NJDOE Brings Segregation, Attrition, High-Spending to Camden
NJDOE Commissioner Chris Cerf has made no secret of his wish to bring more charter schools to New Jersey. Less well known is his desire to bring in national charter management organizations (CMOs) to take over locally-run charters. This happened before at Paul Robeson Charter in Trenton; now he's bringing a New York CMO into Camden:
When Freedom Academy Charter School was put on state probation last year - its charter was in jeopardy because of poor academic results - it hired a New York charter management organization as an academic consultant while continuing a partnership with a local group to oversee its finances.
Eventually, both of those groups submitted bids to run the troubled Camden school as it came up for a five-year charter renewal this year.
On Thursday, the state Department of Education renewed Freedom Academy's charter after asking for and receiving a management agreement between Freedom and Democracy Prep Public