(upbeat music) - From NJ PBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi.

- Good evening and thanks for joining us on this Tuesday night.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

Tonight, a few stories we're digging into later in the broadcast.

It's back to school, but business as usual for the candidates in New Jersey's governor's race as they push their agenda to reform schools in the state.

We'll take a look at where they stand on the issues.

Plus, commuter confusion as South Jersey SEPTA riders get a reprieve on fare increases and service cuts, but for how long?

Then, why is one of the state's largest high schools cutting their mental health services amid a youth mental health crisis?

First, though, a few of today's top headlines.

The Labor Day holiday was marked with hundreds of local, state, and national protests supporting workers' rights while taking aim at President Donald Trump and his policies.

In deeply red Ocean City, New Jersey, hundreds of members of the local chapter of Indivisible marched for several blocks down the boardwalk in an event dubbed "Workers Over Billionaires," calling out the influence of corporations and wealthy business moguls over the president, while also carrying signs that called out the administration's targeting of DEI policies, cuts to science, and higher education.

It was a similar scene in Princeton, where the focus was on ramped-up deportations and immigration action.

Organizers called for more protections for immigrant workers and increased workers' rights.

Demonstrators also held a moment of silence for people they say have been harmed by the Trump administration's policies.

Other mass protests played out in New York, Chicago and D.C.

In response, a White House spokesperson said the president believes American workers are the "hardened soul of our economy."

Also tonight, the end is finally in sight for Paterson residents who have been dealing with a boil water advisory for nearly a month.

The Passaic Valley Water Commission this weekend lifted the advisory for the majority of customers in Paterson and for the entire borough of Prospect Park.

The Water Commission says extensive water quality testing was done with the state DEP and local health officials confirming that the water is safe to drink, except for a few areas in Paterson because of an interconnection with the Manchester Utilities Authority, which services residents in Halden and North Halden.

Those customers do need to continue boiling their water for at least a minute before use until further notice.

In the meantime, though, both towns say they'll continue handing out bottled water for anyone in need.

It all stems from multiple water main breaks last month that began near the historic Hinchcliffe Stadium with a nearly 140-year-old pipe leaving hundreds of thousands of people without access to clean water.

And major pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens are pulling back access to COVID-19 vaccines following new guidelines from the federal government.

Those limit eligibility to seniors and high-risk groups only.

CVS will completely stop offering the shots in three states, Massachusetts, Nevada and New Mexico and require a prescription in 13 other states and Washington, D.C., according to a spokesperson, who also said the decision was based on the current regulatory environment.

But the updated vaccine will still be available to anyone in New Jersey at all CVS locations here, including for people without a prescription.

And according to reports, Walgreens will be offering the shots in quote states where we're able to do so, according to a spokesperson there.

They're referencing some state guidelines that require approvals from the CDC to administer the vaccine.

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ended emergency use authorization for COVID-19 vaccinations and approved updated shots only for people over age 65 and those with underlying health conditions, putting them at higher risk of severe illness.

Coming up as the school year begins for more New Jersey kids this week, we find out where the gubernatorial candidates stand on top issues in our classrooms, from parental rights to state funding and more.

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- Labor Day weekend marks the traditional start of election season here in New Jersey, and in the closely watched governor's race, education is emerging as a key campaign issue.

Democrat Mikey Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciatarelli both say the state's school funding formula needs reform, for example.

But they have sharply different ideas on how to fix it, and even deeper divides on other hot-button issues that have dominated culture wars in the state.

Here to break it all down is our senior political correspondent, David Cruz.

David, good to see you.

Lots on their platform agenda.

Where do they stand here?

Absolutely.

Brianna, neither of these candidates, though, is running as the education governor.

Education is mostly in the headlines for two things.

The school funding formula, we saw some districts suing the state over this, and differences in what materials kids are exposed to in classes and school libraries and so-called parental rights issues.

Republicans have been on the offensive on this, using it against progressives with some success in local elections, but overall not to any great gains in the legislature.

Still, when it comes to education this time around, Republican Jack Ciatarelli is returning to that theme.

Here he is last week at a rally in Jersey City with the group Moms for Liberty.

As if policy 5756 wasn't bad enough, this is the policy that says that school districts can keep secrets from parents.

I've said throughout the course of this campaign, I will continue to do so over the next 68 days, right up until election day.

That policy is immoral, it's indecent, it's wrong, and it's dangerous.

Our students are best served when school districts and parents work in partnership, not in secret.

That policy, 5756, refers to guidance from the state that requires schools to recognize trans and non-binary kids and their preferences for names and pronouns.

But it also prevents schools from disclosing that information to parents.

The argument for the policy is that it creates a safe space for kids at school and theoretically allows families to have their own conversations and make their own choices.

But so much of this side of the debate is based on exaggerations and misinformation.

It's tough to find subtlety.

Here's Democrat Mikey Sherrill, for example, from your conversation with her just before the primary.

Should parents have the right to opt their kids out of LGBTQ related content in the same way that right now they can be removed from sex ed and health curriculum classes?

Look, I believe that parents have the right to oversee their children's education.

I would push an LGBTQ education into our schools.

Parents have a right to opt out of a lot of things, but this is not an area where they should be opting out, because this is an area of understanding the background of people throughout our nation.

And right now, we see, for example, at the Naval Academy, an erasure of history.

You heard Cheryl say there, this is not an area where they should be opting out.

But she didn't say she would mandate anything, which just highlights how treacherous this area can be politically.

A big difference many people cite between these two candidates is that Cittarelli, whether you agree with him or not, is clear about where he stands.

Sheryl can sometimes be all over the place.

Here's an example from that same primary conversation you had.

If we want to make change here, if we want to go against the status quo, if we want to really deliver for people, we have to do something differently.

We now know, you know, we have one of the most segregated school systems in the nation.

That should be unacceptable to everyone in New Jersey.

We have underfunding for students with disabilities.

I hear about it all the time and parents struggle.

So what would you do as governor to distribute this aid?

So as governor, that's why I think we really need to have some of our county-based school systems so we can have a better program for people to go to a magnet school, whether it's occupational, STEM, et cetera, so we can take some of the load-off towns, put people into the school.

Would you mandate that as governor?

I'd work with the counties to work on that where it's appropriate.

Some counties and areas already have that, so pushing in on the areas that need that, as well as then making sure that we are modernizing any funding formulas, because it's quite different, especially some of the students with disabilities.

I promise I'm coming back to you.

And then people won't have that year over year change where suddenly towns are right before the school system laying off teachers because they don't have the funding.

I'm glad everybody's concerned about segregation now.

You heard a few seconds from Newark Mayor Ras Baraka there expressing some cynicism about Cheryl's answers.

He's expected to formally and finally, some say, endorse her this week.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of impact he may have on her education policy.

He is far left of Cheryl in that regard.

But here's what you heard from Cheryl in that soundbite.

She touches on segregated schools, the school funding formula, funding for students with disabilities.

It's a lot of stuff.

Meanwhile, here's Cittarelli on the school funding formula.

We need a new school funding formula, a more equitable distribution of state aid to schools with lower property taxes in districts all around the state.

And so I have specific ideas on what the next school funding formula should look like and pass muster with the state Supreme Court.

Not any more specific than Sheryl, frankly, but sometimes voters want to hear fewer words, even if they don't say much.

So on school funding, both say they want to fully fund schools.

Cittarelli would scrap the current funding formula.

Sheryl says she'd tweak it, but not a lot of specifics from either on how, though.

Charter schools, Cittarelli is a yes.

Sheryl is generally a no.

In the end, neither candidate is going to be able to make much change on their own.

They'll need lawmakers to play along, and lawmakers have shown little interest in doing the heavy lifting required to bring significant changes to state schools, which can make it easy to talk about your plans when you can blame someone else when they don't get implemented.

Brianna.

Yeah, it's a great point, David.

And as we always say, in politics, a couple of months is plenty of time for everything to blow up.

But I wanted to ask you about this Baraka factor.

We so often talk about the influence of the president over this race.

But someone like Raz Baraka, who really performed well in the primary and coalesced those progressive voters quite handily, could he have an impact on the Sheryl vote?

What do we expect from that?

He can if he really strongly endorses her and works for her.

This could be just an arrangement of, look, you gotta endorse me, and then that's it.

It depends a lot on how much he gets involved.

Yeah, and of course we'll have more on that with you tomorrow.

David Cruz, thanks so much.

Thank you.

In our spotlight on Business Report tonight, SEPTA's so-called Doomsday Plan has officially been put on pause, sparing riders from fair hikes and service cuts just days before they were set to go into effect.

The move comes after a court order this weekend halted the plans, but SEPTA is still facing a massive budget shortfall and not all the cuts can be reversed.

Raven Santana has more on what happens next for riders who rely on the rail line.

Now boarding on track two is the 1059 westbound SEPTA train to Philadelphia.

hitting the brakes on its planned fare hikes and regional rail service cuts, at least for now.

A Philadelphia judge has ordered the transit agency to halt any new increases or reductions that weren't already in place.

Well, without the SEPTA line, hundreds of commuters that don't have adequate transportation need to get to their jobs down the line, which is in Philadelphia.

people out of their cars, about parking or congesti this line alive.

The cuts begin today.

Trenton's ma have been devastating and one works in new york, on philadelphia and they like the convenience of having this transit center right here so that both partners can see each other off and we hope it maintains its viability it's really needed and it's really important to the commuters that go across the state line for work every day.

I'm certainly hoping that everybody in Pennsylvania can get their heads together and figure out the problem and then try to fix it.

Inevitable that there will be some raises, rate fares, increases, you know, that's that's going to be the inevitable.

But the idea is they need to get more people onto trains and buses as opposed to getting out of them and getting on the road.

That's ridiculous.

But the challenge isn't over.

SEPTA still faces a $213 million budget gap, meaning fair hikes could resurface, impacting towns like Ewing, which is served by the West Trenton line.

My greatest concern is that the influx of people that have come in here because of this train station is going to stop.

So it's going to put pressure on the town center to try to get occupants in there.

So we need this to be a functional train station.

Well, SEPTA riders say they are relieved that those fares will not go up as originally planned.

Some that I spoke with say that any type of major service cuts could be detrimental, especially to those who rely on public transportation to get around.

A lot of things have changed.

I won't be able to jump on a train or nothing, you know?

See, I ain't got no license.

They took my license, so I got to catch buses and trains and stuff like that, you know?

I have to reevaluate, because if not, if I have to drive all the way there or take an Uber or Lyft, it's not affordable.

$5 to where I need to go and $5 back so it's affordable.

If not, it's going to be $80, $90 in a Lyft.

Not worth going to work.

I'm going to have to find another job.

That's what I mean, honestly.

I'll have to find something closer and local.

Yeah.

For now, SEPTA's Regional Rail Service and the future of the commuters who depend on it remains uncertain.

The next court hearing is set for Thursday, September 4th.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.

Support for The Business Report is provided by Riverview Jazz, presenting the Jersey City Latin Jazz Festival, September 5th through 6th.

Event details, including performance schedules and location, are online at jerseycitylatinjazzfestival.com.

- Well, as students across the state return to the classroom this week, one of New Jersey's largest high schools is doing so without a support system that many say is essential, school-based mental health services.

The Hunterdon Central Regional High School Board voted last month to end partnerships with two longtime providers just 10 days before classes began.

The decision has sparked backlash from parents, students, and staff, especially in a district where teen suicide has left lasting scars.

I'm joined now by our mental health writer, Bobby Breyer, for more on what led to the decision and what happens next.

Bobby, it's good to see you.

Thanks for coming in studio.

So yeah, I mean, why did the board make this decision and why now?

Yeah, it's interesting, Bri.

When we look at this August 18th board meeting, you know, some of the school board members who voted in favor of ending this contract with Care Plus New Jersey really cited cost.

Right now, what was on the table was a contract with that behavioral health service to essentially provide more intense mental health support to students, maybe students who are struggling with say suicidal ideation or suicidality.

But right now, that contract was looking at just shy of $280,000.

But it's interesting because they've had this service in place for about five years now.

So there was a lot of outrage and kind of confusion overall from parents and students saying, you know, we know this has a positive track record for student mental health, kind of coming as we post pandemic, we're in the middle, still what many experts have called a youth mental health crisis.

So it's interesting.

And so there was, that was the first part of it.

- Is cost the full picture though?

I mean, was there reasoning from the board that it's not being utilized or that students are getting these services elsewhere?

I mean, what's the full scope of this?

- You know, cost was that first part.

Essentially when they continued to give their explanation, they said, you know, we already have essentially enough mental health services.

We have student counselors and student assistance counselors that could provide these services.

But when I talked to parents and some former school officials about this, they really said that, you know, this is not the level of support that is needed for some students that need more intense mental health support, that may be struggling with long-term anxiety and depression, kind of things that are more than just kind of those first day of school jitters, so to say.

So this is something that's way deeper than what we're seeing.

So they disagreed with that assessment by the board and it seemed like from your reporting that the superintendent was stunned and like maybe there's an internal communications issue here about just how badly needed this is.

That's right.

You know, the superintendent there essentially said that, you know, she was surprised by the board's decision or disappointed really in this.

But she also throughout the course of that meeting pointed to the fact that the school couldn't come to a contractual agreement with Hunterdon Behavioral Health.

