jersey will experience about a 20 percent decline in the number of high school graduates through 2030, according to a recent report, “Knocking at the College Door,” by the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE.) That will mean a drop to 90,000 from a current high of about 111,000 graduates annually, and more of these students will be from lower- income families and less-prepared academically for college.
That has important economic consequences for colleges, students, businesses, and the state — which need to be considered, now.
Historically, 70 percent to 80 percent of New Jersey high school graduates enroll in college. Obviously, fewer students paying tuition places stress on colleges’ financial operations. This is especially true, because about 70 percent of public colleges’ revenue comes from student tuition and fees. Add to this increasing competition for New Jersey students from surrounding states, such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts, which also face declining enrollments. Pile on another dilemma in a no-growth environment: New Jersey already leads the nation as the number one net exporter of college-bound students. We lose about 30,000 students annually to other states. Regional competition for well-prepared New Jersey students who are able to pay for college will be at an all-time high. Not every university in the state can compete effectively for students in this environment.
Ridgewood NJ, Rising seniors can come find out at a FREE talk this Monday, June 5th at 7:30pm. Register through the Ridgewood Library to hold a space. The talk is being given by Lisa Bornemann Paterson , Director at Write This Way, LLC -Find your Voice-Find yourself-Find your essay .
What kids wear to school becomes more of an issue as the weather warms and we move closer to school’s end.
Students may opt for casual, but some districts discourage dress that is too casual — as in beach wear or revealing summer attire not deemed appropriate for class.
Janet Bamford of the New Jersey School Boards Association says there is no state-mandated school dress code, so it varies from district to district.
New Jersey law does allow for individual school dress codes on the local level.
“One kind of landmark addition was in 1996 when school dress codes were allowed to address what comes to ‘gang apparel,’ and also to permit school uniforms,” she said.
Bamford says there is a lot of variation from district to district in New Jersey, from no dress code at all to a few districts that mandate uniforms.
Updated on May 29, 2017 at 1:53 PMPosted on May 29, 2017 at 11:02 AM
BY TERRENCE T. MCDONALD
The Jersey Journal
A lawsuit between a conservative group and the Jersey City teachers union will proceed after a judge denied the union’s bid to dismiss the suit on Friday.
The legal spat focuses on “release time,” a provision in the union’s contract with the public-school district that allows two top union officials to devote all of their time to union activities while getting paid by the district.
Judge Barry Sarkisian dismissed the Jersey City Education Association’s efforts to derail the lawsuit during a roughly 30-minute hearing on Friday morning.
JCEA President Ron Greco declined to comment. Greco is one of the two officials permitted to work full time for the union. The JCEA has argued that freeing Greco of his teaching duties allows him to resolve “potentially disruptive disputes” between the 28,000-student district and its staff.
As New Jersey schools draw up their annual budgets, some are finding that revenues aren’t enough to support all their needs. As a result, a few are contemplating or have approved laying off teachers and other staff for the 2017-2018 school year.
Here are the districts who are facing those cuts, listed by those who are planning to lay off the fewest staff members to the districts that are facing the most severe cuts.
Trenton NJ , A group of Newark parents yesterday filed a formal request to appeal a trial court judge’s dismissal earlier this month of their lawsuit challenging the state’s “last in, first out” teacher layoff law. Filed last November, the parents’ lawsuit asserts that the LIFO statute violates students’ right to an education by unjustly requiring school districts to retain ineffective teachers while cutting other areas of education spending or laying off more effective teachers when faced with funding deficits.
Defendants from Newark Public Schools (NPS) and the State of New Jersey did not move to dismiss the case. Instead, NPS admitted nearly every allegation made about the impact of New Jersey’s LIFO law on children within NPS. The motions to dismiss the case granted earlier this month were raised by intervening defendants from local and national teachers unions, including the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), and the Newark Teachers Union (NTU).
If the parents’ request for appeal is granted, arguments from the Newark families and the teachers unions will be reviewed by a panel of four judges from the Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court.
“Public schools are here to educate our children, first and foremost,” said Wendy Soto, plaintiff and mother of two Newark Public School students. “Everyone knows that many New Jersey school districts are in a serious funding crisis. Politicians have not protected our children’s right to a quality public education, and parents like me have nowhere to turn. The quality-blind LIFO law makes a difficult situation even worse for students in struggling schools. Enough is enough. It’s time to end this ridiculous law.”
“New Jersey’s LIFO law forces school districts like Newark to retain ineffective teachers and, in fact, put them back in the classroom while cutting spending to other critical areas of public education. Students are constitutionally entitled to more than this,” said Kathleen Reilly, attorney with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, one of the firms representing the Newark parents pro bono. “These decisions – made to evade application of the LIFO law – harm children. The negative impact of LIFO is pervasive today in Newark public schools and these families deserve to have their case heard in court.”
Since at least 2012, NPS has avoided laying off effective teachers by paying millions of dollars per year to cover the salaries of ineffective – but more senior – teachers even when no school would agree to their placement in the school. This expensive work-around, which is costing the district $10 million dollars in 2016-17, diverts valuable resources from educational programming and other critical components of an adequate public education. Because NPS employs more than half of the state’s ineffective teachers, it also puts Newark students at significant risk of being assigned to an ineffective teacher.
After it was announced that New Jersey State education funding would remain essentially flat for the 2017-18 school year, NPS acknowledged a looming $30 million deficit because of rising costs. Facing similar budget gaps over the past three years, NPS administrators restricted hiring practices, forcing teachers previously without placement into schools without mutual consent from the teacher and the principal. Research shows that teacher quality is the most influential in-school factor when it comes to student learning. It also shows that student achievement improves when principals are allowed to hire school staff according to quality and fit, rather than restricted by seniority.
To learn more about the parent-led lawsuit to end LIFO in New Jersey, please go to edjustice.org/nj. All legal filings related to the lawsuit are available online here.
About Partnership for Educational Justice (PEJ)
Founded in 2014, Partnership for Educational Justice is a nonprofit organization pursuing impact litigation that empowers families and communities to advocate for great public schools through the courts. In addition to supporting teacher layoff litigation in New Jersey, PEJ is currently working with parents and students in New York and Minnesota in support of legal challenges to unjust teacher employment statutes in those states.
Gold Medal and Lovey Farrell Cup Awardees Claire Callaghan and Jordan Wittmaack Girls Varsity Double Photo:Terry Wittmaack
May 24,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Crew girls dominate at Stotesbury, the largest high school rowing regatta in the world. Girls Varsity Double earned the Gold and the Lovey Farrell Cup, and the Girls Junior Varsity earned the Bronze.
This past weekend, Ridgewood Crew traveled to the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia for the legendary Stotesbury Cup Regatta. Stotesbury Cup is the largest scholastic regatta in the world and features approximately 5,000 high school athletes representing nearly 200 different schools in competition.
On Friday morning into the early afternoon, Ridgewood had 14 entries compete in time trials. Of the 14 crews, 11 advanced to the semi-final rounds held Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. To put the achievement in perspective, many crews were packing up their boats to leave after time trials on Friday.In the semi-final round, Ridgewood was able to advance 8 crews to the finals for Saturday afternoon.
Bronze Medalists Maddie Gibson and Alexandra Walton Roth Girls JV Double Photo: Nicole Gibson
Crews that made semi-finals and finals are listed below:
Girls Junior Double: Alexandra Walton Roth,Maddie Gibson – Semi-finals,
Finals (3rd) Boys Junior Double: Drew Johnson, Alex Melarti – Semi-finals
Boys Freshman Quad: Tommy Montgomery, Gabe Martinez, David Yang, Dylan Park
– Semi-finals, Finals (6th) Girls Varsity Lightweight Double: Maddy
Phillips, Emily Gilman – Semi-finals, Finals (5th) Boys Varsity Lightweight
Double: Sam Daspin, Spencer Campbell – Semi-finals, Finals (5th) Boys Junior
Quad: Ed Hida, Alex Saladucha, Joe O’Keefe, Henry Koontz – Semi-finals,
Finals (4th) Girls Varsity Double: Claire Callaghan, Jordan Wittmaack –
Semi-finals, Finals (1st) Boys Varsity Double: Patrick DuBois, Ian Soderlund
– Semi-finals Boys Varsity Single: Charlie Koontz – Semi-finals, Finals
(5th) Girls Varsity Quad: Isabella DeGregorio, Chloe Young, Amanda Perez,
Melissa Dexter – Semi-finals, Finals (4th) Boys Varsity Quad: Sebastian
Rivero, Andrew Felix, Matt Seiter, Walter Friedrich – Semi-finals
On Saturday afternoon showcased the fastest scholastic rowers from places as far away as Florida, Texas, and Canada. Ridgewood was able to place two boats in medaling position. Ridgewood started off their first final with the Girls Junior Double with Alexandra Walton Roth and Maddie Gibson getting bronze medals. They showed true grit in the last 300 meters of the race to pass a hard charging Springside-Chestnut Hill crew.
Later on Saturday, the Girls Varsity Double of Claire Callaghan and Jordan Wittmaack blitzed the final 500 meters of the race going from 3rd or 4th place to first place for a gold medal finish. Seniors, both girls hadm received silver medals at Stotesbury Cup as Freshman and Sophomores, and were ecstatic to stand on the medal dock to receive their gold medals and the Lovey Farrell Cup Award for the category. Bridget Callaghan, Claire Callaghan’s older sister won the same award two years ago with her partner, Julia Hefferon.
In all, Ridgewood Crew posted excellent results. As Head Coach Boris Roque-Alvarez said, “It was amazing that we were able to get so many crews into the semi-finals and finals, and we are proud of all of our athletes.”
The RHS History Bowl Team earned the title of Varsity Middle Bracket Group Champions at the National History Bowl and Bee Championship in Washington D.C. Team members with media permission to be named are Ben Amos, Kumail Raza, Bruce Zhang and Philip Terman.
Jennifer Jolly, Special for USA TodayPublished 9:04 a.m. ET May 21, 2017 | Updated 17 hours ago
f your teen has a smartphone, chances are they spend several hours a day on text and social media. If you ever look at what they’re actually doing on there, you’ll likely see a lot of innocent “Snapstreaking,” some funny Buzzfeed videos and a bunch of letters and numbers that look like some kind of modern-day shorthand.
photos courtesy of Ridgewood High School Alumni Association
May 21,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood High School gathered under this beautiful tent at Veterans Field to celebrate 125 years of excellence on the 19th of May.
The party featured the one and only DJ Nick Cannon. Ridgewood High School ,125 years of excellence. A total and complete celebration of a place that has educated thousands (myself included-class of 1980).
