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The Newark Teachers Union reached a tentative settlement with the district on Monday in lawsuits demanding the release of a report detailing the racial, cultural, and religious dynamics at the Newark School of Global Studies after incidents of racial harassment surfaced in 2022.
As part of the proposed deal, Newark Public Schools would ask the union to withdraw two lawsuits it filed in 2023 and 2024 without admission of liability or fault, according to a letter filed in Essex County Superior Court on Monday by Eltia Montano Galarza of the Taylor Law Group, the district’s attorney in the cases. The full details about the tentative settlement and whether the district would release the Global Studies report as part of the deal have not been disclosed by either party.
The union’s lawsuits are part of a more than two-year battle between the community and the district over the lack of solutions and transparency after incidents of racial harassment against Black students and staff at Newark’s Global Studies High School surfaced two years ago. Since then, district leaders have provided few details about the steps they have taken to resolve the issues at the high school. Superintendent Roger León has said the report would remain confidential and inform the district’s diversity strategy, which remains private.
The proposed agreement comes three months after the union’s attorney, Raymond Baldino of the Zazzali law firm, filed a letter to the courts requesting an update on the case after Superior Court Judge Mayra Tarantino ordered a private review of the Global Studies report in January.
Montano Galarza, the district’s attorney, directed questions about the case to Paul Brubaker, the district’s director of communications. Brubaker did not respond to Chalkbeat Newark’s email about the case on Tuesday. Baldino said the union cannot comment at this time.
The Newark Teachers Union first sued the district in November 2023 for access to the Global Studies report after León said the document would remain internal and the union’s public records request for the report was denied in October 2023. In April 2024, the teachers union filed another lawsuit against the district after a second public records request seeking access to billing records and the contract between the district and Creed Strategies, the firm that was hired to conduct the Global Studies report, was denied in February.
Chalkbeat Newark filed two public records requests in 2023 seeking the report, but the district denied those requests.
On Oct. 9, the district’s attorney filed a letter to the court arguing that the union’s second lawsuit over Creed Strategies billing records and its contract with the district is “moot” because the district later provided the documents. In an Oct. 10 response, Baldino, the union’s lawyer, argues that the documents, which had since been provided to the union, show the district violated state public records laws because they were denied in the union’s initial request for the records in February.
“Despite the absurdity of claiming to not have records related to Plaintiff’s requests related to such a substantial public contract, Defendant now has the audacity to claim that its delay was in good faith,” Baldino said in the letter filed in Essex County Superior Court.
District plans after racial incidents at Global Studies remain private
In November 2022, Black students at Global Studies spoke at a board meeting about the racial harassment they endured at the high school. In response, in January 2023, the Newark school board commissioned the Creed Strategies report analyzing the cultural, racial, and religious dynamics at the high school. The incidents at the high school resulted in at least half a dozen Black students requesting transfers and two Black teachers resigning.
Despite the continued calls for more transparency into the issue, the Global Studies report has not been made public. In June 2023, León said the report would not be released publicly despite requests from members and community leaders, including the NAACP Newark branch. Deborah Smith-Gregory, who leads the NAACP Newark, said she has been asking the district to release the report or provide a summary of the findings but has not heard back.
“Nothing about the report was ever released, and that’s wrong. It is a blatant disrespect by the district,” said Smith-Gregory in a call to Chalkbeat Newark on Tuesday. “And now mind you, the young people who were involved have graduated. They’ve graduated and they’ve gone on, and this still lingers.”
In September 2023, the district provided the first and only glimpse into the unreleased review by releasing three recommendations that call on the district to assess the effects of “anti-Blackness” on the school system, foster conversations about racial issues, and build school staff’s capacity to identify cultural gaps and create an environment that is racially conscious and inclusive. In a school board meeting that same month, León said that “people not having the report in their hands doesn’t mean that there isn’t work … occurring” at the school.
The recommendations came as the high school’s former vice principal, Hoda Abdelwahab, left the district. She was among those called out by parents during board meetings and in legal claims filed by former teachers at the high school for handling the issues poorly. Parents of students at the high school also called for the removal of Global Studies principal, Nelson Ruiz, who has remained in his role.
During a November 2023 school board meeting, board member Crystal Williams asked León for an update on the changes at Global Studies, if any, and member Allison James-Frison said she hoped the report would be released.
Former board member and now Essex County Commissioner A’Dorian Murray Thomas during that meeting also said the district needed to be “firmer and clearer” about its plans to fix the problems at the high school.
But Smith-Gregory on Tuesday said she feels “disappointed in the board” because “members have one job, and that is to hold the superintendent accountable.”
“They didn’t press to get information that could be shared with the public. They did not do that,” Smith-Gregory added.
In documents submitted to the Superior Court in December 2023, León argued that releasing the report would have a “chilling effect” on discussions about racial dialogue and sensitivity practices at Global Studies and districtwide.
Two former Global Studies teachers also filed legal claims with state and federal offices in 2023, alleging they experienced harassment and racial hostility from students and supervisors. The allegations of racial harassment against students and staff are currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, according to Jim Bradshaw, a department spokesperson.
In an email to Chalkbeat on Tuesday, Bradshaw wrote that the “Office for Civil Rights does not comment on pending investigations.”
“We know something happened and we know that there was some type of injustice somewhere,” Smith-Gregory said, “but what are the specifics?”
Jessie Gomez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
