It’s Big News That the Schools Development Authority Is at “The Precipice of Disembowelment.” When Will State Leaders Pay Attention to The DOE?

Laura Waters:

Everyone’s talking about the exodus of experienced and qualified staff members at the Schools Development Authority, a product of nepotism directed by Murphy appointee Lizette Delgado-Polanco, who yesterday was accused of making “false statements” about her “restructuring” of the SDA, which oversees facilities renovation and construction in Abbott districts. USAToday reports that, following outrage from legislators, Murphy has “ordered roughly 50 independent authorities to turn over names and payroll information of employees in an effort to root out patronage in state government.” A former SDA staffer said that Delgado-Polanco’s “virtually nonexistent” managerial skills and “utter lack of personal integrity is propelling the SDA toward the precipice of bureaucratic disembowelment.”

The same evisceration of competency is happening right now at New Jersey’s Department of Education and no one says a word.

(Except me. What’s up with that?)

Maybe everyone in the DOE is afraid to speak up. Maybe their CWA union representatives (for staff members who haven’t been replaced with non-union staff) have been too busy negotiating the just-settled contract to take the multiple grievances seriously. Maybe NJEA leaders, who applaud the lowering of standards through the elimination of meaningful assessments for students and teachers and dictate Gov. Murphy and DOE Commissioner Repollet’s education agenda, are untouchable. Or maybe the full impact of the DOE’s dissolution — cancelling of mandated oversight, misallocations of federal funds, racism, privileging of loyalty over competence, mass firings, hiring of unqualified people, like this person who referred to students with disabilities as “morons” — won’t get attention until we start seeing the impact on the state’s 1.3 million students.

Related: “The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic”