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Newark Public Schools’ approach to equity training “is quite simple,” Superintendent Roger León told a room full of superintendents and staff from the nation’s largest public school districts on Friday.
The strategy, León said during a presentation at the Council of Great City Schools conference in Philadelphia, involves forming leadership teams of principals, parents, students, and teachers that help identify challenges across schools and assess equity efforts.
Those teams serve as a way to “funnel” information from schools and help him “have a pulse of what is occurring in the organization.”
“Talk to me, tell me everything that’s wrong,” Leon said he had told a group of principals.
Newark’s approach also includes deploying equity resources to staff and soliciting expert help, León said during the session on equity training.
The district’s participation in the annual conference was significant as León spoke alongside representatives from public schools in Baltimore and Aurora, Colorado.
The conference convened superintendents and hundreds of employees from 81 of the country’s urban school districts. Superintendents and representatives from school districts in Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Denver also spoke at sessions during the conference.
Matthew Brewster, Newark’s director of instructional staff development, who also spoke during the equity presentation, said the majority of the district’s professional development on equity comes from consultants.
“Because if you’re going to be a learner, you have to be a learner, right? You have to bring in someone else to help you do the work. Equity work that you’re not uncomfortable doing, you’re not doing right,” Brewster said.
Their comments come as the district continues to face criticism over complaints of racism at the Newark School of Global Studies. In 2022, Black students and teachers described ongoing harassment to the school board member, prompting the district to hire an outside consultant to assess the cultural dynamics of the school. The comments also drew heavy criticism from parents and advocates about the way the school and district leaders handled the situation.
León was also criticized for withholding a scathing report – whose details so far have only been reported in draft form by Chalkbeat — that detailed the problems with racism at the high school and recommended the district improve the effects of anti-Blackness.
In September, Newark school advocates demanded the release of the report and pleaded for a curriculum that challenges racial biases and promotes inclusivity.
Brewster, during Friday’s conference session, also said that the Office of Staff Development has shared a list of books, articles, and research studies with district leaders during professional development sessions. Some of those books include “The Equity & Social Justice 50” by Baruti Kafele, “Becoming the Educator They Need” by Robert Jackson, and “Principal Leadership for Racial Equity” by Raskin, Krull, and Felix.
After the issues at Global Studies came to light, two former teachers sued the district, alleging they suffered “severe emotional problems” as a result of the incidents they experienced, they said. The lawsuit is ongoing.
The controversy also led one of Newark’s longest-serving school board members to step down as part of a settlement with the district after her daughter – a former Global Studies student who said she faced racial harassment at the school – threatened to sue the district.
Newark, New Jersey’s largest school system, is home to 41,000 students, with more than 90% of students identifying as Black or Latino. This school year, Hispanic students represent the largest student group in the district. Since 2019, the number of Black students has declined as Hispanic enrollment has steadily increased.
Jessie Gomez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
