School & Community News

State Senator Raymond Lesniak Called NJ Officials to Investigate

SPECIAL TO NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Senator Raymond Lesniak on Friday called on New Jersey education officials to investigate allegations of the fraudulent use of state and federal dollars in the administration of services for children with disabilities in public schools, citing the abuses as an example in the Elizabeth school district and similar abuses identified by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in the Barringer Academies.

In both cases, serious allegations have been made about denying the required education services to special education students.

“Apparently the Elizabeth BOE isn't the only school district defrauding tax dollars and depriving special needs children of a thorough and efficient education as required by the New Jersey Constitution,” said Senator Lesniak. “I have received information from multiple sources about the Elizabeth Board of Education. Mayor Baraka identified similar abuses at the Barringer Academies and brought them to the attention of the State Department of Education, which said they would look into it.”

Newark Community Education Convention

NEWARK COMMUNITY EDUCATION CONVENTION: RECLAIMING THE VILLAGE
November 21st & 22nd
There is nothing more important to the future of our city than the development and education of our youngest residents, the children of Newark. With this in mind the City of Newark in collaboration with numerous community organizations and educational institutions is holding the Newark Community Education Convention: Reclaiming the Village in order to open up a city-wide dialogue about education. The purpose of this conference is to embolden a new education conversation in our city that increases our collective knowledge of 1) the history and significance of the conditions and policies affecting our schools, 2) achievement in the context of poverty, and 3) working together as an empowered and engaged community.

Newark is a city where poverty and racism still matter. All the evidence tells us that even under these conditions students can still learn and excel. More than two-thirds (70%) of our children grow up in low income families struggling to meet basic needs. While poverty and racial isolation are highly correlated with low academic achievement, this correlation should not suggest that Newark students have low cognitive abilities or deficits. The city of Newark creates and shapes the climate in which children, families and schools succeed or fail. Our children are not the problem; the environment we create for them is largely responsible for their academic performance and other outcomes in life.

“Believe in Newark,” is based on the principle that the people of Newark, working collectively and in a coordinated way, have the ability to transform learning opportunities in our city to ensure that all of our children have the opportunity to succeed. The Newark Community Education Convention: Reclaiming the Village is designed to catapult students, teachers, parents, advocates, community organization, and civic leaders in our city into collaboration in order to create a climate outside of our schools that helps to transform learning within them. Working together to develop and implement creative new ways to address the inequities that exist in how our systems deliver services and programs to residents in Newark is paramount to addressing the environmental effects of poverty and racism on the learning outcomes of our children.

State control of Newark Public Schools for twenty years has completely circumvented community participation in the determining the direction of our schools. Reclaiming the Village symbolizes a shift in this dynamic and a restoration of our collective power to demand the schools our children and communities deserve. This conference is intended to help us galvanize our assets and to envision a sustainable plan to integrate communities, schools, and families that we can implement together. Together we will be holistic, comprehensive, and bold in our approach.

November 21
6pm to 9pm
Location: Bethany Baptist Church

6:00 Doors Open

6:30 to 6:45 Welcome and Opening Remarks

6:45 to 7:45 Panel Discussion I: How did we get here?
The panels provides a historical overview of public education in Newark, New Jersey from the 1970’s through the present, via the narratives of school board members, district administrators, organized labor, and community activists.

7:45 to 8:45 Keynote: Lawrence Hamm

8:45 to 9:00 Closing Remarks

November 22
8:30 to 3:00
Paul Robeson Campus Center, Rutgers University

7:30 Doors Open

7:30 to 8:30 Registration

8:30 Welcome

Dr. Lauren Wells, Chief Education Officer, City of Newark

8:45 to 9:45 Keynote:

Dr. Yvette Jackson, Chief Executive Officer, National Urban Alliance for Education for Effective Education

“Poverty is NOT Destiny: Strategies for School Communities to Unlock the Innate Potential of all our Children.”

The urban environment offers both assets and challenges that school communities must be strategically prepared to address in order to fulfill the shared responsibility of attaining high achievement and self-actualization for all students in the community. A transformational vision for urban schools requires a keen appreciation of the need for public engagement and the development of strong community support in order to transform schools into thriving oases where assets are elicited and cultivated, needs are addressed (academic, social, emotional and physical health) and aspirations are fulfilled. Strategies to inspire, influence, and cultivate trust for navigating support, involvement and action will be addressed.

9:45 Break

10:00 Panel II: Breaking Through Barriers to Learning
The economic environment shapes learning and educational outcomes of children through complex pathways via family, neighborhood, and schools. Though many children living in poverty begin life at an economic disadvantage these challenges can be abated. In Newark there have been on-going and consistent efforts to implement, coordinate and integrate practices and programs that work inside and outside of schools to mediate these barriers to learning. This panel examines the role of poverty in the shaping the educational opportunities and outcomes for families and children in Newark. Specifically, we will explore and hear from practitioners about how their understanding of poverty shape their interactions with children and their families to influence youth’s educational outcomes.

Moderator

Dr. Janice Johnson, Associate Professor of Sociology CUNY/ John Jay College & President GrassROOTS Community Foundation

Panelists:

Sandra Rodriguez, Principal of Brandt Primary School & Director ECE. Hoboken Public Schools.
Dr. Hanaa Hamdi, Director, Department of Health & Community Wellness
Dr. Gwedonlyn Harris, Executive Director, Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs
Dominique Lee, Chief Executive Officer, Building Responsible Intelligent Creative Kids
Lunch
11:00 to 12:00
Welcome from Rutgers University: Marcia Brown, Vice Chancellor of External and Governmental Relations, Rutgers University

12:00 to 1:00 Panel III: Newark’s Educational Landscape: A Community View
Students, advocates, and educators from charter and traditional public schools discuss the state of education in Newark. There is a specific focus on the development of the whole child, schools that are responsive to the learning needs of children and communities in Newark and opportunities for all schools working together to support children and families in neighborhoods.

Moderator:

Dr. Lauren Wells, Chief Education Officer, City of Newark

Dr. Roland Anglin, Director and Associate Research Professor, The Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies

Panelists:

Star Harrison, Abbott Leadership Institute Youth Media Symposium
Jose Leonardo, Newark Student Union
Mary Bennett, Coalition for Effective Newark Public Schools
Ryan Hill, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, KIPP, New Jersey.
1:00 to 1:15
Remarks from Honorable Mayor Ras J. Baraka

1:15 to 2:45 Planning Together to Transform our Schools Together
Moderators:

Fatimah Burnam, Executive Director, Teach for America, New Jersey
Shanell Dunns, Director of Community Outreach, Education Reform Now

This session elicits strategies for public engagement and the development of strong community support in order to transform schools into thriving oases where assets are elicited and cultivated. Conference attendees will identify the assets of the communities around our schools and will work together to define the role of public engagement in all of our schools and to establish strategies where the entire community plays a roles in shaping that where all students have the opportunity to thrive.

2:45 to 3:00 Call to Action

Students Protest "Chaos" at Barringer

November 19,2014, students protest Barringer chaos supported by PULSE of which I, Betty (Street) Crockett "Blue Bear of 1972" is an Advisory Member showed up. The protest shutdown Park Avenue,one of the main arteries of Essex County,NJ. Quoting Bob Braun from Bob Braun's Ledger:
The state-run administration of the Newark public schools doesn’t know how to keep principals at Barringer High School. It doesn’t know how to provide the students with schedules, courses, teachers, desks, or even edible lunches. On a day, like yesterday, when  temperatures fell below freezing, it didn’t even know how to supply heat. But it sure developed some creative ways to prevent students from joining a planned walkout to protest conditions in Newark’s oldest high school.

“You’re keeping them from coming outside,” shouted Jose Leonardo, the vice president of the Newark Student Union (NSU), in a confrontation with Twanda Jones, a Newark special police officer who was, well, helping to keep Barringer students from joining a student rally outside the school. “No, they are free to go,” insisted Jones. “If they want to go, it’s on them, but they can go.”


Speical officer Twanda Jones tries to tell NSU president Kristin Towkaniuk to leave parking lot
What Jones wasn’t saying was that, for Barringer students to join the protest against problems both at the school and through the Newark public school system, they would have to overcome some pretty sizable obstacles.

 

“Someone physically grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go,” said Matthew Rodriguez, a 15-year-old sophomore. “They were telling me not to go outside.” He identified the school worker as an interventionist.

 

That wasn’t all. Barringer administrators conducted a school-wide presentation in the auditorium during which the students were told not to go outside. Teachers warned them not to go outside. Security officers stood by  the doors and ordered them to stay inside.

One especially clever trick was telling the students they would not be able to return and retrieve their cell phones if they left. Barringer students are required to check their cell phones before entering class. “A lot of students need their cell phones for their safety,” explained Axel Maldonado, a 16-year-old junior.

Amanda Dominquez, the leader of the Barringer Students Union, said she was called into the school’s central office and told to call off the planned demonstration. She said the principal of Barringer STEAM, Angela Mincy, and Brad Haggerty, an assistant school superintendent.

 

“They told me they were correcting the problems at Barringer and we should not join the protest,” said Amanda. Let’s face it. It took a lot of will power for young Amanda to resist the powerful people from the Newark public schools. A lot of will power and courage. And frustration with the conditions that none of the high-paid adults seem to be able to solve.

No one denies Barringer is a mess and has been a mess since it opened for the new school year.  The students lost weeks of  instructional time because teachers were not hired and schedules were not set.

Just before the school year opened, Cami Anderson,  the former Cory Booker campaign worker appointed by Gov. Chris Christie to run the Newark schools, fired one of two principals in the school. The other quit. Because Anderson has invested so much power in the principals who support her–and she keeps in their jobs–the loss of two principals meant staff assignments were not yet firmed up before the school year began. Course schedules were not completed. The school opened to chaos. And it has remained in chaos ever since.

 

Anderson herself admitted as much before a state school board meeting earlier this month. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka visited the school to hear complaints from the students, some of whom produced a video to show how bad conditions were at the school.

But the problems at Barringer have not been corrected. Help promised by acting state Education Commissioner  David Hespe and his phantom, “working group” never materialized.

The only Newark residents supporting the Barringer students and their parents are those running the NSU and other community groups. Some of the community leaders who were there supporting the Barringer students–Sharon Smith of People United for Local School Education (PULSE), Wilhelmina Holder of the Senior High School Council, and Donna Jackson. Dr. Lauren Wells, the chief school officer for the city and an adviser to Baraka, was there as an observer.

Many of the students and adults traveled to Washington last week to confront Cami Anderson who had left town to give a speech at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, DC. When the students and community residents showed up, Anderson fled to a different part of the building to tape her comments and audience members were told the program had been canceled.

“I’ve been coming here almost every day since September and they still haven’t solved all the problems here,” said Holder.

The demonstration began just before noon with about 30 NSU members marching in front of school entrances calling for students to come out. Security officers and, later Newark police, moved them away from the entrances and from the school parking lot.

Despite the efforts of the school administration, about 50 students left Barringer and joined the young men and women outside. The group moved to the intersection of Park Avenue and Parker Street and closed it down for more than an hour.  Newark police officers diverted traffic and did not try to stop them.

Washington D.C. to Barringer

A delegation of about 40 Newark community members including  PULSENJ, Newark Students Union, NJ Communities United and P.O.P., went to Washington D.C. to attend AEI meeting to hear Anderson discuss the triumphs and challenges of American urban school reform in the 21st century , after Anderson spurned repeated efforts to address their concerns in Newark.
State Appointed Superintendent Cami Anderson cancelled her speaking engagement with AEI on November 13,2014 once she found out parents and students from Newark were in the room!! After Anderson fled the room, the students stayed behind and told the remaining audience how they see her tenure as Christie's state-appointed Newark Superintendent. Initially, they attempted to clear the room because of "security breach". At 2:22 American Enterprise Institute turns the lights out on the Newark's parents, students and supporters . There will be a "Student Walkout" this Wednesday,November 19,2014. The best time for people to show up would be about 11:30 or 11:45 at Barringer High School so they could march with the students for support (support "Our Blue Bears, C'mon"). The Fight for Excellent Education is On!!! It start with ending "One Newark Plan"

Voices were Heard by Mayor Baraka and ABC News

Voices were heard by Mayor Baraka and ABC News because proof is as follow:
"NEWARK STUDENTS, PARENTS COMPLAIN ABOUT CONDITIONS AT CITYS LARGEST HIGH SCHOOL
Anthony Johnson reports the mayor toured Barringer High School to hear first-hand.

By Anthony Johnson
Tuesday, October 28, 2014 05:42PM
NEWARK (WABC) -- Parents and students are speaking out about problems at a high school in New Jersey.

Those who attend Newark's largest high school, Barringer High School, claim there are overcrowded classes, text book shortages and staff members misbehaving.

Now, Mayor Ras Baraka is stepping in and talking with parents.

The concerns came to light with a YouTube video featuring testimony from students about classroom conditions.

The students complained about confusion with class schedules, overly-crowded classrooms with up to 40 students and a lack of desks that forced some kids to sit on the floor.

The school's principal was hired in August, just before the start of school year, and there are as many as 15 substitute teachers for subjects like math and science.

Mayor Baraka toured the school and while praising the school administration, he does acknowledge there are lingering problems that should have been resolved.

"There's a lot of work that needs to be done at Barringer," he said. "Do I think that it is where it's supposed to be? Absolutely not. But I do see that the administration here is working hard to get it into that direction, and I think they're doing a yeoman's job given the tools that they have to work with. But I don't think that they have all of the support that they need from the district."

The superintendent also admits there are problems, but says the overcrowding problem has been exaggerated and that they are dealing with the problem of hiring permanent teachers for important subjects."(1). 1. 7ONLINE

One Newark Discriminates/One Newark is Breaking the Law

The U.S. Department of Justice federal investigators are coming Monday, Oct 13 2014 to Newark to hear the truth about One Newark's racist impact. Let your voice be heard. When: 3pm-Where: Clear View Baptist Church,314 Hobson Street,Newark NJ

Karen Lewis visit to Barringer

Karen Lewis,Chicago Teacher Union's president and mayoral canadate,visited Barringer HighSchool on Friday and said outside the school"I do see what seems to me to be just basic chaos in schooling," said Lewis, moments after she toured Barringer High School in Newark's North Ward. "There are some very large classrooms, which clearly have not been leveled yet because they got more kids than they expected. Here, it seems like the outrage would stop at Chris Christie's feet. You can't separate the political from the pedagogical. If you have people making decisions who are neither transparent nor accountable, exceptwhen an election rolls around, then things clearly become political. Hearing about the protests, it's very clear that children are being politicized by this, as they should be." She was honored Friday evening at the Newark Museum by the organization Working Families which I,Betty (Streete)Crockett attended. There she mention a lack of resoures (books, lab equipment and space for class sizes) and visionless principle who happen to be new. Lewis was a chemisty teacher in Chicago. She also mention the school was quite as if the student was not allow to engage in critical thinking.

#NPSboycott4freedom

There will be a boycott against Newark Public Schools. The boycott will begin September 4,2014. We want a halt on the One Newark Plan and Newark Enrolls. We want community elected local control. We want community-driven sustainable schools where parents,teachers and students have input. All stakeholder should be involved-parents, students, teachers,other school employees clergy,businesses,organizations,and elected officials. Go to npsboycott4freedom.com

1972 Broadway Jr High, Newark NJ Year Book

1972 YEAR BOOK
Due to a fire currently looking for a source to obtain a copy of the 1972 Broadway Jr. High, Newark NJ Year Book.
Are there ARCHIVE COPY AVAILABLE or obtain a copy from some one.
WIll accept computer generated PDF format and xerox copies if avaiable.
WIlling to reimburse cost to obtain copy.
Can be contacted at: ESPYRANGER1@YAHOO.COM.

1972 Broadway Jr High, Newark NJ Year Book

1972 YEAR BOOK
Due to a fire currently looking for a source to obtain a copy of the 1972 Broadway Jr. High, Newark NJ Year Book.
Are there ARCHIVE COPY AVAILABLE or obtain a copy from some one.
WIll accept computer generated PDF format and xerox copies if avaiable.
WIlling to reimburse cost to obtain copy.
Can be contacted at: ESPYRANGER@YAHOO.COM.

1973 YEAR BOOK

CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR A 1973 YEAR BOOK
ARE THERE ANY IN THE ARCHIVE AVAILABLE
RAYMUNDA WHITE

Desperately seeking 1976 year book!!!!!

WANTED 1976 Yearbook of copy!! Or at least tell me where or who to contact to obtain one...... Contact me E-mail; THANKS Daniel Gordon Class of "76"

WANTED!!!!!!!1976 Yearbook

Desperately seeking a copy of 1974 yearbook! Contact Daniel Gordon Thanks

Need January 1943 yearbook

I lent this to a high school friend many years ago and it was never returned. Does anyone know where I can locate one?
Thanks -
Jean (Hart) Savage

Lost 1974 year book

Can anyone help me find a copy of the 1974 year book. It was lost while being shipped from Korea back in 78 while in the Air Force. Will pay year book and shipping cost.

Thanks, USAF Msgt .Robert Santiago
Can be reach at my email

Yearbook 1974

Hi,
Looking for a copy of the 1974 Yearbook. Mine was lost and cannot find it.. Need help.. will pay for replacement. or extra copy if anyone has one. thanks, Roberta

Funny book by Barringer alumna

Lissa Brown ('61) published a book called Real Country: From the Fast Track to Appalachia, telling what happens when a Newark girl moves to Washington, DC and then to a holler in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Just imagine how different life is among the southern mountain folk. She writes under the pen name, Leslie Brunetsky.