EMBATTLED NEWARK SCHOOL CHIEF HAS IMPORTANT FRIEND IN HIGH PLACES
Christie expresses support for Cami Anderson and her reforms but won’t comment on her contract renewal
Amid calls for embattled Newark schools Superintendent Cami Anderson to step down, the man who appointed her in 2011 went out of his way yesterday to express support for her reform plans and praise her for the work she’s done in the state-run district.
“I have always backed Cami Anderson, and she was complimented by me in the State of the State speech just a few months ago,” he said during a Statehouse press conference, alluding to her front-row status at the January address.
But the governor hedged on whether he would renew Anderson’s three-year contract when it expires at the end of the June.
When asked specifically whether he will renew her $247,500 contract that expires June 31, he called it a “personnel decision” and a matter of negotiation between himself, Anderson and acting Education Commissioner David Hespe.
“I am not going to get into those issues, because we are in a tenuous contract period,” he said. “I am not going to get into telling you, before I make a decision on it and before I have more extensive conversations on that with Commissioner Hespe and Superintendent Anderson.”
Still, his strongest words were for Newark Mayor-elect Ras Baraka, who has been openly hostile to Anderson and has called for her resignation.
Christie said the mayor’s office, by state and local law, “has nothing to do” with the schools.
“The fact is I spoke with the mayor-elect yesterday, and I made it very clear that I Embattled Newark School Chief Has Important Friend in High Places - NJ Spotlight: