I have thought about the possibility that beyond my being a scapegoat for his misstatement, the Governor might be angry at me for not telling him the interview was videotaped. In my defense, I never believed I needed to say, 'Governor, stick to the truth, there's a videotape.' Perhaps I should have.
There's been a lot of talk about lies, who said what when, getting to the bottom of things, changing stories, etc. All of this can get confusing and obscure the basic facts of the Christie-Shundler blunder.
The Christie Administration's incompetence cost New Jersey's schools almost half a billion dollars.
Really, do we need to focus much on anything else?
We spent a long time analyzing Chris Christie here on Blue Jersey back when he was just a twinkle in the Governor's Race's eye. We started off giving him some credit, but over time we came to the conclusion that he was an arrogant, incompetent glory-hound who never saw a camera he didn't like or an opponent he wouldn't berate and belittle.
And after the election "huntsu" decided to take a break, because we really couldn't warn folks anymore. Christie's behavior as Governor would be there for all to see, and we'd be proven right or wrong over time.
Today with the firing of Bret Shundler, we can safely say, "We told you so." In fact, we can say it while sticking out our tongues, waggling our fingers in our ears and dropping trou.
This was a perfect example of Christie's arrogance, dishonesty and inability to admit wrong.
First he screws up by scrapping a deal his own Commissioner of Education negotiated in good faith with the teachers' union, and has the whole thing re-written.
When it comes out that the new version had basic comprehension errors, he blamed "one clerk" and the culture in Washington for not telling Christie about the error.
Then video comes out that demonstrates the folks down in DC did tell the NJ folks about the error, and Christie is proven a liar. (He was previously convicted for the same offense, as well).
So after being proven an incompetent and a liar, Christie fires Bret Shundler who had negotiated an application that would have won the $400 million for NJ students
Blue Jersey was just about the only outlet that had this guy pegged while others were writing hagiography and comparing him to Spider Man. Occasionally there was a blip of criticism, but not very often.
Maybe now the media can wake up and tell the truth about the lying, incompetent Chris Christie.
One thing to keep in mind when thinking about why we didn't get $400 million offered to us by the feds is that we were on the bubble exactly because the Christie application sucked. Had the application not been so bad that we were on the edge of acceptance, the error made in the Christie application wouldn't have meant anything.
A second thing to remember is that there was once an application - negotiated by the Christie administration's Commissioner of Education Bret Shundler and the NJEA - that would have scored high enough to get the $400 million. That application also didn't have the error that cost us $400 million. But Christie threw a another hissy fit when he heard about it on the news instead of from Shundler, and tossed that application out.
Instead of just changing the parts he didn't like, Christie appears to have started from scratch as part of his hissy fit. As a result a question that was simply factual and had no bearing on the NJEA-Shundler negotiations was removed and replaced with the wrong information. And that led to the loss of $400 million during a massively problematic fiscal era.
Now, for some reason, people like Christie and Bob Braun want to blame the feds. There's some need in the media to make all things equal, and even in a situation where it's obvious what happened they need to blame both sides equally.
But there are only two explanations I can see for this disaster. The first is that Christie intentionally tanked the application in an effort to continue hurting the public schools to the extent where vouchers appear to be the only solution. Or that Christie intentionally mis-wrote the answer to that question in order to hide funding cuts by the previous administration in some effort to improve his own standing or image. I find conspiracy theories like this not terribly realistic, in no small part because Christie's not that clever.
The more likely is that it was Christie's need to be in control, his hate of the NJEA and his inability to play well with others that lost this money. Essentially his pissy temperament - the same one that got him in trouble as a Freeholder and was so respected by the media as US Attorney - just cost every resident of the state of New Jersey $45. It's incompetence of the worst kind - willful and unnecessary.
Essentially, we lost the money because Governor Chris Christie is an asshole.
Today we learn that Chris Christie's "ME! ME! ME!" version of NJ's Race To The Top application has failed to qualify for $400 million in education aid from the Federal Government.
