The Newark board defies Cerf. Cerf (politely) defies the Newark board. Christie is still the “decider.”
The Newark school board Tuesday night ordered an end to the “One Newark” enrollment plan that has resulted in the dispersal of children throughout the city, the closing of public schools and programs, and a brave new future for charter schools. Of course, the Newark school board doesn’t have the power to do that and the entrepreneurial educator who does–Chris Christie’s former boss, Christopher Cerf–said he would continue “One Newark” despite the board’s action.
The school board did what it could to assert its independence and members of the community loudly and repeatedly signaled their distaste for the Montclair resident who once was state education commissioner and an officer of Edison Learning, a company that hired a second-rate lawyer from Morris County named Chris Christie to be a lobbyist.
The board also voted to fire Vanessa Rodriguez, the district’s “chief talent officer,” for allowing a former assistant superintendent to take unwarranted sick leave–something else Cerf doesn’t want to happen. He called the collection of New York refugees hired by former superintendent Cami Anderson to be top staff “spectacular.”
Cerf is much slicker–or, to put it another way, has much better manners–than the woman he both hired and replaced, Anderson, and he displayed them in his “superintendent’s report,” an oily recounting of how committed he was to “public schools” and “the children of Newark.”
Public policy, however, is a matter of definition–and Cerf made it clear he defined “public schools” as including charter schools–he was a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Public Charter Schools and a business The Newark board defies Cerf. Cerf (politely) defies the Newark board. Christie is still the “decider.” | Bob Braun's Ledger: