“So how can NJ have a 91% grad rate while 49% of our college students need remedial classes?”
At today’s State Board of Education meeting, the new Camden superintendent, Alfonso Q. Llano Jr., and his leadership team gave an impressive presentation on their plans to move the district “from foundation to execution” by “rebuilding a strong instructional core in English Language Arts and math” and using “honest evidence,” “course correction,“ and outreach to recreate trust throughout the community.
While there was no discussion of the poor outcomes for students (see here), there was also no attempt to sugarcoat the challenges. One is consistent drops in enrollment: In 2014, according to Llano, before the advent of renaissance schools (schools with charter-like autonomy and enrollment controlled by the district), Camden City Public Schools (CPS) had 11,258 students. In 2027, 13 years after renaissance schools replaced failing district schools and public school choice was embedded in the system, Llano projects enrollment will be down to 5,515, a 51% decline. (Another 5,000 or so students attend regular charter schools.)
In other words, more than half of district parents are choosing to send their kids to Mastery, KIPP, or Uncommon (called Camden Prep here), charter networks selected by the Advisory Camden School Board during the short period allowed by the Urban Hope Act.
That’s not a surprise: Outcomes for students in renaissance schools are better than they are for students in district schools. And this fact led to the most interesting part of the discussion among Board members because, as the presenters emphasized, CPS is drilling down on Career and Technical Education (CTE), boasting of having 14 options, the highest in the state.
But new board member James Williams, a “proud graduate” of Camden High School, pushed back: “You can’t let CTE circumvent higher education,” he argued. He wants a future graduate to become Camden’s superintendent and “we don’t want all our custodians coming out of Camden district schools.”
“We have to be very careful” when we say we have the “most CTE’s,” he cautioned. “There’s a difference between being a construction worker and a lab tech, devastating for those trying to make a living wage. Be mindful.”
