In response to NPS Superintendent Cami Anderson's letter home to families regarding why schools were closed on such short notice on November 7th and 8th:
November 14, 2013
Dear Parents and Community Members,
Find out what's happening in Newarkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Last week, the Newark Public Schools District academic calendar was suddenly amended to have Thursday and Friday as closed days for students. Please be aware that this was the direct result of district officials’ disregard of the annual NJEA Convention for teachers and other school staff.
As far back as can be noted, NPS has planned each year for the Thursday and Friday of the week of Election Day to be closed days for students. These two days are the traditional days used by the NJEA to hold its yearly convention, when school districts throughout New Jersey close to allow their staff to gain valuable professional development. Whether scheduled as administrative days, staff development days, Veterans Day, or Puerto Rico Recognition Day, district schools have been closed.
Find out what's happening in Newarkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
So, why the change now? District officials are actively contributing to a smear campaign of teachers in order to maintain state control of the district, ultimately keeping power from you. They want you to believe that we, teachers, are lazy, greedy, and uncaring. We couldn’t possibly want to attend a convention that would improve our skills. We’re not interested in sharing best practices with our colleagues or learning anything new. We wouldn’t want to bring in grants to Newark that will benefit our students, as many teachers have done by attending the convention and learning about new programs available.
Do you buy that?
Under the guise of apology, the real purpose of the letter sent home from NPS explaining the situation is to place blame squarely on the shoulders of district teachers and our union. No, the Newark Teachers Union is not a member of the NJEA (although many Newark teachers are members of both unions), but why should that matter? New Jersey law specifically provides us the opportunity to be absent from school for the purpose of attending the convention. Rather than risk a debacle—such as this turned out—for the sake of “doing things differently,” the district should have thought more critically before coming to the decision to keep schools open on days that many teachers and other essential school staff members would be sure to be absent.
Superintendent Cami Anderson should embrace the fact that NPS teachers want to attend an event that will improve their practice; she should NOT attempt to eliminate opportunities for teachers to become better at their profession. There would have been no confusion had she scheduled these two days off—as normal. In fact, Superintendent Anderson could have avoided a “last minute” change as she knew well in advance of last week how many people turned in paperwork to attend the convention. She created forms out of thin air, insisting anyone who wanted to attend had to fill them all out. Why? To intimidate teachers and discourage them from going. What happened? Two weeks before the convention a districtwide email was sent telling teachers only one form—the original one supplied by the union—had to be turned in.
But she’s not just insulting our intelligence. How does closing school “make our city less safe”? To imply that two days historically given to both teachers and students alike in the entire state would result in unsafe conditions in Newark hints at what she thinks about the capacity of our city to take care of our own. We’re sure you read between those lines. The superintendent is being disingenuous. She continues to weaken our schools by a systematic undermining of our profession while selling a “new” form of education which attempts to destroy the village in order to save it.
Do you buy that?
Adding more instructional time to the academic year is commendable. Adding meaningful instructional time is a challenge the district has yet to meet. Don’t be fooled. More time does not automatically mean improved use of that time. Ask how much time is spent in the direct preparation of standardized tests (commonly known as drilling) and take a look at how many instructional days are devoted to students taking the tests.
We care about our students and want to provide them with the best instruction. Yes, we get some time to meet with our colleagues during the school day, but we also research new ideas after we get home from school and plan lessons over the weekends. If anyone needs a little more time to collaborate with others in our profession, it might be us. What are two days compared to the other 185 that we devote to the educational excellence of our students?
In sincerity,
NEW Caucus
NEW Caucus | Contact Us!
NewarkEducationWorkersCaucus@gmail.com
862-367-9211
Facebook.com/NEWCaucus
