N.J.: Camden also at fault for school failings

New Jersey's top education official yesterday conceded that the state was partly at fault for problems in Camden schools, but said the district must also bear responsibility.

The state came under fire yesterday from critics who said New Jersey has been monitoring Camden during the period that a state report now says the troubled district failed to educate its students.

"They've been looking over our shoulder. If all of these things were such a problem, then why wasn't it picked up?" asked Camden School Board President Sara Davis. "They're not accepting their part in the problem."

Added David G. Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center in Newark, which has advocated on behalf of poor school districts: "This report is more of an indictment of the failures of the Department of Education and its failure to do what's necessary for Camden schoolchildren."

State Education Commissioner Lucille E. Davy acknowledged that the "state didn't do its part" in overseeing Camden schools. "I don't know that we held people's feet to the fire," Davy said.

But the commissioner stopped short of accepting sole responsibility for conditions in Camden, which were described as almost desperate in the latest state report scrutinizing the district.

The report by the state Department of Education found Camden lagging last among the state's most troubled districts in correcting its problems. Camden came in last on all indicators studied - instruction and program, personnel, operations and fiscal management.

"The district needs to own this work. They need to take ownership and responsibility for where they are and where they need to go," Davy said in an interview yesterday.

Camden has been under state oversight for years, and the scathing report by the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum raised questions about the state's role in monitoring the district. A state intervention team meets monthly with district officials.

Davis said the board received the report Tuesday night and was still reviewing it. Many of the findings were inaccurate, such as personnel shortcomings, and the district plans to challenge them, she said. The district has 45 days to respond.

Other than three state-operated districts in North Jersey, the state has had more oversight in Camden than any other district.

The Camden Municipal Rehabilitation and Recovery Act of 2002 gives the governor veto authority over board actions. Three board seats are filled by the governor.

A state fiscal monitor also oversees the district's more than $300 million annual budget with authority to overturn spending decisions.

Asked yesterday whether state oversight was working, Gov. Corzine said it would take more time to turn around the beleaguered district of nearly 16,000 students. The state also controls Camden city government.

"Change is afoot, but it's one of those challenges that I think will take more than five years, a long-term horizon, to be able to show the kinds of results that I expect," Corzine said during a media briefing at the Statehouse.

Davy said the state could intervene further in Camden schools by sending in a monitor to tackle any of the deficient areas. Before any move, the state plans to meet with Bessie LeFra Young, the new superintendent, to develop a corrective action plan, she said.

Former longtime Camden school board member Jose E. Delgado said he complained about many of the problems to the state and the board for years, but no action was taken. He opposes more state oversight.

"If this is what results from a heightened state intervention, God help us if they do something else," said Delgado, who left the board in 2002 after 18 years. "I didn't know it was this bad."

The findings released Tuesday were part of a state review aimed at detailing how far the district had to go before it could function on its own. Camden was among seven districts examined by the state.

Under a new policy, the state can intervene when it finds trouble spots and work with districts to fix them.

By far, Camden scored the lowest, meeting 18 percent of benchmarks overall with the following in each area: only 6 percent in instruction, 5 percent in personnel, 39 percent in operations management, 11 percent in governance, and 31 percent in finance.

Among the problems cited were outdated textbooks, a curriculum that fails to meet state standards on what students should learn and personnel without the required state certifications.

The report said Camden had difficulty retaining qualified teachers, provided little professional development to improve teacher performance, and had few services for students.

And while Camden school officials have written up new policies and procedures, the report said examiners found "for the most part, policy exists solely on paper."

Examiners said the district lacked rigorous assessments for student performance. The district has also failed to verify that teachers analyzed students' work to see if they were actually being taught the curriculum, they said.

Camden has been the subject of a state criminal investigation into misspending and test-score cheating since last year.

The district, classified as "needs improvement" under the federal No Child Left Behind law, has also failed to meet benchmarks in reading, math and science.

"Every study that comes out shows these problems, and they collect dust on the shelves," Sciarra said.

He noted that on the most basic elements of how a school functions - curriculum and personnel - the Camden district took its most dismal scores.

The report said that at least 506 district personnel had "questionable" state certificates or none at all. Davis disputed that finding. She said a recent district audit identified no more than nine employees whose certificates needed to be checked.

Last month, Camden laid off 90 teachers and 100 other workers to close a $9.5 million budget gap.

Under previous state intervention, Davy said the state failed to hold district officials accountable. She added, "I would be the first of people to acknowledge that over the years . . . the state didn't do its part in this work either."

Davy said she believed Camden was already addressing some of the problems cited in the report and the state planned to assess the district's progress every six months.

"I'm quite confident going forward this could work. We don't want to be talking to you two years from now and ask why is Camden still there [in the same situation]," Davy said.