[cs_edworkers] Cami's at it again -- but Newark parents follow her to Washington
- From: Marjorie Stamberg <marjoriestamberg@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: pathways-teach@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, "cs_edworkers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <cs_edworkers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 17:38:42 -0500
Some things just make ya happy -- check out the great Newark parents who
went down to D.C. to protest Newark's privatizing policies. Thanks to Ed
H. for pointing this out to us..... from today's Washington Post.
In D.C. to talk education, Newark schools chief faces protest over
reforms Newark
superintendent Cami Anderson was booed off stage during a school advisory
board meeting on Jan. 28, 2014, after the crowd chanted, "Save our
schools," and, "Cami must go." (Newark Public Schools)By Lyndsey Layton
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/lyndsey-layton> November 13 at 7:32 PM
<lyndsey.layton@xxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=Reader%20feedback%20for%20%27In%20D.C.%20to%20talk%20education,%20Newark%20schools%20chief%20faces%20protest%20over%20reforms%27>
Cami Anderson, who runs the largest school district in New Jersey, came to
Washington on Thursday to give a quiet talk about education at a think
tank. But the staid event quickly turned dramatic when a busload of angry
residents followed Anderson from Newark in a display of the slugfest
politics that have infused debate over public education across the country.
“For us, what’s going on in Newark is not a triumph, it’s a tragedy,” said
Sharon Smith, who has three children in that city’s public schools and was
among about 40 parents and students who filled the 12th floor conference
room at the American Enterprise Institute. “Our children are facing this
disruption, and we don’t have a voice.”
The Newark protesters, several of whom registered in advance for the event,
ate a hot buffet lunch and waited for Anderson to appear, surprising
organizers and sending them scurrying.
“We’ve had 150 of these events since I’ve been here — people like Michelle
Rhee after she closed schools in D.C. and (former New York City Schools
Chancellor) Joel Klein when he was very controversial,” said Rick Hess,
director of education policy for the conservative think tank. “Never before
had such a disruption threatened in such a way.”
After some delay, a staffer announced that Anderson would deliver her talk
in a room two floors below without an audience, news that was met with
howls of protest.
The district needed a way to quickly improve quality at district schools
and reduce costs to better compete with the growing charter sector, she
said.
The One Newark plan, which took effect in September, essentially erased
school boundaries by allowing students to win seats at traditional schools
or charters through a single lottery, similar to those in the District and
New Orleans.
The new enrollment system afforded many families some choice among schools
but also sent thousands of students to new schools in unfamiliar
neighborhoods, posing logistical challenges and, some say, disrupting
neighborhood stability.
Anderson also cut about 1,000 jobs from the 8,000-employee payroll at the
school system, enraging unions.
At AEI on Thursday, Anderson said early indicators are positive. For the
first time in a decade, enrollment in Newark Public Schools has stabilized,
she said. Graduation rates are up, dropout rates are down, she said.
Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State
University, said the fight in Newark is as much about the substance of
education reform as it is about the manner in which it has been applied.
“Imagine in your school district you may be voting for a local school board
but the state controls the schools,” Harrison said. “For many suburbanites,
it’s a difficult concept to relate to. You think of schools as being
closest to where your power is. If you have a problem, you take it up at
the school board. In Newark, for many people, they feel that they don’t
have a say in their children’s education and that education is failing
them.”
Anderson said her opponents are a “relatively small group of folks who have
a very specific ideology that is anti-teacher-evaluations, anti-choice,
anti-charter and anti-state-involvement,” she said. “I have people who come
up to me all the time and say they’re so embarrassed by the behavior of
others.”
She said parents of students at schools that have been re-engineered
regularly thank her for the improvements. And she points to the fact that
there are 10,000 families on charter waiting lists in Newark as evidence
that parents want more quality schools.
But Baraka said Anderson is wrong.
“For her to say it’s a small group is disingenuous,” the mayor said. “The
people of Newark don’t want this.”
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- » [cs_edworkers] Cami's at it again -- but Newark parents follow her to Washington - Marjorie Stamberg
