This teachers union wants to lead change in N.J.

By Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist

Any time both Gov. Chris Christie and Barbara Keshishian, the president of the New Jersey Education Association, call the same legislation “historic,” that’s, well, historic. The problem is that, despite the hype from this unlikely duo of cheerleaders for what has been called tenure reform, the state has hardly been a leader in finding ways of using teachers and their unions as instruments of school change.

But change has happened elsewhere and it could provide a model here.”We should be moving from away the industrial model,’’ says Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. “Change affects everyone, including unions, and now it’s time to change how we conduct ourselves as a union.’’

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