Jersey Jazzman: An Outrage in Camden

Jersey Jazzman: An Outrage in Camden:

An Admission of Failure

by Duke

This is nothing more than an admission of failure by our education overlords:

Charter schools are about to get a reality check.

As someone who has observed the breakneck pace of the growing charter school movement up close, Greg Richmond, who leads the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), is taking a step back.

"We didn't start this movement in order to create more failing schools, but that's what we have," Richmond told The Huffington Post. "Hundreds of them."

On Wednesday morning, Richmond will join New Jersey Schools Commissioner 

An Outrage in Camden

by Duke

Yesterday, I posted about the Camden Board of Education's reversal of their previous vote, which now allows the national charter management group KIPP to come into the city and take over a plot of land that was already designated to become a public school.

What I don't think I conveyed well, however, is how truly outrageous this entire plan is:

During the almost three-hour closed meeting, representatives of KIPP and the Cooper Foundation went in to explain their proposal. The dialogue consisted of "a lot of explaining and clarifying . . . and some 'We'll have to get back to you,' " board member Sean Brown said. 

Brown, who earlier voted against the KIPP proposal, said he switched because he believed the state would never build the long-promised Lanning Square public school. The state "will do whatever they can so it doesn't happen," he said. "And they have the power." [emphasis mine]

A little history is in order here: in 2004, the Lanning Square Elementary School was a crumbling safety hazard. Students were displaced into two other schools while the state got ready to build a brand new