The “turnaround” snafu–deliberately making neighborhood public schools fail?
The latest round of state-mandated school “reforms” imposed on the children, parents, and employees in the Newark public schools has created a bizarre situation in which virtually the entire staffs of so-called “turnaround” schools will be new and unknown to both neighborhood residents and to each other, many of these new teachers already have signaled their opposition to the changes mandated by the reform, and faculty will be working two different schedules in the same schools.
That could hardly be a recipe for success. So, maybe it is a deliberate plan for failure.
“It’s probably the most destructive action taken yet so far by the state,” said one teacher caught up in the turmoil who, out of fear of retribution, asked to remain anonymous. “It’s massive teacher swapping without any thought given to what the consequences are to children.”
The teacher called it the “One Newark plan for teachers”–after the “One Newark” universal student enrollment plan that has scattered children to schools throughout the city without regard to family needs. The new Newark superintendent, Christopher Cerf, has refused demands to end “One Newark” and also isn’t likely to stop the destructive “turnaround.”
The president of the Newark Teachers Union, John Abeigon, called the obvious screw-up an effort to impose the “shock doctrine” on schools, creating “intentional chaos” and deliberately trying to make neighborhood public schools fail.
However, neither the school board, the mayor’s office, nor Cerf’s office, would comment on the bureaucratic snafu.
The absurd set of circumstances was created when then state-imposed superintendent Cami Anderson announced that nine more schools would be added to the list of so-called “turnaround” schools that would–theoretically–operate on an extended day schedule with a staff of committed volunteers who had bought into the reform.
But it hasn’t turned out that way. Teachers had the right to opt out of the reform although they were warned they would be transferred to other schools, no matter The “turnaround” snafu–deliberately making neighborhood public schools fail? | Bob Braun's Ledger:
