I must have been born a buzzkill, one who looks at the glass half empty! I can't help but be puzzled why people are standing up and cheering at the announcement that Newark's Superintendent Cami Anderson is " Stepping Down" and being replaced with Christopher Cerf? I am not trying to steal anyone's feelings of being happy, joyous and free from Anderson. The way I look at it is she was an absentee Superintendent anyway, did ya really deal with her? She didn't attend board meetings, she rarely dealt with the public nor did she sit at the table with parents for our input. Anderson in my opinion was only a chew toy for the public to gnaw on while the gestapos at the state initiated every tactic they could to demolish Public Education in the city of Newark. They can deny it, go right ahead, we all believe ya Govenah!
Actually, thinking back, I did have the privilege to meet Cami Chaos! How could I forget, I was selected as Parent of the year a few years back for the East Ward of Newark and had to attend a board meeting at Barringer High. They called me up, she bestowed upon me a certificate saying
"Parent of the Year" with her John Hancock right on it! She shook my hand ( and gave me the cooties) and A photo was snapped of us ( I would kill for that picture). I took my seat and she began a Power Point presentation about a new concept called One Newark. That would give " Choice " to every family in Newark. This was prior to her unveiling on Dec. 17, 2013. Probably a year prior. I had no concept of what was going on and was giddy that I was Parent of The Damn Year! Who cares about your presentation, Mrs. Anderson, IT IS ALL ABOUT ME! Do you know that I actually had that framed and kept it as a symbol of the work I did in the community! Flash forward to about Feb 2014, at another board meeting, ironically, I stood up basically told Cami she sucked a bag of balls, held up my Parent of the Year Certificate she bestowed on me 2 years prior and told her from her...It didn't mean CRAP! I then proceeded to rip it up in front of her. How can I forget all that! Selective amnesia!
I did a telephone interview with WABC yesterday and the interviewer Jerry asked me" Frankie, are you happy that she is gone, you personally, not how the city feels." My response was" It is not about Cami! Cami was a name on a demand, A face on posters and memes. A face to frustration! In the last year my attitude towards her changed in the way that she is just the smoke and mirrors to distract us. Some fall for it and honestly, I did. Now I see her departure as what they replace her with will be ten times worse. Now we are dealing with having Christopher Cerf coming in. The epitome of Corporate America Scoundrel! He will sit at board meetings and take public lashings and not raise a pulse! He will get the job done Anderson couldn't! So NO Jerry, not to be a buzzkill but I am not happy and do not see this as a time to rejoice or be proud." I used to cosign with a "LIST OF DEMANDS" that was passed around Newark. While they were powerful to some now, I do not think we are the ones who are the captors! The only RIGHT we have is that we should have local control over our school district! That should not be a demand. Especially when the State of NJ has done such a bang up job with the schools in the last 20 plus years! So to me Jerry that is the only win! Local Control. That will make me happy and have a reason to feel we are accomplishing things."
Parents and residents of the City of Newark have a tremendous amount of "situations" going on. Cami exiting and what about her bonuses? Cerf taking over for 3 years while we continue to fight for Local Control. We have the Govenah, breaking rights and laws especially, refraining from changing the language in legislation being passed that will allow Charter School expansion in our city that will absorb $25 million dollars from our Newark Public School budget to go to charters! Our Senate President Stephen Sweeney is in on it and turns his sprinklers and garden hose on those who tell him when they don't like his actions. We have right here in Newark our always fabulously dressed and manicured Senator Teresa Ruiz, who will sell every Newarker, their child and their little dog too for power to remain seated in the decision making of the destruction of our city and state!
We are witnessing a full on war to extinct the Newark Public School System. A a schools culture that is developing my very child. A child who has aspirations to be an Architect. Who has taken Mandarin Chinese for 4 years. who has access to technology like 3D printing and phenomenal STEM instruction. He knows about wind turbines, how they work and how the environment can save on resources. Who is exposed to Arts and Music. Who has reached academic honors his whole time spent in Newark Public Schools. The same school system that generations of Adaos before him have come through. A system that allowed them the right to an education just by walking in and singing their child up! That produced chefs, law enforcement detectives, Vice Presidents of fortune 500 corporations, fire chiefs and Directors of Finance for major corporations.
This is what you want to shut down and replace with what? Cherry picking students and providing them lackluster academics and career paths.
Your right! It is not about Charter Vs. Public Schools. Fess up the truth. Put your big boy and girl corporate panties on and tell the damn truth! Private funders see the golden calf that is profits on Education! The false images of Chartres producing "college ready" geniuses is a figment of great marketing! There is no proof or data supporting this claim. There are no "waiting lists" with thousands of families waiting on bated breath for that one great phone call that will change their child's life! When that charter fails to provide academic programming for the child where do they turn to? Newark Public Schools. When they do not have the ability to provide athletic programming for the child where do they turn to? Newark Public Schools. When they make empty promises and run out of funding where do they drain from Newark Public Schools.
We are hearing promises from those we had hopes for. That would represent all the people and their needs for this city. We hear about all these transitional teams and how they will help guide us through and build policy for our city, but it is the same damn people who are always at the table! I by all means do not want a seat at the table. There are far more experienced parents and citizens who need to sit there before I do. However, the scene is more like always the same party of eight, than gathering input from true Newarkers in the areas of the specialty! When I see troublemakers and paid organizers who are up to no good and I know it from my own experiences, I have a hard time having blind trust and faith in leadership that will only listen to what they want to hear rather than maybe what they need to hear! Here I go again, being the buzzkill! Not wanting to go along with the herd. That now labels you a Non-Newarker!That is total absurdity!
We have potentially the aspect of having a casino come into our community and if you went to school, lived or even played in Atlantic City about 20 years ago, you would know the element that it brings is not the glitz and glam that comes with "Letting It Ride!" We even have Prudential building and expanding but where are the jobs for our Newarkers? They can put grass on the side of a building but cant find a way to find Newarkers jobs in their company!
Is this the change I was promised? Is this the"Choice" that I expect? Some may say well you don't like it pack your shit and leave! To them I say, my family has been in this city for generations! Their, blood sweat and tears help build this city! We have seen elected officials come and go, development in our city, growth in our city, heartbreak in our city, a renaissance in our city! THIS IS A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT TO HAVE TO TAKE IN AND DEAL WITH! I was told that some times you feel like you are playing "WHACK A MOLE!" That is exactly what Newarkers are going through! When one issue (mole) gets thrown our way, another issue(mole) jumps out and it's on and on! So yes, until the moles are eradicated from the city that I love...I will continue to be the buzzkill that holds the paid organizers, the corporate scoundrels, the elected officials, the media, the party of eight...accountable.
"STANDARD." In the last three years that word has such a new meaning for me. I am big on looking impactful words up so when I looked up the word STANDARD, this is its definition according to Webster (and not the lil guy...one of my favorite shows ever) :
: regularly and widely used, seen, or accepted : not unusual or special
: generally accepted and used because of high quality or excellence
: accepted and used by most of the educated speakers and writers of a language
Full Definition
1a :constituting or conforming to a standard especially as established by law or custom <standard weight>
b :sound and usable but not of top quality <standard beef>
2a :regularly and widely used, available, or supplied <standard automobile equipment>
b :well-established and very familiar <the standard opera>
My whole life since I was a child I was told " be unique" dont settle for just the "standards in life!" So, I did just that! I always marched to the beat of my own drum. I didn't settle for any of the definitions above because I was taught by my parents and family to not accept standards. My teachers, instrumental in my life, told me "reach beyond the standards! The world is yours! REACH BEYOND THE STANDARDS!" I grew up in the 70's, a bicentennial baby to be exact, so I know some of the ways of life back then were now considered "far out" & "groovy", but I that was the essence of my entire life! The seed that was planted even back then. To reach beyond standards. Not settle for anything less than I wanted and I took that with me in my whole life thus far.
Now, flash forward to today and the word STANDARD is a common fabric in which our society strives for. Everyone is trying to reach a predetermined standard! A standard of living, standards for eating, standards of body images and stanadrds of Education. We have gone beyond what our own standards may look like. Some guy somewhere is like "This needs to be the standard!" Then everyone follows without a question! Look at multibillion dollar diet industry. One day, dont eat meat. The next its Paleo a meat lovers diet! Standards are now the finish line!
In today's educational system, we have done away in forty-three of our states the ability to be better , individual or unique. Those conversations with educators about going against the grain of standards can literally lead to performance infractions or worse dismissal! If you want your child to be able to develop in an environment of individualism, you will have to pack up house and explain to your employer you are moving to one of the few states who have opted out of these standards and are seeking uniqueness for your child and family! As you walk out the door, chances are they will have no clue what the hell you are talking about! If you are someone flocking to Colorado, they will automatically label your move for something else rather than trying to find "uniqueness!"
