NJ Governor Murphy Lifts $191,584 Superintendent Salary Cap

Lime Scooters Come to Hoboken- Summer 2019

Gov. Phil Murphy recently signed a bill doing away with a $191,584 cap on school superintendent salaries in New Jersey, killing one of former Gov. Chris Christie’s most controversial education policies. The law bars the state Department of Education from setting maximum salaries for superintendents while, at the same time, setting guidelines for school executive contracts to limit or standardize bonuses, golden parachutes and other fringe benefits.

Christie, a Republican, in 2011 implemented a $175,000 cap on superintendents, citing high salaries and generous perks in superintendent contracts. In the wake of that action, several high-profile superintendents resigned rather than accept a pay cut. Some districts were left with a revolving door of interim superintendents before finding a qualified long-term replacement.

Christie’s administration raised the maximum base pay to $191,584 in 2017 with incentives to earn more if school chiefs stay in the same district. The average salary for New Jersey school superintendents was $155,631 in the 2017-18 school year, according to an NJ Advance Media analysis of state data. More than 30 collected more than $200,000 in base pay, despite the salary cap that made exceptions for charter schools, districts with career and technical schools, schools for special education students and districts with more than 10,000 students.

Superintendents subject to the cap were also eligible for extra pay if they had a high school in their district, stayed in the same district for multiple contracts or met goals for merit pay.

The law Murphy, a Democrat who succeeded Christie, signed Friday also takes steps to crack down on contract perks, saying no contract can include provisions that reimburse or compensate executives for their legally mandated taxes, life insurance, health care or pension payments.

It would limit severance pay to the lesser of either 12 months pay — at a rate of three months for every year left on the contract — or the remaining salary due per the contract.

And it places restrictions on merit bonuses, specifying that bonuses tied to quantitative goals cannot exceed 3.33 percent and those tied to qualitative goals cannot exceed 2.5 percent.

Superintendents also would not be eligible for monthly allowances other than a “reasonable” car allowances, and “no contract shall include a provision of a dedicated driver or chauffeur,” according to the bill.

The state Senate passed the bill (S692) 27-8, and the state Assembly voted 50-19 with five abstentions.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Hoboken High School Resident Student Enrollment is Just 275 Students- Down -54% During "reform" Era (2009-2019)

HHS - 10 Years Under Kids First/Reform Control and Leadership

Amid claims by the Hoboken Board of Education that student enrollment is increasing, some surprising numbers have emerge from Hoboken High School. Keeping in mind that the building was built in the early 1960's with an enrollment capacity of 1501 students-- the current student enrollment according to the 2019-2020 ASSA report(see Figure 1) is 375 total students (resident and non resident/"Choice") for Grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 (see Figure 1). 

Figure 1: 2019-20 ASSA Report of Student Enrollment
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This would be surprising enough. But what is REALLY surprising is that the enrollment of Hoboken resident students (students who actually live in Hoboken) is now down to 275 students. More than 25% of the school is attended by non-Hoboken residents via the NJDOE "choice" program (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: 2018-19 Hoboken "Choice" Distribution by Grade
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In fact, I was part of the administration that brought the "Choice" program to the district in 2009. At that time, we saw it as a supplemental way to bring in 10-20 students. However, under "reformers", the Choice program has become a major money making proposition for the Board of Education and is likely keeping the High School open. There are currently 158 Choice students in the Hoboken School District (see Figure 2) of which 100 are enrolled in grades 9-12 (see Figure 2 for NJDOE breakdown of Choice students for the Hoboken School District).

375 Total HHS Students (Resident + Choice) - 100 HHS Students (Choice) = 275 Hoboken Resident Students

Why are only 275 Hoboken resident students attending Hoboken High School? That seems to be a good question and something concerned citizens, taxpayers, and families should be asking the Board and the district administrators. When "reformers" took full control of the Hoboken School District in 2009 (before the Choice program was enacted), there were 601 Hoboken resident students attending Hoboken High School (see Chart 3). This is a -54.2% decrease in resident student enrollment in Hoboken High School.

Figure 3: 2009-10 Hoboken Enrollment
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The Kids First and Kids First legacy Board of Education majority has spent over a half a billion dollars on the Hoboken School District (omitting charter school "pass through" money) during the past decade in which they have had full control of the Hoboken Board of Education and its schools. One result is a -54% decrease in the resident enrollment of Hoboken High School.

You can contact the trustees of the Hoboken Board of Education at the following addresses: 

Sharyn Angley
President
sangley@hoboken.k12.nj.us

Thomas Kluepfel
Vice President
tkluepfel@hoboken.k12.nj.us

Malani Cademartori
Board Member
mcademartori@hoboken.k12.nj.us

Sheillah Dallara
Board Member
sdallara@hoboken.k12.nj.us

Alex De La Torre
Board Member
adelatorre@hoboken.k12.nj.us

Jennifer Evans
Board Member
jevans@hoboken.k12.nj.us

Chetali Khanna
Board Member
ckhanna@hoboken.k12.nj.us

Ailene McGuirk
Board Member
amcguirk@hoboken.k12.nj.us

Melanie Tekirian
Board Member
mtekirian@hoboken.k12.nj.us 

Hoboken High School Ranked 265th of New Jersey High Schools by US News and World Report for 2019

Hoboken High Schoo, Hoboken NJ
265th of 350 High Schools- US News and World Report

US News and World Report just released their rankings of New Jersey public high schools -- traditional and charter. Hoboken High School is ranked 265th out of New Jersey public high schools placing it in the bottom quartile of all New Jersey Public High Schools. 

Some findings to keep in mind concerning the latest US News and World Report analysis: 

1) While 38% of students took at least one AP exam, only 5% of students passed at least one AP exam. 

2) Proficiency in Mathematics is now at 5%. That means 95% of students test in Mathematics at Hoboken High School are not proficient in Mathematics. 

3) Proficiency in Reading is at 37%. Meaning that 63% of students at Hoboken High School are not proficient in Reading. 

These results should not be confused with recent SAT data that was released by the NJDOE which indicated Hoboken High School to have abysmal SAT scores in Mathematics and Reading. 

Hoboken High School has 46 full time teachers and only 416 students, indicating a very low teacher to student ratio of 9:1. Hoboken High School also has one of the highest per pupil spending ratio's in the state of New Jersey. Perhaps more teaching and administrating and less posting on social media about "how great things are" at Hoboken High School may be a step in the right direction? 

UPDATE: US News & World Report released its annual list of best high schools in the country. See how 350 New Jersey schools ranked.

  NJ High School Ranking Hoboken #265 by Anthony Petrosino on Scribd

Hoboken Police Department Ceremonies at City Hall- Hoboken NJ June, 2019

These and many other pictures were posted today on social media. The ceremonies at City Hall in Hoboken New Jersey included those retiring, promotions, as well as new police officers. Thank you for your service Hoboken officers Jeff Lehbrink, Juan Madera, and Bernard Dellafave. Congratulations on promotions for Gino Jacobelli, Mike Detrizion to Captain, Melissa Gigante to Lieutenant, Robert Romano to Sergeant and two new police officers Shelby Seickendick and Joshua Campoverde. 

Dr. Petrosino and Others on NPR Talking About STEM, Computer Science, and H1B Visas

Andy Uhler is a reporter for Marketplace, a non-profit news organization aimed at increasing economic awareness and intelligence through digital media production. Marketplace is supported by American Public Media. Mr. Uhler recently released a 3-minute clip discussing how H-1B visa fees fund NSF STEM related work with students in the United States. Dr. Anthony Petrosino spoke with Mr. Uhler to discuss the use of GbCC models with high schoolers in Austin, Texas. Listen to the full Marketplace episode below:

Title: Something you didn’t know: H-1B visa fees pay for STEM research, education for Americans

Link: https://www.marketplace.org/2019/06/12/h-1b-visa-fees-pay-stem-research-education-americans/

On a recent weekday morning, sophomores at Austin High School huddled around laptops modeling various scenarios, like how vaccination rates affect the transmission of an infectious disease. 

Anthony Petrosino, an education professor at the University of Texas at Austin, is in charge of the National Science Foundation grant that’s paying for these students to learn computer software that teaches them about epidemics.

“It basically allows students to program and to use the computer to create things,” Petrosino said. “They become active participants and creators and designers.”

Getting students engaged in science, technology, engineering and math fields is important to U.S. employers, in part because U.S. schools aren’t churning out enough graduates who can work in critical, high-skill jobs. One recent report by Deloitte predicts that the United States will need to fill 3.5 million jobs in the manufacturing sector alone by 2025, but that as many as 2 million of those will remain open.

Maya Denton is doing her part to get more students interested in science and tech. She’s a graduate student in STEM education at UT Austin. Her federally funded research focuses on preparing K-12 teachers to improve math and science education by broadening the definition of STEM.

“All of the science and engineering and math involved in things like sewing or crafting or things like that,” Denton said. “All of the things that may not get counted as it, but actually involve a lot of the principles in STEM.”

Sarah Eichhorn’s federally funded work at UT Austin is focused on getting more minority students enrolled in college STEM programs. Under her new initiative, 25 low-income sophomores will get $5,000 each to do math and science research.

“Wealthier students have the opportunity to volunteer and do research, whereas low-income students have to work and don’t often have the chance to do extensive undergraduate research,” Eichhorn said.

Many employers bring in foreign workers by going through the complicated and expensive process of obtaining H-1B visas for them. And all three of the STEM initiatives at UT Austin reap the benefits of that conundrum: Each program is funded by H-1B fees.

That means the employers who hire foreign workers on H-1Bs to perform STEM jobs are basically paying for the programs that would render those workers redundant.

Stuart Anderson, director of the National Foundation for American Policy, helped produce a report on where H-1B visa fees go.

“One of the best kept secrets in immigration policy is that every time a company uses an H-1B visa to hire a foreign national, a good chunk of money goes to fund training and scholarships for Americans,” Anderson said.

A typical employer pays about $5,000 to apply for a worker under the H-1B visa program. Thirty percent of that goes to training and scholarships. 
That’s more than $5 billion since H-1Bs hit the scene in 1998.   

A lot of money, but immigration attorney Sandra Feist said the government is curiously silent about what these fees are doing.

“Politicians like to use H-1Bs as this rhetorical punching bag saying that they’re taking Americans’ jobs, but they, you know, they never talk about the fact that every time an H-1B is filed that money is directly funding training for American workers in those exact fields where we have so many H-1B workers,” Feist said.

Even many of the researchers and academics who are funded through H-1B fees are in the dark. 

“I had no idea that this money was at all tied to visa fees,” said Eichhorn at UT Austin.

In its 2020 budget, the Trump administration suggested boosting H-1B fees. 

That could discourage smaller employers from applying to hire foreign workers. 

But the Department of Labor says the goal is to raise even more money for scholarships and to train Americans in STEM fields.

Hoboken School District Tops All of Hudson County and over 98% of School Districts in New Jersey in Per Pupil Costs

         NY Skyline From Hoboken May 23, 2019Photo Credit: Gary Hershorn

Ever wonder how much your school district spends per student? The average in the State of New Jersey is $15,720. Now you can know how much money you're spending to send your child – or somebody else's child – to school in New Jersey. You will be surprised to see what districts top the list – and which are at the bottom.

The New Jersey State Department of Education has released a list of every district that details how much taxpayers spend to send each child to a public school. Patch.com has the complete ranking from top-to-bottom, with the top 300 in bold (see list below).

The Hoboken School District spends $25,181* per student which tops all Hudson County School Districts and is ranked 16th among 650 school districts in the State of New Jersey. This places Hoboken in the top 2.5% of all districts in the State of New Jersey in per pupil spending. 

While per-pupil costs are increasing, the disparity in costs between each school district is quite large. Asbury Park pays nearly $60,000 per student in its district, while Edison pays a little more than $12,000.

* There are many ways of calculating per pupil costs. The number of $25,181 is a very conservative ("low") way of calculating per pupil costs. At the high end, Niche.com puts per pupil cost in Hoboken at $35,320 per student (see Figure 1). The reality is likely somewhere between these two calculations.  For instance, according to the Hoboken Board of Education, 2019-20 there will be $54,000,000 (Figure 2) allocated to district spending. The latest enrollment numbers indicate 1964 students in the district (Figure 3). This comes to a ballpark number of $27,494 which is somewhere between the NJDOE number and the Niche.com number. Regardless, the point is the per pupil allocation is extraordinarily high even for comparable districts of similar size and/or demographics.

Figure 1: Niche.com
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Figure 2: Hoboken BOE Data
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Figure 3: October 15th Enrollment Report (ASSA)
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NJ School districts and how... by on Scribd

NJ School districts and how... by on Scribd

Hoboken High School's Combined SAT Score Drops -26 Points From Last Year's Already Very Low Scores - Among Lowest Score in Hudson County and State

Pride Week Flag Raising- Hoboken, NJ June 2019

The SAT  is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States.

The most recent Hoboken High School scores on the SAT are once again are far below state average in Math and Reading & Writing. The Hoboken High School SAT score of 446 was -97 points below the NJ state average and the Reading and Writing scores of 463 was -79 points below the NJ state average in Reading and Writing. Total Hoboken High School combined SAT Average (Math + Reading and Writing) was 909 which is -176 points below the NJ State combined average. Perhaps even more concerning is that the combined SAT average this year for Hoboken High School is a drop of -26 points from last year's combined score.

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In fact, last year's results showed a combined SAT score of 935 as Hoboken High School was ranked 334th out of 387 public high schools in the state of New Jersey.

Hoboken High School- SAT Results- 2016-17
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These SAT scores in Mathematics and Reading & Writing are among the lowest scores in Hudson County and the State of New Jersey. That this year's results indicate a drop of -2.78% from last year's scores which placed the school 334th out of 387 New Jersey Public High Schools only indicates that there is no improvement and apparently no plan for improvement on college ready academic preparation of these young people. 

I have said many times before that the primary past time in Hoboken concerning education seems to be posting "wonderful stories" of what is going on in the Hoboken Public Schools while no one from the Superintendent, to the Board of Education, or city politicians wish to address the quality and educational outcomes of the products of this system. These SAT scores, along with last year's SAT scores and recent PARCC results (click here for PARCC HHS), and the Stanford Efficiency Study indicates there are serious, systemic, and chronic academic issues in the Hoboken Public Schools. Its well past time for people to start paying attention. Its clear people are simply ignoring what is taking place. 

$35,000+ per student according to Niche.com 

Finally, a quick look at how Hoboken High School does among among other public high schools in Hudson County. In the coming few days I will take a look at how Hoboken High School compares to schools with similar demographics (hint: its not good). 

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College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin ranked 13th by U.S. News & World Report; 4th Among Public Universities

The College of Education at UT Austin

I have been a tenured faculty member at The University of Texas at Austin's College of Education for 15 years now and have been at the college for almost 20 years. I reside in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction where I teach and research in the STEM Education Program. In the time I've been at UT I have brought in about $17 million in external funding for research and have published extensively as well as made presentations at national and international conferences. Rankings need to be approached carefully. That being said, I am both happy and proud to report the 2020 rankings by US News and World Report.  

The College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin ranks 13^th overall in U.S. News & World Report’s latest rankings of graduate programs in education, and is 4^th among public institutions. The college ranks 6^th overall and 3^rd among public institutions in research expenditures, with $51.3 million. 

“Our rankings underscore the college’s ongoing commitment to preparing educators and leaders to address the most pressing challenges in education and health. The rankings are a reflection of the college’s reach and the dedication of our faculty, staff, students, and community partners to transform research and practice to ensure that children, individuals, families, schools, and communities thrive,” says Charles Martinez, Jr., dean of the College of Education.  
   
Rankings are one indicator of excellence. Recruitment and retention of outstanding faculty continue to be a top priority as the college enhances graduate and undergraduate programs and secures funded research.

Five of the college's departments, programs, and specialty areas have earned places among top 10 institutions: 

• Administration/Supervision: 5^th overall and 2^nd among public universities, tied with Michigan State
• Educational Psychology: 5^th overall and 3^rd among public universities, up two places from last year
• Special Education: 5^th overall and 4^th among public universities, up two places from last year
• Curriculum and Instruction: 7^th overall and 4^th among public universities, up one place from last year
• Secondary Education: 10^th overall and 7^th among public universities, tied with University of California–Los Angeles

66.5% of Hoboken City District students Do Not Meet or Exceed Expectations on Statewide Assessments in Mathematics- 56.5% of Students Do Meet English/Language Arts

Memorial Day Parade 2019- Hoboken, NJ 

The School Performance Reports reflect the NJDOE's extensive efforts to engage with parents, students, and school communities and share the information that is most valuable in providing a picture of overall school performance. Communities are encouraged to use these reports to learn more, start conversations, and engage. 

Hoboken, NJ 2019

For the 2017-18 New Jersey Performance Report, the Hoboken School District continues its lackluster performance in academic achievement. Previously, I reported on individual schools and how they performed in English Language and in Mathematics. In this short but informative post, we synthesize this data and present a district wide report. I include the spreadsheet and data which includes data for each of the Hoboken Public Schools (note, Brandt is not included because there were no tested grades in 2017-18. 

Click to Enlarge
2017-18 NJDOE Performance Report
Combined Data for Hoboken City School District 

Results indicated that in English/Language Arts, 56.48% of Hoboken City District students "met or exceeded expectations on statewide assessments." This indicates roughly 43.5% of Hoboken City District students "did not met or exceed expectations on statewide assessments in English/Language Arts."

Results indicate that in Mathematics, 33.46% of Hoboken City District students "met or exceeded expectations on statewide assessments." This indicates roughly 66.5% of Hoboken City District students "did not met or exceed expectations on statewide assessments in Mathematics."

