Last night about 200 opponents to school choice attended/disrupted the Newark School Advisory Board meeting. Here’s coverage from the Star-Ledger and NJ Spotlight. The outcry was a result of announced expansions of widely-coveted seats in KIPP and Uncommon charter schools. The Newark Teachers Union staged a “walk-in,” urging members to demand a moratorium on charter schools and immediate local control.
Protesters shouted, “Cerf must go!” (Well, he was only recently appointed, he sat stoically through the protest even as every Board members left the stage, and he’s not in charge of governance.)
Parent Veronica Branch, (not a charter fan even though 10,000 Newark children sit on waiting lists and 75% of kindergarten parents prefer that their children attend a school other than their local one) , said,
Where do you think these kids are going to go to? Everybody don’t want charter. We still have substitutes at Hawthorne Avenue….everybody’s tired of it.”
But about 40 charter school parents, necessarily emboldened, also attended the meeting. From Spotlight:
Several spoke during public comments last night — a rare occurrence, as testimony has been consistently anti-charter. And when NTU President John Abeigon roamed the aisles of the high school auditorium to rev up his members, one charter parent confronted him: “What makes you so mad?”
An NTU supporter shot back at the woman: “Go to your own meeting.”
The charter advocate did not back down: “This is my meeting. I live in Newark, too.”
Later in the meeting, the insuppressible Shennell McCloud posted on Facebook,
WHY A FEW OF OUR PARENTS JUST GOT MAD AT THE MEETING — John Abeigon, head of the Newark Teachers Union, just came over to our group of parents and said it’s our fault that Newark Public Schools are failing! Are we trying to work toward a brighter future for our children or a brighter future for the Newark Teachers Union
Good question. And an indication of how NTU has allowed itself to become utterly detached from student welfare in order to preserve job security.
