Jersey Jazzman reports that Chris Cerf has selected an inexperienced young man, age 32, formerly on Cerf’s staff in New York City, to take charge of the Camden, New Jersey, public schools.
Paymon Rouhaniford graduated from college ten years ago. He worked on Wall Street for Goldman Sachs. He worked for the New York City Department of Education, mainly in developing new charter schools.
For the past 10 months, he has been the “Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer” in Newark, which translated, means charters and privatization.
Notice that aside from his two years in TFA teaching sixth grade, he has never been a principal or a superintendent.
He probably has no licenses to teach or administer in the state of New Jersey, although Cerf may have abolished all such requirements by now.
This is truly innovative, selecting an inexperienced young man who has never run a school to run a district of very poor kids.
Here is what Chris Cerf said:
“Every child in New Jersey, regardless of zip code, deserves access to a high-quality education, and I’m confident Paymon Rouhanifard is the right person to make this goal a reality,” said Christie. “Paymon has a proven track record of improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of students in Newark and New York City, and brings innovative leadership that Camden needs moving forward. He has shown a deep commitment to working with parents and teachers to put students at the center of all decisions. Under his leadership, I know Camden’s schools will improve on the progress of these last few months.”
Cerf does not specify what he means by a “proven track record.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Wow! That is a huge risk. But to be honest, I’m really curious to see what Cerf does next: Will he become the next Michelle Rhee, will he stay the course as long as possible, or will he be gone after two years? I just hope, regardless of his personal outcome, that the kids are better off. Thats what matters.
I’d be interested to know whether any “Honor Roll” superintendents or administrators threw their hat into the ring for the Camden job — an incredibly challenging job, to be sure, given that Camden is about as poor, dangerous, and segregated a place as you’ll find anywhere in the US. But a place where a good superintendent could make an enormous difference. I wish this young man all the best.
Surely, you jest. Cerf picks anyone he wants. There are scores of excellent and experienced superintendents in New Jersey. It has one of the best education systems in the nation.
No, no jest, just an honest question about who might have applied for the job, which is hugely more challenging and complicated than overseeing one of NJ’s high-performing districts.
I was on the school board during the original supt search (resigned the day of the takeover, though, so I have no knowledge of how this second search has proceeded) and there were definitely some very smart and highly qualified people who wanted the job back in March.
There are many districts in New Jersey that have kids who are at-risk yet still do a fine job educating children. Read David Kirp’s book about Union City, for example.
The question isn’t who applied; the question is who did they think to recruit.
The district has already been significantly disrupted by charters, and that’s not going to stop as long as the state is in charge (which, if JC and Newark are any indication, will be indefinitely). The school board is now toothless. The district is in disarray–according to a 2012 report by the Center for American Progress, on an average day 40% of the teachers in Camden were absent. You would have to be a little bit crazy to take the job.
I’ll grant you that the state likely wasn’t looking for a superintendent with a traditional background. But I’m pretty convinced that most good candidates with a traditional background wouldn’t have much of an interest in taking on the job, especially due to the autonomy factor and having no ability to put a stop to the “disruption.”
Tim, I suspect Cerf never looked for an experienced educator. This young man had a reputation in NYC for spurning parents and children to close neighborhood schools and replace them with charters. Maybe he learned his ruthlessness on Wall Street, not in the classroom.
My respect for DR & JJ is vast, however I believe Tim is correct.
Diane, NJ does have many qualified candidates but the position in Camden does not require a thinker or a leader ( though this young man may be both). The play book for Camden is not being drafted: it is written. He will be counseled.
Do you really believe this new “leader” will have any authority?
Very, very few educational leaders have even offered a peep of protest of the BROAD takeover of NJ public education.
NJ is a garden overrun with sheep.
Still, I wish the lad well. Maybe his time and obedience in Camden will someday produce a leader of him.
Paymon must know the right people!!
“in one of the more notable provisions, FNF(Zuckerberg-funded Foundation for Newark’s Future) also reserved the right to “suspend payments” if current school-district leadership was replaced by individuals FNF didn’t support. The provision specifically named positions now held by Superintendent Cami Anderson, state Education Commissioner Chris Cerf and Paymon Rouhanifard, the district’s chief strategy officer.”
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/06/24/teacher-contract-deal-in-newark-came-with-strings-attached/
Yet another crony appointed to a high-level educ job, another mass of poor kids getting cheated. Camden may be the most desperate and impoverished of NJ districts seized by Trenton. None have been released to normal local control(Newark, Jersey City). Right question is “what proven track record” does this latest crony have? In Montclair, our “reformy” Board of Education has been hollowing out our fine schools for 3 years now, just appointed a Broad Acad person as new Supt. who served 1-yr in CT and a few months in Cerf’s office before landing here without still-required NJ State Certification. These reg’s are still in place. Uncertified appointees have a time-frame to acquire missing credentials, a friendly process for them expedited by a cooperative local college “study plan.” TFA set the model for instant, once-over lightly training and paved the way for de-professionalizing education.
