WTF: Is Baraka a Naive Pup or Selling Out Education in Newark?

[Baraka] had made a deal–he called it a “settlement” or an “agreement”–with Gov. Christie in which the mayor agreed to allow Cerf to become the Newark superintendent if Christie would agree to help bring about  eventual local control. “It wasn’t a quid pro quo. It was more like us coming to a settlement, an agreement that they’d pick a superintendent and help us get local control,” Baraka is quoted as saying....Cerf has promoted the privatization of public education for decades and has worked for and maintained ties with American and foreign corporations seeking to make a profit from privatization–in Newark and elsewhere.
Just before he was named to be Newark superintendent, Cerf was named to the board of directors of national organization promoting charter schools. He later quit.  He was part of an effort to help former Mayor Cory Booker make Newark the charter capital of the nation.
..... Has Christie divided Newark opposition to Cerf and state control?, Bob Braun's Ledger

Wait, let me get this straight. Baraka made a deal with CHRISTIE? To accept that crook Cerf as Newark Supt because Cerf will help get local control back? Give me a break. Privatizers like Cerf take direct aim at local control. If Cerf helps get control of Newark schools for an independent school board I'll eat his hat.

Is there something under the table going on here?

The mayor’s comments in his interview might surprise some critics of state control who, like Rice, are demanding that the state school board reject Cerf because Cerf himself hired Andserson and determined the policies under which she closed public schools and opened new charter schools.  The Alliance for Newark Public Schools, an organization that has worked hard against state control for more than a year, has called for a rally at City Hall Tuesday to protest Cerf’s appointment and to demand immediate local control of the state’s largest school district. The alliance called for a “`March of Dignity’ to restore full local control of the Newark Public Schools and reject the appointment of Christopher Cerf as the next Superintendent.

So, is Baraka turning out to be a JUSP - just another sleazy politician? Sadly, methinks YES.

Before the agreement between Baraka and Christie, the opposition to Anderson and state control had been building and unified. Now that Baraka has accepted Cerf as superintendent, it’s difficult to know how that opposition could continue at the level it had been in the last two years.
Christie, who just announced a presidential bid, may have managed with his alliance with Baraka to quiet Newark as he tries to portray himself as someone who can reach agreements with opponents. The agreement indicates it will be at least a year before a date can be set for local control–and that’s a year Christie can use to run for  president without major controversies in the state’s largest city.

So, let's make a deal with Christie to assist his campaign for president. Oy, Ras!

The elected school board last week voted to choose assistant superintendent Roger Leon as  the next Newark superintendent. Baraka was present at this meeting but he has insisted he won’t focus on anything but local control, a position he repeated in his interview.
The board’s action rejecting Cerf’s appointment in favor of Leon—along with the continued opposition of the alliance and Rice to Cerf’s appointment—creates a potentially awkward and divisive situation in what had been for years a solid front of opposition to state control. In his interview with NJSpotlight, Baraka would not criticize either Cerf or the governor.

Baraka repeated his criticism of those who disagreed with his decision to reach an agreement with Christie and create a 9-member “Newark Board of Education Success” that would play some sort of role in bringing local control back to Newark after 20 years. Christie appointed a majority of the members and rejected some members recommended by Baraka. The mayor has criticized this site specifically for its opposition to Cerf’s appointment and blamed that opposition on “paternalism” which he called “pathetic.”
It’s unlikely Rice would consider his own consistent opposition to Cerf’s nomination a matter of “paternalism.”  The senator attached to his letter a long history of the legal and ethical problems Cerf created for himself both as a private entrepreneur, a New York City official,  and as New Jersey commissioner of education. Cerf has promoted the privatization of public education for decades and has worked for and maintained ties with American and foreign corporations seeking to make a profit from privatization–in Newark and elsewhere.
Just before he was named to be Newark superintendent, Cerf was named to the board of directors of national organization promoting charter schools. He later quit.  He was part of an effort to help former Mayor Cory Booker make Newark the charter capital of the nation.

Right Ras, paternalism. I call it sell-out.

Newark Ed Update: Round One: Baraka v. Jeffries, Round Two: Baraka v. Christie

I urge my NYC pals who will be voting on the contract to look closely at the Cami Anderson "Newark One" charter giveaway plan and the consequences for NY Teachers over the next 5 years. Randi sold the teachers of Newark a contract a few years ago. I'm betting the UFT contract contains a hidden mine field - why? Because they always do.

Our correspondent in Newark has recovered from the wild revelry of the Ras Baraka victory to engage in some musings.

