Christie, Cerf, and Teachers' Union: A Fragile Peace

Fred Frangiosa's presence was conspicuous last week when Gov. Chris Christie visited a Bergenfield middle school to promote his plans for remaking teacher evaluation statewide.

Frangiosa is president of the Bergenfield Education Association, and it is his union's 450 teachers who will help test the new system. Bergenfield is one of 10 pilot districts for Christie's plan.

But there was Frangiosa, sitting in Christie's audience in a middle school classroom -- not a cheerleader for the plan, by any means, but not protesting it, either.

"You can't sign off on something if you don't know what it is," Frangiosa said, "and you can't oppose it either. "

His comments are indicative of the state of relations between Christie and the state's dominant teachers' union, the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA). It's not exactly warm and fuzzy, but the thaw is unmistakable – at least where this potentially contentious plan is concerned.

Frangiosa said that was his sense too. He didn't even get a call from the NJEA's officers when word got out that Christie would be visiting.

"They weren't upset," he said. "They seemed to have lightened up on all the negative."

A Step Back

The union's leadership has taken a step back from its frequent criticism of a plan that would use test scores as part of a teacher's evaluation, saying it would rather take a wait and see approach at this point.

How much all this will matter as the project moves forward is yet to be seen. The pilot districts are now developing their specific plans, and the legislature is taking up the topic, too, with a hearing on teacher evaluation before the Senate education committee slated for today.

The easing of tensions seems to be going both ways. Christie said at the Bergenfield event that he would be happy to sit with the union on issues they agree on, saying this may be one of them.

And he and his acting education commissioner, Chris Cerf, have gone out of their ways to preface every comment about teacher accountability with a pledge that test scores will only be one piece of the evaluation system and only for some teachers.

That's not exactly a full peace offering -- Christie went on to accuse NJEA leaders of lying to their members on another issue -- but it's as close as he's gotten lately. "They have a seat at the table in this," Christie said last week. "The commissioner has reached out to include them, and he will continue to do so."

Read more at NJSpotlight.com