Here in NJ over the last twenty years or so we have totally traded in that yester-year mentality of "Seek Individualism!" Our children are being ripped from being individuals to being cultivated by Corporate America, for profit testing companies, technology companies and political investors. They now create the standards! Some frumpy overweight guys onced bullied probably on the school yard for being different. We have seen school districts demolish Creative Arts programs, Physical Education programs, Special Education programs and replace them with more instructional time on test taking in Mathematics and English Language Arts for tests like NJASK and PARCC. Since those are indeed the onky factors we rate achievement. Our own Governor, Chis Christie staunchly faught parents for years who protested for Common Core standards to be obliterated. In just recent weeks for what many are calling an obvious political tactical move as he takes steps for a 2016 Presidential Nomination, has had a sudden change of heart? However, only on the surface. He is still adament about having core standards in our schools and thinks that possibly changing names of these core standards will fake and move his constituents who oppose his efforts and cast a vote for him come 2016. He also persists that standardized tests like the PARCC and relationships with testing companies such as Pearsons move forward. What is his true stake in this all. His own children are not upheld to these standards. They can dream a lil dream. Why can't ours?
Thanks to No Child Left Behind, these standards have left so many of our children just that... behind. Behind the standard of what society tells them they are capable of. A sociecty who as even left our children of Special Needs out of the picture. Making it almost impossible to reach goals for their children. Unable to obtain a dreammof their own and when they don't they are tossed to the waste side. I thought it was NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND right? Instead, what it is doing is systematically weeding out the unique and the individual. The Dreamer. The Pretender. Glorifying the Standard!
Again, sure there should be a standard of achievement, but walk into any classroom...oh wait if you are a parent those days are over! You can no longer just walk into a classroom or a school for that matter. If you could, you would see the faces of those trying to become standard. To fit a mold of someone else's standards. Maybe, standards set up so they will never achieve or standards never meant to achieve when they were created for them. So our future generations of Picasso, Mozart, Maya Angelou, Bosquiat, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali, Martin Luther King Jr., and Stevie Wonder will fade until every child is conditioned to want to be standard. To sit in a cubical and to speak from a script. To program from a script without that thought of dreaming to become more than the standard. Out of the box. To color outside the lines.
It is to that child who dares to be different, I dedicate this entry. Standards will not get us in the running of other countires who are leaving us in the dust. It is the dreamer, the pretender, the special child that will propel this country and its future generations of children...not someone elses standard! Look out the window, take a pause and dream the biggest dreams! Be different! Be unique! Be anything but standard!
I am often asked the question being a founder of the Newark Parents Union " are parents doing enough to stand up for our children in society today?" My answer to that is usually the same" As parents working and raising kids in those dedicated to the fight for our children, are doing the best we can!" However, as unpopular as this may sound, is that answer now enough? I say is that enough because we have had almost every day this past week, an issue with lock downs all overt the state.
"• Cranford High School in Union County and neighboring Brookside Place School operated under a shelter-in-place order after the high school received a threatening phone call around 10 a.m., school officials said.
• At Indian Fields Elementary School in South Brunswick, an all-clear was given after students were evacuated due to reports of two possibly unauthorized people inside the building. Two city librarians were buzzed into the school but did not check in at the main office.
• Macopin Middle School in West Milford was placed on lockdown after a bomb threat was phoned in.
• Marlboro Middle School in New Jersey also received a phone call shortly before 1 p.m., which prompted an evacuation. Kids were taken to another location and then eventually dismissed early.
Meanwhile in Middleton, New York, Maple Hill Elementary School was placed on lockdown after a threat was called in there, police said."
Just today in Newark, there was a lock down as rumors spread around the Ivy Hill Elementary school that a gun was brought into the building! The situation was handled by Newark Police and is under investigation by local police. This latest event happening with 150 security guards being slatted to be laid off! What is going on in our school systems? Not just in the inner city, but across the state...across the country? Have we as parents, never mind teachers, veered so far off the tracks of parenthood that #2 pencils have been replaced in our children's book bags with 9 millimeters? Have we been distracted with things like fighting against corporate administration clones, Common Core Standards, PARCC, One Newark and State political bullies , that maybe we are dropping the ball at home? Have our kids just had enough and has the adult world that is supposed to be leading the examples gone and pushed them " Over The Edge"
I am always advocating for the parent voice out in the community and on social media and to me that is a big part of reigning this all back in. They have witnessed a parental loss in power. The see that parents are not standing up as much, included in children rights as much and have been not only excluded from seats at the table we have been pushed away and forced now to sit at the kiddie table! The youth in our society, due to the depiction of today's parents, has forced themselves to protect themselves! Maybe they are running to easier solutions because they have no adult guidance to show them they have someone willing to stand up for them.
When I go to important legislation hearings and votes on the state level, you would think with all the spotlight issues impacting our children like Education, Nutrition or even Safety are getting in the mainstream media, these important hearings and voting sessions would be packed, wall to wall with parents from across the state. You would think some of these issues would be warrant enough to say " Hey let me see whats going down there at the State House." Now, before you start firing off the hate mails or throwing dagger comments saying" Parents need to work!" Who's going to pay the bills?" I get it, however, to a degree I am sympathetic to that reply. I understand fully the value of parents needing to be in the work place and providing for their families, but when your child's school is closing and you have no more neighborhood school to take them to and have to now run your child way across town, will you tell them " Well, I need to go to work, honey take the bus to Kindergarten?" When your child comes home from school and at the dinner table says" Johnny brought in a gun to school today and showed me!" Will you say " Here's a bullet proof vest, I have to go to work honey!"
As parents we have abandoned our true PARENT POWER and have let corrupt school administrations, Reality TV, Grand Theft Auto, Social Media and YouTube step in as the roles of raising our kids! No wonder why they are walking into school with Glock's in their bookbags. Half the times we aren't even allowed in the front doors of our schools with out some type of attitude as if we are trespassing. We have relinquished our greatest gift that has been bestowed onto us and that is the POWER OF BEING A PARENT! With that we have to assume some of the responsibility of the state of turmoil our children are in. If we do not act swiftly in the awareness of our failures, it will not be too long before the entire youth population turns on us! I can't say that I blame them! These are extremely difficult times we are living in and our children need us to take the wheel back! We need to regain our desire to keep our children as the sole priority! When several schools throughout our state within the last few days have had issues with lock downs and security issues, are we going to wait until it is a Waco or Columbine situation before we take our balls out of our kitchen junk draw and start making some really bold moves to show our children, we are back in the game and care about their life force here on this Earth!
On Saturday evening, The Newark Parents Union, hosted a Light Our Night Sky candlelight vigil to show Unity & Hope for our children and specifically our Public Education here in Newark. It was a powerful and monumental. Something never done in our city or our state for that matter! While the turnout far exceeded my expectations, I was saddened to see that there was not a bigger representation of parents across the state! If we start with 30 of the states most dedicated parents looking to get their PARENT POWER back...than that's a small Parent Army and we will be bad ass and fight for changing the way the Parent is viewed in society! WE CAN SURELY DO MORE PARENTS! OUR JOBS ARE NEVER DONE! 24/7 365!
Is it true? Have you heard the news? I'm sure by now you have and if you were like me your notifications on your smart phones have been blowing up! At a Republican luncheon this afternoon the Govenah ( best British accent) Chris Christie released this statement...
"It's now been five years since Common Core was adopted. And the truth is that it's simply not working," Christie says in excerpts released by his office ahead of the speech at Burlington County College. "Instead of solving problems in our classrooms, it is creating new ones. And when we aren't getting the job done for our children, we need to do something different. It is time to have standards that are even higher and come directly from our communities. And, in my view, this new era can be even greater by adopting new standards right here in New Jersey - not 200 miles away on the banks of the Potomac River," Say What???? Who is this guy? Did he just do a fake and move and slam dunk an electoral spun house right on Common Core Standards. Ya know the very principles he fought against voters on for years? The same shit he kicked people out of his town halls for saying" Yo Gov...that ain't cool man!" Including yours truly! In one breeze of a luncheon with his Republican cronies he said "Ahh FUGGEDABOUTIT!" From what you and I have seen from the guy does it seem too far fetched?
So if NJ Common Core Standards are not working ( like we have been saying over and over) what about the PARCC? He in this same luncheon stated "those higher standards should be determined by the people who are educating the children in those particular states. And my concern about what the administration has done is the federalization of this that takes education further and further away from parents is not the type of education that I think we want in this country or need." Yet in that same speech he gave to his buds, who now think he is the second coming of Jesus, stated that he has no intentions of eliminating the PARCC test and that our NJ students need high standards of testing through the PARCC test! Translation...if you are going to give up Federal Cashola I ain't given up the corporate cash cow of educational testing! So, is he just throwing his voters a bone? Give the dog a bone to chew on and he can run past and steal the goods? We can't be that naive...can we? As my smart phone and social media notifications EXPLODE, I am besides myself with some of what I am seeing! Things like" We knew you were a great guy!" " Maybe he will be a great president?" " He is finally listening to the people!" Uh no! Sorry to piss in your cheerio bowls guys! It's called getting ready for his big coming out for the presidential race and doing some damage control for votes in NJ. He wants that white suburban soccer Mom vote and that white urban soccer Dad with a mini van vote!
If PARCC testing is still being shoved down our kids throats, if teachers are still being evaluated on outcomes of PARCC testing or whatever name they come up with ( think they finally realized oh shit it does spell CCRAP backwards). What the hell are you all jumping for joy for? It's just political nonsense! The money that was wasted in implementing Common Core Standards alone is enough to generate educational programs and clean ups in districts for a few years! You pissed all that money away? Taxpayers money! Hard working people's money! So you can after the masses told ya" Dude shut it down" you just wanted to play who's dick is bigger just to prove all along, we had the bigger dicks? REALLY Govenah? Let's just say Chrissy boy is being truthful and he is trying to make amends for his mistake, as a Newarker, I AM STILL NOT SATISFIED! It may sound greedy to those in other areas who may have been fighting so hard for this, but my city is still without Local Control, AND I WANT MORE! If he stood at that podium and said "ya know what I really really jacked things up guys especially in certain cities like Newark and I am truly sorry", maybe he would have a fighting chance! He needed to say along with the elimination of Common Core Standards "I have spoken to Mayor Baraka and effective immediately we are returning full local control to the city of Newark since the state has admittedly failed to make the progress needed. I am asking for the resignation of Cami Anderson immediately. I will meet with parents ( preferably the SOSNJ/Newark Parents Union Parents) and teachers from the city of Newark and come to a community agreement on how we are best to educate our children!" Now that people is what a man does! Never mind a Governor! He stated today “ the concerns that I have are significant — and I set a commission up that is now coming back to me with some recommendations, but my charge to them is that we have to keep government at the local level.” “With education it is most important to have parents involved, there have to be teachers involved as a part of this process and it needs to be part of this process and will be I think as we move forward in New Jersey,” Well Govenah, now that you are telling the press to keep it local...it is time the state of NJ relinquish it's meat hooks on my city from it's over 20 year Mafioso and let the people of Newark have a say! We have proven that we have the resourceful and dedicated parents, the students, the workers and the residents to make this happen. So while you take away Common Core...finish the job man! For once just finish the job! To my friends out their reading this elated over the news singing " DING DONG NJ COMMON CORE IS DEAD!" remember how it went down in the Wizard of Oz! The house fell...killed one witch...and a bad ass one came right behind it! Those Munchkins shit their pants and ran! Be ready for that next bad ass witch!
Recently I had some time to really sit back and take a look at where the journey has taken me in my evolution from just your average dad to a Modern Day Dad. This blog will not contain fancy graphs or data that can be used. It is my journal in a transformation of a dad making it through this ever changing world. I am not a professional rallier or protester. I never claimed to be an expert on education reform or legislation. I live...work and play in my city of Newark, NJ. I don't come from distant areas trying to prove something and I receive no paycheck for any work being done. Heart and passion is all I have invested. As well as tons of time. So far I have been labeled a radical, egotistical, a heckler, a nuisance and a loud mouth. Yes...I may be a little of them all. You have to be a bit of a pit bull to deal with some of the players in the arena I now find myself. They have all been groomed in doing what they have to to accomplish their agendas. Me, I have no other agenda but making parents truly a powerful and self driven force in our community. So label me what ever you feel. I never did the label thing. I will never fit in a box!
It doesn't seem that long ago when I was a just a mere mild mannered Dad. Caught up in the routine of life and honestly content with the average every day happenings of the norm. Wake up, get ready for work, feed the dog, kiss the wife and son goodbye, tackle a day at the office, TV and repeat the next day. My normal 9-5 gig is as a Community Outreach Coordinator writing grants and developing programming for school aged children in my community. Pair that with being an entrepreneur Chef, active father, husband, soccer Dad, small business owner and involved member of my community of Newark for over 35 years, lent to very little time for much else. Getting the occasional night on the town with my wife and friends or to actually sit and catch up on my DVR was the highlight of the week.
