Newark NEW Caucus Update: The Mis-Adventures of Cami Anderson

After working for Joel Klein in New York, Newark Supt hand-picked by those paragon of virtues, the 2 Chrises -- Christie and Cerf -- continues her path of destruction.

Once again, there was LOTS of news this week.  

 

The BEST news of the week.  We warn you, it's 35 pages, but, we urge ALL concerned about public education in Newark to read it word for word.  It's a thorough analysis from Rutgers Professor of Education Bruce Baker and Mark Weber, Rutgers PhD student and aka Jersey Jazzman.  It challenges the "process" by which Anderson chose which schools were to be closed, and analyzes precisely WHY charter schools have gotten the undeserved reputation as superior to traditional public schools.  Please read!

http://njedpolicy.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/weber-baker_onenewark_jan24_20142.pdf

 

Some news from our antagonists and some other generally bad news:

1)  Two articles from folks who truly represent the corporate education "reform" agenda.  One from the Star-Ledger demonstrating its completely undeterred support for Cami Anderson and her agenda.  The second is from Mashea Ashton, the CEO of the Newark Charter School Fund.  Obviously, they are frustrating to read, but worth it anyway to understand their lies.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2014/01/no_time_for_nostalgia_cami_and.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mashea-ashton/innovative-enrollment-initiative-gives-students-real-choices_b_4557301.html

2)  Two NJ Spotlight items, one article on school closings, the other a visual showing the length of the school day throughout New Jersey.

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/14/01/16/fight-over-school-closings-heads-to-legislative-arena/

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/14/01/16/length-of-school-day/

3)  Another, slightly more important article from NJ Spotlight, this one about a new bill in the NJ Statehouse that would help charters expand even further with more state aid!  

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/14/01/21/assemblyman-unveils-much-anticipated-charter-bill/

4)  Here is an interesting story from NJ Politicker about the Newark mayoral race.  It's informative on a number of levels, but in our view mostly because it shows how Shavar Jeffries is clearly viewed by corporate interests as the number one choice.  In other words, for them he is the person to fill the shoes of their beloved Cory Booker.  We all know what that means...

http://www.politickernj.com/71028/newark-volatility-establishment-pressures-mount-mayoral-candidate-ramos#ixzz2rDb4FTJT

Now, a few pieces of news you make like (we do!):

5)  Website of an educators caucus in Seattle who we met this summer in Chicago.  They are trying to change their union there, just as we are here.  Check them out!

http://socialequalityeducators.org/

6)  For obvious reasons, we really like this one.  WBAI 99.5 (New York's excellent independent radio station) aired an entire segment on the battle for public education in Newark.  They interviewed a number of Newark activists, including Annette Alston of the NTA and Ras Baraka, but also NEW Caucus vice chair Branden Rippey!  It was a good program, and can be listened to at this link until Thursday.  The program is about an hour.  

Look for Education at the Crossroads, and click Play!

http://wbai.org/server-archive.html#archives

That's all for now...

See you all Tuesday!

In Solidarity,

Newark Education Workers Caucus

(NEW Caucus)

 

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