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New Jersey Politics teachers

New Jersey’s Teachers: The Envy of the Nation

And I ain’t makin’ that up, neither.

In honor of back-to-school time here in the Garden State (I know that schools in other states might have started in August), it’s time for us to recognize the unparalleled job that New Jersey’s public school teachers do year in and year out.

We consistently rank in the top 3 nationwide in student outcomes on most available measures; SAT, AP and NAEP scores, college acceptances (too many graduates go out-of-state, though), writing achievement and overall performance. We have some significant gaps between how suburban students perform and how their urban counterparts score, and that is a sore point both economically and politically.

But even with that huge caveat, we are the envy of other states. How do I know? Because this past July I attended the National Education Association convention in Washington, D.C., and many of my colleagues around the country told me so.

I spoke with delegates from Tennessee, and they told me that their statewide tests dictated their curriculum to the point that they had to jettison most enrichment material from their classrooms to make sure they covered the test material. They also said that for the two months before the tests, they did nothing but review and drill.

And just in case you think this is professional bias, I sat next to a family from Tennessee on the train down to DC, and their daughter, a high school senior from a town near Nashville, told me how ridiculous (her word) the tests were and how they made the teachers stop teaching fun stuff (her words) and worry about the tests. Her parents seconded her remarks, then went out of the way to tell me that they were Republicans, but didn’t agree with Governor Christie’s attempts to impose a Tennessee solution on New Jersey. It’s amazing what people will tell you if you look them in the eye and just listen to what they say.

Anyway, when I told the Tennessee teachers where I was from, they told me that they loved the NJEA because it had a backbone and stood up, as much as it could, to the governor.

I got the same treatment from Idaho. The president of the Idaho Education Association also professed admiration for New Jersey’s public school teachers because she said that Idaho was moving towards a state salary system and that the state had appropriated money that should have gone to teacher’s salaries to pay for a misguided technology venture that has no research behind it. I asked if the teachers had any say in the decision, and of course the answer was no. So much for professional respect.

From California’s delegation, I heard the most distressing stories of administrative overreach, even to the point where an entire elementary school’s faculty was being replaced because two teachers were accused of lewd acts with students. The administration’s rationale? “We don’t want any more surprises.” I am not condoning anything the accused teachers might have done, but where are the due process protections promised to teachers as citizens of the United States? As I spoke to the California delegates about these and other occurrences, they said they thought that this could not happen in New Jersey because of its strong association. I certainly hope so.

Other teachers I spoke with consistently said the same things about New Jersey once I identified myself from the state: They admired and respected the NJEA for standing up for member’s rights in a state where teachers still have strong protections and a unified membership. Even the new tenure law, signed by Christie in the dog days of August, keeps due process and tenure protections for all teachers who earn it, even as it takes longer to procure and streamlines the process of firing a teacher who doesn’t meet local standards.

So as we begin another school year, I am proud to say that I am a New Jersey public school teacher.
I am proud to say that I am committed to educating children and young adults so they can become productive members of society. And I am proud to be a member of NJEA, an organization that has a national reputation as one that fosters a pro-education ethic, and one that has the best interests of its members at heart.

I’ve focused primarily on public schools here, but it’s been my pleasure and honor to have worked in private schools and to have trained teachers who work in a wide variety of educational settings. Colleagues, remember that we do one of the most important paid jobs in the country. We have earned honor and respect and we show it through our deeds and actions. Have a great school year.

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Categories
Mitt Romney Politics

Poll Finds Romney’s Convention Speech Received Lowest Approval Since 1996

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech before last week’s Republican National Convention generated the lowest approval rating among surveyed adults since Gallup began polling this question in 1996.

38 percent of respondents in Gallup’s poll rated Romney’s speech as “excellent” or “good.” 10 percent of respondents rated Romney’s speech as being “terrible.”

In contrast, 47 percent said the same of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his 2008 GOP convention acceptance speech. Only 5 percent said McCain’s speech was “terrible.”

President Barack Obama’s 2008 acceptance speech in Denver, Colorado, was the most well received of all speeches since 1996. 58 percent of respondents rated his speech as “excellent” or “good” while only 7 percent found it to be “poor” or “terrible.”

Gallup’s telephone survey was taken between August 31 and September 1, 2012, of 1,045 adults. The survey has a +/- 4.0 percent margin of error.

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics

Mitt Romney to Storm Victim Who Lost Her Home – “Go Home And Call 211”

Did you hear the one about the Republican presidential candidate who told someone who lost her home to a storm, “go home and call 211.!?” No, you didn’t hear about that? Well it actually happened.

Over the weekend after accepting his Republican party’s nomination, Mitt  Romney boarded a brand new plane and flew off to meet Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. The cameras were on, people were watching to see how this potential president (God forbids) would handle a natural disasters, (no, his campaign cannot be considered a natural disaster).

Mr. Romney met with 42 year old Jodie Chiarello, who lost her home to flooding from Tropical Storm Isaac. Jodie had this to say of her meeting with Mr. Romney, “He just told me to, um, there’s assistance out there,” Chiarello said of her conversation with Romney. “He said, go home and call 211.”

Steve Benen puts it this way;

Of course, if someone has lost their home, telling them to “go home and call 211” isn’t exactly a compelling suggestion since most of us don’t have multiple homes. Then again, given Romney’s general worldview, what Chiarello should have done is pick wealthier parents.

This guy cannot be real!

Categories
Politics

David Plouffe – Romney’s Campaign is Built On A “Tripod Of Lies”

Obama adviser David Plouffe didn’t mince any words this morning, charging Mitt Romney’s campaign is built “on a foundation of absolute lies.”

Plouffe denounced the GOP presidential nominee’s recent attacks on President Obama about welfare, Medicare and the role of government in job creation. Plouffe appeared on ABC’s This Week.

“Right now, their campaign is built on a tripod of lies,” Plouffe said. “A welfare attack that is just absolutely untrue. The suggestion we’re raiding America — absolutely untrue. And then this whole ‘we can build it’ nonsense.’ ”

Plouffe and other Obama advisers and top Democrats fanned out across the networks, appearing on Sunday talk shows as their party prepares to formally nominate Obama and Vice President Biden. The Democratic National Convention officially begins Tuesday in Charlotte.

Also, Ezra Grant outlines three of these lies as told by the Romney campaign in the Republican Convention.

Categories
ann coulter Politics Republican

A Highly-Favored Republican Voice Wants to Increase The Voting Age

Republicans are doing all they can to suppress and in some cases, take away the voting rights of ordinary Americans. Their latest efforts includes requiring voters IDs and a new low in Ohio, where a Republican led assault is on the way to reduce the amount of time voters in Democratic districts have to cast their ballots.

In some of these cases, the courts have ruled that these forms of suppression – or “maintaining the integrity of the voting process” as the Republicans have called it – are illegal and should not happen on American soil.

But now another voice considered highly favored in the Republican circle is trying to change the rules. Ann Coulter wants to increase the voting age.

According to a recent interview on Fox News, Mrs. Coulter said, “I think we ought to raise the voting age. You can’t drink until you’re 21. We don’t have a draft anymore. Why are we letting infants vote? Their brains aren’t fully formed.”

It’s just amazing that before Barack Obama won the 2008 election, there was no need to change anything. After 2008 however, Republicans have manufactured every conceivable reason to change the process in their favor.

Imagine two runners competing in a race and after the winner crosses the finish line, the loser claims victory because during the race he (the loser or today’s Republican party) decided that the last person to cross the finish line wins.

Side-note: Barack Obama overwhelmingly won the youth vote in 2008.

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