Garden State Coalition of Schools . . .
 a statewide grassroots advocacy network of parents,
administrators, Board of Education members,
community organizers and friends
 
Public Support for Public Education 
GSCS Email-Net
           Keeping GSCS Members & Friends Informed       
Joint Committee on the Public Schools
to Hear Blended Learning Testimony Tomorrow
 
Also Below:
*Administrative Salary Changes
* Education Transformation Task Force Report
*NJ Education in the News     
     
 Don't forget to register
2012 Leadership Conference  
featuring futurist Glen Hiemstra 
Co-sponsored by NJ School Development Council & GSCS   
Douglass College College Center, Oct. 4, 9:00 a.m.
More info at the GSCS Website 
    
September 11, 2012  
In This Issue
Blended Learning Hearing
Administrative Salaries
ETTF Recommendations
More NJ Education News
Viewing This Email
GSCS Trustee Meetings
Next GSCS Trustee Board Meeting
Wed., Sept. 19, 3:30 p.m
East Brunswick BOE Building
760 Rt, 18, E. Brunswick

All Member Districts Welcome
Quick Links
GSCS WEBSITE
www.gscschools.org

NJ Legislature Homepage
Tell Us Your Concerns
The GSCS message is stronger when we have your input.

Please email us at gscs2000@gmail .com
to share your concerns regarding state policies and proposed legislation that impact on local education and financial issues.
Help Us With Your Email Address
Please check that your  school and computer are not blocking our emails.

Receiving more than one copy of each email from us? 
Your address not current?
Want to add an address to our list?
Please send the correct information to us at gscs2000@gmail.com

Please ask those who say they've stopped getting our emails to email us at the above address to add their names to our list once again.
Invited Presenters to Address the  Topic of Online / Blended Learning

Joint Committee on the Public Schools Hearing
Wednesday, September 12, 11:00 a.m.
Statehouse Annex, Committee Room 11

Trenton is set to hear presentations on blended learning, which combines regular education classroom instruction in a school setting, as well as utilizing online instruction in the instructional day. This is an opportunity to hear about this controversial approach to student learning.

9-10-12
NJ Spotlight:  "NJ Lawmakers Begin Study of Online Education in Charter Schools"
"Hearings set to define virtual schools as they evolve and fuel debate in Garden State . . . "

 
Landscape Changing on School Leadership

GSCS Note:
Visit our homepage for more on the negative impacts of salary caps on NJ's school leadership, thus on quality education:  www.gscschools.org
 
9-7-12
NJ Spotlight:  "Interactive Map:  What NJ Public School Administrators Earn"
"Leveling off seen for salaries of superintendents across New Jersey . . . School administrators' salaries in New Jersey rose less than the typical teacher's pay over the past two years, and increases should level off for the foreseeable future as state-mandated caps on superintendents' earnings kick in ..."

 

8-29-12
Herald News-The Record:  "Verdict still out on supers' pay"
" . . . Some flexibility is needed on capping superintendent salaries . . . New Jersey still has some of the best public schools in the country.  We want to keep it that way . . .
To assume this high regard for local schools occurred without the expertise of top administrators is head-in-the-sand thinking . . . "

8-28-12
Herald News:  "Superintendent salaries bring worrisome change to the leadership landscape . . ."

The Record:  "Salary caps chasing North Jersey superintendents out of state"

 

Education Task Force Report on Mandate Relief Released at State Board of Education Meeting

9-6-12
Asbury Park Press:  "Christie task force recommends education law changes"
"Gov. Chris Christie's task force on education said Wednesday that the state should implement the governor's major education recommendations, as well as get rid of regulatory provisions in an effort to give schools and their teachers more leeway for spending their resources and organizing their classrooms . . . "

NJ Spotlight:  "Red Tape Report Released, Will Department of Education Start Cutting?"
"At 239 pages, the report has room to address everything from paper to professional development . . . "

GSCS Note
To access the full ETTF report as released by the Department of Education, please visit the GSCS website and scroll down to the Sept. 5 entry:  www.gscschools.org

 

More NJ Education News

For details and full articles, please visit the GSCS website:  www.gscschools.org
 
9-10-12
Asbury Park Press, The Record :  "N.J. schools step up teacher evaluations"                                                        " . . . under a state law signed last month to make tenure harder to get and easier to lose for educators, districts need to find answers by the 2013-14 school year.  The most vexing issue is expected to be determining exactly how standardized test results should fit into the picture . . ."


9-9-12 
The Record:  "N.J. school athletic directors on shaky ground" 
" . . . The job of athletic director, which can pay as much as $200,000 a year, has become increasingly complex . . .But as school budgets shrink, athletic directors are being viewed by some districts as a luxury they can't afford. . . ."  

9-7-12
NJ Spotlight:  "Special Report: The Life and Death of Newark's Eighteenth Avenue School"
"Shrinking enrollment, a failing physical plant, and consistently low test scores proved impossible to overcome..."

Herald News:  "Editorial: Paterson's test scores" 


9-5-12                                                                NJ Spotlight:  "Agenda: State Board of Education"   "The board dishes up a full plate, with teacher quality, school choice, and online charters on the menu . . . "


9-4-12                                                                 
NJ Spotlight:  "NJ Education Reform To Take Prominent Spot at Democratic National Convention"            "Senator Ruiz and Mayor Booker to participate in 'education town hall' . . . "

NJ Spotlight:  "NJ Doctors Prescribe Back-to-School Vaccinations for Teens"                               "Immunizations that kids get in childhood can start to weaken and wear off by middle school . . . "  


8-31-12 
NJ Spotlight:  "School's in Session at Hybrid Charters, Despite Ongoing Legal Challenges"                       "Appeals court dismisses NJEA bid to block schools, but union says it will pursue its case . . . Legislative leaders in both parties have said that the state's charter school law needs revisiting on several fronts, and have pledged to take up the issue in the coming session.  More specifically, the Joint Committee on the Public Schools has scheduled a hearing for September 12 to take testimony on online schooling."

NJ Spotlight:  "New Jersey Monthly's high school survey isn't the whole story"                                    "Laura Waters says readers should be careful about reading too much into surveys like these . . . "


8-30-12 
New Jersey Monthly:  "Education 2012:  Top New Jersey High Schools" 
  
Trouble Viewing This Email?
If it seems to you that the type in this Email-Net sometimes changes size or format, it means that your computer doesn't relate well to ours.  No problem!  To see the message in its original format, scroll to the very top of this email where it says "Having trouble viewing this email?" and click on www.gscschools.org