Spotlight Podcast: Deconstructing the Camden 'Renaissance'
With the Camden Board of Education’s late-night vote last week to endorse five new privately run public schools under the state’s new Urban Hope Act, questions abound to what happens next in this troubled district.
NJ Spotlight education writer John Mooney speaks with Alan Tu of WHYY's NewsWorks about the proposal endorsed by the district early Wednesday morning, and the process ahead in getting it finally approved by the state and then shovels in the ground in time for a September 2014 opening.
As Mooney says, this is not just an issue for Camden. The Urban Hope Act -- allowing private organizations to build and run new schools with public dollars -- also applies to Trenton and Newark, where proposals have not been presented yet but may be in the offing.
