Replies

I love the Hypocrisy here ...

No group of paid employees can be unionized and consider itself a profession in the strictest intepretation of the term. I am a product of NJ schools and can only say that I thank God I got out (by graduating HS) when I did.

>>>The state teachers' union has canceled three sex education workshops scheduled for its annual conference after learning that the presenters favor the teaching of abstinence in schools.<<<

Right on! Sex should be performed in the schools!

Abstain only at home under adult supervison.

/sarcasm

UNBELIEVABLE!

I don't even understand why there is sex ed in school.

This is more proof, if any be needed, that the biggest enemy of competent education in the United States is the National "Edukashun" Association, and its fifty state fiefdoms such as the New Jersey "Edukashun" Association.
If using dumb professors to teach dumber teachers to produce the dumbest graduates was the policy of public schools, then the "teechurs" would deserve the raises they are claiming. Instead, many of these "teechurs" deserve to be fired, and the "teechurs" unions need to be cut off at that knees.

Congressman Billybob

This column is based on the fine work by FReepers in a thread on FR. Click for "Ballistics and Bullsh*t"

Click for "Til Death Do Us Part."

Click for "to Restore Trust in America"

The other speakers would have been Joanna Mohn, a Lebanon internist and member of the New Jersey

Figures a lesbian terrorist would be from New Jersey.

New Jersey is a cesspool.

"When we realized their views were contrary to our policy, we felt we had to uninvite them," Joseph said.

Certainly looks like these so-called 'educators' keep an open mind and look for the truth.

It seems Evil has penetrated the very people who are with our children for 7 hours a day!! They canceled workshops which favored abstinence and will put in presentors who will teach how to put condoms on a bananas, they basically teach that everything is OK so long as both partners are consenting, they fail to point out that one partner can be 14 and the other 30.

"Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion clinic chain, is currently being investigated for allegedly aiding
and abetting the sexual predators of minors.

The current investigations began after evidence surfaced indicating Planned Parenthood may have failed to report sexual abuse of children by adults to proper authorities, while offering abortions to children."

Isn't that nice.

Let's see how many teachers boycott this lecture and the convention, it will their true character. This same union takes mony from its members (thinking every member is a democrat) and uses the money illegally to give to democrat candidates.

They are now teaching children in 7th grade how to put a condom on a banana and to accept same-sex marriages and that lifestyle. It's disgusting.

____________________________________________________________

CDC Director Says Abstinence Education Works

During Saturday, August 24th's broadcast of CNN's Capitol Gang, Bill Hunt asked Julie Geberding, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about the merits of abstinence education.

HUNT: The question of preventing teen pregnancy, conservatives want to limit this to sexual abstinence-only efforts. In research you've seen, is there any evidence that abstinence-only programs are effective, or the most
effective in preventing teen pregnancy?

GERBERDING: I think we do have evidence that abstinence-only can contribute to prevention of HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy. The question is, how do we integrate the message of abstinence into the lifestyles and circumstances that our whole spectrum of population experience?

CNN
Capitol Gang
August 24, 2002
________________________________________________________________________

Abortion May Increase Women's Mortality Rate Says New Study

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, Aug 29, 02 (LSN.ca/CWNews.com) - A study published in the latest issue of the Southern Medical Journal reveals that women who have abortions are at significantly higher risk of death than women who give birth. This finding contradicts the widely accepted opinion that abortion is safer than childbirth but it is not a surprise to pro-life leaders.

Researchers examined death records linked to Medi-Cal ( payments for births and abortions for approximately 173,000 low-income Californian women. They discovered that women who had abortions were almost twice as likely to die in the following two years and that the elevated mortality rate of aborting women persisted over at least eight years.

During the eight-year period studied, women who aborted had a 154 percent higher risk of death from suicide, an 82 percent higher risk of death from accidents, and a 44 percent higher risk of death from natural causes.

This is the second major record-based study to link abortion to elevated mortality rates. In 1997, a study of women in Finland sent a tremor of worry through family planning agencies when it revealed that in the first year following an abortion, aborting women were 252 percent more likely to die compared to women who delivered and 76 percent more likely to die compared to women who had not been pregnant.

This new study confirms the trend found in Finland. It is also the first American study to use a uniform and objective standard for associating deaths with prior abortions and births.

