Tag: teachers

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Reader asks , “How have day care centers and summer camps in NJ been open since June, but schools cannot reopen?”

rhs 2020 schools out

“In a normal society, this virus would be handled by having the sick or vulnerable stay home for as long as necessary, while encouraging the young and healthy to go about normally with life. Teachers that are sickly could stay home and go on unemployment like everyone else in the country. Young college grads with education degrees can temporarily Take their place. Very simple. How are parents that are not teachers or other government employees supposed to work and feed their families if they have to stay home and care for their children who are doing remote learning? This point is rarely brought up. How have day care centers and summer camps in NJ been open since June, but schools cannot reopen? Why are day Care workers and summer camp workers lives valued less than teachers lives? I drove by the Ridgewood YMCA parking lot last week and witnessed large numbers of children, of various ages, over the age of two years old, standing very close together and not wearing masks. Why is this permitted when masks are required in NJ outdoors when not social distancing?
Locking down everyone is actually making everyone more sickly in mind, body and soul. Why is it that the government and their followers only care about people sick or dying from covid19, but not from any other cause, like the annual flu, being killed in riots, or from not being able to receive necessary medical treatment? Yes there is a pandemic, however, like it or not, the fact is that less than 0.5 percent of all people will die from it. It is obvious that the pandemic has become a convenient, catch all excuse, which is being massively abused. This is to the detriment of all humanity, the effects of which will be ever lasting. Wake up people! Please please start thinking for yourselves and you will realize what is actually going on here. Only when teachers and all government employees are treated the same and feel the same pain as small business owners have, during this pandemic, will people actually see the truth, be on the same team and be able, willing and ready to work together.”

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Ridgewood Board of Education Special Public Meeting July 23, 2020 5:00 p.m.

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood BOE member Mike Lembo said in a Facebook post  ,”The Ridgewood School Board has called for a Special Meeting this coming Thursday July 23rd at 5pm. The topic will be the school reopening plan for the district. We know that parents, teachers, and students have many concerns, questions, and comments on the issue. Please let your voice be heard, as we called this meeting for all of you.
The meeting is going to be held remotely, you can find the BOE Webcast link to the meeting on our website homepage. Members of the public can call in comments during the public comment period of the meeting or write-in comments online prior to, and during, the Board Meeting. These comments will be heard, but any offensive, lewd, or obscene language will not be tolerated. There will be two public comment portions, one at the beginning of the meeting and one at the end. Do not forget to mute your broadcast when speaking to minimize sound feedback and do not forget to identify yourself before speaking!This is a special meeting concerning the school reopening plan only, the regular Board of Education meeting will be held on Monday July 27th. Comments, questions, and concerns related to other issues besides the reopening will be more appropriate then.”

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Reader Calls Murphy’s layoff Threats “Classic Bureaucratic Strategy”

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“Classic bureaucratic strategy. Pick services to shut down that have maximum impact and cause maximum distress to the public. Same strategy was used during government “shutdowns” when they closed parks to inflict as much pain as possible.

When this clown proposes a meaningful plan for coping with the revenue shortfall, then maybe start to pay attention.”

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Governor Phil Murphy Warns Firefighters, Police Officers and Teachers could be laid Off

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood Nj, Governor Phil Murphy on Sunday warned on CNN that key employees , including health care workers, firefighters, police officers and teachers could be laid off if the state does not receive additional funding from the federal government. Of course no mention of any lay offs for bureaucrats in Trenton or any effort to stem the systemic gross mismanagement of New Jersey’s finances .

Continue reading Governor Phil Murphy Warns Firefighters, Police Officers and Teachers could be laid Off

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Ridgewood Board of Education Candidates Unkind Words for the REA

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

 

Ridgewood NJ, after having a little fun at BOE candidate Dan Creeds expense and sustaining a myriad of “troll” attacks , we figured we must be on to something so we found the posts so heinous that Mr Creed would basically stop campaigning and go on a Facebook rampage over who posted  as opposed to  to discussing what was posted .

