Is the NJEA waking up?
The struggle to save public schools from private, profit-making scams could well be lost. It will be lost–if it already hasn’t been lost–unless those groups with experience in organizing, resources for getting their message out, a history of lobbying, and a willingness to use the courts, grow some courage and take some risks. Yes, in this state, that means the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA).
There is hope in the obviously planned decision by NJEA leaders to support the struggle against the Christie Administration’s “One Newark” plan that closes neighborhood public schools and “launches” many new charter schools.
NJEA President Wendell Steinhauer and Vice President Marie Blistan have spoken at rallies and committee hearings objecting to the plans of Cami Anderson, Christie’s $300,000-a-year agent in Newark. Some might argue this isn’t the NJEA’s fight. The statewide teachers union represents only a handful of Newark school employees—mostly nurses–while teachers and other classroom employees are represented by the rival AFT.
The NJEA, too, has promised a “course correction” in policy emphasis that would link what is happening in Newark and other New Jersey cities to the interests of suburban teachers who may not yet realize what is at stake if public education collapses under state control in Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Camden and other cities. The NJEA recognizes it must provide leadership in persuading its members the radical transformation of urban education under state control is not someone Is the NJEA waking up? | Bob Braun's Ledger: