As Newark voters just reminded us, educational
sovereignty is not an abstraction–but a concrete necessity. Parents know
when their children are being denied, neglected, and abused. Teachers know when
they are being used and discarded: their jobs are reduced to rote mouthpieces
for profiteering edu-speak. Children feel their futures being stolen from
them. They feel more alienated from schools, teachers, lesson plans, and
standardized tests. Baraka’s victory is about creating the educational
climate–supported by larger goals of racial/ economic justice–that are required
for thriving students.
There are many possibilities for Newark, as
people now grapple with how to dismantle the state’s long term educolonial
apparatus and return education decisions to Newark’s mayor, school board,
parents, teachers, school employees and students. (New Jersey was the
first state to conduct school district takeover, and Newark has been state
occupied since 1995.) An assessment of the state’s vast bureaucratic
obstacles begs the question: “How will Newark’s people regain control of their
schools?”
Seth Sandronsky and Michelle Renee Matison.
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