Dive Brief:
- The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said elevated levels of lead have been found in water fountains in 30 schools in Newark, New Jersey.
- The schools in question were told to shut down their water fountains and supply students with alternative sources of water.
- The discovery has prompted authorities to move forward with widespread testing in all area public and charter school buildings.
Dive Insight:
Water poisoned with lead has emerged as an issue in Flint, Michigan as well as Cleveland, Ohio recently, yet Newark’s problem appears to be unique to its schools alone. The city’s source of water has tested fine, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
The water emergency is just the latest in a long string of problems for Newark’s troubled school system. In July 2015, superintendent Cami Anderson stepped down, and Chris Cerf took over. Cerf promised to listen more to community members, and to figure out how to reinstate local control over Newark schools, which have been state-supervised for 20 years.
In fall 2015, the existing contract between teachers and the district expired, and the district’s merit pay system quickly became a contentious issue. In 2014, 233 teachers received an average of $6,000 in bonuses.
Even Mark Zuckerbeg’s $100 million donation to the district reportedly didn’t help much. A recent book called “The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools” reports that the majority of the money was spent on initiatives not directly related to classrooms, such as $31 million for unions and $20 million for district consultants.