No doubt, Christie will blame the application's failure on the "intransigence" of the NJEA. But there is a laundry list of reasons why few serious educators would sign on to many of Christie's proposals/Obama's dubious stipulations.
Christie has said in the past that "words matter," and that's true. He clearly knows it, too, because he has been a master of using descriptive language like "crass," "intransigent" and "greedy" to cast the NJEA as a horror show.
But as unsavory as the current political climate may be, New Jerseysans have known the NJEA a lot longer than they have known Chris Christie. New Jerseyans who went to public schools and have fond memories of teachers, classrooms, school plays and learning great things. Do you know who was there? The NJEA.
And if you didn't go to school here, but your kids do, think back before Chris Christie. Did you have a negative opinion of your children's school and teachers? Did you feel like you had better run for your life because the schools here are so utterly atrocious? I'm betting the answer is no. And do you know who has been in those public schools since 1853? The NJEA.
Not that they're perfect. Far from it. But nobody is. And with regard to Race to the Top - for a number of reasons too long to enumerate here - NJEA is right on the money. They didn't sign on to the plan because it was a crappy plan, built not of collaboration, but of politics and Chris Christie's drive to be the king, baby.
Today, Governor Christie loses, in front of God and everybody. I guess that's why it's called "governing," and not "telling everybody what to do-ing."
Yesterday morning wasn't the usual in Trenton. I had expected to testify against S1872, which creates a school voucher system in New Jersey. But instead of a hearing before the Senate Economic Growth Committee, I found myself at a rally of voucher supporters - mostly children attending private schools and their parents. From a basic strategic standpoint, they weren't the best faces for their cause, having an obvious, direct financial interest in the bill's passage - S1872 reserves 25 percent of the funding for private schools for families with students already in private schools. But I suppose they made up for their self- interest with enthusiasm.
The hearing became a cheerleading session when Senator Raymond Lesniak, the committee chairman and the bill's sponsor, expressed his outrage at the NJEA members who had filled the hearing room, while his hundreds of voucher supporters rallied outside. I understand why the situation frustrated him, but there were other, more productive, less divisive ways to solve the problem.
Instead, we all paid the price for his political theater. His sideshow cost the committee and those following the debate meaningful input from groups like the ACLU-NJ, Education Law Center, League of Women Voters, and NAACP. Instead of delivering my remarks collegially, seated at a table facing the legislators voting on the bill, I was forced to speak with my back to the legislators who were scarcely paying attention anyway. It's hard enough to hold legislators' attention in a hearing room with decorum, let alone with your back turned to them at a rally. It felt like an exercise in disrespect for the bill's opponents, the hearing process, and the constitutional analysis I had come to share.
At the end of the day Senator Lesniak said that the kids had learned a lesson in civics - but he was teaching from a bad curriculum. The students had been taken out of the classroom for the day to witness a mockery of the democratic process.
As everybody who dwells here already knows, Babs is NJ Stonewall Dems President and a Member of the DNC. - Promoted by Rosi
They now join Congressmen Holt, Rothman and Sires as sponsors in NJ of this fully inclusive LGBT legislation. We applaud them all! Nationally, with one exception, all sponsors are Democrats. This is an effort to end discrimination in our public schools and create learning environments in which each and every child can learn and thrive.
Like most advocates for LGBT civil rights on a Federal level (now that the Hate Crimes bill has passed) I've focused primarily on passing ENDA and repeal of DADT and supporting people who will support this legislation. Perhaps lost in the glare of the more high profile bills is HR 4530 the "Student Non-Discrimination Act" (SNDA) which was introduced this January of this year by freshman Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado.
In view of the recent overt and "cruel" discrimination by a Mississippi School District which canceled a prom rather than have a lesbian cross dress and bring her date, this legislation is extremely timely and appropriate! We all know about the problems with bullying and our ongoing attempts in NJ to address it!
"Every day, students who are, or are perceived to be, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) are subjected to pervasive discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, which is harmful to both students and our education system. Surveys indicate as many as nine in 10 LGBT students have been bullied.
These hurtful actions deprive students of equal educational opportunities and contribute to high rates of absenteeism, dropout, adverse health consequences, and academic underachievement among LGBT youth. Left unchecked, discrimination can lead, and has led, to life-threatening violence and to suicide. And when school officials engage in discriminatory treatment, or are indifferent to harassing behavior, LGBT students' constitutional rights are infringed.
While civil rights protections expressly address discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability or national origin, they do not specifically include sexual orientation or gender identity and, as a result, LGBT students and parents have often had limited legal recourse for this kind of discrimination.
To address this lack of protection and ensure that all students have access to public education in a safe environment free from discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, the Student Non-Discrimination Act establishes a comprehensive Federal prohibition of discrimination in public schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity and provides victims with meaningful and effective remedies, modeled after Title IX."
This was posted just before the weekend, and I thought I'd promote it in case anybody else wanted to weigh in on these ideas before the diary slips off the page. - - Promoted by Rosi
The vote for or against school budgets is the wrong choice to give voters as very few, if any, actually look at the budgets that they oppose or support and experience any real consequences, positive or negative, as a result of their vote. In my opinion, the vote on school budgets is just a placebo, given to voters to make them think that they have some measure of control over how much they are taxed and how their tax dollars are spent.
The primary source of our state's fiscal crisis is home rule and the presence of over 600 municipalities and school districts throughout the state who negotiate personnel and purchasing contracts independently and individually. For far too long, the state has subsidized this grossly inefficient approach to the provision of public services on the local level so that even as property taxes in our state have skyrocketed, homeowners have never felt the true cost of home rule.
The few efforts to address this problem have been meek at best, because there are very few electeds on either side of the aisle in Trenton with the courage to touch what for decades has been the third rail of NJ politics. Because of this lack of legislative courage, I propose the following:
The Assemblywoman's legislation is based, as she says, on the Report titled There Isn't a Moment to Lose, from the NJ Office of the Child Advocate, which of course Gov. Christie eliminates in his budget. Readers can click to read the Report, but I wonder if the Assemblywoman would offer more detail on how she sees the way to approach the problem, as addressed in her legislation?
- - Promoted from the diaries by Rosi
UPDATE: Asw Huttle quickly replied to my question, above, and posted the key elements of her legislation in the Comments. Check them out here.
Last week I read about a school in Mississippi that was ordered to desegregate. As stunning as that is in 2010, to me, that's just as embarrassing as the fact that our state continues to perpetuate a separate and unequal system by denying its residents real marriage equality.
I'm as disappointed as most of you are about the failure of our legislature to act last year. There's no excuse for it. And though that fight now returns to the courts, there's still work the legislature needs to do to achieve justice for all our residents. That includes our kids.
Our state has tried in the past to address the problem of bullying, but more needs to be done. That's why since December I've been working on comprehensive anti-bullying legislation which implements a number of recommendations included in the final report of the NJ Commission on Bullying in Schools.
This is a life and death issue, and as I noted in Sunday's Record, it is time to once and for all shed the mentality that bullying is just kids being kids.
It's important that we get this right to protect our kids from intimidation and harassment. Please ask your legislators to work on a bipartisan basis to support strong anti-bullying legislation.
The election is not over yet, but it's safe to say many school districts will have deep cuts in funding. However, if teachers get fired, class sizes swell, and programs get cut, we can't always blame Christie. True, the state's aid towards schools are being cut and many budgets will be voted down, but the people who are responsible for balancing the school's budget are none other than THE SCHOOL BOARDS. These are the people who will be deciding the priorities, and these are the people who should be held accountable the most. Therefore, I propose these ideas be implemented before any cuts towards teachers, extracurricular activities, or specialized services:
Well, its that time of year again! That time when New Jerseyans vote on their budget, and coincidentally, budget day is 420!!! So after you vote on your budget, roll up a fattie, because it will be the best way to kill the pain of Christie's assault on the middle class.
