Blue Jersey:: Camden's Public School Parents Deserve Vote and Voice in School Closures

Blue Jersey:: Camden's Public School Parents Deserve Vote and Voice in School Closures:

Camden's Public School Parents Deserve Vote and Voice in School Closures

Camden heating up. Promoted by Rosi. Cross-posted from the Local Knowledge Blog.How many signatures would it take to stop a school closure?  How many parents coming to meetings would it take to stop a school closure?  How many parental votes would it take to stop a school closure?     There are no answers to these questions because the Camden School District has steadfastly refused to be accountable in any concrete manner to the parents it claims to serve. But based off of this video from a meeting held at a school being taken over, we do know two things: 1) We know that in Camden, as in Newark, Philadelphia and New Orleans before it, local institutions, teachers and schools are deeply valued by their communities and 2) we have concrete evidence that Camden's state-appointed Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard is incapable of reaching out and being accountable to parents in the schools he is closing. Here's the video:

Stephen Danley :: Camden's Public School Parents Deserve Vote and Voice in School Closures

Over and over, these parents express how deeply they value McGraw. One parent asks why they can't keep the teachers. Another talks about the wonderful music and arts programs. A third explains that when she was in the Camden public school system, she had a teacher she loved and that that teacher is now the principal at McGraw. A fourth teacher asks why the principal has to leave at all. A fifth parent laments, "why come here and discombobulate our home?"Right now, there is a raging debate in Camden about what a great school is, but that quote, at 16:47 is a powerful reminder that sometimes schools are more than test-score factories. Camden parents see these schools as home. What a testimony to the value of having long-lasting institutions with deep roots in the neighborhood, and to the value parents find in that very thing. It makes a sharp contrast with the newcomers standing in front of the community. Early on in the meeting, a parent asks, "you don't even know nobody's [sic] name in here, do you?" (2:29) This speaks to a larger problem in Camden. The Camden School District central office has been gutted of local educators. What is obvious from this meeting, and from the events of the last year and a half, is that replacing a local educators with young, inexperienced staff from other locations makes it virtually impossible to Blue Jersey:: Camden's Public School Parents Deserve Vote and Voice in School Closures: