The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Bergenfield NJ, Governor Phil Murphy and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona today visited Bergenfield High School to discuss the importance of in-person learning. While the pandemic led to a temporary statewide closure of schools in March 2020, public schools serving over 95% of New Jersey’s nearly 1.4 million students are now learning in-person either on a full-time or hybrid schedule. Governor Murphy has also required all schools to provide full-time, in-person instruction for the 2021-2022 school year, with no remote learning option available.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, a new poll from Real Clear Opinion Research shows astonishing, widespread public support for school choice in America.
Continue reading Real Clear Opinion Research shows widespread public support for school choice
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The National Education Association (NEA) and the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) have agreed to develop a dynamic partnership to grow a New Jersey-based program to introduce states and districts throughout New Jersey and the country to the benefits and processes of labor-management collaboration. NEA is providing NJEA with a $500,000 grant to help expand the New Jersey Public School Labor-Management Collaborative and additional funds to help other interested state and local affiliates to plan and launch partnerships that foster labor-management collaboration practices in districts and worksites. NEA has committed to invest more than $3 million over three years to fund and grow this initiative.
Continue reading NEA, NJEA Join Forces to grow labor-management collaboration
Continue reading BERGEN COUNTY VACCINATES K-12 EDUCATORS AND FACULTY
COVID is making the case for more school choice
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Lockdowns and school closures have meant many women have had to stay home to care for children who can’t attend school in person. How many? Almost a million mothers have left the workforce and many won’t be returning any time soon if lockdowns continue.
Continue reading Lockdowns and School Closures Hurt Working Moms as well as Children
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Wyckoff NJ, a seventh-grade language arts teacher brought up on tenure charges by the Board of Education will not be reinstated as directed by a state-appointed arbitrator, board Wyckoff President Robert Francin.
The Board of Education certified four charges against teacher Scott Levy last May, alleging “acts of misconduct during the 2019-2020 school year, as well as a recurrent pattern of misconduct over a period of years.”
The district alleged that Levy “physically assaulted a seventh-grade student,” “engaged in the harassment and inappropriate touching” of two students, and “has accumulated a substantial record of misconduct in his teaching position for which remedial measures have been taken and failed.”
Continue reading Arbitrator Issues “Slap of the Wrist” for Teacher accused of Harassment and Assault
Continue reading Accounting Issues With the “Infant Toddler Program” Need to be Addressed
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Steve Beatty Secretary-Treasurer of the NJEA said in a Facebook post ,”At our meeting with the acting commissioner of the Department of Education and his staff last week (and our on-going meetings), we engaged in a discussion, albeit mostly one-sided, on the issues and concerns surrounding the re-opening of schools in September.
Our clear message was that there is no way the state can push to re-open schools in a way that would account for the health, safety, and educational integrity of our schools and all that enter them.
We have been consistent in our guidance and growing insistence along with our education stakeholder partners and an ever growing chorus of our members.
Keep the pressure up. On the local level by joining and/or communicating with your re-opening committee. On the state level by calling and emailing your elected representatives and the governors office as well as the commissioner and state board. We know the power of sustained and organized collective action. Our voice is being heard and must be heeded! New Jersey Education Association New Jersey Department of Education Governor Phil Murphy”
“Changes will ultimately be decided by the NJEA and dictated to state government and the various school districts. At the very least, the NJEA will effectively hold veto power on any and all changes that are proposed to life in our public schools in response to COVID-19. For their part, the powers that be know not to push too hard for changes of which the NJEA will not approve. The final plan will preserve all of the jobs, pay and benefits the teachers and administrators currently enjoy, and disadvantage students more or less exclusively. It will amount to a huge middle digit to parents of current students, and to sheep-like taxpayers who diligently fund this nonsense year-in and year-out.”
May 3,2018
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Hamilton NJ, according to James Edward O’Keefe ,Project Veritas last month they sent undercover journalists who blanketed the state of New Jersey visiting dozens of teacher’s union offices. We wondered, how union leaders would react to claims that teachers were physically and verbally abusing students?
What you’re about to see is a man who is a union president, with a PHD, A LEADER; not working for children like the sign above his head says, but working to what he calls, “Bend the truth” and hide a potential crime.
In this undercover investigation, Hamilton Township Education Association President David Perry details the steps the teachers union would take to protect a teacher who physically abused and threatened middle school students from losing their job.
Dr. Perry says he would misrepresent the events of altercations between teachers and students by back-dating reports and instructed the teacher to not tell anybody about incidents with students.
The union president also stressed that a teacher who abuses his students needs to come to the union after any incident so that they can create a report that would best protect them from students that come forward about abuse.
Veritas will be releasing more undercover videos of teachers unions from ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY in the coming days and weeks. To be alerted as soon as they are published, sign up for our newsletter and check in to www.projectveritas.com frequently for any updates.
file photo Senate President Stephen Sweeney
Chase Brush | September 25, 2017
The teachers union faults the Senate president for his stand on public-employee pensions and school funding — and they want to make him pay.
What has 200,000 members, a deep-pocketed super PAC, and one of the most powerful presences in all New Jersey politics?
It’s the New Jersey Education Association, and it’s not to be trifled with.
That’s the apparent message being conveyed by the relevant-as-ever group this election season, as it continues to wield its influence in several state and local races following a hard-fought primary and ahead of a November general election. Through special-interest spending and public endorsements, the group has sought to advance its agenda by aligning itself with both Republicans and Democrats, ultimately making itself known in nearly every corner of the state.
The organization has issued endorsements in 37 out of 40 legislative districts, including one for Democrat Phil Murphy in the state’s high-profile gubernatorial election.
https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/09/25/njea-flexes-its-muscles-takes-on-sweeney/
N.J. school district’s budget crisis could cause 119 teacher layoffs
https://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2017/03/lakewood_schools_reportedly_facing_devastating_bud.html
By Guest Post • 05/08/17 3:38pm
By Matthew Frankel
It is no secret that both in policy and politics, the Goliath in New Jersey is the leadership of the New Jersey Education Association.
Through powerful lobbying efforts in Trenton, massive investments in political action committees, statewide marketing campaigns and an army of lawyers stationed throughout the state, the NJEA spends tens of millions of dollars each year to control the discourse and debate within our state. Even in this day and age, facts matter, and these are facts: The money the NJEA leadership spends is simply unmatched, and it is a significant reason that New Jersey’s education status quo has not changed in decades.
https://observer.com/2017/05/op-ed-njea-stifles-much-needed-debate-on-last-in-first-out/