Recently, I found out my local 7-12 education authority, Central Regional SD in Bayville, NJ, stands to lose a total of $2,071,000; both from Christie's municipal aid cuts as well as money lost from "reserve". Although these cuts to municipal aid are necessary for the fiscal health of the state, Christie does not do anything to proactively control administrative costs and promote long term financial sustainability without hurting teachers or causing class sizes to explode (which would have the unintended consequences of more special education related lawsuits and costly out of district placements). Thus, I propose the below recommendations for reducing waste at my alma mater.
All the following sourced from Central Regional's budget, as well as from the educational staff search from the Asbury Park Press:
EPA today released interim air toxic monitoring results at two NJ schools participating in a new national program that is monitoring air quality around 63 schools in 22 states.The new EPA program was a response to major investigative reports by the Houston Chronicle ("In Harm's Way") and USA Today ("Toxic Air and America's Schools") that documented serious health threats due to exposure to toxic air pollutants, particularly to children from chemical plants and refineries located close to schools (read this for background) and (this for Senator Boxer's commitment at EPA Administrator Jackson's confirmation hearing)
The initial NJ results are misleading.
First off, if you read the EPA press release below, you wouldn't know that the NJ schools (Paulsboro High School and Mabel Holmes Middle School in Elizabeth) are located very close to and virtually surrounded by chemical plants and refineries that emit thousands of pounds of volatile organic toxic air pollutants to the local air.
Second, if you looked at the initial sample results, you might conclude that everything is OK - , until you realize that EPA sampled mostly for heavy metals, not volatile organic compounds (VOC's) and chemicals emitted by the chemical plants and refineries. Those VOC pollutants are "yet to be monitored" according to EPA. EPA sampled for
This is especially troubling, because not only do these results mislead the public by creating a false appearance, but the results will be used by EPA "to help determine next steps, which could include more monitoring, if needed".
That's right - EPA could say that based on these results, there is no problem and no further sampling is required.
The industry lies and excuses have already been framed to spin this data.
First, the oil and chemical industries are suggesting that the risk are negligible and the sources of pollutants are mobile sources - cars and trucks. We doubt the EPA sampling protocol will be able to distinguish between sources, so EPA is not challenging this lie. Worse, these facilities are issued permits under the Clean Air Act, so EPA knows exactly what hazardous air pollutants are being emitted by those facilities. These hazardous air pollutants should have been targeted and the first one sampled, not metals. Second, EPA - as per below press release - will stress chronic long term exposure risks to downplay the risks of any high level local VOC results.
We Await the VOC monitoring.
Update:
I just looked at the full list of EPA monitored pollutants at schools. As I suspected, all of them involve naturally occurring sources of pollution, or are related to vehicle exhaust or mobile sources. This seems designed to allow the chemical & oil industries to make the argument that industry emissions are not the problem and to point the finger at mobile sources and naturally occurring sources. EPA could have considered the hazardous air pollutants emitted by nearby refinery and chemical plants (in EPA air permit data), and then designed a monitoring scheme that included those pollutants. That way, EPA would have a solid scientific basis to modify air permits to force facilities to reduce their emissions, based on impacts to nearby schools. But EPA DID NOT DO THIS! What a sham! Check out the EPA short list of VOC's
Here's today's EPA press release:
The first results from ongoing air toxics monitoring at two New Jersey schools and one New York school are now available on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Web site. A total of four schools in EPA's Region 2 were selected as part of the agency's national Schools Air Toxics Initiative. The initiative, which is monitoring 63 schools in 22 states, will help EPA and the states learn if long-term exposure to toxics in the outdoor air poses health concerns for school children and staff.
Outdoor air at the schools is being monitored for 60 days, and air quality monitors will collect at least 10 daily samples during the sampling period. EPA will use this information to help determine next steps, which could include more monitoring, if needed. Results are posted at http://www.epa.gov/schoolair.
Today, EPA is posting data for Olean Middle School in Olean, New York, Mabel Homes Middle School in Elizabeth, N.J. and Paulsboro High School in Paulsboro, N.J. The fourth school, IS 143 in Manhattan, New York, had its first data posted previously and it is also available at the web site. The Agency is monitoring the air around these schools for several contaminants associated with industrial and mobile sources such as cars, trucks and airplanes.
