The election for Mayor of Newark is over, but state-appointed superintendent Cam Anderson reminds everyone she is still in charge of the schools.
Bob Braun reports that Cami will cut 500 Newark public schools employees, “including 200 teaching positions, 200 central office employees, and nearly 100 non-instructional workers, including clerks and aides. The resulting layoffs will follow tenure and seniority laws and regulations despite Anderson’s apparently failed effort to obtain permission from the state to ignore seniority.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Defeat in November can well occur if voters from the Democrat’s regular base withhold either their funds or vote. Frankly, the Obama administration stand on education, as carried forward by Arne Duncan, is anathema. I receive endless emails from the DNC and super PACS asking for money, which in the past I have sent. This year I have not sent a dime and I will continue to withhold making a contribution. In the past I have rationalized making contributions on the basis of supporting the lesser of two evils, despite my overall disagreement with the Democrats. This year, with their maintenance of a reactionary anti public school policy, which harms students, families and educators, my check book is closed. Enough is enough. I wish it was not the case.
VOTE 3rd Party. I refuse to support our government. They lie, cheat, and hurt people without any conscience whatsoever.
I have not given one cent to Democrats since Arne Duncan was selected to head DOE. The only reason I voted for Obama was because of Supreme Court picks. RttT is destroying public education and an insult to teachers.
methinks that that there are more than a few normally Democrat voters who feel strongly enough about the wrongheadedness of the administration’s disastrous education policy and the destructive mr. duncan.that we withhold support for the party. the Obama administration has made it abundantly clear that it cares not a whit about public school education
I wholeheartedly concur, but I sure wish a lot more teachers had figured out beforehand what a disaster he has been, and not just for them, but for the country. But people who think socialism is a good thing, hardly can be relied on to vote even their own interests.
We get the leaders we deserve.
Indicting Education crimes:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/05/19/indicting-education-crimes/
The election of the new mayor of Newark gives hope because the voices of the people in the community of Newark were heard.( $ did not buy this election….)
New Jersey Mayoral Election Street Fight 2014:
http://truth-out.org/news/item/23795-new-jersey-mayoral-election-street-fight-2014
Sadly, the democrats have become nothing more than traitors to their base, as well as panderers to corporate interests. This lifelong Dem will be voting 3rd party, and, like the commenters above, won’t be contributing to candidates who support the destruction of public education, i.e. those who support charter schools, high-stakes testing, VAM, and a narrowing of curriculum as exemplified by CC$$.
“Among the major planks in the new plan backed by Baraka and the Newark Teachers’ Union:
Community schools that provide an array of services to students and their families, such as primary medical care, dental care, and early-childhood education;
A rigorous, academic curriculum for all students that includes fine arts, sciences, and world languages;
New approaches to school discipline that minimize suspending and expelling students;
More investment in schools to pay for more support staff, updated classroom materials, access to technology and healthy food;
Professional development for teachers to address current deficiencies such as instruction and support for English-language learners.”
Is the “community schools” model he’s talking about?
“Despite its relatively small size, Cincinnati, with roughly 30,000 students, has become a lodestar for big-city school systems across the country. Superintendents and union leaders looking for an alternative to a high-stakes, data-driven movement in education have showered the community schools model with praise, noting that it has expanded access to health care and social services, tackling problems thought to be causes of academic failure.
As a whole, after years of poor performance and an exodus of middle-class families to the suburbs, Cincinnati has made some of the greatest gains in test scores in Ohio in recent years, even though it lags behind state averages. School officials here credit the city’s embrace of the community-schools model, which is now fully in place in 34 of 55 schools in the system.”
I had read that Cincinnati was doing the the best on actually IMPROVING public schools out of Ohio’s “big eight” urban districts, so better than Columbus, Cleveland, etc. I doubt every one of these claims now, so I don’t know if that’s true or how “best” is measured, but is the “community school” model where Baraka wants to go?
Cincinnati was a major recipient of a Gates Small Schools grant at the same time my district was. We worked together quite a bit. We were doing great things for kids at my school (including many things not quantified by test scores!) until we changed leadership and the grant expired. Gates did not give us more money and we are now worse off than we were before”small schools.” Not sure what happened with CPS and Gates? Perhaps they are still getting $$ from Gates and that’s why Diane is reluctant to endorse what they are doing? Idk…
As far as I know Cincinnati is still doing the wrap around services.
After reading Dale Russakoff’s New Yorker article on Newark schools (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/05/19/140519fa_fact_russakoff?currentPage=all) I’m not sure that laying off central office staff and non-instructional staff is a bad thing because it may well be that Newark had a bloated payroll due to patronage, a payroll that in all probability did not get reduced when the state took over nearly two decades ago. City governments like Newark, who historically used school districts for patronage, undermine the work of classroom teachers who strive to improve their schools and help promote to the data-driven technocratic approach of the neo-liberals and privatizers. It’s difficult for progressives to push for more spending in urban schools when money is spent on jobs that don’t support classroom teachers.
But did you miss the part about her giving huge raises to herself and to her staff? I think an attendance clerk is more important than her 175k a year sycophant.
Yes, when the cure involves more bloated payroll and patronage than the ill, one has to wonder.
I’m NOT defending Cami’s behavior… I’m making the point that the politician’s historic use of school district positions as political patronage jobs makes it possible for neoliberals to argue that school district spending is inefficient… and makes it possible to eliminate arguably redundant jobs and save lots of money and still have some left to throw at sycophants and wannabes… and it also makes it difficult to say that the status quo staff in levels are a good thing…
And to further demonstrate my point, read this by Ross Douthat, the NYTimes resident conservative…. particularly his third objection that talks about his take on the New Yorker article:
http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/19/to-lift-up-the-poor-must-we-soak-the-rich/?_php=true&_type=blogs&emc=edit_tnt_20140519&nlid=26825267&tntemail0=y&_r=0
Here in NYC, a common complaint by many teachers is that central administration employees *aren’t* fired.
I am really thinking this sea like a death knell. The comments I read on here scare me to death. If Arne Duncan continues and the Dems don’t vote in the fall because of him, we are doomed.
He will be ousted anyway, if the Tea Party takes over, but the other declines that will happen in America due to the Koch Brothers and ALEC won’t go away.
Good jobs will continue to be scarce. And lying “governors” like John Kasich will just make matters worse.
I am truly scared for the future of this country if theTea Party gets stronger because voters listen to their self-righteous self serving ideas continue to strip the middle class of hope.
The tea party is getting weaker. The established Republicans have a better handle on how to handle them. While the TP has pulled the party to the right, there is some hope we may see more emphasis on getting things done. The GOP is desparate. They are unable to win presidencies or the popular vote. The party base is eroding and unable to convince young and non-white voters that Republicans can govern and not just obstruct. There are no new ideas coming from the Republicans, just a recycling of stale policies from the past. Policies that erode the middle class and concentrate wealth at the top.
We may be in for another 4 years of Kasich. There is just too much consolidation of power through gerrymandering and voter suppression. And the Dems seem lost with a weak campaign. But Kasich has not fulfilled his promise of an Ohio Miracle. Our economy is still soft with too many people dropping out of the labor market or job creation lagging at a consistent pace. People are still not happy.
Well I live on SW Ohio. Today is a KY primary. Mitch McConnell is saying that the only way to turn the country around is to get rid of all dems in the Senate. So we will see what happens to him and his cohorts.
Better not vote 3rd party. The tea party movement is working diligently to take over the Republican party here and there, and more and more, at the precinct level.
Of course, I think the country would be much better under tea party administration because I think they might just be honest.
Honest? Omg. That is like sayingFox News is fair and balanced. Geesh.
Now, now deb. Fox News actually is “fair and balanced,” the only network news that is, because it is only half in the pocket of the corporatists.
Mayor-elect Ras Baraka, the Newark teachers union and others are backing a new plan for Newark schools that calls for high-quality neighborhood schools and an immediate end to Superintendent Cami Anderson’s ‘One Newark’ plan. Anderson, an appointee of Gov. Chris Christie, calls for converting current district schools into charters, among other ideas. [http://bit.ly/QY2gXH].
Do you think it will work,or is it another sham.
A plan that calls for high-quality neighborhood schools in Newark? How could it *not* work?
Hee, hee!
I doubt it will work, but it is what SHOULD be done. Anderson, according to the New Yorker article spent enough grant money on consultants to choke a whole stable of horses. She should have known better.