by Nancy Solomon NPR Morning Edition | http://n.pr/kQ15VQ
Listen to the Story [4 min 45 sec]
Enlarge Gary He/insiderimages - Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Newark, N.J., last fall. Zuckerberg donated $100 million to improve local schools, but some are worried the money will be funneled to the wrong places. – smf: note banner for KIPP Charter Schools over Zuckerberg’s shoulder …can you say “Product Placement”?
June 20, 2011 - Nine months ago, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a $100 million gift to improve public schools in Newark, N.J. The plan to spend the money is now taking shape, and a new superintendent is coming on board to lead the effort.
But in New Jersey, initial jubilation over the gift has turned into protests, suspicion and a belief that students will never benefit from the money.
Community Feeling Shut Out
Thousands of Newark residents turned up at school board meetings this spring to protest Mayor Cory Booker's reform agenda, most notably a plan to close underperforming schools and place charter schools alongside regular schools in the same building.
Web Resources
Video of Newark Advisory School Board meeting
Lucious Jones, a parent and PTA member, attended one of those meetings.
"Folks are having an issue with the transparency, and they're having an issue with trust," Jones says.
Jones says Mayor Booker's reform plan was presented fully formed, without involving parents.
"There's been no community meetings. There are parents, there are community people who really want to be involved — they want to be in on the ground floor," he says. "We want to see community schools. We want to see functioning traditional public schools."
Privatizing Education?
People are also suspicious about who is making the decisions and whether they stand to profit. First, there's Chris Cerf, the new acting state commissioner of Education, who ultimately has control of Newark's schools because New Jersey took them over in 1995.
Enlarge Julio Cortez/AP - Newark Mayor Cory Booker, right, talks to community organizers after announcement of the Newark Public School chief in May. The organizers asked the mayor why the community wasn't invited to participate in the selection process.
Cerf is a founding partner in a firm that consults with school districts, including Newark. Now he sits on the board of the Foundation for Newark's Future, which was created by the mayor to double the Facebook gift and make the grants. The donors are venture capitalists, hedge fund managers and technology billionaires. Another board member works for Goldman Sachs, which donated to the foundation and also invests in for-profit education companies.
Paul Trachtenberg, a professor of education law at Rutgers, says it gives too much control of public institutions to private donors.
"It's driven by corporate notions of how one might run an efficient system of schooling — not really by focusing professionalization of education, but rather the reverse, of de-professionalizing the schools and assuming that if you're successful as a corporate manager, you can run a school system," Trachtenberg says.
A few days after Trachtenberg made these comments, Gov. Chris Christie announced he would hand over the operation of five under-performing schools in Camden to private companies. Trachtenberg says he fears Newark is headed in the same direction — privatizing education through charter schools and for-profit school operators.
Mayor Promises Money Isn't for Charter Schools
But Mayor Booker disagrees.
"That's a horrible characterization, frankly," Booker says. "The focus of the Zuckerberg grant is not to fund charter schools, it will be going towards traditional district schools, so that's just a falsehood."
Booker says he intends to focus on extending the school day and shortening the summer break. He also wants to focus on hiring quality teachers, providing better training for the teachers already in Newark, and reducing administrative staff and regulations.
"We want to make our principals real school leaders and instructional leaders by liberating them from a lot of the compliance of a huge central bureaucracy," Booker says. "So this is some of the things we know we're going to be doing — focusing on the classroom, focusing on teachers, focusing on independence and autonomy in schools, but at the same time focusing on higher levels of accountability."
Long-time Supporters Dubious
So the mayor may prove to be absolutely right, he may prove that the ideas he has are the ones we've been waiting for, but poor me, I just don't think so.
- Reverend Bill Howard, Bethany Baptist Church
The mayor says he's planning to add more community representatives onto the board, but so far, he's failed to convince some of his long-time supporters, including the Rev. Bill Howard at Bethany Baptist Church.
"So when I say to him, 'Talk to educators,' he's says to me 'I'm talking to the educators!,' except I can't meet any he's talking to," Howard says. "He's asked me who he should talk to and I've recommended people. They haven't heard from him yet. So the mayor may prove to be absolutely right, he may prove that the ideas he has are the ones we've been waiting for, but poor me, I just don't think so."
Howard's church is home to a successful charter school, but he's concerned that too many privately-operated schools will ultimately undermine the public school district. He says much of the promise of school reform in Newark will depend on how quickly the mayor can build bridges in a community that is feeling a lot more suspicion than hope.
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TRANSCRIPT:Heard on Morning Edition
June 20, 2011 - RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And now, to a story of a helping hand from another young star. Last fall, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a $100 million gift to improve public schools in Newark, New Jersey. Since then, other donors have pledged tens of millions in matching funds. The plan for how to spend the money is now taking shape, and a new superintendent is coming in to lead the effort to reform the city's schools. But as Nancy Solomon reports, the huge infusion of money from private sources has fueled fears that New York's public school system will be privatized.
(Soundbite of applause)
NANCY SOLOMON: Thousands of Newark residents turned up at school board meetings this spring to protest Mayor Cory Booker's reform agenda, most notably a plan to close underperforming schools and place charter schools alongside regular schools in the same building.
Unidentified Man: You can have your charters but never cross the doorway of our public schools. Take your pound of flesh.
(Soundbite of cheering and applause)
Mr. LUCIOUS JONES: Folks are having an issue with the transparency. And they're having an issue with trust.
SOLOMON: Lucious Jones, a parent and PTA member, says Mayor Booker's reform plan was presented fully formed without involving parents.
Mr. JONES: Theres been no community meetings. There are parents, there are community people who really want to be involved. They want to be in on the ground floor. We want to see community schools. We want to see functioning traditional public schools.
SOLOMON: People are also suspicious about who is making the decisions and whether they stand to profit. First, theres Chris Cerf, the new Acting State Commissioner of Education, who ultimately has control over Newarks schools because New Jersey took them over in 1995. Cerf is a founding partner in a firm that consults with school districts, including Newark. Now he sits on the board of the Foundation for Newarks Future, created by the mayor to double the Facebook gift and make the grants.
The donors are venture capitalists, hedge fund managers and technology billionaires. Another board member works for Goldman Sachs, which donated to the foundation and also invests in for-profit education companies.
Paul Trachtenberg, a Rutgers professor of education law says this gives too much control of public institutions to private donors.
Professor PAUL TRACTENBERG (Education Law, Rutgers University): It's driven by corporate notions of how one might run a more efficient system of schooling, not really by focusing on professionalization of education. But rather, the reverse of de-professionalizing the schools, and assuming that if you're successful as a corporate manager, you can run a school system.
SOLOMON: A few days after Tractenberg made these comments, Governor Chris Christie announced he would hand over the operation of five underperforming schools in New Jersey to private companies. Trachtenberg says he fears Newark is headed in the same direction, privatizing education through for-profit school operators and charter schools.
Mayor CORY BOOKER (Newark, New Jersey): I think thats a horrible characterization, frankly.
SOLOMON: Newark Mayor Cory Booker.
Mayor BOOKER: The focus of the Zuckerberg grant is not to fund charter schools. It will be going towards traditional district schools. So that is just a falsehood.
SOLOMON: Mayor Booker says he intends to focus on extending the school day and shortening the summer break. He also wants to focus on hiring quality teachers, providing better training for the teachers already in Newark, and reducing administrative staff and regulations.
Mayor BOOKER: We want to make our principals real school leaders and instructional leaders by liberating them of a lot of the compliance of a huge central bureaucracy. So this is some of the things we know were going to be doing: focusing on the classroom, focusing on the teachers, focusing on independence, on autonomy of schools. But at the same time, higher levels of accountability.
SOLOMON: The mayor says hes planning to add more community representatives onto the board. But so far, hes failed to convince some of his long-time supporters, such as Reverend Bill Howard at Bethany Baptist Church.
Reverend BILL HOWARD (Pastor, Bethany Baptist Church): So when I say to him, talk to educators, he's says to me: I'm talking to the educators, except I can't meet any he's talking to.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Rev. HOWARD: You know, he's asked me who he should talk to? I've recommended people. They haven't heard from him yet. So the mayor may prove to be absolutely right. He may prove that the ideas he has are the ones we've been waiting for. But poor me, I just don't think so.
SOLOMON: Howards church is home to a successful charter school, but hes concerned that too many privately operated schools will ultimately undermine the public school district. He says much of the promise of school reform in Newark will depend on how quickly the mayor can build bridges in a community that is feeling a lot more suspicion than hope.
For NPR News, Im Nancy Solomon.
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
connecting the dots:
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New Newark schools superintendent discusses first day, school consolidation plan
By Victoria St. Martin/The NWEARK Star-Ledger | http://bit.ly/j9o2dF
Alexandra Pais/Special to The Star-LedgerCami Anderson takes questions during a press conference with Gov. Chris Christie where she was formally nominated to be Newark's next superintendent at Science Park High School in Newark last month.
Monday, June 13, 2011, 8:53 PM - NEWARK — She played with colored blocks and helped a kindergartner put together puzzles about the numbers four and seven.
But during her first solo press conference as superintendent of Newark Public Schools today, Cami Anderson had a no-nonsense attitude. In fact, she wanted to finish up things quickly.
"It’s my first day and I have lots of stuff to do," said Anderson, minutes after visiting a class at BRICK Avon Academy.
Anderson said she toured three schools on her first day, and plans to visit more this week. Her goal, she said, is to get to know all principals in the system and to "walk in their shoes."
She also said she plans to attend parent forums, and spoke briefly about a new plan to consolidate a few system schools, saying the move will save the district $4.1 million in facility operating costs next year.
"I think this is a real win for us," she said of the plan, which proposes consolidating five schools and creating four high schools and opening or expanding seven new charter schools inside existing city schools.
"The more money we can save … the more likely we are to do other things," she said.
Anderson, who added "I know it can work," said the district will hold meet-and-greets for the school communities where schools will be consolidated.
Ras Baraka, councilman for the city’s South Ward and principal of Central High School, also held a press conference today about the findings of a council committee that examined education reform for the city. The conversation soon turned to the new superintendent and the district’s new plan, and Baraka was quick to voice his discontent.
"Of course it’s going to save money, but at what expense," said Baraka, who said he has an upcoming meeting with Anderson at Central. "These decisions are being made about money and space, and not about education.
"It’s not about school reform, it’s about economic reform. Sometimes you’re not going to be able to save money — education is expensive and ignorance is even more expensive."
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