A textbook example of
court rulings in class
School has supplies and social workers but
lacks teachers and paint
Friday, December 17, 2004 • BY JOHN MOONEY •
Star-Ledger Staff
School librarian Ameenah Adams is starting to make a
dent in the children's books that came to Eighteenth Avenue
School last month -- 63 boxes, 3,590 books in all. She says
it's a problem she likes to have.
"I ordered more shelves," she said. "I may get another
room, too."
Elsewhere in this school on the edge of Newark's Central
Ward, teachers speak of the comfort of small classes and
ample supplies. There are social workers and a "crisis
teacher" for its 300 students, specialists and coaches for
its teachers.
But even for the $13,000 spent for each child -- well
above the state's average -- there's no mistaking Eighteenth
Avenue as a bastion of privilege. The century-old building
screams for a paint-and-plaster job, and even money doesn't
cure all staffing ills. There is no foreign language
teacher, and apatchwork of teachers is needed to get other
classes through the day.
Since the state Supreme Court's epic Abbott vs. Burke
rulings sent billions of dollars to the state's neediest
schools, Eighteenth Avenue illustrates where the money has
reached in schools -- and where it hasn't.
Teacher Greg Rochester is the crisis teacher who serves
as the safety net for many children, and he says he has much
of what he needs for his field trips and after-school
program. But he also pointed to the two or three new
computers in every classroom.
"Some of these are still not connected to the Internet,
and I hear there are districts elsewhere going wireless," he
said. "That's the story of urban schools. By the time we
catch up, everybody else has moved on."
It's a perennial question that has followed the Abbott
vs. Burke rulings: will billions of new dollars to New
Jersey's 31 poorest school districts indeed buy a quality
education and higher learning?
The question is not yet answered in Newark's Eighteenth
Avenue School.
Among its predominantly black and poor students, test
scores and overall confidence are on the rise. But barely
half of those taking state tests were found proficient in
both math and reading last year, and theschool struggles
under state and federal mandates that demand more.
With the challenge set, it's hard to argue that the
school doesn't have most of what it needs. For Newark as a
whole, the state this year alone provided $530 million and
helped lift per pupil spending to an average of more than
$15,800, from about $10,000 in 1998.
At the lower end of the range as an elementary school,
how that money breaks down for Eighteenth Avenue's 300
students, from preschool through sixth grade, is a
complicated lesson in accounting.
The vast bulk of its $3.7 million budget this year is in
staffing and programs set by the district, including three
dozen teachers, another dozen aides, social workers,
security guards and a small legion of others.
About $218,000 is left over for Principal Barbara Ervin
and her faculty to pay for supplies, training and other
nonpersonnel costs, from new math calculators for students
to a math workshop for two teachers next spring.
The resources are seen in the army of programs aimed at
teaching children to read. Three days a week, district
specialists sign in to speak with teachers and work with
students. That's on top of the school's own two tutors and
literacy coach, Stephanie Williams.
Her office abounds with workbooks and manuals for
teachers to share, and Williams recently said it is hard to
cry poverty. Each classroom now has more than 300 books for
the children. A program last year distributed another 500
for students to take home and keep.
"Since I'm in literacy, I see so much that's available,"
she said. "When I started 10 years ago, there certainly
wasn't a literacy coach. And I bought my own books."
In Sheila Pugh's sixth-grade class on the fourth floor ,
each desk boasts not only glossy new textbooks, but also a
fresh dictionary. The 16 students in the class would be a
treat to most public school teachers, but it's close to the
norm in this building.
"This is ideal for me," said Pugh. "I've done 24, and
that can be overwhelming. Sixteen is perfect. It relieves
some of the pressure, and allows you to focus on those who
need you most."
But classrooms on the same fourth floor also epitomize
the struggles that money can't fix for the school. Three of
seven teachers there are new, three more are within their
first three years, all part of a teacher turnover that Ervin
has said may be her biggest challenge.
When a first-grade teacher left unexpectedly after a
month this fall and a special-education teacher was
transferred, the school was unable to fill its classrooms
with anyone but substitutes. The special-education class for
mostly students with behavioral disorders is among the
school's most challenging, not easy for a veteran teacher,
let alone a sub.
The first-grade replacement has worked out so far, Ervin
said, but not without sacrifice, too.
"We lucked out, and now we're training her," the
principal said. "We are seeing if there is a way to pay her
for all her time, too."
The district blames the hiring delays on the difficulty
in filling those two positions in the middle of the year,
much the same reason it says the school is without a world
language teacher -- violating the state's mandate for world
language in every school.
Eighteenth Avenue went without music for the three
previous years.
As the school's special-education population grows
rapidly, Ervin also waits for relief for her school's speech
teacher, who is shared with another school and has close to
60 or 70 students at Eighteenth Avenue alone.
"When you think of it, those are all important
positions," said Dorothy Zignauskas, a special-education
teacher and chairman of the School Leadership Council. "When
there is something needed to meet the school's needs or
goals, those are the ones kicked back."
No greater strain is felt than in the building itself.
After one brick fell, outside scaffolding went up this week
to protect students from others that might follow.
A temporary fuel tank for the boiler is on its second
winter in the parking lot, prompting at least two teachers
last week to move their classes rather than deal with fumes
outside their windows.
Built in 1876 and expanded 50 years later, Eighteenth
Avenue's time may soon be up. The Abbott ruling in 1998
called for a massive school-construction program in Newark
and other cities, and under current plans, Eighteenth Avenue
would be combined into a new campus nearby.
But that is at minimum three or four years away,
officials said.
"It could use a paint job," said Claire Warren,
president of the school's PTA and the grandmother of two
students. "It is just very, very old, and it shows."
John Mooney covers education. He can be reached at
jmooney@starledger.com, or (973) 392-1548.
Previous stories in this series may be found online at
www.nj.com/specialprojects/.
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