Early sampling at all the schools show that levels of air toxics are below levels of short-term concern. EPA scientists warn against drawing conclusions at this point since the project is designed to show if long-term, not short-term, exposure poses health risks to school children and staff. Once monitoring is complete, the full set of results from all of the schools will be evaluated for potential health concerns from long-term exposure to these pollutants. EPA will post this analysis to the Web once it is complete.
Parents Want to Know: Why the News Blackout of This Story? (cross post - for linked version w/photo's go to:
http://wolfenotes.com/2009/09/...
NJ's senior Senator, Frank Lautenberg, is not known to be shy when it comes to issuing press releases touting his legislative accomplishments for the people of New Jersey. So, I found it odd that I never saw press coverage of major, groundbreaking amendments he sponsored creating "Healthy, High Performance Schools." (see "In Harm's Way")
For the first time, that law puts EPA in the role of developing school siting and regulatory guidelines to protect children's health from environmental pollution while at school.
As experience throughout NJ has shown, this is a highly controversial issue. But, curiously, I had to do a lot of Googling to find anything about the Lautenberg amendments, and finally found it reported by the small trade journal Education Week on January 16, 2008:
"Tucked quietly into the federal Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 is a section that calls for establishing voluntary environmental-health and -safety guidelines for states to consult when locating and constructing schools, and authorizes grants for states to develop programs around those standards.
The measure, which President Bush signed into law last month, marks the first time that a federal agency [EPA] will provide such guidance."
Given several highly controversial school exposure cases reported across NJ (at schools in Paramus, Kiddie Kollege, Union, Franklin, Garfield, Camden, etc) months ago, I circulated this article to the NJ press corps to give NJ's parents information about this issue. Strangely, Lautenberg's office initially denied enactment of the bill I described. After providing the text of the bill to reporters, Lautenberg's office ran away from their own law and had no comment, thus the press had no story. Thus parents had no awareness.
The 2008 Lautenberg amendments require:
''SEC. 502. MODEL GUIDELINES FOR SITING OF SCHOOL FACILITIES.
''Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this section, the [EPA] Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall issue voluntary school site selection guidelines that account for-
''(1) the special vulnerability of children to hazardous substances or pollution exposures in any case in which the potential for contamination at a potential school site exists; (link to full text)
The new law was enacted in January 2008, so the EPA siting guidelines were due in June of 2009. So, it is a good time for NJ press corp to ask EPA about the status of those guidelines. Has EPA adopted them? What is NJ DEP doing to implement them?
The Lautenberg sponsored federal law parallels a NJ law and programs. NJ Inspector General Cooper's Report found that the mismanaged NJ Schools Construction Corporation - later abolished - had purchased contaminated land for schools - including a federal Superfund site in Gloucester City and a radioactive former Manhattan Project in Union City site. Governor Corzine's SCC reforms were criticized severely for failure to address these siting and toxic land acquisition problems.
In January 2007, Governor Corzine signed into law new requirements to set indoor air standards at schools and daycare centers. (P.L. 2007, c.1) The bill was a response to the Kiddie Kollege tragedy, where toddlers were poisoned by mercury at a day care center that previously was a former mercury manufacturing facility under an un-enforced DEP toxic site cleanup Order. The most complex and controversial requirements of the new law mandate that DHS and DEP take specific regulatory actions - both DEP and DHSS have failed to do so and are not in compliance with the Act. This inaction also could affect NJ's ability to secure grants under the Lautenberg amendments above:
When Governor Jon Corzine signed the "Kiddie Kollege" law in January 2007 he claimed:
"This bill will help identify and remediate educational facilities and child care centers located on environmentally high risk sites," Governor Corzine said. "This puts New Jersey at the forefront of states nationally in protecting children from environmental contaminants while at child care facilities and schools." (full release here)
The law provides:
"1. a. Within 12 months after the effective date of this act, the Department of Health and Senior Services shall adopt rules and regulations ... The rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this subsection shall be protective of the health of children and infants, and shall account for the difference in rate of the absorption, metabolism, and excretion of compounds between adults and infants and children. [...]
b. (1) No construction permit shall be issued for the construction or alteration of any building or structure to be used as a child care center licensed pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1983, c.492, or for educational purposes, on a site that was previously used for industrial, storage, or high hazard purposes, as a nail salon, dry cleaning facility, or gasoline station, or on a contaminated site, on a site on which there is suspected contamination, or on an industrial site that is subject to the provisions of the "Industrial Site Recovery Act," P.L.1983, c.330 (C.13:1K-6 et al.), except after submission by the applicant to the construction official of documentation sufficient to establish that the Department of Environmental Protection has approved a remedial action workplan for the entire site or that the site has been remediated consistent with the remediation standards and other remediation requirements established pursuant to section 35 of P.L.1993, c.139 (C.58:10B-12) and a no
further action letter has been issued by the Department of Environmental Protection for the entire site. (link to full text)
We''ve just seen another children's toxic exposure disaster repeated in Atlantic Highlands Elementary School, where about 100 parents turned out on Tuesday night to win a major victory. (read here). Yet, that too received no press.
What the hell is going on?
Parents of thousands of kids in scores of potentially poisoned schools want to know.
Could the silence be due to that rumored NJ Attorney General's opinion that interprets the law NOT to apply to existing schools? (and only new school construction)?
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Contact: Bill Wolfe (609)397-4861; Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337
TOXIC NEW JERSEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FINALLY WINS RELIEF
Vapor Intrusion Controls May End Three-Year Ordeal at Atlantic Highlands
Trenton - The students, staff and parents of a New Jersey elementary school suffering from an underground plume of toxic chemicals finally may be getting some help, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). A state-approved vapor intrusion plan will be in place next month at Atlantic Highlands Elementary School in Monmouth County on the northern New Jersey shore.
For more than three years, children and teachers have been exposed to unsafe indoor toxic air pollutants that exceed state vapor intrusion levels. In announcements this week, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) says that it will oversee installation of a "sub-slab vapor mitigation system" to reduce chemical exposures within school facilities.
"While this is good news, it is long past due because the state DEP again has fallen down on the job," stated New Jersey PEER Director Bill Wolfe, a former DEP analyst, who had been prodding the state to address the long-standing problem. "Even this new remedial action is the result of a voluntary negotiated settlement and not a state enforcement action."
A plume had migrated under the school building from an abandoned industrial site across the street that is the suspected source of the problem. Groundwater and soil have become contaminated with the toxic chemicals Trichloroethylene (TCE) and Tetrachloroethylene (PCE). Despite indoor air readings far above safety levels, cumulative risks to children have not been quantified nor were protective measures taken.
For several months, an organized group of parents has worked quietly with the DEP case manager and local schools officials and was led to believe that a sub-slab depressurization system would be installed before the start of this school year. Under the arrangement just unveiled, portions of the school will have to be closed to install vapor controls.
"As recently as last week, DEP denied it even had jurisdiction. Only the threat of publicity sparked this action," Wolfe added. "The state needs clear rules so that this sort of buck-passing cannot recur."
PEER points to areas of ambiguity that the state has not clarified, including whether the "Kiddie Kollege" law (enacted after a mercury-laden day-care scandal) applies to existing schools whose land becomes contaminated or only to new schools located on land that is contaminated. In addition, to avoid delays and needless exposure of children, DEP should issue an enforcement Spill Act Directive to the Responsible Party with a compliance schedule and stipulated penalties in cases such as Atlantic Highlands.
"This case shows that all of the rhetoric about children being the top enforcement priority is just so much hot air," Wolfe concluded. "Health protections should have been put into play at the first sign of danger."
###
Read the DEP announcement about measures at Atlantic Heights Elementary
See the PEER letter to DEP
Trace the three-year history of the Atlantic Highlands struggle
Look at recent problems with toxic schools in New Jersey
Last week, we exposed and called on DEP Commissioner Mauriello to resolve a totally unacceptable situation in Atlantic Highlands. Children were being exposed to toxic chemical vapors seeping into their elementary school building, while the DEP failed to enforce the law and require the polluter to cleanup. (see:
http://wolfenotes.com/2009/09/...
