Pastors: Cami must stop!
Scores of Newark’s religious leaders—including nationally known ministers and a major supporter of Gov. Chris Christie’s re-election–have repudiated as potentially “catastrophic” the state-imposed “One Newark” plan to close neighborhood schools and “launch” new charter schools in the state’s largest city. The pastors, who labeled the plan “disruptive and divisive,” called on Christie and state-appointed schools superintendent Cami Anderson to immediately stop its implementation.
“We call upon Newark Superintendent of Schools, the
Acting Commissioner of Education, and the Governor of the State of New
Jersey to agree to a suspension of any further action pertaining to the One
Newark Public School Plan until an alternative educational plan can be
developed with substantial input from stakeholders at all levels of the
Newark community,” the religious leaders wrote.
Acting Commissioner of Education, and the Governor of the State of New
Jersey to agree to a suspension of any further action pertaining to the One
Newark Public School Plan until an alternative educational plan can be
developed with substantial input from stakeholders at all levels of the
Newark community,” the religious leaders wrote.
The pastors included Rev. Joe Carter of New Hope Baptist Church where Christie attended a service the day of his second inauguration last January. Carter had endorsed Christie’s re-election, contending his support of the Republican governor shows African-Americans “have options, too.”
The list also includes Rev. William Howard, one of the state’s and the nation’s most prominent clerics, the first African-American president of the New York Theological Seminary and head of the National Council of Churches. Howard also served as Pastors: Cami must stop! | Bob Braun's Ledger: