New Year, Big Changes for Some Newark Schools

Schools across Newark open Thursday amid a flurry of changes for the 2012-13 school year.

Here's some of what's new this year in New Jersey's largest school district:

Eight Renew Schools to Open

Earlier this year, state-appointed Superintendent Cami Anderson announced into what are now eight renew schools.

Anderson's historic blueprint required principals at the effected schools – Camden Street, Chancellor Avenue, Cleveland, Newton Street, Peshine Avenue, Quitman Street, Sussex Avenue and 13th Avenue – to reapply for their jobs through a rigorous selection process that included Anderson input. Once hired, the eight new principals could select some of their staff to help shape curriculum and tailor their renew schools' vision, unveiled at each school late summer.

At , Principal Kimberly Mackey told Patch last month she chose the majority of her roughly 90-member staff. Like other renews, 13th Avenue will focus on boosting state test scores through individualized learning and research-based teaching.

The eight renew schools also got a technology update for the new year, with classrooms receiving SmartBoards, iPads for special education and autistic programs and new laptops for teachers.

But schools advisory board members recently slammed renew school planning meetings held throughout the summer for being poorly attended and misrepresentative of the school communities. The nine-member school board subsequently tabled a vote to

Parents, students and faculty at Quitman Street are in the process of weighing in on three possible names: Quitman Global Village School, Quest Global Village School or leaving it as is, Principal Erskine Glover told Patch last week.

"If the community is in favorite of remaining Quitman (Street Community School, that) will be in the name," said Glover, who, along with Mackey, were the only two principals to reclaim their posts at their respective schools this year.

The name change at Quitman will be put to a vote later this month, Glover said.

Aiming at 100 Percent Attendance

Anderson has set her sights on raising far-from-perfect attendance rates. One-third of about 37,000 total students are present about three days a week, she told WBGO last month.

For that reason, Anderson has launched a city-wide attendance campaign involving faith-based organizations, families, teachers and even students – and that crackdown begins this week.

"A lot of times, what happens with attendance is you start off the year with bad habits and it propels into a yearlong pattern of lack of attendance," said Anderson.

She said attendance teams, comprised of well-respected adults within the school and model peers, will reach out to chronically late or absent students with a phone call or even home visit.

"We want those families to feel supported," said Anderson. "It's not just about saying, 'Hey, why weren't you at school?' It's also letting them know that someone is looking out for them and seeing if they need any help or support."

When reached, Anderson's office was unable to provide updated attendance statistics.‬

New Additions to Newark Public Schools' Roster

, Peter Turmanian, Mitchell Center, Tiffany Hardrick, Brad Haggerty and NPS' former Deputy Chief Academic Officer Roger Leon, were hired this summer. Each assistant superintendent, who have each led what Anderson called a "high-performing school in an urban context," will serve as the point person for as many as 18 district schools.

"We also chose people who were not going to say, 'Do it my way. Do it according to this recipe,'" said Anderson at a last  week. "They're not going to tell you exactly what the blueprint is, and, though they have done it themselves, we know that transformational leaders do not follow recipes. They develop their own playbook."

Streamlined Support

Newark Public Schools has launched its Office of Family and Community Engagement. Parents can now call 973-733-7333 from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with questions.

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