There’s a new change in leadership at the Newark Teachers Union. New President John Abeigon succeeds Joe Del Grosso, who held the position for the last 20 years. He joined NJTV News Correspondent Michael Hill to talk about the district who’s in a transition phase of its own.
Abeigon says the NTU is bound to go in a different direction based on all the events that are occurring in Newark, whether they want it to or not.
“We’re dealing with a younger generation of teachers — teachers that have been listening to reform while they were in teachers’ colleges throughout the country. We’re going to definitely have to change and start listening to our younger members, as well as our seasoned members, and come to a consensus on a new direction,” he said.
The current contract expired on June 30. Wednesday the state Board of Education is meeting to approve or deny Gov. Chris Christie’s recommendation for a new local superintendent — Christopher Cerf.
“Currently we’re not speaking with anyone. As the contract expired, so did Cami Anderson’s leadership in the city — it coincided on the same date almost. We’re waiting for the actions of the state Board of Ed this Wednesday on whether or not the approved the governor’s recommended appointee, Christopher Cerf, as the local superintendent as to whether or not we’re going to continue to negotiate with him as the leader of Newark public schools,” Abeigon said.
He says the union would prefer someone other than Cerf as local superintendent, preferably someone who is an educator and who is dedicated to education and the advancement of teachers and everyone associated with the successful education of students. In fact, a recent letter by acting U.S. Assistant Education Secretary Heather Reiman alleges that Cami Anderson went around the state’s regional achievement centers to implement her own reforms.
“What that letter said was that they [Anderson and Cerf], that he as her boss, should have taken more direction from the federal government and asked for more documentation as to what exactly were her plans and transformation, her plans for reform and not just give her a blanket waiver — which is what he did,” Abeigon said.
He thinks it’s not good for the district and should absolutely factor into Wednesday’s decision about a new superintendent.
“Cami Anderson and Chris Cerf were both complicit on what has gone on in this educational district for the last four years. From her disastrous One Newark plan, to her insistence on opening more and more charter schools. It’s just been a complete disaster and he as her mentor deserves a lot of the blame for that fiasco,” Abeigon said.
In a recent interview, Mayor Ras J. Baraka said that the Newark school district could regain local control in as little as a year and half and that Cerf will remain only until then. Abeigon says teachers agree with the mayor and support him, however they have a much different time frame for that goal. He says Baraka is going to achieve his goals in a “mayoral political type way” while the teachers union is going to “try and fight for that same goal but in a labor union way.”
“We’re giving Chris Cerf — or whoever the new superintendent is — they have between now and September to dissolve One Newark, place teachers who are without placement, employees without placement but continue to be paid and to revamp the entire special education division with a true special ed director and not someone from their reform school,” he said.
He says the timeline is realistic because every school district in New Jersey has staff working over the summer.
“The administration works July and August to make sure that things are ready and in place for implementation come September. Newark public schools is no different in that it has an elected school board, it has an administrative division, it has principals and it has teachers, aides and clerks who come in over the summer,” Abeigon said. “So if they were to dissolve One Newark, they could pretty much do it at the snap of a finger. One Newark has only been in place for a year and a half so to undo that fiasco is just telling a parent, ‘You know what? We’re no longer going to be shipping your kid halfway across the city, he’s now just going to go to the school across the street from him.'”
He says the union wants action and they want it quickly and in that sense they’re no different than Mendham, Perth Amboy or Cherry Hill.
“We have an elected school board and these are responsible people. Well they’ve been elected and in your local town, your local school board does a search for a superintendent and they find an educator to fill that role,” he said. “The problem that we have here in Newark is unlike places like Mendham or Chatham. We have a school budget that’s almost $900 million — that $900 million attracts political appointees, it attracts consultants, but unfortunately it hasn’t been able to attract the right educator. What we need is an educator. We don’t need any more political cronyism here.”