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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
 
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JP -
I came from a fairly impoverished background, and was educated through public schools. So I'm I buyer of why free education is essential. I'm just interested in the question of at what point does spending on public schools become outrageous, how would you measure it, and do we have the right controls in place. Almost every parent will make the same choice as you - if the education fits your kid's needs, and it's free, why look elsewhere? Do parents ever stop to question whether it is value for money? For example - do you get a choice on school vouchers? My perception of public schools in JC and the way they're run is pretty low. For example, I think the BOE elections are just a way of letting the lunatics run the asylum. But I'm willing to be swayed.
Posted on: 2013/10/19 4:11
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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I don't see it that way because the average funding per student is taking into account money spent for subsidized lunches, special ed, and the extra resources necessary to educate students who are ESL, come from impoverished backgrounds, etc. And then there are other programs that the BOE runs like Adult Ed, summer meals, morning and afterschool care, etc. If I had the $20,000 per year, I could send them to an expensive private school. In Jersey City there's not too many of those, though the I Can't Believe It's Not Montessori schools come close to that tuition. I had no desire to send my kids to a private school and if I did I would have probably sent them to Primary Prep which is a lot cheaper. But I have no inherent desire to send my kids to private school. I'm not saying I would never consider it, but I did not send my kid to public school because we had no other option. We were happy with what we found and didn't have to consider whether private school was necessary.
Posted on: 2013/10/19 3:15
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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But is it value for money? If you got $20k+/year tax-free to spend educating your kid, would you send them to a JC public school?
Posted on: 2013/10/18 23:57
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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My daughter has been in the school system for 3 years and so far it's fine. The first year was in the interim "Walker" year and the last 2 have been during the Lyles years. During her first year, things ran fine, and the system was not falling apart. During the 2nd two years, things ran fine, and I have not noticed the teachers being forced to teach to the test, or micromanaged.
In other words, I think that a lot of what people are saying before and after the change in board membership and the ouster of Epps seems grossly exaggerated. Admittedly my girl is still just starting out and maybe the focus isn't so bad because NJ-ASK isn't until 3rd grade.
Posted on: 2013/10/18 22:13
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Newbie
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Sorry, but your Union doesn't want us to treat you as bad and good teachers. Your Union wants us to see you as all the same, different only by how long you teach. This is how we are supposed to pay you, this is how we are supposed to fire you in case of the budget cuts, etc. So, we can't single you out and say "hey, this one is smart and decent, and has a good judgement, let's allow her to make her own rules!" [/quote] Except that isn't actually true...it's what media and anti union factions want you to believe. For the first 3 years (4 now) as an in tenured teacher, you have a final "summative" conference with your principal. Many more teachers than you realize opt to resign and find another career after these conferences....bad evaluations plus a little career counseling with the principal often convinces people that teaching is not for them. Many of these new teachers are 22-25 years old and in the way of young people think "no big deal, I'll try something else". I'm sure statistics about this are kept somewhere, but I am not privy to them. Once we achieve tenure, we still have that summative conference. It reviews your performance, your formal observations and evaluations and your overall professionalism. At this point, principals can (and have) said "I cannot recommend you for re-employment" and many teachers opt to resign rather than go through the process of being fired. If a teacher does not resign, they are entitled to what is called a Donaldson hearing. THIS IS WHAT TENURE IS...not job security! Tenure ensures that if a principal wants to fire you, he/she cannot do it arbitrarily. You must have a Donaldson hearing where the principal is supposed to present the evidence he/she has as to why the teacher should be fired. As part of the hearing, the teacher has the opportunity to offer rebuttals. Additionally, the principal must prove that he/she identified the situation early (assuming it's bad teaching we're talking about and not something illegal/immoral) and offered intervention, support, and remediation. What happens at times is that the principal cannot prove they tried to help the teacher improve his/her teaching. If the principal cannot prove that they tried to help and the teacher is still bad, then often times the teacher is not fired because it cannot be proved that the firing is justified and not retaliatory or just because the principal doesn't like the teacher. So when the media reports that teachers aren't fired-blame the administrators that didn't do THEIR job to make sure the teacher was supported and still failed. I agree that the process of having the hearing takes too long and needs to be streamlined, but I do believe in the process, and the idea of tenure. THis means that a principal can't just fire me because he doesn't like me, or because I make too much money, or I failed some important parent's kid. I can only be fired if I am bad at my job, my boss identified that I am bad at my job, and tried to help me learn to get better but I still didn't. If a principal thinks I am ineffective, they should call in another observer/evaluator to make sure that it is not a personal bias, have content supervisors meet with me to make sure I understand my curriculum, have master teachers or supervisors model lessons and/or co-teach lessons with me, etc. If after all that I still suck, and the principal can say "hey, I tried and she is still terrible", then I can, and will be fired. 4 Jersey City teachers were fired last year, and there is no public count as to how many resigned.