Cerf is selling the “State run” districts to the highest bidder. After a “country-wide” search, Jersey City also ended up with a Broad graduate for a superintendent. Coincidence, I think not.
Where is NJEA on this Camden and other erosions on being qualified to hold teaching or education admin positions? I worked for KEA in Kentucky and went to the National meetings over the July 4th period and we always looked up to NJEA. Now I live in CT and see their TV ads in the NY metro market which are slick. But now we need a different, stronger pro – public school media campaign to set the record straight and call out what is really going on. Otherwise NY, CT and NJ will be the next North Carolina if we don’t watch out.
Too bad Camden is an AFT district. The NJEA has zero influence there.
Camden teachers are represented by NJEA.
Hey! I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. Will that qualify me to head a school district in NJ?
NO, because it wasn’t a Holiday Inn express, you know like the Broadie Superintendent Academy Express.
That was VERY clever you two! Needed a smile after today.
How is these people are steering the ship? What do we have to do to put teachers’ voices at the forefront?
There must be a computer program that spits out the key buzz words and phrases of so-called education reform, since their press releases invariably use the same stale, deceptive language: “innovative leadership,” “all kids… no matter their zip code,” “proven track record (that’s a hot one)”
Orwellian language for Stepford Wife privateers…
There is somewhere a dictionary of reformy words, deceptive to the average parent and reader, to convince them that up is down and down is up.
It starts with “no child left behind” which morphed into “poverty is no excuse” and “no matter the zip code.”
A while back, I posted about a dictionary of reform buzzwords. I’ll find that and repost.
It Is Here: Reformy-to-English Dictionary
by dianerav
A reader shares the great new dictionaries of Reformy rhetoric, where language is turned inside out to disguise reality.
Volumes 1, 2 and 3 are out!
I hope “Silver Bullet” is on this list—as in “Charter Schools are no ‘silver bullet’ when it comes to fixing what is broken in our schools. I’ll be the first to concede that charters, like the status quo schools that some people still support, won’t reform our failing, abysmal, dangerous, worst-in-the-entire-cosmos schools. But they’ve consistently demonstrated their vastly superior performance in every single instance blah blah blah blah blah…however I actually agree that charters are not now and never will be a ‘silver bullet’…”
I’m so sick of hearing this “silver bullet” claptrap from these smug, slick hucksters. I’m tempted next time I hear one of them invoke this cliche to say, “Excuse me but I’m confused; aren’t silver bullets only good for killing werewolves in the old Lon Cheney Jr. movies? However if you COULD get one, what WOULD you do with that prized “Silver Bullet”?
Paents must fight to maintain that people in the education world have credentials and certifications. TRhey need to fight this tooth and nail….The idea of someone as a principal, superintendent or in higher education without proper credentials is absurd .
This cannot be allowed to happen..The laws of the state should not be changed to accommodate the charter or privatization scam artists by giving them education policy power without the educational component. This has happened in Conn and the judge said in one school district NO WAY….not certified, you cannot stay in the job…
We need a grass roots movement to make sure people with accreditation are making the rules for the most precious of all …our children…I wouldn;t want a doctor without certification or even a hairdresser without certification. Even the dog groomer has a license…..Has the corporate world vilified teachers even lower than a dog groomer by trying to take away certification…They are truly disgusting in following such a path….
This pathetic appointment only serves to highlight the apocalyptic road that public education is taking. Here we have a person who at 32 and having taught for only 2 years and is now somehow being asked to lead a school system. This is insulting to career educators and is yet another disturbing wake-up call. TFA is a cancerous organization whose primary goals are to privatize public education, demean career educators, and quickly place as many of its members in high paying and powerful positions. I passionately believe in the acronym “TIME”, things I must earn. How did this person with such little classroom experience come to earn a job leading a school district? The fact that he advised Joel Klein is negative not a positive. People like Joel Klein destroy school systems in places like NYC with their inexperienced leadership and questionable motives only to then reward their acolytes with ludicrous promotions. It is like rewarding the generals of the losing side in a war. Ask any teacher or administrator in NYC that does not come from TFA as well as most parents about Mr. Klein. You will not get even a remotely positive response. These TFA wunderkinds sincerely believe that career educators know nothing about teaching. They clearly believe that our profession desperately needs to rely on the vast knowledge that they acquired in their extremely short classroom tenures to save us from ourselves. One cannot help but wonder how many 32-year olds with 2 years of actual experience are top advisors in the corporate world? Other disturbing objectives of Bloomberg, Klein and their posse include getting rid of teachers before they can earn a decent pension as well as directing as much money to the private sector as possible. Our only hope is to push TFA out of NYC as quickly as we can and place an experienced educator in the chancellor’s seat!.
For any readers who are in NJ and who are not yet aware – there is a rally in support of Barbara Buono on Sunday, Sept. 15th in Little Falls. Details here on Facebook. Please join us and spread the word!
https://www.facebook.com/RallyForBarbaraBuono