…from Chapter 3 of Education Reform and Gentrification in the Age of #CamdenRising Public Education and Urban Redvelopment in Camden, NJ (2018, Peter Lang USA)
George Norcross III and the NJ Urban Hope Act of 2012
A 2013 article authored by Philadelphia Magazine reporter Steve Volk entitled, “George Norcross: The Man who Destroyed Democracy,” profiled George Norcross III, who is commonly referred to as the most powerful Democrat in New Jersey politics. Volk’s article explains that George Norcross, along with brothers Donald, and Phillip grew up in neighboring Pennsauken, and became exposed to politics through their father who was a local political actor and union leader. Of Norcross, Rutgers University-Camden history professor Howard Gillette, in his 2005 work Camden After the Fall, wrote:
The son of a powerful labor leader, Norcross had worked his way up the system, first by assisting several state legislators including Angelo Errichetti. Errichetti had appointed Norcross director of a reconstituted Camden Parking Authority in 1978 when Norcross was only twenty-two. Building on his labor and political connections, Norcross developed an insurance business that gave him the financial leverage to help Democratic politics in Camden County.
Norcross III became Chairman of the Camden County Democratic Association at the age of 32, and through financially backing South Jersey Democratic candidates using a platform of fiscal conservatism combined with social pragmatism, was able to gain influence in democratic circles in the surrounding suburbs as well as in Camden. By financially supporting candidates not only in Camden County, but all over South Jersey, George Norcross was able to consolidate his leadership and demand unity among, and allegiance from, those whom he helped get elected. It truly would be near impossible to overstate the political reach and influence Norcross exerts in the state. Norcross, “scares his enemies, is enormously rich from public contracts with his insurance businesses [Connor, Strong, & Buckelew], and through loyalty of his political operatives, controls ¼ of the votes in the legislature” and “controls more votes in the state legislature than anyone else.” It can be argued that with Governor Christie’s ascension to office, despite being a Republican, Norcross’ power only increased throughout NJ politics statewide, not just in South Jersey.
Before being elected Governor in 2009, Christ Christie, as US Attorney, was making a name for himself as a public “Corruption Buster” by bringing criminal charges on elected officials throughout New Jersey. But in a surprising restraint in instigative zealousness of corruption involving public officials, in 2006, Christie refused to pursue corruption charges against Norcross despite him being investigated by the state and the Securities and Exchange Commission in years prior. In 2001, Norcross was caught on tape trying to influence the appointments of politicians, judges and using “pay to play” tactics to influence the awarding of municipal contracts. During a sting operation, today referred to as the “Palmyra Tapes,” Norcross was recorded telling Palmyra Councilman John Gural, “All the Governors will work with me. The McGreeveys. The Corzines. They all will work with me, not because they like me, but because they have no choice.” Despite having access to recorded evidence of Norcross trying to manipulate public hiring decision and contracts, Christie refused to pursue any investigation against Norcross despite the insistence of two NJ assistant attorneys general attesting to the validity of their investigation. Many South Jersey residents who were familiar with Christie, and his visible role as New Jersey’s primary public crime fighter, found his leniency toward Norcross, a man to who many long have suspected of being a corrupt public actor, in word – curious. In the months after, Christie would explain publicly, that he did not have sufficient evidence to bring charges against Norcross because the “Palmyra Tapes” were lost.
It is widely suspected that Christie, prior to his run for New Jersey Governor, struck deals with critical Democratic power brokers in the state, Joe DiVincenzo, County Executive of Essex County, and Norcross of South Jersey, to forward his own gubernatorial ambitions. Many believe that in exchange for Christie not investigating Norcross and DiVincenzo, at a time when Christie showed a willingness to prosecute even “minor” infractions and perpetrators of the public trust including an “Asbury Park councilman for getting his driveway paved for free.” Christie allowed the two biggest powerbrokers in the state to escape similar investigative scrutiny in exchange for their tacit support for his gubernatorial candidacy, or at least, their less-than-zealous support for Jon Corzine’s re-election campaign in 2009. Further cementing their respective legacies, concerning Christie and Norcross, speculation holds that an agreement took place, dubbed the “I-195 Deal”. (Interstate 195 in New Jersey is the highway that runs from Trenton, along the Delaware, across the state to the shore; essentially dividing New Jersey, geographically, two halves; North Jersey and South Jersey.) The parameters of the agreement entailed that Norcross would to withhold support and endorsement for, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono, in exchange for Christie not campaigning for any Republican Assembly or Senate candidates in South Jersey. “By working with Norcross – by dealing with him – Christie could infuse his term as governor with near limitless potential.” Similarly, few could argue that as a result of their shared alliance, Norcross emerged even more powerful than he was prior to Christie’s election.
