Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. Is My Hero Of The Day!
Thank you, Congressman Donald Payne, Jr.! We need more like this!
Good news: as the battle between Superintendent Anderson and the parents, community and teachers of Newark escalates, more elected officials in NJ are realizing that Cami and Christie aren't doing “a heckuva job” in reformy Newark. The latest is Congressman Donald Payne, Jr. (D-10) who sent this tersely wordedletter to Anderson which basically asks her why and how the One Newark plan will provide successful outcomes for “all students” (his emphasis):
“My greatest concern is that this plan seems to only grow charter schools; significant efforts to strengthen the district’s traditional public schools are noticeably absent. One cannot discount the work that high performing charter schools in Newark continue to do to educate the lucky minority of students who win a lottery (emphasis mine) to these schools. However, given the fact that a majority of students still attend the district’s traditional public schools, any effort to strengthen outcomes for all students must (emphasis his) include strengthening traditional public schools.”
And therein, my friends, lies the rub. Where is the plan to strengthen the public schools? The charter lottery jackpot has now morphed into that scene in ‘Toy Story’ where Woody and Buzz are trapped in the Alien claw machine and as the evil Sid maneuvers the claw to capture as many toys as possible, the mesmerized little green guy says, “The claw is our master… The claw decides who will go and who will stay.” Anderson