State-appointed schools chief giving away Newark school property–can the board stop Cerf?
The Burnet Street School–now a charter–will be given away to the city.
Newark’s state-appointed superintendent Christopher Cerf has reached a deal with city officials to turn over 12 school district properties worth millions of dollars to the Newark Housing Authority–for nothing.
Members of the Newark school board are expected to try to stop the massive property transfer at Tuesday night’s meeting but it’s not clear whether opponents of Cerf’s plan have enough votes to stop him–or even whether the board has the power to stop him. The state still controls the Newark district despite promises of a return to local control.
Cerf announced the plan at last week’s business meeting of the board, calling it part of his continuing efforts to cut the school district’s budget. He initially said all the property was unused, but that’s not true. One of the properties, the former Burnet Street School, is now occupied by the Paolo Freire Charter School. And there are more than these 12 parcels in the district’s property inventory.
“We are getting the impression we are being rushed to do this,” said board member Antoinette Baskerville-Richardson. “We don’t have the information we need.”
“We should have been notified,” said board member Dashay Carter. “We should have received the courtesy of being told you were doing this.”
Cerf insisted he had the power to make the deal and said he had “many meetings” with City Hall officials, presumably including Mayor Ras Baraka. Baskerville-Richardson shot back that he should have held a meeting with the school board members before cutting the deal with the city.
The state-appointed superintendent said the district spends $2 million to $4 million every year to maintain and insure the properties that are not used. Giving away the property would cut that amount from the budget, he said.
He called it, “responsible leadership and management.”
Carter, however, insisted the school district should have more control over the conditions of handing the land over to the Newark Housing Authority–particularly because the district will not immediately receive any compensation for the property State-appointed schools chief giving away Newark school property–can the board stop Cerf? |:
