Newark's Charters: Perception Is NOT Reality
Apparently, the hue and cry in Newark against state control of the schools (coming from the elected school advisory board, the elected city council, the students, the teachers, and the parents) is getting so loud that State Superintendent Cami Anderson and State Education Commissioner Chris Cerf feel like they have to show at least a little acknowledgment of their critics:
Superintendent of Schools Cami Anderson announced an initiative Thursday night intended to close the perceived rift between the city’s charter and traditional public schools and raise the quality of the entire public school system for all its nearly 40,000 students.“This is a joint and collective agenda between the public charter schools and the Newark public schools to get to a day where every kid in Newark is in an excellent school,” Anderson said shortly before she unveiled the plan, “One Newark,” at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.Underscoring the importance of the proposal was an audience that included Chris Cerf, the head of the state Department of Education, prominent Rutgers scholar Clement Price, and mayoral candidates Anibal Ramos and Shavar Jeffries.Anderson and other speakers Thursday said a principal aim of One Newark was to