Continue reading Ridgewood Board of Education Candidates Unkind Words for the REA

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Its Not Economic Benefits Over Human Life ,Economic Benefits are Human Life

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the staff of the Ridgewood

Ridgewood NJ, a recent article on NJ Insider attempting to quell the push to get the economy going promoting the false dichotomy that some how “Ranking Economic Benefits Over Human Life is Offensive ” . Life  is a functioning economy end of story . Only someone who lives at the charity of others would  not understand this.

Funny but the politicians in Trenton see fit to simultaneously raise the fuel tax and tolls on the NJ Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway  so apparently “Ranking Economic Benefits Over Human Life ” is ok for them . So if we can raise taxes , we can go back to work.

Continue reading Its Not Economic Benefits Over Human Life ,Economic Benefits are Human Life

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Cristopher Kaufman Makes His Case for the Ridgewood Board of Education

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To my fellow residents,

I feel there is currently a disconnect between the board, teachers and residents and a lack of transparency from the board. The Board of Education budget is 65% of our property taxes and spending has increased by over 30 million dollars in the last ten years. It is critical to control spending by sharing services with the Village and working with the Village Council in an effort to stabilize or reduce spending. I want to make sure we are working as one community, the Board of Education and the Village Council should be working together and sharing purchasing opportunities, maintenance costs, security and any other costs that can be shared in an effort to reduce spending.

Continue reading Cristopher Kaufman Makes His Case for the Ridgewood Board of Education

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Project Veritas : NJ Teachers Union President Will “Bend the Truth,” Cover Up Child Abuse in Schools

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May 3,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

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.

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New Jersey Ranked the 2nd Most Teacher Friendly State

Ridgewood Teachers

September 26,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Teaching can be a profoundly rewarding career, considering the critical role educators play in shaping young minds. But many teachers find themselves overworked and underpaid. Historically education jobs are among the lowest-paying occupations requiring a bachelor’s degree, and teacher salaries consistently fail to keep up with inflation. Meanwhile, the law demands better student performance, but some critics argue that it deprives educators of guidance and positive incentive to improve their own effectiveness in the classroom.

This combination of job pressures, low pay and lack of mobility forces many teachers to quit soon after they start, a pattern that has led to a perpetual attrition problem in America’s public schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about a fifth of all newly minted public-school teachers leave their positions before the end of their first year, and nearly half never last more than five. Many teachers, especially novices, transfer to other schools or abandon the profession altogether “as the result of feeling overwhelmed, ineffective, and unsupported,” according to ASCD, a nonprofit focused on improving the education community.

In some states, however, teachers are more fairly paid and treated than in others and therefore less likely to face a revolving door of teacher turnover. To help America’s educators find the best opportunities and teaching environments, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 21 key indicators of teacher-friendliness. Our data set ranges from teachers’ income growth potential to pupil-teacher ratio to teacher safety. Read on for our findings, expert insight from a panel of researchers and a full description of our methodology.

WalletHub ranked states that are most conducive to be a teacher , New Jersey placed second . The top 5 were New York, New Jersey, Illinois , Connecticut, Pennsylvania.

Read the whole report :https://wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-for-teachers/7159/

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Assemblywomen Takes Issue with NJEA endorsements

Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi took issues with NJEA endorsements yesterday and took to Facebook to make her displeasure known .

Schepisi said,“I find it fascinating that the NJEA, an organization funded primarily by female members, did not endorse one female incumbent Republican in the entire legislature. For my friends and constituents who are teachers, I have always supported teachers and I always will regardless of endorsements received or not received. I am a proud product of a public school education and the first female in my family to graduate with a college degree. I am the only female legislator currently representing any portion of Bergen County with children attending public schools. Volunteering as “teacher for the day” in many of our area schools has helped me to understand the challenges and rewards of teaching. So today I thank all of our teachers for their services provided to our children.”

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Why N.J. teacher attendance data doesn’t add up

Ridgewood Teachers

By Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on April 09, 2017 at 7:00 AM, updated April 09, 2017 at 9:47 AM

TRENTON — None of Piscataway Township’s teachers took a sick day last year, faculty at one Sussex County school were absent for nearly half of the year, and teachers at another school showed up only 10 percent of the time.

Those unlikely scenarios all played out last school year, at least according to data released in the state’s school report cards.

New Jersey for the first time last week released statistics for how often teachers and support staff miss school, showing that the vast majority of teachers are in the classroom more than 90 percent of the time.

But the faculty attendance rates, released amid a national push to judge schools on more than just test scores, also include a series of implausible statistics and misleading mistakes, school officials say.

https://www.nj.com/education/2017/04/69_nj_schools_claim_no_teachers_took_sick_days_las.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured

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N.J. just made it easier to become a certain type of teacher

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By Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 07, 2017 at 8:45 AM, updated March 07, 2017 at 11:42 AM

TRENTON — Facing a shortage of bilingual teachers in its public schools, New Jersey has made it easier to become one.

The state Board of Education this month approved what education officials called a “slight relaxation” to the score teachers need on the written proficiency test for bilingual teachers, a move officials expect will boost the number of bilingual educators by 10 to 15 percent.

The change applies only to prospective teachers for students learning English as their second language. It does not affect foreign language teachers for native English speakers.

Despite the lower qualifications, the state isn’t expecting any decline in the quality of its bilingual teachers, said Mark Biedron, president of the Board of Education.

“I am confident that teachers coming through the program will be highly proficient,” Biedron said.

 

https://www.nj.com/education/2017/03/nj_lowers_teacher_qualification_score.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured

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Ridgewood trustees, teachers remain at odds as school year looms

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BY STEVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — The failure of a state-appointed super-conciliator to resolve a 19-month-long labor dispute between the Board of Education and district teachers union has left local officials and union heads considering their next move.

Disagreements over several issues — including salaries, proposed changes in the union insurance plan and how much the Ridgewood Education Association’s 547 members should contribute toward their health insurance premiums — have contributed to a breakdown in the negotiations, which began five months before the last contract expired on June 30, 2015.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-trustees-teachers-remain-at-odds-as-school-year-looms-1.1651097

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Ridgewood Board of Education ,REA Negotiations Update

REA Members come out to greet our Board of Ed

July 22, 2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, For six hours on Wednesday evening, July 20, the Board of Education members and the Ridgewood Education Association (REA) Negotiating Team met with Tim Huntley, the state-appointed super conciliator.  The contract remains unsettled.

At the meeting, the Board reviewed its three-year contract proposal and the district’s finances with the super conciliator. The Board’s proposal included:

·      Salary increases over three years of 1.1%, 2.8% and 2.8%;

·      For the highest paid teachers, payments to offset a portion of the cost of their health insurance premium contributions. These amounts would be $500 year one, $1,000 year two, and $1,500 year three;

·       A change in the health insurance plan from NJ Direct 10 to NJ Direct 15.  According to our estimates, the change in the health insurance plan, if it happened by January 1, 2017, would reduce the cost of premium for the district by $722,878 and for the REA members by $250,040.

Contrary to the REA’s statement that was released after the meeting, this proposal is not the same proposal offered to them in February.

The current proposal reflects our sincere attempt to compromise and address the contract requests from the REA.

The Board’s offer is structured to keep salaries above the county average and maintain our standing as having the highest salaries in the county for new teachers.  The district’s great reputation and our competitive salaries continue to attract job applicants.  That is why eleven hundred applicants applied for open teaching positions in the last twelve months.

The Board’s offer also speaks to the REA’s request for relief for the highest paid teachers contributing 35% of the cost of their health care premiums.  The proposal of one-time yearly payments of $500, $1,000, and $1,500 would provide this requested relief from increased contributions.

The change to the health insurance plan would lower premium costs and give further relief to all REA members.

