The Illusionist
Cami Anderson, Chris Christie’s overseer of the Newark schools, spent a good part of the first day of school traveling to schools she knew would be orderly, stopping along the way to give impromptu news conferences in which she praised her “One Newark” plan. She apparently missed the scores of empty buses roaming the streets in search of children, the anxious parents still trying to find placement for their kids, and the complete lack of transportation for special education students. Cami was doing her illusionist’s trick.
“We’re doing great,” she said at East Side High School, blather matched only by state Education Commissioner David Hespe’s obtuse, “She’s doing a good job.” Hespe’s fatuous praise for a woman he has privately let on he detests is right up there with George W. Bush’s “Heck of a job, Brownie,” as black corpses floated in the post-Katrina wash in Louisiana.
Yesterday was an odd day. A day that could be anything anyone wanted to say it was. With more than 40,000 children going back–or not–to more than 40 schools, trying to get a handle on Anderson’s success or the success of the parental boycott was difficult, if not impossible. Indeed, the argument could be even made that the boycott was so successful that it created the illusion of making Cami look more successful. Imagine what would have happened to all those wayward buses if children actually showed up.
Anderson said it was “difficult to clean attendance numbers” on the first day of school and, lucky for her, she is right. But, let’s face it, Cami Anderson is a chronic liar–remember her denial that she sent out a letter warning about the criminal tendencies of Newark children? So, even if she showed up with an accounting of attendance certified by Pope Francis, I wouldn’t believe it.
Wilhelmina Holder, leader of the Secondary School Council, declared the boycott a “huge success” and said as many as 50 percent of children stayed away. I believe her.
I do because these are some of the things I saw in the early morning hours of Thursday. I saw–scores of empty buses waiting in vain for students and then The Illusionist | Bob Braun's Ledger: