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?
(This dovetails with the efforts spearheaded by Garden State Equality. - promoted by Jay Lassiter)
Over the years when I have talked to people about the work of the ACLU, I often share outrageous stories of poor decision making by government employees that costs the taxpayers big time. And, I usually tell people that of every category of government, no one digs their heels in on the wrong issues more than school superintendents.
Here are just a few of these stories: there was a school district in Washington State that didn't want to pay to mail the ACLU about 11 pages of public records, went to court and ended up writing the ACLU a check for almost $60,000 in attorney fees; or the school that suspended a student for having aspirin at school under a zero-tolerance policy; or the student suspended for having a chain on her Tweety Bird wallet to connect it to her jeans because they considered it a ''weapon.'' I could go on.
Then there is the more recent situation involving the Newark Public Schools, which blacked out the picture of a gay student and his boyfriend kissing in the yearbook -- but wait, fortunately, this one has a different outcome than the others.
In this case, Newark Public Schools Superintendent Marion Bolden, after learning the full facts of the matter and receiving an avalanche of angry phone calls and e-mails generated by our friends at Garden State Equality, reversed the decision to censor the picture -- and reversed it in a big way.
The Fort Lee superintendent of schools appears to have cribbed a speech off the Internet in order to pay homage to the district's National Honor Society inductees last week.
Actually, "cribbed" may not be the right word here - according to this report in the Record, Joanne Calabro appears to have copied the speech word for word from an about.com Web page. Particularly rich is the news that the speech was offered as an example of what to say during a National Honor Society induction ceremony. You know, when you want to congratulate students for their hard work and tell them that intellectual achievement is an avenue to success.
That's example, madame superintendent: e-x-a-m-p-l-e. Along with "plagiarism," it's one of those words any good national Honor Society student would recognize. I guess this is what educators refer to as a "teachable moment."
Maybe you thought New Jersey was free of the problems other states have with creationists trying to turn public schools into platforms for proselytizing?
Among his remarks in open class were statements that a being must have created the universe, that the Christian Bible is the word of God, and that dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s ark. If you do not accept Jesus, he flatly proclaimed to his class, “you belong in hell.” Referring to a Muslim student who had been mentioned by name, he lamented what he saw as her inevitable fate should she not convert. In an attempt to promote biblical creationism, he also dismissed evolution and the Big Bang as non-scientific, arguing by contrast that the Bible is supported by what he calls confirmed biblical prophecies.
U.S. Representative Steve Rothman, (D-Fair Lawn), has represented New Jersey's 9th Congressional District since 1997 and sits on the House Appropriations Committee
In recent weeks, Americans have witnessed more school shootings-in Colorado, Wisconsin, Missouri and Pennsylvania. Every time these tragedies make headlines, there is a call for action. While there are many steps that we can take, there is already a federal law and funding available to help keep our local schools and our schoolchildren safe.
In 2000, along with my friend Congressman Henry Hyde (R-IL), I authored Secure Our Schools - a federal matching grant program for the purchase of school security equipment and for the security training of local school personnel. The bill passed the House and Senate and was then signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28, 2000.
Secure Our Schools is administered by the Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS) in the Department of Justice. These grants help towns cover the cost of school safety measures, such as metal detectors, locks, lighting, and other crime prevention tools. They also fund security assessments, training for students, teachers, and administrators, coordination with local law enforcement, and other actions that significantly improve school safety.
Since its first year of funding in 2002, $50 million dollars has been distributed to 48 states under the Secure Our Schools program. More specifically, 756 local law enforcement agencies and municipalities have partnered with over 1,300 schools nationwide to participate in this program to ensure the safety of their local schoolchildren.
In New Jersey, nearly 80 Secure Our School grants have been awarded to our law enforcement agencies and school districts. Those grants were worth over $6 million and helped secure 160 schools.
Rising property taxes are a serious issue, driving many out of the state and quickly making it unaffordable for thousands of others. A major cause of the problem is that our school systems are funded largely through local property taxes, so as school costs rise, those with fixed incomes, like retirees, are hit the hardest. A reasonable fix to address this aspect of the problem would be shifting the funding source from property taxes to income taxes. Property taxes and education are serious issues that deserve an honest debate, which is why it was disappointing to read an article by Tom Hester today titled New Jerseyans without schoolchildren: Why should we fund schools?
There's many easy answers to this question. Education leads to lower crime rates and helps create a more skilled workforce and vibrant economy. Both of these things keep property values high. Public education is an investment from which everyone in society benefits.
Instead, Hester heard from people whose kids benefited from taxpayer funded education, but now want to bail out of the system:
George Rogozin's three children have finished public school, but the 78-year-old East Greenwich man still watches much of his taxes go to educate children — other people's children.
....
"I'm on a fixed income and it's becoming ever so difficult to keep up," Rogozin said. "When I pay my quarterly tax amount that eats up that month's Social Security paycheck."
Now as I said, I think our school funding system is unfairly structured and burdens those like Mr Rogozin who can afford it the least. But by this logic, why should I have to pay Social Security taxes? I'm not retired, and I don't have any grandparents collecting Social Security. Since senior citizens are the ones mostly collecting Social Security, they should be the ones who pay for it, right? Of course not, that's as dumb as suggesting only people with school-aged children should pay for education, but somehow it made sense to dedicate an entire article to that idea...
Dozens of schools in Hudson County, most notably Jersey City, again failed to meet education standards in the past year, the state Department of Education reported yesterday.
Overall, 643 schools statewide, or 26.5 percent, did not meet standards in 2006, compared to 822, or 34 percent, last year, the department said. Some schools have closed or merged over the years.
In Jersey City - the state's second-largest school district - 27 out of 33 schools failed to pass muster, according to the department's preliminary results from the standardized tests administered in May, officials said.
Yes, ladies and gentlement, only six schools in Jersey City are worth sending your children to. And for accomplishing that asshattery, Charlie Epps is paid well over $200,000. Since JC is an Abbott District, that means that YOU paid him $200,000 to make sure 82% of the schools he supervises FAILED.
School voucher advocates plan today to file a class-action lawsuit against the state and at least two dozen school districts in the first major legal effort to bring the hotly contested use of vouchers to New Jersey.
The lawsuit, Crawford v. Davy, will be filed in state Superior Court in Newark, they said, and will demand that the state and districts provide families of 60,000 children in 96 "failing schools" the right -- and the money -- to attend other schools of their choice, public or private.
Of course, all the right sounds are being made - this is not about funding religious education, it's about helping kids; why don't poor kids have the same opportunities as rich kids; why is it disproportionately racial minority children that get poor educations, etc., etc., etc.
The Star-Ledger's J. Scott Orr has some good news about secondary education in New Jersey:
Approximately 85 percent of students who begin high school in New Jersey end up with diplomas four years later, a figure that places the state atop the nation, according to a pair of reports issued yesterday.
The reports -- from the nonprofit Editorial Projects in Education, publisher of Education Week, and the National Center for Education Statistics in the Department of Education -- showed New Jersey's graduation rate well above the national average of approximately 70 percent.
While this doesn't address the two most vital components of why we send children to school (knowledge level and critical thinking skills) it is a rough measure of our commitment to keep kids in schools and give them the first step towards being successful in the world. It's something that educators and parents should take pride in accomplishing.
Now if we could show that same commitment to higher education.
