Cary Booker Surprised to be Legally Held to His Charter School’s Application
On July 11, 2019, NJ.com published a story about Cary Booker, Democratic presidential hopeful Cory Booker’s brother: “Cory Booker’s Brother Opened a School So Bad It Got Shut Down. N.J. Just Gave Him a $150K Education Job.”
Cary Booker
Some excerpts:
It was spring of 2011, and Omni Prep Academy, the Tennessee charter school co-founded and led by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s older brother, could no longer pay its kindergarten and first-grade teachers….Five years after that — with the school consistently ranked near the bottom of state rankings — Omni Prep was ordered to close. …Omni Prep, which primarily served minority children in one of America’s poorest metro areas, was ordered to close by Shelby County Schools in 2016. Its appeal to the state was rejected, with a top Tennessee education official writing the school “continually failed to meet the most minimal of performance standards.” …After working as a policy consultant on [New Jersey governor Phil] Murphy’s campaign in 2017, Cary Booker became the administration’s senior education adviser in 2018, earning $120,000. This June, six days before Murphy stumped for Cory Booker’s presidential campaign in Iowa, the Democratic governor’s administration awarded Cary Booker a new $150,000 position leading the state’s Division of Early Childhood Education, which focuses on birth to third grade.Yet Cary Booker has never worked in preschools in any capacity, and his primary experience with young elementary school students was at Omni Prep, according to a resume obtained through an open records request. …A resume provided to New Jersey’s state government made no mention of Omni Prep’s closing. …In a statement, Gov. Phil Murphy expressed confidence in Cary Booker, who has worked in education-related jobs for 30 years….
So much is problematic here and yet unsurprising in this heyday of market-based ed reform. Cary Booker failed in a charter school venture and yet is promoted to CONTINUE READING: Cary Booker Surprised to be Legally Held to His Charter School’s Application | deutsch29