Though, Norcross has been described in local print media as, “the guy with the cigar and horns”, “an arrogant and profane bully who threatens to castrate his political enemies”, and an individual presiding over an environment “where hardball politics ends and a culture of intimidation, dubbed ‘La Costra Norcoss’ by his enemies”, Norcross has been irrepressible in influencing South Jersey, but specifically Camden-based politics, to his will. The Associated Press article, “Christie’s Camden tax-breaks rewards political insiders” (2015), details how over $2 billion in spending by the NJEDA may likely benefitting Christie’s and Norcross’ political cronies more than the city it was billed to help. The article details that much of the money designated for disbursement is targeted to reward companies that “donated to Christie’s campaigns, the Republican Governors Association while Christie was Chairman or companies with ties to George Norcross III.”
Norcross, in addition to being the Chairman of Connor, Strong & Buckelew, one of the largest insurance firms in the country, is also the long-serving Chairman of Cooper Hospital that recently received $40 million from the state in 2015 NJEDA funds. He is also on the Board for Holtec International that received $260 million; Phillip Norcross, brother of George, is CEO of the Parker McKay law firm that represented the Philadelphia 76ers in negotiating the team’s $82 million in tax credits. Bill Hankowsky, chairman of the development firm Liberty Property Trust, is slated to receive tax credits well over $500 million commented, “George Norcross deserves credit for clearing the way for what’s to come with the Waterfront” and that their “friendship that has spanned decades.”
With the passing of the UHA and the renaissance schools that resulted, Norcross was able to execute his plan for influencing public education in Camden as well. In as early as 2011, Norcross began giving a series of speeches focusing on education, and on the future of public education in Camden specifically. In separate speeches and interviews Norcross, decried Camden’s public-school system and the lack of parental involvement in their students’ education saying, “80% of the city’s fourth grade students don’t read at grade level”, and “I remember my mother showing me flashcards and encouraging my brothers and I to do our homework and that is not a luxury all [Camden] children possess with regards to those with absent or withdrawn parents”. Further, Norcross began speaking of a then-hypothetical network of charter schools in Camden on account that “saving Camden, would require saving its public schools, or at least having educational options open to its families.” Norcross also remarked in Fall 2011 regarding Camden education, “I think a material change could happen 24-30 months from now. I see starting in the next number of months, principally with the affiliations we have, and then the process of a new project will follow”. Months later in January 2012, the UHA was passed. Later that year, John Mooney wrote, “Not one to do things small, George Norcross has enlisted a power-packed partnership of players—seen and unseen—in a bid to essentially create a mini-district of new schools for the city of Camden.” And with that, the path for Camden’s forthcoming renaissance schools was set.
Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Claudia Vargas, in “Plan for KIPP Cooper Norcross Academy in Camden approved by state,” reported on the political dealings associated in the establishing of KCNA. “The Lanning Square project was created by a formed partnership of KIPP, one of the largest charter school networks in the country; the Cooper Foundation, the charitable arm of Cooper University Hospital; and the Norcross Foundation, established by the family of George Norcross, who is chairman of Cooper University Hospital, a Democratic Party leader, and managing partner of the company that owns the Philadelphia Inquirer. George Norcross’ daughter, Alessandra, a director of the parent company of the Inquirer, is an officer of the foundation and a board member of KCNA.” Further, both residents and reporters paid specific attention to the proposed, and eventual, location of the KCNA and the history regarding the demolition and refusal to rebuild the public school, Lanning Square Elementary. “Central to Norcross’ plan, is a vast expanse of vacant land next to the Cooper medical complex in the city’s Lanning Square neighborhood that once housed a public school until it was torn down nearly a decade ago, for a new one” that has not to be rebuilt. KCNA is situated along the still-developing “eds and meds” corridor, down the street from the forthcoming Joint Health Services Complex for Rutgers Science and Rowan Medical students, down the street from the Rowan Medical School, and across from Cooper Hospital. Additionally, many of the homes surrounding KCNA have either been purchased by Cooper’s Ferry Partnership or acquired through eminent domain. The neighborhood in which KNCA is situated is one where the most visible signs of redevelopment with massive building construction, home rehabilitation, and rising home prices are apparent. All combined, the realities mentioned above continue to fuel criticism about the process by which the land was acquired to build a Norcross-supported charter school and not a public Lanning Square Elementary. Further current residents question whether their children, will, in the future, still be residents to even attend the Lanning Square’s newest school, in the most rapidly developing neighborhood. Resident Moneke Ragsdale remarked: “The public needs to know how this happened”.
