Newark students start school year amid series of changes
Published: Thursday, September 02, 2010, 8:55 PM Updated: Thursday, September 02, 2010, 9:09 PM
NEWARK — When Newark school district’s 39,000 students began their first day of classes today, they began a school year already full of change.
The district has 20 new principals this year and all students at the 74 schools must now wear school uniforms for the first time. Ninety teachers received new assignments while 200 educators were laid off. And two days before school started, the district’s superintendent learned the state would not renew his three-year contract.
A spokesperson for Superintendent Clifford Janey, however, said the city’s education chief will run the district until his contract expires at the end of the school year.
"Things are changing under Dr. Janey and they must change," said Valerie Merritt, a spokeswoman for the district, which is the largest in New Jersey and has been managed by the state since 1995. "We cannot operate the same way and expect different results. That’s insane."