That's their school-based youth service provider, a separate mental health services from what Care Plus provided that had been providing services for over 30 years to the school.

So when you slash those two programs and students are coming back on this first day of school, parents and students are really saying, you know, what are we really left with here given the history of students dying by suicide in the school.

We know that happened in 2017 and 2019, as well as a number of other times.

So it's really puzzling and it's coming at a time when we're seeing other, you know, high schools really ramp up their mental health services.

So it's interesting to say the least.

Yeah, I mean, this district has not been immune to these issues by any means, as you just mentioned.

This is something that they've really been at the forefront in terms of needing to have a system in place and putting one in place.

What else is there then without CARE+ without the 100 in behavioral health?

Is there anything that can replace it or at least mirror what they had?

Sure, you know at the time the superintendent mentioned that they're going to try to contract with outside mental health service providers, essentially like on an as needed basis.

But they also said with the dropping of the school based youth services program through Hunterdon, essentially now they're eligible for the state's school based youth services, excuse me, the NJ4S model.

What is that?

That's essentially aimed to trying to provide more mental health services to more students throughout the state.

That's a program that offers different tiers of support to students.

So that would be school assemblies, looking at anti-bullying prevention.

But if students need more of a higher level of tier support, they would have to fill out an application and eventually be connected with a mental health services provider.

While that's available, there are some school districts that are really partnering with outside contractors, such as Effective School Solutions, to provide some more of those higher tiers of support.

So there's kind of a wide array that we're seeing right now of ways to address mental health services.

But this is an interesting development out of 100 and Central, given what we know.

How are other school districts handling this?

I mean, a lot of folks, a lot of districts are dealing with budget issues, with less state aid, with less federal aid that has been trickled down.

What are we seeing elsewhere?

Because you've covered this quite a bit in other districts.

Right, you know, they're partnering, many schools are partnering with places like Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care or something like Effective School Solutions.

Essentially these mental health providers that can provide these additional tiers of support.

I spoke to the CEO of Effective School Solutions who had essentially said that they're providing these services to 60 school districts for this upcoming school year.

It's interesting given the fact of what we know about suicidality in the state, the rise of mental health issues, and really how many populations of young people, including LGBTQ young people, are feeling pressure right now, are feeling anxiety and depression.

As we know, over the summer, the federal government cut the Press 3 option for the 9-8-8 line for many young people.

So this is an issue that we're continuing to see kind of grow, and really, 100th and Central, at least at this time, seems to be an outlier in many situations when we see other school districts trying to ramp up, as much as they can, their mental health services.

Yeah, what's the bigger picture here?

I mean, you mentioned it in terms of just how much this problem has grown, the lack of access for some students, especially trans and LGBTQ students.

What's the bigger picture about what this might mean for these kids who have relied on a program that's not going to be there now as they get back to school?

You know, for students that can afford it and for families that can afford it, it would probably mean they'd have to go outside of the school to find those additional mental health services.

But for students that can afford it, many are going to be essentially left to their own devices to figure this out.

As we know, students are often served best from what many school officials have said when they have the ability to access those mental health services in the school or during the school hours.

Everybody's schedule seems to be packed these days.

So essentially, that idea of being able to get that support while you're in the school building is mostly the most effective way to approach this.

It's also something that helps to kind of reduce that stigma among students.

You know, if you're able to be, you know, go to a mental health provider but not have to miss class because of it, you're able to keep up with your schoolwork.

Those are the kind of things that we may see.

We also may see more of an issue with emergency rooms in terms of a lot of hospitals having to deal with the crisis of if a school or a contractor cannot deal with more intense mental health issues, they may then have to end up sending a student rather to the emergency room.

So there could be many ripple effects here that we may not see yet.

- Yeah, and I know that we'll be watching for all of those.

You can read Bobby Breyer's story on this and all of his mental health reporting on our website, njspotlightnews.org.

Bobby, thanks so much.

- Thanks, Brianna.

- That's gonna do it for us tonight, but a reminder, you can download our podcast wherever you listen and watch us anytime by subscribing to the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

Plus, you can always follow us on Instagram and Blue Sky to stay up to date on all the state's big headlines.

And if you wanna help support the programming public media brings you and keep stations like this one thriving, head to njspotlightnews.org/donate.

I'm Briana Vannozzi for the entire team at NJ Spotlight News.

Thanks for being with us.

Have a great night.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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Event details, including performance schedules and location, are online at jerseycitylatinjazzfestival.com.

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