Friday, February 20, 2015

NEW Caucus Reports: Newark Students to End Occupation of Newark Public Schools Headquarters

Friday, February 20, 2015 3:42 PM
From Bob Braun blog

For Immediate Release
Paul Karr, NJ Communities United, 
paul@unitednj.org
Newark Students to End Occupation of Newark Public Schools Headquarters
Press Conference at 2 Cedar Street at 5:30 pm
Newark, NJ – After nearly four days occupying the offices of Cami Anderson, the Chris Christie-appointed Superintendent of Newark Public Schools, Newark students are claiming victory. Students and community organizers will exit 2 Cedar Street at 5:30 pm and speak to the press about their efforts.

Students successfully managed to secure a meeting with Cami Anderson this morning and issued the following statement:

“After 65 hours of occupation, we, the Newark Students Union, met with the state-appointed Superintendent of the Newark Public Schools, Cami Anderson, in regards to her lack of communication with the students, parents, and the broader community of Newark, NJ. Due to her continued inability to have an open and constructive dialogue with us, she has inevitably created a deep mistrust against the administration and its policies. At this point, the students remain committed to the demand that she resign immediately and return to the monthly public school board meetings beginning Tuesday, Feb. 24th.  We must continue the dialogue and develop a process for selecting her replacement.”

Students occupied the NPS offices for four days, finally securing a meeting with Ms. Anderson. By the end of the meeting it was clear to students that Ms. Anderson demonstrated no greater commitment to the Newark community or a democratic process for selecting her replacement. Students and the Newark community will continue to escalate demands for Cami Anderson to resign and to restore local control to the Newark Public School System. What became most clear during the week is that the escalation to demand local control moving forward will directly target “the Decider”, Governor Chris Christie.

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