Marie Corfield: Newark, 'civility' & ed 'reform'

Marie Corfield: Newark, 'civility' & ed 'reform':

Newark, 'civility' & ed 'reform'

StudentsFirst co-founder, Dmitri Mehlhorn, has been engaged in a charter school debate with Jersey Jazzman for the past few weeks. As I read one of Mehlhorn's responses, I clicked on a link that led me down an Internet rabbit hole and into my own response to one of his blog posts about civility in the ed 'reform' debate. That led to Mehlhorn's response via a set of tweets. 

It's taken me a while to respond, but I don't believe in coincidence. So it was no coincidence that last week I attended a Newark Advisory Board meeting, which became the perfect starting point for my response. 

This is Part 1.

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When people are subjected to years of abuse, they generally respond in one of two ways:

1. Cower in fear, close up, shut down, go inside
2. Get loud, aggressive, defiant, act out

The students and parents at the October 26th Newark Advisory Board meeting definitely fell into the second category. Having been under state control for the last 20 years—the Marie Corfield: Newark, 'civility' & ed 'reform':