Under its Vax and Visit campaign, which launched May 27, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is offering a free State Parks Vax Pass to all N.J. residents who receive at least one COVID-19 vaccination dose by July 4.
The State Parks Vax Pass will allow free access through Dec. 31 to all of N.J.’s…
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In a recent Newsweek interview, Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel A. Cardona says the pandemic “didn’t discriminate against students,” so as the United States recovers, every student — citizen or otherwise — should have access to its public schools.
“I believe all means all,” Dr. Cardona said. “So when there are students that are here that need to be educated, we have an obligation.…
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Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillan, acting commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Education, on May 26 provided an overview of the $2.7 billion New Jersey will receive via the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ARP ESSER).
She pointed out that the NJDOE on May 24 published each district’s allocation of this third installment of ESSER funds.…
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For more than a year, black Americans “have experienced a perfect storm of social and emotional stressors,” and during that time, black educators “have been in the awkward positions of having to create lessons around police violence,” writes Peggy Barmore for The Hechinger Report.
“There’s a sense of angst among black teachers, and they’re losing sleep over it,” Barmore adds.…
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AFT President Randi Weingarten on May 24 visited the First Avenue School in Newark to thank its educators and students “for believing that we were gonna get out of COVID” and to take a tour of the building with AFTNJ President Donna M. Chiera and others.
It was the 10th school visit in the past month or so for the fully vaccinated Weingarten, who mentioned early on in her outdoor speech, “I said to your superintendent [Roger León] and to [Newark Teachers Union President] John Abeigon, I am not gonna do my back-to-school-this-year tour unless I come to Newark.”…
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Effective May 28, New Jersey’s statewide indoor masking mandate will come to an end, but existing masking requirements will continue at public preschool program premises and elementary and secondary schools, Gov. Phil Murphy said May 24.
“By the way, this is for a simple reason. Children under the age of 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated,” Murphy explained during his media briefing.…
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A new Teaching Profession Playbook, co-developed by the AFT, contains tools “for advancing a stable and diverse teaching profession” while also “ensuring that every student in every school is taught by a fully prepared teacher,” according to the guide’s introduction.
Published by the Partnership for the Future of Learning, the playbook — subtitled “Building a Strong and Diverse Teaching Profession” — can be read online or downloaded as a PDF.…
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Parent Power, NJTESOL/NJBE’s free virtual workshop for parents of multilingual learners, is set for June 5 from 8:30 a.m. to noon ET.
For more information and to register, click here.…
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When in-person learning resumed at her elementary school, Nevada teacher Tava Dennis turned to video journaling so she could better connect with her students in a safe, mask-free forum.
“From the beginning, the videos offered the only way for me to see my students’ full faces and smiles, and for them to see mine,” Davis writes in an opinion piece for The 74. …
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By Anthony Balzano
Recent news reports show that political and social elites are having a problem with curriculum on race and the legacy of slavery.
One example comes from the parents of children at elite private schools in New York City protesting against “an obsessive focus on race and identity in schools.” These parents send their children to exclusive K-12 institutions in Manhattan with tuition exceeding $50,000 a year, so-called Ivy League training grounds.…
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The mentorship Misti Kemmer received as a rookie teacher wasn’t ideal, but more than 15 years later, she’s still in the profession and now serves as a mentor herself to new teachers.
Kemmer, an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles, and others share mentorship advice in a story by Education Week’s Elizabeth Heubeck.…
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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy opened his May 17 media briefing by saying Executive Order 175 will expire at the end of the current school year.
“Through this action we are declaring that all students will be back in school for full-time, in-person instruction for the start of the 2021-2022 school year,” Murphy said. “Further, this announcement also includes the removal of the full-time remote learning option for families.”…
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