By Deborah Smith Gregory
Alliance for the Newark Public Schools has replaced the destructive corporate reforms imposed on us with a vision shared by groups and individuals
From its inception, the Alliance for Newark Public Schools sought participation from every actively engaged organization in Newark dedicated to protecting our city’s public schools.
Eighteen Newark-based organizations sit at this table and have a shared vision for the future of Newark’s schools. These organizations joined the Alliance for Newark Public Schools in response to the urgent need to collectively exert the power and influence that will actualize change our students desperately deserve.
As organizers, we understood the need for a shared vision to replace the corporate reforms, which by 2012, had already begun to dismantle our public schools under the “One Newark” plan. In 2013, the Alliance mounted a large grassroots effort and engaged thousands of Newark residents in surveys, community meetings, public forums and town halls. The resulting vision was captured in the “Newark Promise Plan.”
The Newark Promise plan outlines priorities for Newark’s public schools, and calls for the creation of full-service community schools under the national community schools model. This plan, developed by a broad spectrum of stakeholders, created the basis for ongoing community engagement about the role of neighborhood schools in addressing the needs of children and families living in poverty. The “Newark Promise” is the community alternative to the “One Newark” plan.
More>>