Parents had organized and were working with local school officials, but the polluter was dragging his feet. DEP failed to back local efforts by enforcing State cleanup laws to hold the polluter accountable. As a result, more cleanup delays ensued as the polluter was allowed to flout cleanup requirements. Children were needlessly exposed to toxic chemicals.
We are pleased to note that the organizing and hard work of a committed group of parents paid off - DEP just announced a cleanup agreement. Congratulations to those parents and kudos as well to local school officials.
Three years after DEP first learned of the problems at the school, DEP Assistant Commissioner Irene Kropp finally announced the following:
The DEP case manager attended a meeting at 1:00 PM with the Atlantic Highlands School Superintendent, his attorney and his consultant along with the potentially responsible party (PRP), his attorney and his consultant. The case manager called just minutes ago to advise me of the following:
The outstanding issues between the parties have been resolved;
The Atlantic Highlands School Board will formally approve the installation of the DEP-approved sub-slab vapor mitigation system at tomorrow's Board meeting;
The PRP's consultant will begin installing the system on September 21, with an anticipated completion date of October 16;
The system will be installed on a room-by-room basis while school is in session, however, the rooms undergoing installation will be closed for the entire school day;
The cafeteria/kitchen installation will take place between October 9 through 12, while the school is scheduled to be closed;
In light of these developments, we will not be preparing a formal response to Mr. Wolfe's inquiry.
Please contact Assistant Director Ken Kloo, at 2-1251, if you have specific questions or need additional information.
Irene Kropp
Assistant Commissioner
Site Remediation Program
NJDEP
It still amazes me that we need a bill to tell us we shouldn't have school districts without actual schools, but the Governor made things official yesterday:
Gov. Jon Corzine Tuesday signed into law a bill that will clear the way to merge with larger districts 26 small school districts that do not operate schools.
The districts include tiny towns like Teterboro, Tavistock, Hi-Nella and Rocky Hill. Their school boards usually meet just once a year to approve sending a tuition check to a neighboring district.
The Governor called it a positive first step toward school district consolidation. The new law is meant to clarify a 2007 law that got tangled up in taxes. Small districts say they're not the problem and while there may be larger issues, that doesn't mean they should continue to exist. Jay put up a diary with some video on the press conference:No schools will be closed as they merge the districts. I'll put the video the campaign put out below the fold.
This move by the Mt. Olive school district, if approved tonight, presages a dangerous trend in public education.
Mount Olive High School students who play sports and some who join clubs will be forced to pay a participation fee next year to make up for budget shortfalls.
The Board of Education must come up with $91,000 in revenue from the fees, and preliminarily announced the fees will be $125 for a student to play an unlimited number of sports and $25 to join nonacademic, nonservice clubs, school board President Mark Werner said at a recent board meeting.
Thus, a student who plays multiple sports and is in multiple clubs would pay $150, the same as a student who plays one sport and is in one club.
"That's what we're looking at right now," Werner said. "However we slice it, we have to come up with $91,000. That's our mission - $91,000."
In my hometown of Evesham, school taxes are 65% of the property tax bill. And yet turnout in tomorrow's election is expected to be only 11% - below the recent average around the state:
Every year since 1977, voters have approved most of the budgets requests. Voter turnout rarely goes much above 15 percent.
