Mark Weber
@jerseyjazzman.bsky.social
Education policy analyst, teacher, musician. Lecturer, Rutgers University Grad School of Education. @njpolicy.bsky.social @shankerinst.bsky.social NEPC Fellow. Jazz pianist and composer. Music educator.
As bad as youth sports are already, charter schools make them worse: www.nj.com/highschoolsp...
D1 basketball commit leaves controversial HS charter school, transfers to hometown program
Fairfield basketball commit transfers to play for home school after 3 years at top charter program.
nj.com
Tom Kean, Jr. is in real trouble not because he was in treatment for depression, but because he missed a lot of votes. Missing votes, and otherwise not doing your job, is about the strongest attack that can be made against an incumbent. www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
Rep. Tom Kean Jr. might lose, but not because of four-month absence
Rep. Tom Kean, R-New Jersey, was absent from Congress for four months, which he later attributed to depression. His reelection race is looking tight.
usatoday.com
ProPublica designed a reporting experiment to demonstrate how easy it can be to open private schools that might then access public money. We succeeded in opening two schools. No credentials or background checks required.
How ProPublica Reporters Became Private School Owners in 24 Hours
The reporting experiment demonstrates how easy it can be to open private schools that might then access public money. No credentials or background checks required.
propublica.org
Six Pro Bowls, two Super Bowls, and an unforgettable #Eagles legacy on and off the field. Lane Johnson has nothing left to prove as he retires to focus on his well-being. #FlyEaglesFly phlsportsnation.com/2026/10/07/l...
Lane Johnson Retires, Ending an Eagles Era Earlier Than Expected - Philadelphia Sports Nation
Lane Johnson's retirement ends a legendary 14-year Eagles career. Explore his legacy, unexpected departure, and Philadelphia's future at right tackle.
phlsportsnation.com
Fascism Warning Play “The Wave” Silenced at Ocean County Vocational in New Jersey hesherman1.substack.com/p/fascism-wa...
Fascism Warning Play “The Wave” Silenced at Ocean County Vocational in New Jersey
“It’s School Theatre Censorship Season,” Part 3
hesherman1.substack.com
Throughout the summer, rumors have been bubbling in North New Jersey that ICE has quietly been using a warehouse as a detention center. NPR investigated. n.pr/4hzvA5M
ICE has quietly used this warehouse as a detention facility all summer, neighbors say
Throughout the summer, rumors have been bubbling in North New Jersey that ICE has quietly been using a warehouse as a detention center. NPR investigated.
n.pr
Our reporting found that in Arkansas, one private school continued to operate even though the founder served jail time for permitting child abuse. Join us Oct. 6 at 4 pm ET for a discussion about the changing private school landscape: https://events.propublica.org/wild-west-school-vouchers/bluesky
Mike Pompeo has been rewarded with a teaching fellowship at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. The same school that canceled my class on media, race and international affairs. @columbiasipa.bsky.social share.google/KEvTy5yER71U...
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to join SIPA faculty
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will join the School of International and Public Affairs as a fellow at SIPA’s Institute of Global Politics in March, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
share.google
Tony Somogyi 🇺🇦 🇨🇦🇪🇺@tonysomo.bsky.social · last wk.Thank you for your courage and for reminding us about this murder & cold blooded dismemberment of a courageous journalist. I can never forget Pompeo’s off the cuff dismissal of Jamal’s fate and Kushner’s divulging of intelligence about MBS enemies in exchange for deal$; all of them put to death!
Worst week in Philly sports history? Sure feels like it.
there's a thing in moderate democratic politics where it is considered fundamentally illegitimate to deliver results to your own voters; instead, you must propose a better way to implement your adversaries' entire ideological program
The Atlantic@theatlantic.com · 2w ago"Making day care free, while offering nothing to stay-at-home parents, appeals to the educated, urban, affluent voters who have come to make up the Democratic base, but not to the electorate at large," Marc Novicoff argues:
Yeah, but SHE had such an annoying laugh...
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w agoQ: Tell us why the world shouldn't be concerned about AI, why there shouldn't be guardrails? TRUMP: Because we have people that love our country & love the world a lot Q: It requires more than love, doesn't it? T: No. It requires this *points to head* and they're the smartest people in the world
Take a walk/run along the lake, then head to Heid's for a coney. If you don't mind a little snow, it really is a nice place full of nice people. www.rd.com/article/live...
