The Future of Urban Education Part 3

In Pt. 3 of this series, the Future of Urban Education, Steve Adubato sits down with a panel of professionals who discuss school funding and the future of Newark public schools as they transition from state to local control. This panel examines the benefits of having partnerships between Newark Public Schools and different corporations that are helping Newark thrive. They also share their thoughts on Newark's next superintendent and the future of Newark schools under new leadership.

Guests Include:

Sarah Keh, Director of Corporate Giving at Prudential Financial
Dr. Marcia Lyles, Superintendent of Jersey City Public Schools
A. Robert Gregory, Deputy Superintendent, Newark Public Schools
Michele Adubato, Chief Executive Officer of The North Ward Center
Mayor Ras J. Baraka, City of Newark, NJ
Christopher Cerf, Former Superintendent of Newark Public Schools
Michele Mason, Executive Director of the Newark Charter School Fund
State Senator M. Teresa Ruiz (D) - NJ, Assistant Majority Leader and Chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee
Dr. Benjamin Justice, Professor for the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University

3/16/18 #2116

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"Hi, I'm Steve Adubato. This is one of the most compelling forums I've ever been a part of in my 25 plus years as a broadcaster. This is a forum on the future of urban education. If you caught the last one, you'll appreciate what we're about to do. If you haven't caught it, or didn't catch it, go back online, you'll see our website, you'll see the first part of this. Senator Ruiz, as the Chair of the Senate Education Committee, you deal with parents, you deal with taxpayers, you deal with citizens from every kind of community in this state, and New Jersey's not representative of the entire nation because there are other kinds of states, but at the same time, to what degree do you sense that folks outside of cities care deeply about the education of the children in those cities? It's a difficult question to answer in the sense that school districts across the state of New Jersey, for a very long time, have been flat funded, or not given the support services. You mean from the state? From the state, that they've needed. And so when Newark and Jersey City and Paterson make headlines, and they see the dollar amounts being spent, and the outcomes, I think creates a resentment that is not understood in the way that we're having this conversation here. Define that resentment. "Hey, what are we doing? Spending all of that money, sending all of our hard earned tax dollars..." Yeah. "...to Newark, to Jersey City, to Camden, to Paterson, to... and what are we getting out of that?" Now that may not be a hundred percent accurate, but it isn't that far off from what some folks watching right now either say publicly, or think privately. You say? But the key is to understand that the greater success of our biggest cities, the greater success of..."