Critics of abortion have long complained about the inaccuracies of abortion mortality figures. There are no federal or state regulations requiring the reporting of abortion complications. Indeed, the international standard for identifying cause of death does not even provide a means for identifying surgical abortion as a cause of death.

Another recently published Elliot Institute study using the California data reveals that aborting women are also more likely to seek subsequent mental health care. A third Elliot Institute study, published last January in the British Medical Journal, reveals that subsequent long-term clinical depression is more common among those women who have had abortions. Depression can weaken the immune system and reduce overall health.

The Elliot Institute: (www.afterabortion.org)
Sept. 1, 2002, 9:46PM
________________________________________________________________________

Teens saying no to sex for the health of it

Abstinence classes ignore morality,focus on hazards
By TODD ACKERMAN

Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Medical Writer

Lou Mandy Allison remembers the cynicism with which she and her friends approached an abstinence-education course in middle school two years ago.

They were already nervous and uncomfortable about the subject and were at the age at which their parents' admonitions "went in one ear and out the other." Figuring they'd just get preached at that teen sex was morally wrong, they acted like it was stupid.

"Instead, it turned out to be an incredible eye-opener," said Allison, now a 15-year-old sophomore at Rogers High School in Central Texas. "We had no idea sex could have so many negative health consequences. Those considerations are a lot harder to blow off than moral ones."

After years of taking its cues from religion, the abstinence movement has a new source: medicine. A wave of new programs around the country are telling young people that, from a medical standpoint, there's no such thing as safe sex for a teenager. Without any talk of religion or values, the programs document genuine health reasons -- many of them not exactly common knowledge -- why sex should be an adult activity.

One of the hottest programs is the one taken by Allison. The program is now in middle schools in 31 Texas school districts and is poised to become part of high school curricula. Called "Worth the Wait," the program was created by Dr. Patricia Sulak, an obstetrician-gynecologist, noted Texas A&M University contraception researcher and convert to the abstinence-only movement.

Teachers, parents and even doctors typically flunk a 10-question quiz based on the curriculum.

Among the information taught in these programs:

· There are 25 significant sexually transmitted diseases today, up from two in 1960.

· The cervix of a girl is more vulnerable to certain sexually transmitted diseases than the cervix of an adult woman.

· Sex early in life can increase a woman's cancer risk because it increases the eventual likelihood of multiple partners, putting her more at risk for human papilloma virus, or HPV, which causes 97 percent of all cervical cancers.

· There's no evidence that condoms reduce the risk of STDs other than HIV/AIDS (and only 85% effective for HIV/AIDS).

But the health-focused abstinence movement, the result of a five-year flow of abstinence-only federal funding that President Bush is asking Congress to boost by $33 million more a year, is just as controversial as the religion-based one. Most programs still don't talk about homosexuality, masturbation or abortion, or offer instruction about condoms or birth control, instead telling students they should discuss it with a health-care professional once they become sexually active.

Sulak says promoting abstinence while teaching about contraception sends a mixed message, one likely to result in the abstinence message being ignored. Critics at Planned Parenthood and other such places have little patience for such arguments.

"That idea there's a danger to talking about both abstinence and contraception isn't born out by statistics," said Heather Boonstra, a senior public policy associate for the Alan Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood's research arm. "The point is that young people need the total spectrum of information for when they do become sexually active."

Boonstra and other critics of abstinence-only programs cite a 2001 study published in the American Journal of Sociology that found students who took a virginity pledge promising to abstain from sex until marriage were less likely to become sexually active than students who didn't take such a pledge, but were one-third less likely to use contraception when they became sexually active (an average of 18 months later).

The study also found the pledge worked best among 15- to 17-year-olds, with no effect among older teenagers, and that it became less effective as more students pledged.
Still, since abstinence-only education began in schools in the early 1990s, teenage sex is down (more than half of high school students are virgins, up from about 40 percent a decade ago). Teen pregnancy rates, birth rates and abortion rates have declined significantly, and studies show that increased abstinence among girls was a factor, accounting for a quarter to half of the decline between 1988 and 1995.

The rest of the decline was attributed to better contraception by sexually active teens, particularly the use of Depo-Provera, which requires only an injection every three months.

Whether the change was because of abstinence-only programs and whether the new health-focused programs are more effective than the old religion-based ones is unknown. Observers hope that a major evaluation of the programs by a research organization in Princeton, N.J., called Mathematica provides some of those answers. It is due to be completed in 2003.

Regardless, there already are more than 700 abstinence-education programs. According to a study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, 2 percent of secondary school teachers said abstinence was the sole sex-education approach in their schools in 1988, but by 1999 that number had increased to 23 percent. The turning point was in 1996, when President Clinton signed a bill, Title V, providing funds for another approach for family planning besides contraceptive services.

Texas law requires that schools teaching sexual education devote more attention to abstinence than any other behavior, present it as the preferred choice of behavior for unmarried people of school age, and emphasize that it is the only 100-percent-effective method of preventing pregnancy, STDs and the emotional trauma associated with adolescent sexual activity. Schools may not distribute condoms, but they are free to offer information about contraception, as is the case in the Houston Independent School District.

"We offer information, mostly about the reliability rating of different condom brands," said Rose Haggerty, HISD's manager for health and physical education. "It's a hard topic to avoid, given the questions students ask. But our focus is clearly abstinence. We tell students they shouldn't be putting themselves in adult situations, they shouldn't be putting themselves at risk of unhealthy, age-inappropriate behavior."

Programs receiving Title V funds must adhere to an eight-point definition of abstinence-only education, such as "a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of sexual activity." Every state but California took the funding.
The abstinence movement's improved credibility is evident in the number of programs promoting birth control that advertise themselves as "abstinence plus." These programs, which once dismissed abstinence, are now touting that they provide comprehensive sex education and abstinence promotion as well as contraceptive advice.

Some criticism of the health-focused abstinence movement is coming from old-line abstinence supporters who are unhappy that the new programs ignore a moral element.

Critics say the pendulum is swinging too far the other way. They note that since Bush became president, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web page that touted comprehensive sex education, "Programs That Work," has been removed. They remain convinced that comprehensive sex-education programs are more effective than abstinence-only programs, even the new health-focused ones. Noting that institutions receiving Title V funding are required to leave religion out of their messages, they claim that the abstinence movement may have put on a medical face but can't hide its church-based soul.

Sulak is quick to scoff at such suggestions. A pioneer in the study of period suppression, the notion that the birth control pill can be taken for long periods of time to decrease unwanted effects associated with menstruation, Sulak had wanted nothing to do with the teen sex-education debate. She figured that "bag of worms" was the last thing she needed in her life.

But when her sixth-grade son's principal asked for her help creating a sex-ed program, Sulak couldn't say no. She started researching adolescent sexuality issues and existing sex-ed curricula, and marveled at the latter's inaccuracies: how you can die from STDs or how, if you just use a condom, you having nothing to worry about. She also marveled at how much she learned and how many doctors today still are ignorant about the issue.

Seven years later, she marvels at how well her message is being received, particularly by students.

"Before I got involved in this, I didn't do anything to prevent disease, I just accepted that kids will have sex," said Sulak, 50. "But I no longer think that's necessarily true. I think that's just the way those of us who grew up during the sexual revolution tend to think. We don't give kids enough credit. As I keep seeing, if we make them aware of the risks, they'll make good decisions."

The fascistic NJ teacher's unions at it again... They want your children...

The censorship of an abstinence-only presentation is one more reason to dismantle the public school monopoly in favor of school choice. (school vouchers) Ever wonder why the government school monopoly is so vehemently defended by the left. They want control over the forming of your child's heart and mind. That control helps them win elections. Without simultaneously creating and tinkering with societies shortcomings, what does the left have as it's cause?

"When we realized their views were contrary to our policy, we felt we had to uninvite them,"

And I suppose that fudgepacking is not contrary to their policy? Sheesh.

It's better to pass out condoms and porn films and tell the kiddies to have a good time and be safe. The NEA is a child terrorist group, why don't they just admit it.

Have to keep those folks happy over at Planned Parenthood. No wonder most teachers send their own children to private schools.

1

(I thought the teacher's union encouraged diversity). Sarcasm.

Young adults, who have STDs and/or children out of wedlock, ought to be able to sue the NEA for reparations.

Dear Friends of Abstinence Education/Interested Parties:

I don't know whether you've seen any of the press coverage on the issue that has arisen with us (NJ Coalition for Abstinence Education of the NJ Family Policy Council) and the NJ Education Association (NJEA). Below are several background pieces to give you as quickly as possibly an overview of how we see it.

To summarize:
--Unless we adults recognize that teenage sexual activity is very high risk, it will never be taught within the right context in sex ed classes.
--If we don't stress abstinence, then we don't talk about the benefits of waiting, we don't emphasize its high risk and we don't really encourage students to make the healthy, but more difficult, choice.
--Abstinence education is NOT just saying "No."
--Stressing abstinence is NOT mere lip service.
--Critics of abstinence education unfairly represent it as "abstinence-only."
Good abstinence education does include information on contraceptives, but it will NOT give students a false sense of security.
--Given the law that requires the stressing of abstinence in public school sex ed classes, and the Core Curriculum Content Standards in Health and Physical Education that underscore the need for prevention, it is short-sighted of the NJEA to limit its convention workshops to the presentation of so-called "comprehensive sex ed." This approach does not get the job done because it spends the majority of teaching time enabling the very activity that is acknowledged to be high risk.
--Rank and file teachers deserve to hear a solid presentation on abstinence education and how to stress it in the classroom. Where's academic freedom and professional accountability?
--NJEA's stated position serves neither the intent nor the implementation of the law.
--Instead of censoring abstinence education, teachers should be working overtime trying to find appealing ways to stress abstinence in the classroom.

--Here's a question for those that stil think "comprehensive sex ed" is preferable: Part of our message in sex ed should be that just because students have been sexually active once does not mean they have to continue. What do students in this position find in "comprehensive sex ed" class to help them choose the healthier option?
--The fact of the matter is that "comprehensive sex ed" is far from truly comprehensive. It doesn't deliver what should be the basics, and what it does deliver just keeps kids sexually active, falsely thinking they are
"protected."

I urge you to think through this, voice your opinion as you see fit, and stay in touch if we can be of any help to you.

Regards,
Bernadette Vissani
Director, NJCAE

____________________________________________________________

“NJEA BIAS AGAINST ABSTINENCE EDUCATOR DEFIES NEW JERSEY LAW”

Len Deo, President and Executive Director of the NJ Family Policy, is deeply concerned about the abrupt cancellation of a workshop that was scheduled for the November 7-9 annual convention of the NJ Education Association in Atlantic City. The workshop, titled “Teaching Sexual Abstinence: Honoring the Law, Complying with the Standards,” was cancelled without even a request for clarification of the intended content.

Bernadette Vissani, M.P.H. was planning to provide practical help for teachers faced with a mandate from both our State Legislature (Public Law 2001, Chapter 303) and our State Department of Education (Core Curriculum Content Standards). That mandate is that students must be taught the physical, social, and emotional benefits of sexual abstinence and strategies to help them choose this lifestyle. The law actually states that public school sex education classes must stress abstinence.

“Rank and file teachers deserve to hear a solid presentation on why abstinence should be stressed and how to do that in the classroom,” stated Deo. “The NJEA leadership obviously thinks otherwise. And for that they serve neither the intent nor the implementation of the law.”
NJEA leadership cancelled the workshop because they oppose stressing abstinence, a position they made very clear during public testimony before the legislature on the proposed law. They and other proponents of comprehensive sex education make three false claims:

l) Comprehensive sex education is superior because it teaches both abstinence and contraceptive information. FACT: In a comprehensive curriculum there is time only for lip service to abstinence. Teaching time is primarily devoted to information that enables and supports the high-risk activity of

Press Release, NJ Family Policy Council, October 16, 2002
teenage sex. Furthermore, it assumes that students will probably not accept the abstinence message, a false assumption because more than half of today’s teenagers are virgins.

2) Abstinence education is inferior because it universally excludes any mention of contra-ception. FACT: Good abstinence educators do provide students with information on contraception so they can make an informed decision about sexual activity. Don’t students deserve full disclosure rather than a false sense of security?

3) Students can be protected significantly from the consequences of teenage sexual activity.

FACT: Against everyone’s hopes, condoms do not protect against most sexually transmitted diseases. Their failure rate for pregnancy is over 15%. How can we honestly discuss “safe sex” or how sex is natural and healthy when teens suffer so many negative outcomes?

The issues facing teachers who teach sex education are serious. Wouldn’t the NJEA serve its membership better by allowing free speech rather than bias into its convention? And why does the NJEA think it can ignore the law?

____________________________________________________________

New Jersey Family Policy Council
40 Baldwin Road, Parsippany NJ 07054
973-263-5258 October 15, 2002

TEACHER ALERT!

**Topic of Teaching Sexual Abstinence Eliminated from NJEA Convention**

**Workshops on Medical Issues of Teenage Sexual Activity Also Removed**

We thought you might be interested in a recent development regarding professional teachers and the abstinence message in our state. The NJEA had previously approved three workshops for its November 7-9 Annual Convention in Atlantic City that deal with the issues of teenage sexual activity. Their descriptions follow.

Could This Be a Disease of a Lifetime?

James Thompson, M.D.

Sexually active teens are exposed to risks of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and their complications. Etiology, patho-physiology, and the potential long-term effects of STDs will be discussed.

Sex and Teens--Sexual Activity Has a Price Tag! Joanna Mohn, M.D.

Teach to the standards. Leave prepared to give your teens the most current medical information on teen sexual health.

Teaching Sexual Abstinence: Honoring the Law, Complying with the Standards
Bernadette Vissani, M.P.H.

How do we stress abstinence, as required by law, and still teach all that is mandated by the State's Core Curriculum Content Standards for health and physical education? It can be done!

All three of these workshops were officially approved by the NJEA Convention Coordinator and are, in fact, listed in the official convention program that has already been mailed to NJEA members with time and location listings. However, during the first week of October, all three speakers were notified by the NJEA in writing that it would “not be able to use [their] services” at the convention.

In a follow-up phone call to Judy Basa, I was told that a total of three workshops had been cancelled and that this decision was made due to space limitations and “other considerations.”

FACT: Stressing abstinence in the classroom has been mandated by law in New Jersey (Public Law
2001, Chapter 303).

FACT: Core Curriculum Content Standards for Health and Physical Education emphasize a full under-standing of the health risks of teenage sexual activity and require that the benefits of abstinence be taught.

FACT: Of the 250 workshops offered at the NJEA Convention, these three workshops were the only ones dealing with the issues of teenage sexual activity.

FACT: Since they have been cancelled, no workshop covering these issues is available at the convention.

QUESTION: Does it make sense to you that three workshops handling these critical issues, and providing material helpful to teachers required to teach on these issues, would be summarily removed from the convention program?

If it does not make sense to you, I urge you to make your voice heard. Contact information for the Convention Coordinator is provided below. It would be extremely helpful to know of any action you might take and, if as a result, there is a response that you can share.

Thank You,
Bernadette Vissani, M.P.H.
Youth Culture Coordinator
Contact:
Judy Basa, NJEA Convention Coordinator
180 West State Street, Trenton NJ 08607
Tel: 609-599-4561 Fax: 609-599-1201 www.njea.org

____________________________________________________________

New Jersey Family Policy Council
40 Baldwin Road, Parsippany NJ 07054
973-263-5258 October 16, 2002

UPDATE #1 - TEACHER ALERT!

This is a follow-up to the Teacher Alert dated October 15, 2002. We want to inform you of developments since that was written.

Late Tuesday, October 16th, we became aware that the NJEA leadership had in fact found space at the convention to provide some workshops on the issues of teenage sexual activity and abstinence. But, rather than invite us back, they have scheduled speakers from Network for Family Life Education at Rutgers. We found this out from Peggy O’Crowley, a reporter at the Star Ledger, who has written an article on it in today’s paper (“Educators convention drops sex-ed workshops”).

Here is some further information for you to consider:

Peggy O’Crowley’s article states that the NJEA canceled our workshops because all three presenters believe that abstinence is the only form of sex education that should be taught in schools.

POINT: Our cancelled workshop “Teaching Sexual Abstinence: Honoring the Law, Complying with the Standards” could hardly be considered an attempt to overthrow the educational establishment and speak against comprehensive sex education. We intended to teach to our title-neither the law nor the standards eliminate information on contraceptives. Of course, we do want the truth about contraceptives taught within sex ed classes, and that’s what stressing abstinence does.

The Network for Family Life Education at Rutgers is hardly an unbiased observer in the controversy over abstinence education in public schools.

POINT: Susan Wilson, Executive Coordinator, spoke adamantly against passage of the “Stress Abstinence” Bill which later became law. In an article entitled, “Stressing Abstinence Won’t Protect Teens,” published in the Asbury Park Press on June 26, 2002, Wilson unfairly portrayed the law as overriding the Core Curriculum Content Standards. In fact, the law is meant to protect the spirit of the Standards that aim at prevention of preventable health problems and teaching the truth.

