Jersey Jazzman:
BREAKING: Proof That @GovChristie Can't Contain His Hatred of Teachers
I figured that Chris Christie's handlers had told him he's got the gubernatorial election in the bag, so he should just lay low. Keep himself in check; don't make waves; just coast to victory... The problem is that Chris Christie HATES teachers. So when a teacher - especially a woman - confronts him, he just can't help himself: More from Momotombo at Blue Jersey: Today at the Rutgers game, w
Marie Corfield for NJ Assembly
Can we talk? Let me be clear: I am not giving up on Barbara Buono's race for governor. New Jersey will pay dearly if we reelect Chris Christie; any Democrat would be better than this utter failure of a leader. The argument for returning Chris Christie to Trenton for another term is, contrary to the protestations of his apologists in the punditocracy, incoherent. If Christie is reelected, I predic
B4K: $$$ For Pols, But Not For Schools!
Yesterday, I reported that B4K - StudentsFirst's "partner" in New Jersey and the reformiest anti-union lobbying shop in New Jersey - pulled out of a half-a-million dollar commitment to help fund a literacy program in Perth Amboy. Why? Because anti-tenure superintendent Janine Caffrey - beneficiary of a public relations campaign paid for by B4K - was dismissed by the PA board of educatio
B4K Reneges On Commitment To Children's Literacy
This is an ugly story, but it's typical of the way well-heeled "reformers" run their little anti-union education lobbying shops these days: Regular readers here have followed the story of Janine Caffrey, former superintendent of Perth Amboy's (NJ) schools and the Queen of Tenure. Caffrey, in her very first year running a district, burst on to the NJ scene with some wild tales of malfeas
UPDATED: The Wheels Come Off In Montclair While a Broadie Superintendent Is Driving
UPDATE 1: Stu in the comments actually makes a fair point: You hurt your cause by using nicknames for the players in your character assassinations. It also doesn't help when you take great liberties, such as when you attribute the assessment leak directly to Penny MacCormack inadvertently slapping tests up on the Internet. That you are an educator in New Jersey who chooses to write to the level o
TFA, Arthur Rock, and The Reformy Campaign Finance Machine
Let's get back to the Reformy Campaign Finance Machine, with an updated scorecard on whose money (so far as I know) is going where: Jusidiction (level) Candidate Greg Penner Lydia Callaghan Arthur Rock Dave Goldberg Sheryl Sandberg Alan Fournier Jennifer Fournier Kent Thiry TOTALS Perth Amboy, NJ (local BOE) Better Schools Now! $8,000 $8,000 $8,000 $8,000 $10,400 $10,400
UPDATED: Reformy Cures, For the Right Price
It sure is a funny coincidence: the people who bray the loudest that our schools suck always seem to have the cure - for the right price: Diane, these problems are of long standing (and you know this as a historian of education). Indeed, these weaknesses also exist in private and charter schools. Some of the most boring and fear-inducing teaching I have ever seen is in prep schools where only in
OCT 24
Sucking Up to the Rich, Reformy Style!
Much as I'd like to move on from the Star-Ledger's - and its Op-Ed Editor, Tom Moran's - immoral and stupid endorsement of Chris Christie for governor, I really can't let the following incident pass without comment. Because it pretty much exemplifies the problems with how the plutocrats who own this country have taken over not only education policy, but huge swaths of the mainstream press. If you
OCT 22
ALERT! Wed, 10/23: Make Chris Christie Confront His War On Poor Students
I just got word of a great event taking place in Trenton tomorrow: Wednesday, October 23, at 11:00 AM: Statehouse Photo Exhibit to Expose Deplorable Conditions in New Jersey Public Schools Trenton – An art exhibit in front of the Statehouse will expose the shameful conditions in some New Jersey public schools. Called “A Blind Eye: The Immorality of Inaction,” the exhibit highlights the
OCT 21
Star-Ledger: Christie Stinks, But We Hate Teachers Unions More
When it comes to generating illogical, incoherent, self-contradictory claptrap, Editorial Page Editor Tom Moran and his merry crew at the Star-Ledger never fail to disappoint. But their idiotic and shameful endorsement of Chris Christie for governor - a man they admit has been an abject failure in Trenton - is a new low. An embarrassment of ignorance, Moran and the S-L's endorsement proves once ag
OCT 17
The Reformy Campaign Finance Machine Goes To Georgia
Last spring, I happened - by sheer luck - to come across an unannounced, coordinated campaign finance machine, put together to support reformy candidates in school board and state-level races across the country. This machine distributed more than one-quarter million dollars to small, obscure races that had never seen this level of campaign finance before: Jusidiction Candidate Greg Penner L
OCT 16
Another Broad Super Is Failing in Montclair, NJ
This is a really remarkable story, but it requires a bit of set up: Eli Broad, one of the richest men in America, runs a private, unaccredited "academy" to train budding school leaders in corporate education reform. I put "academy" in quotes because the thing is really a book club: six weekends over ten months, which I consider an insult to the many dedicated professionals I k