Posted on: 2013/10/18 21:05
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Just can't stay away
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Most lived in poverty and died young. You only see the survivors.
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Posted on: 2013/10/18 12:57
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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From the outside here's what I see: - Costs per student are outrageous ($20k+ per year) - Abysmal scores on standardized tests. - A steady stream of thugs, gang members and murderers being produced. - Constant demands for more resources and financing. It seems pretty broken to me. Ultimately the blame lies with us apathetic voters, but I think the choices on the ballot want to give us more of the same.
Posted on: 2013/10/18 12:53
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Just can't stay away
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You represent our experiences in the public schools. Most teachers are like yourself and my children ended up with a sound education and prepared for life and higher education. All graduated college and two went on to graduate school.
If the the so called reformy people would not only walk into our schools but keep an open mind when reviewing statistics. They also would serve Jersey City better if they not believe that every child should be prepared for college and instead train for a vocation. That our problem in education. When I was a kid, the drop out rate was higher, but people had jobs to go to. You are right. The system is one size fits all right now. Quote:
Posted on: 2013/10/18 12:49
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Re: FOLLOWING UP--Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Just can't stay away
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Agree. I really don't see anything there either. The school board sets policy. Very little in policy positions. Quote:
Posted on: 2013/10/18 12:41
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FOLLOWING UP--Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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So in all these ramblings I see precious little advice on the candidates positions, so I guess none of them are hanging around "the List", or just dont want to state anything on the record.
Jenn2213 identified some real issues but none of these candidates have anything on their issues pages but platitudes. Whether or not you supported the new mayor, he deserves alot of credit for having a specific plan that he ran on, and that we can now hold him accountable for. I wish the school candidates would do the same.
Posted on: 2013/10/18 12:24
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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Quote:
Sorry, but your Union doesn't want us to treat you as bad and good teachers. Your Union wants us to see you as all the same, different only by how long you teach. This is how we are supposed to pay you, this is how we are supposed to fire you in case of the budget cuts, etc. So, we can't single you out and say "hey, this one is smart and decent, and has a good judgement, let's allow her to make her own rules!"
Posted on: 2013/10/18 12:09
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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Expected what? How does a disadvantage translates into said expectation? 99% of the people who live in the USA descend from someone "disadvantaged". Why should we expect diminishing returns from the ever increasing expenses? And, if you truly believe that this system can't produce anything better, - doesn't it mean we should shop for a better one? At this point any other system should be better for it seems it can't be any worse.
Posted on: 2013/10/18 11:54
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Newbie
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And please pardon the typos I just noticed. It is 5:30 in the morning and my fat fingers don't type so wonderfully on the little iPhone keyboard :)
Posted on: 2013/10/18 9:36
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Newbie
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I know in advance that I will get slammed for this, because I don't post enough, and evidently only those who post often are entitled to an opinion around here. I'm also a teacher, which seems to discount everything I say for some....
