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Newark leaders and advocates are urging Superintendent Roger León and the Newark school board to address racial tensions after Chalkbeat obtained a copy of a scathing draft report that found Black students and teachers at a city high school endured racial and religious harassment.
The review, conducted by the consulting firm Creed Strategies, also found district and school leaders failed to “quickly and consistently” address the problems at the Newark School of Global Studies and in some cases, magnified racial issues. The draft obtained by Chalkbeat is not the latest version of the report but Newark Public Schools has fought to keep all versions of the report private.
During Thursday’s school board meeting, three residents demanded transparency from the district about the steps it is taking to find solutions.
Tony Al-Amin, a Weequahic High School alum and Imam at Newark’s Masjid Muhammad, raised concerns about the “racism that exists in our schools.”
“Racism is a social terror. This is not my imagination, this is what is actually happening,” Al-Amin said. “When people are treated unjustly, unfairly in one place, it makes injustice acceptable in other places.”
Yolanda Johnson, an education advocate, spoke about the need for transparency and said “it was painful to read” the draft report on Global Studies.
“It’s 2025, we are demanding and we want inclusion, equity, accountability, and we want transparency,” Johnson added.
León did not respond to the comments but board member Josephine Garcia said the board has access to a “wide range of non-public information” that offers a “perspective vastly different from the narrative being presented.” Once all the information is made available, “a much clearer and more informed understanding will emerge,” Garcia added.
“No issue can be fully addressed without considering both sides and at the moment, one side of the issue remains suppressed,” Garcia said.
Board member Dawn Haynes, who faced removal from her role after her daughter filed a legal claim against the district alleging discrimination during her time as a Global Studies student, recalled how her husband “was hurt, disappointed, and ignored” and, out of fear of being labeled as a threatening parent, could not do anything about the situation.
“I held my composure for three years … knowing that my child and her friends were harmed and it was covered up,” said Haynes during Thursday’s meeting.
Earlier this week, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos also said they plan to call on León to discuss the findings and will continue to raise awareness about equity and inclusion.
“Nurturing student growth toward equality and inclusion however, takes a lot more than holding forums and events. This work is an ongoing historic and cultural transformation that relies on continued curriculum focus and the student dialogue it spurs,” Baraka said in a statement Tuesday.
Former Global Studies students first raised the allegations of racism detailed in the draft report during a November 2022 school board meeting. In response, school board members commissioned a review of the cultural, racial, and religious dynamics at Global Studies that pushed some Black students to transfer and teachers to resign.
But in 2023, León said the report would remain internal and inform the district’s strategy on race. The issues also caught the attention of Baraka, who hosted a town hall in March 2023 to discuss unity among Black and brown communities months after students spoke publicly about their experiences.
In his Tuesday statement, Baraka said he spoke in depth with the former students at Global studies and their parents about “how we cannot tolerate racism.” He also spoke with León about the issues, which led to the school bringing in a consultant “to try to get a handle on the situation.”
“Our goal is to raise awareness in our children so they won’t fall victim to what is going on around the country, and in fact become leaders for tolerance and inclusion as adults,” Baraka added.
Ramos, a city councilman, in a statement last week said council members had received “limited information” from the district about the Global Studies report due to confidentiality issues. His office had met with a few parents from the school over the past year and at one point, some of the parents met with him and Baraka.
“The allegations referenced in the leaked report are concerning and any type of racist comments – regardless of who they came from – are disturbing and unacceptable,” Ramos added.
He plans to speak with other council members about having Leon and others come before the city council’s education committee to discuss the report’s findings and the district’s plans to address the issues and improve the environment at Global Studies.
At Thursday’s school board meeting, Hassana Shaw, an educator and member of the Council of Imams in New Jersey, said the district “needs to be truthful about what is going on in our schools.”
“We can’t keep quiet about things that are happening with our kids. We have to take direct action to make sure our students are being educated in a place that’s safe, because we can’t teach them if they don’t feel safe,” said Shaw.
She also spoke against the district’s efforts to unseat Haynes, saying the board should not get rid of “board members who try to ensure that our children don’t encounter the trauma and hardship while they’re in school.”
“And with that said, board member Dawn Haynes is owed an apology for the covert actions taken to try to remove her from her position,” added Shaw on Thursday.
Malkia King, the daughter of former board member Barbara King, said the current board is “different from the board my mother sat on.” She recalled how Black and Puerto Rican residents came together to fight for local control of the school board.
“We worked too hard to overcome [racism] and we’re supposed to be the model going forward, and it [would] seem like we’re going backward,” King said.
Jessie Gomez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
