Newark Students Resisting Neoliberal Reforms In Their City | PopularResistance.Org

Newark Students Resisting Neoliberal Reforms In Their City | PopularResistance.Org:

Newark Students Resisting Neoliberal Reforms In Their City

RESIST! EDUCATION, NEOLIBERALISM, NEWARK, STUDENT ACTIVISM, UNIONS 
By Raven Rakia, www.youngist.org
May 31st, 2014

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Now with their own union, Newark students are resisting neoliberal reforms in their city. What can we expect from these powerful young people next?

By Raven Rakia

On Tuesday, May 20, 2014, the Newark Students Union (NSU) called for a rally on 2 Cedar Street, at the Board of Education building. As their supporters rallied outside, nine high school students from the NSU entered the building where the Board of Education was holding a meeting and staged a sit-in. As they slipped Cami Anderson, the superintendent, a list of their demands and sat down on the floor of the meeting, the nine students declared they weren’t leaving until their demands were met. The four demands read as follows: (1) Cami Anderson’s immediate resignation (2) Local control over the education system (3) Public schools to be fairly and fully funded and (4) All schools remain open.

Back in December, the NPS administration issued the “One Newark” plan: a complete restructuring of Newark’s public schools to take place in time for the 2014-2015 school year. Under the slogan, “100 excellent schools,” they describe the plan as a “community-wide agenda to ensure all students are in excellent schools and thriving communities.” In reality, the One Newark plan is a top-down approach orchestrated at the state level, which exercises complete control over public schools. Under the plan, some public schools will be closed, others will be turned into charters, and yet other schools will face a complete staff overhaul with potential layoffs.

On Tuesday, the Newark students and their supporters effectively shut down the Board meeting. Cami Anderson and other individuals from the NPS administration left the building, although Rashon Hassan and Donald Jackson from the Board came back and took the time to speak to the students. The next day, Anderson released an official statement, where she said while she is “supportive of students expressing their opinions,” she accused the sit-in as being “coached by adults” and said the students refused her offer to meet with them. In the Newark Students Union response, they asserted that “autonomy is a really important word to our union and it is something that we all possess. Thus, we were not coached by adults,” and the “shut down and sit in has been planned strategically and has been a Newark Students Resisting Neoliberal Reforms In Their City | PopularResistance.Org: