The Real Choice at the Polls on Tuesday

Now that Newark Public Schools has local control again for the first time in more than 20 years, it’s time to move forward. But does that mean adopting more charter schools into a system that has been financially ravaged by the incursion of existing charters? That’s a question that will be answered by voters going to the voting booth on Tuesday to vote for members of the Newark Board of Education.

It’s crossroads time. Public schools could decide to become national trend-setters and set forth initiatives, programs and curriculum that actively compete with charter schools. Or traditional schools could just become a dumping ground for charter schools unequipped and unprepared for special needs students.

Those we elect should have in mind the best interests of the traditional schools and the students that populate them, particularly since they are in the majority. If the right people are elected Tuesday, crucial decisions could be made that might make traditional schools look like better options than charters: the right election choice can lead to more “school choice” within traditional schools.

This can’t be done if our priorities are confusing, our loyalties divided. At least two candidates running for the Newark Board of Education and supported by Mayor Baraka have verbally supported the possible expansion of charter schools in the district. That’s like LeBron playing for the Los Angeles Lakers while sitting on the board of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Let’s look at the damage that has been done during the last 10 years in pursuit of what charter school advocates call progress:

• Charter schools have expanded from 10 percent to more than 33 percent of the student population. The syphoning of money from traditional to charter schools has caused irreparable damage to students in the city’s majority. With approximately 30 percent of the board’s budget going to support charter schools, drastic reductions in the traditional school classroom instruction, guidance, support services, Special Ed and bi-lingual have severely impacted the majority of our children.
• Many of the services that were cut in the traditional schools are largely not even offered in charter schools. For example, too often children with special needs or in need of special needs eventually find their way back to the traditional schools that now have less to offer in respect to the special needs.
• Neighborhood schools have closed. This has left children with no option—no “choice”—other than to board buses at 5:30 a.m.to crisscross the district to a school in a different neighborhood.
• Parents are “choosing” to lose a voice on the curriculum, budget and resources. Parents have less of a voice in the much-less democratic charter school systems.

Two parallel and unequal education universes are now competing for the same resources.

This situation has created is a full-fledged war between Black, brown and poor parents in a nation and a presidential administration that is, at best, insensitive to the needs of non-whites, poor people who live in soon-to-be gentrified urban areas and those in need to be educated. Sadly, Newark has become divided in an America that is charging against us.

When Newarkers go to the polls on April 16th, there is really only one full slate that is running counter to the charter advocacy team. The Children Over Politics (COP) team—A5, A6 and A7—has stood out in every debate as the most experienced with a track record to back it up.

Leah Owens, Saafir Jenkins and Denise Cole have been consistent in their campaign for a strengthened traditional public school system. We don’t have to question their allegiance. If ideas that improve traditional schools are presented to them, they won’t hesitate to advance them.

It is unfortunate that Mayor Baraka has supported the charter advocacy team. I have and continue to support Baraka in most of what he has done for this city. He has said that he is the mayor for both charter school and traditional school parents and children. What he is looking at is poll numbers, because people who know they’re in a fight vote.

This situation has created a space for sacrifice for the greater good. There are many good people who are running independently of the COP team. But since Mayor Baraka has chosen a side, we have to do so too. If these independents throw their support behind COP, then we give the community a real choice and give Baraka something to think about.

The Charter Advocacy Team has one thing in common with charter school boards: their refusal to be accountable to the people. Their seats were empty at three of the debate forums, Newark for Educational Equity and Diversity (NEED), Newark Teachers’ Association (NTA), and Greater Life Inc. in the South Ward.

There are those in America who want the American public school door permanently shut. New Orleans closed its last traditional school last year. Closer to home, Camden’s charter schools are now 55 percent of the student population, while the traditional schools are still in decline.

Now that we have local control, let’s be in control. Let’s make the school choice that really matters on Tuesday. The charter school advocates are going to look out for themselves first, so we need a team with hearts pledged primarily to the children they actually represent. We are COPing in, not copping out.

Annette Alston is an author, retired Newark Public School teacher and Newark Community Activist.