A handful of AFTNJ members are among the 5,000 teachers recently chosen from more than 124,000 applicants nationwide to receive a 2020 Scholastic Book Clubs and James Patterson Classroom Library Grant.
Congratulations to Ashley Gallo (James Madison School #10 in Garfield/Local 3977), Raffaella Mastropaolo (Washington Irving School #4 in Garfield/Local 3977), Jessica Cagno (Edward J.…
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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy fielded a bunch of school-related questions Sept. 30 during his COVID-19 briefing.
Asked if school districts are required to report COVID-19 cases and/or outbreaks to their families in their school community, Murphy said, “Absolutely.”
As for the distribution of the rapid coronavirus tests coming from the federal government, he said it’s “too early to tell” whether all N.J.…
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The fall 2020 issue of AFT’s American Educator is available now. It contains “The Crisis of American Democracy,” a story by Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt about how extreme polarization is fracturing the nation, and in “One Person, One Vote,” former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. examines the scourge of voter suppression.…
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Gov. Phil Murphy on Sept. 29 signed New Jersey’s revised fiscal year 2021 budget, with Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin among the speakers at the afternoon event.
“As we have all said many times before, a budget is a reflection of the values of our state,” Murphy said prior to signing the budget.…
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Interviews and documents with past and present government officials reveal that the White House “spent weeks trying to press public health professionals to fall in line with President Trump’s election-year agenda of pushing to reopen schools and the economy as quickly as possible,” The New York Times reports.
For the full story, click here.…
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A planned protest by Rutgers University faculty members about recent layoffs morphed into a rally Sept. 26 in New Brunswick about additional issues as well, among them saving the Lincoln Annex School, reports The Daily Targum’s Hayley Slusser.
Among the 1,000-plus who have been let go since the start of the pandemic are part-time lecturers and dining-hall workers.…
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AFTNJ is encouraging its members to not only return their 2020 election ballots early but to participate in this week’s #AFTVotes social media campaign.
Today through Oct. 2, post a selfie on your social media accounts holding a printout of the sign above and include the hashtag #AFTVotes.
To download a copy of the sign, click here.…
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A mass email sent Sept. 4 by Stockton University Interim Provost Michelle Craig McDonald was later found to be 30% plagiarized, writes NJ Advance Media’s Kelly Heyboer.
A Stockton University faculty member made the discovery by running the email through the software Turnitin; several paragraphs had lines that mirrored those from a widely published op-ed piece by Trinity College President Joanne Berger-Sweeney, Heyboer reports.…
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New Jersey teachers earn 3.1% less than other comparable college-educated workers, according to a report by Sylvia A. Allegretto (Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics co-chair) and Lawrence Mishel (former Economic Policy Institute president).
“In no state, on average, does the relative wage of teachers surpass that of other college graduates,” they write.
Other key findings include the following:
By a vote of 38-0, the state Senate on Sept. 24 approved S2852, a bill that would enable adjunct professors to collect unemployment benefits.
“Many adjunct professors face uncertainty with the unknown length of school shutdowns and looming budget cuts,” said Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, a co-sponsor of the bill, in a story by Insider NJ.…
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Rutgers University on Sept. 24 said it has received a $15 million grant from New York’s Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that will be used to establish the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice.
Prabhas Moghe, who is the university’s executive vice president for academic affairs, will oversee the institute. Centers will be based on the New Brunswick, Newark and Camden campuses.…
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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sept. 24 spoke via Zoom about the ways in which New Jersey has handled the pandemic.
On the subject of N.J. school districts reopening with a mix of in-person, remote and hybrid learning, Dr. Fauci said, “I think you are doing it quite prudently and carefully.…
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Fall 2020 enrollment at community colleges is down by 7.5%, according to preliminary data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
In its First Look Fall 2020 Enrollment findings, with 22% of colleges reporting as of Sept. 10, the nonprofit research organization says undergraduate numbers “fell nationwide and across all types of institutions.”
“I think many people thought by now, six months into the recession, we should start seeing enrollment growth by unemployed students looking to upskill,” said Doug Shapiro, the center’s executive director, in an Inside Higher Ed story.…
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The latest episode of “On the Issues With Michele Goodwin,” a Ms. magazine podcast, featured AFT President Randi Weingarten, who touched upon many issues related to education and the pandemic. Here is some of what she said:
“I mean, it’s really hard to do schoolwork on a smartphone. Really hard to do schoolwork on a smartphone.…
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