North Brunswick School Superintendent to Head Education Effectiveness Task ForceBrian Zychowsky to lead team tasked with devising statewide system for evaluating teachers and principals
Brian Zychowsky was an intriguing choice to lead Gov. Chris Christie’s new task force charged with devising a statewide system for evaluating teachers and principals.
At one point said to have been on Christie’s short list to be state education commissioner, the North Brunswick school superintendent said he’s open to the ideas of merit pay for teachers and better ways of linking teacher performance with student performance.
“I do think there is a value to rewarding teachers who make a difference,” he said yesterday.
Then it gets complicated. North Brunswick uses a hybrid evaluation system that includes teachers documenting their own and their students’ progress.
And for any system like this to work statewide, Zychowsky said the state would need accurate and
Searching for Services for Adult Autistic ChildrenAs adult autistic children age out of the school system, their families are learning there are virtually no day programs for them
Cathy Douma’s autistic son has languished for five years on a state priority list for housing for developmentally disabled adults. She got a status letter recently. Jeffrey, 26, is number 2,395.
“When my husband and I die, what will happen?” worries Douma, of Morris Township, who is in her late 50s.
Douma's concerns are shared by many New Jersey parents whose adult autistic children are aging out of the public school system in record numbers, but still need help managing day to day.
Her fears are well-grounded.
Parents say, and the state readily acknowledges, that because of high demand, and the cost of providing such services, there aren’t enough day programs for autistic adults, for whom a rigidly