NJ's plan to hire volunteers to support K-12 students garners lackluster response

On Wednesday, the New Jersey Board of Education provided the public with an update on the New Jersey Partnership for Student Success initiative, which seeks to onboard volunteers to help support students in schools, according to an article from NJ Advance Media. 

Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) announced the initiative in December 2022 and said the plan aimed to fix academic and mental health issues among students in the state's public schools.

"(The program would) create the opportunity for members of the broader community to get involved in supporting the social, emotional and academic needs of students," Murphy said when he launched the program.

During Wednesday's meeting, Angelica Allen-McMillan, the acting commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education, said only 400 individuals and organizations have submitted volunteering applications for the initiative.

Officials with the Board of Education originally hoped to bring on 5,000 adult volunteers over the 2023 calendar year with plans for a rolling implementation, according to the article. 

Critics of the program's implementation say the low number of applicants can be attributed to the state moving too slowly to recruit volunteers and lacking a clear plan on what to do once these volunteers are hired, according to the article.

Steven Baker, the spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, said that the group is currently working to address teacher shortages. "We are working to make sure there are enough qualified professionals available to provide our students with the education and support they need to emerge from the challenges of the pandemic," he said.