By John Mooney

One year after celebrated signing of teacher contract, national union president charges officials have reneged on promises

Randi Weingarten

A year after final approval of Newark’s teacher contract – a “Kumbaya” moment hailed nationally as a landmark example of labor-management cooperation – the good will appears to be all but gone.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the national American Federation of Teachers who personally helped negotiate the Newark pact, yesterday returned to the city to lambast the district for failing to live up to its promise in that deal – or in much of anything else, for that matter.

Weingarten’s visit was part of a 90-city campaign that the AFT helped lead this week to push back against what it calls the draconian cuts in urban public schools nationwide. Newark has been especially in the spotlight, with continued budget reductions and school closures coinciding with the expansion of charter schools in the city.

An estimated 200 people – including students, union leaders and teachers — joined Weingarten for the rally in downtown Newark, walking up to the front doors of the Newark school administrative offices on Broad Street before being turned away.

“This gives you a good sense that they don’t want to hear from parents, teachers and students of this great community,” Weingarten said through a megaphone to the gathered crowd.

“If you don’t want to listen to the parents, the teachers and the students, then don’t run the schools,” she said.

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By Peggy McGlone/The Star-Ledger

NEWARK — Carrying signs declaring “Cami Must Go” and chanting “Stand up, fight back,” Newark students, teachers, union officials and community members took to the streets yesterday to make their case for local control and increased funding for the state’s largest school district.

Some 200 advocates marched to the Newark Public Schools offices and to City Hall in a rally organized by Newark Student Union, New Jersey Communities United, and local unions to spotlight the failing policies of Superintendent Cami Anderson and state officials who have control over the district.

The rally was part of “National Day of Action to Reclaim Promise of Public Education,” a network of events organized by the American Federation of Teachers and held in more than 60 cities. Nationally, the union message — supported by a $1.5 million media blitz — focused on restoring community involvement in public education and criticizing “corporate-influenced school reform.”

“We stand in solidarity with communities all over the country,” Newark Student Union president Kristin Towkaniuk, 16, said. “The only way we can change things is to unite, stand together and say we deserve a quality public education.”

Regaining local control and curtailing the growth of charter schools were the main themes. Organizers and union leaders took turns blasting Anderson’s policies, which they claim have hurt students.

“Every child deserves a great neighborhood school,” AFT president Randi Weingarten said. “Schools should be fixed, not closed.”

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