American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, AFL-CIO

Month: December 2011

Higher Ed NewsNews
AFTNJ ,

Rutgers president list down to several dozen candidates

By Nic Corbett/The Star-Ledger

NEW BRUNSWICK — The search for the next president of Rutgers University is expected to heat up significantly in the next two to three months.

The 24-member search committee has collected more than 250 nominations for the next president of the 58,000-student university and narrowed down the list to several dozen interested candidates, said chairman Greg Brown, chief executive officer of Motorola Solutions.…

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AFTNJ

Outgoing UMDNJ president to continue earning $380K salary as a consultant, records reveal

By Nic Corbett/The Star-Ledger

NEWARK — The president of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, who is resigning at the end of this week, will continue to earn his six-figure salary over the next eight months while serving as a consultant for his replacement, according to a separation agreement with the school.

William F.…

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Higher Ed NewsNews
AFTNJ

Eleven victories in 2011: Celebrate an incredible year for the student movement!

3. Rutgers USAS won NJ’s lowest tuition hike in 2 decades.

MoreAfter Rutgers USAS built a coalition that organized a 600-student walkout and a 2-day sit-in that grabbed NY Times headlines, New Jersey’s state university approved the lowest tuition hikes in two decades (1.6 percent for in-state students). Rutgers’ board rejected the proposed tuition hike from university president Richard McCormick, who resigned shortly afterwards.…

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AFTNJ

Montclair State plans home for newly created communications school

By Nic Corbett/The Star-Ledger

MONTCLAIR — A week after Montclair State’s trustees created a communications school, the university is busy planning a home for it.

The School of Communication and Media, in the making over the past two years, was created to better prepare Montclair State’s students for the evolving media field, Montclair State University Provost Willard Gingerich said.…

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Pre-K to 12 News
AFTNJ

Occupy Education

Liza Featherstone

“Mic check! MIC CHECK! Let the Puppet show begin! LET THE PUPPET SHOW BEGIN!”

The demonstrators who held the floor at a December 14 meeting at Newtown High School in Corona, Queens, were part of Occupy DOE (Department of Education), a mix of veteran teachers, parents and Occupy Wall Street activists that is bringing the language and tactics of OWS to the grassroots fight against neoliberal education reform.…

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Pre-K to 12 News
AFTNJ

Newark to Adopt National College Entrance Exam

Trying to get a better fix on student needs, district plans to add ACT to current tests

By John Mooney

Not satisfied with New Jersey’s state tests, the new superintendent of Newark schools will turn to a national college entrance test to help her gauge whether high school students are meeting college and career needs.

Superintendent Cami Anderson said she would start testing students this year on the ACT, a college entrance exam comparable to the SAT, which is popular in the South and Midwest.…

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If Rutgers merges with UMDNJ, watch out Harvard

UMDNJ_optBY BOB HOLT, NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Rutgers University says the proposed collaboration with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey would improve the school’s research abilities so much that the university would be on a par with Harvard and Purdue.

The merger would move Rutgers’ research and development spending up to 33rd in the nation from 54th, according to the Republic.…

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AFTNJ

4 Years After Suspension, Faculty Senate Will Return to Rensselaer Polytechnic

More than four years after Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute suspended its Faculty Senate, faculty members on the New York campus will soon once more have a voice in the institution’s governance.

The faculty approved a new senate constitution on Friday—in at least its fourth attempt to rebuild shared governance since 2007—after talks with the university’s board, provost, and president.…

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AFT NewsNewsPre-K to 12 News
AFTNJ

Reconnecting McDowell

Reconnecting McDowell is a comprehensive, long-term effort to make educational improvement in McDowell County the route to a brighter economic future. Partners from business, foundations, government, nonprofit agencies and labor have committed, in a signed covenant, to seeking solutions to McDowell’s complex problems—poverty, underperforming schools, drug and alcohol abuse, housing shortages, limited medical services, and inadequate access to technology and transportation.…

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In ActionVideos
AFTNJ

Had Enough of the RU Scrooge?

…

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Higher Ed NewsNews
AFTNJ

Fighting Privatization, Occupy Activists at CUNY and UC Kick Into High Gear

Josh Eidelson

Every afternoon last week, students, teachers, and neighbors gathered to hold classes on UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza. Everyone was welcome. They sat on the ground, or on what are now called the Mario Savio Steps. Topics included the economics of debt, the poetry of persecution, and Chilean student movement. There has also been a massage train and a gospel chorus.…

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N.J. considering major high education changes

GEOFF MULVIHILL, The Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. – All three of New Jersey’s public research universities are now looking for new presidents amid a recommendation that at least two of the schools be reconfigured with the hope of producing more collaborative research.

While the openings at the top may put each school in a period of transition that provides an opportunity for a big merger, Gov.…

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NewsPre-K to 12 News
AFTNJ

N.J. schools grow more dangerous as violence statistics increase

By Ted Sherman/The Star-Ledger

New Jersey schools grew more dangerous last year, with steadily increasing reports of violence in districts across the state.

Though there were 276 fewer assaults in the schools, the overall number of violent incidents — which included gang fights, robberies, sex offenses and criminal threats — increased by 5.6 percent over the past three years, according to the latest figures released Friday by the state Department of Education (viewable below).…

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NewsPre-K to 12 News
AFTNJ

50 briefly occupy N.J. Department of Education lobby to protest charter schools

By Christopher Baxter/Statehouse Bureau

TRENTON — Protesters angry about the Christie administration’s charter school initiatives briefly occupied the lobby of the state Department of Education this morning, chanting, “charter reform now!”

The group of about 50 people from Highland Park, Edison, New Brunswick, Teaneck, Montclair, Cherry Hill, Voorhees and South Orange said the state was dividing their communities by considering putting charter schools there.…

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