There is no shortage of news coming out of Newark Public Schools District. To help you follow along, here are the most recent revelations about districtwide dysfunction.

• In June the Newark Board of Education decided to engage a new attorney to represent them, instead of relying on the district attorney, Brenda Liss, who represents Superintendent Roger Leon. This decision came after community outcry and accusations of unethical conduct when the Board extended Leon’s contract until 2028 without public notice. During a meeting last week, President Asia Morton counseled the Board to ask for advice from Liss. In response, board member Crystal Williams said the district’s lawyer “cannot represent the nine-member board without that conflict there” or be able to provide “great legal advice without repercussions from the district.” 

Board member D’Orian Murray-Thomas said one lawyer representing the board and the district could pose a conflict of interest if the board’s needs didn’t mirror Leon’s. Vice President Dawn Hayes mentioned that she has long wanted to make a report on the racial strife at Newark’s School of Global Studies, performed by CREED Strategies, available to the public; Leon says it is an “internal document.” Hayes said at the meeting, “we’re still waiting for information that can ultimately either help our district and bring it out of the dark ages of racism and white supremacy and discrimination within our district or we can be stagnated in this same space,.”

From Tapinto: “The magnitude of this district requires protection,” Williams said. “And so, the longer we delay this, the longer we delay our protection. That’s it, and I don’t understand how it’s not coming across as an urgent matter.”

Various media outlets, including this one, have requested access to the CREED report. These requests have been refused on the grounds that the report is “advisory” and “consultative,” therefore eligible for an OPRA exception.

Newark Teachers Union president John Abeigon said,

“Eventually, what’s in that report will come to light, so why not produce it, publicize it and let’s discuss what’s in it? What are their recommendations? What did they find? We have no idea what’s in it. I can guarantee it would not be anything favorable to the district otherwise they would have released it.”

• Last week the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Right sent a letter to Superintendent Roger Leon confirming it had found nine violations of Title IX, a federal law protecting students from discrimination on the basis of sex in schools and colleges.

“OCR determined that the district discriminated against students based on sex by failing to respond to incidents of sexual harassment and assault and that it failed to coordinate its responses through its designated Title IX coordinator, among other Title IX violations,” said the letter.

Fifty-two percent of the 80 reported violations occurred in two high schools, Barringer and East Side. Weequahic High had three violations, two of them committed against students with disabilities. Nineteen percent occurred at Dr. E. Alma Flagg Elementary School.

OCR also selected 38 cases to look at in more depth. For assault committed student to student, it found “coerced oral sex; forcible kissing; forcible groping of breasts, genital areas, and buttocks; sexual cyber-bullying; inappropriate sexualized ‘games’ such as ‘the rape game’ (groping during a game of tag on the playground); and filming or sharing footage of sexual acts at school.” For staff member to student incidents it found “sexual assault; unwanted touching, including sexual touching of genital areas; kissing; sexually harassing comments; and online sexual harassment.”

As reported last week, two teachers from Global Studies resigned due to harassment and bullying. They intend to sue the district.

On Thursday Newark Public Schools approved a “Resolution Agreement” with OCR that requires better record-keeping, compliance with Title IX, better staff training, and conducting an annual climate survey.

• Also on Thursday, the Newark Board of Education approved the superintendent’s recommendation to double the payment—now $400,000– to Attallah Shabazz, a consultant hired to expand the offerings at two high schools, Malcolm X. Shabazz (named after her father, the civil rights leader) and Newark School of Global Studies.

Shabazz’s original contract was for $200,000. Now she will be paid $400,000.

Valerie Wilson, district business administrator, said, according to Chalkbeat, that Shabazz’s work will support students with “study abroad and international research projects” and “getting our students the ability to have internships,”Her amended contract says,

“The services are broad, and cannot reasonably be described in full via written specifications. Legacy Inc Everybody Has One under the auspice of Ambassador Atallah Shabazz meets the provisions to facilitate a variety of strategic partnerships and meetings (local, regional, and national). As a producer, writer and diplomat, she has spent more than 40 years offering keynote addresses, while developing curriculums and programs for educational institutions, executive forums, diplomatic networks, organized systems, conferences and human service organization around the world, with the purpose of motivating and encouraging the young and mature alike to value and appreciate diverse cultural engagement, traditional rites of passage, and perspectives.”