Newark’s schools: Three questions begging for answers
Nothing beyond silence, resignation, and acquiescence comes out of Newark’s once united and vocal pro public school community anymore, but there are three questions that should be answered. They probably won’t be until it’s too late to do anyone any good. Here they are:
1. Why have schools and families throughout the rest of the state received their PARCC scores but not Newark? What scam is Christopher Cerf, the state-imposed superintendent, planning to make him and Gov. Chris Christie look good while making traditional public schools look worse? By the time the scores are made available to teachers, they will be useless as diagnostic and remedial tools.
2. Why is no one protesting the decision by the so-called “Brick Academy” to bypass state law and become a charter school through the clumsy expedience of closing down and reopening as a privately-operated school. We know of course that Dominique Lee, an old-time Teach for America crony of Cami Anderson, has been given unprecedented private, entrepreneurial control of Avon and Peshine. But there is a law requiring a vote by teachers and family to convert a public school into a charter. Why is it that following a law is always a requirement of the powerless—but never of the powerful? We know why Cerf is allowing this—like Newark’s schools: Three questions begging for answers | Bob Braun's Ledger:
