Way to go kids. This is awesome.
When I was in high school in Rome, it used to be pretty-much a yearly occurrence to “occupy” the schools, for some demands or another. At one time, these were pretty serious (generally requesting more left-wing policies from the state), but by the time I was in school it was basically just an excuse to smoke pot for a few days on school property.
Glad to see this kind of thing can still be used seriously, and in the US no less.
Photo: Students occupying a Rome high school
Welcome to America™.
This™ is Capitalism.
Everything is a revenue stream.
Protest now in its third day.
Ras Baraka addressed the press this morning in support of the protest. He was just informed Cami Andrerson’s contract has been renewed.
http://newjersey.news12.com/news/newark-mayor-supports-student-protesters-1.9953749
Just imagine what Chris Christie has in mind for the rest of the US should he be elected Decider. [Insert Judge Dredd “I am the law” gif here.]
Don’t see what it has to do with Chris Christie. The Newark school system has been under state control since 1995–long before he became governor. It spent $17,600 per pupil last year–more than enough to provide a quality education. There are many aspects to this problem ranging from students who don’t want to learn to corruption and poor management.
Sounds like it’s time for Newark to have some traffic problems.
Don’t see what it has to do with Chris Christie.
Christie appointed an absentee superintendent who doesn’t give a damn about what the students, parents, school board, and legislature have to say and Christie just renewed her contract in the middle of this protest.
ETA: The current Newark superintendent’s salary is $300k a year (almost twice the national average and more than the Chancellor of the NYC schools) - Anderson was appointed before NJ statewide capped superintendent salary at $175k. Christie in the past has called the exorbitant superintendent pay “property tax abuse”, yet renewed her contract instead of finding someone who would abuse the taxpayers 40% less.
I am all for the occupation! But I think that instead of doing it to “protest” the actions of others, the occupiers should just dig in and replace these people, running the schools themselves.
This is what they say they spend, but I would need to see the actual books to find out what exactly the $17,600 per pupil is purchasing. Dividing up the total $ by # of total students isn’t a reliable indicator because classrooms are often deficient in basic supplies (e.g., pencils, paper, Kleenex), which are often purchased by teachers.
It seems that the wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark_Public_Schools has some of this data and a comparison to the average. It looks like they are spending a (comparative) lot on support services and maintenance. Maybe they have a lot of special needs students and old buildings? That’s not uncommon for poor school districts. I also note that they spend under the average on extracurricular activities. i.e. anything that you actually enjoyed in high school.
Yeah, you really don’t know. You can see the published budget at http://www.nps.k12.nj.us/departments/sba/finance/budget/2014-2015/
Great link, thanks!
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