Roger Leon and Newark Board of Education have a habit of being less than honest with the public. Now that habit has been spotlighted by a national education platform, The 74. 

Liz Cohen reports that, while the district website claims students K-12 are assigned a complete book to read over the summer, “most other Newark high schools don’t have anything listed on their websites at all about summer reading.” For instance, the district claims all ninth graders will read “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton. But at East Side High, the summer “reading” requires listening to a TED talk and choosing a movie to watch from a list that includes “Moana” and “The Lego Movie.”

This revelation is important because high school and college teachers report their students don’t have the concentration, stamina, or practice to read complete books, even though doing so improves literacy.

But that’s par for the course in Newark, where most high schools there don’t even list summer reading requirements and residents recite instances of dishonesty. Here’s an abbreviated list of the district’s lack of transparency with parents and community members:

• Superintendent Leon told Newark residents there weren’t any bomb threats in the schools when, in fact, there were.
• Last year, after five schools reported not a single third-grader was reading proficiently, Leon said, “By any objective measure, the progress that Newark’s schools are making is undeniably incredible.” 
• TAPinto reports that the new high school in the East Ward, the High School of Architecture & Interior Design, which was supposed to cost $160 million and open in September 2023, now is costing $315 million, making it “the single most expensive high school ever built in New Jersey.”  (It is supposed to partially open next month.) When TAPinto asked for Leon’s comment on the article about the amended lease agreement, Leon responded, “I don’t know what that article was about because I usually don’t read stuff that is stuff that people shouldn’t read.”
• Chalkbeat reported last week that next week the School Board will approve extending Leon’s contract until 2030 even though his current contract doesn’t expire until 2028. Leon’s base salary last year was  $308,97. Fatoumata Bah, a senior at the district magnet school Science Park, said, “a big decision like that should not just be made behind closed doors, especially when families and students have been critical of the leadership.” (Three school board members can’t vote on the contract because they have relatives employed by the district.)
• In 2022, when Leon’s contract was approved by the board without public knowledge or input (despite state regulations), Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon said, “They came in promising transparency and that it would no longer be business as usual. They made that commitment to taxpayers and stakeholders. This is insulting.”
• Leon continues to refuse to release a report, paid for by taxpayers, that delves into anti-Black racism at the High School of Global Studies, despite numerous lawsuits. Then, “despite calls for transparency, the Newark school board last month quietly sent a petition to the state to remove one of its longest-serving members after her daughter filed a legal claim against the district alleging racial harassment and discrimination during her time as a student at Global Studies.”

Meanwhile, 76 percent of East Side High School students can’t read proficiently. Let them watch The Lego Movie.