BACK TO LOCAL HANDS
But control of schools won't be complete

Monday, April 07, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

April 17 is shaping up as a landmark day for the Jersey City public school district.

Two days removed from the April 15 school board elections, the Board of Education is scheduled to adopt a transition plan that will effectively return control of the district to local hands after 19 years of being run by the state.

"This is historic," said Board of Ed Chairman Bill DeRosa. "It has never been done before. Right now we are riding the crest of a wave that will land on the shore, and that shore is called 'local control.'"

To be sure, the control isn't 100 percent.

As a result of a top-to-bottom review of the district's operations carried out by the state last year, the district is regaining full powers in the areas of governance and finance.

In three other areas - instruction and program, personnel, and operations management - the state has "veto power" and will monitor the district on a six-month basis.

When scores in these "short-run" areas improve sufficiently, the district will regain full powers over them as well, said state Deputy Commissioner of Education Willa Spicer.

But the "governance piece is very powerful because it comes with power to hire and fire," Spicer added.

DeRosa readily acknowledged the gray area where local and state powers might overlap. But he believes the board should act, and let the state react.

"As far as I am concerned, after the 17th we are a fully functioning board," DeRosa said. "And we are going to act as if we have it back and let the state tell us we don't have it back. I don't think the state will have a problem with that."

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, state Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy and Spicer are scheduled to attend the 6 p.m. meeting at School 11, 886 Bergen Ave.

The meeting has been tentatively placed on Gov. Jon Corzine's schedule, school officials said.

Also on tap that night is a public hearing on a new three-year contract for Superintendent of Schools Charles T. Epps Jr.