Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Jersey Jazzman: Camden Takeover: So, Now What?

Jersey Jazzman: Camden Takeover: So, Now What?:


Camden Takeover: So, Now What?

So, the state is taking over Camden's schools. Because "for too long the public school system in Camden has failed its children." OK...

What's the plan?

What is the state going to do that cannot be done under a local school board that was already appointed by the mayor and monitored closely by the state? Looking at the intervention plan, it seems that the state has no other proposals right now other than... taking over the district.

Over and over, the plan finds fault with the Camden City Public Schools for its failure to provide "leadership." What the report fails to mention, however, is that Camden has had an absent superintendent for a good long while now - a superintendent that was approved only with the assent of the state government.

The BOE was already interviewing candidates, all of which would have had to have been approved by the state once again. So it's not like the state takeover was necessary to get good leadership into Camden's system.

Again: what's the plan?

We keep hearing over and over again that the CCPS's finances must be a train wreck, because the district spends so much money per pupil. Leave aside how this argument is completely a-contextual and, on Chris