I have been teaching in JC for 18 years. I was born in JC, raised in JC, married in JC and am raising my family in JC. My children go to public school in JC...our neighborhood school, not my school or one I've hand selected for them. As a parent, I am satisfied that my children are doing ok in school. I'm not happy with the current curriculum or the focus on testing, but I truly see how the majority of teachers care for my children and are trying to do right by them. As a teacher, I can honestly this is the worst year since I've started. The current curricula is a script, with little room for deviation based on the needs of my students. Math in. Particular is completely developmentally inappropriate, but technically if I am "caught" deviating from the script to address my class's unique needs, I am "ineffective". All lessons are geared towards passing the test with very little Science, SS or creative, artistic integration. How terribly boring for an 8 year old! 10 years ago I was told to teach my special needs students on their FUNCTIONAL level and assess them accordingly. Now, must instruct and assess on their chronological age, regardless of functional level. The 5th grader who reads on. 2nd grade level with an IQ of 75? Too bad, must take the 5th grade test. But he gets extra time and I can "clarify the directions". Are there bad teachers? Yep, just like there are bad lawyers, bad doctors, bad McDonald's workers....but as a general rule,,most of us are decent at what we do and have the children's best interests at heart. I am proud to be. PROFESSIONAL (I graduated from an college honors with a 3,9 GPA and hold 2 Master's degrees) who would like to have my judgement as how to best instruct my class valued. I have seen my ability to think for myself in the classroom taken way over the past 18 years. Now it's more important to have the right number of charts on the wall (yes, this is really being assessed via district staff walkthroughs) than to know my kids and adjust instruction accordingly. For this reason, I will be supporting Gerald Lyons and Angel Valentin in the board elections. Both of these men have demonstrated that they are willing to think about what is best for students and treat teachers with professionalism. I may not always agree with them, but I do believe that they are working to find the best solution for our district's problems and value the input of those if us actually working in the field. Something is not right if 18 years in I'm wondering if this was the right career choice. Teaching used to bring me pleasure and fulfillment beyond description. Noe I feel like it has become an exercise in paperwork, jumping through hoops and experimentation with out kids because it looks good on paper. I believe Lyons and Valentin will put the focus back on the CHILDREN of Jersey City.
Posted on: 2013/10/18 9:34
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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I'm very cynical, but I think George Carlin accurately summed up the problems in our education systems several years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jQT7_rVxAE
Posted on: 2013/10/17 23:42
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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Quote:
So an over %0% drop out rate for HS is not indicative of failures in the system? You are HIL.AR.IOUS! 
Posted on: 2013/10/17 23:15
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Just can't stay away
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Well the schools did right by my children but only god knows where all the money goes. Honestly, if Dr. Epps was the problem we would see drastic spending cuts in administrative costs. But we are not. Look, throw a bunch of poor disadvantaged kids that are having babies together and the results are to be expected. Add in stunning numbers of special needs kids and we get what goes into it.
The label of failing schools is poppycock. Quote:
Posted on: 2013/10/17 22:46
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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Sorry, but I am not looking for a friend, or for a date. I am looking for a service.
That means that I do not care where the service provider lives, shops, walks or pays taxes. I want quality service, for a good price. And, by the way, I see that you agree that unions offer neither. Otherwise, you'd mention that, instead of telling me stories about privatization, hedge fund managers, shareholders and other words you obviously think are supposed to scare me for some reason. Quote:
Posted on: 2013/10/17 1:30
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Just can't stay away
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You dumb hack. Do you like your dead wood city job. The schools were fine and are fine. The demonization of Charlie Epps is complete thanks to Steven Fulop and the downtown believers. Everything you said is false. The mayor played his hand well and raped our schools to fund his campaign. Its over and done. These ladies seem nice enough. So back to educating to our children. Its not like you are vested in our city and schools. Beat it and go back to the suburbs.
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Posted on: 2013/10/17 1:03
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Just can't stay away
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The Candidates for Excellence slate has four candidates who are highly qualified.
Look at where the school board was 3? years ago. Charles Epps had a stranglehold on the school system and used it as a patronage mill. The Board was thoroughly political - you had to be politically connected to get the nod and backing to be a winning candidate. Then Steve Fulop stepped in and and began a process of involving new people in elections and the board meeting. As the composition of the Board changed, the qualifications of Board members have headed steadily upwards. Despite the screams of conspiracy nuts, Fulop actually let the Board members run the Board. And look what the Board of Ed has done since then. They have ended Epps' tenure. They conducted a national search and found a highly-qualified and talented superintendent. They have actually focused on oversight rather than busy work and getting jobs for their friends. If you like this direction, you should consider voting the whole Candidates for Excellence slate: Jessica Rosero Daye Ellen Simon Micheline Amy Carol Lester (1yr term) They have a diversity of background and experience. They are the ones with the most potential to continue the positive steps our school board has been taking.
Posted on: 2013/10/17 0:02
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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It does not matter, they are all full of SH!T.
Posted on: 2013/10/16 20:35
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Quite a regular
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Look I sincerely believe that education is the corner-stone in the foundation of an effective and productive society. But sadly attend any BoE monthly meetings in PS#11 and you'll realize how political education has become. And as sad as that is, unfortunately the entire nation has become political about education. I wish I had a solution, i sincerely do, I would have proposed it on the table but I am not well researched in methods of teaching ... thus can only believe that the teachers in our schools are doing the best they can with whatever resources they got.
Posted on: 2013/10/16 14:54
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Quite a regular
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Perhaps i'd suggest looking at the traffic patterns in jersey city and it seems that there is a awful lot of cars parked in our schools leave Jersey City after school towards bergen county and or other neighboring towns. On the note of teaching ... please look at a comparison of the school budget and you'd be surprised where the increases are and the reductions are.
Posted on: 2013/10/16 14:49
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Just can't stay away
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And which ones want to privatize and take apart our schools for hedge fund managers and shareholders of private companies.
At least people who work for unions live in our communities, shop in our communities and pay taxes in our communities. You got to let the schools get back to teaching everyone, not just boutique schools and programs. Quote:
Posted on: 2013/10/16 12:52
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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Soooo... could someone clarify, - which candidates plan to work for us, and which candidates plan to work for the teacher's union?
Posted on: 2013/10/16 1:59
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Quite a regular
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Posted on: 2013/10/15 23:55
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School Board Candidate Forums
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Home away from home
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Thursday, October 24, 2013
Board of Education Candidate Forum presented by the Historic Paulus Hook Association. PS 16, 96 Sussex Street, Jersey City, 7pm - 9pm. Friday, October 25, 2013 Education Forum Present by NAACP's PAC. Lincoln High School, 60 Crescent Ave, Jersey City, 6pm. This is a Family Friendly, Free Event. All are Welcome. Hear, See and ask your questions of the Board of Education Candidate before you vote on November 5, 2013.
Posted on: 2013/10/15 12:25
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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In keeping with the tradition of interview candidates, a questionnaire was sent to all school board candidates. Only three responded. Their answers are available on www.speaknj.com and www.jerseycitypac.org/
Below is an interview with candidates Angel Valentin and Gerald Lyons. Also added is the video on Newark Avenue Street Project. The show airs Mondays at 10:30 PM and Tuesdays at 9:00 PM on Channel 51, Comcast. http://vimeo.com/76653325
Posted on: 2013/10/12 14:02
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Re: Upcoming School Board Elections--Who to Vote For?
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Home away from home
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Alexc,
My point is, it is a selective intake school, so of course it will get great test scores, and be high on all the top school lists. Given it takes the cream of Jersey City's kids, how can we objectively measure if it is really doing a good job or not? If the Three Stooges taught those children in my back-yard they'd still get great test scores! Are any of these top school rankings statistically normalized to control for the performance of the kids *entering* the school? Robin.
Posted on: 2013/10/9 22:38
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Home away from home
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Robin - it is an excellent school, as good as, or better than most public schools in NJ, consistently ranked in the top 5 the last 10 years or so by US News & World report: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/new-jersey two of my kids graduated from McNair and were accepted to Williams and NYU. I also had the pleasure of getting to know the faculty from 2001-2007 attending PTA meetings. They are college-level educators who teach Honors and and AP courses.
Posted on: 2013/10/9 13:17
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