“Looking back at my own childhood, I saw how important it was for me to mentor young girls in particular. I didn’t have any of that myself. I believe that God has destined me for this role, and that belief drives me every single day.”
In just the last three weeks of this new year, there have been 40 shootings. There were 647 mass shootings in 2022 alone. Firearms are now the No. 1 cause of death among American children.
The meeting was an outgrowth of a letter to President Biden from Pugliese after the release of National Assessment of Educational Progress data in October 2022.
As educators we need to find ways to help students in these difficult times. That’s why a red flag went up when word hit the street that the New Jersey State Board of Education was planning to re-establish a graduation test requirement this year.
Education was Pam Kirk’s destiny. “I was one of those kids who always played school,” she said. “I would line up my dolls and stuffed toys, and my sisters Laura and Lisa, and I would teach.”
