NJSBA Cautions Districts on Early Retirement Incentive Program
On July 15, Governor McGreevey signed a bill that creates an Early Retirement Incentive Program (ERIP) for local school districts. Get the full story.
Ciak Elected Vice President For County Activities
Kevin E. Ciak, a nine-year veteran of the Sayreville Board of Education, was elected NJSBA’s vice president for county activities during a special Delegate Assembly meeting in East Windsor on Saturday. Get the full story.
State’s Highest Court Upholds District’s Random Drug Testing Policy
The Hunterdon Central Regional High School Board of Education has prevailed in the New Jersey Supreme Court matter of Joye vs. Hunterdon Central Regional School Board of Education. This high profile case presented a constitutional challenge, by three sets of parents on behalf of themselves and their children, to the board’s random drug testing policy. Get the full story.
School Finance Committee Appointed
NJSBA President Glenn B. Ewan has recently appointed members to serve on the School Finance Committee. The committee’s charge is to monitor the school funding law in New Jersey and its impact on all types of school districts in the state; study issues relating to school finance; report periodically to the Delegate Assembly; and recommend additions, modifications or deletions to policy as needed. Get the full story.
Department of Education Posts Unsafe School Policy Implementation Schedule to Begin July 31
In keeping with federally mandated guidelines, the New Jersey Department of Education has posted an advisory on its Web site listing schedules and actions that districts must take for schools that will be identified by July 31 as “persistently dangerous” by the Department. Compliance with the Unsafe School Policy is a condition of receiving funds under any and all titles of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. To follow is key information from the advisory:
Get the full story.
A Little Chicken Soup Before Brunch
You probably know Jack Canfield as the founder and co-creator of The New York Times #1 best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, which currently has over 35 titles and 53 million copies in print in 32 languages. Get the full story.
Training Programs and Resources
Featured in This Week's Edition
Policy and Library Resources
Affirmative Action Decision
On the last day of its term, the United States Supreme Court handed down two significant decisions pertaining to affirmative action: Gratz vs. Bollinger and Grutter vs. Bollinger. These two cases are expected to have significant impact on admissions decisions in educational institutions across the nation for the foreseeable future.

Click here for detailed information about these cases.
NJSBA Upcoming Meetings
In accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, notice is served of the following regularly scheduled NJSBA meetings. Get the full schedule.
The New Jersey Department of Education will hold its first annual literacy conference, Keeping the Promise: Literacy for ALL Children, on August 6-7 at the Somerset Marriott, the Holiday Inn and the Ukranian Culture Center. The Department’s Offices of Reading First, Urban Literacy and Early Literacy are sponsoring the conference, which will focus on the methods and means for helping all New Jersey children achieve literacy by third grade.

The conference is geared toward teachers of grades pre-kindergarten-through three, ESL/bilingual instruction, special and general education, as well as reading and literacy coaches, principals, supervisors and Reading First coordinators. Vendors of Reading First-approved materials will also be on hand.

Click here for more information, or e-mail literacy@doe.state.nj.us.
School Board Notes Summer Schedule
School Board Notes is now in its summer publication schedule. Publication dates for the summer are July 10 and 24, and August 7 and 21. SBN will resume its regular weekly schedule on September 5.
JULY 29
Indicates an NJSBA Meeting NJSBA Special Education Committee Meeting, NJSBA Trenton Headquarters Trenton, 6:30 p.m.
Ocean County School Boards Association Meeting, Windows on the Bay Bayville, 6:30 p.m.
AUGUST 2
Indicates an NJSBA Meeting NJSBA School Finance Committee Meeting, NJSBA Trenton Headquarters Trenton, 8:30 a.m.
Click here for more information on county school boards association activities.