POINT: Wilson also wrote that contraception is an “extremely effective weapon against disease and unintended pregnancy.” Stressing abstinence ensures that students are told the truth about the level of protection they can expect from contraception. And the truth is that condoms are far from extremely effective against STDs and pregnancy; and oral contraceptives, while very effective against pregnancy, provide no protection against disease.

POINT: In their effort to promote “comprehensive sex education” they misrepresent what good abstinence education accomplishes.

The other two cancelled workshops by physicians were to provide updated medical information that school nurses and health educators need if they are to teach intelligently about teenage sexual activity that, in fact, has produced an epidemic of disease.

POINT: It does not serve intellectual honesty or freedom to eliminate these professionals from the convention that has as its stated mission to “Light the Future.”

http://www.njfpc.org

I love the Hypocrisy here ...

For the children... </sarcasm off>

The convention is today, I wonder what's happening with the workshop.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?level_3_id=7&page=5585358

McGreevey sweet-talks teachers
Friday, November 08, 2002

By KATHLEEN CARROLL
Herald News

ATLANTIC CITY - Gov. James E. McGreevey stopped by the country's largest teachers convention Thursday, vowing to include educators in policy decisions and improve working conditions.

"We need to be your partner," he said, noting that higher demands on students mean increased demands on teachers, too.

The governor's town-hall style meeting kicked off a two-day education festival at a brassy new convention center in the state's gambling capital. The annual convention for the New Jersey Education Association attracts about 55,000 members and gives nearly 1.4 million children a four-day weekend.

McGreevey, who delivered a 15-minute speech as his education commissioner, William Librera, looked on, outlined his strategies for improving the state's schools. Some of the suggestions echoed demands that the NJEA has made for years, such as including teachers in policy decisions and making sure that standardized tests correspond to the state's core curriculum. McGreevey also reiterated his plan to financially reward outstanding educators.

The crowd rewarded the governor with spirited applause when he touched on a generally overlooked struggle: As the only adult in the classroom day after day, teachers have little time to brainstorm together.

"We need to treat teachers as professionals," he said. "Other professionals confer with one another on a daily basis ... institutional, systemic change can end intellectual isolation."

Educators from all over the state asked tough questions after the talk, which the governor fielded in his favored "Phil Donohue" style: his jacket off and microphone in hand, the podium a distant memory. The conversation ranged from charter schools and the inclusion of special education students in regular classes to the security of the teachers' pension fund.

"Can you give us the money back that you took away this year?" asked a teacher from Atlantic County. McGreevey froze Trenton's annual contribution to public schools in July. He replied that the state's $6 billion budget deficit forced his hand.

A teacher from Red Bank reported that a local charter school was hurting her school financially and academically. Librera blamed the state's property tax-based funding mechanism, a complaint echoed by the governor.

"Long term, we need to provide for a more rational, equitable funding formula," McGreevey said.

"His answers were good if he walks the walk," said James Joyner, a longtime shop teacher at Eastside and John F. Kennedy high schools in Paterson and representative for the Paterson Education Association. "I wanted to hear about the economy. There are more demands - special education, bringing test scores up - without a funding increase. It's fine to hear we're in a shortfall, but what are we going to do about it? What's the plan? That's what we need to hear."

Mike Ryan, who runs the School-to-Career program at Bergen County Technical School, was worried by the governor's emphasis on computer technology. A Garfield native and a former auto mechanic, he's always told his students, "You can make a living with your hands and mind, not just your mind," he said.

The convention's professional development sessions - hundreds are offered during the convention - were jam-packed. Teachers are required to attend 100 hours of professional development courses every five years, and the menu of classes was fit for anyone's palate: peer mediation, multiple intelligences, adolescent gossip and school facilities planning.

More than 300 booths filled the cavernous convention hall, each with its own jar of penny candy and a souvenir tote bag. Colleges and universities that count on tuition dollars from teachers, whose salaries rise in step with the number of graduate credits earned, dominated the north end of the room.

Textbook companies, congratulatory-sticker makers and local cultural centers claiming that they make for perfect class trips filled the rest of the stalls.

Reach Kathleen Carroll at (973) 569-7135 or carroll@northjersey.com.