NJ Education Report

University Heights Charter School (UHCS) has served public school students in Newark for 16 years. UHCS, which partners with Bethany Baptist Church, one of the biggest Black churches in the city, has had its ups and down. For the last three years it’s been on probation with the Murphy Administration’s Department of Education for administrative turnover and not-good-enough student outcomes but the families it serves– 95% low-income and 85% Black–have been buoyed by academic improvements. In fact, during a recent evaluation, the state confirmed that teaching and learning were improving.

So it was a shock on June 1st, at the very end of the school year, when the DOE summarily announced it was shutting the school down.

“There was no regard for parents or children,” said Tanysha Flood, a parent of a rising third grader who had attended University Heights since kindergarten. “The timing of this was inconsiderate and it could be detrimental to my child.”

Chalkbeat reports that, of UHCS’s 600 students, 400 had enrolled for the school’s free summer enrichment program and so all of a sudden children had no summer placements because other programs were already full or unaffordable. Newark’s universal enrollment program, where families rank their choices for all public schools, closed in February and non-UHCS students received their placements in April; desireable slots are unavailable and there are 3,500 students on charter school wait lists. The district’s free summer program closed registration in May.

Why would the DOE wait until the most inconvenient time to notify the school that it was revoking its charter? That’s the question haunting UHCS administrators, teachers. and families.

“Our students already experienced so much trauma during the pandemic,” said Christy Oliver-Hawley, who became head of schools at University Heights in August 2020. “Ninety-five percent receive free lunch and have challenges at home. Now, they have yet another life-altering experience they’re forced to go through.”

Just before the end of June, UHCS held a job fair to try to secure new placements for its teachers. Parents have put their children on wait lists while they worry about the expense of buying new uniforms, wherever their kids end up. Ashley Goins, a parent of two children who had attended University Heights since preschool, said, “school starts in a few weeks and I still have to get uniforms, and the closer to school starting, the more expensive they get. I’m very anxious and frustrated.”

UHCS is appealing the revocation of its charter in court, arguing, according to Chalkbeat, “the timing of the closure ‘irreparably harmed students who experienced undeniable COVID-19 related learning loss and trauma,’ and violated workers’ rights to fair notice of an employer’s closure.”

But it doesn’t look good for UHCS families and staff members.

When contacted, Laura Fredrick, the communications director for the DOE, said state regulations give the Education Commissioner permission to revoke charters “at any time.”

Yet citing a state statute does nothing for the children and families of University Heights Charter School as they scramble to find suitable placements within the next month.