Newark Schools Superintendent Details Shared Campus Plan

Newark's new schools superintendent announced details Monday of a plan that would allow charter schools to share space inside Newark's public school buildings.

Cami Anderson, on her first day of the job, said the shared campus plan would create four new high schools and allow room for seven charter schools in city school buildings. Anderson also said no schools will close this fall, but five will be consolidated.

She will present the plan Tuesday night to the city's school advisory board. Anderson said the moves are expected to save the school district $4.1 million in operating costs and generate $800,000 in revenue from lease agreements with various charter schools.

"I know (this plan) can work," Anderson told reporters Monday afternoon, while touring B.R.I.C.K. Academy in the city's South Ward. "There's a lot of places that it has worked, including Newark, where schools have shared space and that has to do with building good relationships, having good plans and staying focused on the students."

Anderson said the goal with shared space is "to create more high quality school options for Newark families, while reducing operational costs and freeing up resources that can be redirected."

Princess Williams, a kindergarten teacher at B.R.I.C.K. Academy, said Anderson's plan will promote transparency in the school system.

"I think our school district can benefit from the changes," she said. "I'm confident she (Anderson) will hold everyone accountable, including stakeholders, teachers ... She will help the students make gains."

Anderson told reporters that the plan is not new, but one that started three years ago with former Newark Schools Superintendent Clifford Janey.

"I'm, in many ways, standing on the shoulders of my predecessors and coming in and making sure that everyone's clear," she said. "A lot of this information isn't new. It's just an opportunity that everyone knows exactly what's going to happen so that we can execute very clearly."

Mashea Ashton, the chief executive officer of the Newark Charter School Fund, which oversees charter schools in the city, praised Anderson. 

"School buildings were built to educate students. This plan puts Newark public school students in classrooms in public school buildings," she said. "From a financial, instructional and equity perspective, there is no reason why these under-utilized spaces should not be made available for new school programs, including charter schools. Taxpayers in Newark and across the state are paying for these entire buildings to be heated and lit. It is inefficient to let this vacant space sit there unused."

Marques-Aquil Lewis, a school advisory board member, blasted the plan.

"I am against the plan because there was no community involvement or input," he said. "It's been a dictatorship. The whole democratic process has been ignored."

He disagreed with the co-locating features of the plan because, he said, they eat away at established public schools' history and pride and is an unproven experiment on Newark kids.

The sharing of space would also lead to troubling animosity, like the Bloods versus the Crips, said Lewis, a former Crips member.

Newark Councilman Ras Baraka, who represents the city's South Ward, hosted a press conference Monday where he expressed disdain for the plan. Baraka also is the principal of Central High School.

Anderson emphasized, though, that the plan will eliminate "administrative redundancies" and pave way for strong leadership.

"One of my greatest strengths and greatest priorities is to work on leadership throughout Newark Public Schools," she said. "We want to make sure we have a strong principal at every single building and there are lots of ways to go about making that happen."

Specific details of the plan:

Shared Campuses

• Burnet Street Building — Burnet Street Elementary School and Great Oaks (charter)
• Camden Middle School Building — People's Prep (charter), New Day (charter) and Bard High School Early College (new school)
• 200 Washington Street — YEES Center and Newark Hybrid High (new school)
• Newark Vocational Building — Newark Leadership Academy (new school) and Newark Vocational HS
• 13th Avenue Building — 13th Avenue Elementary and North Star Elementary III (charter)

Standalone Charter Lease

• 15th Avenue Building — North Star Elementary II (charter)

Consolidations

• Camden Middle School into Camden Elementary
• Fast Track High School and Middle School (from multiple locations) into Harold Wilson and Pathways
• Broadway Elementary into Luis Munoz Marin Middle
• Elliott Street into Old First Avenue
• 15th Avenue Students will choose between South 17th Street and 14th Avenue schools

To Be Determined

• TEAM SPARK (charter)
• Newark Bridges Academy (new school)