NEWARK IS READY & CAPABLE TO CHOOSE OUR OWN SUPERINTENDENT!

NEWARK IS READY& CAPABLE TO CHOOSE OUR OWN SUPERINTENDENT!

For over 20 years the people of Newark have been under the hands of the State of NJ and our public schools have not prospered! We have dealt with appointees like Cami Anderson brought us “solutions” like One Newark, causing absolute chaos with in our community! It has been an attack on our community neighborhood schools month after month year after year.  Now we have Governor Christie running for a presidential seat and he is holding over our head issues like Common Core and restoring Local Control over our heads. Issues that we,as Newarkers , have been fighting for years!

It’s very easy to say what Newarks need or want when you don’t live in our great city. To suit from afar and project what is best for our children and families! To write blogs and use our families and city as a petri dish of hot topics to speak upon. We look at other towns and see the freedom they have to follow the democratic process that all Americans should have. Yet, the “ poor and disenfranchised “ people of Newark are treated disrespectful by our local, state and federal government. 

Instead of given the right and freedom to follow the democratic process of having our Board, with whom we elected to make decisions and let the people choose our replacement for Cami Anderson as Newark Public School Superintendent, we are told “ Ya want Local Control restored, Newark you must deal with another appointed Superintendent Christopher Cerf!” Is that really the local control we have been fighting for all these years? Hell no! It is yet again having the state tell us that we the people of Newark are unable to follow the democratic process that the rest of the state has the freedom to follow. In turn it ultimately is saying to parents, who pay taxes and vote, “YOU DO NOT KNOW WHATS BEST FOR YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR CHILDREN!”

 What the hell are we teaching our children? That it is OK to just roll over and allow our democratic rights to be stripped and taken away from us?  That is insane!

Mark Beidon , President of State of NJ Board of Education stated “ the people of Newark having local control over their school district is a good thing!” So, Mr Beidon and Governor Christie why in the world would you rip our democratic rights from us and appoint Cerf to our school district without Newarkers having a say! He is unqualified for the job!

-         He trained and appointed Cami Chaos as an appointee to dismantle the Newark Public School System implementing the One Newark Program.

-         Her has his hands all in corporate schemes to expand the charter movement with companies he has great involvement in. Making his abilities to serve the Public School in our community families a huge conflict of interest.

-         He sat on the Board of Charter Schools Alliance and just recently stepped down after being exposed by the public.

WE DO NOT NEED THE CORPORATE SCHEMES OF CERF TO COME IN AND “FINISH  OFF” THE DISMANTLING OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM TO ALLOW THE CHARTER MOVEMENT TO ENGULF OUR COMMUNITY! LET NEWARKERS SAY WHAT IS BEST FOR NEWARKERS! NOT CORPORATE AND POLITICAL BULLIES! WE DON’T NEED COMMITTEES TO TELL US WHAT’S BEST AND WE DON’T NEED APPOINTEES TO TELL US WHAT IS BEST!

An open letter to President Beidon was sent to him to tell him to not vote for Cerf to be appointed as Superintendent of Newark Public Schools. Here is the open letter. PLEASE SHARE AND PASS IT ON! WE MUST FIGHT FOR OUR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS! BOY I NEVER IN MY LIFE THOUGHT I WOULD BE FIGHTING FOR RIGHTS THAT I THOUGHT AS AMERICANS WE HAD THE RIGHT TO POSSES!

OPEN LETTER T O PRESIDENT BEIDON OF STATE BOE:

Newark Residents Should Select Their Next Superintendent

We believe that the people of Newark should be able to democratically govern their public schools.

Fortunately, Mark Biedron, President of NJ’s State Board of Education, seems to agree. Mr. Biedron recently told the Star Ledger that “the people of Newark having local control over the school district…is a good thing.”

On Wednesday, Mr. Biedron will have anOPPORTUNITYto act on this belief when the State Board votes on whether Chris Cerf should become Newark’s next Superintendent.

If the State Board approves Mr. Cerf, it will beCONTINUINGa 20 year history of disenfranchisement for Newark’s nearly 300,000 residents, who have had no say in this decision.

If the Board rejects Mr. Cerf and instead approves a candidate selected by Newark’s popularly-elected Board ofEDUCATION, it will be putting Mr. Biedron’s admirable philosophy into practice.

There is plenty of precedent for allowing Newark to select its own superintendent.

Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson are all state–controlled school districts.  Yet Jersey City’s popularly–elected Board of Education selected its Superintendent, Marcia Lyles.  Paterson’s Superintendent, Dr. Donnie Evans, was selected by a committee that included members of Paterson’s popularly-elected Board of Education, along with other community leaders.  In contrast, Newark’s popularly-elected Board of Education has had no voice in selecting Mr. Cerf, who was nominated for thisPOSITION by Governor Christie.

Approving Mr. Cerf is also difficult to justify because Mr. Cerf lacks the qualifications necessary to run New Jersey’s largest school district.  Unlike Jersey City’s and Paterson’s leaders, Mr. Cerf has no prior experience as a superintendent.

Nor is there a record of success in related public-educationPOSITIONS on which to base Mr. Cerf’s nomination.  In fact, Mr. Cerf’s tenure as New Jersey’s Commissioner of Education was marked by numerous poor decisions regarding Newark, including:

• Appointing andCONTINUING to support Newark’s prior Superintendent, Cami Anderson, whose policies and behaviors generated broad-based rejection and rebellion from Newark residents;
• Improperly giving in to a demand from Ms. Anderson “to allow her to retain full control over 28 low-performing schools,” which resulted in New Jersey failing to comply with federal requirements; and
• Forcibly maintaining State control of Newark’s schools by dramatically lowering the district’s scores on the State’s monitoring system (QSAC) from the scores that Mr. Cerf had given the district less than a year earlier.

The people of Newark deserve the right to select their next Superintendent.  They also deserve an experienced public education leader with a proven record of success.  Mr. Cerf’s candidacy fails on all these counts.

We encourage Mr. Biedron and the other State Board of Education members to vote no on Mr. Cerf’s nomination and to allow Newark’s popularly-elected Board of Education to nominate the district’s next Superintendent.

Newark’s residents have been deprived of their right to democratically control their public schools for 20 years.  It is long past time to correct this wrong!

Rosie Grant, Piscataway, NJ
Parent and nonprofit leader

 Michelle Fine, Montclair, NJ
Parent and professor

 Judy DeHaven, Red Bank, NJ
Parent and writer

 Valerie Trujillo, Jersey City, NJ
Parent and public education advocate

 Jacklyn Brown, Manalapan, NJ
Parent and educator

 Julia Sass Rubin, Princeton, NJ
Parent and professor

 Linda Reid, Paterson, NJ
Parent and nonprofit leader

 Melissa Katz, South Brunswick, NJ
Future educator

 Bobbie Theivakumaran, Metuchen, NJ
Parent nd investment banker

 Lisa Winter, Basking Ridge, NJ
Parent, technology manager and former Board of Education member

 Marcella Simadiris, Montclair, NJ
Parent and educator

 Michelle McFadden-DiNicola, Highland Park, NJ
Parent and public education advocate

 Bill Michaelson, Lawrence Township, NJ
Parent and computer scientist

 Marie Hughes Corfield, Flemington, NJ
Parent and educator

 Rita McClellan, Cherry Hill, NJ
Parent and administrator

Sarah Blaine, Montclair, NJ
Parent, attorney, and blogger

 Susan Cauldwell, Spring Lake, NJ
Parent and nonprofit leader

 Heidi Maria Brown, Pitman, NJ
Parent and educator

 Julie Borst, Allendale, NJ
Parent and special education advocate

Susan Berkey, Howell, NJ
Parent and educator

 Darcie Cimarusti, Highland Park, NJ
ParenT and Board of Education member

 Amnet Ramos, North Plainfield, NJ
Parent and educator

 Elana Halberstadt, Montclair, NJ
Parent and writer/artist

 Ani McHugh, Delran, NJ
Parent and educator

 Jill DeMaio, Monroe, NJ
Parent

 Tamar Wyschogrod, Morristown, NJ
Parent and journalist

 Lauren Freedman, Maplewood, NJ
Parent and public education advocate

 Lisa Rodgers, South Brunswick, NJ
Parent and business owner

 Laurie Orosz, Montclair, NJ
Parent and public education advocate

 Michael Kaminski, Mount Laurel, NJ
Parent and educator

 Ronen Kauffman, Union City, NJ
Parent and educator

Frankie Adao, Newark, NJ
Parent and social media specialist

 Kathleen Nolan, Princeton, NJ
Parent, researcher and lecturer

 Sue Altman, Camden, NJ
Educator

 Jennifer Cohan, Princeton, NJ
Parent and publicist

 Daniel Anderson, Bloomfield, NJ
Parent and Board of Education member

 Debbie Baer, Robbinsville, NJ
Parent and educator

Dan Masi, Roxbury Township, NJ
Parent and engineer

 Susan Schutt, Ridgewood, NJ
Assistant principal and public education advocate

 Karin Szotak, Madison NJ
Parent and business owner

 Tiombe Gibson, Deptford, NJ
Parent and educator

 Lisa Marcus Levine, Princeton, NJ
Parent and architect

 Kristen Carr Jandoli, Haddon, NJ
Parent and public education advocate 

Jean Schutt McTavish, Ridgewood, NJ
Parent and high school principal

 Virginia Manzari, West Windsor, NJ.
Parent and businesswoman

 Stephanie LeGrand, Haddonfield, NJ
Parent and public education advocate

 Melanie McDermott, Highland Park, NJ
Parent and sustainability researcher

 Nora Hyland, Asbury Park, NJ
Parent and professor

 Beth O’Donnell-Fischer, Verona, NJ
Parent

 Susie Welkovits, Highland Park, NJ
Parent and Borough Council President

 Gregory M. Stankiewicz, Princeton, NJ
Parent and nonprofit leader

 Margot Embree Fisher, Teaneck, NJ
Parent and former Board ofEDUCATION member

 Stephanie Petriello, Dumont, NJ
Parent,EDUCATOR andBUSINESS owner

 Laura Begg, Bernards Township, NJ
Parent and public education advocate

 Gary C. Frazier, Camden, NJ
Parent and community activist

Debbie Reyes, Florence Township, NJ
Parent

 Christine McGoey, Montclair, NJ
Parent

 Regan Kaiden, Collingswood, NJ
Parent andEDUCATOR

 Moneke Singleton-Ragsdale, Camden, NJ
Parent and administrator

 Liz Mulholland, Westfield, NJ
Parent and former educator

 Toby Sanders, Trenton, NJ
Parent, pastor and educator