I was brought up in a home where Dad was the bread winner and main role was to make sure we had a roof over our head, food on the table and clothing on our backs. huge tasks to bare on one's shoulders. There was very little time for what dads are involved in now. Hands on raising of the family, supporting a spouse who also works, cooking, cleaning and so on. While Dad was my biggest hero growing up, as I became an adult and started a family of my own, I vowed to go even further than just being that " bread winning dad." I wanted to be involved more! I always made time for getting not only myself but the family involved in the community. From the Arts, to Environmental Issues and to Education I have always dedicated time and efforts. Being raised 4th generation in the community to immigrant families, Newark was always a beacon of hope for possibilities for great things. My family hails from a long line of Newarkers who have and still to this day work tirelessly for the city ranging from Teachers to Law Enforcement to Fire Department personnel. I have always prided myself in being informed...in touch and in turned with the happenings and issues of my city. So I thought and would find...I was sadly mistaken.
My wife Maryann & I have always been active and proactive parents in our son Matthew's life and specifically his education from the moment he stepped foot through the doors of his first learning institution at age 1 1/2 at a Great Expectations facility. He has been an Honor Roll student since he was able to receive letter grading at the Elementary School level. Courses in STEM and Mandarin Chinese where not uncommon for our son. As a family, we committed to ensuring Matthew would be exposed to a great educational experience here within the city we love and were raised. My wife and I saw a growth and a optimistic future for our son as a new vision for the city had taken place. A renaissance ... revitalization and we wanted to be part. You see for 3 years back in 2007, my family decided lets try living outside of the city of Newark. Crime had risen somewhat and our families had moved to the Jersey shore-lined areas. We gave it a shot. Needless to say as true Newarkers...we moved back to our city and our son was happy to be back in the city he really knew and loved That's where our affinity truly was. Things were the best they could be. We became even more so involved in community within the city, as a family. My son was enrolled in my Elementary School Alma Mater in which my entire family and over 4 generations of my family proudly attended and graduated from. I myself returned back to Culinary School at 36 after 15 years of Public Relations and Operations experiences, becoming a catering chef and also doing Community Relations and Grant Writing for a local non-profit community group.
Sure as many of the Urban Public Schools across the country revamping, reform and a renewal of the current public educational school system was needed and is not up for debate with majority of parents anyone speaks to. You wouldn't get much of an argument from most urban families such as families who reside in Newark. In over 20 years of being stripped of our local control, we have seen as residents and tax payers a decrease in budgets, improvements and facilities. It was thrilling to hear Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of social media mega application Facebook even donated over $100 million to our Newark Public School system. Encouraging...hopeful. In addition, a rise in a new breed of super schools where curriculum was to be the best in the nation. Facilities that are state of the art bathed in technology. It was like some one had came down and answered a call to us parents. These "super schools" we know now today as the Charter School Movement.
Our eyes were being opened to a whole new world of possibilities for our children. The city encouraged families especially in underprivileged areas, which is basically the majority as our city is built on the backs of low to middle class hard working people. It was a new path for the future of our children many could not afford to pay for. We were sold a concept of better standards and a better life for our children. Who could resist. In the Summer of 2013 my wife and I even started to receive daily multiple phone calls from new charter schools advising us our son Matthew was a pre approved student and asked to come speak with admission intake specialists at the schools. As proud parents we started to do our research in these new schools being spawned all over the city. The more research we did, the more we found them to start raising red flags to my wife and myself. Public funding being shared with our public schools that have been woven into the fabric of our city's culture and dollars per child being lost to privately ran charter schools. Public buildings being sold right from under tax payers noses. It was almost ripped from the pages of a Orsen Welles novel. An invasion on our schools. Yet, I like many others turned a blind eye as it meant choice for those who may not be awarded many choices. To me at the time, it just made sense even if it was a choice I wouldn't personally make with my family.
In Fall 2013, right around Halloween as the kids began to buzz about what they wanted to get dressed up as and how much candy they would get, was all that seemed to be the worry and on the minds of the over 250 families throughout the city who I spoke to and came in contact with through my job and relationship with the community. Little did we all know that our lives as we knew it would all change. Not for the better but for the worse. Our public school system would be invaded and an assault on the Newark community was being launched unbeknownst to the citizens, voters and parents in Newark.
