SUSPENSION OF DISSIDENT SCHOOL PRINCIPALS REVS UP NEWARK OPPOSITION
State-appointed superintendent under fire for reprimand of four who spoke out at rally
- Credit: Howard Best/NPSNewark Superintendent of Schools Cami Anderson
Cami Anderson faces a new imbroglio over her reforms for Newark public schools – and new political discord.
The latest brouhaha is over the Newark superintendent’s suspension late last week of four principals who spoke out at a community rally against her plans to close or consolidate more than a half-dozen schools.
The exact reasons for the suspensions were unclear, with critics claiming it was purely because of their dissent, while others wondered if there had been outright defiance. The district itself is describing it as a personnel matter.
Whatever the reasons and the aftermath, the incident has sparked a new level of reaction from the political players within the city – and charges centered on how the developments in the state-run school district fit into the broader political turmoil that is taking place around Gov. Chris Christie.
City Councilman and mayoral candidate Ras Baraka has called for Anderson’s ouster in the aftermath of the suspensions.
Baraka has gradually become the locus of the opposition to the Anderson reforms, with both popular support by way of his mayoral campaign but also because of his