The Arrival of Paymon Rouhanifard
Following the passage of UHA in the winter of 2012, and the announcement of the state takeover of Camden public schools in March 2013, (that would not officially take place in June later that same year), the city’s all-appointed school district set about finding a new superintendent to replace interim Superintendent Rueben Mills, who himself, was filling in during the last year of former superintendent Dr. Bessie LeFra Young’s contract. After conducting a national search, and narrowing down the selections to three individuals, the CCSD board was preparing to conduct in-person interviews with potential candidates. “The Camden School District had previously started its own search last winter, and this search expanded upon that, bringing previous semi-finalists and then additional candidates, the governor’s office said.” But before that would ever take place, Governor Christie’s office informed the Board president, Kathryn Blackshear that the state was assuming responsibility of appointing the next superintendent in Camden. And, later the next week, on August 21st, 2013, outside of HB Wilson Family School on South Eighth St., Camden was officially introduced to Paymon Rouhanifard by NJDOE Commissioner Chris Cerf, Governor Christie, and Mayor Redd…
Paymon Rouhanifard was only thirty-two when he was appointed to the district’s highest post. Having two bachelor’s degrees in economics and computer technology from University of North Carolina, and eighteen months of teaching experience at Public School 192 in Harlem through Teach for America. Next, Rouhanifard left the classroom and worked as a financial analyst for Goldman Sachs and as an associate at AEA Investors, LP on Wall St. From there, his meteoric rise in education ensued. Working under Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) during the Bloomberg years, Rouhanifard assumed the positions of Chief of Staff to Deputy Chancellor John White for eleven months and then moved on to the post of Chief of Executive Officer in the Office of Portfolio Management (OPM). Today, OPM is referred to at NYCDOE, as Office of School Design and Charter Partnerships. According to the NYCDOE website, the OPM, Office of School Design and Charter Partnerships was tasked with:
Developing and implementing structural changes to the portfolio of NYC schools in order to address systemic inequities and improve access to high performing schools. These changes include but are not limited to: Opening high potential new schools and closing underperforming schools; establishing enrollment/admissions criteria; altering schools’ grade configurations; revising elementary and middle school zoning in order to impact enrollment and school size; improving the availability of programs to serve special populations, including Gifted & Talented, English Language Learners and students with disabilities, and Pre-Kindergarten. By evaluating access to high-quality schools, the demand for educational services and the supply of space available for those services, Office of Portfolio Management strives to develop the optimal distribution of schools and educational programs. Since 2002, the Office of Portfolio Management has opened almost 500 new schools to provide higher quality options for the diverse needs of New York City children.
Primarily, the Office of Portfolio Management with NYCDOE was responsible for transitioning more choice schools (charters, and magnet) into NYC’s “portfolio” of school offerings, while simultaneously targeting and transitioning “failing” or underperforming public schools for closure. It was during Rouhanifard’s time at NYDOE where he would meet the eventual NJDOE Commissioner Cerf, who would later recruit him to lead Camden’s school district. But before Rouhanifard’s arrival in Camden, he made a brief professional stop in Newark working as Cami Anderson’s Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer where he, like his time in NYC, expanded the charter footprint in Newark, closed traditional public schools, and instituted what would be a highly controversial computer-based universal enrollment system called, One Newark. Christie, Cerf and a national superintendent search firm Ray and Associates, selected Rouhanifard for Camden “from a pool of more than 100 applicants”, indicating the Governor’s Office and state DOE never intended on Camden’s school board to pick their eventual district leader at all.
