Crowds protest plan to close Newark schools, replace them with charters

[The Straight Story]

Crowds protest plan to close Newark schools, replace them with charters

Droves of parents and community members at tonight's Newark school board meeting expressed vociferous outrage about a plan to close and consolidate failing Newark schools in an effort to clear space for charter schools.

The meeting became so raucous and hostile at moments that Advisory Board President Shavar Jeffries threatened to remove audience members or stop the meeting. About 300 people attended the meeting at the 15th Avenue School, one of the facilities slated for consolidation.

The complex proposal was written by an outside consulting firm and distributed to a group of Newark school principals Friday. Several struggling public schools, including Quitman Street School and Martin Luther King Jr. School, could be phased out and have their students sent to other schools under the plan.

Five members of the school board expressed disbelief about the lack of transparency surrounding the new plan, which makes recommendations about the district's lowest performing schools.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/crowds_protest_plan_to_close_n.html

[Sabriel]

1. They can't let it happen

Like what's happening here in Wisconsin, Newark is a domino.

Privatize one district, and others will follow.

They control the media and they're going after public education.

Tell me this isn't fascism, or the start of it.