The Neo-Colonization of a School District Part 1: An Introduction

Emily Dickinson once wrote about hope. She said, “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops… at all.” Her words were the beginning of a poem on how hope quietly sustains the human spirit during the worst of times.

Written in 1862, I allow myself to think that hope perched in the souls of Black folk… perched in the souls of the enslaved at the dawn of emancipation when many dropped hammer and hoe for a gun and bayonet. Perched in the souls of those awaiting the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, who simply wanted the opportunity to attend a school that was closer to home. Perched in the souls of those awaiting the results of the 2008 presidential election and the promise of a Black face in a high place. 

Hope is what inspires the human spirit to defy what the human body says it cannot do… or what other humans say others cannot do.

The citizens of Camden have hope. Before the takeover of their schools, they had hope in a turnaround of the district’s fortunes, and thus that of their children’s education. But at a public forum to discuss the coming takeover by the state of New Jersey, the leader of Camden County’s Democratic Party, George Norcross, exclaimed to the room that Camden’s school district previously ran on a strategy of hope, continuing by saying: “Hope is not a strategy.”

He fails to consider, however, that the new proposed strategy involves erasing community voices and counting them out of conversations where they get to influence how Black and brown children are taught. Norcross argued that an advisory board, an appointed superintendent, and removed personnel would serve the students better than community members whom he referred to as the “status quo.” But the “new” status quo that Norcross and his colleagues aim to implement is racial paternalism that doesn’t just end with a takeover, but also an annihilation. 

The state of New Jersey’s actions since assuming control of the Camden City School District (CCSD) indicate an intention to shut down the school district entirely; it may be only a matter of time before many’s worst fears are materialized.

What has the Camden City School District (CCSD) had to show for the request made by its mayor at the time, Dana Redd, to have the school district placed under the control of the state of New Jersey? Especially since the closure of district schools has resulted in reduced enrollment, budget deficits, and reductions that facilitate the elimination of educator positions, thereby reducing the district’s workforce, governance abilities, and test scores, which now linger near the bottom compared with state averages.

Numerous reports from various organizations—CREDO (2019 & 2022), FREOPP, and NJ Charter Schools Association—have compared indicators such as test scores, graduation rates, and per-pupil spending among students within CCSD and various other charter schools in the city. The data show that charter students outperform district students on almost every indicator of student progress. Those reports are often utilized as evidence of the success of non-traditional alternatives to “failing” public schools. 

When you remove financial resources from public schools, lay off experienced teachers (many of them Black), and employ disciplinary policies that disproportionately impact Black children across the board, it’s obvious why the data may appear in favor of the alternative. Reports from groups like the NJ Policy Perspective touch on that reality.

And although the state of New Jersey was successful in its intention to take over CCSD, resources have only slowly been redistributed into charter schools, both independent and Renaissance, in the area since then. The Charter School Law of 1996 started this cycle, followed by the School Funding Reform Act of 2008, and the Urban Hope Act of 2012, serving as the nail in the coffin. 

Selected to do the bidding of New Jersey in this way is the state-appointed superintendent (SAS). Paymon Rouhanifard, Katrina McCombs, and now Alfonso Llano were tasked with consolidating district resources through school closures and layoffs. It hasn’t been six months, and Mr. Llano attempted to close the district’s magnet schools and notified 100 employees that their positions were being eliminated. At the most recent advisory board meeting, per reporter Melanie Burney, Llano provided more insight into these layoffs, saying 75 employees in the central office will lose their current jobs; 26 of those will be reassigned, while the other 49 will not. 

Just last year, the district cut 117 jobs.

Patterns such as this one serve as a reminder that Llano, his predecessors, and many of his colleagues are agents of, and accountable to, the state, not the residents of Camden. Many would agree that the School District Advisory Board meetings are a farce at best, with advisory board members appearing to have no real authority. All the authority lies with the SAS, which is technically only required to hold two meetings per year. Leaders who have demonstrated little effort in centering the voices and lived experiences of the community it has and will continue to impact is evidence, plain and simple, of state violence.

The takeover of CCSD was initiated by a Democrat mayor, agreed to by a Republican governor, enforced by bipartisan legislation, and is currently sustained by a Democrat governor. This highlights that we cannot rely on one political party in particular to know what’s best for Black and Brown people. Historically, on matters such as these, Democrats and Republicans have had more in common than many would like to admit. 

Ultimately, the decision about whether the school district will sink or swim isn’t in the hands of Camden’s residents, but in the hands of those who would most benefit from its demise. Kathryn Ribay, one of Dana Redd’s first appointments to the school board when it had governance power and a former teacher, was one of the first outspoken voices to identify this. When she heard of the state’s impending intervention, she resigned from the board, saying:

“My heart and soul are in education, not politics. I believe firmly in the intelligence and capability of every child in the city of Camden, as well as in the critical need to bring our schools up to the standard that they deserve… I cannot work with those who would put politics ahead of educational practice… I cannot participate in the continued disenfranchisement of the city of Camden. Real school reform is hard, slow, and not very glamorous. The school district needs leaders who will think critically and creatively to address the gaping issues in the Camden public school system- leaders who will have honest and critical dialogue with each other to move the district forward. However, the system currently being instituted by Governor Christie will result in leaders who are afraid to criticize for fear of losing their appointments. The children of Camden deserve better.

The state takeover of Camden’s schools promised a turnaround — twelve years later, it’s produced budget deficits, mass layoffs, and a district edging toward extinction. The signs of impending extinction are obvious if you know where to look. 

To return to Dickinson’s notes on hope, local groups, like the Camden Parent and Student Union, continue to demonstrate why it’s important to have some. Hope is the fragile exercise of balancing the yearning for prosperity with the constant risk of falling into despair or cynicism. Hope, therefore, is emblematic of the Black experience in America. Yet, we resist, and we rise.

Camden too will rise, and hope will be the reason and the strategy. But first, we must understand what is happening.

This four-part expose will continue to challenge what is “accidental.” Part one will explain the deliberate, bipartisan playbook behind why this is happening; part two will explore how it is happening; and parts three and four will show how race and class underscore it all.