At its June monthly meeting, the New Jersey State Board of Education heard updates and acted on the following items.
- Resolution in Honor of Mary Beth Gazi: The State Board honored Gazi for her seven years of service on the board from 2017-2024. She served on a variety of committees during her tenure. The board noted that she was an “astute forward-looking policymaker” whose contributions to the board and the students of New Jersey are greatly appreciated.
- Resolution in Honor of the 2023-2024 Permanent Student Representative, Nilanjana Ghosh: The board honored Ghosh for her contributions to the board during the past year. Ghosh mentioned her keynote speech at the New Jersey School Boards Association’s Workshop 2023 as one of the highlights of her tenure. The board noted her “articulate, informative, well-examined” and beneficial presentations throughout her year as a student member.
- Report of the State Board Nominating Committee: The committee nominated Kathy Goldenberg as president and Dr. Nedd Johnson as vice president for the 2024-2025 school year. The election of officers will take place at the board’s July meeting.
- State Board Meeting Dates: The State Board adopted its meeting dates for the upcoming school year. The dates include potential alternative dates in the event of inclement weather.
- Katzenbach School for the Deaf: The State Board passed a resolution to accept donations to the school to support various activities. Additionally, it readopted regulations concerning the operation of the school, which has served the deaf and hard of hearing children since 1883. The school provides students from pre-K through age 21 with a supportive environment in which students can be educated in a curriculum that meets New Jersey Student Learning Standards and is designed to allow students to reach the highest level of academic achievement.
- Equivalency and Waiver: The State Board adopted rules governing the equivalency and waiver process that provide the opportunity for regulatory flexibility for school districts and most programs regulated by the New Jersey Department of Education. An equivalency is permission to meet the requirements of a rule through an alternative means selected by the district board of education. A waiver allows a district board of education to avoid compliance with the specific procedures or substantive requirements of a rule for reasons that are educationally, organizationally, and fiscally sound. The rules require a school district’s educational community, including parents, administration and staff, to be informed of the proposed equivalency or waiver and provided the opportunity to comment. The NJSBA supported the rules as this flexibility aids districts in providing an efficient and effective education.
- Implementation of Math and English Language Arts Standards: The State Board discussed a resolution delaying by one year the implementation of the mathematics student learning standards to September 2025. The English language arts standards would continue to be implemented by September 2024, but mathematics would be delayed to 2025. In proposing this resolution, the State Board acknowledged the planning and fiscal challenges that school districts have been facing in rewriting curriculum aligned to the requirements of the 2023 NJSLS in a manner that results in a robust and viable instructional resource.