New Jersey and our freakin lawn signs

It wasn’t that long ago that the only time you’ll see a sign on someone’s lawn was if they were selling their home.

Maybe if they had a contractor do some roofing, siding or windows you'd see their sign. Yeah, at election time lawn signs of becoming have become more and more prevalent like that’s really gonna change or influence someone’s vote.

Then a few years ago, around the Trump era, came the virtue-signaling signs. “Hate has no home here“, love is love" and "science is real.“

Maybe it was the advent of social media, where everyone felt the need to share everything about their life. Their political views, their new kitchen, pictures of their children’s accomplishments, their new hairstyle or what they had for lunch.

The lawn sign that pops up this time of year is the high school graduation.

Dennis Malloy / Townsquare Media

"Congratulations Graduate." Sometimes they're personalized with a picture of a graduation cap and “congratulations Kyle.“

I’m sure Kyle is a good boy and I’m sure his parents are proud of him. For me, it was a little overindulgent and I wouldn’t do it.

But I did appreciate seeing the signs of some neighbors because I rarely saw their kids and couldn’t believe they had already graduated high school! So at least I kind of know how old they are.

But no one cares if they graduated with or without honors or where they’re going to college or if they’re going to college.

If the roofer who does my roof insists and asks me to put a sign on my lawn about his handiwork, I’ll do it.

New Jersey high school graduation rates

The lists below show 4-year graduation rates for New Jersey public schools for the 2020-21 school year. The statewide graduation rate fell slightly, from 91% in 2019-20 to 90.6%.

The lists, which are sorted by county and include a separate list for charter schools, also include a second graduation rate, which excludes students whose special education IEPs allow them to qualify for diplomas despite not meeting typical coursework and attendance requirements.

Columns with an asterisk or 'N' indicate there was no data or it was suppressed to protect student privacy.

The 30 best rated schools in New Jersey

Here are the top 30 schools statewide, based on their 2021-2022 New Jersey School Performance Reports — involving scores for language arts, math and attendance. (For an explanation of how the state calculates the "accountability indicator scores" and overall rating for each school, see page 90 of this reference guide.)

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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