Newark Superintendent In the Hot Seat

Laura Waters is managing editor of NJ Education Report where this report was originally published.

First, at a recent public board meeting Leon said the cost to redo the building was ten dollars when, in fact, it was $4.5 million. Second, the district appears to have failed to follow the rules set by New Jersey Local Government Contracts Law that requires school boards to bid out any project that will cost more than $44,000.

According to a new report from TAPinto Newark, the $4.5 million price tag for a building the district sold years ago for $650K, was contained in a settlement contract issued when the district sued the long-ago buyer of State Street School, Hanini Group, in order to reclaim the building. But no one got to see the contract until Skyway Publishing, which owns TAPinto, sued the district multiple times to see the contract, which is supposed to be available to the public through the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). 

Addressing León during the meeting, Williams said she was surprised to read in the press about the multi-million cost of the project after León had at a school board meeting in June indicated the cost as being $10.

Leon responded,  “I don’t guide myself by what some in the blog world that pretend to be reporters write. That’s not where I live. I actually live in black and white as it relates to the documents.”

Then Williams asked about the districts apparent failure to follow state law and solicit bids from various contractors to get the best price for taxpayers:

“If it’s part of the settlement, were we not supposed to put out bids for a person to redo this building?,” wondered Williams. “So, I would like clarification on that.” 

From Tapinto:

When TAPinto reached out to the state Department of Education to ask about Leon’s disregard of public bidding rules, spokesman Mike Yaple acknowledged the question but didn’t respond. It’s unclear if TAPinto has asked for input from any other entities. 

Yet if history is any example, NPS may be on thin ice: Back in the summer of 2022, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka joined Leon and other officials to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Newark High School of Architecture and Design, which was supposed to open in September 2023 at a cost to taxpayers of $160 million. Plans imploded when the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development issued a series of three stop-orders because the owner of the building was underpaying construction workers who were “exposed to dangerous and unsafe conditions.” In addition, the public found out that, due to a complicated lease agreement with the owner of the building, the final cost could be twice as much as the building is worth. 

Due to delays, the school hasn’t opened yet; last June the Newark school board extended the contract with the construction company until Dec. 31, 2024 and increased the payment by half a million dollars. Perhaps, with the district’s annual operating budget of $1.3 billion, that’s small change. Yet are there other factors the public and the school board don’t know yet? How much flimflam–disregarding NJ Contracts Law, complicity with violations of construction guidelines, soaking taxpayers—does it take for someone higher up the food chain to take notice?

Newark students and their families surely want to know.