Scooter Roll Out Pilot Week in Hoboken, NJ 

Science says parents of successful kids have these 23 things in common

Science says parents of successful kids have these 23 things in common

1. They tend to make their kids do chores.

2. They tend to teach their kids social skills.

3. They tend to have high expectations.

4. They tend to have healthy relationships with each other.

5. They've usually attained higher educational levels.

6. They tend to teach their kids math early on.

7. They tend to develop a relationship with their kids.

8. They're often less stressed.

9. They tend to value effort over avoiding failure.

10. The moms tend to work.

11. They tend to have a higher socioeconomic status.

12. They are more often "authoritative" than "authoritarian" or "permissive."

13. They tend to teach "grit."

14. They tend to apply behavioral control, not psychological control.

15. They tend to understand the importance of good nutrition and eating habits.

16. They tend to give their kids bias-proof names.

17. When they do face conflict, they tend to fight fair in front of their kids.

18. They tend to let their children fail.

19. They usually don't let their kids watch too much TV.

20. They tend to let their kids make decisions.

21. They tend to teach their kids self-control.

22. They tend to pay attention to their children.

23. The parents tend to take parental leave.

Details: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-parents-set-their-kids-up-for-success-2016-4?utm_source=feedburner&amp%3Butm_medium=referral&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20businessinsider%20(Business%20Insider)&utm_content=FeedBurner%20user%20view

Hoboken Aerial--

Credits: 

DroneFanatic

Published on Jul 10, 2018, Hoboken, NJ.

Music : Frank Sinatra - This Town ( remix ) Contact : WNY@Me.com

2019-20 Hoboken City Schools ASSA Report- Observations and Discussion - Why Do Non-Low Income Families Leave?

Calabro School- Hoboken, NJ 

Every year all school districts submit data to the New Jersey Department of Education for inclusion for a report known as the Application for State School Aid (ASSA). This report is also sometimes referred to as the "October 15th Report" since the data submitted-- by directions from the NJDOE-- is for enrollment numbers as of October 15th of the school year. So, data collected as of October 15, 2018 becomes the data for the 2019-20 Application for State School Aid (ASSA).  The report includes a great deal of information such as number of students on roll in the traditional as well as charter schools (by Grade not by School), Full Day PreK-3YR and Full Day PreK-4YR enrollment, number of resident students, number of low income students, number of students in the "Choice Program" and much other useful data. Anyone wishing the actual report, please contact me-- I will be happy to send it to you. 

One analysis that I think is useful is the presentation of Hoboken City School District (traditional public school) enrollment by grade (K-12) on one axis and the percentage of low income and non low income on a secondary axis. This gives us a more global sense of student enrollment in the district across all grades as well as the changing demographics of the district from kindergarten to high school graduation. For consistency across years, I use Categories (02-14) on the ASSA report. I omit Special Education from the analysis because these students are only reported by grade band (Elementary, Middle, High) and not by individual grade. According to the 2019-20 ASSA Report there are 177 Special Education students in Elementary, 45 Special Education students in Middle, and 44 Special Education students in High. 

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Data: 2019-20 ASSA Report- Hoboken School District 

Observation 1: Enrollment in the 4th grade (125 students) is less than half of the enrollment in kindergarten (276 students). Why do over half of the families in Hoboken pull their children our of the traditional public schools by 4th grade? 

Observation 2: In kindergarten, over 80% of students are non-low income. By 6th grade this percentage falls to 36% and by graduation, only 25% of students are non-low income. Why can't the district keep non-low income students? 

Observation 3: Grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 enrollment (high school) is around 375 students. Nearly all "Choice" students are enrolled in these same grades. This indicates that if it were not for the addition of "Choice" students coming from out of town, the total student enrollment of Hoboken High School would be around 217 students. 

Observation 4: Despite over 80% of students coming from non-low income families in kindergarten, by the time high school graduation rolls around 75% of students come from families qualifying as low income. Why can't the Hoboken School District retain non-low income families? (this is a disturbing trend for the past decade or for the entire time that the Kids First/"Reform" group have been in control of the Hoboken School District). 

Observation 5: Enrollment is not "going through the roof" in the Hoboken City School District. There is some slight increase in PREK but many of these families are leaving the Hoboken public schools before enrolling in kindergarten and more leave during each grade up to the 4th grade. K-12 district enrollment has been fairly consistent and shows little/no upward trend at all. If fact, there is a slight downward trend. 

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Recent K-12 student enrollment: Hoboken City School District 

Observation 6: This may be one reason why families who have an option leave the Hoboken Public School: CLICK HERE An analysis by researchers at Stanford University shows clearly that the Hoboken Public Schools have the lowest growth rate in Hudson county, among the lowest growth rates in New Jersey, and among the lowest growth rates in the nation. It seems that parents who have options concerning their child's education are leveraging them. 

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2019-20 ASSA Report- Hoboken City School District