By David Cruz
Correspondent
Superintendent Chris Cerf’s political skills were on full display today. The man Gov. Christie has put in charge of returning the state’s largest school system to local control was chatting up, hugging, and generally glad-handing community members who haven’t had a pleasant word with a Newark superintendent in years. Even Mayor Baraka, whose dislike for Cerf’s predecessor – Cami Anderson – was well-documented had positive words for the superintendent.
It is a tribute to Cerf’s political deftness that today’s unveiling of the report “Pathway to Local Control” was seen as a triumph by all involved despite some serious questions about what impact the 45-page report will actually have.
“This is the year of healing and collaboration and working together,” pronounced Cerf. “My job is to put myself out of a job. I’ve been very clear about that from the outset, but that doesn’t mean that any of us can afford to wait another day, another hour, another minute before we work together.”
Mayor Baraka, who gave Cerf credit for facilitating constructive discussions, added “I know we have never been at this point in 20 years of us in this endeavor. We haven’t been to this point and I’m so grateful that we are here. And I know that when you see the finish line that you run faster and you don’t slow down because when you slow down people pass you.”
The report — which represents the work of the Newark Education Success Board (NESB), created by the state in the aftermath of Anderson’s departure to chart a course for local control — makes recommendations on governance, curriculum, finance and other key areas. These include many things that have been talked about for decades, including transforming the central office, employing curriculum that reflects current research and professional development for teachers.
“Clearly, the Newark Education Success Board is not the elected advisory board,” noted chairwoman Mary Bennett. “We are not authorized to operate the Newark public schools and we know full well that the state, through the commissioner of education and the state board of education, using the process known as Q-SAC, has the authority and responsibility when it comes to taking over districts and returning them to local control.”
Meaning that Newark schools must still meet numerical standards set in Q-SAC, the Quality Single Accountability Continuum, in five areas, including Operations, Fiscal management and personnel, which Newark has reached, and also Governance and Instruction, which the system has not yet met. The consensus though is that local control is near, but how near (or far) is still undetermined.
“There should be another review next spring, sometime, and then, again, we urge them to issue their report as quickly as possible,” is how Cerf put it.
Or, as the mayor and others seemed to think — anywhere from one to three years, which is soon enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but far enough away so that what’s coming in the other direction is still unclear.