“What they’re doing with students is not aligned with what the state says they can and cannot do,” Powell added. Powell did not name any staff members at the meeting but said her emails to the board and conversations with other school leaders include detailed information about what she’s experienced at the charter school. Over the last five years, Powell said, she had sent numerous emails to board members, spoken with her immediate supervisor, and talked to charter school lawyers to discuss issues about the education provided to students with disabilities and the disparate treatment she’s received as a Black woman after raising concerns with her superiors. “And I just want to know what we’re doing?” “This was something that was presented in May and it is now almost October and we’re still having the same thing being presented to us,” said Warren over speaker phone during the meeting. Karma Warren pressed the board to provide answers to the school community after several educators claimed their emails have not received a response. We will respond as swiftly as possible and look forward to continuing to listen as we work to address the issues that were raised.”Īt Thursday’s meeting, trustee Dr. “Feedback is paramount to us, and the voices of our school community matter deeply. “Great Oaks Legacy Charter School and the Board of Trustees take all of these concerns very seriously,” said chief strategy officer Dominick DiFalco, in an email to Chalkbeat Newark. Great Oaks founder and executive director, Jared Taillefer, led Thursday night’s meeting and said the board would respond to all concerns within 30 days, echoing a promise made during May’s board meeting in response to issues over pay inequities and discrimination, according to administrators and teachers at Thursday’s meeting. “I have to sit in front of a board for a school that I work for and bring up the issues of microaggressions, paternalism, and discrimination as it relates to institutionalized racism.” “I want to admit it’s embarrassing for me to be here, especially as a Black woman who’s lived in Newark for 54 years,” Powell said. According to Great Oaks’ “Fair Employment Practices,” school leaders “seek to have its staff demographics mirror that of the population of the students it serves,” but speakers such as Lisa Powell felt students and staff do not have diverse representation at the school.ĭuring the meeting, Powell, chief academic officer for elementary schools, expressed her frustration about the charter school’s support for students with disabilities and her complaints over prejudiced treatment. Great Oaks, one of Newark’s largest charter school operators, has several campuses in the city with grades pre-K-12 and serves mostly students of color, with Black students making up about 89% of enrollment in 2019-2020, according to the most recent comparative data available. They also raised concerns about racist practices, disparate treatment, and emails about their concerns that had gone unanswered for months. One by one, at the monthly meeting of the board of trustees, they described their failed attempts at getting board members to address pay inequity, lack of resources, and the recent firing of the high school’s dean of students. Great Oaks Legacy Charter School administrators, teachers, parents, alumni, and students packed a third-floor classroom at Downtown Elementary School on Thursday to unleash frustrations that they say have been building for years.
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