Celebrating 30 years of PEF & Irene Sterling

I’m so excited to celebrate PEF’s 30th Anniversary along with an opportunity to honor Irene for her dedicated service to Paterson children.   We wouldn’t be here without Irene’s stellar leadership. I thank her for the vision to start this organization and the work to effectively build

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Rosie’s Hello Message

Welcome to the 2013/14 school year!  I love new beginnings.  When I was in school I remember my 4th grade teacher telling me that everybody starts the new school year with an “A”.  What a great way to set us on our educational journey! I wish all

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Gamechanging decisions require consensus

Changing the school board election from April to November will make a dramatic shift in who runs for school board and how much it will cost a candidate to run.  Moving to a November election will essentially give control of the school board to the county chair

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Exploring charters for Paterson

PEF has observed Paterson charter schools over the years as a viable option for Paterson families, but hardly a cure all. Charters will never serve all of our students. Now, we have two new charter school applications on a fast track for Paterson.  Both come from charter

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When to Go to Trenton

I’ve gone to Trenton many times over my career with PEF. It has always been to advocate for Paterson’s children. I’ll be going again in February to discuss Pateson Reads as a model for other communities to improve early learning. Ar Wednesday night’s school board meeting, when  I

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Look for the swinging pendulum

As I follow the education debates, I can’t help but believe that the pendulum is swinging back. It’s not a big movement yet. It’s a lot of small things. But that is how the pendulum swing changes. What are the small things? Chicago teachers strike over high

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