My question: Does scandal-beset Christie still have the chops to chop Ras Baraka? I can see the headlines: Bully White Man Tries to Beat up on Democratically Elected Black Man.

From A Newark Teacher

Ras Baraka won round one with a knock out punch to Shavar Jeffries. The hedge fundies did not invest sufficient millions to buy out all of Newark voters and Baraka is mayor-elect.

Round two features Ras Baraka versus Chris Christie. Prior to the mayoral election, Christie hinted at the potential for a State takeover of the budget of the city of Newark with the possibility of rendering Baraka impotent. As a worst case scenario, Baraka would be reduced to a skillful orator lacking the muscle to wrest the Newark Public Schools from the grip of the State take-over and prevented from making financial decisions for his city. The ultimate disaster would consist of Christie clenching the purse strings for both the school district and the city in his gritty palms.

For those who prefer a fairy tale ending, Ras Baraka lived happily ever after in his castle on the banks of the Passaic River. The billionaire backers of Shavar Jeffries retreated quietly to their neighboring kingdoms never to be seen again. Big Bad Wolf Christie purchased Princess Cami Anderson one way tickets for her and her family to a western state where she could bad mouth Newarkers to her heart's content. The people of Newark were forever grateful to the gods for gracing them with control over their schools, their city and their destiny.

A Newark Teacher

Reality Bytes on the election outcomes

Bob Braun's Ledger

Break a kid’s heart? Who cares? - Newark’s school superintendent, Cami Anderson, yesterday shrugged off the political embarrassment she dumped on Gov. Chris Christie—a national champion of ...

Jersey Jazzman

Where In The World Is Cami Sandiego? - UPDATE: Found her! "Mayor-elect Baraka and I worked together at Newark public schools and had a productive working relationship which I have every intentio... 

 

Ras Baraka wins

Mayor-elect Ras Baraka

Major Defeat for Ed Deform: Ras Baraka Is Mayor of Newark

A major focal point of the election was the debate over the schools and state-appointed Superintendent Cami Anderson’s controversial "One Newark" school reorganization plan — which calls for the relocation and consolidation of one-quarter of the city’s schools and turning over some neighborhood schools to charter operators.

Jeffries, 39, a law professor, former assistant attorney general and school board member who helped found a charter school, had been backed by charter school interests, along with the Essex County Democratic machine.

"When everybody didn’t believe, you believed. Today is the day we say goodbye to the bosses."

Baraka, the principal of Central High School and a sharp critic of Anderson’s plan, was supported by the teachers’ unions.

 Some similarities to the Wash DC mashing of Fenty/Rhee but that story did not turn out all that well. Oh, stop being such a cynic, Norm, my alter voice is saying to me.

Ok, I'm cheering. Like I did for de Blasio. Come talk to me in a few months. But what fun to see what happens with Cami Anderslime.

Read it all:
http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2014/05/newark_voters_elect_new_mayor_to_succeed_cory_booker.html

Christie Cover Story on Baraka Bus Fire

Here’s the problem. Greedy people don’t mess around. They try to get what they want and if some overly idealistic and uncooperative politician—someone, say, like Ras Baraka—tries to get in the way,  people could get hurt... Bob Braun's Ledger 

We were joking -- sort of -- earlier with our post that I labeled as "satire."

Christie Denies Blowing Up Baraka Campaign Bus - Satire

Bob Braun gets into some details that make we wonder.

 .....observers point out that three of the scandals threatening  the political career of Gov. Chris Christie involve major real estate development projects—in Fort Lee, Hoboken, and New Brunswick. It’s as if the feverish fantasies created by Christie’s people in the US Attorney’s office to snare local Democratic politicians with phony development projects have suddenly become realities–and real opportunities to make Christie’s pals a lot of money. Real estate developers with ties to charter school companies are buying up property in  the city.  Plans by Cami Anderson,  the state-appointed [Newark] schools superintendent, has virtually unlimited power to sell of school-owned property, as she did when she sold the 18^th Avenue School  to the Pink Hula Hoop, a for-profit corporation with close ties to TEAM Charter Schools.

And don't forget CamiGate (AndersonGate: Cami Anderson Last Minute Newark School Closing).

Here is Christie's latest explanation for the bus fire.

I was walking by the bus with a cup of coffee and while adding a pack of sugar I tripped. While falling, I grabbed for something and accidentally twisted off the gas cap of the bus and coffee and sugar spilled in. When I hit ground -- with a thud, matches flew out of my pocket and ignited the bus. I heroically tried to put out the fire by covering the entire bus with my suit jacket but it was too late. I was lucky to escape with his life.

Now I hear he is in Puerto Rico with an alibi.