Critics say Camden's state-appointed schools chief will have too much power

An in-depth state report on Camden's schools "in crisis" laid out several recommendations in August, including hiring a superintendent who could transform the district.

But just as the Camden Board of Education had narrowed its search to three candidates last week, the process came to a halt when Gov. Christie announced a full state takeover of Camden schools.

Working through the office of state Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf, Christie will appoint the next superintendent. And in a move that has some education advocates concerned, the new leader of Camden schools will have more power than any of his or her predecessors.

Under the state's intervention plan, the local Board of Education will be reduced to an advisory role. The new superintendent will assume the powers of the local board and will answer directly to the education commissioner.

The state's monitor for Camden, who has had veto power over the board's spending decisions since 2006, will have no authority to override the superintendent's actions.

"There are very few instances when absolute power is a good thing, especially when it comes to public schools," said former school board member Jose Delgado.

Whomever Cerf chooses for Camden superintendent will negotiate and decide on contract agreements with renaissance school operators, who operate by looser rules than traditional public schools.

The current school board recently approved an agreement for the state's first renaissance school, a public-private hybrid created under the state's Urban Hope Act that Christie signed in 2012.

So who will be chosen to hold such sweeping power for the next three years, the term specified in the intervention plan? And when will the new superintendent take over the 12,000-student district?

There is no deadline for the search, state officials said.

Though the board spent close to $20,000 on a search firm and narrowed the field to Willingboro Superintendent Ronald Taylor; Denise Saddler, of the Oakland, Calif., school system; and Heidi Ramirez, a former Philadelphia School Reform Commission member, state officials said they would conduct a fresh national search.

Leroy Nunery II, who served as a top administrator in the Philadelphia School District, including as acting superintendent after Arlene Ackerman left, was hired in January as a "highly skilled professional" to oversee governance. That title is defined by the statute governing state intervention.

Nunery, like Cerf, is a former executive at the for-profit education management organization Edison Schools, which operates charter schools.

Nunery's job will continue under the state intervention plan, and he will gain at least two "highly skilled professional" colleagues to oversee personnel and special education.

State officials have said that the holders of those jobs would report directly to Cerf. The cost of their salaries will be split by the district and the state.

Camden has been under some form of state oversight since 1999, largely because of fiscal mismanagement, poor test scores, and a high dropout rate.