N.J. education commissioner prefers 'educational effectiveness' over seniority when cutting teacher jobs
By Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist
May 31, 2010, 7:58AM
NJ Education Commissioner Bret Schundler speaks to Garden State Coalition of Schools (GSCS) about education reform at the Forsgate Country Club in Monroe Township on 5/26/10.Bret Schundler is like no education commissioner the state has ever had. He’s not an educator, but a businessman and a politician. He is more of an advocate for private schools than for public schools. He is a true believer in parental choice, something he deems "a human right."
And, in the midst of an ugly fight between his governor and the state’s largest teachers union, his spokesman refers to New Jersey schools as "wretched" — just when they led the nation in a countrywide test of educational achievement.
Okay, so he repudiated the word "wretched" when legislators and educators protested — but what does he really think of the public schools he is constitutionally sworn to support?
That’s not an easy question to answer, even after sitting with Schundler for three hours and talking about the schools.
While he conceded some New Jersey public schools are doing well, he also clearly believes that things have to change and that private schools, without their union rules and bureaucracies, are the models for reform.
But then he suggested veteran teachers should pack it in and retire for the good of the schools.
He said he was concerned about staffing the schools: Education is a "labor intensive service," he said and you need bodies to be there. Thousands of