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Editor’s note: This story, and a draft report linked to in the story, include references to racist, Islamophobic language and bigoted views that are violent in nature.
The Newark school district has faced controversy over documented claims of racist harassment that occurred at one of its high schools and its fight to block the public from viewing a report, commissioned by the school board, that assessed the fallout.
Chalkbeat began chronicling student complaints of racial bias and religious insensitivity at the Newark School of Global Studies in 2022. Subsequent public outcry prompted the school board in January 2023 to commission a report from Creed Strategies, a consulting firm, to evaluate the school’s culture and provide recommendations that would promote more culturally inclusive dynamics at the school.
Despite continued calls from parents, students, advocates, and school board members to see the findings of the report, district officials have not publicly released it. Instead, Superintendent Roger León has said that the report will remain under review and serve as an internal document, keeping it from public scrutiny. The district previously denied public records requests for the report from Chalkbeat and others, including the Newark Teachers Union.
Read the full analysis of the draft report obtained by Chalkbeat here.
In 2023, the union sued to make the report public. However, the union ultimately settled with the district without the report ever seeing public view.
Chalkbeat has obtained a draft copy of the Creed report, dated May 2023, which is not the most recent iteration of the report. In response to a request for a more recent version, a district spokesman last week did not provide one and said that it was “privileged and confidential.”
Attorneys for the district have argued elsewhere that the report remains a draft document, making it exempt from New Jersey’s open public records law.
Meanwhile, the situation at Global Studies has continued to cause controversy. The school board attempted to oust an elected member whose daughter, a former student at the school, is seeking to sue over her treatment there. A judge recently rejected the board’s bid to unseat that member.
As Chalkbeat continues to report on this story, we want to hear more from Newark School of Global Studies former and current teachers, staff, and students. Reach us at newark.tips@chalkbeat.org.
Here is more background about the situation at Global Studies and brief takeaways from the draft report.
What happened at the Newark School of Global Studies?
In the fall of 2022, a group of Global Studies students spoke out during a Board of Education meeting about the racist and religious harassment they were facing from peers at the school and what they felt was an insufficient response from school staff and administration. The students and their parents demanded attention and a stronger response from district leaders, saying they felt unsafe at the school. Some called for the removal of school principal Nelson Ruiz.
Two Black teachers at the school, who also claimed they were subjected to racial harassment and hostility, resigned from their roles and filed legal claims with the state Division of Civil Rights. They have since sued the district in a lawsuit filed in Superior Court of Essex County that alleges school and district leaders created a hostile work environment where they experienced racial discrimination and retaliation. That lawsuit is ongoing.
For more background, catch up on these related stories:
Battle continues a year after Newark Global Studies’ students first described pattern of racism
The racist bullying at school was unbearable, so I decided to speak out
What is the Creed report?
In January 2023, the Newark school board commissioned Creed Strategies, a consulting firm focused on educational and racial justice and led by Lauren Wells — who previously served as chief education officer for Newark Mayor Ras Baraka — to evaluate the school culture at Global Studies.
The evaluation took months to complete as reviewers conducted classroom observations and extensive interviews with staff, teachers, and students. The firm reviewed a range of metrics, including enrollment, attendance, state test scores, suspension rates, and more.
In the fall of 2023, León shared limited information about the recommendations outlined in the report, withholding from the public further details or findings.
For more, catch up on these related stories:
Major findings from the report: Limited response to racist incidents, patterns of anti-Blackness, need for professional development
The draft report had a number of findings about the culture at Global Studies and the administration’s response:
- The report found that the school didn’t act quickly or consistently to address claims of racist, bigoted, and biased incidents, which had been ongoing at the school since its inception in the fall of 2020, when students were learning remotely, according to the draft report.
- School leaders’ responses to the alleged incidents ranged from having students do written apologies to suspensions, the draft report stated. The school also took a restorative approach to the alleged racist incidents, but those practices “alone did not create a school culture where Black students and teachers felt psychologically safe and protected from racist incidents and other incidents of biases,” the report detailed.
- Since the school opened in the fall of 2020, Latino students have made up the majority of the student body and Black students were less likely to be enrolled, according to the draft report. Black students and teachers also transferred out of Global Studies at disproportionate rates than comparison schools, the draft report found.
“The sharp distinction between being Black and Latino in the racial dynamics of Newark seeps into the school, resulting in the types of racial incidents brought to the public attention.”
— Draft report on the Newark School of Global Studies
- Through student interviews and observations, reviewers found that some Latino students expressed anti-Black sentiments but would deflect their significance by saying that they’re kidding around or by claiming they identify as Black, according to the draft report.
- The superintendent, the report stated, held an assembly for the junior class where, according to the draft report, students said they were told they could leave the school if they felt uncomfortable. The principal also held an assembly, according to interviews cited in the draft report, where he told the entire school “not to use the N-word or they would be suspended,” the draft report stated.
- Those interviewed in the draft report noted the school had a “sudden burst of activities around Black History Month” and acknowledged the focus seemed to be “a reactive effort to appease students and quell the tension,” according to the draft report.
- School administration failed to identify patterns of anti-Blackness to inform professional development activities, the draft report found. “There was a missed opportunity to address the professional learning needs of instructional staff to be responsive to these issues as a part of student learning,” the report read.
Catherine Carrera is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Newark. Contact Catherine at ccarrera@chalkbeat.org.