Has Newark’s community schools initiative been sold out already?
Activist Donna Jackson ejected from school board meeting Tuesday night after she called on the panel not to give in to Cerf’s “threats.”
Community schools in Newark were supposed to be the public school answer to expansion of privately-operated charter schools imposed on the city school district by Gov. Chris Christie’s agents. But, now, it turns out, two of the schools selected to receive extra resources as community schools have applied to become charter schools–and won’t withdraw their applications.
The announcement that the two BRICK Academy schools–Peshine Avenue and Avon Avenue–were among the five South Ward schools to be selected as community schools set off a sharp argument between members of the elected school board and state-appointed superintendent Christopher Cerf at Tuesday’s night’s board meeting. Cerf unexpectedly partnered with Mayor Ras Baraka to sponsor the community school initiative at the end of last year.
Board members demanded to know why Cerf and Baraka had chosen Peshine and Avon, schools run like charter schools with enhanced funding and headed by an entrepreneur named Dominique Lee who was an associate of former state-appointed superintendent Cami Anderson at Teach for America (TFA), a private recruitment agency that has brought young teachers into the city for brief tenures while seasoned veterans lost their jobs. BRICK stands for Building Responsible Intelligent Caring Kids.
Board member Antoinette Baskerville Richardson said she believed resources to be provided to the community schools “might be best spent” on other public schools in the South Ward that are not seeking to be charters. Schools like George Washington Carver, Chancellor Avenue, and Hawthorne Avenue were mentioned.
Cerf, who did not offer an explanation as to why and how Avon and Peshine were Has Newark’s community schools initiative been sold out already? |:
