Newark Teacher Responds to an Ed Deformer

"When trust is low-as it is presently in Newark, there are not enough data decks, community presentations, evidence, research, or Power Point presentations, to keep good people from reading bad things into evolving plans developed by outsiders, who are perceived as less interested in helping children than in building their resumes for personal gain. In a bifurcated, oppositional, often contentious city, where people have been lied to and ripped off for generations, by people and organizations who claimed to be here to help, who can blame them for being upset by people who seem to represent those very same interests, now looking to close their schools, ruin their neighborhoods, and take their children and their jobs?"

Ross Danis
President and CEO
Newark Trust for Education

A Newark teacher responds:

Ross Danis, you can show us Power Point presentations until the cows come home and we will not believe them. Mark Weber aka Jersey Jazzman and Bruce Baker have crunched all the numbers and they have concluded once again that charter schools in Newark serve less needy children and achieve no better outcomes than the public schools they are to replace.

How dare you characterize Newark as "... a bifurcated, oppositional, often contentious city..."? Why would you shoot an arrow into the heart of the community? Novelist Philip Roth began his love affair with literature at The Newark Public Library. Legendary jazz singer Sarah Vaughan and Whitney Houston were born in Newark.

The Newark Museum was the place where Miss Carol taught me weekly art classes before I even started school. My mother bought me my white sixth grade graduation dress at Hahne's. I graduated from a university in Newark. I have spent a crucial chunk of my career teaching Newark children.

In Newark, people will answer you back before you finish offending them. The same kid ready with a smart remark will offer a helping hand. The major distinction between squad captain Ross Danis cheerleading his band of reformers and the Newark community is soul.

A Newark Teacher