Creating a Community Alternative to Closing Schools

Series 21: Moving Newark Schools Forward

Creating a Community Alternative to Closing Schools

Sponsored Abbott Leadership Institute (ALI)

Saturday, February 10th, 10-1pm


Newark, Rutgers University

This is an information session about the current school closing situation in Newark followed by a discussion about alternatives ideas from the community.

This week superintendent Cami Anderson unveiled plans to close seven schools in Newark as well as moving students, resources around the district. Some of the students will move to a school nearby while others will need to get on a bus to get to school. According to Anderson, consolidation and closures are necessary to improve Newark’s education system. This was met with great disagreement from the community members and parents that attended the meeting on Thursday night. Under the plan, seven schools are destined to close.

The discussion led by Junius Williams focused on examining what was decided by the superintendent and the effects of the decisions to the community of parents, students and teachers. Several great points were made from many perspectives.

Schools: Most of the schools closing are neighborhood schools and certain schools have a very unique culture and personality. One of the schools that were on the list of closing is Miller Street which has a high population of bi-lingual students. One of the concerns of many parents in that school is their child’s adjustment to the new language in the States (there are many immigrant children in that school with many speaking Spanish). Whereas now there is a community (teachers, staff and other students) who can speak both English and Spanish making the transition into a new country easier for ESL students, if those students don’t have that opportunity anymore, the process would be much tougher, both academically and socially.

In addition to school culture, there is also a safety concern. One parent interviewed discussed the effects of her child’s school closing. Her children’s school are very close together and more importantly very close to her house. If the closure were to happen, one of her children will have to go to school across a busy highway. She works two jobs and it’s her older child’s responsibility to pick up the younger one. She said if the closure occurs, she would be worried about her child’s safety. Another concern relating to distance is convenience. If the closure happens as planned, some children whose current school is across the street from their house will have to take a bus to school. There were concerns from the parents about not having enough buses to ease the transportation transition.

Teachers: One of the concerns brought up by the community is the teacher’s attitude toward the closures and uncertainty of their jobs. Many parents at the meeting worried about the teachers being distracted by all discussion of possibility not having a job next year, which is a legitimate distress. The parents are worried that because the teachers are worried that they might not put in the most into their teaching because of two reasons: 1. Those students won’t be in this school next year 2. They might won’t have a job next year and might be looking for alternatives

Students: All the discussion about school closing impacts the students the most, however, they don’t have a voice in the matter. They will go where they will be assigned after the fact. Parents are worried both about the academic and social impact of school closing. What if friends are divided and their child is in a new school and don’t get along with the other students? What if the transition to a new school and environment has a negative impact on their child’s academic achievement due to psychological effects of the move? Why isn’t the children consider in closing all these neighbor schools that directly impact them?

Parents: Shortly after the Thursday meeting, there was an editorial in the Star Ledgar regarding the meeting. In it, the opinion piece focused a picture of a parent standing up positioned in a fight stance. The parents were viewed as just emotionally connected to their child’s school. The article disregarded the social, political and economic aspect of the closures. The article made the analogy that parents viewed losing a school like losing a family member, only the emotional attachment. The editorial failed to recognize other concerns about the closings. One attendee described the article was extremely “condescending”.

Other concerns: one of the main concern about the school closing is that at the moment, the plan for how those closures would be beneficial to the students is unclear. For example, one community member asked, how does closing one underachieving school and adding those students to another school (which may or may not be underachieving) suppose to create a better school for all the students? How does the new school with twice as many students do better? Are they any support plans? If so what are they? There are some schools with a high special education need population that are also being closed and combined with others. Are the schools that are taking in the new students prepared to accept the new special education students and help them achieve more than where they were before? If so, what steps and training are given to the new staff and teachers working with these students? There’s also talk about combing schools with to with a focus on technology, but what does technology mean? Is it just a computer in every classroom, what does that look like?

Toward the end, we created a list of alternatives to school closing. The group does not deny that something needs to be done about Newark’s education system, however, they disagree that closing failing schools is the way to create the change that Newark needs. Some suggestion include:

· Having great teachers by providing relevant profession development and mentorship

· Supporting the parents and getting them involved in education

· Finding great principals with great plans to change schools

· Looking in into the needs of the students that are being served

· Having a long view plan to change to education system in Newark

· Viewing schools as community centers

The series is extremely informative and it was great hearing the ideas come from Newark constituents about their concerns and plans for success.