Category: Education

Just when the leaders of the state’s largest teachers’ union desperately needed help, who-of all people-becomes their unwitting savior? None other than the chief editorial writer for The Star-Ledger-a man who has spent a good part of his career bashing the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA).

An email exchange between Christopher Cerf, the state-appointed Newark schools chief, and John Abeigon, the president of the Newark Teachers Union. Abeigon’s email is at the bottom-it was sent to city officials, local school board members, state school board members, the mayor’s office and others. Abeigon offers his congratulations on the return of local control and asks for a role in the transition.

A state-appointed arbitrator has ruled the Newark school district-under the control of Gov. Chris Christie-consistently violated major provisions of a labor contract that was trumpeted nationally as a major educational reform.

Essex County College, an institution that has overcome daunting problems in the past, now faces the worst crisis in its 50-year history—the possible loss of its accreditation and, with it, its ability to operate as a public, degree-granting institution.

Newark’s St. Benedict’s Preparatory School, for nearly 150 years an all-boys’ secondary school, is about to become what its headmaster calls a “pioneering” hybrid, expanding to include both elementary schooling and co-education-with girls admitted to its middle school division for the first time in its history.