The Jaffe Briefing - June 14, 2021
STATEWIDE – The obvious concern of any parent is how the pandemic has affected student learning, after all those months of remote learning, frenzy and other disruptions. NJ Spotlight reports there’s plenty of work to do, as the state conducted an initial assessment of learning loss. The result? At least a third of New Jersey students are “below-grade level” in language arts and math, with science only slightly better. This is only one data dump at one moment in time; it can’t be considered iron clad. But, with the state now rolling in billions of dollars of surplus, how about throwing a billion or so to summer school, tutoring and some more testing to pull struggling students out of the cracks?
TRENTON – We all gush about this $10.1 billion or so in state surplus and how best to blow it. But how exactly did we get here? The windfall, we are learning, does not arrive on the back of the cicadas every 17 years. Rather, NJ.com reports, all this moolah arrived in the form of federal stimulus aid, some controversial borrowing during the height of the pandemic, some cautious budget forecasting, an insane real estate market and the federal stimulus checks handed out like Oreos. So, there was much more sales tax because people are spending a ton, especially online. There was more income tax revenue, as the richest residents cashed in on the up-and-down stock market and needed to pay the tax man. And this nutty real estate market – in which people are outbidding each other to spend $1 million for fixer-uppers – spiked real estate fees. What an odd time in history.
RANDOLPH – To be fair, the Randolph school board didn’t plan to stir up any controversial, hot-button issues. They just wanted to hire good employees, pay some bills, ask a few questions, and get home at a decent hour. But, last month the school board made a fatal mistake: It changed Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day on the school calendar. Oh, boy. That raised the ire of the Italian-American community. It got everyone wondering what the heck is wrong with these school board members. A petition drive soon followed, and then a raucous school board meeting last Thursday night. So, how did the board “solve” the problem? Now, there will be no holiday names on the school calendar. Nada. Instead, Thanksgiving, Yom Kippur or Memorial Day and other traditional school holidays, will all be listed as “Day Off.” Christmas avoided a similar fate because it falls during winter break, now known as “Days Off.” So, this school board dipped its toe in the waters of diversity, in an attempt to be super relevant. The result? They wiped away all diversity, ticking off everyone.
BRIEFING BREATHER
George Washington invented instant coffee. (That’s George Constant Louis Washington, a Belgium immigrant to New York.)
STATEWIDE – The court docket has gotten a wee bit lighter, with the state Supreme Court finally dropping around 300,000 ancient municipal court cases, Patch.com reports. These are cases that have been lingering for at least 27 years, so you can finally stop hiding under your bed after that itty-bitty traffic issue. Dismissals involved driver’s license suspensions for people who avoided court before Jan. 1, 1994, with the state no longer pursuing arrest warrants on many who – let’s just assume – have long moved away, no longer drive or have since expired. The justices figure the court’s resources might be better used on other stuff. So, hey, congrats. You stuck it out. You beat the system. And now, maybe, you can leave the house.
TRENTON – The state’s School Development Authority has a laudable mission: to build quality schools in poor communities. But anyone who casually read the paper over the past bunch of years knows about its pockmarked history, revelations as a patronage pit and a recent independent report reporting on "years of inconsistent and questionable" management. Gov. Phil Murphy is embracing the agency, saying it is doing an outstanding job, The Record reports. But Senate President Steve Sweeney is not so impressed, calling to abolish the authority (for the second time) and strip its funding. This spaghetti will be tough to unravel. Taxpayers now shell out $1 billion a year or so to pay SDA debt, and there are at least two dozen projects to address overcrowding and ventilation in districts from Pleasantville to Garfield that are unfunded. Much more to come, with all of our extra billions.
RIDGEFIELD PARK – A local gun enthusiast thought that belt buckle was particularly cool. What could be classier than a buckle that keeps your belt tight and can actually be used as a real gun? But those tasteless TSA officials at the airport didn’t exactly agree, yanking the buckle out of a zippered case in the man's backpack when he was working himself through Terminal C at Newark on Friday. “Claiming to forget that you have a gun with you is inexcusable,” a TSA official said in a media release, noting this little stunt will likely cost this gun owner thousands of dollars in fines. So much for high fashion.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
CHICAGO – “Go jump in a lake!” has a special meeting for one city man, who has jumped in Lake Michigan for 365 days and counting. It began as an odd way to handle stress during the early days of the pandemic, but then evolved into his ongoing moment of Zen. There were some tough times, however, during the dead of winter. That was when he would hack a hole in the ice of the frozen lake for his daily dive, returning home with scrapes and cuts all over his body. But it was all part of his drive to dive for 365.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1777 that the Continental Congress unveiled the American flag and, thus, Flag Day!
WORD OF THE DAY
Virtuoso – [ver-choo-OH-soh] – noun
Definition: One who excels in the technique of an art; especially a highly skilled musical performer
Example: I am just a humble virtuoso of the bongos.
WIT OF THE DAY
“In a million years of falling off, humans never realized that maybe the pedestal isn’t made for their kind.”
- Adeel Ahmed Khan
BIDEN BLURB
“Given a fair shot, given a fair chance, Americans have never, ever, ever, ever let their country down. Never. Never. Ordinary people like us. Who do extraordinary things.”
-Joe Biden
WEATHER IN A WORD
Soggy