By Al-Jahaad White

On July 12, 1967 in Newark, New Jersey word had gotten around the city of a taxi driver having been beaten by white police officers after residents of a large housing development saw said taxi driver and followed police to Newark’s 4th Precinct. While the severity of the victims injuries were not confirmed at the time, this news was enough for the citizens of Newark who had been on the losing end of many battles against racist and injust officers who patrolled their home city. That evening, citizens took to  the streets and began to destroy property, damage local businesses in the downtown area, and overall revolt against the city. The riots lasted for five days injuring approximately 700 people, while claiming the lives of 26 people who were residents taking part in the uprising (Curvin; Strunsky).

This act of revolution caused one of the most notable white flight scenarios to take place due to white residents fearing their neighborhoods could be next as the police had lost control and needed to call for reinforcements in the national guard (Curvin). Those white families began to leave Newark in dramatic numbers which then created the reputation Newark has now established itself to be which is a tough city essentially. Since these riots Newark has been healing and fighting to become the city it has always had the potential of becoming. However the fastest way to remove yourself from poverty is to become educated, but with Newark not controlling what their students should learn, that progress may be hindered by powers beyond those living in the city. 

Our interviewee Jasmine Douzable recently worked in the city of Newark as an administrator at an elementary school. She is a new resident to the state of New Jersey who experienced Newark on her own after pursuing her Bachelors of Finance from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. As someone who has relatively new  knowledge or experiences of Newark, I believed Jasmine would offer great input on not only her experiences of the city, but I also wanted to get a perspective of someone who could be truly unbiased during our interview process. Jasmine went to school in two states that ranked in the top five for education and the other state ranked in the bottom five. While going to school in both Georgia and Connecticut Jasmine experienced schooling from both sides of the spectrum. According to Jasmine, “There are a lot of wealth disparities there only because you have, you know, the more expensive Greenwich, Connecticut, and then Bridgeport, Connecticut, which are polar opposites.” From speaking with Jasmine and hearing of her experiences I gathered that the two states she went to school in were polar opposites from the perspective of a student for many reasons. Through unfair disparities that create circumstances unfair for students and a lack of investment from the district students have lost on both ends of the spectrum.

According to NJ.com Newark ranks in the bottom five for top earners in the state by county. One of the most important factors Jasmine spoke about during her interview was resources amongst schools. There is an unfair disparity between students going to school in Newark versus students attending schools all over the country. As far as resources like books, qualified educators, computers, etc Newark students get the scraps and old textbooks from other districts or reuse the same books previous students have used which may come with torn pages, words scribbled over, chapters completely missing just to get an idea of what our youth are up against. During her interview Jasmine briefly spoke to us about her niece who is a current high school student in Connecticut. She spoke to us about the programs available at her niece’s high school, but not currently available at the institution she was an administrator for. Douzable states, “You could actually graduate high school, get a part-time job or code on the side, and probably put yourself through college if need be because you have that skill.” Douzable goes on to say that resources becoming scarce hinders growth in students. When you compare incomes to other cities around New Jersey you recognize that some of these areas are more affluent than Newark and that directly ties to education. These disparities are not just limited to students of Newark, as students everywhere suffer from many of the same issues. Not to mention most of the schools in Newark do next to no facility maintenance so you will see paint chips peeling from walls and ceilings, fountain water may come out brown instead of clear like most schools would normally have.

During my interview with Jasmine as she spoke to me about her experiences working in Newark she could not help but be reminded of her own experiences going to school in both Georgia and Connecticut and how some things were different and some things were eerily similar. While going to school in Georgia, Jasmine recalls instances where her classmates and herself would often have to share textbooks and some teachers would not allow students to leave the class with these textbooks out of fear they would either not return at all or they would come back in a condition worse than they were already in. 

The city of Newark is no stranger to a lack of resources as we have been underfunded by the state of New Jersey for decades and no changes have been made. As both a product of Newark Public Schools and an advocate I can first hand recall some of my schools were run down and some may have been flat out uninhabitable to some standards but we had to work with the cards we were dealt.  

However during her experience in Connecticut she recalls having textbooks that were in fair condition and in some cases completely new, computer labs are stocked with enough computers (and labs) for the entire school to share and never have conflict amongst students fighting to use these computers. While we cannot solve every issue the city has overnight, we can work toward closing these disparity gaps that in some cases are startling when compared to the national average by investing more in our school system.

