Consolidation details released in Newark school closings plan

By Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger

NEWARK — Nearly one week after Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson unveiled plans to close seven schools and reshuffle resources in the district, new details have emerged about where the displaced students will go once the schools close in June.

Students in some of the schools will all be moved to a nearby school, which will in some cases double the size of that building’s student population. Other school communities will be scattered among larger schools in their wards.

Anderson has said the closures and consolidations are vital to boost academic equity in a district with a handful of exceptional public schools that are not accessible to all students. The plan will also save the district millions by closing 100-year-old facilities that are difficult to maintain and costly to operate, Anderson said.

“Schools with high levels of poverty can have high outcomes if you have a great principal, a clear mission and the best teachers,” Anderson said. “Too many of our schools don’t have all the ingredients they need to succeed.”

But parents of students who attend the schools affected by the plan expressed dismay yesterday over the toll the closures will take on their children, some of whom have succeeded in schools that are failing overall.
“My younger daughter made fifth-grade honor roll. My older daughter graduated from here and now has a 3.65 grade point average at University High School,” said Khadijah Franklin, PTA president of 18th Avenue Elementary School, which is set to close. “I am devastated because this school has been so good to us. What will we do now?”

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