Bob Braun at the Ledger leaves out a big piece of his story on the defenseless Passaic teacher blandished with alcohol and charm by a craven documentary maker into conceding that tenured teachers can’t get fired for using the “n-word. (Is there something sexist or at least condescending about this spin? She’s a 38-year-old professional.) He writes that the special ed teacher, captured on the video “NJ Teachers Unions Go Wild,” was “made a pawn in the relentless anti-union crusade of a governor who apparently wants to ride his Jersey tough guy image to the White House.” How so? The targeted teacher, punished by her district with 9 days suspension, was represented by the NJEA legal team (and her criminal lawyer funded by the union) and fees were paid with NJEA dues. Governor Christie played no part in a disciplinary process that involved the Passaic School Board, the teacher, and her union representative. No way the sanction was levied without approval of NJEA leadership.

“It’s like changing an ocean liner. We got to turn it from where it is to where we know it can be,” says Raymond Broach, Interim Superintendent of Trenton Public Schools, after a series of brawls broke out at Trenton Central High this week.

NJ Spotlight has a balanced piece on the ongoing debate on the effectiveness of charter schools.

EdReform looks at charter school enrollment state-by-state.

The Record writes that “The state Education Department has commissioned a $174,000 study to determine how fairly New Jersey’s new school funding formula handles the high costs of special-needs students.” Also in The Record, the Education Law Center is charging that Paterson Public Schools is depriving 225 preschoolers with disabilities of legally-mandated services.

In The Lobby asks if “there is a 12-step program for school boards” because “too many are addicted to their superintendents.” Cases in point: Toms River School Board, which remains faithful to its corrupt superintendent, and Parsippany, which just voted to approve a contract with its superintendent at a salary well above new superintendent pay caps.

PolitickerNJ has a “Hitchhiker’s Guide” to Gov. Christie’s toolkit.”

Dueling opinion polls: Quinnipiac reports that public opinion of NJEA is down and that the majority of respondents support merit pay. But a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll finds that only 32% of New Jerseyans support merit pay and 8% think that NJEA is a big part of NJ’s public education woes.