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Friday, October 8, 2010

Christie Announces Jim Gearhart as New Ed Commish

TRENTON -- In an announcement that surprised very few in Trenton, Governor Chris Christie formally announced today that Jim Gearhart, morning DJ on radio station NJ 101.5 FM, is Christie's choice to be the new Commissioner of Education for New Jersey.

"Obviously, Jim has been directing education policy since I took office," explained Christie. "I figured that I may as well make it official. Anything to get the press to stop listening to Bret Schundler - and I don't have any more tunnels to shut down."

"It's about time!' proclaimed Gearhart. "I've only been able to do limited damage behind my microphone to the teaching profession; now I'll really be able to wreak havoc. Hey, Chris, two sugars, lots of milk - right now, big man, let's go!"

"Absolutely, Mr. Gearhart, right away!" said Christie. "But before I go, just a quick word about your salary. In a show of solidarity with the New Jersey taxpayer, Jim has agreed to accept a salary equal to that of the median teacher salary in NJ: $57, 467. His pay will increase 1.58% a year, until I get the merit pay system in place; after that, it may not increase at all.

"Oh, Jim, I almost forgot: you've got to shave 7% off of the top right away for pensions and health insurance, and I'll be cutting that even more: if my plan goes through, you'll lose at least another 7% off of that. But, hey, those 'gold-plated benefits' are great, right?"

Wait a minute...

6 comments:

  1. Sad but true...right wing radio blowhards are who they fear the most...

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  2. LOL! Too funny. The sad part though, is that it wouldn't surprise me if Christie did.

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  3. There are 2 bills in committee now that will destroy public education as we know it. One is the bill that centralizes negotiations on the county level and gives schoolboards the ability to make the "last best offer" to teachers, or... take it or leave it. The other bill puts a 2% cap on raises that includes health insurance costs. This will mean that every year teachers salaries will decrease. CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS!!! and by all means Please vote. In Bergen county lets get McNerney elected, he supports teachers. Thank you for reading my post.

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  4. I lmao reading this! Excellent! But in all seriousness, what anonymous said above is true-teachers are already looking for alternate employment because they see what could be coming and who would agree to work for less money each year? If these changes are enacted (not to mention others in the foolkit), expect a teacher shortage. I've posted on the implications of this before: either teacher salaries/benefits/etc will go up to attract new talent, or we will lower the qualifications necessary to teach. Do we really want teachers who haven't graduated college or can't pass the Praxis? Or perhaps we'd prefer to "insource" all our teachers from outside of teh United States. Time will tell.

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  5. Thanks, everyone - stop by whenever you can.

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