… Originally run here on 1/21/2020
In 2014, Pete Denton of Excellent Education for Everyone, a New Jersey policy group, said, “Perhaps, most people in this room realize that an awful lot of people in the state don’t realize that we’re actually on track to shut down the traditional Camden public school system. and in five to seven years, it literally might not exist anymore.”
A year later, Jim Epstein wrote in Reason magazine about the “Slow and Glorious Death of America’s Worst School System.” “Today, there are 10 charter schools operating in Camden, serving 4,250 students, or 27% of all Camden’s public school kids. That’s up from 22% the prior year. In the fall, three new charters are slated to open, with ambitions of eventually serving a combined 9,600 students. That would turn Camden into an all-charter city.” Epstein continued, “Paymon Rouhanifard, who’s wisely made improving school safety his first concern, 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.”
The fact that closing Camden’s public schools permanently has been a goal of the local George Norcross-affiliated politicos, better known as the Camden County Democratic Committee, and outside billionaires will come as no secret to many residents who have been paying attention since the Urban Hope Act was passed in 2012.
And as brief recap, then-Gov. Chris Christie installed Paymon Rouhanifard as superintendent in 2013, who operated the district with little, if any, checks and balances or accountability for five years. The totality of the ramifications of that disastrous period in Camden City Schools governance, that had been quietly apparent to many district employees from 2013 to his departure in the Spring of 2018, is only beginning to come to light to the public.
Despite the rosily crafted narrative of an effective Rouhanifard tenure, in truth, he presided over a sustained period of mass teacher and support staff departures, leaving our schools with only a fraction of the wrap-around supports students relied on and an influx of education consultant-contrived positions that exist nowhere else in the state.
There were also a slew of crony hires that included Governor Christie’s second cousin, Howard Dean’s daughter in law, the daughter of NBC Universal Chairman Andrew Lack, and many under-certified former Teach for America staffers who, in turn, hired similarly under-qualified cronies. Perhaps, worst and most consequential of all, Rouhanifard’s fiscal mismanagement was epic – plunging the district to today’s shortfall of $44 million. Surely, the Rouhanifard era was a disaster that many, including the present Superintendent Katrina McCombs, are only beginning to fully comprehend.
The saddest part possibly, is while Rouhanifard and his six-figure salaried hired-help have moved on to green pastures elsewhere, our current students, staff, and community are left to pick up the pieces and figure out a path forward.
To reiterate, none of this was accidental. The goal all along of Then-Gov. Christie, then-mayor Dana Redd, and Rouhanifard was to run our schools into the ground to necessitate its contraction, and ultimate closure to benefit ideologically driven education venture capitalists and city politicians who believe Camden Rising is partly embodied in the forced proliferation of corporate charter schools, called renaissance schools.
And so today, we must fight on to save our school system. Step by step, our educators and staff are conjuring plans to make the most of the resources at their disposal and to implement new approaches to continue to deliver the quality education our children deserve.
That is not to suggest that things were perfect, or that improvements to our delivery in education and conditions of school facilities weren’t needed – they were. The education process is one that requires constant inspection, critique, and quality assurance. But today, we recognize that the people who are truly at the table, are there for the right reasons. All the pieces are in place: support from Trenton, an intelligent superintendent who is qualified and ready to lead, a legion of educators and school staff willing to do whatever it takes to see our children succeed and students and a community that continues to believe in us.
In 2020, watch us work!
