The Queen of Tenure Ends Her Reign?
And so the long, strange tale of Janine Caffrey, Superintendent of Perth Amboy's schools and the Queen of Tenure, begins its slow, sad ending: After two years of nearly non-stop battles with The Perth Amboy Board of Education, Superintendent Janine Caffrey has decided she will not reapply for her position and will finish out her contract which expires June 30. The decision came after an Aug. 2
Another Day, Another Reformy Hypocrite: Camden Edition
Leave it to Laura Waters to summarize the reformy defense of Camden's new, very young, very inexperienced state superintendent of schools, Paymon Rouhanifard: While Rouhanifard has many admirers in the world of public education, he has attracted critics who charge that he's inexperienced and too closely associated with charter schools and other elements of education reform. [...] Been ther
YESTERDAY
When Will the Charter Industry Finally Be Honest?
If you're shocked by this, you haven't been paying attention: The parent of a special education kindergarten pupil at the Upper West Side Success Academy charter school secretly tape recorded meetings in which school administrators pressed her to transfer her son back into the public school system. The tapes, a copy of which the mother supplied the Daily News, poke a hole in claims by the fast-
AUG 28
UPDATED: Newark's Teachers Get Screwed on Merit Pay
UPDATED BELOW The editorial board of the Wall St. Journal may be clinically insane, but Lisa Fleisher at the education desk is paying attention to important stuff: Newark, in a first for a large New Jersey public-school system, has given out bonuses of up to $12,500 to its highest-rated teachers, inaugurating a controversial merit-pay program being watched across the nation. A group of 190 New
AUG 27
Paymon Who?
I had the great pleasure of talking for while today with a teacher from Newark. This is someone who is very up on education policy and politics, so I thought he was the perfect person to ask about the new state superintendent of Camden, Paymon Rouhanifard. After all, according to Chris Christie, the governor who installed Rouhanifard: Paymon has a proven track record of improving the lives of hun
AUG 26
The Merit Pay Virus Spreads
The Camden teachers contract is up for negotiation, just as the state has taken over the district and is ready to install a new, reformy superintendent, Paymon Rouhanifard. This young fellow spent his career in New York City forcing charter school co-locations on communities that did not want them; consequently, there here is little doubt he is being installed in Camden to turn the district into a
AUG 23
New Camden Super Appointment Rushed With NO Community Input!
This is incredible: The New Jersey State Board of Education has scheduled a special meeting Monday to vote on Gov. Christie's selection for Camden superintendent. Paymon Rouhanifard, 32, of New York, was announced Wednesday as Christie's pick for the next Camden school chief. The state board is expected approve the selection. Since it is a state-run district, the state board will also set Rouha
NJDOE Fail (Again): Camden Community Charter School
Camden's schools open this year on Monday, September 9 -- a little more than two weeks. But when Camden Community Charter School opens, there will be a huge black cloud over the campus: HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale charged Wednesday that Pennsylvania's largest charter school - located in Chester - was improperly reimbursed $1.3 million for lease payments on its o
