Newark mayor demands city schools return to local control in NYT op-ed

[proverbialwisdom]

Source: Jessica Mazzola | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

October 20, 2014 at 12:39 PM, updated October 20, 2014 at 12:42 PM

NEWARK — Less than three weeks after Mayor Ras Baraka sent a letter to President Barack Obama criticizing school Superintendent Cami Anderson’s controversial ‘One Newark’ school overhaul plan, he has written a New York Times op-ed demanding the return of city schools to local control.

The Newark public school district has been under state control since 1995.

“Nearly 20 years later, it is clear that the state has failed on all counts,” Baraka wrote in the editorial. “Local control must be returned to Newark’s public schools immediately.”

Baraka pointed out several incidents of what he called the “state’s maladministration of Newark’s public schools,” and blasted Anderson’s ‘One Newark’ plan. The mayor has consistently been critical of the state-appointed superintendent’s policies.

Baraka also criticized Gov. Chris Christie’s efforts to reform the city’s schools, saying that his administration “own[s] the failure of the state’s policies.”

Read more: http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2014/10/newark_mayor_demands_city_schools_return_to_local_control_in_nyt_op-ed.html

[R.Quinn]

1. I agree with this.

Local oversight is always the best oversight. The last thing we need is more state and federal bureaucrats messing with our school system. Never ends well.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. We have the same issue here in the Philadelphia Public School system

taken over by the state and currently run by the state's "School Reform Commission" since 2001... And today, it's no better (in terms of accomplishments or finances) than when it was seized. In fact the financial piece is in a complete shambles and 2 weeks ago, the SRC announced that they had summarily canceled the teachers' current contract... doing so out of nowhere, in the dark of night. Fortunately today, a judge put a halt to that nonsense (although the SRC plans to appeal).

http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20141021_Judge_temporarily_bars_SRC_from_imposing_terms_on_teachers__union.html

There is a provision in the state law that allows for the city to take control back once a plan for running it locally is submitted. And there is finally some rumbling going on in City Council and from some of the city's State Senators and Reps, to start moving in that direction. Hopefully if Wolf gets in, we can start that process and go back to having a real School Board again for the first time in almost 15 years..