Most school budget requests pass; 73.6% across the state last year. This is where our money's going. Why is there a disconnect with so little attention towards the schools? Here's a table of school budget pass rates for the last few years:
Annual School Budget Election Results by County Percentage of Budgets Approved, 1998-2008
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
Atlantic
66.7
88.9
44.4
76.5
52.9
72.2
44.4
55.6
88.9
77.8
72.2
Bergen
78.4
86.5
75.7
86.4
82.7
71.6
83.8
93.2
97.3
90.5
71.6
Burlington
69.2
78.9
43.6
71.8
53.8
48.7
69.2
84.6
89.7
82.1
66.7
Camden
63.2
55.3
42.1
47.3
65.8
44.7
46.2
69.2
95.0
85.0
62.5
Cape May
76.5
88.2
64.7
76.5
70.6
70.6
68.8
100.0
94.1
70.6
81.3
Cumberland
73.3
80.0
53.3
80.0
73.3
60
73.3
86.7
73.3
73.3
80.0
Essex
81.3
85.7
81.3
75.0
81.3
87.5
93.8
93.8
93.8
100.0
81.3
Gloucester
63.0
74.1
37
63.0
59.3
55.6
44.4
74.1
85.2
81.5
63.0
Hudson
66.7
83.3
16.7
66.7
50
50
66.7
42.9
71.4
71.4
85.7
Hunterdon
55.2
72.4
51.7
55.2
75.9
34.5
53.2
72.4
79.3
79.3
82.8
Mercer
75.0
75.0
75.0
62.5
62.5
87.5
62.5
100.0
100.0
87.5
87.5
Middlesex
56.5
69.6
34.8
65.2
65.2
82.6
56.5
60.9
87.0
78.3
43.5
Monmouth
74.1
68.5
38.9
69.1
68.5
66.7
66.7
77.8
74.1
70.4
81.5
Morris
87.2
84.6
53.8
85.0
74.4
84.6
76.9
84.6
84.6
92.3
87.2
Ocean
75.9
79.3
58.6
75.9
75.9
65.5
69.0
96.6
96.6
89.7
65.5
Passaic
61.1
55.6
27.8
66.7
55.6
22.2
33.3
77.8
83.3
61.1
72.2
Salem
76.9
84.6
46.2
69.2
61.5
23.1
38.5
53.8
61.5
84.6
76.9
Somerset
73.7
76.5
57.9
52.6
68.4
63.2
52.6
84.2
84.2
89.5
73.7
Sussex
92.0
96.0
76.0
88.0
72
72
80.0
100.0
92.0
92.0
96.0
Union
89.5
78.9
57.9
73.7
84.2
52.6
73.7
78.9
100.0
73.7
63.2
Warren
82.6
95.7
56.5
69.6
69.6
69.6
69.6
73.9
95.7
87.0
91.3
RESULTS
73.6
78.3
53.4
70.7
69.8
62.2
65.4
81.1
88.0
82.8
74.4
Source: New Jersey Department of Education, with updated information from county clerks.
The NJ School Board Association (NJSBA) says voters in 19 school districts will decide school-construction proposals totaling more than $212.5 million tomorrow, as well as elect school board members who will spend your tax money. Tomorrow is also one of only five yearly dates when school boards can propose construction referendum questions.
So, some questions for you: Are voters in your town paying more attention this year to the school election, given the current economic climate. Because in Evesham, I'm not hearing much. And most importantly: Will you be voting on Tuesday? And if not, why not?
A state judge has ruled that Gov. Jon Corzine's school funding reforms, which tie aid to students and not districts, are constitutional -- a move that experts say could spell the end of special status for many of the state's urban school districts.
A paperwork snafu proves costly for the Camden school district.
It means the district must return nearly $400,000 in unspent federal aid that it wanted to roll over from the 2004-2005 school year to the following year.
Yup, an extra 400 grand from 4 YEARS AGO. And they only found it now because of an audit. But don't worry, the School Board President is on the case taking full responsibility.... or not:
School board President Sara Davis said she feels state officials "share some of the blame" for the district losing the money. She said it would have been used to fund certain math and reading programs that state officials wanted to discontinue.
Come on, are you serious? The state didn't want the programs, so it's their fault the local school board didn't file the right paperwork or spend the money? Something tells me they won't be blaming the state when they ask for additional funding.
And on that sharing of blame for the state, as Camden is an Abbott district shouldn't they actually be paying attention to what is going on. Why did it take the state so long to do an audit and figure out the money was missing? It's amazing how many people are watching the store but no one is paying attention. Say it with me, we screwed up. Now that wasn't hard, was it?