A Tiny Village in New York Spread Charity Far and Wide—And Became 2026’s Nicest Place in America
What began as a mission to help strangers thousands of miles away has grown into a community where lending a hand is simply a way of life.
rd.com
Have Philly sports fans had a week as bad as this one is turning into?
Over a decade later - America's (still) most financially screwed school districts schoolfinance101.com/2026/09/26/a...
America’s Most Financially Disadvantaged (e.g. Still Screwed) School Districts, 2022–2024
A decade after I last published these lists, 47 districts with at least 2,000 students still have more than 1.5 times the child poverty rate of their labor market and spend less than 90% of what th…
schoolfinance101.com
“I like the idea that we could bring back an America where it’s embarrassing for wealthy people to say, ‘Even though I could afford this, and it will improve public services in our state, I’d rather fight it,’” Mr. Jennings said. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/u...
Washington Taxed Its Millionaires. Now the Rich Want It Repealed.
Washington State voters will get a chance to accept or reject the 9.9 percent income tax on millionaires approved by the Legislature, which broke the state’s taboo against levying income taxes.
nytimes.com
Dear airport/airline staff: please don't touch my cell phone. Definitely don't grab it out of my hand. Aside from being rude, I don't know you and where you've been. Frankly, you don't know me, why would you want to touch my stuff?
34 percent annual increases for teacher health insurance are not sustainable. newjerseymonitor.com/2026/09/25/n...
After state warning, NJ panel approves 34% health premium hike for teachers • New Jersey Monitor
The vote to hike teachers’ health benefit rates came after a state warning that benefits may be halted in the new year without an agreement.
newjerseymonitor.com
This isn't an AI thing, but it explains why executives think AI is great. They *already* live like they have been kicked in the head by a horse. They already have a group of people making sure they've wiped their ass. They already don't have exposure to negative consequences.
Matt Ford@mford.bsky.social · 3w agoEzra Klein asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about AI making kids worse at math and reading. Huang’s reply: “Does it matter?” Then he said he doesn’t know his own address or phone number. “We’re going to lose some fine intellectual dexterity.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/o...
Based on the report commissioned by NJ Governor Mikie Sherrill, it seems like her second-in-command, Lt Gov Dale Caldwell, is absolute toast. Toast. She has given him until the morning to resign, and published the ethics report, which includes stuff like this: www.nj.gov/governor/doc...
I guess my question while reading this was: why the insistence that individual proximity would have addressed systemic gaps?
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 3w agoNew from Nikole Hannah-Jones: In fighting for every Black child, Did I betray my own? ‘A decade ago, I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge NYC’s unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice’
Sitting with this story by Nikole Hannah-Jones www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/m... Our Segregation Tracking Project data illuminate stubborn segregation in NYC schools (and many other places) and show how schools don't look like their n'hoods as White parents opt out edopportunity.org/segregation/...
Some helpful datapoints on the NYC schools discussed here--providing context for the role of entrenched social and economic inequalities. Data from NYC (tools.nycenet.edu/dashboard/) and NY state (data.nysed.gov/downloads.php) 🧵
Derek Gottlieb@derekgottliebphd.com · 3w agoHard and necessary:
I don't normally go to Elmo's fascistic bulletin board, but someone here posted a screenshot of some guy claiming Nikole Hannah-Jones's daughter's elementary school spent $52K/year per pupil. That's not true (see: apps.schools.nyc/dsbpo/sbag/d...) but even if it was, there would be a good...
School Budget At A Glance
apps.schools.nyc
FWIW: I don't think it's realistic to expect to solve chronic problems with school segregation solely through the individual actions of parents, no matter how well intentioned. A much larger political project is required.
I don't have any comment on Nikole Hannah Jones's schooling choices, but I will note that the public school system in New Jersey has been judged to be unacceptably segregated and the state is refusing to propose remedies... newjerseymonitor.com/2026/05/12/n...
NJ Supreme Court won’t weigh in yet on school segregation case • New Jersey Monitor
A group of plaintiffs first claimed in 2018 that NJ schools are impermissibly segregated. The case is now before the appellate division.
newjerseymonitor.com
An animation of national school funding adequacy from 2009 to 2024 - against the cost of achieving national average reading and math scores between 2013 & 2015
I’m excited to share that The Scarcity Loop: How School Choice Reshapes the Rationing of Public Education is officially out in the world. It seemed important to find a slice.
