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Measures Will Grant College Credits for NJ PLACE Coursework; Help Provide Basic Skills Training to Displaced, Disadvantaged Workers

(TRENTON)-- Two bills Assemblywoman Pamela R. Lampitt sponsored to help workers gain essential skills training were signed into law today by Acting Governor Stephen M. Sweeney.

The first new law will formally recognize college-level learning taking place in union apprenticeship training programs and award credits toward either two-year associates degrees or four-year baccalaureate degree programs by establishing a New Jersey Pathways Leading Apprentices to a College Education, or NJ PLACE program.

Under the Lampitt/Egan measure (A-4327), public colleges and universities will be required to treat the coursework of each NJ PLACE associate in the same manner as it would classes taken by a student seeking to transfer previously completed college credits.

“In this economy it is not always a possibility to graduate from high school and attend a four-year, or even a two-year, college right away,” said Lampitt (D-Camden). “Kids today work hard to complete apprenticeships, they work hard to complete college-level classes to fulfill their class work, but they receive no credit and find themselves, literally, taking and paying for those same classes again when they do enter college.”

The NJ PLACE program is operated by the State Employment and Training Commission, and its funding comes from various grants.

(TRENTON) – Legislation Assembly members Patrick Diegnan, Pamela R. Lampitt and Joan Voss are sponsoring legislation to ensure high school juniors and seniors are aware that they could be in line for a NJ STARS full-tuition scholarship has been advanced by a Senate panel.

The New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship (NJ STARS) program provides full-tuition county college scholarships to students who graduate in the top 15 percent of their high school class.

“No high school student should be left unaware that they could qualify for NJ STARS,” said Diegnan (D-Middlesex), the Assembly Higher Education Committee chairman. “NJ STARS is allowing thousands of deserving students who might not have had the means to attend college to work towards a degree that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Every student who has a chance at the same success should know they, too, could have the same opportunity.”

“The potential for a NJ STARS scholarship must be part of the basic conversation kids and parents have when preparing to look at colleges,” said Lampitt (D-Camden). “Knowing that a tuition-free degree could be theirs could be the carrot some students need to push themselves a little harder.”

(TRENTON) – Legislation Assembly members Fred Scalera and Pamela Lampitt sponsored to require school security drills to improve emergency preparedness received final legislative approval 39-0 Thursday by the Senate.

State law requires most public schools to conduct two fire drills per month, but their bill (A-3002) aims to improve readiness at public and private schools by requiring one monthly fire drill and one monthly security drill.

A security drill would practice procedures that respond to emergencies such as a lockdown or an active shooter.

“Many schools haven’t practiced their security plans because there’s no law to require them to do so,” said Scalera, (D-Bergen, Essex, Passaic) chairman of the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee. “That’s a problem. History has taught us that school security drills can be vitally important and lifesaving.”

The bill would direct the Director of the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, in consultation with state education, fire safety, emergency management, state police and attorney general’s office officials to develop and disseminate curriculum to each school district and nonpublic school to help them prepare and conduct school security drills.

“The curriculum will educate school employees on proper procedures in a variety of emergency situations, such as bomb threats and active shooter situations,” said Lampitt (D-Camden). “No matter how much we hope the worst will never happen, we need to be prepared. This is information that could one day save lives.”

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(TRENTON) – Legislation sponsored by six Assembly Democrats to make New Jersey the 11th state with a “Silver Alert” system to notify the public about missing persons, of all ages, who are believed to be suffering from dementia or other cognitive impairments was approved 39-0 Thursday by the Senate.

The bill now goes to the Governor.

The plan is based on the “Amber Alert” system used by state police to locate missing children.

The measure is sponsored by Assembly members Wayne DeAngelo, Sandi Love, Paul Moriarty, Pamela R. Lampitt, Cary Rodriquez and Elease Evans.

“Unfortunately, it’s common for an elderly loved one suffering from dementia and other ailments to wander,” said DeAngelo (D-Mercer/Middlesex). “This can be dangerous and even life-threatening for our loved ones and stressful for caregivers and family. This new system would be a common sense step toward protecting those who deserve our best, the elderly.”

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 60 percent of those with dementia will wander at some point.

Under the legislation (A-2844), the emergency alert plan would be a voluntary, cooperative effort between state and local law enforcement agencies and the broadcast media. Upon notice by the state police, broadcast media would transmit an emergency alert to inform the public of the disappearance of an elderly person or a younger person suffering from a cognitive impairment such as autism.