Brainy Boro Blog

Our public officials should remember that asking about personal connections to development projects is not slander or disgusting or off-limits; in fact, it's a vital part of the democratic process:

Opinion: Public officials’ personal connections to development projects are fair game Oct. 4, 2021: There seems to be some confusion on the part of elected officials about the nature of their jobs. Recently, I’ve seen a lot of pushback against the at-times aggressive language …

Looks like Metuchen Schools wants to start all-remote. From Superintendent's note today:

The Board of Education has authorized me to submit an application to begin the year remotely for students.

We do not take this decision lightly. We know many of our families have struggled since the spring. We understand the benefits of fully-open public schools. The Governor’s office pivoted last week. Previously, school districts were directed to develop reentry plans that had to include in-person instruction from day one of the new school year. We submitted our plan to the county superintendent on July 31. Then on August 3, we shared our plan with all of you. You can review the plan and other related summary documents on our website. On August 5, we invited you to participate in a survey so we could find out how many parents would choose the all-remote option for students that the Governor had offered. We recognize and appreciate the confidence you have in us, as evidenced by more than half of the parents voting to send their children in-person. The survey results made this decision extremely difficult.

Here is the text of my email to the county superintendent, asking for permission for students to start the year remotely:

Our district wishes to delay the start of in-person instruction for students and switch to full-time remote instruction. As required, I am providing the following to the Department of Education at least 7 days prior to the first day of expected fully remote instruction:

A list of school buildings and grade levels within the district that will being receiving full-time remote instruction:
All preK-12 students and 18 to 21 year-old special education students in Metuchen will begin the school year with all-remote instruction.
This applies to Moss School, Campbell School, Edgar School, and Metuchen High School.
The specific health and or safety standard which the district believes that it is unable to satisfy:
We have limited air conditioning in all four of our buildings and believe that it would be very difficult for students to learn in the hot environment with masks all day.
The district is in process of upgrading our building management system and needs time to ensure it is operating in all rooms across all buildings.
Anticipated efforts the district will undertake to satisfy the identified health and safety standard:
The month of October will bring cooler temperatures, reducing the heat burden on teachers and students, allowing them to more easily wear masks full-time. This will improve the teaching and learning process.
Once the building management system upgrade is complete, we will make every effort to ensure its proper operation. The new system will help us ensure that we are meeting recommendations regarding outside air intake in all rooms.
A date by which the district anticipates resuming in-person instruction:
We anticipate students returning to in-person instruction, according to our previously-shared hybrid model, on October 1, 2020.
We are considering bringing back our most needy students in phases throughout the month of September, prior to the return of all students. If this is feasible, it will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
All teachers will be required to report in-person beginning September 1, 2020.
Here are some important details:

The first day of school for students will still be Thursday, September 3.
While staff will be teaching from their classroom, all students will be learning remotely for the month of September.
Each school day will follow the regular full-day building schedules. (This is a change from what we had discussed earlier this summer.)
We are committed beginning the hybrid model of Roomers and Zoomers on Thursday, October 1.


The full Board will meet on Tuesday, August 25, where we will further discuss details of the 2020-21 school year and take questions from the public. You will also receive more details from your building principals in the coming weeks.

Feel free to reach out to me with any feedback or questions.

NJ ranked worst in the US in spending more $$ than it brings in:

NJ revenue/expense gap worst in US Nov. 26, 2018: New Jersey’s finances are deplorable, as has been the case for many years — even worse than Illinois, which is saying something. According to fresh recent from Pew Charit…