Board of Education

NBOE Receives “Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting” from ASBO

ASBO - Recipient 2020

The Newark Board of Education has received ASBO’s Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2020. This award represents a significant achievement and reflects the commitment to transparency and high-quality financial reporting.

Congratulations to Superintendent León, School Business Administrator Valerie Wilson, and the members of the staff who worked so hard to earn the COE this year.

Historic 10-Year Strategic Plan to Build a New Educational Ecosystem in Newark

Newark, New Jersey [September 8, 2020].

Superintendent Roger León and the Newark Board of Education released an unprecedented 10-year strategic plan titled, The Next Decade: 2020-30.  The unveiling of The Next Decade: 2020-30 strategic plan sets the district’s sights on a bold future and the creation of a new educational ecosystem that delivers a world-class education to every child in the City of Newark.  This plan is a comprehensive roadmap that guides the priorities and strategies that will best help us fulfill our mission and vision over the next ten years.  Developed collaboratively by partners, community leaders, elected officials, board members, parents, students, district leadership, and educators, The Next Decade: 2020-30 marks the beginning of full local control which was returned to the district on July 1, 2020.

Superintendent León said, “This strategic plan reflects the best thinking of our community’s leaders regarding the structure and function of our city’s public education institutions at this time, upon their return to local control after years of state operation, and for years to come.  Our vision is that in ten years our schools will be equal in quality to the best anywhere and all our students will achieve to their fullest potential. This strategic plan will help guide us there.”

“This strategic plan weaves together the resources, organizations, and stakeholders in our city to ensure that we all play our part and hold each other accountable for creating the schools our students deserve,” said Mayor Ras Baraka.  “As the Mayor, and an educator myself, I commit to mobilizing the City’s resources in partnership with NPS in order to bring this plan to life. I look forward to working with the district to make Newark the nation’s exemplar for culturally responsive and equitable education that empowers our students to live and lead in the 21st Century.”

The Next Decade: 2020-30 strategic planning process spanned over two years and included the implementation of the Strategic Planning Advisory Committee, 9 Stakeholder Roundtables, and three working groups that focused on mission, vision, core values, a theory of action, and equity.  We hosted 75 meetings involving 100 partner organizations and over 1000 participants to assess data, identify root causes and gaps, and develop strategies.  The strategic planning process set higher expectations, addressed cultural responsiveness, increased transparency, focused on equity, and fostered collaboration as these themes echoed from session to session and stakeholder to stakeholder.  These, and other themes, are integrated into the priorities and strategies included in the strategic plan.  The Next Decade: 2020-30 builds on the district’s one-year strategic plan, NPS Clarity 2020, which was implement during the 2019-2020 school year. The development of NPS Clarity 2020, and now The Next Decade:2020-30, is an example of how one strategic plan should build from the other one.

View or Download the Strategic Plan

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Today is the First Day of School: A Historic Day in Newark, New Jersey

Today marks a historic day in the City of Newark.  While there is so much going on in the world around us, the start of this school year is historic for many reasons.

Superintendent León said, “Today, we begin our first school year under local control in over two decades, we take our first steps in implementing the nation’s first ten-year strategic plan The Next Decade: 2020-30, and we launch over 80 new curricular documents focused on providing rigorous instruction to students.”  He added, “This is a historic start to this school year.”

In preparation for this school year, the district has outlined ingress/egress procedures, created and trained our own specialized facilities team utilizing a new intensive cleaning and sanitizing initiative, provided professional development to staff, distributed thousands of Chromebooks, digitized the registration process, and continued to distribute meals to students and families throughout the city. When students log on for remote learning today, they will be greeted by their teachers who now have new and updated curricula, digital learning platforms, digital books, and a variety of online assessments.

Since April of last school year, the Office of Teaching and Learning, along with classroom teachers, coaches, and department chairpersons have worked to create 89 new curriculum documents, as well as 22 new courses of study.  Students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of mathematics, science, foundational literacy, reading, and language through online benchmark assessments.  In addition, we have revamped curriculum in civics and Amistad, and planned changes in Black and Latino Studies courses.  We have prioritized social emotional learning as critical to the success of our students and we will be assessing student needs beginning on day one.  All of this work will be complemented with progress monitoring assessments—very brief assessments that are used to better ensure students meet end-of-the-year learning targets.

Today is the first day of remote instruction, truly a historic day in Newark.

For more information, please contact:

Newark Board of Education
Nancy Deering, Interim Executive Director
Communications
973-733-6265

First Ever Virtual District Staff Convocation for Newark Schools

On September 1, 2020, Superintendent León and the Newark Board of Education hosted District Staff Convocation 2020.  The convocation is the annual celebration to the start of the school year where the Superintendent convenes all employees in one venue to share the state of the district, review multiple measures of data, celebrate accomplishments, set the tone for the new school year, and charge the staff.  As last school year ended in a historic way, so started this school year.  The District Staff Convocation 2020 was held virtually for all 6,300 employees.

Superintendent León charged the district “to continue to be flexible, exercise patience, build confidence, and demonstrate resilience” as we open this school year remotely.  He shared that last school year, prior to the emergence of the pandemic, attendance was the highest ever, student achievement was soaring, and record numbers of seniors were on track to graduate.  In spite of historic obstacles at the height of the pandemic, schools and homes joined forces unlike ever before.  Higher demands on students enrolled in advanced placement courses resulted in record participation numbers on AP exams, seniors in dual enrollment courses graduated with high school diplomas and associates degrees, and the Class of 2020 earned over $40 million in college scholarships resulting in the graduation rate reaching its highest level in Newark’s history.

Mayor Ras J. Baraka welcomed the teachers and staff to the start of this virtual school year and noted, “We are at a different moment, a different point in time in history.  We need you now, in this pandemic, to help encourage, inspire, to educate them, to advance them, to take care of their mental state of mind.”

“This is my 3rd Convocation, and it is a convocation like no other,” said Josephine C. Garcia, President of the Newark Board of Education.  She continued, “We know that out of adversity, comes opportunity.  We have the opportunity to improve on the great instruction that we have been providing over the past couple of years, we have the opportunity to strengthen relationships with our community partners, and we have the opportunity to be second to none!  Staff, you are seizing the moment, and together, we will continue to show everyone how it’s done, because we are NEWARK STRONG.”

During the last few months, the district created the NBOE Task Force for the Reopening of Schools who prepared an executive summary, established ingress and egress procedures, outlined intensive cleaning and sanitizing protocols, piloted in-person summer school at two locations, identified Pandemic Response Teams at each school, curated curriculum featuring social emotional learning, reviewed metrics for virtual learning to ensure rigorous instruction, continued to train staff to ensure efficient implementation, and began the return to in-person operations.

The first day of remote instruction for students is Tuesday, September 8, 2020.

For more information, please contact:

Newark Board of Education
Nancy Deering, Interim Executive Director
Communications
973-733-6265