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| Christie to announce state takeover of Camden schools |
| 2013-03-26 |
| [PHILLY] Gov. Christie plans to announce Monday that he is taking the extraordinary step of putting the educational and fiscal management of the Camden School District under state control, The Inquirer has learned. As part of the takeover of what the state considers the worst-performing district in New Jersey, Christie will appoint a new superintendent and leadership team, shifting the school board to an advisory role, according to Christie administration officials briefed on the plan. The Republican governor's move nonetheless has support from at least a few school board members and key Democratic leaders in the South Jersey political establishment, some of whom are expected to join Christie at the takeover announcement Monday in the city, officials said. Camden will become the fourth urban district under state control, after Paterson, Newark, and Jersey City. This is the first takeover initiated by Christie, who will add the severely challenged district to his education portfolio less than eight months before his reelection bid. Though the news will likely be greeted with relief by those who believe the district is permanently broken, critics will cite the state's previous - and largely unsuccessful - interventions in Camden schools, government, and law enforcement. In an odd bit of timing, the takeover comes as Camden school board members were closing in on selecting a new superintendent. As recently as Saturday, they were interviewing candidates, and a meet-and-greet for the public with as many as three finalists was scheduled for Tuesday night, school board member Ray Lamboy said last week. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #21 No, the AoS is not going Nutter. Our policy is clear, always has been, always will be. We can discuss culture, education, politics, tribalism and race. But racialist commentary isn't allowed. Rantburg is here for a reason and we're not going to let the true nutters of the world paint us as something we're not. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2013-03-26 19:43 |
| #20 This might be relevant, even if it is from across the river. Is the AoS going Nutter? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2013-03-26 15:28 |
| #19 Granted, but so what? When successful academic achieving minorities are called out as 'acting white' in the form of a pejorative, it's just as much culture as institutional structures. Tribal group dynamics punish those who don't conform even if its to a lower standard. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-03-26 13:28 |
| #18 Read the stories of the kids killed, by other gangbanger kids ... . Often the victim as reported was someone who was making it, who wasn't a part of the destructive culture around them. P2k, ain't this something to ponder? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-03-26 12:58 |
| #17 Procopius2k: Which is proof of what? That statistics describe populations, not individuals? That the human spirit can sometimes prevail over the most deplorable conditions? Granted, but so what? The solution for the school system as a whole should not be based on the fact that no matter how bad it gets, some may still overcome and succeed. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2013-03-26 12:29 |
| #16 Tribalism. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2013-03-26 12:23 |
| #15 Mitch H: I was referencing the American Indian, but since you've decided to.... make it Irish and quite personal. ~<(;-) |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-03-26 11:35 |
| #14 ...and yet there are people brought up in the same environment who actually do succeed. Read the stories of the kids killed, by other gangbanger kids, who were caught in the crossfire or mistaken for another rival. Often the victim as reported was someone who was making it, who wasn't a part of the destructive culture around them. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-03-26 11:25 |
| #13 The whole racial angle to this topic is, well, off topic. We know what works. We know what doesn't. These schools are plagued with all the things which don't work: drugs, single mothers, bureaucratic schools, unionized teachers, etc, etc, etc. Swapping out one bureaucrat for another won't solve anything. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2013-03-26 10:56 |
| #12 Beso, I am honestly the least racially bigotted person I know. Long story about my upbringing left out. suffice it to say that I learned from my father that you judged individuals on what they did INCLUDING their chosen associations. Culture involves sharing/associating with like minds. Like skin tone is purely coincidental. Vis a vis african development I saw/read an interesting book about a very strange thing. Africa is the only place that did not have domesticatable animals. Zebra, Cape buffalo, etc. were never domesticated as species in the way large herbovoires were elsewhere. Put a whole new spin on the civilization development picture. Not even hunting dogs were really domesticated. Different environment breeds different culture I don't think there's much to do with DNA. Now, the difference between men and women is a whole nother ball game. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-03-26 10:40 |
