By

Ray Pinney

My mother reaches five feet tall only in high heels – and even then it’s a stretch. Even though I’m a foot taller, I have always looked up to her. Often she was the breadwinner in the family when my father’s work was slow. She was completely devoted to her family including the extended family. Even now, when my aunts are ill, it is my mother who is always there, caring for them and helping her nieces and nephews. At 84 she is bundle of energy.

One of the things I admire about her most is the lesson she taught me about education and female leadership. My mother grew up in an Italian immigrant family and was raised during the Great Depression and the World War II era.  Education, especially for females, was not valued as much as work was. Yet after high school graduation my mother told her father that she was going to nursing school. Of course, he said no.  My mother then stood up to her dad (Pops as they used to call him) and refused to back down, something none of her brothers or sisters ever did.  In a battle of strong wills, my mother won and my grandfather backed down.  One of my aunts told us years later how proud she was of my mother for standing up to Pops.

I bring this up because that battle over education between a father and a daughter more than 60 years ago has impacted my whole life. The educational opportunity that she demanded helped raise a family, and maybe more importantly, showed her own kids the strength of female leadership and the role of woman in society.  It was a small battle in the gender war, one witnessed by only a few people but an important one to me and my family.

I’m glad to say that there probably aren’t many girls in our schools today who see those kinds of limits on their career and life because of their gender.  Female leadership is plentiful in our public schools from the classroom to the administrative office to Boards of Education. In New Jersey about half of school board members are female. (The national average is 44 percent, according to NSBA.)  In the State House and in the halls of Congress in Washington, the number of female leaders is significantly lower: 28 percent in New Jersey’s State legislature and 17 percent in Congress.

Current board members are like my mother – modeling positive leadership as well as the importance of community service to a generation of children. Most of the female board members I have worked with over the years have a passion for public education which began because they were mothers of public school students.

Our male board members also are modeling positive leadership qualities and community service to the next generation.  But as Mother’s Day approaches, I wanted to point out how much our society has changed in one lifetime.  I also want to point out that, like my mother, small private acts of courage and leadership can have ripple effects for future generations.

Looking back both my parents were very involved in their community. It was expected that you vote, participate in local elections, volunteer at school, in the community and in church. Yet it was my mother who fought the stereotypes and stood up to someone she loved, a much harder endeavor than standing up to someone you don’t like.  It was my mother who through her actions, not just empty words, broke some stereotypes. Because she was quiet I did not always see her strength as a boy.

Right now we have many parents serving on boards of education who, like my parents, juggle work responsibilities, their kids’ school, sports and music schedules, and their board duties. I know there are times that it may seem as if you have overextended yourself. Your family may even question why you go to your meetings.

It’s at those hectic, over-scheduled times that I want you to remember that your service as a school board member sets an example for all the children in your community and that your leadership may impact and inspire your own children, even if they don’t realize it for years to come.

I would like to wish all of you who are both board members and mothers a happy Mother’s Day and to thank you for your service to your school district and your support for public education.

By

Ray Pinney

I was at the top of the stairs when I heard my daughter wail, “What do they think? We don’t have enough stress as students and we should take more stupid tests!” It was the kind of rant that only a teenage daughter can produce but luckily, this time it was not directed at her father. Instead it was directed at the New Jersey Department of Education and even Gov. Chris Christie because both are proposing more testing of high school students.  I will admit I may have contributed to provoking the rant when I placed the morning newspaper on the kitchen table with the headline “Jersey proposes more high school exams” right in the spot where she enjoys her morning tea before she heads off to school. 

I knew that this would get a rise out of her.  She is a high school junior who is spending much of her time taking tests. She’s taking the SATs, the ACT, the HSPA test and some AP exams. I agree that sometimes it seems that she spends an extraordinary amount of time either preparing for the tests or taking the tests.  

Yet in the 20 minutes it takes to consume a bowl of cereal and some eggs we discussed state standardized testing. My daughter argued that testing is a waste of time. I tried to give her the administration’s point of view. I have to admit it was interesting to get a student’s perspective instead of discussing it with another adult who hasn’t taken a standardized test in years. While I believe her view is necessarily limited by her own narrow experience, it is also a view that should not be casually dismissed, since, as an adult, I am not experiencing the testing first hand.  In fact, I sometimes wonder how well I would do if I took these tests now — and I must admit I’m not anxious to find out!

Before I expand on her arguments, I should briefly review the administration’s proposal Read the rest of this entry »

By

Ray Pinney

I know how to strike it rich.  All I have to do is invent software that can delete the stupid emails that people send out.  It would also be able to make your Facebook postings disappear.  Think of the market for such a software program.

Haven’t we all sent an email or posted something on Facebook that we regret?  Maybe we were trying to be funny, or maybe we were very angry and went on a rant.  It does not matter because once you hit “send,” everything is out of your control.

I remember early in my tenure at NJSBA I sent a very sarcastic e-mail to my boss about a situation that occurred and I thought it was pretty funny. It did not help much to see that I was poking fun at my boss’s boss. Then to my chagrin, my boss had taken my satirical e-mail seriously and forwarded it on as a great idea to the very person I was poking fun at.  After I updated my resume, I called my boss and said it was a joke.  Luckily for me, my boss’s boss had a good sense of humor.

That faux pas happened in the early stages of technology. Now I am constantly communicating with people through Facebook, text messaging and, of course, emailing.  I remember when I first got my cellphone, I thought it was for emergencies only. I couldn’t imagine I’d ever use text messaging much. Now I feel naked without my cellphone and have this uncontrollable urge to check my e-mails, text messages, even Facebook every 10 minutes or so.

One of the greatest challenges that a board of education or any governing body faces is Read the rest of this entry »

By

Ray Pinney

Did you ever have a conversation with a relative and find out something about your family that you never knew and you can’t believe you never knew?  My sister and I recently had such a conversation.

I am at the point in parenthood where I have a daughter heading off to college in a few years and I am trying to figure out how to pay for it –a new experience for me. Since my parents’ income was limited, I went to a state college and paid for it myself – no loans, no parental support (except for allowing me to live at home and commute to college) and no financial aid. I worked two jobs in the summer and part-time all year and was able to get by. My sister, who was a year behind me and obviously much wiser to financial aid opportunities, applied for financial aid and received some. She could have received more, except that my father was hesitant to fill out the forms. His pride was such that he did not want to seem that he was not providing for his family. Truth be told, he did provide very well.  Although we were never wealthy, we were never wanting. Yet his pride prevented his daughter from getting some financial aid. This is something I never knew.  I find the situation sort of ironic since my father attended college only because of the GI Bill.

Pride is a powerful emotion and can make us do things that are not always in our best interest.  I thought of this experience when I saw that the governor set up the Education Funding Task Force to look at the School Funding Formula and specifically the use of Free and Reduced-Price Lunch program to measure the numbers of “at-risk students.” Read the rest of this entry »

By

Ray Pinney

I was once talking with someone in the home building trade about putting an addition on a house and they told me the rule of thumb that homeowners should know before starting a project. When estimating the cost and the time required to complete a project, you should go through all the material that will be needed, and add the labor costs and then double and triple check those calculations. Once you are certain you have the final cost estimates and time estimates and are confident that they are the final numbers, you only have to do one thing before you start. You double both the cost and time estimates.

Anyone who has undergone some type of construction project can understand the humor — and wisdom – in that statement. Once you start renovating and rebuilding something you always find surprises which can derail a project.

I thought of that story as I have been reading about Acting Commissioner Cerf’s rebuilding and restructuring of the New Jersey Department of Education. While almost everyone agrees that the NJDOE needs to be reconstructed to fit the needs of the children of New Jersey, as well as the local school districts that deliver that education, we know it is not easy. Rebuilding a bureaucracy is a demanding task that I am sure many commissioners would have loved to do but did not have the time, the resources or the political muscle to do so. (Some did tinker with the infrastructure – can you say “Executive County Superintendent”?)  So Cerf should be given credit for creating a plan to rebuild the NJDOE.

There is much to like in the acting commissioner’s plan to change the department. But there will also be some things that will surprise him, Read the rest of this entry »

Even when you know something is coming, reading it in black and white  somehow makes it more real. It wasn’t until I read an email to all staff recently that I realized it was actually happening: one of my mentors, colleagues and friends was retiring from NJSBA.  I didn’t expect to feel emotional over her retirement, but I did.

Sometimes in life you are blessed to work with someone who is not only intelligent, talented, and hard-working, but someone who is such a positive personality that they are always a joy to work with. They are the kind of person who, if you have a problem with them, you better take a good hard look at yourself because everyone knows that they are not the problem. You are blessed to have worked with them because during that time they helped you make you a better professional.