Newark Public Schools has invested little to no funds into not only students, but its own facilities prior to 2016 and the students have unfortunately felt the effects.  In June of 1968 Gov. Richard Hughes presented a plan to the legislature with several measures to deal with what he believed were the underlying causes of the 1967 Newark riots. One of his recommendations was the state takeover of Newark Public Schools. Though no action on the plan was ever put in motion at that time, the state of New Jersey would eventually prepare Newark to be in control of the state when on April 13, 1995 Judge Stephen G. Weiss recommended the immediate state takeover of the district. During this time the city of Newark made little to no progress repairing facilities, no funds were invested into the schools to improve education, and overall the city was under the thumb of the state that also did not make necessary changes for the betterment 

After 22 long years of not having control over its own district on Sept. 13, 2017 Newark was awarded control over its processes and will now have full control over its own district. In 2010 Mayor Cory Booker along with several other key investors including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg contributed a sizable donation well over $100 million dollars. These funds would be used to improve education in New Jersey’s largest city. Until these efforts by Mayor Booker, Newark had not benefited from any programs to this extent. There was still much work to be done as far as Newark’s education system was concerned especially because this investment effort took place prior to Newark taking over its own district so the funds may have all been dispersed by this time. 

Due to Newark not having control over its school system students would continue to be on the losing end of the stick because the state does not individualize standardized testing. Students in Newark are not capable of completing their work in some cases because they were under prepared by teachers they have had and because of no child left behind those weaknesses do not get properly addressed. Instead students continue in school not knowing a particular topic or subject very well and it continues to build over time. By the time that student gets to high school they cannot perform well because they have not benefited from a good foundation. If Newark had total control of its 62 schools they would be able to analyze data for every school individually, create focus points across the district to begin to attack the weaknesses displayed by students, create city wide programs for enrichment, isolate instructors to see if this teacher is doing a good job instructing students, see what kids are performing above levels to help sort them into schools that will help make the kid a better student, and the list can go on (Gomez). 

Residents of Newark under Superintendent Roger Leon will soon see, Newark has recently approved a $1.3 billion budget for the 2023-2024 school year, and as part of his 10 year plan Roger Leon plans to aggressively tackle education loss due to COVID-19 pandemic that made the world stand still. Newark has a lot of upside as the city begins its plans to aggressively tighten up its education system for good through investments in education and technology as part of Roger Leon’s 10 year plan which also tackles facility maintenance of older school buildings, teacher investment and many more powerful programs geared toward advancing Newark into the future. 

Finally, one major component of learning that Jasmine’s interview brought to light  is the relationship between students, parents, and teachers. Studies show that teachers who build relationships with students tend to have better performing students in classroom settings, during state testing, and overall students have more respect for teachers and education making it easier for day to day interactions between the teachers and the students too, “Classrooms are unique developmental contexts for children, with teachers influencing students’ academic, social, and emotional development” (García-Moya). Once students leave school, it becomes the students responsibility to ensure homework is completed and understood, but what role do parents play outside the school?  

To continue, Douzable recalls being raised as a first generation Haitian American where her parents encouraged her to work diligently and often remind her how important her grades were and how she could not let them slip. During this interview she also recalls how active teachers played a major role in her success. I personally have friends who have graduated from various institutions who praise highly building relationships with students. For you as a teacher it will make the students more receptive to learning if they feel they have a friend in the teacher. For the student it builds trust from an adult that wants to ensure their success. If all components to education work hand in hand we could change the narrative of Newark and make it the city that its residents know it to be. “So, my perspective is that no matter what education you are getting or where it is, you are gonna be most successful if you have an active teacher, an active parent, and an active student.”

In conclusion, the city of Newark has been traveling down many different paths since the city was rocked by the 1967 riots which created the actual reputation the world has known Newark for. Newark has grown to prove itself of being a cultural explosion of arts, music, and culture. Over the next five years through recent investment into education and housing Newark will soon become an education and technology focused powerhouse. As time passes and more of superintendent Leon’s plan unfolds for Newark we are hopeful to see what Newark becomes. From my interview with Jasmine I concluded that Newark

Works Cited

Curvin, Robert. Inside Newark: Decline, Rebellion, and the Search for Transformation, Newark, New Jersey. Rutgers UP, 2014.

García-Moya, Irene. The Importance of Connectedness in Student-Teacher Relationships. Palgrave Pivot, 2020.

Gomez, Jessie. “Newark school board approves $1.3 billion budget with increases for teaching positions, ed-tech.” Chalkbeat, 31 Mar. 2023. https://newark.chalkbeat.org/.

Strunsky, Steve. “22 years of state control over Newark schools: A Timeline.” NJ.com, 17 Sept. 2017, https://www.nj.com/essex/2017/09/timeline_22_years_of_state_control_of_newark_schoo.html.