Soon after Rouhanifard took the helm at Camden, a school district within a city known for generational poverty and where 23 of 26 schools were deemed “failing,” he began a “100-day” listening tour. He, along with other district officials and local politicians set about hearing educator, community, and student concerns. During the early phases of his arrival, Rouhanifard freely shared biographical information about his childhood, that he and his family were Iranian refugees escaping religious persecution, how their family’s assets were frozen, that he and his family they had to flee Iran by slipping into neighboring Pakistan before finally settling in Tennessee during the 1980’s. He often spoke about how important getting a good education was to him and his family, that he went on to graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill, and during his time there was president of the school’s multi-cultural society. He, finally, often ended most of his introductory speeches highlighting his time teaching in a primary school in a low-income, high-poverty New York City borough where he noticed children with a strong desire to learn, teachers who cared but were structurally constrained from meeting all of the students’ needs, and a lot district waste. What was rarely, if ever mentioned, by Rouhanifard was his time on his Teach for America affiliation, his time on Wall St., or his executive jobs at NYCDOE and in Newark. Aside from city educators and public officials, noting Rouhanifard’s young age, thin teaching experience and lack of state credentials, his arrival in Camden had most stakeholders agnostic to his ascension to the position at worst, and optimistic at best.
Resulting from the 100-day listening tour, Rouhanifard laid out his agenda called the “Camden Commitment.” Unveiled to the public for the first time on January 28, 2014 at Octavius V. Catto Family School in the East Camden neighborhood, the “Camden Commitment” focused on five components: better academic performance in schools, improved “customer service”, greater efficiency in district administrative offices, school safety, and tighter District spending. He also communicated that from his tour, parents did not care about the charter or public designation, but that they only want good schools for their children – a theme Rouhanifard repeated often during his initial public meetings. At Catto, Rouhanifard also mentioned his desire to see a boarding school established in Camden, as well as a computer-based enrollment system similar to that which he instituted in Newark before his arrival. “‘I will make one thing clear, we will not make those decisions without dialogue with the families and communities,” Rouhanifard said.” John Mooney, of NJ Spotlight, asked one of the meeting’s attendees, their opinion of the new superintendent and his strategic plan, and “Elizabeth Ceprero-Abreu, a bilingual teacher in the district for eight years asserted. ‘Rouhanifard has some great ideas, and we just hope he communicates with us as teachers. We all want the same thing, what’s best for the children. I’m not against him. I believe in him, but he also needs to believe in us.” Five months later, in May 2014 in the same school where he pitched the Camden Commitment to educators and residents, Rouhanifard announced 241 layoffs for Camden schools.
For his part, Rouhanifard did facilitate and preside over the establishing of the first renaissance schools and their expansion, as well as initiated the universal enrollment system he referred to in his initial Camden Commitment speech which would be called Camden Enrollment the following year. He availed himself to the political staff on state and local levels, including Mayor Redd and George Norcross making numerous public appearances at city ceremonies, athletic events, and ribbon cuttings. In time, Rouhanifard showed himself to adept and aware of the political and media atmosphere in his new landscape. Hiring a communication director, further solidified District messaging and improved the likelihood of receiving positive press in print media, local news, and even on local urban radio airwaves.
With Rouhanifard’s apparent political and public relations acumen, coupled with his pro-charter background and his demonstrated willingness to shutter public schools against the wishes of low-income minority residents in gentrifying Williamsburg (Brooklyn), coupled with the expansive nature of UHA and renaissance schools; his advocacy for a forthcoming “universal enrollment system” (that has been identified as a mechanism to reduce student enrollment in public school but guiding them in to charters), the education reform advocates began celebrating Rouhanifard and the possibilities it meant for public education Camden. As early as January 2014, Rouhanifard, because of his cooperation with CMO leaders and receiving his coronation from both Christie and Cerf, began receiving gushing articles from both conservative and liberal education reform advocates in print. Even before the Rouhanifard completed one year in Camden, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, the 74 Million, The New Teacher Project, and popular New Jersey-focused education reform blog, NJLeftBehind published articles praising Rouhanifard as the change Camden needed. But perhaps the most alarming article for supporters of public education in Camden was an article published in the June 14th issue of the Reason Magazine, “The Slow and Glorious Death of America’s Worst School System,” where author Jim Epstein wrote:
Within the next decade, the Camden school district is on course to enter a death spiral, sending the city the way of New Orleans, which has replaced all of its traditional schools with charters…Paymon Rouhanifard is probably the best superintendent Camden has ever had, but he won’t be able to turn around the school system. Rather, he’s the perfect man to turn out the lights.”
…Read more here: Education Reform and Gentrification in the Age of #CamdenRising Public Education and Urban Redvelopment in Camden, NJ (2018, Peter Lang USA)
As always, another excellent, well researched, article Dr. Benson. Keep ‘em coming; Camden’s kids need you!