I have been privileged over the past 14 years to work with Joanne Borin. I would like to take the time out from discussing the educational issues of the day (the world won’t end if we wait a week to talk about tenure reform, teacher evaluations or school funding ) to talk about someone who has been one of the most positive influences for me at NJSBA. Read the rest of this entry »

We must remember that in time of war what is said on the enemy’s side of the front is always propaganda, and what is said on our side of the front is truth and righteousness, the cause of humanity and a crusade for peace.

Walter Lippman

The first casualty when war comes is Truth

                        U.S. Senator Hiram Johnson, 1917

 One of the most important things in understanding the elements of a public policy debate is the context in which the debate is being held.  In New Jersey the public education debate is akin to a war between two superpowers, the NJEA and the Governor.  Understanding this context will help observers who are not in either camp maneuver effectively through the conflict.  Let me explain.

In New Jersey public education is being discussed like never before. Everything is on the table, including items like teacher tenure, teacher evaluations, school choice, charter schools and, of course, school funding. Many of these issues affect the work conditions of public employees, who will not easily yield ground on such matters when they do not trust in the motives of the people leading the reform movement. They believe the motive of the reformers is not educational improvement, but breaking the unions and privatizing public education.

On the other side, Read the rest of this entry »

I could sense my cynicism growing and I could feel my optimism shrinking.  The more I watched, reported on, and analyzed the education reform debate, the less enthralled I became with the education war that is raging in New Jersey and across the nation.  The more the two sides argued about helping students and vied to prove that their side is more “about kids” than the other side, the more distant they seem to get from the students we all profess we want to help.

Let’s be honest: When politicians from any party show up to a school with the media and talk about education policy, they like having students as a backdrop. When activists bring students to protests, they too like having the kids as backdrops. We all do. After all, we know that it is all about the kids, right?  It can also be a great experience for the kids to participate in a democracy by seeing an elected official speak and answer questions or to take part in a protest.

While I agree that we should encourage our kids to get involved in democracy and in our government, I don’t think that we should fool ourselves. No matter which side we are on, when we use kids, it’s not only about the kids.  It is also about the adults wanting the backdrop of kids in order to make their arguments and efforts more effective.

Sometimes we also forget the realities of education when we debate our educational theories. It is also important to realize that our educational theories are just that – theories, and most theories have some flaws. No one can claim to have all the answers in education, although in a debate, sometimes it sounds like each side thinks it does.

So all of these ideas were percolating in my mind and I was feeling rather bored and discouraged with the public discourse. But one day last week, Read the rest of this entry »

“If we want to ensure that all students succeed, we need to start pursuing a slate of bold reforms and stop chasing the promised, but mythical, funding formula that will solve our educational woes.”

Education Funding Report, Acting Commissioner of Education Christopher Cerf

Two days after Gov. Christie presented his state budget address, the school aid figures were released, along with Acting Commissioner Chris Cerf’s Education Funding Report.  This report is both an analysis of the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) and a blueprint on how to amend the formula as we move forward.

Most board members and school administrators, when they analyze a funding formula or state aid, take a very local view. Understandably, they concentrate on one thing: How does it affect their district?  If a formula puts them on the plus side, they like it. If it reduces state aid, they don’t.

If they really do not like it, they may even take the state to court. Since the Robinson v. Cahill case in 1973 and through the series of Abbott decisions, coming up with a system that works – and lasts – has been an elusive goal. In fact, fully funding a system has also proven elusive, so elusive that it has only been done twice.  I think it’s hard to judge a formula, any formula, if the state never fully funds it.

That being said, Acting Commissioner Cerf’s Education Funding Report is a strong attempt to redefine the school funding discussion.  Read the rest of this entry »

I was working as a teacher in a high school when the district decided to move the high school to block scheduling. Much of the staff was thrown into a tizzy.  The school administration was hoping that this move would change the way the high school teachers delivered their lesson plans from a lecture format to a more engaging approach. I remember a veteran teacher and I were discussing the proposal, since he had gone through a similar move in another district. He said to me, “Ray, in the end, good teachers are good teachers and they adapt, and bad teachers are bad teachers and they flounder.”  In essence, what he was implying was that the talent of the teacher was more important than the structure of the school day.

This conversation, which happened many years ago, came to mind after I interviewed Chester Finn from the Fordham Institute on my podcast program Do We Need to Change School Boards in Order to Improve? (I think you will find the interview interesting.) Finn believes that we need to reform, or at least look at different governance models, if we want to improve academic achievement, particularly in our underachieving schools.  He thinks that we should explore other models such as mayoral-controlled school districts, state-operated districts, and charter schools, as well as other ideas.

Finn is not the only one who is looking at changing the governance structure in New Jersey. Read the rest of this entry »