The REA Negotiating Team did not come to the table with a contract proposal on Wednesday night. There was no willingness to negotiate or compromise.  Rather, the team told us that they would only accept the settlement recommended by the fact-finder as outlined in his May 15th report and again said that the district has the money to fund those recommendations.

The fact-finding report was made public and is posted on the district’s website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us.

The fact-finder’s recommended settlement would cost the district $4.4 million over and above the state-mandated 2% cap during the life of the contract.  For this reason, to fund that settlement and to balance the budget, the Board would have to make critical cuts to staff and programs that would severely diminish the quality of the instructional and extra-curricular programs for our students.

Cuts would include firing teachers, secretaries and administrators; reducing the number of athletic and co-curricular activities; and lowering the amount spent for custodial services, textbooks, professional development, and technology.

When by the end of the July 20th meeting settlement was not reached, the super conciliator set the date of September 6 for our next meeting.  The full Board will be there.  In the meantime, the Board is preparing documents to share with the REA verifying that breakage — the cost difference between the salary of retirees and salaries of new employees — is not available revenue to fund the settlement proposed by the fact-finder.

The REA has accused the Board of not caring about our students, the district, and the staff.  These charges are false. In fact, the Board’s concern for our students and their educational well being is the reason why we did not originally accept the fact-finder’s recommendations and continue to maintain our position.

The BOE assures residents that , “as we look forward to the new school year and welcoming our teachers back to work on September 1, all of the terms and conditions of the expired contract continue.  There has not been, nor will there be, any interruption or reduction in REA staff salaries or benefits. Stipends paid to those who are advisers to our clubs, sports and performing arts extra-curricular programs will also continue to be fully funded in accordance with the expired contract.”

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A look at the methods used when it comes to new contracts for teachers in parts of Bergen County

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DECEMBER 31, 2015    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015, 10:51 AM
BY CAITLYN BAHRENBURG AND ROBERT CHRISTIE
STAFF WRITER |
NORTHERN VALLEY SUBURBANITE

Teachers were tired of being insulted, Old Tappan Education Association President Matt Capilli said.

So, residents, students and faculty members gathered up their signs and congregated outside of the Charles De Wolf Middle School to picket in act of solidarity with the union.

The Old Tappan teachers’ union, like many others across the state, entered the new academic year without a contract.

According to statistics provided by the New Jersey School Boards Association, which “provides training, advocacy and support to advance public education and the achievement of all students through effective governance” according to its website, almost one-third of the 579 public school districts in New Jersey started the year in the same position as Old Tappan. In Bergen County, 12 district started the year without a contract.

“Negotiations are difficult everywhere right now, so I think it’s really important to show support for our brother and sister school districts,” said Jim McGuire, president of the Northern Valley Education Association, the union that represents the educators at the regional high schools in Demarest and Old Tappan.

McGuire was one of many supporters at an Old Tappan Rally Nov. 17 to show support for the teachers and urge the local board of education to reach a deal with its unionized staff.

But, McGuire’s comment was visible in several districts in the region that did not have contracts for its unionized teachers.

Before reaching an agreement in November, the Tenafly Education Association boycotted the district’s annual Back to School Nights in September.

The nights give parents a chance to meet wit their children’s teachers.

Tenafly Education Association president, Jackie Wellman, said the boycott was meant to send a message to the district.

“A program is rendered useless when quality staff is missing,” said Wellman, who is a teacher at the Stillman Elementary School in Tenafly, in a previous interview with the Northern Valley Suburbanite explaining the reasons behind the boycotts.

Unions took other steps to highlight its memberships’ displeasure with not having a contract.

These job action tactics, said Ridgewood Education Association President Michael Yannone, are the result of a change in options teachers or districts have to reach a new deal when working under an expired contract.

“Back in the day, the threat of a strike for both sides was a good thing,” Yannone said.

Strikes by public employees, including teachers, have been illegal in New Jersey since the 1960s, though, private employees can strike, with the understanding that their actions remain legal.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/taking-the-message-to-the-public-1.1483315