"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Friday, September 28, 2012

Camden Says No to KIPP Correctional Complex

On August 6 we posted on a corporate sweetheart deal to bilk the city of Camden, NJ out of untold millions to create a total compliance corporate school site in Camden.  The plan included no analysis of how much money the local public schools would lose to KIPP and the hooligan charter operators from Philadelphia, but on Wednesday of this week, the local board said NO to the plan.   

. . . . The effect of the new schools on the existing district factored into some board members' decisions Wednesday, they said.

Between $18 million to $22 million for each proposal would be diverted from the district in per-pupil costs, according to a quick estimate by the district business administrator, Celeste Ricketts. Because the Renaissance proposals could mean the shift of more than 4,000 students from the district and result in consolidation of schools, Ricketts said, she could not estimate the total loss or cost to the district if the proposals went through.
Between $18 million to $22 million for each proposal would be diverted from the district in per-pupil costs, according to a quick estimate by the district business administrator, Celeste Ricketts. Because the Renaissance proposals could mean the shift of more than 4,000 students from the district and result in consolidation of schools, Ricketts said, she could not estimate the total loss or cost to the district if the proposals went through.. . .

The question now: Will the Nation's largest governor and his poodle commissioner, Chris Cerf, follow oil magnate, Bill Haslam's lead in Tennessee, in setting aside democracy to assure the privatization of public schools.  

This vote in Camden represents another example that citizens are awakened to the corporate takeover and bleeding out of public schools.  Now the citizens of Camden should demand a state commitment to improve poverty rates and to create new public schools, rather than turning their children's education over to profiteers and modern day eugenicists.  

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