2022_09_New_Jersey_Monthly

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF STEVEN VAN ZANDT/KIRSTI HOVDE
QWhat are some of the biggest chal-
you face as commissioner?
alenges
I’m focusing on continuing to have
students and educators in safe
buildings. We’re also ensuring the physical,
social and emotional well-being of our
students to promote optimal learning.
We’ve been thrown into a virtual teaching
reality without a lot of warning, so
we need to learn how to take the best of
technology and reacclimate ourselves to
brick-and-mortar learning. And we’re not
just capturing what was missed; we’re
focusing on learning acceleration, and on
big ideas. We’re moving students forward,
using technology and training to make
connections meaningful for them and
to sustain their learning. Universal preschool
is one of the governor’s hallmark
positions. We believe that education for
every 3- and 4-year-old in the state will
pay dividends for years to come.
QCan you talk about learning loss for
students during the pandemic and
what is being done on the state level to
aalleviate this? Is there a long-term plan?
We term it disrupted learning.
We’re engaging students differently
now. We’ve been able to use funds from
the federal government to support initiatives
to help with this, and 90 percent
of these funds have been allocated to be
shared with our school districts.
Our goal was initially to get devices into
the hands of children, but now we’re looking
beyond that. What is the research telling us?
We’re dividing funding and leveraging more
toward STEM, and we’re taking a portion
for literacy and visual and performing arts.
We know that creative performance leads
to growth. We’re also directing $30 million
for mental health support.
The funding also allows for one-on-one
intensive tutoring, after-school programs
and summer learning.... It will take time
for districts to find their footing again
now that they’re back in their buildings.
QWhat is being done to address the
mental health issues that students
ahave faced in the past two years?
We’re improving our ability to provide
support to schools. If there’s
a need, we want them to come to us for
resources. We have a new mental health
staff member working with our districts.
In our county offices, we have a county
special education specialist as well. Our
goal is to build on what we know works
and to train and advance initiatives that
are moving forward.
QCan you talk about school construction
and what’s being done in terms
aof failing buildings around the state?
We have many older buildings
across our state. The Murphy administration
wants to ensure that $75
million earmarked in this budget will
support this initiative. It’s monumental
that we have the support in place. We’re
encouraging the maintenance of buildings
through inspections to ensure that
buildings remain in optimal condition.
QAre teacher shortages going to be a
aproblem for schools going forward?
We have long known about areas
where school districts have teacher
shortages, such as the sciences, mainly
physics, as well as in bilingual education
and special education. The pandemic has
amplified this problem. We’re continuing
to support districts in two ways: by implementing
the hiring of highly experienced
retired teachers, and with a five-year pilot
program which allows people who want
to become teachers to do so by meeting a
minimum GPA score on their assessment.
If you are able to meet the benchmark, a
district will hire you without first having
to obtain certification.
QWhat are some of your goals for the
anew academic year?
To maintain a safe learning environment.
The safe opening of
schools is paramount. And to have as
much normalcy and continuity as possible.
QWhat changes will families see in
aeducation this school year?
We’ll continue to ensure the social
and emotional health of students
and educators. We’ll be offering highquality
preschool, starting at age three.
And we want to prepare students for jobs
in the future in STEM and computer science.
We also want to enable students to
stay in New Jersey and make their homes
here. We want to ensure that every student
can graduate high school with a plan
and be enrolled, employed or enlisted. I
hope we can make that a reality.
ROCK N’ ROLL
High School
I
F ANYONE KNOWS ABOUT THE
life-altering power of the arts,
it’s E Street Band guitarist Steven
Van Zandt.
When educators approached Van
Zandt more than 15 years ago with news
that arts programs in their schools
were disappearing amid an increased
emphasis on testing, Van Zandt wanted
to help. Through his Rock and Soul
Forever Foundation, Van Zandt worked
with a team of ethnomusicologists and
educators to develop an interdisciplinary
music curriculum called TeachRock.
“We need to teach our kids how to
think, not what to think,” Van Zandt
told New Jersey Monthly in an August
2021 interview.
Nearly 60,000 educators representing
all 50 states are currently
registered at teachrock.org for its
free lesson plans and materials, which
have been endorsed by the New Jersey
School Boards Association.
New Jersey is home to TeachRock’s
first district-wide partnership, with the
four schools comprising the Hopatcong
Borough Schools District. Launched in
2020, the collaboration was a significant
step for TeachRock—“something that
we hold very dear to us,” says program
officer Christine Nick.
TeachRock lessons implemented
in Hopatcong range from “Designing
an Electric Guitar With Shapes” for
elementary school students to “What Is
Sampling?” for middle and high school
students. One English teacher taught
the latter lesson in the context of researching
and citing sources when writing
papers, spurring a discussion about
plagiarism. “It was really interesting to
hear students…conceptualize academic
integrity through the lens of sampling,”
says Nick, who observed the curriculum
in action. —Jennifer Finn
SEPTEMBER 2022 NEW JERSEY MONTHLY 67