By

Ray Pinney

There is a nationwide focus on the achievement gap and weak academic performance in our poorest communities. It’s certainly warranted.  In New Jersey, this issue  has been at the core of the Abbott rulings by the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Unfortunately, there seems to be the notion that to improve the educational achievement of our poorest children, we need charismatic leaders with bold ideas that will be implemented quickly, dramatically and with great fanfare. That is why charismatic educators like Michelle Rhee, Geoffrey Canada, and several years ago, Joe Clark, become overnight stars –for awhile.

What if the way to academic success in our poorest school districts is slow, quiet, and actually accomplished with some ordinary practices? That is what David Kirp, author of the book Improbable Scholars argues is probably the direction we should go. He holds up the New Jersey school district of Union City as a model.

In New Jersey, we grab headlines when the state “takes over” a district as it did with Jersey City, Newark and Paterson. Recently, the state announced that it would initiate a state “intervention” in the city of Camden. The Camden “intervention” is different than that in the other three cities because it appears that the community and the district did not object to the state’s action.  Nonetheless, it did grab headlines.

It should be noted that Union City, the star district in Kirp’s book, was itself was on the verge of a state takeover about a quarter of a century ago. (more…)

By

Ray Pinney

Karen, a Morris County board member came up to me after a recent Morris County meeting and with great passion, stated her objection to superintendent salary caps.  Her reasoning came down to this “I am not looking for a good educational leader to lead my district. I want the best because our kids deserve the best. I want them to excel!”

You can quibble with Karen on her objection to the salary caps but there’s no denying Karen’s motives for her beliefs. She is dedicated public servant who is focused like a laser beam on improving the education her community’s students receive. She has a passion for public education.

This blog is not about superintendent salary caps, nor is it about Karen being a special board member, which she is. While Karen is special, she is not unique. In fact, most board members have that same passion for public education.

One of the benefits of my job is that for almost fifteen years I have had the opportunity to work closely with thousands of board members who, like Karen, are dedicated to the children of their community. Yet I would dare say that the perception that I have of board members is not the one the general public has.

While I should be accustomed to the passion that many board members display, for some reason I am always a bit surprised by it. While January is School Board Recognition month and (more…)

By

Ray Pinney

Some years ago, I was in a conversation with a group of educators when an issue arose over how to prevent “micromanagement by board members.” A superintendent in the group proudly spoke up that he had a solution to the problem: “Simply give the superintendent the authority to remove a single member from the board, and that would stop that.”  I looked at him and said, “The minute he removed one board member, it would become an issue for the next election.”  The board member removed from office would come back with a slate to “run against” the superintendent, portraying him as an unelected dictator, I explained.

“Look,” I said, “I have been involved in enough local elections to know a winning campaign issue – and that is a slam dunk.”  He looked at me and did not say another word.

That superintendent, while well intentioned in wanting to help his fellow administrators better handle the sometimes blurred line between managing a district and governing one, was actually hurting his colleagues.

With a recent proposal to give superintendents the authority to call school board meetings, the New Jersey Department of Education is similarly well-intentioned but misguided.  (more…)

By

Ray Pinney

I walked into her office and she wanted to discuss a meeting being planned. Marie looked at me and asked “whose dumb idea was this meeting topic?” I had to own up that it was my dumb idea. Then Marie allowed me to explain my thought process. She listened and I could see that while she was not totally convinced by my logic, she told me to go ahead. While she was hesitant about the idea, she believed in backing up her staff, so she relented.  I am happy to report the “dumb idea” actually worked.

That short moment in my almost fifteen years at NJSBA epitomizes my relationship with outgoing Executive Director Marie Bilik. We did not always agree on things, but we listened to each other. It is a relationship that is coming to an end (at least at NJSBA) and I have to say I am sad about that.

The chats in Marie’s office began almost fifteen years ago when I first started at NJSBA. I was hired as a county program coordinator to replace her (she had been made a field service representative). I started in the northern field office (NJSBA had field offices at the time), and I was the only man in an office filled with strong-willed, highly intelligent woman who were all passionate about public education. As it so happened, our morning ritual was to gather to discuss the districts and counties we were working with. We gathered most often in Marie’s office.

Our habit of having casual conversations about issues has never stopped and neither has my penchant for springing dumb ideas on her. I’m sure that will continue until her last day.

I hate goodbyes. (more…)

By

Ray Pinney

My family only had to endure four days without power after Hurricane Sandy before we experienced that magic moment early one morning: we were awakened by our lights going on. The kids yelled out in joy, and I happily anticipated life with electric, heat and running water.

We had a brief letdown when there was a “click” and the power went off again. But it was temporary and we were on the road to normalcy.

But I quickly learned that normal life returns bit by bit, not all at once. I had roads to traverse, an exercise that included maneuvering around downed trees and power lines.  The stores in my town still had no power, so buying groceries was a chore.  Buying gas was a challenge. You could spot an open gas station by the long line of cars, sometimes a mile away from the station.  The other sight that was unusual, to say the least, was the number of people standing in line or walking down the street with their red plastic gas containers.

These crazy scenes, playing out in many communities across New Jersey, did not capture the full devastation of the storm. My family might have been inconvenienced by power outages, but we are well aware that other individuals and communities have lost much more.  (more…)

By

Ray Pinney

The young man of 15 walked up to me. His shoulders were straight and his posture almost had a military bearing. He extended his hand and introduced himself with a firm handshake.  He asked if I wanted to know about his district’s SEALS (Students Empowered for Advocacy and Leadership Skills) program for students who are eligible for special education services.  I was impressed with his poise, and with the poise of a young lady who is also in the program, as they talked about how much better they feel being a leader and active participant in their own IEP meetings. They had gained the kind of confidence and ease with advocating for themselves that all students—not just special education student – would benefit from.

I was at the Innovations in Special Education awards ceremony and 10 New Jersey schools were being honored for having creative and effective special education programming. The awards are jointly sponsored by NJSBA and ASAH, a non-profit organization that represents private schools serving students with disabilities.

As I wandered the hotel lobby looking at the impressive array of programs that were on display, (more…)

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. (more…)

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, (more…)

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, (more…)

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. (more…)