| #11 Over 2000 years ago the Han emperor implement the civil service test. Based upon experience, he couldn't trust the family to run things cause they get ideas that maybe they should run everything, he wanted a bureaucracy composed of non-family members. So, the spark took hold within the culture to value education as a basis of advancement in society. That would spread to Korea and Japan as well. Thus today because one group which also got to experience racism in the US was well prepared to take advantage of the Civil Rights Act. In fact they performed so well, that in desperation the scapegoating and demonizing party has turned to labeling Asians as 'white' to preclude their overwhelming academic qualifications for entry into institutions of higher learning. Grievance mongers will never permit the truth in the institutions they control. Power is far more important to them than truth. As the recent post by Richard Fernandez talked about, nearly their entire world is predicated upon lies. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-03-26 10:25 |
| #10 My point AlanC is somewhat akin to the documented genetic redisposition of some ethnic groups to substance abuse, primarily alcohol. You mean, like the Irish? Alcoholism traditionally has worked its way through a population after three-four generations of contact with distilled liquor, barring some other cultural impediment, like comprehensive unemployment and societal despair. Lord knows I've been drinking like a fish since the last election. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2013-03-26 10:19 |
| #9 I think they should institute a black studies class in middle-school. Not the nonsense and grievance mongering normally associated with black studies but realistic of what happened adn how they will have it harder and thus have to work harder. Every Friday should be assigned to reading and discussing Thomas Sowell with a repeated emphasis on his five things you can do to guarantee you will be poor. Hammer that stuff home before they mentally check-out as the world is hopeless. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2013-03-26 10:09 |
| #8 My point AlanC is somewhat akin to the documented genetic redisposition of some ethnic groups to substance abuse, primarily alcohol. Could a predisposition to tribal violence have a similar genetic linkage? Is it genetic, learned, or has it become a component of thousands of years of breeding and survival? I don't know. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-03-26 09:02 |
| #7 Hope Christie does a better vetting job for this appointment than Snyder did for Mo-Town. |
| Posted by: USN,ret 2013-03-26 09:00 |
| #6 Making it impossible for business to succeed is what killed Camden. When Campbell Soups left, it was all over. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2013-03-26 08:47 |
| #5 Beso, I hear you but I'm doubtful of any significant racial component. First off I didn't start my old white guy list early enough, it really starts with the Greeks and some of the philosophy of the early ME Jewish law, Hammurabi code etc. all provided much of the raw material for what we have today. No racial patterns that I can discern. The pieces came together, broke apart, rearranged, over and over again until it all began to jell in Europe ~14th century with Italian humanism etc. If I had to break down the success our culture into the canonical list of 3 it would be, INPO: 1. The golden rule 2. The Puritan work ethic 3. Individualism as in "All men are created equal" I'm afraid that we're losing all 3 more than we can afford to in society. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-03-26 08:45 |
| #4 Well said AlanC. I believe the phenomenon may go a bit deeper than culture. I'll have to use some care in my choice of words but the presence of man as we know him on the continent of Africa may go back in excess of 9000 years. Since our forefathers set sail from East Anglia, we've had what, possibly 400 years? And what exactly do these African folk have to show for their 8600 year head start on the civilization of man? Yes, I suspect it may well go a bit beyond culture. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-03-26 07:35 |
| #3 (I must say I sorta like my assigned name Squinty White4839} The problem is not truly racial. What it IS is cultural. It is not PC to say this but cultures are not all of equal value. Too many people seem to think that culture is limited to food & music which are of course trivialities. The things that really count are political philosophy, religion and the morality they inform. These are the things that came with Christianity, the renaissance and reformation along with all the rest of the "old, white guy" stuff that the Multi-culti, PC Nanny staters loathe. We don't need to autopsy "black" culture and why it happened. It's just an off shoot of progressive, liberal elitism and Democrat policy. That's what the problem is in Camden, Detroit, et al. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-03-26 07:23 |
| #2 In my view, what is failed to be understood is that the celebration of diversity and assimilation are contrasting propositions. When diversity is subsidized and rewarded, incentive for assimilation is extinguished. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-03-26 02:36 |
| #1 All those school districts are heavily black. Hire all the superintendents and leadership teams you want, but it will make no difference. Unless they can find a way to give blacks assimilation & IQ transplants. We've spent over a trillion dollars in the last 50 years on educating blacks, but their test scores have only gotten worse. Time for liberals and other bleeding heart dogmatic types to realize the true nature of the problem, instead of covering it up, denying it exists and kicking the can down the road.
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| Posted by: Mikey Hunt 2013-03-26 02:23 |