Jersey City Public Schools is conducting an information session for the pre-K dual language program today, March 7, 2022, from 1pm to 2:30pm.
More information about this Dual Language program is available on the JCBOE website. Also, Pre-K registration has begun – register here.
Jersey City Public Schools announced that April 2, 2022 and April 9, 2022 will be the two OLSAT test dates for students applying to Infinity Institute or to the AEP program. Testing will be at the same location as in previous years: Franklin L. Williams MS#7, 222 Laidlaw Avenue.
Public school students have received or will receive information about the program via their school guidance counselor. Families of students who have not received information about the application process and test dates are advised to have their student’s guidance counselor contact Ellen Ruane at eruane@jcboe.org or call (201-915-6209).
Similar testing information about the 2022-2023 AEP program and Infinity Institute was also announced earlier this week.
McNair Academic and Infinity Institute admissions applications for the 2022-2023 school year are now available. Applications are online and a PSAT score is still a required part of the application.
Cornelia F. Bradford appeared near the top of another list of the best schools in New Jersey, as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. The school serves 812 students, and 92% of students scored at or above proficiency in both reading and math. However, only 11% of the student population is economically disadvantaged, as the school is located in the expensive Paulus Hook neighborhood of downtown Jersey City. Over 50% of the student population is Asian, 26% are White, 10% are Hispanic, and 6% are Black. As the school has ranked highly on various top schools lists, it has attracted quite a few students, creating an overcrowding problem that was partially addressed by the addition of a new school building this year.
The next best ranked elementary school in the district was PS 5, Dr. Michael Conti School, which placed 84th in the state among 1370 elementary schools, putting it in the 93rd percentile. (Although the school serves K-8, the U.S. News and World Report ranked the school as both an elementary school and a middle school independently.) In contrast to PS 16, PS 5’s student population is economically and racially more diverse, with 50% of students considered to be economically disadvantaged. Of the students, 40% are Hispanic, 23% are Asian, 16% are White, and 14% are Black.
Both schools performed “Well Above Expectations” even after adjusting for their racial and economic diversity. In other words, students in these schools performed better than what the publication would have expected based on the racial and economic makeup of their students.
Find out where your school ranked here.
As September comes to a close, here’s your reminder for October’s school holidays for Jersey City Public Schools:
Check out our Jersey City Public School Calendar page for more information on the 2021-2022 holiday calendar.
Jersey City Public School District announced today that there will be an information session on Friday September 24, 2021 regarding the PSAT 8/9 test, now scheduled for Saturday, October 16, 2021 at MS #7 (click for more information). Students interested in applying to McNair Academic High School or Infinity Institute should attend.
If you have ever walked by Grand St. and Washington St. during morning drop-off, mid-day recess, or in the afternoon after school, you have seen the scores of children playing in the only functional corner of Four Corners Park. The adjacent school, Cornelia F. Bradford Elementary School (PS 16), lacks an outdoor space, and its students need a large, safe place to play. Fortunately, this corner has provided this opportunity for years, and during school hours, it makes sense that the school should have exclusive use of this space. In the evenings, weekends, holidays, and summers, the space can be used by the entire community.
Our children recently graduated from PS 16, where they benefited enormously from the wide open, mostly flat space that allowed them to play soccer, tag, and football during recess, along with their classmates. Allowing the school the exclusive use of the space during school hours will ensure that hundreds of students will continue to enjoy this space safely on a daily basis for regular exercise. And the reality is that the vast majority of the child-hours spent in this park is indeed because of the school. During school hours, other children have access to a number of nearby parks and open spaces:
The Historic Paulus Hook Association (HPHA) opposes the exclusive use of this portion of the park by the school. To its credit, the HPHA has led various efforts in an attempt to improve the park; however, we have been disappointed by the results of these efforts. The introduction of the playgrounds was certainly an improvement, but the additional landscaping and impractical fencing also reduced the limited functional open space for sports and games of tag. The community already had three corners of landscaped, unusable park space, and the modifications further restricted the space in the most popular corner of the small park. Why has the southwest corner of the park always been the subject of discussion and dispute? Because this corner was the Four Corners Park’s only flat, open space that could be used for free play.
Instead of opposing the efforts of the school and the PS 16 Concerned Parents Association (CPA) to make extensive use of this open space, the HPHA should concentrate its advocacy on transforming the other three landscaped corners of the park into a more functional space for the community. The rest of the Four Corners Park is underutilized and could benefit from additional play spaces. Additionally, the HPHA can continue its work to improve the community’s use of the space near the Korean War Veterans Memorial, which is currently poorly used primarily as a parking lot. The paved entrance to the memorial has often served as a play space for the neighborhood, and with a little extra protection from cars, it could better serve the children of Paulus Hook.
But the HPHA does importantly highlight something we can all agree on: the need for school buildings with more classrooms, potable water, and safe play spaces. Perhaps we can build consensus around this demand and redirect the efforts of the various neighborhood groups toward this common goal.
Parents looking to prepare their children for the PSAT 8/9, as required by McNair Academic High School and Infinity Institute, can sign up here for virtual PSAT Language Arts prep and in-person PSAT Math prep at Hudson County Community College.
The classes will run on various days between September 7, 2021 and September 18, 2021. Target audience is 8th graders, so we presume the class will focus primarily on PSAT 8/9 material. Instructors will focus on test-taking strategies and will use sample tests in class.
Suez has announced that there is a boil water advisory in effect for Jersey City due to the cloudiness (turbidity) of the water in a test conducted today. The results of the test indicate increased likelihood of disease causing organisms. The cause of the cloudiness was stated to be a breach in the wall of the Jersey City Aqueduct.
Jersey City Ed 