Governor of NJ, Chris Christie had just confirmed against public protest he would be reinstating an appointed (not voted upon by the citizens of Newark) Superintendent Cami Anderson. I have had the experience of meeting Ms. Anderson at several Advisory School Board meetings and community related events. I was awarded by her as a Recognized Parent in my district. Her reputation for being non-approachable to parents in the community in which she was appointed held up. Unwelcoming for a person employed to care for the welfare of my child. I was not alone in this feeling toward Anderson. It was almost majority and overwhelming in the city. There were even legal filings made for her removal. Christie rejected the cries of his constituents protests about Anderson being given more tenure as the appointed Newark Superintendent of schools with bold statements such as "We’re going to renew it because she’s done a great job, and I don’t care about the community criticism," Christie said. "We run the school district in Newark, not them." http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/09/christie_to_newark_we_run_the_school_district.html
Shortly after the Governor's reappointment of Anderson, chatter and rumors of an ominous plan started being spread in the Newark Community. Rumor had it Anderson was launching a plan that would require parents and students to now pre enroll their children into an application process and based on parameters of the application your child will be told where in Newark they would be able to attend school. I believe at that time I even made statements like "not going to happen!"and "just rumors that's absurd!" Boy was I naive and wrong.
Immediately following the Thanksgiving holiday, what I would have called "just rumors and absurd" would leap from the pages of most conspiracy theorists as the dawning of the invasion of the privatization of our Newark Public Schools.
Fliers were distributed in the community and public meetings were being held across the city in protest of what was being called Anderson's "Universal Enrollment/ One Newark plan." The title now is anything but a rallying for ONE NEWARK. Little to no details were given to administration, to schools, to teachers, to parents, to students, to tax payers or citizens. There were no public meetings looking for taxpayer and parents input. As a Community Outreach Coordinator I was in the loop of communications regarding the city and issues impacting our residents and families. Nothing was sent asking for any public input on a large scale. Only a very selective few that represents a minority of the city.
As the 2013 Holiday Season rolled in, I received word that at our next Advisory Board meeting in December, Superintendent Anderson would be reviewing what her One Newark Plan would entail. So on December 17, 2013 I packed up my desk early and attended the meeting at Park Ave Elementary. When I pulled up to the school all I could see were the blue and red flashing lights of police vehicles. A sea of squad cars lined the front of the school. As I drove past, I could not help but wonder, what was I in store for. This would be the day my life as a normal average everyday Dad would be changed forever. After waiting in line to get in and finding a seat next to a few parents I knew, I began to hear the conversations from those who attend the monthly meetings and was horrified how budgets were being slashed, teachers being muzzled and threatened with their jobs, students and parents totally shut out of the process.
As the meeting went on and Anderson and the Advisory Board members took their seats...the sounds of booing and hisses filled the auditorium. Anderson attempted to show her plan to the audience but was stopped in her tracks as the audience refused to listen to her. It seems she has tried this before and failed miserably and the public felt it now was too late. Our Advisory Board President had to have the presentation done by someone other than Anderson just so it can be completed. As I followed along the polished PowerPoint slideshow I almost felt as if I was trapped in a bad 1950s vintage video segment on school segregation and civil rights injustice. The plan had a ill effect on public schools who's history enriched our city for many generations in way of many school closures who will reopen, be renewed, revised as privatized educational facilities or simply shut down. There was high alarm of segregation of largely populated ESL and special needs students, transportation and safety issues as well as an outcry of community resentment towards this plan. Here I thought I was involved and committed to assisting my community and I felt lost and left in dark. How did I not know all this was happening write underneath me! How did I fail the families I serviced and not proactively inform them of this months earlier so they can be informed or educated on this new plan? How...because the community and leaders in the community were not asked to be involved by our Governor, Education Commissioner nor our Superintendent. The meeting ended on a sour note and I headed home...in shock and awe! Devastated in having to break the news to my family, friends and the families I serve in the community. As if a wound had been ripped open and not able to heal and the city began to hemorrhage. I got home unloaded hand full of fliers that were handed to me with lists of school closures many in which I had friends and family who's children attended these schools and I knew they had no idea.To my left a fiery parent sat next to me. Throughout the meeting she would educate me on the issues and information that needed to be said and heard. She was very vocal and outspoken about issues and what actions needed to happen from residents across the city. Little did I know that this woman sitting next to me was a true leader in the efforts to return Newark back to the people. This woman was Mrs. Donna Jackson. From that moment a fire in me was parked, I needed to get educated and involved quickly. How would I begin to explain this to my friends and family? How would I explain to my son what was going on? I returned home fired up and sat my family down and explained to them the details of what would be rolling out to us. My family just as I was shocked and confused. So we decided to start arming ourselves with information almost immediately.
As with most of us today, the feeling of if you cant find it on Google or the internet...it just does not exist. Well there was very little to no information on Anderson's One Newark plan. So in true fashion of someone who is a big proponent of social media, my wife and I created a Facebook page called Parents Against One Newark Plan and it was launched on December 18, 2013. We began to pull and post information and invited our network of friends to join, visit, subscribe and share the information as they saw fit. With in days a few likes turned to hundreds and with in a weeks time we had close to 700 followers of our page. The people in our community were starving for information. We started informing our friends and getting them involved in our movement. A movement that was already developing behind the scenes for years by other informed community residents, parents, students and community organizations. Our goal of our page to funnel the information for parents to go to one page to obtain the information they needed to be educated in the One Newark plan and to expose the plan to the masses of the Newark, NJ and the nation. The more we dug...the more we found disturbing information as well as that this was happening to Public Education in cities such as New Orleans, Chicago, Paterson, Jersey City and growing exponentially. Fast and furious! The creation of our page led parents involved with us in Parents Against One Newark to reach contacts to aid us in our movement.
Almost initially we were connected to the founders of the Save Our Schools New Jersey non-profit grassroots organization and put in touch with a great gentleman by the name of Hassan Manning a gentleman who was doing great ground work almost simultaneously across town to us starting our Facebook page. Hassan was leading a petition door to door in the city to pass legislation to restore local control and the stop forced public Schools closure created by Senator Ron Rice. Just in one day alone Hassan was able to get about 600 signatures of folks who joined his fight. We were connected and decided to join forces as one team to lead a movement to get parents and the community educated and made aware. It was a unison and kinship that would transcend just the topic we were introduced by. Within 2 weeks our page was pushing over 1k in followers and reaching over 20k news feeds nationwide! The petition was launched online and within days grew to signatures in the thousands.
We traded in countless hours of free idle time, soccer practices, dance recitals, going out socializing, for research, rallies, meetings, legislative caucuses, educational hearings, school meetings, community meetings and organizing. By late January we were asked to help introduce legislature in the state alongside of sponsors Senator Ron Rice and Senator Turner for the Stop Force Public Schools Closure Act and attend several legislative hearings regarding the state of our education in Newark. Our following on our page grew to close to 2k by start of February 2014 and showing up in over 40k news feeds across the country. Since our page creation in December, our followers have asked us for help with other child/parent issues. With great honor, we recognized our role and duty to help other parents in need so we transitioned our page and movement to the Newark Parents Union in March of 2014. The page continues to address our main platform Parents Against One Newark as well as other advocacy issues. We have over 2,300 followers and growing daily. Newark Parents Union is followed by some of the top educational experts and bloggers in our area and the nation. We have also teamed up with great communities organizations such as New Jersey Communities United to help support the Newark Parents Union.
In most recent days, I have almost been transformed from a mild mannered Dad of normally working routine, soccer Dad, walking the dog, cooking, cleaning, laundry, carpooling the kids around and being a self proclaimed TV fanatic to trading in the remote for rallies at the Statehouse, Senate and Assembly vote sessions, educational research, Parent Town hall panels, community informational sessions. Its almost as if I have an alter ego that would make even Clark Kent leap from his tights. Speaking with Senators and elected officials have now become the norm. Marches and demonstrations and a commitment to my community. Press releases and statements. My face in the local papers and on the news. It seems like in a blink of an eye the life I knew then is no more. I am not that same dad I was on December 17, 2013.
From the very launch of NPU and early on as PAON, its been a challenge! From the day I hit create page on my FB page manager...its been a shark frenzy. As we grew...the sharks get bigger as well as their appetite. They have all shown their true colors behind closed doors or secret inboxes. I can write a nice little book with some of the communications I receive on a daily basis. Everyone is not who they appear to be! It would blow your mind! Same people who talk about unity, organizing and trust are the same ones who have agendas and who have failed parents and voters. I intend to hold them all accountable. I don't mind being a mouth or calling people out! If people only knew the real deal it would blow your mind! Strike 1...Strike 2...next time its strike 3 at the old ball game! How much will parents and voters be deceived? This Dad will prevent it from happening as much as possible. Luckily I work with a great team of parents who share the same vision. We are growing tremendously and will continue to do so in our mission! We will not be led by others...we will steer our own ship! Take our own bumps and bruises that will make us stronger.
This blog is for those parents, not just Dads, who are in the fight for their kids and hopefully readers will find the journey and transformation of an average dad to a more "Modern Day Dad" exciting. It is in itself been just that a cathartic transformation and I look forward to having you all on this journey with me into the CHRONICLES OF A MODERN DAD.
Not only am I a Dad, I am a Buzzkill!
