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As Assemblymembers Valerie Vainieri Huttle and Gordon Johnson competed for Democratic Party support to succeed retiring state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, the senator has remained neutral at least publicly.
“You’ll have to ask her that question,” Huttle told me when I asked if she believed Weinberg had
Parents rally for return to in-person learning as group sues N.J. district
Updated Feb 23, 2021;
Posted Feb 22, 2021
Parents and students of the Maplewood School district hold a rally outside of Maplewood Town Hall on Monday to press local officials to put kids back in the classroom.George McNish | For NJ Advance Media
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Ten-year-old Peter Kaplan took the microphone and fired up the crowd of more than 100 fellow students and their parents from the South Orange-Maplewood School District.
“We’ve got to keep on going, because if we don’t now we’re going to lose,” said Peter, a 5th grader at Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, addressing the crowd from the steps of the town’s municipal building at dinnertime on Monday. “And we can’t accept the defeat from the district, who are just bullying us the whole way, and that’s just not right.”
By MAYA KARUNA SAVOIE
Credits: Township of Montclair
February 12, 2021 at 9:43 AM
MONTCLAIR, NJ - Montclair is poised to start round two of its energy aggregation program with a new contract that offers about 40% renewable energy at no additional cost. This 17-month-long contract with Energy Harbor, LLC begins in April.
“The [Montclair Township] Council would not sign on to a contract that costs more money even if it has more renewable energy,” explained Montclair’s Sustainability Officer Gray Russell. “A consulting firm said to go out to bid again, because it would be easier to get a better price.”
Three months ago, the Sustainable Essex Alliance (SEA), which includes Montclair, Millburn, Glen Ridge, Verona, South Orange-Maplewood, Livingston and Glen Rock combined its purchasing power and went out to bid. This time, they landed a contract that would give residents double the amount of renewable energy than PSE&G does at present.
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Unions cite safety concerns, while parents have grown weary of remote learning.
A teacher at Yung Wing School P.S. 124 teaches students attending class in-person in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic. | Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
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School districts in both New York and New Jersey are in pitched battles over reopening classrooms for in-person instruction halfway through the academic year, with several districts in both states either headed to court or already there over the issue.
Unions are citing several concerns, including inadequate building ventilation and a lack of personal protective equipment as the deadly pandemic rages on, but many weary families and students are begging school districts to forge ahead.
Closing in on a full year since New Jersey schools shuttered amid the arrival of COVID-19, the frustrations of both parents and educators have reached a fever pitch.
Montclair reached a new level of community tension on Tuesday as the superintendent of schools announced plans to sue the township’s teachers union over a refusal of elementary school teachers to return to building classrooms.
Ventilation at the township’s oldest school buildings has been the concern shared by the Montclair Education Association, but efforts to negotiate use of facilities with proper HVAC systems have not proven enough, Superintendent Jonathan Ponds said in an open letter.