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The Newark Teachers Union has withdrawn two lawsuits seeking the release of a scathing report on the cultural dynamics at the Newark School of Global Studies after reaching a deal with the district – but it remains unclear if the public will get to see the report.
Union President John Abeigon, who spearheaded the lawsuit, wouldn’t disclose the terms of the agreement in a call with Chalkbeat Thursday, or say if the settlement would require the district to release the consultant’s report to the union or the public. The agreement has not been filed yet in Essex County Superior Court, and neither party has provided it to Chalkbeat.
In the lawsuits filed a year ago, the union called on the district to release the Creed Strategies report, which school officials have claimed was a draft and therefore exempt from public records law. The report was part of a research and data-sharing agreement with the firm that came at no cost to the district, according to board records.
Abeigon, who has previously criticized the district for “being less than forthcoming with information” about the report, said Thursday he had not seen the report and does not know if Superintendent Roger León will release it.
“I’m convinced that there’s nothing in that report that can’t be resolved within the current structures of the Newark Board of Education and its responsibility to the public,” Abeigon said.
When asked what changed the union’s position about demanding the release of the report, Abeigon said “we changed our position. That’s it.”
The district didn’t respond for requests for comment on the case Thursday.
Last month, the union and Newark Public Schools reached a tentative agreement in the cases that would require the union to withdraw its 2023 and 2024 lawsuits without admission of liability or fault, according to a letter filed by the district’s attorney, Eltia Montano Galarza of the Taylor Law Group.
The end of the union’s lawsuits comes two years after a group of Black students at Global Studies spoke at a board meeting in November 2022 about the racial harassment they experienced at the school. Emails obtained by Chalkbeat Newark showed parents and students had brought their concerns to the school’s principal, Nelson Ruiz, and vice principal Hoda Abdelwahab months before the board meeting. Parents called for the removal of Ruiz after criticizing him for handling the situation poorly. Ruiz continues to be the principal at Global Studies, and Abdelwahab resigned from her role in 2023.
In response, the Newark school board in January 2023 commissioned Creed Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in diversity issues, to conduct a review of the high school’s cultural, racial, and religious dynamics. The firm, which previously helped the district create its one-year plan after the end of state operation in 2020, completed its review months later, but Leòn said the report would remain internal despite numerous calls from the community, board members, and advocacy groups to release it.
In September 2023, León provided the first and only glimpse into the report by releasing three recommendations that called on the district to assess the effects of “anti-Blackness” on the school system, foster conversations about racial issues, and build school staff’s capacity to identify cultural gaps and create a racially conscious environment.
The Newark Teachers Union first sued the district in November 2023 for access to the Global Studies report, after its public records request for the document was denied a month before. Chalkbeat Newark filed two public records requests in 2023 seeking the report, but the district also denied those requests.
The union’s attorney, Raymond Baldino of the Zazzali law firm, argued that the union had an interest in the report and in knowing how any changes or recommendations to the district’s approach in handling student and staff issues related to “anti-Blackness” or “cultural sensitivity,” would affect teachers in the district, according to court records.
The agreement between the teachers union and the district comes after Judge Mayra Tarantino, who heard the cases, ordered the district to submit the Global Studies report in January for the court’s private review.
In April 2024, the union filed a second lawsuit after a second public records request – seeking access to billing records and the contract between Creed Strategies and the district – was denied in February. Last month, Montano Galarza, the district’s attorney, filed a letter in court arguing that the union’s 2024 lawsuit was “moot” because they had later provided the documents. In response, Baldino argued that the district had violated state public records laws because the union was denied the documents in its initial request.
During October’s school board meeting, members voted to approve a proposed settlement agreement that concerned a “legal matter” but did not disclose the terms of the agreement or the related lawsuit.
Before the vote on the agreement, Board member Dawn Haynes said the motion to approve the deal was “perplexing to me.” Haynes, who in 2023 said it was “traumatizing to read” the report, has called on the district to release it. Haynes’ daughter was among the students at Global Studies who experienced ongoing racial harassment, which resulted in her and other students transferring to other district schools.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating the allegations of racial harassment against students and staff at the high school after two former Global Studies teachers filed legal claims with state and federal offices in 2023. The investigation is ongoing.
Jessie Gómez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
